[Illustration:]

"I am reminded of the nonsense that used to be talked by responsible
statesmen at the time when you were feverishly building a fleet to
dispute our right to ensure the freedom of the seas. We were told that
you were at perfect liberty to do so if you chose, and that it was not
for us to interfere with your arrangements. Yet everybody knew all the
time that there was nothing in the world that concerned us so closely.
If France had been massing troops on your frontier you would at once
have asked her to state her intentions, or even possibly have taken
action without asking her. Well, the sea is our frontier.

"You are to understand, then (whatever anybody may say), that
everything done in Germany that bears immediately upon our relations
with your State is of prime concern to us. Our desire for peace is as
strong as your need of it; but we cannot afford to make terms with a
Government whose word, as we have proved, is not worth the paper they
write it on--who would treat any peace as a mere armistice to give
them breathing-space for preparing a fresh war. No, if you want peace
you will have to displace your present rulers. You are so good at
'substitutes' that you ought to have no difficulty about that.

"And the sooner the better for you. For as this War drags on we are
not getting to love you more. Even now it will take you at least a
generation to purge your offence and get back into the community of
civilized nations. But there is another thought that is more likely to
affect your thick commercial hides, and it is this. Unless you take
steps, and pretty soon, to put yourselves in a position in which we
can treat with you, you will be boycotted in the markets of the world,