Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/246

242 request an unequivocal answer within twenty-four hours.

"Your Excellency will at once inform me by telegraph of the reception accorded to your disclosures and of the definite reply of the Royal Belgian Government."

As already mentioned, Herr von Moltke's communication was immediately accepted by the Foreign Office and dispatched with few editorial alterations. These are of no consequence; only one is worthy of note. The Chief of the General Staff obviously held the view that England would enter the war simultaneously with France; he, therefore, spoke of information which, like all information of a similar kind, of course leaves no doubt as to the intention of a "Franco-English" advance through Belgian territory. But the Foreign Office considered this too risky. It still hoped for England's neutrality. Stumm, therefore, deleted the words placed in brackets in the above copy, and contented himself with the "indubitable" establishment of the intention of a French advance through Belgium. It is only a matter of a couple of words, but their manipulation is very instructive. It showed how the General Staff understood the art of fabricating for stock complaints of French or Franco-English acts of hostility which made the war or the breach of neutrality inevitable, before such acts were even possible; these complaints were then brought forward as soon as they were needed. This method was actually followed. The document composed on July 26th, edited and dispatched on the 29th, was not immediately submitted to the Brussels Government. At that time the world was not yet prepared for the Franco-German war.