incorrectly diagnosing other peoples, due partly to the unbounded
conceit engendered by their three wars of unification and their
rapid increase of prosperity. Their mental food in recent years
has been war, conquest, disparagement of others and glorification
of self. They entered the struggle thinking only in army corps and
siege artillery. Certain undefinable moral qualities, such as the
last-ditch spirit of the old British Army on the Yser, did not come
within their scope of reckoning.

British illusions of the early part of the war are gone. The
average Briton fully appreciates Germany's gigantic strength, and
he coldly realises that as conditions are at present, his country
must supply most of the driving force--men, guns, and shells--to
break it. He thinks of the awful cost in life, and the thought
makes him serious, but he is ready for any sacrifice. He welcomes
help from Allies and neutrals, but whether the help be great or
small, he is willing and resolved to stand on his own feet, and
carry on to the end. It is this spirit which makes Britain
magnificent to-day.

When losses are brought home to the Germans they generally give
vent to their feelings by hurling maledictions upon their enemies.
The Briton, under similar circumstances, is usually remarkably
quiet, but, unlike the German, he is _individually_ more
determined, in consequence of the loss, to see the thing through.
Somehow the German always made me feel that his war determination
had been organised for him.

Organisation is the glory and the curse of Germany. The Germans
are by nature and training easily influenced, and as a mass they