In view of all this, he continued, it was his duty as Imperial Chapcellor, notwithstanding he admitted the justification of my objections, to insist that I sign the telegram in the general political interest, and, above all else in the interest of my relationship to my people. He and also Herr von Marschall, he went on, in their capacity of my constitutional advisers, would assume full responsibility for the telegram and its consequences, Sir Valentine Chirol, at that time correspondent of the "Times," wrote, in the "Times" of September 11, that Herr von Marschall, directly after the sending of the despatch, had stated to him that the despatch did not give tha personal opinion of the Emperor, but: was a governmental act, for which the Chancellor and he himself assumed full responsibility.
Admiral Hollmann, when the Imperial Chancellor appealed to him for corroboration of this point of view and asked by him to uphold it to me, declined to do so with the remark that the Anglo-Saxon world would unquestionably attribute the telegram to the Kaiser, since nobody would. believe that such a provocative thing could come from his Majesty's elderly advisers, and all would consider, it an "impulsive" act of the '"youthful" Emperor.
Then I again tried to dissuade the gentlemen from their project. But the Imperial Chamcellor and Marschall insisted that I sign, reiterating that they would be responsible for consequences. It seemed to ins that I ought not to refuse after their presentation of the case. I signed.
Not long before his death Ad-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.