e as
these may be.

Inclined at first to hope for the fruits of democracy from the
Russian revolution Chesterton was soon being reproached by H. G.
Wells for "dirty" suspiciousness about the Bolshevik leaders and
their motives. But the collapse of Russia and the defeat of Rumania
alike only strengthened the necessity of the fight to a finish with
Prussia that became as the months passed the absorbing aim of the
_New Witness_. In the treaties respectively of Brest-Litovsk and
Bukarest Germany imposed upon these two countries incredibly harsh
terms.

Thus wrote the _New Witness_ after the Treaty of Bukarest:

We should like to ask the Pacifists and Semi-Pacifists, who are
fond of official documents, if they have read the White Paper dealing
with the plain facts about the peace with Roumania. If they have a
single word to say on the subject, we should be much interested to
hear what it is. It makes absolutely plain two facts, both of which
have a sort of frightful humour after all the humanitarian talk about
no annexations and no indemnities. The first is that the conquerors
have annexed in a direct and personal sense beyond what is commonly
meant by annexation; the second is that they have indemnified
themselves by an immediate coercion and extortion, which is generally
veiled by the forms of a recognised indemnity. In annexing some nine
thousand square miles, they have been particular to attach whole
forests to the hunting-grounds of Hungarian nobles and the timber
of Hungarian wood merchants; not merely annexing as a conqueror
annexes, but rather stealing as an individual steals. Further, the
fun growing fast and furious, they have taken country containing a
hundred and thirty thousand Roumanians, merely because it is
uninhabited land. For the second point, we often speak figuratively
of tyrants enslaving a country; but Teutons do literally enslave. All
the males of the occupied land, which happens to be two-thirds of
Roumania, are driven to work on pain of death or prison. All this is
clear and satisfactory enough; but the White Paper keeps the best to
the last. It is this sentence we would commend to our peaceful
friends: "The German delegates informed the Roumanian delegates, who
were appalled at being required to accept such conditions, that they
would appreciate their moderation when they knew those which would be
imposed on the We