secured and only thus could the attitude of the democracy of the whole world be influenced favourably. It would have been as difficult for the democracy of the West to mobilize her influence in favour of Czardom as it was easy to create enthusiasm for the preservation of international law and the defence of poor Belgium.
In order to carry out rapidly the plan of war conceived by Schliessen, Germany risked the blame of declaring war against several nations one after the other, all of which could have been avoided if we had directed our offensive against the East.
As the Belgian question had to be solved, I cannot conceive why Germany did not make a proposal to the British Government to renew the agreement which Gladstone made in the year 1870 with Napoleon and the Emperor William. This suggestion was to the effect that Germany was inclined not only to respect the neutrality of Belgium, but even to protect it by force of arms, if England would undertake to do the same in case of French aggression. If England had accepted this proposal, everything would have been in order and the neutrality of England could have been regarded as secure. If, on the other hand, England had not accepted this proposal, which was probable, because England was only interested in 1870 in the fate of Belgium, whereas now she was interested in the position of France, England would have lost her most advantageous casus belli. If England had rejected the means by which in 1870 Belgian neutrality was saved, by her own initiative she would have betrayed
