2^8 



The Review of Reviews. 



a fundamental reconstruction of the international 

 >lructure, started, as it were, from within. Such a 

 thing is not likely to happen by evolution, but by 

 revolution. 



When millions of trained soldiers who have returned 

 to civil life resume the military discipline on the day 

 and for the purpose of casting a \ote which is primarily 

 a protest against the e.xisting order of things, the hour 

 for radical and even violent changes is certainly w'ithin 

 measurable distance. 



EXPANSION AS A SAFETY VALVE. 



Expansion is considered as an offset against such 

 menaces ; it also serves the purpose of the all-powerful 

 cosmopolitan financier. Thus, expansion will continue 

 with a correlative increase in the intensity and audacity 

 of its methods adapted to the increasing difficulty of 

 the circumstances and the higher pressure of the 

 determining causes. Furthermore, it lends itself to 

 the cry of " patriotism," which still is, not only as 

 Dr. Johnson said, " the last refuge of unsuccessful 

 scoundrels," but, also, the supreme resource of dis- 

 credited institutions and bankrupt systems. 



No deep cavilling, however, is required ; the decla- 

 ration of principle has been made with unreserved 

 frankness. On March 30th last, Ilerr von Bethmann- 

 Hollwcg, ("hancellor of the German Empire, delivered 

 himself, amongst others, of the following declarations 

 . to the civilised world, in the presence of the German 

 Reichstag : 



" The condition of peaceableness is strength. 'J'he 

 old saying still holds good, that the weak will be the 

 prey of the strong. When a people will not, or cannot. 

 continue to spend enough on its armaments to be able 

 to make its way {sich durchzuselzen) in the world, then 

 it falls back into the second rank and sinks down to the 

 role of a ' super ' on the world's stage. There will 

 alwavs be another and a stronger there who is ready 

 to take the place in the world which it has vacated. 

 We Germans, in our exposed position, are specially 

 bound to look this rough reality fearlessly in the face. 

 It is only so that we can maintain peace and our 

 existence." 



The world, and specially the weaker nations, should 

 lake this warning to heart ; it implies .something 

 beyond the serene recognition of a fact ; it is the 

 declaration of a policy, and that is the policy of ex- 

 pansion, considered indispensable to the maintenance 

 of peace and the existence of the German Empire. 



THE STATUS QUO AS IT IS. 



The situation, therefore, briefly stated, is as follows : 

 The two combinations of Powers have succeeded in 

 maintaining the peace of Europe ; 



That peace in reality is a state of latent warfare, 

 which increases daily the burdens of taxation and 

 menaces the existence of established social institutions, 

 both in constitutional countries and in despotic 

 empires alike ; 



Whilst peace has prevailed in Europe, the Powers 



have waged wars of conquest and have acquired outside 

 of Europe possession and control of vast territories ; 



The methods of assimilation — that is, of conquest — 

 have increased in violence and ruthlessness with each 

 succeeding year ; 



No Power interferes on behalf of the victims witli 

 the operations of another Power. If diflferences ever 

 arise thev refer solely to the distribution of the spoils : 



The unruffled equanimity of the official mind can 

 never be disturbed ; it watches in calm composure the 

 unnecessary destruction of property, the wanton 

 cruelty to human beings, and the blackest crimes 

 against humanity. Loyalty to the ally becomes 

 thus ominously significant and horribly potential. 



The weak have nothing to hope from the good 

 ofTices of the liberal Powers, which, after all, in reality 

 are partners in the ventures. 



A FORECAST OF THE FUTURE. 



Leading thinkers and eminent statesmen alike, 

 maintain the excellence of the system and the necessity 

 for its continuance. In view of all this it is safe to 

 assume that expansion will continue, that the force 

 of circumstances will lead to the search of whatever 

 territories may be held in weak hands, even in regions 

 that up to the present may have been considered as 

 beyond the reach of available forces. In this struggle, 

 justice and human liberty count for nothing ; it is the 

 policy of the jungle : the tiger tearing and devouring 

 the weaker beast. 



Europe as she is governed to-day is not the guardian 

 but the enemy of democracy and human liberty when, 

 they are not entrenched behind large armies and 

 powerful navies. 



" The weak will be the prey of the strong." 'Ihat 

 is the official gospel of Europe in the twentieth ccnturyj 

 It behoves the weak to look the facts fully in the face 

 Is there some precaution possible to avert the 

 announced and impending doom .' 



THE BLOODSTAINED CLAW OF EUROPE. 



The conditions just described, which would warrant 

 the description of Europe — symbolically- — as a huge 

 bloodstained claw in eager quest for new victims^ ar< 

 not fortuitous nor sporadic ; they are normal anc 

 endemic. No direct responsibility necessarily attache 

 to governing statesmen. They are as powerless as ; 

 floating log in the current ; even when they may thin) 

 otherwise, loyalty to the system which they serv 

 renders them helpless and not infrequently force 

 them to act in direct contradiction to their ow 

 convictions. 



The predatory spirit, therefore, arises from cause 

 which are ever on the increase. When Genghis, o 

 .\ttila, or Napoleon, disappeared, the world coul Si 

 breathe more freely ; in them war and devastatio 

 were incarnate. European expansion, in its presen 

 violent and sanguinary aspect, has the immort ility c 

 collective human tendencies, deeply rooted in th 

 entrails of past centuries. 



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