Those interested in human origins may refer to an old Victorian writer of English, who in the last and most restrained of his historical essays wrote of Frederick the Great, the founder of this unchanging Prussian policy.  After 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.  “If she would but let him have Silesia, he would, he said, stand by her against any power which should try to deprive her of her other dominions; as if he was not already bound to stand by her, or as if his new promise could be of more value than the old one.”  That passage was written by Macaulay; but so far as the mere contemporary facts are concerned, it might have been written by me.

Diplomacy That Might Have Been.

Upon the immediate logical and legal origin of the English interest there can be no rational debate.  There are some things so simple that one can almost prove them with plans and diagrams, as in Euclid.  One could make a kind of comic calendar of what would have happened to the English diplomatist if he had been silenced every time by Prussian diplomacy.  Suppose we arrange it in the form of a kind of diary: 

     July 24—­Germany invades Belgium.

     July 25—­England declares war.

     July 26—­Germany promises not to annex Belgium.

     July 27—­England withdraws from the war.

     July 28—­Germany annexes Belgium.  England declares war.

     July 29—­Germany promises not to annex France.  England withdraws
     from the war.

     July 30—­Germany annexes France.  England declares war.

     July 31—­Germany promises not to annex England.

     Aug. 1—­England withdraws from the war.  Germany invades England.

How long is anybody expected to go on with that sort of game, or keep peace at that illimitable price?  How long must we pursue a road in which promises are all fetiches in front of us and all fragments behind us?  No; upon the cold facts of the final negotiations, as told by any of the diplomatists in any of the documents, there is no doubt about the story.  And no doubt about the villain of the story.

These are the last facts, the facts which involved England.  It is equally easy to state the first facts—­the facts which involved Europe.  The Prince who practically ruled Austria was shot by certain persons whom the Austrian Government believed to be conspirators from Servia.  The.  Austrian Government piled up arms and armies, but said not a word either to Servia, their suspect, or Italy, their ally.  From the documents it would seem that Austria kept everybody in the dark, except Prussia.  It is probably nearer the truth to say that Prussia kept everybody in the dark, including Austria.

The Demands on Servia.