It was 11 o’clock at night—12 by German time—when the ultimatum expired. The windows of the Admiralty were thrown wide open in the warm night air. Under the roof from which Nelson had received his orders were gathered a small group of Admirals and Captains and a cluster of clerks, pencil in hand, waiting. Along the Mall from the direction of the Palace the sound of an immense concourse singing ‘God save the King’ floated in. On this deep wave there broke the chimes of Big Ben; and, as the first stroke of the hour boomed out, a rustle of movement swept across the room. The war telegram, which meant ‘Commence hostilities against Germany,’ was flashed to the ships and establishments under the White Ensign all over the world. I walked across the Horse Guards’ Parade to the Cabinet room and reported to the Prime Minister and the Ministers who were assembled there that the deed was done. CHAPTER XI WAR: THE PASSAGE OF THE ARMY August 4–August 22 1914 ‘The Time to visualise what will fall under the harrow of war is before the harrow is set in motion. Afterwards comes in Inevitableness with iron lips, and Fatalism with unscrutinising gaze, and Us with filmed eyes, and Instinct with her cry, “Do not look too closely, seeing one must keep one’s senses!”’ MARY JOHNSTON, ‘_Cease Firing_,’ Chapter XXIX. British Strategy—The Great War Council, August 5—Four Divisions or Six—Changes in the Cabinet—Lord Kitchener: Secretary of State for War—Organisation of the British Armies—Lord Kitchener’s Task—The Royal Naval Division—Departure of the German and Austrian Ambassadors—The Board of Admiralty in War—Responsibilities of the First Lord—Procedure—The German Method—Relative Naval Strength—The Prospects of Battle—British Command of the Sea—Paralysis of the German Mercantile Marine—Frustration of the German Attack on Trade—The _Goeben_ at Messina on August 5—Knowledge and Dispositions of Sir Berkeley Milne—Orders to the _Indomitable_—The Southern Exit—No Contact with the French—The _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ leave Messina—Rear-Admiral Troubridge’s Successive Decisions—Second Escape of the _Goeben_—Explanations—A Sinister Fatality—Final Abandonment of the Pursuit—Transportation of the British Army to France—Instructions to Sir John Jellicoe—Covering Movements of the Fleet—Safe Passage of the Army—The Deadly Hush.