Fighting For Peace

s," on The Basis of Durable Peace.[Footnote 4] With almost every statement of this learned and able wr

ticles are now publis

ibn

ly responsible for the last events that immediately preceded the

d of her partners in the Triple Alliance, which was purely a defensive league. But she formally declined to do so, on the ground that "the war undertaken by Austria, and the consequences which might result, had, in the words of the German Ambassador himself, a directly aggressive object." (Off. Dip. Doc., p. 431.) The same groun

y arbitration or conference, is a very real thing at the present moment. It is shared by the Entente Allies and the United States. It is one of those "imponderables" which, as Bismarck said long ago, must never be left out of accoun

happened in 1914 or 1913. They are inherent in false methods of government, in false systems of so-called national policy,

to the Franco-Prussian War in 1870; to the Prusso-Austrian War in 1866; to the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Yes, they g

was brought to a head and let loose by Germany, was the Austr

Servia, and thus to serve either as the instrument for crushing the little country which stood in the way of the "Berlin-Baghdad-Bahn," or as a torch to kindle the great war in Europe. I do not propose to tr

airs which stated that "The German Government had no knowledge of the text of the Austrian note before it was presented, and e

nt incredibility of the statement has been well set forth by Mr. James N. Beck, in his vigorous book, The Evidence in the Case.[Footnote 5] New evidence has come in. I intend here to present briefly and arrange

in the Case. Putnams. Ne

e Governments to which they were accredited during the weeks that followed the crime of Serajevo, June 28-July 23. It is absolutely incredible that Austria should not have consulted her big friend in regard to the momentous step against Servia, altogether impossible that Germ

e gentlemen come and go in the dark. But the fact of the meeting was brought out publicly in the speech of Deputy Haase in the Reichstag, July 19, 1917, and not contradicted. Whatever may have been the ostensible object of this conference, it

said that he had been present at a conference where it had been decided that the ultimatum to Servia was to be made of such a nature that it could not be accepted, and that this would be the provocation of the

his Government which indicated for the first time clearly the attitude whi

e ere this. He insisted that the question at issue was one for settlement between Servia and Austria alone, and that there should be no interference from outside in the discussions between those two countries. He had therefore considered it inadvisable that the Aust

st the attitude adopted toward Servia by Austria had, in his op

rom outside in the discussion"-in other words, Germany would allow no other nation to prevent Austria from doing what she liked

circular confidential telegram to the Ambassadors at Paris, London, and Petrograd, instructing them to tell the Governments to which they were accredited that "the action as well as the demands of the Austro-Hungarian Government can b

ment so important, so far-reaching in its foreseen consequences, if it

said to me to-day that the Austrian ultimatum, the contents of which were known to him, seemed to him couched in terms

o know about the ultimatum, while the g

many as the ally of Austria naturally supports the claims made by the Vienna Ca

and the despatch of an ultimatum to Servia by Austria-Hungary are causing the Russian Government the greatest anxiety. The Government are

pport to the claims of Austria as against the expressed interests of Russia, unless sh

he German Ambassador knew the text of the Austrian ultimatum to Servia before it was despatched, and telegraphed it to t

7, 1914. In this article he answered, officially, several questions. The first question was: Did Germany approve in

otect the life of her little sister state. Germany accepted the responsibility and pledged support. "With all our heart we were able to agree with our ally's estimate of the situation, and assure hi

government could possibly give to another witho

ing "a lone hand" ends-at least until further confidential

lty." It still denies all previous knowledge of, and all part in, the

both impudent

Judaeus