“Then came the declaration of war, most dramatically.
Tuesday night, five minutes after the ultimatum had expired, the Admiralty
telegraphed to the fleet "Go." In a few minutes the answer came back
"Off." Soldiers began to march through the city going to the railway
stations. An indescribable crowd so blocked the streets about the Admiralty,
the War Office, and the Foreign Office, that at one
o'clock in the morning I had to drive in my car by other streets to
get home.
The next day the German Embassy was turned over to me. I
went to see the German Ambassador at three
o'clock in the after-noon. He came down in his pyjamas, a crazy
man. I feared he might literally go mad. He is of the anti-war party and he had
done his best and utterly failed. This interview was one of the most pathetic
experiences of my life. The poor man had not slept for several nights. Then
came the crowds of frightened Germans, afraid that they would be arrested. They
besieged the German Embassy and our Embassy. I put one of our naval officers in
the German Embassy, put the United States seal on the door to protect it, and
we began business there, too. Our naval officer has moved in—sleeps there. He
has an assistant, a stenographer, a messenger: and I gave him the German
automobile and chauffeur and two English servants that were left there.
All
I shall never forget Sir Edward Grey's telling me of the
ultimatum —while he wept; nor the poor German Ambassador who has lost in his
high game—almost a demented man; nor the King as he declaimed at me for half an
hour and threw up his hands and said, "My God, Mr. Page, what else could
we do?" Nor the Austrian Ambassador's wringing his hands and weeping and
crying out, "My dear Colleague, my dear Colleague."
