After the publication of these documents comments from official sources were published in the press, and it was said, amongst other things, that the contents were known to the competent authorities in Germany before the declaration of war. I accordingly asked Captain Wolfe if this were true?
“It is,” he answered.
“Then how is it,” I further asked, “that the Imperial Chancellor, Von Bethmann-Hollweg, on August 4, made the following declaration before the Reichstag: ‘At the moment I am addressing you German troops have perhaps crossed the frontier and invaded Belgium’s territory. It must be acknowledged that this is a violation of the rights of the people and of international treaties. But Germany proposes and binds herself to repair all the damages caused to Belgium so soon as she shall have attained her military designs’?”
It is impossible to describe the officer’s embarrassment.
“Well,” he mumbled, in an effort to submit more or less of an explanation, “it was because Belgium also peremptorily refused to let us pass.”
The tone and manner of his “explanation” indicated plainly enough that Captain Wolfe was capitulating.
In the pan-German newspapers more particularly, this attitude of Von Bethmann-Hollweg before the Reichstag was much criticized. It was declared that such a statement constituted a sufficient reason for his immediate release from Chancellorship.