never free. And since I returned to England on March 16th, the conduct
of the German troops, under the express orders of the German Higher
Command, in the French districts evacuated since February by
Hindenburg's retreating forces, has only sharpened and deepened the
judgment of civilised men, with regard to the fighting German and all
his ways, which has been formed long since, beyond alteration or recall.

Think of it! It cries to heaven. Think of Reims and Arras, of Verdun and
Ypres, think of the hundreds of towns and villages, the thousands of
individual houses and farms, that lie ruined on the old soil of France;
think of the sufferings of the helpless and the old, the hideous loss of
life, of stored-up wealth, of natural and artistic beauty; and then let
us ask ourselves again the old, old question--why has this happened? And
let us go back again to the root facts, from which, whenever he or she
considers them afresh--and they should be constantly considered
afresh--every citizen of the Allied nations can only draw fresh courage
to endure. The long and passionate preparation for war in Germany; the
half-mad literature of a glorified "force" headed by the Bernhardis and
Treitschkes, and repeated by a thousand smaller folk, before the war;
the far more illuminating manifestoes of the intellectuals since the
war; Germany's refusal of a conference, as proposed and pressed by Great
Britain, in the week before August 4th, France's acceptance of it;
Germany's refusal to respect the Belgian neutrality to which she had
signed her name, France's immediate consent; the provisions of mercy and
of humanity signed by Germany in the Hague Convention trampled, almost
with a sneer, under foot; the jubilation over the _Lusitania_, and the
arrogant defence of all that has been most cruel and most criminal in
the war, as necessary to Germany's interests, and therefore moral,
therefore justified; let none--none!--of these things rest forgotten in
our minds until peace is here, and justice done!