all Belgians with red corpuscles; and King Albert and his
"schipperkes" were still fighting the Germans at Dixmude. A British
army appearing before Brussels would end casuistry; and pessimism
would pass, and the German residents, too, with the huzzas of all
Belgium as the gallant king once more ascended the steps of his
palace.

Worthy of England at her best was her consent to allow the
Commission's food to pass, which she accompanied by generous
giving. She might seem slow in making ready her army--though I do
not think that she was--but give she could and give she did. It was a
grave question if her consent was in keeping with the military policy
which believes that any concession to sentiment in the grim business
of war is unwise. Certainly, the Krieg ist Krieg of Germany would not
have permitted it.

There is the very point of the war that ought to make any neutral take
sides. If the Belgians had not received bread from the outside world,
then Germany would either have had to spare enough to keep them
from starving or faced the desperation of a people who would fight for
food with such weapons as they had. This must have brought a
holocaust of reprisals that would have made the orgy of Louvain
comparatively insignificant. However much the Germans hampered
the Commission with red tape and worse than red tape through the
activities of German residents in Belgium, Germany did not want the
Commission to withdraw. It was helping her to economize her food
supplies. And England answered a human appeal at the cost of hard-
and-fast military policy. She was still true to the ideals which have set
their stamp on half the world.