17 MARCH 1917, Page 3

We are democrats, and we are not ashamed to say

that one of the best lessons of the war will be that nations so far advanced in civilization as Germany must be held responsible for the system of government which they adopt or permit to exist. We say this advisedly. For example, if Frenchmen were to allow some adven- turer to establish a tyranny in France such as that established by Napoleon III., and then permit that tyrant to involve them in an unjust war, they would have to pay the penalties justly exacted of them for his misdeeds, and for their own slackness in guarding their liberties.