>rS ] I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Eliot Morgan THE American Verdict on the War. A REPLY TO THE MANIFESTO OF THE GERMAN PROFESSORS Reprinted uy by SAMUEL HARDEN CHURCH, President Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, U.S.A. Printed and Published by "THE TIMES" Publishing Co.. Ltd., Printing House Square, London. 23 £ Reply to the German Professors, BY SAMUEL HARDEN CHURCH, President Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg. Author of " The Life of Oliver Cromv. ** NINETY-THREE of the most prominent men of Germany, distinguished in various branches of science, art, education, and literature, 1 recently circulated broadcast throughout America a letter entitled, " An Appeal to the Civilized World," in which they attempt to change public opinion in the United States on the subject of war, In this letter they state that Germany was not responsible for the outbreak of the war ; that she did not violate the neutrality of Belgium ; that she did not destroy Louvain ; that her soldiers have not oppressed the Belgian people nor committed any atrocities ; and that militarism is the only safe- guard of German civilization. Mr. Church, the President of the Carnegie Institute, at Pittsburg, and author of a book that has won distinction in America and Europe, has made reply to the German appeal, as follows : 535497 2 Pittsburg, U.S.A., November ^tk } 1 914. Prof. Dr. Fritz Schaper, Berlin, Germany. My dear Doctor Schaper, I have received with vour compliments and autograph a printed letter addressed " To the Civilised World," and signed by ninety-three of the most distinguished names in German art, science and literature, your own among them, and I assure you that a communication so endorsed will receive my most profound consideration. To me those ninety-three names are tremendously potent and influential. I have the honor of a personal acquain- tance with some of these gentlemen, yourself and Prof. Adolf von Harnack, and a few others, wmile many of these men have done their work with such universal scope that they must not count themselves as Germans only, because they belong to the whole world, and the whole world esteems and reveres them for their eminent services to humanity. The plays of Hauptmann and the music of Humper- dinck are, I am sure, as well-known in America as in Germany. Many of us have sat at the feet of Ehrlich and Eucken as Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel, fn our great institutions of science, art, and learning, such as our Carnegie Institute, we look upon Bode as a source oJ final judgment in his field of work. Max Reinhardt is at the head of a new movement in theatrical production which has reached the American stage. Siegfried Wagner is a precious name to us all by inheritau Rontgen, Wassermann, Behring, and the other signers have promoted learning and ameliorated human suffering. You yourself have, through the suggestion made by your Emperor, been a guest in Pittsburg at the dedication of the new building of the Carnegie Institute, amidst a group of illus- trious men gathered here from all over the world, the German section, as I remember with feelings of deep friendship, having included General von Loewenfeld, General Dickhuth, Dr. von I hue, Dr. von Moeller, Dr. Koser, and yourself, all of them, in response to our urgent request, bringing with them, as our most precious guests, their wives or daughters, except alas! General von Loewenfeld, who, winning his way to the head of armies, told me he had not yet been able to win a wife. But I have reminded him that while there is life there is hope. Need I say more to prove to you how deep is the sympathy, affection, and gratitude which I and all my countrymen cherish towards the people of 4 the German Empire? Need I say how our hearts bleed for them in this time of dreadful calamity, or how much we hope and pray that peace may soon return to the troubled bosom of the Fatherland? Why, the very texture of our nation would make us true to Germany in all her moral rights, because we have at this moment eight million people of German birth or German parentage in our popula- tion, and these citizens are among the very best in this country. Therefore, in a peculiar sense, we hold Germany in our heart of hearts, for she is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh But in the same way we cherish the people of all other races, except, alas, those from Asia, and one day, in God's own time, we shall grow big enough in a spiritual sense to receive the children of Asia with equal hospitality. But we are a cosmopolite nation, and besides having those eight million Germans we have absorbed thirteen millions from Great Britain, 300,000 from France, 3,000,000 from Russia, 2,000,000 from Austria, 25,000 from the Balkans, and 100,000 from Belgium. All told we have 32,000,000 of foreign birth and foreign parent- age in our 100,000,000 population, so that our blood and fibre comprises the whole human family. Could we be lacking in sympathy for Germany, then, in this awful war? And could we take sides unjustly or from prejudice when all those who are engaged in the terrible conflict are our veritable brothers in the one family of God's children ? Our excellent President Wilson, beloved and esteemed by our whole people, has charged us all to maintain an impartial neutrality, and that I believe we are earnestly striving to do ; but we are, at the same time, in like maimer, earnestly striving to find the ri^ht and to condemn the wrong, because neutrality can never mean indifference. You will remember that Dante, in the Inferno, found a hell beneath all other hells prepared for those timid beings who insisted on being neutral in the everlasting fight between good and evil. This war is a fight between those forces of good and evil, and I believe that the American people, having divested themselves of prejudice, are devoting themselves to a study of the evidence in order that public opinion may conform to the facts. In the course of this study vour letter "To the Civilised World" becomes a substantial part of the testimony. In your letter vou say that your enemies, "by their lies and calumnies, are endeavouring to stain the honor of Germany in her hard struggle for existence — in a struggle which has been forced upon her." It gives me a feeling of pity to note the impor- t unity with which the people of Germany are seeking the good opinion of America in this strife. It is greatly to their credit that they wish to stand right in the judgment of this nation. But Germany need have no fear that American public opinion will be perverted by the lies and calumnies of her enemies. We are all going deeper than the surface in our search for the truth. Your letter speaks of Germany as being in a struggle " which has been forced upon her." That is the whole question ; all others are subsidiary. If this struggle was forced upon Germany, then indeed she stands in a position of mighty dignity and honor, and the whole world should acclaim her and succor her, to the utter confusion and punish- ment of the foes who have attacked her. But if this outrageous war was not forced upon her, would it not follow in the course of reason that her position is without dignity and honor, and that it is her foes who should be acclaimed and supported to the extreme limit of human sympathy ? I believe, dear Doctor Schaper, that the judgment on this paramount question has been formed. That judgment is not based upon the lies and calumnies of the enemies of Germany, nor upon the careless publications contained in the newspapers, but upon a profound study of the official correspondence in the case. This corres- pondence has been published and disseminated by the respective Governments concerned in the war ; it has been reprinted in full in our leading news- papers, and with substantial fullness in our maga- zines, and has been republished in a complete pamphlet form in one huge edition after another by the "New York Times," and again by the American Association for International Conciliation ; and the public demand for this indisputable evidence has not yet been satisfied, although many millions of our people have read it. These documents are known officially as (i) The Austro-Hungarian note to Servia. (2) The Servian Reply. (3) The British White Paper. (4) The German White Book. (5) The Russian Yellow Book. (6) The Belgian Grey Book. They contain all the letters and dispatches which each government desired to publish to the world as its own justification for being at war. And, by the way, every man who studies these papers will regret two things ; first, that Germany has not dared to publish her corres- pondence with Austria, and, second, that Austria has not dared to publish her correspondence with Germany. If the world were in possession of this suppressed evidence, its judgment on the question of guilt would doubtless be greatly facilitated. But, in so far as they have been printed, all of these documents are before me as T write this letter. I cannot help wondering whether they have been circulated in Germany ; I cannot help wishing that the German people might have the opportunity which my countrymen have had of reading these state papers in their fullness. Was this war forced upon Germany ? What do the official documents prove ? Well, we all know that Austria, away back in 1 90S, made seizure of the two provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A thing like that enrages the human spirit ; and the brains of some men will not act normally under such extreme provoca- tion. In May, 19 14, the Austrian Crown Prince went into these provinces. The people looked upon him as an invader, a usurper, a conqueror, a tyrant, and he was assassinated. It was a detestable act, condemned and abhorred by just men every- where. I condemn it, detest it, and abhor it. But it was the penalty which any man would pay who would flagrantly invade a conquered province under like circumstances. There is always a hot-head readv to murder a tvrant, and a tvrant is one who makes himself a conqueror for his own aggrandize- ment. In the eyes of those subjugated people, the Crown Prince was a tyrant. Austria at once assumed to hold Servia responsible for this murder, and dispatched an ultimatum containing ten drastic conditions which were more exacting upon the dignity of Servia than any demand that was ever before made by one nation upon another. Yet Servia yielded to all except in part as to Articles 5 and 6. In Article 5 the Imperial scheme of Pan - Germanism was developed — insidiously broached, it is true, but still it was put before Servia as a definitive part of the plan of Austro- German expansion. Servia was required " to accept the collaboration in Servia of representatives of the Austro - Hungarian government in the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the territorial integrity of the (Austrian) monarchy." This brief clause is full of hidden meaning. The phraseology is so elastic that its acceptance by Servia would have given Austria the opportunity to extend its purport so that it would cover prac- tically any kind of interference in Servian affairs for the ostensible purpose of suppressing any "subversive movement." Already Austria had ravished Servia of two of her precious jewels, and was laving her plans now to despoil her of more. In Germany's " White Paper " we read an undis- guised acknowledgement that the main object of IO Austria's war on Servia was to assert a control in Servia over all policies which Austria might regard as having any inimical effect upon such territory as should now belong to Austria or would hereafter be annexed. It would be difficult to conceive of anything that would be a more fatal impairment of the sovereignty of Servia than for her to yield to this harsh demand. Yet she replied with patience and dignity, consenting " to admit such collaboration as agrees with the principle of international law, with criminal procedure, and with good neighbourly relations. " It is well that we should keep in mind the avowed object of Germany and Austria in making this significant demand upon Servia, in order that we may be able to avoid the error of assuming that the Austrian war on Servia was merely a punitive expedition on account of the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria. When these minatory conditions w r ere published, Russia, as one of the great powers of Europe, naturally felt that she had a historical basis to claim, and she did emphatically claim, a right to a voice in determining whether the sovereignty of the kingdom of Servia should be permanently impaired. Germany well knew that an insistence upon this condition would make a 1 1 general war inevitable ; yet she proclaimed her insistence from the house-tops, and defied Russia to interfere. Again, Article 6 contained the unprecedented condition that Austrian jurists should sit in the Servian court before which the assassins were to be tried, and even here Servia agreed to submit in effect, although calling attention to the extremely reasonable fact that such participation by Austria was contrary to the laws of Servia. If her replies on any part of the ultimatum were not satisfactory to Austria, Servia candidly offered to hold further conversations on the subject, or to refer the matter to The Hague Court, or to the great powers of Europe. In this transaction Servia showed a dis- position towards reparation and towards peace, which the civilized world has been trying for manv years to inculcate into rhe foreign relations of all nations. Servia had just passed through two wars, and her strength was exhausted. But Austria, conscious all the time that good faith would have enabled her to reach an agreement in a conver- sation of thirty minutes, was resolved to make war, and in this resolve the German Emperor and the military party in Germany upheld her, as candidlv acknowledged in their official declarations. The German White Book is verv frank on this 12 subject. It says : " We were able to assure our ally (Austria) most heartily of our agreement with her view of the situation, and to assure her that any action that she might consider it necessary to take in order to put an end to the movement in Servia directed against the existence of the Austro- Hungarian monarchy would receive our approval." You will see, my dear Doctor' Schaper, that it never entered into the minds of the Emperor and his advisers to refer the question to The Hague Court or to discuss it in a concert of the powers of Europe. What we are trying to do, vou will remember, is to find out who began the war. So the German statement proceeds : " We were fully aware in this connection that warlike moves on the part of Austria-Hungary against Servia would bring Russia into the question, and might draw us into a war in accordance with our duty as an ally." I hope you will read that last quotation with extreme care. Does it not prove by German declaration alone that all these myriad thousands of good German working men who have been slaughtered in their invasion of other lands have died, not because the Fatherland was in peril, but because ambitious schemes of the dynastic houses of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern demanded the sacrifice ? 13 In the English White Paper we have all the telegrams which were exchanged between the English Foreign Office over the signature of Sir Edward Grey and the diplomatic officials of the other powers, including the Imperial Chancellor of Germanv. These telegrams to and from her own foreign office are, curiously enough, not included by Germanv in her presentation of the case. ( )n July 24th Sir Edward Grey, through the British Ambassador at Berlin, proposed a conference between Germany, Italy, France and England in the event of the relations between Austria and Russia becoming threatening, and he repeated this suggestion the next day to the German Ambassador at London. The Emperor returned suddenlv to Berlin on July 26th (he was not "away on his vacation when the war broke out," as has been stated by his defenders in America time and time again\ and Sir Edward Grey repeated his urgent appeal for a conference of accommodation So on the next day the English Ambassador at Berlin telegraphed Sir Edward Grey " Secretary of State says that conference you suggest would practically amount to a court of arbitration, and could not, in his opinion, be called together except at the request of Austria and Russia. He could not, therefore, fall in with your suggestion, desirous though he was to co-operate for the maintenance ol peace. I said T 14 was sure that your idea had nothing to do with arbitration, but meant that representatives of the four nations not directly interested should discuss and suggest means for avoiding a dangerous situation. He maintained, however, that such a conference as you proposed was not practicable." Was Germany anxious to avoid war ? Did she make the slightest effort to avert it ? Do we see her being attacked? Were her "jealous neighbors " oppressing her ? On the contrary, Germany stood steadfastly upon her assurance that Austria was justified in making war on Servia, and that if Russia interfered, she would fight Russia. Then who began the war ? And once again, why did these German husbands, sons and fathers die ? And all this time England and France and Russia and Italy were striving mightily to hold back Austria from beginning a conflict which they all knew, as Germany knew, would destroy the peace of the world. They all pleaded for further conference, but Austria was obdurate, being upheld to her uncompromising attitude by Germany, and on Julv 27th she began her war on Servia. Returning to the German White Book, we read that after Austria had attacked Servia, Russia began to mobilize her army, as she had all along declared that she would do, for action against 15 Austria if it became necessarv. We then come upon one of the most extraordinary communications which has ever been written. It is a telegram from the German Emperor to the Czar, and says : " The unscrupulous agitation which has gone on for ye in Servia has led to the revolting crime of which Archduke Francis Ferdinand was the victim. . . . Undoubtedly you will agree with me that we two, you and I, as well as all sovereigns, have a common interest in insisting that all those morally respon sible for this terrible murder shall suffer deserved punishment." We begin to see now why those German soldiers have died, and why those German women are weeping. A prince, no matter whether he was a usurper and an invader, has been shot. Therefore let all Hell break loose in Europe ! And those of us who have been shocked when bombs were hurled at emperors, are now astounded to behold that emperors, in emulation of the most despicable anarchists, have themselves hurled bombs at de- fenseless women and children in Antwerp and in Paris. The Czar replied : " A disgraceful war has been declared on a weak nation ; the indignation at this, which I fully share, is immense in Rus I foresee that soon I can no longer withstand the 16 -pressure that is being brought to bear upon me, and that I shall be forced to adopt measures which will lead to war." The Emperor answered thus : " I cannot consider Austria's action a disgraceful war. Austria knows by experience that Servia's promises, when they are merely on paper, are quite unreliable." I cannot help asking you, dear Doctor Schaper, if the world has not come to know that there are other promises which, when they are merely on paper, are quite unreliable ? Does not one such paper bear your Emperor's signature ? Has not your Emperor declared that his solemn and sacred guarantee of Belgium's neutrality is nothing but a scrap of paper ? England now asked whether Germany, in the event of war, would guarantee that she would not despoil France of her territorial possessions, and Germany replied that she could not give such guarantees. And in answer to a last effort on the part of England to protect France from dismember- ment and spoliation, the Emperor sends this amazing telegram to the King of England : " My mobiliza- tion cannot be countermanded because I am sorry your telegram came so late. But if France offers me neutrality, which must be guaranteed by the 17 British fleet and army, I shall of course refrain from attacking France and employ my troops elsewhere. I hope that France will not become nervous. The troops on my frontiers are in the act of b< stopped bv telegraph and telephone from crossing into France.'' " My mobilization !" It is the Emperor, then, who has mobilized. The time may come, dear Doctor Schaper, and you and I ought to hope that it will come soon, when there will be neither Kings nor Emperors with power to mobilize armies as a child plays with toy soldiers ! In a certain event, savs the Emperor, " I shall refrain from attacking France " — and mark what follows ! " — and employ my troops elsewhere." The Emperor is determined to make war, either on France, or " else- where." and then : " I hope France will not become nervous." Now what should make France nervous. " The troops on my frontiers are in the act of being stopped by telegraph and telephone from crossing into France." There we have it all ! The telegram from England came too late; the German Emperor has mobilized ; his armies are already crossing the French Frontiers, but France must not become nervous ! Poor France ! already shaking with the tread of a million in- vaders, she must not get nervous ! i8 The final step, then, appears to be an ulti- matum, on July 31st, from the Imperial German Chancellor giving Russia twelve hours to cease her mobilization. But Russia continued to make her preparations, and the war broke out on August 1st. Who began it ? Was it England ? Scarcely so, for England, in so far as her army is concerned, had yielded to the popular plea for arbitration, she was not ready for war and will not be ready for an- other six months. Was it France ? Was it Russia ? Not one of the ninetv-three distinguished men who have sent me this letter, if they will read the evi- dence, will say so. Nominally it was Austria, who, bv her unreasonable and inexorable attack on Servia, began the War, but Austria was supported, controlled and guided at every step by Germany, who, in her turn, gave notice to the powers of Europe that any interference with Austria would be resented by Germany to the full limit of war. For what, then, have these brave German soldiers died ? Alas! Not one of all those among her slaughtered battalions could answer that question, in the last moment of his agony. The men who have fallen among the allies have died on their own soil, defending their countries against invasion, but all your sons have died in a foreign land without a cause. 19 The next point in vour letter reads thus : " It is not true that we trespassed in neutral Belgium." Have these ninety-three men studied well the letter they have signed? Could intellects so superbly trained deliberately certify to such an unwarranted declaration ? Once again I ask, are the people of Germany being supplied with the evidence which is given to the rest of the world ? Has anv one of my ninetv-three honored corres- pondents read the guilty statement made by Imperial Chancellor von Bethman-Hollweg in the Reichstag on August 4th? I fear not, for in that statement the Chancellor said : "We were compelled to override the just protests of the Luxemburg and Belgian gov- ernments. Our troops have occupied Luxem- burg and perhaps are already on Belgian soil. Gentlemen, that is a breach of international law. It is true that the French government has declared at Brussels that France is willing to respect the neutrality of Belgium, so long as her opponent respects it. France could wait, but we could not. The wrong — I speak frankly — that we are committing we will endeavour to make good as soon as our military goal has been reached." Again, I am impelled to wonder whether anv 20 of you gentlemen are aware of the fact that your Imperial Chancellor himself made an appeal for the good opinion of the American people, which was published in the American newspapers on August 15th, in which he again acknowledges this crime against Belgium in the following words : " Necessity forced us to violate the neutrality of Belgium, but we had promised emphatically to compensate that country for all damage inflicted." What will the good conscience of the German people say when, in spite of its passion in the rage of war, it grasps the awful significance of the con- fession of its Imperial Chancellor. What necessity? Who would ever have attacked you if your Emperor had not marched his troops across the frontiers of his peaceful neighbours ? " The wrong that we are committing." The wreck and ruin of a country that has done you no injury, the slaughter of her sons, the expulsion of her King and government, the blackmail of her substance, the destruction of her cities, with their happy homes, their beautiful monuments of historic times, and the priceless works of human genius ! " The wrong that we are committing." Worst of all, when the desperate and maddened populace, 21 seeing their sons slain and their homes in flames, fired from their windows in the last instinct of nature, your troops, with barbaric ferocity, put them to the sword without distinction of age or sex ! The wrong ! Why do von deny it against the shameful acknowledgment of the official voice of Germany? Oh, Doctor Schaper, if these con- ditions should ever be reversed and these foreign soldiers should march through the streets of Berlin, would not you, would not all of my ninety-three correspondents, if they saw their homes battered in ruins and their sons dead in the streets, would not they too, fire from their windows upon the merciless invaders ? I am sure I would do so ! When our American troops were recently dispatched to Mexico, not to conquer, not to make war, but to restore peace and good order and the authority of law, some of the people of Vera Cruz fired at them from their windows, and twenty-three of our young soldiers were killed. At last they fired back at the sharpshooters, but they did not destroy the city, nor kill the innocent, and even those among the sharpshooters who were captured were not executed, but were admonished to good behavior, and set free. I almost wish that America had the power and the will to go into Belgium and France, to thrust back these wicked invaders, and restore peace and good order ami the authority o! law 22 there. Such a power is surely going to be organ- ised, one of these days, by the humane people of all the world, and after that a nation which under- takes to prepare death and hell for all mankind, as your nation has done during these past twenty-five years, will be restrained as a public enemy. Yet the gross savagery that took us to Mexico is mild indeed when we compare it with the barbaric des' truction and murder that is being pursued by youi troops in those two countries. If Germany is not guilty, then, Doctor Schaper, in God's name, why are your armies in Belgium ? Why are they in France ? If you had waited until you had been attacked, you would never have found your nation at war. Your Imperial Chancellor savs that you have violated international law and that you will endeavor to make good the wrong you are committing. Why, Doctor Schaper, all the gold you could give to France and Belgium in a thousand years, and all the penitential prayers you could utter in every hour of a thousand years, together with the contrition of a shamed and broken heart, would not repair your ruin of tw r o nations by fire and slaughter, nor dry up the ocean of human tears which have accompanied your hideous invasion. People sometimes ask us : " Would you rather have the Slav than the German?" \nd the reply is 23 alwavs to the same effect : " Yes, since we have seen the German at war, we would rather have the Slav, rather the Turk, rather the Hottentot ! " Your communication makes other denials, thai you " have not injured the life and property of a single Belgian citizen without the bitterest self- defence having made it necessary," and that your troops " have not treated Louvain brutally." The judgment here also mu-st rest upon the facts, and the facts are too well known to justify their repe- tition, and argument would be wasted. I do, how- ever, bring one witness against you on this charge, and only one. It is your Emperor. Hear him ! " The destruction wrought upon life and property by our troops at Louvain was an act of cruel ne- cessity. My heart bleeds for Louvain ! " You likewise make denial of atrocities, not justified by warfare. Well, here in Pittsburg, we have received a letter from one of our Red Cross nurses who is serving in Belgium Among those under her care is a boy who, brave lad, fired from his window at the troops who were ravaging his country, and had both hands cut off by your soldiers And was not the Burgomaster of Ter- monde slain becausehedefended his daughteragainst the attack of a German officer — a guest in his own house ? Another story reaches me to-day, from one 24 of my own business correspondents formerly living at Brussels but forced to flee to Nantes, who tells me that your soldiers shot the Cashier of the National Bank of Belgium and his two sons, because he refused to give them the combination of his safe. Common tales like these seem only too well authenticated. But why make denial of individual atrocities when we have them in such wholesale instances as those at Louvain, Alost and Termonde ? Our people look upon war itself as an atrocity, debasing a nation that provokes it as much as private murder debases the criminal who instigates it. Your Emperor was admired as one of the greatest men in the world. But what will be the fame that he leaves to posterity? Oh, what a fall is there ! His inexcusable provocation of war has stung humanity to the innermost depths of its soul. Besides drenching Europe with human blood, he is giving her a new population ot weeping widows and bereft mothers, of fatherless children, and Oi men without arms and legs. A heritage of hate ! And then you conclude your letter by defend- ing German militarism. Well, that would bring us back again to the question of how the war began. No candid mind can doubt that the responsibilty for the war rests entirely upon Germany because of her en- couragement of Austria to attack Servia, knowing, 25 as Germany knew, that a European conflagration would result. For Austria is only a ramshai empire, bound together by a rope of sand, not able to assimilate various races into one homogeneous nation, as we assimilate them in America, because her government is not a government of equal rights, an 1 she could never do anything either good or bad, on her own initiative, in a masterful way. But there are causes back of this. Your reference to German militarism brings to mind the conviction that this war began potential 1 v twenty-five years ago, when Emperor William II. ascended the throne, declared himself Supreme War Lord, and proceeded to prepare his nation for war. His own children were raised from their babyhood to consider themselves soldiers and to look forward to a destiny of slaughter ; and here in America we know even his daughter, only by her photograph in a colonel's uniform. And as with his own ehildren, so all the youth of his empire were brought up. Compulsory military service made every man a soldier. I have been in Germany and have everywhere noted the lack of national tranquility, for the streets were at all times full of soldiers ; the eye caught nothing but the flash of shining helmets and polished breastplates ; the ear heard nothing but the clanking of sabres and the jingling of spurs. Horses were chafing their bits 26 and beating the air with impatient hoofs. And all this constant noise and panoply of war has poisoned the imagination of the German people, and the surging spirit of conflict has got itself into their blood. A man wearing the Kaiser's uniform became at once a member of an exclusive class. A waiter questioning a score with a drunken officer was stabbed to the heart, the soldier's uniform making the act a good defence. A lame shoemaker, living in a conquered province, who muttered words against the Kaiser's troops, was cut down with a sabre, and the officer who committed the cowardly assault was effusively praised by the German Crown Prince. A man in humble station, who sought to greet with familiar approach a former friend now in officers uniform, was killed for his impudence, the murderer even writing a letter to his victim's mother justify- ing the crime. I have myself seen German officers elbow gentle women on the street to make more room for themselves. I have seen others of them raise their glasses to the day when they would be at war. And in every day of every year of the twenty- five the Emperor has, by his incendiary speeches, inflamed the public ardor for this potential war. Men who proposed substantial ways of peace were sneered at for their interference. When the working classes of the world began to stagger 27 under the taxation for prospective war (about 75% of the revenues of all governments going into these wasted expenditures) the English cabinet proposed a cessation of further preparation for one year, but the Emperor's answer to this humane sugges- tion was to add four battleships to his fleet and three hundred thousand men to his army, immediately requiring France to lengthen out her term of service from two years to three. Your General von Bernhardi said : " Efforts to secure peace are extraordinarily detrimental to the national health." The very professors in your universities have helped instil into the minds of your young men this doctrine that war was inevitable. Going far away from your great philosopher, Kant, who, in his Categorical Impera- tive, has taught us all a new golden rule, the national spirit of Germany has been fed on the sensual materialism of Nietzsche, on the undisguised bloodthirst of General von Bernhardi, on the wicked war dreams of Treitchske, and on the weak morality of von Biilow ; and in every scrap oi evidence that we can gather from your Emperor, his children, his soldiers, his statesmen, and his professors, we behold that Germany held herself a nation apart from the rest of the world and superior to it, and predestined to maintain that superiority by war. In contrast to this narrow and destructive 28 spirit of nationalism, we in America have learned the value of humanity above the race, so that we cherish all mankind in the bosom of our country. And right here, dear Doctor Schaper, may I say that the statesmanship of Germany has been constructed upon one false principle which is mainly responsible for all the woes that this German war has brought upon the world ? Your military rulers have inculcated in the hearts of your people the belief that the German flag must follow Germans in their immigration. Hence you claim to require colonies. Then your Emperor tells his people that Germany is above all — have you not a song to those words ? — he teaches them that they are above the rest of our poor humanity, and they believe it. Well, there are, as I have said, eight million Germans in America who do not require the German flag in order to insure their utmost felicity. There are other thousands of them in Canada, in Brazil, in Argentina, and elsewhere around the globe, always safe and happy without the German flag, When Americans adopt other countries they do not carry our flag with them. Is it not absurd and mischievous, then, to hold to the doctrine that Germans henceforth must continue to live under the German flag, wherever they go ? Is not the wild dream of Pan-Germanism at the bottom of this great crime ? Is there not a higher 20. destiny, to be born, perhaps, out of this war, that humanity is greater than any race, and that govern- ments in conflict with that destiny must perish? Then, again, your military class, desiring to hold the government in their own hands, are promulgating the idea that the common people of Germany are incapable of what English and Americans call self-government ? " No people," says your General von Bernhardi, "is so unfitted as the Germans to direct their own destinies." Well, I cannot help wondering what the reckoning will be between the German people and their rulers when this war is over. There is a fine line in Bulwer's play, " Richelieu," which fits this case : " Oh, if men will play dark sorcery with the heart of man, let them who raise the spell beware the fiend ! " These war dreams, this German solidarity, this Pan-Germanism, this mendacious diplomacy, this policy of being armed to the teeth, this false principle of the state above the individual, the still more fallacious sentiment of Germany above humanitv, the contempt of your military rulers for human life, their eager wish to destroy the whole body of property which marks the progress of man- kind — all this has made the world afraid of you. Your insatiate spirit has terrified us all. Your General Staff have even published a plan for 3° attacking America. If you beat down the British Empire, why will not our turn come next? And so, at last, my dear Dr. Schaper, we find ourselves shocked, ashamed, and outraged that a Christian nation should be guiltv of this criminal war. When I say that we hate this conflict and that we execrate the German militarists who made it, I am uttering the opinion of the great majority of the American people, including hundreds of thousands of our German-American citizens. There was no justification for it. Armed and defended as you were, the whole world could never have broken into your borders. And while German culture still has something to gain from her neighbors, yet the intellectual progress which Germany was making seemed to be lifting up her own people to better things for themselves and to an altruistic service to mankind. Your great nation floated its ships in every ocean, sold its wares in the uttermost parts of the earth, and enjoyed the good favor of humanity, because it was trusted as a humane state. But now all this achievement has vanished, all this good opinion has been destroyed. You cannot in half-a- century regain the spiritual and material benefits which you have lost. Oh, that we might have again a Germany that we could respect, a Germany of true peace, of true 3i progress, of true culture, modest and not boastful, forever rid of her war lords, and her armed hosts, and turning once more to the uplifting influent of such leaders as Luther, Goethe, Beethoven and Kant ! But Germany, whether you win or lose in this war, has fallen, and the once glorious nation must continue to pursue its course in darkness and murder until conscience at last bids it withdraw its armies back to its own boundaries, there to wait for the world's pardon upon this inexpiable damnation. I believe you will forgive me for suggesting that, if the ninety-three men who have written me this letter would exercise their great influence upon the conscience of their own countrymen to stop the war, recall your armies, and plead for peace upon terms which would take full cognizance of the wrongs your Emperor and your Imperial Chancellor have confessed — then would you be doing a real service to humanity surpassing all the achievements of your lives. Many good things are sure to come out of this wicked war. The best of all will be peace. I belong to all the peace societies, and have observed that the men of peace used to speak with bated breath and walk with timid step, fearful of the glance of fighting men. But from this time forward, I predict that peace is going to be the most militant 32 thing on this earth, enforcing law and order with the high hand of authority, and trampling under foot the petty majesties who would ever again try to develop great empires upon the dead bodies of poor working men and simple peasants. Then shall we find humanity greater indeed than any part of it which may be called a nation. I desire, in closing this very candid response to your letter, to express my profound sympathy for the German people. I mourn with vou for the good and brave men whose lives have been need- lesslv thrown away in an international debauch of murder and robbery ; I weep, as you do, with the precious women whose hearts have been broken by an insupportable loss ; I pity the poor little children, a million and more of them, who must grow up without the love and care of a father. I wish that I might do or sav something that would help to assuage the grief of the German people, but no human hand can lighten such a staggering burden of affliction. With my thanks for your letter, and my com- pliments to the other gentlemen whose names are signed to it, with a profound wish that permanent peace may soon come to this troubled world, and assuring you of mv unshaken friendship and esteem, I am, dear Doctor Schaper, Always faithfully yours, S. H. CHURCH. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 9 rm L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)444 JLOo A^GfifcfiS 4 The American ^01 diet on the war. BRARY FACILITY f