The year and month of the historic event had been fixed by her leaders a considerable time in advance, as we now know from incontrovertible evidence. So, too, had the choice of method, which was in harmony with the usual formula, that Germany is never the apparent aggressor, and that it is her enemies who must be made to appear the partisans of preventive war. The principle was thus laid down by Bismarck when he altered King Wilhelm's historic telegram from Ems: "Success essentially depends upon the impression which the genesis of the war makes on ourselves and others. It is important that we should be the party attacked."[50] [50] _Bismarck: His Reflections and Reminiscences._ Finally, the very day was determined--and almost on the very eve it was changed to the following day. In connection with the date and the method I have a curious tale to unfold which has never yet been recounted in western Europe. The incident in some respects bears an unmistakable resemblance to the story of Bismarck's forgery of the Ems telegram and is well worth relating[51] and remembering. The main features are as follows. [51] My authority for the story is the principal observer, who was also an actor in a part of this subsidiary little drama: A. I. Markoff, who at that time represented the semi-official Russian Telegraph Agency, as its head correspondent in Berlin. He himself told me the story in Stockholm and authorized me to make it known. CHAPTER VIII A MACHIAVELLIAN TRICK BY WHICH RUSSIA'S HAND WAS FORCED