The ‘great contradictions and profound abysses within the life of the German state’ revealed by the Kaiser’s outburst had left him ‘deeply shaken’. Kühlmann replied that he ‘had been a long time acquainted with these abysses. But it was impossible for a statesman entrusted with matters of life and death, even in utter frankness to give the leading parliamentarians a clear view and to present to them the difficulties with which they had to struggle step by step.’
