On the same day the Hamburger Nachrichten reported:  “A German refugee who has returned from the French capital says that there is no enthusiasm in Paris.  Men and women may be seen weeping in the streets, while the crowds are shouting:  ‘Down with war!’ ‘We desire no war!’”

Probably there is no better way to incite a ferocious bully than to tell him that his opponent is weak, unprepared and afraid.  Almost simultaneously false reports of French troops crossing the frontier and of French airmen dropping bombs on Nuremberg were spread by the Berlin General Staff, and thus an excuse found for a declaration of war on France.

From the French point of view events appeared quite different.  “This morning German troops have violated French territory at three different points:  in the direction of Longwy by Luneville, at Cirey and by Belfort.  War has thus been declared, and the endeavours for peace as described in the President’s proclamation have been in vain.  For the last eight days Herr von Schoen (German Ambassador in Paris) has lulled us to sleep with endearing protestations of peace.  Meanwhile Germany has mobilized troops in a secret and malevolent manner.

“The war upon which we must enter is for civilization against barbarism.  All Frenchmen must be united not merely by the feeling of duty, but also in hatred for an enemy who seeks no other goal than our annihilation—­the destruction of a nation which has always been a pioneer of justice and liberty in the world.

“To-night our five covering-corps will take up their positions and face the enemy till our plan of concentration is completed.  Russia is with us.

“MESSIMY,

“Minister for War.”

From the moment that Germany declared war on France, new tactics were adopted in the Press.  A campaign of calumny began which is the exact counterpart of that against Belgium and the Belgians.  Uncorroborated tales of Germans having been ill treated in all parts of France were spread broadcast.  According to one journal[163] sixty to eighty Germans had been murdered on the platforms of the Gare de l’Est in Paris.

[Footnote 163:  Koelnische Volkszeitung, August 5th.]

Still there is one accusation which even German newspapers have never dared to make, viz., that Frenchmen murdered and ill-treated Frenchmen, or that war delirium led them to destroy property on a wholesale scale.  On the other hand, the picture obtainable of Germany during August, 1914, proves that similar peaceful conditions did not prevail in the great nation of “drill and discipline.”

France was even “convicted” of having caused the war; instead of being unprepared, she had laid the fuse and was the guilty power in causing the European explosion.  “The German Government has now obtained absolute proof that France has been standing at arms, ready to fall upon Germany, for many weeks past."[164]

[Footnote 164:  Hamburger Fremdenblatt, August 13th.]