The World On Fire

powers outnumbering her by six to one, sought to keep open a path to raid that universal base of operations? Even the stolid Teuton nature must tire of the per- petual squeeze of Russia, the spurs of the French chan- ticleer struck even and anon in his hide. Agadir was a fresh humiliation; for a few acres of uninhabitable jungle on the Congo he had to surrender all interest in Morocco, a country he had nursed for years. It is still a diplomatic secret, and I must not betray it. But who financed Italy in her Tripolitan adventure, and why? Austria still blocked in the Adriatic, Italy alienated from the Triple Alliance, the Slav expanding everywhere, Constantinople itself threatened, Roumania (even) turn- ing toward Russia, he must have felt like a victim of that maiden of armor and spears that once executed justice on the weak. And all this had been accomplished without sword drawn or cannon fired. Here then stood Wilhelm, dauntless but defeated. His diplomacy had failed; his one ally was handicapped by domestic unrest; he was isolated in Europe; England was increasing her navy at a pace he could never beat; France, with her three years' law, was proposing to in- crease her army by fifty per cent at a stroke; Russia was turning flank, pushing on through the Balkans subtly and surely. And the Kaiser answered, "I am the servant of God; I stand for peace. The Crown Prince is for war; I banish him from the Court. When I am dead let him be master; but while I live I am for peace. And let him that draws the sword perish by the sword!" And the Triple Entente gathered closer and chuck- led: Aha! he dare not fight. Let us frighten the garotte! So Servia plots and executes the crime of Sarajevo. Austria, its aged Emperor smitten yet again and most foully, demands imperatively the disclosure of the ac-