“After the proclamation was ended a deep silence ensued, then a loud voice cried:  ‘The Kaiser!  Hurrah!’ Three times the shout rang to the heavens.  ‘The German army!  Hurrah!’ Once more the caps were swung three times.  The boy-like lieutenant, with head erect, sword in hand, commands:  ‘Attention!  Slope arms!’ The regular beat of marching men follows as they proceed in the direction of the Imperial Residence.  Berlin is under martial law!"[13]

[Footnote 13:  Deutscher Kurier, July 31st.]

“During the afternoon enormous masses of people collected in the streets and open spaces of Berlin.  Unter den Linden, in expectation of the Kaiser’s return, was overfilled with excited, waiting throngs.  Just before a quarter to four a great movement was seen from the direction of the Brandenburger Tor, which spread like a wave along the street.  Everybody rushed on to the road, and the police were pushed aside.  Then the suppressed excitement of the last few days gave vent to a hurricane of hurrahs as the populace greeted their monarch.  The Emperor was wearing the uniform of the Garde-Kuerassiere; beside him sat the Empress.  His countenance was overshadowed by deep gravity as he returned the welcome of his subjects.  At a quarter to four the Kaiser was in the royal castle, and immediately the Imperial Standard was fluttering aloft."[14]

[Footnote 14:  Vossische Zeitung, July 31st.]

The next twenty-four hours are so full of fateful events that they seem one big blur on the memory.  Although everyone was convinced that an appeal to the sword was inevitable, there was still a tense feeling of dread expectation hanging like a cloud over the land.  During the whole of that long night the author was an observer from an overcrowded train which left Nuremberg at 9 p.m. and rumbled dismally into Cologne the next morning at ten o’clock.  Every station, great and small, was crowded with anxious, expectant crowds; the smaller stations full of spectators and relatives bidding farewell to departing soldiers, and the greater ones crowded with fleeing tourists.

On the platforms at Frankfort and Cologne many tons of luggage were stacked in huge piles.  It would be interesting to know what became of them.[15] Few Germans could have slept that night; the anxiety was too great.  The whole railway line was guarded by patrols, many of whom were in civilian attire.  Here and there a “field-grey” uniform was visible.  On many stations armed guards awaited the arrival of reservists and gave them conduct to the barracks.

[Footnote 15:  The Koenigsberger Hartungsche Zeitung contained a paragraph on August 7th to the effect that 120,000 trunks and portmanteaux had been collected on Berlin stations alone.]

The Kaiser spoke words of cheer from a window of the royal palace on Friday evening, after which the restless crowd thronged to the official residence of the Chancellor to receive as a watchword the words which Prince Friedrich Karl had spoken on a memorable occasion to his Brandenburger troops:  “Let your hearts beat to God, and your blows on the enemy.”