iveness might
make one last supreme effort.

But, on the other hand, is she really doing as well as it seems?
Unless she intervenes this war will probably last for another full
year. She wants it to end. It is a terrible oppression. Her army must
remain mobilized, even if it does not fight. Her trade stagnates. She
is incumbered by refugees. What if she struck to end the war and get
the tension over? Not now, perhaps, but presently. Simultaneously with
the Franco-British counter-stroke that now draws near.

And what if she struck also for a hatred of what has happened to
Belgium? Suppose the Dutch are not so much frightened by the horrible
example of Belgium as indignant. My impression of the Dutch--and we
English know something of the Dutch spirit--is that they are a people
not easily cowed. Suppose that they have not only a reasonable fear
but a reasonable hatred of "frightfulness." Suppose that an
intelligent fellow-feeling for a small nation has filled them with a
desire to give Germany a lesson. There, it may be, is a second reason
why Holland should come in.

And by coming in, there is something more than the mere termination of
a strain and the vindication of international righteousness to
consider. There is the possibility, and not only the possibility but
the possible need, that Holland should come out of this world war
aggrandized. I want to lay stress upon that, because it may prove a
decisive factor in this matter.

The Dutch desire aggrandizement for the sake of aggrandizement as
little as any nation in Europe. But what if the path of aggrandizement
be also the path of safety?

It is clear that both France and Belgium will demand and receive
territorial compensation for these last months of horror. It is
ridiculous to suppose that the Germans may fling war in its most
atrocious and filthy form over Belgium and some of the sweetest parts
of France without paying bitterly and abundantly for the freak.

Quite apart from indemnities, France and Belgium must push forward
their boundaries so far that if ever Germany tries another rush she
will have to rush for some days through her own lost lands. The only
tolerable frontier against Germans is a day's march deep in Germany.
Of course, Liege will have to be covered in the future by Belgian
annexations in the Aix region and stretching toward Cologne, and
France will go to the Rhine. I think Belgium as well as France will be
forced to go to the Rhine.

It