“I assure you,” continued M. Motta, “whatever sympathy the German-Swiss may feel toward Germany, the French-Swiss toward France, or the Italian toward Italy, it is nothing like as warm and as intimate as that which each Swiss feels toward his fellow-Swiss.”

This was the national note which dominated everything.  At first there was a little difficulty in the councils of the nation.  Some showed a tendency to lose their balance, but that phase had passed, and each day, I gathered, purely Swiss interests were coming uppermost.

“And the press, M. le President?”

M. Motta admitted that some writers had been excessive in their language and had been lacking in good taste; but, on the whole, he thought the newspapers had impartially printed news from both sides, and he cited a list of leading organs—­Switzerland is amazingly full of papers—­which had been conspicuous for their moderation.

And then there was the question of contraband.  Orders were very precise on the subject; the Cabinet had limitless power since the opening of the war; if there was any smuggling it was infinitesimal, and, as to foodstuffs, Switzerland regretted she could not import more for her own needs.  The Government had established a monopoly and forbidden re-exportation, but supplies were not up to the normal.  The route by the Rhine was closed.

Finally came the phrase, concluding the conversation:  “Whoever violates our neutrality will force us to become the allies of his enemy.”  There could be nothing more categorical.

TO KING AND PEOPLE.

By WALTER SICHEL.

[From King Albert’s Book.]

     All the great things have been done by the little
     peoples.—­DISRAELI.

    Sire, King of men, disdainer of the mean,
      Belgium’s inspirer, well thou stand’st for all
    She bodes to generations yet unseen,
      Freedom and fealty—­Kingship’s coronal.

    Nation of miracles, how swift you start
      To super-stature of heroic deeds
    So brave, so silent beats your bleeding heart
      That ours, e’en in the flush of welcome, bleeds.

    No sound of wailing.  Look, above, afar,
      Throbs in the darkness with triumphant ray
    A little yet an all-commanding star,
      The morning star that heralds forth the day.

A Swiss View of Germany

By Maurice Millioud

M. Maurice Millioud, an eminent member of the Faculty of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, has written an article of marked breadth and penetration in which he presents a quite novel view of the forces which, in combination, have brought Germany to its actual position.  These forces are political, social, and economic; beneath and through them works the subtle impulsion of a national conception of right and might which