that the Monarchy could at most resist until the end of the year, and that the Monarchy was faced with military collapse and revolution.
In such circumstances, I cannot understand his procedure. An individual has the right, and may even have the duty, of sacrificing himself for the sanctity of his word. But Governments are not entitled to demand completely hopeless sufferings and sacrifices from those millions of people in whose name they are acting on account of the wrong attitude of the power to whom they have been tied by an alliance. Moral law is valid also in politics. Meanness is also mean in politics, and to keep your word is also a duty in politics, and not only a duty, but also to your own interests, for trust is a political power of the first order and even honesty is the best policy. Just as a financier who does not fulfil his pledges generally suffers most in the long run, because he loses the confidence of his fellows, so does a statesman prove himself to be short-sighted who regards deceit and deception as the main means of his policy. To desert an ally in order to secure certain advantages without any necessity for so doing, is a disgrace and generally a disadvantage. England pursued such a policy in the Spanish War of Succession, and Prussia did the same in the Austrian War of Succession, and a similar procedure was adopted in the war against the French Revolution. The employment of such means is short-sighted because it decreases the nation's ability to form other alliances. A Minister, who, during this terrible war, is in full possession of the facts and has access lo reliable data, in view of
