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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29338-8.txt b/29338-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b6a6ec --- /dev/null +++ b/29338-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9018 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of England and Germany, by Emile Joseph Dillon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: England and Germany + +Author: Emile Joseph Dillon + +Release Date: July 6, 2009 [EBook #29338] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND AND GERMANY *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +ENGLAND AND GERMANY + +BY + +DR. E. J. DILLON + + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION + +BY + +THE HON. W. M. HUGHES, M.P. PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA + +BRENTANO'S NEW YORK + +CHAPMAN & HALL LTD. LONDON + +1917 + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BRUNSWICK +ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY SUFFOLK + +TO + +H.S.H. ALICE +PRINCESS OF MONACO + +THIS PARTIAL PRESENTMENT OF THE +BEGINNINGS OF A WORLD +CATACLYSM + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Behind any human institution there stand a few men--perhaps only one +man--who direct its movement, protect its interests, or serve as its +mouthpiece. This applies to nations. If we wish to know for what a +nation stands and what are its ideals and by what means it seeks to +realise them, we shall do well to know something of the men who lead +its people or express their feelings. + +It is of vital importance that we should understand the attitude of +every one of the nations--both friends and enemies--involved in this +war. For in this way only can we know what is necessary to be done to +achieve victory. + +And the remarkable man who has written this book knows those who lead +the warring nations in this titanic conflict very much better than +ordinary men know their own townsmen. + +Dr. Dillon has moved through the chancelleries of Europe. He has seen +and heard what has been denied to all but very few. In the Balkans, +that cauldron of racial passions which, overflowing, gave our enemies +an ostensible cause for this war, he moved as though an invisible and +yet keenly observant figure. He could claim the friendship of +Venizelos and other Balkan statesmen. He has travelled as a monk +throughout the mountain fastnesses, he has slept in the caves of +Albania. He understands the people of all the Balkans, speaks their +tongues as a native, and knows and assesses at their true value their +leaders. + +At the time of the murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and the +Archduchess, Dr. Dillon was in Austria, and he remained there through +those long negotiations in which Germany tenaciously clung to her +design of war. + +How well he knows Germany let his book speak. His knowledge of Russia +is profound. A master of many languages, he occupied a chair at the +Moscow University for many years, and his insight into Russian +politics is deep. + +In this book he speaks out of the depth of his knowledge, and tells +the people of Britain what this war means to them, and what needs to +be done before we can hope for victory. He speaks plainly because he +feels strongly. + +It may be that we cannot agree with him in everything that he says. +But no one, after reading Dr. Dillon's remarkable book, will any +longer regard the war as but a passing episode. It is a timely +antidote to that fatal delusion. + +For this war is a veritable cataclysm, and the future of the world +hangs upon the result. We must change our lives. Insidiously, while we +have called all foreigners brothers and sought foes amongst ourselves, +the great force of barbarism, in a new guise and with enormous power +of penetration and annexation, has worked for our undoing. This force +now stands bared, in the hideous bestiality of Germany's doctrine of +Might, and it can be defeated only by an adaptation of its methods +that will leave nothing as it was before. + +Dr. Dillon's unfolding of the story of German preparation is, it will +be admitted, one of fascinating interest. Of its value as a +contribution to political and diplomatic history it is not for me to +speak. But to its purpose in keying all men to the pitch; all to a +sense of the great events in which we are taking part, I bear my +testimony. "Germany is wholly alive, physically, intellectually, and +psychically. And she lives in the present and future" (p. 311). And +the living force of Germany requires us to rise to the very fulness of +our powers; for as the champions of truth and right we must prove +ourselves physically and morally stronger than the champions of +soulless might. + +Germany is wholly alive; but she is alive for evil. We whose purpose +is good, whose cause is justice and whose triumph is indispensable if +honest industry and human right are not to disappear from mankind, are +as yet not fully alive to the immensity and necessity of our task. We +must awaken, or be awakened, ere it be too late. + +Germany is living in the present and in the future. It is a present of +determined effort, of unlimited sacrifice, of colossal hope. The +future for which she strives and suffers is a future incompatible +with those ideals which our race cherishes and reveres. Either our +philosophy, our religion and code prevail, or they fade into decay, +and Germany's aims remain. The choice is definite. + +There can be no parley, no compromise with the evil thing for which +Germany fights. There is not room for both. One must go down. + +We must win outright. And we can and shall win--if we bend every +thought, our whole will, our every energy, our utmost intensity of +determination to the great work. Failing this, we shall secure only a +victory equivalent to defeat. We chose the part of free men, and, when +purified by complete self-sacrifice, shall emerge from the ordeal a +great and regenerated people. + +W. M. HUGHES. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + +INTRODUCTION BY THE HON. W. M. HUGHES vii + +I THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY 1 + +II THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF PREPARATION 7 + +III GERMANY AND ITALIAN FINANCE 27 + +IV THE ANNEXATION MANIA 37 + +V GERMANY AND RUSSIA 53 + +VI THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE ENTENTE 81 + +VII TEUTON POLITICS 88 + +VIII A MACHIAVELLIAN TRICK BY WHICH RUSSIA'S +HAND WAS FORCED 99 + +IX GERMAN PROPAGANDA IN SCANDINAVIA 108 + +X GERMANY AND THE BALKANS 116 + +XI THE RIVAL POLICIES 136 + +XII PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP 146 + +XIII PROBLEMS OF FINANCE 161 + +XIV READJUSTMENTS 175 + +XV THE POSITION OF ITALY 192 + +XVI ROUMANIA AND GREECE 214 + +XVII GERMANY'S RESOURCEFULNESS 227 + +XVIII THE PERILS OF PARTY POLITICS 236 + +XIX PAST AND PRESENT 246 + +XX PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE 272 + +XXI THE FINAL ISSUE 296 + + + + +OURSELVES AND GERMANY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY + + +During the memorable space of time that separates us from the outbreak +of the catastrophic struggle, out of which a new Europe will shortly +emerge, events have shed a partial but helpful light on much that at +the outset was blurred or mysterious. They have belied or confirmed +various forecasts, fulfilled some few hopes, blasted many others, and +obliged the allied peoples to carry forward most of their cherished +anticipations to another year's account. Meanwhile the balance as it +stands offers ample food for sobering reflection, but will doubtless +evoke dignified resignation and grim resolve on the part of those who +confidently looked for better things. + +The items of which that balance is made up are worth careful scrutiny +for the sake of the hints which they offer for future guidance. The +essence of their teaching is that we Allies are engaged not in a war +of the by-past type in which only our armies and navies are contending +with those of the adversary according to accepted rules, but in a +tremendous struggle wherein our enemies are deploying all their +resources without reserve or scruple for the purpose of destroying or +crippling our peoples. Unless, therefore, we have the will and the +means to mobilize our admittedly vaster facilities and materials and +make these subservient to our aim, we are at a disadvantage which will +profoundly influence the final result. It will be a source of comfort +to optimists to think that, looking back on the vicissitudes of the +first twenty months' campaign, they can discern evidences that there +is somewhere a statesman's hand methodically moulding events to our +advantage, or attempering their most sinister effects. Those who fail +to perceive any such traces must look for solace to future +developments. For there are many who fancy that the economy of our +energies has been carried to needless lengths, that the adjustment of +means to ends lacks thoroughness and precision, and that our leaders +have kept over rigorously within the narrow range of partial aims, +instead of surveying the problem in its totality and enlarging the +permanent efficacy of their precautions against unprecedented dangers. + +The twenty months that have just lapsed into history have done much to +loosen the hold of some of the baleful insular prejudices which +heretofore held sway over the minds of nearly all sections of the +British nation. It may well be, therefore, that we are now better able +to grasp the significance of the principal events of the war, and to +seek it not in their immediate effects on the course of the struggle, +but in the roots--still far from lifeless--whence they sprang. For it +is not so much the upshot of the first phases of the campaign as the +deep-lying causes which rendered them a foregone conclusion that force +themselves on our consideration. Those causes are still operative, +and unless they be speedily uprooted will continue to work havoc with +our hopes. + +It is now fairly evident that the present war is but a violent phase +in the unfolding of a grandiose ground idea--the subjugation of Europe +by the Teuton--which was being steadily realized ever since the close +of the Franco-German campaign of 1870. It is likewise clear that, +despite her "swelled head," Germany's estimate of her ability to try +issues with all continental Europe was less erroneous than the faith +of her destined victims in their superior powers of resistance. The +original plan, having been limited to the continental states, was +upset by Great Britain's co-operation with France and Russia. But, +despite this additional drag, Germany has achieved the remarkable +results recorded in recent history. And with some show of reason she +looks forward to successes more decisive still. For in her mode of +conceiving the problem and her methods of solving it lie the secret of +her progress. But there, too, is to be found the counter-spell by +which that progress may be effectually checked; and it is only by +mastering that secret and applying it to the future conduct of the +struggle that we can hope to ward off the dangers that encompass us. + +Germany is like no other State known to human history. She exercises +the authority of an infallible and intolerant Church while disposing +of the flawless mechanism of an absolute State. She is armed with the +most deadly engines of destruction that advanced science can forge, +and in order to use them ruthlessly she mixes the subtlest poisons to +corrupt the wells of truth and debase the standards of right and +wrong. And this she can do without the least qualms of conscience, in +virtue of her firm belief in the amorality of political conduct. Her +members at home and abroad, whose number is not fewer than a hundred +and twenty millions, form a political community of whose compactness, +social sense and single-mindedness the annals of the human race offer +no other example. All are fired by the same zeal, all obey the same +lead, all work for the same object. She sent and is still sending +forth missionaries of her political faith, preachers of the gospel of +the mailed fist, to every country in which their services may prove +helpful. Diplomatists, journalists, bankers, contrabandists, social +agitators, spies, incendiaries, assassins and courtesans, willing to +offer up their energies and their lives in order to circumvent, +despoil or slay the supposed enemies of their race, address themselves +each one to his own allotted task and discharge it conscientiously. + +Those German colonists abroad are the eyes and arms and tongues of the +monster organism of which the brain-centre is Berlin. They endeavoured +to stir up dissension between class and class in Russia, France, +Britain, Belgium, to plant suspicion in the breast of Bulgaria and +Roumania, to create a prussophile atmosphere in Greece, Switzerland +and Sweden, and to bring pressure to bear on the Government of the +United States in the hope of fomenting discord between the American +and British peoples. They have occupied posts of influence in the +Vatican, are devoted to the Moslem Caliph, cultivate friendship with +the Senussi and the ex-Khedive of Egypt, are intriguing with the Negus +of Abyssinia, and spreading lying rumours, false news and vile +calumnies throughout the world. During the years that passed between +the war of 1870 and the outbreak of the present European struggle, +that stupendous organism contrived by those and kindred means to +possess itself of the principal strongholds of international opinion +and influence, the centres of the chief religions, the press, the +exchanges, the world's "key industries," the great marts of commerce +and the banks. It has friends at every Court, in every Cabinet, in +every European Parliament, and its agents are alert and active in +every branch of the administration of foreign lands. And while +suppleness marked their dealings with others, they were inflexible +only in their fidelity to the Teuton cause. Thus in Russia they were +conservative and autocratic in their intercourse with the ruling +spheres, and revolutionary in their relations with the Socialists and +working classes; in France and Britain they were democrats and +pacifists; in Italy they were rabid nationalists or neutralists +according to the political sentiments of their environment; in Turkey, +Morocco, Egypt and Persia staunch friends of Islam. They intrigued +against dynasties, conspired against cabinets, reviled influential +publicists, fostered strikes and tumults, set political parties and +entire states by the ears, dispelled grounded suspicions and armed +various bands of incendiaries and assassins. + +But in spite of cogged dice and poisoned weapons, the comprehensive +way in which the enterprise was conceived, the consummate skill with +which it was wrought out towards a satisfactory issue, the +whole-heartedness of the nation which, although animated by a fiery +patriotism that fuses all parties and classes into one, is yet +governed with military discipline, offer a wide field for imitation +and emulation. For the changes brought about by the first phases of +the war are but fruits of seed sown years ago and tended ever since +with unfailing care, and unless suitable implements, willing hands and +combined energies are employed in digging them up and casting them to +the winds, the second crop may prove even more bitter than the first. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF PREPARATION + + +On the historic third of August when war was formally declared, its +nature was as little understood by the Allies as had been its +imminence. The statesmen who had to full-front its manifestations were +those who had persistently refused to believe in its possibility, and +who had no inkling of its nature and momentousness. Most of them, +judging other peoples by their own, had formed a high opinion of the +character of the German nation and of the pacific intentions of its +Government, and continued to ground their policy in war time on this +generous estimate, which even when upset by subsequent experience +still seems to linger on in a subconscious but not inoperative state. +At first their preparations to meet the emergency hardly went beyond +the expedients to which they would have resorted for any ordinary +campaign. In this they resembled a sea-captain who should make ready +to encounter a gale when his ship was threatened by a typhoon. Hence +their unco-ordinated efforts, their chivalrous treatment of a +dastardly foe, their high-minded refusal to credit the circumstantial +stories of sickening savagery emanating first from Belgium and then +from France, their gentle remonstrances with the enemy, their +carefully worded arguments, their generous understatement of their +country's case, and their suppression of any emotion among their own +folk akin to hatred or passion. In an insular people for whom peace +was an ideal, neighbourliness a sacred duty, and the psychology of +foreign nations a sealed book, this way of reading the bearings of the +new situation and adjusting them to the nation's requirements was +natural and fateful. + +To the few private individuals who had the advantage of experience and +were gifted with political vision the crisis presented itself under a +different aspect. Some of them had foreseen and foretold the war, +basing their forecast on the obvious policy of the German Government +and on the overt strivings of the German nation. They had depicted +that nation as intellectual and enterprising, abundantly equipped with +all the requisites for an exhausting contest, fired with enthusiasm +for a single idea--the subjugation of the world--and devoid of ethical +scruple. And in the clarion's blast which suddenly resounded on the +pacific air they recognized the trump of doom for Teuton Kultur or +European civilization, and proclaimed the utter inadequacy of ordinary +methods to put down this titanic rebellion against the human race. +That has been the gist of every opinion and suggestion on the subject +put forward by the writer of these lines since the outbreak of the +war. + +But even without these repeated warnings it should have been clear +that a carefully calculating people like the Germans, in whom the gift +of organizing is inborn and solicitude for detail is a passion, would +not embark on a preventive war without having first established a just +proportion between their own equipment for the struggle and the +magnitude of the issues dependent on its outcome. It was, further, +reasonable to assume that this was no mere onset of army against army +and navy against navy according to the old rules of the game, but a +mobilization by the two military empires of all their resources--military, +naval, financial, economic, industrial, scientific and journalistic--to +be utilized to the fullest for the destruction of the Entente group. +It was also easy to discern that, whichever side was worsted, the +Europe which had witnessed the beginning of the conflict would be +transfigured at its close, and that Germany would, therefore, not +allow her freedom of action in conducting the war to be cramped by +sentimental respect for the checks and restraints of a political +system that was already dead. Lastly, it might readily be inferred +that the huge resources hoarded up by the enemy during forty years of +preparation would be centupled in value by the favourable conditions +which rendered them capable of being co-ordinated and directed by a +single will to the attainment of a single end. All these previsions, +warranted then by unmistakable tokens, have since been justified by +historic events, and it is to be hoped that the practical conclusions +to which they point may sink into the minds of the allied nations as +well as of their Governments, now that nearly two years have gone by +since they were first expressed. + +The earliest impression which German mobilization left upon the Allies +was that of the preventive character of this war. For it could have +had no other mainspring than a resolve to paralyse the arm of the +Entente, which, if allowed to wax stronger, might smite in lieu of +being smitten. For the moment, however, Germany was neither attacked +nor menaced. Far from that, her rivals were vying with each other in +their strivings to maintain peace. Her condition was prosperous, her +industries thriving, her colonial possessions had recently been +greatly increased, her influence on the affairs of the world was +unquestioned, her citizens were materially well-to-do, her workmen +were highly paid, her capitalists, seconding her statesmen and +diplomatists, had, with gold extracted from France, Britain and +Belgium, woven a vast net in the fine meshes of which most of the +nations of Europe, Asia and America were being insensibly trammelled. +Already her bankers handled the finances, regulated the industries and +influenced the politics of those tributary peoples. And by these +tactics a relationship was established between Germany and most states +of the globe which cut deep into the destinies of these and is become +an abiding factor of the present contest. For that reason, and also +because of the paramount influence of the economic factor on the +results of the struggle, they are well worth studying. + +To her superior breadth of outlook, marvellous organizing powers, the +hearty co-operation between rulers and people, and the ease with +which, unhampered by parliamentary opposition, her Government was +enabled to place a single aim at the head and front of its national +policy, Germany is perhaps more deeply indebted for her successes +during the first phases of the campaign than to the strategy of +Hindenburg or the furious onslaughts of Mackensen. German diplomacy +has been ridiculed for its glaring blunders, and German statesmanship +discredited for its cynical contempt of others' rights and its own +moral obligations. And gauged by our ethical standards the blame +incurred was richly deserved. But we are apt to forget that German +diplomacy has two distinct aspects--the professional and the +economic--and that where the one failed the other triumphed. And if +success be nine-tenths of justification, as the Prussian doctrine +teaches, the statesmen who preside over the destinies of the Teutonic +peoples have little to fear in the way of strictures from their +domestic critics. For they left nothing to chance that could be +ensured by effort. Trade, commerce, finances, journalism, science, +religion, the advantages to be had by royal marriages, by the +elevation of German princes to the thrones of the lesser states, had +all been calculated with as much care and precision as the choice of +sites in foreign countries for the erection of concrete emplacements +for their monster guns. No detail seemed too trivial for the bestowal +of conscientious labour, if it promised a possible return. When in +doubt whether it was worth while to make an effort for some object of +no immediate interest to the Fatherland the German invariably decided +that the thing should be done. "You never can tell," he argued, "when +or how it may prove useful." For years one firm of motor-car makers +turned out vehicles with holes, the object of which no one could guess +until the needs of the war revealed them as receptacles for light +machine-guns. + +Nearly two years of an unparalleled struggle between certain isolated +forces of the Allies and all the combined resources of the Teutons +ought to banish the notion that the results achieved are the fruits +only of Germany's military and naval efficiency. In truth, the +adequacy of her military and naval forces constitutes but an integral +part of a much vaster system. It has hitherto been the fashion among +British and French writers to dwell exclusively on the comprehensiveness +of the measures adopted by the Germans to fashion their land and sea +defences into destructive implements of enormous striking power and +scientific precision. But the German conception of the enterprise was +immeasurably more grandiose. It included every means of offence and +defence actually available or yet to be devised, and testifies to a +grasp of the nature of the problem which, so far as one can judge, has +not even yet been attained outside the Fatherland. As the present +situation and its coming developments present themselves as practical +corollaries of causes which the leaders of Germany rendered operative, +it may not be amiss to describe these briefly. + +The objective being the subjugation of Europe to Teutonic sway, the +execution of the plan was attempted by two different sets of measures, +each of which supplemented the other: military and naval efficiency on +the one hand and pacific interpenetration on the other. The former has +been often and adequately described; the latter has not yet attracted +the degree of attention it merits. For one thing, it was +unostentatious and invariably tinged with the colour of legitimate +trade and industry. Practically every country in Europe, and many +lands beyond the seas, were covered with networks of economic +relations which, without being always emanations of the governmental +brain, were never devoid of a definite political purpose. While Great +Britain, and in a lesser degree France, distracted by parliamentary +strife or intent on domestic reforms, left trade and commerce to +private initiative and the law of supply and demand, the German +Government watched over all big commercial transactions, interwove +them with political interests, and regarded every mark invested in a +foreign country not merely as capital bringing in interest in the +ordinary way, but also as political seed bearing fruit to be +ingathered when _Der Tag_ should dawn. Thus France and Britain +advanced loans to various countries--to Greece, for instance--at lower +rates of interest than the credit of those states warranted, but they +bargained for no political gain in return. Germany, on the contrary, +insisted on every such transaction being paid in political or economic +advantages as well as pecuniary returns. And by these means she tied +the hands of most European nations with bonds twisted of strands which +they themselves were foolish enough to supply. Italy, Russia, Turkey, +Roumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium and the Scandinavian States are +all instructive instances of this plan. Bankers and their staffs, +directors of works and factories, agents of shipping companies, +commercial travellers, German colonies in various foreign cities, +military instructors to foreign armies, schools and schoolmasters +abroad, heads of commercial houses in the different capitals, were all +so many agencies toiling ceaselessly for the same purpose. The effect +of their manoeuvres was to extract from all those countries the +wealth needed for their subjugation. One of the most astounding +instances of the success of these hardy manipulations is afforded by +the Banca Commerciale of Italy, which was a thoroughly German concern, +holding in its hands most of the financial establishments, trades and +industries of Italy. This all-powerful institution possessed in 1914 a +capital of £6,240,000 of which 63 per cent. was subscribed by Italian +shareholders, 20 per cent. by Swiss, 14 per cent. by French, and only +2-1/2 per cent. by Germans and Austrians combined! And the astounding +exertions put forward by the Germans during the first twelvemonth of +the war are largely the product of the economic energies which this +line of action enabled them to store up during the years of peace and +preparation. + +The execution of those grandiose schemes was facilitated by the easy +access which Germany had to the principal markets of the globe. One of +the main objects of her diplomacy had been to break down the tariff +barriers which would have reserved to the great trading empires the +main fruits of their own labour and enterprise. By the Treaty of +Frankfort the French had been compelled to confer on Germany the +most-favoured-nation clause, thus entitling her to enjoy all the +tariff reductions which the Republic might accord to those countries +with which it was on the most amicable terms. British free trade +opened wide the portals of the world's greatest empire to a deluge of +Teuton wares and to a kind of competition which contrasted with fair +play in a degree similar to that which now obtains between German +methods of warfare and our own. Russia, at first insensible to suasion +and rebellious to threats, endeavoured to bar the way to the economic +flood on her western frontiers, but during the stress of the Japanese +war she chose the lesser of two evils and yielded. The concessions +then made by my friend, the late Count Witte, to the German +Chancellor, drained the Tsardom of enormous sums of money and rendered +it a tributary to the Teuton. But it did much more. It supplied +Germany with a satisfactory type of commercial treaty which she easily +imposed upon other nations. Germany's road through Italy was traced by +the mistaken policy of the French Government which, by a systematic +endeavour to depreciate Italian consols and other securities, drove +Crispi to Berlin, where his suit for help was heard, the Banca +Commerciale conceived, and commercial arrangements concluded which +opened the door to the influx of German wares, men and political +ideals. + +A few years sufficed for the fruits of this generous hospitality to +reveal themselves. The influx of wealth and the increased population +helped to render the German army a match for the combined land forces +of her rivals, a formidable navy was created, which ranked immediately +after that of Great Britain, and a large part of Europe was so closely +associated with, and dependent on, Germany that an extension of the +Zollverein was talked of in the Fatherland, and a league of European +brotherhood advocated by the day-dreamers of France and Britain. The +French, however, never ceased to chafe at the commercial chain forged +by the Treaty of Frankfort, but were powerless to break it, while the +British lavished tributes of praise and admiration on Germany's +enterprise, and construed it as a pledge of peace. Russia, alive to +the danger, at last summoned up courage to remove it, and had already +decided to refuse to extend the term of the ruinous commercial treaty, +even though the alternative were war. That was the danger which +stimulated the final efforts of the Kaiser's Government. + +Thus the entire political history of Entente diplomacy during this war +may be summarized as a series of attempts on the part of the Allies to +undo some of the effects of the masterstrokes executed by Germany +during the years of abundance which she owed to the favoured-nation +clause, British free trade and kindred economic concessions. +Interpenetration is the term by which the process has been known ever +since Count Witte essayed it in Manchuria and China. + +The German procedure was simple, yet effective withal. Funds were +borrowed mainly in France, Britain, Belgium, where investors are often +timid and bankers are unenterprising. And then operations were begun. +The first aim pursued and attained was to acquire control of the +foreign trade of the country experimented on. With this object in view +banks of credit were established which lavished on German traders +every help, information and encouragement. Men of Teuton nationality +settled in the land as heads of firms, as clerks without salary, +private secretaries, foremen, correspondents, and rapidly contrived to +get command of the main arteries of the economic organism. German +manufactures soon flooded the country, because those who undertook to +import them could count on extensive credit from the institutions +founded with the money of the very nations whose trade they were +engaged in killing. In this way the competition, not only of all +Entente peoples but also of the natives of the country experimented +on, was systematically choked. And the customers of these banks, +natives as well as Teutons, became apostles of German influence. + +Insensibly the great industrial concerns of the place passed into the +possession of German banks, behind which stood the German empire. A +nucleus of influential business people, having been thus equipped for +action, incessantly propagated the German political faith. German +schools were established and subsidized by the _Deutscher +Schulverein_, clubs opened, musical societies formed, and newspapers +supported or founded, to consolidate the achievements of the +financiers. On political circles, especially in constitutional lands, +the influence of this Teutonic phalanx was profound and lasting. + +In all these commercial and industrial enterprises undertaken abroad +for economic gain and political influence, the German State, its +organs and the individual firms, went hand in hand, supplementing each +other's endeavours. The maxim they adopted was that of their military +commanders: to advance separately but to attack in combination. Not +only the Consul, but the Ambassador, the Minister, the Scholar, the +Statesman, nay the Kaiser[1] himself, were the inspirers, the +partners, the backers of the German merchant. Marschall von +Bieberstein once told me in Constantinople that his functions were +those of a super-commercial traveller rather than ambassadorial. And +he discharged them with efficiency. Laws and railway tariffs at home, +diplomatic facilities and valuable information abroad smoothed the way +of the Teuton trader. Berlin rightly gauged the worth of this pacific +interpenetration at a time when Britons were laughing it to scorn as a +ludicrous freak of grandmotherly government. To-day its results stand +out in relief as barriers to the progress of the Allies in the conduct +of the war. + + [1] The Kaiser is one of the largest shareholders in the + great mercury mines of Italy. + +Of this ingenious way of enslaving foreign nations unknown to +themselves, Italy's experience offers us an instructive illustration. +The headquarters of the German commercial army in that realm were the +offices of the Banca Commerciale in Milan. This institution was +founded under the auspices of the Berlin Foreign Office, with the +co-operation of Herr Schwabach, head of the bank of Bleichröder. +Employing the absurdly small capital of two hundred thousand pounds, +not all of which was German, it worked its way at the cost of the +Italian people into the vitals of the nation, and finally succeeded in +obtaining the supreme direction of their foreign trade, national +industries and finances, and in usurping a degree of political +influence so durable that even the war is supposed to have only numbed +it for a time. + +Between the years 1895 and 1915 the capital of this institution had +augmented to the sum of £6,240,000, of which Germany and Austria +together held but 2-1/2 per cent., while controlling all the +operations of the Bank itself and of the trades and industries linked +with it. + +The Germans, as a Frenchman wittily remarked, are born with the mania +of annexation. It runs in their blood. And it is not merely territory, +or political influence, or the world's markets that they seek to +appropriate. Their appetite extends to everything in the present and +future, nay, even in the past which they deem worth having. It is thus +that they claim as their own most of Italy's great men, such as Dante, +Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Galileo, and it is now asserted +by a number of Teuton writers that Christ Himself came of a Teutonic +stock. + +German organisms, as well as German statesmen, display the same mania +of annexation, and the Banks in especial give it free scope. German +banks differ from French, British and Italian in the nature, extent +and audacity of their operations. It was not always thus. Down to the +war of 1870 their methods were old-fashioned, cautious and slow. From +the year 1872 onward, however, they struck out a new and bold course +of their own from which British and French experts boded speedy +disaster. Private enterprises were turned into joint stock companies, +the capital of prosperous undertakings was increased and gigantic +operations were inaugurated. Between the years 1885 and 1889 the +industrial values issued each year reached an average of 1,770 million +francs; between 1890 and 1895 the average rose to 1,880 millions, and +from 1896 to 1900 it was computed at 2,384 millions.[2] + + [2] Cf. _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_. Ezio M. Gray. + Firenze. + +Of all German financial institutions the most influential and +prosperous is the Deutsche Bank. It has been aptly termed an empire +within the empire. Its capital, 250 million francs, exceeds that of +the Reichsbank by thirty millions. It is the first of the six great +German banks, of which four are known as the "D" group, because the +first letter of their respective names is D: Deutsche Bank, Dresdner +Bank, Disconto-Gesellschaft and Darmstädter Bank. The other two are +the Schaffhausenscher Bankverein and the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft. +The total capital of these six concerns amounts to 1,100 million +francs.[3] + + [3] _Op. cit._, p. 113. + +None of these houses is hampered by those rules, traditions or +scruples which limit the activity of British joint stock banks. They +are free to launch into speculations which, to the sober judgment of +our own financiers, must seem wild and precarious, but to which +success has affixed the hall-mark of approval. Each of the six banks +is a centre of German home industries and also of the foreign +transformations of these. To mention an industry is almost always to +connote some one of the six. Before the war broke out one had but to +gaze steadily at the beautiful facade of this or that Russian bank to +discern the Lamia-like monster from the banks of the Spree. The famous +firm of Krupps, for instance, had its affairs closely interwoven with +those of the Berliner Disconto Gesellschaft, and was more than once +rescued from bankruptcy by its timely assistance. Similar help was +afforded to the celebrated firm of Bauer which is known throughout the +world for its synthetical medicines. There were critical moments in +its existence when it was confronted with ruin. The Bank extricated +the firm from its difficulties, and the present dividend of 33 per +cent. has justified its enterprise. + +In this way the latter-day German banks upset all financial +traditions, opened large credits to industries, smoothed the way for +the spread of German commerce, killed foreign competition and +seconded the national policy of their Government. As an instance of +the push and audacity of these modernized institutions, a master +stroke of the Bank of Behrens and Sons of Hamburg may be mentioned: it +bought up the entire coffee crop of Guatemala one year to the +amazement of its rivals and netted a very large profit by the +transaction. + +Now as commerce is international and industry depends for its greatest +successes upon exportation, it was inevitable that the up-to-date +German banks should seek fields of activity abroad and aim at playing +a commanding part in the world's commerce. And they tried and +succeeded. For they alone instinctively divined the new spirit of the +age, which may be termed co-operative and agglutinative. It was in +virtue of this new idea that groups of States were leagued together by +Germany in view of her projected war, and it is the same principle +that impels her, before the conflict has yet been decided, to weld to +herself as many tributary peoples as she may to assist her in the +economic struggle which will be ushered in by peace. Germans first +semiconsciously felt and now deliberately hold that in all departments +of modern life, social, economic and political, our conception of +quantities must undergo a radical change. The scale must be greatly +enlarged. The unit of former times must give place to a group of +units, to syndicates and trusts in commerce and industry, to trade +unions in the labour world, to Customs-federations in international +life. That this shifting of quantities is a correlate of the progress +achieved in technical science and in means of communication, and also +of the vastness of armies and navies and of the aims of the world's +foremost peoples, is since then become a truism, realized not only by +the Germans but by all their allies. + +For individual enterprise, as well as for national isolation, there is +no room in the modern world. Isolation spells weakness and +helplessness there. The lesser neutral States must of necessity become +the clients of the Great Powers and pay a high price for the +protection afforded them. Hence the maintenance of small nations on +their present basis, with enormous colonies to exploit but without +efficient means of defending them, forms no part of Germany's future +programme. And the altruistic professions of the Entente which claims +to be fighting for the rights of little States, whose idyllic +existence it would fain perpetuate, is scoffed at by the Teutons as +chimerical or hypocritical. When this war is over, whatever its +upshot, Central Europe with or without the non-German elements will +have become a single unit, against whose combined industrial, +commercial and military strivings no one European Power can +successfully compete. And the difficulties which geographical +situation has raised against effective co-operation among the Allies +in war time will make themselves felt with increased force during the +economic struggle which will then begin. + +No mere tariff arrangement, but only a genuine league between all the +west European Powers and the British Empire, supplemented by a customs +union between them and the other Allies of the Entente, will then +avail to ward off the new danger and establish some rough approach to +the equilibrium which the present conflict has overthrown. The future +destinies of Europe, as far as one may conjecture from the data +available to-day, will depend largely on the insight of the Entente +nations and their readiness to subordinate national aims and interests +to those of the larger unit which will be the inevitable product of +the new order of things. + +The ideal type of the industrial bank having been thus wrought out, +the Germans, whom a thoroughly commercial education had qualified for +the work, carried on vast operations with a degree of boldness which +was matched only by the thoroughness of their precautions. They +advanced money with a readiness and an open-handedness which the West +European financier set down as sheer folly, but which was the outcome +of close study and careful deliberation. They began by acquainting +themselves with the solvency of their clients, with the nature of the +transactions which these were carrying on, with their business methods +and individual abilities, and to the results of this preliminary +examination they adjusted the extent of their financial assistance. +They had secret inquiry offices to keep them constantly informed of +the condition of the various firms and individuals, and when in doubt +they demanded an insight into the books of the company which was +seldom denied them. The Spanish Inquisition was but a clumsy agency in +comparison with the perfect system evolved by these German banks, +which could at any given moment sum up the prospects as well as the +actual situation of each of their customers. It was this comprehensive +survey which warranted some of the large advances they made to +seemingly insolvent firms which afterwards grew to be the most +prosperous in the Fatherland. + +The methods thus practised at home were adhered to in all those +foreign countries which the German financier, manufacturer or trader +selected for his field of operations. A bank would be opened in the +foreign capital with money advanced mainly by one of the six great +financial institutions. It would be called by some high-sounding name, +suggestive of the country experimented upon, and little by little the +German capital would be diminished to a minimum and local capital +substituted, but the supreme control kept zealously in the hands of +the Teuton directors. Industries would then be financed and finally +bought up. Others would also be financed but deliberately ruined. +Competition would in this way be effectively killed, and little by +little the life-juices of the country would be canalized to suit the +requirements of German trade, industry and politics. + +If an industry in the invaded country was judged capable of becoming +subsidiary to some German industry, the Bank would maintain it for the +purpose of amalgamating the two later on, or else having the foreign +concern absorbed by the Teutonic. This was a labour of patriotism and +profit. But if the business was recognized as a formidable rival to +some German enterprise, it was doomed. The procedure in this case was +simple. The Bank advanced money readily, tied the firm financially, +rendering it wholly tributary; and then when the hour of destiny +struck, the credit was suddenly withdrawn and the curtain rung up in +the Bankruptcy Court. When this consummation became public, the +unsuspecting foreigner would ask with naïve astonishment: "How can it +be bankrupt? I understood that Germans were financing it." They were, +and it was precisely for that reason, and because it was on the way to +prosperity as a rival to some German firm, that it was suffocated.[4] + + [4] Cf. _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_, pp. 118, 119. + +This ingenious system proved exceptionally effective in Brazil. It has +been said that that republic is become a dependency of Germany. What +cannot be gainsaid is that about one-third of Brazil's national +debt[5] is owing to German bankers, and the whole financial and +industrial movement of the country is swayed by the Society of +Colonization which is German, by the German Society for Mutual +Protection, by the German-Brazilian Society and by the three +Navigation Companies whose steamers ply between Brazil and the +Fatherland.[6] It is because of the far-reaching power and influence +which has accrued to Germany from this successful invasion that +Professor Schmoller of the Berlin University could write: "It behoves +us to desire at any and every cost that, by the next century, a German +land of twenty or thirty million inhabitants shall arise in Southern +Brazil. It is immaterial whether it remains part of Brazil or +constitutes an independent State or enters into close relations with +the German Empire. But without a connection guaranteed by battleships, +without the possibility of Germany's armed intervention in Brazil, its +future would be jeopardized." + + [5] 1050 million francs. + + [6] _Op. cit._, p. 120. + +It is the Monroe doctrine that is commonly credited with thwarting +these designs on South America. But as a matter of plain fact, it is +to the British Navy and to nothing else that the credit is due. Were +it not for the known resolve of the British nation to co-operate in +case of need with the American people in their exertions to uphold +that doctrine against Germany, the Berlin Cabinet would long ago have +formally established a firm footing in Southern Brazil and the United +States Government would have been powerless to prevent it.[7] + + [7] An instructive article on the subject by Mr. Moreton + Frewen appeared in the _Nineteenth Century_ of February, + 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GERMANY AND ITALIAN FINANCE + + +It was in congruity with those principles and methods that the Banca +Commerciale, which had its headquarters in Milan, set itself to +discharge the complex functions of a financial, industrial, commercial +and political agency of German interpenetration in Italy. + +To German customers and those Italians who imported German goods, the +Banca Commerciale allowed long credits and easy means of payment. To +all who were in need of implements, machinery, or materials for a new +enterprise, the bank "recommended" German houses, and those who were +wise construed the "recommendation" as an ultimatum. For if it was +ignored, their names were inscribed on the black books of the bank, +and by means of an efficacious system of secret dossiers, handled by a +confidential information bureau,[8] they found themselves thrust into +a "credit vacuum," boycotted by finance and condemned to bankruptcy. +All banks shunned them. Their bonds became mere scraps of paper. +Every enterprise to which they set their hands was blighted, and +nothing remained for them but to abandon their avocations or surrender +at discretion. + + [8] This secret information bureau is everywhere a potent + engine of attack in German hands. It renders deliberate + libellers and defamers immune against the action of the law. + The victims feel the effects but cannot point to the cause. + The _fiches_, as the certificates are called, are couched in + conventional terms and bear no signature. In the case of + persons whom the bank desires to ruin, these documents are + sentences of commercial death. + +But besides this executive of destruction there was another and still +more important board, whose work was wholly constructive. It was +commonly known as the "service of information." Its functions were to +collect at first hand all useful data about Italian commerce and +industry, to draw up tabulated reports for the use of Germans at home +engaged in trade and industry. These lists indicated current prices, +the qualities of the goods in demand, the favourite ways of packing +and consigning these, samples of manufactures, statistics of +production, the addresses of all firms dealing with Italians--in a +word, every kind of data calculated to enable German trade and +industry to compete successfully with their rivals. The manner in +which this body of information was drawn up, sifted, classified, and +made accessible, deserves unstinted admiration. To say that commercial +espionage was practised largely in the working of this comprehensive +system is but another way of stating that it was German. + +The Banca Commerciale, which was the head and centre of this +organization, was, as a matter of course, called Italian. For every +similar institution, commercial, journalistic or other, which has for +its object the realization of the Teutonic plan of internationalization, +invariably wears the mask of the nationality of the country in which +it operates. And in this case the mask was supplied by Italians, on +whom the bank bestowed all the highest _honorary_ posts, while +reserving the influential ones for Germans and Austrians. Thus the +moving spirits of this vast organization were Herrn Joel, Weil and +Toeplitz, men of uncommon business capacity, who devoted all their +time and energies to the attainment of the end in view. And their +zeal, industry and ingenuity were rewarded by substantial results, +which have left an abiding mark on Italian politics and entered for a +great deal into the attitude of the nation towards the two groups of +belligerents. In a relatively short span of time foreign competition +in Italian markets was checked, German products ousted those of their +rivals, and at last the very sources of Italy's economic life were in +the hands of the Teuton, whose continued goodwill became almost a +vital necessity to the struggling nation. + +Already in the year 1912 Germany stood first among Italy's customers, +whether we consider the list of her exports or that of imports. Italy +bought from that empire goods valued at 626,300,000 francs, and sold +it produce worth 328,200,000 francs; whereas Great Britain, who +supplies Italy with the bulk of her coal, exported only 577,100,000 +francs worth, while her imports were valued at 264,400,000 francs. For +France the figures were 289,600,000 and 222,600,000 francs +respectively. + +The method by which Italian industries were assailed, shaken, and then +purchased and controlled by this redoubtable organization, bore, as we +saw, all the marks of German commercial ethics. Sharp practice which +recognizes as its only limitation the strong arm of the penal law, is +a fair description of the plan of campaign. Against this insidious +process none of the native enterprises had the strength to offer +effective resistance. One by one they were drawn into the vast net +woven by the three German Fates--Joel, Weil and Toeplitz. The various +iron, mechanical and shipbuilding works, which represented the germs +from which native industries were to grow, were sucked into the Teuton +maelstrom. The larger and the smaller steamship navigation companies +likewise fell under the direction of the Banca Commerciale, which +permitted some of them to exist and even to thrive up to a certain +point, beyond which their usefulness to the general plan would have +turned to harm. In this way Italy's entire mercantile marine became +one of the numerous levers in the hands of the interpenetrating +German. And the importance of this lever for political purposes can +neither be gainsaid nor easily overstated. + +In every little town and village which sends a quota of emigrants to +the transatlantic liners, agents of the various steamship companies +are always about and active. Being intelligent and enterprising, their +influence on local politics is irresistible, and it was uniformly +employed in those interests which it was the object of the Banca +Commerciale to further. "This institution," writes an Italian expert, +who has studied the subject with unusual care, "being the mistress of +the dominant economic organisms of the nation, makes use of them to +carry out a germanophile policy. It employs them for the purpose of +exercising a directive action in all elections, commercial, provincial +and general. Every servant of a steamship navigation company, every +purveyor of emigrants is at the same time and by the very force of +things an electoral agent. The position of arbitress and mistress of +the steamship companies carries with it possession of the keys of the +national wealth, and is consequently a formidable weapon of aggressive +competition against all industries, Italian and foreign, which are not +affiliated to those of Germany. The Banca Commerciale, having obtained +that supremacy, forced the Italian companies to lead a languishing +existence in straitened circumstances, whereas they might easily have +grown rich and flourishing. It permits our steamship companies to +subsist and even to earn somewhat, but only just enough to suffice for +the declaration of a modest dividend. That is why Italian navigation +companies levy such excessive rates of freight, why their service is +not organized in accordance with rational and latter day standards, +why they take no thought of winning foreign markets or of national +expansion.[9] They have no means of consigning merchandise at the +domicile, so that the consignees are put to enormous expense for +collection and delivery. And to make matters still worse, Italian +navigation companies are bound with those of Germany by special secret +conventions, which oblige them to abandon to their rivals certain +kinds of merchandise of the Near and the Far East." + + [9] Cf. Preziosi, _La Germania a la Conquista dell' Italia_, + p. 57 fol. + +If we examine the peculiarly Teuton ways of trade competition in their +everyday guise, and without the glamour of political ideals to +distract our attention, we are confronted with phenomena of a +repulsive character. For the German's keen practical sense, his +sustained concentration of effort on the furtherance of material +interests, and his scorn of ethical restraints render him a formidable +competitor in pacific pursuits and a dangerous enemy in war. His +moral sense is not so much dulled by experience as warped by +education. It may be likened to a clock which has not stopped but +shows the wrong hour. He has been taught that there are times and +circumstances when religious and ethical standards may or must be set +aside, and he arrogates to himself the right of determining them. +Without examining into stories of preternatural meanness and perfidy +which have come into vogue since the outbreak of the war, it is fair +to say that dirty tricks, destructive of all social intercourse, +formed part of the German commercial procedure in France, Britain and +Russia, the only proviso being that they were not penalized by the +criminal law of the country. + +An amusing but nowise edifying instance turns upon Paris fashions. +That Berlin, like Vienna, should seek to vie with Paris in setting the +fashion of feminine finery to the world is conceivable and legitimate. +But that Germans should compete with Paris in Paris fashions connotes +a psychological frame of mind which is better understood by the +inmates of a prison than by a mercantile community. American ladies +visiting the French capital to order their gowns are astonished to +note that no fashions really new have been shown to them in the great +Paris houses. They had just seen them all in the German capital. And +the Paris models destined to be placed on the market next season turn +out to be identical with those which the fair visitors had already +inspected in Berlin and could have purchased there at a much lower +price. How this could be is explained simply. A German merchant in +continuous relations with the staffs of the Paris firms clandestinely +obtains from some of the members for a high price the models which are +still being kept secret, has them copied in large numbers in Berlin +and sold at a cheap price. True, the German workmanship lacks the +dainty finish of the Paris article, but the difference is such as +appeals only to the eye of a connoisseur. + +In Italy similar phenomena were observed frequently. A firm in +Florence celebrated for special types of wooden utensils which were +never successfully imitated elsewhere was ruined by commercial +espionage. One day the proprietor engaged the services of two foreign +workmen who laboured hard and steadily for some time and then +departed, to his great regret. Six months later Germany dumped on the +Italian markets the very same articles in vast quantities, and at a +price so low that the Italian firm could not hope to compete with +them. At first, indeed, the Florence house made a valiant stand +against the invasion, but had finally to give up the fight as +hopeless. Later on the proprietor learned that the two honest-looking +workmen were first-class German engineers, whose only objects in +entering his service were to acquaint themselves with his methods, +copy his models and then strangle his trade. And these objects they +achieved to their satisfaction.[10] + + [10] _L'Invasione tedesca_, p. 147. + +Thus, in order to strangle concerns that compete with them +successfully, the average German merchant sticks at nothing. His maxim +is, that in trade as in all forms of the struggle for existence, +necessity knows no law. And he is himself the judge of necessity. The +history of German industry in Italy is full of instructive examples +of this disdain of moral checks, but one will suffice as a type. It +turns upon the struggle which the Teuton invaders carried on against +the Italian iron industry, which for a while held its own against all +fair competition. In their own country, the German manufacturers sold +girders at £6 10_s._ the ton. The profits made at this price enabled +them to offer the same articles in Switzerland for £6, in Great +Britain for £5 3_s._ and in Italy for £3 15_s._ Now, as the cost of +production in Germany fluctuated between £4 5_s._ and £4 15_s._ per +ton, it is evident that the dead loss incurred by the German +manufacturers on Italian sales varied between 10_s._ and £1 per ton. +But this sacrifice was offered up cheerfully because its object was +the destruction of the growing iron industry of Northern Italy and the +clearing of the ground for a German monopoly.[11] The spirit that +animates the Teuton producer, in his capacity as rival, was clearly +embodied by one of the principal manufacturers of aniline dyes in +Frankfort, who remarked to an Italian business man: "I am ready to +sell at a dead loss for ten years running rather than lose the Italian +market, and if it were necessary I would give up for the purpose all +the profits I have made during the past ten years."[12] To contend +with any hope of success against men of this stamp, one should be +imbued with qualities resembling their own. And of such a commercial +equipment the business community of Great Britain have as yet shown no +tokens. + + [11] _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_, p. 149. + + [12] _Op. cit._, p. 150. + +In Italy the Banca Commerciale was wont to send to every firm, whether +it had or had not dealings with it, a tabulated list of questions to +be answered in writing. The ostensible object was to obtain +trustworthy materials to serve for the Annual Review of the economic +movement in the country published every year by the Bank. In reality +the ends achieved were far more important, as we may infer from the +use to which all such information in France was put. There the +well-known agency of Schimmelpfeng, which was in receipt of a +subvention from the German Chamber of Commerce, was a centre of secret +information respecting the solvency, the prospects, the debts and +assets of every firm in France, and its tabulated information about +French commerce and industry, together with all the knowledge that had +been secretly gleaned, was duly sent to Berlin. + +Russians complain somewhat tardily of the prevalence of the same +system among themselves. "Every day," writes the _Novoye Vremya_, +"fresh details are leaking out respecting a certain German firm, ideal +in its resourcefulness, which succeeded in spreading a vast net over +all Russia. It has been satisfactorily established that Germans +occupied many responsible posts in the organization, and that +these[13] officials were subjects of the German Empire. At the head of +the entire business in Russia down to a recent date was also a German +subject." The kind of information gathered by the agents of the +company, "for business purposes," is clear from a circular issued by +the firm just a fortnight before the outbreak of the war. + + [13] It is an American Company for the sale of certain + machines. The Russian organ mentions all the names. For my + purpose this is unnecessary. The curious may find them in the + _Novoye Vremya_ of 5/18 August, 1915. + + +THE FIRM OF XYZ + +"Tula, + +"5/18 July, 1914. + +"_District Card for the Collectors of the Circuit._ + +"_Form N 246._ + +"We have forwarded you to-day a number of cards of the printed form N +246, which you are requested to have filled in at once and placed at +the head of form 490 of the corresponding district. We draw your +attention herewith to the necessity of enumerating on the first table +of form N 246 all the villages and other places of the circuit of each +district collector, whether or no they contain debtors of ours, and of +stating in the second table the number of inhabitants. The +registration is to be done by the official charged with that part of +the work: each circuit is to be entered separately and the villages +and places it contains to be given in alphabetical order. These lists +are to be verified every six months and fresh information set out +respecting the growing number of our debtors. We request you to take +this work in hand at once and without delay. + +"THE CONTROL DEPARTMENT, TULA." + +When this circular was published in Moscow the general director of the +firm wrote to certain provincial newspapers pointing out that the +company is American, not German. "It is curious," a Russian journal +remarks, "that an American firm should need a map containing all the +villages and hamlets of the districts, with the number of their +inhabitants, irrespective of the presence there of the company's +debtors."[14] + + [14] _Novoye Vremya_, 5/18 July, 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ANNEXATION MANIA + + +Another instructive example of the Annexation mania, as it displays +itself in German commercial undertakings, comes to us from Russia. + +It is only one of many, a typical instance of a recognized method. The +Franco-Russian joint-stock company Provodnik is known throughout +Europe. It manufactures tyres and other rubber wares. The capital, +which amounted to only 700,000 roubles at the date of its foundation, +in the year 1888, had increased to 22,000,000 by the time when war was +declared. It is closely connected with another company named the +Buffalo, which has its headquarters in Riga and was promoted by the +President of the Provodnik, M. Wittenberg, together with several +Austrian capitalists. M. Wittenberg is President of both companies, +and the Provodnik has assisted the Buffalo on various occasions, even +during the war, notwithstanding the fact that the shareholders of the +Buffalo are mostly German subjects. On January 2, 1914, another +company was created, this time in Berlin, and called the "German +Provodnik." Now, according to the instructions laying down the rights +of the Board (Par. 24), wares may not be delivered on credit to any +firm or institution for the value of more than 50,000 roubles, and +not even to this amount unless the solvency of the recipient is beyond +question. + +In spite of this clearly marked limitation the Board of the +Franco-Russian Provodnik, which exerted itself with unwonted zest to +supply the German Provodnik with motor-tyres shortly before the war, +opened a credit of 498,000 roubles in favour of this firm. The manager +of the warehouses of the Riga products in New York is a German subject +named Lindner. The managers in Zurich and Copenhagen are also German +subjects.[15] + + [15] Their names are Johann Assman and Rudolf Meyer. Cf. + _Novoye Vremya_, 11/24 August, 1915. + +It is not to be wondered at that countries like Italy and Russia, poor +in capital and industry, fell an easy prey to the ruthless German +invader, who, with the help of British, French, and even Italian and +Russian savings, suffocated the nascent industries of the respective +nations, killed foreign competition, earned large profits, obtained +control of the country's resources and an intimate knowledge of the +political secrets of their respective Governments. "Many Germans," +wrote an Italian Review,[16] "serving in Italian establishments are in +possession of lists of the fortresses, measurements, distances, +positions of the roads and footpaths, they have found the points of +triangulation and acquired all requisite data and information about +them. And to-morrow, should war break out, they will accompany and +guide the German or Austrian invaders." + + [16] _Rassegna Contemporanea._ + +How keen they are to make themselves conversant with matters of +political moment in the guise of honest workmen is becoming fairly +well known to day, although it may be taken for granted that if peace +were concluded to-morrow these same commercial spies would find +hospitality among some of the easy-going merchants of Great Britain, +who still refuse to believe in the obvious danger or to act upon their +belief. In November 1912 the Italian Minister of the Marine called for +tenders for the supply of silver dinner-plate for the warships. At the +critical moment, when the decision was about to be taken, the German +firm of Hermann, which has its headquarters in Vienna, reduced its +offer first by 18 per cent., then by 20, and finally by 20·13 per +cent. in order to get the order. For the order carried with it, for +the representative of the firm, Herr Forster, _the permanent right of +access_ to all naval arsenals of Italy.[17] + + [17] _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_, p. 171. + +The _naïveté_ of Italy in matters of this delicate nature stands out +in jarring contrast to the habitual caution of that diplomatic nation, +and has not yet been satisfactorily explained from the psychological +point of view. One is puzzled to understand how, months after the +present war had begun, the press of Genoa could announce that the +supply of electric motors for the Italian marine and of ventilators +for Italy's fortified places on her eastern frontier had been +adjudicated to two German firms, on the ground that their tenders were +the lowest.[18] + + [18] _Op. cit._, p. 171. + +One of the largest automobile and motor works in the German Empire is +the Benz and Rheinische Automobil und Motoren Fabrik Actien +Gesellschaft of Mannheim. It supplies the Kaiser with his cars and has +branches everywhere. In Italy, too, it exists and flourishes. But +there the great German firm is modestly disguised under the name of +the Societá Italiana Benz. And it is so modest that in spite of its +gorgeous warehouse in the Via Floria (Rome), of its luxurious +head-office in the Via Finanze, of its well-equipped workshop for +repairing and fitting and its little army of agents actively pushing +the business all over Italy, its capital, all told, amounts only to +30,000 lire, or £1,000! The firm is managed by a German engineer whose +kith and kin are fighting in the Kaiser's army. And this German +engineer, Herr Matt, has free access to the Italian War Minister, even +now,[19] when it is question of manufacturing projectiles; and he has +continuous relations with the Italian Airmen's Brigade. + + [19] Cf. _L'Idea Nazionale_. The words "even now" refer to + November 22, 1915, and may be equally true to-day. + +Electricity in Italy, together with all its auxiliary trades and +industries, was, like every other lucrative enterprise, in the hands +of Germans and German Swiss. The names of the various company +directors had the usual familiar Teuton sound. When the European +conflict broke out it seemed for a moment as if all these German +concerns must come to a sudden and dire end. But just as the German +engineer Herr Matt, whose relatives are officers in the Kaiser's army, +has free access to the Italian War Minister and carries on his +business in Italy as usual, so the electrical concerns had merely to +change one or two adjectives in their trading names and were forthwith +shielded from harm. A case in point which is valuable because typical +occurred recently. The Italian Electro-technical Association published +a list of the manufacturers of electric machines and requisites in +Italy, and by way of introduction set down the following patriotic +remarks: "This list is addressed to those who at the present moment +feel it to be their duty to uphold and encourage the production and +development of materials for electricity. Importation from abroad, +which we favoured when Italian industry was still in an embryonic +stage, _degenerated especially in consequence of the action of the +Germans_, into a veritable conquest of the markets; and no weapon, +licit or illicit, was spurned to destroy our sources of production, +and suffocate our nascent initiative." + +These are pathetic words. They are calculated to appeal with force to +the Italian who loves his country. But when one looks more closely +into the list of Italian producers one is disappointed to find the +same familiar names as before:[20] Allgemeine Electricitäts +Gesellschaft, Thomson Houston, the Mannesmann Tubes Co., the Italian +Brown Boveri Co., etc. The nationalist Italian press organ which first +directed public attention to these German subtleties asks pertinently: +"Were not and are not the real producers named in this list the same +who were the prime movers in the deplorable foreign conquest of the +Italian market?"[21] + + [20] Felix Deutsch, Karl Zander, Otto Joel, Karl von Siemens, + Walter Boveri, Karl Kapp, etc. + + [21] _L'Idea Nazionale_, September 8, 1915. + +The Banca Commerciale, which was admittedly an all-powerful German +institution, and has the control, direct or indirect, of most of the +industries, the silk manufacture, metallurgical and mechanical works +of the country and of thirty-four electrical companies in Italy: which +possess a capital of 434,000,000 francs and produce energy equal to +940,000 h.p.: found itself in an unpleasant predicament as soon as the +King of Italy declared war against Austria-Hungary. But Teuton +resourcefulness solved the problem with ease and seeming thoroughness +by inducing certain German officials on the board to resign and +appointing as Italian director a gentleman known for his +philo-Germanism. But the three creators of the bank were left: Herrn +Joel, Toeplitz and Weil, and although it was affirmed solemnly that +Joel was no longer the director but M. Fenoglio, it has been publicly +proved that after the resignation of the former, the latter, before +sending a _consignment of gold to Berlin_,[22] had to ask for and +actually received the authorization of Herr Joel.[23] + + [22] On May 21, 1915. + + [23] _L'Idea Nazionale_, November 8, 1915. + +The following brief summary of the companies and enterprises in which +the Banca Commerciale is interested may enable the British reader to +form an idea of its decisive influence on the economic and political +life of the Italian nation: they include eighteen of the largest +companies of textile industries; sixteen of the most important +companies of chemical, electrical and kindred industries; six of the +chief companies of alimentation; twenty-six transport companies; +twenty-seven of the principal companies of mechanical industries and +naval construction; six building companies; five of the chief mining +companies; twenty-eight of the largest electrical companies; and +twenty-two miscellaneous.[24] + + [24] _Giornale d'Italia_, November 17, 1915. + +Thus every artery and vein of the economic organism of Italy is +swathed and pressed and choked by this German isolator, which nobody +dares to pull away. For if we turn from the economic to the political +aspect of this curious phenomenon, we shall find that the companies +enumerated give work to scores of thousands of operators and +employees, through whose willing instrumentality they become vast +electoral agencies. "It is obvious," we are authoritatively assured, +"that the influence of such companies in administrative and political +elections is put forth in congruity with the interests at stake, a +circumstance which explains how it comes that many Italian politicians +and representatives are, directly or otherwise, chained to the chariot +of the Banca Commerciale and indirectly to that of Germany's +policy."[25] In Italy the deputies are, with few exceptions, the +humble servants of their constituents, and are powerless to shake +themselves free from local influences. "It is easy to infer from this +what efforts have to be made and what compromises must be acquiesced +in by those deputies whose election depends on such institutions +which, aware that money is more than ever the nerve of political +contests, subscribe to the election expenses, and assure in this way +the respectful gratitude of the parliamentary recipients of their +benefactions. And all this is executed with order and discipline. +Examples could be quoted and names mentioned."[26] + + [25] Cf. Preziosi, _La Germania a la Conquista dell' Italia_, + p. 66. + + [26] _Ibid._, p. 67. + +The unsuspected ways in which this remarkable organization destroys, +constructs and draws its sustenance from its victims are a revelation. +Imagine a few British bankers possessed of two hundred thousand pounds +and conceiving the plan of wresting the economic markets of Italy +from Britain's rivals, building up an all-powerful organization with +Italian money, throttling Italian industries and commerce with the +help of Italian agents paid for the purpose out of the hard-earned +savings of the Italian people, and then yoking the national policy to +the interests of Great Britain. One would laugh to scorn such a mad +scheme, and set down its authors as wild visionaries. Yet that was the +programme of the little band of audacious Germans who conceived the +design of teutonizing Italy. And they had almost realized it when the +war broke out. Even the halfpence scraped together by poor emigrants +and half-starved Sicilian working-men were diverted from the savings +banks into banks of German origin, two of which held four hundred +million francs of the nation's economies a few months ago. + +It was not to be expected that the domain of foreign politics should +long escape the notice or be spared the experiments of this +all-absorbing organization. What excites our wonder are the +superiority of its method and the completeness of its success. To the +thinking of Germany's leaders international politics and foreign trade +are correlates. In the Near East, where so many of Italy's interests +are now concentrated, the Societa Commerciale d'Oriente of +Constantinople, being one of the agencies of the Banca Commerciale, +was also one of the canals through which this influence passed. Under +the Italian flag and with the co-operation of Italian diplomacy, that +"little business" of Germany was conscientiously transacted which +consisted in the adaptation and employment of Italian expansion as an +instrument for Teutonic interpenetration. Whithersoever we turn our +gaze we discern, lurking under the comely vesture of Italy, the clumsy +form of the Teuton. It is amusing to reflect that the recent railway +concessions in Asia Minor, for which Italian statesmen laboured so +hard and so long, went in reality to the Banca Commerciale, which is +but a roundabout way of saying to Germany. And in order to win their +suit and have those advantages conferred on "Italy," King Victor's +Government agreed to renounce their claims for the reimbursement of +the expenses incurred during the administration of the occupied +Turkish islands. This sacrifice meant tens of millions of francs, kept +from the pockets of Italian taxpayers and handed over to the German +bankers, who spent them in promoting anti-Italian projects. The Bank +of Albania was also conceived originally as an organ of German +propaganda, and was pushed forward by the same set of agents who +induced the Italian Government to employ them as its own. + +In those ways the seemingly modest little bank scheme which Friedrich +Weil with Crispi's help initiated in 1890, grew until it acquired the +influence of a State within the State. And then it began to discharge +functions unique in the history of the banking world. Its employees +became diplomatists and statesmen at a moment's notice, ended wars, +and drafted treaties. The Banca Commerciale put a stop to the campaign +against Turkey which was a thorn in the side of Teutonism and settled +the terms of peace in accordance with its own judgment. It was not an +ambassador or a minister who opened the pourparlers in Stamboul and +continued them at Ouchy, but an agent of the Banca Commerciale. It +was that same agent who immediately afterwards, in concert with +colleagues of his bank, negotiated the treaty, reporting by telegraph +to the headquarters of the bank in Milan every important conversation +he had with the Turkish delegates.[27] At a later date important +conversations between the British Foreign Office and the Consulta were +entered into in the name and for the alleged interests of Italy, but +the principal part in the drawing up of the terms of the settlement +arrived at was taken by Signor Nogara of the Societa Commerciale +d'Oriente,--the company which the concessions demanded were destined +to benefit. In fine, the parasite had thus become almost equal in +power to the body on which it battened. + + [27] Signor Preziosi gives the names of those agents as MM. + Volpi, Bertolini and Nogara (_op. cit._, p. 71). + +A well-known politician and member of the Italian Legislature, Di +Cesaró, narrated the following curious incident in a public speech +delivered on March 17, 1915: "An Italian Admiral, having had the +audacity to request the immediate delivery of an order for arms +manufactured by the works which are under the control of the Banca +Commerciale, was relieved of his functions within twenty-four hours, +and his place was taken by another Admiral, who by chance happened to +be the brother of one of the negotiators of the Italo-Turkish Peace of +Ouchy." And as we saw, the negotiators of that peace were officials of +the Banca Commerciale. An authority on the subject[28] wrote: "For +many years the Banca Commerciale has contrived, directly or +indirectly, according to circumstances, to take a hand in the +formation of various ministries.... As a matter of fact, on its +governing board there are seven senators, many deputies, and a +numerous host of political notabilities. It has its tentacles +everywhere, high up and low down, in Italy and abroad, in peace time +and in war time, when our native land is elated with good fortune and +when it is cast down with bad. Its hand lies heavy upon everything and +everybody. It is the arbitress in the choice of good and evil and is +under no obligation to render an account of its doings to any one.... +In war time we are certain to feel greatly hampered by the meshes of +such a firmly woven net."[29] This anticipation has since come true. + + [28] Professor Bondi, ex-Questor of Milan. + + [29] Rivelazioni postume alle Memorie di un questore, 1913. + Cf. Preziosi, _La Germania a la Conquista dell' Italia_, p. + 75 ff. + +Like the vampire that soothes its victim while drawing its life-blood, +the parasitic German organism cast a spell over influential Italians +of the community and imparted to them a feeling that things were going +well with themselves and their country. Money passed from hand to +hand. Labour found remunerative employment. Towns in decay were +galvanized into new life. And all Italy was grateful. Milan, the +"moral capital" of the kingdom, where a couple of decades before the +name of Germany was execrated, became itself very largely Teutonic and +was dominated by a rich and flourishing German colony. Venice, Genoa, +Rome, Florence, Naples, Palermo and Torino, leavened in the same +plentiful degree with pushing subjects of the Kaiser, turned towards +Berlin as the sunflower towards the orb of day. + +Against Austria, Italians might write and talk to their hearts' +content, but towards Germany feelings of respect verging on awe and of +gratitude bordering on genuine friendship were cherished by every +institution and leading individual in the kingdom. And when the hour +struck to wrench Italy from that monster vampire, the task was so +arduous and fraught with such danger that no Cabinet without the +insistent encouragement of the whole nation would have attempted it. +The policy of every Foreign Secretary was and still is dominated by +this unnatural relationship to the Teuton, and it came at last to be +acknowledged as a political dogma that Germany must in no case be +confounded with Austria. Indeed, it is fair to assert that the +governing circles of both countries held and hold that nothing should +be allowed to mar these friendly feelings, not even the circumstance +that Germany as Austria's ally is bound to stand by her during the +war. Hence when the friction between Italy and Austria was growing +dangerous, Germany was ready with two expedients for keeping her +friendly intercourse with the former country intact. She first assumed +the rôle of umpire between them, endeavouring to beat down the demands +of the one while spurring on the other to a higher degree of +liberality, and when her well-laid and skilfully executed plan +unexpectedly failed, in consequence of the interposition of a _deus ex +machina_, she produced a draft treaty, complete in all details, which +was to rob war between Italy and herself, if circumstances should +render it unavoidable, of all its frightfulness and savagery. The two +nations virtually said to one another: "Whatever else we may do, we +shall steer clear of mutual hostilities to the best of our ability. +But as the action and reaction of alliances may thwart our efforts and +force us into war against each other, we hereby undertake that that +war shall be but a simulacrum of the struggle that we are at present +waging against all our other adversaries. We shall respect each +other's property religiously, for we shall both stand in need of each +other when the exhausting struggle is ended and the wounds it +inflicted have to be dressed and healed. We Germans have invested +thousands of millions of francs in Italy, the one foreign country for +which we feel genuine affection. You Italians have thriven on our +commercial and industrial enterprise. Spare our property now and you +shall not rue your self-containment. After the war the Entente people +will shun us as lepers, and our only hope of finding outlets for our +commerce is through the neutral States. Now, of all the European Great +Powers, Italy is the only one qualified to render us great services of +this nature. And she will be glad of a partner whose help is free from +the alloy of jealousy or hostility. For our interests do not clash, +whereas those of Italy and the Entente Powers never can run parallel. +In the Adriatic she will find the Slavs pitted against her, in Asia +Minor the Russians, French, British, Greeks, and in the Eastern +Mediterranean the three last-named States. But at no point does +Germany cross her path. Our common hope in the future is based on our +experience of the past. It is knowledge rather than trust. We Germans +succeeded in laying the foundations of your economic strength. And now +that Austria's rivalry has ceased, we will contribute to your +political growth. With the help of our organizing talent you will +become the France of the future. Your population is already well-nigh +equal to that of the Republic. In ten years it will be more numerous, +and will still go on increasing. Tunis has been built up by Italian +toil. Nature has assigned the Mediterranean to Italy as her natural +domain. The overlordship of the Midland Sea is yours by right, and in +co-partnership with us you shall assert and enforce this right. Mind +your steps, therefore, in performing the difficult egg dance which the +European War may impose on us both. You are not, cannot be, friends of +France, closely though you are related by blood. Neither can the +French become our friends. Therefore you and we are natural allies, as +your far-sighted politicians like Crispi perceived. Even Sonnino sees +that and acknowledges it. The one political idea of his life was to +solder Italy firmly to Germany. And that is still the desire of your +aristocracy. Fight with Austria, if you must, but Italy and Germany +must not become armed enemies." + +Nearly two milliards of francs of German money are invested in +commercial and industrial enterprises and immovable property in Italy, +besides the value of ships detained at Italian ports, some of which +have cargoes valued at several million francs. The Kaiser is himself +the largest shareholder in the Italian mercury mines of Monte Amiata, +his Foreign Secretary, von Jagow, is another. And they are resolved +not to relinquish their hold. That Prince von Buelow should move every +lever to save this precious pledge was natural, and that Italian +statesmen with their germanophile leanings should readily fall in with +his scheme is not to be wondered at. The Kaiser's ambassador proposed +that in the case of war each contracting party should respect the +property of the other. This formula sounds decorous. Its meaning is +profound. A treaty embodying these stipulations was agreed to and +secretly signed by Prince von Buelow and Baron Sidney Sonnino, whose +admiration for Germany embodied itself in all the more important acts +of his political career. This transaction, which the Italian +Government wisely refrained from publishing, was announced by the +Germans for reasons of their own. The impression produced by this +display of eclectic affinities so pronounced that even the world's +most ruthless war could not impair them was considerable. And it would +have been heightened if the alleged and credible fact had also been +divulged that the diplomatic instrument was ratified when Italy had +already decided upon war with Austria-Hungary. Between Italy and +Germany stands a bridge which both peoples are resolved to keep intact +at all costs. Against the facts it is useless to argue. + +The struggle between Germany and Italy, therefore, should it ever +break out, would differ not merely in degree, but also, one may take +it, in kind, from the lawless and ruthless savagery which +characterizes the warfare of the Teutons against the Entente Powers. A +civilizing mute would deaden the resonance of bestial passion; and +even private property--in especial that of Germany--would be safe from +confiscation and wanton destruction, and when peace is restored the +rich mercury mines of Italy will again belong to the Kaiser and his +advisers. Last summer[30] a series of private meetings was held for +three days running in Switzerland, at which Germans of high standing +took part, for the purpose of dealing with German capital in Italy and +safeguarding it during the war. At one of the sittings it was computed +that about two milliards of francs belonging to German subjects are +buried in Italian undertakings or in house or landed property. + + [30] 1915. + +In November 1915 the Italian Government publicly applied one of the +provisions of the secret treaty in favour of Germany. At that moment +it was deemed necessary to commandeer German ships in Italian ports +for the service of the navy and the mercantile marine. Had it been a +question of Austrian vessels they would have been seized and utilized +without any such precautions. In virtue of §4 of the Treaty the +Italian authorities undertook to pay a monthly sum to the German +owners for the use of their steamers. That clause lays it down that +the two contracting states shall respect the enactment made by the +concluding section of Article VI of the Hague Convention concerning +the treatment of enemy merchant vessels. + +This treaty, then, is no mere scrap of paper. It is a strong bridge +spanning the chasm between Italo-German friendship in the past and +Italo-German friendship after the war. To take due note of this and of +like symptoms of the coming readjustment of political and economic +forces is one of the primary duties of Entente statesmanship which one +piously hopes are being efficiently discharged. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GERMANY AND RUSSIA + + +Turning to our other ally, Russia, we find that she underwent a course +of treatment similar to that which well-nigh prussianized Italy. In +the Tsardom the task was especially easy owing largely to the +advantages offered to Teutonic immigrants from the days of yore, to +the German-speaking inhabitants of the Baltic provinces, to the +proselytizing German schools which flourish in Petrograd, Moscow, +Odessa, Kieff, Saratoff, Simbirsk, Tiflis, Warsaw and other centres, +to German colonies scattered over Russia and to religious sects. +During the Manchurian campaign the Commercial Treaty drafted in +Berlin, and at first denounced by Count Witte as ruinous to his +country, was agreed to and signed.[31] It was Hobson's choice. After +that the empire, which had already been a favourite and fruitful field +for Germany's experiments, became one of the most copious sources of +her national prosperity. Commercial push and political espionage were +so thoroughly fused that no line of demarcation remained visible. + + [31] In June 1904. + +Russia's losses were proportionate and at the time were computed at +35,000,000 marks a year. In the Tsardom the imposition of this tribute +was resented. By the Teutons their economic victory was followed by +political influence. Their agents and spies abounded everywhere. Time +passed, and as relations between the two empires grew tenser, the +danger defined itself in sharper outline to the eyes of Russian +statesmen, who resolved, however, to postpone remedial measures until +the day should come for the discussion of the renewal of the +Commercial Treaty. The knowledge that Russia would refuse either to +prolong that one-sided arrangement or to make another like it, and +that the consequences of this refusal would be disastrous to Germany's +economic and financial position, stimulated German statesmen to bring +matters to a head before Russia could back her recalcitrance with a +reorganized army, and was one of the contributory causes of the +European struggle. + +Since then the war has flashed a brilliant light on the dark places of +German intrigue, and some of the sights revealed are hardly credible. +Whithersoever one turns one is confronted with the same striking +phenomenon; the preponderant influence wielded in almost every walk of +life, private and public, by institutions and individuals who in some +open or clandestine way are under German tutelage. In the sphere of +economics this is particularly noticeable. Three-fourths of Russia's +foreign trade was in German hands. Dealings between Russians and +foreigners were transacted chiefly through Germany. Imports and +exports passed principally through German offices, established +throughout the length and breadth of the Tsardom, and commercial +dealings were conducted by merchants in Berlin, Hamburg, Königsberg, +Leipzig, and other centres of the Fatherland. Merchandise was carried +in and out of the country by German railway lines, or to German ports +in German bottoms. Even American cotton and Australian wool and tallow +were disposed of in Russia by German middlemen who had them conveyed +in German steamers. On the other hand, Russian corn, sugar, spirits, +were taken to Europe by German transport firms. Intending Russian +emigrants were sought out by agents of German steamship companies, +sent to German ports and accommodated on German steamers. In brief, +whenever the Tsar's subjects had anything to sell to the foreigner or +to buy from him, their first step was to go in search of a German, +through whom the sale or purchase might be effected. + +In domestic economics the same phenomenon was everywhere noticeable. +To a Russian's success in almost any commercial or industrial venture, +the co-operation of the German was an indispensable condition. +Individual enterprise might sow and governmental legislation might +water, but it was German goodwill that vouchsafed the fruit. Wherever +Russian industry showed its head, Germans flocked thither to take the +concern in hand, regulate its growth, and co-ordinate its effects with +those of other industries which were under the patronage of German +banks. It was in vain that Witte and his fellow workers threw up +barriers that seemed impassable to German enterprise. They were turned +with ease and rapidity. Thus in order to protect the textile +industries of Moscow, prohibitive tariffs were levied on textile +fabrics of German origin. But the irrepressible Teuton crossed the +frontier, established his factories in Poland, founded the +German-Jewish town of Lodz, and snapped his fingers at the Government +of the Tsar. And forthwith Lodz assumed all the characteristics of a +German city. German schools flourished there, German agents abounded, +German became the recognized language, and permission was at one time +given to German reserves there, to undergo their periodic term of +military drill for the Kaiser's army! + +Of the three Entente Powers challenged by Germany in 1914, Russia was +therefore by far the worst equipped for the unwonted effort which the +European War demanded of each. For her liberty of action, and, in some +cases, even her liberty of choice, was hampered by the financial, +economic, and political network which Germany had slowly and almost +imperceptibly woven over the entire population. In the fine meshes of +this net several organs of national life were caught, immobilized and +connected with the Fatherland. And it was not until they strove to +move and discharge their functions on behalf of the Russian nation +that they became fully conscious of their plight. German intrigue and +subterranean scheming, under the mask of sympathy--now for the +autocracy, now for socialism--had effected far-reaching changes in the +Empire, which few even among observant politicians appear to have +realized. These innovations were embodied in the thraldom of Russian +banks to German financial institutions; in the splendid organization +which kept old German colonies that were scattered over the Empire in +touch with each other, and co-ordinated their action; in the eloquent +Russian advocates and influential dignitaries who contributed to the +furtherance of German ideas and interests and swayed the policy of +the State; and in the dependence of the great Russian Empire on its +enemy for munitions, and almost every other technical necessary of +war. + +From the days of the great Peter this Teuton influence had been +creeping imperceptibly over the Slav race like some cancerous +soul-growth. It infused a subtle poison in the State organism, the +most appalling effects of which are only now assuming visible shape. +Two palace revolutions were brought about by a national reaction +against the predominance of this foreign influence, which was resented +by the people not merely because it was alien, but largely also +because of its unscrupulous and ruthless character. Some of the most +atrocious cruelties which students of Russian history associate with +court and political life in the Tsardom, during the best part of two +centuries, had their sources in the sheer malignity of Teuton +Ministers who spoke and acted in the name of the autocrat of the +moment. It is characteristic that the Minister Münnich, in the school +for officers which he founded in Petersburg, had Russian history +eliminated from the programme as superfluous, German history being +allowed to remain; and that out of 255 students, only eighteen studied +the Russian language, whereas 237 applied themselves to German. The +first Sovereign to rebel against this Teuton supremacy in his Empire +was the late Alexander III., who made no secret of his profound +dislike for German ways. But as the Russian proverb has it, "one man +in the field, is not a soldier." Hercules, to cleanse the Augean +stables, had need of the water of a river, and the anti-German Tsar +could not hope to make headway without the co-operation of his army of +officials, who themselves were permeated with the Teutonic spirit. And +as passive resistance was their attitude, his purging scheme was +abortive. As a matter of cool calculation, the only hope of freeing +Russia from the meshes of the German net was a war between the two +peoples. And all radical legislation had therefore to be postponed. + +In the meanwhile the Germans, having organized and primed their +agents, have been teutonizing Russia cunningly and effectively. With +the precious assistance of their own kith and kin settled in the +Baltic provinces and elsewhere, they employed the never-failing +expedient of taking an active and, when possible, a leading part in +domestic Russian politics, and invariably on both sides. At the Court +they have always been well represented, and in the ranks of the +inarticulate and Parliamentary Opposition they have also been playing +a noteworthy part. In factories and other industrial and commercial +institutions they arranged strikes, called indignation meetings and +hatched conspiracies at critical junctures when it was to Germany's +interest that Russia's attention should be riveted upon home affairs. +No Parliamentary Bill could be privately drafted, no railway scheme +could be secretly discussed, no Ministerial measure could be +canvassed; nay, seldom could a confidential report be drawn up to the +Emperor himself without the knowledge of the Berlin authorities and +the occasional intervention of their agents in Petrograd. It is +interesting to note that in 1914 a secret memorandum of a highly +confidential character, from a statesman to the Tsar, found its way +to Berlin soon after it had been presented to the monarch and had a +certain influence on the decisions which led to the war. + +The work of economic interpenetration carried on under the ægis of +such powerful patrons and resourceful coadjutors was greatly +facilitated by the German colonies scattered over Russia for +generations. Many of these foreigners had been invited by Catherine +II., receiving large grants of land and various privileges which +enabled them to flourish at the expense of the native population, on +which they looked down with open contempt. + +At that time the extent of free land was considerable in Bessarabia, +Volhynia, and the provinces of Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, Saratoff and +Samara, where down to the year 1915 entire cantons were inhabited by +Germans. In the Novouzensky canton, for example, they constituted 40 +per cent. of the population, in that of Berdyansk 17 per cent. and in +the Akkerman canton 14 per cent. The inducements which had been held +out to them to settle in these fertile districts were irresistible. +Each colonist received fifty dessiatines of land,[32] extensive +pastures for cattle, grants for the journey and the cost of stocking +his farm, absolute immunity from all taxes, rates and military +service, and complete local autonomy apart from that of the Russian +community. + + [32] About 107 acres. + +The Germans whom these boons attracted were of two categories: +sectarians (Menonites), who eschewed military service on religious +grounds; and ne'er-do-wells, who objected to the restraints of law and +justice in the Fatherland; besides a considerable percentage of +tramps. Most of the men of the second category fared as badly in their +adopted country as they had in their native land. They gave themselves +up to intemperance and kindred vices, and their descendants still lead +a hand-to-mouth existence in the Tsardom which their privileges alone +could not better. The sectarians, on the other hand, formed a compact +co-operative body, and by dint of persevering industry and shrewdness, +made the most of their favoured position and prospered. With their +common savings they purchased such vast tracts of land from the +neighbouring gentry that in time the Russian population was +constrained to emigrate to Siberia and other distant parts of the +Empire. And when the present conflict was unchained they were in +possession of an area of fertile land bigger than Pomerania, which is +one of the largest provinces of Prussia. In the Volga country alone +they owned 879,420 dessiatines, or, say, 1,884,471 acres! In the south +of Russia there are 519 German settlements, and the area they occupy +is estimated at more than 31,252 square versts.[33] And the land of +the country gentry in the neighbouring districts was fast passing into +their hands.[34] They have their own local government, their banks +which help them to acquire Russian land, their insurance companies and +their schools. In short, they were a compact little State within the +Tsardom. + + [33] One square verst is equal to 0·44 square mile. + + [34] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, October 5, 1914. + +The sectarians still hold aloof from the native population. Indeed, +almost the only relations in which they stand to Russians are those +of masters and agricultural labourers. They hire Russian peasants to +till their land and they compel them to work hard for small wages. +Many of these colonies have the appearance of little German towns. +They have added industrial pursuits to agricultural, possess flour +mills, timber mills, and plough their farms with German implements. +They are aggressively German in sentiment, language, character and +Kultur. + +That in brief is the history of one type of German colonization in the +Tsardom. There is another at which it may not be amiss to cast a +glance. It is of recent date and consists of German elements already +resident in the Tsardom. It is a monument of Teuton audacity and Slav +forbearance. One might ransack the history of European nations without +finding another such instance of downright effrontery and disloyalty +on the part of a privileged section of the community, and of +easy-going toleration on the part of the State. The German elements of +the provinces of Kurland and Livland, subjects of the Tsar though they +are, resolved after the abortive revolution of 1906 to raise a living +wall against the rising tide of Russian influence. And as is the wont +of the Teuton throughout the world, they employed Russia's men and +Russia's money to achieve their anti-Russian object. This object was +to attract some twenty thousand Germans to the province, provide them +with farms on easy terms, and look to time, the industry of the men, +the fecundity of the women and the teachings of the schools to create +a new German State in that part of the Russian Empire. It was part of +the functions of these colonists, we are frankly told by their +historiographer,[35] "to serve, even as armed defenders" against the +Russians! In no other country on the globe is such a scheme +conceivable. + + [35] His name is Dr. Fritz Wertheimer. His writings are to be + found in various periodicals. The essay from which these data + are taken was published in the _Frankfurter Zeitung_, January + 8, 1916. + +The undertaking was organized and carried out by two brothers, +Brödrich by name, in one of whom the Tsar's Government placed implicit +confidence and evinced it by appointing him to be chief of the police +in the canton of Goldingen. In this post of trust the German leader +was able to further the anti-Russian cause materially. And he utilized +his opportunities to the utmost for the purpose during the five years +of his tenure of office. He himself travelled in search of suitable +German colonists and had numerous agents on the look-out for such. He +finally got about 13,000 to settle in Kurland and 7000 in Livland. The +Kurlandische Kreditverein advanced the necessary capital as mortgagee +of the land, and within five or six years many of the colonists had +already paid off their debts, sold their farms to other Germans and +bought untilled land in the neighbourhood for themselves. The school +was responsible for the required standard of German patriotism. The +success of the experiment exceeded the highest expectations, and +to-day the man of confidence of the Tsar's Government, Karl Robert +Brödrich, is become chief of the local administration under Wilhelm +II., and deservedly enjoys the confidence of the Kaiser's Ministers. + +This type of German invasion in Russia, especially in recent years, +was carried out with a supreme disdain of the laws of the Empire +which is equally characteristic of those who display and those who +tolerate it. In virtue of a law inscribed in the Statute Book on 14/26 +March 1887, foreigners are not permitted to purchase or own land +outside the cities in the provinces of Kurland and Livland, whereas in +Esthland there is no such prohibition. Yet in Esthland only 6396 +dessiatines belong to Germans, whereas in the two provinces whence +they are absolutely excluded Germans possess 36,852 dessiatines and +6396 dessiatines respectively! In the territory of the Don Cossacks no +foreigner may possess land under any circumstance, yet the Germans own +there 3700 dessiatines. Again, in the provinces of Podolia and +Volhynia, where, for State reasons, the ownership of land is allowed +only to Russians, Germans purchased and own 63,831 dessiatines in the +latter province and 12,475 in the former. Altogether the amount of +Russian territory which passed into the hands of the Teutons is +enormous. In July 1915, when the inventory was not yet completed, the +area inscribed had reached the total of 2,450,000 dessiatines or about +5,250,000 acres.[36] "This figure--" we are assured--"is still far +from complete, inasmuch as a large number of data from various +provinces have not been included in it, and there are no entries at +all for the three provinces of the kingdom of Poland where military +operations are going on and where unhappily the presence of German +colonists has been utilized by the German General Staff."[37] + + [36] _Novoye Vremya_, July 2, 1915. + + [37] By a law sanctioned by the Tsar, in February 1915, the + German Colonists of Southern and Western Russia were obliged + to sell their land to Russian subjects, and they received ten + months' grace for the purpose. + +In Poland there were well over 500,000 German colonists, besides a +large number of new-comers, whose unwritten "privileges" included, as +we saw, occasional permission to their young men liable to serve a few +weeks annually in the ranks of the German army to discharge that duty +under German officers in Russian Poland! In the Ukraine and the most +fertile districts of the Volga basin hundreds of thousands of Germans +lived, throve, and upheld the traditions as well as the language of +the Fatherland, under the eyes of tolerant local authorities. + +Hard by old Novgorod, the once famous Russian republic and cradle of +the Russian State, a number of German colonists settled some 150 years +ago. The population of two of these settlements numbers several +thousand souls, descendants of the original settlers, in the fourth +and fifth generation. They had had time enough, one would think, +during that century-and-a-half to assimilate Russian ways and to +acquire a thorough knowledge of the Russian tongue. Well, these +colonists do not speak the language of the country in which they and +their forbears have been living for over 150 years! They still +consider themselves German, and if you ask them who their sovereign is +they answer unhesitatingly--Kaiser Wilhelm! During Russia's recent +military reverses, which threatened for a time to culminate in the +capture of Riga, and possibly of Petrograd as well, these parasites in +the body politic of Russia displayed their joy in various unseemly +ways, which aroused the indignation of their Slav neighbours. In one +of their schools the Russian visiting authorities were received with +demonstrations of hostility. It is usual for the portrait of the +Russian Tsar to be set up in every school in the Empire. In one of +these educational establishments it was discovered in the lavatory +with the eyes gouged out. + +Long before this war Berlin had become alive to the importance of +these colonies as factors in the work of pacific interpenetration and +political propaganda. Wandering teachers from the Fatherland were +accordingly sent among them to link them up with their brethren at +home, and fan the embers of patriotism which long residence in the +Tsardom had not quenched. Little by little, the political fruits of +these apostolic labours began to show themselves: the colonists, whose +main preoccupation had been to occupy the most fertile soil in the +district, began to take over the approaches to Russia's strategic +plans, and to display an absorbing interest in Russian politics. +Several Zemstvos fell into their hands, and were practically +controlled by them, and they contrived to gain considerable influence +in the elections to the Duma. + +The chance of a useful part for these German colonies to perform +having thus unexpectedly arisen on the horizon, they seized it with +promptitude and utilized it with the thoroughness that characterizes +their race. The numbers prosperity, and influence of the colonies grew +rapidly. Land that had belonged to the Russian peasantry was taken +over by the foreign parasites, and while the Tsar's Minister, were +toiling and moiling to transport hundreds of thousands of Russian +husbandmen and their families in search of land beyond the Ural +Mountains to the virgin forests of Eastern Siberia, there in the very +heart of European Russia were hundreds of thousands of intruders, +who, with the help of their German Colonial banks, were acquiring +additional tracts of land from which their native owners had been +ousted. + +I pointed out this anomaly over and over again, and long before the +war I described it in review articles. The well-known German +Professor, Hans Delbrück, replied shortly afterwards, in the +_Contemporary Review_,[38] denying point-blank the truth of my +statements, which were drawn from official sources, and confirmed by +the evidence of my senses. For I had visited several of the colonies +in question. Besides these German settlements, there had also been a +number of German industrial and commercial establishments in the +Empire which, at first nowise harmful, were afterwards taken in hand +by emissaries from Berlin, linked up together, affiliated to one or +other of the great financial houses of Germany, and transformed into +redoubtable instruments of Teuton domination. Capital was subscribed, +syndicates were formed, railway-building and electro-technical +industries were organized, Russia's railways policy modified, and +metallurgical works were monopolized by the Germans. Here again +financial institutions discharged the functions of motive power. At +the beginning, about thirty million roubles were subscribed for the +creation of banks, and by dint of push, importunity, secret influence +and intrigue, these institutions received on deposit the savings of +the Russian peasant, merchant, landowner, and official, which finally +mounted up to several hundreds of millions. With this money they were +enabled to control the markets and constrain Russian institutions and +individuals to bow to their will. + + [38] Cf. _Contemporary Review_, February 1911. + +Contracts in Russia were appropriately drafted in the German language, +being directed to the promotion of German interests. Incipient and +even long-established Russian firms were either killed by unfair +competition or compelled to enter the syndicates and forego their +national character. Inventions and new appliances were tested, +plagiarized, and employed in the service of the Fatherland. And while +preparing for the war which was to set Germany above the +nations--_Deutschland über Alles_--these syndicates followed the +policy dictated from Berlin, sowed discord between Russian firms and +various State departments, organized strikes and paid the strikers in +competing establishments, and thus deprived the Russian State of +industrial organs on which it would necessarily have to rely in +war-time. To give but one example of this cleverly devised attack, the +cotton industry of the Tsardom was in the hands of the Germans when +war was declared. Another of the most important groups of Russian +industries is that of naphtha. When this precious liquid is dear, many +of the lesser works have to close; when it is cheap, even small +industrial enterprises are able to go on working. By way of obtaining +complete control of this vital element of Russia's industrial life, +the Deutsche Bank went to work to form a syndicate, had a number of +private wells bought up, united them in one, acquired numerous shares +in Russian oil companies, and had the manager of another German +bank--the well-known Disconto Gesellschaft--made a member of the Board +of the Russian Nobel Company. + +One of the results of this ingenious deal was a sharp rise in the +prices of all the products and some of the by-products of naphtha. The +increase continued at an alarming rate, filling the pockets of the +German shareholders, whose syndicates received the oil at cost price +for their own consumption, while Russian firms were forced to acquire +it at the market value or to shut down their works. Amongst the worst +sufferers from these anti-Russian tactics were the steam-navigation +companies of the Volga, which had jealously warded off all attempts to +germanize them. + +In conditions as restrictive as these, it is well-nigh impossible for +Russian industry to hold its own, much less prosper and grow. And only +the most vigorous and best-organized enterprises in the Empire, like +that of the Morozoffs in Moscow, managed to pursue their way +unscathed. In Russian Poland, where textile industries flourished, and +the total annual production was valued at 294,000,000 roubles, over +one-third of these industries belonged to the Germans, whose yearly +output amounted to more than one-half of the grand total, _i.e._, to +150,000,000 roubles.[39] In all these industrial and commercial +campaigns the German prime movers had carried out their operations +more or less openly. But where interests affecting the defences of the +Empire were concerned, caution was the first condition of success, +and, as usual, the Teutons proved supple and adaptable. By way of +levying an attack against the shipbuilding industry, they pushed shaky +Russian concerns into the foreground, while studiously keeping +themselves out of view. Thus in one case new Russian banks were +founded, and old ones in a state of decay were revived by means of +German capital and encouraged to form a syndicate with the +Nikolayeffsky shipbuilding works and certain foreign banks. An +official inquiry, presided over by Senator Neidhardt, lately revealed +the significant fact that each firm of this syndicate had bound itself +to demand identical prices for the construction of Russian ships, and +under no circumstances to abate an iota of the demand. And it was +further agreed that these prices _should be so calculated as to yield +to the members of the syndicate one hundred per cent. profit_. + + [39] Cf. Duma debates of August 1914. + +This allegation is not a mere inference, nor a rumour. It is an +established fact. Neither is the proof circumstantial; it consists of +the original agreement in writing signed by the authorized +representatives of the institutions concerned. The data were laid +before the members of the Russian Duma by A. N. Khvostoff.[40] Thus +the Russian peasant is taxed for the creation of a fleet, and the Duma +votes an initial credit of, say, 500,000,000 roubles for the purpose. +And if the shipbuilding companies and their financial bankers were +honest the aim could be achieved. But in the circumstances what it +comes to is that the nation must pay 500,000,000 more, in order to get +what it wants. And this tax of a hundred per cent. is levied by German +parasites on the Russian people. One might scrutinize the history of +corruption in every country of Europe without finding anything to beat +this Teutonic device, which at the same time gratified the cupidity of +the money-makers and dealt a stunning blow at the Russian State. Half +of the shares of the celebrated Putiloff munitions factory are said to +have belonged to the Austrian Skoda Works. + + [40] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, August 17, 1915. + +At the outset of the present war, when Russia's needs were growing +greater and more pressing, the works controlled by Germans and +Germany's agents diminished their output steadily. In lieu of turning +out, say, 30,000 poods of iron they would produce only 5,000, and +offer instead of the remainder verbal explanations to the effect that +lack of fuel or damage to the machinery had caused the diminution. +Again, one of these ubiquitous banks buys a large amount of corn or +sugar, but instead of having it conveyed to the districts suffering +from a dearth of that commodity, deposits it in a safe place and +waits. In the meantime prices go up until they reach the prohibition +level. Then the bank sells its stores in small quantities. The people +suffer, murmur, and blame the Government. Nor is it only the average +man who thus complains. In the Duma the authorities have been severely +blamed for leaving the population to the mercy of those money-grubbers +whom German capital and Russian tribute are making rich. "Averse to go +to the root of the matter," one Deputy complained, "the Government +punishes a woman who, on the market sells a herring five copecks +dearer than the current price, yet at the same time it permits the +Governors to promulgate their own arbitrary laws regulating imports +and exports from their own provinces. In this way Russia is split up +into sixty different regions, each one of which pursues its own policy +unchecked." + +The importance of the rôle played by the banks financed by German +capital in Russia can hardly be overstated. They advance money on the +crops and take railway and steamship invoices as guarantees--they are +centres of information respecting everybody who resides and everything +that goes on in the district and the province. I write with personal +knowledge of their working, for I watched it at close quarters in the +Volga district and the Caucasus with the assistance of an experienced +bank manager. Their political influence can be far-reaching, and the +services which they are enabled to render to the Fatherland are +appreciable. And they rendered them willingly. As extenders of +Germany's economic power in the Empire they merited uncommonly well of +their own kindred. Thus of Russia's total imports in the year 1910, +which were valued at 953,000,000 roubles, Germany alone contributed +goods computed at 440,000,000. These consisted mainly of raw cotton, +machinery, prepared skins, chemical products, and wool. + +How steadily our rivals kept ousting the British out of Russian +markets by those means may be gathered from the following comparative +tables. The percentage of Russia's requirements supplied by the two +competing nations varied, during the fifteen years between 1898 and +1913, as follows-- + +_Year._ _Germany supplied._ _Britain supplied._ + +1898-1902 34·6 per cent. 18·6 per cent. +1903-1907 37·2 " 14·8 " +1908-1910 41·6 " 13·4 " +1911 45·4 " 12·2 " +1912 47·5 " 12·6 " +1913 49·6 " 13·3 " + +In the year 1901 Germany supplied 31 per cent. of the total value of +Russia's imports; in 1905 her contribution was 42 per cent.; and the +increase went steadily forward, reaching over 50 per cent. in the year +1913. If we add to this the net profits of German industrial and +commercial undertakings in the Russian Empire, we may form a notion of +the appropriateness of the comparison which likened the Tsardom to a +vast German colony. The entire economic system of the country was +rapidly approaching the colonial type. And to these economic results +one should add the political. + +It is fair to assume that at the outset the main motive of this +industrial invasion was the quest of commercial profit. Subconsciously +political objects may have been vaguely present to the minds of these +pioneers, as indeed they have ever been to the various categories of +German emigrants in every land, European and other. But in the first +instance the creation of German industries in Russia was part of a +deliberate plan to elude the heavy tariffs on manufactured goods. It +has been aptly described by an Italian publicist[41] as legal +contraband, and it supplies us with a striking example of German +enterprise and tenacity. It attained its object fully. About +three-fourths of the textile and metallurgical production in the +Tsardom, the entire chemical industry, the breweries, 85 per cent. of +the electrical works and 70 per cent. of gas production were German. +And of the capital invested in private railways no less than +628,000,000 roubles belongs to Germans. Even Russian municipalities +were wont to apply to Germany for their loans, and of the first issues +of thirty-five Russian municipal loans no less than twenty-two were +raised in the Fatherland. + + [41] Virginio Gayda. + +The necessity of waging war against this potent enemy within the gates +intensified Russia's initial difficulties to an extent that can hardly +be realized abroad, and was a constant source of unexpected and +disconcerting obstacles. Some time before the opening of the war, a +feeling of restiveness, an impulse to throw off the German yoke, had +been gradually displaying itself in the Press, in commercial circles, +and in the Duma. These aspirations and strivings were focussed in the +firm resolve of the Russian Government, under M. Kokofftseff, to +refuse to renew the Treaty of Commerce which was enabling Germany to +flood the Empire with her manufactures and to extort a ruinous tribute +from the Russian nation. Two years more and the negotiations on this +burning topic would have been inaugurated, and there is little doubt +in my mind--there was none in the mind of the late Count Witte--that +the upshot of these conversations would have been a Russo-German war. +For there was no other less drastic way of freeing the people from the +domination of German technical industries and capital, and the +consequent absorption of native enterprise. + +When diplomatic relations were broken off, and war was finally +declared, Germany was already the unavowed protectress of Russia. And +when people point, as they frequently do, to the war as the greatest +blunder ever committed by the Wilhelmstrasse since the Fatherland +became one and indivisible, I feel unable to see with them eye to eye. +Seemingly it was indeed an egregious mistake, but so obvious were the +probable consequences which made it appear so that even a German of +the Jingo type would have gladly avoided it had there not been another +and less obvious side to the problem. We are not to forget that in +Berlin it was perfectly well known that Russia was determined to +withdraw from her Teutonic neighbour the series of one-sided +privileges accorded to her by the then existing Treaty of Commerce, +and that this determination would have been persisted in, even at the +risk of war. And for war the year 1914 appeared to be far more +auspicious to the German than any subsequent date. + +Handicapped by these foreign parasites who were systematically +deadening the force of its arm, the Russian nation stood its ground +and Germany drew the sword. + +Improvisation--the worst possible form of energy in a war crisis--was +now the only resource left to the Tsar's Ministers. And the financial +problems had first of all to be faced. In this, as in other spheres, +the country was bound by and to Germany, so that the task may fairly +be characterized as one of the most arduous that was ever tackled by +the Finance Minister of any country--even if we include the +resourceful Calonne. And M. Bark, who had recently come into office, +was new not only to the work, but also to the politics of finance in +general. Happily, his predecessor, who, whatever his critics may +advance to the contrary, was one of the most careful stewards the +Empire has ever possessed, had accumulated in the Imperial Bank a gold +reserve of over 1,603,000,000 roubles, besides a deposit abroad of +140,720,000 roubles. Incidentally it may be noted that no other bank +in the world has ever disposed of such a vast gold reserve. + +Although one of the richest countries in Europe, Russia's wealth is +still under the earth, and therefore merely potential. Her burden of +debt was heavy. For at the outbreak of the war the disturbing effects +of the Manchurian campaign and its domestic sequel, which had cost the +country 3,016,000,000 roubles, had not yet been wholly shaken off. +And, unlike her enemy, Russia had no special war fund to draw upon. As +the national industries were unable to furnish the necessary supplies +to the army, large orders had to be placed abroad and paid for in +gold. At the same moment Russia's export trade practically ceased, and +together with it the one means of appreciably easing the strain. The +issue of paper money in various forms was increased, loans were +raised, private capital was withdrawn from the country, various less +abundant sources of public revenue vanished, and the favourable +balance of trade dropped from 442,000,000 roubles to 85,500,000. +Germany, on the other hand, possessed her war fund, in addition to +which she had levied a property tax of a milliard marks a year before +the outbreak of hostilities; she further drew in enormous sums in gold +from circulation, and generally mobilized her finances systematically. + +But Russia was compelled to improvise, to make bricks without straw. +Her war on a front of two thousand versts long had to be waged with +whatever materials happened to be available. Japan--who, I have little +doubt, will be found at the close of the great struggle to have +benefited largely by her pains--exerted herself to provide munitions +for her new friend and ally. The United States, Great Britain and +France also contributed their quota. For many of these orders placed +abroad gold had to be exported, and as Russia has no other natural way +of importing gold but by selling corn, which there were no means of +transporting, a sensible depreciation of the rouble resulted. Great +Britain and France have also had to make heavy purchases abroad for +their military needs, but these two countries can still export wares +extensively and keep the payments in gold within certain limits. Even +Italy receives a noteworthy part of her annual revenue in the shape of +emigrants' remittances from abroad. But once Russia's gates were +closed and her corn had to remain in the granaries, elevators, or at +railway stations, the shortage in her revenue became absolute. During +the first three months of the year 1915 the value of Russian exports +over the Finnish frontier and the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea was +only 23,000,000 roubles, showing a falling off of about 93 per cent., +as compared with the worth of the produce exported during the +corresponding three months of the preceding year. + +It is a curious fact that part of this reduced trade continued to be +carried on with Germany for months after the war had begun. A Russian +publicist has remarked that at the opening of the campaign the voice +of the nation was heard saying: "Corn we have in plenty, and +vegetables and salt. It is we who feed Europe. Germany will therefore +starve without our corn. Our armies may retreat, but our corn will go +with them; and the more the Germans advance into Russia, the further +they are away from their bread." And in this the average Russian saw a +pledge of victory. But before six months had lapsed, the everyday man +grew indignant. For he learned that his corn was being conveyed +through Finland and Sweden into Germany, and in such vast quantities +as had never before been heard of. Here is a street scene illustrative +of this traffic and the feelings it aroused. A long string of carts +laden with flour blocks in one of the Petrograd streets leading to a +bridge over the Neva; a General walking with his wife stops one of the +drivers and asks: "Wherever are you taking the flour to?" "Where do +you suppose? Sure we're taking it to the Germans. We have to feed the +creatures. They are a bit faint." "There you see!" exclaimed the +General to his wife; "didn't I tell you? And every morning without +fail the same long line of carts blocks the streets while our corn is +being taken to the Germans!"[42] It is to be feared that this commerce +has not yet wholly ceased. For the Russians, like ourselves, are +considerate of the Germans. + + [42] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, February 24, 1915. + +That that story of trading with the enemy is no idle anecdote is +evident from the circumstance, based on official Russian statistics, +that during ten months from August to May, while the war was being +waged relentlessly between the two empires, Russia bought from Germany +no less than 36,000,000 roubles' worth of manufactures. How much the +Central Empires purchased from Russia, I am unable to say. That +commerce is one of the almost inevitable consequences of improvisation +and one of the most sinister. Some months after the outbreak of the +war the Imperial Government levied a duty of a hundred per cent. on +all commodities coming from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. That +was assumed to be a prohibitive tariff. But it failed to keep out +imports from the Fatherland. In the one month of April 1915, Germany +sent 3,000,000 roubles' worth of manufactured goods into Russia, and +in May 2,500,000 roubles' worth. And the Allied Press was then +descanting on the stagnation in German trade and the starvation of the +German people. The explanation of this anomaly lies in the unforeseen +and enormous scarcity and rise of prices in the home markets. Some +metal wares--for instance, various kinds of instruments and of wire +appliances, etc.--are not to be had in Russia for love or money, +consequently a hundred per cent. duty is but a heavy tax paid by the +consumer, not an effective prohibition.[43] Since then, I am assured, +the Government has adopted stringent measures which some people +believe to have put an end to that form of trading with the enemy. + + [43] Cf. _Utro Rossiyi_, August 28, 1915. + +It is hard for foreigners to realize the plight to which Russia has +been reduced by the closing of her gates. As the Nile waters were the +source of Egypt's prosperity, so the abundant Russian harvests +constitute the life-giving ichor which flows in the veins of the +Russian nation. Without superfluous corn for exportation, the State +would be unable to meet its obligations, maintain its solvency, or +provide the motive power of progress. The exportation of agricultural +produce was the fountain head not only of Russia's material +well-being, but of her moral and cultural evolution: everything, in a +word, was dependent upon plentiful harvests and extensive sales of +cereals abroad. And, suddenly, the gates were closed, the corn was +stored, and the nation left without its revenue. Nobody but a Russian, +or one who has lived long in the country, can realize fully all that +this tremendous blow connotes. Parenthetically, it may be remarked +that it adds a motive, and one of the most potent, to those which +inspire the heroic sacrifices of the people, quickening the flame of +devotion to their Allied cause. Russia is now literally fighting for +her own liberty, for escape from the iron circle that shuts her off +from the sea, and isolates her from the western world in which it is +her ambition and her mission to play a helpful part. + +One needs no further explanation why the Russian Government put +pressure upon M. Delcassé and Sir Edward Grey to open the Dardanelles +route for the Russian corn. Neither is it to be wondered at that while +the Allied Forces in Gallipoli were still grappling with the Turks, +the Tsar's Ministers should have thrust into the foreground the +question of Constantinople and the Straits, and insisted upon an +immediate pragmatic settlement. True, that was not statesmanship; it +was anything but political wisdom; but at any rate it was human on the +part of all concerned. If this Titanic struggle, in which Russia is +perhaps the greatest sufferer, is to bring her any palpable and +enduring advantage, this, it was urged, can take but one form--freedom +from the preposterous restraints that bar her way to the sea, and +through the sea to the outside world. This and other pleas were +powerful; but for this very reason and for the purpose of realizing +her natural striving I personally would have temporarily negatived the +Russian proposal and left nothing undone to ensure its withdrawal. For +if I were asked to point to the efficient cause of the Allies' present +lamentable plight in the Near East, I should single out this premature +arrangement and its necessary consequences. For Roumania and Bulgaria +were at the moment as bitterly opposed to Russia's overlordship in the +Dardanelles and her possession of Constantinople as were France and +Great Britain in the days of yore. And they embodied their opposition +in acts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE ENTENTE + + +One of the most amazing phenomena of Entente statesmanship during the +present European struggle, is the offhand readiness with which the +Governments of France and Great Britain, yielding to abstract +reasoning founded upon gratuitous assumptions, not only reversed the +policy of centuries but committed themselves to a wholly new departure +which was certain to raise up enemies to the Entente, to render its +task immeasurably more arduous, and to lessen its means of achieving +success. However well Russia deserved of her allies, however +unquestionable her claim to the city of Constantine, no less suitable +a moment could have been selected to press that claim than the spring +of 1915. The only evidence we possess that the British statesmen +primarily responsible for this capital blunder were conscious of the +fateful character of this commitment, is the extreme care they took to +have their responsibility shared by the members of the Opposition, +which at that time was not represented in the Cabinet. But even with +this indication before us, we cannot believe that even now this +premature solution of a secular problem on lines suggested by +transient episodes of a military campaign, has struck the responsible +statesmen in proportion to its specific weight, the depth of its +importance, and the nature of its consequences. To take but one of +these, we find that towards the end of the second year of the +campaign, Turkey is one of the two key-positions of the international +situation. To conclude a separate peace with that Power is become a +pressing, and would also be a feasible, task were it not that this +earmarking of Constantinople for Russia constitutes an impassable +barrier. No Turkish Cabinet would or could conclude a separate peace +and strike up friendship with the nations that are making ready to +deprive the Caliph of his capital. It would be a mistake, however, to +assume that this premature allotment of Constantinople to Russia is +the only obstacle to the conclusion of a separate peace with Turkey. +There are also hindrances of a military nature which would have to be +displaced before any decisive move in this direction could be expected +of the young Turks. + +But it cannot be gainsaid that the most formidable obstacle is that. +Neither can it be questioned that that premature arrangement will, if +the Allies emerge victorious from the ordeal, thrust into the +foreground of practical politics a whole group of problems the most +delicate and dangerous that were ever yet tackled by the inadequately +equipped diplomacy of the Allied Governments. It is then that the +Entente Powers will fully realize the deluge to which they made such +haste to open the sluice-gates in the spring of 1915. And the only way +practicable out of this blind alley would be the spontaneous +abandonment by the Russian Government of the right it possesses, which +however the Allies will certainly never call in question. Whether the +Tsar's Government believes such a sacrifice necessary, and whether, +if they did, they could summon up the courage requisite to make it, +are questions which Russia's loyal allies have neither the right nor +the wish to raise. We will carry out our obligations in the letter and +the spirit. If the Russian people, in the person of their responsible +organ, should renounce for the moment the claims which we have +formally recognized and undertaken to enforce, this decision will have +been come to spontaneously and without pressure or advice from their +allies. + +The extent to which the Teuton had his own way among the easy-going +Russian people is hardly to be realized. It would be certainly +inexplicable in an empire governed on national lines and conscious of +its mission. For unlimited pliancy was the quality which German +importunity evoked on the part of the highest authorities. One of many +examples is worth recording. Among all industrial enterprises the +Russian Government is most sensitive about that of high explosives. +The manufacture of these they had always rigorously reserved for their +own people, on obvious grounds. Well, the moment the Germans resolved +to break down this barrier, they found the means to do it despite the +objection raised by the Russian Press that it would be dangerous to +confide the production of high explosives to foreigners and +superlatively dangerous to confide it to prospective enemies. The +prospective enemy carried the point, and the manufacture of high +explosives was handed over to a German company, which built works for +the purpose near the Russian capital, and had its headquarters and +board of directors in Berlin![44] + + [44] _Novoye Vremya_, June 24, 1915. + +As in Italy, so in the Tsardom, one of the principal levers of Teuton +interpenetration was the regulation of the national trade and +industry. That is to say, these were allowed to subsist and thrive up +to, but not beyond, the point at which they were useful as adjuncts of +German enterprise. And the regulators were principally two: the Treaty +of Commerce extorted from the Tsar's Government during the +embarrassments caused by the Manchurian campaign, and the German +banks, which in the empire paraded as Russian, just as in Italy they +were decked as Italian. Many of those financial institutions were but +branches of German houses, and their methods were identical with those +of the Banca Commerciale: long credits and easy modes of repayment +offered to all those who agreed to deal with German firms, while +discredit, ostracism, and ruin threatened the recalcitrant. And as +Italian money and Italian institutions were employed as instruments of +German interpenetration in foreign countries,[45] so Russian funds and +banks were used as helps to German interpenetration in Belgium and +other lands. + + [45] For example, the Banca Franco-Italiana in Brazil. + +A noteworthy instance of the ingenuity with which this intricate +mechanism was worked came to light shortly before the outbreak of the +war. In Brussels there was a branch of the Petrograd International +Bank which purported to be a purely Russian concern. But once the +Kaiser had sent his ultimatum to the Tsar's Government, the Russian +mask was doffed by the Brussels agency, which forthwith appeared in +its true colours as a potent instrument of germanization in Belgium. +There was found to be almost nothing Russian about the bank but the +name. The staff, the language spoken, the methods of business, the +political sympathies, the aims of the operations were all German. Out +of the forty-three permanent members of the staff, thirty were German +subjects, six Austrians, two German-Swiss, two Belgians, one was a +Dutchman, one Turk, and there was a solitary Russian. The moment Count +Berchtold presented his ultimatum to Serbia this "Russian" bank +refused to change any Russian banknotes on any terms and let it be +understood that they were valueless. A panic on the Belgian market was +the immediate consequence. Russian travellers had to deposit their +jewellery in pawn and pay exorbitant rates of interest on loans. The +bank itself practised a kind of usury, and advanced only sixty per +cent. of the face value of notes issued by the Imperial Bank of +Russia. When the Belgian Government, after the declaration of war, +began to tackle German espionage, this "Russian" bank was found to be +one of the strongholds of the military spies. Certain of the employees +were permanent agents of the German Military Attaché, and were at the +same time inscribed as members of the staff of the Deutsche Bank of +Berlin. + +All those well-thought-out and successfully executed schemes may bear +in upon the British people some notion of what is meant by German +organization and co-ordination, and may also help them to gauge the +chances of success, military, diplomatic and economic, on which the +Allies, with their easy-going ways, their hope of somehow "blundering +through," and their lack of combination and of plan--can rely when +pitted against a mighty organism, disposing of the most redoubtable +forces ever created by human science and skill, directed by a single +mind, and served with ascetic self-abnegation and religious ardour by +over a hundred million people. The courage and faith of the Allies in +gazing for years upon this portentous engine of destruction without +making suitable provision for the day when it would be turned against +themselves, will fill future generations with amazement. + +No bare enumeration of details can convey an adequate idea of the +vastness, compactness and potency of the German organization which +kept the Russian Colossus partially paralysed at home, while the +Kaiser's armies were dealing it stunning blows on the battlefield. It +is a revelation which will be followed by a new birth of the whole +political world. The German colonists, the wandering German commercial +travellers who acted as political spies, the various banks, +joint-stock companies, religious sects, journals, reviews, schools, +clubs, Lutheran pastors, and other Teuton agents, were but so many +wheels and springs of the mighty machine which was set in motion and +kept working by the political leaders in Berlin. For all these firms +and enterprises and individuals from the Fatherland scattered over the +length and breadth of the Tsardom were welded together in one vast +organism by far-seeing politicians who canalized every important +current of the nation's life and imparted to it the direction which +German interests required. No enterprise was too vast, no detail too +trivial, for the attention of these moulders of Germany's destinies. + +All those activities, commercial, financial, industrial, +journalistic, religious, political, the German mind combined into a +single idea, the co-ordinate parts of which were studied and +regulated, not by party chiefs, but by qualified experts, who, +although specialists, subjected them to organic treatment. In this +respect the German may be likened to a massive sombre figure who, +surrounded by a crowd of sprightly shadowy nobodies, discoursing with +easy frivolity on grave subjects, is engrossed with the task of +destroying a great part of the frame-work of the world in order to +rebuild it after his own plan. Unfortunately the extraordinary +enlargement of interest which marks the latter-day political +conceptions, and inspires the fateful action of Germany's acknowledged +leaders, breeds in the allied peoples not so much a stern resolve to +tame that revolutionary nation at all costs, as a sentimental longing +for the return of the idyllic past, and an illusive hope that by dint +of mild Christian charity it may yet be brought back. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TEUTON POLITICS + + +It is this Teutonic power of looking far ahead, this profundity of +vision, this mingled comprehensiveness and concentration, and the +marked success with which these qualities have hitherto been exercised +to the lasting detriment of the Entente nations which looked on and +naïvely applauded, that fill the thoughtful student with misgivings +about the future. True, it may not be too late for effective counter +measures. But two conditions are manifestly essential to the +successful application of any remedy: first, that its necessity should +be felt and realized; and, second, that the scrupulosity which at +present hesitates to apply drastic measures should yield to higher +considerations than those of individual delicacy of sentiment and +over-refined humanitarianism. When an individual abuses laws and +restraints which bind his fellow-men, in order to inflict a deadly +injury on them, it is meet that they should free themselves from those +checks in their dealings with him. For example, it may be +theoretically wrong, after the conclusion of the present struggle, for +our people to bear such a grudge against the individual German as +would exclude him from communion and intercourse with the nations of +the Entente. And this principle would seem to apply with greater force +to those Germans who might be willing to abandon their nationality +and identify their aims, interests and strivings with those of the +nation in which they would fain become incorporated. But when we +reflect that almost every German, whatever his calling, how profound +soever his debt of gratitude to a foreign people, considers himself +first and always a member of his own country, works for its interests +to the detriment of all others, and does not scruple to violate moral +laws and social traditions in order to betray his new friends, we may +well ask in virtue of what precept we should abstain from ostracizing +him from the British Empire. His second nationality is so often a mere +mask to enable him to perpetrate black treason, and it is so openly +thus regarded by his own Government, which upholds and solemnly +sanctions the principle, that it would be inexplicable folly on the +part of the British nation to aid and abet its enemies by admitting +them to the freedom of the community without taking effective +precautions against treason. + +And yet there is a large body of men in this country, as in France and +Italy, who condemn the demand for these precautions as un-Christian +and impolitic. Such laxness is the soil in which thrives the upas tree +whose shade has so long darkened the organs of our empire and now +threatens to blight the whole organism. + +An all-important feature in the controversy which has arisen over the +naturalization of German subjects is the utterly amoral view of it +which underlies the attitude of the Kaiser's Government. According to +these authorities, whose utterances and acts are decisive and final, a +German, unlike every other subject, may swear allegiance to two +states, of which one is his Fatherland, without being bound by his +oath to the other. Various reasons, including material interests, may, +it is argued, make it desirable that he should acquire citizenship in +a foreign land; and the Kaiser's Government, for the good of the +empire, recognizes this necessity and facilitates the process by a +law. This law, which was enacted in July 1913, authorizes the born +German subject, having first made known his intention and motive, to +swear allegiance to a foreign state without forfeiting, or intending +to forfeit, the rights or escaping from the duties which flow from his +German citizenship. Now this is a privilege which not even the Pope +has ever claimed the faculty of according. + +From the point of view of international law this double naturalization +is inadmissible. Every individual in the community of nations is the +subject of a certain state, and only of one, and whenever the +interests of that state run counter to those of any other, he is bound +legally as well as morally to promote the former to the best of his +ability and means. The Teuton doctrine and practice are that Germans +may insinuate themselves into a country, and in the guise of loyal +citizens become conversant with its secrets, and then use them to its +hurt. In the light of this law, which was a custom long before it +became a statute, the number of Germans naturalized in various +countries grew amazingly during the past fifteen years. In France, for +example, where there were only 38,000 foreigners naturalized in the +year 1896 and 65,000 in 1901, the figure reached 90,000 in 1906 and +120,000 five years later. And of these, four-fifths were Germans and +Austrians. Many Germans first became Swiss or British subjects in +order the more easily to acquire the rights of Frenchmen. One in +particular, named Wilhelm Hellpern, first became a Belgian, then as +Willy Hellpern a British subject, and finally, with a view to +obtaining a place on the Board of the Société Française de l'Industrie +Chimique, applied for and received naturalization in France. This +"Willy" Hellpern was a representative of the Central Gesellschaft für +chemische Industrie.[46] + + [46] Cf. _Hors du Joug allemand_, par Léon Daudet. + +When war was declared in 1914 hundreds of Germans applied for papers +of naturalization in Switzerland, and obtained them from various +little Swiss communes which were in sore want of funds. Spies eager to +place their machinations under the protection of Swiss citizenship +found smooth ways to the desired goal. In the single canton of Zurich +demands for naturalization rose from 260 during the nine months ending +in October 1913,[47] to 732 in the corresponding nine months of 1915. +Several cases of fraud were discovered during this rapid process of +transforming foreign into Swiss citizens: one of the most salient +being that of Friedrich Wilhelm Frank, a German who had taken out his +naturalization papers in England and then decided to shake off his +acquired British citizenship for that of the Helvetian Republic. As +Frank had not been resident in Switzerland during the two years +required by the law of that country he applied and paid for a false +certificate of residence, and in this way achieved his object. But the +trick was finally discovered and the naturalization cancelled. + + [47] The number for the entire year was 350. + +We may protest as vigorously as we will against this infamous +troth-mongering which is destructive of international relations, and +indirectly of social intercourse, but no responsible government can +afford to ignore the necessity of guarding against its consequences. +For it is no ephemeral manifestation of temperament, nor the passing +whim of a political party or a class. The law of double citizenship, +coupled with a plenary indulgence for treason and perjury in the cause +of the Fatherland, is but the solemn consecration of a principle which +was long practised and is warmly approved by the entire German people. +The Berlin Government publicly invoked it during the latter half of +the year 1915, under circumstances which remove doubts on this score. +On one and the same day in August that year all German official and +non-official journals published a notice, which ran as follows: "It is +alleged that in neutral countries, and particularly in the United +States of America, men of German _extraction_" (the word _citizenship_ +is not used, but _extraction_), "are employed as workmen, engineers or +in other capacities in the production of war munitions for our +enemies. All those who thus reinforce the military strength of our +foes, thereby make the prosecution of the war more difficult for +Germany, and not only burden themselves with a heavy load of moral +turpitude, but also expose themselves--and many of them are seemingly +unaware of this--to the operation of the German laws which punish high +treason." + +In other words, subjects of, say the American Republic, who were born +there of German parents or grandparents and never acknowledged any +other government nor possessed the citizenship of any other country, +become guilty of high treason if they dare to avail themselves of the +plenitude of the rights which that citizenship confers. They may not +work for firms which supply the Allies because their fathers, or it +may be only their grandfathers, happened to be Germans. The moral +duties of German subjects still lie heavy on them, and they must +execute the Kaiser's will to-day on pain of being dealt with as +traitors to the Fatherland. + +Monstrous principles and revolting procedure of this kind are +calculated to kindle a blaze of indignation in people who realize +their effects and set value on the boons of civilization or +Christianity. They are among the many new ideas which Kultur has +contributed to the stock of weapons destructive of modern society. One +might term them the asphyxiating gases of German international +politics. In keeping with these teachings and practices were the theft +of foreign passports by the German Government which handed them over +to spies, as in the case of Lody, who was executed in London in the +early part of the war. Thus the binding force of moral and of human +law is dissolved whenever it clashes with German national, military, +or commercial interests. This dogma lies at the roots of Kultur. + +By the time war was declared, Germany had stretched forth her +tentacles into various lands and was draining the life-juices of many +peoples. Her footing in Italy, Russia, Belgium and France was firm. +Observant students of international politics fancied they could +determine the approximate date when, if the then rate of progress were +maintained, Germany's overlordship over Europe would be definitely +established and all armed conflicts on the Continent become +thenceforth meaningless. They were all the more puzzled at what they +set down as the egregious folly of jeopardizing the precious fruits of +forty years' well-sustained labours by precipitating a tremendous +conflict of doubtful issue. But besides the sudden temptation to +utilize a conjuncture of exceptionally favourable promise, the leaders +of the Teutonic nations felt moved to appeal to arms by certain slow, +but steady, currents which threatened to change the situation to +Germany's detriment in the space of another few years. + +With the remoter causes of the Kaiser's fatal resolve, we are not now +concerned. It may suffice to know that they were numerous and that the +trend of their operation had been for a few months unmistakable. Time, +which was working wonders for the Teuton in one direction, was raising +up redoubtable enemies against him in another. For one thing Russia +was becoming transfigured. The dry bones of the nation which the +Germans often declared was good only as ethnic manure had had life and +a soul breathed into them by the great agrarian reform of which the +credit belongs to Witte and Stolypin. The latter statesman in a series +of conversations had in 1906 opened his mind to me on the subject, and +frankly avowed that the Government, having gone astray in its estimate +of the Russian peasants who turned out to be revolutionary and +anarchistic, was resolved to render them conservative by giving them +land and an interest in the maintenance of law and order. That, he +informed me, was the aim and origin of the agrarian law, and I +expounded the theory, its working and its anticipated consequences, +in a series of articles published at the time.[48] + + [48] In the _Daily Telegraph_. + +Down to the year 1861 the Russian serfs had been mostly bound to the +soil. They were emancipated by Alexander II., who ordered each +landowner to make over to the serfs as much of his landed property as +was being actually cultivated by these. Wherever this amount seemed +too extensive for the support of a family it was whittled down and the +residue left with the landlord. Each of the various lots thus +expropriated was given not to an individual, nor to a family, but to +the village community. Each field was cut into as many strips as there +were farms, and each farm had the use of one. Every year the peasants +had to pay a certain sum to the landlord until the land was wholly +redeemed, and liability for these payments, like the possession of the +land, was common. Hence the drunkards and the lazy paid little or +nothing. It was the community which decided when the sowing and when +the reaping should take place. The results of this system were +baneful. And little by little the more enterprising peasants who had +no motive to improve the value of the land which they were allowed for +a time to cultivate, migrated to the towns and joined the growing army +of working men. + +How long this state of things would have continued, if these immediate +consequences had formed the only objection to it, is uncertain. But +the Revolution of 1905-6 rendered it wholly untenable. The peasantry, +on whom the Tsar and the Government counted for support, readily +followed the lead of every anarchist and revolutionary who dangled the +promise of free land before their eyes, and gutted or burned the +manors of the landlords. With no conception of the sacredness, nor, +indeed, of the nature of property, they seized what they could by +force, and were gravely disappointed when it was re-taken from them by +law. Stolypin's scheme, as he himself propounded it to me, was to +enable the peasant to acquire the land he tilled, and not merely the +scattered strips, but a compact farm capable of supporting himself and +his family. And the system of collective liability for payments to the +State was abolished, together with that of collective land-ownership. + +This was in truth a genial reform, and the business-like way in which +it was carried out did credit to the late Minister and the people. +Even now it is far from completed, but already there are about six +million peasant farms cut out and allotted. In European Russia +approximately as many more remain to be apportioned. The effects of +this innovation were rapid and encouraging. The value of the land rose +enormously in consequence of the intenser culture and the increased +yield. Under the old arrangement Russia's harvest of cereals was +barely enough to feed the population inadequately, to supply seed and +to enable a limited amount of produce to be exported. And as this +limited amount was in practice often exceeded, the food supply of the +peasantry was cut down in proportion. At present all this has changed +for the better and changed to a greater extent than the outside world +realizes. One of the consequences of this betterment, coupled with the +decrease of drunkenness, is the greater purchasing power of the +peasant and the growth of his requirements. So beneficial and evident +were the effects of this reform, that some patriotic Russians gladly +saw their Government go to the very extreme of pliancy towards Germany +rather than run the risk of a war and the danger of a break in this +remarkable career of national regeneration. The process was noted and +gauged by the Germans, who awakened to the fact that, in a few years +more, the legend of Ilya Murometz would be exemplified in latter-day +Russia, and a Colossus arise among the nations, which would hinder the +tide of Teutondom from inundating Europe for all time. + +Other considerations of a more pressing character weighed with the +statesmen of the Wilhelmstrasse, whose survey of the international +situation was, at any rate, comprehensive. Renascent Russia, for +example, was, as we saw, resolved to withdraw from the German Empire +the one-sided advantages accorded by the Commercial Treaty. And as +this question would in any case become acute within two years, that +date was one of the time-limits of the European war, and I ventured to +designate it as such to two of the most prominent statesmen of the +Entente in the month of March 1914. They both went so far as to say +that my anticipation was extremely probable.[49] + + [49] Count Witte went farther and fixed the end of 1915 as + the date. + +However this may be, Germany, who works out her destinies by +preventive wars, and therefore never leaves the initiative to her +enemies or rivals, precipitated a conflict which would, she believed, +break out in any case within a couple of years, and for which no more +auspicious moment could be chosen than the end of July 1914, after the +Kiel Canal had been made navigable for her largest battleships and +the harvest ingathered. + +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 + + +The world is now aware, although it can hardly be said to realize, how +closely journalism approaches to being a recognized organ of the +Imperial German Government. One of the most influential of the Berlin +journals during the past ten years has been the _Lokal-Anzeiger_. This +paper was founded by Herr Scherl, one of those clever enterprising +business men who have been so numerous, active and successful in the +Fatherland during the past quarter of a century. His journal was a +purely business concern, carried on congruously with the law of supply +and demand and keeping pace with the shifting requirements of the +public and the strongest currents in the Government. It had long +enjoyed the reputation of being a semi-official organ, and it was Herr +Scherl's ambition that it should be formally promoted to that rank. In +February 1914 he sold the paper to a group of four persons, two of +whom were Herr Schorlmeyer and Count T. Winckler, and all four were +members of the political party which looked for light and leading to +the Crown Prince and his military environment. Thus the +_Lokal-Anzeiger_ became the organ of the progressive military party, +which was exerting itself to the utmost to force the pace of the +Government towards the one consummation from which the realization of +Germany's dream of world-power was confidently expected. Among the +privileges accorded to the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ from the date of its +purchase for the behoof of the Crown Prince onward, was that of +publishing official military news before all other papers, and not +later even than the _Militär-Wochenblatt_. Consequently, it thus +became the most trustworthy source of military news in the Empire. +This fact is worth bearing in mind, for the sake of the light which it +diffuses on what follows. + +War being foreseen and arranged for, much careful thought was bestowed +on the staging of the last act of the diplomatic drama in such a way +as to create abroad an impression favourable to Germany. The scheme +finally hit upon was simple. Russia was to be confronted with a +dilemma which would force her into an attitude that would stir +misgivings even in her friends and drive a wedge between her and her +ally or else would involve her complete withdrawal from the Balkans. +The latter alternative would have contented Germany for the moment, +who would then have dispensed with a breach of the peace. For it would +have enabled the two Central Empires to weld together the Balkan +States and Turkey in a powerful federation under their joint +protectorate, and would not only have simplified Germany's remaining +task, but have supplied her with adequate means of accomplishing it +against Russia and France combined. Great Britain's neutrality was +postulated as a matter of course. + +Congruously with this plan, Russia was from the very outset declared +to be the Power on which alone depended the outcome of the crisis. +Upon her decision hung peace and war. On July 24, telegraphing from +Vienna, I announced this on the highest authority,[52] with a degree +of force and clearness which left no room for doubt as to the aims, +intentions and preliminary accords of the two Central Empires. I +stated that if in the course of the Austro-Serbian quarrel Russia were +to mobilize, Germany would at once answer by general mobilization and +war. For there will, then, I added, be no demobilization but an armed +conflict. Before making that grave announcement, I had had convincing +assurances and proofs that I was setting forth an absolute and +irrevocable decision arrived at by the Central Empires on grounds +wholly alien to the interests and issues which were then engaging the +Austrian and Serbian Governments, and that a bellicose mood had gained +a firm hold on the minds of the statesmen of Berlin and Vienna. Had +that deliberate statement been subjected to adequate instead of the +ordinary partial tests, the full significance of the crisis would have +been realized by the Governments of the Entente. + + [52] On 24th July I received this official information. It + was published on Monday, 27th. + +In the course of the negotiations which were then hastily improvised, +Germany, who strove hard to gain credit for the rôle of disinterested +peacemaker, gradually revealed herself as the chief protagonist, +whereas Austria was little more than a pawn in the game. Disguising +her eagerness to provoke one of the two desired solutions, Russia's +abandonment of Serbia or her declaration of war, Germany succeeded in +misleading the Governments of France and Britain as to her real +intentions. + +While M. Poincaré was in the Russian capital proposing toasts and +drawing roseate forecasts of the future, the German Ambassador in +Paris, von Schön, was constantly in attendance at the Quai d'Orsay, +endeavouring to impress on the minds of the Acting Minister and the +permanent officials there, the sincerity of the Kaiser's eagerness for +peace and the growing danger of Russia's aggressiveness. "You and we," +he kept saying, "are the only Continental Governments which are aware +of the magnitude of the issues and the imminence of the danger. You +and we perceive the utter folly, the sheer criminality, of plunging +Europe in the horrors of a sanguinary war for the sake of a petty +state governed by regicides and assassins. What interests have you or +we to risk the welfare of our respective nations for the behoof of the +Serbian military party whose dreams of greatness border on mania? No, +it behoves us both to do all that lies in us to calm Russia's passion +and induce her to listen to the promptings of reason and +self-interest. You, with the powerful influence which your friendship +and alliance impart to your counsels, and we by dint of example, ought +to succeed in averting this awful peril." In this tone, Herr von Schön +delivered his daily exhortations and found some willing listeners. His +specious pleading made a deep and favourable impression, and would +perhaps have led to representations by the French Government +calculated to wound the susceptibilities and perhaps estrange the +sympathies of France's ally at the most critical hour of the alliance, +had it not been for the presence at the Foreign Office of a man whose +eye was sure and whose measurement of forces, political and personal, +was accurate. That man was M. Berthelot. Gauging aright this +insidious appeal to the centrifugal forces of the political mind, he +turned a deaf ear to von Schön's suasive efforts and kept the ship of +state on its course, without swerving. In this way what seemed to the +Berlin politicians the line of least resistance was adequately +reinforced and a formidable, because crafty, attack repulsed. + +But besides attack, the Germans had also a problem of defence to +engage their attention. And, curiously enough, it appears to have been +particularly knotty in Austria. At that moment Count Berchtold was +Minister of Foreign Affairs in name, but Count Tisza, the Hungarian +Premier, was the man who thought, planned and acted for the Habsburg +Monarchy. He it was who had drawn up the ultimatum to Serbia and made +all requisite arrangements for co-operation with Germany. He was +backed by the Chief of the General Staff, Konrad von Hoetzendorff, +whose eagerness to provide an opportunity for displaying the martial +qualities of the army was proverbial. But there were others in high +places there who had no wish to see the Dual Monarchy drawn into a +European war, and who would gladly have come to an agreement with +Russia on the basis of such a compromise as Serbia's reply to the +ultimatum promised to afford. Whether, as seems very probable, this +current bade fair to gain the upper hand, it is still too soon to +determine with finality. There are certainly many indications that +this was one of the dangers apprehended in Berlin. Russia's moderation +was another. And the interplay of the two might, had Germany held +aloof, have led to a compromise. For this reason Germany did not stand +aloof. + +The date fixed for the German mobilization was July 31. The evidence +for this is to be found in the date printed on the official order +which was posted up in the streets of Berlin, but was crossed out and +replaced by the words "1st of August," in writing, as there was no +time to reprint the text. It had been expected in Berlin that Russia +would have taken a decision by July 30, either mobilizing or knuckling +down. Neither course, however, had been adopted. Thereupon Germany +became nervous and went to work in the following way. + +On Thursday, July 30, at 2.25 p.m. a number of newspaper boys appeared +in the streets of Berlin adjoining the Unter den Linden and called out +lustily: "_Lokal-Anzeiger_ Supplement. Grave News. Mobilization +ordered throughout the Empire." Windows were thrown wide open and +stentorian voices called for the Supplement. The boys were surrounded +by eager groups, who bought up the stock of papers and then eagerly +discussed the event that was about to change and probably to end the +lives of many of the readers. It does not appear that the Supplement +was sold anywhere outside that circumscribed district. Now in that +part of the town was situated Wolff's Press Bureau, where the official +representatives of Havas and the Russian Telegraphic Agency sat and +worked. + +The correspondent of the latter agency, having read the announcement +of the _Lokal-Anzeiger_, which was definitive and admitted of no +doubt, at once telephoned the news to his Ambassador, M. Zverbeieff. +During the conversation that ensued the correspondent was requested by +the officials of the telephone to speak in German, not in Russian. +This was an unusual procedure. The Ambassador could hardly credit the +tidings, so utterly were they at variance with the information which +he possessed. He requested the correspondent to repeat the contents of +the announcement, and then inquired: "Can I, in your opinion, +telegraph it to the Foreign Office?" The answer being an emphatic +affirmative, the Ambassador despatched a message in cypher to this +effect to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs. For there could be +no doubt about the accuracy of information thus deliberately given to +the public by the journal which possessed a monopoly of military news +and was the organ of the Crown Prince. The Russian correspondent also +forwarded a telegram to the Telegraphic Agency in Petrograd +communicating the fateful tidings. + +Within half an hour the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs telephoned +to Wolff's Bureau to the effect that the report about the mobilization +order was not in harmony with fact, and it also summoned the +_Lokal-Anzeiger_ to issue a contradiction of the news on its own +account. This was duly done, and so rapidly that the second Supplement +was issued at about 3 p.m. The explanation given by the newspaper +staff was that they were expecting an order for general mobilization +and had prepared a special Supplement announcing it. This Supplement +was unfortunately left where the vendors saw it, and thinking that it +was meant for circulation seized on all the copies they could find, +rushed into the streets and sold them. On many grounds, however, this +account is unsatisfactory. Copies of a newspaper supplement containing +such momentous news are not usually left where they can be found, +removed and sold by mere street vendors. Moreover, the date, July 30, +was printed on the supplement, so that it was evidently meant to be +issued, as a matter of fact it was circulated only in a very limited +number of copies and in the streets around Wolff's Bureau, where it +was certain to produce the desired effect. + +Half an hour later the correspondent of the Russian Agency received a +request to call at the General Telegraph Office at once. On his +arrival he was asked to withdraw his two telegrams which the Censor +refused to transmit. To his plea that so far as he knew there was no +censorship in Germany he received the reply that it had just been +instituted and now declined to pass his telegrams. "In that case," he +said, "my consent is of no importance, seeing that the matter is +already decided." Finally, he asked to have his messages returned to +him, but they would consent only to his reading, not to his retaining, +them. + +The Russian Ambassador also despatched an urgent _message en clair_ to +his Government embodying the contradiction communicated by the +Wilhelmstrasse. + +Now, the significant circumstance is that the Ambassador's first +telegram stating that general mobilization had been officially ordered +throughout the German Empire was forwarded with speed and accuracy and +reached the Russian Foreign Minister without delay. And this news was +communicated to the Tsar, who by way of counter-measure issued the +order to mobilize the forces of the Russian Empire. But the +Ambassador's second telegram was held back several hours and did not +reach its destination until the mischief was irremediable. That +curious incident is of a piece with the Bismarck's Ems telegram. + +It is by such devices that the German Government is wont to launch +into war. The mentality whence they spring cannot be discarded in a +year or a generation, nor will any Peace Treaty, however ingeniously +worded, prevent recourse being had to them in the future. For this, +among other reasons, more trustworthy guarantees than scraps of paper +must be sought and found. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GERMAN PROPAGANDA IN SCANDINAVIA + + +The same breadth of vision and efficacy of treatment were similarly +rewarded in the Scandinavian countries, where German propaganda, ever +resourceful and many-sided, was facilitated by kinship of race, +language, folklore and literature. Of the three kingdoms Sweden, the +strongest, was also the most impressible owing to the further bond of +fellowship supplied by a common object of distrust--the Russian +empire. Suspicion and dislike of the Tsardom had been long and +successfully inculcated by the German Press, from which Sweden +received her supply of daily news, and also, as is usual in such +cases, by prominent natives who, in obedience to motives to which +history is indifferent, employed their influence to spread suspicion. +Sven Hedin rendered invaluable services in this way to the Kaiser and +the Fatherland, throwing the glamour of his name over a movement of +which the ultimate tendency was national suicide. Under the auspices +of a prussophile minority of Swedish politicians, a few of whom were +supposed to favour the establishment of an absolute monarchy like that +of Prussia, a clever campaign against the Tsardom was inaugurated. +Falsehoods were concocted, imaginary dangers conjured up and described +as real, and sinister Russian designs against the independence of +Sweden and Norway were invoked as motives for energetic action. In +vain the Tsar's Government protested its friendship for Sweden and +disproved the poisonous calumnies circulated by the Germans. + +In the discovery and arrest of a number of Russian military spies, who +were as active in Sweden as in other lands, and whose relations with +the Tsar's Military Attaché in Stockholm were said to be proven, these +agitators found the few solid facts that served them as the groundwork +of their fabric of suspicion and calumny. + +The results of this propaganda answered the expectations of its German +and Swedish organizers. Despite the quieting assurances given by the +ex-Premier, the late Karl Staaff and M. Branting, Sweden's two +foremost statesmen, the present population was thoroughly alarmed. +They spontaneously taxed themselves for new warships, insisted that a +non-recurring war-tax identical with that of Germany should be imposed +by the State, and many called for the immediate adhesion of Sweden to +the Triple Alliance. + +One of the fixed points of Russia's policy, the Swedish agitators told +their fellow-countrymen, is the acquisition of an ice-free port which +can be utilized in winter. The Baltic ports do not answer this +requirement, not only because they freeze in the cold season, but +also, and especially, because the narrow Sound can be easily blocked +by a hostile Power and Russia's ships bottled up in the Baltic. Hence +the persevering efforts she made at first to get possession of the +Dardanelles and obtain free access to the Mediterranean in war-time. +More than once she was on the very point of achieving success there, +but lack of enterprise on the part of her statesmen or a sudden +adverse change in the political conjuncture foiled this scheme, the +realization of which was put off indefinitely. The Persian Gulf was +the next object of her designs, but there, too, she encountered a +diplomatic defeat. The third goal lay in the Far East, where a new +Russian empire governed by a Viceroy and possessed of a promising +capital, was founded with every prospect of good fortune. But here, +again, defective statesmanship was followed by failure, and the +campaign against Japan closed the Far Eastern chapter for a long +while. Whither, it was asked, can Russia turn now? Recent events, M. +Sven Hedin assured his countrymen, have already answered the query. +Northwards. The great Slav Empire covets an ice-free harbour in +Norway, and until this war broke out was busily engaged in compassing +its end. At any future moment it may again start off on this +enterprise. It is the duty of patriotic Swedes to thwart this +nefarious project. + +A Norwegian port, it is freely admitted, would not fulfil all Russia's +requirements. It would, for instance, leave much to be desired from an +economic point of view. The resources of the hinterland would be too +scanty. The cost of transport would be too heavy. But strategically it +would answer the purpose admirably. Now this conquest would not be +achieved without invading and annexing a portion of North Sweden as +well. For it would be impossible to keep and utilize such an +acquisition without a hinterland containing factories, workshops, +wharves, docks, stores and a fairly numerous population which, in +turn, would require corn, cattle, timber, etc. Is it credible, asked +M. Sven Hedin, that the southern boundary of this back-land could be +drawn further northwards than to the north of Ångermanland, Jämtland +and Drontheim? At bottom, then, it is the annexation of a vast slice +of Sweden proper that Russia has in view. Perhaps the first route of +the Russian army would lie on the eastern bank of the rivers Torne-älf +and Muonio-älf and lead to the Lyngen Fjord. How long would it stop +there? Step by step it would move along the coast southwards to +Drontheim. Then Norrland would be surrounded on three sides by +Russians. "Later on they would tighten the noose and strangle our +country. Are we to remain inactive during the course of events?... The +Swede in general is aware of the existence of this danger and _knows_ +that it may come upon him at any moment as a reality." + +In verity, no normal individual, acquainted with the political +condition of Europe, can be said to know that the peril of a Russian +invasion of Sweden exists or existed of late years. As a matter of +fact, he knows that the contradictory proposition is true. + +The symptoms of Russia's alleged designs on Norway and Sweden are as +fantastic as the sweeping statements by which they are heralded. One +of them was the order issued by the Russian Government to build a +railway bridge over the Neva in Petrograd in order to link the Finnish +railway with all the other stations which are situated on the opposite +bank of that river, as though the Russian capital should be the only +one in Europe without a girdle railway and Finland the sole section +of the empire cut off from all the rest! Another of these "infallible +tokens" of Russia's machinations were the measures adopted to render +the Finnish railways, and, in particular, the Oesterbotten line, +capable of transporting Russian military trains, by enlarging the +stations, strengthening the bridges and rails, and other kindred +expedients. Further, a number of new lines were considered necessary +from a strategic point of view, one connecting Petersburg with Wasa +via Hiitola, Nyslott and Iyväskylä. Barracks were built or ordered in +Fredrikshamn, Kouvala, Lahtis and other Finnish towns, or railway +centres. All these precautions, however, are not only explicable +without the theory that Sweden and Norway are to be invaded, but they +ought to have been adopted long ago, say unprejudiced military +authorities, in the interests of Russia's home defence. Yet M. Sven +Hedin concluded his argument with the words: "When it has been further +established that the transport of Russian troops to Finland has +greatly increased--and it is affirmed that there are already about +85,000 soldiers there--and when we also bear in mind that for many +years past Sweden and likewise Norway have been visited by so-called +knife-grinders[53] from Russia, _no doubt can remain. Russia is making +ready for an onslaught on the Northern kingdoms._" + + [53] Several Russian "knife-grinders" are alleged to have + been discovered in various parts of Sweden, moving from place + to place, with maps of various districts and a good deal of + money in their pockets. The Swedes declare that they are + Russian spies. + +But long before Sven Hedin and his friends had begun their campaign, +the ground had been prepared from Berlin, the work of interpenetration +had made great headway, and Germany was regarded by Sweden as an elder +sister. For the economic invasion preceded the political. Statistics +of foreign trade reveal the Teuton as the exporter to that country of +over forty per cent. of the entire quantity of merchandise entering +from abroad.[54] + + [54] The value of wares she sold to Sweden in 1911 is + computed at 275,423,000 krons as against 170,999,000 krons' + worth purchased from Great Britain. + +Switzerland, whose position as a neutral oasis encircled by +belligerents is fraught with difficulty, has long been treated as +hardly more than an adjunct of the German empire, and many of the best +Swiss writers, far from resenting this affront, welcome it as a +compliment. Just as Americans occasionally write about "_the_ King" +when alluding to the British Sovereign, so the Swiss often fall into +the way of describing the operations of "our army," "our cause," when +alluding to the Kaiser's troops and German designs. + +Several times during the progress of the war the conduct of Swiss +organizations and individuals towards the two groups of belligerents +aroused grounded misgivings in the minds of the French, British and +Italians who asked only for the observance of strict neutrality. One +remarkable instance of the pro-German leanings complained of was the +absolute and persistent refusal of the Swiss to submit to reasonable +restrictions respecting the sale to Germany and Austria of goods +exported to Switzerland by the allied countries. This refusal was all +the more significant that it came after the secret acquiescence in the +more stringent limitations which had been imposed on them by the +Germans. Thus two wholly different sets of weights and measures would +appear to have been employed by the spokesmen of the little Republic +in their dealings with the two groups of warring Powers. And it was +always Germany who obtained preferential treatment. + +This bias springs from causes which are stable and deep-rooted. The +bulk of the Swiss people are frankly pro-German in their sympathies +and their military chiefs side with the Teuton on most of those +questions of principle which form the line of cleavage between him and +the allied peoples. That the end justifies the means, is one of those +axioms which the authorities of the Swiss Republic appear to have +endorsed without hesitation. In the month of March 1916 two Swiss +Colonels, Egli and de Wattenwyl, were tried on two charges which, if +proved, would, it was somewhat hastily assumed, bring down severe +retribution on their heads. It was alleged that they had communicated +to the German military authorities important telegraphic messages +intercepted on their way from the Allies. But the evidence adduced was +deemed insufficient to bear out this indictment. The other charge was +that they had regularly handed on the confidential bulletin of the +Swiss General Staff to the military _attachés_ of the Central Empires +in Berne and only to them. And the count was proven to the +satisfaction of the tribunal. Now this act admittedly constituted a +breach of neutrality. Yet the Chief of the Swiss General Staff, +Colonel Sprecher, defended the accused men on the singular ground that +their action--that is to say, a grave breach of neutrality to the +detriment of the allied nations--was excusable because of the end in +view, which was to gain in exchange useful information for the +Intelligence Department of the War Office. This plea is based on the +German military principle that the means are hallowed by the end. + +It is some satisfaction, however, to note that in the Romande cantons +of the Republic a series of protests have been made against the spirit +of Prussian military amorality which, as the pleadings and the +acquittal of the two officers showed, permeates the military circles +of that little State whose very existence depends on its neutrality. + +Kultur is widely diffused throughout the German-speaking cantons of +Switzerland. The German Universities of the Republic are regarded and +treated as Universities of the Fatherland and their professors +interchanged. And when we further reflect that Germany exports to +Switzerland goods to the value of 680,870,000 francs as against +347,985,000 exported by France, who stands second on the list, that +German Universities and those of German Switzerland elect their +professors indiscriminately from among candidates of both countries, +and that German is spoken in Switzerland by more than 2,500,000 +inhabitants as against 796,244 who use French--one cannot affect +surprise at much that called for comment before the war and provoked +mild deprecation throughout its first phase. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GERMANY AND THE BALKANS + + +For two decades the Balkan States and Turkey had been objects of +Germany's especial solicitude. And with reason. For the part allotted +to them in the plan for teutonizing Europe was of the utmost moment. +The high road from Berlin to the Near East passed through Budapest and +the Balkans. And Austria, as the pioneer of German Kultur there, kept +her gaze fixed and her efforts concentrated on Salonica. Bulgaria's +goodwill had been acquired through Ferdinand of Coburg, himself an +Austro-Hungarian officer, and was maintained by Austria's energetic +championship of Bulgaria's claims against Serbia. Counts Aehrenthal +and Berchtold destined Bulgaria and Roumania to coalesce and form the +nucleus of a permanent Balkan confederation to be patronized and +protected by the Habsburgs. + +But circumstance thwarted the design. And after the Balkan League had +done its work and Turkey's grasp on Europe had relaxed, Bulgaria, in +the person of Ferdinand, was brought to undo what without her lead +could not then have been achieved, to fall foul of her allies and +smash the coalition. + +This incitement was unwelcome to many of Bulgaria's trusty leaders, +who, much though they might grudge Serbia's successes and rapid +growth, were of opinion that Bulgaria would be ill-advised to break +her connection with the Slav cause. But the leaders unexpectedly found +that they were being led, and led away from the natural friends of +Bulgaria by the German prince who had caused the death of Bulgaria's +greatest statesman and made no secret of his contempt for the +Bulgarian people generally. Ferdinand, assuming autocratic power, +rendered this inestimable service to the Teutons and fastened the +Bulgarian State to the Central Empires. + +At some time before the outbreak of the war Ferdinand had struck up a +compact with the Central Empires which bound Bulgaria to follow their +lead. This he did at his own risk and on his own responsibility. I had +grounds for believing in the existence of some such covenant a +considerable time before the storm burst, but I had no tangible proof +of it. In July 1914, however, I knew it for certain, but without +having ascertained the particulars. When and by whom it had been +signed, and what were the main stipulations agreed upon, still +remained in the domain of speculation. I discovered, however, that +Bulgaria's hands were tied; that her mourning for lost Macedonia would +not last long; that the aims she pursued were the policy of the outlet +on four seas, and the territorial separation of Greece and Serbia; +that her rôle in the Peninsula was to be predominant; that she had +been chosen to supplant Serbia as the leading Balkan State, and would +pay tribute to the Central Empires in the shape of docility to and +ready co-operation with them; and that Roumania would, if she +continued to find favour in the eyes of the statesmen of Vienna and +Berlin, be associated with Bulgaria, but without attaining her rank or +acquiring her power. + +It has since been positively asserted by M. Filipescu, an ex-Cabinet +Minister of Roumania, that "towards the mid-August 1914, when the +treaty was concluded which bound Bulgaria to Germany, the Roumanian +Minister in Berlin, M. Beldiman, had cognizance of this treaty and +apprised the Roumanian Government of the fact."[55] M. Take Jonescu, +the illustrious Roumanian statesman, has assigned a different date to +the conclusion of the agreement, but confirmed the fact of its +existence in the course of a conversation which has also been made +public.[2] He stated that the King of Bulgaria, "who is swayed more by +personal rancour than by the interests of his people, imposed his +policy on them. He allied himself with the Germans as long ago as +Spring 1914. The treaty was taken from Sofia to Berlin by an official +of the Deutsche Bank."[56] + + [55] See _Le Temps_, October 31, 1915. + + [56] Mr. M. Civinini of the _Corriere della Sera_. See + _Corriere della Sera_, October 11, 1915. + +Whatever doubts may prevail respecting the exact date, the main fact +is established--Ferdinand bound Bulgaria to the Central Empires. + +Personal interest as well as State reasons determined him to place +himself under Austro-German protection. It was at Austria's +instigation that he had spurned the advice of his official advisers, +treacherously attacked his allies and brought down defeat upon his +armies and discredit upon himself. But the Habsburg Government had +undertaken to see him through the ordeal to which he was then +subjected by his own people. The Treaty of Bucharest, which deprived +Bulgaria of Kavalla and Salonica, left the wound to fester and +Austro-Bulgarian friendship to harden into a definite alliance. None +the less Bulgaria's friendship with the Central Empires was not openly +manifested until the financial transaction was concluded between them +which made Bulgaria the creditor of Austria-Hungary shortly before the +outbreak of the war. + +Economically, Bulgaria, like her neighbours, had long been a tributary +of the Central Empires. German and Austrian interests were cunningly +intertwined with Bulgarian in almost every branch of national life. +The banks, financial houses, export firms, are all under Austrian or +German control. In the army, too, despite its Russian training and +traditions, there was a party of officers whose admiration for the +war-lord ran away with their discretion. And the celebrated loan of +half a milliard francs, which Austrian financiers undertook to advance +to Bulgaria--on outrageously oppressive conditions--set the crown to +the work of many years. This transaction was not intended by either +party to be purely financial. Its political bearings were evidenced by +the circumstances in which it was negotiated and the terms on which it +was concluded. But the economic concessions insisted upon by Austria +and conceded by Bulgaria constituted of themselves a convincing proof +of the design to reduce the latter country to the position of one of +the dependents of the Central Empires. + +Of all the recognized agencies for penetrating international opinion, +swaying international sentiment, and influencing international action, +one of the most abiding and decisive is that of royal courts. Yet its +value was not merely underrated by Britain, France and Russia, but was +completely ignored. And Germany, whose diplomacy, in spite of its +clumsiness and brutality, was far-sighted and assiduous in watching +for and utilizing every opportunity of smoothing the way for the +execution of the grandiose plan, purveyed almost every court and +throne in Europe with kings, queens and princesses of its own. And +those who were neither Germans by birth nor connected with Germans by +marriage were influenced by education, by military training, or at +least by a system of atmosphering which, with certain striking +examples before one, could be reduced to a few clear rules. + +Roumania at the opening of the war was governed by a Hohenzollern +prince who had linked the destinies of his country with those of +Austria-Hungary as far back as the year 1880, and, having renewed the +secret convention in 1913, which for him was no mere scrap of paper, +convoked a crown council in August 1914 and proposed that Roumania +should redeem his pledge and take the field against the enemies of the +Central Empires. But King Carol's military ardour was not merely +damped but choked by a recalcitrant cabinet. + +That monarch's influence as a pioneer of Teuton Kultur in Roumania can +hardly be exaggerated. An upright ruler, who discharged his duties +conscientiously, the King reckoned among these the dissipation of +native gloom by means of German light. And during his long reign he +succeeded in spreading a network of German economic interests +throughout his realm which, while raising the material level of the +nation, has reduced it to the position of a German tributary. It would +be unjust to make this a subject of reproach to the monarch who acted +up to his lights, but it would be a mistake to belittle the vast +services thus rendered by a single individual to the Teuton race, or +to overlook the degree of responsibility that attaches to the nations +now banded together, and in especial to Russia, for the sequence of +untoward phenomena which, now that they are not only seen, but felt, +and felt painfully, we naïvely deplore. + +King Carol's successor is also a Hohenzollern prince whose attachment +to his Prussian fatherland is noted, whose relations with his kinsman, +the Kaiser, are cordial, but whose devotion to his subjects is +paramount. More than once since the opening of the campaign Roumania +was believed to be on the point of exchanging neutrality for +belligerency, but, on grounds which it would be unfruitful to discuss, +she abandoned the intention, if she ever harboured it. As matters now +are, the Allies are congratulating themselves on the circumstance that +she is still neutral. + +The Queen of Sweden is a daughter of the most imperialistic of German +princes, the late Grand Duke of Baden and a cousin of the Kaiser, to +whom she is attached by bonds of sympathy and admiration. And her +consort the King, fascinated by the methods, the strivings, the +achievements of the Hohenzollerns, has made more than one attempt to +imitate them, but, owing partly to the opposition of the late Herr +Staaff, and largely to his own mental and moral equipment, which +point in a different direction, he felt obliged to desist. + +The accomplished Queen of the Belgians and the Tsaritsa of Russia are +also both German princesses, but they form exceptions to the rule that +whichever of any two spouses is German exercises an overmastering +influence on the other. The Prince Consort of Holland, the Duke of +Mecklenburg, is a German of the Germans, but through constitutional +channels he can wield no political influence, and the attitude of the +Dutch Government towards the Allies has been clear enough to need no +elaborate exegesis. + +The King of Bulgaria is an ex-officer of the Austro-Hungarian army, +whose pro-German work and its far-resonant results will probably never +be wholly forgotten by his own German people. For, as we saw, it has +rendered them services that cannot be repaid. Not, indeed, that he had +any coherent plan in his mind's eye, or was guided by any deep-seated +moral principles. Politics were for him the art of the possible +enlarged by the negation of the ethical. Ferdinand may, therefore, be +described as an opportunist, who in current politics contented himself +with following his nose. Of treaties and conventions he had signed a +goodly number and broken some. Thus with Russia he had a secret +agreement of a military nature, and also with Russia's rival, +Austria-Hungary. With Serbia he had one set of stipulations, with +Turkey another, but, shifty customer that he is, he had set himself +above them all and was ever ready to follow the lead of personal +interest. What the historian will accentuate is the deftness with +which German diplomacy, for all its alleged clumsiness, contrived to +use his defects and his qualities alike for the furtherance of its own +designs. + +Love of country, like religious faith, is a respectable mainspring of +action. But Ferdinand has been credited with neither. Whithersoever he +moves one looks in vain for the guiding light of large ideas. Deeper +than conscious volition lies the stored-up instinct of barren +pettifogging egotism to which a fine moral atmosphere is deadly. +Insincerity is second nature to him. He once boasted in my presence +that he was a born actor, and it is fair to say that he played his +rôles--repellent for the most part--as behoves a mummer. The +astonishing thing is that he should have got influential politicians +to take him seriously. While assuring the French deputy, M. Joseph +Reinach, of his attachment to France and signing himself the European, +he was writing to Professor Walter of Budapest offering "all the +sympathies of the Bulgarian nation" to Hungary.[57] I have read +ecstatic communications of his penned in hours of exaltation, when +visions of Constantine's city, the mosque of Aya Sofia towering aloft, +warmed his fancy and the sheen of Byzantine brocades and the quaint +paraphernalia of bygone days inspired his apocalyptic words. His +language in those telegrams and letters was highfaluting and +bombastic. And I read other communications of his--mostly abject +appeals for help--devoid of dignity and manliness, when the gloom of +dissipated illusions was made unbearable by fear of dethronement and +death. And the figure cut by the Tsarlet, who addressed those humble +prayers--mostly to influential ladies--was despicable. + + [57] In September 1914. See _Morning Post_, September 4, + 1914. + +Ferdinand was swayed by ingrained hatred of Russia which was almost as +potent as his contempt for the Bulgars. And he never made a secret of +either. For the Turkish pasha who was responsible for the Bulgarian +atrocities, which aroused Gladstone's indignation, Ferdinand's +professed admiration took the form of a subscription.[58] But high +above all motives that turned upon his feelings towards others were +those that centred entirely in himself. + + [58] The Batak massacre of Bulgarians by order of Abdul Kerim + Pasha had called forth Gladstone's pamphlet: _Bulgarian + Atrocities_, and aroused the horror of civilized men. But the + Hungarian aristocracy sympathized with the mass murderer, and + presented him with a golden hilted sabre. The list of + subscribers for this mark of aversion to the Bulgarian people + can still be viewed in the Museum at Budapest. The third name + on that list--Princess Clementine--is followed immediately by + that of her son Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, who gave one + hundred florins as a token of his admiration for the + exterminator of his future subjects! It need hardly be added + that he was not yet Prince of Bulgaria. + +And he had cogent personal motives for cultivating cordial relations +with the country of his birth. From the Austrian Government he +expected to be saved from the necessity of abdicating and expiating +his unwisdom. It was his inordinate ambition and vanity which had +brought the Bulgarian nation to the very brink of ruin. He it was who +had insisted on breaking off negotiations with Turkey during the +London Conference and recommencing hostilities. In vain the Chief of +the General Staff, Fitcheff,[59] besought him to conclude peace. The +importunate military adviser was suddenly relieved of his duties and +the second phase of the Balkan war begun. It was Ferdinand, too, who +thwarted Russia's peace-making efforts, refused to send delegates to +the tribunal of arbitration in Petrograd, and ordered the treacherous +attack on the Serbs and the Greeks which culminated in Bulgaria's +forfeiting some of the principal fruits of her heroic military +exertions. + + [59] General Fitcheff has since become Minister of War. + +For this series of baleful blunders--to the Bulgars they were nothing +more--Ferdinand was known to be alone responsible. He had assumed the +sole responsibility, and he had hoped to gather in the lion's share of +the spoils. And as soon as responsibility seemed likely to involve +punishment, his Ministers withdrew and exposed his person to the +nation. When, after the end of the second Balkan war, General Savoff +repaired to Constantinople to better the relations between Bulgaria +and Turkey, he invited a number of French and British journalists who +happened to be just then in the capital, and he addressed them as +follows: "It has come to my ears that in Sofia I am accused of being +the person who issued the order to our army to attack our Allies and +that I am to be tried for it. They will never dare to prosecute me. +For I have here--" and he thumped his side pocket as he spoke--"the +order issued by the real author of the war and in his own handwriting. +He commanded me orally to do this, but I replied that I must have a +written order from the Government. Thereupon he shouted: 'I am the +supreme chief of the army and am about to give you the order in +writing,' indited the behest and handed it to me. That is why he +cannot prosecute me. I will show him up. Already now I tell you, so +that all may hear, _C'est un coquin, un misérable!_"[60] + + [60] This narrative was published by M. Wesselitsky in the + _Novoye Vremya_, November 6, 1915. + +That was General Savoff's summing-up of his august sovereign. And his +forecast proved correct. Ferdinand did not attempt to lay the blame on +him, still less to have an indictment filed against him. On the +contrary, he kissed Savoff on his return to Sofia and later on made +him his adjutant-general. Ferdinand's responsibility being +established, his abdication was clamoured for by public opinion. His +own estimate of his plight was impregnated with despair. He despatched +the abject telegrams mentioned above to his influential friends. It +was then that he received a letter signed by the three chiefs of the +Liberal groups of the old Stambulovist Party--Radoslavoff, Ghennadieff +and Tontcheff--and written, it has been alleged, after consultation +between all four parties, exhorting him to reverse the national policy +and link Bulgaria's fate with that of Austria. The Coburg prince +publicly welcomed them, dismissed the Daneff Cabinet, handed the reins +of power to the three self-constituted saviours of the dynasty and +country, and the Treaty of Bucharest was signed in an offhand manner. +The keynote of the policy of the new Cabinet was hatred of Russia, who +was held up to public opprobrium by the press of Sofia as the +mischief-maker who had betrayed Bulgaria; and as the nation thirsted +for a culprit on whom to vent its rage, the legend obtained a certain +vogue. At the same time emphatic assurances were given by Count +Berchtold that Austria would upset the Treaty of Bucharest, break +down the Serbian and Greek barriers that stood between Bulgaria and +her natural boundaries, and establish Ferdinand and his dynasty more +firmly on the throne. This prospect heartened the King and stimulated +his fellow-workers. + +But perhaps the most decisive factor in Bulgaria's attitude towards +the Central Powers has been that of Russia towards Bulgaria. The +Tsardom cherishes tender feelings towards the political entity which +it called into being. Bulgaria is the creature of the great Slav +people which shed its blood and spent its treasure in giving it life +and viability, and has ever since felt bound to watch over its +destinies, forgive its foolish freaks, and contribute to its political +and material well-being. Congruously with this frame of mind, Russia +has not the heart to deal with Bulgaria as she would deal under +similar provocation with Roumania or Greece. Like the baby cripple, or +the profligate son, this wayward little nation ever remains the +spoiled child. Hence, do what harm she may to Russia, she is not +merely immune from the natural consequences of her unfriendly acts, +but certain to reap fruits ripened by the sacrifices of those whose +policy she strove to baulk. Conscious of this immense privilege, she +takes the fullest advantage of it. Under such conditions no stable +coalition of the Balkan States was possible. + +The remarkable ascendancy thus won by Germany over Bulgaria is but one +of the salient results of her foresight, organization and +single-mindedness which the Allies are now beginning to appreciate. +Their ideal policy in the Balkans was to have none. Great Britain in +particular was proud of her complete disinterestedness. + +Between the Teutons and the Greeks there were no such close ties as +those that linked Bulgaria to the Central Empires. The Hellenic +kingdom is a democracy marked by a constant tendency to anarchy. Down +to the beginning of the reign of the present monarch its ruler was +never more than the merest figure-head, nor its people anything but an +amalgam of individuals deficient in the social sense and devoid of +political cohesiveness. The late King George, for instance, remained, +to the end of his life, an amused spectator of the childish game of +politics carried on by his Ministers; and so insecure did he consider +his tenure of the kingship, that his frequent threat to "take his hat" +and quit the country for good had become one of the commonplaces of +Greek politics. Only a few years ago his reign appeared to be drawing +to an ignominious end. His functions were usurped by a military league +and his sons removed from the army. Anarchy was spreading, at that +time I expressed the opinion that the only person capable of saving +Greece--if Greece could yet be saved--was the Cretan insurgent, M. +Venizelos. This suggestion appealed to the Chief of the Military +League and was adopted. Venizelos was invited to Athens with the +results known to all the world. At first reluctantly tolerated, he was +subsequently highly appreciated by King George and was afterwards +handicapped by King Constantine, whose impolitic instructions during +the Bucharest Conference resulted in sowing seeds of discord between +Greece and Bulgaria. + +To small countries and petty personal ambitions, a war among the Great +Powers brings halcyon days of flattery, bribery and seductive +prospects in an imaginary future. In Greece all these and other +attractions were dangled before the eyes of men of power and +influence. The Sovereign, whose admiration for the Kaiser verges on +idolatry, soon extended this platonic sentiment to the Kaiser's army. +And when fortune seemed definitively to espouse the cause of the +Central Empires, his admiration was reinforced by fear and the +pro-German leanings, which were at first merely platonic, bade fair to +harden into active co-operation. It was not until then that the +Entente Powers, discerning the fateful character of their errors and +the trend of events, resolved after much hesitation and discussion to +put forth an effort to retrieve the situation. Of his philo-German +tendencies King Constantine gave several public proofs long before the +war, and on the psychological soil from which they sprang, German +diplomacy raised its typical structure of intrigue and adulation. As +the irresistible captain who had shattered the armies of Turkey and +Bulgaria, winning undying fame for himself and his country, the King +was encouraged to believe that on him devolved the mission of uniting +all Hellenes under his sceptre, building up a larger Greece, +consolidating the monarchy within, and ruling as well as reigning. And +so well laid was this plan that when the European armies took the +field and the Entente Powers counted Greece, then apparently governed +by Venizelos, among its cordial friends, the Teutons, sure of their +ground, but still working assiduously for their object, put their +trust in the Kaiser's royal henchman and their own permanent display +of force, and were not disappointed. + +Long before the war-cloud burst, the history makers of Berlin +recognized the fact that the key to the Dardanelles lay in Sofia, and +not only to the Dardanelles, but also the key to the Near East. The +statesmen of Austria and Germany discerned that the Bulgars under +their guidance could be got to do for Turkey what Japan hoped, and +still hopes, to effect for China. It is a work of complete +transformation, a sort of political transubstantiation whereby the +Bulgars would infuse ichor into the limp veins of the Ottoman organism +and recreate a strong political entity which would be an instrument in +the hands of the Central Empires. The Bulgar knows the Turk, to whom +he is more akin by race habits and temperament than to any of the Slav +peoples, understands his psychic state, his mode of feeling and +thinking, and is therefore qualified to serve as link between the +Oriental and the Western. It was in view of this eventuality that the +slow, plodding work of grafting Kultur on the Bulgar people was +undertaken. Two German schools, one in Sofia and the other in +Philippopolis, were the centres whence it was radiated to the ends of +the land. In Bulgaria there are many preparatory grammar schools in +which tuition for both sexes is free. All scholars who have passed +through one of the German schools are admitted without any examination +into the Grammar School, or Gymnasium, a privilege which works as a +powerful attraction. Since Turkey retroceded Karagatch[61] to Bulgaria +there are three such centres of Teutonic propaganda in Bulgaria, and I +am informed that a fourth will shortly be established in Rustschuk. + + [61] One of the suburbs of Adrianople ceded in July 1915. + +The record of the economic invasion of Roumania by the Teuton,[62] +supplemented as it was by various complex auxiliary movements of a +political character, supplies us with a fresh variation of the trite +text that Germany conceived her plan on a vast scale and executed it +by co-operation between the State and the individuals, leaving nothing +to chance which could be settled by forethought. The ruler of the +country was a Hohenzollern, and as he wielded absolute power in +matters connected with foreign policy, he had a free hand and kept it +efficaciously employed. For over thirty years King Carol transacted +the international business of the realm--economic as well as +political--with assiduity, conscientiousness and a fair meed of +success. He encouraged industry and commerce, and welcomed German and +Austrian capital and enterprise. The upshot of his exertions was that +in the fullness of time his kingdom, like those of Italy, Bulgaria and +Turkey, became to most intents a nascent Teutonic colony. In Roumania, +as in Bulgaria, the commercial methods and business ways are German. +The heads of banking establishments and great industries are either +Teutons or friends of Teutons. Nearly every big enterprise, commercial +and industrial, was launched and kept afloat by capital from the +Fatherland. The Discount Bank in Berlin has a vast cellar filled with +Roumanian bonds, shares and other securities. So close are the ties +that connect the little state with the great empire that even the +Roumanian railways have a special convention with those of Prussia. +Here, then, as everywhere else, we are in presence of intelligence +wedded to politico-economic enterprise. Individual German firms and +the Government worked hand in hand; diplomacy, trade and commerce +moved steadily towards the same goal, and attained it. + + [62] Roumania's annual imports from Austria-Hungary, + according to the latest available statistics, were valued at + 136,906,000 francs; from Germany at 183,713,000; and from + Great Britain at only 85,470,000 francs. France exported + thither goods valued at no more than 35,273,000 francs. + +Owing to Roumania's grievances against Russia--whose seizure of +Bessarabia nearly forty years ago left a wound which festered for +years and has only recently been cicatrized--King Carol concluded a +military convention with the Austro-Hungarian empire, the stipulations +of which have never been authoritatively disclosed. There is reason to +believe that one clause obliged the Roumanian Government to come to +the support of the Habsburg Monarchy with all its military resources +in case that empire should be wantonly attacked by another Power. +Whether this instrument, which was never laid before the Roumanian +legislature for ratification, is deemed to have been vitiated by the +lack of this indispensable sanction, or is assumed to have terminated +with the decease of the king who concluded it, is a matter of no real +moment. The relevant circumstance is the unwillingness of +Austria-Hungary to invoke the terms of the convention and the resolve +of the Bucharest Cabinet to ignore them. + +Thus Roumania, like all other neutral states, was well within the +sphere of attraction of the Central Empires long before the present +conflict was unchained. And the clever tactics by which siege was laid +to the sympathies of a nation which at bottom has hardly any traits in +common with the besieger, would have entailed a complete revision and +remodelling of the polity of Russia, France and Britain, had these +Powers had any coherent programme or distant aims. But their motto +was: Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. + +True, none of those States ever designed a political revolution of the +Old Continent, such as Napoleon had imagined or Germany is now +striving to realize. But neither did they read aright nor even give +serious thought to the symptoms of the great conspiracy which was +being hatched by others for that purpose. Busied with their party +squabbles and social reforms, they took it for granted that +international tranquillity which was a condition of the stability of +all internal affairs was assured. Such occasional misunderstandings as +might crop up among the Powers could, they imagined, always be +smoothed over by manifestations of goodwill and timely concessions. +Fitfulness and hesitancy marked every attempt made by Germany's rivals +to push their trade or extend their political relations beyond their +own borders. + +This lack of enterprise was especially accentuated in their dealings +with Turkey. No Powers had done so much to uphold Ottoman sway in +Europe as France and Britain, and for a long while their exertions +found their natural outcome in a degree of influence at the Sublime +Porte which was unparalleled in Turkish history. But once Germany +inaugurated her economico-political campaign in the Near East, the +principle of neighbourliness was invoked in favour of allowing her to +possess herself of a share of the good things going, whereupon Great +Britain, and in a lesser degree France, curbed their natural impulse +and left most of the field to the pushing new-comer. For years the +writer of these lines pointed out the danger of this self-abnegation, +but his insistent appeals for a more active line of conduct were met +by the statement that Near Eastern affairs had long ceased to tempt +the enterprise or affect the international policy of Great Britain. As +though Great Britain were not a member of the European community or +her geographical insularity implied political isolation; or as if her +policy of equilibrium were capable of being achieved without the +employment of adequate means! When I raised my voice against our +participation in the Baghdad railway scheme and bared to the light the +political designs underlying it, Cabinet Ministers assured the country +that its scope was exclusively economic and cultural and had no +connection with politics! This naïve belief and the _laissez-faire_ +attitude which it engendered enabled the Teutons to reduce Turkey to +economic and political thraldom and to earmark Asia Minor, +thenceforward hedged in with the Baghdad and Anatolian railways, as a +future German colony. + +The closeness and constancy of the relations between economics and +politics which easily took root in German consciousness, had for +another of its corollaries the dispatch of General Liman von Sanders +and his band of officers to reorganize the Ottoman army. This measure +struck some observers as the beginning of the end of European peace. +It was thus that the Russian Premier, Kokofftseff, and his colleague, +Sazonoff, construed it, and that was the interpretation which I also +put upon it. But none of the other interested Governments expressed +similar misgivings, nor, so far as one can judge, entertained any. Yet +when war was finally declared, Germany's plan of campaign allotted an +important rôle to Turkey not in a possible emergency, but at a date to +be determined by the completion of her military and naval equipment. + +In this ingenious and comprehensive way, operating at a multitude of +points, but never dissociating economics from politics, never +abandoning the work of commercial expansion to the unaided resources +of individuals, the Teutonic empires contrived to spread a huge net in +whose meshes almost every civilized nation was to some extent +entangled. And the subsequent political conduct of many of these was +determined in advance by the plight to which they had been thus +reduced. Russia was reasonably believed to be incapable of taking the +field; Italy was accounted wholly unfitted to bear the weight of the +financial burden which a conflict with Germany would lay upon her +shoulders; Roumania, it was calculated, would decline to exchange +material gains for political returns purchased at a heavy cost; +Bulgaria could not afford to estrange Austria's sympathies and need +never fear that she might forfeit those of Russia; Sweden, saturated +with German Kultur, was one of the foreposts of Teutonism in the north +of Europe and might in time be induced to imitate Bulgaria and play +for the hegemony of the Scandinavian States with the Kaiser's help; +Switzerland was virtually German in everything but political +organization; Holland would believe in Prussianism and tremble; +Belgium was economically a pawn in German hands and Antwerp a German +port; and in the United States millions of hyphenated Germans would +plead the Teuton cause and do the rough work of advancing it by means +of their political organization and influence. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE RIVAL POLICIES + + +In face of this Teutonic control of the world's trade, politics and +news supply, the Great Powers whose outlook, political and economic, +was most nearly affected, exhibited a degree of supineness which can +only be adequately explained by such assumptions as one would gladly +eliminate. Anyhow the lessons conveyed by eloquent facts fell upon +deaf ears. Yet it was manifest, in view of Germany's ingenious +combination of economics and politics, and the irresistible +co-operation of the State and individuals in applying it, that the +slipshod methods of Britain and France could no longer be persisted in +without grave danger to these states. To deal with trade and industry +as though they were matters that concerned only the particular +business firms engaged in them was no longer an economical error, it +was also a political blunder. To Government meddling in trade and +industry the British people have ever been averse. And their dislike +is intelligible although no longer warranted. A glance at Germany's +economic campaign and its results ought to have borne out the thesis +that individual self-reliance and push are unavailing to cope with a +potent organism equipped scientifically, provided with large capital +and backed by the resources of diplomacy. New epochs call for fresh +methods, and the era of commercial and industrial individualism was +closed years ago by the German people. Co-ordination of effort, the +combination of politics with economics, and unity of direction were +among Germany's methods in the contest, and she adopted them in the +grounded belief that commerce and industry lie at the nethermost roots +of the vast political movements of the new era. + +This is a century of co-operation, of joint efforts for common +interests, of union in trade, industry, labour, politics and war. To +stand aloof is to be isolated, and isolation means helplessness +against danger. Germany was the first Power to grasp these facts, to +understand the new phase of life and to adapt herself to it. For this +work of readjustment her people were specially endowed by Nature, and +in their equipment for the task they saw a mark of election set upon +them by their "old God." For the correlate of co-operation is talent +for organization, and with this the Teutons are plentifully gifted. +They feel impelled as it were by instinct to push forward much further +on the road already traversed by all nations from isolation to +individualism through gregariousness. They opened the new era of +amalgamation by co-ordinating, on a vast scale, individual +achievements, resources and labour, and directing them to a common +end. The allied peoples were meanwhile content to muddle through in +the old way. This difference explains much that seems puzzling in the +outcome of the struggle. + +It has been affirmed somewhat off-handedly that the Latin and British +peoples, incapable of united and organized effort, have halted at the +individualist stage. They are supposed to lack the bump of +organization. According to this theory among the Germans, who had +passed through all the intermediate phases and carried individualism +to sinister extremes in the past, a reaction set in which called forth +the latent powers of organization which they possess. And these have +been wielded with brilliant results ever since the unity of the German +Empire was first established. Applying the new principle to politics, +the statesmen of Berlin grasped the fact that all future conflicts in +Europe would be waged by coalitions. Neither Austria-Hungary alone nor +the German Empire alone could undertake a world war. That was the +genesis of the scheme of welding the two central empires in one +politico-military entity and then attracting as many other States as +possible into their orbit. And the enterprise was conducted so +ingeniously that when war was declared, Roumania, Bulgaria and Turkey +were tied to the Triple Alliance. And henceforward, whatever the +outcome of the war may be, the permanent fusion of Germany and Austria +is a foregone conclusion. + +By the means described a state of things, actual and potential, was +established which rendered Germany's military attack on Europe much +less hazardous and doubtful a venture than was at first supposed. For +there was not a country on the globe which she or her ally had not +subjected to the process of interpenetration, nor was there one which +had remained wholly irresponsive. Even Brazil, Chili, Peru, China, +Morocco, Persia, Abyssinia, had all experienced its effects. And when +at last the harvest-time was come and its fruits were to be +ingathered Germany felt that she could count to varying extents on the +active sympathy and support of governments, parliaments and nations; +on the Turks, the Swiss, the Swedes, the Bulgarians, the Roumanians; +on the autocratic ruler of the Greeks and on millions of +American-Germans. Every independent religious centre was permeated +with an atmosphere composed in Germany. The Caliph and the +Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Moslems, the evangelical preachers of the +Russian Baltic provinces, Brahmins in India, subjects of the Negus of +Abyssinia, the Jews of western Russia and Poland, as well as those of +the Netherlands, the Catholics of Switzerland, Holland and Italy, nay, +the Vatican itself, raised their voices in the chorus of the millions +who sang hosannah to the Highest.[63] + + [63] The Highest of All is the official designation of the + Kaiser: der Allerhöchste. + +Dismay was the feeling aroused among the Allies by the quick dramatic +moves which precipitated the war. The trump of doom seemed to have +sounded at a moment when mankind was on the point of discovering the +secret of immortality. The utter unpreparedness of the Allies was the +dominant note of the new situation, and its manifestations were +countless and disastrous. There was no adequate British expeditionary +army to send on foreign service, and there existed no machinery by +which such a force could quickly be got together and trained. +Voluntary enlistment was a slowly moving mechanism, and even if it +could be made to work more rapidly, there was no way of employing the +new soldiers, for whom there were neither barracks nor uniforms nor +rifles in sufficiency. And if all these requirements could have been +improvised, there were no generals accustomed to handle armies of +millions. And even if all those wants had been supplied to hand there +was no Government enterprising enough to put them to the best +advantage of the nation. Moreover, colonial expeditions were the most +extensive military operations which the country had carried on within +the memory of the present generation, and it was beyond the power of +the authorities not only to organize the imperial defences on an +adequate scale but even to realize the necessity of attempting the +feat. In a word, the prospect could hardly have been more dismal. + +In France it was a degree less cheerless, but still decidedly bleak. +Mobilization there went forward, it is claimed, more smoothly than had +been anticipated, but not rapidly enough to enable adequate forces to +be dispatched in time against the German military flood. The +organization of the railway system was most inefficient. And had it +not been for heroic Belgium, who, confronted with the alternatives of +ruin with honour and safety with ignominy, unhesitatingly chose the +better part, the inrush of the Teutons would, it is asserted by +military experts, have swept away every obstacle that lay between them +and the French capital, which was their first objective. Belgium's +magnificent resistance thus saved Paris, gave breathing space to the +French, and enabled the Allies to swing their sword before smiting. + +Russia, too, did better than had been augured of her, but not nearly +as well as if her resources had been organized by competent experts, +alive to the dangers that threatened the empire. On the eve of the war +a process of fermentation among the working men of her two capitals +was coming to a head, and a revolt, if not a revolution, was being +industriously organized. The movement had certainly been fostered, and +probably originated, by wealthy German employers in Petrograd, Moscow +and other industrial centres. They had hoped to frustrate the +mobilization order, retard Russia's entry into the field, and possibly +bring about civil strife. And they were within an ace of succeeding. +On the very eve of hostilities reports reached Berlin and Vienna that +the revolution was already beginning. But the declaration of war +against Germany purified the air, absorbed the redundant energies of +the people, and fused all classes and parties into a whole-hearted, +single-minded nation, giving Russia a degree of union which she had +not enjoyed since Napoleon's invasion. But, separated from her allies, +she went her own way without much reference to theirs. Her plans had +been drafted by her military leaders, and might be modified by local +conditions or subsequent vicissitudes, but were neither co-ordinated +nor even synchronized with those of France and Britain. Thus the first +and most important lesson had still to be mastered. + +Liège and Namur having fallen, the danger to Paris struck terror to +the hearts of the French, and the public mind was being gradually +prepared by the Press to receive the depressing tidings of its capture +with dignified calm. The occupation of the capital, it was argued, +would not essentially weaken the military strength of the Republic. +For the army would still be intact, and that was the essential point. +Here, for the first time, one notes the almost invincible force of the +antiquated opinions to which the Allies still tenaciously clung about +warfare as modified by Germany. No misgivings were harboured that the +enemy might threaten to burn the capital city if the army refused to +capitulate, or that he was capable of carrying out such a threat. War +in its old guise, hedged round with traditions of chivalry, with +humanitarian restrictions, with international laws, was how the French +and their allies conceived it. And it was in that spirit that they +made their forecasts and regulated their own behaviour towards the +enemy. + +The rise of Generals Joffre, Castelnau and Foch and the retreat of the +German invaders raised the Allies from the depths of despair to a +degree of confidence bordering on presumption. After the departure of +the Belgian Government to Antwerp,[64] the occupation of Brussels,[65] +the defeat of the Austrian army by the Serbs and the rout of three +German army corps by the Russians,[66] the Western Allies conceived +high hopes of the military prowess of the Slavs, and looked to them +for the decisive action which would speedily bring the Teutons to +their knees. And for a time Russia's continued progress seemed to +justify these hopes. Her troops entered Insterburg[67] and pushed on +to Königsberg, which they invested and threatened,[68] and in the +south they scored a series of remarkable successes in Galicia. But in +the west of Europe the Allies could at most but retard without +arresting the advance of the Germans, whose aim was to defeat the +French and then concentrate all their efforts on the invasion of the +Tsardom. Despite assurances of an optimistic tenor there appeared to +be no serious hope of defending Paris, nor were effective local +measures adopted for the purpose; and on September 3 the French +Government, against the insistent advice of three experienced Cabinet +Ministers, suddenly moved to Bordeaux, and earned for itself the +nickname of _tournedos à la bordelaise_. On the same historic day the +Tsar's troops triumphantly entered Lemberg, restored to that city its +ancient name of Lvoff, and proceeded to introduce the Russian system +of administration there with all its traditional characteristics. But +in lieu of conferring full powers on the Governor of the conquered +province, a man of broad views and conciliatory methods, the +Government dispatched a narrow-minded official, devoid of natural +ability, of administrative training, and of the sobering consciousness +of his own defects, and listened to his recommendations. For Russia, +like France and Britain, still contemplated the situation and its +potentialities through the distorting medium of the old order of +things. Their orientation had undergone no change. + + [64] August 17, 1914. + + [65] August 20, 1914. + + [66] August 22, 1914. + + [67] August 23, 1914. + + [68] August 29, 1914. + +One of the immediate consequences of Russian rule in Galicia was to +confirm the Vatican in its belief that Austria offered Catholicism far +more trustworthy guarantees for its unhindered growth than could ever +be expected from the Tsardom. + +The famous battle of the Marne[69] infused new energies into the +Allies, whose Press organs forthwith took to discussing the terms on +which peace might be vouchsafed to the Teutons, and in these +stipulations a spirit of magnanimity was displayed towards the enemy +which at any rate served to show how little his temper was understood +and how enormously his resources were underrated. Soon, however, the +mist of ignorance began to lift, and saner notions of the stern +interplay of the tidal forces at work were borne in upon the leaders +of the allied peoples. One of the first discoveries to be made was the +enormous consumption of ammunition required by latter-day warfare and +the ease with which the Germans were able to meet this increased +demand. That this enormous advantage was the result of scientific +organization was patent to all. Nor could it be ignored that an +essential element of that organization was the militarization of all +workmen whose services were needed by the State. But from the lesson +thus inculcated to its application in practice there was an abyss. And +as yet that abyss has not been bridged. The most formidable obstacle +in the way is offered by the shackles of party politics, which still +hamper the leaders of the Entente Powers, and in particular of Great +Britain. Industrial compulsion has not yet been moved into the field +of practical politics. + + [69] September 12, 1914. + +One of Germany's calculations was that, however superior to her own +resources those of her adversaries might be, they were not likely to +be mobilized, concentrated and brought to bear upon the front. +Consequently they would not tell upon the result. Military discipline +had not impregnated any of the allied nations, whose ideas of +personal liberty and dignity would oppose an insurmountable obstacle +to that severe discipline which was essential to military success. +Great Britain, they believed, would cling to her ingrained notions of +the indefeasible right of the British workman to strike and of the +British citizen to hold back from military service. And the telegrams +announcing that in the United Kingdom the cries of "business as +usual," "sport as usual," "strikes as usual," "voluntary enlistment as +usual," indicated the survival of the antiquated spirit of +individualism into a new order of things which peremptorily called for +co-operation and iron discipline, were received in Berlin and Vienna +with undisguised joy. The persistence of this spirit has been the +curse of the Allies ever since. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP + + +It is worth noting in this connection how heavily the lack of genial +leaders at this critical conjuncture in European history told upon the +allied peoples and affected their chances of success. The statesmen in +power were mostly straightforward, conscientious servants of their +respective Governments, whose ideal had been the prevention of +hostilities, and whose exertions in war time were directed to the +restoration of peace on a stable basis. By none of them was the stir, +the spirit, the governing instincts of the new era or the actual +crisis perceived. They all failed of audacity. Hence they were +solicitous to leave as far as possible intact all the rights, +privileges and institutions of the past which would be serviceable in +the re-established peace régime of the future. In Great Britain the +voluntary system of recruiting the army and navy was to be respected, +the right of workmen to strike was recognized, and the maintenance of +party government was looked upon as a matter of course. The writer of +these pages made several ineffectual attempts to propagate the view +that a War Cabinet presided over by a real chief was a corollary of +the situation, military and industrial compulsion for all was +indispensable, that a discriminating tariff on our imports and a +restriction of certain exports would materially contribute to our +progress, and that a special department for the manufacture of +munitions ought to be organized without delay.[70] One measure +indicative, people said, of undisputed wisdom which was resorted to +was the appointment of Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War.[71] If +this step deserved the fervent approval it met with, its efficacy was +considerably impaired by imposing on the new Secretary the task of +purveying munitions and other supplies, in addition to the +multifarious duties of his office. And with this solitary exception +everything was allowed to go on "as usual," with consequences which +every one has since had an opportunity of meditating. Internal +whole-hearted co-operation between the Government and all the social +layers of the population was neither known nor systematically +attempted, and still less were the respective forces of the Allies +co-ordinated and hurled against the enemy. The struggle was confined +to the army and the navy, and these instruments of national defence +were inadequately provided with the first necessaries for action. + + [70] Cf. _Contemporary Review_, November 1914. I was + requested to suppress an article on the subject of "Coalition + Government" and another on the subject of "Tariff Reform + during and after the War." + + [71] August 5, 1914. + +Each of the Allies was isolated, cooped within its own narrow circle +of ideas, buoyed up by its own hopes, bent on the attainment of its +own special aims. The first step towards amalgamation was negative in +character, but superlatively politic. It took the form of a covenant +by which it was stipulated that none of the Allies should conclude a +separate peace with the enemy. But beyond that nothing was done, nor +was anything more considered necessary. + +In Britain the consciousness that the country was at war spread very +slowly, while the conviction that this was a life-and-death struggle +which would seriously affect the lives and rights and habits of every +individual made no headway. Only a few grasped the fact that a +tremendous upheaval was going forward which marked the rise of a new +era and a complete break with the old. By the bulk of the population +it was treated as a game calling for no extraordinary efforts, no +special methods, no new departures. It was construed as a hateful +parenthesis in a cheerful history of human progress, and the object of +the nation was to have it swiftly and decently closed. Hence the +machinery of the old system was not discarded. Voluntary enlistment +was belauded and agitation against joining the army magnanimously +tolerated. Attacks on the Government were permitted. The manufacture +of munitions was confided to private firms and to the whims of +dissatisfied workmen, and co-operation among the various sections of +the population was left to private initiative. + +Most of us are prone to consider this war as a fortuitous event, which +might, indeed, have been staved off, but which, having disturbed for a +time the easy movement of our insular life, will die away and leave us +free to continue our progress on the same lines as before. But this +faith is hardly more than the confluence of hopes and strivings, +habits, traditions, and aspirations untempered by accurate knowledge +of the facts. And the facts, were we cognizant of them, would show us +that the agencies which brought about this tremendous shock of peoples +without blasting our hopes or exploding our pet theories, will not +spend their force in this generation or the next, and that already the +entire fabric--social, political, and economical--of our national life +is undergoing disruption. + +The shifting of landmarks, political and social, is going steadily if +stealthily forward; and the nation waking up one day will note with +amazement the vast distance it has imperceptibly traversed. If only we +could realize at present how rapidly and irrevocably we are drifting +away from our old-world moorings, we should feel in a more congenial +mood for adjusting ourselves to the new and unpopular requirements of +the era now dawning. Already we are becoming a militarist and a +protective State, but we do not yet know it. We have broken with the +traditions of our own peculiar and insular form of civilization, of +which poets like Tennyson were the high priests, yet we hesitate to +bid them farewell. We still base our forecasts of the future political +life on the past and calculate the outcome of the next elections, the +fate of Disestablishment and Home Rule, the relative positions of the +chief Parliamentary parties on the old bases, and draw up our plans +accordingly. In short, we still bear about with us the fragrant +atmosphere of our previous existence which will never be renewed. And +it is owing to the effects of that disturbing medium that our +observations have been so defective and our mistakes so sinister. We +still fail to perceive that decay has overtaken the organs of our +Party Government and the groundwork of our State fabric is rotten. +Yet everything about and around us is in flux. We are in the midst of +a new environment. + +When this war is over we shall search in vain for what was peculiarly +British in our cherished civilization. Of that civilization which +reached its acme during the reign of the late King Edward, we have +seen the last, little though most of us realize its passing. It was an +age of sturdy good sense, healthy animalism, and dignity withal, and +not devoid of a strong flavour of humanity and home-reared virtue. But +in every branch of politics and some departments of science it was an +age of amateurism. Respect for right, for liberty, for law and +tradition, for relative truth and gradual progress, was widely +diffused. Well-controlled energy, responsiveness to calls on one's +fellow-feeling, and the everyday honesty that tapers into policy were +among its familiar features. But if one were asked to sum it all up in +a single word it would be hard to utter one more comprehensive or +characteristic than the essentially English term, comfort. Comfort was +the apex of the pyramid which is now crumbling away. And it is that +Laodicean civilization, and not the fierce spirit of the new time, +which is incarnate in the present official leaders of the British +nation. + +The French, too, approached the general problem from their own +particular standpoint. Provided with a serviceable military +organization, the same unconsciousness of the need of mobilizing all +the other national resources pierced through their policy. Parties and +factions subsisted as before, and half-way men who would have been +satisfied with driving the enemy out of France and Belgium lifted up +their voices against those who insisted on prosecuting the war until +Prussianism was worsted. The French Socialists met in London[72] and +passed resolutions in which the usual claptrap of the war of classes, +the boons of pacifism and the wickedness of the Tsardom occupied a +prominent place. And the Congress was honoured by the presence of two +Cabinet Ministers, MM. Guesde and Sembat. + + [72] February 1915. + +Russia, true to her old self, carried the narrow spirit of the +bureaucracy into the fiercest struggle recorded by history, seemingly +satisfied that the clash of armies and navies would leave antiquated +theories and moulding traditions intact. When the revolutionist +Burtzeff published his patriotic letter to the French papers approving +Russia's energetic defence of civilization, he was applauded by all +Europe. "Even we," he wrote, "adherents of the parties of the Extreme +Left and hitherto ardent anti-militarists and pacifists, even we +believe in the necessity of _this_ war. The German peril, the curse +which has hung over the world for so many decades, will be crushed." +Yet when he returned to his country resolved to support the Tsar's +Government and lend a hand in the good work, he was sent to Siberia, +in commemoration of the old order of things. + +Germany alone took her stand on the new plane and accommodated herself +to the new conditions. Thoroughness was her watchword because victory +was her aim, its alternative being coma or death. With her gaze fixed +on the end, she rejected nothing that could serve as means. + +In congruity with these divergent views and sentiments was the reading +of the war's vicissitudes in the various belligerent countries. The +allied Press was over-hopeful, right being certain to triumph over +might wedded to wrong. Publicists pitied the Teutons in anticipation +of the fate that was fast overtaking them. Pæans of victory resounded, +allaying the apprehensions and numbing the energies of the leagued +nations. The German, it was asseverated, had shot his bolt and was at +bay. Russia had laid siege to Cracow, and would shortly occupy that +city as she had occupied Lemberg. The Tsar's troops might then be +expected to push on to Berlin, and to reach it in a few months. And, +painfully aware of the certainty of this consummation, Austria was +dejected and Hungary secretly making ready to secede from the Habsburg +Monarchy. To this soothing gossip even serious statesmen lent a +willing ear. The writer of these remarks was several times asked by +leading personages of the allied Governments whether internal +upheavals were not impending in Germany and Austria, and his assurance +that no such diversion could be looked for then or in the near future +was traversed on the ground that all trustworthy accounts from Berlin, +Vienna and Budapest pointed to a process of fermentation which would +shortly interpose an impassable barrier to the further military +advance of the Central empires. But he continued to express himself in +the same strain of warning, which subsequent events have unhappily +justified. + +In October 1914, for instance, he wrote-- + + "Germany has already shot her bolt, people tell us. + Already? The people who for forty years have been preparing + to establish their rule from Ostend to the Persian Gulf have + expended their energies after three months of warfare? And + the concrete foundations built at such pains and expense in + the German factory that dominates Edinburgh? Was the Teuton + simple-minded enough to fancy that he would be in a position + to utilize this and the other emplacements for his giant + guns within three months after the outbreak of hostilities? + Let us be fair to our enemy and just to ourselves. The + German has not shot his bolt. If time is on our side, it + will also remain on his up to a point which we have not yet + reached. Those who urge that the German must make haste + imply that his resources are gradually drying up, and that + neither his food supplies, nor his chemicals, nor his metals + can be imported so long as we hold command of the seas. His + armies will therefore die of inanition, or their operations + will be thwarted for lack of munitions. This would indeed be + joyful tidings were it true. If false, it is a mischievous + delusion. + + "We are told that the German time-table has been upset. + Unquestionably it has. But is the time-table identical with + the programme for which it was drawn up? If it is, then the + march on Paris has been definitely abandoned. Now is this + conclusion borne out by what we behold? What, then, is the + meaning of the plan to capture Belfort and Calais? What is + the object of the vast reinforcements now on their way from + the east to Von Kluck's army? Personally, I have not a doubt + that Paris is the objective, or that the Germans are still + striving to carry out their programme in its entirety, + which is the extension of their empire over Europe and Asia + Minor. The immediate object of the Allies is to foil this + design, and only after we have accomplished that can we + think of assuming the offensive and crushing Prussian + militarism. We have not compassed that end; the battlefields + are still in the Allies' countries, and the initiative rests + with the enemy. Now to whatever causes we may attribute this + undesirable state of things--and it certainly cannot be + ascribed to lack of energy on the part of the British + Government or our military authorities--it is right that + those who are acting for the nation should ask themselves + whether those causes are still operative. If they are--and + on this score there is hardly room for doubt--it behoves the + Allies, and the British people in particular, to rise to a + just sense of the _unparalleled sacrifices_ they must be + prepared to make during the ordeal which they are about to + undergo." + +The German way of looking at the relative strength and positions of +the belligerents as modified by the vicissitudes of the campaign was +realistic and statesmanlike. Starting from the principle that a people +of about a hundred millions, animated by a lively faith in its own +vitality and mental equipment, can neither be destroyed nor +permanently crippled, they argued that the worst that Fate could have +in store for them would be a draw. But before that end could be +achieved the Teutonic armies must have been pulverized and Germany and +Austria occupied by the allied troops. And of this there were no +signs. "We never fancied," they said, "that what happened in 1870 +would be repeated in 1914. How could we make such a stupid mistake? +Then we had only France against us. To-day we encounter the combined +forces of Russia, France, Belgium and England. This difference had to +have its counterpart in the campaign. Thus we have not yet captured +Paris. But then to-day we are wrestling with the greatest empires in +the world, and we hold them in our grip. We are fighting not for a few +milliard francs and a disaffected province, but for priceless spoils +and European hegemony. Moreover, Belgium, which we possess and mean to +keep, is a greater prize than the temporary occupation of Paris. +Besides, postponement is not abandonment. Whether we take the French +capital one month or another is but a detail. + +"And, over and above all this, we have reached the sea and are within +a few miles of England's shores. Furthermore, Russia's army, which we +lured into East Prussia until it fancied it was about to invest +Königsberg, has been driven back beyond Wirballen far into Tsardom, +with appalling losses of men and material. Her other forces, which +several weeks ago boasted that they were about to capture Cracow, will +soon be driven out of Przemysl and Lemberg. Libau will fall into our +hands. Riga is sure to be ours, and Warsaw itself will finally admit +our victorious troops. Does this look like defeat at the hands of our +enemies? And German soil is still as immune from invasion as though it +were girded by the sea." + +In all our forecasts one important element of calculation was +invariably left out of account: the consequences of our blunders, +past, present and future. And these have added enormously to our +difficulties and dangers. Not the least made was the mistake in +allowing the two German warships _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ to enter the +Dardanelles. To have pursued them into Ottoman waters would, it was +pleaded in justification, have constituted a violation of Turkish +neutrality. Undoubtedly it would, but the infringement would not have +been more serious than many flagrant breaches of neutrality which the +Sublime Porte had committed a short time before and was known to be +about to perpetrate again.[73] But a scrupulous regard for the rights +of neutrals has been, and still is, the groundstone of the Allies' +policy, irrespective of its effects on the outcome of the war. The +rules of the game, it is contended, must be observed by us, however +much they may be disregarded by the enemy. This considerateness and +scrupulosity may be chivalrous, but they form an irksome drag on a +nation at war with Teutons. The two ships were at once transferred by +Germany to the Turks.[74] Some two months later, deeming their war +preparations completed, the latter suddenly bombarded the open Russian +town of Theodosia in the Black Sea, and sank several small craft, thus +realizing Germany's hopes and justifying her politico-economic policy. +It was now too late to lament the chivalrous attitude which had +permitted the _Goeben_ and the _Breslau_ to steam into the +Dardanelles, or to regret the indifference we had persistently +displayed to Near Eastern affairs for well-nigh twenty years. The best +that could be done at that late hour was to face the consequences of +those errors with dignity and to strive to repair them with alacrity. +But all the efforts made were partial and successive. There was no +attempt at co-ordination. + + [73] Turkey had already violated her neutrality to our + detriment many times. For instance, on September 25 she had + erected military works against us on the Sinai frontier; as + far back as August 25 Turkish officers had seized Egyptian + camels laden with foodstuffs. Moslem fidahis in Ottoman + service endeavoured to incite the Egyptian Mohammedans + against the British Government during the first half of + October. + + [74] August 13, 1914. + +Turkey's defection was a serious blow to the allied cause, not only in +view of the positive, but also of the negative, advantages it was +calculated to confer upon Germany. The Ottoman army, consisting of +first-class raw materials, had had its latent qualities unfolded and +matured by German organization, discipline and training. Its supplies +were replenished. Ammunition factories were established. Barracks were +built and fortifications equipped in congruity with latter-day needs. +Three million pounds of German bar gold reached Constantinople, and +were deposited in the branch offices of the Deutsche Bank there for +the requirements of the army. In all this the Kaiser's Government ran +no risks. The return was guaranteed by the politico-economic measures +which had been continuously applied during the years of our +"disinterestedness." + +Enver had meanwhile risen to the zenith of his career. He was now War +Minister and had surrounded himself with officers who would follow him +whithersoever he might lead them. A low-sized, wiry man, seemingly of +no account, Enver is pale of complexion, shuffling in gait. His eyes +are piercing, and his gaze furtive. A soul-monger who should buy him +at his specific value and sell him at his own estimate would earn +untold millions. For, to use a picturesque Russian phrase, the ocean +is only up to his knees. He is physically dauntless and buoyant. In +the war against Italy he had fought well and organized the Arab and +other native troops under conditions of great difficulty, winning +laurels which have not yet withered. A Pole by extraction, Enver Pasha +is a Prussian by training and sympathies, and a Turk by language and +religion and by his marriage with a daughter of the Sultan. Political +sense he has none. His one ideal was to earn the appreciation of the +Prussian military authorities, to whom he looks up as a fervid +disciple to peerless masters. German military praise melts his manhood +and turns his brain. He possesses a dictatorial temper with none of +the essential qualities of a dictator, and in the field he is +distinguished, I am told, by splendid valour without an inkling of +scientific strategy. + +It was that Polish Turk and his German masters who formally made war +upon Russia, France and Britain.[75] And the Turkish nation had no +opportunity to sanction or veto their resolve. Nay, even the majority +of the Cabinet, including the Grand Vizier, had had no say on the +issue, were not even informed of what was being done until overt acts +of hostility had actually clinched the matter. Indeed, there was a +majority of Cabinet Ministers in favour of neutrality, but it was +ignored. In this way Turkey threw in her lot with the Teutons,[76] to +the astonishment of the Allies, who had hoped that a policy of +forbearance and meekness would elicit a friendly response and +frustrate the effect of the master strokes by which Germany, during a +long series of years, had consolidated her ascendancy over Turkey and +obtained the command of the Ottoman army. The childish notion that a +sudden exhibition of pacific intentions and goodwill is enough to foil +the carefully laid schemes of a clever enemy which have been maturing +for decades, is the refrain that runs through the history of our +foreign policy for the last thirty or forty years. And not only +through the history of our foreign policy. Faith in the sacramental +efficacy of an improvisation is a trait common to all the Allies, but +in the British nation it is the faith that is expected to move +mountains. + + [75] November 3, 1914. + + [76] On October 25, 1908, after having studied the origins of + the Turkish Revolution and the antecedents of its authors, + and while all Europe was still warmly congratulating the + Young Turks on their bloodless victory and moderation, I + dispatched the following telegraphic message to the _Daily + Telegraph_-- + + "Most unwillingly do I give utterance to facts and + impressions calculated to introduce a jarring note into the + harmonious optimism of Western peoples, who confidently augur + great things of the young Ottoman nation, and discern no + difficulties likely to become formidable dangers to the + new-born State. But a knowledge of all the essential data is + indispensable to correct the diagnosis without which the + malady cannot be successfully treated. Emancipation, then, + has produced a beneficent enthusiasm for the political ideals + of Europe in minds hitherto impermeable to Western notions, + but has neither transformed the national character nor + supplied the revolutionary movement with the requisite + constructive forces. _Neither can it break the fateful + continuity of Turkish history nor avert the defects of the + destructive causes that have been operative here for + generations._" + +The negative aspect of Turkey's belligerency proved to be quite as +irksome as the positive. For it involved the closing of the +Dardanelles to Russia's corn export and the disappearance of the +principal route for communications between the Tsardom and its Western +allies. Archangel is blocked in winter and inadequately connected by +rail with the two capitals in summer. This additional embarrassment +and its financial sequel compelled the attention of the Allies to the +need of some kind of co-operation--just to satisfy actual needs. For +neither then nor at any subsequent period was there any pretence of +laying open the whole ground and building a complete structure upon +that. A temporary expedient is all that was contemplated, and nothing +more lasting was evoked. None the less, the Conference of the three +Finance Ministers in Paris[77] marked a step in advance, and was +subsequently followed up by a closer and more continuous contact. + + [77] February 6, 1915, and the following three days. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PROBLEMS OF FINANCE + + +Finances are the nerve of warfare, and in a contest which can be +decided only by the exhaustion of one of the belligerents they are, so +to say, the central nerve system. The Germans being astute financiers, +and aware that the war to which their policy was leading would soon +break out, had made due preparations, with a surprising grasp of +detail. Nothing was forgotten and nothing neglected. And success +rewarded their efforts. The result was that they mobilized their +finances long before they had begun to mobilize their troops. + +France, on the contrary, persuaded that peace would not be disturbed, +took no thought of the morrow. Yet her budgetary estimates showed an +ugly deficit. This gap, however, would have been filled up in the +ordinary course of things by a big loan which was about to be floated. +But M. Caillaux, probably the most clever financier in France, who, if +he applied his knowledge and resourcefulness to the furtherance of his +country's interests, could achieve great things, used them--and +together with them his parliamentary influence--to upset the Cabinet +and thwart the loan scheme. Then, taking over the portfolio of the +Finance Minister in the new Cabinet, he arranged for borrowing a small +instead of a large amount, thereby exposing his country to risks more +serious than the public realized. For it was a heavy disadvantage on +the eve of the most exhausting struggle ever entered upon by the +French people, whose strongest position was weakened as no enemy could +have weakened it. + +Russia was in a different, but nowise better, position when suddenly +called upon to meet the onerous demands of the world-contest. She, +too, having pinned her faith to the maintenance of peace, had made no +preparations for war, financial or military. Moreover, a considerable +sum of her money was at the time deposited in various foreign +countries, and especially in France, for the service of her loans and +the payment of State orders placed with various firms. This money, on +the outbreak of hostilities, was automatically immobilized by the +moratorium, although the delicate question whether a moratorium can be +legally applied to sums thus deposited by a foreign Government has not +yet been decided with finality. As a matter of fact, Russia's deposits +remained where they were, and could not be utilized. The consequences +of this embargo were irksome, and for a time threatened to become +dangerous. Little by little, however, these restrictions were removed, +partly by the French Government and partly by the spontaneous efforts +of the banks. + +France, too, suffered in a like way from the paralysing effect of the +moratorium. For the French had no less than half a milliard francs +lent out at interest for short terms in Russia. This sum could, as it +chanced, have been refunded at once without inconvenience, seeing that +it was liquid in the banks of Petrograd, Moscow, Warsaw, and other +cities of the Tsardom. But as the money was in Russian roubles, and +all international exchange had ceased, it too was incapable of being +converted into francs. Thus the two allies, although really flush of +money, were undergoing some of the hardships of impecuniosity, and to +extricate them from this tangle was a task that called for the +exercise of uncommon ingenuity. This happily was forthcoming. + +But that was only one aspect of a larger and more momentous business +which the financiers of the Entente Powers had to set themselves to +tackle. Another of its bearings was the effect of the war upon the +rate of exchange of the rouble, which is of moment to all the Allies. +Indeed, so long as the conflict lasts the smooth working of the +financial machines of the three States is of as much moment to each +and all as is the winning of battles and the raising of fresh armies. +In this struggle and at least until the curtain has fallen upon the +final scene, the maintenance of financial credit and the purveyance of +ready cash, together with all the subsidiary issues to which these +operations may give rise, should be discussed and settled in common. + +During the present world combat, which has not its like in history, +whether we consider the issues at stake, the number of troops engaged, +or the destructive forces let loose, the ordinary narrow conceptions +of mutual assistance, financial and other, with their jealous care of +flaccid interests, cannot be persisted in. The basic principle on +which it behoves the allied Powers to sustain each other's vitality +can only be the community of resources within the limits traced by +national needs. For our cause is one and indivisible, and a success of +one of the Allies is a success of all. Hence, although we move from +different starting-points and by unconnected roads, we are one +community in motive, tendencies and sacrifices. The sense of Fate, +whose deepening shadow now lies across the civilized nations of the +Old Continent, has evoked the sympathies of the partner peoples for +each other, and temporarily obliterated many of the points of +artificial distinction which owed their existence to national egotism. + +Russia's resources, then, were immobilized at the outset of the war. +The minister who had spent thirty-five years in the financial +department of State had resigned shortly before. His successor, a man +of considerable capacity and good intentions, was bereft of the help +of the best permanent officials of the Ministry, who had followed the +outgoing minister into retirement. And no minister ever needed help +more sorely than M. Bark. For the sudden cessation of all +international exchange and the consequent immobilization of Russia's +financial reserve, made it temporarily impossible for her to satisfy +demands which could easily have been met under circumstances less +disconcerting. Here her British ally came to the rescue. In the first +place, the British Government gave its guarantee to the Bank of +England for the acceptances which this bank had discounted. These were +of two kinds: all acceptances whatever discounted before hostilities +had broken out, and all commercial acceptances discounted since the +declaration of war. The measure which brought this welcome assistance +was general in its form, but it included Russian bills accepted in +London. And this discount by the Bank of England will continue until +one year after the close of the campaign. In plain English, that +means that the greater part of Russia's cash payments in London will +be put off until then. + +In Russia's dealings with France a like trouble made itself felt, but +the same remedy was not applied. The Government there did not offer a +State guarantee for acceptances by the Banque de France. The reasons +for this difference of method are immaterial. The main point is that +some other expedient had to be devised whereby Russia could discharge +her short-term debts to her French creditors. In the Tsardom money was +available for the purpose, but it was in roubles, which would first +have to be exchanged into francs, and, as there was no rate of +exchange, this operation could be effected, if at all, only at a +considerable and unnecessary loss. + +After several weeks' negotiations, and a thorough study of the +question, an agreement was struck up between the Imperial Russian Bank +and the Banque de France, by which the latter institution placed at +the disposal of the former the requisite sum in francs which was +specially earmarked for the payment of Russia's private debts in +Paris. + +The fall in the rouble was partly caused by the diminution of Russian +exports, in consequence of the closing of the Baltic, the +Mediterranean, and the land routes _via_ Germany and Austria. The +whole harvest of 1914 lay garnered up in the Tsar's dominions, where +prices fell to a low level, while the rouble lost one-fourth of its +value. Russia's interest on her foreign debt was thus increased by +twenty-five per cent. The Western allies, on the other hand, were +paying huge sums for corn to neutrals. As in the long run all Entente +Powers will have to bear their share of eventual losses, it behoved +them to prevent or moderate them. And this they accomplished to a +limited extent. It might have been well to go further into the matter +and consider the advisability of entering into closer partnership than +was established by their concerted efforts in Paris. An economic +league with privileges for importation and exportation accorded to all +its members--and only to these--not merely during the war but for a +series of years after the conclusion of peace, might perhaps have +tended to solve that and kindred problems. But the Allied Governments +were constitutionally averse to taking long views or adopting +comprehensive measures. + +But the reopening of the Dardanelles and the liberation of Russia's +corn supplies called for immediate attention and a concrete plan of +campaign. The idea of rigging out a naval and military expedition had +been mooted in London before the Financial Conference in Paris, but on +grounds which do not yet constitute materials for public history it +was dropped. At the Conference the scheme was again taken up, and the +previous objections to its execution having been successfully met it +was unanimously accepted. It is worth observing that the original +plan, so far as the present writer was cognizant of it, was coherent, +adequate and feasible, and involved co-ordination on the part of all +three Allies. It did not contemplate a purely naval expedition to the +Dardanelles, but provided for a mixed force of land and sea troops, of +which the number was considerable and under the conditions then +prevalent might also have been ample for the purpose. Although the +Allies had thus made what they believed to be adequate provision for +the success of their project, they took measures to render assurance +doubly sure. They entered into pourparlers with Greece, from whose +co-operation they anticipated advantages which would tell with +decisive force not only on the outcome of the expedition but also on +the upshot of the war. + +Venizelos was approached and sounded on the subject. His authority in +his country, like that of Bismarck on the eve of his fall, was held to +be supreme. For he had saved Greece from anarchy and the dynasty from +banishment; he had reorganized the army, strengthened the navy, +established good government at home, extended the boundaries of the +realm and laid the foundations of a regenerate State which might in +time reunite under the royal sceptre most of the scattered elements of +Hellenism. His personal relations with King Constantine were, however, +understood to be wanting in cordiality, but the monarch was credited +with sufficient acumen to perceive where the interests of his dynasty +and country lay, and with common sense enough to allow them to be +safeguarded and furthered. It was on these unsifted assumptions that +the Governments of the allied Powers went to work. + +One redoubtable obstacle to be dislodged before any headway could be +made was Bulgaria's opposition. In order to displace it, it would be +necessary to acquiesce in her demands for territory possessed by her +neighbours. And in view of the intimate relations, political and +economical, which the military empires had established with Bulgaria +and their firm hold over Ferdinand, even this retrocession might prove +inadequate for the purpose. According to a binding arrangement +between Serbia and Greece, no territorial concession running counter +to the settlement of the Bucharest Treaty might be accorded to +Bulgaria by either of the two contracting States, without the consent +of the other. And now Venizelos was asked to signify his assent to the +abandonment by Serbia of a part of the Macedonian province recently +annexed. This point gained, he was further solicited to cede Kavalla +and some 2000 square kilometres of territory incorporated with Greece, +to Bulgaria, in return for the future possession of 140,000 square +kilometres in western Asia Minor. It was stipulated by him and hastily +taken for granted by the Governments of the Allied States that these +concessions, together with those which Serbia and Roumania were +expected to make, would move Bulgaria to follow Russia's lead and +enter the arena by the side of the Allies. But before Venizelos's +readiness to compromise could be utilized as a practical element of +the negotiations, the Bulgarian Cabinet had applied for and received +an advance of 150 million francs from the two Central empires on +conditions which, in the judgment of the Greek Premier, rendered +further dealings with that State nugatory. + +At the same time King Constantine, yielding to German importunity and +to personal emotions, adopted a series of measures of which the effect +would have been to discredit in the eyes of the nation Venizelos's +patriotism as a minister and his veracity as an individual. The upshot +of these machinations was the voluntary retirement of the Premier from +public life, the dissolution of the Greek Parliament, the accession +to power of a Germanophile Cabinet, and the frustration of that part +of the Allies' plan which had for its object the immediate +co-operation of Greece and the subsequent enlistment of the +neighbouring Balkan States. As yet, however, Greece was not wholly +lost to the Entente. Another opportunity presented itself which, had +it been seized by the Governments of Great Britain and France, might +yet have altered the course of Balkan history. But the acceptable +offer in which it was embodied by the Hellenic Government elicited no +response whatever in London or Paris. This was the last hope. +Thenceforward the Allies were constrained to rely upon their own +unaided exertions. + +How they approached the problem thus modified, and to what degree and +in consequence of what technical occurrences the achievement fell +short of reasonable expectations, are matters which do not come within +the scope of this summary narrative of historic events. It may suffice +to contrast the belief, which in March 1915 was widespread--that the +Dardanelles would be forced and Constantinople captured in the space +of four or five weeks--with the circumstance that since then the +British troops alone had nearly a hundred thousand casualties and that +in the month of January 1916 it became evident that nothing could be +gained by further prolonging this painful effort, and the enterprise +was abandoned. + +In spite of Turkey's hostility, the tone of the Allied Press lost +little of its buoyancy. Japan, who had declared war on Germany in +August,[78] had since captured Kiao Chau[79] and that achievement +coupled with the results of four months' warfare in Europe were held +to be promising. For Germany's original plan of campaign had been +foiled, her army driven back from Paris, and Austria had been defeated +in Galicia. If on the debit side of the balance nearly all Belgium and +nine departments of France had fallen into the enemy's hands, it was +some solace to learn that the military authorities of the Allies had +reckoned with all that from the outset. Every reverse sustained by +their arms turned out to have been foreseen and discounted by their +sagacious leaders. Then, again, it was argued that time was on our +side, enabling us to develop our resources, which are much vaster than +those of the enemy. To this way of looking at the situation the writer +of these lines opposed another. "There is," he wrote, "a small section +of the nation, men conversant with the aims, modes of thought, and +military, financial, and economic resources of the enemy, whose gloomy +forecasts in the past have been unhappily fulfilled in the present, +and who would gladly see more conclusive evidence than has yet been +offered that everything which can be done at a given moment to turn +the scale more decisively in our favour is being expeditiously +undertaken by the responsible authorities. + + [78] August 23, 1914. + + [79] November 6, 1914. + +"They are afraid that the gravity of the issues for which we are +fighting, the telling initial advantages secured by the wily enemy, +the formidable nature of the difficulties in the way of decisive +victory, and the tremendous sacrifices which we shall all be called +upon to make before we come in sight of the goal, have not yet +filtered down into the consciousness of any considerable section of +the people." Many months later[80] Mr. Lloyd George re-echoed that +judgment when dealing with the Welsh miners' strike. + + [80] July 1915. + +But optimism continued to prevail among the allied peoples, who +through the Press proclaimed their conviction that ultimate and +complete success was a foregone conclusion. At the same time, however, +an eager desire to hasten this consummation found vent among a +considerable section of politicians, more particularly in France. And +one of the means by which they hoped to attain their goal was by +inviting Japan to co-operate with the Allies in Europe. As +"invitation" was the term employed, the peculiar manner in which the +idea was conceived hardly needs definition. To the Japanese themselves +the inference was patent and distasteful. Theretofore it had been a +dogma that France, Britain and Russia, being quite capable of crushing +Germany and Austria, neither attempted nor wished to draw any neutral +or Asiatic nation into the sanguinary maelstrom of war. And even now +it was held to be undignified to swerve from that doctrine. Help +therefore, it was contended, was not indispensable to victory, it was +merely desirable from the humanitarian standpoint of putting an early +end to the campaign and sparing the lives of millions. + +French statesmen of the calibre of MM. Pichon and Clémenceau pushed +into the foreground of international politics this question of Japan's +military intervention in Europe. An organized Press campaign was +carried on in several of the most prominent daily papers and reviews +of Paris.[81] Striking arguments were put forward in support of the +thesis that Japan's co-operation in Europe is desirable, and the +inference which many readers were encouraged to draw was that if the +aim had not yet been attained, failure should be ascribed to the +statesmanship of the Allies, which was deficient in sagacity, or to +their diplomacy, which was wanting in resourcefulness. M. Pichon, in a +masterly article in the _Revue_, wrote: "I am one of those who hold +that (Japan) could bring to us here on the European continent an +incomparable force, and I remain convinced that the Japanese +Government would like nothing better than to respond to the appeal of +the Triple Entente Powers if these requested its collaboration for +future combats."[82] + + [81] In the _Petit Journal_, the _Homme Enchaîné_, + _l'Illustration_, the _Revue Hebdomadaire_, and the _Revue_. + + [82] Fevrier, _Revue_, 1915, p. 195. + +The idea was that Japanese troops should come to southern Europe, +combine with the Serbs and create a new front there. This diversion, +it was contended, would transform the slow and costly siege war and +give the Allies access to Germany. And these decisive results could be +achieved by an expedition of less than half a million Japanese +warriors. + +When it was asked what motives could be held out to Nippon potent +enough to determine her to embark on such an enterprise, the reply was +that she had a positive interest to undertake the task. For by +contributing to the defeat of Germany in Europe she would free herself +from Teutonic machinations in the Far East. The Allies would, of +course, have to promise her territorial compensation commensurate with +her sacrifices. And after the conclusion of peace Japan would extract +from Germany not only a sum big enough to cover all the expenses of +the expedition, but also a heavy war indemnity. Over and above this, +France and Britain would enable her to float on easy terms a loan of +some three hundred millions sterling, as a moderate return for the +three or four months curtailment of the war which costs the Allies +nearly a hundred and twenty millions a month. Lastly, Japan's horn +would be vastly exalted and her prestige increased by her +participation in the most tremendous conflict recorded in history. + +Considered on its merits the enterprise impressed one more by its +arduousness than by the tangible advantages it offered to either of +the interested parties. The technical difficulties were many and +well-nigh insurmountable: the lack of transports, the distance at +which the Mikado's troops in Europe would be from their base of +supplies, and the length of time that must elapse before they could +replenish their stores of ammunition, whether these were drawn from +Tokyo or manufactured in Europe. And half a million fighting men, +however well trained, would represent but a drop in the ocean when +flung against the millions to whom they would be opposed. + +Still more decisive was the question of motive. Why should the +Japanese sacrifice their brave soldiers? For the sake of territory +which they do not yet covet, or of prestige which they enjoy in a +superlative degree already? Although chivalrous and highly impressible +to everything that can appeal to a high-minded people, they are also +practical and far-sighted and are not to be lured by a will-o'-the-wisp. +They had already assisted the Allies in the Far East and performed +their part admirably. + +The Japanese army is made up of patriots whose lives belong to their +country. To their spirit of self-sacrifice there are no bounds. And +that this splendid organism should be implicitly set down as a band of +mercenaries capable of being bought and sold is more than its leaders +can brook. The idea that mere money or money's worth could purchase +Japanese blood is resented by our Far Eastern Ally. Between Europe and +Asia Japan is the connecting link. Her people are endowed with some of +the highest qualities of the European and the Asiatic. Their +civilization is ancient and refined, and they understand and +appreciate that of Europe. The chivalry of the Samurai is recognized +universally. Their respect for their plighted word is scrupulous. And +their tact and moderation have been demonstrated time and again during +their relations first with Russia and then with the United States. +Japan's immediate task lies in the Far East, and to that region she is +minded to confine her activity, as was shown by the pressure which she +soon afterwards put upon China. None the less, it is symptomatic of +feelings which are still inarticulate and of currents which flow +beneath the surface, that more than once of late the Russian Press has +called for a defensive and offensive alliance between the Tsardom and +Japan.[83] That it will come and exert a noteworthy influence on the +politics of the world, is the firm conviction of the present writer, +who has had the good fortune to contribute more than once to bring the +two Powers closer together.[84] + + [83] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, June 26, 1915. + + [84] See Hayashi's _Secret Memoirs_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +READJUSTMENTS + + +Deprived of the help for which they had looked to Japan, the +publicists and politicians of the allied countries now centred their +hopes on the neutrals and on Kitchener's great army, which was to +appear on the scene in spring, put an end to the warfare of the +trenches, and free Belgium from the Teuton yoke. The impending +belligerency of certain of the neutrals would, it was reasonably +believed, turn the scales in favour of Britain, France and Russia. +Indeed, Bulgaria alone, owing to her commanding geographical position, +might have achieved the feat more than once during the campaign. With +the death of King Carol of Roumania[85] the probability of this +consummation seemed to verge on certitude. It aroused high hopes among +the Allies. + + [85] October 10, 1914. + +The propitious moment seemed to have come for the union of all +Roumanians under the sceptre of the new king. Over three million +members of that race under Hungarian sway had long been waging a +losing contest for their nationality, language and religion. And they +entertained no hope of better prospects in the future. For in view of +her military inferiority Roumania, with her little army of half a +million men, could not indulge in energetic protests against the +treatment meted out to her kindred by Hungary. She had no choice but +to resign herself to the inevitable. Diplomatically, too, she was +bound to Austria by a secret convention, concluded by the Hohenzollern +prince who had presided over her destinies for a generation. +Economically she was, as we saw, tied hand and foot to Germany. +Moreover, it was a matter of common knowledge that King Carol would +never tolerate any radical change in the political orientation of the +kingdom. To the writer of these lines he said so in plain words +shortly before he died, and he also charged him with a message of the +same tenor to the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. But, +loyal and conscientious, as was his wont, King Carol added that if +circumstances should ever necessitate a radical change in Roumania's +attitude, a younger ruler might usher it in, for whom he would not +hesitate to make room. + +This eventuality arose in September[86] when the Russians defeated the +Austrians, occupied Lemberg, threatened Cracow, took up strong +positions on the Carpathians, and bade fair to overrun Hungary. Fate, +it seemed, had at last overtaken the Habsburg Monarchy, which, +contrary to general expectation, had not succumbed to internal strife +on the outbreak of the war. And it now lay with Roumania and her +neighbours to play the part of Fate's executors. As a matter of fact, +Roumania suddenly found a sonorous voice in which to utter her +grievances against the Teutons. Senators, deputies, ex-ministers +executed a _chassez croisez_ movement through France, Italy and +Britain, delivering diatribes against Austria-Hungary, arousing +sympathy for Roumania, and proclaiming their country's resolve to +strike a blow for justice, liberty and civilization. The names of +Senator Istrati, M. Diamandy, and Dr. Constantinescu were associated +with feasts of patriotic sentiment and flow of soul. Military +delegates in Paris made extensive purchases of various necessaries for +the commissariat and sanitary departments of the War Ministry, and the +date on which the gallant Roumanian nation would unsheathe its sword +in the cause of humanity was unofficially announced. + + [86] September 8, 1914. + +At that moment the country was governed, as it still is, by a Premier +who might appropriately be termed its Dictator, so little influence on +his policy and methods is wielded by his colleagues in the Cabinet. +John Bratiano is the sole trustee of the nation at the most critical +period of its history. The son of an eminent and deservedly respected +statesman, this politician entered public life encircled by the halo +of his father's prestige. Gifted with considerable powers, he owes +more to birth than to hard work and self-discipline. Entering early +upon his valuable political heritage he found all paths smoothed, all +doors open to him. The leadership of the most influential +parliamentary party fell to him at an age when other politicians are +painfully struggling with the preliminary difficulties in the way of +success, and John Bratiano became the ruler of Roumania without an +effort. Descended from an illustrious stock, he is penetrated with an +overmastering sense of his own personal responsibility, from which the +principal relief to be obtained lies in the indefinite prolongation of +his liberty of choice. Finality in matters of momentous decision +appears painful to him, and the standard of success which would +fairly be applied to the policy of the ordinary statesman seems too +lax for the man whose shoulders are pressed down with the weight of +the kingdom as it is and the kingdom yet to come. Hence his anxiety to +drive a brilliant bargain with the Allies and to leave no hold for +hostile criticism at home. Like most patriots placed in responsible +positions, he is bent on furthering what he considers the interests of +his country in his own way, and honestly convinced that the right way +is his own, he has hitherto declined to share responsibility with the +Opposition--which disapproves his Fabian policy--even though it +numbers among its members a real statesman of the calibre and repute +of Take Jonescu. + +At first M. Bratiano swam with the stream. He assured foreign +diplomatists, eminent Italians and others, that Roumania had decided +to throw in her lot with the Allies. And his declarations were +re-echoed by his colleagues. These statements were duly transmitted to +the various Cabinets interested, and the entry of Roumania into the +struggle was reckoned with by all the Allied Powers. On the strength +of these good intentions one of the Allies was asked to advance a +certain sum of money for military preparations, and the request was +complied with. Italy was approached and treated as a trusty confidant, +and a tacit arrangement was come to with her by which each of the two +Latin States was expected to communicate with the other as soon as it +should decide to take the field. In fine, it was understood that +Roumania would join in at the same time as Italy. + +Cognizant of those intentions and preparations the Allies rejoiced +exceedingly. The prospect that opened out before them appeared +cheerful. Kitchener's great army was to take the offensive in spring, +Roumania's co-operation was due some months or weeks previously, and +the forcing of the Dardanelles might be counted upon as a corollary, +to say nothing of the adherence of Greece and Bulgaria to the allied +cause. But Germany and Austria lost nothing of their self-confidence. +Clumsy though their professional diplomacy might be, their +economico-diplomatic campaign had left little to be desired. Its +fruits were ripe. They had firmly knitted the material interests of +the little Latin State with their own, and could rely on the backing +of nearly every supporter of Bratiano's Cabinet in the country. But +leaving nothing to chance, they now put forth the most ingenious, +persistent and costly efforts to maintain the ground they had won. +Influential newspapers were bought or subsidized, new ones were +founded, public servants were corrupted, calumnies were launched +against the Allies and their supporters, and a nucleus of military men +ranged themselves among the opponents of intervention. + +M. Bratiano suddenly turned wary and circumspect. His talk was now of +the necessity of time for preparations, of the divergence of views +between his Cabinet and that of the Tsar, and of the inadequacy of the +motives held out to his country for belligerency. Thereupon +negotiations began between Russia and Roumania, which dragged on +endlessly. What the Roumanian Premier said to the Russian Minister was +practically this: "The choice between belligerency and neutrality must +be determined by the balance of territorial advantages offered by +each. And the terms must be adequate and guaranteed." The conditions +which, according to him, answered to this description consisted of the +cession of all Transylvania, part of the Banat of Temesvar, the +Roumanian districts of Bukovina, and of the province of Crishana and +Marmaros. + +About Transylvania there was no dissentient voice: it was admitted +that it ought by right to form part of the Roumanian kingdom. The +dispute between Bucharest and Petrograd hinged on a zone of the Banat +and a strip of Bukovina. The Tsar's Government admitted that Bukovina +might be annexed by Roumania as far as the river Seret, but not +farther north; whereas the Roumanian Premier insisted on obtaining the +promise of a zone the northern boundary of which would be formed by +the river Pruth, and would therefore include the important city of +Czernowitz, which is the capital of the province. The divergence of +opinion arising out of this demand for the district of Pancsova in the +Banat of Temesvar raised a formidable obstacle to an understanding, +for the claim runs counter to the principle of nationality somewhat +pedantically laid down by the Allied Powers. Parenthetically, it is +worth remembering that hard-and-fast principles which lead insensibly +to dogmatism cannot be too sedulously avoided by a Government. +Politics must assuredly have its ideals, but compromise is the method +by which alone it can approach them. The Allies have already been +constrained by tyrannous circumstance to entertain important +exceptions to their principle of nationality which was invoked against +Italy's claim to Dalmatia, and in their own best interests they might +have compromised on the subject of Bulgaria's claims to Macedonia, +and of Roumania's pretensions to annex certain of the disputed +territories inhabited by Serbs and Ruthenians. + +In truth, Roumania's attitude, of which at various times conflicting +accounts have been given, appears to be what one might reasonably +expect, considering the sympathies of the nation, the interests of the +State, and the requirements of the conjuncture. Looking at it from the +view-point of the outsider, it would perhaps have been to her interest +to join the Allies when the Russians, driving the Magyars and the +Austrians before them, could have played the part of right wing to her +armies. It was generally believed later on that she would unsheathe +the sword at the same time as Italy. Informal announcements to that +effect are known to have been made to certain official representatives +of that country. And her failure to stand by these spontaneous +declarations was the cause of profound disappointment to the Entente +and of a considerable loss of credit to herself. These facts and +conclusions appeal with irresistible force to the uninitiated, and in +especial to those among them who are citizens of the belligerent +States. + +But there is another aspect of the matter which, whatever effect its +disclosure may have on the general verdict, is at any rate well worth +considering. According to this version, which is based on what +actually passed between Bucharest and the capitals of the Entente +Powers, the central idea of Roumania's strivings was to achieve +national unity together with defensible military frontiers as far as +appeared feasible, and to obtain in advance implicit assurances that +the Entente Powers, if victorious, would allow her claims without +demur or delay. The territories occupied by the Roumanians of +Transylvania, the Bukovina, and the Banat were to be united under the +sceptre of the King, including the strip which is contiguous to +Belgrade. To this the Slavs demurred because Belgrade could then no +longer remain the Serbian capital. But of these demands M. Bratiano +would make no abatement, nor in the promise of the Entente to fulfil +them would he admit of any ambiguity. Roumania's experience in 1877, +under M. Bratiano's father, when, after having helped Russia to defeat +the Turks, she was deprived of Bessarabia and obliged to content +herself with the Dobrudja, was the main motive for this striving after +definite conditions, while her readiness to look upon that loss of +Bessarabia as final moved her to demand every rood of Austro-Hungarian +territory which was inhabited by her kinsmen or had belonged to them +in bygone days. These motives were inconsistent with the mooting of +the Bessarabian question, and the statement so often made in the Press +that Roumania demanded, and still demands, that lost province from +Russia are absolutely groundless. The subject was never once broached. + +It has been argued that although these claims to recompense may have +been reasonable enough in themselves, to have made them conditions of +Roumania's participation in the war on the side of the Allies smacked +more of the pettifogger than of the statesman. In a tremendous +struggle like the present for lofty ideals this bargaining for +territorial advantages showed, it was urged, the country and the +Government in a sinister light. To this criticism the friends of M. +Bratiano reply that most of the belligerents set the example, with far +less reason than Roumania could plead. Italy, for instance, had made +her military co-operation conditional on the promise of a large part +of Dalmatia, as well as the _terra irredenta_, and Russia insisted +upon having her claim to Constantinople allowed. Why, it is asked, +should Roumania be blamed for acting similarly and on more solid +grounds? + +During the first phase of the conversations which were carried on +between Roumania and the Entente there would appear to have been no +serious hitch. They culminated in a loan of £5,000,000 advanced in +January 1915. In the following month they ceased and were not resumed +until April, when M. Bratiano was informed that it would facilitate +matters if he would discuss terms with the Tsar's Government. By means +of an exchange of notes an arrangement had been come to by which +Roumania was to have "the country inhabited by the Roumanians of +Austria-Hungary" in return for her neutrality and on the express +condition that she should occupy them _par les armes_ before the close +of the war. I announced this agreement in the summer of 1915 and, +commenting on the controversy to which it gave rise, pointed out that +it amounted only to a promise made by Russia and an option given to +Roumania, which the latter state was at liberty to take up or forgo as +it might think fit. It bound her to nothing. Consequently, to accuse +her of having broken faith with Italy or the Entente is to betray a +complete lack of acquaintance with the facts. + +It was only when Roumania's military participation was solicited that +difficulties began to make themselves felt. And they proved +insurmountable. So long as the Russian armies were victorious +Roumania's demands were rejected. When the Tsar's troops, for lack of +ammunition, were obliged to retreat, concessions were made very +gradually, slight concessions at first, which became larger as the +withdrawal proceeded, until finally--the Russian troops being driven +out--everything was conceded, when it was too late. For with the +departure of the Russian armies Roumania was so exposed to attack from +various sides, and so isolated from her protectors, that her military +experts deemed intervention to be dangerous for herself and useless to +the Allies. + +In Italy, it has been said with truth, the conviction prevailed that +Roumania would descend into the arena as soon as the Salandra Cabinet +had declared war against Austria, and a good deal of disappointment +was caused by M. Bratiano's failure to come up to this expectation. +But the expectation was gratuitous and the disappointment imaginary. +In an article written at the time I pointed out that one of the +mistakes made by the Entente Powers consisted in the circuitous and +clumsy way in which they negotiated with Roumania. The spokesman and +guardian of Italy during the decisive conversations with the Entente +was the Foreign Minister, Baron Sonnino, the silent member of the +Cabinet. Now, this turned out to be a very unfortunate kind of +guardianship, which his ward subsequently repudiated with reason. For +one effect of his taciturnity--the Roumanians ascribed it to his +policy--was to keep Roumania in the dark about matters of vital moment +to her of which she ought to have had cognizance. Another was to +treat with the Entente Governments as though Roumania had sold her +will and private judgment to the Salandra Cabinet. This, however, is a +curious story of war diplomacy which had best be left to the historian +to recount. One day it will throw a new light upon matters of great +interest which are misunderstood at present. Roumania's co-operation +then, as now, would have been of much greater help to the Allies than +certain other results which were secured by sacrificing it. And +sacrificed it was quite wantonly. We are wont to sneer at Germany's +diplomacy as ridiculously clumsy, and to plume ourselves on our own as +tactful and dignified. Well, if one were charged with the defence of +this thesis, the last source to which one would turn for evidence in +support of it is our diplomatic negotiations with M. Bratiano's +Cabinet. + +In the light of this _exposé_ the severe judgments that have been +passed on the policy of the Roumanian Cabinet may have to be revised. + +The crux of the situation was the attitude of Bulgaria. Bulgaria, a +petty country with a population inferior to that of London, +impregnated with Teutonism and ruled by an Austro-Hungarian officer +who loathes the Slavs, had throughout this sanguinary clash of peoples +rendered invaluable services to the Teutons and indirectly inflicted +incalculable losses on the civilized nations of the globe. This +tremendous power for evil springs from her unique strategic position +in Eastern Europe. At any moment during the conflict her active +assistance would have won Constantinople and Turkey for the Allies, +and if proffered during one of several particularly favourable +conjunctures might have speedily ended the war. But so tight was +Germany's grip on her that she not only withheld her own aid, but +actually threatened to fall foul of any of the Balkan States that +should tender theirs. It is, therefore, no exaggeration to affirm that +the duration of this war and some of the most doleful events +chronicled during the first year of its prosecution, are due to the +insidious behaviour of Ferdinand of Coburg and his Bulgarian +coadjutors. One may add that this behaviour constitutes a brilliant +and lasting testimony to the foresight and resourcefulness of German +diplomacy. It is one of the products of German organization as +distinguished from French and British individualism. + +While Bulgaria was thus holding the menace of her army over Roumania's +head, and M. Bratiano stood irresolute between belligerency and +neutrality, the German and Austrian armies were effectively +co-operating with German and Austrian diplomatists. They compelled the +Russians to withdraw from Eastern Prussia,[87] and from a part of +Galicia,[88] later on from Lodz, from the Masurian Lakes and +Bukovina.[89] Gradually Roumania saw herself bereft of what would have +been her right wing and cover, and her military men, the most +influential of whom had been against intervention from the first, now +declared the moment inauspicious on strategical grounds. Thereupon the +oratorical representatives of the Roumanian people consoled themselves +with the formula that Roumanian blood would be shed only for Roumanian +interests, and that when a fresh turn of Fortune's wheel should bring +the Russian troops back to Bukovina and Galicia, the gallant +Roumanians would strike a blow for their country and civilization. + + [87] October 13, 1914. + + [88] December 6, 1914. + + [89] February 15, 1915. + +It would be unfruitful to enter into a detailed examination of the +efforts of the Allies to detach the neutrals, and in especial the +Balkan States, from the Military Empires with which their interests +had been elaborately bound up. But in passing, one may fairly question +the wisdom of their general plan, which established facts--still +fragmentary in character--enable us to reconstruct. The resuscitation +of the Balkan League and the mobilization of its forces against Turkey +was an enterprise from which the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth +century, were they living, would have recoiled. For it presupposes an +ascetic frame of mind among the little States, which in truth hate +each other more intensely than they ever hated the Turks. The first +condition of success, were success conceivable, would have been the +abrogation of the Treaty of Bucharest and the redistribution of the +territories, which its authors had divided with so little regard for +abstract justice and the stability of peace. And to this procedure, +which Bulgaria ostentatiously demanded, Serbia entered a firm demurrer +in which she was joined by Greece. For Serbs and Bulgars have always +been hypnotized by Macedonia. Their gaze is fixed on that land as by +some magic fascination, which interest and reason are powerless to +break. They think of the future development, nay of the very existence +of their respective nations, as indissolubly intertwined with it. To +lose Macedonia, therefore, is to forfeit the life-secret of nation. +Hence Bulgaria obstinately refused to abate one jot of her demands, +while Serbia was firmly resolved to reject them. It mattered nothing +that the fate of all Europe and of these two States was dependent on +compromise. The little nations took no account of the interests at +stake. Each, like Sir Boyle Roche, was ready to sacrifice the whole +for a part, and felt proud of its wisdom and will-power. + +Under these circumstances the scheme of a resuscitated Balkan League +should have been accounted a political chimera, whereas politics is +the art of the possible. What might perhaps have been envisaged with +utility was the selection of the less mischievous and more helpful of +the unwelcome alternatives with which the allied diplomacy was +confronted. If, for instance, it could have been conclusively shown +that Bulgaria's help was indispensable, adequate and purchasable, the +plain course would have been to pay handsomely for that. However high +the price, it would have been more than compensated by the positive +and negative gains. If, on the other hand, Bulgaria were recalcitrant +and inexorable, the Tsardom which protected her might to some good +purpose have become equally so, and displayed firmness and severity. +It has been said that Russia cannot find it in her heart either to +coerce Serbia or to punish Bulgaria. If this be a correct presentation +of her temper--and in the past it corresponded to the reality--then +the Allies are up against an insurmountable obstacle which must be +looked upon as one of the instruments of Fate. + +Our Press is never tired of repeating that the neutrals have a right +to think only of their own interest and to frame their policy in +strict accordance with that, whether it draws them towards the Allies +or the Teuton camp. To this principle exception may be taken. If it be +true that the European community, its civilization and all that that +connotes are in grave danger, then every member of that community is +liable to be called on for help, and is bound to tender it. In such a +crisis it is a case of every one being against us who is not actively +with us. Otherwise the contention that this is no ordinary war but a +criminal revolt against civilization, is a mere piece of claptrap and +is properly treated as such by the neutrals. But there is another +important side of the matter which has not yet been seriously +considered. If the neutrals are warranted in ignoring the common +interest and restricting themselves to the furtherance of their own, +it is surely meet that the Allies, too, should enjoy the full benefits +of this principle and frame their entire policy--economic, financial, +political and military--with a view to promoting their common weal, +and with no more tender regard for that of the non-belligerent States +than is conducive to the success of their cause and in strict +accordance with international law. The application of this doctrine +would find its natural expression in the creation of an economic +league of the Allied States with privileges restricted to its members. +It may not be irrelevant to state that during one phase of the war +combined action of the kind alluded to would have given the Allies the +active help of one or two neutral countries. Nay, if the exportation +of British coal alone had been restricted to the belligerents, the +hesitation of those countries between neutrality and belligerency +would have been overcome in a month. + +Italy and Bulgaria, being the two nations whose attitude would in the +judgment of German statesmen have the furthest reaching consequences +on the war, were also the object of their unwearied attentions. And +every motive which could appeal to the interest or sway the sentiment +of those peoples was set before them in the light most conducive to +the aims of the tempter. Those painstaking efforts were duly rewarded. +Bulgaria, before abandoning her neutrality, had contributed more +effectively even than Turkey to retard the Allies' progress and to +facilitate that of their adversaries. + +For Italy's restiveness Germany was prepared, but it was reasonably +hoped that with a mixture of firmness, forbearance and generosity that +nation would be prevailed upon to maintain a neutrality which the +various agents at work in the peninsula could render permanently +benevolent. And from the fateful August 3, 1914, down to the following +May, the course of events attested the accuracy of this forecast. At +first all Italy was opposed to belligerency. Deliberate reason, +irrational prejudice, religious sentiment, political calculation, +economic interests and military considerations all tended to confirm +the population in its resolve to keep out of the sanguinary struggle. +The Vatican, its organs and agents, brought all their resources to +bear upon devout Catholics, whose name is legion and whose immediate +aim was the maintenance of peace with the Central empires. The +commercial and industrial community was tied to Germany by threads as +fine, numerous and binding as those that rendered Gulliver helpless in +the hands of the Lilliputians. The common people, heavily taxed and +poorly paid, yearned for peace and an opportunity to better their +material lot. The Parliament was at the beck and call of a dictator +who was moved by party interests to co-operate with the Teutons, while +the Senate, which favoured neutrality on independent grounds, had made +it a rule to second every resolution of the Chamber. In a word, +although Italy might wax querulous and importunate, her complaints and +her demands would, it was assumed, play a part only in the scheme of +diplomatic tactics, but would never harden into pretexts for war. + +For it was a matter of common knowledge that departure from the +attitude of neutrality, whatever its ultimate effects--and these would +certainly be fateful--must first lead to a long train of privations, +hardships and economic shocks, which would subject the limited staying +powers of the nation--accustomed to peace, and only now beginning to +thrive--to a searching, painful and dangerous test. From a Government +impressed by this perspective, and conscious of its responsibility, +careful deliberation, rather than high-pitched views, were reasonably +expected. + +And the attitude of the Cabinet since August 1914 had been marked by +the utmost caution and self-containment. Contemplated from a distance +by certain of the Allies whose attention was absorbed by the political +aspect of the matter, this method of cool calculation seemed to smack +of hollow make-believe. Why, it was asked, should Italy hold back or +weigh the certain losses against the probable gains, seeing that she +would have as allies the two most puissant States of Europe, and the +enormous advantage of sea power on her side? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE POSITION OF ITALY + + +But intervention in the war was not one of those ordinary enterprises +on which Italy might reasonably embark, after having carefully counted +up the cost in men and money and allowed a reasonable margin for +unforeseen demands on both. In this venture the liabilities were +unlimited, whereas the resources of the nation were bounded, the +limits being much narrower than in the case of any other Great Power. +And this was a truly hampering circumstance. Serious though it was, +however, it would hardly avail to deter a nation from accepting the +risks and offering up the sacrifices requisite, if the motive were at +once adequate, peremptory and pressing. + +But Italy, unlike the Allies, had had no strong provocation to draw +the sword. Grievances she undoubtedly possessed in plenty. She had +been badly dealt with by her allies, but forbearance was her rule of +living. For nearly a generation she had been a partner of the two +militarist States, yet she shrank from severing her connection with +them, even when they deliberately broke their part of the compact. +This breach of covenant not only dispensed her from taking arms on +their side, but would also, owing to the consequences it involved, +have sufficed to warrant her adhesion to the Entente Powers. But for +conclusive reasons--lack of preparedness among others--she condoned +all affronts and drew the line at neutrality. + +The country was absolutely unequipped for the contest. The Lybian +campaign had disorganized Italy's national defences and depleted her +treasury. Arms, ammunition, uniforms, primary necessaries--in a word, +the means of equipping an army--were lacking. The expenditure of +£80,000,000 sterling during the conflict with Turkey rendered the +strictest economy imperative, and so intent was the Cabinet on +observing it that the first candidate for the post of War Minister +declined the honour, because of the disproportion between the sum +offered to him for reorganization and the pressing needs of the +national defences. + +The outbreak of the present conflict, therefore, took Italy unawares +and found her in a condition of military unpreparedness which, if her +participation in the war had been a necessity, might have had +mischievous consequences for the nation. Availing herself of this +condition of affairs and of the pacific temper of the Italian people, +Germany reinforced those motives by the prospect of Corsica, Nice, +Savoy, Tunis and Morocco in return for active co-operation. But the +active co-operation of Italy with Austria and Germany was wholly +excluded. The people would have vetoed it as suicidal. The utmost that +could be attempted was the preservation of her neutrality, and that +this object would be attained seemed a foregone conclusion. + +And it is fair to state that this belief was well grounded. When war +was declared and Italy was summoned to march with her allies against +France, Britain and Russia, she repudiated her obligation on the +ground that the clause in their treaty provided for common action in +defence only, not for co-operation in a war of aggression, such as was +then about to be waged. And that plea could not be rebutted. This +preliminary dissonance to which the Central empires resigned +themselves was followed by disputes which turned upon the +interpretation of the compensation clause of the Treaty, upon Italy's +territorial demands and Austria's demurrers. Thus from first to last +the issues raised were of a diplomatic order, and if German statesmen +had received carte blanche to settle them, it is not improbable that a +compromise would have been effected which would have left the Italian +Government no choice but to persevere in its neutrality. + +And German statesmen strove hard to wrest the matter from their ally +and take it into their own hands, but were only partially successful. +Both they and the Austrians selected their most supple and wily +diplomatists to conduct the difficult negotiations. Prince Bülow was +appointed German Ambassador to King Victor's Government, Baron Macchio +supplanted Merey in Rome, but the most sensational change effected was +the substitution of Baron Burian for Count Berchtold in the Austrian +Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[90] This latter event was construed by +the European public as the foretoken of a new and far-resonant +departure in Austria's treatment of international relations. In +reality it was hardly more than the withdrawal from public business of +a tired statesman _malgré lui_ who had persistently sought to be +relieved of his charge ever since his first appointment. Count +Berchtold's name is inseparably associated with events of the first +magnitude for his country and for Europe, but on the creation or +moulding of which he had little appreciable part. It is hardly too +much to say that if, during the period while he held office, the +Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been without a head, the mechanism +would have worked with no serious hitch, and with pretty much the same +results which we now behold. For he was but the intermediary between +the mechanism and the real minister, who invariably appeared as a +_deus ex machina_ in all the great crises of recent years, and who was +none other than the Emperor Francis Joseph himself. + + [90] January 15, 1915. + +Count Berchtold was a continuator. He endeavoured under adverse +circumstances to carry out the feasible schemes of his predecessor, +but the obstacles in his way proved insurmountable. He is a +straightforward, truthful man, and in the best sense of the word a +gentleman. The greatest achievement to which he can point during his +tenure of power is the disruption of the Balkan League. Having had an +opportunity of seeing the working of the scheme at close quarters, I +may say that it was ingenious. Pacific by temperament and conviction, +he co-operated successfully with the Emperor to ward off a European +conflict more than once. But from the day when Count Tisza won over +Franz Josef to the ideas of Kaiser Wilhelm, Count Berchtold's +occupation was gone. + +His successor, Baron Burian, entered upon his office with an +established reputation and a political programme. But so immersed were +the Allies in the absurd illusions which ascribed disorganization to +Germany and discord to the two imperial Governments, that Burian's +appointment was read by many as an omen that Austria-Hungary was +already scheming for a separate peace. Events soon showed that the +disorganization was not in Germany nor the discord on the side of the +Central Empires. + +Meanwhile the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Di San Giuliano, +had succumbed to a painful illness, which, however, did not prevent +him from writing and reading dispatches down to the very eve of his +death.[91] His successor was Sydney Sonnino, perhaps the most upright, +rigid and taciturn man who has ever had to receive foreign +diplomatists and discourse sweet nothings in their ears. Devoid of +eloquence, of personal magnetism and of most of the arts deemed +essential to the professional diplomatist, he is a man of culture, +eminent talents, fervid zeal for the public welfare, steady moral +courage, and rare personal integrity. Pitted against the supple and +versatile Bülow, his influence might be likened to that of the austere +philosopher gazing at the incarnate Lamia. + + [91] Di San Giuliano died on October 18, 1914. He was working + for a short time on the 17th. + +Between these two statesmen conversations began[92] under favourable +auspices. One of the conditions to which each of them subscribed was +the maintenance of rigorous secrecy until the end of their labours. +And it was observed religiously until Germany's "necessity" seemed to +call for the violation of the pledge, whereupon it was profitably +violated. Baron Sonnino told the German plenipotentiary that "the +majority of the population was in favour of perpetuating neutrality, +and gave its support to the Government for this purpose, provided +always that by means of neutrality certain national aspirations could +be realized."[93] Bülow at once scored an important point by taking +sides with Italy against Austria on the disputed question whether +Clause VII of the Triple Alliance entitled the former country to +demand compensation for the upsetting of the Balkan equilibrium caused +by Austria's war on Serbia. That view and its practical corollaries +set the machinery going. The Austrian Government abandoned its _non +possumus_, and discussed the nature and extent of the compensation +alleged to be due. But it never traversed the distances between words +and acts. + + [92] On December 20, 1914. + + [93] Italian Green Book, Despatch N. 8. + +One of the many wily devices by which the German Ambassador sought to +inveigle the Consulta into forgoing its right to resort to war was +employed within three weeks of the beginning of negotiations. Bülow +confidentially informed Sonnino that Germany was sending Count von +Wedel to Vienna to persuade the Cabinet there to cede the Trentino to +Italy, and asked him whether, if Austria acquiesced, it would not be +possible to announce to the Chamber that the Italian Government had +already in hand enough to warrant it in assuming that the main +aspirations of the nation would be realized.[94] "Absolutely +impossible," was Sonnino's reply. But the Dictator Giolitti, whom +Prince Bülow took into partnership, was more confident and pliable. +This parliamentary leader, whose will was law in his own country and +whose life-work consisted in eliminating ethical principles from +politics, made known his belief--nay, his positive knowledge--that by +diplomatic negotiations the nation could obtain concessions which +would dispense it from embarking on the war. This pronouncement had a +widespread effect on public opinion, confirming the prevalent belief +that Austria would satisfy Italy's claims. + + [94] Italian Green Book, January 14, 1915, Despatch N. 11. + +There was no means of verifying those announcements, for the Rome +Government scrupulously observed its part of the compact, and allowed +no news of the progress of the conversations to leak out. In fact, it +went much farther and deprived the Italian people systematically of +all information on the subject of the crisis. Consequently the +poisoners of the wells of truth had a facile task. + +It was no secret, however, that the cession of the Trentino would not +suffice to square accounts. Italy's land and sea frontiers were +strategically so exposed that it was sheer impossible to provide +adequately for their defence. And this essential defect rendered the +nation semi-dependent on its neighbour and adversary and powerless to +pursue a policy of its own. For half a century this dangerous flaw in +the national edifice and its pernicious effects on Italy's +international relations had been patiently borne with, but Baron +Sonnino considered that the time for repairing it and strengthening +the groundwork of peace had come. And as he had not the faintest doubt +that technically as well as essentially he had right on his side, he +pressed the matter vigorously. Austrian diplomacy, dense and dilatory +as ever, argued, protested, temporized. In these tactics it was +encouraged by the knowledge that Italy was unequipped for war, and by +the delusion that the remedial measures of reorganization then going +forward were only make-believe. The Italian Government, on the other +hand, convinced that nothing worth having could be secured by +diplomacy until diplomacy was backed by force, was labouring might and +main to raise the army and navy to a position as worthy as possible of +a Great Power and commensurate with the momentous issues at stake. + +But the position of the Cabinet was seriously weakened by the domestic +and insidious enemy. Giolitti's pronouncement had provided the +Austrians with a trump card. For if the Dictator accounted the +proffered concession as a settlement in full, it was obvious that the +Cabinet, which was composed of his own nominees whom he could remove +at will, would not press successfully for more extensive compensation. +Giolitti was the champion and spokesman of the nation, and his +estimate of its aspirations alone carried weight. And now once more +the Dictator, acting through his parliamentary lieutenants, organized +another anti-governmental demonstration which humiliated the Cabinet +and impaired its authority as a negotiator. Of this favourable +diversion the Austrians availed themselves to the full. But gradually +it dawned upon them that behind the Italian Foreign Minister a +reorganized Italian army, well equipped and partially mobilized, was +being arrayed for the eventuality of a failure of the negotiations. By +way of recognizing this fact the Ballplatz increased its offer, but +only very slightly, while it grew more and more lavish of arguments. +But the "principal aspirations of the Italian people" had not yet been +taken into serious consideration by Baron Burian. Down to April 21 +this statesman had not braced himself up to offer anything more than +the Trentino, which Prince Bülow had virtually promised in January, +and this despite the intimation given by the Italian Foreign +Secretary, that after the long spell of word-weaving and +hair-splitting he must insist on a serious and immediate effort being +put forth to meet Italy's demands. + +Thus during five months of tedious negotiations Austria had contrived +to exchange views and notes with the Consulta without offering any +more solid basis for an agreement than the cession of a part of the +Trentino. It is fair to add that even this appeared a generous gift to +Franz Josef's ministers, who failed to see why the Habsburg Monarchy +should offer any compensation to an ally from whom help, not claims, +had been expected. To a possible abandonment of territory on the +Isonzo or elsewhere the Vienna Cabinet made no allusion. On April 8 +Sonnino presented counter proposals, which he unfolded in nine +clauses. They comprehended the cession of the Trentino, including the +frontiers established for the kingdom of Italy by the Treaty of Paris +of 1810; a rectification of Italy's eastern boundaries, taking in the +cities of Gradisca and Gorizia; the transformation of Trieste and its +territory into an autonomous State, internationally independent; the +transfer to the kingdom of Italy of the Curzolari group of islands; +all these territories to be delivered up on the ratification of the +Treaty. Further, Italy's full sovereignty over Valona was to be +recognized by Austria, who should forswear all further designs on +Albania and concede a full pardon to all persons of those lands +undergoing punishment for political or military offences. On her side +Italy would consent to pay 200,000,000 francs as her share of the +public debt and of other financial obligations of the provinces in +question, to remain absolutely neutral during the present war, and to +renounce all further claims to compensation arising out of Clause VII +of the Treaty.[95] + + [95] Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 64. + +Those terms were rejected by the Austrian Foreign Minister on grounds +which have no longer any practical interest. Noteworthy is his remark +that even in peace time the immediate consignment of such territory as +Austria might be willing to abandon would be impossible, and during +the prosecution of a tremendous war it was inconceivable.[96] From +this position he had never once swerved during the five months' +conversations, and he was backed by Germany, who on March 19 had +offered to guarantee the fulfilment of the promise after the war. But +a fortnight later he suddenly changed his ground without really +yielding the point, by suggesting the creation of a mixed commission +which should make recommendations about the ways and means of +transferring the strips of territory in question. But as the labours +of this commission were not to be restricted in time, and as the +amount to be ceded fell far short of what was demanded, Baron Sonnino +negatived the suggestion. + + [96] Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 71, April 16, 1915. + +Then and only then did the Italian Government withdraw their +proposals, denounce the Triple Alliance, and proclaim Italy's liberty +of action.[97] + + [97] May 3, 1915. Cf. Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 76. + +Of this sensational turn of affairs the European public had no +inkling. For the Italian Government was bound to reticence by its +plighted word and the Germans and Austrians by their interest, which +was to foster the belief that the conversations were proceeding +successfully and that Austria's proposals were welcomed by the +Consulta. But Italy, thus absolved from the ties that had so long +linked her with Germany and Austria, entered into a conditional +compact with the Powers of the Entente. In Paris the secret quickly +leaked out and was at once communicated to Berlin, whose organized +espionage continued to flourish in the French capital. Thereupon Herr +Jagow urged Bülow to bestir himself without delay. But the Prince was +hard set. On the Italian Cabinet he had lost his hold. It had already +crossed the Rubicon and passed over to the Entente. True, the Cabinet +was not Italy, was not even the Government of Italy. It was hardly +more than a group of mere place-warmers for Giolitti and his +partisans. At any moment it could be upset and the damage inflicted by +Austria's stupidity made good. And to effect this was the task to +which the German Ambassador now addressed himself. + +He was admirably qualified to discharge it. All Italy, with the +exception of a small band of nationalists and republicans, was his +ally. The Pope was _ex officio_ an apostle of peace. A large body of +the clergy submissively followed the Pope. The Vatican and its +hangers-on were sitting _en permanence_ directing a movement which had +for its object the prevention of war. The parliamentary majority was +aggressively neutralist. The economic interests of the nation were +ranged on the same side. Almost the entire aristocracy was enlisted +under the flag of the German Ambassador, at whose hospitable board the +scions of the men whose names had been honourably associated with the +Risorgimento met and deliberated. As yet, therefore, nothing was lost +to the Central Empires; only a difficulty had been created which would +serve as a welcome foil to impart sharper relief to Prince Bülow's +certain victory. The man whose co-operation would win this victory was +the Dictator Giolitti, and him the Ambassador summoned to Rome. + +Now Giolitti was acquainted with everything that had been done by the +Cabinet, including his country's covenant with the Allies, and he +disapproved of it. He was also initiated by Bülow into the scheme by +which that covenant was to be set aside and Italy made to break her +faith, and he signified his approbation of it. Nay, this patriot went +further; he undertook to aid and abet Bülow in his well-thought-out +plot. It had been resolved by the German Ambassador, as soon as he +learned that Italy had taken an irrevocable decision and denounced the +Treaty of Alliance, that he would amend the proposals which he +himself, in Austria's name, had put forward as the utmost limit to +which she was prepared to go; and he was anxious, before offering them +officially, to ascertain whether Italy's Dictator would accept them +and guarantee their acceptance by his parliamentary majority. + +That was the object for which Giolliti's presence was needed in Rome. +The amended proposals were typewritten and distributed by Erzberger, +the leader of the German Catholic parliamentary party, who was an +over-zealous agent of the Wilhelmstrasse and a _persona grata_ at the +Vatican. He, a German, had gone to Rome to bestir the neutralists and +lead the movement against the Italian Government. His leaflets +containing the belated concessions were given to Giolitti and his +lieutenants. I received a copy myself, and sent it to the _Daily +Telegraph_. The concessions were actually published in that journal +and communicated to the British public before King Victor's +Government, to whom Prince Bülow was accredited, had any cognizance of +their existence. That this procedure involved a gross breach of the +covenant between the Ambassador and Sonnino stipulating the +maintenance of absolute secrecy was deemed an irrelevant +consideration. + +Seldom in modern times have such underhand methods been resorted to by +the Government of a Great Power. Neither would it be easy to find an +example of a responsible statesman behaving as Giolitti behaved and +working in collusion with the Government of a State which at the time +was virtually his country's enemy. This statesman, however, duly +played the part assigned to him in this intrigue against his +Government and country, and the success of his scheme would have left +the Italian nation covered with infamy and bereft of friends. For if +he had been able to conclude the compact with Austria as he had +undertaken to do, his country would have been left to the mercy of his +Austro-German masters, who despise Italy, and probably, if victorious, +would have refused to redeem their promises, while the Entente States +would have boycotted her as faithless and false-hearted. As a dilemma +for Italy the position in which she was placed must have delighted +the wily Bülow. How it can have satisfied an Italian statesman is a +psychological riddle. + +Meanwhile the German Ambassador presented officially Austria's final +proposals, as though the conversations on this subject had not been +broken off. Baron Sonnino refused to discuss them. But the Dictator +intended that his word should be heard and his will should be done. To +the King and the Premier, Giolitti announced that, despite all that +had been accomplished by the Government, he still clung to the belief +that Austria's new concessions offered a basis for further +negotiations, which, if cleverly conducted, would lead to the +acquisition of some other strips of territory, and would certainly +culminate in a satisfactory settlement. + +But, not satisfied with this confidential expression of opinion, +Giolitti let it be known to the whole nation that he, the chief and +spokesman of the parliamentary majority, was convinced of the +feasibility of an accord with Austria on the basis of her last offer, +which he deemed acceptable in principle; that he saw no motives for +plunging Italy into a hideous war, which would involve the nation in +disaster; and that he would adjust his acts to these convictions. + +This deliberate pronouncement, coming from the most prominent man in +the country, had a powerful effect upon his followers and also upon +the public at large. No nation desires war for war's sake, and the +interpretation put upon Giolitti's words by the extreme neutralists +and, in particular, by the insincere organs of the Vatican, was that +he had seen enough to convince him that the Cabinet had decided to +wage war against Germany and Austria at all costs and irrespective of +the nation's interests. Giolitti's parliamentary friends +demonstratively called upon him at his private residence, leaving +their cards, and announcing the conformity of their views to those of +their leader; and as their number, which was carefully communicated to +the Press, formed the majority of the Chamber, the Cabinet felt +impelled to take the hint and act upon it. This was the only course +open to it. For, as the ministers were obliged to meet Parliament on +May 20--the day fixed for its reopening--they were sure to be +out-voted on a division, whereupon a crisis, not merely ministerial +but national and international, would be precipitated. The +consequences of such a conflict might be disastrous. Rather than wait +for this eventuality the Cabinet tendered its resignation. Thus Bülow +had seemingly triumphed. The Government was turned out by Giolitti, +who had accepted in advance the Austro-German terms of a settlement, +and Italy was seemingly won over to the Teutons. + +So far as one could judge, the fate of the nation was now decided. Its +course was marked out for it, and was henceforward unalterable. For, +so far as one could see, by no section of the constitutional machinery +was the strategy of Bülow and Giolitti to be thwarted. In a +parliamentary land the legislatures are paramount, and here both +Chamber and Senate were arrayed against the Cabinet for Giolitti and +Germany. + +The ferment consequent upon this turn of affairs was tremendous. All +Europe was astir with excitement. The Press of Berlin and Vienna was +jubilant. Panegyrics of Giolitti and of Bülow filled the columns of +their daily Press. + +But a _deus ex machina_ suddenly descended upon the scene in the +unwonted form of an indignant nation. The Italian people, which had at +first been either indifferent or actively in favour of cultivating +neighbourly relations with Germany, had of late been following the +course of the struggle with the liveliest interest. Germany's dealings +with Belgium had impressed them deeply. Her methods of warfare had +estranged their sympathies. Her doctrine of the supremacy of force and +falsehood had given an adverse poise to their ideas and leanings. Deep +into their hearts had sunk the tidings of the destruction of the +_Lusitania_, awakening feelings of loathing and abomination for its +authors, to which free expression was now being given everywhere. The +spirit that actuated this revolting enormity was brand-marked as that +of demoniacal fury loosed from moral control and from the ties that +bind nations and individuals to all humanity. + +The effect upon public sentiment and opinion in Italy, where emotions +are tensely strung, and sympathy with suffering is more flexible and +diffusive than it is even among the other Latin races, was +instantaneous. One statesman, who was a partisan of neutrality, +remarked to me that German "Kultur," as revealed during the present +war, is dissociated from every sense of duty, obligation, chivalry, +honour, and is become a potent poison which the remainder of humanity +must endeavour by all efficacious methods to banish from the +international system. + +"This," he went on, "is no longer war; it is organized slaughter, +perpetrated by a race suffering from dog-madness. I tremble at the +thought that our own civilized and chivalrous people may at any moment +be confronted with this lava flood of savagery and destructiveness. +Now, if ever, the opportune moment has come for all civilized nations +to join in protest, stiffened with a unanimous threat, against the +continuance of such crimes against the human race. Europe ought surely +to have the line drawn at the poisoning of wells, the persecution of +prisoners, and the massacre of women and children. If a proposal to +this effect were made, I myself would second it with ardour."[98] + + [98] Cf. _Daily Telegraph_, May 10, 1915. + +These pent-up feelings now found vent in a series of meetings and +demonstrations against Germany as well as Austria and their Italian +allies. Italy's spiritual heritage from the old Romans asserted itself +in impressive forms and unwonted ways, and the conscience of the +nation loudly affirmed its claim to be the main directing force in a +crisis where the honour and the future of the country were at stake. +And within four days of this purgative process a marked change was +noticeable. Giolitti's partisans--hissed, jostled, mauled, frightened +out of their lives--lay low. Many of them publicly recanted and +proclaimed their conversion to intervention. The chief of the German +Catholic party and friend of the Vatican, Erzberger, was driven from +his hotel to the German Embassy as a foreign mischief-maker, +contrabandist and spy. Some of the Press organs, subsidized or created +by the Teutons, were obliged to disappear. The honest neutralist +journals, yielding to the nation, veered round to the fallen Cabinet. +In a word, the political atmosphere, theretofore foul and mephitic, +became suddenly charged with purer, healthier elements--Bülow's plot +was thwarted and Giolitti's rôle played out. The Salandra-Sonnino +Cabinet was borne back to office on the crest of this national wave, +and Italy declared war against Austria. But only against Austria. For +the Cabinet, restored to power, became a cautious steward, and took to +imitating him of the Gospel who hid his talents instead of augmenting +them. + +This restriction of military operations to the Habsburg Monarchy +struck many observers as singular. In truth the motives that inspired +the Government have never been authoritatively divulged. That every +Italian Cabinet since Crispi's days had made a marked distinction +between Germany and Austria was notorious. That Di San Giuliano felt +as strongly attracted towards Berlin as he was repelled by Vienna may +be gathered from the official but still unpublished dispatches that +exist on the subject. But that in a war not of two individual nations, +but of groups of States, one--and only one--of these should be singled +out as the object of aggression aroused something more than mere +curiosity. And this feeling was intensified when it became known that +on the eve of the diplomatic rupture Bülow, ever on the alert for the +interests of his country, had induced the Italian Government to +conclude a convention with Germany for the protection of private +property in case of active hostilities. For Germany possesses in Italy +property valued at several milliards of francs, whereas Italy claims +as her own almost nothing in the German empire. Who can read the +riddle? + +The adhesion of Italy to the Allies may be noted as perhaps the most +important political event of the year, while the circumstances in +which it was decided on dispel all doubt that the Italian people were +actuated by lofty motives and rose to the highest ideas involved in +the European conflict, and that the Cabinet's ideals were nowise +identical with those of the nation. It is alleged by certain personal +friends of Baron Sonnino, who had exceptionally good opportunities for +knowing what took place--and I have grounds for acquiescing in their +view--that this statesman was for declaring war against Germany as +well as Austria, but that Professor Salandra negatived this logical +and straightforward move. + +That the Salandra Cabinet damaged the cause of Italy by thus +endeavouring to blow hot and cold, is a fact which its warmest +supporters no longer call in question. They now merely plead for +extenuating circumstances on the ground that the damage was done +unwittingly. "It would be unjust," the Nationalist Federzoni said in a +speech delivered before the Chamber on March 16,[99] "to accuse the +Italian Government of disloyalty or insincerity, but none the less the +treaty it concluded with Germany has proved superlatively baleful to +the country." Like the other allied peoples, the Italian nation has +been served by a Cabinet which defeated many of the objects it was +striving after. + + [99] March 16, 1916. + +Studying Italian politics since the war broke out is like threading +the Cretan Labyrinth in a dense fog. The fog, curiously enough, which +now seldom lifts, would seem to form an integral part of the politics. +For one of the maxims of the present chief of the Consulta, Baron +Sonnino, is that secrecy is the soul of efficacy. And as thoroughness +marks his action whenever it is quite free, the mystery that enwraps +the schemes and designs of King Victor's Government is become +impenetrable. One may form a faint notion of the stringency with which +this un-Italian occultism is observed by the eminent Jewish statesman, +from the circumstance that during the crisis that preceded the war, +only one of his colleagues was kept informed of the progress of the +conversations with Austria, and that was his own chief, Professor +Salandra. As for the nation at large, it was so out of touch with the +Government, and so led astray concerning the trend of events, that for +months it confidently anticipated an accord with the Central Empires. +Again, down to the day on which Baron Sonnino read out his last +declaration in the Chamber (Dec. 1), officials of the Ministry had +rigorous instructions not to give any one even a hint as to whether +Italy would or would not sign the London Convention, renouncing the +right to conclude a separate peace. + +For a long time previously Italy's aloofness had preoccupied the +Entente, and to the accord between the two there continued to be +something lacking. The Italian Government, dissatisfied with the +degree of help received from Great Britain, was not slow to indicate +it in official conversations with our Ambassador. Happily, the silence +of our Foreign Office and the secrecy of Baron Sonnino concealed the +rifts of the lute until most of them were said to be repaired. In the +meantime Italy persisted in concentrating on the Isonzo and the Carso +all her efforts to help the Allies against the Turks and the Bulgars. +The expeditions to the Dardanelles, Salonika and Serbia evoked her +moral sympathy, but could not secure her military co-operation. The +generosity of the Entente, and of Britain in particular, towards +Greece was an additional stumbling-block, and the offer of Cyprus to +King Constantine an abomination in her eyes. + +That Italy's impolitic aloofness could not last, without impairing the +worth of her sacrifices, was obvious. And the extent to which +co-operation could be stipulated and the compensations to which that +would entitle her, formed the subjects of long and delicate +conversations between the interested Governments. For, naturally +enough, Baron Sonnino, whose domestic critics are many and ruthless, +was desirous of getting all he could in the Eastern Mediterranean and +Asia Minor, while measuring out with patriotic closeness the military +and naval help to be given in return--Italy's position, economic, +financial and strategic, differing considerably from that of the other +Great Powers. It was not until the end of November 1915 that these +negotiations were worked out to an issue; and on the 30th King +Victor's Government signed the Convention of London, undertaking not +to conclude a separate peace. + +The gist of this supplementary accord, in so far as it imposes fresh +obligations upon Italy, was communicated to the Chamber by Baron +Sonnino. It provided for the organization of relief for the Serbian +troops in Albania, and for other auxiliary expeditions to places on +the Adriatic coast. But it leaves intact the essential and standing +limitations to Italy's military and naval co-operation which had to +be reckoned with theretofore. And these may be summarized as follows: +King Victor's Government, while examining every proposal coming from +the Allies on its political merits, must be guided by the military and +naval experts of the nation whenever it is a question of despatching +troops or warships to take part in a common enterprise. Italy's first +care is to hinder an invasion of her territory. The next object of her +solicitude is to husband her naval and other resources and cultivate +caution. Lastly, the extent of her contribution to an expedition must +be adjusted to her resources, which are much more slender than those +of any other Great Power, and are best known to her own rulers. And +her financial means are to be reinforced by contributions from Great +Britain. + +Those, in brief, are some of the lines on which the latest agreement +has been concluded. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ROUMANIA AND GREECE + + +That Roumania would now take the field was a proposition which, after +the many and emphatic assurances volunteered by her own official +chiefs, was accepted almost universally. She had received considerable +help from the Allies towards her military preparations. Her senators +and deputies had fraternized with Italians and Frenchmen and her +diplomatists had been in frequent and friendly communication with +those of France, Britain and Russia. Even statesmen had allowed +themselves to be persuaded by words and gestures which it now appears +were meant only to be conditional assurances or social lubricants. The +Serbian Premier, for instance, whose shrewdness is proverbial, +exclaimed to an Italian journalist, in the second half of June: +"Roumania cannot but follow the example set her by Italy. Indeed, you +may telegraph to your journal that Roumania's entry into the arena is +a question of days and it may be only of hours. Of this many +foretokens have come to our knowledge."[100] But the optimists who had +drawn practical conclusions from Roumanian promises and friendships +lost sight of the difference between their own mentality and that of +the Balkan peoples. They also failed to make due allowance for the +influence of German interpenetration, the power of German gold, and +the deterrent effect of German victories. And above all, they left out +of consideration the really decisive question of military prospects as +conditioned by strategical position and supplies of munitions. + + [100] _Giornale d'Italia_, June 19, 1915. _Corriere della + Sera_, June 20, 1915. + +The party of intervention, however, was still active and full of +ardour. Its chief, Take Jonescu, is not merely Roumania's only +statesman, but has established a claim to rank as one of the prominent +public men of the present generation. Unluckily he has long been out +of office, and his party is condemned to the Cassandra rôle of +uttering true prophecies which find no credence among those who wield +the power of putting them to good account. M. Bratiano's appropriate +attitude may be described as statuesque. Occasionally his Press organs +commented upon the manifestations of the interventionists in words +barbed with bitter sarcasm and utilitarian maxims. "Roumania's blood +and money," the _Independence Roumaine_ explained, "must be spent only +in the furtherance of Roumania's interest." Her cause must be +dissociated from that of the belligerents. To this Take Jonescu +replied[101] that it is precisely for the good of Roumania that her +interest should not be separated from that of the Entente Powers in +the conflict. For on the issue of this conflict depends the +state-system of Europe and also the future of Roumania. If the Germans +are triumphant, he added, force and falsehood will triumph with them, +the State will acquire omnipotence, the individual sink into serfdom. +Neutrality during a war with such issues is, therefore, the height of +political unwisdom. + + [101] _La Roumanie_, July 26, 1915. + +Greece, after Venizelos's retirement, returned to the narrow creed and +foolish pranks of her unregenerate days, sinking deeper into anarchy. +More than once in her history she had been saved from her enemies and +once from her friends, but from her own self there is no saviour. + +As soon as the Kaiser's paladin, King Constantine, had dismissed his +pilot and taken supreme command of the Ship of State, the portals of +the realm were thrown open to German machinations. The weaver in chief +of these was Wilhelm's confidential agent, Baron Schenk. According to +his own published biography, this gentleman had in youth been the +friend of the two sisters of Princess Battenberg, the Grand Duchess +Serge and of the Russian Tsaritza. He had served in the German army, +become the representative of the firm of Krupps, and been received at +the German court. While Venizelos was in office, Baron Schenk +flourished in the shade, but as soon as the Germanophile Gounaris took +over the reins of power, the secret agent went boldly forward into the +limelight and became the public chief of a party, received openly his +helpmates and partisans, distributed rôles and money and set frankly +to work to "smash Venizelos." + +King Constantine's protracted and strange malady hindered the Queen, +who is the Kaiser's sister, from receiving visits. Even the wives of +ministers were denied access to her Majesty. But the baron was an +exception. He called on her almost every day. Cabinet Ministers +consulted him. Journalists received directions, articles and bribes +from him. And when the elections were coming on every venal man of +influence who could damage Venizelos or help his antagonists was +bought with hard cash. In order to defeat some Venizelist candidates +whose return would have been particularly distressing, the Baron is +said to have spent six hundred thousand francs.[102] And it is held +that the results obtained by these means were well worth the money +spent. For the parliamentary opposition was strong and aggressive, and +some of its more active members had imbibed Hellenic patriotism from +the German Schenk. They have since been toiling and moiling to +disqualify Venizelos permanently from office on the ground that he is +a republican, and that the destinies of monarchy would not be safe in +his hands. By these means German organization, which finds work and +room for kings and for poisoners, for theologians and assassins, has +transformed Greece into a Prussian satrapy which avails itself of the +freedom of the seas, established by the Allies, to carry on contraband +to their detriment and give help and encouragement to Austrians, +Bulgars and Turks. And the Turks were meanwhile extirpating the Greeks +of the coast of Asia Minor. + + [102] _Gazette de Lausanne_, July 6, 1915, and _Corriere + della Sera_, July 8, 1915. + +Bulgaria's attitude underwent no momentous change during the interval +that elapsed between the outbreak of the war and the close of the +first year. Symptoms of a new orientation had, it is true, often been +signalled and commented, but Ferdinand of Coburg and his lieutenants +remained steadfastly faithful to the policy of quiescence which had +conferred more substantial benefits on Germany and Austria than could +have been bestowed by the active co-operation of the whole Bulgarian +army. This tremendous effect could never have been obtained if +Bulgaria had entirely broken with the Powers of the Entente. It seemed +as essential to its success that these should never wholly give up the +hope of winning her over, as it was that her important movements +should be conducive to the interests of their enemies. Hence every +secret arrangement with Berlin and Vienna was emphatically denied, and +every overt accord declared to be devoid of political significance. + +It was thus that Europe was directed to construe the negotiations +between the Sofia Cabinet and the Austro-German financial syndicate +respecting the payment of an instalment of the £20,000,000 loan +contracted shortly before the war. That Germany, whose financial +ventures are invariably combined with political designs, would not +part with her money to Bulgaria at a moment when gold is scarce, +unless she were sure of an adequate political return, could not be +gainsaid. And that the retention by Bulgaria of her freedom of action +would be incompatible with the interests of Austria and Germany is +also manifest. However this may be, the twenty millions sterling +demanded by Sofia were accorded, and the legend was launched that the +transaction was purely financial. + +Towards the end of July[103] King Ferdinand's ministers made another +momentous move, the consequences of which cut deep into the political +situation. A convention was signed in Stamboul between the Turkish and +Bulgarian Governments by which the former ceded to Bulgaria the +Turkish section of the Dedeagatch railway--that is to say, the whole +line that runs on Turkish territory, together with the stations of +Dimotika, Kulela-Burgas, and Karagatch. The new boundary ran +thenceforward parallel to the river Maritza, all the territory +eastward of that becoming Bulgarian. + + [103] July 22, 1915. + +And this concession, King Ferdinand's ministers would have Europe +believe, was devoid of political bearings. It was merely a case of +something being given for nothing. And the Allies allowed themselves +to be persuaded that this was the real significance of the deal. The +German Press was more frank. It announced that the relations between +Bulgaria and Turkey had entered upon a decisive phase and that all +fear of Bulgaria's taking part in the war on the side of the Allies +had been definitely dispelled. + +The Bulgarian problem throughout all that wearisome crisis, which +ended by Ferdinand throwing off the mask, was in reality simple, and +the known or verifiable facts ought to have been sufficient to bring +the judgment of the Entente statesmen to conclusions which would have +enabled them to steer clear of the costly blunders that characterized +their policy. The line of action followed from first to last by +Ferdinand was supremely inelastic: only its manifestations, of which +the object was to deceive, were varied and conflicting. It was bound +up with Austria's undertaking to restore Macedonia to Bulgaria and to +maintain Ferdinand on the throne. This twofold promise was the bait by +which the king was caught and kept in Austria's toils, while the +Bulgarian people was moved by patriotism to identify its cause with +that of Ferdinand. And the arrangement was to my knowledge completed +before the opening of the European war. Evidence of its existence was +forthcoming, but the statesmen of the Entente, who allowed +preconceived notions to overrule the testimony of their senses, +declined to accept it. Since then the Bulgarian Cabinet, in the person +of the Premier, has publicly admitted the truth of my reiterated +statement. In a public speech, delivered in March 1916, "M. +Radoslavoff confessed that Bulgaria had entered the war by reason of +certain obligations which she had assumed."[104] + + [104] Cf. _Daily Telegraph_, March 14, 1916, in telegram from + Athens. + +But there was another safe test which the Entente Governments could +have applied with profit to the situation. Interest was obviously the +mainspring of the Bulgarian nation by whomsoever it might chance to be +represented. It would be inconsistent with the conception of +international politics to assume any other. Now that interest, it was +obvious, could be so fully and rapidly furthered by the Central +Empires, and in the judgment of the Bulgars with such finality and at +the cost of so few sacrifices, that it was sheer impossible for the +Entente Governments to attempt to compete with those. Bulgaria +demanded immediate possession of Central Macedonia and the permanent +weakening of the Serbian State. And this the Central Empires promised +to effect within a few weeks from Bulgaria's entry into the war. +Moreover, while asking that she should take part in a struggle against +that group of belligerents which she deemed by far the weaker, they +undertook to give her the full support of the two greatest military +Powers in the world. + +Consider the difference between that arrangement and the attractions +provided by the Entente. Russia, France and Britain could deal only in +counters, not in hard cash like their adversaries. The utmost they +were able to offer was an undertaking to use their good offices with +Serbia and Greece to obtain the promise of a part of Bulgaria's +demands. And the fulfilment of this promise would of necessity be +conditional on the victory of the Allies. As for the weakening of +Serbia, it could not be entertained. On the contrary, that State, +according to the Entente scheme, would be greatly enlarged, would, in +fact, become by far the greatest of the Balkan nations. And for this +shadowy lure, Bulgaria was expected to meet in deadly encounter the +greatest military empires the world has ever seen, and to meet them +without the help of any of the Great Powers of the Entente. + +One has but to compare these two alternatives in order to realize +that, even if Ferdinand had entered into no binding compact with +Austria and Germany, he would not hesitate a moment between them. +Personally and politically he was held tight by the Teuton tentacles. + +The currency of the notion that with these competing offers before +him, a crafty statesman like Ferdinand who felt over and above that +Russia's vengeance was hanging over his head, would take what he +believed was the losing side, shows a degree of _naïveté_ which cannot +be qualified without epithets which it had better be understood than +expressed. + +Looking back upon the results of the first twenty months of the war +and upon the more obvious causes to which they may fairly be +ascribed, one is struck less forcibly by the military and economic +unpreparedness of the Allies for the inevitable conflict than by their +inaccessibility to the ground ideas on which Germany set her hopes of +success. The two groups of belligerents stood intellectually on +different planes. The Teuton's faith was implicit in the law of +causality, in the necessity of contemplating the vast problem as a +whole, of adjusting means to ends, of co-operation at home and +co-ordination of means abroad. The methods of the Allies were drawn +from a limited range of experience which was no longer applicable to +the new conditions, and their hopes rested on a series of isolated +exertions put forth temporarily under stress of exceptional pressure. + +They made noble sacrifices for the cause of liberty and justice. +Pacific by temperament and conviction, they resignedly accepted +military discipline as a temporary expedient, a purgatorial ordeal, +and went about the while with a sense of displacement, the longing of +exiles to get back. Spurred by stress of circumstance, they achieved +more than foresight and insight had led them to design but far less +than their optimism had encouraged them to anticipate. Step by step +they were driven by hard reality to widen their angle of vision, to +extend their schemes, and to concert certain measures in common. The +meeting of the three Finance Ministers in Paris was followed by the +Councils of the allied generals, by the combined expedition to the +Dardanelles, and by the nationalization of the manufacture of +munitions in each of the allied countries. And all these innovations +were moves in the right direction. But they were made as temporary +expedients under pressure of outward events, and it is still to the +future that one looks for tokens of statesmanlike intuition which from +a comprehensive survey of the problem in its entirety will draw the +materials wherewith to weave a coherent scheme of general action and +permanent co-operation. + +Events travelled fast in the month of July 1915, and their effect on +the Allies was depressing. In Russia the Austro-Germans were advancing +steadily against Riga and Warsaw, where a battle which experts +accounted the most sanguinary and momentous in the war was approaching +a decision. A fatal bar being placed by Russia's reverses and other +untoward occurrences to the realization of the hopes that had been +raised by Kitchener's army, the French, headed by M. Pichon and backed +by the Russian Press, once more mooted the vexed question of Japanese +intervention. In the Turkish dominions the Greeks were subjected to +relentless persecution, especially on the coast of Asia Minor. The +massacre of Armenians on an unprecedented scale was reported from +Bitlis, Moosh, Diarbekir and Zeitun. In the first-named region 9,000 +bodies, mostly women and children, were, it is alleged, cast into the +river Tigris.[105] The Swedish Premier, by an enigmatic speech in +which the doctrine of neutrality at all costs was ostentatiously +repudiated, aroused suspicion of an intention on the part of his +Government to join the Teutons in order to weaken the Slav neighbour, +and to this apprehension colour was imparted by the tardy announcement +that since the outbreak of the war Sweden had increased her army from +360,000 to 500,000 men. In the United States mysterious "accidents" +and mishaps occurred on board warships and in munitions and arms +manufactories, and strikes were organized by Germans and Austrians on +a scale which attracted the serious attention of the Washington +Government. + + [105] _Novoye Vremya_, July 22, 1915. + +But the last month of that fateful year was further darkened by the +most dangerous and ominous event recorded in the United Kingdom since +the war began. Over 200,000 coal miners of South Wales deliberately, +obstinately and criminally withheld their labour from their own +nation, whose existence at that moment was dependent on its bestowal. +The coal pits of South Wales remained idle for over a week. The miners +crossed their arms and turned deaf ears to the voice of reason and +interest calling on them not to sacrifice the lives of their kith and +kin who were fighting for them. This act of black treason to the +country had been foreseen and foretold months before, but out of +consideration for the rights of individuals was allowed to take place. +The Germans and Austrians were exultant, for another couple of weeks' +strike would have given them the victory. Already the collapse of our +defence was become a definite eventuality. The tact and statesmanship +of Mr. Lloyd George exorcised the redoubtable spectre, but the spirit +which that piece of treason revealed filled the most sanguine with +dread and set those of little faith asking themselves whether this +lamentable phenomenon was not one of certain ill-boding symptoms which +seemed to reveal the smoothly moving current that bears doomed nations +onward to their fate. + +Certainly nothing could put in a clearer light than that strike has +done the peremptory necessity of national discipline, at any rate in +war-time. The State that is unable to command the service of all its +citizens when beset by ruthless foreign enemies has lost its lease of +life and its right to live. It must be recognized that patriotism is +still an unknown sentiment among millions of those who are citizens of +the United Kingdom and Ireland. Patriotism has never been +systematically inculcated among us as in Germany, France and Russia. +Parochial or at most party interests still mark the loftiest heights +to which certain sections of the population can soar above the dead +level of individual egotism. In Germany and Austria strikes during war +are unthinkable. Every railway official, every tram-conductor, every +artisan there is a soldier subject to military discipline and is +expected to give the fullest measure of his productive powers to the +nation. And it is fair to add that they all regard this duty as a +signal honour and a source of pleasure. For to them patriotism is a +religion and their country a divinity. + +The depth and fervour of this self-denying spirit among them as +contrasted with the "healthy individual egotism" of the Allies +constitutes one of the most disquieting phenomena of the struggle. +Austria has been scoffed at for her abject submissiveness to Germany. +But there is another way of looking at her attitude. She has +courageously effaced her individuality more completely even than +Turkey for the sake of the common cause. And she has lost nothing by +the painful effort. Her various peoples who were expected to be +tearing each other to pieces have given us a splendid example of +discipline and self-abnegation. In the Skoda works at Pilsen, where +machine guns are made, fifteen thousand workmen are cheerfully toiling +and moiling every day of the week, Sundays and holidays not excepted. +Since the war began Germany has accomplished as great things at home +as on foreign battlefields. She built and launched a Dreadnought of +25,600 tons, a line-of-battle ship of 26,200 tons. And while the +latter vessel was on the stocks, the reports published in the British +press of the splendid results obtained by the 15-inch guns of the +_Queen Elizabeth_ moved the German Admiralty to substitute these for +the 12-inch guns already adopted. Two swift cruisers, 12 small +submarines and 24 larger ones of 1200 tons displacement, with a speed +of 16 knots under water, 20 on the surface and a radius of action of +3000 miles--were among the results of a single year's activity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +GERMANY'S RESOURCEFULNESS + + +And our enemies' resourcefulness and power of adaptation is of a piece +with their capacity for work. When war was declared and foreign trade +arrested, numerous German factories underwent a quick transformation. +Silk-works began to turn out bandages and lint; velvet works produced +materials for tents; umbrella makers took to manufacturing rain-proof +cloth; the output of sewing-machine factories was changed to shrapnel; +piano manufacturers became makers of cartridges. Paper producers +supplied the War Office with paper-made blankets. For copper, when the +supply began to grow short, nickelled iron was quickly substituted. +Sugar was employed to obtain the spirit which had to take the place of +benzine. And the upshot of these transformations is that the orders +received for military needs exceed those which would in normal +conditions of exportation have been placed by foreign customers with +German industry. The goods traffic on German railways, which had +fallen to 41 per cent. during the first month of the war, has since +gone up to 96 per cent. Those achievements are not merely noteworthy +in themselves, they are ominously symptomatic. + +A German professor, writing to a friend imprisoned in France, +commented in passing upon these qualifications of his countrymen in a +letter which M. Joseph Reinach soon afterwards gave to the public. One +passage in that document is worth quoting. The professor holds that +even if the worst comes to the worst, Germany can always conclude a +"white peace" which will leave her the formidable glory of having held +the whole world in check, will consolidate her prestige in Europe and +enable her, twenty years hence, when she has made good her losses, to +establish permanently her dominion. "My confidence is based on German +patriotism, on German sense of discipline, on German genius for +organization. But it is founded above all else on our enemies' +incapacity for organization. Ah, if our adversaries could enhance the +worth of their resources by acquiring our gifts of initiative and +method, we should be lost! I am thrilled by the picture of what we +could accomplish if we were in the places of the English and the +French and by the thought of the danger that would confront us if they +but knew how to utilize the force of their allies as we have availed +ourselves of those of Austria and Turkey." + +Those reflections find their fairest comment in the events of the +twenty months that have passed since the opening of the campaign. + +Our enemies' reading of those events is instructive. The Austrian +Press hails them as satisfactory. Even the Socialist organ[106] +declares that, in the qualities that go to the attainment of success, +"Austria holds the first place." The Austrian General Staff wrote +eight months ago: "Our troops have now been fighting for a +twelvemonth.... A whole world of enemies rose up against the Central +Empires, and more than once our army had to bear the brunt of their +formidable onslaught. To-day, they hold but small tracts of territory +in western Galicia and Alsatia, whereas Germany's hand is closed in a +tight grasp on Belgium and the richest provinces of France, and in the +north-east the allied forces of Austria and Germany have penetrated +well into Russian Poland. The cannons' muzzles are turned against the +most powerful fortresses of the Tsar, and in the Dardanelles our third +ally keeps watch and ward imperturbably." + + [106] _Arbeiter Zeitung._ + +The War Lord himself has recorded his estimate of the results of the +first year's campaign. "Germany," he stated in a speech delivered at +Lemberg, "is an impregnable fortress. In her forward march she is +irresistible. She will prove to the world that she can overcome all +her enemies and will dictate to them the peace terms that please +herself." And in a discourse pronounced at Beuthen he recorded his +view of the Allies' outlook in these words: "Our enemies are +floundering in confusion. Among themselves they are not united. They +are disorganized by the struggle, disheartened by the knowledge that +they are powerless to conquer Germany. German valour, German +organization, German science have emerged with honour from this +ordeal, the most terrible that a nation has ever undergone. Germany is +greater and mightier than ever before." + +It behoves us to learn from our enemies, and, abstraction made from +the monstrosities which are indelibly associated with the German name, +there is much which the Teutons can still teach us. That the secret of +success lies in a comprehensive system of organization is +self-evident. But that organization must utilize all the resources of +the Allies and include permanent arrangements, economic and other, for +a future which shall not be a continuation of the past. Many of the +advantages which the old ordering of things assured us are gone beyond +recall. Conscription is become inevitable. Free trade is an +institution of the past. The control of armies in the field by +delegates of a democratic parliament such as is now demanded by the +French Chamber is a dangerous craving for the fleshpots of Egypt. +Whether Germany wins or loses, her rebellion against European +civilization will effect substantial and durable changes in the +methods of that civilization from which even the United States will +not be exempted. + +Thus between the old order of things and the new yawns an abyss which +has to be crossed before we can worst our enemies even in the military +campaign which is but one phase of the world-struggle. Our resources +for the purpose of bridging it are ample, but our first difficulty is +the circumstance that we are chained to the old system and are still +unwilling to burst the bonds that hold us. And until efficacious means +of effecting this are adopted the end must remain unattainable. +Victory will not descend on our camp like a manna from on high. The +Allied Armies do not resemble the mulberry tree which, having long +lagged behind its rivals, suddenly bursts into fruit as well as +flower. + +During the past twenty months the Allies in general, and the British +in particular, have achieved feats of which they have reason to be +proud--feats which two years ago seemed beyond the compass of human +effort. But, much as we have done, we have not reached, nor indeed +attempted to reach, the limits of our capacities, and the story of +these memorable twenty months of struggle is dimmed by the shadow of +the vaster exploits from which we have unaccountably shrunk. + +The old-world social conceptions still prevalent in Great Britain +afford no standard by which to gauge the significance of the crisis +through which Europe is passing, nor do they provide efficacious means +of satisfying the pressing needs which it has created. Yet the +nation's guides perceive nothing to change in those conceptions; on +the contrary, they uphold them zealously. No event has occurred in +modern times of greater concern to Europe than the unleashing of +disruptive forces which threaten when the war is over to break up the +politico-social fabric. Now, the mere prospect of this tremendous +upheaval and of its sequel is, one would fancy, calculated to arouse +the spirited interest of all the nations affected. Yet in Great +Britain, whose very existence it menaces, it was at first received +with such unmeaning comments as "business as usual." The alertness of +the people's sensations--always inconsiderable--for volcanic outbursts +which have their centre abroad, has never been quite so blunted as +to-day. + +Germany cultivates force not for its own sake but because it happens +to suit her particular purpose. For this reason she preaches the +doctrines that right and might are identical, that the end hallows the +means, that military and political necessity overrule treaties and +laws. For as violence and cunning may still gain triumphs, under the +conditions that once rendered them the only weapons of man, Germany's +first step is to bring about such conditions and to spread faith in +the teachings of the new gospel. What the success of these efforts +would involve is evident. All the ground slowly and painfully +reclaimed from the primitive state of nature, transmuted into social +order, and moralized by the altruistic accord of progressive humanity, +would be submerged by the tidal wave of Teutonism. + +The first clash of the two forces which took place a generation ago +was hardly noticed. Germany stretched out her feelers tenderly, and +even when she was draining nation after nation of its life juices, she +took care to lull the patient while sucking his blood. Accordingly her +attack provoked no counter-attack, nay, there was no serious attempt +at defence. Those who directed the forces of the civilized communities +were unconscious of the counter-force that was steadily undermining +these--so unconscious that in lieu of isolating and paralysing it, the +tendency of their endeavours was to further and to strengthen it. For +they hastily assumed that it, too, was a great moral force in an +uncouth guise and should also be tended and cultivated. Their duty, +had they hearkened to its promptings, would have been to employ +towards the criminal plotters against Europe's civilized communities +coercion of the same drastic description that once enabled mankind to +substitute for the barbarous usages of savage tribes the habits of +social relationship and moral self-surrender to the weal of all. Among +the mainstays of Germany's type of society and the instruments by +which it was built up are heavy artillery, mighty armies, the gallows, +bribery and guile. With some of those arms she had opened the +campaign of conquest a quarter of a century ago, and of that campaign +the present war, unexampled though it be, is but an acute and +transient episode. This would appear to be the only true reading of +contemporary events. + +Few careful students of European politics will now deny that the +struggle between the forces for which Teutonism stands and those on +which the social ordering of the rest of Europe is based was +inaugurated long ago, that the ground was then cleared for the new +politico-social structure, or that the dissolution of our "effete, +drowsy States, saturated with wealth and honeycombed with +hypocrisies," was carefully planned and taken in hand with scientific +precision. It is equally clear, to those who have eyes to see, that +the present clash of nations, despite its appalling effects on +civilization, is but an acuter phase of that campaign, a series of +incidents in a mighty struggle which neither began in July 1914 nor +will end with the close of hostilities, but will rage on for years to +come in less sanguinary but more decisive forms. For the future +peace--whatever its terms--which will silence the cannon's boom, will +but transfer the war theatre without ending the war. The methods will +be changed from military to economic. But only the weapons will be +different; the military discipline, the callous indifference to the +dictates of human and divine law, the utter absence of scruple will +continue to characterize the tactics of our enemy, who will then have +a wider scope for his activities than the battlefield can offer. The +German has no match among the allied nations in the regions of the new +diplomacy, trade, industry, applied science, insidious journalism and +vast organization. He is incomparably better equipped than they, and +owing to his amorality has none of those obstacles to contend with +which so often confront them with scruples and check their advance. + +And during the progress of the present war the Teutons are making +ready for that economico-political duel which will, they hope, give +them the decisive superiority for which they had vainly hoped from the +war. That hope, if their experience of the past thirty years be a fair +indication, is by no means groundless. + +Not to realize these facts to-day is to play into the hands of our +enemies, as we have been steadfastly doing during the past thirty +years. The British and their allies are being overcome less by German +skill and cleverness than by their own sluggishness, narrowness of +outlook and love of ease. As the German professor, whose utterances I +have already quoted, tersely put it: "My confidence is founded above +all else on our enemies' incapacity for organization." In truth, it is +not inborn incapacity to which we owe our unquestioned inferiority, +but to the atrophy of will-power which is one of the consequences of +years of egotism, overweening confidence, self-indulgence and the loss +of an inspiring social faith. + +Now, there is every reason to assume that these master facts are not +yet recognized by our rulers, who seem perfectly contented that the +nation should go on living as before from hand to mouth, with no +far-reaching views for the future. This insular narrow-mindedness is +natural. For the Ministers in power are the same who obstinately +refused to credit the evidence of their senses, which went to prove +that Germany was bending all her energies to the successful +prosecution of a formidable campaign against us and our presumptive +allies for a whole generation. The frank recognition of this state of +masked hostility would have imposed on the Government the correlate +duty of taking up the challenge, readjusting our public life to the +altered conditions, urging the nation to make heavy sacrifices and +dissatisfying radical constituencies, whose one ideal is to devote +themselves exclusively to parochial policy and domestic legislation. +And the chiefs of the party in power lacked the mental and moral +strength to throw off their deep-rooted apprehension of the +consequences to party prospects, of increased taxation and other +burdens of citizenship. They never grasped the situation as a whole, +but restricted their survey to each fragmentary question as it was +thrust into the foreground of actualities and eliminated every other. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PERILS OF PARTY POLITICS + + +No bold, broad, stable policy, therefore, was ever conceived by those +party politicians. The vast organization which was destined to destroy +the old order of things in Europe, and whose manifestations were an +open book to all observers who brought acuteness and patience to the +study, was not merely ignored by them--its very existence was denied, +and those who refused to join the ranks of the deniers were +brand-marked as mischief-makers. The nation's responsible trustees, by +way of justifying this singular attitude, accepted implicitly our +enemy's account of his unfriendly acts and enterprises. Thus it was +the chief of His Majesty's Government who, from his place in the House +of Commons, emphatically asserted that it behoved the British nation +to welcome the Baghdad railway enterprise as a precious cultural +undertaking devoid of political objects and, therefore, well worthy of +our support. In vain the writer of these lines laid bare the real +designs of the German Government, and adduced cogent proofs that the +seemingly cultural scheme was but an integral part of a vast campaign, +of which one object was the ousting of Britons from the Near and +Middle East and the substitution of German overlordship there. They +shut their eyes and stopped their ears, and bade us rejoice that +Britain is not as other countries and can afford to welcome and even +further Germany's "cultural" projects. + +It was our party politicians who, when the ground-swell of +international anger and the premonitory rumble of volcanic forces +became audible, diverted public attention from the symptoms and +solemnly assured their countrymen that Germany had no intention of +going to war. To the author of these pages, who was at the pains of +unfolding in private his information and conclusions on this subject +to one of those leaders, the answer given ran thus: "Your intentions +are patriotic and your accuracy of observation is probably scientific. +But your conclusions are wholly erroneous. You must admit that you are +a pessimist. Nor can you deny that we members of the Cabinet dispose +of fuller and more decisive data for a judgment than you, with all +your opportunities, can muster. After all, we do know something of the +temper of the German Government. And we have cogent grounds for +holding that neither the Kaiser nor his Ministers want war. Bethmann +Hollweg is the most pacific chancellor Germany has ever had. And the +German people, bellicose though you think them, are to the full as +peace-loving as our own. Their one desire is to be allowed to vie with +us in commercial and industrial pursuits. So true is this, that if we +suppose the improbable, that the Kaiser's Government should feel +disposed to bring about a European war, that design would be thwarted +by the Reichstag backed by the bulk of the population." + +Thus the men who presided over the destinies of the British Empire +either had no eye for the triumphant progress of the German campaign +that had been going forward for years unchecked, or, if they discerned +any of its episodes, saw them only through the softening and +distorting medium of deceptive assurances and explanations emanating +from Berlin. And on the strength of these illusive phrases they kept +the country in a state of unpreparedness for the military form of the +struggle for which our enemy was making ready, and if they had had +their way our navy--which was our anchor of salvation--would also +perhaps have been shorn of its strength. + +When at last the war broke out, it was our party politicians, the men +to whom we still look up for light and guidance, who misinterpreted +its nature and underestimated the urgent needs of the Empire. It was +they who conceived the campaign as though it were one of our +occasional colonial expeditions, and would fain base the strength of +our land army abroad on the small number of troops which the +Government had conditionally undertaken to provide. And throughout the +first sixteen months of the war, it was they who went on doling out +contingents with Troy weights and measures like Mrs. Partington +beating back the tidal waves with a mop. It was they, too, who were at +extraordinary pains and risked their prestige, to throw away the +splendid privileged position which, at the outset of the struggle, we +chanced to occupy in South-Eastern Europe. Every blunder into which +petty municipal minds could fall when confronted with a wild +revolutionary welter, marked the hesitant policy of the British +Government. This aimless chaos of soul was the main cause of the +woeful waste of our political advantages and enormous resources in +the accomplishment of secondary ends which generally led nowhere. It +was thus that they forfeited the active support of Turkey, Bulgaria +and Greece, foolishly stood by applauding every step those nations +took towards the camp of our enemies, and then felt constrained to +turn to their own people whom they had unwittingly misled and call +upon it for the sacrifice of the flower of its manhood. + +It was they who sacrificed, through sheer administrative incapacity, +the decided superiority over the Teutons which we enjoyed in the air +at the outset of the war. It is now admitted that our mastery in that +region was then complete. All that the country demanded of them was +that they should hold it. But what with divided control, restricted +views, and the policy of insufficient means--_petits paquets_--as the +French term it, they allowed our enemies to outstrip us. And to-day in +the air as on land it is the Germans who have the initiative and the +Allies who are condemned to the defensive. Yet experts had pointed out +over and over again what should be done and what avoided. Their advice +was obviously sound and their criticism obviously irrefutable. But the +men in power fumbled and floundered on until we had forfeited our +mastery in the air to our enemies. And ever since then the nation has +been paying the penalty. Yet it is to the men responsible for these +costly blunders that the nation still looks for salvation! + +It was the same men who conceived or sanctioned the plan of an +expedition to Mesopotamia. Whether this was a wise or a foolish +project, when once decided upon it should have been carried out with +might and main. All the means requisite to success should have been +taken; all the resources possessed by the Empire should have been +drawn upon and nothing needlessly left to chance. Above all things +else, the views of the man charged with the execution of the plan +should have been elicited and carefully weighed. As a matter of fact, +General Townshend's judgment was decidedly adverse to the expedition +under the conditions in which it was planned. For the forces assigned +to him, amounting to far less than a division, were absurdly +inadequate, and their inadequacy was easily demonstrable. He ought to +have had at least two divisions more. But once again the game of +divided control and diluted responsibility was played, with +consequences which would in any other country suffice to wreck the +Government chargeable with the blunder. + +Yet it is to the men who committed that and all the other blunders +that the nation still looks confidently for salvation! + +If the British people finally obtain it under those leaders they may +fairly claim to have abrogated the law of cause and effect. + +These same men are still the mentors and the spokesmen of a free +nation which can choose its leaders. It is they to whom the people has +entrusted the conduct of the most critical phase of the whole campaign +in which the recurrence of similar errors may foredoom the Empire to +disruption. And it is, humanly speaking, inconceivable that +miscalculations of that kind should be eliminated, in view of the +crucial fact that the Ministers at present in power, if we may judge +by their utterances and their acts, entertain a fundamentally false +conception of the relations between the Teutons and the allied +nations. Among the elements of that conception there would seem to be +no room for the historic past. The present stands by itself with a +history that goes no further back than the month of July 1914, and +will convulsively come to an end with the truce that ushers in the +future treaty of peace. For that diplomatic instrument will put an end +to the struggle and inaugurate an era of international tranquillity. +Such is the theory on which their entire policy is based. + +We must fight on now to a _finish_, but the upshot is sure to be a +finish. Their anticipations of an unclouded dawn, when the present +night has worn itself into the streaky greyness of morning, are +certain to come to pass. The ordeal which we are undergoing is +tremendous, but at any rate the nation and its allies will emerge from +it rejuvenated under the spell of the present magicians, as the old +ram emerged lamb-like and frisky from Medea's cauldron. That, in +brief, would seem to be the picture in the mind's eye of the British +Government, and to that conception all their plans are being +accommodated. + +As a matter of ascertainable fact, neither we nor our Allies have +anything of the kind to hope for. In the near future the present +campaign will have come to a close, but not the struggle between +ourselves and our Teuton aggressors. For this war, far from ending the +tragic duel between the two types of community life in Europe, is but +one of its transient episodes. The trial of strength began many years +ago and will not be decided for many years to come, how satisfactory +so ever the terms of the future peace may be to ourselves and our +Allies. This is a fundamental truth which has not yet penetrated the +consciousness of either rulers or people. And for that reason the +problem awaiting them is mis-stated, belittled. According to the +received version it is to beat back German aggression and render it +impossible in the future. Now, however successfully the first part of +the task may be discharged--and it is still very uphill work--the +second is a sheer impossibility, and to lay our plans as though it +were feasible and soon to be realized, is to embark on the body of a +sleeping whale in the belief that it is an island in the sea. And to +negotiate peace abroad and give an impulse to politics at home, with +that comforting prospect in mind, is to lead the nation into a +Serbonian bog whence no escape is possible. The leaders of Great +Britain are so permeated with the duties, the rights, the hopes and +the strivings of parliamentary parties, that they involuntarily think +in terms of home politics and have no chord in their being responsive +to the emotions that sway the German soul and nerve the German arm. + +To the average mind it is clear that the terms on which peace might be +negotiated, if the end of the war were also to be the end of the +struggle, might differ considerably from those on which a statesman +would properly insist, were he convinced that the sheathing of the +sword marked but the opening of a new phase of the duel. And it is +this alternative which it behoves us to lay at the foundation of our +peace treaty, if it should rest with the Allies to impose their terms. +The problem, therefore, which a Government that governs has to tackle, +is twofold: the conclusion of such a peace as will confer on the +Entente States, individually and collectively, all possible +advantages, not for contemplating such a tranquil state of things as +the ministerial conception postulates, but for the prosecution of the +struggle with the greatest chances of success, and for the +reconstruction of the social fabric at home with a view to harmonizing +it with the new requirements, and, in particular, with the needs +created by the constant state of economic, financial, diplomatic and +journalistic warfare in which we shall be engaged. The social ordering +of Great Britain must be not merely modified but remodelled and +rebuilt from the groundwork to the coping-stone. One of the first +needs of the nation is the education, physical and spiritual, of the +new generation. Patriotic sentiment must be engrafted on the receptive +soul of the child, and its range of sympathy widened and deepened. The +duty of self-abnegation for the welfare of the community must be +inculcated, together with new conceptions of personal dignity and +worth. To the domestic sentiment in those cramped and distorted forms +in which it still survives in Britain, where we cling tenaciously to +so many institutions devoid of life and utility, a less commanding +part must be assigned in the future than heretofore. Above all, it +behoves us to encourage the scientific spirit with its correlates, +patient thought and study, as opposed to the arrogant amateurism +which, without rudimentary qualifications, claims to have a voice in +the solution of every problem under the sun. It is largely to this +dilettante temperament of the nation and its rulers that we owe the +disasters we have sustained and the dangers with which we are +threatened. + +Looking back, then, dispassionately upon the movement, deliberately +organized over thirty years ago by the restless German mind and pushed +steadily forward ever since over diplomatic barriers, financial +hindrances, economic obstacles and international laws, one is struck +less by the unparalleled magnitude of the enterprise than by the +blindness and sluggishness of its destined victims. And it is largely +in these and kindred negative qualities that we have to seek for the +clue to the astonishing sequence of successes scored by our enemies in +their military and naval, as well as their politico-economic, +campaigns. Moreover, these same defects, deep-rooted and widespread +among the allied peoples, constitute their main source of weakness +during the economic and decisive tug-of-war which will be ushered in +by the treaty of peace. For the temperament, traditions and strivings +of each of these nations are so many obstacles to the gathering of +their scattered moral energies and wasted spiritual forces in one +fertilizing stream. They are bent on joining incompatible elements in +a political synthesis. In the name of national independence and by way +of a telling protest against the vassalage which binds Austria to +Germany, the Entente nations spurn the notion of any common accord +which requires the practice of self-surrender as a base, and are +resolved under the strain of circumstance to present such a +loosely-joined front to the enemy as will not involve their foregoing +one iota of their freedom or one tittle of their national claims. How, +in these conditions, they expect ever to rise to that height of moral +fervour without which the quasi-ascetic effort demanded of them is +inconceivable, has not yet been explained. As usual, they count upon +effects without causes, upon an ingathering of the harvest with no +preceding seedtime. Now, interdependence and compromise are the +indispensable conditions of that cohesion which alone can engender the +force required. A condition approaching organic coherency must be +attained before a smooth working system can be created among the +Allies. But as each of them is still rooted to the past, permeated by +its own interests and aspirations, and jealous not only of the +substance of its liberty but also of the shadow, the distance yet to +be traversed before the goal can be reached is enormous, and the road +rugged and beset with pitfalls. + +A glance at the past and present may enable us to gauge aright the +nature of some of the difficulties that have to be surmounted in the +future. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +PAST AND PRESENT + + +Let us begin with the present, in view of the circumstance that the +war has brought the allied peoples into a much nearer approach to +union and has more fully systematized their efforts than can ever be +the case in peace time. We find, then, two groups of belligerents +pitted against each other, whose resources in men, money and economic +supplies are strikingly unequal. The Teutons are by far the weaker +side, and even in spite of their long preparations ought to have been +thoroughly beaten long ago. So evident and encouraging was the +comparison that the Entente nations themselves boldly grounded their +calculations on it, and anticipated a brief spell of warfare and a +decisive victory. And this forecast seemed reasonable enough when the +material elements were weighed and contrasted. The Entente communities +occupy 68,031,000 square kilometres of territory, which are inhabited +by a population of 770,060,000, or say 46 per cent. of the entire land +on the globe and 47 per cent. of the entire human race. The Central +Empires, on the other hand, possess no more than 5,921,000 square +kilometres with 150,199,000 inhabitants, which amounts to only 4 per +cent. of dry land on the globe and 9.1 per cent. of mankind. Add to +that the circumstance that in the air our superiority over our +enemies was undisputed, and that the odds in favour of our enlisting +the active support of the Balkan States were overwhelming. The chances +in favour of the Allies, therefore, were and are enormous. That being +so, why, it may well be asked, has the course of the military, naval +and air campaign so uniformly favoured the weaker side? It is no +answer to point out that Germany and Austria had been organizing the +war for over thirty years, or had contrived to mobilize all their +resources when the first shot was fired. That explanation would +account for their progress during the first few months, but not for +the victories they scored down to the beginning of April 1916. It was +loudly proclaimed by British journalists that the Berlin General Staff +had based its plan on the assumption that the struggle would be +decided in a few months and certainly by the end of 1914. And the +inference was drawn that as this time-table was upset, Germany was so +bewildered that she could hardly draw up another plan and adjust her +forces to that. She had shot her bolt, we were assured, had missed the +target, and it was beyond her power to put forth another effort. But +events refuted these false prophets, without, however, greatly +impairing their credit with the multitude. They still continue to +describe Germany's dire straits and foretell her speedy collapse. And +they are listened to with eagerness and trust. + +In truth the root of the matter lies deeper. One of the most telling +factors, in every armed conflict between peoples, consists of the sum +total of imponderabilia which elude analysis. Intellectual and moral +equipment, as I ventured to write when the war began, sometimes +counts for more than battalions. And I instanced the Russo-Japanese +campaign as a case in point. One belligerent may regard the campaign +as a temporary calamity to be endured until it can be conveniently got +rid of, while another may gird his loins and go forth to battle +exultant like the fanaticized warriors of Cromwell. The former will +contemplate the struggle and regulate the conduct of it in the light +of immediate expediency, while the latter will treat the war as a +life-task and boldly throw the weight of everything he has, and is, +and hopes for into the blows he deals his adversary. Now in this +struggle the Teuton is the fanaticized warrior. He is fighting for an +ideal, which, whether or no he understands it, he caresses and deems +his very own. The hopes and dreams of the leaders of the nation have +been communicated to the individual citizen, who, having lived for +them, is ready to die for them. Our people, on the other hand, have +never enjoyed that education in patriotism which is bestowed on every +Teuton, and they are wanting in the strength of imagination, the +spirit of cohesion and the energizing social faith which might have +made up for the deficiency. + +Then, again, over against the Allies' inexhaustible resources we must +put the marvellous capacity for organization which intensifies those +of our enemy. The nearest known approach to it is found in the +Japanese, who, there is little doubt, if pressed by circumstance, +would match the Teuton in resourcefulness and even outdo him in the +spirit of self-sacrifice. To this precious asset in Germany's leaders +corresponds a superlative degree of docility and self-surrender in her +people which offer a striking contrast to the strongly marked +individualist tendencies of the British, French and Russian races. +Nay, one may go farther and assert that the central streams of +national life in each of these countries flows in channels of party +politics, which no influential leader has ever attempted to deepen or +widen. The German, on the contrary, as we saw, associates his every +work and undertaking with ideas of almost cosmic breadth and is +actuated by interests to which all the larger problems of humanity are +akin. And he took timely possession of every lever that might +contribute to the success of his revolt against Europeanism, when his +far-reaching scheme was yet in the early phases of execution. + +Everything that human foresight could think of was carefully studied, +everything that human ingenuity could provide for was thoroughly +effected and systematized. Royal dynasties were founded abroad by +German princes. German colonies settled in Russia, Poland, Palestine +and Brazil. German schools were opened in Roumania, Spain, Asia Minor, +the Ottoman Empire, the Tsardom. Foreign newspapers were bought or +subsidized. Protestant sects with pro-German tendencies were +encouraged. Banks were founded with Entente capital and employed to +ruin the trade of the nations that subscribed it. Colonies of +mechanics, clerks, middlemen were settled in every European country +and colony and obtained control of the nation's industries and trade. +Special legislation was enacted in Berlin to enable the German to +become a foreign subject in externals while bound by all the duties of +a citizen of his own country. + +As the hour for the military and naval struggle was drawing near +intestine strife was industriously stirred up in all those countries +whose rivalry the Germans had reason to apprehend. Emissaries were +despatched to Egypt who made common cause with the disaffected and +restless elements of the population, cultivated friendship with the +Senussi and smuggled in arms to would-be African rebels. In India +German "scientific explorers" hobnobbed with the natives, criticized +the state of "serfage" to which British rule had reduced one of the +most highly civilized races of mankind, and made overtures to the +Afghans. To Abyssinia another "scientific expedition" was despatched, +which consisted of a number of German officers and one explorer. After +a circuitous and difficult journey it arrived at Massaua in March +1915, and requested the authorization of the Italian Governor of +Erithea, the Marquess Salvago-Raggi, to push on to Adis Abeba, in +order to re-establish communications between the German Legation there +and the Berlin Foreign Office. The real object of the expedition, as +the Italian Government well knew, was to incite the young Negus to +attack the British in the Sudan and the French in Djibuti. But Italy, +although still neutral, understood too well how difficult it would +have been for her to limit Abyssinia's warlike operations to the +French and British possessions and ward them off from her own +colonies. Baron Sonnino accordingly declined to accord the permission +asked for, and consented only to allow a large consignment of +"correspondence" to be sent on.[107] + + [107] Cf. _L'Idea Nazionale_, March 7, 1915; _Tribuna_, April + 1, 1915. + +Later on Turkish officers were sent to Libya to egg on the Arabs to +harass the Italians there. The Kaiser himself despatched a letter in +Arabic to the Senussi which was intercepted on a Greek sailing vessel +near Tripoli. It is said to have been enclosed in an embossed casket, +and was found on board together with £4000 in gold and a number of +oriental gifts. The letter, if genuine, is worth recording. Wilhelm +II., the Supreme Head of the Protestant Church in Germany, gives +himself therein, among other high sounding titles, those of Allah's +Envoy and Islam's Protector, and states explicitly that it is his will +that the Senussi's doughty warriors should drive the "infidels" from +the land which is the heritage of the true believers and their chief. +This, from the "supreme Bishop" of one of the Christian Churches, is +characteristic. + +In Asia Minor Germany's machinations were carried on with a much +greater measure of success. Her former opponents had withdrawn their +opposition and undertaken to lend her positive assistance to attain +ends which were directed against themselves. This chapter of Entente +diplomacy is marked by broad streaks of farcical comedy calculated to +bewilder the serious student. France was converted to political +orthodoxy on the subject of the Baghdad Railway and its cultural +significance. Some of her publicists frankly repented that she had so +long looked upon it with disfavour, and threw the blame on Russia, for +whose sake they had kept aloof. At Potsdam the Tsar's Minister +abandoned his objections to the Baghdad enterprise and undertook to +build a railway line from Persia, which would allow another stretch of +country to be tapped by the German Railway Company. Great Britain, +acknowledging the error of her ways, agreed that Koweit should not be +the terminus and made valuable concessions to the Teuton, the +realization of which was hindered by the outbreak of the war. Turkey, +through Enver, who had imported from the Fatherland a band of military +"instructors" under Liman von Sanders, became the _âme damnée_ of +Germany. In Persia every warlike and predatory tribe was courted by +the Teuton intruder, and the German mission at Teheran, as well as the +Consulates in the chief towns of the Shahdom, became centres of +agitation against Britain and Russia and branches of the German +General Staff. + +In the Tsar's dominions German agents organized a series of strikes in +the various works belonging to their countrymen, paid the strikers and +fostered a subversive political movement which bade fair to culminate +in a real revolution. In Belgium the Flemings, who had for years been +protesting against the refusal of their Government to give them a +Flemish University in Ghent, were incited against the Walloons, whose +dialect is of French origin and whose sympathizers were the entire +French people. And one of the joint acts of the German administration +in Brussels has been to appoint a commission to submit a scheme for +the creation of a Flemish high school in Ghent and accentuate the +differences between the two elements of the population.[108] + + [108] A spirited protest against this poisonous endeavour was + published by a number of Belgians, including Camille + Huysmans, who refused to accept any favours from the Germans. + +Meanwhile, in Germany the work of organization went steadily forward. +While British Ministers were on the look-out for reasons or pretexts +for diminishing expenditure on shipbuilding, Germany, under von +Tirpitz, was stealing a march on us and increasing hers. And over and +above this, she was arranging a surprise in the shape of submarines +and aircraft which, had the war been deferred for another couple of +years, might have not only removed the odds in our favour but given +her a decided superiority over us. And, by way of intensifying the +value of her fleet, she set to work to deepen the Kiel Canal and thus +to confer a sort of ubiquity on her battleships, which can now +concentrate in the North Sea or the Baltic without let or hindrance +from the enemy. When the epoch of the Dreadnoughts was opened German +armoured ships had a displacement of no more than 13,000 tons. The +larger type of battleship, which was afterwards constructed, could not +pass through the Canal, which had to be deepened. The necessary work +was so thoughtfully and opportunely taken in hand that it was +terminated in July 1914, just when the harvest for that year was also +ingathered. Asphyxiating gas had been manufactured in the year 1911, +as the Russians have discovered on certain of the machines. Thus when +the fatal hour struck, everything was ready. + +In the financial sphere, too, we find the same comprehensive survey, +the same eye for detail, the same forethought and combination. When +hostilities broke out British banks held about £1,100,000,000 of their +depositors' money. A large percentage of this had been employed to +discount foreign, and in especial German bills, so that the paper +remained in Great Britain and the gold was transferred to Germany, +where it plays its part against us. But those marvellous efforts put +forth with such effect by our enemies made no appeal to our rulers. +Nowhere in the British Empire was there any man of mark thinking and +acting for the community. The political pilots who had charge of the +state-ship possessed neither chart nor compass nor rudder. Neither did +they feel the need of these things. The Government disbelieved in war +and was minded, if a struggle should be precipitated, to keep out of +it. Nobody envisaged the needs and interests of the Empire as aspects +of a single problem. Nobody had any clear-cut plan for the working out +of the destinies of the British people. The interests of party, the +expediency of local reforms, the squabbles between this faction and +that, constituted the burning topics of the hour, and there were none +other. And it was while we were thus wrangling with and threatening +each other that the blast of the clarion ushered in the day of doom. + +The secrets of nature, revealed by science to a nation which +acknowledges no restraints, then became weapons of wholesale +destruction to be used to subjugate all civilization. Now, there are +some reasons for assuming that civilization will escape the thraldom, +but there are unhappily equally cogent grounds for apprehending that +some of its most precious achievements will be irrecoverably lost and +others greatly impaired. Had there been a master mind at the helm of +the British state-ship before the war or at its opening, we might have +been spared the necessity of signing one day a temporary peace amid +the ruins of European culture. + +But no puissant genius in any of the allied countries towered above +the dead level of mediocrity. Great Frenchmen, Britons and Russians +were said to be available, but there was no great man in evidence. And +this want proved disastrous. In Germany, on the other hand, it was +hardly felt. For it was compensated by the existence of a vast human +machine, adaptable to every change of circumstance, capable of +assuming countless Protean forms simultaneously, ready with a solution +for the most unexpected problems, provided with organs suited to the +discharge of every conceivable function, all directed to the same end. +It was the same organism that had worked with such brilliant success +for over thirty years, growing and perfecting itself steadily until it +became the concrete manifestation of a whole system of thought, +sentiment and co-ordinated action. Germany had developed into a +powerful national State in which the spirit of self-surrender for the +good of the community animates all sections alike, all of which +co-operate effectively, through the organizations which they +spontaneously created, for the realization of their common objects. +And therein lay her force. + +On the outbreak of war Germany was faced with a group of the most +arduous and intricate problems any Government has ever yet had to +tackle. For most of them she had had the time and the forethought to +prepare. But others arose which had been neither provided for nor +foreseen, in consequence of her mistaken assumption that Great Britain +would hold aloof from the war. The total value of her exports and +imports in the year 1913 was computed at 1,000,000,000 sterling, and +an infinity of fine threads bound her industrial activity with +foreign countries. By Great Britain's declaration of war, for which +Germany was unprepared until the last days of July, nearly all these +threads were snapped asunder, and the industrial and economic life of +the Empire had to be swiftly readjusted to the new conditions. And +here it was that the nation rose as one man to the unparalleled +occasion, faced the tremendous ordeal, and, contrary to the +expectations of its adversaries--ever prone to judge others by +themselves--has continued not merely to exist, but to extend its +conquests ever since. + +It was in the financial sphere that the first strain was felt. But +perilous though it actually was, it would have been intolerable but +for the precautionary measures adopted in July and the ingenious +devices applied by the Reichsbank immediately after. The first step +taken was to substitute short-terms credit for long. The gold in the +Reichsbank increased steadily, and from 1,009,000,000 marks on July 7, +1913, it rose to 1,356,000,000 by July 7, 1914. The war treasure +hoarded in the Julius-Tower was doubled, so as to enable the Imperial +Bank to issue 720,000,000 marks on the strength of it, whereby its +gold cover was augmented from 1,253,000,000 to 1,447,000,000. A +further considerable reserve of silver was laid by, which proved +extremely useful later on. One result of this policy was that on the +fatal 31st July, no less than 4,500,000,000 marks in banknotes could +be issued without exceeding the limits prescribed by the law.[109] A +network of Loan Banks was also created throughout the country in which +every one, possessed of property of any description, could obtain +credit to any amount, provided the pledges warranted the advance. + + [109] One-third gold cover is the amount fixed. Cf. Professor + J. Plenge, _Der Krieg und die Volkswirtschaft_. + +Nor were the large groups of business men neglected who had no pledges +to offer yet sorely needed credit. For their behoof War Credit Banks +were instituted, which transacted business on curious lines. A city or +town subscribed a third or even more of the shares of the borrowing +company, and the Imperial Bank conferred the right of rediscounting +bills of exchange up to an amount equal to three times the value of +the capital, and sometimes even more. Institutions were opened for +advancing money on house property, and for assisting special branches +of industry. The Hansa-Bund, for instance, founded a War Credit Bank +for "the Middle Classes" which, with the authorization of the +Reichsbank, rediscounts bills of exchange drawn by individuals for +whom the Commune vouches. Associations were constituted in the country +and in towns, and the nature of their work is evidenced by the 18,000 +rural Savings and Credit Banks and 16,000 urban and trade +associations.[110] For farmers and struggling landowners, a Central +Board, for the purchase of machines, was created, which also +superintended the equitable distribution of orders among industrial +firms. + + [110] These figures are drawn from statistics published in + July 1914. Cf. Dr. Karl Hildebrand, _Ein starkes Volk_. + +The suddenness of the declaration of war had for its effect, and +perhaps also for one of its objects, the stemming of the flow of gold +from the Reichsbank before it had exceeded the total of 100,000,000 +marks and also the prevention of its disappearance from the country. +Soon afterwards gold was brought in astonishing quantities to the bank +by all classes of citizens who had hoarded it jealously in peace-time, +but now recognized the criminality of applying the principles of +individual ownership to what of right belongs to the jeopardized +community. For the nation realized the fact that the condition of +public danger entitled the Government to wield an unlimited degree of +power over the lives and property of the people for the welfare of the +community. + +If we compare this intelligent appreciation of the position by rulers +and ruled, and their readiness to accommodate their respective actions +to it and play their parts as organs for the discharge of special +functions, with the haziness of conception, the misinterpretation of +events, and the utter lack of co-operation displayed by the +corresponding sections of the allied communities, we shall grasp the +secret of the superiority of the seemingly weaker group of +belligerents and the paltry results hitherto achieved by the stronger. + +German industry, too, the source of the nation's prosperity, was +shaken to its foundations. It had worked largely for the foreign +market. And all at once its exports were cut down by 60 per cent., +because of the stoppage of the supplies of raw materials. Imports also +fell by 75 per cent. One immediate consequence of this partial +stagnation was the enormous increase of the army of the unemployed. +Although 4,000,000 men were taken from the various industries and +despatched against the Belgians, French and Russians, there were at +the end of August no less than 3,400,000 men thrown out of +employment.[111] Thus the total number of unemployed was 7,400,000, +and as there were 17,000,000 hands employed before the war, it may be +inferred that German industry was reduced by 43-1/2 per cent. It was +in these conditions that the Teuton capacity for organization was +manifested. + + [111] Cf. _Messenger of Europe_, April 1915, M. Lurié. + +Two great industrial organizations flourished in Germany before the +war,[112] and although occasionally disagreeing on various points, +sensibly furthered the interests of their countrymen at home and +abroad. No sooner was war declared than they dropped their differences +and constituted a War Committee for German Industry. Among the varied +functions of this new body were the distribution of information +respecting orders given by the State, new legislation, etc.; +co-operation with firms for the fulfilment of contracts despite the +outbreak of hostilities; the selection of operatives, clerks, etc., +for firms needing these; the obtainment of places for the unemployed +and the organization of the credit system. + + [112] _Der Zentral-Verband Deutscher Industrieller_ and _Der + Bund der Industriellen_. + +This Committee also applied for and received permission to have all +those skilled artisans recalled from the front whose services were +deemed indispensable for war industries. It likewise watched over the +distribution of State orders, and saw that each of the various firms +received its due share. + +The organization of German industry during the war was taken in hand +by a group of experts and officials possessed of the insight, +knowledge and power necessary for the discharge of the arduous task. +Among the members of the Board we find the names of representatives +of finances, industries and the Government; the Minister of the +Interior, all the members of the Federal Council, M.M. Gwinner, +Bleichröder, Siemens, etc. Special bureaux were opened for various +kinds of supplies, a Central Office for the War Supply of Tobacco, +another for that of chocolate, a third for leather, a fourth for +linen, etc.[113] Another group of organizations dealing with the +acquisition and distribution of raw stuffs possessed in certain cases +the right of expropriation, and is not allowed to make more than a +certain limited profit on its transactions. Among them are an +association for the supply of metals, another for chemicals, and a +third for woollen stuffs. + + [113] It is affirmed by contrabandists in Scandinavia who are + acting on Germany's behalf, that many of the commissions for + the acquisition of raw stuffs for Germany are composed almost + exclusively of non-Russian subjects of the Tsar. + +In consequence of the shortage of raw materials, economy and the +employment of substitutes were everywhere resorted to spontaneously +before the Government had time to intervene. From every household came +old copper vessels, copper wire, worn-out clothing from which the +manufacturers removed the wool, leather straps, shoes, bags, etc. From +Belgium and France everything that could be utilized as raw material +was hurriedly transferred to the Fatherland. At first the supply of +aluminium for castings and Zeppelins was insufficient, but a +composition of spelter and tin was invented, which answered the main +purposes equally well. Nickel being also scarce, coins of 10 pfennige +were withdrawn from circulation and utilized, while considerable +quantities were imported from Scandinavian countries. The place of +jute was taken by paper, and from paper under-garments were made. +Roasted acorns, theretofore employed in lieu of coffee only by the +poorer classes, thenceforward became the daily beverage of the middle +classes as well. A substitute for olive oil was extracted from cherry +stones, tainted meat was rendered harmless by chemical methods, +nitrates were extracted from the air by a Norwegian process which the +Germans had perfected and applied. + +Now, these achievements and the marvellous adaptability, energy and +resourcefulness which they connote, are no mean elements in Germany's +equipment for the coming economic struggle. They proclaim that the +mind of the Teuton man of business is too firmly riveted on the goal +to be fascinated by any special route leading towards it, and that it +is sufficiently free and disengaged to turn with eager interest to any +problem, however novel, with which it may be suddenly confronted. Use +and want are not its masters, sluggish contentment cannot numb its +activity. The customers' requirements, nay, their whims and fancies, +are ever sure to receive close attention and prompt satisfaction. The +contrast between this unflagging alertness and the drowsy apathy of +the British manufacturer and tradesman is an old story, which has +evoked comments sharp enough, it would seem, to arouse the commercial +community to a lively sense of its danger and duty. And yet there are, +unhappily, cogent grounds for believing that the malady of +listlessness is as malignant to-day as before the war. + +Now, these organizing and inventive talents of the Teuton, as +compared with the subordinate aims, fitful energies and honest but +mischievous conservatism of our own leaders and people, bear witness +to the same twofold talent of the German for looking far ahead and +contriving expedients on the spur of the moment. Great Britain's +participation in the struggle cut off Germany from the sea and gave +the two Central Empires the aspect of a beleaguered city. Hopes were +entertained by the Allies that famine might reinforce the work of +their armies and navies in compelling the enemy to sue for peace. +About 9 per cent. of the corn used in Germany usually came from +abroad, and now the interruption of the communications rendered this +source of supply precarious. The soldiers, too, had to be fed on a +scale of greater abundance than usual, and the prisoners of war, +however poorly nourished, would consume a certain amount of corn. The +first measure promulgated to meet the new conditions was a prohibition +of exportation. Potato flour was employed in bread-baking. War bread +was standardized for the whole Empire. The principal cities purchased +vast quantities of cereals, and Prussia founded a War Corn Association +for the acquisition of cereals to be stored until the ensuing spring. +Expropriation was legalized. In these ways £40,000,000 worth of +cereals were got together for consumption. The War Corn Association +operated with a capital of £2,500,000, to which the States subscribed +over one million, and the big cities one million, and the great +industrial firms £450,000.[114] This corn was paid for at the highest +market rates, the owners being compelled by law to declare how much +they possessed. With each of these proprietors--in the first phase +with 5,000,000 landowners--separate arrangements were concluded. The +Association employed for the purpose nearly three thousand +commissioners and five hundred other officials, and the Credit Banks +made advances on the quantities sold. + + [114] Cf. Karl Hildebrand, _Ein starkes Volk_, p. 122. + +Simultaneously with this home organization the other multifarious +tasks of devising new weapons for the war, improving the various types +of aircraft, building larger submarines and guns of greater calibre +went forward with unimpaired speed. Nothing was too vast or too +complicated to be undertaken, no detail was too trivial to be studied. +Politics, economics, military strategy and national psychology were +all cunningly interwoven in the various schemes laid for the +destruction of the Allies. Russia was inveigled into continuing her +trade with Germany, which, as we saw, was during the first year a +nowise negligible quantity. + +A piquant detail in this connection is worthy of mention.[115] It is +affirmed that the Customs House authorities on the Russo-Swedish +frontiers discovered to their dismay that for well over a year Germany +had been receiving from Russia a large proportion of the raw materials +necessary for the fabrication of asphyxiating gas. It appears that +Sweden, which in peace time was wont to import from the Tsardom a +certain quantity of those products, trebled its demands during the +first year of the war. + + [115] It is noticed by the Italian and French press; cf., for + instance, _Roma_, October 31, 1915. + +Contingents of contrabandists were despatched to Greece, Spain, +Morocco, Holland, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. Secret +stations were established for supplying submarines with the +wherewithal to carry on their war against inoffensive passenger +steamers. Agents were kept in the neutral countries to corrupt the +local press and poison the wells of information in order to allure the +neutrals into belligerency. A highly organized news-distributing +bureau was equipped in Berlin with all the requisites for falsifying +facts and distorting military tidings. Its branches are spread over +the globe. Passports were forged at first and later on genuine ones +abstracted from the Berlin Foreign Office and handed over to spies. +Strikes and outrages were engineered in the United States, Italy, and +Russia. The Putiloff works, which before the war were nearly falling +into German hands and have since been supplying munitions for the +Tsar's army, were stricken with creeping paralysis, against which +exhortations and threats were vain, and finally they had to be +sequestrated by the State. Millions of dollars were expended in the +United States in efforts to prevent the manufacture or the transport +of munitions to the Allies. In Greece vast sums were cheerfully +disbursed by Baron Schenk to work the elections and defeat Venizelos. +Roumania was overrun by bands of Germans whose functions were to +calumniate, vilify, corrupt and threaten. Spain has been wrought upon +in like manner by a small army of Teutons abundantly supplied with the +same weapons. Persia was scoured by German agitators who deployed all +their talents and acquirements, their knowledge of the language and +acquaintance with the native religion, to rouse the natives against +Russia and Great Britain. Abyssinia, although deprived by Italy of +the presence of the German "scientific expedition," was induced by the +German Minister at Adis Abeba to behave in such a way that in the +month of March 1916 King Victor's Government found it advisable to +issue a decree ordering _urgent_ fortifications to be constructed in +Erythea.[116] Sweden has been provided with war news and political +information free of charge by the generous Press Bureau of Berlin. In +Belgium persevering exertions have been put forth to sow discord +between Flemings and Walloons. In China, where a British adviser is +employed by the Chief of the State, Yuan Shih Kai has turned a willing +ear to the mentors from the Fatherland, with results which bear the +hall-mark of Germany. In Mexico Villa's murderous raids on American +territory, instigated, it is asserted, by German emissaries, compelled +United States troops to pursue him over the frontiers, and raised an +issue which may be decided only by a regular campaign. Thus Teuton +diplomacy, at whose failures we are so prone to rail, contrived on the +one hand to pass off the assassinations of Americans on board the +_Lusitania_ as a justifiable act, and on the other to present the New +Mexico murder, which was the work of a mere savage, as such an outrage +on the law of nations as warrants the employment of military +force.[117] + + [116] On March 16, 1916. + + [117] The _New York World_, in a leading article published + March 18, writes: "No pacifist proclaims the doctrine that, + although Americans had a legal right to live near the border, + they should have taken themselves out of the danger zone in + the interest of peace. No German-American Alliance holds + meetings to proclaim the dead at Columbus as 'Guardian + angels.' No German language newspaper has spoken of the New + Mexico massacre as undertaken in a holy cause, or referred to + the President as incapable of understanding either German + militarism or German Kultur. Yet the Americans who were + assassinated on the _Lusitania_ and the _Arabic_ had as much + right to be where they were as the Americans who were dragged + from their beds at Columbus and slaughtered. The _Lusitania_ + murder was deliberately planned and ordered by the Government + in Berlin, which has assumed full responsibility therefore, + and presented but one excuse, that its victims were + unexpectedly numerous. The New Mexico murder was planned and + executed by a savage, with no pretence that there is a + Government behind him, the guilt of the outlaw of the border + being not one whit less than that of the outlaw of the sea." + +That same diplomacy, seconded by the press organization which +invented facts and moulded opinion, scored successes in Bulgaria, +Greece, Roumania, Switzerland, and contrived not only to keep Italy +from declaring war against Germany, but to negotiate a treaty for the +protection of German property there. Despite its clumsiness and +arrogance and brutality, German diplomacy is unmatched as an agency +for rousing popular forces in civilized and uncivilized countries into +subversive excitement. It surrounded the Pope of Rome with +philo-German dignitaries, gave him an Austrian as adviser, and +permeated the Vatican with an atmosphere of Kultur which even pious +Catholics of non-Teuton countries avoid as mephitic. It caught the +Sultan and his Young Turks, Anglophile and Francophile, in its toils, +and gave its warm approbation to the massacre of the Armenians. It won +over the young Shah of Persia, who, with great difficulty and only +after strenuous exertions, was kept from going over bodily to the +Turkish camp. It bought the services of the Senussi. It is making +headway with the Negus of Abyssinia. It offered a bribe to Italian +socialists and found work for Italian anarchists, whose +representatives were received in the palace of the Kaiser's Ambassador +in Rome. And--most difficult task of all--it reconciled, at least for +a time, the interests of Bulgaria with those of Greece and Roumania. + +German diplomacy has often misread foreign political situations, +mistaken the trend of national opinion and sentiment and failed to +achieve ends which might by dint of mere patience and quiescence have +been readily accomplished. For it has no psychological standard by +which to measure the nobler qualities of a foreign people, however +closely it may have studied their politics, their history and their +vices. Its tests are for the lower grades of human character, and with +these it has indeed achieved extraordinary things. + +Thus, with infinite labour the Teuton mind has grappled with the +chaotic welter produced by the European war. But, besides the skilful +handling of great financial and kindred problems, its assiduity in +watching for and readiness to seize opportunities for dealing with the +issues of lesser moment is worth noting, were it only for its value as +a stimulus. One instance occurred in the very first sitting of the +Reichstag after hostilities had begun. The legislature agreed to +introduce a slight reform of the law, dealing with the rights of +children born out of wedlock, of whom there are in Germany 185,000 a +year. The Government assented to the change, which was embodied in a +bill affirming the right of the illegitimate children of soldiers +fallen in battle to the same pension as if their parents had been +legally married. And the Reichstag passed the bill unanimously. + +This solicitude about little things is most saliently in evidence in +the military domain. Here nothing is neglected that can contribute to +the fighting value of the units. Hence the care shown for the +nourishment and comfort of the soldiers. Ruthlessly though they are +sacrificed in battle, they are well looked after in the trenches, and +their career is followed with interest and recorded with accuracy by +their superiors. I was struck with the completeness of the information +which the German War Office possesses and can produce at a moment's +notice about any individual soldier. It was brought home to me in this +way. The Chief of the Berlin police had a grandson in the war who had +been missed for several weeks. Desirous of obtaining particulars about +his capture or death, he asked a neutral friend to obtain information +from the Russians. And by way of furnishing a description he sent a +printed card, which I read. It contained the name and age of the +soldier, the regiment to which he belonged, the hamlet in which he was +last seen, the distances that separated that hamlet from the next town +and the next large city, the day, the hour and _the minute_ when the +man together with his comrades were attacked, and the number of +Russians who attacked them. And all these printed particulars refer to +a private soldier! Is there anything comparable to this to be found in +any of the allied countries? + +The scene of another characteristic fact that struck me was Brussels. +Princess L. requested permission from the German authorities to repair +to France to visit her mother, who, she explained, was ill. At the +Kommandantur her request was met with the cutting remark that many +persons had been applying for permits to visit their mothers, sisters +and other relations abroad, who all appeared to be victims of some +mysterious epidemic. Still, the official added, he would not +definitively refuse the request, but would accord it as soon as he had +proof that the lady's mother was really ill. "We shall have inquiries +made." "But you cannot have inquiries made in France during the war," +she objected. "Just as quickly as in peace time," he retorted. +Sceptical and sad the petitioner returned home. But in a day or two +she was summoned to the Kommandantur and informed that her statement +had been verified, her mother lay ill--the malady was mentioned--and +she was permitted to go. The Germans have eyes and ears in all the +countries of their adversaries. + +One can readily imagine the painful kind of questions that will arise +in the mind of an intelligent ally who realizes for the first time how +great are the inventive and organizing talents of the Teuton, how +unswerving his resolve, how tenacious he is of purpose, and how +unconscious most of us still are of the need of bestirring ourselves +to compete with him on terms of equality. The German's striving is +one, but all-embracing. His means are countless, for they are +restricted by no limitations. In his search for tools and agents he +enters into human nature, but not in its entire compass; only into the +baser parts, so that his estimate is often erroneous and his +expectations are unfulfilled. But even when ample deduction has been +made for these failures, the odds remaining in his favour are +formidable, and will continue undiminished unless and until we realize +our plight, shuffle off the cramping coils of conservatism, +insularity and self-complacency and brace ourselves to the most +strenuous, the most painful effort we have ever yet put forth. On our +capacity to effect this inward change, rather than upon any diplomatic +arrangements, depends the issue of the struggle which will begin when +military and naval hostilities have come to an end. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE + + +Plain though these facts are, the Entente nations, and in particular +the British people, either ignore them wholly or misinterpret their +purport. Hence we continue absorbed in the pursuit of interests, +parochial and parliamentary, which though quite human, are utterly off +the line of racial and imperial progress. We obstinately shut our eyes +to the magnitude of the Sphinx question that confronts us, and we +address ourselves to one--and that the least important--of its many +facets, and content ourselves with tackling that. We descant upon the +turpitude of the Teuton who from the regions of idealism in which +Goethe, Herder and their contemporaries dwelt has sunk into shift, +treason and murder, and we proclaim our faith in the ultimate triumph +of right, justice and of the democracy in which alone they flourish. +But this frame of mind, which moves us to identify ourselves with all +that is best in humanity, if cultivated will prove fatal. It accustoms +us to dangerous hallucinations. We assume that we are the chosen +people, and we neglect the virtues which alone would justify our +election. For generations we have been reaping and wasting, instead of +ploughing and sowing. We have been living on our capital, nay, on our +credit, and have long since overdrawn our account. Our successes in +the past, sometimes the result of fortuitous circumstances, more often +of the blunders of our rivals, inspire a presumptuous confidence in +successes for the future and a conviction that come what may we are +destined to muddle through. A special providence is watching over +us--a cousin German to the Kaiser's "good old God." In truth we are +tempting Fate, postulating an exception to the law of cause and +effect, and looking for Hebrew miracles in the twentieth century after +Christ. + +Were it otherwise, the nation would not have continued to entrust its +destinies to the men who misguided it consistently and perseveringly +for so many years, to the watchmen who saw nothing of the rocks and +sandbanks ahead which it was their function to discern and their duty +to avoid, and who are now unwittingly but effectually deluding the +people into believing that the present campaign, which is but a single +episode in a long-spun-out contest, is an independent event which +began in August 1914 and may end this year or the next. These same +leaders are busily inculcating the delusive notion that the diplomatic +instrument which will one day close hostilities will be a treaty of +peace. And they are seemingly prepared to negotiate its terms on that +assumption. + +In truth, we are engaged in a duel which began thirty years ago, gave +the Germans such booty as Heligoland, their world-trade, their wealth, +their formidable navy, their Baghdad Railway, their various overseas +colonies, their European Allies, and the enormous resources with which +when this acute phase of the contest is over they will re-transfer the +venue to the economic and political domains and carry on the struggle +with greater vigour than before. And peace terms concluded on any +other supposition cannot be conducive to the national welfare. We are +locked in a deadly embrace with a compact people of 120,000,000, of +indomitable spirit, boundless resources, unquenchable faith and a +single aim. Yet we are already looking forward to the time in the near +future when our intercourse, however circumscribed, with this nation +will be essentially pacific, and when we can revert to our cherished +narrow interests and our easy-going dilettantism. We feed upon the +hope that in a few brief years the British nation will have got safely +back to its old beaten grooves, and not only business and sport but +everything else will go on as usual. Yet all the salient facts which +force themselves on our attention to-day, all the decisive events of +the past thirty years are cogent proofs of the unbroken sequence of a +trial of strength which the future historian and the present +statesman, if there be one, must characterize as a life-and-death +struggle between the champions of the new Teuton politico-social +ordering and the partisans of the old. But after the lapse of a +generation and with the record of all our losses before us, we have +not yet formed a right conception of the situation, and its issues, or +of the historic forces at work. In these circumstances, no degree of +sagacity can help us to devise the only policy in which salvation +resides. The prevailing mistaken conception must be rectified before +any headway can be made against the currents that are fast bearing us +down. And the time at our disposal is brief. + +It needs few words to characterize the effects which the dreamy +optimism of the Entente nations had on their method of mobilizing +their resources to carry on the war. Taken unawares they had nothing +ready. Misapprehending the nature of the issues and the redoubtable +character of the contest, they pursued subordinate aims with +insufficient means. The most daring strategical moves of the enemy, in +war as in diplomacy, they ridiculed as either bluff or madness. The +journalistic campaign in neutral countries they scoffed at as vain, +and put their faith in the final triumph of truth. Their financial +measures, oscillating from one extreme to another, denoted the absence +of any settled plan, of any clear-cut picture of the needs of the +moment. The odds in their favour, which circumstance had given and +circumstance might take away again, they looked upon as inalienable, +until they ended by forfeiting them all. Viewing the campaign as a +transient event, the British Government prosecuted it by means of +make-shifts, instead of radical measures. Obligatory service was +scouted at as un-English. Discriminating customs tariffs were +condemned as heretical. It was not until the enemy had occupied +Poland, overrun Serbia, driven the Allied troops from the Dardanelles, +bent Montenegro to the yoke, threatened Egypt, Riga and Petrograd, +that some rays of light penetrated the atmosphere of ignorance and +prejudice through which the Allies surveyed the European welter. They +had begun by counting upon the breaking up of the Habsburg Monarchy. +They felt sure that the Tsar's armies would capture Budapest and +advance on Berlin. They planned the defeat of Germany by famine. They +built another fabric of hopes on "Kitchener's Great Army" in the +spring of 1915. But one after another these anticipations were belied +by events. And now the nation blithely accepts the further forecasts +of the men who are chargeable with this long sequence of avoidable +errors. + +Respect for individual liberty was carried to such a point in Great +Britain that organizations against recruiting were tolerated in +England and Ireland, and strikes, which not only inflicted heavy +pecuniary losses on the nation but actually stopped its supplies of +munitions and brought it within sight of discomfiture, were treated +with soft words and immediate concessions. One cannot read even Mr. +Lloyd George's summary narrative of the preposterous doings of British +slackers without wondering whether salvation is still possible. These +men not only refused to work their best for the community, but forbade +their comrades to work well. At Enfield, we are told, a man was +obliged by trade union regulations so to regulate his work that he did +not earn more than 1_s._ an hour, though he could easily have earned +2_s._ 6_d._[118] Another man was doing two and a half days' work in +two days, and when he refused to carry out the behest of the +Ironfounders' Board to waste the other half day he was fined £1.[119] +A consequence of this anti-national attitude was that "we had to wait +for weeks in Birmingham with machinery lying idle, with our men +without rifles, with our men with a most inadequate supply of machine +guns to attack the enemy and defend themselves."[120] Every one will +re-echo the Minister's comment on the outlook, if this attitude is +persisted in--"we are making straight for disaster." + + [118] Mr. Lloyd George's speech at Bristol. Cf. _Daily + Telegraph_, September 10, 1915. + + [119] _Ibid._ + + [120] _Ibid._ + +Compare this state of things with that which rules in Germany. It is a +British Minister who describes it: "If you want to realize what +organized labour in this war means, read the story of the last twelve +months. By the end of September the German armies were checked. They +sustained an overwhelming defeat in France, Russia was advancing +against them towards the Carpathians, and I believe in East Prussia. +That is not the case to-day. Why? The German workmen came in; +organized labour in Germany prepared to take the field. They worked +and worked quietly, persistently, continuously, without stint or +strife, without restriction for months and months, through the autumn, +through the winter, through the spring. Then came that avalanche of +shot and shell which broke the great Russian armies and drove them +back. That was the victory of the German workmen."[121] + + [121] Mr. Lloyd George's speech at Bristol. Cf. _Daily + Telegraph_, September 10, 1915. + +Great Britain is the classic land of strikes. Strikers are sacred +among us. Industrial compulsion is rank heresy. + +That is one of our difficulties, and by no means the least formidable. +The nation, despite the superb example of patriotic heroism given by +all classes, parties, provinces and colonies of the Empire, is still +deficient in cohesiveness. No fire of enthusiasm has yet burned +fiercely enough among all sections of the Empire and all members of +the race to fuse them in such a compact unified organism as we behold +in the Teuton's Fatherland. Read the characteristic given of us by the +ex-German Minister Dernburg, and say whether it is over-coloured. +Discoursing on the difficulties which Britain has to cope with in +carrying on the war, he says: "They are intensified ... by the +narrow-minded customs of the English trade unions, which contrast with +the patriotic behaviour of the German associations of the like nature +as night contrasts with day."[122] This is melancholy reading for +those whose hopes are fervent for a bright future of the British race, +and it prepares them to listen in anxious silence to the general +conclusion at which the Prussian ex-Minister arrives: "It is in the +highest degree improbable," he says, "that after the winding up of +this contest England will be able to keep or wield any form of +economic superiority whatever over Germany." + + [122] _Berliner Tageblatt_, March 9, 1916. + +In our Allies we find a strong touch of resemblance to ourselves. +Their state of unpreparedness is amazing, if less desperate than ours. +Russia, it is true, did much better at the outset than friend or foe +anticipated, and she might have done quite well if only she had been +supplied with munitions. But she had not nearly enough, and her armies +were slaughtered like sheep in consequence. Then there were no boots +for the soldiers, who were forced to wear thin canvas leggings with +leather soles. And scores of waggon-loads of incapacitated men were +taken to Petrograd and other cities whose feet had been frozen for +lack of shoe-leather. One of the urgent wants of the Tsardom are +railways, which the late Count Witte was so eager to construct. When +hostilities opened, the insufficiency of communications became one of +the decisive factors in Russia's disasters. And it was heightened by +the conduct of, shall we say, the prussianized officials,[123] who are +reported to have disposed of waggons for large sums to greedy +merchants, who used to raise the prices of the merchandise and batten +on the misery of their fellows. + + [123] It is but fair to say that venality is not one of the + characteristics of the German bureaucracy. Their sense of + duty towards the State is the nearest approach to morality of + which they now seem capable. + +Trains, needed to supply the fighting men at the front with food and +the wounded at the rear with medicaments, were kept back to suit the +schemes of these greedy cormorants. Gratuities, it is openly affirmed, +had to be paid by Red Cross and other officers to those subordinate +railway servants who had it in their power to send on a train or shunt +it off for days on a side-track. Bribery is working havoc in the +Tsardom. In January 1916 the Moscow municipality discussed the +advisability of voting a certain sum of money and putting it at the +disposal of the chief officer of the city, to be discreetly employed +in transactions with complacent railway officials, in order to further +the work of reducing prices on necessaries of life. The motive adduced +for this homoeopathic way of treating a social distemper were the +conditions of life in Russia and the necessity of complying with them. +But as the Statute Book does not recognize these conditions and +condemns bribery absolutely, a vote on the subject was not taken.[124] + + [124] The German press gave great prominence to this item of + news. Cf. _Frankfurter Zeitung_, January 8, 1916. + +Acting on instructions issued by the Finance Minister, a Member of the +Council of the Finance Ministry, D. I. Zassiadko, visited the +Kharkoff circuit for the purpose of studying the bribery problem on +the spot. M. Zassiadko acquired the conviction "on the spot" that the +railway officials do really take bribes, "and even of considerable +amounts." But, that ascertained, the representative of the Ministry +decided to delve deeper to the root of the matter. And he reached the +conclusion that railway servants belong to the class of the tempted. +The evil, he reported, resides not in the circumstance that they take +bribes, but that bribes are offered whereby these weak little souls +are seduced. The representative of the Ministry discovered an entire +category of bribes which do not bear the signs of extortion, but only +of "gratitude." To us this conclusion sounds somewhat naïve. The most +widely circulated journal of Petrograd prefaces an article on the +subject as follows.[125] + + [125] _The Bourse Gazette_, February 21. + +"The misdeeds of the officials and bribery on the railway system cry +out to heaven," writes the organ of the Constitutional Democrats. +"Compared with the reverses on the Carpathians and in Poland, the +defeats we are sustaining in our own house and behind the enemy's back +are much greater...." On the important line Petrograd-Moscow-Perm +scandalous cases of corruption took place in which, according to +Russian journals, officials of a class who might reasonably be +regarded as unbribable were implicated. They are alleged to have let +out to firms of speculators for large sums of money, goods waggons +which were already destined to carry consignments to the front.[126] +Russia's purchases abroad have made a profound impression on the +peoples in whose midst they were effected. The principles on which +these transactions were carried on provoked lively comments. It is not +that they revealed a superlative degree of disorganization. That touch +would have merely marked the kinship of the men concerned with their +allies. By the discovery that the Russian Government's purchasing +Commissioners, the representatives of one of its embassies, the agents +of the British Government and the equally zealous agents of the French +Government were all secretly bidding against each other for the same +rifles to be delivered to the Tsar's Ministers, only a smile of +recognition was elicited. It may have seemed at once amusing and +consolatory to find that all were tarred with the same brush. But when +it was discovered that the offer of certain army necessaries was put +off for weeks and weeks, although they were to be had under cost +price, and was then accepted at a much higher price, profound sympathy +was felt for the Tsar's armies. + + [126] Cf. _Reitch_ (about February 17, 1916), March 5, 1916. + +Chaos, waste and a variety of abuses that pressed heavily on the +poorer classes marked the efforts made by the Russian Government to +cope with the scarcity of fuel, corn and other necessaries which began +to be felt soon after the war. The rolling stock, it was complained, +was utterly insufficient, yet it was found possible to transport +1,000,000 poods[127] weight of mineral water of doubtful quality. When +trains arrived bringing supplies to the suffering population, it +turned out that there were no hands to unload the waggons. And when +labour was requisitioned, vehicles were not to be had. In October 1915 +on the rails of Moscow station five thousand waggons, laden with +life's necessaries, stood waiting and waiting in vain for the +unskilled labour which ought to have been abundant, considering the +number of the population and of the refugees. At the same time 2000 +waggons were on the rails of the Petrograd station, their contents +lying unutilized.[128] It is only by the lack of order and +organization that one can explain the facts that in Petrograd the +inhabitants have no butter, while in the places where butter is made +it is being sold cheaper than before, at 12 in lieu of 16 to 18 +roubles a pood. In the province of Ekaterinograd, mines which own +800,000 poods of coal cannot get more than a few waggon loads of it +every month. + + [127] A pood is equal to 36.11 lbs. + + [128] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, October 9, 1915. + +Russia has incomparably more than enough fuel, without importing any, +to satisfy all the needs of her 180,000,000 inhabitants. But owing to +the insufficiency of communications, and still more to the lack of +forethought and enterprise, the population of many cities and towns +underwent serious hardships in consequence of the impossibility of +acquiring coal or wood. In September 1915 the Petrograd region could +obtain no more than 65 per cent. of the necessary quantity, and a +month later only 49 per cent. In Moscow the plight of the inhabitants +was worse. In September they could get but 26 per cent. of their needs +and in October 40 per cent. According to the Minister of Commerce, who +volunteered these data, the condition of the towns of Rostoff, +Novotcherkassk, Nakhitchevan, Taganrog, Ekaterinodar and others was +not a whit better. The city of Vyatka was, according to the _Novoye +Vremya_,[129] in January 1916 without fuel, while the mercury +registered 30 degrees Reaumur below freezing-point. The unfortunate +citizens heated their homes with fragments of hoardings, tables, desks +and stools. And yet there is abundant fuel in the superb forests with +which Vyatka is surrounded, and, what is more to the point, the city +authorities had received during the preceding spring 60,000 roubles +for the purpose of purchasing a supply of wood for the winter. But +they did nothing, organization not being one of their strong points. + + [129] The German press welcomes items of information like + this. Cf. _Frankfurter Zeitung_, January 13, 1916. + +Live stock in Russia has diminished during the war to a much larger +extent than was anticipated. The peasantry, owing to the prohibition +of alcohol, now consume from 150 to 200 per cent. more meat than +before, and what with the refugees from Poland, the prisoners of war +and the increased needs of the army, no less than 20 per cent. of the +cattle of the entire Empire was used during the first eighteen +months[130] and 30 per cent. of the stock of all European Russia. In +consequence of the shortage and of the irregularity of the transport, +three days of abstinence from meat were ordained. Yet in January 1916 +a discovery was casually made in the Kieff forests between Byelitch +and Pushtsha Voditzka, which caused considerable lifting of the +eyebrows. About 8000 head of cattle and several thousand sheep were +found with no cowherds, shepherds or owners, wandering about from +place to place. Scores of them were succumbing to hunger and cold +every day. The paths in the woods were covered with the dead bodies of +kine, calves and sheep. The journal which records this fact affirms +that these herds belong to the Union of Zemstvos, which had purchased +them from the peasants who had to flee from the occupied provinces. +The President of the Union of Zemstvos is said to have confirmed this +odd story with the qualification that the forlorn horned cattle and +sheep are the property not of the Union of Zemstvos, but of the +Ministry of Agriculture, which is alone answerable.[131] + + [130] Over a hundred million head. + + [131] Cf. the Russian journal, _Kieff_, also the _Frankfurter + Zeitung_, January 29, 1916. + +The card system of distributing provisions that are scarce found its +way first into Germany and then into Austria and Russia. But in the +last-named empire it was much less successful than in the two first +mentioned. According to the Petrograd journals in Pskoff, where it was +tried, many individuals got no cards, and therefore no provisions. +Many who possessed the cards found nothing to buy. And some of those +who obtained the articles they wanted paid dearer for them than if +they had bought them without cards. And as with cards one has to lay +in a stock to last a fortnight, the poorer families were unable to +utilize them.[132] + + [132] _Novoye Vremya_, January 1916. _Frankfurter Zeitung_, + January 21, 1916. + +In France, as well as in Russia, the professional organizers, +especially the civilians, were very much adrift. In the army all the +sterling qualities of the French nation at its best, and many that +were deemed extinct, but are now seen to have been only dormant, shone +forth resplendent. Valour, fortitude, staying power, self-abnegation +for the common good, became household virtues. Friends and foes were +equally surprised. But the civil administration remained +well-meaning, patriotic and unregenerate to the last. The old Adam +lived and acted up to his reputation. + +Before the war the French railway administration had been criticized +severely. It is not for a foreigner to express an opinion on the +internal ordering of a country not his own, but unbiassed French +experts found that the strictures were called for and the verdict, in +which the public acquiesced, was well grounded. Subsequently, when the +struggle began and the railway system was tested, people had reason to +remember the previous complaints, for they saw how little had been +done in the meanwhile to remove the causes of dissatisfaction. The +first drawback was the want of rolling stock. "Give us waggons and we +will execute all orders and supply the War Ministry," cried the +munitions firms. "There are no waggons in the ports, and we cannot get +the coal delivered," exclaimed the importers. "The country is +threatened with general paralysis," wrote the _Journal_;[133] "we can +neither forward nor sell anything." The railway administration asked +for a fortnight's notice, then for three weeks and finally an +indefinite period, before it could provide a single truck. "I have +fertilizing stuff to forward before the season is past," pleads the +representative of one firm. "We have no waggons," is the reply. "I +must have my produce delivered at once to the Government," argues +another, "for it is wanted for the fabrication of powder." But the +answer came promptly: "There are no waggons." "But you have waggons. I +see them over there" (the station was Cognac). "Yes, but we may not +touch them. They belong to the military engineering department." +"Well, but what are they doing there?" "Ah, that is none of our +business."[134] + + [133] _Le Journal_, November 26, 1915. + + [134] _Le Journal_, November 26, 1915. + +And in the ports, at the termini, at intermediate stations, the +merchandise lay heaped up, immobilized, while the merchants, the +middlemen, the manufacturers, the Government, the army were waiting, +time was lapsing, and the fate of the Republic and the nation hanging +in the balance. At Havre great machines, destined for a Paris firm +which was to have delivered them to factories making shells, lay +untouched for two months. The number of shells lost in this way has +never been calculated. Yet it was well known that during all that time +there were numbers of waggons available. What had become of them? The +answer was: They are to be found everywhere, immobilized. It is a case +of general immobilization of the rolling stock. People slept in them, +turned them into cottages, used them as warehouses, each individual +reasoning that one waggon more or less would not be missed. And as +this argument was used by large numbers of easy-going, well-meaning +people the result was appalling. + +The most terrific war known to history was raging in three Continents, +and one group of belligerents, unaware or heedless of the magnitude of +the issues, kept wasting its enormous resources and throwing away its +advantages. At the little station of Cognac waggons laden with all +kinds of war materials, barbed wire, galvanized wire, etc., were +detained from September 1914 until November 1915, 400 days in all, +doing nothing. Forty-two waggons ready to move were found on two +grass-covered rails. Fourteen waggons were there since September 1914. +Eight since December of the same year, twenty since June. Altogether +at the modest little station of Cognac the total recorded by Senator +Humbert's _Journal_ was 228,500 tons-days. "All this during the most +tremendous war the world has ever witnessed, in which hundreds of +thousands of men have been slain, where we have continually been short +of war material, while industry and commerce are agonizing for lack of +means of transport. It may well seem a dream."[135] + + [135] _Le Journal_, November 26, 1915. + +Seven hundred French railway stations were devoid of rolling stock. On +the other hand, from the beginning of the war down to November 1915, +729 waggons were lying immobilized at the station of Blanc-Mesnil. +Seven hundred and twenty-nine![136] Merchants, manufacturers, +importers, all were being literally beggared for lack of transports +while hundreds of waggons lay rotting at obscure little stations for +over a year. "The whole region of the West is encumbered," we read, +"with 30,000,000 hectolitres of apples, valued at 300,000,000 francs, +which cannot be conveyed anywhither, and which people are beginning to +bury in the earth as manure. Sugar is scarce and is rising in price, +whereas ever since last August[137] a single firm has unloaded 10,000 +tons of sugar at Havre which it cannot have transported to Paris. +Innumerable army purveyors are unable to send the machines for the +shells...." An official order to the army prescribed a substitute for +barbed wire, which was not to be had at any price, yet at a single +station at least 135 tons of barbed wire were lying for a twelvemonth +unused, untouched.[138] On November 27, 1915, the military hospital +N16 at Poitiers needed coal. A request was made by telephone. The +reply received was: "We have coal at La Rochelle, but there are no +waggons to carry it." Yet there were forty-two waggons immobilized at +Cognac, 729 at Blanc-Mesnil and 121 standing laden with barbed wire +and other materials for over a year! + + [136] _Le Journal_, December 2, 1915. They were photographed + and the photograph reproduced in that paper. + + [137] That was published in December 1915. + + [138] _Le Journal_, December 2, 1915. + +Organization and intelligence! + +With engines the experience was the same. The French Government, +anxious to make up for the deficiency, purchased 140 engines of +British make to be delivered some time in 1916. Yet at that time there +were at the station of Mezidon (Calvados) over 500 engines +immobilized, nobody knew why or by whom. This cemetery of locomotives +was photographed by the _Journal_. Such was the harvest reaped by the +enterprising Senator Humbert's commission at that one station. There +were others. At Marles six Belgian engines, at Serquigny twenty, etc. + +The attention of the French authorities having been called to this +unqualifiable neglect, a senatorial railway commission was appointed +to inquire into the matter, and it reported that: "The engines in +question, numbering about 2000, of which 1000 on the State railway +system are now going to be repaired." "There are therefore 2000 +engines scandalously abandoned," comments the _Journal_, ... +"forgotten during sixteen months, and having passed from the state of +being inutilized to that of being inutilizable. For if these machines, +which were in service before the war and came from Belgium, are +to-day, like the waggons of Blanc-Mesnil, incapable of being utilized +in their present state, as the official note puts it, the reason is +that they were left to decay in the rain and the wind without cover or +case for five hundred days."[139] + + [139] _Le Journal_, December 4, 1915. + +Interesting in a smaller way is the reply given by the French War +Minister to a question by a deputy, the Marquis de Ludre, who asked +for information about a consignment of knives which had been provided +for the army, but were found to be quite useless. The Minister +explained that the Generalissimus having requested the immediate +dispatch of 165,000 knives, the department charged with the execution +of the order had no time to examine the goods, and the circumstance +was overlooked that all kinds of knives were supplied, without any +reference to the purpose for which they were destined.[140] The +Minister added that no one should be blamed for this, inasmuch as it +was "the result of exaggerated but praiseworthy zeal." This +construction is charitable and may be true in fact. But the soldiers +who, in lieu of a serviceable blade, found themselves in possession of +a dessert knife may have taken a different view of the transaction. + + [140] Journal Official, answer to question No. 5730. + +This is hardly what is understood by organization. + +Beside those scenes from chaos set this picture of order: "In a small +French town in which the supreme _etape commando_ of Kluck's army was +situated, we inspected a field postal station. On the ground floor the +letters were being received and delivered. The stream of soldiers was +endless. They were sending field postcards, which are forwarded +gratuitously. The difficult work of sorting the correspondence was +being transacted on the first storey. Every day from 1800 to 2000 post +sacks arrive, mostly with small packets and postcards, and day after +day the same difficult problem presents itself--how to find the +addressee. Many regiments, it is true, have permanent quarters, but +there are mobile columns as well. Quick transfers are possible, and +individuals may be shifted to another place or incorporated in a +different regiment. The arranging of the correspondence went forward +in a spacious room; the letters which it was difficult to deliver were +handed over to a number of specialists, who sat in an adjoining +apartment and studied all the changes caused by the transfer of +troops. They found help in an address-book containing a list of all +the field formations. About once every four days, or even oftener, a +new edition of this work was issued. By the middle of December 1914 +the eighty-fourth edition was in print."[141] + + [141] Karl Hildebrand, _Ein starkes Volk_, p. 108. + +This talent for organization, this capacity of thought concentration +in circumstances which tend to strengthen emotion at the cost of +reason, have been constantly displayed by our enemies throughout the +entire struggle of the past thirty years, and never more conspicuously +than during the present war. Every emergency found them ready. The +most unlikely eventualities had been foreseen and provided for. +Private initiative, which "grandmotherly legislation" was supposed to +have killed, was more alert and resourceful than among any of the +Entente nations. Every German is in some respects an agent of his +Government. Each one thinks he foresees some eventuality with the +genesis of which he is especially conversant, and he forthwith +communicates his forecast and at the same time his plan for coping +with the danger to some official. And all suggestions are thankfully +received and dealt with on their intrinsic merits. For such matters +the rulers of the Empire, however engrossed by urgent problems, have +always time and money. + +It is instructive and may possibly be helpful to compare this spirit +of detachment from the personal and party elements of the situation, +this accessibility to every call of patriotic duty, this +self-possession under conditions calculated to hinder calm +deliberation, with the hesitations, the bewilderment, the conflicting +decisions of the Entente leaders and their impatience of unauthorized +initiative and offers of private assistance. Outsiders are not wanted. +Their money is not rejected, but nothing else that they tender is +readily received. + +In other more momentous matters the Allies also lagged behind their +adversaries. Despite their vast resources and the generous offers of +private help, the care taken of the wounded left a good deal to be +desired. The articles on this subject which were published in the +London Press provided ample food for bitter reflection. In France, at +the beginning of the war, wounded soldiers, after receiving first +aid, were conveyed for days in carts over uneven roads to the +hospitals in which they were to be treated. An American gentleman, +witnessing the sufferings of these victims of circumstance, collected +a number of motors in which to have them transported rapidly and with +relative comfort. But his offer of these conveyances was rejected by +all the departments to which he applied. And it was only after he had +spent weeks in visiting influential friends in London that he finally +obtained an introduction to the Secretary for War, who, overriding the +decisions of his subordinates, closed with the proposal and sent the +benefactor with his motors to the front. + +It has been affirmed by unbiassed neutral witnesses who evinced +special interest in the subject that tens of thousands of the allied +wounded who died of their injuries might have been saved had they had +proper care. But defective organization and other avoidable causes +deprived them of efficient medical help. + +By Great Britain more comprehensive measures were fitfully taken, of +which our wounded have reaped the benefit. A French journal[142] +enumerated, with a high tribute of praise, the results of the +observations made by a commission of British physicians in the Grand +Palais Hospital in Paris: "More than half, to be exact 54 per cent., +of the wounded entrusted to the care of the doctors of the Grand +Palais since last May have been sent back to the front, completely +cured. What an achievement!" Undoubtedly it is a feat to be proud of, +if we compare it with the percentage of cured in certain other +countries and in the Dardanelles. But if we set it side by side with +what is claimed for and by the Germans, it may appear less remarkable. +It cannot be gainsaid that the British authorities have spared neither +money nor pains to alleviate the sufferings and heal the injuries of +the wounded. And if the measure of their success is still capable of +being extended, the reason certainly does not lie in any lack of good +will. + + [142] _The Figaro_, February 22, 1916. + +On the incapacitated German soldier every possible care is bestowed. +His every need is foreseen and when possible provided for with an eye +to thoroughness and economy. Waste and niggardliness are sedulously +eschewed. Every man is provided with a square of canvas with eyelets, +which serves as a carpet on which he lies at night, as a stretcher on +which, when wounded, he is carried to the place where he can have his +injuries attended to, and which, when he is killed, is used as a +winding-sheet. The medical organization of the army is as thorough as +the military. And the results attained justify the solicitude +displayed. From month to month the percentage of wounded who are able +to return to the front has been augmenting steadily, and the +death-rate has decreased correspondingly. During the first month of +the war, out of every hundred wounded there were 84·8 capable of +further service, 3·0 dead, and 12·2 incapacitated or sent home. In +September of the same year the number of those able to return to the +front rose to 88·1, or about 4 per cent. more. And at the same time +the death-rate sank from 3 to 2·7 per cent. In the third month the +proportion of soldiers able to resume their places in the ranks of +fighters was 88·9, while the deaths had been reduced to 2·4. During +the period beginning with November and ending in March the number of +the wounded who went back to the front oscillated between 87·3 and +88·9. In November the percentage of deaths was only 2·1 per cent., and +in December only 1·7 per cent. January 1916 showed a further +improvement, the death-rate having fallen to 1·4 and in February 1·3 +per cent. During the two following months the percentage rose again to +1·4, but declined slowly until in June and July it had descended to +1·2 per cent. The number of wounded men who were sent back to their +places at the front had meanwhile increased by April to 91·2, and by +June 1915 to 91·7, and in May and July to 91·8. Seven per cent. were +wholly incapacitated or dismissed to their homes. Among the latter a +considerable percentage returned subsequently to the ranks. +Altogether, then, about 91·8 per cent. of the wounded German soldiers +who fall in battle are so well taken care of that they are able to +fight again, and no more than 1·2 per cent. of the total number +succumb to their wounds.[143] + + [143] _Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift._ + +This strict conformity to the material and psychological conditions of +success marks the method by which the Germans proceed to realize a +grandiose plan which is understood and furthered by one and all. Their +talent for organization, their insight, their inventiveness, and their +highly developed social sense are all pressed into the service of this +patriotic cause. And it is to these permanent qualities, more even +than to their thirty years' military and economic preparation, that +they owe their many successes. The cynicism and ruthlessness of our +arch-enemy should not be allowed to blind us to his enterprise, his +stoicism, his meticulous applications of the law of cause and effect. +These are among his most valuable assets, and unless we have solid +advantages of our own to set against and outweigh them, our appeals to +the justice of our cause and our denunciations of his wicked designs +will avail us nothing. It is to our interest to seek out and note +whatever strength is inherent in himself or his methods and to +appropriate that. The struggle will ultimately be decided by the +superiority of equipment, material and moral, which one side possesses +over the other. As for the conceptions of public law and international +right which the antagonists severally stand for, they must be gauged +by quite other standards than heavy guns and asphyxiating gases. It is +not impossible that in the course of time, and by dint of reciprocal +action and reaction, the German views may be sufficiently modified and +moralized to render possible the usual process of assimilation with +which the history of speculative ideas and social movements has +rendered us familiar. Meanwhile, truth compels us to admit that part +at least of the western system is being overtaken by decay, and stands +in need of speedy and thorough renovation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FINAL ISSUE + + +To come victorious out of the present ordeal--if, indeed, that be +possible with the leaders, principles, methods and strivings that +still characterize us--will not suffice to effect the triumph of our +cause. The present, momentous though it be, cannot with safety be +separated in thought or action from the future. The struggle will go +on relentlessly after this campaign until one side has worsted the +other definitively. And it is for that struggle that it behoves us to +prepare while the war is still at its height. + +The Germans, true to their practice, have set us the example. Their +curious combinations for dividing the Allies while negotiating their +own schemes for reorganizing political Europe have been worked out in +almost every detail. Their projects for creating a vast and powerful +economic organization, to be known as Central Europe,[144] with its +first appendix in the Balkan Peninsula, have been carefully woven, and +will be duly embellished when the hour for unfolding them has struck. +In a word, when opportunity suddenly appears like the bridegroom of +the Gospel, the German will be found waiting, with girded loins and +trimmed lamp. He has distributed the parts of each nation in the +international drama, and if the rôles cannot be taken over to-morrow, +he will wait until the day after. + + [144] Cf. Friedrich Naumann, _Mitteleuropa_. + +The world is henceforth no longer a field of labour for the +individual. Co-operation is the open sesame to the economic life of +the future. And co-operation means organization. Organization, then, +is the Alpha and Omega of the new era. That is the mysterious radium +which has enabled a single race to assail and hold its own against a +group of powers whose territory and population are many times greater +than its own. That race has demonstrated the quasi-omnipotence of +organized labour, and has thereby itself become almost omnipotent. On +the success or failure of its adversaries to create a like force and +rise to the same height depends the future of Europe and the British +Empire. One of the first corollaries of the new principle is the +enlargement of all great units, including political communities. +Germany and Austria, therefore, are bound, if not precisely to +coalesce in one whole, at least to co-operate and combine for their +common ends against common competitors, and thus to form the nucleus +of that federal state which is, our enemies hope, one day to be +commensurate with the continent of Europe. + +At present, however satisfactory the military situation may be said to +be, the general outlook is far from bright. Our aims are impoverished, +our creative energies are clogged by prejudice, our political vision +is narrowed by party goals, and the forces inherent in the nation +which should be employed in readjusting its life to the new conditions +are being frittered away in abortive efforts to neutralize dissolvent +ideas that are sapping only those organs of our social and political +system which are already vicious or decayed. The waste of the empire's +resources has no parallel in history. Supreme confusion marks our +internal condition. Our leaders have done nothing to familiarize the +nation with the dangers that threaten it, the means by which they +should be met, or with the social and political ideas which are +destined to shape and sway the new order of things which is already +close at hand. + +In the absence of constructive leaders it is for the nation itself to +make due preparation for the momentous changes in the social and +political system of Europe to which the present crisis is but the +prelude. + +And although much has been spoken and written on the subject since the +war began, little permanent work has as yet been done. And there are +few signs of a radical change for the better. The confusion and +incongruousness that mark the ideas of the reformers, and the +hesitancy and conflicting interests of politicians make one dubious of +the outcome of the present contest. Almost everything essential would +appear to be still lacking to the Allies, and the nature of the coming +"peace period" is not realized, because the war is looked upon as an +isolated phenomenon which began in July 1914, and will end when +hostilities have ceased. Another belief equally misleading and +mischievous is that the Teuton race can be paralysed if not crushed, +and that for fifty or sixty years to come no revival of its energies, +no recrudescence of its morbid aggressiveness need be apprehended. If +we continue to shape our conduct on that assumption we may find +ourselves one day in a Serbonian bog from which there is no rescue. +However stringent the conditions which the Allies may be able to +impose on their enemies, there will still remain a keen, strenuous, +irrepressible race of at least a hundred and twenty millions, endowed +with rare capacities for organization, cohesion, self-sacrifice and +perseverance, whom no treaties can bind, no scruples can restrain, no +dangers intimidate. At any moment a new invention, a favourable +diplomatic combination, would suffice to move them to burst all bounds +and resume the military, naval and aerial contest anew. + +Even now, while the war is still raging, they are busy with +comprehensive plans for the economic struggle which will succeed it. +Nor are they content to weave schemes. They have already begun to +carry them out. To mention but a few of the less important +enterprises, as symptoms of the German solicitude for detail, there +was a numerous gathering of railway representatives, Austrian, +Hungarian and German, in August 1915, to consider the means of +readjusting the railway service to the conditions which the peace +would usher in. Among the projects laid before the meeting and +insisted on by various financial institutions was the reconstruction +on a new basis of the Sleeping Car Company, from which Belgian capital +is to be excluded.[145] + + [145] _Giornale del lavori pubblici._ Cf. also _Giornale + d'Italia_, August 22, 1915. + +In Italy many of the German commercial houses are, so to say, +hibernating during the war. They merely altered their names and +substituted well-paid, friendly Italians for Germans, and the feat was +achieved. In this way the Kaiser's mercury mines of Abbadia, San +Salvatore and Corte Vecchia in Tuscany are being protected, and nobody +in Italy is under any misapprehension as to what is going on there. +They are nominally in the hands of Swiss. + +One of the most successful manoeuvres by which the Germans have +already parried the strokes of their rivals in the economic struggle +is by crossing the frontiers and carrying on the contest in the +enemy's country. It was thus that, when Russia, by way of protecting +her own nascent textile industries, levied heavy duties on imports +from abroad, the Germans transported their plant and their workmen +across the border, built extensive works in Lodz which gradually grew +into a prosperous German city and rendered sterling services to the +Teuton invader during the present war. They intend to have recourse to +the same device as soon as hostilities have ceased. German trade +papers announced this to their readers and urged them to communicate +with the staff with a view to receiving information respecting ways +and means. + +One Berlin trade journal--the most widely circulated in the German +capital--had recently a great headline entitled: "How to keep up +German Exportation after the War!" After a preamble enumerating the +difficulties that would be thrown in the way of exporters by the +Allies, the article went on thus: "For some years to come the means of +extricating ourselves from this cruel predicament will consist in +transporting the work of manufacturing or refining our merchandise to +a neutral country. We are now in a position to offer information and +advice on this head to those German manufacturers who are working for +exportation, and we shall endeavour to extend our action in the +future. We advise all those manufacturers who are desirous of +developing their business in this way to enter into relations with us +without delay."[146] + + [146] _Zeitschrift des Handelsvertragsvereins_, March 30, + 1915. Cf. also _La Gazette de Lausanne_ and _L'Idea + Nazionale_, December 5, 1915. + +The device is simple, and has hitherto been efficacious. In +Switzerland the number of German firms is large and continues to +augment. They are branches of German houses, and their aim is to +further the interests of these. They mask their intentions by assuming +Swiss names and also by obtaining for their employees naturalization +papers in the little republic. How, it may be asked, do the Allies +propose to thwart these manoeuvres? They probably have not given the +matter a moment's serious consideration. A Swiss journal of +repute[147] published some time ago a characteristic letter received +by a Swiss business man from a German textile manufacturer. One +passage is worth reproducing: "The actual situation renders it +impossible for us to maintain relations with our former customers. +Hence, it is of the utmost importance for us to be informed respecting +the commercial and financial situation with a view to the resumption +of our intercourse in a lucrative form after this long interruption. +It is our intention, therefore, to have our products sold through a +Swiss branch by Swiss agents."[148] + + [147] _Neue Zurcher Zeitung._ + + [148] _Neue Zurcher Zeitung_, also _L'Idea Nazionale_, + December 5, 1915. + +With their incorrigible disposition to judge others by themselves, the +British people fancy that after the war a wave of liberalism will +sweep over Germany, demolish the strongholds of militarism there, and +reveal a pacific, level-headed nation with whom it may be possible to +hold friendly intercourse. This, to my thinking, is also a delusion. +Even if the Kaiser and his environment were dislodged from their +places, Germany's ideals, aims and strivings would remain unchanged. +But the Kaiser and his Government are minded to leave nothing to +chance. They, too, have their plans, which are simple and +comprehensive, and would appear to have escaped the notice of British +optimists. And yet they are well worth consideration. The Germans +themselves put the matter thus-- + +The enormous expenditure necessitated by the war will call for special +financial legislation of which the keynote will be found in +monopolies. Now, the present German Finance Minister, who is a banker +by training, intends that the monopolies to be created shall be +effected, not by the unaided resources of the State, but by its +co-operation with the interested business men and banks. On this basis +he is working at monopolies of cigarettes, life insurance and electric +power. This complex arrangement is facilitated by the machinery of the +banks and their peculiar activity. And here we touch upon one of the +main sources whence German organization after the war will draw its +vitality. It is on the operations of these financial institutions that +it behoves us to lay stress. They are so many magnetic centres which +attract nearly all the free capital of the country and then employ it +as they think fit. And one momentous consequence of this command of +money is the possession of almost unrestricted power over industrial +enterprises, present and future. For it depends on the banks to extend +these and to restrict the output of those in consonance with the +economic policy pursued by the State. + +Nor should it be forgotten that the power and influence of the banks +is not limited by the amount of capital they actually possess. Over +and above this they wield all the financial force conferred by the +vast amounts deposited with them by customers. This was evidenced in +the case of the Banca Commerciale in Italy, which had a working +capital of £6,240,000 in the year 1914. Now, of that sum only 2·5 per +cent. was owned by Germans, yet the bank itself and all the industries +dependent on it were exploited by the German Board of Directors.[149] +In the Fatherland we observe the same phenomenon. All the German banks +together, excepting the hypothecary institutions, owned £195,000,000 +sterling, about 44 per cent. of which belonged to the eight principal +banks of the empire.[150] Possessing only £86,050,000 of their own, +they disposed of £259,600,000 belonging to other people. + + [149] Giovanni Preziosi, _La Germania alla Conquista + d'Italia_, 2d edizione, p. 150. + + [150] Deutsche Bank, 248 million marks; Diskonto + Gesellschaft, 149 millions; Dresdner Bank, 261 millions; + Darmstädter Bank, 192 millions; Berliner Handelsg. 145 + millions; Commerz- u. Diskonto Bank, 100 millions; + Nationalbank, 98 millions; Mitteldeutsche Kreditbank, 69 + million marks. + +One effect of the establishment of groups of monopolies will be to +increase the number of persons dependent for their livelihood on the +State. It is calculated that the total, including heads of families, +will amount to tens of millions. The corn monopoly will bring in five +million farmers, heads of families, who will have to look to the State +for the amount of their yearly income. For it is evident that the +Government will be "co-operating" not with the peasants, but with the +great landed proprietors. Now, these are the men whose backing is +indispensable, and has never been wanting, to the military and court +parties who are primarily responsible for the war. Once the wages of +the workmen and the interest on capital become dependent on the State, +the entire nation is but a vast machine worked by the men in power. To +suppose that these will lend a willing ear to the demands for +political liberty which are certain to be made after the conclusion of +peace is to expect the impossible. What will probably happen is a keen +struggle between the classes and the masses for the mastery, but until +it is decided in favour of the latter, the Germany of the future will +continue to be the Germany of to-day. + +In the meanwhile, the Teutons, despite their striking inferiority in +numbers and resources, have kept the Great Powers of the world at bay, +have defeated their armies, sunk their mercantile marine, occupied +their territory, drained their wealth, paralysed their trade and +deprived them of all the odds which they owed to circumstance. +Organization has thus more than made up for the seemingly overpowering +advantages possessed by the Allies at the outset. That it will +suddenly lose its worth during the remainder of the campaign is hardly +to be expected. The contingency which we may have to face, if we +continue to move at our present pace, is manifest to the observant +student of politics. + +By the average man and our "leaders of men" it is hardly even +suspected. Our easy-going optimism is largely the result of +temperament and partly, too, of presumptuous confidence born of past +luck, and in especial of the relief we feel at our escape from most of +the obvious dangers that menaced us at the outset of the war. There +has been no trouble over Ireland, no rising in India, no serious +defection in South Africa, no invasion of Egypt. And we irrationally +feel that these dark clouds, having drifted harmlessly past, the +others will follow them. It was said of the Swiss in mediæval times, +that they were kept together by the bewilderment of men and the +providence of God, confusione hominum et providentia Dei. The same +might be truly predicated of the British people of to-day. + +But there is no reason for assuming that they will be thus +providentially cared for in the future. The Allies have not yet driven +the Germans out of Belgium, France, Serbia, Montenegro, Poland or +Kurland. Neither have they contrived to starve them into sueing for +peace. They talk glibly of exhausting them as though their own +resources were inexhaustible. They do well perhaps to make light of +the Zeppelins, but they pay far too little attention to the +submarines, and seem not to realize the magnitude of the losses which +these weapons have inflicted on our merchant shipping, nor to have +calculated how long it can hold out at the present rate of +destruction. Freights have increased enormously, and they have not yet +reached the highest point they are likely to attain. Imports have been +restricted, prices have gone up and taxation has increased. Time may +not be on the side of our enemies, but is it on ours? It is a fickle +ally at best, and to rely on its support is to lean on a split reed. + +Optimism of the unreasoning kind prevalent in Great Britain is +unwarranted, whether we confine our view to the actual campaign or +extend it to the greater struggle of which that forms but an episode. +Taking the former case first, one is struck with certain +considerations which, without inspiring dismay, ought surely to +preserve us from that excessive self-confidence which is too often a +hindrance to fruitful exertion. The financial burden and its relation +to the limits of the allied nations' capacity to bear it is a fit +subject for meditation when we feel uplifted in self-complacency. +Doubtless it is encouraging to watch the symptoms of slow exhaustion +displaying themselves in the central empires and to speculate on the +consequences of the further fall of the German mark. But these +consequences we are too apt to exaggerate. For we misjudge the +character, the staying powers, the ideals, the psychology of the +German people. We fancy that because they have been reduced from +comfort to hardship therefore they are on the verge of collapse. We +imagine that because their commercial and industrial classes are keen +on making money and ardently desire peace, they are also ready to +purchase it by acquiescing in conditions which would dispel their +dreams of world power. We feel certain that if Prussia and all the +German States received genuine parliamentary government, the costly +ambitions of the military party would forthwith be dispelled for all +time. + +It is by delusions such as these that the British people were +hoodwinked in the past, and it is by the same vain imaginings that +they may be victimized in the future. For they seem incapable of +gauging the German psyche. The two races meet each other in masks. The +apparent ingenuousness of the English-speaking Teuton is calculated to +throw the most vigilant Anglo-Saxon intelligence off its guard. We +have no psychological X-rays by which to pierce the peculiar racial +vesture in which the German soul is shrouded, nor are we endowed with +the gift of patient observation which might enable us to extract those +rays from facts. And so we stumble along, dealing with an imaginary +people whom we ourselves have created after our own image and +likeness, falling into fatal blunders and recommencing anew. + +It is true that the mark has fallen, and that the German financial +fabric is in a parlous condition. But that fabric is kept from +crumbling away by the war, just as the Egyptian papyrus is preserved +so long as it does not come into contact with the air. Moreover, +common prudence should impel us to find out at what a cost to +ourselves we have reduced the value of the mark. If financial +exhaustion be among the ways in which one group of belligerents may be +made to succumb, it is wise to ask whether it is the States which have +to pay gold for their huge requirements or those which can get almost +everything they need for paper that are likely to succumb first. + +The question is relevant, yet, because it has not been moved into the +foreground of discussion, there are few people who ponder on it. + +Personally, I am convinced that impecuniosity and loss of credit will +never bring the Germans to their knees. + +Great Britain has achieved wonders in the financial sphere during this +war, as the Allies and certain neutrals can testify. Our budgets are +monuments of the nation's spirit of self-sacrifice. But we have not +come scathless out of the ordeal. And besides our inevitable losses we +are suffering from criminal waste. No other country is so thriftless +as ours. In this respect we are a byword among the peoples of the +world. But we give no thought to the consequences. Yet the yearly +outlay on the one hand and the means of meeting it on the other hand +are calculable, and it would be well if those who rely upon Germany's +financial prostration would carefully reckon up and compare the two, +were it only for the sake of the sobering effect. On this aspect of +the problem it is needless to dwell further. It will compel close and +painful attention before the end of the campaign. + +Another point to which inadequate heed has been paid, is the lack of +working men. This dearth of labour is not felt in Germany or Austria, +because they have two million prisoners and two million Poles on whom +they can draw not only for agricultural work but also for skilled +labour. And the authorities of both those empires are employing their +war prisoners very freely. Here, as everywhere else, the Teuton is +enterprising. I have seen photographs of Russians in Germany harnessed +and employed as beasts of burden. At any rate, it is no secret that +from the latter half of the year 1915 Germany and Austria were far +ahead of Great Britain, France, Russia, the United States and Japan +_combined_ in the amount of munitions they turned out every week. And +they are still ahead of them to-day. This fact, which can be verified, +has an ominous ring. What it connotes is that our enemies have no +strikes, no conscientious objectors, no fiddling with obligatory +service, industrial or military. Each man is at his country's beck and +call. Germany is free from strikers, slackers and such-like +anti-social types. + +In Russia the want of working men is felt keenly. It is one of the +main elements of the sharp rise of prices there. In France, too, the +number of hands needed is very great, and the loss inflicted by their +withdrawal from the labour market is more sensible than the average +reader has any notion of. And far from being filled, these gaps are +becoming wider day by day. This shortage is a source of solicitude to +the Government of the Republic. + +What it portends may readily be imagined. It certainly compels us to +qualify the cheering assertion that time is on our side. What else it +implies may be left to the imagination of the reader. + +More serious still than the financial burden, or the dearth of +workmen, is the inadequacy of the mercantile marine to the needs of +the Allies in general, and of Great Britain in especial. To this +privation submarine warfare has contributed materially. And there is +not the slenderest ground for hope that the Germans will desist from +it during this campaign. On the contrary, they will intensify it. Of +the neutrals, some are too weak and others too timid to enter an +energetic protest against this violation of international law. The +freight-carrying capacity of the transports still available is less +than the British optimist realizes. How much less, it would be +unfruitful to inquire. It is enough to know that in this matter, too, +we had better seek a more helpful ally than time. Those who are most +conversant with these elements of the problem are haunted by a restive +consciousness of disappointment and apprehension. + +For the power, the independence, the destinies of the Empire are +interwoven with our command of the sea. On our merchant tonnage depend +our economic life, our army and navy, everything we have and are and +hope to be. That destroyed or paralysed, nothing remains but a memory. +And the Germans are working hard and not unsuccessfully to cripple it. +During the week ending April 13, 85,000 tons of British and neutral +shipping were destroyed. Since the beginning of the submarine blockade +over 3,000,000 tons have been sent to the bottom of the sea. On an +average 50,000 tons a week are being torpedoed or mined, and our +losses tend to augment rather than diminish. Nor is that all. Not only +is our merchant tonnage being whittled down below the minimum needed +for our strict requirements, but we are also being hindered from +utilizing the transports available. And herein lies a danger the full +significance of which has not yet received proper attention. Shortage +of labour is pleaded as the reason why effective measures have not +been adopted to fill the gaps made by the enemy submarines. And labour +is inadequate because the Government eschewes industrial as well as +military compulsion. It possesses the power, but shrinks from wielding +it. To my thinking, this is one of the symptoms of that madness with +which the gods strike a nation before destroying it. + +And the longer this process of--shall we call it mutual?--exhaustion +goes on, the more important grow the neutral States and the louder +sound their voices. They are like Jeshurun, who waxed fat and kicked. +Without special aptitudes for arithmetic one may calculate, with a +rough approach to accuracy, the time when the process of mutual +exhaustion will enable the neutrals to exert an absurdly +disproportionate and possibly dangerous influence over the +belligerents. That is a calculation which those optimists would do +well to make who tell us that all is well because "time is on our +side." + +It is still open to us to utilize our superior resources, realize our +latent strength, and ward off the dangers that beset us. But the first +advance towards the goal must be to face the facts, behold things and +persons as they are, and apply our new-found knowledge to the work of +self-rescue. Our conception of the nature of the contest in which we +are engaged must be recast. Our demands on our national leaders--not +those now in power who only mislead--must be greatly enlarged. Truth, +however bitter, must take the place of fancy. Ideas and institutions +incongruous with the new social and political conditions must be +displaced. The nation's aims and policy should be stated boldly and +clearly, and adequate machinery set up to achieve them. In a word, +system will have to be substituted for confusion, method for +haphazard. Destitute of a great or strong man, it behoves us to +imitate our enemy and create a vast organization with branches all +over the empire. But the influence of the government ever since the +outbreak of the war has militated against all those reforms. + +If these changes had been effected at the outset the story of the +present campaign would have been different from what it is. A group of +belligerents representing only 5,921,000 square kilometres of +territory and 150,199,000 inhabitants, or, say, 4 per cent. of dry +land and 9·1 per cent. of human beings, would not have held its own +for twenty-one months against a group disposing of 68,031,000 square +kilometres of territory and a population of 770,060,000, or 46 per +cent. of the land on the globe and 47 per cent. of the human race. +Providence has bestowed upon the Allies the wherewithal to attain +their legitimate ends. The Allies' leaders are frittering them away. + +For the thirty years of preparation do not afford us an adequate +explanation of the Teuton superiority. The clue is to be found in the +psychological factor. Germany is wholly alive, physically, +intellectually and psychically. And she lives in the present and +future. We either drowse or vegetate in and for the past. She has the +decisive advantage of possessing organization and organizers. Therein +lies the secret of her sustained success. The Allies lack both, and +are hardly conscious of the necessity of making good the deficiency. +Therein lies their weakness. It has made itself felt throughout the +campaign and will determine the upshot of the war. And in the +politico-economic struggle that will follow the war, it is the same +psychological factor which the Allies rate so low that will decide the +final issue. + +Unless we wake up to the reality and readjust our ideas and methods to +that--and of such awakening there is as yet no sure token--the outcome +of the present war will be a draw, and the final upshot of the larger +contest will be our utter defeat. No journalistic optimism, no +ministerial magniloquence can alter that. These contingencies are +already fullfronting us, as we shall soon learn to our cost, and the +people who are veiling them from the public view, however praiseworthy +their intentions may be, are leading the nation to ruin. And if we +continue to uphold our present chiefs and methods national disaster is +as inevitable as destiny. But it is well to remember that it is not +Fate that is pursuing us; it is we who are overtaking Fate. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's England and Germany, by Emile Joseph Dillon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND AND GERMANY *** + +***** This file should be named 29338-8.txt or 29338-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/3/29338/ + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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J. Dillon. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + h1 {line-height: 150%; + letter-spacing: 0.10em;} + + h2 {padding-top: 2em; + } + + h3 {font-size: 90%; + padding-bottom: 1em;} + + table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } + + td.rightalign {text-align: right; + line-height: 200%; + } + + td.leftalign {text-align: left; + line-height: 200%; + padding-left: 3.5em; + padding-right: 1em; + text-indent: -2em;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + p.printer {margin-top: 4em; + text-align: center; + font-size: smaller; + margin-bottom: 3em; + text-indent: 0em; + } + + p.dedication {padding-top: 2em; + padding-bottom: 1em; + line-height: 180%; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + font-size: 90%;} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + right: 1%; + font-size: x-small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + font-style: normal; + letter-spacing: 0ex; + text-indent: 0em; + } + + a:link {text-decoration: none; + color: #104E8B; + background-color: inherit; + } + + a:visited {text-decoration: none; + color: #8B0000; + background-color: inherit; + } + + a:hover {text-decoration: underline;} + + a:active {text-decoration: underline;} + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em;} + + .right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 5%; + } + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .footnotes p {text-indent: 0em;} + + .footnotes {border: dotted 1px; + padding-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 2em; + } + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: smaller; + } + + .footnote .label {position: absolute; + right: 84%; + text-align: right; + } + + .fnanchor { vertical-align: baseline; + font-size: 80%; + position: relative; + top: -.4em; + } + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of England and Germany, by Emile Joseph Dillon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: England and Germany + +Author: Emile Joseph Dillon + +Release Date: July 6, 2009 [EBook #29338] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND AND GERMANY *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1>ENGLAND AND<br /> +GERMANY</h1> + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 4em; font-size: 70%">BY</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 130%">DR. E. J. DILLON</p> + + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 2em; font-size: 70%; line-height: 250%">WITH AN INTRODUCTION<br /> + +BY</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 120%"><span class="smcap">The Hon. W. M. HUGHES, M.P.</span></p> + +<p class="center" style="padding-bottom: 4em; font-size: 70%">PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA</p> + +<table summary="publisher"> +<tr><td style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%; padding-right: 6em; font-size: 90%">BRENTANO’S<br /> +NEW YORK</td> + +<td style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%; font-size: 90%">CHAPMAN & HALL LTD.<br /> +LONDON</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center">1917</td></tr> +</table> + +<div style="width: 35%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto"> +<p class="printer"><span class="smcap">Printed in Great Britain by +Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,</span> +BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1, +AND BUNGAY SUFFOLK</p> +</div> + +<p class="dedication"> +TO<br /> +<span style="font-size: 140%">H.S.H. ALICE</span><br /> +PRINCESS OF MONACO<br /> +THIS PARTIAL PRESENTMENT OF THE<br /> +BEGINNINGS OF A WORLD<br /> +CATACLYSM +</p> + + + +<h2 style="padding-bottom: 1em"><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Behind</span> any human institution there stand +a few men—perhaps only one man—who direct +its movement, protect its interests, or serve +as its mouthpiece. This applies to nations. +If we wish to know for what a nation stands +and what are its ideals and by what means +it seeks to realise them, we shall do well to +know something of the men who lead its +people or express their feelings.</p> + +<p>It is of vital importance that we should +understand the attitude of every one of the +nations—both friends and enemies—involved +in this war. For in this way only can we +know what is necessary to be done to achieve +victory.</p> + +<p>And the remarkable man who has written +this book knows those who lead the warring +nations in this titanic conflict very much +better than ordinary men know their own +townsmen.</p> + +<p>Dr. Dillon has moved through the chancelleries +of Europe. He has seen and heard what +has been denied to all but very few. In the +Balkans, that cauldron of racial passions which, +overflowing, gave our enemies an ostensible +cause for this war, he moved as though an invisible +and yet keenly observant figure. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +could claim the friendship of Venizelos and +other Balkan statesmen. He has travelled as +a monk throughout the mountain fastnesses, +he has slept in the caves of Albania. He +understands the people of all the Balkans, +speaks their tongues as a native, and knows +and assesses at their true value their leaders.</p> + +<p>At the time of the murder of the Archduke +Ferdinand and the Archduchess, Dr. Dillon +was in Austria, and he remained there through +those long negotiations in which Germany +tenaciously clung to her design of war.</p> + +<p>How well he knows Germany let his book +speak. His knowledge of Russia is profound. +A master of many languages, he occupied a +chair at the Moscow University for many +years, and his insight into Russian politics is +deep.</p> + +<p>In this book he speaks out of the depth of +his knowledge, and tells the people of Britain +what this war means to them, and what needs +to be done before we can hope for victory. +He speaks plainly because he feels strongly.</p> + +<p>It may be that we cannot agree with him in +everything that he says. But no one, after +reading Dr. Dillon’s remarkable book, will any +longer regard the war as but a passing episode. +It is a timely antidote to that fatal delusion.</p> + +<p>For this war is a veritable cataclysm, and +the future of the world hangs upon the result. +We must change our lives. Insidiously, while +we have called all foreigners brothers and +sought foes amongst ourselves, the great force +of barbarism, in a new guise and with enormous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span> +power of penetration and annexation, has +worked for our undoing. This force now +stands bared, in the hideous bestiality of +Germany’s doctrine of Might, and it can be +defeated only by an adaptation of its methods +that will leave nothing as it was before.</p> + +<p>Dr. Dillon’s unfolding of the story of German +preparation is, it will be admitted, one of +fascinating interest. Of its value as a contribution +to political and diplomatic history it +is not for me to speak. But to its purpose in +keying all men to the pitch; all to a sense of +the great events in which we are taking part, +I bear my testimony. “Germany is wholly +alive, physically, intellectually, and psychically. +And she lives in the present and future” +(<a href="#Page_311">p. 311</a>). And the living force of Germany +requires us to rise to the very fulness of our +powers; for as the champions of truth and +right we must prove ourselves physically and +morally stronger than the champions of soulless +might.</p> + +<p>Germany is wholly alive; but she is alive +for evil. We whose purpose is good, whose +cause is justice and whose triumph is indispensable +if honest industry and human right +are not to disappear from mankind, are as yet +not fully alive to the immensity and necessity +of our task. We must awaken, or be awakened, +ere it be too late.</p> + +<p>Germany is living in the present and in the +future. It is a present of determined effort, +of unlimited sacrifice, of colossal hope. The +future for which she strives and suffers is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> +future incompatible with those ideals which +our race cherishes and reveres. Either our +philosophy, our religion and code prevail, or +they fade into decay, and Germany’s aims +remain. The choice is definite.</p> + +<p>There can be no parley, no compromise with +the evil thing for which Germany fights. There +is not room for both. One must go down.</p> + +<p>We must win outright. And we can and +shall win—if we bend every thought, our whole +will, our every energy, our utmost intensity of +determination to the great work. Failing this, +we shall secure only a victory equivalent to +defeat. We chose the part of free men, and, +when purified by complete self-sacrifice, shall +emerge from the ordeal a great and regenerated +people.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. M. Hughes.</span></p> + + + +<h2 style="padding-bottom: 1em"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></h2> + +<table summary="toc"> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><small>CHAP.</small></td><td class="leftalign"> </td><td class="rightalign"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"> </td><td class="leftalign">INTRODUCTION BY THE HON. W. M. HUGHES</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF PREPARATION</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III</a></td><td class="leftalign">GERMANY AND ITALIAN FINANCE</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE ANNEXATION MANIA</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V</a></td><td class="leftalign">GERMANY AND RUSSIA</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE ENTENTE</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII</a></td><td class="leftalign">TEUTON POLITICS</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a></td><td class="leftalign">A MACHIAVELLIAN TRICK BY WHICH RUSSIA’S +HAND WAS FORCED</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX</a></td><td class="leftalign">GERMAN PROPAGANDA IN SCANDINAVIA</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X</a></td><td class="leftalign">GERMANY AND THE BALKANS</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE RIVAL POLICIES</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII</a></td><td class="leftalign">PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a></td><td class="leftalign">PROBLEMS OF FINANCE</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV</a></td><td class="leftalign">READJUSTMENTS</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE POSITION OF ITALY</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI</a></td><td class="leftalign">ROUMANIA AND GREECE</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_214">214</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII</a></td><td class="leftalign">GERMANY’S RESOURCEFULNESS</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE PERILS OF PARTY POLITICS</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX</a></td><td class="leftalign">PAST AND PRESENT</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX</a></td><td class="leftalign">PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI</a></td><td class="leftalign">THE FINAL ISSUE</td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<h2><a name="OURSELVES_AND_GERMANY" id="OURSELVES_AND_GERMANY"></a>OURSELVES AND GERMANY<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></h2> + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the memorable space of time that +separates us from the outbreak of the catastrophic +struggle, out of which a new Europe +will shortly emerge, events have shed a partial +but helpful light on much that at the outset +was blurred or mysterious. They have belied +or confirmed various forecasts, fulfilled some +few hopes, blasted many others, and obliged +the allied peoples to carry forward most of +their cherished anticipations to another year’s +account. Meanwhile the balance as it stands +offers ample food for sobering reflection, but +will doubtless evoke dignified resignation and +grim resolve on the part of those who confidently +looked for better things.</p> + +<p>The items of which that balance is made +up are worth careful scrutiny for the sake of +the hints which they offer for future guidance. +The essence of their teaching is that we Allies +are engaged not in a war of the by-past type +in which only our armies and navies are contending +with those of the adversary according +to accepted rules, but in a tremendous struggle +wherein our enemies are deploying all their +resources without reserve or scruple for the +purpose of destroying or crippling our peoples.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +Unless, therefore, we have the will and the +means to mobilize our admittedly vaster +facilities and materials and make these subservient +to our aim, we are at a disadvantage +which will profoundly influence the final +result. It will be a source of comfort to +optimists to think that, looking back on the +vicissitudes of the first twenty months’ campaign, +they can discern evidences that there +is somewhere a statesman’s hand methodically +moulding events to our advantage, or attempering +their most sinister effects. Those +who fail to perceive any such traces must +look for solace to future developments. For +there are many who fancy that the economy +of our energies has been carried to needless +lengths, that the adjustment of means to +ends lacks thoroughness and precision, and +that our leaders have kept over rigorously +within the narrow range of partial aims, instead +of surveying the problem in its totality +and enlarging the permanent efficacy of their +precautions against unprecedented dangers.</p> + +<p>The twenty months that have just lapsed +into history have done much to loosen the +hold of some of the baleful insular prejudices +which heretofore held sway over the minds +of nearly all sections of the British nation. It +may well be, therefore, that we are now better +able to grasp the significance of the principal +events of the war, and to seek it not in their +immediate effects on the course of the struggle, +but in the roots—still far from lifeless—whence +they sprang. For it is not so much the upshot +of the first phases of the campaign as the +deep-lying causes which rendered them a foregone +conclusion that force themselves on our +consideration. Those causes are still operative,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +and unless they be speedily uprooted will +continue to work havoc with our hopes.</p> + +<p>It is now fairly evident that the present +war is but a violent phase in the unfolding +of a grandiose ground idea—the subjugation +of Europe by the Teuton—which was being +steadily realized ever since the close of the +Franco-German campaign of 1870. It is likewise +clear that, despite her “swelled head,” +Germany’s estimate of her ability to try issues +with all continental Europe was less erroneous +than the faith of her destined victims in their +superior powers of resistance. The original +plan, having been limited to the continental +states, was upset by Great Britain’s co-operation +with France and Russia. But, despite +this additional drag, Germany has achieved the +remarkable results recorded in recent history. +And with some show of reason she looks forward +to successes more decisive still. For in +her mode of conceiving the problem and her +methods of solving it lie the secret of her +progress. But there, too, is to be found the +counter-spell by which that progress may be +effectually checked; and it is only by mastering +that secret and applying it to the future +conduct of the struggle that we can hope to +ward off the dangers that encompass us.</p> + +<p>Germany is like no other State known to +human history. She exercises the authority +of an infallible and intolerant Church while +disposing of the flawless mechanism of an +absolute State. She is armed with the most +deadly engines of destruction that advanced +science can forge, and in order to use them +ruthlessly she mixes the subtlest poisons to +corrupt the wells of truth and debase the +standards of right and wrong. And this she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +can do without the least qualms of conscience, +in virtue of her firm belief in the amorality +of political conduct. Her members at home +and abroad, whose number is not fewer than +a hundred and twenty millions, form a political +community of whose compactness, social sense +and single-mindedness the annals of the human +race offer no other example. All are fired by +the same zeal, all obey the same lead, all work +for the same object. She sent and is still +sending forth missionaries of her political +faith, preachers of the gospel of the mailed +fist, to every country in which their services +may prove helpful. Diplomatists, journalists, +bankers, contrabandists, social agitators, spies, +incendiaries, assassins and courtesans, willing +to offer up their energies and their lives in +order to circumvent, despoil or slay the supposed +enemies of their race, address themselves +each one to his own allotted task and discharge +it conscientiously.</p> + +<p>Those German colonists abroad are the eyes +and arms and tongues of the monster organism +of which the brain-centre is Berlin. They +endeavoured to stir up dissension between +class and class in Russia, France, Britain, +Belgium, to plant suspicion in the breast of +Bulgaria and Roumania, to create a prussophile +atmosphere in Greece, Switzerland and +Sweden, and to bring pressure to bear on the +Government of the United States in the hope +of fomenting discord between the American +and British peoples. They have occupied posts +of influence in the Vatican, are devoted to +the Moslem Caliph, cultivate friendship with +the Senussi and the ex-Khedive of Egypt, are +intriguing with the Negus of Abyssinia, and +spreading lying rumours, false news and vile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +calumnies throughout the world. During the +years that passed between the war of 1870 +and the outbreak of the present European +struggle, that stupendous organism contrived +by those and kindred means to possess itself +of the principal strongholds of international +opinion and influence, the centres of the chief +religions, the press, the exchanges, the world’s +“key industries,” the great marts of commerce +and the banks. It has friends at every +Court, in every Cabinet, in every European +Parliament, and its agents are alert and active +in every branch of the administration of +foreign lands. And while suppleness marked +their dealings with others, they were inflexible +only in their fidelity to the Teuton cause. +Thus in Russia they were conservative and +autocratic in their intercourse with the ruling +spheres, and revolutionary in their relations +with the Socialists and working classes; in +France and Britain they were democrats and +pacifists; in Italy they were rabid nationalists +or neutralists according to the political sentiments +of their environment; in Turkey, +Morocco, Egypt and Persia staunch friends +of Islam. They intrigued against dynasties, +conspired against cabinets, reviled influential +publicists, fostered strikes and tumults, set +political parties and entire states by the ears, +dispelled grounded suspicions and armed +various bands of incendiaries and assassins.</p> + +<p>But in spite of cogged dice and poisoned +weapons, the comprehensive way in which +the enterprise was conceived, the consummate +skill with which it was wrought out towards +a satisfactory issue, the whole-heartedness of +the nation which, although animated by a +fiery patriotism that fuses all parties and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +classes into one, is yet governed with military +discipline, offer a wide field for imitation and +emulation. For the changes brought about +by the first phases of the war are but fruits +of seed sown years ago and tended ever since +with unfailing care, and unless suitable implements, +willing hands and combined energies +are employed in digging them up and casting +them to the winds, the second crop may prove +even more bitter than the first.</p> + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF PREPARATION</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the historic third of August when war +was formally declared, its nature was as little +understood by the Allies as had been its +imminence. The statesmen who had to full-front +its manifestations were those who had +persistently refused to believe in its possibility, +and who had no inkling of its nature +and momentousness. Most of them, judging +other peoples by their own, had formed a high +opinion of the character of the German nation +and of the pacific intentions of its Government, +and continued to ground their policy in war +time on this generous estimate, which even +when upset by subsequent experience still +seems to linger on in a subconscious but not inoperative +state. At first their preparations to +meet the emergency hardly went beyond the +expedients to which they would have resorted +for any ordinary campaign. In this they resembled +a sea-captain who should make ready +to encounter a gale when his ship was threatened +by a typhoon. Hence their unco-ordinated +efforts, their chivalrous treatment of a dastardly +foe, their high-minded refusal to +credit the circumstantial stories of sickening +savagery emanating first from Belgium and +then from France, their gentle remonstrances +with the enemy, their carefully worded arguments, +their generous understatement of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +country’s case, and their suppression of any +emotion among their own folk akin to hatred +or passion. In an insular people for whom +peace was an ideal, neighbourliness a sacred +duty, and the psychology of foreign nations +a sealed book, this way of reading the bearings +of the new situation and adjusting them +to the nation’s requirements was natural and +fateful.</p> + +<p>To the few private individuals who had the +advantage of experience and were gifted with +political vision the crisis presented itself under +a different aspect. Some of them had foreseen +and foretold the war, basing their forecast +on the obvious policy of the German +Government and on the overt strivings of +the German nation. They had depicted that +nation as intellectual and enterprising, abundantly +equipped with all the requisites for an +exhausting contest, fired with enthusiasm for +a single idea—the subjugation of the world—and +devoid of ethical scruple. And in the +clarion’s blast which suddenly resounded on +the pacific air they recognized the trump of +doom for Teuton Kultur or European civilization, +and proclaimed the utter inadequacy of +ordinary methods to put down this titanic +rebellion against the human race. That has +been the gist of every opinion and suggestion +on the subject put forward by the writer of +these lines since the outbreak of the war.</p> + +<p>But even without these repeated warnings +it should have been clear that a carefully calculating +people like the Germans, in whom the +gift of organizing is inborn and solicitude for +detail is a passion, would not embark on a +preventive war without having first established +a just proportion between their own equipment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +for the struggle and the magnitude of the +issues dependent on its outcome. It was, +further, reasonable to assume that this was +no mere onset of army against army and +navy against navy according to the old rules +of the game, but a mobilization by the two +military empires of all their resources—military, +naval, financial, economic, industrial, +scientific and journalistic—to be utilized to +the fullest for the destruction of the Entente +group. It was also easy to discern that, +whichever side was worsted, the Europe which +had witnessed the beginning of the conflict +would be transfigured at its close, and that +Germany would, therefore, not allow her +freedom of action in conducting the war to +be cramped by sentimental respect for the +checks and restraints of a political system that +was already dead. Lastly, it might readily +be inferred that the huge resources hoarded +up by the enemy during forty years of preparation +would be centupled in value by the +favourable conditions which rendered them +capable of being co-ordinated and directed by +a single will to the attainment of a single end. +All these previsions, warranted then by unmistakable +tokens, have since been justified +by historic events, and it is to be hoped that +the practical conclusions to which they point +may sink into the minds of the allied nations +as well as of their Governments, now that +nearly two years have gone by since they +were first expressed.</p> + +<p>The earliest impression which German mobilization +left upon the Allies was that of the +preventive character of this war. For it could +have had no other mainspring than a resolve to +paralyse the arm of the Entente, which, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +allowed to wax stronger, might smite in lieu of +being smitten. For the moment, however, +Germany was neither attacked nor menaced. +Far from that, her rivals were vying with each +other in their strivings to maintain peace. Her +condition was prosperous, her industries thriving, +her colonial possessions had recently been +greatly increased, her influence on the affairs of +the world was unquestioned, her citizens were +materially well-to-do, her workmen were highly +paid, her capitalists, seconding her statesmen +and diplomatists, had, with gold extracted +from France, Britain and Belgium, woven a +vast net in the fine meshes of which most of +the nations of Europe, Asia and America were +being insensibly trammelled. Already her +bankers handled the finances, regulated the +industries and influenced the politics of those +tributary peoples. And by these tactics a +relationship was established between Germany +and most states of the globe which cut deep +into the destinies of these and is become an +abiding factor of the present contest. For +that reason, and also because of the paramount +influence of the economic factor on the +results of the struggle, they are well worth +studying.</p> + +<p>To her superior breadth of outlook, marvellous +organizing powers, the hearty co-operation +between rulers and people, and the +ease with which, unhampered by parliamentary +opposition, her Government was enabled to +place a single aim at the head and front of +its national policy, Germany is perhaps more +deeply indebted for her successes during the +first phases of the campaign than to the strategy +of Hindenburg or the furious onslaughts of +Mackensen. German diplomacy has been ridiculed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +for its glaring blunders, and German +statesmanship discredited for its cynical contempt +of others’ rights and its own moral obligations. +And gauged by our ethical standards +the blame incurred was richly deserved. But +we are apt to forget that German diplomacy +has two distinct aspects—the professional +and the economic—and that where the one +failed the other triumphed. And if success +be nine-tenths of justification, as the Prussian +doctrine teaches, the statesmen who preside +over the destinies of the Teutonic peoples have +little to fear in the way of strictures from +their domestic critics. For they left nothing +to chance that could be ensured by effort. +Trade, commerce, finances, journalism, science, +religion, the advantages to be had by royal +marriages, by the elevation of German princes +to the thrones of the lesser states, had all been +calculated with as much care and precision +as the choice of sites in foreign countries for +the erection of concrete emplacements for +their monster guns. No detail seemed too +trivial for the bestowal of conscientious labour, +if it promised a possible return. When in +doubt whether it was worth while to make an +effort for some object of no immediate interest +to the Fatherland the German invariably decided +that the thing should be done. “You +never can tell,” he argued, “when or how it +may prove useful.” For years one firm of +motor-car makers turned out vehicles with +holes, the object of which no one could guess +until the needs of the war revealed them as +receptacles for light machine-guns.</p> + +<p>Nearly two years of an unparalleled struggle +between certain isolated forces of the Allies +and all the combined resources of the Teutons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +ought to banish the notion that the results +achieved are the fruits only of Germany’s +military and naval efficiency. In truth, the +adequacy of her military and naval forces constitutes +but an integral part of a much vaster +system. It has hitherto been the fashion +among British and French writers to dwell +exclusively on the comprehensiveness of the +measures adopted by the Germans to fashion +their land and sea defences into destructive +implements of enormous striking power and +scientific precision. But the German conception +of the enterprise was immeasurably more +grandiose. It included every means of offence +and defence actually available or yet to be +devised, and testifies to a grasp of the nature +of the problem which, so far as one can judge, +has not even yet been attained outside the +Fatherland. As the present situation and its +coming developments present themselves as +practical corollaries of causes which the leaders +of Germany rendered operative, it may not +be amiss to describe these briefly.</p> + +<p>The objective being the subjugation of +Europe to Teutonic sway, the execution of +the plan was attempted by two different sets +of measures, each of which supplemented the +other: military and naval efficiency on the +one hand and pacific interpenetration on +the other. The former has been often and +adequately described; the latter has not yet +attracted the degree of attention it merits. +For one thing, it was unostentatious and +invariably tinged with the colour of legitimate +trade and industry. Practically every country +in Europe, and many lands beyond the seas, +were covered with networks of economic relations +which, without being always emanations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +of the governmental brain, were never devoid +of a definite political purpose. While Great +Britain, and in a lesser degree France, distracted +by parliamentary strife or intent on +domestic reforms, left trade and commerce +to private initiative and the law of supply +and demand, the German Government watched +over all big commercial transactions, interwove +them with political interests, and regarded +every mark invested in a foreign country +not merely as capital bringing in interest in +the ordinary way, but also as political seed +bearing fruit to be ingathered when <i>Der +Tag</i> should dawn. Thus France and Britain +advanced loans to various countries—to +Greece, for instance—at lower rates of interest +than the credit of those states warranted, +but they bargained for no political gain in +return. Germany, on the contrary, insisted on +every such transaction being paid in political +or economic advantages as well as pecuniary +returns. And by these means she tied the +hands of most European nations with bonds +twisted of strands which they themselves were +foolish enough to supply. Italy, Russia, +Turkey, Roumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium +and the Scandinavian States are all instructive +instances of this plan. Bankers and +their staffs, directors of works and factories, +agents of shipping companies, commercial +travellers, German colonies in various foreign +cities, military instructors to foreign armies, +schools and schoolmasters abroad, heads of +commercial houses in the different capitals, +were all so many agencies toiling ceaselessly +for the same purpose. The effect of their +manœuvres was to extract from all those +countries the wealth needed for their subjugation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +One of the most astounding instances +of the success of these hardy manipulations is +afforded by the Banca Commerciale of Italy, +which was a thoroughly German concern, +holding in its hands most of the financial +establishments, trades and industries of Italy. +This all-powerful institution possessed in 1914 +a capital of £6,240,000 of which 63 per cent. +was subscribed by Italian shareholders, 20 per +cent. by Swiss, 14 per cent. by French, and +only 2½ per cent. by Germans and Austrians +combined! And the astounding exertions put +forward by the Germans during the first +twelvemonth of the war are largely the product +of the economic energies which this line +of action enabled them to store up during the +years of peace and preparation.</p> + +<p>The execution of those grandiose schemes +was facilitated by the easy access which Germany +had to the principal markets of the globe. +One of the main objects of her diplomacy had +been to break down the tariff barriers which +would have reserved to the great trading +empires the main fruits of their own labour and +enterprise. By the Treaty of Frankfort the +French had been compelled to confer on Germany +the most-favoured-nation clause, thus +entitling her to enjoy all the tariff reductions +which the Republic might accord to those +countries with which it was on the most amicable +terms. British free trade opened wide +the portals of the world’s greatest empire to a +deluge of Teuton wares and to a kind of competition +which contrasted with fair play in a +degree similar to that which now obtains between +German methods of warfare and our +own. Russia, at first insensible to suasion and +rebellious to threats, endeavoured to bar the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +way to the economic flood on her western frontiers, +but during the stress of the Japanese +war she chose the lesser of two evils and +yielded. The concessions then made by my +friend, the late Count Witte, to the German +Chancellor, drained the Tsardom of enormous +sums of money and rendered it a tributary to +the Teuton. But it did much more. It supplied +Germany with a satisfactory type of +commercial treaty which she easily imposed +upon other nations. Germany’s road through +Italy was traced by the mistaken policy of the +French Government which, by a systematic +endeavour to depreciate Italian consols and +other securities, drove Crispi to Berlin, where +his suit for help was heard, the Banca Commerciale +conceived, and commercial arrangements +concluded which opened the door to +the influx of German wares, men and political +ideals.</p> + +<p>A few years sufficed for the fruits of this +generous hospitality to reveal themselves. The +influx of wealth and the increased population +helped to render the German army a match for +the combined land forces of her rivals, a formidable +navy was created, which ranked immediately +after that of Great Britain, and a +large part of Europe was so closely associated +with, and dependent on, Germany that an extension +of the Zollverein was talked of in the +Fatherland, and a league of European brotherhood +advocated by the day-dreamers of France +and Britain. The French, however, never +ceased to chafe at the commercial chain forged +by the Treaty of Frankfort, but were powerless +to break it, while the British lavished tributes +of praise and admiration on Germany’s enterprise, +and construed it as a pledge of peace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +Russia, alive to the danger, at last summoned +up courage to remove it, and had already decided +to refuse to extend the term of the +ruinous commercial treaty, even though the +alternative were war. That was the danger +which stimulated the final efforts of the +Kaiser’s Government.</p> + +<p>Thus the entire political history of Entente +diplomacy during this war may be summarized +as a series of attempts on the part of the +Allies to undo some of the effects of the masterstrokes +executed by Germany during the years +of abundance which she owed to the favoured-nation +clause, British free trade and kindred +economic concessions. Interpenetration is the +term by which the process has been known ever +since Count Witte essayed it in Manchuria and +China.</p> + +<p>The German procedure was simple, yet effective +withal. Funds were borrowed mainly in +France, Britain, Belgium, where investors are +often timid and bankers are unenterprising. +And then operations were begun. The first +aim pursued and attained was to acquire control +of the foreign trade of the country experimented +on. With this object in view banks +of credit were established which lavished on +German traders every help, information and +encouragement. Men of Teuton nationality +settled in the land as heads of firms, as clerks +without salary, private secretaries, foremen, +correspondents, and rapidly contrived to get +command of the main arteries of the economic +organism. German manufactures soon flooded +the country, because those who undertook to +import them could count on extensive credit +from the institutions founded with the money +of the very nations whose trade they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +engaged in killing. In this way the competition, +not only of all Entente peoples but also +of the natives of the country experimented +on, was systematically choked. And the customers +of these banks, natives as well as +Teutons, became apostles of German influence.</p> + +<p>Insensibly the great industrial concerns of +the place passed into the possession of German +banks, behind which stood the German +empire. A nucleus of influential business +people, having been thus equipped for action, +incessantly propagated the German political +faith. German schools were established and +subsidized by the <i>Deutscher Schulverein</i>, clubs +opened, musical societies formed, and newspapers +supported or founded, to consolidate +the achievements of the financiers. On political +circles, especially in constitutional lands, the +influence of this Teutonic phalanx was profound +and lasting.</p> + +<p>In all these commercial and industrial enterprises +undertaken abroad for economic gain +and political influence, the German State, its +organs and the individual firms, went hand in +hand, supplementing each other’s endeavours. +The maxim they adopted was that of their +military commanders: to advance separately +but to attack in combination. Not only the +Consul, but the Ambassador, the Minister, +the Scholar, the Statesman, nay the Kaiser<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +himself, were the inspirers, the partners, the +backers of the German merchant. Marschall +von Bieberstein once told me in Constantinople +that his functions were those of a super-commercial +traveller rather than ambassadorial. +And he discharged them with efficiency. Laws +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>and railway tariffs at home, diplomatic facilities +and valuable information abroad smoothed +the way of the Teuton trader. Berlin rightly +gauged the worth of this pacific interpenetration +at a time when Britons were laughing it to +scorn as a ludicrous freak of grandmotherly +government. To-day its results stand out in +relief as barriers to the progress of the Allies +in the conduct of the war.</p> + +<p>Of this ingenious way of enslaving foreign +nations unknown to themselves, Italy’s experience +offers us an instructive illustration. The +headquarters of the German commercial army +in that realm were the offices of the Banca Commerciale +in Milan. This institution was founded +under the auspices of the Berlin Foreign Office, +with the co-operation of Herr Schwabach, +head of the bank of Bleichröder. Employing +the absurdly small capital of two hundred +thousand pounds, not all of which was German, +it worked its way at the cost of the Italian +people into the vitals of the nation, and finally +succeeded in obtaining the supreme direction +of their foreign trade, national industries and +finances, and in usurping a degree of political +influence so durable that even the war is +supposed to have only numbed it for a time.</p> + +<p>Between the years 1895 and 1915 the capital +of this institution had augmented to the sum +of £6,240,000, of which Germany and Austria +together held but 2½ per cent., while controlling +all the operations of the Bank itself +and of the trades and industries linked with it.</p> + +<p>The Germans, as a Frenchman wittily remarked, +are born with the mania of annexation. +It runs in their blood. And it is not +merely territory, or political influence, or the +world’s markets that they seek to appropriate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +Their appetite extends to everything in the +present and future, nay, even in the past +which they deem worth having. It is thus +that they claim as their own most of Italy’s +great men, such as Dante, Giotto, Leonardo da +Vinci, Botticelli, Galileo, and it is now asserted +by a number of Teuton writers that Christ +Himself came of a Teutonic stock.</p> + +<p>German organisms, as well as German statesmen, +display the same mania of annexation, +and the Banks in especial give it free scope. +German banks differ from French, British and +Italian in the nature, extent and audacity of +their operations. It was not always thus. +Down to the war of 1870 their methods were +old-fashioned, cautious and slow. From the +year 1872 onward, however, they struck out +a new and bold course of their own from which +British and French experts boded speedy +disaster. Private enterprises were turned into +joint stock companies, the capital of prosperous +undertakings was increased and gigantic +operations were inaugurated. Between the +years 1885 and 1889 the industrial values +issued each year reached an average of 1,770 +million francs; between 1890 and 1895 the +average rose to 1,880 millions, and from 1896 +to 1900 it was computed at 2,384 millions.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>Of all German financial institutions the +most influential and prosperous is the Deutsche +Bank. It has been aptly termed an +empire within the empire. Its capital, 250 +million francs, exceeds that of the Reichsbank +by thirty millions. It is the first of the six +great German banks, of which four are known +as the “D” group, because the first letter of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>their respective names is D: Deutsche Bank, +Dresdner Bank, Disconto-Gesellschaft and +Darmstädter Bank. The other two are the +Schaffhausenscher Bankverein and the Berliner +Handelsgesellschaft. The total capital of these +six concerns amounts to 1,100 million francs.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>None of these houses is hampered by those +rules, traditions or scruples which limit the +activity of British joint stock banks. They +are free to launch into speculations which, to +the sober judgment of our own financiers, +must seem wild and precarious, but to which +success has affixed the hall-mark of approval. +Each of the six banks is a centre of German +home industries and also of the foreign transformations +of these. To mention an industry +is almost always to connote some one of the +six. Before the war broke out one had but +to gaze steadily at the beautiful facade of this +or that Russian bank to discern the Lamia-like +monster from the banks of the Spree. +The famous firm of Krupps, for instance, had +its affairs closely interwoven with those of +the Berliner Disconto Gesellschaft, and was +more than once rescued from bankruptcy by its +timely assistance. Similar help was afforded +to the celebrated firm of Bauer which is known +throughout the world for its synthetical +medicines. There were critical moments in +its existence when it was confronted with +ruin. The Bank extricated the firm from +its difficulties, and the present dividend of +33 per cent. has justified its enterprise.</p> + +<p>In this way the latter-day German banks +upset all financial traditions, opened large +credits to industries, smoothed the way for +the spread of German commerce, killed foreign +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>competition and seconded the national policy +of their Government. As an instance of the +push and audacity of these modernized institutions, +a master stroke of the Bank of Behrens +and Sons of Hamburg may be mentioned: it +bought up the entire coffee crop of Guatemala +one year to the amazement of its rivals and +netted a very large profit by the transaction.</p> + +<p>Now as commerce is international and industry +depends for its greatest successes upon +exportation, it was inevitable that the up-to-date +German banks should seek fields of +activity abroad and aim at playing a commanding +part in the world’s commerce. And +they tried and succeeded. For they alone +instinctively divined the new spirit of the +age, which may be termed co-operative and +agglutinative. It was in virtue of this new +idea that groups of States were leagued together +by Germany in view of her projected +war, and it is the same principle that impels +her, before the conflict has yet been decided, +to weld to herself as many tributary peoples as +she may to assist her in the economic struggle +which will be ushered in by peace. Germans +first semiconsciously felt and now deliberately +hold that in all departments of modern life, +social, economic and political, our conception +of quantities must undergo a radical change. +The scale must be greatly enlarged. The unit +of former times must give place to a group of +units, to syndicates and trusts in commerce +and industry, to trade unions in the labour +world, to Customs-federations in international +life. That this shifting of quantities is a +correlate of the progress achieved in technical +science and in means of communication, and +also of the vastness of armies and navies and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +of the aims of the world’s foremost peoples, +is since then become a truism, realized not +only by the Germans but by all their allies.</p> + +<p>For individual enterprise, as well as for +national isolation, there is no room in the +modern world. Isolation spells weakness and +helplessness there. The lesser neutral States +must of necessity become the clients of the +Great Powers and pay a high price for the +protection afforded them. Hence the maintenance +of small nations on their present basis, +with enormous colonies to exploit but without +efficient means of defending them, forms no +part of Germany’s future programme. And +the altruistic professions of the Entente which +claims to be fighting for the rights of little +States, whose idyllic existence it would fain +perpetuate, is scoffed at by the Teutons as +chimerical or hypocritical. When this war is +over, whatever its upshot, Central Europe with +or without the non-German elements will have +become a single unit, against whose combined +industrial, commercial and military strivings no +one European Power can successfully compete. +And the difficulties which geographical situation +has raised against effective co-operation +among the Allies in war time will make themselves +felt with increased force during the +economic struggle which will then begin.</p> + +<p>No mere tariff arrangement, but only a +genuine league between all the west European +Powers and the British Empire, supplemented +by a customs union between them and the +other Allies of the Entente, will then avail +to ward off the new danger and establish some +rough approach to the equilibrium which the +present conflict has overthrown. The future +destinies of Europe, as far as one may conjecture<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +from the data available to-day, will +depend largely on the insight of the Entente +nations and their readiness to subordinate +national aims and interests to those of the +larger unit which will be the inevitable product +of the new order of things.</p> + +<p>The ideal type of the industrial bank having +been thus wrought out, the Germans, whom a +thoroughly commercial education had qualified +for the work, carried on vast operations with +a degree of boldness which was matched only +by the thoroughness of their precautions. +They advanced money with a readiness and +an open-handedness which the West European +financier set down as sheer folly, but which +was the outcome of close study and careful +deliberation. They began by acquainting +themselves with the solvency of their clients, +with the nature of the transactions which these +were carrying on, with their business methods +and individual abilities, and to the results of +this preliminary examination they adjusted +the extent of their financial assistance. They +had secret inquiry offices to keep them constantly +informed of the condition of the +various firms and individuals, and when in +doubt they demanded an insight into the +books of the company which was seldom +denied them. The Spanish Inquisition was +but a clumsy agency in comparison with the +perfect system evolved by these German banks, +which could at any given moment sum up the +prospects as well as the actual situation of +each of their customers. It was this comprehensive +survey which warranted some of the +large advances they made to seemingly insolvent +firms which afterwards grew to be the +most prosperous in the Fatherland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>The methods thus practised at home were +adhered to in all those foreign countries which +the German financier, manufacturer or trader +selected for his field of operations. A bank +would be opened in the foreign capital with +money advanced mainly by one of the six +great financial institutions. It would be called +by some high-sounding name, suggestive of +the country experimented upon, and little +by little the German capital would be diminished +to a minimum and local capital substituted, +but the supreme control kept zealously +in the hands of the Teuton directors. Industries +would then be financed and finally +bought up. Others would also be financed +but deliberately ruined. Competition would +in this way be effectively killed, and little by +little the life-juices of the country would be +canalized to suit the requirements of German +trade, industry and politics.</p> + +<p>If an industry in the invaded country was +judged capable of becoming subsidiary to some +German industry, the Bank would maintain it +for the purpose of amalgamating the two later +on, or else having the foreign concern absorbed +by the Teutonic. This was a labour of patriotism +and profit. But if the business was +recognized as a formidable rival to some +German enterprise, it was doomed. The procedure +in this case was simple. The Bank +advanced money readily, tied the firm financially, +rendering it wholly tributary; and then +when the hour of destiny struck, the credit +was suddenly withdrawn and the curtain rung +up in the Bankruptcy Court. When this consummation +became public, the unsuspecting +foreigner would ask with naïve astonishment: +“How can it be bankrupt? I understood that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +Germans were financing it.” They were, and +it was precisely for that reason, and because it +was on the way to prosperity as a rival to some +German firm, that it was suffocated.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>This ingenious system proved exceptionally +effective in Brazil. It has been said that that +republic is become a dependency of Germany. +What cannot be gainsaid is that about one-third +of Brazil’s national debt<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> is owing to +German bankers, and the whole financial and industrial +movement of the country is swayed by +the Society of Colonization which is German, +by the German Society for Mutual Protection, +by the German-Brazilian Society and by the +three Navigation Companies whose steamers +ply between Brazil and the Fatherland.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> It +is because of the far-reaching power and influence +which has accrued to Germany from +this successful invasion that Professor Schmoller +of the Berlin University could write: “It +behoves us to desire at any and every cost +that, by the next century, a German land of +twenty or thirty million inhabitants shall +arise in Southern Brazil. It is immaterial +whether it remains part of Brazil or constitutes +an independent State or enters into close +relations with the German Empire. But without +a connection guaranteed by battleships, +without the possibility of Germany’s armed +intervention in Brazil, its future would be +jeopardized.”</p> + +<p>It is the Monroe doctrine that is commonly +credited with thwarting these designs on South +America. But as a matter of plain fact, it is +to the British Navy and to nothing else that +the credit is due. Were it not for the known +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>resolve of the British nation to co-operate in +case of need with the American people in their +exertions to uphold that doctrine against Germany, +the Berlin Cabinet would long ago have +formally established a firm footing in Southern +Brazil and the United States Government would +have been powerless to prevent it.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Kaiser is one of the largest shareholders in the +great mercury mines of Italy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Cf. <i>L’Invasione tedesca in Italia</i>. Ezio M. Gray. +Firenze.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Cf. <i>L’Invasione tedesca in Italia</i>, pp. 118, 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> 1050 million francs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> An instructive article on the subject by Mr. Moreton +Frewen appeared in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> of February, +1916.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GERMANY AND ITALIAN FINANCE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was in congruity with those principles +and methods that the Banca Commerciale, +which had its headquarters in Milan, set itself +to discharge the complex functions of a financial, +industrial, commercial and political agency +of German interpenetration in Italy.</p> + +<p>To German customers and those Italians +who imported German goods, the Banca Commerciale +allowed long credits and easy means +of payment. To all who were in need of implements, +machinery, or materials for a new +enterprise, the bank “recommended” German +houses, and those who were wise construed the +“recommendation” as an ultimatum. For if +it was ignored, their names were inscribed on +the black books of the bank, and by means +of an efficacious system of secret dossiers, +handled by a confidential information bureau,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +they found themselves thrust into a “credit +vacuum,” boycotted by finance and condemned +to bankruptcy. All banks shunned them. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>Their bonds became mere scraps of paper. +Every enterprise to which they set their hands +was blighted, and nothing remained for them +but to abandon their avocations or surrender +at discretion.</p> + +<p>But besides this executive of destruction +there was another and still more important +board, whose work was wholly constructive. +It was commonly known as the “service of +information.” Its functions were to collect at +first hand all useful data about Italian commerce +and industry, to draw up tabulated +reports for the use of Germans at home +engaged in trade and industry. These lists +indicated current prices, the qualities of the +goods in demand, the favourite ways of packing +and consigning these, samples of manufactures, +statistics of production, the addresses of +all firms dealing with Italians—in a word, every +kind of data calculated to enable German trade +and industry to compete successfully with +their rivals. The manner in which this body +of information was drawn up, sifted, classified, +and made accessible, deserves unstinted admiration. +To say that commercial espionage +was practised largely in the working of this +comprehensive system is but another way of +stating that it was German.</p> + +<p>The Banca Commerciale, which was the +head and centre of this organization, was, as +a matter of course, called Italian. For every +similar institution, commercial, journalistic or +other, which has for its object the realization +of the Teutonic plan of internationalization, +invariably wears the mask of the nationality +of the country in which it operates. And in +this case the mask was supplied by Italians, +on whom the bank bestowed all the highest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +<i>honorary</i> posts, while reserving the influential +ones for Germans and Austrians. Thus the +moving spirits of this vast organization were +Herrn Joel, Weil and Toeplitz, men of uncommon +business capacity, who devoted all their +time and energies to the attainment of the +end in view. And their zeal, industry and ingenuity +were rewarded by substantial results, +which have left an abiding mark on Italian +politics and entered for a great deal into the +attitude of the nation towards the two groups +of belligerents. In a relatively short span of +time foreign competition in Italian markets was +checked, German products ousted those of their +rivals, and at last the very sources of Italy’s +economic life were in the hands of the Teuton, +whose continued goodwill became almost a +vital necessity to the struggling nation.</p> + +<p>Already in the year 1912 Germany stood +first among Italy’s customers, whether we consider +the list of her exports or that of imports. +Italy bought from that empire goods valued +at 626,300,000 francs, and sold it produce worth +328,200,000 francs; whereas Great Britain, +who supplies Italy with the bulk of her coal, +exported only 577,100,000 francs worth, while +her imports were valued at 264,400,000 francs. +For France the figures were 289,600,000 and +222,600,000 francs respectively.</p> + +<p>The method by which Italian industries were +assailed, shaken, and then purchased and controlled +by this redoubtable organization, bore, +as we saw, all the marks of German commercial +ethics. Sharp practice which recognizes as its +only limitation the strong arm of the penal +law, is a fair description of the plan of campaign. +Against this insidious process none of the +native enterprises had the strength to offer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +effective resistance. One by one they were +drawn into the vast net woven by the three +German Fates—Joel, Weil and Toeplitz. The +various iron, mechanical and shipbuilding +works, which represented the germs from which +native industries were to grow, were sucked +into the Teuton maelstrom. The larger and +the smaller steamship navigation companies +likewise fell under the direction of the Banca +Commerciale, which permitted some of them +to exist and even to thrive up to a certain +point, beyond which their usefulness to the +general plan would have turned to harm. In +this way Italy’s entire mercantile marine became +one of the numerous levers in the hands +of the interpenetrating German. And the importance +of this lever for political purposes +can neither be gainsaid nor easily overstated.</p> + +<p>In every little town and village which sends a +quota of emigrants to the transatlantic liners, +agents of the various steamship companies +are always about and active. Being intelligent +and enterprising, their influence on local +politics is irresistible, and it was uniformly +employed in those interests which it was the +object of the Banca Commerciale to further. +“This institution,” writes an Italian expert, +who has studied the subject with unusual care, +“being the mistress of the dominant economic +organisms of the nation, makes use of them to +carry out a germanophile policy. It employs +them for the purpose of exercising a directive +action in all elections, commercial, provincial +and general. Every servant of a steamship +navigation company, every purveyor of emigrants +is at the same time and by the very force +of things an electoral agent. The position of +arbitress and mistress of the steamship companies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +carries with it possession of the keys +of the national wealth, and is consequently a +formidable weapon of aggressive competition +against all industries, Italian and foreign, which +are not affiliated to those of Germany. The +Banca Commerciale, having obtained that supremacy, +forced the Italian companies to lead +a languishing existence in straitened circumstances, +whereas they might easily have grown +rich and flourishing. It permits our steamship +companies to subsist and even to earn somewhat, +but only just enough to suffice for the +declaration of a modest dividend. That is why +Italian navigation companies levy such excessive +rates of freight, why their service is not +organized in accordance with rational and latter +day standards, why they take no thought of +winning foreign markets or of national expansion.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +They have no means of consigning +merchandise at the domicile, so that the consignees +are put to enormous expense for collection +and delivery. And to make matters +still worse, Italian navigation companies are +bound with those of Germany by special secret +conventions, which oblige them to abandon to +their rivals certain kinds of merchandise of the +Near and the Far East.”</p> + +<p>If we examine the peculiarly Teuton ways +of trade competition in their everyday guise, +and without the glamour of political ideals +to distract our attention, we are confronted +with phenomena of a repulsive character. For +the German’s keen practical sense, his sustained +concentration of effort on the furtherance +of material interests, and his scorn of +ethical restraints render him a formidable +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>competitor in pacific pursuits and a dangerous +enemy in war. His moral sense is not so much +dulled by experience as warped by education. +It may be likened to a clock which has not +stopped but shows the wrong hour. He has +been taught that there are times and circumstances +when religious and ethical standards +may or must be set aside, and he arrogates to +himself the right of determining them. Without +examining into stories of preternatural +meanness and perfidy which have come into +vogue since the outbreak of the war, it is fair +to say that dirty tricks, destructive of all +social intercourse, formed part of the German +commercial procedure in France, Britain and +Russia, the only proviso being that they were not +penalized by the criminal law of the country.</p> + +<p>An amusing but nowise edifying instance +turns upon Paris fashions. That Berlin, like +Vienna, should seek to vie with Paris in setting +the fashion of feminine finery to the world is +conceivable and legitimate. But that Germans +should compete with Paris in Paris fashions +connotes a psychological frame of mind which +is better understood by the inmates of a prison +than by a mercantile community. American +ladies visiting the French capital to order their +gowns are astonished to note that no fashions +really new have been shown to them in the great +Paris houses. They had just seen them all in +the German capital. And the Paris models +destined to be placed on the market next season +turn out to be identical with those which the +fair visitors had already inspected in Berlin +and could have purchased there at a much +lower price. How this could be is explained +simply. A German merchant in continuous +relations with the staffs of the Paris firms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +clandestinely obtains from some of the members +for a high price the models which are still +being kept secret, has them copied in large +numbers in Berlin and sold at a cheap price. +True, the German workmanship lacks the +dainty finish of the Paris article, but the +difference is such as appeals only to the eye +of a connoisseur.</p> + +<p>In Italy similar phenomena were observed +frequently. A firm in Florence celebrated +for special types of wooden utensils which +were never successfully imitated elsewhere +was ruined by commercial espionage. One +day the proprietor engaged the services of +two foreign workmen who laboured hard and +steadily for some time and then departed, to +his great regret. Six months later Germany +dumped on the Italian markets the very same +articles in vast quantities, and at a price so +low that the Italian firm could not hope to +compete with them. At first, indeed, the +Florence house made a valiant stand against +the invasion, but had finally to give up the +fight as hopeless. Later on the proprietor +learned that the two honest-looking workmen +were first-class German engineers, whose only +objects in entering his service were to acquaint +themselves with his methods, copy his models +and then strangle his trade. And these objects +they achieved to their satisfaction.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>Thus, in order to strangle concerns that +compete with them successfully, the average +German merchant sticks at nothing. His +maxim is, that in trade as in all forms of the +struggle for existence, necessity knows no law. +And he is himself the judge of necessity. The +history of German industry in Italy is full of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>instructive examples of this disdain of moral +checks, but one will suffice as a type. It +turns upon the struggle which the Teuton invaders +carried on against the Italian iron +industry, which for a while held its own +against all fair competition. In their own +country, the German manufacturers sold +girders at £6 10<i>s.</i> the ton. The profits made +at this price enabled them to offer the same +articles in Switzerland for £6, in Great Britain +for £5 3<i>s.</i> and in Italy for £3 15<i>s.</i> Now, as +the cost of production in Germany fluctuated +between £4 5<i>s.</i> and £4 15<i>s.</i> per ton, it is evident +that the dead loss incurred by the German +manufacturers on Italian sales varied between +10<i>s.</i> and £1 per ton. But this sacrifice was +offered up cheerfully because its object was +the destruction of the growing iron industry of +Northern Italy and the clearing of the ground +for a German monopoly.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The spirit that +animates the Teuton producer, in his capacity +as rival, was clearly embodied by one of the +principal manufacturers of aniline dyes in +Frankfort, who remarked to an Italian business +man: “I am ready to sell at a dead loss for +ten years running rather than lose the Italian +market, and if it were necessary I would give +up for the purpose all the profits I have made +during the past ten years.”<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> To contend with +any hope of success against men of this stamp, +one should be imbued with qualities resembling +their own. And of such a commercial equipment +the business community of Great Britain +have as yet shown no tokens.</p> + +<p>In Italy the Banca Commerciale was wont +to send to every firm, whether it had or had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>not dealings with it, a tabulated list of questions +to be answered in writing. The ostensible +object was to obtain trustworthy materials +to serve for the Annual Review of the economic +movement in the country published every +year by the Bank. In reality the ends achieved +were far more important, as we may infer from +the use to which all such information in France +was put. There the well-known agency of +Schimmelpfeng, which was in receipt of a +subvention from the German Chamber of +Commerce, was a centre of secret information +respecting the solvency, the prospects, the +debts and assets of every firm in France, and +its tabulated information about French commerce +and industry, together with all the +knowledge that had been secretly gleaned, +was duly sent to Berlin.</p> + +<p>Russians complain somewhat tardily of the +prevalence of the same system among themselves. +“Every day,” writes the <i>Novoye +Vremya</i>, “fresh details are leaking out respecting +a certain German firm, ideal in its resourcefulness, +which succeeded in spreading a vast +net over all Russia. It has been satisfactorily +established that Germans occupied many responsible +posts in the organization, and that +these<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> officials were subjects of the German +Empire. At the head of the entire business +in Russia down to a recent date was also a +German subject.” The kind of information +gathered by the agents of the company, “for +business purposes,” is clear from a circular +issued by the firm just a fortnight before the +outbreak of the war.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + +<h4>THE FIRM OF XYZ</h4> + +<p class="right"><span style="padding-right: 5.5em">“Tula,</span><br /> + +“5/18 July, 1914.</p> + +<p class="right">“<i>District Card for the Collectors of the Circuit.</i></p> + +<p class="right">“<span style="padding-right: 1em"><i>Form N 246.</i></span></p> + +<p>“We have forwarded you to-day a number of +cards of the printed form N 246, which you are +requested to have filled in at once and placed +at the head of form 490 of the corresponding +district. We draw your attention herewith +to the necessity of enumerating on the first +table of form N 246 all the villages and other +places of the circuit of each district collector, +whether or no they contain debtors of ours, +and of stating in the second table the number +of inhabitants. The registration is to be done +by the official charged with that part of the +work: each circuit is to be entered separately +and the villages and places it contains to be +given in alphabetical order. These lists are +to be verified every six months and fresh +information set out respecting the growing +number of our debtors. We request you to take +this work in hand at once and without delay.</p> + +<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">The Control Department, Tula.</span>”</p> + +<p>When this circular was published in Moscow +the general director of the firm wrote to certain +provincial newspapers pointing out that the +company is American, not German. “It is +curious,” a Russian journal remarks, “that an +American firm should need a map containing +all the villages and hamlets of the districts, +with the number of their inhabitants, irrespective +of the presence there of the company’s +debtors.”<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This secret information bureau is everywhere a +potent engine of attack in German hands. It renders +deliberate libellers and defamers immune against the +action of the law. The victims feel the effects but +cannot point to the cause. The <i>fiches</i>, as the certificates +are called, are couched in conventional terms and bear +no signature. In the case of persons whom the bank +desires to ruin, these documents are sentences of commercial +death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Cf. Preziosi, <i>La Germania a la Conquista dell’ Italia</i>, +p. 57 fol.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>L’Invasione tedesca</i>, p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>L’Invasione tedesca in Italia</i>, p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> It is an American Company for the sale of certain +machines. The Russian organ mentions all the names. +For my purpose this is unnecessary. The curious may +find them in the <i>Novoye Vremya</i> of 5/18 August, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, 5/18 July, 1916.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE ANNEXATION MANIA</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Another</span> instructive example of the Annexation +mania, as it displays itself in German +commercial undertakings, comes to us from +Russia.</p> + +<p>It is only one of many, a typical instance +of a recognized method. The Franco-Russian +joint-stock company Provodnik is known +throughout Europe. It manufactures tyres +and other rubber wares. The capital, which +amounted to only 700,000 roubles at the date +of its foundation, in the year 1888, had increased +to 22,000,000 by the time when +war was declared. It is closely connected +with another company named the Buffalo, +which has its headquarters in Riga and was +promoted by the President of the Provodnik, +M. Wittenberg, together with several Austrian +capitalists. M. Wittenberg is President +of both companies, and the Provodnik has +assisted the Buffalo on various occasions, even +during the war, notwithstanding the fact that +the shareholders of the Buffalo are mostly +German subjects. On January 2, 1914, another +company was created, this time in Berlin, +and called the “German Provodnik.” Now, +according to the instructions laying down the +rights of the Board (Par. 24), wares may not be +delivered on credit to any firm or institution +for the value of more than 50,000 roubles, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +not even to this amount unless the solvency of +the recipient is beyond question.</p> + +<p>In spite of this clearly marked limitation +the Board of the Franco-Russian Provodnik, +which exerted itself with unwonted zest to +supply the German Provodnik with motor-tyres +shortly before the war, opened a credit +of 498,000 roubles in favour of this firm. The +manager of the warehouses of the Riga products +in New York is a German subject named +Lindner. The managers in Zurich and Copenhagen +are also German subjects.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>It is not to be wondered at that countries +like Italy and Russia, poor in capital and +industry, fell an easy prey to the ruthless +German invader, who, with the help of British, +French, and even Italian and Russian savings, +suffocated the nascent industries of the respective +nations, killed foreign competition, +earned large profits, obtained control of the +country’s resources and an intimate knowledge +of the political secrets of their respective +Governments. “Many Germans,” wrote an +Italian Review,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> “serving in Italian establishments +are in possession of lists of the fortresses, +measurements, distances, positions of the roads +and footpaths, they have found the points of +triangulation and acquired all requisite data +and information about them. And to-morrow, +should war break out, they will accompany and +guide the German or Austrian invaders.”</p> + +<p>How keen they are to make themselves conversant +with matters of political moment in the +guise of honest workmen is becoming fairly +well known to day, although it may be taken +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>for granted that if peace were concluded to-morrow +these same commercial spies would +find hospitality among some of the easy-going +merchants of Great Britain, who still refuse +to believe in the obvious danger or to act upon +their belief. In November 1912 the Italian +Minister of the Marine called for tenders for +the supply of silver dinner-plate for the warships. +At the critical moment, when the +decision was about to be taken, the German +firm of Hermann, which has its headquarters +in Vienna, reduced its offer first by 18 per cent., +then by 20, and finally by 20·13 per cent. in +order to get the order. For the order carried +with it, for the representative of the firm, +Herr Forster, <i>the permanent right of access</i> to all +naval arsenals of Italy.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>The <i>naïveté</i> of Italy in matters of this +delicate nature stands out in jarring contrast +to the habitual caution of that diplomatic +nation, and has not yet been satisfactorily explained +from the psychological point of view. +One is puzzled to understand how, months +after the present war had begun, the press +of Genoa could announce that the supply of +electric motors for the Italian marine and of +ventilators for Italy’s fortified places on her +eastern frontier had been adjudicated to two +German firms, on the ground that their tenders +were the lowest.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>One of the largest automobile and motor +works in the German Empire is the Benz and +Rheinische Automobil und Motoren Fabrik +Actien Gesellschaft of Mannheim. It supplies +the Kaiser with his cars and has branches +everywhere. In Italy, too, it exists and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>flourishes. But there the great German firm +is modestly disguised under the name of the +Societá Italiana Benz. And it is so modest +that in spite of its gorgeous warehouse in the +Via Floria (Rome), of its luxurious head-office +in the Via Finanze, of its well-equipped workshop +for repairing and fitting and its little +army of agents actively pushing the business +all over Italy, its capital, all told, amounts +only to 30,000 lire, or £1,000! The firm is +managed by a German engineer whose kith +and kin are fighting in the Kaiser’s army. +And this German engineer, Herr Matt, has +free access to the Italian War Minister, even +now,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> when it is question of manufacturing +projectiles; and he has continuous relations +with the Italian Airmen’s Brigade.</p> + +<p>Electricity in Italy, together with all its +auxiliary trades and industries, was, like every +other lucrative enterprise, in the hands of +Germans and German Swiss. The names of +the various company directors had the usual +familiar Teuton sound. When the European +conflict broke out it seemed for a moment as +if all these German concerns must come to a +sudden and dire end. But just as the German +engineer Herr Matt, whose relatives are officers +in the Kaiser’s army, has free access to the +Italian War Minister and carries on his business +in Italy as usual, so the electrical concerns +had merely to change one or two adjectives in +their trading names and were forthwith shielded +from harm. A case in point which is valuable +because typical occurred recently. The Italian +Electro-technical Association published a list +of the manufacturers of electric machines and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>requisites in Italy, and by way of introduction +set down the following patriotic remarks: +“This list is addressed to those who at the +present moment feel it to be their duty to +uphold and encourage the production and +development of materials for electricity. Importation +from abroad, which we favoured when +Italian industry was still in an embryonic stage, +<i>degenerated especially in consequence of the action +of the Germans</i>, into a veritable conquest of +the markets; and no weapon, licit or illicit, was +spurned to destroy our sources of production, +and suffocate our nascent initiative.”</p> + +<p>These are pathetic words. They are calculated +to appeal with force to the Italian who +loves his country. But when one looks more +closely into the list of Italian producers one is +disappointed to find the same familiar names as +before:<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Allgemeine Electricitäts Gesellschaft, +Thomson Houston, the Mannesmann Tubes +Co., the Italian Brown Boveri Co., etc. The +nationalist Italian press organ which first +directed public attention to these German +subtleties asks pertinently: “Were not and +are not the real producers named in this list +the same who were the prime movers in the +deplorable foreign conquest of the Italian +market?”<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>The Banca Commerciale, which was admittedly +an all-powerful German institution, +and has the control, direct or indirect, of most +of the industries, the silk manufacture, metallurgical +and mechanical works of the country +and of thirty-four electrical companies in Italy: +which possess a capital of 434,000,000 francs +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>and produce energy equal to 940,000 h.p.: +found itself in an unpleasant predicament as +soon as the King of Italy declared war against +Austria-Hungary. But Teuton resourcefulness +solved the problem with ease and seeming +thoroughness by inducing certain German +officials on the board to resign and appointing +as Italian director a gentleman known for his +philo-Germanism. But the three creators of +the bank were left: Herrn Joel, Toeplitz and +Weil, and although it was affirmed solemnly +that Joel was no longer the director but +M. Fenoglio, it has been publicly proved that +after the resignation of the former, the latter, +before sending a <i>consignment of gold to Berlin</i>,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +had to ask for and actually received the +authorization of Herr Joel.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>The following brief summary of the companies +and enterprises in which the Banca +Commerciale is interested may enable the +British reader to form an idea of its decisive +influence on the economic and political life +of the Italian nation: they include eighteen +of the largest companies of textile industries; +sixteen of the most important companies of +chemical, electrical and kindred industries; +six of the chief companies of alimentation; +twenty-six transport companies; twenty-seven +of the principal companies of mechanical +industries and naval construction; six building +companies; five of the chief mining companies; +twenty-eight of the largest electrical companies; +and twenty-two miscellaneous.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>Thus every artery and vein of the economic +organism of Italy is swathed and pressed and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>choked by this German isolator, which nobody dares +to pull away. For if we turn from the +economic to the political aspect of this curious +phenomenon, we shall find that the companies +enumerated give work to scores of thousands +of operators and employees, through whose +willing instrumentality they become vast electoral +agencies. “It is obvious,” we are authoritatively +assured, “that the influence of +such companies in administrative and political +elections is put forth in congruity with the +interests at stake, a circumstance which explains +how it comes that many Italian politicians +and representatives are, directly or otherwise, +chained to the chariot of the Banca +Commerciale and indirectly to that of Germany’s +policy.”<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> In Italy the deputies are, with +few exceptions, the humble servants of their +constituents, and are powerless to shake themselves +free from local influences. “It is easy +to infer from this what efforts have to be made +and what compromises must be acquiesced in by +those deputies whose election depends on such +institutions which, aware that money is more +than ever the nerve of political contests, subscribe +to the election expenses, and assure in this way +the respectful gratitude of the parliamentary +recipients of their benefactions. And all this is +executed with order and discipline. Examples +could be quoted and names mentioned.”<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>The unsuspected ways in which this remarkable +organization destroys, constructs and draws +its sustenance from its victims are a revelation. +Imagine a few British bankers possessed of two +hundred thousand pounds and conceiving the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>plan of wresting the economic markets of Italy +from Britain’s rivals, building up an all-powerful +organization with Italian money, throttling +Italian industries and commerce with the help +of Italian agents paid for the purpose out of +the hard-earned savings of the Italian people, +and then yoking the national policy to the +interests of Great Britain. One would laugh +to scorn such a mad scheme, and set down its +authors as wild visionaries. Yet that was the +programme of the little band of audacious +Germans who conceived the design of teutonizing +Italy. And they had almost realized it +when the war broke out. Even the halfpence +scraped together by poor emigrants and half-starved +Sicilian working-men were diverted from +the savings banks into banks of German origin, +two of which held four hundred million francs +of the nation’s economies a few months ago.</p> + +<p>It was not to be expected that the domain +of foreign politics should long escape the notice +or be spared the experiments of this all-absorbing +organization. What excites our wonder +are the superiority of its method and the completeness +of its success. To the thinking of +Germany’s leaders international politics and +foreign trade are correlates. In the Near +East, where so many of Italy’s interests are +now concentrated, the Societa Commerciale +d’Oriente of Constantinople, being one of the +agencies of the Banca Commerciale, was also +one of the canals through which this influence +passed. Under the Italian flag and with the +co-operation of Italian diplomacy, that “little +business” of Germany was conscientiously +transacted which consisted in the adaptation +and employment of Italian expansion as an +instrument for Teutonic interpenetration.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +Whithersoever we turn our gaze we discern, +lurking under the comely vesture of Italy, +the clumsy form of the Teuton. It is +amusing to reflect that the recent railway +concessions in Asia Minor, for which Italian +statesmen laboured so hard and so long, +went in reality to the Banca Commerciale, +which is but a roundabout way of saying +to Germany. And in order to win their +suit and have those advantages conferred on +“Italy,” King Victor’s Government agreed to +renounce their claims for the reimbursement +of the expenses incurred during the administration +of the occupied Turkish islands. This +sacrifice meant tens of millions of francs, kept +from the pockets of Italian taxpayers and handed +over to the German bankers, who spent them in +promoting anti-Italian projects. The Bank of +Albania was also conceived originally as an organ +of German propaganda, and was pushed forward +by the same set of agents who induced the +Italian Government to employ them as its +own.</p> + +<p>In those ways the seemingly modest little +bank scheme which Friedrich Weil with Crispi’s +help initiated in 1890, grew until it acquired +the influence of a State within the State. And +then it began to discharge functions unique +in the history of the banking world. Its +employees became diplomatists and statesmen +at a moment’s notice, ended wars, and drafted +treaties. The Banca Commerciale put a stop +to the campaign against Turkey which was a +thorn in the side of Teutonism and settled the +terms of peace in accordance with its own +judgment. It was not an ambassador or a +minister who opened the pourparlers in Stamboul +and continued them at Ouchy, but an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +agent of the Banca Commerciale. It was +that same agent who immediately afterwards, +in concert with colleagues of his bank, negotiated +the treaty, reporting by telegraph to +the headquarters of the bank in Milan every +important conversation he had with the +Turkish delegates.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> At a later date important +conversations between the British Foreign +Office and the Consulta were entered into in +the name and for the alleged interests of Italy, +but the principal part in the drawing up of the +terms of the settlement arrived at was taken +by Signor Nogara of the Societa Commerciale +d’Oriente,—the company which the concessions +demanded were destined to benefit. In fine, +the parasite had thus become almost equal in +power to the body on which it battened.</p> + +<p>A well-known politician and member of the +Italian Legislature, Di Cesaró, narrated the +following curious incident in a public speech +delivered on March 17, 1915: “An Italian +Admiral, having had the audacity to request +the immediate delivery of an order for arms +manufactured by the works which are under the +control of the Banca Commerciale, was relieved +of his functions within twenty-four hours, and +his place was taken by another Admiral, who +by chance happened to be the brother of one +of the negotiators of the Italo-Turkish Peace +of Ouchy.” And as we saw, the negotiators +of that peace were officials of the Banca +Commerciale. An authority on the subject<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> +wrote: “For many years the Banca Commerciale +has contrived, directly or indirectly, +according to circumstances, to take a hand +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>in the formation of various ministries.... As +a matter of fact, on its governing board there +are seven senators, many deputies, and a +numerous host of political notabilities. It has +its tentacles everywhere, high up and low +down, in Italy and abroad, in peace time and +in war time, when our native land is elated +with good fortune and when it is cast down +with bad. Its hand lies heavy upon everything +and everybody. It is the arbitress in +the choice of good and evil and is under no +obligation to render an account of its doings +to any one.... In war time we are certain +to feel greatly hampered by the meshes of +such a firmly woven net.”<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> This anticipation +has since come true.</p> + +<p>Like the vampire that soothes its victim +while drawing its life-blood, the parasitic +German organism cast a spell over influential +Italians of the community and imparted to +them a feeling that things were going well with +themselves and their country. Money passed +from hand to hand. Labour found remunerative +employment. Towns in decay were galvanized +into new life. And all Italy was grateful. +Milan, the “moral capital” of the kingdom, +where a couple of decades before the name +of Germany was execrated, became itself very +largely Teutonic and was dominated by a rich +and flourishing German colony. Venice, Genoa, +Rome, Florence, Naples, Palermo and Torino, +leavened in the same plentiful degree with +pushing subjects of the Kaiser, turned towards +Berlin as the sunflower towards the orb of day.</p> + +<p>Against Austria, Italians might write and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>talk to their hearts’ content, but towards +Germany feelings of respect verging on awe +and of gratitude bordering on genuine friendship +were cherished by every institution and +leading individual in the kingdom. And when +the hour struck to wrench Italy from that +monster vampire, the task was so arduous +and fraught with such danger that no Cabinet +without the insistent encouragement of the +whole nation would have attempted it. The +policy of every Foreign Secretary was and still +is dominated by this unnatural relationship to +the Teuton, and it came at last to be acknowledged +as a political dogma that Germany must +in no case be confounded with Austria. Indeed, +it is fair to assert that the governing +circles of both countries held and hold that +nothing should be allowed to mar these +friendly feelings, not even the circumstance +that Germany as Austria’s ally is bound to +stand by her during the war. Hence when +the friction between Italy and Austria was +growing dangerous, Germany was ready with +two expedients for keeping her friendly intercourse +with the former country intact. She +first assumed the rôle of umpire between them, +endeavouring to beat down the demands of +the one while spurring on the other to a +higher degree of liberality, and when her +well-laid and skilfully executed plan unexpectedly +failed, in consequence of the interposition +of a <i>deus ex machina</i>, she produced +a draft treaty, complete in all details, which +was to rob war between Italy and herself, if +circumstances should render it unavoidable, +of all its frightfulness and savagery. The +two nations virtually said to one another: +“Whatever else we may do, we shall steer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +clear of mutual hostilities to the best of our +ability. But as the action and reaction of +alliances may thwart our efforts and force +us into war against each other, we hereby +undertake that that war shall be but a +simulacrum of the struggle that we are at +present waging against all our other adversaries. +We shall respect each other’s property +religiously, for we shall both stand in need of +each other when the exhausting struggle is +ended and the wounds it inflicted have to be +dressed and healed. We Germans have invested +thousands of millions of francs in Italy, +the one foreign country for which we feel +genuine affection. You Italians have thriven +on our commercial and industrial enterprise. +Spare our property now and you shall not +rue your self-containment. After the war +the Entente people will shun us as lepers, and +our only hope of finding outlets for our commerce +is through the neutral States. Now, +of all the European Great Powers, Italy is +the only one qualified to render us great +services of this nature. And she will be glad +of a partner whose help is free from the alloy +of jealousy or hostility. For our interests do +not clash, whereas those of Italy and the +Entente Powers never can run parallel. In +the Adriatic she will find the Slavs pitted +against her, in Asia Minor the Russians, +French, British, Greeks, and in the Eastern +Mediterranean the three last-named States. +But at no point does Germany cross her path. +Our common hope in the future is based on +our experience of the past. It is knowledge +rather than trust. We Germans succeeded +in laying the foundations of your economic +strength. And now that Austria’s rivalry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +has ceased, we will contribute to your political +growth. With the help of our organizing +talent you will become the France of the +future. Your population is already well-nigh +equal to that of the Republic. In ten years +it will be more numerous, and will still go on +increasing. Tunis has been built up by +Italian toil. Nature has assigned the Mediterranean +to Italy as her natural domain. The +overlordship of the Midland Sea is yours by +right, and in co-partnership with us you shall +assert and enforce this right. Mind your +steps, therefore, in performing the difficult +egg dance which the European War may +impose on us both. You are not, cannot be, +friends of France, closely though you are +related by blood. Neither can the French +become our friends. Therefore you and we +are natural allies, as your far-sighted politicians +like Crispi perceived. Even Sonnino +sees that and acknowledges it. The one +political idea of his life was to solder Italy +firmly to Germany. And that is still the +desire of your aristocracy. Fight with Austria, +if you must, but Italy and Germany +must not become armed enemies.”</p> + +<p>Nearly two milliards of francs of German +money are invested in commercial and industrial +enterprises and immovable property in +Italy, besides the value of ships detained at +Italian ports, some of which have cargoes +valued at several million francs. The Kaiser +is himself the largest shareholder in the +Italian mercury mines of Monte Amiata, his +Foreign Secretary, von Jagow, is another. +And they are resolved not to relinquish their +hold. That Prince von Buelow should move +every lever to save this precious pledge was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +natural, and that Italian statesmen with their +germanophile leanings should readily fall in +with his scheme is not to be wondered at. +The Kaiser’s ambassador proposed that in +the case of war each contracting party should +respect the property of the other. This +formula sounds decorous. Its meaning is +profound. A treaty embodying these stipulations +was agreed to and secretly signed by +Prince von Buelow and Baron Sidney +Sonnino, whose admiration for Germany embodied +itself in all the more important acts +of his political career. This transaction, +which the Italian Government wisely refrained +from publishing, was announced by +the Germans for reasons of their own. The +impression produced by this display of eclectic +affinities so pronounced that even the world’s +most ruthless war could not impair them was +considerable. And it would have been +heightened if the alleged and credible fact had +also been divulged that the diplomatic instrument +was ratified when Italy had already decided +upon war with Austria-Hungary. Between +Italy and Germany stands a bridge which both +peoples are resolved to keep intact at all costs. +Against the facts it is useless to argue.</p> + +<p>The struggle between Germany and Italy, +therefore, should it ever break out, would +differ not merely in degree, but also, one +may take it, in kind, from the lawless and +ruthless savagery which characterizes the +warfare of the Teutons against the Entente +Powers. A civilizing mute would deaden the +resonance of bestial passion; and even private +property—in especial that of Germany—would +be safe from confiscation and wanton +destruction, and when peace is restored the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +rich mercury mines of Italy will again belong +to the Kaiser and his advisers. Last summer<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +a series of private meetings was held for three +days running in Switzerland, at which Germans +of high standing took part, for the +purpose of dealing with German capital in +Italy and safeguarding it during the war. At +one of the sittings it was computed that about +two milliards of francs belonging to German +subjects are buried in Italian undertakings or +in house or landed property.</p> + +<p>In November 1915 the Italian Government +publicly applied one of the provisions of the +secret treaty in favour of Germany. At that +moment it was deemed necessary to commandeer +German ships in Italian ports for +the service of the navy and the mercantile +marine. Had it been a question of Austrian +vessels they would have been seized and +utilized without any such precautions. In +virtue of §4 of the Treaty the Italian authorities +undertook to pay a monthly sum to the +German owners for the use of their steamers. +That clause lays it down that the two contracting +states shall respect the enactment +made by the concluding section of Article VI +of the Hague Convention concerning the +treatment of enemy merchant vessels.</p> + +<p>This treaty, then, is no mere scrap of +paper. It is a strong bridge spanning the +chasm between Italo-German friendship in +the past and Italo-German friendship after +the war. To take due note of this and of +like symptoms of the coming readjustment +of political and economic forces is one of the +primary duties of Entente statesmanship which +one piously hopes are being efficiently discharged.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Their names are Johann Assman and Rudolf Meyer. +Cf. <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, 11/24 August, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Rassegna Contemporanea.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>L’Invasione tedesca in Italia</i>, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Cf. <i>L’Idea Nazionale</i>. The words “even now” refer to +November 22, 1915, and may be equally true to-day.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Felix Deutsch, Karl Zander, Otto Joel, Karl von +Siemens, Walter Boveri, Karl Kapp, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>L’Idea Nazionale</i>, September 8, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> On May 21, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>L’Idea Nazionale</i>, November 8, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Giornale d’Italia</i>, November 17, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Cf. Preziosi, <i>La Germania a la Conquista dell’ Italia</i>, +p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Signor Preziosi gives the names of those agents as +MM. Volpi, Bertolini and Nogara (<i>op. cit.</i>, p. 71).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Professor Bondi, ex-Questor of Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Rivelazioni postume alle Memorie di un questore, +1913. Cf. Preziosi, <i>La Germania a la Conquista dell’ +Italia</i>, p. 75 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> 1915.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GERMANY AND RUSSIA</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Turning</span> to our other ally, Russia, we find +that she underwent a course of treatment +similar to that which well-nigh prussianized +Italy. In the Tsardom the task was especially +easy owing largely to the advantages offered to +Teutonic immigrants from the days of yore, +to the German-speaking inhabitants of the +Baltic provinces, to the proselytizing German +schools which flourish in Petrograd, Moscow, +Odessa, Kieff, Saratoff, Simbirsk, Tiflis, Warsaw +and other centres, to German colonies +scattered over Russia and to religious sects. +During the Manchurian campaign the Commercial +Treaty drafted in Berlin, and at first +denounced by Count Witte as ruinous to +his country, was agreed to and signed.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> It +was Hobson’s choice. After that the empire, +which had already been a favourite and +fruitful field for Germany’s experiments, became +one of the most copious sources of +her national prosperity. Commercial push +and political espionage were so thoroughly +fused that no line of demarcation remained +visible.</p> + +<p>Russia’s losses were proportionate and at +the time were computed at 35,000,000 marks a +year. In the Tsardom the imposition of this +tribute was resented. By the Teutons their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>economic victory was followed by political +influence. Their agents and spies abounded +everywhere. Time passed, and as relations +between the two empires grew tenser, the +danger defined itself in sharper outline to +the eyes of Russian statesmen, who resolved, +however, to postpone remedial measures until +the day should come for the discussion of +the renewal of the Commercial Treaty. The +knowledge that Russia would refuse either to +prolong that one-sided arrangement or to make +another like it, and that the consequences of +this refusal would be disastrous to Germany’s +economic and financial position, stimulated +German statesmen to bring matters to a head +before Russia could back her recalcitrance +with a reorganized army, and was one of +the contributory causes of the European +struggle.</p> + +<p>Since then the war has flashed a brilliant +light on the dark places of German intrigue, +and some of the sights revealed are hardly +credible. Whithersoever one turns one is confronted +with the same striking phenomenon; +the preponderant influence wielded in almost +every walk of life, private and public, by +institutions and individuals who in some +open or clandestine way are under German +tutelage. In the sphere of economics this is +particularly noticeable. Three-fourths of +Russia’s foreign trade was in German hands. +Dealings between Russians and foreigners +were transacted chiefly through Germany. +Imports and exports passed principally through +German offices, established throughout the +length and breadth of the Tsardom, and commercial +dealings were conducted by merchants +in Berlin, Hamburg, Königsberg, Leipzig, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +other centres of the Fatherland. Merchandise +was carried in and out of the country by +German railway lines, or to German ports in +German bottoms. Even American cotton and +Australian wool and tallow were disposed of +in Russia by German middlemen who had +them conveyed in German steamers. On the +other hand, Russian corn, sugar, spirits, were +taken to Europe by German transport firms. +Intending Russian emigrants were sought out +by agents of German steamship companies, +sent to German ports and accommodated on +German steamers. In brief, whenever the +Tsar’s subjects had anything to sell to the +foreigner or to buy from him, their first step +was to go in search of a German, through +whom the sale or purchase might be effected.</p> + +<p>In domestic economics the same phenomenon +was everywhere noticeable. To a Russian’s +success in almost any commercial or industrial +venture, the co-operation of the German was +an indispensable condition. Individual enterprise +might sow and governmental legislation +might water, but it was German goodwill +that vouchsafed the fruit. Wherever Russian +industry showed its head, Germans flocked +thither to take the concern in hand, regulate +its growth, and co-ordinate its effects with +those of other industries which were under the +patronage of German banks. It was in vain +that Witte and his fellow workers threw up +barriers that seemed impassable to German +enterprise. They were turned with ease and +rapidity. Thus in order to protect the textile +industries of Moscow, prohibitive tariffs were +levied on textile fabrics of German origin. +But the irrepressible Teuton crossed the frontier, +established his factories in Poland, founded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +the German-Jewish town of Lodz, and snapped +his fingers at the Government of the Tsar. +And forthwith Lodz assumed all the characteristics +of a German city. German schools +flourished there, German agents abounded, +German became the recognized language, and +permission was at one time given to German +reserves there, to undergo their periodic term +of military drill for the Kaiser’s army!</p> + +<p>Of the three Entente Powers challenged by +Germany in 1914, Russia was therefore by far +the worst equipped for the unwonted effort +which the European War demanded of each. +For her liberty of action, and, in some cases, +even her liberty of choice, was hampered by +the financial, economic, and political network +which Germany had slowly and almost imperceptibly +woven over the entire population. +In the fine meshes of this net several organs +of national life were caught, immobilized and +connected with the Fatherland. And it was +not until they strove to move and discharge +their functions on behalf of the Russian nation +that they became fully conscious of their +plight. German intrigue and subterranean +scheming, under the mask of sympathy—now +for the autocracy, now for socialism—had +effected far-reaching changes in the Empire, +which few even among observant politicians +appear to have realized. These innovations +were embodied in the thraldom of Russian +banks to German financial institutions; in +the splendid organization which kept old +German colonies that were scattered over the +Empire in touch with each other, and co-ordinated +their action; in the eloquent Russian +advocates and influential dignitaries who contributed +to the furtherance of German ideas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +and interests and swayed the policy of the +State; and in the dependence of the great +Russian Empire on its enemy for munitions, +and almost every other technical necessary +of war.</p> + +<p>From the days of the great Peter this +Teuton influence had been creeping imperceptibly +over the Slav race like some cancerous +soul-growth. It infused a subtle poison in +the State organism, the most appalling effects +of which are only now assuming visible shape. +Two palace revolutions were brought about +by a national reaction against the predominance +of this foreign influence, which was resented +by the people not merely because it was alien, +but largely also because of its unscrupulous +and ruthless character. Some of the most +atrocious cruelties which students of Russian +history associate with court and political life +in the Tsardom, during the best part of two +centuries, had their sources in the sheer +malignity of Teuton Ministers who spoke and +acted in the name of the autocrat of the +moment. It is characteristic that the Minister +Münnich, in the school for officers which he +founded in Petersburg, had Russian history +eliminated from the programme as superfluous, +German history being allowed to remain; and +that out of 255 students, only eighteen studied +the Russian language, whereas 237 applied +themselves to German. The first Sovereign +to rebel against this Teuton supremacy in his +Empire was the late Alexander III., who made +no secret of his profound dislike for German +ways. But as the Russian proverb has it, +“one man in the field, is not a soldier.” +Hercules, to cleanse the Augean stables, had +need of the water of a river, and the anti-German<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +Tsar could not hope to make headway +without the co-operation of his army of +officials, who themselves were permeated with +the Teutonic spirit. And as passive resistance +was their attitude, his purging scheme was +abortive. As a matter of cool calculation, +the only hope of freeing Russia from the +meshes of the German net was a war between +the two peoples. And all radical legislation +had therefore to be postponed.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the Germans, having +organized and primed their agents, have been +teutonizing Russia cunningly and effectively. +With the precious assistance of their own kith +and kin settled in the Baltic provinces and +elsewhere, they employed the never-failing +expedient of taking an active and, when +possible, a leading part in domestic Russian +politics, and invariably on both sides. At +the Court they have always been well represented, +and in the ranks of the inarticulate +and Parliamentary Opposition they have also +been playing a noteworthy part. In factories +and other industrial and commercial institutions +they arranged strikes, called indignation +meetings and hatched conspiracies at critical +junctures when it was to Germany’s interest +that Russia’s attention should be riveted +upon home affairs. No Parliamentary Bill +could be privately drafted, no railway scheme +could be secretly discussed, no Ministerial +measure could be canvassed; nay, seldom +could a confidential report be drawn up to the +Emperor himself without the knowledge of +the Berlin authorities and the occasional intervention +of their agents in Petrograd. It is +interesting to note that in 1914 a secret +memorandum of a highly confidential character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +from a statesman to the Tsar, found its way +to Berlin soon after it had been presented to +the monarch and had a certain influence on +the decisions which led to the war.</p> + +<p>The work of economic interpenetration +carried on under the ægis of such powerful +patrons and resourceful coadjutors was greatly +facilitated by the German colonies scattered +over Russia for generations. Many of these +foreigners had been invited by Catherine II., +receiving large grants of land and various +privileges which enabled them to flourish at +the expense of the native population, on which +they looked down with open contempt.</p> + +<p>At that time the extent of free land was +considerable in Bessarabia, Volhynia, and the +provinces of Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, Saratoff +and Samara, where down to the year 1915 +entire cantons were inhabited by Germans. +In the Novouzensky canton, for example, they +constituted 40 per cent. of the population, +in that of Berdyansk 17 per cent. and in the +Akkerman canton 14 per cent. The inducements +which had been held out to them to +settle in these fertile districts were irresistible. +Each colonist received fifty dessiatines of +land,<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> extensive pastures for cattle, grants +for the journey and the cost of stocking +his farm, absolute immunity from all taxes, +rates and military service, and complete local +autonomy apart from that of the Russian +community.</p> + +<p>The Germans whom these boons attracted +were of two categories: sectarians (Menonites), +who eschewed military service on religious +grounds; and ne’er-do-wells, who objected +to the restraints of law and justice in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>Fatherland; besides a considerable percentage +of tramps. Most of the men of the second +category fared as badly in their adopted +country as they had in their native land. +They gave themselves up to intemperance and +kindred vices, and their descendants still lead +a hand-to-mouth existence in the Tsardom +which their privileges alone could not better. +The sectarians, on the other hand, formed a +compact co-operative body, and by dint of +persevering industry and shrewdness, made +the most of their favoured position and prospered. +With their common savings they +purchased such vast tracts of land from the +neighbouring gentry that in time the Russian +population was constrained to emigrate to +Siberia and other distant parts of the Empire. +And when the present conflict was unchained +they were in possession of an area of fertile +land bigger than Pomerania, which is one of +the largest provinces of Prussia. In the Volga +country alone they owned 879,420 dessiatines, +or, say, 1,884,471 acres! In the south of +Russia there are 519 German settlements, and +the area they occupy is estimated at more +than 31,252 square versts.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> And the land +of the country gentry in the neighbouring +districts was fast passing into their hands.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +They have their own local government, their +banks which help them to acquire Russian +land, their insurance companies and their +schools. In short, they were a compact little +State within the Tsardom.</p> + +<p>The sectarians still hold aloof from the +native population. Indeed, almost the only +relations in which they stand to Russians are +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>those of masters and agricultural labourers. +They hire Russian peasants to till their land +and they compel them to work hard for small +wages. Many of these colonies have the appearance +of little German towns. They have +added industrial pursuits to agricultural, possess +flour mills, timber mills, and plough their +farms with German implements. They are +aggressively German in sentiment, language, +character and Kultur.</p> + +<p>That in brief is the history of one type of +German colonization in the Tsardom. There +is another at which it may not be amiss to +cast a glance. It is of recent date and consists +of German elements already resident in the +Tsardom. It is a monument of Teuton +audacity and Slav forbearance. One might +ransack the history of European nations without +finding another such instance of downright +effrontery and disloyalty on the part of a +privileged section of the community, and of +easy-going toleration on the part of the State. +The German elements of the provinces of +Kurland and Livland, subjects of the Tsar +though they are, resolved after the abortive +revolution of 1906 to raise a living wall against +the rising tide of Russian influence. And as +is the wont of the Teuton throughout the world, +they employed Russia’s men and Russia’s +money to achieve their anti-Russian object. +This object was to attract some twenty +thousand Germans to the province, provide +them with farms on easy terms, and look to +time, the industry of the men, the fecundity +of the women and the teachings of the schools +to create a new German State in that part +of the Russian Empire. It was part of the +functions of these colonists, we are frankly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +told by their historiographer,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> “to serve, even +as armed defenders” against the Russians! +In no other country on the globe is such a +scheme conceivable.</p> + +<p>The undertaking was organized and carried +out by two brothers, Brödrich by name, in +one of whom the Tsar’s Government placed +implicit confidence and evinced it by appointing +him to be chief of the police in the canton of +Goldingen. In this post of trust the German +leader was able to further the anti-Russian +cause materially. And he utilized his opportunities +to the utmost for the purpose during +the five years of his tenure of office. He +himself travelled in search of suitable German +colonists and had numerous agents on the +look-out for such. He finally got about 13,000 +to settle in Kurland and 7000 in Livland. +The Kurlandische Kreditverein advanced the +necessary capital as mortgagee of the land, +and within five or six years many of the +colonists had already paid off their debts, +sold their farms to other Germans and bought +untilled land in the neighbourhood for themselves. +The school was responsible for the +required standard of German patriotism. The +success of the experiment exceeded the highest +expectations, and to-day the man of confidence +of the Tsar’s Government, Karl Robert +Brödrich, is become chief of the local administration +under Wilhelm II., and deservedly +enjoys the confidence of the Kaiser’s Ministers.</p> + +<p>This type of German invasion in Russia, +especially in recent years, was carried out +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>with a supreme disdain of the laws of the +Empire which is equally characteristic of +those who display and those who tolerate it. +In virtue of a law inscribed in the Statute +Book on 14/26 March 1887, foreigners are not +permitted to purchase or own land outside +the cities in the provinces of Kurland and Livland, +whereas in Esthland there is no such +prohibition. Yet in Esthland only 6396 dessiatines +belong to Germans, whereas in the +two provinces whence they are absolutely +excluded Germans possess 36,852 dessiatines +and 6396 dessiatines respectively! In the +territory of the Don Cossacks no foreigner +may possess land under any circumstance, +yet the Germans own there 3700 dessiatines. +Again, in the provinces of Podolia and Volhynia, +where, for State reasons, the ownership of +land is allowed only to Russians, Germans purchased +and own 63,831 dessiatines in the latter +province and 12,475 in the former. Altogether +the amount of Russian territory which passed +into the hands of the Teutons is enormous. +In July 1915, when the inventory was not yet +completed, the area inscribed had reached the +total of 2,450,000 dessiatines or about 5,250,000 +acres.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> “This figure—” we are assured—“is still +far from complete, inasmuch as a large number +of data from various provinces have not been included +in it, and there are no entries at all for the +three provinces of the kingdom of Poland where +military operations are going on and where +unhappily the presence of German colonists has +been utilized by the German General Staff.”<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p><p>In Poland there were well over 500,000 +German colonists, besides a large number of +new-comers, whose unwritten “privileges” +included, as we saw, occasional permission +to their young men liable to serve a few weeks +annually in the ranks of the German army +to discharge that duty under German officers +in Russian Poland! In the Ukraine and the +most fertile districts of the Volga basin hundreds +of thousands of Germans lived, throve, +and upheld the traditions as well as the +language of the Fatherland, under the eyes +of tolerant local authorities.</p> + +<p>Hard by old Novgorod, the once famous +Russian republic and cradle of the Russian +State, a number of German colonists settled +some 150 years ago. The population of two +of these settlements numbers several thousand +souls, descendants of the original settlers, in +the fourth and fifth generation. They had +had time enough, one would think, during +that century-and-a-half to assimilate Russian +ways and to acquire a thorough knowledge of +the Russian tongue. Well, these colonists do +not speak the language of the country in +which they and their forbears have been +living for over 150 years! They still consider +themselves German, and if you ask them who +their sovereign is they answer unhesitatingly—Kaiser +Wilhelm! During Russia’s recent +military reverses, which threatened for a time +to culminate in the capture of Riga, and +possibly of Petrograd as well, these parasites +in the body politic of Russia displayed their +joy in various unseemly ways, which aroused +the indignation of their Slav neighbours. In +one of their schools the Russian visiting +authorities were received with demonstrations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +of hostility. It is usual for the portrait of the +Russian Tsar to be set up in every school in +the Empire. In one of these educational establishments +it was discovered in the lavatory +with the eyes gouged out.</p> + +<p>Long before this war Berlin had become alive +to the importance of these colonies as factors +in the work of pacific interpenetration and +political propaganda. Wandering teachers +from the Fatherland were accordingly sent +among them to link them up with their brethren +at home, and fan the embers of patriotism +which long residence in the Tsardom had not +quenched. Little by little, the political fruits +of these apostolic labours began to show +themselves: the colonists, whose main preoccupation +had been to occupy the most +fertile soil in the district, began to take over +the approaches to Russia’s strategic plans, +and to display an absorbing interest in Russian +politics. Several Zemstvos fell into their +hands, and were practically controlled by +them, and they contrived to gain considerable +influence in the elections to the Duma.</p> + +<p>The chance of a useful part for these German +colonies to perform having thus unexpectedly +arisen on the horizon, they seized it with +promptitude and utilized it with the thoroughness +that characterizes their race. The numbers +prosperity, and influence of the colonies grew +rapidly. Land that had belonged to the +Russian peasantry was taken over by the +foreign parasites, and while the Tsar’s Minister, +were toiling and moiling to transport hundreds +of thousands of Russian husbandmen and their +families in search of land beyond the Ural +Mountains to the virgin forests of Eastern +Siberia, there in the very heart of European<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +Russia were hundreds of thousands of intruders, +who, with the help of their German Colonial +banks, were acquiring additional tracts of land +from which their native owners had been ousted.</p> + +<p>I pointed out this anomaly over and over +again, and long before the war I described it +in review articles. The well-known German +Professor, Hans Delbrück, replied shortly +afterwards, in the <i>Contemporary Review</i>,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +denying point-blank the truth of my +statements, which were drawn from official +sources, and confirmed by the evidence +of my senses. For I had visited several +of the colonies in question. Besides these +German settlements, there had also been +a number of German industrial and commercial +establishments in the Empire which, +at first nowise harmful, were afterwards taken +in hand by emissaries from Berlin, linked up +together, affiliated to one or other of the great +financial houses of Germany, and transformed +into redoubtable instruments of Teuton domination. +Capital was subscribed, syndicates +were formed, railway-building and electro-technical +industries were organized, Russia’s +railways policy modified, and metallurgical +works were monopolized by the Germans. +Here again financial institutions discharged +the functions of motive power. At the beginning, +about thirty million roubles were subscribed +for the creation of banks, and by dint +of push, importunity, secret influence and +intrigue, these institutions received on deposit +the savings of the Russian peasant, merchant, +landowner, and official, which finally mounted +up to several hundreds of millions. With +this money they were enabled to control the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>markets and constrain Russian institutions +and individuals to bow to their will.</p> + +<p>Contracts in Russia were appropriately +drafted in the German language, being directed +to the promotion of German interests. Incipient +and even long-established Russian firms +were either killed by unfair competition or +compelled to enter the syndicates and forego +their national character. Inventions and new +appliances were tested, plagiarized, and employed +in the service of the Fatherland. And +while preparing for the war which was to set +Germany above the nations—<i>Deutschland über +Alles</i>—these syndicates followed the policy +dictated from Berlin, sowed discord between +Russian firms and various State departments, +organized strikes and paid the strikers in +competing establishments, and thus deprived +the Russian State of industrial organs on +which it would necessarily have to rely in +war-time. To give but one example of this +cleverly devised attack, the cotton industry of +the Tsardom was in the hands of the Germans +when war was declared. Another of the most +important groups of Russian industries is +that of naphtha. When this precious liquid +is dear, many of the lesser works have to close; +when it is cheap, even small industrial enterprises +are able to go on working. By way +of obtaining complete control of this vital +element of Russia’s industrial life, the Deutsche +Bank went to work to form a syndicate, had +a number of private wells bought up, united +them in one, acquired numerous shares in +Russian oil companies, and had the manager +of another German bank—the well-known +Disconto Gesellschaft—made a member of +the Board of the Russian Nobel Company.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + +<p>One of the results of this ingenious deal was +a sharp rise in the prices of all the products +and some of the by-products of naphtha. +The increase continued at an alarming rate, +filling the pockets of the German shareholders, +whose syndicates received the oil at cost +price for their own consumption, while Russian +firms were forced to acquire it at the market +value or to shut down their works. Amongst +the worst sufferers from these anti-Russian +tactics were the steam-navigation companies +of the Volga, which had jealously warded off +all attempts to germanize them.</p> + +<p>In conditions as restrictive as these, it is +well-nigh impossible for Russian industry to +hold its own, much less prosper and grow. +And only the most vigorous and best-organized +enterprises in the Empire, like that of the +Morozoffs in Moscow, managed to pursue their +way unscathed. In Russian Poland, where +textile industries flourished, and the total +annual production was valued at 294,000,000 +roubles, over one-third of these industries belonged +to the Germans, whose yearly output +amounted to more than one-half of the grand +total, <i>i.e.</i>, to 150,000,000 roubles.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> In all +these industrial and commercial campaigns +the German prime movers had carried out +their operations more or less openly. But +where interests affecting the defences of the +Empire were concerned, caution was the first +condition of success, and, as usual, the Teutons +proved supple and adaptable. By way of +levying an attack against the shipbuilding +industry, they pushed shaky Russian concerns +into the foreground, while studiously +keeping themselves out of view. Thus in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>one case new Russian banks were founded, +and old ones in a state of decay were revived +by means of German capital and encouraged +to form a syndicate with the Nikolayeffsky +shipbuilding works and certain foreign banks. +An official inquiry, presided over by Senator +Neidhardt, lately revealed the significant fact +that each firm of this syndicate had bound +itself to demand identical prices for the construction +of Russian ships, and under no +circumstances to abate an iota of the demand. +And it was further agreed that these prices +<i>should be so calculated as to yield to the members +of the syndicate one hundred per cent. profit</i>.</p> + +<p>This allegation is not a mere inference, nor +a rumour. It is an established fact. Neither +is the proof circumstantial; it consists of the +original agreement in writing signed by the +authorized representatives of the institutions +concerned. The data were laid before the +members of the Russian Duma by A. N. +Khvostoff.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Thus the Russian peasant is +taxed for the creation of a fleet, and the Duma +votes an initial credit of, say, 500,000,000 +roubles for the purpose. And if the shipbuilding +companies and their financial bankers +were honest the aim could be achieved. But +in the circumstances what it comes to is that +the nation must pay 500,000,000 more, in +order to get what it wants. And this tax of +a hundred per cent. is levied by German parasites +on the Russian people. One might +scrutinize the history of corruption in every +country of Europe without finding anything +to beat this Teutonic device, which at the same +time gratified the cupidity of the money-makers +and dealt a stunning blow at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>Russian State. Half of the shares of the +celebrated Putiloff munitions factory are said +to have belonged to the Austrian Skoda +Works.</p> + +<p>At the outset of the present war, when +Russia’s needs were growing greater and more +pressing, the works controlled by Germans +and Germany’s agents diminished their output +steadily. In lieu of turning out, say, 30,000 +poods of iron they would produce only 5,000, +and offer instead of the remainder verbal +explanations to the effect that lack of fuel or +damage to the machinery had caused the +diminution. Again, one of these ubiquitous +banks buys a large amount of corn or sugar, +but instead of having it conveyed to the +districts suffering from a dearth of that commodity, +deposits it in a safe place and waits. +In the meantime prices go up until they reach +the prohibition level. Then the bank sells its +stores in small quantities. The people suffer, +murmur, and blame the Government. Nor is +it only the average man who thus complains. +In the Duma the authorities have been severely +blamed for leaving the population to the mercy +of those money-grubbers whom German capital +and Russian tribute are making rich. “Averse +to go to the root of the matter,” one Deputy +complained, “the Government punishes a +woman who, on the market sells a herring +five copecks dearer than the current price, +yet at the same time it permits the Governors +to promulgate their own arbitrary laws +regulating imports and exports from their +own provinces. In this way Russia is split +up into sixty different regions, each one of +which pursues its own policy unchecked.”</p> + +<p>The importance of the rôle played by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +banks financed by German capital in Russia +can hardly be overstated. They advance money +on the crops and take railway and steamship +invoices as guarantees—they are centres of +information respecting everybody who resides +and everything that goes on in the district +and the province. I write with personal +knowledge of their working, for I watched +it at close quarters in the Volga district and +the Caucasus with the assistance of an experienced +bank manager. Their political +influence can be far-reaching, and the services +which they are enabled to render to the +Fatherland are appreciable. And they rendered +them willingly. As extenders of +Germany’s economic power in the Empire +they merited uncommonly well of their own +kindred. Thus of Russia’s total imports +in the year 1910, which were valued at +953,000,000 roubles, Germany alone contributed +goods computed at 440,000,000. These +consisted mainly of raw cotton, machinery, +prepared skins, chemical products, and wool.</p> + +<p>How steadily our rivals kept ousting the +British out of Russian markets by those +means may be gathered from the following +comparative tables. The percentage of Russia’s +requirements supplied by the two competing +nations varied, during the fifteen years between +1898 and 1913, as follows—</p> + +<table summary="stats"> +<tr><td style="text-align: center"><i>Year.</i></td><td style="text-align: center"><i>Germany supplied.</i></td><td style="text-align: center"><i>Britain supplied.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>1898-1902</td><td style="padding-right: 2em; padding-left: 4em">34·6 per cent.</td><td>18·6 per cent.</td></tr> +<tr><td>1903-1907</td><td style="padding-right: 2em; padding-left: 4em">37·2<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td><td>14·8<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td>1908-1910</td><td style="padding-right: 2em; padding-left: 4em">41·6<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td><td>13·4<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td>1911</td><td style="padding-right: 2em; padding-left: 4em">45·4<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td><td>12·2<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td>1912</td><td style="padding-right: 2em; padding-left: 4em">47·5<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td><td>12·6<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td>1913</td><td style="padding-right: 2em; padding-left: 4em">49·6<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td><td>13·3<span style="padding-left: 1.7em">"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>In the year 1901 Germany supplied 31 per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +cent. of the total value of Russia’s imports; +in 1905 her contribution was 42 per cent.; +and the increase went steadily forward, reaching +over 50 per cent. in the year 1913. If we +add to this the net profits of German industrial +and commercial undertakings in the Russian +Empire, we may form a notion of the appropriateness +of the comparison which likened +the Tsardom to a vast German colony. The +entire economic system of the country was +rapidly approaching the colonial type. And +to these economic results one should add the +political.</p> + +<p>It is fair to assume that at the outset the +main motive of this industrial invasion was +the quest of commercial profit. Subconsciously +political objects may have been vaguely present +to the minds of these pioneers, as indeed they +have ever been to the various categories of +German emigrants in every land, European +and other. But in the first instance the +creation of German industries in Russia was +part of a deliberate plan to elude the heavy +tariffs on manufactured goods. It has been +aptly described by an Italian publicist<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> as +legal contraband, and it supplies us with a +striking example of German enterprise and +tenacity. It attained its object fully. About +three-fourths of the textile and metallurgical +production in the Tsardom, the entire chemical +industry, the breweries, 85 per cent. of the +electrical works and 70 per cent. of gas +production were German. And of the capital +invested in private railways no less than +628,000,000 roubles belongs to Germans. Even +Russian municipalities were wont to apply to +Germany for their loans, and of the first issues +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>of thirty-five Russian municipal loans no less +than twenty-two were raised in the Fatherland.</p> + +<p>The necessity of waging war against this +potent enemy within the gates intensified +Russia’s initial difficulties to an extent that +can hardly be realized abroad, and was a +constant source of unexpected and disconcerting +obstacles. Some time before the opening +of the war, a feeling of restiveness, an impulse +to throw off the German yoke, had been +gradually displaying itself in the Press, in +commercial circles, and in the Duma. These +aspirations and strivings were focussed in the +firm resolve of the Russian Government, under +M. Kokofftseff, to refuse to renew the Treaty +of Commerce which was enabling Germany +to flood the Empire with her manufactures +and to extort a ruinous tribute from the +Russian nation. Two years more and the +negotiations on this burning topic would have +been inaugurated, and there is little doubt +in my mind—there was none in the mind of +the late Count Witte—that the upshot of these +conversations would have been a Russo-German +war. For there was no other less +drastic way of freeing the people from the +domination of German technical industries +and capital, and the consequent absorption +of native enterprise.</p> + +<p>When diplomatic relations were broken off, +and war was finally declared, Germany was +already the unavowed protectress of Russia. +And when people point, as they frequently +do, to the war as the greatest blunder ever +committed by the Wilhelmstrasse since the +Fatherland became one and indivisible, I feel +unable to see with them eye to eye. Seemingly +it was indeed an egregious mistake, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +so obvious were the probable consequences +which made it appear so that even a German +of the Jingo type would have gladly avoided +it had there not been another and less +obvious side to the problem. We are not to +forget that in Berlin it was perfectly well +known that Russia was determined to withdraw +from her Teutonic neighbour the series +of one-sided privileges accorded to her by +the then existing Treaty of Commerce, and +that this determination would have been persisted +in, even at the risk of war. And for +war the year 1914 appeared to be far more +auspicious to the German than any subsequent +date.</p> + +<p>Handicapped by these foreign parasites who +were systematically deadening the force of +its arm, the Russian nation stood its ground +and Germany drew the sword.</p> + +<p>Improvisation—the worst possible form of +energy in a war crisis—was now the only +resource left to the Tsar’s Ministers. And the +financial problems had first of all to be faced. +In this, as in other spheres, the country was +bound by and to Germany, so that the task +may fairly be characterized as one of the most +arduous that was ever tackled by the Finance +Minister of any country—even if we include +the resourceful Calonne. And M. Bark, who +had recently come into office, was new not +only to the work, but also to the politics of +finance in general. Happily, his predecessor, +who, whatever his critics may advance to +the contrary, was one of the most careful +stewards the Empire has ever possessed, had +accumulated in the Imperial Bank a gold +reserve of over 1,603,000,000 roubles, besides +a deposit abroad of 140,720,000 roubles. Incidentally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +it may be noted that no other bank +in the world has ever disposed of such a vast +gold reserve.</p> + +<p>Although one of the richest countries in +Europe, Russia’s wealth is still under the earth, +and therefore merely potential. Her burden +of debt was heavy. For at the outbreak of +the war the disturbing effects of the Manchurian +campaign and its domestic sequel, which had +cost the country 3,016,000,000 roubles, had +not yet been wholly shaken off. And, unlike +her enemy, Russia had no special war fund +to draw upon. As the national industries +were unable to furnish the necessary supplies +to the army, large orders had to be placed +abroad and paid for in gold. At the same +moment Russia’s export trade practically +ceased, and together with it the one means +of appreciably easing the strain. The issue +of paper money in various forms was increased, +loans were raised, private capital was withdrawn +from the country, various less abundant +sources of public revenue vanished, and the +favourable balance of trade dropped from +442,000,000 roubles to 85,500,000. Germany, +on the other hand, possessed her war fund, +in addition to which she had levied a property +tax of a milliard marks a year before the +outbreak of hostilities; she further drew in +enormous sums in gold from circulation, and +generally mobilized her finances systematically.</p> + +<p>But Russia was compelled to improvise, +to make bricks without straw. Her war on +a front of two thousand versts long had to be +waged with whatever materials happened to +be available. Japan—who, I have little doubt, +will be found at the close of the great struggle +to have benefited largely by her pains—exerted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +herself to provide munitions for her new friend +and ally. The United States, Great Britain and +France also contributed their quota. For many +of these orders placed abroad gold had to be +exported, and as Russia has no other natural +way of importing gold but by selling corn, +which there were no means of transporting, +a sensible depreciation of the rouble resulted. +Great Britain and France have also had to +make heavy purchases abroad for their military +needs, but these two countries can still export +wares extensively and keep the payments +in gold within certain limits. Even Italy +receives a noteworthy part of her annual +revenue in the shape of emigrants’ remittances +from abroad. But once Russia’s gates were +closed and her corn had to remain in the +granaries, elevators, or at railway stations, +the shortage in her revenue became absolute. +During the first three months of the year 1915 +the value of Russian exports over the Finnish +frontier and the Caucasian coast of the Black +Sea was only 23,000,000 roubles, showing a +falling off of about 93 per cent., as compared +with the worth of the produce exported during +the corresponding three months of the preceding +year.</p> + +<p>It is a curious fact that part of this reduced +trade continued to be carried on with Germany +for months after the war had begun. A +Russian publicist has remarked that at the +opening of the campaign the voice of the +nation was heard saying: “Corn we have +in plenty, and vegetables and salt. It is we +who feed Europe. Germany will therefore +starve without our corn. Our armies may +retreat, but our corn will go with them; and +the more the Germans advance into Russia,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +the further they are away from their bread.” +And in this the average Russian saw a pledge +of victory. But before six months had lapsed, +the everyday man grew indignant. For he +learned that his corn was being conveyed +through Finland and Sweden into Germany, +and in such vast quantities as had never +before been heard of. Here is a street scene +illustrative of this traffic and the feelings +it aroused. A long string of carts laden with +flour blocks in one of the Petrograd streets +leading to a bridge over the Neva; a General +walking with his wife stops one of the drivers +and asks: “Wherever are you taking the +flour to?” “Where do you suppose? Sure +we’re taking it to the Germans. We have +to feed the creatures. They are a bit faint.” +“There you see!” exclaimed the General +to his wife; “didn’t I tell you? And every +morning without fail the same long line of +carts blocks the streets while our corn is being +taken to the Germans!”<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> It is to be feared +that this commerce has not yet wholly ceased. +For the Russians, like ourselves, are considerate +of the Germans.</p> + +<p>That that story of trading with the enemy +is no idle anecdote is evident from the circumstance, +based on official Russian statistics, +that during ten months from August to May, +while the war was being waged relentlessly +between the two empires, Russia bought from +Germany no less than 36,000,000 roubles’ +worth of manufactures. How much the Central +Empires purchased from Russia, I am +unable to say. That commerce is one of the +almost inevitable consequences of improvisation +and one of the most sinister. Some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>months after the outbreak of the war the +Imperial Government levied a duty of a hundred +per cent. on all commodities coming +from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. +That was assumed to be a prohibitive tariff. +But it failed to keep out imports from the +Fatherland. In the one month of April 1915, +Germany sent 3,000,000 roubles’ worth of +manufactured goods into Russia, and in May +2,500,000 roubles’ worth. And the Allied +Press was then descanting on the stagnation +in German trade and the starvation +of the German people. The explanation of +this anomaly lies in the unforeseen and +enormous scarcity and rise of prices in the +home markets. Some metal wares—for instance, +various kinds of instruments and of wire +appliances, etc.—are not to be had in Russia +for love or money, consequently a hundred per +cent. duty is but a heavy tax paid by the +consumer, not an effective prohibition.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Since +then, I am assured, the Government has +adopted stringent measures which some people +believe to have put an end to that form of +trading with the enemy.</p> + +<p>It is hard for foreigners to realize the plight +to which Russia has been reduced by the closing +of her gates. As the Nile waters were the +source of Egypt’s prosperity, so the abundant +Russian harvests constitute the life-giving +ichor which flows in the veins of the Russian +nation. Without superfluous corn for exportation, +the State would be unable to meet +its obligations, maintain its solvency, or provide +the motive power of progress. The +exportation of agricultural produce was the +fountain head not only of Russia’s material +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>well-being, but of her moral and cultural +evolution: everything, in a word, was dependent +upon plentiful harvests and extensive +sales of cereals abroad. And, suddenly, the +gates were closed, the corn was stored, and the +nation left without its revenue. Nobody but +a Russian, or one who has lived long in the +country, can realize fully all that this tremendous +blow connotes. Parenthetically, it may +be remarked that it adds a motive, and one +of the most potent, to those which inspire +the heroic sacrifices of the people, quickening +the flame of devotion to their Allied cause. +Russia is now literally fighting for her own +liberty, for escape from the iron circle that +shuts her off from the sea, and isolates her +from the western world in which it is her +ambition and her mission to play a helpful +part.</p> + +<p>One needs no further explanation why the +Russian Government put pressure upon M. +Delcassé and Sir Edward Grey to open the +Dardanelles route for the Russian corn. +Neither is it to be wondered at that while the +Allied Forces in Gallipoli were still grappling +with the Turks, the Tsar’s Ministers should +have thrust into the foreground the question +of Constantinople and the Straits, and insisted +upon an immediate pragmatic settlement. +True, that was not statesmanship; it was +anything but political wisdom; but at any +rate it was human on the part of all concerned. +If this Titanic struggle, in which Russia is +perhaps the greatest sufferer, is to bring her +any palpable and enduring advantage, this, +it was urged, can take but one form—freedom +from the preposterous restraints that bar her +way to the sea, and through the sea to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +outside world. This and other pleas were +powerful; but for this very reason and for +the purpose of realizing her natural striving +I personally would have temporarily negatived +the Russian proposal and left nothing undone +to ensure its withdrawal. For if I were +asked to point to the efficient cause of the +Allies’ present lamentable plight in the Near +East, I should single out this premature +arrangement and its necessary consequences. +For Roumania and Bulgaria were at the +moment as bitterly opposed to Russia’s overlordship +in the Dardanelles and her possession +of Constantinople as were France and Great +Britain in the days of yore. And they +embodied their opposition in acts.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> In June 1904.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> About 107 acres.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> One square verst is equal to 0·44 square mile.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Cf. <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, October 5, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> His name is Dr. Fritz Wertheimer. His writings are +to be found in various periodicals. The essay from which +these data are taken was published in the <i>Frankfurter +Zeitung</i>, January 8, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, July 2, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> By a law sanctioned by the Tsar, in February 1915, +the German Colonists of Southern and Western Russia +were obliged to sell their land to Russian subjects, and +they received ten months’ grace for the purpose.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Cf. <i>Contemporary Review</i>, February 1911.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Cf. Duma debates of August 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Cf. <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, August 17, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Virginio Gayda.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Cf. <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, February 24, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Cf. <i>Utro Rossiyi</i>, August 28, 1915.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE ENTENTE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the most amazing phenomena of +Entente statesmanship during the present +European struggle, is the offhand readiness +with which the Governments of France and +Great Britain, yielding to abstract reasoning +founded upon gratuitous assumptions, not only +reversed the policy of centuries but committed +themselves to a wholly new departure which +was certain to raise up enemies to the Entente, +to render its task immeasurably more arduous, +and to lessen its means of achieving success. +However well Russia deserved of her allies, +however unquestionable her claim to the city +of Constantine, no less suitable a moment +could have been selected to press that claim +than the spring of 1915. The only evidence +we possess that the British statesmen primarily +responsible for this capital blunder were conscious +of the fateful character of this commitment, +is the extreme care they took to have +their responsibility shared by the members +of the Opposition, which at that time was not +represented in the Cabinet. But even with +this indication before us, we cannot believe +that even now this premature solution of a +secular problem on lines suggested by transient +episodes of a military campaign, has struck +the responsible statesmen in proportion to its +specific weight, the depth of its importance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +and the nature of its consequences. To take +but one of these, we find that towards the end +of the second year of the campaign, Turkey +is one of the two key-positions of the international +situation. To conclude a separate +peace with that Power is become a pressing, +and would also be a feasible, task were it not +that this earmarking of Constantinople for +Russia constitutes an impassable barrier. No +Turkish Cabinet would or could conclude a +separate peace and strike up friendship with +the nations that are making ready to deprive the +Caliph of his capital. It would be a mistake, +however, to assume that this premature allotment +of Constantinople to Russia is the only +obstacle to the conclusion of a separate peace +with Turkey. There are also hindrances of a +military nature which would have to be displaced +before any decisive move in this direction +could be expected of the young Turks.</p> + +<p>But it cannot be gainsaid that the most +formidable obstacle is that. Neither can it be +questioned that that premature arrangement +will, if the Allies emerge victorious from the +ordeal, thrust into the foreground of practical +politics a whole group of problems the most +delicate and dangerous that were ever yet +tackled by the inadequately equipped diplomacy +of the Allied Governments. It is then +that the Entente Powers will fully realize the +deluge to which they made such haste to +open the sluice-gates in the spring of 1915. +And the only way practicable out of this blind +alley would be the spontaneous abandonment +by the Russian Government of the right it possesses, +which however the Allies will certainly +never call in question. Whether the Tsar’s +Government believes such a sacrifice necessary,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +and whether, if they did, they could summon +up the courage requisite to make it, are +questions which Russia’s loyal allies have +neither the right nor the wish to raise. We +will carry out our obligations in the letter and +the spirit. If the Russian people, in the person +of their responsible organ, should renounce for +the moment the claims which we have formally +recognized and undertaken to enforce, this +decision will have been come to spontaneously +and without pressure or advice from their allies.</p> + +<p>The extent to which the Teuton had his +own way among the easy-going Russian people +is hardly to be realized. It would be certainly +inexplicable in an empire governed on national +lines and conscious of its mission. For unlimited +pliancy was the quality which German +importunity evoked on the part of the highest +authorities. One of many examples is worth +recording. Among all industrial enterprises +the Russian Government is most sensitive +about that of high explosives. The manufacture +of these they had always rigorously +reserved for their own people, on obvious +grounds. Well, the moment the Germans +resolved to break down this barrier, they +found the means to do it despite the objection +raised by the Russian Press that it would be +dangerous to confide the production of high +explosives to foreigners and superlatively dangerous +to confide it to prospective enemies. +The prospective enemy carried the point, and +the manufacture of high explosives was handed +over to a German company, which built works +for the purpose near the Russian capital, and +had its headquarters and board of directors in +Berlin!<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> +<p>As in Italy, so in the Tsardom, one of the +principal levers of Teuton interpenetration +was the regulation of the national trade and +industry. That is to say, these were allowed +to subsist and thrive up to, but not beyond, +the point at which they were useful as adjuncts +of German enterprise. And the regulators +were principally two: the Treaty of Commerce +extorted from the Tsar’s Government during +the embarrassments caused by the Manchurian +campaign, and the German banks, which in +the empire paraded as Russian, just as in +Italy they were decked as Italian. Many of +those financial institutions were but branches +of German houses, and their methods were +identical with those of the Banca Commerciale: +long credits and easy modes of +repayment offered to all those who agreed +to deal with German firms, while discredit, +ostracism, and ruin threatened the recalcitrant. +And as Italian money and Italian institutions +were employed as instruments of German interpenetration +in foreign countries,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> so Russian +funds and banks were used as helps to German +interpenetration in Belgium and other lands.</p> + +<p>A noteworthy instance of the ingenuity +with which this intricate mechanism was +worked came to light shortly before the outbreak +of the war. In Brussels there was a +branch of the Petrograd International Bank +which purported to be a purely Russian concern. +But once the Kaiser had sent his ultimatum +to the Tsar’s Government, the Russian +mask was doffed by the Brussels agency, +which forthwith appeared in its true colours +as a potent instrument of germanization in +Belgium. There was found to be almost +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>nothing Russian about the bank but the name. +The staff, the language spoken, the methods +of business, the political sympathies, the aims +of the operations were all German. Out of the +forty-three permanent members of the staff, +thirty were German subjects, six Austrians, +two German-Swiss, two Belgians, one was a +Dutchman, one Turk, and there was a solitary +Russian. The moment Count Berchtold presented +his ultimatum to Serbia this “Russian” +bank refused to change any Russian +banknotes on any terms and let it be understood +that they were valueless. A panic on +the Belgian market was the immediate consequence. +Russian travellers had to deposit +their jewellery in pawn and pay exorbitant +rates of interest on loans. The bank itself +practised a kind of usury, and advanced only +sixty per cent. of the face value of notes issued +by the Imperial Bank of Russia. When the +Belgian Government, after the declaration of +war, began to tackle German espionage, this +“Russian” bank was found to be one of the +strongholds of the military spies. Certain of +the employees were permanent agents of the +German Military Attaché, and were at the same +time inscribed as members of the staff of the +Deutsche Bank of Berlin.</p> + +<p>All those well-thought-out and successfully +executed schemes may bear in upon the +British people some notion of what is meant +by German organization and co-ordination, +and may also help them to gauge the chances +of success, military, diplomatic and economic, +on which the Allies, with their easy-going +ways, their hope of somehow “blundering +through,” and their lack of combination and +of plan—can rely when pitted against a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +mighty organism, disposing of the most redoubtable +forces ever created by human science +and skill, directed by a single mind, and +served with ascetic self-abnegation and religious +ardour by over a hundred million +people. The courage and faith of the Allies +in gazing for years upon this portentous engine +of destruction without making suitable provision +for the day when it would be turned +against themselves, will fill future generations +with amazement.</p> + +<p>No bare enumeration of details can convey +an adequate idea of the vastness, compactness +and potency of the German organization which +kept the Russian Colossus partially paralysed +at home, while the Kaiser’s armies were dealing +it stunning blows on the battlefield. It is a +revelation which will be followed by a new +birth of the whole political world. The German +colonists, the wandering German commercial +travellers who acted as political spies, the +various banks, joint-stock companies, religious +sects, journals, reviews, schools, clubs, Lutheran +pastors, and other Teuton agents, were but +so many wheels and springs of the mighty +machine which was set in motion and kept +working by the political leaders in Berlin. +For all these firms and enterprises and individuals +from the Fatherland scattered over +the length and breadth of the Tsardom were +welded together in one vast organism by far-seeing +politicians who canalized every important +current of the nation’s life and imparted +to it the direction which German interests +required. No enterprise was too vast, no +detail too trivial, for the attention of these +moulders of Germany’s destinies.</p> + +<p>All those activities, commercial, financial,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +industrial, journalistic, religious, political, the +German mind combined into a single idea, the +co-ordinate parts of which were studied and +regulated, not by party chiefs, but by qualified +experts, who, although specialists, subjected +them to organic treatment. In this respect +the German may be likened to a massive sombre +figure who, surrounded by a crowd of sprightly +shadowy nobodies, discoursing with easy +frivolity on grave subjects, is engrossed with +the task of destroying a great part of the frame-work +of the world in order to rebuild it after +his own plan. Unfortunately the extraordinary +enlargement of interest which marks the latter-day +political conceptions, and inspires the +fateful action of Germany’s acknowledged +leaders, breeds in the allied peoples not so much +a stern resolve to tame that revolutionary +nation at all costs, as a sentimental longing for +the return of the idyllic past, and an illusive +hope that by dint of mild Christian charity it +may yet be brought back.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, June 24, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> For example, the Banca Franco-Italiana in Brazil.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>TEUTON POLITICS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is this Teutonic power of looking far +ahead, this profundity of vision, this mingled +comprehensiveness and concentration, and the +marked success with which these qualities have +hitherto been exercised to the lasting detriment +of the Entente nations which looked on and +naïvely applauded, that fill the thoughtful +student with misgivings about the future. +True, it may not be too late for effective counter +measures. But two conditions are manifestly +essential to the successful application of +any remedy: first, that its necessity should be +felt and realized; and, second, that the scrupulosity +which at present hesitates to apply drastic +measures should yield to higher considerations +than those of individual delicacy of sentiment +and over-refined humanitarianism. When an +individual abuses laws and restraints which +bind his fellow-men, in order to inflict a deadly +injury on them, it is meet that they should +free themselves from those checks in their +dealings with him. For example, it may be +theoretically wrong, after the conclusion of +the present struggle, for our people to bear such +a grudge against the individual German as +would exclude him from communion and +intercourse with the nations of the Entente. +And this principle would seem to apply with +greater force to those Germans who might be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +willing to abandon their nationality and +identify their aims, interests and strivings with +those of the nation in which they would fain +become incorporated. But when we reflect +that almost every German, whatever his calling, +how profound soever his debt of gratitude +to a foreign people, considers himself first and +always a member of his own country, works +for its interests to the detriment of all others, +and does not scruple to violate moral laws and +social traditions in order to betray his new +friends, we may well ask in virtue of what +precept we should abstain from ostracizing him +from the British Empire. His second nationality +is so often a mere mask to enable him to +perpetrate black treason, and it is so openly +thus regarded by his own Government, which +upholds and solemnly sanctions the principle, +that it would be inexplicable folly on the part +of the British nation to aid and abet its +enemies by admitting them to the freedom of +the community without taking effective precautions +against treason.</p> + +<p>And yet there is a large body of men in this +country, as in France and Italy, who condemn +the demand for these precautions as un-Christian +and impolitic. Such laxness is the +soil in which thrives the upas tree whose shade +has so long darkened the organs of our empire +and now threatens to blight the whole organism.</p> + +<p>An all-important feature in the controversy +which has arisen over the naturalization of +German subjects is the utterly amoral view of +it which underlies the attitude of the Kaiser’s +Government. According to these authorities, +whose utterances and acts are decisive and +final, a German, unlike every other subject, +may swear allegiance to two states, of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +one is his Fatherland, without being bound +by his oath to the other. Various reasons, +including material interests, may, it is argued, +make it desirable that he should acquire citizenship +in a foreign land; and the Kaiser’s Government, +for the good of the empire, recognizes +this necessity and facilitates the process by a +law. This law, which was enacted in July +1913, authorizes the born German subject, +having first made known his intention and +motive, to swear allegiance to a foreign state +without forfeiting, or intending to forfeit, the +rights or escaping from the duties which flow +from his German citizenship. Now this is +a privilege which not even the Pope has ever +claimed the faculty of according.</p> + +<p>From the point of view of international +law this double naturalization is inadmissible. +Every individual in the community of nations +is the subject of a certain state, and only of +one, and whenever the interests of that state +run counter to those of any other, he is bound +legally as well as morally to promote the +former to the best of his ability and means. +The Teuton doctrine and practice are that +Germans may insinuate themselves into a +country, and in the guise of loyal citizens +become conversant with its secrets, and then +use them to its hurt. In the light of this law, +which was a custom long before it became a +statute, the number of Germans naturalized +in various countries grew amazingly during +the past fifteen years. In France, for example, +where there were only 38,000 foreigners naturalized +in the year 1896 and 65,000 in 1901, the +figure reached 90,000 in 1906 and 120,000 five +years later. And of these, four-fifths were +Germans and Austrians. Many Germans first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +became Swiss or British subjects in order the +more easily to acquire the rights of Frenchmen. +One in particular, named Wilhelm Hellpern, +first became a Belgian, then as Willy Hellpern +a British subject, and finally, with a view to +obtaining a place on the Board of the Société +Française de l’Industrie Chimique, applied for +and received naturalization in France. This +“Willy” Hellpern was a representative of the +Central Gesellschaft für chemische Industrie.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>When war was declared in 1914 hundreds of +Germans applied for papers of naturalization in +Switzerland, and obtained them from various +little Swiss communes which were in sore want +of funds. Spies eager to place their machinations +under the protection of Swiss citizenship +found smooth ways to the desired goal. In the +single canton of Zurich demands for naturalization +rose from 260 during the nine months +ending in October 1913,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> to 732 in the corresponding +nine months of 1915. Several cases +of fraud were discovered during this rapid +process of transforming foreign into Swiss +citizens: one of the most salient being that of +Friedrich Wilhelm Frank, a German who had +taken out his naturalization papers in England +and then decided to shake off his acquired +British citizenship for that of the Helvetian +Republic. As Frank had not been resident +in Switzerland during the two years required +by the law of that country he applied and +paid for a false certificate of residence, and in +this way achieved his object. But the trick +was finally discovered and the naturalization +cancelled.</p> + +<p>We may protest as vigorously as we will +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>against this infamous troth-mongering which +is destructive of international relations, and +indirectly of social intercourse, but no responsible +government can afford to ignore the +necessity of guarding against its consequences. +For it is no ephemeral manifestation of temperament, +nor the passing whim of a political +party or a class. The law of double citizenship, +coupled with a plenary indulgence for treason +and perjury in the cause of the Fatherland, is +but the solemn consecration of a principle +which was long practised and is warmly +approved by the entire German people. The +Berlin Government publicly invoked it during +the latter half of the year 1915, under circumstances +which remove doubts on this score. +On one and the same day in August that year +all German official and non-official journals +published a notice, which ran as follows: “It +is alleged that in neutral countries, and particularly +in the United States of America, men +of German <i>extraction</i>” (the word <i>citizenship</i> is +not used, but <i>extraction</i>), “are employed as +workmen, engineers or in other capacities in +the production of war munitions for our +enemies. All those who thus reinforce the +military strength of our foes, thereby make +the prosecution of the war more difficult for +Germany, and not only burden themselves +with a heavy load of moral turpitude, but also +expose themselves—and many of them are +seemingly unaware of this—to the operation +of the German laws which punish high +treason.”</p> + +<p>In other words, subjects of, say the American +Republic, who were born there of German +parents or grandparents and never acknowledged +any other government nor possessed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +the citizenship of any other country, become +guilty of high treason if they dare to avail +themselves of the plenitude of the rights +which that citizenship confers. They may not +work for firms which supply the Allies because +their fathers, or it may be only their grandfathers, +happened to be Germans. The moral +duties of German subjects still lie heavy on +them, and they must execute the Kaiser’s will +to-day on pain of being dealt with as traitors +to the Fatherland.</p> + +<p>Monstrous principles and revolting procedure +of this kind are calculated to kindle a blaze of +indignation in people who realize their effects +and set value on the boons of civilization or +Christianity. They are among the many new +ideas which Kultur has contributed to the +stock of weapons destructive of modern society. +One might term them the asphyxiating gases +of German international politics. In keeping +with these teachings and practices were the +theft of foreign passports by the German +Government which handed them over to spies, +as in the case of Lody, who was executed in +London in the early part of the war. Thus the +binding force of moral and of human law is +dissolved whenever it clashes with German +national, military, or commercial interests. +This dogma lies at the roots of Kultur.</p> + +<p>By the time war was declared, Germany had +stretched forth her tentacles into various lands +and was draining the life-juices of many peoples. +Her footing in Italy, Russia, Belgium and +France was firm. Observant students of international +politics fancied they could determine +the approximate date when, if the then rate +of progress were maintained, Germany’s overlordship +over Europe would be definitely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +established and all armed conflicts on the +Continent become thenceforth meaningless. +They were all the more puzzled at what they +set down as the egregious folly of jeopardizing +the precious fruits of forty years’ well-sustained +labours by precipitating a tremendous conflict +of doubtful issue. But besides the sudden +temptation to utilize a conjuncture of exceptionally +favourable promise, the leaders of the +Teutonic nations felt moved to appeal to arms +by certain slow, but steady, currents which +threatened to change the situation to Germany’s +detriment in the space of another few +years.</p> + +<p>With the remoter causes of the Kaiser’s +fatal resolve, we are not now concerned. It +may suffice to know that they were numerous +and that the trend of their operation had been +for a few months unmistakable. Time, which +was working wonders for the Teuton in one +direction, was raising up redoubtable enemies +against him in another. For one thing Russia +was becoming transfigured. The dry bones of +the nation which the Germans often declared +was good only as ethnic manure had had life +and a soul breathed into them by the great +agrarian reform of which the credit belongs to +Witte and Stolypin. The latter statesman in +a series of conversations had in 1906 opened +his mind to me on the subject, and frankly +avowed that the Government, having gone +astray in its estimate of the Russian peasants +who turned out to be revolutionary and +anarchistic, was resolved to render them conservative +by giving them land and an interest +in the maintenance of law and order. That, +he informed me, was the aim and origin of the +agrarian law, and I expounded the theory, its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +working and its anticipated consequences, in +a series of articles published at the time.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Down to the year 1861 the Russian serfs +had been mostly bound to the soil. They were +emancipated by Alexander II., who ordered +each landowner to make over to the serfs as +much of his landed property as was being +actually cultivated by these. Wherever this +amount seemed too extensive for the support +of a family it was whittled down and the +residue left with the landlord. Each of the +various lots thus expropriated was given not +to an individual, nor to a family, but to the +village community. Each field was cut into +as many strips as there were farms, and each +farm had the use of one. Every year the +peasants had to pay a certain sum to the +landlord until the land was wholly redeemed, +and liability for these payments, like the +possession of the land, was common. Hence +the drunkards and the lazy paid little or +nothing. It was the community which decided +when the sowing and when the reaping should +take place. The results of this system were +baneful. And little by little the more enterprising +peasants who had no motive to improve +the value of the land which they were allowed +for a time to cultivate, migrated to the towns +and joined the growing army of working men.</p> + +<p>How long this state of things would have +continued, if these immediate consequences had +formed the only objection to it, is uncertain. +But the Revolution of 1905-6 rendered it +wholly untenable. The peasantry, on whom +the Tsar and the Government counted for +support, readily followed the lead of every +anarchist and revolutionary who dangled the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>promise of free land before their eyes, and +gutted or burned the manors of the landlords. +With no conception of the sacredness, nor, +indeed, of the nature of property, they seized +what they could by force, and were gravely +disappointed when it was re-taken from them +by law. Stolypin’s scheme, as he himself propounded +it to me, was to enable the peasant +to acquire the land he tilled, and not merely the +scattered strips, but a compact farm capable +of supporting himself and his family. And +the system of collective liability for payments +to the State was abolished, together with +that of collective land-ownership.</p> + +<p>This was in truth a genial reform, and the +business-like way in which it was carried out +did credit to the late Minister and the people. +Even now it is far from completed, but already +there are about six million peasant farms cut +out and allotted. In European Russia approximately +as many more remain to be apportioned. +The effects of this innovation were rapid and +encouraging. The value of the land rose +enormously in consequence of the intenser +culture and the increased yield. Under the +old arrangement Russia’s harvest of cereals +was barely enough to feed the population +inadequately, to supply seed and to enable a +limited amount of produce to be exported. +And as this limited amount was in practice +often exceeded, the food supply of the peasantry +was cut down in proportion. At present all +this has changed for the better and changed to +a greater extent than the outside world realizes. +One of the consequences of this betterment, +coupled with the decrease of drunkenness, is +the greater purchasing power of the peasant +and the growth of his requirements. So beneficial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +and evident were the effects of this +reform, that some patriotic Russians gladly +saw their Government go to the very extreme +of pliancy towards Germany rather than run +the risk of a war and the danger of a break in +this remarkable career of national regeneration. +The process was noted and gauged by the Germans, +who awakened to the fact that, in a few +years more, the legend of Ilya Murometz would +be exemplified in latter-day Russia, and a +Colossus arise among the nations, which would +hinder the tide of Teutondom from inundating +Europe for all time.</p> + +<p>Other considerations of a more pressing +character weighed with the statesmen of the +Wilhelmstrasse, whose survey of the international +situation was, at any rate, comprehensive. +Renascent Russia, for example, was, +as we saw, resolved to withdraw from the German +Empire the one-sided advantages accorded +by the Commercial Treaty. And as this question +would in any case become acute within two +years, that date was one of the time-limits of +the European war, and I ventured to designate +it as such to two of the most prominent statesmen +of the Entente in the month of March +1914. They both went so far as to say that +my anticipation was extremely probable.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>However this may be, Germany, who works +out her destinies by preventive wars, and +therefore never leaves the initiative to her +enemies or rivals, precipitated a conflict which +would, she believed, break out in any case +within a couple of years, and for which no more +auspicious moment could be chosen than the +end of July 1914, after the Kiel Canal had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>been made navigable for her largest battleships +and the harvest ingathered.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>Finally, the very day was determined—and +almost on the very eve it was changed to the +following day.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> and remembering. The main +features are as follows.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Cf. <i>Hors du Joug allemand</i>, par Léon Daudet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The number for the entire year was 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> In the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Count Witte went farther and fixed the end of 1915 +as the date.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Bismarck: His Reflections and Reminiscences.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> 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.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>A MACHIAVELLIAN TRICK BY WHICH +RUSSIA’S HAND WAS FORCED</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> world is now aware, although it can +hardly be said to realize, how closely journalism +approaches to being a recognized organ of the +Imperial German Government. One of the +most influential of the Berlin journals during +the past ten years has been the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i>. +This paper was founded by Herr Scherl, one +of those clever enterprising business men who +have been so numerous, active and successful +in the Fatherland during the past quarter of +a century. His journal was a purely business +concern, carried on congruously with the law +of supply and demand and keeping pace with +the shifting requirements of the public and +the strongest currents in the Government. It +had long enjoyed the reputation of being a +semi-official organ, and it was Herr Scherl’s +ambition that it should be formally promoted +to that rank. In February 1914 he sold the +paper to a group of four persons, two of whom +were Herr Schorlmeyer and Count T. Winckler, +and all four were members of the political party +which looked for light and leading to the Crown +Prince and his military environment. Thus +the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> became the organ of the +progressive military party, which was exerting +itself to the utmost to force the pace of the +Government towards the one consummation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +from which the realization of Germany’s dream +of world-power was confidently expected. +Among the privileges accorded to the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> +from the date of its purchase for the +behoof of the Crown Prince onward, was that +of publishing official military news before all +other papers, and not later even than the +<i>Militär-Wochenblatt</i>. Consequently, it thus +became the most trustworthy source of military +news in the Empire. This fact is worth bearing +in mind, for the sake of the light which it +diffuses on what follows.</p> + +<p>War being foreseen and arranged for, much +careful thought was bestowed on the staging +of the last act of the diplomatic drama in +such a way as to create abroad an impression +favourable to Germany. The scheme finally +hit upon was simple. Russia was to be confronted +with a dilemma which would force her +into an attitude that would stir misgivings +even in her friends and drive a wedge between +her and her ally or else would involve her complete +withdrawal from the Balkans. The +latter alternative would have contented Germany +for the moment, who would then have +dispensed with a breach of the peace. For it +would have enabled the two Central Empires +to weld together the Balkan States and Turkey +in a powerful federation under their joint +protectorate, and would not only have simplified +Germany’s remaining task, but have +supplied her with adequate means of accomplishing +it against Russia and France +combined. Great Britain’s neutrality was +postulated as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>Congruously with this plan, Russia was from +the very outset declared to be the Power on +which alone depended the outcome of the crisis.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +Upon her decision hung peace and war. On +July 24, telegraphing from Vienna, I announced +this on the highest authority,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> with +a degree of force and clearness which left no +room for doubt as to the aims, intentions and +preliminary accords of the two Central Empires. +I stated that if in the course of the Austro-Serbian +quarrel Russia were to mobilize, +Germany would at once answer by general +mobilization and war. For there will, then, +I added, be no demobilization but an armed +conflict. Before making that grave announcement, +I had had convincing assurances and +proofs that I was setting forth an absolute and +irrevocable decision arrived at by the Central +Empires on grounds wholly alien to the interests +and issues which were then engaging the Austrian +and Serbian Governments, and that a bellicose +mood had gained a firm hold on the minds of +the statesmen of Berlin and Vienna. Had that +deliberate statement been subjected to adequate +instead of the ordinary partial tests, the +full significance of the crisis would have been +realized by the Governments of the Entente.</p> + +<p>In the course of the negotiations which were +then hastily improvised, Germany, who strove +hard to gain credit for the rôle of disinterested +peacemaker, gradually revealed herself as the +chief protagonist, whereas Austria was little +more than a pawn in the game. Disguising +her eagerness to provoke one of the two desired +solutions, Russia’s abandonment of Serbia or +her declaration of war, Germany succeeded in +misleading the Governments of France and +Britain as to her real intentions.</p> + +<p>While M. Poincaré was in the Russian +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>capital proposing toasts and drawing roseate +forecasts of the future, the German Ambassador +in Paris, von Schön, was constantly in attendance +at the Quai d’Orsay, endeavouring to +impress on the minds of the Acting Minister +and the permanent officials there, the sincerity +of the Kaiser’s eagerness for peace and the +growing danger of Russia’s aggressiveness. +“You and we,” he kept saying, “are the only +Continental Governments which are aware of +the magnitude of the issues and the imminence +of the danger. You and we perceive the utter +folly, the sheer criminality, of plunging Europe +in the horrors of a sanguinary war for the sake +of a petty state governed by regicides and +assassins. What interests have you or we to +risk the welfare of our respective nations for +the behoof of the Serbian military party whose +dreams of greatness border on mania? No, it +behoves us both to do all that lies in us to calm +Russia’s passion and induce her to listen to +the promptings of reason and self-interest. +You, with the powerful influence which your +friendship and alliance impart to your counsels, +and we by dint of example, ought to succeed in +averting this awful peril.” In this tone, Herr +von Schön delivered his daily exhortations and +found some willing listeners. His specious +pleading made a deep and favourable impression, +and would perhaps have led to representations +by the French Government calculated +to wound the susceptibilities and perhaps +estrange the sympathies of France’s ally at the +most critical hour of the alliance, had it not +been for the presence at the Foreign Office of +a man whose eye was sure and whose measurement +of forces, political and personal, was +accurate. That man was M. Berthelot. Gauging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +aright this insidious appeal to the centrifugal +forces of the political mind, he turned +a deaf ear to von Schön’s suasive efforts and +kept the ship of state on its course, without +swerving. In this way what seemed to the +Berlin politicians the line of least resistance +was adequately reinforced and a formidable, +because crafty, attack repulsed.</p> + +<p>But besides attack, the Germans had also a +problem of defence to engage their attention. +And, curiously enough, it appears to have been +particularly knotty in Austria. At that +moment Count Berchtold was Minister of +Foreign Affairs in name, but Count Tisza, the +Hungarian Premier, was the man who thought, +planned and acted for the Habsburg Monarchy. +He it was who had drawn up the ultimatum +to Serbia and made all requisite arrangements +for co-operation with Germany. He was +backed by the Chief of the General Staff, +Konrad von Hoetzendorff, whose eagerness to +provide an opportunity for displaying the +martial qualities of the army was proverbial. +But there were others in high places there who +had no wish to see the Dual Monarchy drawn +into a European war, and who would gladly +have come to an agreement with Russia on +the basis of such a compromise as Serbia’s reply +to the ultimatum promised to afford. Whether, +as seems very probable, this current bade fair +to gain the upper hand, it is still too soon to +determine with finality. There are certainly +many indications that this was one of the +dangers apprehended in Berlin. Russia’s +moderation was another. And the interplay +of the two might, had Germany held aloof, +have led to a compromise. For this reason +Germany did not stand aloof.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>The date fixed for the German mobilization +was July 31. The evidence for this is to be +found in the date printed on the official order +which was posted up in the streets of Berlin, +but was crossed out and replaced by the words +“1st of August,” in writing, as there was no +time to reprint the text. It had been expected +in Berlin that Russia would have taken a +decision by July 30, either mobilizing or +knuckling down. Neither course, however, +had been adopted. Thereupon Germany became +nervous and went to work in the following +way.</p> + +<p>On Thursday, July 30, at 2.25 p.m. a number +of newspaper boys appeared in the streets of +Berlin adjoining the Unter den Linden and +called out lustily: “<i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> Supplement. +Grave News. Mobilization ordered +throughout the Empire.” Windows were +thrown wide open and stentorian voices called +for the Supplement. The boys were surrounded +by eager groups, who bought up the +stock of papers and then eagerly discussed the +event that was about to change and probably +to end the lives of many of the readers. It does +not appear that the Supplement was sold anywhere +outside that circumscribed district. +Now in that part of the town was situated +Wolff’s Press Bureau, where the official representatives +of Havas and the Russian Telegraphic +Agency sat and worked.</p> + +<p>The correspondent of the latter agency, +having read the announcement of the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i>, +which was definitive and admitted +of no doubt, at once telephoned the news to +his Ambassador, M. Zverbeieff. During the +conversation that ensued the correspondent +was requested by the officials of the telephone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +to speak in German, not in Russian. This was +an unusual procedure. The Ambassador could +hardly credit the tidings, so utterly were they +at variance with the information which he +possessed. He requested the correspondent +to repeat the contents of the announcement, +and then inquired: “Can I, in your opinion, +telegraph it to the Foreign Office?” The +answer being an emphatic affirmative, the +Ambassador despatched a message in cypher +to this effect to the Russian Minister of Foreign +Affairs. For there could be no doubt about the +accuracy of information thus deliberately given +to the public by the journal which possessed +a monopoly of military news and was the organ +of the Crown Prince. The Russian correspondent +also forwarded a telegram to the +Telegraphic Agency in Petrograd communicating +the fateful tidings.</p> + +<p>Within half an hour the German Ministry +of Foreign Affairs telephoned to Wolff’s Bureau +to the effect that the report about the mobilization +order was not in harmony with fact, and +it also summoned the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> to issue +a contradiction of the news on its own account. +This was duly done, and so rapidly that the +second Supplement was issued at about 3 p.m. +The explanation given by the newspaper staff +was that they were expecting an order for +general mobilization and had prepared a special +Supplement announcing it. This Supplement +was unfortunately left where the vendors saw +it, and thinking that it was meant for circulation +seized on all the copies they could find, +rushed into the streets and sold them. On +many grounds, however, this account is unsatisfactory. +Copies of a newspaper supplement +containing such momentous news are not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +usually left where they can be found, removed +and sold by mere street vendors. Moreover, +the date, July 30, was printed on the supplement, +so that it was evidently meant to be +issued, as a matter of fact it was circulated only +in a very limited number of copies and in the +streets around Wolff’s Bureau, where it was +certain to produce the desired effect.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the correspondent of the +Russian Agency received a request to call at +the General Telegraph Office at once. On his +arrival he was asked to withdraw his two +telegrams which the Censor refused to transmit. +To his plea that so far as he knew there was +no censorship in Germany he received the reply +that it had just been instituted and now declined +to pass his telegrams. “In that case,” +he said, “my consent is of no importance, +seeing that the matter is already decided.” +Finally, he asked to have his messages returned +to him, but they would consent only to his +reading, not to his retaining, them.</p> + +<p>The Russian Ambassador also despatched +an urgent <i>message en clair</i> to his Government +embodying the contradiction communicated +by the Wilhelmstrasse.</p> + +<p>Now, the significant circumstance is that +the Ambassador’s first telegram stating that +general mobilization had been officially ordered +throughout the German Empire was forwarded +with speed and accuracy and reached the +Russian Foreign Minister without delay. And +this news was communicated to the Tsar, who +by way of counter-measure issued the order +to mobilize the forces of the Russian Empire. +But the Ambassador’s second telegram was +held back several hours and did not reach its +destination until the mischief was irremediable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +That curious incident is of a piece with the +Bismarck’s Ems telegram.</p> + +<p>It is by such devices that the German Government +is wont to launch into war. The +mentality whence they spring cannot be discarded +in a year or a generation, nor will any +Peace Treaty, however ingeniously worded, +prevent recourse being had to them in the +future. For this, among other reasons, more +trustworthy guarantees than scraps of paper +must be sought and found.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> On 24th July I received this official information. It +was published on Monday, 27th.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GERMAN PROPAGANDA IN SCANDINAVIA</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> same breadth of vision and efficacy of +treatment were similarly rewarded in the +Scandinavian countries, where German propaganda, +ever resourceful and many-sided, was +facilitated by kinship of race, language, folklore +and literature. Of the three kingdoms +Sweden, the strongest, was also the most impressible +owing to the further bond of fellowship +supplied by a common object of distrust—the +Russian empire. Suspicion and dislike +of the Tsardom had been long and successfully +inculcated by the German Press, from which +Sweden received her supply of daily news, and +also, as is usual in such cases, by prominent +natives who, in obedience to motives to which +history is indifferent, employed their influence +to spread suspicion. Sven Hedin rendered +invaluable services in this way to the Kaiser +and the Fatherland, throwing the glamour of +his name over a movement of which the ultimate +tendency was national suicide. Under +the auspices of a prussophile minority of +Swedish politicians, a few of whom were +supposed to favour the establishment of an +absolute monarchy like that of Prussia, a +clever campaign against the Tsardom was +inaugurated. Falsehoods were concocted, +imaginary dangers conjured up and described +as real, and sinister Russian designs against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +the independence of Sweden and Norway were +invoked as motives for energetic action. In +vain the Tsar’s Government protested its +friendship for Sweden and disproved the poisonous +calumnies circulated by the Germans.</p> + +<p>In the discovery and arrest of a number +of Russian military spies, who were as active +in Sweden as in other lands, and whose relations +with the Tsar’s Military Attaché in +Stockholm were said to be proven, these +agitators found the few solid facts that served +them as the groundwork of their fabric of +suspicion and calumny.</p> + +<p>The results of this propaganda answered +the expectations of its German and Swedish +organizers. Despite the quieting assurances +given by the ex-Premier, the late Karl Staaff +and M. Branting, Sweden’s two foremost statesmen, +the present population was thoroughly +alarmed. They spontaneously taxed themselves +for new warships, insisted that a non-recurring +war-tax identical with that of +Germany should be imposed by the State, +and many called for the immediate adhesion +of Sweden to the Triple Alliance.</p> + +<p>One of the fixed points of Russia’s policy, +the Swedish agitators told their fellow-countrymen, +is the acquisition of an ice-free +port which can be utilized in winter. The +Baltic ports do not answer this requirement, +not only because they freeze in the cold +season, but also, and especially, because the +narrow Sound can be easily blocked by a +hostile Power and Russia’s ships bottled up +in the Baltic. Hence the persevering efforts +she made at first to get possession of the +Dardanelles and obtain free access to the +Mediterranean in war-time. More than once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +she was on the very point of achieving success +there, but lack of enterprise on the part of +her statesmen or a sudden adverse change in +the political conjuncture foiled this scheme, +the realization of which was put off indefinitely. +The Persian Gulf was the next +object of her designs, but there, too, she +encountered a diplomatic defeat. The third +goal lay in the Far East, where a new Russian +empire governed by a Viceroy and possessed +of a promising capital, was founded with +every prospect of good fortune. But here, +again, defective statesmanship was followed +by failure, and the campaign against Japan +closed the Far Eastern chapter for a long +while. Whither, it was asked, can Russia +turn now? Recent events, M. Sven Hedin +assured his countrymen, have already answered +the query. Northwards. The great +Slav Empire covets an ice-free harbour in +Norway, and until this war broke out was +busily engaged in compassing its end. At +any future moment it may again start off +on this enterprise. It is the duty of patriotic +Swedes to thwart this nefarious project.</p> + +<p>A Norwegian port, it is freely admitted, +would not fulfil all Russia’s requirements. +It would, for instance, leave much to be desired +from an economic point of view. The +resources of the hinterland would be too +scanty. The cost of transport would be too +heavy. But strategically it would answer +the purpose admirably. Now this conquest +would not be achieved without invading and +annexing a portion of North Sweden as well. +For it would be impossible to keep and utilize +such an acquisition without a hinterland containing +factories, workshops, wharves, docks,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +stores and a fairly numerous population which, +in turn, would require corn, cattle, timber, +etc. Is it credible, asked M. Sven Hedin, +that the southern boundary of this back-land +could be drawn further northwards than to +the north of Ångermanland, Jämtland and +Drontheim? At bottom, then, it is the annexation +of a vast slice of Sweden proper that +Russia has in view. Perhaps the first route of +the Russian army would lie on the eastern bank +of the rivers Torne-älf and Muonio-älf and +lead to the Lyngen Fjord. How long would +it stop there? Step by step it would move +along the coast southwards to Drontheim. +Then Norrland would be surrounded on three +sides by Russians. “Later on they would +tighten the noose and strangle our country. +Are we to remain inactive during the course +of events?... The Swede in general is aware +of the existence of this danger and <i>knows</i> that +it may come upon him at any moment as a +reality.”</p> + +<p>In verity, no normal individual, acquainted +with the political condition of Europe, can +be said to know that the peril of a Russian +invasion of Sweden exists or existed of late +years. As a matter of fact, he knows that +the contradictory proposition is true.</p> + +<p>The symptoms of Russia’s alleged designs +on Norway and Sweden are as fantastic as +the sweeping statements by which they are +heralded. One of them was the order issued +by the Russian Government to build a railway +bridge over the Neva in Petrograd in +order to link the Finnish railway with all +the other stations which are situated on the +opposite bank of that river, as though the +Russian capital should be the only one in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +Europe without a girdle railway and Finland +the sole section of the empire cut off from +all the rest! Another of these “infallible +tokens” of Russia’s machinations were the +measures adopted to render the Finnish railways, +and, in particular, the Oesterbotten +line, capable of transporting Russian military +trains, by enlarging the stations, strengthening +the bridges and rails, and other kindred expedients. +Further, a number of new lines +were considered necessary from a strategic +point of view, one connecting Petersburg +with Wasa via Hiitola, Nyslott and Iyväskylä. +Barracks were built or ordered in +Fredrikshamn, Kouvala, Lahtis and other +Finnish towns, or railway centres. All these +precautions, however, are not only explicable +without the theory that Sweden and Norway +are to be invaded, but they ought to have +been adopted long ago, say unprejudiced +military authorities, in the interests of Russia’s +home defence. Yet M. Sven Hedin concluded +his argument with the words: “When it has +been further established that the transport +of Russian troops to Finland has greatly increased—and +it is affirmed that there are +already about 85,000 soldiers there—and when +we also bear in mind that for many years past +Sweden and likewise Norway have been visited +by so-called knife-grinders<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> from Russia, <i>no +doubt can remain. Russia is making ready for +an onslaught on the Northern kingdoms.</i>”</p> + +<p>But long before Sven Hedin and his friends +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>had begun their campaign, the ground had been +prepared from Berlin, the work of interpenetration +had made great headway, and Germany +was regarded by Sweden as an elder sister. For +the economic invasion preceded the political. +Statistics of foreign trade reveal the Teuton +as the exporter to that country of over forty +per cent. of the entire quantity of merchandise +entering from abroad.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>Switzerland, whose position as a neutral +oasis encircled by belligerents is fraught with +difficulty, has long been treated as hardly +more than an adjunct of the German empire, +and many of the best Swiss writers, far from +resenting this affront, welcome it as a compliment. +Just as Americans occasionally write +about “<i>the</i> King” when alluding to the +British Sovereign, so the Swiss often fall into +the way of describing the operations of “our +army,” “our cause,” when alluding to the +Kaiser’s troops and German designs.</p> + +<p>Several times during the progress of the +war the conduct of Swiss organizations and +individuals towards the two groups of belligerents +aroused grounded misgivings in the +minds of the French, British and Italians +who asked only for the observance of strict +neutrality. One remarkable instance of the +pro-German leanings complained of was the +absolute and persistent refusal of the Swiss +to submit to reasonable restrictions respecting +the sale to Germany and Austria of goods +exported to Switzerland by the allied countries. +This refusal was all the more significant that +it came after the secret acquiescence in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>more stringent limitations which had been +imposed on them by the Germans. Thus two +wholly different sets of weights and measures +would appear to have been employed by the +spokesmen of the little Republic in their +dealings with the two groups of warring +Powers. And it was always Germany who +obtained preferential treatment.</p> + +<p>This bias springs from causes which are +stable and deep-rooted. The bulk of the +Swiss people are frankly pro-German in their +sympathies and their military chiefs side with +the Teuton on most of those questions of +principle which form the line of cleavage +between him and the allied peoples. That +the end justifies the means, is one of those +axioms which the authorities of the Swiss +Republic appear to have endorsed without +hesitation. In the month of March 1916 +two Swiss Colonels, Egli and de Wattenwyl, +were tried on two charges which, if proved, +would, it was somewhat hastily assumed, +bring down severe retribution on their heads. +It was alleged that they had communicated +to the German military authorities important +telegraphic messages intercepted on their way +from the Allies. But the evidence adduced +was deemed insufficient to bear out this indictment. +The other charge was that they +had regularly handed on the confidential +bulletin of the Swiss General Staff to the +military <i>attachés</i> of the Central Empires in +Berne and only to them. And the count was +proven to the satisfaction of the tribunal. +Now this act admittedly constituted a breach +of neutrality. Yet the Chief of the Swiss +General Staff, Colonel Sprecher, defended the +accused men on the singular ground that their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +action—that is to say, a grave breach of +neutrality to the detriment of the allied +nations—was excusable because of the end in +view, which was to gain in exchange useful +information for the Intelligence Department +of the War Office. This plea is based on the +German military principle that the means are +hallowed by the end.</p> + +<p>It is some satisfaction, however, to note that +in the Romande cantons of the Republic a +series of protests have been made against the +spirit of Prussian military amorality which, +as the pleadings and the acquittal of the +two officers showed, permeates the military +circles of that little State whose very existence +depends on its neutrality.</p> + +<p>Kultur is widely diffused throughout the +German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. The +German Universities of the Republic are regarded +and treated as Universities of the +Fatherland and their professors interchanged. +And when we further reflect that Germany +exports to Switzerland goods to the value of +680,870,000 francs as against 347,985,000 exported +by France, who stands second on the +list, that German Universities and those of +German Switzerland elect their professors indiscriminately +from among candidates of both +countries, and that German is spoken in +Switzerland by more than 2,500,000 inhabitants +as against 796,244 who use French—one cannot +affect surprise at much that called for comment +before the war and provoked mild deprecation +throughout its first phase.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Several Russian “knife-grinders” are alleged to +have been discovered in various parts of Sweden, moving +from place to place, with maps of various districts and +a good deal of money in their pockets. The Swedes +declare that they are Russian spies.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> The value of wares she sold to Sweden in 1911 is +computed at 275,423,000 krons as against 170,999,000 +krons’ worth purchased from Great Britain.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GERMANY AND THE BALKANS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">For</span> two decades the Balkan States and +Turkey had been objects of Germany’s especial +solicitude. And with reason. For the part +allotted to them in the plan for teutonizing +Europe was of the utmost moment. The high +road from Berlin to the Near East passed +through Budapest and the Balkans. And +Austria, as the pioneer of German Kultur +there, kept her gaze fixed and her efforts +concentrated on Salonica. Bulgaria’s goodwill +had been acquired through Ferdinand of +Coburg, himself an Austro-Hungarian officer, +and was maintained by Austria’s energetic +championship of Bulgaria’s claims against +Serbia. Counts Aehrenthal and Berchtold +destined Bulgaria and Roumania to coalesce +and form the nucleus of a permanent Balkan +confederation to be patronized and protected +by the Habsburgs.</p> + +<p>But circumstance thwarted the design. +And after the Balkan League had done its +work and Turkey’s grasp on Europe had +relaxed, Bulgaria, in the person of Ferdinand, +was brought to undo what without her lead +could not then have been achieved, to fall foul +of her allies and smash the coalition.</p> + +<p>This incitement was unwelcome to many of +Bulgaria’s trusty leaders, who, much though +they might grudge Serbia’s successes and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +rapid growth, were of opinion that Bulgaria +would be ill-advised to break her connection +with the Slav cause. But the leaders unexpectedly +found that they were being led, and +led away from the natural friends of Bulgaria +by the German prince who had caused the +death of Bulgaria’s greatest statesman and +made no secret of his contempt for the Bulgarian +people generally. Ferdinand, assuming +autocratic power, rendered this inestimable +service to the Teutons and fastened the Bulgarian +State to the Central Empires.</p> + +<p>At some time before the outbreak of the +war Ferdinand had struck up a compact with +the Central Empires which bound Bulgaria +to follow their lead. This he did at his own +risk and on his own responsibility. I had +grounds for believing in the existence of some +such covenant a considerable time before the +storm burst, but I had no tangible proof of +it. In July 1914, however, I knew it for +certain, but without having ascertained the +particulars. When and by whom it had been +signed, and what were the main stipulations +agreed upon, still remained in the domain of +speculation. I discovered, however, that Bulgaria’s +hands were tied; that her mourning +for lost Macedonia would not last long; that +the aims she pursued were the policy of the +outlet on four seas, and the territorial separation +of Greece and Serbia; that her rôle in +the Peninsula was to be predominant; that +she had been chosen to supplant Serbia as the +leading Balkan State, and would pay tribute +to the Central Empires in the shape of docility +to and ready co-operation with them; and +that Roumania would, if she continued to +find favour in the eyes of the statesmen of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +Vienna and Berlin, be associated with Bulgaria, +but without attaining her rank or +acquiring her power.</p> + +<p>It has since been positively asserted by +M. Filipescu, an ex-Cabinet Minister of +Roumania, that “towards the mid-August +1914, when the treaty was concluded which +bound Bulgaria to Germany, the Roumanian +Minister in Berlin, M. Beldiman, had cognizance +of this treaty and apprised the +Roumanian Government of the fact.”<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> +M. Take Jonescu, the illustrious Roumanian +statesman, has assigned a different date to +the conclusion of the agreement, but confirmed +the fact of its existence in the course +of a conversation which has also been made +public.[2] He stated that the King of Bulgaria, +“who is swayed more by personal rancour +than by the interests of his people, imposed +his policy on them. He allied himself with +the Germans as long ago as Spring 1914. The +treaty was taken from Sofia to Berlin by an +official of the Deutsche Bank.”<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>Whatever doubts may prevail respecting +the exact date, the main fact is established—Ferdinand +bound Bulgaria to the Central +Empires.</p> + +<p>Personal interest as well as State reasons +determined him to place himself under +Austro-German protection. It was at Austria’s +instigation that he had spurned the +advice of his official advisers, treacherously +attacked his allies and brought down defeat +upon his armies and discredit upon himself. +But the Habsburg Government had undertaken +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>to see him through the ordeal to which +he was then subjected by his own people. +The Treaty of Bucharest, which deprived +Bulgaria of Kavalla and Salonica, left the +wound to fester and Austro-Bulgarian friendship +to harden into a definite alliance. None +the less Bulgaria’s friendship with the Central +Empires was not openly manifested until the +financial transaction was concluded between +them which made Bulgaria the creditor of +Austria-Hungary shortly before the outbreak +of the war.</p> + +<p>Economically, Bulgaria, like her neighbours, +had long been a tributary of the Central +Empires. German and Austrian interests +were cunningly intertwined with Bulgarian +in almost every branch of national life. The +banks, financial houses, export firms, are all +under Austrian or German control. In the +army, too, despite its Russian training and +traditions, there was a party of officers whose +admiration for the war-lord ran away with +their discretion. And the celebrated loan of +half a milliard francs, which Austrian financiers +undertook to advance to Bulgaria—on outrageously +oppressive conditions—set the crown +to the work of many years. This transaction +was not intended by either party to be purely +financial. Its political bearings were evidenced +by the circumstances in which it was negotiated +and the terms on which it was concluded. +But the economic concessions insisted upon by +Austria and conceded by Bulgaria constituted +of themselves a convincing proof of the design +to reduce the latter country to the position +of one of the dependents of the Central +Empires.</p> + +<p>Of all the recognized agencies for penetrating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +international opinion, swaying international +sentiment, and influencing international +action, one of the most abiding and decisive +is that of royal courts. Yet its value was not +merely underrated by Britain, France and +Russia, but was completely ignored. And +Germany, whose diplomacy, in spite of its +clumsiness and brutality, was far-sighted and +assiduous in watching for and utilizing every +opportunity of smoothing the way for the +execution of the grandiose plan, purveyed +almost every court and throne in Europe with +kings, queens and princesses of its own. And +those who were neither Germans by birth nor +connected with Germans by marriage were +influenced by education, by military training, +or at least by a system of atmosphering which, +with certain striking examples before one, could +be reduced to a few clear rules.</p> + +<p>Roumania at the opening of the war was +governed by a Hohenzollern prince who had +linked the destinies of his country with those +of Austria-Hungary as far back as the year +1880, and, having renewed the secret convention +in 1913, which for him was no mere scrap +of paper, convoked a crown council in August +1914 and proposed that Roumania should +redeem his pledge and take the field against +the enemies of the Central Empires. But +King Carol’s military ardour was not merely +damped but choked by a recalcitrant cabinet.</p> + +<p>That monarch’s influence as a pioneer of +Teuton Kultur in Roumania can hardly be +exaggerated. An upright ruler, who discharged +his duties conscientiously, the King reckoned +among these the dissipation of native gloom +by means of German light. And during his +long reign he succeeded in spreading a network<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +of German economic interests throughout +his realm which, while raising the material +level of the nation, has reduced it to the +position of a German tributary. It would be +unjust to make this a subject of reproach to +the monarch who acted up to his lights, but +it would be a mistake to belittle the vast +services thus rendered by a single individual +to the Teuton race, or to overlook the degree +of responsibility that attaches to the nations +now banded together, and in especial to Russia, +for the sequence of untoward phenomena +which, now that they are not only seen, but +felt, and felt painfully, we naïvely deplore.</p> + +<p>King Carol’s successor is also a Hohenzollern +prince whose attachment to his Prussian +fatherland is noted, whose relations with his +kinsman, the Kaiser, are cordial, but whose +devotion to his subjects is paramount. More +than once since the opening of the campaign +Roumania was believed to be on the point +of exchanging neutrality for belligerency, but, +on grounds which it would be unfruitful to +discuss, she abandoned the intention, if she +ever harboured it. As matters now are, the +Allies are congratulating themselves on the +circumstance that she is still neutral.</p> + +<p>The Queen of Sweden is a daughter of the +most imperialistic of German princes, the late +Grand Duke of Baden and a cousin of the +Kaiser, to whom she is attached by bonds of +sympathy and admiration. And her consort +the King, fascinated by the methods, the +strivings, the achievements of the Hohenzollerns, +has made more than one attempt to +imitate them, but, owing partly to the opposition +of the late Herr Staaff, and largely to +his own mental and moral equipment, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +point in a different direction, he felt obliged +to desist.</p> + +<p>The accomplished Queen of the Belgians +and the Tsaritsa of Russia are also both German +princesses, but they form exceptions to +the rule that whichever of any two spouses is +German exercises an overmastering influence +on the other. The Prince Consort of Holland, +the Duke of Mecklenburg, is a German of the +Germans, but through constitutional channels +he can wield no political influence, and the +attitude of the Dutch Government towards +the Allies has been clear enough to need no +elaborate exegesis.</p> + +<p>The King of Bulgaria is an ex-officer of the +Austro-Hungarian army, whose pro-German +work and its far-resonant results will probably +never be wholly forgotten by his own German +people. For, as we saw, it has rendered them +services that cannot be repaid. Not, indeed, +that he had any coherent plan in his mind’s +eye, or was guided by any deep-seated moral +principles. Politics were for him the art of +the possible enlarged by the negation of the +ethical. Ferdinand may, therefore, be described +as an opportunist, who in current +politics contented himself with following his +nose. Of treaties and conventions he had +signed a goodly number and broken some. +Thus with Russia he had a secret agreement of +a military nature, and also with Russia’s rival, +Austria-Hungary. With Serbia he had one +set of stipulations, with Turkey another, but, +shifty customer that he is, he had set himself +above them all and was ever ready to follow the +lead of personal interest. What the historian +will accentuate is the deftness with which German +diplomacy, for all its alleged clumsiness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +contrived to use his defects and his qualities +alike for the furtherance of its own designs.</p> + +<p>Love of country, like religious faith, is a +respectable mainspring of action. But Ferdinand +has been credited with neither. +Whithersoever he moves one looks in vain +for the guiding light of large ideas. Deeper +than conscious volition lies the stored-up +instinct of barren pettifogging egotism to +which a fine moral atmosphere is deadly. +Insincerity is second nature to him. He +once boasted in my presence that he was a +born actor, and it is fair to say that he played +his rôles—repellent for the most part—as +behoves a mummer. The astonishing thing +is that he should have got influential politicians +to take him seriously. While assuring +the French deputy, M. Joseph Reinach, of his +attachment to France and signing himself the +European, he was writing to Professor Walter +of Budapest offering “all the sympathies of +the Bulgarian nation” to Hungary.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> I have +read ecstatic communications of his penned +in hours of exaltation, when visions of Constantine’s +city, the mosque of Aya Sofia +towering aloft, warmed his fancy and the +sheen of Byzantine brocades and the quaint +paraphernalia of bygone days inspired his +apocalyptic words. His language in those +telegrams and letters was highfaluting and +bombastic. And I read other communications +of his—mostly abject appeals for help—devoid +of dignity and manliness, when the gloom of +dissipated illusions was made unbearable by +fear of dethronement and death. And the +figure cut by the Tsarlet, who addressed those +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>humble prayers—mostly to influential ladies—was +despicable.</p> + +<p>Ferdinand was swayed by ingrained hatred +of Russia which was almost as potent as his +contempt for the Bulgars. And he never +made a secret of either. For the Turkish +pasha who was responsible for the Bulgarian +atrocities, which aroused Gladstone’s indignation, +Ferdinand’s professed admiration took +the form of a subscription.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> But high above +all motives that turned upon his feelings +towards others were those that centred +entirely in himself.</p> + +<p>And he had cogent personal motives for +cultivating cordial relations with the country +of his birth. From the Austrian Government +he expected to be saved from the necessity of +abdicating and expiating his unwisdom. It +was his inordinate ambition and vanity which +had brought the Bulgarian nation to the very +brink of ruin. He it was who had insisted on +breaking off negotiations with Turkey during +the London Conference and recommencing +hostilities. In vain the Chief of the General +Staff, Fitcheff,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> besought him to conclude +peace. The importunate military adviser was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>suddenly relieved of his duties and the second +phase of the Balkan war begun. It was +Ferdinand, too, who thwarted Russia’s peace-making +efforts, refused to send delegates to +the tribunal of arbitration in Petrograd, and +ordered the treacherous attack on the Serbs +and the Greeks which culminated in Bulgaria’s +forfeiting some of the principal fruits of her +heroic military exertions.</p> + +<p>For this series of baleful blunders—to the +Bulgars they were nothing more—Ferdinand +was known to be alone responsible. He had +assumed the sole responsibility, and he had +hoped to gather in the lion’s share of the +spoils. And as soon as responsibility seemed +likely to involve punishment, his Ministers +withdrew and exposed his person to the +nation. When, after the end of the second +Balkan war, General Savoff repaired to Constantinople +to better the relations between +Bulgaria and Turkey, he invited a number of +French and British journalists who happened +to be just then in the capital, and he addressed +them as follows: “It has come to my ears that +in Sofia I am accused of being the person who +issued the order to our army to attack our +Allies and that I am to be tried for it. They +will never dare to prosecute me. For I have +here—” and he thumped his side pocket as +he spoke—“the order issued by the real author +of the war and in his own handwriting. He +commanded me orally to do this, but I replied +that I must have a written order from the +Government. Thereupon he shouted: ‘I am +the supreme chief of the army and am about +to give you the order in writing,’ indited the +behest and handed it to me. That is why he +cannot prosecute me. I will show him up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +Already now I tell you, so that all may hear, +<i>C’est un coquin, un misérable!</i>”<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>That was General Savoff’s summing-up of +his august sovereign. And his forecast proved +correct. Ferdinand did not attempt to lay +the blame on him, still less to have an indictment +filed against him. On the contrary, he +kissed Savoff on his return to Sofia and later +on made him his adjutant-general. Ferdinand’s +responsibility being established, his abdication +was clamoured for by public opinion. +His own estimate of his plight was impregnated +with despair. He despatched the abject +telegrams mentioned above to his influential +friends. It was then that he received a +letter signed by the three chiefs of the +Liberal groups of the old Stambulovist Party—Radoslavoff, +Ghennadieff and Tontcheff—and +written, it has been alleged, after consultation +between all four parties, exhorting +him to reverse the national policy and link +Bulgaria’s fate with that of Austria. The +Coburg prince publicly welcomed them, dismissed +the Daneff Cabinet, handed the reins +of power to the three self-constituted saviours +of the dynasty and country, and the Treaty of +Bucharest was signed in an offhand manner. +The keynote of the policy of the new Cabinet +was hatred of Russia, who was held up to +public opprobrium by the press of Sofia as +the mischief-maker who had betrayed Bulgaria; +and as the nation thirsted for a culprit on whom +to vent its rage, the legend obtained a certain +vogue. At the same time emphatic assurances +were given by Count Berchtold that Austria +would upset the Treaty of Bucharest, break +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>down the Serbian and Greek barriers that stood +between Bulgaria and her natural boundaries, +and establish Ferdinand and his dynasty more +firmly on the throne. This prospect heartened +the King and stimulated his fellow-workers.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the most decisive factor in +Bulgaria’s attitude towards the Central Powers +has been that of Russia towards Bulgaria. +The Tsardom cherishes tender feelings towards +the political entity which it called into being. +Bulgaria is the creature of the great Slav +people which shed its blood and spent its +treasure in giving it life and viability, and has +ever since felt bound to watch over its destinies, +forgive its foolish freaks, and contribute to its +political and material well-being. Congruously +with this frame of mind, Russia has not the +heart to deal with Bulgaria as she would deal +under similar provocation with Roumania or +Greece. Like the baby cripple, or the profligate +son, this wayward little nation ever +remains the spoiled child. Hence, do what +harm she may to Russia, she is not merely +immune from the natural consequences of her +unfriendly acts, but certain to reap fruits +ripened by the sacrifices of those whose policy +she strove to baulk. Conscious of this immense +privilege, she takes the fullest advantage +of it. Under such conditions no stable coalition +of the Balkan States was possible.</p> + +<p>The remarkable ascendancy thus won by +Germany over Bulgaria is but one of the +salient results of her foresight, organization +and single-mindedness which the Allies are +now beginning to appreciate. Their ideal policy +in the Balkans was to have none. Great +Britain in particular was proud of her complete +disinterestedness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<p>Between the Teutons and the Greeks there +were no such close ties as those that linked +Bulgaria to the Central Empires. The Hellenic +kingdom is a democracy marked by a constant +tendency to anarchy. Down to the beginning +of the reign of the present monarch its ruler +was never more than the merest figure-head, +nor its people anything but an amalgam of +individuals deficient in the social sense and +devoid of political cohesiveness. The late +King George, for instance, remained, to the +end of his life, an amused spectator of the +childish game of politics carried on by his +Ministers; and so insecure did he consider +his tenure of the kingship, that his frequent +threat to “take his hat” and quit the country +for good had become one of the commonplaces +of Greek politics. Only a few years ago his +reign appeared to be drawing to an ignominious +end. His functions were usurped by a military +league and his sons removed from the army. +Anarchy was spreading, at that time I expressed +the opinion that the only person +capable of saving Greece—if Greece could yet +be saved—was the Cretan insurgent, M. Venizelos. +This suggestion appealed to the Chief +of the Military League and was adopted. +Venizelos was invited to Athens with the +results known to all the world. At first +reluctantly tolerated, he was subsequently +highly appreciated by King George and was +afterwards handicapped by King Constantine, +whose impolitic instructions during the Bucharest +Conference resulted in sowing seeds of +discord between Greece and Bulgaria.</p> + +<p>To small countries and petty personal ambitions, +a war among the Great Powers brings +halcyon days of flattery, bribery and seductive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +prospects in an imaginary future. In Greece +all these and other attractions were dangled +before the eyes of men of power and influence. +The Sovereign, whose admiration for the Kaiser +verges on idolatry, soon extended this platonic +sentiment to the Kaiser’s army. And when +fortune seemed definitively to espouse the +cause of the Central Empires, his admiration +was reinforced by fear and the pro-German +leanings, which were at first merely platonic, +bade fair to harden into active co-operation. +It was not until then that the Entente Powers, +discerning the fateful character of their errors +and the trend of events, resolved after much +hesitation and discussion to put forth an +effort to retrieve the situation. Of his philo-German +tendencies King Constantine gave +several public proofs long before the war, and +on the psychological soil from which they +sprang, German diplomacy raised its typical +structure of intrigue and adulation. As the +irresistible captain who had shattered the +armies of Turkey and Bulgaria, winning undying +fame for himself and his country, the +King was encouraged to believe that on him +devolved the mission of uniting all Hellenes +under his sceptre, building up a larger Greece, +consolidating the monarchy within, and ruling +as well as reigning. And so well laid was this +plan that when the European armies took the +field and the Entente Powers counted Greece, +then apparently governed by Venizelos, among +its cordial friends, the Teutons, sure of their +ground, but still working assiduously for their +object, put their trust in the Kaiser’s royal +henchman and their own permanent display of +force, and were not disappointed.</p> + +<p>Long before the war-cloud burst, the history<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +makers of Berlin recognized the fact that the +key to the Dardanelles lay in Sofia, and not +only to the Dardanelles, but also the key to +the Near East. The statesmen of Austria and +Germany discerned that the Bulgars under +their guidance could be got to do for Turkey +what Japan hoped, and still hopes, to effect +for China. It is a work of complete transformation, +a sort of political transubstantiation +whereby the Bulgars would infuse ichor +into the limp veins of the Ottoman organism +and recreate a strong political entity which +would be an instrument in the hands of the +Central Empires. The Bulgar knows the Turk, +to whom he is more akin by race habits and +temperament than to any of the Slav peoples, +understands his psychic state, his mode of feeling +and thinking, and is therefore qualified to serve +as link between the Oriental and the Western. +It was in view of this eventuality that the +slow, plodding work of grafting Kultur on +the Bulgar people was undertaken. Two +German schools, one in Sofia and the other in +Philippopolis, were the centres whence it was +radiated to the ends of the land. In Bulgaria +there are many preparatory grammar +schools in which tuition for both sexes is free. +All scholars who have passed through one of +the German schools are admitted without any +examination into the Grammar School, or +Gymnasium, a privilege which works as a +powerful attraction. Since Turkey retroceded +Karagatch<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> to Bulgaria there are three such +centres of Teutonic propaganda in Bulgaria, +and I am informed that a fourth will shortly +be established in Rustschuk.</p> + +<p>The record of the economic invasion of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>Roumania by the Teuton,<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> supplemented as +it was by various complex auxiliary movements +of a political character, supplies us +with a fresh variation of the trite text that +Germany conceived her plan on a vast scale +and executed it by co-operation between the +State and the individuals, leaving nothing to +chance which could be settled by forethought. +The ruler of the country was a Hohenzollern, +and as he wielded absolute power in matters +connected with foreign policy, he had a free +hand and kept it efficaciously employed. For +over thirty years King Carol transacted the +international business of the realm—economic +as well as political—with assiduity, conscientiousness +and a fair meed of success. He encouraged +industry and commerce, and welcomed +German and Austrian capital and enterprise. +The upshot of his exertions was that in +the fullness of time his kingdom, like those +of Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey, became to +most intents a nascent Teutonic colony. In +Roumania, as in Bulgaria, the commercial +methods and business ways are German. The +heads of banking establishments and great +industries are either Teutons or friends of +Teutons. Nearly every big enterprise, commercial +and industrial, was launched and kept +afloat by capital from the Fatherland. The +Discount Bank in Berlin has a vast cellar filled +with Roumanian bonds, shares and other +securities. So close are the ties that connect +the little state with the great empire that even +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>the Roumanian railways have a special convention +with those of Prussia. Here, then, as +everywhere else, we are in presence of intelligence +wedded to politico-economic enterprise. +Individual German firms and the Government +worked hand in hand; diplomacy, trade and +commerce moved steadily towards the same +goal, and attained it.</p> + +<p>Owing to Roumania’s grievances against +Russia—whose seizure of Bessarabia nearly +forty years ago left a wound which festered for +years and has only recently been cicatrized—King +Carol concluded a military convention +with the Austro-Hungarian empire, the stipulations +of which have never been authoritatively +disclosed. There is reason to believe +that one clause obliged the Roumanian Government +to come to the support of the Habsburg +Monarchy with all its military resources in +case that empire should be wantonly attacked +by another Power. Whether this instrument, +which was never laid before the Roumanian +legislature for ratification, is deemed to have +been vitiated by the lack of this indispensable +sanction, or is assumed to have terminated +with the decease of the king who concluded +it, is a matter of no real moment. The +relevant circumstance is the unwillingness of +Austria-Hungary to invoke the terms of the +convention and the resolve of the Bucharest +Cabinet to ignore them.</p> + +<p>Thus Roumania, like all other neutral states, +was well within the sphere of attraction of the +Central Empires long before the present conflict +was unchained. And the clever tactics +by which siege was laid to the sympathies of +a nation which at bottom has hardly any +traits in common with the besieger, would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +have entailed a complete revision and remodelling +of the polity of Russia, France and Britain, +had these Powers had any coherent programme +or distant aims. But their motto was: Sufficient +unto the day is the evil thereof.</p> + +<p>True, none of those States ever designed a +political revolution of the Old Continent, such +as Napoleon had imagined or Germany is now +striving to realize. But neither did they read +aright nor even give serious thought to the +symptoms of the great conspiracy which was +being hatched by others for that purpose. +Busied with their party squabbles and social +reforms, they took it for granted that international +tranquillity which was a condition of +the stability of all internal affairs was assured. +Such occasional misunderstandings as might +crop up among the Powers could, they imagined, +always be smoothed over by manifestations of +goodwill and timely concessions. Fitfulness and +hesitancy marked every attempt made by Germany’s +rivals to push their trade or extend their +political relations beyond their own borders.</p> + +<p>This lack of enterprise was especially accentuated +in their dealings with Turkey. No +Powers had done so much to uphold Ottoman +sway in Europe as France and Britain, and for +a long while their exertions found their natural +outcome in a degree of influence at the Sublime +Porte which was unparalleled in Turkish +history. But once Germany inaugurated her +economico-political campaign in the Near East, +the principle of neighbourliness was invoked in +favour of allowing her to possess herself of a +share of the good things going, whereupon +Great Britain, and in a lesser degree France, +curbed their natural impulse and left most of +the field to the pushing new-comer. For years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +the writer of these lines pointed out the danger +of this self-abnegation, but his insistent appeals +for a more active line of conduct were met +by the statement that Near Eastern affairs +had long ceased to tempt the enterprise or +affect the international policy of Great Britain. +As though Great Britain were not a member +of the European community or her geographical +insularity implied political isolation; or as if +her policy of equilibrium were capable of being +achieved without the employment of adequate +means! When I raised my voice against our +participation in the Baghdad railway scheme +and bared to the light the political designs +underlying it, Cabinet Ministers assured the +country that its scope was exclusively economic +and cultural and had no connection with +politics! This naïve belief and the <i>laissez-faire</i> +attitude which it engendered enabled the +Teutons to reduce Turkey to economic and +political thraldom and to earmark Asia Minor, +thenceforward hedged in with the Baghdad and +Anatolian railways, as a future German colony.</p> + +<p>The closeness and constancy of the relations +between economics and politics which easily +took root in German consciousness, had for +another of its corollaries the dispatch of General +Liman von Sanders and his band of officers to +reorganize the Ottoman army. This measure +struck some observers as the beginning of the +end of European peace. It was thus that the +Russian Premier, Kokofftseff, and his colleague, +Sazonoff, construed it, and that was the interpretation +which I also put upon it. But none +of the other interested Governments expressed +similar misgivings, nor, so far as one can judge, +entertained any. Yet when war was finally +declared, Germany’s plan of campaign allotted an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +important rôle to Turkey not in a possible emergency, +but at a date to be determined by the +completion of her military and naval equipment.</p> + +<p>In this ingenious and comprehensive way, +operating at a multitude of points, but never +dissociating economics from politics, never +abandoning the work of commercial expansion +to the unaided resources of individuals, the +Teutonic empires contrived to spread a huge +net in whose meshes almost every civilized +nation was to some extent entangled. And the +subsequent political conduct of many of these +was determined in advance by the plight to +which they had been thus reduced. Russia was +reasonably believed to be incapable of taking +the field; Italy was accounted wholly unfitted +to bear the weight of the financial burden +which a conflict with Germany would lay upon +her shoulders; Roumania, it was calculated, +would decline to exchange material gains for +political returns purchased at a heavy cost; +Bulgaria could not afford to estrange Austria’s +sympathies and need never fear that she +might forfeit those of Russia; Sweden, saturated +with German Kultur, was one of the +foreposts of Teutonism in the north of Europe +and might in time be induced to imitate +Bulgaria and play for the hegemony of the +Scandinavian States with the Kaiser’s help; +Switzerland was virtually German in everything +but political organization; Holland +would believe in Prussianism and tremble; +Belgium was economically a pawn in German +hands and Antwerp a German port; and +in the United States millions of hyphenated +Germans would plead the Teuton cause and +do the rough work of advancing it by means +of their political organization and influence.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> See <i>Le Temps</i>, October 31, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Mr. M. Civinini of the <i>Corriere della Sera</i>. See +<i>Corriere della Sera</i>, October 11, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> In September 1914. See <i>Morning Post</i>, September 4, +1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> The Batak massacre of Bulgarians by order of Abdul +Kerim Pasha had called forth Gladstone’s pamphlet: +<i>Bulgarian Atrocities</i>, and aroused the horror of civilized +men. But the Hungarian aristocracy sympathized with +the mass murderer, and presented him with a golden +hilted sabre. The list of subscribers for this mark of +aversion to the Bulgarian people can still be viewed in +the Museum at Budapest. The third name on that list—Princess +Clementine—is followed immediately by that of +her son Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, who gave one hundred +florins as a token of his admiration for the exterminator +of his future subjects! It need hardly be added +that he was not yet Prince of Bulgaria.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> General Fitcheff has since become Minister of War.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> This narrative was published by M. Wesselitsky in +the <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, November 6, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> One of the suburbs of Adrianople ceded in July 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Roumania’s annual imports from Austria-Hungary, +according to the latest available statistics, were valued +at 136,906,000 francs; from Germany at 183,713,000; +and from Great Britain at only 85,470,000 francs. France +exported thither goods valued at no more than 35,273,000 +francs.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE RIVAL POLICIES</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> face of this Teutonic control of the +world’s trade, politics and news supply, the +Great Powers whose outlook, political and +economic, was most nearly affected, exhibited +a degree of supineness which can only be +adequately explained by such assumptions as +one would gladly eliminate. Anyhow the +lessons conveyed by eloquent facts fell upon +deaf ears. Yet it was manifest, in view of +Germany’s ingenious combination of economics +and politics, and the irresistible co-operation +of the State and individuals in applying it, +that the slipshod methods of Britain and +France could no longer be persisted in without +grave danger to these states. To deal with +trade and industry as though they were matters +that concerned only the particular business +firms engaged in them was no longer an economical +error, it was also a political blunder. +To Government meddling in trade and industry +the British people have ever been averse. And +their dislike is intelligible although no longer +warranted. A glance at Germany’s economic +campaign and its results ought to have borne +out the thesis that individual self-reliance and +push are unavailing to cope with a potent +organism equipped scientifically, provided with +large capital and backed by the resources of +diplomacy. New epochs call for fresh methods,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +and the era of commercial and industrial +individualism was closed years ago by the +German people. Co-ordination of effort, the +combination of politics with economics, and +unity of direction were among Germany’s +methods in the contest, and she adopted them +in the grounded belief that commerce and +industry lie at the nethermost roots of the +vast political movements of the new era.</p> + +<p>This is a century of co-operation, of joint +efforts for common interests, of union in +trade, industry, labour, politics and war. To +stand aloof is to be isolated, and isolation +means helplessness against danger. Germany +was the first Power to grasp these facts, to +understand the new phase of life and to adapt +herself to it. For this work of readjustment +her people were specially endowed by Nature, +and in their equipment for the task they saw +a mark of election set upon them by their +“old God.” For the correlate of co-operation +is talent for organization, and with this +the Teutons are plentifully gifted. They feel +impelled as it were by instinct to push forward +much further on the road already +traversed by all nations from isolation to +individualism through gregariousness. They +opened the new era of amalgamation by co-ordinating, +on a vast scale, individual achievements, +resources and labour, and directing +them to a common end. The allied peoples +were meanwhile content to muddle through +in the old way. This difference explains much +that seems puzzling in the outcome of the +struggle.</p> + +<p>It has been affirmed somewhat off-handedly +that the Latin and British peoples, incapable +of united and organized effort, have halted at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +the individualist stage. They are supposed +to lack the bump of organization. According +to this theory among the Germans, who had +passed through all the intermediate phases +and carried individualism to sinister extremes +in the past, a reaction set in which called forth +the latent powers of organization which they +possess. And these have been wielded with +brilliant results ever since the unity of the +German Empire was first established. Applying +the new principle to politics, the statesmen +of Berlin grasped the fact that all future +conflicts in Europe would be waged by coalitions. +Neither Austria-Hungary alone nor the +German Empire alone could undertake a world +war. That was the genesis of the scheme of +welding the two central empires in one politico-military +entity and then attracting as many +other States as possible into their orbit. And +the enterprise was conducted so ingeniously +that when war was declared, Roumania, Bulgaria +and Turkey were tied to the Triple +Alliance. And henceforward, whatever the +outcome of the war may be, the permanent +fusion of Germany and Austria is a foregone +conclusion.</p> + +<p>By the means described a state of things, +actual and potential, was established which +rendered Germany’s military attack on Europe +much less hazardous and doubtful a venture +than was at first supposed. For there was +not a country on the globe which she or her +ally had not subjected to the process of interpenetration, +nor was there one which had +remained wholly irresponsive. Even Brazil, +Chili, Peru, China, Morocco, Persia, Abyssinia, +had all experienced its effects. And +when at last the harvest-time was come and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +its fruits were to be ingathered Germany felt +that she could count to varying extents on +the active sympathy and support of governments, +parliaments and nations; on the Turks, +the Swiss, the Swedes, the Bulgarians, the +Roumanians; on the autocratic ruler of the +Greeks and on millions of American-Germans. +Every independent religious centre was permeated +with an atmosphere composed in +Germany. The Caliph and the Sheikh-ul-Islam +of the Moslems, the evangelical preachers +of the Russian Baltic provinces, Brahmins in +India, subjects of the Negus of Abyssinia, the +Jews of western Russia and Poland, as well +as those of the Netherlands, the Catholics of +Switzerland, Holland and Italy, nay, the +Vatican itself, raised their voices in the chorus +of the millions who sang hosannah to the +Highest.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>Dismay was the feeling aroused among the +Allies by the quick dramatic moves which +precipitated the war. The trump of doom +seemed to have sounded at a moment when +mankind was on the point of discovering the +secret of immortality. The utter unpreparedness +of the Allies was the dominant note of +the new situation, and its manifestations were +countless and disastrous. There was no adequate +British expeditionary army to send on +foreign service, and there existed no machinery +by which such a force could quickly be got +together and trained. Voluntary enlistment +was a slowly moving mechanism, and even if +it could be made to work more rapidly, there +was no way of employing the new soldiers, +for whom there were neither barracks nor +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>uniforms nor rifles in sufficiency. And if all +these requirements could have been improvised, +there were no generals accustomed to +handle armies of millions. And even if all +those wants had been supplied to hand +there was no Government enterprising enough +to put them to the best advantage of the +nation. Moreover, colonial expeditions were +the most extensive military operations which +the country had carried on within the memory +of the present generation, and it was beyond +the power of the authorities not only to +organize the imperial defences on an adequate +scale but even to realize the necessity of +attempting the feat. In a word, the prospect +could hardly have been more dismal.</p> + +<p>In France it was a degree less cheerless, but +still decidedly bleak. Mobilization there went +forward, it is claimed, more smoothly than +had been anticipated, but not rapidly enough +to enable adequate forces to be dispatched +in time against the German military flood. +The organization of the railway system was +most inefficient. And had it not been for +heroic Belgium, who, confronted with the +alternatives of ruin with honour and safety +with ignominy, unhesitatingly chose the better +part, the inrush of the Teutons would, it is +asserted by military experts, have swept away +every obstacle that lay between them and the +French capital, which was their first objective. +Belgium’s magnificent resistance thus saved +Paris, gave breathing space to the French, +and enabled the Allies to swing their sword +before smiting.</p> + +<p>Russia, too, did better than had been augured +of her, but not nearly as well as if her resources +had been organized by competent experts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +alive to the dangers that threatened the +empire. On the eve of the war a process of +fermentation among the working men of her +two capitals was coming to a head, and a +revolt, if not a revolution, was being industriously +organized. The movement had certainly +been fostered, and probably originated, +by wealthy German employers in Petrograd, +Moscow and other industrial centres. They +had hoped to frustrate the mobilization order, +retard Russia’s entry into the field, and possibly +bring about civil strife. And they were within +an ace of succeeding. On the very eve of +hostilities reports reached Berlin and Vienna +that the revolution was already beginning. +But the declaration of war against Germany +purified the air, absorbed the redundant energies +of the people, and fused all classes and +parties into a whole-hearted, single-minded +nation, giving Russia a degree of union which +she had not enjoyed since Napoleon’s invasion. +But, separated from her allies, she +went her own way without much reference to +theirs. Her plans had been drafted by her +military leaders, and might be modified by +local conditions or subsequent vicissitudes, +but were neither co-ordinated nor even synchronized +with those of France and Britain. +Thus the first and most important lesson had +still to be mastered.</p> + +<p>Liège and Namur having fallen, the danger +to Paris struck terror to the hearts of the +French, and the public mind was being +gradually prepared by the Press to receive the +depressing tidings of its capture with dignified +calm. The occupation of the capital, it +was argued, would not essentially weaken +the military strength of the Republic. For the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +army would still be intact, and that was the +essential point. Here, for the first time, one +notes the almost invincible force of the antiquated +opinions to which the Allies still +tenaciously clung about warfare as modified +by Germany. No misgivings were harboured +that the enemy might threaten to burn the +capital city if the army refused to capitulate, +or that he was capable of carrying out such a +threat. War in its old guise, hedged round +with traditions of chivalry, with humanitarian +restrictions, with international laws, was how +the French and their allies conceived it. And +it was in that spirit that they made their +forecasts and regulated their own behaviour +towards the enemy.</p> + +<p>The rise of Generals Joffre, Castelnau and +Foch and the retreat of the German invaders +raised the Allies from the depths of despair +to a degree of confidence bordering on presumption. +After the departure of the Belgian +Government to Antwerp,<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> the occupation of +Brussels,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> the defeat of the Austrian army by +the Serbs and the rout of three German army +corps by the Russians,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> the Western Allies +conceived high hopes of the military prowess +of the Slavs, and looked to them for the decisive +action which would speedily bring the +Teutons to their knees. And for a time +Russia’s continued progress seemed to justify +these hopes. Her troops entered Insterburg<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> +and pushed on to Königsberg, which they +invested and threatened,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> and in the south +they scored a series of remarkable successes +in Galicia. But in the west of Europe the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>Allies could at most but retard without +arresting the advance of the Germans, whose +aim was to defeat the French and then concentrate +all their efforts on the invasion of the +Tsardom. Despite assurances of an optimistic +tenor there appeared to be no serious hope +of defending Paris, nor were effective local +measures adopted for the purpose; and on +September 3 the French Government, against +the insistent advice of three experienced +Cabinet Ministers, suddenly moved to Bordeaux, +and earned for itself the nickname of +<i>tournedos à la bordelaise</i>. On the same historic +day the Tsar’s troops triumphantly entered +Lemberg, restored to that city its ancient +name of Lvoff, and proceeded to introduce +the Russian system of administration there +with all its traditional characteristics. But +in lieu of conferring full powers on the +Governor of the conquered province, a man +of broad views and conciliatory methods, +the Government dispatched a narrow-minded +official, devoid of natural ability, of administrative +training, and of the sobering consciousness +of his own defects, and listened to his +recommendations. For Russia, like France +and Britain, still contemplated the situation +and its potentialities through the distorting +medium of the old order of things. Their +orientation had undergone no change.</p> + +<p>One of the immediate consequences of +Russian rule in Galicia was to confirm the +Vatican in its belief that Austria offered +Catholicism far more trustworthy guarantees +for its unhindered growth than could ever be +expected from the Tsardom.</p> + +<p>The famous battle of the Marne<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> infused +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>new energies into the Allies, whose Press +organs forthwith took to discussing the terms +on which peace might be vouchsafed to the +Teutons, and in these stipulations a spirit of +magnanimity was displayed towards the enemy +which at any rate served to show how little +his temper was understood and how enormously +his resources were underrated. Soon, +however, the mist of ignorance began to lift, +and saner notions of the stern interplay of +the tidal forces at work were borne in upon +the leaders of the allied peoples. One of +the first discoveries to be made was the enormous +consumption of ammunition required by +latter-day warfare and the ease with which +the Germans were able to meet this increased +demand. That this enormous advantage was +the result of scientific organization was patent +to all. Nor could it be ignored that an essential +element of that organization was the militarization +of all workmen whose services were +needed by the State. But from the lesson +thus inculcated to its application in practice +there was an abyss. And as yet that abyss +has not been bridged. The most formidable +obstacle in the way is offered by the shackles +of party politics, which still hamper the leaders +of the Entente Powers, and in particular of +Great Britain. Industrial compulsion has not +yet been moved into the field of practical +politics.</p> + +<p>One of Germany’s calculations was that, +however superior to her own resources those +of her adversaries might be, they were not +likely to be mobilized, concentrated and +brought to bear upon the front. Consequently +they would not tell upon the result. Military +discipline had not impregnated any of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +allied nations, whose ideas of personal liberty +and dignity would oppose an insurmountable +obstacle to that severe discipline which was +essential to military success. Great Britain, +they believed, would cling to her ingrained +notions of the indefeasible right of the British +workman to strike and of the British citizen +to hold back from military service. And the +telegrams announcing that in the United +Kingdom the cries of “business as usual,” +“sport as usual,” “strikes as usual,” “voluntary +enlistment as usual,” indicated the survival +of the antiquated spirit of individualism +into a new order of things which peremptorily +called for co-operation and iron discipline, +were received in Berlin and Vienna with +undisguised joy. The persistence of this spirit +has been the curse of the Allies ever since.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> The Highest of All is the official designation of the +Kaiser: der Allerhöchste.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> August 17, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> August 20, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> August 22, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> August 23, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> August 29, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> September 12, 1914.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is worth noting in this connection how +heavily the lack of genial leaders at this critical +conjuncture in European history told upon +the allied peoples and affected their chances +of success. The statesmen in power were +mostly straightforward, conscientious servants +of their respective Governments, whose ideal +had been the prevention of hostilities, and +whose exertions in war time were directed to +the restoration of peace on a stable basis. +By none of them was the stir, the spirit, the +governing instincts of the new era or the +actual crisis perceived. They all failed of +audacity. Hence they were solicitous to leave +as far as possible intact all the rights, privileges +and institutions of the past which would +be serviceable in the re-established peace +régime of the future. In Great Britain the +voluntary system of recruiting the army and +navy was to be respected, the right of workmen +to strike was recognized, and the maintenance +of party government was looked upon +as a matter of course. The writer of these pages +made several ineffectual attempts to propagate +the view that a War Cabinet presided over by +a real chief was a corollary of the situation, +military and industrial compulsion for all was +indispensable, that a discriminating tariff on +our imports and a restriction of certain exports<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +would materially contribute to our progress, and +that a special department for the manufacture +of munitions ought to be organized without +delay.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> One measure indicative, people said, +of undisputed wisdom which was resorted to +was the appointment of Lord Kitchener as +Secretary for War.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> If this step deserved the +fervent approval it met with, its efficacy was +considerably impaired by imposing on the new +Secretary the task of purveying munitions and +other supplies, in addition to the multifarious +duties of his office. And with this solitary +exception everything was allowed to go on +“as usual,” with consequences which every +one has since had an opportunity of meditating. +Internal whole-hearted co-operation +between the Government and all the social +layers of the population was neither known +nor systematically attempted, and still less +were the respective forces of the Allies co-ordinated +and hurled against the enemy. The +struggle was confined to the army and the +navy, and these instruments of national defence +were inadequately provided with the +first necessaries for action.</p> + +<p>Each of the Allies was isolated, cooped +within its own narrow circle of ideas, buoyed +up by its own hopes, bent on the attainment +of its own special aims. The first step towards +amalgamation was negative in character, but +superlatively politic. It took the form of a +covenant by which it was stipulated that none +of the Allies should conclude a separate peace +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>with the enemy. But beyond that nothing +was done, nor was anything more considered +necessary.</p> + +<p>In Britain the consciousness that the country +was at war spread very slowly, while the conviction +that this was a life-and-death struggle +which would seriously affect the lives and +rights and habits of every individual made no +headway. Only a few grasped the fact that +a tremendous upheaval was going forward +which marked the rise of a new era and a +complete break with the old. By the bulk +of the population it was treated as a game +calling for no extraordinary efforts, no special +methods, no new departures. It was construed +as a hateful parenthesis in a cheerful +history of human progress, and the object of +the nation was to have it swiftly and decently +closed. Hence the machinery of the old system +was not discarded. Voluntary enlistment was +belauded and agitation against joining the +army magnanimously tolerated. Attacks on +the Government were permitted. The manufacture +of munitions was confided to private +firms and to the whims of dissatisfied workmen, +and co-operation among the various +sections of the population was left to private +initiative.</p> + +<p>Most of us are prone to consider this war +as a fortuitous event, which might, indeed, +have been staved off, but which, having disturbed +for a time the easy movement of our +insular life, will die away and leave us free to +continue our progress on the same lines as +before. But this faith is hardly more than +the confluence of hopes and strivings, habits, +traditions, and aspirations untempered by +accurate knowledge of the facts. And the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +facts, were we cognizant of them, would show +us that the agencies which brought about +this tremendous shock of peoples without blasting +our hopes or exploding our pet theories, +will not spend their force in this generation +or the next, and that already the entire fabric—social, +political, and economical—of our +national life is undergoing disruption.</p> + +<p>The shifting of landmarks, political and +social, is going steadily if stealthily forward; +and the nation waking up one day will note +with amazement the vast distance it has imperceptibly +traversed. If only we could realize +at present how rapidly and irrevocably we are +drifting away from our old-world moorings, +we should feel in a more congenial mood for +adjusting ourselves to the new and unpopular +requirements of the era now dawning. Already +we are becoming a militarist and a protective +State, but we do not yet know it. We have +broken with the traditions of our own peculiar +and insular form of civilization, of which +poets like Tennyson were the high priests, +yet we hesitate to bid them farewell. We +still base our forecasts of the future political +life on the past and calculate the outcome of +the next elections, the fate of Disestablishment +and Home Rule, the relative positions of the +chief Parliamentary parties on the old bases, +and draw up our plans accordingly. In short, +we still bear about with us the fragrant atmosphere +of our previous existence which will +never be renewed. And it is owing to the +effects of that disturbing medium that our +observations have been so defective and our +mistakes so sinister. We still fail to perceive +that decay has overtaken the organs of our +Party Government and the groundwork of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +State fabric is rotten. Yet everything about +and around us is in flux. We are in the midst +of a new environment.</p> + +<p>When this war is over we shall search in +vain for what was peculiarly British in our +cherished civilization. Of that civilization +which reached its acme during the reign of +the late King Edward, we have seen the last, +little though most of us realize its passing. +It was an age of sturdy good sense, healthy +animalism, and dignity withal, and not devoid +of a strong flavour of humanity and home-reared +virtue. But in every branch of politics +and some departments of science it was an age +of amateurism. Respect for right, for liberty, +for law and tradition, for relative truth and +gradual progress, was widely diffused. Well-controlled +energy, responsiveness to calls on +one’s fellow-feeling, and the everyday honesty +that tapers into policy were among its familiar +features. But if one were asked to sum it all +up in a single word it would be hard to utter +one more comprehensive or characteristic than +the essentially English term, comfort. Comfort +was the apex of the pyramid which is now +crumbling away. And it is that Laodicean +civilization, and not the fierce spirit of the new +time, which is incarnate in the present official +leaders of the British nation.</p> + +<p>The French, too, approached the general +problem from their own particular standpoint. +Provided with a serviceable military organization, +the same unconsciousness of the need of +mobilizing all the other national resources +pierced through their policy. Parties and +factions subsisted as before, and half-way +men who would have been satisfied with +driving the enemy out of France and Belgium<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +lifted up their voices against those who insisted +on prosecuting the war until Prussianism +was worsted. The French Socialists met +in London<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> and passed resolutions in which +the usual claptrap of the war of classes, the +boons of pacifism and the wickedness of the +Tsardom occupied a prominent place. And +the Congress was honoured by the presence +of two Cabinet Ministers, MM. Guesde and +Sembat.</p> + +<p>Russia, true to her old self, carried the +narrow spirit of the bureaucracy into the +fiercest struggle recorded by history, seemingly +satisfied that the clash of armies and +navies would leave antiquated theories and +moulding traditions intact. When the revolutionist +Burtzeff published his patriotic letter to +the French papers approving Russia’s energetic +defence of civilization, he was applauded by +all Europe. “Even we,” he wrote, “adherents +of the parties of the Extreme Left and +hitherto ardent anti-militarists and pacifists, +even we believe in the necessity of <i>this</i> war. +The German peril, the curse which has hung +over the world for so many decades, will be +crushed.” Yet when he returned to his +country resolved to support the Tsar’s Government +and lend a hand in the good work, he +was sent to Siberia, in commemoration of the +old order of things.</p> + +<p>Germany alone took her stand on the new +plane and accommodated herself to the new +conditions. Thoroughness was her watchword +because victory was her aim, its alternative +being coma or death. With her gaze fixed on +the end, she rejected nothing that could serve +as means.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> +<p>In congruity with these divergent views +and sentiments was the reading of the war’s +vicissitudes in the various belligerent countries. +The allied Press was over-hopeful, +right being certain to triumph over might +wedded to wrong. Publicists pitied the +Teutons in anticipation of the fate that was +fast overtaking them. Pæans of victory resounded, +allaying the apprehensions and numbing +the energies of the leagued nations. The +German, it was asseverated, had shot his bolt +and was at bay. Russia had laid siege to +Cracow, and would shortly occupy that city +as she had occupied Lemberg. The Tsar’s +troops might then be expected to push on to +Berlin, and to reach it in a few months. And, +painfully aware of the certainty of this consummation, +Austria was dejected and Hungary +secretly making ready to secede from the +Habsburg Monarchy. To this soothing gossip +even serious statesmen lent a willing ear. The +writer of these remarks was several times +asked by leading personages of the allied +Governments whether internal upheavals were +not impending in Germany and Austria, and +his assurance that no such diversion could be +looked for then or in the near future was +traversed on the ground that all trustworthy +accounts from Berlin, Vienna and Budapest +pointed to a process of fermentation which +would shortly interpose an impassable barrier +to the further military advance of the Central +empires. But he continued to express himself +in the same strain of warning, which subsequent +events have unhappily justified.</p> + +<p>In October 1914, for instance, he wrote—</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>“Germany has already shot her bolt, people +tell us. Already? The people who for forty +years have been preparing to establish their +rule from Ostend to the Persian Gulf have +expended their energies after three months of +warfare? And the concrete foundations built +at such pains and expense in the German +factory that dominates Edinburgh? Was the +Teuton simple-minded enough to fancy that +he would be in a position to utilize this and +the other emplacements for his giant guns +within three months after the outbreak of +hostilities? Let us be fair to our enemy and +just to ourselves. The German has not shot +his bolt. If time is on our side, it will also +remain on his up to a point which we have +not yet reached. Those who urge that the +German must make haste imply that his resources +are gradually drying up, and that +neither his food supplies, nor his chemicals, +nor his metals can be imported so long as we +hold command of the seas. His armies will +therefore die of inanition, or their operations +will be thwarted for lack of munitions. This +would indeed be joyful tidings were it true. +If false, it is a mischievous delusion.</p> + +<p>“We are told that the German time-table +has been upset. Unquestionably it has. But +is the time-table identical with the programme +for which it was drawn up? If it is, then the +march on Paris has been definitely abandoned. +Now is this conclusion borne out by what we +behold? What, then, is the meaning of the +plan to capture Belfort and Calais? What is +the object of the vast reinforcements now on +their way from the east to Von Kluck’s army? +Personally, I have not a doubt that Paris is +the objective, or that the Germans are still +striving to carry out their programme in its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +entirety, which is the extension of their empire +over Europe and Asia Minor. The immediate +object of the Allies is to foil this design, and +only after we have accomplished that can we +think of assuming the offensive and crushing +Prussian militarism. We have not compassed +that end; the battlefields are still in the Allies’ +countries, and the initiative rests with the +enemy. Now to whatever causes we may +attribute this undesirable state of things—and +it certainly cannot be ascribed to lack of +energy on the part of the British Government +or our military authorities—it is right that +those who are acting for the nation should +ask themselves whether those causes are still +operative. If they are—and on this score +there is hardly room for doubt—it behoves +the Allies, and the British people in particular, +to rise to a just sense of the <i>unparalleled sacrifices</i> +they must be prepared to make during +the ordeal which they are about to undergo.”</p></div> + +<p>The German way of looking at the relative +strength and positions of the belligerents as +modified by the vicissitudes of the campaign +was realistic and statesmanlike. Starting from +the principle that a people of about a hundred +millions, animated by a lively faith in its own +vitality and mental equipment, can neither +be destroyed nor permanently crippled, they +argued that the worst that Fate could have +in store for them would be a draw. But before +that end could be achieved the Teutonic +armies must have been pulverized and Germany +and Austria occupied by the allied +troops. And of this there were no signs. +“We never fancied,” they said, “that what +happened in 1870 would be repeated in 1914.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +How could we make such a stupid mistake? +Then we had only France against us. To-day +we encounter the combined forces of Russia, +France, Belgium and England. This difference +had to have its counterpart in the campaign. +Thus we have not yet captured Paris. +But then to-day we are wrestling with the +greatest empires in the world, and we hold +them in our grip. We are fighting not for a +few milliard francs and a disaffected province, +but for priceless spoils and European hegemony. +Moreover, Belgium, which we possess +and mean to keep, is a greater prize than the +temporary occupation of Paris. Besides, postponement +is not abandonment. Whether we +take the French capital one month or another +is but a detail.</p> + +<p>“And, over and above all this, we have +reached the sea and are within a few miles of +England’s shores. Furthermore, Russia’s army, +which we lured into East Prussia until it +fancied it was about to invest Königsberg, +has been driven back beyond Wirballen far +into Tsardom, with appalling losses of men +and material. Her other forces, which several +weeks ago boasted that they were about to +capture Cracow, will soon be driven out of +Przemysl and Lemberg. Libau will fall into +our hands. Riga is sure to be ours, and Warsaw +itself will finally admit our victorious +troops. Does this look like defeat at the hands +of our enemies? And German soil is still as +immune from invasion as though it were girded +by the sea.”</p> + +<p>In all our forecasts one important element of +calculation was invariably left out of account: +the consequences of our blunders, past, present +and future. And these have added enormously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +to our difficulties and dangers. Not the least +made was the mistake in allowing the two +German warships <i>Goeben</i> and <i>Breslau</i> to enter +the Dardanelles. To have pursued them into +Ottoman waters would, it was pleaded in +justification, have constituted a violation of +Turkish neutrality. Undoubtedly it would, +but the infringement would not have been +more serious than many flagrant breaches of +neutrality which the Sublime Porte had committed +a short time before and was known to +be about to perpetrate again.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> But a scrupulous +regard for the rights of neutrals has been, +and still is, the groundstone of the Allies’ +policy, irrespective of its effects on the outcome +of the war. The rules of the game, it +is contended, must be observed by us, however +much they may be disregarded by the +enemy. This considerateness and scrupulosity +may be chivalrous, but they form an irksome +drag on a nation at war with Teutons. The two +ships were at once transferred by Germany to +the Turks.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> Some two months later, deeming +their war preparations completed, the latter +suddenly bombarded the open Russian town of +Theodosia in the Black Sea, and sank several +small craft, thus realizing Germany’s hopes +and justifying her politico-economic policy. +It was now too late to lament the chivalrous +attitude which had permitted the <i>Goeben</i> and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>the <i>Breslau</i> to steam into the Dardanelles, or +to regret the indifference we had persistently +displayed to Near Eastern affairs for well-nigh +twenty years. The best that could be done at +that late hour was to face the consequences +of those errors with dignity and to strive to +repair them with alacrity. But all the efforts +made were partial and successive. There was +no attempt at co-ordination.</p> + +<p>Turkey’s defection was a serious blow to the +allied cause, not only in view of the positive, +but also of the negative, advantages it was +calculated to confer upon Germany. The +Ottoman army, consisting of first-class raw +materials, had had its latent qualities unfolded +and matured by German organization, discipline +and training. Its supplies were replenished. +Ammunition factories were established. Barracks +were built and fortifications equipped in +congruity with latter-day needs. Three million +pounds of German bar gold reached Constantinople, +and were deposited in the branch offices +of the Deutsche Bank there for the requirements +of the army. In all this the Kaiser’s +Government ran no risks. The return was +guaranteed by the politico-economic measures +which had been continuously applied during +the years of our “disinterestedness.”</p> + +<p>Enver had meanwhile risen to the zenith of +his career. He was now War Minister and had +surrounded himself with officers who would +follow him whithersoever he might lead them. +A low-sized, wiry man, seemingly of no account, +Enver is pale of complexion, shuffling in gait. +His eyes are piercing, and his gaze furtive. +A soul-monger who should buy him at his +specific value and sell him at his own estimate +would earn untold millions. For, to use a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +picturesque Russian phrase, the ocean is only +up to his knees. He is physically dauntless +and buoyant. In the war against Italy he +had fought well and organized the Arab and +other native troops under conditions of great +difficulty, winning laurels which have not yet +withered. A Pole by extraction, Enver Pasha +is a Prussian by training and sympathies, +and a Turk by language and religion and by +his marriage with a daughter of the Sultan. +Political sense he has none. His one ideal +was to earn the appreciation of the Prussian +military authorities, to whom he looks up as +a fervid disciple to peerless masters. German +military praise melts his manhood and turns +his brain. He possesses a dictatorial temper +with none of the essential qualities of a dictator, +and in the field he is distinguished, I +am told, by splendid valour without an inkling +of scientific strategy.</p> + +<p>It was that Polish Turk and his German +masters who formally made war upon Russia, +France and Britain.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> And the Turkish nation +had no opportunity to sanction or veto their +resolve. Nay, even the majority of the +Cabinet, including the Grand Vizier, had had +no say on the issue, were not even informed +of what was being done until overt acts of +hostility had actually clinched the matter. +Indeed, there was a majority of Cabinet +Ministers in favour of neutrality, but it was +ignored. In this way Turkey threw in her +lot with the Teutons,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> to the astonishment +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>of the Allies, who had hoped that a policy of +forbearance and meekness would elicit a +friendly response and frustrate the effect of +the master strokes by which Germany, during +a long series of years, had consolidated her +ascendancy over Turkey and obtained the +command of the Ottoman army. The childish +notion that a sudden exhibition of pacific +intentions and goodwill is enough to foil the +carefully laid schemes of a clever enemy which +have been maturing for decades, is the refrain +that runs through the history of our foreign +policy for the last thirty or forty years. And +not only through the history of our foreign +policy. Faith in the sacramental efficacy of +an improvisation is a trait common to all the +Allies, but in the British nation it is the faith +that is expected to move mountains.</p> + +<p>The negative aspect of Turkey’s belligerency +proved to be quite as irksome as the positive. +For it involved the closing of the Dardanelles +to Russia’s corn export and the disappearance +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>of the principal route for communications +between the Tsardom and its Western allies. +Archangel is blocked in winter and inadequately +connected by rail with the two capitals in +summer. This additional embarrassment and +its financial sequel compelled the attention of +the Allies to the need of some kind of co-operation—just +to satisfy actual needs. For +neither then nor at any subsequent period was +there any pretence of laying open the whole +ground and building a complete structure +upon that. A temporary expedient is all +that was contemplated, and nothing more lasting +was evoked. None the less, the Conference +of the three Finance Ministers in Paris<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> +marked a step in advance, and was subsequently +followed up by a closer and more continuous +contact.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Cf. <i>Contemporary Review</i>, November 1914. I was +requested to suppress an article on the subject of “Coalition +Government” and another on the subject of “Tariff +Reform during and after the War.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> August 5, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> February 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Turkey had already violated her neutrality to our +detriment many times. For instance, on September 25 +she had erected military works against us on the Sinai +frontier; as far back as August 25 Turkish officers had +seized Egyptian camels laden with foodstuffs. Moslem +fidahis in Ottoman service endeavoured to incite the +Egyptian Mohammedans against the British Government +during the first half of October.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> August 13, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> November 3, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> On October 25, 1908, after having studied the origins +of the Turkish Revolution and the antecedents of its +authors, and while all Europe was still warmly congratulating +the Young Turks on their bloodless victory +and moderation, I dispatched the following telegraphic +message to the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>— +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Most unwillingly do I give utterance to facts and +impressions calculated to introduce a jarring note +into the harmonious optimism of Western peoples, +who confidently augur great things of the young +Ottoman nation, and discern no difficulties likely to +become formidable dangers to the new-born State. +But a knowledge of all the essential data is indispensable +to correct the diagnosis without which the +malady cannot be successfully treated. Emancipation, +then, has produced a beneficent enthusiasm for +the political ideals of Europe in minds hitherto impermeable +to Western notions, but has neither transformed +the national character nor supplied the revolutionary +movement with the requisite constructive +forces. <i>Neither can it break the fateful continuity +of Turkish history nor avert the defects of the destructive +causes that have been operative here for generations.</i>”</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> February 6, 1915, and the following three days.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>PROBLEMS OF FINANCE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Finances</span> are the nerve of warfare, and in +a contest which can be decided only by the +exhaustion of one of the belligerents they are, +so to say, the central nerve system. The +Germans being astute financiers, and aware +that the war to which their policy was leading +would soon break out, had made due preparations, +with a surprising grasp of detail. Nothing +was forgotten and nothing neglected. And +success rewarded their efforts. The result was +that they mobilized their finances long before +they had begun to mobilize their troops.</p> + +<p>France, on the contrary, persuaded that +peace would not be disturbed, took no thought +of the morrow. Yet her budgetary estimates +showed an ugly deficit. This gap, however, +would have been filled up in the ordinary +course of things by a big loan which was about +to be floated. But M. Caillaux, probably the +most clever financier in France, who, if he +applied his knowledge and resourcefulness to +the furtherance of his country’s interests, could +achieve great things, used them—and together +with them his parliamentary influence—to +upset the Cabinet and thwart the loan scheme. +Then, taking over the portfolio of the Finance +Minister in the new Cabinet, he arranged for +borrowing a small instead of a large amount, +thereby exposing his country to risks more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +serious than the public realized. For it was a +heavy disadvantage on the eve of the most +exhausting struggle ever entered upon by the +French people, whose strongest position was +weakened as no enemy could have weakened it.</p> + +<p>Russia was in a different, but nowise better, +position when suddenly called upon to meet +the onerous demands of the world-contest. +She, too, having pinned her faith to the +maintenance of peace, had made no preparations +for war, financial or military. Moreover, +a considerable sum of her money was at the +time deposited in various foreign countries, +and especially in France, for the service of her +loans and the payment of State orders placed +with various firms. This money, on the outbreak +of hostilities, was automatically immobilized +by the moratorium, although the +delicate question whether a moratorium can +be legally applied to sums thus deposited by +a foreign Government has not yet been decided +with finality. As a matter of fact, +Russia’s deposits remained where they were, +and could not be utilized. The consequences +of this embargo were irksome, and for a time +threatened to become dangerous. Little by +little, however, these restrictions were removed, +partly by the French Government and +partly by the spontaneous efforts of the banks.</p> + +<p>France, too, suffered in a like way from the +paralysing effect of the moratorium. For the +French had no less than half a milliard francs +lent out at interest for short terms in Russia. +This sum could, as it chanced, have been refunded +at once without inconvenience, seeing +that it was liquid in the banks of Petrograd, +Moscow, Warsaw, and other cities of the Tsardom. +But as the money was in Russian roubles,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +and all international exchange had ceased, it too +was incapable of being converted into francs. +Thus the two allies, although really flush of +money, were undergoing some of the hardships +of impecuniosity, and to extricate them +from this tangle was a task that called for the +exercise of uncommon ingenuity. This happily +was forthcoming.</p> + +<p>But that was only one aspect of a larger +and more momentous business which the +financiers of the Entente Powers had to set +themselves to tackle. Another of its bearings +was the effect of the war upon the rate of +exchange of the rouble, which is of moment +to all the Allies. Indeed, so long as the conflict +lasts the smooth working of the financial +machines of the three States is of as much +moment to each and all as is the winning of +battles and the raising of fresh armies. In +this struggle and at least until the curtain has +fallen upon the final scene, the maintenance +of financial credit and the purveyance of ready +cash, together with all the subsidiary issues to +which these operations may give rise, should +be discussed and settled in common.</p> + +<p>During the present world combat, which +has not its like in history, whether we consider +the issues at stake, the number of troops +engaged, or the destructive forces let loose, +the ordinary narrow conceptions of mutual +assistance, financial and other, with their +jealous care of flaccid interests, cannot be +persisted in. The basic principle on which +it behoves the allied Powers to sustain each +other’s vitality can only be the community of +resources within the limits traced by national +needs. For our cause is one and indivisible, +and a success of one of the Allies is a success<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +of all. Hence, although we move from different +starting-points and by unconnected roads, +we are one community in motive, tendencies +and sacrifices. The sense of Fate, whose +deepening shadow now lies across the civilized +nations of the Old Continent, has evoked the +sympathies of the partner peoples for each +other, and temporarily obliterated many of the +points of artificial distinction which owed their +existence to national egotism.</p> + +<p>Russia’s resources, then, were immobilized +at the outset of the war. The minister who +had spent thirty-five years in the financial +department of State had resigned shortly +before. His successor, a man of considerable +capacity and good intentions, was bereft of +the help of the best permanent officials of +the Ministry, who had followed the outgoing +minister into retirement. And no minister +ever needed help more sorely than M. Bark. +For the sudden cessation of all international +exchange and the consequent immobilization +of Russia’s financial reserve, made it temporarily +impossible for her to satisfy demands +which could easily have been met under +circumstances less disconcerting. Here her +British ally came to the rescue. In the first +place, the British Government gave its guarantee +to the Bank of England for the acceptances +which this bank had discounted. These were +of two kinds: all acceptances whatever discounted +before hostilities had broken out, and +all commercial acceptances discounted since +the declaration of war. The measure which +brought this welcome assistance was general in +its form, but it included Russian bills accepted +in London. And this discount by the Bank of +England will continue until one year after the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +close of the campaign. In plain English, that +means that the greater part of Russia’s cash +payments in London will be put off until then.</p> + +<p>In Russia’s dealings with France a like +trouble made itself felt, but the same remedy +was not applied. The Government there did +not offer a State guarantee for acceptances +by the Banque de France. The reasons for +this difference of method are immaterial. The +main point is that some other expedient had to +be devised whereby Russia could discharge her +short-term debts to her French creditors. In +the Tsardom money was available for the +purpose, but it was in roubles, which would +first have to be exchanged into francs, and, +as there was no rate of exchange, this operation +could be effected, if at all, only at a +considerable and unnecessary loss.</p> + +<p>After several weeks’ negotiations, and a +thorough study of the question, an agreement +was struck up between the Imperial Russian +Bank and the Banque de France, by which +the latter institution placed at the disposal of +the former the requisite sum in francs which +was specially earmarked for the payment of +Russia’s private debts in Paris.</p> + +<p>The fall in the rouble was partly caused by +the diminution of Russian exports, in consequence +of the closing of the Baltic, the Mediterranean, +and the land routes <i>via</i> Germany and +Austria. The whole harvest of 1914 lay +garnered up in the Tsar’s dominions, where +prices fell to a low level, while the rouble lost +one-fourth of its value. Russia’s interest on +her foreign debt was thus increased by twenty-five +per cent. The Western allies, on the other +hand, were paying huge sums for corn to +neutrals. As in the long run all Entente<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +Powers will have to bear their share of eventual +losses, it behoved them to prevent or moderate +them. And this they accomplished to a limited +extent. It might have been well to go further +into the matter and consider the advisability +of entering into closer partnership than was +established by their concerted efforts in Paris. +An economic league with privileges for importation +and exportation accorded to all its +members—and only to these—not merely during +the war but for a series of years after the conclusion +of peace, might perhaps have tended +to solve that and kindred problems. But the +Allied Governments were constitutionally averse +to taking long views or adopting comprehensive +measures.</p> + +<p>But the reopening of the Dardanelles and +the liberation of Russia’s corn supplies called +for immediate attention and a concrete plan of +campaign. The idea of rigging out a naval and +military expedition had been mooted in London +before the Financial Conference in Paris, but +on grounds which do not yet constitute +materials for public history it was dropped. +At the Conference the scheme was again taken +up, and the previous objections to its execution +having been successfully met it was +unanimously accepted. It is worth observing +that the original plan, so far as the present +writer was cognizant of it, was coherent, adequate +and feasible, and involved co-ordination +on the part of all three Allies. It did not contemplate +a purely naval expedition to the +Dardanelles, but provided for a mixed force +of land and sea troops, of which the number +was considerable and under the conditions +then prevalent might also have been ample for +the purpose. Although the Allies had thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +made what they believed to be adequate provision +for the success of their project, they +took measures to render assurance doubly +sure. They entered into pourparlers with +Greece, from whose co-operation they anticipated +advantages which would tell with decisive +force not only on the outcome of the +expedition but also on the upshot of the war.</p> + +<p>Venizelos was approached and sounded on +the subject. His authority in his country, +like that of Bismarck on the eve of his fall, +was held to be supreme. For he had saved +Greece from anarchy and the dynasty from +banishment; he had reorganized the army, +strengthened the navy, established good government +at home, extended the boundaries of the +realm and laid the foundations of a regenerate +State which might in time reunite under the +royal sceptre most of the scattered elements of +Hellenism. His personal relations with King +Constantine were, however, understood to be +wanting in cordiality, but the monarch was +credited with sufficient acumen to perceive +where the interests of his dynasty and country +lay, and with common sense enough to allow +them to be safeguarded and furthered. It was +on these unsifted assumptions that the Governments +of the allied Powers went to work.</p> + +<p>One redoubtable obstacle to be dislodged +before any headway could be made was +Bulgaria’s opposition. In order to displace +it, it would be necessary to acquiesce in her +demands for territory possessed by her neighbours. +And in view of the intimate relations, +political and economical, which the military +empires had established with Bulgaria and +their firm hold over Ferdinand, even this +retrocession might prove inadequate for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +purpose. According to a binding arrangement +between Serbia and Greece, no territorial +concession running counter to the settlement +of the Bucharest Treaty might be accorded to +Bulgaria by either of the two contracting +States, without the consent of the other. +And now Venizelos was asked to signify his +assent to the abandonment by Serbia of a +part of the Macedonian province recently +annexed. This point gained, he was further +solicited to cede Kavalla and some 2000 +square kilometres of territory incorporated +with Greece, to Bulgaria, in return for the +future possession of 140,000 square kilometres +in western Asia Minor. It was stipulated +by him and hastily taken for granted by +the Governments of the Allied States that +these concessions, together with those which +Serbia and Roumania were expected to make, +would move Bulgaria to follow Russia’s lead +and enter the arena by the side of the Allies. +But before Venizelos’s readiness to compromise +could be utilized as a practical element of +the negotiations, the Bulgarian Cabinet had +applied for and received an advance of 150 +million francs from the two Central empires +on conditions which, in the judgment of the +Greek Premier, rendered further dealings with +that State nugatory.</p> + +<p>At the same time King Constantine, yielding +to German importunity and to personal +emotions, adopted a series of measures of +which the effect would have been to discredit +in the eyes of the nation Venizelos’s patriotism +as a minister and his veracity as an individual. +The upshot of these machinations was the +voluntary retirement of the Premier from +public life, the dissolution of the Greek Parliament,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +the accession to power of a Germanophile +Cabinet, and the frustration of that part +of the Allies’ plan which had for its object the +immediate co-operation of Greece and the subsequent +enlistment of the neighbouring Balkan +States. As yet, however, Greece was not wholly +lost to the Entente. Another opportunity presented +itself which, had it been seized by the +Governments of Great Britain and France, +might yet have altered the course of Balkan +history. But the acceptable offer in which it +was embodied by the Hellenic Government +elicited no response whatever in London or +Paris. This was the last hope. Thenceforward +the Allies were constrained to rely upon +their own unaided exertions.</p> + +<p>How they approached the problem thus +modified, and to what degree and in consequence +of what technical occurrences the +achievement fell short of reasonable expectations, +are matters which do not come within +the scope of this summary narrative of historic +events. It may suffice to contrast the belief, +which in March 1915 was widespread—that the +Dardanelles would be forced and Constantinople +captured in the space of four or five +weeks—with the circumstance that since then +the British troops alone had nearly a hundred +thousand casualties and that in the month of +January 1916 it became evident that nothing +could be gained by further prolonging this painful +effort, and the enterprise was abandoned.</p> + +<p>In spite of Turkey’s hostility, the tone of +the Allied Press lost little of its buoyancy. +Japan, who had declared war on Germany +in August,<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> had since captured Kiao Chau<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>] +and that achievement coupled with the results +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>of four months’ warfare in Europe were held +to be promising. For Germany’s original +plan of campaign had been foiled, her army +driven back from Paris, and Austria had been +defeated in Galicia. If on the debit side +of the balance nearly all Belgium and nine +departments of France had fallen into the +enemy’s hands, it was some solace to learn +that the military authorities of the Allies had +reckoned with all that from the outset. Every +reverse sustained by their arms turned out to +have been foreseen and discounted by their +sagacious leaders. Then, again, it was argued +that time was on our side, enabling us to +develop our resources, which are much vaster +than those of the enemy. To this way of +looking at the situation the writer of these +lines opposed another. “There is,” he wrote, +“a small section of the nation, men conversant +with the aims, modes of thought, and +military, financial, and economic resources of +the enemy, whose gloomy forecasts in the +past have been unhappily fulfilled in the +present, and who would gladly see more conclusive +evidence than has yet been offered that +everything which can be done at a given +moment to turn the scale more decisively in +our favour is being expeditiously undertaken +by the responsible authorities.</p> + +<p>“They are afraid that the gravity of the +issues for which we are fighting, the telling +initial advantages secured by the wily enemy, +the formidable nature of the difficulties in the +way of decisive victory, and the tremendous +sacrifices which we shall all be called upon to +make before we come in sight of the goal, +have not yet filtered down into the consciousness +of any considerable section of the people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>” +Many months later<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Mr. Lloyd George re-echoed +that judgment when dealing with the +Welsh miners’ strike.</p> + +<p>But optimism continued to prevail among the +allied peoples, who through the Press proclaimed +their conviction that ultimate and complete success +was a foregone conclusion. At the same +time, however, an eager desire to hasten this consummation +found vent among a considerable section +of politicians, more particularly in France. +And one of the means by which they hoped to +attain their goal was by inviting Japan to co-operate +with the Allies in Europe. As “invitation” +was the term employed, the peculiar +manner in which the idea was conceived hardly +needs definition. To the Japanese themselves +the inference was patent and distasteful. Theretofore +it had been a dogma that France, Britain +and Russia, being quite capable of crushing +Germany and Austria, neither attempted nor +wished to draw any neutral or Asiatic nation into +the sanguinary maelstrom of war. And even now +it was held to be undignified to swerve from that +doctrine. Help therefore, it was contended, +was not indispensable to victory, it was merely +desirable from the humanitarian standpoint +of putting an early end to the campaign and +sparing the lives of millions.</p> + +<p>French statesmen of the calibre of MM. +Pichon and Clémenceau pushed into the foreground +of international politics this question +of Japan’s military intervention in Europe. +An organized Press campaign was carried on in +several of the most prominent daily papers +and reviews of Paris.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Striking arguments +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>were put forward in support of the thesis that +Japan’s co-operation in Europe is desirable, +and the inference which many readers were +encouraged to draw was that if the aim had +not yet been attained, failure should be ascribed +to the statesmanship of the Allies, which was +deficient in sagacity, or to their diplomacy, +which was wanting in resourcefulness. M. +Pichon, in a masterly article in the <i>Revue</i>, +wrote: “I am one of those who hold that +(Japan) could bring to us here on the European +continent an incomparable force, and I remain +convinced that the Japanese Government would +like nothing better than to respond to the +appeal of the Triple Entente Powers if these +requested its collaboration for future combats.”<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>The idea was that Japanese troops should +come to southern Europe, combine with the +Serbs and create a new front there. This +diversion, it was contended, would transform +the slow and costly siege war and give the +Allies access to Germany. And these decisive +results could be achieved by an expedition of +less than half a million Japanese warriors.</p> + +<p>When it was asked what motives could be +held out to Nippon potent enough to determine +her to embark on such an enterprise, +the reply was that she had a positive interest +to undertake the task. For by contributing +to the defeat of Germany in Europe she would +free herself from Teutonic machinations in the +Far East. The Allies would, of course, have +to promise her territorial compensation commensurate +with her sacrifices. And after the +conclusion of peace Japan would extract from +Germany not only a sum big enough to cover +all the expenses of the expedition, but also a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>heavy war indemnity. Over and above this, +France and Britain would enable her to float +on easy terms a loan of some three hundred +millions sterling, as a moderate return for the +three or four months curtailment of the war +which costs the Allies nearly a hundred and +twenty millions a month. Lastly, Japan’s +horn would be vastly exalted and her prestige +increased by her participation in the most +tremendous conflict recorded in history.</p> + +<p>Considered on its merits the enterprise impressed +one more by its arduousness than by +the tangible advantages it offered to either +of the interested parties. The technical difficulties +were many and well-nigh insurmountable: +the lack of transports, the distance +at which the Mikado’s troops in Europe would +be from their base of supplies, and the length +of time that must elapse before they could +replenish their stores of ammunition, whether +these were drawn from Tokyo or manufactured +in Europe. And half a million fighting +men, however well trained, would represent +but a drop in the ocean when flung against +the millions to whom they would be opposed.</p> + +<p>Still more decisive was the question of +motive. Why should the Japanese sacrifice +their brave soldiers? For the sake of territory +which they do not yet covet, or of prestige +which they enjoy in a superlative degree +already? Although chivalrous and highly impressible +to everything that can appeal to a +high-minded people, they are also practical +and far-sighted and are not to be lured by a +will-o’-the-wisp. They had already assisted +the Allies in the Far East and performed their +part admirably.</p> + +<p>The Japanese army is made up of patriots<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +whose lives belong to their country. To their +spirit of self-sacrifice there are no bounds. +And that this splendid organism should be implicitly +set down as a band of mercenaries +capable of being bought and sold is more than +its leaders can brook. The idea that mere +money or money’s worth could purchase +Japanese blood is resented by our Far Eastern +Ally. Between Europe and Asia Japan is the +connecting link. Her people are endowed +with some of the highest qualities of the +European and the Asiatic. Their civilization +is ancient and refined, and they understand +and appreciate that of Europe. The chivalry +of the Samurai is recognized universally. +Their respect for their plighted word is +scrupulous. And their tact and moderation +have been demonstrated time and again +during their relations first with Russia and +then with the United States. Japan’s immediate +task lies in the Far East, and to that +region she is minded to confine her activity, +as was shown by the pressure which she soon +afterwards put upon China. None the less, +it is symptomatic of feelings which are still +inarticulate and of currents which flow beneath +the surface, that more than once of late the +Russian Press has called for a defensive and +offensive alliance between the Tsardom and +Japan.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> That it will come and exert a noteworthy +influence on the politics of the world, +is the firm conviction of the present writer, +who has had the good fortune to contribute +more than once to bring the two Powers +closer together.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> August 23, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> November 6, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> July 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> In the <i>Petit Journal</i>, the <i>Homme Enchaîné</i>, <i>l’Illustration</i>, +the <i>Revue Hebdomadaire</i>, and the <i>Revue</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Fevrier, <i>Revue</i>, 1915, p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Cf. <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, June 26, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> See Hayashi’s <i>Secret Memoirs</i>.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>READJUSTMENTS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Deprived</span> of the help for which they had +looked to Japan, the publicists and politicians +of the allied countries now centred their hopes +on the neutrals and on Kitchener’s great army, +which was to appear on the scene in spring, +put an end to the warfare of the trenches, and +free Belgium from the Teuton yoke. The impending +belligerency of certain of the neutrals +would, it was reasonably believed, turn the +scales in favour of Britain, France and Russia. +Indeed, Bulgaria alone, owing to her commanding +geographical position, might have +achieved the feat more than once during the +campaign. With the death of King Carol of +Roumania<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> the probability of this consummation +seemed to verge on certitude. It +aroused high hopes among the Allies.</p> + +<p>The propitious moment seemed to have +come for the union of all Roumanians under +the sceptre of the new king. Over three +million members of that race under Hungarian +sway had long been waging a losing contest +for their nationality, language and religion. +And they entertained no hope of better prospects +in the future. For in view of her military +inferiority Roumania, with her little army +of half a million men, could not indulge in +energetic protests against the treatment meted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>out to her kindred by Hungary. She had no +choice but to resign herself to the inevitable. +Diplomatically, too, she was bound to Austria +by a secret convention, concluded by the +Hohenzollern prince who had presided over her +destinies for a generation. Economically she +was, as we saw, tied hand and foot to Germany. +Moreover, it was a matter of common knowledge +that King Carol would never tolerate +any radical change in the political orientation +of the kingdom. To the writer of these lines +he said so in plain words shortly before he died, +and he also charged him with a message of +the same tenor to the Austro-Hungarian +Minister of Foreign Affairs. But, loyal and +conscientious, as was his wont, King Carol +added that if circumstances should ever necessitate +a radical change in Roumania’s attitude, +a younger ruler might usher it in, for whom +he would not hesitate to make room.</p> + +<p>This eventuality arose in September<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> when +the Russians defeated the Austrians, occupied +Lemberg, threatened Cracow, took up strong +positions on the Carpathians, and bade fair +to overrun Hungary. Fate, it seemed, had +at last overtaken the Habsburg Monarchy, +which, contrary to general expectation, had not +succumbed to internal strife on the outbreak +of the war. And it now lay with Roumania +and her neighbours to play the part of Fate’s +executors. As a matter of fact, Roumania +suddenly found a sonorous voice in which +to utter her grievances against the Teutons. +Senators, deputies, ex-ministers executed a +<i>chassez croisez</i> movement through France, Italy +and Britain, delivering diatribes against Austria-Hungary, +arousing sympathy for Roumania, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>and proclaiming their country’s resolve to +strike a blow for justice, liberty and civilization. +The names of Senator Istrati, M. Diamandy, +and Dr. Constantinescu were associated with +feasts of patriotic sentiment and flow of soul. +Military delegates in Paris made extensive +purchases of various necessaries for the +commissariat and sanitary departments of +the War Ministry, and the date on which the +gallant Roumanian nation would unsheathe +its sword in the cause of humanity was unofficially +announced.</p> + +<p>At that moment the country was governed, +as it still is, by a Premier who might appropriately +be termed its Dictator, so little influence +on his policy and methods is wielded by his +colleagues in the Cabinet. John Bratiano is +the sole trustee of the nation at the most +critical period of its history. The son of an +eminent and deservedly respected statesman, +this politician entered public life encircled by +the halo of his father’s prestige. Gifted with +considerable powers, he owes more to birth +than to hard work and self-discipline. Entering +early upon his valuable political heritage +he found all paths smoothed, all doors open +to him. The leadership of the most influential +parliamentary party fell to him at an age +when other politicians are painfully struggling +with the preliminary difficulties in the way of +success, and John Bratiano became the ruler +of Roumania without an effort. Descended +from an illustrious stock, he is penetrated +with an overmastering sense of his own personal +responsibility, from which the principal relief +to be obtained lies in the indefinite prolongation +of his liberty of choice. Finality in +matters of momentous decision appears painful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +to him, and the standard of success which +would fairly be applied to the policy of the +ordinary statesman seems too lax for the man +whose shoulders are pressed down with the +weight of the kingdom as it is and the kingdom +yet to come. Hence his anxiety to drive a +brilliant bargain with the Allies and to leave +no hold for hostile criticism at home. Like +most patriots placed in responsible positions, +he is bent on furthering what he considers +the interests of his country in his own way, +and honestly convinced that the right way is +his own, he has hitherto declined to share +responsibility with the Opposition—which disapproves +his Fabian policy—even though it +numbers among its members a real statesman +of the calibre and repute of Take Jonescu.</p> + +<p>At first M. Bratiano swam with the stream. +He assured foreign diplomatists, eminent +Italians and others, that Roumania had decided +to throw in her lot with the Allies. And +his declarations were re-echoed by his colleagues. +These statements were duly transmitted to the +various Cabinets interested, and the entry of +Roumania into the struggle was reckoned with +by all the Allied Powers. On the strength of +these good intentions one of the Allies was +asked to advance a certain sum of money for +military preparations, and the request was +complied with. Italy was approached and +treated as a trusty confidant, and a tacit arrangement +was come to with her by which +each of the two Latin States was expected to +communicate with the other as soon as it +should decide to take the field. In fine, it was +understood that Roumania would join in at +the same time as Italy.</p> + +<p>Cognizant of those intentions and preparations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +the Allies rejoiced exceedingly. The +prospect that opened out before them appeared +cheerful. Kitchener’s great army was to take +the offensive in spring, Roumania’s co-operation +was due some months or weeks previously, +and the forcing of the Dardanelles might be +counted upon as a corollary, to say nothing +of the adherence of Greece and Bulgaria to +the allied cause. But Germany and Austria +lost nothing of their self-confidence. Clumsy +though their professional diplomacy might +be, their economico-diplomatic campaign had +left little to be desired. Its fruits were ripe. +They had firmly knitted the material interests +of the little Latin State with their own, and +could rely on the backing of nearly every +supporter of Bratiano’s Cabinet in the country. +But leaving nothing to chance, they now put +forth the most ingenious, persistent and costly +efforts to maintain the ground they had won. +Influential newspapers were bought or subsidized, +new ones were founded, public servants +were corrupted, calumnies were launched +against the Allies and their supporters, and a +nucleus of military men ranged themselves +among the opponents of intervention.</p> + +<p>M. Bratiano suddenly turned wary and +circumspect. His talk was now of the necessity +of time for preparations, of the divergence +of views between his Cabinet and that of the +Tsar, and of the inadequacy of the motives +held out to his country for belligerency. +Thereupon negotiations began between Russia +and Roumania, which dragged on endlessly. +What the Roumanian Premier said to the +Russian Minister was practically this: “The +choice between belligerency and neutrality +must be determined by the balance of territorial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +advantages offered by each. And the terms +must be adequate and guaranteed.” The conditions +which, according to him, answered to +this description consisted of the cession of +all Transylvania, part of the Banat of Temesvar, +the Roumanian districts of Bukovina, +and of the province of Crishana and Marmaros.</p> + +<p>About Transylvania there was no dissentient +voice: it was admitted that it ought by right +to form part of the Roumanian kingdom. The +dispute between Bucharest and Petrograd +hinged on a zone of the Banat and a strip of +Bukovina. The Tsar’s Government admitted +that Bukovina might be annexed by Roumania +as far as the river Seret, but not farther +north; whereas the Roumanian Premier insisted +on obtaining the promise of a zone the +northern boundary of which would be formed +by the river Pruth, and would therefore include +the important city of Czernowitz, which +is the capital of the province. The divergence +of opinion arising out of this demand for the +district of Pancsova in the Banat of Temesvar +raised a formidable obstacle to an understanding, +for the claim runs counter to the principle +of nationality somewhat pedantically laid down +by the Allied Powers. Parenthetically, it is +worth remembering that hard-and-fast principles +which lead insensibly to dogmatism +cannot be too sedulously avoided by a Government. +Politics must assuredly have its ideals, +but compromise is the method by which alone +it can approach them. The Allies have already +been constrained by tyrannous circumstance +to entertain important exceptions to their +principle of nationality which was invoked +against Italy’s claim to Dalmatia, and in their +own best interests they might have compromised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +on the subject of Bulgaria’s claims +to Macedonia, and of Roumania’s pretensions +to annex certain of the disputed territories +inhabited by Serbs and Ruthenians.</p> + +<p>In truth, Roumania’s attitude, of which at +various times conflicting accounts have been +given, appears to be what one might reasonably +expect, considering the sympathies of the +nation, the interests of the State, and the +requirements of the conjuncture. Looking at +it from the view-point of the outsider, it would +perhaps have been to her interest to join the +Allies when the Russians, driving the Magyars +and the Austrians before them, could have +played the part of right wing to her armies. It +was generally believed later on that she would +unsheathe the sword at the same time as Italy. +Informal announcements to that effect are +known to have been made to certain official +representatives of that country. And her +failure to stand by these spontaneous declarations +was the cause of profound disappointment +to the Entente and of a considerable +loss of credit to herself. These facts and conclusions +appeal with irresistible force to the +uninitiated, and in especial to those among +them who are citizens of the belligerent States.</p> + +<p>But there is another aspect of the matter +which, whatever effect its disclosure may have +on the general verdict, is at any rate well worth +considering. According to this version, which +is based on what actually passed between +Bucharest and the capitals of the Entente +Powers, the central idea of Roumania’s strivings +was to achieve national unity together +with defensible military frontiers as far as +appeared feasible, and to obtain in advance +implicit assurances that the Entente Powers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +if victorious, would allow her claims without +demur or delay. The territories occupied by +the Roumanians of Transylvania, the Bukovina, +and the Banat were to be united under +the sceptre of the King, including the strip +which is contiguous to Belgrade. To this the +Slavs demurred because Belgrade could then +no longer remain the Serbian capital. But +of these demands M. Bratiano would make +no abatement, nor in the promise of the +Entente to fulfil them would he admit of +any ambiguity. Roumania’s experience in +1877, under M. Bratiano’s father, when, after +having helped Russia to defeat the Turks, she +was deprived of Bessarabia and obliged to +content herself with the Dobrudja, was the +main motive for this striving after definite +conditions, while her readiness to look upon +that loss of Bessarabia as final moved her to +demand every rood of Austro-Hungarian territory +which was inhabited by her kinsmen or +had belonged to them in bygone days. These +motives were inconsistent with the mooting +of the Bessarabian question, and the statement +so often made in the Press that Roumania +demanded, and still demands, that lost +province from Russia are absolutely groundless. +The subject was never once broached.</p> + +<p>It has been argued that although these +claims to recompense may have been reasonable +enough in themselves, to have made +them conditions of Roumania’s participation +in the war on the side of the Allies smacked +more of the pettifogger than of the statesman. +In a tremendous struggle like the present for +lofty ideals this bargaining for territorial advantages +showed, it was urged, the country +and the Government in a sinister light. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +this criticism the friends of M. Bratiano reply +that most of the belligerents set the example, +with far less reason than Roumania could +plead. Italy, for instance, had made her +military co-operation conditional on the promise +of a large part of Dalmatia, as well as +the <i>terra irredenta</i>, and Russia insisted upon +having her claim to Constantinople allowed. +Why, it is asked, should Roumania be blamed +for acting similarly and on more solid grounds?</p> + +<p>During the first phase of the conversations +which were carried on between Roumania +and the Entente there would appear to have +been no serious hitch. They culminated in +a loan of £5,000,000 advanced in January +1915. In the following month they ceased +and were not resumed until April, when +M. Bratiano was informed that it would +facilitate matters if he would discuss terms +with the Tsar’s Government. By means of +an exchange of notes an arrangement had +been come to by which Roumania was to have +“the country inhabited by the Roumanians +of Austria-Hungary” in return for her neutrality +and on the express condition that she +should occupy them <i>par les armes</i> before the +close of the war. I announced this agreement +in the summer of 1915 and, commenting on the +controversy to which it gave rise, pointed out +that it amounted only to a promise made by +Russia and an option given to Roumania, which +the latter state was at liberty to take up or +forgo as it might think fit. It bound her to +nothing. Consequently, to accuse her of having +broken faith with Italy or the Entente is +to betray a complete lack of acquaintance with +the facts.</p> + +<p>It was only when Roumania’s military participation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +was solicited that difficulties began +to make themselves felt. And they proved +insurmountable. So long as the Russian armies +were victorious Roumania’s demands were +rejected. When the Tsar’s troops, for lack of +ammunition, were obliged to retreat, concessions +were made very gradually, slight concessions +at first, which became larger as the +withdrawal proceeded, until finally—the Russian +troops being driven out—everything was +conceded, when it was too late. For with the +departure of the Russian armies Roumania +was so exposed to attack from various sides, +and so isolated from her protectors, that her +military experts deemed intervention to be +dangerous for herself and useless to the Allies.</p> + +<p>In Italy, it has been said with truth, the +conviction prevailed that Roumania would +descend into the arena as soon as the Salandra +Cabinet had declared war against Austria, and +a good deal of disappointment was caused by +M. Bratiano’s failure to come up to this expectation. +But the expectation was gratuitous +and the disappointment imaginary. In an +article written at the time I pointed out that +one of the mistakes made by the Entente +Powers consisted in the circuitous and clumsy +way in which they negotiated with Roumania. +The spokesman and guardian of Italy during +the decisive conversations with the Entente was +the Foreign Minister, Baron Sonnino, the silent +member of the Cabinet. Now, this turned out +to be a very unfortunate kind of guardianship, +which his ward subsequently repudiated with +reason. For one effect of his taciturnity—the +Roumanians ascribed it to his policy—was to +keep Roumania in the dark about matters of +vital moment to her of which she ought to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +had cognizance. Another was to treat with +the Entente Governments as though Roumania +had sold her will and private judgment to the +Salandra Cabinet. This, however, is a curious +story of war diplomacy which had best be left +to the historian to recount. One day it will +throw a new light upon matters of great +interest which are misunderstood at present. +Roumania’s co-operation then, as now, would +have been of much greater help to the Allies +than certain other results which were secured +by sacrificing it. And sacrificed it was quite +wantonly. We are wont to sneer at Germany’s +diplomacy as ridiculously clumsy, and to +plume ourselves on our own as tactful and +dignified. Well, if one were charged with +the defence of this thesis, the last source to +which one would turn for evidence in support +of it is our diplomatic negotiations with +M. Bratiano’s Cabinet.</p> + +<p>In the light of this <i>exposé</i> the severe judgments +that have been passed on the policy of +the Roumanian Cabinet may have to be revised.</p> + +<p>The crux of the situation was the attitude +of Bulgaria. Bulgaria, a petty country with a +population inferior to that of London, impregnated +with Teutonism and ruled by an Austro-Hungarian +officer who loathes the Slavs, had +throughout this sanguinary clash of peoples +rendered invaluable services to the Teutons +and indirectly inflicted incalculable losses on +the civilized nations of the globe. This +tremendous power for evil springs from her +unique strategic position in Eastern Europe. +At any moment during the conflict her active +assistance would have won Constantinople and +Turkey for the Allies, and if proffered during +one of several particularly favourable conjunctures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +might have speedily ended the war. +But so tight was Germany’s grip on her that +she not only withheld her own aid, but actually +threatened to fall foul of any of the Balkan +States that should tender theirs. It is, therefore, +no exaggeration to affirm that the duration +of this war and some of the most doleful events +chronicled during the first year of its prosecution, +are due to the insidious behaviour of +Ferdinand of Coburg and his Bulgarian coadjutors. +One may add that this behaviour +constitutes a brilliant and lasting testimony +to the foresight and resourcefulness of German +diplomacy. It is one of the products of +German organization as distinguished from +French and British individualism.</p> + +<p>While Bulgaria was thus holding the menace +of her army over Roumania’s head, and M. +Bratiano stood irresolute between belligerency +and neutrality, the German and Austrian +armies were effectively co-operating with German +and Austrian diplomatists. They compelled +the Russians to withdraw from Eastern +Prussia,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> and from a part of Galicia<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>] later on +from Lodz, from the Masurian Lakes and +Bukovina.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Gradually Roumania saw herself +bereft of what would have been her right wing +and cover, and her military men, the most +influential of whom had been against intervention +from the first, now declared the +moment inauspicious on strategical grounds. +Thereupon the oratorical representatives of +the Roumanian people consoled themselves +with the formula that Roumanian blood would +be shed only for Roumanian interests, and that +when a fresh turn of Fortune’s wheel should +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>bring the Russian troops back to Bukovina and +Galicia, the gallant Roumanians would strike a +blow for their country and civilization.</p> + +<p>It would be unfruitful to enter into a detailed +examination of the efforts of the Allies to +detach the neutrals, and in especial the Balkan +States, from the Military Empires with which +their interests had been elaborately bound +up. But in passing, one may fairly question +the wisdom of their general plan, which +established facts—still fragmentary in character—enable +us to reconstruct. The resuscitation +of the Balkan League and the mobilization of +its forces against Turkey was an enterprise +from which the greatest statesmen of the +nineteenth century, were they living, would +have recoiled. For it presupposes an ascetic +frame of mind among the little States, which +in truth hate each other more intensely than +they ever hated the Turks. The first condition +of success, were success conceivable, +would have been the abrogation of the Treaty +of Bucharest and the redistribution of the +territories, which its authors had divided with +so little regard for abstract justice and the +stability of peace. And to this procedure, +which Bulgaria ostentatiously demanded, Serbia +entered a firm demurrer in which she was joined +by Greece. For Serbs and Bulgars have always +been hypnotized by Macedonia. Their gaze +is fixed on that land as by some magic fascination, +which interest and reason are powerless +to break. They think of the future development, +nay of the very existence of their +respective nations, as indissolubly intertwined +with it. To lose Macedonia, therefore, is to +forfeit the life-secret of nation. Hence Bulgaria +obstinately refused to abate one jot of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +her demands, while Serbia was firmly resolved +to reject them. It mattered nothing that the +fate of all Europe and of these two States was +dependent on compromise. The little nations +took no account of the interests at stake. +Each, like Sir Boyle Roche, was ready to +sacrifice the whole for a part, and felt proud +of its wisdom and will-power.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances the scheme of a +resuscitated Balkan League should have been +accounted a political chimera, whereas politics +is the art of the possible. What might perhaps +have been envisaged with utility was the +selection of the less mischievous and more +helpful of the unwelcome alternatives with +which the allied diplomacy was confronted. +If, for instance, it could have been conclusively +shown that Bulgaria’s help was indispensable, +adequate and purchasable, the plain course +would have been to pay handsomely for that. +However high the price, it would have been +more than compensated by the positive and +negative gains. If, on the other hand, Bulgaria +were recalcitrant and inexorable, the +Tsardom which protected her might to some +good purpose have become equally so, and +displayed firmness and severity. It has been +said that Russia cannot find it in her heart +either to coerce Serbia or to punish Bulgaria. +If this be a correct presentation of her temper—and +in the past it corresponded to the reality—then +the Allies are up against an insurmountable +obstacle which must be looked +upon as one of the instruments of Fate.</p> + +<p>Our Press is never tired of repeating that the +neutrals have a right to think only of their +own interest and to frame their policy in +strict accordance with that, whether it draws<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +them towards the Allies or the Teuton camp. +To this principle exception may be taken. If +it be true that the European community, its +civilization and all that that connotes are in +grave danger, then every member of that +community is liable to be called on for help, +and is bound to tender it. In such a crisis +it is a case of every one being against us who +is not actively with us. Otherwise the contention +that this is no ordinary war but a +criminal revolt against civilization, is a mere +piece of claptrap and is properly treated as +such by the neutrals. But there is another +important side of the matter which has not +yet been seriously considered. If the neutrals +are warranted in ignoring the common +interest and restricting themselves to the +furtherance of their own, it is surely meet +that the Allies, too, should enjoy the full +benefits of this principle and frame their +entire policy—economic, financial, political and +military—with a view to promoting their common +weal, and with no more tender regard +for that of the non-belligerent States than is +conducive to the success of their cause and +in strict accordance with international law. +The application of this doctrine would find its +natural expression in the creation of an economic +league of the Allied States with privileges +restricted to its members. It may not be +irrelevant to state that during one phase of +the war combined action of the kind alluded +to would have given the Allies the active help +of one or two neutral countries. Nay, if the +exportation of British coal alone had been +restricted to the belligerents, the hesitation of +those countries between neutrality and belligerency +would have been overcome in a month.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>Italy and Bulgaria, being the two nations +whose attitude would in the judgment of +German statesmen have the furthest reaching +consequences on the war, were also the object +of their unwearied attentions. And every +motive which could appeal to the interest or +sway the sentiment of those peoples was set +before them in the light most conducive to +the aims of the tempter. Those painstaking +efforts were duly rewarded. Bulgaria, before +abandoning her neutrality, had contributed +more effectively even than Turkey to retard +the Allies’ progress and to facilitate that of +their adversaries.</p> + +<p>For Italy’s restiveness Germany was prepared, +but it was reasonably hoped that with +a mixture of firmness, forbearance and generosity +that nation would be prevailed upon to +maintain a neutrality which the various agents +at work in the peninsula could render permanently +benevolent. And from the fateful +August 3, 1914, down to the following May, +the course of events attested the accuracy of +this forecast. At first all Italy was opposed +to belligerency. Deliberate reason, irrational +prejudice, religious sentiment, political calculation, +economic interests and military considerations +all tended to confirm the population +in its resolve to keep out of the sanguinary +struggle. The Vatican, its organs and agents, +brought all their resources to bear upon devout +Catholics, whose name is legion and whose +immediate aim was the maintenance of peace +with the Central empires. The commercial +and industrial community was tied to Germany +by threads as fine, numerous and binding as +those that rendered Gulliver helpless in the +hands of the Lilliputians. The common people,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +heavily taxed and poorly paid, yearned for +peace and an opportunity to better their +material lot. The Parliament was at the beck +and call of a dictator who was moved by party +interests to co-operate with the Teutons, while +the Senate, which favoured neutrality on independent +grounds, had made it a rule to +second every resolution of the Chamber. In a +word, although Italy might wax querulous and +importunate, her complaints and her demands +would, it was assumed, play a part only in the +scheme of diplomatic tactics, but would never +harden into pretexts for war.</p> + +<p>For it was a matter of common knowledge +that departure from the attitude of neutrality, +whatever its ultimate effects—and these would +certainly be fateful—must first lead to a long +train of privations, hardships and economic +shocks, which would subject the limited staying +powers of the nation—accustomed to peace, +and only now beginning to thrive—to a searching, +painful and dangerous test. From a +Government impressed by this perspective, and +conscious of its responsibility, careful deliberation, +rather than high-pitched views, were +reasonably expected.</p> + +<p>And the attitude of the Cabinet since August +1914 had been marked by the utmost caution +and self-containment. Contemplated from a +distance by certain of the Allies whose attention +was absorbed by the political aspect of the +matter, this method of cool calculation seemed +to smack of hollow make-believe. Why, it was +asked, should Italy hold back or weigh the +certain losses against the probable gains, seeing +that she would have as allies the two most +puissant States of Europe, and the enormous +advantage of sea power on her side?</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> October 10, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> September 8, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> October 13, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> December 6, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> February 15, 1915.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE POSITION OF ITALY</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">But</span> intervention in the war was not one of +those ordinary enterprises on which Italy +might reasonably embark, after having carefully +counted up the cost in men and money +and allowed a reasonable margin for unforeseen +demands on both. In this venture the liabilities +were unlimited, whereas the resources of +the nation were bounded, the limits being much +narrower than in the case of any other Great +Power. And this was a truly hampering circumstance. +Serious though it was, however, +it would hardly avail to deter a nation from +accepting the risks and offering up the sacrifices +requisite, if the motive were at once +adequate, peremptory and pressing.</p> + +<p>But Italy, unlike the Allies, had had no +strong provocation to draw the sword. Grievances +she undoubtedly possessed in plenty. +She had been badly dealt with by her allies, +but forbearance was her rule of living. For +nearly a generation she had been a partner of +the two militarist States, yet she shrank from +severing her connection with them, even when +they deliberately broke their part of the compact. +This breach of covenant not only dispensed +her from taking arms on their side, +but would also, owing to the consequences it +involved, have sufficed to warrant her adhesion +to the Entente Powers. But for conclusive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +reasons—lack of preparedness among +others—she condoned all affronts and drew the +line at neutrality.</p> + +<p>The country was absolutely unequipped for +the contest. The Lybian campaign had disorganized +Italy’s national defences and depleted +her treasury. Arms, ammunition, uniforms, +primary necessaries—in a word, the means of +equipping an army—were lacking. The expenditure +of £80,000,000 sterling during the conflict +with Turkey rendered the strictest economy +imperative, and so intent was the Cabinet on +observing it that the first candidate for the post +of War Minister declined the honour, because +of the disproportion between the sum offered +to him for reorganization and the pressing needs +of the national defences.</p> + +<p>The outbreak of the present conflict, therefore, +took Italy unawares and found her in a +condition of military unpreparedness which, +if her participation in the war had been a +necessity, might have had mischievous consequences +for the nation. Availing herself of +this condition of affairs and of the pacific temper +of the Italian people, Germany reinforced +those motives by the prospect of Corsica, Nice, +Savoy, Tunis and Morocco in return for active +co-operation. But the active co-operation of +Italy with Austria and Germany was wholly +excluded. The people would have vetoed it +as suicidal. The utmost that could be attempted +was the preservation of her neutrality, +and that this object would be attained seemed +a foregone conclusion.</p> + +<p>And it is fair to state that this belief was well +grounded. When war was declared and Italy +was summoned to march with her allies against +France, Britain and Russia, she repudiated her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +obligation on the ground that the clause in +their treaty provided for common action in +defence only, not for co-operation in a war of +aggression, such as was then about to be +waged. And that plea could not be rebutted. +This preliminary dissonance to which the +Central empires resigned themselves was followed +by disputes which turned upon the interpretation +of the compensation clause of the +Treaty, upon Italy’s territorial demands and +Austria’s demurrers. Thus from first to last +the issues raised were of a diplomatic order, +and if German statesmen had received carte +blanche to settle them, it is not improbable +that a compromise would have been effected +which would have left the Italian Government +no choice but to persevere in its neutrality.</p> + +<p>And German statesmen strove hard to wrest +the matter from their ally and take it into +their own hands, but were only partially successful. +Both they and the Austrians selected +their most supple and wily diplomatists to +conduct the difficult negotiations. Prince +Bülow was appointed German Ambassador to +King Victor’s Government, Baron Macchio +supplanted Merey in Rome, but the most +sensational change effected was the substitution +of Baron Burian for Count Berchtold +in the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> +This latter event was construed by the European +public as the foretoken of a new and +far-resonant departure in Austria’s treatment +of international relations. In reality it was +hardly more than the withdrawal from public +business of a tired statesman <i>malgré lui</i> who +had persistently sought to be relieved of his +charge ever since his first appointment. Count +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>Berchtold’s name is inseparably associated with +events of the first magnitude for his country +and for Europe, but on the creation or moulding +of which he had little appreciable part. +It is hardly too much to say that if, during +the period while he held office, the Ministry +of Foreign Affairs had been without a head, +the mechanism would have worked with no +serious hitch, and with pretty much the same +results which we now behold. For he was +but the intermediary between the mechanism +and the real minister, who invariably appeared +as a <i>deus ex machina</i> in all the great +crises of recent years, and who was none other +than the Emperor Francis Joseph himself.</p> + +<p>Count Berchtold was a continuator. He +endeavoured under adverse circumstances to +carry out the feasible schemes of his predecessor, +but the obstacles in his way proved +insurmountable. He is a straightforward, +truthful man, and in the best sense of the word +a gentleman. The greatest achievement to +which he can point during his tenure of power +is the disruption of the Balkan League. Having +had an opportunity of seeing the working of +the scheme at close quarters, I may say that it +was ingenious. Pacific by temperament and +conviction, he co-operated successfully with +the Emperor to ward off a European conflict +more than once. But from the day when Count +Tisza won over Franz Josef to the ideas of +Kaiser Wilhelm, Count Berchtold’s occupation +was gone.</p> + +<p>His successor, Baron Burian, entered upon +his office with an established reputation and a +political programme. But so immersed were +the Allies in the absurd illusions which ascribed +disorganization to Germany and discord to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +the two imperial Governments, that Burian’s +appointment was read by many as an omen +that Austria-Hungary was already scheming +for a separate peace. Events soon showed that +the disorganization was not in Germany nor +the discord on the side of the Central Empires.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Italian Minister of Foreign +Affairs, Di San Giuliano, had succumbed to a +painful illness, which, however, did not prevent +him from writing and reading dispatches down +to the very eve of his death.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> His successor +was Sydney Sonnino, perhaps the most upright, +rigid and taciturn man who has ever had +to receive foreign diplomatists and discourse +sweet nothings in their ears. Devoid of eloquence, +of personal magnetism and of most of +the arts deemed essential to the professional +diplomatist, he is a man of culture, eminent +talents, fervid zeal for the public welfare, +steady moral courage, and rare personal integrity. +Pitted against the supple and versatile +Bülow, his influence might be likened to +that of the austere philosopher gazing at the +incarnate Lamia.</p> + +<p>Between these two statesmen conversations +began<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> under favourable auspices. One of the +conditions to which each of them subscribed +was the maintenance of rigorous secrecy until +the end of their labours. And it was observed +religiously until Germany’s “necessity” +seemed to call for the violation of the +pledge, whereupon it was profitably violated. +Baron Sonnino told the German plenipotentiary +that “the majority of the population +was in favour of perpetuating neutrality, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>gave its support to the Government for this +purpose, provided always that by means of +neutrality certain national aspirations could be +realized.”<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Bülow at once scored an important +point by taking sides with Italy against Austria +on the disputed question whether Clause VII +of the Triple Alliance entitled the former +country to demand compensation for the upsetting +of the Balkan equilibrium caused by +Austria’s war on Serbia. That view and its +practical corollaries set the machinery going. +The Austrian Government abandoned its <i>non +possumus</i>, and discussed the nature and extent +of the compensation alleged to be due. But +it never traversed the distances between words +and acts.</p> + +<p>One of the many wily devices by which the +German Ambassador sought to inveigle the +Consulta into forgoing its right to resort to +war was employed within three weeks of the +beginning of negotiations. Bülow confidentially +informed Sonnino that Germany was +sending Count von Wedel to Vienna to persuade +the Cabinet there to cede the Trentino +to Italy, and asked him whether, if Austria +acquiesced, it would not be possible to announce +to the Chamber that the Italian Government +had already in hand enough to warrant it in +assuming that the main aspirations of the nation +would be realized.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> “Absolutely impossible,” +was Sonnino’s reply. But the Dictator Giolitti, +whom Prince Bülow took into partnership, was +more confident and pliable. This parliamentary +leader, whose will was law in his own country +and whose life-work consisted in eliminating +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>ethical principles from politics, made known +his belief—nay, his positive knowledge—that +by diplomatic negotiations the nation could +obtain concessions which would dispense it +from embarking on the war. This pronouncement +had a widespread effect on public opinion, +confirming the prevalent belief that Austria +would satisfy Italy’s claims.</p> + +<p>There was no means of verifying those +announcements, for the Rome Government +scrupulously observed its part of the compact, +and allowed no news of the progress of the +conversations to leak out. In fact, it went +much farther and deprived the Italian people +systematically of all information on the subject +of the crisis. Consequently the poisoners of +the wells of truth had a facile task.</p> + +<p>It was no secret, however, that the cession +of the Trentino would not suffice to square +accounts. Italy’s land and sea frontiers were +strategically so exposed that it was sheer impossible +to provide adequately for their defence. +And this essential defect rendered the +nation semi-dependent on its neighbour and +adversary and powerless to pursue a policy of +its own. For half a century this dangerous +flaw in the national edifice and its pernicious +effects on Italy’s international relations had +been patiently borne with, but Baron Sonnino +considered that the time for repairing it and +strengthening the groundwork of peace had +come. And as he had not the faintest doubt +that technically as well as essentially he had +right on his side, he pressed the matter vigorously. +Austrian diplomacy, dense and dilatory +as ever, argued, protested, temporized. In +these tactics it was encouraged by the knowledge +that Italy was unequipped for war, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +by the delusion that the remedial measures of +reorganization then going forward were only +make-believe. The Italian Government, on +the other hand, convinced that nothing worth +having could be secured by diplomacy until +diplomacy was backed by force, was labouring +might and main to raise the army and navy +to a position as worthy as possible of a Great +Power and commensurate with the momentous +issues at stake.</p> + +<p>But the position of the Cabinet was seriously +weakened by the domestic and insidious enemy. +Giolitti’s pronouncement had provided the +Austrians with a trump card. For if the +Dictator accounted the proffered concession +as a settlement in full, it was obvious that the +Cabinet, which was composed of his own +nominees whom he could remove at will, would +not press successfully for more extensive compensation. +Giolitti was the champion and +spokesman of the nation, and his estimate of +its aspirations alone carried weight. And now +once more the Dictator, acting through his +parliamentary lieutenants, organized another +anti-governmental demonstration which humiliated +the Cabinet and impaired its authority as +a negotiator. Of this favourable diversion the +Austrians availed themselves to the full. But +gradually it dawned upon them that behind +the Italian Foreign Minister a reorganized +Italian army, well equipped and partially +mobilized, was being arrayed for the eventuality +of a failure of the negotiations. By way +of recognizing this fact the Ballplatz increased +its offer, but only very slightly, while it grew +more and more lavish of arguments. But the +“principal aspirations of the Italian people” +had not yet been taken into serious consideration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +by Baron Burian. Down to April 21 +this statesman had not braced himself up to +offer anything more than the Trentino, which +Prince Bülow had virtually promised in +January, and this despite the intimation given +by the Italian Foreign Secretary, that after the +long spell of word-weaving and hair-splitting +he must insist on a serious and immediate +effort being put forth to meet Italy’s demands.</p> + +<p>Thus during five months of tedious negotiations +Austria had contrived to exchange views +and notes with the Consulta without offering +any more solid basis for an agreement than +the cession of a part of the Trentino. It is +fair to add that even this appeared a generous +gift to Franz Josef’s ministers, who failed to +see why the Habsburg Monarchy should offer +any compensation to an ally from whom help, +not claims, had been expected. To a possible +abandonment of territory on the Isonzo or +elsewhere the Vienna Cabinet made no allusion. +On April 8 Sonnino presented counter +proposals, which he unfolded in nine clauses. +They comprehended the cession of the Trentino, +including the frontiers established for +the kingdom of Italy by the Treaty of Paris +of 1810; a rectification of Italy’s eastern +boundaries, taking in the cities of Gradisca and +Gorizia; the transformation of Trieste and its +territory into an autonomous State, internationally +independent; the transfer to the +kingdom of Italy of the Curzolari group of +islands; all these territories to be delivered +up on the ratification of the Treaty. Further, +Italy’s full sovereignty over Valona was to +be recognized by Austria, who should forswear +all further designs on Albania and +concede a full pardon to all persons of those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +lands undergoing punishment for political or +military offences. On her side Italy would +consent to pay 200,000,000 francs as her share +of the public debt and of other financial obligations +of the provinces in question, to remain +absolutely neutral during the present war, and +to renounce all further claims to compensation +arising out of Clause VII of the Treaty.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p>Those terms were rejected by the Austrian +Foreign Minister on grounds which have no +longer any practical interest. Noteworthy is +his remark that even in peace time the immediate +consignment of such territory as Austria +might be willing to abandon would be impossible, +and during the prosecution of a tremendous +war it was inconceivable.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> From +this position he had never once swerved during +the five months’ conversations, and he was +backed by Germany, who on March 19 had +offered to guarantee the fulfilment of the +promise after the war. But a fortnight later +he suddenly changed his ground without really +yielding the point, by suggesting the creation of +a mixed commission which should make recommendations +about the ways and means of +transferring the strips of territory in question. +But as the labours of this commission were +not to be restricted in time, and as the amount +to be ceded fell far short of what was demanded, +Baron Sonnino negatived the suggestion.</p> + +<p>Then and only then did the Italian Government +withdraw their proposals, denounce the +Triple Alliance, and proclaim Italy’s liberty of +action.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p><p>Of this sensational turn of affairs the European +public had no inkling. For the Italian Government +was bound to reticence by its plighted +word and the Germans and Austrians by their +interest, which was to foster the belief that the +conversations were proceeding successfully and +that Austria’s proposals were welcomed by +the Consulta. But Italy, thus absolved from +the ties that had so long linked her with +Germany and Austria, entered into a conditional +compact with the Powers of the +Entente. In Paris the secret quickly leaked +out and was at once communicated to Berlin, +whose organized espionage continued to +flourish in the French capital. Thereupon +Herr Jagow urged Bülow to bestir himself +without delay. But the Prince was hard set. +On the Italian Cabinet he had lost his hold. +It had already crossed the Rubicon and passed +over to the Entente. True, the Cabinet was +not Italy, was not even the Government of +Italy. It was hardly more than a group of +mere place-warmers for Giolitti and his partisans. +At any moment it could be upset and +the damage inflicted by Austria’s stupidity +made good. And to effect this was the task to +which the German Ambassador now addressed +himself.</p> + +<p>He was admirably qualified to discharge it. +All Italy, with the exception of a small band +of nationalists and republicans, was his ally. +The Pope was <i>ex officio</i> an apostle of peace. A +large body of the clergy submissively followed +the Pope. The Vatican and its hangers-on were +sitting <i>en permanence</i> directing a movement +which had for its object the prevention of war. +The parliamentary majority was aggressively +neutralist. The economic interests of the nation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +were ranged on the same side. Almost the +entire aristocracy was enlisted under the flag +of the German Ambassador, at whose hospitable +board the scions of the men whose names had +been honourably associated with the Risorgimento +met and deliberated. As yet, therefore, +nothing was lost to the Central Empires; +only a difficulty had been created which would +serve as a welcome foil to impart sharper relief +to Prince Bülow’s certain victory. The +man whose co-operation would win this victory +was the Dictator Giolitti, and him the Ambassador +summoned to Rome.</p> + +<p>Now Giolitti was acquainted with everything +that had been done by the Cabinet, +including his country’s covenant with the +Allies, and he disapproved of it. He was +also initiated by Bülow into the scheme by +which that covenant was to be set aside and +Italy made to break her faith, and he signified +his approbation of it. Nay, this patriot went +further; he undertook to aid and abet Bülow +in his well-thought-out plot. It had been +resolved by the German Ambassador, as soon +as he learned that Italy had taken an irrevocable +decision and denounced the Treaty of +Alliance, that he would amend the proposals +which he himself, in Austria’s name, had put +forward as the utmost limit to which she was +prepared to go; and he was anxious, before +offering them officially, to ascertain whether +Italy’s Dictator would accept them and guarantee +their acceptance by his parliamentary +majority.</p> + +<p>That was the object for which Giolliti’s +presence was needed in Rome. The amended +proposals were typewritten and distributed by +Erzberger, the leader of the German Catholic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +parliamentary party, who was an over-zealous +agent of the Wilhelmstrasse and a <i>persona grata</i> +at the Vatican. He, a German, had gone to +Rome to bestir the neutralists and lead the +movement against the Italian Government. +His leaflets containing the belated concessions +were given to Giolitti and his lieutenants. I +received a copy myself, and sent it to the <i>Daily +Telegraph</i>. The concessions were actually published +in that journal and communicated to +the British public before King Victor’s Government, +to whom Prince Bülow was accredited, +had any cognizance of their existence. That +this procedure involved a gross breach of the +covenant between the Ambassador and Sonnino +stipulating the maintenance of absolute +secrecy was deemed an irrelevant consideration.</p> + +<p>Seldom in modern times have such underhand +methods been resorted to by the Government +of a Great Power. Neither would it be +easy to find an example of a responsible statesman +behaving as Giolitti behaved and working +in collusion with the Government of a State +which at the time was virtually his country’s +enemy. This statesman, however, duly played +the part assigned to him in this intrigue +against his Government and country, and +the success of his scheme would have left +the Italian nation covered with infamy and +bereft of friends. For if he had been able +to conclude the compact with Austria as he +had undertaken to do, his country would have +been left to the mercy of his Austro-German +masters, who despise Italy, and probably, if +victorious, would have refused to redeem their +promises, while the Entente States would have +boycotted her as faithless and false-hearted. +As a dilemma for Italy the position in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +she was placed must have delighted the wily +Bülow. How it can have satisfied an Italian +statesman is a psychological riddle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the German Ambassador presented +officially Austria’s final proposals, as +though the conversations on this subject had +not been broken off. Baron Sonnino refused +to discuss them. But the Dictator intended +that his word should be heard and his will +should be done. To the King and the Premier, +Giolitti announced that, despite all that had +been accomplished by the Government, he still +clung to the belief that Austria’s new concessions +offered a basis for further negotiations, +which, if cleverly conducted, would lead to +the acquisition of some other strips of territory, +and would certainly culminate in a satisfactory +settlement.</p> + +<p>But, not satisfied with this confidential expression +of opinion, Giolitti let it be known to +the whole nation that he, the chief and spokesman +of the parliamentary majority, was convinced +of the feasibility of an accord with +Austria on the basis of her last offer, which +he deemed acceptable in principle; that he saw +no motives for plunging Italy into a hideous +war, which would involve the nation in disaster; +and that he would adjust his acts to these +convictions.</p> + +<p>This deliberate pronouncement, coming from +the most prominent man in the country, had +a powerful effect upon his followers and also +upon the public at large. No nation desires +war for war’s sake, and the interpretation put +upon Giolitti’s words by the extreme neutralists +and, in particular, by the insincere organs +of the Vatican, was that he had seen enough +to convince him that the Cabinet had decided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +to wage war against Germany and Austria +at all costs and irrespective of the nation’s +interests. Giolitti’s parliamentary friends demonstratively +called upon him at his private +residence, leaving their cards, and announcing +the conformity of their views to those of their +leader; and as their number, which was carefully +communicated to the Press, formed the +majority of the Chamber, the Cabinet felt +impelled to take the hint and act upon it. +This was the only course open to it. For, as +the ministers were obliged to meet Parliament +on May 20—the day fixed for its reopening—they +were sure to be out-voted on a division, +whereupon a crisis, not merely ministerial but +national and international, would be precipitated. +The consequences of such a conflict +might be disastrous. Rather than wait for +this eventuality the Cabinet tendered its resignation. +Thus Bülow had seemingly triumphed. +The Government was turned out by Giolitti, +who had accepted in advance the Austro-German +terms of a settlement, and Italy was +seemingly won over to the Teutons.</p> + +<p>So far as one could judge, the fate of the +nation was now decided. Its course was +marked out for it, and was henceforward unalterable. +For, so far as one could see, by no +section of the constitutional machinery was +the strategy of Bülow and Giolitti to be +thwarted. In a parliamentary land the legislatures +are paramount, and here both Chamber +and Senate were arrayed against the Cabinet +for Giolitti and Germany.</p> + +<p>The ferment consequent upon this turn of +affairs was tremendous. All Europe was astir +with excitement. The Press of Berlin and +Vienna was jubilant. Panegyrics of Giolitti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +and of Bülow filled the columns of their daily +Press.</p> + +<p>But a <i>deus ex machina</i> suddenly descended +upon the scene in the unwonted form of +an indignant nation. The Italian people, +which had at first been either indifferent or +actively in favour of cultivating neighbourly +relations with Germany, had of late been +following the course of the struggle with the +liveliest interest. Germany’s dealings with +Belgium had impressed them deeply. Her +methods of warfare had estranged their sympathies. +Her doctrine of the supremacy of +force and falsehood had given an adverse +poise to their ideas and leanings. Deep +into their hearts had sunk the tidings of +the destruction of the <i>Lusitania</i>, awakening +feelings of loathing and abomination for its +authors, to which free expression was now +being given everywhere. The spirit that actuated +this revolting enormity was brand-marked +as that of demoniacal fury loosed from moral +control and from the ties that bind nations and +individuals to all humanity.</p> + +<p>The effect upon public sentiment and opinion +in Italy, where emotions are tensely strung, +and sympathy with suffering is more flexible +and diffusive than it is even among the other +Latin races, was instantaneous. One statesman, +who was a partisan of neutrality, remarked +to me that German “Kultur,” as revealed +during the present war, is dissociated from +every sense of duty, obligation, chivalry, +honour, and is become a potent poison which +the remainder of humanity must endeavour +by all efficacious methods to banish from the +international system.</p> + +<p>“This,” he went on, “is no longer war; it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +is organized slaughter, perpetrated by a race +suffering from dog-madness. I tremble at +the thought that our own civilized and +chivalrous people may at any moment be +confronted with this lava flood of savagery and +destructiveness. Now, if ever, the opportune +moment has come for all civilized nations to +join in protest, stiffened with a unanimous +threat, against the continuance of such crimes +against the human race. Europe ought surely +to have the line drawn at the poisoning of +wells, the persecution of prisoners, and the +massacre of women and children. If a proposal +to this effect were made, I myself would +second it with ardour.”<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>These pent-up feelings now found vent in a +series of meetings and demonstrations against +Germany as well as Austria and their Italian +allies. Italy’s spiritual heritage from the old +Romans asserted itself in impressive forms +and unwonted ways, and the conscience of +the nation loudly affirmed its claim to be the +main directing force in a crisis where the +honour and the future of the country were at +stake. And within four days of this purgative +process a marked change was noticeable. +Giolitti’s partisans—hissed, jostled, mauled, +frightened out of their lives—lay low. Many +of them publicly recanted and proclaimed their +conversion to intervention. The chief of the +German Catholic party and friend of the +Vatican, Erzberger, was driven from his hotel +to the German Embassy as a foreign mischief-maker, +contrabandist and spy. Some of +the Press organs, subsidized or created by +the Teutons, were obliged to disappear. The +honest neutralist journals, yielding to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>nation, veered round to the fallen Cabinet. +In a word, the political atmosphere, theretofore +foul and mephitic, became suddenly charged +with purer, healthier elements—Bülow’s plot +was thwarted and Giolitti’s rôle played out. +The Salandra-Sonnino Cabinet was borne back +to office on the crest of this national wave, +and Italy declared war against Austria. But +only against Austria. For the Cabinet, restored +to power, became a cautious steward, +and took to imitating him of the Gospel who +hid his talents instead of augmenting them.</p> + +<p>This restriction of military operations to the +Habsburg Monarchy struck many observers as +singular. In truth the motives that inspired +the Government have never been authoritatively +divulged. That every Italian Cabinet +since Crispi’s days had made a marked distinction +between Germany and Austria was notorious. +That Di San Giuliano felt as strongly +attracted towards Berlin as he was repelled by +Vienna may be gathered from the official but +still unpublished dispatches that exist on the +subject. But that in a war not of two individual +nations, but of groups of States, one—and +only one—of these should be singled out +as the object of aggression aroused something +more than mere curiosity. And this feeling +was intensified when it became known that +on the eve of the diplomatic rupture Bülow, +ever on the alert for the interests of his country, +had induced the Italian Government to conclude +a convention with Germany for the protection +of private property in case of active +hostilities. For Germany possesses in Italy +property valued at several milliards of francs, +whereas Italy claims as her own almost nothing in +the German empire. Who can read the riddle?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<p>The adhesion of Italy to the Allies may be +noted as perhaps the most important political +event of the year, while the circumstances in +which it was decided on dispel all doubt that +the Italian people were actuated by lofty +motives and rose to the highest ideas involved +in the European conflict, and that the Cabinet’s +ideals were nowise identical with those of the +nation. It is alleged by certain personal +friends of Baron Sonnino, who had exceptionally +good opportunities for knowing what took +place—and I have grounds for acquiescing in +their view—that this statesman was for declaring +war against Germany as well as Austria, +but that Professor Salandra negatived this +logical and straightforward move.</p> + +<p>That the Salandra Cabinet damaged the +cause of Italy by thus endeavouring to +blow hot and cold, is a fact which its warmest +supporters no longer call in question. They +now merely plead for extenuating circumstances +on the ground that the damage was +done unwittingly. “It would be unjust,” +the Nationalist Federzoni said in a speech +delivered before the Chamber on March 16,<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> +“to accuse the Italian Government of disloyalty +or insincerity, but none the less the +treaty it concluded with Germany has proved +superlatively baleful to the country.” Like +the other allied peoples, the Italian nation +has been served by a Cabinet which defeated +many of the objects it was striving after.</p> + +<p>Studying Italian politics since the war broke +out is like threading the Cretan Labyrinth in +a dense fog. The fog, curiously enough, which +now seldom lifts, would seem to form an integral +part of the politics. For one of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>maxims of the present chief of the Consulta, +Baron Sonnino, is that secrecy is the soul of +efficacy. And as thoroughness marks his +action whenever it is quite free, the mystery +that enwraps the schemes and designs of King +Victor’s Government is become impenetrable. +One may form a faint notion of the stringency +with which this un-Italian occultism is observed +by the eminent Jewish statesman, from +the circumstance that during the crisis that +preceded the war, only one of his colleagues +was kept informed of the progress of the conversations +with Austria, and that was his +own chief, Professor Salandra. As for the +nation at large, it was so out of touch with +the Government, and so led astray concerning +the trend of events, that for months it confidently +anticipated an accord with the Central +Empires. Again, down to the day on which +Baron Sonnino read out his last declaration in +the Chamber (Dec. 1), officials of the Ministry +had rigorous instructions not to give any one +even a hint as to whether Italy would or +would not sign the London Convention, renouncing +the right to conclude a separate +peace.</p> + +<p>For a long time previously Italy’s aloofness +had preoccupied the Entente, and to the +accord between the two there continued to +be something lacking. The Italian Government, +dissatisfied with the degree of help +received from Great Britain, was not slow +to indicate it in official conversations with +our Ambassador. Happily, the silence of our +Foreign Office and the secrecy of Baron +Sonnino concealed the rifts of the lute until +most of them were said to be repaired. In the +meantime Italy persisted in concentrating on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +the Isonzo and the Carso all her efforts to help +the Allies against the Turks and the Bulgars. +The expeditions to the Dardanelles, Salonika +and Serbia evoked her moral sympathy, but +could not secure her military co-operation. +The generosity of the Entente, and of Britain +in particular, towards Greece was an additional +stumbling-block, and the offer of Cyprus to +King Constantine an abomination in her eyes.</p> + +<p>That Italy’s impolitic aloofness could not +last, without impairing the worth of her sacrifices, +was obvious. And the extent to which +co-operation could be stipulated and the compensations +to which that would entitle her, +formed the subjects of long and delicate conversations +between the interested Governments. +For, naturally enough, Baron Sonnino, +whose domestic critics are many and ruthless, +was desirous of getting all he could in the +Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, while +measuring out with patriotic closeness the +military and naval help to be given in return—Italy’s +position, economic, financial and strategic, +differing considerably from that of the +other Great Powers. It was not until the +end of November 1915 that these negotiations +were worked out to an issue; and on the 30th +King Victor’s Government signed the Convention +of London, undertaking not to conclude +a separate peace.</p> + +<p>The gist of this supplementary accord, in +so far as it imposes fresh obligations upon +Italy, was communicated to the Chamber by +Baron Sonnino. It provided for the organization +of relief for the Serbian troops in Albania, +and for other auxiliary expeditions to places +on the Adriatic coast. But it leaves intact +the essential and standing limitations to Italy’s<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +military and naval co-operation which had to +be reckoned with theretofore. And these may +be summarized as follows: King Victor’s +Government, while examining every proposal +coming from the Allies on its political merits, +must be guided by the military and naval +experts of the nation whenever it is a question +of despatching troops or warships to take +part in a common enterprise. Italy’s first +care is to hinder an invasion of her territory. +The next object of her solicitude is to husband +her naval and other resources and cultivate +caution. Lastly, the extent of her contribution +to an expedition must be adjusted to +her resources, which are much more slender +than those of any other Great Power, and +are best known to her own rulers. And her +financial means are to be reinforced by contributions +from Great Britain.</p> + +<p>Those, in brief, are some of the lines on which +the latest agreement has been concluded.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> January 15, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Di San Giuliano died on October 18, 1914. He was +working for a short time on the 17th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> On December 20, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Italian Green Book, Despatch N. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Italian Green Book, January 14, 1915, Despatch +N. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 71, April 16, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> May 3, 1915. Cf. Italian Green Book, Dispatch +N. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Cf. <i>Daily Telegraph</i>, May 10, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> March 16, 1916.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>ROUMANIA AND GREECE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">That</span> Roumania would now take the field +was a proposition which, after the many and +emphatic assurances volunteered by her own +official chiefs, was accepted almost universally. +She had received considerable help from the +Allies towards her military preparations. Her +senators and deputies had fraternized with +Italians and Frenchmen and her diplomatists +had been in frequent and friendly communication +with those of France, Britain and Russia. +Even statesmen had allowed themselves to be +persuaded by words and gestures which it +now appears were meant only to be conditional +assurances or social lubricants. The +Serbian Premier, for instance, whose shrewdness +is proverbial, exclaimed to an Italian +journalist, in the second half of June: “Roumania +cannot but follow the example set her +by Italy. Indeed, you may telegraph to your +journal that Roumania’s entry into the arena +is a question of days and it may be only of +hours. Of this many foretokens have come +to our knowledge.”<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> But the optimists who +had drawn practical conclusions from Roumanian +promises and friendships lost sight of +the difference between their own mentality +and that of the Balkan peoples. They also +failed to make due allowance for the influence +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>of German interpenetration, the power of +German gold, and the deterrent effect of German +victories. And above all, they left out +of consideration the really decisive question +of military prospects as conditioned by strategical +position and supplies of munitions.</p> + +<p>The party of intervention, however, was +still active and full of ardour. Its chief, Take +Jonescu, is not merely Roumania’s only statesman, +but has established a claim to rank as +one of the prominent public men of the present +generation. Unluckily he has long been out +of office, and his party is condemned to the +Cassandra rôle of uttering true prophecies +which find no credence among those who wield +the power of putting them to good account. +M. Bratiano’s appropriate attitude may be +described as statuesque. Occasionally his +Press organs commented upon the manifestations +of the interventionists in words barbed +with bitter sarcasm and utilitarian maxims. +“Roumania’s blood and money,” the <i>Independence +Roumaine</i> explained, “must be spent +only in the furtherance of Roumania’s interest.” +Her cause must be dissociated from +that of the belligerents. To this Take Jonescu +replied<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> that it is precisely for the good of +Roumania that her interest should not be +separated from that of the Entente Powers in +the conflict. For on the issue of this conflict +depends the state-system of Europe and also +the future of Roumania. If the Germans are +triumphant, he added, force and falsehood will +triumph with them, the State will acquire +omnipotence, the individual sink into serfdom. +Neutrality during a war with such issues is, +therefore, the height of political unwisdom.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> +<p>Greece, after Venizelos’s retirement, returned +to the narrow creed and foolish pranks of her +unregenerate days, sinking deeper into anarchy. +More than once in her history she had been +saved from her enemies and once from her +friends, but from her own self there is no +saviour.</p> + +<p>As soon as the Kaiser’s paladin, King +Constantine, had dismissed his pilot and taken +supreme command of the Ship of State, the +portals of the realm were thrown open to +German machinations. The weaver in chief +of these was Wilhelm’s confidential agent, +Baron Schenk. According to his own published +biography, this gentleman had in youth +been the friend of the two sisters of Princess +Battenberg, the Grand Duchess Serge and of +the Russian Tsaritza. He had served in the +German army, become the representative of +the firm of Krupps, and been received at the +German court. While Venizelos was in office, +Baron Schenk flourished in the shade, but as +soon as the Germanophile Gounaris took over +the reins of power, the secret agent went boldly +forward into the limelight and became the +public chief of a party, received openly his +helpmates and partisans, distributed rôles and +money and set frankly to work to “smash +Venizelos.”</p> + +<p>King Constantine’s protracted and strange +malady hindered the Queen, who is the +Kaiser’s sister, from receiving visits. Even +the wives of ministers were denied access to +her Majesty. But the baron was an exception. +He called on her almost every day. +Cabinet Ministers consulted him. Journalists +received directions, articles and bribes from +him. And when the elections were coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +on every venal man of influence who could +damage Venizelos or help his antagonists was +bought with hard cash. In order to defeat +some Venizelist candidates whose return would +have been particularly distressing, the Baron +is said to have spent six hundred thousand +francs.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> And it is held that the results obtained +by these means were well worth the +money spent. For the parliamentary opposition +was strong and aggressive, and some of +its more active members had imbibed Hellenic +patriotism from the German Schenk. They +have since been toiling and moiling to disqualify +Venizelos permanently from office on +the ground that he is a republican, and that +the destinies of monarchy would not be safe in +his hands. By these means German organization, +which finds work and room for kings and +for poisoners, for theologians and assassins, +has transformed Greece into a Prussian satrapy +which avails itself of the freedom of the seas, +established by the Allies, to carry on contraband +to their detriment and give help and encouragement +to Austrians, Bulgars and Turks. And +the Turks were meanwhile extirpating the +Greeks of the coast of Asia Minor.</p> + +<p>Bulgaria’s attitude underwent no momentous +change during the interval that elapsed between +the outbreak of the war and the close of the +first year. Symptoms of a new orientation +had, it is true, often been signalled and commented, +but Ferdinand of Coburg and his +lieutenants remained steadfastly faithful to the +policy of quiescence which had conferred more +substantial benefits on Germany and Austria +than could have been bestowed by the active +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>co-operation of the whole Bulgarian army. This +tremendous effect could never have been obtained +if Bulgaria had entirely broken with +the Powers of the Entente. It seemed as +essential to its success that these should never +wholly give up the hope of winning her over, +as it was that her important movements should +be conducive to the interests of their enemies. +Hence every secret arrangement with Berlin +and Vienna was emphatically denied, and every +overt accord declared to be devoid of political +significance.</p> + +<p>It was thus that Europe was directed to +construe the negotiations between the Sofia +Cabinet and the Austro-German financial syndicate +respecting the payment of an instalment +of the £20,000,000 loan contracted shortly +before the war. That Germany, whose financial +ventures are invariably combined with +political designs, would not part with her +money to Bulgaria at a moment when gold is +scarce, unless she were sure of an adequate +political return, could not be gainsaid. And +that the retention by Bulgaria of her freedom +of action would be incompatible with the +interests of Austria and Germany is also manifest. +However this may be, the twenty millions +sterling demanded by Sofia were accorded, +and the legend was launched that the transaction +was purely financial.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of July<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> King Ferdinand’s +ministers made another momentous move, the +consequences of which cut deep into the political +situation. A convention was signed in +Stamboul between the Turkish and Bulgarian +Governments by which the former ceded to +Bulgaria the Turkish section of the Dedeagatch +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>railway—that is to say, the whole line that runs +on Turkish territory, together with the stations +of Dimotika, Kulela-Burgas, and Karagatch. +The new boundary ran thenceforward parallel +to the river Maritza, all the territory eastward +of that becoming Bulgarian.</p> + +<p>And this concession, King Ferdinand’s +ministers would have Europe believe, was +devoid of political bearings. It was merely +a case of something being given for nothing. +And the Allies allowed themselves to be persuaded +that this was the real significance of +the deal. The German Press was more frank. +It announced that the relations between Bulgaria +and Turkey had entered upon a decisive +phase and that all fear of Bulgaria’s taking +part in the war on the side of the Allies had +been definitely dispelled.</p> + +<p>The Bulgarian problem throughout all that +wearisome crisis, which ended by Ferdinand +throwing off the mask, was in reality simple, +and the known or verifiable facts ought to have +been sufficient to bring the judgment of the +Entente statesmen to conclusions which would +have enabled them to steer clear of the costly +blunders that characterized their policy. The +line of action followed from first to last by +Ferdinand was supremely inelastic: only its +manifestations, of which the object was to +deceive, were varied and conflicting. It was +bound up with Austria’s undertaking to restore +Macedonia to Bulgaria and to maintain +Ferdinand on the throne. This twofold +promise was the bait by which the king was +caught and kept in Austria’s toils, while the +Bulgarian people was moved by patriotism +to identify its cause with that of Ferdinand. +And the arrangement was to my knowledge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +completed before the opening of the European +war. Evidence of its existence was forthcoming, +but the statesmen of the Entente, who +allowed preconceived notions to overrule the +testimony of their senses, declined to accept +it. Since then the Bulgarian Cabinet, in the +person of the Premier, has publicly admitted +the truth of my reiterated statement. In a +public speech, delivered in March 1916, “M. +Radoslavoff confessed that Bulgaria had entered +the war by reason of certain obligations +which she had assumed.”<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<p>But there was another safe test which the +Entente Governments could have applied with +profit to the situation. Interest was obviously +the mainspring of the Bulgarian nation by +whomsoever it might chance to be represented. +It would be inconsistent with the +conception of international politics to assume +any other. Now that interest, it was obvious, +could be so fully and rapidly furthered by the +Central Empires, and in the judgment of the +Bulgars with such finality and at the cost of +so few sacrifices, that it was sheer impossible +for the Entente Governments to attempt to +compete with those. Bulgaria demanded immediate +possession of Central Macedonia and +the permanent weakening of the Serbian State. +And this the Central Empires promised to +effect within a few weeks from Bulgaria’s entry +into the war. Moreover, while asking that +she should take part in a struggle against that +group of belligerents which she deemed by far +the weaker, they undertook to give her the +full support of the two greatest military +Powers in the world.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> +<p>Consider the difference between that arrangement +and the attractions provided by the +Entente. Russia, France and Britain could +deal only in counters, not in hard cash like +their adversaries. The utmost they were able +to offer was an undertaking to use their good +offices with Serbia and Greece to obtain the +promise of a part of Bulgaria’s demands. +And the fulfilment of this promise would of +necessity be conditional on the victory of the +Allies. As for the weakening of Serbia, it +could not be entertained. On the contrary, +that State, according to the Entente scheme, +would be greatly enlarged, would, in fact, +become by far the greatest of the Balkan +nations. And for this shadowy lure, Bulgaria +was expected to meet in deadly encounter the +greatest military empires the world has ever +seen, and to meet them without the help of +any of the Great Powers of the Entente.</p> + +<p>One has but to compare these two alternatives +in order to realize that, even if Ferdinand +had entered into no binding compact with +Austria and Germany, he would not hesitate +a moment between them. Personally and +politically he was held tight by the Teuton +tentacles.</p> + +<p>The currency of the notion that with these +competing offers before him, a crafty statesman +like Ferdinand who felt over and above +that Russia’s vengeance was hanging over his +head, would take what he believed was the +losing side, shows a degree of <i>naïveté</i> which +cannot be qualified without epithets which it +had better be understood than expressed.</p> + +<p>Looking back upon the results of the first +twenty months of the war and upon the +more obvious causes to which they may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +fairly be ascribed, one is struck less forcibly +by the military and economic unpreparedness +of the Allies for the inevitable conflict than +by their inaccessibility to the ground ideas +on which Germany set her hopes of success. +The two groups of belligerents stood intellectually +on different planes. The Teuton’s +faith was implicit in the law of causality, +in the necessity of contemplating the vast +problem as a whole, of adjusting means +to ends, of co-operation at home and co-ordination +of means abroad. The methods +of the Allies were drawn from a limited range +of experience which was no longer applicable +to the new conditions, and their hopes rested +on a series of isolated exertions put forth temporarily +under stress of exceptional pressure.</p> + +<p>They made noble sacrifices for the cause +of liberty and justice. Pacific by temperament +and conviction, they resignedly accepted +military discipline as a temporary expedient, +a purgatorial ordeal, and went about the +while with a sense of displacement, the longing +of exiles to get back. Spurred by stress of +circumstance, they achieved more than foresight +and insight had led them to design but +far less than their optimism had encouraged +them to anticipate. Step by step they were +driven by hard reality to widen their angle of +vision, to extend their schemes, and to concert +certain measures in common. The meeting +of the three Finance Ministers in Paris was +followed by the Councils of the allied generals, +by the combined expedition to the Dardanelles, +and by the nationalization of the manufacture +of munitions in each of the allied countries. And +all these innovations were moves in the right +direction. But they were made as temporary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +expedients under pressure of outward events, +and it is still to the future that one looks for +tokens of statesmanlike intuition which from +a comprehensive survey of the problem in its +entirety will draw the materials wherewith to +weave a coherent scheme of general action and +permanent co-operation.</p> + +<p>Events travelled fast in the month of July +1915, and their effect on the Allies was depressing. +In Russia the Austro-Germans were advancing +steadily against Riga and Warsaw, +where a battle which experts accounted the +most sanguinary and momentous in the war +was approaching a decision. A fatal bar being +placed by Russia’s reverses and other untoward +occurrences to the realization of the hopes +that had been raised by Kitchener’s army, +the French, headed by M. Pichon and backed +by the Russian Press, once more mooted the +vexed question of Japanese intervention. In +the Turkish dominions the Greeks were subjected +to relentless persecution, especially on +the coast of Asia Minor. The massacre of +Armenians on an unprecedented scale was +reported from Bitlis, Moosh, Diarbekir and +Zeitun. In the first-named region 9,000 +bodies, mostly women and children, were, it is +alleged, cast into the river Tigris.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> The Swedish +Premier, by an enigmatic speech in which the +doctrine of neutrality at all costs was ostentatiously +repudiated, aroused suspicion of an intention +on the part of his Government to join the +Teutons in order to weaken the Slav neighbour, +and to this apprehension colour was imparted +by the tardy announcement that since the +outbreak of the war Sweden had increased her +army from 360,000 to 500,000 men. In the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>United States mysterious “accidents” and +mishaps occurred on board warships and in +munitions and arms manufactories, and strikes +were organized by Germans and Austrians on +a scale which attracted the serious attention +of the Washington Government.</p> + +<p>But the last month of that fateful year was +further darkened by the most dangerous and +ominous event recorded in the United Kingdom +since the war began. Over 200,000 coal +miners of South Wales deliberately, obstinately +and criminally withheld their labour from +their own nation, whose existence at that +moment was dependent on its bestowal. The +coal pits of South Wales remained idle for +over a week. The miners crossed their arms +and turned deaf ears to the voice of reason +and interest calling on them not to sacrifice +the lives of their kith and kin who were fighting +for them. This act of black treason to the +country had been foreseen and foretold months +before, but out of consideration for the rights of +individuals was allowed to take place. The +Germans and Austrians were exultant, for +another couple of weeks’ strike would have given +them the victory. Already the collapse of our +defence was become a definite eventuality. The +tact and statesmanship of Mr. Lloyd George +exorcised the redoubtable spectre, but the spirit +which that piece of treason revealed filled the +most sanguine with dread and set those of little +faith asking themselves whether this lamentable +phenomenon was not one of certain ill-boding +symptoms which seemed to reveal the smoothly +moving current that bears doomed nations +onward to their fate.</p> + +<p>Certainly nothing could put in a clearer +light than that strike has done the peremptory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +necessity of national discipline, at any rate +in war-time. The State that is unable to +command the service of all its citizens when +beset by ruthless foreign enemies has lost its +lease of life and its right to live. It must be +recognized that patriotism is still an unknown +sentiment among millions of those who are +citizens of the United Kingdom and Ireland. +Patriotism has never been systematically inculcated +among us as in Germany, France and +Russia. Parochial or at most party interests +still mark the loftiest heights to which certain +sections of the population can soar above the +dead level of individual egotism. In Germany +and Austria strikes during war are unthinkable. +Every railway official, every tram-conductor, +every artisan there is a soldier subject to +military discipline and is expected to give +the fullest measure of his productive powers +to the nation. And it is fair to add that they +all regard this duty as a signal honour and a +source of pleasure. For to them patriotism +is a religion and their country a divinity.</p> + +<p>The depth and fervour of this self-denying +spirit among them as contrasted with the +“healthy individual egotism” of the Allies +constitutes one of the most disquieting phenomena +of the struggle. Austria has been scoffed +at for her abject submissiveness to Germany. +But there is another way of looking at her +attitude. She has courageously effaced her individuality +more completely even than Turkey +for the sake of the common cause. And +she has lost nothing by the painful effort. +Her various peoples who were expected to be +tearing each other to pieces have given us a +splendid example of discipline and self-abnegation. +In the Skoda works at Pilsen, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +machine guns are made, fifteen thousand +workmen are cheerfully toiling and moiling +every day of the week, Sundays and holidays +not excepted. Since the war began Germany +has accomplished as great things at home as +on foreign battlefields. She built and launched +a Dreadnought of 25,600 tons, a line-of-battle +ship of 26,200 tons. And while the latter +vessel was on the stocks, the reports published +in the British press of the splendid results +obtained by the 15-inch guns of the <i>Queen +Elizabeth</i> moved the German Admiralty to +substitute these for the 12-inch guns already +adopted. Two swift cruisers, 12 small submarines +and 24 larger ones of 1200 tons displacement, +with a speed of 16 knots under +water, 20 on the surface and a radius of action +of 3000 miles—were among the results of a +single year’s activity.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Giornale d’Italia</i>, June 19, 1915. <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, +June 20, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> <i>La Roumanie</i>, July 26, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>Gazette de Lausanne</i>, July 6, 1915, and <i>Corriere della +Sera</i>, July 8, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> July 22, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Cf. <i>Daily Telegraph</i>, March 14, 1916, in telegram +from Athens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, July 22, 1915.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GERMANY’S RESOURCEFULNESS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">And</span> our enemies’ resourcefulness and power +of adaptation is of a piece with their capacity +for work. When war was declared and foreign +trade arrested, numerous German factories +underwent a quick transformation. Silk-works +began to turn out bandages and lint; +velvet works produced materials for tents; +umbrella makers took to manufacturing rain-proof +cloth; the output of sewing-machine +factories was changed to shrapnel; piano +manufacturers became makers of cartridges. +Paper producers supplied the War Office with +paper-made blankets. For copper, when the +supply began to grow short, nickelled iron +was quickly substituted. Sugar was employed +to obtain the spirit which had to take +the place of benzine. And the upshot of these +transformations is that the orders received +for military needs exceed those which would +in normal conditions of exportation have been +placed by foreign customers with German +industry. The goods traffic on German railways, +which had fallen to 41 per cent. during +the first month of the war, has since gone up +to 96 per cent. Those achievements are not +merely noteworthy in themselves, they are +ominously symptomatic.</p> + +<p>A German professor, writing to a friend imprisoned +in France, commented in passing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +upon these qualifications of his countrymen in +a letter which M. Joseph Reinach soon afterwards +gave to the public. One passage in that +document is worth quoting. The professor +holds that even if the worst comes to the worst, +Germany can always conclude a “white +peace” which will leave her the formidable +glory of having held the whole world in check, +will consolidate her prestige in Europe and +enable her, twenty years hence, when she has +made good her losses, to establish permanently +her dominion. “My confidence is based on +German patriotism, on German sense of discipline, +on German genius for organization. +But it is founded above all else on our enemies’ +incapacity for organization. Ah, if our adversaries +could enhance the worth of their +resources by acquiring our gifts of initiative +and method, we should be lost! I am thrilled +by the picture of what we could accomplish +if we were in the places of the English and the +French and by the thought of the danger that +would confront us if they but knew how to +utilize the force of their allies as we have +availed ourselves of those of Austria and +Turkey.”</p> + +<p>Those reflections find their fairest comment +in the events of the twenty months that +have passed since the opening of the campaign.</p> + +<p>Our enemies’ reading of those events is +instructive. The Austrian Press hails them +as satisfactory. Even the Socialist organ<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> +declares that, in the qualities that go to the +attainment of success, “Austria holds the first +place.” The Austrian General Staff wrote eight +months ago: “Our troops have now been +fighting for a twelvemonth.... A whole world +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>of enemies rose up against the Central Empires, +and more than once our army had to bear the +brunt of their formidable onslaught. To-day, +they hold but small tracts of territory in western +Galicia and Alsatia, whereas Germany’s hand +is closed in a tight grasp on Belgium and +the richest provinces of France, and in the +north-east the allied forces of Austria and +Germany have penetrated well into Russian +Poland. The cannons’ muzzles are turned +against the most powerful fortresses of the +Tsar, and in the Dardanelles our third ally +keeps watch and ward imperturbably.”</p> + +<p>The War Lord himself has recorded his +estimate of the results of the first year’s +campaign. “Germany,” he stated in a speech +delivered at Lemberg, “is an impregnable +fortress. In her forward march she is irresistible. +She will prove to the world that she +can overcome all her enemies and will dictate +to them the peace terms that please herself.” +And in a discourse pronounced at Beuthen +he recorded his view of the Allies’ outlook in +these words: “Our enemies are floundering +in confusion. Among themselves they are not +united. They are disorganized by the struggle, +disheartened by the knowledge that they are +powerless to conquer Germany. German +valour, German organization, German science +have emerged with honour from this ordeal, +the most terrible that a nation has ever undergone. +Germany is greater and mightier than +ever before.”</p> + +<p>It behoves us to learn from our enemies, +and, abstraction made from the monstrosities +which are indelibly associated with the German +name, there is much which the Teutons can +still teach us. That the secret of success lies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +in a comprehensive system of organization is +self-evident. But that organization must +utilize all the resources of the Allies and include +permanent arrangements, economic and other, +for a future which shall not be a continuation +of the past. Many of the advantages which +the old ordering of things assured us are gone +beyond recall. Conscription is become inevitable. +Free trade is an institution of the +past. The control of armies in the field by +delegates of a democratic parliament such as +is now demanded by the French Chamber is a +dangerous craving for the fleshpots of Egypt. +Whether Germany wins or loses, her rebellion +against European civilization will effect substantial +and durable changes in the methods +of that civilization from which even the +United States will not be exempted.</p> + +<p>Thus between the old order of things and +the new yawns an abyss which has to be +crossed before we can worst our enemies even +in the military campaign which is but one +phase of the world-struggle. Our resources +for the purpose of bridging it are ample, but +our first difficulty is the circumstance that we +are chained to the old system and are still +unwilling to burst the bonds that hold us. +And until efficacious means of effecting this +are adopted the end must remain unattainable. +Victory will not descend on our camp like a +manna from on high. The Allied Armies do +not resemble the mulberry tree which, having +long lagged behind its rivals, suddenly bursts +into fruit as well as flower.</p> + +<p>During the past twenty months the Allies in +general, and the British in particular, have +achieved feats of which they have reason to +be proud—feats which two years ago seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +beyond the compass of human effort. But, +much as we have done, we have not reached, +nor indeed attempted to reach, the limits of +our capacities, and the story of these memorable +twenty months of struggle is dimmed by the +shadow of the vaster exploits from which we +have unaccountably shrunk.</p> + +<p>The old-world social conceptions still prevalent +in Great Britain afford no standard by +which to gauge the significance of the crisis +through which Europe is passing, nor do they +provide efficacious means of satisfying the +pressing needs which it has created. Yet +the nation’s guides perceive nothing to change +in those conceptions; on the contrary, they +uphold them zealously. No event has occurred +in modern times of greater concern to Europe +than the unleashing of disruptive forces which +threaten when the war is over to break up the +politico-social fabric. Now, the mere prospect +of this tremendous upheaval and of its sequel +is, one would fancy, calculated to arouse the +spirited interest of all the nations affected. +Yet in Great Britain, whose very existence it +menaces, it was at first received with such +unmeaning comments as “business as usual.” +The alertness of the people’s sensations—always +inconsiderable—for volcanic outbursts +which have their centre abroad, has never +been quite so blunted as to-day.</p> + +<p>Germany cultivates force not for its own +sake but because it happens to suit her particular +purpose. For this reason she preaches +the doctrines that right and might are identical, +that the end hallows the means, that military +and political necessity overrule treaties and +laws. For as violence and cunning may still +gain triumphs, under the conditions that once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +rendered them the only weapons of man, +Germany’s first step is to bring about such +conditions and to spread faith in the teachings +of the new gospel. What the success of these +efforts would involve is evident. All the +ground slowly and painfully reclaimed from +the primitive state of nature, transmuted into +social order, and moralized by the altruistic +accord of progressive humanity, would be +submerged by the tidal wave of Teutonism.</p> + +<p>The first clash of the two forces which took +place a generation ago was hardly noticed. +Germany stretched out her feelers tenderly, +and even when she was draining nation after +nation of its life juices, she took care to lull +the patient while sucking his blood. Accordingly +her attack provoked no counter-attack, +nay, there was no serious attempt at defence. +Those who directed the forces of the civilized +communities were unconscious of the counter-force +that was steadily undermining these—so +unconscious that in lieu of isolating and +paralysing it, the tendency of their endeavours +was to further and to strengthen it. For they +hastily assumed that it, too, was a great moral +force in an uncouth guise and should also be +tended and cultivated. Their duty, had they +hearkened to its promptings, would have been +to employ towards the criminal plotters against +Europe’s civilized communities coercion of the +same drastic description that once enabled +mankind to substitute for the barbarous usages +of savage tribes the habits of social relationship +and moral self-surrender to the weal of +all. Among the mainstays of Germany’s type +of society and the instruments by which it +was built up are heavy artillery, mighty armies, +the gallows, bribery and guile. With some of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +those arms she had opened the campaign of +conquest a quarter of a century ago, and of +that campaign the present war, unexampled +though it be, is but an acute and transient +episode. This would appear to be the only +true reading of contemporary events.</p> + +<p>Few careful students of European politics +will now deny that the struggle between the +forces for which Teutonism stands and those +on which the social ordering of the rest of +Europe is based was inaugurated long ago, +that the ground was then cleared for the new +politico-social structure, or that the dissolution +of our “effete, drowsy States, saturated with +wealth and honeycombed with hypocrisies,” +was carefully planned and taken in hand with +scientific precision. It is equally clear, to +those who have eyes to see, that the present +clash of nations, despite its appalling effects +on civilization, is but an acuter phase of that +campaign, a series of incidents in a mighty +struggle which neither began in July 1914 nor +will end with the close of hostilities, but will +rage on for years to come in less sanguinary +but more decisive forms. For the future peace—whatever +its terms—which will silence the +cannon’s boom, will but transfer the war +theatre without ending the war. The methods +will be changed from military to economic. +But only the weapons will be different; the +military discipline, the callous indifference to +the dictates of human and divine law, the +utter absence of scruple will continue to characterize +the tactics of our enemy, who will +then have a wider scope for his activities than +the battlefield can offer. The German has no +match among the allied nations in the regions +of the new diplomacy, trade, industry, applied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +science, insidious journalism and vast organization. +He is incomparably better equipped +than they, and owing to his amorality has +none of those obstacles to contend with which +so often confront them with scruples and check +their advance.</p> + +<p>And during the progress of the present war +the Teutons are making ready for that economico-political +duel which will, they hope, give +them the decisive superiority for which they +had vainly hoped from the war. That hope, if +their experience of the past thirty years be a +fair indication, is by no means groundless.</p> + +<p>Not to realize these facts to-day is to play +into the hands of our enemies, as we have been +steadfastly doing during the past thirty years. +The British and their allies are being overcome +less by German skill and cleverness than +by their own sluggishness, narrowness of outlook +and love of ease. As the German professor, +whose utterances I have already quoted, +tersely put it: “My confidence is founded +above all else on our enemies’ incapacity for +organization.” In truth, it is not inborn incapacity +to which we owe our unquestioned +inferiority, but to the atrophy of will-power +which is one of the consequences of years of +egotism, overweening confidence, self-indulgence +and the loss of an inspiring social faith.</p> + +<p>Now, there is every reason to assume that +these master facts are not yet recognized by +our rulers, who seem perfectly contented that +the nation should go on living as before from +hand to mouth, with no far-reaching views for +the future. This insular narrow-mindedness +is natural. For the Ministers in power are +the same who obstinately refused to credit the +evidence of their senses, which went to prove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +that Germany was bending all her energies +to the successful prosecution of a formidable +campaign against us and our presumptive +allies for a whole generation. The frank recognition +of this state of masked hostility would +have imposed on the Government the correlate +duty of taking up the challenge, readjusting +our public life to the altered conditions, +urging the nation to make heavy sacrifices and +dissatisfying radical constituencies, whose one +ideal is to devote themselves exclusively to +parochial policy and domestic legislation. And +the chiefs of the party in power lacked the +mental and moral strength to throw off their +deep-rooted apprehension of the consequences +to party prospects, of increased taxation and +other burdens of citizenship. They never +grasped the situation as a whole, but restricted +their survey to each fragmentary question as +it was thrust into the foreground of actualities +and eliminated every other.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> <i>Arbeiter Zeitung.</i></p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE PERILS OF PARTY POLITICS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">No</span> bold, broad, stable policy, therefore, was +ever conceived by those party politicians. +The vast organization which was destined +to destroy the old order of things in Europe, +and whose manifestations were an open book +to all observers who brought acuteness and +patience to the study, was not merely ignored +by them—its very existence was denied, and +those who refused to join the ranks of the +deniers were brand-marked as mischief-makers. +The nation’s responsible trustees, by way of +justifying this singular attitude, accepted implicitly +our enemy’s account of his unfriendly +acts and enterprises. Thus it was the chief +of His Majesty’s Government who, from his +place in the House of Commons, emphatically +asserted that it behoved the British nation to +welcome the Baghdad railway enterprise as +a precious cultural undertaking devoid of +political objects and, therefore, well worthy +of our support. In vain the writer of these +lines laid bare the real designs of the German +Government, and adduced cogent proofs that +the seemingly cultural scheme was but an +integral part of a vast campaign, of which +one object was the ousting of Britons from +the Near and Middle East and the substitution +of German overlordship there. They +shut their eyes and stopped their ears, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +bade us rejoice that Britain is not as other +countries and can afford to welcome and even +further Germany’s “cultural” projects.</p> + +<p>It was our party politicians who, when the +ground-swell of international anger and the +premonitory rumble of volcanic forces became +audible, diverted public attention from the +symptoms and solemnly assured their countrymen +that Germany had no intention of going +to war. To the author of these pages, who +was at the pains of unfolding in private his +information and conclusions on this subject +to one of those leaders, the answer given ran +thus: “Your intentions are patriotic and +your accuracy of observation is probably +scientific. But your conclusions are wholly +erroneous. You must admit that you are a +pessimist. Nor can you deny that we members +of the Cabinet dispose of fuller and more decisive +data for a judgment than you, with all +your opportunities, can muster. After all, +we do know something of the temper of the +German Government. And we have cogent +grounds for holding that neither the Kaiser +nor his Ministers want war. Bethmann Hollweg +is the most pacific chancellor Germany has +ever had. And the German people, bellicose +though you think them, are to the full as +peace-loving as our own. Their one desire +is to be allowed to vie with us in commercial +and industrial pursuits. So true is this, that +if we suppose the improbable, that the Kaiser’s +Government should feel disposed to bring about +a European war, that design would be thwarted +by the Reichstag backed by the bulk of the +population.”</p> + +<p>Thus the men who presided over the destinies +of the British Empire either had no eye for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +the triumphant progress of the German campaign +that had been going forward for years +unchecked, or, if they discerned any of its +episodes, saw them only through the softening +and distorting medium of deceptive assurances +and explanations emanating from Berlin. And +on the strength of these illusive phrases they +kept the country in a state of unpreparedness +for the military form of the struggle for which +our enemy was making ready, and if they had +had their way our navy—which was our anchor +of salvation—would also perhaps have been +shorn of its strength.</p> + +<p>When at last the war broke out, it was our +party politicians, the men to whom we still +look up for light and guidance, who misinterpreted +its nature and underestimated the +urgent needs of the Empire. It was they +who conceived the campaign as though it +were one of our occasional colonial expeditions, +and would fain base the strength of our land +army abroad on the small number of troops +which the Government had conditionally undertaken +to provide. And throughout the first +sixteen months of the war, it was they who +went on doling out contingents with Troy +weights and measures like Mrs. Partington +beating back the tidal waves with a mop. +It was they, too, who were at extraordinary +pains and risked their prestige, to throw away +the splendid privileged position which, at the +outset of the struggle, we chanced to occupy in +South-Eastern Europe. Every blunder into +which petty municipal minds could fall when +confronted with a wild revolutionary welter, +marked the hesitant policy of the British +Government. This aimless chaos of soul was +the main cause of the woeful waste of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +political advantages and enormous resources +in the accomplishment of secondary ends +which generally led nowhere. It was thus +that they forfeited the active support of +Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece, foolishly stood +by applauding every step those nations took +towards the camp of our enemies, and then felt +constrained to turn to their own people whom +they had unwittingly misled and call upon it +for the sacrifice of the flower of its manhood.</p> + +<p>It was they who sacrificed, through sheer administrative +incapacity, the decided superiority +over the Teutons which we enjoyed in the air +at the outset of the war. It is now admitted +that our mastery in that region was then complete. +All that the country demanded of +them was that they should hold it. But what +with divided control, restricted views, and the +policy of insufficient means—<i>petits paquets</i>—as +the French term it, they allowed our enemies +to outstrip us. And to-day in the air as on +land it is the Germans who have the initiative +and the Allies who are condemned to the +defensive. Yet experts had pointed out over +and over again what should be done and what +avoided. Their advice was obviously sound +and their criticism obviously irrefutable. But +the men in power fumbled and floundered on +until we had forfeited our mastery in the air +to our enemies. And ever since then the nation +has been paying the penalty. Yet it is to the +men responsible for these costly blunders that +the nation still looks for salvation!</p> + +<p>It was the same men who conceived or +sanctioned the plan of an expedition to Mesopotamia. +Whether this was a wise or a foolish +project, when once decided upon it should +have been carried out with might and main.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +All the means requisite to success should have +been taken; all the resources possessed by the +Empire should have been drawn upon and +nothing needlessly left to chance. Above all +things else, the views of the man charged with +the execution of the plan should have been +elicited and carefully weighed. As a matter +of fact, General Townshend’s judgment was +decidedly adverse to the expedition under the +conditions in which it was planned. For the +forces assigned to him, amounting to far less +than a division, were absurdly inadequate, and +their inadequacy was easily demonstrable. He +ought to have had at least two divisions more. +But once again the game of divided control +and diluted responsibility was played, with consequences +which would in any other country +suffice to wreck the Government chargeable +with the blunder.</p> + +<p>Yet it is to the men who committed that +and all the other blunders that the nation still +looks confidently for salvation!</p> + +<p>If the British people finally obtain it under +those leaders they may fairly claim to have +abrogated the law of cause and effect.</p> + +<p>These same men are still the mentors and +the spokesmen of a free nation which can +choose its leaders. It is they to whom the +people has entrusted the conduct of the most +critical phase of the whole campaign in which +the recurrence of similar errors may foredoom +the Empire to disruption. And it is, humanly +speaking, inconceivable that miscalculations +of that kind should be eliminated, in view of +the crucial fact that the Ministers at present +in power, if we may judge by their utterances +and their acts, entertain a fundamentally false +conception of the relations between the Teutons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +and the allied nations. Among the elements +of that conception there would seem to be no +room for the historic past. The present stands +by itself with a history that goes no further +back than the month of July 1914, and will +convulsively come to an end with the truce +that ushers in the future treaty of peace. For +that diplomatic instrument will put an end +to the struggle and inaugurate an era of international +tranquillity. Such is the theory on +which their entire policy is based.</p> + +<p>We must fight on now to a <i>finish</i>, but the +upshot is sure to be a finish. Their anticipations +of an unclouded dawn, when the present +night has worn itself into the streaky greyness +of morning, are certain to come to pass. The +ordeal which we are undergoing is tremendous, +but at any rate the nation and its allies will +emerge from it rejuvenated under the spell of +the present magicians, as the old ram emerged +lamb-like and frisky from Medea’s cauldron. +That, in brief, would seem to be the picture in +the mind’s eye of the British Government, and +to that conception all their plans are being +accommodated.</p> + +<p>As a matter of ascertainable fact, neither we +nor our Allies have anything of the kind to +hope for. In the near future the present +campaign will have come to a close, but not +the struggle between ourselves and our Teuton +aggressors. For this war, far from ending the +tragic duel between the two types of community +life in Europe, is but one of its transient +episodes. The trial of strength began many +years ago and will not be decided for many +years to come, how satisfactory so ever the +terms of the future peace may be to ourselves +and our Allies. This is a fundamental truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +which has not yet penetrated the consciousness +of either rulers or people. And for that +reason the problem awaiting them is mis-stated, +belittled. According to the received +version it is to beat back German aggression +and render it impossible in the future. Now, +however successfully the first part of the task +may be discharged—and it is still very uphill +work—the second is a sheer impossibility, and to +lay our plans as though it were feasible and +soon to be realized, is to embark on the body +of a sleeping whale in the belief that it is an +island in the sea. And to negotiate peace +abroad and give an impulse to politics at +home, with that comforting prospect in mind, +is to lead the nation into a Serbonian bog +whence no escape is possible. The leaders of +Great Britain are so permeated with the +duties, the rights, the hopes and the strivings +of parliamentary parties, that they involuntarily +think in terms of home politics and have +no chord in their being responsive to the +emotions that sway the German soul and nerve +the German arm.</p> + +<p>To the average mind it is clear that the +terms on which peace might be negotiated, +if the end of the war were also to be the end +of the struggle, might differ considerably from +those on which a statesman would properly +insist, were he convinced that the sheathing +of the sword marked but the opening of a new +phase of the duel. And it is this alternative +which it behoves us to lay at the foundation +of our peace treaty, if it should rest with the +Allies to impose their terms. The problem, +therefore, which a Government that governs +has to tackle, is twofold: the conclusion of +such a peace as will confer on the Entente<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +States, individually and collectively, all possible +advantages, not for contemplating such a +tranquil state of things as the ministerial conception +postulates, but for the prosecution of +the struggle with the greatest chances of +success, and for the reconstruction of the +social fabric at home with a view to harmonizing +it with the new requirements, and, in +particular, with the needs created by the +constant state of economic, financial, diplomatic +and journalistic warfare in which we +shall be engaged. The social ordering of +Great Britain must be not merely modified +but remodelled and rebuilt from the groundwork +to the coping-stone. One of the first +needs of the nation is the education, physical +and spiritual, of the new generation. Patriotic +sentiment must be engrafted on the receptive +soul of the child, and its range of sympathy +widened and deepened. The duty of self-abnegation +for the welfare of the community must +be inculcated, together with new conceptions +of personal dignity and worth. To the domestic +sentiment in those cramped and distorted forms +in which it still survives in Britain, where we +cling tenaciously to so many institutions devoid +of life and utility, a less commanding +part must be assigned in the future than +heretofore. Above all, it behoves us to encourage +the scientific spirit with its correlates, +patient thought and study, as opposed to the +arrogant amateurism which, without rudimentary +qualifications, claims to have a voice +in the solution of every problem under the +sun. It is largely to this dilettante temperament +of the nation and its rulers that we owe +the disasters we have sustained and the dangers +with which we are threatened.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>Looking back, then, dispassionately upon the +movement, deliberately organized over thirty +years ago by the restless German mind and +pushed steadily forward ever since over diplomatic +barriers, financial hindrances, economic +obstacles and international laws, one is struck +less by the unparalleled magnitude of the +enterprise than by the blindness and sluggishness +of its destined victims. And it is largely +in these and kindred negative qualities that +we have to seek for the clue to the astonishing +sequence of successes scored by our +enemies in their military and naval, as well +as their politico-economic, campaigns. Moreover, +these same defects, deep-rooted and +widespread among the allied peoples, constitute +their main source of weakness during the +economic and decisive tug-of-war which will +be ushered in by the treaty of peace. For the +temperament, traditions and strivings of each +of these nations are so many obstacles to the +gathering of their scattered moral energies +and wasted spiritual forces in one fertilizing +stream. They are bent on joining incompatible +elements in a political synthesis. In +the name of national independence and by +way of a telling protest against the vassalage +which binds Austria to Germany, the Entente +nations spurn the notion of any common +accord which requires the practice of self-surrender +as a base, and are resolved under the +strain of circumstance to present such a loosely-joined +front to the enemy as will not involve +their foregoing one iota of their freedom or one +tittle of their national claims. How, in these +conditions, they expect ever to rise to that +height of moral fervour without which the +quasi-ascetic effort demanded of them is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +inconceivable, has not yet been explained. +As usual, they count upon effects without +causes, upon an ingathering of the harvest +with no preceding seedtime. Now, interdependence +and compromise are the indispensable +conditions of that cohesion which +alone can engender the force required. A +condition approaching organic coherency must +be attained before a smooth working system +can be created among the Allies. But as each +of them is still rooted to the past, permeated +by its own interests and aspirations, and jealous +not only of the substance of its liberty but +also of the shadow, the distance yet to be +traversed before the goal can be reached is +enormous, and the road rugged and beset with +pitfalls.</p> + +<p>A glance at the past and present may +enable us to gauge aright the nature of some +of the difficulties that have to be surmounted +in the future.</p> + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>PAST AND PRESENT</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Let</span> us begin with the present, in view of the +circumstance that the war has brought the +allied peoples into a much nearer approach +to union and has more fully systematized their +efforts than can ever be the case in peace time. +We find, then, two groups of belligerents pitted +against each other, whose resources in men, +money and economic supplies are strikingly +unequal. The Teutons are by far the weaker +side, and even in spite of their long preparations +ought to have been thoroughly beaten +long ago. So evident and encouraging was the +comparison that the Entente nations themselves +boldly grounded their calculations on it, +and anticipated a brief spell of warfare and a +decisive victory. And this forecast seemed +reasonable enough when the material elements +were weighed and contrasted. The Entente +communities occupy 68,031,000 square kilometres +of territory, which are inhabited by a +population of 770,060,000, or say 46 per cent. +of the entire land on the globe and 47 per cent. +of the entire human race. The Central Empires, +on the other hand, possess no more than +5,921,000 square kilometres with 150,199,000 +inhabitants, which amounts to only 4 per +cent. of dry land on the globe and 9.1 per +cent. of mankind. Add to that the circumstance +that in the air our superiority over our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +enemies was undisputed, and that the odds in +favour of our enlisting the active support of +the Balkan States were overwhelming. The +chances in favour of the Allies, therefore, were +and are enormous. That being so, why, it +may well be asked, has the course of the +military, naval and air campaign so uniformly +favoured the weaker side? It is no answer +to point out that Germany and Austria had +been organizing the war for over thirty years, +or had contrived to mobilize all their resources +when the first shot was fired. That +explanation would account for their progress +during the first few months, but not +for the victories they scored down to the +beginning of April 1916. It was loudly proclaimed +by British journalists that the Berlin +General Staff had based its plan on the assumption +that the struggle would be decided in a +few months and certainly by the end of 1914. +And the inference was drawn that as this time-table +was upset, Germany was so bewildered +that she could hardly draw up another plan +and adjust her forces to that. She had shot +her bolt, we were assured, had missed the +target, and it was beyond her power to put +forth another effort. But events refuted these +false prophets, without, however, greatly impairing +their credit with the multitude. They +still continue to describe Germany’s dire straits +and foretell her speedy collapse. And they +are listened to with eagerness and trust.</p> + +<p>In truth the root of the matter lies deeper. +One of the most telling factors, in every armed +conflict between peoples, consists of the sum +total of imponderabilia which elude analysis. +Intellectual and moral equipment, as I ventured +to write when the war began, sometimes counts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +for more than battalions. And I instanced the +Russo-Japanese campaign as a case in point. +One belligerent may regard the campaign as a +temporary calamity to be endured until it +can be conveniently got rid of, while another +may gird his loins and go forth to battle exultant +like the fanaticized warriors of Cromwell. +The former will contemplate the struggle and +regulate the conduct of it in the light of +immediate expediency, while the latter will +treat the war as a life-task and boldly throw +the weight of everything he has, and is, and +hopes for into the blows he deals his adversary. +Now in this struggle the Teuton is the +fanaticized warrior. He is fighting for an ideal, +which, whether or no he understands it, he +caresses and deems his very own. The hopes +and dreams of the leaders of the nation have +been communicated to the individual citizen, +who, having lived for them, is ready to die +for them. Our people, on the other hand, +have never enjoyed that education in patriotism +which is bestowed on every Teuton, and they +are wanting in the strength of imagination, +the spirit of cohesion and the energizing social +faith which might have made up for the +deficiency.</p> + +<p>Then, again, over against the Allies’ inexhaustible +resources we must put the marvellous +capacity for organization which intensifies +those of our enemy. The nearest known +approach to it is found in the Japanese, who, +there is little doubt, if pressed by circumstance, +would match the Teuton in resourcefulness and +even outdo him in the spirit of self-sacrifice. +To this precious asset in Germany’s leaders +corresponds a superlative degree of docility +and self-surrender in her people which offer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +a striking contrast to the strongly marked +individualist tendencies of the British, French +and Russian races. Nay, one may go farther +and assert that the central streams of national +life in each of these countries flows in channels +of party politics, which no influential leader +has ever attempted to deepen or widen. The +German, on the contrary, as we saw, associates +his every work and undertaking with ideas of +almost cosmic breadth and is actuated by +interests to which all the larger problems of +humanity are akin. And he took timely possession +of every lever that might contribute +to the success of his revolt against Europeanism, +when his far-reaching scheme was yet in +the early phases of execution.</p> + +<p>Everything that human foresight could think +of was carefully studied, everything that human +ingenuity could provide for was thoroughly +effected and systematized. Royal dynasties +were founded abroad by German princes. +German colonies settled in Russia, Poland, +Palestine and Brazil. German schools were +opened in Roumania, Spain, Asia Minor, the +Ottoman Empire, the Tsardom. Foreign newspapers +were bought or subsidized. Protestant +sects with pro-German tendencies were encouraged. +Banks were founded with Entente +capital and employed to ruin the trade of +the nations that subscribed it. Colonies of +mechanics, clerks, middlemen were settled in +every European country and colony and obtained +control of the nation’s industries and +trade. Special legislation was enacted in Berlin +to enable the German to become a foreign +subject in externals while bound by all the +duties of a citizen of his own country.</p> + +<p>As the hour for the military and naval<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +struggle was drawing near intestine strife +was industriously stirred up in all those +countries whose rivalry the Germans had +reason to apprehend. Emissaries were despatched +to Egypt who made common cause +with the disaffected and restless elements of +the population, cultivated friendship with the +Senussi and smuggled in arms to would-be +African rebels. In India German “scientific +explorers” hobnobbed with the natives, criticized +the state of “serfage” to which British +rule had reduced one of the most highly +civilized races of mankind, and made overtures +to the Afghans. To Abyssinia another “scientific +expedition” was despatched, which consisted +of a number of German officers and +one explorer. After a circuitous and difficult +journey it arrived at Massaua in March 1915, +and requested the authorization of the Italian +Governor of Erithea, the Marquess Salvago-Raggi, +to push on to Adis Abeba, in order to +re-establish communications between the German +Legation there and the Berlin Foreign +Office. The real object of the expedition, as +the Italian Government well knew, was to +incite the young Negus to attack the British +in the Sudan and the French in Djibuti. But +Italy, although still neutral, understood too +well how difficult it would have been for her +to limit Abyssinia’s warlike operations to the +French and British possessions and ward them +off from her own colonies. Baron Sonnino +accordingly declined to accord the permission +asked for, and consented only to allow a large +consignment of “correspondence” to be sent +on.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> +<p>Later on Turkish officers were sent to Libya +to egg on the Arabs to harass the Italians +there. The Kaiser himself despatched a letter +in Arabic to the Senussi which was intercepted +on a Greek sailing vessel near Tripoli. +It is said to have been enclosed in an embossed +casket, and was found on board together with +£4000 in gold and a number of oriental gifts. +The letter, if genuine, is worth recording. +Wilhelm II., the Supreme Head of the Protestant +Church in Germany, gives himself therein, +among other high sounding titles, those of +Allah’s Envoy and Islam’s Protector, and +states explicitly that it is his will that the +Senussi’s doughty warriors should drive the +“infidels” from the land which is the heritage +of the true believers and their chief. This, +from the “supreme Bishop” of one of the +Christian Churches, is characteristic.</p> + +<p>In Asia Minor Germany’s machinations were +carried on with a much greater measure of +success. Her former opponents had withdrawn +their opposition and undertaken to +lend her positive assistance to attain ends +which were directed against themselves. This +chapter of Entente diplomacy is marked by +broad streaks of farcical comedy calculated +to bewilder the serious student. France was +converted to political orthodoxy on the subject +of the Baghdad Railway and its cultural +significance. Some of her publicists frankly +repented that she had so long looked upon it +with disfavour, and threw the blame on Russia, +for whose sake they had kept aloof. At +Potsdam the Tsar’s Minister abandoned his +objections to the Baghdad enterprise and +undertook to build a railway line from Persia, +which would allow another stretch of country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +to be tapped by the German Railway Company. +Great Britain, acknowledging the error of her +ways, agreed that Koweit should not be the +terminus and made valuable concessions to the +Teuton, the realization of which was hindered +by the outbreak of the war. Turkey, through +Enver, who had imported from the Fatherland +a band of military “instructors” under Liman +von Sanders, became the <i>âme damnée</i> of +Germany. In Persia every warlike and predatory +tribe was courted by the Teuton intruder, +and the German mission at Teheran, +as well as the Consulates in the chief towns +of the Shahdom, became centres of agitation +against Britain and Russia and branches of +the German General Staff.</p> + +<p>In the Tsar’s dominions German agents +organized a series of strikes in the various +works belonging to their countrymen, paid +the strikers and fostered a subversive political +movement which bade fair to culminate in +a real revolution. In Belgium the Flemings, +who had for years been protesting against the +refusal of their Government to give them a +Flemish University in Ghent, were incited against +the Walloons, whose dialect is of French origin +and whose sympathizers were the entire French +people. And one of the joint acts of the +German administration in Brussels has been +to appoint a commission to submit a scheme +for the creation of a Flemish high school in +Ghent and accentuate the differences between +the two elements of the population.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in Germany the work of organization +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>went steadily forward. While British +Ministers were on the look-out for reasons or +pretexts for diminishing expenditure on shipbuilding, +Germany, under von Tirpitz, was +stealing a march on us and increasing hers. +And over and above this, she was arranging a +surprise in the shape of submarines and aircraft +which, had the war been deferred for +another couple of years, might have not only +removed the odds in our favour but given +her a decided superiority over us. And, by +way of intensifying the value of her fleet, she +set to work to deepen the Kiel Canal and thus +to confer a sort of ubiquity on her battleships, +which can now concentrate in the North Sea +or the Baltic without let or hindrance from +the enemy. When the epoch of the Dreadnoughts +was opened German armoured ships +had a displacement of no more than 13,000 +tons. The larger type of battleship, which +was afterwards constructed, could not pass +through the Canal, which had to be deepened. +The necessary work was so thoughtfully and +opportunely taken in hand that it was terminated +in July 1914, just when the harvest +for that year was also ingathered. Asphyxiating +gas had been manufactured in the year +1911, as the Russians have discovered on +certain of the machines. Thus when the fatal +hour struck, everything was ready.</p> + +<p>In the financial sphere, too, we find the same +comprehensive survey, the same eye for detail, +the same forethought and combination. When +hostilities broke out British banks held about +£1,100,000,000 of their depositors’ money. A +large percentage of this had been employed to +discount foreign, and in especial German bills, +so that the paper remained in Great Britain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +and the gold was transferred to Germany, +where it plays its part against us. But those +marvellous efforts put forth with such effect +by our enemies made no appeal to our rulers. +Nowhere in the British Empire was there any +man of mark thinking and acting for the +community. The political pilots who had +charge of the state-ship possessed neither chart +nor compass nor rudder. Neither did they +feel the need of these things. The Government +disbelieved in war and was minded, if a +struggle should be precipitated, to keep out +of it. Nobody envisaged the needs and interests +of the Empire as aspects of a single +problem. Nobody had any clear-cut plan for +the working out of the destinies of the British +people. The interests of party, the expediency +of local reforms, the squabbles between this +faction and that, constituted the burning +topics of the hour, and there were none other. +And it was while we were thus wrangling with +and threatening each other that the blast of +the clarion ushered in the day of doom.</p> + +<p>The secrets of nature, revealed by science to +a nation which acknowledges no restraints, +then became weapons of wholesale destruction +to be used to subjugate all civilization. Now, +there are some reasons for assuming that +civilization will escape the thraldom, but there +are unhappily equally cogent grounds for +apprehending that some of its most precious +achievements will be irrecoverably lost and +others greatly impaired. Had there been a +master mind at the helm of the British state-ship +before the war or at its opening, we might +have been spared the necessity of signing one +day a temporary peace amid the ruins of +European culture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>But no puissant genius in any of the allied +countries towered above the dead level of mediocrity. +Great Frenchmen, Britons and Russians +were said to be available, but there was no +great man in evidence. And this want proved +disastrous. In Germany, on the other hand, it +was hardly felt. For it was compensated by the +existence of a vast human machine, adaptable +to every change of circumstance, capable of +assuming countless Protean forms simultaneously, +ready with a solution for the most +unexpected problems, provided with organs +suited to the discharge of every conceivable +function, all directed to the same end. It was +the same organism that had worked with such +brilliant success for over thirty years, growing +and perfecting itself steadily until it became +the concrete manifestation of a whole system +of thought, sentiment and co-ordinated action. +Germany had developed into a powerful national +State in which the spirit of self-surrender for +the good of the community animates all sections +alike, all of which co-operate effectively, +through the organizations which they spontaneously +created, for the realization of their +common objects. And therein lay her force.</p> + +<p>On the outbreak of war Germany was faced +with a group of the most arduous and intricate +problems any Government has ever yet had to +tackle. For most of them she had had the +time and the forethought to prepare. But +others arose which had been neither provided +for nor foreseen, in consequence of her mistaken +assumption that Great Britain would +hold aloof from the war. The total value of +her exports and imports in the year 1913 was +computed at 1,000,000,000 sterling, and an +infinity of fine threads bound her industrial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +activity with foreign countries. By Great +Britain’s declaration of war, for which Germany +was unprepared until the last days of July, +nearly all these threads were snapped asunder, +and the industrial and economic life of the +Empire had to be swiftly readjusted to the +new conditions. And here it was that the +nation rose as one man to the unparalleled +occasion, faced the tremendous ordeal, and, +contrary to the expectations of its adversaries—ever +prone to judge others by themselves—has +continued not merely to exist, but +to extend its conquests ever since.</p> + +<p>It was in the financial sphere that the first +strain was felt. But perilous though it actually +was, it would have been intolerable but +for the precautionary measures adopted in +July and the ingenious devices applied by the +Reichsbank immediately after. The first step +taken was to substitute short-terms credit for +long. The gold in the Reichsbank increased +steadily, and from 1,009,000,000 marks on +July 7, 1913, it rose to 1,356,000,000 by +July 7, 1914. The war treasure hoarded in +the Julius-Tower was doubled, so as to enable +the Imperial Bank to issue 720,000,000 marks +on the strength of it, whereby its gold +cover was augmented from 1,253,000,000 to +1,447,000,000. A further considerable reserve +of silver was laid by, which proved extremely +useful later on. One result of this policy was +that on the fatal 31st July, no less than +4,500,000,000 marks in banknotes could be +issued without exceeding the limits prescribed +by the law.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> A network of Loan Banks was +also created throughout the country in which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>every one, possessed of property of any description, +could obtain credit to any amount, provided +the pledges warranted the advance.</p> + +<p>Nor were the large groups of business men +neglected who had no pledges to offer yet sorely +needed credit. For their behoof War Credit +Banks were instituted, which transacted business +on curious lines. A city or town subscribed +a third or even more of the shares +of the borrowing company, and the Imperial +Bank conferred the right of rediscounting bills +of exchange up to an amount equal to three +times the value of the capital, and sometimes +even more. Institutions were opened for advancing +money on house property, and for +assisting special branches of industry. The +Hansa-Bund, for instance, founded a War +Credit Bank for “the Middle Classes” which, +with the authorization of the Reichsbank, +rediscounts bills of exchange drawn by individuals +for whom the Commune vouches. +Associations were constituted in the country +and in towns, and the nature of their work +is evidenced by the 18,000 rural Savings and +Credit Banks and 16,000 urban and trade +associations.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> For farmers and struggling landowners, +a Central Board, for the purchase of +machines, was created, which also superintended +the equitable distribution of orders among +industrial firms.</p> + +<p>The suddenness of the declaration of war +had for its effect, and perhaps also for one of +its objects, the stemming of the flow of gold +from the Reichsbank before it had exceeded +the total of 100,000,000 marks and also +the prevention of its disappearance from the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>country. Soon afterwards gold was brought +in astonishing quantities to the bank by all +classes of citizens who had hoarded it jealously +in peace-time, but now recognized the criminality +of applying the principles of individual +ownership to what of right belongs to the +jeopardized community. For the nation realized +the fact that the condition of public +danger entitled the Government to wield an +unlimited degree of power over the lives and +property of the people for the welfare of the +community.</p> + +<p>If we compare this intelligent appreciation +of the position by rulers and ruled, and their +readiness to accommodate their respective +actions to it and play their parts as organs for +the discharge of special functions, with the +haziness of conception, the misinterpretation +of events, and the utter lack of co-operation +displayed by the corresponding sections of the +allied communities, we shall grasp the secret +of the superiority of the seemingly weaker +group of belligerents and the paltry results +hitherto achieved by the stronger.</p> + +<p>German industry, too, the source of the +nation’s prosperity, was shaken to its foundations. +It had worked largely for the foreign +market. And all at once its exports were cut +down by 60 per cent., because of the stoppage +of the supplies of raw materials. Imports +also fell by 75 per cent. One immediate +consequence of this partial stagnation was +the enormous increase of the army of the +unemployed. Although 4,000,000 men were +taken from the various industries and despatched +against the Belgians, French and +Russians, there were at the end of August +no less than 3,400,000 men thrown out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +employment.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> Thus the total number of unemployed +was 7,400,000, and as there were +17,000,000 hands employed before the war, +it may be inferred that German industry was +reduced by 43½ per cent. It was in these +conditions that the Teuton capacity for organization +was manifested.</p> + +<p>Two great industrial organizations flourished +in Germany before the war,<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> and although +occasionally disagreeing on various points, +sensibly furthered the interests of their countrymen +at home and abroad. No sooner was war +declared than they dropped their differences +and constituted a War Committee for German +Industry. Among the varied functions of this +new body were the distribution of information +respecting orders given by the State, new +legislation, etc.; co-operation with firms for the +fulfilment of contracts despite the outbreak of +hostilities; the selection of operatives, clerks, +etc., for firms needing these; the obtainment +of places for the unemployed and the organization +of the credit system.</p> + +<p>This Committee also applied for and received +permission to have all those skilled artisans +recalled from the front whose services were +deemed indispensable for war industries. It +likewise watched over the distribution of State +orders, and saw that each of the various firms +received its due share.</p> + +<p>The organization of German industry during +the war was taken in hand by a group of +experts and officials possessed of the insight, +knowledge and power necessary for the discharge +of the arduous task. Among the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>members of the Board we find the names of +representatives of finances, industries and the +Government; the Minister of the Interior, all +the members of the Federal Council, M.M. +Gwinner, Bleichröder, Siemens, etc. Special +bureaux were opened for various kinds of +supplies, a Central Office for the War Supply +of Tobacco, another for that of chocolate, a +third for leather, a fourth for linen, etc.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> +Another group of organizations dealing with +the acquisition and distribution of raw stuffs +possessed in certain cases the right of expropriation, +and is not allowed to make more +than a certain limited profit on its transactions. +Among them are an association for the supply +of metals, another for chemicals, and a third +for woollen stuffs.</p> + +<p>In consequence of the shortage of raw +materials, economy and the employment of +substitutes were everywhere resorted to spontaneously +before the Government had time to +intervene. From every household came old +copper vessels, copper wire, worn-out clothing +from which the manufacturers removed the wool, +leather straps, shoes, bags, etc. From Belgium +and France everything that could be utilized as +raw material was hurriedly transferred to the +Fatherland. At first the supply of aluminium +for castings and Zeppelins was insufficient, but +a composition of spelter and tin was invented, +which answered the main purposes equally +well. Nickel being also scarce, coins of 10 +pfennige were withdrawn from circulation and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>utilized, while considerable quantities were +imported from Scandinavian countries. The +place of jute was taken by paper, and from +paper under-garments were made. Roasted +acorns, theretofore employed in lieu of coffee +only by the poorer classes, thenceforward +became the daily beverage of the middle classes +as well. A substitute for olive oil was extracted +from cherry stones, tainted meat was rendered +harmless by chemical methods, nitrates were +extracted from the air by a Norwegian process +which the Germans had perfected and applied.</p> + +<p>Now, these achievements and the marvellous +adaptability, energy and resourcefulness which +they connote, are no mean elements in Germany’s +equipment for the coming economic +struggle. They proclaim that the mind of the +Teuton man of business is too firmly riveted +on the goal to be fascinated by any special +route leading towards it, and that it is sufficiently +free and disengaged to turn with eager +interest to any problem, however novel, with +which it may be suddenly confronted. Use +and want are not its masters, sluggish contentment +cannot numb its activity. The customers’ +requirements, nay, their whims and fancies, +are ever sure to receive close attention and +prompt satisfaction. The contrast between +this unflagging alertness and the drowsy apathy +of the British manufacturer and tradesman is +an old story, which has evoked comments +sharp enough, it would seem, to arouse the +commercial community to a lively sense of +its danger and duty. And yet there are, unhappily, +cogent grounds for believing that the +malady of listlessness is as malignant to-day +as before the war.</p> + +<p>Now, these organizing and inventive talents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +of the Teuton, as compared with the subordinate +aims, fitful energies and honest but mischievous +conservatism of our own leaders and +people, bear witness to the same twofold +talent of the German for looking far ahead +and contriving expedients on the spur of the +moment. Great Britain’s participation in the +struggle cut off Germany from the sea and +gave the two Central Empires the aspect of a +beleaguered city. Hopes were entertained by +the Allies that famine might reinforce the +work of their armies and navies in compelling +the enemy to sue for peace. About 9 per +cent. of the corn used in Germany usually +came from abroad, and now the interruption +of the communications rendered this source of +supply precarious. The soldiers, too, had to +be fed on a scale of greater abundance than +usual, and the prisoners of war, however poorly +nourished, would consume a certain amount +of corn. The first measure promulgated to +meet the new conditions was a prohibition of +exportation. Potato flour was employed in +bread-baking. War bread was standardized +for the whole Empire. The principal cities +purchased vast quantities of cereals, and +Prussia founded a War Corn Association for +the acquisition of cereals to be stored until the +ensuing spring. Expropriation was legalized. +In these ways £40,000,000 worth of cereals +were got together for consumption. The War +Corn Association operated with a capital of +£2,500,000, to which the States subscribed over +one million, and the big cities one million, +and the great industrial firms £450,000.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> This +corn was paid for at the highest market +rates, the owners being compelled by law to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>declare how much they possessed. With each +of these proprietors—in the first phase with +5,000,000 landowners—separate arrangements +were concluded. The Association employed +for the purpose nearly three thousand commissioners +and five hundred other officials, +and the Credit Banks made advances on the +quantities sold.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with this home organization +the other multifarious tasks of devising new +weapons for the war, improving the various +types of aircraft, building larger submarines +and guns of greater calibre went forward with +unimpaired speed. Nothing was too vast or +too complicated to be undertaken, no detail +was too trivial to be studied. Politics, +economics, military strategy and national +psychology were all cunningly interwoven in the +various schemes laid for the destruction of the +Allies. Russia was inveigled into continuing +her trade with Germany, which, as we saw, was +during the first year a nowise negligible quantity.</p> + +<p>A piquant detail in this connection is worthy +of mention.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> It is affirmed that the Customs +House authorities on the Russo-Swedish +frontiers discovered to their dismay that for +well over a year Germany had been receiving +from Russia a large proportion of the raw +materials necessary for the fabrication of +asphyxiating gas. It appears that Sweden, +which in peace time was wont to import +from the Tsardom a certain quantity of those +products, trebled its demands during the first +year of the war.</p> + +<p>Contingents of contrabandists were despatched +to Greece, Spain, Morocco, Holland, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>Italy, Switzerland and the United States. +Secret stations were established for supplying +submarines with the wherewithal to carry on +their war against inoffensive passenger steamers. +Agents were kept in the neutral countries to +corrupt the local press and poison the wells +of information in order to allure the neutrals +into belligerency. A highly organized news-distributing +bureau was equipped in Berlin +with all the requisites for falsifying facts +and distorting military tidings. Its branches +are spread over the globe. Passports were +forged at first and later on genuine ones +abstracted from the Berlin Foreign Office and +handed over to spies. Strikes and outrages +were engineered in the United States, Italy, +and Russia. The Putiloff works, which before +the war were nearly falling into German hands +and have since been supplying munitions for +the Tsar’s army, were stricken with creeping +paralysis, against which exhortations and +threats were vain, and finally they had to be +sequestrated by the State. Millions of dollars +were expended in the United States in efforts +to prevent the manufacture or the transport +of munitions to the Allies. In Greece vast +sums were cheerfully disbursed by Baron +Schenk to work the elections and defeat +Venizelos. Roumania was overrun by bands +of Germans whose functions were to calumniate, +vilify, corrupt and threaten. Spain has +been wrought upon in like manner by a small +army of Teutons abundantly supplied with the +same weapons. Persia was scoured by German +agitators who deployed all their talents and +acquirements, their knowledge of the language +and acquaintance with the native religion, to +rouse the natives against Russia and Great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +Britain. Abyssinia, although deprived by +Italy of the presence of the German “scientific +expedition,” was induced by the German +Minister at Adis Abeba to behave in such a +way that in the month of March 1916 King +Victor’s Government found it advisable to +issue a decree ordering <i>urgent</i> fortifications +to be constructed in Erythea.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> Sweden has +been provided with war news and political +information free of charge by the generous +Press Bureau of Berlin. In Belgium persevering +exertions have been put forth to sow discord +between Flemings and Walloons. In China, +where a British adviser is employed by the +Chief of the State, Yuan Shih Kai has turned +a willing ear to the mentors from the Fatherland, +with results which bear the hall-mark of +Germany. In Mexico Villa’s murderous raids +on American territory, instigated, it is asserted, +by German emissaries, compelled United States +troops to pursue him over the frontiers, and +raised an issue which may be decided only by +a regular campaign. Thus Teuton diplomacy, +at whose failures we are so prone to rail, contrived +on the one hand to pass off the assassinations +of Americans on board the <i>Lusitania</i> as +a justifiable act, and on the other to present +the New Mexico murder, which was the work +of a mere savage, as such an outrage on the +law of nations as warrants the employment of +military force.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p><p>That same diplomacy, seconded by the +press organization which invented facts and +moulded opinion, scored successes in Bulgaria, +Greece, Roumania, Switzerland, and contrived +not only to keep Italy from declaring war +against Germany, but to negotiate a treaty +for the protection of German property there. +Despite its clumsiness and arrogance and +brutality, German diplomacy is unmatched as +an agency for rousing popular forces in civilized +and uncivilized countries into subversive excitement. +It surrounded the Pope of Rome with +philo-German dignitaries, gave him an Austrian +as adviser, and permeated the Vatican with +an atmosphere of Kultur which even pious +Catholics of non-Teuton countries avoid as +mephitic. It caught the Sultan and his Young +Turks, Anglophile and Francophile, in its toils, +and gave its warm approbation to the massacre +of the Armenians. It won over the young +Shah of Persia, who, with great difficulty and +only after strenuous exertions, was kept from +going over bodily to the Turkish camp. It +bought the services of the Senussi. It is +making headway with the Negus of Abyssinia. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>It offered a bribe to Italian socialists and found +work for Italian anarchists, whose representatives +were received in the palace of the Kaiser’s +Ambassador in Rome. And—most difficult +task of all—it reconciled, at least for a time, +the interests of Bulgaria with those of Greece +and Roumania.</p> + +<p>German diplomacy has often misread foreign +political situations, mistaken the trend of +national opinion and sentiment and failed to +achieve ends which might by dint of mere +patience and quiescence have been readily +accomplished. For it has no psychological +standard by which to measure the nobler +qualities of a foreign people, however closely +it may have studied their politics, their history +and their vices. Its tests are for the lower +grades of human character, and with these it +has indeed achieved extraordinary things.</p> + +<p>Thus, with infinite labour the Teuton mind +has grappled with the chaotic welter produced +by the European war. But, besides the skilful +handling of great financial and kindred problems, +its assiduity in watching for and readiness to +seize opportunities for dealing with the issues +of lesser moment is worth noting, were it only +for its value as a stimulus. One instance +occurred in the very first sitting of the Reichstag +after hostilities had begun. The legislature +agreed to introduce a slight reform of +the law, dealing with the rights of children born +out of wedlock, of whom there are in Germany +185,000 a year. The Government assented +to the change, which was embodied in a bill +affirming the right of the illegitimate children +of soldiers fallen in battle to the same pension +as if their parents had been legally married. +And the Reichstag passed the bill unanimously.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> + +<p>This solicitude about little things is most +saliently in evidence in the military domain. +Here nothing is neglected that can contribute +to the fighting value of the units. Hence the +care shown for the nourishment and comfort +of the soldiers. Ruthlessly though they are +sacrificed in battle, they are well looked after +in the trenches, and their career is followed +with interest and recorded with accuracy by +their superiors. I was struck with the completeness +of the information which the German +War Office possesses and can produce at a +moment’s notice about any individual soldier. +It was brought home to me in this way. The +Chief of the Berlin police had a grandson in +the war who had been missed for several weeks. +Desirous of obtaining particulars about his +capture or death, he asked a neutral friend to +obtain information from the Russians. And +by way of furnishing a description he sent a +printed card, which I read. It contained the +name and age of the soldier, the regiment to +which he belonged, the hamlet in which he was +last seen, the distances that separated that +hamlet from the next town and the next large +city, the day, the hour and <i>the minute</i> when the +man together with his comrades were attacked, +and the number of Russians who attacked +them. And all these printed particulars refer +to a private soldier! Is there anything comparable +to this to be found in any of the allied +countries?</p> + +<p>The scene of another characteristic fact that +struck me was Brussels. Princess L. requested +permission from the German authorities to +repair to France to visit her mother, who, she +explained, was ill. At the Kommandantur her +request was met with the cutting remark that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +many persons had been applying for permits +to visit their mothers, sisters and other relations +abroad, who all appeared to be victims +of some mysterious epidemic. Still, the official +added, he would not definitively refuse the +request, but would accord it as soon as he had +proof that the lady’s mother was really ill. +“We shall have inquiries made.” “But you +cannot have inquiries made in France during +the war,” she objected. “Just as quickly as +in peace time,” he retorted. Sceptical and sad +the petitioner returned home. But in a day +or two she was summoned to the Kommandantur +and informed that her statement had +been verified, her mother lay ill—the malady +was mentioned—and she was permitted to go. +The Germans have eyes and ears in all the +countries of their adversaries.</p> + +<p>One can readily imagine the painful kind of +questions that will arise in the mind of an +intelligent ally who realizes for the first time +how great are the inventive and organizing +talents of the Teuton, how unswerving his +resolve, how tenacious he is of purpose, and how +unconscious most of us still are of the need of +bestirring ourselves to compete with him on +terms of equality. The German’s striving is +one, but all-embracing. His means are countless, +for they are restricted by no limitations. +In his search for tools and agents he enters into +human nature, but not in its entire compass; +only into the baser parts, so that his estimate +is often erroneous and his expectations are +unfulfilled. But even when ample deduction +has been made for these failures, the odds +remaining in his favour are formidable, and will +continue undiminished unless and until we +realize our plight, shuffle off the cramping coils<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +of conservatism, insularity and self-complacency +and brace ourselves to the most strenuous, +the most painful effort we have ever yet put +forth. On our capacity to effect this inward +change, rather than upon any diplomatic +arrangements, depends the issue of the struggle +which will begin when military and naval +hostilities have come to an end.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Cf. <i>L’Idea Nazionale</i>, March 7, 1915; <i>Tribuna</i>, April 1, +1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> A spirited protest against this poisonous endeavour +was published by a number of Belgians, including Camille +Huysmans, who refused to accept any favours from the +Germans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> One-third gold cover is the amount fixed. Cf. +Professor J. Plenge, <i>Der Krieg und die Volkswirtschaft</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> These figures are drawn from statistics published in +July 1914. Cf. Dr. Karl Hildebrand, <i>Ein starkes Volk</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Cf. <i>Messenger of Europe</i>, April 1915, M. Lurié.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> <i>Der Zentral-Verband Deutscher Industrieller</i> and <i>Der +Bund der Industriellen</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> It is affirmed by contrabandists in Scandinavia who +are acting on Germany’s behalf, that many of the commissions +for the acquisition of raw stuffs for Germany are +composed almost exclusively of non-Russian subjects of +the Tsar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Cf. Karl Hildebrand, <i>Ein starkes Volk</i>, p. 122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> It is noticed by the Italian and French press; cf., for +instance, <i>Roma</i>, October 31, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> On March 16, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> The <i>New York World</i>, in a leading article published +March 18, writes: “No pacifist proclaims the doctrine +that, although Americans had a legal right to live near +the border, they should have taken themselves out of the +danger zone in the interest of peace. No German-American +Alliance holds meetings to proclaim the dead +at Columbus as ‘Guardian angels.’ No German language +newspaper has spoken of the New Mexico massacre as +undertaken in a holy cause, or referred to the President +as incapable of understanding either German militarism +or German Kultur. Yet the Americans who were assassinated +on the <i>Lusitania</i> and the <i>Arabic</i> had as much +right to be where they were as the Americans who were +dragged from their beds at Columbus and slaughtered. +The <i>Lusitania</i> murder was deliberately planned and +ordered by the Government in Berlin, which has assumed +full responsibility therefore, and presented but one excuse, +that its victims were unexpectedly numerous. The New +Mexico murder was planned and executed by a savage, +with no pretence that there is a Government behind him, +the guilt of the outlaw of the border being not one whit +less than that of the outlaw of the sea.”</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Plain</span> though these facts are, the Entente +nations, and in particular the British people, +either ignore them wholly or misinterpret their +purport. Hence we continue absorbed in the +pursuit of interests, parochial and parliamentary, +which though quite human, are +utterly off the line of racial and imperial +progress. We obstinately shut our eyes to the +magnitude of the Sphinx question that confronts +us, and we address ourselves to one—and +that the least important—of its many +facets, and content ourselves with tackling +that. We descant upon the turpitude of the +Teuton who from the regions of idealism in +which Goethe, Herder and their contemporaries +dwelt has sunk into shift, treason and +murder, and we proclaim our faith in the +ultimate triumph of right, justice and of the +democracy in which alone they flourish. But +this frame of mind, which moves us to identify +ourselves with all that is best in humanity, if +cultivated will prove fatal. It accustoms us +to dangerous hallucinations. We assume that +we are the chosen people, and we neglect the +virtues which alone would justify our election. +For generations we have been reaping and +wasting, instead of ploughing and sowing. +We have been living on our capital, nay, on +our credit, and have long since overdrawn our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +account. Our successes in the past, sometimes +the result of fortuitous circumstances, more +often of the blunders of our rivals, inspire a +presumptuous confidence in successes for the +future and a conviction that come what may +we are destined to muddle through. A special +providence is watching over us—a cousin +German to the Kaiser’s “good old God.” In +truth we are tempting Fate, postulating an +exception to the law of cause and effect, and +looking for Hebrew miracles in the twentieth +century after Christ.</p> + +<p>Were it otherwise, the nation would not have +continued to entrust its destinies to the men +who misguided it consistently and perseveringly +for so many years, to the watchmen who saw +nothing of the rocks and sandbanks ahead +which it was their function to discern and their +duty to avoid, and who are now unwittingly +but effectually deluding the people into believing +that the present campaign, which is but +a single episode in a long-spun-out contest, is +an independent event which began in August +1914 and may end this year or the next. +These same leaders are busily inculcating the +delusive notion that the diplomatic instrument +which will one day close hostilities will be a +treaty of peace. And they are seemingly prepared +to negotiate its terms on that assumption.</p> + +<p>In truth, we are engaged in a duel which +began thirty years ago, gave the Germans such +booty as Heligoland, their world-trade, their +wealth, their formidable navy, their Baghdad +Railway, their various overseas colonies, their +European Allies, and the enormous resources +with which when this acute phase of the contest +is over they will re-transfer the venue to +the economic and political domains and carry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +on the struggle with greater vigour than before. +And peace terms concluded on any other +supposition cannot be conducive to the national +welfare. We are locked in a deadly embrace +with a compact people of 120,000,000, of indomitable +spirit, boundless resources, unquenchable +faith and a single aim. Yet we +are already looking forward to the time in the +near future when our intercourse, however +circumscribed, with this nation will be essentially +pacific, and when we can revert to our +cherished narrow interests and our easy-going +dilettantism. We feed upon the hope that in +a few brief years the British nation will have +got safely back to its old beaten grooves, and +not only business and sport but everything +else will go on as usual. Yet all the salient +facts which force themselves on our attention +to-day, all the decisive events of the past thirty +years are cogent proofs of the unbroken sequence +of a trial of strength which the future +historian and the present statesman, if there +be one, must characterize as a life-and-death +struggle between the champions of the new +Teuton politico-social ordering and the partisans +of the old. But after the lapse of a generation +and with the record of all our losses before +us, we have not yet formed a right conception +of the situation, and its issues, or of the historic +forces at work. In these circumstances, no +degree of sagacity can help us to devise the +only policy in which salvation resides. The +prevailing mistaken conception must be rectified +before any headway can be made against +the currents that are fast bearing us down. +And the time at our disposal is brief.</p> + +<p>It needs few words to characterize the +effects which the dreamy optimism of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +Entente nations had on their method of +mobilizing their resources to carry on the war. +Taken unawares they had nothing ready. +Misapprehending the nature of the issues and +the redoubtable character of the contest, they +pursued subordinate aims with insufficient +means. The most daring strategical moves of +the enemy, in war as in diplomacy, they +ridiculed as either bluff or madness. The +journalistic campaign in neutral countries they +scoffed at as vain, and put their faith in the +final triumph of truth. Their financial measures, +oscillating from one extreme to another, +denoted the absence of any settled plan, of any +clear-cut picture of the needs of the moment. +The odds in their favour, which circumstance +had given and circumstance might take away +again, they looked upon as inalienable, until +they ended by forfeiting them all. Viewing +the campaign as a transient event, the British +Government prosecuted it by means of make-shifts, +instead of radical measures. Obligatory +service was scouted at as un-English. Discriminating +customs tariffs were condemned as +heretical. It was not until the enemy had +occupied Poland, overrun Serbia, driven the +Allied troops from the Dardanelles, bent +Montenegro to the yoke, threatened Egypt, +Riga and Petrograd, that some rays of light +penetrated the atmosphere of ignorance and +prejudice through which the Allies surveyed the +European welter. They had begun by counting +upon the breaking up of the Habsburg +Monarchy. They felt sure that the Tsar’s +armies would capture Budapest and advance +on Berlin. They planned the defeat of Germany +by famine. They built another fabric +of hopes on “Kitchener’s Great Army” in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +the spring of 1915. But one after another +these anticipations were belied by events. +And now the nation blithely accepts the +further forecasts of the men who are chargeable +with this long sequence of avoidable errors.</p> + +<p>Respect for individual liberty was carried +to such a point in Great Britain that organizations +against recruiting were tolerated in +England and Ireland, and strikes, which not +only inflicted heavy pecuniary losses on the +nation but actually stopped its supplies of +munitions and brought it within sight of discomfiture, +were treated with soft words and +immediate concessions. One cannot read even +Mr. Lloyd George’s summary narrative of the +preposterous doings of British slackers without +wondering whether salvation is still possible. +These men not only refused to work their best +for the community, but forbade their comrades +to work well. At Enfield, we are told, a man +was obliged by trade union regulations so to +regulate his work that he did not earn more +than 1<i>s.</i> an hour, though he could easily +have earned 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i><a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> Another man was doing +two and a half days’ work in two days, and +when he refused to carry out the behest of the +Ironfounders’ Board to waste the other half +day he was fined £1.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> A consequence of this +anti-national attitude was that “we had to +wait for weeks in Birmingham with machinery +lying idle, with our men without rifles, with +our men with a most inadequate supply of +machine guns to attack the enemy and defend +themselves.”<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> Every one will re-echo the +Minister’s comment on the outlook, if this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>attitude is persisted in—“we are making +straight for disaster.”</p> + +<p>Compare this state of things with that +which rules in Germany. It is a British +Minister who describes it: “If you want to +realize what organized labour in this war +means, read the story of the last twelve months. +By the end of September the German armies +were checked. They sustained an overwhelming +defeat in France, Russia was advancing +against them towards the Carpathians, +and I believe in East Prussia. That is not +the case to-day. Why? The German workmen +came in; organized labour in Germany +prepared to take the field. They worked and +worked quietly, persistently, continuously, without +stint or strife, without restriction for months +and months, through the autumn, through the +winter, through the spring. Then came that +avalanche of shot and shell which broke the +great Russian armies and drove them back. +That was the victory of the German workmen.”<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>Great Britain is the classic land of strikes. +Strikers are sacred among us. Industrial compulsion +is rank heresy.</p> + +<p>That is one of our difficulties, and by no +means the least formidable. The nation, despite +the superb example of patriotic heroism +given by all classes, parties, provinces and +colonies of the Empire, is still deficient in +cohesiveness. No fire of enthusiasm has yet +burned fiercely enough among all sections of +the Empire and all members of the race to +fuse them in such a compact unified organism +as we behold in the Teuton’s Fatherland. +Read the characteristic given of us by the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>ex-German Minister Dernburg, and say whether +it is over-coloured. Discoursing on the difficulties +which Britain has to cope with in +carrying on the war, he says: “They are +intensified ... by the narrow-minded customs +of the English trade unions, which contrast +with the patriotic behaviour of the +German associations of the like nature as night +contrasts with day.”<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> This is melancholy +reading for those whose hopes are fervent for a +bright future of the British race, and it prepares +them to listen in anxious silence to the general +conclusion at which the Prussian ex-Minister +arrives: “It is in the highest degree improbable,” +he says, “that after the winding up +of this contest England will be able to keep +or wield any form of economic superiority +whatever over Germany.”</p> + +<p>In our Allies we find a strong touch of +resemblance to ourselves. Their state of unpreparedness +is amazing, if less desperate than +ours. Russia, it is true, did much better at +the outset than friend or foe anticipated, and +she might have done quite well if only she had +been supplied with munitions. But she had +not nearly enough, and her armies were +slaughtered like sheep in consequence. Then +there were no boots for the soldiers, who were +forced to wear thin canvas leggings with +leather soles. And scores of waggon-loads of +incapacitated men were taken to Petrograd +and other cities whose feet had been frozen +for lack of shoe-leather. One of the urgent +wants of the Tsardom are railways, which the +late Count Witte was so eager to construct. +When hostilities opened, the insufficiency of +communications became one of the decisive +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>factors in Russia’s disasters. And it was +heightened by the conduct of, shall we say, +the prussianized officials,<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> who are reported to +have disposed of waggons for large sums to +greedy merchants, who used to raise the prices +of the merchandise and batten on the misery +of their fellows.</p> + +<p>Trains, needed to supply the fighting men +at the front with food and the wounded at the +rear with medicaments, were kept back to +suit the schemes of these greedy cormorants. +Gratuities, it is openly affirmed, had to be paid +by Red Cross and other officers to those subordinate +railway servants who had it in their +power to send on a train or shunt it off for +days on a side-track. Bribery is working +havoc in the Tsardom. In January 1916 the +Moscow municipality discussed the advisability +of voting a certain sum of money and +putting it at the disposal of the chief officer +of the city, to be discreetly employed in transactions +with complacent railway officials, in +order to further the work of reducing prices +on necessaries of life. The motive adduced +for this homœopathic way of treating a social +distemper were the conditions of life in Russia +and the necessity of complying with them. +But as the Statute Book does not recognize +these conditions and condemns bribery absolutely, +a vote on the subject was not taken.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> + +<p>Acting on instructions issued by the Finance +Minister, a Member of the Council of the +Finance Ministry, D. I. Zassiadko, visited the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>Kharkoff circuit for the purpose of studying +the bribery problem on the spot. M. Zassiadko +acquired the conviction “on the spot” +that the railway officials do really take bribes, +“and even of considerable amounts.” But, +that ascertained, the representative of the +Ministry decided to delve deeper to the root +of the matter. And he reached the conclusion +that railway servants belong to the class of +the tempted. The evil, he reported, resides +not in the circumstance that they take bribes, +but that bribes are offered whereby these weak +little souls are seduced. The representative of +the Ministry discovered an entire category of +bribes which do not bear the signs of extortion, +but only of “gratitude.” To us this conclusion +sounds somewhat naïve. The most +widely circulated journal of Petrograd prefaces +an article on the subject as follows.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> + +<p>“The misdeeds of the officials and bribery +on the railway system cry out to heaven,” +writes the organ of the Constitutional Democrats. +“Compared with the reverses on the +Carpathians and in Poland, the defeats we are +sustaining in our own house and behind the +enemy’s back are much greater....” On the +important line Petrograd-Moscow-Perm scandalous +cases of corruption took place in which, +according to Russian journals, officials of a +class who might reasonably be regarded as +unbribable were implicated. They are alleged +to have let out to firms of speculators for large +sums of money, goods waggons which were +already destined to carry consignments to the +front.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> Russia’s purchases abroad have made +a profound impression on the peoples in whose +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>midst they were effected. The principles on +which these transactions were carried on provoked +lively comments. It is not that they +revealed a superlative degree of disorganization. +That touch would have merely marked +the kinship of the men concerned with their +allies. By the discovery that the Russian +Government’s purchasing Commissioners, the +representatives of one of its embassies, the +agents of the British Government and the +equally zealous agents of the French Government +were all secretly bidding against each +other for the same rifles to be delivered to the +Tsar’s Ministers, only a smile of recognition was +elicited. It may have seemed at once amusing +and consolatory to find that all were tarred +with the same brush. But when it was discovered +that the offer of certain army necessaries +was put off for weeks and weeks, although +they were to be had under cost price, and was +then accepted at a much higher price, profound +sympathy was felt for the Tsar’s armies.</p> + +<p>Chaos, waste and a variety of abuses that +pressed heavily on the poorer classes marked +the efforts made by the Russian Government +to cope with the scarcity of fuel, corn and other +necessaries which began to be felt soon after +the war. The rolling stock, it was complained, +was utterly insufficient, yet it was found +possible to transport 1,000,000 poods<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> weight +of mineral water of doubtful quality. When +trains arrived bringing supplies to the suffering +population, it turned out that there were +no hands to unload the waggons. And when +labour was requisitioned, vehicles were not +to be had. In October 1915 on the rails of +Moscow station five thousand waggons, laden +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>with life’s necessaries, stood waiting and waiting +in vain for the unskilled labour which +ought to have been abundant, considering the +number of the population and of the refugees. +At the same time 2000 waggons were on the +rails of the Petrograd station, their contents +lying unutilized.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> It is only by the lack of +order and organization that one can explain +the facts that in Petrograd the inhabitants have +no butter, while in the places where butter is +made it is being sold cheaper than before, at +12 in lieu of 16 to 18 roubles a pood. In the +province of Ekaterinograd, mines which own +800,000 poods of coal cannot get more than a +few waggon loads of it every month.</p> + +<p>Russia has incomparably more than enough +fuel, without importing any, to satisfy all the +needs of her 180,000,000 inhabitants. But +owing to the insufficiency of communications, +and still more to the lack of forethought and +enterprise, the population of many cities and +towns underwent serious hardships in consequence +of the impossibility of acquiring coal or +wood. In September 1915 the Petrograd region +could obtain no more than 65 per cent. of the +necessary quantity, and a month later only 49 +per cent. In Moscow the plight of the inhabitants +was worse. In September they could get +but 26 per cent. of their needs and in October 40 +per cent. According to the Minister of Commerce, +who volunteered these data, the condition +of the towns of Rostoff, Novotcherkassk, +Nakhitchevan, Taganrog, Ekaterinodar and +others was not a whit better. The city of +Vyatka was, according to the <i>Novoye Vremya</i>,<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>in January 1916 without fuel, while the mercury +registered 30 degrees Reaumur below +freezing-point. The unfortunate citizens +heated their homes with fragments of hoardings, +tables, desks and stools. And yet there +is abundant fuel in the superb forests with +which Vyatka is surrounded, and, what is +more to the point, the city authorities had +received during the preceding spring 60,000 +roubles for the purpose of purchasing a supply +of wood for the winter. But they did nothing, +organization not being one of their strong +points.</p> + +<p>Live stock in Russia has diminished during +the war to a much larger extent than was +anticipated. The peasantry, owing to the +prohibition of alcohol, now consume from 150 +to 200 per cent. more meat than before, and +what with the refugees from Poland, the +prisoners of war and the increased needs of +the army, no less than 20 per cent. of the +cattle of the entire Empire was used during +the first eighteen months<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> and 30 per cent. of +the stock of all European Russia. In consequence +of the shortage and of the irregularity +of the transport, three days of abstinence +from meat were ordained. Yet in January +1916 a discovery was casually made in the +Kieff forests between Byelitch and Pushtsha +Voditzka, which caused considerable lifting +of the eyebrows. About 8000 head of cattle +and several thousand sheep were found with +no cowherds, shepherds or owners, wandering +about from place to place. Scores of them +were succumbing to hunger and cold every day. +The paths in the woods were covered with +the dead bodies of kine, calves and sheep. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>journal which records this fact affirms that +these herds belong to the Union of Zemstvos, +which had purchased them from the peasants +who had to flee from the occupied provinces. +The President of the Union of Zemstvos is +said to have confirmed this odd story with the +qualification that the forlorn horned cattle and +sheep are the property not of the Union of +Zemstvos, but of the Ministry of Agriculture, +which is alone answerable.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<p>The card system of distributing provisions +that are scarce found its way first into Germany +and then into Austria and Russia. But +in the last-named empire it was much less +successful than in the two first mentioned. +According to the Petrograd journals in Pskoff, +where it was tried, many individuals got no +cards, and therefore no provisions. Many who +possessed the cards found nothing to buy. +And some of those who obtained the articles +they wanted paid dearer for them than if they +had bought them without cards. And as with +cards one has to lay in a stock to last a +fortnight, the poorer families were unable to +utilize them.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>In France, as well as in Russia, the professional +organizers, especially the civilians, were +very much adrift. In the army all the sterling +qualities of the French nation at its best, and +many that were deemed extinct, but are now +seen to have been only dormant, shone forth +resplendent. Valour, fortitude, staying power, +self-abnegation for the common good, became +household virtues. Friends and foes were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>equally surprised. But the civil administration +remained well-meaning, patriotic and +unregenerate to the last. The old Adam lived +and acted up to his reputation.</p> + +<p>Before the war the French railway administration +had been criticized severely. It is not +for a foreigner to express an opinion on the +internal ordering of a country not his own, +but unbiassed French experts found that the +strictures were called for and the verdict, in +which the public acquiesced, was well grounded. +Subsequently, when the struggle began and the +railway system was tested, people had reason +to remember the previous complaints, for they +saw how little had been done in the meanwhile +to remove the causes of dissatisfaction. +The first drawback was the want of rolling +stock. “Give us waggons and we will execute +all orders and supply the War Ministry,” cried +the munitions firms. “There are no waggons +in the ports, and we cannot get the coal +delivered,” exclaimed the importers. “The +country is threatened with general paralysis,” +wrote the <i>Journal</i>;<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> “we can neither forward +nor sell anything.” The railway administration +asked for a fortnight’s notice, then for +three weeks and finally an indefinite period, +before it could provide a single truck. “I +have fertilizing stuff to forward before the +season is past,” pleads the representative of +one firm. “We have no waggons,” is the +reply. “I must have my produce delivered +at once to the Government,” argues another, +“for it is wanted for the fabrication of +powder.” But the answer came promptly: +“There are no waggons.” “But you have +waggons. I see them over there” (the station +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>was Cognac). “Yes, but we may not touch +them. They belong to the military engineering +department.” “Well, but what are they +doing there?” “Ah, that is none of our +business.”<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>And in the ports, at the termini, at intermediate +stations, the merchandise lay heaped +up, immobilized, while the merchants, the +middlemen, the manufacturers, the Government, +the army were waiting, time was lapsing, +and the fate of the Republic and the nation +hanging in the balance. At Havre great +machines, destined for a Paris firm which was +to have delivered them to factories making +shells, lay untouched for two months. The +number of shells lost in this way has never +been calculated. Yet it was well known that +during all that time there were numbers of +waggons available. What had become of them? +The answer was: They are to be found everywhere, +immobilized. It is a case of general +immobilization of the rolling stock. People +slept in them, turned them into cottages, used +them as warehouses, each individual reasoning +that one waggon more or less would not +be missed. And as this argument was used +by large numbers of easy-going, well-meaning +people the result was appalling.</p> + +<p>The most terrific war known to history was +raging in three Continents, and one group of +belligerents, unaware or heedless of the magnitude +of the issues, kept wasting its enormous +resources and throwing away its advantages. +At the little station of Cognac waggons laden +with all kinds of war materials, barbed wire, +galvanized wire, etc., were detained from +September 1914 until November 1915, 400 +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>days in all, doing nothing. Forty-two waggons +ready to move were found on two grass-covered +rails. Fourteen waggons were there +since September 1914. Eight since December +of the same year, twenty since June. Altogether +at the modest little station of Cognac +the total recorded by Senator Humbert’s +<i>Journal</i> was 228,500 tons-days. “All this +during the most tremendous war the world has +ever witnessed, in which hundreds of thousands +of men have been slain, where we have +continually been short of war material, while +industry and commerce are agonizing for lack +of means of transport. It may well seem a +dream.”<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>Seven hundred French railway stations were +devoid of rolling stock. On the other hand, +from the beginning of the war down to November +1915, 729 waggons were lying immobilized +at the station of Blanc-Mesnil. Seven hundred +and twenty-nine!<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> Merchants, manufacturers, +importers, all were being literally +beggared for lack of transports while hundreds +of waggons lay rotting at obscure little +stations for over a year. “The whole region +of the West is encumbered,” we read, “with +30,000,000 hectolitres of apples, valued at +300,000,000 francs, which cannot be conveyed +anywhither, and which people are beginning to +bury in the earth as manure. Sugar is scarce +and is rising in price, whereas ever since last +August<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> a single firm has unloaded 10,000 +tons of sugar at Havre which it cannot have +transported to Paris. Innumerable army purveyors +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>are unable to send the machines for the +shells....” An official order to the army prescribed +a substitute for barbed wire, which +was not to be had at any price, yet at a single +station at least 135 tons of barbed wire were +lying for a twelvemonth unused, untouched.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> +On November 27, 1915, the military hospital +N16 at Poitiers needed coal. A request was +made by telephone. The reply received was: +“We have coal at La Rochelle, but there +are no waggons to carry it.” Yet there were +forty-two waggons immobilized at Cognac, 729 +at Blanc-Mesnil and 121 standing laden with +barbed wire and other materials for over a +year!</p> + +<p>Organization and intelligence!</p> + +<p>With engines the experience was the same. +The French Government, anxious to make up +for the deficiency, purchased 140 engines of +British make to be delivered some time in +1916. Yet at that time there were at the +station of Mezidon (Calvados) over 500 engines +immobilized, nobody knew why or by whom. +This cemetery of locomotives was photographed +by the <i>Journal</i>. Such was the harvest reaped +by the enterprising Senator Humbert’s commission +at that one station. There were +others. At Marles six Belgian engines, at +Serquigny twenty, etc.</p> + +<p>The attention of the French authorities +having been called to this unqualifiable neglect, +a senatorial railway commission was +appointed to inquire into the matter, and it +reported that: “The engines in question, +numbering about 2000, of which 1000 on the +State railway system are now going to be +repaired.” “There are therefore 2000 engines +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>scandalously abandoned,” comments the <i>Journal</i>, +... “forgotten during sixteen months, +and having passed from the state of being +inutilized to that of being inutilizable. For +if these machines, which were in service before +the war and came from Belgium, are to-day, +like the waggons of Blanc-Mesnil, incapable +of being utilized in their present state, as the +official note puts it, the reason is that they +were left to decay in the rain and the wind +without cover or case for five hundred days.”<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p>Interesting in a smaller way is the reply +given by the French War Minister to a question +by a deputy, the Marquis de Ludre, who +asked for information about a consignment +of knives which had been provided for the +army, but were found to be quite useless. +The Minister explained that the Generalissimus +having requested the immediate dispatch +of 165,000 knives, the department +charged with the execution of the order had +no time to examine the goods, and the circumstance +was overlooked that all kinds of +knives were supplied, without any reference +to the purpose for which they were destined.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> +The Minister added that no one should be +blamed for this, inasmuch as it was “the +result of exaggerated but praiseworthy zeal.” +This construction is charitable and may be +true in fact. But the soldiers who, in lieu +of a serviceable blade, found themselves in +possession of a dessert knife may have taken +a different view of the transaction.</p> + +<p>This is hardly what is understood by +organization.</p> + +<p>Beside those scenes from chaos set this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>picture of order: “In a small French town +in which the supreme <i>etape commando</i> of +Kluck’s army was situated, we inspected a +field postal station. On the ground floor the +letters were being received and delivered. +The stream of soldiers was endless. They +were sending field postcards, which are forwarded +gratuitously. The difficult work of +sorting the correspondence was being transacted +on the first storey. Every day from +1800 to 2000 post sacks arrive, mostly with +small packets and postcards, and day after +day the same difficult problem presents itself—how +to find the addressee. Many regiments, +it is true, have permanent quarters, but there +are mobile columns as well. Quick transfers +are possible, and individuals may be shifted +to another place or incorporated in a different +regiment. The arranging of the correspondence +went forward in a spacious room; the +letters which it was difficult to deliver were +handed over to a number of specialists, who sat +in an adjoining apartment and studied all the +changes caused by the transfer of troops. +They found help in an address-book containing +a list of all the field formations. About +once every four days, or even oftener, a new +edition of this work was issued. By the middle +of December 1914 the eighty-fourth edition +was in print.”<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> + +<p>This talent for organization, this capacity +of thought concentration in circumstances +which tend to strengthen emotion at the cost +of reason, have been constantly displayed by +our enemies throughout the entire struggle +of the past thirty years, and never more conspicuously +than during the present war. Every +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>emergency found them ready. The most unlikely +eventualities had been foreseen and +provided for. Private initiative, which +“grandmotherly legislation” was supposed +to have killed, was more alert and resourceful +than among any of the Entente nations. +Every German is in some respects an agent +of his Government. Each one thinks he +foresees some eventuality with the genesis of +which he is especially conversant, and he +forthwith communicates his forecast and at +the same time his plan for coping with the +danger to some official. And all suggestions +are thankfully received and dealt with on +their intrinsic merits. For such matters the +rulers of the Empire, however engrossed by +urgent problems, have always time and money.</p> + +<p>It is instructive and may possibly be helpful +to compare this spirit of detachment from +the personal and party elements of the situation, +this accessibility to every call of patriotic +duty, this self-possession under conditions +calculated to hinder calm deliberation, with +the hesitations, the bewilderment, the conflicting +decisions of the Entente leaders and +their impatience of unauthorized initiative +and offers of private assistance. Outsiders +are not wanted. Their money is not rejected, +but nothing else that they tender is readily +received.</p> + +<p>In other more momentous matters the +Allies also lagged behind their adversaries. +Despite their vast resources and the generous +offers of private help, the care taken of the +wounded left a good deal to be desired. The +articles on this subject which were published +in the London Press provided ample food for +bitter reflection. In France, at the beginning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +of the war, wounded soldiers, after receiving +first aid, were conveyed for days in carts over +uneven roads to the hospitals in which they +were to be treated. An American gentleman, +witnessing the sufferings of these victims of +circumstance, collected a number of motors +in which to have them transported rapidly +and with relative comfort. But his offer of +these conveyances was rejected by all the +departments to which he applied. And it +was only after he had spent weeks in visiting +influential friends in London that he finally +obtained an introduction to the Secretary for +War, who, overriding the decisions of his +subordinates, closed with the proposal and +sent the benefactor with his motors to the +front.</p> + +<p>It has been affirmed by unbiassed neutral +witnesses who evinced special interest in the +subject that tens of thousands of the allied +wounded who died of their injuries might +have been saved had they had proper care. +But defective organization and other avoidable +causes deprived them of efficient medical +help.</p> + +<p>By Great Britain more comprehensive measures +were fitfully taken, of which our wounded +have reaped the benefit. A French journal<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> +enumerated, with a high tribute of praise, the +results of the observations made by a commission +of British physicians in the Grand +Palais Hospital in Paris: “More than half, +to be exact 54 per cent., of the wounded +entrusted to the care of the doctors of the +Grand Palais since last May have been sent +back to the front, completely cured. What +an achievement!” Undoubtedly it is a feat +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>to be proud of, if we compare it with the +percentage of cured in certain other countries +and in the Dardanelles. But if we set it side +by side with what is claimed for and by the +Germans, it may appear less remarkable. It +cannot be gainsaid that the British authorities +have spared neither money nor pains to alleviate +the sufferings and heal the injuries of the +wounded. And if the measure of their success +is still capable of being extended, the reason +certainly does not lie in any lack of good will.</p> + +<p>On the incapacitated German soldier every +possible care is bestowed. His every need is +foreseen and when possible provided for with +an eye to thoroughness and economy. Waste +and niggardliness are sedulously eschewed. +Every man is provided with a square of canvas +with eyelets, which serves as a carpet on which +he lies at night, as a stretcher on which, +when wounded, he is carried to the place +where he can have his injuries attended to, +and which, when he is killed, is used as a +winding-sheet. The medical organization of +the army is as thorough as the military. And +the results attained justify the solicitude displayed. +From month to month the percentage +of wounded who are able to return to the front +has been augmenting steadily, and the death-rate +has decreased correspondingly. During +the first month of the war, out of every hundred +wounded there were 84·8 capable of further +service, 3·0 dead, and 12·2 incapacitated or +sent home. In September of the same year +the number of those able to return to the front +rose to 88·1, or about 4 per cent. more. And +at the same time the death-rate sank from +3 to 2·7 per cent. In the third month the +proportion of soldiers able to resume their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +places in the ranks of fighters was 88·9, while +the deaths had been reduced to 2·4. During +the period beginning with November and +ending in March the number of the wounded +who went back to the front oscillated between +87·3 and 88·9. In November the percentage +of deaths was only 2·1 per cent., and in +December only 1·7 per cent. January 1916 +showed a further improvement, the death-rate +having fallen to 1·4 and in February 1·3 +per cent. During the two following months +the percentage rose again to 1·4, but declined +slowly until in June and July it had descended +to 1·2 per cent. The number of wounded men +who were sent back to their places at the +front had meanwhile increased by April to +91·2, and by June 1915 to 91·7, and in May and +July to 91·8. Seven per cent. were wholly +incapacitated or dismissed to their homes. +Among the latter a considerable percentage +returned subsequently to the ranks. Altogether, +then, about 91·8 per cent. of the +wounded German soldiers who fall in battle +are so well taken care of that they are able to +fight again, and no more than 1·2 per cent. of +the total number succumb to their wounds.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> + +<p>This strict conformity to the material and +psychological conditions of success marks the +method by which the Germans proceed to +realize a grandiose plan which is understood +and furthered by one and all. Their talent +for organization, their insight, their inventiveness, +and their highly developed social sense +are all pressed into the service of this patriotic +cause. And it is to these permanent qualities, +more even than to their thirty years’ military +and economic preparation, that they owe +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>their many successes. The cynicism and +ruthlessness of our arch-enemy should not be +allowed to blind us to his enterprise, his +stoicism, his meticulous applications of the +law of cause and effect. These are among +his most valuable assets, and unless we have +solid advantages of our own to set against +and outweigh them, our appeals to the justice +of our cause and our denunciations of his +wicked designs will avail us nothing. It is +to our interest to seek out and note whatever +strength is inherent in himself or his methods +and to appropriate that. The struggle will +ultimately be decided by the superiority of +equipment, material and moral, which one +side possesses over the other. As for the +conceptions of public law and international +right which the antagonists severally stand +for, they must be gauged by quite other +standards than heavy guns and asphyxiating +gases. It is not impossible that in the course +of time, and by dint of reciprocal action and +reaction, the German views may be sufficiently +modified and moralized to render possible the +usual process of assimilation with which the +history of speculative ideas and social movements +has rendered us familiar. Meanwhile, +truth compels us to admit that part at least +of the western system is being overtaken by +decay, and stands in need of speedy and +thorough renovation.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Mr. Lloyd George’s speech at Bristol. Cf. <i>Daily +Telegraph</i>, September 10, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Mr. Lloyd George’s speech at Bristol. Cf. <i>Daily +Telegraph</i>, September 10, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Berliner Tageblatt</i>, March 9, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> It is but fair to say that venality is not one of the +characteristics of the German bureaucracy. Their sense +of duty towards the State is the nearest approach to +morality of which they now seem capable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> The German press gave great prominence to this +item of news. Cf. <i>Frankfurter Zeitung</i>, January 8, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> <i>The Bourse Gazette</i>, February 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Cf. <i>Reitch</i> (about February 17, 1916), March 5, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> A pood is equal to 36.11 lbs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Cf. <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, October 9, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> The German press welcomes items of information +like this. Cf. <i>Frankfurter Zeitung</i>, January 13, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Over a hundred million head.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Cf. the Russian journal, <i>Kieff</i>, also the <i>Frankfurter +Zeitung</i>, January 29, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, January 1916. <i>Frankfurter Zeitung</i>, +January 21, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> <i>Le Journal</i>, November 26, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> <i>Le Journal</i>, November 26, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>Le Journal</i>, November 26, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> <i>Le Journal</i>, December 2, 1915. They were photographed +and the photograph reproduced in that paper.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> That was published in December 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> <i>Le Journal</i>, December 2, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> <i>Le Journal</i>, December 4, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Journal Official, answer to question No. 5730.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Karl Hildebrand, <i>Ein starkes Volk</i>, p. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>The Figaro</i>, February 22, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> <i>Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift.</i></p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE FINAL ISSUE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">To</span> come victorious out of the present ordeal—if, +indeed, that be possible with the leaders, +principles, methods and strivings that still +characterize us—will not suffice to effect the +triumph of our cause. The present, momentous +though it be, cannot with safety be separated in +thought or action from the future. The struggle +will go on relentlessly after this campaign until +one side has worsted the other definitively. +And it is for that struggle that it behoves us to +prepare while the war is still at its height.</p> + +<p>The Germans, true to their practice, have +set us the example. Their curious combinations +for dividing the Allies while negotiating +their own schemes for reorganizing political +Europe have been worked out in almost every +detail. Their projects for creating a vast and +powerful economic organization, to be known +as Central Europe,<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> with its first appendix in +the Balkan Peninsula, have been carefully +woven, and will be duly embellished when +the hour for unfolding them has struck. In +a word, when opportunity suddenly appears +like the bridegroom of the Gospel, the German +will be found waiting, with girded loins and +trimmed lamp. He has distributed the parts +of each nation in the international drama, and +if the rôles cannot be taken over to-morrow, +he will wait until the day after.</p> + +<p>The world is henceforth no longer a field of +labour for the individual. Co-operation is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>the open sesame to the economic life of the +future. And co-operation means organization. +Organization, then, is the Alpha and Omega +of the new era. That is the mysterious radium +which has enabled a single race to assail and +hold its own against a group of powers whose +territory and population are many times +greater than its own. That race has demonstrated +the quasi-omnipotence of organized +labour, and has thereby itself become almost +omnipotent. On the success or failure of its +adversaries to create a like force and rise to +the same height depends the future of Europe +and the British Empire. One of the first +corollaries of the new principle is the enlargement +of all great units, including political +communities. Germany and Austria, therefore, +are bound, if not precisely to coalesce in one +whole, at least to co-operate and combine for +their common ends against common competitors, +and thus to form the nucleus of that federal state +which is, our enemies hope, one day to be commensurate +with the continent of Europe.</p> + +<p>At present, however satisfactory the military +situation may be said to be, the general outlook +is far from bright. Our aims are impoverished, +our creative energies are clogged by prejudice, +our political vision is narrowed by party goals, +and the forces inherent in the nation which should +be employed in readjusting its life to the new +conditions are being frittered away in abortive +efforts to neutralize dissolvent ideas that are sapping +only those organs of our social and political +system which are already vicious or decayed. +The waste of the empire’s resources has no parallel +in history. Supreme confusion marks our internal +condition. Our leaders have done nothing to +familiarize the nation with the dangers that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +threaten it, the means by which they should be +met, or with the social and political ideas which +are destined to shape and sway the new order +of things which is already close at hand.</p> + +<p>In the absence of constructive leaders it is +for the nation itself to make due preparation +for the momentous changes in the social and +political system of Europe to which the +present crisis is but the prelude.</p> + +<p>And although much has been spoken and +written on the subject since the war began, +little permanent work has as yet been done. +And there are few signs of a radical change +for the better. The confusion and incongruousness +that mark the ideas of the reformers, +and the hesitancy and conflicting interests of +politicians make one dubious of the outcome of +the present contest. Almost everything essential +would appear to be still lacking to the +Allies, and the nature of the coming “peace +period” is not realized, because the war is +looked upon as an isolated phenomenon which +began in July 1914, and will end when hostilities +have ceased. Another belief equally misleading +and mischievous is that the Teuton +race can be paralysed if not crushed, and that +for fifty or sixty years to come no revival of +its energies, no recrudescence of its morbid +aggressiveness need be apprehended. If we +continue to shape our conduct on that assumption +we may find ourselves one day in a +Serbonian bog from which there is no rescue. +However stringent the conditions which the +Allies may be able to impose on their enemies, +there will still remain a keen, strenuous, irrepressible +race of at least a hundred and twenty +millions, endowed with rare capacities for +organization, cohesion, self-sacrifice and perseverance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +whom no treaties can bind, no scruples +can restrain, no dangers intimidate. At any +moment a new invention, a favourable diplomatic +combination, would suffice to move them +to burst all bounds and resume the military, +naval and aerial contest anew.</p> + +<p>Even now, while the war is still raging, they +are busy with comprehensive plans for the +economic struggle which will succeed it. Nor +are they content to weave schemes. They +have already begun to carry them out. To +mention but a few of the less important +enterprises, as symptoms of the German +solicitude for detail, there was a numerous +gathering of railway representatives, Austrian, +Hungarian and German, in August 1915, to +consider the means of readjusting the railway +service to the conditions which the peace +would usher in. Among the projects laid +before the meeting and insisted on by various +financial institutions was the reconstruction +on a new basis of the Sleeping Car Company, +from which Belgian capital is to be excluded.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>In Italy many of the German commercial +houses are, so to say, hibernating during the war. +They merely altered their names and substituted +well-paid, friendly Italians for Germans, and +the feat was achieved. In this way the Kaiser’s +mercury mines of Abbadia, San Salvatore and +Corte Vecchia in Tuscany are being protected, +and nobody in Italy is under any misapprehension +as to what is going on there. They are +nominally in the hands of Swiss.</p> + +<p>One of the most successful manœuvres by +which the Germans have already parried the +strokes of their rivals in the economic struggle +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>is by crossing the frontiers and carrying on +the contest in the enemy’s country. It was +thus that, when Russia, by way of protecting +her own nascent textile industries, levied +heavy duties on imports from abroad, the +Germans transported their plant and their +workmen across the border, built extensive +works in Lodz which gradually grew into a +prosperous German city and rendered sterling +services to the Teuton invader during the +present war. They intend to have recourse +to the same device as soon as hostilities have +ceased. German trade papers announced this +to their readers and urged them to communicate +with the staff with a view to receiving +information respecting ways and means.</p> + +<p>One Berlin trade journal—the most widely +circulated in the German capital—had recently +a great headline entitled: “How to keep up +German Exportation after the War!” After +a preamble enumerating the difficulties that +would be thrown in the way of exporters by +the Allies, the article went on thus: “For +some years to come the means of extricating +ourselves from this cruel predicament will +consist in transporting the work of manufacturing +or refining our merchandise to a +neutral country. We are now in a position +to offer information and advice on this head +to those German manufacturers who are working +for exportation, and we shall endeavour to +extend our action in the future. We advise +all those manufacturers who are desirous of +developing their business in this way to enter +into relations with us without delay.”<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> +<p>The device is simple, and has hitherto been +efficacious. In Switzerland the number of +German firms is large and continues to augment. +They are branches of German houses, and their +aim is to further the interests of these. They +mask their intentions by assuming Swiss names +and also by obtaining for their employees +naturalization papers in the little republic. +How, it may be asked, do the Allies propose +to thwart these manœuvres? They probably +have not given the matter a moment’s serious +consideration. A Swiss journal of repute<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> +published some time ago a characteristic letter +received by a Swiss business man from a +German textile manufacturer. One passage +is worth reproducing: “The actual situation +renders it impossible for us to maintain relations +with our former customers. Hence, +it is of the utmost importance for us to be +informed respecting the commercial and financial +situation with a view to the resumption +of our intercourse in a lucrative form after +this long interruption. It is our intention, +therefore, to have our products sold through +a Swiss branch by Swiss agents.”<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + +<p>With their incorrigible disposition to judge +others by themselves, the British people fancy +that after the war a wave of liberalism will +sweep over Germany, demolish the strongholds +of militarism there, and reveal a pacific, +level-headed nation with whom it may be +possible to hold friendly intercourse. This, +to my thinking, is also a delusion. Even if +the Kaiser and his environment were dislodged +from their places, Germany’s ideals, aims +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>and strivings would remain unchanged. But +the Kaiser and his Government are minded +to leave nothing to chance. They, too, have +their plans, which are simple and comprehensive, +and would appear to have escaped the +notice of British optimists. And yet they +are well worth consideration. The Germans +themselves put the matter thus—</p> + +<p>The enormous expenditure necessitated by +the war will call for special financial legislation +of which the keynote will be found in monopolies. +Now, the present German Finance +Minister, who is a banker by training, intends +that the monopolies to be created shall be +effected, not by the unaided resources of the +State, but by its co-operation with the interested +business men and banks. On this basis +he is working at monopolies of cigarettes, life +insurance and electric power. This complex +arrangement is facilitated by the machinery of +the banks and their peculiar activity. And +here we touch upon one of the main sources +whence German organization after the war +will draw its vitality. It is on the operations +of these financial institutions that it behoves +us to lay stress. They are so many magnetic +centres which attract nearly all the free +capital of the country and then employ it as +they think fit. And one momentous consequence +of this command of money is the +possession of almost unrestricted power over +industrial enterprises, present and future. For +it depends on the banks to extend these and to +restrict the output of those in consonance with +the economic policy pursued by the State.</p> + +<p>Nor should it be forgotten that the power +and influence of the banks is not limited by +the amount of capital they actually possess.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +Over and above this they wield all the financial +force conferred by the vast amounts deposited +with them by customers. This was evidenced +in the case of the Banca Commerciale in Italy, +which had a working capital of £6,240,000 in +the year 1914. Now, of that sum only 2·5 +per cent. was owned by Germans, yet the +bank itself and all the industries dependent +on it were exploited by the German Board of +Directors.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> In the Fatherland we observe +the same phenomenon. All the German banks +together, excepting the hypothecary institutions, +owned £195,000,000 sterling, about 44 +per cent. of which belonged to the eight principal +banks of the empire.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> Possessing only +£86,050,000 of their own, they disposed of +£259,600,000 belonging to other people.</p> + +<p>One effect of the establishment of groups +of monopolies will be to increase the number +of persons dependent for their livelihood on +the State. It is calculated that the total, +including heads of families, will amount to +tens of millions. The corn monopoly will bring +in five million farmers, heads of families, +who will have to look to the State for the +amount of their yearly income. For it is +evident that the Government will be “co-operating” +not with the peasants, but with the +great landed proprietors. Now, these are the +men whose backing is indispensable, and has +never been wanting, to the military and court +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>parties who are primarily responsible for the +war. Once the wages of the workmen and the +interest on capital become dependent on the +State, the entire nation is but a vast machine +worked by the men in power. To suppose +that these will lend a willing ear to the demands +for political liberty which are certain to be +made after the conclusion of peace is to expect +the impossible. What will probably happen +is a keen struggle between the classes and the +masses for the mastery, but until it is decided in +favour of the latter, the Germany of the future +will continue to be the Germany of to-day.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, the Teutons, despite +their striking inferiority in numbers and +resources, have kept the Great Powers of the +world at bay, have defeated their armies, sunk +their mercantile marine, occupied their territory, +drained their wealth, paralysed their +trade and deprived them of all the odds which +they owed to circumstance. Organization has +thus more than made up for the seemingly +overpowering advantages possessed by the +Allies at the outset. That it will suddenly +lose its worth during the remainder of the +campaign is hardly to be expected. The contingency +which we may have to face, if we +continue to move at our present pace, is +manifest to the observant student of politics.</p> + +<p>By the average man and our “leaders of +men” it is hardly even suspected. Our easy-going +optimism is largely the result of temperament +and partly, too, of presumptuous +confidence born of past luck, and in especial +of the relief we feel at our escape from most +of the obvious dangers that menaced us at +the outset of the war. There has been no +trouble over Ireland, no rising in India, no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +serious defection in South Africa, no invasion +of Egypt. And we irrationally feel that these +dark clouds, having drifted harmlessly past, +the others will follow them. It was said of +the Swiss in mediæval times, that they were +kept together by the bewilderment of men and +the providence of God, confusione hominum +et providentia Dei. The same might be truly +predicated of the British people of to-day.</p> + +<p>But there is no reason for assuming that +they will be thus providentially cared for in +the future. The Allies have not yet driven +the Germans out of Belgium, France, Serbia, +Montenegro, Poland or Kurland. Neither have +they contrived to starve them into sueing for +peace. They talk glibly of exhausting them +as though their own resources were inexhaustible. +They do well perhaps to make light +of the Zeppelins, but they pay far too little +attention to the submarines, and seem not to +realize the magnitude of the losses which these +weapons have inflicted on our merchant shipping, +nor to have calculated how long it can hold +out at the present rate of destruction. Freights +have increased enormously, and they have not +yet reached the highest point they are likely to +attain. Imports have been restricted, prices +have gone up and taxation has increased. +Time may not be on the side of our enemies, but +is it on ours? It is a fickle ally at best, and to +rely on its support is to lean on a split reed.</p> + +<p>Optimism of the unreasoning kind prevalent +in Great Britain is unwarranted, whether +we confine our view to the actual campaign or +extend it to the greater struggle of which that +forms but an episode. Taking the former case +first, one is struck with certain considerations +which, without inspiring dismay, ought surely to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +preserve us from that excessive self-confidence +which is too often a hindrance to fruitful +exertion. The financial burden and its relation +to the limits of the allied nations’ capacity to +bear it is a fit subject for meditation when we +feel uplifted in self-complacency. Doubtless it +is encouraging to watch the symptoms of slow +exhaustion displaying themselves in the central +empires and to speculate on the consequences +of the further fall of the German mark. But +these consequences we are too apt to exaggerate. +For we misjudge the character, the +staying powers, the ideals, the psychology of +the German people. We fancy that because +they have been reduced from comfort to hardship +therefore they are on the verge of collapse. +We imagine that because their commercial +and industrial classes are keen on making +money and ardently desire peace, they are +also ready to purchase it by acquiescing in +conditions which would dispel their dreams of +world power. We feel certain that if Prussia +and all the German States received genuine +parliamentary government, the costly ambitions +of the military party would forthwith be +dispelled for all time.</p> + +<p>It is by delusions such as these that the +British people were hoodwinked in the past, +and it is by the same vain imaginings that +they may be victimized in the future. For +they seem incapable of gauging the German +psyche. The two races meet each other in +masks. The apparent ingenuousness of the +English-speaking Teuton is calculated to throw +the most vigilant Anglo-Saxon intelligence off +its guard. We have no psychological X-rays +by which to pierce the peculiar racial vesture +in which the German soul is shrouded, nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +are we endowed with the gift of patient observation +which might enable us to extract +those rays from facts. And so we stumble +along, dealing with an imaginary people whom +we ourselves have created after our own image +and likeness, falling into fatal blunders and +recommencing anew.</p> + +<p>It is true that the mark has fallen, and that +the German financial fabric is in a parlous +condition. But that fabric is kept from +crumbling away by the war, just as the Egyptian +papyrus is preserved so long as it does not +come into contact with the air. Moreover, +common prudence should impel us to find out +at what a cost to ourselves we have reduced +the value of the mark. If financial exhaustion +be among the ways in which one group of +belligerents may be made to succumb, it is +wise to ask whether it is the States which have +to pay gold for their huge requirements or +those which can get almost everything they +need for paper that are likely to succumb first.</p> + +<p>The question is relevant, yet, because it has +not been moved into the foreground of discussion, +there are few people who ponder on it.</p> + +<p>Personally, I am convinced that impecuniosity +and loss of credit will never bring the +Germans to their knees.</p> + +<p>Great Britain has achieved wonders in the +financial sphere during this war, as the Allies +and certain neutrals can testify. Our budgets +are monuments of the nation’s spirit of self-sacrifice. +But we have not come scathless +out of the ordeal. And besides our inevitable +losses we are suffering from criminal waste. No +other country is so thriftless as ours. In this +respect we are a byword among the peoples of +the world. But we give no thought to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +consequences. Yet the yearly outlay on the +one hand and the means of meeting it on the +other hand are calculable, and it would be well +if those who rely upon Germany’s financial +prostration would carefully reckon up and +compare the two, were it only for the sake of +the sobering effect. On this aspect of the +problem it is needless to dwell further. It will +compel close and painful attention before the +end of the campaign.</p> + +<p>Another point to which inadequate heed has +been paid, is the lack of working men. This +dearth of labour is not felt in Germany or +Austria, because they have two million prisoners +and two million Poles on whom they can draw +not only for agricultural work but also for +skilled labour. And the authorities of both +those empires are employing their war prisoners +very freely. Here, as everywhere else, the +Teuton is enterprising. I have seen photographs +of Russians in Germany harnessed and +employed as beasts of burden. At any rate, +it is no secret that from the latter half of the +year 1915 Germany and Austria were far ahead +of Great Britain, France, Russia, the United +States and Japan <i>combined</i> in the amount of +munitions they turned out every week. And +they are still ahead of them to-day. This +fact, which can be verified, has an ominous +ring. What it connotes is that our enemies +have no strikes, no conscientious objectors, +no fiddling with obligatory service, industrial +or military. Each man is at his country’s +beck and call. Germany is free from strikers, +slackers and such-like anti-social types.</p> + +<p>In Russia the want of working men is felt +keenly. It is one of the main elements of the +sharp rise of prices there. In France, too, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +number of hands needed is very great, and +the loss inflicted by their withdrawal from the +labour market is more sensible than the average +reader has any notion of. And far from being +filled, these gaps are becoming wider day by +day. This shortage is a source of solicitude +to the Government of the Republic.</p> + +<p>What it portends may readily be imagined. +It certainly compels us to qualify the cheering +assertion that time is on our side. What else +it implies may be left to the imagination of +the reader.</p> + +<p>More serious still than the financial burden, +or the dearth of workmen, is the inadequacy of +the mercantile marine to the needs of the Allies +in general, and of Great Britain in especial. +To this privation submarine warfare has contributed +materially. And there is not the +slenderest ground for hope that the Germans +will desist from it during this campaign. On +the contrary, they will intensify it. Of the +neutrals, some are too weak and others too +timid to enter an energetic protest against this +violation of international law. The freight-carrying +capacity of the transports still available +is less than the British optimist realizes. +How much less, it would be unfruitful to +inquire. It is enough to know that in this +matter, too, we had better seek a more helpful +ally than time. Those who are most conversant +with these elements of the problem are +haunted by a restive consciousness of disappointment +and apprehension.</p> + +<p>For the power, the independence, the destinies +of the Empire are interwoven with our +command of the sea. On our merchant tonnage +depend our economic life, our army +and navy, everything we have and are and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +hope to be. That destroyed or paralysed, +nothing remains but a memory. And the +Germans are working hard and not unsuccessfully +to cripple it. During the week ending +April 13, 85,000 tons of British and neutral +shipping were destroyed. Since the beginning +of the submarine blockade over 3,000,000 tons +have been sent to the bottom of the sea. +On an average 50,000 tons a week are being +torpedoed or mined, and our losses tend to +augment rather than diminish. Nor is that +all. Not only is our merchant tonnage being +whittled down below the minimum needed for +our strict requirements, but we are also being +hindered from utilizing the transports available. +And herein lies a danger the full significance +of which has not yet received proper attention. +Shortage of labour is pleaded as the reason why +effective measures have not been adopted to fill +the gaps made by the enemy submarines. And +labour is inadequate because the Government +eschewes industrial as well as military compulsion. +It possesses the power, but shrinks from +wielding it. To my thinking, this is one of the +symptoms of that madness with which the gods +strike a nation before destroying it.</p> + +<p>And the longer this process of—shall we call +it mutual?—exhaustion goes on, the more important +grow the neutral States and the +louder sound their voices. They are like +Jeshurun, who waxed fat and kicked. Without +special aptitudes for arithmetic one may +calculate, with a rough approach to accuracy, +the time when the process of mutual exhaustion +will enable the neutrals to exert an absurdly +disproportionate and possibly dangerous influence +over the belligerents. That is a calculation +which those optimists would do well to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +make who tell us that all is well because “time +is on our side.”</p> + +<p>It is still open to us to utilize our superior +resources, realize our latent strength, and ward +off the dangers that beset us. But the first +advance towards the goal must be to face the +facts, behold things and persons as they are, and +apply our new-found knowledge to the work of +self-rescue. Our conception of the nature of +the contest in which we are engaged must be recast. +Our demands on our national leaders—not +those now in power who only mislead—must +be greatly enlarged. Truth, however +bitter, must take the place of fancy. Ideas +and institutions incongruous with the new +social and political conditions must be displaced. +The nation’s aims and policy should +be stated boldly and clearly, and adequate +machinery set up to achieve them. In a word, +system will have to be substituted for confusion, +method for haphazard. Destitute of +a great or strong man, it behoves us to imitate +our enemy and create a vast organization with +branches all over the empire. But the influence +of the government ever since the outbreak of +the war has militated against all those reforms.</p> + +<p>If these changes had been effected at the +outset the story of the present campaign would +have been different from what it is. A group +of belligerents representing only 5,921,000 +square kilometres of territory and 150,199,000 +inhabitants, or, say, 4 per cent. of dry land +and 9·1 per cent. of human beings, would not +have held its own for twenty-one months +against a group disposing of 68,031,000 square +kilometres of territory and a population of +770,060,000, or 46 per cent. of the land on the +globe and 47 per cent. of the human race.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +Providence has bestowed upon the Allies the +wherewithal to attain their legitimate ends. +The Allies’ leaders are frittering them away.</p> + +<p>For the thirty years of preparation do not +afford us an adequate explanation of the +Teuton superiority. The clue is to be found in +the psychological factor. Germany is wholly +alive, physically, intellectually and psychically. +And she lives in the present and future. We +either drowse or vegetate in and for the past. +She has the decisive advantage of possessing +organization and organizers. Therein lies the +secret of her sustained success. The Allies +lack both, and are hardly conscious of the +necessity of making good the deficiency. +Therein lies their weakness. It has made +itself felt throughout the campaign and will +determine the upshot of the war. And in the +politico-economic struggle that will follow the +war, it is the same psychological factor which the +Allies rate so low that will decide the final issue.</p> + +<p>Unless we wake up to the reality and readjust +our ideas and methods to that—and of such +awakening there is as yet no sure token—the +outcome of the present war will be a draw, and +the final upshot of the larger contest will be +our utter defeat. No journalistic optimism, no +ministerial magniloquence can alter that. These +contingencies are already fullfronting us, as we +shall soon learn to our cost, and the people who +are veiling them from the public view, however +praiseworthy their intentions may be, are leading +the nation to ruin. And if we continue to uphold +our present chiefs and methods national disaster +is as inevitable as destiny. But it is well to +remember that it is not Fate that is pursuing +us; it is we who are overtaking Fate.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Cf. Friedrich Naumann, <i>Mitteleuropa</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> <i>Giornale del lavori pubblici.</i> Cf. also <i>Giornale d’Italia</i>, +August 22, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> <i>Zeitschrift des Handelsvertragsvereins</i>, March 30, 1915. +Cf. also <i>La Gazette de Lausanne</i> and <i>L’Idea Nazionale</i>, +December 5, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> <i>Neue Zurcher Zeitung.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> <i>Neue Zurcher Zeitung</i>, also <i>L’Idea Nazionale</i>, +December 5, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Giovanni Preziosi, <i>La Germania alla Conquista d’Italia</i>, +2d edizione, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Deutsche Bank, 248 million marks; Diskonto Gesellschaft, +149 millions; Dresdner Bank, 261 millions; +Darmstädter Bank, 192 millions; Berliner Handelsg. +145 millions; Commerz- u. Diskonto Bank, 100 millions; +Nationalbank, 98 millions; Mitteldeutsche Kreditbank, +69 million marks.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's England and Germany, by Emile Joseph Dillon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND AND GERMANY *** + +***** This file should be named 29338-h.htm or 29338-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/3/29338/ + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: England and Germany + +Author: Emile Joseph Dillon + +Release Date: July 6, 2009 [EBook #29338] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND AND GERMANY *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +ENGLAND AND GERMANY + +BY + +DR. E. J. DILLON + + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION + +BY + +THE HON. W. M. HUGHES, M.P. PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA + +BRENTANO'S NEW YORK + +CHAPMAN & HALL LTD. LONDON + +1917 + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BRUNSWICK +ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY SUFFOLK + +TO + +H.S.H. ALICE +PRINCESS OF MONACO + +THIS PARTIAL PRESENTMENT OF THE +BEGINNINGS OF A WORLD +CATACLYSM + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Behind any human institution there stand a few men--perhaps only one +man--who direct its movement, protect its interests, or serve as its +mouthpiece. This applies to nations. If we wish to know for what a +nation stands and what are its ideals and by what means it seeks to +realise them, we shall do well to know something of the men who lead +its people or express their feelings. + +It is of vital importance that we should understand the attitude of +every one of the nations--both friends and enemies--involved in this +war. For in this way only can we know what is necessary to be done to +achieve victory. + +And the remarkable man who has written this book knows those who lead +the warring nations in this titanic conflict very much better than +ordinary men know their own townsmen. + +Dr. Dillon has moved through the chancelleries of Europe. He has seen +and heard what has been denied to all but very few. In the Balkans, +that cauldron of racial passions which, overflowing, gave our enemies +an ostensible cause for this war, he moved as though an invisible and +yet keenly observant figure. He could claim the friendship of +Venizelos and other Balkan statesmen. He has travelled as a monk +throughout the mountain fastnesses, he has slept in the caves of +Albania. He understands the people of all the Balkans, speaks their +tongues as a native, and knows and assesses at their true value their +leaders. + +At the time of the murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and the +Archduchess, Dr. Dillon was in Austria, and he remained there through +those long negotiations in which Germany tenaciously clung to her +design of war. + +How well he knows Germany let his book speak. His knowledge of Russia +is profound. A master of many languages, he occupied a chair at the +Moscow University for many years, and his insight into Russian +politics is deep. + +In this book he speaks out of the depth of his knowledge, and tells +the people of Britain what this war means to them, and what needs to +be done before we can hope for victory. He speaks plainly because he +feels strongly. + +It may be that we cannot agree with him in everything that he says. +But no one, after reading Dr. Dillon's remarkable book, will any +longer regard the war as but a passing episode. It is a timely +antidote to that fatal delusion. + +For this war is a veritable cataclysm, and the future of the world +hangs upon the result. We must change our lives. Insidiously, while we +have called all foreigners brothers and sought foes amongst ourselves, +the great force of barbarism, in a new guise and with enormous power +of penetration and annexation, has worked for our undoing. This force +now stands bared, in the hideous bestiality of Germany's doctrine of +Might, and it can be defeated only by an adaptation of its methods +that will leave nothing as it was before. + +Dr. Dillon's unfolding of the story of German preparation is, it will +be admitted, one of fascinating interest. Of its value as a +contribution to political and diplomatic history it is not for me to +speak. But to its purpose in keying all men to the pitch; all to a +sense of the great events in which we are taking part, I bear my +testimony. "Germany is wholly alive, physically, intellectually, and +psychically. And she lives in the present and future" (p. 311). And +the living force of Germany requires us to rise to the very fulness of +our powers; for as the champions of truth and right we must prove +ourselves physically and morally stronger than the champions of +soulless might. + +Germany is wholly alive; but she is alive for evil. We whose purpose +is good, whose cause is justice and whose triumph is indispensable if +honest industry and human right are not to disappear from mankind, are +as yet not fully alive to the immensity and necessity of our task. We +must awaken, or be awakened, ere it be too late. + +Germany is living in the present and in the future. It is a present of +determined effort, of unlimited sacrifice, of colossal hope. The +future for which she strives and suffers is a future incompatible +with those ideals which our race cherishes and reveres. Either our +philosophy, our religion and code prevail, or they fade into decay, +and Germany's aims remain. The choice is definite. + +There can be no parley, no compromise with the evil thing for which +Germany fights. There is not room for both. One must go down. + +We must win outright. And we can and shall win--if we bend every +thought, our whole will, our every energy, our utmost intensity of +determination to the great work. Failing this, we shall secure only a +victory equivalent to defeat. We chose the part of free men, and, when +purified by complete self-sacrifice, shall emerge from the ordeal a +great and regenerated people. + +W. M. HUGHES. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + +INTRODUCTION BY THE HON. W. M. HUGHES vii + +I THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY 1 + +II THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF PREPARATION 7 + +III GERMANY AND ITALIAN FINANCE 27 + +IV THE ANNEXATION MANIA 37 + +V GERMANY AND RUSSIA 53 + +VI THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE ENTENTE 81 + +VII TEUTON POLITICS 88 + +VIII A MACHIAVELLIAN TRICK BY WHICH RUSSIA'S +HAND WAS FORCED 99 + +IX GERMAN PROPAGANDA IN SCANDINAVIA 108 + +X GERMANY AND THE BALKANS 116 + +XI THE RIVAL POLICIES 136 + +XII PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP 146 + +XIII PROBLEMS OF FINANCE 161 + +XIV READJUSTMENTS 175 + +XV THE POSITION OF ITALY 192 + +XVI ROUMANIA AND GREECE 214 + +XVII GERMANY'S RESOURCEFULNESS 227 + +XVIII THE PERILS OF PARTY POLITICS 236 + +XIX PAST AND PRESENT 246 + +XX PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE 272 + +XXI THE FINAL ISSUE 296 + + + + +OURSELVES AND GERMANY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY + + +During the memorable space of time that separates us from the outbreak +of the catastrophic struggle, out of which a new Europe will shortly +emerge, events have shed a partial but helpful light on much that at +the outset was blurred or mysterious. They have belied or confirmed +various forecasts, fulfilled some few hopes, blasted many others, and +obliged the allied peoples to carry forward most of their cherished +anticipations to another year's account. Meanwhile the balance as it +stands offers ample food for sobering reflection, but will doubtless +evoke dignified resignation and grim resolve on the part of those who +confidently looked for better things. + +The items of which that balance is made up are worth careful scrutiny +for the sake of the hints which they offer for future guidance. The +essence of their teaching is that we Allies are engaged not in a war +of the by-past type in which only our armies and navies are contending +with those of the adversary according to accepted rules, but in a +tremendous struggle wherein our enemies are deploying all their +resources without reserve or scruple for the purpose of destroying or +crippling our peoples. Unless, therefore, we have the will and the +means to mobilize our admittedly vaster facilities and materials and +make these subservient to our aim, we are at a disadvantage which will +profoundly influence the final result. It will be a source of comfort +to optimists to think that, looking back on the vicissitudes of the +first twenty months' campaign, they can discern evidences that there +is somewhere a statesman's hand methodically moulding events to our +advantage, or attempering their most sinister effects. Those who fail +to perceive any such traces must look for solace to future +developments. For there are many who fancy that the economy of our +energies has been carried to needless lengths, that the adjustment of +means to ends lacks thoroughness and precision, and that our leaders +have kept over rigorously within the narrow range of partial aims, +instead of surveying the problem in its totality and enlarging the +permanent efficacy of their precautions against unprecedented dangers. + +The twenty months that have just lapsed into history have done much to +loosen the hold of some of the baleful insular prejudices which +heretofore held sway over the minds of nearly all sections of the +British nation. It may well be, therefore, that we are now better able +to grasp the significance of the principal events of the war, and to +seek it not in their immediate effects on the course of the struggle, +but in the roots--still far from lifeless--whence they sprang. For it +is not so much the upshot of the first phases of the campaign as the +deep-lying causes which rendered them a foregone conclusion that force +themselves on our consideration. Those causes are still operative, +and unless they be speedily uprooted will continue to work havoc with +our hopes. + +It is now fairly evident that the present war is but a violent phase +in the unfolding of a grandiose ground idea--the subjugation of Europe +by the Teuton--which was being steadily realized ever since the close +of the Franco-German campaign of 1870. It is likewise clear that, +despite her "swelled head," Germany's estimate of her ability to try +issues with all continental Europe was less erroneous than the faith +of her destined victims in their superior powers of resistance. The +original plan, having been limited to the continental states, was +upset by Great Britain's co-operation with France and Russia. But, +despite this additional drag, Germany has achieved the remarkable +results recorded in recent history. And with some show of reason she +looks forward to successes more decisive still. For in her mode of +conceiving the problem and her methods of solving it lie the secret of +her progress. But there, too, is to be found the counter-spell by +which that progress may be effectually checked; and it is only by +mastering that secret and applying it to the future conduct of the +struggle that we can hope to ward off the dangers that encompass us. + +Germany is like no other State known to human history. She exercises +the authority of an infallible and intolerant Church while disposing +of the flawless mechanism of an absolute State. She is armed with the +most deadly engines of destruction that advanced science can forge, +and in order to use them ruthlessly she mixes the subtlest poisons to +corrupt the wells of truth and debase the standards of right and +wrong. And this she can do without the least qualms of conscience, in +virtue of her firm belief in the amorality of political conduct. Her +members at home and abroad, whose number is not fewer than a hundred +and twenty millions, form a political community of whose compactness, +social sense and single-mindedness the annals of the human race offer +no other example. All are fired by the same zeal, all obey the same +lead, all work for the same object. She sent and is still sending +forth missionaries of her political faith, preachers of the gospel of +the mailed fist, to every country in which their services may prove +helpful. Diplomatists, journalists, bankers, contrabandists, social +agitators, spies, incendiaries, assassins and courtesans, willing to +offer up their energies and their lives in order to circumvent, +despoil or slay the supposed enemies of their race, address themselves +each one to his own allotted task and discharge it conscientiously. + +Those German colonists abroad are the eyes and arms and tongues of the +monster organism of which the brain-centre is Berlin. They endeavoured +to stir up dissension between class and class in Russia, France, +Britain, Belgium, to plant suspicion in the breast of Bulgaria and +Roumania, to create a prussophile atmosphere in Greece, Switzerland +and Sweden, and to bring pressure to bear on the Government of the +United States in the hope of fomenting discord between the American +and British peoples. They have occupied posts of influence in the +Vatican, are devoted to the Moslem Caliph, cultivate friendship with +the Senussi and the ex-Khedive of Egypt, are intriguing with the Negus +of Abyssinia, and spreading lying rumours, false news and vile +calumnies throughout the world. During the years that passed between +the war of 1870 and the outbreak of the present European struggle, +that stupendous organism contrived by those and kindred means to +possess itself of the principal strongholds of international opinion +and influence, the centres of the chief religions, the press, the +exchanges, the world's "key industries," the great marts of commerce +and the banks. It has friends at every Court, in every Cabinet, in +every European Parliament, and its agents are alert and active in +every branch of the administration of foreign lands. And while +suppleness marked their dealings with others, they were inflexible +only in their fidelity to the Teuton cause. Thus in Russia they were +conservative and autocratic in their intercourse with the ruling +spheres, and revolutionary in their relations with the Socialists and +working classes; in France and Britain they were democrats and +pacifists; in Italy they were rabid nationalists or neutralists +according to the political sentiments of their environment; in Turkey, +Morocco, Egypt and Persia staunch friends of Islam. They intrigued +against dynasties, conspired against cabinets, reviled influential +publicists, fostered strikes and tumults, set political parties and +entire states by the ears, dispelled grounded suspicions and armed +various bands of incendiaries and assassins. + +But in spite of cogged dice and poisoned weapons, the comprehensive +way in which the enterprise was conceived, the consummate skill with +which it was wrought out towards a satisfactory issue, the +whole-heartedness of the nation which, although animated by a fiery +patriotism that fuses all parties and classes into one, is yet +governed with military discipline, offer a wide field for imitation +and emulation. For the changes brought about by the first phases of +the war are but fruits of seed sown years ago and tended ever since +with unfailing care, and unless suitable implements, willing hands and +combined energies are employed in digging them up and casting them to +the winds, the second crop may prove even more bitter than the first. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF PREPARATION + + +On the historic third of August when war was formally declared, its +nature was as little understood by the Allies as had been its +imminence. The statesmen who had to full-front its manifestations were +those who had persistently refused to believe in its possibility, and +who had no inkling of its nature and momentousness. Most of them, +judging other peoples by their own, had formed a high opinion of the +character of the German nation and of the pacific intentions of its +Government, and continued to ground their policy in war time on this +generous estimate, which even when upset by subsequent experience +still seems to linger on in a subconscious but not inoperative state. +At first their preparations to meet the emergency hardly went beyond +the expedients to which they would have resorted for any ordinary +campaign. In this they resembled a sea-captain who should make ready +to encounter a gale when his ship was threatened by a typhoon. Hence +their unco-ordinated efforts, their chivalrous treatment of a +dastardly foe, their high-minded refusal to credit the circumstantial +stories of sickening savagery emanating first from Belgium and then +from France, their gentle remonstrances with the enemy, their +carefully worded arguments, their generous understatement of their +country's case, and their suppression of any emotion among their own +folk akin to hatred or passion. In an insular people for whom peace +was an ideal, neighbourliness a sacred duty, and the psychology of +foreign nations a sealed book, this way of reading the bearings of the +new situation and adjusting them to the nation's requirements was +natural and fateful. + +To the few private individuals who had the advantage of experience and +were gifted with political vision the crisis presented itself under a +different aspect. Some of them had foreseen and foretold the war, +basing their forecast on the obvious policy of the German Government +and on the overt strivings of the German nation. They had depicted +that nation as intellectual and enterprising, abundantly equipped with +all the requisites for an exhausting contest, fired with enthusiasm +for a single idea--the subjugation of the world--and devoid of ethical +scruple. And in the clarion's blast which suddenly resounded on the +pacific air they recognized the trump of doom for Teuton Kultur or +European civilization, and proclaimed the utter inadequacy of ordinary +methods to put down this titanic rebellion against the human race. +That has been the gist of every opinion and suggestion on the subject +put forward by the writer of these lines since the outbreak of the +war. + +But even without these repeated warnings it should have been clear +that a carefully calculating people like the Germans, in whom the gift +of organizing is inborn and solicitude for detail is a passion, would +not embark on a preventive war without having first established a just +proportion between their own equipment for the struggle and the +magnitude of the issues dependent on its outcome. It was, further, +reasonable to assume that this was no mere onset of army against army +and navy against navy according to the old rules of the game, but a +mobilization by the two military empires of all their resources--military, +naval, financial, economic, industrial, scientific and journalistic--to +be utilized to the fullest for the destruction of the Entente group. +It was also easy to discern that, whichever side was worsted, the +Europe which had witnessed the beginning of the conflict would be +transfigured at its close, and that Germany would, therefore, not +allow her freedom of action in conducting the war to be cramped by +sentimental respect for the checks and restraints of a political +system that was already dead. Lastly, it might readily be inferred +that the huge resources hoarded up by the enemy during forty years of +preparation would be centupled in value by the favourable conditions +which rendered them capable of being co-ordinated and directed by a +single will to the attainment of a single end. All these previsions, +warranted then by unmistakable tokens, have since been justified by +historic events, and it is to be hoped that the practical conclusions +to which they point may sink into the minds of the allied nations as +well as of their Governments, now that nearly two years have gone by +since they were first expressed. + +The earliest impression which German mobilization left upon the Allies +was that of the preventive character of this war. For it could have +had no other mainspring than a resolve to paralyse the arm of the +Entente, which, if allowed to wax stronger, might smite in lieu of +being smitten. For the moment, however, Germany was neither attacked +nor menaced. Far from that, her rivals were vying with each other in +their strivings to maintain peace. Her condition was prosperous, her +industries thriving, her colonial possessions had recently been +greatly increased, her influence on the affairs of the world was +unquestioned, her citizens were materially well-to-do, her workmen +were highly paid, her capitalists, seconding her statesmen and +diplomatists, had, with gold extracted from France, Britain and +Belgium, woven a vast net in the fine meshes of which most of the +nations of Europe, Asia and America were being insensibly trammelled. +Already her bankers handled the finances, regulated the industries and +influenced the politics of those tributary peoples. And by these +tactics a relationship was established between Germany and most states +of the globe which cut deep into the destinies of these and is become +an abiding factor of the present contest. For that reason, and also +because of the paramount influence of the economic factor on the +results of the struggle, they are well worth studying. + +To her superior breadth of outlook, marvellous organizing powers, the +hearty co-operation between rulers and people, and the ease with +which, unhampered by parliamentary opposition, her Government was +enabled to place a single aim at the head and front of its national +policy, Germany is perhaps more deeply indebted for her successes +during the first phases of the campaign than to the strategy of +Hindenburg or the furious onslaughts of Mackensen. German diplomacy +has been ridiculed for its glaring blunders, and German statesmanship +discredited for its cynical contempt of others' rights and its own +moral obligations. And gauged by our ethical standards the blame +incurred was richly deserved. But we are apt to forget that German +diplomacy has two distinct aspects--the professional and the +economic--and that where the one failed the other triumphed. And if +success be nine-tenths of justification, as the Prussian doctrine +teaches, the statesmen who preside over the destinies of the Teutonic +peoples have little to fear in the way of strictures from their +domestic critics. For they left nothing to chance that could be +ensured by effort. Trade, commerce, finances, journalism, science, +religion, the advantages to be had by royal marriages, by the +elevation of German princes to the thrones of the lesser states, had +all been calculated with as much care and precision as the choice of +sites in foreign countries for the erection of concrete emplacements +for their monster guns. No detail seemed too trivial for the bestowal +of conscientious labour, if it promised a possible return. When in +doubt whether it was worth while to make an effort for some object of +no immediate interest to the Fatherland the German invariably decided +that the thing should be done. "You never can tell," he argued, "when +or how it may prove useful." For years one firm of motor-car makers +turned out vehicles with holes, the object of which no one could guess +until the needs of the war revealed them as receptacles for light +machine-guns. + +Nearly two years of an unparalleled struggle between certain isolated +forces of the Allies and all the combined resources of the Teutons +ought to banish the notion that the results achieved are the fruits +only of Germany's military and naval efficiency. In truth, the +adequacy of her military and naval forces constitutes but an integral +part of a much vaster system. It has hitherto been the fashion among +British and French writers to dwell exclusively on the comprehensiveness +of the measures adopted by the Germans to fashion their land and sea +defences into destructive implements of enormous striking power and +scientific precision. But the German conception of the enterprise was +immeasurably more grandiose. It included every means of offence and +defence actually available or yet to be devised, and testifies to a +grasp of the nature of the problem which, so far as one can judge, has +not even yet been attained outside the Fatherland. As the present +situation and its coming developments present themselves as practical +corollaries of causes which the leaders of Germany rendered operative, +it may not be amiss to describe these briefly. + +The objective being the subjugation of Europe to Teutonic sway, the +execution of the plan was attempted by two different sets of measures, +each of which supplemented the other: military and naval efficiency on +the one hand and pacific interpenetration on the other. The former has +been often and adequately described; the latter has not yet attracted +the degree of attention it merits. For one thing, it was +unostentatious and invariably tinged with the colour of legitimate +trade and industry. Practically every country in Europe, and many +lands beyond the seas, were covered with networks of economic +relations which, without being always emanations of the governmental +brain, were never devoid of a definite political purpose. While Great +Britain, and in a lesser degree France, distracted by parliamentary +strife or intent on domestic reforms, left trade and commerce to +private initiative and the law of supply and demand, the German +Government watched over all big commercial transactions, interwove +them with political interests, and regarded every mark invested in a +foreign country not merely as capital bringing in interest in the +ordinary way, but also as political seed bearing fruit to be +ingathered when _Der Tag_ should dawn. Thus France and Britain +advanced loans to various countries--to Greece, for instance--at lower +rates of interest than the credit of those states warranted, but they +bargained for no political gain in return. Germany, on the contrary, +insisted on every such transaction being paid in political or economic +advantages as well as pecuniary returns. And by these means she tied +the hands of most European nations with bonds twisted of strands which +they themselves were foolish enough to supply. Italy, Russia, Turkey, +Roumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium and the Scandinavian States are +all instructive instances of this plan. Bankers and their staffs, +directors of works and factories, agents of shipping companies, +commercial travellers, German colonies in various foreign cities, +military instructors to foreign armies, schools and schoolmasters +abroad, heads of commercial houses in the different capitals, were all +so many agencies toiling ceaselessly for the same purpose. The effect +of their manoeuvres was to extract from all those countries the +wealth needed for their subjugation. One of the most astounding +instances of the success of these hardy manipulations is afforded by +the Banca Commerciale of Italy, which was a thoroughly German concern, +holding in its hands most of the financial establishments, trades and +industries of Italy. This all-powerful institution possessed in 1914 a +capital of L6,240,000 of which 63 per cent. was subscribed by Italian +shareholders, 20 per cent. by Swiss, 14 per cent. by French, and only +2-1/2 per cent. by Germans and Austrians combined! And the astounding +exertions put forward by the Germans during the first twelvemonth of +the war are largely the product of the economic energies which this +line of action enabled them to store up during the years of peace and +preparation. + +The execution of those grandiose schemes was facilitated by the easy +access which Germany had to the principal markets of the globe. One of +the main objects of her diplomacy had been to break down the tariff +barriers which would have reserved to the great trading empires the +main fruits of their own labour and enterprise. By the Treaty of +Frankfort the French had been compelled to confer on Germany the +most-favoured-nation clause, thus entitling her to enjoy all the +tariff reductions which the Republic might accord to those countries +with which it was on the most amicable terms. British free trade +opened wide the portals of the world's greatest empire to a deluge of +Teuton wares and to a kind of competition which contrasted with fair +play in a degree similar to that which now obtains between German +methods of warfare and our own. Russia, at first insensible to suasion +and rebellious to threats, endeavoured to bar the way to the economic +flood on her western frontiers, but during the stress of the Japanese +war she chose the lesser of two evils and yielded. The concessions +then made by my friend, the late Count Witte, to the German +Chancellor, drained the Tsardom of enormous sums of money and rendered +it a tributary to the Teuton. But it did much more. It supplied +Germany with a satisfactory type of commercial treaty which she easily +imposed upon other nations. Germany's road through Italy was traced by +the mistaken policy of the French Government which, by a systematic +endeavour to depreciate Italian consols and other securities, drove +Crispi to Berlin, where his suit for help was heard, the Banca +Commerciale conceived, and commercial arrangements concluded which +opened the door to the influx of German wares, men and political +ideals. + +A few years sufficed for the fruits of this generous hospitality to +reveal themselves. The influx of wealth and the increased population +helped to render the German army a match for the combined land forces +of her rivals, a formidable navy was created, which ranked immediately +after that of Great Britain, and a large part of Europe was so closely +associated with, and dependent on, Germany that an extension of the +Zollverein was talked of in the Fatherland, and a league of European +brotherhood advocated by the day-dreamers of France and Britain. The +French, however, never ceased to chafe at the commercial chain forged +by the Treaty of Frankfort, but were powerless to break it, while the +British lavished tributes of praise and admiration on Germany's +enterprise, and construed it as a pledge of peace. Russia, alive to +the danger, at last summoned up courage to remove it, and had already +decided to refuse to extend the term of the ruinous commercial treaty, +even though the alternative were war. That was the danger which +stimulated the final efforts of the Kaiser's Government. + +Thus the entire political history of Entente diplomacy during this war +may be summarized as a series of attempts on the part of the Allies to +undo some of the effects of the masterstrokes executed by Germany +during the years of abundance which she owed to the favoured-nation +clause, British free trade and kindred economic concessions. +Interpenetration is the term by which the process has been known ever +since Count Witte essayed it in Manchuria and China. + +The German procedure was simple, yet effective withal. Funds were +borrowed mainly in France, Britain, Belgium, where investors are often +timid and bankers are unenterprising. And then operations were begun. +The first aim pursued and attained was to acquire control of the +foreign trade of the country experimented on. With this object in view +banks of credit were established which lavished on German traders +every help, information and encouragement. Men of Teuton nationality +settled in the land as heads of firms, as clerks without salary, +private secretaries, foremen, correspondents, and rapidly contrived to +get command of the main arteries of the economic organism. German +manufactures soon flooded the country, because those who undertook to +import them could count on extensive credit from the institutions +founded with the money of the very nations whose trade they were +engaged in killing. In this way the competition, not only of all +Entente peoples but also of the natives of the country experimented +on, was systematically choked. And the customers of these banks, +natives as well as Teutons, became apostles of German influence. + +Insensibly the great industrial concerns of the place passed into the +possession of German banks, behind which stood the German empire. A +nucleus of influential business people, having been thus equipped for +action, incessantly propagated the German political faith. German +schools were established and subsidized by the _Deutscher +Schulverein_, clubs opened, musical societies formed, and newspapers +supported or founded, to consolidate the achievements of the +financiers. On political circles, especially in constitutional lands, +the influence of this Teutonic phalanx was profound and lasting. + +In all these commercial and industrial enterprises undertaken abroad +for economic gain and political influence, the German State, its +organs and the individual firms, went hand in hand, supplementing each +other's endeavours. The maxim they adopted was that of their military +commanders: to advance separately but to attack in combination. Not +only the Consul, but the Ambassador, the Minister, the Scholar, the +Statesman, nay the Kaiser[1] himself, were the inspirers, the +partners, the backers of the German merchant. Marschall von +Bieberstein once told me in Constantinople that his functions were +those of a super-commercial traveller rather than ambassadorial. And +he discharged them with efficiency. Laws and railway tariffs at home, +diplomatic facilities and valuable information abroad smoothed the way +of the Teuton trader. Berlin rightly gauged the worth of this pacific +interpenetration at a time when Britons were laughing it to scorn as a +ludicrous freak of grandmotherly government. To-day its results stand +out in relief as barriers to the progress of the Allies in the conduct +of the war. + + [1] The Kaiser is one of the largest shareholders in the + great mercury mines of Italy. + +Of this ingenious way of enslaving foreign nations unknown to +themselves, Italy's experience offers us an instructive illustration. +The headquarters of the German commercial army in that realm were the +offices of the Banca Commerciale in Milan. This institution was +founded under the auspices of the Berlin Foreign Office, with the +co-operation of Herr Schwabach, head of the bank of Bleichroeder. +Employing the absurdly small capital of two hundred thousand pounds, +not all of which was German, it worked its way at the cost of the +Italian people into the vitals of the nation, and finally succeeded in +obtaining the supreme direction of their foreign trade, national +industries and finances, and in usurping a degree of political +influence so durable that even the war is supposed to have only numbed +it for a time. + +Between the years 1895 and 1915 the capital of this institution had +augmented to the sum of L6,240,000, of which Germany and Austria +together held but 2-1/2 per cent., while controlling all the +operations of the Bank itself and of the trades and industries linked +with it. + +The Germans, as a Frenchman wittily remarked, are born with the mania +of annexation. It runs in their blood. And it is not merely territory, +or political influence, or the world's markets that they seek to +appropriate. Their appetite extends to everything in the present and +future, nay, even in the past which they deem worth having. It is thus +that they claim as their own most of Italy's great men, such as Dante, +Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Galileo, and it is now asserted +by a number of Teuton writers that Christ Himself came of a Teutonic +stock. + +German organisms, as well as German statesmen, display the same mania +of annexation, and the Banks in especial give it free scope. German +banks differ from French, British and Italian in the nature, extent +and audacity of their operations. It was not always thus. Down to the +war of 1870 their methods were old-fashioned, cautious and slow. From +the year 1872 onward, however, they struck out a new and bold course +of their own from which British and French experts boded speedy +disaster. Private enterprises were turned into joint stock companies, +the capital of prosperous undertakings was increased and gigantic +operations were inaugurated. Between the years 1885 and 1889 the +industrial values issued each year reached an average of 1,770 million +francs; between 1890 and 1895 the average rose to 1,880 millions, and +from 1896 to 1900 it was computed at 2,384 millions.[2] + + [2] Cf. _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_. Ezio M. Gray. + Firenze. + +Of all German financial institutions the most influential and +prosperous is the Deutsche Bank. It has been aptly termed an empire +within the empire. Its capital, 250 million francs, exceeds that of +the Reichsbank by thirty millions. It is the first of the six great +German banks, of which four are known as the "D" group, because the +first letter of their respective names is D: Deutsche Bank, Dresdner +Bank, Disconto-Gesellschaft and Darmstaedter Bank. The other two are +the Schaffhausenscher Bankverein and the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft. +The total capital of these six concerns amounts to 1,100 million +francs.[3] + + [3] _Op. cit._, p. 113. + +None of these houses is hampered by those rules, traditions or +scruples which limit the activity of British joint stock banks. They +are free to launch into speculations which, to the sober judgment of +our own financiers, must seem wild and precarious, but to which +success has affixed the hall-mark of approval. Each of the six banks +is a centre of German home industries and also of the foreign +transformations of these. To mention an industry is almost always to +connote some one of the six. Before the war broke out one had but to +gaze steadily at the beautiful facade of this or that Russian bank to +discern the Lamia-like monster from the banks of the Spree. The famous +firm of Krupps, for instance, had its affairs closely interwoven with +those of the Berliner Disconto Gesellschaft, and was more than once +rescued from bankruptcy by its timely assistance. Similar help was +afforded to the celebrated firm of Bauer which is known throughout the +world for its synthetical medicines. There were critical moments in +its existence when it was confronted with ruin. The Bank extricated +the firm from its difficulties, and the present dividend of 33 per +cent. has justified its enterprise. + +In this way the latter-day German banks upset all financial +traditions, opened large credits to industries, smoothed the way for +the spread of German commerce, killed foreign competition and +seconded the national policy of their Government. As an instance of +the push and audacity of these modernized institutions, a master +stroke of the Bank of Behrens and Sons of Hamburg may be mentioned: it +bought up the entire coffee crop of Guatemala one year to the +amazement of its rivals and netted a very large profit by the +transaction. + +Now as commerce is international and industry depends for its greatest +successes upon exportation, it was inevitable that the up-to-date +German banks should seek fields of activity abroad and aim at playing +a commanding part in the world's commerce. And they tried and +succeeded. For they alone instinctively divined the new spirit of the +age, which may be termed co-operative and agglutinative. It was in +virtue of this new idea that groups of States were leagued together by +Germany in view of her projected war, and it is the same principle +that impels her, before the conflict has yet been decided, to weld to +herself as many tributary peoples as she may to assist her in the +economic struggle which will be ushered in by peace. Germans first +semiconsciously felt and now deliberately hold that in all departments +of modern life, social, economic and political, our conception of +quantities must undergo a radical change. The scale must be greatly +enlarged. The unit of former times must give place to a group of +units, to syndicates and trusts in commerce and industry, to trade +unions in the labour world, to Customs-federations in international +life. That this shifting of quantities is a correlate of the progress +achieved in technical science and in means of communication, and also +of the vastness of armies and navies and of the aims of the world's +foremost peoples, is since then become a truism, realized not only by +the Germans but by all their allies. + +For individual enterprise, as well as for national isolation, there is +no room in the modern world. Isolation spells weakness and +helplessness there. The lesser neutral States must of necessity become +the clients of the Great Powers and pay a high price for the +protection afforded them. Hence the maintenance of small nations on +their present basis, with enormous colonies to exploit but without +efficient means of defending them, forms no part of Germany's future +programme. And the altruistic professions of the Entente which claims +to be fighting for the rights of little States, whose idyllic +existence it would fain perpetuate, is scoffed at by the Teutons as +chimerical or hypocritical. When this war is over, whatever its +upshot, Central Europe with or without the non-German elements will +have become a single unit, against whose combined industrial, +commercial and military strivings no one European Power can +successfully compete. And the difficulties which geographical +situation has raised against effective co-operation among the Allies +in war time will make themselves felt with increased force during the +economic struggle which will then begin. + +No mere tariff arrangement, but only a genuine league between all the +west European Powers and the British Empire, supplemented by a customs +union between them and the other Allies of the Entente, will then +avail to ward off the new danger and establish some rough approach to +the equilibrium which the present conflict has overthrown. The future +destinies of Europe, as far as one may conjecture from the data +available to-day, will depend largely on the insight of the Entente +nations and their readiness to subordinate national aims and interests +to those of the larger unit which will be the inevitable product of +the new order of things. + +The ideal type of the industrial bank having been thus wrought out, +the Germans, whom a thoroughly commercial education had qualified for +the work, carried on vast operations with a degree of boldness which +was matched only by the thoroughness of their precautions. They +advanced money with a readiness and an open-handedness which the West +European financier set down as sheer folly, but which was the outcome +of close study and careful deliberation. They began by acquainting +themselves with the solvency of their clients, with the nature of the +transactions which these were carrying on, with their business methods +and individual abilities, and to the results of this preliminary +examination they adjusted the extent of their financial assistance. +They had secret inquiry offices to keep them constantly informed of +the condition of the various firms and individuals, and when in doubt +they demanded an insight into the books of the company which was +seldom denied them. The Spanish Inquisition was but a clumsy agency in +comparison with the perfect system evolved by these German banks, +which could at any given moment sum up the prospects as well as the +actual situation of each of their customers. It was this comprehensive +survey which warranted some of the large advances they made to +seemingly insolvent firms which afterwards grew to be the most +prosperous in the Fatherland. + +The methods thus practised at home were adhered to in all those +foreign countries which the German financier, manufacturer or trader +selected for his field of operations. A bank would be opened in the +foreign capital with money advanced mainly by one of the six great +financial institutions. It would be called by some high-sounding name, +suggestive of the country experimented upon, and little by little the +German capital would be diminished to a minimum and local capital +substituted, but the supreme control kept zealously in the hands of +the Teuton directors. Industries would then be financed and finally +bought up. Others would also be financed but deliberately ruined. +Competition would in this way be effectively killed, and little by +little the life-juices of the country would be canalized to suit the +requirements of German trade, industry and politics. + +If an industry in the invaded country was judged capable of becoming +subsidiary to some German industry, the Bank would maintain it for the +purpose of amalgamating the two later on, or else having the foreign +concern absorbed by the Teutonic. This was a labour of patriotism and +profit. But if the business was recognized as a formidable rival to +some German enterprise, it was doomed. The procedure in this case was +simple. The Bank advanced money readily, tied the firm financially, +rendering it wholly tributary; and then when the hour of destiny +struck, the credit was suddenly withdrawn and the curtain rung up in +the Bankruptcy Court. When this consummation became public, the +unsuspecting foreigner would ask with naive astonishment: "How can it +be bankrupt? I understood that Germans were financing it." They were, +and it was precisely for that reason, and because it was on the way to +prosperity as a rival to some German firm, that it was suffocated.[4] + + [4] Cf. _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_, pp. 118, 119. + +This ingenious system proved exceptionally effective in Brazil. It has +been said that that republic is become a dependency of Germany. What +cannot be gainsaid is that about one-third of Brazil's national +debt[5] is owing to German bankers, and the whole financial and +industrial movement of the country is swayed by the Society of +Colonization which is German, by the German Society for Mutual +Protection, by the German-Brazilian Society and by the three +Navigation Companies whose steamers ply between Brazil and the +Fatherland.[6] It is because of the far-reaching power and influence +which has accrued to Germany from this successful invasion that +Professor Schmoller of the Berlin University could write: "It behoves +us to desire at any and every cost that, by the next century, a German +land of twenty or thirty million inhabitants shall arise in Southern +Brazil. It is immaterial whether it remains part of Brazil or +constitutes an independent State or enters into close relations with +the German Empire. But without a connection guaranteed by battleships, +without the possibility of Germany's armed intervention in Brazil, its +future would be jeopardized." + + [5] 1050 million francs. + + [6] _Op. cit._, p. 120. + +It is the Monroe doctrine that is commonly credited with thwarting +these designs on South America. But as a matter of plain fact, it is +to the British Navy and to nothing else that the credit is due. Were +it not for the known resolve of the British nation to co-operate in +case of need with the American people in their exertions to uphold +that doctrine against Germany, the Berlin Cabinet would long ago have +formally established a firm footing in Southern Brazil and the United +States Government would have been powerless to prevent it.[7] + + [7] An instructive article on the subject by Mr. Moreton + Frewen appeared in the _Nineteenth Century_ of February, + 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GERMANY AND ITALIAN FINANCE + + +It was in congruity with those principles and methods that the Banca +Commerciale, which had its headquarters in Milan, set itself to +discharge the complex functions of a financial, industrial, commercial +and political agency of German interpenetration in Italy. + +To German customers and those Italians who imported German goods, the +Banca Commerciale allowed long credits and easy means of payment. To +all who were in need of implements, machinery, or materials for a new +enterprise, the bank "recommended" German houses, and those who were +wise construed the "recommendation" as an ultimatum. For if it was +ignored, their names were inscribed on the black books of the bank, +and by means of an efficacious system of secret dossiers, handled by a +confidential information bureau,[8] they found themselves thrust into +a "credit vacuum," boycotted by finance and condemned to bankruptcy. +All banks shunned them. Their bonds became mere scraps of paper. +Every enterprise to which they set their hands was blighted, and +nothing remained for them but to abandon their avocations or surrender +at discretion. + + [8] This secret information bureau is everywhere a potent + engine of attack in German hands. It renders deliberate + libellers and defamers immune against the action of the law. + The victims feel the effects but cannot point to the cause. + The _fiches_, as the certificates are called, are couched in + conventional terms and bear no signature. In the case of + persons whom the bank desires to ruin, these documents are + sentences of commercial death. + +But besides this executive of destruction there was another and still +more important board, whose work was wholly constructive. It was +commonly known as the "service of information." Its functions were to +collect at first hand all useful data about Italian commerce and +industry, to draw up tabulated reports for the use of Germans at home +engaged in trade and industry. These lists indicated current prices, +the qualities of the goods in demand, the favourite ways of packing +and consigning these, samples of manufactures, statistics of +production, the addresses of all firms dealing with Italians--in a +word, every kind of data calculated to enable German trade and +industry to compete successfully with their rivals. The manner in +which this body of information was drawn up, sifted, classified, and +made accessible, deserves unstinted admiration. To say that commercial +espionage was practised largely in the working of this comprehensive +system is but another way of stating that it was German. + +The Banca Commerciale, which was the head and centre of this +organization, was, as a matter of course, called Italian. For every +similar institution, commercial, journalistic or other, which has for +its object the realization of the Teutonic plan of internationalization, +invariably wears the mask of the nationality of the country in which +it operates. And in this case the mask was supplied by Italians, on +whom the bank bestowed all the highest _honorary_ posts, while +reserving the influential ones for Germans and Austrians. Thus the +moving spirits of this vast organization were Herrn Joel, Weil and +Toeplitz, men of uncommon business capacity, who devoted all their +time and energies to the attainment of the end in view. And their +zeal, industry and ingenuity were rewarded by substantial results, +which have left an abiding mark on Italian politics and entered for a +great deal into the attitude of the nation towards the two groups of +belligerents. In a relatively short span of time foreign competition +in Italian markets was checked, German products ousted those of their +rivals, and at last the very sources of Italy's economic life were in +the hands of the Teuton, whose continued goodwill became almost a +vital necessity to the struggling nation. + +Already in the year 1912 Germany stood first among Italy's customers, +whether we consider the list of her exports or that of imports. Italy +bought from that empire goods valued at 626,300,000 francs, and sold +it produce worth 328,200,000 francs; whereas Great Britain, who +supplies Italy with the bulk of her coal, exported only 577,100,000 +francs worth, while her imports were valued at 264,400,000 francs. For +France the figures were 289,600,000 and 222,600,000 francs +respectively. + +The method by which Italian industries were assailed, shaken, and then +purchased and controlled by this redoubtable organization, bore, as we +saw, all the marks of German commercial ethics. Sharp practice which +recognizes as its only limitation the strong arm of the penal law, is +a fair description of the plan of campaign. Against this insidious +process none of the native enterprises had the strength to offer +effective resistance. One by one they were drawn into the vast net +woven by the three German Fates--Joel, Weil and Toeplitz. The various +iron, mechanical and shipbuilding works, which represented the germs +from which native industries were to grow, were sucked into the Teuton +maelstrom. The larger and the smaller steamship navigation companies +likewise fell under the direction of the Banca Commerciale, which +permitted some of them to exist and even to thrive up to a certain +point, beyond which their usefulness to the general plan would have +turned to harm. In this way Italy's entire mercantile marine became +one of the numerous levers in the hands of the interpenetrating +German. And the importance of this lever for political purposes can +neither be gainsaid nor easily overstated. + +In every little town and village which sends a quota of emigrants to +the transatlantic liners, agents of the various steamship companies +are always about and active. Being intelligent and enterprising, their +influence on local politics is irresistible, and it was uniformly +employed in those interests which it was the object of the Banca +Commerciale to further. "This institution," writes an Italian expert, +who has studied the subject with unusual care, "being the mistress of +the dominant economic organisms of the nation, makes use of them to +carry out a germanophile policy. It employs them for the purpose of +exercising a directive action in all elections, commercial, provincial +and general. Every servant of a steamship navigation company, every +purveyor of emigrants is at the same time and by the very force of +things an electoral agent. The position of arbitress and mistress of +the steamship companies carries with it possession of the keys of the +national wealth, and is consequently a formidable weapon of aggressive +competition against all industries, Italian and foreign, which are not +affiliated to those of Germany. The Banca Commerciale, having obtained +that supremacy, forced the Italian companies to lead a languishing +existence in straitened circumstances, whereas they might easily have +grown rich and flourishing. It permits our steamship companies to +subsist and even to earn somewhat, but only just enough to suffice for +the declaration of a modest dividend. That is why Italian navigation +companies levy such excessive rates of freight, why their service is +not organized in accordance with rational and latter day standards, +why they take no thought of winning foreign markets or of national +expansion.[9] They have no means of consigning merchandise at the +domicile, so that the consignees are put to enormous expense for +collection and delivery. And to make matters still worse, Italian +navigation companies are bound with those of Germany by special secret +conventions, which oblige them to abandon to their rivals certain +kinds of merchandise of the Near and the Far East." + + [9] Cf. Preziosi, _La Germania a la Conquista dell' Italia_, + p. 57 fol. + +If we examine the peculiarly Teuton ways of trade competition in their +everyday guise, and without the glamour of political ideals to +distract our attention, we are confronted with phenomena of a +repulsive character. For the German's keen practical sense, his +sustained concentration of effort on the furtherance of material +interests, and his scorn of ethical restraints render him a formidable +competitor in pacific pursuits and a dangerous enemy in war. His +moral sense is not so much dulled by experience as warped by +education. It may be likened to a clock which has not stopped but +shows the wrong hour. He has been taught that there are times and +circumstances when religious and ethical standards may or must be set +aside, and he arrogates to himself the right of determining them. +Without examining into stories of preternatural meanness and perfidy +which have come into vogue since the outbreak of the war, it is fair +to say that dirty tricks, destructive of all social intercourse, +formed part of the German commercial procedure in France, Britain and +Russia, the only proviso being that they were not penalized by the +criminal law of the country. + +An amusing but nowise edifying instance turns upon Paris fashions. +That Berlin, like Vienna, should seek to vie with Paris in setting the +fashion of feminine finery to the world is conceivable and legitimate. +But that Germans should compete with Paris in Paris fashions connotes +a psychological frame of mind which is better understood by the +inmates of a prison than by a mercantile community. American ladies +visiting the French capital to order their gowns are astonished to +note that no fashions really new have been shown to them in the great +Paris houses. They had just seen them all in the German capital. And +the Paris models destined to be placed on the market next season turn +out to be identical with those which the fair visitors had already +inspected in Berlin and could have purchased there at a much lower +price. How this could be is explained simply. A German merchant in +continuous relations with the staffs of the Paris firms clandestinely +obtains from some of the members for a high price the models which are +still being kept secret, has them copied in large numbers in Berlin +and sold at a cheap price. True, the German workmanship lacks the +dainty finish of the Paris article, but the difference is such as +appeals only to the eye of a connoisseur. + +In Italy similar phenomena were observed frequently. A firm in +Florence celebrated for special types of wooden utensils which were +never successfully imitated elsewhere was ruined by commercial +espionage. One day the proprietor engaged the services of two foreign +workmen who laboured hard and steadily for some time and then +departed, to his great regret. Six months later Germany dumped on the +Italian markets the very same articles in vast quantities, and at a +price so low that the Italian firm could not hope to compete with +them. At first, indeed, the Florence house made a valiant stand +against the invasion, but had finally to give up the fight as +hopeless. Later on the proprietor learned that the two honest-looking +workmen were first-class German engineers, whose only objects in +entering his service were to acquaint themselves with his methods, +copy his models and then strangle his trade. And these objects they +achieved to their satisfaction.[10] + + [10] _L'Invasione tedesca_, p. 147. + +Thus, in order to strangle concerns that compete with them +successfully, the average German merchant sticks at nothing. His maxim +is, that in trade as in all forms of the struggle for existence, +necessity knows no law. And he is himself the judge of necessity. The +history of German industry in Italy is full of instructive examples +of this disdain of moral checks, but one will suffice as a type. It +turns upon the struggle which the Teuton invaders carried on against +the Italian iron industry, which for a while held its own against all +fair competition. In their own country, the German manufacturers sold +girders at L6 10_s._ the ton. The profits made at this price enabled +them to offer the same articles in Switzerland for L6, in Great +Britain for L5 3_s._ and in Italy for L3 15_s._ Now, as the cost of +production in Germany fluctuated between L4 5_s._ and L4 15_s._ per +ton, it is evident that the dead loss incurred by the German +manufacturers on Italian sales varied between 10_s._ and L1 per ton. +But this sacrifice was offered up cheerfully because its object was +the destruction of the growing iron industry of Northern Italy and the +clearing of the ground for a German monopoly.[11] The spirit that +animates the Teuton producer, in his capacity as rival, was clearly +embodied by one of the principal manufacturers of aniline dyes in +Frankfort, who remarked to an Italian business man: "I am ready to +sell at a dead loss for ten years running rather than lose the Italian +market, and if it were necessary I would give up for the purpose all +the profits I have made during the past ten years."[12] To contend +with any hope of success against men of this stamp, one should be +imbued with qualities resembling their own. And of such a commercial +equipment the business community of Great Britain have as yet shown no +tokens. + + [11] _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_, p. 149. + + [12] _Op. cit._, p. 150. + +In Italy the Banca Commerciale was wont to send to every firm, whether +it had or had not dealings with it, a tabulated list of questions to +be answered in writing. The ostensible object was to obtain +trustworthy materials to serve for the Annual Review of the economic +movement in the country published every year by the Bank. In reality +the ends achieved were far more important, as we may infer from the +use to which all such information in France was put. There the +well-known agency of Schimmelpfeng, which was in receipt of a +subvention from the German Chamber of Commerce, was a centre of secret +information respecting the solvency, the prospects, the debts and +assets of every firm in France, and its tabulated information about +French commerce and industry, together with all the knowledge that had +been secretly gleaned, was duly sent to Berlin. + +Russians complain somewhat tardily of the prevalence of the same +system among themselves. "Every day," writes the _Novoye Vremya_, +"fresh details are leaking out respecting a certain German firm, ideal +in its resourcefulness, which succeeded in spreading a vast net over +all Russia. It has been satisfactorily established that Germans +occupied many responsible posts in the organization, and that +these[13] officials were subjects of the German Empire. At the head of +the entire business in Russia down to a recent date was also a German +subject." The kind of information gathered by the agents of the +company, "for business purposes," is clear from a circular issued by +the firm just a fortnight before the outbreak of the war. + + [13] It is an American Company for the sale of certain + machines. The Russian organ mentions all the names. For my + purpose this is unnecessary. The curious may find them in the + _Novoye Vremya_ of 5/18 August, 1915. + + +THE FIRM OF XYZ + +"Tula, + +"5/18 July, 1914. + +"_District Card for the Collectors of the Circuit._ + +"_Form N 246._ + +"We have forwarded you to-day a number of cards of the printed form N +246, which you are requested to have filled in at once and placed at +the head of form 490 of the corresponding district. We draw your +attention herewith to the necessity of enumerating on the first table +of form N 246 all the villages and other places of the circuit of each +district collector, whether or no they contain debtors of ours, and of +stating in the second table the number of inhabitants. The +registration is to be done by the official charged with that part of +the work: each circuit is to be entered separately and the villages +and places it contains to be given in alphabetical order. These lists +are to be verified every six months and fresh information set out +respecting the growing number of our debtors. We request you to take +this work in hand at once and without delay. + +"THE CONTROL DEPARTMENT, TULA." + +When this circular was published in Moscow the general director of the +firm wrote to certain provincial newspapers pointing out that the +company is American, not German. "It is curious," a Russian journal +remarks, "that an American firm should need a map containing all the +villages and hamlets of the districts, with the number of their +inhabitants, irrespective of the presence there of the company's +debtors."[14] + + [14] _Novoye Vremya_, 5/18 July, 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ANNEXATION MANIA + + +Another instructive example of the Annexation mania, as it displays +itself in German commercial undertakings, comes to us from Russia. + +It is only one of many, a typical instance of a recognized method. The +Franco-Russian joint-stock company Provodnik is known throughout +Europe. It manufactures tyres and other rubber wares. The capital, +which amounted to only 700,000 roubles at the date of its foundation, +in the year 1888, had increased to 22,000,000 by the time when war was +declared. It is closely connected with another company named the +Buffalo, which has its headquarters in Riga and was promoted by the +President of the Provodnik, M. Wittenberg, together with several +Austrian capitalists. M. Wittenberg is President of both companies, +and the Provodnik has assisted the Buffalo on various occasions, even +during the war, notwithstanding the fact that the shareholders of the +Buffalo are mostly German subjects. On January 2, 1914, another +company was created, this time in Berlin, and called the "German +Provodnik." Now, according to the instructions laying down the rights +of the Board (Par. 24), wares may not be delivered on credit to any +firm or institution for the value of more than 50,000 roubles, and +not even to this amount unless the solvency of the recipient is beyond +question. + +In spite of this clearly marked limitation the Board of the +Franco-Russian Provodnik, which exerted itself with unwonted zest to +supply the German Provodnik with motor-tyres shortly before the war, +opened a credit of 498,000 roubles in favour of this firm. The manager +of the warehouses of the Riga products in New York is a German subject +named Lindner. The managers in Zurich and Copenhagen are also German +subjects.[15] + + [15] Their names are Johann Assman and Rudolf Meyer. Cf. + _Novoye Vremya_, 11/24 August, 1915. + +It is not to be wondered at that countries like Italy and Russia, poor +in capital and industry, fell an easy prey to the ruthless German +invader, who, with the help of British, French, and even Italian and +Russian savings, suffocated the nascent industries of the respective +nations, killed foreign competition, earned large profits, obtained +control of the country's resources and an intimate knowledge of the +political secrets of their respective Governments. "Many Germans," +wrote an Italian Review,[16] "serving in Italian establishments are in +possession of lists of the fortresses, measurements, distances, +positions of the roads and footpaths, they have found the points of +triangulation and acquired all requisite data and information about +them. And to-morrow, should war break out, they will accompany and +guide the German or Austrian invaders." + + [16] _Rassegna Contemporanea._ + +How keen they are to make themselves conversant with matters of +political moment in the guise of honest workmen is becoming fairly +well known to day, although it may be taken for granted that if peace +were concluded to-morrow these same commercial spies would find +hospitality among some of the easy-going merchants of Great Britain, +who still refuse to believe in the obvious danger or to act upon their +belief. In November 1912 the Italian Minister of the Marine called for +tenders for the supply of silver dinner-plate for the warships. At the +critical moment, when the decision was about to be taken, the German +firm of Hermann, which has its headquarters in Vienna, reduced its +offer first by 18 per cent., then by 20, and finally by 20.13 per +cent. in order to get the order. For the order carried with it, for +the representative of the firm, Herr Forster, _the permanent right of +access_ to all naval arsenals of Italy.[17] + + [17] _L'Invasione tedesca in Italia_, p. 171. + +The _naivete_ of Italy in matters of this delicate nature stands out +in jarring contrast to the habitual caution of that diplomatic nation, +and has not yet been satisfactorily explained from the psychological +point of view. One is puzzled to understand how, months after the +present war had begun, the press of Genoa could announce that the +supply of electric motors for the Italian marine and of ventilators +for Italy's fortified places on her eastern frontier had been +adjudicated to two German firms, on the ground that their tenders were +the lowest.[18] + + [18] _Op. cit._, p. 171. + +One of the largest automobile and motor works in the German Empire is +the Benz and Rheinische Automobil und Motoren Fabrik Actien +Gesellschaft of Mannheim. It supplies the Kaiser with his cars and has +branches everywhere. In Italy, too, it exists and flourishes. But +there the great German firm is modestly disguised under the name of +the Societa Italiana Benz. And it is so modest that in spite of its +gorgeous warehouse in the Via Floria (Rome), of its luxurious +head-office in the Via Finanze, of its well-equipped workshop for +repairing and fitting and its little army of agents actively pushing +the business all over Italy, its capital, all told, amounts only to +30,000 lire, or L1,000! The firm is managed by a German engineer whose +kith and kin are fighting in the Kaiser's army. And this German +engineer, Herr Matt, has free access to the Italian War Minister, even +now,[19] when it is question of manufacturing projectiles; and he has +continuous relations with the Italian Airmen's Brigade. + + [19] Cf. _L'Idea Nazionale_. The words "even now" refer to + November 22, 1915, and may be equally true to-day. + +Electricity in Italy, together with all its auxiliary trades and +industries, was, like every other lucrative enterprise, in the hands +of Germans and German Swiss. The names of the various company +directors had the usual familiar Teuton sound. When the European +conflict broke out it seemed for a moment as if all these German +concerns must come to a sudden and dire end. But just as the German +engineer Herr Matt, whose relatives are officers in the Kaiser's army, +has free access to the Italian War Minister and carries on his +business in Italy as usual, so the electrical concerns had merely to +change one or two adjectives in their trading names and were forthwith +shielded from harm. A case in point which is valuable because typical +occurred recently. The Italian Electro-technical Association published +a list of the manufacturers of electric machines and requisites in +Italy, and by way of introduction set down the following patriotic +remarks: "This list is addressed to those who at the present moment +feel it to be their duty to uphold and encourage the production and +development of materials for electricity. Importation from abroad, +which we favoured when Italian industry was still in an embryonic +stage, _degenerated especially in consequence of the action of the +Germans_, into a veritable conquest of the markets; and no weapon, +licit or illicit, was spurned to destroy our sources of production, +and suffocate our nascent initiative." + +These are pathetic words. They are calculated to appeal with force to +the Italian who loves his country. But when one looks more closely +into the list of Italian producers one is disappointed to find the +same familiar names as before:[20] Allgemeine Electricitaets +Gesellschaft, Thomson Houston, the Mannesmann Tubes Co., the Italian +Brown Boveri Co., etc. The nationalist Italian press organ which first +directed public attention to these German subtleties asks pertinently: +"Were not and are not the real producers named in this list the same +who were the prime movers in the deplorable foreign conquest of the +Italian market?"[21] + + [20] Felix Deutsch, Karl Zander, Otto Joel, Karl von Siemens, + Walter Boveri, Karl Kapp, etc. + + [21] _L'Idea Nazionale_, September 8, 1915. + +The Banca Commerciale, which was admittedly an all-powerful German +institution, and has the control, direct or indirect, of most of the +industries, the silk manufacture, metallurgical and mechanical works +of the country and of thirty-four electrical companies in Italy: which +possess a capital of 434,000,000 francs and produce energy equal to +940,000 h.p.: found itself in an unpleasant predicament as soon as the +King of Italy declared war against Austria-Hungary. But Teuton +resourcefulness solved the problem with ease and seeming thoroughness +by inducing certain German officials on the board to resign and +appointing as Italian director a gentleman known for his +philo-Germanism. But the three creators of the bank were left: Herrn +Joel, Toeplitz and Weil, and although it was affirmed solemnly that +Joel was no longer the director but M. Fenoglio, it has been publicly +proved that after the resignation of the former, the latter, before +sending a _consignment of gold to Berlin_,[22] had to ask for and +actually received the authorization of Herr Joel.[23] + + [22] On May 21, 1915. + + [23] _L'Idea Nazionale_, November 8, 1915. + +The following brief summary of the companies and enterprises in which +the Banca Commerciale is interested may enable the British reader to +form an idea of its decisive influence on the economic and political +life of the Italian nation: they include eighteen of the largest +companies of textile industries; sixteen of the most important +companies of chemical, electrical and kindred industries; six of the +chief companies of alimentation; twenty-six transport companies; +twenty-seven of the principal companies of mechanical industries and +naval construction; six building companies; five of the chief mining +companies; twenty-eight of the largest electrical companies; and +twenty-two miscellaneous.[24] + + [24] _Giornale d'Italia_, November 17, 1915. + +Thus every artery and vein of the economic organism of Italy is +swathed and pressed and choked by this German isolator, which nobody +dares to pull away. For if we turn from the economic to the political +aspect of this curious phenomenon, we shall find that the companies +enumerated give work to scores of thousands of operators and +employees, through whose willing instrumentality they become vast +electoral agencies. "It is obvious," we are authoritatively assured, +"that the influence of such companies in administrative and political +elections is put forth in congruity with the interests at stake, a +circumstance which explains how it comes that many Italian politicians +and representatives are, directly or otherwise, chained to the chariot +of the Banca Commerciale and indirectly to that of Germany's +policy."[25] In Italy the deputies are, with few exceptions, the +humble servants of their constituents, and are powerless to shake +themselves free from local influences. "It is easy to infer from this +what efforts have to be made and what compromises must be acquiesced +in by those deputies whose election depends on such institutions +which, aware that money is more than ever the nerve of political +contests, subscribe to the election expenses, and assure in this way +the respectful gratitude of the parliamentary recipients of their +benefactions. And all this is executed with order and discipline. +Examples could be quoted and names mentioned."[26] + + [25] Cf. Preziosi, _La Germania a la Conquista dell' Italia_, + p. 66. + + [26] _Ibid._, p. 67. + +The unsuspected ways in which this remarkable organization destroys, +constructs and draws its sustenance from its victims are a revelation. +Imagine a few British bankers possessed of two hundred thousand pounds +and conceiving the plan of wresting the economic markets of Italy +from Britain's rivals, building up an all-powerful organization with +Italian money, throttling Italian industries and commerce with the +help of Italian agents paid for the purpose out of the hard-earned +savings of the Italian people, and then yoking the national policy to +the interests of Great Britain. One would laugh to scorn such a mad +scheme, and set down its authors as wild visionaries. Yet that was the +programme of the little band of audacious Germans who conceived the +design of teutonizing Italy. And they had almost realized it when the +war broke out. Even the halfpence scraped together by poor emigrants +and half-starved Sicilian working-men were diverted from the savings +banks into banks of German origin, two of which held four hundred +million francs of the nation's economies a few months ago. + +It was not to be expected that the domain of foreign politics should +long escape the notice or be spared the experiments of this +all-absorbing organization. What excites our wonder are the +superiority of its method and the completeness of its success. To the +thinking of Germany's leaders international politics and foreign trade +are correlates. In the Near East, where so many of Italy's interests +are now concentrated, the Societa Commerciale d'Oriente of +Constantinople, being one of the agencies of the Banca Commerciale, +was also one of the canals through which this influence passed. Under +the Italian flag and with the co-operation of Italian diplomacy, that +"little business" of Germany was conscientiously transacted which +consisted in the adaptation and employment of Italian expansion as an +instrument for Teutonic interpenetration. Whithersoever we turn our +gaze we discern, lurking under the comely vesture of Italy, the clumsy +form of the Teuton. It is amusing to reflect that the recent railway +concessions in Asia Minor, for which Italian statesmen laboured so +hard and so long, went in reality to the Banca Commerciale, which is +but a roundabout way of saying to Germany. And in order to win their +suit and have those advantages conferred on "Italy," King Victor's +Government agreed to renounce their claims for the reimbursement of +the expenses incurred during the administration of the occupied +Turkish islands. This sacrifice meant tens of millions of francs, kept +from the pockets of Italian taxpayers and handed over to the German +bankers, who spent them in promoting anti-Italian projects. The Bank +of Albania was also conceived originally as an organ of German +propaganda, and was pushed forward by the same set of agents who +induced the Italian Government to employ them as its own. + +In those ways the seemingly modest little bank scheme which Friedrich +Weil with Crispi's help initiated in 1890, grew until it acquired the +influence of a State within the State. And then it began to discharge +functions unique in the history of the banking world. Its employees +became diplomatists and statesmen at a moment's notice, ended wars, +and drafted treaties. The Banca Commerciale put a stop to the campaign +against Turkey which was a thorn in the side of Teutonism and settled +the terms of peace in accordance with its own judgment. It was not an +ambassador or a minister who opened the pourparlers in Stamboul and +continued them at Ouchy, but an agent of the Banca Commerciale. It +was that same agent who immediately afterwards, in concert with +colleagues of his bank, negotiated the treaty, reporting by telegraph +to the headquarters of the bank in Milan every important conversation +he had with the Turkish delegates.[27] At a later date important +conversations between the British Foreign Office and the Consulta were +entered into in the name and for the alleged interests of Italy, but +the principal part in the drawing up of the terms of the settlement +arrived at was taken by Signor Nogara of the Societa Commerciale +d'Oriente,--the company which the concessions demanded were destined +to benefit. In fine, the parasite had thus become almost equal in +power to the body on which it battened. + + [27] Signor Preziosi gives the names of those agents as MM. + Volpi, Bertolini and Nogara (_op. cit._, p. 71). + +A well-known politician and member of the Italian Legislature, Di +Cesaro, narrated the following curious incident in a public speech +delivered on March 17, 1915: "An Italian Admiral, having had the +audacity to request the immediate delivery of an order for arms +manufactured by the works which are under the control of the Banca +Commerciale, was relieved of his functions within twenty-four hours, +and his place was taken by another Admiral, who by chance happened to +be the brother of one of the negotiators of the Italo-Turkish Peace of +Ouchy." And as we saw, the negotiators of that peace were officials of +the Banca Commerciale. An authority on the subject[28] wrote: "For +many years the Banca Commerciale has contrived, directly or +indirectly, according to circumstances, to take a hand in the +formation of various ministries.... As a matter of fact, on its +governing board there are seven senators, many deputies, and a +numerous host of political notabilities. It has its tentacles +everywhere, high up and low down, in Italy and abroad, in peace time +and in war time, when our native land is elated with good fortune and +when it is cast down with bad. Its hand lies heavy upon everything and +everybody. It is the arbitress in the choice of good and evil and is +under no obligation to render an account of its doings to any one.... +In war time we are certain to feel greatly hampered by the meshes of +such a firmly woven net."[29] This anticipation has since come true. + + [28] Professor Bondi, ex-Questor of Milan. + + [29] Rivelazioni postume alle Memorie di un questore, 1913. + Cf. Preziosi, _La Germania a la Conquista dell' Italia_, p. + 75 ff. + +Like the vampire that soothes its victim while drawing its life-blood, +the parasitic German organism cast a spell over influential Italians +of the community and imparted to them a feeling that things were going +well with themselves and their country. Money passed from hand to +hand. Labour found remunerative employment. Towns in decay were +galvanized into new life. And all Italy was grateful. Milan, the +"moral capital" of the kingdom, where a couple of decades before the +name of Germany was execrated, became itself very largely Teutonic and +was dominated by a rich and flourishing German colony. Venice, Genoa, +Rome, Florence, Naples, Palermo and Torino, leavened in the same +plentiful degree with pushing subjects of the Kaiser, turned towards +Berlin as the sunflower towards the orb of day. + +Against Austria, Italians might write and talk to their hearts' +content, but towards Germany feelings of respect verging on awe and of +gratitude bordering on genuine friendship were cherished by every +institution and leading individual in the kingdom. And when the hour +struck to wrench Italy from that monster vampire, the task was so +arduous and fraught with such danger that no Cabinet without the +insistent encouragement of the whole nation would have attempted it. +The policy of every Foreign Secretary was and still is dominated by +this unnatural relationship to the Teuton, and it came at last to be +acknowledged as a political dogma that Germany must in no case be +confounded with Austria. Indeed, it is fair to assert that the +governing circles of both countries held and hold that nothing should +be allowed to mar these friendly feelings, not even the circumstance +that Germany as Austria's ally is bound to stand by her during the +war. Hence when the friction between Italy and Austria was growing +dangerous, Germany was ready with two expedients for keeping her +friendly intercourse with the former country intact. She first assumed +the role of umpire between them, endeavouring to beat down the demands +of the one while spurring on the other to a higher degree of +liberality, and when her well-laid and skilfully executed plan +unexpectedly failed, in consequence of the interposition of a _deus ex +machina_, she produced a draft treaty, complete in all details, which +was to rob war between Italy and herself, if circumstances should +render it unavoidable, of all its frightfulness and savagery. The two +nations virtually said to one another: "Whatever else we may do, we +shall steer clear of mutual hostilities to the best of our ability. +But as the action and reaction of alliances may thwart our efforts and +force us into war against each other, we hereby undertake that that +war shall be but a simulacrum of the struggle that we are at present +waging against all our other adversaries. We shall respect each +other's property religiously, for we shall both stand in need of each +other when the exhausting struggle is ended and the wounds it +inflicted have to be dressed and healed. We Germans have invested +thousands of millions of francs in Italy, the one foreign country for +which we feel genuine affection. You Italians have thriven on our +commercial and industrial enterprise. Spare our property now and you +shall not rue your self-containment. After the war the Entente people +will shun us as lepers, and our only hope of finding outlets for our +commerce is through the neutral States. Now, of all the European Great +Powers, Italy is the only one qualified to render us great services of +this nature. And she will be glad of a partner whose help is free from +the alloy of jealousy or hostility. For our interests do not clash, +whereas those of Italy and the Entente Powers never can run parallel. +In the Adriatic she will find the Slavs pitted against her, in Asia +Minor the Russians, French, British, Greeks, and in the Eastern +Mediterranean the three last-named States. But at no point does +Germany cross her path. Our common hope in the future is based on our +experience of the past. It is knowledge rather than trust. We Germans +succeeded in laying the foundations of your economic strength. And now +that Austria's rivalry has ceased, we will contribute to your +political growth. With the help of our organizing talent you will +become the France of the future. Your population is already well-nigh +equal to that of the Republic. In ten years it will be more numerous, +and will still go on increasing. Tunis has been built up by Italian +toil. Nature has assigned the Mediterranean to Italy as her natural +domain. The overlordship of the Midland Sea is yours by right, and in +co-partnership with us you shall assert and enforce this right. Mind +your steps, therefore, in performing the difficult egg dance which the +European War may impose on us both. You are not, cannot be, friends of +France, closely though you are related by blood. Neither can the +French become our friends. Therefore you and we are natural allies, as +your far-sighted politicians like Crispi perceived. Even Sonnino sees +that and acknowledges it. The one political idea of his life was to +solder Italy firmly to Germany. And that is still the desire of your +aristocracy. Fight with Austria, if you must, but Italy and Germany +must not become armed enemies." + +Nearly two milliards of francs of German money are invested in +commercial and industrial enterprises and immovable property in Italy, +besides the value of ships detained at Italian ports, some of which +have cargoes valued at several million francs. The Kaiser is himself +the largest shareholder in the Italian mercury mines of Monte Amiata, +his Foreign Secretary, von Jagow, is another. And they are resolved +not to relinquish their hold. That Prince von Buelow should move every +lever to save this precious pledge was natural, and that Italian +statesmen with their germanophile leanings should readily fall in with +his scheme is not to be wondered at. The Kaiser's ambassador proposed +that in the case of war each contracting party should respect the +property of the other. This formula sounds decorous. Its meaning is +profound. A treaty embodying these stipulations was agreed to and +secretly signed by Prince von Buelow and Baron Sidney Sonnino, whose +admiration for Germany embodied itself in all the more important acts +of his political career. This transaction, which the Italian +Government wisely refrained from publishing, was announced by the +Germans for reasons of their own. The impression produced by this +display of eclectic affinities so pronounced that even the world's +most ruthless war could not impair them was considerable. And it would +have been heightened if the alleged and credible fact had also been +divulged that the diplomatic instrument was ratified when Italy had +already decided upon war with Austria-Hungary. Between Italy and +Germany stands a bridge which both peoples are resolved to keep intact +at all costs. Against the facts it is useless to argue. + +The struggle between Germany and Italy, therefore, should it ever +break out, would differ not merely in degree, but also, one may take +it, in kind, from the lawless and ruthless savagery which +characterizes the warfare of the Teutons against the Entente Powers. A +civilizing mute would deaden the resonance of bestial passion; and +even private property--in especial that of Germany--would be safe from +confiscation and wanton destruction, and when peace is restored the +rich mercury mines of Italy will again belong to the Kaiser and his +advisers. Last summer[30] a series of private meetings was held for +three days running in Switzerland, at which Germans of high standing +took part, for the purpose of dealing with German capital in Italy and +safeguarding it during the war. At one of the sittings it was computed +that about two milliards of francs belonging to German subjects are +buried in Italian undertakings or in house or landed property. + + [30] 1915. + +In November 1915 the Italian Government publicly applied one of the +provisions of the secret treaty in favour of Germany. At that moment +it was deemed necessary to commandeer German ships in Italian ports +for the service of the navy and the mercantile marine. Had it been a +question of Austrian vessels they would have been seized and utilized +without any such precautions. In virtue of Sec.4 of the Treaty the +Italian authorities undertook to pay a monthly sum to the German +owners for the use of their steamers. That clause lays it down that +the two contracting states shall respect the enactment made by the +concluding section of Article VI of the Hague Convention concerning +the treatment of enemy merchant vessels. + +This treaty, then, is no mere scrap of paper. It is a strong bridge +spanning the chasm between Italo-German friendship in the past and +Italo-German friendship after the war. To take due note of this and of +like symptoms of the coming readjustment of political and economic +forces is one of the primary duties of Entente statesmanship which one +piously hopes are being efficiently discharged. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GERMANY AND RUSSIA + + +Turning to our other ally, Russia, we find that she underwent a course +of treatment similar to that which well-nigh prussianized Italy. In +the Tsardom the task was especially easy owing largely to the +advantages offered to Teutonic immigrants from the days of yore, to +the German-speaking inhabitants of the Baltic provinces, to the +proselytizing German schools which flourish in Petrograd, Moscow, +Odessa, Kieff, Saratoff, Simbirsk, Tiflis, Warsaw and other centres, +to German colonies scattered over Russia and to religious sects. +During the Manchurian campaign the Commercial Treaty drafted in +Berlin, and at first denounced by Count Witte as ruinous to his +country, was agreed to and signed.[31] It was Hobson's choice. After +that the empire, which had already been a favourite and fruitful field +for Germany's experiments, became one of the most copious sources of +her national prosperity. Commercial push and political espionage were +so thoroughly fused that no line of demarcation remained visible. + + [31] In June 1904. + +Russia's losses were proportionate and at the time were computed at +35,000,000 marks a year. In the Tsardom the imposition of this tribute +was resented. By the Teutons their economic victory was followed by +political influence. Their agents and spies abounded everywhere. Time +passed, and as relations between the two empires grew tenser, the +danger defined itself in sharper outline to the eyes of Russian +statesmen, who resolved, however, to postpone remedial measures until +the day should come for the discussion of the renewal of the +Commercial Treaty. The knowledge that Russia would refuse either to +prolong that one-sided arrangement or to make another like it, and +that the consequences of this refusal would be disastrous to Germany's +economic and financial position, stimulated German statesmen to bring +matters to a head before Russia could back her recalcitrance with a +reorganized army, and was one of the contributory causes of the +European struggle. + +Since then the war has flashed a brilliant light on the dark places of +German intrigue, and some of the sights revealed are hardly credible. +Whithersoever one turns one is confronted with the same striking +phenomenon; the preponderant influence wielded in almost every walk of +life, private and public, by institutions and individuals who in some +open or clandestine way are under German tutelage. In the sphere of +economics this is particularly noticeable. Three-fourths of Russia's +foreign trade was in German hands. Dealings between Russians and +foreigners were transacted chiefly through Germany. Imports and +exports passed principally through German offices, established +throughout the length and breadth of the Tsardom, and commercial +dealings were conducted by merchants in Berlin, Hamburg, Koenigsberg, +Leipzig, and other centres of the Fatherland. Merchandise was carried +in and out of the country by German railway lines, or to German ports +in German bottoms. Even American cotton and Australian wool and tallow +were disposed of in Russia by German middlemen who had them conveyed +in German steamers. On the other hand, Russian corn, sugar, spirits, +were taken to Europe by German transport firms. Intending Russian +emigrants were sought out by agents of German steamship companies, +sent to German ports and accommodated on German steamers. In brief, +whenever the Tsar's subjects had anything to sell to the foreigner or +to buy from him, their first step was to go in search of a German, +through whom the sale or purchase might be effected. + +In domestic economics the same phenomenon was everywhere noticeable. +To a Russian's success in almost any commercial or industrial venture, +the co-operation of the German was an indispensable condition. +Individual enterprise might sow and governmental legislation might +water, but it was German goodwill that vouchsafed the fruit. Wherever +Russian industry showed its head, Germans flocked thither to take the +concern in hand, regulate its growth, and co-ordinate its effects with +those of other industries which were under the patronage of German +banks. It was in vain that Witte and his fellow workers threw up +barriers that seemed impassable to German enterprise. They were turned +with ease and rapidity. Thus in order to protect the textile +industries of Moscow, prohibitive tariffs were levied on textile +fabrics of German origin. But the irrepressible Teuton crossed the +frontier, established his factories in Poland, founded the +German-Jewish town of Lodz, and snapped his fingers at the Government +of the Tsar. And forthwith Lodz assumed all the characteristics of a +German city. German schools flourished there, German agents abounded, +German became the recognized language, and permission was at one time +given to German reserves there, to undergo their periodic term of +military drill for the Kaiser's army! + +Of the three Entente Powers challenged by Germany in 1914, Russia was +therefore by far the worst equipped for the unwonted effort which the +European War demanded of each. For her liberty of action, and, in some +cases, even her liberty of choice, was hampered by the financial, +economic, and political network which Germany had slowly and almost +imperceptibly woven over the entire population. In the fine meshes of +this net several organs of national life were caught, immobilized and +connected with the Fatherland. And it was not until they strove to +move and discharge their functions on behalf of the Russian nation +that they became fully conscious of their plight. German intrigue and +subterranean scheming, under the mask of sympathy--now for the +autocracy, now for socialism--had effected far-reaching changes in the +Empire, which few even among observant politicians appear to have +realized. These innovations were embodied in the thraldom of Russian +banks to German financial institutions; in the splendid organization +which kept old German colonies that were scattered over the Empire in +touch with each other, and co-ordinated their action; in the eloquent +Russian advocates and influential dignitaries who contributed to the +furtherance of German ideas and interests and swayed the policy of +the State; and in the dependence of the great Russian Empire on its +enemy for munitions, and almost every other technical necessary of +war. + +From the days of the great Peter this Teuton influence had been +creeping imperceptibly over the Slav race like some cancerous +soul-growth. It infused a subtle poison in the State organism, the +most appalling effects of which are only now assuming visible shape. +Two palace revolutions were brought about by a national reaction +against the predominance of this foreign influence, which was resented +by the people not merely because it was alien, but largely also +because of its unscrupulous and ruthless character. Some of the most +atrocious cruelties which students of Russian history associate with +court and political life in the Tsardom, during the best part of two +centuries, had their sources in the sheer malignity of Teuton +Ministers who spoke and acted in the name of the autocrat of the +moment. It is characteristic that the Minister Muennich, in the school +for officers which he founded in Petersburg, had Russian history +eliminated from the programme as superfluous, German history being +allowed to remain; and that out of 255 students, only eighteen studied +the Russian language, whereas 237 applied themselves to German. The +first Sovereign to rebel against this Teuton supremacy in his Empire +was the late Alexander III., who made no secret of his profound +dislike for German ways. But as the Russian proverb has it, "one man +in the field, is not a soldier." Hercules, to cleanse the Augean +stables, had need of the water of a river, and the anti-German Tsar +could not hope to make headway without the co-operation of his army of +officials, who themselves were permeated with the Teutonic spirit. And +as passive resistance was their attitude, his purging scheme was +abortive. As a matter of cool calculation, the only hope of freeing +Russia from the meshes of the German net was a war between the two +peoples. And all radical legislation had therefore to be postponed. + +In the meanwhile the Germans, having organized and primed their +agents, have been teutonizing Russia cunningly and effectively. With +the precious assistance of their own kith and kin settled in the +Baltic provinces and elsewhere, they employed the never-failing +expedient of taking an active and, when possible, a leading part in +domestic Russian politics, and invariably on both sides. At the Court +they have always been well represented, and in the ranks of the +inarticulate and Parliamentary Opposition they have also been playing +a noteworthy part. In factories and other industrial and commercial +institutions they arranged strikes, called indignation meetings and +hatched conspiracies at critical junctures when it was to Germany's +interest that Russia's attention should be riveted upon home affairs. +No Parliamentary Bill could be privately drafted, no railway scheme +could be secretly discussed, no Ministerial measure could be +canvassed; nay, seldom could a confidential report be drawn up to the +Emperor himself without the knowledge of the Berlin authorities and +the occasional intervention of their agents in Petrograd. It is +interesting to note that in 1914 a secret memorandum of a highly +confidential character, from a statesman to the Tsar, found its way +to Berlin soon after it had been presented to the monarch and had a +certain influence on the decisions which led to the war. + +The work of economic interpenetration carried on under the aegis of +such powerful patrons and resourceful coadjutors was greatly +facilitated by the German colonies scattered over Russia for +generations. Many of these foreigners had been invited by Catherine +II., receiving large grants of land and various privileges which +enabled them to flourish at the expense of the native population, on +which they looked down with open contempt. + +At that time the extent of free land was considerable in Bessarabia, +Volhynia, and the provinces of Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, Saratoff and +Samara, where down to the year 1915 entire cantons were inhabited by +Germans. In the Novouzensky canton, for example, they constituted 40 +per cent. of the population, in that of Berdyansk 17 per cent. and in +the Akkerman canton 14 per cent. The inducements which had been held +out to them to settle in these fertile districts were irresistible. +Each colonist received fifty dessiatines of land,[32] extensive +pastures for cattle, grants for the journey and the cost of stocking +his farm, absolute immunity from all taxes, rates and military +service, and complete local autonomy apart from that of the Russian +community. + + [32] About 107 acres. + +The Germans whom these boons attracted were of two categories: +sectarians (Menonites), who eschewed military service on religious +grounds; and ne'er-do-wells, who objected to the restraints of law and +justice in the Fatherland; besides a considerable percentage of +tramps. Most of the men of the second category fared as badly in their +adopted country as they had in their native land. They gave themselves +up to intemperance and kindred vices, and their descendants still lead +a hand-to-mouth existence in the Tsardom which their privileges alone +could not better. The sectarians, on the other hand, formed a compact +co-operative body, and by dint of persevering industry and shrewdness, +made the most of their favoured position and prospered. With their +common savings they purchased such vast tracts of land from the +neighbouring gentry that in time the Russian population was +constrained to emigrate to Siberia and other distant parts of the +Empire. And when the present conflict was unchained they were in +possession of an area of fertile land bigger than Pomerania, which is +one of the largest provinces of Prussia. In the Volga country alone +they owned 879,420 dessiatines, or, say, 1,884,471 acres! In the south +of Russia there are 519 German settlements, and the area they occupy +is estimated at more than 31,252 square versts.[33] And the land of +the country gentry in the neighbouring districts was fast passing into +their hands.[34] They have their own local government, their banks +which help them to acquire Russian land, their insurance companies and +their schools. In short, they were a compact little State within the +Tsardom. + + [33] One square verst is equal to 0.44 square mile. + + [34] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, October 5, 1914. + +The sectarians still hold aloof from the native population. Indeed, +almost the only relations in which they stand to Russians are those +of masters and agricultural labourers. They hire Russian peasants to +till their land and they compel them to work hard for small wages. +Many of these colonies have the appearance of little German towns. +They have added industrial pursuits to agricultural, possess flour +mills, timber mills, and plough their farms with German implements. +They are aggressively German in sentiment, language, character and +Kultur. + +That in brief is the history of one type of German colonization in the +Tsardom. There is another at which it may not be amiss to cast a +glance. It is of recent date and consists of German elements already +resident in the Tsardom. It is a monument of Teuton audacity and Slav +forbearance. One might ransack the history of European nations without +finding another such instance of downright effrontery and disloyalty +on the part of a privileged section of the community, and of +easy-going toleration on the part of the State. The German elements of +the provinces of Kurland and Livland, subjects of the Tsar though they +are, resolved after the abortive revolution of 1906 to raise a living +wall against the rising tide of Russian influence. And as is the wont +of the Teuton throughout the world, they employed Russia's men and +Russia's money to achieve their anti-Russian object. This object was +to attract some twenty thousand Germans to the province, provide them +with farms on easy terms, and look to time, the industry of the men, +the fecundity of the women and the teachings of the schools to create +a new German State in that part of the Russian Empire. It was part of +the functions of these colonists, we are frankly told by their +historiographer,[35] "to serve, even as armed defenders" against the +Russians! In no other country on the globe is such a scheme +conceivable. + + [35] His name is Dr. Fritz Wertheimer. His writings are to be + found in various periodicals. The essay from which these data + are taken was published in the _Frankfurter Zeitung_, January + 8, 1916. + +The undertaking was organized and carried out by two brothers, +Broedrich by name, in one of whom the Tsar's Government placed implicit +confidence and evinced it by appointing him to be chief of the police +in the canton of Goldingen. In this post of trust the German leader +was able to further the anti-Russian cause materially. And he utilized +his opportunities to the utmost for the purpose during the five years +of his tenure of office. He himself travelled in search of suitable +German colonists and had numerous agents on the look-out for such. He +finally got about 13,000 to settle in Kurland and 7000 in Livland. The +Kurlandische Kreditverein advanced the necessary capital as mortgagee +of the land, and within five or six years many of the colonists had +already paid off their debts, sold their farms to other Germans and +bought untilled land in the neighbourhood for themselves. The school +was responsible for the required standard of German patriotism. The +success of the experiment exceeded the highest expectations, and +to-day the man of confidence of the Tsar's Government, Karl Robert +Broedrich, is become chief of the local administration under Wilhelm +II., and deservedly enjoys the confidence of the Kaiser's Ministers. + +This type of German invasion in Russia, especially in recent years, +was carried out with a supreme disdain of the laws of the Empire +which is equally characteristic of those who display and those who +tolerate it. In virtue of a law inscribed in the Statute Book on 14/26 +March 1887, foreigners are not permitted to purchase or own land +outside the cities in the provinces of Kurland and Livland, whereas in +Esthland there is no such prohibition. Yet in Esthland only 6396 +dessiatines belong to Germans, whereas in the two provinces whence +they are absolutely excluded Germans possess 36,852 dessiatines and +6396 dessiatines respectively! In the territory of the Don Cossacks no +foreigner may possess land under any circumstance, yet the Germans own +there 3700 dessiatines. Again, in the provinces of Podolia and +Volhynia, where, for State reasons, the ownership of land is allowed +only to Russians, Germans purchased and own 63,831 dessiatines in the +latter province and 12,475 in the former. Altogether the amount of +Russian territory which passed into the hands of the Teutons is +enormous. In July 1915, when the inventory was not yet completed, the +area inscribed had reached the total of 2,450,000 dessiatines or about +5,250,000 acres.[36] "This figure--" we are assured--"is still far +from complete, inasmuch as a large number of data from various +provinces have not been included in it, and there are no entries at +all for the three provinces of the kingdom of Poland where military +operations are going on and where unhappily the presence of German +colonists has been utilized by the German General Staff."[37] + + [36] _Novoye Vremya_, July 2, 1915. + + [37] By a law sanctioned by the Tsar, in February 1915, the + German Colonists of Southern and Western Russia were obliged + to sell their land to Russian subjects, and they received ten + months' grace for the purpose. + +In Poland there were well over 500,000 German colonists, besides a +large number of new-comers, whose unwritten "privileges" included, as +we saw, occasional permission to their young men liable to serve a few +weeks annually in the ranks of the German army to discharge that duty +under German officers in Russian Poland! In the Ukraine and the most +fertile districts of the Volga basin hundreds of thousands of Germans +lived, throve, and upheld the traditions as well as the language of +the Fatherland, under the eyes of tolerant local authorities. + +Hard by old Novgorod, the once famous Russian republic and cradle of +the Russian State, a number of German colonists settled some 150 years +ago. The population of two of these settlements numbers several +thousand souls, descendants of the original settlers, in the fourth +and fifth generation. They had had time enough, one would think, +during that century-and-a-half to assimilate Russian ways and to +acquire a thorough knowledge of the Russian tongue. Well, these +colonists do not speak the language of the country in which they and +their forbears have been living for over 150 years! They still +consider themselves German, and if you ask them who their sovereign is +they answer unhesitatingly--Kaiser Wilhelm! During Russia's recent +military reverses, which threatened for a time to culminate in the +capture of Riga, and possibly of Petrograd as well, these parasites in +the body politic of Russia displayed their joy in various unseemly +ways, which aroused the indignation of their Slav neighbours. In one +of their schools the Russian visiting authorities were received with +demonstrations of hostility. It is usual for the portrait of the +Russian Tsar to be set up in every school in the Empire. In one of +these educational establishments it was discovered in the lavatory +with the eyes gouged out. + +Long before this war Berlin had become alive to the importance of +these colonies as factors in the work of pacific interpenetration and +political propaganda. Wandering teachers from the Fatherland were +accordingly sent among them to link them up with their brethren at +home, and fan the embers of patriotism which long residence in the +Tsardom had not quenched. Little by little, the political fruits of +these apostolic labours began to show themselves: the colonists, whose +main preoccupation had been to occupy the most fertile soil in the +district, began to take over the approaches to Russia's strategic +plans, and to display an absorbing interest in Russian politics. +Several Zemstvos fell into their hands, and were practically +controlled by them, and they contrived to gain considerable influence +in the elections to the Duma. + +The chance of a useful part for these German colonies to perform +having thus unexpectedly arisen on the horizon, they seized it with +promptitude and utilized it with the thoroughness that characterizes +their race. The numbers prosperity, and influence of the colonies grew +rapidly. Land that had belonged to the Russian peasantry was taken +over by the foreign parasites, and while the Tsar's Minister, were +toiling and moiling to transport hundreds of thousands of Russian +husbandmen and their families in search of land beyond the Ural +Mountains to the virgin forests of Eastern Siberia, there in the very +heart of European Russia were hundreds of thousands of intruders, +who, with the help of their German Colonial banks, were acquiring +additional tracts of land from which their native owners had been +ousted. + +I pointed out this anomaly over and over again, and long before the +war I described it in review articles. The well-known German +Professor, Hans Delbrueck, replied shortly afterwards, in the +_Contemporary Review_,[38] denying point-blank the truth of my +statements, which were drawn from official sources, and confirmed by +the evidence of my senses. For I had visited several of the colonies +in question. Besides these German settlements, there had also been a +number of German industrial and commercial establishments in the +Empire which, at first nowise harmful, were afterwards taken in hand +by emissaries from Berlin, linked up together, affiliated to one or +other of the great financial houses of Germany, and transformed into +redoubtable instruments of Teuton domination. Capital was subscribed, +syndicates were formed, railway-building and electro-technical +industries were organized, Russia's railways policy modified, and +metallurgical works were monopolized by the Germans. Here again +financial institutions discharged the functions of motive power. At +the beginning, about thirty million roubles were subscribed for the +creation of banks, and by dint of push, importunity, secret influence +and intrigue, these institutions received on deposit the savings of +the Russian peasant, merchant, landowner, and official, which finally +mounted up to several hundreds of millions. With this money they were +enabled to control the markets and constrain Russian institutions and +individuals to bow to their will. + + [38] Cf. _Contemporary Review_, February 1911. + +Contracts in Russia were appropriately drafted in the German language, +being directed to the promotion of German interests. Incipient and +even long-established Russian firms were either killed by unfair +competition or compelled to enter the syndicates and forego their +national character. Inventions and new appliances were tested, +plagiarized, and employed in the service of the Fatherland. And while +preparing for the war which was to set Germany above the +nations--_Deutschland ueber Alles_--these syndicates followed the +policy dictated from Berlin, sowed discord between Russian firms and +various State departments, organized strikes and paid the strikers in +competing establishments, and thus deprived the Russian State of +industrial organs on which it would necessarily have to rely in +war-time. To give but one example of this cleverly devised attack, the +cotton industry of the Tsardom was in the hands of the Germans when +war was declared. Another of the most important groups of Russian +industries is that of naphtha. When this precious liquid is dear, many +of the lesser works have to close; when it is cheap, even small +industrial enterprises are able to go on working. By way of obtaining +complete control of this vital element of Russia's industrial life, +the Deutsche Bank went to work to form a syndicate, had a number of +private wells bought up, united them in one, acquired numerous shares +in Russian oil companies, and had the manager of another German +bank--the well-known Disconto Gesellschaft--made a member of the Board +of the Russian Nobel Company. + +One of the results of this ingenious deal was a sharp rise in the +prices of all the products and some of the by-products of naphtha. The +increase continued at an alarming rate, filling the pockets of the +German shareholders, whose syndicates received the oil at cost price +for their own consumption, while Russian firms were forced to acquire +it at the market value or to shut down their works. Amongst the worst +sufferers from these anti-Russian tactics were the steam-navigation +companies of the Volga, which had jealously warded off all attempts to +germanize them. + +In conditions as restrictive as these, it is well-nigh impossible for +Russian industry to hold its own, much less prosper and grow. And only +the most vigorous and best-organized enterprises in the Empire, like +that of the Morozoffs in Moscow, managed to pursue their way +unscathed. In Russian Poland, where textile industries flourished, and +the total annual production was valued at 294,000,000 roubles, over +one-third of these industries belonged to the Germans, whose yearly +output amounted to more than one-half of the grand total, _i.e._, to +150,000,000 roubles.[39] In all these industrial and commercial +campaigns the German prime movers had carried out their operations +more or less openly. But where interests affecting the defences of the +Empire were concerned, caution was the first condition of success, +and, as usual, the Teutons proved supple and adaptable. By way of +levying an attack against the shipbuilding industry, they pushed shaky +Russian concerns into the foreground, while studiously keeping +themselves out of view. Thus in one case new Russian banks were +founded, and old ones in a state of decay were revived by means of +German capital and encouraged to form a syndicate with the +Nikolayeffsky shipbuilding works and certain foreign banks. An +official inquiry, presided over by Senator Neidhardt, lately revealed +the significant fact that each firm of this syndicate had bound itself +to demand identical prices for the construction of Russian ships, and +under no circumstances to abate an iota of the demand. And it was +further agreed that these prices _should be so calculated as to yield +to the members of the syndicate one hundred per cent. profit_. + + [39] Cf. Duma debates of August 1914. + +This allegation is not a mere inference, nor a rumour. It is an +established fact. Neither is the proof circumstantial; it consists of +the original agreement in writing signed by the authorized +representatives of the institutions concerned. The data were laid +before the members of the Russian Duma by A. N. Khvostoff.[40] Thus +the Russian peasant is taxed for the creation of a fleet, and the Duma +votes an initial credit of, say, 500,000,000 roubles for the purpose. +And if the shipbuilding companies and their financial bankers were +honest the aim could be achieved. But in the circumstances what it +comes to is that the nation must pay 500,000,000 more, in order to get +what it wants. And this tax of a hundred per cent. is levied by German +parasites on the Russian people. One might scrutinize the history of +corruption in every country of Europe without finding anything to beat +this Teutonic device, which at the same time gratified the cupidity of +the money-makers and dealt a stunning blow at the Russian State. Half +of the shares of the celebrated Putiloff munitions factory are said to +have belonged to the Austrian Skoda Works. + + [40] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, August 17, 1915. + +At the outset of the present war, when Russia's needs were growing +greater and more pressing, the works controlled by Germans and +Germany's agents diminished their output steadily. In lieu of turning +out, say, 30,000 poods of iron they would produce only 5,000, and +offer instead of the remainder verbal explanations to the effect that +lack of fuel or damage to the machinery had caused the diminution. +Again, one of these ubiquitous banks buys a large amount of corn or +sugar, but instead of having it conveyed to the districts suffering +from a dearth of that commodity, deposits it in a safe place and +waits. In the meantime prices go up until they reach the prohibition +level. Then the bank sells its stores in small quantities. The people +suffer, murmur, and blame the Government. Nor is it only the average +man who thus complains. In the Duma the authorities have been severely +blamed for leaving the population to the mercy of those money-grubbers +whom German capital and Russian tribute are making rich. "Averse to go +to the root of the matter," one Deputy complained, "the Government +punishes a woman who, on the market sells a herring five copecks +dearer than the current price, yet at the same time it permits the +Governors to promulgate their own arbitrary laws regulating imports +and exports from their own provinces. In this way Russia is split up +into sixty different regions, each one of which pursues its own policy +unchecked." + +The importance of the role played by the banks financed by German +capital in Russia can hardly be overstated. They advance money on the +crops and take railway and steamship invoices as guarantees--they are +centres of information respecting everybody who resides and everything +that goes on in the district and the province. I write with personal +knowledge of their working, for I watched it at close quarters in the +Volga district and the Caucasus with the assistance of an experienced +bank manager. Their political influence can be far-reaching, and the +services which they are enabled to render to the Fatherland are +appreciable. And they rendered them willingly. As extenders of +Germany's economic power in the Empire they merited uncommonly well of +their own kindred. Thus of Russia's total imports in the year 1910, +which were valued at 953,000,000 roubles, Germany alone contributed +goods computed at 440,000,000. These consisted mainly of raw cotton, +machinery, prepared skins, chemical products, and wool. + +How steadily our rivals kept ousting the British out of Russian +markets by those means may be gathered from the following comparative +tables. The percentage of Russia's requirements supplied by the two +competing nations varied, during the fifteen years between 1898 and +1913, as follows-- + +_Year._ _Germany supplied._ _Britain supplied._ + +1898-1902 34.6 per cent. 18.6 per cent. +1903-1907 37.2 " 14.8 " +1908-1910 41.6 " 13.4 " +1911 45.4 " 12.2 " +1912 47.5 " 12.6 " +1913 49.6 " 13.3 " + +In the year 1901 Germany supplied 31 per cent. of the total value of +Russia's imports; in 1905 her contribution was 42 per cent.; and the +increase went steadily forward, reaching over 50 per cent. in the year +1913. If we add to this the net profits of German industrial and +commercial undertakings in the Russian Empire, we may form a notion of +the appropriateness of the comparison which likened the Tsardom to a +vast German colony. The entire economic system of the country was +rapidly approaching the colonial type. And to these economic results +one should add the political. + +It is fair to assume that at the outset the main motive of this +industrial invasion was the quest of commercial profit. Subconsciously +political objects may have been vaguely present to the minds of these +pioneers, as indeed they have ever been to the various categories of +German emigrants in every land, European and other. But in the first +instance the creation of German industries in Russia was part of a +deliberate plan to elude the heavy tariffs on manufactured goods. It +has been aptly described by an Italian publicist[41] as legal +contraband, and it supplies us with a striking example of German +enterprise and tenacity. It attained its object fully. About +three-fourths of the textile and metallurgical production in the +Tsardom, the entire chemical industry, the breweries, 85 per cent. of +the electrical works and 70 per cent. of gas production were German. +And of the capital invested in private railways no less than +628,000,000 roubles belongs to Germans. Even Russian municipalities +were wont to apply to Germany for their loans, and of the first issues +of thirty-five Russian municipal loans no less than twenty-two were +raised in the Fatherland. + + [41] Virginio Gayda. + +The necessity of waging war against this potent enemy within the gates +intensified Russia's initial difficulties to an extent that can hardly +be realized abroad, and was a constant source of unexpected and +disconcerting obstacles. Some time before the opening of the war, a +feeling of restiveness, an impulse to throw off the German yoke, had +been gradually displaying itself in the Press, in commercial circles, +and in the Duma. These aspirations and strivings were focussed in the +firm resolve of the Russian Government, under M. Kokofftseff, to +refuse to renew the Treaty of Commerce which was enabling Germany to +flood the Empire with her manufactures and to extort a ruinous tribute +from the Russian nation. Two years more and the negotiations on this +burning topic would have been inaugurated, and there is little doubt +in my mind--there was none in the mind of the late Count Witte--that +the upshot of these conversations would have been a Russo-German war. +For there was no other less drastic way of freeing the people from the +domination of German technical industries and capital, and the +consequent absorption of native enterprise. + +When diplomatic relations were broken off, and war was finally +declared, Germany was already the unavowed protectress of Russia. And +when people point, as they frequently do, to the war as the greatest +blunder ever committed by the Wilhelmstrasse since the Fatherland +became one and indivisible, I feel unable to see with them eye to eye. +Seemingly it was indeed an egregious mistake, but so obvious were the +probable consequences which made it appear so that even a German of +the Jingo type would have gladly avoided it had there not been another +and less obvious side to the problem. We are not to forget that in +Berlin it was perfectly well known that Russia was determined to +withdraw from her Teutonic neighbour the series of one-sided +privileges accorded to her by the then existing Treaty of Commerce, +and that this determination would have been persisted in, even at the +risk of war. And for war the year 1914 appeared to be far more +auspicious to the German than any subsequent date. + +Handicapped by these foreign parasites who were systematically +deadening the force of its arm, the Russian nation stood its ground +and Germany drew the sword. + +Improvisation--the worst possible form of energy in a war crisis--was +now the only resource left to the Tsar's Ministers. And the financial +problems had first of all to be faced. In this, as in other spheres, +the country was bound by and to Germany, so that the task may fairly +be characterized as one of the most arduous that was ever tackled by +the Finance Minister of any country--even if we include the +resourceful Calonne. And M. Bark, who had recently come into office, +was new not only to the work, but also to the politics of finance in +general. Happily, his predecessor, who, whatever his critics may +advance to the contrary, was one of the most careful stewards the +Empire has ever possessed, had accumulated in the Imperial Bank a gold +reserve of over 1,603,000,000 roubles, besides a deposit abroad of +140,720,000 roubles. Incidentally it may be noted that no other bank +in the world has ever disposed of such a vast gold reserve. + +Although one of the richest countries in Europe, Russia's wealth is +still under the earth, and therefore merely potential. Her burden of +debt was heavy. For at the outbreak of the war the disturbing effects +of the Manchurian campaign and its domestic sequel, which had cost the +country 3,016,000,000 roubles, had not yet been wholly shaken off. +And, unlike her enemy, Russia had no special war fund to draw upon. As +the national industries were unable to furnish the necessary supplies +to the army, large orders had to be placed abroad and paid for in +gold. At the same moment Russia's export trade practically ceased, and +together with it the one means of appreciably easing the strain. The +issue of paper money in various forms was increased, loans were +raised, private capital was withdrawn from the country, various less +abundant sources of public revenue vanished, and the favourable +balance of trade dropped from 442,000,000 roubles to 85,500,000. +Germany, on the other hand, possessed her war fund, in addition to +which she had levied a property tax of a milliard marks a year before +the outbreak of hostilities; she further drew in enormous sums in gold +from circulation, and generally mobilized her finances systematically. + +But Russia was compelled to improvise, to make bricks without straw. +Her war on a front of two thousand versts long had to be waged with +whatever materials happened to be available. Japan--who, I have little +doubt, will be found at the close of the great struggle to have +benefited largely by her pains--exerted herself to provide munitions +for her new friend and ally. The United States, Great Britain and +France also contributed their quota. For many of these orders placed +abroad gold had to be exported, and as Russia has no other natural way +of importing gold but by selling corn, which there were no means of +transporting, a sensible depreciation of the rouble resulted. Great +Britain and France have also had to make heavy purchases abroad for +their military needs, but these two countries can still export wares +extensively and keep the payments in gold within certain limits. Even +Italy receives a noteworthy part of her annual revenue in the shape of +emigrants' remittances from abroad. But once Russia's gates were +closed and her corn had to remain in the granaries, elevators, or at +railway stations, the shortage in her revenue became absolute. During +the first three months of the year 1915 the value of Russian exports +over the Finnish frontier and the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea was +only 23,000,000 roubles, showing a falling off of about 93 per cent., +as compared with the worth of the produce exported during the +corresponding three months of the preceding year. + +It is a curious fact that part of this reduced trade continued to be +carried on with Germany for months after the war had begun. A Russian +publicist has remarked that at the opening of the campaign the voice +of the nation was heard saying: "Corn we have in plenty, and +vegetables and salt. It is we who feed Europe. Germany will therefore +starve without our corn. Our armies may retreat, but our corn will go +with them; and the more the Germans advance into Russia, the further +they are away from their bread." And in this the average Russian saw a +pledge of victory. But before six months had lapsed, the everyday man +grew indignant. For he learned that his corn was being conveyed +through Finland and Sweden into Germany, and in such vast quantities +as had never before been heard of. Here is a street scene illustrative +of this traffic and the feelings it aroused. A long string of carts +laden with flour blocks in one of the Petrograd streets leading to a +bridge over the Neva; a General walking with his wife stops one of the +drivers and asks: "Wherever are you taking the flour to?" "Where do +you suppose? Sure we're taking it to the Germans. We have to feed the +creatures. They are a bit faint." "There you see!" exclaimed the +General to his wife; "didn't I tell you? And every morning without +fail the same long line of carts blocks the streets while our corn is +being taken to the Germans!"[42] It is to be feared that this commerce +has not yet wholly ceased. For the Russians, like ourselves, are +considerate of the Germans. + + [42] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, February 24, 1915. + +That that story of trading with the enemy is no idle anecdote is +evident from the circumstance, based on official Russian statistics, +that during ten months from August to May, while the war was being +waged relentlessly between the two empires, Russia bought from Germany +no less than 36,000,000 roubles' worth of manufactures. How much the +Central Empires purchased from Russia, I am unable to say. That +commerce is one of the almost inevitable consequences of improvisation +and one of the most sinister. Some months after the outbreak of the +war the Imperial Government levied a duty of a hundred per cent. on +all commodities coming from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. That +was assumed to be a prohibitive tariff. But it failed to keep out +imports from the Fatherland. In the one month of April 1915, Germany +sent 3,000,000 roubles' worth of manufactured goods into Russia, and +in May 2,500,000 roubles' worth. And the Allied Press was then +descanting on the stagnation in German trade and the starvation of the +German people. The explanation of this anomaly lies in the unforeseen +and enormous scarcity and rise of prices in the home markets. Some +metal wares--for instance, various kinds of instruments and of wire +appliances, etc.--are not to be had in Russia for love or money, +consequently a hundred per cent. duty is but a heavy tax paid by the +consumer, not an effective prohibition.[43] Since then, I am assured, +the Government has adopted stringent measures which some people +believe to have put an end to that form of trading with the enemy. + + [43] Cf. _Utro Rossiyi_, August 28, 1915. + +It is hard for foreigners to realize the plight to which Russia has +been reduced by the closing of her gates. As the Nile waters were the +source of Egypt's prosperity, so the abundant Russian harvests +constitute the life-giving ichor which flows in the veins of the +Russian nation. Without superfluous corn for exportation, the State +would be unable to meet its obligations, maintain its solvency, or +provide the motive power of progress. The exportation of agricultural +produce was the fountain head not only of Russia's material +well-being, but of her moral and cultural evolution: everything, in a +word, was dependent upon plentiful harvests and extensive sales of +cereals abroad. And, suddenly, the gates were closed, the corn was +stored, and the nation left without its revenue. Nobody but a Russian, +or one who has lived long in the country, can realize fully all that +this tremendous blow connotes. Parenthetically, it may be remarked +that it adds a motive, and one of the most potent, to those which +inspire the heroic sacrifices of the people, quickening the flame of +devotion to their Allied cause. Russia is now literally fighting for +her own liberty, for escape from the iron circle that shuts her off +from the sea, and isolates her from the western world in which it is +her ambition and her mission to play a helpful part. + +One needs no further explanation why the Russian Government put +pressure upon M. Delcasse and Sir Edward Grey to open the Dardanelles +route for the Russian corn. Neither is it to be wondered at that while +the Allied Forces in Gallipoli were still grappling with the Turks, +the Tsar's Ministers should have thrust into the foreground the +question of Constantinople and the Straits, and insisted upon an +immediate pragmatic settlement. True, that was not statesmanship; it +was anything but political wisdom; but at any rate it was human on the +part of all concerned. If this Titanic struggle, in which Russia is +perhaps the greatest sufferer, is to bring her any palpable and +enduring advantage, this, it was urged, can take but one form--freedom +from the preposterous restraints that bar her way to the sea, and +through the sea to the outside world. This and other pleas were +powerful; but for this very reason and for the purpose of realizing +her natural striving I personally would have temporarily negatived the +Russian proposal and left nothing undone to ensure its withdrawal. For +if I were asked to point to the efficient cause of the Allies' present +lamentable plight in the Near East, I should single out this premature +arrangement and its necessary consequences. For Roumania and Bulgaria +were at the moment as bitterly opposed to Russia's overlordship in the +Dardanelles and her possession of Constantinople as were France and +Great Britain in the days of yore. And they embodied their opposition +in acts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE STATESMANSHIP OF THE ENTENTE + + +One of the most amazing phenomena of Entente statesmanship during the +present European struggle, is the offhand readiness with which the +Governments of France and Great Britain, yielding to abstract +reasoning founded upon gratuitous assumptions, not only reversed the +policy of centuries but committed themselves to a wholly new departure +which was certain to raise up enemies to the Entente, to render its +task immeasurably more arduous, and to lessen its means of achieving +success. However well Russia deserved of her allies, however +unquestionable her claim to the city of Constantine, no less suitable +a moment could have been selected to press that claim than the spring +of 1915. The only evidence we possess that the British statesmen +primarily responsible for this capital blunder were conscious of the +fateful character of this commitment, is the extreme care they took to +have their responsibility shared by the members of the Opposition, +which at that time was not represented in the Cabinet. But even with +this indication before us, we cannot believe that even now this +premature solution of a secular problem on lines suggested by +transient episodes of a military campaign, has struck the responsible +statesmen in proportion to its specific weight, the depth of its +importance, and the nature of its consequences. To take but one of +these, we find that towards the end of the second year of the +campaign, Turkey is one of the two key-positions of the international +situation. To conclude a separate peace with that Power is become a +pressing, and would also be a feasible, task were it not that this +earmarking of Constantinople for Russia constitutes an impassable +barrier. No Turkish Cabinet would or could conclude a separate peace +and strike up friendship with the nations that are making ready to +deprive the Caliph of his capital. It would be a mistake, however, to +assume that this premature allotment of Constantinople to Russia is +the only obstacle to the conclusion of a separate peace with Turkey. +There are also hindrances of a military nature which would have to be +displaced before any decisive move in this direction could be expected +of the young Turks. + +But it cannot be gainsaid that the most formidable obstacle is that. +Neither can it be questioned that that premature arrangement will, if +the Allies emerge victorious from the ordeal, thrust into the +foreground of practical politics a whole group of problems the most +delicate and dangerous that were ever yet tackled by the inadequately +equipped diplomacy of the Allied Governments. It is then that the +Entente Powers will fully realize the deluge to which they made such +haste to open the sluice-gates in the spring of 1915. And the only way +practicable out of this blind alley would be the spontaneous +abandonment by the Russian Government of the right it possesses, which +however the Allies will certainly never call in question. Whether the +Tsar's Government believes such a sacrifice necessary, and whether, +if they did, they could summon up the courage requisite to make it, +are questions which Russia's loyal allies have neither the right nor +the wish to raise. We will carry out our obligations in the letter and +the spirit. If the Russian people, in the person of their responsible +organ, should renounce for the moment the claims which we have +formally recognized and undertaken to enforce, this decision will have +been come to spontaneously and without pressure or advice from their +allies. + +The extent to which the Teuton had his own way among the easy-going +Russian people is hardly to be realized. It would be certainly +inexplicable in an empire governed on national lines and conscious of +its mission. For unlimited pliancy was the quality which German +importunity evoked on the part of the highest authorities. One of many +examples is worth recording. Among all industrial enterprises the +Russian Government is most sensitive about that of high explosives. +The manufacture of these they had always rigorously reserved for their +own people, on obvious grounds. Well, the moment the Germans resolved +to break down this barrier, they found the means to do it despite the +objection raised by the Russian Press that it would be dangerous to +confide the production of high explosives to foreigners and +superlatively dangerous to confide it to prospective enemies. The +prospective enemy carried the point, and the manufacture of high +explosives was handed over to a German company, which built works for +the purpose near the Russian capital, and had its headquarters and +board of directors in Berlin![44] + + [44] _Novoye Vremya_, June 24, 1915. + +As in Italy, so in the Tsardom, one of the principal levers of Teuton +interpenetration was the regulation of the national trade and +industry. That is to say, these were allowed to subsist and thrive up +to, but not beyond, the point at which they were useful as adjuncts of +German enterprise. And the regulators were principally two: the Treaty +of Commerce extorted from the Tsar's Government during the +embarrassments caused by the Manchurian campaign, and the German +banks, which in the empire paraded as Russian, just as in Italy they +were decked as Italian. Many of those financial institutions were but +branches of German houses, and their methods were identical with those +of the Banca Commerciale: long credits and easy modes of repayment +offered to all those who agreed to deal with German firms, while +discredit, ostracism, and ruin threatened the recalcitrant. And as +Italian money and Italian institutions were employed as instruments of +German interpenetration in foreign countries,[45] so Russian funds and +banks were used as helps to German interpenetration in Belgium and +other lands. + + [45] For example, the Banca Franco-Italiana in Brazil. + +A noteworthy instance of the ingenuity with which this intricate +mechanism was worked came to light shortly before the outbreak of the +war. In Brussels there was a branch of the Petrograd International +Bank which purported to be a purely Russian concern. But once the +Kaiser had sent his ultimatum to the Tsar's Government, the Russian +mask was doffed by the Brussels agency, which forthwith appeared in +its true colours as a potent instrument of germanization in Belgium. +There was found to be almost nothing Russian about the bank but the +name. The staff, the language spoken, the methods of business, the +political sympathies, the aims of the operations were all German. Out +of the forty-three permanent members of the staff, thirty were German +subjects, six Austrians, two German-Swiss, two Belgians, one was a +Dutchman, one Turk, and there was a solitary Russian. The moment Count +Berchtold presented his ultimatum to Serbia this "Russian" bank +refused to change any Russian banknotes on any terms and let it be +understood that they were valueless. A panic on the Belgian market was +the immediate consequence. Russian travellers had to deposit their +jewellery in pawn and pay exorbitant rates of interest on loans. The +bank itself practised a kind of usury, and advanced only sixty per +cent. of the face value of notes issued by the Imperial Bank of +Russia. When the Belgian Government, after the declaration of war, +began to tackle German espionage, this "Russian" bank was found to be +one of the strongholds of the military spies. Certain of the employees +were permanent agents of the German Military Attache, and were at the +same time inscribed as members of the staff of the Deutsche Bank of +Berlin. + +All those well-thought-out and successfully executed schemes may bear +in upon the British people some notion of what is meant by German +organization and co-ordination, and may also help them to gauge the +chances of success, military, diplomatic and economic, on which the +Allies, with their easy-going ways, their hope of somehow "blundering +through," and their lack of combination and of plan--can rely when +pitted against a mighty organism, disposing of the most redoubtable +forces ever created by human science and skill, directed by a single +mind, and served with ascetic self-abnegation and religious ardour by +over a hundred million people. The courage and faith of the Allies in +gazing for years upon this portentous engine of destruction without +making suitable provision for the day when it would be turned against +themselves, will fill future generations with amazement. + +No bare enumeration of details can convey an adequate idea of the +vastness, compactness and potency of the German organization which +kept the Russian Colossus partially paralysed at home, while the +Kaiser's armies were dealing it stunning blows on the battlefield. It +is a revelation which will be followed by a new birth of the whole +political world. The German colonists, the wandering German commercial +travellers who acted as political spies, the various banks, +joint-stock companies, religious sects, journals, reviews, schools, +clubs, Lutheran pastors, and other Teuton agents, were but so many +wheels and springs of the mighty machine which was set in motion and +kept working by the political leaders in Berlin. For all these firms +and enterprises and individuals from the Fatherland scattered over the +length and breadth of the Tsardom were welded together in one vast +organism by far-seeing politicians who canalized every important +current of the nation's life and imparted to it the direction which +German interests required. No enterprise was too vast, no detail too +trivial, for the attention of these moulders of Germany's destinies. + +All those activities, commercial, financial, industrial, +journalistic, religious, political, the German mind combined into a +single idea, the co-ordinate parts of which were studied and +regulated, not by party chiefs, but by qualified experts, who, +although specialists, subjected them to organic treatment. In this +respect the German may be likened to a massive sombre figure who, +surrounded by a crowd of sprightly shadowy nobodies, discoursing with +easy frivolity on grave subjects, is engrossed with the task of +destroying a great part of the frame-work of the world in order to +rebuild it after his own plan. Unfortunately the extraordinary +enlargement of interest which marks the latter-day political +conceptions, and inspires the fateful action of Germany's acknowledged +leaders, breeds in the allied peoples not so much a stern resolve to +tame that revolutionary nation at all costs, as a sentimental longing +for the return of the idyllic past, and an illusive hope that by dint +of mild Christian charity it may yet be brought back. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TEUTON POLITICS + + +It is this Teutonic power of looking far ahead, this profundity of +vision, this mingled comprehensiveness and concentration, and the +marked success with which these qualities have hitherto been exercised +to the lasting detriment of the Entente nations which looked on and +naively applauded, that fill the thoughtful student with misgivings +about the future. True, it may not be too late for effective counter +measures. But two conditions are manifestly essential to the +successful application of any remedy: first, that its necessity should +be felt and realized; and, second, that the scrupulosity which at +present hesitates to apply drastic measures should yield to higher +considerations than those of individual delicacy of sentiment and +over-refined humanitarianism. When an individual abuses laws and +restraints which bind his fellow-men, in order to inflict a deadly +injury on them, it is meet that they should free themselves from those +checks in their dealings with him. For example, it may be +theoretically wrong, after the conclusion of the present struggle, for +our people to bear such a grudge against the individual German as +would exclude him from communion and intercourse with the nations of +the Entente. And this principle would seem to apply with greater force +to those Germans who might be willing to abandon their nationality +and identify their aims, interests and strivings with those of the +nation in which they would fain become incorporated. But when we +reflect that almost every German, whatever his calling, how profound +soever his debt of gratitude to a foreign people, considers himself +first and always a member of his own country, works for its interests +to the detriment of all others, and does not scruple to violate moral +laws and social traditions in order to betray his new friends, we may +well ask in virtue of what precept we should abstain from ostracizing +him from the British Empire. His second nationality is so often a mere +mask to enable him to perpetrate black treason, and it is so openly +thus regarded by his own Government, which upholds and solemnly +sanctions the principle, that it would be inexplicable folly on the +part of the British nation to aid and abet its enemies by admitting +them to the freedom of the community without taking effective +precautions against treason. + +And yet there is a large body of men in this country, as in France and +Italy, who condemn the demand for these precautions as un-Christian +and impolitic. Such laxness is the soil in which thrives the upas tree +whose shade has so long darkened the organs of our empire and now +threatens to blight the whole organism. + +An all-important feature in the controversy which has arisen over the +naturalization of German subjects is the utterly amoral view of it +which underlies the attitude of the Kaiser's Government. According to +these authorities, whose utterances and acts are decisive and final, a +German, unlike every other subject, may swear allegiance to two +states, of which one is his Fatherland, without being bound by his +oath to the other. Various reasons, including material interests, may, +it is argued, make it desirable that he should acquire citizenship in +a foreign land; and the Kaiser's Government, for the good of the +empire, recognizes this necessity and facilitates the process by a +law. This law, which was enacted in July 1913, authorizes the born +German subject, having first made known his intention and motive, to +swear allegiance to a foreign state without forfeiting, or intending +to forfeit, the rights or escaping from the duties which flow from his +German citizenship. Now this is a privilege which not even the Pope +has ever claimed the faculty of according. + +From the point of view of international law this double naturalization +is inadmissible. Every individual in the community of nations is the +subject of a certain state, and only of one, and whenever the +interests of that state run counter to those of any other, he is bound +legally as well as morally to promote the former to the best of his +ability and means. The Teuton doctrine and practice are that Germans +may insinuate themselves into a country, and in the guise of loyal +citizens become conversant with its secrets, and then use them to its +hurt. In the light of this law, which was a custom long before it +became a statute, the number of Germans naturalized in various +countries grew amazingly during the past fifteen years. In France, for +example, where there were only 38,000 foreigners naturalized in the +year 1896 and 65,000 in 1901, the figure reached 90,000 in 1906 and +120,000 five years later. And of these, four-fifths were Germans and +Austrians. Many Germans first became Swiss or British subjects in +order the more easily to acquire the rights of Frenchmen. One in +particular, named Wilhelm Hellpern, first became a Belgian, then as +Willy Hellpern a British subject, and finally, with a view to +obtaining a place on the Board of the Societe Francaise de l'Industrie +Chimique, applied for and received naturalization in France. This +"Willy" Hellpern was a representative of the Central Gesellschaft fuer +chemische Industrie.[46] + + [46] Cf. _Hors du Joug allemand_, par Leon Daudet. + +When war was declared in 1914 hundreds of Germans applied for papers +of naturalization in Switzerland, and obtained them from various +little Swiss communes which were in sore want of funds. Spies eager to +place their machinations under the protection of Swiss citizenship +found smooth ways to the desired goal. In the single canton of Zurich +demands for naturalization rose from 260 during the nine months ending +in October 1913,[47] to 732 in the corresponding nine months of 1915. +Several cases of fraud were discovered during this rapid process of +transforming foreign into Swiss citizens: one of the most salient +being that of Friedrich Wilhelm Frank, a German who had taken out his +naturalization papers in England and then decided to shake off his +acquired British citizenship for that of the Helvetian Republic. As +Frank had not been resident in Switzerland during the two years +required by the law of that country he applied and paid for a false +certificate of residence, and in this way achieved his object. But the +trick was finally discovered and the naturalization cancelled. + + [47] The number for the entire year was 350. + +We may protest as vigorously as we will against this infamous +troth-mongering which is destructive of international relations, and +indirectly of social intercourse, but no responsible government can +afford to ignore the necessity of guarding against its consequences. +For it is no ephemeral manifestation of temperament, nor the passing +whim of a political party or a class. The law of double citizenship, +coupled with a plenary indulgence for treason and perjury in the cause +of the Fatherland, is but the solemn consecration of a principle which +was long practised and is warmly approved by the entire German people. +The Berlin Government publicly invoked it during the latter half of +the year 1915, under circumstances which remove doubts on this score. +On one and the same day in August that year all German official and +non-official journals published a notice, which ran as follows: "It is +alleged that in neutral countries, and particularly in the United +States of America, men of German _extraction_" (the word _citizenship_ +is not used, but _extraction_), "are employed as workmen, engineers or +in other capacities in the production of war munitions for our +enemies. All those who thus reinforce the military strength of our +foes, thereby make the prosecution of the war more difficult for +Germany, and not only burden themselves with a heavy load of moral +turpitude, but also expose themselves--and many of them are seemingly +unaware of this--to the operation of the German laws which punish high +treason." + +In other words, subjects of, say the American Republic, who were born +there of German parents or grandparents and never acknowledged any +other government nor possessed the citizenship of any other country, +become guilty of high treason if they dare to avail themselves of the +plenitude of the rights which that citizenship confers. They may not +work for firms which supply the Allies because their fathers, or it +may be only their grandfathers, happened to be Germans. The moral +duties of German subjects still lie heavy on them, and they must +execute the Kaiser's will to-day on pain of being dealt with as +traitors to the Fatherland. + +Monstrous principles and revolting procedure of this kind are +calculated to kindle a blaze of indignation in people who realize +their effects and set value on the boons of civilization or +Christianity. They are among the many new ideas which Kultur has +contributed to the stock of weapons destructive of modern society. One +might term them the asphyxiating gases of German international +politics. In keeping with these teachings and practices were the theft +of foreign passports by the German Government which handed them over +to spies, as in the case of Lody, who was executed in London in the +early part of the war. Thus the binding force of moral and of human +law is dissolved whenever it clashes with German national, military, +or commercial interests. This dogma lies at the roots of Kultur. + +By the time war was declared, Germany had stretched forth her +tentacles into various lands and was draining the life-juices of many +peoples. Her footing in Italy, Russia, Belgium and France was firm. +Observant students of international politics fancied they could +determine the approximate date when, if the then rate of progress were +maintained, Germany's overlordship over Europe would be definitely +established and all armed conflicts on the Continent become +thenceforth meaningless. They were all the more puzzled at what they +set down as the egregious folly of jeopardizing the precious fruits of +forty years' well-sustained labours by precipitating a tremendous +conflict of doubtful issue. But besides the sudden temptation to +utilize a conjuncture of exceptionally favourable promise, the leaders +of the Teutonic nations felt moved to appeal to arms by certain slow, +but steady, currents which threatened to change the situation to +Germany's detriment in the space of another few years. + +With the remoter causes of the Kaiser's fatal resolve, we are not now +concerned. It may suffice to know that they were numerous and that the +trend of their operation had been for a few months unmistakable. Time, +which was working wonders for the Teuton in one direction, was raising +up redoubtable enemies against him in another. For one thing Russia +was becoming transfigured. The dry bones of the nation which the +Germans often declared was good only as ethnic manure had had life and +a soul breathed into them by the great agrarian reform of which the +credit belongs to Witte and Stolypin. The latter statesman in a series +of conversations had in 1906 opened his mind to me on the subject, and +frankly avowed that the Government, having gone astray in its estimate +of the Russian peasants who turned out to be revolutionary and +anarchistic, was resolved to render them conservative by giving them +land and an interest in the maintenance of law and order. That, he +informed me, was the aim and origin of the agrarian law, and I +expounded the theory, its working and its anticipated consequences, +in a series of articles published at the time.[48] + + [48] In the _Daily Telegraph_. + +Down to the year 1861 the Russian serfs had been mostly bound to the +soil. They were emancipated by Alexander II., who ordered each +landowner to make over to the serfs as much of his landed property as +was being actually cultivated by these. Wherever this amount seemed +too extensive for the support of a family it was whittled down and the +residue left with the landlord. Each of the various lots thus +expropriated was given not to an individual, nor to a family, but to +the village community. Each field was cut into as many strips as there +were farms, and each farm had the use of one. Every year the peasants +had to pay a certain sum to the landlord until the land was wholly +redeemed, and liability for these payments, like the possession of the +land, was common. Hence the drunkards and the lazy paid little or +nothing. It was the community which decided when the sowing and when +the reaping should take place. The results of this system were +baneful. And little by little the more enterprising peasants who had +no motive to improve the value of the land which they were allowed for +a time to cultivate, migrated to the towns and joined the growing army +of working men. + +How long this state of things would have continued, if these immediate +consequences had formed the only objection to it, is uncertain. But +the Revolution of 1905-6 rendered it wholly untenable. The peasantry, +on whom the Tsar and the Government counted for support, readily +followed the lead of every anarchist and revolutionary who dangled the +promise of free land before their eyes, and gutted or burned the +manors of the landlords. With no conception of the sacredness, nor, +indeed, of the nature of property, they seized what they could by +force, and were gravely disappointed when it was re-taken from them by +law. Stolypin's scheme, as he himself propounded it to me, was to +enable the peasant to acquire the land he tilled, and not merely the +scattered strips, but a compact farm capable of supporting himself and +his family. And the system of collective liability for payments to the +State was abolished, together with that of collective land-ownership. + +This was in truth a genial reform, and the business-like way in which +it was carried out did credit to the late Minister and the people. +Even now it is far from completed, but already there are about six +million peasant farms cut out and allotted. In European Russia +approximately as many more remain to be apportioned. The effects of +this innovation were rapid and encouraging. The value of the land rose +enormously in consequence of the intenser culture and the increased +yield. Under the old arrangement Russia's harvest of cereals was +barely enough to feed the population inadequately, to supply seed and +to enable a limited amount of produce to be exported. And as this +limited amount was in practice often exceeded, the food supply of the +peasantry was cut down in proportion. At present all this has changed +for the better and changed to a greater extent than the outside world +realizes. One of the consequences of this betterment, coupled with the +decrease of drunkenness, is the greater purchasing power of the +peasant and the growth of his requirements. So beneficial and evident +were the effects of this reform, that some patriotic Russians gladly +saw their Government go to the very extreme of pliancy towards Germany +rather than run the risk of a war and the danger of a break in this +remarkable career of national regeneration. The process was noted and +gauged by the Germans, who awakened to the fact that, in a few years +more, the legend of Ilya Murometz would be exemplified in latter-day +Russia, and a Colossus arise among the nations, which would hinder the +tide of Teutondom from inundating Europe for all time. + +Other considerations of a more pressing character weighed with the +statesmen of the Wilhelmstrasse, whose survey of the international +situation was, at any rate, comprehensive. Renascent Russia, for +example, was, as we saw, resolved to withdraw from the German Empire +the one-sided advantages accorded by the Commercial Treaty. And as +this question would in any case become acute within two years, that +date was one of the time-limits of the European war, and I ventured to +designate it as such to two of the most prominent statesmen of the +Entente in the month of March 1914. They both went so far as to say +that my anticipation was extremely probable.[49] + + [49] Count Witte went farther and fixed the end of 1915 as + the date. + +However this may be, Germany, who works out her destinies by +preventive wars, and therefore never leaves the initiative to her +enemies or rivals, precipitated a conflict which would, she believed, +break out in any case within a couple of years, and for which no more +auspicious moment could be chosen than the end of July 1914, after the +Kiel Canal had been made navigable for her largest battleships and +the harvest ingathered. + +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 + + +The world is now aware, although it can hardly be said to realize, how +closely journalism approaches to being a recognized organ of the +Imperial German Government. One of the most influential of the Berlin +journals during the past ten years has been the _Lokal-Anzeiger_. This +paper was founded by Herr Scherl, one of those clever enterprising +business men who have been so numerous, active and successful in the +Fatherland during the past quarter of a century. His journal was a +purely business concern, carried on congruously with the law of supply +and demand and keeping pace with the shifting requirements of the +public and the strongest currents in the Government. It had long +enjoyed the reputation of being a semi-official organ, and it was Herr +Scherl's ambition that it should be formally promoted to that rank. In +February 1914 he sold the paper to a group of four persons, two of +whom were Herr Schorlmeyer and Count T. Winckler, and all four were +members of the political party which looked for light and leading to +the Crown Prince and his military environment. Thus the +_Lokal-Anzeiger_ became the organ of the progressive military party, +which was exerting itself to the utmost to force the pace of the +Government towards the one consummation from which the realization of +Germany's dream of world-power was confidently expected. Among the +privileges accorded to the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ from the date of its +purchase for the behoof of the Crown Prince onward, was that of +publishing official military news before all other papers, and not +later even than the _Militaer-Wochenblatt_. Consequently, it thus +became the most trustworthy source of military news in the Empire. +This fact is worth bearing in mind, for the sake of the light which it +diffuses on what follows. + +War being foreseen and arranged for, much careful thought was bestowed +on the staging of the last act of the diplomatic drama in such a way +as to create abroad an impression favourable to Germany. The scheme +finally hit upon was simple. Russia was to be confronted with a +dilemma which would force her into an attitude that would stir +misgivings even in her friends and drive a wedge between her and her +ally or else would involve her complete withdrawal from the Balkans. +The latter alternative would have contented Germany for the moment, +who would then have dispensed with a breach of the peace. For it would +have enabled the two Central Empires to weld together the Balkan +States and Turkey in a powerful federation under their joint +protectorate, and would not only have simplified Germany's remaining +task, but have supplied her with adequate means of accomplishing it +against Russia and France combined. Great Britain's neutrality was +postulated as a matter of course. + +Congruously with this plan, Russia was from the very outset declared +to be the Power on which alone depended the outcome of the crisis. +Upon her decision hung peace and war. On July 24, telegraphing from +Vienna, I announced this on the highest authority,[52] with a degree +of force and clearness which left no room for doubt as to the aims, +intentions and preliminary accords of the two Central Empires. I +stated that if in the course of the Austro-Serbian quarrel Russia were +to mobilize, Germany would at once answer by general mobilization and +war. For there will, then, I added, be no demobilization but an armed +conflict. Before making that grave announcement, I had had convincing +assurances and proofs that I was setting forth an absolute and +irrevocable decision arrived at by the Central Empires on grounds +wholly alien to the interests and issues which were then engaging the +Austrian and Serbian Governments, and that a bellicose mood had gained +a firm hold on the minds of the statesmen of Berlin and Vienna. Had +that deliberate statement been subjected to adequate instead of the +ordinary partial tests, the full significance of the crisis would have +been realized by the Governments of the Entente. + + [52] On 24th July I received this official information. It + was published on Monday, 27th. + +In the course of the negotiations which were then hastily improvised, +Germany, who strove hard to gain credit for the role of disinterested +peacemaker, gradually revealed herself as the chief protagonist, +whereas Austria was little more than a pawn in the game. Disguising +her eagerness to provoke one of the two desired solutions, Russia's +abandonment of Serbia or her declaration of war, Germany succeeded in +misleading the Governments of France and Britain as to her real +intentions. + +While M. Poincare was in the Russian capital proposing toasts and +drawing roseate forecasts of the future, the German Ambassador in +Paris, von Schoen, was constantly in attendance at the Quai d'Orsay, +endeavouring to impress on the minds of the Acting Minister and the +permanent officials there, the sincerity of the Kaiser's eagerness for +peace and the growing danger of Russia's aggressiveness. "You and we," +he kept saying, "are the only Continental Governments which are aware +of the magnitude of the issues and the imminence of the danger. You +and we perceive the utter folly, the sheer criminality, of plunging +Europe in the horrors of a sanguinary war for the sake of a petty +state governed by regicides and assassins. What interests have you or +we to risk the welfare of our respective nations for the behoof of the +Serbian military party whose dreams of greatness border on mania? No, +it behoves us both to do all that lies in us to calm Russia's passion +and induce her to listen to the promptings of reason and +self-interest. You, with the powerful influence which your friendship +and alliance impart to your counsels, and we by dint of example, ought +to succeed in averting this awful peril." In this tone, Herr von Schoen +delivered his daily exhortations and found some willing listeners. His +specious pleading made a deep and favourable impression, and would +perhaps have led to representations by the French Government +calculated to wound the susceptibilities and perhaps estrange the +sympathies of France's ally at the most critical hour of the alliance, +had it not been for the presence at the Foreign Office of a man whose +eye was sure and whose measurement of forces, political and personal, +was accurate. That man was M. Berthelot. Gauging aright this +insidious appeal to the centrifugal forces of the political mind, he +turned a deaf ear to von Schoen's suasive efforts and kept the ship of +state on its course, without swerving. In this way what seemed to the +Berlin politicians the line of least resistance was adequately +reinforced and a formidable, because crafty, attack repulsed. + +But besides attack, the Germans had also a problem of defence to +engage their attention. And, curiously enough, it appears to have been +particularly knotty in Austria. At that moment Count Berchtold was +Minister of Foreign Affairs in name, but Count Tisza, the Hungarian +Premier, was the man who thought, planned and acted for the Habsburg +Monarchy. He it was who had drawn up the ultimatum to Serbia and made +all requisite arrangements for co-operation with Germany. He was +backed by the Chief of the General Staff, Konrad von Hoetzendorff, +whose eagerness to provide an opportunity for displaying the martial +qualities of the army was proverbial. But there were others in high +places there who had no wish to see the Dual Monarchy drawn into a +European war, and who would gladly have come to an agreement with +Russia on the basis of such a compromise as Serbia's reply to the +ultimatum promised to afford. Whether, as seems very probable, this +current bade fair to gain the upper hand, it is still too soon to +determine with finality. There are certainly many indications that +this was one of the dangers apprehended in Berlin. Russia's moderation +was another. And the interplay of the two might, had Germany held +aloof, have led to a compromise. For this reason Germany did not stand +aloof. + +The date fixed for the German mobilization was July 31. The evidence +for this is to be found in the date printed on the official order +which was posted up in the streets of Berlin, but was crossed out and +replaced by the words "1st of August," in writing, as there was no +time to reprint the text. It had been expected in Berlin that Russia +would have taken a decision by July 30, either mobilizing or knuckling +down. Neither course, however, had been adopted. Thereupon Germany +became nervous and went to work in the following way. + +On Thursday, July 30, at 2.25 p.m. a number of newspaper boys appeared +in the streets of Berlin adjoining the Unter den Linden and called out +lustily: "_Lokal-Anzeiger_ Supplement. Grave News. Mobilization +ordered throughout the Empire." Windows were thrown wide open and +stentorian voices called for the Supplement. The boys were surrounded +by eager groups, who bought up the stock of papers and then eagerly +discussed the event that was about to change and probably to end the +lives of many of the readers. It does not appear that the Supplement +was sold anywhere outside that circumscribed district. Now in that +part of the town was situated Wolff's Press Bureau, where the official +representatives of Havas and the Russian Telegraphic Agency sat and +worked. + +The correspondent of the latter agency, having read the announcement +of the _Lokal-Anzeiger_, which was definitive and admitted of no +doubt, at once telephoned the news to his Ambassador, M. Zverbeieff. +During the conversation that ensued the correspondent was requested by +the officials of the telephone to speak in German, not in Russian. +This was an unusual procedure. The Ambassador could hardly credit the +tidings, so utterly were they at variance with the information which +he possessed. He requested the correspondent to repeat the contents of +the announcement, and then inquired: "Can I, in your opinion, +telegraph it to the Foreign Office?" The answer being an emphatic +affirmative, the Ambassador despatched a message in cypher to this +effect to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs. For there could be +no doubt about the accuracy of information thus deliberately given to +the public by the journal which possessed a monopoly of military news +and was the organ of the Crown Prince. The Russian correspondent also +forwarded a telegram to the Telegraphic Agency in Petrograd +communicating the fateful tidings. + +Within half an hour the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs telephoned +to Wolff's Bureau to the effect that the report about the mobilization +order was not in harmony with fact, and it also summoned the +_Lokal-Anzeiger_ to issue a contradiction of the news on its own +account. This was duly done, and so rapidly that the second Supplement +was issued at about 3 p.m. The explanation given by the newspaper +staff was that they were expecting an order for general mobilization +and had prepared a special Supplement announcing it. This Supplement +was unfortunately left where the vendors saw it, and thinking that it +was meant for circulation seized on all the copies they could find, +rushed into the streets and sold them. On many grounds, however, this +account is unsatisfactory. Copies of a newspaper supplement containing +such momentous news are not usually left where they can be found, +removed and sold by mere street vendors. Moreover, the date, July 30, +was printed on the supplement, so that it was evidently meant to be +issued, as a matter of fact it was circulated only in a very limited +number of copies and in the streets around Wolff's Bureau, where it +was certain to produce the desired effect. + +Half an hour later the correspondent of the Russian Agency received a +request to call at the General Telegraph Office at once. On his +arrival he was asked to withdraw his two telegrams which the Censor +refused to transmit. To his plea that so far as he knew there was no +censorship in Germany he received the reply that it had just been +instituted and now declined to pass his telegrams. "In that case," he +said, "my consent is of no importance, seeing that the matter is +already decided." Finally, he asked to have his messages returned to +him, but they would consent only to his reading, not to his retaining, +them. + +The Russian Ambassador also despatched an urgent _message en clair_ to +his Government embodying the contradiction communicated by the +Wilhelmstrasse. + +Now, the significant circumstance is that the Ambassador's first +telegram stating that general mobilization had been officially ordered +throughout the German Empire was forwarded with speed and accuracy and +reached the Russian Foreign Minister without delay. And this news was +communicated to the Tsar, who by way of counter-measure issued the +order to mobilize the forces of the Russian Empire. But the +Ambassador's second telegram was held back several hours and did not +reach its destination until the mischief was irremediable. That +curious incident is of a piece with the Bismarck's Ems telegram. + +It is by such devices that the German Government is wont to launch +into war. The mentality whence they spring cannot be discarded in a +year or a generation, nor will any Peace Treaty, however ingeniously +worded, prevent recourse being had to them in the future. For this, +among other reasons, more trustworthy guarantees than scraps of paper +must be sought and found. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GERMAN PROPAGANDA IN SCANDINAVIA + + +The same breadth of vision and efficacy of treatment were similarly +rewarded in the Scandinavian countries, where German propaganda, ever +resourceful and many-sided, was facilitated by kinship of race, +language, folklore and literature. Of the three kingdoms Sweden, the +strongest, was also the most impressible owing to the further bond of +fellowship supplied by a common object of distrust--the Russian +empire. Suspicion and dislike of the Tsardom had been long and +successfully inculcated by the German Press, from which Sweden +received her supply of daily news, and also, as is usual in such +cases, by prominent natives who, in obedience to motives to which +history is indifferent, employed their influence to spread suspicion. +Sven Hedin rendered invaluable services in this way to the Kaiser and +the Fatherland, throwing the glamour of his name over a movement of +which the ultimate tendency was national suicide. Under the auspices +of a prussophile minority of Swedish politicians, a few of whom were +supposed to favour the establishment of an absolute monarchy like that +of Prussia, a clever campaign against the Tsardom was inaugurated. +Falsehoods were concocted, imaginary dangers conjured up and described +as real, and sinister Russian designs against the independence of +Sweden and Norway were invoked as motives for energetic action. In +vain the Tsar's Government protested its friendship for Sweden and +disproved the poisonous calumnies circulated by the Germans. + +In the discovery and arrest of a number of Russian military spies, who +were as active in Sweden as in other lands, and whose relations with +the Tsar's Military Attache in Stockholm were said to be proven, these +agitators found the few solid facts that served them as the groundwork +of their fabric of suspicion and calumny. + +The results of this propaganda answered the expectations of its German +and Swedish organizers. Despite the quieting assurances given by the +ex-Premier, the late Karl Staaff and M. Branting, Sweden's two +foremost statesmen, the present population was thoroughly alarmed. +They spontaneously taxed themselves for new warships, insisted that a +non-recurring war-tax identical with that of Germany should be imposed +by the State, and many called for the immediate adhesion of Sweden to +the Triple Alliance. + +One of the fixed points of Russia's policy, the Swedish agitators told +their fellow-countrymen, is the acquisition of an ice-free port which +can be utilized in winter. The Baltic ports do not answer this +requirement, not only because they freeze in the cold season, but +also, and especially, because the narrow Sound can be easily blocked +by a hostile Power and Russia's ships bottled up in the Baltic. Hence +the persevering efforts she made at first to get possession of the +Dardanelles and obtain free access to the Mediterranean in war-time. +More than once she was on the very point of achieving success there, +but lack of enterprise on the part of her statesmen or a sudden +adverse change in the political conjuncture foiled this scheme, the +realization of which was put off indefinitely. The Persian Gulf was +the next object of her designs, but there, too, she encountered a +diplomatic defeat. The third goal lay in the Far East, where a new +Russian empire governed by a Viceroy and possessed of a promising +capital, was founded with every prospect of good fortune. But here, +again, defective statesmanship was followed by failure, and the +campaign against Japan closed the Far Eastern chapter for a long +while. Whither, it was asked, can Russia turn now? Recent events, M. +Sven Hedin assured his countrymen, have already answered the query. +Northwards. The great Slav Empire covets an ice-free harbour in +Norway, and until this war broke out was busily engaged in compassing +its end. At any future moment it may again start off on this +enterprise. It is the duty of patriotic Swedes to thwart this +nefarious project. + +A Norwegian port, it is freely admitted, would not fulfil all Russia's +requirements. It would, for instance, leave much to be desired from an +economic point of view. The resources of the hinterland would be too +scanty. The cost of transport would be too heavy. But strategically it +would answer the purpose admirably. Now this conquest would not be +achieved without invading and annexing a portion of North Sweden as +well. For it would be impossible to keep and utilize such an +acquisition without a hinterland containing factories, workshops, +wharves, docks, stores and a fairly numerous population which, in +turn, would require corn, cattle, timber, etc. Is it credible, asked +M. Sven Hedin, that the southern boundary of this back-land could be +drawn further northwards than to the north of Angermanland, Jaemtland +and Drontheim? At bottom, then, it is the annexation of a vast slice +of Sweden proper that Russia has in view. Perhaps the first route of +the Russian army would lie on the eastern bank of the rivers Torne-aelf +and Muonio-aelf and lead to the Lyngen Fjord. How long would it stop +there? Step by step it would move along the coast southwards to +Drontheim. Then Norrland would be surrounded on three sides by +Russians. "Later on they would tighten the noose and strangle our +country. Are we to remain inactive during the course of events?... The +Swede in general is aware of the existence of this danger and _knows_ +that it may come upon him at any moment as a reality." + +In verity, no normal individual, acquainted with the political +condition of Europe, can be said to know that the peril of a Russian +invasion of Sweden exists or existed of late years. As a matter of +fact, he knows that the contradictory proposition is true. + +The symptoms of Russia's alleged designs on Norway and Sweden are as +fantastic as the sweeping statements by which they are heralded. One +of them was the order issued by the Russian Government to build a +railway bridge over the Neva in Petrograd in order to link the Finnish +railway with all the other stations which are situated on the opposite +bank of that river, as though the Russian capital should be the only +one in Europe without a girdle railway and Finland the sole section +of the empire cut off from all the rest! Another of these "infallible +tokens" of Russia's machinations were the measures adopted to render +the Finnish railways, and, in particular, the Oesterbotten line, +capable of transporting Russian military trains, by enlarging the +stations, strengthening the bridges and rails, and other kindred +expedients. Further, a number of new lines were considered necessary +from a strategic point of view, one connecting Petersburg with Wasa +via Hiitola, Nyslott and Iyvaeskylae. Barracks were built or ordered in +Fredrikshamn, Kouvala, Lahtis and other Finnish towns, or railway +centres. All these precautions, however, are not only explicable +without the theory that Sweden and Norway are to be invaded, but they +ought to have been adopted long ago, say unprejudiced military +authorities, in the interests of Russia's home defence. Yet M. Sven +Hedin concluded his argument with the words: "When it has been further +established that the transport of Russian troops to Finland has +greatly increased--and it is affirmed that there are already about +85,000 soldiers there--and when we also bear in mind that for many +years past Sweden and likewise Norway have been visited by so-called +knife-grinders[53] from Russia, _no doubt can remain. Russia is making +ready for an onslaught on the Northern kingdoms._" + + [53] Several Russian "knife-grinders" are alleged to have + been discovered in various parts of Sweden, moving from place + to place, with maps of various districts and a good deal of + money in their pockets. The Swedes declare that they are + Russian spies. + +But long before Sven Hedin and his friends had begun their campaign, +the ground had been prepared from Berlin, the work of interpenetration +had made great headway, and Germany was regarded by Sweden as an elder +sister. For the economic invasion preceded the political. Statistics +of foreign trade reveal the Teuton as the exporter to that country of +over forty per cent. of the entire quantity of merchandise entering +from abroad.[54] + + [54] The value of wares she sold to Sweden in 1911 is + computed at 275,423,000 krons as against 170,999,000 krons' + worth purchased from Great Britain. + +Switzerland, whose position as a neutral oasis encircled by +belligerents is fraught with difficulty, has long been treated as +hardly more than an adjunct of the German empire, and many of the best +Swiss writers, far from resenting this affront, welcome it as a +compliment. Just as Americans occasionally write about "_the_ King" +when alluding to the British Sovereign, so the Swiss often fall into +the way of describing the operations of "our army," "our cause," when +alluding to the Kaiser's troops and German designs. + +Several times during the progress of the war the conduct of Swiss +organizations and individuals towards the two groups of belligerents +aroused grounded misgivings in the minds of the French, British and +Italians who asked only for the observance of strict neutrality. One +remarkable instance of the pro-German leanings complained of was the +absolute and persistent refusal of the Swiss to submit to reasonable +restrictions respecting the sale to Germany and Austria of goods +exported to Switzerland by the allied countries. This refusal was all +the more significant that it came after the secret acquiescence in the +more stringent limitations which had been imposed on them by the +Germans. Thus two wholly different sets of weights and measures would +appear to have been employed by the spokesmen of the little Republic +in their dealings with the two groups of warring Powers. And it was +always Germany who obtained preferential treatment. + +This bias springs from causes which are stable and deep-rooted. The +bulk of the Swiss people are frankly pro-German in their sympathies +and their military chiefs side with the Teuton on most of those +questions of principle which form the line of cleavage between him and +the allied peoples. That the end justifies the means, is one of those +axioms which the authorities of the Swiss Republic appear to have +endorsed without hesitation. In the month of March 1916 two Swiss +Colonels, Egli and de Wattenwyl, were tried on two charges which, if +proved, would, it was somewhat hastily assumed, bring down severe +retribution on their heads. It was alleged that they had communicated +to the German military authorities important telegraphic messages +intercepted on their way from the Allies. But the evidence adduced was +deemed insufficient to bear out this indictment. The other charge was +that they had regularly handed on the confidential bulletin of the +Swiss General Staff to the military _attaches_ of the Central Empires +in Berne and only to them. And the count was proven to the +satisfaction of the tribunal. Now this act admittedly constituted a +breach of neutrality. Yet the Chief of the Swiss General Staff, +Colonel Sprecher, defended the accused men on the singular ground that +their action--that is to say, a grave breach of neutrality to the +detriment of the allied nations--was excusable because of the end in +view, which was to gain in exchange useful information for the +Intelligence Department of the War Office. This plea is based on the +German military principle that the means are hallowed by the end. + +It is some satisfaction, however, to note that in the Romande cantons +of the Republic a series of protests have been made against the spirit +of Prussian military amorality which, as the pleadings and the +acquittal of the two officers showed, permeates the military circles +of that little State whose very existence depends on its neutrality. + +Kultur is widely diffused throughout the German-speaking cantons of +Switzerland. The German Universities of the Republic are regarded and +treated as Universities of the Fatherland and their professors +interchanged. And when we further reflect that Germany exports to +Switzerland goods to the value of 680,870,000 francs as against +347,985,000 exported by France, who stands second on the list, that +German Universities and those of German Switzerland elect their +professors indiscriminately from among candidates of both countries, +and that German is spoken in Switzerland by more than 2,500,000 +inhabitants as against 796,244 who use French--one cannot affect +surprise at much that called for comment before the war and provoked +mild deprecation throughout its first phase. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GERMANY AND THE BALKANS + + +For two decades the Balkan States and Turkey had been objects of +Germany's especial solicitude. And with reason. For the part allotted +to them in the plan for teutonizing Europe was of the utmost moment. +The high road from Berlin to the Near East passed through Budapest and +the Balkans. And Austria, as the pioneer of German Kultur there, kept +her gaze fixed and her efforts concentrated on Salonica. Bulgaria's +goodwill had been acquired through Ferdinand of Coburg, himself an +Austro-Hungarian officer, and was maintained by Austria's energetic +championship of Bulgaria's claims against Serbia. Counts Aehrenthal +and Berchtold destined Bulgaria and Roumania to coalesce and form the +nucleus of a permanent Balkan confederation to be patronized and +protected by the Habsburgs. + +But circumstance thwarted the design. And after the Balkan League had +done its work and Turkey's grasp on Europe had relaxed, Bulgaria, in +the person of Ferdinand, was brought to undo what without her lead +could not then have been achieved, to fall foul of her allies and +smash the coalition. + +This incitement was unwelcome to many of Bulgaria's trusty leaders, +who, much though they might grudge Serbia's successes and rapid +growth, were of opinion that Bulgaria would be ill-advised to break +her connection with the Slav cause. But the leaders unexpectedly found +that they were being led, and led away from the natural friends of +Bulgaria by the German prince who had caused the death of Bulgaria's +greatest statesman and made no secret of his contempt for the +Bulgarian people generally. Ferdinand, assuming autocratic power, +rendered this inestimable service to the Teutons and fastened the +Bulgarian State to the Central Empires. + +At some time before the outbreak of the war Ferdinand had struck up a +compact with the Central Empires which bound Bulgaria to follow their +lead. This he did at his own risk and on his own responsibility. I had +grounds for believing in the existence of some such covenant a +considerable time before the storm burst, but I had no tangible proof +of it. In July 1914, however, I knew it for certain, but without +having ascertained the particulars. When and by whom it had been +signed, and what were the main stipulations agreed upon, still +remained in the domain of speculation. I discovered, however, that +Bulgaria's hands were tied; that her mourning for lost Macedonia would +not last long; that the aims she pursued were the policy of the outlet +on four seas, and the territorial separation of Greece and Serbia; +that her role in the Peninsula was to be predominant; that she had +been chosen to supplant Serbia as the leading Balkan State, and would +pay tribute to the Central Empires in the shape of docility to and +ready co-operation with them; and that Roumania would, if she +continued to find favour in the eyes of the statesmen of Vienna and +Berlin, be associated with Bulgaria, but without attaining her rank or +acquiring her power. + +It has since been positively asserted by M. Filipescu, an ex-Cabinet +Minister of Roumania, that "towards the mid-August 1914, when the +treaty was concluded which bound Bulgaria to Germany, the Roumanian +Minister in Berlin, M. Beldiman, had cognizance of this treaty and +apprised the Roumanian Government of the fact."[55] M. Take Jonescu, +the illustrious Roumanian statesman, has assigned a different date to +the conclusion of the agreement, but confirmed the fact of its +existence in the course of a conversation which has also been made +public.[2] He stated that the King of Bulgaria, "who is swayed more by +personal rancour than by the interests of his people, imposed his +policy on them. He allied himself with the Germans as long ago as +Spring 1914. The treaty was taken from Sofia to Berlin by an official +of the Deutsche Bank."[56] + + [55] See _Le Temps_, October 31, 1915. + + [56] Mr. M. Civinini of the _Corriere della Sera_. See + _Corriere della Sera_, October 11, 1915. + +Whatever doubts may prevail respecting the exact date, the main fact +is established--Ferdinand bound Bulgaria to the Central Empires. + +Personal interest as well as State reasons determined him to place +himself under Austro-German protection. It was at Austria's +instigation that he had spurned the advice of his official advisers, +treacherously attacked his allies and brought down defeat upon his +armies and discredit upon himself. But the Habsburg Government had +undertaken to see him through the ordeal to which he was then +subjected by his own people. The Treaty of Bucharest, which deprived +Bulgaria of Kavalla and Salonica, left the wound to fester and +Austro-Bulgarian friendship to harden into a definite alliance. None +the less Bulgaria's friendship with the Central Empires was not openly +manifested until the financial transaction was concluded between them +which made Bulgaria the creditor of Austria-Hungary shortly before the +outbreak of the war. + +Economically, Bulgaria, like her neighbours, had long been a tributary +of the Central Empires. German and Austrian interests were cunningly +intertwined with Bulgarian in almost every branch of national life. +The banks, financial houses, export firms, are all under Austrian or +German control. In the army, too, despite its Russian training and +traditions, there was a party of officers whose admiration for the +war-lord ran away with their discretion. And the celebrated loan of +half a milliard francs, which Austrian financiers undertook to advance +to Bulgaria--on outrageously oppressive conditions--set the crown to +the work of many years. This transaction was not intended by either +party to be purely financial. Its political bearings were evidenced by +the circumstances in which it was negotiated and the terms on which it +was concluded. But the economic concessions insisted upon by Austria +and conceded by Bulgaria constituted of themselves a convincing proof +of the design to reduce the latter country to the position of one of +the dependents of the Central Empires. + +Of all the recognized agencies for penetrating international opinion, +swaying international sentiment, and influencing international action, +one of the most abiding and decisive is that of royal courts. Yet its +value was not merely underrated by Britain, France and Russia, but was +completely ignored. And Germany, whose diplomacy, in spite of its +clumsiness and brutality, was far-sighted and assiduous in watching +for and utilizing every opportunity of smoothing the way for the +execution of the grandiose plan, purveyed almost every court and +throne in Europe with kings, queens and princesses of its own. And +those who were neither Germans by birth nor connected with Germans by +marriage were influenced by education, by military training, or at +least by a system of atmosphering which, with certain striking +examples before one, could be reduced to a few clear rules. + +Roumania at the opening of the war was governed by a Hohenzollern +prince who had linked the destinies of his country with those of +Austria-Hungary as far back as the year 1880, and, having renewed the +secret convention in 1913, which for him was no mere scrap of paper, +convoked a crown council in August 1914 and proposed that Roumania +should redeem his pledge and take the field against the enemies of the +Central Empires. But King Carol's military ardour was not merely +damped but choked by a recalcitrant cabinet. + +That monarch's influence as a pioneer of Teuton Kultur in Roumania can +hardly be exaggerated. An upright ruler, who discharged his duties +conscientiously, the King reckoned among these the dissipation of +native gloom by means of German light. And during his long reign he +succeeded in spreading a network of German economic interests +throughout his realm which, while raising the material level of the +nation, has reduced it to the position of a German tributary. It would +be unjust to make this a subject of reproach to the monarch who acted +up to his lights, but it would be a mistake to belittle the vast +services thus rendered by a single individual to the Teuton race, or +to overlook the degree of responsibility that attaches to the nations +now banded together, and in especial to Russia, for the sequence of +untoward phenomena which, now that they are not only seen, but felt, +and felt painfully, we naively deplore. + +King Carol's successor is also a Hohenzollern prince whose attachment +to his Prussian fatherland is noted, whose relations with his kinsman, +the Kaiser, are cordial, but whose devotion to his subjects is +paramount. More than once since the opening of the campaign Roumania +was believed to be on the point of exchanging neutrality for +belligerency, but, on grounds which it would be unfruitful to discuss, +she abandoned the intention, if she ever harboured it. As matters now +are, the Allies are congratulating themselves on the circumstance that +she is still neutral. + +The Queen of Sweden is a daughter of the most imperialistic of German +princes, the late Grand Duke of Baden and a cousin of the Kaiser, to +whom she is attached by bonds of sympathy and admiration. And her +consort the King, fascinated by the methods, the strivings, the +achievements of the Hohenzollerns, has made more than one attempt to +imitate them, but, owing partly to the opposition of the late Herr +Staaff, and largely to his own mental and moral equipment, which +point in a different direction, he felt obliged to desist. + +The accomplished Queen of the Belgians and the Tsaritsa of Russia are +also both German princesses, but they form exceptions to the rule that +whichever of any two spouses is German exercises an overmastering +influence on the other. The Prince Consort of Holland, the Duke of +Mecklenburg, is a German of the Germans, but through constitutional +channels he can wield no political influence, and the attitude of the +Dutch Government towards the Allies has been clear enough to need no +elaborate exegesis. + +The King of Bulgaria is an ex-officer of the Austro-Hungarian army, +whose pro-German work and its far-resonant results will probably never +be wholly forgotten by his own German people. For, as we saw, it has +rendered them services that cannot be repaid. Not, indeed, that he had +any coherent plan in his mind's eye, or was guided by any deep-seated +moral principles. Politics were for him the art of the possible +enlarged by the negation of the ethical. Ferdinand may, therefore, be +described as an opportunist, who in current politics contented himself +with following his nose. Of treaties and conventions he had signed a +goodly number and broken some. Thus with Russia he had a secret +agreement of a military nature, and also with Russia's rival, +Austria-Hungary. With Serbia he had one set of stipulations, with +Turkey another, but, shifty customer that he is, he had set himself +above them all and was ever ready to follow the lead of personal +interest. What the historian will accentuate is the deftness with +which German diplomacy, for all its alleged clumsiness, contrived to +use his defects and his qualities alike for the furtherance of its own +designs. + +Love of country, like religious faith, is a respectable mainspring of +action. But Ferdinand has been credited with neither. Whithersoever he +moves one looks in vain for the guiding light of large ideas. Deeper +than conscious volition lies the stored-up instinct of barren +pettifogging egotism to which a fine moral atmosphere is deadly. +Insincerity is second nature to him. He once boasted in my presence +that he was a born actor, and it is fair to say that he played his +roles--repellent for the most part--as behoves a mummer. The +astonishing thing is that he should have got influential politicians +to take him seriously. While assuring the French deputy, M. Joseph +Reinach, of his attachment to France and signing himself the European, +he was writing to Professor Walter of Budapest offering "all the +sympathies of the Bulgarian nation" to Hungary.[57] I have read +ecstatic communications of his penned in hours of exaltation, when +visions of Constantine's city, the mosque of Aya Sofia towering aloft, +warmed his fancy and the sheen of Byzantine brocades and the quaint +paraphernalia of bygone days inspired his apocalyptic words. His +language in those telegrams and letters was highfaluting and +bombastic. And I read other communications of his--mostly abject +appeals for help--devoid of dignity and manliness, when the gloom of +dissipated illusions was made unbearable by fear of dethronement and +death. And the figure cut by the Tsarlet, who addressed those humble +prayers--mostly to influential ladies--was despicable. + + [57] In September 1914. See _Morning Post_, September 4, + 1914. + +Ferdinand was swayed by ingrained hatred of Russia which was almost as +potent as his contempt for the Bulgars. And he never made a secret of +either. For the Turkish pasha who was responsible for the Bulgarian +atrocities, which aroused Gladstone's indignation, Ferdinand's +professed admiration took the form of a subscription.[58] But high +above all motives that turned upon his feelings towards others were +those that centred entirely in himself. + + [58] The Batak massacre of Bulgarians by order of Abdul Kerim + Pasha had called forth Gladstone's pamphlet: _Bulgarian + Atrocities_, and aroused the horror of civilized men. But the + Hungarian aristocracy sympathized with the mass murderer, and + presented him with a golden hilted sabre. The list of + subscribers for this mark of aversion to the Bulgarian people + can still be viewed in the Museum at Budapest. The third name + on that list--Princess Clementine--is followed immediately by + that of her son Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, who gave one + hundred florins as a token of his admiration for the + exterminator of his future subjects! It need hardly be added + that he was not yet Prince of Bulgaria. + +And he had cogent personal motives for cultivating cordial relations +with the country of his birth. From the Austrian Government he +expected to be saved from the necessity of abdicating and expiating +his unwisdom. It was his inordinate ambition and vanity which had +brought the Bulgarian nation to the very brink of ruin. He it was who +had insisted on breaking off negotiations with Turkey during the +London Conference and recommencing hostilities. In vain the Chief of +the General Staff, Fitcheff,[59] besought him to conclude peace. The +importunate military adviser was suddenly relieved of his duties and +the second phase of the Balkan war begun. It was Ferdinand, too, who +thwarted Russia's peace-making efforts, refused to send delegates to +the tribunal of arbitration in Petrograd, and ordered the treacherous +attack on the Serbs and the Greeks which culminated in Bulgaria's +forfeiting some of the principal fruits of her heroic military +exertions. + + [59] General Fitcheff has since become Minister of War. + +For this series of baleful blunders--to the Bulgars they were nothing +more--Ferdinand was known to be alone responsible. He had assumed the +sole responsibility, and he had hoped to gather in the lion's share of +the spoils. And as soon as responsibility seemed likely to involve +punishment, his Ministers withdrew and exposed his person to the +nation. When, after the end of the second Balkan war, General Savoff +repaired to Constantinople to better the relations between Bulgaria +and Turkey, he invited a number of French and British journalists who +happened to be just then in the capital, and he addressed them as +follows: "It has come to my ears that in Sofia I am accused of being +the person who issued the order to our army to attack our Allies and +that I am to be tried for it. They will never dare to prosecute me. +For I have here--" and he thumped his side pocket as he spoke--"the +order issued by the real author of the war and in his own handwriting. +He commanded me orally to do this, but I replied that I must have a +written order from the Government. Thereupon he shouted: 'I am the +supreme chief of the army and am about to give you the order in +writing,' indited the behest and handed it to me. That is why he +cannot prosecute me. I will show him up. Already now I tell you, so +that all may hear, _C'est un coquin, un miserable!_"[60] + + [60] This narrative was published by M. Wesselitsky in the + _Novoye Vremya_, November 6, 1915. + +That was General Savoff's summing-up of his august sovereign. And his +forecast proved correct. Ferdinand did not attempt to lay the blame on +him, still less to have an indictment filed against him. On the +contrary, he kissed Savoff on his return to Sofia and later on made +him his adjutant-general. Ferdinand's responsibility being +established, his abdication was clamoured for by public opinion. His +own estimate of his plight was impregnated with despair. He despatched +the abject telegrams mentioned above to his influential friends. It +was then that he received a letter signed by the three chiefs of the +Liberal groups of the old Stambulovist Party--Radoslavoff, Ghennadieff +and Tontcheff--and written, it has been alleged, after consultation +between all four parties, exhorting him to reverse the national policy +and link Bulgaria's fate with that of Austria. The Coburg prince +publicly welcomed them, dismissed the Daneff Cabinet, handed the reins +of power to the three self-constituted saviours of the dynasty and +country, and the Treaty of Bucharest was signed in an offhand manner. +The keynote of the policy of the new Cabinet was hatred of Russia, who +was held up to public opprobrium by the press of Sofia as the +mischief-maker who had betrayed Bulgaria; and as the nation thirsted +for a culprit on whom to vent its rage, the legend obtained a certain +vogue. At the same time emphatic assurances were given by Count +Berchtold that Austria would upset the Treaty of Bucharest, break +down the Serbian and Greek barriers that stood between Bulgaria and +her natural boundaries, and establish Ferdinand and his dynasty more +firmly on the throne. This prospect heartened the King and stimulated +his fellow-workers. + +But perhaps the most decisive factor in Bulgaria's attitude towards +the Central Powers has been that of Russia towards Bulgaria. The +Tsardom cherishes tender feelings towards the political entity which +it called into being. Bulgaria is the creature of the great Slav +people which shed its blood and spent its treasure in giving it life +and viability, and has ever since felt bound to watch over its +destinies, forgive its foolish freaks, and contribute to its political +and material well-being. Congruously with this frame of mind, Russia +has not the heart to deal with Bulgaria as she would deal under +similar provocation with Roumania or Greece. Like the baby cripple, or +the profligate son, this wayward little nation ever remains the +spoiled child. Hence, do what harm she may to Russia, she is not +merely immune from the natural consequences of her unfriendly acts, +but certain to reap fruits ripened by the sacrifices of those whose +policy she strove to baulk. Conscious of this immense privilege, she +takes the fullest advantage of it. Under such conditions no stable +coalition of the Balkan States was possible. + +The remarkable ascendancy thus won by Germany over Bulgaria is but one +of the salient results of her foresight, organization and +single-mindedness which the Allies are now beginning to appreciate. +Their ideal policy in the Balkans was to have none. Great Britain in +particular was proud of her complete disinterestedness. + +Between the Teutons and the Greeks there were no such close ties as +those that linked Bulgaria to the Central Empires. The Hellenic +kingdom is a democracy marked by a constant tendency to anarchy. Down +to the beginning of the reign of the present monarch its ruler was +never more than the merest figure-head, nor its people anything but an +amalgam of individuals deficient in the social sense and devoid of +political cohesiveness. The late King George, for instance, remained, +to the end of his life, an amused spectator of the childish game of +politics carried on by his Ministers; and so insecure did he consider +his tenure of the kingship, that his frequent threat to "take his hat" +and quit the country for good had become one of the commonplaces of +Greek politics. Only a few years ago his reign appeared to be drawing +to an ignominious end. His functions were usurped by a military league +and his sons removed from the army. Anarchy was spreading, at that +time I expressed the opinion that the only person capable of saving +Greece--if Greece could yet be saved--was the Cretan insurgent, M. +Venizelos. This suggestion appealed to the Chief of the Military +League and was adopted. Venizelos was invited to Athens with the +results known to all the world. At first reluctantly tolerated, he was +subsequently highly appreciated by King George and was afterwards +handicapped by King Constantine, whose impolitic instructions during +the Bucharest Conference resulted in sowing seeds of discord between +Greece and Bulgaria. + +To small countries and petty personal ambitions, a war among the Great +Powers brings halcyon days of flattery, bribery and seductive +prospects in an imaginary future. In Greece all these and other +attractions were dangled before the eyes of men of power and +influence. The Sovereign, whose admiration for the Kaiser verges on +idolatry, soon extended this platonic sentiment to the Kaiser's army. +And when fortune seemed definitively to espouse the cause of the +Central Empires, his admiration was reinforced by fear and the +pro-German leanings, which were at first merely platonic, bade fair to +harden into active co-operation. It was not until then that the +Entente Powers, discerning the fateful character of their errors and +the trend of events, resolved after much hesitation and discussion to +put forth an effort to retrieve the situation. Of his philo-German +tendencies King Constantine gave several public proofs long before the +war, and on the psychological soil from which they sprang, German +diplomacy raised its typical structure of intrigue and adulation. As +the irresistible captain who had shattered the armies of Turkey and +Bulgaria, winning undying fame for himself and his country, the King +was encouraged to believe that on him devolved the mission of uniting +all Hellenes under his sceptre, building up a larger Greece, +consolidating the monarchy within, and ruling as well as reigning. And +so well laid was this plan that when the European armies took the +field and the Entente Powers counted Greece, then apparently governed +by Venizelos, among its cordial friends, the Teutons, sure of their +ground, but still working assiduously for their object, put their +trust in the Kaiser's royal henchman and their own permanent display +of force, and were not disappointed. + +Long before the war-cloud burst, the history makers of Berlin +recognized the fact that the key to the Dardanelles lay in Sofia, and +not only to the Dardanelles, but also the key to the Near East. The +statesmen of Austria and Germany discerned that the Bulgars under +their guidance could be got to do for Turkey what Japan hoped, and +still hopes, to effect for China. It is a work of complete +transformation, a sort of political transubstantiation whereby the +Bulgars would infuse ichor into the limp veins of the Ottoman organism +and recreate a strong political entity which would be an instrument in +the hands of the Central Empires. The Bulgar knows the Turk, to whom +he is more akin by race habits and temperament than to any of the Slav +peoples, understands his psychic state, his mode of feeling and +thinking, and is therefore qualified to serve as link between the +Oriental and the Western. It was in view of this eventuality that the +slow, plodding work of grafting Kultur on the Bulgar people was +undertaken. Two German schools, one in Sofia and the other in +Philippopolis, were the centres whence it was radiated to the ends of +the land. In Bulgaria there are many preparatory grammar schools in +which tuition for both sexes is free. All scholars who have passed +through one of the German schools are admitted without any examination +into the Grammar School, or Gymnasium, a privilege which works as a +powerful attraction. Since Turkey retroceded Karagatch[61] to Bulgaria +there are three such centres of Teutonic propaganda in Bulgaria, and I +am informed that a fourth will shortly be established in Rustschuk. + + [61] One of the suburbs of Adrianople ceded in July 1915. + +The record of the economic invasion of Roumania by the Teuton,[62] +supplemented as it was by various complex auxiliary movements of a +political character, supplies us with a fresh variation of the trite +text that Germany conceived her plan on a vast scale and executed it +by co-operation between the State and the individuals, leaving nothing +to chance which could be settled by forethought. The ruler of the +country was a Hohenzollern, and as he wielded absolute power in +matters connected with foreign policy, he had a free hand and kept it +efficaciously employed. For over thirty years King Carol transacted +the international business of the realm--economic as well as +political--with assiduity, conscientiousness and a fair meed of +success. He encouraged industry and commerce, and welcomed German and +Austrian capital and enterprise. The upshot of his exertions was that +in the fullness of time his kingdom, like those of Italy, Bulgaria and +Turkey, became to most intents a nascent Teutonic colony. In Roumania, +as in Bulgaria, the commercial methods and business ways are German. +The heads of banking establishments and great industries are either +Teutons or friends of Teutons. Nearly every big enterprise, commercial +and industrial, was launched and kept afloat by capital from the +Fatherland. The Discount Bank in Berlin has a vast cellar filled with +Roumanian bonds, shares and other securities. So close are the ties +that connect the little state with the great empire that even the +Roumanian railways have a special convention with those of Prussia. +Here, then, as everywhere else, we are in presence of intelligence +wedded to politico-economic enterprise. Individual German firms and +the Government worked hand in hand; diplomacy, trade and commerce +moved steadily towards the same goal, and attained it. + + [62] Roumania's annual imports from Austria-Hungary, + according to the latest available statistics, were valued at + 136,906,000 francs; from Germany at 183,713,000; and from + Great Britain at only 85,470,000 francs. France exported + thither goods valued at no more than 35,273,000 francs. + +Owing to Roumania's grievances against Russia--whose seizure of +Bessarabia nearly forty years ago left a wound which festered for +years and has only recently been cicatrized--King Carol concluded a +military convention with the Austro-Hungarian empire, the stipulations +of which have never been authoritatively disclosed. There is reason to +believe that one clause obliged the Roumanian Government to come to +the support of the Habsburg Monarchy with all its military resources +in case that empire should be wantonly attacked by another Power. +Whether this instrument, which was never laid before the Roumanian +legislature for ratification, is deemed to have been vitiated by the +lack of this indispensable sanction, or is assumed to have terminated +with the decease of the king who concluded it, is a matter of no real +moment. The relevant circumstance is the unwillingness of +Austria-Hungary to invoke the terms of the convention and the resolve +of the Bucharest Cabinet to ignore them. + +Thus Roumania, like all other neutral states, was well within the +sphere of attraction of the Central Empires long before the present +conflict was unchained. And the clever tactics by which siege was laid +to the sympathies of a nation which at bottom has hardly any traits in +common with the besieger, would have entailed a complete revision and +remodelling of the polity of Russia, France and Britain, had these +Powers had any coherent programme or distant aims. But their motto +was: Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. + +True, none of those States ever designed a political revolution of the +Old Continent, such as Napoleon had imagined or Germany is now +striving to realize. But neither did they read aright nor even give +serious thought to the symptoms of the great conspiracy which was +being hatched by others for that purpose. Busied with their party +squabbles and social reforms, they took it for granted that +international tranquillity which was a condition of the stability of +all internal affairs was assured. Such occasional misunderstandings as +might crop up among the Powers could, they imagined, always be +smoothed over by manifestations of goodwill and timely concessions. +Fitfulness and hesitancy marked every attempt made by Germany's rivals +to push their trade or extend their political relations beyond their +own borders. + +This lack of enterprise was especially accentuated in their dealings +with Turkey. No Powers had done so much to uphold Ottoman sway in +Europe as France and Britain, and for a long while their exertions +found their natural outcome in a degree of influence at the Sublime +Porte which was unparalleled in Turkish history. But once Germany +inaugurated her economico-political campaign in the Near East, the +principle of neighbourliness was invoked in favour of allowing her to +possess herself of a share of the good things going, whereupon Great +Britain, and in a lesser degree France, curbed their natural impulse +and left most of the field to the pushing new-comer. For years the +writer of these lines pointed out the danger of this self-abnegation, +but his insistent appeals for a more active line of conduct were met +by the statement that Near Eastern affairs had long ceased to tempt +the enterprise or affect the international policy of Great Britain. As +though Great Britain were not a member of the European community or +her geographical insularity implied political isolation; or as if her +policy of equilibrium were capable of being achieved without the +employment of adequate means! When I raised my voice against our +participation in the Baghdad railway scheme and bared to the light the +political designs underlying it, Cabinet Ministers assured the country +that its scope was exclusively economic and cultural and had no +connection with politics! This naive belief and the _laissez-faire_ +attitude which it engendered enabled the Teutons to reduce Turkey to +economic and political thraldom and to earmark Asia Minor, +thenceforward hedged in with the Baghdad and Anatolian railways, as a +future German colony. + +The closeness and constancy of the relations between economics and +politics which easily took root in German consciousness, had for +another of its corollaries the dispatch of General Liman von Sanders +and his band of officers to reorganize the Ottoman army. This measure +struck some observers as the beginning of the end of European peace. +It was thus that the Russian Premier, Kokofftseff, and his colleague, +Sazonoff, construed it, and that was the interpretation which I also +put upon it. But none of the other interested Governments expressed +similar misgivings, nor, so far as one can judge, entertained any. Yet +when war was finally declared, Germany's plan of campaign allotted an +important role to Turkey not in a possible emergency, but at a date to +be determined by the completion of her military and naval equipment. + +In this ingenious and comprehensive way, operating at a multitude of +points, but never dissociating economics from politics, never +abandoning the work of commercial expansion to the unaided resources +of individuals, the Teutonic empires contrived to spread a huge net in +whose meshes almost every civilized nation was to some extent +entangled. And the subsequent political conduct of many of these was +determined in advance by the plight to which they had been thus +reduced. Russia was reasonably believed to be incapable of taking the +field; Italy was accounted wholly unfitted to bear the weight of the +financial burden which a conflict with Germany would lay upon her +shoulders; Roumania, it was calculated, would decline to exchange +material gains for political returns purchased at a heavy cost; +Bulgaria could not afford to estrange Austria's sympathies and need +never fear that she might forfeit those of Russia; Sweden, saturated +with German Kultur, was one of the foreposts of Teutonism in the north +of Europe and might in time be induced to imitate Bulgaria and play +for the hegemony of the Scandinavian States with the Kaiser's help; +Switzerland was virtually German in everything but political +organization; Holland would believe in Prussianism and tremble; +Belgium was economically a pawn in German hands and Antwerp a German +port; and in the United States millions of hyphenated Germans would +plead the Teuton cause and do the rough work of advancing it by means +of their political organization and influence. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE RIVAL POLICIES + + +In face of this Teutonic control of the world's trade, politics and +news supply, the Great Powers whose outlook, political and economic, +was most nearly affected, exhibited a degree of supineness which can +only be adequately explained by such assumptions as one would gladly +eliminate. Anyhow the lessons conveyed by eloquent facts fell upon +deaf ears. Yet it was manifest, in view of Germany's ingenious +combination of economics and politics, and the irresistible +co-operation of the State and individuals in applying it, that the +slipshod methods of Britain and France could no longer be persisted in +without grave danger to these states. To deal with trade and industry +as though they were matters that concerned only the particular +business firms engaged in them was no longer an economical error, it +was also a political blunder. To Government meddling in trade and +industry the British people have ever been averse. And their dislike +is intelligible although no longer warranted. A glance at Germany's +economic campaign and its results ought to have borne out the thesis +that individual self-reliance and push are unavailing to cope with a +potent organism equipped scientifically, provided with large capital +and backed by the resources of diplomacy. New epochs call for fresh +methods, and the era of commercial and industrial individualism was +closed years ago by the German people. Co-ordination of effort, the +combination of politics with economics, and unity of direction were +among Germany's methods in the contest, and she adopted them in the +grounded belief that commerce and industry lie at the nethermost roots +of the vast political movements of the new era. + +This is a century of co-operation, of joint efforts for common +interests, of union in trade, industry, labour, politics and war. To +stand aloof is to be isolated, and isolation means helplessness +against danger. Germany was the first Power to grasp these facts, to +understand the new phase of life and to adapt herself to it. For this +work of readjustment her people were specially endowed by Nature, and +in their equipment for the task they saw a mark of election set upon +them by their "old God." For the correlate of co-operation is talent +for organization, and with this the Teutons are plentifully gifted. +They feel impelled as it were by instinct to push forward much further +on the road already traversed by all nations from isolation to +individualism through gregariousness. They opened the new era of +amalgamation by co-ordinating, on a vast scale, individual +achievements, resources and labour, and directing them to a common +end. The allied peoples were meanwhile content to muddle through in +the old way. This difference explains much that seems puzzling in the +outcome of the struggle. + +It has been affirmed somewhat off-handedly that the Latin and British +peoples, incapable of united and organized effort, have halted at the +individualist stage. They are supposed to lack the bump of +organization. According to this theory among the Germans, who had +passed through all the intermediate phases and carried individualism +to sinister extremes in the past, a reaction set in which called forth +the latent powers of organization which they possess. And these have +been wielded with brilliant results ever since the unity of the German +Empire was first established. Applying the new principle to politics, +the statesmen of Berlin grasped the fact that all future conflicts in +Europe would be waged by coalitions. Neither Austria-Hungary alone nor +the German Empire alone could undertake a world war. That was the +genesis of the scheme of welding the two central empires in one +politico-military entity and then attracting as many other States as +possible into their orbit. And the enterprise was conducted so +ingeniously that when war was declared, Roumania, Bulgaria and Turkey +were tied to the Triple Alliance. And henceforward, whatever the +outcome of the war may be, the permanent fusion of Germany and Austria +is a foregone conclusion. + +By the means described a state of things, actual and potential, was +established which rendered Germany's military attack on Europe much +less hazardous and doubtful a venture than was at first supposed. For +there was not a country on the globe which she or her ally had not +subjected to the process of interpenetration, nor was there one which +had remained wholly irresponsive. Even Brazil, Chili, Peru, China, +Morocco, Persia, Abyssinia, had all experienced its effects. And when +at last the harvest-time was come and its fruits were to be +ingathered Germany felt that she could count to varying extents on the +active sympathy and support of governments, parliaments and nations; +on the Turks, the Swiss, the Swedes, the Bulgarians, the Roumanians; +on the autocratic ruler of the Greeks and on millions of +American-Germans. Every independent religious centre was permeated +with an atmosphere composed in Germany. The Caliph and the +Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Moslems, the evangelical preachers of the +Russian Baltic provinces, Brahmins in India, subjects of the Negus of +Abyssinia, the Jews of western Russia and Poland, as well as those of +the Netherlands, the Catholics of Switzerland, Holland and Italy, nay, +the Vatican itself, raised their voices in the chorus of the millions +who sang hosannah to the Highest.[63] + + [63] The Highest of All is the official designation of the + Kaiser: der Allerhoechste. + +Dismay was the feeling aroused among the Allies by the quick dramatic +moves which precipitated the war. The trump of doom seemed to have +sounded at a moment when mankind was on the point of discovering the +secret of immortality. The utter unpreparedness of the Allies was the +dominant note of the new situation, and its manifestations were +countless and disastrous. There was no adequate British expeditionary +army to send on foreign service, and there existed no machinery by +which such a force could quickly be got together and trained. +Voluntary enlistment was a slowly moving mechanism, and even if it +could be made to work more rapidly, there was no way of employing the +new soldiers, for whom there were neither barracks nor uniforms nor +rifles in sufficiency. And if all these requirements could have been +improvised, there were no generals accustomed to handle armies of +millions. And even if all those wants had been supplied to hand there +was no Government enterprising enough to put them to the best +advantage of the nation. Moreover, colonial expeditions were the most +extensive military operations which the country had carried on within +the memory of the present generation, and it was beyond the power of +the authorities not only to organize the imperial defences on an +adequate scale but even to realize the necessity of attempting the +feat. In a word, the prospect could hardly have been more dismal. + +In France it was a degree less cheerless, but still decidedly bleak. +Mobilization there went forward, it is claimed, more smoothly than had +been anticipated, but not rapidly enough to enable adequate forces to +be dispatched in time against the German military flood. The +organization of the railway system was most inefficient. And had it +not been for heroic Belgium, who, confronted with the alternatives of +ruin with honour and safety with ignominy, unhesitatingly chose the +better part, the inrush of the Teutons would, it is asserted by +military experts, have swept away every obstacle that lay between them +and the French capital, which was their first objective. Belgium's +magnificent resistance thus saved Paris, gave breathing space to the +French, and enabled the Allies to swing their sword before smiting. + +Russia, too, did better than had been augured of her, but not nearly +as well as if her resources had been organized by competent experts, +alive to the dangers that threatened the empire. On the eve of the war +a process of fermentation among the working men of her two capitals +was coming to a head, and a revolt, if not a revolution, was being +industriously organized. The movement had certainly been fostered, and +probably originated, by wealthy German employers in Petrograd, Moscow +and other industrial centres. They had hoped to frustrate the +mobilization order, retard Russia's entry into the field, and possibly +bring about civil strife. And they were within an ace of succeeding. +On the very eve of hostilities reports reached Berlin and Vienna that +the revolution was already beginning. But the declaration of war +against Germany purified the air, absorbed the redundant energies of +the people, and fused all classes and parties into a whole-hearted, +single-minded nation, giving Russia a degree of union which she had +not enjoyed since Napoleon's invasion. But, separated from her allies, +she went her own way without much reference to theirs. Her plans had +been drafted by her military leaders, and might be modified by local +conditions or subsequent vicissitudes, but were neither co-ordinated +nor even synchronized with those of France and Britain. Thus the first +and most important lesson had still to be mastered. + +Liege and Namur having fallen, the danger to Paris struck terror to +the hearts of the French, and the public mind was being gradually +prepared by the Press to receive the depressing tidings of its capture +with dignified calm. The occupation of the capital, it was argued, +would not essentially weaken the military strength of the Republic. +For the army would still be intact, and that was the essential point. +Here, for the first time, one notes the almost invincible force of the +antiquated opinions to which the Allies still tenaciously clung about +warfare as modified by Germany. No misgivings were harboured that the +enemy might threaten to burn the capital city if the army refused to +capitulate, or that he was capable of carrying out such a threat. War +in its old guise, hedged round with traditions of chivalry, with +humanitarian restrictions, with international laws, was how the French +and their allies conceived it. And it was in that spirit that they +made their forecasts and regulated their own behaviour towards the +enemy. + +The rise of Generals Joffre, Castelnau and Foch and the retreat of the +German invaders raised the Allies from the depths of despair to a +degree of confidence bordering on presumption. After the departure of +the Belgian Government to Antwerp,[64] the occupation of Brussels,[65] +the defeat of the Austrian army by the Serbs and the rout of three +German army corps by the Russians,[66] the Western Allies conceived +high hopes of the military prowess of the Slavs, and looked to them +for the decisive action which would speedily bring the Teutons to +their knees. And for a time Russia's continued progress seemed to +justify these hopes. Her troops entered Insterburg[67] and pushed on +to Koenigsberg, which they invested and threatened,[68] and in the +south they scored a series of remarkable successes in Galicia. But in +the west of Europe the Allies could at most but retard without +arresting the advance of the Germans, whose aim was to defeat the +French and then concentrate all their efforts on the invasion of the +Tsardom. Despite assurances of an optimistic tenor there appeared to +be no serious hope of defending Paris, nor were effective local +measures adopted for the purpose; and on September 3 the French +Government, against the insistent advice of three experienced Cabinet +Ministers, suddenly moved to Bordeaux, and earned for itself the +nickname of _tournedos a la bordelaise_. On the same historic day the +Tsar's troops triumphantly entered Lemberg, restored to that city its +ancient name of Lvoff, and proceeded to introduce the Russian system +of administration there with all its traditional characteristics. But +in lieu of conferring full powers on the Governor of the conquered +province, a man of broad views and conciliatory methods, the +Government dispatched a narrow-minded official, devoid of natural +ability, of administrative training, and of the sobering consciousness +of his own defects, and listened to his recommendations. For Russia, +like France and Britain, still contemplated the situation and its +potentialities through the distorting medium of the old order of +things. Their orientation had undergone no change. + + [64] August 17, 1914. + + [65] August 20, 1914. + + [66] August 22, 1914. + + [67] August 23, 1914. + + [68] August 29, 1914. + +One of the immediate consequences of Russian rule in Galicia was to +confirm the Vatican in its belief that Austria offered Catholicism far +more trustworthy guarantees for its unhindered growth than could ever +be expected from the Tsardom. + +The famous battle of the Marne[69] infused new energies into the +Allies, whose Press organs forthwith took to discussing the terms on +which peace might be vouchsafed to the Teutons, and in these +stipulations a spirit of magnanimity was displayed towards the enemy +which at any rate served to show how little his temper was understood +and how enormously his resources were underrated. Soon, however, the +mist of ignorance began to lift, and saner notions of the stern +interplay of the tidal forces at work were borne in upon the leaders +of the allied peoples. One of the first discoveries to be made was the +enormous consumption of ammunition required by latter-day warfare and +the ease with which the Germans were able to meet this increased +demand. That this enormous advantage was the result of scientific +organization was patent to all. Nor could it be ignored that an +essential element of that organization was the militarization of all +workmen whose services were needed by the State. But from the lesson +thus inculcated to its application in practice there was an abyss. And +as yet that abyss has not been bridged. The most formidable obstacle +in the way is offered by the shackles of party politics, which still +hamper the leaders of the Entente Powers, and in particular of Great +Britain. Industrial compulsion has not yet been moved into the field +of practical politics. + + [69] September 12, 1914. + +One of Germany's calculations was that, however superior to her own +resources those of her adversaries might be, they were not likely to +be mobilized, concentrated and brought to bear upon the front. +Consequently they would not tell upon the result. Military discipline +had not impregnated any of the allied nations, whose ideas of +personal liberty and dignity would oppose an insurmountable obstacle +to that severe discipline which was essential to military success. +Great Britain, they believed, would cling to her ingrained notions of +the indefeasible right of the British workman to strike and of the +British citizen to hold back from military service. And the telegrams +announcing that in the United Kingdom the cries of "business as +usual," "sport as usual," "strikes as usual," "voluntary enlistment as +usual," indicated the survival of the antiquated spirit of +individualism into a new order of things which peremptorily called for +co-operation and iron discipline, were received in Berlin and Vienna +with undisguised joy. The persistence of this spirit has been the +curse of the Allies ever since. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +PROBLEMS OF LEADERSHIP + + +It is worth noting in this connection how heavily the lack of genial +leaders at this critical conjuncture in European history told upon the +allied peoples and affected their chances of success. The statesmen in +power were mostly straightforward, conscientious servants of their +respective Governments, whose ideal had been the prevention of +hostilities, and whose exertions in war time were directed to the +restoration of peace on a stable basis. By none of them was the stir, +the spirit, the governing instincts of the new era or the actual +crisis perceived. They all failed of audacity. Hence they were +solicitous to leave as far as possible intact all the rights, +privileges and institutions of the past which would be serviceable in +the re-established peace regime of the future. In Great Britain the +voluntary system of recruiting the army and navy was to be respected, +the right of workmen to strike was recognized, and the maintenance of +party government was looked upon as a matter of course. The writer of +these pages made several ineffectual attempts to propagate the view +that a War Cabinet presided over by a real chief was a corollary of +the situation, military and industrial compulsion for all was +indispensable, that a discriminating tariff on our imports and a +restriction of certain exports would materially contribute to our +progress, and that a special department for the manufacture of +munitions ought to be organized without delay.[70] One measure +indicative, people said, of undisputed wisdom which was resorted to +was the appointment of Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War.[71] If +this step deserved the fervent approval it met with, its efficacy was +considerably impaired by imposing on the new Secretary the task of +purveying munitions and other supplies, in addition to the +multifarious duties of his office. And with this solitary exception +everything was allowed to go on "as usual," with consequences which +every one has since had an opportunity of meditating. Internal +whole-hearted co-operation between the Government and all the social +layers of the population was neither known nor systematically +attempted, and still less were the respective forces of the Allies +co-ordinated and hurled against the enemy. The struggle was confined +to the army and the navy, and these instruments of national defence +were inadequately provided with the first necessaries for action. + + [70] Cf. _Contemporary Review_, November 1914. I was + requested to suppress an article on the subject of "Coalition + Government" and another on the subject of "Tariff Reform + during and after the War." + + [71] August 5, 1914. + +Each of the Allies was isolated, cooped within its own narrow circle +of ideas, buoyed up by its own hopes, bent on the attainment of its +own special aims. The first step towards amalgamation was negative in +character, but superlatively politic. It took the form of a covenant +by which it was stipulated that none of the Allies should conclude a +separate peace with the enemy. But beyond that nothing was done, nor +was anything more considered necessary. + +In Britain the consciousness that the country was at war spread very +slowly, while the conviction that this was a life-and-death struggle +which would seriously affect the lives and rights and habits of every +individual made no headway. Only a few grasped the fact that a +tremendous upheaval was going forward which marked the rise of a new +era and a complete break with the old. By the bulk of the population +it was treated as a game calling for no extraordinary efforts, no +special methods, no new departures. It was construed as a hateful +parenthesis in a cheerful history of human progress, and the object of +the nation was to have it swiftly and decently closed. Hence the +machinery of the old system was not discarded. Voluntary enlistment +was belauded and agitation against joining the army magnanimously +tolerated. Attacks on the Government were permitted. The manufacture +of munitions was confided to private firms and to the whims of +dissatisfied workmen, and co-operation among the various sections of +the population was left to private initiative. + +Most of us are prone to consider this war as a fortuitous event, which +might, indeed, have been staved off, but which, having disturbed for a +time the easy movement of our insular life, will die away and leave us +free to continue our progress on the same lines as before. But this +faith is hardly more than the confluence of hopes and strivings, +habits, traditions, and aspirations untempered by accurate knowledge +of the facts. And the facts, were we cognizant of them, would show us +that the agencies which brought about this tremendous shock of peoples +without blasting our hopes or exploding our pet theories, will not +spend their force in this generation or the next, and that already the +entire fabric--social, political, and economical--of our national life +is undergoing disruption. + +The shifting of landmarks, political and social, is going steadily if +stealthily forward; and the nation waking up one day will note with +amazement the vast distance it has imperceptibly traversed. If only we +could realize at present how rapidly and irrevocably we are drifting +away from our old-world moorings, we should feel in a more congenial +mood for adjusting ourselves to the new and unpopular requirements of +the era now dawning. Already we are becoming a militarist and a +protective State, but we do not yet know it. We have broken with the +traditions of our own peculiar and insular form of civilization, of +which poets like Tennyson were the high priests, yet we hesitate to +bid them farewell. We still base our forecasts of the future political +life on the past and calculate the outcome of the next elections, the +fate of Disestablishment and Home Rule, the relative positions of the +chief Parliamentary parties on the old bases, and draw up our plans +accordingly. In short, we still bear about with us the fragrant +atmosphere of our previous existence which will never be renewed. And +it is owing to the effects of that disturbing medium that our +observations have been so defective and our mistakes so sinister. We +still fail to perceive that decay has overtaken the organs of our +Party Government and the groundwork of our State fabric is rotten. +Yet everything about and around us is in flux. We are in the midst of +a new environment. + +When this war is over we shall search in vain for what was peculiarly +British in our cherished civilization. Of that civilization which +reached its acme during the reign of the late King Edward, we have +seen the last, little though most of us realize its passing. It was an +age of sturdy good sense, healthy animalism, and dignity withal, and +not devoid of a strong flavour of humanity and home-reared virtue. But +in every branch of politics and some departments of science it was an +age of amateurism. Respect for right, for liberty, for law and +tradition, for relative truth and gradual progress, was widely +diffused. Well-controlled energy, responsiveness to calls on one's +fellow-feeling, and the everyday honesty that tapers into policy were +among its familiar features. But if one were asked to sum it all up in +a single word it would be hard to utter one more comprehensive or +characteristic than the essentially English term, comfort. Comfort was +the apex of the pyramid which is now crumbling away. And it is that +Laodicean civilization, and not the fierce spirit of the new time, +which is incarnate in the present official leaders of the British +nation. + +The French, too, approached the general problem from their own +particular standpoint. Provided with a serviceable military +organization, the same unconsciousness of the need of mobilizing all +the other national resources pierced through their policy. Parties and +factions subsisted as before, and half-way men who would have been +satisfied with driving the enemy out of France and Belgium lifted up +their voices against those who insisted on prosecuting the war until +Prussianism was worsted. The French Socialists met in London[72] and +passed resolutions in which the usual claptrap of the war of classes, +the boons of pacifism and the wickedness of the Tsardom occupied a +prominent place. And the Congress was honoured by the presence of two +Cabinet Ministers, MM. Guesde and Sembat. + + [72] February 1915. + +Russia, true to her old self, carried the narrow spirit of the +bureaucracy into the fiercest struggle recorded by history, seemingly +satisfied that the clash of armies and navies would leave antiquated +theories and moulding traditions intact. When the revolutionist +Burtzeff published his patriotic letter to the French papers approving +Russia's energetic defence of civilization, he was applauded by all +Europe. "Even we," he wrote, "adherents of the parties of the Extreme +Left and hitherto ardent anti-militarists and pacifists, even we +believe in the necessity of _this_ war. The German peril, the curse +which has hung over the world for so many decades, will be crushed." +Yet when he returned to his country resolved to support the Tsar's +Government and lend a hand in the good work, he was sent to Siberia, +in commemoration of the old order of things. + +Germany alone took her stand on the new plane and accommodated herself +to the new conditions. Thoroughness was her watchword because victory +was her aim, its alternative being coma or death. With her gaze fixed +on the end, she rejected nothing that could serve as means. + +In congruity with these divergent views and sentiments was the reading +of the war's vicissitudes in the various belligerent countries. The +allied Press was over-hopeful, right being certain to triumph over +might wedded to wrong. Publicists pitied the Teutons in anticipation +of the fate that was fast overtaking them. Paeans of victory resounded, +allaying the apprehensions and numbing the energies of the leagued +nations. The German, it was asseverated, had shot his bolt and was at +bay. Russia had laid siege to Cracow, and would shortly occupy that +city as she had occupied Lemberg. The Tsar's troops might then be +expected to push on to Berlin, and to reach it in a few months. And, +painfully aware of the certainty of this consummation, Austria was +dejected and Hungary secretly making ready to secede from the Habsburg +Monarchy. To this soothing gossip even serious statesmen lent a +willing ear. The writer of these remarks was several times asked by +leading personages of the allied Governments whether internal +upheavals were not impending in Germany and Austria, and his assurance +that no such diversion could be looked for then or in the near future +was traversed on the ground that all trustworthy accounts from Berlin, +Vienna and Budapest pointed to a process of fermentation which would +shortly interpose an impassable barrier to the further military +advance of the Central empires. But he continued to express himself in +the same strain of warning, which subsequent events have unhappily +justified. + +In October 1914, for instance, he wrote-- + + "Germany has already shot her bolt, people tell us. + Already? The people who for forty years have been preparing + to establish their rule from Ostend to the Persian Gulf have + expended their energies after three months of warfare? And + the concrete foundations built at such pains and expense in + the German factory that dominates Edinburgh? Was the Teuton + simple-minded enough to fancy that he would be in a position + to utilize this and the other emplacements for his giant + guns within three months after the outbreak of hostilities? + Let us be fair to our enemy and just to ourselves. The + German has not shot his bolt. If time is on our side, it + will also remain on his up to a point which we have not yet + reached. Those who urge that the German must make haste + imply that his resources are gradually drying up, and that + neither his food supplies, nor his chemicals, nor his metals + can be imported so long as we hold command of the seas. His + armies will therefore die of inanition, or their operations + will be thwarted for lack of munitions. This would indeed be + joyful tidings were it true. If false, it is a mischievous + delusion. + + "We are told that the German time-table has been upset. + Unquestionably it has. But is the time-table identical with + the programme for which it was drawn up? If it is, then the + march on Paris has been definitely abandoned. Now is this + conclusion borne out by what we behold? What, then, is the + meaning of the plan to capture Belfort and Calais? What is + the object of the vast reinforcements now on their way from + the east to Von Kluck's army? Personally, I have not a doubt + that Paris is the objective, or that the Germans are still + striving to carry out their programme in its entirety, + which is the extension of their empire over Europe and Asia + Minor. The immediate object of the Allies is to foil this + design, and only after we have accomplished that can we + think of assuming the offensive and crushing Prussian + militarism. We have not compassed that end; the battlefields + are still in the Allies' countries, and the initiative rests + with the enemy. Now to whatever causes we may attribute this + undesirable state of things--and it certainly cannot be + ascribed to lack of energy on the part of the British + Government or our military authorities--it is right that + those who are acting for the nation should ask themselves + whether those causes are still operative. If they are--and + on this score there is hardly room for doubt--it behoves the + Allies, and the British people in particular, to rise to a + just sense of the _unparalleled sacrifices_ they must be + prepared to make during the ordeal which they are about to + undergo." + +The German way of looking at the relative strength and positions of +the belligerents as modified by the vicissitudes of the campaign was +realistic and statesmanlike. Starting from the principle that a people +of about a hundred millions, animated by a lively faith in its own +vitality and mental equipment, can neither be destroyed nor +permanently crippled, they argued that the worst that Fate could have +in store for them would be a draw. But before that end could be +achieved the Teutonic armies must have been pulverized and Germany and +Austria occupied by the allied troops. And of this there were no +signs. "We never fancied," they said, "that what happened in 1870 +would be repeated in 1914. How could we make such a stupid mistake? +Then we had only France against us. To-day we encounter the combined +forces of Russia, France, Belgium and England. This difference had to +have its counterpart in the campaign. Thus we have not yet captured +Paris. But then to-day we are wrestling with the greatest empires in +the world, and we hold them in our grip. We are fighting not for a few +milliard francs and a disaffected province, but for priceless spoils +and European hegemony. Moreover, Belgium, which we possess and mean to +keep, is a greater prize than the temporary occupation of Paris. +Besides, postponement is not abandonment. Whether we take the French +capital one month or another is but a detail. + +"And, over and above all this, we have reached the sea and are within +a few miles of England's shores. Furthermore, Russia's army, which we +lured into East Prussia until it fancied it was about to invest +Koenigsberg, has been driven back beyond Wirballen far into Tsardom, +with appalling losses of men and material. Her other forces, which +several weeks ago boasted that they were about to capture Cracow, will +soon be driven out of Przemysl and Lemberg. Libau will fall into our +hands. Riga is sure to be ours, and Warsaw itself will finally admit +our victorious troops. Does this look like defeat at the hands of our +enemies? And German soil is still as immune from invasion as though it +were girded by the sea." + +In all our forecasts one important element of calculation was +invariably left out of account: the consequences of our blunders, +past, present and future. And these have added enormously to our +difficulties and dangers. Not the least made was the mistake in +allowing the two German warships _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ to enter the +Dardanelles. To have pursued them into Ottoman waters would, it was +pleaded in justification, have constituted a violation of Turkish +neutrality. Undoubtedly it would, but the infringement would not have +been more serious than many flagrant breaches of neutrality which the +Sublime Porte had committed a short time before and was known to be +about to perpetrate again.[73] But a scrupulous regard for the rights +of neutrals has been, and still is, the groundstone of the Allies' +policy, irrespective of its effects on the outcome of the war. The +rules of the game, it is contended, must be observed by us, however +much they may be disregarded by the enemy. This considerateness and +scrupulosity may be chivalrous, but they form an irksome drag on a +nation at war with Teutons. The two ships were at once transferred by +Germany to the Turks.[74] Some two months later, deeming their war +preparations completed, the latter suddenly bombarded the open Russian +town of Theodosia in the Black Sea, and sank several small craft, thus +realizing Germany's hopes and justifying her politico-economic policy. +It was now too late to lament the chivalrous attitude which had +permitted the _Goeben_ and the _Breslau_ to steam into the +Dardanelles, or to regret the indifference we had persistently +displayed to Near Eastern affairs for well-nigh twenty years. The best +that could be done at that late hour was to face the consequences of +those errors with dignity and to strive to repair them with alacrity. +But all the efforts made were partial and successive. There was no +attempt at co-ordination. + + [73] Turkey had already violated her neutrality to our + detriment many times. For instance, on September 25 she had + erected military works against us on the Sinai frontier; as + far back as August 25 Turkish officers had seized Egyptian + camels laden with foodstuffs. Moslem fidahis in Ottoman + service endeavoured to incite the Egyptian Mohammedans + against the British Government during the first half of + October. + + [74] August 13, 1914. + +Turkey's defection was a serious blow to the allied cause, not only in +view of the positive, but also of the negative, advantages it was +calculated to confer upon Germany. The Ottoman army, consisting of +first-class raw materials, had had its latent qualities unfolded and +matured by German organization, discipline and training. Its supplies +were replenished. Ammunition factories were established. Barracks were +built and fortifications equipped in congruity with latter-day needs. +Three million pounds of German bar gold reached Constantinople, and +were deposited in the branch offices of the Deutsche Bank there for +the requirements of the army. In all this the Kaiser's Government ran +no risks. The return was guaranteed by the politico-economic measures +which had been continuously applied during the years of our +"disinterestedness." + +Enver had meanwhile risen to the zenith of his career. He was now War +Minister and had surrounded himself with officers who would follow him +whithersoever he might lead them. A low-sized, wiry man, seemingly of +no account, Enver is pale of complexion, shuffling in gait. His eyes +are piercing, and his gaze furtive. A soul-monger who should buy him +at his specific value and sell him at his own estimate would earn +untold millions. For, to use a picturesque Russian phrase, the ocean +is only up to his knees. He is physically dauntless and buoyant. In +the war against Italy he had fought well and organized the Arab and +other native troops under conditions of great difficulty, winning +laurels which have not yet withered. A Pole by extraction, Enver Pasha +is a Prussian by training and sympathies, and a Turk by language and +religion and by his marriage with a daughter of the Sultan. Political +sense he has none. His one ideal was to earn the appreciation of the +Prussian military authorities, to whom he looks up as a fervid +disciple to peerless masters. German military praise melts his manhood +and turns his brain. He possesses a dictatorial temper with none of +the essential qualities of a dictator, and in the field he is +distinguished, I am told, by splendid valour without an inkling of +scientific strategy. + +It was that Polish Turk and his German masters who formally made war +upon Russia, France and Britain.[75] And the Turkish nation had no +opportunity to sanction or veto their resolve. Nay, even the majority +of the Cabinet, including the Grand Vizier, had had no say on the +issue, were not even informed of what was being done until overt acts +of hostility had actually clinched the matter. Indeed, there was a +majority of Cabinet Ministers in favour of neutrality, but it was +ignored. In this way Turkey threw in her lot with the Teutons,[76] to +the astonishment of the Allies, who had hoped that a policy of +forbearance and meekness would elicit a friendly response and +frustrate the effect of the master strokes by which Germany, during a +long series of years, had consolidated her ascendancy over Turkey and +obtained the command of the Ottoman army. The childish notion that a +sudden exhibition of pacific intentions and goodwill is enough to foil +the carefully laid schemes of a clever enemy which have been maturing +for decades, is the refrain that runs through the history of our +foreign policy for the last thirty or forty years. And not only +through the history of our foreign policy. Faith in the sacramental +efficacy of an improvisation is a trait common to all the Allies, but +in the British nation it is the faith that is expected to move +mountains. + + [75] November 3, 1914. + + [76] On October 25, 1908, after having studied the origins of + the Turkish Revolution and the antecedents of its authors, + and while all Europe was still warmly congratulating the + Young Turks on their bloodless victory and moderation, I + dispatched the following telegraphic message to the _Daily + Telegraph_-- + + "Most unwillingly do I give utterance to facts and + impressions calculated to introduce a jarring note into the + harmonious optimism of Western peoples, who confidently augur + great things of the young Ottoman nation, and discern no + difficulties likely to become formidable dangers to the + new-born State. But a knowledge of all the essential data is + indispensable to correct the diagnosis without which the + malady cannot be successfully treated. Emancipation, then, + has produced a beneficent enthusiasm for the political ideals + of Europe in minds hitherto impermeable to Western notions, + but has neither transformed the national character nor + supplied the revolutionary movement with the requisite + constructive forces. _Neither can it break the fateful + continuity of Turkish history nor avert the defects of the + destructive causes that have been operative here for + generations._" + +The negative aspect of Turkey's belligerency proved to be quite as +irksome as the positive. For it involved the closing of the +Dardanelles to Russia's corn export and the disappearance of the +principal route for communications between the Tsardom and its Western +allies. Archangel is blocked in winter and inadequately connected by +rail with the two capitals in summer. This additional embarrassment +and its financial sequel compelled the attention of the Allies to the +need of some kind of co-operation--just to satisfy actual needs. For +neither then nor at any subsequent period was there any pretence of +laying open the whole ground and building a complete structure upon +that. A temporary expedient is all that was contemplated, and nothing +more lasting was evoked. None the less, the Conference of the three +Finance Ministers in Paris[77] marked a step in advance, and was +subsequently followed up by a closer and more continuous contact. + + [77] February 6, 1915, and the following three days. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PROBLEMS OF FINANCE + + +Finances are the nerve of warfare, and in a contest which can be +decided only by the exhaustion of one of the belligerents they are, so +to say, the central nerve system. The Germans being astute financiers, +and aware that the war to which their policy was leading would soon +break out, had made due preparations, with a surprising grasp of +detail. Nothing was forgotten and nothing neglected. And success +rewarded their efforts. The result was that they mobilized their +finances long before they had begun to mobilize their troops. + +France, on the contrary, persuaded that peace would not be disturbed, +took no thought of the morrow. Yet her budgetary estimates showed an +ugly deficit. This gap, however, would have been filled up in the +ordinary course of things by a big loan which was about to be floated. +But M. Caillaux, probably the most clever financier in France, who, if +he applied his knowledge and resourcefulness to the furtherance of his +country's interests, could achieve great things, used them--and +together with them his parliamentary influence--to upset the Cabinet +and thwart the loan scheme. Then, taking over the portfolio of the +Finance Minister in the new Cabinet, he arranged for borrowing a small +instead of a large amount, thereby exposing his country to risks more +serious than the public realized. For it was a heavy disadvantage on +the eve of the most exhausting struggle ever entered upon by the +French people, whose strongest position was weakened as no enemy could +have weakened it. + +Russia was in a different, but nowise better, position when suddenly +called upon to meet the onerous demands of the world-contest. She, +too, having pinned her faith to the maintenance of peace, had made no +preparations for war, financial or military. Moreover, a considerable +sum of her money was at the time deposited in various foreign +countries, and especially in France, for the service of her loans and +the payment of State orders placed with various firms. This money, on +the outbreak of hostilities, was automatically immobilized by the +moratorium, although the delicate question whether a moratorium can be +legally applied to sums thus deposited by a foreign Government has not +yet been decided with finality. As a matter of fact, Russia's deposits +remained where they were, and could not be utilized. The consequences +of this embargo were irksome, and for a time threatened to become +dangerous. Little by little, however, these restrictions were removed, +partly by the French Government and partly by the spontaneous efforts +of the banks. + +France, too, suffered in a like way from the paralysing effect of the +moratorium. For the French had no less than half a milliard francs +lent out at interest for short terms in Russia. This sum could, as it +chanced, have been refunded at once without inconvenience, seeing that +it was liquid in the banks of Petrograd, Moscow, Warsaw, and other +cities of the Tsardom. But as the money was in Russian roubles, and +all international exchange had ceased, it too was incapable of being +converted into francs. Thus the two allies, although really flush of +money, were undergoing some of the hardships of impecuniosity, and to +extricate them from this tangle was a task that called for the +exercise of uncommon ingenuity. This happily was forthcoming. + +But that was only one aspect of a larger and more momentous business +which the financiers of the Entente Powers had to set themselves to +tackle. Another of its bearings was the effect of the war upon the +rate of exchange of the rouble, which is of moment to all the Allies. +Indeed, so long as the conflict lasts the smooth working of the +financial machines of the three States is of as much moment to each +and all as is the winning of battles and the raising of fresh armies. +In this struggle and at least until the curtain has fallen upon the +final scene, the maintenance of financial credit and the purveyance of +ready cash, together with all the subsidiary issues to which these +operations may give rise, should be discussed and settled in common. + +During the present world combat, which has not its like in history, +whether we consider the issues at stake, the number of troops engaged, +or the destructive forces let loose, the ordinary narrow conceptions +of mutual assistance, financial and other, with their jealous care of +flaccid interests, cannot be persisted in. The basic principle on +which it behoves the allied Powers to sustain each other's vitality +can only be the community of resources within the limits traced by +national needs. For our cause is one and indivisible, and a success of +one of the Allies is a success of all. Hence, although we move from +different starting-points and by unconnected roads, we are one +community in motive, tendencies and sacrifices. The sense of Fate, +whose deepening shadow now lies across the civilized nations of the +Old Continent, has evoked the sympathies of the partner peoples for +each other, and temporarily obliterated many of the points of +artificial distinction which owed their existence to national egotism. + +Russia's resources, then, were immobilized at the outset of the war. +The minister who had spent thirty-five years in the financial +department of State had resigned shortly before. His successor, a man +of considerable capacity and good intentions, was bereft of the help +of the best permanent officials of the Ministry, who had followed the +outgoing minister into retirement. And no minister ever needed help +more sorely than M. Bark. For the sudden cessation of all +international exchange and the consequent immobilization of Russia's +financial reserve, made it temporarily impossible for her to satisfy +demands which could easily have been met under circumstances less +disconcerting. Here her British ally came to the rescue. In the first +place, the British Government gave its guarantee to the Bank of +England for the acceptances which this bank had discounted. These were +of two kinds: all acceptances whatever discounted before hostilities +had broken out, and all commercial acceptances discounted since the +declaration of war. The measure which brought this welcome assistance +was general in its form, but it included Russian bills accepted in +London. And this discount by the Bank of England will continue until +one year after the close of the campaign. In plain English, that +means that the greater part of Russia's cash payments in London will +be put off until then. + +In Russia's dealings with France a like trouble made itself felt, but +the same remedy was not applied. The Government there did not offer a +State guarantee for acceptances by the Banque de France. The reasons +for this difference of method are immaterial. The main point is that +some other expedient had to be devised whereby Russia could discharge +her short-term debts to her French creditors. In the Tsardom money was +available for the purpose, but it was in roubles, which would first +have to be exchanged into francs, and, as there was no rate of +exchange, this operation could be effected, if at all, only at a +considerable and unnecessary loss. + +After several weeks' negotiations, and a thorough study of the +question, an agreement was struck up between the Imperial Russian Bank +and the Banque de France, by which the latter institution placed at +the disposal of the former the requisite sum in francs which was +specially earmarked for the payment of Russia's private debts in +Paris. + +The fall in the rouble was partly caused by the diminution of Russian +exports, in consequence of the closing of the Baltic, the +Mediterranean, and the land routes _via_ Germany and Austria. The +whole harvest of 1914 lay garnered up in the Tsar's dominions, where +prices fell to a low level, while the rouble lost one-fourth of its +value. Russia's interest on her foreign debt was thus increased by +twenty-five per cent. The Western allies, on the other hand, were +paying huge sums for corn to neutrals. As in the long run all Entente +Powers will have to bear their share of eventual losses, it behoved +them to prevent or moderate them. And this they accomplished to a +limited extent. It might have been well to go further into the matter +and consider the advisability of entering into closer partnership than +was established by their concerted efforts in Paris. An economic +league with privileges for importation and exportation accorded to all +its members--and only to these--not merely during the war but for a +series of years after the conclusion of peace, might perhaps have +tended to solve that and kindred problems. But the Allied Governments +were constitutionally averse to taking long views or adopting +comprehensive measures. + +But the reopening of the Dardanelles and the liberation of Russia's +corn supplies called for immediate attention and a concrete plan of +campaign. The idea of rigging out a naval and military expedition had +been mooted in London before the Financial Conference in Paris, but on +grounds which do not yet constitute materials for public history it +was dropped. At the Conference the scheme was again taken up, and the +previous objections to its execution having been successfully met it +was unanimously accepted. It is worth observing that the original +plan, so far as the present writer was cognizant of it, was coherent, +adequate and feasible, and involved co-ordination on the part of all +three Allies. It did not contemplate a purely naval expedition to the +Dardanelles, but provided for a mixed force of land and sea troops, of +which the number was considerable and under the conditions then +prevalent might also have been ample for the purpose. Although the +Allies had thus made what they believed to be adequate provision for +the success of their project, they took measures to render assurance +doubly sure. They entered into pourparlers with Greece, from whose +co-operation they anticipated advantages which would tell with +decisive force not only on the outcome of the expedition but also on +the upshot of the war. + +Venizelos was approached and sounded on the subject. His authority in +his country, like that of Bismarck on the eve of his fall, was held to +be supreme. For he had saved Greece from anarchy and the dynasty from +banishment; he had reorganized the army, strengthened the navy, +established good government at home, extended the boundaries of the +realm and laid the foundations of a regenerate State which might in +time reunite under the royal sceptre most of the scattered elements of +Hellenism. His personal relations with King Constantine were, however, +understood to be wanting in cordiality, but the monarch was credited +with sufficient acumen to perceive where the interests of his dynasty +and country lay, and with common sense enough to allow them to be +safeguarded and furthered. It was on these unsifted assumptions that +the Governments of the allied Powers went to work. + +One redoubtable obstacle to be dislodged before any headway could be +made was Bulgaria's opposition. In order to displace it, it would be +necessary to acquiesce in her demands for territory possessed by her +neighbours. And in view of the intimate relations, political and +economical, which the military empires had established with Bulgaria +and their firm hold over Ferdinand, even this retrocession might prove +inadequate for the purpose. According to a binding arrangement +between Serbia and Greece, no territorial concession running counter +to the settlement of the Bucharest Treaty might be accorded to +Bulgaria by either of the two contracting States, without the consent +of the other. And now Venizelos was asked to signify his assent to the +abandonment by Serbia of a part of the Macedonian province recently +annexed. This point gained, he was further solicited to cede Kavalla +and some 2000 square kilometres of territory incorporated with Greece, +to Bulgaria, in return for the future possession of 140,000 square +kilometres in western Asia Minor. It was stipulated by him and hastily +taken for granted by the Governments of the Allied States that these +concessions, together with those which Serbia and Roumania were +expected to make, would move Bulgaria to follow Russia's lead and +enter the arena by the side of the Allies. But before Venizelos's +readiness to compromise could be utilized as a practical element of +the negotiations, the Bulgarian Cabinet had applied for and received +an advance of 150 million francs from the two Central empires on +conditions which, in the judgment of the Greek Premier, rendered +further dealings with that State nugatory. + +At the same time King Constantine, yielding to German importunity and +to personal emotions, adopted a series of measures of which the effect +would have been to discredit in the eyes of the nation Venizelos's +patriotism as a minister and his veracity as an individual. The upshot +of these machinations was the voluntary retirement of the Premier from +public life, the dissolution of the Greek Parliament, the accession +to power of a Germanophile Cabinet, and the frustration of that part +of the Allies' plan which had for its object the immediate +co-operation of Greece and the subsequent enlistment of the +neighbouring Balkan States. As yet, however, Greece was not wholly +lost to the Entente. Another opportunity presented itself which, had +it been seized by the Governments of Great Britain and France, might +yet have altered the course of Balkan history. But the acceptable +offer in which it was embodied by the Hellenic Government elicited no +response whatever in London or Paris. This was the last hope. +Thenceforward the Allies were constrained to rely upon their own +unaided exertions. + +How they approached the problem thus modified, and to what degree and +in consequence of what technical occurrences the achievement fell +short of reasonable expectations, are matters which do not come within +the scope of this summary narrative of historic events. It may suffice +to contrast the belief, which in March 1915 was widespread--that the +Dardanelles would be forced and Constantinople captured in the space +of four or five weeks--with the circumstance that since then the +British troops alone had nearly a hundred thousand casualties and that +in the month of January 1916 it became evident that nothing could be +gained by further prolonging this painful effort, and the enterprise +was abandoned. + +In spite of Turkey's hostility, the tone of the Allied Press lost +little of its buoyancy. Japan, who had declared war on Germany in +August,[78] had since captured Kiao Chau[79] and that achievement +coupled with the results of four months' warfare in Europe were held +to be promising. For Germany's original plan of campaign had been +foiled, her army driven back from Paris, and Austria had been defeated +in Galicia. If on the debit side of the balance nearly all Belgium and +nine departments of France had fallen into the enemy's hands, it was +some solace to learn that the military authorities of the Allies had +reckoned with all that from the outset. Every reverse sustained by +their arms turned out to have been foreseen and discounted by their +sagacious leaders. Then, again, it was argued that time was on our +side, enabling us to develop our resources, which are much vaster than +those of the enemy. To this way of looking at the situation the writer +of these lines opposed another. "There is," he wrote, "a small section +of the nation, men conversant with the aims, modes of thought, and +military, financial, and economic resources of the enemy, whose gloomy +forecasts in the past have been unhappily fulfilled in the present, +and who would gladly see more conclusive evidence than has yet been +offered that everything which can be done at a given moment to turn +the scale more decisively in our favour is being expeditiously +undertaken by the responsible authorities. + + [78] August 23, 1914. + + [79] November 6, 1914. + +"They are afraid that the gravity of the issues for which we are +fighting, the telling initial advantages secured by the wily enemy, +the formidable nature of the difficulties in the way of decisive +victory, and the tremendous sacrifices which we shall all be called +upon to make before we come in sight of the goal, have not yet +filtered down into the consciousness of any considerable section of +the people." Many months later[80] Mr. Lloyd George re-echoed that +judgment when dealing with the Welsh miners' strike. + + [80] July 1915. + +But optimism continued to prevail among the allied peoples, who +through the Press proclaimed their conviction that ultimate and +complete success was a foregone conclusion. At the same time, however, +an eager desire to hasten this consummation found vent among a +considerable section of politicians, more particularly in France. And +one of the means by which they hoped to attain their goal was by +inviting Japan to co-operate with the Allies in Europe. As +"invitation" was the term employed, the peculiar manner in which the +idea was conceived hardly needs definition. To the Japanese themselves +the inference was patent and distasteful. Theretofore it had been a +dogma that France, Britain and Russia, being quite capable of crushing +Germany and Austria, neither attempted nor wished to draw any neutral +or Asiatic nation into the sanguinary maelstrom of war. And even now +it was held to be undignified to swerve from that doctrine. Help +therefore, it was contended, was not indispensable to victory, it was +merely desirable from the humanitarian standpoint of putting an early +end to the campaign and sparing the lives of millions. + +French statesmen of the calibre of MM. Pichon and Clemenceau pushed +into the foreground of international politics this question of Japan's +military intervention in Europe. An organized Press campaign was +carried on in several of the most prominent daily papers and reviews +of Paris.[81] Striking arguments were put forward in support of the +thesis that Japan's co-operation in Europe is desirable, and the +inference which many readers were encouraged to draw was that if the +aim had not yet been attained, failure should be ascribed to the +statesmanship of the Allies, which was deficient in sagacity, or to +their diplomacy, which was wanting in resourcefulness. M. Pichon, in a +masterly article in the _Revue_, wrote: "I am one of those who hold +that (Japan) could bring to us here on the European continent an +incomparable force, and I remain convinced that the Japanese +Government would like nothing better than to respond to the appeal of +the Triple Entente Powers if these requested its collaboration for +future combats."[82] + + [81] In the _Petit Journal_, the _Homme Enchaine_, + _l'Illustration_, the _Revue Hebdomadaire_, and the _Revue_. + + [82] Fevrier, _Revue_, 1915, p. 195. + +The idea was that Japanese troops should come to southern Europe, +combine with the Serbs and create a new front there. This diversion, +it was contended, would transform the slow and costly siege war and +give the Allies access to Germany. And these decisive results could be +achieved by an expedition of less than half a million Japanese +warriors. + +When it was asked what motives could be held out to Nippon potent +enough to determine her to embark on such an enterprise, the reply was +that she had a positive interest to undertake the task. For by +contributing to the defeat of Germany in Europe she would free herself +from Teutonic machinations in the Far East. The Allies would, of +course, have to promise her territorial compensation commensurate with +her sacrifices. And after the conclusion of peace Japan would extract +from Germany not only a sum big enough to cover all the expenses of +the expedition, but also a heavy war indemnity. Over and above this, +France and Britain would enable her to float on easy terms a loan of +some three hundred millions sterling, as a moderate return for the +three or four months curtailment of the war which costs the Allies +nearly a hundred and twenty millions a month. Lastly, Japan's horn +would be vastly exalted and her prestige increased by her +participation in the most tremendous conflict recorded in history. + +Considered on its merits the enterprise impressed one more by its +arduousness than by the tangible advantages it offered to either of +the interested parties. The technical difficulties were many and +well-nigh insurmountable: the lack of transports, the distance at +which the Mikado's troops in Europe would be from their base of +supplies, and the length of time that must elapse before they could +replenish their stores of ammunition, whether these were drawn from +Tokyo or manufactured in Europe. And half a million fighting men, +however well trained, would represent but a drop in the ocean when +flung against the millions to whom they would be opposed. + +Still more decisive was the question of motive. Why should the +Japanese sacrifice their brave soldiers? For the sake of territory +which they do not yet covet, or of prestige which they enjoy in a +superlative degree already? Although chivalrous and highly impressible +to everything that can appeal to a high-minded people, they are also +practical and far-sighted and are not to be lured by a will-o'-the-wisp. +They had already assisted the Allies in the Far East and performed +their part admirably. + +The Japanese army is made up of patriots whose lives belong to their +country. To their spirit of self-sacrifice there are no bounds. And +that this splendid organism should be implicitly set down as a band of +mercenaries capable of being bought and sold is more than its leaders +can brook. The idea that mere money or money's worth could purchase +Japanese blood is resented by our Far Eastern Ally. Between Europe and +Asia Japan is the connecting link. Her people are endowed with some of +the highest qualities of the European and the Asiatic. Their +civilization is ancient and refined, and they understand and +appreciate that of Europe. The chivalry of the Samurai is recognized +universally. Their respect for their plighted word is scrupulous. And +their tact and moderation have been demonstrated time and again during +their relations first with Russia and then with the United States. +Japan's immediate task lies in the Far East, and to that region she is +minded to confine her activity, as was shown by the pressure which she +soon afterwards put upon China. None the less, it is symptomatic of +feelings which are still inarticulate and of currents which flow +beneath the surface, that more than once of late the Russian Press has +called for a defensive and offensive alliance between the Tsardom and +Japan.[83] That it will come and exert a noteworthy influence on the +politics of the world, is the firm conviction of the present writer, +who has had the good fortune to contribute more than once to bring the +two Powers closer together.[84] + + [83] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, June 26, 1915. + + [84] See Hayashi's _Secret Memoirs_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +READJUSTMENTS + + +Deprived of the help for which they had looked to Japan, the +publicists and politicians of the allied countries now centred their +hopes on the neutrals and on Kitchener's great army, which was to +appear on the scene in spring, put an end to the warfare of the +trenches, and free Belgium from the Teuton yoke. The impending +belligerency of certain of the neutrals would, it was reasonably +believed, turn the scales in favour of Britain, France and Russia. +Indeed, Bulgaria alone, owing to her commanding geographical position, +might have achieved the feat more than once during the campaign. With +the death of King Carol of Roumania[85] the probability of this +consummation seemed to verge on certitude. It aroused high hopes among +the Allies. + + [85] October 10, 1914. + +The propitious moment seemed to have come for the union of all +Roumanians under the sceptre of the new king. Over three million +members of that race under Hungarian sway had long been waging a +losing contest for their nationality, language and religion. And they +entertained no hope of better prospects in the future. For in view of +her military inferiority Roumania, with her little army of half a +million men, could not indulge in energetic protests against the +treatment meted out to her kindred by Hungary. She had no choice but +to resign herself to the inevitable. Diplomatically, too, she was +bound to Austria by a secret convention, concluded by the Hohenzollern +prince who had presided over her destinies for a generation. +Economically she was, as we saw, tied hand and foot to Germany. +Moreover, it was a matter of common knowledge that King Carol would +never tolerate any radical change in the political orientation of the +kingdom. To the writer of these lines he said so in plain words +shortly before he died, and he also charged him with a message of the +same tenor to the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. But, +loyal and conscientious, as was his wont, King Carol added that if +circumstances should ever necessitate a radical change in Roumania's +attitude, a younger ruler might usher it in, for whom he would not +hesitate to make room. + +This eventuality arose in September[86] when the Russians defeated the +Austrians, occupied Lemberg, threatened Cracow, took up strong +positions on the Carpathians, and bade fair to overrun Hungary. Fate, +it seemed, had at last overtaken the Habsburg Monarchy, which, +contrary to general expectation, had not succumbed to internal strife +on the outbreak of the war. And it now lay with Roumania and her +neighbours to play the part of Fate's executors. As a matter of fact, +Roumania suddenly found a sonorous voice in which to utter her +grievances against the Teutons. Senators, deputies, ex-ministers +executed a _chassez croisez_ movement through France, Italy and +Britain, delivering diatribes against Austria-Hungary, arousing +sympathy for Roumania, and proclaiming their country's resolve to +strike a blow for justice, liberty and civilization. The names of +Senator Istrati, M. Diamandy, and Dr. Constantinescu were associated +with feasts of patriotic sentiment and flow of soul. Military +delegates in Paris made extensive purchases of various necessaries for +the commissariat and sanitary departments of the War Ministry, and the +date on which the gallant Roumanian nation would unsheathe its sword +in the cause of humanity was unofficially announced. + + [86] September 8, 1914. + +At that moment the country was governed, as it still is, by a Premier +who might appropriately be termed its Dictator, so little influence on +his policy and methods is wielded by his colleagues in the Cabinet. +John Bratiano is the sole trustee of the nation at the most critical +period of its history. The son of an eminent and deservedly respected +statesman, this politician entered public life encircled by the halo +of his father's prestige. Gifted with considerable powers, he owes +more to birth than to hard work and self-discipline. Entering early +upon his valuable political heritage he found all paths smoothed, all +doors open to him. The leadership of the most influential +parliamentary party fell to him at an age when other politicians are +painfully struggling with the preliminary difficulties in the way of +success, and John Bratiano became the ruler of Roumania without an +effort. Descended from an illustrious stock, he is penetrated with an +overmastering sense of his own personal responsibility, from which the +principal relief to be obtained lies in the indefinite prolongation of +his liberty of choice. Finality in matters of momentous decision +appears painful to him, and the standard of success which would +fairly be applied to the policy of the ordinary statesman seems too +lax for the man whose shoulders are pressed down with the weight of +the kingdom as it is and the kingdom yet to come. Hence his anxiety to +drive a brilliant bargain with the Allies and to leave no hold for +hostile criticism at home. Like most patriots placed in responsible +positions, he is bent on furthering what he considers the interests of +his country in his own way, and honestly convinced that the right way +is his own, he has hitherto declined to share responsibility with the +Opposition--which disapproves his Fabian policy--even though it +numbers among its members a real statesman of the calibre and repute +of Take Jonescu. + +At first M. Bratiano swam with the stream. He assured foreign +diplomatists, eminent Italians and others, that Roumania had decided +to throw in her lot with the Allies. And his declarations were +re-echoed by his colleagues. These statements were duly transmitted to +the various Cabinets interested, and the entry of Roumania into the +struggle was reckoned with by all the Allied Powers. On the strength +of these good intentions one of the Allies was asked to advance a +certain sum of money for military preparations, and the request was +complied with. Italy was approached and treated as a trusty confidant, +and a tacit arrangement was come to with her by which each of the two +Latin States was expected to communicate with the other as soon as it +should decide to take the field. In fine, it was understood that +Roumania would join in at the same time as Italy. + +Cognizant of those intentions and preparations the Allies rejoiced +exceedingly. The prospect that opened out before them appeared +cheerful. Kitchener's great army was to take the offensive in spring, +Roumania's co-operation was due some months or weeks previously, and +the forcing of the Dardanelles might be counted upon as a corollary, +to say nothing of the adherence of Greece and Bulgaria to the allied +cause. But Germany and Austria lost nothing of their self-confidence. +Clumsy though their professional diplomacy might be, their +economico-diplomatic campaign had left little to be desired. Its +fruits were ripe. They had firmly knitted the material interests of +the little Latin State with their own, and could rely on the backing +of nearly every supporter of Bratiano's Cabinet in the country. But +leaving nothing to chance, they now put forth the most ingenious, +persistent and costly efforts to maintain the ground they had won. +Influential newspapers were bought or subsidized, new ones were +founded, public servants were corrupted, calumnies were launched +against the Allies and their supporters, and a nucleus of military men +ranged themselves among the opponents of intervention. + +M. Bratiano suddenly turned wary and circumspect. His talk was now of +the necessity of time for preparations, of the divergence of views +between his Cabinet and that of the Tsar, and of the inadequacy of the +motives held out to his country for belligerency. Thereupon +negotiations began between Russia and Roumania, which dragged on +endlessly. What the Roumanian Premier said to the Russian Minister was +practically this: "The choice between belligerency and neutrality must +be determined by the balance of territorial advantages offered by +each. And the terms must be adequate and guaranteed." The conditions +which, according to him, answered to this description consisted of the +cession of all Transylvania, part of the Banat of Temesvar, the +Roumanian districts of Bukovina, and of the province of Crishana and +Marmaros. + +About Transylvania there was no dissentient voice: it was admitted +that it ought by right to form part of the Roumanian kingdom. The +dispute between Bucharest and Petrograd hinged on a zone of the Banat +and a strip of Bukovina. The Tsar's Government admitted that Bukovina +might be annexed by Roumania as far as the river Seret, but not +farther north; whereas the Roumanian Premier insisted on obtaining the +promise of a zone the northern boundary of which would be formed by +the river Pruth, and would therefore include the important city of +Czernowitz, which is the capital of the province. The divergence of +opinion arising out of this demand for the district of Pancsova in the +Banat of Temesvar raised a formidable obstacle to an understanding, +for the claim runs counter to the principle of nationality somewhat +pedantically laid down by the Allied Powers. Parenthetically, it is +worth remembering that hard-and-fast principles which lead insensibly +to dogmatism cannot be too sedulously avoided by a Government. +Politics must assuredly have its ideals, but compromise is the method +by which alone it can approach them. The Allies have already been +constrained by tyrannous circumstance to entertain important +exceptions to their principle of nationality which was invoked against +Italy's claim to Dalmatia, and in their own best interests they might +have compromised on the subject of Bulgaria's claims to Macedonia, +and of Roumania's pretensions to annex certain of the disputed +territories inhabited by Serbs and Ruthenians. + +In truth, Roumania's attitude, of which at various times conflicting +accounts have been given, appears to be what one might reasonably +expect, considering the sympathies of the nation, the interests of the +State, and the requirements of the conjuncture. Looking at it from the +view-point of the outsider, it would perhaps have been to her interest +to join the Allies when the Russians, driving the Magyars and the +Austrians before them, could have played the part of right wing to her +armies. It was generally believed later on that she would unsheathe +the sword at the same time as Italy. Informal announcements to that +effect are known to have been made to certain official representatives +of that country. And her failure to stand by these spontaneous +declarations was the cause of profound disappointment to the Entente +and of a considerable loss of credit to herself. These facts and +conclusions appeal with irresistible force to the uninitiated, and in +especial to those among them who are citizens of the belligerent +States. + +But there is another aspect of the matter which, whatever effect its +disclosure may have on the general verdict, is at any rate well worth +considering. According to this version, which is based on what +actually passed between Bucharest and the capitals of the Entente +Powers, the central idea of Roumania's strivings was to achieve +national unity together with defensible military frontiers as far as +appeared feasible, and to obtain in advance implicit assurances that +the Entente Powers, if victorious, would allow her claims without +demur or delay. The territories occupied by the Roumanians of +Transylvania, the Bukovina, and the Banat were to be united under the +sceptre of the King, including the strip which is contiguous to +Belgrade. To this the Slavs demurred because Belgrade could then no +longer remain the Serbian capital. But of these demands M. Bratiano +would make no abatement, nor in the promise of the Entente to fulfil +them would he admit of any ambiguity. Roumania's experience in 1877, +under M. Bratiano's father, when, after having helped Russia to defeat +the Turks, she was deprived of Bessarabia and obliged to content +herself with the Dobrudja, was the main motive for this striving after +definite conditions, while her readiness to look upon that loss of +Bessarabia as final moved her to demand every rood of Austro-Hungarian +territory which was inhabited by her kinsmen or had belonged to them +in bygone days. These motives were inconsistent with the mooting of +the Bessarabian question, and the statement so often made in the Press +that Roumania demanded, and still demands, that lost province from +Russia are absolutely groundless. The subject was never once broached. + +It has been argued that although these claims to recompense may have +been reasonable enough in themselves, to have made them conditions of +Roumania's participation in the war on the side of the Allies smacked +more of the pettifogger than of the statesman. In a tremendous +struggle like the present for lofty ideals this bargaining for +territorial advantages showed, it was urged, the country and the +Government in a sinister light. To this criticism the friends of M. +Bratiano reply that most of the belligerents set the example, with far +less reason than Roumania could plead. Italy, for instance, had made +her military co-operation conditional on the promise of a large part +of Dalmatia, as well as the _terra irredenta_, and Russia insisted +upon having her claim to Constantinople allowed. Why, it is asked, +should Roumania be blamed for acting similarly and on more solid +grounds? + +During the first phase of the conversations which were carried on +between Roumania and the Entente there would appear to have been no +serious hitch. They culminated in a loan of L5,000,000 advanced in +January 1915. In the following month they ceased and were not resumed +until April, when M. Bratiano was informed that it would facilitate +matters if he would discuss terms with the Tsar's Government. By means +of an exchange of notes an arrangement had been come to by which +Roumania was to have "the country inhabited by the Roumanians of +Austria-Hungary" in return for her neutrality and on the express +condition that she should occupy them _par les armes_ before the close +of the war. I announced this agreement in the summer of 1915 and, +commenting on the controversy to which it gave rise, pointed out that +it amounted only to a promise made by Russia and an option given to +Roumania, which the latter state was at liberty to take up or forgo as +it might think fit. It bound her to nothing. Consequently, to accuse +her of having broken faith with Italy or the Entente is to betray a +complete lack of acquaintance with the facts. + +It was only when Roumania's military participation was solicited that +difficulties began to make themselves felt. And they proved +insurmountable. So long as the Russian armies were victorious +Roumania's demands were rejected. When the Tsar's troops, for lack of +ammunition, were obliged to retreat, concessions were made very +gradually, slight concessions at first, which became larger as the +withdrawal proceeded, until finally--the Russian troops being driven +out--everything was conceded, when it was too late. For with the +departure of the Russian armies Roumania was so exposed to attack from +various sides, and so isolated from her protectors, that her military +experts deemed intervention to be dangerous for herself and useless to +the Allies. + +In Italy, it has been said with truth, the conviction prevailed that +Roumania would descend into the arena as soon as the Salandra Cabinet +had declared war against Austria, and a good deal of disappointment +was caused by M. Bratiano's failure to come up to this expectation. +But the expectation was gratuitous and the disappointment imaginary. +In an article written at the time I pointed out that one of the +mistakes made by the Entente Powers consisted in the circuitous and +clumsy way in which they negotiated with Roumania. The spokesman and +guardian of Italy during the decisive conversations with the Entente +was the Foreign Minister, Baron Sonnino, the silent member of the +Cabinet. Now, this turned out to be a very unfortunate kind of +guardianship, which his ward subsequently repudiated with reason. For +one effect of his taciturnity--the Roumanians ascribed it to his +policy--was to keep Roumania in the dark about matters of vital moment +to her of which she ought to have had cognizance. Another was to +treat with the Entente Governments as though Roumania had sold her +will and private judgment to the Salandra Cabinet. This, however, is a +curious story of war diplomacy which had best be left to the historian +to recount. One day it will throw a new light upon matters of great +interest which are misunderstood at present. Roumania's co-operation +then, as now, would have been of much greater help to the Allies than +certain other results which were secured by sacrificing it. And +sacrificed it was quite wantonly. We are wont to sneer at Germany's +diplomacy as ridiculously clumsy, and to plume ourselves on our own as +tactful and dignified. Well, if one were charged with the defence of +this thesis, the last source to which one would turn for evidence in +support of it is our diplomatic negotiations with M. Bratiano's +Cabinet. + +In the light of this _expose_ the severe judgments that have been +passed on the policy of the Roumanian Cabinet may have to be revised. + +The crux of the situation was the attitude of Bulgaria. Bulgaria, a +petty country with a population inferior to that of London, +impregnated with Teutonism and ruled by an Austro-Hungarian officer +who loathes the Slavs, had throughout this sanguinary clash of peoples +rendered invaluable services to the Teutons and indirectly inflicted +incalculable losses on the civilized nations of the globe. This +tremendous power for evil springs from her unique strategic position +in Eastern Europe. At any moment during the conflict her active +assistance would have won Constantinople and Turkey for the Allies, +and if proffered during one of several particularly favourable +conjunctures might have speedily ended the war. But so tight was +Germany's grip on her that she not only withheld her own aid, but +actually threatened to fall foul of any of the Balkan States that +should tender theirs. It is, therefore, no exaggeration to affirm that +the duration of this war and some of the most doleful events +chronicled during the first year of its prosecution, are due to the +insidious behaviour of Ferdinand of Coburg and his Bulgarian +coadjutors. One may add that this behaviour constitutes a brilliant +and lasting testimony to the foresight and resourcefulness of German +diplomacy. It is one of the products of German organization as +distinguished from French and British individualism. + +While Bulgaria was thus holding the menace of her army over Roumania's +head, and M. Bratiano stood irresolute between belligerency and +neutrality, the German and Austrian armies were effectively +co-operating with German and Austrian diplomatists. They compelled the +Russians to withdraw from Eastern Prussia,[87] and from a part of +Galicia,[88] later on from Lodz, from the Masurian Lakes and +Bukovina.[89] Gradually Roumania saw herself bereft of what would have +been her right wing and cover, and her military men, the most +influential of whom had been against intervention from the first, now +declared the moment inauspicious on strategical grounds. Thereupon the +oratorical representatives of the Roumanian people consoled themselves +with the formula that Roumanian blood would be shed only for Roumanian +interests, and that when a fresh turn of Fortune's wheel should bring +the Russian troops back to Bukovina and Galicia, the gallant +Roumanians would strike a blow for their country and civilization. + + [87] October 13, 1914. + + [88] December 6, 1914. + + [89] February 15, 1915. + +It would be unfruitful to enter into a detailed examination of the +efforts of the Allies to detach the neutrals, and in especial the +Balkan States, from the Military Empires with which their interests +had been elaborately bound up. But in passing, one may fairly question +the wisdom of their general plan, which established facts--still +fragmentary in character--enable us to reconstruct. The resuscitation +of the Balkan League and the mobilization of its forces against Turkey +was an enterprise from which the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth +century, were they living, would have recoiled. For it presupposes an +ascetic frame of mind among the little States, which in truth hate +each other more intensely than they ever hated the Turks. The first +condition of success, were success conceivable, would have been the +abrogation of the Treaty of Bucharest and the redistribution of the +territories, which its authors had divided with so little regard for +abstract justice and the stability of peace. And to this procedure, +which Bulgaria ostentatiously demanded, Serbia entered a firm demurrer +in which she was joined by Greece. For Serbs and Bulgars have always +been hypnotized by Macedonia. Their gaze is fixed on that land as by +some magic fascination, which interest and reason are powerless to +break. They think of the future development, nay of the very existence +of their respective nations, as indissolubly intertwined with it. To +lose Macedonia, therefore, is to forfeit the life-secret of nation. +Hence Bulgaria obstinately refused to abate one jot of her demands, +while Serbia was firmly resolved to reject them. It mattered nothing +that the fate of all Europe and of these two States was dependent on +compromise. The little nations took no account of the interests at +stake. Each, like Sir Boyle Roche, was ready to sacrifice the whole +for a part, and felt proud of its wisdom and will-power. + +Under these circumstances the scheme of a resuscitated Balkan League +should have been accounted a political chimera, whereas politics is +the art of the possible. What might perhaps have been envisaged with +utility was the selection of the less mischievous and more helpful of +the unwelcome alternatives with which the allied diplomacy was +confronted. If, for instance, it could have been conclusively shown +that Bulgaria's help was indispensable, adequate and purchasable, the +plain course would have been to pay handsomely for that. However high +the price, it would have been more than compensated by the positive +and negative gains. If, on the other hand, Bulgaria were recalcitrant +and inexorable, the Tsardom which protected her might to some good +purpose have become equally so, and displayed firmness and severity. +It has been said that Russia cannot find it in her heart either to +coerce Serbia or to punish Bulgaria. If this be a correct presentation +of her temper--and in the past it corresponded to the reality--then +the Allies are up against an insurmountable obstacle which must be +looked upon as one of the instruments of Fate. + +Our Press is never tired of repeating that the neutrals have a right +to think only of their own interest and to frame their policy in +strict accordance with that, whether it draws them towards the Allies +or the Teuton camp. To this principle exception may be taken. If it be +true that the European community, its civilization and all that that +connotes are in grave danger, then every member of that community is +liable to be called on for help, and is bound to tender it. In such a +crisis it is a case of every one being against us who is not actively +with us. Otherwise the contention that this is no ordinary war but a +criminal revolt against civilization, is a mere piece of claptrap and +is properly treated as such by the neutrals. But there is another +important side of the matter which has not yet been seriously +considered. If the neutrals are warranted in ignoring the common +interest and restricting themselves to the furtherance of their own, +it is surely meet that the Allies, too, should enjoy the full benefits +of this principle and frame their entire policy--economic, financial, +political and military--with a view to promoting their common weal, +and with no more tender regard for that of the non-belligerent States +than is conducive to the success of their cause and in strict +accordance with international law. The application of this doctrine +would find its natural expression in the creation of an economic +league of the Allied States with privileges restricted to its members. +It may not be irrelevant to state that during one phase of the war +combined action of the kind alluded to would have given the Allies the +active help of one or two neutral countries. Nay, if the exportation +of British coal alone had been restricted to the belligerents, the +hesitation of those countries between neutrality and belligerency +would have been overcome in a month. + +Italy and Bulgaria, being the two nations whose attitude would in the +judgment of German statesmen have the furthest reaching consequences +on the war, were also the object of their unwearied attentions. And +every motive which could appeal to the interest or sway the sentiment +of those peoples was set before them in the light most conducive to +the aims of the tempter. Those painstaking efforts were duly rewarded. +Bulgaria, before abandoning her neutrality, had contributed more +effectively even than Turkey to retard the Allies' progress and to +facilitate that of their adversaries. + +For Italy's restiveness Germany was prepared, but it was reasonably +hoped that with a mixture of firmness, forbearance and generosity that +nation would be prevailed upon to maintain a neutrality which the +various agents at work in the peninsula could render permanently +benevolent. And from the fateful August 3, 1914, down to the following +May, the course of events attested the accuracy of this forecast. At +first all Italy was opposed to belligerency. Deliberate reason, +irrational prejudice, religious sentiment, political calculation, +economic interests and military considerations all tended to confirm +the population in its resolve to keep out of the sanguinary struggle. +The Vatican, its organs and agents, brought all their resources to +bear upon devout Catholics, whose name is legion and whose immediate +aim was the maintenance of peace with the Central empires. The +commercial and industrial community was tied to Germany by threads as +fine, numerous and binding as those that rendered Gulliver helpless in +the hands of the Lilliputians. The common people, heavily taxed and +poorly paid, yearned for peace and an opportunity to better their +material lot. The Parliament was at the beck and call of a dictator +who was moved by party interests to co-operate with the Teutons, while +the Senate, which favoured neutrality on independent grounds, had made +it a rule to second every resolution of the Chamber. In a word, +although Italy might wax querulous and importunate, her complaints and +her demands would, it was assumed, play a part only in the scheme of +diplomatic tactics, but would never harden into pretexts for war. + +For it was a matter of common knowledge that departure from the +attitude of neutrality, whatever its ultimate effects--and these would +certainly be fateful--must first lead to a long train of privations, +hardships and economic shocks, which would subject the limited staying +powers of the nation--accustomed to peace, and only now beginning to +thrive--to a searching, painful and dangerous test. From a Government +impressed by this perspective, and conscious of its responsibility, +careful deliberation, rather than high-pitched views, were reasonably +expected. + +And the attitude of the Cabinet since August 1914 had been marked by +the utmost caution and self-containment. Contemplated from a distance +by certain of the Allies whose attention was absorbed by the political +aspect of the matter, this method of cool calculation seemed to smack +of hollow make-believe. Why, it was asked, should Italy hold back or +weigh the certain losses against the probable gains, seeing that she +would have as allies the two most puissant States of Europe, and the +enormous advantage of sea power on her side? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE POSITION OF ITALY + + +But intervention in the war was not one of those ordinary enterprises +on which Italy might reasonably embark, after having carefully counted +up the cost in men and money and allowed a reasonable margin for +unforeseen demands on both. In this venture the liabilities were +unlimited, whereas the resources of the nation were bounded, the +limits being much narrower than in the case of any other Great Power. +And this was a truly hampering circumstance. Serious though it was, +however, it would hardly avail to deter a nation from accepting the +risks and offering up the sacrifices requisite, if the motive were at +once adequate, peremptory and pressing. + +But Italy, unlike the Allies, had had no strong provocation to draw +the sword. Grievances she undoubtedly possessed in plenty. She had +been badly dealt with by her allies, but forbearance was her rule of +living. For nearly a generation she had been a partner of the two +militarist States, yet she shrank from severing her connection with +them, even when they deliberately broke their part of the compact. +This breach of covenant not only dispensed her from taking arms on +their side, but would also, owing to the consequences it involved, +have sufficed to warrant her adhesion to the Entente Powers. But for +conclusive reasons--lack of preparedness among others--she condoned +all affronts and drew the line at neutrality. + +The country was absolutely unequipped for the contest. The Lybian +campaign had disorganized Italy's national defences and depleted her +treasury. Arms, ammunition, uniforms, primary necessaries--in a word, +the means of equipping an army--were lacking. The expenditure of +L80,000,000 sterling during the conflict with Turkey rendered the +strictest economy imperative, and so intent was the Cabinet on +observing it that the first candidate for the post of War Minister +declined the honour, because of the disproportion between the sum +offered to him for reorganization and the pressing needs of the +national defences. + +The outbreak of the present conflict, therefore, took Italy unawares +and found her in a condition of military unpreparedness which, if her +participation in the war had been a necessity, might have had +mischievous consequences for the nation. Availing herself of this +condition of affairs and of the pacific temper of the Italian people, +Germany reinforced those motives by the prospect of Corsica, Nice, +Savoy, Tunis and Morocco in return for active co-operation. But the +active co-operation of Italy with Austria and Germany was wholly +excluded. The people would have vetoed it as suicidal. The utmost that +could be attempted was the preservation of her neutrality, and that +this object would be attained seemed a foregone conclusion. + +And it is fair to state that this belief was well grounded. When war +was declared and Italy was summoned to march with her allies against +France, Britain and Russia, she repudiated her obligation on the +ground that the clause in their treaty provided for common action in +defence only, not for co-operation in a war of aggression, such as was +then about to be waged. And that plea could not be rebutted. This +preliminary dissonance to which the Central empires resigned +themselves was followed by disputes which turned upon the +interpretation of the compensation clause of the Treaty, upon Italy's +territorial demands and Austria's demurrers. Thus from first to last +the issues raised were of a diplomatic order, and if German statesmen +had received carte blanche to settle them, it is not improbable that a +compromise would have been effected which would have left the Italian +Government no choice but to persevere in its neutrality. + +And German statesmen strove hard to wrest the matter from their ally +and take it into their own hands, but were only partially successful. +Both they and the Austrians selected their most supple and wily +diplomatists to conduct the difficult negotiations. Prince Buelow was +appointed German Ambassador to King Victor's Government, Baron Macchio +supplanted Merey in Rome, but the most sensational change effected was +the substitution of Baron Burian for Count Berchtold in the Austrian +Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[90] This latter event was construed by +the European public as the foretoken of a new and far-resonant +departure in Austria's treatment of international relations. In +reality it was hardly more than the withdrawal from public business of +a tired statesman _malgre lui_ who had persistently sought to be +relieved of his charge ever since his first appointment. Count +Berchtold's name is inseparably associated with events of the first +magnitude for his country and for Europe, but on the creation or +moulding of which he had little appreciable part. It is hardly too +much to say that if, during the period while he held office, the +Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been without a head, the mechanism +would have worked with no serious hitch, and with pretty much the same +results which we now behold. For he was but the intermediary between +the mechanism and the real minister, who invariably appeared as a +_deus ex machina_ in all the great crises of recent years, and who was +none other than the Emperor Francis Joseph himself. + + [90] January 15, 1915. + +Count Berchtold was a continuator. He endeavoured under adverse +circumstances to carry out the feasible schemes of his predecessor, +but the obstacles in his way proved insurmountable. He is a +straightforward, truthful man, and in the best sense of the word a +gentleman. The greatest achievement to which he can point during his +tenure of power is the disruption of the Balkan League. Having had an +opportunity of seeing the working of the scheme at close quarters, I +may say that it was ingenious. Pacific by temperament and conviction, +he co-operated successfully with the Emperor to ward off a European +conflict more than once. But from the day when Count Tisza won over +Franz Josef to the ideas of Kaiser Wilhelm, Count Berchtold's +occupation was gone. + +His successor, Baron Burian, entered upon his office with an +established reputation and a political programme. But so immersed were +the Allies in the absurd illusions which ascribed disorganization to +Germany and discord to the two imperial Governments, that Burian's +appointment was read by many as an omen that Austria-Hungary was +already scheming for a separate peace. Events soon showed that the +disorganization was not in Germany nor the discord on the side of the +Central Empires. + +Meanwhile the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Di San Giuliano, +had succumbed to a painful illness, which, however, did not prevent +him from writing and reading dispatches down to the very eve of his +death.[91] His successor was Sydney Sonnino, perhaps the most upright, +rigid and taciturn man who has ever had to receive foreign +diplomatists and discourse sweet nothings in their ears. Devoid of +eloquence, of personal magnetism and of most of the arts deemed +essential to the professional diplomatist, he is a man of culture, +eminent talents, fervid zeal for the public welfare, steady moral +courage, and rare personal integrity. Pitted against the supple and +versatile Buelow, his influence might be likened to that of the austere +philosopher gazing at the incarnate Lamia. + + [91] Di San Giuliano died on October 18, 1914. He was working + for a short time on the 17th. + +Between these two statesmen conversations began[92] under favourable +auspices. One of the conditions to which each of them subscribed was +the maintenance of rigorous secrecy until the end of their labours. +And it was observed religiously until Germany's "necessity" seemed to +call for the violation of the pledge, whereupon it was profitably +violated. Baron Sonnino told the German plenipotentiary that "the +majority of the population was in favour of perpetuating neutrality, +and gave its support to the Government for this purpose, provided +always that by means of neutrality certain national aspirations could +be realized."[93] Buelow at once scored an important point by taking +sides with Italy against Austria on the disputed question whether +Clause VII of the Triple Alliance entitled the former country to +demand compensation for the upsetting of the Balkan equilibrium caused +by Austria's war on Serbia. That view and its practical corollaries +set the machinery going. The Austrian Government abandoned its _non +possumus_, and discussed the nature and extent of the compensation +alleged to be due. But it never traversed the distances between words +and acts. + + [92] On December 20, 1914. + + [93] Italian Green Book, Despatch N. 8. + +One of the many wily devices by which the German Ambassador sought to +inveigle the Consulta into forgoing its right to resort to war was +employed within three weeks of the beginning of negotiations. Buelow +confidentially informed Sonnino that Germany was sending Count von +Wedel to Vienna to persuade the Cabinet there to cede the Trentino to +Italy, and asked him whether, if Austria acquiesced, it would not be +possible to announce to the Chamber that the Italian Government had +already in hand enough to warrant it in assuming that the main +aspirations of the nation would be realized.[94] "Absolutely +impossible," was Sonnino's reply. But the Dictator Giolitti, whom +Prince Buelow took into partnership, was more confident and pliable. +This parliamentary leader, whose will was law in his own country and +whose life-work consisted in eliminating ethical principles from +politics, made known his belief--nay, his positive knowledge--that by +diplomatic negotiations the nation could obtain concessions which +would dispense it from embarking on the war. This pronouncement had a +widespread effect on public opinion, confirming the prevalent belief +that Austria would satisfy Italy's claims. + + [94] Italian Green Book, January 14, 1915, Despatch N. 11. + +There was no means of verifying those announcements, for the Rome +Government scrupulously observed its part of the compact, and allowed +no news of the progress of the conversations to leak out. In fact, it +went much farther and deprived the Italian people systematically of +all information on the subject of the crisis. Consequently the +poisoners of the wells of truth had a facile task. + +It was no secret, however, that the cession of the Trentino would not +suffice to square accounts. Italy's land and sea frontiers were +strategically so exposed that it was sheer impossible to provide +adequately for their defence. And this essential defect rendered the +nation semi-dependent on its neighbour and adversary and powerless to +pursue a policy of its own. For half a century this dangerous flaw in +the national edifice and its pernicious effects on Italy's +international relations had been patiently borne with, but Baron +Sonnino considered that the time for repairing it and strengthening +the groundwork of peace had come. And as he had not the faintest doubt +that technically as well as essentially he had right on his side, he +pressed the matter vigorously. Austrian diplomacy, dense and dilatory +as ever, argued, protested, temporized. In these tactics it was +encouraged by the knowledge that Italy was unequipped for war, and by +the delusion that the remedial measures of reorganization then going +forward were only make-believe. The Italian Government, on the other +hand, convinced that nothing worth having could be secured by +diplomacy until diplomacy was backed by force, was labouring might and +main to raise the army and navy to a position as worthy as possible of +a Great Power and commensurate with the momentous issues at stake. + +But the position of the Cabinet was seriously weakened by the domestic +and insidious enemy. Giolitti's pronouncement had provided the +Austrians with a trump card. For if the Dictator accounted the +proffered concession as a settlement in full, it was obvious that the +Cabinet, which was composed of his own nominees whom he could remove +at will, would not press successfully for more extensive compensation. +Giolitti was the champion and spokesman of the nation, and his +estimate of its aspirations alone carried weight. And now once more +the Dictator, acting through his parliamentary lieutenants, organized +another anti-governmental demonstration which humiliated the Cabinet +and impaired its authority as a negotiator. Of this favourable +diversion the Austrians availed themselves to the full. But gradually +it dawned upon them that behind the Italian Foreign Minister a +reorganized Italian army, well equipped and partially mobilized, was +being arrayed for the eventuality of a failure of the negotiations. By +way of recognizing this fact the Ballplatz increased its offer, but +only very slightly, while it grew more and more lavish of arguments. +But the "principal aspirations of the Italian people" had not yet been +taken into serious consideration by Baron Burian. Down to April 21 +this statesman had not braced himself up to offer anything more than +the Trentino, which Prince Buelow had virtually promised in January, +and this despite the intimation given by the Italian Foreign +Secretary, that after the long spell of word-weaving and +hair-splitting he must insist on a serious and immediate effort being +put forth to meet Italy's demands. + +Thus during five months of tedious negotiations Austria had contrived +to exchange views and notes with the Consulta without offering any +more solid basis for an agreement than the cession of a part of the +Trentino. It is fair to add that even this appeared a generous gift to +Franz Josef's ministers, who failed to see why the Habsburg Monarchy +should offer any compensation to an ally from whom help, not claims, +had been expected. To a possible abandonment of territory on the +Isonzo or elsewhere the Vienna Cabinet made no allusion. On April 8 +Sonnino presented counter proposals, which he unfolded in nine +clauses. They comprehended the cession of the Trentino, including the +frontiers established for the kingdom of Italy by the Treaty of Paris +of 1810; a rectification of Italy's eastern boundaries, taking in the +cities of Gradisca and Gorizia; the transformation of Trieste and its +territory into an autonomous State, internationally independent; the +transfer to the kingdom of Italy of the Curzolari group of islands; +all these territories to be delivered up on the ratification of the +Treaty. Further, Italy's full sovereignty over Valona was to be +recognized by Austria, who should forswear all further designs on +Albania and concede a full pardon to all persons of those lands +undergoing punishment for political or military offences. On her side +Italy would consent to pay 200,000,000 francs as her share of the +public debt and of other financial obligations of the provinces in +question, to remain absolutely neutral during the present war, and to +renounce all further claims to compensation arising out of Clause VII +of the Treaty.[95] + + [95] Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 64. + +Those terms were rejected by the Austrian Foreign Minister on grounds +which have no longer any practical interest. Noteworthy is his remark +that even in peace time the immediate consignment of such territory as +Austria might be willing to abandon would be impossible, and during +the prosecution of a tremendous war it was inconceivable.[96] From +this position he had never once swerved during the five months' +conversations, and he was backed by Germany, who on March 19 had +offered to guarantee the fulfilment of the promise after the war. But +a fortnight later he suddenly changed his ground without really +yielding the point, by suggesting the creation of a mixed commission +which should make recommendations about the ways and means of +transferring the strips of territory in question. But as the labours +of this commission were not to be restricted in time, and as the +amount to be ceded fell far short of what was demanded, Baron Sonnino +negatived the suggestion. + + [96] Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 71, April 16, 1915. + +Then and only then did the Italian Government withdraw their +proposals, denounce the Triple Alliance, and proclaim Italy's liberty +of action.[97] + + [97] May 3, 1915. Cf. Italian Green Book, Dispatch N. 76. + +Of this sensational turn of affairs the European public had no +inkling. For the Italian Government was bound to reticence by its +plighted word and the Germans and Austrians by their interest, which +was to foster the belief that the conversations were proceeding +successfully and that Austria's proposals were welcomed by the +Consulta. But Italy, thus absolved from the ties that had so long +linked her with Germany and Austria, entered into a conditional +compact with the Powers of the Entente. In Paris the secret quickly +leaked out and was at once communicated to Berlin, whose organized +espionage continued to flourish in the French capital. Thereupon Herr +Jagow urged Buelow to bestir himself without delay. But the Prince was +hard set. On the Italian Cabinet he had lost his hold. It had already +crossed the Rubicon and passed over to the Entente. True, the Cabinet +was not Italy, was not even the Government of Italy. It was hardly +more than a group of mere place-warmers for Giolitti and his +partisans. At any moment it could be upset and the damage inflicted by +Austria's stupidity made good. And to effect this was the task to +which the German Ambassador now addressed himself. + +He was admirably qualified to discharge it. All Italy, with the +exception of a small band of nationalists and republicans, was his +ally. The Pope was _ex officio_ an apostle of peace. A large body of +the clergy submissively followed the Pope. The Vatican and its +hangers-on were sitting _en permanence_ directing a movement which had +for its object the prevention of war. The parliamentary majority was +aggressively neutralist. The economic interests of the nation were +ranged on the same side. Almost the entire aristocracy was enlisted +under the flag of the German Ambassador, at whose hospitable board the +scions of the men whose names had been honourably associated with the +Risorgimento met and deliberated. As yet, therefore, nothing was lost +to the Central Empires; only a difficulty had been created which would +serve as a welcome foil to impart sharper relief to Prince Buelow's +certain victory. The man whose co-operation would win this victory was +the Dictator Giolitti, and him the Ambassador summoned to Rome. + +Now Giolitti was acquainted with everything that had been done by the +Cabinet, including his country's covenant with the Allies, and he +disapproved of it. He was also initiated by Buelow into the scheme by +which that covenant was to be set aside and Italy made to break her +faith, and he signified his approbation of it. Nay, this patriot went +further; he undertook to aid and abet Buelow in his well-thought-out +plot. It had been resolved by the German Ambassador, as soon as he +learned that Italy had taken an irrevocable decision and denounced the +Treaty of Alliance, that he would amend the proposals which he +himself, in Austria's name, had put forward as the utmost limit to +which she was prepared to go; and he was anxious, before offering them +officially, to ascertain whether Italy's Dictator would accept them +and guarantee their acceptance by his parliamentary majority. + +That was the object for which Giolliti's presence was needed in Rome. +The amended proposals were typewritten and distributed by Erzberger, +the leader of the German Catholic parliamentary party, who was an +over-zealous agent of the Wilhelmstrasse and a _persona grata_ at the +Vatican. He, a German, had gone to Rome to bestir the neutralists and +lead the movement against the Italian Government. His leaflets +containing the belated concessions were given to Giolitti and his +lieutenants. I received a copy myself, and sent it to the _Daily +Telegraph_. The concessions were actually published in that journal +and communicated to the British public before King Victor's +Government, to whom Prince Buelow was accredited, had any cognizance of +their existence. That this procedure involved a gross breach of the +covenant between the Ambassador and Sonnino stipulating the +maintenance of absolute secrecy was deemed an irrelevant +consideration. + +Seldom in modern times have such underhand methods been resorted to by +the Government of a Great Power. Neither would it be easy to find an +example of a responsible statesman behaving as Giolitti behaved and +working in collusion with the Government of a State which at the time +was virtually his country's enemy. This statesman, however, duly +played the part assigned to him in this intrigue against his +Government and country, and the success of his scheme would have left +the Italian nation covered with infamy and bereft of friends. For if +he had been able to conclude the compact with Austria as he had +undertaken to do, his country would have been left to the mercy of his +Austro-German masters, who despise Italy, and probably, if victorious, +would have refused to redeem their promises, while the Entente States +would have boycotted her as faithless and false-hearted. As a dilemma +for Italy the position in which she was placed must have delighted +the wily Buelow. How it can have satisfied an Italian statesman is a +psychological riddle. + +Meanwhile the German Ambassador presented officially Austria's final +proposals, as though the conversations on this subject had not been +broken off. Baron Sonnino refused to discuss them. But the Dictator +intended that his word should be heard and his will should be done. To +the King and the Premier, Giolitti announced that, despite all that +had been accomplished by the Government, he still clung to the belief +that Austria's new concessions offered a basis for further +negotiations, which, if cleverly conducted, would lead to the +acquisition of some other strips of territory, and would certainly +culminate in a satisfactory settlement. + +But, not satisfied with this confidential expression of opinion, +Giolitti let it be known to the whole nation that he, the chief and +spokesman of the parliamentary majority, was convinced of the +feasibility of an accord with Austria on the basis of her last offer, +which he deemed acceptable in principle; that he saw no motives for +plunging Italy into a hideous war, which would involve the nation in +disaster; and that he would adjust his acts to these convictions. + +This deliberate pronouncement, coming from the most prominent man in +the country, had a powerful effect upon his followers and also upon +the public at large. No nation desires war for war's sake, and the +interpretation put upon Giolitti's words by the extreme neutralists +and, in particular, by the insincere organs of the Vatican, was that +he had seen enough to convince him that the Cabinet had decided to +wage war against Germany and Austria at all costs and irrespective of +the nation's interests. Giolitti's parliamentary friends +demonstratively called upon him at his private residence, leaving +their cards, and announcing the conformity of their views to those of +their leader; and as their number, which was carefully communicated to +the Press, formed the majority of the Chamber, the Cabinet felt +impelled to take the hint and act upon it. This was the only course +open to it. For, as the ministers were obliged to meet Parliament on +May 20--the day fixed for its reopening--they were sure to be +out-voted on a division, whereupon a crisis, not merely ministerial +but national and international, would be precipitated. The +consequences of such a conflict might be disastrous. Rather than wait +for this eventuality the Cabinet tendered its resignation. Thus Buelow +had seemingly triumphed. The Government was turned out by Giolitti, +who had accepted in advance the Austro-German terms of a settlement, +and Italy was seemingly won over to the Teutons. + +So far as one could judge, the fate of the nation was now decided. Its +course was marked out for it, and was henceforward unalterable. For, +so far as one could see, by no section of the constitutional machinery +was the strategy of Buelow and Giolitti to be thwarted. In a +parliamentary land the legislatures are paramount, and here both +Chamber and Senate were arrayed against the Cabinet for Giolitti and +Germany. + +The ferment consequent upon this turn of affairs was tremendous. All +Europe was astir with excitement. The Press of Berlin and Vienna was +jubilant. Panegyrics of Giolitti and of Buelow filled the columns of +their daily Press. + +But a _deus ex machina_ suddenly descended upon the scene in the +unwonted form of an indignant nation. The Italian people, which had at +first been either indifferent or actively in favour of cultivating +neighbourly relations with Germany, had of late been following the +course of the struggle with the liveliest interest. Germany's dealings +with Belgium had impressed them deeply. Her methods of warfare had +estranged their sympathies. Her doctrine of the supremacy of force and +falsehood had given an adverse poise to their ideas and leanings. Deep +into their hearts had sunk the tidings of the destruction of the +_Lusitania_, awakening feelings of loathing and abomination for its +authors, to which free expression was now being given everywhere. The +spirit that actuated this revolting enormity was brand-marked as that +of demoniacal fury loosed from moral control and from the ties that +bind nations and individuals to all humanity. + +The effect upon public sentiment and opinion in Italy, where emotions +are tensely strung, and sympathy with suffering is more flexible and +diffusive than it is even among the other Latin races, was +instantaneous. One statesman, who was a partisan of neutrality, +remarked to me that German "Kultur," as revealed during the present +war, is dissociated from every sense of duty, obligation, chivalry, +honour, and is become a potent poison which the remainder of humanity +must endeavour by all efficacious methods to banish from the +international system. + +"This," he went on, "is no longer war; it is organized slaughter, +perpetrated by a race suffering from dog-madness. I tremble at the +thought that our own civilized and chivalrous people may at any moment +be confronted with this lava flood of savagery and destructiveness. +Now, if ever, the opportune moment has come for all civilized nations +to join in protest, stiffened with a unanimous threat, against the +continuance of such crimes against the human race. Europe ought surely +to have the line drawn at the poisoning of wells, the persecution of +prisoners, and the massacre of women and children. If a proposal to +this effect were made, I myself would second it with ardour."[98] + + [98] Cf. _Daily Telegraph_, May 10, 1915. + +These pent-up feelings now found vent in a series of meetings and +demonstrations against Germany as well as Austria and their Italian +allies. Italy's spiritual heritage from the old Romans asserted itself +in impressive forms and unwonted ways, and the conscience of the +nation loudly affirmed its claim to be the main directing force in a +crisis where the honour and the future of the country were at stake. +And within four days of this purgative process a marked change was +noticeable. Giolitti's partisans--hissed, jostled, mauled, frightened +out of their lives--lay low. Many of them publicly recanted and +proclaimed their conversion to intervention. The chief of the German +Catholic party and friend of the Vatican, Erzberger, was driven from +his hotel to the German Embassy as a foreign mischief-maker, +contrabandist and spy. Some of the Press organs, subsidized or created +by the Teutons, were obliged to disappear. The honest neutralist +journals, yielding to the nation, veered round to the fallen Cabinet. +In a word, the political atmosphere, theretofore foul and mephitic, +became suddenly charged with purer, healthier elements--Buelow's plot +was thwarted and Giolitti's role played out. The Salandra-Sonnino +Cabinet was borne back to office on the crest of this national wave, +and Italy declared war against Austria. But only against Austria. For +the Cabinet, restored to power, became a cautious steward, and took to +imitating him of the Gospel who hid his talents instead of augmenting +them. + +This restriction of military operations to the Habsburg Monarchy +struck many observers as singular. In truth the motives that inspired +the Government have never been authoritatively divulged. That every +Italian Cabinet since Crispi's days had made a marked distinction +between Germany and Austria was notorious. That Di San Giuliano felt +as strongly attracted towards Berlin as he was repelled by Vienna may +be gathered from the official but still unpublished dispatches that +exist on the subject. But that in a war not of two individual nations, +but of groups of States, one--and only one--of these should be singled +out as the object of aggression aroused something more than mere +curiosity. And this feeling was intensified when it became known that +on the eve of the diplomatic rupture Buelow, ever on the alert for the +interests of his country, had induced the Italian Government to +conclude a convention with Germany for the protection of private +property in case of active hostilities. For Germany possesses in Italy +property valued at several milliards of francs, whereas Italy claims +as her own almost nothing in the German empire. Who can read the +riddle? + +The adhesion of Italy to the Allies may be noted as perhaps the most +important political event of the year, while the circumstances in +which it was decided on dispel all doubt that the Italian people were +actuated by lofty motives and rose to the highest ideas involved in +the European conflict, and that the Cabinet's ideals were nowise +identical with those of the nation. It is alleged by certain personal +friends of Baron Sonnino, who had exceptionally good opportunities for +knowing what took place--and I have grounds for acquiescing in their +view--that this statesman was for declaring war against Germany as +well as Austria, but that Professor Salandra negatived this logical +and straightforward move. + +That the Salandra Cabinet damaged the cause of Italy by thus +endeavouring to blow hot and cold, is a fact which its warmest +supporters no longer call in question. They now merely plead for +extenuating circumstances on the ground that the damage was done +unwittingly. "It would be unjust," the Nationalist Federzoni said in a +speech delivered before the Chamber on March 16,[99] "to accuse the +Italian Government of disloyalty or insincerity, but none the less the +treaty it concluded with Germany has proved superlatively baleful to +the country." Like the other allied peoples, the Italian nation has +been served by a Cabinet which defeated many of the objects it was +striving after. + + [99] March 16, 1916. + +Studying Italian politics since the war broke out is like threading +the Cretan Labyrinth in a dense fog. The fog, curiously enough, which +now seldom lifts, would seem to form an integral part of the politics. +For one of the maxims of the present chief of the Consulta, Baron +Sonnino, is that secrecy is the soul of efficacy. And as thoroughness +marks his action whenever it is quite free, the mystery that enwraps +the schemes and designs of King Victor's Government is become +impenetrable. One may form a faint notion of the stringency with which +this un-Italian occultism is observed by the eminent Jewish statesman, +from the circumstance that during the crisis that preceded the war, +only one of his colleagues was kept informed of the progress of the +conversations with Austria, and that was his own chief, Professor +Salandra. As for the nation at large, it was so out of touch with the +Government, and so led astray concerning the trend of events, that for +months it confidently anticipated an accord with the Central Empires. +Again, down to the day on which Baron Sonnino read out his last +declaration in the Chamber (Dec. 1), officials of the Ministry had +rigorous instructions not to give any one even a hint as to whether +Italy would or would not sign the London Convention, renouncing the +right to conclude a separate peace. + +For a long time previously Italy's aloofness had preoccupied the +Entente, and to the accord between the two there continued to be +something lacking. The Italian Government, dissatisfied with the +degree of help received from Great Britain, was not slow to indicate +it in official conversations with our Ambassador. Happily, the silence +of our Foreign Office and the secrecy of Baron Sonnino concealed the +rifts of the lute until most of them were said to be repaired. In the +meantime Italy persisted in concentrating on the Isonzo and the Carso +all her efforts to help the Allies against the Turks and the Bulgars. +The expeditions to the Dardanelles, Salonika and Serbia evoked her +moral sympathy, but could not secure her military co-operation. The +generosity of the Entente, and of Britain in particular, towards +Greece was an additional stumbling-block, and the offer of Cyprus to +King Constantine an abomination in her eyes. + +That Italy's impolitic aloofness could not last, without impairing the +worth of her sacrifices, was obvious. And the extent to which +co-operation could be stipulated and the compensations to which that +would entitle her, formed the subjects of long and delicate +conversations between the interested Governments. For, naturally +enough, Baron Sonnino, whose domestic critics are many and ruthless, +was desirous of getting all he could in the Eastern Mediterranean and +Asia Minor, while measuring out with patriotic closeness the military +and naval help to be given in return--Italy's position, economic, +financial and strategic, differing considerably from that of the other +Great Powers. It was not until the end of November 1915 that these +negotiations were worked out to an issue; and on the 30th King +Victor's Government signed the Convention of London, undertaking not +to conclude a separate peace. + +The gist of this supplementary accord, in so far as it imposes fresh +obligations upon Italy, was communicated to the Chamber by Baron +Sonnino. It provided for the organization of relief for the Serbian +troops in Albania, and for other auxiliary expeditions to places on +the Adriatic coast. But it leaves intact the essential and standing +limitations to Italy's military and naval co-operation which had to +be reckoned with theretofore. And these may be summarized as follows: +King Victor's Government, while examining every proposal coming from +the Allies on its political merits, must be guided by the military and +naval experts of the nation whenever it is a question of despatching +troops or warships to take part in a common enterprise. Italy's first +care is to hinder an invasion of her territory. The next object of her +solicitude is to husband her naval and other resources and cultivate +caution. Lastly, the extent of her contribution to an expedition must +be adjusted to her resources, which are much more slender than those +of any other Great Power, and are best known to her own rulers. And +her financial means are to be reinforced by contributions from Great +Britain. + +Those, in brief, are some of the lines on which the latest agreement +has been concluded. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ROUMANIA AND GREECE + + +That Roumania would now take the field was a proposition which, after +the many and emphatic assurances volunteered by her own official +chiefs, was accepted almost universally. She had received considerable +help from the Allies towards her military preparations. Her senators +and deputies had fraternized with Italians and Frenchmen and her +diplomatists had been in frequent and friendly communication with +those of France, Britain and Russia. Even statesmen had allowed +themselves to be persuaded by words and gestures which it now appears +were meant only to be conditional assurances or social lubricants. The +Serbian Premier, for instance, whose shrewdness is proverbial, +exclaimed to an Italian journalist, in the second half of June: +"Roumania cannot but follow the example set her by Italy. Indeed, you +may telegraph to your journal that Roumania's entry into the arena is +a question of days and it may be only of hours. Of this many +foretokens have come to our knowledge."[100] But the optimists who had +drawn practical conclusions from Roumanian promises and friendships +lost sight of the difference between their own mentality and that of +the Balkan peoples. They also failed to make due allowance for the +influence of German interpenetration, the power of German gold, and +the deterrent effect of German victories. And above all, they left out +of consideration the really decisive question of military prospects as +conditioned by strategical position and supplies of munitions. + + [100] _Giornale d'Italia_, June 19, 1915. _Corriere della + Sera_, June 20, 1915. + +The party of intervention, however, was still active and full of +ardour. Its chief, Take Jonescu, is not merely Roumania's only +statesman, but has established a claim to rank as one of the prominent +public men of the present generation. Unluckily he has long been out +of office, and his party is condemned to the Cassandra role of +uttering true prophecies which find no credence among those who wield +the power of putting them to good account. M. Bratiano's appropriate +attitude may be described as statuesque. Occasionally his Press organs +commented upon the manifestations of the interventionists in words +barbed with bitter sarcasm and utilitarian maxims. "Roumania's blood +and money," the _Independence Roumaine_ explained, "must be spent only +in the furtherance of Roumania's interest." Her cause must be +dissociated from that of the belligerents. To this Take Jonescu +replied[101] that it is precisely for the good of Roumania that her +interest should not be separated from that of the Entente Powers in +the conflict. For on the issue of this conflict depends the +state-system of Europe and also the future of Roumania. If the Germans +are triumphant, he added, force and falsehood will triumph with them, +the State will acquire omnipotence, the individual sink into serfdom. +Neutrality during a war with such issues is, therefore, the height of +political unwisdom. + + [101] _La Roumanie_, July 26, 1915. + +Greece, after Venizelos's retirement, returned to the narrow creed and +foolish pranks of her unregenerate days, sinking deeper into anarchy. +More than once in her history she had been saved from her enemies and +once from her friends, but from her own self there is no saviour. + +As soon as the Kaiser's paladin, King Constantine, had dismissed his +pilot and taken supreme command of the Ship of State, the portals of +the realm were thrown open to German machinations. The weaver in chief +of these was Wilhelm's confidential agent, Baron Schenk. According to +his own published biography, this gentleman had in youth been the +friend of the two sisters of Princess Battenberg, the Grand Duchess +Serge and of the Russian Tsaritza. He had served in the German army, +become the representative of the firm of Krupps, and been received at +the German court. While Venizelos was in office, Baron Schenk +flourished in the shade, but as soon as the Germanophile Gounaris took +over the reins of power, the secret agent went boldly forward into the +limelight and became the public chief of a party, received openly his +helpmates and partisans, distributed roles and money and set frankly +to work to "smash Venizelos." + +King Constantine's protracted and strange malady hindered the Queen, +who is the Kaiser's sister, from receiving visits. Even the wives of +ministers were denied access to her Majesty. But the baron was an +exception. He called on her almost every day. Cabinet Ministers +consulted him. Journalists received directions, articles and bribes +from him. And when the elections were coming on every venal man of +influence who could damage Venizelos or help his antagonists was +bought with hard cash. In order to defeat some Venizelist candidates +whose return would have been particularly distressing, the Baron is +said to have spent six hundred thousand francs.[102] And it is held +that the results obtained by these means were well worth the money +spent. For the parliamentary opposition was strong and aggressive, and +some of its more active members had imbibed Hellenic patriotism from +the German Schenk. They have since been toiling and moiling to +disqualify Venizelos permanently from office on the ground that he is +a republican, and that the destinies of monarchy would not be safe in +his hands. By these means German organization, which finds work and +room for kings and for poisoners, for theologians and assassins, has +transformed Greece into a Prussian satrapy which avails itself of the +freedom of the seas, established by the Allies, to carry on contraband +to their detriment and give help and encouragement to Austrians, +Bulgars and Turks. And the Turks were meanwhile extirpating the Greeks +of the coast of Asia Minor. + + [102] _Gazette de Lausanne_, July 6, 1915, and _Corriere + della Sera_, July 8, 1915. + +Bulgaria's attitude underwent no momentous change during the interval +that elapsed between the outbreak of the war and the close of the +first year. Symptoms of a new orientation had, it is true, often been +signalled and commented, but Ferdinand of Coburg and his lieutenants +remained steadfastly faithful to the policy of quiescence which had +conferred more substantial benefits on Germany and Austria than could +have been bestowed by the active co-operation of the whole Bulgarian +army. This tremendous effect could never have been obtained if +Bulgaria had entirely broken with the Powers of the Entente. It seemed +as essential to its success that these should never wholly give up the +hope of winning her over, as it was that her important movements +should be conducive to the interests of their enemies. Hence every +secret arrangement with Berlin and Vienna was emphatically denied, and +every overt accord declared to be devoid of political significance. + +It was thus that Europe was directed to construe the negotiations +between the Sofia Cabinet and the Austro-German financial syndicate +respecting the payment of an instalment of the L20,000,000 loan +contracted shortly before the war. That Germany, whose financial +ventures are invariably combined with political designs, would not +part with her money to Bulgaria at a moment when gold is scarce, +unless she were sure of an adequate political return, could not be +gainsaid. And that the retention by Bulgaria of her freedom of action +would be incompatible with the interests of Austria and Germany is +also manifest. However this may be, the twenty millions sterling +demanded by Sofia were accorded, and the legend was launched that the +transaction was purely financial. + +Towards the end of July[103] King Ferdinand's ministers made another +momentous move, the consequences of which cut deep into the political +situation. A convention was signed in Stamboul between the Turkish and +Bulgarian Governments by which the former ceded to Bulgaria the +Turkish section of the Dedeagatch railway--that is to say, the whole +line that runs on Turkish territory, together with the stations of +Dimotika, Kulela-Burgas, and Karagatch. The new boundary ran +thenceforward parallel to the river Maritza, all the territory +eastward of that becoming Bulgarian. + + [103] July 22, 1915. + +And this concession, King Ferdinand's ministers would have Europe +believe, was devoid of political bearings. It was merely a case of +something being given for nothing. And the Allies allowed themselves +to be persuaded that this was the real significance of the deal. The +German Press was more frank. It announced that the relations between +Bulgaria and Turkey had entered upon a decisive phase and that all +fear of Bulgaria's taking part in the war on the side of the Allies +had been definitely dispelled. + +The Bulgarian problem throughout all that wearisome crisis, which +ended by Ferdinand throwing off the mask, was in reality simple, and +the known or verifiable facts ought to have been sufficient to bring +the judgment of the Entente statesmen to conclusions which would have +enabled them to steer clear of the costly blunders that characterized +their policy. The line of action followed from first to last by +Ferdinand was supremely inelastic: only its manifestations, of which +the object was to deceive, were varied and conflicting. It was bound +up with Austria's undertaking to restore Macedonia to Bulgaria and to +maintain Ferdinand on the throne. This twofold promise was the bait by +which the king was caught and kept in Austria's toils, while the +Bulgarian people was moved by patriotism to identify its cause with +that of Ferdinand. And the arrangement was to my knowledge completed +before the opening of the European war. Evidence of its existence was +forthcoming, but the statesmen of the Entente, who allowed +preconceived notions to overrule the testimony of their senses, +declined to accept it. Since then the Bulgarian Cabinet, in the person +of the Premier, has publicly admitted the truth of my reiterated +statement. In a public speech, delivered in March 1916, "M. +Radoslavoff confessed that Bulgaria had entered the war by reason of +certain obligations which she had assumed."[104] + + [104] Cf. _Daily Telegraph_, March 14, 1916, in telegram from + Athens. + +But there was another safe test which the Entente Governments could +have applied with profit to the situation. Interest was obviously the +mainspring of the Bulgarian nation by whomsoever it might chance to be +represented. It would be inconsistent with the conception of +international politics to assume any other. Now that interest, it was +obvious, could be so fully and rapidly furthered by the Central +Empires, and in the judgment of the Bulgars with such finality and at +the cost of so few sacrifices, that it was sheer impossible for the +Entente Governments to attempt to compete with those. Bulgaria +demanded immediate possession of Central Macedonia and the permanent +weakening of the Serbian State. And this the Central Empires promised +to effect within a few weeks from Bulgaria's entry into the war. +Moreover, while asking that she should take part in a struggle against +that group of belligerents which she deemed by far the weaker, they +undertook to give her the full support of the two greatest military +Powers in the world. + +Consider the difference between that arrangement and the attractions +provided by the Entente. Russia, France and Britain could deal only in +counters, not in hard cash like their adversaries. The utmost they +were able to offer was an undertaking to use their good offices with +Serbia and Greece to obtain the promise of a part of Bulgaria's +demands. And the fulfilment of this promise would of necessity be +conditional on the victory of the Allies. As for the weakening of +Serbia, it could not be entertained. On the contrary, that State, +according to the Entente scheme, would be greatly enlarged, would, in +fact, become by far the greatest of the Balkan nations. And for this +shadowy lure, Bulgaria was expected to meet in deadly encounter the +greatest military empires the world has ever seen, and to meet them +without the help of any of the Great Powers of the Entente. + +One has but to compare these two alternatives in order to realize +that, even if Ferdinand had entered into no binding compact with +Austria and Germany, he would not hesitate a moment between them. +Personally and politically he was held tight by the Teuton tentacles. + +The currency of the notion that with these competing offers before +him, a crafty statesman like Ferdinand who felt over and above that +Russia's vengeance was hanging over his head, would take what he +believed was the losing side, shows a degree of _naivete_ which cannot +be qualified without epithets which it had better be understood than +expressed. + +Looking back upon the results of the first twenty months of the war +and upon the more obvious causes to which they may fairly be +ascribed, one is struck less forcibly by the military and economic +unpreparedness of the Allies for the inevitable conflict than by their +inaccessibility to the ground ideas on which Germany set her hopes of +success. The two groups of belligerents stood intellectually on +different planes. The Teuton's faith was implicit in the law of +causality, in the necessity of contemplating the vast problem as a +whole, of adjusting means to ends, of co-operation at home and +co-ordination of means abroad. The methods of the Allies were drawn +from a limited range of experience which was no longer applicable to +the new conditions, and their hopes rested on a series of isolated +exertions put forth temporarily under stress of exceptional pressure. + +They made noble sacrifices for the cause of liberty and justice. +Pacific by temperament and conviction, they resignedly accepted +military discipline as a temporary expedient, a purgatorial ordeal, +and went about the while with a sense of displacement, the longing of +exiles to get back. Spurred by stress of circumstance, they achieved +more than foresight and insight had led them to design but far less +than their optimism had encouraged them to anticipate. Step by step +they were driven by hard reality to widen their angle of vision, to +extend their schemes, and to concert certain measures in common. The +meeting of the three Finance Ministers in Paris was followed by the +Councils of the allied generals, by the combined expedition to the +Dardanelles, and by the nationalization of the manufacture of +munitions in each of the allied countries. And all these innovations +were moves in the right direction. But they were made as temporary +expedients under pressure of outward events, and it is still to the +future that one looks for tokens of statesmanlike intuition which from +a comprehensive survey of the problem in its entirety will draw the +materials wherewith to weave a coherent scheme of general action and +permanent co-operation. + +Events travelled fast in the month of July 1915, and their effect on +the Allies was depressing. In Russia the Austro-Germans were advancing +steadily against Riga and Warsaw, where a battle which experts +accounted the most sanguinary and momentous in the war was approaching +a decision. A fatal bar being placed by Russia's reverses and other +untoward occurrences to the realization of the hopes that had been +raised by Kitchener's army, the French, headed by M. Pichon and backed +by the Russian Press, once more mooted the vexed question of Japanese +intervention. In the Turkish dominions the Greeks were subjected to +relentless persecution, especially on the coast of Asia Minor. The +massacre of Armenians on an unprecedented scale was reported from +Bitlis, Moosh, Diarbekir and Zeitun. In the first-named region 9,000 +bodies, mostly women and children, were, it is alleged, cast into the +river Tigris.[105] The Swedish Premier, by an enigmatic speech in +which the doctrine of neutrality at all costs was ostentatiously +repudiated, aroused suspicion of an intention on the part of his +Government to join the Teutons in order to weaken the Slav neighbour, +and to this apprehension colour was imparted by the tardy announcement +that since the outbreak of the war Sweden had increased her army from +360,000 to 500,000 men. In the United States mysterious "accidents" +and mishaps occurred on board warships and in munitions and arms +manufactories, and strikes were organized by Germans and Austrians on +a scale which attracted the serious attention of the Washington +Government. + + [105] _Novoye Vremya_, July 22, 1915. + +But the last month of that fateful year was further darkened by the +most dangerous and ominous event recorded in the United Kingdom since +the war began. Over 200,000 coal miners of South Wales deliberately, +obstinately and criminally withheld their labour from their own +nation, whose existence at that moment was dependent on its bestowal. +The coal pits of South Wales remained idle for over a week. The miners +crossed their arms and turned deaf ears to the voice of reason and +interest calling on them not to sacrifice the lives of their kith and +kin who were fighting for them. This act of black treason to the +country had been foreseen and foretold months before, but out of +consideration for the rights of individuals was allowed to take place. +The Germans and Austrians were exultant, for another couple of weeks' +strike would have given them the victory. Already the collapse of our +defence was become a definite eventuality. The tact and statesmanship +of Mr. Lloyd George exorcised the redoubtable spectre, but the spirit +which that piece of treason revealed filled the most sanguine with +dread and set those of little faith asking themselves whether this +lamentable phenomenon was not one of certain ill-boding symptoms which +seemed to reveal the smoothly moving current that bears doomed nations +onward to their fate. + +Certainly nothing could put in a clearer light than that strike has +done the peremptory necessity of national discipline, at any rate in +war-time. The State that is unable to command the service of all its +citizens when beset by ruthless foreign enemies has lost its lease of +life and its right to live. It must be recognized that patriotism is +still an unknown sentiment among millions of those who are citizens of +the United Kingdom and Ireland. Patriotism has never been +systematically inculcated among us as in Germany, France and Russia. +Parochial or at most party interests still mark the loftiest heights +to which certain sections of the population can soar above the dead +level of individual egotism. In Germany and Austria strikes during war +are unthinkable. Every railway official, every tram-conductor, every +artisan there is a soldier subject to military discipline and is +expected to give the fullest measure of his productive powers to the +nation. And it is fair to add that they all regard this duty as a +signal honour and a source of pleasure. For to them patriotism is a +religion and their country a divinity. + +The depth and fervour of this self-denying spirit among them as +contrasted with the "healthy individual egotism" of the Allies +constitutes one of the most disquieting phenomena of the struggle. +Austria has been scoffed at for her abject submissiveness to Germany. +But there is another way of looking at her attitude. She has +courageously effaced her individuality more completely even than +Turkey for the sake of the common cause. And she has lost nothing by +the painful effort. Her various peoples who were expected to be +tearing each other to pieces have given us a splendid example of +discipline and self-abnegation. In the Skoda works at Pilsen, where +machine guns are made, fifteen thousand workmen are cheerfully toiling +and moiling every day of the week, Sundays and holidays not excepted. +Since the war began Germany has accomplished as great things at home +as on foreign battlefields. She built and launched a Dreadnought of +25,600 tons, a line-of-battle ship of 26,200 tons. And while the +latter vessel was on the stocks, the reports published in the British +press of the splendid results obtained by the 15-inch guns of the +_Queen Elizabeth_ moved the German Admiralty to substitute these for +the 12-inch guns already adopted. Two swift cruisers, 12 small +submarines and 24 larger ones of 1200 tons displacement, with a speed +of 16 knots under water, 20 on the surface and a radius of action of +3000 miles--were among the results of a single year's activity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +GERMANY'S RESOURCEFULNESS + + +And our enemies' resourcefulness and power of adaptation is of a piece +with their capacity for work. When war was declared and foreign trade +arrested, numerous German factories underwent a quick transformation. +Silk-works began to turn out bandages and lint; velvet works produced +materials for tents; umbrella makers took to manufacturing rain-proof +cloth; the output of sewing-machine factories was changed to shrapnel; +piano manufacturers became makers of cartridges. Paper producers +supplied the War Office with paper-made blankets. For copper, when the +supply began to grow short, nickelled iron was quickly substituted. +Sugar was employed to obtain the spirit which had to take the place of +benzine. And the upshot of these transformations is that the orders +received for military needs exceed those which would in normal +conditions of exportation have been placed by foreign customers with +German industry. The goods traffic on German railways, which had +fallen to 41 per cent. during the first month of the war, has since +gone up to 96 per cent. Those achievements are not merely noteworthy +in themselves, they are ominously symptomatic. + +A German professor, writing to a friend imprisoned in France, +commented in passing upon these qualifications of his countrymen in a +letter which M. Joseph Reinach soon afterwards gave to the public. One +passage in that document is worth quoting. The professor holds that +even if the worst comes to the worst, Germany can always conclude a +"white peace" which will leave her the formidable glory of having held +the whole world in check, will consolidate her prestige in Europe and +enable her, twenty years hence, when she has made good her losses, to +establish permanently her dominion. "My confidence is based on German +patriotism, on German sense of discipline, on German genius for +organization. But it is founded above all else on our enemies' +incapacity for organization. Ah, if our adversaries could enhance the +worth of their resources by acquiring our gifts of initiative and +method, we should be lost! I am thrilled by the picture of what we +could accomplish if we were in the places of the English and the +French and by the thought of the danger that would confront us if they +but knew how to utilize the force of their allies as we have availed +ourselves of those of Austria and Turkey." + +Those reflections find their fairest comment in the events of the +twenty months that have passed since the opening of the campaign. + +Our enemies' reading of those events is instructive. The Austrian +Press hails them as satisfactory. Even the Socialist organ[106] +declares that, in the qualities that go to the attainment of success, +"Austria holds the first place." The Austrian General Staff wrote +eight months ago: "Our troops have now been fighting for a +twelvemonth.... A whole world of enemies rose up against the Central +Empires, and more than once our army had to bear the brunt of their +formidable onslaught. To-day, they hold but small tracts of territory +in western Galicia and Alsatia, whereas Germany's hand is closed in a +tight grasp on Belgium and the richest provinces of France, and in the +north-east the allied forces of Austria and Germany have penetrated +well into Russian Poland. The cannons' muzzles are turned against the +most powerful fortresses of the Tsar, and in the Dardanelles our third +ally keeps watch and ward imperturbably." + + [106] _Arbeiter Zeitung._ + +The War Lord himself has recorded his estimate of the results of the +first year's campaign. "Germany," he stated in a speech delivered at +Lemberg, "is an impregnable fortress. In her forward march she is +irresistible. She will prove to the world that she can overcome all +her enemies and will dictate to them the peace terms that please +herself." And in a discourse pronounced at Beuthen he recorded his +view of the Allies' outlook in these words: "Our enemies are +floundering in confusion. Among themselves they are not united. They +are disorganized by the struggle, disheartened by the knowledge that +they are powerless to conquer Germany. German valour, German +organization, German science have emerged with honour from this +ordeal, the most terrible that a nation has ever undergone. Germany is +greater and mightier than ever before." + +It behoves us to learn from our enemies, and, abstraction made from +the monstrosities which are indelibly associated with the German name, +there is much which the Teutons can still teach us. That the secret of +success lies in a comprehensive system of organization is +self-evident. But that organization must utilize all the resources of +the Allies and include permanent arrangements, economic and other, for +a future which shall not be a continuation of the past. Many of the +advantages which the old ordering of things assured us are gone beyond +recall. Conscription is become inevitable. Free trade is an +institution of the past. The control of armies in the field by +delegates of a democratic parliament such as is now demanded by the +French Chamber is a dangerous craving for the fleshpots of Egypt. +Whether Germany wins or loses, her rebellion against European +civilization will effect substantial and durable changes in the +methods of that civilization from which even the United States will +not be exempted. + +Thus between the old order of things and the new yawns an abyss which +has to be crossed before we can worst our enemies even in the military +campaign which is but one phase of the world-struggle. Our resources +for the purpose of bridging it are ample, but our first difficulty is +the circumstance that we are chained to the old system and are still +unwilling to burst the bonds that hold us. And until efficacious means +of effecting this are adopted the end must remain unattainable. +Victory will not descend on our camp like a manna from on high. The +Allied Armies do not resemble the mulberry tree which, having long +lagged behind its rivals, suddenly bursts into fruit as well as +flower. + +During the past twenty months the Allies in general, and the British +in particular, have achieved feats of which they have reason to be +proud--feats which two years ago seemed beyond the compass of human +effort. But, much as we have done, we have not reached, nor indeed +attempted to reach, the limits of our capacities, and the story of +these memorable twenty months of struggle is dimmed by the shadow of +the vaster exploits from which we have unaccountably shrunk. + +The old-world social conceptions still prevalent in Great Britain +afford no standard by which to gauge the significance of the crisis +through which Europe is passing, nor do they provide efficacious means +of satisfying the pressing needs which it has created. Yet the +nation's guides perceive nothing to change in those conceptions; on +the contrary, they uphold them zealously. No event has occurred in +modern times of greater concern to Europe than the unleashing of +disruptive forces which threaten when the war is over to break up the +politico-social fabric. Now, the mere prospect of this tremendous +upheaval and of its sequel is, one would fancy, calculated to arouse +the spirited interest of all the nations affected. Yet in Great +Britain, whose very existence it menaces, it was at first received +with such unmeaning comments as "business as usual." The alertness of +the people's sensations--always inconsiderable--for volcanic outbursts +which have their centre abroad, has never been quite so blunted as +to-day. + +Germany cultivates force not for its own sake but because it happens +to suit her particular purpose. For this reason she preaches the +doctrines that right and might are identical, that the end hallows the +means, that military and political necessity overrule treaties and +laws. For as violence and cunning may still gain triumphs, under the +conditions that once rendered them the only weapons of man, Germany's +first step is to bring about such conditions and to spread faith in +the teachings of the new gospel. What the success of these efforts +would involve is evident. All the ground slowly and painfully +reclaimed from the primitive state of nature, transmuted into social +order, and moralized by the altruistic accord of progressive humanity, +would be submerged by the tidal wave of Teutonism. + +The first clash of the two forces which took place a generation ago +was hardly noticed. Germany stretched out her feelers tenderly, and +even when she was draining nation after nation of its life juices, she +took care to lull the patient while sucking his blood. Accordingly her +attack provoked no counter-attack, nay, there was no serious attempt +at defence. Those who directed the forces of the civilized communities +were unconscious of the counter-force that was steadily undermining +these--so unconscious that in lieu of isolating and paralysing it, the +tendency of their endeavours was to further and to strengthen it. For +they hastily assumed that it, too, was a great moral force in an +uncouth guise and should also be tended and cultivated. Their duty, +had they hearkened to its promptings, would have been to employ +towards the criminal plotters against Europe's civilized communities +coercion of the same drastic description that once enabled mankind to +substitute for the barbarous usages of savage tribes the habits of +social relationship and moral self-surrender to the weal of all. Among +the mainstays of Germany's type of society and the instruments by +which it was built up are heavy artillery, mighty armies, the gallows, +bribery and guile. With some of those arms she had opened the +campaign of conquest a quarter of a century ago, and of that campaign +the present war, unexampled though it be, is but an acute and +transient episode. This would appear to be the only true reading of +contemporary events. + +Few careful students of European politics will now deny that the +struggle between the forces for which Teutonism stands and those on +which the social ordering of the rest of Europe is based was +inaugurated long ago, that the ground was then cleared for the new +politico-social structure, or that the dissolution of our "effete, +drowsy States, saturated with wealth and honeycombed with +hypocrisies," was carefully planned and taken in hand with scientific +precision. It is equally clear, to those who have eyes to see, that +the present clash of nations, despite its appalling effects on +civilization, is but an acuter phase of that campaign, a series of +incidents in a mighty struggle which neither began in July 1914 nor +will end with the close of hostilities, but will rage on for years to +come in less sanguinary but more decisive forms. For the future +peace--whatever its terms--which will silence the cannon's boom, will +but transfer the war theatre without ending the war. The methods will +be changed from military to economic. But only the weapons will be +different; the military discipline, the callous indifference to the +dictates of human and divine law, the utter absence of scruple will +continue to characterize the tactics of our enemy, who will then have +a wider scope for his activities than the battlefield can offer. The +German has no match among the allied nations in the regions of the new +diplomacy, trade, industry, applied science, insidious journalism and +vast organization. He is incomparably better equipped than they, and +owing to his amorality has none of those obstacles to contend with +which so often confront them with scruples and check their advance. + +And during the progress of the present war the Teutons are making +ready for that economico-political duel which will, they hope, give +them the decisive superiority for which they had vainly hoped from the +war. That hope, if their experience of the past thirty years be a fair +indication, is by no means groundless. + +Not to realize these facts to-day is to play into the hands of our +enemies, as we have been steadfastly doing during the past thirty +years. The British and their allies are being overcome less by German +skill and cleverness than by their own sluggishness, narrowness of +outlook and love of ease. As the German professor, whose utterances I +have already quoted, tersely put it: "My confidence is founded above +all else on our enemies' incapacity for organization." In truth, it is +not inborn incapacity to which we owe our unquestioned inferiority, +but to the atrophy of will-power which is one of the consequences of +years of egotism, overweening confidence, self-indulgence and the loss +of an inspiring social faith. + +Now, there is every reason to assume that these master facts are not +yet recognized by our rulers, who seem perfectly contented that the +nation should go on living as before from hand to mouth, with no +far-reaching views for the future. This insular narrow-mindedness is +natural. For the Ministers in power are the same who obstinately +refused to credit the evidence of their senses, which went to prove +that Germany was bending all her energies to the successful +prosecution of a formidable campaign against us and our presumptive +allies for a whole generation. The frank recognition of this state of +masked hostility would have imposed on the Government the correlate +duty of taking up the challenge, readjusting our public life to the +altered conditions, urging the nation to make heavy sacrifices and +dissatisfying radical constituencies, whose one ideal is to devote +themselves exclusively to parochial policy and domestic legislation. +And the chiefs of the party in power lacked the mental and moral +strength to throw off their deep-rooted apprehension of the +consequences to party prospects, of increased taxation and other +burdens of citizenship. They never grasped the situation as a whole, +but restricted their survey to each fragmentary question as it was +thrust into the foreground of actualities and eliminated every other. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PERILS OF PARTY POLITICS + + +No bold, broad, stable policy, therefore, was ever conceived by those +party politicians. The vast organization which was destined to destroy +the old order of things in Europe, and whose manifestations were an +open book to all observers who brought acuteness and patience to the +study, was not merely ignored by them--its very existence was denied, +and those who refused to join the ranks of the deniers were +brand-marked as mischief-makers. The nation's responsible trustees, by +way of justifying this singular attitude, accepted implicitly our +enemy's account of his unfriendly acts and enterprises. Thus it was +the chief of His Majesty's Government who, from his place in the House +of Commons, emphatically asserted that it behoved the British nation +to welcome the Baghdad railway enterprise as a precious cultural +undertaking devoid of political objects and, therefore, well worthy of +our support. In vain the writer of these lines laid bare the real +designs of the German Government, and adduced cogent proofs that the +seemingly cultural scheme was but an integral part of a vast campaign, +of which one object was the ousting of Britons from the Near and +Middle East and the substitution of German overlordship there. They +shut their eyes and stopped their ears, and bade us rejoice that +Britain is not as other countries and can afford to welcome and even +further Germany's "cultural" projects. + +It was our party politicians who, when the ground-swell of +international anger and the premonitory rumble of volcanic forces +became audible, diverted public attention from the symptoms and +solemnly assured their countrymen that Germany had no intention of +going to war. To the author of these pages, who was at the pains of +unfolding in private his information and conclusions on this subject +to one of those leaders, the answer given ran thus: "Your intentions +are patriotic and your accuracy of observation is probably scientific. +But your conclusions are wholly erroneous. You must admit that you are +a pessimist. Nor can you deny that we members of the Cabinet dispose +of fuller and more decisive data for a judgment than you, with all +your opportunities, can muster. After all, we do know something of the +temper of the German Government. And we have cogent grounds for +holding that neither the Kaiser nor his Ministers want war. Bethmann +Hollweg is the most pacific chancellor Germany has ever had. And the +German people, bellicose though you think them, are to the full as +peace-loving as our own. Their one desire is to be allowed to vie with +us in commercial and industrial pursuits. So true is this, that if we +suppose the improbable, that the Kaiser's Government should feel +disposed to bring about a European war, that design would be thwarted +by the Reichstag backed by the bulk of the population." + +Thus the men who presided over the destinies of the British Empire +either had no eye for the triumphant progress of the German campaign +that had been going forward for years unchecked, or, if they discerned +any of its episodes, saw them only through the softening and +distorting medium of deceptive assurances and explanations emanating +from Berlin. And on the strength of these illusive phrases they kept +the country in a state of unpreparedness for the military form of the +struggle for which our enemy was making ready, and if they had had +their way our navy--which was our anchor of salvation--would also +perhaps have been shorn of its strength. + +When at last the war broke out, it was our party politicians, the men +to whom we still look up for light and guidance, who misinterpreted +its nature and underestimated the urgent needs of the Empire. It was +they who conceived the campaign as though it were one of our +occasional colonial expeditions, and would fain base the strength of +our land army abroad on the small number of troops which the +Government had conditionally undertaken to provide. And throughout the +first sixteen months of the war, it was they who went on doling out +contingents with Troy weights and measures like Mrs. Partington +beating back the tidal waves with a mop. It was they, too, who were at +extraordinary pains and risked their prestige, to throw away the +splendid privileged position which, at the outset of the struggle, we +chanced to occupy in South-Eastern Europe. Every blunder into which +petty municipal minds could fall when confronted with a wild +revolutionary welter, marked the hesitant policy of the British +Government. This aimless chaos of soul was the main cause of the +woeful waste of our political advantages and enormous resources in +the accomplishment of secondary ends which generally led nowhere. It +was thus that they forfeited the active support of Turkey, Bulgaria +and Greece, foolishly stood by applauding every step those nations +took towards the camp of our enemies, and then felt constrained to +turn to their own people whom they had unwittingly misled and call +upon it for the sacrifice of the flower of its manhood. + +It was they who sacrificed, through sheer administrative incapacity, +the decided superiority over the Teutons which we enjoyed in the air +at the outset of the war. It is now admitted that our mastery in that +region was then complete. All that the country demanded of them was +that they should hold it. But what with divided control, restricted +views, and the policy of insufficient means--_petits paquets_--as the +French term it, they allowed our enemies to outstrip us. And to-day in +the air as on land it is the Germans who have the initiative and the +Allies who are condemned to the defensive. Yet experts had pointed out +over and over again what should be done and what avoided. Their advice +was obviously sound and their criticism obviously irrefutable. But the +men in power fumbled and floundered on until we had forfeited our +mastery in the air to our enemies. And ever since then the nation has +been paying the penalty. Yet it is to the men responsible for these +costly blunders that the nation still looks for salvation! + +It was the same men who conceived or sanctioned the plan of an +expedition to Mesopotamia. Whether this was a wise or a foolish +project, when once decided upon it should have been carried out with +might and main. All the means requisite to success should have been +taken; all the resources possessed by the Empire should have been +drawn upon and nothing needlessly left to chance. Above all things +else, the views of the man charged with the execution of the plan +should have been elicited and carefully weighed. As a matter of fact, +General Townshend's judgment was decidedly adverse to the expedition +under the conditions in which it was planned. For the forces assigned +to him, amounting to far less than a division, were absurdly +inadequate, and their inadequacy was easily demonstrable. He ought to +have had at least two divisions more. But once again the game of +divided control and diluted responsibility was played, with +consequences which would in any other country suffice to wreck the +Government chargeable with the blunder. + +Yet it is to the men who committed that and all the other blunders +that the nation still looks confidently for salvation! + +If the British people finally obtain it under those leaders they may +fairly claim to have abrogated the law of cause and effect. + +These same men are still the mentors and the spokesmen of a free +nation which can choose its leaders. It is they to whom the people has +entrusted the conduct of the most critical phase of the whole campaign +in which the recurrence of similar errors may foredoom the Empire to +disruption. And it is, humanly speaking, inconceivable that +miscalculations of that kind should be eliminated, in view of the +crucial fact that the Ministers at present in power, if we may judge +by their utterances and their acts, entertain a fundamentally false +conception of the relations between the Teutons and the allied +nations. Among the elements of that conception there would seem to be +no room for the historic past. The present stands by itself with a +history that goes no further back than the month of July 1914, and +will convulsively come to an end with the truce that ushers in the +future treaty of peace. For that diplomatic instrument will put an end +to the struggle and inaugurate an era of international tranquillity. +Such is the theory on which their entire policy is based. + +We must fight on now to a _finish_, but the upshot is sure to be a +finish. Their anticipations of an unclouded dawn, when the present +night has worn itself into the streaky greyness of morning, are +certain to come to pass. The ordeal which we are undergoing is +tremendous, but at any rate the nation and its allies will emerge from +it rejuvenated under the spell of the present magicians, as the old +ram emerged lamb-like and frisky from Medea's cauldron. That, in +brief, would seem to be the picture in the mind's eye of the British +Government, and to that conception all their plans are being +accommodated. + +As a matter of ascertainable fact, neither we nor our Allies have +anything of the kind to hope for. In the near future the present +campaign will have come to a close, but not the struggle between +ourselves and our Teuton aggressors. For this war, far from ending the +tragic duel between the two types of community life in Europe, is but +one of its transient episodes. The trial of strength began many years +ago and will not be decided for many years to come, how satisfactory +so ever the terms of the future peace may be to ourselves and our +Allies. This is a fundamental truth which has not yet penetrated the +consciousness of either rulers or people. And for that reason the +problem awaiting them is mis-stated, belittled. According to the +received version it is to beat back German aggression and render it +impossible in the future. Now, however successfully the first part of +the task may be discharged--and it is still very uphill work--the +second is a sheer impossibility, and to lay our plans as though it +were feasible and soon to be realized, is to embark on the body of a +sleeping whale in the belief that it is an island in the sea. And to +negotiate peace abroad and give an impulse to politics at home, with +that comforting prospect in mind, is to lead the nation into a +Serbonian bog whence no escape is possible. The leaders of Great +Britain are so permeated with the duties, the rights, the hopes and +the strivings of parliamentary parties, that they involuntarily think +in terms of home politics and have no chord in their being responsive +to the emotions that sway the German soul and nerve the German arm. + +To the average mind it is clear that the terms on which peace might be +negotiated, if the end of the war were also to be the end of the +struggle, might differ considerably from those on which a statesman +would properly insist, were he convinced that the sheathing of the +sword marked but the opening of a new phase of the duel. And it is +this alternative which it behoves us to lay at the foundation of our +peace treaty, if it should rest with the Allies to impose their terms. +The problem, therefore, which a Government that governs has to tackle, +is twofold: the conclusion of such a peace as will confer on the +Entente States, individually and collectively, all possible +advantages, not for contemplating such a tranquil state of things as +the ministerial conception postulates, but for the prosecution of the +struggle with the greatest chances of success, and for the +reconstruction of the social fabric at home with a view to harmonizing +it with the new requirements, and, in particular, with the needs +created by the constant state of economic, financial, diplomatic and +journalistic warfare in which we shall be engaged. The social ordering +of Great Britain must be not merely modified but remodelled and +rebuilt from the groundwork to the coping-stone. One of the first +needs of the nation is the education, physical and spiritual, of the +new generation. Patriotic sentiment must be engrafted on the receptive +soul of the child, and its range of sympathy widened and deepened. The +duty of self-abnegation for the welfare of the community must be +inculcated, together with new conceptions of personal dignity and +worth. To the domestic sentiment in those cramped and distorted forms +in which it still survives in Britain, where we cling tenaciously to +so many institutions devoid of life and utility, a less commanding +part must be assigned in the future than heretofore. Above all, it +behoves us to encourage the scientific spirit with its correlates, +patient thought and study, as opposed to the arrogant amateurism +which, without rudimentary qualifications, claims to have a voice in +the solution of every problem under the sun. It is largely to this +dilettante temperament of the nation and its rulers that we owe the +disasters we have sustained and the dangers with which we are +threatened. + +Looking back, then, dispassionately upon the movement, deliberately +organized over thirty years ago by the restless German mind and pushed +steadily forward ever since over diplomatic barriers, financial +hindrances, economic obstacles and international laws, one is struck +less by the unparalleled magnitude of the enterprise than by the +blindness and sluggishness of its destined victims. And it is largely +in these and kindred negative qualities that we have to seek for the +clue to the astonishing sequence of successes scored by our enemies in +their military and naval, as well as their politico-economic, +campaigns. Moreover, these same defects, deep-rooted and widespread +among the allied peoples, constitute their main source of weakness +during the economic and decisive tug-of-war which will be ushered in +by the treaty of peace. For the temperament, traditions and strivings +of each of these nations are so many obstacles to the gathering of +their scattered moral energies and wasted spiritual forces in one +fertilizing stream. They are bent on joining incompatible elements in +a political synthesis. In the name of national independence and by way +of a telling protest against the vassalage which binds Austria to +Germany, the Entente nations spurn the notion of any common accord +which requires the practice of self-surrender as a base, and are +resolved under the strain of circumstance to present such a +loosely-joined front to the enemy as will not involve their foregoing +one iota of their freedom or one tittle of their national claims. How, +in these conditions, they expect ever to rise to that height of moral +fervour without which the quasi-ascetic effort demanded of them is +inconceivable, has not yet been explained. As usual, they count upon +effects without causes, upon an ingathering of the harvest with no +preceding seedtime. Now, interdependence and compromise are the +indispensable conditions of that cohesion which alone can engender the +force required. A condition approaching organic coherency must be +attained before a smooth working system can be created among the +Allies. But as each of them is still rooted to the past, permeated by +its own interests and aspirations, and jealous not only of the +substance of its liberty but also of the shadow, the distance yet to +be traversed before the goal can be reached is enormous, and the road +rugged and beset with pitfalls. + +A glance at the past and present may enable us to gauge aright the +nature of some of the difficulties that have to be surmounted in the +future. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +PAST AND PRESENT + + +Let us begin with the present, in view of the circumstance that the +war has brought the allied peoples into a much nearer approach to +union and has more fully systematized their efforts than can ever be +the case in peace time. We find, then, two groups of belligerents +pitted against each other, whose resources in men, money and economic +supplies are strikingly unequal. The Teutons are by far the weaker +side, and even in spite of their long preparations ought to have been +thoroughly beaten long ago. So evident and encouraging was the +comparison that the Entente nations themselves boldly grounded their +calculations on it, and anticipated a brief spell of warfare and a +decisive victory. And this forecast seemed reasonable enough when the +material elements were weighed and contrasted. The Entente communities +occupy 68,031,000 square kilometres of territory, which are inhabited +by a population of 770,060,000, or say 46 per cent. of the entire land +on the globe and 47 per cent. of the entire human race. The Central +Empires, on the other hand, possess no more than 5,921,000 square +kilometres with 150,199,000 inhabitants, which amounts to only 4 per +cent. of dry land on the globe and 9.1 per cent. of mankind. Add to +that the circumstance that in the air our superiority over our +enemies was undisputed, and that the odds in favour of our enlisting +the active support of the Balkan States were overwhelming. The chances +in favour of the Allies, therefore, were and are enormous. That being +so, why, it may well be asked, has the course of the military, naval +and air campaign so uniformly favoured the weaker side? It is no +answer to point out that Germany and Austria had been organizing the +war for over thirty years, or had contrived to mobilize all their +resources when the first shot was fired. That explanation would +account for their progress during the first few months, but not for +the victories they scored down to the beginning of April 1916. It was +loudly proclaimed by British journalists that the Berlin General Staff +had based its plan on the assumption that the struggle would be +decided in a few months and certainly by the end of 1914. And the +inference was drawn that as this time-table was upset, Germany was so +bewildered that she could hardly draw up another plan and adjust her +forces to that. She had shot her bolt, we were assured, had missed the +target, and it was beyond her power to put forth another effort. But +events refuted these false prophets, without, however, greatly +impairing their credit with the multitude. They still continue to +describe Germany's dire straits and foretell her speedy collapse. And +they are listened to with eagerness and trust. + +In truth the root of the matter lies deeper. One of the most telling +factors, in every armed conflict between peoples, consists of the sum +total of imponderabilia which elude analysis. Intellectual and moral +equipment, as I ventured to write when the war began, sometimes +counts for more than battalions. And I instanced the Russo-Japanese +campaign as a case in point. One belligerent may regard the campaign +as a temporary calamity to be endured until it can be conveniently got +rid of, while another may gird his loins and go forth to battle +exultant like the fanaticized warriors of Cromwell. The former will +contemplate the struggle and regulate the conduct of it in the light +of immediate expediency, while the latter will treat the war as a +life-task and boldly throw the weight of everything he has, and is, +and hopes for into the blows he deals his adversary. Now in this +struggle the Teuton is the fanaticized warrior. He is fighting for an +ideal, which, whether or no he understands it, he caresses and deems +his very own. The hopes and dreams of the leaders of the nation have +been communicated to the individual citizen, who, having lived for +them, is ready to die for them. Our people, on the other hand, have +never enjoyed that education in patriotism which is bestowed on every +Teuton, and they are wanting in the strength of imagination, the +spirit of cohesion and the energizing social faith which might have +made up for the deficiency. + +Then, again, over against the Allies' inexhaustible resources we must +put the marvellous capacity for organization which intensifies those +of our enemy. The nearest known approach to it is found in the +Japanese, who, there is little doubt, if pressed by circumstance, +would match the Teuton in resourcefulness and even outdo him in the +spirit of self-sacrifice. To this precious asset in Germany's leaders +corresponds a superlative degree of docility and self-surrender in her +people which offer a striking contrast to the strongly marked +individualist tendencies of the British, French and Russian races. +Nay, one may go farther and assert that the central streams of +national life in each of these countries flows in channels of party +politics, which no influential leader has ever attempted to deepen or +widen. The German, on the contrary, as we saw, associates his every +work and undertaking with ideas of almost cosmic breadth and is +actuated by interests to which all the larger problems of humanity are +akin. And he took timely possession of every lever that might +contribute to the success of his revolt against Europeanism, when his +far-reaching scheme was yet in the early phases of execution. + +Everything that human foresight could think of was carefully studied, +everything that human ingenuity could provide for was thoroughly +effected and systematized. Royal dynasties were founded abroad by +German princes. German colonies settled in Russia, Poland, Palestine +and Brazil. German schools were opened in Roumania, Spain, Asia Minor, +the Ottoman Empire, the Tsardom. Foreign newspapers were bought or +subsidized. Protestant sects with pro-German tendencies were +encouraged. Banks were founded with Entente capital and employed to +ruin the trade of the nations that subscribed it. Colonies of +mechanics, clerks, middlemen were settled in every European country +and colony and obtained control of the nation's industries and trade. +Special legislation was enacted in Berlin to enable the German to +become a foreign subject in externals while bound by all the duties of +a citizen of his own country. + +As the hour for the military and naval struggle was drawing near +intestine strife was industriously stirred up in all those countries +whose rivalry the Germans had reason to apprehend. Emissaries were +despatched to Egypt who made common cause with the disaffected and +restless elements of the population, cultivated friendship with the +Senussi and smuggled in arms to would-be African rebels. In India +German "scientific explorers" hobnobbed with the natives, criticized +the state of "serfage" to which British rule had reduced one of the +most highly civilized races of mankind, and made overtures to the +Afghans. To Abyssinia another "scientific expedition" was despatched, +which consisted of a number of German officers and one explorer. After +a circuitous and difficult journey it arrived at Massaua in March +1915, and requested the authorization of the Italian Governor of +Erithea, the Marquess Salvago-Raggi, to push on to Adis Abeba, in +order to re-establish communications between the German Legation there +and the Berlin Foreign Office. The real object of the expedition, as +the Italian Government well knew, was to incite the young Negus to +attack the British in the Sudan and the French in Djibuti. But Italy, +although still neutral, understood too well how difficult it would +have been for her to limit Abyssinia's warlike operations to the +French and British possessions and ward them off from her own +colonies. Baron Sonnino accordingly declined to accord the permission +asked for, and consented only to allow a large consignment of +"correspondence" to be sent on.[107] + + [107] Cf. _L'Idea Nazionale_, March 7, 1915; _Tribuna_, April + 1, 1915. + +Later on Turkish officers were sent to Libya to egg on the Arabs to +harass the Italians there. The Kaiser himself despatched a letter in +Arabic to the Senussi which was intercepted on a Greek sailing vessel +near Tripoli. It is said to have been enclosed in an embossed casket, +and was found on board together with L4000 in gold and a number of +oriental gifts. The letter, if genuine, is worth recording. Wilhelm +II., the Supreme Head of the Protestant Church in Germany, gives +himself therein, among other high sounding titles, those of Allah's +Envoy and Islam's Protector, and states explicitly that it is his will +that the Senussi's doughty warriors should drive the "infidels" from +the land which is the heritage of the true believers and their chief. +This, from the "supreme Bishop" of one of the Christian Churches, is +characteristic. + +In Asia Minor Germany's machinations were carried on with a much +greater measure of success. Her former opponents had withdrawn their +opposition and undertaken to lend her positive assistance to attain +ends which were directed against themselves. This chapter of Entente +diplomacy is marked by broad streaks of farcical comedy calculated to +bewilder the serious student. France was converted to political +orthodoxy on the subject of the Baghdad Railway and its cultural +significance. Some of her publicists frankly repented that she had so +long looked upon it with disfavour, and threw the blame on Russia, for +whose sake they had kept aloof. At Potsdam the Tsar's Minister +abandoned his objections to the Baghdad enterprise and undertook to +build a railway line from Persia, which would allow another stretch of +country to be tapped by the German Railway Company. Great Britain, +acknowledging the error of her ways, agreed that Koweit should not be +the terminus and made valuable concessions to the Teuton, the +realization of which was hindered by the outbreak of the war. Turkey, +through Enver, who had imported from the Fatherland a band of military +"instructors" under Liman von Sanders, became the _ame damnee_ of +Germany. In Persia every warlike and predatory tribe was courted by +the Teuton intruder, and the German mission at Teheran, as well as the +Consulates in the chief towns of the Shahdom, became centres of +agitation against Britain and Russia and branches of the German +General Staff. + +In the Tsar's dominions German agents organized a series of strikes in +the various works belonging to their countrymen, paid the strikers and +fostered a subversive political movement which bade fair to culminate +in a real revolution. In Belgium the Flemings, who had for years been +protesting against the refusal of their Government to give them a +Flemish University in Ghent, were incited against the Walloons, whose +dialect is of French origin and whose sympathizers were the entire +French people. And one of the joint acts of the German administration +in Brussels has been to appoint a commission to submit a scheme for +the creation of a Flemish high school in Ghent and accentuate the +differences between the two elements of the population.[108] + + [108] A spirited protest against this poisonous endeavour was + published by a number of Belgians, including Camille + Huysmans, who refused to accept any favours from the Germans. + +Meanwhile, in Germany the work of organization went steadily forward. +While British Ministers were on the look-out for reasons or pretexts +for diminishing expenditure on shipbuilding, Germany, under von +Tirpitz, was stealing a march on us and increasing hers. And over and +above this, she was arranging a surprise in the shape of submarines +and aircraft which, had the war been deferred for another couple of +years, might have not only removed the odds in our favour but given +her a decided superiority over us. And, by way of intensifying the +value of her fleet, she set to work to deepen the Kiel Canal and thus +to confer a sort of ubiquity on her battleships, which can now +concentrate in the North Sea or the Baltic without let or hindrance +from the enemy. When the epoch of the Dreadnoughts was opened German +armoured ships had a displacement of no more than 13,000 tons. The +larger type of battleship, which was afterwards constructed, could not +pass through the Canal, which had to be deepened. The necessary work +was so thoughtfully and opportunely taken in hand that it was +terminated in July 1914, just when the harvest for that year was also +ingathered. Asphyxiating gas had been manufactured in the year 1911, +as the Russians have discovered on certain of the machines. Thus when +the fatal hour struck, everything was ready. + +In the financial sphere, too, we find the same comprehensive survey, +the same eye for detail, the same forethought and combination. When +hostilities broke out British banks held about L1,100,000,000 of their +depositors' money. A large percentage of this had been employed to +discount foreign, and in especial German bills, so that the paper +remained in Great Britain and the gold was transferred to Germany, +where it plays its part against us. But those marvellous efforts put +forth with such effect by our enemies made no appeal to our rulers. +Nowhere in the British Empire was there any man of mark thinking and +acting for the community. The political pilots who had charge of the +state-ship possessed neither chart nor compass nor rudder. Neither did +they feel the need of these things. The Government disbelieved in war +and was minded, if a struggle should be precipitated, to keep out of +it. Nobody envisaged the needs and interests of the Empire as aspects +of a single problem. Nobody had any clear-cut plan for the working out +of the destinies of the British people. The interests of party, the +expediency of local reforms, the squabbles between this faction and +that, constituted the burning topics of the hour, and there were none +other. And it was while we were thus wrangling with and threatening +each other that the blast of the clarion ushered in the day of doom. + +The secrets of nature, revealed by science to a nation which +acknowledges no restraints, then became weapons of wholesale +destruction to be used to subjugate all civilization. Now, there are +some reasons for assuming that civilization will escape the thraldom, +but there are unhappily equally cogent grounds for apprehending that +some of its most precious achievements will be irrecoverably lost and +others greatly impaired. Had there been a master mind at the helm of +the British state-ship before the war or at its opening, we might have +been spared the necessity of signing one day a temporary peace amid +the ruins of European culture. + +But no puissant genius in any of the allied countries towered above +the dead level of mediocrity. Great Frenchmen, Britons and Russians +were said to be available, but there was no great man in evidence. And +this want proved disastrous. In Germany, on the other hand, it was +hardly felt. For it was compensated by the existence of a vast human +machine, adaptable to every change of circumstance, capable of +assuming countless Protean forms simultaneously, ready with a solution +for the most unexpected problems, provided with organs suited to the +discharge of every conceivable function, all directed to the same end. +It was the same organism that had worked with such brilliant success +for over thirty years, growing and perfecting itself steadily until it +became the concrete manifestation of a whole system of thought, +sentiment and co-ordinated action. Germany had developed into a +powerful national State in which the spirit of self-surrender for the +good of the community animates all sections alike, all of which +co-operate effectively, through the organizations which they +spontaneously created, for the realization of their common objects. +And therein lay her force. + +On the outbreak of war Germany was faced with a group of the most +arduous and intricate problems any Government has ever yet had to +tackle. For most of them she had had the time and the forethought to +prepare. But others arose which had been neither provided for nor +foreseen, in consequence of her mistaken assumption that Great Britain +would hold aloof from the war. The total value of her exports and +imports in the year 1913 was computed at 1,000,000,000 sterling, and +an infinity of fine threads bound her industrial activity with +foreign countries. By Great Britain's declaration of war, for which +Germany was unprepared until the last days of July, nearly all these +threads were snapped asunder, and the industrial and economic life of +the Empire had to be swiftly readjusted to the new conditions. And +here it was that the nation rose as one man to the unparalleled +occasion, faced the tremendous ordeal, and, contrary to the +expectations of its adversaries--ever prone to judge others by +themselves--has continued not merely to exist, but to extend its +conquests ever since. + +It was in the financial sphere that the first strain was felt. But +perilous though it actually was, it would have been intolerable but +for the precautionary measures adopted in July and the ingenious +devices applied by the Reichsbank immediately after. The first step +taken was to substitute short-terms credit for long. The gold in the +Reichsbank increased steadily, and from 1,009,000,000 marks on July 7, +1913, it rose to 1,356,000,000 by July 7, 1914. The war treasure +hoarded in the Julius-Tower was doubled, so as to enable the Imperial +Bank to issue 720,000,000 marks on the strength of it, whereby its +gold cover was augmented from 1,253,000,000 to 1,447,000,000. A +further considerable reserve of silver was laid by, which proved +extremely useful later on. One result of this policy was that on the +fatal 31st July, no less than 4,500,000,000 marks in banknotes could +be issued without exceeding the limits prescribed by the law.[109] A +network of Loan Banks was also created throughout the country in which +every one, possessed of property of any description, could obtain +credit to any amount, provided the pledges warranted the advance. + + [109] One-third gold cover is the amount fixed. Cf. Professor + J. Plenge, _Der Krieg und die Volkswirtschaft_. + +Nor were the large groups of business men neglected who had no pledges +to offer yet sorely needed credit. For their behoof War Credit Banks +were instituted, which transacted business on curious lines. A city or +town subscribed a third or even more of the shares of the borrowing +company, and the Imperial Bank conferred the right of rediscounting +bills of exchange up to an amount equal to three times the value of +the capital, and sometimes even more. Institutions were opened for +advancing money on house property, and for assisting special branches +of industry. The Hansa-Bund, for instance, founded a War Credit Bank +for "the Middle Classes" which, with the authorization of the +Reichsbank, rediscounts bills of exchange drawn by individuals for +whom the Commune vouches. Associations were constituted in the country +and in towns, and the nature of their work is evidenced by the 18,000 +rural Savings and Credit Banks and 16,000 urban and trade +associations.[110] For farmers and struggling landowners, a Central +Board, for the purchase of machines, was created, which also +superintended the equitable distribution of orders among industrial +firms. + + [110] These figures are drawn from statistics published in + July 1914. Cf. Dr. Karl Hildebrand, _Ein starkes Volk_. + +The suddenness of the declaration of war had for its effect, and +perhaps also for one of its objects, the stemming of the flow of gold +from the Reichsbank before it had exceeded the total of 100,000,000 +marks and also the prevention of its disappearance from the country. +Soon afterwards gold was brought in astonishing quantities to the bank +by all classes of citizens who had hoarded it jealously in peace-time, +but now recognized the criminality of applying the principles of +individual ownership to what of right belongs to the jeopardized +community. For the nation realized the fact that the condition of +public danger entitled the Government to wield an unlimited degree of +power over the lives and property of the people for the welfare of the +community. + +If we compare this intelligent appreciation of the position by rulers +and ruled, and their readiness to accommodate their respective actions +to it and play their parts as organs for the discharge of special +functions, with the haziness of conception, the misinterpretation of +events, and the utter lack of co-operation displayed by the +corresponding sections of the allied communities, we shall grasp the +secret of the superiority of the seemingly weaker group of +belligerents and the paltry results hitherto achieved by the stronger. + +German industry, too, the source of the nation's prosperity, was +shaken to its foundations. It had worked largely for the foreign +market. And all at once its exports were cut down by 60 per cent., +because of the stoppage of the supplies of raw materials. Imports also +fell by 75 per cent. One immediate consequence of this partial +stagnation was the enormous increase of the army of the unemployed. +Although 4,000,000 men were taken from the various industries and +despatched against the Belgians, French and Russians, there were at +the end of August no less than 3,400,000 men thrown out of +employment.[111] Thus the total number of unemployed was 7,400,000, +and as there were 17,000,000 hands employed before the war, it may be +inferred that German industry was reduced by 43-1/2 per cent. It was +in these conditions that the Teuton capacity for organization was +manifested. + + [111] Cf. _Messenger of Europe_, April 1915, M. Lurie. + +Two great industrial organizations flourished in Germany before the +war,[112] and although occasionally disagreeing on various points, +sensibly furthered the interests of their countrymen at home and +abroad. No sooner was war declared than they dropped their differences +and constituted a War Committee for German Industry. Among the varied +functions of this new body were the distribution of information +respecting orders given by the State, new legislation, etc.; +co-operation with firms for the fulfilment of contracts despite the +outbreak of hostilities; the selection of operatives, clerks, etc., +for firms needing these; the obtainment of places for the unemployed +and the organization of the credit system. + + [112] _Der Zentral-Verband Deutscher Industrieller_ and _Der + Bund der Industriellen_. + +This Committee also applied for and received permission to have all +those skilled artisans recalled from the front whose services were +deemed indispensable for war industries. It likewise watched over the +distribution of State orders, and saw that each of the various firms +received its due share. + +The organization of German industry during the war was taken in hand +by a group of experts and officials possessed of the insight, +knowledge and power necessary for the discharge of the arduous task. +Among the members of the Board we find the names of representatives +of finances, industries and the Government; the Minister of the +Interior, all the members of the Federal Council, M.M. Gwinner, +Bleichroeder, Siemens, etc. Special bureaux were opened for various +kinds of supplies, a Central Office for the War Supply of Tobacco, +another for that of chocolate, a third for leather, a fourth for +linen, etc.[113] Another group of organizations dealing with the +acquisition and distribution of raw stuffs possessed in certain cases +the right of expropriation, and is not allowed to make more than a +certain limited profit on its transactions. Among them are an +association for the supply of metals, another for chemicals, and a +third for woollen stuffs. + + [113] It is affirmed by contrabandists in Scandinavia who are + acting on Germany's behalf, that many of the commissions for + the acquisition of raw stuffs for Germany are composed almost + exclusively of non-Russian subjects of the Tsar. + +In consequence of the shortage of raw materials, economy and the +employment of substitutes were everywhere resorted to spontaneously +before the Government had time to intervene. From every household came +old copper vessels, copper wire, worn-out clothing from which the +manufacturers removed the wool, leather straps, shoes, bags, etc. From +Belgium and France everything that could be utilized as raw material +was hurriedly transferred to the Fatherland. At first the supply of +aluminium for castings and Zeppelins was insufficient, but a +composition of spelter and tin was invented, which answered the main +purposes equally well. Nickel being also scarce, coins of 10 pfennige +were withdrawn from circulation and utilized, while considerable +quantities were imported from Scandinavian countries. The place of +jute was taken by paper, and from paper under-garments were made. +Roasted acorns, theretofore employed in lieu of coffee only by the +poorer classes, thenceforward became the daily beverage of the middle +classes as well. A substitute for olive oil was extracted from cherry +stones, tainted meat was rendered harmless by chemical methods, +nitrates were extracted from the air by a Norwegian process which the +Germans had perfected and applied. + +Now, these achievements and the marvellous adaptability, energy and +resourcefulness which they connote, are no mean elements in Germany's +equipment for the coming economic struggle. They proclaim that the +mind of the Teuton man of business is too firmly riveted on the goal +to be fascinated by any special route leading towards it, and that it +is sufficiently free and disengaged to turn with eager interest to any +problem, however novel, with which it may be suddenly confronted. Use +and want are not its masters, sluggish contentment cannot numb its +activity. The customers' requirements, nay, their whims and fancies, +are ever sure to receive close attention and prompt satisfaction. The +contrast between this unflagging alertness and the drowsy apathy of +the British manufacturer and tradesman is an old story, which has +evoked comments sharp enough, it would seem, to arouse the commercial +community to a lively sense of its danger and duty. And yet there are, +unhappily, cogent grounds for believing that the malady of +listlessness is as malignant to-day as before the war. + +Now, these organizing and inventive talents of the Teuton, as +compared with the subordinate aims, fitful energies and honest but +mischievous conservatism of our own leaders and people, bear witness +to the same twofold talent of the German for looking far ahead and +contriving expedients on the spur of the moment. Great Britain's +participation in the struggle cut off Germany from the sea and gave +the two Central Empires the aspect of a beleaguered city. Hopes were +entertained by the Allies that famine might reinforce the work of +their armies and navies in compelling the enemy to sue for peace. +About 9 per cent. of the corn used in Germany usually came from +abroad, and now the interruption of the communications rendered this +source of supply precarious. The soldiers, too, had to be fed on a +scale of greater abundance than usual, and the prisoners of war, +however poorly nourished, would consume a certain amount of corn. The +first measure promulgated to meet the new conditions was a prohibition +of exportation. Potato flour was employed in bread-baking. War bread +was standardized for the whole Empire. The principal cities purchased +vast quantities of cereals, and Prussia founded a War Corn Association +for the acquisition of cereals to be stored until the ensuing spring. +Expropriation was legalized. In these ways L40,000,000 worth of +cereals were got together for consumption. The War Corn Association +operated with a capital of L2,500,000, to which the States subscribed +over one million, and the big cities one million, and the great +industrial firms L450,000.[114] This corn was paid for at the highest +market rates, the owners being compelled by law to declare how much +they possessed. With each of these proprietors--in the first phase +with 5,000,000 landowners--separate arrangements were concluded. The +Association employed for the purpose nearly three thousand +commissioners and five hundred other officials, and the Credit Banks +made advances on the quantities sold. + + [114] Cf. Karl Hildebrand, _Ein starkes Volk_, p. 122. + +Simultaneously with this home organization the other multifarious +tasks of devising new weapons for the war, improving the various types +of aircraft, building larger submarines and guns of greater calibre +went forward with unimpaired speed. Nothing was too vast or too +complicated to be undertaken, no detail was too trivial to be studied. +Politics, economics, military strategy and national psychology were +all cunningly interwoven in the various schemes laid for the +destruction of the Allies. Russia was inveigled into continuing her +trade with Germany, which, as we saw, was during the first year a +nowise negligible quantity. + +A piquant detail in this connection is worthy of mention.[115] It is +affirmed that the Customs House authorities on the Russo-Swedish +frontiers discovered to their dismay that for well over a year Germany +had been receiving from Russia a large proportion of the raw materials +necessary for the fabrication of asphyxiating gas. It appears that +Sweden, which in peace time was wont to import from the Tsardom a +certain quantity of those products, trebled its demands during the +first year of the war. + + [115] It is noticed by the Italian and French press; cf., for + instance, _Roma_, October 31, 1915. + +Contingents of contrabandists were despatched to Greece, Spain, +Morocco, Holland, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. Secret +stations were established for supplying submarines with the +wherewithal to carry on their war against inoffensive passenger +steamers. Agents were kept in the neutral countries to corrupt the +local press and poison the wells of information in order to allure the +neutrals into belligerency. A highly organized news-distributing +bureau was equipped in Berlin with all the requisites for falsifying +facts and distorting military tidings. Its branches are spread over +the globe. Passports were forged at first and later on genuine ones +abstracted from the Berlin Foreign Office and handed over to spies. +Strikes and outrages were engineered in the United States, Italy, and +Russia. The Putiloff works, which before the war were nearly falling +into German hands and have since been supplying munitions for the +Tsar's army, were stricken with creeping paralysis, against which +exhortations and threats were vain, and finally they had to be +sequestrated by the State. Millions of dollars were expended in the +United States in efforts to prevent the manufacture or the transport +of munitions to the Allies. In Greece vast sums were cheerfully +disbursed by Baron Schenk to work the elections and defeat Venizelos. +Roumania was overrun by bands of Germans whose functions were to +calumniate, vilify, corrupt and threaten. Spain has been wrought upon +in like manner by a small army of Teutons abundantly supplied with the +same weapons. Persia was scoured by German agitators who deployed all +their talents and acquirements, their knowledge of the language and +acquaintance with the native religion, to rouse the natives against +Russia and Great Britain. Abyssinia, although deprived by Italy of +the presence of the German "scientific expedition," was induced by the +German Minister at Adis Abeba to behave in such a way that in the +month of March 1916 King Victor's Government found it advisable to +issue a decree ordering _urgent_ fortifications to be constructed in +Erythea.[116] Sweden has been provided with war news and political +information free of charge by the generous Press Bureau of Berlin. In +Belgium persevering exertions have been put forth to sow discord +between Flemings and Walloons. In China, where a British adviser is +employed by the Chief of the State, Yuan Shih Kai has turned a willing +ear to the mentors from the Fatherland, with results which bear the +hall-mark of Germany. In Mexico Villa's murderous raids on American +territory, instigated, it is asserted, by German emissaries, compelled +United States troops to pursue him over the frontiers, and raised an +issue which may be decided only by a regular campaign. Thus Teuton +diplomacy, at whose failures we are so prone to rail, contrived on the +one hand to pass off the assassinations of Americans on board the +_Lusitania_ as a justifiable act, and on the other to present the New +Mexico murder, which was the work of a mere savage, as such an outrage +on the law of nations as warrants the employment of military +force.[117] + + [116] On March 16, 1916. + + [117] The _New York World_, in a leading article published + March 18, writes: "No pacifist proclaims the doctrine that, + although Americans had a legal right to live near the border, + they should have taken themselves out of the danger zone in + the interest of peace. No German-American Alliance holds + meetings to proclaim the dead at Columbus as 'Guardian + angels.' No German language newspaper has spoken of the New + Mexico massacre as undertaken in a holy cause, or referred to + the President as incapable of understanding either German + militarism or German Kultur. Yet the Americans who were + assassinated on the _Lusitania_ and the _Arabic_ had as much + right to be where they were as the Americans who were dragged + from their beds at Columbus and slaughtered. The _Lusitania_ + murder was deliberately planned and ordered by the Government + in Berlin, which has assumed full responsibility therefore, + and presented but one excuse, that its victims were + unexpectedly numerous. The New Mexico murder was planned and + executed by a savage, with no pretence that there is a + Government behind him, the guilt of the outlaw of the border + being not one whit less than that of the outlaw of the sea." + +That same diplomacy, seconded by the press organization which +invented facts and moulded opinion, scored successes in Bulgaria, +Greece, Roumania, Switzerland, and contrived not only to keep Italy +from declaring war against Germany, but to negotiate a treaty for the +protection of German property there. Despite its clumsiness and +arrogance and brutality, German diplomacy is unmatched as an agency +for rousing popular forces in civilized and uncivilized countries into +subversive excitement. It surrounded the Pope of Rome with +philo-German dignitaries, gave him an Austrian as adviser, and +permeated the Vatican with an atmosphere of Kultur which even pious +Catholics of non-Teuton countries avoid as mephitic. It caught the +Sultan and his Young Turks, Anglophile and Francophile, in its toils, +and gave its warm approbation to the massacre of the Armenians. It won +over the young Shah of Persia, who, with great difficulty and only +after strenuous exertions, was kept from going over bodily to the +Turkish camp. It bought the services of the Senussi. It is making +headway with the Negus of Abyssinia. It offered a bribe to Italian +socialists and found work for Italian anarchists, whose +representatives were received in the palace of the Kaiser's Ambassador +in Rome. And--most difficult task of all--it reconciled, at least for +a time, the interests of Bulgaria with those of Greece and Roumania. + +German diplomacy has often misread foreign political situations, +mistaken the trend of national opinion and sentiment and failed to +achieve ends which might by dint of mere patience and quiescence have +been readily accomplished. For it has no psychological standard by +which to measure the nobler qualities of a foreign people, however +closely it may have studied their politics, their history and their +vices. Its tests are for the lower grades of human character, and with +these it has indeed achieved extraordinary things. + +Thus, with infinite labour the Teuton mind has grappled with the +chaotic welter produced by the European war. But, besides the skilful +handling of great financial and kindred problems, its assiduity in +watching for and readiness to seize opportunities for dealing with the +issues of lesser moment is worth noting, were it only for its value as +a stimulus. One instance occurred in the very first sitting of the +Reichstag after hostilities had begun. The legislature agreed to +introduce a slight reform of the law, dealing with the rights of +children born out of wedlock, of whom there are in Germany 185,000 a +year. The Government assented to the change, which was embodied in a +bill affirming the right of the illegitimate children of soldiers +fallen in battle to the same pension as if their parents had been +legally married. And the Reichstag passed the bill unanimously. + +This solicitude about little things is most saliently in evidence in +the military domain. Here nothing is neglected that can contribute to +the fighting value of the units. Hence the care shown for the +nourishment and comfort of the soldiers. Ruthlessly though they are +sacrificed in battle, they are well looked after in the trenches, and +their career is followed with interest and recorded with accuracy by +their superiors. I was struck with the completeness of the information +which the German War Office possesses and can produce at a moment's +notice about any individual soldier. It was brought home to me in this +way. The Chief of the Berlin police had a grandson in the war who had +been missed for several weeks. Desirous of obtaining particulars about +his capture or death, he asked a neutral friend to obtain information +from the Russians. And by way of furnishing a description he sent a +printed card, which I read. It contained the name and age of the +soldier, the regiment to which he belonged, the hamlet in which he was +last seen, the distances that separated that hamlet from the next town +and the next large city, the day, the hour and _the minute_ when the +man together with his comrades were attacked, and the number of +Russians who attacked them. And all these printed particulars refer to +a private soldier! Is there anything comparable to this to be found in +any of the allied countries? + +The scene of another characteristic fact that struck me was Brussels. +Princess L. requested permission from the German authorities to repair +to France to visit her mother, who, she explained, was ill. At the +Kommandantur her request was met with the cutting remark that many +persons had been applying for permits to visit their mothers, sisters +and other relations abroad, who all appeared to be victims of some +mysterious epidemic. Still, the official added, he would not +definitively refuse the request, but would accord it as soon as he had +proof that the lady's mother was really ill. "We shall have inquiries +made." "But you cannot have inquiries made in France during the war," +she objected. "Just as quickly as in peace time," he retorted. +Sceptical and sad the petitioner returned home. But in a day or two +she was summoned to the Kommandantur and informed that her statement +had been verified, her mother lay ill--the malady was mentioned--and +she was permitted to go. The Germans have eyes and ears in all the +countries of their adversaries. + +One can readily imagine the painful kind of questions that will arise +in the mind of an intelligent ally who realizes for the first time how +great are the inventive and organizing talents of the Teuton, how +unswerving his resolve, how tenacious he is of purpose, and how +unconscious most of us still are of the need of bestirring ourselves +to compete with him on terms of equality. The German's striving is +one, but all-embracing. His means are countless, for they are +restricted by no limitations. In his search for tools and agents he +enters into human nature, but not in its entire compass; only into the +baser parts, so that his estimate is often erroneous and his +expectations are unfulfilled. But even when ample deduction has been +made for these failures, the odds remaining in his favour are +formidable, and will continue undiminished unless and until we realize +our plight, shuffle off the cramping coils of conservatism, +insularity and self-complacency and brace ourselves to the most +strenuous, the most painful effort we have ever yet put forth. On our +capacity to effect this inward change, rather than upon any diplomatic +arrangements, depends the issue of the struggle which will begin when +military and naval hostilities have come to an end. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE + + +Plain though these facts are, the Entente nations, and in particular +the British people, either ignore them wholly or misinterpret their +purport. Hence we continue absorbed in the pursuit of interests, +parochial and parliamentary, which though quite human, are utterly off +the line of racial and imperial progress. We obstinately shut our eyes +to the magnitude of the Sphinx question that confronts us, and we +address ourselves to one--and that the least important--of its many +facets, and content ourselves with tackling that. We descant upon the +turpitude of the Teuton who from the regions of idealism in which +Goethe, Herder and their contemporaries dwelt has sunk into shift, +treason and murder, and we proclaim our faith in the ultimate triumph +of right, justice and of the democracy in which alone they flourish. +But this frame of mind, which moves us to identify ourselves with all +that is best in humanity, if cultivated will prove fatal. It accustoms +us to dangerous hallucinations. We assume that we are the chosen +people, and we neglect the virtues which alone would justify our +election. For generations we have been reaping and wasting, instead of +ploughing and sowing. We have been living on our capital, nay, on our +credit, and have long since overdrawn our account. Our successes in +the past, sometimes the result of fortuitous circumstances, more often +of the blunders of our rivals, inspire a presumptuous confidence in +successes for the future and a conviction that come what may we are +destined to muddle through. A special providence is watching over +us--a cousin German to the Kaiser's "good old God." In truth we are +tempting Fate, postulating an exception to the law of cause and +effect, and looking for Hebrew miracles in the twentieth century after +Christ. + +Were it otherwise, the nation would not have continued to entrust its +destinies to the men who misguided it consistently and perseveringly +for so many years, to the watchmen who saw nothing of the rocks and +sandbanks ahead which it was their function to discern and their duty +to avoid, and who are now unwittingly but effectually deluding the +people into believing that the present campaign, which is but a single +episode in a long-spun-out contest, is an independent event which +began in August 1914 and may end this year or the next. These same +leaders are busily inculcating the delusive notion that the diplomatic +instrument which will one day close hostilities will be a treaty of +peace. And they are seemingly prepared to negotiate its terms on that +assumption. + +In truth, we are engaged in a duel which began thirty years ago, gave +the Germans such booty as Heligoland, their world-trade, their wealth, +their formidable navy, their Baghdad Railway, their various overseas +colonies, their European Allies, and the enormous resources with which +when this acute phase of the contest is over they will re-transfer the +venue to the economic and political domains and carry on the struggle +with greater vigour than before. And peace terms concluded on any +other supposition cannot be conducive to the national welfare. We are +locked in a deadly embrace with a compact people of 120,000,000, of +indomitable spirit, boundless resources, unquenchable faith and a +single aim. Yet we are already looking forward to the time in the near +future when our intercourse, however circumscribed, with this nation +will be essentially pacific, and when we can revert to our cherished +narrow interests and our easy-going dilettantism. We feed upon the +hope that in a few brief years the British nation will have got safely +back to its old beaten grooves, and not only business and sport but +everything else will go on as usual. Yet all the salient facts which +force themselves on our attention to-day, all the decisive events of +the past thirty years are cogent proofs of the unbroken sequence of a +trial of strength which the future historian and the present +statesman, if there be one, must characterize as a life-and-death +struggle between the champions of the new Teuton politico-social +ordering and the partisans of the old. But after the lapse of a +generation and with the record of all our losses before us, we have +not yet formed a right conception of the situation, and its issues, or +of the historic forces at work. In these circumstances, no degree of +sagacity can help us to devise the only policy in which salvation +resides. The prevailing mistaken conception must be rectified before +any headway can be made against the currents that are fast bearing us +down. And the time at our disposal is brief. + +It needs few words to characterize the effects which the dreamy +optimism of the Entente nations had on their method of mobilizing +their resources to carry on the war. Taken unawares they had nothing +ready. Misapprehending the nature of the issues and the redoubtable +character of the contest, they pursued subordinate aims with +insufficient means. The most daring strategical moves of the enemy, in +war as in diplomacy, they ridiculed as either bluff or madness. The +journalistic campaign in neutral countries they scoffed at as vain, +and put their faith in the final triumph of truth. Their financial +measures, oscillating from one extreme to another, denoted the absence +of any settled plan, of any clear-cut picture of the needs of the +moment. The odds in their favour, which circumstance had given and +circumstance might take away again, they looked upon as inalienable, +until they ended by forfeiting them all. Viewing the campaign as a +transient event, the British Government prosecuted it by means of +make-shifts, instead of radical measures. Obligatory service was +scouted at as un-English. Discriminating customs tariffs were +condemned as heretical. It was not until the enemy had occupied +Poland, overrun Serbia, driven the Allied troops from the Dardanelles, +bent Montenegro to the yoke, threatened Egypt, Riga and Petrograd, +that some rays of light penetrated the atmosphere of ignorance and +prejudice through which the Allies surveyed the European welter. They +had begun by counting upon the breaking up of the Habsburg Monarchy. +They felt sure that the Tsar's armies would capture Budapest and +advance on Berlin. They planned the defeat of Germany by famine. They +built another fabric of hopes on "Kitchener's Great Army" in the +spring of 1915. But one after another these anticipations were belied +by events. And now the nation blithely accepts the further forecasts +of the men who are chargeable with this long sequence of avoidable +errors. + +Respect for individual liberty was carried to such a point in Great +Britain that organizations against recruiting were tolerated in +England and Ireland, and strikes, which not only inflicted heavy +pecuniary losses on the nation but actually stopped its supplies of +munitions and brought it within sight of discomfiture, were treated +with soft words and immediate concessions. One cannot read even Mr. +Lloyd George's summary narrative of the preposterous doings of British +slackers without wondering whether salvation is still possible. These +men not only refused to work their best for the community, but forbade +their comrades to work well. At Enfield, we are told, a man was +obliged by trade union regulations so to regulate his work that he did +not earn more than 1_s._ an hour, though he could easily have earned +2_s._ 6_d._[118] Another man was doing two and a half days' work in +two days, and when he refused to carry out the behest of the +Ironfounders' Board to waste the other half day he was fined L1.[119] +A consequence of this anti-national attitude was that "we had to wait +for weeks in Birmingham with machinery lying idle, with our men +without rifles, with our men with a most inadequate supply of machine +guns to attack the enemy and defend themselves."[120] Every one will +re-echo the Minister's comment on the outlook, if this attitude is +persisted in--"we are making straight for disaster." + + [118] Mr. Lloyd George's speech at Bristol. Cf. _Daily + Telegraph_, September 10, 1915. + + [119] _Ibid._ + + [120] _Ibid._ + +Compare this state of things with that which rules in Germany. It is a +British Minister who describes it: "If you want to realize what +organized labour in this war means, read the story of the last twelve +months. By the end of September the German armies were checked. They +sustained an overwhelming defeat in France, Russia was advancing +against them towards the Carpathians, and I believe in East Prussia. +That is not the case to-day. Why? The German workmen came in; +organized labour in Germany prepared to take the field. They worked +and worked quietly, persistently, continuously, without stint or +strife, without restriction for months and months, through the autumn, +through the winter, through the spring. Then came that avalanche of +shot and shell which broke the great Russian armies and drove them +back. That was the victory of the German workmen."[121] + + [121] Mr. Lloyd George's speech at Bristol. Cf. _Daily + Telegraph_, September 10, 1915. + +Great Britain is the classic land of strikes. Strikers are sacred +among us. Industrial compulsion is rank heresy. + +That is one of our difficulties, and by no means the least formidable. +The nation, despite the superb example of patriotic heroism given by +all classes, parties, provinces and colonies of the Empire, is still +deficient in cohesiveness. No fire of enthusiasm has yet burned +fiercely enough among all sections of the Empire and all members of +the race to fuse them in such a compact unified organism as we behold +in the Teuton's Fatherland. Read the characteristic given of us by the +ex-German Minister Dernburg, and say whether it is over-coloured. +Discoursing on the difficulties which Britain has to cope with in +carrying on the war, he says: "They are intensified ... by the +narrow-minded customs of the English trade unions, which contrast with +the patriotic behaviour of the German associations of the like nature +as night contrasts with day."[122] This is melancholy reading for +those whose hopes are fervent for a bright future of the British race, +and it prepares them to listen in anxious silence to the general +conclusion at which the Prussian ex-Minister arrives: "It is in the +highest degree improbable," he says, "that after the winding up of +this contest England will be able to keep or wield any form of +economic superiority whatever over Germany." + + [122] _Berliner Tageblatt_, March 9, 1916. + +In our Allies we find a strong touch of resemblance to ourselves. +Their state of unpreparedness is amazing, if less desperate than ours. +Russia, it is true, did much better at the outset than friend or foe +anticipated, and she might have done quite well if only she had been +supplied with munitions. But she had not nearly enough, and her armies +were slaughtered like sheep in consequence. Then there were no boots +for the soldiers, who were forced to wear thin canvas leggings with +leather soles. And scores of waggon-loads of incapacitated men were +taken to Petrograd and other cities whose feet had been frozen for +lack of shoe-leather. One of the urgent wants of the Tsardom are +railways, which the late Count Witte was so eager to construct. When +hostilities opened, the insufficiency of communications became one of +the decisive factors in Russia's disasters. And it was heightened by +the conduct of, shall we say, the prussianized officials,[123] who are +reported to have disposed of waggons for large sums to greedy +merchants, who used to raise the prices of the merchandise and batten +on the misery of their fellows. + + [123] It is but fair to say that venality is not one of the + characteristics of the German bureaucracy. Their sense of + duty towards the State is the nearest approach to morality of + which they now seem capable. + +Trains, needed to supply the fighting men at the front with food and +the wounded at the rear with medicaments, were kept back to suit the +schemes of these greedy cormorants. Gratuities, it is openly affirmed, +had to be paid by Red Cross and other officers to those subordinate +railway servants who had it in their power to send on a train or shunt +it off for days on a side-track. Bribery is working havoc in the +Tsardom. In January 1916 the Moscow municipality discussed the +advisability of voting a certain sum of money and putting it at the +disposal of the chief officer of the city, to be discreetly employed +in transactions with complacent railway officials, in order to further +the work of reducing prices on necessaries of life. The motive adduced +for this homoeopathic way of treating a social distemper were the +conditions of life in Russia and the necessity of complying with them. +But as the Statute Book does not recognize these conditions and +condemns bribery absolutely, a vote on the subject was not taken.[124] + + [124] The German press gave great prominence to this item of + news. Cf. _Frankfurter Zeitung_, January 8, 1916. + +Acting on instructions issued by the Finance Minister, a Member of the +Council of the Finance Ministry, D. I. Zassiadko, visited the +Kharkoff circuit for the purpose of studying the bribery problem on +the spot. M. Zassiadko acquired the conviction "on the spot" that the +railway officials do really take bribes, "and even of considerable +amounts." But, that ascertained, the representative of the Ministry +decided to delve deeper to the root of the matter. And he reached the +conclusion that railway servants belong to the class of the tempted. +The evil, he reported, resides not in the circumstance that they take +bribes, but that bribes are offered whereby these weak little souls +are seduced. The representative of the Ministry discovered an entire +category of bribes which do not bear the signs of extortion, but only +of "gratitude." To us this conclusion sounds somewhat naive. The most +widely circulated journal of Petrograd prefaces an article on the +subject as follows.[125] + + [125] _The Bourse Gazette_, February 21. + +"The misdeeds of the officials and bribery on the railway system cry +out to heaven," writes the organ of the Constitutional Democrats. +"Compared with the reverses on the Carpathians and in Poland, the +defeats we are sustaining in our own house and behind the enemy's back +are much greater...." On the important line Petrograd-Moscow-Perm +scandalous cases of corruption took place in which, according to +Russian journals, officials of a class who might reasonably be +regarded as unbribable were implicated. They are alleged to have let +out to firms of speculators for large sums of money, goods waggons +which were already destined to carry consignments to the front.[126] +Russia's purchases abroad have made a profound impression on the +peoples in whose midst they were effected. The principles on which +these transactions were carried on provoked lively comments. It is not +that they revealed a superlative degree of disorganization. That touch +would have merely marked the kinship of the men concerned with their +allies. By the discovery that the Russian Government's purchasing +Commissioners, the representatives of one of its embassies, the agents +of the British Government and the equally zealous agents of the French +Government were all secretly bidding against each other for the same +rifles to be delivered to the Tsar's Ministers, only a smile of +recognition was elicited. It may have seemed at once amusing and +consolatory to find that all were tarred with the same brush. But when +it was discovered that the offer of certain army necessaries was put +off for weeks and weeks, although they were to be had under cost +price, and was then accepted at a much higher price, profound sympathy +was felt for the Tsar's armies. + + [126] Cf. _Reitch_ (about February 17, 1916), March 5, 1916. + +Chaos, waste and a variety of abuses that pressed heavily on the +poorer classes marked the efforts made by the Russian Government to +cope with the scarcity of fuel, corn and other necessaries which began +to be felt soon after the war. The rolling stock, it was complained, +was utterly insufficient, yet it was found possible to transport +1,000,000 poods[127] weight of mineral water of doubtful quality. When +trains arrived bringing supplies to the suffering population, it +turned out that there were no hands to unload the waggons. And when +labour was requisitioned, vehicles were not to be had. In October 1915 +on the rails of Moscow station five thousand waggons, laden with +life's necessaries, stood waiting and waiting in vain for the +unskilled labour which ought to have been abundant, considering the +number of the population and of the refugees. At the same time 2000 +waggons were on the rails of the Petrograd station, their contents +lying unutilized.[128] It is only by the lack of order and +organization that one can explain the facts that in Petrograd the +inhabitants have no butter, while in the places where butter is made +it is being sold cheaper than before, at 12 in lieu of 16 to 18 +roubles a pood. In the province of Ekaterinograd, mines which own +800,000 poods of coal cannot get more than a few waggon loads of it +every month. + + [127] A pood is equal to 36.11 lbs. + + [128] Cf. _Novoye Vremya_, October 9, 1915. + +Russia has incomparably more than enough fuel, without importing any, +to satisfy all the needs of her 180,000,000 inhabitants. But owing to +the insufficiency of communications, and still more to the lack of +forethought and enterprise, the population of many cities and towns +underwent serious hardships in consequence of the impossibility of +acquiring coal or wood. In September 1915 the Petrograd region could +obtain no more than 65 per cent. of the necessary quantity, and a +month later only 49 per cent. In Moscow the plight of the inhabitants +was worse. In September they could get but 26 per cent. of their needs +and in October 40 per cent. According to the Minister of Commerce, who +volunteered these data, the condition of the towns of Rostoff, +Novotcherkassk, Nakhitchevan, Taganrog, Ekaterinodar and others was +not a whit better. The city of Vyatka was, according to the _Novoye +Vremya_,[129] in January 1916 without fuel, while the mercury +registered 30 degrees Reaumur below freezing-point. The unfortunate +citizens heated their homes with fragments of hoardings, tables, desks +and stools. And yet there is abundant fuel in the superb forests with +which Vyatka is surrounded, and, what is more to the point, the city +authorities had received during the preceding spring 60,000 roubles +for the purpose of purchasing a supply of wood for the winter. But +they did nothing, organization not being one of their strong points. + + [129] The German press welcomes items of information like + this. Cf. _Frankfurter Zeitung_, January 13, 1916. + +Live stock in Russia has diminished during the war to a much larger +extent than was anticipated. The peasantry, owing to the prohibition +of alcohol, now consume from 150 to 200 per cent. more meat than +before, and what with the refugees from Poland, the prisoners of war +and the increased needs of the army, no less than 20 per cent. of the +cattle of the entire Empire was used during the first eighteen +months[130] and 30 per cent. of the stock of all European Russia. In +consequence of the shortage and of the irregularity of the transport, +three days of abstinence from meat were ordained. Yet in January 1916 +a discovery was casually made in the Kieff forests between Byelitch +and Pushtsha Voditzka, which caused considerable lifting of the +eyebrows. About 8000 head of cattle and several thousand sheep were +found with no cowherds, shepherds or owners, wandering about from +place to place. Scores of them were succumbing to hunger and cold +every day. The paths in the woods were covered with the dead bodies of +kine, calves and sheep. The journal which records this fact affirms +that these herds belong to the Union of Zemstvos, which had purchased +them from the peasants who had to flee from the occupied provinces. +The President of the Union of Zemstvos is said to have confirmed this +odd story with the qualification that the forlorn horned cattle and +sheep are the property not of the Union of Zemstvos, but of the +Ministry of Agriculture, which is alone answerable.[131] + + [130] Over a hundred million head. + + [131] Cf. the Russian journal, _Kieff_, also the _Frankfurter + Zeitung_, January 29, 1916. + +The card system of distributing provisions that are scarce found its +way first into Germany and then into Austria and Russia. But in the +last-named empire it was much less successful than in the two first +mentioned. According to the Petrograd journals in Pskoff, where it was +tried, many individuals got no cards, and therefore no provisions. +Many who possessed the cards found nothing to buy. And some of those +who obtained the articles they wanted paid dearer for them than if +they had bought them without cards. And as with cards one has to lay +in a stock to last a fortnight, the poorer families were unable to +utilize them.[132] + + [132] _Novoye Vremya_, January 1916. _Frankfurter Zeitung_, + January 21, 1916. + +In France, as well as in Russia, the professional organizers, +especially the civilians, were very much adrift. In the army all the +sterling qualities of the French nation at its best, and many that +were deemed extinct, but are now seen to have been only dormant, shone +forth resplendent. Valour, fortitude, staying power, self-abnegation +for the common good, became household virtues. Friends and foes were +equally surprised. But the civil administration remained +well-meaning, patriotic and unregenerate to the last. The old Adam +lived and acted up to his reputation. + +Before the war the French railway administration had been criticized +severely. It is not for a foreigner to express an opinion on the +internal ordering of a country not his own, but unbiassed French +experts found that the strictures were called for and the verdict, in +which the public acquiesced, was well grounded. Subsequently, when the +struggle began and the railway system was tested, people had reason to +remember the previous complaints, for they saw how little had been +done in the meanwhile to remove the causes of dissatisfaction. The +first drawback was the want of rolling stock. "Give us waggons and we +will execute all orders and supply the War Ministry," cried the +munitions firms. "There are no waggons in the ports, and we cannot get +the coal delivered," exclaimed the importers. "The country is +threatened with general paralysis," wrote the _Journal_;[133] "we can +neither forward nor sell anything." The railway administration asked +for a fortnight's notice, then for three weeks and finally an +indefinite period, before it could provide a single truck. "I have +fertilizing stuff to forward before the season is past," pleads the +representative of one firm. "We have no waggons," is the reply. "I +must have my produce delivered at once to the Government," argues +another, "for it is wanted for the fabrication of powder." But the +answer came promptly: "There are no waggons." "But you have waggons. I +see them over there" (the station was Cognac). "Yes, but we may not +touch them. They belong to the military engineering department." +"Well, but what are they doing there?" "Ah, that is none of our +business."[134] + + [133] _Le Journal_, November 26, 1915. + + [134] _Le Journal_, November 26, 1915. + +And in the ports, at the termini, at intermediate stations, the +merchandise lay heaped up, immobilized, while the merchants, the +middlemen, the manufacturers, the Government, the army were waiting, +time was lapsing, and the fate of the Republic and the nation hanging +in the balance. At Havre great machines, destined for a Paris firm +which was to have delivered them to factories making shells, lay +untouched for two months. The number of shells lost in this way has +never been calculated. Yet it was well known that during all that time +there were numbers of waggons available. What had become of them? The +answer was: They are to be found everywhere, immobilized. It is a case +of general immobilization of the rolling stock. People slept in them, +turned them into cottages, used them as warehouses, each individual +reasoning that one waggon more or less would not be missed. And as +this argument was used by large numbers of easy-going, well-meaning +people the result was appalling. + +The most terrific war known to history was raging in three Continents, +and one group of belligerents, unaware or heedless of the magnitude of +the issues, kept wasting its enormous resources and throwing away its +advantages. At the little station of Cognac waggons laden with all +kinds of war materials, barbed wire, galvanized wire, etc., were +detained from September 1914 until November 1915, 400 days in all, +doing nothing. Forty-two waggons ready to move were found on two +grass-covered rails. Fourteen waggons were there since September 1914. +Eight since December of the same year, twenty since June. Altogether +at the modest little station of Cognac the total recorded by Senator +Humbert's _Journal_ was 228,500 tons-days. "All this during the most +tremendous war the world has ever witnessed, in which hundreds of +thousands of men have been slain, where we have continually been short +of war material, while industry and commerce are agonizing for lack of +means of transport. It may well seem a dream."[135] + + [135] _Le Journal_, November 26, 1915. + +Seven hundred French railway stations were devoid of rolling stock. On +the other hand, from the beginning of the war down to November 1915, +729 waggons were lying immobilized at the station of Blanc-Mesnil. +Seven hundred and twenty-nine![136] Merchants, manufacturers, +importers, all were being literally beggared for lack of transports +while hundreds of waggons lay rotting at obscure little stations for +over a year. "The whole region of the West is encumbered," we read, +"with 30,000,000 hectolitres of apples, valued at 300,000,000 francs, +which cannot be conveyed anywhither, and which people are beginning to +bury in the earth as manure. Sugar is scarce and is rising in price, +whereas ever since last August[137] a single firm has unloaded 10,000 +tons of sugar at Havre which it cannot have transported to Paris. +Innumerable army purveyors are unable to send the machines for the +shells...." An official order to the army prescribed a substitute for +barbed wire, which was not to be had at any price, yet at a single +station at least 135 tons of barbed wire were lying for a twelvemonth +unused, untouched.[138] On November 27, 1915, the military hospital +N16 at Poitiers needed coal. A request was made by telephone. The +reply received was: "We have coal at La Rochelle, but there are no +waggons to carry it." Yet there were forty-two waggons immobilized at +Cognac, 729 at Blanc-Mesnil and 121 standing laden with barbed wire +and other materials for over a year! + + [136] _Le Journal_, December 2, 1915. They were photographed + and the photograph reproduced in that paper. + + [137] That was published in December 1915. + + [138] _Le Journal_, December 2, 1915. + +Organization and intelligence! + +With engines the experience was the same. The French Government, +anxious to make up for the deficiency, purchased 140 engines of +British make to be delivered some time in 1916. Yet at that time there +were at the station of Mezidon (Calvados) over 500 engines +immobilized, nobody knew why or by whom. This cemetery of locomotives +was photographed by the _Journal_. Such was the harvest reaped by the +enterprising Senator Humbert's commission at that one station. There +were others. At Marles six Belgian engines, at Serquigny twenty, etc. + +The attention of the French authorities having been called to this +unqualifiable neglect, a senatorial railway commission was appointed +to inquire into the matter, and it reported that: "The engines in +question, numbering about 2000, of which 1000 on the State railway +system are now going to be repaired." "There are therefore 2000 +engines scandalously abandoned," comments the _Journal_, ... +"forgotten during sixteen months, and having passed from the state of +being inutilized to that of being inutilizable. For if these machines, +which were in service before the war and came from Belgium, are +to-day, like the waggons of Blanc-Mesnil, incapable of being utilized +in their present state, as the official note puts it, the reason is +that they were left to decay in the rain and the wind without cover or +case for five hundred days."[139] + + [139] _Le Journal_, December 4, 1915. + +Interesting in a smaller way is the reply given by the French War +Minister to a question by a deputy, the Marquis de Ludre, who asked +for information about a consignment of knives which had been provided +for the army, but were found to be quite useless. The Minister +explained that the Generalissimus having requested the immediate +dispatch of 165,000 knives, the department charged with the execution +of the order had no time to examine the goods, and the circumstance +was overlooked that all kinds of knives were supplied, without any +reference to the purpose for which they were destined.[140] The +Minister added that no one should be blamed for this, inasmuch as it +was "the result of exaggerated but praiseworthy zeal." This +construction is charitable and may be true in fact. But the soldiers +who, in lieu of a serviceable blade, found themselves in possession of +a dessert knife may have taken a different view of the transaction. + + [140] Journal Official, answer to question No. 5730. + +This is hardly what is understood by organization. + +Beside those scenes from chaos set this picture of order: "In a small +French town in which the supreme _etape commando_ of Kluck's army was +situated, we inspected a field postal station. On the ground floor the +letters were being received and delivered. The stream of soldiers was +endless. They were sending field postcards, which are forwarded +gratuitously. The difficult work of sorting the correspondence was +being transacted on the first storey. Every day from 1800 to 2000 post +sacks arrive, mostly with small packets and postcards, and day after +day the same difficult problem presents itself--how to find the +addressee. Many regiments, it is true, have permanent quarters, but +there are mobile columns as well. Quick transfers are possible, and +individuals may be shifted to another place or incorporated in a +different regiment. The arranging of the correspondence went forward +in a spacious room; the letters which it was difficult to deliver were +handed over to a number of specialists, who sat in an adjoining +apartment and studied all the changes caused by the transfer of +troops. They found help in an address-book containing a list of all +the field formations. About once every four days, or even oftener, a +new edition of this work was issued. By the middle of December 1914 +the eighty-fourth edition was in print."[141] + + [141] Karl Hildebrand, _Ein starkes Volk_, p. 108. + +This talent for organization, this capacity of thought concentration +in circumstances which tend to strengthen emotion at the cost of +reason, have been constantly displayed by our enemies throughout the +entire struggle of the past thirty years, and never more conspicuously +than during the present war. Every emergency found them ready. The +most unlikely eventualities had been foreseen and provided for. +Private initiative, which "grandmotherly legislation" was supposed to +have killed, was more alert and resourceful than among any of the +Entente nations. Every German is in some respects an agent of his +Government. Each one thinks he foresees some eventuality with the +genesis of which he is especially conversant, and he forthwith +communicates his forecast and at the same time his plan for coping +with the danger to some official. And all suggestions are thankfully +received and dealt with on their intrinsic merits. For such matters +the rulers of the Empire, however engrossed by urgent problems, have +always time and money. + +It is instructive and may possibly be helpful to compare this spirit +of detachment from the personal and party elements of the situation, +this accessibility to every call of patriotic duty, this +self-possession under conditions calculated to hinder calm +deliberation, with the hesitations, the bewilderment, the conflicting +decisions of the Entente leaders and their impatience of unauthorized +initiative and offers of private assistance. Outsiders are not wanted. +Their money is not rejected, but nothing else that they tender is +readily received. + +In other more momentous matters the Allies also lagged behind their +adversaries. Despite their vast resources and the generous offers of +private help, the care taken of the wounded left a good deal to be +desired. The articles on this subject which were published in the +London Press provided ample food for bitter reflection. In France, at +the beginning of the war, wounded soldiers, after receiving first +aid, were conveyed for days in carts over uneven roads to the +hospitals in which they were to be treated. An American gentleman, +witnessing the sufferings of these victims of circumstance, collected +a number of motors in which to have them transported rapidly and with +relative comfort. But his offer of these conveyances was rejected by +all the departments to which he applied. And it was only after he had +spent weeks in visiting influential friends in London that he finally +obtained an introduction to the Secretary for War, who, overriding the +decisions of his subordinates, closed with the proposal and sent the +benefactor with his motors to the front. + +It has been affirmed by unbiassed neutral witnesses who evinced +special interest in the subject that tens of thousands of the allied +wounded who died of their injuries might have been saved had they had +proper care. But defective organization and other avoidable causes +deprived them of efficient medical help. + +By Great Britain more comprehensive measures were fitfully taken, of +which our wounded have reaped the benefit. A French journal[142] +enumerated, with a high tribute of praise, the results of the +observations made by a commission of British physicians in the Grand +Palais Hospital in Paris: "More than half, to be exact 54 per cent., +of the wounded entrusted to the care of the doctors of the Grand +Palais since last May have been sent back to the front, completely +cured. What an achievement!" Undoubtedly it is a feat to be proud of, +if we compare it with the percentage of cured in certain other +countries and in the Dardanelles. But if we set it side by side with +what is claimed for and by the Germans, it may appear less remarkable. +It cannot be gainsaid that the British authorities have spared neither +money nor pains to alleviate the sufferings and heal the injuries of +the wounded. And if the measure of their success is still capable of +being extended, the reason certainly does not lie in any lack of good +will. + + [142] _The Figaro_, February 22, 1916. + +On the incapacitated German soldier every possible care is bestowed. +His every need is foreseen and when possible provided for with an eye +to thoroughness and economy. Waste and niggardliness are sedulously +eschewed. Every man is provided with a square of canvas with eyelets, +which serves as a carpet on which he lies at night, as a stretcher on +which, when wounded, he is carried to the place where he can have his +injuries attended to, and which, when he is killed, is used as a +winding-sheet. The medical organization of the army is as thorough as +the military. And the results attained justify the solicitude +displayed. From month to month the percentage of wounded who are able +to return to the front has been augmenting steadily, and the +death-rate has decreased correspondingly. During the first month of +the war, out of every hundred wounded there were 84.8 capable of +further service, 3.0 dead, and 12.2 incapacitated or sent home. In +September of the same year the number of those able to return to the +front rose to 88.1, or about 4 per cent. more. And at the same time +the death-rate sank from 3 to 2.7 per cent. In the third month the +proportion of soldiers able to resume their places in the ranks of +fighters was 88.9, while the deaths had been reduced to 2.4. During +the period beginning with November and ending in March the number of +the wounded who went back to the front oscillated between 87.3 and +88.9. In November the percentage of deaths was only 2.1 per cent., and +in December only 1.7 per cent. January 1916 showed a further +improvement, the death-rate having fallen to 1.4 and in February 1.3 +per cent. During the two following months the percentage rose again to +1.4, but declined slowly until in June and July it had descended to +1.2 per cent. The number of wounded men who were sent back to their +places at the front had meanwhile increased by April to 91.2, and by +June 1915 to 91.7, and in May and July to 91.8. Seven per cent. were +wholly incapacitated or dismissed to their homes. Among the latter a +considerable percentage returned subsequently to the ranks. +Altogether, then, about 91.8 per cent. of the wounded German soldiers +who fall in battle are so well taken care of that they are able to +fight again, and no more than 1.2 per cent. of the total number +succumb to their wounds.[143] + + [143] _Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift._ + +This strict conformity to the material and psychological conditions of +success marks the method by which the Germans proceed to realize a +grandiose plan which is understood and furthered by one and all. Their +talent for organization, their insight, their inventiveness, and their +highly developed social sense are all pressed into the service of this +patriotic cause. And it is to these permanent qualities, more even +than to their thirty years' military and economic preparation, that +they owe their many successes. The cynicism and ruthlessness of our +arch-enemy should not be allowed to blind us to his enterprise, his +stoicism, his meticulous applications of the law of cause and effect. +These are among his most valuable assets, and unless we have solid +advantages of our own to set against and outweigh them, our appeals to +the justice of our cause and our denunciations of his wicked designs +will avail us nothing. It is to our interest to seek out and note +whatever strength is inherent in himself or his methods and to +appropriate that. The struggle will ultimately be decided by the +superiority of equipment, material and moral, which one side possesses +over the other. As for the conceptions of public law and international +right which the antagonists severally stand for, they must be gauged +by quite other standards than heavy guns and asphyxiating gases. It is +not impossible that in the course of time, and by dint of reciprocal +action and reaction, the German views may be sufficiently modified and +moralized to render possible the usual process of assimilation with +which the history of speculative ideas and social movements has +rendered us familiar. Meanwhile, truth compels us to admit that part +at least of the western system is being overtaken by decay, and stands +in need of speedy and thorough renovation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FINAL ISSUE + + +To come victorious out of the present ordeal--if, indeed, that be +possible with the leaders, principles, methods and strivings that +still characterize us--will not suffice to effect the triumph of our +cause. The present, momentous though it be, cannot with safety be +separated in thought or action from the future. The struggle will go +on relentlessly after this campaign until one side has worsted the +other definitively. And it is for that struggle that it behoves us to +prepare while the war is still at its height. + +The Germans, true to their practice, have set us the example. Their +curious combinations for dividing the Allies while negotiating their +own schemes for reorganizing political Europe have been worked out in +almost every detail. Their projects for creating a vast and powerful +economic organization, to be known as Central Europe,[144] with its +first appendix in the Balkan Peninsula, have been carefully woven, and +will be duly embellished when the hour for unfolding them has struck. +In a word, when opportunity suddenly appears like the bridegroom of +the Gospel, the German will be found waiting, with girded loins and +trimmed lamp. He has distributed the parts of each nation in the +international drama, and if the roles cannot be taken over to-morrow, +he will wait until the day after. + + [144] Cf. Friedrich Naumann, _Mitteleuropa_. + +The world is henceforth no longer a field of labour for the +individual. Co-operation is the open sesame to the economic life of +the future. And co-operation means organization. Organization, then, +is the Alpha and Omega of the new era. That is the mysterious radium +which has enabled a single race to assail and hold its own against a +group of powers whose territory and population are many times greater +than its own. That race has demonstrated the quasi-omnipotence of +organized labour, and has thereby itself become almost omnipotent. On +the success or failure of its adversaries to create a like force and +rise to the same height depends the future of Europe and the British +Empire. One of the first corollaries of the new principle is the +enlargement of all great units, including political communities. +Germany and Austria, therefore, are bound, if not precisely to +coalesce in one whole, at least to co-operate and combine for their +common ends against common competitors, and thus to form the nucleus +of that federal state which is, our enemies hope, one day to be +commensurate with the continent of Europe. + +At present, however satisfactory the military situation may be said to +be, the general outlook is far from bright. Our aims are impoverished, +our creative energies are clogged by prejudice, our political vision +is narrowed by party goals, and the forces inherent in the nation +which should be employed in readjusting its life to the new conditions +are being frittered away in abortive efforts to neutralize dissolvent +ideas that are sapping only those organs of our social and political +system which are already vicious or decayed. The waste of the empire's +resources has no parallel in history. Supreme confusion marks our +internal condition. Our leaders have done nothing to familiarize the +nation with the dangers that threaten it, the means by which they +should be met, or with the social and political ideas which are +destined to shape and sway the new order of things which is already +close at hand. + +In the absence of constructive leaders it is for the nation itself to +make due preparation for the momentous changes in the social and +political system of Europe to which the present crisis is but the +prelude. + +And although much has been spoken and written on the subject since the +war began, little permanent work has as yet been done. And there are +few signs of a radical change for the better. The confusion and +incongruousness that mark the ideas of the reformers, and the +hesitancy and conflicting interests of politicians make one dubious of +the outcome of the present contest. Almost everything essential would +appear to be still lacking to the Allies, and the nature of the coming +"peace period" is not realized, because the war is looked upon as an +isolated phenomenon which began in July 1914, and will end when +hostilities have ceased. Another belief equally misleading and +mischievous is that the Teuton race can be paralysed if not crushed, +and that for fifty or sixty years to come no revival of its energies, +no recrudescence of its morbid aggressiveness need be apprehended. If +we continue to shape our conduct on that assumption we may find +ourselves one day in a Serbonian bog from which there is no rescue. +However stringent the conditions which the Allies may be able to +impose on their enemies, there will still remain a keen, strenuous, +irrepressible race of at least a hundred and twenty millions, endowed +with rare capacities for organization, cohesion, self-sacrifice and +perseverance, whom no treaties can bind, no scruples can restrain, no +dangers intimidate. At any moment a new invention, a favourable +diplomatic combination, would suffice to move them to burst all bounds +and resume the military, naval and aerial contest anew. + +Even now, while the war is still raging, they are busy with +comprehensive plans for the economic struggle which will succeed it. +Nor are they content to weave schemes. They have already begun to +carry them out. To mention but a few of the less important +enterprises, as symptoms of the German solicitude for detail, there +was a numerous gathering of railway representatives, Austrian, +Hungarian and German, in August 1915, to consider the means of +readjusting the railway service to the conditions which the peace +would usher in. Among the projects laid before the meeting and +insisted on by various financial institutions was the reconstruction +on a new basis of the Sleeping Car Company, from which Belgian capital +is to be excluded.[145] + + [145] _Giornale del lavori pubblici._ Cf. also _Giornale + d'Italia_, August 22, 1915. + +In Italy many of the German commercial houses are, so to say, +hibernating during the war. They merely altered their names and +substituted well-paid, friendly Italians for Germans, and the feat was +achieved. In this way the Kaiser's mercury mines of Abbadia, San +Salvatore and Corte Vecchia in Tuscany are being protected, and nobody +in Italy is under any misapprehension as to what is going on there. +They are nominally in the hands of Swiss. + +One of the most successful manoeuvres by which the Germans have +already parried the strokes of their rivals in the economic struggle +is by crossing the frontiers and carrying on the contest in the +enemy's country. It was thus that, when Russia, by way of protecting +her own nascent textile industries, levied heavy duties on imports +from abroad, the Germans transported their plant and their workmen +across the border, built extensive works in Lodz which gradually grew +into a prosperous German city and rendered sterling services to the +Teuton invader during the present war. They intend to have recourse to +the same device as soon as hostilities have ceased. German trade +papers announced this to their readers and urged them to communicate +with the staff with a view to receiving information respecting ways +and means. + +One Berlin trade journal--the most widely circulated in the German +capital--had recently a great headline entitled: "How to keep up +German Exportation after the War!" After a preamble enumerating the +difficulties that would be thrown in the way of exporters by the +Allies, the article went on thus: "For some years to come the means of +extricating ourselves from this cruel predicament will consist in +transporting the work of manufacturing or refining our merchandise to +a neutral country. We are now in a position to offer information and +advice on this head to those German manufacturers who are working for +exportation, and we shall endeavour to extend our action in the +future. We advise all those manufacturers who are desirous of +developing their business in this way to enter into relations with us +without delay."[146] + + [146] _Zeitschrift des Handelsvertragsvereins_, March 30, + 1915. Cf. also _La Gazette de Lausanne_ and _L'Idea + Nazionale_, December 5, 1915. + +The device is simple, and has hitherto been efficacious. In +Switzerland the number of German firms is large and continues to +augment. They are branches of German houses, and their aim is to +further the interests of these. They mask their intentions by assuming +Swiss names and also by obtaining for their employees naturalization +papers in the little republic. How, it may be asked, do the Allies +propose to thwart these manoeuvres? They probably have not given the +matter a moment's serious consideration. A Swiss journal of +repute[147] published some time ago a characteristic letter received +by a Swiss business man from a German textile manufacturer. One +passage is worth reproducing: "The actual situation renders it +impossible for us to maintain relations with our former customers. +Hence, it is of the utmost importance for us to be informed respecting +the commercial and financial situation with a view to the resumption +of our intercourse in a lucrative form after this long interruption. +It is our intention, therefore, to have our products sold through a +Swiss branch by Swiss agents."[148] + + [147] _Neue Zurcher Zeitung._ + + [148] _Neue Zurcher Zeitung_, also _L'Idea Nazionale_, + December 5, 1915. + +With their incorrigible disposition to judge others by themselves, the +British people fancy that after the war a wave of liberalism will +sweep over Germany, demolish the strongholds of militarism there, and +reveal a pacific, level-headed nation with whom it may be possible to +hold friendly intercourse. This, to my thinking, is also a delusion. +Even if the Kaiser and his environment were dislodged from their +places, Germany's ideals, aims and strivings would remain unchanged. +But the Kaiser and his Government are minded to leave nothing to +chance. They, too, have their plans, which are simple and +comprehensive, and would appear to have escaped the notice of British +optimists. And yet they are well worth consideration. The Germans +themselves put the matter thus-- + +The enormous expenditure necessitated by the war will call for special +financial legislation of which the keynote will be found in +monopolies. Now, the present German Finance Minister, who is a banker +by training, intends that the monopolies to be created shall be +effected, not by the unaided resources of the State, but by its +co-operation with the interested business men and banks. On this basis +he is working at monopolies of cigarettes, life insurance and electric +power. This complex arrangement is facilitated by the machinery of the +banks and their peculiar activity. And here we touch upon one of the +main sources whence German organization after the war will draw its +vitality. It is on the operations of these financial institutions that +it behoves us to lay stress. They are so many magnetic centres which +attract nearly all the free capital of the country and then employ it +as they think fit. And one momentous consequence of this command of +money is the possession of almost unrestricted power over industrial +enterprises, present and future. For it depends on the banks to extend +these and to restrict the output of those in consonance with the +economic policy pursued by the State. + +Nor should it be forgotten that the power and influence of the banks +is not limited by the amount of capital they actually possess. Over +and above this they wield all the financial force conferred by the +vast amounts deposited with them by customers. This was evidenced in +the case of the Banca Commerciale in Italy, which had a working +capital of L6,240,000 in the year 1914. Now, of that sum only 2.5 per +cent. was owned by Germans, yet the bank itself and all the industries +dependent on it were exploited by the German Board of Directors.[149] +In the Fatherland we observe the same phenomenon. All the German banks +together, excepting the hypothecary institutions, owned L195,000,000 +sterling, about 44 per cent. of which belonged to the eight principal +banks of the empire.[150] Possessing only L86,050,000 of their own, +they disposed of L259,600,000 belonging to other people. + + [149] Giovanni Preziosi, _La Germania alla Conquista + d'Italia_, 2d edizione, p. 150. + + [150] Deutsche Bank, 248 million marks; Diskonto + Gesellschaft, 149 millions; Dresdner Bank, 261 millions; + Darmstaedter Bank, 192 millions; Berliner Handelsg. 145 + millions; Commerz- u. Diskonto Bank, 100 millions; + Nationalbank, 98 millions; Mitteldeutsche Kreditbank, 69 + million marks. + +One effect of the establishment of groups of monopolies will be to +increase the number of persons dependent for their livelihood on the +State. It is calculated that the total, including heads of families, +will amount to tens of millions. The corn monopoly will bring in five +million farmers, heads of families, who will have to look to the State +for the amount of their yearly income. For it is evident that the +Government will be "co-operating" not with the peasants, but with the +great landed proprietors. Now, these are the men whose backing is +indispensable, and has never been wanting, to the military and court +parties who are primarily responsible for the war. Once the wages of +the workmen and the interest on capital become dependent on the State, +the entire nation is but a vast machine worked by the men in power. To +suppose that these will lend a willing ear to the demands for +political liberty which are certain to be made after the conclusion of +peace is to expect the impossible. What will probably happen is a keen +struggle between the classes and the masses for the mastery, but until +it is decided in favour of the latter, the Germany of the future will +continue to be the Germany of to-day. + +In the meanwhile, the Teutons, despite their striking inferiority in +numbers and resources, have kept the Great Powers of the world at bay, +have defeated their armies, sunk their mercantile marine, occupied +their territory, drained their wealth, paralysed their trade and +deprived them of all the odds which they owed to circumstance. +Organization has thus more than made up for the seemingly overpowering +advantages possessed by the Allies at the outset. That it will +suddenly lose its worth during the remainder of the campaign is hardly +to be expected. The contingency which we may have to face, if we +continue to move at our present pace, is manifest to the observant +student of politics. + +By the average man and our "leaders of men" it is hardly even +suspected. Our easy-going optimism is largely the result of +temperament and partly, too, of presumptuous confidence born of past +luck, and in especial of the relief we feel at our escape from most of +the obvious dangers that menaced us at the outset of the war. There +has been no trouble over Ireland, no rising in India, no serious +defection in South Africa, no invasion of Egypt. And we irrationally +feel that these dark clouds, having drifted harmlessly past, the +others will follow them. It was said of the Swiss in mediaeval times, +that they were kept together by the bewilderment of men and the +providence of God, confusione hominum et providentia Dei. The same +might be truly predicated of the British people of to-day. + +But there is no reason for assuming that they will be thus +providentially cared for in the future. The Allies have not yet driven +the Germans out of Belgium, France, Serbia, Montenegro, Poland or +Kurland. Neither have they contrived to starve them into sueing for +peace. They talk glibly of exhausting them as though their own +resources were inexhaustible. They do well perhaps to make light of +the Zeppelins, but they pay far too little attention to the +submarines, and seem not to realize the magnitude of the losses which +these weapons have inflicted on our merchant shipping, nor to have +calculated how long it can hold out at the present rate of +destruction. Freights have increased enormously, and they have not yet +reached the highest point they are likely to attain. Imports have been +restricted, prices have gone up and taxation has increased. Time may +not be on the side of our enemies, but is it on ours? It is a fickle +ally at best, and to rely on its support is to lean on a split reed. + +Optimism of the unreasoning kind prevalent in Great Britain is +unwarranted, whether we confine our view to the actual campaign or +extend it to the greater struggle of which that forms but an episode. +Taking the former case first, one is struck with certain +considerations which, without inspiring dismay, ought surely to +preserve us from that excessive self-confidence which is too often a +hindrance to fruitful exertion. The financial burden and its relation +to the limits of the allied nations' capacity to bear it is a fit +subject for meditation when we feel uplifted in self-complacency. +Doubtless it is encouraging to watch the symptoms of slow exhaustion +displaying themselves in the central empires and to speculate on the +consequences of the further fall of the German mark. But these +consequences we are too apt to exaggerate. For we misjudge the +character, the staying powers, the ideals, the psychology of the +German people. We fancy that because they have been reduced from +comfort to hardship therefore they are on the verge of collapse. We +imagine that because their commercial and industrial classes are keen +on making money and ardently desire peace, they are also ready to +purchase it by acquiescing in conditions which would dispel their +dreams of world power. We feel certain that if Prussia and all the +German States received genuine parliamentary government, the costly +ambitions of the military party would forthwith be dispelled for all +time. + +It is by delusions such as these that the British people were +hoodwinked in the past, and it is by the same vain imaginings that +they may be victimized in the future. For they seem incapable of +gauging the German psyche. The two races meet each other in masks. The +apparent ingenuousness of the English-speaking Teuton is calculated to +throw the most vigilant Anglo-Saxon intelligence off its guard. We +have no psychological X-rays by which to pierce the peculiar racial +vesture in which the German soul is shrouded, nor are we endowed with +the gift of patient observation which might enable us to extract those +rays from facts. And so we stumble along, dealing with an imaginary +people whom we ourselves have created after our own image and +likeness, falling into fatal blunders and recommencing anew. + +It is true that the mark has fallen, and that the German financial +fabric is in a parlous condition. But that fabric is kept from +crumbling away by the war, just as the Egyptian papyrus is preserved +so long as it does not come into contact with the air. Moreover, +common prudence should impel us to find out at what a cost to +ourselves we have reduced the value of the mark. If financial +exhaustion be among the ways in which one group of belligerents may be +made to succumb, it is wise to ask whether it is the States which have +to pay gold for their huge requirements or those which can get almost +everything they need for paper that are likely to succumb first. + +The question is relevant, yet, because it has not been moved into the +foreground of discussion, there are few people who ponder on it. + +Personally, I am convinced that impecuniosity and loss of credit will +never bring the Germans to their knees. + +Great Britain has achieved wonders in the financial sphere during this +war, as the Allies and certain neutrals can testify. Our budgets are +monuments of the nation's spirit of self-sacrifice. But we have not +come scathless out of the ordeal. And besides our inevitable losses we +are suffering from criminal waste. No other country is so thriftless +as ours. In this respect we are a byword among the peoples of the +world. But we give no thought to the consequences. Yet the yearly +outlay on the one hand and the means of meeting it on the other hand +are calculable, and it would be well if those who rely upon Germany's +financial prostration would carefully reckon up and compare the two, +were it only for the sake of the sobering effect. On this aspect of +the problem it is needless to dwell further. It will compel close and +painful attention before the end of the campaign. + +Another point to which inadequate heed has been paid, is the lack of +working men. This dearth of labour is not felt in Germany or Austria, +because they have two million prisoners and two million Poles on whom +they can draw not only for agricultural work but also for skilled +labour. And the authorities of both those empires are employing their +war prisoners very freely. Here, as everywhere else, the Teuton is +enterprising. I have seen photographs of Russians in Germany harnessed +and employed as beasts of burden. At any rate, it is no secret that +from the latter half of the year 1915 Germany and Austria were far +ahead of Great Britain, France, Russia, the United States and Japan +_combined_ in the amount of munitions they turned out every week. And +they are still ahead of them to-day. This fact, which can be verified, +has an ominous ring. What it connotes is that our enemies have no +strikes, no conscientious objectors, no fiddling with obligatory +service, industrial or military. Each man is at his country's beck and +call. Germany is free from strikers, slackers and such-like +anti-social types. + +In Russia the want of working men is felt keenly. It is one of the +main elements of the sharp rise of prices there. In France, too, the +number of hands needed is very great, and the loss inflicted by their +withdrawal from the labour market is more sensible than the average +reader has any notion of. And far from being filled, these gaps are +becoming wider day by day. This shortage is a source of solicitude to +the Government of the Republic. + +What it portends may readily be imagined. It certainly compels us to +qualify the cheering assertion that time is on our side. What else it +implies may be left to the imagination of the reader. + +More serious still than the financial burden, or the dearth of +workmen, is the inadequacy of the mercantile marine to the needs of +the Allies in general, and of Great Britain in especial. To this +privation submarine warfare has contributed materially. And there is +not the slenderest ground for hope that the Germans will desist from +it during this campaign. On the contrary, they will intensify it. Of +the neutrals, some are too weak and others too timid to enter an +energetic protest against this violation of international law. The +freight-carrying capacity of the transports still available is less +than the British optimist realizes. How much less, it would be +unfruitful to inquire. It is enough to know that in this matter, too, +we had better seek a more helpful ally than time. Those who are most +conversant with these elements of the problem are haunted by a restive +consciousness of disappointment and apprehension. + +For the power, the independence, the destinies of the Empire are +interwoven with our command of the sea. On our merchant tonnage depend +our economic life, our army and navy, everything we have and are and +hope to be. That destroyed or paralysed, nothing remains but a memory. +And the Germans are working hard and not unsuccessfully to cripple it. +During the week ending April 13, 85,000 tons of British and neutral +shipping were destroyed. Since the beginning of the submarine blockade +over 3,000,000 tons have been sent to the bottom of the sea. On an +average 50,000 tons a week are being torpedoed or mined, and our +losses tend to augment rather than diminish. Nor is that all. Not only +is our merchant tonnage being whittled down below the minimum needed +for our strict requirements, but we are also being hindered from +utilizing the transports available. And herein lies a danger the full +significance of which has not yet received proper attention. Shortage +of labour is pleaded as the reason why effective measures have not +been adopted to fill the gaps made by the enemy submarines. And labour +is inadequate because the Government eschewes industrial as well as +military compulsion. It possesses the power, but shrinks from wielding +it. To my thinking, this is one of the symptoms of that madness with +which the gods strike a nation before destroying it. + +And the longer this process of--shall we call it mutual?--exhaustion +goes on, the more important grow the neutral States and the louder +sound their voices. They are like Jeshurun, who waxed fat and kicked. +Without special aptitudes for arithmetic one may calculate, with a +rough approach to accuracy, the time when the process of mutual +exhaustion will enable the neutrals to exert an absurdly +disproportionate and possibly dangerous influence over the +belligerents. That is a calculation which those optimists would do +well to make who tell us that all is well because "time is on our +side." + +It is still open to us to utilize our superior resources, realize our +latent strength, and ward off the dangers that beset us. But the first +advance towards the goal must be to face the facts, behold things and +persons as they are, and apply our new-found knowledge to the work of +self-rescue. Our conception of the nature of the contest in which we +are engaged must be recast. Our demands on our national leaders--not +those now in power who only mislead--must be greatly enlarged. Truth, +however bitter, must take the place of fancy. Ideas and institutions +incongruous with the new social and political conditions must be +displaced. The nation's aims and policy should be stated boldly and +clearly, and adequate machinery set up to achieve them. In a word, +system will have to be substituted for confusion, method for +haphazard. Destitute of a great or strong man, it behoves us to +imitate our enemy and create a vast organization with branches all +over the empire. But the influence of the government ever since the +outbreak of the war has militated against all those reforms. + +If these changes had been effected at the outset the story of the +present campaign would have been different from what it is. A group of +belligerents representing only 5,921,000 square kilometres of +territory and 150,199,000 inhabitants, or, say, 4 per cent. of dry +land and 9.1 per cent. of human beings, would not have held its own +for twenty-one months against a group disposing of 68,031,000 square +kilometres of territory and a population of 770,060,000, or 46 per +cent. of the land on the globe and 47 per cent. of the human race. +Providence has bestowed upon the Allies the wherewithal to attain +their legitimate ends. The Allies' leaders are frittering them away. + +For the thirty years of preparation do not afford us an adequate +explanation of the Teuton superiority. The clue is to be found in the +psychological factor. Germany is wholly alive, physically, +intellectually and psychically. And she lives in the present and +future. We either drowse or vegetate in and for the past. She has the +decisive advantage of possessing organization and organizers. Therein +lies the secret of her sustained success. The Allies lack both, and +are hardly conscious of the necessity of making good the deficiency. +Therein lies their weakness. It has made itself felt throughout the +campaign and will determine the upshot of the war. And in the +politico-economic struggle that will follow the war, it is the same +psychological factor which the Allies rate so low that will decide the +final issue. + +Unless we wake up to the reality and readjust our ideas and methods to +that--and of such awakening there is as yet no sure token--the outcome +of the present war will be a draw, and the final upshot of the larger +contest will be our utter defeat. No journalistic optimism, no +ministerial magniloquence can alter that. These contingencies are +already fullfronting us, as we shall soon learn to our cost, and the +people who are veiling them from the public view, however praiseworthy +their intentions may be, are leading the nation to ruin. And if we +continue to uphold our present chiefs and methods national disaster is +as inevitable as destiny. But it is well to remember that it is not +Fate that is pursuing us; it is we who are overtaking Fate. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's England and Germany, by Emile Joseph Dillon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND AND GERMANY *** + +***** This file should be named 29338.txt or 29338.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/3/29338/ + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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