he German Government to
ignore the unanimous decision of the Reichstag. It was not a question
of whether we _wished_ to go on fighting, but whether we _could_, and
it was my duty to impress upon him in time that we were bound to end
the war.

Dr. Michaelis was more given to Pan-Germanism than his predecessor.

It was astonishing to what degree the Pan-Germans misunderstood the
situation. They disliked me so intensely that they avoided me, and I
had very few dealings with them. They were not to be converted. I
remember one instance, when a representative of that Party called on
me in Vienna to explain to me the conditions under which his group was
prepared to conclude peace: the annexation of Belgium, of a part of
east France (Longwy and Briey), of Courland and Lithuania, the cession
of the English Fleet to Germany, and I forget how many milliards in
war indemnity, etc. I received this gentleman in the presence of the
Ambassador von Wiesner, and we both agreed that it was purely a case
for a doctor.

There was a wide breach between the Imperial Chancellor Michaelis's
ideas and our own. It was impossible to bridge it over. Soon after he
left office to make way for the statesmanlike Count Hertling.

About this time very far-reaching events were being enacted behind the
scenes which had a very pronounced influence on the course of affairs.

Acts of great indiscretion and interference occurred on the part of
persons who, without being in any important position, had access to
diplomatic affairs. There is no object here in mentioning names,
especially as the responsible political leaders themselves only heard
the details of what had happened much later, and then in a very
unsatisfactory way--at a time when the pacifist tendencies of the
Entente were slackening.[10]

It was impossible then to see clearly in such a labyrinth of confused
and contradictory facts. The truth is that in the spring or early
summer of 1917 leading statesmen in the countries of the Allies and of
the Entente gathered the impression that the existence of the
Quadruple Alliance was at an end. At the very moment when it was of
the utmost importance to maintain secrecy concerning the conditions of
our Alliance the impression prevailed, and, naturally, the Entente
welcomed the first signs of disruption in the Quadruple Alliance.

I do not know if the opportunity will ever occur of throwing a clear
light on all the proceedings of those days. To explain