himself. The old slave only lost his liberty. The new slave must lose
his honour, his dignity, his self-respect. He has only one other
alternative: death. And this, not the glorious death of a martyr which
makes thousands of converts and shines all over the world, not the death
of Nurse Cavell, but the anonymous death of X.Y.Z., the death of
hundreds and hundreds of unknown heroes who will die under the whip or
in the darkness of their cells in the German prison camps.

I had almost forgotten a last distinction between the old and the new
forms of slavery: The average slave driver of past days was only a
trader who sold human beings instead of selling oxen or sheep. When his
trade was prohibited, he took heavy risks and ran great danger of losing
his fortune and his life. But the German rulers of Belgium, whether they
be in Brussels or in Berlin, whether we call them von Bissing or
Helfferich, live in the comfort of their homes, surrounded by their
families, and when assailed by protests, can still play hide and seek
around the broken pillars of the Temple of Peace and wave arrogantly,
like so many flags, the torn articles of international law: "I assert,"
said Dr. Helfferich in the Reichstag (December 2nd)--"I assert that
setting the Belgian unemployed to work is thoroughly consonant with
international law. We therefore _take our stand, formally and in
practice, on international law, making use of our undoubted rights_."

Let Dr. Helfferich beware. He is not the only judge on international
law. His stand may come crashing down.


[Footnote 5: I should ask the reader to confront this declaration with
the statement made by the Belgian workmen in their appeal to the working
classes of the world. "On the Western Front they force them, by the most