[Footnote 23: "Soul of Germany," p. 192.]

[Footnote 24: _The Spectator_, August 7th, 1915, p. 169.]

The German Chancellor, when he justified his policy by the dictum:
"Necessity knows no law," evidently meant that necessity also recognizes
no law of truth. In any case, he remained faithful to the traditions of
his country. Although the German Press is both venal and supine, we
shall see that it has done the world a service and played its own
Government a foul trick. (Der deutschen Regierung einen bösen Streich
gespielt.)

When Bethmann-Hollweg was thumping the table before him, and assuring
his immediate hearers and the world in general that the Berlin cabinet
had not called up a single reservist before five o'clock on Saturday,
August 1st, he was guilty of a deliberate falsehood. On July 31st, I
left Erlangen by the 3.31 train for Nuremberg; travelling in the same
train was Dr. Haack, professor of the history of art in Erlangen
University. He was accompanied by his wife and various colleagues,
including Professor Busch, who bade him farewell on the platform. Dr.
Haack is an artillery reserve officer, and he was then going to join his
regiment. At 8.30 p.m. on the same day, we spoke to Frau Haack on
Nuremberg station. The lady's face was very tear-stained and she was
about to return to Erlangen alone. She told us in a broken voice that
her husband had been called up.

In "The Soul of Germany" I have given names and dates of other cases. I
do not propose to disgrace my word of honour by playing it off against
the German Chancellor. But acting on the principle of "Set a thief to
catch a thief," I shall adduce some instances from German newspapers.