es those I have mentioned. It still
holds a valuable part of France, though with
slowly relaxing grasp, and practically the whole
of Belgium. Its armies press close upon Russia and
overrun Poland at their will. It cannot go
further; it dare not go back. It wishes to close
its bargain before it is too late, and it has
little left to offer for the pound of flesh it
will demand.

The military masters under whom Germany is
bleeding see very clearly to what point fate has
brought them. If they fall back or are forced back
an inch their power both abroad and at home will
fall to pieces like a house of cards. It is their
power at home they are thinking about now more
than their power abroad. It is that power which is
trembling under their very feet; and deep fear has
entered their hearts. They have but one chance to
perpetuate their military power or even their
controlling political influence. If they can
secure peace now with the immense advantages still
in their hands, which they have up to this point
apparently gained, they will have justified
themselves before the German people; they will
have gained by force what they promised to gain by
it--an immense expansion of German power, an
immense enlargement of German industrial and
commercial opportunities. Their prestige will be
secure, and with their prestige their political
power. If they fail, their people will thrust them
aside; a Government accountable to the people
themselves will be set up in Germany as it has
been in England, in the United States, in France,
and in all the great countries of the modern time
except Germany. If they succeed they are safe and
Germany and the world are undone; if they fail
Germany is saved and the world will be at peace.
If they succeed America will fall within the
menace. We and all the rest of the world must
remain armed, as they will remain, and must make
ready for the next step in their aggression; if
they fail the world may unite for peace and
Germany may be of the union.

Do you not now understand the ne