was little delighted at the prospect, but the public expected so much from this procedure, and would not have understood or allowed any consideration to be shown for England which had punished Germany so severely by the blockade. I must therefore assume that the responsible personalities were forced to swim with the general stream in opposition to their better judgment.
If their conscience had prevented them from resorting to the use of these arms, no pressure of public opinion would have made them give way. They were only afraid to use these arms because they regarded them as unsuited to their purpose.
If we mean to be just, we must understand this. It is premature to expect completely dispassionate judgment, but the time must come when nations who are opposed to each other will be in a position to judge each other's actions correctly. Public opinion among the nations of the Entente is convinced that the German people had consciously brought about the war in order to secure for themselves the supremacy of the world, and consequently the Entente was revolted when she saw that her opponents used such cruel means as the Zeppelins and U-boats for the realization of so criminal an aim. This accusation, however, is unfounded. The instinct of self-preservation makes people in the anxious moments of a fight for life and death judge things in the light of what will assist their means of action most forcibly, and of what will satisfy their consciences. The German nation was convinced that the jealousy
