nnot
satisfy the "decent respect to the opinions of mankind." It is the
negation of all that civilization stands for.

Belgium has been crucified in the face of the world. Its innocence of
any offense, until it was attacked, is too clear for argument. Its
voluntary immolation to preserve its solemn guarantee of neutrality
will "plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation
of its taking off."

It may be questioned whether, since the fall of Poland, Civilization
has been stirred to more profound pity and intense indignation than by
this wanton outrage. Pity, radiating to the utmost corners of the
world by the "sightless couriers of the air,"

"Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind."

Was it also, as with Macbeth, a case of

"Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other"?

Time will tell.

Had Germany not invaded Belgium, it is an even chance that England
would not have intervened, at least at the beginning of the war.

Germany could have detached a relatively small part of its army to
defend its highly fortified Western frontier, and leaving France to
waste its strength on frontal attacks on that almost impregnable line
of defense, Germany with the bulk of its army and that of Austria
could have made a swift drive at Russia.

Is it not possible that that course would have yielded better results
than the fiasco, which followed the fruitless drive at Paris?

If Germany succeeds, it will claim that "nothing succeeds like
success," and to the disciples of Treitschke and Bernhardi this will
be a sufficing answer.

If it fail, posterity will be at a loss to determine which blundered
the worst, the German Foreign Office or its General Staff, its
diplomats or its generals.

CHAPTER X

THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD

The record has now been laid before the reader in all its essential
details. The witnesses for the different countries have taken the
stand and we have their respective contentions in their own words.
Czar, Emperor, and King, as well as Prime Minister, Chancellor, and
Ambassador, have testified as to the fateful events, which preceded
the outbreak of the war, with a fullness of detail, to which history
presents few parallels. The evidence which Germany and Austria have
suppressed does not prevent the determination of the issue.

It is a great tribute to the force of public opinion and a clear
recognition