which we intend to pursue,
and all I have now to do is to commend them to your earnest
consideration in the name of those over whom you are the constituted
rulers."

As the President of the Federation sat down the German Emperor rose
and said in a tone which showed that he had heard the speech with but
little satisfaction--

"From what we have heard it would seem that the Federation of the
Anglo-Saxon peoples considers itself as having conquered the world,
and as being, therefore, in a position to dictate terms to all the
peoples of the earth. Am I correct in this supposition?"

Tremayne bowed in silence, and he continued--

"But this amounts to the destruction of the liberties of all peoples
who are not of the Anglo-Saxon race. It seems impossible to me to
believe that free-born men who have won their liberty upon the
battlefield will ever consent to submit to a despotism such as this.
What if they refuse to do so?"

Tremayne was on his feet in an instant. He turned half round and
faced the Kaiser, with a frown on his brow and an ominous gleam in
his eyes--

"Your Majesty of Germany may call it a despotism if you choose, but
remember that it is a despotism of peace and not of war, and that it
affects only those who would be peace-breakers and drawers of the
sword upon their fellow-creatures. I regret that you have made it
necessary for me to remind you that we have conquered your
conquerors, and that the despotism from which we have delivered the
nations of Europe would infallibly have been ten thousand times worse
than that which you are pleased to miscall by the name.

"You deplore the loss of the right and the power to draw the sword
one upon another. Well, now, take that right back again for the last
time! Say here, and now, that you will not acknowledge the supremacy
of the Council of the Federation, and take the consequences!

"Our soldiers are still in the field, our aerial fleet is still in
the air, and our sea-navy is under steam. But, remember, if you
appeal to the sword it shall be with you as it was with Alexander
Romanoff and the Russian force which invaded England. We have
annihilated the army to a man, and exiled the Autocrat for life.
Choose now, peace or war, and let those who would choose war with you
take their stand beside you, and we will fight another Armageddon!"

The pregnant and pitiless words brought the Kaiser to his senses in
an instant. He remembered that his army was destroyed,