Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/216

212 peculiar episodes in the horrible comedy of errors and confusion on August 1st. It also aroused the liveliest astonishment in St. Petersburg. Pourtalès reported on it, while still there, three hours before his departure for Stockholm:

""M. Sasonow has just asked me over the telephone how the following is to be explained: H.M. the Tsar of Russia a few hours ago received a telegram from our most gracious master, dated 10.45 p.m., and containing in its concluding sentence, the request that the Tsar Nicholas should command his troops in no case to cross the frontier. M. Sasonow asks how I can explain such a request after handing over the Note last night [the declaration of war.—K.]. I replied that I could find no other explanation than that probably the telegram of my Emperor had really been dispatched the day before at 10.45 p.m.""

Indeed, the telegram of August 1st at 10.45 p.m. was inexplicable. The only right explanation naturally did not enter the German Ambassador's head, and if it had struck him, he would have been careful not to make it public namely, the explanation: his "most gracious master" and his advisers had all lost their heads.

{{center|

THE OPENING OF THE WAR BY RUSSIA
}}

As it was no longer possible for William and those around him to undo the misfortune, which they had brought about—for, as the German patriot "Junius