“Quem Deus vult perdere—Prius Dementat.”

Suddenly on the part of Germany the thunder crashed out. Russia crossed herself, became sober, purified herself from internal dissensions, and proudly majestically took to the field of battle. In France all the churches threw themselves open, and prayer commenced afresh. All this was called forth by Berlin exclusively. The old proverb, “Him whom the gods desire to destroy they deprive of reason,” proved to be true. Our simple inhabitant reasons correctly, “The King of Prussia, (Oh dear me!) The German Emperor, just as if from after some drunken headache he were rushing to make war right and left: there is no restraining him.” All Europe became disturbed: a great part of Asia became awakened and even the distant United States began to bestir themselves. And what was the reason of all this?

The maddened Hohenzollern wanted to have a jingling of arms, some war, “To have dinner in Paris,” “To have breakfast in Warsaw,” to cut out anew the whole world, to lessen the restless Balkan Slavs, to keep a tight hand on Russia, and to force the whole world to bow the knee before the German. And so for this reason it was necessary to exterminate with all speed 

hundreds of thousands of people, both old, and young, and men, and women, and by the way, not even to have pity on their children. All this was to be done without any mercy or reason, and to attain this end the inventive Krupp was at hand. What could be better?

But sometimes the German influence, from previous centuries, is still felt among us.

No, no, even now, from time to time, a faint voice makes itself heard, that crafty Albion to whom this campaign will be advantageous, has involved us in this war. One is astonished and perplexed by such utterances which, fortunately, we do not hear often.

The course of the development of the whole campaign is very clear.

The Austrians, imagining that we had not yet recovered from the Japanese War, determined to subdue a portion of Serbia and to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina. But suddenly that word sounded forth which is so well known among sailors, “Stop!” Russia was the first country which proudly uttered it, threatening that she will no longer allow the Balkan Slavs to be treated by Germans as the latter thought fit.

If Russia had held her peace the whole Slavonic world would have suffered. The firmness of our word did not astonish nor disturb Franz Joseph as much as it did William.

Indeed the German ambassador Pourtalez wrote these words: “All Russia, from small to great, has become intoxicated and has gone out of her mind, thinking only about revolution. The evil has penetrated into the whole nation, into all schools.”

“Such a country can doubtlessly be smashed,” it is said in conclusion.

“What about France? There too already all moral and patriotic foundations are becoming shaky. It has been decided not to admit the Name of God anywhere; the Crucifix has been ejected from all schools and official places. Yes! and why should she claim to intervene in this massacre?”

“What kind of moral strength can there be in that alliance? What kind of patriotic resistance can there be from ‘such’ ‘Great Powers?’” In reality all this is a “Great Weakness.” What then is there to be afraid of? With such “Powers” war is not terrible. On the contrary, one must take advantage of “the moment when,” before these countries, have—as it might happen—become sobered and strong. There! This is a splendid “Status Quo!” Thus were people speaking and writing openly in Berlin! And there broke out a terrible war, a war that calls to one’s mind the universal slaughter foretold in The Apocalypse under the name “Armageddon.”

The further course of events is also quite clear. The invasion of Belgium induced that country to join the Coalition, and thereupon, after long agitation, both in the Press and in Parliament, with her colossal strength, England also joined this Coalition, although two members of the Cabinet (Lord Morley and Mr. John Burns) as a protest, went into retirement. England’s Declaration of War with Germany appeared to us as the Assistance of God: we were all at once buoyed up in spirit.

The far-seeing Lord Charles Beresford and other naval men have persistently called attention to the fact that for a struggle with Germany, the British Fleet should be twice as strong as the German Fleet.

“Otherwise a calamity may happen.” His compatriots made light of such fears, but Lord Charles stubbornly repeated: “I am in agreement with you—our fleet is stronger than the German; nevertheless it is essential for us to possess double the strength, but Germany, without sparing money or labour, is always approaching nearer and nearer to our standard.”

But even though not possessing a fleet twice as large, England made up her mind to join the Coalition, and having once determined on it, she well understood how to do everything that was in her colossal power, and we Russians must know this well, we must remember, and understand this, in order to be able to refute the idle tales about England’s egotistic cunning.

But I had better produce extracts from the recently published “White Book”—the English Official organ “Of the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” which communicates in this connexion the following interesting facts. A secret telegram from Sazonoff of the 19th of July (August 1st) is of special interest. It reads as follows: “At midnight the German Ambassador informed me by order of his Government, that it after twelve hours, i.e., at noon on Saturday—we did not proceed to demobolize not only against Germany, but also against Austria, the German Government would be obliged to issue an order for Mobilization. Upon my reply: “Is this an equivalent to War?” the Ambassador replied, “No, but we are extraordinarily near it.” The Russian Ambassador in London, Count Benckendorff, on his part, in a telegram of this very date declared that Sir Edward Grey had expressed the hope that One of the Great Powers would not go to war before having discussed a statement shewing the terms on which Russia would still be agreeable to suspend mobilization on her part.

From these documents it is evident that England did not by any means incite the hostile parties, and that the clouds were gradually growing blacker and blacker, in spite of her intentions.

On the same date Count Benckendroff writes: “The Government of Great Britain has addressed to the German and French Governments the question: ‘Will they respect the neutrality of Belgium?’ France has replied in the affirmative sense, while the German Government has declared that it is not able to answer this question in a categorical form.”

It is evident from this declaration that Germany’s inability to give the desired formal promise on such a serious matter, could only be explained by her intention to violate existing treaties. In addition to this, mention was made with regard to naval agreements with France, and England replied Germany’s evasive note in a most brilliant manner, namely, by the recall of her Ambassador, and thus struck a mighty moral blow against the Emperor William, who was not expecting such a decisive action on her part. It lies beyond doubt that by this stroke Great Britain rendered great moral service to her present Allies, and to the importance of the whole War, together with its high aims, having manifested to the point of obviousness to what an extent the arguments adduced by Germany for the purpose of explaining her relations to Belgium were immoral. Not confining herself to the fact of having stupefied our adversary by such action England became then our faithful and mighty Ally. She has indeed already put into inactivity a large part of the German Fleet, she has annihilated Germany’s sea trade, and has secured the freedom of the seas for the Allies. She is supporting the Franco-Belgium Army with all her available troops, still increasing their complements and the technical means of warfare.

Reverting purely to our own interest, we are bound to remember that if there were no English Fleet, France would be blockaded from the sea, and operations for her would have been concluded, in all probability, in two to three months by the destruction of the country. After this all the troops would have been thrown over to our frontier. If there were no English Fleet, it would be necessary on the Baltic Sea for us to await possible destruction of our Squadron by the far more powerful German Fleet, and, quite likely, a landing on the Baltic border or on Finland. Finally, the English vessels in the Dardanelles or in the Mediterranean in general, conjointly with the French, are of the utmost importance, on account of the fact that they prevent the Austrian Fleet from joining the Turkish and operating against us in the Black Sea. If one reflects on all these few facts, then that senseless foolhardiness will be evident, with which the Germanophils handle the questions of the present campaign and the questions of England’s part in it. This part is colossal, and, with the development of the campaign it will increase still more. To our extreme regret Great Britain has lost some ships owing to mines and torpedoes; but in her turn she has sunk not a few German units. From the aforesaid data it is already manifest, how England’s salutory strength is displaying itself in the present Armageddon. One must know how to esteem such Allies as her and France, together with Belgium, Serbia, and Montenegro, and that not simply at the present moment, but also in days to come when, with God’s help, the bearings of all Europe shall receive a tranquil form, and when peace for long, long years shall have been concluded on a firm, unshakeable, foundation.