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view Volunteers. The Emperor's real purpose was to lure confiding Ministers into the Venezuelan trap, and within three days he had succeeded. On November 11th, the day after he had met the Emperor at Sandringham, Lord Lansdowne informed our Minister in Berlin that Great Britain had agreed to act with Germany in Venezuela, and had bound herself not to come to terms with President Castro until Germany also had made a satisfactory agreement with him. consequences of this amazing blunder were soon apparent. British and German warships bombarded Venezuelan forts and seized Venezuelan shipping, and America at once took alarm. It seemed to the American public that, though the Germans were only acting as everyone expected them to act towards a weaker people, we were departing from our sober traditions, and were perilously near to violating the Monroe Doctrine, of which our own statesman Canning was the true author. Germany at once profited by the suspicion thus cast upon our good faith to renew her proposals at Washington, and vaguely but unmistakably suggested that she would like a concession after the Chinese model in Venezuela. Mr. Roosevelt has told the world how he politely but firmly shelved the idea by threatening to send Admiral Dewey to Venezuelan waters if Germany did not quickly come to terms with President Castro. Nothing was publicly known of the German threat, and the incident was soon forgotten. But if it had come to the public ear, there would have been in America an explosion of righteous wrath from which we should certainly have suffered far more than Germany. Our Foreign Office was saved from the consequences of its blazing indiscretion by the firmness and wisdom of the American President. It is only one among debts of gratitude that we owe

to Mr. Roosevelt, but this debt in particular should never have been incurred. The Foreign Office had risked our friendship with America and our reputation as the upholders of a sane and honest foreign policy to gain a smile from the German Emperor and a few thousands from defaulting Venezuelans.

are

The Foreign Office may like to inform the public concerning the inner history of that Venezuelan business, and other dubious intrigues in which Germany was active for years before the war. To the interesting revelations made of late by the State Department at Washington our extremely uncommunicative officials in Whitehall might add a good deal, if they cared to do so. They have at any rate no need to respect the susceptibilities of the enemy, and their own past mistakes would readily be forgiven them in return for some new light on German diplomacy in regard to South America, China, and the Near East. That, indeed, is precisely the kind of "secret diplomacy" which needs to be exposed as a warning to mankind. However, the facts known well enough in outline to enable the public to draw its own conclusions. The main purpose of Germany was, as we have said, to set America and Great Britain by the ears in the Western Hemisphere, just as she stirred up all the latent jealousies between us and the other Powers in Europe and the Near East. She failed ultimately in all her efforts, but she only failed in the case of America through the good sense of the American Government. Our statesmen had concentrated their attention on the affairs of Europe, and had not troubled to think out the still greater questions confronting them in America. That was the reason why Germany was able to entrap us into the mad Venezuelan adventure. Our Foreign Office had come to regard the

Monroe Doctrine as an axiom, and did not trouble to understand Germany's view of it as a mere hypothesis which might be discarded at the dictate of events. This easy-going attitude is, we believe, no longer favored in Whitehall. Our relations with America had, before the war, come to be regarded as a really important part of our diplomacy. We are not sure, however, that even yet the full significance of a thorough and cordial understanding with America is appreciated by the officials or by the average citizen, although America's entry into the war has had a tremendous educational effect. For our part, we regard the continued cooperation of the English-speaking peoples as absolutely vital to the peace and progress of the world. To the The Spectator.

maintenance of our friendship with America we should subordinate every development of foreign policy, however tempting its momentary advantages might appear. With American assistance, the British Empire can preserve civilization from a repetition of the horrors of this war. With American support, we may look forward to a lasting improvement in the relations between nations, and to a diminution of the blood-tax that has weighed so heavily on all Europe. The British and American peoples, acting together, may do much to convert the dream of a universal and lasting peace into a reality. There would be little hope of that if the two peoples, united in war, were to fall apart again when the war comes to an end.

The other day we endeavored to probe a few of the mysteries of our blockade policy, and we arrived at several conclusions which it may be worth while to recapitulate: (1) That the agricultural systems of Germany, Holland and Denmark are not selfsufficient, but depend upon the importation of feeding-stuffs and raw materials from abroad; (2) that it was for that reason possible to reduce Germany by a sea blockade; (3) that we had not attempted to reduce Germany, but upon the contrary had maintained food and fat factories in full blast upon her borders, whereby the German people and the German armies were fed; (4) that the reason for allowing the passage of such feeding-stuffs and raw materials was not consideration of America, since a great part of them did not come from America at all, but from the British Empire. And here we might add this further observation. It has been

stated that the explanation of our policy lay in our dependence upon Holland and Denmark for food supplies. But here again we are faced by the fact that Denmark was allowed to reduce her export of food to this country by about half, and Holland was allowed to reduce it to practically nothing at all. Therefore, the reason could not lie altogether in our weakness as a food-producing country. These are as we see them, the main features of a mystery which remains unsolved.

Hitherto the great difficulty has been to get definite information-and we are bound to say here that our Foreign Office has been very far from candid. But help has come from an unexpected quarter. Washington appears to have passed on to the American press a memorandum supplied by our Foreign Office which discloses the true position. And the true position as thus disclosed is worse than what the most severe

critics of our blockade policy alleged it to be. It is shown that Germany received from neutral countries in the course of one year more than 1,400,000 tons of food, sufficient to support the German armies. The object of our Foreign Office in giving this information to the Americans was no doubt to procure their co-operation in the enforcement of the blockade. And America complied by holding back a great fleet of Danish and Dutch vessels laden with feeding-stuffs. But America, no doubt, replied that England ought to do her share in the work, and the Foreign Office contribution was an Order-in-Council couched in such obscure language that it had to be explained two days afterwards. Even now our Minister of Blockade seems unable to make up his mind to enforce a policy which he asks America to carry through.

What is the reason? We see in one quarter it is suggested that Lord Robert Cecil, Mr. Leverton Harris, and their noble army of officials, have so tied themselves up in agreements that they cannot do anything without putting their feet through a scrap of paper. But as these scraps of paper have been dishonored over and over again by the other signatories, they are void in international law, and could hardly be considered binding by a lawyer like Lord Robert Cecil.

We confess that the attempt to find a creditable and credible explanation only bemuses us. In the eighteenth century we valued our power of blockade so much that not once, but twice, we chose to fight almost the whole world rather than surrender it. And we were so successful that we broke down the armed neutralities and brought our enemies to terms. But nowadays we seem to prefer Allies to power and would rather win the benevolence of Brazil than deprive Germany of her coffee.

It is less comforting than humiliating for the Englishman to recognize that America is more whole-hearted in this business. She has not forgotten her Mahan or her own history, and knows the value of blockade. Moreover, America, incredible as it may appear, seems to be whole-hearted in this war. She is actually bent upon doing the German people a serious mischief. She is not perpetually looking for reasons why she should do, nothing; but is hitting out with a vigor and a freshness and an absence of punctilio which must fill our Foreign Office with misgivings but everybody else with gratitude and satisfaction.

One delightful departure of the Americans is the publicity of their foreign policy. They publish what they know about Germany and Germany's friends. Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, Mr. Morel and his friends have long been clamoring for this sort of thing in our country, and we can only hope they are satisfied with what they are getting from America. It should please the Union of Democratic Control.

We might have done it long ago, for our Foreign Office must have secrets quite as piquant. Why not begin now?

There is, for example, the case of Sweden. The Swedish Minister in the Argentine is he the only sinner in that diplomatic service? Has our own Foreign Office no revelations to make about Swedish Ministers nearer home -and perhaps Dutch Ministers also? The Swedish Government has notoriously acted in the interest of Germany. since the beginning of the war. There must be a pretty story to tell if only our Foreign Office would follow the democratic example of the United States. Then there is the Foreign Office of Denmark, and the share taken in the war by such Danish magnates as Mr. Andersen and Cap

tain Cold for example. It seems to us that much good and no harm could be done by such revelations. For the Swedish people, like the Danish people, do not love Germany. In Sweden their dislike has been shown by their support of Mr. Branting, who has won a large part of his popularity by his open dislike of Germany and German methods. But the Foreign Offices of these two countries have leaned upon Germany, following possibly a prudent, but certainly an unpopular policy. Our Foreign Office might show them up to their own people. We do not know quite what is the

The Saturday Review.

matter with our Foreign Office. It seems to be inhabited largely by old women with nerves. We have so many Allies that we do not know what to do with them, and yet we continue to be more nervous and more fearful than we were in the eighteenth century, when we faced the whole world in arms. There must be a change of spirit if British Foreign Policy is to maintain or regain the respect of the world. And our Foreign Office might initiate the reform by taking for its motto the saying of sturdy old Admiral Blake: "Our business is to keep foreigners from fooling us.”

"Francesca," I said, "you must be deeply occupied; for ten minutes I have not heard your silvery voice."

"I am attempting," she said, "to fill up our sugar form."

"Is it a tremendous struggle?" "Yes," she said, "it is a regular brain-smasher."

"Give me the paper, and let me have a go at it."

With a haggard face, but without a word, she handed me the buff form, and sat silently while I read the various explanations and directions.

"Francesca,” I said, "you are doing wrong. It says that the form must be filled up and signed by a responsible member of the household. Now you can say that you're brilliant or amiable or handsome or powerful or domineering, but can you honestly say you're responsible? No, you can't. So I shall keep this form and fill it up myself in due time, and leave you to look after the hens or talk to the gardener."

"Anybody," she said, "who can wring a smile from a gardener, as I have this morning, is entitled to be

considered responsible. Infirm of purpose! hand me the paper."

"Very well," I said, "you can have the paper; only remember that, if we get fined a thousand pounds for transgressing the Defense of the Realm Act, you mustn't ask me for the money. You must pay it yourself."

"I'll chance that," she said, as I handed back the paper. "Now, then, we shan't be long. Which of these two addresses shall we have?"

"How do you mean?"

"Why, they tell you to fill in the address in capital letters, and then they give you two to pick from. One is 1000 Upper Grosvenor Street, W. 1-"

"It is a longer street than I had supposed."

"And the other," she continued, "is 17 Church Lane, Middlewich, Cheshire."

"Let it be Middlewich," I said. "Since boyhood's hour I have dreamt of living in Middlewich. As for the other, I simply couldn't live in a street of a thousand houses. Could you?"

"No," she said, "I couldn't. We'll

done. Capital letters and all." "Don't slack off," I said. "Fill it all up now that you've got started." "I suppose I'd better begin with myself."

“Yes,” I said, “you may have that privilege. Put it down quick: Carlyon, Francesca; age blank, because they don't want ages over eighteen; F for female, and Married Woman for occupation. Then treat me the same way, putting M for F, and 2d Lieutenant of Volunteers instead of Married Woman."

"Why shouldn't I put Married Man as your occupation?"

"Simply because it isn't done. It's a splendid occupation, but it isn't recognized as such in formal documents." "Another injustice to women. shall enter you as Married Man."

I

"Enter me as anything you like,"

I said, "only let's get on with the job."

"Very well; you're down as Married Man."

"Now get on with the children. Muriel first. What about her?"

"But she's away having her education finished."

"Yes," I said, "but she'll be back for the holidays, and she'll want her sugar then, like the rest of us. And Frederick is away at his school, probably getting much better sugar than we are. He'll be wanting his ration in the holidays. You'd better put a note about that."

"Yes, but the kitchen-maid's gone, and I haven't engaged another one yet."

"Don't let that worry you," I said. "Write down-'Kitchen-maid about to be engaged. Name will be supplied later.""

"You're quite brilliant today. There, that's finished, thank Heaven."

"Not yet. You've got to address it to the Local Food Office."

"But I haven't the remotest where the Local Food Office is. It can't have been there more than a short time, anyhow."

"Hurrah!" I said, looking over her shoulder at the document. "It says

if you are in doubt as to the name of the district of your Local Food Office you are to inquire of any policeman or special constable."

"That's all very well," she said, "but how are we to find a policeman in this remote and peaceful place? I've never seen one. Have you?"

"Yes," I said, "I think I saw one last year on a bicycle."

"Well, he's probably arrived somewhere else by this time. He's no good to us."

"No, but we might find a special constable."

"I'll tell you what," she said, "old Glumgold is a special constable. I heard him complaining bitterly of having been hauled out of bed during the last air-raid on London. 'No nigher to we nor forty mile,' he said it was. He's sure to be among the cabbages. Be a dear and dash out and ask him."

So I found Glumgold in among the cabbages and asked him where the Local Food Office was, and he said he'd be gingered if he knew, he or his old woman either; and that was the question they was a-going to arst of us, because today was the last day for sending in. So I advised him to chance it with Nebsbury, which happens to