Imagine a Japanese killed in San Francisco, and think what the United States would say if the Tokio government insisted that a Japanese judge be sent to California to try the case because Japan could not trust America to give her justice!  The Serbians, of course, were in no position to fight a great power like Austria-Hungary, and yet, weakened as they were, they could not submit to such a demand as this.  They agreed to all the Austrian demands except the one concerning the Austrian judges in Serbian courts.  They appealed to the other powers to see that justice was done them.

Russia growled ominously at Austria, whereupon Germany sent a sharp warning to Russia that this was none of her affair, and that Austria and Serbia must be left to fight it out.  In the meantime, Serbia offered to lay the matter before the court of arbitration at the Hague. (In 1899, at the invitation of the czar of Russia, representatives of all the great powers of Europe met at the Hague to found a lasting court which should decide disputes between nations fairly, and try to do away with wars, to as great an extent as possible.  The court has several times been successful in averting trouble.)

Great Britain proposed that the dispute between Austria and Serbia should be judged by a court composed of representatives of France, England, Italy, and Germany.  Austria’s reply to the proposals of England and Serbia was a notice to the latter country that she had just forty-eight hours in which to give in completely to the Austrian demands.  In the mean-time, Mr. Sazanoff, the Russian minister of foreign affairs, was vainly pleading with England to declare what she would do in case the Triple Alliance started a war with France and Russia.

Kings and ministers telegraphed frantically, trying to prevent the threatened conflict.  The story was sent out by Germany that Russia was gathering her troops, mobilizing them, as it is called.  As Russia has so much more territory to draw from than any other country, and as her railroads are not many and are poorly served, it was figured that it would be six weeks before the Russian army would be ready to fight anybody.  Germany, on the other hand, with her wonderful system of government-owned railroads, and the machine-like organization of her army, could launch her forces across the frontier at two days’ notice.  As soon as the Germans began to hear that the Russians were mobilizing their troops against Austria, Germany set in motion the rapid machinery for gathering her own army.  She sent a sharp message to Russia, warning the latter that she must instantly stop mobilizing or Germany would declare war.  Next the Germans asked France what she intended to do in case Germany and Austria declared war on Russia.  France replied that she would act in accordance with what seemed to be her best interests.  This answer did not seem very reassuring, and without any declaration of war, the German army rushed for the French frontier.