CHAPTER XI MENDACITY Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. OT alone in Belgium did Prussian psy NOT chology err. Regarding the Belgians as so puny as to be negligible, and judging them as if they were Germans, it had taken it for granted that they would not oppose an empire whose army outnumbered theirs by ten to one; but the Belgians, reasoning and feeling in quite un-Prussian ways, dared to resist, and their resistance, as we have seen, although it was brief, threw out of joint the grand strategy of the German Staff. The Kaiser did not celebrate Napoleon's Birthday by a dinner in Paris, as he had planned, nor did he dictate overwhelming terms of peace to France. Neither did he paralyze Russia by a sudden drive. German psychology, unhinged by Belgium's courage, was smashed beyond repair by England's decision. For England, instead of being the weary Titan, afraid of Suffragettes and terrified by Irish factions, instead of being a sordid money-bags concerned only in amassing wealth, declared that she would fulfil her pledge and defend Belgium. She, at least, would not subscribe to the Prussian doctrine that small nations had no right to exist; and although she had only "a gentleman's agreement" with France, that to her was binding. At the first suspicion that England's psychology would not function as the Prussians had calculated, the German Chancellor tried to seduce her to desert France and Belgium. In the German code, honor pledged in the past is to be thrown over, if it prove inconvenient in the present. To Bethmann-Hollweg this was so self-evident a truth that he listened with incredulity and then flew into wild rage when he was told that England did not look upon a solemn compact as "a mere scrap of paper." The next day, when the British Prime Minister told the Commons and the world that no Englishman could listen to this "infamous proposal," his laconic statement required no amplification. Everywhere outside of Germany it was held to be obvious that he could make no other. Then burst upon England the wrath of Kaiser and Chancellor, and of every German who spoke out; and tiny boys and girls were taught like parrots to repeat the curse, "Gott strafe England," God punish England,and to glower with hate whenever they heard England's name. So a robber, who is surprised by a policeman just as he is in the act of sandbagging a victim, turns with fury upon the policeman, curses him and calls him unfair and the despoiler of the ancient profession of robbers - the profession by which the Hohenzollerns had thriven for centuries. The frenzy into which Germany flew over England's keeping her promise to defend Belgium and the rights of small nations, became chronic. It was a confession that she was the ultimate enemy at whom the vast German war preparations were aimed. The official pretext alleged was that Germany took up arms to save herself and the civilization of Western Europe from the Slavic Peril. We were asked to believe that the subjects of the Hohenzollern and the Hapsburg Emperors lived in dread of being submerged by a flood of Muscovite barbarians, which would sweep away Kultur and the inferior but still recognized civilization of England, France, and Italy. The Czar's mobilization of part of his army to succor Serbia, after Austria had not only mobilized her troops, but was actually bombarding the Serbian capital, was advanced by the Germans as a sign that the floodgates of the Slavic Peril had broken down. Instead of making straight for Russia, however, the German armies made straight for Belgium and France - a strange blunder in geography for a people whose impeccable maps were drawn by Kiepert and whose wonderful guide-books were compiled by Baedeker! Only a commander-in-chief saturated with the logic of Kultur would rush due west to repel a foe who was massing his forces to attack four hundred miles due east. In truth, the Kaiser was simply carrying out the plan laid down years before by the General Staff: in spite of England's interference, he still hoped to crush France before English help could reach her. This accomplished, he counted on being able to ward off an English descent on the French coast, if one were attempted, which seemed unlikely, - and to detach the larger part of his Western troops for service against Russia. A desperate hope, quickly blasted by Sir John French's masterly retreat and General Joffre's victorious strategy. One morning the Kaiser's scouts looked gloatingly down on Paris from the terrace at Saint-Germain, as |