On the same day the British Ambassador at Berlin besought the German
Foreign Office to
"put pressure on the authorities at Vienna to do something in
the general interest to reassure Russia and to show themselves
disposed to continue discussions on a friendly basis."
And Sir Edward Goschen reports that the German Foreign Minister replied
that last night he had
"begged Austria to reply to your last proposal, and that he
had received a reply to the effect that the Austrian Minister
for Foreign Affairs would take the wishes of the Emperor this
morning in the matter."
_Again the text of the letter in which Germany "begged" Austria to be
conciliatory is not found in the record._
The excuse of Germany that the mobilization of Russia compelled it to
mobilize does not justify the war. Mobilization does not necessarily
mean aggression, but simply preparation. If Russia had the right to
mobilize because Austria mobilized, Germany equally had the right to
mobilize when Russia mobilized, but it does not follow that either of
the three nations could justify a war to compel the other parties to
demobilize.
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