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We will not attempt to dwell on all the intricacies ofthe extremely complicated diplomatic game that preceded theoutbreak of the war. We will merely endeavour to presentto the world the more important incidents which broughtabout the conflict, and we will present them on the strength ofthe evidence supplied by the Powers of the Triple Entente.

With this end in view we will first of all define the stepsto which must be ascribed the immediate cause of the war.From there, we will resume the course of events.

THE INCENDIARY.

There can be no question as to the immediate cause ofthe war. It was the general mobilisation of the Russian

the notice of the functionary of the Quai d'Orsay to whom the concoctionof this Yellow Book document had been entrusted.

A similar mishap attended a note which, according to the English Blue Book, was handed to the English Secretary of State for ForeignAffairs by M. Paul Cambon, French Ambassador at London , on the30th of July, 1914, and which refers to Germany 's military preparationson the frontiers of Alsace-Lorraine. (See Blue Book No. 105, Annexe 3.)By dating this note from the 30 th of July it was intended to create theimpression as if on that day, and already previously the German troopshad been standing close to the French frontier and, besides, that thefrontier had even been crossed by patrols. In the 3rd edition of the BlueBook the note begins as follows, viz.: —

"L'armée allemande a ses avant-postes sur nos bornes-

"frontières, hier par deux fois des patrouilles allemandes ont

"pénétré sur notre territoire".

(Transi.: The German army has its advance posts on our

frontiers, yesterday German patrols twice penetrated into our

territory.)

"Yesterday" naturally means the 29 th of July in a note which isdated from the 30* of July. The 29«' of July was a Wednesday. Butthe 1st edition of the Blue Book was reading "hier, vendredi" (yesterday,Friday); some time later, when the discrepancy had been noticed, theword "vendredi" was eliminated. This shows that the note which isalleged to have been presented on the 30 th of July, could not have beendrawn up before Saturday, August 1 st , quite apart from the fact thatneither on the 29 th nor on the 31st of July the frontiers had beencrossed anywhere.