Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/221

Rh off before five o'clock. For after copying it, the document goes on:

""As the time-limit allowed to Russia had expired, without a reply having been received to our question, His Majesty the Kaiser and King, on August 1st, at 5 p.m., ordered the mobilization of the whole German Army and of the Imperial Navy. The Imperial Ambassador in St. Petersburg had in the meanwhile [!!—K.] received instructions in case the Russian Government did not give a satisfactory reply within the prescribed period, to announce that we should consider ourselves as in a state of war after the refusal of our demand.""

What next follows in the text of the Memorandum we have already given above.

The "in the meanwhile" in this account is really priceless—a model of precise statement of time. It is worthy of the order in which the events are presented. We have :

THE REAL SEQUENCE 1—p.m. Dispatch of the declaration of war.

2—p.m. The Tsar's telegram.

5—p.m. Mobilization.

10—p.m. The Kaiser's telegram to the Tsar.

THE SEQUENCE IN THE MEMORANDUM

2 p.m.—The Tsar's telegram.

No hour given.—The Kaiser's telegram.

5 p.m.—Mobilization.

No hour given.—Dispatch of the declaration of war.

The chronological confusion of the Memorandum was absolutely essential if it was to bring the reader to the