The German claim--not the Austrian nor the Turk, for the alliance
following Germany is to be allowed little force--is that, the
civilisation of Europe now being defeated, a Roman pride may be
generous to the fallen. Before modern Germany is routed, as may be seen
in the features of its citizens, the nobility of its public works, and
the admirable, restrained, and classic sense of its literature, this
generosity to a humbled world will take the form of letting nations,
of right independent, enjoy some measure of freedom under a German
suzerainty. In the matter of property the magnanimous descendants
of Frederick and William the Great will restore the machines which
cannot be wrenched from their concrete beds, and the walls of the
manufactories. More liquid property, such as jewellery, furniture,
pictures--and coin--it will be more difficult to trace. In any case,
Europe may breathe again, though with a shorter breath than it did
before Germany conquered at the Marne.... This is the majestic vision
which the subtle diplomats of Berlin present to the admiration of the
neutral Powers, happily free from wicked passions of war, and not
blinded, as are the British, French, Russians, Italians, Belgians, and
the Serbians, by petty spite. Their audience, their triple audience,
is part of Greece, some of the public of Spain, and sections of that
of the United States. To the French and the British armies in the
West, to the Russians in the East, and to the Italians upon their
frontiers, the terms appear insufficient. Therein would seem to lie
the gravity of Prussia’s case. These belligerent Powers will go so
far as to demand more than the mere restoration of stolen property,
from cottage furniture to freedom. And their anger has risen so high
that they even propose to make the acquirer of these goods suffer very
bitterly indeed. What plea he will then raise under discomforts more
serious than those he has caused to the peasants of Flanders and of
Poland, and how those pleas will affect his neutral audience, will have
no effect whatever on the result of the war, or on his own unpleasing
fate. Those appeals will have a certain interest, however, because we
know from the past that the German mind is unstable. Within fifteen
short months it proposed the annihilation of the French armies and the
occupation of Paris. It failed. It next offered terms upon suffering
defeat. It withdrew them. It next made certain at least of a conquest
of Russia, failed again, offered terms again, withdrew them again; was
directed to the blockading of England, failed; thought Egypt better,
and then changed its mind. It was but yesterday in the mood that this
cartoon suggests; to-morrow its mood will have utterly changed again,
probably to a whine, perhaps to a scream. Such instability is rare in
the history of nations which propose a conquest of others, and it is a
very poor furniture for the mind.