ly sudden changes of purpose and precipitated the
war by an arrogant ultimatum to Russia, which that country could not
possibly accept without a fatal sacrifice of its self-respect and
prestige as a nation.

If it be true--and the future may demonstrate it--that this war was
planned by Germany at least as far back as the Moroccan crisis, then
the Kaiser's responsibility for the commencement of the quarrel cannot
be doubted. It is inconceivable that the German Foreign Office could
pursue for three years the policy of precipitating a European war
without the knowledge and consent of the "Over War Lord."

When full data are accessible as to the importations by Germany in
advance of the war, as to its withdrawal of foreign credits and
placing of foreign loans, its sales of stocks by influential
investors, and its importations on the eve of the war of horses and
foodstuffs, a strong circumstantial case may be developed of a
deliberate purpose to retrieve the Moroccan fiasco by an audacious
_coup_ which would determine the mastery of Europe. The levy in 1913
of an extraordinary tax upon capital, which virtually confiscated the
earnings of the German people for military purposes, adds much support
to this contention. According to Giolitti, the former Italian Premier,
Austria sounded Italy in August, 1913, as to its willingness to
participate in a war against Servia.[59]

[Footnote 59: Giolitti Speech, Italian Chamber, Dec. 5, 1914.]

The inferences to be drawn from the Kaiser's personality are
somewhat conflicting. Like all self-centered and highly neurotic
personalities, his nature is essentially a dual one. This does not
mean that he is in any sense a hypocrite, for one of the engaging
features of his attractive personality has been the candor and
sincerity which have marked nearly all his public acts. He has shown
himself to be a man of opposite moods, and conflicting purposes,
having almost as many public poses as he has costumes, and a strong
desire to play as many varied _roles_ as possible on the stage of the
world. Like Bottom in the _Midsummer Night's Dream_, he would play
all parts from the "roaring lion" to the shrinking Thisbe.

The ruler who sent a sympathetic message to Kruger as an insult to
England is he who shortly thereafter gratuitously submitted to Queen
Victoria military plans for the subjugation of the Boers.

The ruler, who sent the _Panther_ to Agadir, later restrained his
country from declaring