when they searched neutral ships
and confiscated the enemy's property on board of them, until Congress in
Washington voted for the declaration of war against England.

In the great civil war, 1861 to 1864, England had counted on the victory
of the Southern States; she recognized them as belligerents and supplied
them with warships. This was not considered by England a breach of
neutrality until the Minister of the United States declared, on Sept. 5,
1863, that unless England desisted war would result. England yielded.

But, according to the old German proverb, "A cat cannot resist catching
mice," she secretly permitted the fitting out of privateers (the
Alabama) for the Southern States and was finally forced to pay an
indemnity of $15,000,000. England gained, however, more than she lost by
this interpretation of neutrality, for by the aid of her privateers
American maritime trade passed into English hands and was lost to the
Americans.

May God's vengeance fall on Germany! She has violated Belgium's
neutrality! the English piously ejaculate. They call themselves God's
chosen people, the instrument of Providence for the benefit of the whole
universe. They look down upon all other peoples with open or silent
contempt, and claim for themselves various prerogatives, in particular
the supremacy of the sea, even in American waters, from Jamaica to
Halifax.

England's policy has always been to take all, to give back nothing, to
constantly demand more, to begrudge others everything. Only where the
New World is concerned has England, conscious of her own weakness,
become less grasping, since Benjamin Franklin "wrested the sceptre from
the tyrants," since the small colonies that fought so valiantly for
their liberty rose to form the greatest dominion of the white race.

In the Summer of 1911, during the Franco-German Morocco dispute, the
English were determined to assist their old enemies, the French, against
Germany, and stationed 160,000 troops along their coast ready for
embarkation. For the French coast? No, indeed! For transportation to
Antwerp, where the English were to unite with the French Army and
combine in the destruction of the German forces. But things did not
reach that stage. England was not ready. England and France were
resolved not to respect the neutrality of Belgium--the same England that
solemnly assures the world that she has never at any time or place
committed a breach of neutrality. England has obser