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other prisoners, barring their restricted liberty, they are treated as well as our own soldiers,
There is no such thing as hate in England. Even if we do not love our enemies, we realise that they, like us, are human beings!
The Kaiser's birthday was duly celebrated in various camps, the interior of the buildings being decorated with the German and Austrian national colours. There were musical and dramatic entertainments and the "Wacht am Rhein was sung at the conclusion of these entertainments! I saw a programme, headed: "Zu Ehren des Geburtstages S. M. des Kaisers— Stratford, E., Kriegsgefängnis-Mittwoch, den 27. Januar, 1915." and surmounted by the German Imperial Arms. Would this be possible in Germany? Just think!
X.... makes much of my having quoted a pro- clamation posted in Grivegnée. I merely quoted it- and I have good proofs-to show what was possible (I hoped and believed it to be an exception, as I added) and to illustrate the frame of mind of those Prussians whose influence, as the Kaiser's advisers, I considered responsible for the war.
To accentuate my point, I could have quoted Gen- eral von Bernhardi's views, the believer in "Weltmacht oder Niedergang." Here are a few of them. I quote from his book "Germany and the next War" published as recently as 1911:
"The Great Elector laid the foundations of Prussia's power by successful and deliberately incurred wars.
Frederick the Great followed in the steps of his glorious ancestor
None of the wars
had been forced upon him
He had always determined to be the aggressor,
to anticipate his opponents, and to secure for him-
self favourable prospects of success."
and further on:
"The appropriate and conscious employment of War as a political means has always led to happy results."
And what about that great Prussian, Bismarck, that grand master of diplomacy and Realpolitik,—much as I myself admire his intellect, his magnificent strength of will and consistency of purpose and may even prefer his brutal frankness to the hesitating milk-and-water Foreign policy of his great contemporary, Gladstone.
Can you imagine any country, but Prussia, pro- ducing this man of "blood and iron," who, after having with Austria's help defeated the Danes in 1864 and made them cede Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg to Austria and Prussia, within but two years there- after deliberately attacked his old ally in order to annex the three duchies to Prussia?
And what about 1870? Of course I know, Im- perial France was immeasurably conceited and cheeky and deserved at that time all she got; but there seems to be small doubt that she would not have declared war had not Bismarck, who was only too delighted to see France in that state, cleverly incited the "Gallic bull" to fury, as he himself has said.
I am getting somewhat away from the main issue, but it is as well to show X.... that if, as he writes, England waged more than one aggressive war which she did (though hardly in the Prussian spirit), Germany herself has quite a lot to answer for in that regard!
I do not, however, deduce therefrom that, because Prussia's policy within my own time has been one of aggression, also this war must therefore have been caused by Germany, as X.... deduces in England's We, in this country, consider even a ten-times convicted criminal innocent until his guilt has been fairly proved in the eleventh case, His previous crimes are not even known to Judge and Jury until he has been found guilty.
case.
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