superficially apparent is that the
diplomats knew all along that Germany wanted war and was doing all she
could to obtain war on terms most favorable to herself. That our own
interest coincided with our duty to Belgium did not by any means render
our duty a mere excuse for action. If a burglar is making his way upward
in the house where Mr. Shaw lives and Mr. Shaw comes down and collars
him in the flat of a defenseless invalid below and hands him over to the
police Mr. Shaw would not expect the police to say, "You are a
hypocrite; you only seized the burglar because you feared he would come
to you next." I stick to the burglar simile, because a burglar is just
what Germany is.

*The "Infamous Proposal" Phrase.*

Mr. Shaw characterizes Mr. Asquith's phrase, "Germany's infamous
proposal," as the "obvious barrister's claptrap." Once more this is
totally inexcusable. I do not always see eye to eye with Mr. Asquith, I
agree with Mr. Shaw that he has more than once sinned against democratic
principles, but what has that to do with the point? My general
impression of Mr. Asquith and general impression of this country is that
Mr. Asquith, in addition to being a pretty good Liberal, is an honest
man. His memorable speech containing the "infamous proposal" phrase was
most positively a genuine emotional expression of his conviction and of
the conviction of the whole country, and Mr. Shaw, a finished master of
barrister's claptrap when he likes, has been merely scurrilous about it.
Germany's proposal was infamous. Supposing that we had taken the Belgium
point at Mr. Shaw's valuation of it, the "nonsense about Belgium," as he
calls it, and refrained from war, what would have been the result? The
result would have been that today we could not have looked one another
in the face as we passed down the street.

But Mr. Shaw is not content with arguing that the Belgium point was a
mere excuse for us. He goes further and continually implies that there
was no Belgium point. Every time he mentions the original treaty that
established Belgian neutrality he puts after it in brackets, [date
1839,] an obvious barrister's device, sarcastically to discredit the
treaty because of its age. He omits to say that the chief clause in the
treaty contains the word "perpetually." What is worse, he infers that by
the mere process of years, as Belgium gradually made herself, civilized
herself, enriched herself, and increased her stake in the world, her