Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/313

Rh to peace. In the United States no mob spirit of war was stirred by the president's invasion of Mexico, and the sympathies of our people are against the aggressor in the wanton war of Europe. There we may look for a second Napoleon the little rather than for a second Napoleon the great. Never again will there be a thirty years' war, destroying over half the population of a great nation. Slowly but surely the energies of men are turning toward peace on earth and good will among its nations.

official German justification of the mad and wanton European war is that it is a defense of the Teutonic culture and people against the semi-Asiatic and barbaric Slav hordes. The verdict of history will probably be that it was a war of calculation for caste and national aggrandizement and a war of miscalculation. The German emperor and his bureaucratic military entourage probably held that the time was ripe for an extension of German influence in the Balkans and towards Asia Minor, with an increase of its African possessions at the expense of France. But it is by no means clear why, if the serpent was prepared to use its fangs, it did not show its alleged wisdom. If after the rough ultimatum and attack of Austria on Servia, Germany had waited in preparation, it would apparently have been in far better position. If Russia had attacked Austria on behalf of Servia, Germany could have gone to the defense of Austria and had its will in the Balkans. If France had then attacked Germany, Italy could only have avoided war on France by breaking its treaty; Great Britain and Belgium would probably have remained neutral.

The calculation in Berlin was probably that the time had come for the use of its perfected military machine for its glorification at home and abroad. They knew that the Balkan states were at odds with one another, that there were internal disorders in Russia, which was improving its military system and would have four dreadnoughts ready in the autumn, that France had made large appropriations for defensive works and armaments and had increased the period of military service, that England was on the edge of civil war; they assumed that they would have the support of Italy and Turkey, that Japan was not in question, that Belgium would permit the use of its territory, that Great Britain might submit, that a quick and crushing attack on France would give them a war indemnity and new possessions in Africa and that they would then be able to turn the whole force of their arms on Russia. In so far as this was the calculation at Berlin, it has in part, miscarried; the rest lies on the knees of the gods.

A glance at the accompanying map shows roughly the distribution of the races in Europe. National sentiment is somewhat dependent on racial origin, on language, on religion and on other institutions; but only in a temporary and limited way. All the nations of Europe are composed of peoples of complex racial descent. Switzerland maintains admirably its national homogeneity with diverse races and languages. Protestant Prussia has united with catholic Bavaria. Austria is a complex of nations, languages and races. New York is a collection of cities of diverse nationality, race, language, religions and institutions. In the present war there can be no real conflict of Teuton and Slav, when the Austrian population is more Slav than Teuton and German dominion has already encroached on Slavic population to the east. There may result a change in national boundaries, but scarcely of racial dominance. Germany has already as an evil inheritance from Bismarck a small French population on its west. It can only annex the northern coast of France and Belgium at an untold cost for a future