Austria Declares War Upon Servia 21 ranted the slightest hope that Russia would remain a passive witness to the destruction of two little States bound to her by race, by religion and by senti- ments too deep to analyze. And if Russia did not suffer the destruction of Servia, then Germany was fatally drawn into the vortex by her obligations, which were made by Bis- marck, and through the Triple Alliance have pre- served the peace of Europe for more than a genera- tion. With Germany, France, too, was involved. As sacred and as binding upon France as upon Ger- many were the terms of her foreign alliances. England and Italy might stand aloof. Indeed, there was every indication that they would, for the present. Desperate efforts in Rome and London were still being made to " localize," to limit, to reduce the immense area of possible conflict. But with what slightest prospect of success now, when the Austrian declaration had in fact set the match to the magazine? Since Napoleon faced Europe in arms, since Leip- zig, the " Battle of the Nations " was fought, no such far-reaching contest as now threatened had been faced. From the English Channel to the Neva, from the Mediterranean to the German Ocean the millions of armed men Europe had trained for a generation seemed bound to clash. All the secular hatred of Slav and Teuton, of Prussian and French- man appeared inevitably to be about to be un- chained in a conflict the end of which no man could