iged, by the terms of her
alliance, to stand by Russia, but they had confidently counted on
keeping England out of the war. In fact, the German ambassador to
England had assured the German emperor that England had so many
troubles, with her uprising in Ireland and threatened rebellions in
India and South Africa that she would never dare fight at this time.

The English people, on the other hand, were now thoroughly aroused. If
there is one thing that an Englishman prides himself on, it is keeping
his word. The word of the English had been given, through their
government, to Belgium that this little country, if it should resist
invasion, would be protected, and this word they thought must be kept
at all hazards. It made no difference that, aside from her great navy,
England was utterly unprepared for the war. Like the decision which
Belgium had had to make the day before, this was a crucial step for
the British to take, but to their everlasting honor they did not
hesitate. In the case of Germany's declaration of war the German laws
say that no war can be declared by the Kaiser alone unless it is a
defensive war. Therefore, as one American writer has pointed out, this
is the only kind of war that the Kaiser ever declares. The German
military group, having control of the newspapers, put in a lot of
stories made up for the occasion about French soldiers having crossed
the border and shot down Germans on August 2nd. They told how French
aviators had dropped bombs on certain German cities. As a matter of
fact, the French soldiers, by orders of their government, were drawn
back from the frontier a distance of six miles in order to avoid any
appearance of attacking the Germans. The City Council of Nuremburg,
one of the cities that was said to have been bombed by the French,
later gave out a formal statement saying that no bombs had fallen on
their city and no French aviators had been seen near it. But the
German government gave out this "news" and promptly declared a
"defensive" war, and the German people had to believe what they were
told.

Very different was the case in England. Here was a free people, with
free schools and free newspapers. Just as every German had been taught
in the schools of his country that Germany was surrounded by a ring of
jealous enemies and would one day have to fight them all, so the
people of England had been taught in their schools that war between
civilized peoples is a hateful thing and must f