In the same way children are often so delighted at being able to conceal an escapade that their very high spirits betray them.
Why, indeed, be so glad that no one said anything about war, if the. subject were not uppermost in our minds?
V.
No one is thinking of war; only a milliard is being spent upon preparations for it, and millions of men are under arms in France and Russia.
"But all this is done to insure peace. Si vis pacem para bellum. L'empire c'est la paix. La Républigue c'est la paix."
But if such be the case, why are the military advantages of a Franco-Russian alliance in the event of a war with Germany not only explained in every paper and magazine published for a so-called educated people, but also in the Village Review, a paper published for the people by the Russian Government? Why is it inculcated to this unfortunate people, cheated by its own Government, that "to be in friendly relations with France is profitable to Russia, because if, unexpectedly, the before-mentioned States (Germany, Austria, and Italy) made up their minds to declare war with Russia, then, though with God's help she might be able to withstand them by herself, and defeat even so considerable an alliance, the feat would not be an easy one, and great sacrifices and losses would be entailed by success."
And why in all French schools is history taught from the primer of M. Lavisse (twenty-first edition, 1889), in which the following is inserted:—
"Since the insurrection of the Commune France has had no further troubles. The day following the war she again resumed work. She paid Germany without difficulty the enormous war indemnity of five milliards.
"But France lost her military renown during the war of 1870. She has lost part of her territory. More than 15,000 inhabitants of our departments on the Upper Rhine, Lower Rhine, and Moselle who were good Frenchmen have been compelled to become Germans. But they are not resigned to their fate. They detest Germany; they continue to hope that they may once more be Frenchmen.
"But Germany appreciates its victory, and it is a great country, all the inhabitants of which sincerely love their fatherland, and
