gressor, he knew how to make the world believe that he was on the defensive. He scrupulously observed international law, was clever and polite to the neutrals, and, while probably not less brutal in his make-up and convictions than the modern rulers of Germany, was not so cynical and did not show such open contempt for right and morals as they do. He would not have called an international treaty a "scrap of paper," he would not have said that "necessity recognizes no law." He was always careful not to offend human sentiments and feelings, as Wilhelm II. and his entourage make a point of doing every day. The fact is, that German contempt for everything not German, and their reliance upon their centralized bureaucracy and their military strength, have outgrown all limits since Bismarck's days. Germany has cast aside all prudence, while arrogance and cynicism are Hung right and left without need or cause. Her attempts to shift the responsibility for this War, to appear to be sinned against, were tardy and clumsy, and consequently fruitless. Bismarck would have staged the war differently, would have conducted it differently, and the independent thought and sympathy of the world would not have been so pronouncedly against Germany. One of the best concrete examples of this vital difference is presented by the brutally frank system of premeditated terror against the non-belligerent population of various countries, persecuted by barbarous methods. None of these measures has, so far, proved effective in any degree, but they have created hatreds and enmities that it will take many generations to heal, and which make peace impossible until one side is completely crushed. Wanton, unnecessary cruelly, while probably unavoidable to some degree as the result of insufficient discipline in some parts of an army, becomes unpardonable and unforgettable if used as a system, as a calculated means to attain certain ends. In this war, not only German military authorities, but the whole German people approve of this and applaud it. Germany's scientific and literary lights sign manifestoes approving the destruction of Louvain, the bombardment of the Rheims cathedral, the sinking of the Lusitania, the Zeppelin raids on country towns. Nothing could depict more obviously the general brutalization of modern German thought than these manifestoes. And nothing can better show its contempt of the public opinion of the world and its inability to comprehend the possible existence of different points of view. The very idea of such a possibility is inconceivable to their hypnotized minds, bereft of individual freedom. And, as a direct consequence, Germany's State system, her aims, methods, and results, are to-day plainly revealed to anybody who thinks for himself and values his country's liberty.
Of course, this short sketch is only a rough compendium of the analysis and conception of the Russian intelligentsia as to what modern Germany represents in general. But it explains why this War, above all, is taken to be a mortal struggle between the principles of autocracy and militarism on one side, and of democracy and peace on the other,—a battle of a new Roman
