The German Vice Chancellor, Friedrich von Payer, announced in the
Reichstag late in March that on account of the disclosures Prince
Lichnowsky had resigned his rank and expressed regrets. Herr von Payer
stated that Prince Lichnowsky himself, on March 15, made a statement to
the Imperial Chancellor in which he said:
Your Excellency knows that the purely private notes which I
wrote down in the Summer of 1916 found their way into wider
circles by an unprecedented breach of confidence. It was mainly
a question of subjective considerations about our entire foreign
policy since the Berlin Congress. I perceived in the policy
hitherto pursued of repelling Russia and in the extension of the
policy of alliances to Oriental questions the real roots of the
world war. I then submitted our Morocco naval policy to a brief
examination. My London mission could at the same time not
remain out of consideration, especially as I felt need in regard
to the future and with a view to my own justification of noting
the details of my experiences and impressions there before they
vanished from my memory.
Prince Lichnowsky then described how the memorandum, which he had shown
to a few political friends, got into wider circulation owing to an
indiscretion, and finally expressed lively regret at such an extremely
vexatious incident.