The identity between the secret comments of Holstein and the
overt comments of the Nazi speakers and journalists is in fact astonishing. There is the same use of such phrases as " impertinence," " governess," " British hypocrisy," " Ger- man honour," " beware of this cunning Chamberlain trap," or "what we want are deeds and not words." There is the same tendency to cherish grievances while refusing to state what those grievances are. There is the same conviction that England will never make friends with Russia, that England can easily be separated from France, that England is suffering from internal decay and that the Empire is about to fall to pieces, and that those elements in this country who are ready to surrender to Berlin are more potent and more numerous than is actually the case. There is that unhappy belief that, whereas Great Britain will always get the better of Germany in any negotiation, Germany will always get the better of the English in war. And there is the same sad suicidal mania which drives them to the abyss.
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