This sudden outburst of hatred in a nation so intelligent startled and
amazed us. It can be understood only when we remember that the German
Government did everything in its power not only to create hatred, but
also to stifle every voice that was raised to let the people know
the truth. They never have been permitted to know the truth, and the
disappointment that fell upon them when their march on Paris was
arrested with the help of a British Army and their coasts strictly
blockaded by a British fleet added fuel to their anger and has made it
ever since an easier matter to keep the truth from them.
Now, what was the truth?
The British people bore no hatred whatever toward the German people.
King Edward VII. meant no harm to Germany when he showed his liking
for the French. Neither did his Ministers when they took steps to
remove the differences that had been causing trouble between ourselves
and France, and again when they came to a friendly understanding with
Russia. These arrangements were made in the interests of European
peace and good-will, not in order to damage Germany. British merchants
and manufacturers never dreamed of fighting Germany to get rid of her
commercial competition. Had such an idea occurred to them, they would
have reflected that Germany was England's best foreign customer, not
to add that two years of even a successful war would have inflicted
far more loss upon them than the extension of German trade competition
could have repaired in twenty years. British men of science and
learning admired the immense contributions Germany had been making
to the progress of knowledge, and they had many personal friends in
Germany. British statesmen did not desire to add to British possessions
abroad, feeling that we had already all we needed, and that the
greatest interest of the British Empire was a universal peace.
No section of our people, neither traders, nor thinkers and writers,
nor statesmen, had any idea of the dangers to the mind and the
purpose of those who ruled Germany. We did not realize what the feudal
aristocracy and military caste of Germany were pondering and planning,
nor how little weight they attached to considerations either of good
faith or of humanity. Hence, beyond maintaining a strong fleet, the
indispensable protection of a country open to sea attack which did not
maintain a large army, we had made no preparations for war, and had
scarcely bethought ourselves of what action we should have to take
on land if we became involved in war. In this belief and attitude
there may have been less prudence than was needed. But our absence of
suspicion is the best proof of how little we expected aggression. It is
an absolute refutation of the calumny that Britain, with her tiny army,
was planning an attack on the greatest military power in the world.
All this every Englishman knows. I repeat it only because it has now
received not only a confirmation but also a valuable further proof in
the Lichnowsky memorandum, a proof unsolicited and uncontemplated, and,
moreover, unimpeachable, because it comes from one who bore a leading
part in what it records, and who never meant to let it become known.