It has come to me in all sorts of guises, but never with the terms
disclosed which the German Government would be willing to accept.

That Government has other valuable pawns in its hands besides those I
have mentioned. It still holds a valuable part of France, though with a
slowly relaxing grasp, and practically the whole of Belgium. Its armies
press close on Russia and overrun Poland. It cannot go farther--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 abroad and at home will fall to pieces. It is their
power at home of which they are thinking now more than of their power
abroad. It is that power which is trembling under their very feet.

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 advantage
still in their hands, 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 and 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 has
been the case in England, the United States, and France--in all great
countries of modern times 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, and 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 new intrigue for peace, and why the
masters of Germany do not hesitate to use any agency that promises to
effect their purpose, the deceit of nations? Their present particular
aim is to deceive all those who, throughout the world, stand for the
rights of peoples and the self-government of nations, for they see what
immense