glish statesmanship, of a compromise between England and
Russia. He did not see, however, how the hostility of the French
to ourselves would serve as a medium for this universal coalition
against us.

In the last Entente Note of the Five-Years War there is the following
passage:

"For many years the rulers of Germany, true to the Prussian tradition,
strove for a position of dominance in Europe. They required that they
should be able to dictate and tyrannize to a subservient Europe,
as they dictated and tyrannized over subservient Germany."

We Germans know that this indictment is a lie; but unfortunately
all unprejudiced Germans must acknowledge that for years this lie
has been believed outside Germany. We, for our part, cherished
similar views about our enemies, nor did we make a sufficient effort
to dissipate their prejudices. On the contrary we constantly lent
color to them by means of the extravagant and high-flown speeches,
which formed the accompaniment to our world and naval policy, and
by means of our opposition to pacifism, disarmament, and arbitration
schemes, etc., etc. The extent to which our attitude at the Hague
Conference damaged us in the eyes of the whole world is no longer
a secret to anybody. As Heinrich Friedjung rightly observes:

"At the Hague Conference German diplomacy delivered itself up to
the vengeance of the pacifists, like a culprit."

During my tenure of office in Washington I succeeded on three occasions
in coming to an agreement with the Government there regarding the
terms of an arbitration treaty. All three treaties were, however,
rejected in Berlin, and consequently in America I never ceased from
being questioned reproachfully as to the reason why the United
States had been able to conclude arbitration treaties with every
other State in the world, but not with Germany.

The Entente Note, already quoted above, contained this further
statement:

"As soon as their preparations were complete, they encouraged a
subservient ally to declare war against Serbia at forty-eight hours'
notice, knowing full well that a conflict involving the control
of the Balkans could not be localized and almost certainly meant
a general war. In order to make doubly sure, they refused every
attempt at conciliation and conference until it was too late, and
the world war was inevitable for which they had plotted, and for
which alone among the nations they were fully equipped and prepared."

The