SCENES IN THE GREAT WAR
Paterculus) said, "The character of the Germans shows a terrible mixture of ferocity and infamy. It is a people born to lie."
THE GERMAN TOWER OF BABEL
For the credit of human nature we feel compelled,
in sight of such enormities, to go back to
Mr. Maeterlinck's theory that invisible powers
of evil are using man for the execution of devilish
designs. But if so, they have had no mercy on
their creatures. We read that when, in fear of
another flood, not trusting the promises of the
Almighty, the children of Noah began to build a
Tower of Babel, the Lord sent a confusion of
tongues among them to bring their design to
destruction. The excuses the Germans have
offered for their barbarities suggest a confusion
of intellect that can only lead to a like result.
Has the world ever before listened to such whirlwind
logic?
When a German submarine has sunk a British merchantman and left her crew to perish we have been told that she was performing a legitimate act of war. But when a British merchantman has mounted a gun in order to defend herself, she has been said to violate the law of nations. When British battleships have blockaded German ports they have been trying to starve sixty-five millions of German people. But when German sub-
