The Days of a Man 



D9H 



A gentle- 



man 



deceived 



Ground 

 lost 



opened his heart, saying in substance, as reported 

 to me: 



I cannot understand the English people. Only yesterday you 

 were on "the verge of civil war." The King himself said so. 

 The army was sullen, and your leading general had resigned 

 rather than enforce the law in Ulster. To all appearance if a 

 Continental war should break out England would be paralyzed, 

 unable to take part in it. War is now on, and I find the whole 

 nation united in its prosecution. This is the end of my diplo- 

 matic career, for I reported to the Emperor what seemed to be 

 the fact, and it turns out that I was mistaken. 



Lichnowsky seems to have been mistaken also 

 when he interpreted his diplomatic duties to be 

 those of a peacemaker. Instead, he was apparently 

 expected to keep England quiet while Germany got 

 ready. At least, his subsequent disclosures point in 

 that direction. After his return to Germany he 

 wrote: 



Thus ended my London mission. It was wrecked not by the 

 perfidy of the British, but by the perfidy of our policy. 



From various quarters much criticism has been 

 directed against Sir Edward Grey because of his 

 lack of prevision and decision and of his alleged 

 secret entanglements with France. I cannot feel, 

 however, that he should be seriously blamed for 

 any positive action, though he might well have been 

 more alert and decisive. Much ground, I think, was 

 lost through delay; and when he appealed to the 

 German Government for a conference at London, 

 he made, to my mind, a decided tactical mistake. 

 He should have insisted on an immediate meeting 

 in Berlin. Two years before he called the Balkan 

 States to London to give them a scolding, and led 



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