ngland admit that she has systematically stood in the
way of German colonial ambitions. _She cannot admit it, for the simple
reason that only a few years ago those German colonial ambitions did
not exist._ Almost to the end of his long rule, Bismarck would not
have colonies, and he deliberately encouraged France in that policy of
African expansion which Germany now objects to. Germany would probably
have had a much larger colonial empire if she had chosen to have it.
History teaches us that in the development of European colonization
there are some nations, like the Spaniards and Portuguese, that have
come too early in the field. There are other nations, like England and
Russia, that have come in the nick of time. And, finally, there are
nations that have come too late. The German people have arrived too
late in the race for colonial empire. They may regret it, but surely
it would be monstrous to use the fact as a grievance against the
people of this country. I may bitterly regret that twenty years ago I
had not the money or the energy or the foresight to invest in the
development of Argentine, or that I did not buy an estate in Canada,
which in those early days I might have got for a hundred pounds, and
which to-day would be worth hundreds of thousands. But that is no
reason why I should hate the present possessors of landed property in
the Far West or in the Far South. That is no reason why I should wish
to dispossess them of land which they have legitimately acquired,
whether they owe it to their luck or to their pluck, to favourable
circumstances or to their initiative and perseverance."

VII.--THE PACIFIC MEANING OF THE ENTENTE.

"The new grouping of Powers, which has reduced Germany from a position
of sole supremacy to a position of equality, is not the result of any
artificial combinations of diplomacy. Still less is it the result of a
conspiracy, inspired by English envy and English hatred. It was not
initiated by Edward VII. It has survived his death. To assume that
England would have been capable of isolating Germany by her own single
efforts, and in order to serve her own selfish purposes, is to
attribute to England a power which she does not wield. If there has
been a conspiracy, France, Italy, Russia, and the United States,
inhabited by twenty million citizens who are German by birth or by
descent, have all been willing accomplices. The Triple Entente has
been a spontaneous revolt of Europe against Germa