of the public do.  This feeling comes out even in the present military and naval rulers of this Kingdom—­comes indirectly to me.  A part of the public, then, and the military part of the Cabinet, don’t longer care for American opinion and they resent even such a reference to peace as the President made in his Message to Congress[107].  But the civil part of the Cabinet and the responsible and better part of the public do care very much.  The President’s intimation about peace, however, got no real response here.  They think he doesn’t understand the meaning of the war.  They don’t want war; they are not a warlike people.  They don’t hate the Germans.  There is no feeling of vengeance.  They constantly say:  “Why do the Germans hate us?  We don’t hate them.”  But, since Germany set out to rule the world and to conquer Great Britain, they say, “We’ll all die first.”  That’s “all there is to it.”  And they will all die unless they can so fix things that this war cannot be repeated.  Lady K——­, as kindly an old lady as ever lived, said to me the other day:  “A great honour has come to us.  Our son has been killed in battle, fighting for the safety of England.”

Now, the question which nobody seems to be able to answer is this:  How can the military party and the military spirit of Germany be prevented from continuing to prepare for the conquest of Great Britain and from going to work to try it again?  That implies a change in the form, spirit, and control of the German Empire.  If they keep up a great army, they will keep it up with that end more or less in view.  If the military party keeps in power, they will try it again in twenty-five or forty years.  This is all that the English care about or think about.

They don’t see how it is to be done themselves.  All they see yet is that they must show the Germans that they can’t whip Great Britain.  If England wins decisively the English hope that somehow the military party will be overthrown in Germany and that the Germans, under peaceful leadership, will go about their business—­industrial, political, educational, etc.—­and quit dreaming of and planning for universal empire and quit maintaining a great war-machine, which at some time, for some reason, must attack somebody to justify its existence.  This makes it difficult for the English to make overtures to or to receive overtures from this military war-party which now is Germany.  But, if it he possible so completely to whip the war party that it will somehow be thrown out of power at home—­that’s the only way they now see out of it.  To patch up a peace, leaving the German war party in power, they think, would be only to invite another war.

If you can get over this point, you can bring the English around in ten minutes.  But they are not going to take any chances on it.  Read English history and English literature about the Spanish Armada or about Napoleon.  They