the
Allies must win and will win. I am no longer neutral. What I saw in
Belgium of the wanton destruction of villages, towns, and cities has
prejudiced me as no argument could have done. The Allies' losses will
begin when they take the offensive against the German works which are
now being constructed. Soon England will have 600,000 more men on the
Continent and there will be more doing.

"The losses of the Germans have been two or three times the losses of
the Allies in the Belgian trenches, because the Germans have been the
attacking parties. If the Allies become the attacking parties they
will have to sustain the heavy losses. But I cannot see it otherwise
than that the Allies must win. The crime against Belgium is the
greatest crime since Calvary, and it has set the whole world against
Germany.

"It is not only a crime, but it was a military error, for to-day
Germany has 600 miles of front to defend, 300 east and 300 west, and
her losses have been enormous. At Liege 7000 Germans went down in a
single day's fighting. One man I met assisted to bury 500 Germans in
front of a single trench.

"I do not believe Brussels is mined; but if ever the Germans got into
Paris they would destroy the whole city before they left.

"I shudder to think what the Germans will suffer at the hands of the
Belgians when once the rout of the Germans has been begun by the
Allies. The Belgians are unreconciled, and if they ever get weapons in
their hands--well, I will not predict, I will just tell you one fact: I
traveled the length and breadth of the land, saw the women and the
children sitting by their ruined hearthstones, but I never saw a tear
on the cheek of a Belgian."

CHAPTER IX

RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIANS

Russian Reforms--A United Russia--Russian Armaments--The Greatest
Future--Two Water Outlets--The Slav Invasion Bugaboo.

Russia also is likely to bring forth some notable men who have not
previously been heard of before the world. General Evanoff is the idol
of the Russian army. He is the strategist who plans the movements
against Austria and Germany in the East, who surrounds Przemysl and
says, "Now, we can take it when we please, but we will not sacrifice
Russian troops to take it now; Cracow is more important. Lodz is not
important from a military standpoint. We will surround it later."

Evanoff orders his men to keep out of the valleys and engage the
Germans in the open plain, where their own numb