dge into the whole Slav
power and rendering it innocuous for the future.

"In this struggle between Teuton and Slav France comes in as an
accessory, having made an alliance with Russia long ago for her own
ends, and having nothing to do with the quarrel between Teuton and Slav.
The German-speaking peoples regret the interference of France, but are
prepared to take on the burden of a French war rather than abandon the
moment for restricting the growing power of the Slav.

"Now, in all this," (your experienced man with a wide view of Europe
would add,) "England was not concerned. Her position was quite
subsidiary in all this quarrel. She had far less to do with it even than
France had, and it was in every Cabinet of Europe doubted whether
England would come in at all. By the Prussian Government it was taken
for granted that England would have no reason to come in. By the French
it was feared in spite of the recent relations between the two countries
that England would remain neutral. And, in general, the fact that
England is at war at all is a fact on one side of the original quarrel
and its original motives, though it is a fact that will profoundly
affect the progress and the results of the war."

Such a statement would be no more than the plain truth as educated men
know and see it in Europe today. The entry of England into the field of
conflict was an entry from one side. It did not fall into line with the
general motives of the people. It was, among all English statesmen, a
matter of debate; it was decided by but a narrow majority of those
responsible for so enormous a decision.

When we have clearly grasped these two fundamental facts--first, that
the war is not on its mechanical side mainly a war between England and
Germany, but mainly a war between two contrasting European and
Continental ideals; secondly, the correlative fact that the entry of
England into the war was not certain until the last hour, and was, when
it was made, made only after doubtful consideration and after a division
among the politicians, responsible for the conduct of her affairs,
something almost accidental, as it were--we can proceed to consider the
three causes which converging were sufficiently strong in their
combination to produce that result, and when we know what those three
causes were, their strength and the accidents of their convergence, at
this moment we shall have answered the question, "Why is England at war
with Germany?"