us Germany, she may herself acquire great advantages, both
in trade and on the sea, and in order to make France entirely
dependent upon her. The consequence of this opinion is in the
highest degree remarkable. Whether you speak with a politician or
with a porter or shoemaker, the same wish will always be expressed.
We must, when we have beaten France, offer her peace on very
acceptable terms in order to make her our ally to fight--against
England.

The German error, which the declaration of the Allies should go far to
correct, is all the more remarkable in view of the stipulations of the
Austro-German Treaty of Alliance. Concluded in 1879 by Bismarck and
Andrassy, this treaty still governs the relationship between Germany and
Austria-Hungary. Its first clause runs:

Should, contrary to the hope and against the sincere wish of the
two high contracting parties, one of the two empires be attacked by
Russia, the high contracting parties are bound to stand by each
other with the whole of the armed forces of their empires, and, _in
consequence thereof, only to conclude peace jointly and in
agreement_.

However low the German estimate of the moral cohesion of France, Russia,
and England, German statesmen must be singularly lacking in shrewdness
if they suppose the Allies to be less alive than were Bismarck and
Andrassy to the need for complete co-operation between allies, not only
in war, but also in the negotiation of peace.

The futile German campaign for the detachment of France from her allies
is, indeed, the most striking indication yet forthcoming of the
misgivings with which the resolute action of the Allies is beginning to
inspire the Kaiser and his Government.

* * * * *

IMPERIAL MESSAGE TO THE BRITISH DOMINIONS.

King George V. to the Self-Governing Peoples and the Empire of India,
Sept. 9, 1914.

To the Governments and Peoples of my Self-Governing Dominions: During
the past few weeks the peoples of my whole empire at home and overseas
have moved with one mind and purpose to confront and overthrow an
unparalleled assault upon the continuity of civilization and the peace
of mankind.

The calamitous conflict is not of my seeking, my voice has been cast
throughout on the side of peace. My Ministers earnestly strove to allay
the causes of strife and to appease differences with which my empire was
not con