Nevertheless, William II counted on this Congress to produce closer
relations with Great Britain. He hoped that the Congress would result
in sharp antagonism between England and Russia and he reckoned on this
antagonism to help him to inflict a severe defeat on Russia, which in
its turn would have enabled him to draw one or other of these two
Powers into the orbit of his policy. Great then was the disappointment
of the German Emperor _when, from the very outset of the Conference,
England, performing a most unexpected volte-face, made proposals on the
subject of arbitration, which went a great deal farther than the
Russian proposals laid before, the Congress. This master-stroke of
British diplomacy compelled Germany to come out into the open and to
reveal herself in her true light: that is to say, as the only obstacle
to the fulfilment of the Tzar's humanitarian designs_.
The Stengels, Zorns and Schwartzkopfs completed the success of British
diplomacy by the brutal violence of their opposition and the cynicism
of their proposals. It was not only on the two committees that dealt
with arbitration and disarmament that German opposition (always
supported by Turkey alone) wrecked the magnanimous attempt of Nicholas
II to minimise the horrors of war. The committee presided over by M.
de Martens succeeded in effecting certain improvements in the terms of
the Brussels Convention; if the labours of its President and members
were not successful in doing more to lessen the evils of war upon land,
the fact is again due to the opposition of the German representatives.
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