LAND AND WATER 
July 24, 1915. 
VIII. "The German Empire has done everything lu lU 
power, at times under considerable sacrifice, to main- 
tain peace." (Pai'- 32) 
IX. " In 1914 Kai.ser Wilhehn drew the sword only 
because he had beeu attacked by numericaU;/ aupr.rior 
enemies." (Par- ^^ ) 
X. " French and Russian militarism grew into an 
European menace; in Franc-e, through the reintroduo- 
tion of th© Three Years' Service term; in Russia 
through the accumulation of tremendous war material 
in Tolaud, and the proposed building of strategic rail- 
roads against the Austro-German frontier." 
" • (Par. 37.) 
XI. " Russia maintained an army in peace which by far 
outnumbered all armies of Europe." (Par. 38.) 
XII. " War would hardly have resulted if England had 
not joined in the war alliance of the two Continental 
countries." (Par. 40.) 
XIII. " The British Army is formed from a horde of hire- 
lines that serves for money, not from the flower of 
the nation." (P^r. 44.) 
XIV. " One-half of the world allied itself to crush Germany 
under the instigation of Great Britain." 
(Penultimate par.) 
These mostly general statements, picked out 
of an immense mass of vague verbiage, form the 
only direct matter for criticism which this 
excellent military writer presents when he 
attempts a role in which, let us hope, all soldiers 
are naturally reluctant. 
The rest is merely talking at large about the 
excellence of Prussia, her policy, her history; the 
weakness and envy of her rivals, and so forth. 
Well, each of these fourteen statements can 
be met so easily that one is al.-nost ashamed to 
undertake the short task of exposing them. 
I. England, France, and Prussia had 
solemnly agreed that Belgian territory should be 
inviolate. Upon Prussia breaking her trust not 
only England but France also actively prepared 
to keep theirs and to protect Belgium. They 
failed. But to call this a breach of neutrality is 
exactly as though of three trustees, one, proving 
fraudulent, should call the other two who were 
prepared to prosecute him, unfaithful to the 
spirit of the trust. 
II. For nearly a generation France desired 
to destroy Prussia, and would have done so had it 
been within her power. She was quite incapable 
of fighting single-handed; the alliances and 
understandings against her outnumbered her by 
four to one. When at last she obtained the sup- 
port of Russia it was on the strict understanding 
that this support was for peace and not for war ; 
to prevent her being attacked, but also to prevent 
her attacking. So true is this that peace was 
preserved until the idea of reversing the condi- 
tions of 1870 had weakened in France with the 
growing up of a new generation and had been 
almost abandoned. When war came it came as 
the result of an ultimattm of the most violent 
kind, launched against France by Prussia, and 
regarded throughout Germany as the prelude to 
instant and crushing victory. 
III. Exactly the same argument applies in 
the case of Russia. The challenge issued to 
Russia was as violent as words could make it, was 
delivered unexpectedly, and allowed of no delay 
whatsoever. x\nd Russia's strong appeal for 
peace and negotiation was rejected. As in the 
case of France, the ultimatum was delivered by 
the Prussian Government under the conception 
that victory was certain. Prussia has never be- 
fore talked as she is made to talk here. She 
adopts now a style utterly novel to her, and she 
only adopts this new language because her plans 
have failed. 
IV. Conscription in Germany was not uni- 
versal. There was no military service in Europe 
where social conditions made a greater difference 
between man and man. The fact that French 
conscription was universal and that social ranks 
were obliterated in the Army was the great con- 
trast between French and German military ideas, 
and the contrast was a commonplace throughout 
Europe. 
v. This fifth point is simply silly. The 
German army in Belgium, still more in Poland, 
and to a less degree in France, has committed 
countless abominations of a kind quite unknown 
in modern war, including the enslavement of the 
civil population, rape, arson, and murder — in par- 
ticular the murder of children. The Allied 
Governments have issued, and will (at the con- 
clusion of the war) issue in far greater mass, the 
detailed and very numerous cases which can be 
proved by innumerable witnesses. Meanwhile, 
Lord Bryce's report, drawn up by men who had 
hitherto admired modern Germany to excess and 
who rejected masses — whole categories — of testi- 
mony which the French and others will admit, is 
open for all English-speaking readers. 
VI. No arguments have been brought for- 
ward by the Allies since the war began to justify 
it. The war came after a generation and more 
of boasting on the part of Prussia that she was 
invincible with her allies. That she cared nothing 
for treaty where the aggrandisement of Prussia 
was concerned. That Christian morals were for 
the weak. That her conquest of pe?,ceable neigh- 
bours was the logic of history ! And so forth. The 
origin of the war was akin to all this. It 
simply consisted in the couple of ultimatums 
already alluded to challenging Russia and France 
to give way or to fight. They had no option but 
to fight or to lose their position as great Powers. 
Prussia may have hoped they v/ould give way 
without fighting, as they did "in 1909. "But she 
challenged, and the responsibility is hers. 
VII. It is true that many of the methods of 
the German Army were wisely imitated abroad 
after 1870, because they proved excellent in war, 
particularly short service and the corresponding 
system of great reserves. It is not true that the 
modern great conscript armies were uninfluenced 
by the German peril. They were directly pro- 
duced by it, and the proof is that until 1870 such 
awful burdens were undreamt of outside Prussia, 
and that yet for forty-four years the peace was 
maintained. In nearly all modern equipment 
Prussia has copied — not led — for Prussia is not 
creative. Hence the power of the Western 
Allies, taken at a disadvantage, to hold 
their own. 
VIII. No. The Prussian Government (that 
is, the German Empire) alone of all the Powers 
engaged in this war presented the two violent 
demands on Russia and France which were, and 
were intended to be, declarations of war. Austria 
hesitated. Russia begged for an arbitration. 
France was moving heaven and earth to avoid war 
— and therefore mobilised late. England was last 
of all to move. 
IX. Exactly the opposite of the truth. The 
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