Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-10-01
MORE INSIDE HISTORY ON WAR;
HOW BRITAIN BROKE With germany
English White Paper Gives Version of Ambassador to Ber
Special Mention is Made of Courtesy of American Al
bassador Mr. Gerard. -. <.@-|=-. !.
protested

that might happen. I protested
strongly against that statement, and
said that, in the same way as he and
Herr Won Jagow wished me to under
stand that for strategical reasons 1t
was matter of life and death to Ger
many to advance through Belgium and
violate the latter's neutrality, so /
would wish him to understand that 1t
was, so to speak, q natter of life
and death" for the honor of Great
Britain that she should keep her sol
emn engagement to 60 her utmost to
defend BAgiuIn's neutrality If attack.
ed. That Solemn compact simply had
to be kept, or what confidence could
anyone have in engagements given by
Great Britain In the future? The Chan
cellor said, But at What price will
that compact have been kept. Has the
British Government thought of that?"
| limited to his Excellency as plainly
as could that fear 0f consequences
could hardly be regarded as an ex-
cuse for breaking solemn engage
ments, but his Excellency was so ex-
cited, so evidently overcome by the
news of our action, and so little dis
Iposed to hear reason that / refrained
from adding fuel to the flame by fur
Their argument As was leaving he
said that the blow of Great Britain
joining Germany's enemies was all the
greater that almost up to the last mo-
ment he and his Government had
been working with ~ and supporting
our efforts TO maintain peace between
Austria and Russia. 1 said that this
was part of the tregedy which saw the
two nations fall apart just at the mo-
ment when the relations between them
had been more friendly and cordial
than they had been for years. I'm
fortunately. notwithstanding our eff.
forts to maintain peace between Rus
STA and Austria, the war had spread
and had brought Us face to face with
a situation which, If we Held to our
engagements, we could not possibly
avoid, and which unfor;nnatelv entail
ed our separation from out late fell
low-workers. He would readily un-
derstand that no one regretted this
more than /.
After this somewhat painful inter-
view ! returned to the embassy and
drew up telegraphic report of what
had passed. This telegram was hand
ed in at the Central Telegraph Office
little before 8 p. m It was accepted
by that office. but apparently never
despatched. This telegram never
reached the Foreign Office.)
AT about $3.50 p. m. Herr Won Zim-
hermann, the Under-Secretary OF
State, came to see me- After express
ing his deep regret that the very
friendly official and personal relations
between us were about to cease, he
asked me casually whether demand
for passports were equivalent to q
declaration of war. I said that such
an authority on international law as
he was Known to be must know as
well or better than what was usual
in such cases. added that there
we're many cases where diplomatic re-
lations had been BROKEN off and, never
theless, war had not ensued; but that
In this case he would have seen from
my instructions, of which had given
Herr Won Jagow written summary,
that His Majesty's Government expect
ed an answer to DEFINITE question by
~ o'clock that night and that IN de-
fault of satisfactory answer they
would be forced to take such steps as
their engagements required. Herr
Zimmerman said that that was, in
fact, declaration OF war. as the Inn
perial Government could not possibly
give the assurance required either
that night or any other night.
In the meantime, after Herr Zim-
norman left me, 4 flying sheet, issued
by the "Berliner Tageblatt, was cir.
culated stating that Great Britain had
declared war against Germany. The
immediate result Of this news was
the assemblage OF an exceedingly ex-
cited and unrnly mob before His Maj.
esty's Embassy The small force Of
police which had been sent to guard
the embassy was soon oyerpowered,
and the attitude of the mob become
more threatening We took no notice
of this demonstration as long as it was
confined to noise, but when the crash
Iof glass and the landing of cabbie
stones into the drawfng-room. where
we were all sitting, warned us that the
situation was getting unpleasant, |
Itelephoned to the Foreign Office an
account OF what was happening Herr
Won Jagow at once informed the Chief
of Police. and an adequate force of
mounted police, cent with great
promptness, very soon cleared the
street. From that moment on we
were well guarded. ard no more direct
unpleasantness occurred.
After order had been restored Herr
Won Jagow came to see me and ex.
pressed his most heartfelt regrets at
what had occurred He said that the
behaviour of his countrymen had made
him feel more asha-.ed than he had
words to express Il was an indelible
stain on the reputation of Berlin. He
Said that the Hyins sheet circulated
in the streets had not been authorized
by the Government; in fact, the Chan.
cellor haA ked him by telephone