And now Germany, like a mortally wounded wolf with the hounds at his throat, undertakes to propose terms of peace to the Allies! With a great show of large-heartedness, the Reichstag now talks very magnanimously of peace with "no annexations and no indemnities." Yes, indeed! A peace on that basis would suit Germany well. Tricky and shifty to the last gasp, she seeks thus to catch the swell-headed "soldiers and workmen" of Russia, the large-mouthed and blatant anarchists and radical socialists of America, and the traitor-pacifists of the world at large. But all honest men who are wide awake know full well that a peace of that nature would spell "victory" for Germany, and as certain as death and taxes another war with her later on!
The Entente Allies presently will fix the terms of peace, as they should be fixed, and Germany will accept them; but first there will be another eighteen months of war.
With new German-made peace talk streaming out of Berlin, it is now time to post the books for the past three years, and see how the German account stands. Nothing is more conducive to peace and prosperity than a true sense of proportion, and a correct point of view. In all times of danger it is best to know the worst.
The debit side of Germany's account quickly resolves itself, first of all, into a catalogue of Germany's blunders, as the reasons for her crimes, and her present state of impotent rage. It is highly necessary that Americans should study this list, in order to judge the case fairly, and to be able to act intelligently when the times comes for the Allies to discuss the peace terms that Germany, Austria and Turkey must accept.
It is the natural impulse of high-minded and humane people to be over-magnanimous to beaten enemies, to condone crime altogether too often, and to help the down-and-out criminal to get back upon his feet. It is also a sadly common thing for a confirmed criminal to turn, cur-like, and bite the hand that helps him; and many a criminal has murdered the generous man or woman who gave him a place to lay his head.
There are criminals and criminals. Some deserve succor; others merit quick extermination. The confirmed criminal is in a class by himself. He is unfit to live; but as the very smallest measure of self-protection, society should punish him for his crimes, and render him innocuous for the future. In other words, every confirmed criminal should either be killed or segregated, and made to exist in a little hell of his own, while decent people go their respective ways in peace and security.
Eight million men, to whom America shortly will add at least two million more, bravely are risking their lives on the battlefields of Europe and Asia in an effort to put two criminal nations,—Germany and Turkey,—into an exclusive hell of their own, and keep them there for the protection of civilization.
In courts of law, it is customary to consider the motives of the prisoner at the bar, to search out his lines of thought, and study his methods. An annotated catalogue of the blunders of Germany will afford a clear insight into the present world situation, and the Teutonic frame of temper. It will also serve a good purpose when the time comes to arraign Germany and her allies for sentence.
Before we open the door of the German den of mixed wolves and mad-dogs, let us read this marvelously true and prophetic pen picture of Kaiser William as it was published by Harold Frederic, in the New York Times, on April 2, 1888, twenty-nine years ago: