will strip her of ill-gained
territory. They will empty her arsenals and burn her war
workshops. They will impose a colossal indemnity which will
condemn her for long years to grinding poverty. They will
confiscate her fleet. They will remove the treasures of her
galleries and museums, and take toll of her libraries, to
make compensation for her pillage and incendiarism in
Belgium. The measure of punishment is always a matter of
difficulty. But surely anything less than this would be
wholly disproportionate to the rank offences of Germany. The
reckoning, the retribution, the retaliation to be just must
be most stern. The victorious Allies, who will be her
judges, will not be moved by "mealymouthed philanthropies."
"Justice shall strike and Mercy shall not hold her hands:
she shall strike sore strokes, and Pity shall not break the
blow."

The Pope, the Vatican, and Italy

In The Fortnightly Review for July E.J. Dillon is sweeping in his
arraignment of the new Pope Benedict XV. and the Vatican, of the Pope
because of his "neutrality in matters of public morality," and of the
Vatican because of its hostility to the cause of Allies. Toward
martyred Belgium and suffering France the Pope "has been generous in
lip sympathy and promises of rewards in the life to come," Mr. Dillon
says; but he has "found no word of blame for their executioners." Mr.
Dillon personally offered Benedict XV. "some important information on
the subject which seemed adequate to change his views or modify his
action," but he "turned the conversation to other topics." In fairness
he adds that "personally Benedict XV. had been careful to keep aloof
from Buelow and his band," and has neither said nor done anything
blameworthy with the sole exception of the interview and message which
he was reported to have given "to an American-German champion of
militarism at the instigation of his intimate counsellor, Monsignor
Gerlach"--an interview, by the way, which the Pope has since expressly
repudiated.

Monsignor Gerlach, Mr. Dillon says, is "one of the most compromising
associates and dangerous mentors that any sovereign ever admitted to
his privacy," and continues:

Years ago, the story runs, Gerlach made the acquaintance of
a worldly minded papal Nuntius in the fashionable salons of
gay Vienna, and, being men of similar tastes and
proclivities, the two enjoy