When these facts had been hammered in, Mrs. Prentiss moved on to the
two cardinal facts for whose elucidation the rest had been a mere
preamble: that the Central Powers were beaten and knew it, but were
determined to go on sacrificing the manhood of the country, reducing the
population to the ultimate miseries of mind and body rather than yield;
and that the only hope of obtaining mercy from the Entente Allies in the
inevitable hour of surrender was to dethrone the Hohenzollerns and
establish a Republic. Otherwise as a nation they would cease to exist
and their last fate would be infinitely worse than their present. A
German Republic would be welcomed into the family of nations and receive
a friendly and helping hand from every one of the great adversaries,
whose prestige and wealth were still unshaken, and who all desired to
preserve the balance of power in Europe. Above all might they rely upon
the United States of America, the friendly hints of whose President had
been systematically distorted by the anxious Pan-Germans still in the
saddle; who would cheerfully witness the loss of every drop of the
people's life blood rather than their own power.
A conquered empire that had been hypnotized to the end by the monster
criminals of history, whose word no man would ever take again, would be
a mere collection of enslaved States for generations to come; the
conquerors, having given them their choice, would show no mercy.
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