New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-30
INTRODUCTION.
The Facts of the Case.


Unless VIC are all mad, there is at
the back of the most bewildering bust
ness a story; and if we are all mad,
there is no such thing as madness. If
| set house on fire, it is quite true
that | may illuminate many other peo-
pies weaknesses as well as my own.
1t may be that the master Of the house
was burned because he was drunk; il
may be that the mistress of the house
was burned because she was stingy,
and persisted arguing about the eX-
pense of the fire escape. It is, never
theless, broadly true that they both
were burned because ! set fire to their
house That is the story of the thing.
The mere facts Of the story about the
present European connagratlon are
quite as easy to tell.
Before we go on to the deeper things
which make this war the most sincere
war of human history, II is easy TO
answer the question of why England
came to be in it at all; as one asks
how a man fell down coal hole, or
failed TO keep an appointment. Facts
are not the whole truth. But facts are
facts, and in this case the facts are
few and simple. Prussia, France and
England had all promised not 70 in
wade Belgium. Prussia proposed to
invade Belgium, because 1t was the
safest way of invading France. But
Prussia promised that if she might
break in through her own broken
promise and ours she would break in
,,I g4ao1 Ia NJ bar ,Varda Wp
were offered at the same instant n
promise of faith in the future and a
proposal of perjury in the present
Puts II in Comic Form.
Those interested in human origins
may refer to an old Victorian writer Of
English, who in the last and most re-
strained of his historical essays wrote
of Frederick the Great, the founder Of
this unchanging Prussian policy. At
ter describing how Frederick broke the
guarantee he had signed on behalf Of
Maria Theresa. he then describes how
Frederick sought to put things straight
by a promise that was an insult. II
she would but let him have Silesia. he
would. he said. stand by her against
anv power which should try to deprive
her of her other dominlons: as II he
was not already bound to stand by her,
or as if his new promise could be OF
more value than the old one mat
passage was written by Macaulay: but
so far as the mere contemporary facts
are concerned, it might have been writ
ten by me.
Upon the immediate logical and legal
origin OF the English interest there can
be no rational debate. There are some
things 50 simple that one can almost
prove them with plans and diagrams,
as in Euclid. One could make KIND
of comic calendar of what would have
happened TO the English diplomatist II
he had been silenced every time by
Prussian diplomacy. Suppose we ar
range il in the form OF kind OF diary.
July 24-German invades Belgium.
July England declares war.
July 26-German promises not TO
annex Belgium.
July Or England withdraws from the
war.
July 2s-Germany annexes Belgium.
England declares war.
July 2g-G Germany promises not to
annex France. England withdraws from
the war.
july 3O-Germany annexes France.
England declares war.
july Germany promises not to
annex England
Aug. / England withdraws from the
war. Germany invades England.
How Long Could II So Do?
How long is anybody expected to 90
on with that sort of game, or Keep
peace at that iliimitabie price? How
long must We pursue a road IN which
nromisee are all fetishes in front Of us