Each month of this war clears away some clouds and reveals Germany as
wholly given over to crime and treachery. At the beginning of the
invasion of Belgium, the Kaiser spoke of his treaty safeguarding the
neutrality of that little land as a "scrap of paper." At the moment no
one seems to have realized whence the Kaiser had that cynical
expression. Now the whole damnable story has been made clear.
Twenty-five years ago the Kaiser, in one of his addresses, used these
words:
"From my childhood I have been under the influence of five
men--Alexander, Julius Caesar, Theodoric II, Napoleon and Frederick the
Great. These five men dreamed their dream of a world empire; they
failed. I am dreaming my dream of a world empire, but I shall succeed."
Now why did the Kaiser over and over again proclaim his allegiance to
Frederick the Great? How is it that he celebrates his ancestor,
Frederick? This "scrap of paper" incident makes it all quite clear. The
bitter waters gushing out of the Potsdam Palace go back to a bitter
spring named Frederick the Great. The poisoned fruit that ripened in
1914 hangs on a bough whose trunk was planted by Frederick in far-off
days.
Among many musty old German books recently published is a little book by
that same Frederick. The Prussian king was writing certain notes for the
guidance of his sons and successors, among whom is the present Kaiser.
In his page of counsels Frederick talks very plainly about the breaking
of treaties:
"Consider a treaty as a scrap of paper under any one of the following
emergencies: First, when necessity compels it. Second, when you lack
means to continue the war. Third, when you cannot by any other means
combat your ally or enemy."
Then Frederick raises one question: "If the interests of your army or
your people or yourself are at stake or you have to keep your word on
one hand and your pledge word and treaty is on the other hand, which
path will you take? Who can be stupid enough to hesitate in answering
this question? In other words, treaties are to be kept when they promote
your interest, and shamelessly broken when you gain thereby."
The Kaiser, therefore, had from Frederick, his ancestor, this handbook
on lying. In turn, the Kaiser gave this notion of the treaty as a scrap
of paper to his Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, who engraved, as has been
said, "on eternal brass the infamy of Germany": "We are now in a state
of necessity, and necessity knows no law. We were compelled to override
the the just protest of Luxembourg and Belgian Governments. The wrong--I
speak openly--that we are committing we will endeavour to make good as
soon as our military goal has been reached. Anybody who is threatened,
as we are threatened, and who is fighting for his highest possessions,
can have only one thought, how he is to hack his way through."
Guizot mentions "honour and fidelity to the pledged word" as one of the
distinguishing elements of what is called "a civilized State." But this
puts Germany among the barbarous savages. Three indictments and
convictions have blackened the name of Germany throughout all the world.
First, her atrocious and dishonourable methods of warfare; second, the
carrying off into slavery of non-combatants, the Belgians and French,
and third, the breach of the pledged word and the solemn treaties with
other nations.
But at last we know that Frederick the Great, the ancestor of the
Kaiser, was the author of the phrase, "the treaty is a scrap of paper."
What was once in the gristle in the ancestor is now bred in the bone of
the Kaiser and Crown Prince. That phrase, "a scrap of paper," holds the
germ of a thousand wars. It spells the ruin of civilization. Not to
resent it by war, is for the Allies to commit spiritual suicide.