German Ambassador in vain pressed him to state his own terms as the
price of English neutrality.

The hour had struck. Russia was sure of herself, and the rest followed
automatically since all had been provided for long before. The French
fleet was in the Mediterranean, as the result of the military compact
between France and England signed, sealed and delivered in November,
1912, and _withheld from the cognizance of the British Parliament
until after war had been declared_. The British fleet had been
mobilized early in July in anticipation of Russia's mobilization on
land--and here again it is Sir Edward Grey who incidentally supplies
the proof.

In his anxiety, while there was still the fear that Russia might hold
her hand, he telegraphed to the British Ambassador in St. Petersburg
on 27th of July, requiring him to assure the Russian Foreign Minister,
that the British Fleet, "which is concentrated, _as it happens_" would
not disperse from Portland.

That "as it happens" is quite the most illuminating slip in the
British White Paper, and is best comprehended by those who know what
have been the secret orders of the British fleet since 1909, and what
was the end in view when King George reviewed it earlier in the month,
and when His Majesty so hurriedly summoned the unconstitutional
"Home Rule" conference at Buckingham Palace on 18th of July. Nothing
remained for the "friends" but to so manoeuvre that Germany should be
driven to declare war, or see her frontiers crossed. If she did the
first, she became the "aggressor"; if she waited to be attacked she
incurred the peril of destruction.