I did not hesitate to accept his invitation, but knowing that in England Christmas is par excellence a family gathering, I did not want to come in as a stranger, and I answered that I would make a point of visiting him two days after Christmas. Mr. Gladstone’s son met me at the station on my arrival, and my room was ready at the Castle. The next day, after breakfast, the master of the house put himself at my disposition for an interview, and we repaired to his study. The interview was a long and cordial one, and again confirmed my conviction that the reason why we had been so completely abandoned by our neighbours was that the war had broken out so suddenly that no one had expected it and no Power had had the time to be prepared. At the risk of being accused of needless repetition, I must again describe what had already struck me in my interviews in Vienna, in London and everywhere--that is, that the Powers were afraid of our conquerors. Nor was this fear without foundation; it arose from the state of impotence into which the suddenness of the war had plunged every Government. The war had surprised them while in absolute repose, and, as it were, asleep. In all Europe a single Power was on guard and not taken by surprise, for she was waiting for the alarm signal and had long been prepared for it. It was the enemy which the Empire had chosen in a moment of evil fortune and blindness. When I say that only a _single_ Power foresaw the signal and was prepared, that is true in the literally numerical sense of the word; not even with the exception of the unhappy Empire which had caused such general stupefaction by provoking the war. To-day it is proved that the Empire went to war with Prussia as if it had been a military promenade to Berlin. It did not see any danger, and not even any difficulties ... and such was its blindness that it entered on this ill-omened war without even having prepared the material means necessary for such a struggle, and without having assured itself of any allies. We were completely isolated, and this isolation was forcibly and by the fatality of things doomed to last till the end, till the conclusion of peace. When the candidature of the Prince of Hohenzollern was definitely abandoned, and when it appeared for a moment that the threatening storm had cleared, the Powers all immediately recovered from their alarm and thought the incident finished. The declaration of war which afterwards supervened at a time when it was no longer expected by anyone, forcibly threw all the States in Europe into profound stupefaction, and found them in a state of absolute impotence. They were denied the material possibility of arming, and the rapidity of events had robbed them of the time necessary for their preparations.