the most powerful, not the most numerous, party in Germany wanted the
war. It would be as futile to try to prove that Ireland did not want
home rule as that Germany did not want war. As for a war literature,
bibliographical statistics show, I believe, that in the last ten years
Germany has published seven thousand books or pamphlets about war. No
one but a German or a Shaw, in a particularly mischievous mood, would
seek to show that Great Britain is responsible for the war fever. It
simply is not so.

Mr. Shaw urges that we all armed together. Of course we did. When one
nation publicly turns bellicose the rest must copy her preparations. If
Great Britain could live this century over again she would do over again
what she actually did, because common sense would not permit her to do
otherwise. The admitted fact that some Britons are militarists does not
in the slightest degree impair the rightness or sagacity of our policy.
If one member of a family happens to go to the bad and turn burglar,
therein is no reason why the family mansion should not be insured
against burglary.

Mr. Shaw proceeds to what he calls the diplomatic history of the war.
His notion of historical veracity may be judged from his description of
the Austrian ultimatum to Servia as an escapade of a dotard. He puts the
whole blame of it on Franz Josef, and yet he must know quite well that
Germany has admitted even to her own subjects that Austria asked
Germany's opinion about her policy and obtained Germany's approval
before delivering the ultimatum. [Official German pamphlet "Reasons for
the War with Russia," August, 1914.] There is no word in Mr. Shaw's
diplomatic history of the repeated efforts toward peace made by Great
Britain and scotched by Germany. On the contrary, with astounding
audacity and disingenuousness, he tries to make it appear that
suggestions for peace were offered by Germany and rejected by Great
Britain. Once more it simply was not so.

*Defense of Sir Edward Grey.*

Mr. Shaw's paraphrase of Document 17 in the British diplomatic
dispatches is a staggering travesty. So far as I can see it bears no
relation to the original. Further, he not only deplores that a liberal
government should have an imperialist Foreign Secretary, but he accuses
Sir Edward Grey of sacrificing his country's welfare to the interests of
his party and committing a political crime in order not to incur the
wrath of The Daily News and The Manchester Guardian