Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/234

230 The Commander-in-Chief in the Mark then considered himself qualified by reason of "violations of the frontier authentically proved" to declare war on France of his own accord, at least for Berlin. This was really too mad for Jagow. He added to the Note:

""What sort of measures are these? We are not yet in a state of war. Diplomats are therefore still accredited.""

War was, however, not declared on the Commander-in-Chief in the Mark, for a few hours later Schön announced in Paris that Germany was at war with France.

In her declaration of war the chief weight was laid on the aviators. The alleged violations of the frontier by French airmen were at least balanced by encroachments on French territory by German troops, which were reported at the same time, and of which Viviani had already complained on August 2nd. But the aeroplanes! Now in those days a peculiar mania had seized the masses of the people. At night they saw aeroplanes and airships everywhere above them, and heard bombs explode. The Chief of Police in Stuttgart at this time issued a warning to be calm and rational, in which he said:

""Clouds are being taken for aeroplanes, stars for airships, and bicycle handlebars for bombs.""

In spite of the inclination to believe in such circumstances every report about aeroplanes, which were, of course, even in the darkest night, at once recognized as "French military aeroplanes," the Chancellor could only quote three cases, of which one, that an "aeroplane had been sighted over the Eifel," deserves no