The German minister at Washington sounded a true German note when he asked who should question the right of Germany to take Canada and the British possessions in North America.

Were they not at war, and if Germany were able, should she not possess them?
It had been understood before this war that countries were invaded under ideas of national defense.

But possession of countries for the absorption of their wealth and the enslavement of their people, to work thereafter for the victors, was believed a barbarism from which this world had long ago emerged in the struggle for the freedom of the individual..