Part 1
THE NEW YORK TIMES
CURRENT HISTORY
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
THE EUROPEAN WAR
VOLUME I.
From the Beginning to March, 1915 With Index
NEW YORK THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY 1915
Copyright 1914, 1915, By The New York Times Company
CONTENTS
NUMBER I.
WHAT MEN OF LETTERS SAY Page
COMMON SENSE ABOUT THE WAR 11 _By George Bernard Shaw_
SHAW'S NONSENSE ABOUT BELGIUM 60 _By Arnold Bennett_
BENNETT STATES THE GERMAN CASE 63 _By George Bernard Shaw_
FLAWS IN SHAW'S LOGIC 65 _By Cunninghame Graham_
EDITORIAL COMMENT ON SHAW 66
SHAW EMPTY OF GOOD SENSE 68 _By Christabel Pankhurst_
COMMENT BY READING OF SHAW 73
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT WILSON 76 _By George Bernard Shaw_
A GERMAN LETTER TO G. BERNARD SHAW 80 _By Herbert Eulenberg_
BRITISH AUTHORS DEFEND ENGLAND'S WAR 82 _With Facsimile Signatures_
THE FOURTH OF AUGUST--EUROPE AT WAR 87 _By H.G. Wells_
IF THE GERMANS RAID ENGLAND 89 _By H.G. Wells_
SIR OLIVER LODGE'S COMMENT 92
WHAT THE GERMAN CONSCRIPT THINKS 93 _By Arnold Bennett_
FELIX ADLER'S COMMENT 95
WHEN PEACE IS SERIOUSLY DESIRED 97 _By Arnold Bennett_
BARRIE AT BAY: WHICH WAS BROWN? 100 _An Interview on the War_
A CREDO FOR KEEPING FAITH 102 _By John Galsworthy_
HARD BLOWS, NOT HARD WORDS 103 _By Jerome K. Jerome_
"AS THEY TESTED OUR FATHERS" 106 _By Rudyard Kipling_
KIPLING AND "THE TRUCE OF THE BEAR" 107
ON THE IMPENDING CRISIS 107 _By Norman Angell_
WHY ENGLAND CAME TO BE IN IT 108 _By Gilbert K. Chesterton_
SOUTH AFRICA'S BOERS AND BRITONS 125 _By H. Rider Haggard_
CAPT. MARK HAGGARD'S DEATH IN BATTLE 128 _By H. Rider Haggard_
AN ANTI-CHRISTIAN WAR 129 _By Robert Bridges_
ENGLISH ARTISTS' PROTEST 130
TO ARMS! 132 _By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle_
CONAN DOYLE ON BRITISH MILITARISM 140
THE NEED OF BEING MERCILESS 144 _By Maurice Maeterlinck_
LETTERS TO DR. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER 146 _By Baron d'Estournelles de Constant_
THE VITAL ENERGIES OF FRANCE 153 _By Henri Bergson_
FRANCE THROUGH ENGLISH EYES 153 _With Rene Bazin's Appreciation_
THE SOLDIER OF 1914 156 _By Rene Doumic_
GERMANY'S CIVILIZED BARBARISM 160 _By Emile Boutroux_
THE GERMAN RELIGION OF DUTY 170 _By Gabriele Reuter_
A LETTER TO GERHART HAUPTMANN 174 _By Romain Rolland_
A REPLY TO ROLLAND 175 _By Gerhart Hauptmann_
ANOTHER REPLY TO ROLLAND 176 _By Karl Wolfskehl_
ARE WE BARBARIANS? 178 _By Gerhart Hauptmann_
TO AMERICANS FROM A GERMAN FRIEND 180 _By Ludwig Fulda_
APPEAL TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD 185 _By Professors of Germany_
APPEAL OF THE GERMAN UNIVERSITIES 187
REPLY TO THE GERMAN PROFESSORS 188 _By British Scholars_
CONCERNING THE GERMAN PROFESSORS 192 _By Frederic Harrison_
THE REPLY FROM FRANCE 194 _By M. Yves Guyot and Prof Bellet_
TO AMERICANS IN GERMANY 198 _By Prof. Adolf von Harnack_
A REPLY TO PROF. HARNACK 201 _By Some British Theologians_
PROF. HARNACK IN REBUTTAL 203
THE CAUSES OF THE WAR 206 _By Theodore Niemeyer_
COMMENT BY DR. MAX WALTER 208
NUMBER II.
WHO BEGAN THE WAR AND WHY?
SPEECHES BY KAISER WILHELM II. 210
THE MIGHTY FATE OF EUROPE 219 _As Interpreted by Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German Imperial Chancellor._
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY'S VERSION OF THE WAR 226 _By Kaiser Frawz Josef and Count Berchtold_
A GERMAN REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE 228 _Certified by Dr. Bernhard Dernburg, German ex-Colonial Secretary_
"TRUTH ABOUT GERMANY" 244 _Attested by Thirty-four German Dignitaries_
SPECULATIONS ABOUT PEACE, SEPTEMBER, 1914 273 _Report by James W. Gerard, American Ambassador at Berlin, to President Wilson._
FIRST WARNINGS OF EUROPE'S PERIL 277 _Speeches by British Ministers_
GREAT BRITAIN'S MOBILIZATION 294 _Measures Taken Throughout the Empire Upon the Outbreak of War_
SUMMONS OF THE NATION TO ARMS 308 _British People Roused by Their Leaders_
TEACHINGS OF GEN. VON BERNHARDI 343 _By Viscount Bryce_
ENTRANCE OF FRANCE INTO THE WAR 350 _By President Poincare and Premier Viviani_
RUSSIA TO HER ENEMY 358
"THE FACTS ABOUT BELGIUM" 365 _Statement Issued by the Belgian Legation at Washington_
BELGO-BRITISH PLOT ALLEGED BY GERMANY 369 _Statement Issued by German Embassy at Washington, Oct. 13._
ATROCITIES OF THE WAR 374
BOMBARDMENT OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL 392 _Protest Issued to Neutral Powers from French Foreign Office, Bordeaux, Sept. 21._
THE SOCIALISTS' PART 397
NUMBER III.
WHAT AMERICANS SAY TO EUROPE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CIVILIZATION 413 _Argued by James M. Beck_
CRITICS DISPUTE MR. BECK 431
DEFENSE OF THE DUAL ALLIANCE--REPLY 438 _By Dr. Edmund von Mach_
WHAT GLADSTONE SAID ABOUT BELGIUM 448 _By George Louis Beer_
FIGHT TO THE BITTER END 451 _An Interview with Andrew Carnegie_
WOMAN AND WAR--"Shot, Tell His Mother" (Poem) 458 _By W.E.P. French, Captain, U.S. Army_
THE WAY TO PEACE 459 _An Interview with Jacob H. Schiff_
PROF. MATHER ON MR. SCHIFF 464
THE ELIOT-SCHIFF LETTERS 465 _By Jacob H. Schiff and Charles W. Eliot_
LA CATHEDRALE (Poem Translated by Frances C. Fay) 472 _By Edmond Rostand_
PROBABLE CAUSES AND OUTCOME OF THE WAR 473 _Series of Five Letters by Charles W. Eliot, with Related Correspondence_
THE LORD OF HOSTS (Poem) 501 _By Joseph B. Gilder_
A WAR OF DISHONOR 502 _By David Starr Jordan_
MIGHT OR RIGHT 503 _By John Grier Hibben_
JEANNE D'ARC--1914 (Poem) 506 _By Alma Durant Nicholson_
THE KAISER AND BELGIUM (With controversial letters) 507 _By John W. Burgess_
AMERICA'S PERIL IN JUDGING GERMANY 515 _By William M. Sloane_
POSSIBLE PROFITS FROM WAR 526 _Interview with Franklin H. Giddings_
"TO AMERICANS LEAVING GERMANY" 533 _A German Circular_
GERMAN DECLARATIONS 534 _By Rudolf Eucken and Ernst Haeckel_
THE EUCKEN AND HAECKEL CHARGES 537 _By John Warbeke_
CONCERNING GERMAN CULTURE 541 _By Brander Matthews_
CULTURE VS. KULTUR 543 _By Frank Jewett Mather, Jr._
THE TRESPASS IN BELGIUM 545 _By John Grier Hibben_
APPORTIONING THE BLAME 548 _By Arthur v. Briesen_
PARTING (Poem) 553 _By Louise von Wetter_
FRENCH HATE AND ENGLISH JEALOUSY 554 _By Kuno Francke_
IN DEFENSE OF AUSTRIA 559 _By Baron L. Hengelmuller_
RUSSIAN ATROCITIES 563 _By George Haven Putnam_
"THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE" 565 _Interview with Nicholas Murray Butler_
A NEW WORLD MAP 571 _By Wilhelm Ostwald_
THE VERDICT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 573 _By Newell Dwight Hillis_
TIPPERARY (Poem) 581 _By John B. Kennedy_
AS AMERICA SEES THE WAR 582 _By Harold Begbie_
TO MELOS, POMEGRANATE ISLE (Poem) 587 _By Grace Harriet Macurdy_
WHAT AMERICA CAN DO 588 _By Lord Channing of Wellingborough_
TO A COUSIN GERMAN (Poem) 593 _By Adeline Adams_
WHAT THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS MAY BE 594 _By Irving Fisher_
EFFECTS OF WAR ON AMERICA 600 _By Roland G. Usher_
GERMANY OF THE FUTURE 605 _Interview with M. de Lapredelle_
GERMANY THE AGGRESSOR 609 _By Albert Sauveur_
MILITARISM AND CHRISTIANITY 610 _By Lyman Abbott_
VIGIL (Poem) 612 _By Hortense Flexner_
NIETZSCHE AND GERMAN CULTURE 613 _By Abraham Solomon_
BELGIUM'S BITTER NEED 614 _By Sir Gilbert Parker_
NUMBER IV.
THE WAR AT CLOSE QUARTERS
SIR JOHN FRENCH'S OWN STORY 619 _Famous Dispatches of the British Commander in Chief to Lord Kitchener_
STORY OF THE "EYE WITNESS" 650 _By Col. E.D. Swinton of the Intelligence Department of the British General Staff_
THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY (Poem) 678 _By Edward Neville Vose_
THE GERMAN ENTRY INTO BRUSSELS (With Map) 679 _By John Boon_
THE FALL OF ANTWERP 682 _By a Correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle_
AS THE FRENCH FELL BACK ON PARIS 689 _By G.H. Perris_
THE RETREAT TO PARIS 691 _By Philip Gibbs_
A ZOUAVE'S STORY 704 _By Philip Gibbs_
WHEN WAR BURST ON ARRAS 707 _By a Special Correspondent_
THE BATTLES IN BELGIUM (With Map) 711 _By The Associated Press_
SEEKING WOUNDED ON BATTLE FRONT 714 _By Philip Gibbs_
AT THE KAISER'S HEADQUARTERS 718 _By Cyril Brown of The New York Times_
HOW THE BELGIANS FIGHT 725 _By a Correspondent of The London Daily News_
A VISIT TO THE FIRING LINE IN FRANCE 727 _By a Correspondent of The New York Times_
UNBURIED DEAD STREW LORRAINE (With Map) 729 _By Philip Gibbs_
ALONG THE GERMAN LINES NEAR METZ 731 _By The Associated Press_
THE SLAUGHTER IN ALSACE 736 _By John H. Cox_
RENNENKAMPF ON THE RUSSIAN BORDER 738 _By a Correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle_
THE FIRST FIGHT AT LODZ (With Map) 740 _By Perceval Gibbon_
THE FIRST INVASION OF SERBIA (With Map) 742 _By a Correspondent of The London Standard_
THE ATTACK ON TSING-TAU 745 _By Jefferson Jones_
THE GERMAN ATTACK ON TAHITI 748 _As Told by Miss Geni La France, an Eyewitness_
THE BLOODLESS CAPTURE OF GERMAN SAMOA 749 _By Malcolm Ross, F.R.G.S._
HOW THE CRESSY SANK 752 _By Edgar Rowan_
GERMAN STORY OF THE HELIGOLAND FIGHT 754 _By a Special Correspondent of The New York Times_
THE SINKING OF THE CRESSY AND THE HOGUE 755 _By the Senior Surviving Officers, Commander Bertram W.L. Nicholson and Commander Reginald A. Norton_
THE SINKING OF THE HAWKE 757 _By a Correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle_
THE EMDEN'S LAST FIGHT 758 _By the Cable Operator at Cocos Islands_
CROWDS SEE THE NIGER SINK 760 _By a Correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle_
LIEUTENANT WEDDIGEN'S OWN STORY 762 _By Herbert B. Swope and Capt. Lieut. Otto Weddigen_
THE SOLILOQUY OF AN OLD SOLDIER (Poem) 764 _By O.C.A. Child_
THE EFFECTS OF WAR IN FOUR COUNTRIES 765 _By Irvin S. Cobb_
HOW PARIS DROPPED GAYETY 767 _By Anne Rittenhouse_
PARIS IN OCTOBER 770 _From The London Times_
FRANCE AND ENGLAND AS SEEN IN WAR TIME 772 _Interview with F. Hopkinson Smith_
THE HELPLESS VICTIMS 776 _By Mrs. Nina Larrey Duryee_
A NEW RUSSIA MEETS GERMANY 777 _By Perceval Gibbon_
BELGIAN CITIES GERMANIZED 780 _By Cyril Brown of The New York Times_
THE BELGIAN RUIN 786 _By J.H. Whitehouse, M.P._
THE WOUNDED SERB 788 _From The London Times_
SPY ORGANIZATION IN ENGLAND 790 _British Home Office Communication_
CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR 793
THE MEN OF THE EMDEN (Poem) 816 _By Thomas R. Ybarra_
NUMBER V.
THE NEW RUSSIA SPEAKS
AN APPEAL BY RUSSIAN AUTHORS, ARTISTS AND ACTORS 817 _With Their Signatures_
RUSSIA IN LITERATURE 819 _By British Men of Letters_
RUSSIA AND EUROPE'S WAR 821 _By Paul Vinogradoff_
RUSSIAN APPEAL FOR THE POLES 825 _By A. Konovalov of the Russian Duma_
I AM FOR PEACE (Poem) 826 _By Lurana Sheldon_
UNITED RUSSIA 827 _By Peter Struve_
PRINCE TRUBETSKOI'S APPEAL TO RUSSIANS 830 _To Help the Polish Victims of War_
HOW PROHIBITION CAME TO RUSSIA 831 _An Interview with the Reformer Tchelisheff_
INFLUENCE OF THE WAR UPON RUSSIAN INDUSTRY 834 _By the Russian Ministry of Commerce_
DECLARATION OF THE RUSSIAN INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS 835
A RUSSIAN FINANCIAL AUTHORITY ON THE WAR 836 _By Prof. Migoulin_
PROPOSED INTERNAL LOANS OF RUSSIA 837 (_Prof. Migoulin's Plan_)
HOW RUSSIAN MANUFACTURERS FEEL 838 _Digested from Russkia Vedomosti_
NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE NEEDED 839 _By A. Sokolov_
OUR RUSSIAN ALLY 840 _By Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace_
CONFISCATION OF GERMAN PATENTS 849 _By the Russian Ministry of Commerce_
A RUSSIAN INCOME TAX 850 _Proposed by the Ministry of Finance_
TOOLS OF THE RUSSIAN JUGGERNAUT 851 _By M.J. Bonn_
FATE OF THE JEWS IN POLAND 854 _By Georg Brandes_
COMMERCIAL TREATIES AFTER THE WAR 863 _By P. Maslov_
PHOTOGRAPHIC REVIEW OF THE WAR 865 _48 War Pictures Printed in Rotogravure_
PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 913 _The Pastoral Letter of Cardinal D.J. Mercier, Archbishop of Malines_
APPEAL TO AMERICA FOR BELGIUM (Poem) 924 _By Thomas Hardy_
WITH THE GERMAN ARMY 925 _By Cyril Brown_
STORY OF THE MAN WHO FIRED ON RHEIMS CATHEDRAL 928
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS'S COMMENT 931
THE GERMAN AIRMEN 932
GERMAN GENERALS TALK OF THE WAR 934
SWIFT REVERSAL TO BARBARISM 939 _By Vance Thompson_
CIVIL LIFE IN BERLIN 943 _From The London Times_
BELGIAN BOY TELLS STORY OF AERSCHOT 945 _From The New York Times_
THE NEUTRALS (Poem) 948 _By Beatrice Barry_
FIFTEEN MINUTES ON THE YSER 949 _From The New York Times_
SEEING NIEUPORT UNDER SHELL FIRE 951 _From The New York Times_
RAID ON SCARBOROUGH SEEN FROM A WINDOW 954 _By Ruth Kauffmann_
HOW THE BARONESS HID HER HUSBAND ON A VESSEL 956 _From The New York Times_
WARSAW SWAMPED WITH REFUGEES 957 _By H.W. Bodkinson_
AFTER THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN GALICIA 958 _From The London Times_
OFFICER IN BATTLE HAD LITTLE FEELING 959 _By The Associated Press_
THE BATTLE OF NEW YEAR'S DAY 961 _By Perceval Gibbon_
BASS'S STORY 963 _From The New York Times_
THE WASTE OF GERMAN LIVES 964 _By Perceval Gibbon_
THE FLIGHT INTO SWITZERLAND 966 _By Ethel Therese Hugh_
ONCE FAIR BELGRADE IS A SKELETON CITY 969 _From The New York Times_
LETTERS AND DIARIES 971 _A Group of Soldiers' Letters_
"CHANT OF HATE AGAINST ENGLAND" 984 _How Ernst Lissauer's Lines were "Sung to Pieces" in Germany_
ANSWERING THE "CHANT OF HATE" 988 _By Beatrice M. Barry_
ENGLAND CAUSED THE WAR 989 _By T. von Bethmann-Hollweg, German Imperial Chancellor_
A SONG OF THE SIEGE GUN (Poem) 992 _By Katharine Drayton Mayrant Simons, Jr._
WHY ENGLAND FIGHTS GERMANY 993 _By Hilaire Belloc_
AT THE VILLA ACHILLEION, CORFU (Poem) 999 _By H.T. Sudduth_
GERMANY'S STRATEGIC RAILWAYS (With Map) 1000 _By Walter Littlefield_
GLORY OF WAR (Poem) 1004 _By Adeline Adams_
CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR 1007
NUMBER VI.
THE CALDRON OF THE BALKANS
HOW TURKEY WENT TO WAR 1025
SERBIA AND HER NEIGHBORS 1036
LITTLE MONTENEGRO SPEAKS 1043
BULGARIA'S ATTITUDE 1044
GREECE'S WATCHFUL WAITING 1050
WHERE RUMANIA STANDS IN THE CRISIS 1054
EXIT ALBANIA? 1062
THE WAR IN THE BALKANS 1068 _By A.T. Polyzoides_
THE EUROPEAN WAR AS SEEN BY CARTOONISTS 1073
GERMANY VS. BELGIUM 1101 _Case of the Secret Military Documents Presented by Both Sides_
THE BIG AND THE GREAT (Poem) 1114 _By William Archer_
"FROM THE BODY OF THIS DEATH" (Poem) 1119 _By Sidney Low_
"A SCRAP OF PAPER" 1120 _By Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg and Sir Edward Grey_
THE KAISER AT DONCHERY 1125 _By The Associated Press_
HAIL! A HYMN TO BELGIUM (Music by F.H. Cowen) 1126 _By John Galsworthy_
HOLLAND'S FUTURE (With Map) 1128 _By H.G. Wells_
FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORT ON GERMAN ATROCITIES 1133
A FRENCH MAYOR'S PUNISHMENT 1163 _By The Associated Press_
WE WILL FIGHT TO THE END 1164 _By Premier Viviani of France_
_NUITS BLANCHES_ 1166 _By H.S. Haskins_
UNCONQUERED FRANCE 1167 _From the Bulletin Francais_
FOUR MONTHS OF WAR (With Map) 1169 _From the Bulletin des Armees_
LONG LIVE THE ALLIES! 1174 _By Claude Monet_
UNITED STATES FAIR TO ALL 1175 _By William J. Bryan, American Secretary of State_
THE HOUSE WITH SEALED DOORS (Poem) 1183 _By Edith M. Thomas_
SEIZURES OF AMERICAN CARGOES 1184 _By William J. Bryan, American Secretary of State_
GERMAN CROWN PRINCE TO AMERICA 1187 _By The Associated Press_
THE OFFICIAL BRITISH EXPLANATION 1188 _By Sir Edward Grey_
ITALY AND THE WAR (With Map) 1192 _By William Roscoe Thayer_
HE HEARD THE BUGLES CALLING (Poem) 1198 _By Carey C.D. Briggs_
GERMAN SOLDIERS WRITE HOME 1199
WAR CORRESPONDENCE 1207
THE BROKEN ROSE (TO KING ALBERT) 1210 _By Annie Vivanti Chartres_
THE HEROIC LANGUAGE (Poem) 1216 _By Alice Meynell_
CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR 1224
TO HIS MAJESTY KING ALBERT (Poem) 1228 _By William Watson_
"Common Sense About the War"
By George Bernard Shaw.
I.
"_Let a European war break out--the war, perhaps, between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, which so many journalists and politicians in England and Germany contemplate with criminal levity. If the combatants prove to be equally balanced, it may, after the first battles, smoulder on for thirty years. What will be the population of London, or Manchester, or Chemnitz, or Bremen, or Milan, at the end of it_?" ("The Great Society," by Graham Wallas. June, 1914.)
(_Copyright, 1914, By The New York Times Company._)
The time has now come to pluck up courage and begin to talk and write soberly about the war. At first the mere horror of it stunned the more thoughtful of us; and even now only those who are not in actual contact with or bereaved relation to its heartbreaking wreckage can think sanely about it, or endure to hear others discuss it coolly. As to the thoughtless, well, not for a moment dare I suggest that for the first few weeks they were all scared out of their wits; for I know too well that the British civilian does not allow his perfect courage to be questioned; only experienced soldiers and foreigners are allowed the infirmity of fear. But they certainly were--shall I say a little upset? They felt in that solemn hour that England was lost if only one single traitor in their midst let slip the truth about anything in the universe. It was a perilous time for me. I do not hold my tongue easily; and my inborn dramatic faculty and professional habit as a playwright prevent me from taking a one-sided view even when the most probable result of taking a many-sided one is prompt lynching. Besides, until Home Rule emerges from its present suspended animation, I shall retain my Irish capacity for criticising England with something of the detachment of a foreigner, and perhaps with a certain slightly malicious taste for taking the conceit out of her. Lord Kitchener made a mistake the other day in rebuking the Irish volunteers for not rallying faster to the defense of "their country." They do not regard it as their country yet. He should have asked them to come forward as usual and help poor old England through a stiff fight. Then it would have been all right.
Having thus frankly confessed my bias, which you can allow for as a rifleman allows for the wind, I give my views for what they are worth. They will be of some use; because, however blinded I may be by prejudice or perversity, my prejudices in this matter are not those which blind the British patriot, and therefore I am fairly sure to see some things that have not yet struck him.
And first, I do not see this war as one which has welded Governments and peoples into complete and sympathetic solidarity as against the common enemy. I see the people of England united in a fierce detestation and defiance of the views and acts of Prussian Junkerism. And I see the German people stirred to the depths by a similar antipathy to English Junkerism, and anger at the apparent treachery and duplicity of the attack made on them by us in their extremest peril from France and Russia. I see both nations duped, but alas! not quite unwillingly duped, by their Junkers and Militarists into wreaking on one another the wrath they should have spent in destroying Junkerism and Militarism in their own country. And I see the Junkers and Militarists of England and Germany jumping at the chance they have longed for in vain for many years of smashing one another and establishing their own oligarchy as the dominant military power in the world. No doubt the heroic remedy for this tragic misunderstanding is that both armies should shoot their officers and go home to gather in their harvests in the villages and make a revolution in the towns; and though this is not at present a practicable solution, it must be frankly mentioned, because it or something like it is always a possibility in a defeated conscript army if its commanders push it beyond human endurance when its eyes are opening to the fact that in murdering its neighbours it is biting off its nose to vex its face, besides riveting the intolerable yoke of Militarism and Junkerism more tightly than ever on its own neck. But there is no chance--or, as our Junkers would put it, no danger--of our soldiers yielding to such an ecstasy of common sense. They have enlisted voluntarily; they are not defeated nor likely to be; their communications are intact and their meals reasonably punctual; they are as pugnacious as their officers; and in fighting Prussia they are fighting a more deliberate, conscious, tyrannical, personally insolent, and dangerous Militarism than their own. Still, even for a voluntary professional army, that possibility exists, just as for the civilian there is a limit beyond which taxation, bankruptcy, privation, terror, and inconvenience cannot be pushed without revolution or a social dissolution more ruinous than submission to conquest. I mention all this, not to make myself wantonly disagreeable, but because military persons, thinking naturally that there is nothing like leather, are now talking of this war as likely to become a permanent institution like the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's, forgetting, I think, that the rate of consumption maintained by modern military operations is much greater relatively to the highest possible rate of production maintainable under the restrictions of war time than it has ever been before.
*The Day of Judgment.*
The European settlement at the end of the war will be effected, let us hope, not by a regimental mess of fire-eaters sitting around an up-ended drum in a vanquished Berlin or Vienna, but by some sort of Congress in which all the Powers (including, very importantly, the United States of America) will be represented. Now I foresee a certain danger of our being taken by surprise at that Congress, and making ourselves unnecessarily difficult and unreasonable, by presenting ourselves to it in the character of Injured Innocence. We shall not be accepted in that character. Such a Congress will most certainly regard us as being, next to the Prussians (if it makes even that exception), the most quarrelsome people in the universe. I am quite conscious of the surprise and scandal this anticipation may cause among my more highminded (_hochnaesig_, the Germans call it) readers. Let me therefore break it gently by expatiating for a while on the subject of Junkerism and Militarism generally, and on the history of the literary propaganda of war between England and Potsdam which has been going on openly for the last forty years on both sides. I beg the patience of my readers during this painful operation. If it becomes unbearable, they can always put the paper down and relieve themselves by calling the Kaiser Attila and Mr. Keir Hardie a traitor twenty times or so. Then they will feel, I hope, refreshed enough to resume. For, after all, abusing the Kaiser or Keir Hardie or me will not hurt the Germans, whereas a clearer view of the political situation will certainly help us. Besides, I do not believe that the trueborn Englishman in his secret soul relishes the pose of Injured Innocence any more than I do myself. He puts it on only because he is told that it is respectable.
*Junkers All.*