attitude on July 26th. After eight weeks of war (on September 25th),
Austria officially declared that she had never swerved from her original
claims, nor ever felt any inclination to do so.

It is true that the usages of everyday life do not always hold good in
diplomatic dealings, but it is instructive to state the case in the
terms of everyday affairs. Mr. A. (Austria) informs Mr. B. (Serbia) that
he has a quarrel to settle with him and states his demands. Mr. C.
(Russia) who is a relation, patron and friend of B.'s, interferes to see
fair play. Whereupon Mr. D. (Germany), a friend and relation of A.'s,
informs C. in unmistakable fashion that he must neither speak nor act in
the affair or he will be immediately thrashed. Messrs. A. and D. are
unanimous in this view and repeat the threat in mutual form. Meanwhile
A. attacks B. Mr. C, seeing that they will not accord him a hearing,
takes steps to compel them to hear him, at which point Mr. D. fulfils
his threat and falls upon C.

It is not yet clear whether Austria would have permitted Russia to take
over the rôle of adviser and second to Serbia in her unequal struggle
with Austria. But from the moment Germany appeared on the scene the
situation becomes perfectly simple: Russia has absolutely no right
either to speak or move in the matter. On this rock of immovable
Germanic obstinacy the Russian ship of State, was intended to meet with
diplomatic shipwreck. Should Russia attempt to avoid this fate, then the
German sword could be trusted to arrange matters in the way desired by
Germany.

The German language contains a very expressive phrase,
_Stimmungsmacherei_, which means creating or preparing a certain frame
of mind. How Germany's public opinion was tuned to the war melody is