is right, but I have good reasons to think that the tenor of the
ultimatum was fully justified, in view of Servia's former conduct.

Austria was dealing here with a Government the real spirits of which had
come into power by the commission of one of the most dastardly crimes of
modern times. A crime which, at the time of its commission, sent a shock
of horror through the entire civilized world, to wit, "the outrageous
murder of the former King and Queen of Servia," outrageous because it
was perpetrated by the so-called aristocracy of Servia. The
long-continued agitation carried on by Servia against Austria, at the
instigation of Russia, which finally culminated in another no less
outrageous assassination, that of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his
consort, to my idea fully justified Austria in making demands which
under ordinary circumstances might have been termed "unreasonable."

The question whether Austria was justified in going to war against
Servia is a debatable one, but I respectfully refer to the fact that our
own country, the United States, was only very recently on the verge of
precipitating war with a "much weaker" nation than ours, on account of
the latter's refusal to salute the American flag. Neither did we stop on
that occasion with the ultimatum, but we followed it up with dispatching
a fleet of warships, the landing of troops, and the seizure of Vera
Cruz.

From the time Austria's ultimatum was sent all the great powers seemed
to have professed a great eagerness for the preservation of peace. Mr.
Beck asserts that Germany was not sincere in its desire for peace and
could have avoided the war if it had seriously tried to exert its
influence over Austria. This finding is based on the inference drawn
from the fact that Germany failed to achieve any results.