WILD SCENES IN BERLIN

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2267, 29 September 1914, Page 6

WILD SCENES IN BERLIN

BRITISH EMBASSY STONED , I am now able to transmit a detailed account of;the'circumstances of the British declaration of war and of the striking scenes:iii"Berlin on the occasion cf .the departure'-of .the British Ambaesador and his staff, writes the Berlin correspondent of the '•Westminster-Gaz-ette" ' three' days after'the declaration of" war. "On , -. Tuesday, shortly before seven o'clock, Sir Edward Goschen appoared at the Foreign Office in Wilhelmetrasso, demanded passports, and announced that England was in a state of war with Germany. The etitto of war had practically existed since three o'clock, when, in his speech during the first session in the lteichstag building, tho Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Mollweg, frankly announced that German forces would enter and- had perhaps already done w>. This, the Chancellor admitted, was indeed a breach of international lav, , , bub was inevitable. Immediately afterwards Sir Edward Goschen wont in bis motor-car to tho Hoichstag, looking extremely grave, and demanded of the Konsian. Minister, Herr von Jagow, an immediate answer to tho question wheth'ir Belgian neutrality would bo revpwted,. Herr von Jagow anBvwed tliat was impossible, and explained why. Germany, hp said, must enter Belgium, in order to prevent France I'rom traversing it. /'lks result whs Sir Edward Boschen's demand for passports, and the Embassy immediately net about making preparations to leave. On Tuesday night r* , t

the declaration of war, the British Embassy was besieged by a vast mob, winch broke- windows. Police protection failed. The same night and throughout Wednesday the police raided English dwellings, and 120 Englishmen were seized, searched, and afterwards given tickets-of-leave, with obligation to report every three days, their release having been secured by Mr. Gorard, tha American. Forty British subjects, however wero carried ;off to Spandau ForCess and the threat was made- that they would be compelled to fight. Mr. Gerard' says he will have. them released. The position of British subjects general.ly.i6 most uncomfortable, bub I believe there is no danger.

1 Precautions Against Bombs. On Thursday morning, at 8.16; Sir Edward. Goschen and tho Embassy staff, with about a dozen newspaper correspondents, left Berlin in a special train. Our destination was unknown, but' we wero told Swinemimde: Wo are now near the Dutch frontier. With us is Baron Beyeu, the Belgian Minister, who demanded passports last night, and his staff. 'All of us received from the Foreign Office special permits to leave Germany: The .authorities-acted Veil. No one without a , pass was allowed near the Embassy, and'about 500 policemen were on the route to Lehrter station, people were about, aud there was uo demonstration. ■ '.:■■■ The train took fifteen hours to reach Minden. Stations, bridges, culverts, all woro guarded, by sentries, sometimes by Ourban Volunteers, armed with shotguns. When approaching' the Elbe bridge, near Stendhal, strong precautions were takeiij and even the lavatories were closed, lest someono should drop a bomb out of the ,' We passed numerous troop trains full of reservists, mostly going east. These trains are a remarkable sight. They are completely covered v-ith lindeh branches, stuckout of the windows, and resemble moving forests.. The train was full of police officials,,under the command of a lieutenant-colonel, and on approaching stations wo were requested to close the windows. Here, at Olden-, zaal; one first sees tho humours of war. On every carriage-door are ironical inscriptions sketched in clialf. Many carriages are marked '.'Nach -Paris" ; others "Nacii Moskau" ; one-oven "Naclr London. , . , On many 'is scribbled "Deutschland Ueber Alles.'' One I. saw with a caricature of the Czar, and another of Poincare. At Schonhausen some learned wit had chalked on a derelict engine, in -Russian letters, the words "Grandmother Maclialas." i , Reservists ! seem in excellent spirits; often singing, always-greetingour train with cheers, and looking surprised when we did not respond.' The ■ countryside . looks and grain crops aro only about' half in. ' Until we reached Hannover we" encountered no demon stration. Tho ■ people. at wayside stations did; not seem to understand the nature of our train. At Hannover; however, a large body of Reservists was■' on the platform opposite the Ambassador's carriage, and sang repeatedly. "Deutschland! Deutechland TJeber Alles!" At the next station, Wuntsdorf, about 200 Red Cross girls stood beside our restaurant car, where I was: dining, and sang "Deutschland Alles" and "Wapht am Khein;' repeating this without break for half an hour. As we moved, out they waved their hands ironically. Singing is everywhere wonderfully "good, v and rings out ,a menacing and resolute -note.

' '■.-■ Emperor's Apology. '■•■ With regard to Wig insults offered to the British'' Embassy in Berlin by a mot, for which the Emperor'lias already apologised to the British Ambassador, the following German official account of what happened is published here: "The public at first confined- its demonstrations to the singing of patriotic ■songs and shouting to persons who were looking from the windows and making outrageous gestures.-' Some' sand - was thrown on the crowd, which thereupon tore up the-mosaic'pavement, and bombarded:';, the windows of tho 'Eniftassy. with the fragments. The police- immediately cleared tho streets'." ..•.•■■■-'