The German Chancellor delivered an extraordinary harangue in the Reichstag
on Wednesday. Turkey had joined Germany because she knew that only thus could she preserve " her right to control her own destiny." As though Germany had not annexed that right long ago! The Chancellor then declared that, while Russia was superficially responsible for the war, the real author of it was Britain. The British Government could have declared at Petrograd " that England would not allow a Continental war." Then there would have been no war. How very simple ! But the Chancellor omitted to say that when Sir Edward Grey proposed a Conference to draw up a settlement Germany was the only Power which would not agree to it, or that a settlement had after all been nearly reached at Petrograd between Russia and Austria when Germany herself suddenly ended all possibility of keep- ing the peace. The Chancellor then went on to say that the " guilt " of Belgium in plotting with Britain had been established. This was a reference, no doubt, to the fact that notes of a discussion between Belgian and British officers as to what sort of co-operation there could be between their two countries if Belgium were invaded were discovered at Brussels. The effrontery of pretending that plans for defend- ing Belgium from wrongdoers were a guilty intrigue needs no emphasizing. The speech was altogether a very painful and humiliating performance.
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