Only a few months after these lines were printed, the prophecy began to be fulfilled more and more completely. Every possible step has been taken by Germany to bring about peace on the basis of a draw. The slogan, ‘Peace without annexations or indemnities,’ was coined to that end. At first the Allies believed that this formula originated in Russia; as a matter of fact, however, it was worked out in Berlin and then suggested to the Russian Socialists through secret agents whom Germany has successfully established in the Petrograd _Soviet_. These Socialists, doubtless well-meaning, but over-fond of theories and always ready to embrace the wildest utopian schemes,—ignorant, too, of all realities, as has been shown by the steady aggravation of the general situation in Russia since they came into power with the Revolution,—have declared enthusiastically for the ‘peace without annexations and indemnities.’ As there exist also in the other Allied countries groups of Socialists with a stronger grip on theories than on facts, and also because Allied sympathies naturally rallied strongly to the support of the Russian Revolution, the formula, ‘peace without annexations or indemnities,’ thanks to its apparent origin, has unquestionably made serious inroads on a certain section of Allied public opinion. The Stockholm manœuvres, engineered by all the powerful and varied means at the disposal of German propagandists, were designed to establish this formula as the fixed basis of all peace negotiations. When the astuteness of the Allied governments prevented the fulfillment of this attempt within the period desired by Berlin, the Vatican was persuaded through Viennese agencies to throw its influence on the side of peace as determined by Germany. As a matter of fact, the Pope’s peace proposals, while not embodying the exact terms of the Kaiser’s formula, involved, in the last analysis, practically the same essential results. Berlin, therefore, in order to assure unceasing discussion of her formula,—a discussion tending at least to bring about an armistice, which would split up and morally disarm the Allies, thus making it possible for her to deal with them separately,—outdid herself in mobilizing toward one end the most widely divergent forces, from the Maximalist anarchists of Petrograd to the most hidebound reactionaries of the Sacred College. The extent, the vigor, and the persistence of the amazing ‘pacifist’ offensive launched by Germany were such that the expressions ‘peace without indemnities or annexations,’ ‘drawn game,’ ‘white peace,’ ‘_paix boiteuse_,’ have become as current in the Allied countries as if they had some established connection with reality. This is entirely contrary to the fact: with the best intentions in the world, _peace without annexations or indemnities, as things stand now, is impossible. There can be no ‘white peace,’ no ‘drawn game,’ no ‘paix boiteuse.’_