Let me illustrate my view with reference to one or two of the decisive factors in the Peace of Versailles. No one now believes the wartime lie that Germany was solely responsible for the war; her responsibility may be greater than that of some others, but it is agreed that the burden of Russia is at least as heavy and that war, in any case, was rooted in the nature of the European system. But, in the interest of national unity, it was regarded as essential to represent Germany as the sole conspirator against European peace. She was painted as a malefactor whose sins were incapable of exaggeration. Her virtues were denied, her achievements belittled, until what Mr Lippmann terms a “stereotype” of her was built up for public use which made her appear to the average man a criminal who could not be too severely punished. The statesmen who constructed this stereotype knew that it was untrue; but they hoped, doubtless, to escape its consequences, when the victory had been won. They found that they could not do so. They had so successfully repressed all effort at reasonable delineation, that the atmosphere of hate was unconquerable. They had no alternative to a Carthaginian peace because that seemed, to the masses they had deceived, the only possible course for justice to take. They knew, as the famous memorandum, for instance, of Mr. Lloyd George makes manifest,[32] that a Carthaginian peace was disastrous for Europe; but it was too late to destroy the legend they had created. Like those whom Dante describes in the Inferno, they were punished by the realization of their announced desires.