Indeed, they are mutual.
Germany manufactures, England uses. Only a miracle would separate
them.
Shoulder to shoulder, Germany and England (Germany, of course,
including Austria, and possibly Italy) could dictate to the rest of
the world. There is one stumbling-block. This is France.
Well-informed Frenchmen have known and feared this for a long time.
They have, of course, never mentioned it in public. Shrewd French
statesmen have long kept it in the seclusion of their own minds. It
would be political and possibly physical death openly to assert that
France is doomed. But doomed she is.
With all her gallantry, hysterical patriotism, and wealth, she would
never be able to hold out against Germany alone. Her attempts at
alliances have been frenzied. To secure Russia's friendship she has
loaned enormous sums of money. But the Japanese war and internal
troubles have eliminated Russia as a high-class ally. She was at the
time of the Black Forest conference but a secondary power. She is
to-day balanced by Turkey and Austria. The Balkan States are smashed.
So France did her utmost to solidify the _entente cordiale_ fostered
by the late King Edward VII under the stress of public opinion in
England.
To what extent she met success we have seen. The Moroccan question
showed England ready to back up France in war, but now comes this
meeting in the Black Forest.
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