as the French Ambassador had seen
in the Kaiser a marked change as early as 1913 is significant, and
history may justify Cambon in his shrewd conjecture that "the
impatience of the soldiers," meaning thereby the German General Staff,
and the growing popularity of his chauvinistic son, the Crown Prince,
had appreciably modified the pacific attitude of the Kaiser, which had
served the cause of peace so well in the Moroccan crisis. Cambon's
recital of the incident in question, written on November 22, 1913,
justifies quotation _in extenso_.

I have received from an absolutely sure source a record of a
conversation which is reported between the Emperor and the
King of the Belgians, in the presence of the Chief of the
General Staff, General von Moltke, a fortnight ago--a
conversation which would appear greatly to have struck King
Albert. I am in no way surprised by the impression created,
which corresponds with that made on me some time ago.
Hostility against us is becoming more marked, and the
Emperor has ceased to be a partisan of peace. The German
Emperor's interlocutor thought up to the present, as did
everybody, that William II., whose personal influence has
been exerted in many critical circumstances in favor of the
maintenance of peace, was still in the same state of mind.
This time, it appears, he found him completely changed. The
German Emperor is no longer in his eyes the champion of
peace against the bellicose tendencies of certain German
parties. William II. has been brought to think that war with
France is inevitable, and that it will have to come one day
or the other. The Emperor, it need hardly be said, believes
in the crushing superiority of the German army and in its
assured success.

General von Moltke spoke in exactly the same sense as his
sovereign. He also declared that war was necessary and
inevitable, but he showed himself still more certain of
success. "For," said he to the King, "this time we must put
an end to it" (_cette fois il faut en finir_), "and your
Majesty can hardly doubt the irresistible enthusiasm which
on that day will carry away the whole German people."

The King of the Belgians protested that to interpret the
intentions of the French Government in this manner was to
travesty them, and to allow oneself to be misled as to the