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CURRENT 
H  I  S  T  O  R  Y 

A  MONTHLY    MJkGAZlNS 

THE  EUROPEAN  WAR 

VOLUME  11. 

April,  1915— September,  1915 

With  Index 


NEW  YORK 

THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  COMPANY 

1915 


VVU     0: 


D 

MO 


Copyright  1915, 
By  The  New  York  Times  Company 


«        ^ 


V 


4  y  'r--^H 


y 


\ 


CONTENTS 

NUMBER  I.     APRIL,  1915. 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 1 

The  German  Decree  ani  Inlcrchange  of  ?7otes 

GERMANY'S  SUBMARINE  WAR  (With  Map) 20 

GERMAN  PEOPLE  NOT  BLINDED 22 

By  Karl  Lamprecht 
REVEILLE 24 

By  John  Calsivorthy 
CAN   GERMANY  BE  STARVED  OUT? 25 

An   Answer   by  Sixteen  German  Specialists 

HOCH     DER    KAISER    (Poem) 28 

By  George  Davies 

THE  SUBMARINE  OF  1578 29 

THE  TORPEDO  (Poem) 30 

By   Katherine    D.    M.  Simons,   Jr. 
"GOD  PUNISH  ENGLAND,  BROTHER" 31 

A  New   Hymn  oj  Germany's  Gospel  of  Hatred 
THE    GREAT     HOUR    (Poem) 32 

By  Hermann  Sudermann 
THE  PEACE  OF  THE  WORLD 33 

By  H.  G.   Wells 
ZEPPELIN    RAIDS    ON    LONDON    (With    Map) 46 

By  the    Naval  Correspondent  of  The  London   Times 

JULIUS  CAESAR   ON  THE   AISNE 48 

SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY  (With  Map) 49 

Continuing  the  Famous  Dispatches  of  the  British  Commander  

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  RHEIMS - 6D^ 

Bv  Emile   Verhaeren 
MUSIC  OF  WAR  61 

By  Rudyard   Kipling 
AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 63 

By      Norman      A  ngell 
SIR  CHRISTOPHER  CRADOCK  (Poem) .       84 

By  John  E.  Dolson 
BATTLE  OF  THE  SUEZ  CANAL  (With  Map) 85 

First-hand  A  ccounl  of  the  Turkish  Invasion  — .^ 

A  FULL-FLEDGED  SOCIALIST  STATE 89> 

By  J.   Laurence   Laughlin 

LETTERS  FROM  WIVES 92 

"WAR  CHILDREN" 92 

NO  PREMATURE  PEACE  FOR  RUSSIA 93 

Proceedings  at  Opening  of  the  Duma,  Feb.  9 
TO  THE  VICTOR  BELONG  THE  SPOILS  (Poem)  96 

By  Madeleine  Lucette  Ryley 
LESSONS  OF  THE  WAR  TO  MARCH  NINTH 97 

By  Charles    W.  Eliot 
BELGIUM'S  KING  AND  QUEEN 100 

By  Paul  Hervieu 

THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS  SEEN  BY  CARTOONISTS 101 

THE  CHANCES  OF  PEACE  AND  THE  PROBLEM  OF  POLAND. (With  Map)     .  .123 

By  J.    Ellis  Barker 
THE  REDEMPTION  OF  EUROPE  (Poem) 128 

By  Alfred   Noyes 
GERM.\NY  WILL  END  THE  WAR 129 

By  Maximilian   Harden 

LOUVMN'S  NEW  STREETS 133 

THE  STATE  OF  HOLLAND 134 

Bv  Hendrik   Willem  van  Loon 
HUNGARY   AFTER  THE  WAR  (With  Map) 137 

By  a  Correspondent  of  The  London  Times 
THE  WATCHERS  OF  THE  TROAD  (Poem) 139 

By  Harry  Lyman.  Koopmaiu 
THE  UNION  OF  CENTRAL  EUROPE 140 

Bv  Franz  von  Liszt 
TWO  POOR  LITTLE  BELGIAN  FLEDGLINGS 143 

By  Pierre  Loli 
WHAT  THE  GERMANS  DESIRE  144 

Bv  Gustaf  Sioesteen 
ADDRESS  TO  KING  ALBERT  OF  BELGIUM 147 

By  Emile   Verhaeren 
FORESHADOWrNG  A  NEW  PHASE  OF  WAR 148 

By  Lloyd  George,  British  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
BRITAIN'S  UNSHEATHED  SWORD 153 

By  H.  H.  Asquith,  England's  Prime  Minister 
SWEDEN'S  SCANDI>;AVIAN  LEADERSHIP  (With  Map) 160 

By  a  Swedish   Political  Expert 
FROM  ENGLAND  (Poem) 164 

By  Maurice  He^ilett 

WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 165 

THE  DRAGONS  TEETH  (Poem) 181 

By  Caroline  Duer 


CONTENTS 


PMfi— 

THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS  (With  Map) 1^^ 

The  French  Official  Account  .„^ 

BY  THE  NORTH  SEA  (Poem) 185 

By    W"'.   L.   Courtney  .-    _  , 

WHEN  MARTHE  CHENAL  SANG  THE  "MARSEILLAISE" 187^ 

By   Wythe    Uilliams  "Zi 

A  WAR  OF  COMMERCE  TO  FOLLOW 189 

By  Sir    IVilliam  Ramsay  .,_, 

BELGIUM  (Poem) 192 

By  Edith   Wharton 

DESIRED  PEACE  TERMS  FOR  EUROPE 193 

By  Proponents  for  the  Allies  ani  for  Germany 

THE  BRITISH  VOLUNTEERS  (Poem) 195 

By  Kalherine  D.  M.  Simons,  Jr. 

CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR 196 


NUMBER  11.     MAY,  1915. 


pq 


GENERAL  SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY  (With  Map) ^y 

The  Costly   Victory  of  Seuve  Chapelle  f — 

ROBERTS  OF  KANDAHAR  (Poem) 210 

By  Sidney  Low 

THE  SURRENDER  OF  PRZEMYSL  (With  Maps) 211 

Hcrw  Galicia's  Strong  Fortress  Yielded  to  the  Russian  Siege 

THE  TESTERS   (Poem) 217 

By  Marion   Couthouy  Smith 

LORD  KITCHENER  ADVERTISES  FOR  RECRUITS 218 

BATTLE  OK  THE  DARDANELLES  (With  Map) 219 

The  Disaster  that  Befell  the  Allies'  Fleet 

OFFICIAL  STORY  OF  TWO  SEA  FIGHTS  (With  Maps) 223 

BETWEEN   MIDNIGHT  AND  MORNING  (Poem) 231 

By  Sir  Owen  Seaman 

THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS  (With  Map) 232> 

The  French  Official  Account  Concluded  ^-^ 

SONNET  ON   THE  BELGIAN  EXPATRIATION 250 

By  Thomas  Hardy 

WAR  CORRESPONDENCE  (With  Map) 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  MAJ>JKIND 

By  Woodrow  WHscm 

"WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS  OF  WARFARE"                    .  253? 

(With  Facsimile  Letters)     By  Professor  Bedier  of  the  College  de  France 

THE  RECRUIT   (Poem) 274 

By  Hortense  Flexner 

AMERICAN  REPLY  TO  BRITAIN'S  BLOCKADE  ORDER 275 

By    William  J.  Bryan 

GERMANY'S  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE 279 

By  Dr.  Bernhard  Dernburg 

THE  ALLIES'  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE 282 

By  Sir  Edward  Grey 

SOUTH  AFRICA'S  ROMANTIC  BLUE  PAPER  (With  Map) 284 

THE  BELLS  OF  BERLIN  (Poem) .289 

From  Punch  of  London 
WARFARE  AND  BRITISH  LABOR 290 

By  Earl  Kitchener 

SAVIORS  OF  EUROPE        . 292 

By  Rene  Bazin 

BRITAIN'S  PERIL  OF  STRIKES  AND  DRINK 293 

By  Lloyd  George 

ITALY'S  EVOLUTION  AS  REFLECTED  BY  HER  PRESS   .  301 

SOME  RUSES  DE  GUERRE  (Poem) !'.!.!'  304 

By  A.  M.   Wakeman 

THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS  SEEN  BY  CARTOONISTS  ^f« 

FACSIMILE  OF  A  BELGIAN  BREAD-CHECK          ...                        ^9q 

TO  A  GERMAN  APOLOGIST  (Poem) 309 

By  Beatrice  Barry                                                                                                                                     ■        ■        ■  t.^ 

AMERICA'S  NEUTRALITY 33Q 

By  Count   Albert  Apponvi 

NEUTRAL  SPIRIT  OF  THE  SWISS •     .        .  335 

An  Interview  with  President  Motla 

TO  KING  AND  PEOPLE  (Poem)             .....  1-w; 

By   WaUer  Stchel                                                                                            ^^ 

A  SWISS  VIEW  OF  GERMANY 007 

By  Maurice   MiUioud                                                                                            "*"" 

THE  LAND  OF  MAETERLINCK    ....  -ia. 

By   Alfred   Sutro                                                                           **** 

AMERICA  AND  PROHIBITION  RUSSIA    ...  q^c 

By  Isabel  F.  Hapgood                                                                    "^^ 

THE  MOTHER'S  SONG  (Poem) 35O 

By  Cecilia    Reynolds  Robertson                                                                             ^^ 

PAN-AMERICAN   RELATIONS  AS  AFFECTED  BY  THE  WAR  -iRl 

By  Huntington   WUsvn                                                                                          "*'" 

AN  EASTER  MESSAGE  (Poem)       ...  0C7 

By  Beatrice  Barry                                                                  ^^' 

AN  INTERVIEW  ON  THE  WAR  WITH  HENRY  JAMES    .        .  35« 

By  f lesion   Lockwood                                                                                                                     "^^ 

A  TALK  WITH  BELGIUM'S  GOVERNOR  -msi 

By  Edward  Lyall  Fox                                                        ■*'" 


CONTENTS 


Pas:e 
A  CHARGE  IN  THE  DARK  (Poem) 365 

By  O.  C.  A.  Child 
A  NEW  POLAND 3^^ 

By  Gustave  Herve  """"^ 

"WITH  THE  HONORS  OF  WAR" 368 

By  Wythe  Williams 

GENERAL  FOCH,  THE  MAN  OF  YPRES 373 

THE  UNREMEMBERED  DEAD  (Poem) 377 

By  Ella  A.  Fanning 
CANADA  AND  BRITAIN'S  WAR  UNION 378 

By  Edward  W.  Thomson 
ENGLAND  (Poem) 384 

By  John  E.  Dolson 
AMERICAN  AID  OF  FRANCE 385 

By  Eugene  Brieux 
A  FAREWELL  (Poem) 387 

By  Edna  Mead  

STORIES  OF  FRENCH  COURAGE ^Z> 

By  Edwin  L.  Shuman 
A  TROOPER'S  SOLILOQUY  (Poem> 392 

Bv  0.  C.  A.  Child 
AMERICAN  UNFRIENDLINESS  393 

By  Maximilian  Harden 
ENDOWED  WITH  A  NOBLE  FIRE  OF  BLOOD 395 

By  A.  Kouprine 

CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR 396 

THE  DAY  (Poem) TOS-^ 

By  Henry  Ckappell  —'^ 

NUMBER  m.    JUNE,  1915. 

THE  LUSITANIA  CASE  (With  Map) 
PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  SPEECHES  AND  NOTE  TO  GERMANY 
History  of  a  Series  of  Attacks  on  American  Lives  in  the  German  War  Zone 

AMERICAN  NOTE  TO  GERMANY 409 

GERMAN  EMBASSY'S  WARNING  AND  THE  CONSEQUENCE 413 

German  Official  Report 413 

British  Coroner's  Verdict 414 

German  Note  of  Regret •      .  415 

England  Answers  Germany            415 

Captain  Turner  Testifies .        .  417 

Lusitania's  First  Cabin  List 418 

DESCRIPTIONS  BY  SURVIVORS 

Submarine  Crew  Observed 420 

Ernest  Cowper's  Account 420 

Charles  Frohman's  Death 422 

Alfred  Vanderbilt's  Heroic  End ' 423 

Klein  and  Hubbard  Lost 423 

GERMANY  JUSTIFIES  THE  DEED 

German  Official  Report 424 

Britain's  Denial 424 

Collector  Malone's  Denial 424 

German  Foreign  Office  Note  on  Neutrals 425 

Dr.  Demburg's  Defense 426 

GERMAN  PRESS  OPINION 

Comment  in  Germany  and  Austria 427 

German-American  Press  Comment 430 

FALABA.  GUSHING.  GULFLIGHT 

Case  of  the  Falaba ^ 433 

Case  of  the  Cushing * 434 

Case  of  the  Gulflight 435 

AIM  OF  GERMAN  SUBMARINE  WARFARE 436 

By  Professor  Flamm  of  Charlottenburg 

THREE  SPEECHES  BY  PRESIDENT  WILSON 

"AMERICA  FIRST" — Address  to  the  Associated  Press 438 

"HUMANITY  FIRST"— Address  at  Philadelphia 441 

"AMERICA  FOR  HUMANITY"— Address  at  the  Fleet  Review  in  New  York  .        ;        .443 

TWO  EX-PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS 

Mr.  Roosevelt  Speaks 444 

Mr.  Taft  Speaks 446 

PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  NOTE 447 

By  Ex-President  William  H.  Taft 

ANOTHER  VIEW  (Poem)            447 

By  Beatrice  Barry 

IN  THE  SUBMARINE  WAR  ZONE 447 

By    The  Associated  Press 

AMERICAN  SHIPMENTS  OF  ARMS 448 

By  Count  von  Bernstorff 

AMERICAN  REPLY  TO  COUNT  VON  BERNSTORFF 449 

MUNITIONS  FROM  NEUTRALS            451 

Colloquy  in  the  House  of  Commons 

GERMANY  AND  THE  LUSITANIA 452 

By  Dr.  Charles   W.  Eliot 

APPEALS  FOR  AMERICAN  DEFENSE 455 

THE  DROWNED  SAILOR  (Poem) 457 

By  Maurice  Hewlett 


CONTENTS 


WAR  WITH  POISONOUS  GASES  (With  Maps) 

THE  GAP  AT  YPRES  MADE  BY  GERMAN  CHLORINE  VAPOR  BOMBS 
Repwrts  by  the  Official  "Eyewitness"  and  Dr.  J.  S.  Haldane,  F.  R.  S. 

Page 

DR.  HALDANE'S  REPORT 458 

THE  "EYEWITNESS-  STORY 459 

WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  462 

THE  CANADIANS  AT  YPRES 463 

VAPOR  WARFARE  RF-SUMED 471 

IX)  CERTAIN  GERMAN  PROFESSORS  OF  CHEMICS  (Poem) 478 

By  Sir  Owen  Seaman  in  Punch 
SEVEN  DAYS  OF  WAR  EAST  AND  WEST  (With  Map) 479 

By  a  Military  Expert  of  The  New  York  Times 
AUSTRO-GERMAN  SUCCESS 484 

By  Major  E.   Morahl 
THE  CAMPAIGN  IN  THE  CARPATHIANS  (With   Map) 486 

Russian  Victory  Succeeded  by  Rererses 

ITALY  IN  THE  WAR  (With  Maps) 

HER  MOVE  AGAINST  AUSTRO-HUNGARY 

Last  Phase  of  Italian  Neutrality  and  Causes  of  the  Struggle 

DECLARATION  OF  WAR 490 

FRANCIS  JOSEPHS  DEFIANCE             490 

ITALY'S  CABINET  EMPOWERED 491 

ITALY'S  JUSTIFICATION !        !  494 

By  Foreiin  Minister  Snnnino 

GERMAN  HATRED  OF  ITALY 497 

ITALY'S  NEUTRALITY— THE  LAST  PHASE            '.'.'.  499 

German,  Serbian,  and  Italian  Press  Opinion 

ANNUNCI.\TION  (Poem)            503 

By  Ernst  Lissauer 

THE  DARDANELLES  (With  Map)      ...:..    504 
ALLIES'  SECOND  CAMPAIGN  WITH  FLEETS  AND  LAND  FORCES 

"WAR  BABIES" 5I6 

From  The  Suffragette  of  London 
THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS  SEEN  BY  CARTOONISTS 517 

(With  a  Selection  of  American  Cartoons  on  the  Lusilania  Case) 
WHAT  IS  OUR  DUTY? 533 

By  Emmeline  Pankhurst 
THE  SOLDIER'S  PASS  (Poem) 535. 

By  Maurice  Hewlett 
THE  GREAT  END 537 

By  Arnold  Bennett 
GERMAN  WOMEN  NOT  YET  FOR  PEACE 54O 

Bv  Gertrude  Baumer 
DIAGNOSIS  OF  THE  ENGLISHMAN  54I 

By  John  Galsworthy 
MY  TERMS  OF  PEACE  545 

By  George  Bernard  Ska-Ji                                                                                                                '        '        '        '    . 
A  POLICY  OF  MURDER 546 

By  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle                                                                                                         .... 
THE  SOLDIERS  EPITAPH  (Poem) 54g 

From  Truth 
THE  WILL  TO  POWER     . c^o 

By  Eden  Phillpotls  ***" 

ALLEGED  GERMAN  ATROCITIES 
REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED  BY 

THE  BRITISH  GOVERNMENT 
And  Presided  Over  by  The  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Bryce 
Formerly  British  Ambassador  at  Washington 

WARRANT  OF  BRYCE  COMMITTEE'S  APPOINTMENT  55I 

555 


PART  I 

PART  II. 
SCRIABIN'S  LAST  WORDS 
CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR 
THE  DRINK  QUESTION  (Poem) 

From  Truth 


580 
591 
592 
612 


NUMBER  IV.     JULY,  1915. 

THE  LUSITANIA  CASE  (With  Map) 
"  ,    PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  REPLY  TO  GERMANY 

Account  of  the  Resignation  of  William  J.  Bryan  as  American  Secretary  of  State 

THE  GERMAN  NOTE  TO  WASHINGTON  *^?? 

MR.  BRYAN'S  RESIGNATION                                 °\% 

PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  REPLY  TO  BERLIN fjZ 

THE  LUSITANIA'S  "GUNS'      .                                         |1^ 

DR.   MEYER-GERHARD'S  MISSION              §?2 

GERMANY'S  PRESS  OPINION                        |32 

PRESS  OPINION  OF  THE  ALLIES                ^| 


CONTENTS 


Page 

AMERICAN  COMMENT  ON  MR.  BRYAN'S  RESIGNATION 640 

MR.  BRYAN'S  DEFENSE  (Seven  Statements; 645 

BRV'AN.  IDEALIST  AND  AVERAGE  MAN 662 

By  Charles   Willis  Thompson 
IN  THE  NAME  OF  PEACE  (Poem) 666 

By  Lavinia  V.  Whitney 
A  WORLD  LEAGUE  TO  ENFORCE  PEACE 667 

By  William  H.  Taft,  ex-President  of  the  United  Slates 
GERMAN-AMERICAN  DISSENT 671 

By  Hugo  Muensterberg 
CHANT  OF  LOYALTY  (Poem) .672 

By  Elias  Lieb'erman 
AMERICAN  MUNITION  SUPPLIES 673 

The  Alleged  German  Plot  to  Buy  Control  of  Their  Sources 
A  LEAGUE  FOR  PREPAREDNESS 679 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  George  von  L.  Meye" 

PRZEMYSL  AND  LEMBERG 

GERMAN  REPORTS  OF  MACKENSEN'S  VICTORIOUS  THRUST  IN  GALICIA  (With  Maps)     683 

BELGIUM  (Prose  Poem) .699 

By  Leonid  Andreyev 

BATTLE  OF  THE  LABYRINTH 

FRANCES  VICTORY  IN  THE  CHIEF  WESTERN  OPERATION  SINCE  THE  MARNE 

(With  Maps) 701 

THE  MODERN  PLATAEA 709 

By  Frederick  Pollock 

A  BRITISH  CALL  FOR  RECRUITS 710 

(.Advertisement  in  the  British  Pre^s) 

THE  BRITISH  ARMY  IN  FRANCE 

RICHEBOURG,  LA  QUINQUE  RUE,  FESTUBERT.  AND  YPRES  (With  Maps)  .        .        .        .711 

THE  DARDANELLES  CAMPAIGN  (With  Maps) 716 

THE  EUROPEAN   WAR  AS  SEEN  BY  CARTOONISTS 721 

ITALY  VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

THE  ITALIAN  INVASION  AND  ITALO-GERMANIC  DIFFERENCES  (With  Maps)           .        .     735 
THE  ARMED  STRENGTH  OF  ITALY 736 

By  Colonel  A.  M.  Murray,  C.  B. 
THE  ALPINE  FRONTIER 739 

By  C.  H.  Perris 
"ITALY'S  VIOLATION  OF  FAITH" 741 

By  Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  German  Imperial  Chancellor 
WHY  ITALY  WENT  TO  WAR 743 

By  Signor  Salandra,  Italian  Premier 

BRITAIN'S  CABINET  AND  MUNITIONS 

A  COALITION  CABINET  WITH  LLOYD  GEORGE  IN  A  NEW  OFFICE 748 

LLOYD  GEORGE'S  APPEAL  TO  LABOR 753 

BALKAN  NEUTRALITY— AS  SEEN  BY  THE  BALKANS 754 

Inspired  Press  Opinions  from  the  Capitals  of  Greece,  Bulgaria,  and  Rumania  (With  Map) 

THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EMDEN 

ODYSSEY  OF  THE  GERMAN  SEA  RAIDER'S  SURVIVORS  TOLD  BY  CAPTAIN  MUECKE, 

THEIR  LEADER  759 

CIVILIZATION  AT  THE  BREAKING  POINT  772 

By  II.  G.  Wells 
"HUMAN  BEINGS  AND  GERMANS" 775 

By  Rudyard  Kipling 
GARIBALDI'S  PROMISE  (Poem) 776 

By  Katharine  Drayton  Mayrant  Simons,  Jr. 
THE  UNCIVILIZABLE  NATION     . 777 

By  Emile  Verhaeren 
RETRE.\T  IN  THE  RAIN  (Poem) 779 

By  O.C.  A.  Child 
WAR  A  GAME  FOR  LOVE  AND  HONOR 780 

By  Jerome  K.  Jerome 
THE  BELGIAN  WAR  MOTHERS  (Poem) 783 

By  Charlotte  Porter 
HOW  ENGLAND  PREVENTED  AN  UNDERSTANDING  WITH  GERMANY       .        .        .        .784 

By  Dr.  Th.  Schiemann 
GERMANY  FREE !  (Poem) 795 

By  Beatrice  Barry 

CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR  (Continued  to  June  15)  796 

TO  THE  CAPTAIN  OF  THE  U (Poem) 816 

By  Harry  Varley 

NUMBER  V.     AUGUST,  1915. 

THE  LUSITANIA  CASE 

,.  Page 

THE  AMERICAN  NOTE  TO  BERLIN  OF  JULY  21— STEPS  LEADING  UP  TO  PRESIDENT 

WILSON'S  REJECTION  OF  GERMANY'S  PROPOSALS 817 

THE  GERMAN  NOTE  OF  JULY  8 819 

THE  AMERICAN  REJOINDER 823 

GERMAN  .AND  AMERICAN  PRESS  OPINION 825 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY'S  PROTEST 828 


CONTENTS 


Page 

ARMENIAN,  ORDUNA.  AND  OTHERS 832 

RESULTS  OF  SUBMARINE  WARFARE 837 

IN  MEMORIAM:  Reginald  Warneford  (Poem) 839 

AMERICAN  PREPAREDNESS 840 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt 

FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR 842 

By  Lieutenant  Walter  E.  Ives  and  an  American  Military  Expert 

AN  AMERICAN  VIEW  OF  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  WAR             848 

By  the  Military  Expert  of  The  Nciv  York  Times 

INFERENCES  FROM  ELEVEN  MONTHS  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  CONFLICT      ....  854 

By  Charles  IV.  Eliot,  Pfesident  Emeritus  of  Harvard  University 

"REVENGE  FOR  ELISABETH" 858 

A  YEAR  OF  IHE  WAR  IN  AFRICA  AND  ASIA 859 

By  Charles  Johnston 

AN  "INSULT"  TO  WAR 872 

THE  DRIVE  AT  WARSAW 874 

BATTLES  IN  THE  WEST: 

SIR  JOHN  FRENCH  S  OWN  STORY 891 

FRANCES  "EYEWITNESS"   REPORTS 2m 

THE  CROWN   PRINCE  IN  THE  ARGONNE STl 

GALLIPOLI'S  SHAMBLES 913 

By  Campion  Mackenzie 

ITALY'S  WAR  ON  AUSTRIA           921 

THE  TASK  OF  ITALY 923 

TWO  DEVOTED  NATIONS 924 

By  Maurice  Maeterlinck 

RUMANIA.  SERBIA.  BULGARIA,  GREECE 925 

Press  Opinions  From  the  Balkan  Capitals 

DR.  CONYBEARES  RECANTATION 928 

By  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 

THE  CASE  OF  MUENTER 929 

DEVOTION  TO  THE  KAISER 930 

SCIENTISTS  AND  THE  MILITARY 931 

HUDSON  MAXIM  ON  EXPLOSIVES 932 

THOR  (Poem) 933 

By  Beatrice  Barry 

"I  AM  THE  GRAVEST  DANGER" 934 

By  George  Bernard  Shaw 

THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS  SEEN  BY  CARTOONISTS 935 

THE  BELLIGERENTS'  MUNITIONS 

GROWING  PROBLEMS  OF  GERMANY  AND  HER  OPPONENTS  IN  SUPPLYING  ARMS    .        .     944 

By  Lloyd  George,  British  Minister  of  Munitions 
THE  POWER  OF  THE  PURSE:  How  "Silver  Bullets."  Are  Made  in  Britain 954 

By  Prime  Minister  Asquith 
CASES  RESERVED  (Poem) 957 

By  Sir  Owen  Seaman 
NEW  RECRUITING  IN  BRITAIN 958 

By  Field  Marshal  Earl  Kitchener,  Secretary  of  State  for  War 
AMERICAN  WAR  SUPPLIES 961 

By  George   Wellington  Porter 
MAGAZINISTS  OF  THE  WORLD  ON  THE  V/AR 965 

Condensed  from  the  Leading  Reviews 
SWEDEN  AND  THE  LUSITANIA 980 

By  Swedish  Artists  and  Professors 
A  THREATENED  DESPOTISM  OF  SPIRIT 981 

By  Gertrude  Atherlon 
"GOTT  MIT  UNS"  (Harv.ird  Prize  Poem) 983 

By  C.   Huntington  Jacobs 
ON  THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  NEUTRALS 984 

By  Frederich  Ctirtius 

CHLORINE  WARFARE 986 

RHEIMS  CATHEDRAL 987 

By  Pierre  Loti 
"THE  ENGLISH  FALSEHOOD" 990 

Bv  Sven  Hedin 
CALAIS  OR  SUEZ? 992 

Which  Should  Be  Germar.y's  Ohjective? 
NOTE  ON  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  NATIONALITY 993 

By  John  Galsworthy 
SINGER  OF  "LA  MARSEILLAISE"  (Poem) 995 

By  H.  T.  Sudduth 
DEPRESSION— COMMON-SENSE  AND  THE  SITUATION 996 

By   Arnold  Bennett 
THE  WAR  AND  RACIAL  PROGRESS 999 

By  Major  Leonard  Darwin 
THE  ENGLISH  WORD.  THOUGHT,  AND  LIFE 1000 

By  Russian  Men  of  Letters 
EVVIVA  L'lTALIA 1002 

By  William  Archer 
WHO  DIED  CONTENT  (Poem) 1003 

By  John   Hogben 
"THE  GERMANS,  DESTROYERS  OF  CATHEDRALS" 1004 

By  Artists,   Writers,  Musicians,  and  Philosophers  of  France 
CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR  (Continued  to  July  15) 1014 


CONTENTS 


r 


NUMBER  VI.     SEPTEMBER,  1915. 

FACING  THE  SECOND  YEAR 
Outgivings  by  Heads  and  Leading  Men  of  the  Warring  Nations. 

"GOD  IS  WITH  US" 1021 

By   the  German   Emperor 

POPE  BENEDICT'S  ANNIVERSARY  PLEA  FOR  PEACE 1022 

•GERMAN  ARMY'S  ACHIEVEMENTS  1024 

By  Major  Ernst  Moraht 
THE  GERMAN  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR .   1026 

By  Captain  I.   Persius 
BRITAIN'S  COURAGE  UNDAUNTED .        .   1028 

By  Sir   Edward  Carson 
THE  WAR  TO  DATE.  FROM  A  BRITISH  STANDPOINT  1033 

Bv  Sir  Gilbert  Parker 
AUGUST  4,  1915  (Poem) 1030 

By   Ely    Esmonde 
UNIfED  FRANCE 103 

By  Raymond  Poincare,  President  of  the  French  Republic 
"FRANCE  IS  FIT" 1039 

Bv  Cottnt  Adrien  L.  de  Montebello 
PROSiPECT  OF  RUSSIA'S  SECOND  YEAR  OF  WAR  1041 

By  c  Russian  Military  Expert 

FIRST  YEAR'S  SLAIN  AND  WOUNDED ;        .        .   1042 

HARBORED  SHIPS  (Poem) 1043 

By  Louise  de   Wetter 
WAR'S  TOLL  UPON  FAMOUS  FAMILIES 1044 

By    Charles    Stolberg 
THE  NATION  SPEAKS  (Poem) 1050 

By  Beatrice  Barry 
WHERE,  WHEN,  AND  BY  WHOM  WAS  THE  WAR  DECIDED  UPON  ? 1051 

By  Guglielmo  Ferrero 
VIVA  ITALIA  (Poem)  1058 

By  J.  Corson  Miller 

BRITAIN'S  BLOCKADE 

OFFICIAL  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  GOVERNMENT         .        .        .        .    1059 

Published  by  Sir  Edward  Grey 

AUSTRIA'S  NOTE  AND  THE  AMERICAN  REPLY 

RESPECTING  AMERICAN  SHIPMENTS  OF  ARMS  AND  AMMUNITION           ....   1064 
ALLEGED  GERMAN  ATTEMPT  TO  GET  AMERICAN  MUNITIONS 1070 

Story  of  a  Contract  Made  hy  German  Agents  in  the  United  States 
AMERICAN  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS 1073 

The  Few  Who  Are  Trained  of  Seventeen  Millions  of  Able  Men 
WAR  AND  MONEY 1075 

How  Will  Europe's  Policy  of  Unlimited  Liability  End? 

A  RESUME  OF  THE  MILITARY  OPERATIONS  IN  EUROPE 

From  July  15  to  August  15,  1915 
By  a  Militaiy  Expert 

THE  HYMN  OF  THE  LUSITANIA  (Poem) 1077 

Translated  from  the  German  by  Mrs.  Wharton 
A  CRISIS  IN  THE  BALKANS  (With  Map) 1082 

Allied  Powers'  Attei.ipt  to  Reorganize  the  Balkan  League 
HELLAS  (Poem) 1085 

By   Walter  Sichel 

AFTER  WARSAW'S  FALL  (With  Maps) 

PROSECUTION  OF  THE  TEUTONIC  CAMPAIGN  IN  RUSSIA 1086 

WARSAW 1096 

By  Charles  Johnston 
THE  BRAVE  AND  CHEERFUL  BRITON 1099 

By  Maximilian  Harden 

THE  WESTERN  FRONT  (With  Maps) 

BATTLES  AT  HOOGE.  IN  THE  ARGONNE   AND  VOSGES— FRENCH,  BRITISH.  AND  GER- 
MAN REPORTS  OF  FIGHTING  ON  WAVERING  LINES 1103 

ACTIVITY  AT  THE  DARDANELLES  (With  Map)  1115 

STONE  COFFINS  UNEARTHED 1117 

ITALY'S  ATTACK  ON  GORIZIA  (With  Map) 1119 

-'THE  GLORY   HOLE"   (Poem) 1119 

THE  GUARANTEES  OF  A  LASTING  PEACE  1120 

By  Count  Julius  Anarassy 

THE  QUIET   HARBOR   (Poem) 1123 

By  Caroline  Russell  Bispham 
MAGAZINISTS  OF  THE  WORLD  ON  THE  WAR,  CONDENSED  FROM  THE  LEADING 

REVIEWS 1124 

A  GERMAN  WAR  BREAD  CARD 1137 

INDIA'S  LOYALTY 1139 

AMERICAN  OPINION  OF  GERMANY 1141 

By   Herman  Oncken 

A  LEGEND  OF  THE  RHINE  (Poem) 1144 

THE  MORAL  RIGHT  TO  THRIVE  ON  WAR 1145 

By  Dr.  Kuno  Francke 

ITALY  IN  WAR  TIME 1146 

By  C.  M.  Trevelyan 


CONTENTS 


Page 

THE  LAND  OF  THE  BRAVE  AND  THE  FREE  (Poem) 1148 

BRITAIN'S  NEW  AFRICAN  COLONY 1149 

Bv  Charles  Friedlander ,  F.  R.  G.  S. 
NO  MILITARISM  IN  GERMANY 1151 

By  Dr.  Rudolf  Leonhard 
NIGHT  IN  THfi  TRENCH  (Poem) 1152 

By  H.  Varley  _ 

FRANCE'S  FIGHT  AGAINST  "KULTUR" TTs^ 

By  Paul  Sabalier 
THE  WAR  AND  THE  JEWS 1155 

By  Israel  Zangwilh 
POLAND,  1683—1915  (Poem) 1159 

By  //.   T.  Suddulh 
THE  COLLECTIVE  FORCE  OF  GERMANY 1160 

By  Gerhard  von  Schulze-Gaevernilz 
THE  FLOW  OF  TEARS 1162 

By  the  Bishop  of  Lund 
A  CHEERFUL  GERMAN  EMPEROR .        .        .1163 

B)  Ludivig  Ganghofer 

THE  WAR  OF  NOTES  (Poem) 1164 

SELF-SUSTAINING  GERMANY 1165 

By  the  War  Committee  of  German  Industries 
THE  WEALTH  OF  WILLIAM  11 1167 

By  R.  Franklin  Tate 
ENGLISH  AND  GERMAN  IDEALS  OF  GOD 1168 

By  Eden  Phillpotts 

SAVINGS  (Poem) 1170 

TOURING  EUROPE  IN  WAR  TIME 1171 

By  Mine.  L.  de  Hegermann-Lindencrone 

REINDEER  FOR  BERLIN 1176 

RUSSIA'S  GERMAN  BUREAUCRATS  1177 

By  Jean   Finoi  • 

TO  THE  FRENCH  SOLDIERS  AT  THE  FRONT llgD 

By  A  natole  Frar.ce 

A  FAREWELL  (Poem) UM 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  FRANCE iT85> 

By  Emilc  Boutroux  «- 

CURRENT  SMALL  TALK  (Poem) 1186 

By  Ella  A.  Fanning 
BRITAIN'S  TRIBUTE  TO  ITALY 1187 

By  British  Men  of  Distinction 
GERMANY  FED  1189 

By  Dr.  Max  Sering 
SPAIN  AND  THE  WAR 1191 

By  Leaders  c/  Spanish  Thought 
"MUCH  DISTRESSED'   (Poem) 1192 

Bv   Walter  Sichei 
ENGLAND'S  SAVING  QUALITIES 1193 

By  J.   II.  Rosnv 

SONS  OF  THE  PRAIRIE  (Poem) Ji94 

THE  FRENCH  FIGHTING  AS  ONE ligS> 

Bv  Owen  Johnson 
BRITISH  EXCUSES  FOR  NOT  ENLISTING 1197 

Report  of  the  London  County  Council 
THROUGH  THE  MOUTHS  OF  OUR  GUNS 1198 

Bv  A  natole  France 
A  VISION  OF  THE  BATTLE  FRONT 1199 

By  Pierre  Loti 

THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS  SEEN  BY  CARTOONISTS 1201 

CORONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR  (Continued) 1221 


H.     M.     HUSSEIN      KEMAL 

The    New   Sultan   of   Egypt,    Which    Was 

Recently  Declarea  a  British 

Protectorate 


I 


Sij^  N^m  fork  Sltm^a 

CURRENT    HISTORY 


A     MONTHLY     MAGAZINE 


THE    EUROPEAN    WAR 


APRIL,    1915 


Germany's  War  Zone  and 
Neutral  Flags 

The  German  Decree  and  Interchange  of  Notes  Answering  American 
Protests  to  Germany  and  Britain 


BERLIN,  Feb.  4,  {by  wireless  to  Say- 
ville,  L.  I.) — The  German  Admiralty  to- 
day issued  the  following  communica- 
tion: 

The  waters  around  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  including  the  whole  English 
Channel,  are  declared  a  war  zone  on  and 
after  Feb.  18,  1915. 

Every  enemy  merchant  ship  found  in 
this  war  zone  will  be  destroyed,  even 
if  it  is  impossible  to  avert  dangers  which 
threaten  the  crew  and  passengers. 

Also  neutral  ships  in  the  war  zone  are 
in  danger,  as  in  consequence  of  the  mis- 
use of  neutral  flags  ordered  by  the  Brit- 
ish Government  on  Jan.  31,  and  in  view 
of  the  hazards  of  naval  warfare,  it  can- 
not always  be  avoided  that  attacks 
meant  for  enemy  ships  endanger  neutral 
ships. 

Shipping  northward,  around  the  Shet- 
land Islands,  in  the  eastern  basin  of  the 
North  Sea,  and  a  strip  of  at  least  thirty 
nautical  miles  in  breadth  along  the 
Dutch  coast,  is  endangered  in  the  same 
way. 


AMERICAN  NOTE  TO  GERMANY. 
Feb.  10,  1915. 

The  Secretary  of  State  has  instruct- 
ed Ambassador  Gerard  at  Berlin  to 
present  to  the  German  Government  a 
note  to  the  following  effect: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States, 
having  had  its  attention  directed  to  the 
proclamation  of  the  German  Admiralty, 
issued  on  the  4th  of  February,  that  the 
waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  including  the  whole  of  the  Eng- 
lish Channel,  are  to  be  considered  as 
comprised  within  the  seat  of  war;  that 
all  enemy  merchant  vessels  found  in 
those  waters  after  the  18th  inst.  will  be 
destroyed,  although  it  may  not  always 
be  possible  to  save  crews  and  passengers; 
and  that  neutral  vessels  expose  them- 
selves to  danger  within  this  zone  of  war 
because,  in  view  of  the  misuse  of  neutral 
flags  said  to  have  been  ordered  by  the 
British  Government  on  the  31st  of  Jan- 
uary and  of  the  contingencies  of  mari- 
time warfare,  it  may  not  be  possible 
always  to  exempt  neutral  vessels  from 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


attacks  intended  to  strike  enemy  ships, 
feels  it  to  be  its  duty  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  Imperial  German  Government, 
with  sincere  respect  and  the  most  friendly 
sentiments,  but  very  candidly  and  earn- 
estly, to  the  very  serious  possibilities  of 
the  course  of  action  apparently  contem- 
plated under  that  proclamation. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
views  those  possibilities  with  such  grave 
concern  that  it  feels  it  to  be  its  privilege, 
and,  indeed,  its  duty,  in  the  circumstances 
to  request  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment to  consider  before  action  is  taken 
the  critical  situation  in  respect  of  the  re- 
lation between  this  country  and  Germany 
which  might  arise  were  the  German  naval 
forces,  in  carrying  out  the  policy  fore- 
shadowed in  the  Admiralty's  proclama- 
tion, to  destroy  any  merchant  vessel  of 
the  United  States  or  cause  the  death  of 
American  citizens. 

-  It  is,  of  course,  not  necessary  to  re- 
mind the  German  Government  that  the 
sole  right  of  a  belligerent  in  dealing  with 
neutral  vessels  on  the  high  seas  is  lim- 
ited to  visit  and  search,  unless  a  blockade 
is  proclaimed  and  effectively  maintained, 
which  this  Government  does  not  under- 
stand to  be  proposed  in  this  case.  To  de- 
clare or  exercise  a  right  to  attack  and 
destroy  any  vessel  entering  a  prescribed 
area  of  the  high  seas  without  first  cer- 
tainly determining  its  belligerent  na- 
tionality and  the  contraband  character 
of  its  cargo  would  be  an  act  so  unpi-ece- 
dented  in  naval  warfare  that  this  Gov- 
ernment is  reluctant  to  believe  that  the 
Imperial  Government  of  Germany  in  this 
case  contemplates  it  as  possible. 

The  suspicion  that  enemy  ships  are 
using  neutral  flags  improperly  can  create 
no  just  presumption  that  all  ships  trav- 
ersing a  prescribed  area  are  subject  to 
the  same  suspicion.  It  is  to  determine 
exactly  such  questions  that  this  Govern- 
ment understands  the  right  of  visit  and 
search  to  have  been  recognized. 

This  Government  has  carefully  noted 
the  explanatory  statement  issued  by  the 
Imperial  German  Government  at  the 
same  time  with  the  proclamation  of  the 
German  Admiralty,  and  takes  this  occa- 
sion   to    remind    the    Imperial    German 


Government  very  respectfully  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  open 
to  none  of  the  criticisms  for  unneutral 
action  to  which  the  German  Government 
believes  the  Governments  of  certain  other 
neutral  nations  have  laid  themselves 
open;  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  not  consented  to  or  acquiesced 
in  any  measures  which  may  have  been 
taken  by  the  other  belligerent  nations  in 
the  present  war  which  operate  to  restrain 
neutral  trade,  but  has,  on  the  contrary, 
taken  in  all  such  matters  a  position 
which  warrants  it  in  holding  those  Gov- 
ernments responsible  in  the  proper  way 
for  any  untoward  effects  on  American 
shipping  which  the  accepted  principles  of 
international  law  do  not  justify;  and  that 
it,  therefore,  regards  itself  as  free  in  the 
present  instance  to  take  with  a  clear  con- 
science and  upon  accepted  principles  the 
position  indicated  in  this  note. 

If  the  commanders  of  German  vessels 
of  war  should  act  upon  the  presumption 
that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was 
not  being  used  in  good  faith  and  should 
destroy  on  the  high  seas  an  American 
vessel  or  the  lives  of  American  citizens, 
it  would  be  difficult  for  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  view  the  act  in 
any  other  light  than  as  an  indefensible 
violation  of  neuti'al  rights,  which  it  would 
be  very  hard,  indeed,  to  reconcile  with 
the  friendly  relations  now  happily  sub- 
sisting between  the  two  Governments. 

If  such  a  deplorable  situation  should 
arise,  the  Imperial  German  Government 
can  readily  appreciate  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  would  be  con- 
strained to  hold  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment of  Germany  to  a  strict  account- 
ability for  such  acts  of  their  naval  au- 
thorities, and  to  take  any  steps  it  might 
be  necessary  to  take  to  safeguard  Amer- 
ican lives  and  property  and  to  secure  to 
American  citizens  the  full  enjoyment  of 
their  acknowledged  rights  on  the  high 
seas. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States, 
in  view  of  these  considerations,  which  it 
urges  with  the  greatest  respect  and  with 
the  sincere  purpose  of  making  sure  that 
no  misunderstandings  may  arise,  and  no 
circumstances    occur,    that    might    even 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


cloud  the  intercourse  of  the  two  Govern- 
ments, expresses  the  confident  hope  and 
expectation  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government  can  and  will  give  assurance 
that  American  citizens  and  their  vessels 
will  not  be  molested  by  the  naval  forces 
of  Germany  otherwise  than  by  visit  and 
search,  though  their  vessels  may  be  trav- 
ersing the  sea  area  delimited  dn  the 
proclamation  of  the  German  Admiralty. 
It  is  stated  for  the  information  of  the 
Imperial  Government  that  representa- 
tions have  been  made  to  his  Britannic 
Majesty's  Government  in  respect  to  the 
unwarranted  use  of  the  American  flag 
for  the  protection  of  British  ships. 

AMERICAN   NOTE   TO    ENGLAND. 
Feb.   10,   1915. 

The  Secretary  of  State  has  instructed 
Ambassador  Page  at  London  to  present 
to  the  British  Government  a  note  to  the 
following  effect: 

The  department  has  been  advised  of 
the  declaration  of  the  German  Admiralty 
on  Feb.  4,  indicating  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment had  on  Jan.  31  explicitly  author- 
ized the  use  of  neutral  flags  on  British 
merchant  vessels,  presumably  for  the 
purpose  of  avoiding  recognition  by  Ger- 
man naval  forces.  The  department's  at- 
tention has  also  been  directed  to  reports 
in  the  press  that  the  Captain  of  the 
Lusitania,  acting  upon  orders  or  informa- 
tion received  from  the  British  author- 
ities, raised  the  American  flag  as  his 
vessel  approached  the  British  coasts,  in 
order  to  escape  anticipated  attacks  by 
German  submarines.  Today's  press  re- 
ports also  contain  an  alleged  official 
statement  of  the  Foreign  Office  defend- 
ing the  use  of  the  flag  of  a  neutral 
country  by  a  belligerent  vessel  in  order 
to  escape  capture  or  attack  by  an  enemy. 

Assuming  that  the  foregoing  reports 
are  true,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  reserving  for  future  consideration 
the  legality  and  propriety  of  the  decep- 
tive use  of  the  flag  of  a  neutral  power 
in  any  case  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding 
capture,  desires  very  respectfully  to 
point  out  to  his  Britannic  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment the  serious  consequences  which 
may    result    to    American    vessels    and 


American  citizens  if  this  practice  is  con- 
tinued. 

The  occasional  use  of  the  flag  of  a 
neutral  or  an  enemy  under  the  stress 
of  immediate  pursuit  and  to  deceive  an 
approaching  enemy,  which  appears  by 
the  press  reports  to  be  represented  as 
the  precedent  and  justification  used  to 
support  this  action,  seems  to  this  Gov- 
ernment a  very  different  thing  from  an 
explicit  sanction  by  a  belligerent  Gov- 
ernment for  its  merchant  ships  gener- 
ally to  fly  the  flag  of  a  neutral  power 
within  certain  portions  of  the  high  seas 
which  are  presumed  to  be  frequented 
with  hostile  warships.  The  formal  decla- 
ration of  such  a  policy  of  general  misuse 
of  a  neutral's  flag  jeopardizes  the  vessels 
of  the  neutral  visiting  those  waters  in  a 
peculiar  degree  by  raising  the  presump- 
tion that  they  are  of  belligerent  nation- 
ality regardless  of  the  flag  which  they 
may  carry. 

In  view  of  the  announced  purpose  of  the 
German  Admiralty  to  engage  in  active 
naval  operations  in  certain  delimited 
sea  areas  adjacent  to  the  coasts  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  would  view  with  anx- 
ious solicitude  any  general  use  of  the  flag 
of  the  United  States  by  British  vessels 
traversing  those  waters.  A  policy  such 
as  the  one  which  his  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment is  said  to  intend  to  adopt  would, 
if  the  declaration  of  the  German  Ad- 
miralty be  put  in  force,  it  seems  clear, 
afford  no  protection  to  British  vessels, 
while  it  would  be  a  serious  and  constant 
menace  to  the  lives  and  vessels  of  Ameri- 
can citizens. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States, 
therefore,  trusts  that  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment will  do  all  in  their  power  to 
restrain  vessels  of  British  nationality  in 
the  deceptive  use  of  the  United  States  flag 
in  the  sea  area  defined  by  the  German 
declaration,  since  such  practice  would 
greatly  endanger  the  vessels  of  a  friendly 
power  navigating  those  waters  and  would 
even  seem  to  impose  upon  the  Govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain  a  measure  of  re- 
sponsibility for  the  loss  of  American  lives 
and  vessiels  in  case  of  an  attack  by  a 
German  naval  force. 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


You  will  impress  upon  his  Majesty's 
Government  the  grave  concern  which  this 
Government  feels  in  the  circumstances  in 
regard  to  the  safety  of  American  vessels 
and  lives  in  the  war  zone  declared  by  the 
German  Admiralty. 

You  may  add  that  this  Government  is 
making  earnest  representations  to  the 
German  Government  in  regard  to  the 
danger  to  American  vessels  and  citizens 
if  the  declaration  of  the  German  Admi- 
ralty is  put  into  effect. 

GERMANY'S  ANSWER. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  Feb.  18. — 
The  German  Government's  reply  to  the 
American  note  follows: 

The  Imperial  Government  has  exam- 
ined the  communication  from  the  United, 
States  Government  in  the  same  spirit 
of  good-will  and  friendship  by  which  the 
communication  appears  to  have  been 
dictated.  The  Imperial  Government  is 
in  accord  with  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment that  for  both  parties  it  is  in  a 
high  degree  desirable  to  avoid  misun- 
derstandings which  might  arise  from 
measures  announced  by  the  German  Ad- 
miralty and  to  provide  against  the  oc- 
currence of  incidents  which  might  trouble 
the  friendly  relations  which  so  far 
happily  exist  between  the  two  Govern- 
ments. 

With  regard  to  the  assuring  of  these 
friendly  relations,  the  German  Govern- 
ment believes  that  it  may  all  the  more 
reckon  on  a  full  understanding  with  the 
United  States,  as  the  procedure  an- 
nounced by  the  German  Admiralty,  which 
was  fully  explained  in  the  note  of  the  4th 
inst.,  is  in  no  way  directed  against 
legitimate  commerce  and  legitimate  ship- 
ping of  neutrals,  but  represents  solely  a 
measure  of  self-defense,  imposed  on  Ger- 
many by  her  vital  interests,  against  Eng- 
land's method  of  warfare,  which  is  con- 
trary to  international  law,  and  which  so 
far  no  protest  by  neutrals  has  succeeded 
in  bringing  back  to  the  generally  recog- 
nized principles  of  law  as  existing  before 
the  outbreak  of  war. 

In  order  to  exclude  all  doubt  regard- 
ing  these   cardinal   points,   the   German 


Government  once  more  begs  leave  to 
state  how  things  stand.  Until  now  Ger- 
many has  scrupulously  observed  valid 
international  rules  regarding  naval  war- 
fare. At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war 
Germany  immediately  agreed  to  the  pro- 
posal of  the  American  Government  to 
ratify  the  new  Declaration  of  London, 
and  took  over  its  contents  unaltered,  and 
without  formal  obligation,  into  her  prize 
law. 

The  German  Government  has  obeyed 
these  rules,  even  when  they  were  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  her  military  in- 
terests. For  instance,  Germany  allowed 
the  transportation  of  provisions  to  Eng- 
land from  Denmark  until  today,  though 
she  was  well  able,  by  her  sea  forces,  to 
prevent  it.  In  contradistinction  to  this 
attitude,  England  has  not  even  hesitated 
at  a  second  infringement  of  interna- 
tional law,  if  by  such  means  she  could 
paralyze  the  peaceful  commerce  of  Ger- 
many with  neutrals.  The  German  Gov- 
ernment will  be  the  less  obliged  to  enter 
into  details,  as  these  are  put  down  suffi- 
ciently, though  not  exhaustively,  in  the 
American  note  to  the  British  Govern- 
ment dated  Dec.  29,  as  a  result  of  five 
months'  experience. 

All  these  encroachments  have  been 
made,  as  has  been  admitted,  in  order 
to  cut  off  all  supplies  from  Germany 
and  thereby  starve  her  peaceful  civil 
population — a  procedure  contrary  to  all 
humanitarian  principles.  Neutrals  have 
been  unable  to  prevent  the  interruption 
of  their  commerce  with  Germany,  which 
is  contrary  to  international  laws. 

The  American  Government,  as  Ger- 
many readily  lacknowledges,  has  pro- 
tested against  the  British  procedure.  In 
spite  of  these  protests  and  protests  from 
other  neutral  States,  Great  Britain  could 
not  be  induced  to  depart  from  the  course 
of  action  she  had  decided  upon.  Thus, 
for  instance,  the  American  ship  Wil- 
helmina  recently  was  stopped  by  the 
British,  although  her  cargo  was  destined 
solely  for  the  German  civil  population, 
and,  according  to  the  express  declaration 
of  the  German  Government,  was  to  be 
employed  only  for  this  purpose. 

Germany  is  as  good  as  cut  off  from 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


her  overseas  supply  by  the  silent  or  pro- 
testing toleration  of  neutrals,  not  only 
in  regard  to  such  goods  as  are  absolute 
contraband,  but  also  in  regard  to  such 
as,  according  to  acknowledged  law  before 
the  war,  are  only  conditional  contraband 
or  not  contraband  at  all.  Great  Britain, 
on  the  other  hand,  is,  with  the  toleration 
of  neutral  Governments,  not  only  supplied 
with  such  goods  as  are  not  contraband 
or  only  conditional  contraband,  but  with 
goods  which  are  regarded  by  Great  Brit- 
ain, if  sent  to  Germany,  as  absolute  con- 
traband, namely,  provisions,  industrial 
raw  materials,  &c.,  and  even  with  goods 
which  have  always  indubitably  been  re- 
garded as  absolute  contraband. 

The  German  Government  feels  itself 
obliged  to  point  out  with  the  greatest 
emphasis  that  a  traffic  in  arms,  esti- 
mated at  many  hundreds  of  millions,  is 
being  carried  on  between  American  firms 
and  Germany's  enemies.  Germany  fully 
comprehends  that  the  practice  of  right 
and  the  toleration  of  wrong  on  the  part 
of  neutrals  are  matters  absolutely  at 
the  discretion  of  neutrals,  and  involve  no 
formal  violation  of  neutrality.  Germany, 
therefore,  did  not  complain  of  any  formal 
violation  of  neutrality,  but  the  German 
Government,  in  view  of  complete  evi- 
dence before  it,  cannot  help  pointing 
out  that  it,  together  with  the  entire 
public  opinion  of  Germany,  feels  itself 
to  be  severely  prejudiced  by  the  fact  that 
neutrals,  in  safeguarding  their  rights  in 
legitimate  commerce  with  Germany  ac- 
cording to  international  law,  have  up 
to  the  present  achieved  no,  or  only  in- 
significant, results,  while  they  are  mak- 
ing unlimited  use  of  their  right  by  car- 
rying on  contraband  traffic  with  Great 
Britain  and  our  other  enemies. 

If  it  is  a  formal  right  of  neutrals  to 
take  no  steps  to  protect  their  legiti- 
mate trade  with  Germany,  and  even  to 
allow  themselves  to  be  influenced  in  the 
direction  of  the  conscious  and  willful 
restriction  of  their  trade,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  have  the  perfect  right,  which 
they  unfortunately  do  not  exercise,  to 
cease  contraband  trade,  especially  in 
arms,  with  Germany's  enemies. 

In  view  of  this   situation,   Germany, 


after  six  months  of  patient  waiting,  sees 
herself  obliged  to  answer  Great  Britain's 
murderous  method  of  naval  warfare  with 
sharp  counter-measures.  If  Great  Brit- 
ain in  her  fight  against  Germany  sum- 
mons hunger  as  an  ally,  for  the  purpose 
of  imposing  upon  a  civilized  people  of 
70,000,000  the  choice  between  destitution 
and  starvation  or  submission  to  Great 
Britain's  commercial  will,  then  Germany 
today  is  determined  to  take  up  the 
gauntlet  and  appeal  to  similar  allies. 

Germany  trusts  that  the  neutrals,  who 
so  far  have  submitted  to  the  disadvan- 
tageous consequences  of  Great  Britain's 
hunger  war  in  silence,  or  merely  in 
registering  a  protest,  will  display  toward 
Germany  no  smaller  measure  of  tolera- 
tion, even  if  German  measures,  like  those 
of  Great  Britain,  present  new  terrors  of 
naval  warfare. 

Moreover,  the  German  Government  is 
resolved  to  suppress  with  all  the  means 
at  its  disposal  the  importation  of  war 
material  to  Great  Britain  and  her  allies, 
and  she  takes  it  for  granted  that  neu- 
tral Governments,  which  so  far  have 
taken  no  steps  against  the  traffic  in 
arms  with  Germany's  enemies,  will  not 
oppose  forcible  suppression  by  Germany 
of  this  trade. 

Acting  from  this  point  of  view,  the 
German  Admiralty  proclaimed  a  naval 
war  zone,  whose  limits  it  exactly  defined. 
Germany,  so  far  as  possible,  will  seek  to 
close  this  war  zone  with  mines,  and  will 
also  endeavor  to  destroy  hostile  merchant 
vessels  in  every  other  way.  While  the 
German  Government,  in  taking  action 
based  upon  this  overpowering  point  of 
view,  keeps  itself  far  removed  from  all 
intentional  destruction  of  neutral  lives 
and  property,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does 
not  fail  to  recognize  that  from  the  ac- 
tion to  be  taken  against  Great  Britain 
dangers  arise  which  threaten  all  trade 
within  the  war  zone,  without  distinction. 
This  a  natural  result  of  mine  warfare, 
which,  even  under  the  strictest  observ- 
ance of  the  limits  of  international  law, 
endangers  every  ship  approaching  the 
mine  area.  The  German  Government 
considers  itself  entitled  to  hope  that  all 
neutrals  will  acquiesce  in  these  measures, 


6 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


as  they  have  done  in  the  case  of  the 
grievous  damages  inflicted  upon  them  by 
British  measures,  all  the  more  so  as 
Germany  is  resolved,  for  the  protection 
of  neutral  shipping  even  in  the  naval 
war  zone,  to  do  everything  which  is  at 
all  compatible  with  the  attainment  of 
this  object. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Germany  gave 
the  first  proof  of  her  good-will  in  fixing 
a  time  limit  of  not  less  than  fourteen 
days  before  the  execution  of  said  meas- 
ures, so  that  neutral  shipping  might  have 
an  opportunity  of  making  arrangements 
to  avoid  threatening  danger,  this  can 
most  surely  be  achieved  by  remaining 
away  from  the  naval  war  zone.  Neutral 
vessels  which,  despite  this  ample  notice, 
which  greatly  affects  the  achievement  of 
our  aims  in  our  war  against  Great 
Britain,  enter  these  closed  waters  will 
themselves  bear  the  responsibility  for 
any  unfortunate  accidents  that  may  oc- 
cur. Germany  disclaims  all  responsibility 
for  such  accidents  and  their  consequences. 

Germany  has  further  expressly  an- 
nounced the  destruction  of  all  enemy 
merchant  vessels  found  within  the  war 
zone,  but  not  the  destruction  of  all  mer- 
chant vessels,  as  the  United  States  seems 
erroneously  to  have  understood.  This 
restriction  which  Germany  imposes  upon 
itself  is  prejudicial  to  the  aim  of  our 
warfare,  especially  as  in  the  application 
of  the  conception  of  contraband  practiced 
by  Great  Britain  toward  Germany — which 
conception  will  now  also  be  similarly  in- 
terpreted by  Germany — the  presumption 
will  be  that  neutral  ships  have  contraband 
aboard.  Germany  naturally  is  unwilling 
to  renounce  its  rights  to  ascertain  the 
presence  of  contraband  in  neutral  vessels, 
and  in  certain  cases  to  draw  conclusions 
therefrom. 

Germany  is  ready,  finally,  to  deliberate 
with  the  United  States  concerning  any 
measures  which  might  secure  the  safety 
of  legitimate  shipping  of  neutrals  in  the 
war  zone.  Germany  cannot,  however, 
forbear  to  point  out  that  all  its  efforts 
in  this  direction  may  be  rendered  very 
difficult  by  two  circumstances:  First, 
the  misuse  of  neutral  flags  by  British 
merchant  vessels,   which  is   indubitably 


known  to  the  United  States;  second,  the 
contraband  trade  already  mentioned, 
especially  in  war  materials,  on  neutral 
vessels. 

Regarding  the  latter  point,  Germany 
would  fain  hope  that  the  United  States, 
after  further  consideration,  will  come  to 
a  conclusion  corresponding  to  the  spirit 
of  real  neutrality.  Regarding  the  first 
point,  the  secret  order  of  the  British  Ad- 
miralty, recommending  to  British  mer- 
chant ships  the  use  of  neutral  flags,  has 
been  communicated  by  Germany  to  the 
United  States  and  confirmed  by  com- 
munication with  the  British  Foreign  Of- 
fice, which  designates  this  procedure  as 
entirely  unobjectionable  and  in  accord- 
ance with  British  law.  British  merchant 
shipping  immediately  followed  this  ad- 
vice, as  doubtless  is  known  to  the  Amer- 
ican Government  from  the  incidents  of 
the  Lusitania  and  the  Laertes. 

Moreover,  the  British  Government  has 
supplied  arms  to  British  merchant  ships 
and  instructed  them  forcibly  to  resist 
German  submarines.  In  these  circum- 
stances, it  would  be  very  difficult  for 
submarines  to  recognize  neutral  merchant 
ships,  for  search  in  most  cases  cannot  be 
undertaken,  seeing  that  in  the  case  of  a 
disguised  British  ship  from  which  an 
attack  may  be  ejtpected  the  searching 
party  and  the  submarine  would  be  ex- 
posed to  destruction. 

Great  Britain,  then,  was  in  a  position 
to  make  the  German  measures  illusory 
if  the  British  merchant  fleet  persisted  in 
the  misuse  of  neutral  flags  and  neutral 
ships  could  not  otherwise  be  recognized 
beyond  doubt.  Germany,  however,  being 
in  a  state  of  necessity,  wherein  she  was 
placed  by  violation  of  law,  must  render 
effective  her  measures  in  all  circum- 
stances, in  order  thereby  to  compel  her 
adversary  to  adopt  methods  of  warfare 
corresponding  with  international  law,  and 
so  to  restore  the  freedom  of  the  seas, 
of  which  Germany  at  all  times  is  the 
defender  and  for  which  she  today  is 
fighting. 

Germany  therefore  rejoices  that  the 
United  States  has  made  representations 
to  Great  Britain  concerning  the  illegal 
use  of  their  flag,  and  expresses  the  ex- 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


pectation  that  this  procedure  will  force 
Great  Britain  to  respect  the  American 
flag  in  the  future.  In  this  expectation, 
commanders  of  German  submarines  have 
been  instructed,  as  already  mentioned  in 
the  note  of  Feb.  4,  to  refrain  from  violent 
action  against  American  merchant  ves- 
sels, so  far  as  these  can  be  recognized. 

In  order  to  prevent  in  the  surest  man- 
ner the  consequences  of  confusion — 
though  naturally  not  so  far  as  mines  are 
concerned — Germany  recommends  that 
the  United  States  make  its  ships  which 
are  conveying  peaceful  cargoes  through 
the  British  war  zone  discernible  by  means 
of  convoys. 

Germany  believes  it  may  act  on  the 
supposition  that  only  such  ships  would 
be  convoyed  as  carried  goods  not  regarded 
as  contraband  according  to  the  British 
interpretation  made  in  the  case  of  Ger- 
many. 

How  this  method  of  convoy  can  be 
carried  out  is  a  question  concerning  which 
Germany  is  ready  to  open  negotiations 
with  the  United  States  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. Germany  would  be  particularly 
grateful,  however,  if  the  United  States 
would  urgently  recommend  to  its  mer- 
chant vessels  to  avoid  the  British  naval 
war  zone,  in  any  case  until  the  settlement 
of  the  flag  question.  Germany  is  inclined 
to  the  confident  hope  that  the  United 
States  will  be  able  to  appreciate  in  its 
entire  significance  the  heavy  battle  which 
Germany  is  waging  for  existence,  and 
that  from  the  foregoing  explanations  and 
promises  it  will  acquire  full  understand- 
ing of  the  motives  and  the  aims  of  the 
measures  announced  by  Germany. 

Germany  repeats  that  it  has  now  re- 
solved upon  the  projected  measures  only 
under  the  strongest  necessity  of  national 
self-defense,  such  measures  having  been 
deferred  out  of  consideration  for  neu- 
trals. 

If  the  United  States,  in  view  of  the 
weight  which  it  is  justified  in  throwing 
and  able  to  throw  into  the  scales  of  the 
fate  of  peoples,  should  succeed  at  the  last 
moment  in  removing  the  grounds  which 
make  that  procedure  an  obligatory  duty 
for  Germany,  and  if  the  American  Gov- 
ernment, in  particular,  should  find  a  way 


to  make  the  Declaration  of  London  re- 
spected— on  behalf,  also,  of  those  powers 
which  are  fighting  on  Germany's  side — 
and  there  by  make  possible  for  Germany 
legitimate  importation  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  and  industrial  raw  material,  then 
the  German  Government  could  not  too 
highly  appreciate  such  a  service,  render- 
ed in  the  interests  of  humane  methods  of 
warfare,  and  would  gladly  draw  conclu- 
sions from  the  new  situation. 

BRITAIN'S    ANSWER. 

LONDON,  Feb.  19.— The  full  text  of 
Great  Britain's  note  regarding  the  flag, 
as  handed  to  the  American  Ambassa- 
dor, follows: 

The  memorandum  communicated  on 
the  11th  of  February  calls  attention  in 
courteous  and  friendly  terms  to  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Captain  of  the  British 
steamer  Lusitania  in  raising  the  flag 
of  the  United  States  of  America  when 
approaching  British  waters,  and  says 
that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  feels  certain  anxiety  in  consid- 
ering the  possibility  of  any  general  use 
of  the  flag  of  the  United  States  by 
British  vessels  traversing  those  waters, 
since  the  effect  of  such  a  policy  might 
be  to  bring  about  a  menace  to  the  lives 
and  vessels  of  United  States  citizens. 

It  was  understood  that  the  German 
Government  announced  their  intention 
of  sinking  British  merchant  vessels  at 
sight  by  torpedoes,  without  giving  any 
opportunity  of  making  any  provision 
for  the  saving  of  the  lives  of  non-com- 
batant crews  and  passengers.  It  was 
in  consequence  of  this  threat  that  the 
Lusitania  raised  the  United  States  flag 
on  her  inward  voyage. 

On  her  subsequent  outward  voyage 
a  request  was  made  by  United  States 
passengers,  who  were  embarking  on 
board  of  her,  that  the  United  States 
flag  should  be  hoisted  presumably  to 
insure  their  safety.  Meanwhile,  the 
memorandum  from  your  Excellency  had 
been  received.  His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment did  not  give  any  advice  to  the 
company  as  to  how  to  meet  this  request, 
and  it  understood  that  the  Lusitania 
left  Liverpool  under  the  British  flag. 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


It  seems  unnecessary  to  say  more  as 
regards  the  Lusitania  in  particular. 

In  regard  to  the  use  of  foreign  flags 
by  merchant  .vessels,  the  British  Mer- 
chant Shipping  act  makes  it  clear  that 
the  use  of  the  British  flag  by  foreign 
merchant  vessels  is  permitted  in  time  of 
war  for  the  purpose  of  escaping  cap- 
ture. It  is  believed  that  in  the  case  of 
some  other  nations  there  is  similar  rec- 
ognition of  the  same  practice  with  re- 
gard to  their  flag,  and  that  none  of  them 
has  forbidden  it. 

It  would,  therefore,  be  unreasonable 
to  expect  his  Majesty's  Government  to 
pass  legislation  forbidding  the  use  of 
foreign  flags  by  British  merchant  ves- 
sels to  avoid  capture  by  the  enemy,  now 
that  the  German  Government  have  an- 
nounced their  intention  to  sink  mer- 
chant vessels  at  sight  with  their  non- 
combatant  crews,  cargoes,  and  papers, 
a  proceeding  hitherto  regarded  by  the 
opinion  of  the  world  not  as  war,  but 
piracy. 

It  is  felt  that  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment could  not  fairly  ask  the  Brit- 
ish Government  to  order  British  mer- 
chant vessels  to  forego  a  means,  al- 
ways hitherto  permitted,  of  escaping  not 
only  capture  but  the  much  worse  fate 
of  sinking  and  destruction. 

Great  Britain  always  has,  when  a 
neutral,  accorded  to  vessels  of  other 
States  at  war  the  liberty  to  use  the 
British  flag  as  a  means  of  protection 
against  capture,  and  instances  are  on 
record  when  United  States  vessels 
availed  themselves  of  this  facility  dur- 
ing the  American  civil  war.  It  would 
be  contrary  to  fair  expectation  if  now, 
when  conditions  are  reversed,  the 
United  States  and  neutral  nations  were 
to  grudge  to  British  ships  the  liberty  to 
take  similar  action. 

The  British  Government  have  no  in- 
tention of  advising  their  merchant  ship- 
ping to  use  foreign  flags  as  a  general 
practice  or  to  resort  to  them  otherwise 
than  for  escaping  capture  or  destruc- 
tion. The  obligation  upon  a  belligerent 
warship  to  ascertain  definitely  for  it- 
self the  nationality  and  character  of  a 
,  merchant    vessel    before    capturing    it, 


and  a  fortiori  before  sinking  and  de- 
stroying it,  has  been  universally  recog- 
nized. 

If  that  obligation  is  fulfilled,  the 
hoisting  of  a  neutral  flag  on  board  a 
British  vessel  cannot  possibly  endanger 
neuti-al  shipping,  and  the  British  Gov- 
ernment holds  that  if  loss  to  neutrals 
is  caused  by  disregard  of  this  obliga- 
tion it  is  upon  the  enemy  vessel  dis- 
regarding it  and  upon  the  Government 
giving  the  orders  that  it  should  be  dis- 
regarded that  the  sole  responsibility  for 
injury  to  neutrals  ought  to  rest. 

ALLIES'  DECLARATION   OF 
REPRISALS. 

LONDON,  March  1.— Following  is  the 
text  of  the  statement  read  by  Premier 
Asquith  in  the  House  of  Commons  today 
and  communicated  at  the  same  time  to 
the  neutral  powers  in  their  capitals  as 
an  outline  of  the  Allies'  policy  of  retali- 
ation against  Germany  for  her  "  tvar 
zone  "  decree : 

Germany  has  declared  the  English 
Channel,  the  north  and  west  coasts  of 
France,  and  the  waters  around  the  Brit- 
ish Isles  a  war  area,  and  has  officially 
given  notice  that  all  enemy  ships  found 
in  that  area  will  be  destroyed,  and  that 
neutral  vessels  may  be  exposed  to  danger. 

This  is,  in  effect,  a  claim  to  torpedo 
at  sight,  without  regard  to  the  safety 
of  the  crew  or  passengers,  any  merchant 
vessel  under  any  flag.  As  it  is  not  in 
the  power  of  the  German  Armiralty  to 
maintain  any  surface  craft  in  these 
waters,  the  attack  can  only  be  delivered 
by  submarine  agency. 

The  law  and  customs  of  nations  in  re- 
gard to  attacks  on  commerce  have  al- 
ways presumed  that  the  first  duty  of 
the  captor  of  a  merchant  vessel  is  bring- 
ing it  before  a  prize  court,  where  it  may 
be  tried  and  where  regularities  of  the 
capture  may  be  challenged,  and  where 
neutrals  may  recover  their  cargo. 

The  sinking  of  prizes  is,  in  itself,  a 
questionable  act,  to  be  resorted  to  only 
in  extraordinary  circumstances,  and  after 
provision  has  been  made  for  the  safety 
of  all  crews  and  passengers. 

The    responsibility    of    discriminating 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


9 


between  neutral  and  enemy  vessels  and 
between  neutral  and  enemy  cargoes  ob- 
viously rests  with  the  attacking  ship, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  verify  the  status  and 
character  of  the  vessel  and  cargo,  and 
to  preserve  all  papers  before  sinking  or 
capturing  the  ship.  So,  also,  the  humane 
duty  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  crews 
of  merchant  vessels,  whether  neutral  or 
enemy,  is  an  obligation  on  every  bel- 
ligerent. 

It  is  upon  this  basis  that  all  previous 
discusssions  of  law  for  regulating  war- 
fare have  proceeded.  The  German  sub- 
marine fulfills  none  of  these  obligations. 
She  enjoys  no  local  command  of  the 
waters  wherein  she  operates.  She  does 
not  take  her  captures  within  the  juris- 
diction of  a  prize  court.  She  carries  no 
prize  crew  which  can  be  put  aboard 
prizes  which  she  seizes.  She  uses  no  ef- 
fective means  of  discriminating  between 
neutral  and  enemy  vessels.  She  does  not 
receive  on  board  for  safety  the  crew  of 
the  vessel  she  sinks.  Her  methods  of 
warfare,  therefore,  are  entirely  outside 
the  scope  of  any  international  instru- 
ments regulating  operations  against  com- 
merce in  time  of  war. 


The  German  declaration  substitutes  in- 
discriminate destruction  for  regulated 
captures.  Germany  has  adopted  this 
method  against  the  peaceful  trader  and 
the  non-combatant,  with  the  avowed  ob- 
ject of  preventing  commodities  of  all 
kinds,  including  food  for  the  civilian 
population,  from  reaching  or  leaving  the 
British  Isles  or  Northern  France. 

Her  opponents  are,  therefore,  driven 
to  frame  retaliatory  measures  in  order 
in  their  turn  to  prevent  commodities  of 
any  kind  from  reaching  or  leaving  Ger- 
many. 

These  measures  will,  however,  be  en- 
forced by  the  British  and  French  Gov- 
ernments without  risk  to  neutral  ships 
or  neutral  or  non-combatant  lives,  and  in 
strict  observation  of  the  dictates  of  hu- 
manity. The  British  and  French  Gov- 
ernments will,  therefore,  hold  themselves 
free  to  detain  and  take  into  port  ships 
carrying  goods  of  presumed  enemy  des- 
tination, ownership,  or  origin. 

It  is  not  intended  to  confiscate  such 
vessels  or  cargoes  unless  they  would 
otherwise  be  liable  to  confiscation.  Ves- 
sels with  cargoes  which  sailed  before 
this  date  will  not  be  affected. 


Britain^s  New  and  Original  Blockade 

American  Protests  Following  the  "  War  Zone "  Decrees  Defined 


The  first  definite  statement  of  tlie  real  character  of  the  measures  adopted  by  Great 
Britain  and  her  allies  for  restricting  the  trade  of  Germany  was  obtained  at  Washington  on 
Marcli  17,  1915,  when  Secretary  Bryan  made  public  the  text  of  all  the  recent  notes  exchanged 
between  the  United  States  Government  and  Germany  and  the  Allies  regarding  the  freedom 
of  legitimate  American  commerce  in  the  war  zones.  These  notes,  six  in  all,  show  that 
Great  Britain  and  France  stand  firm  in  their  announced  intention  to  cut  off  all  trade  with 
Germany.  The  communications  revealed  that  the  United  States  Government,  realizing  the 
difficulties  of  maintaining  an  effective  blocl^ade  by  a.  close  guard  of'  an  enemy  coast  on 
account  of  the  newly  developed  activity  of  submarines,  asked  that  "  a  radius  of  activity  " 
be  defined.  Great  Britain  and  France  replied  with  the  announcement  that  the  operations 
of  blockade  would  not  be  conducted  *'  outside  of  European  waters,  including  the 
Mediterranean." 

The  definition  of  a  "  radius  of  activity  "  for  the  allied  fleet  in  European  waters,  includ- 
ing the  Mediterranean,  is  the  first  intimation  of  the  geographical  limits  of  the  reprisal  order. 
Its  limits  were  not  given  more  exactly,  the  Allies  contend,  because  Germany  was  equally 
Indefinite  in  proclaiming  all  the  waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  a  "  war 
zone."  The  measures  adopted  are  those  of  a  blockade  against  all  trade  to  and  from  Ger- 
many—not the  historical  kind  of  blockade  recognized  in  international  law,  but  a  new  and 
original   form. 

The  several  notes  between  the  United  States  and  the  belligerent  Governments  follow.  The 
stars  in  the  German  note  mean  that  as  it  came  to  the  State  Department  in  cipher  certafn 
words  were  omitted,  probably  through  telegraphic  error.     In  the  official  text  of  the  note  the 


10 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


State  Department  calls  attention  to  the  stars  by  an  asterisk  and  a  footnote  saying  "  apparent 
omission."  In  the  French  note  the  same  thing  occurs,  and  is  indicated  by  the  footnote 
"  undecipherable  group."  meaning  that  the  cipher  symbols  into  which  the  French  note  was 
put  by  our  Embassy  in  Paris  could  not  be  translated  back  into  plain  langruage  by  the 
State  Department  cipher  experts.  From  the  context  it  is  apparent  that  the  omitted  words 
in  the  German  note  are  "  insist  upon."  or  words  to  that  effect. 

I. 


AMERICAN  NOTE  TO  THE  BELLIG- 
ERENTS. 
The  following   identic   note   was   sent 
by  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  Ameri- 
can Ambassadors  at  London  and  Berlin: 
WASHINGTON,  Feb.  20,  1915. 

YOU  will  please  deliver  to  Sir  Ed- 
ward Grey  the  following  identic 
note,  which  we  are  sending  Eng- 
land and  Germany: 
In  view  of  the  correspondence  which 
has  passed  between  this  Government  and 
Great  Britain  and  Germany,  respective- 
ly, relative  to  the  declaration  of  a  war 
zone  by  the  German  Admiralty,  and  the 
use  of  neutral  flags  by  the  British  mer- 
chant vessels,  this  Government  ventures 
to  express  the  hope  that  the  two  belliger- 
ent Governments  may,  through  reciprocal 
concessions,  find  a  basis  for  agreement 
which  will  relieve  neutral  ships  engaged 
in  peaceful  commerce  from  the  great 
dangfers  which  they  will  incur  in  the  high 
seas  adjacent  to  the  coasts  of  the  bel- 
ligerents. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
respectfully  suggests  that  an  agreement 
in  terms  like  the  following  might  be  en- 
tered into.  This  suggestion  is  not  to 
be  regarded  as  in  any  sense  a  proposal 
made  by  this  Government,  for  i":  of  course 
fully  recognizes  that  it  is  not  its  privilege 
to  propose  terms  of  agreement  between 
Great  Britain  and  Germany,  even  though 
the  matter  be  one  in  which  it  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  directly 
and  deeply  interested.  It  is  merely  ven- 
turing to  take  the  liberty,  which  it  hopes 
may  be  accorded  a  sincere  friend  desirous 
of  embarrassing  neither  nation  involved, 
and  of  serving,  if  it  may,  the  common 
interests  of  humanity.  The  course  out- 
lined is  offered  in  the  hope  that  it  may 
draw  forth  the  views  and  elicit  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  British  and  German  Gov- 


ernments on  a  matter  of  capital  interest 
to  the  whole  world. 

Germany  and  Great  Britain  to  agree: 

First — That  neither  will  sow  any  float- 
ing mines,  whether  upon  the  high  seas 
or  in  territorial  waters;  that  neither  will 
plant  on  the  high  seas  anchored  mines, 
except  within  cannon  range  of  harbors 
for  defensive  purposes  only;  and  that  all 
mines  shall  bear  the  stamp  of  the  Gov- 
ernment planting  them,  and  be  so  con- 
structed as  to  become  harmless  if  sepa- 
rated from  their  moorings. 

Second — That  neither  will  use  subma- 
rines to  attack  merchant  vessels  of  any 
nationality,  except  to  enforce  the  right  of 
visit  and  search. 

Third — That  each  will  require  their  re- 
spective merchant  vessels  not  to  use  neu- 
tral flags  for  the  purpose  of  disguise  or 
ruse  de  guerre. 

Germany  to  agree:  That  all  importa- 
tions of  food  or  foodstuffs  from  the  Uni- 
ted States  (and  from  such  other  neutral 
countries  as  may  ask  it)  into  Germany 
shall  be  consigned  to  agencies  to  be  des- 
ignated by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment ;  that  these  American  agencies  shall 
have  entire  charge  and  control  without 
interference  on  the  part  of  German  Gov- 
ernment of  the  receipt  and  distribution 
of  such  importations,  and  shall  distribute 
them  solely  to  retail  dealers  bearing  li- 
censes from  the  German  Government  en- 
titling them  to  receive  and  furnish  such 
food  and  foodstuffs  to  non-combatants 
only;  that  any  violation  of  the  terms  of 
the  retailers'  licenses  shall  work  a  for- 
feiture of  their  rights  to  receive  such 
food  and  foodstuffs  for  this  purpose,  and 
that  such  food  and  foodstuffs  will  not  be 
requisitioned  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment for  any  purpose  whatsoever,  or  be 
diverted  to  the  use  of  the  armed  forces 
of  Germany. 

Great   Britain   to   agree:      That  food 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


11 


and  foodstuffs  will  not  be  placed  upon 
the  absolute  contraband  list,  and  that 
shipments  of  such  commodities  will  not 
be  interfered  with  or  detained  by  British 
authorities,  if  consigned  to  agencies  des- 
ignated by  the  United  States  Government 
in  Germany  for  the  receipt  and  distribu- 
tion of  such  cargoes  to  licensed  German 
retailers  for  distribution  solely  to  the 
non-combatant  population. 

In  submitting  this  proposed  basis  of 
agreement  this  Government  does  not  wish 
to  be  understood  as  admitting  or  denying 
any  belligerent  or  neutral  right  estab- 
lished by  the  principles  of  international 
law,  but  would  consider  the  agreement, 
if  acceptable  to  the  interested  powers,  a 
modus  Vivendi  based  upon  expediency 
rather  than  legal  right,  and  as  not  bind- 
ing upon  the  United  States  either  in  its 
present  form  or  in  a  modified  form  until 
accepted  by  this  Government. 

BRYAN. 
II. 
GERMANY'S  REPLY. 

The    German    reply,    handed    to    the 
American  Ambassador  at  Berlin,  follows: 
BERLIN,  March  1,  1915. 

The  undersignued  has  the  honor  to 
inform  his  Excellency,  Mr.  James  W. 
Gerard,  Ambassador  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  in  reply  to  the  note  of  the 
22d  inst.,  that  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment have  taken  note  with  great  in- 
terest of  the  suggestion  of  the  American 
Government  that  certain  principles  for 
the  conduct  of  maritime  war  on  the  part 
of  Germany  and  England  b«.  agreed  upon 
for  the  protection  of  neutral  shipping. 
They  see  therein  new  evidence  of  the 
friendly  feelings  of  the  American  Gov- 
ernment toward  the  German  Government, 
which  are  fully  reciprocated  by  Germany. 

It  is  in  accordance  with  Germany's 
wishes  also  to  have  maritime  war  con- 
ducted according  to  rules,  which,  with- 
out discriminatingly  restricting  one  or 
the  other  of  the  belligerent  powers  in  the 
use  of  their  means  of  warfare,  are 
equally  considerate  of  the  interests  of 
neutrals  and  the  dictates  of  humanity. 
Consequently  it  was  intimated  in  the  Ger- 
man note  of  the  16th  inst.  that  obser- 


vation of  the  Declaration  of  London  on 
the  part  of  Germany's  adversaries  would 
create  a  new  situation  from  which  the 
German  Government  would  gladly  draw 
the  proper  conclusions. 

Proceeding  from  this  view,  the  German 
Government  have  carefully  examined  the 
suggestion  of  the  American  Government 
and  believe  that  they  can  actually  see  in  it 
a  suitable  basis  for  the  practical  solution 
of  the  questions  which  have  arisen. 

With  regard  to  the  various  points  of 
the  American  note,  they  beg  to  make  the 
following  remarks: 

First — With  regard  to  the  sowing  of 
mines,  the  German  Government  would  be 
willing  to  agree,  as  suggested,  not  to  use 
floating  mines  and  to  have  anchored 
mines  constructed  as  indicated.  More- 
over, they  agree  to  put  the  stamp  of 
the  Government  on  all  mines  to  be 
planted.  On  the  other  hand,  it  does  not 
appear  to  them  to  be  feasible  for  the 
belligerents  wholly  to  forego  the  use  of 
anchored  mines  for  offensive  purposes. 

Second  —  The  German  Government 
would  undertake  not  to  use  their  sub- 
marines to  attack  mercantile  of  any  flag 
except  when  necessary  to  enforce  the 
right  of  visit  and  search.  Should  the 
enemy  nationality  of  the  vessel  or  the 
presence  of  contraband  be  ascertained, 
submarines  would  proceed  in  accordance 
with  the  general  rules  of  international 
law. 

Third — As  provided  in  the  American 
note,  this  restriction  of  the  use  of  the 
submarines  is  contingent  on  the  fact  that 
enemy  mercantile  abstain  from  the  use 
of  the  neutral  flag  and  other  neutral 
distinctive  marks.  It  would  appear  to  be 
a  matter  of  course  that  such  mercantile 
vessels  also  abstain  from  arming  them- 
selves and  from  all  resistance  by  force, 
since  such  procedure  contrary  to  interna- 
tional law  would  render  impossible  any 
action  of  the  submarines  in  accordance 
with  international  law. 

Fourth — The  regulation  of  legitimate 
importations  of  food  into  Germany  sug- 
gested by  the  American  Government  ap- 
pears to  be  in  general  acceptable.  Such 
regulation  would,  of  course,  be  confined 
to  importations  by  sea,  but  that  would, 


12 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


on  the  other  hand,  include  indirect  im- 
portations by  way  of  neutral  ports.  The 
German  Government  would,  therefore,  be 
willing  to  make  the  declarations  of  the 
nature  provided  in  the  American  note  so 
that  the  use  of  the  imported  food  and 
foodstuffs  solely  by  the  non-combatant 
population  would  be  guaranteed.  The 
Imperial  Government  must,  however,  in 
addition  (*****)  having  the  importa- 
tion of  other  raw  material  used  by  the  ■ 
economic  system  of  non-combatants,  in- 
cluding forage,  permitted.  To  that  end 
the  enemy  Governments  would  have  to 
permit  the  free  entry  into  Germany  of 
the  raw  material  mentioned  in  the  free 
list  of  the  Declaration  of  London,  and  to 
treat  materials  included  in  the  list  of 
conditional  contraband  according  to  the 
same  principles  as  food  and  foodstuffs. 

The  German  Government  venture  to 
hope  that  the  agreement  for  which  the 
American  Government  have  paved  the 
way  may  be  reached  after  due  consid- 
eration of  the  remarks  made  above,  and 
that  in  this  way  peaceable  neutral  ship- 
ping and  trade  will  not  have  to  suffer 
any  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary 
from  the  unavoidable  effects  of  maritime 
war.  These  effects  could  be  still  further 
reduced  if,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  Ger- 
man note  of  the  16th  inst.,  some  way 
could  be  found  to  exclude  the  shipping  of 
munitions  of  war  from  neutral  countries 
to  belligerents  on  ships  of  any  na- 
tionality. 

The  German.  Government  must,  of 
course,  reserve  a  definite  statement  of 
their  position  until  such  time  as  they 
may  receive  further  information  from 
the  American  Government  enabling  them 
to  see  what  obligations  the  British  Gov- 
ernment are,  on  their  part,  willing  to 
assume. 

The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this 
occasion,  &c.  VON  JAGOW. 

Dated,  Foreign  Office,  Berlin,  Feb.  28, 
1915.  GERARD. 

♦Apparent  omission. 

III. 

GREAT  BRITAIN'S  REPLY. 

The  reply  of  Great  Britain  to  the 
American  note  of  Feb.  20,  handed  to  the 


American  Ambassador  at  London,  was 
as  follows: 

LONDON,  March  15,  1915. 

Following  is  the  full  text  of  a  memo- 
randum dated  March  13,  which  Grey 
handed  me  today: 

"  On  the  22d  of  February  last  I  re- 
ceived a  communication  from  your  Ex- 
cellency of  the  identic  note  addressed  to 
his  Majesty's  Government  and  to  Ger- 
many respecting  an  agreement  on  certain 
points  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  war  at  sea. 
The  reply  of  the  German  Government  to 
this  note  has  been  published  and  it  is 
not  understood  from  the  reply  that  the 
German  Government  are  prepared  to 
abandon  the  practice  of  sinking  British 
merchant  vessels  by  submarines,  and  it 
is  evident  from  their  reply  that  they  will 
not  abandon  the  use  of  mines  for  offen- 
sive purposes  on  the  high  seas  as  con- 
trasted with  the  use  of  mines  for  defen- 
sive purposes  only  within  cannon  range 
of  their  own  harbors,  as  suggested  by 
the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
This  being  so,  it  might  appear  unneces- 
sary for  the  British  Government  to  make 
any  further  reply  than  to  take  note  of 
the  German  answer. 

"  We  desire,  however,  to  take  the  op- 
portunity of  making  a  fuller  statement 
of  the  whole  position  and  of  our  feeling 
with  regard  to  it.  We  recognize  with 
sympathy  the  desire  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  see  the  European 
war  conducted  in  accordance  with  the 
previously  recognized  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  and  the  dictates  of  humanity. 
It  is  thus  that  the  British  forces  have 
conducted  the  war,  and  we  are  not  aware 
that  these  forces,  either  naval  or  mili- 
tary, can  have  laid  to  their  charge  any 
improper  proceedings,  either  in  the  con- 
duct of  hostilities  or  in  the  treatment  of 
prisoners  or  wounded.  On  the  German 
side  it  has  been  very  different. 

"  1.  The  treatment  of  civilian  inhabi- 
tants in  Belgium  and  the  North  of 
France  has  been  made  public  by  the 
Belgian  and  French  Governments  and 
by  those  who  have  had  experience  of  it 
at  first  hand.  Modern  history  affords 
no  precedent  for  the  sufferings  that  have 
been  inflicted  on  the  defenseless  and  non- 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


13 


combatant  population  in  the  teri-itory 
that  has  been  in  German  military  occu- 
pation. Even  the  food  of  the  population 
was  confiscated  until  in  Belgium  an  in- 
ternational commission,  largely  influ- 
enced by  American  generosity  and  con- 
ducted under  American  auspices,  came  to 
the  relief  of  the  population  and  secured 
from  the  German  Government  a  promise 
to  spare  what  food  was  still  left  in  the 
country,  though  the  Germans  still  con- 
tinue to  make  levies  in  money  upon  the 
defenseless  population  for  the  support  of 
the  German  Army. 

"  2.  We  have  from  time  to  time  re- 
ceived most  terrible  accounts  of  the  bar- 
barous treatment  to  which  British  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  have  been  exposed  after 
they  have  been  taken  prisoner,  while 
being  conveyed  to  German  prison  camps. 
One  or  two  instances  have  already  been 
given  to  the  United  States  Government 
founded  upon  authentic  and  first-hand 
evidence  which  is  beyond  doubt.  Some 
evidence  has  been  received  of  the  hard- 
ships to  which  British  prisoners  of  war 
are  subjected  in  the  prison  camps,  con- 
trasting, we  believe,  most  unfavorably 
with  the  treatment  of  German  prisoners 
in  this  country.  We  have  proposed,  with 
the  consent  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, that  a  commission  of  United  States 
officers  should  be  permitted  in  each  coun- 
try to  inspect  the  treatment  of  prisoners 
of  war.  The  United  States  Government 
have  been  unable  to  obtain  any  reply 
from  the  German  Government  to  this 
proposal,  and  we  remain  in  continuing 
anxiety  and  apprehension  as  to  the  treat- 
ment of  Bi-itish  prisoners  of  war  in 
Germany. 

"  3.  At  the  very  outset  of  the  war  a 
German  mine  layer  was  discovered  lay- 
ing a  mine  field  on  the  high  seas.  Fur- 
ther mine  fields  have  been  laid  from 
time  to  time  without  warning,  and,  so 
far  as  we  know,  are  still  being  laid  on 
the  high  seas,  and  many  neutral  as  well 
as  British  vessels  have  been  sunk  by 
them. 

"  4.  At  various  times  during  the  war 
German  submarines  have  stopped  and 
sunk  British  merchant  vessels,  thus  mak- 
ing the   sinking  of  merchant  vessels   a 


general  practice,  though  it  was  admitted 
previously,  if  at  all,  only  as  an  exception, 
the  general  rule  to  which  the  British 
Government  have  adhered  being  that 
merchant  vessels,  if  captured,  must  be 
taken  before  a  prize  court.  In  one  case 
already  quoted  in  a  note  to  the  United 
States  Government  a  neutral  vessel  car- 
rying foodstuffs  to  an  unfortified  town 
in  Great  Britain  has  been  sunk.  Another 
case  is  now  reported  in  which  a  German 
armed  cruiser  has  sunk  an  American 
vessel,  the  William  P.  Frye,  carrying  a 
cargo  of  wheat  from  Seattle  to  Queens- 
town.  In  both  cases  the  cargoes  were 
pi-esumably  destined  for  the  civil  popula- 
tion. Even  the  cargoes  in  such  circum- 
stances should  not  have  been  condemned 
without  the  decision  of  a  prize  court, 
much  less  should  the  vessels  have  been 
sunk.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  both  these 
cases  occurred  before  the  detention  by 
the  British  authorities  of  the  Wilhelmina 
and  her  cargo  of  foodstuffs,  which  the 
German  Government  allege  is  the  justi- 
fication for  their  own  action. 

"  The  Germans  have  announced  their 
intention  of  sinking  British  merchant 
vessels  by  torpedo  without  notice  and 
without  any  provision  for  the  safety  of 
the  crews.  They  have  already  carried 
out  this  intention  in  the  case  of  neutral 
as  well  as  of  British  vessels,  and  a 
number  of  non-combatant  and  innocent 
lives  on  British  vessels,  unarmed  and 
defenseless,  have  been  destroyed  in  this 
way. 

"  5.  Unfortified,  open,  and  defenseless 
towns,  such  as  Scarborough,  Yarmouth, 
and  Whitby,  have  been  deliberately  and 
wantonly  bombarded  by  German  ships  of 
war,  causing  in  some  cases  considerable 
loss  of  civilian  life,  including  women  and 
children. 

"  6.  German  aircraft  have  dropped 
bombs  on  the  east  coast  of  England, 
where  there  were  no  military  or  strategic 
points  to  be  attacked.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  am  aware  of  but  two  criticisms  that 
have  been  made  on  British  action  in  all 
these  respects: 

"  1.  It  is  said  that  the  British  naval  au- 
thorities also  have  laid  some  anchored 
mines  on  the  high  seas.    They  have  done 


14 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


so,  but  the  mines  were  anchored  and  so 
constructed  that  they  would  be  harmless 
if  they  went  adrift,  and  no  mines  what- 
ever were  laid  by  the  British  naval  au- 
thorities till  many  weeks  after  the  Ger- 
mans had  made  a  regular  practice  of 
laying  mines  on  the  high  seas. 

"  2.  It  is  said  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment have  departed  from  the  view  of 
international  law  which  they  had  pre- 
viously maintained,  that  foodstuffs  des- 
tined for  the  civil  population  should  never 
be  interfered  with,  this  charge  being 
founded  on  the  submission  to  a  prize 
court  of  the  cargo  of  the  Wilhelmina. 
The  special  considerations  affecting  this 
cargo  have  already  been  presented  in  a 
memorandum  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, and  I  need  not  repeat  them  here. 

"  Inasmuch  as  the  blockade  of  all  food- 
stuffs is  an  admitted  consequence  of 
blockade,  it  is  obvious  that  there  can  be 
no  universal  rule  based  on  considerations 
of  morality  and  humanity  which  js  con- 
trary to  this  practice.  The  right  to  stop 
foodstuffs  destined  for  the  civil  popula- 
tion must  therefore  in  any  case  be  ad- 
mitted if  an  effective  *  cordon  *  control- 
ling intercourse  with  the  enemy  is  drawn, 
announced,  and  maintained.  Moreover, 
independently  of  rights  arising  from  bel- 
ligerent action  in  the  nature  of  blockade, 
some  other  nations,  differing  from  the 
opinion  of  the  Governments  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  have  held  that 
to  stop  the  food  of  the  civil  population 
is  a  natural  and  legitimate  method  of 
bringing  pressure  to  bear  on  an  enemy 
country  as  it  is  upon  the  defense  of  a 
besieged  town.  It  is  also  upheld  on  the 
authority  of  both  Prince  Bismarck  and 
Count  Caprivi,  and  therefore  presumably 
is  not  repugnant  to  German  morality. 

"  The  following  are  the  quotations 
from  Prince  Bismarck  and  Count  Capri- 
vi on  this  point.  Prince  Bismarck  in 
answering,  in  1885,  an  application  from 
the  Kiel  Chamber  of  Coinmerce  for  a 
statement  of  the  view  of  the  German 
Government  on  the  question  of  the  right 
to  declare  as  contraband  foodstuffs  that 
were  not  intended  for  military  forces 
said :  *  I  reply  to  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce that  any  disadvantage  our  com- 


mercial and  carrying  interests  may  suf- 
fer by  the  treatment  of  rice  as  contra- 
band of  war  does  not  justify  our  opposing 
a  measure  which  it  has  been  thought  fit 
to  take  in  carrying  on  a  foreign  war. 
Every  war  is  a  calamity  which  entails 
evil  consequences  not  only  on  the  com- 
batants but  also  on  neutrals.  These  evils 
may  easily  be  increased  by  the  interfer- 
ence of  a  neutral  power  with  the  way 
in  which  a  third  carries  on  the  war  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  subjects  of  the 
interfering  power,  and  by  this  means 
German  commerce  might  be  weighted 
with  far  heavier  losses  than  a  transitory 
prohibition  of  the  rice  trade  in  Chinese 
waters.  The  measure  in  question  has  for 
its  object  the  shortening  of  the  war  by 
increasing  the  difficulties  of  the  enemy 
and  is  a  justifiable  step  in  war  if  impar- 
tially enforced  against  all  neutral  ships.' 

"  Count  Caprivi,  during  a  discussion  in 
the  German  Reichstag  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1892,  on  the  subject  of  the  im- 
portance of  international  protection  for 
private  property  at  sea,  made  the  fol- 
lowing statements :  *  A  country  may  be 
dependent  for  her  food  or  for  her  raw 
products  upon  her  trade.  In  fact,  it 
may  be  absolutely  nece  sary  to  destroy 
the  enemy's  trade.'  '  The  private  intro- 
duction of  provisions  into  Paris  was  pro- 
hibited during  the  siege,  and  in  the  same 
way  a  nation  would  be  justified  in  pre- 
venting the  import  of  food  and  raw 
produce.' 

"  The  Government  of  Great  Britain 
have  frankly  declared,  in  concert  with  the 
Government  of  France,  their  intention 
to  meet  the  German  attempt  to  stop  all 
supplies  of  every  kind  from  leaving  or 
entering  British  or  French  ports  by 
themselves  stopping  supplies  going  to  or 
from  Germany.  For  this  end,  the  British 
fleet  has  instituted  a  blockade  effectively 
controlling  by  cruiser  *  cordon  '  all  pas- 
sage to  and  from  Germany  by  sea.  The 
difference  between  the  two  policies  is, 
however,  that,  while  our  object  is  the 
same  as  that  of  Germany,  we  propose  to 
attain  it  without  sacrificing  neutral  ships 
or  non-combatant  lives,  or  inflicting  upon 
neutrals  the  damage  that  must  be  en- 
tailed when  a  vessel  and  its  cargo  are 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


15 


sunk    without    notice,    examination,    or 
trial. 

"  I  must  emphasize  again  that  this 
measure  is  a  natural  and  necessary  con- 
sequence of  the  unprecedented  methods 
repugnant  to  all  law  and  morality  which 
have  been  described  above  which  Ger- 
many began  to  adopt  at  the  very  outset 
of  the  war  and  the  effects  of  which 
have  been  constantly  accumulating." 
American  Ambassador,  London, 
IV. 

AMERICAN  INQUIRY  ON  REPRISAL 
METHOD. 

The  American  Goveyniment  on  March 
5  transmitted  identic  messages  of  inquiry 
to  the  Ambassadors  at  London  and  Paris 
inquiring  from  both  England  and  Finance 
hoiv  the  declarations  in  the  Anglo-French 
note  proclaiming  an  embargo  on  all  com- 
merce between  Germany  and  neutral 
countries  were  to  be  carried  into  effect. 
The  massage  to  London  was  as  follows: 
WASHINGTON,  March  5,  1915. 

In  regard  to  the  recent  communica- 
tions received  from  the  British  and 
French  Governments  concerning  re- 
straints upon  commerce  with  Germany, 
please  communicate  with  the  British 
Foreign  Office  in  the  sense  following: 

The  difficulty  of  determining  action 
upon  the  British  and  French  declarations 
of  intended  retaliation  upon  commerce 
with  Germany  lies  in  the  nature  of  the 
proposed  measures  in  their  relation  to 
commerce  by  neutrals. 

While  it  appears  that  the  intention  is 
to  interfere  with  and  take  into  custody 
all  ships,  both  outgoing  and  incoming, 
trading  with  Germany,  which  is  in  effect 
a  blockade  of  German  ports,  the  rule  of 
blockade  that  a  ship  attempting  tr*  enter 
or  leave  a  German  port,  regardless  of  the 
character  of  its  cargo,  may  be  condemned 
is  not  asserted. 

The  language  of  the  declaration  is  "  the 
British  and  French  Governments  will, 
therefore,  hold  themselves  free  to  detain 
and  take  into  port  ships  carrying  goods 
of  presumed  enemy  destination,  owner- 
ship, or  origin.  It  is  not  intended  to 
confiscate  such  vessels  or  cargoes  unless 


they   would  otherwise   be   liable   to   con- 
demnation." 

The  first  sentence  claims  a  right  per- 
taining only  to  a  state  of  blockade.  The 
last  sentence  proposes  a  treatment  of 
ships  and  cargoes  as  if  no  blockade  ex- 
isted. The  two  together  present  a  pro- 
posed course  of  action  previously  un- 
known to  international  law. 

As  a  consequence  neutrals  have  no 
standard  by  which  to  measure  their 
rights  or  to  avoid  danger  to  their  ships 
and  cargoes.  The  paradoxical  situation 
thus  created  should  be  changed  and  the 
declaring  powers  ought  to  assert  whether 
they  rely  upon  the  rules  governing  a 
blockade  or  the  rules  applicable  when  no 
blockade  exists. 

The  declaration  presents  other  perplex- 
ities.. The  last  sentence  quoted  indicates 
that  the  rules  of  contraband  are  to  be 
applied  to  cargoes  detained.  The  rules 
covering  non-contraband  articles  carried 
in  neutral  bottoms  is  that  the  cargoes 
shall  be  released  and  she  ships  allowed 
to  proceed. 

This  rule  cannot,  under  the  first  sen- 
tence quoted,  be  applied  rs  to  destination. 
What,  then,  is  to  be  done  with  a  cargo 
of  non-contraband  goods  detained  under 
the  declaration?  The  same  question  may 
be  asked  as  to  conditional  contraband 
cargoes. 

The  foregoing  comments  apply  to  car- 
goes destined  for  Germany.  Cargoes 
coming  out  of  German  forts  present  an- 
other problem  under  the  terms  of  the 
declaration.  Under  the  rules  governing 
enemy  exports  only  goods  owned  by  ene- 
my subjects  in  enemy  bottoms  are  subject 
to  seizure  and  condemnation.  Yet  by 
the  declaration  it  is  purposed  to  seize 
and  take  into  port  all  goods  of  enemy 
"  ownership  and  origin."  The  word  "  or- 
igin "  is  particularly  significant.  The 
origin  of  goods  destined  to  neutral  ter- 
ritory on  neutral  ships  is  not,  and  never 
has  been,  a  ground  for  forfeiture,  except 
in  case  a  blockade  is  declared  and  main- 
tained. What,  then,  would  the  seizure 
amount  to  in  the  present  case  except  to 
delay  the  delivery  of  the  goods?  The 
declaration  does  not  indicate  what  dis- 
position would  be  made  of  such  cargoes 


16 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


if  owned  by  a  neutral  or  if  owned  by  an 
enemy  subject.  Would  a  different  rule 
be  applied  according  to  ownership?  If 
so,  upon  what  principles  of  international 
law  would  it  rest?  And  upon  what  rule, 
if  no  blockade  is  declared  and  maintained, 
could  the  cargo  of  a  neutral  ship  sailing 
out  of  a  German  port  be  condemned?  If 
it  is  not  condemned,  what  other  legal 
course  is  there  but  to  release  it? 

While  this  Government  is  fully  alive 
to  the  possibility  that  the  methods  of 
modern  naval  warfare,  particularly  in 
the  use  of  submarines,  for  both  defensive 
and  offensive  operations,  may  make  the 
former  means  of  maintaining  a  blockade 
a  physical  impossibility,  it  feels  that  it 
can  be  urged  with  great  force  that  there 
should  be  also  some  limit  to  "  the  radius 
of  activity,"  and  especially  so  if .  this 
action  by  the  belligerents  can  be  con- 
strued to  be  a  blockade.  It  would  cer- 
tainly create  a  serious  state  of  affairs 
if,  for  example,  an  American  vessel  laden 
with  a  cargo  of  German  origin  should 
escape  the  British  patrol  in  European 
waters  only  to  be  held  up  by  a  cruiser  off 
New  York  and  taken  into  Halifax. 

Similar  cablegrams  sent  to  Paris. 

BRYAN. 
V. 

BRITISH    REPLY    TO    THE    AMERI- 
CAN  INQUIRY. 

The  reply  from  the  British  Government 
transmitted  by  the  American  Ambassador 
at  London  to  the  Secretary  of  State  con- 
cerning the  method  of  enforcing  the  re- 
prisal order  follows: 

LONDON,  March  15,  1915. 

Following  is  the  full  text  of  a  note 
dated  today  and  an  Order  in  Council  I 
have  just  received  from  Grey : 

"  1.  His  Majesty's  Government  have 
had  under  careful  consideration  the  in- 
quiries which,  under  instructions  from 
your  Government,  your  Excellency  ad- 
dressed to  me  on  the  8th  inst.,  regarding 
the  scope  and  mode  of  application  of  the 
measures  foreshadowed  in  the  British 
and  French  declarations  of  the  1st  oi 
March,  for  restricting  the  trade  of  G6r- 
many.  Your  Excellency  explained  and 
illustrated  by  reference  to  certain  con- 


tingencies the  difficulty  af  the  United 
States  Government  in  adopting  a  definite 
attitude  toward  these  measures  by  reason 
of  uncertainty  regarding  their  bearing 
upon  the  commerce  of  neutral  countries. 

"  2.  I  can  at  once  assure  your  Excel- 
lency that  subject  to  the  paramount  ne- 
cessity of  restricting  German  trade  his 
Majesty's  Government  have  made  it  their 
first  aim  to  minimize  inconvenience  to 
neutral  commerce.  From  the  accompany- 
ing copy  of  the  Order  in  Council,  which 
is  to  be  published  today,  you  will  observe 
that  a  wide  discretion  is  afforded  to  the 
prize  court  in  dealing  with  the  trade 
of  neutrals  in  such  manner  as  may,  in 
the  circumstances,  be  deemed  just,  and 
that  full  provision  is  made  to  facilitate 
claims  by  persons  interested  in  any  goods 
placed  in  the  custody  of  the  Marshal  of 
the  prize  court  under  the  order.  I  ap- 
prehend that  the  perplexities  to  which 
your  Excellency  refers  will  for  the  most 
part  be  dissipated  by  the  perusal  of  this 
document,  and  that  it  is  only  necessary 
for  me  to  add  certain  explanatory  obser- 
vations. 

"  3.  The  effect  of  the  Order  in  Council 
is  to  confer  certain  powers  upon  the 
executive  officers  of  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment. The  extent  to  which  those  pow- 
ers will  be  actually  exercised  and  the 
degree  of  severity  with  which  the  meas- 
ures of  blockade  authorized  will  be  put 
into  operation  are  matters  which  will 
depend  on  the  administrative  orders  is- 
sued by  the  Government  and  the  decisions 
of  the  authorities  specially  charged  with 
the  duty  of  dealing  with  individual  ships 
and  cargoes,  according  to  the  merits  of 
each  case.  The  United  States  Govern- 
ment may  rest  assured  that  the  instruc- 
tions to  be  issued  by  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment to  the  fleet  and  customs  offi- 
cials and  Executive  Committees  con- 
cerned will  impress  upon  them  the  duty 
of  acting  with  the  utmost  dispatch  con- 
sistent with  the  object  in  view,  and  of 
showing  in  every  case  such  consideration 
for  neutrals  as  may  be  compatible  with 
that  object,  which  is,  succinctly  stated,  to 
establish  a  blockade  to  prevent  vessels 
from  carrying  goods  for  or  coming  from 
Germany. 


HERR     VON     JAGOW 
German  Secretary  for  Foreign    Affairs 

(Photo  from  Rogera) 


MAXIMILIAN     HARDEN 
Editor  of   Die    Zukunft,   Germany's   Most   Brilliant  Journalist, 
Who  Has  Been  Severe  in  His  Strictures  Upon  the  United  States 

(Photo  from   Brown   Bros) 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


17 


"  4.  His  Majesty's  Government  has  felt 
most  reluctant,  at  the  moment  of  initiat- 
ing a  policy  of  blockade,  to  exact  from 
neutral  ships  all  the  penalties  attaching 
to  a  breach  of  blockade.  In  their  desire 
to  alleviate  the  burden  which  the  exist- 
ence of  a  state  of  war  at  sea  must  inev- 
itably impose  on  neutral  sea-borne  com- 
merce, they  declare  their  intention  to 
refrain  altogether  from  the  exercise  of 
the  right  to  confiscate  ships  or  cargoes 
which  belligerents  have  always  claimed 
in  respect  of  breaches  of  blockade.  They 
restrict  their  claim  to  the  stopping  of 
cargoes  destined  for  or  coming  from  the 
enemy's  territory. 

"  5.  As  regards  cotton,  full  particulars 
of  the  arrangements  contemplated  have 
already  been  explained.  It  will  be  ad- 
mitted that  every  possible  regard  has 
been  had  to  the  legitimate  interests  of 
the  American  cotton  trade. 

"  6.  Finally,  in  reply  to  the  penultimate 
paragraph  of  your  Excellency's  note,  I 
have  the  honor  to  state  that  it  is  not 
intended  to  interfere  with  neutral  ves- 
sels carrying  enemy  cargo  of  non-contra- 
band nature  outside  European  waters,  in- 
cluding the  Mediterranean." 

(Here  follows  the  text  of  the  Order 
in    Council,    which    already    has    been 
printed.) 
American  Ambassador,  London. 

VI. 
FRENCH  GOVERNMENT'S  ANSWER. 

The  French  Government  transmitted 
the  following  message: 

PARIS,  March  14,  1915. 

French  Government  replies  as  follows: 

"  In  a  letter  dated  March  7  your  Ex- 
cellency was  good  enough  to  draw  my 
attention  to  the  views  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  regarding  the 
recent  communications  from  the  French 
and  British  Governments  concerning  a 
restriction  to  be  laid  upon  commerce 
with  Germany.  ■  According  to  your  Ex- 
cellency's letter,  the  declaration  made  by 
the  allied  Governments  presents  some  un- 
certainty as  regards  its  application,  con- 
cerning which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  desires  to  be  enlightened 


in  order  to  determine  what  attitude  it 
should  take. 

"  At  the  same  time  your  Excellency 
notified  me  that,  while  granting  the 
possibility  of  using  new  methods  of  re- 
taliation against  the  new  use  to  which 
submarines  have  been  put,  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  was  somewhat 
apprehensive  that  the  allied  belligerents 
might  (if  their  action  is  to  be  construed 
as  constituting  a  blockade)  capture  in 
waters  near  America  any  ships  which 
might  have  escaped  the  cruisers  patrol- 
ling European  waters.  In  acknowledging 
receipt  of  your  Excellency's  communica- 
tion I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that 
the  Government  of  the  republic  has  not 
failed  to  consider  this  point  as  presented 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  I  beg  to  specify  clearly  the  condi- 
tions of  application,  as  far  as  my  Gov- 
ernment is  concerned  of  the  declaration 
of  the  allied  Governments.  As  well  set 
forth  by  the  Federal  Government,  the 
old  methods  of  blockade  cannot  be  entire- 
ly adhered  to  in  view  of  the  use  Germany 
has  made  of  her  submarines,  and  also 
by  reason  of  the  geographical  situation  of 
that  country.  In  answer  to  the  challenge 
to  the  neutrals  as  well  as  to  its  own 
adversaries  contained  in  the  declaration, 
by  which  the  German  Imperial  Govern- 
ment stated  that  it  considered  the  seas 
surrounding  Great  Britain  and  the 
French  coast  on  the  Channel  as  a  mili- 
tary zone,  and  warned  neutral  vessels  not 
to  enter  the  same  on  account  of  the  dan- 
ger they  would  run,  the  allied  Govern- 
ments have  been  obliged  to  examine  what 
measures  they  could  adopt  to  interrupt 
all  maritime  communication  with  the  vjer- 
man  Empire  and  thus  keep  it  blockaded 
by  the  naval  power  of  the  two  allies,  at 
the  same  time,  however,  safeguarding 
as  much  as  possible  the  legitimate  inter- 
ests of  neutral  powers  and  respecting 
the  laws  of  humanity  which  no  crime 
of  their  enemy  will  induce  them  to  vi- 
olate. 

"  The  Government  of  the  republic, 
therefore,  reserves  to  itself  the  right  of 
bringing  into  a  French  or  allied  port 
any  ship  carrying  a  cargo  presumed  to 
be  of  German  origin,  destination,  or  own- 


18 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ership,  but  it  will  not  go  to  the  length 
of  seizing  any  neutral  ship  except  in  case 
of  contraband.  The  discharged  cargo 
shall  not  be  confiscated.  In  the  event 
of  a  neutral  proving  his  lawful  owner- 
ship of  merchandise  destined  to  Ger- 
many, he  shall  be  entirely  free  to  dispose 
of  same,  subject  to  certain  conditions. 
In  case  the  owner  of  the  goods  is  a  Ger- 
man, they  shall  simply  be  sequestrated 
during  the  war. 

"  Merchandise  of  enemy  origin  shall 
only  be  sequestrated  when  it  is  at  the 
same  time  the  property  of  an  enemy. 
Merchandise  belonging  to  neutrals  shall 
be  held  at  the  disposal  of  its  owner  to 
be  returned  to  the  port  of  departure. 

"  As  your  Excellency  will  observe, 
these  measures,  while  depriving  the  ene- 
my of  important  resources,  respect  the 
rights  of  neutrals  and  will  not  in  any 
way  jeopardize  private  property,  as  even 
the  enemy  owner  will  only  suffer  from 
the  suspension  of  the  enjoyment  of  his 
rights  during  the  term  of  hostilities. 

"  The  Government  of  the  republic,  be- 
ing desirous  of  allowing  neutrals  every 
facility  to  enforce  their  claims,  (here 
occurred  an  undecipherable  group  of 
words,)    give   the  prize   court,   an   inde- 


pendent tribunal,  cognizance  of  these 
questions,  and  in  order  to  give  the  neu- 
trals as  little  trouble  as  possible  it  has 
specified  that  the  prize  court  shall  give 
sentence  within  eight  days,  counting  from 
the  date  on  which  the  case  shall  have 
been  brought  before  it. 

"  I  do  not  doubt,  Mr.  Ambassador, 
that  the  Federal  Government,  comparing 
on  the  one  hand  the  unspeakable  violence 
with  which  the  German  Military  Govern- 
ment threatens  neutrals,  the  criminal  ac- 
tions unknown  in  maritime  annals  al- 
ready perpetrated  against  neutral  prop- 
erty and  ships,  and  even  against  the 
lives  of  neutral  subjects  or  citizens, 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  allied  Governments  of 
France  and  Great  Britain,  respecting  the 
laws  of  humanity  and  the  rights  of  indi- 
viduals, will  readily  perceive  that  the 
latter  have  not  overstepped  their  strict 
rights  as  belligerents. 

"  Finally,  I  am  anxious  to  assure  you 
that  it  is  not  and  it  has  never  been  the 
intention  of  the  Government  of  the  re- 
public to  extend  the  action  of  its  cruisers 
against  enemy  merchandise  beyond  the 
European  seas,  the  Mediterranean  in- 
cluded-" SHARP. 


British  Order  in  Council 


Declaring  a  Blockade  of  German  Ports 


LONDON,  March  15.— The  British  Or- 
der in  Council  decreeing  retaliatory 
measures  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
to  meet  the  declaration  of  the  Germans 
that  the  tvaters  surrounding  the  United 
Kingdom  are  a  military  area,  teas  made 
public  today.  The  text  of  the  order  fol- 
lows: 

Whereas,  the  German  Government  has 
issued  certain  orders  which,  in  violation 
of  the  usages  of  war,  purport  to  declare 
that  the  waters  surrounding  the  United 
Kingdom  are  a  military  area  in  which  all 
British  and  allied  merchant  vessels  will 
be  destroyed  irrespective  of  the  safety 
and  the  lives  of  the  passengers  and  the 
crews,  and  in  which  neutral  shipping  will 


be  exposed  to  similar  danger  in  view  of 
the  uncertainties  of  naval  warfare,  and 

Whereas,  in  the  memorandum  ac- 
companying the  said  orders,  neutrals  are 
warned  against  intrusting  crews,  pas- 
sengers, or  goods  to  British  or  allied 
ships,  and 

Whereas,  such  attempts  on  the  part 
of  the  enemy  give  to  his  Majesty  an  un- 
questionable right  of  retaliation ;  and 

Whereas,  his  Majesty  has  therefore  de- 
cided to  adopt  further  measures  in  order 
to  prevent  commodities  of  any  kind  from 
reaching  or  leaving  Germany,  although 
such  measures  will  be  enforced  without 
risk  to  neutral  ships  or  to  neutral  or  non- 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


19 


combatant  life  and  in  strict  observance  of 
the  dictates  of  humanity;  and 

Whereas,  the  allies  of  his  Majesty  are 
associated  with  him  in  the  steps  now  to 
be  announced  for  restricting  further  the 
commerce  of  Germany,  his  Majesty  is 
therefore  pleased  by  and  with  the  advice 
of  his  Privy  Council  to  order,  and  it  is 
hereby  ordered,  as  follows : 

First — No  merchant  vessel  which  sailed 
from  her  port  of  departure  after  March 
1,  1915,  shall  be  allowed  to  proceed  on 
her  voyage  to  any  German  port.  Unless 
this  vessel  receives  a  pass  enabling  her  to 
proceed  to  some  neutral  or  allied  port  to 
be  named  in  the  pass,  the  goods  on  board 
any  such  vessel  must  be  discharged  in 
a  British  port  and  placed  in  custody  of 
the  Marshal  of  the  prize  court.  Goods 
so  discharged,  if  not  contraband  of  war, 
shall,  if  not  requisitioned  for  the  use  of 
his  Majesty,  be  restored  by  order  of  the 
court  and  upon  such  terms  as  the  court 
niay  in  the  circumstances  deem  to  be 
just  to  the  person  entitled  thereto. 

Second — No  merchant  vessel  which 
sailed  from  any  German  port  after  March 
I,  1915,  shall  be  allowed  to  proceed  on 
her  voyage  with  any  goods  on  board 
laden  at  such  port.  All  goods  laden  at 
such  port  must  be  discharged  in  a  British 
or  allied  port.  Goods  so  discharged  in  a 
British  port  shall  be  placed  in  the  custody 
of  the  Marshal  of  the  prize  court,  and  if 
not  requisitioned  for  the  use  of  his 
Majesty  shall  be  detained  or  sold  under 
the  direction  of  the  prize  court. 

The  proceeds  of  the  goods  so  sold  shall 
be  paid  into  the  court  and  dealt  with  in 
such  a  manner  as  the  court  may  in  the 
circumstances  deem  to  be  just,  provided 
that  no  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  such  goods 
shall  be  paid  out  of  the  court  until  the 
conclusion  of  peace,  except  on  the  appli- 
cation of  a  proper  officer  of  the  Crown, 
unless  it  be  shown  that  the  goods  had  be- 
come neutral  property  before  the  issue 
of  this  order,  and  provided  also  that 
nothing  herein  shall  prevent  the  release 
of  neutral  property,  laden  at  such  enemy 
port,  on  the  application  of  the  proper 
officer  of  the  Crown. 

Third — Every  merchant  vessel  which 


sailed  from  her  port  of  departure  after 
March  1,  1915,  on  her  way  to  a  port 
other  than  a  German  port  and  carry- 
ing goods  with  an  enemy  destination, 
or  which  are  enemy  property,  may  be 
required  to  discharge  such  goods  in  a 
British  or  allied  port.  Any  goods  so 
discharged  in  a  British  port  shall  be 
placed  in  the  custody  of  the  Marshal 
of  the  prize  court,  and  unless  they  are 
contraband  of  war  shall,  if  not  requi- 
sitioned for  the  use  of  his  Majesty,  be 
restored  by  an  order  of  the  court  upon 
such  terms  as  the  court  may  in  the 
circumstances  deem  to  be  just  to  the 
person  entitled  thereto,  and  provided  that 
this  article  shall  not  apply  in  any  case 
falling  within  Article  2  or  4  of  this  order. 

Fourth — Every  merchant  vessel  which 
sailed  from  a  port  other  than  a  German 
port  after  March  1,  1915,  and  having  on 
board  goods  which  are  of  enemy  origin, 
or  are  enemy  property,  may  be  required 
to  discharge  such  goods  in  a  British  or 
allied  port.  Goods  so  discharged  in  a 
British  port  shall  be  placed  in  the  custody 
of  the  Marshal  of  the  prize  court,  and, 
if  not  requisitioned  for  the  use  of  his 
Majesty,  shall  be  detained  or  sold  under 
the  direction  of  the  prize  court.  The  pro- 
ceeds of  the  goods  so  sold  shall  be  paid 
into  the  court  and  be  dealt  with  in  such 
a  manner  as  the  court  may  in  the  cir- 
cumstances deem  to  be  just,  provided  that 
no  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  such  goods 
shall  be  paid  out  of  the  court  until  the 
conclusion  of  peace  except  on  the  appli- 
cation of  a  proper  officer  of  the  Crown, 
unless  it  be  shown  that  the  goods  had  be- 
come neutral  property  before  the  issue 
of  this  order,  and  provided  also  that 
nothing  herein  shall  prevent  the  release 
of  neutral  property  of  enemy  origin  on 
application  of  the  proper  officer  of  the 
Crown. 

Fifth — Any  person  claiming  to  be  in- 
terested in  or  to  have  any  claim  in  re- 
spect of  any  goods  not  being  contraband 
of  war  placed  in  the  custody  of  the 
Marshal  of  the  prize  court  under  this 
crder,  or  in  the  proceeds  of  such  goods, 
may  forthwith  issue  a  writ  in  the  prize 
court  against  the  proper  officer  of  the 
Crown  and  apply  for  an  order  that  the 


20 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


goods  should  be  restored  to  him,  or  that 
their  proceeds  should  be  paid  to  him,  or 
for  such  other  order  as  the  circumstances 
of  the  case  may  require. 

The  practice  and  procedure  of  the 
prize  court  shall,  so  far  as  applicable, 
be  followed  mutatis  mutandis  in  any  pro- 
ceedings consequential  upon  this  order. 

Sixth — A  merchant  vessel  which  has 
cleared  for  a  neutral  port  from  a  Brit- 
ish or  allied  port,  or  which  has  been 
allowed  to  pass  as  having  an  ostensible 
destination  to  a  neutral  port  and  proceeds 
to  an  enemy  port,  shall,  if  captured  on 


any  subsequent  voyage  be  liable  to  con- 
denination. 

Seventh — Nothing  in  this  order  shall 
be  d€«?med  to  affect  the  liability  of  any 
vessel  or  goods  to  capture  or  condem- 
nation independently  of  this  order. 

Eighth — Nothing  in  this  order  shall 
prevent  the  relaxation  of  the  provisions 
of  this  order  in  respect  of  the  merchant 
vessels  of  any  country  which  declares 
that  no  commerce  intended  for  or  origi- 
nating in  Germany,  or  belonging  to  Ger- 
mar  subjects,  shall  enjoy  the  protection 
of  its  flag. 


Germany's  Submarine  War 


LONDON,  March  13.— The  Admiralty 
announced  tonight  that  the  British  col- 
lier Invergyle  was  torpedoed  today  off 
Cresswell,  England,  and  sunk.  All  aboard 
were  saved. 

This  brings  the  total  British  losses  of 
merchantmen  and  fishing  vessels,  either 
sunk  or  captured  during  the  war,  up  to 
137.  Of  these  ninety  were  merchant 
ships  and  forty-seven  were  fishing  craft. 

A  further  submarine  casualty  today 
was  the  torpedoing  of  the  Swedish 
steamer  Halma  off  Scarborough,  and 
the  loss  of  the  lives  of  six  of  her  crew. 

The  Admiralty  announces  that  since 
March  10  seven  British  merchant 
steamers  have  been  torpedoed  by  sub- 
marines. Two  of  them,  it  is  stated,  were 
sunk,  and  of  two  others  it  is  said  that 
"  the  sinking  is  not  confirmed."  Three 
were  not  sunk. 

The  two  steamers  officvially  reported 
sunk  were  the  Ivergyle  and  the  Indian 
City,  which  was  torpedoed  off  the  Scilly 
Islands  on  March  12.  The  crew  of  the 
Indian  City  was  reported  rescued. 

The  two  steamers  whose  reported  sink- 
ing is  not  yet  officially  confirmed  are 
the  Florazan,  which  was  torpedoed  at 
the   mouth   of   the   rBistol   Channel   on 


March  11,  all  of  her  crew  being  landed 
at  Milford  Haven,  with  the  exception  of 
one  fireman,  and  the  Andalusian,  which 
was  attacked  off  the  Scilly  Islands  on 
March  12.  The  crew  of  the  Andalusian 
is  reported  to  have  been  rescued. 

The  Adenwen  was  torpedoed  in  the 
English  Channel  on  March  11,  and  has 
since  been  towed  into  Cherbourg.  Her 
crew  was  landed  at  Brisham. 

The  steamer  Headlands  was  torpedoed 
on  March  12  off  the  Scilly  Islands.  It 
is  reported  that  her  crew  was  saved. 
The  steamer  Hartdale  was  torpedoed  on 
March  13  off  South  Rock,  in  the  Irish 
Channel.  Twenty-one  of  her  crew  were 
picked  up  and  two  were  lost. 

Supplementary  to  the  foregoing  the 
Admiralty  tonight  issued  a  report  giving 
the  total  number  of  British  merchant 
and  fishing  vessels  lost  through  hostile 
action  from  the  outbreak  of  the  war  to 
March  10.  The  statement  says  that 
during  that  period  eighty-eight  merchant 
vessels  were  sunk  or  captured.  Of  these 
fifty-four  were  victims  of  hostile  cruis- 
ers, twelve  were  destroyed  by  mines,  and 
twenty-two  by  submarines.  Their  gross 
tonnage  totaled  309,945. 

In  the  same  period  the  total  arrivals 


GERMANY'S  WAR  ZONE  AND  NEUTRAL  FLAGS 


21 


and  sailings  of  overseas  steamers  of  all  of  these  were  blown  up  by  mines  and 

nationalities  of  more  than  300  tons  net  twenty-eight    were    captured    by    hostile 

were  4,745.  craft.     Twenty-four    of    those    captured 

Forty-seven  fishing  vessels  were  sunk  were  caught  on  Aug.  26,  when  the  Ger- 

or  captured  during  this  time.     Nineteen  mans  raided  a  fishing  fleet. 


O  50  lOO  ISO  200 


55- 


Dotted  portion  indicates  the  limits  of  "  War  Zone  "  defined 
in  tlie  German  order  which  became  effective  Feb.  18,  1915. 


German  People  Not  Blinded 

By  Karl  Lamprecht 

[Published  in  New  York  by  the  German  Information  Service,  Feb.  3,  1915.] 

Denying  flatly  that  the  German  people  were  swept  blindly  and  ignorantly  into  the  war 
by  the  headlong  ambitions  of  their  rulers— the  view  advanced  by  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
President  Emeritus  of  Harvard  University,  and  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  President  of 
Columbia— Dr.  Karl  Lamprecht,  Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Leipsic  and 
world-famous  German  historian,  has  addressed  the  open  letter  which  appears  below  to  the 
two  distinguished  American  scholars.  Dr.  Lamprecht  asserts  that  under  the  laws  which 
govern  the  German  Empire  the  people  as  citizens  have  a  deciding  will  in  affairs  of  state 
and  that  Germany  is  engaged  in  the  present  conflict  because  the  sober  judgment  of  the 
German  people  l«d  them  to  resort  to  arms. 


Dr.  C.  W.  Eliot,  President  Emeritus  of 
Harvard  University;  Dr.  N.  M.  Butler, 
President  of  Columbia  University. 
Gentlemen:  I  feel  confident  that  you 
are  not  in  ignorance  of  my  regard  and 
esteem  for  the  great  American  Republic 
and  its  citizens.     They  have  been  freely 
expressed  on  many  occasions  and  have 
taken  definite  form  in  the  journal  of  my 
travels  through  the  United  States,  pub- 
lished in  the  booklet  "Americana,"  1905. 

My  sentiments  and  my  judgment  have 
not  changed  since  1905.  I  now  refer, 
gentlemen,  to  the  articles  and  speeches 
which  you  have  published  about  my 
country  and  which  have  aroused  wide- 
spread interest.  I  will  not  criticise  your 
utterances  one  by  one.  If  I  did  that  I 
might  have  to  speak  on  occasion  with  a 
frankness  that  would  be  ungracious,  con- 
sidering the  fine  appreciation  which  both 
of  you  still  feel  for  old  Germany.  It 
would  be  specially  ungracious  toward 
you,  President  Eliot,  for  in  quite  recent 
times  you  honored  me  by  your  ready  help 
in  my  scientific  labors.  All  I  want  to  do 
is  to  remove  a  few  fundamental  errors — 
in  fact,  only  one.  I  feel  in  duty  bound 
to  do  so,  since  many  well-disposed  Ameri- 
cans share  that  error. 

The  gravest  and  perhaps  most  widely 
spread  misconception  about  us  Germans 
is  that  we  are  the  serfs  of  our  Princes, 
(Fuerstenknechte,)  servile  and  dependent 
in  political  thought.  That  false  notion 
has  probably  been  dispelled  during  the 
initial  weeks  of  the  present  war. 

With  absolute   certainty  the  German 


Nation,  with  one  voice  and  correctly, 
diagnosed  the  political  situation  without 
respect  to  party  or  creed  and  unani- 
mously and  of  its  own  free  will  acted. 

But  this  misconception  is  so  deep  root- 
ed that  more  extended  discussion  is 
needed.    I  pass  on  to  other  matters. 

The  essential  point  is  that  public  opin- 
ion have  free  scope  of  development. 
Every  American  will  admit  that.  Now, 
public  opinion  finds  its  expression  in  the 
principles  that  govern  the  use  of  the 
suffrage.  The  German  voting  system 
is  the  freest  in  the  world,  much  freer 
than  the  French,  English,  or  American 
system,  because  not  only  does  it  operate 
in  accordance  with  the  principle  that 
every  one  shall  have  a  direct  and  secret 
vote,  but  the  powers  of  the  State  are 
exercised  faithfully  and  conscientiously 
to  carry  out  that  principle  in  practice. 
The  constitutional  life  of  the  German 
Nation  is  of  a  thoroughly  democratic 
character. 

Those  who  know  that  were  not  sur- 
prised that  cur  Social  Democrats 
marched  to  war  with  such  enthusiasm. 
Already  among  their  ranks  many  have 
fallen  as  heroes,  never  to  be  forgotten 
by  any  German  when  his  thoughts  turn 
to  the  noble  blood  which  has  saturated 
foreign  soil — thank  God,  foreign  soil! 
Many  of  the  Socialist  leaders  and  ad- 
herents are  wearing  the  Iron  Cross,  that 
simple  token  that  seems  to  tell  you  when 
you  speak  of  its  bearer,  "  Now,  this  is  a 
fearless  and  faithful  soul." 

Let  it  be  said  once  and  for  all:  He  who 


GERMAN  PEOPLE  NOT  BLINDED 


23 


wants  to  understand  us  must  accept  our 
conception  that  constitutionally  we  en- 
joy so  great  a  political  freedom  that  we 
would  not  change  with  any  country  in 
the  world.  Everybody  in  America  knows 
that  our  manners  and  customs  have  been 
democratic  for  centuries,  while  in  France 
and  England  they  have  been  ever  aristo- 
cratic. Americans,  we  know,  always  feel 
at  home  on  German  soil. 

But  the  Kaiser,  you  will  say,  speaks  of 
"  his  monarchy,"  therefore  must  the  Ger- 
mans be  Fuerstenknechte,  (servants  of 
Princes.) 

First  of  all,  as  to  the  phrase  "  Fuers- 
tenknechte." Does  not  the  King  of  Eng- 
land speak  of  his  "subjects"?  That 
word  irritates  a  German,  because  he  is 
conscious  that  he  is  not  a  subject,  but  a 
citizen  of  the  empire.  Yet  he  will  not 
infer  from  the  English  King's  use  of 
the  term  in  formal  utterances  that  an 
Englishman  is  a  churl,  a  "  servant  of  his 
King."  That  would  be  a  superficial  po- 
litical conception. 

As  to  our  Princes,  most  of  us,  includ- 
ing the  Social  Democrats,  are  glad  in 
our  heart  of  hearts  that  we  have  them. 
As  far  back  as  our  history  runs,  and 
that  is  more  than  2,000  years,  we  have 
had  Princes.  They  have  never  been 
more  than  their  name,  "  Fuerst,"  im- 
plies, the  first  and  foremost  of  German 
freemen,  "  primi  inter  pares."  There- 
fore they  have  never  acted  independ- 
ently, never  without  taking  the  people 
into  counsel.  That  would  have  been  con- 
trary to  the  most  important  fundamental 
principles  of  German  law;  hence  our 
people  have  never  ben  "  de  jure  "  without 
their  representatives.  Even  in  the  times 
of  absolute  monarchy  the  old  "  estates 
of  the  realm  "  had  their  being  as  a  rep- 
resentative body,  and  wherever  and 
whenever  these  privileges  were  sup- 
pressed it  was  regarded  as  a  violation 
of  our  fundamental  rights  and  is  so  still 
regarded. 

Our  princely  houses  are  as  old  as  our 
monasteries,  our  cities,  and  our  cathe- 
drals. A  thousand  years  ago  the  Guelphs 
were  a  celebrated  family,  and  the  Wet- 
tins  have  ruled  over  their  lands  for  eight 
centuries.  In  the  twelfth  century  the 
Wittelsbachs      and      Thuringians      were 


Princes  under  the  great  Kaisers  of  the 
Hohenstaufen  dynasty.  Among  these 
great  families  the  Hapsburgs  (thirteenth 
century)  and  the  HohenzoUerns  (fif- 
teenth century)  are  quite  young.  All 
have  their  roots  in  Germany  and  belong 
to  the  country. 

We  glory  in  our  Princes.  They  link 
our  existence  with  the  earliest  centuries 
of  our  history.  They  preserve  for  us 
the  priceless  independence  of  our  small 
home  States. 

We  are  accused  of  militarism.  What 
is  this  new  and  terrible  crime?  Since 
the  years  of  the  wars  of  liberation 
against  France  and  Napoleon  we  have 
had  what  amounts  practically  to  univer- 
sal conscription.  Only  two  generations 
later  universal  suffrage  was  introduced. 
The  nation  has  been  sternly  trained  by 
its  history  in  the  ways  of  discipline  and 
self-restraint.  Germans  are  very  far 
from  mistaking  freedom  for  license  and 
independence  for  licentiousness. 

Germany  has  a  long  past.  She  enjoys 
the  inheritance  of  an  original  and  price- 
less civilization.  She  holds  clearly  for- 
mulated ideals.  To  the  future  she  has 
all  this  to  bequeath  and,  in  addition,  the 
intellectual  wealth  of  her  present  stage 
of  development.  Consider  Germany's 
contributions  to  the  arts,  the  poetical 
achievements  of  the  period  of  Schiller 
and  Goethe,  the  music  of  Handel,  Bach, 
Haydn,  Mozart,  and  Beethoven;  the 
thought  systems  of  Kant,  Fichte,  Schel- 
ling,  and  Hegel! 

The  last  decade  has  reawakened  these 
great  men  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
German  Nation.  Enriched  by  the  con- 
sciousness and  message  of  an  intellectual 
past,  our  people  were  moving  forward  to 
new  horizons. 

At  that  moment  the  war  hit  us.  If 
you  could  only  have  lived  these  weeks  in 
Germany  I  do  not  doubt  that  what  you 
would  have  seen  would  have  led  your 
ripe  experience  to  a  fervent  faith  in  a 
Divinely  guided  future  of  mankind.  The 
great  spiritual  movement  of  1870,  when 
I  was  a  boy  g^rowing  up,  was  but  a  phan- 
tom compared  to  July  and  August  of 
1914.  Germany  was  a  nation  stirred  by 
the  most  sacred  emotions,  humble  and 


24  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

strong,  filled  with  just  wrath  and  a  firm  will  give  you  a  different  picture  of  the 

determination  to  conquer — a  nation  dis-  "  Furor  Teutonicus."    They  will  tell  you 

ciplined,  faithful,  and  loving.  that  the  "  raging  German  "  generally  is 

In  that  disposition  we  have  gone  to  a   good-natured  fellow,   ever   ready  for 

war  and  still  fight.    As  for  the  slanders  service  and  sympathy,  who,  like  Parsifal, 

of  which  we  have  been  the  victims,  ask  gazes  forth  eagerly  into  a  strange  world 

the  thousands  of  Frenchmen  who  housed  which  the  war  has  opened  to  his  loyal 

German  soldiers  in  1870  and  1871,  or  ask  and  patriotic  vision, 

the  Belgians  of  Ghent  and  Bruges!   They  KARL  LAMPRECHT. 


REVEILLE 

By  JOHN   GALSWORTHY. 
[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 

IN  my  dream  I  saw  a  fertile  plain,  rich  with  the  hues  of  Autumn.  Tranquil 
it  was  and  warm.  Men  and  women,  children,  and  the  beasts  worked 
and  played  and  wandered  there  in  peace.  Under  the  blue  sky  and  the 
white  clouds  low-hanging,  great  trees  shaded  the  fields ;  and  from  all  the 
land  there  arose  a  murmur  as  from  bees  clustering  on  the  rose-colored 
blossoms,  of  tall  clover.  And,  in  my  dream,  I  roamed,  looking  into  every 
face,  the  faces  of  prosperity,  broad  and  well  favored— of  people  living  in 
a  land  of  plenty,  of  people  drinking  of  the  joy  of  life,  caring  nothing  for 
the  morrow.  But  I  could  not  see  their  eyes,  that  seemed  ever  cast  down, 
gazing  at  the  ground,  watching  the  progress  of  their  feet  over  the  rich  grass 
and  the  golden  leaves  already  fallen  from  the  trees.  The  longer  I  walked 
among  them  the  more  I  wondered  that  never  was  I  suffered  to  see  the  eyes 
of  any,  not  even  of  the  little  children,  not  even  of  the  beasts.  It  was  as 
if  ordinance  had  gone  forth  that  their  eyes  should  be  banded  with  invisibility. 
While  I  mused  on  this,  the  sky  began  to  darken.  A  muttering  of  distant 
winds  and  waters  came  traveling.  The  children  stopped  their  play,  the 
beasts  raised  their  heads;  men  and  women  halted  and  cried  to  each  other: 
"The  River— the  River  is  rising!  If  it  floods,  we  are  lost!  Our  beasts  will 
drown;  we,  even  we,  shall  drown!  The  River!  "  And  women  stood  like 
things  of  stone,  listening;  and  men  shook  their  fists  at  the  black  sky  and 
at  that  traveling  mutter  of  the  winds  and  waters ;  and  the  beasts  sniffed 
at  the  darkening  air. 

Then,  clear,  I  heard  a  Voice  call:  "Brothers!  The  dike  is  breaking! 
The  River  comes !  Link  arms,  brothers ;  with  the  dike  of  our  bodies  we  will 
save  our  home !  Sisters,  behind  us,  link  arms !  Close  in  the  crevices, 
children !  The  River !  "  And  all  that  multitude,  whom  I  had  seen  treading 
quietly  the  grass  and  fallen  leaves  with  prosperous  feet,  came  hurrying,  their 
eyes  no  longer  fixed  on  the  rich  plain,  but  lifted  in  trouble  and  defiance, 
staring  at  that  rushing  blackness.  And  the  Voice  called:  "  Hasten,  brothers! 
The  dike  is  broken.     The  River  floods !  " 

And  they  answered :    "  Brother,  we  come '.  " 

Thousands    and    thousands    they    pressed,    shoulder    to    shoulder— men, 
women,  and  childi-en,  and  the  beasts  lying  down  behind,  till  the  living  dike 
was  formed.    And  that  blackness  came  on,  nearer,  nearer,  till,  like  the  whites 
of  glaring  eyes,  the  wave  crests  glinted  in  the  dark  rushing  flood.     And  the 
sound  of  the  raging  waters  was  as  a  roar  from  a  million  harsh  mouths. 
But  the  Voice  called  :     "  Hold,   brothers  !    Hold  !  " 
And  from  the  living  dike  came  answer:     "Brother!    We  hold!" 
Then  the  sky  blackened  to  night.     And  the  terrible  dark  water  broke  on 
that  dike  of  life ;  and  from  all  the  thin  living  wall  rose  such  cry  of  struggle 
as  never  was  heard. 

But  above  it  ever  the  Voice  called :  "  Hold !  My  brave  ones,  hold !  " 
And  ever  the  answer  came  from  those  drowning  mouths, '  of  men  and 
women,  of  little  children  and  the  very  beasts:  "  Brother!  We  hold!  "  But 
the  black  flood  rolled  over  and  on.  There,  down  in  its  dark  tumult,  beneath 
its  cruel  tumult,  I  saw  men  still  with  arms  linked ;  women  on  their  knees, 
clinging  to  earth ;  little  children  drifting— dead,  all  dead ;  and  the  beasts 
dead.  And  their  eyes  were  still  open  facing  that  death.  And  above  them  the 
savage  water  roared.  But  clear  and  high  I  heard  the  Voice  call :  "  Brothers ! 
Hold !    Death   is   not !    We   live !  " 


Can  Germany  Be  Starved  Out? 

An  Answer  by  Sixteen  German  Specialists* 

[From  The  Annalist  of  New  York,  March  1,  1915.] 


BERLIN,  Feb.  1,  1915. 

PROBABLY  the  most  interesting 
economic  problem  in  the  world 
at  this  moment  is  whether  Eng- 
gland  can  succeed  in  starving  out 
Germany.  While  the  world  at  large  is 
chiefly  interested  in  the  vast  political 
issues  involved,  the  question  interests 
the  Germans  not  only  from  that  stand- 
point, but  also — and  how  keenly! — from 
the  mere  bread-and-butter  standpoint. 
For  if  Germany  cannot  feed  its  own  pop- 
ulation during  the  long  war  that  its  foes 
are  predicting  with  so  much  assurance, 
her  defeat  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

That  the  German  Government  is  keenly 
aware  of  the  dangers  of  the  situation  is 
evident  from  the  rigorous  measures  that 
it  has  taken  to  conserve  and  economize 
the  food  supply.  After  having  fixed 
maximum  prices  for  cereals  soon  after 
the  war  began,  the  Government  last 
week  decided  to  requisition  and  monopo- 
lize all  the  wheat  and  rye  in  the  country, 
and  allow  the  bakers  to  sell  only  a  limited 
quantity  of  bread  (2.2  pounds  per  capita 
a  week)  to  each  family.  It  had  previous- 
ly taken  measures  to  restrict  the  con- 
sumption of  cereals  for  other  purposes 
than  breadmaking;  the  feeding  of  rye 
was  prohibited  and  its  use  in  producing 
alcohol  was  i*estricted  by  40  per  cent.; 
a  percentage  of  potato  flour  was  ordered 
added  to  rye  flour,  and  of  the  latter  to 
wheat  flour  in  making  bread.  These  are 
but    a    few    of    the    economic    measures 


*Die  Deutsche  Volksernahrung  und  der 
Englische  Aushungerungsplan.  Eine  Denk- 
schrift  von  Friedrich  Aereboe,  Karl  Bailed, 
Franz  Beyschlag,  Wilhelm  Caspari,  Paul 
Eltzbacher,  Hedwig:  Heyl,  Paul  Krusch, 
Robert  Kuczynski,  Kurt  Lelimann,  Otto  Lem- 
mermann,  Karl  Oppenheimer,  Max  Rubner, 
Kurt  von  Riimker,  Bruno  Tacke,  Hermann 
Warmbold,  und  Nathan  Zuntz.  Herausgege- 
ben  von  Paul  Eltzbacher.  (Friedr.  Vieweg 
and  Sohn.    Braunschweig.    1914.) 


adopted    by    the    Government   since    the 
outbreak  of  the  war. 

The  general  opinion  of  the  people  in 
Germany  is  that  the  country  cannot  be 
starved  out,  and  this  opinion  is  asserted 
with  a  great  deal  of  partriotic  fervor, 
particularly  by  newspaper  editors.  The 
leading  scientists  of  the  country,  more- 
over, have  taken  up  the  question  in  a 
thoroughgoing  way  and  investigated  it 
in  all  its  bearings.  A  little  book  ("  Die 
Deutsche  Volksernahrung  und  der  Eng- 
lische Aushungerungsplan ")  has  just 
been  issued,  giving  the  conclusions  of 
sixteen  specialists  in  various  fields,  which 
will  be  briefly  summarized  here.  Econo- 
mists, statisticians,  physiologists,  agri- 
cultural chemists,  food  specialists,  and 
geologists  have  all  taken  part  in  pro- 
ducing a  composite  view  of  the  whole 
subject;  it  is  not  a  book  of  special  contri- 
butions by  individual  specialists,  but  is 
written  in  one  cast  and  represents  the 
compared  and  boiled-down  conclusions 
of  the  sixteen  scholars. 

The  authors  by  no  means  regard  the 
problem  of  feeding  Germany  without 
foreign  assistance  as  an  easy  and  simple 
one;  on  the  contrary,  they  say  it  is  a 
serious  one,  and  calls  for  the  supreme 
effort  of  the  authorities  and  of  every 
individual  German;  and  only  by  energetic, 
systematic,  and  continued  efforts  of 
Government  and  people  can  they  prevent 
a  shortage  of  food  from  negativing  the 
success  of  German  arms.  Yet  they  feel 
bound  to  grapple  the  problem  as  one 
calling  for  solution  by  the  German  peo- 
ple alone,  for  very  small  imports  of  food 
products  can  be  expected  from  the  neutral 
countries  of  Europe,  and  none  at  all 
from  the  United  States  and  other  oversea 
countries,  and  the  small  quantities  that 
do  come  in  will  hardly  be  more  than 
enough  to  make  good  the  drain  upon 
Germany's  own  available  stocks  in  help- 


26 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ing  to  feed  the  people  of  Belgium  and 
Poland. 

The  simplest  statistical  elements  of  the 
problem  are  the  following:  Germany, 
with  a  population  of  68,000,000,  was  con- 
suming food  products,  when  the  war 
broke  out,  equivalent  to  an  aggregate 
of  90,420  billion  calories,  including 
2,307,000  tons  of  albumen;  whereas  the 
amount  now  available,  under  unchanged 
methods  of  living  and  feeding,  is  equal 
to  only  67,870  billion  calories,  with 
1,543,000  tons  of  albumen.  Thus,  there 
will  be  an  apparent  deficit  of  22,590 
billion  calories  and  764,000  tons  of  albu- 
men. On  the  other  hand,  the  authors  hold 
that  the  mininum  physiological  require- 
ments are  only  56,750  billion  calories, 
containing  1,605,000  tons  of  albumen, 
which  would  give  a  large  surplus  of 
calories  and  a  small  deficit  of  albumen, 
but  they  make  certain  recommendations 
which,  if  carried  into  effect,  would  bring 
the  available  supply  up  to  81,250  billion 
calories  and  2,023,000  tons  of  albumen. 

Germany  raises  (average  for  1912-13) 
about  4,500,000  tons  of  wheat  and  im- 
ports nearly  2,000,000  tons,  (about 
73,000,000  bushels.)  On  the  other  hand, 
it  exports  about  530,000  tons  net  of  the 
11,900,000  tons  of  rye  produced.  It  im- 
ports nearly  3,000,000  tons  of  low-grade 
barley  and  about  1,000,000  of  maize,  both 
chiefly  for  feeding  stock.  Its  net  imports 
of  grain  and  legumes  are  6,270,000  tons. 
Of  its  fruit  consumption,  about  30  per 
cent,  has  been  imported.  While  Germany 
has  been  producing  nearly  its  entire  meat 
supply  at  home,  this  has  been  accom- 
plished only  by  the  very  extensive  use 
of  foreign  feedstuffs.  The  authors  of 
this  work  estimate  that  the  imports  of 
meats  and  animals,  together  with  the 
product  from  domestic  animals  fed  with 
foreign  feedstuffs,  amout  to  not  less  than 
33  per  cent,  of  the  total  consumption. 
They  also  hold  that  about  58  per  cent, 
of  the  milk  consumed  in  Germany  repre- 
sents imports  and  the  product  of  cows 
fed  with  foreign  feedstuffs.  Nearly  40 
per  cent,  of  the  egg  consumption  was 
hitherto  imported.  The  consumption  of 
fish  has  averaged  576,000  tons,  of  which 
not  less  than  62  per  cent,  was  imported; 


and  the  home  fisheries  are  now  confined, 
besides  the  internal  waters,  almost  wholly 
to  the  Baltic  Sea — which  means  the  loss 
of  the  catch  of  142,000  tons  hitherto 
taken  from  the  North  Sea.  Even  the 
German's  favorite  beverage,  beer,  con- 
tains 13  per  cent,  of  imported  ingredients. 

The  authors  assume,  as  already  inti- 
mated, that  nearly  all  of  these  imports 
will  be  lost  to  Germany  during  the  full 
duration  of  the  war,  and  they  take  up, 
under  this  big  limitation,  the  problem 
•of  showing  how  Germany  can  live  upon 
its  own  resources  and  go  on  fighting  till 
it  wins.  They  undertake  to  show  how 
savings  can  be  made  in  the  use  of  the 
supplies  on  hand,  and  also  how  production 
can  be  increased  or  changed  so  as  to 
keep  the  country  supplied  with  food 
products. 

In  the  first  place,  they  insist  that  the 
prohibition  of  the  export  of  g^rain  be 
made  absolute;  in  other  words,  the  small 
exception  made  in  favor  of  Switzerland, 
which  has  usually  obtained  most  of  its 
grain  from  Germany,  must  be  canceled. 
Savings  in  the  present  supplies  of  grain 
and  feedstuffs  must  be  made  by  a  con- 
siderable reduction  in  the  live  stock,  inas- 
much as  the  grain,  potatoes,  turnips,  and 
other  stuffs  fed  to  animals  will  support 
a  great  many  more  men  if  consumed 
directly  by  them.  From  the  stock  of 
cattle  the  poorer  milkers  must  be  elim- 
inated and  converted  into  beef,  10  per 
cent,  of  the  milch  cows  to  be  thus  dis- 
posed of.  Then  swine,  in  particular, 
must  be  slaughtered  down  to  65  per  cent, 
of  the  present  number,  they  being  great 
consumers  of  material  suitable  for  human 
food.  In  Germany  much  skim  milk  and 
buttermilk  is  fed  to  swine;  the  authors 
demand  that  this  partial  waste  of  very 
valuable  albumens  be  stopped.  The  po- 
tato crop — of  which  Germany  produces 
above  50,000,000  tons  a  year,  or  much 
more  than  any  other  land — must  be  more 
extensively  drawn  upon  than  hitherto  for 
feeding  the  people.  To  this  end  potato- 
drying  establishments  must  be  multi- 
plied; these  will  turn  out  a  rough  prod- 
uct for  feeding  animals,  and  a  better 
sort  for  table  use.  It  may  be  added  here 
that  the  Prussian  Government  last  Au- 
tumn  decided   to   give  financial   aid   to 


CAN  GERMANY  BE  STARVED  OUT? 


27 


agricultural  organizations  for  erecting 
drying  plants;  also,  that  the  Imperial 
Government  has  decreed  that  potatoes  up 
to  a  maximum  of  30  per  cent,  may  be 
used  by  the  bakers  in  making  bread — a 
measure  which  will  undoubtedly  make 
the  grain  supply  suffice  till  the  1915 
crop  is  harvested.  It  is  further  recom- 
mended that  more  vegetables  be  pre- 
served, whether  directly  in  cold  storage 
or  by  canning  or  pickling.  Moreover,  the 
industrial  use  of  fats  suitable  for  human 
food  (as  in  making  soaps,  lubricating 
oils,  &c.)  must  be  stopped,  and  people 
must  eat  less  meat,  less  butter,  and  more 
vegetables.  Grain  must  not  be  converted 
into  starch.  People  must  burn  coke 
rather  than  coal,  for  the  coking  process 
yields  the  valuable  by-product  of  sulphate 
of  ammonia,  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  fertilizers,  and  greatly  needed  by 
German  farmers  now  owing  to  the  stop- 
page of  imports  of  nitrate  of  soda  from 
Chile. 

In  considering  how  the  German  people 
may  keep  up  their  production  of  food, 
the  authors  find  that  various  factors  will 
work  against  such  a  result.  In  the  first 
place,  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor,  nearly 
all  the  able-bodied  young  and  middle- 
aged  men  in  the  farming  districts  being 
in  the  war.  There  is  also  a  scarcity  of 
horses,  some  500,000  head  having  already 
been  requisitioned  for  army  use,  and  the 
imports  of  about  140,000  head  (chiefly 
from  Russia)  have  almost  wholly  ceased. 
The  people  must  therefore  resort  moi-e 
extensively  to  the  use  of  motor  plows, 
and  the  State  Governments  must  give 
financial  assistance  to  insure  this  wher- 
ever necessary;  and  such  plows  on  hand 
must  be  kept  more  steadily  in  use 
through  company  ownership  or  rental. 
It  may  be  remarked  here,  again,  that  the 
Prussian  Government  is  also  assisting 
agricultural  organizations  to  buy  motor 
plows.  The  supply  of  fertilizers  has  also 
been  cut  down  by  the  war.  Nitrate  has 
just  been  mentioned.  The  authors 
recommend  that  the  Government  solve 
this  problem  by  having  many  of  the  ex- 
isting electrical  plants  turn  partly  to 
recovering  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere. 
This,  they  say,  could  be   done   without 


reducing  the  present  production  of  elec- 
tricity for  ordinary  purposes,  since  only 
19  per  cent,  of  the  effective  capacity  of 
the  2,000,000  horse  power  producible  by 
the  electrical  plants  of  Germany  is  actu- 
ally used.  The  supply  of  phosphoric 
fertilizers  is  also  endangered  through  the 
stoppage  of  imports  of  phosphate  rock 
(nearly  1,000,000  tons  a  year)  as  well  as 
the  material  from  which  to  make  sul- 
phuric acid;  also,  through  the  reduction 
in  the  production  of  the  iron  furnaces  of 
the  country,  from  the  slag  of  which 
over  2,000,000  tons  of  so-called  Thomas 
phosphate  flour  was  produced,  will  in- 
volve a  big  reduction  in  the  make  of  that 
valuable  fertilizer.  Thus,  there  is  a  lack 
of  horses,  of  fertilizers,  and  of  the  guid- 
ing hand  of  man.  This  last,  however,  can 
be  partly  supplied  by  utilizing  for  farm 
work  such  of  the  prisoners  of  war  as 
come  from  the  farm.  As  Germany  now 
holds  considerably  more  than  600,000 
prisoners,  it  can  draw  many  farm  labor- 
ers from  among  them.  Prisoners  are 
already  used  in  large  numbers  in  re- 
covering moorland  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses. 

This  latter  remark  suggests  one  of  the 
recommendations  of  the  authors  for  in- 
creasing agricultural  production — the  in- 
creased recovery  of  moorlands.  They 
show  that  Germany  has  at  least  52,000 
square  miles  (more  than  33,000,000  acres) 
of  moors  convertible  into  good  arable 
land,  which,  with  proper  fertilizing,  can 
be  made  at  once  richly  productive;  they 
yield  particularly  large  crops  of  grain 
and  potatoes.  Moreover,  the  State  Gov- 
ernments must  undertake  the  division  of 
large  landed  estates  among  small  pro- 
prietors wherever  possible — and  this  is 
more  possible  just  now  than  ever,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  many  large  owners  have 
been  killed  in  battle.  The  reason  for 
such  a  division  is  that  the  small  holder 
gets  more  out  of  the  acre  than  the  large 
proprietor. 

As  Germany  makes  a  large  surplus  of 
sugar,  the  authors  advise  that  the  area 
planted  in  beets  be  reduced  and  the  land 
thus  liberated  be  planted  in  grain,  po- 
tatoes, and  turnips;  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  reported  that  the  Government  is 
now  considering  the  question  of  reducing 


28 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  beetroot  acreage  by  one-fourth.  The 
authors  also  recommend  that  sugar  be 
used  to  some  extent  in  feeding  stock, 
sweeting  low-grade  hay  and  roots  with 
it  to  make  them  more  palatable  and 
nutritious.  It  is  also  regarded  as  profit- 
able to  leave  20  per  cent,  of  suger  in  the 
beets,  so  as  to  secure  a  more  valuable 
feed  product  in  the  remnants.  Still 
another  agricultural  change  is  to  increase 
the  crops  of  beans,  peas,  and  lentils — 
vegetables  which  contain  when  dried  as 
much  nutrition  as  meat.  Germany  will 
need  to  increase  its  home  production  of 
these  crops  to  replace  the  300,000  tons  of 
them  hitherto  imported. 


Such  are  the  principal  points  covered 
by  these  experts.  Their  conclusion  is 
that,  if  their  recommendations  be  carried 
out  fully,  and  various  economies  be 
practiced — they  could  not  be  touched  on 
in  the  limits  of  this  article — Germany  can 
manage  to  feed  its  people.  But  they  in- 
sist, in  their  earnest,  concluding  words, 
that  this  can  only  be  done  by  carrying 
out  thoroughly  all  the  methods  of  pro- 
ducing and  saving  food  products  advised 
by  them.  It  is  a  serious  problem,  in- 
deed, but  one  which,  all  Germany  is  con- 
vinced, can  and  will  be  solved. 


HOCH    DER    KAISER 

BY     (JEORGE     DAVIES 


T_r OCH  DER  KAISEIi!    Amen!     Amen! 
t    I  We  of  the  pulpit  and  bar, 
We  of  the  engine  and  cat- : 
Hail   to   the   Caesar   who's   given   ns    men. 
Our  rightftil  heritage   back   again. 

Who  kicks  the  dancing  shoes  from  our  fet^t ; 

Snatches  our  mouths  from  the  hot  forced 
meat ; 

Drags  us  away  from  our  warm  padded  stalls ; 

From  our  ivory  keys,  our  song  books  and 
balls ; 

Orders  man's  hands  from  the  children's  go- 
carts  ; 

Closes  our  fool  schools  of  "  ethics  "  and 
"  arts." 

Puts  our  ten  fingers  on  triggers  and  swords, 

Marshals  us  into  War's  legions  by  hordes. 

Hoch    der    Kaiser  !     Amen  !     Amen  ! 

We  of  the  sea  and  the  land; 

We  of  the  clerking  band; 

Hail  to  the  Caesar  who's  given  ns  men 

Our  rightful  heritage  back  again. 

WHO  SUMMONS: 

These   women   who   write   of   loves   that    are 

loose, 
(Those    little    perversionist     scribes     of     the 

Deuce  !) 
I.aughter  of  lies  lilting  lewd  at  their  lips. 
Their   souls    and   brains   both   In.   a   maudlin 

eclipse ; 


Their    bosoms    as   bare    as    their    stories    and 

songs ; 
Tliese  coaxers  of  dogs   with   their    "  rights  " 

and  their  wrongs. 

WHO    COMMANDS: 

Stiike   from   their   shoulders    the    transparent 

mesh ; 
Mark    the   Red   Cross   on    the   cloth   for    their 

flesh. 

WHO   ORDAINS: 

Ye,    men   who   seem   women    in    work    and    at 

play ; 
Ye,   who  do  blindly   as  women  may  say ; 
Ye.  who  kill  life  in  the  smug  cabarets; 
I'e,  all,  at  the  beck  of  the  little  tea-tray ; 
Y'e,  all,  of  the  measure  of  daughters  of  clay. 

Waken  to  face  me :  be  women  no  more ; 
But    fellow-men-born,    from    top    branch    to 

the  core ; 
Men  who  must  fight — who  can  kill,  who  can 

die, 
While    women    once    more    shall    be    covered 

and  shy. 

Hoch    der   Kaiser  !    Amen  !    Amen  ! 
We  of  the  hills  and  the  homes; 
We  of  the  plows  and  the  tomes; 
Hail  to  the  Caesar  who's  given  va  men 
Our   rightful    he>-itage    back    again. 


The  Submarine  of  1578 

[From    The    London    Times,    Jan.    IG,    1915.] 


THE  earliest  description  of  a  prac- 
tical under-water  boat  is  given 
by  William  Bourne  in  his  book 
entitled  "  Inventions  or  Devices," 
published  in  1578.  Instructions  for 
building  such  a  boat  are  given  in 
detail,  and  it  has  been  conjectured 
that  Cornelius  van  Drebbel,  a  Dutch 
physician,  used  this  information  for  the 
construction  of  the  vessel  with  which  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
he  carried  out  some  experiments  on  the 
Thames.  It  is  doubtful,  however, 
whether  van  Drebbel's  boat  was  ever  en- 
tirely submerged,  and  the  voyage  with 
which  he  was  credited,  from  Westmin- 
ster to  Greenwich,  is  supposed  to  have 
been  made  in  an  awash  condition,  with 
the  head  of  the  inventor  above  the  sur- 
face. More  than  one  writer  at  the  time 
referred  to  van   Drebbel's  boat  and  en- 


deavored to  explain  the  apparatus  by 
which  his  rowers  were  enabled  toisreathe 
under  water. 

Van  Drebbel  died  in  1634,  and  no  illus- 
tration of  his  boat  has  been  discovered. 
Nineteen  years  later  the  vessel  illustrated 
here  was  constructed  at  Rotterdam  from 
the  designs  of  a  Frenchman  named  de 
Son.  This  is  supposed  to  be  the  earliest 
illustration  of  any  submarine,  and  the 
inscription  under  the  drawing,  which 
was  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  the  Calver- 
straat,  (in  the  Three  Crabs,)  is  in  old 
Dutch,  of  which  the  following  is  a  trans- 
lation 

The  inventor  of  this  ship  will  undertake 
to  destroy  in  a  single  day  a  hundred  ves- 
sels, and  such  destruction  could  not  be 
prevented  by  fire,  storm,  bad  weather,  or 
the  force  of  the  waves,  saving  only  that 
the  Almighty  should   otherwise  will   it. 

Vain    would    it    be    for    ships    lying    in 


The  figures  on  the  drawing  refer  to  the  following  explanations: 

1.  The  beam  wherewith  power  shall  be  given  to  the  ship. 

2.  The  rudder  of  the  ship,  somewhat  aft. 

3.  The  keel  plate. 

4.  The  two  ends  of  the  ship,  iron  plated. 

5.  Iron  bolts  and  screws. 

6.  How  deep  the  ship  goes  into  the  water  when  awash. 

7.  The  pivots  on  which  the  paddle-wheel  turns. 

8.  Air  holes. 

9.  Gallery  along  which. men  can  move. 

The  inset  is  a  drawing  of  the  paddle-wheels  which  fill  the  centre  portion  of  the 
boat  and  which  work  upon  the  pivot  marked  7. 


so 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


harbor  to  be  regarded  as  safe,  for  the 
Inventor  could  reach  anywhere  unless 
prevented  by  betrayal.  None  but  he  could 
control  the  craft.  Therefore  it  may  truly 
be  called  the  lightning  of  the  sea. 

Its  power  shall  be  proven  by  a  trip  to 
the  E3ast  Indies  in  six  weeks  or  to  France 
and  back  in  a  day,  for  as  fast  as  a  bird 
flieth  can  one  travel  in  this  boat. 
This  boat  was  72  feet  in  length,  and 
her  greatest  height  was  12  feet,  while  the 
greatest  breadth  was  8  feet,  tapering  off 
to  points  at  the  end.    Capt,  Murray  Sue- 
ter  in  his  book  on  submarines  gives  these 
and  other  particulars  of  the  vessel.    At 
either  end  the  boat  had  a  cabin,  the  air 
in  which  remained  good  for  about  three 
hours,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  boat  was 
a   large   paddlewheel   rotated   by   clock- 
work mechanism,  which,  it  was  claimed, 


would  run  for  eight  hours  when  once 
wound  up.  The  iron  tips  at  the  ends 
of  the  vessel  were  intended  for  ramming, 
and  the  inventor  was  confident  he  could 
sink  the  biggest  English  ship  afloat  by 
crushing  in  her  hull  unde'r  water.  The 
boat  was  duly  launched,  but  on  trial  of 
the  machinery  being  made  the  paddle- 
wheel,  though  it  revolved  in  air,  would 
not  move  in  the  water,  the  machinery 
being  not  powerful  enough.  This,  says 
Capt.  Sueter,  was  apparently  the  only 
reason  for  de  Son's  failure,  for  his  prin- 
ciples were  distinctly  sound,  and  he  was 
certainly  the  first  inventor  of  the  me- 
chanically propelled  semi-submarine  boat. 
After  her  failure  de  Son  exhibited  her 
for  a  trifle  to  any  casual  passer-by. 


THE    TORPEDO. 

By  Katherine  Drayton  Mayrant  Simons,  Jr. 


D 


EATH,  our  mother,  gave  us  her  three  gray  gifts  from  the  sea — 

(Cherish  your  birthright,  Brothers!) — speed,  cunning,  and  certainty. 
And  mailed  Mars,  he  blest  us — but  his  blessing  was  most  to  me! 


For  the  swift  gun  sometimes  falters,  sparing  the  foe  afar, 

And  the  hid  mine  wastes  destruction  on  the  drag's  decoying  spar, 
But  I  am  the  wrath  of  the  Furies'  path — of  the  war  god's  avatar! 

Mine  is  the  brain  of  thinking  steel  man  made  to  match  his  own. 

To  guard  and  guide  the  death  disks  packed  in  the  war  head's  hammered  cone 
To  drive  the  cask  of  the  thin  air  flask  as  the  gyroscope  has  shown. 

My  brother,  the  gun,  shrieks  o'er  the  sea  his  curse  from  the  covered  deck, 

My  brother,  the  mine,  lies  sullen-dumb,  agape  for  the  dreadnought's  wreck, 
I  glide  on  the  breath  of  my  mother,  Death,  and  my  goal  is  my  only  check! 

More  strong  than  the  strength  of  armored  ships  is  the  firing  pin's  frail  spark, 
More  sure  than  the  helm  of  the  mighty  fleet  are  my  rudders  to  their  mark, 
The  faint  foam  fades  from  the  bright  screw  blades — and  I  strike  from  the  under  dark! 

Death,  our  mother,  gave  us  her  three  gray  gifts  from  the  sea — 

(Cherish  your  birthright.  Brothers!) — speed,  cunning,  and  certainty. 
And  mailed  Mars,  he  blest  us — but  his  blessing  was  most  to  me! 


"God  Punish  England,  Brother" 

A  New  Hymn  of  Germany's  Gospel  of  Hatred 

[From   Public   Opinion,    London,    Feb.    5,    1915.] 


THE  amazing  outburst  of  hatred 
against  England  in  Germany 
is  responsible  for  a  new  form 
of  greeting  which  has  displaced 
the  conventional  formulas  of  salu- 
tation and  farewell :  "  God  punish  Eng- 
land!" ("Gott  strafe  England!")  is  the 
form  of  address,  to  which  the  reply  is: 
"May  God  punish  her!"  ("  Gott  mog'es 
strafen!") 

"  This  extraordinary  formula,"  says 
The  Mail,  "  which  is  now  being  used  all 
over  Germany,  is  celebrated  in  a  set  of 
verses  by  Herr  Hochstetter  in  a  recent 
number  of  the  well-known  German  weekly, 
Lustige  Blatter.  In  its  way  this  poem  is 
as  remarkable  as  Herr  Ernst  Lissauer's 
famous  '  Hymn  of  Hate.'  " 

Among  the  prayers  at  Bruges  Ca- 
thedral on  the  Kaiser's  birthday  was  this 
German  chant  of  hate,  "  God  Punish 
England!" 

A  HYMN   OF  HATE. 

Translated    by 
G.   VALENTINE  WILLIAMS. 

This  is  the   German  greeting 

When  men  their  fellows  meet. 

The  merchants  in  the  market-place. 

The  beggars  in  the  street. 

A    pledge    of   bitter    enmity. 

Thus    runs    the    winged    word : 

"  God    punish    England,    brother ! — 

Yea!    Punish  her,   O  Lord!" 

With  raucous  voice,   brass-throated. 
Our   German   shells  shall  bear 
This  curse  that  is  our  greeting 
To   the    "  cousin  "   in   his   lair. 
This  be  our  German  battle  cry. 
The  motto   on   our  sword : 
"  God  punish   England,   brother ! — 
Yea!    Punish   her,    O   Lord!" 

'  By  shell  from  sea,  by  bomb  from  air. 
Our   greeting   shall    be   sped, 
!XIaking    each    English    homestead 
A  mansion  of  the  dead. 
And    even    Grey   will   tremble 
As   falls   each    iron    word : 
"  God  punish  England,  brother ! — 
Yea!    Punish  her,  O  Lord!" 


This    is    the    German    greeting 

When  men  their  fellows  meet. 

The  merchants  in  the  market-place. 

The  beggars  in  the  street.  ' 

A   pledge   of   bitter   enmity. 

Thus    runs    the   winged    word : 

"  God   punish   England,   brother ! — 

Yea!    Punish    her,    O   Lord!" 

"  What  German  Lutheran  pastors  think 
of  the  gospel  of  hate  that  is  at  present 
being  pveached  throughout  the  Father- 
land may  be  judged  from  an  article  on 
the  subject  written  for  the  Vossische 
Zeitung  of  Berlin,  by  Dr.  Julius  Schiller 
of  Niirnberg,  who  describes  himself  as  a 
royal  Protestant  pastor,"  says  The  Morn- 
ing Post. 

"  Before  the  war,  the  pastor  writes,  it 
was  considered  immoral  to  hate;  now, 
however,  Germans  know  that  they  not 
only  may,  but  they  must  hate.  Herr 
Lissauer's  '  Hymn  of  Hate '  against 
England  is,  he  declares,  a  faithful  ex- 
pression of  the  feelings  cherished  in  the 
depths  of  the  German  soul. 

"  'AH  protests  against  this  hate,'  the 
pastor  writes,  '  fall  on  deaf  ears ;  we 
strike  down  all  hands  that  would  avert 
it.  We  cannot  do  otherwise;  we  must 
hate  the  brood  of  liars.  Our  hate  was 
provoked,  and  the  German  can  hate  more 
thoroughly  than  any  one  else.  A  feeling 
that  this  is  the  case  is  penetrating  into 
England,  but  the  fear  of  the  German 
hate  is  as  yet  hidden.  There  is  a  grain 
of  truth  in  Lord  Curzon's  statement  that 
the  phlegmatic  temperament  of  his 
countrymen  is  incapable  of  hating  as  the 
Germans  hate. 

"  *  We  Germans  do,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
hate  differently  than  the  sons  of  Albion. 
We  Germans  hate  honorably,  for  our 
hatred  is  based  on  right  and  justice. 
England,  on  the  other  hand,  hates  men- 
daciously, being  impelled  by  envy,  ill- 
will,  and  jealousy.  It  was  high  time  that 
we  tore  the  mask  from  England's  face. 


32 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


that  we  finally  saw  England  as  she 
really  is. 

"  *  We  hate  with  a  clean  conscience, 
although  religion  seems  to  condemn  as 
unaesthetic  everything  that  is  included 
in  the  word  hate.'  The  Pastor  concludes 
by  asserting  that  *  we,  who  are  fighting 
for  truth  and  right  with  clean  hands  and 
a  clean  conscience,  must  have  Him  on 
our  side  Who  is  stronger  than  the  strong- 
est battalions.  Hence  our  courage  and 
our  confidence  in  a  fortunate  outcome  of 
the  world  conflagration.  The  dawn  will 
soon  appear  that  announces  that  the 
"  Day  of  Harvest "  for  Germany  has 
broken.' " 

"  The  avowal  that  the  love  of  good 
Germans  for  Germany  is  inseparable 
from  hatred  of  other  countries  shows 
how  deeply  the  aggressiveness  of  German 


policy  has  sunk  into  the  nation's  mood," 
says  The  Times.  "  Only  by  constantly 
viewing  their  own  country  as  in  a  natural 
state  of  challenge  to  all  others  can  Ger- 
mans have  come  to  absorb  the  view  that 
hatred  is  the  normal  manifestation  of 
patriotism.  It  is  a  purely  militarist  con- 
ception. 

"Hate  is  at  bottom  a  slavish  pas- 
sion, and  remote  from  that  heroic  spirit 
of  the  warrior  with  which  the  Germans 
represent  themselves  as  facing  a  world 
in  arms.  The  hater  subjects  his  mind 
to  the  domination  of  what  he  hates;  he 
loses  his  independence  and  volition  and 
becomes  the  prey  of  the  hated  idea.  At 
last  he  cannot  free  his  mind  from  the 
obsession;  and  the  deliberate  cultivation 
of  hate  in  the  conscientious  German 
manner  is  a  kind  of  mental  suicide." 


THE    GREAT    HOUR. 

By     HERMANN     SUDERMANN. 


WHETHER,    O    Father    in    Heaven,    we 
still  put  our  trust  in  You, 
Whether    You    are   but   a   dream    of   a 
sacred   past. 
See    now,    we    swear    to    You,    Witness    of 

Truth, 
Not  we  have  wanted  it— 
This  murder,   this  world-ending  murder— 
Which  now,   with  blood-hot  sighs. 
Stamps  o'er  the  shuddering  earth. 
True  to  the  earth,   the  bread-giving  earth, 
Happy  and  cheery  in  business  and  trade. 
Peaceful  we  sat  in  the  oak  tree's  shade. 
Peaceful, 
Though  we  were  born  to  the  sword. 

Circled  around  us,  for  ever  and   ever. 

Greed,  sick  with  envy,  and  nets  lifted  high. 

Full  of  inherited  hatred. 

Every  one  saw  it,  and  every  one  felt 

The  secret  venon,  gushing  forth. 

Year   after  year, 

Heavy  and  breath-bated  years. 

But  hearts  did  not  quiver 

Nor  hands  draw  the  sword. 

And   then  it  came,  the  hour 

Of  sacred  need,   of  pregnant  Fate, 

And  what  it  brings  forth,   we  will  shape. 

The  brown  gun  in  our  mastering  hand. 


Ye  mothers,  what  ye  once  have  borne. 

In  honor  or  in  vice. 
Bring  forth  to  ever>'  sacred  shrine — 

Your  country's  sacrifice. 

Ye  brides,  whom  future  happiness. 
Once  kissed— it  but  seemed  true, 

Brmg  back  to  fair  Germania 
What  she  has  given  you. 

Ye  women,  in  silks  or  in  linen. 

Offer  your  husbands  now. 
Bid  them  goodbye,   with   your  children, 

With  smiles  asid  a  blessing  vow. 

Ye  all  are  doomed  to  lie  sleepless. 

Many  a  desolate  night. 
And   dream   of   approaching  conquests 

And  of  your  hero's  might. 

And  dream  of  laurel  and  myrtle. 

Until    he    shall    return. 
Till  he,  your  master  and  shepherd. 

Shall  make  the  old  joys  burn. 

And  if  he  fell  on  the  Autumn  heath 

And   fell   deep   into   death, 
He  died  for  Germania's  greatness. 

He    died    for    Germania's    breath. 


The  Fatherland  they  shall  let  stand. 

Upon  his  blood -soaked  loam. 
And  ne'er  again  shall  they  approach 

Our  sacred,   peaceful  home. 
—Translated  by  Herman  J.  Manklewlcz. 


H.     M.     GUSTAF    V 
King     of    Sweden 

(,Photo  from  Vndei'wood  d  Underwood) 


H.    M.    HAAKON    VII 
King    of    Norway 

(Photo  from  VHdertoood  d  Underwood) 


The  Peace  of  the  World 

A    Famous    Englishman's    Diagnosis   of    the    War    Disease    and    His 
Prescription    for   a   Permanent    Cure 

By  H.  G.  WeUs 

(Copyright,  1915,  by  The  New  York  Times  Company.) 
(Copyrighted    in    Great    Britain    and    Ireland.) 

I. 


PROBABLY  there  have  never  been 
before  in  the  whole  past  of 
mankind  so  many  people  con- 
vinced of  the  dreadfulness  of 
war,  nor  so  large  a  proportion  anxious 
to  end  war,  to  rearrange  the  world's 
affairs  so  that  this  huge  hideousness 
of  hardship,  suffering,  destruction,  and 
killing  that  still  continues  in  Europe  may 
never  again  be  repeated. 

The  present  wi'iter  is  one  of  this 
great  majority.  He  wants  as  far  as 
possible  to  end  war  altogether,  and  con- 
trive things  so  that  when  any  unavoid- 
able outbreak  does  occur  it  may  be  as 
little  cruel  and  mischievous  as  it  can  be. 
But  it  is  one  thing  to  desire  a  thing 
and  another  thing  to  get  it.  It  does  not 
follow  because  this  aspiration  for  world- 
peace  is  almost  universal  that  it  will 
be  realized.  There  may  be  faults  in 
ourselves,  unsuspected  influences  within 
us  and  without,  that  may  be  working  to 
defeat  our  superficial  sentiments.  There 
must  be  not  only  a  desire  for  peace,  but 
a  will  for  peace,  if  peace  is  to  be  estab- 
lished forever.  If  out  of  a  hundred  men 
ninety-nine  desire  peace  and  trouble  no 
further,  the  one  man  over  will  arm 
himself  and  set  up  oppression  and  war 
again.  Peace  must  be  organized  and 
maintained.  This  present  monstrous 
catastrophe  is  the  outcome  of  forty- 
three  years  of  skillful,  industrious,  sys- 
tematic world  armament.  Only  by  a 
disarmament  as  systematic,  as  skillful, 
and  as  devoted  may  we  hope  to  achieve 
centuries  of  peace. 

No  apology  is  needed,  therefore,  for  a 
discussion  of  the   way  in  which   peace 


may  be  organized  and  established  out  of 
the  settlement  of  this  war.  I  am  going 
to  set  out  and  estimate  as  carefully  as 
I  can  the  forces  that  make  for  a  peace 
organization  and  the  forces  that  make 
for  war.  I  am  going  to  do  my  best  to 
diagnose  the  war  disorder.  I  want  to 
find  out  first  for  my  own  guidance,  and 
then  with  a  view  to  my  coroperation 
with  other  people,  what  has  to  be  done 
to  prevent  the  continuation  and  recrudes- 
cence of  warfare. 

Such  an  inquiry  is  manifestly  the 
necessary  first  stage  in  any  world  paci- 
fication. So  manifestly  that,  of  course, 
countless  others  are  also  setting  to 
work  upon  it.  It  is  a  research.  It  is  a 
research  exactly  like  a  scientific  explo- 
ration. Each  of  us  will  probably  get 
out  a  lot  of  truth  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  error;  the  truth  .wi.ll  be  the 
same  and  the  errors  will  confute  find 
disperse  each  other.  But  it  is  clear  that 
there  is  no  simple  panacea  in  this  mat- 
ter, and  that  only  by  intentness  and 
persistence  shall  we  disentangle  a  gen- 
eral conception  of  the  road  the  peace- 
desiring  multitude  must  follow. 

Now,  first  be  it  noted  that  there  is  in 
every  one  a  certain  discord  with  regard 
to  war.  Every  man  is  divided  against 
himself.  On  the  whole,  most  of  us  want 
peace.  But  hardly  any  one  is  without  a 
lurking  belligerence,  a  lurking  admira- 
tion for  the  vivid  impacts,  the  imagina- 
tive appeals  of  war.  I  am  sitting  down 
to  write  for  the  peace  of  the  world,  but 
immediately  before  I  sat  down  to  write 
I  was  reading  the  morning's  paper,  and 
particularly    of   the   fight   between   the 


34 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Sydney  and  the  Emden  at  Cocos  Island. 
I  confess  to  the*utmost  satisfaction 
in  the  account  of  the  smashing  blows 
delivered  by  the  guns  of  the  Australian. 
There  is  a  sensation  of  greatness,  a 
beautiful  tremendousness,  in  many  of 
the  crude  facts  of  war;  they  excite  in 
one  a  kind  of  vigorous  exaltation;  we 
have  that  destructive  streak  in  us,  and 
it  is  no  good  pretending  that  we  have 
not;  the  first  thing  we  must  do  for  the 
peace  of  the  world  is  to  control  that. 
And  to  control  it  one  can  do  nothing 
more  effective  than  to  keep  in  mind  the 
other  side  of  the  realities  of  war. 

As  my  own  corrective  I  have  at  hand 
certain  letters  from  a  very  able  woman 
doctor  who  returned  last  week  from  Ca- 
lais. Lockjaw,  gangrene,  men  tied  with 
filthy  rags  and  lying  bitterly  cold  in 
coaly  sheds;  men  unwounded,  but  so 
broken  by  the  chill  horrors  of  the  Yser 
trenches  as  to  be  near  demented — such 
things  make  the  substance  of  her  picture. 
One  young  officer  talked  to  her  rather 
dryly  of  the  operations,  of  the  ruined 
towns  and  villages,  of  the  stench  of  dead 
men  and  horses,  of  the  losses  and  wounds 
and  mutilations  among  his  men,  of  the 
list  of  pals  he  had  lost.  "  Suddenly  hQ 
began  to  cry.  He  broke  down  just  like 
an  overtaxed  child.  And  he  could  not 
stop  crying.  He  cried  and  cried,  and  I 
could  do  nothing  to  help  him."  He  was 
a  strong  man  and  a  brave  man,  and  to 
that  three  months  of  war  had  brought 
him. 

And  then  this  again: 
There  were  a  fair  number  of  Belgian 
doctors,  but  no  nurses  except  the  usual  un- 
trained French  girls,  almost  no  equipment, 
and  no  place  for  clean  surgery.  We  heard 
of  a  house  containing  sixty-one  men  with 
no  doctor  or  nurses — several  died  without 
having    re<;eived    any    medical    aid    at    all. 

Mrs.  and  I  even  on  the  following 

Wednesday  found  four  men  lying  on  straw 
in  a  shop  with  leg  and  foot  wounds  who 
had  not  been  dressed  since  Friday  and 
had  never  been  seen  by  a  doctor.  In  addi- 
tion there  were  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
wounded  who  could  walk  trying  to  find 
shelter  in  some  corner,  besides  the  many 
unwounded  French  and  Belgian  soldiers 
quartered   in  the  town. 

As  if  this  inferno  of  misery  were  not 
enough,  there  were  added  the  refugees ! 
These  were  not  Belgians,  as  I  had  im- 
agined, but  French.     It  appears  that  both 


English  and  French  armies  have  to  clear 
the  civil  population  out  of  the  whole  fight- 
ing area — partly  to  prevent  spying  and 
treachery,  (which  has  been  a  curse  to 
both  armies,)  and  partly  because  they 
would  starve.  They  are  sent  to  Calais,  and 
then  by  boat  to  Havre. 

That  first  Sunday  evening  an  endless 
procession  flowed  from  the  station  to  the 
quays  in  the  drenching  rain.  Each  family 
had  a  perambulator,  (a  surprisingly  hand- 
some one,  too.)  piled  with  sticks  of  bread, 
a  few  bundles  of  goods,  and,  when  we 
peered  inside,  a  couple  of  crying  babies. 
There  were  few  young  people;  mostly  it 
was  whimpering,  frightened-looking  chil- 
dren and  wretched,  bent  old  men  and  wo- 
men. It  seemed  too  bad  to  be  true;  even 
when  they  brushed  past  us  in  the  rain  we 
could  not  believe  that  their  sodden  figures 
were  real.  They  were  dematerialized  by 
misery   in   some   odd  way. 

Some  of  them  slept  in  skating  rinks, 
trucks,  some  in  the  Amiral  Ganteaume. 
(One's  senses  could  not  realize  that  to  the 
horrors  l£  exile  these  people  had  added 
those  of  shipwreck  next  day.)  Some  cer- 
tainly stood  in  the  Booking  Hall  outside 
our  hotel  all  night  through.  This  sort  of 
thing  went  on  all  the  week,  and  was  going 
on    when    we    left. 

Nevertheless,  I  was  stirred  agreeably 
by  the  imagination  of  the  shells  smash- 
ing the  Emden  and  the  men  inside  the 
Emden,  and  when  I  read  the  other  day 
that  the  naval  guns  had  destroyed  over 
4,000  men  in  the  German  trenches  about 
Middlekirche  I  remarked  that  we  were 
"  doing  well."  It  is  only  on  the  whole 
that  we  who  w^ant  to  end  war  hate  and 
condemn  war;  we  are  constantly  lapsing 
into  fierceness,  and  if  we  forget  this 
lurking  bellicosity  and  admiration  for 
hard  blows  in  our  own  nature  then  we 
shall  set  about  the  task  of  making  an 
end  to  it  under  hopelessly  disabling  mis- 
conceptions. We  shall  underrate  and 
misunderstand  altogether  the  very  pow- 
erful forces  that  are  against  pacifist 
effort. 

Let  us  consider  first,  then,  the  forces 
that  are  directly  opposed  to  the  pacifi- 
cation of  the  world,  the  forces  that  will 
work  openly  and  definitely  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  war  as  a  human  condition. 
And  it  has  to  be  remembered  that  the 
forces  that  are  for  a  thing  are  almost 
always  more  unified,  more  concentrated 
and  effective  than  the  forces  that  are 
against  it.  We  who  are  against  war 
and  want  to  stop  it  are  against  it  for  a 


THE  PEACE   OF   THE   WORLD 


great  multitude  of  reasons.  There  are 
other  things  in  life  that  we  prefer,  and 
war  stops  these  other  things.  Some  of 
us  want  to  pursue  art,  some  want  to 
live  industrious  lives  in  town  or  country, 
some  would  pursue  scientific  develop- 
ments, some  want  pleasures  of  this  sort 
or  that,  some  would  live  lives  of  religion 
and  kindliness,  or  religion  and  austerity. 

But  we  all  agree  in  fixing  our  minds 
upon  something  else  than  war.  And 
since  we  fix  our  minds  on  other  things, 
war  becomes  possible  and  probable 
through  our  general  inattention.  We  do 
not  observe  it,  and  meanwhile  the  people 
who  really  care  for  war  and  soldiering 
fix  their  minds  upon  it.  They  scheme 
how  it  shall  be  done,  they  scheme  to 
bring  it  about.  Then  we  discover  sud- 
denly— as  the  art  and  social  develop- 
ment, the  industry  and  pleasant  living, 
the  cultivation  of  the  civil  enterprise  of 
England,  France,  Germany,  and  Russia 
have  discovered — that  everything  must 
be  pushed  aside  when  the  war  thinkers 
have  decided  upon  their  game.  And 
until  we  of  the  pacific  majority  contrive 
some  satisfactory  organization  to  watch 
the  war-makers  we  shall  never  end  war, 
any  more  than  a  country  can  end  crime 
and  robbery  without  a  police.  Specialist 
must  watch  specialist  in  either  case. 
Mere  expressions  of  a  virtuous  abhor- 
rence of  war  will  never  end  war  until 
the  crack  of  doom. 

The  people  who  actually  want  war  are 
perhaps  never  at  any  time  very  numer- 
ous. Most  people  sometimes  want  war, 
and  a  few  people  always  want  war.  It 
is  these  last  who  are,  so  to  speak,  the 
living  nucleus  of  the  war  creature  that 
we  want  to  destroy.  That  liking  for  an 
effective  smash  which  gleamed  out  in 
me  for  a  moment  when  I  heard  of  the 
naval  guns  is  with  them  a  dominating 
motive.  It  is  not  outweighed  and  over- 
come in  them  as  it  is  in  me  by  the  sense 
of  waste,  and  by  pity  and  horror  and  by 
love  for  men  who  can  do  brave  deeds 
and  yet  weep  bitterly  for  misery  and 
the  deaths  of  good  friends.  These  war- 
lovers  are  creatures  of  a  simpler  consti- 
tution. And  they  seem  capable  of  an 
ampler  hate. 

You  will  discover,  if  you  talk  to  them 


skillfully,  that  they  hold  that  war  "  en- 
nobles," and  that  when  they  say  en- 
nobles they  mean  that  it  is  destructive 
to  the  ten  thousand  things  in  life  that 
they  do  not  enjoy  or  understand  or  tol- 
erate, things  that  fill  them,  therefore, 
with  envy  and  perplexity — such  things 
as  pleasure,  beauty,  delicacy,  leisure.  In 
the  cant  of  modern  talk  you  will  find 
them  call  everything  that  is  not  crude 
and  forcible  in  life  "  degenerate."  But 
back  to  the  very  earliest  writings,  in  the 
most  bloodthirsty  outpourings  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets,  for  example,  you  will 
find  that  at  the  base  of  the  warrior 
spirit  is  hate  for  more  complicated,  for 
more  refined,  for  more  beautiful  and 
happier  living. 

The  military  peoples  of  the  world  have 
almost  always  been  harsh  and  rather 
stupid  peoples,  full  of  a  virtuous  indig- 
nation of  all  they  did  not  understand. 
The  modern  Prussian  goes  to  war  today 
with  as  supreme  a  sense  of  moral  supe- 
riority as  the  Arabs  when  they  swept 
down  upon  Egypt  and  North  Africa. 
The  burning  of  the  library  of  Alexandria 
remains  forever  the  symbol  of  the  tri- 
umph of  a  militarist  "  culture "  over 
civilization.  This  easy  belief  of  the  dull 
and  violent  that  war  "  braces "  comes 
out  of  a  Teal  instinct  of  self-preservation 
against  the  subtler  tests  of  peace.  This 
type  of  person  will  keep  on  with  war 
if  it  can.  It  is  to  politics  what  the 
criminal  type  is  to  social  order;  it  will 
be  resentful  and  hostile  to  every  attempt 
to  fix  up  a  pacific  order  in  the  world. 

This  heavy  envy  which  is  the  domi- 
nant characteristic  of  the  pro-military 
type  is  by  no  means  confined  to  it.  More 
or  less  it  is  in  all  of  us.  In  England 
one  finds  it  far  less  frequently  in  pro- 
fessional soldiers  than  among  sedentary 
learned  men.  In  Germany,  too,  the  more 
uncompromising  and  ferocious  pro-mili- 
tarism is  to  be  found  in  the  frock  coats 
of  the  professors.  Just  at  present  Eng- 
land is  full  of  virtuous  reprehension  of 
German  military  professors,  but  there 
is  really  no  monopoly  of  such  in  Ger- 
many, and  before  Germany  England  pro- 
duced some  of  the  most  perfect  speci- 
mens of  aggressive  militarist  conceiv- 
able.    To  read  Froude  upon  Ireland  or 


36 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Carlyle  upon  the  Franco-German  War  is 
to  savor  this  hate-dripping  temperament 
in  its  perfection. 

Much  of  this  literary  bellicosity  is 
pathological.  Men  overmuch  in  studies 
and  universities  get  ill  in  their  livers  and 
sluggish  in  their  circulations;  they  suf- 
fer from  shyness,  from  a  persuasion  of 
excessive  and  neglected  merit,  old  maid's 
melancholy,  and  a  detestation  of  all  the 
levities  of  life.  And  their  suffering 
finds  its  vent  in  ferocious  thoughts. 
A  vigorous  daily  bath,  a  complete 
stoppage  of  wine,  beer,  spirits,  and 
tobacco,  and  two  hours  of  hockey  in 
the  afternoon  would  probably  make  de- 
cently tolerant  men  of  all  these  ferment- 
ing professional  militarists.  Such  a  regi- 
men would  certainly  have  been  the  sal- 
vation of  both  Froude  and  Carlyle.  It 
would  probably  have  saved  the  world 
from  the  vituperation  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets — those  models  for  infinite  mis- 
chief. 

The  extremist  cases  pass  to  the  aver- 
age case  through  insensible  degrees.  We 
are  all  probably,  as  a  species,  a  little 
too  prone  to  intolerance,  and  if  we  do  in 
all  sincerity  mean  to  end  war  in  the 
world  we  must  prepare  ourselves  for 
considerable  exercises  in  restraint  when 
strange  people  look,  behave,  believe,  and 
live  in  a  manner  different  from  our  own. 
The  minority  of  permanently  bitter  souls 
who  want  to  see  objectionable  cities 
burning  and  men  fleeing  and  dying  form 
the  real  strength  in  our  occasional  com- 
plicities. 

The  world  has  had  its  latest  object 
lesson  in  the  German  abuse  of  English 
and  French  as  "  degenerates,"  of  the 
Russians  as  "  Mongol  hordes,"  of  the 
Japanese  as  "  yellow  savages,"  but  it 
is  not  only  Germans  who  let  themselves 
slip  into  national  vanity  and  these  ugly 
hostilities  to  unfamiliar  life.  The  first 
line  of  attack  against  war  must  be  an 
attack  upon  self-righteousness  and  in- 
tolerance. These  things  are  the  germ  of 
uncompromising  and  incurable  militar- 
ism everywhere. 

Now,  the  attack  upon  self-righteous- 
ness and  intolerance  and  the  stern,  self- 
satisfied  militarism  that  arises  naturally 
out  of  these  things  is  to  be  made  in  a 


number  of  ways.  The  first  is  a  sedulous 
propaganda  of  the  truth  about  war,  a 
steadfast  resolve  to  keep  the  pain  of 
warfare  alive  in  the  nerves  of  the  care- 
less, to  keep  the  stench  of  war  under  the 
else  indifferent  nose.  It  is  only  in  the 
study  of  the  gloomily  megalomaniac  his- 
torian that  aggressive  war  becomes  a 
large  and  glorious  thing.  In  reality  it 
is  a  filthy  outrage  upon  life,  an  idiot's 
smashing  of  the  furniture  of  homes,  a 
mangling,  a  malignant  mischief,  a  scald- 
ing of  stokers,  a  disemboweling  of  gun- 
ners, a  raping  of  caught  women  by 
drunken  soldiers.  By  book  and  pam- 
phlet, by  picture  and  cinematograph 
film,  the  pacifist  must  organize  wisdom 
in  these  matters. 

And  not  only  indignation  and  distress 
must  come  to  this  task.  The  stern,  un- 
compromising militarist  will  not  be 
moved  from  his  determinations  by  our 
horror  and  hostility.  These  things  will 
but  "  brace  "  him.  He  has  a  more  vul- 
nerable side.  The  ultimate  lethal  wea- 
pon for  every  form  of  stupidity  is  ridi- 
cule, and  against  the  high  silliness  of 
the  militarist  it  is  particularly  effective. 
It  is  the  laughter  of  wholesome  men  that 
will  finally  end  war.  The  stern,  strong, 
silent  man  will  cease  to  trouble  us  only 
when  we  have  stripped  him  of  his  last 
rag  of  pretension  and  touched  through  to 
the  quick  of  his  vanity  with  the  realiza- 
tion of  his  apprehended  foolishness. 
Literature  will  have  failed  humanity  if 
it  is  so  blinded  by  the  monstrous  agony 
in  Flanders  as  to  miss  the  essential 
triviality  at  the  head  of  the  present  war. 
Not  the  slaughter  of  ten  million  men 
can  make  the  quality  of  the  German 
Kaiser  other  than  theatrical  and  silly. 

The  greater  part  of  the  world  is  in  an 
agony,  a  fever,  but  that  does  not  make 
the  cause  of  that  fever  noble  or  great. 
A  man  may  die  of  yellow  fever  through 
the  bite  of  a  mosquito;  that  does  not 
make  a  mosquito  anything  more  than  a 
dirty  little  insect  or  an  aggressive  im- 
perialist better  than  a  pothouse  fool. 

Henceforth  we  must  recognize  no 
heroic  war  but  defensive  war,  and  as 
the  tJMy  honorable  warriors  such  men 
as  those  peasants  of  Vise  who  went  out 
with  shotguns  against  the  multitudinous 


THE  PEACE   OF   THE   WORLD 


37 


overwhelming  nuisance  of  invasion  that 
trampled  down  their  fields. 

Or  war  to  aid  such  defensive  war. 

II. 

But  the  people  who  positively  admire 
and  advocate  and  want  war  for 
its  own  sake  are  only  a  small, 
feverish  minority  of  mankind.  The 
greater  obstacle  to  the  pacification  of 
the  world  is  not  the  war-seeker,  but  the 
vast  masses  of  people  who  for  the  most 
various  motives  support  and  maintain 
all  kinds  of  institutions  and  separations 
that  make  for  war.  They  do  not  want 
war,  they  do  not  like  war,  but  they  will 
not  make  sacrifices,  they  will  not  exert 
themselves  in  any  way  to  make  war 
difficult  or  impossible. 

It  is  they  who  give  the  war  manian 
his  opportunity.  They  will  not  lock  the 
gun  away  from  him,  they  will  not  put  a 
reasonable  limit  to  the  disputes  into 
which  he  can  ultimately  thrust  his  vio- 
lent substitute  for  a  solution.  They  are 
like  the  people  who  dread  and  detest 
yellow  fever,  but  oppose  that  putting  of 
petrol  on  the  ponds  which  is  necessary 
to  prevent  it  because  of  the  injury  to  the 
water  flowers. 

Now,  it  is  necessary,  if  we  are  to  have 
an  intelligently  directed  anti-war  cam- 
paign, that  we  should  make  a  clear, 
sound  classification  of  these  half-hearted 
people,  these  people  who  do  not  want 
war,  but  who  permit  it.  Their  inde- 
cisions, their  vagueness,  these  are  the 
really  effective  barriers  to  our  desire 
to  end  war  forever. 

And  first,  there  is  one  thing  very  ob- 
vious, and  that  is  the  necessity  for  some 
controlling  world  authority  if  treaties 
are  to  be  respected  and  war  abolished. 
While  there  are  numerous  sovereign 
States  in  the  world  each  absolutely  free 
to  do  what  it  chooses,  to  arm  its  people 
or  repudiate  engagements,  there  can  be 
no  sure  peace.  But  great  multitudes  of 
those  who  sincerely  desire  peace  forever 
cannot  realize  this.  There  are,  for  ex- 
ample, many  old-fashioned  English  lib- 
erals who  denounce  militarism  and 
"  treaty  entanglements "  with  equal 
ardor;  they  want  Britain  to  stand  alone, 
unaggressive,    but    free;    not    realizing 


that  such  an  isolation  is  the  surest  en- 
couragement to  any  war-enamored 
power.  Exactly  the  same  type  is  to  be 
found  in  the  United  States,  and  is  prob- 
ably even  more  influential  there.  But 
only  by  so  spinning  a  web  of  treaties 
that  all  countries  are  linked  by  general 
obligations  to  mutual  protection  can  a 
real  world-pacification  be  achieved. 

The  present  alliance  against  the  in- 
sufferable militarism  of  Germany  may 
very  probably  be  the  precursor  of  a 
much  wider  alliance  against  any  aggres- 
sion whatever  in  the  future.  Only 
through  some  such  arrangement  is  there 
any  reasonable  hope  of  a  control  and 
cessation  of  that  constant  international 
bickering  and  pressure,  that  rivalry  in 
finance,  that  competition  for  influence 
in,  weak  neutral  countries,  which  has 
initiated  all  the  struggles  of  the  last 
century,  and  which  is  bound  to  accumu- 
late tensions  for  fresh  wars  so  long  as 
it  goes  on. 

Already  several  States,  and  particu- 
larly the  Government  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  have  signed  treaties 
of  arbitration,  and  The  Hague  Tribunal 
spins  a  first  web  of  obligations,  exem- 
plary if  gossamer,  between  the  countries 
of  the  world.  But  these  are  but  the  faint 
initial  suggestions  of  much  greater  pos- 
sibilities, and  it  is  these  greater  possi- 
bilities that  have  now  to  be  realized  if 
all  the  talk  we  have  had  about  a  war 
to  end  war  is  to  bear  any  fruit.  What 
is  now  with  each  week  of  the  present 
struggle  becoming  more  practicable  is 
the  setting  up  of  a  new  assembly  that 
will  take  the  place  of  the  various  em- 
bassies and  diplomatic  organizations,  of 
a  mediaeval  pattern  and  tradition,  which 
have  hitherto  conducted  international 
affairs. 

This  war  must  end  in  a  public  settle- 
ment, to  which  all  of  the  belligerents 
will  set  their  hands;  it  will  not  be  a 
bundle  of  treaties,  but  one  treaty  bind- 
ing eight  or  nine  or  more  powers.  This 
settlement  will  almost  certainly  be  at- 
tained at  a  conference  of  representatives 
of  the  various  Foreign  Offices  involved. 
Quite  possibly  interested  neutral  powers 
will  also  send  representatives.  There  is 
no  reason  whatever  why  this  conference 


38 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


should  dissolve,  why  it  should  not  be- 
come a  permanent  conference  upon  the 
inter-relations  of  the  participating 
powers  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
peace  of  the  world.  It  could  have  a  seat 
and  officials,  a  staff,  and  a  revenue  of 
its  own;  it  could  sit  and  debate  openly, 
publish  the  generally  binding  treaties 
between  its  constituent  powers,  and 
claim  for  the  support  of  its  decisions 
their  military  and  naval  resources. 

The  predominance  of  the  greater 
powers  could  be  secured  either  by  the 
representatives  having  multiple  votes, 
according  to  the  population  represented, 
or  by  some  sort  of  proportional  repre- 
sentation. Each  power  could  appoint  its 
representatives  through  its  Foreign 
Office  or  by  whatever  other  means  it 
thought  fit.  They  could  as  conveniently 
be  elected  by  a  legislature  or  a  nation. 
And  such  a  body  would  not  only  be  of 
enormous  authority  in  the  statement,  in- 
terpretation, and  enforcement  of  treaties, 
but  it  could  also  discharge,  a  hundred 
useful  functions  in  relation  to  world 
hygiene,  international  trade  and  travel, 
the  control  of  the  ocean,  the  exploration 
and  conservation  of  the  world's  supplies 
of  raw  material  and  food  supply.  It 
would  be,  in  fact,  a  World  Council. 

Today  this  is  an  entirely  practicable 
and  hopeful  proposal  if  only  we  can 
overcome  the  opposition  of  those  who 
cling  to  the  belief  that  it  is  possible  for 
a  country  to  be  at  the  same  time  en- 
tirely pacific  and  entirely  unresponsible 
to  and  detached  from  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. 

Given  such  a  body,  such  a  great  alli- 
ance of  world  powers,  much  else  in  the 
direction  of  world  pacification  becomes 
possible.  Without  it  we  may  perhaps 
expect  a  certain  benefit  from  the  im- 
proved good  feeling  of  mankind  and  the 
salutary  overthrow  of  the  German  mili- 
tary culture,  but  we  cannot  hope  for  any 
real  organized  establishment  of  peace. 

I  believe  that  a  powerful  support  for 
the  assembly  and  continuance  of  such  a 
world  congress  as  this  could  be  easily 
and  rapidly  developed  in  North  and 
South  America,  in  Britain  and  the  Brit- 
ish   Empire    generally,    in    France    and 


Italy,  in  all  the  smaller  States  of  north- 
ern, central,  and  western  Europe.  It 
would  probably  have  the  personal  sup- 
port of  the  Czar,  unless  he  has  pro- 
foundly changed  the  opinions  with  which 
he  opened  his  reign,  the  warm  accord- 
ance of  educated  China  and  Japan,  and 
the  good  will  of  a  renascent  Germany. 
It  would  open  a  new  era  for  mankind. 

III. 

Now,  this  idea  of  a  congress  of 
the  belligerents  to  arrange  the 
peace  settlements  after  this  war,  ex- 
panding by  the  accession  of  neutral 
powers  into  a  permanent  world  con- 
gress for  the  enforcement  of  intei*na- 
tional  law  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
peace  of  mankind,  is  so  reasonable  and 
attractive  and  desirable  that  if  it  were 
properly  explained  it  would  probably  re- 
ceive the  support  of  nineteen  out  of 
every  twenty  intelligent  persons. 

Nevertheless,  its  realization  is,  on  the 
whole,  improbable.  A  mere  universal 
disgust  with  war  is  no  more  likely  to 
end  war  than  the  universal  dislike  for 
dying  has  ended  death.  And  though 
war,  unlike  dying,  seems  to  be  an  avoid- 
able fate,  it  does  not  follow  that  its 
present  extreme  unpopularity  will  end  it 
unless  people  not  only  desire  but  see  to 
the  accomplishment  of  their  desire. 

And  here  again  one  is  likely  to  meet 
an  active  and  influential  opposition. 
Though  the  general  will  and  welfare 
may  point  to  the  future  management  of 
international  relations  through  a  world 
congress,  the  whole  mass  of  those  whose 
business  has  been  the  direction  of  inter- 
national relations  is  likely  to  be  either 
skeptical  or  actively  hostile  to  such  an 
experiment.  All  the  foreign  offices  and 
foreign  ministers,  the  diplomatists  uni- 
versally, the  politicians  who  have  spe- 
cialized in  national  assertion,  and  the 
courts  that  have  symbolized  and  em- 
bodied it,  all  the  people,  in  fact,  who  will 
be  in  control  of  the  settlement,  are 
likely  to  be  against  so  revolutionary 
a   change. 

For  it  would  be  an  entirely  revolu- 
tionary change.  It  would  put  an  end  to 
secrecy.  It  would  end  all  that  is  usually 
understood  by  diplomacy.    It  would  clear 


THE  PEACE  OF   THE   WORLD 


39 


the  world  altogether  of  those  private 
understandings  and  provisional  secret 
agreements,  those  intrigues,  wire-pull- 
ings, and  quasi-financial  operations  that 
have  been  the  very  substance  of  inter- 
national relations  hitherto.  To  these 
able  and  interested  people,  for  the  most 
part  highly  seasoned  by  the  present  con- 
ditions, finished  and  elaborated  players 
at  the  old  game,  this  is  to  propose  a 
new,  crude,  difficult,  and  unsympathetic 
game.  They  may  all  of  them,  or  most 
of  them,  hate  war,  but  they  will  cling  to 
the  belief  that  their  method  of  operating 
may  now,  after  a  new  settlement,  be 
able  to  prevent  or  palliate  war. 

All  men  get  set  in  a  way  of  living, 
and  it  is  as  little  in  human  nature  to 
give  up  cheerfully  in  the  middle  of  life 
a  familiar  method  of  dealing  with  things 
in  favor  of  a  new  and  untried  one  as  it  is 
to  change  one's  language  or  emigrate  to 
an  entirely  different  land.  I  realize 
what  this  proposal  means  to  diplomatists 
when  I  try  to.  suppose  myself  united  to 
assist  in  the  abolition  of  written  books 
and  journalism  in  favor  of  the  gramo- 
phone and  the  cinematograph.  Or  united 
to  adopt  German  as  my  means  of  ex- 
pression. It  is  only  by  an  enormous 
pressure  of  opinion  in  the  world  behind 
these  monarchs,  ministers,  and  repre- 
sentatives that  they  will  be  induced  even 
to  consider  the  possibility  of  adapting 
themselves  to  this  novel  style  of  inter- 
national dealing  through  a  permanent 
congress.  It  is  only  the  consideration 
of  its  enormous  hopefulness  for  the  rest 
of  the  world  that  gives  one  the  courage 
to  advocate  it. 

In  the  question  of  the  possible  aboli- 
tion of  the  present  diplomatic  system, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  possible  aboli- 
tion of  war,  while  on  the  side  for  aboli- 
tion there  must  be  a  hugely  preponder- 
ating interest  and  a  hugely  preponder- 
ating majority,  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  dis- 
persed interest  and  an  unorganized,  mis- 
cellaneous majority.  The  minority  is, 
on  the  other  hand,  compact,  more  inten- 
sively and  more  immediately  interested 
and  able  to  resist  such  great  changes 
with  a  maximum  of  efficiency.  There 
is  a  tremendous  need,  therefore,  for  a 
world  congress  organization  propaganda 


if  this  advantageously  posted  minority 
is  to  be  overcome. 

And  from  such  countries  as  the 
American  States  in  particular,  and  from 
the  small  liberal  neutrals  in  Europe, 
whose  diplomacy  is  least  developed  and 
least  influential,  liberal-minded  people 
through  the  world  are  most  disposed  to 
expect,  and  do  expect,  a  lead  in  this 
particular  matter.  The  liberal  forces  in 
Britain,  France,  and  Russia  are  extraor- 
dinarilj'  embarrassed  and  enslaved  by 
the  vast  belligerent  necessities  into 
which  their  lives  have  been  caught.  But 
they  would  take  up  such  a  lead  with  the 
utmost  vigor  and  enthusiasm. 

No  one  who  has  followed  the  diplo- 
matic history  of  the  negotiations  that 
led  to  this  war  can  doubt  that  if  there 
had  been  no  secret  treaties,  but  instead 
open  proclamations  of  intentions  and  an 
open  discussion  of  international  ambi- 
tions, the  world  might  have  been  saved 
this  catastrophe.  It  is  no  condemnation 
of  any  person  or  country  to  say  this. 
The  reserves  and  hesitations  and  mis- 
conceptions that  led  Germany  to  suppose 
that  England  would  wait  patiently  while 
France  and  Belgium  were  destroyed  be- 
fore she  herself  received  attention  were 
unavoidable  under  the  existing  diplo- 
matic conditions.  What  reasonable 
people  have  to  do  now  is  not  to  recrimi- 
nate over  the  details  in  the  working  of 
a  system  that  we  can  now  all  of  us  per- 
ceive to  be  hopelessly  bad,  but  to  do  our 
utmost  in  this  season  of  opportunity  to 
destroy  the  obscurities  in  which  fresh 
mischief  may  fester  for  our  children. 

Let  me  restate  this  section  in  slightly 
different  words.  At  the  end  of  this 
war  there  must  be  a  congress  of  adjust- 
ment. The  suggestion  in  this  section  is 
to  make  this  congress  permanent,  to  use 
it  as  a  clearing  house  of  international 
relationships  and  to  abolish  embassies. 

Instead  of  th6re  being  a  British  Am- 
bassador, for  example,  at  every  suffi- 
ciently important  capital,  and  an  am- 
bassador from  every  important  State  in 
London,  and  a  complex  tangle  of  rela- 
tionships, misstatements,  and  miscon- 
ceptions arising  from  the  ill-co-ordinated 
activities  of  this  double  system  of  agents, 
it   is   proposed   to   send   one    or   several 


40 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ambassadors  to  some  central  point,  such 
as  The  Hague,  to  meet  there  all  the  am- 
bassadors of  all  the  significant  States 
in  the  world  and  to  deal  with  interna- 
tional questions  with  a  novel  frankness 
in  a  collective  meeting. 

This  has  now  become  a  possible  way 
of  doing  the  world's  business  because 
of  the  development  of  the  means  of 
communication  and  information.  The 
embassy  in  a  foreign  country,  as  a 
watching,  remonstrating,  proposing  ex- 
tension of  its  country  of  origin,  a  sort 
of  eye  and  finger  at  the  heart  of  the 
host  country,  is  now  clumsy,  unneces- 
sary, inefficient,  and  dangerous.  For 
most  routine  work,  for  reports  of  all 
sorts,  for  legal  action,  and  so  forth,  on 
behalf  of  traveling  nationals,  the  con- 
sular service  is  adequate,  or  can  easily 
be  made  adequate.  What  remains  of  the 
ambassadorial  apparatus  might  very 
well  merge  with  the  consular  system 
and  the  embassy  become  an  international 
court  civility,  a  ceremonial  vestige  with- 
out any  diplomatic  value  at  all. 

IV. 

Given  a  permanent  world  congress 
developed  out  of  the  congress  of  settle- 
ment between  the  belligerents,  a  world 
alliance,  with  as  a  last  resort  a  call 
upon  the  forces  of  the  associated  powers, 
for  dealing  with  recalcitrants,  then  a 
great  number  of  possibilities  open  out 
to  humanity  that  must  otherwise  remain 
inaccessible.  But  before  we  go  on  to 
consider  these  it  may  be  wise  to  point 
out  how  much  more  likely  a  world  con- 
gress is  to  effect  a  satisfactory  settle- 
ment at  the  end  of  this  war  than  a 
congress  confined  to  the  belligerents. 

The  war  has  progressed  sufficiently 
to  convince  every  one  that  there  is  now 
no  possibility  of  an  overwhelming  vic- 
tory for  Germany.  It  must  end  in  a 
more  or  less  complete  defeat  of  the  Ger- 
man and  Turkish  alliance,  and  in  a  con- 
siderable readjustment  of  Austrian  and 
Turkish  boundaries.  Assisted  by  the 
generosity  of  the  doomed  Austrians  and 
Turks,  the  Grermans  are  fighting  now  to 
secure  a  voice  as  large  as  possible  in 
the  final  settlement,  and  it  is  conceiv- 
able that  in  the  end  that  settlement  may 


be  made  quite  an  attractive  one  for 
Germany  proper  by  the  crowning  sacri- 
fice of  suicide  on  the  part  of  her  two 
subordinated  allies. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Russia 
will  gain  the  enormous  advantage  of  a 
free  opening  into  the  Mediterranean  and 
that  the  battle  of  the  Marne  turned  the 
fortunes  of  France  from  disaster  to  ex- 
pansion. But  the  rest  of  the  settlement 
is  still  vague  and  uncertain,  and  German 
imperialism,  at  least,  is  already  work- 
ing hard  and  intelligently  for  a  favorable 
situation  at  the  climax,  a  situation  that 
will  enable  this  militarist  empire  to 
emerge  still  strong,  still  capable  of  re- 
cuperation and  of  a  renewal  at  no  very 
remote  date  of  the  struggle  for  Euro- 
pean predominance.  This  is  a  thing  as 
little  for  the  good  of  the  saner  German 
people  as  it  is  for  the  rest  of  the  world, 
but  it  is  the  only  way  in  which  militant 
imperialism  can  survive  at  all. 

The  alternative  of  an  imperialism 
shorn  of  the  glamour  of  aggression,  be- 
coming constitutional  and  democratic — 
the  alternative,  that  is  to  say,  of  a  great 
liberal  Germany — is  one  that  will  be  as 
distasteful  almost  to  the  people  who  con- 
trol the  destinies  of  Germany  today,  and 
who  will  speak  and  act  for  Germany  in 
the  final  settlement,  as  a  complete  sub- 
mission to  a  Serbian  conqueror  would  be. 

At  the  final  conference  of  settlement 
Germany  will  not  be  really  represented 
at  all.  The  Prussian  militarist  empire 
will  still  be  in  existence,  and  it  will  sit 
at  the  council,  working  primarily  for  its 
own  survival.  Unless  the  Allies  insist 
upon  the  presence  of  representatives  of 
Saxony,  Bavaria,  and  so  forth,  and  de- 
mand the  evidence  of  popular  sanctions 
— a  thing  they  are  very  unlikely  to  de- 
mand— that  is  what  "  Germany "  will 
signify  at  the  conference.  And  what  is 
true  of  Germany  will  be  true,  more  or 
less,  of  several  other  of  the  allied 
powers. 

A  conference  confined  purely  to  the 
belligerents  will  be,  in  fact,  a  conference 
not  even  representative  of  the  belliger- 
ents. And  it  will  be  tainted  with  all  the 
traditional  policies,  aggressions,  sus- 
picions, and  subterfuges  that  led  up  to 
the  war.     It  will  not  be  the  end  of  the 


THE  PEACE  OF   THE   WORLD 


41 


old  game,  but  the  readjustment  of  the 
old  game,  the  old  game  which  is  such 
an  abominable  nuisance  to  the  develop- 
ment of  modern  civilization.  The  ideal- 
ism of  the  great  alliance  will  certainly 
be  subjected  to  enormous  strains,  and 
the  whole  energy  of  the  Central  Euro- 
pean diplomatists  will  be  directed  to  de- 
veloping and  utilizing  these  stresses. 

This,  1  think,  must  be  manifest  even 
to  the  foreign  offices  most  concerned. 
They  must  see  already  ahead  of  them  a 
terrible  puzzle  of  arrangement,  a  puzzle 
their  own  bad  traditions  will  certainly 
never  permit  them  to  solve.  "  God  save 
us,"  they  may  very  well  pray,  "  from 
our  own  cleverness  and  sharp  dealing," 
and  they  may  even  welcome  the  promise 
of  an  enlarged  outlook  that  the  entry 
of  the  neutral  powers  would  bring 
with  it. 

Every  foreign  office  has  its  ugly,  evil 
elements,  and  probably  every  foreign 
office  dreads  those  elements.  There  are 
certainly  Russian  fools  who  dream  about 
India,  German  fools  who  dream  about 
Canada  and  South  America,  British  fools 
who  dream  about  Africa  and  the  East; 
aggressionists  in  the  blood,  people  who 
can  no  more  let  nations  live  in  peace 
than  kleptomaniacs  can  keep  their  hands 
in  their  own  pockets.  But  quite  con- 
ceivably there  are  honest  monarchs  and 
sane  foreign  ministers  very  ready  to 
snatch  at  the  chance  of  swamping  the 
evil  in  their  own  Chancelleries. 

It  is  just  here  that  the  value  of  neutral 
participation  will  come  in.  Whatever 
ambitions  the  neutral  povt^ers  may  have 
of  their  own,  it  may  be  said  generally 
that  they  are  keenly  interested  in  prevent- 
ing the  settlement  from  degenerating  inta 
a  deal  in  points  of  vantage  for  any  fur- 
ther aggressions  in  any  direction.  Both 
the  United  States  of  America  and  China 
are  traditionally  and  incurably  pacific 
powers,  professing  and  practicing  an  un- 
aggressive policy,  and  the  chief  out- 
standing minor  States  are  equally  con- 
cerned in  securing  a  settlement  that 
shall  settle. 

And  moreover,  so  wide  reaching  now 
are  all  international  agreements  that 
they  have  not  only  a  claim  to  intervene 
juridically,  but  they  have  the  much  more 


pressing  claim  to  participate  on  the 
ground  that  no  sort  of  readjustment  of 
Europe,  Western  Asia,  and  Africa  can 
leave  their  own  futures  unaffected.  They 
are  wanted  not  only  in  the  interests  of 
the  belligerent  peoples,  but  for  their  own 
sakes  and  the  welfare  of  the  world 
all  together. 


Now  a  world  conference,  once  it  is 
assembled,  can  take  up  certain  ques- 
tions that  no  partial  treatment  can 
ever  hope  to  meet.  The  first  of  the 
questions  is  disarmament.  No  one 
who  has  watched  the  politics  of  the 
last  forty  years  can  doubt  the  very 
great  share  the  business  and  finance  of 
armament  manufacture  has  played  in 
bringing  about  the  present  horrible  kill- 
ing, and  no  one  who  has  read  accounts 
of  the  fighting  can  doubt  how  much  this 
industry  has  enhanced  the  torment, 
cruelty,  and  monstrosity  of  war. 

In  the  old  warfare  a  man  was  either 
stabbed,  shot,  or  thrust  through  after 
an  hour  or  so  of  excitement,  and  all  the 
wounded  on  the  field  were  either  com- 
fortably murdered  or  attended  to  before 
the  dawn  of  the  next  day.  One  was 
killed  by  human  hands,  Avith  under- 
standable and  tolerable  injuries.  But  in 
this  war  the  bulk  of  the  dead — of  the 
western  Allies,  at  any  rate — have  been 
killed  by  machinery,  the  wounds  have 
been  often  of  an  inconceivable  horrible- 
ness,  and  the  fate  of  the  wounded 
has  been  more  frightful  than  was 
ever  the  plight  of  wounded  in  the 
hands  of  victorious  savages.  For  days 
multitudes  of  men  have  been  left 
mangled,  half  buried  in  mud  and  filth, 
or  soaked  with  water,  or  frozen,  crying, 
raving  between  the  contending  trenches. 
The  number  of  men  that  the  war,  with- 
out actual  physical  wounds,  has  shat- 
tered mentally  and  driven  insane  be- 
cause of  its  noise,  its  stresses,  its  strange 
unnaturalness,  is  enormous.  Horror  in 
this  war  has  overcome  more  men  than 
did  all  the  arrows  of  Cressy. 

Almost  all  this  enhanced  terribleness 
of  war  is  due  to  the  novel  machinery  of 
destruction  that  science  has  rendered 
possible.     The  wholesale  mangling  and 


42 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


destroying  of  men  by  implements  they 
have  never  seen,  without  any  chance  of 
retaliation,  has  been  its  most  constant 
feature.  You  cannot  open  a  paper  of 
any  date  since  the  war  began  without 
reading  of  men  burned,  scalded,  and 
drowned  by  the  bursting  of  torpedoes 
from  submarines,  of  men  falling  out  of 
the  sky  from  shattered  aeroplanes,  of 
women  and  children  in  Antwerp  or  Paris 
mutilated  frightfully  or  torn  to  ribbons 
by  aerial  bombs,  of  men  smashed  and 
buried  alive  by  shells.  An  indiscrimi- 
nate, diabolical  violence  of  explosives  re- 
sulting in  cruelties  for  the  most  part 
ineffective  from  the  military  point  of 
view  is  the  incessant  refrain  of  this 
history. 

The  increased  dreadfulness  of  war  due 
to  modem  weapons  is,  however,  only 
one  consequence  of  their  development. 
The  practicability  of  aggressive  war  in 
settled  countries  now  is  entirely  de- 
pendent on  the  use  of  elaborate  artillery 
on  land  and  warships  at  sea.  Were 
there  only  rifles  in  the  world,  were  an 
ordinai-y  rifle  the  largest  kind  of  gun 
permitted,  and  were  ships  specifically 
made  for  war  not  so  made,  then  it  would 
be  impossible  to  invade  any  country  de- 
fended by  a  patriotic  and  spirited  popu- 
lation with  any  hopes  of  success  because 
of  the  enormous  defensive  capacity  of 
entrenched  riflemen  not  subjected  to  an 
unhampered  artillery  attack. 

Modern  war  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
equipment  of  the  most  costly  and  elabo- 
rate sort.  A  general  agreement  to  re- 
duce that  equipment  would  not  only 
greatly  minimize  the  evil  of  any  war 
that  did  break  out,  but  it  would  go  a 
long  way  toward  the  abolition  of  war. 
A  community  of  men  might  be  unwilling 
to  renounce  their  right  of  fighting  one 
another  if  occasion  arose,  but  they  might 
still  be  willing  to  agree  not  to  carry  arms 
or  to  carry  arms  of  a  not  too  lethal  sort, 
to  carry  pistols  instead  of  rifles  or  sticks 
instead  of  swords.  That,  indeed,  has 
been  the  history  of  social  amelioration 
in  a  number  of  communities;  it  has  led 
straight  to  a  reduction  in  the  number 
of  encounters.  So  in  the  same  way  the 
powers  of  the  world  might  be  willing  to 
adopt   such  a   limitation  of  armaments. 


while  still  retaining  the  sovereign  right  of 
declaring  war  in  certain  eventualities. 
Under  the  assurances  of  a  world  council 
threatening  a  general  intervention,  such 
a  partial  disarmament  would  be  greatly 
facilitated. 

And  another  aspect  of  disarmament 
which  needs  to  be  taken  up  and  which 
only  a  world  congress  can  take  up  must 
be  the  arming  of  barbaric  or  industrially 
backward  powers  by  the  industrially 
and  ai'tillery  rorces  m  such  countries  as 
efficient  powers,  the  creation  of  navies 
Turkey,  Servia,  Peru,  and  the  like.  In 
Belgium  countless  Germans  were  blown 
to  pieces  by  German-made  guns,  Europe 
arms  Mexico  against  the  United  States; 
China,  Africa,  Arabia  are  full  of  Euro- 
pean and  American  weapons.  It  is  only 
the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  highly  or- 
ganized States  that  permit  this  leakage 
of  power.  The  tremendous  warnings  of 
our  war  should  serve  to  temper  their 
foolish  hostilities,  and  now,  if  ever,  is 
the  time  to  restrain  this  insane  arming 
of  the  less  advanced  communities. 

But  before  that  can  be  done  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  manufacture  of  war  ma- 
terial should  cease  to  be  a  private  indus- 
try and  a  source  of  profit  to  private  in- 
dividuals, that  all  the  invention  and  en- 
terprise that  blossoms  about  business 
should  be  directed  no  longer  to  the 
steady  improvement  of  man-killing.  It 
is  a  preposterous  and  unanticipated 
thing  that  respectable  British  gentlemen 
should  be  directing  magnificently  organ- 
ized masses  of  artisans  upon  the  Tyne- 
side  in  the  business  of  making  weapons 
that  may  ultimately  smash  some  of  those 
very  artisans  to  smithereens. 

At  the.  risk  of  being  called  "  Utopian  " 
I  would  submit  that  the  world  is  not  so 
foolish  as  to  allow  that  sort  of  thing  to 
go  on  indefinitely.  It  is,  indeed,  quite  a 
recent  human  development.  All  this 
great  business  of  armament  upon  com- 
mercial lines  is  the  growth  of  half  a 
century.  But  it  has  grown  with  the 
vigor  of  an  evil  weed,  it  has  thrown  out 
a  dark  jungle  of  indirect  advertisement, 
and  it  has  compromised  and  corrupted 
great  numbers  of  investors  and  financial 
people.  It  is  perhaps  the  most  powerful 
single  "interest  of  all  those  that  will  fight 


THE  PEACE   OF   THE   WORLD 


43 


against  the  systematic  minimization  and 
abolition  of  war,  and  rather  than  lose 
his  end  it  may  be  necessary  for  the 
pacifist  to  buy  out  all  these  concerns,  to 
insist  upon  the  various  States  that  have 
sheltered  them  taking  them  over,  lock, 
Stock,  and  barrel,  as  going  businesses. 

From  what  we  know  of  officialism 
everywhere,  the  mere  transfer  will  in- 
volve almost  at  once  a  decline  in  their 
vigor  and  innovating  energy.  It  is  per- 
haps fortunate  that  the  very  crown  of 
the  private  armaments  business  is  the 
Krupp  organization  and  that  its  capture 
and  suppression  is  a  matter  of  supreme 
importance  to  all  the  allied  powers. 
Russia,  with  her  huge  population,  has 
not  as  yet  developed  armament  works 
upon  a  very  large  scale  and  would 
probably  welcome  proposals  that  mini- 
mized the  value  of  machinery  and  so 
enhanced  that  of  men.  Beyond  this  and 
certain  American  plants  for  the  making 
of  rifles  and  machine  guns  only  British 
and  French  capital  is  very  deeply  in- 
volved in  the  armaments  trade.  The 
problem  is  surely  not  too  difficult  for 
human  art  and  honesty. 

It  is  not  being  suggested  that  the 
making  of  arms  should  cea^e  in  the 
world,  but  only  that  in  every  country  it 
should  become  a  State  monopoly  and  so 
completely  under  Government  control. 
If  the  State  can  monopolize  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  spirits,  as  Russia 
has  done,  if  it  can,  after  the  manner  of 
Great  Britain,  control  the  making  and 
sale  of  such  a  small,  elusive  substance 
as  saccharin,  it  is  ridiculous  to  suppose 
that  it  cannot  keep  itself  fully  informed 
of  the  existence  of  such  elaborated  ma- 
chinery as  is  needed  to  make  a  modern 
rifle  barrel.  And  it  demands  a  very 
minimum  of  alertness,  good  faith,  and 
good  intentions  for  the  various  manu- 
facturing countries  to  keep  each  other 
and  the  world  generally  informed  upon 
the  question  of  the  respective  military 
equipments.  From  this  state  of  affairs 
to  a  definition  of  a  permissible  maximum 
of  strength  on  land  and  sea  for  all  the 
high  contracting  powers  is  an  altogether 
practicable  step.  Disarmament  is  not  a 
dream;  it  is  a  thing  more  practicable 
than  a  general  hygienic  convention  and 


more  easily  enforced  than  custom  and 
excise. 

Now  none  of  this  really  involves  the 
abandonment  of  armies  or  uniforms  or 
national  service.  Indeed,  to  a  certain 
extent  it  restores  the  importance  of  the 
soldier  at  the  expense  of  machinery.  A 
world  conference  for  the  suppressing  of 
the  peace  and  the  preservation  of  arma- 
ments would  neither  interfere  with  such 
dear  incorrigible  squabbles  as  that  of  the 
orange  and  green  factions  in  Ireland, 
(though  it  might  deprive  them  of  their 
more  deadly  weapons,)  nor  absolutely 
prohibit  war  between  adjacent  States.  It 
would,  however,  be  a  very  powerful  de- 
laying force  against  the  outbreak  of 
war,  and  it  would  be  able  to  insist  with 
a  quite  novel  strength  upon  the  obser- 
vation of  the  rules  of  war. 

It  is  no  good  pretending  that  mere 
pacifism  will  end  war;  what  will  end 
war,  what,  indeed,  may  be  ending  war 
at  the  present  time,  is  war — against 
militarism.  Force  respects  itself  and 
no  other  power.  The  hope  for  a  world 
of  peace  in  the  future  lies  in  that,  in  the 
possibility  of  a  great  alliance,  so  power- 
ful that  it  will  compel  adhesions,  an 
alliance  prepared  to  make  war  upon 
and  destroy  and  replace  the  Govern- 
ment of  any  State  that  became  aggres- 
sive in  its  militarism.  This  alliance  will 
be  in  effect  a  world  congress  perpetually 
restraining  aggressive  secession,  and 
obviously  it  must  regard  all  the  No- 
Man's  Lands — and  particularly  that  wild 
waste,  the  ocean — as  its  highway.  The 
fleets  and  marines  of  the  allied  world 
powers  must  become  the  police  of  the 
wastes  and  waters  of  the  earth. 

VI. 

Now,  such  a  collective  control  of 
belligerence  and  international  relations 
is  the  obvious  common  sense  settle- 
ment of  the  present  world  conflict, 
it  is  so  manifest,  so  straiight-forward 
that  were  it  put  plainly  to  them 
it  would  probably  receive  the  assent  of 
nineteen  sane  men  out  of  twenty  in  the 
world.  This,  ftr  some  such  thing  as 
this,  they  would  agree,  is  far  better 
than  isolations  and  the  perpetual  threat 
of  fresh  warfare. 


44 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


But  against  it  there  work  forces,  with- 
in these  people  and  without,  that  render 
the  attainment  of  this  generally  accep- 
table solution  far  less  probable  than  a 
kind  of  no-solution  that  will  only  be  a 
reopening  of  all  our  hostilities  and  con- 
flicts upon  a  fresh  footing.  Some  of 
these  forces  are  vague  and  general,  and 
can  only  be  combated  by  a  various  and 
abundant  liberal  literature,  in  a  widely 
dispersed  battle  in  which  each  right- 
thinking  man  must  do  as  his  conscience 
directs  him.  There  are  the  vague  na- 
tional antagonisms,  the  reservations  in 
favor  of  one's  own  country's  righteous- 
ness, harsh  religious  and  social  and 
moral  cant  of  the  Carlyle  type,  greed, 
resentment,  and  suspicion.  The  great- 
est of  these  vague  oppositions  is  that 
want  of  faith  which  makes  man  say  war 
has  always  been  and  must  always  be, 
which  makes  them  prophesy  that  what- 
ever we  do  will  become  corrupted  and 
evil,  even  in  the  face  of  intolerable 
present  evils  and  corruptions. 

When  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  I 
published  an  article  headed  "  The  War 
That  Will  End  War,"  at  once 
Mr.  W.  L.  George  hastened  to  reprove 
my  dreaming  impracticability.  "  War 
there  has  always  been."  Great  is  the 
magic  of  a  word!  He  was  quite  ob- 
livious to  the  fact  that  war  has  changed 
completely  in  its  character  half  a  dozen 
times  in  half  a  dozen  centuries;  that 
the  war  we  fought  in  South  Africa  and 
the  present  war  and  the  wars  of  me- 
diaeval Italy  and  the  wars-  of  the  Red 
Indians  have  about  as  much  in  common 
as  a  cat  and  a  man  and  a  pair  of  scissors 
and  a  motor  car — namely,  that  they  may 
all  be  the  means  of  death. 

If  war  can  change  its  character  as 
much  as  it  has  done  it  can  change  it 
altogether;  if  peace  can  be  kept  indefi- 
nitely in  India  or  North  America,  it  can 
be  kept  throughout  the  world.  It  is  not 
I  who  dream,  but  Mr.  George  and  his 
like  who  are  not  yet  fully  awake,  and 
it  is  their  somnolence  that  I  dread  more 
than  anything  else  when  I  think  of  the 
great  task  of  settlement  before  the 
world. 

It  is  this  rather  hopeless,  inert, 
pseudo-sage    mass    of    unbelievers    who 


render  possible  the  continuation  of  war 
dangers.  They  give  scope  for  the  activi- 
ties of  the  evil  minority  which  hates, 
which  lives  by  pride  and  grim  satisfac- 
tions, and  which  is  therefore  anxious 
to  have  more  war  and  more.  And 
it  is  these  inert  half -willed  people 
who  will  obstruct  the  disentanglement 
of  the  settlement  from  diplomatic  hands. 
"  What  do  we  know  about  the  nuance  of 
such  things?"  they  will  ask,  with  that 
laziness  that  apes  modesty.  It  is  they 
who  will  complain  when  we  seek  to  buy 
out  the  armaments  people.  Probably  all 
the  private  armament  firms  in  the  world 
could  be  bought  up  for  seventy  million 
pounds,  but  the  unbelievers  will  shake 
their  heads  and  say:  "Then  there  will 
only  be  something  else  instead." 

Yet  there  are  many  ungauged  forces 
on  the  side  of  the  greater  settlement. 
Cynicism  is  never  more  than  a  half- 
truth,  and-  because  man  is  imperfect  it 
does  not  follow  that  he  must  be  futile. 
Russia  is  a  land  of  strange  silences,  but 
it  is  manifest  that  whatever  the  inner- 
most quality  of  the  Czar  may  be,  he  is 
no  clap-trap  vulgar  conqueror  of  the 
Wilhelm-Napoleon  pattern.  He  began 
his  reign,  and  he  may  yet  crown  his 
reign,  with  an  attempt  to  establish  peace 
on  a  newer,  broader  foundation.  His  re- 
ligion, it  would  seem,  is  his  master  and 
not  his  servant.  There  has  been  no 
Russian  Bernhardi. 

And  there  has  been  much  in  America, 
much  said  and  much  done,  since  the  war 
broke  out  that  has  surprised  the  world. 
I  may  confess  for  myself,  and  I  believe 
that  I  shall  speak  for  many  other  Euro- 
peans in  this  matter,  that  what  we  feared 
most  in  the  United  States  was  levity. 
We  expected  mere  excitement,  violent 
fluctuations  of  opinion,  a  confused  irre- 
sponsibility, and  possibly  mischievous 
and  disastrous  interventions.  It  is  no 
good  hiding  an  open  secret.  We  judged 
America  by  the  peace  headline.  It  is 
time  we  began  to  offer  our  apologies  to 
America  and  democracy.  The  result  of 
reading  endless  various  American  news- 
papers and  articles,  of  following  the 
actions  of  the  American  Government,  of 
talking  to  representative  Americans,  is 
to  realize  the  existence  of  a  very  clear, 


THE  PEACE   OF   THE   WORLD 


45 


strong  national  mentality,  a  firm,  self- 
controlled,  collective  will,  far  more  con- 
siderable in  its  totality  than  the  world 
has  ever  seen  before. 

We  thought  the  United  States  would 
be  sentimentally  patriotic  and  irrespon- 
sible, that  they  would  behave  as  though 
the  New  World  was,  indeed,  a  sepa- 
rate planet,  and  as  though  they  had 
neither  duties  nor  brotherhood  in 
Europe.  It  is  quite  clear,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  consider  this  war  as  their  affair 
also,  and  that  they  have  the  keenest  sense 
of  their  responsibility  for  the  general 
welfare  of  mankind. 

So  that  as  a  second  chance,  after  the 
possibility  of  a  broad  handling  of  the 
settlement  by  the  Czar,  and  as  a  very 
much  bigger  probability,  is  the  insist- 
ence by  America  upon  her  right  to  a 
voice  in  the  ultimate  settlement  and  an 
initiative  from  the  Western  Hemisphere 
that  will  lead  to  a  world  congress.  There 
are  the  two  most  hopeful  sources  of  that 
great  proposal.  It  is  the  tradition  of 
British  national  conduct  to  be  common- 
place to  the  pitch  of  dullness,  and  all 
the  stifled  intelligence  of  Great  Britain 
will  beat  in  vain  against  the  national 
passion  for  the  ordinary.  Britain,  in 
the  guise  of  Sir  Edward  Grey,  will  come 
to  the  congress  like  a  family  solicitor 
among  the  Gods.  What  is  the  good  of 
shamming    about    this    least    heroic    of 


Fatherlands?  But  Britain  would  fol- 
low a  lead;  the  family  solicitor  is  honest 
and  well-meaning.  France  and  Belgium 
and  Italy  are  too  deeply  in  the  affair,  or 
vithout  sufficient  moral  prestige,  for  a 
revolutionary  initiative  in  international 
relationship. 

There  is,  however,  a  possible  third 
source  from  which  the  proposal  for  a 
world  congress  might  come,  with  the 
support  of  both  neutrals  and  belliger- 
ents, and  that  is  The  Hague.  Were  there 
a  man  of  force  and  genius  at  The  Hague 
now,  a  man  speaking  with  authority  and 
not  as  the  scribes,  he  might  thrust  enor- 
mous benefits  upon  the  world. 

It  is  from  these  three  sources  that  I 
most  hope  for  leading  now.  Of  the  new 
Pope  and  his  influence  I  know  nothing. 
But  in  the  present  situation  of  the 
world's  affairs  it  behooves  us  ill  to  wait 
idle  until  leaders  clear  the  way  for  us. 
Every  man  who  realizes  the  broad  con- 
ditions of  the  situation,  every  one  who 
can  talk  or  write  or  echo,  can  do  his 
utmost  to  spread  his  realization  of  the 
possibilities  of  a  world  congress  and 
the  establishment  of  world  law  and  world 
peace  that  lie  behind  the  monstrous  ago- 
nies and  cruelties  and  confusions  of  this 
catastrophic  year.  Given  an  immense 
body  of  opinion  initiatives  may  break 
out  effectively  anywhere;  failing  it,  they 
will  be  fruitless  everywhere. 


SMALL  BUT  GREAT-SOULED. 

By   EMMELINE   PANKHURST. 
[From   King  Albert's   Book.] 

THE  women  of  Great  Britain  will  never 
forget  what  Belgium  has  done  for  all 
that  women  hold  most  dear. 
In  the  days  to  come  mothers  will  tell  their 
children  how  a  small  but  great-souled  nation 
fought  to  the  death  against  overwhelming 
odds  and  sacrificed  all  things  to  save  the 
world  from  an  intolerable  tyranny. 

The  story  of  the  Belgian  people's  defense 
of  freedom  will  inspire  countless  generations 
yet  unborn. 


Zeppelin  Raids  on  London 

By  the  Naval  Correspondent  of  The  London  Times 

[From    The   London    Times,    Jan.    22,    1915.] 


SOME  doubt  has  been  thrown  by- 
correspondents  upon  the  ability 
of  the  Zeppelins  to  reach  London 
from  Cuxhaven,  the  place  from 
which  the  raiders  of  Tuesday  night  ap- 
pear to  have  started.  The  distance  which 
the  airships  traveled,  including  their 
manoeuvres  over  the  land,  must  have 
been  quite  650  miles.  This  is  not  nearly 
as  far  as  similar  airships  have  traveled 
in  the  past.  One  of  the  Zeppelins  flew 
from  Friedrichshafen,  on  Lake  Con- 
stance, to  Berlin,  a  continuous  flight  of 
about  1,000  miles,  in  thirty-one  hours. 
Our  naval  officers  will  also  recall  the  oc- 
casion of  the  visit  of  the  First  Cruiser 
Squadron  to  Copenhagen  in  September, 
1912,  when  the  German  passenger  airship 
Hansa  was  present.  The  Hansa  made 
the  run  from  Hamburg  to  Copenhagen, 
a  distance  of  198  miles,  in  seven  hours, 
and  Count  Zeppelin  was  on  board  her. 
Supposing  an  airship  left  Cuxhaven  at 
noon  on  some  day  when  the  conditions 
were  favorable  and  traveled  to  London, 
she  could  not  get  back  again  by  noon 
next  day  if  she  traveled  at  the  half- 
power  speed  which  the  vessels  on  Tues- 
day appear  to  have  used.  But  if  she  did 
the  run  at  full  speed — that  is  to  say,  at 
about  fifty  m'iles  an  hour — she  could 
reach  London  by  9  o'clock  the  same  even- 
ing, have  an  hour  to  manoeuvre  over  the 
capital,  and  return  by  7  o'clock  next 
morning.  With  a  favorable  wind  for  her 
return  journey,  she  might  make  an  even 
longer  stay.  Given  suitable  conditions, 
therefore,  as  on  Tuesday,  there  appears 
to  be  no  reason  why,  as  far  as  speed  and 
fuel  endurance  are  concerned,  these  ves- 
sels should  not  reach  London  from  Cux- 
haven. 

With  regard  also  to  the  amount  of  am- 
munition a  Zeppelin  can  carry,  this  de- 
pends, of  course,  on  the  lifting  power  of 
the  airship  and  the  way  in  which  it  is 


distributed.  The  later  Zeppelins  are  said 
to  be  able  to  carry  a  load  of  about  15,- 
000  pounds,  which  is  available  for  the 
crew,  fuel  for  the  engines,  ballast,  pro- 
visions, and  spare  stores,  a  wireless  in- 
stallation, and  armament  or  ammunition. 
With  engines  of  500  horse  power,  some- 
thing like  360  pounds  of  fuel  is  used  pel- 
hour  to  drive  them  at  full  speed.  Thus 
for  a  journey  of  twenty  hours  the  vessel 
would  need  at  least  7,200  pounds  of  fuel. 
The  necessary  crew  would  absorb  2,000 
pounds  more,  and  probably  another  1,500 
pounds  would  be  taken  up  for  ballast  and 
stores.  Allowing  a  weight  of  250  pounds 
for  the  wireless  equipment,  there  would 
remain  about  4,000  pounds  for  bombs,  or. 
something  less  than  two  tons  of  ex- 
plosives, for  use  against  a  target  458 
miles  from  the  base.  This  amount  of  am- 
munition could  be  increased  proportion- 
ately as  the  conditions  were  altered  by 
using  a  nearer  base,  or  by  proceeding  at 
a  slower  and  therefore  more  economical 
speed,  &c. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  although  the  Ger- 
man airships  were  expected  to  act  as 
scouts  in  the  North  Sea  they  do  not 
appear  to  have  accomplished  anything  in 
this  direction.  Possibly  this  has  been  due 
to  the  fear  of  attack  by  our  men-of-war 
or  aircraft  if  the  movements  were  made 
in  daytime,  when  alone  they  would 
be  useful  for  this  purpose.  What  hap- 
pened during  the  Christmas  Day  affair, 
when,  as  the  official  report  said,  "  a 
novel  combat "  ensued  between  the  most 
modern  cruisers  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
enemy's  aircraft  and  submarines  on  the 
other,  would  not  tend  to  lessen  this  ap- 
prehension. On  the  other  hand,  the 
greater  stability  of  the  atmosphere  at 
night  makes  navigation  after  dark  easier, 
and  I  believe  that  it  has  been  usual  in  all 
countries  for  airships  to  make  their  trial 
trips  at  night. 

It  is  customary  also  for  the  airships-  to 


Radius  of  Action  of  a  Modern  Zeppelin 


The  above  outline  map,  which  we  reproduce  from  "  The  Naval  Annual," 
shows  in  the  dotted  circle  the  comparative  radius  of  action  of  a  modern  Zeppelin  at 
half-power — about  36  knots  speed — with  other  types  of  air  machines,  assuming 
her  to  be  based  on  Cologne.  It  is  estimated  that  aircraft  of  this  type,  with  a 
displacement  of  about  22  tons,  could  run  for  60  hours  at  half-speed,  and  cover  a 
distance  equivalent  to  about  2,160  sea  miles.  This  would  represent  the  double 
voyage,  out  and  home,  from  Cologne  well  to  the  north  of  the  British  Isles,  to 
Petrograd,  to  Athens,  or  to  Lisbon.  The  inner  circle  shows  the  radius  of  action 
of  a  Parseval  airship  at  half-power — about  30  knots — based  on  Farnborough,  and 
the  small  inner  circle  represents  the  radius  of  action  of  a  hydro-aeroplane  based 
on  the  Medway. 


47 


48 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  .CURRENT  HISTORY 


carry,  in  addition  to  explosive  and  in- 
cendiary bombs,  others  which  on  being 
dropped  throw  out  a  light  and  thereby 
help  to  indicate  to  the  vessel  above  the 
object  which  it  is  desired  to  aim  at.  Prob- 
ably some  of  the  bombs  which  were 
thrown  in  Norfolk  were  of  this  character. 
It  is  understood  that  all  idea  of  carrying 
an  armament  on  top  of  the  Zeppelins  has 
now  been  abandoned,  and  it  is  obvious 
that  if  searchlight  equipment  or  guns  of 
any  sort  were  carried  the  useful  weight 
for  bombs  would  have  to  be  reduced 
unless  the  range  of  action  was  dimindshed. 
It  will  have  been  noticed  that  the  Zep- 
pelins which  came  on  Tuesday  appear  to 
have  been  anxious  to  get  back  before 
daylight,  which  looks  as  if  they  expected 
to  be  attacked  if  they  were  seen,  as  it  is 
fairly  certain  they  would  have  been. 

Assuming  the  raid  of  Tuesday  to  have 
been  in  the  nature  of  a  trial  trip,  it  is 


rather  curious  that  it  was  not  made, 
before.  Apparently  the  Zeppelins  can 
only  trust  themselves  to  make  a  raid  of 
this  description  in  very  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. Strong  winds,  heavy  rain, 
or  even  a  damp  atmosphere  are  all 
hindrances  to  be  considered.  That  there 
will  be  more  raids  is  fairly  certain,  but 
there  cannot  be  many  nights  when  the 
Germans  can  hope  to  have  a  repetition  of 
the  conditions  of  weather  and  darkness 
which  prevailed  this  week.  It  should  be 
possible,  more  or  less,  to  ascertain  the 
nights  'in  every  month  in  which,  given 
other  suitable  circumstances,  raids  ara 
likely  to  be  made.  In  view  of  the  proba- 
bility that  the  attacks  made  by  British 
aviators  on  the  Zeppelin  bases  at  Diissel- 
dorf  and  Friedrichshafen  caused  a  delay 
in  the  German  plans  for  making  this 
week's  attack,  it  would  appear  that  the 
most  effective  antidote  would  be  a  repe- 
tition of  such  legitimate  operations. 


JULIUS  CAESAR  ON  THE  AISNE 

[From  The  New  Yorker  Heiold   (Morgenblatt.)] 


IT  has  repeatedly  been  pointed  out  that  2,000  years  ago  Julius  Caesar  fought 
on  the  battlegrounds  of  the  Aisne,  which  are  now  the  location  of  the  fierce 
fighting  between  the  Germans  and  the  French.  It  is  probably  less  known, 
however,  tJiat  in  this  present  war  Caesar's  "  Commentarii  de  Bello  Gallico  " 
are  used  by  French  officers  as  a  practical  text  book  on  strategy.  The  war 
correspondent  of  the  Corrierei  della  Serra  reports  this  some  what  astonishing 
fact. 

A  few  weeks  ago  he  visited  his  friend,  a  commanding  Colonel  of  a  French 
regiment,  in  his  trench,  which  was  furnished  with  bare  necessities  only.  In  a 
corner  on  a  small  table  lay  the  open  volume  of  "  Commentarii  Caesaris," 
which  the  visitor  took  into  his  hand  out  of  curiosity  in  order  to  see  what 
passage  the  Colonel  had  just  been  reading.  There  he  found  the  description 
of  the  fight  against  the  Renier,  who,  at  that  time,  lived  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  present  city  of  Rheims.  Principally  with  the  aid  of  his  Numidian 
troops,  Caesar  at  that  time  had  prevented  the  Remer  from  crossing  the  River 
Axona,  today  called  the  Aisne. 

Caesar's  camp  was  only  a  few  kilometers  from  Berry-au-Bac,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Pontavert,  the  headquarters  of  tlie  division  to  which  the  regiment 
of  the  Colonel  belonged.  -This  Colonel  had  received  the  order  to  cross  the 
River  Aisne  with  Moroccans  and  Spahis,  and  for  this  purpose  he  had  studied 
the  description  of  Caesar.  To  the  astonished  question  of  the  reporter,  what 
made  him  occupy  his  mind  with  the  study  of  Caesar,  the  Frenchman  i-eplied : 

"  Caesar's  battle  descriptions  form  a  book  from  which  even  in  tills 
present-day  war  a  great  deal  may  be  learned.  Caesar  is  by  no  means  as 
obsolete  as  you  seem  to  think.  I  aslt  you  to  consider,  for  instance,  that  the 
trenches  which  have  gained  so  much  importance  in  this  war  date  back  to 
Julius  Caesar." 


H.     M.     CHRISTIAN     X 
King    of    Denmark 

(Photo  from  Paul   Thompson) 


PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  QUEENS  OF  THE 

NETHERLANDS 
Queen    Wilhelmina    with    Her    Little    Daughter    Juliana, 
Princess   of   Orange 


Sir  John  French's  Own  Story 

Continuing  the  Famous  Dispatches  of  the  British  Commander  in  Chief 

to  Lord  Kitchener 

The  previous  dispatches,  reviewing  the  operations  of  the  British  regular  and  territorial 
troops  on  the  Continent  under  Field  Marshal  French's  chief  command,  appeared  in  The  New 
YoKK  Tikes  Cuurent  History  of  Jan.  23,  1915,  bringing  the  account  of  operations  to  Nov.  20. 
I'.tl4.  The  official  dispatch  to  Earl  Kitchener  presented  below  records  the  bitter  experiences 
of  the  Winter  in  the  trenches  from  the  last  week  of  November  until  Feb.  2,  1915. 


The  following  dispatch  was  received 
on  Feb.  12,  1915,  from  the  Field  Mar- 
shal Commanding  in  Chief,  the  British 
Army  in  the  Field. 

To  the  Secretary  of  State  for  War, 
War  Office,  London,  S.  W. 

General  Headquarters, 

Feb.  2,  1915. 

MY  Lord:  I  have  the  honor  to  for- 
ward a  further  report  on  the 
operations  of  the  army  under 
my  command. 

1.  In  the  period  under  review  the  sali- 
ent feature  was  the  presence  of  his  Maj- 
esty the  King  in  the  field.  His  Majesty 
arrived  at  Headquarters  on  Nov.  30  and 
left  on  Dec.  5. 

At  a  time  when  the  strength  and  en- 
durance of  the  troops  had  been  tried  to 
the  utmost  throughout  the  long  and  ardu- 
ous battle  of  Ypres-Armentieres  the 
presence  of  his  Majesty  in  their  midst 
was  of  the  greatest  possible  help  and 
encouragement. 

His  Majesty  visited  all  parts  of  the 
extensive  area  of  operations  and  held 
numerous  inspections  of  the  troops  be- 
hind the  line  of  trenches. 

On  Nov.  16  Lieutenant  his  Royal  High- 
ness the  Prince  of  Wales,  K.  G.,  Grena- 
dier Guards,  joined  my  staff  as  aide  de 
camp. 

2.  Since  the  date  of  my  last  report  the 
operations  of  the  army  under  my  com- 
mand have  been  subject  almost  entirely 
to  the  limitations  of  weather. 

History  teaches  us  that  the  course  of 
campaigns  in  Europe,  which  have  been 
actively  prosecuted  during  the  months  of 
December  and  January,  have  been  largely 
influenced  by  weather  conditions.  It 
should,   however,   be   thoroughly   under- 


stood throughout  the  country  that  the 
most  recent  development  of  armaments 
and  the  latest  methods  of  conducting 
warfare  have  added  greatly  to  the  diffi- 
culties and  drawbacks  of  a  vigorous  Win- 
ter campaign. 

To  cause  anything  more  than  a  waste 
of  ammunition  long-range  artillery  fire 
requires  constant  and.  accurate  observa- 
tion; but  this  most  necessary  condition 
is  rendered  impossible  of  attainment  in 
the  midst  of  continual  fog  and  mist. 

Again,  armies  have  now  grown  accus- 
tomed to  rely  largely  on  aircraft  recon- 
noissance  for  accurate  information  of 
the  enemy,  but  the  effective  perform- 
ance of  this  service  is  materially  influ- 
enced by  wind  and  weather. 

The  deadly  accuracy,  range,  and  quick- 
firing  capabilities  of  the  modern  rifle  and 
machine  gun  require  that  a  fire-swept 
zone  be  crossed  in  the  shortest  possible 
space  of  time  by  attacking  troops.  But  if 
men  are  detained  under  the  enemy's  fire 
by  the  difficulty  of  emerging  from  a 
water-logged  trench,  and  by  the  necessity 
of  passing  over  ground  knee-deep  in  hold- 
ing mud  and  slush,  such  attacks  become 
practically  prohibitive  owing  to  the  losses 
they  entail. 

During  the  exigencies  of  the  heavy 
fighting  which  ended  in  the  last  week  of 
November  the  French  and  British  forces 
had  become  somewhat  mixed  up,  entail- 
ing a  certain  amount  of  difficulty  in  mat- 
ters of  supply  and  in  securing  unity  of 
command. 

By  the  end  of  November  I  was  able  to 
concentrate  the  army  under  my  com- 
mand in  one  area,  and,  by  holding  a  short- 
er line,  to  establish  effective  reserves. 

By  the  beginning  of  December  there 


50 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


was  a  considerable  falling  off  in  the  vol- 
ume of  artillery  fire  directed  against  our 
front  by  the  enemy.  Reconnoissance  and 
reports  showed  that  a  certain  amount  of 
artillery  had  been  withdrawn.  We  judged 
that  the  cavalry  in  our  front,  with  the 
exception  of  one  division  of  the  Guard, 
had  disappeared. 

There  did  not,  however,  appear  to  have 
been  any  great  diminution  in  the  num- 
bers of  infantry  holding  the  trenches. 

3.  Although  both  artillery  and  rifle  fire 
were  exchanged  with  the  enemy  every 
day,  and  sniping  went  on  more  or  less 
continuously  during  the  hours  of  day- 
light, the  operations  which  call  for  spe- 
cial record  or  comment  are  comparatively 
few. 

During  the  last  week  in  November 
some  successful  minor  night  operations 
were  carried  out  in  the  Fourth  Corps. 

On  the  night  of  Nov.  23-24  a  small 
party  of  the  Second  Lincolnshire  Regi- 
ment, under  Lieut.  E.  H.  Impey,  cleared 
three  of  the  enemy's  advanced  trenches 
opposite  the  Twenty-fifth  Brigade,  and 
withdrew  without  loss. 

On  the  night  of  the  24th-25th  Capt.  J. 
R.  Minshull  Ford,  Royal  Welsh  Fusiliers, 
and  Lieut.  E,  L.  Morris,  Royal  Engineers, 
with  fifteen  men  of  the  Royal  Engineers 
and  Royal  Welsh  Fusiliers,  successfully 
mined  and  blew  up  a  group  of  farms  im- 
mediately in  front  of  the  German  trenches 
on  the  Touquet-Bridoux  Road  which  had 
been  used  by  German  snipers. 

On  the  night  of  Nov.  26-27  a  small 
party  of  the  Second  Scots  Guards,  under 
Lieut.  Sir  E.  H.  W.  Hulse,  Bart.,  rushed 
the  trenches  opposite  the  Twentieth 
Brigade,  and  after  pouring  a  heavy  fire 
into  them  returned  with  useful  informa- 
tion as  to  the  strength  of  the  Germans 
and  the  position  of  machine  guns. 

The  trenches  opposite  the  Twenty-fifth 
Brigade  were  rushed  the  same  night  by  a 
patrol  of  the  Second  Rifle  Brigade,  under 
Lieut.  E.  Durham. 

On  Nov.  23  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twelfth  Regiment  of  the  Fourteenth  Ger- 
man Army  Corps  succeeded  in  capturing 
some  800  yards  of  the  trenches  held  by 
the  Indian  Corps,  but  the  general  officer 
commanding  the  Meerut  Division  organ- 
ized   a    powerful    counter-attack,    which 


lasted  throughout  the  night.  At  day- 
break on  Nov.  24  the  line  was  entirely 
re-established. 

The  operation  was  a  costly  one,  involv- 
ing many  casualties,  but  the  enemy  suf- 
fered far  more  heavily. 

We  captured  over  100  prisoners,  includ- 
ing 3  officers,  as  well  as  3  machine  guns 
and  two  trench  mortars. 

On  Dec.  7  the  concentration  of  the  In- 
dian Corps  was  completed  by  the  arrival 
of  the  Sirhind  Brigade  from  Egypt. 

On  Dec.  9  the  enemy  attempted  to 
commence  a  strong  attack  against  the 
Third  Corps,  particularly  in  front  of  the 
trenches  held  by  the  Argyll  and  Suther- 
land Highlanders  and. the  Middlesex  Reg- 
iment. 

They  were  driven  back  with  heavy  loss, 
and  did  not  renew  the  attempt.  Our 
casualties  were  very  slight. 

During  the  early  days  of  December 
certain  indications  along  the  whole  front 
of  the  allied  line  induced  the  French  com- 
manders and  myself  to  believe  that  the 
enemy  had  withdrawn  considerable  forces 
from  the  western  theatre. 

Arrangements  were  made  with  the 
commander  of  the  Eighth  French  Army 
for  an  attack  to  be  commenced  on  the 
morning  of  Dec.  14. 

Operations  began  at  7  A.  M.  by  a  com- 
bined heavy  artillery  bombardment  by 
the  two  French  and  the  Second  British 
Corps. 

The  British  objectives  were  the  Petit 
Bois  and  the  Maedelsteed  Spur,  lying  re- 
spectively to  the  west  and  the  southwest 
of  the  village  of  Wytschaete. 

At  7:45  A.  M.  the  Royal  Scots,  with 
great  dash,  rushed  forward  and  attacked 
the  former,  while  the  Gordon  Highland- 
ers attacked  the  latter  place. 

The  Royal  Scots,  commanded  by  Major 
F.  J.  Duncan,  D.  S.  O.,  in  face  of  a  ter- 
rible machine  gun  and  rifle  fire,  carried 
the  German  trench  on  the  west  edge  of 
the  Petit  Bois,  capturing  two  machine 
guns  and  fifty-three  prisoners,  including 
one  officer. 

The  Gordon  Highlanders,  with  great 
gallantry,  advanced  up  the  Maedelsteed 
Spur,  forcing  the  enemy  to  evacuate  their 
front  trench.  They  were,  however,  losing 
heavily,  and  found  themselves  unable  to 


SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY 


51 


get  any  further.  At  nightfall  they  were 
obliged  to  fall  back  to  their  original 
position. 

Capt.  C.  Boddam-Whetham  and  Lieut. 
W.  F.  R.  Dobie  showed  splendid  dash, 
and  with  a  few  men  entered  the  enemy's 
leading  trenches;  but  they  were  all  either 
killed  or  captured. 

Lieut.  G.  R.  V.  Hume-Gare  and  Lieut. 
W.  H.  Paterson  also  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  gallant  leading. 

Although  not  successful,  the  operation 
was  most  creditable  to  the  fighting  spirit 
of  the  Gordon  Highlanders,  most  ably 
commanded  by  Major  A.  W.  F.  Baird, 
D.  S.  O. 

As  the  Thirty-second  French  Division 
on  the  left  had  been  unable  to  make  any 
progress,  the  further  advance  of  our  in- 
fantry into  the  Wytschaete  Wood  was 
not  practicable. 

Possession  of  the  western  edge  of  the 
Petit  Bois  was,  however,  retained. 

The  ground  was  devoid  of  cover  and 
so  water-logged  that  a  rapid  advance  was 
impossible,  the  men  sinking  deep  in  the 
mud  at  every  step  they  took. 

The  artillery  throughout  the  day  was 
very  skillfully  handled  by  the  C.  A.  R. 
A.'s  of  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  Divisions — ■ 
Major  Gen.  F.  D.  V.  Wing,  C.  B.;  Brig. 
Gen.  G.  F.  Milne,  C.  B.,  D.  S.  0.,  and  Brig. 
Gen.  J.  E.  W.  Headlam,  C.  B.,  D.  S.  O. 

The  casualties  during  the  day  were 
about  17  officers  and  407  other  ranks. 
The  losses  of  the  enemy  were  very  con- 
siderable, large  numbers  of  dead  being 
found  in  the  Petit  Bois  and  also  in  the 
communicating  trenches  in  front  of  the 
Gordon  Highlanders,  in  one  of  which  a 
hundred  were  counted  by  a  night  patrol. 

On  this  day  the  artillery  of  the  Fourth 
Division,  Third  Corps,  was  used  in  sup- 
port of  the  attack,  under  orders  of  the 
General  Officer  Commanding  Second 
Corps. 

The  remainder  of  the  Third  Corps  made 
demonstrations  against  the  enemy  with 
a  view  to  preventing  him  from  detaching 
troops  to  the  area  of  operations  of  the 
Second  Corps. 

From  Dec.  15  to  17  the  offensive  opera- 
tions which  were  commenced  on  the  14th 
were  continued,  but  were  confined  chiefly 
to  artillery  bombardment. 


The  infantry  advance  against  Wyt- 
schaete Wood  was  not  practicable  until 
the  French  on  our  left  could  make  some 
progress  to  afford  protection  to  that 
flank. 

On  the  17th  it  was  agreed  that  the 
plan  of  attack  as  arranged  should  be 
modified;  but  I  was  requested  to  con- 
tinue demonstrations  along  my  line  in 
order  to  assist  and  support  certain 
French  operations  which  were  being  con- 
ducted elsewhere. 

4.  In  his  desire  to  act  with  energy  up 
to  his  instructions  to  demonstrate  and 
occupy  the  enemy,  the  General  Officer 
Commanding  the  Indian  Corps  decided 
to  take  the  advantage  of  what  appeared 
to  him  a  favorable  opportunity  to  launch 
attacks  against  the  advanced  trenches  in 
his  front  on  Dec  18  and  19. 

The  attack  of  the  Meerut  Division  on 
the  left  was  made  on  the  morning  of  the 
19th  with  energy  and  determination,  and 
was  at  first  attended  with  considerable 
success,  the  enemy's  advanced  trenches 
being  captured.  Later  on,  however,  a 
counter-attack  drove  them  back  to  their 
original  position  with  considerable  loss. 

The  attack  of  the  Lahore  Division  com- 
menced at  4:30  A.  M.  It  was  carried  out 
by  two  companies  each  of  the  First  High- 
land Light  Infantry  and  the  First  Bat- 
talion, Fourth  Gurkha  Rifles  of  the  Sir- 
hind  Brigade,  under  Lieut.  Col.  R.  W.  H. 
Ronaldson.  This  attack  was  completely 
successful,  two  lines  of  the  enemy's 
trenches  being  captured  with  little  loss. 

Before  daylight  the  captured  trenches 
were  filled  with  as  many  men  as  they 
could  hold.  The  front  was  very  restrict- 
ed, communication  to  the  rear  impossi- 
ble. 

At  daybreak  it  was  found  that  the 
position  was  practically  untenable.  Both 
flanks  were  in  the  air,  and  a  supporting 
attack,  which  was  late  in  starting,  and, 
therefore,  conducted  during  daylight, 
failed,  although  attempted  with  the 
greatest  gallantry  and  resolution. 

Lieut.  Col.  Ronaldson  held  on  till  dusk, 
when  the  whole  of  the  captured  trenches 
had  to  be  evacuated,  and  the  detachment 
fell  back  to  its  original  line. 

By  the  night  of  Dec.  19  nearly  all  the 


69 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ground  gained  during  the  day  had  been 

lost. 

From  daylight  on  Dec.  20  the  enemy 
commenced  a  heavy  fire  from  artillery 
and  trench  mortars  on  the  whole  front 
of  the  Indian  Corps.  This  was  followed 
by  infantry  attacks,  which  were  in  espe- 
cial force  against  Givenchy,  and  between 
that  place  and  La  Quinque  Rue. 

At  about  10  A.  M.  the  enemy  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  back  the  Sirhind  Bri- 
gade and  capturing  a  considerable  part 
of  Givenchy,  but  the  Fifty-seventh  Rifles 
and  Ninth  Bhopals,  north  of  the  canal, 
and  the  Connaught  Rangers,  south  of  it, 
stood  firm. 

The  Fifteenth  Sikhs  of  the  Divisional 
Reserve  were  already  supporting  the  Sir- 
hind  Brigade.  On  the  news  of  the  retire- 
ment of  the  latter  being  received,  the 
Forty-seventh  Sikhs  were  also  sent  up  to 
reinforce  Gen.  Brunker.  The  First  Man- 
chester Regiment,  Fourth  Suffolk  Regi- 
ment, and  two  battalions  of  French  terri- 
torials under  Gen.  Carnegy  were  ordered 
to  launch  a  vigorous  counter-attack  to 
retake  by  a  flank  attack  the  trenches  lost 
by  the  Sirhind  Brigade. 

Orders  were  sent  to  Gen.  Carnegy  to 
divert  his  attack  on  Givenchy  village,  and 
to  re-establish  the  situation  there. 

A  battalion  of  the  Fifty-eighth  French 
Division  was  sent  to  Annequin  in  sup- 
port. 

About  5  P.  M.  a  gallant  attack  by  the 
First  Manchester  Regiment  and  one  com- 
pany of  the  Fourth  Suffolk  Regiment  had 
captured  Givenchy,  and  had  cleared  the 
enemy  out  of  the  two  lines  of  trenches 
to  the  northeast.  To  the  east  of  the  vil- 
lage the  Ninth  Bhopal  Infantry  and  Fif- 
ty-seventh Rifles  had  maintained  their 
positions,  but  the  enemy  were  still  in  pos- 
session of  our  trenches  to  the  north  of 
the  village. 

Gen.  Macbean,  with  the  Secunderabad 
Cavalry  Brigade,  Second  Battalion, 
Eighth  Gurkha  Rifles,  and  the  Forty-sev- 
enth Sikhs,  was  sent  up  to  support  Gen. 
Brunker,  who,  at  2  P.  M.,  directed  Gen. 
Macbean  to  move  to  a  position  of  readi- 
ness in  the  second  line  trenches  from 
Maris  northward,  and  to  counter-attack 
vigorously  if  opportunity  offered. 

Some    considerable    delay    appears    to 


have  occurred,  and  it  was  not  until  1 
A.  M.  on  the  21st  that  the  Forty-seventh 
Sikhs  and  the  Seventh  Dragoon  Guards, 
under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Col.  H.  A. 
Lempriere,  D.  S.  0.,  of  the  latter  regi- 
ment, were  launched  in  counter-attack. 

They  reached  the  enemy's  trenches,  but 
were  driven  out  by  enfilade  fire,  their 
gallant  commander  being  killed. 

The  main  attack  by  the  remainder  of 
Gen.  Macbean's  force,  with  the  remnants 
of  Lieut.  Col.  Lempriere's  detachment, 
(which  had  again  been  rallied,)  was  final- 
ly rushed  in  at  about  4:30  A.  M.,  and 
also  failed. 

In  the  northern  section  of  the  defensive 
line  the  retirement  of  the  Second  Bat- 
talion, Second  Gurkha  Rifles,  at  about  10 
A.  M.  on  the  20th,  had  left  the  flank  of 
the  First  Seaforth  Highlanders,  on  the 
extreme  right  of  the  Meerut  Division  line, 
much  exposed.  This  battalion  was  left 
shortly  afterward  completely  in  the  air 
by  the  retirement  of  the  Sirhind  Brigade. 

The  Fifty-eighth  Rifles,  therefore, 
were  ordered  to  support  the  left  of  the 
Seaforth  Highlanders,  to  fill  the  gap  cre- 
ated by  the  retirement  of  the  Gurkhas. 

During  the  whole  of  the  afternoon 
strenuous  efforts  were  made  by  the  Sea- 
forth Highlanders  to  clear  the  trenches 
to  their  right  and  left.  The  First  Bat- 
talion, Ninth  Gurkha  Rifles,  reinforced 
the  Second  Gurkhas  near  the  orchard 
where  the  Germans  were  in  occupation  of 
the  trenches  abandoned  by  the  latter  regi- 
ment. The  Garhwal  Brigade  was  being 
very  heavily  attacked,  and  their  trenches 
and  loopholes  were  much  damaged;  but 
the  brigade  continued  to  hold  its  front 
and  attack,  connecting  with  the  Sixth 
Jats  on  the  left  of  the  Dehra  Dun  Bri- 
gade. 

No  advance  in  force  was  made  by  the 
enemy,  but  the  troops  were  pinned  to 
their  ground  by  heavy  artillery  fire,  the 
Seaforth  Highlanders  especially  suffer- 
ing heavily. 

Shortly  before  nightfall  the  Second 
Royal  Highlanders,  on  the  right  of  the 
Seaforth  Highlanders,  had  succeeded  in 
establishing  touch  with  the  Sirhind  Bri- 
gade; and  the  continuous  line  (though 
dented  near  the  orchard)  existed 
throughout  the  Meerut  Division. 


SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY 


53 


Early  in  the  afternoon  of  Dec.  20  orders 
were  sent  to  the  First  Corps,  which  was 
then  in  general  army  reserve,  to  send 
an  infantry  brigade  to  support  the  In- 
dian Corps. 

The  First  Brigade  was  ordered  to  Be- 
thune,  and  reached  that  place  at  mid- 
night on  Dec.  20-21.  Later  in  the  day 
Sir  Douglas  Haig  was  ordered  to  move 
the  whole  of  the  First  Division  in  sup- 
port of  the  Indian  Corps. 

The  Third  Brigade  reached  Bethune  be- 
tween 8  A.  M.  and  9  A.  M.  on  the  21st, 
and  on  the  same  date  the  Second  Bri- 
gade arrived  at  Lacon  at  1  P.  M. 

The  First  Brigade  was  directed  on 
Givenchy,  via  Pont  Fixe,  and  the  Third 
Brigade,  through  Gorre,  on  the  trenches 
evacuated  by  the  Sirhind  Brigade.  The 
Second  Brigade  was  directed  to  support, 
the  Dehra  Dun  Brigade  being  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  General  Officer  Com- 
manding Meerut  Division. 

At  1  P.  M.  the  General  Officer  Com- 
manding First  Division  directed  the  First 
Brigade  in  attack  from  the  west  of 
Givenchy  in  a  northeasterly  direction, 
and  the  Third  Brigade  from  Festubert  in 
an  east-northeasterly  direction,  the  ob- 
ject being  to  pass  the  position  originally 
held  by  us  and  to  capture  the  German 
trenches  400  yards  to  the  east  of  it. 

By  5  P.  M.  the  First  Brigade  had  ob- 
tained a  hold  in  Givenchy,  and  the 
ground  south  as  far  as  the  canal;  and  the 
Third  Brigade  had  progressed  to  a  point 
half  a  mile  west  of  Festubert. 

By  nightfall  the  First  South  Wales 
Borderers  and  the  Second  Welsh  Regi- 
ment of  the  Third  Brigade  had  made  a 
lodgment  in  the  original  trenches  to  the 
northeast  of  Festubert,  the  First 
Gloucestershire  Regiment  continuing  the 
line  southward -along  the  track  east  of 
Festubert. 

The  First  Brigade  had  established  itself 
on  the  east  side  of  Givenchy. 

By  3  P.  M.  the  Third  Brigade  was  con- 
centrated at  Le  Touret,  and  was  ordered 
to  retake  the  trenches  which  had  been 
lost  by  the  Dehr  Dun  Brigade. 

By  10  P.  M.  the  support  trenches  west 
of  the  orchard  had  been  carried,  but  the 
original  fire  trenches  had  been  so  com- 


pletely destroyed  that  they  could  not  be 
occupied. 

This  operation  was  performed  by  the 
First  Loyal  North  Lancashire  Regiment 
and  the  First  Northamptonshire  Regi- 
ment, supported  by  the  Second  King's 
Royal  Rifle  Corps,  in  reserve. 

Througout  this  day  the  units  of  the 
Indian  Corps  rendered  all  the  assistance 
and  support  they  could  in  view  of  their 
exhausted  condition. 

At  1  P.  M.  on  the  22d  Sir  Douglas  Haig 
took  over  command  from  Sir  James  Will- 
cocks.  The  situation  in  the  front  line 
was  then  approximately  as  follows: 

South  of  the  La  Bassee  Canal  the  Con- 
naught  Rangers  of  the  Ferozepore  Bri- 
gade had  not  been  attacked.  North  of 
the  canal  a  short  length  of  our  original 
line  was  still  held  by  the  Ninth  Bhopals 
and  the  Fifty-seventh  Rifles  of  the  same 
brigade.  Connecting  with  the  latter  was 
the  First  Brigade,  holding  the  village  of 
Givenchy  and  its  eastern  and  northern 
approaches.  On  the  left  of  the  First 
Brigade  was  the  Third  Brigade.  Tenth 
had  been  lost  between  the  left  of  the 
former  and  the  right  of  the  latter.  The 
Third  Brigade  held  a  line  along,  and  in 
places  advanced  to,  the  east  of  the  Fes- 
tubert Road.  Its  left  was  in  communi- 
cation with  the  right  of  the  Meerut  Di- 
vision line,  where  troops  of  the  Second 
Brigade  had  just  relieved  the  First  Sea- 
forth  Highlanders.  To  the  north,  units 
of  the  Second  Brigade  held  an  indented 
line  west  of  the  orchard,  connecting  with 
half  of  the  Second  Royal  Highlanders, 
half  of  the  Forty-first  Dogras,  and  the 
First  Battalion  Ninth  Gurkha  Rifles. 
From  this  point  to  the  north  the  Ninth 
Jats  and  the  whole  of  the  Garhwal  Bri- 
gade occupied  the  original  line  which  they 
had  held  from  the  commencement  of  the 
operations. 

The  relief  of  most  units  of  the  south- 
ern sector  was  effected  on  the  night  of 
Dec.  22.  The  Meerut  Division  remained 
under  the  orders  of  the  First  Corps,  and 
was  not  completely  withdrawn  until 
Dec.  27. 

In  the  evening  the  position  at  Gi- 
venchy was  practically  re-established, 
and  the  Third  Brigade  had  reoccupied 
the  old  line  of  trenches. 


54 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


During  the  23d  the  enemy's  activi- 
ties ceased,  and  the  wh<>!e  position  was 
restored  to  very  much  its  original  con- 
dition. 

In  my  last  dispatch  I  had  occasion 
to  mention  the  prompt  and  ready  help 
I  received  from  the  Lahore  Division, 
under  the  command  of  Major  Gen.  H. 
B.  B.  Watkis,  C.  B.,  which  was  thrown 
into  action  immediately  on  arrival, 
•when  the  British  forces  were  very  hard 
pressed  during  the  battle  of  Ypres- 
Armentieres. 

The  Indian  troops  have  fought  with 
the  utmost  steadfastness  and  gallantry 
whenever  they  have  been  called  upon. 

Weather  conditions  were  abnormally 
bad,  the  snow  and  floods  precluding 
any  active  operations  during  the  first 
three  weeks  of  January. 

5.  At  7:30  A.  M.  on  Jan.  25  the  enemy 
began  to  shell  Bethune,  and  at  8  A.  M. 
a  strong  hostile  infantry  attack  devel- 
oped south  of  the  canal,  preceded  by  a 
heavy  bombardment  of  artillery,  minen- 
werfers,  and,  possibly,  the  explosion  of 
mines,  though  the  latter  is  doubtful. 

The  British  line  south  of  the  canal 
formed  a  pronounced  salient  from  the 
canal  on  the  left,  thence  running  for- 
ward toward  the  railway  triangle  and 
back  to  the  main  La  Bassee-Bethune 
Road,  where  it  joined  the  Fi-ench.  This 
line  was  occupied  by  half  a  battalion 
of  the  Scots  Guards,  and  half  a  bat- 
talion of  the  Coldstream  Guards,  of  the 
First  Infantry  Brigade.  The  trenches 
in  the  salient  were  blown  in  almost  at 
once,  and  the  enemy's  attack  pene- 
trated this  line.  Our  troops  retired  to 
a  partially  prepai'ed  second  line,  run- 
ning approximately  due  north  and 
south  from  the  canal  to  the  road,  some 
500  yards  west  of  the  railway  triangle. 
This  second  line  had  been  strengthened 
by  the  construction  of  a  keep  half  way 
between  the  canal  and  the  road.  Here 
the  other  two  half  battalions  of  the 
above-mentioned  regiments  were  in  sup- 
port. 

These  supports  held  up  the  enemy, 
who,  however,  managed  to  establish 
himself  in  the  brick  stacks  and  some 
communication  trenches  between  the 
keep,  the  road,  and  the  canal — and  even 


beyond  the  west  of  the  keep  on  either 
side  of  it. 

The  London  Scottish  had  in  the  mean- 
time been  sent  up  in  support,  and  a 
counter-attack  was  organized  with  the 
First  Royal  Highlanders,  part  of  the 
First  Cameron  Highlanders,  and  the  Sec- 
ond King's  Royal  Rifle  Corps,  the  latter 
regiment  having  been  sent  forward  from 
the  Divisional  Reserve. 

The  counter-attack  was  delayed  in  or- 
der to  synchronize  with  a  counter-attack 
north  of  the  canal  which  was  arranged 
for  1  P.  M. 

At  1  P.  M.  these  troops  moved  forward, 
their  flanks  making  good  progress  near 
the  road  and  the  canal,  but  their  centre 
being  held  up.  The  Second  Royal  Sussex 
Regiment  was  then  sent  forward,  late  in 
the  afternoon,  to  reinforce.  The  result 
was  that  the  Germans  were  driven  back 
far  enough  to  enable  a  somewhat  broken 
line  to  be  taken  up,  running  from  the 
culvert  on  the  railway,  almost  due  south 
to  the  keep,  and  thence  southeast  to  the 
main  road. 

The  French  left  near  the  road  had  also 
been  attacked  and  driven  back  a  little, 
but  not  to  so  great  an  extent  as  the  Brit- 
ish right.  Consequently  the  French  left 
was  in  advance  of  the  British  right,  and 
exposed  to  a  possible  flank  attack  from 
the  north. 

The  Germans  did  not,  however,  perse- 
vere further  in  their  attack. 

The  above-mentioned  line  was  strength- 
ened during  the  night,  and  the  First 
Guards  Brigade,  which  had  suffered 
severely,  was  withdrawn  into  reserve  and 
replaced  by  the  Second  Infantry  Brigade. 

While  this  was  taking  place  another 
and  equally  severe  attack  was  delivered 
north  of  the  canal  against  the  village  of 
Givenchy. 

At  8:15  A.  M.,  after  a  heavy  artillery 
bombardment  with  high  explosive  shells, 
the  enemy's  infantry  advanced  under  the 
effective  fire  of  our  artillery,  which, 
however,  was  hampered  by  the  constant 
interruption  of  telephonic  communication 
between  the  observers  and  batteries. 
Nevertheless,  our  artillery  fire,  combined 
with  that  of  the  infantry  in  the  fire 
trenches,  had  the  effect  of  driving  the 
enemy  from  its  original  direction  of  ad- 


The  places  underlined  in  the  above  map  indicate  the  points  around  La  Bassee 
and  southward  to  Arras,  where  part  of  the  British  Expeditionary  Force  was  heavily 
engaged. 


56 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


vance,  with  the  result  that  his  troops 
crowded  together  on  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  village  and  broke  through  into  the 
centre  of  the  village  as  far  as  the  keep, 
which  had  been  previously  put  in  a  state 
of  defense. 

The  Germans  had  lost  heavily,  and  a 
well-timed  local  counter-attack,  delivered 
by  the  reserves  of  the  Second  Welsh  Reg- 
iment and  First  South  Wales  Borderers, 
and  by  a  company  of  the  First  Royal 
Highlanders,  (lent  by  the  First  Brigade 
as  a  working  party — this  company  was  at 
work  on  the  keep  at  the  time,)  was  com- 
pletely successful,  with  the  result  that 
after  about  an  hour's  street  fighting  all 
who  had  broken  into  the  village  were 
either  captured  or  killed,  and  the  original 
line  around  the  village  was  re-established 
by  noon. 

South  of  the  village,  however,  and  close 
to  the  canal,  the  right  of  the  Second 
Royal  Munster  Fusiliers  fell  back  in  con- 
formity with  the  troops  south  of  the 
canal,  but  after  dark  that  regiment 
moved  forward  and  occupied  the  old  line. 

During  the  course  of  the  attack  on 
Givenchy  the  enemy  made  five  assaults 
on  the  salient  at  the  northeast  of  the 
village  about  French  Farm,  but  was  re- 
pulsed every  time  with  heavy  loss. 

6.  On  the  morning  of  Jan.  29  attacks 
were  made  on  the  right  of  the  First 
Corps,  south  of  the  canal  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  La  Bassee. 

The  enemy,  (part  of  the  Fourteenth 
German  Corps,)  after  a  severe  shell- 
ing, made  a  violent  attack  with  scaling 
ladders  on  the  keep,  also  to  the  north 
and  south  of  it.  In  the  keep  and  on 
the  north  side  the  Sussex  Regiment 
held  the  enemy  off,  inflicting  on  him 
serious  losses.  On  the  south  side  the 
hostile  infantry  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  Northamptonshire  Regiment's 
trenches,  but  were  immediately  coun- 
ter-attacked and  all  killed.  Our  artil- 
lery co-operated  well  with  the  infantry 
in  repelling  the  attack. 

In  this  action  our  casualties  were  in- 
considerable, but  the  enemy  lost  se- 
verely, more  than  200  of  his  killed  alone 
being  left  in  front  of  our  position. 

7.  On    Feb.    1    a    fine   piece    of   work 


was  carried  out  by  the  Fourth  Brigade 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Cuinchy. 

Some  of  the  Second  Coldstream 
Guards  were  driven  from  their  trenches 
at  2:30  A.  M.,  but  made  a  stand  some 
twenty  yards  east  of  them  in  a  position 
which  they  held  till  morning. 

A  counter-attack,  launched  at  3:15 
A.  M.,  by  one  company  of  the  Irish 
Guards  gnd  half  a  company  of  the  Sec- 
and  Coldstream  Guards,  proved  unsuc- 
cessful, owing  to  heavy  rifle  fire  from 
the  east  and  south. 

At  10:05  A.  M.,  acting  under  orders 
of  the  First  Division,  a  heavy  bombard- 
ment was  opened  on  the  lost  ground 
for  ten  minutes;  and  this  was  followed 
immediately  by  an  assault  by  about  fifty 
men  of  the  Second  Coldstream  Guards 
with  bayonets,  led  by  Capt.  A.  Leigh 
Bennett,  followed  by  thirty  men  of  the 
Irish  Guards,  led  by  Second  Lieut.  F. 
F^  Graham,  also  with  bayonets.  These 
were  followed  by  a  party  of  Royal  En- 
gineers with  sand  bags  and  wire. 

All  the  ground  which  had  been  lost 
was  brilliantly  retaken,  the  Second 
Coldstream  Guards  also  taking  another 
German  trench  and  capturing  two  ma- 
chine guns. 

Thirty-two  prisoners  fell  into  our 
hands. 

The  General  Officer  Commanding 
First  Division  describes  the  prepara- 
tion by  the  artillery  as  "  splendid,  the 
high  explosive  shells  dropping  in  the 
exact  spot  with   absolute  precision." 

In  forwarding  his  report  on  this  en- 
gagement, the  General  Officer  Com- 
manding First  Army  writes  as  follows: 

special  credit  is  due — 

(i)  To  Major  Gen.  Haking,  command- 
ing First  Division,  for  the  prompt  man- 
ner in  whicli  he  arranged  this  counter- 
attacli  and  for  the  general  plan  of  action, 
which  was  crowned  with  success. 

(ii)  To  the  General  Officer  commanding 
the  Fourth  Brigade  (Lord  Cavan)  for 
the  thorough  manner  in  which  lie  carried 
out  the  ordeis  of  the  General  Officer 
commanding  the  division. 

(iii)  To  the  regimental  officers,  non- 
commissioned officers,  and  men  of  the 
Second  Coldstream  Guards  and  Irish 
Guards,  who,  with  indomitable  pluck, 
stormed  two  sets  of  barricades,  captured 
three  German  trenches,  two  machine 
guns,  and  killed  or  made  prisoners  many 
of  the  enemy. 


SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY 


57 


8.  During  the  period  under  report  the 
Royal  Flying  Corps  has  again  performed 
splendid  service. 

Although  the  weather  was  almost  uni- 
formly bad  and  the  machines  suffered 
from  constant  exposure,  there  have  been 
only  thirteen  days  on  which  no  actual 
reconnoissance  has  been  effected.  Ap- 
proximately, 100,000  miles  have  been 
flown. 

In  addition  to  the  daily  and  constant 
work  of  reconnoissance  and  co-operation 
with  the  artillery,  a  number  of  aerial 
combats  have  been  fought,  raids  carried 
out,  detrainments  harassed,  parks  and 
petrol  depots  bombed,  «&c. 

Various  successful  bomb-dropping  raids 
have  been  carried  out,  usually  against  the 
enemy's  aircraft  material.  The  principle 
of  attacking  hostile  aircraft  whenever 
and  wherever  seen  (unless  highly  impor- 
tant information  is  being  delivered)  has 
been  adhered  to,  and  has  resulted  in  the 
moral  fact  that  enemy  machines  invari- 
ably beat  immediate  retreat  when  chased. 

Five  German  aeroplanes  are  known  to 
have  been  brought  to  the  ground,  and  it 
would  appear  probable  that  others, 
though  they  have  managed  to  reach  their 
own  lines,  have  done  so  in  a  considerably 
damaged  condition. 

9.  In  my  dispatch  of  Nov.  20,  1914,  I 
referred  to  the  reinforcements  of  terri- 
torial troops  which  I  had  received,  and 
I  mentioned  several  units  which  had  al- 
ready been  employed  in  the  fighting  line- 
In  the  positions  which  I  held  for  some 

years  before  the  outbreak  of  this  war  I 
was  brought  into  close  contact  with  the 
territorial  force,  and  I  found  every  rea- 
son to  hope  and  believe  that,  when  the 
hour  of  trial  arrived,  they  would  justify 
every  hope  and  trust  which  was  placed 
in  them. 

The  Lords  Lieutenant  of  Counties  and 
the  associations  which  worked  under 
them  bestowed  a  vast  amount  of  labor 
and  energy  on  the  organization  of  the 
territorial  force;  and  I  trust  it  may  be 
some  recompense  to  them  to  know  that  I, 
and  the  principal  commanders  serving 
under  me,  consider  that  the  territorial 
force  has  far  more  than  justified  the  most 
sanguine  hopes  that  any  of  us  ventured 


to  entertain  of  their  value  and  use  in  the 
field.  Commanders  of  cavalry  divisions 
are  unstinted  in  their  praise  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  yeomanry  regiments 
attached  to  their  brigades  have  done  their 
duty,  both  in  and  out  of  action.  The  ser- 
vice of  divisional  cavalry  is  now  almost 
entirely  performed  by  yeomanry,  and 
divisional  commanders  report  that  they 
are  very  efficient. 

Army  corps  commanders  are  loud  in 
their  praise  of  the  territorial  bat- 
talions, which  form  part  of  nearly  all  the 
brigades  at  the  front  in  the  first  line, 
and  more  than  one  of  them  have  told 
me  that  these  battalions  are  fast  ap- 
proaching— if  they  have  not  already 
reached — the  standard  of  efficiency  of 
regular  infantry. 

I  wish  to  add  a  word  about  the  Offi- 
cers' Training  Corps.  The  presence  of 
the  Artists'  Rifles  (Twenty-eighth  Bat- 
talion, the  London  regiment)  with  the 
army  in  France  enabled  me  also  to  test 
the  value  of  this  organization. 

Having  had  some  experience  in  peace 
of  the  working  of  the  Officers'  Training 
Corps,  I  determined  to  turn  the  Artists' 
Rifles  (which  formed  part  of  the  Of- 
ficers' Training  Corps  in  peace  time)  to 
its  legitimate  use.  I  therefore  estab- 
lished the  battalion  as  a  training  corps 
for  officers  in  the  field. 

The  cadets  passed  through  a  course, 
which  includes  some  thoroughly  prac- 
tical training,  as  all  cadets  do  a  tour 
of  forty-eight  hours  in  the  trenches,  and 
afterward  write  a  report  on  what  they 
see  and  notice.  They  also  visit  an  ob- 
servation post  of  a  battery  or  group  of 
batteries,  and  spend  some  hours  there. 

A  commandant  has  been  appointed, 
and  he  arranges  and  supervises  the 
work,  sets  schemes  for  practice,  admin- 
isters the  school,  delivers  lectures,  and 
reports  on  the  candidates. 

The  cadets  are  instructed  in  all 
branches  of  military  training  suitable  for 
platoon  commanders. 

Machine-gun  tactics,  a  knowledge  of 
which  is  so  necessary  for  all  junior  of- 
ficers, is  a  special  feature  of  the  course 
of  instruction. 

When   first    started,    the    school    was 


58 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


able  to  turn  out  officers  at  the  rate  of 
seventy-five  a  month.  This  has  since 
been  increased  to  100. 

Reports  received  from  divisional  and 
army  corps  commanders  on  officers  who 
have  been  trained  at  the  school  are  most 
satisfactory. 

10.  Since  the  date  of  my  last  report  I 
have  been  able  to  make  a  close  personal 
inspection  of  all  the  units  in  the  com- 
mand. I  was  most  favorably  impressed 
by  all  I  saw. 

The  troops  composing  the  army  in 
France  have  been  subjected  to  as  severe 
a  trial  as  it  is  possible  to  impose  upon 
any  body  of  men.  The  desperate  fighting 
described  in  my  last  dispatch  had  hardly 
been  brought  to  a  conclusion  when  they 
were  called  upon  to  face  the  rigors  and 
hardships  of  a  Winter  campaign.  Frost 
and  snow  have  alternated  with  periods 
of  continuous  rain. 

The  men  have  been  called  upon  to 
stand  for  many  hours  together  almost  up 
to  their  waists  in  bitterly  cold  water, 
only  separated  by  one  or  two  hundred 
yards  from  a  most  vigilant  enemy. 

Although  every  measure  which  science 
and  medical  knowledge  could  suggest  to 
mitigate  these  hardships  was  employed, 
the  sufferings  of  the  men  have  been 
very  great. 

In  spite  of  all  this  they  presented,  at 
the  inspections  to  which  I  have  referred, 
a  most  soldierlike,  splendid,  though 
somewhat  war-worn,  appearance.  Their 
spirit  remains  high  and  confident;  their 
general  health  is  excellent,  and  their 
condition  most  satisfactory. 

I  regard  it  as  most  unfortunate  that 
circumstances  have  prevented  any 
account  of  many  splendid  instances  of 
courage  and  endurance,  in  the  face  of 
almost  unparalleled  hardship  and  fa- 
tigue in  war,  coming  regularly  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  public. 

Reinforcements  have  arrived  from 
England  with  remarkable  promptitude 
and  rapidity.  They  have  been  speedily 
drafted  into  the  ranks,  and  most  of  the 
units  I  inspected  were  nearly  complete 
when  I  saw  them.  In  appearance  and 
quality  the  drafts  sent  out  have  exceeded 
my  most  sang^uine  expectations,  and   I 


consider  the  army  in  France  is  much  in- 
debted to  the  Adjutant  General's  De- 
partment at  the  War  Office  for  the  effi- 
cient manner  in  which  its  requirements 
have  been  met  in  this  most  essential 
respect. 

With  regard  to  these  inspections  I 
may  mention  in  particular  the  fine  ap- 
pe.arance  presented  by  the  Twenty- 
seventh  and  Twenty-eighth  Divisions, 
composed  principally  of  battalions  whick 
had  come  from  India.  Included  in  the 
former  division  was  the  Princess 
Patricia's  Royal  Canadian  Regiment. 
They  are  a  magnificent  set  of  men,  and 
have  since  done  excellent  work  in  the 
trenches. 

It  was  some  three  weeks  after  the 
events  recorded  in  Paragraph  4  that  I 
made  my  inspection  of  the  Indian  Corps, 
under  Sir  James  Willcocks.  The  appear- 
ance they  presented  was  most  satisfac- 
tory and  fully  confirmed  my  opinion 
that  the  Indian  troops  only  required  rest 
and  a  little  acclimatizing  to  bring  out  all 
their  fine  inherent  fighting  qualities. 

I  saw  the  whole  of  the  Indian  Cavalry- 
Corps,  under  Lieut.  Gen.  Rimington,  on 
a  mounted  parade  soon  after  their  ar- 
rival. They  are  a  magnificent  body  of 
cavalry  and  will,  I  feel  sure,  give  the 
best  possible  account  of  themselves  when 
called  upon. 

In  the  meantime,  at  their  own  particu- 
lar request,  they  have  taken  their  turn 
in  the  trenches  and  performed  most  use- 
ful and  valuable  service. 

11.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Taylor 
Smith,  C.  V.  O.,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  General 
to  the  Forces,  arrived  at  my  headquarters 
on  Jan.  6,  on  a  tour  of  inspection  through- 
out the  command. 

The  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Westmin- 
ster has  also  visited  most  of  the  Irish 
regiments  at  the  front  and  the  principal 
centres  on  the  line  of  communications. 

In  a  quiet  and  unostentatious  manner 
the  Chaplains  of  all  denominations  have 
worked  with  devotion  and  energy  in  their 
respective  spheres. 

The  number  with  the  forces  in  the  field 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war  was 
comparatively  small,  but  toward  the  end 
of  last  year  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Simms,  D.  D., 


SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY 


59 


K.  H.  C,  principal  Chaplain,  assisted  by 
his  secretary,  the  Rev.  W.  Drury,  re- 
organized the  branch  and  placed  the  spir- 
itual welfare  of  the  soldier  on  a  more 
satisfactory  footing.  It  is  hoped  that  the 
further  increase  of  personnel  may  be 
found  possible. 

I  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  the  de- 
voted manner  in  which  all  the  Chaplains, 
whether  with  the  troops  in  the  trenches 
or  in  attendance  on  the  sick  and  wounded 
in  casualty  clearing  stations  and  hospi- 
tals on  the  line  of  communications,  have 
worked  throughout  the  campaign. 

Since  the  commencement  of  hostilities 
the  work  of  the  Royal  Army  Medical 
Corps  has  been  carried  out  with  untiring 
zeal,  skill,  and  devotion.  Whether  at  the 
front  under  conditions  such  as  obtained 
during  the  fighting  on  the  Aisne,  when 
casualties  were  heavy  and  accommodation 
for  their  reception  had  to  be  improvised, 
or  on  the  line  of  communications,  where 
an  average  of  some  11,000  patients  have 
been  daily  under  treatment,  the  organi- 
zation of  the  medical  service  has  always 
been  equal  to  the  demands  made  upon  it. 

The  careful  system  of  sanitation  intro- 
duced into  the  army  has,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  other  measures,  kept  the  troops 
free  from  any  epidemic,  in  support  of 
which  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  since  the 
commencement  of  the  war  some  500  cases 
only  of  enteric  have  occurred. 

The  organization  for  the  first  time  in 
war  of  motor  ambulance  convoys  is  due 
to  the  initiative  and  organizing  powers  of 
Surgeon  General  T.  J.  O'Donnell,  D.  S.  O., 
ably  assisted  by  Major  P.  Evans,  Royal 
Army  Medical  Corps. 

Two  of  these  convoys,  composed  en- 
tirely of  Red  Cross  Society  personnel, 
have  done  excellent  work  under  the  super- 
intendence of  regular  medical  officers. 

Twelve  hospital  trains  ply  between  the 
front  and  the  various  bases.  I  have 
visited  several  of  the  trains  when  halted 
in  stations,  and  have  found  them  con- 
ducted with  great  comfort  and  efficiency. 

During  the  more  recent  phase  of  the 
campaign  the  creation  of  rest  depots  at 


the  front  has  materially  reduced  the 
wastage  of  men  to  the  line  of  com- 
munications. 

Since  the  latter  part  of  October,  1914, 
the  whole  of  the  medical  arrangements 
have  been  in  the  hands  of  Surgeon  Gen- 
eral Sir  A.  T.  Sloggett,  C.  M.  G.,  K.  H. 
S.,  under  whom  Surgeon  General  T.  P. 
Woodhouse  and  Surgeon  General  T.  J. 
O'Donnell  have  been  responsible  for  the 
organization  on  the  line  of  communica- 
tions and  at  the  front  respectively. 

12.  The  exceptional  and  peculiar  con- 
ditions brought  about  by  the  weather 
have  caused  large  demands  to  be  made 
upon  the  resources  and  skill  of  the  Royal 
Engineers. 

Every  kind  of  expedient  has  had  to 
be  thought  out  and  adopted  to  keep  the 
lines  of  trenches  and  defense  work  effec- 
tive. 

The  Royal  Engineers  have  shown 
themselves  as  capable  of  overcoming  the 
ravages  caused  by  violent  rain  and  floods 
as  they  have  been  throughout  in  neutral- 
izing the  effect  of  the  enemy's  artillery. 

In  this  connection  I  wish  particularly 
to  mention  the  excellent  services  per- 
formed by  my  Chief  Engineer,  Brig.  Gen. 
G.  H.  Fowke,  who  has  been  indefatigable 
in  supervising  all  such  work.  His  in- 
genuity and  skill  have  been  most  valuable 
in  the  local  construction  of  the  various 
expedients  which  experience  has  shown 
to  be  necessary  in  prolonged  trench  war- 
fare. 

13.  I  have  no  reason  to  modify  in  any 
material  degree  my  views  of  the  general 
military  situation,  as  expressed  in  my 
dispatch  of  Nov.  20,  1914. 

14.  I  have  once  more  gratefully  to 
acknowledge  the  valuable  help  and  sup- 
port I  have  received  throughout  this 
period  from  Gen.  Foch,  Gen.  D'Urbal, 
and  Gen.  Maud'huy  of  the  French  Army. 
T  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  Lordship's 
most  obedient  servant, 

J.  D.  P.  FRENCH,  Field  Marshal, 
Commanding  in  Chief,  the  British  Army 
in   the   Field. 


The  Cathedral  of  Rheims 

BY     EMILE     VERHAEREN 

(From    Les    BI63    Mouvants) 
Done  into  English  verse  by  Joyce  Kilmer. 


HE  who   walks   through   the   meadows 
of  Champagne 
At  noon   in   Fall,   when   leaves  like 
gold    appear, 
Sees  it  draw  near 
Like  some  great  mountain  set  upon  the  plain, 
Prom  radiant  dawn  until  the  close  of  day, 
Nearer    it    grows 
To  him  who  goes 
Across  the  country.     When  tall  towers  lay 
Their  shadowy  pall 
Upon  his  way. 
He   enters,    where 
The  solid  stone  is   hollowed   deep  by  all 
Its  centuries  of  beauty  and  of  prayer. 

Ancient  French  temple !  thou  whose  hundred 

Kings 
Watch  over  thee,   emblazoned  on  thy  walls, 
Tell   me.    within    thy   memory-hallowed   halls 
What   chant   of   triumph,    or   what  war-song 

rings? 
Thou    hast    known    Clovis    and    his    Frankish 

train. 
Whose  mighty  hand  Saint  Remy's  hand  did 

keep 
And  in  thy  spacious  vault  perhaps  may  sleep 
An  echo  of  the  voice  of  Charlemagne. 
For  God  thou  hast  known  fear,   when  from 

His  side 
Men  wandered,  seeking  alien  shrines  and  new, 
But   still  the  sky   was   bountiful  and   blue 
And   thou   wast  crowned  with   France's  love 

and    pride. 
Sacred  thou  art,  from  pinnacle  to  base; 
And   in   thy   panes  of  gold   and   scarlet  glass 
The  setting  sun  sees  thousandfold  his  face ; 
Sorrow  and  joy,    in   stately   silence  pass 
Across  thy  walls,  the  shadow  and  the  light ; 
Around    thy   lofty    pillars,    tapers   white 
Illuminate,   with   delicate   sharp   flames. 
The  brows   of  saints   with  venerable  names. 
And  in  the  night  erect  a  fiery  wall, 
A  great  but  silent  fervor  burns  in  all 
Those  simple  folk  who  kneel,  pathetic,  dumb. 
And  know  that  down  below,  beside  the  Rhine- 
Cannon,   horses,  soldiers,   flags  in  line — 
With  blare  of  trumpets,  migthy  armies  come. 

Suddenly,  each  knows  fear; 

Swift  rumors  pass,  that  every  one  must  hear. 

The  hostile  banners  blaze  against  the  sky 

And  by  the  embassies  mobs  rage  and  cry. 

Now-  war  has  come,  and  peace  is  at  an  end. 

On  Paris   town   the  German   troops  descend. 

They  turned  back,  and  driven  to  Champagne. 

And  now,  as  to  so  inany  weary  men. 

The    glorious    temple    gives    them    welcome, 

when, 
It  meets  them  at  the  bottom  of  the  plain. 


At  once,  they  set  their  cannon  in  its  way. 
There  is  no  gable  now,   nor  wall 
That  does  not  suffer,  night  and  day. 

As  shot  and  shell  in  crushing  torrents  fall. 

The     stricken     tocsin     quivers     through     the 
tower ; 

The  triple  nave,  the  apse,  the  lonely  choir 
Are  circled,  hour  b>  nour. 
With  thundering  bands  of  fire 

And    Death    is    scattered    broadcast    among 
men. 

And  then 
That    which    was    splendid    with    baptismal 

grace ; 
The  stately  arches  soaring  into  space. 
The    transepts,    columns,    windows    gray   and 

gold, 
The  organ,  in  whose  tones  the  ocean  rolled,' 
The   crypts,    of  mighty   shades   the   dwelling 

places. 
The  Virgin's  gentle  hands,   the  Saints'   pure 

faces. 
All,  even  the  pardoning  hands  of  Christ  the 

Lord 
Were    struck    and    broken    by    the    wanton 

sword 

Of  sacrilegious  lust. 

O  beauty  slain,  O  glory  in  the  dust  ! 
Strong    walls    of    faith,    most    basely    o\'er- 

thrown ! 
The  crawling  flames,   like  adders   glistening 
Ate  the  white  fabric  of  this  lovely  thing. 
Now  from  its  soul   arose  a  piteous  moan. 
The    soul    that    always    loved    the    just    and 

fair. 
Granite  and  marble  loud  their  woe  confessed. 
The    silver      monstrances     that      Pope     has 

blessed. 
The  chalices  and  lamps  and  crosiers  rare 
Were    seared    and     twisted     by     a     flaming 

breath ; 
The  hoiror  everywhere  did  rage  and  swell, 
The    guardian    Saints    into    this    furnace    fell. 
Their  bitter  tears  and   screams   were  stilled 

in  death. 

Around    the    flames    armed    hosts    are    skir- 
mishing. 

The  burning  sun   reflects   the  lurid   scene; 

The  German  Army  fighting  for   its  life. 

Rallies   its   torn   and   terrified    left   wing; 
And,  as  they  near  this  place 
Tlie  imperial  eagles  see 
Before  them  in  their  flight. 

Here,  in  the  solemn  night. 

The  old  cathedrals,  to  the  years  to  be 

Showing,  with  wounded  arms,  their  own 
disgrace. 


Music  of  War 

By  Rudyard  Kipling 

The  following  speech  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Kipling  on  Jan.  27.  1915,  at  a  meeting  in 
London  promoted  by  the  Recruiting  Bands  Committee,  and  held  with  the  object  of  raising 
bands  in  the  London  district  as  an  aid  to  recruiting. 


THE  most  useful  thing  that  a 
civilian  can  do  in  these  busy  days 
is  to  speak  as  little  as  possible, 
and  if  he  feels  moved  to  write,  to 
confine  his  efforts  to  his  check  book. 
[Laughter.]  But  this  is  an  exception 
to  that  very  sound  rule.  We  do  not 
know  the  present  strength  of  the  new 
armies.  Even  if  w^e  did  it  would  not 
be  necessary  to  make  it  public.  But 
we  may  assume  that  there  are  several 
battalions  in  Great  Britain  which  were 
not  in  existence  at  the  end  of  last  July, 
and  some  of  them  are  in  London.  Nor 
is  it  any  part  of  our  national  policy  to 
explain  how  far  these  battalions  are  pre- 
pared for  the  work  which  is  ahead  of 
them.  They  were  born  quite  rightly  in 
silence.  But  that  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  continue  to  walk  in  silence  for 
the  rest  of  their  lives.  [Cheers.]  Un- 
fortunately up  to  the  present  most  of 
them  have  been  obliged  to  walk  in  silence 
or  to  no  better  accompaniment  than 
whistles  and  concertinas  and  other  meri- 
torious but  inadequate  instruments  of 
music  with  which  they  have  provided 
themselves.  In  the  beginning  this  did 
not  matter  so  much.  More  urgent  needs 
had  to  be  met;  but  now  that  the  new 
armies  are  what  they  are,  we  who  can- 
not assist  them  by  joining  their  ranks 
owe  it  to  them  to  provide  them  with  more 
worthy  music  for  their  help,  their  grati- 
fication, and  their  honor.      [Cheers.] 

I  am  not  a  musician,  so  if  I  speak  as 
a  barbarian  I  must  ask  you  and  several 
gentlemen  on  the  platform  here  to  for- 
give me.  From  the  lowest  point  of  view 
a  few  drums  and  fifes  in  the  battalion 
mean  at  least  five  extra  miles  in  a  route 
march,  quite  apart  from  the  fact  that 
they  can  swing  a  battalion  back  to 
quarters  happy  and  composed  in  its  mind, 
no  matter  how  wet  or  tired  its  body  may 


be.  Even  Avhen  there  is  no  route  march- 
ing, the  mere  come  and  go,  the  roll  and 
flourishing  of  drums  and  fifes  around  the 
barracks  is  as  warming  and  cheering  as 
the  sight  of  a  fire  in  a  room.  A  band,  not 
necessarily  a  full  band,  but  a  band  of  a 
dozen  brasses  and  wood-winds,  is  im- 
mensely valuable  in  the  district  where 
men  are  billeted.  It  revives  memories,  it 
quickens  association,  it  opens  and  unites 
the  hearts  of  men  more  surely  than  any 
other  appeal  can,  and  in  this  respect  it 
aids  recruiting  perhaps  more  than  any 
other  agency.  I  wonder  whether  I  should 
say  this — the  tune  that  it  employs  and 
the  words  that  go  with  that  tune  are 
sometimes  very  remote  from  heroism  or 
devotion,  but  the  magic  and  the  compell- 
ing power  is  in  them,  and  it  makes  men's 
souls  realize  certain  truths  that  their 
minds  might  doubt. 

Further,  no  one,  not  even  the  Adjutant, 
can  say  for  certain  where  the  soul  of  the 
battalion  lives,  but  the  expression  of 
that  soul  is  most  often  found  in  the  band. 
[Cheers.]  It  stands  to  reason  that  1,200 
men  whose  lives  are  pledged  to  each 
other  must  have  some  common  means  of 
expression,  some  common  means  of  con- 
veying their  moods  and  their  thoughts  to 
themselves  and  their  world.  The  band 
feels  the  moods  and  interprets  the 
thoughts.  A  wise  and  sympathetic 
bandmaster — and  the  masters  that  I  have 
met  have  been  that — can  lift  a  battalion 
out  of  depression,  cheer  it  in  sickness, 
and  steady  and  recall  it  to  itself  in  times 
of  almost  unendurablfi  stress.  [Cheers.] 
You  may  remember  a  beautiful  poem  by 
Sir  Henry  Newbolt,  in  which  he  describes 
how  a  squadron  of  weary  big  dragoons 
were  led  to  renewed  effort  by  the  strains 
of  a  penny  whistle  and  a  child's  drum 
taken  from  a  toyshop  in  a  wrecked 
French  town.    I  remember  in  India,  in  a 


62 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


cholei-a  camp,  where  the  men  were  suf- 
fering very  badly,  the  band  of  the  Tenth 
Lincolns  started  a  regimental  sing-song 
and  went  on  with  that  queer,  defiant 
tune,  "The  Lincolnshire  Poacher."  It  was 
their  regimental  march  that  the  men  had 
heard  a  thousand  times.  There  was 
nothing  in  it — nothing  except  all  Eng- 
land, all  the  East  Coast,  all  the  fun  and 
daring  and  horse  play  of  young  men 
bucketing  about  big  pastures  in  the 
moonlight.  But  as  it  was  given,  very 
softly  at  that  bad  time  in  that  terible 
camp  of  death,  it  was  the  one  thing  in 
the  world  that  could  have  restored,  as  it 
did  restore,  shaken  men  back  to  their 
pride,  humor,  and  self-control.  [Cheers.] 
This  may  be  an  extreme  instance,  but  it 
is  not  an  exceptional  one.  Any  man  who 
has  had  anything  to  do  with  the  service 
will  tell  you  that  the  battalion  is  better 
for  music  at  every  turn,  happier,  more 
easily  handled,  with  greater  zest  in  its 
daily  routine,  if  that  routine  is  sweet- 
ened with  melody  and  rhythm — melody 
for  the  mind  and  rhythm  for  the  body. 

Our  new  armies  have  been  badly 
served  in  this  essential.  Of  all  the  ad- 
mirable qualities  which  they  have  shown 
none  is  more  wonderful  than  the  spirit 
which  has  carried  them  through  the  la- 
borious and  distasteful  groundwork  of 
their  calling  without  one  note  of  music, 
except  that  which  the  same  indomitable 
spirit  provided  out  of  their  own  heads. 
We  have  all  seen  them  marching 
through  the  country,  through  the  streets 
of  London,  in  absolute  silence  and  the 
crowds  through  which  they  passed  as  si- 
lent as  themselves  for  the  lack  of  the  one 
medium  that  could  convey  and  glorify 
the  thoughts  that  are  in  us  all  today. 

We  are  a  tongue-tied  brood  at  the  best. 
The   bands    can   declare    on    our    behalf 


without  shame  and  without  shyness 
something  of  what  we  all  feel  and  help 
us  to  reach  a  hand  toward  the  men  who 
have  risen  up  to  save  us.  In  the  begin- 
ning the  more  urgent  requirements  of 
the  new  armies  overrode  all  other  consid- 
erations. Now  we  can  get  to  work  on 
some  other  essentials.  The  War  Office 
has  authorized  the  formation  of  bands 
for  some  of  the  London  battalions,  and 
we  may  hope  presently  to  see  the  per- 
mission extended  throughout  Great  Brit- 
ain. We  must  not,  however,  cherish  un- 
bridled musical  ambitions,  because  a  full 
band  means  more  than  forty  pieces,  and 
on  that  establishment  we  should  even  now 
require  a  rather  large  number  of  men; 
but  I  think  it  might  be  possible  to  pro- 
vide drums  and  fifes  for  every  battalion, 
full  bands  at  the  depots,  and  a  proportion 
of  battalion  bands  on  half,  or  even  one- 
third,  establishments. 

But  this  is  not  a  matter  to  be  settled 
by  laymen;  it  must  be  discussed  seriously 
between  bandmasters  and  musicians — 
present,  past,  and  dug  up.  [Laughter.] 
They  may  be  trusted  to  give  their  serv- 
ices with  enthusiasm.  We  have  had 
many  proofs  in  the  last  six  months  that 
people  only  want  to  know  what  the  new 
army  needs,  and  it  will  be  gladly  and 
cheerfully  given.  The  army  needs  music, 
its  own  music,  for,  more  than  in  any 
other  calling,  soldiers  do  not  live  by 
bread  alone.  From  time  immemorial  the 
man  who  offers  his  life  for  his  land  has 
been  compassed  at  every  turn  of  his 
service  with  elaborate  ceremonial  and 
observance,  of  which  music  is  no  small 
part,  all  carefully  designed  to  support 
and  uphold  him.  It  is  not  seemly  and  it 
is  not  expedient  that  any  portion  of  that 
ritual  should  be  slurred  or  omitted  now. 
[Cheers.] 


America  and  a  New  World  State 

How  the  United  States  May  Take  the  Lead  in  the  Formation 
of  a  World  Confederation  for  the  Prevention  of  Future  Wars 

By  Norman   Angell 

The  object  of  this  article  is  to  show  that  however  much  America  may  attempt  to  hold 
herself  free  in  Europe  she  will  very  deeply  feel  the  effects,  both  material  and  moral,  of 
upheavals  like  that  which  is  now  shaking  the  old  Continent;  that  even  though  there  be 
no  aggressive  action  against  her,  the  militarization  of  Europe  will  force  upon  America 
also  a  militarist  development ;  and  that  she  can  best  avoid  these  dangers  and  secure  her 
own  safety  and  free  development  by  taking  the  lead  in  a  new  world  policy  which  is 
briefly  this: 

To  use  her  position  to  initiate  and  guide  a  grouping  of  all  the  civilized  powers  having 
as  its  object  the  protection  of  any  one  of  its  members  that  is  the  victim  of  aggression. 
The  aid  to  be  given  for  such  an  object  should  not  be,  in  the  case  of  the  United  States, 
military  but  economic,  by  means  of  the  definite  organization  of  non-intercourse  against 
the  recalcitrant  power.  America's  position  of  geographical  and  historical  remoteness  from 
European  quarrels  places  her  in  a  particularly  favorable  position  to  direct  this  world 
organization,  and  the  fact  of  undertaking  it  would  give  her  in  some  sense  the  moral 
leadership  of  the  western  world,  and  make  her  the  centre  of  the  World  State  of  the  future. 

(Copyright,  1915,  by  The  New  York  Times  Company.) 
I. 


IN  the  discussion  of  America's  rela- 
tion to  the  rest  of  the  world  we  have 
always  assumed  almost  as  an  axiom 
that  America  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Europe,  is  only  in  the  faintest  degree 
concerned  with  its  politics  and  develop- 
ments, that  by  happy  circumstance  of 
geography  and  history  we  are  isolated 
and  self-sufficing,  able  to  look  with  calm 
detachment  upon  the  antics  of  the  dis- 
tant Europeans.  When  a  European  land- 
ed on  these  shores  we  were  pretty  cer- 
tain that  he  left  Europe  behind  him;  only 
quite  recently,  indeed,  have  we  realized 
that  we  were  affected  by  what  he  brought 
with  him  in  the  way  of  morals  and  tra- 
ditions, and  only  now  are  we  beginning 
dimly  to  realize  that  what  goes  on  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world  can  be  any 
affair  of  ours.  The  famous  query  of  a 
certain  American  statesmen,  "  What  has 
America  to  do  with  abroad?  "  probably 
represented  at  bottom  the  feelings  of 
most  of  us. 

In  so  far  as  we  established  commer- 
cial relations  with  Europe  at  all,  we  felt 
and  still  feel  probably  that  they  were 
relations  of  hostility,  that  we  were  one 


commercial  unit,  Europe  another,  and 
that  the  two  were  in  competition.  In 
thinking  thus,  of  course,  we  merely  ac- 
cepted the  view  of  international  politics 
common  in  Europe  itself,  the  view,  name- 
ly, that  nations  are  necessarily  trade 
rivals — the  commercial  rivalry  of  Britain 
and  Germany  is  presumed  to  be  one  of 
the  factors  explaining  the  outbreak  of 
the  present  war.  The  idea  that  nations 
do  thus  compete  together  for  the  world's 
trade  is  one  of  the  axioms  of  all  discus- 
sion in  the  field  of  international  politics. 
Well,  both  these  assumptions  in  the 
form  in  which  we  make  them  involve  very 
grave  fallacies,  the  realization  of  which 
will  shortly  become  essential  to  the  wise 
direction  of  this  country's  policy.  If  our 
policy,  in  other  words,  is  to  be  shrewd 
and  enlightened,  we  must  realize  just 
how  both  the  views  of  international  rela- 
tionship that  I  have  indicated  are  wrong. 

I  will  take  first  the  more  special  one — 
that  of  the  assumed  necessaxy  rivalry  of 
nations  in  trade — as  its  clearer  under- 
standing will  help  in  what  is  for  us  the 
larger  problem  of  the  general  relation- 
ship  of   this   country   to   other   civilized 


64 


THm  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


powers.  I  will  therefore  try  and  estab- 
lish first  this  proposition — that  nations 
are  not  and  can  not  be  trade  rivals  in  the 
sense  usually  accepted;  that,  in  other 
words,  there  is  a  fundamental  miscon- 
ception in  the  prevailing  picture  of  na- 
tions as  trading  units — one  might  as 
well  talk  of  red-haired  people  being  the 
trade  rivals  of  black-haired  people. 

And  I  will  then  try  and  establish  a 
second  proposition,  namely,  that  we  are 
intimately  concerned  with  the  condition 
of  Europe,  and  are  daily  becoming  more 
so,  owing  to  processes  which  have  become 
an  integral  part  of  our  fight  against 
nature,  of  the  feeding  and  clothing  of  the 
world;  that  we  cannot  much  longer  ignore 
the  effects  of  those  tendencies  which 
bind  us  to  our  neighbors;  that  the  ele- 
mentary consideration  of  self-protection 
will  sooner  or  later  compel  us  to  accept 
the  facts  and  recognize  our  part  and  lot 
in  the  struggles  of  Christendom;  and  that 
if  we  are  wise,  we  shall  not  take  our  part 
therein  reluctantly,  dragged  at  the  heels 
of  forces  we  cannot  resist,  but  will  do  so 
consciously,  anticipating  events.  In  oth- 
er words,  we  shall  take  advantage  of  such 
measure  of  detachment  as  we  do  possess, 
to  take  the  lead  In  a  saner  organization 
of  western  civilization;  we  shall  become 
the  pivot  and  centre  of  a  new  world 
State. 

There  is  not  the  faintest  hope  of  Amer- 
ica taking  this  lead  unless  a  push  or  im- 
petus is  given  to  her  action  by  a  wide- 
spread public  feeling,  based  on  the  recog- 
nition of  the  fallacy  of  the  two  assump- 
tions with  which  I  began  this  article.  For 
if  America  really  is  independent  of  the 
rest  of  the  world,  little  concerned  with 
what  goes  on  therein,  if  she  is  in  a  posi- 
tion to  build  a  sort  of  Chinese  wall  about 
herself,  and,  secure  in  her  own  strength, 
to  develop  a  civilization  and  future  of  her 
own,  still  more  if  the  weakness  and  dis- 
integration of  foreign  nations,  however 
unfortunate  for  them,  is  for  America  an 
opportunity  of  expanding  trade  and  op- 
portunities, why  then,  of  course,  it  would 
be  the  height  of  folly  for  the  United 
States  to  incur  all  the  risks  and  uncer- 
tainties of  an  adventure  into  the  sea  of 
foreign  politics. 

What  as  a  matter  of  simple  fact  is  the 


real  nature  of  trade  between  nations? 
If  we  are  to  have  any  clear  notion  at  all 
as  to  just  what  truth  there  is  in  the  no- 
tion of  the  necessary  commercial  rivalry 
of  States,  we  must  have  some  fairly  clear 
notion  of  how  the  commercial  relation- 
ship of  nations  works.  And  that  can  best 
be  illustrated  by  a  supposititious  exam- 
ple. At  the  present  time  we  are  talking, 
for  instance,  of  "  capturing  "  German  or 
British  or  French  trade. 

Now,  when  we  talk  thus  of  *'  German  " 
trade  in  the  international  field,  what  do 
we  mean?  Here  is  the  ironmaster  in 
Essen  making  locomotives  for  a  light 
railway  in  an  Argentine  province,  (the 
capital  for  which  has  been  subscribed  in 
Paris) — which  has  become  necessary  be- 
cause of  the  export  of  wool  to  Bradford, 
where  the  trade  has  developed  owing  to 
sales  in  the  United  States,  due  to  high 
prices  produced  by  the  destruction  of 
sheep  runs,  owing  to  the  agricultural  de- 
velopment of  the  West. 

But  for  the  money  found  in  Paris,  (due, 
perhaps,  to  good  crops  in  wine  and  olives, 
sold  mainly  in  London  and  New  York,) 
and  the  w^ool  needed  by  the  Bradford 
manufacturer,  (who  has  found  a  market 
for  blankets  among  miners  in  Montana, 
who  are  smelting  copper  for  a  cable  to 
China,  which  is  needed  because  the  en- 
couragement given  to  education  by  the 
Chinese  Republic  has  caused  Chinese 
newspapers  to  print  cable  news  from  Eu- 
rope)— but  for  such  factoi's  as  these,  and 
a  whole  chain  of  equally  interdependent 
ones  throughout  the  world,  the  ironmas- 
ter in  Essen  would  not  have  been  able 
to  sell  his  locomotives. 

How,  therefore,  can  you  describe  it  as 
part  of  the  trade  of  "  Germany  "  which 
is  in  competition  with  the  trade  of  "  Brit- 
ain "  or  "  France  "  or  "  America  "  ?  But 
for  the  British,  French,  and  American 
trade,  it  could  not  have  existed  at  all. 
You  may  say  that  if  the  Essen  ironmas- 
ter could  have  been  prevented  from  sell- 
ing his  locomotives  the  order  would  have 
gone  to  an  American  one. 

But  this  community  of  German  work- 
men, called  into  existence  by  the  Argen- 
tina trade,  maintains  by  its  consumption 
of  coffee  a  plantation  in  Brazil,  which 
buys  its  machinery  in  Chicago.    The  de- 


H.    M.    PETER    I 
King    of    Servia 


WALTER     H.     PAGE 
American    Ambassador    to   Great   Britain 

(Photo  from    Paul   Thovipaon) 


i 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


65 


struction,  therefore,  of  the  Essen  trade, 
while  it  might  have  given  business  to 
the  American  locomotive  maker,  would 
have  taken  it  from,  say,  an  American 
agricultural  implement  maker.  The  eco- 
nomic interests  involved  sort  themselves, 
irrespective  of  the  national  groupings.  I 
have  summarized  the  whole  process  as 
follows,  and  the  need  for  getting  some 
of  these  simple  things  straight  is  my 
excuse  for  quoting  myself: 

Oo-operation  between  nations  lias  iDecome 
essential  for  the  very  life  of  their  peoples. 
Eut  that  co-operation  does  not  take  place  as 
between  States  at  all.  A  trading  corporation, 
"  Britain  "  does  not  buy  cotton  from  another 
corporation,  "  America."  A  manufacturer  in 
Manchester  strikes  a  bargain  with  a  mer- 
chant in  Louisiana  in  order  to  keep  a  bar- 
gain with  a  dyer  in  Germany,  and  three  or  a 
much  larger  number  of  parties  enter  into 
virtual,  or,  perhaps,  actual,  contract,  and 
form  a  mutually  dependent  economic  com- 
munity, (numbering,  it  may  be,  with  the 
work  people  in  the  group  of  industries  in- 
volved, some -millions  of  individuals) — an  eco- 
nomic entity,  so  far  as  one  can  exist,  which 
does  not  include  all  organized  society. 

The  special  interests  of  such  a  community 
may  become  hostile  to  those  of  another  com- 
munity, but  it  will  almost  certainly  not  be  a 
"  national  "  one,  but  one  of  a  like  nature, 
say  a  shipping  ring  or  groups  of  interna- 
tional bankers  or  Stock  Exchange  specu- 
lators. The  frontiers  of  such  communities 
do  not  coincide  with  the  areas  in  which  oper- 
£ite  the  functions  of  the  State. 

How  could  a  State,  say  Britain,  act  on  be- 
half of  an  economic  entity  such  as  that  just 
indicated?  By  pressure  against  America  or 
Germany?  But  the  community  against  which 
the  British  manufacturer  in  this  case  wants 
pressure  exercised  is  not  "  America "  or 
"  Germany  " — both  Americans  and  Germans 
are  his  partners  in  the  matter.  He  wants  it 
exercised  against  the  shipping  ring  or  the 
speculators  or  the  bankers  who  are  in  part 
British.    *    ♦    * 

This  establishes  two  things,  therefore :  The 
fact  that  the  political  and  economic  units  do 
not  coincide,  and  the  fact  which  follows  as  a 
consequence — that  action  by  political  authori- 
ties designed  to  control  economic  activities 
which  take  no  account  of  the  limits  of  po- 
litical jurisdiction  is  necessarily  irrelevant 
and  ineffective. — (Prom  "  Arms  and  Indus- 
try :  A  Study  of  the  Foundations  of  Interna- 
tional Polity."  Page  2S,  Putnams :  Xew 
York.) 

The  fallacy  of  the  idea  that  the  groups 
we  call  nations  must  be  in  conflict  be- 
cause they  struggle  together  for  bread 
and  the  means  of  sustenance  is  demon- 
strated immediately  when  we  recall  the 


simple  facts  of  historical  development. 
When,  in  the  British  Islands,  the  men  of 
Wessex  were  fighting  with  the  men  of 
Sussex,  far  more  frequently  and  bitterly 
than  today  the  men  of  Germany  fight 
with  those  of  France,  or  either  with  those 
of  Russia,  the  separate  States  which 
formed  the  island  were  struggling  with 
one  another  fe»r  sustenance,  just  as  the 
tribes  which  inhabited  the  North  Amer- 
ican Continent  at  the  time  of  our  arrival 
there  were  struggling  with  one  another 
for  the  game  and  hunting  grounds.  It 
was  in  both  cases  ultimately  a  "  struggle 
for  bread." 

At  that  time,  when  Britain  was  com- 
posed of  several  separate  States,  that 
struggled  thus  with  one  another  for  land 
and  food,  it  supported  with  great  diffi- 
culty anything  between  one  and  two  mill- 
ion inhabitants,  just  as  the  vast  spaces 
now  occupied  by  the  United  States  sup- 
ported about  a  hundred  thousand,  often 
subject  to  famine,  frequently  suffering 
great  shortage  of  food,  able  to  secure  just 
the  barest  existence  of  the  simplest  kind. 

Today,  although  Britain  supports  any- 
thing from  twenty  to  forty  times,  and 
North  America  something  like  a  thou- 
sand times,  as  large  a  population  in  much 
greater  comfort,  with  no  period  of  fam- 
ine, with  the  whole  population  living 
much  more  largely  and  deriving  much 
more  from  the  soil  than  did  the  men  of 
the  Heptarchy,  or  the  Red  Indians,  the 
"  struggle  for  bread  "  does  not  now  take 
the  form  of  struggle  between  groups  of 
the  population.  The  more  they  fought, 
the  less  efficiently  did  they  support  them- 
selves; the  less  they  fought  one  another, 
the  more  efficiently  did  they  all  support 
themselves. 

This  simple  illustration  is  at  least  proof 
of  this,  that  the  struggle  for  material 
things  did  not  involve  any  necessary 
struggle  between  the  separate  groups  or 
States;  for  those  material  things  are 
given  in  infinitely  greater  abundance 
when  the  States  cease  to  struggle.  What- 
ever, therefore,  was  the  origin  of  thos^ 
conflicts,  that  origin  was  not  any  inevit- 
able conflict  in  the  exploitation  of  the 
earth.  If  those  conflicts  were  concerned 
with  material  things  at  all,  they  arose 


66 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


from  a  mistake  about  the  best  means  of 
obtaining  them,  exploiting  the  earth,  and 
ceased  when  those  concerned  realized  the 
mistake. 

Just  as  Britain  supported  its  popula- 
tion better  when  Englishmen  gave  up 
fighting  between  themselves,  so  the  world 
as  a  whole  could  support  its  population 
better  if  it  gave  up  fighting. 

Moreover,  we  have  passed  out  of  the 
stage  when  we  could  massacre  a  con- 
quered population  to  make  room  for  us. 
When  we  conquer  an  inferior  people  like 
the  Filipinos,  we  don't  exterminate  them, 
we  give  them  an  added  chance  of  life. 
The  weakest  don't  go  to  the  wall. 

But  at  this  point  parenthetically  I 
want  to  enter  a  warning.  You  may  say, 
if  this  notion  of  the  rivalry  of  nations 
is  false,  how  do  you  account  for  the  fact 
of  its  playing  so  large  a  part  in  the  pres- 
ent war? 

Well,  that  is  easily  explained — men  are 
not  guided  necessarily  by  their  interest 
even  in  their  soberest  moments,  but  by 
what  they  believe  to  be  their  interest. 
Men  do  not  judge  from  the  facts,  but  from 
what  they  believe  to  be  the  facts.  War 
is  the  "  failure  of  human  understand- 
ing." The  religious  wars  were  due  to  the 
belief  that  two  religions  could  not  exist 
side  by  side.  It  was  not  true,  but  the 
false  belief  provoked  the  wars.  Our  no- 
tions as  to  the  relation  of  political  power 
to  a  nation's  prosperity  are  just  as  false, 
and  this  fallacy,  like  the  older  one,  plays 
its  part  in  the  causation  of  war. 

Now,  let  us  for  a  moment  apply  the 
very  general  rule  thus  revealed  to  the 
particular  case  of  the  United  States  at 
this  present  juncture. 

American  merchants  may  in  certain 
cases,  if  they  are  shrewd  and  able,  do  a 
very  considerably  increased  trade,  though 
it  is  just  as  certain  that  other  merchants 
will  be  losing  trade,  and  I  think  there  is 
pretty  general  agreement  that  as  a  mat- 
ter of  simple  fact  the  losses  of  the  war 
so  far  have  for  America  very  considera- 
bly and  very  obviously  overbalanced  the 
gains.  The  loss  has  been  felt  so  tangibly 
by  the  United  States  Government,  for 
instance,  that  a  special  loan  had  to  be 
voted  in  order  to  stop  some  of  the  g^aps. 


Whole  States,  whose  interests  are  bound 
up  with  staples  like  cotton,  were  for  a 
considerable  time  threatened  with  some- 
thing resembling  commercial  paralysis. 

While  we  may  admit  advances  and 
gains  in  certain  isolated  directions,  the 
extra  burden  is  felt  in  all  directions  of 
commerce  and  industry.  And  that  extra 
burden  is  visible  through  finance — the 
increased  cost  of  money,  the  scarcity  of 
capital,  the  lower  negotiability  of  securi- 
ties, the  greater  uncertainty  concerning 
the  future.  It  is  by  means  of  the  finan- 
cial reaction  that  America,  as  a  whole, 
has  felt  the  adverse  effects  of  this  war. 
There  is  not  a  considerable  village,  much 
less  a  considerable  city,  not  a  mer- 
chant, not  a  captain  of  industry  in  the 
United  States  that  has  not  so  felt  it.  It 
is  plainly  evident  that  by  the  progressive 
dearness  of  money,  the  lower  standard 
of  living  that  will  result  in  Europe,  the 
effect  on  immigration,  and  .other  proc- 
esses which  I  will  touch  upon  at  greater 
length  later,  any  temporary  stimulus 
which  a  trade  here  and  there  may  receive 
will  be  more  than  offset  by  the  difficul- 
ties due  to  financial  as  apart  from  indus- 
trial or  commercial  reactions. 

This  war  will  come  near  to  depriving 
America  for  a  decade  or  two  of  its  normal 
share  of  the  accumulated  capital  of  the 
older  peoples,  whether  that  capital  be 
used  in  paying  war  indemnities  or  in 
paying  off  the  cost  of  the  war  or  in  re- 
pairing its  ravages.  In  all  cases  it  will 
make  capital  much  dearer,  and  many 
enterprises  which  with  more  ■  abundant 
capital  might  have  been  born  and  might 
have  stimulated  American  industry  will 
not  be  born.  For  the  best  part  of  a  gen- 
eration perhaps  the  available  capital  of 
Europe  will  be  used  to  repair  the  rav- 
ages of  war  there,  to  pay  off  the  debts 
created  by  war,  and  to  start  life  normal- 
ly once  more.  We  shall  suffer  in  two 
ways. 

In  a  recent  report  issued  by  the  Agri- 
cultural Department  at  Washington  is 
a  paragraph  to  the  effect  that  one  of  the 
main  factors  which  have  operated  against 
the  development  of  the  American  farm 
is  the  difficulty  that  the  farmer  has 
found  in  securing  abundant  capital  and 
the  high  price  that  he  has  to  pay  for  it 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


67 


when  he  can  secure  it.  It  will  in  the 
future  be  of  still  higher  price,  and  still 
less  abundant,  because,  of  course,  the 
capital  of  the  world  is  a  common  reser- 
voir— if  it  is  dearer  in  one  part,  it  is  dear- 
er to  some  extent  in  all  parts. 

So  that  if  for  many  years  the  Ameri- 
can farmhouse  is  not  so  well  built  as  it 
might  be,  the  farm  not  so  well  worked, 
rural  life  in  America  not  so  attractive  as 
it  might  be,  the  farmer's  wife  burdened 
with  a  little  more  labor  than  she  might 
otherwise  have,  and  if  she  grows  old 
earlier  than  she  might  otherwise,  it  will 
be  in  part  because  we  are  paying  our 
share  of  the  war  indemnities  and  the  v*-ar 
costs. 

But  this  scarcity  of  capital  operates  in 
another  way.  One  of  the  most  promising 
fields  for  American  enterprise  is,  of 
course,  in  the  undeveloped  lands  to  the 
south  of  us,  but  in  the  development  of 
those  lands  we  have  looked  and  must  look 
for  the  co-operation  of  European  capital. 
Millions  of  French  and  British  money 
have  poured  into  South  America,  building 
docks  and  railroads  and  opening  up  the 
country,  and  that  development  of  South 
America  has  been  to  our  advantage  be- 
cause quite  frequently  these  enterprises 
were  under  the  actual  management  of 
Americans,  using  to  the  common  advan- 
tage the  savings  of  the  thrifty  French- 
man and  the  capital  of  the  wealthy  Eng- 
lishman. 

For,  of  course,  as  between  the  older 
and  the  newej*  worlds  there  has  gone  on 
this  very  beneficent  division  of  labor:  tlie 
Old  World  having  developed  its  soil,  built 
its  cities,  made  its  roads,  has  more  capi- 
tal available  for  outside  employment  than 
have  the  population  of  newer  countries 
that  have  so  much  of  this  work  before 
them.  And  now  this  possibility  of  fruit- 
ful co-operation  is,  for  the  time  being, 
and  it  may  be  for  many  years,  suspended. 
I  say  nothing  of  the  loss  of  markets  in 
the  older  countries  which  will  be  occa- 
sioned by  sheer  loss  of  population  and 
the  lower  standard  of  living.  That  is  one 
of  the  more  obvious  but  not  perhaps  the 
most  important  of  the  ways  in  which  the 
war  affects  us  commercially. 

Speaking  purely  in  terms  of  commer- 
cial advantage — and  these,  I  know,  do  not 


tell  the  whole  story  (I  am  not  for  a  mo- 
ment pretending  they  do) — the  losses  that 
we  shall  suffer  through  this  war  are 
probably  very  much  more  considerable 
than  those  we  should  suffer  by  the  loss 
of  the  Philippines  in  the  event,  say,  of 
their  being  seized  by  some  hostile  power; 
and  we  suffer  these  losses,  although  not 
a  single  foreign  soldier  lands  upon  our 
soil.  It  is  literally  and  precisely  true  to 
say  that  there  is  not  one  person  from 
Hudson  Bay  to  Cape  Horn  that  will  not 
be  affected  in  some  degree  by  what  is 
now  going  on  in  Europe.  And  it  is  at 
least  conceivable  that  our  children  and 
children's  children  will  feel  its  effects 
more  deeply  still. 

Nor  is  America  escaping  the  military 
any  more  than  she  has  escaped  the  com- 
mercial and  financial  effects  of  this  war. 
She  may  never  be  di'awn  into  active  mili- 
tary co-operation  with  other  nations,  but 
she  is  affected  none  the  less.  Indeed  the 
military  effects  of  this  war  are  already 
revealing  themselves  in  a  demand  for  a 
naval  programme  immensely  larger  than 
any  American  could  have  anticipated  a 
year  ago,  by  plans  for  an  enormously  en- 
larged army.  All  this  is  the  most  nat- 
ural result. 

Just  consider,  for  instance,  the  ultimate 
effect  of  a  quite  possible  outcome  of  the 
present  conflict — Germany  victorious  and 
the  Prussian  effort  next  directed  at,  say, 
the  conquest  of  India.  Imagine  India 
Prussianized  by  Germany,  so  that,  with 
the  marvelous  efficiency  in  military  or- 
ganization which  she  has  shown,  she  is 
able  to  draw  on  an  Asiatic  population  of 
something  approaching  400,000,000. 

Whether  the  situation  then  created 
would  really  constitute  a  menace  for  us 
or  not,  this  much  would  be  certain — that 
the  more  timid  and  timorous  among  us 
would  believe  it  to  be  a  menace,  and  it 
would  furnish  an  irresistible  plea  for  a 
very  greatly  enlarged  naval  and  mili- 
tary establishment.  We  too,  in  that  case 
would  probably  be  led  to  organize  our 
nation  on  the  lines  on  which  the  Euro- 
pean militai-y  nations  have  organized 
theirs,  with  compulsory  military  service, 
and  so  forth. 

Indeed,  even  if  Germany  is  not  victori- 
ous the  future  contains  possibilities  of  a 


68 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


like  result;  imagine,  what  is  quite  possi- 
ble, that  Russia  becomes  the  dominant 
factor  in  Europe  after  this  war  and 
places  herself  at  the  head  of  a  great  Slav 
confederacy  of  200,000,000,  with  her  pow- 
er extending  incidentally  to  the  Pacific 
coast  of  Asia,  and,  it  may  be  the  day  aft- 
er tomorrow,  over  100,000,000  or  200,000,- 
000  of  Asiatics.  We  should  thus  have  a 
militarized  power  of  200,000,000  or  300,- 
000,000  or  400,000,000  souls,  autocratically 
governed,  endowed  with  western  technical 
knowledge  in  the  manipulation  of  the  in- 
struments of  war,  occupying  the  Pacific 
coast  line  directly  facing  our  Pacific 
coast  line.  It  is  quite  conceivable,  there- 
fore, that  as  the  outcome  of  either  of  the 
two  possible  results  of  this  war  we  may 
find  ourselves  embarked  upon  a  great  era 
of  militarization. 

Our  impregnability  does  not  protect  us 
from  militarism.  It  is  quite  true  that 
this  country,  like  Russia,  cannot  be  per- 
manently invaded;  it  is  quite  true  that 
hostile  navies  need  not  necessarily  be  re- 
sisted by  navies  of  our  own  so  far  as  the 
protection  of  our  coasts  is  concerned. 
But  there  is  no  such  thing  as  absolute 
certainty  in  these  matters.  While  per- 
sonally I  believe  that  no  country  in  the 
world  will  ever  challenge  the  United 
States,  that  the  chances  are  a  hundred  to 
one  against  it,  it  is  on  just  that  one 
chance  that  the  militarist  bases  his  plea 
for  armaments  and  secures  them. 

But,  unfortunately,  we  are  already 
committed  to  a  good  deal  more  than  just 
mere  defense  of  American  territory; 
problems  arising  out  of  the  Philippines 
and  the  Panama  Canal  and  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  have  already  committed  us  to  a 
measure  of  intervention  in  the  political 
affairs  of  the  outside  world.  In  brief,  if 
the  other  nations  of  the  world  have  great 
armies  and  navies — and  tomorrow  those 
other  nations  will  include  a  reorganized 
China  as  they  already  include  a  western- 
ized Japan — if  there  is  all  that  weight  of 
military  material  which  might  he  used 
against  us,  then  in  the  absence  of  those 
other  guarantees  which  I  shall  su^-gest, 
we  shall  be  drawn  into  piling  up  a  corre- 
sponding weight  of  material  as  agninst 
that  of  the  outside  world. 

And,  of  course,  just  as  we  cannot  es- 


cape the  economic  and  the  military  reac- 
tion of  European  development,  neither 
can  we  escape  the  moral.  If  European 
thought  and  morality  did,  by  some  fatali- 
ty, really  develop  in  the  direction  of  a 
Nietzschean  idealization  of  military  force, 
we  might  well  get  in  the  coming  years  a 
practical  submergence  of  that  morality 
which  we  believe  to  be  distinctively 
American,  and.  get  throughout  the  older 
hemisphere  a  type  of  society  based  upon 
authority,  reproducing  it  may  be  some 
features  of  past  civilizations,  Mongol, 
Asiatic,  or  Byzantine.  If  that  were  to 
happen,  if  Europe  were  really  to  become 
a  mere  glorified  form  of,  say,  certain 
Asiatic  conceptions  that  we  all  thought 
had  had  their  day,  why,  then,  of  course 
America  could  not  escape  a  like  trans- 
formation of  outlook,  ideals,  and  morals. 

For  there  is  no  such  thing  as  one  na- 
tion standing  out  and  maintaining  indefi- 
nitely a  social  spirit,  an  attitude  toward 
life  and  society  absolutely  distinct  and 
different  from  that  of  the  surrounding 
world.  The  character  of  a  society  is  de- 
termined by  the  character  of  its  ideas, 
and  neither  tariffs  nor  coastal  defenses 
are  really  efficient  in  preventing  the  in- 
vasion of  ideas,  good  or  bad.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  kind  of  society  which 
exists  in  Illinois  today  and  that  which 
existed  there  500  years  ago  is  not  a  dif- 
ference of  physical  vigor  or  of  the  raw 
materials  of  nature;  the  Indian  was  as 
good  a  man  physically  as  the  modern 
Chicagoan,  and  possessed  the  same  soil. 
What  makes  the  difference  b^ween  the 
two  is  accumulated  knowledge,  the  mind. 
And  there  never  was  yet  on  this  planet  a 
change  of  ideas  which  did  not  sooner  or 
later  affect  the  whole  planet. 

The  "  nations  "  that  inhabited  this  con- 
tinent a  couple  of  thousand  years  ago 
were  apparently  quite  unconcerned  with 
what  went  on  in  Europe  or  Asia,  say,  in 
the  domain  of  mathematical  and  astro- 
nomical knowledge.  But  the  ultimate 
effect  of  that  knowledge  on  navigation 
and  discovery  was  destined  to  affect  them 
— and  us — profoundly.  But  the  reaction 
of  European  thought  upon  this  continent, 
which  originally  required  twenty,  or,  for 
that  matter,  two  hundred  or  two  thou- 
sand years  to  show  itself,  now  shows  it- 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


69 


self,  in  the  industrial  and  commercial 
field,  for  instance,  through  our  banking 
and  Stock  Exchanges,  in  as  many  hours, 
or,  for  that  matter,  minutes. 

It  is  difficult,  of  course,  for  us  to  real- 
ize the  extent  to  which  each  nation  owes 
its  civilization  to  others,  how  we  have 
all  lived  by  taking  in  each  other's  wash- 
ing. As  Americans,  for  instance,  we  have 
to  make  a  definite  effort  properly  to  real- 
ize that  our  institutions,  the  sanctity  of 
our  homes  and  all  the  other  things  upon 
which  we  pride  ourselves,  are  the  result 
of  anything  but  the  unaided  efforts  of  a 
generation  or  two  of  Americans,  perhaps 
owing  a  little  to  certain  of  the  traditions 
that  we  may  have  taken  from  Britain. 

One  has  to  stop  and  uproot  impressions 
that  are  almost  instinctive,  to  remember 
that  our  forefathers  reached  these  shores 
by  virtue  of  knowledge  which  they  owed 
to  the  astronomical  researches  of  Egyp- 
tians and  Chaldeans,  who  inspired  the 
astronomers  of  Greece,  who  inspired 
those  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy,  Spain, 
and  Germany,  keeping  alive  and  develop- 
ing not  merely  the  art  of  measuring 
space  and  time,  but  also  that  conception 
of  order  in  external  nature  without  which 
the  growth  of  organized  knowledge, 
which  we  call  science,  enabling  men  to 
carry  on  their  exploitation  of  the  world, 
would  have  been  impossible;  that  our 
very  alphabet  comes  from  Rome,  who 
owed  it  to  others;  that  the  mathematical 
foundation  of  our  modern  mechanical  sci- 
ence— without  which  neither  Newton  nor 
Watt  nor  Stevenson  nor  Ericson  nor 
Faraday  nor  Edison  could  have  been — is 
the  work  of  Arabs,  strengthened  by 
Greeks,  protected  and  enlarged  by  Ital- 
ians; that  our  conceptions  of  political  or- 
ganization, which  have  so  largely  shaped 
our  political  science,  come  mainly  from 
the  Scandinavian  colonists  of  a  French 
province;  that  British  intellect,  to  which 
perhaps  we  owe  the  major  part  of  our 
political  impulses,  has  been  nurtured 
mainly  by  Greek  philosophy;  that  our 
Anglo-Saxon  Jaw  is  principally  Roman, 
and  our  religion  almost  entirely  Asiatic 
in  its  origins;  that  for  those  things  which 
we  deem  to  be  the  most  important  in  our 
lives,  our  spiritual  and  religious  aspira- 
tions, we  go  to  a  Jewish  book  interpreted 


by  a  Church  Roman  in  origin,  reformed 
mainly  by  the  efforts  of  Swiss  and  Ger- 
man theologians. 

And  this  interaction  of  the  respective 
elements  of  the  various  nations,  the  in- 
fluence of  foreigners,  in  other  words,  and 
of  foreign  ideas,  is  going  to  be  far  more 
powerful  in  the  future  than  it  has  been 
in  the  past.  Morally,  as  well  as  material- 
ly, we  are  a  part  of  Europe.  The  influ- 
ence which  one  group  exercises  on  anoth- 
er need  not  operat?  through  political 
means  at  all;  indeed,  the  strongest  influ- 
ences are  non-political. 

American  life  and  civilization  may  he 
transformed  by  European  developments, 
though  the  Governments  of  Europe  may 
leave  us  severely  alone.  Luther  and  Cal- 
vin had  certainly  a  greater  effect  in  Eng- 
land than  Louis  XIV.  or  Napoleon.  Gut- 
enberg created  in  Europe  a  revolution 
more  powerful  than  all  the  military  revo- 
lutions of  the  last  ten  centuries.  Greece 
and  Palestine  did  not  transform  the  world 
by  their  political  power.  Yet  these  sim- 
ple and  outstanding  truths  are  persist- 
ently ignored  by  our  political  and  his- 
torical philosophers  and  theorists.  For 
the  most  part  our  history  is  written  with 
a  more  sublime  disregard  of  the  simple 
facts  of  the  world  than  is  shown  per- 
haps in  any  other  department  of  human 
thought  and  inquiry. 

You  may  today  read  histories  of  Eu- 
rope written  by  men  of  worldwide  and 
pre-eminent  reputation,  professing  to 
tell  the  story  of  the  development  of  hu- 
man society,  in  which  whole  volumes  will 
be  devoted  to  the  effect  of  a  particular 
campaign  or  military  alliance  in  influ- 
encing the  destinies  of  a  people  like  the 
French  or  the  German.  But  in  those 
histories  you  will  find  no  word  as  to  the 
effect  of  such  trifles  as  the  invention  of 
the  steam  engine,  the  coming  of  the 
railroad,  the  introduction  of  the  tele- 
graph and  cheap  newspapers  and  litera- 
ture on  the  destiny  of  those  people;  vol- 
umes as  to  the  influence  which  Britain 
may  have  had  upon  the  history  of  France 
or  Germany  by  the  campaigns  of  Marl- 
borough, but  absolutely  not  one  word  as 
to  the  influence  which  Britain  had  upon 
the  destinies  of  those  people  by  the  work 
of  Watt  and  Stephenson. 


70 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


A  great  historian  philosopher  laying 
it  down  that  the  "  influence "  of  Eng- 
land was  repelled  or  offset  by  this  or 
that  military  alliance,  seriously  stated 
that  "  England  "  was  losing  her  influence 
on  the  Continent  at  a  time  when  her  in- 
fluence was  transforming  the  whole  lives 
of  Continental  people  to  a  greater  degree 
than  they  had  been  transformed  since 
the  days  of  the  Romans. 

I  have  gone  into  this  at  some  length 
to  show  mainly  two  things — first,  that 
neither  morally  nor  materially,  neither 
in  our  trade  nor  in  our  finance,  nor  in 
our  industry,  nor  in  all  those  intangible 
things  that  give  value  to  life  can  there 
be  such  a  thing  as  isolation  from  the  rest 
of  Christendom.  If  European  civilization 
takes  a  "  wrong  turning  " — and  it  has 
done  that  more  than  once  in  the  past — 
we  can  by  no  means  escape  the  effects  of 
that  catastrophe.  We  are  deeply  con- 
cerned, if  only  because  we  may  have  to 
defend  ourselves  against  it  and  in  so 
doing  necessarily  transform  in  some  de- 
gree our  society  and  ourselves. 

And  I  wanted  to  show,  secondly,  that 
not  only  as  a  simple  matter  of  fact  as 
things  stand  are  we  in  a  very  real  sense 
dependent  upon  Europe,  that  we  want 
European  capital  and  European  trade, 
and  that  if  we  are  to  do  the  best  for 
American  prosperity  we  must  increase 
that  dependence,  but  that  if  we  are  ef- 
fectively to  protect  those  things  that  go 
deeper  even  than  trade  and  prosperity, 
we  must  co-operate  with  Europe  intel- 
lectually and  morally.  It  is  not  for  us  a 
question  of  choice.  For  good  or  evil,  we 
are  part  of  the  world  affected  by  what 
the  rest  of  the  world  becomes  and  af- 
fected by  what  it  does.  And  I  want  to 
show  in  my  next  article  that  only  by 
frankly  facing  the  fact  (which  we  cannot 
deny)  that  we  are  a  part  of  the  civilized 
world  and  must  play  our  part  in  it,  shall 
we  achieve  real  security  for  our  material 
and  moral  posessions  and  do  the  best  that 
we  know  for  the  general  betterment  of 
American  life. 

II. 

AMERICA'S  FUTURE  ATTITUDE 

In  my  last  article  I  attempted  to  show 
how  deeply  must  America  feel,  sooner 
or    later,    and    for    good    or    evil,    the 


moral  and  material  results  of  the 
upheavals  in  Europe  and  the  new 
tendencies  that  will  be  generated  by 
them.  I  attempted  to  show,  too,  how  im- 
possible it  is  for  us  to  escape  our  part  of 
all  the  costs,  how  we  shall  pay  our  share 
of  the  indemnities,  and  how  our  children 
and  children's  children  may  be  affected 
even  more  profoundly  than  we  our- 
selves. 

ll.e  shells  may  not  hit  us.  yet  there 
is  hardly  a  farmhouse  in  our  countiy 
that  will  not,  however  unconsciously,  be 
affected  by  these  far-off  events.  W3 
may  not  witness  the  trains  of  weary 
refugees  trailing  over  the  roads,  but  (if 
we  could  but  see  the  picture)  there  will 
be  an  endless  precession  of  our  own 
farmers'  wives  with  a  hardened  and 
shortened  life  and  their  children  with 
less  ample  opportunities. 

And  our  ideals  of  the  future  will  in 
some  measure  be  twisted  by  the  moral 
and  material  bankruptcy  of  Europe. 
Those  who  consider  at  all  carefully,  the 
facts  hinted  at  in  my  last  article — too 
complex  to  be  more  than  hinted  at  in 
the  space  available — will  realize  that  the 
"  isolation  "  of  America  is  an  illusion  of 
the  map,  and  is  becoming  more  so  every 
day;  that  she  is  an  integral  part  of  Occi- 
dental civilization  whether  she  wishes  it 
or  not,  and  that  if  civilization  in  Europe 
takes  the  wrong  turn  we  Americans 
would  suffer  less  directly  but  not  IcjJS 
vitally  than  France  or  Britain  or  Ger- 
many. 

All  this,  of  course,  is  no  argument  for 
departing  from  our  traditional  isolation. 
Our  entrance  into  the  welter  might  not 
change  things  or  it  might  change  them 
for  the  worse  or  the  disadvantages  might 
be  such  as  to  outweigh  the  advantages. 
The  sensible  question  for  America  is 
this:  "Can  we  affect  the  general  course 
of  events  in  Europe — in  the  world,  that 
is — to  our  advantage  by  entering  in;  and 
will  the  advantage  of  so  doing  be  of 
such  extent  as  to  offset  the  risks  and 
costs  ?  " 

Before  answering  that  question  I  want 
to  indicate  by  very  definite  proposals  or 
propositions  a  course  of  action  and  a 
basis  for  estimating  the  effect.     I  will 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


71 


put  the  proposal  with  reference  to  Am- 
erica's future  attitude  to  Europe  in  the 
form  of  a  definite  proposition  thus: 

That  America  shall  use  her  influence  to 
secure  the  abandonment  by  the  powers  of 
Christendom  of  rival  group  alliances  and 
the  creation  instead  of  an  alliance  of  all  the 
civilized  powers  having  as  its  aim  some 
common  action— not  necessarily  military— 
which  will  constitute  a  collective  guarantee 
of   each   against   aggression. 

Thus  when  Germany,  asked  by  the 
Allies  at  the  prospective  peace  to  remove 
the  menace  of  her  militarism  by  reduc- 
ing her  armaments,  replies,  "  What  of 
my  protection  against  Russia?"  Christen- 
dom should,  with  America's  help,  be  in 
a  position  to  reply:  "  We  will  all  protect 
you  against  Russia,  just  as  we  would  all 
protect  Russia  against  you." 

The  considerations  which  support  such 
a  policy  on  America's  part  are  mainly 
these:  First,  that  if  America  does  not  lend 
the  assistance  of  her  detachment  from 
European  quarrels  to  such  an  arrange- 
ment, Europe  of  herself  may  not  prove 
capable  of  it.  Second,  that  if  Europe  does 
not  come  to  some  such  arrangement  the 
resulting  unrest,  militarism,  moral  and 
material  degeneration,  for  the  reasons 
above  indicated  and  for  others  to  be  indi- 
cated presently,  will  most  unfavorably 
affect  the  development  of  America,  and 
expose  her  to  dangers  internal  and  ex- 
ternal much  greater  than  those  which 
she  would  incur  by  intervention.  Third, 
that  if  America's  influence  is  in  the 
manner  indicated  made  the  deciding 
factor  in  the  establishment  of  a  new 
form  of  world  society,  she  would  vir- 
tually take  the  leadership  of  Western 
civilization,  and  her  capital  become  the 
centre  of  the  political  organization  *  of 
the  new  world  State.  While  "world 
domination "  by  military  means  has 
always  proved  a  dangerous  diet  for  all 
nations  that  have  eaten  of  it  heretofore, 
the  American  form  of  that  ambition  would 
have  this  great  difference  from  earlier 
forms — that  it  would  be  welcomed  instead 
of  being  resisted  by  the  dominated. 
America  would  have  given  a  new  mean- 
ing to  the  term  and  found  a  means  of 
satisfying  national  pride,  certainly  more 
beneficial  than  that  which  comes  of  mili- 
tary glory. 


I  envisage  the  whole  problem,  however, 
first  and  last  in  this  discussion  on  the 
basis  of  America's  interest;  and  the  test 
which  I  would  apply  to  the  alternatives 
now  presenting  themselves  is  simply  this: 
What  on  balance  is  most  advantageous, 
in  the  broadest  and  largest  sense  of  the 
term,  in  its  moral  as  well  as  its  material 
sense,  to  American  interest? 

Now  I  know  full  well  that  there  is 
much  to  be  said  against  the  step  which 
I  think  America  should  initiate.  I  sup- 
pose the  weight  of  the  reasons  against  it 
would  be  in  some  such  order  as  the 
following:  First,  that  it  is  a  violation 
of  the  ancient  tradition  of  American 
statecraft  and  of  the  rule  laid  down  by 
Washington  concerning  the  avoidance 
of  entangling  alliances.  Second,  that  it 
may  have  the  effect  which  he  feared  of 
dragging  this  country  into  war  on  mat- 
ters in  which  it  had  no  concern.  Third, 
that  it  will  militarize  the  country,  and  so. 
Fourth,  lead  to  the  neglect  of  those 
domestic  problems  upon  which  the  prog- 
ress of  our  nation  depends. 

I  will  take  the  minor  points  first  and 
will  deal  with  the  major  ^consideration 
presently. 

First,  I  would  remind  the  reader  of 
what  I  pointed  out  in  the  last  article, 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  being  un- 
affected by  the  military  policies  of  Eu- 
rope, and  there  never  has  been.  At  this 
present  moment  a  campaign  for  greatly 
increased  armaments  is  being  waged  on 
the  strength  of  what  is  taking  place 
in  the  Old  World,  and  our  armaments 
are  directly  and  categorically  dictated 
by  what  foreign  nations  do  in  the  matter. 
So  that  it  is  not  a  question  in  practice 
of  being  independent  of  the  policies  of 
other  nations;  we  are  not  independent  of 
their  polities. 

We  may  refuse  to  co-operate  with  them, 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  them.  Even 
then  our  military  policy  will  be  guided 
by  theirs,  and  it  is  at  least  conceivable 
that  in  certain  circumstances  we  should 
become  thoroughly  militarized  by  the 
need  for  preparing  against  what  our  peo- 
ple would  regard  as  the  menace  of  Euro- 
pean military  ambitions.  This  tendency, 
if   it   became    sufficiently   acute,   would 


7« 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


cause  neglect  of  domestic  problems  hardly 
less  mischievous  than  that  occasioned  by 
war. 

In  my  last  article  I  touched  upon  a 
quite  possible  turn  of  the  alliance  group- 
ings in  Europe — the  growing  influence  of 
Russia,  the  extension  of  that  influence  to 
the  Asiatic  populations  on  her  borders, 
(Japan  and  Russia  are  already  in  alli- 
ance,) so  that  within  the  quite  measur- 
able future  we  may  be  confronted  by  a 
military  community  drawing  on  a  popu- 
lation of  500,000,000  souls,  autocratical- 
ly governed  and  endowed  with  all  the 
machinery  of  destruction  which  modern 
science  has  given  to  the  world.  A  Russo- 
Chino-Japanese  alliance  might  on  behalf 
of  the  interest  or  dignity  of  one  of  the 
members  of  such  a  group  challenge  this 
country  in  some  form  or  another,  and  a 
Western  Europe  with  whom  we  had  re- 
fused to  co-operate  for  a  common  protec- 
tion might  as  a  consequence  remain  an 
indifferent  spectator  of  the  conflict. 

Such  a  situation  would  certainly  not 
relieve  us  from  the  burdens  of  militarism 
merely  because  we  declined  to  enter  into 
any  arrangement  with  the  European 
powers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  of  course, 
this  present  war  destroyed  the  national- 
ist basis  of  militarism  itself.  The  mil- 
itarist may  continue  to  talk  about  inter- 
national agreement  between  nations  be- 
ing impossible  as  a  means  of  insuring  a 
nation's  safety,  and  a  nation  having  no 
security  but  the  strength  of  its  own 
arms,  but  when  it  actually  comes  to  the 
point  even  he  is  obliged  to  trust  to  agree- 
ment with  other  nations  and  to  admit  that 
even  in  war  a  nation  can  no  longer  de- 
pend merely  upon  the  strength  of  its 
arms;  it  has  to  depend  upon  co-operation, 
which  means  an  agreement  of  some  kind 
with  other  nations  as  well. 

Just  as  the  nations  have  by  forces 
stronger  than  their  own  volition  been 
brought  into  industrial  and  commercial 
co-operation,  so,  strangely  enough,  have 
they  been  brought  by  those  same  forces 
into  military  co-operation.  While  the 
warrior  and  militarist  have  been  talking 
the  old  jargon  of  nationalism  and  holding 
international  co-operation  up  to  derision 
,  as  a  dream,  they  have  themselves  been 


brought  to  depend  upon  foreigners.  War 
itself  has  become  internationalist. 

There  is  something  of  sardonic  humor 
in  the  fact  that  it  is  the  greatest  war  of 
history  which  is  illustrating  the  fact 
that  even  the  most  powerful  of  the  Eu- 
ropean nations  must  co-operate  with  for- 
eigners for  its  security.  For  no  one  of 
the  nine  or  ten  combatants  of  the  present 
war  could  have  maintained  its  position 
or  defended  itself  alone.  There  is  not  one 
nation  involved  that  would  not  believe 
itself  in  danger  of  destruction  but  for 
the  help  of  foreigners;  there  is  not  one 
whose  national  safety  does  not  depend 
upon  some  compact  or  arrangement  with 
foreign  nations.  France  would  have  been 
helpless  but  for  the  help  of  Britain  and 
of  Russia.  Russia  herself  could  not  have 
imposed  her  will  upon  Germany  if  Ger- 
many could  have  thrown  all  her  forces 
on  the  eastern  frontier.  Austria  could 
certainly  not  have  withstood  the  Russian 
flood  single  handed.  Quite  obviously  the 
lesser  nations,  Serbia,  Belgium,  and  the 
rest,  would  be  helpless  victims  but  for  the 
support  of  their  neighbors. 

And  it  should  be  noted  that  this  inter- 
national co-operation  is  not  by  any  mean:- 
always  with  similar  and  racially  allied 
nations.  Republican  France  finds  itself, 
and  has  been  for  a  generation,  the  ally 
of  autocratic  Russia.  Australia,  that 
much  more  than  any  other  country  has 
been  obsessed  by  the  yellow  peril  and 
the  danger  from  Japan,  finds  herself 
today  fighting  side  by  side  with  the  Jap- 
anese. And  as  to  the  ineradicable  hos- 
tility of  races  preventing  intetnational 
co-operation,  there  are  fighting  together 
on  the  soil  of  France  as  I  write,  Flemish, 
Walloons,  and  negroes  from  Senegal, 
Turcos  from  Northern  Africa,  Gurkhas 
from  India,  co-operating  with  the  ad- 
vance on  the  other  frontier  of  Cossacks, 
and  Russians  of  all  descriptions.  This 
military  and  political  co-operation  has 
brought  together  Mohammedan  and 
Christian;  Catholic,  Protestant,  and  Or- 
thodox; negro,  white  and  yellow;  African, 
Indian,  and  European;  monarchist,  re- 
publican. Socialist,  reactionary  —  there 
seems  hardly  a  racial,  religious,  or  polit- 
ical difference  that  has  stood  in  the  way 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


73 


of  rapid  and  effective  co-operation  in  the 
common  need. 

Thus  the  soldier  himself,  while  de- 
fending the  old  nationalist  and  exclu- 
sive conceptions,  is  helping  to  shrink  the 
spaces  of  the  world  and  break  down  old 
isolations  and  show  how  interests  at  the 
uttermost  ends  of  the  earth  react  one 
upon  the  other. 

But  even  apart  from  this  influence,  as 
already  noted,  America  cannot  escape 
the  military  any  more  than  she  has  es- 
caped the  commercial  and  financial  ef- 
fects of  this  war.  She  may  never  be 
drawn  into  active  military  co-operation 
with  other  nations,  but  she  is  affected 
none  the  less — by  a  demand  for  a  naval 
programme  immensely  larger  than  any 
American  could  have  anticipated  a  year 
since,  by  plans  for  an  enormously  en- 
larged army. 

That,  it  will  be  argued,  is  the  one 
thing  needed — to  be  stronger  than  our 
prospective  enemy.  And,  of  course,  any 
enemy — whether  he  be  one  nation  or  a 
group — who  really  does  contemplate  ag- 
gression, would  on  his  side  take  care  to 
be  stronger  than  us.  War  and  peace  are 
matters  of  two  parties,  and  any  principle 
which  you  may  lay  down  for  one  is  ap- 
plicable to  the  other.  When  we  say  "  Si 
vis  pacem,  para  bellum  "  we  must  apply 
it  to  all  parties.  One  eminent  upholder 
of  this  principle  has  told  us  that  the  only 
way  to  be  sure  of  peace  is  to  be  so  much 
stronger  than  your  enemy  that  he  will 
not  dare  to  attack  you.  Apply  that  to  the 
two  parties  and  you  get  this  result — here 
are  two  nations  or  two  groups  of  nations 
likely  to  quarrel.  How  shall  they  keep 
the  peace?  And  we  say  quite  seriously 
that  they  will  keep  the  peace  if  each  is 
stronger  than  the  other. 

This  principle,  therefore,  which  looks 
at  first  blush  like  an  axiom,  is,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  an  attempt  to  achieve  a 
physical  impossibility  and  always  ends, 
as  it  has  ended  in  Europe  on  this  occa- 
sion, in  explosion.  You  cannot  indefinite- 
ly pile  up  explosive  material  without  an 
accident  of  some  sort  occurring;  it  is 
bound  to  occur.  But  you  will  note  this: 
that  the  militarist — while  avowing  by 
his  conduct  that  nations  can  no  longer 
in  a  military  sense  be  independent,  that 


they  are  obliged  to  co-operate  with  oth- 
ers and  consequently  depend  upon  some 
sort  of  an  arrangement,  agreement,  com- 
pact, alliance  with  others — has  adopted 
a  form  of  compact  which  merely  perpet- 
uates the  old  impossible  situation  on  a 
larger  scale !  He  has  devised  the  "  bal- 
ance of  power." 

For  several  generations  Britain,  which 
has  occupied  with  reference  to  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe  somewhat  the  position 
which  we  are  now  coming  to  occupy  with 
regard  to  Europe  as  a  whole,  has  acted 
on  this  principle — that  so  long  as  the 
powers  of  the  Continent  were  fairly 
equally  divided  she  felt  she  could  with  a 
fair  chance  of  safety  face  either  one  or 
the  other.  But  if  one  group  became  so 
much  stronger  than  the  other  that  it  was 
in  danger  of  dominating  the  whole  Con- 
tinent, then  Britain  might  find  herself 
faced  by  an  overwhelming  power  with 
which  she  would  be  unable  to  deal.  To 
prevent  this  she  joined  the  weaker 
group.  Thus  Britain  intervened  in  Conti- 
nental politics  against  Napoleon  as  she 
has  intervened  today  against  the  Kaiser. 

But  this  policy  is  merely  a  perpetua- 
tion on  a  larger  scale  of  the  principle 
of  "  each  being  stronger  than  the  other." 
Military  power,  in  any  case,  is  a  thing 
very  difficult  to  estimate ;  an  apparently 
weaker  group  or  nation  has  often  proved, 
in  fact,  to  be  the  stronger,-  so  that  there 
is  a  desire  on  the  part  of  both  sides  to 
give  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  them- 
selves. Thus  the  natural  and  latent 
effort  to  be  strongest  is  obviously  fatal 
to  any  "  balance."  Neither  side,  in  fact, 
desires  a  balance;  each  desires  to  have 
the  balance  tilted  in  its  favor.  This  sets 
up  a  perpetual  tendency  toward  rear- 
rangement, and  regroupings  and  reshuf- 
flings  in  these  international  alliances 
sometimes  take  place  with  extraordinary 
and  startling  rapidity,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Balkan  States. 

It  is  already  illustrated  in  the  present 
war;  Italy  has  broken  away  from  a  def- 
inite and  formal  alliance  -vhich  every 
one  supposed  would  range  her  on  the 
German  side.  There  is  at  least  a  possibil- 
ity that  she  may  finally  come  down  upon 
the  Anglo-Franco-Russian  side.  You 
have   Japan,   which    little   more   than   a 


74 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


decade  ago  was  fighting  bitterly  against 
Russia,  today  ranged  upon  the  side  of 
Russia. 

The  position  of  Russia  is  still  more  start- 
ling. In  the  struggles  of  the  eighteenth 
and  early  nineteenth  centuries  Britain 
was  almost  always  on  the  side  of  Russia; 
then  for  two  generations  she  was  taught 
that  any  increase  of  the  pov.-er  of  Russia 
was  a  particularly  dangerous  menace. 
That  once  more  was  a  decade  ago  sud- 
denly changed,  and  Britain  is  now  fight- 
ing to  inci'ease  both  relatively  and  abso- 
lutely the  power  of  a  country  which  her 
last  war  on  the  Continent  was  fought  to 
check.  The  war  before  that  which  Great 
Britain  fought  upon  the  Continent  was 
fought  in  alliance  with  Germans  against 
the  power  of  France.  As  to  the  Aus- 
trians,  whom  Britain  is  now  fighting, 
they  were  for  many  years  her  faithful 
allies.  So  it  is  very  nearly  true  to  say 
of  nearly  all  the  combatants  respectively 
that  they  have  no  enemy  today  that  was 
not,  historically  speaking,  quite  recently 
an  ally,  and  not  an  ally  today  that  was 
not  in  the     recent  past  an  enemy. 

These  combinations,  therefore,  are  not, 
never  have  been,  and  never  can  be  per- 
manent. If  history,  even  quite  recent 
history,  has  any  meaning  at  all,  the  next 
ten  or  fifteen  or  twenty  years  will  be 
bound  to  see  among  these  tan  combat- 
ants now  in  the  field  rearrangements 
and  permutations  ouv  of  which  the  crush- 
ed and  suppressed  Germany  that  is  to 
follow  the  war — a  Germany  which  will 
embrace,  nevertheless,  a  hundred  million 
of  the  same  race,  highly  efficient,  highly 
educated,  trained  for  co-ordination  and 
common  action — will  be  bound  sooner  or 
later  to  find  her  chance. 

If  America  should  by  any  catastrophe 
join  Britain  or  any  other  nation  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  a  "  balance  of 
power  "  in  the  world,  then  indeed  would 
her  last  state  be  worse  than  her  first. 
The  essential  vice  of  the  balance  of 
power  is  that  it  is  based  upon  a  funda- 
mentally false  assumption  as  to  the  real 
relationship  of  nations  and  as  to  the 
function  and  nature  of  force  in  hum.an 
affairs.  The  limits  of  the  present  article 
preclude   any   analysis   of  most   of   the 


monstrous  fallacies,  but  a  hint  can  be 
given  of  one  or  two. 

First,  of  course,  if  you  could  get  such 
a  thing  as  a  real  "  balance  of  power " 
— two  parties  confronting  one  another 
with  about  equal  forces — you  would  prob- 
ably get  a  situation  most  favorable  to 
war.  Neither  being  manifestly  inferior 
to  the  other,  neither  would  be  disposed 
to  yield;  each  being  manifestly  as  good 
as  the  other,  would  feel  in  "  honor " 
bound  to  make  no  concession.  If  a  power 
quite  obviously  superior  to  its  rival  makes 
concessions  the  world  may  give  it  credit 
for  magnanimity  in  yielding,  but  other- 
wise it  would  always  be  in  the  position 
of  being  compelled  to  vindicate  its  cour- 
age. Our  notions  of  honor  and  valor 
being  what  they  are,  no  situation  could 
be  created  more  likely  to  bring  about 
deadlocks  and  precipitate  fights.  All  the 
elements  are  there  for  bringing  about 
that  position  in  which  the  only  course 
left  is  "  to  fight  it  out." 

The  assumption  underlying  the  whole 
theory  of  the  balance  of  power  is  that 
predominant  military  power  in  a  nation 
will  necessarily — or  at  least  probably — 
be  exercised  against  its  weaker  neighbors 
to  their  disadvantage.  Thus  Britain  has 
acted  on  the  assumption  that  if  one 
power  dominated  the  Continent^  British 
independence,  more  truly  perhaps  Brit- 
ish predominance  in  the  world  would  be 
threatened. 

Now,  how  has  a  society  of  individuals — 
the  community  within  the  frontiers  of  a 
nation — met  this  difficulty  which  now 
confronts  the  society  of  nations,  the  dif- 
ficulty that  is  of  the  danger  of  the  power 
of  an  individual  or  a  group?  They  have 
met  it  by  determining  that  no  individual 
or  gi'oup  shall  exercise  physical  power 
or  predominance  over  others;  that  the 
community  alone  shall  be  predominant. 
How  has  that  predominance  been  se- 
cured? By  determining  that  any  one  mem- 
ber attacked  shall  be  opposed  by  the 
whole  weight  of  the  community,  (exer- 
cised, say,  through  the  policeman.)  If  A 
flies  at  B's  throat  in  the  street  with  the 
evident  intention  of  throttling  him  to 
death,  the  community,  if  it  is  efficient, 
immediately  comes  to  the  support  of  B. 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


75 


And  you  will  note  this:  that  it  does 
not  allow  force  to  be  used  for  the  settle- 
ment of  differences  by  anybody.  The 
community  does  not  use  force  as  such 
at  all ;  it  merely  cancels  the  force  of  units 
and  determines  that  nobody  shall  use  it. 
It  eliminates  force.  And  it  thus  cancels 
the  power  of  the  units  to  use  it  against 
other  units  (other  than  as  a  part  of  the 
community)  by  standing  ready  at  all 
times  to  reduce  the  power  of  any  one 
unit  to  futility.  If  A  says  that  B  began 
it,  the  community  does  not  say,  "  Oh,  in 
that  case  you  may  continue  to  use  your 
force;  finish  him  off."  It  says,  on  the 
contrary,  "  Then  we'll  see  that  B  does 
not  use  his  force;  we'll  restrain  him,  we 
won't  have  either  of  you  using  force. 
We'll  cancel  it  and  suppress  it  wherever 
it  rears  its  head."  For  there  is  this  par- 
adox at  the  basis  of  all  civilized  inter- 
course: force  between  men  has  but  one 
use — to  see  that  force  settles  no  differ- 
ence between  them. 

And  this  has  taken  place  because  men 
— individually — ^have  decided  that  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  security  of  each  from 
aggression  outweighs  the  advantage 
which  each  has  in  the  possible  exercise 
of  aggression.  When  nations  have  come 
to  the  same  decision — and  not  a  moment 
before  —  they  will  protect  themselves 
from  aggression  in  precisely  the  same 
way  —  by  agreeing  between  them  that 
they  will  cancel  by  their  collective  power 
the  force  of  any  one  member  exercised 
against  another. 

I  emphasize  the  fact  that  you  must 
get  this  recognition  of  common  interest 
in  a  given  action  before  you  can  get  the 
common  action.  We  have  managed  it  in 
the  relations  between  individuals  because, 
the  numbers  being  so  much  greater  than 
in  the  case  of  nations,  individual  dissent 
goes  for  less.  The  policeman,  the  judge, 
the  jailer  have  behind  them  a  larger 
number  relatively  to_  individual  excep- 
tions than  is  the  case  with  nations.  For 
the  existence  of  such  an  arrangement  by 
no  means  implies  that  men  shall  be  per- 
fect, that  each  shall  willingly  obey  all 
the  laws  which  he  enforces.  It  merely 
implies  that  his  interest  in  the  law  as  a 
whole  is  greater  than  his  interest  in  its 
general  violation. 


No  man  for  a  single  day  of  his  life  ob- 
serves all  the  Ten  Commandments,  yet 
you  can  always  secure  a  majority  for  the 
support  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  while  there  are  a 
grreat  many  who  would  like  to  rob,  all  are 
in  favor  of  being  protected  against  the 
robber.  While  there  are  a  great  many 
who  would  like  on  occasion  to  kill,  all  are 
in  favor  of  being  protected  against  be- 
ing killed.  The  prohibition  of  this  act  se- 
cures universal  support  embracing  "  all 
of  the  people  all  of  the  time  ";  the  posi- 
tive impulse  to  it  is  isolated  and  occa- 
sional— with  some  individuals  perhaps 
all  the  time,  but  with  all  individuals  only 
some  of  the  time;  if  ever. 

When  you  come  to  the  nations,  there  is 
less  disproportion  between  the  strength 
of  the  unit  and  the  society.  Hence  na- 
tions have  been  slower  than  individuals 
in  realizing  their  common  interest.  Each 
has  placed  greater  reliance  on  its  own 
strength  for  its  protection.  Yet  the 
principle  remains  the  same.  There  may 
be  nations  which  desire  for  their  own 
interest  to  go  to  war,  but  they  all  want 
to  protect  themselves  against  being  beat- 
en. You  have  there  an  absolutely  com- 
mon interest.  The  other  interest,  the  de- 
sire to  beat,  is  not  so  universal;  in  fact, 
if  any  value  can  be  given  whatever  to 
the  statement  of  the  respective  states- 
men, such  an  interest  is  non-existent. 

There  is  not  a  single  statesman  in 
Christendom  today  who  would  admit  for 
a  moment  that  it  is  his  desire  to  wage 
war  on  a  neighboring  nation  for  the  pur- 
pose of  conquering  it.  All  this  warfare 
is,  each  party  to  it  declares,  merely  a 
means  of  protecting  itself  against  the  ag- 
gression of  neighbors.  Whatever  insin- 
cerity there  may  be  in  these  declarations 
we  can  at  least  admit  this  much,  that 
the  desire  to  be  safe  is  more  widespread 
than  the  desire  to  conquer,  for  the  desire 
to  be  safe  is  universal. 

We  ought  to  be  able,  therefore,  to 
achieve,  on  the  part  of  the  majority,  ac- 
tion to  that  end.  And  on  this  same  prin- 
ciple there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  na- 
tions as  a  whole  would  give  their  sup- 
port to  any  plan  which  would  help  to 
secure  them  from  being  attacked.  It  is 
time  for  the  society  of  nations  to  take 


76 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


this  first  step  toward  the  creation  of  a 
real  community;  to  agree,  that  is,  that 
the  influence  of  the  whole  shall  be  thrown 
against  the  one  recalcitrant  member. 

The  immensely  increased  contact  be- 
tween nations  which  has  set  up  a  greater 
independence  (in  the  way  hinted  at  in 
my  last  article)  has  given  weight  to  the 
interest  in  security  and  taken  from  the 
interest  in  aggression.  The  tendency  to 
aggression  is  often  a  blind  impulse  due 
to  the  momentum  of  old  ideas  which  have 
rot  yet  had  time  to  be  discredited  and 
disintegrated  by  criticism.  And  of  or- 
ganization for  the  really  common  inter- 
est— that  of  security  against  aggression 
— there  has,  in  fact,  been  none.  If  there 
is  one  thing  certain  it  is  that  in  Europe 
last  July  the  people  did  hot  want  war; 
they  tolerated  it,  passively  dragged  by 
the  momentum  of  old  forces  which  they 
could  not  even  formulate.  The  really 
general  desire  has  never  been  organized; 
any  means  of  giving  effect  to  a  common 
will — such  as  is  given  it  in  society  within 
the  frontiers — has  never  so  far  been  de- 
vised. 

I  believe  that  it  is  the  mission  of 
America  in  her  own  interest  to  devise  it; 
that  the  circumstances  of  her  isolation, 
historical  and  geographical,  enable  her 
to  do  for  the  older  peoples — and  her- 
self— a  service  which  by  reason  of  their 
circumstances,  geographical  and  histor- 
ical, they  cannot  do  for  themselves. 

The  power  that  she  exercises  to  this 
end  need  not  be  military.  I  do  not  think 
that  it  should  be  military.  This  war  has 
shown  that  the  issues  of  military  conflict 
are  so  uncertain,  depending  upon  all 
sorts  of  physical  accidents,  that  no  man 
can  possibly  say  which  side  will  win.  The 
present  war  is  showing  daily  that  the 
advantage  does  not  always  go  with  num- 
bers, and  the  outcome  of  war  is  always 
to  some  extent  a  hazard  and  a  gamble, 
but  there  are  certain  forces  that  can  be 
set  in  operation  by  nations  situated  as 
the  United  States,  that  are  not  in  any 
way  a  gamble  and  a  hazard,  the  effect  of 
which  will  be  quite  certain. 

I  refer  to  the  pressure  of  such  a  thing 
as  organized  non-intercourse,  the  send- 
ing of  a  country  to  moral,  social,  eco- 
nomic Coventry.     We  are,  I  know,  here 


treading  somewhat  unknown  ground,  but 
we  have  ample  evidence  to  show  that 
there  do  exist  forces  capable  of  organiza- 
tion, stronger,  and  more  certain  in  their 
operation  than  military  forces.  That  the 
world  is  instinctively  feeling  this  is  dem- 
onstrated by  the  present  attitude  of  all 
the  combatants  in  Europe  to  the  United 
States.  The  United  States  relatively  to 
powers  like  Russia,  Britain,  and  Ger- 
many is  not  a  great  military  power,  yet 
they  are  all  pathetically  anxious  to  se- 
cure the  good-will  of  the  United  States. 

Why? 

It  can  hardly  be  to  save  the  shock  to 
their  moral  feelings  which  would  come 
from  the  mere  disapproval  of  people  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world.  If  any  per- 
centage of  what  we  have  read  of  German 
methods  is  true,  if  German  ethics  bear 
the  faintest  resemblance  to  what  they 
are  so  often  represented  to  be,  Germany 
must  have  no  feeling  in  the  political 
sphere  to  be  hurt  by  the  moral  disap- 
proval of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
If  German  statesmen  are  so  desperately 
anxious  as  they  evidently  are  to  secure 
the  approval  and  good-will  of  the  United 
States  it  is  because  they  realize,  however 
indistinctly,  that  there  lie  in  the  hands 
of  the  United  States  powers  which  could 
be  loosed,  more  portentous  than  those 
held  by  the  masters  of  many  legions. 

Just  what  these  powers  are  and  how 
they  might  be  used  to  give  America 
greater  security  than  she  could  achieve 
by  arms,  to  place  her  at  the  virtual  head 
of  a  great  world  State,  and  to  do  for 
mankind  as  a  whole  a  service  greater 
than  any  yet  recorded  in  written  history, 
must  be  left  to  the  third  and  concluding 
article  of  this  series. 

III. 
AMERICA  AS  LEADER. 
In  the  preceding  article  I  indicated 
that  America  might  undertake  at  this 
juncture  of  international  affairs  an  in- 
tervention in  the  politics  of  the  Old 
World  which  is  of  a  kind  not  hereto- 
fore attempted  by  any  nation,  an  inter- 
vention, that  is  to  say,  that  should  not  be 
military,  but  in  the  first  instance  medi- 
atory and  moral,  having  in  view  if  needs 
be  the  employment  of  certain  organized 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


77 


social  and  economic  forces  which  I  will 
detail  presently. 

The  suggestion  that  America  should 
take  any  such  lead  is  resisted  first  on 
the  ground  that  it  is  a  violation  of  her 
traditional  policy,  and  secondly  that 
"  economic  and  social  forces  "  are  bound 
to  be  ineffective  unless  backed  by  mili- 
tary, so  that  the  plea  would  involve  her 
in  a  militarist  policy.  With  reference  to 
these  two  points,  I  pointed  out  in  the  pre- 
ceding article  that  America's  isolation 
from  a  movement  for  world  agreement 
would  infallibly  land  her  in  a  very  pro- 
nounced militarist  policy,  the  increase  of 
her  armaments,  the  militarization  of  her 
civilization  and  all  that  that  implies. 

There  are  open  to  America  at  this 
present  moment  two  courses:  one  which 
will  lead  her  to  militarism  and  the  in- 
definite increase  of  armaments — that  is 
the  course  of  isolation  from  the  world's 
life,  from  the  new  efforts  that  will  be 
made  toward  world  organization;  the 
other  to  anticipate  events  and  take  the 
initiative  in  the  leadership  of  world  or- 
ganization, which  would  have  the  effect 
of  rendering  western  civilization,  includ- 
ing herself,  less  military,  less  dependent 
upon  arms,  and  put  the  development  of 
that  civilization  on  a  civilist  rather  than 
a  militarist  basis. 

I  believe  that  it  is  the  failure  to  real- 
ize that  this  intervention  can  be  non- 
military  in  character  which  explains  the 
reluctance  of  very  many  Americans  to 
depart  from  their  traditional  policy  of 
non-intervention.  With  reference  to  that 
point  it  is  surely  germane  to  remember 
that  the  America  of  1914  is  not  the 
America  of  1776;  circumstances  which 
made  Washington's  advice  sound  and 
statesmanlike  have  been  transformed. 
The  situation  today  is  not  that  of  a  tiny 
power  not  yet  solidified,  remote  from 
the  main  currents  of  the  world's  life,  out- 
matched in  resources  by  any  one  of  the 
greater  powers  of  Europe.  America  is 
no  longer  so  remote  as  to  have  little 
practical  concern  with  Europe.  Its  con- 
tacts with  Europe  are  instantaneous, 
daily,  intimate,  innumerable — so  much  so 
indeed  that  our  own  civilization  will  be 
intimately  affected  and  modified  by  cer- 


tain changes  which  threaten  in  the  older 
world. 

I  will  put  the  case  thus:  Suppose  that 
there  are  certain  developments  in  Eu- 
rope which  would  profoundly  threaten 
our  own  civilization  and  our  own  secu- 
rity, and  suppose  further  that  we  could 
without  great  cost  to  ourselves  so  guide 
or  direct  those  changes  and  developments 
as  to  render  them  no  longer  a  menace  to 
this  country.  If  such  a  case  could  be  es- 
tablished, would  not  adherence  to  a  for- 
mula established  under  eighteenth  cen- 
tury conditions  have  the  same  relation 
to  sound  politics  that  the  incantations 
and  taboos  of  superstitious  barbarians 
have  to  sound  religion?  And  I  think 
such  a  case  can  be  established. 

I  wonder  whether  it  has  occurred  to 
many  Americans  to  ask  why  all  the  bel- 
ligerents in  this  present  war  are  show- 
ing such  remarkable  deference  to  Amer- 
ican public  opinion.  Some  Americans 
may,  of  course,  believe  that  it  is  the  sheer 
personal  fascination  of  individual  Amer- 
icans or  simple  tenderness  of  moral  feel- 
ing that  makes  Great  Britain,  France, 
Russia,  Germany,  and  Austria  take  defi- 
nitely so  much  trouble  at  a  time  when 
they  have  sufficient  already,  to  dem- 
onstrate that  they  have  taken  the  right 
course,  that  they  are  obeying  all  the  laws 
of  war,  that  they  are  not  responsible  for 
the  war  in  any  way,  and  so  forth.  Is  it 
simply  that  our  condemnation  would  hurt 
their  feelings?  This  hardly  agrees  with 
certain  other  ideas  which  we  hold  as  to 
the  belligerents. 

There  is  something  beyond  this  order 
of  motive  at  the  bottom  of  the  immense 
respect  which  all  the  combatants  alike 
are  paying  to  American  opinion.  It  hap- 
pened to  the  writer  recently  to  meet  a 
considerable  number  of  Belgian  refugees 
from  Brussels,  all  of  them  full  of  stories 
(which  I  must  admit  were  second  or 
third  or  three-hundredth  hand)  of  Ger- 
man barbarity  and  ferocity.  Yet  all  were 
obliged  to  admit  that  German  behavior 
in  Brussels  had  on  the  whole  been  very 
good.  But  that,  they  explained,  was 
"  merely  because  the  American  Consul 
put  his  foot  down."  Yet  one  is  not 
aware  that  President  Wilson  had  author- 


78 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ized  the  American  Consul  so  much  as  to 
hint  at  the  possible  military  intervention 
of  America  in  this  war.  Nevertheless 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  "  Huns," 
so  little  susceptible  in  our  view  for  the 
most  part  to  moral  considerations,  were 
greatly  influenced  by  the  opinion  of 
America;  and  we  know  also  that  the 
other  belligerents  have  shown  the  same 
respect  for  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States. 

I  think  we  have  here  what  so  frequent- 
ly happens  in  the  development  of  the  atti- 
tude of  men  toward  large  genei-al  ques- 
tions: the  intuitive  recognition  of  a  truth 
which  those  who  recognize  it  are  quite 
unable  to  put  into  words.  It  is  a  self- 
protective  instinct,  a  movement  that  is 
made  without  its  being  necessary  to  think 
it  out.  (In  the  way  that  the  untaught 
person  is  able  instantly  to  detect  the 
false  note  in  a  tune  without  knowing  that 
such  things  as  notes  or  crotchets  and 
quavers  exist.) 

It  is  quite  true  that  the  Germans  feared 
the  bad  opinion  of  the  world  because  the 
bad  opinion  of  the  world  may  be  trans- 
lated into  an  element  of  resistance  to  the 
very  ends  which  it  is  the  object  of  the 
war  to  achieve  for  Germany. 

Those  ends  include  the  extension  of 
German  influence,  material  and  moral,  of 
German  commerce  and  culture.  But  a 
world  very  hostile  to  Germany  might 
quite  conceivably  check  both.  We  say, 
rightly  enough,  probably,  that  pride  of 
place  and  power  had  its  part — many  de- 
clare the  prominent  part — in  the  motives 
that  led  Germany  into  this  war.  But  it  is 
quite  conceivable  that  a  universal  revul- 
sion of  feeling  against  a  power  like  Ger- 
many might  neutralize  the  influence  she 
would  gain  in  the  world  by  a  mere  exten- 
sion of  her  territorial  conquests. 

Russia,  for  instance,  has  nearly  five 
times  the  population  and  very  many 
times  the  area  of  France;  but  one  may 
doubt  whether  even  a  Russian  would 
assert  that  Russian  influence  is  five  or 
ten  times  greater  than  that  of  France; 
still  less  that  the  world  yielded  him  in 
any  sense  a  proportionately  greater  def- 
erence than  it  yields  the  Frenchman. 
The  extent  to  which  the  greatest  power 
can  impose  itself  by  bayonets  is  very  lim- 


ited in  area  and  depth.  All  the  might  of 
the  Prussian  Army  cannot  compel  the 
children  of  Poland  or  of  Lorraine  to  say 
their  prayers  in  German;  it  cannot  com- 
pel the  housewives  of  Switzerland  or 
Paraguay  or  of  any  other  little  State  that 
has  not  a  battleship  to  its  name  to  buy 
German  saucepans  if  so  be  they  do  not 
desire  to.  There  are  so  many  other 
things  necessary  to  render  political  or 
military  force  effective,  and  there  are  so 
many  that  can  offset  it  altogether. 

We  see  these  forces  at  work  around  us 
every  day  accomplishing  miracles,  doing 
things  which  a  thousand  years  of 
fighting  was  never  able  to  do — and  then 
say  serenely  that  they  are  mere  "  theo- 
ries." Why  do  Catholic  powers  no  longer 
execute  heretics?  They  have  a  perfe  t 
right — even  in  international  law — to  do 
so.  What  is  it  that  protects  the  heretic 
in  Catholic  countries?  The  police?  But 
the  main  business  of  the  police  and  the 
army  used  to  be  to  hunt  him  down.  What 
is  controlling  the  police  and  the  army? 

By  some  sort  of  process  there  has  been 
an  increasing  intuitive  recognition  of  a 
certain  code  which  we  realize  to  be  nec- 
essary for  a  decent  society.  It  has  come 
to  be  a  sanction  much  stronger  than  the 
sanction  of  law,  much  more  effective 
than  the  sanction  of  military  force.  Dur- 
ing the  German  advance  on  Paris  in  Au- 
gust last  I  happened  to  be  present  at  a 
French  family  conference.  Stories  of 
the  incredible  cruelties  and  ferocity  of 
the  Germans  were  circulating  in  the 
Northern  Department,  where  I  happened 
to  be  staying. 

Every  one  was  in  a  condition  of  panic, 
and  two  Frenchmen,  fathers  of  families, 
v.ere  seeing  red  at  the  story  of  all  these 
barbarities.  But  they  had  to  decide — 
and  the  thing  was  discussed  at  a  little 
family  conference — where  they  should 
send  their  wives  and  children.  And  one 
of  these  Frenchmen,  the  one  who  had 
been  most  ferocious  in  his  condemnation 
of  the  German  barbarian,  said  quite 
naively  and  with  no  sense  of  irony  or 
paradox:  "  Of  course,  if  we  could  find  an 
absolutely  open  town  which  would  not  be 
defended  at  all  the  women  folk  and  chil- 
dren would  be  all  right."  His  instinct, 
of  course,  was  perfectly  just.     The  Ger- 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


79 


man  "  savage  "  had  had  three  quarters 
of  a  million  people  in  his  absolute  power 
in  Brussels,  and  so  far  as  we  know,  not  a 
child  or  a  woman  has  been  injured. 

Indeed,  in  normal  times  our  security 
against  foreigners  is  not  based  upon  phy- 
sical force  at  all.  I  supt)ose  during  the 
last  century  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  British  and  American  tourists  have 
traveled  through  the  historic  cities  of 
Germany,  their  children  have  gone  to  the 
German  educational  institutions,  their  in- 
valids have  been  attended  by  German 
doctors  and  cut  up  by  German  surgeons 
in  German  sanatoria  and  health  resorts, 
and  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  never  oc- 
curred to  any  one  of  these  hundreds  of 
thousands  that  their  little  children  when 
in  the  educational  institutions  of  these 
"  Huns "  were  in  any  way  in  danger. 
It  was  not  the  guns  of  the  American 
Navy  or  the  British  Navy  that  were  pro- 
tecting them;  the  physical  force  of  Amer- 
ica or  of  Great  Britain  could  not  cer- 
tainly be  the  factor  operative  in,  say, 
Switzerland  or  Austria,  yet  every  Sum- 
mer tens  of  thousands  of  them  trust 
their  lives  and  those  of  their  women  and 
children  in  the  remote  mountains  of 
Switzerland  on  no  better  security  than 
the  expectation  that  a  foreign  commu- 
nity over  whom  we  have  no  possibility  of 
exercising  force  will  observe  a  conven- 
tion which  has  no  sanction  other  than 
the  recognition  that  it  is  to  their  advan- 
tage to  observe  it. 

And  we  thus  have  the  spectacle  of 
millions  of  Anglo-Saxons  absolutely  con- 
vinced that  the  sanctity  of  their  homes 
and  the  safety  of  their  property  are  se- 
cure from  the  ravages  of  the  foreigner 
only  because  they  possess  a  naval  and 
military  force  that  overawes  him,  yet 
serenely  leaving  the  protection  of  that 
military  force,  and  placing  life  and  prop- 
erty alike  within  the  absolute  power  of 
that  very  foreigner  against  whose  pred- 
atory tendencies  we  spend  millions  in 
protecting  ourselves. 

No  use  of  military  power,  however 
complete  and  overwhelming,  would  pre- 
tend to  afford  a  protection  anything  like 
as  complete  as  that  afforded  by  these 
moral  forces.     Sixty  years  ago  Britain 


had  as  against  Greece  a  preponderance 
of  power  that  made  her  the  absolute  dic- 
tator of  the  latter's  policy,  yet  all  the 
British  battleships  and  all  the  threats  of 
"  consequences  "  could  not  prevent  Brit- 
ish travelers  being  murdered  by  Greek 
brigands,  though  in  Switzerland  only 
moral  forces — the  recognition  by  an  as- 
tute people  of  the  advantage  of  treating 
foreigners  well — had  already  made  the 
lives  and  property  of  Britons  as  safe  in 
that  country  as  in  their  own. 

In  the  same  way,  no  scheme  of  arming 
Protestants  as  against  Catholics,  or  Cath- 
olics as  against  Protestants  (the  method 
which  gave  us  the  wars  of  religion  and 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew)  could  as- 
sure that  general  security  of  spiritual 
and  intellectual  possessions  which  we 
now  in  large  measure  enjoy.  So  indeed 
with  the  more  material  things,  France, 
Great  Britain,  and  some  of  the  older  na- 
tions have  sunk  thousands  of  millions  in 
foreign  investments,  the  real  security  of 
which  is  not  in  any  physical  force  which 
their  Government  could  possibly  exer- 
cise, but  the  free  recognition  of  foreign- 
ers that  it  is  to  their  advantage  to  ad- 
here to  financial  obligations.  English- 
men do  not  even  pretend  that  the  secur- 
ity of  their  investments  in  a  country  like 
the  United  States  or  the  Argentine  is 
dependent  upon  the  coercion  which  the 
British  Government  is  able  to  exercise 
over  these  communities. 

The  reader  will  not,  I  think,  misunder- 
stand me.  I  am  not  pleading  that  hu- 
man nature  has  undergone  or  will  under- 
go any  radical  transformation.  Rather 
am  I  asserting  that  it  will  not  undergo 
any;  that  the  intention  of  the  man  of 
the  tenth  century  in  Europe  was  as 
good  as  that  of  the  man  of  the  twentieth, 
that  the  man  of  the  tenth  century  was  as 
capable  of  self-sacrifice — was,  it  may  be, 
less  self-seeking.  But  what  I  am  try- 
ing to  hint  is  that  the  shrinking  of  the 
world  by  our  developed  intercommunica- 
tion has  made  us  all  more  interdependent. 

The  German  Government  moves  its 
troops  against  Belgium;  a  moratorium 
is  immediately  proclaimed  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  a  dozen  American  Stock  Ex- 
changes are  promptly  closed  and  some 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  people  are 


80 


THE  A'Zrjy  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


affected  in  their  daily  lives.  This  world- 
wide effect  is  not  a  matter  of  some  years 
or  a  generation  or  two.  It  is  a  matter 
of  an  hour;  we  ax*e  intimately  concerned 
with  the  actions  of  men  on  the  other 
side  of  the  world  that  ;\'e  have  never 
seen  and  never  shall  see;  and  they  are 
intimately  concerned  with  us.  We  know 
without  having  thought  it  out  that  we 
are  bound  together  by  a  compact;  the 
very  fact  that  we  are  dependent  upon  one 
another  creates  as  a  matter  of  fact  a 
partnership.  We  are  expecting  the  other 
man  to  perform  his  pai't;  he  has  been 
doing  so  uninteri'uptedly  for  years,  and 
we  send  him  our  goods  or  we  take  his 
bill  of  exchange,  or  our  families  are 
afloat  in  his  ships,  expecting  that  he  will 
pay  for  his  goods,  honor  the  bill  of  ex- 
change, navigate  safely  his  ship — he  has 
undertaken  to  do  these  things  in  the 
world-wide  partnership  of  our  common 
labor  and  then  he  fails.  He  does  not  do 
these  things,  and  we  have  a  very  lively 
sense  of  the  immorality  of  the  doctrine 
which  permits  him  to  escape  doing  them. 
And  so  there  are  certain  things  that 
are  not  done,  certain  lengths  to  which 
even  in  war  time  we  cannot  go.  What 
Vvill  stop  the  war  is  not  so  much  the 
fighting,  any  more  than  Protestant  mas- 
sacres prevented  Catholic  massacres. 
Men  do  not  fear  the  enemy  soldiers; 
they  do  fear  the  turning  of  certain  social 
and  moral  forces  against  them.  The 
German  Government  does  not  hesitate  for 
a  moment  to  send  ten  thousand  of  its  own 
people  to  certain  death  under  enemy 
guns  even  though  the  military  advantage 
of  so  doing  may  be  relatively  trifling. 
But  it  dare  not  order  the  massacre  of 
ten  thousand  foreign  residents  in  Ber- 
lin. There  is  some  force  which  makes  it 
sometimes  more  scrupulous  of  the  lives 
of  its  enemy  than  of  the  lives  of  its  own 
people. 

Yet  why  should  it  care  ?  Because  of 
the  physical  force  of  the  armies  ranged 
against  it  ?  But  it  has  to  meet  that  force 
in  any  case.  It  fears  that  the  world  will 
be  stirred.  In  other  words,  it  knows 
that  the  world  at  large  has  a  very  lively 
realization  that  in  its  own  interest  cer- 
tain things  must  not  be  done,  that  the 
world  would  not  live  together  as  we  now 


know  it,  if  it  permitted  those  things  to 
be  done.    It  would  not  so  permit  them. 

At  the  bottom  of  this  moral  hesitation 
is  an  unconscious  realization  of  the  ex- 
tent of  each  nation's  dependence  upon 
the  world  partnership.  It  is  not  a  fear 
of  physical  ch^tisement;  any  nation  will 
go  to  war  against  desperate  odds  if  a 
foreign  nation  talks  of  chastising  it.  It 
is  not  that  consideration  which  operates, 
as  a  thousand  examples  in  history  prove 
tD  us.  Thei-e  are  forces  outside  military 
power  more  visible  and  ponderable  than 
these. 

There  exists,  of  course,  already  a 
world  State  which  has  no  for  ral  recog- 
nition in  our  paper  constitutions  at  all, 
and  no  sanction  in  physical  force.  If  you 
are  able  to  send  a  letter  to  the  most  ob- 
scure village  of  China,  a  telegram  to  any 
pai't  of  the  planet,  to  travel  over  most  of 
the  world  in  safety,  to  cari*y  on  trade 
therewith,  it  is  because  for  a  generation 
the  Post  Office  Departments  of  the 
world  have  been  at  work  an-anging  traf- 
fic and  communication  details,  methods 
of  keeping  their  accounts;  because  the 
ship  owner  has  been  devising  interna- 
tional signal  codes;  the  banker  arrang- 
ing conditions  of  international  credit; 
because,  in  fact,  not  merely  a  dozen  but 
some  hundreds  of  international  agree- 
ments, most  of  them  made  not  between 
Governments  at  all,  but  between  groups 
and  parties  directly  concerned,  have  been 
devised. 

There  is  no  overlord  enforcing  them, 
yet  much  of  our  daily  life  depends  upon 
their  normal  working.  The  bankers  or 
the  shipowners  or  the  makers  of  electric 
machinery  have  met  in  Paris  or  Bi-ussels 
and  decided  that  such  shall  be  the  ac- 
cepted code,  such  the  universal  measure- 
ment for  the  lamp  or  instrument,  such 
the  conditions  for  the  bill  of  exchange 
and  from  the  moment  that  there  is  an 
agreement  j'ou  do  not  need  any  sanc- 
tion. If  the  instrument  does  not  con- 
form to  the  measurement  it  is  unsal- 
able and  that  is  sanction  enough. 

We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  article 
that  the  dependence  of  the  nations  goes 
back  a  good  deal  further  than  we  are  apt 
to  think;  that  long  before  the  period  of 
fully   developed   intercommunication,   all 


ANTONIO     SALANDRA 

Minister  of  the  Interior  and   President  of  the  Italian  Ministry 

(Photo  ft'om  Bain) 


JAMES     W.     GERARD 
American   Ambassador  to  the   German  Empire 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


81 


nations  owed  their  civilization  to  for- 
eigners. It  was  to  their  traffic  with  Gaul 
and  the  visits  of  the  Phoenician  traders 
that  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  British 
Isles  learned  their  first  steps  in  arts  and 
crafts  and  the  development  of  a  civilized 
society,  and  even  in  what  we  know  as  the 
Dark  Ages  we  find  Charlemagne  borrow- 
ing scholars  from  York  to  assist  him  in 
civilizing  the  Continent. 

The  civilization  Avhich  our  forefathers 
brought  with  them  to  America  was  the 
result  of  centuries  of  exchange  in  ideas 
between  Britain  and  the  Continent,  and 
though  in  the  course  of  time  it  had  be- 
come something  characteristically  Anglo- 
Saxon,  its  origins  were  Greek  and  Arabic 
and  Roman  and  Jewish.  But  the  inter- 
dependence of  nations  today  is  of  an  in- 
finitely more  vital  and  insistent  kind, 
and  despite  superficial  setbacks  becomes 
more  vital  every  day.  As  late  as  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  for 
instance,  Britain  was  still  practically 
self-sufficing;  her  very  large  foreign 
trade  was  a  trade  in  luxuries.  She  could 
still  produce  her  own  food,  her  popula- 
tion could  still  live  on  her  own  soil. 

But  if  today  by  some  sort  of  magic 
Britain  covild  kill  off  all  foreigners  the 
means  of  livelihood  for  quite  an  appre- 
ciable portion  of  her  population  would 
have  disappeared.  Millions  would  be 
threatened  by  actual  starvation.  For 
Britain's  overseas  trade,  on  which  so 
large  a  propoi'tion  of  the  population  ac- 
tually lives,  is  mainly  with  the  outside 
v/orld  and  not  with  her  own  empire.  We 
have  seen  what  isolation  merely  from 
two  countries  has  meant  for  Great  Brit- 
ain. Britain  is  still  maintaining  her  con- 
tacts with  the  world  as  a  whole,  but  the 
cessation  of  relationship  with  two  coun- 
tries has  precipitated  the  gravest  finan- 
cial crisis  known  in  all  her  history,  has 
kept  her  Stock  Exchanges  closed  for 
months,  has  sent  her  Consols  to  a  lower 
point  than  any  known  since  the  worst 
period  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  arid  has 
compelled  the  Government  ruthlessly  to 
pledge  its  credit  for  the  support  of  bank- 
ing institutions  and  all  the  various  trades 
that  have  been  most  seriously  hit. 

Nor  is  Germany's  isolation  altogether 
complete.     She  manages  through  neuti-al 


countries  and  otherwise  to  maintain  a 
considerable  current  of  relationship  with 
the  outside  world,  but  how  deeply  and 
disastrously  the  partial  severance  of  con- 
tact has  affected  Germany  we  shall  not 
at  present,  probably  at  no  time,  in  full 
measure  know. 

All  this  gives  a  mere  hint  of  what  the 
organized  isolation  by  the  entire  world 
would  mean  to  any  one  nation.  Imagine 
the  position  of  a  civilized  country  whose 
ports  no  ship  from  another  country  would 
enter,  whose  bills  no  banker  would  dis- 
count, a  country  unable  to  receive  a  tele- 
gram or  a  letter  fi'om  the  outside  world 
or  send  one  thereto,  whose  citizens  could 
neither  travel  in  other  countries  or  main- 
tain communications  therewith.  It  would 
have  an  effect  in  the  modern  world  some- 
what equivalent  to  that  of  the  dreadful 
edicts  of  excommunication  and  interdict 
which  the  papal  power  was  able  to  issue 
in  the  mediaeval  world. 

I  am  aware,  of  course,  that  such  a 
measure  would  fall  very  hardly  upon 
certain  individuals  in  the  countries  in- 
flicting this  punishment,  but  it  is  quite 
within  the  power  of  the  Governments  of 
those  countries  to  do  what  the  British 
Government  has  done  in  the  case  of  per- 
sons like  acceptors  of  German  bills  who 
found  themselves  threatened  with  bank- 
ruptcy and  who  threatened  in  conse- 
quence to  create  great  disturbance  around 
them  because  of  the  impossibility  of  se- 
curing payment  from  the  German  in- 
dorsers.  The  British  Government  came 
to  the  rescue  of  those  acceptors,  used  the 
whole  national  credit  to  sustain  thenv 
It  is  expensive,  if  you  will,  but  infinitely 
less  expensive  than  a  war,  and,  finally, 
most  of  the  cost  of  it  will  probably  be 
recovered. 

Now  if  that  were  done,  how  could  a 
country  so  dealt  with  retaliate  ?  She 
could  not  attack  all  the  world  at  once. 
Upon  those  neighbors  more  immediately 
interested  could  be  thrown  the  burden  of 
taking  such  defensive  military  measures 
as  the  circumstances  might  dictate.  You 
might  have  a  group  of  powers  probably 
taking  such  defensive  measures  and  all 
the  powers  of  Christendom  co-operating 
economically  by  this  suggested  non-in- 
tercourse.    It  is  possible  even  that  the 


82 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


powers  as  a  whole  might  contribute  to  a 
general  fund  indemnifying  individuals  in 
those  States  particularly  hit  by  the  fact 
of  non-intercourse.  I  am  thinking,  for 
instance,  of  shipping  interests  in  a  port 
like  Amsterdam  if  the  decree  of  non-in- 
tercourse were  proclaimed  against  a 
power  like  Germany. 

We  have  little  conception  of  the  terror 
which  such  a  policy  might  constitute  to 
a  nation.  It  has  never  been  tried,  of 
course,  because  even  in  war  complete 
non-intercourse  is  not  achieved.  At  the 
present  time  Germany  is  buying  and  sell- 
ing and  trading  with  the  outside  world, 
cables  from  Berlin  are  being  sent  almost 
as  freely  to  New  York  as  cables  from 
London  and  German  merchants  are  mak- 
ing contracts,  maintaining  connections 
of  very  considerable  complexity.  But  if 
this  machinery  of  non-intercourse  were 
organized  as  it  might  be,  there  would  be 
virtually  no  neutrals,  and  its  effect  in 
our  world  today  would  be  positively  ter- 
rifying. 

It  is  true  that  the  American  adminis- 
tration did  try  something  resembling  a 
policy  of  non-intercourse  in  dealing  with 
Mexico.  But  the  thing  was  a  fiction. 
While  the  Department  of  State  talked  of 
non-intercourse  the  Department  of  the 
Treasury  was  busy  clearing  ships  for 
Mexico,  facilitating  the  dispatch  of 
mails,  &C.  And,  of  course,  Mexico's 
communication  with  Europe  remained  un- 
impaired; at  the  exact  moment  when  the 
President  of  the  United  States  was 
threatening  Huerta  with  all  sorts  of  dire 
penalties  Huerta's  Government  was  ar- 
ranging in  London  for  the  issue  of  large 
loans  and  the  advertisements  of  these 
Mexican  loans  were  appearing  in  The 
London  Times.  So  that  the  one  thing 
that  might  have  moved  Huerta's  Gov- 
ernment the  United  States  Government 
was  unable  to  enforce.  In  order  to  en- 
force it,  it  needed  the  co-operation  of 
other  countries. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  economic  world 
State — of  all  those  complex  international 
arrangements  concerning  Post  Offices, 
shipping,  banking,  codes,  sanctions  of 
law,  criminal  research,  and  the  rest,  on 
which  so  much  of  our  civilized  life  de- 


pends. This  world  State  is  unorgan- 
ized, incoherent.  It  has  neither  a  centre 
nor  a  capital,  nor  a  meeting  place.  The 
shipowners  gather  in  Paris,  the  world's 
bankers  in  Madrid  or  Berne,  and  what 
is  in  effect  some  vital  piece  of  world 
regulation  is  devised  in  the  smoking  room 
of  some  Brussels  hotel.  The  world  State 
has  not  so  much  as  an  office  or  an  ad- 
dress. The  United  States  should  give  it 
one.  Out  of  its  vast  resources  it  should 
endow  civilization  with  a  Central  Bu- 
reau of  Organization — a  Clearing  House 
of  its  international  activities  as  it  were, 
with  the  funds  needed  for  its  staff  and 
upkeep. 

If  undertaken  with  largeness  of  spirit, 
it  would  become  the  capital  of  the  world. 
And  the  Old  World  looks  to  America  to 
do  this  service,  because  it  is  the  one 
which  it  cannot  do  for  itself.  Its  old  his- 
toric jealousies  and  squabbles,  from 
which  America  is  so  happily  detached, 
prevent  any  one  power  taking  up  and 
putting  through  this  work  of  organiza- 
tion, but  America  could  do  it,  and  do  it 
so  effectively  that  from  it  might  well 
flow  this  organization  of  that  common 
action  of  all  the  nations  against  any  re- 
calcitrant member  of  which  I  have  spoken 
as  a  means  of  enforcing  non-militarily  a 
common  decision. 

It  is  this  world  State  which  it  should 
be  the  business  of  America  during  the 
next  decade  or  two  to  co-ordinate,  to  or- 
ganize. Its  organization  will  not  come 
into  being  as  the  result  of  a  week-end 
talk  between  Ambassadors.  There  will 
be  difficulties,  material  as  well  as  moral, 
jealousies  to  overcome,  suspicions  to  sur- 
mount. But  this  war  places  America  in 
a  more  favorable  position  than  any  one 
European  power.  The  older  powers  would 
be  less  suspicious  of  her  than  of  any 
one  among  their  number.  America  has 
infinitely  greater  material  resources,  she 
has  a  greater  gift  for  improvised  organ- 
ization, she  is  less  hidebound  by  old  tra- 
ditions, more  disposed  to  make  an  at- 
tempt along  new  lines. 

That  is  the  most  terrifying  thing  about 
the  proposal  which  I  make — it  has  never 
been  tried.  But  the  very  difficulties  con- 
stitute for  America  also  an  immense  op- 


AMERICA  AND  A  NEW  WORLD  STATE 


83 


portunity.  We  have  had  nations  give 
their  lives  and  the  blood  of  their  chil- 
dren for  a  position  of  supremacy  and 
superiority.  But  we  are  in  a  position  of 
superiority  and  supremacy  which  for  the 
most  part  would  be  welcomed  by  the 
world  as  a  whole  and  which  would  not 
demand  of  America  the  blood  of  one  of 
her  children.  It  would  demand  some  en- 
thusiasm, some  moral  courage,  some  sus- 
tained effort,  faith,  patience,  and  per- 
sistence. It  would  establish  new  stand- 
ards in,  and  let  us  hope  a  new  kind  of, 
international  rivalry. 

One  word  as  to  a  starting  point  and 
a  possible  line  of  progress.  The  first 
move  toward  the  ending  of  this  present 
war  may  come  from  America.  The  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  will  probably 
act  as  mediator.  The  terms  of  peace  will 
probably  be  settled  in  Washington.  Part 
of  the  terms  of  peace  to  be  exacted  by 
the  Allies  will  probably  be,  as  I  have  al- 
ready hinted,  some  sort  of  assurance 
against  future  danger  from  German  mil- 
itarist aggression. 

The  German,  rightly  or  wrongly,  does 
not  believe  that  he  has  been  the  aggres- 
sor— it  is  not  a  question  at  all  of  whether 
he  is  right  or  wrong;  it  is  a  question  of 
what  he  believes.  And  he  believes  quite 
honestly  and  sincerely  that  he  is  merely 
defending  himself.  So  what  he  will  be 
mainly  concerned  about  in  the  future  is 
his  security  from  the  victorious  Allies. 

Around  this  point  much  of  the  discus- 
sion at  the  conclusion  of  this  present 
war  will  range.  If  it  is  to  be  a  real  peace 
and  not  a  truce  an  attempt  will  have  to 
be  made  to  give  to  each  party  security 
from  the  other,  and  the  question  will  then 
arise  whether  America  will  come  into 
that  combination  or  not.  I  have  already 
indicated  that  I  think  she  should  not 
come  in,  certainly  I  do  not  think  she  will 
come  in,  with  the  offer  of  military  aid. 
But  if  she  stays  out  of  it  altogether  she 
will  have  withdrawn  from  this  world 
congress  that  must  sit  at  the  end  of  the 
war  a  mediating  influence  which  may  go 
far  to  render  it  nugatory. 

And  when,  after  it  may  be  somewhat 
weary  preliminaries,  an  international 
council  of  conciliation  is  established  to 


frame  the  general  basis  of  the  new  alli- 
ance between  the  civilized  powers  for 
mutual  protection  along  the  lines  indi- 
cated, America,  if  she  is  to  play  her  part 
in  securing  the  peace  of  the  world,  must 
be  ready  to  throw  at  least  her  moral  and 
economic  weight  into  the  common  stock, 
the  common  moral  and  economic  forces 
which  will  act  against  the  common 
enemy,  whoever  he  may  happen  to  be. 

That  does  not  involve  taking  sides,  as 
I  showed  in  my  last  article.  The  police- 
man does  not  decide  which  of  two  quar- 
relers is  right;  he  merely  decides  that 
the  stronger  shall  not  use  his  power 
against  the  weaker.  He  goes  to  the  aid 
of  the  weaker,  and  then  later  the  com- 
munity deals  with  the  one  who  is  the  real 
aggressor.  One  may  admit,  if  you  will, 
that  at  present  there  is  no  international 
law,  and  that  it  may  not  be  possible  to 
create  one.  But  we  can  at  least  exact 
that  there  shall  be  an  inquiry,  a  stay; 
and  more  often  than  not  that  alone  would 
suffice  to  solve  the  difficulty  without 
the  application  of  definite  law. 

It  is  just  up  to  that  point  that  the 
United  States  should  at  this  stage  be 
ready  to  commit  herself  in  the  general 
council  of  conciliation,  namely,  to  say 
this :  "  We  shall  throw  our  weight  against 
any  power  that  refuses  to  give  civiliza- 
tion an  opportunity  at  least  of  examin- 
ing and  finding  out  what  the  facts  of  the 
dispute  are.  After  due  examination  we 
may  reserve  the  right  to  withdraw  from 
any  further  interference  between  such 
power  and  its  antagonist.  But,  at  least, 
we  pledge  ourselves  to  secure  that  by 
throwing  the  weight  of  such  non-mili- 
tary influence  as  we  may  have  on  to  the 
side  of  the  weaker."  That  is  the  point  at 
which  a  new  society  of  nations  would 
begin,  as  it  is  the  point  at  which  a  so- 
ciety of  individuals  has  begun.  And  it 
is  for  the  purpose  of  giving  effect  to  her 
undertaking  in  that  one  regara  that 
America  should  become  the  centre  of  a 
definite  organization  of  that  world  State 
which  has  already  cut  athwart  all  fron- 
tiers and  traversed  all  seas. 

It  is  not  easy  without  apparent  hyper- 
bole to  write  of  the  service  which  Amer- 
ica would  thus  render  to  mankind.     She 


84 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


would  have  discovered  a  new  sanction 
for  human  justice,  would  have  made  hu- 
man society  a  reality.  She  would  have 
done  something  immeasurably  greater, 
immeasurably  more  beneficent  than  any 
of  the  conquests  recorded  in  the  long 
story  of  man's  mostly  futile  struggles. 
The  democracy  of  America  would  have 
done  something  which  the  despots  and 


the  conquerors  of  all  time,  from  Alexan- 
der and  Caesar  to  Napoleon  and  the 
Kaiser,  have  found  to  be  impossible.  Dan- 
gerous as  I  believe  national  vanity  to  be, 
America  would,  I  think,  find  in  the  pride 
of  this  achievement — this  American 
leadership  of  the  human  race — a  glory 
that  would  not  be  vain,  a  world  victory 
which  the  world  would  welcome. 


SIR  CHRISTOPHER  CRADOCK. 

By   JOHN     E.    DOLSON. 


THROUGH  the  fog  of  the  fight  we  could 
dimly  see. 
As  ever   the  flame   from  the  big  guns 
flashed. 
That  Cradock  was  doomed,  yet  his  men  and 
he. 
With  their  plates  shot  to  junk,   and   their 
turrets   smashed, 
Their  ship  heeled  over,  her  funnels  gone. 
Were   fearlessly,   doggedly  fighting  on. 

Out-speeded,    out-metaled,    out-ranged,    out- 
shot 
By  heavier  guns,   they  were  not  out -fought. 
Those  men — with  the  age-old  British  phlegm. 
That   has   conquered   and   held    the   seas   for 

them. 
And    the    courage    that    causes    the    death- 
struck  man 
To  rise  on  his  mangled  stumps  and  try. 
With  one  last  shot  from  his  heated  gun. 
To  score  a  hit  ere  his  spirit  fly. 
Then  sink  In   the  welter  of  red,   and  die 
With  the  sighting  squint  fixed  on  his  dead, 
glazed  eye — 
Accepted  death  as  part  of  the  plan. 


So  the  guns  belched  flame  till  the  fight  had 

run 
Into  night ;  and  now,  in  the  distance  dim, 
We  could  see,  by  the  flashes,  the  dull,  dark 

loom 
Of  their  hull,  as  it  bore  toward  the  Port  of 

Doom, 
Away  on  the  water's  misty  rim — 
Cradock  and  his  few  hundred  men. 
Never,  in  time,  to  be  seen  again. 

While    into   the   darkness    their   great   shells 
streamed, 
Little   the  valiant  Germans  dreamed 

That  Cradock  was  teaching  them  how  to  go 
When    the    fate    their    daring,    itself,    had 
sealed. 

Waiting,    as   yet,    o'er   the   ocean's   verge. 
To   their  eyes   undaunted   would  stand   re- 
vealed ; 

And,  snared  by  a  swifter,  stronger  foe. 

Out-classed,     out-metaled,     out-ranged,    out- 
shot 

By  heavier  guns,   but  not  out-fought. 

They,     too,     would    sink    In    the    sheltering 
surge. 


Battle  of  the  Suez  Canal 

A  First-Hand  Account  of  the  Unsuccessful  Turkish  Invasion 

[From  The  London  Times,  Feb.  10,  1015.] 


ISMAILIA,  Feb.  10. 

THOUGH  skirmishing  had  taken 
place  between  the  enemy's  recon- 
noitring parties  and  our  outposts 
during  the  latter  part  of  January, 
the  main  attack  was  not  developed  until 
Feb.  2,  when  the  enemy  began  to  move 
toward  the  Ismailia  Ferry.  They  met  a 
reconnoitring  party  of  Indian  troops  of 
all  arms,  and  a  desultory  engagement 
ensued,  to  which  a  violent  sand  storm 
put  a  sudden  end  about  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  The  main  attacking  force 
pushed  forward  tow^ard  its  destination 
after  nightfall.  From  twenty-five  to 
thirty  galvanized  iron  pontoon  boats, 
seven  and  a  half  meters  in  length,  which 
had  been  dragged  in  carts  across  the 
desert,  were  hauled  by  hand  toward  the 
water,  with  one  or  two  rafts  made  <^i 
kerosene  tins  in  a  wooden  frame.  All 
was  ready  for  the  attack. 

The  first  warning  of  the  enemy's  ap- 
proach was  given  by  a  sentry  of  a  moun- 
tain battery,  who  heard,  to  him,  an 
unknown  tongue  across  the  water.  The 
noise  soon  increased.  It  would  seem 
that  Mudjah  Ideen  ("Holy  Warriors") — 
said  to  be  mostly  old  Tripoli  fighters 
— accompanied  the  pontoon  section  and 
regulars  of  the  Seventy-fifth  Regiment, 
for  loud  exhortations  often  in  Arabic  of 
"  Brothers  die  for  the  faith ;  we  can  die 
but  once,"  betrayed  the  enthusiastic  ir- 
regular. 

The  Egyptians  waited  till  the  Turks 
were  pushing  their  boats  into  the  water; 
then  the  Maxims  attached  to  the  battery 
suddenly  spoke  and  the  guns  opened  with 
case  at  point-blank  range  at  the  men 
and  boats  crowded  under  the  steep  bank 
opposite  them. 

Immediately  a  violent  fire  broke  out 
on  both  sides  of  the  canal,  the  enemy 
replying  to  the  rifles  and  machine  gun 
fire  and  the  battery  on  our  bank. 
Around  the  guns  it  was  impossible  to 


stand  up,  but  the  gunners  stuck  to  the 
work,  inflicting  terrible  punishment. 

A  little  torpedo  boat  with  a  crew  of 
thirteen  patrolling  the  canal  dashed  up 
and  landed  a  party  of  four  officers  and 
men  to  the  south  of  Tussum,  who  climbed 
up  the  eastern  bank  and  found  them- 
selves in  a  Turkish  trench,  and  escaped 
by  a  miracle  with  the  news.  Promptly 
the  midget  dashed  in  between  the  fires 
and  enfiladed  the  eastern  bank  amid  a 
hail  of  bullets,  and  destroyed  several 
pontoon  boats  lying  unlaunched  on  the 
bank.  It  continued  to  harass  the  enemy, 
though  two  officers  and  two  men  were 
wounded. 

As  the  dark,  cloudy  night  lightened 
toward  dawn  fresh  forces  came  into 
action.  The  Turks,  who  occupied  the 
outer,  or  day,  line  of  the  Tussum  post, 
advanced,  covered  by  artillery,  against 
the  Indian  troops  holding  the  inner,  or 
night,  position,  while  an  Arab  regiment 
advanced  against  the  Indian  troops  at 
the  Serapeum  post. 

The  warships  on  the  canal  and  lake 
joined  in  the  fray.  The  enemy  brought 
some  six  batteries  of  field  guns  into 
action  from  the  slopes  west  of  Kataib-el- 
Kheil.  Shells  admirably  fused  made  fine 
practice  at  all  the  visible  targets,  but 
failed  to  find  the  battery  above  men- 
tioned, which,  with  some  help  from  a 
detachment  of  infantry,  beat  down  the 
fire  of  the  riflemen  on  the  opposite  bank 
and  inflicted  heavy  losses  on  the  hostile 
supports  advancing  toward  the  canal. 
A  chance  salvo  wounded  four  men  of 
the  battery,  but  it  ran  more  risk  from 
a  party  of  about  twenty  of  the  enemy 
who  had  crossed  the  canal  in  the  dark 
and  sniped  the  gunners  from  the  rear 
till  they  were  finally  rounded  up  by  the 
Indian  cavalry  and  compelled  to  sur- 
render. 

Supported  by  land  naval  artillery  the 
Indian  troops  took  the   offensive.     The 


86 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Serapeum  garrison,  which  had  stopped 
the  enemy  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
the  position,  cleared  its  front,  and  the 
Tussum  garrison  by  a  brilliant  counter- 
attack drove  the  enemy  back.  Two  bat- 
talions of  Anatolians  of  the  Twenty- 
eighth  Regiment  were  thrown  vainly  into 
the  fight.  Our  artillery  gave  them  no 
chance,  and  by  3:30  in  the  afternoon  a 
third  of  the  enemy,  with  the  exception 
of  a  force  that  lay  hid  in  bushy  hollows 
on  the  east  bank  between  the  two  posts, 
were  in  full  retreat,  leaving  many  dead, 
a  large  proportion  of  whom  had  been 
killed  by  shrapnel. 

Meanwhile  the  warships  on  the  lake 
had  been  in  action.  A  salvo  from  a 
battleship  woke  up  Ismailia  early,  and 
crowds  of  soldiers  and  some  civilians 
climbed  every  available  sandhill  to  see 
what  was  doing  till  the  Turkish  guns 
sent  shells  sufficiently  near  to  convince 
them  that  it  was  safer  to  watch  from 
cover.  A  husband  and  wife  took  a  car- 
riage and  drove  along  the  lake  front, 
much  peppered  by  shells,  till  near  the 
old  French  hospital,  when  they  realized 
the  danger  and  suddenly  whisked  around 
and  drove  back  full  gallop  to  Ismailia. 

But  the  enemy's  fire  did  more  than 
startle.  At  about  11  in  the  morning  two 
six-inch  shells  hit  the  Hardinge  near  the 
southern  entrance  of  the  lake.  The  first 
damaged  the  funnel  and  the  second  burst 
inboard.  Pilot  Carew,  n  gallant  old  mer- 
chant seaman,  refused  to  go  below  when 
the  firing  opened  and  lost  a  leg.  Nine 
others  were  wounded.  One  or  two  mer- 
chantmen were  hit,  but  no  lives  were 
lost.     A  British  gunboat  was  struck. 

Then  came  a  dramatic  duel  between 
the  Turkish  big  gun  or  guns  and  a  war- 
ship. The  Turks  fired  just  over  and 
then  just  short  of  9,000  yards.  The 
warship  sent  in  a  salvo  of  more  six-inch 
shells  than  had  been  fired  that  day. 

During  the  morning  the  enemy  moved 
toward  Ismailia  Ferry.  The  infantry 
used  the  ground  well,  digging  shelter 
pits  as  they  advanced,  and  were  covered 
by  a  well-served  battery.  An  officer, 
apparently  a  German,  exposed  himself 
with  the  greatest  daring,  and  watchers 
were  interested  to  see  a  yellow  "  pie 
dog,"  which  also  escaped,  running  about 


the  advancing  line.  Our  artillery  shot 
admirably  and  kept  the  enemy  from 
coming  within  1,000  yards  of  the  Indian 
outposts.  In  the  afternoon  the  demon- 
stration— for  it  was  no  more — ceased  but 
for  a  few  shells  fired  as  "  a  nightcap." 
During  the  dark  night  that  followed 
some  of  the  enemy  approached  the  out- 
post line  of  the  ferry  position  with  a 
dog,  but  nothing  happened,  and  day 
found  them  gone. 

At  the  same  time  as  the  fighting 
ceased  at  the  ferry  it  died  down  at  El 
Kantara.  There  the  Turks,  after  a 
plucky  night  attack,  came  to  grief  on 
our  wire  entanglements.  Another  at- 
tempt to  advance  from  the  southeast 
was  forced  back  by  an  advance  of  the 
Indian  troops.  The  attack,  during  which 
it  was  necessary  to  advance  on  a  narrow 
front  over  ground  often  marshy  with 
recent  inundations  against  our  strong 
position,  never  had  a  chance.  Indeed, 
the  enemy  was  only  engaged  with  our 
outpost  line. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  3d  there 
was  sniping  from  the  east  bank  between 
Tussum  and  Serapeum  and  a  man  was 
killed  in  the  tops  of  a  British  battle- 
ship. Next  morning  the  sniping  was 
renewed,  and  the  Indian  troops,  moving 
out  to  search  the  ground,  found  several 
hundred  of  the  enemy  in  the  hollow 
previously  mentioned.  During  the  fight- 
ing some  of  the  enemy,  either  by  acci- 
dent or  design,  held  up  their  hands, 
while  others  fired  on  the  Punjabis,  who 
were  advancing  to  take  the  surrender, 
and  killed  a  British  officer.  A  sharp 
fight  with  the  cold  steel  followed,  and  a 
British  officer  killed  a  Turkish  officer 
with  a  sword  thrust  in  single  combat. 
The  body  of  a  German  officer  with  a 
white  flag  was  afterward  found  here, 
but  there  is  no  proof  that  the  white 
flag  was  used.  Finally  all  the  enemy 
were  killed,  captured,  or  put  to  flight. 

With  this  the  fighting  ended,  and  the 
subsequent  operations  were  confined  to 
"  rounding  up "  prisoners  and  to  the 
capture  of  a  considerable  amount  of 
military  material  left  behind.  The 
Turks  who  departed  with  their  guns 
and  baggage  during  the  night  of  the  3d 
still  seemed  to  be  moving  eastward. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  SUEZ  CANAL 


87 


So  ended  the  battle  of  the  Suez  Canal. 
Our  losses  have  been  amazingly  small, 
totaling  about  111  killed  and  wounded. 


Our  opponents  have  probably  lost  nearly 
3,000  men.  The  Indian  troops  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  fighting  and  were  well  sup- 


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Showing  the  Turkish  points  of  concentration  in  Palestine  and  the  principal 
routes  leading  thence  to  the  Suez  Canal.  The  intervening  desert  Peninsula  of  Sinai 
constitutes  a  formidable  obstacle  to  an  invading  force.  Inset  is  a  map  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire  showing  in  the  northeast  the  Caucasus,  where  the  Turks  were 
routed  by  the  Russians,  who  later  advanced  on  Erzerum  and  Tabriz.  The  British 
expedition  in  the  Persian  Gulf  region  occupied  Basra  and  was  on  Feb.  1,  1915,  at 
Kurna,  the  point  of  confluence  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates. 


88 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ported  by  the  British  and  French  war- 
ships and  by  the  Egyptian  troops.  The 
Turks  fought  bravely  and  their  artillery 
shot  well  if  unluckily,  but  the  intentions 
of  the  higher  command  are  still  a  puzzle 
to  British  officers. 

Did  Djemal  Pasha  intend  to  try  to 
break  through  our  position  under  cover 
of  demonstrations  along  a  front  over 
ninety  miles  in  length  with  a  total  force, 
perhaps,  of  25,000  men,  or  was  he  at- 
tempting a  reconnoissance  in  force?  If 
the  former  is  the  case,  he  must  have 
had  a  low  idea  of  British  leadership  or 
an  amazing  belief  in  the  readiness  and 
ability  of  sympathizers  in  Egypt  to  sup- 
port the  Turk.  Certainly  he  was  mis- 
informed as  to  our  positions,  and  on  the 
4th  we  buried  on  the  eastern  bank  the 
bodies  of  two  men,  apparently  Syrians 
or  Egyptians,  who  were  found  with  their 
hands  tied  and  their  eyes  bandaged. 
Probably  they  were  guides  who  had  been 
summarily  killed,  having  unwittingly  led 
the  enemy  astray.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
Djemal  Pasha  was  attempting  a  recon- 
noissance, it  was  a  costly  business  and 
gave  General  Wilson  a  very  handsome 
victory. 

Till  the  last  week  of  January  there 
had  been  some  doubt  as  to  the  road  by 
which  the  Ottoman  Commander  in  Chief 
in  Syria  intended  to  advance  on  the  canal. 
Before  the  end  of  the  month  it  was  quite 
clear  that  what  was  then  believed  to 
be  the  Turkish  advanced  guard,  having 
marched  with  admirable  rapidity  from 
Beersheba  via  El  Auja,  Djebel  Libni, 
and  Djif Jaffa,  was  concentrating  in  the 
valleys  just  east  of  Kataib-el-Kheil,  a 
group  of  hills  lying  about  ten  miles  east 
of  the  canal,  where  it  enters  Lake  Tim- 
sah.  A  smaller  column  detached  from 
this  force  was  sighted  in  the  hills  east 
of  Ismailia  Ferry.  Smaller  bodies  had 
appeared  in  the  neighborhood  of  El  Kan- 
tara  and  between  Suez  and  the  Bitter 
Lakes. 

The  attacks  on  our  advanced  posts  at 
El  Kantara  on  the  night  of  Jan.  26  and 
27,  and  at  Kubri,  near  Suez,  on  the  fol- 


lowing night,  were  beaten  off.  Hostile 
guns  fired  occasional  shells,  while  our 
warships  returned  the  compliment  at  any 
hostile  column  that  seemed  to  offer  a 
good  target,  and  our  aeroplanes  dropped 
bombs  when  they  had  the  chance;  but 
in  general  the  enemy  kept  a  long  dis- 
tance off  and  was  tantalizing.  Our 
launches  and  boatfe,  which  were  con- 
stantly patrolling  the  canal,  could  see 
him  methodically  intrenching  just  out 
of  range  of  the  naval  guns. 

By  the  night  of  Feb.  1  the  enemy  had 
prepared  his  plan  of  attack.  To  judge 
both  from  his  movements  during  the 
next  two  days  and  the  documents  found 
on  prisoners  and  slain,  it  was  proposed 
to  attack  El  Kantara  while  making  a 
demonstration  at  El  Ferdan,  further 
south,  and  prevent  reinforcements  at  the 
first-named  post.  The  demonstration  at 
Ismailia  Ferry  by  the  right  wing  of  the 
Kataib-el-Kheil  force  which  had  been 
partly  refused  till  then  in  order  to  pre- 
vent a  counter-attack  from  the  ferry, 
was  designed  to  occupy  the  attention  of 
the  Ismailia  garrison,  while  the  main 
attack  was  delivered  between  the  Tus- 
sum  post,  eight  miles  south  of  Ismailia, 
and  the  Serapeum  post,  some  three  miles 
further  south.  Eshref  Bey's  highly  ir- 
regular force  in  the  meantime  was  to 
demonstrate  near  Suez. 

The  selection  of  the  Tussum  and 
Serapeum  section  as  the  principal  ob- 
jective was  dictated  both  by  the  con- 
sideration that  success  here  would  bring 
the  Turks  a  few  miles  from  Ismailia, 
and  by  the  information  received  from 
patrols  that  the  west  bank  of  the  canal 
between  the  posts,  both  of  which  may 
be  described  as  bridgeheads,  were  unoc- 
cupied by  our  troops.  The  west  bank 
between  the  posts  is  steep  and  marked 
by  a  long,  narrow  belt  of  trees.  The 
east  bank  also  falls  steeply  to  the  canal, 
but  behind  it  are  numerous  hollows,  full 
of  brushwood,  which  give  good  cover. 
Here  the  enemy's  advanced  parties  es- 
tablished themselves  and  intrenched  be- 
fore the  main  attack  was  delivered. 


A  Full-Fledged  Socialist  State 

While  Germany's  Trade  and  Credit  Are  Holding  Their  Breath 
By  J.  Laurence  Laughlin 

[From  The   New  York  Times,  March  9.   1915.] 

Professor  Laughlin,  who  makes  the  following  remarkable  study  of  the  German  financial 
•mergency,  was  lecturer  on  political  economy  in  Berlin  on  the  invitation  of  the  Prussian  Cultur 
Ministerium  in  1900,  and  since  1S92  has  been  heart  of  the  Department  of  Political  Economy 
in  the  University  of  Chicago.  He  is  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  foremost  American 
economists   and   the   views   here   expressed   are   based   on   wide   information. 


IN  a  great  financial  emergency  con- 
ditions are  immediately  registered 
in  the  monetary  and  credit 
mechanism.  Although  the  Ger- 
man Government  and  the  Reichsbank 
had  obviously  been  preparing  for  war 
long  before,  as  soon  as  mobilization  was 
ordered  there  was  a  currency  panic.  The 
private  banks  stopped  payment  in  gold. 
Crowds  then  besieged  the  Reichsbank  in 
order  to  get  its  notes  converted  into 
gold.  Then  the  Banking  act  was  sus- 
pended, so  that  the  Reichsbank  and  pri- 
vate banks  were  freed  from  the  obliga- 
tion to  give  out  gold  for  notes.  At  once 
all  notes  went  to  a  discount  in  the  shops 
as  compared  with  gold.  Thereupon,  in 
summary  fashion,  the  Military  Gov- 
ernor of  Berlin  declared  the  notes  to  be 
a  full  legal  tender  and  announced  that 
any  shop  refusing  to  take  them  at  par 
would  be  punished  by  confiscation  of 
goods. 

In  Germany,  as  is  well  known,  the 
main  currency  is  supplied  by  the  Reichs- 
bank, covered  by  at  least  33  1-3  per  cent, 
in  gold  or  silver,  and  the  remaining  two- 
thirds  by  commercial  paper.  Immediate- 
ly after  the  outbreak  of  war  there  was  a 
prodigious  increase  of  loans  at  the 
Reichsbank,  in  consequence  of  which 
borrowers  received  notes  or  deposit  ac- 
counts. Usually  transactions  are  car- 
ried through  by  use  of  notes,  and  not 
by  checks,  as  with  us.  On  July  23,  1914, 
the  notes  stood  at  $472,500,000;  deposits 
at  $236,000,000;  discounted  bills  and  ad- 
vances at  $200,000,000.  On  Aug.  31 
notes  had  increased  to  $1,058,500,000; 
deposits  to  $610,000,000;  discounts  and 
advances  to  $1,113,500,000,   (by  October 


this  amount  was  lowered  to  about  $750,- 
000,000.)  On  the  latter  date  the  specie 
reserve  stood  at  $409,500,000,  or  more 
than  the  legal  one-third.  Loans  had 
been  increased  556  per  cent.;  notes  223 
per  cent.,  and  deposits  258  per  cent.  In 
short,  $586,000,000  of  notes  had  been  is- 
sued beyond  the  amount  required  in 
normal  times,  (July  23.)  Clearly  this 
additional  amount  was  not  required  by 
an  increased  exchange  of  goods,  but  by 
those  persons  whose  resources  were  tied 
up  and  who  needed  a  means  of  payment. 
The  same  was  true  of  the  large  increase 
of  deposits  which  resulted  from  the 
larger  loans.  A  liberal  policy  of  dis- 
counting was  followed  by  which  loans 
were  given  on  the  basis  of  securities  or 
stocks  of  goods  on  hand.  That  is,  non- 
negotiable  assets  were  converted  into  a 
means  of  payment  either  in  the  form  of 
notes  or  deposit  credits. 

At  this  juncture  there  was  created  a 
currency  something  after  the  fashion  of 
the  Aldrich-Vreeland  emergency  notes 
in  this  country.  War  credit  banks  were 
established  by  law  to  issue  notes 
(Darlehnskassenscheine)  in  denomina- 
tions of  10,  15,  20,  and  50  marks  as 
loans  on  stocks  in  trade  and  securities 
of  all  kinds,  and  were  charged  6% 
per  cent,  interest.  The  goods  on  which 
these  notes  could  be  issued  were  not  re- 
moved, but  stamped  with  a  Government 
seal.  While  not  a  legal  tender,  the  notes 
were  receivable  at  all  imperial  agencies. 
On  securities  classed  at  the  Reichsbank 
as  Class  I.  loans  could  be  made  up  to 
60  per  cent,  of  their  value  as  of  July  31; 
as  Class  II.,  40  per  cent.;  on  the  other 
German  securities  bearing  a  fixed  rate 


90 


THE  ^EW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


of  return,  50  per  cent.;  on  other  Ger- 
man securities  bearing  a  varying  rate 
of  return,  40  per  cent.;  on  Russian  se- 
curities, a  lower  percentage.  These  in- 
stitutions, therefore,  took  up  some  of  the 
burden  that  would  otherwise  have  fallen 
on  the  loan  item  of  the  Reichsbank. 
Hence  the  Reichsbank  account  does  not 
show  the  whole  situation. 

To  this  point  the  methods  followed 
were  much  the  same  as  in  London.  Then 
came  unusual  happenings.  In  London 
for  a  few  days  the  banks  had  wavered 
as  to  maintaining  gold  payments,  but 
only  temporarily.  In  Berlin  drastic 
measures  were  undertaken  to  accumu- 
late gold  in  the  Reichsbank.  Vienna  re- 
ports it  to  be  well  known  that  Gei-many 
had  been  for  eighteen  months  before 
straining  every  nerve  to  obtain  gold. 
Whatever  sums  of  gold  were  included  in 
the  so-called  "  war  chest "  in  Spandau 
(said  to  be  $30,000,000)  were  also  de- 
posited with  the  Reichsbank.  Gold  was 
even  smuggled  across  the  borders  of 
Holland  on  the  persons  of  spies.  Urgent 
demands  were  made  upon  the  people  to 
turn  in  gold  from  patriotic  motives.  In 
this  way  over  $400,000,000  of  gold  was 
gathered  by  July,  1914;  and  by  the  end 
of  the  year,  after  five  months  of  war, 
it  had  risen  to  $523,000,000.  Was  Ger- 
many to  maintain  gold  payments  as  well 
as  Great  Britain? 

Evidently  not.  Gold  was  not  given 
for  notes  on  presentation.  For  purposes 
of  exchanging  goods  the  notes  were  in 
excess.  Inconvertible,  they  must  go  to 
a  discount  with  gold  or  with  the  money 
of  outside  countries  using  gold.  But  in 
order  to  get  imports  from  other  nations, 
like  Holland,  Scandinavia,  and  Den- 
mark, Germany  must  either  send  goods, 
or  gold,  or  securities.  German  indus- 
tries, except  those  making  war  supplies, 
were  not  producing  over  25  per  cent,  of 
capacity,  and  many  were  closed.  The 
Siemens-Schuckert  Works,  even  before 
the  Landsturm  was  called  out,  lost  40 
per  cent,  of  their  men  on  mobilization. 
The  Humboldt  Steel  Works,  near  Co- 
logne, employing  4,000  men,  were  closed 
early  in  August,  as  were  nearly  all  the 
great  iron  works  in  the  district  between 


Diisseldorf  and  Duisburg.  Probably  50 
to  75  per  cent,  of  the  workers  were  called 
to  the  colors.  The  skilled  artisans  were 
in  the  army  or  in  munition  factories; 
the  railways  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
military;  and  the  merchant  marine  was 
shut  up  in  home  or  foreign  ports.  There 
were  said  to  be  1,500  idle  ships  in  Ham- 
burg alone.  Few  goods  could  be  ex- 
ported. Gold  was  refused  for  export,  of 
course.  A  serious  liquidation  in  foreign 
securities  had  been  going  on  long  before 
the  war.  Some  foreign  securities  must 
have  still  remained.  However  that  may 
be,  a  claim  to  funds  in  Gennany  (i.  e., 
a  bill  drawn  on  Germany)  was  not  re- 
deemable in  gold,  and  it  fell  in  price. 
In  normal  times  a  bill  could  not  fall 
below  the  shipping  point  in  gold,  (par 
with  us  for  4  marks  is  95^A  cents  in 
gold;)  but,  since  gold  could  not  be 
sent,  exchange  on  Germany  could  fall 
to  any  figure,  set  only  by  a  declining 
demand.  Already  bills  on  Germany 
have  been  quoted  in  New  York  at  82, 
showing  a  depreciation  of  German  money 
in  the  international  field  of  about 
13  per  cent.  Likewise,  as  early  as  the 
first  week  of  September,  the  Reichsbank 
notes  were  reported  at  a  discount  of  20 
per  cent.,  and  as  practically  non-nego- 
tiable in  a  neighboring  country  like  Hol- 
land. 

The  inevitable  consequence  of  a  de- 
preciated currency  must  be  a  rise  of 
prices,  usually  greater  than  the  actual 
percentage  of  depreciation.  To  meet 
this  situation  there  came  a  device  pos- 
sible in  no  other  commercial  country. 
The  Government  fixed  prices  at  which 
goods  could  be  sold.  This  mediaeval  de- 
vice could  be  enforced  only  in  a  land 
where  such  State  interference  had  been 
habitual,  and,  of  course,  could  give  to 
the  notes  the  fictitious  purchasing  power 
only  inside  the  country.  After  the 
Christian  Science  fashion,  one  had  only 
to  believe  the  notes  were  of  value  to 
make  them  so;  but  in  the  cold  world  out- 
side German  jurisdiction  their  value 
would  be  gauged  by  the  chances  of  get- 
ting gold  for  them.  Here,  then,  we  find 
Germany  in  all  the  mazes  of  our  ancient 
"  greenbackism,"  but  still  in   possession 


A  FULL-FLEDGED  SOCIALIST  STATE 


91 


of  a  large  stock  of  gold.  As  soon  as  the 
war  ends  she  may  be  able  to  return  to 
gold  payments  at  an  early  date — very 
much  as  did  France  after  the  ordeal  of 
the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870-1871. 

In  the  present  war  conditions,  how- 
ever, largely  cut  off  from  other  coun- 
tries, (except  some  small  trade  with 
Switzerland,  Holland,  Denmark,  and  the 
like,)  all  ordinary  relations  which  would 
influence  German  credit  and  industry 
must  be  counted  out.  There  is  no  com- 
parison of  her  prices  and  money  with 
those  of  other  countries  in  a  free  mar- 
ket, or  with  even  a  limited  transporta- 
tion of  exports  and  imports.  All  com- 
mercial measurements  are  suspended  for 
the  time.  Trade  and  credit  are  holding 
their  breath.  How  long  can  they  do  it? 
Germany  may  have  food  enough;  but 
how  long  can  the  stoppage  of  industry 
go  on? 

Moreover,  attention  must  be  called  to 
one  momentous  thing.  We  are  seeing 
today,  under  military  law,  the  greatest 
experiment  in  socialism  ever  witnessed. 
All  wealth,  income,  industry,  capital, 
and  labor  are  in  the  direct  control  and 
use  of  a  military  State.  Food,  every- 
thing, may  be  taken  and  distributed  in 
common.  I  think  never  before  in  his- 
tory have  we  had  such  a  gigantic,  full- 
fledged  illustration  of  socialism  in 
actual  operation. 

In  the  meanwhile,  even  though  food 
may  be  provided,  the  reduction  of  in- 
dustry in  general  has  cut  incomes  right 
and  left.  That  is,  fewer  goods  are  pro- 
duced and  exchanged.  But  goods  are 
the  basis  of  all  credit.  The  less  the 
goods  exchanged,  the  less  the  credit 
operations.  Nevertheless,  the  extraor- 
dinary issues  of  banknotes,  the  increase 
of  deposits,  as  a  result  of  quintupling 
the  loans,  means  that  former  commit- 
ments in  goods  and  securities  cannot  be 
liquidated.  That  is,  the  enormous  in- 
crease of  bank  liabilities,  to  a  consid- 
erable and  unknown  percentage,  is  not 
supported  by  liquid  assets.  These  as- 
sets are  "canned."  Will  they  keep 
sweet?  There  is  no  new  business,  no 
foreign  trade,  sufficient  to  take  up  old 


obligations  and  renew  those  which  are 
unpayable.  Lessened  incomes  mean  les- 
sened consumption  and  lessened  demand 
for  goods.  Hence  the  credit  system  is 
based  on  an  uncertain  and  insecure 
foundation,  dependent  wholly  upon  con- 
tingencies far  in  the  future  which  may, 
or  may  not,  take  the  non-liquid  assets 
out  of  cold  storage  and  give  them  their 
original  value. 

Moreover,  apart  from  definite  de- 
struction of  wealth  and  capital  in  the 
war — which  must  be  enormous,  as  rep- 
resented by  the  national  loans — the 
losses  from  not  doing  business  in  all 
main  industries  during  the  whole  period 
of  the  war  (except  in  making  war  sup- 
plies) must  be  very  great.  As  it  affects 
the  income  and  expenditure  of  the  work- 
ing classes,  it  may  be  roughly  measured 
by  the  great  numbers  of  unemployed. 
If  they  are  used  on  public  works,  their 
income  is  made  up  from  taxes  on  the 
wealth  of  others.  Luxuries  will  disap- 
pear, and  not  be  produced  or  imported. 
Incomes  expressed  in  goods,  or  material 
satisfactions,  have  been  diminished — 
which  is  of  no  serious  consequence,  if 
they  cover  the  minimum  of  actual  sub- 
sistence. The  prolongation  of  the  war 
will,  then,  depend  on  the  ability  to  pro- 
vide the  supplies  for  war. 

The  need  for  a  medium  of  exchange 
is  oversupplied.  The  lack  is  in  the  goods 
to  be  exchanged.  The  enormous  exten- 
sion of  German  note  issues  does  not, 
and  can  not,  diminish.  In  this  country 
the  expansion  of  credit  and  money  im- 
mediately after  the  war  (manifested  by 
the  issue  of  Clearing  House  certificates 
and  emergency  banknotes)  has  been 
cleared  away  by  liquidation.  In  Ger- 
many the  "  canned "  assets  behind  the 
depreciated  currency  cannot  be  liqui- 
dated until  the  end  of  the  war.  And 
their  worth  at  that  time  will  depend 
much  on  the  future  course  of  the  war 
and  the  terms  of  peace.  If  German  ter- 
ritory should  be  overrun  and  the  tan- 
gible forms  of  capital  in  factories  and 
fixed  capital  be  destroyed,  much  of  the 
liquidation  might  be  indefinitely  pro- 
longed.    Whatever   of   foreign   trade  is 


92  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

permanently  lost  would  also  increase  the  instead  of  coin  (£1  and  10s.)  and  made 

difficulties.  unnecessary  any  emergency  issues  by  the 

In  a  great  financial  emergency  nearly  Bank  of  England,  and  a  large  gold  fund 

every  country  has,   at  one  time  or   an-  has   been    accumulated    behind    them    so 

other,     been     tempted     to     confuse    the  that  they  are  convertible.     In  Germany 

monetary   with   the   fiscal   functions   of  j^  jogg  n^t  seem  likely  that  the  Treasury 

the  Treasury.     To  borrow  by  the  issue  ^^^^^  ^ju  ^^  ^^^.^^^^  ^^^^    (having  in- 

of    money    seems    to    have    a    seductive  ^^^^^^^  ^^^^  $16,500,000  to  about  $200.- 

charm  hard  to  resist,     Lloyd  George  es-  „„^  „„„^  .  , 

,,Ti,j  A   \    f       r-      ^  000,000)  as  a  means  of  borrowing,  since 

tabhshed    a    new    precedent    for    Great  '       ' 

Britain    by   issuing   nearly    $200,000,000  ^^^  "^^  loans  are  being  issued  in  terms 

of  Government  currency  notes,  but  this  of  longer  maturities. 

was  done  to  provide  notes  for  the  public  J.  LAURENCE  LAUGHLIN. 


LETTERS  FROM  WIVES 

[By  Cable  to  The  New  York  Tribune.] 

LONDON,  March  8. — Edward  Page  Gaston,  an  American  business  man 
long  resident  in  London,  has  just  returned  from  Belgium,  and  brought 
with  him  many  sad  and  touching  relics  of  the  battlefields  in  that  dis- 
tressful country,  chiefly  from  the  neighborhood  of  Mons.  These  pathetic 
memorials  include  letters  from  wives,  sweethearts,  and  friends  at  home  and 
letters  written  by  soldiers  now  dead  and  never  posted. 

Turning  these  letters  ovei-,  one  comes  across  such  an  expression  as  this : 
*'  I  congratulate  you  on  your  promotion.  It  seems  too  good  to  be  true. 
Good-bye  and  God  bless  you,  dear.  God  keep  you  in  health  and  bring  you 
safely  back." 

Alas !  the  soldier  who  got  that  letter  came  back  no  way  at  all  to  his  sweet- 
heart or  his  friends. 

"  If  you  don't  come  back,  what  shall  I  do?  "  is  the  cry  that  comes  from 
another  woman's  heart,  and  he  did  not  come  back. 

Mr.  Gaston  is  going  to  put  himself  into  communication  with  the  War  Office 
with  regard  to  the  fate  of  the  relics,  and  as  far  as  possible  they  will  be  sent 
to  the  rightful  owners. 


"WAR  CHILDREN." 

[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.] 

P.4RIS,  Feb.  24. — Professor  Pinard  of  tbe  Academy  of  Medicine  contributes 
an  article  to  the  Matin  showing  that  "  war  children  "  are  stronger  and 
healthier  than  their  predecessors,  and  that  France  is  rapidly  repairing 
her  battle  losses. 

An  analysis  of  the  Paris  statistics  for  the  last  six  months  reveals  a 
diminution  of  the  death  rate  among  mothers  and  children  and  a  decrease  in 
the  number  of  children  born  dead. 

Di-.  Pinard  further  asserts  that  an  extensive  comparison  of  living  children 
with  those  born  earlier  shows  that  the  average  weight  of  "  war  babies  "  is 
considerably  higher  than  it  used  to  be.  This  he  considers  due  to  the  giving  of 
natural  instead  of  artificial  nourishment  by  the  mothers  in  consequence  of 
the  more  serious  attitude  they  take  to  their  duty  to  the  State. 

This,  says  the  professor,  is  one  more  instance  of  the  spirit  of  regeneration 
animating  France. 


No  Premature  Peace  For  Russia 

Proceedings  at  Opening  of  the  Duma,  Petrograd,  Feb.  9,  1915 


[From  The   London   Times.] 


PETROGRAD,  Feb.  9. 

THE  main  impression  left  upon  all 
who    attended    today's    proceed- 
ings    in    the     Duma     may     be 
summed    up    in    a    few    words. 
The  war  has  not  shaken  the  determina- 
tion   of    the    Russian    people    to    carry 
through  the  struggle  to  a  victorious  end. 

Practically  the  whole  House  had  as- 
sembled— the  few  vacant  seats  were  due 
to  death,  chiefly  on  the  field  of  battle — 
and  the  patriotic  spirit  permeating  the 
proceedings  was  just  as  deeply  empha- 
sized as  it  was  six  months  ago.  The  de- 
bates were  several  times  interrupted  by 
the  singing  of  the  National  anthem, 
thunders  of  applause  greeted  the  speeches 
of  the  President,  tjie  Premier,  and  the 
Foreign  Minister,  and  the  ovation  to  the 
British  and  French  Ambassadors  was,  if 
anything,  warmer  and  more  enthusiastic 
than  on  the  previous  occasion. 

I  noticed  that  members  applauded  with 
special  emphasis  the  words  in  which  the 
President  expressed  his  firm  conviction 
that  all  efforts  to  disunite  the  Allies 
would  prove  fruitless. 

In  the  course  of  his  address  the  Presi- 
dent eloquently  and  eulogistically  re- 
ferred to  the  role  of  Russia's  allies  in  the 
present  war.  Speaking  of  England,  he 
said: 

Noble  and  mighty  England,  with  all 
her  strength,  has  come  forward  to  defend 
the  right.  Her  services  to  the  common 
cause  are  great,  their  value  inestimable. 
We  believe  in  her  and  admire  her  stead- 
fastness and  valor. 

The  enemies  of  Russia  have  already  fre- 
quently attempted  to  sow  discord  in  these 
good  and  sincere  relations,  but  such  ef- 
forts are  vain.  The  Russian  truth-loving 
national  soul,  sensitive  of  any  display  of 
mendacity  or  insincerity,  was  able  to  sift 
the  chaff  from  the  wheat,  and  faith  in  our 
friends  is  unshaken.  There  is  not  a  single 
cloud  on  the  clear  horizon  of  our  lasting 
allied  harmony.  Heartfelt  greetings  to 
you,  true  friends,  rulers  of  the  waves  and 


our    companions    in    arms.      May    victory 
and  glory  go  with  you  everywhere ! 

These  remarks  were  constantly  inter- 
rupted by  outbursts  of  tremendous  ap- 
plause and  by  an  ovation  in  honor  of  Sir 
George  Buchanan,  who  bowed  his  acknowl- 
edgments. 

Alluding  to  temperance  reform,  the 
orator  fervently  exclaimed: 

Accept,  great  monarch,  the  lowly  rever- 
ence of  thy  people.  Thy  people  firmly  be- 
lieve that  an  end  has  been  put  for  all  eter- 
nity to  this  ancient  curse. 

The  terrible  war  can  not  and  must  not 
end  otherwise  than  victoriously  for  us  and 
our  allies.  We  will  fight  till  our  foes  sub- 
mit to  the  conditions  and  demands  which 
the  victors  dictate  to  them.  We  are 
weary  of  the  incessant  brandishing  of  the 
sword,  the  menaces  to  Slavdom,  and  the 
obstacles  to  its  natural  growth.  We  will 
fight  till  the  end,  till  we  win  a  lasting 
peace  worthy  of  the  great  sacrifices  we 
have  offered  to  our  fatherland.  In  the 
name  of  our  electorate,  we  here  declare. 
"  So  wishes  all  Russia." 

And  you,  brave  warrior  knights  in  the 
cold  trenches,  proudly  bearing  the  stand- 
and  of  Russian  Imperialism,  hearken  to 
this  national  outburst.  Your  task  is  diffi- 
cult. You  are  surrounded  with  trials  and 
privations,  but  then  you  are  Russian,  for 
whom  no  obstacles  exist. 

A  scene  of  indescribable  enthusiasm 
ensued,  the  House  rising  and  singing  the 
national  hymn. 

The  President's  peroration  was  in  part 
as  follows: 

The  Premier,  in  the  opening  sentences 
of  the  speech  which  followed,  said:  "  Our 
heroic  army,  the  flower  and  the  pride  of 
Russia,  strong  as  never  before  in  its 
might,  notwithstanding,  all  its  losses, 
grows  and  strengthens."  He  did  not  fail 
to  remind  his  hearers  that  the  war  is  yet 
far  from  ended,  but  he  added  that  the 
Government,  from  the  first,  had  soberly 
looked  the  danger  in  the  face  and  frankly 
warned  the  country  of  the  forthcoming 
sacrifices  for  the  common  cause  and  also 
for  the  strengthening  of  the  mutual  grav- 


94 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


itation  of  the  Slavonic  races.  He  briefly 
referred  to  the  Turkish  defeat  in  the 
Caucasus  as  opening  before  the  Russians 
a  bright  historical  future  on  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea. 

The  Premier  alluded  to  the  tremendous 
change  wrought  in  the  national  life  by  the 
abolition  of  the  liquor  traffic,  which  he 
designated  a  second  serfdom  vanishing  at 
the  behest  of  the  Czar.  After  a  few 
years  of  sober,  persistent  labor,  we  would 
no  longer  recognize  Russia.  The  war  had 
further  raised  the  question  of  the  creation 
in  the  world's  markets  of  favorable  condi- 
tions to  the  export  of  our  agricultural 
products,  and  a  general  revision  of  con- 
ditions calculated  hereafter  to  guarantee 
to  Russia  a  healthy  development  on  the 
principle  of  entire  independence  of  Ger- 
many in  all  branches  of  the  national  life. 
In  this  direction  the  Government  had  al- 
ready drafted  and  was  preparing  a  series 
of  elaborate  measures.  He  concluded 
with  the  expression  of  his  conviction  that, 
if  all  fulfilled  their  duty  in  the  spirit  of 
profound  devotion  to  the  Empei-or  and  of 
deep  faith  in  the  triumph  of  the  country, 
the  near  future  would  open  before  us 
perhaps  the  best  pages  in  Russian  his- 
tory. 

The  speeches  of  a  peasant  Deputy  and 
a  Polish  representative  were  particularly 
impressive  and  well  received.  The  So- 
cialist leader's  demand  for  peace  called 
forth  a  smart  rejoinder  from  a  member 
of  his  own  party. 

M.  SAZANOF'S  SPEECH. 

This  afternoon  the  session  of  the  Duma 
was  opened  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
Cabinet,  the  members  of  the  Council  of 
the  Empire,  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  and 
the  Senators.  The  public  galleries  were 
filled. 

M.  Sazanof  began  his  speech  by  recall- 
ing that  six  months  ago  in  that  place  he 
had  explained  why  Russia,  in  face  of  the 
brutal  attempt  by  Germany  and  Austria 
upon  the  independence  of  Serbia  and  Bel- 
gium, had  been  able  to  adopt  no  other 
course  than  to  take  up  arms  in  defense 
of  the  rights  of  nations.  Russia,  stand- 
ing closely  united  and  admirably  unani- 
mous in  her  enthusiasm  against  an  enemy 


which  had  offered  provocation,  did  not 
remain  isolated,  because  she  was  imme- 
diately supported  by  France  and  Great 
Britain  and,  soon  afterward,  by  Japan. 

Passing  in  review  the  events  of  the 
war,  the  Minister  said  that  the  valiant 
Russian  troops,  standing  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  their  allies,  had  secured 
fresh  laurels  for  their  crown  of  glory. 
The  Russian  arms  were  marching  stead- 
fastly toward  their  goal,  assured  of  final 
victory  against  an  enemy  who,  blinded 
by  the  hope  of  an  easy  victory,  was 
making  desperate  efforts,  having  re- 
course to  all  kinds  of  subterfuges,  even 
the  distortion  of  the  truth. 

To  the  relations  of  good  neighborli- 
ness,  faithfully  maintained  by  Russia, 
Germany  had  everywhere  opposed  re- 
sistance, seeking  to  embroil  Russia  with 
neighboring  countries,  especially  those 
to  which  Russia  was  bound  by  important 
interests. 

All  this  [continued  M.  Sazonof]  is  suf- 
ficient for  us  to  judge  the  value  of  Gei  man 
statements  regarding  the  alleged  envelop- 
ment of  Germany  by  the  Triple  Entente. 
Equally  worthless  are  the  assertions  that 
it  was  not  Germany  who  began  the  war, 
for  irrefutable  documents  exist  to  prove  the 
contrary.  Among  the  malevolent  German 
inventions  figure  reports  of  Jewish  po- 
gioms  which  the  Russian  troops  are  al- 
leged to  have  organized.  I  seize  this  op- 
jiortunity  of  speaking  in  the  parliamentary 
tribune  to  deny  this  calumny  categorically, 
for,  if  the  Jewish  population  in  the  theatre 
of  war  is  suffering,  that  is  an  inevitable 
evil,  since  the  inhabitants  of  regions  where 
hostilities  are.  proceeding  are  always  se- 
verely tried.  Moreover,  eyewitnesses  are 
unanimous  in  stating  that  the  greatest 
devastation  in  Poland  is  the  work  of  the 
Germans  and   Austrians. 

The  German  Ambassador  in  Washing- 
ton has  zealously  spread  these  reports  in 
the  attempt  to  create  in  the  United 
States  a  feeling  hostile  to  us,  but  the  good 
sense  of  the  Americans  has  prevented 
them  from  falling  into  the  clumsily  laid 
snare.  I  hope  that  the  good  relations  be- 
tween Russia  and  America  will  not  suf- 
fer from  these  German  intrigues. 

The  "  Orange  Book  "  recently  published 
proved  that  the  events  on  the  Bosporus 
which  preceded  the  war  with  Turkey  wei  e 
the  result  of  German  treachery  toward  the 
Ottoman  Empire,  which  invited  German 
instructors  and  the  mission  of  General 
Liman  von  Sanders,  hoping  to  perfect  its 
army  with  the  object  of  assuring  its  in- 


NO  PREMATURE  PEACE  FOR  RUSSIA 


dependence  against  the  Russian  danger  in- 
sinuated by  Berlin.  Germany,  however, 
took  advantage  of  this  penetration  into  the 
Turlvish  Army  to  malte  that  army  a  weap- 
on in  realizing  her  political  plans. 

All  the  acts  of  the  Turks  since  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Goeben  in  the  Dardanelles 
had  been  committed  under  the  pressure  of 
Germany,  but  the  efforts  of  the  Turks  to 
evade  responsibility  for  these  acts  could 
not  prevent  them  from  falling  into  the 
abyss  into  which  they  were  rolling:.  The 
events  on  the  Russo-Turkish  frontier, 
while  covering  Russian  arms  with  fresh 
glory,  will  bring  Russia  nearer  to  the 
realization  of  the  political  and  economic 
problems  bound  up  with  the  question  of 
Russia's  access  to  the  open  sea. 

Passing  to  the  documents  relating  to 
reforms  in  Armenia  recently  distributed 
among  members  of  the  Duma,  M.  Sazo- 
nof  said: 

The  Russian  Government  disinterestedly 
endeavored  to  alleviate  the  lot  of  the  Ar- 
menians, and  the  Russo-Turkish  agree- 
ment of  Jan.  26,  1914,  is  a  historical  docu- 
ment in  which  Turkey  recognizes  the  priv- 
ileged position  of  Russia  in  the  Armenian 
question.  When  the  war  ends  this  exclu- 
sive position  of  Russia  will  be  employed  by 
the  Imperial  Government  in  a  direction 
favorable  to  the  Armenian  population. 
Having  drawn  the  sword  in  the  defense 
of  Serbia,  Russia  is  acting  under  the  in- 
fluence of  her  sentiments  toward  a  sister 
nation  whose  grandeur  of  soul  in  the  pres- 
ent war  has  closely  riveted  the  two  coun- 
tries. 

After  referring  with  satisfaction  to 
the  gallantry  of  Montenegro  in  fighting 
as  she  was  doing  in  the  common  cause, 
M.  Sazonof  proceeded  to  speak  of 
Greece.  The  relations  of  Russia  with 
this  tried  friend  of  Serbia,  he  said,  were 
perfectly  cordial,  and  the  tendency  of 
the  Hellenic  people  to  put  an  end  to  the 
sufferings  of  their  co-religionists  groan- 
ing under  the  Ottoman  yoke  had  the 
entire  sympathy  of  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment. 

Passing  to  Rumania,  M.  Sazonof  said 
that  the  relations  between  Russia  and 
Rumania  retained  the  friendly  character 
which  they  acquired  on  the  occasion  of 
the  visit  of  the  Czar  to  Constanza.  The 
constant  Russophile  demonstrations  in 
Bucharest  and  throughout  the  whole 
country  during  the  Autumn  had  brought 
into   relief   the   hostile   feelings   of   the 


Rumanians     toward      Austria-Hungary. 

He  continued: 

You  are  probably  waiting,  gentlemen,  for 
a  reply  to  a  question  which  interests  the 
whole  world,  viz.,  the  attitude  of  those 
non-combatant  countries  whose  interests 
counsel  them  to  embrace  the  cause  of  Rus- 
sia and  that  of  her  allies.  In  effect,  pub- 
lic opinion  in  these  countries,  responsive 
to  all  that  is  meant  by  the  national  ideal, 
has  long  since  pronounced  itself  in  this 
sense,  but  you  will  understand  that  I  can- 
not go  into  this  question  very  profoundly, 
seeing  that  the  Governments  of  these 
countries,  with  which  we  enjoy  friendly  re- 
lations, have  not  yet  taken  a  definite  de- 
cision. Now,  it  is  for  them  to  arrive  at 
this  decision,  for  they  alone  will  be  re- 
sponsible to  their  respective  nations  if 
they  miss  a  favorable  opportunity  to  real- 
ize their  national  aspirations. 

I  must  also  mention  with  sincere  grati- 
tude the  services  rendered  to  us  by  Italy 
and  Spain  in  protecting  our  compatriots 
in  enemy  countries.  I  must  also  empha- 
size the  care  lavished  by  Sweden  on  Rus- 
sian travelers  who  were  the  victims  of 
German  brutality.  I  hope  that  this  fact 
will  strengthen  the  relations  of  good  neigh- 
borliness  between  Russia  and  Sweden, 
which  we  desire  to  see  still  more  cordial  ' 
than  they  are. 

Referring  to  Russo-Persian  relations, 
M.  Sazonof  said: 

Before  the  war  with  Turkey,  we  suc- 
ceeded in  putting  an  end  to  the  secular 
Turco-Persian  quarrel  by  means  of  the 
delimitation  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and 
Mount  Ararat  region,  thanks  to  which  we 
preserved  for  Persia  a  disputed  territory 
with  an  area  of  almost  20,000  square 
versts,  part  of  which  the  Turks  had  in- 
vaded. Since  the  war  the  Persian  Gov- 
ernment has  declared  its  neutrality,  but 
this  has  not  prevented  Germany,  Austria, 
and  Turkey  from  carrying  on  a  propa- 
ganda with  the  object  of  gaining  Persian 
sympathies.  These  intrigues  have  been 
particularly  intense  in  Azerbaijan,  where 
the  Turks  succeeded  in  attracting  to  their 
side  some  of  the  Kurds  in  that  country. 
Afterward  Ottoman  troops,  violating  Per- 
sian neutrality,  crossed  the  Persian  fron- 
tier and,  supported  by  Kurdish  bands, 
penetrated  the  districts  where  our  de- 
tachments were  in  cantonments  and 
transformed  Azerbaijan  into  a  part  of  the 
Russo-Turkish   theatre  of  war. 

I  must  say  in  passing  that  the  presence 
of  our  troops  in  Persia  is  in  no  way  a 
violation  of  neutrality,  for  they  were  sent 
there  some  years  ago  with  the  object  of 
maintaining  order  in  our  frontier  terri- 
tory, and  preventing  its  invasion  by  the 
Turks,  who  wished  to  establish  there  an 
advantageous  base  of  action  against  the 
Caucasus.        The     Persian      Government,    • 


96 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


powerless  to  take  effective  action  against 
this  aggression,  protested,  but  without 
success.  I  must  state  that  Anglo-Russian 
relations  in  regard  to  Persian  affairs  are 
more  than  ever  based  on  mutual  and  sin- 
cere confidence  and  co-operation,  which 
are  a  guarantee  of  the  pacific  settlement 
of   any   eventual   conflict. 

Passing  to  the  Far  East,  M.  Sazonof 
said  the  agreements  signed  in  1907  and 
1910  with  Japan  had  borne  fruit  during 
the  present  war,  for  Japan  was  with 
them.  She  had  driven  the  Germans  from 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  had  seized  the 
German  base  of  Kiao-chau.  Although 
Japan  did  hot  sign  the  agreement  of  Aug. 
23,  yet,  since  the  Anglo-Japanese  alli- 
ance contained  an  undertaking  that  a 
separate  peace  should  not  be  concluded, 
therefore  the  German  Government  could 
not  hope  for  peace  with  Japan  before 
she  had  concluded  peace  with  Great 
Britain,  Russia,  and  France.  Conse- 
quently, their  relations  with  Japan  gave 
them  a  firm  friend.  The  demands  ad- 
dressed by  Japan  to  China  contain  noth- 
ing contrary  to  our  interests. 

As  for  Russo-Chinese  interests,  he 
could  state  their  constant  improvement. 
The  pourparlers  in  regard  to  Mongolia, 
though  slow,  were  friendly,  and  he 
hoped  to  be  able  to  announce  shortly  the 
signature    of    a    triple    Russo-Chinese- 


Mongolian  treaty,  which,  while  safe- 
guarding the  interests  of  Russia,  would 
not  injure  those  of  China. 

In  conclusion,  M.  Sazonof  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  close  union  of  all  Rus- 
sians around  the  throne,  which  had 
been  manifested  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  would  remain  unchanged  until 
the  completion  of  the  great  national 
task. 

Speakers  of  the  Progressist,  Ootobrist, 
and  Nationalist  Centre  Parties  agreed 
that  a  premature  peace  would  be  a  crime 
against  their  country  and  humanity, 
and  that  therefore  Russia  was  prepared 
to  make  every  sacrifice  so  that  Germany 
might  be  definitely  crushed. 

At  the  end  of  the  sitting  the  follow- 
ing resolution  was  unanimously  adopted: 

The  Duma,  saluting  the  glorious  ex- 
ploits of  our  soldiers,  sends  to  the  Rus- 
sian Army  and  Navy  a  cordial  greeting 
and  to  our  allies  an  expression  of  sin- 
cere esteem  and  sympathy.  It  expresses 
its  firm  conviction  that  the  great  na- 
tional and  liberating  objects  of  the  pres- 
ent %var  will  be  achieved,  and  declares 
the  inflexible  determination  of  the  Riis- 
sian  Nation  to  carry  on  the  tear  until 
conditions  shall  have  been  imposed  on 
the  enemy  asstiring  the  peace  of  Europe 
and  the  restoration  of  Hght  and  jiistice. 


TO  THE  VICTORS  BELONG  THE 
SPOILS! 

By   MADELEINE    LUCETTE   RYLEY. 
[From   King   Albert's  Book.] 

THE  Victor  true  is  he  who  conquers  fear. 
Who  knows  no  time  save  now — no  place 
but  here. 
Who    counts    no    cost — who    only    plays    the 

game. 
To  him  shall  go  the  prize — Immortal  Fame! 

To  the  illustrious  ruler  and  his  gallant 
little  nation,  whose  heroism  and  bravery  are 
surely  unparalleled  in  the  whole  of  our 
world's  history,  I  bow  my  head  in  respectful 
homage. 


I 


Lessons  of  the  War  to  March 

Ninth 


Bv   Charles   W.   Eliot 


President  Emeritus  of  Harvard  Cniversity, 


CAMBRIDGE,  Mass.,  March  9,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

THE  observant  world  has  now  had 
ample  opportunity  to  establish 
certain  conclusions  about  the  new 
kind  of  war  and  its  availabUify 
as  means  of  adjusting  satisfactorily  in- 
ternational relations;  and  it  seemfs  de- 
sirable in  the  interest  of  durable  [peace 
in  Europe  that  those  conclusions  should 
be  accurately  stated  and  kept  in  public 
view. 

In  the  first  place,  the  destructiveness 
of  war  waged  on  the  scale  and  with  the 
intensity  which  conscript  armies,  the  new 
means  of  transportation  and  communi- 
cation, the  new  artillery,  the  aeroplanes, 
the  high  explosives,  and  the  continuity 
of  the  fighting  on  battle  fronts  of  un- 
exampled length,  by  night  as  well  as  by 
day,  and  in  stormy  and  wintry  as  well 
as  moderate  weather,  make  possible,  has 
proved  to  be  beyond  all  power  of  com- 
putation, and  could  not  have  been  imag- 
ined in  advance.  Never  before  has  there 
been  any  approach  to  the  vast  killing  and 
crippling  of  men,  the  destruction  of  all 
sorts  of  man's  structures — buildings, 
bridges,  viaducts,  vessels,  and  docks — 
and  the  physical  ruin  of  countless  women 
and  children.  On  the  seas  vessels  and 
cargoes  are  sunk,  instead  of  being  carried 
into  port  as  formerly. 

Through  the  ravaging  of  immense 
areas  of  crop-producing  lands,  the  driv- 
ing away  of  the  people  that  lived  on 
them,  and  the  dislocation  of  commerce, 
the  food  supplies  for  millions  of  non- 
combatants  are  so  reduced  that  the  ris- 
ing generation  in  several  countries  is 
impaired  on  a  scale  never  approached 
in  any  previous  war. 

In  any  country  which  becomes  the  seat 


of  war  an  immense  destruction  of  fixed 
capital  is  wrought;  and  at  the  same  time 
the  quick  capital  of  all  the  combatants, 
accumulated  during  generations,  is 
thrown  into  the  furnace  of  war  and  con- 
sumeds  unproductively. 

In  cohsequence  of  the  enormous  size 
of  the  national  armies  and  the  with- 
drawal of  the  able-bodied  men  from  pro- 
ductive industries,  the  industries  and 
commerce  of  the  whole  world  are  seri- 
ously interrupted,  whence  widespread, 
incalculable  losses  to  mankind. 

These  few  months  of  war  have  em- 
phasized the  interdependence  of  nations 
the  world  over  with  a  stress  never  before 
equaled.  Neutral  nations  far  removed 
from  Europe  have  felt  keenly  the  ef- 
fects of  the  war  on  the  industries  and 
trades  by  which  they  live.  Men  see 
in  this  instance  that  whatever  reduces 
the  buying  and  consuming  capacity  of 
one  nation  will  probably  reduce  also  the 
producing  and  selling  capacity  of  other 
nations;  and  that  the  gains  of  commerce 
and  trade  are  normally  mutual,  and  not 
one-sided. 

All  the  contending  nations  have  is- 
sued huge  loans  which  will  impose  heavy 
burdens  on  future  generations;  and  the 
yield  of  the  first  loans  has  already  been 
spent  or  pledged.  The  first  loan  issued 
by  the  British  Government  was  nearly 
twice  the  national  debt  of  the  United 
States;  and  it  is  supposed  that  its  pro- 
ceeds will  be  all  spent  before  next 
Summer.  Germany  has  already  spent 
$1,600,000,000  since  the  war  broke  out 
— all  unproductively  and  most  of  it  for 
destruction.  She  will  soon  have  to  issue 
her  second  great  loan.  In  short,  the 
waste  and  ruin  have  been  without  prece- 
dent, the  destruction  of  wealth  has  been 


98 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


enormous,  and  the  resulting  dislocations 
of  finance,  industries,  and  commerce  will 
long  afflict  the  coming  generations  in 
all  the  belligerent  nations. 

All  the  belligerent  nations  have  al- 
ready demonstrated  that  neither  urban 
life,  nor  the  factory  system,  nor  yet 
corroding  luxury  has  caused  in  them 
any  physical  or  moral  deterioration 
which  interferes  with  their  fighting  ca- 
pacity. The  soldiers  of  these  civilized 
peoples  are  just  as  ready  for  hand-to- 
hand  encounters  with  cold  steel  as  any 
barbarians  or  savages  have  ever  been. 
The  primitive  combative  instincts  remain 
in  full  force  and  can  be  brought  into 
play  by  all  the  belligerents  with  facility. 
The  progress  of  the  war  should  have 
removed  any  delusions  on  this  subject 
which  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  or  any 
one  of  the  Allies  may  have  entertained. 
The  Belgians,  a  well-to-do  town  people, 
and  the  Serbians,  a  poor  rural  population, 
best  illustrate  this  continuity  of  the 
martial  qualities;  for  the  Belgians  faced 
overwhelming  odds,  and  the  Serbians 
have  twice  driven  back  large  Austrian 
forces,  although  they  have  a  transport  by 
oxen  only,  an  elementary  commissariat, 
no  medical  or  surgical  supplies  to  speak 
of,  and  scanty  munitions  of  war.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  principal  combatants 
have  proved  that  with  money  enough 
they  can  all  use  effectively  the  new 
methods  of  war  administration  and  the 
new  implements  for  destruction.  These 
facts  suggest  that  the  war  might-  be 
much  prolonged  without  yielding  any 
results  more  decisive  than  those  it  has 
already  yielded;  indeed,  that  its  most 
probable  outcome  is  a  stalemate — unless 
new  combatants  enter  the  field. 

Fear  of  Russian  invasion  seemed  at 
first  to  prompt  Germany  to  war;  but  now 
Germany  has  amply  demonstrated  that 
she  has  no  reason  to  look  with  any  keen 
apprehension  on  possible  Russian  aggres- 
sion upon  her  territory,  and  that  her 
military  oi'ganization  is  adequate  for  de- 
fense against  any  attack  from  any  quar- 
ter. The  military  experience  of  the  last 
seven  months  proves  that  the  defense, 
by  the  temporary  intrenchment  method, 
has  a  great  advantage  over  the  attack; 


so  that  in  future  wars  the  aggressor  will 
always  be  liable  to  find  himself  at  a 
serious  disadvantage,  even  if  his  victim 
is  imperfectly  prepared. 

These  same  pregnant  months  have  also 
proved  that  armies  can  be  assembled  and 
put  into  the  field  in  effective  condition 
in  a  much  shorter  time  than  has  here- 
tofore been  supposed  to  be  possible; 
provided  there  be  plenty  of  money  to 
meet  the  cost  of  equipment,  transporta- 
tion, and  supplies.  Hence,  the  advantages 
of  maintaining  huge  active  armies,  ready 
for  instant  attack  or  defense,  will  here- 
after be  less  considerable  than  they  have 
been  supposed  to  be — 'if  the  declaration 
of  war  by  surprise,  as  in  August  last, 
can  hereafter  be  prevented.  These  con- 
siderations, taken  in  connection  with  the 
probable  inefficacy  against  modern  ar- 
tillery of  elaborate  fortifications,  sug- 
gest the  possibility  of  a  reduction 
throughout  Europe  of  the  peace-footing 
armies.  It  is  conceivable  that  the  Swiss 
militia  system  should  satisfy  the  future 
needs  of  most  of  the  European  States. 

Another  important  result  of  the  colos- 
sal war  has  been  achieved  in  these  seven 
months.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that 
no  single  nation  in  any  part  of  the  world 
can  dominate  the  other  nations,  or,  in- 
deed, any  other  nation,  unless  the  other 
principal  powers  consent  to  that  domi- 
nation; and,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
world,  it  is  quite  clear  that  no  such 
domination  will  be  consented  to.  As  soon 
as  this  proposition  is  accepted  by  all  the 
combatants,  this  war,  and  perhaps  all 
war  between  civilized  nations,  will  cease. 
It  is  obvious  that  in  the  interest  of  man- 
kind the  war  ought  not  to  cease  until 
Germany  is  convinced  that  her  ambition 
for  empire  in  Europe  and  the  world 
cannot  be  gratified.  Deutschland  iiber 
alles  can  survive  as  a  shout  of  patriotic 
enthusiasm;  but  as  a  maxim  of  inter- 
national policy  it  is  dead  already,  and 
should  be  buried  out  of  the  sight  and 
memory    of    men. 

It  has,  moreover,  become  plain  that 
the  progress  in  civilization  of  the  white 
race  is  to  depend  not  on  the  suprer.ie 
power  of  any  one  nation,  forcing  its 
peculiar    civilization    on    other    nations. 


LESSONS  OF  THE  WAR  TO  MARCH  NINTH 


99 


but  on  the  peaceful  development  of  many 
different  nationalities,  each  making  con- 
tributions of  its  own  to  the  progress  of 
the  whole,  and  each  developing  a  social, 
industrial,  and  governmental  order  of 
its  own,  suited  to  its  territory,  traditions, 
resources,  and  natural  capacities. 

The  chronic  irritations  in  Europe 
which  contributed  to  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  and  the  war  itself  have  emphasized 
the  value  and  the  toughness  of  natural 
national  units,  both  large  and  small,  and 
the  inexpediency  of  artificially  dividing 
such  units,  or  of  forcing  natural  units 
into  unnatural  associations.  These  prin- 
ciples are  now  firmly  established  in  the 
public  opinion  of  Europe  end  America. 
No  matter  how  much  longer  the  present 
war  may  last,  no  settlement  will  afford 
any  prospect  of  lasting  peace  in  Europe 
Avhich  does  not  take  just  account  of  these 
principles.  Already  the  war  has  dem- 
onstrated that  just  consideration  of  na- 
tional feelings,  racial  kinship,  and  com- 
mon commercial  interests  would  lead  to 
three  fresh  groupings  in  Europe — one  of 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  one  of  the 
three  sections  into  which  Poland  has 
been  divided,  and  one  of  the  Balkan 
States  which  have  a  strong  sense  of 
Slavic  kinship.  In  the  case  of  Scan- 
dinavia and  the  Balkan  States  the  bond 
might  be  nothing  more  than  a  common 
tariff  with  common  ports  and  harbor 
regulations;  but  Poland  needs  to  be  re- 
constructed as  a  separate  kingdom. 
Thoroughly  to  remove  political  sores 
which  have  been  running  for  more  than 
forty  years,  the  people  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein  and  Alsace-Lorraine  should  also 
be  allowed  to  determine  by  free  vote  their 
national  allegiance.  Whether  the  war 
ends  in  victory  for  the  Allies,  or  in  a 
draw  or  deadlock  with  neither  party 
victorious  and  neither  humiliated,  these 
new  national  adjustments  will  be  nec- 
essary to  permanent  peace  in  Europe. 
All  the  wars  in  Europe  since  1864  unite 
in  demonstrating  that  necessity. 

Again,  the  war  has  already  demon- 
strated that  colonies  or  colonial  posses- 
sions in  remote  parts  of  the  world  are  not 
a  source  of  strength  to  a  European  na- 
tion when  at  war,  unless  that  nation  is 


strong  on  the  seas.  Affiliated  Common- 
wealths may  be  a  support  to  the  mother 
country,  but  colonies  held  by  force  in 
exclusive  possession  are  not.  Great 
Britain  learned  much  in  1775  about  the 
management  of  colonies,  and  again  she 
learned  in  India  that  the  policy  of  ex- 
ploitation, long  pursued  by  the  East 
India  Company,  had  become  undesirable 
from  every  point  of  view.  As  the  strong- 
est naval  power  in  the  world,  Great 
Britain  has  given  an  admiral  example 
of  the  right  use  of  power  in  making  the 
seas  and  harbors  of  the  world  free  to 
lercantile  marine  of  all  the  nations 
with  wni<^h  she  competes.  Her  free-trade 
policy  heli)ed  her  to  wise  action  on  the 
subject  of  commercial  extension.  Never- 
theless, the  other  commercial  nations, 
watching  the  tremendous  power  in  war 
which  Great  Britain  possesses  through 
her  wide,  though  not  complete,  control  of 
the  oceans,  will  rejoice  when  British 
control,  though  limited  and  wisely  used, 
is  replaced  by  an  unlimited  international 
control.  This  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
lessons   of  the  great   war. 

Another  conviction  is  strongly  im- 
pressed upon  the  commercial  nations  of 
the  world  by  the  developments  of  seven 
months  of  extensive  fighting  by  land 
and  sea,  namely,  the  importance  of  mak- 
ing free  to  all  nations  the  Kiel  Canal  and 
the  passage  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the 
Aegean.  So  long  as  one  nation  holds  the 
Dardanelles  and  the  Bosporus,  and 
another  nation  holds  the  short  route  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  North  Sea,  there  will 
be  dangerous  restrictions  on  the  com- 
merce of  the  world — dangerous  in  the 
sense  of  provoking  to  war,  or  of  causing 
sores  which  develop  into  malignant  disease. 
Those  two  channels  should  be  used  for 
the  common  benefit  of  mankind,  just  as 
the  Panama  Canal  or  the  Suez  Canal  is 
intended  to  be.  Free  seas,  free  inter- 
ocean  canals  and  straits,  the  "  open  door," 
and  free  competition  in  international 
trade  are  needed  securities  for  peace. 

These  lessons  of  the  war  are  as  plain 
now  as  they  will  be  after  six  months  or 
six  years  more  fighting.  Can  the  bellig- 
erent nations — and  particularly  Germany 
— take  them  to  heart  now,  or  must  more 
millions  of  men  be  slaughtered  and  more 


100 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


billions  of  human  savings  be  consumed 
before  these  teachings  of  seven  fearful 
months   be  accepted? 

For  a  great  attainable  object  such 
dreadful  losses  and  sufferings  as  con- 
tinuation of  the  war  entails  might  per- 
haps be  borne;  but  the  last  seven  months 
have  proved  that  the  objects  with  which 
Austria-Hungary  and  Germany  went  to 
war  are  unattainable  in  the  present  state 
of  Europe.  Austria-Hungary,  even  with 
the  active  aid  of  Germany  and  Turkey, 
cannot  prevail  in  Serbia  against  the 
active  or  passive  resistance  of  Serbia, 
Russia,  Rumania,  Greece,  Italy,  France, 
and  Great  Britain.  Germany  cannot 
crush  France  supported  by  Great  Britain 
and  Russia,  or  keep  Belgium,  except  as 
a  subject  and  hostile  province,  and  in 
defiance  of  the  public  opinion  of  the 
civilized  world.     In  seven  months  Great 


Britain  and  France  have  made  up  for 
their  lack  of  preparedness  and  have 
brought  the  military  operations  of  Ger- 
many in  France  to  a  standstill.  On  the 
other  hand,  Great  Britain  and  France 
must  already  realize  that  they  cannot 
drive  the  German  armies  out  of  France 
and  Belgium  without  a  sacrifice  of  blood 
and  treasure  from  which  the  stoutest 
hearts  may  well  shrink. 

Has  not  the  war  already  demonstrated 
that  jealous  and  hostile  coalitions  armed 
to  the  teeth  will  surely  bring  on  Europe 
not  peace  and  advancing  civilization,  but 
savage  war  and  an  arrest  of  civilization  ? 
Has  it  not  already  proved  that  Europe 
needs  one  comprehensive  union  or  fed- 
eration competent  to  procure  and  keep 
for  Europe  peace  through  justice  ?  There 
is  no  alternative  except  more  war. 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT. 


BELGIUM'S    KING   AlVD   QUEEN 

By  PAUL  HERVIEU 

Translation   by  -Florence   Siininonds. 
[From    King    Albert's    Book.] 


ONCE  upon  a  time  there  livert  a  King  and  a  Queen.     ♦    •    • 
Indeed,  it  would  be.  the  most  touching  and  edifying  fairy-tale  imagin- 
able,   this  true  story  of  H.   M.   Albert   I.   and   H.   M.   Queen   Elizabeth. 

It  would  tell  of  their  quiet  and  noble  devotion  to  their  daily  tasks,  of 
the  purity   of   their  happy   family   life.     *    *    • 

Suddenly,  the  devil  would  intervene,  with  his  threats  and  his  offers.    *    ♦    * 

Then  we  should  hear  of  the  .sovereigns  and  the  people  of  Belgium  agreeing 
at  once  in  their  sense  of  honor  and   heroism. 

Then  the  dastardly  invasion,  and  the  innumerable  host  of  infernal  spirits 
breathing  out  sulphur,  belching  torrents  of  iron,  and  raining  fire;  city 
dwellings  transformed  into  the  shattered  columns  of  cemeteries;  innocent 
creatures  tortured  and  victimized :  and  the  King  and  Queen  with  their 
kingdom  reduced  to  a  sandhill  on  the  shore,  and  the  remnant  of  their  valiant 
army  around  them. 

And  •  at  last,  at  last !  That  turn  of  the  tide  which  all  humanity  worthy 
of  the  name  desires  so  ardently,  and  which  even  the  baser  sort  now  sees  to  be 
surely  approaching. 

At  this  point  in  the  story,  at  this  page  of  the  legendary  tale,  how  the 
children  would  clap  their  hands,  with  all  that  love  of  justice  innate  in 
children,  and  how  the  faces  of  worthy  parents  would  beam  with  the  approval 
of   satisfied    consciences ! 

And  in  the  future,  those  who  contemplate  the  royal  arms  with  the  pious 
admiration  due  to  them,  will  see  a  blooming  rose  side  by  side  with  the  lion 
of  Belgium,  typifying  the  immortal  share  of  H.  M.  Queen  Elizabeth  in 
the  glory  of  H.  M.  Albert  I. 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS 
SEEN    BY    CARTOONISTS 

[German    Cartoon] 

The  Americjm^rotest 


—From  Lustige  Blactter,  Berlin. 


John  Bull:  "  Now,  what's  he  throwing  at  me  for?    A  little  bit  of 
piracy  is  no  reason  for  getting  bad-tempered." 


101 


[French  Cartoon] 


The  Peasant  and  the  War 


— From  Le  Rire,   Paris 


**  Confound  their  infernal  shells !     If  a  feller  didn't  have  to  work 
it  would  be  better  to  stay  home  these  days." 


104 


[German    Cartoon] 

Victory ! 


—From  Lustiffe  Blaetter,  Berlin. 


[This  cartoon  was  published  on  the  Kaiser's  birthday,  Jan.  27,  1915.] 


103 


[English    Cartoon] 


ii 


The  Outcast" 


—From  Punch,  London. 


A  place  in  the  shadow. 

104 


[Italian    Cartoon] 

The  Dream  of  a  Madman 


—From    L'Asino,   Rome. 

William:    "Attention!     Forward!     March!     One — two     * 

105 


[German    Cartoon] 


Night  Scene  in  Trafalgar  Square 


—From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 

"  Goddam,  Mister  Nelson!     What  are  you  looking  for  down  here?" 
"  Well,  just  suppose  you  stay  up  there  for  a  while  among  the 
Zeppelins  yourself." 

.     10(5 


[English    Cartoon] 


The  Riddle  of  the  Sands 


—From  Punch,  London. 


Turkish  Camel:    "Where  to?" 
German  Officer  :    "  Egypt." 
Turkish  Camel  :    "  Guess  again." 


107 


[German    Cartoon] 

The  Theatre  in  the  Field 


The  English  TaIEAtre  in  the  Field — "  With  the  permission  of  French  and 
Kitchener,  Hicks's  Operetta  Company  went  from  London  to  the  front  and  played, 
before  the  British  soldiers." 


Thk  German  Tiikatre  in  the  Field — "  Major  Walter  Kirchoff  (of  the  Royal 
Opera  House).  Lieutenant  Hall  Wegener  (of  the  German  Theatre).  Dispatch 
Rider,  Carl  Clewing   (of  the  Royal  Playhouse). 

—From  Lnstige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 

108 


[English  Cartoon] 


Trench  Amenities 


-from     Punch,    London. 


British  Tommy  (returning  to  trench  in  which  he  has  lately- 
been  fighting,  now  temporarily  occupied  by  the  enemy)  :  "  Excuse 
me — any  of  you  blighters  seen  my  pipe?" 


10!) 


[Italian    Cartoon] 


Quo  Vadis? 


-'From   L'Asino,   Rome. 


110 


[German    Cartoon] 


The  Gutter  Snipes 


-From    Lvstiiie   lilactier,   Berlin. 


Ill 


[German    Cartoon] 


A  London  Family  Scene 


—From  Meggendorfer-Blaettcr,  Munich. 

[A  favorite  theme  of  German  cartoonists  is  England's  supposed 
mortal  terror  of  Zeppelins.] 

112 


[English    Cartoon] 


The  Dissemblers 


—From  Punch,  London. 


Emperor  of  Austria:    "Now  what  do  we  really  want  to  say?" 

Sultan  of  Turkey  :    "  Well,  of  course  we  couldn't  say  that ;  not 
on  his  birthday." 


113 


[German    Cartoon] 


Lord  Kitchener  Wants  You! 


—From  Simplicissiinus,  Munich. 


"  Lord  Kitchener  needs  recruits !" 

114 


b 


[English    Cartoon] 

Willy-Nilly 


—From   The  Sketch,  London. 

German  Official  Report:  "  Our  progress  is  maintained." 

115 


[German    Cartoon] 

A  Shaky  Affair 


—From,  Luatige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 

The  Triple  Victory  :    "  Confound  it,  there  goes  another  pillar." 

116 


[English    Cartoon] 


The  Return  of  the  Raider 


—From  Punch,  London. 


Kaiser:    "Well,  I  AM  surprised!" 
TiRPiTZ :    "So  were  we." 


117 


[Italian    Cartoon] 

What  Is  There  Inside? 


— From    L'Asino,   Rome. 

[The  words  that  the  observer  has  uncovered  are  as  follows:  Militarism, 
Religious  Mania,  Megalomania,  Loquacity,  Homicidal  Mania,  Imperialism, 
NeronisTn.} 


118 


[English    Cartoon] 

"Sound  and  Fury" 


— From  Punch,  London. 


Kaiser:    "  Is  all  my  high  seas  fleet  safely  locked  up?" 
Admiral  von  Tirpitz  :    "  Practically  all,  Sire." 
Kaiser  :    "  Then  let  the  starvation  of  England  begin !" 


119 


[English    Cartoon] 


The  Flight  That  Failed 


^-- .... 

—From  Punch,  London. 

The  Emperor:    "What!    No  babes,  sirrah?" 

The  Murderer  :  "  Alas,  Sire,  none." 

The  Emperor:    "Well,  then,  no  babes,  no  iron  crosses." 

12U 


[English    Cartoon] 

"A  Fortified  Town" 


I 

I 


I 


—From   The   Sketch,   London. 

A.  Little  Muddlecome,  as  known  to  its  inhabitants. 

B.  Little  Muddlecome,  the  fortified  town — according  to  Germany. 


i«i 


[South  African  Cartoon] 


No  Family  Resemblance 


— From  The  Cape  Times,  Cape  Town,  South  Africa. 


The  German  Eagle   (tearfully) :  "  As  bird  to  bird  —  surely   you 
won't  desert  me?" 

The  American  Eagle:  "Desert  you !    I'm  an  eagle,  not  a  vulture!" 


i 


The  Chances  of  Peace  and  the 
Problem  of  Poland 

By   J.    Ellis    Barker 

[From  The  Nineteenth  Century  and  After.  Leonard  Scott  Publishing  Company. 1 


A  CENTURY  ago,  at  the  Congress 
of  Vienna,  the  question  of  Poland 
proved  extremely  difficult  to 
solve.  It  produced  dangerous 
friction  among  the  assembled  powers, 
and  threatened  to  lead  to  the  break-up 
of  the  congress.  The  position  became  so 
threatening  that,  on  the  3d  of  January, 
1815,  Austria,  Great  Britain,  and  France 
felt  compelled  to  conclude  a  secret  sep- 
arate alliance  directed  against  Prussia 
and  Russia,  the  allies  of  Austria  and 
Great  Britain  in  the  war  against  Na- 
poleon. Precautionary  troop  movements 
began,  and  war  among  the  allies  might 
have  broken  out  had  not,  shortly  after- 
ward. Napoleon  quitted  Elba  and  landed 
in  France.  Fear  of  the  great  Corsican 
reunited  the  powers. 

Because  of  the  great  and  conflicting 
interests  involved,  the  question  of  Po- 
land may  prove  of  similar  importance 
and  difficulty  at  the  congress  which  will 
conclude  the  present  war.  Hence,  it 
seems  desirable  to  consider  it  carefully 
and  in  good  time.  It  is  true  that  the 
study  of  the  Polish  problem  does  not 
seem  to  be  very  urgent  at  the  present 
moment.  In  view  of  the  slow  progress 
of  the  Allies  in  the  east  and  west,  it 
appears  that  the  war  will  be  long  drawn 
out.  Still,  it  is  quite  possible  that  it 
will  come  to  an  early  and  sudden  end. 
Austria-Hungary  is  visibly  tiring  of  the 
hopeless  struggle  into  which  she  was 
plunged  by  Germany,  and  which  hitherto 
has  brought  her  nothing  but  loss,  dis- 
grace, and  disaster.  After  all,  the  war 
is  bound  to  end  earlier  or  later  in  an 
Austro-German  defeat,  and  if  it  should 
be  fought  to  the  bitter  end  Austria- 
Hungary  will  obviously  suffer  far  more 
severely  than  wiill  Germany.  A  protracted 


war,  which  would  lead  merely  to  the  last- 
ing impoverishment  of  Germany,  would 
bring  about  the  economic  annihilation  of 
impecunious  Austria.  Besides,  while  a 
complete  defeat  would  cause  to  Germany 
only  the  loss  of  territories  in  the  east, 
west,  and  north  which  are  largely  inhab- 
ited by  disaffected  Poles,  Frenchmen, 
and  Danes,  and  would  not  very  greatly 
reduce  the  purely  German  population 
of  Germany,  it  would  probably  result  in 
the  dissolution  of  the  Dual  Monarchy, 
which  lacks  a  homogeneous  population, 
and  it  might  lead  to  Austria's  disappear- 
ance as  a  great  State.  If  complete 
disaster  should  overwhelm  the  empire 
of  Francis  Joseph,  Hungary  would  un- 
doubtedly make  herself  independent.  The 
Dual  Monarchy  would  become  a  heap 
of  wreckage,  and  in  the  end  the  German 
parts  of  Austria  would  probably  become 
a  German  province,  Vienna  a  provincial 
Prussian  town,  the  proud  Hapsburgs 
subordinate  German  princelings.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  Austria-Hungary  should 
make  quickly  a  separate  peace  with  her 
opponents,  she  would  presumably  lose 
only  the  Polish  parts  of  Galicia  to  the 
new  kingdom  of  Poland,  and  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina  to  Serbia;  and  she  might 
receive  most  satisfactory  compensation 
for  these  losses  by  the  acquisition  of  the 
German  parts  of  Silesia  and  by  the  ad- 
herence of  the  largely  Roman  Catholic 
South  German  States,  which  have  far 
more  in  common  with  Austria  than  with 
Protestant  Prussia.  As  a  result  of  the 
war,  Austria-Hungary  might  be  greatly 
strengthened  at  Germany's  cost,  provided 
the  monarchy  makes  peace  without  delay. 
In  any  case,  only  by  an  early  peace  can 
the  bulk  of  the  lands  of  the  Hapsburgs 
be  preserved  for  the  ruling  house,  and 


Hi 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


can  national  bankruptcy  be  avoided. 
There  is  an  excellent  and  most  valuable 
precedent  for  such  action  on  Austria's 
part.  Bismarck  laid  down  the  essence  of 
statesmanship  in  the  maxim  "  Salus  Pub- 
lica  Suprema  Lex,"  and  defined  in  his 
memoirs  the  binding  power  of  treaties 
of  alliance  by  the  phrase  "  Ultra  posse 
nemo  obligatur."  Referring  particularly 
to  the  Austro-German  alliance,  he  wrote 
that  "  no  nation  is  obliged  to  sacrifice  its 
existence  on  the  altar  of  treaty  fidelity." 
Before  long  the  Dual  Monarchy  may  take 
advantage  of  Bismarck's  teaching.  After 
all,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  she  should 
go  beyond  her  strength,  and  that  she 
should  ruin  herself  for  the  sake  of  Ger- 
many, especially  as  she  cannot  thereby 
save  that  country  from  inevitable  defeat. 
Austria-Hungary  should  feel  particularly 
strongly  impelled  to  ask  for  peace  with- 
out delay,  as  her  recent  and  most  dis- 
astrous defeat  in  Serbia  has  exasperated 
the  people  and  threatens  to  lead  to  risings 
and  revolts  not  only  in  the  Slavonic  parts 
of  the  monarchy  but  also  in  Hungary. 
Civil  war  may  be  said  to  be  in  sight. 

The  Dual  Monarchy  is  threatened  be- 
sides by  the  dubious  and  expectant  atti- 
tude of  Italy  and  Rumania.  If  Austria- 
Hungary  should  hesitate  much  longer  to 
make  peace,  Italy  and  Rumania  may  find 
a  sufficient  pretext  for  war  and  may 
join  the  Entente  powers.  Italy  naturally 
desires  to  acquire  the  valuable  Italian 
portions  of  Austria-Hungary  on  her 
borders,  and  Rumania  the  very  extensive 
Rumanian  parts  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 
adjoining  that  kingdom.  To  both  powers 
it  would  be  disastrous  if  Austria-Hun- 
gary should  make  peace  before  they  had 
staked  out  their  claims  by  militarily 
occupying  the  territory  which  they  covet. 
Both  States  may  therefore  be  expected 
to  abandon  their  neutrality  and  to  invade 
Austria-Hungary  without  delay  as  soon 
as  they  hear  that  that  country  seriously 
contemplates  entering  upon  peace  nego- 
tiations; it  follows  that  if  Austria- 
Hungary  wishes  to  withdraw  from  the 
stricken  field  she  must  open  negotiations 
with  the  utmost  secrecy  and  conclude 
them  with  the  utmost  speed.  It  is  clear 
that   if   Italy    and    Rumania    should    be 


given  the  much  desired  opportunity  of 
joining  the  Entente  powers,  the  Dual 
Monarchy  would  lose  not  only  Polish 
Galicia  and  Serbian  Bosnia  and  Herzego- 
vina but  Rumanian  Transylvania  and 
the  Banat,  with  about  5,000,000  inhab- 
itants, and  the  largely  Italian  Trentino, 
Istria,  and  Dalmatia,  with  at  least 
1,000,000  people,  as  well.  These  vast 
losses  would  probably  lead  to  the  total 
dismemberment  of  the  State,  for  the  re- 
maining subject  nationalities  would  also 
demand  their  freedom.  Self-preservation 
is  the  first  law  and  the  first  duty  of 
individuals  and  of  States.  It  is  therefore 
conceivable,  and  is  indeed  only  logical, 
that  Austria-Hungary  will  conclude  over- 
night a  separate  peace.  If  she  should 
take  that  wise  and  necessary  step,  iso- 
lated Germany  would  either  have  to  give 
up  the  unequal  struggle  or  fight  on 
single-handed.  In  the  latter  case,  her 
defeat  would  no  doubt  be  rapid.  It  seems, 
therefore,  quite  possible  that  the  end  of 
the  war  may  be  as  sudden  as  was  its 
beginning.  Hence,  the  consideration  of 
the  Polish  question  seems  not  only  use- 
ful   but    urgent.     *     *     * 

From  the  very  beginning  Prussia, 
Austria,  and  Russia  treated  Poland  as  a 
corpus  vile,  and  cut  it  up  like  a  cake, 
v/ithout  any  regard  to  the  claims,  the 
rights,  and  the  protests  of  the  Poles 
themselves.  Although  history  only  men- 
t'ons  three  partitions,  there  were  in 
reality  seven.  There  were  those  of  1772, 
1793,  and  1795,  already  referred  to;  and 
these  were  followed  by  a  redistribution 
of  the  Polish  territories  in  1807,  1809, 
and  1815.  In  none  of  these  were  the 
inhabitants  consulted  or  even  considered. 
The  Congress  of  Vienna  established  the 
independence  of  Cracow,  but  Austria- 
Hungary,  asserting  that  she  considered 
herself  "  threatened  "  by  the  existence  of 
that  tiny  State,  seized  it  in  1846. 

While  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia, 
considering  that  might  was  right,  had 
divided  Poland  among  themselves,  re- 
gardless of  the  passionate  protests  of  the 
inhabitants,  England  had  remained  a 
.spectator,  but  not  a  passive  one,  of  the 
tragedy.  She  viewed  the  action  of  the 
allies  with  strong  disapproval,  but  al- 
though she  gave  frank  expression  to  her 


CHANCES  OF  PEACE  AND   THE  PROBLEM  OF  POLAND         125 


sentiments,  she  did  not  actively  interfere. 
After  all,  no  English  interests  were  in- 
volved in  the  partition.  It  was  not  her 
business  to  intervene.  Besides,  she 
could  not  successfully  have  opposed 
single-handed  the  joint  action  of  the 
three  powerful  partner  States,  especially 
as  France,  under  the  weak  Louis  XV., 
held  aloof.  However,  English  statesmen 
refused  to  consider  as  valid  the  five  par- 
titions which  took  place  before  and  dur- 
ing the  Napoleonic  era. 

The  Treaty  of  Chaumont  of  1814 
created  the  Concert  of  Europe.  At  the 
Congress  of  Vienna  of  1815  the  frontiers 
of  Europe  were  fixed  by  general  consent. 
As  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia  refused 
to  recreate  an  independent  Poland,  Eng- 
land's opposition  would  have  broken  up 
the  concert,  and  might  have  led  to 
further  wars.  Unable  to  prevent  the 
injustice  done  to  Poland  by  her  opposi- 
tion, and  anxious  to  maintain  the  unity 
of  the  powers  and  the  peace  of  the 
world,  England  consented  at  last  to  con- 
sider the  partition  of  Poland  as  a  fait 
accompli,  and  formally  recognized  it, 
especially  as  the  Treaty  of  Vienna  as- 
sured the  Poles  of  just  and  fair  treatment 
under  representative  institutions.  Article 
I.  of  the  Treaty  of  Vienna  stated  ex- 
pressly : 

Les  Polonais,  sujets  respectifs  de  la 
Russie,  de  TAutriche  et  de  la  Prusse, 
obtiendront  une  representation  et  des 
institutions  nationales  rggl^es  d'apr^s  le 
mode  d'existence  politique  que  chacun  des 
gouvernements  auxquels  ils  appartiennent 
jugera  utile  et  convenable  de  leur  accorder. 

By  signing  the  Treaty  of  Vienna,  Eng- 
land recognized  not  explicitly,  but  merely 
implicity,  the  partition  of  Poland,  and  she 
did  so  unwillingly  and  under  protest. 
Lord  Castlereagh  stated  in  a  circular 
note  addressed  to  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria,  that  it  had  always  been  Eng- 
land's desire  that  an  independent  Poland, 
possessing  a  dynasty  of  its  own,  should 
be  established,  which,  separating  Austria, 
Russia,  and  Prussia,  should  act  as  a 
buffer  State  between  them;  that,  failing 
its  creation,  the  Poles  should  be  reconciled 
to  being  dominated  by  foreigners,  by  just 
and  liberal  treatment  which  alone  would 
make  them  satisfied.   His  note,  which  is 


most  remarkable  for  its  far-sightedness, 
wisdom,  force,  and  restraint,  was  worded 
as  follows: 

The  undersigned,  his  Britannic  Maj- 
esty's Principal  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs  and  Plenipotentiary  to 
the  Congress  of  Vienna,  in  desiring  the 
present  note  concerning  the  affairs  of 
Poland  may  be  entered  on  the  protocol, 
has  no  intention  to  revive  controversy  or 
to  impede  the  progress  of  the  arrange- 
ments now  in  contemplation.  His  only 
object  is  to  avail  himself  of  this  occasion 
of  temperately  recording,  by  the  express 
orders  of  his  Court,  the  sentiments  of 
the  British  Government  upon  a  European 
question  of  the  utmost  magnitude  and 
influence. 

The  undersigned  has  had  occasion  in  the 
course  of  the  discussions  at  Vienna,  for 
reasons  that  need  not  be  gone  into,  re- 
peatedly and  earnestly  to  oppose  himself, 
on  the  part  of  his  Court,  to  the  erection 
of  a  Polish  Kingdom  in  union  with  and 
making  part  of  the  Imperial  Crown  of 
Russia. 

The  desire  of  his  Court  to  see  an  inde- 
pendent power,  more  or  less  considerable 
in  extent,  established  in  Poland  under  a 
distinct  dynasty,  and  as  an  intermediate 
State  between  the  three  great  monarchies, 
has  uniformly  been  avowed,  and  if  the 
undersigned  has  not  been  directed  to 
press  such  a  measure,  it  has  only  arisen 
from  a  disinclination  to  excite,  under  all 
the  apparent  obstacles  to  such  an  arrange- 
ment, expectations  which  might  prove  an 
unavailing  source  of  discontent  among  the 
Poles. 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  continuing,  as 
it  is  declared,  still  to  adhere  to  his  purpose 
of  erecting  that  part  of  the  Duchy  of 
Warsaw  which  is  to  fall  under  his  Imperial 
majesty's  dominion,  together  with  his 
other  Polish  provinces,  either  in  whole  or 
in  part,  into  a  kingdom  under  the  Russian 
sceptre;  and  their  Austrian  and  Prussian 
Majesties,  the  sovereigns  most  immediate- 
ly interested,  having  ceased  to  oppose 
themselves  to  such  an  arrangement— the 
undersigned  adhering,  nevertheless,  to  all 
his  former  representations  on  this  subject 
has  only  sincerely  to  hope  that  none  of 
those  evils  may  result  from  this  measure 
to  the  tranquillity  of  the  North,  and  to  the 
general  equilibrium  of  Europe,  which  it 
has  been  his  painful  duty  to  anticipate. 
But  in  order  to  obviate  as  far  as  possible 
such  consequences,  it  is  of  essential  impor- 
tance to  establish  the  public  tranquillity 
throughout  the  territories  which  formerly 
constituted  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  upon 
some  solid  and  liberal  basis  of  common 
interest,  by  applying  to  all,  however  vari- 
ous may  be  their  political  institutions,  a 
congenial  and  conciliatory  system  of  ad- 
ministration. 

Experience    has    proved    that    it    is    not 


126 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


by  counteracting  all  their  habits  and 
usages  as  a  people  that  eithei*  the  happi- 
ness of  the  Poles,  or  the  peace  of  that 
Important  portion  of  Europe,  can  bo  pre- 
served. A  fruitless  attempt,  too  long 
persevered  in,  by  institutions  foreign  to 
their  manner  and  sentiments  to  make 
them  forget  their  existence,  and  even 
language,  as  a  people,  has  been  suffi- 
ciently tried  and  failed.  It  has  only  tended 
to  excite  a  sentiment  of  discontent  and 
self-degradation,  and  can  never  operate 
otherwise  than  to  provoke  commotion  and 
to  awaken  tliem  to  a  recollection  of  past 
misfortunes. 

The  undersigned,  for  these  reasons,  and 
In   cordial   concurrence    with    the   general 


sentiments  which  he  has  had  the  satis- 
faction to  observe  the  respective  Cabinets 
entertained  on  this  subject,  ardently  de- 
sires that  the  illustrious  monarchs  to 
whom  the  destinies  of  the  Polish  Nation 
are  confided,  may  be  induced,  before  they 
depart  fiom  Vienna,  to  take  an  engage- 
ment with  each  other  to  treat  as 
Poles,  under  whatever  form  of 
political  institution  they  may  think 
fit  to  govern  them,  the  portions  of  that 
nation  that  may  be  placed  under  their 
respective  sovereignties.  The  knowledge 
of  such  a  determination  will  best  tend  to 
conciliate  the  general  sentiment  to  their 
rule,  and  to  do  honor  to  the  several 
sovereigns    in    the    eyes    of    their    Polish 


CHANCES  OF  PEACE  AND   THE  PROBLEM  OF  POLAND         127 


subjects.      This    course    will    consequently 
afford   the  surest  prospect  of  their  living 
peaceably    and    contentedly    under    their 
respective  Governments.    ♦    •    ♦ 
This  dispatch  was  sent  on  the  12th  of 
January,   1815,   exactly   a   century   ago. 
The  warnings  were  not  heeded  and  the 
past  century  has  been  filled  with  sorrow 
for  the  Poles  and  with  risings  and  revolu- 
tions, as  Lord  Castlereagh  clearly  fore- 
told.    *     *     * 

In  Western  Russia,  in  Eastern  Prussia, 
and  in  Galicia  there  dwell  about 
20,000,000  Poles.  If  the  war  should  end, 
as  it  is  likely  to  end,  in  a  Russian  victory, 
a  powerful  kingdom  of  Poland  will  arise. 
According  to  the  carefully  worded  mani- 
festo of  the  Grand  Duke  the  united  Poles 
will  receive  full  self-government  under 
the  protection  of  Russia.  They  will  be 
enabled  to  develop  their  nationality,  but 
it  seems  scarcely  likely  that  they  will 
receive  entire  and  absolute  independence. 
Their  position  will  probably  resemble  that 
of  Quebec  in  Canada,  or  of  Bavaria  in 
Germany,  and  if  the  Russians  and  Poles 
act  wisely  they  will  live  as  harmoniously 
together  as  do  the  French-speaking  "  hab- 
itants "  of  Quebec  and  the  English-speak- 
ing men  of  the  other  provinces  of  Canada. 
Russia  need  not  fear  that  Poland  will 
make  herself  entirely  independent,  and 
only  the  most  hot-headed  and  short- 
sighted Poles  can  wish  for  complete 
independence.  Poland,  having  developed 
extremely  important  manufacturing  in- 
dustries, requires  large  free  markets  for 
their  output.  Her  natural  mark6t  is 
Russia,  for  Germany  has  industrial 
centres  of  her  own.  She  can  expect  to 
have  the  free  use  of  the  precious  Russian 
markets  only  as  long  as  she  forms  part 
of  that  great  State.  At  present,  a  spirit 
of  the  heartiest  good-will  prevails  be- 
tween Russians  and  Poles.  The  old 
quarrels  and  grievances  have  been  for- 
gotten in  the  common  struggle.  The 
moment  is  most  auspicious  for  the  resur- 
rection of  Poland. 

While  Prussia  has  been  guilty  of  the 
partition  of  Poland,  Russia  is  largely  to 
blame  for  the  repeated  revolts  and  in- 
surrection of  her  Polish  citizens.    *    *    * 

When  the   peace   conditions   come   up 


for  discussion  at  the  congress  which 
will  bring  the  present  war  to  an  end — and 
that  event  may  be  nearer  than  most  men 
think — the  problem  of  Poland  will  be  one 
of  the  greatest  difficulty  and  importance. 
Austria-Hungary  has  comparatively  little 
interest  in  retaining  her  Poles.  The 
Austrian  Poles  dwell  in  Galicia  outside 
the  great  rampart  of  the  Carpathian 
Mountains,  which  form  the  natural 
frontier  of  the  Dual  Monarchy  toward 
the  northeast.  The  loss  of  Galacia,  with 
its  oilfields  and  mines,  may  be  regret- 
table to  Austria-Hungary,  but  it  will  not 
affect  her  very  seriously.  To  Germany, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  loss  of  the  Polish 
districts  will  be  a  fearful  blow.  The 
supreme  importance  which  Germany 
attaches  to  the  Polish  problem  may  be 
seen  from  this,  that  Bismarck  thought  it 
the  only  question  which  could  lead  to  an 
open  breach  between  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria-Hungary. According  to  Crispi's 
Memoirs,  Bismarck  said  to  the  Italian 
statesman  on  the  17th  of  September, 
1877: 

There  could  be  but  one  cause  for  a 
breach  in  the  friendship  that  unites  Aus- 
tria and  Germanj-,  and  that  would  be  a 
disagreement  between  the  two  Govern- 
ments concerning  Polish  policy.  •  ♦  ♦  If 
a  Polish  rebellion  should  break  out  and 
Austria  should  lend  it  her  support,  w© 
should  be  obliged  to  assert  ourselves.  We 
cannot  permit  the  reconstruction  of  a 
Catholic  kingdom  so  near  at  hand.  It 
would  be  a  Northern  France.  We  have 
one  France  to  look  to  already,  and  a 
second  would  become  the  natural  ally  of 
the  first,  and  we  should  find  ourselves 
entrapped   between   two  enemies. 

The  resurrection  of  Poland  would  injur© 
us  in  other  ways  as  well.  It  could  not 
come  about  without  the  loss  of  a  part  of 
our  territory.  We  cannot  possibly  relin- 
quish either  Posen  or  Dantslc,  because 
the  German  Empire  would  remain  exposed 
on  the  Russian  frontier,  and  we  should 
lose  an  outlet  on  the  Baltic. 

In  the  event  of  Germany's  defeat  a 
large  slice  of  Poland,  including  the 
wealthiest  parts  of  Silesia,  with  gigantic 
coal  mines,  iron  works,  &c.,  would  be 
taken  away  from  her,  and  if  the  Poles 
should  recover  their  ancient  province  of 
West  Prussia,  with  Dantsic,  Prussia's 
hold  upon  East  Prussia,  with  Konigs- 
berg,  would  be  threatened.     The  loss  of 


128 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


her  Polish  districts  would  obviously 
greatly  reduce  Germany's  military 
strength  and  economic  power.  It  may 
therefore  be  expected  that  Germany  will 
move  heaven  and  earth  against  the  re- 


that  she  will  strenuously  endeavor  to 
create  differences  between  Russia  and 
her  allies.  The  statesmen  of  Europe 
should  therefore,  in  good  time,  firmly 
make  up   their  minds  as  to  the  future 


creation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  and      of  Poland. 


J.  ELLIS  BARKER. 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF   EUROPE 


By     ALFRED     NOYES. 
[From    King    Albert's  Book.] 
•    *    *    donee  templa  refeceris. 


UNDER   which    banner?    It   was   night 
Beyond   all    nights    that    ever   were. 
The  Cross  was  broken.     Blood-stained 
might 
Moved   like   a   tiger   from   its   lair ; 
And  all  that  heaven  had  died   to  quell 
Awoke,   and   mingled   earth  with  hell. 

For  Europe,    if  It   held  a   creed. 

Held  it  through  custom,  not  thi'ough  faith. 
Chaos   returned,    in   dream   and    deed. 

Right   was   a  legend  ;     Love — a   wraith ; 
And  That  from  which   the  woild   began 
Was  less  than  even  the  best  in  man. 

God  in  the  image  of  a   Snake 

Dethroned  that  dream,  too  fond,  too  blind, 
The     man-shaped     God     whose     heart     could 
break. 

Live,   die,   and  triumph  with  mankind. 
A    Super-snake,    a    Juggernaut, 
Dethroned    the    highest   of   himian    thought. 

The  lists  were  set.     The  eternal  foe 
Within   us  as   without   grew   strong. 
By    many    a    super-subtle    blow- 
Blurring    the    lines    of    right    and    wrong 
In  Art  and  Thought,   till  nought  seemed  true 
But    that    soul-slaughtering    cry    of    New ! 

New    wreckage    of    the   shiines    we    made 
Thro'    centuries    of   forgotten    tears    *    *    ♦ 

We   knew  not  where  their   scorn   had   laid 
Our   Master.      Twice  a   thousand   years 

Had    dulled    the   uncapricious    Sun. 

Manifold    worlds    obscured    the    One ; 

Obscured  the  reign  of  Law,  our  stay. 
Our  compass   through  this  darking  sea, 

The  one  sure  light,  the  one  sure  way. 
The  one  fiim   base   of  Libeity ; 

The   one   firm    load    that    men    have   trod 

Through   Chaos  to   the   Throne  of  God. 


Choose    ye,    a    hundred    legions    cried. 
Dishonor    or    the    instant    sword ! 

Ye  chose.     Ye  met  that  blood-stained  tide. 
A  little  kingdom   kept  its  word  ; 

And,    dying,    cried    across    the   night. 

Hear    us,    O    earth,    we    chose    the    Right! 

Whose  is   the  victory?    Though  ye  stood 
Alone   against  the   unmeasui-ed    foe ; 

By    all    the    tears,    by    all    the   blood 
That  flowed,   and  have  not  ceased   to  flow; 

By  all  the  legions  that  ye  hurled 

Back,   thro'   the  thunder-shaken  world ; 

By  the  old   that  have  not   where  to   i-est. 
By     the     lands     laid     waste     and     hearths 
defiled ; 

By    ever.v    lacerated    bieast. 
And    evei-.v    mutilated    child. 

Whose    is    the    victory?     Answer    ye. 

Who,   dying,   smiled  at  tryanny? 

Under    the    sky's    triumphal    aich 

The   glories   of   the   dawn   begin. 
Our   dead,    our   shadowy    armies   march 

K'en    now,    in    silence,    through    Berlin ; 
Dumb  shadows,  tattered,  blood-stained  ghosts 
But  cast  by  what  swift   following  hosts? 

And   answer,    England !    At   thy   side. 
Thro'  seas  of  blood,   thro'  mists  of  tears. 

Thou    that    for    Libei-ty    hast    died 
And    livest,    to    the   end    of   years ! 

And    answer.    Earth !      Far   off,    I   hear 

The  peans  of  a  happier  sphere : 

The   trumpet  blown   at  Marathon 

Resounded   over   earth   and   sea. 
But    binning    angel    lips    have    blown 

The  trumpets  of  thy  Liberty ; 
For    who,    beside    thy    dead,    could    deem 
The   faith,    for   which   they   died,    a  dream? 


Earth  has  not  been  the  same  since  then. 

Europe   from    thee    received    a   soul. 
Whence  nations  moved  in  law,   like  men. 

As  members  of  a   mightier  whole, 
.Till   wars   were   ended.    *    *    *    In   that   day. 
So   shall   our  children's   children   say. 


Germany  Will  End  the  War 

Only  When  a  Peace  Treaty  Shall  Assure  Her  Power 
By  Maximilian   Harden 

Maximilian  Harden,  who  in  the  following  article  sets  forth  the  ends  which  Germany  is 
striving  to  accomplish  in  the  war,  is  the  George  Bernard  Shaw  of  Germany.  He  is  considered 
the  leading  German  editor  and  an  expert  in  Germany  on  foreign  politics.  As  editor  and  pro- 
pi-ietor  of  Die  Zukunft,  his  fiery,  brooding  spirit  and  keen  insight  and  wit,  coupled  with 
powers  of  satire  and  caricature,  made  him  a  solitary  and  striking  independent  figure  in  tjhe 
German  press  years  before  the  other  newspapers  of  Germany  dared  to  criticise  or  attack  the 
Government  or  the  persons  at  the  head  of  it. 

After  the  dismissal  of  Prince  Bismarck  by  the  present  Kaiser,  Harden  not  only  saw,  but' 
constantly  and  audaciously  criticised,  the  weaknesses  in  the  character  of  the  Emperor.  For 
this  dangerous  undertaking  he  was  three  times  brought  to  trial  for  Idse  majesty,  and  spent 
a  year  as  a  prisoner  in  a  Trussian  fortress.  In  1907  he  figured  in  a  libel  suit  brought  by 
General  Kuno  von  Moltke,  late  Military  Governor  of  Berlin,  who,  together  with  Count  Zu 
Eulenburg  and  Count  Wilhelm  von  Hohenau,  one  of  the  Emperor's  Adjutants,  had  been 
inentioned  by  Harden  in  his  paper  as  members  of  the  so-called  Camarilla  or  *'  Round  Table  " 
that  sought  to  influence  the  Emperor's  political  actions  by  subtle  manipulations.  He  was 
sentenced  to  four  months'  imprisonment,  but  appealed  the  case,  and  Avas  let  off  two  years 
later  with  a  fine  of  $150. 

In  recently  publishing  the  German  article  which  is  herewith  translated  the  German  New 
Yorker  Revue  carefully  disclaimed  any  agreement  with  the  sentiments  therein  expressed  by 
Harden,  which,  it  pointed  out,  must  be  regarded  only  as  typical  of  German  public  opinion  as 
Is  George  Bernard  Shaw  of  public  opinion  in  England. 


THE  scorners  of  war,  the  blonde, 
black,  and  gray  children  who 
have  been  defiling  his  name  with 
syrupy  tongues  of  lofty  humanity 
and  with  slanderous  scoldings,  all  have 
become  silent.  Or  else  they  snort  soldiers' 
songs;  annihilate  in  confused  little  essays 
the  allied  powers  ai'rayed  against  us; 
entreat  a  civilized  world  (Kulturwelt) 
juggling  for  mere  turkey  heads,  to  please 
grant  us  permission  to  do  heavy  and 
cruel  deeds,  to  wage  fierce  and  head- 
long war!  Already  they  seem  prepared 
to  answer  absolutely  and  unqualifiedly 
in  the  affirmative  Luther's  question 
whether  "  men  of  war  also  can  be  con- 
sidered in  a  state  of  grace." 

They  write  and  talk  much  about  the 
great  scourge  of  war.  That  is  all  quite 
true.  But  we  should  also  bear  in  mind 
how  much  greater  is  the  scourge  which 
is  fended  off  by  war.  The  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  matter  is  this:  In  looking 
upon  the  office  of  war  one  must  not  con- 
sider how  it  strangles,  burns,  destroys. 
For  that  is  what  the  simple  eyes  of  chil- 
dren do  which  do  not  further  watch  the 
Burgeon   when   he   chops   off  a   hand   or 


saws  off  a  leg;  which  do  not  see  or  per- 
ceive that  it  ds  a  matter  of  saving  the  en- 
tire body.  So  we  must  look  upon  the  of- 
fice of  war  and  of  the  sword  with  the 
eyes  of  men,  and  understand  why  it 
strangles  and  why  it  wreaks  cruel  deeds. 
Then  it  will  justify  itself  and  prove  of 
its  own  accord  that  it  is  an  office  divine 
in  itself,  and  as  necessary  and  useful  to 
the  world  as  is  eating,  drinking,  or  any 
other  work.  But  that  some  there  are 
who  abuse  the  office  of  war,  who  strangle 
and  dfesti'oy  without  need,  out  of  sheer 
wantonness — that  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
office,  but  of  the  person.  Is  there  any 
office,  work,  or  thing  so  good  that  wicked 
and  wanton  persons  will  not  abuse  it? 

The  organ  tone  of  such  words  as  these 
at  last  rolls  forth  once  more  in  their 
native  land. 

Therefore  cease  the  pitiful  attempts  to 
excuse  Germany's  action.  No  longer  wail 
to  strangers,  who  do  not  care  to  hear  you, 
telling  them  how  dear  to  us  were  the 
smiles  of  peace  we  had  smeared  like 
rouge  upon  our  lips,  and  how  deeply  we 
regret  in  our  hearts  that  the  treachery 
of    conspirators    dragged    us,    unwilling, 


130 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


into  a  forced  war.  Cease,  you  publicists, 
your  wordy  war  against  hostile  brothers 
in  the  profession,  whose  superiority  you 
cannot  scold  away,  and  who  merely  smile 
while  they  pick  up,  out  of  your  labori- 
ously stirred  porridge  slowly  warmed 
over  a  flame  of  borrowed  alcohol,  the 
crumbs  on  which  their  "  selfishness  "  is 
to  choke!  That  national  selfishness  does 
not  seem  a  duty  to  you,  but  a  sin,  is  some- 
thing you  must  conceal  from  foreign  eyes. 

Cease,  also,  you  popular  writers,  the 
degraded  scolding  of  enemies  that  does 
not  emanate  from  passion  but  out  of 
greedy  hankering  for  the  applause  of  the 
masses,  and  which  continually  nauseates 
us  amid  the  piety  of  this  hour!  Because 
our  statemen  failed  to  discover  and  foil 
shrewd  plans  of  deception  is  no  reason 
why  we  may  hoist  the  flag  of  most  pious 
morality.  Not  as  weak-willed  blunderers 
have  we  undertaken  the  fearful  risk  of 
this  war.  We  wanted  it.  Because  we 
had  to  wish  it  and  could  wish  it.  May 
the  Teuton  devil  throttle  those  whiners 
whose  pleas  for  excuses  make  us  ludi- 
crous in  these  hours  of  lofty  experience. 
We  do  not  stand,  and  shall  not  place  our- 
selves, before  the  court  of  Europe.  Our 
power  shall  create  new  law  in  Europe. 
Germany  strikes.  If  it  conquers  new 
realms  for  its  genius,  the  priesthood  of 
all  the  gods  will  sing  songs  of  praise  to 
the  good  war. 

Only  he  who  is  specially  trained  for  a 
race  of  troops  may  go  along  into  the  field. 
Only  the  man  versed  in  statecraft  should 
be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  talk 
about  the  results  of  war.  Not  he  who 
has  out  yonder  proved  an  unworthy  diplo- 
mat, nor  the  dilettante  loafer  sprayed 
with  the  perfume  of  volatile  emotions. 
Manhood  liability  to  military  service  re- 
quires manhood  suffrage?  That  ques- 
tion may  rest  for  the  time  being;  like- 
wise the  desire  for  equality  of  that  right 
shall  not  be  argued  today.  But  common 
sense  should  warn  against  the  assumption 
of  an  office  without  the  slightest  special 
preliminary  training.  Politics  'is  an  art 
that  can  be  mastered  not  in  the  leisure 
hours  of  the  brain,  but  only  by  the  pas- 
sionate, self-sacrificing  devotion  of  a 
whole  lifetime.    Now  seek  around  you. 


We  are  at  the  beginning  of  a  war  the 
development  and  duration  of  which  are 
incalculable,  and  in  which  up  to  date 
no  foe  has  been  brought  to  his  knees. 
To  guide  the  sword  to  its  goal,  Tom, 
Dick,  and  Harry,  Poet  Arrogance  and 
Professor  Crumb  advertise  their  prowess 
in  the  newspaper  Advice  and  Assistance. 
Brave  folk,  whose  knowledge  concerning 
this  new  realm  of  their  endeavor  ema- 
nates solely  from  that  same  newspaper! 
Because  they  have  for  three  months  been 
busily  reading  their  morning,  noon,  and 
evening  editions,  they  think  they  have 
a  special  call  to  speak.  Without  knowl- 
edge of  things  that  have  transpired  be- 
fore, without  knowledge  of  the  persons 
concerned,  without  a  suspicion  of  the 
needs  of  the  situation  and  its  possibili- 
ties, they  judge  the  peoples  of  the  earth 
and  divide  the  world.  Stupid  talk,  with 
which  irreverent  officiousness  seeks  to 
while  away  and  shorten  the  period  of 
anxious  waiting  for  customers;  but  to 
prepare  quietly  and  wisely  and  mightily 
in  advance  for  terms  of  peace,  that  is 
the  duty  of  the  statesman. 

We  are  waging  this  war  not  in  order 
to  punish  those  who  have  sinned,  nor 
in  order  to  free  enslaved  peoples  and 
thereafter  to  comfort  ourselves  with  the 
unselfish  and  useless  consciousness  of 
our  own  righteousness.  We  wage  it 
from  the  lofty  point  of  view  and  with 
the  conviction  that  Germany,  as  a  result 
of  her  achivements  and  in  proportion  to 
them,  is  justified  in  asking,  and  must 
obtain,  wider  room  on  earth  for  develop- 
ment and  for  working  out  the  possibili- 
ties that  are  in  her.  The  powers  from 
whom  she  forced  her  ascendency,  in  spite 
of  themselves,  still  live,  and  some  of  them 
have  recovered  from  the  weakening  she 
gave  them.  Spain  and  the  Netherlands, 
Rome  and  Hapsburg,  France  and  Eng- 
land, possessed  and  settled  and  ruled 
great  stretches  of  the  most  fruitful  soil. 
Now  strikes  the  hour  for  Germany's  ris- 
ing power.  The  terms  of  a  peace  treaty 
that  does  not  insure  this  would  leave  the 
great  effort  unrewarded.  Even  if  it 
brought  dozens  of  shining  billions  into 
the  National  Treasury,  the  fate  of  Eu- 


GERMANY  WILL  END  THE  WAR 


131 


rope  would  be  dependent  upon  the  United 
States  of  America. 

We  are  waging  war  for  ourselves 
alone;  and  still  we  are  convinced  that 
all  who  desire  the  good  would  soon  be 
able  to  rejoice  in  the  result.  For  with 
this  war  there  must  also  end  the  politics 
that  have  frightened  away  all  the  up- 
right from  entering  into  intimate  rela- 
tions with  the  most  powerful  Continental 
empire.  We  need  land,  free  roads  into 
the  ocean,  and  for  the  spirit  and  lan- 
guage and  wares  and  trade  of  Germany 
we  need  the  same  values  that  are  ac- 
corded such  good*  anywhere  else. 

Only  four  persons  not  residents  of 
Essen  knew  about  the  new  mortar 
which  the  firm  of  Friedrich  Krupp  manu- 
factured at  its  own  expense  and  which 
later,  because  its  shell  rapidly  smashed 
the  strongest  fortifications  of  reinforced 
concrete,  our  military  authorities  prompt- 
ly acquired.  Must  we  be  ashamed  of  this 
instrument  of  destruction  and  take  from 
the  lips  of  the  "  cultured  world  "  the  wry 
reproach  that  from  "  Faust "  and  the 
Ninth  Symphony  we  have  sunk  our  na- 
tional pride  to  the  42-centimeter  guns? 
No!  Only  firm  will  and  determination 
to  achieve,  that  is  to  say,  German  power, 
distinguishes  the  host  of  warriors  now 
embattled  on  the  five  huge  fields  of  blood 
from  the  I'ace  of  the  poets  and  thinkers. 
Their  brains,  too,  yearn  back,  throbbing 
for  the  realm  of  the  muses.  Before  the 
remains  of  the  Netherland  Gothic,  be- 
fore the  wonders  of  Flemish  painting, 
their  eyes  light  up  in  pious  adoration. 
From  the  lips  of  the  troops  that  marched 
from  three  streets  into  the  parade  plaza 
in  Brussels  there  burst,  when  the  last 
man  stood  in  the  ranks — and  burst  spon- 
taneously— a  German  song.  Out  of  all 
the  trenches  joyous  cheers  of  thanks  rise 
for  the  fearless  musicmaster  who,  amid 
the  raging  fire,  through  horns  and  trum- 
pets, wrapped  in  earth-colored  gray, 
leads  his  band  in  blowing  marches  and 
battle  songs  and  songs  of  dancing  into 
the  ears  of  the  Frenchmen,  harkening 
with  pleasure. 

Not  only  for  the  territories  that  are 
to  feed  their  children  and  grandchildren 
is  this  warrior  host  battling,  but  also  for 


the  conquering  triumph  of  the  German 
genius,  for  the  forces  of  sentiment  that 
rise  from  Goethe  and  Beethoven  and  Bis- 
marck and  Schiller  and  Kant  and  Kleist, 
working  on  throughout  time  and  eternity. 

And  never  was  there  a  war  more  just; 
never  one  the  result  of  which  could  bring 
such  happiness  as  must  this,  even  for 
the  conquered.  In  order  that  that  spirit 
might  conquer  we  were  obliged  to  forge 
the  mightiest  weapons  for  it.  Over  the 
meadows  of  the  Scheldt  is  wafted  the 
word  of  the  King: 

How  proud  T  feel  my  heart  flame 

\\'hen    in    every    German    land 

I   find   such    a   warrior   band ! 

For  German  land,  the  German  sword  ! 

Thus  be  the  empire's  strength  preserved ! 

This  strength  was  begotten  by  that 
spirit.  The  fashioning  of  such  weap- 
ons was  possible  only  because  millions 
of  industrious  persons,  with  untiring 
and  unremitting  labors,  transformed  the 
poor  Germany  into  the  rich  Germany, 
which  was  then  able  to  prepare  and 
conduct  the  war  as  a  great  industry. 
And  what  the  spirit  created  once  again 
serves  the  spirit.  It  shall  not  lay  waste, 
nor  banish  us  free  men  into  slavery, 
but  rather  it  shall  call  forth  to  the  light 
of  heaven  a  new,  richer  soul  of  life  out 
of  the  ruins  of  a  storm-tossed  civiliza- 
tion. It  shall,  it  must,  it  will  conquer 
new  provinces  for  the  majesty  of  the 
noble  German  spirit  (Deutschheit)  that 
never  will  grow  chill  and  numb,  as  the 
Roman  did.  Otherwise  —  and  even 
though  unnumbered  billions  flowed  into 
the  Rhine — the  expense  of  this  war  would 
be  shamefully  wasted. 

Our  army  did  not  set  out  to  conquer 
Belgian  territory. 

In  the  war  against  four  great  powers, 
the  west  front  of  which  alone  stretched 
from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Alps,  from 
Ghent  almost  to  Geneva,  it  seemed  im- 
possible to  achieve  on  Europe's  soil  a 
victory  that  would  strengthen  the  roots 
of  the  conquering  race.  Gold  cannot  in- 
demnify for  the  loss  of  the  swarming 
young  life  which  we  were  obliged  to 
mourn  even  after  ten  weeks  of  war; 
and  if,  amid  ten  thousand  of  the  fine 
fellows  who  died,  there  was  even  a  single 


132 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


creative  mind,  then  thousands  of  millions 
could  not  pay  for  its  destruction. 

And  what  stretch  of  land  necessary 
for  the  German  people,  or  useful  in  the 
real  sense  of  the  word,  could  France 
or  even  Russia  vacate  for  us  in  Europe? 
To  be  "  unassailable  " — to  exchange  the 
soul  of  a  Viking  for  that  of  a  New 
Yorker,  that  of  the  quick  pike  for  that 
of  the  lazy  carp  whose  fat  back  grows 
moss  covered  in  a  dangerless  pond — that 
must  never  become  the  wish  of  a  Ger- 
man. And  for  the  securing  of  more 
comfortable  frontier  protection  only  a 
madman  would  risk  the  life  that  is 
flourishing  in  power  and  wealth.  Now 
we  know  what  the  war  is  for — not  for 
French,  Polish,  Ruthenian,  Esthonian, 
Lettish  territories,  nor  for  billions  of 
money;  not  in  order  to  dive  headlong 
after  the  war  into  the  pool  of  emotions 
and  then  allow  the  chilled  body  to  rust 
in  the  twilight  dusk  of  the  Deliverer  of 
Races. 

No!  To  hoist  the  storm  flag  of  the 
empire  on  the  narrow  channel  that  opens 
and  locks  the  road  into  the  ocean.  I 
could  imagine  Germany's  war  lord,  if, 
after  Ostend,  Calais,  too,  is  captured, 
sending  the  armies  and  fleets  back  home 
from  the  east  and  front  the  west,  and 
quietly  saying  to  our  enemies: 

"  You  now  have  felt  what  Germany's 
strength  and  determination  can  do,  and 
hereafter  you  will  probably  weigh  the 
matter  well  before  you  venture  to 
attack  us.  Of  you  Germany  demands 
nothing  further.  Not  even  reimburse- 
ment for  its  expenses  in  this  war 
— for  those  it  is  reimbursed  by  the 
wholesale  terror  which  it  evoked  all 
around  in  the  Autumn  battles.  Do  you 
want  anything  of  us?  We  shall  never 
refuse  a  challenge  to  a  quarrel.  We 
shall  remain  in  the  Belgian  netherland, 
to  which  we  shall  add  the  thin  strip  of 
coast  up  to  the  rear  of  Calais,  (you 
Frenchmen  have  enough  better  harbors, 
anyway;)  we  terminate,  of  our  own  ac- 
cord, this  war  which,  now  that  we  have 
safeguarded  our  honor,  can  bring  us  no 
other  gains;  we  now  return  to  the  joy 
of  fruitful  work,  and  will  grasp  the 
sword  again  only  if  you  attempt  to  crowd 


us  out  of  that  which  we  have  won  with 
our  blood.  Of  a  solemn  peace  conference, 
with  haggling  over  terms,  parchment, 
and  seal,  we  have  no  need.  The  prisoners 
are  to  be  freed.  You  can  keep  your 
fortresses  if  they  do  not  seem  to  you  to 
be  worthless,  if  the  rebuilding  of  them 
still  seems  worth  while  to  you.  To- 
morrow is  again  a  common  day." 

Do  not  lapse  into  dreams  about  United 
States  of  Europe,  about  mild-intentioned 
division  of  the  Coburg  heritage,  (a  bit 
of  it  to  Holland,  a  bit  to  Luxemburg,  per- 
haps even  a  bit  to  France.  Any  one  with 
even  the  slightest  n<jj)ility  of  feeling 
would  reject  the  proffered  dish  of  poison 
with  a  gesture  of  disgust,)  nor  be  lulled 
into  delusions  of  military  and  tax  con- 
ventions that  would  deprive  the  country 
of  its  free  right  of  determining  its  own 
destiny. 

To  the  Belgians  we  are  the  Arch-imp 
and  the  Tenant  of  the  Pool  of  Hell!  We 
would  remain  so,  even  if  every  stone  in 
Louvain  and  in  Malines  were  replaced  by 
its  equivalent  in  gold.  That  rage  can 
be  overcome  only  after  the  race,  praised 
by  Schiller's  fiery  breath,  sees  its  neigh- 
bors close  at  hand  and  draws  advantage 
from  intimate  relations  with  them.  Ant- 
werp not  pitted  against,  but  working 
with,  Hamburg  and  Bremen;  Liege,  side 
by  side  with  Essen's,  Berlin's,  and 
Swabia's  gun  factories — Cockerill  in  com- 
bination with  Krupp;  iron,  coal,  woven 
stuff  from  old  Germany  and  Belgium,  in- 
troduced into  the  markets  of  the  world  by 
one  and  the  same  commercial  spirit;  our 
Kamerun  and  their  Congo — such  a  warm 
blaze  of  advantage  has  burned  away 
many  a  hatred.  The  wise  man  wins  as 
his  friend  the  deadly  foe  whose  skull  he 
cannot  split,  and  he  will  rather  rule  and 
allow  to  feast  on  exceptional  dainties  this 
still  cold  and  shy  new  friend  than  lose 
potential  well-wishers  of  incalculable 
future  good-will. 

Only,  never  again  a  withered  Reichs- 
land!  (imperial  territory.)  From  Ca- 
lais to  Antwerp,  Flanders,  Limburg, 
Brabant,  to  behind  the  Mne  of  the  Meuse 
forts,  Prussian!  (German  Princes  no 
longer  haggle,  German  tribes  no  longer 
envy  one  another;)  the  Southern  triangle 


GERMANY  WILL  END  THE  WAR 


133 


I 


with  Alsace  and  Lorraine — and  Luxem- 
burg, too,  if  it  desires — is  to  be  an*  in- 
dependent federated  State,  intrusted  to  a 
Catholic  noble  house.  Then  Germany 
would  know  for  what  it  shed  its  blood. 

We  need  land  for  our  industries,  a  road 
into  the  ocean,  an  undivided  colony,  the 
assurance  of  a  supply  of  raw  materials 
and  the  most  fertile  well-spring  of  pros- 
perity— a  people  industrious  and  efficient 
in  its  work. 

Here  they  are:  Ore  and  copper,  glass 
and  sugar,  flax  and  wool.  But  here,  too, 
there  once  lived  Jan  and  Hubert  van 
Eyck,  Rubens,  the  reveler  Ruysbroek, 
and  Jordeans  of  the  avid  eyes.  Here  there 
always  lived — to  be  sure,  -in  twilight — 
Germania's  little  soul,  fluttering  imagi- 
nation. 

And  is  there  not  here,  too,  that  which 


— all  too  stormily  and,  as  a  rule,  in  all 
too  harsh  a  tone  of  abuse — every  Ger- 
man heart  yearns  for,  a  victory  over 
England  ?  On  the  seas  such  victory  can- 
not be  quickly  won,  indeed;  can,  indeed, 
never  be  won  without  great  sacrifice.  But 
with  the  German  Empire,  whose  mortars 
loom  threatening  from  one  coast  of  the 
Channel,  whose  flag  floats  over  the  two 
greatest  harbors  of  Europe  and  over  the 
Congo  basin — England  would  have  to 
come  into  a  friendly  agreement  as  a 
power  of  equal  strength,  entitled  to 
equal  rights.  If  it  is  unwilling  to  do  so? 
Lion,  leap!  On  our  y(5ung  soil  we  await 
thee!  The  day  of  adventure  wanes.  But 
for  the  German  who  dares  unafraid  to  de- 
sire things  the  harvest  labor  of  heroic 
warriors  has  quickly  filled  the  store- 
house. 


LOUVAIN'S  NEW  STREETS 


[By  The  Associated  Press.] 


I 


LONDON,  March  9. — The  decision  of  the  municipal  authorities  of  Louvain, 
Belgium,  to  give  American  names  to  certain  streets  of  the  city  is  set 
forth  in  a  formal  resolution  of  thanks  which  was  adopted  on  Washing- 
ton's Birthday  by  the  Burgomaster  and  Aldermen  of  Louvain  and  sent  to  the 
American  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium.  The  resolution  concludes  as 
follows : 

**  The  cradle  of  a  university  of  five  centuries'  standing,  and  today  herself 
partly  in  ruins,  the  City  of  Louvain  cannot  fail  to  associate  with  the  memory 
of  Washington,  one  of  the  greatest  Captains,  the  name  of  the  learned  professor 
■whose  admirable  precepts  and  high  political  attainments,  as  also  his  firmness 
of  character  and  dignity  of  life,  all  contributed  to  carry  him  successively  to 
the  Presidency  of  Princeton  University,  the  Governorship  of  New  Jersey,  and 
finally  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

"  In  order  to  perpetuate  to  future  generations  remembrances  of  these 
sentiments  and  our  ardent  gratitude,  the  Burgomaster  and  Aldermen  have 
decided  this  day  that  in  the  new  parts  of  the  city,  as  they  rise  out  of  the 
ruins,  three  streets  or  squares  shall  receive  the  illustrious  names  of  President 
W^ilson,  Washington,  and  American  Nation." 


The  State  of  Holland 


An  Answer  to  H.  G.  Wells  by  Hendrik  Willem  van  Loon 


To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

MY  attention  has  been  drawn  to 
an  article  by  H.  G.  Wells,  pub- 
lished by  The  New  York 
Times  and  by  Current  His- 
tory in  its  March  number  which  pro- 
posed that  Holland  give  Germany  the 
coup  de  grace,  suddenly  attack  Aix  and 
Cologne,  cut  off  Germany's  line  of 
supplies,  and  thereby  help  win  the  war 
for  the  cause  of  justice.  I  am  not 
writing  this  answer  in  any  official 
capacity,  but  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  I  write  what  most  of  my  fellow- 
countrymen  feel  upon  the  subject. 

Holland  is  neutral.  The  country  is 
just  as  neutral  as  Belgium  would  have 
been  had  she  not  been  invaded ;  as  neutral 
as  Denmark  and  Switzerland  and  the 
other  small  countries  which  are  suffer- 
ing so  severely  through  this  war.  If 
any  power  should  attack  Holland,  Hol- 
land would  no  longer  be  neutral,  but 
would  inundate  the  central  part  of  the 
provinces  of  North  and  South  Holland, 
would  occupy  the  very  strong  position 
around  Amsterdam,  and  would  fight  to 
the  end.  But  unless  attacked  directly 
Holland  will  take  no  part  in  this  war. 

Mr.  Wells  hints  at  the  idea  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  cause  of  the  Allies. 
All  races  and  all  colors  have  been  brought 
together  to  beat  Germany.  Now  Hol- 
land ought  to  do  the  same.  She  is 
in  a  position  to  exercise  great  power 
with  her  fresh  troops.  In  the  name  of 
humanity,  which  has  been  so  grievously 
maltreated  in  Belgium,  let  her  join.  I 
think  that  the  answer  of  the  greater 
part  of  our  people  would  be  somewhat  as 
follows : 

No  quarrel  was  ever  made  by  a  sin- 
gle person.  It  takes  two  to  start  a  fight. 
England  and  Germany  are  fighting  for 
the  supremacy  of  commerce.  In  the 
course  of  this  quarrel  Belgium  has  been 
sacrificed.  We  are  extremely  sorry.  We 
have  opened  our  frontiers  to  all  of  our 


southern  neighbors.  They  were  welcome 
to  flee  to  us  with  all  their  belongings. 
We  shall  take  care  of  them  so  long  as 
they  wi?h  to  stay.  Our  position  is  not 
al>vays  easy.  The  Dutch  and  the  Bel- 
gian characters  are  very  different.  We 
do  net  always  understand  each  other. 
But  in  the  main  the  Belgians  know  that 
we  shall  share  our  food  with  them  until 
the  last,  that  in  every  way  we  shall  make 
them  as  comfortable  as  we  can.  We  are 
not  a  very  graceful  people.  We  often 
lack  a  certain  charm  of  manner.  The 
little  potentates  who  are  the  Mayors  of 
our  small  frontier  towns  are  not  always 
very  tactful.  But  these  things  are  minor 
matters.  Holland  is  the  natural  place 
of  refuge  for  her  southern  neighbors, 
and  as  long  as  they  suffer  from  the  Ger- 
man domination  they  know  that  with  us 
they  are  safe.  But  should  we  have  gone 
with  the  Allies  when  the  Belgians  suf- 
fered through  no  fault  of  their  own? 

For  France  there  is  in  Holland  the 
greatest  personal  sympathy.  But  she  is 
far  away  from  Holland.  The  direct  issue 
is  between  England  and  Germany.  The 
Hollander  likes  England,  fashions  his  life 
as  much  as  possible  after  the  English  pat- 
tern, prefers  to  do  business  with  English 
people.  Yet  is  there  any  reason  why 
Holland  should  make  the  possible  sacri- 
fice of  her  own  existence  for  the  benefit 
of  England  ? 

Will  Mr.  Wells  kindly  glance  through 
his  history  and  see  what  we  as  a  nation 
have  suffered  at  the  hands  of  England  ? 

During  three  centuries  we  fought  with 
England  about  a  principle  laid  down  by 
Grotius  of  Delft.  We  claimed  that  the 
sea  was  an  open  highway,  free  to  all 
navigators.  England  used  her  best  legal 
talent  to  prove  the  contrary.  In  this 
struggle  we  exhausted  ourselves  and  we 
finally  lost.  Incidentally  we  saw  our  rich- 
est colonies  go  into  the  possession  of  Eng- 
land. The  very  colony  in  which  I  am 
writing  this  letter  was  taken  from  us  in 


THE  STATE  OF  HOLLAND 


135 


time  of  peace.  Of  course  all  this  is  past 
history  and  no  Hollander  is  going  to  ac- 
cuse an  Englishman  of  acts  committed 
by  his  great-grandfather.  But  the  people 
will  remember  all  those  things,  however 
vaguely,  and  they  will  distrust  the  nation 
tliat  has  constantly  done  them  harm.  We 
gave  England  her  best  King,  (if  one  is  to 
believe  Mr.  Macaulay.)  William  III.  in 
order  to  destroy  the  power  of  Louis  XIV., 
and  greatly  for  the  benefit  of  England  in- 
cidentally, did  the  greatest  harm  to  the 
country  of  his  origin.  After  1715,  totally 
exhausted,  we  were  obliged  to  see  how 
England  got  ahead  of  us. 

Then  the;re  are  some  other  small  items. 
I  take  one  at  random.  While  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  danced  the  polka  in  Brus- 
sels the  Prince  of  Orange  with  a  small 
Dutch  army  stopped  Napoleon's  progress 
at  Quatre  Bras,  and  by  disobeying  the 
orders  of  the  British  commander  saved 
the  army  of  the  allies  and  made  the  vic- 
tory of  Waterloo  possible.  Our  thanks 
for  this  self-sacrifice  was  the  mild  abuse 
of  Mr.  Thackeray  and  other  gentlemen 
who  have  ever  since  laughed  at  the 
clumsy  Dutch  troops  who  in  truth  so  vali- 
antly assisted  the  British  and  Prussians. 
In  this  matter  a  little  more  generosity  on 
the  part  of  British  historians  would  have 
made  us  feel  more  cordial  toward  our 
English  neighbors.  It  was  ever  thus.  To 
read  the  story  of  the  Armada  one  would 
believe  that  the  English  destroyed  this 
dangerous  Spanish  fleet.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  competent  historians  know  that  cer- 
tainly one-half  of  the  glQry  for  that  feat 
goes  to  the  Dutch  sailors,  who  prevented 
the  Spaniards  from  getting  their  supplies, 
their  pilots,  and  their  auxiliary  army. 
These  are  merely  examples.  They  are  all 
small  things.  But  there  are  so  many  of 
them,  they  return  with  such  persistent 
regularity,  that  we  would  feel  very  little 
inclination  to  risk  our  national  existence 
for  a  nation  which,  according  to  our  feel- 
ing»  (rightly  or  wrongly,  I  am  not  debat- 
ing that  question,)  has  never  treated  us 
with  fairness,  and  which  we  had  to  fight 
for  over  three  centuries  before  it  would 
accept  those  general  principles  of  inter- 
national law  which  first  of  all  were  laid 


down  by  Grotius  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

Remember,  however,  that  this  does  not 
mean  any  hositility  to  England.  Mr. 
Wells  undoubtedly  knows  that  our  ships 
have  invariably  done  noble  work  in  res- 
cuing the  victims  of  submarine  attacks. 
He  will  know  that  our  Government  (to 
the  great  anger  of  Germany)  has  con- 
strued the  articles  of  several  interna- 
tional treaties  in  the  most  liberal  way  and 
has  immediately  released  all  such  British 
subjects  as  were  thrown  upon  our  coast 
through  the  accidents  of  war.  He  will 
also  know,  if  he  has  read  the  papers,  that 
our  entire  country  has  turned  out  to  do 
homage  to  the  bravery  of  those  men.  The 
danger  to  the  sailor  of  a  British  man-of- 
war  who  lands  in  Holland  is  that  he  will 
be  killed  by  a  severe  attack  of  nicotine 
poisoning  caused  by  the  cigars  which  the 
people,  in  their  desire  to  show  their  feel- 
ings and  unable  to  break  the  strict  law  of 
neutrality,  shower  upon  the  Englishman 
who  is  fished  out  of  the  North  Sea  by  our 
trawlers  or  our  steamers. 

But.  away  deep  under  this  very  strong 
personal  sympathy  for  England,  and  with 
very  sincere  admiration  for  the  British 
form  of  government,  the  people  of  Hol- 
land cannot  easily  overcome  a  feeling  of 
vague  distrust  that  the  nation  which 
in  the  past  has  so  often  abused  them 
cannot  entirely  be  counted  upon  to 
treat  them  justly  this  time.  Incidentally, 
I  may  say  that  the  bungling  of  Mr. 
Churchill  in  Antwerp,  which  we  know 
much  better  than  do  the  people  of  Eng- 
land, is  another  reason  why  we  are  a  bit 
afraid  of  the  island  across  the  North  Sea. 

We  are  indeed  in  the  position  of  a  dog 
that  has  often  been  beaten  innocently  and 
that  is  now  smiled  upon  and  asked  to  be 
good  and  attack  another  person  who  has 
never  done  him  any  harm.  The  compar- 
ison may  not  be  very  flattering  to  us,  but 
Mr.  Wells  will  understand  what  I  mean. 
We  have  had  the  Germans  with  us 
always.  Personally,  taking  them  by  and 
large,  we  like  them  not.  Their  ways 
are  not  our  ways.  Our  undisciplined  race 
abhors  their  system.  We  have  seen  the 
misery  which  they  caused  in  Belgium 
more  closely  than  any  one  else.  The  end- 


136 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


less  letters  and  pamphlets  with  which  the 
Germans  have  inundated  our  land  to  prove 
the  justice  of  their  cause  have  made  no 
impression  whatsoever.  We  have  with 
our  own  eyes  seen  the  victims  of  their 
very  strict  explanation  of  Section  58, 
Article  I.,  of  the  German  military  penal 
code.  We  have  seen  the  Belgians  hanging 
by  their  own  red  handkerchiefs,  and  we 
have  with  our  own  hands  fed  the  multi- 
tude that  had  been  deprived  of  every- 
thing. On  the  other  hand,  Germany  has 
up  to  date  been  most  scrupulous  in  her 
behavior  toward  us.  In  the  past  she  has 
never  done  us  any  harm.  We  may  not 
like  her,  but  she  has  in  a  very  careful 
way  avoided  all  friction  and  has  treated 
us  with  great  consideration. 

In  view  of  all  this,  in  view  of  the  very 
sober  attitude  of  our  people  upon  all 
matters  of  our  daily  life,  in  view  of 
these  historical  reflections,  which  have  a 
very  decided  influence,  would  it  be  quite 
fair  without  any  provocation  on  the  side 
of  Germany  to  go  forth  and  attack  her  in 
the  back,  now  that  she  is  in  such  very 
dangerous  straits?  I  repeat  that  this 
may  not  be  the  exact  sentiment  of  all  of 
my  countrymen,  but  I  believe  that  very 
many  of  us  feel  things  that  way.  Per- 
haps we  disagree  in  minor  details,  but  we 
agree  about  the  main  issue. 

We  love  our  country.    For  centuries 


we  have  fought  to  maintain  our  individ- 
ual civilization  against  the  large  neigh- 
bors who  surround  us.  We  try  to  live 
up  to  our  good  reputation  as  a  home 
for  all  those  who  suffer.  The  people 
who  are  made  homeless  by  Germany 
come  to  us  and  we  try  to  feed  them  on 
such  grain  as  the  British  Government 
allows  to  pass  through  the  Channel.  We 
try  to  continue  in  our  duty  toward  all 
our  neighbors,  even  when  they  declare 
the  entire  North  Sea  (in  which  we  also 
have  a  certain  interest)  as  a  place  of  bat- 
tle and  blow  up  our  ships  with  their 
mines.  W^e  patiently  destroy  the  mines 
which  swim  away  from  our  neighbors' 
territorial  waters  and  land  upon  our 
shores.  In  short,  we  perform  a  very 
difficult  act  of  balancing  as  well  as  we 
can.  But  it  seems  to  us  that  under  dif- 
ficult circumstances  we  are  following 
the  only  correct  road  which  can  lead  to 
the  ultimate  goal  which  we  wish  to 
reach — the  lasting  respect  of  all  those 
who  will  judge  us  without  prejudice  and 
malice. 

It  is  very  kind  of  Mr.  Wells  to  offer 
us  territorial  compensation,  but  we  re- 
spectfully decline  such  a  reward  for  the 
sort  of  attack  which  was  popular  in  the 
days  of  the  old  Machiavelli. 

HENDRIK  WILLEM  VAN  LOON. 

New  York,  Feb.  26,  1915. 


Hungary  After  the  War 

By  a  Correspondent  of  The  London  Times 

[From    The    London    Times,    Jan.    20,    1915.] 


THE  allied  powers  are  agreed  that 
the  European  resettlement  must 
be  inspired  by  the  principle  of 
nationality.  It  will  be  but  just 
if  Hungary  suffers  severely  from  its  ap- 
plication, for  during  the  past  forty  years 
no  European  Government  has  sinned  SQ 
deeply  and  persistently  against  that  prin- 
ciple as  has  her  Magyar  Government. 
The  old  Hungary,  whose  name  and  his- 
tory are  surrounded  by  the  glamour  of 
romance,  was  not  the  modern  "  Magyar- 
land."  Its  boasted  constitutional  liber- 
ties were,  indeed,  confined  to  the  nobles, 
and  the  "  Hungarian  people  "  was  com- 
posed, in  the  words  of  Verboczy's  Tri- 
partitum  Code,  of  "  prelates,  barons,  and 
other  magnates,  also  all  nobles,  but  not 
commoners."  But  the  nobles  of  all  Hun- 
garian races  rallied  to  the  Hungarian 
banner,  proud  of  the  title  of  civis  hun- 
garicus.  John  Hunyadi,  the  national 
hero,  was  a  Rumane;  Zrinyi  was  a  Croat, 
and  many  another  paladin  of  Hungarian 
liberty  was  a  non-Magyar.  Latin  was 
the  common  language  of  the  educated. 
But  with  the  substitution  of  Magyar  for 
Latin  during  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
with  the  growth  of  what  is  called  the 
"  Magyar  State  Idea,"  with  its  accom- 
paniment of  Magyar  Chauvinism,  all 
positive  recognition  of  the  rights  and 
indivrduality  of  non-Magyar  races 
gradually  vanished. 

The  Magyar  language  itself  is  incap- 
able of  expressing  the  difference  between 
"  Hungarian  "  and  "  Magyar."  The  dif- 
ference is  approximately  the  same  as  be- 
tween "British"  and  "English."  The 
"  Magyar  State  "  set  itself  to  Magyarize 
education  and  every  feature  of  public 
lif«.  Any  protest  was  treated  as  "  in- 
citement against  the  Magyar  State  Idea  " 
and  was  made  punishable  by  two  years' 
imprisonment.  It  was  as  though  a  nar- 
row-minded English  Administration 
should  set  itself  to  obliterate  all  traces 


of  Scottish,  Welsh,  and  Irish  national 
feeling;  or  as  though  the  Government  of 
India  should  ignore  the  existence  of  all 
save  one  race  Jfnd  language  in  our  great 
dependency. 

In  comparison  with  the  Government 
of  "  Magyarland,"  the  Government  of 
Austria  was  a  model  of  tolerance.  In 
Austria,  Poles  and  Ruthenes|  Czechs, 
Germans,  Italians,  Serbo-Croatians,  and 
Slovenes  were  entitled  to  the  public  use 
of  their  own  languages  and  enjoyed  vari- 
ous degrees  of  provincial  self-govern- 
ment. The  Austrian  side  of  every  Aus- 
tro-Hungarian  banknote  bore  an  indi- 
cation of  its  value  in  every  language  of 
the  empire,  whereas  the  Hungarian  side 
was  printed  in  Magyar  alone.  This  was 
done  in  order  to  foster  the  belief  that 
Hungary  was  entirely  Magyar. 

In  reality,  Hungary  is  as  polyglot  as 
Austria.  Exact  statistics  are  not  ob- 
tainable, since  the  Magyar  census  re- 
turns have  long  been  deliberately  falsi- 
fied for  "  Magyar  State "  reasons. 
Roughly  speaking,  it  may,  however,  be 
said  that,  in  Hungary  proper,  i.  e.,  ex- 
clusive of  Croatia-Slavonia,  where  the 
population  is  almost  entirely  Serbo- 
Croatian,  there  are  perhaps  8,500,000 
Magyars,  including  nearly  1,000,000  pro- 
fessing and  a  large  number  qf  baptized 
Jews.  Against  this  total  there  are  more 
than  2,000,000  Germans,  including  the 
numerous  colonies  on  the  Austrian  bord- 
er, the  Swabians  of  the  south,  and  the 
Saxons  of  Transylvania;  more  than  2,- 
000,000  Slovaks,  who  inhabit  chiefly  the 
northwestern  counties;  between  three 
and  four  million  Rumanes,  living  Be- 
tween the  Theiss  and  the  Eastern  Car- 
pathians; some  500,000  Ruthenes,  or 
Little  Russians,  who  inhabit  the  north- 
eastern counties;  some  600,000  Serbs  and 
Croats  in  the  central  southern  counties; 
100,000  Slovenes  along  the  borders  of 
Styria  and  Carinthia;  and  some  200,000 


1:58 


I'HE  NEW  YORK   TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


other  non-Magyars,  including  about  90,- 
000  gypsies,  who  speak  a  language  of 
their  own.  Taking  the  population  of 
Hungary  proper  at  18,000,000,  the  Mag- 
yars are  thus  in  a  minority,  which  be- 
comes more  marked  when  Croatia-Slavo- 
nia  with  its  population  of  2,600,000 
southern  Slavs  is  added. 


during  the  period  of  reaction  after  1849 
as  ruthlessly  as  the  Magyars  themselves. 
Deak  and  Eotvos,  who  were  the  last 
prominent  Magyar  public  men  with  a 
Hungarian,  as  distinguished  from  a  nar- 
rowly Magyar,  conception  of  the  future 
of  their  country,  pleaded  indeed  for  fair 
treatment     of     the     non-Magyars,     and 


^'^^■'vB  O  S  !<»    I  A 

SLOVtNta  5£RB0-CR0AT5C2LCHS';^^\  }  ^wCtRnANS 


N(3M 

\ 

POLES     ROTMENES  Slovaks    rucrARS  RurvkNUrte 


^ 


RLrcRCNCE 


{z:-, 


Distribution   of   Nationalities   in   Hungary. 


It  would  have  been  possible  for  the 
Magyars,  after  the  restoration  of  the 
Hungarian  Constitution  under  the  Dual 
Settlement  of  1867,  to  have  built  up  a 
strong  and  elastic  Transleithan  polity 
based  on  the  recognition  of  race 
individualities  and  equality  of  political 
rights  for  all.  The  non-Magyars  would 
have  accepted  Magyar  leadership  the 
more  readily  in  that  they  had  been 
dragooned    and    oppressed    by    Austria 


trusted  to  the  attractive  force  of  the 
strong  Magyar  nucleus  to  settle  auto- 
matically the  question  of  precedence  in 
the  State.  But  in  1875,  when  Koloman 
Tisza,  the  father  of  Count  Stephen  Tisza, 
took  office,  these  wise  counsels  were 
finally  and  definitely  rejected  in  favor  of 
what  Baron  Banffy  afterward  defined  as 
"  national  Chauvinism."  Magyarization 
became  the  watchword  of  the  State  and 
persecution  its  means  of  action.     Kolo- 


HUNGARY  AFTER  THE  WAR 


139 


man  Tisza  concluded  with  the  monarch 
a  tacit  pact  under  which  the  Magyar 
Government  was  to  be  left  free  to  deal 
as  it  pleased  with  the  non-Magyars  as 
long  as  it  supplied  without  wincing  the 
recruits  and  the  money  required  for  the 
joint  army.  The  Magyar  Parliament  be- 
came almost  exclusively  representative 
of  the  Magyar  minority  of  the  people. 
Out  of  the  413  constituencies  of  Hungary 
proper  more  than  400  were  compelled,  by 
pressure,  bribery,  and  gerrymandering, 
to  return  Magyar  or  Jewish  Deputies. 
The  press  and  the  banks  fell  entirely 
into  Jewish  hands,  and  the  Magyarized 
Jews  became  the  most  vociferous  of  the 
"  national  Chauvinists." 

Nothing  like  it  has  been  seen  before 
or  since — save  the  Turkish  revolution  of 
1908,  when  the  Young  Turks,  under 
Jewish  influence,  broke  away  from  the 
relatively  tolerant  methods  of  the  old 
regime  and  adopted  the  system  of 
forcible  "  Turkification  "  that  led  to  the 
Albanian  insurrections  of  1910-12,  to  the 
formation  of  the  Balkan  League,  and  to 
the  overthrow  of  Turkey  in  Europe. 
,  The  bittel*  fruits  of  the  policy  of  Mag- 
yarization  are  now  ripening.  The  op- 
pressed Rumanes  look  not  toward  Aus- 


tria, as  in  the  old  days  when  their  great 
Bishop  Siaguna  made  them  a  stanch  prop 
of  the  Hapsburg  dynasty,  but  across  the 
Carpathians  to  Bucharest;  the  Serbo- 
Croatians  of  Hungary,  Croatia-Slavonia, 
and  Dalmatia,  whose  economic  and  po- 
litical development  the  Magyars  have  de- 
liberately hampered,  turn  their  eyes  no 
longer,  as  in  the  days  of  Jellatchich, 
toward  Vienna,  but  await  wistfully  the 
coming  of  the  Serbian  liberators;  the 
Ruthenes  of  the  northeast  hear  the 
tramp  of  the  Russian  armies;  the  Slovaks 
of  the  northwest  watch  with  dull  ex- 
pectancy for  the  moment  when,  united 
with  their  Slovak  kinsmen  of  Moravia 
and  their  cousins,  the  Czechs  of  Bohemia, 
they  shall  form  part  of  an  autonomous 
Slav  province  stretching  from  the  Elbe 
to  the  Danube.  For  the  Magyars,  who 
have  thrown  to  the  winds  the  wisdom  of 
the  wisest  men,  fate  may  reserve  the 
possession  of  the  fertile  and  well-watered 
Central  Hungarian  plain.  There  they 
may  thrive  in  modesty  and  rue  at  their 
leisure  the  folly  of  having  sacrificed 
their  chance  of  national  greatness  to  the 
vain  pursuit  of  the  "  Magyar  State  Idea  " 
under  the  demoralizing  influence  of 
Austro-German  imperialism. 


THE  WATCHERS  OF  THE  TROAD 

By     HARRY     LYMAN     KOOPMAN 

WHERE    Ilium's   towers   once    rose    and 
stretched  her  plain, 
What  forms,  beneath  the  late  moon's 
doubtful   beam. 
Half  living,  half  of  moonlit  vapor,  seem? 
Surely  here  stand  apart  the  kingly  twain. 
Here    Ajax    looms,    and    Hector    grasps    the 
rein. 
Here  Helen's  fatal  beauty  darts  a  gleam, 
Andromache's   love   here   shines   o'er  death 
supreme. 
To    them,    while    wave-borne    thunders    roll 

amain 
From  Samos  unto  Ida,  Calchas,  seer 
Of  all   that   shall   be,    speaks :     "  Not   the 
world's  end 
Is  this,  but  end  of  our  old  world  of  strife. 

Which,  lasting  until  now,  shall  perish  here. 
Henceforth    shall    men   strive    but    as    friend 
and  friend 
Out   of   this   death   to    rear   a   new   world's 
life." 


The   Union  of  Central   Europe 

An  Argument  in   Favor  of  a  Union  of  the  States  Now  Allied  With 

Germany 

By   Franz  von   Liszt 

Professor  Franz  von  Liszt,  author  of  jhe  following  article,  is  Director  of  the  Criminal 
Law  Seminar  of  the  L'niversity  of  Berlin,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  experts  on 
criminal  law  in  Germany.  Tlie  article  was  published  in  the  Neus  Badische  Landes-Zeitung 
of  Mannheim,  and  evoked  bitter  criticism  from  many  imperialistic  quarters  in  the  German 
press. 


WHEN  new  directions  of  develop- 
ment are  first  taken  in  his- 
tory, it  usually  requires  the 
lapse  of  several  decades  before 
we  understand  them  in  their  true  impor- 
tance, and  it  takes  much  longer  before 
proper  terms  describing  them  are  adopted 
generally.  In  the  interim,  misconceptions 
of  all  kinds  are  the  necessary  consequence 
of  clouded  perception  and  confused  termi- 
nology, especially  when,  for  purposes  of 
party  politics,  there  figures  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  a  certain  unwillingness  to 
understand. 

Such  misunderstandings  are  not  de- 
void of  danger  in  times  of  peace;  they 
may  become  pregnant  with  fate  when,  as 
in  our  day,  the  leading  nations  of  the 
earth  stand  at  the  threshhold.  of  a  great 
change  in  their  history.  I  am  anxious, 
therefore,  to  defend  against  objections 
raised  with  more  or  less  intentional  mis- 
understanding the  thoughts  which  I  ex- 
pressed in  my  recently  published  essay, 
"  A  Central  European  Union  of  States 
as  the  Next  Goal  of  German  Foreign 
Policy." 

Let  us  .for  once  put  aside  the  word 
"  Imperialism."  Surely  we  are  all  agreed 
as  one  that  it  is  an  absolute  essential  of 
life  for  the  German  Empire  to  carry  on 
world-politics,  (Weltpolitik.)  We  have 
been  engaged  in  that  since  the  eighties 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  first 
colonial  possessions  which  the  German 
Empire  obtained  were  the  fruits  of  a 
striving  for  world-politics  that  had  not 
yet  at  that  time  come  to  full  and  clear 
consciousness. 


But,  conscious  of  our  goal,  we  did  not 
attempt  the  paths  of  world-politics  until 
the  end  of  the  last  century.  At  the  cele- 
bration of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
of  the  German  Empire,  on  Jan.  18,  1896, 
our  Kaiser  uttered  the  words :  "  The  Ger- 
man Empire  has  become  a  world  empire, 
(Aus  dem  deutschen  Reich  ist  ein  Welt- 
reich  geworden.)"  And  the  German  Em- 
pire's groping  for  its  way  in  world-poli- 
tics found  its  expression  in  the  first  naval 
proposal  of  Tirpitz  in  the  year  1898. 

At  that  time  the  Imperial  Chancellor 
Prince  Hohenlohe  expressly  designated 
the  policy  of  the  German  Empire  as 
"  world  politics."  Thereby  a  goal  was 
sketched  for  the  development  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  We  have  not  lost  sight  of 
it  since  then,  keeping  unconfused  despite 
many  an  illusion  and  many  a  failure.  And 
today  we  all  live  in  the  firm  faith  that 
the  world  war,  which  we  are  determined 
to  bring  to  a  victorious  conclusion  by  the 
exertion  of  all  our  forces  as  a  people, 
will  bring  us  the  safe  guarantee  for  the 
attainment  of  our  goal  in  world  politics. 

On  that  score,  then,  there  is  absolutely 
no  difference  of  opinion.  But  there  does 
appear  to  be  considerable  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  conception  of  world 
politics.  Under  that  name  one  may  mean 
a  policy  directed  toward  world  domina- 
tion (Weltherrschaft.)  For  that  kind  of 
world  politics  the  word  "  Imperialism," 
borrowed  from  the  period  of  Roman 
world  domination  of  the  second  century 
of  the  Christian  era,  fits  precisely. 

Imperialism  aims,  directly  or  indirect- 
ly, through  peaceful  or  forceful  annexa- 


THE  UNION  OF  CENTRAL  EUROPE 


141 


tion  or  economic  exploitation,  to  make 
the  whole  inhabited  earth  subject  to  its 
sway.  Im|)erialistic  is  the  policy  of 
Great  Britain,  which  has  subjected  one- 
fifth  of  the  inhabited  area  of  the  earth 
to  its  sway  and  knows  no  bounds  to  the 
expansion  of  English  rule.  Imperialistic, 
too,  is  the  policy  of  Russia,  which  for 
centuries  has  been  extending  its  huge 
tentacles  toward  the  Atlantic  and  toward 
the  Mediterranean,  the  Pacific,  and  the 
Indian  Oceans,  never  sated. 

Such  world  domination  has  never  en- 
dured permanently;  it  can  endure  least 
of  all  in  our  days,  in  which  an  array  of 
mighty  armed  powers  stand  prepared  to 
guard  their  independence.  World  dom- 
ination sooner  or  later  leads  inevitably 
to  an  alliance  of  the  States  whose  inde- 
pendence is  threatened;  and  thereby  it 
leads  to  the  overthrow  of  the  disturber 
of  the  peace.  That,  as  we  all  confidently 
hope,  will  be  the  fate  of  England  as  well 
as  of  Russia  in  the  present  war.    *    *    * 

World  politics,  however,  may  mean 
something  else;  policies  based  upon  world 
value,  (Weltgeltung.)  The  policy  based 
on  world  domination  differs  from  that 
based  on  world  value,  in  that  the  former 
denies  the  equal  rights  of  other  States, 
while  the  latter  makes  that  its  premise. 
The  State  that  asserts  its  rights  to  world 
values  demands  for  itself  what  it  con- 
cedes to  the  others:  its  right  to  expand 
and  develop  its  political  and  economic  in- 
fluence, and  to  have  a  voice  in  the  discus- 
sion whenever  the  politicaF  or  economical 
relations  of  the  various  States  at  any 
point  in  the  inhabited  globe  approach  a 
state  of  change.     *     *     * 

In  this  sense  has  the  German  Empire 
heretofore  engaged  in  world  politics  in 
contrast  with  Russia  and  England.  That 
it  cannot  be  carried  on  successfully  with- 
out overseas  colonies,  a  strong  foreign 
fleet,  naval  bases,  and  telegraphic  con- 
nections through  cable  or  wireless  tele- 
graph apparatus,  needs  no  further  eluci- 
dation. For  this  sort  of  world  politics  also 
the  name  "  Imperialism  "  may  be  used. 
But  such  use  of  the  word  is  misleading; 
I  shall  therefore  hereafter  avoid  it. 

And  herein  I  think  I  have  uncovered 
the  deeper  reason  for  an  early  misunder- 
standing of  great  consequence.    It  seems 


as  though  in  a  certain — to  be  sure,  not  a 
very  great  or  very  influential— circle  of 
our  German  fellow-citizens  the  opinion 
prevails  that  the  German  Empire  should 
substitute  its  claims  for  world  domina- 
tion for  those  of  England.  Such  a  view 
cannot  be  too  soon  or  too  sharply  re- 
buked. 

The  claim  for  world  domination  would 
set  the  German  Empire  for  many  years 
face  to  face  with  a  long  series  of  bloody 
wars,  the  issue  of  which  cannot  be  in 
doubt  a  moment  to  any  one  familiar  with 
history.  The  enforcement  of  this  claim, 
moreover,  would  of  itself  be  the  surren- 
der of  the  German  spirit  to  the  spirit  of 
our  present  opponent  in  the  war.  The 
idea  ot  world  domination,  imperialism  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word,  is  not  a  prod- 
uct grown  on  German  soil;  it  is  imported 
from  abroad.  To  maintain  that  view  in 
all  seriousness  is  treachery  to  the  inmost 
spirit  of  the  German  soul. 

Perhaps  I  am  mistaken  in  taking  it 
for  granted  that  such  thoughts  are  today 
haunting  many  minds.  Perhaps  it  is 
merely  a  matter  of  misapplied  use  of  a 
large  sounding  word.  In  that  case,  how- 
ever, it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  create 
clear  thinking.  I  take  it  for  granted 
that  I  am  voicing  the  sentiments  of  the 
souls  of  the  vast  overwhelming  majority 
of  Germans  when  I  say:  "  We  shall  wage 
the  war,  if  need  be,  to  the  very  end, 
against  the  English  and  Russian  lust  for 
world  domination,  and  for  Germany's 
world  value  (Weltgeltung.") 

But  forthwith  there  appears  a  further 
difference  of  opinion,  to  be  taken  not 
quite  so  seriously,  which  I  shall  endeavor 
to  define  as  objectively  as  possible.  The 
German  conservative  press  seems  to  be 
of  the  opinion  that  the  goal  for  the  win- 
ning of  which  we  are  waging  the  great 
war,  and  concerning  which  we  are  all  of 
one  mind,  will  be  definitely  attained  im- 
mediately upon  the  conclusion  of  the 
war. 

I,  on  the  other  hand,  am  convinced  that 
in  order  permanently  to  insure  for  our- 
selves the  fruits  of  victory,  even  after  a 
victorious  conclusion  of  the  war,  we  shall 
need  long  and  well  planned  labors  of 
peace.     *     *     * 

In   my   essay   I    used   the   statement: 


142 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


"  England's  claim  for  the  domination  of 
the  sea,  and  therein  for  the  domination 
of  the  world,  remains  a  great  danger  to 
the  peace  of  the  world."  To  this  view  I 
adhere  firmly.  Let  us  take  it  for  grant- 
ed that  the  most  extravagant  hopes  of 
our  most  reckless  dreamers  are  fulfilled, 
that  England  is  crowded  out  of  Egypt, 
Mesopotamia,  Persia,  and  is  involved  in 
a  long-lasting  war  with  the  native  In- 
dians. An  impossibly  large  dose  of  po- 
litical naivete  is  needed  in  order  to  make 
us  believe  that  England  would  take  this 
loss  quietly  for  all  time. 

We  may  differ  on  the  question  whether 
we  should  meet  England's  efforts  for  re- 
habilitation of  her  world  dominion  in 
warlike,  or,  as  I  take  it,  in  peaceful  ways ; 
but  it  would  be  an  unpardonable  piece  of 
stupidity  for  us  to  rock  ourselves  to  sleep 
in  the  mad  delusion  that  those  efforts 
would  not  be  exerted.  Even  were  Eng- 
land forced  to  her  knees,  she  would  not 
immediately  give  up  her  claim  for  world 
domination.    We  must  count  upon  that. 

And,  counting  upon  that,  we  must  es- 
timate our  own  forces  very  carefully; 
rather  account  them  weaker  than  they 
really  are,  than  the  reverse.  I  did  that 
in  my  essay,  and  that  is  why  the  con- 
servative press  was  so  wrought  up  over 
it.  To  be  sure,  it  carefully  avoided  dis- 
cussing my  reasons. 

I  started  from  the  conception  of  world 
power  which  is  fairly  well  established  in 
the  present  political  literature.  From  a 
point  of  view  taken  also  by  conservative 
writers  I  demanded  as  a  characteristic  of 
world  power,  in  addition  to  the  size  of  ter- 
ritories and  the  number  of  population, 
above  all,  the  economic  independence 
that  makes  it  possible  for  a  State,  in  a 
case  of  need,  to  produce,  without  export 
or  import,  all  foodstuffs,  necessities,  raw 
materials,  and  all  the  finished  or  half- 
finished  products  it  needs  for  its  con- 
sumers in  normal  times,  as  well  as  to  in- 
sure the  sale  of  its  surplus. 

It  is  patent  that  this  economic  indepen- 
dence is  influenced  by  the  geographical 
position  of  the  fatherland  and  its  colo- 
nies. Now,  I  defended  the  theory  (and 
my  opponents  made  no  attempt  to  confute 
it)  that  even  after  a  victorious  war  the 


German  Empire  would  not  have  fully  at- 
tained this  economic  independence;  that, 
accordingly,  after  the  conclusiofi  of  peace, 
we  must  exert  every  effort  to  insure  this 
economic  independence  in  one  way  or  an- 
other. 

As  to  the  course  which  we  must  follow 
to  attain  this  goal,  there  may  be  various 
opinions.  I  proposed  the  establishment 
of  a  union  of  Central  European  States. 
The  conservative  press  characterized  that 
as  "  utterly  pretentious."  .  .  . 
•  If  the  course  I  have  proposed  is  con- 
sidered inadvisable,  let  another  be  pro- 
posed. But  on  what  colonies,  forsooth, 
do  those  gentlemen  count,  that  could 
furnish  us  with  cotton  and  ore,  petrole- 
um and  tobacco,  wood  and  silk,  and  what- 
ever else  we  need,  in  the  quantity  and 
quality  we  need?  What  colonies  that 
could  offer  us — do  not  forget  that — mar- 
kets for  the  sale  of  our  exporting  indus- 
tries? Even  after  the  war  we  shall  be 
dependent  upon  exports  to  and  imports 
from  abroad. 

And  so  there  is  no  other  way  of  safe- 
guarding our  economic  independence 
against  England  and  Russia  than  by  an 
economic  alliance  with  the  States  that 
are  our  allies  in  this  war,  or  at  least  that 
do  not  make  common  cause  with  our 
enemies.  Aside  from  the  fact,  which  I 
shall  not  discuss  here,  that  only  such 
an  alliance  can  insure  a  firm  position 
for  us  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  which  in 
the  next  decades  is  bound  to  be  the  area 
of  competition  for  the  world  powers. 

Politics  are  not  a  matter  of  emotion, 
but  of  calm,  intelligent  deliberation.  Let 
us  leave  emotional  politics  to  our  ene- 
mies. It  is  the  German  method  to  en- 
visage the  goal  steadily,  and  with  it  the 
roads  that  lead  to  that  goal.  Our  goal  is 
not  world  domination.  Whoever  tries 
to  talk  that  belief  into  the  mind  of  the 
German  people  may  confuse  some  heads 
that  are  already  not  very  clear;  but  he 
cannot  succeed  in  substituting  Napoleon 
I.  for  Bismarck  as  our  master  teacher. 

Our  goal  can  only  be  the  establishing 
of  our  value  in  the  world  among  world 
powers,  with  equal  rights  to  the  same  op- 
portunities. And  in  order  to  attain  this 
goal  we  must,  even  after  the  conclusion 


I 


THE  UNION  OF  CENTRAL  EUROPE  143 

of  peace,  exert  all  our  forces,    A  people  begins  for  us  anew  the  unceasing  peace- 

that  thinks  it  can  rest  on  its  laurels  after  f ul  competition  and  the  maintenance  and 

victory  has  been  won  runs  the  risk  soon-  strengthening  of  the  world  value  which 

er  or  later  of  losing  that  for  which  its  we  have  won  through  the  war.    German 

sons  shed  their  blood  on  the  field  of  bat-  imperialism  is  and  will  lemain  the  work 

tie.    With  the  conclusion  of  peace  there  of  peace. 


TWO   POOR    LITTLE    BELGIAN    FLEDGLINGS 

By     PIERRE     LOTI. 
Translation   by   Florence   Simmonds. 

[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 

AT  evening,  in  one  of  our  southern  towns,  a  train  full  of  Belgian  refugees 
i\  ran  into  the  station,  and  the  poor  martyrs,  exhausted  and  bewildered, 
^^-  got  out  slowly,  one  by  one,  on  the  unfamiliar  platform,  where  French 
people  were  waiting  to  receive  them.  Carrying  a  few  possessions  caught 
up  at  random,  they  had  got  into  the  carriages  without  even  asking  whither 
they  were  bound,  urged  by  their  anxiety  to  flee,  to  flee  desperately  from 
horror  and  death,  from  unspeakable  mutilation  and  Sadie  outrage— from 
things  that  seemed  no  longer  possible  in  the  world,  but  which,  it  seems, 
were  lying  dormant  in  pietistic  German  brains,  and  had  suddenly  belched 
forth  upon  their  land  and  ours,  like  a  belated  manifestation  of  original 
barbarism.  They  no  longer  possessed  a  village,  nor  a  home,  nor  a  family ; 
they  arrived  like  jetsam  cast  up  by  the  waters,  and  the  eyes  of  all  were  full 
of  terrified  anguish.  Many  children,  little  girls  whose  parents  had  disappeared 
in  the  stress  of  fire  and  battle ;  and  aged  women,  now  alone  in  the  world, 
who  had  fled,  hardly  knowing  why,  no  longer  caring  for  life,  But  moved 
by  some  obscure  instinct  of  self-preservation. 

Two  little  creatures,  lost  in  the  pitiable  throng,  held  each  other  tightly 
by  the  hand,  two  little  boys  obviously  brothers,  the  elder,  who  may  have 
been  five  years  old,  protecting  the  younger,  of  about  three.  No  one  claimed 
them,  no  one  knew  them.  How  had  they  been  able  to  understand,  finding 
themselves  alone,  that  they,  too,  must  get  into  this  train  to  escape  death? 
Their  clothes  were  decent,  and  their  little  stockings  were  thick  and  warm ; 
clearly  they  belonged  to  humble  but  careful  parents ;  they  were,  doubtless,  the 
sons  of  one  of  those  sublime  Belgian  soldiers  who  had  fallen  heroically  on 
the  battlefield,  and  whose  last  thought  had  perhaps  been  one  of  supreme 
tenderness  for  them.  They  were  not  even  crying,  so  overcome  were  they 
by  fatigue  and  sleepiness ;  they  could  scarcely  stand.  They  could  not  answer 
when  they  were  questioned,  but  they  seemed  intent,  above  all,  upon  keeping 
a  tight  hold  of  each  other.  Finally  the  elder,  clasping  the  little  one's  hand 
closely,  as  if  fearing  to  lose  him,  seemed  to  awake  to  a  sense  of  his  duty  as 
protector,  and,  half  asleep  already,  found  strength  to  say,  in  a  suppliant 
tone,  to  the  Red  Cross  lady  bending  over  him :  "  Madame,  are  they  going 
to  put  us  to  bed  soon?  "  For  the  moment  this  was  all  they  were  capable 
of  wishing,  all  that  they  hoped  for  from  human  pity— to  be  put  to  bed. 

They  were  put  to  bed  at  once,  together,  of  course,  still  holding  each 
other  tightly  by  the  hand ;  and,  nestling  one  against  the  other,  they  fell  at 
the  same   moment   into   the   tranquil   unconsciousness   of   childish   slumber. 

Once,  long  ago,  in  the  China  Sea,  during  the  war,  two  little  frightened 
birds,  smaller  even  than  our  wrens,  arrived,  I  know  not  how,  on  board  our 
ironclad,  in  our  Admiral's  cabin,  and  all  day  long,  though  no  one  attempted 
to  disturb  them,  they  fluttered  from  side  to  side,  perching  on  cornices  and 
plants. 

At  nightfall,  when  I  had  forgotten  them,  the  Admiral  sent  for  me.  It  was 
to  show  me,  now  without  emotion,  the  two  little  visitors  who  had  gone  to  roost 
in  his  room,  perched  upon  a  slender  silken  cord  above  his  bed.  They  nestled 
closely  together,  two  little  balls  of  feathers,  touching  and  almost  merged  one  in 
the  other,  and  slept  without  the  slightest  fear,  sure  of  our  pity.  And  those 
little  Belgians  sleeping  side  by  side  made  me  think  of  the  two  little  birds  lost 
in  the  China  Sea.  There  was  the  same  confidence  and  the  same  innocent 
slumber— but  a  greater  tenderness  was  about  to  watch  over  them. 


What  the  Germans  Desire 

Not  Conquest,  but  a  New  Economical  System  of  Europe 
By  Gustaf  Sioesteen 


The  subjoined  letter  from  Berlin,  published  originally  In  the  Swedish  Goteborgs  Handels- 
Tidnung  of  Oct.  2fi,  1914,  was  immediately  translated  by  the  British  Legation  in  Stockholm — • 
this  is  the  official  English  translation — and  sent  by  the  legation  to  Sir  Edward  Grey.  Thb 
New  York  Times  Cvrrent  History  is  informed  from  a  trustworthy  source  that  the  article 
is  interpreted  in  London  as  expressing  the  real  aims  of  Germany  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
should  that  power  be  successful.  The  founding  of  a  commercial  United  States  of 
Europe  by  means  of  an  economical  organization  with  new  "  buffer "  States  to 
be  created  between  the  German  Empire  and  Russia,  and  with  the  other  smaller 
European  States,  would  be,  according  to  this  interpretation,  the  purpose  of  Germany 
at  the  conclusion  of  a  victorious  war.  The  passage  in  the  Berlin  correspondent's  letter  declar- 
ing that  only  such  an  enormous  central  European  customs  union,  in  the  opinion  of  leading 
German  statesmen,  "  could  hold  the  United  States  of  North  America  at  bay  "  in  order  that, 
after  this  present  war,  the  "  world  would  only  have  to  take  into  account  two  first-class 
powers,  viz.,  Germany  and  the  United  States  of  America,"  is  of  peculiar  interest  to  Americans. 


BERLIN,  Oct.  21. 

COUNTING  one's  chickens  before 
they  are  hatched  is  a  pardonable 
failing  with  nations  carrying  on 
war  with  the  feeling  that  their 
all  is  at  stake.  When  sorrow  is  a  guest 
of  every  household,  when  monetary 
losses  cause  depression,  and  the  cry 
arises  time  after  time,  "  What  will  be 
the  outcome  of  all  this?  "  then  only  the 
fairest  illusions  and  the  wildest  flights 
of  fancy  can  sustain  the  courage  of  the 
masses. 

These  illusions  are  not  only  egotistical 
but,  curiously  enough,  altruistic,  since 
mankind,  even  when  bayoneting  their  fel- 
low-creatures, want  to  persuade  them- 
selves and  others  that  this  is  done  merely 
for  the  benefit  of  their  adversary.  In  ac- 
cordance with  this  idea,  in  the  opinion 
of  all  parties,  the  war  will  be  brought 
to  an  end  with  an  increase  of  power  for 
their  native  country,  as  also  a  new  Eden 
prevail  throughout  the  whole  civilized 
world. 

The  enemies  of  Germany,  though  they 
have  hitherto  suffered  an  almost  un- 
broken series  of  reverses  in  the  war, 
have  already  thoroughly  thrashed  out 
the  subject  as  to  what  the  world  will 
look  like  when  Germany  is  conquered. 
In  German  quarters  the  press  has  like- 
wise painted  the  future,  but  the  follow- 


ing lines  are  not  intended  to  increase 
the  row  of  fancy  portraits,  but  merely 
to  throw  light  on  what  is  new  in  the  de- 
mands conceived. 

My  representations  are  founded  on 
special  information,  and  I  deem  it  best 
to  make  them  now,  when  the  most  fan- 
tastic descriptions  of  the  all-absorbing 
desire  of  conquest  on  the  part  of  Ger- 
many have  circulated  in  the  press  of 
the  entire  world. 

Among  other  absurdities  it  has  been 
declared  that  Germany  intends  to  claim 
a  fourth  of  France,  making  this  dis- 
membered country  a  vassal  State,  bound 
to  the  triumphal  car  of  the  conqueror 
by  the  very  heaviest  chains.  It  is  in- 
credible, but  true,  that  such  a  statement 
has  been  made  in  the  press  by  a  French- 
man, formerly  President  of  the  Council. 

In  direct  opposition  to  the  fictitious 
demands  of  the  Germans,  I  can  advance 
a  proposition  which  may  sound  para- 
doxical, viz.,  that  the  leading  men  in  Ger- 
many, the  Emperor  and  his  advisers, 
after  bringing  the  war  to  a  victorious 
issue,  will  seriously  seek  expedients  to 
avoid  conquests,  so  far  as  this  is  com- 
patible with  the  indispensable  demands 
of  order  and  stability  for  Europe. 

First,  as  regards  France.  The  entire 
world,  as  also  the  Germans,  are  moved 
to  pity  by  her  fate.    Germany  has  never 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  DESIRE 


145 


entertained  any  other  wish  than  to  be  at 
peace  with  her  western  frontier.  A  con- 
siderable portion  of  France  is  now  laid 
waste,  and  in  a  few  weeks  millions  of 
soldiers  will  have  been  poured  into  still 
wider  portions  of  this  beautiful  country. 
On  what  are  the  inhabitants  of  these 
French  provinces  to  exist  when  the  Ger- 
man and  French  armies  have  requisi- 
tioned everything  eatable?  Germany 
cannot  feed  the  inhabitants  of  the 
French  provinces  occupied,  nor  can  the 
Belgians  do  so,  I  imagine,  for  the  pro- 
visions of  Germany  are  simply  sufficient 
for  their  own  needs,  England  prevent- 
ing any  new  supply  on  any  large  scale. 

This  is  a  totally  new  state  of  things 
in  comparison  with  1870,  when  Germany 
was  still  an  agrarian  country  and  had, 
moreover,  a  free  supply  on  all  her 
frontiers. 

Can  the  French  Government  allow  a 
considerable  portion  of  their  own  popu- 
lation actually  to  starve,  or  be  obliged 
to  emigrate  to  other  parts  of  France, 
there  to  live  the  life  of  nomads  at  the 
expense  of  England,  while  the  deserted 
provinces  are  given  over  to  desolation? 

The  idea  prevails  here  that  the  French 
will  compel  their  Government  to  enter 
on  and  conclude  a  separate  treaty  of 
peace  when  the  fatal  consequences  of  the 
war  begin  to  assume  this  awful  guise. 
England  does  not  appear  to  have  con- 
sidered that  this  would  be  the  result  of 
her  system  of  blockade. 

The  German  conditions  of  peace  as 
^regards  France  will  be  governed  by  two 
principal  factors  with  respect  to  their 
chief  issues. 

The  first  is  the  complete  unanimity 
of  the  Emperor  and  the  Chancellor  that 
no  population,  not  speaking  German, 
will  be  incorporated  in  the  German  Em- 
pire, or  obtain  representation  in  the 
Diet.  Germany  already  has  sufficient 
trouble  with  the  foreign  element  now 
present  in  the  Diet.  Consequently  there 
can  be  no  question  of  any  considerable 
acquisition  of  territory  from  France, 
but  the  demands  of  Germany  simply  ex- 
tend to  the  iron-ore  fields  of  Lorraine, 
which  are  certainly  of  considerable 
value.     For  France  these  mining  fields 


are  of  far  less  consideration  than  for 
Germany,  whose  immense  iron  trade  is 
far  more  in  need  of  the  iron  mines. 

The  second  factor  is  that  the  Ger- 
mans, owing  to  the  strong  public  opin- 
ion, will  never  consent  to  Belgium  re- 
gaining her  liberty.  The  Chancellor  of 
the  Empire  has,  as  long  as  it  was  pos- 
sible, been  opposed  to  the  annexation  of 
Belgium,  having  preferred,  even  during 
hostilities,  to  have  re-established  the 
Belgian  Kingdom.  It  is  significant  that 
the  military  authorities  have  prohibited 
the  German  press  from  discussing  the 
question  of  the  future  of  Belgium.  It 
is  evident  that  there  has  prevailed  a 
wish  to  leave  the  question  open  in  order 
to  insure  a  solution  offering  various 
possibilities.  But  subsequent  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Anglo-Belgian  plot,  as  pre- 
viously stated,  all  idea  of  reinstating 
Belgium  has  been  discarded. 

The  annexation  of  Belgium,  however, 
makes  it  possible  to  grant  France  less 
stringent  conditions.  So  long  as  Bel- 
gium— under  some  form  of  self-govern- 
ment— is  under  German  sway  there  is 
no  hope  of  revenge  of  France,  and  the 
conviction  prevails  here  that  after  this 
war  France  will  abstain  from  her 
dreams  of  aggrandizement  and  become 
pacific.  Gei*many  can  then  make  re- 
ductions in  the  burdens  laid  on  her  peo- 
ple for  military  service  by  land. 

To  arrange  the  position  of  Belgium  in 
relation  to  Germany  will  be  a  very  in- 
teresting problem  for  German  policy. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  annexation  of 
Belgium  cannot  be  defended  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  principle  of  nation- 
ality. The  Belgians  —  half  of  them 
French,  half  of  them  Flemish — undoubt- 
edly deem  themselves  but  one  nation.  As 
a  mitigating  circumstance  in  favor  of 
the  annexation  it  is  urged — above  and 
beyond  the  intrigues  carried  on  by  Bel- 
gium with  the  English — that  Belgium, 
in  days  of  yore,  for  a  long  time  formed 
a  portion  of  the  German  Empire,  and 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  little  coun- 
try, to  a  considerable  degree,  gain  their 
livelihood  by  its  being  a  land  of  transit 
for  German  products.  Nationally,  the 
annexation   is   not   to   be   defended,   but 


146 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


geogrraphically,  economically,  and  from 
a  military  point  of  view  it  is  compre- 
hensible. 

At  the  east  front  of  the  central  pow- 
ers very  different  conditions  prevail. 
AustHa  has  no  desire  to  make  the  con- 
quest of  any  territory;  indeed,  just  the 
contrary,  would  probably  be  willing  to 
cede  a  portion  of  Galicia  in  favor  of 
new  States.  Germany  has  not  the  slight- 
est inclination  to  incorporate  new  por- 
tions of  Slav  or  Lettish  regions.  Both 
Germans  and  Austrians  wish  to  estab- 
lish free  buffer  States  between  them- 
selves and  the  great  Russian  Empire. 

Not  even  the  Baltic  provinces,  where 
Germans  hold  almost  the  same  position 
as  the  Sw  des  in  Finland,  form  an  ob- 
ject for  the  German  desire  of  conquest, 
but  her  wish  is  to  make  them,  as  also 
Finland,  an  independent  State.  Further- 
more, the  Kingdom  of  Poland  and  a 
Kingdom  of  Ukraine  would  be  the  out- 
come of  decisive  victories  for  the  central 
powers. 

What  Germany  would  demand  of 
these  new  States,  whose  very  existence 
was  the  outcome  of  her  success  at  arms, 
would  simply  be  an  economical  organiza- 
tion in  comtnon  with  the  German  Empire, 
an  enormous  central  European  "  Zoll- 
verein  "  ("  Customs  Union  ")  with  Ger- 
many at  its  heart.  It  is  only  such  a 
union,  in  the  opinion  of  leading  Ger- 
man statesmen,  which  could  hold  the 
United  States  of  North  America  at  bay, 
and  after  this  present  war,  moreover, 
the  world  would  only  have  to  take  into 
account  tivo  first-class  powers,  viz., 
Germany  and  the  United  States  of 
America. 

A  commencement  of  this  new  econom- 
ical connection  is  being  made  by  the 
negotiations  entered  on  by  representa- 
tives of  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany 
concerning  the  proposed  formation  of  a 
Customs  Union.  Since  this  union  would 
include  120,000,000  individuals,  it  must 
be  evident  what  an  immense  attraction 
it  must  exert  on  the  surrounding  smaller 
nations.  Switzerland  and  Holland  can 
scarcely  escape  this  attraction,  and  the 
Scandinavian  countries,  it  is  said,  would 
probably  find  it  to  their  advantage,  to- 


gether with  a  liberated  Finland,  to  form 
a  Northern  Customs  Union,  which  later, 
on  an  independent  basis,  could  enter  in 
close  union  with  the  vast  "  Zoilverein  "  of 
Central  Europe. 

This  "  Zoilverein  "  would  then  include 
about  175,000,000  individuals.  The  ad- 
hesion of  Italy  to  the  vast  union  would 
not  be  inconceivable,  and  then  the  com- 
bination of  the  United  States  of  Europe, 
founded  on  a  voluntary  commercial 
union,  would  be  approaching  its  realiza- 
tion. 

Such  a  commercial  union,  embracing 
various  peoples,  could  only  lead  to  mod- 
eration in  foreign  politics,  and  would  be 
the  best  guarantee  for  the  peace  of  the 
universe.  A  brisk  interchange  of  com- 
modities, a  fruitful  interchange  of  cul- 
tural ideas  would  result  from  such  a 
union,  connecting  the  polar  seas  with 
the  Mediterranean,  and  the  Netherlands 
with  the  Steppes  of  Southern  Russia. 

All  States  participating  in  this  union 
would  gain  thereby.  But  one  European 
country  would  be  the  loser.  Great  Brit- 
ain, the  land  of  promise  for  the  middle- 
man; that,  according  to  German  com- 
prehension, at  present  gains  a  living  by 
skimming  the  cream  from  the  trade  in- 
dustry of  other  nations  by  facilitating 
the  exchange  of  goods,  and  making 
profits  by  being  the  banking  centre  of 
the  world. 

The  Germans  declare  that  there  is  no 
reason  for  such  a  middleman's  existence  in 
our  day.  The  banking  system  is  now  so  de- 
veloped in  all  civilized  lands  that,  for  exam- 
ple Sweden  can  remit  direct  to  Australia 
or  the  Argentine  for  goods  obtained 
thence,  instead  of  making  payment  via 
London  and  there  rate,  by  raising  the 
exchange  for  sovereigns  to  an  unnatural 
height,  so  that,  as  matter  of  fact,  Eng- 
land levies  a  tax  on  all  international 
interchange  of  commodities. 

In  opposition  to  this  glorious  vision  of 
the  days  to  come,  which  the  Germans 
wish  to  realize  by  their  victories  in  war, 
there  is  the  alluring  prospect  of  the 
Allies  that  by  their  victory  they  will 
deal  a  deathblow  to  German  militaHsm. 
While  the  English,  with  their  200,000 
troops,  are  good  enough  to  promise  no 


1 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  DESIRE 


147 


conquest  of  German  territory — what 
says  Russia  to  this? — at  the  close  of  the 
war,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Britons,  there 
would  still  remain  65,000,000  Germans 
right  in  the  centre  of  Europe,  organized 
as  a  kingdom  burdened  with  a  war  in- 
demnity to  a  couple  of  tens  of  milliards 
in  marks. 

This  nation,  however,  strengthened  by 
15,000,000  Germans  in  Austria,  would  be 
the  greatest  bearers  of  culture  in  the 
wide  world — the  nation  with  the  best 
technical  equipment  of  all  others,  glow- 
ing with  ambition,  with  military  train- 
ing second  to  none,  and  gifted  with  an 
immense  rate  of  increase  as  regards 
population.  This  nation  would  be  forced 
to  lay  down  her  arms,  lying  as  it  does 
between  the  overbearing  gigantic  realm 
in  the  east  and  the  warlike  French  to 


the  west.  The  idea  is  incomprehensible. 
The  universe  would  behold  a  competition 
in  armaments  such  as  it  had  never  seen. 
A  victorious  Germany,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  become  less  and  less  mili- 
tary, since  she  would  not  need  to  arm 
herself  to  such  an  extent  as  now.  She 
is  already  chiefly  an  industrial  country. 
Her  desire  is  to  be  wealthy,  and  wealth 
invariably  smothers  military  instincts. 
Germany  has  set  up  far  greater  ideals 
as  regards  social  developments  than 
other  countries,  and  all  she  asks  is  to  be 
left  in  peace  calmly  to  carry  out  these 
plans  in  the  future.  German  militarism 
can  only  he  conquered  by  the  victory  be- 
ing on  her  side,  since  she  has  no  thought 
of  military  supremacy,  but  simply  of 
founding  a  new  economical  organization 
in  Europe.       GUSTAF  SIOESTEEN. 


ADDRESS   TO  KING   ALBERT   OF   BELGIUM 

By      EMIL      VERHAEREN. 

Translation  by  Florence  Simmonds. 

[From    King    Albert's    Book.] 


Sire :  This  request  to  pay  my  respectful  homage  to  you  has  given  me  the 
first  real  pleasure  I  have  been  permitted  to  feel  since  the  good  days  of  Li6ge. 
At  this  moment  you  are  the  one  King  in  the  world  whose  svibjects,  without 
exception,  unite  in  loving  and  admiring  him  with  all  the  strength  of  their 
souls.  This  unique  fate  is  yours,  Sire.  No  leader  of  men  on  earth  has  had  it 
in  the  same  degree  as  you. 

In  spite  of  the  immensity  of  the  sorrow  surrounding  you,  I  think  you  have 
a  right  to  rejoice,  and  the  more  so  as  your  consort,  her  Majesty  the  Queen, 
shares  this  rare  privilege  with  you. 

Sire,  your  name  will  be  great  throughout  the  ages  to  come.  You  are  in 
such  perfect  sympathy  with  your  people  that  you  will  always  be  their  symbol. 
Their  courage,  their  tenacity,  their  stifled  grief,  their  pride,  their  future 
greatness,  their  immortality  all  live  in  you.  Our  hearts  are  yours  to 
their  very  depths.  Being  yourself,  you  are  all  of  us.  And  this  you  will 
remain. 

Later  on,  when  you  return  to  your  recaptured  and  glorious  Belgium, 
you  will  only  have  to  say  the  word.  Sire,  and  all  disputes  will  lose  their 
bitterness  and  all  antagonisms  fade  away.  After  being  our  strength  and 
defender,  you  will  become  our  peacemaker  and  reconciler.  With  deepest 
respect,  EMIL  VERHAEREN. 


Foreshadowing  a  New  Phase 

of  War 

Financing  the  Allies  and  Small  Nations  Preparing  for  War 
By  Lloyd  George,  British  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 

That  there  are  "  also  other  States  preparing  for  war,"  and  that  financial  arrangements 
had  been  made  for  their  participation  against  Germany  by  the  allifed  Governments  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Russia;  moreover,  that  Russia  would  be  enabled  within  a  few  months  to 
export  considerable  quantities  of  her  grain  and  do  her  own  financing — this  statement  preceded 
the  bombardment  of  the  forts  in  the  Dardanelles,  probably  to  clear  the  way  for  Russia's  com- 
merce— are  the  outstanding  features  of  the  speech  by  Lloyd  George  presented  below,  foreshad- 
owing a  new  phase  in  the  war.  The  speech  was  made  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  Feb.  15, 
1915,  to  explain  the  results  of  the  financial  conference  between  the  allied  powers  to  unite  their 
monetary  resources,  held  in  Paris  during  the  week  of  Feb.  1.  It  may  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  momentous  utterances  of  the  war. 


PARLIAMENTARY  REPORT. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  (Mr. 
Lloyd  George,)  who  was  called  upon  by 
the  Speaker,  said:  I  shall  do  my  best  to 
conform  to  the  announcement  of  the 
Prime  Minister  that  the  statement  I  have 
to  make  about  the  financial  conference  in 
Paris  shall  be  a  brief  one,  but  I  am  afraid 
my  right  honorable  friend  assumed  that 
we  are  all  endowed  with  the  extraor- 
dinary gift  of  compression  which  he  him- 
self possesses.  [Laughter.]  The  ar- 
rangements that  were  made  between  the 
three  Ministers  for  recommendation  to 
their  respective  Governments  commit  us 
to  heavy  engagements,  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, important  I  should  report  them  in 
detail  to  the  House,  and  find  some  rea- 
son why  we  should  undertake  such  lia- 
bilities. 

This  is  the  most  expensive  war  which 
has  ever  been  waged  in  material,  in 
men,  and  in  money.  The  conference 
in  Paris  was  mostly  concerned  with 
money.  For  the  year  ending  Dec.  31  next 
the  aggregate  expenditure  of  the  Allies 
will  not  be  far  short  of  £2,000,000,000.  The 
British  Empire  will  be  spending  consid- 
erably more  than  either  of  our  two  great 
allies — probably  up  to  £100,000,000  to 
£150,000,000  more  than  the  highest  fig- 
ure to  be  spent  by  the  other  two  great 
allies.  We  have  created  a  new  army;  we 
have  to  maintain  a  huge  navy.    We  are 


paying  liberal  separation  allowances.  We 
have  to  bring  troops  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth;  we  have  to  wage  war  not 
merely  in  Europe,  but  in  Asia,  in  North, 
East,  and  South  Africa.  I  must  say 
just  a  few  words  as  to  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  three  great  countries  which 
led  us  to  make  the  arrangements  on 
financial  matters  which  we  recommend 
to  our  respective  Governments.  Britain 
and  France  are  two  of  the  richest  coun- 
tries in  the  world.  In  fact,  they  are  the 
great  bankers  of  the  world.  We  could 
pay  for  our  huge  expenditure  on  the  war 
for  five  years,  allowing  a  substantial  sum 
for  depreciation,  out  of  the  proceeds  of 
our  investments  abroad.  France  could 
carry  on  the  war  for  two  or  three  years 
at  least  out  of  the  proceeds  of  her  invest- 
ments abroad,  and  both  countries  would 
still  have  something  to  spare  to  advance 
to  their  allies.  This  is  a  most  important 
consideration,  for  at  the  present  moment 
the  Allies  are  fighting  the  whole  of  the 
mobilized  strengrth  of  Germany,  with 
perhaps  less  than  one-third  of  their  own 
strength.  The  problem  of  the  war  to  the 
Allies  is  to  bring  the  remaining  two- 
thirds  of  their  resources  and  strength 
into  the  fighting  line  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible moment.  This  is  largely,  though 
by  no  means  entirely,  a  question  of 
finance. 

Russia  is  in  a  different  position  from 


FORESHADOWING  A   NEW  PHASE  OF   WAR 


U9 


either  Britain  or  France.  She  is  a  pro- 
digiously rich  country  in  natural  re- 
sources— about  the  richest  country  in  the 
world  in  natural  resources.  Food,  raw 
material — she  produces  practically  every 
commodity.  She  has  a  great  and  grow- 
ing population,  a  virile  and  industrious 
people.  Her  resources  are  overflowing 
and  she  has  labor  to  develop  them  in 
abundance.  By  a  stroke  of  the  pen  Rus- 
sia has  since  the  war  began  enormously 
increased  her  resources  by  suppressing 
the  sale  of  all  alcoholic  liquors.  [Cheers.] 
It  can  hardly  be  realized  that  by  that 
means  alone  she  has  increased  the  pro- 
ductivity of  her  labor  by  something  be- 
tween 30  and  50  per  cent.,  just  as  if  she 
had  added  millions  of  laborers  to  the  labor 
reserves  of  Russia  without  even  increas- 
ing the  expense  of  maintaining  them,  and 
whatever  the  devastation  of  the  country 
may  be  Russia  has  more  than  anticipated 
its  wastage  by  that  great  act  of  national 
heroism  and  sacrifice.  [Cheers.]  The 
great  difficulty  with  Russia  is  that,  al- 
though she  has  great  natural  resources, 
she  has  not  yet  been  able  to  command  the 
capital  within  her  own  dominions  to  de- 
velop those  resources  even  during  the 
times  of  peace.  In  time  of  war  she  has 
additional  difficulties.  She  cannot  sell 
her  commodities  for  several  reasons.  One 
is  that  a  good  deal  of  what  she  depends 
upon  for  raising  capital  abroad  will  be 
absorbed  by  the  exigencies  of  the  war  in 
her  own  country.  Beyond  that  the  yield 
of  her  minerals  will  not  be  quite  as  great, 
because  the  labor  will  be  absorbed  in  her 
armies. 

There  is  not  the  same  access  to  her  mar- 
kets. She  has  difficulty  in  exporting  her 
goods,  and  in  addition  to  that  her  pur- 
chases abroad  are  enormously  increased 
in  consequence  of  the  war.  Russia,  there- 
fore, has  special  difficulty  in  the  matter 
of  financing  outside  purchases  for  the 
war.  Those  are  some  of  the  difficulties 
with  which  we  were  confronted. 

France  has  also  special  difficulties.  I 
am  not  sure  that  we  quite  realize  the 
strain  put  upon  that  gallant  country 
[cheers]  up  to  the  present  moment.  For 
the  moment  she  bears  far  and  away  the 
greatest  strain  of  the  war  in  proportion 


to  her  resources.  She  has  the  largest 
proportion  of  her  men  under  arms.  The 
enemy  are  in  occupation  of  parts  of  her 
richest  territory.  They  are  within  fifty- 
five  miles  of  her  capital,  exactly  as  if  we 
had  a  huge  German  army  at  Oxford.  It 
is  only  a  few  months  since  the  bankers 
of  Paris  could  hear  the  sound  of  the 
enemy's  guns  from  their  counting  houses, 
and  they  can  hear  the  same  sound  now, 
some  of  them,  from  their  country  houses. 
In  those  circumstances  the  money  mar- 
kets of  a  country  are  not  at  their  very 
best.  That  has  been  one  of  the  difficul- 
ties with  which  France  has  been  con- 
fronted in  raising  vast  sums  of  money  to 
carry  on  the  war  and  helping  to  finance 
the  allied  States. 

There  is  a  wonderful  confidence,  not- 
withstanding these  facts,  possessing  the 
whole  nation.  [Cheers.]  Nothing  strikes 
the  visitor  to  Paris  more  than  that.  There 
is  a  calm,  a  sei'ene  confidence,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  incompatible  with  the 
temperament  of  the  Celt  by  those  who  do 
do  not  know  it.  [Laughter.]  There  is  a 
general  assurance  that  the  Germans  have 
lost  their  tide,  and  that  now  the  German 
armies  have  as  remote  a  chance  of  crush- 
ing France  as  they  have  of  overrunning 
the  planet  Mars.  [Cheers.]  That  is  the 
feeling  which  pervades  every  class  of  the 
community,  and  that  is  reflected  in  the 
money  market  there.  The  difficulties  of 
France  in  that  respect  are  passing  away, 
and  the  arrangement  that  has  now  been 
made  in  France  for  the  purpose  of  rais- 
ing sums  of  money  to  promote  their  mili- 
tary purposes  will,  I  have  not  the  faint- 
est doubt,  be  crowned  with  the  completest 
success.     [Cheers.] 

But  we  have  a  number  of  small  States 
which  are  compelled  to  look  to  the  great- 
er countries  in  alliance  for  financial  sup- 
port. There  is  Belgium,  which  until  re- 
cently was  a  very  rich  country,  devas- 
tated, desolate,  and  almost  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  with  an  army 
and  a  civil  government  to  maintain,  but 
with  no  revenue.  We  have  to  see  that, 
she  does  not  suffer  [cheers]  until  the 
period  of  restoration  comes  to  her,  and 
compensation.  [Cheers.]  Then  there  is 
Serbia,  with  the  population  of  Ireland — a 


150 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


people  of  peasants  maintaining  an  army 
of  500,000  and  fighting  her  third  great 
war  within  two  years,  and  fighting  that 
with  great  resource,  great  courage,  and 
bravery.  [Cheers.]  But  she  had  no  re- 
serve of  wealth,  and  now  no  exports  with 
which  she  can  purchase  munitions  of  war 
outside,  and  she  has  hardly  any  manufac- 
tures of  her  own.  That  is  the  position  as 
far  as  the  smaller  States  are  concerned. 

There  are  also  other  States  preparing 
for  war,  and  it  is  obviously  our  interest 
that  they  should  be  well  equipped  for 
that  task.  They  can  only  borrow  in  the 
French  and  English  maa.'kets. 
.  But  we  had  our  own  special  difficulties, 
and  I  think  I  ought  to  mention  those. 
Two-thirds  of  our  food  supplies  are  puij- 
chased  abroad.  The  enormous  quantities 
of  raw  materials  for  our  manufactures 
and  our  industries  are  largely  absorbed 
in  war  equipment,  and  our  ships  in  war 
transport.  We  cannot  pay  as  usual  in  ex- 
ports, freights,  and  services;  our  sav- 
ings for  the  moment  are  not  what  they 
would  be  in  the  case  of  peace.  We  can- 
not, therefore,  pay  for  our  imports  in 
that  way.  We  have  to  purchase  abroad. 
We  have  to  increase  our  purchases  abroad 
for  war  purposes.  In  addition  to  that  we 
have  to  create  enormous  credits  to  enable 
other  countries  to  do  the  same  thing.  The 
balance  is,  therefore,  heavily  against  us 
for  the  first  time.  There  is  no  danger, 
but  in  a  conference  of  the  kind  we  had  at 
Paris  I  could  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
it -was  necessary  for  us  to  exercise  great 
vigilance  in  regard  to  our  gold. 

These  were  the  complex  problems  we 
had  to  discuss  and  adjust,  and  we  had  to 
determine  how  we  could  most  effectually 
mobilize  the  financial  resources  of  the 
Allies  so  as  to  be  of  the  greatest  help  to 
the  common  cause.  For  the  moment  un- 
doubtedly ours  is  still  the  best  market  in 
the  world.  An  alliance  in  a  great  war  to 
be  effective  needs  that  each  country  must 
bring  all  its  resources,  whatever  they  are, 
into  the  common  stock.  An  alliance  for 
war  cannot  be  conducted  on  limited  lia- 
bility principles.  If  one  country  in  the  al- 
liance has  more  trained  and  armed  men 
ready  with  guns,  rifles,  and  ammunition 
than  another  she  must  bring  them  all  up 


against  the  common  enemy,  without  re- 
gard to  the  fact  that  the  others  cannot  for 
the  moment  make  a  similar  contribution. 
But  it  is  equally  true  that  the  same  prin- 
ciple applies  to  the  country  with  the  larger 
navy  or  the  country  with  the  greater 
resources  in  capital  and  credit.  They 
must  be  made  available  to  the  utmost  for 
the  purpose  of  the  alliance,  whether  the 
other  countries  make  a  similar  contribu- 
tion or  not.  That  is  the  principle  upon 
which  the  conference  determined  to  rec- 
ommend to  their  respective  Governments 
a  mobilization  of  our  financial  resources 
for  the  war. 

The  first  practical  suggestion  we  had 
to  consider  was  the  suggestion  that  has 
been  debated  very  considerably  in  the 
press — the  suggestion  of  a  joint  loan. 
We  discussed  that  very  fully  and  we 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the 
very  worst  way  of  utilizing  our  resources. 
It  would  have  frightened  every  Bourse 
and  attracted  none.  It  would  have  made 
the  worst  of  every  national  credit  and 
the  best  of  none.  Would  the  interest  paid 
have  been  the  interest  upon  which  we 
could  raise  money,  the  rate  at  which 
France  could  have  raised  money,  or  the 
rate  at  which  Russia  could  raise  money? 
If  we  paid  a  high  rate  of  interest  we 
could  never  raise  more  money  at  low 
rates.  If  instead  of  raising  £350,000,000 
a  few  weeks  ago  for  our  own  purposes  we 
had  floated  a  great  joint  loan  of  £1,000,- 
000,000,  the  House  can  very  well  imagine 
what  the  result  would  have  been.  We  de- 
cided after  a  good  deal  of  discussion  and 
reflection  that  each  country  should  raise 
money  for  its  own  needs  within  its  own 
markets  in  so  far  as  their  conditions  al- 
lowed, but  that  if  help  were  needed  by 
any  country  for  outside  purchases  then 
those  who  could  best  afford  to  render  as- 
sistance for  the  time  being  should  do  so. 

There  was  only  one  exception  which 
we  decided  to  recommend,  and  that  was 
in  the  case  of  borrowings  by  small  States. 
We  decided  that  each  of  the  great  allied 
countries  should  contribute  a  portion  of 
every  loan  made  to  the  small  States  who 
were  either  in  with  us  now  or  prepared 
to  come  in  later  on,  that  the  responsibility 
should  be  divided  between  the  three  coun- 


FORESHADOWING   A   NEW  PHASE   OF   WAR 


151 


tries,  and  that  at  an  opportune  moment  a 
joint  loan  should  be  floated  to  cover  the 
advances  either  already  made,  or  to  be 
made,  to  these  countries  outside  the  three 
great  allied  countries.  That  was  the  only 
exception  we  made  in  respect  of  joint 
loans.  Up  to  the  present  very  considera- 
ble advances  have  been  made  by  Russia, 
by  France,  and  by  ourselves  to  other  coun- 
tries. It  is  proposed  that,  if  there  is  an 
opportune  moment  on  the  market,  these 
should  be  consolidated  at  some  time  or 
other  into  one  loan,  that  they  should  be 
placed  upon  the  markets  of  Russia, 
France,  and  Great  Britain,  but  that  the 
liability  shall  be  divided  into  three  equal 
parts. 

With  regard  to  Russia,  we  have  already 
advanced  £32,000,000  for  purchases  here 
and  elsewhere  outside  the  Russian  Em- 
pire. Russia  has  also  shipped  £8,000,000 
of  gold  to  this  country,  so  that  we  have  es- 
tablished credits  in  this  country  for  Rus- 
sia to  the  extent  of  £40,000,000  already. 
France  has  also  made  advances  in  respect 
of  purchases  in  that  country.  Russia 
estimates  that  she  will  still  require  to 
establish  considerable  credits  for  pur- 
chases made  outside  her  own  country  be- 
tween now  and  the  end  of  the  year.  I  am 
not  sure  for  the  moment  that  it  would 
be  desirable  for  me  to  give  the  exact  fig- 
ure; I  think  it  would  be  better  not,  be- 
cause it  would  give  an  idea  of  the  extent 
to  which  purchases  are  to  be  made  out- 
side by  Russia.  But  for  that  purpose  she 
must  borrow.  The  amount  of  her  bor- 
rowing depends  upon  what  Russia  can 
spare  of  her  produce  to  sell  in  outside 
markets  and  also  on  the  access  to  those 
markets. 

If  Rzissia  is  able  within  the  cojtrse  of 
the  next  few  weeks  or  few  months  to 
export  a  considerable  quantity  of  her 
grain,  as  I  hope  she  will  be,  as  in  fact 
we  have  made  arrangemeiits  that  she 
should,  [cheers,']  then  there  toill  not  be 
the  same  need  to  borrow  for  purchases 
either  in  this  country  or  outside,  be- 
cause she  can  do  her  own  financing  to 
that  extent. 

The  two  Governments  decided  to  raise 
the  first  £50,000,000  in  equal  sums  on  the 
French  and  British  markets  respectively. 


That  will  satisfy  Russian  requirements 
for  a  considerable  time.  As  to  further 
advances,  the  allied  countries  will  con- 
sider when  the  time  arrives  how  the 
money  should  raised  according  to  the 
position  of  the  money  markets  at  that 
time.  I  have  said  that  we  gave  a  guar- 
antee to  Russia  that  she  need  not  hesitate 
a  moment  in  giving  her  orders  for  any 
purchases  which  are  necessary  for  the 
war  on  account  of  fear  of  experiencing 
any  difficulty  in  the  matter  of  raising 
money  for  payments.  We  confidently 
anticipate  that  by  the  time  these  first  ad- 
vances will  have  been  exhausted  the  mili- 
tary position  will  have  distinctly  im- 
proved both  in  France  and  in  Russia. 

I  may  say  that  Treasury  bills  to  the 
extent  of  £10,000,000  on  the  credit  of  Rus- 
sia have  been  issued  within  the  last  few 
days.  At  12  o'clock  today  the  list  closed, 
and  the  House  will  be  very  glad  to  hear 
that  the  amount  was  not  merely  sub- 
scribed but  oversubscribed  by  the  mar- 
ket, because  this  country  is  not  quite  as 
accustomed  to  Russian  securities  as 
France,  and,  therefore,  it  was  an  experi- 
ment. I  think  it  is  a  very  good  omen  for 
our  relations,  not  merely  during  the  war, 
but  for  our  relations  with  Russia  after 
the  war,  that  the  first  great  loan  of  that 
kind  on  Russian  credit  in  the  market  has 
been  such  a  complete  success. 

Now  we  have  to  consider  the  position 
of  this  country  with  regard  to  the  possi- 
bility of  our  gold  flitting  in  the  event  of 
very  gi-eat  credits  being  established  in 
this  country.  The  position  of  the  three 
great  allied  counti-ies  as  to  gold  is  excep- 
tionally strong.  Russia  and  France  have 
accumulated  great  reserves  which  have 
been  barely  touched  so  far  during  the 
war.  I  do  not  think  the  French  reserve 
has  been  touched  at  all,  or  has  been  used 
in  the  slightest  degree,  and  I  think  as  far 
as  the  Russian  reserve  is  concerned  it  has 
only  been  reduced  by  the  transfer  of 
£8,000,000  of  gold  from  Russia  to  this 
country.  Our  accumulation  of  gold  is 
larger  than  it  has  ever  been  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  country.  It  has  increased 
enormously  since  the  commencement  of 
the  war.  It  is  not  nearly  as  large  as 
that  of  Russia,  France,  or  Germany,  but 


152 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is 
this  distinction  in  our  favor;  up  to  the 
present  we  have  had  no  considerable  paper 
currency,  and  this  is  the  great  free  mar- 
ket for  the  gold  of  the  world.  The  quan- 
tity imported  every  year  of,  what  shall 
I  call  it,  raw  gold,  comes  to  something 
like  £50,000,000,  and  here  I  am  excluding 
what  comes  here  by  exchanges.  The 
collapse  of  the  rebellion  in  South  Africa 
assures  us  of  a  large  and  steady  supply 
from  that  country,  and,  therefore,  there 
is  no  real  need  for  any  apprehension. 

V 

But  still  it  would  not  have  been  pru- 
dent for  us  to  have  overlooked  certain 
possibilities.  I  have  already  pointed  out 
some  of  them — the  diminution  of  exports, 
the  increase  of  our  imports,  the  absorp- 
tion of  our  transports  for  war  purposes, 
large  credits  established  for  our  own  and 
other  countries,  and  a  diminution  in  our 
savings  for  investments  abroad.  There  is 
just  a  possibility  that  this  might  have 
the  effect  of  inducing  the  export  of  gold 
to  other  countries.  We  therefore  have 
to  husband  our  gold  and  take  care  lest  it 
should  take  wings  and  swarm  to  any 
other  hive.  We  therefore  made  ar- 
rangements at  this  conference  wher- 
by,  if  our  stock  of  gold  were  to  diminish 
beyond  a  certain  point — that  is  a  fairly 
high  point — the  Banks  of  France  and 
Russia  should  come  to  our  assistance. 

We  have  also  made  arrangements 
whereby  France  should  have  access  to  our 
markets  for  Treasury  bills  issued  in 
francs.  We  have  also  initiated  arrange- 
ments which  we  hope  will  help  to  re- 
store the  exchanges  in  respect  of  bills  held 
in  this  country  against  Russian  mer- 
chants, who,  owing  to  the  present  diffi- 
culties of  exchange,  cannot  discharge 
their  liabilities  in  this  country.  They  are 
quite  ready  and  eager  to  pay,  they  have 
the  money  to  pay,  but,  owing  to  difficulties 
of  exchange,  they  cannot  pay  bills  owing 
in  this  country.  We  therefore  propose 
to  accept  Russian  Treasury  bills  against 
these  bills  of  exchange  due  from  Russian 
merchants,  Russia  collecting  the  debts 
in  rubles  in  her  own  country  and  giving 
us  the  Treasury  bills  in  exchange.     We 


hope  that  will  assist  very  materially  in 
the  working  of  the  exchanges.  It  will 
be  very  helpful  to  business  between  the 
two  countries,  and  incidentally  it  will  be 
very  helpful  to  Russia  herself  in  raising 
money  in  her  own  country  for  the  pur- 
pose of  financing  the  war. 

We  also  received  an  undertaking  from 
the  Russian  Government  in  return  for 
the  advances  which  we  were  prepared  to 
make,  that  Russia  would  facilitate  the  ex- 
port of  Russian  produce  of  every  kind 
that  may  be  required  by  the  allied  coun- 
tries. This,  I  believe,  will  be  one  of  the 
most  fruitful  parts  of  the  arrange- 
ments entered  into.  An  arrangement 
has  also  been  made  about  the  pur- 
chases by  the  allied  countries  in  the  neu- 
tral countries.  There  was  a  good  deal  of 
confusion.  We  were  all  buying  in  prac- 
tically the  same  countries;  we  were  buy- 
ing against  each  other;  we  were  putting 
up  prices;  it  ended  not  merely  In  confu- 
sion, but  I  am  afraid  in  a  good  deal  of 
extravagance,  because  we  were  increas- 
ing prices  against  each  other.  It  was 
very  necessary  that  there  should  be  some 
working  arrangement  that  would  elim- 
inate this  element  of  competition  and  en- 
able us  to  co-ordinate,  as  it  were,  these 
orders.  There  will  be  less  delay,  there 
will  be  much  more  efficiency,  and  we 
shall  avoid  a  good  deal  of  the  extrava- 
gance which  was  inevitable  owing  to  the 
competition  between  the  three  countries. 

I  have  done  my  best  to  summarize  very 
briefly  the  arrangements  which  have 
been  entered  into,  and  I  would  only  like 
to  say  this  in  conclusion.  After  six 
months  of  negotiation  by  the  cable  and 
three  days  of  conferring  face  to  face  we 
realized  that  better  results  were  achieved 
by  means  of  a  few  hours  of  businesslike 
discussion  by  men  anxious  to  come  to  a 
workable  arrangement  than  by  reams  of 
correspondence.  Misconceptions  and  mis- 
understandings were  cleared  away  in  a 
second  which  otherwise  might  take  weeks 
to  ferment  into  mischief,  and  it  was  our 
conclusion  that  these  conferences  might 
with  profit  to  the  cause  of  the  Allies  be 
extended  to  other  spheres  of  co-opera- 
tion.    [Cheers.] 


Britain's  Unsheathed  Sword 

By  H.  H.  Asquith,  England's  Prime  Minister 

stating  the  estimated  costs  of  the  war  to  Great  Britain,  outlining  the  operations  of  the 
French  and  British  allied  fleets  in  the  Dardanelles,  declaring  the  Allies'  position  in  retalia- 
tion for  the  German  *'  war  zone  "  decree  against  Great  Britain,  and  reaffirming  the  chief 
terms  of  peace,  stated  in  his  Guildhall  speech  of  last  November,  on  which  alone  England 
would  consent  to  sheathe  the  sword,  the  following  speech,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons 
on  March  1,  1915, "by  Prime  Minister  Asquith,  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  war. 


In  Committee  of  Supply. 

Mr.  Asquith,  who  was  loudly  cheered 
on  rising,  moved  the  supplementary  vote 
of  credit  of  £37,000,000  to  meet  the  ex- 
penditure on  naval  and  military  opera- 
tions and  other  expenditure  arising  out 
of  the  war  during  the  year  1914-1915, 
He  said: 

The  first  of  the  two  votes  which  ap- 
pear upon  the  paper,  the  one  which  has 
just    been   read    out,    provides    only   for 
the  financial  year  now  expiring,  and  is 
a    supplementary   vote    of   credit.      The 
vote  that  follows  is  a  vote  of  credit  for 
the  financial  year  1915-1916.     I  think  it 
will   probably   be   convenient   if  in   sub- 
mitting the  first  vote  to  the  committee 
I    make    a    general    statement    covering 
the   whole   matter.      I   may   remind   the 
committee  that  on  Aug.  6  last  year  the 
House    voted   £100,000,000    in    the   first 
vote  of  credit,  and  that  on  Nov.  15  the 
House  passed  a  supplementary  vote  of 
credit  for  £225,000,000,  thus  sanctioning 
total  votes  of  credit  for  the  now  expir- 
ing  financial   year   of   £325,000,000.      It 
has    been   found   that   this   amount   will 
not   suffice   for   the    expenditure    which 
will  have  been  incurred  up  to  March  31, 
and  we  are  therefore  asking  for  a  fur- 
ther vote  of  £37,000,000  to  carry  on  the 
public  service  to  that  date.     If  the  com- 
mittee assents   to  our  proposals  it  will 
raise  the  total  amount  granted  by  votes 
of    credit    for    the    year    1914-1915    to 
£362,000,000.     I  need  not  say   anything 
as  to  the  purposes  for  which  this  vote  is 
required.     They  are   the   same   as   upon 
the  last  occasion.     But  I  ought  to  draw 
attention  to   one  feature   in   which   the 
supplementary  vote,  which  comes  first, 
differs  from  the  vote  to  be  subsequently 
proposed  for  the   services   of  the  year 


1915-1916.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
the  ordinary  supply  on  a  peace  basis 
had  been  voted  by  the  House,  and  con- 
sequently the  votes  of  credit  for  the  now 
current  financial  year,  like  those  on  all 
previous  occasions,  were  to  be  taken  in 
order  to  provide  the  amounts  necessary 
for  naval  and  military  operations  in  ad- 
dition to  the  ordinary  grants  of  Parlia- 
ment. It  consequently  follows  that  the 
expenditure  charged,  or  chargeable,  to 
votes  of  credit  for  this  financial  year 
represent,  broadly  speaking,  the  differ- 
ence between  the  expenditure  of  the  coun- 
try on  a  peace  footing  and  that  expendi- 
ture upon  a  war  footing.  The  total  on 
that  basis,  if  this  supplementary  vote 
is  assented  to,  will  be  £362,000,000. 

For  reasons  the  validity  of  which  the 
committee  has  recognized  on  previous 
occasions,  I  do  not  think  it  desirable  to 
give  the  precise  details  of  the  items 
which  make  up  the  total,  but  without 
entering  into  that  I  may  roughly  appor- 
tion the  expenditure.  For  the  army  and 
the  navy,  according  to  best  estimates 
which  can  at  present  be  framed,  out  of 
the  total  given  there  will  be  required 
approximately  £275,000,000.  That  is  in 
addition,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out, 
to  the  sum  voted  before  the  war  for  the 
army  and  the  navy,  which  amounted  in 
the  aggregate  to  a  little  over  £80,000,- 
000.  That  leaves  unaccounted  for  a 
balance  of  £87,000,000,  of  which  approxi- 
mately £38,000,000  represents  advances 
for  war  expenditure  made,  or  being 
made,  to  the  self-governing  dominions, 
Crown  colonies,  and  protectorates,  as 
explained  in  the  Treasury  minute  last 
November,  under  which  his  Majesty's 
Government  have  undertaken  to  raise 
the  loans  required  by  the  dominions  to 


154 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


meet  the  heavy  expenditure  entailed 
upon  them  on  the  credit  of  the  imperial 
exchequer.  In  addition  to  that  sum  of 
£38,000,000  there  has  been  an  advance 
to  Belgium  of  £10,000,000,  and  to  Serbia 
of  £800,000.  Further  advances  to  these 
allies  are  under  consideration,  the  de- 
tails of  which  it  is  not  possible  yet  to 
make  public.  The  balance  of,  roughly, 
£28,000,000  is  required  for  miscellaneous 
services  covered  by  the  vote  of  credit 
which  have  not  yet  been  separately 
specified. 

I  think  the  committee  will  be  inter- 
ested to  know  what  the  actual  cost  of 
the  war  will  have  been  to  this  country 
as  far  as  we  can  estimate  on  March  31, 
the  close  of  the  financial  year.  The  war 
will  then  have  lasted  for  240  days  and  the 
votes  of  credit  up  to  that  time,  assum- 
ing this  vote  is  carried,  will  amount  to 
£362,000,000.  It  may  be  said,  speaking 
generally,  that  the  average  expenditure 
from  votes  of  credit  will  have  been, 
roughly,  £1,500,000  per  day  throughout 
the  time.  That,  of  course,  is  the  excess 
due  to  the  war  over  the  expenditure  on 
a  peace  footing.  That  represents  the 
immediate  charge  to  the  taxpayers  of 
this  country  for  this  year.  But,  as  the 
committee  knows,  a  portion  of  the  ex- 
penditure consists  of  advances  for  the 
purpose  of  assisting  or  securing  the  food 
supplies  of  this  country  and  will  be 
recoverable  in  whole,  or  to  a  very  large 
extent,  in  the  near  future.  A  further 
portion  represents  advances  to  the  do- 
minions and  to  other  States  which  will 
be  ultimately  repaid.  If  these  items  are 
excluded  from  the  account  the  average 
expenditure  per  day  of  the  war  is  slight- 
ly lower,  but  after  making  full  allow- 
ance for  all  the  items  which  are  in  the 
nature  of  recoverable  loans,  the  daily 
expenditure  does  not  work  out  at  less 
than  £1,200,000. 

These  figures  are  averages  taken  over 
the  whole  period  from  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  but  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
after  the  initial  expenditure  on  mobili- 
zation had  been  incurred,  the  daily  ex- 
penditure was  considerably  below  the 
average,  as  many  charges  had  not  yet 
matured.  The  expenditure  has  risen 
steadily  and  is  now  well  over  the  daily 


average  that  I  have  given.  To  that 
figure  must  be  added,  in  order  to  give 
a  complete  account  of  the  matter,  some- 
thing for  war  services  other  than  naval 
or  military.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
year  these  charges  are  not  likely  to  be 
very  considerable,  but  it  will  probably 
be  within  the  mark  to  say  that  from 
April  1  we  shall  be  spending  over 
£1,700,000  a  day  above  the  normal,  in 
consequence  of  the  war. 

Perhaps  now  I  may  say  something 
which  is  not  strictly  in  order  on  this 
vote,  but  concerns  the  vote  of  credit  for 
the  ensuing  year,  which  amounts,  as  ap- 
pears on  the  paper,  to  £250,000,000.  The 
committee  will  at  once  observe  an  ob- 
vious distinction  between  the  votes  of 
credit  taken  for  the  current  financial 
year  and  that  which  we  propose  to  take 
for  the  ensuing  year.  As  I  have  already 
pointed  out,  at  the  outbreak  of  war  the 
ordinary  supply  of  the  year  had  been 
granted  by  the  House,  and  accordingly 
the  votes  of  credit  for  1914-1915  were 
for  the  amounts  required  beyond  the 
ordinary  grants  of  Parliament  for  the 
cost  of  military  and  naval  operations. 
When  we  came  to  frame  the  estimates 
for  the  ensuing  year,  1915-1916,  the 
Treasury  was  confronted  with  the  diffi- 
culty, which  amounted  to  an  impossi- 
bility, of  presenting  to  Parliament  esti- 
mates in  the  customary  form  for  navy 
and  army  expenditure,  apart  from  the 
cost  of  the  war.  All  the  material  cir- 
cumstances have  been  set  out  in  the 
Treasury  minute  of  Feb.  5,  and  in  prin- 
ciple have  been  approved  by  the  House. 
As  the  committee  will  remember,  the 
total  of  the  estimates  which  we  have 
presented  for  the  army  and  the  navy 
amount  to  only  £15,000  for  the  army 
and  £17,000  for  the  navy,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  the  cost  of  both  these  serv- 
ices will  be  provided  for  out  of  votes 
of  credit,  and  the  vote  of  credit  now 
being  proposed  provides  for  general 
army  and  navy  service  in  as  far  as 
specific  provision  is  not  made  for  them 
in  the  small  estimates  already  pre- 
sented. This  vote  of  credit,  therefore, 
has  two  features  which  I  believe  are 
quite  unique,  and  without  precedent.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  the  largest  single 


BRITAIN'S  UNSHEATHED  SWORD 


155 


vote  on  record  in  the  annals  of  this 
House,  and,  secondly,  as  I  have  said,  it 
provides  for  the  ordinary  as  well  as  for 
the  emergency  expenditure  of  the  army 
and  the  navy.  The  House  may  ask  on 
what  principle  or  basis  has  this  sum  of 
£250,000,000  been  arrived  at.  Of  course 
it  is  difficult,  and  indeed  impossible,  to 
give  any  exact  estimate,  but  as  regards 
the  period,  so  far  as  we  can  forecast  it, 
for  which  this  vote  is  being  taken,  it 
has  been  thought  advisable  to  take  a 
sum  sufficient,  so  far  as  we  can  judge, 
to  provide  for  all  the  expenditure  which 
will  come  in  course  of  payment  up  to 
approximately  the  second  week  in  July 
— that  is  to  say,  a  little  over  three 
months,  or  something  like  100  days  of 
war  expenditure. 

As  regards  the  daily  rate  of  expendi- 
ture— I  have  dealt  hitherto  with  the  ex- 
penditure up  to  March  31 — the  War 
Office  calculates  that  from  the  begin- 
ning of  April,  1915,  the  total  expendi- 
ture on  army  services  will  be  at  the 
rate  of  £1,500,000  per  day,  with  a  tend- 
ency to  increase.  The  total  expenditure 
on  the  navy  at  the  commencement  of 
April  will,  it  is  calculated,  amount  to 
about  £400,000  per  day.  The  aggregate 
expenditure  on  the  army  and  the  navy 
services  at  the  beginning  of  1915-1916 
is  therefore  £1,900,000  per  day,  with  a 
tendency  to  increase,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  our  estimate  the  figure  we  have 
taken  is  a  level  £2,000,000  a  day.  On 
a  peace  footing  the  daily  expenditure 
upon  the  army  and  the  navy  on  the 
basis  of  the  estimates  approved  last 
year  was  about  £220,000  per  day.  So 
that  the  difference  between  £2,000,000 
and  £220,000  represents  what  we  esti- 
mate to  be  the  increased  expenditure 
due  to  the  war  during  the  100  days  for 
which  we  are  now  providing. 

There  are  other  items  belonging  to 
the  same  category  as  those  to  which  I 
have  already  referred  in  dealing  with 
the  supplementary  vote  with  regard  to 
advances  to  our  own  dominions  and 
other  States  for  which  provision  has  also 
had  to  be  made,  and  the  balance  of  the  total 
of  £250,000,000  for  which  we  are  now 
asking,  beyond  the  actual  estimated  ex- 
penditure for  the  army  and  the  navy, 


will  be  applied  to  those  and  kindred  or 
emergency  purposes.  Before  I  pass 
from  the  purely  monetary  aspect  of  the 
matter,  it  may  be  interesting  to  the 
committee  to  be  reminded  of  what  has 
been  our  expenditure  upon  the  great  wars 
of  the  past.  In  the  great  war  which 
lasted  for  over  twenty  years,  from  1793 
to  1815,  the  total  cost  as  estimated  by 
the  best  authorities  was  £831,000,000. 
The  Crimean  war  may  be  put  down,  tak- 
ing everything  into  account,  at  £70,000,- 
000.  The  total  cost  of  the  war  charges 
in  South  Africa  from  1899  to  March 
31,  1903,  was  estimated  in  a  return  pre- 
sented to  Parliament  at  £211,000,000.  In 
presenting  these  two  votes  of  credit  the 
Government  are  making  a  large  pecuniary 
demand  on  the  House,  a  demand  which 
in  itself  and  beyond  comparison  is  larger 
than  has  ever  been  made  in  the  House 
of  Commons  by  any  British  Minister  in 
the  whole  course  of  our  history. 

We  make  it  with  the  full  conviction 
that  after  seven  months  of  war  the 
country  and  the  whole  empire  are  every 
whit  as  determined  as  they  were  at  the 
outset  [cheers]  if  need  be  at  the  cost 
of  all  we  can  command  both  in  men  and 
in  money  to  bring  a  righteous  cause  to 
a  triumphant  issue.  [Cheers.]  There  is 
much  to  encourage  and  to  stimulate  us 
in  what  we  see.  Nothing  has  shaken 
and  nothing  can  shake  our  faith  in  the 
unbroken  spirit  of  Belgium,  [cheers,]  in 
the  undefeated  heroism  of  indomitable 
Serbia,  in  the  tenacity  and  resource  with 
which  our  two  great  allies,  one  in  the 
west  and  the  other  in  the  east,  hold 
their  far-flung  lines  and  will  continue 
to  hold  them  till  the  hour  comes  for  an 
irresistible  advance.  [Cheers.]  Our  own 
dominions  and  our  great  dependency 
of  India  have  sent  us  splendid  contri- 
butions of  men,  a  large  number  of  whom 
already  are  at  the  front,  and  before  very 
long,  in  one  or  another  of  the  actual 
theatres  of  war,  the  whole  of  them  will 
be  in  the  fighting  line.  [Cheers.]  We 
hear  today  with  great  gratification  that 
the  Princess  Patricia's  Canadian  regi- 
ment has  been  doing,  during  these  last 
few  days,  most  gallant  and  efficient 
service.     [Cheers.] 

We  have  no  reason   to  be   otherwise , 


156 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


than  satisfied  with  the  progress  of  re- 
cruiting here  at  home.  [Cheers.]  The 
territorial  divisions  now  fully  trained 
are  capable — I  say  it  advisedly — of  con- 
fronting any  troops  in  the  world, 
[cheers,]  and  the  new  armies,  which 
have  lately  been  under  the  critical  scru- 
tiny of  skilled  observers,  are  fast  realiz- 
ing all  our  most  sanguine  hopes.  A  war 
carried  on  upon  this  gigantic  scale  and 
under  conditions  for  which  there  is  no 
example  in  history  is  not  always  or 
every  day  a  picturesque  or  spectacular 
affair.  Its  operations  are  of  necessity 
in  appearance  slow  and  dragging.  With- 
out entering  into  strategic  details,  I  can 
assure  the  committee  that  with  all  the 
knowledge  and  experience  which  we  have 
now  gained,  his  Majesty's  Government 
have  never  been  more  confident  than  they 
are  today  in  the  power  as  well  as  the  will 
of  the  Allies  to  achieve  ultimate  and 
durable  victory.  [Cheers.]  I  will  not 
enter  in  further  detail  to  what  I  may 
call  the  general  military  situation,  but 
I  should  like  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
committee  for  a  few  moments  to  one  or 
two  aspects  of  the  war  which  of  late 
have  come  prominently  into  view. 

I  will  refer  first  to  the  operations 
which  are  now  in  progress  in  the  Dar- 
danelles. [Cheers.]  It  is  a  good  rule 
in  war  to  concentrate  your  forces  on 
the  main  theatre  and  not  to  dissipate 
them  in  disconnected  and  sporadic  ad- 
ventures, however  promising  they  may 
appear  to  be.  That  consideration,  I  need 
hardly  say,  has  not  been  lost  sight  of 
in  the  councils  of  the  Allies.  There  has 
been  and  there  will  be  no  denudation  or 
impairment  of  the  forces  which  are  at 
Avork  in  Flanders,  and  both  the  French 
and  ourselves  will  continue  to  give  them 
the  fullest,  and  we"  believe  the  most  ef- 
fective, support.  Nor,  what  is  equally 
important,  has  there  for  the  purpose  of 
these  operations  been  any  weakening  of 
the  grand  fleet.  [Cheers.]  The  enter- 
prise which  is  now  going  on,  and  so  far 
has  gone  on  in  a  manner  which  reflects, 
as  I  think  the  House  will  agree,  the 
highest  credit  on  all  concerned,  was 
carefully  considered  and  conceived  with 
very  distinct  and  definite  objects — po- 
litical, strategic,  and  economical.     Some 


of  these  objects  are  so  obvious   as   not 
to    need    statement    and    others    are    of 
such  a  character  that  it  is  perhaps  bet- 
ter for  the  moment  not  to  state  them. 
[Laughter   and   cheers.]      But    I   should 
like    to   advert   for   a   moment,   without 
any  attempt  to  forecast  the  future,  to 
two  features  in  this  matter.     The  first 
is,  that  it  once  more  indicates  and  illus- 
trates the  close  co-operation  of  the  Allies 
— in  this  case  the  French  and  ourselves 
— in   the  new  theatre  and  under  some- 
what dissimilar  conditions  to  those  which 
have  hitherto  prevailed,  and  to  acknowl- 
edge what  I  am  sure  the  House  of  Com- 
mons will  be  most  ready  to  acknowledge, 
that   the   splendid   contingent   from    the 
French  Navy  that  our  allies  have  sup- 
plied [cheers]  is  sharing  to  the  full  both 
the  hazards  and  the  glory  of  the  enter- 
prise.     [Cheers.]      The    other    point   on 
which  I  think  it  is  worth  while  to  dwell 
for    a    moment    is    that    this    operation 
shows    in    a    very    significant    way    the 
copiousness  and  the  variety  of  our  naval 
resources.      (Cheers.]     In  order  to  illus- 
trate  that   remark,   take   the   names   of 
the  ships  which  have  actually  been  men- 
tioned in  the  published  dispatches.     The 
Queen  Elizabeth,  [cheers,]  the  first  ship 
to  be  commissioned  of  the  newest  type 
of   what   are    called    superdreadnoughts, 
w^ith    guns    of   power    and    range    never 
hitherto      known      in      naval      warfare. 
[Cheers.]     Side  by  side  with  her  is  the 
Agamemnon,  the  immediate  predecessor 
of  the   dreadnought,  and   in   association 
with  them  the  Triumph,  the  Cornwallis, 
the  Irresistible,  the  Vengeance,  and  the 
Albion — representing,  I  think  I  am  right 
in  saying,  three  or  four  different  types 
of  the   older   predreadnought  battleship 
which  have  been  so  foolishly  and  so  pre- 
maturely regarded  in  some  quarters  as 
obsolete    or    negligible — all    bringing   to 
bear    the    power    of    their    formidable 
twelve-inch    guns    on   the   fortifications, 
with     magnificent     accuracy     and    with 
deadly  effects.      [Cheers.]      When,   as  I 
have   said,  these  proceedings  are  being 
conducted,   so  far   as   the   navy   is   con- 
cerned, without  subtraction  of  any  sort 
or  kind  from  the  strength  and  effective- 
ness of  the  grand  fleet,  I  think  a  word 
of  congratulation   is   due   to   the   Admi- 


BRITAIN'S  UNSHEATHED  SWORD 


157 


ralty  for  the  way  in  which  it  has  utilized 
all  its  resources.     [Cheers.] 

I  pass  from  that  to  another  new  factor 
in  these  military  and  naval  operations 
— the  so-called  German  "  blockade  "  of 
our  coasts.  [Cheers.]  I  shall  have  to 
use  some  very  plain  language.  [Cheers.] 
I  may,  perhaps,  preface  what  I  have  to 
say  by  the  observation  that  it  does  not 
come  upon  us  as  a  surprise.  [Cheers.] 
This  war  began  on  the  part  of  Germany 
with  the  cynical  repudiation  [cheers]  of 
a  solemn  treaty  on  the  avowed  grounds 
that  when  a  nation's  interests  required 
it,  right  and  good  faith  must  give  way 
to  force.  ["Hear,  hear!"]  The  war  has 
been  carried  on,  therefore,  with  a  sys- 
tematic— not  an  impulsive  or  a  casual — 
but  a  systematic  violation  of  all  the  con- 
ventions and  practices  by  which  interna- 
tional agi'eements  had  sought  to  miti- 
gate and  to  regularize  the  cjash  of  arms. 
[Cheers.]  She  has  now,  I  will  not  say 
reached  a  climax,  for  we  do  not  know 
what  may  yet  be  to  come,  but  she  has 
taken  a  further  step  without  any  prece- 
dent in  history  by  mobilizing  and  organ- 
izing not  upon  the  surface  but  under 
the  surface  of  the  sea  a  campaign  of 
piracy  and  pillage.     [Prolonged  cheers.] 

Are  we — can  we — here  I  address  my- 
self to  the  neutral  countries  of  the  world 
— are  we  to  or  can  we  sit  quiet  as  though 
we  were  still  under  the  protection  of  the 
restraining  rules  and  the  humanizing 
usages  of  civilized  warfare?  [Cheers.] 
We  think  we  cannot.  [Cheers.]  The 
enemy,  borrowing  what  I  may,  perhaps, 
for  this  purpose  call  a  neutral  flag  from 
the  vocabulary  of  diplomacy,  describe 
these  newly  adopted  measures  by  a  gro- 
tesque and  puerile  perversion  of  lan- 
guage as  a  "  blockade."  [Laughter.] 
What  is  a  blockade?  A  blockade  con- 
sists in  sealing  up  the  war  ports  of  a 
belligerent  against  sea-borne  traffic  by 
encircling  their  coasts  with  an  impene- 
trable ring  of  ships  of  war.     [Cheers.] 

Where  are  these  ships  of  war?  [Cheers.] 
Where  is  the  German  Navy?  [Cheers.] 
What  has  become  of  those  gigantic  bat- 
tleships and  cruisers  on  which  so  many 
millions  of  money  have  been  spent  and 
in  which  such  vast  hopes  and  ambitions 


have  been  invested?  I  think,  if  my 
memory  serves  me,  they  have  only  twice 
during  the  course  of  these  seven  months 
been  seen  upon  the  open  sea.  Their 
object  in  both  cases  was  the  same — 
murder,  [cheers,]  civilian  outrage,  and 
wholesale  destruction  of  property  in  un- 
defended seaside  towns,  and  on  each 
occasion  when  they  caught  sight  of  the 
approach  of  a  British  foixe  they  showed 
a  clean  pair  of  heels,  and  they  hurried 
back  at  the  top  of  their  speed  to  the 
safe  seclusion  of  their  mine  fields  and 
their  closely  guarded  forts. 

Lord  R.  CECIL— Not  all.    [Laughter.] 

Mr.  ASQUITH—No;  some  had  misad- 
ventures on  the  way.  ["Hear,  hear!" 
and  laughter.]  The  plain  truth  is — the 
German  fleet  is  not  blockading,  cannot 
blockade,  and  never  will  blockade  our 
coasts. 

I  propose  now  to  read  to  the  com- 
mittee the  statement  which  has  been 
prepared  by  his  Majesty's  Government 
and  which  will  be  public  property  to- 
morrow. It  declares,  I  hope  in  suf- 
ficiently plain  and  unmistakable  terms, 
the  view  which  we  take,  not  only  of  our 
rights,  but  of  our  duty.    [Cheers.] 

Germany  has  declared  that  the  English 
Channel,  the  north  and  west  coasts  of 
France,  and  the  waters  around  the  Brit- 
ish Isles  are  a  "  war  area "  and  has 
officially  notified  that  all  enemy  ships 
found  in  that  area  will  be  destroyed  and 
that  neutral  vessels  may  be  exposed  to 
danger.  This  is,  in  effect,  a  claim  to 
torpedo  at  sight,  without  regard  to  the 
safety  of  crew  or  passengers,  any  mer- 
chant vessel  under  any  flag.  As  it  is 
not  in  the  power  of  the  German  Admiralty 
to  maintain  any  surface  craft  in  these 
waters,  the  attack  can  only  be  delivered 
by  submarine  agency.  The  law  and  cus- 
tom of  nations  in  regard  to  attacks  on 
commerce  have  always  presumed  that  the 
first  duty  of  the  captor  of  a  merchant 
vessel  is  to  bring  it  before  a  prize  court, 
where  it  may  be  tried,  and  where  the 
regularity  of  the  capture  may  be  chal- 
lenged, and  where  neutrals  may  recover 
their  cargoes.  The  sinking  of  prizes  is 
in  itself  a  questionable  act,  to  be  resorted 
to  only  in  extraordinary  circumstances 
and  after  provision  has  been  made  for  the 
safety  of  all  the  crew  or  passengers— if 
there  are  passengers  on  board.  The  re- 
sponsibility for  discriminating  between 
^.eutral  and  enemy  vessels,  and  between 
neutral  and  enemy  cargo,  obviously  rests 


158 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


with  the  attacking  ship,  whose  duty  it  is 
to  verify  the  status  and  cliaracter  of  the 
vessel  and  cargo  and  to  preserve  all 
papers  before  sinking  or  even  capturing 
the  ship.  So,  also,  is  the  humane  duty 
to  provide  for  tlie  safety  of  the  crews  of 
merchant  vessels,  whether  neutral  or 
enemy,  an  obligation  on  every  belligerent. 
It  is  on  this  basis  that  all  previous  dis- 
cussions of  the  law  for  regulating  war- 
fare at  sea  have  proceeded. 

The  German  submarine  fulfills  none  of 
these  obligations.  She  enjoys  no  local 
command  of  the  waters  in  which  she 
operates.  She  does  not  take  her  captures 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  prize  court ; 
she  carries  no  prize  crew  which  she  can 
put  on  board  the  prize  she  seizes.  She 
uses  no  effective  means  of  discriminating 
between  a  neutral  and  an  enemy  vessel ; 
she  does  not  receive  on  board,  for  safety, 
the  crew  of  the  vessel  she  sinks.  Her 
methods  of  warfai'e  are,  therefore,  en- 
tirely outside  the  scope  of  any  of  the 
international  instruments  regulating  oper- 
ations against  commerce  in  time  of  war. 
The  German  declaration  substitutes  in- 
discriminate destruction  for  regulated 
capture.  [Cheers.]  Germany  is  adopting 
these  methods  against  peaceful  traders 
and  non-combatant  crews  with  the  avowed 
object  of  preventing  commodities  of  all 
kinds,  including  food  for  the  civil  popu- 
lation, from  reaching  or  leaving  the  Brit- 
ish  Isles  and   Northern   France. 

Her  opponents  are  therefore  driven  to 
'  frame  retaliatory  measures  [loud  cheers] 
in  order,  in  their  turn,  to  prevent  com- 
modities of  any  kind  [loud  cheers]  from 
reaching  or  leaving  the  German  Empire. 
[Renewed  cheers.]  These  measures  will, 
however,  be  enforced  by  the  British  and 
French  Governments,  without  risk  to 
neutral  ships  or  to  neutral  or  non-com- 
batant lives,  and  with  strict  observance 
of  the  dictates  of  humanity.  The  British 
arid  French  Governments  will  therefore 
hold  themselves  free  to  detain  and  take 
into  port  .ships  carrying  goods  of  pre- 
sumed enemy  destination,  ownership,  or 
origin.  It  is  not  intended  to  confiscate 
such  vessels  or  cargoes  unless  they  would 
be  otherwise  lialjle  to  confiscation.  Ves- 
sels witli  cargoes  which  have  sailed  before 
this  date  will  not  be  affected.  [Loud 
cheers.] 

That,  Sir,  is  our  reply.  [Cheers.]  I 
may  say,  before  I  comment  upon  it,  that 
the  suggestion  .which  I  see  is  put  for- 
ward from  a  German  quarter  that  we 
have  rejected  some  proposal  or  sug- 
gestion made  to  the  two  powers  by  the 
United  States  Government — I  will  not 
say  anything  more  than  that  it  is  quite 
untrue.  On  the  contrary,  all  we  have 
said  to  the  United  States  Government  is 


that  we  are  taking  it  into  careful  con- 
sideration in  consultation  with  our  allies. 

Now  the  committee  will  have  observed 
that  in  the  statement  which  I  have  just 
read  of  the  retaliatory  measures  we 
propose  to  adopt,  the  words  "  blockade  " 
and  "  contraband "  and  other  technical 
terms  of  international  law  do  not  occur. 
And  advisedly  so.  In  dealing  with  an 
opponent  who  has  openly  repudiated  all 
the  principles  both  of  law  and  of  hu- 
manity we  are  not  going  to  allow  our 
efforts  to  be  strangled  in  a  network  of 
juridical  niceties.  [Cheers.]  We  do  not 
intend  to  put  into  operation  any  meas- 
ures which  we  do  not  think  to  be  ef- 
fective, [cheers,]  and  I  need  not  say  we 
shall  carefully  avoid  any  measure  which 
would  violate  the  rules  either  of  hu- 
manity or  of  honesty.  But,  subject  to 
those  two  conditions,  I  say  not  only  to 
our  enemy,  but  I  say  it  on  behalf  of 
the  Government,  and  I  hope  on  behalf 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  that  under 
existing  conditions  there  is  no  form  of 
economic  pressure  to  which  we  do  not 
consider  ourselves  entitled  to  resort. 
[Loud  cheers.]  If,  as  a  consequence, 
neutrals  suffer  inconvenience  and  loss 
of  trade,  we  regret  it,  but  we  beg  them 
to  remember  that  this  phase  of  the  war 
was  not  initiated  by  us.  [Cheers.]  We 
do  not  propose  either  to  assassinate  their 
seamen  or  to  destroy  their  goods.  What 
we  are  doing  we  do  solely  in  self-defense 

If,  again,  as  is  possible,  hardship  is 
caused  to  the  civil  and  non-combatant 
population  of  the  enemy  by  the  cutting 
off  of  supplies,  we  are  not  doing  more 
in  this  respect  than  was  done  in  the 
days  when  Germany  still  acknowledged 
the  authority  of  the  law  of  nations 
sanctioned  by  the  first  and  the  greatest 
of  her  Chancellors,  and  as  practiced  by 
the  expressed  declaration  of  his  suc- 
cessor. We  are  quite  prepared  to  sub- 
mit to  the  arbitrament  of  neutral  opin- 
ion in  this  war  in  the  circumstances  in 
which  we  have  been  placed.  We  have 
been  moderate  and  restrained,  and  we 
have  abstained  from  things  which  we 
were  provoked  and  tempted  to  do,  and 
we  have  adopted  the  policy  which  recom- 
mends itself  to  reason,  common  sense, 
and  to  justice. 


BRITAIN'S  UNSHEATHED  SWORD 


159 


This  new  aspect  of  the  war  only 
serves  to  illusti'ate  and  to  emphasize  the 
truth  that  the  gravity  and  the  magni- 
tude of  the  task  which  we  have  under- 
taken does  not  diminish,  but  increases, 
as  the  months  roll  by.  The  call  for  men 
to  join  our  fighting  forces,  which  is  our 
primary  need,  has  been  and  is  being 
nobly  responded  to  here  at  home  and 
throughout  the  empire.  That  call,  we 
say  with  all  plainness  and  directness, 
was  never  more  urgent  or  more  im- 
perious than  today.  For  this  is  a  war 
not  only  of  men  but  of  material.  'To 
take  only  one  illustration,  the  expendi- 
ture upon  ammunition  on  both  sides  has 
been  on  a  scale  and  at  a  rate  which  is 
not  only  without  all  precedent  but  is 
far  in  excess  of  any  expert  forecast.  At 
such  a  time  patriotism  has  cast  a  heavy 
burden  on  the  shoulders  of  all  who  are 
engaged  in  trades  or  manufactures  which 
directly  or  indirectly  minister  to  the 
equipment  of  our  forces.  It  is  a  burden, 
let  me  add,  which  falls,  or  ought  to  fall, 
with  even  weight  on  both  employers  and 
employed.  [Cheers.]  Differences  as  to 
remuneration  or  as  to  profit,  as  to  hours 
and  conditions  of  labor,  which  in  ordinary 
times  might  well  justify  a  temporary 
cessation  of  work  should  no  longer  be 
allowed  to  do  so.  The  first  duty  of  all 
concerned  is  to  go  on  producing  with 
might  and  main  what  the  safety  of  the 
State  requires,  [cheers,]  and  if  this  is 
done  I  can  say  with  perfect  confidence 
the  Government  on  its  part  will  insure 
a  prompt  and  equitable  settlement  of 
disputed  points,  and  in  cases  of  proved 
necessity  will  give  on  behalf  of  the  State 
such  help  as  is  in  their  power.  [Cheers.] 
Sailors  and  soldiers,  employers  and 
workmen  in  the  industrial  world  are  all 
at  this  moment  partners  and  co-operat- 
ors in  one  great  enterprise.  The  men 
in  the  shipyards  and  the  engineering 
shops,  the  workers  in  the  textile  fac- 
tories, the  miner  who  sends  the  coal  to 
the  surface,  the  dockyard  laborer  who 
helps  to  load  and  unload  the  ships,  and 
those  who  employ  and  organize  and 
supervise  their  labors  are  one  and  all 
rendering  to  their  country  a  service  as 
vital  and  as  indispensable  as  the  gallant 


men  who  line  the  trenches  in  Flanders 
or  in  France  or  who  are  bombarding 
fortresses  in  the  Dardanelles.    [Cheers.] 

I  hear  sometimes  whispers,  hardly 
more  than  whispers,  of  possible  terms 
of  peace.  Peace  is  the  greatest  human 
good,  but  this  is  not  the  time  to  talk  of 
peace.  Those  who  talk  of  peace,  how- 
ever excellent  their  intentions,  are  in 
my  judgment  victims,  I  will  not  say  of 
wanton,  but  of  grievous  self-delusion. 
Just  now  we  are  in  the  stress  and  tumult 
of  a  tempest  which  is  shaking  the  foun- 
dations of  the  earth.  The  time  to  talk 
of  peace  is  when  the  great  tasks  in 
which  we  and  our  allies  embarked  on 
the  long  and  stormy  voyage  are  within 
sight  of  accomplishment.  Speaking  at 
the  Guildhall  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  ban- 
quet last  November  I  used  this  language, 
which  has  since  been  repeated  almost 
in  the  same  terms  by  the  Prime  Minister 
of  France,  and  which  I  believe  repre- 
sents the  settled  sentiment  and  purpose 
of  the  country.     I  said: 

We  shall  never  sheathe  the  sword  which 
we  have  not  lightly  drawn  until  Belgium 
recovers  in  full  measure  all  and  more 
than  she  has  sacrificed,  until  France  is 
adequately  secured  against  the  menace  of 
aggression,  until  the  rights  of  the  smaller 
nationalities  of  Europe  are  placed  upon 
an  unassailable  foundation,  and  until  the 
military  domination  of  Prussia  is  wholly 
and   finally  destroyed.      [Cheers.] 

What  I  said  early  in  November,  now, 
after  four  months,  I  repeat  today.  We 
have  not  relaxed  nor  shall  we  relax  in 
the  pursuit  of  every  one  and  all  of  the 
aims  which  I  have  described.  These  are 
great  purposes,  and  to  achieve  them  we 
must  draw  upon  all  our  resources,  both 
material  and  spiritual.  On  the  one  side, 
the  material  side,  the  demands  presented 
in  these  votes  is  for  men,  for  money, 
for  the  fullest  equipment  of  the  purposes 
of  war.  On  the  other  side,  what  I  have 
called  the  spiritual  side,  the  appeal  is 
to  those  ancient  inbred  qualities  of  our 
race  which  have  never  failed  us  in  times 
of  stress — qualities  of  self-mastery,  self- 
sacrifice,  patience,  tenacity,  willingness 
to  bear  one  another's  burdens,  a  unity 
which  springs  from  the  dominating  sense 
of  a  common  duty,  unfailing  faith,  in- 
flexible resolve.    [Loud  cheers.] 


Sweden's   Scandinavian 
Leadership 

By  a  Swedish  Political  Expert 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  Feb.  4,  1915.] 


IN  common  with  a  majority  of  the 
other  countries  of  Europe,  Sweden 
has  had  a  full  measure  of  experi- 
ence in  the  difficulties  confronting 
neutral  powers  while  a  world  struggle 
like  the  present  European  conflict  is  in 
progress,  and  has  learned  that,  even  if 
it  may  prove  effective  in  averting  blood- 
shed, neutrality  does  not  by  any  means 
insure  a  nation  against  the  other  vicissi- 
tudes of  war.  Aside  from  operations  of 
a  purely  military  character,  the  groups 
of  belligerent  powers  are  carrying  on 
a  commercial  warfare  of  constantly  in- 
creasing intensity.  It  is  characteristic, 
perhaps,  that  both  parties  to  the  strug- 
gle, as  time  goes  on,  appear  to  become 
more  and  more  indifferent  to  the  injury 
incidentally  inflicted  on  neutral  coun- 
tries. 

Geographically  situated  so  that  it 
might  provide  easy  transit  for  ship- 
ments both  to  Russia  and  to  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  Sweden,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  has  become  the  object  of  lively 
interest  to  both  groups  of  warring  na- 
tions in  their  dual  concern  of  securing 
advantages  to  themselves  and  placing 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  enemy.  From 
the  very  beginning,  however,  Sweden  has 
maintained  an  attitude  of  strictest  neu- 
trality and  of  loyal  impartiality  toward 
both  sides  in  the  struggle.  It  is  the  ob- 
ject of  this  article  to  set  forth  as  briefly 
as  possible  the  manner  in  which  the  neu- 
trality of  Sweden  has  been  made  mani- 
fest. 

Immediately  after  the  war  broke  out 
in  August  last  year  the  Swedish  Gov- 
ernment proclaimed  its  intention  to  re- 
main   neutral    throughout    the    conflict. 


Simultaneous  action  was  taken  by  the 
Government  for  the  strengthening  of  the 
country's  defenses,  in  the  firm  conviction 
that  only  if  there  was  behind  it  the 
armed  strength  with  which  to  enforce  it 
would  the  neutrality  of  Sweden  be  re- 
spected. A  move  of  the  most  profound 
significance — the  first  in  our  endeavors 
to  create  in  Scandinavia  a  neutral 
"  centre  "  and  to  gird  ourselves  with  a 
greater  strength  to  make  our  peaceful 
intentions  effective — was  made  on  Aug. 
8  of  last  year,  when  the  Foreign  Min- 
isters of  Sweden  and  Norway  appeared 
in  the  representative  assemblies  of  both 
peoples  and  delivered  identically  worded 
explanatory  communications  in  which 
was  embodied  a  statement  to  the  effect 
that  the  Swedish  and  Norwegian  Govern- 
ments had  agreed  to  maintain  their  neu- 
trality throughout  the  war  at  any  cost, 
and  that  the  two  Governments  had  ex- 
changed mutually  binding  and  satisfac- 
tory assurances  with  a  view  to  prevent- 
ing any  situation  growing  out  of  the  state 
of  war  in  Europe  from  precipitating 
either  country  into  acts  of  hostility  di- 
rected against  the  other. 

In  the  meantime,  neutral  commerce  and 
shipping  during  the  months  that  followed 
were  exposed  to  most  serious  infringe- 
ments by  the  warring  powers,  such  as  the  j 
closing  of  ports  by  mines;  limitations  I 
in  the  rights  of  neutral  shipping  to  the 
use  of  the  sea  (mare  libre)  and  of  other 
established  routes  of  maritime  trade;  ar- 
bitrary broadening  in  the  definition  of 
what  shall  constitute  contraband  of  war, 
&c.  As  an  instance  it  may  be  stated  that 
England  for  a  time  treated  magnetic 
iron  ore  as  contraband  of  war  and  that 


SIR    PERCY    SCOTT 

British  Admiral,  Who  Asserted  Before  the  War  Began  That  the 

Submarine  Had  Sounded  the  Deathknell  of  the  Dreadnought 

(Photo  from  Rogers) 


GENERAL     LOUIS    BOTHA 

The  Famous  Boer  Leader,  Premier  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa, 

Now  Commanding  the  British  South  African  Forces 

(Photo  from  Paul   Thompaon) 


SWEDEN'S  SCANDINAVIAN  LEADERSHIP 


IGI 


Germany  still  persists  in  so  regarding 
certain  classes  of  manufactured  wood.  In 
both  these  instances  Swedish  exports 
have  suffered  severely.  On  initiative 
taken  by  the  Swedish  Government  in  the 
middle  of  last  November  the  Governments 
cf  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway  lodged 
identically  worded  protests  with  the  en- 
voys of  certain  of  the  powers  engaged 
in  the  war  against  measures  taken  by 
them  which  threatened  serious  disturb- 
ance to  neutral  traffic. 

One  further  step — of  the  utmost  im- 
portance through  what  it  accomplished 
toward  establishing  firmly  the  position 
of  the  neutral  States  in  the  north — was 
the  meeting  between  the  Kings  of  Swe- 
den, Norway,  and  Denmark  at  Malmo 
on  Dec.  19  last.  This  meeting  was  es- 
pecially designed  to  provide  an  oppor- 
tunity for  taking  counsel  together  re- 
garding means  which  may  be  resorted 
to  for  the  purpose  of  limiting  and  coun- 
teracting the  economical  difficulties  im- 
posed on  the  three  countries  through  the 
war.  The  meeting  at  Malmo  served  not 
only  to  give  most  powerful  expression 
to  the  common  determination  of  the 
rorthern  kingdoms  to  remain  neutral, 
but  it  became  the  means  also  of  agree- 
ing upon  and  adopting  a  modus  vivendi 
for  continued  co-operation  between  the 
three  countries  during  the  war  for  the 
protection  of  interests  they  have  in  com- 
mon. 

In  this  manner  Sweden  has  led  in  a 
movement  to  establish  for  the  northern 
countries  a  potential  policy  of  neutrality 
with  the  practical  aim  of  limiting  and 
reducing  to  a  minimum  the  economical 
difficulties  consequent  upon  the  existing 
i'tate  of  war. 

From  what  already  has  been  said  it 
appears  clearly,  too,  how  completely 
without  justification  have  been  the  ac- 
cusations which  have  been  voiced  from 
tims  to  time  in  the  press  of  countries 
that  enter  into  either  of  the  belligerent 
groups — that  Sweden,  now  in  one  re- 
spect and  now  in  another,  had  shown 
partiality  to  the  adversary.  Thus,  sus- 
picion has  been  cast,  with  no  justifi- 
cation whatever,  on  the  circumstance 
that  during  the  last  month  Sweden  has 


imported  large  quantities  of  necessaries 
which  would  have  been  both  valuable 
and  helpful  to  the  belligerents.  And  yet, 
this  increase  in  the  Swedish  imports  is 
very  readily  explained  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  necessary,  partly,  in  order  to  make 
up  for  an  existing  shortage  in  supplies 
due  to  stopped  traffic  during  the  first 
months  of  the  war,  and,  partly,  to  in- 
sure ability  to  fill  Swedish  demands  for 
some  time  to  come.  A  country  which  de- 
sires to  remain  neutral  is  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  submit  to  dictation  from  any  of 
the  belligerent  nations,  but  this  very 
thing  is  frequently  interpreted  by  one 
party  to  a  struggle  as  involving  an  un- 
derstanding with  the  other. 

But  Sweden's  peaceful  resolve  and  her 
fixed  determination  to  maintain  her  life 
as  a  nation  against  all  attempts  at  en- 
croachment would  count  for  little  if  be- 
hind her  word  there  did  not  exist  the 
strength  to  make  it  good  and  material 
resources  to  fall  back  on  when  the  de- 
mand comes.  That  these  exist  in  Sv/eden 
will  be  shown  in  the  following  with  some 
data  of  Sweden's  economics. 

With  a  population  of  5,700,000,  dis- 
tributed over  an  area  of  448,000  square 
kilometers,  (170,977  square  miles,)  as 
compared  with  9,415,000  square  kilo- 
meters (3,025,600  square  miles)  in  the 
United  States,  Sweden,  in  comparison 
with  European  countries  in  general,  is 
very  sparsely  inhabited.  The  possibili- 
ties for  growth  and  development,  how- 
ever, are  great  owing  to  natural  re- 
sources, which  are  both  rich  and  varied. 
Of  Sweden's  area,  40,000  square  kilo- 
meters (15,266  square  miles)  is  culti- 
vated land.  The  value  of  the  annual 
production  of  grain  is  estimated  at 
about  340,000,000  kroner,  (about  $91,900,- 
000,)  offset  by  an  import  of  grain  which 
exceeds  the  export  by  about  70,000,000 
kroner,  (about  $18,900,000.)  From  this 
it  appears  that  agriculture  as  yet  re- 
tains its  place  as  the  principal  industry 
of  the  country.  With  the  bigger  half  of 
the  country's  area  timber  and  the  rivers 
well  adapted  to  logging,  Sweden  quite 
naturally  has  become  one  of  the  foremost 
countries  in  the  world  in  the  export  of 
naturally  has  become  one  of  the  foremost 
countries  in  the  world  in  the  expert  of 


162 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


lumber,  wood  pulp,  and  manufactured 
wood.  Another  natural  product  of  Swe- 
den, and  one  of  the  utmost  importance, 
is  iron  ore,  of  which  there  was  exported 
in  1913  to  the  value  of  about  69,000,000 
kroner,  (about  $18,500,000,)  chiefly  from 
the  large  mineral  fields  in  the  northern- 
most part  of  the  country.  Besides  this 
production  of  raw  material,  Sweden  has 
important  manufacturing  industries 
which  thrive  as  a  result  of  the  abundant 
supply  of  water  power,  an  extensive  net- 
work of  railroads,  and  a  shipping  in- 
dustry which  is  in  a  state  of  flourishing 
development. 

The  total  output  of  our  Swedish  in- 
dustries (mining  not  included)  in  1912 
was  appraised  at  a  net  (manufacturing) 
value  of  1,778,000,000  kroner,  (about 
$481,600,000.)  Of  this  total,  476,000,000 
kroner  (about  $128,600,000)  represents 
foodstuffs  and  luxuries,  353,000,000  kro- 
ner (about  $95,400,000)  wood  products, 
&c.;  222,000,000  kroner  ($60,000,000) 
textile  products,  and  so  on. 

A  few  figures  will  illustrate  Sweden's 
exchange  of  products  with  foreign  coun- 
tries. In  1912  the  foreign  trade  of  Swe- 
den reached  a  total  of  1,554,000,000  kro- 
ner, (about  $420,000,000.)  The  imports 
aggregated  794,000,000  kroner  (about 
$214,600,000)  and  the  exports  760,000,- 
000  kroner,  (about  $205,400,000,)  thus 
showing  a  relatively  advantageous  trade 
balance.  Of  the  imported  values,  28  per 
cent,  was  foodstuffs  and  luxuries,  45  per 
cent,  raw  materials,  and  26  per  cent,  ar- 
ticles manufactured  either  wholly  or  in 
part.  Of  the  exports,  14  per  cent,  was 
foodstuffs  and  luxuries,  23  per  cent,  raw 
materials,  and  not  less  than  63  per  cent, 
articles  of  manufacture,  finished  com- 
pletely or  in  part. 

The  principal  industrial  products  rep- 
resented jimong  these  exports  are  enum- 
erated here : 

Kroner. 
Wood    products.  1,912,000,000    'JSIG.TOO.OOO 

Pulp  and  paper.    134,000,000  30,000,000 

Metal   products..    105,000,000  28.400,000 

Machinery    50,000,000  15,400,000 

Matches    16,000,000  4,300,000 

Pottery  products      15,000,000  4,000.000 

•The  amounts  in  this  column  are  close 
approximates. 


With  regard  to  our  exports,  there  have 
been  especially  large  increases  in  those 
of  pulp  and  machinery.  The  principal 
types  of  machinery  which  figure  among 
the  exports  of  Sweden  are  milk  sepa- 
rators, oil  motors,  telephone  apparatus, 
electric  engines,  and  ball  bearings.  In 
these  exports  are  plainly  indicated  the 
inventive  genius  of  the  Swedes  and  their 
aptitude  for  technical  and  industrial 
pursuits. 

With  reference  to  the  Swedish  rail- 
roads, this  fact  is  deserving  of  mention: 
Sweden  leads  all  Europe  with  2.5  kilo- 
meters to  each  1,000  inhabitants,  (United 
States  has  4.14  kilometers.)  The  mer- 
cantile marine  of  Sweden  has  experi- 
enced powerful  growth  in  recent  years. 
In  1912,  with  a  net  tonnage  of  805,000, 
it  held  the  sixth  place  among  the  mer- 
chant fleets  of  Europe,  being  ahead  of, 
among  other  countries,  Spain,  Russia, 
and  the  Netherlands.  Especially  has 
the  growth  in  Sweden's  merchant  ma- 
rine been  pronounced  since  1904,  when 
the  first  regular  ocean  lines  with  Swed- 
ish vessels  were  established.  Today 
Swedish  steamship  lines  are  maintain- 
ing regular  traffic  with  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Thus,  among  other  things,  Swe- 
den has  established  freight  lines,  with 
steamers  plying  to  both  the  east  and  west 
coasts  of  North  America.  Quite  recently, 
despite  the  financial  crisis  brought  on 
by  the  war,  a  company  has  been  formed 
with  the  object  of  establishing  passenger 
traffic  with  Swedish  steamships  of  high 
speed  between  Gothenburg  and  either 
New  York  or  Boston. 

After  scrutinizing  these  figures  the 
reader  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  the 
assertion  that  Sweden  is  exceptionally 
well  situated  from  an  economical  point 
of  view,  and,  perhaps,  is  among  the  coun- 
tries which  have  been  least  affected  by 
the  economical  crisis  consequent  upon  the 
war.  The  national  debt  of  Sweden,  which 
was  created  very  largely  with  a  view  to 
financing  the  construction  of  the  Gov- 
ernment railroads  and  for  other  produc- 
tive purposes,  is  at  present  only  720,000,- 
000  kroner,  (about  $194,500,000.)  This 
is  only  126  kroner  (a  small  fraction  above 
$34)  for  each  inhabitant,  while  the  cor- 
responding figure  for  France  in  1913  was 


SWEDEN'S  SCANDINAVIAN  LEADERSHIP 


163 


591  kroner,  (nearly  $160;)  the  Nether- 
lands, 282  kroner,  ($70.62;)  Great  Bri- 
tain, 280  kroner,  ($70.57;)  Germany,  276 
kroner,  ($70.40;)  Italy,  270  kroner, 
($70.30,)  &c.  Against  the  national  debt 
of  720,000,000  kroner  (about  $194,500,- 
000)  Sweden  has  Crown  assets  at  this 
time  appraised  at  1,761,000,000  kroner 
net,  (nearly  $476,000,000.) 


Another  evidence  of  the  splendid  fi- 
nancial condition  of  Sweden  is  afforded 
in  the  fact  that,  since  the  war  broke 
out  and  countries  which  under  normal 
conditions  might  be  looked  to  for  loarts 
had  closed  their  markets  to  foreign  na- 
tions, the  domestic  market  has  been  able 
to  supply  fully  all,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate, demands  for  funds.  Thus,  when  the 


164 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Swedish  Government,  early  last  October, 
sought  a  loan  of  30,000,000  kroner  at 
home,  this  was  fully  subscribed  in  three 
days.  Nor  have  municipalities  or  private 
banks  encountered  any  difficulty  in  plac- 
ing bonds  for  amounts  of  considerable 
size  in  the  domestic  market.  The  only 
loan  for  which  the  Swedish  Government 
has  contracted  abroad  during  the  crisis 
was  for  $5,000,000,  and  this  was  placed  in 
New  York  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating 
payments  for  large  purchases  of  Ameri- 
can grain. 

At  least  a  few  words  with  particular 
reference  to  the  commercial  intercourse 
between  Sweden  and  the  United  States. 
According  to  statistics  from  the  year 
1912,  the  imports  of  Sweden  from  the 
United  States  were  of  the  aggregate 
value  of  60,000,000  kroner,  (about  $16,- 
200,000,)  while  the  exports  aggregated 
32,000,000  kroner,  (about  $8,600,000.)  The 
principal  imports  were:  Cotton,  17,- 
000,000  kroner,  (about  $4,600,000;)  oils, 
12,000,000  kroner,  (about  $3,240,000;) 
copper,  6,200,000  kroner,  (about  $1,675,- 
000;)  machinery,  5,000,000  kroner,  (about 
$1,350,000;)  grain  and  flour,  2,300,000 
kroner,  (about  $621,000;)  bacon,  1,700,000 
kroner,  (about  $460,000.)  The  principal 
articles  of  export  in  the  same  year  were : 


Pulp,  12,400,000  kroner,  (about  $3,350,- 
000;)  manufactured  iron  and  steel,  8,100,- 
000  kroner,  (about  $2,200,000;)  iron  ore, 
3,600,000  kroner,  (about  $973,000;)  paper, 
2,100,000  kroner,  (about  $568,000;)  elas- 
tic gum  refuse,  1,900,000  kroner,  (about 
$514,000;)  matches,  1,300,000  kroner, 
(about  $350,000.) 

Since  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in 
August  last  year  there  has  been  a  tre- 
mendous increase  in  trade  between  Swe- 
den and  the  United  States.  The  tonnage 
employed  in  this  trade  has  been  multi- 
plied many  times  in  order  adequately  to 
care  for  the  traffic.  Sweden  has  sought 
to  secure  in  the  United  States  a  multi- 
plicity of  necessaries  which  under  normal 
conditions  have  been  obtained  from  the 
belligerent  countries.  From  the  United 
States,  too,  there  has  come  an  increased 
demand  for  many  Swedish  products. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  large  portion 
of  this  commerce,  which  has  been  the 
artificial  outgrowth  of  unusual  condi- 
tions, will  continue,  even  after  the  pres- 
ent world  crisis  shall  happily  have  be- 
come a  thing  of  the  past.  Surely,  it 
would  be  to  the  mutual  advantage  of 
both  countries  to  develop  and  strengfthen 
their  direct  trade  relations. 


FROM  ENGLAND 

By  MAURICE   HEWLETT. 
[From  King   Albert's  Book.] 

OMEN  of  mickle  heart  and  little  speech, 
Slow,    stubborn    countrymen    of    heath 
and  plain. 
Now  have  ye  shown  these  insolent  again 
That    which    to    Caesar's    legions    ye    could 

teach, 
That    slow-provok'd    is    long-provok'd.      May 
each 
Crass  Caesar  learn  this  of  the  Keltic  grraln. 
Until  at  last  they  reckon  it  in  vain 
To  browbeat  us  who  hold  the  Western  reach. 

For  even  as  you  are,  we  are,  ill  to  rouse. 
Rooted  in  Custom.  Order,  Church,  and  King; 
And  as  you  fight  for  their  sake,  so  shall  we, 
Doggedly  inch  by  inch,  and  house  by  house; 
Seeing  for  us,  too,  there's  a  dearer  thing 
Than  land  or  blood — and  that  thing  Liberty. 


I 


War  Correspondence 

The  Beloved  Hindenburg 

A  Pen  Portrait  of  the  German  Commander  in  Chief  in  the  East 

[By  a  Staff  Correspondent  of  The  New  York  Times.] 


GERMAN  GREAT  HEADQUAR- 
-  TERS,  EAST,  Feb.  10.— But  for 
the  "  field  gray  "  coat  and  the 
militant  mustache,  I  should  have 
taken  him  for  a  self-made  American,  a 
big  business  man  or  captain  of  industry, 
as  he  sat  at  his  work  desk,  the  telephone 
at  his  elbow,  the  electric  push-buttons 
and  reams  of  neat  reports  adding  to 
the  illusion.  Quiet,  unassuming,  and 
democratic,  he  yet  makes  the  same  im- 
pression of  virility  and  colossal  energy 
that  Colonel  Roosevelt  does,  but  with 
an  iron  restraint  of  discipline  which  the 
American  never  possessed,  and  an  earn- 
estness of  face  and  eye  that  I  had  only 
seen  matched  in  his  Commander  in  Chief, 
the  Kaiser.  Here  was  a  man  whom  the 
most  neutral  American  could  instantly 
admire  and  honor,  regardless  of  the 
merits  of  the  controversy.  It  was  Hin- 
denburg,  the  well  beloved,  the  hope  of 
Germany.  He  has  already  been  "  done  " 
by  journalists  and  Senator  Beveridge, 
tut  70,000,000  are  pinning  their  faith 
to  him,  which  makes  him  worth  "  do- 
ing "  again — and  again. 

For  a  moment  I  nearly  forgot  that  I 
was  an  American  with  "  nerve,"  bent 
on  making  him  say  something,  prefer- 
ably indiscreet;  it  seemed  almost  a 
shame  to  bother  this  man  whose  brain 
was  big  with  the  fate  of  empire.  But, 
although  I  hadn't  been  specially  in- 
vited, but  had  just  "  dropped  in  "  in  in- 
formal American  fashion,  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  all  his  Kaiser's  forces 
in  the  east  stopped  making  history  long 
enough  to  favor  me  with  a  short  but 
thought-provoking  interview. 

As  to  his  past  performances,  the  Field 
Marshal    genially    referred    to    the    de- 


tailed  official   summary;   as   to  the  fu- 
ture, he  protested. 

"  I  am  not  a  prophet.  But  this  I  can 
say.  Tell  our  friends  in  America — and 
also  those  who  do  not  love  us — that  I 
am  looking  forward  with  unshakable 
confidence  to  the  final  victory — and  a 
well-earned  vacation,"  he  added  whimsi- 
cally. "  I  should  like  nothing  better 
than  to  visit  your  Panama  Exposition 
and  meet  your  wonderful  General 
Goethals,  the  master  builder,  for  I 
imagine  our  jobs  are  spiritually  much 
akin;  that  his  slogan,  too,  has  been 
'  durchhalten  '  ('  hold  out ')  until  endur- 
ance and  organization  win  out  against 
heavy  odds." 

Then  with  sudden,  paradoxical,  ter- 
rific quiet  earnest:  "  Great  is  the  task 
that  still  confronts  us,  but  greater  my 
faith  in  my  brave  troops."  One  got 
indelibly  the  impression  that  he  loved 
them  all,  suffered  under  their  hardships 
and  sorrowed  for  their  losses. 

"  For  you,  this  war  is  only  a  titanic 
drama;  we  Germans  feel  it  with  our 
hearts,"  he  said  thoughtfully. 

The  Field  Marshal  spoke  warmly  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  troops,  and  cited 
the  results  of  the  close  co-operation  be- 
tween his  forces  and  the  Austrian 
armies  as  striking  proof  of  the  proverb, 
"  In  union  is  strength."  Like  all  other 
German  Generals  whom  I  had  "  done," 
he,  too,  had  words  of  unqualified  praise 
for  the  bravery  of  his  enemies.  "  The 
Russians  fight  well;  but  neither  mere 
physical  bravery  nor  numbers,  nor  both 
together,  win  battles  nowadays." 

"  How  about  the  steam  roller?  " 

"It  hasn't  improved  the  roads  a  bit, 


166 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


either  going  forward  or  backward,"  he 
said  with  a  grim  smile. 

"  Are  you  worrying  over  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas's  open  secret?"  I  asked,  citing 
the  report  via  Petrograd  and  London 
of  a  new  projected  Russian  offensive 
that  was  to  take  the  form,  not  of  a 
steam  roller,  but  of  a  "  tidal  wave  of 
cavalry." 

"  It  will  dash  against  a  wall  of  loyal 
flesh  and  blood,  barbed  with  steel — if 
it  comes,"  he  said  simply. 

My  impression,  growing  increasingly 
stronger  the  more  I  have  seen,  that 
German  military  success  had  been  to  no 
small  extent  made  possible  by  American 
inventive  genius  and  high-speed  Amer- 
ican methods,  received  interesting  par- 
tial confirmation  from  the  Field  Mar- 
shal, whose  keen,  restless  mind,  working 
over  quite  ordinary  material,  produced 
the  new  suggestive  combination  of  ideas 
that,  while  "  America  might  possibly  be 
materially  assisting  Germany's  enemies 
with  arms,  ammunition,  and  other  v/ar 
material,  certain  it  was  that  America, 
in  the  last  analysis,  had  helped  Ger- 
many far  more." 

"  But  for  America,  my  armies  would 
possibly  not  be  standing  in  Russia  to- 
day— without  the  American  railroading 
genius  that  developed  and  made  possible 
for  me  this  wonderful  weapon,  thanks 
largely  to  which  we  have  been  able  with 
comparatively  small  numbers  to  stop 
and  beat  back  the  Russian  millions  again 
and  again — steam  engine  versus  steam 
roller.  Were  it  for  nothing  else,  Amer- 
ica has  proved  one  of  our  best  friends, 
if  not  an  ally. 

"  We  are  also  awaiting  with  genuine 
interest  the  receipt  of  our  first  Ameri- 
can guns,"  the  Field  Marshal  added. 
How  was  Germany  expecting  to  get 
guns  from  America?  He  was  asked  to 
explain  the  mystery. 

"  I  read  somewhere  in  the  papers  that 
a  large  shipment  of  heavy  cannon  had 
left  America  for  Russia,"  he  said  with 
dry  humor,  "  in  transit  for  us — for  if 
they're  consigned  to  the  Russians,  we'll 
have  them  sooner  or  later,  I  hope;" 
adding,  with  his  habitual  tense  earnest- 
ness, "  the  Arnericans  are  something 
more  than  shrewd,  hard-h6aded  business 


men.  Have  they  ever  vividly  pictured 
to  themselves  a  German  soldier  smashed 
by  an  American  shell,  or  bored  through 
the  heart  by  an  American  bullet?  The 
grim  realism  of  the  battlefield — that 
should  make  also  the  business  man 
thoughtful." 

"  Shall  you  go  west  when  you  have 
cleaned  up  here  in  the  east?  "  I  sug- 
gested. 

"  I  can't  betray  military  secrets  which 
I  don't  know  myself,  even  to  interest  the 
newspaper  readers,"  he  said.  He  gave 
me  the  impression,  however,  that,  east 
or  west,  he  would  be  found  fighting  for 
the  Fatherland  so  long  as  the  Father- 
land needed  him. 

"  Now  it  means  work  again.  You 
must  excuse  me,"  he  concluded,  cour- 
teously. "  You  want  to  go  to  the  front. 
Where  should  you  like  to  go?  " 

"  To  Warsaw,"  I  suggested,  modestly. 

"  I,  too,"  he  laughed,  "  but  today — 
ausgeschlossen,  ('nothing  doing,'  in 
Americanese.)     Still — that  may  be  yet." 

"  May  I  come  along,  your  Excellency  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  then  you  can  see  for  your- 
self what  sort  of  '  barbarians  '  we  Ger- 
mans are." 

"  Dropping  in  on  Hindenburg  "  yields 
some  unimportant  but  interesting  by- 
products. The  railroad  Napoleon,  as  all 
the  world  knows,  lives  and  works  in 
a  palace,  but  this  palace  doesn't  over- 
awe one  who  has  beaten  professionally 
at  the  closed  portals  of  Fifth  Avenue. 
It  would  be  considered  a  modest  coun-* 
try  residence  in  Westchester  County  or 
on  Long  Island.  Light  in  color  and  four 
stories  high,  including  garret,  it  looks 
very  much  like  those  memorials  which 
soap  kings  and  sundry  millionaires  put 
up  to  themselves  in  their  lifetime — the 
American  college  dormitory,  the  modern 
kind  that  is  built  around  three  sides  of 
a  small  court.  The  palace  is  as  simple 
as  the  man. 

The  main  entrance,  a  big  iron  gate- 
way, is  flanked  by  two  guardhouses 
painted  with  white  and  black  stripes, 
the  Prussian  "  colors,"  and  two  unbluff- 
able  Landsturm  men  mount  guard,  who 
will  tell  you  to  go  around  to  the  back 
door. 


WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 


167 


The  ordei-ly  who  opens  the  front  door 
is  a  Sergeant  in  field  gray  uniform. 
You  mount  a  flight  of  marble  steps,  and 
saunter  down  a  marble  hall,  half  a  block 
long.  It  is  the  reception  hall.  It  is  fur- 
nished with  magnificent  hand-carved, 
high-backed  chairs  without  upholstery, 
lounging  not  being  apparently  encour- 
aged here.  They  are  Gothic  structui'es 
backed  up  against  the  walls.  There  is 
no  Brussels  or  Axminster  carpet  on  the 
cold    marble    floor — not    even     Turkish 


rugs.  Through  this  palace  hall,  up  by 
the  ceiling,  runs  a  thick  cable  contain- 
ing the  all-important  telephone  wires. 
The  offices  open  off  the  hall,  the  doors 
labeled  with  neatly  printed  signs  tellings 
who  and  what  is  within.  If  you  should 
come  walking  down  the  street  outside 
at  3  A.  M.  you  would  probably  see  the 
lights  in  Hindenburg's  office  still  burn- 
ing, as  I  did.  At  3:30  they  went  out, 
indicating  that  a  Field  Marshal's  job  is 
not  a  sinecure. 


Feeling  of  the  German  People 

Complete  Confidence  in  Victory  and  Resentment  Toward  England 

[By  a  Staff  Correspondent  of  Thk  Xkw  York  Times.] 


BERLIN,  Feb.  12.— To  the  neutral 
American,  intent  only  on  find- 
ing out  the  truth,  the  most 
thought-provoking  feature  here 
(overlooked  by  foreign  correspondents 
because  of  its  very  featureless  obvious- 
ness) is  the  fact  that  Germany  today  is 
more  confident  of  winning  than  at  any 
time  in  the  three  months  I  have  been 
here.  This  confidence  must  not  be  con- 
fused with  cocksureness;  it  is  rather 
the  "  looking  forward  with  quiet  confi- 
dence to  ultimate  victory,"  as  General 
von  Heeringen  phrased  it.  Even  more 
important  is  the  corollary  that,  while 
the  Germans  have  apparently  never  had 
any  doubt  that  they  would  win  out  in 
the  end,  this  "  ultimate  victory "  does 
not  seem  so  far  off  to  them  today  as  it 
did  three  months  ago. 

To  one  who  has  had  an  opportunity  of 
personally  sounding  the  undercurrents 
of  German  public  opinion,  this  quiet 
optimism  that  has  become  noticeable 
only  in  the  past  few  weeks  (totally  dif- 
ferent in  character  from  the  enthusiasm 
that  followed  the  declaration  of  war) 
has  seemed  particularly  significant. 
.Three  months  ago  I  was  incessantly 
asked  by  Germans  "  how  the  situation 
looked  to  an  Amei'ican,"  and  "  how  long 
I  thought  the  war  would   last."     When 


left  to  answer  their  own.  question,  they 
almost  invariably  remarked :  "  It  may 
last  a  long  while  yet."  Today  neutral 
opinion  is  no  longer  anxiously  or  even 
eagerly  sought.  The  temporary  need  for 
this  sort  of  moral  support  seems  to  have 
passed,  and  there  are  many  indications 
that  the  well-informed  layman  expects 
1915  to  see  the  wind-up  of  the  war, 
while  I  have  talked  with  not  a  few  pro- 
fessional men  who  have  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  war  will  be  over  by 
Summer — except  against  England. 

This  unanimous  exception  is  signifi- 
cant because  it  indicates  that  to  the 
German  mind  the  war  with  Russia  and 
France  is,  in  prize-ring  parlance,  a 
twenty-round  affair,  which  can  and  will 
be  won  on  points,  whereas  with  Eng- 
land it  is  a  championship  fight  to  a  fin- 
ish, to  be  settled  only  by  a  knockout. 
The  idea  is  that  Russia  will  be  elimi- 
nated as  a  serious  factor  by  late  Spring 
at  the  latest,  and  then.  Westward  Ho! 
when  France  will  not  prolong  the  agony 
unduly,  but  will  seize  the  first  psycho- 
logical moment  that  offers  peace  with 
honor,  leaving  Germany  free  to  fight 
it  out  with  the  real  enemy,  England, 
though  as  to  how,  when,  and  where  the 
end  will  come,  there  is  less  certainty 
and    agreement.      Some    think    that   the 


168 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


knockout  will  be  delivered  in  the  shadow 
of  the  Pyramids;  others,  and  probably 
the  majority,  believe  that  the  winning 
blow  must  and  will  be  delivered  on  Eng- 
lish soil  itself. 

Time  here  is  no  factor,  for  the  war 
against  England  is  taking  on  increas- 
ingly an  almost  religious  character; 
from  the  German  point  of  view,  it  will 
soon  be,  not  a  war,  but  a  crusade.  I 
get  one  clue  to  this  in  the  new  phrase 
of  leave-taking  that  has  gained  an 
astounding  currency  in  the  past  few 
weeks.  Instead  of  saying  "  Good-bye  " 
or  "  Auf  Wiedersehen,"  the  German  now 
says :  "  God  punish  England !  "  to 
which  the  equally  fervent  rejoinder  is, 
"  May  He  do  so !  "  This  new,  polite 
formula  for  leave  -  taking  originated 
among  the  officers  and  men  in  the  field, 
but  you  hear  it  on  all  sides  now,  ut- 
tered with  a  sincerity  and  earnestness 
that  is  peculiarly  impressive.  "The  new 
style  of  saying  "  good-bye  "  has  at  least 
the  merit  of  being  no  longer  a  perfunc- 
tory piece  of  rhetoric. 

This  optimism  is  no  nation-wide  at- 
tack of  insanity,  for  the  German,  thor- 
ough even  in  forming  his  opinions,  is 
the  last  person  in  the  world  to  harbor 
delusions,  and  there  is  a  perfect  realiza- 
tion of  the  titanic  task  that  still  con- 
fronts Germany.  Nor  is  this  confidence 
in  ultimate  victory  due  to  lack  of  in- 
formation or  to  being  kept  in  the  dark 
by  the  "  iron  censorship,"  for  the  "  iron 
censorship  "  is  itself  a  myth.  It  is  lib- 
eral, even  judged  by  democratic  stand- 
ards, and  surprisingly  free  from  red 
tape.  There  is  no  embargo  on  the  im- 
portation of  foreign  newspapers;  even 
the  anti-German  journals  of  neutral 
countries  have  free  entry  and  circula- 
tion, while  at  a  number  of  well-known 
cosmopolitan  cafes  you  can  always  read 
The  London  Times  and  The  Daily 
Chronicle,  only  three  days  old,  and  for 
a  small  cash  consideration  the  waiter 
will  generally  be  able  to  produce  from 
his  pocket  a  Figaro,  not  much  older. 
Not  only  English  and  French,  but,  even 
more,  the  Italian,  Dutch,  and  Scandi- 
navian papers  are  widely  read  and  di- 
gested  by  Germans,  while  the   German 


papers  not  only  print  prominently  the 
French  official  communiques,  the  Rus- 
sian communiques  when  available,  and 
interesting  chunks  from  the  British 
"  eyewitness  "  official  reports,  but  most 
of  their  feature  stories — the  vivid,  de- 
tailed war  news — come  from  allied 
sources  via  correspondents  in  neutral 
countries.  The  German  censor's  task  is 
here  a  relatively  simple  one,  for  German 
war  correspondents  never  allow  profes- 
sional enthusiasm  to  run  away  with 
practical  patriotism,  and  you  note  the — 
to  an  American — amusing  and  yet  sug- 
gestive spectacle  of  war  correspondents 
specializing  in  descriptions  of  sunsets 
and  scenery. 

The  German  was  never  much  of  a 
newspaper  reader  before  the  war,  but 
now  he  can  challenge  the  American 
commuter  as  an  absorbent  of  the  printed 
word.  And  not  only  has  the  German 
been  suddenly  educated  into  an  avid 
newspaper  reader,  but  he  has  developed 
a  tendency  to  think  for  himself,  to  read 
between  the  lines,  and  interpret  sen- 
tences. Thus,  no  German  has  any  il- 
lusions about  the  military  prowess  of 
Austria;  but  her  failure  has  caused  no 
hard  feelings.  "  The  spirit  is  willing, 
but  the  leadership  is  weak,"  is  the  kind- 
ly verdict,  with  the  hopeful  assumption 
that  the  addition  of  a  little  German 
yeast  will  raise  the  standard  of  Aus- 
trian efficiency  and  improve  the  quality 
of  leadership. 

The  Germans,  being  neither  mad  nor 
misinformed,  why  they  face  a  world  of 
foes  with  this  new  confidence  becomes 
a  question  of  importance  to  any  one 
who  wants  to  understand  the  real  situa- 
tion here.  The  answer  is  Hindenburg — 
not  only  the  man  himself,  but  all  that 
he  stands  for,  the  personification  of  the 
German  war  spirit,  the  greatest  moral 
asset  of  the  empire  today.  He  is  idol- 
ized not  only  by  the  soldiers,  but  by  the 
populace  as  well;  not  only  by  the  Prus- 
sians, but  by  the  Bavarians  and  even 
the  Austrians.  You  cannot  realize  what 
a  tremendous  factor  he  has  become  until 
you  discover  personally  the  Carlylean 
hero  worship  of  which  he  is  the  object. 

Hindenburg  woke  up  one  morning  to 


WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 


169 


find  himself  famous;  but  his  subsequent 
speedy  apotheosis  was  probably  not  en- 
tirely spontaneous.  In  fact,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  he  was  carefully 
groomed  for  the  role  of  a  national  hero 
at  a  critical  time,  the  process  being  like 
the  launching  by  American  politicians 
of  a  Presidential  or  Gubernatorial  boom 
at  a  time  when  a  name  to  conjure  with 
is  badly  needed.  He  is  a  striking  an- 
swer to  the  Shakespearean  question.  His 
name  alone  is  worth  many  army  corps 
for  its  psychological  effect  on  the  peo- 
ple; it  has  a  peculiarly  heroic  ring  to 
the  German  ear,  and  part  of  the  ex- 
planation of  its  magic  lies  probably  in 
the  fact  that  the  last  syllable,  "  burg," 
means  fortress  or  castle.  He  inspires 
the  most  unbounded  confidence  in  the 
German  people;  the  Field  Marshal 
looms  larger  than  his  Kaiser. 

The  cigarmakers  were  the  first  to 
recognize  his  claims  to  immortality  and 
to  confer  it  on  him;  but  now  almost 
every  conceivable  sort  of  merchandise 
except  corsets  is  being  trade  marked 
Hindenburg.  Babies,  fishing  boats,  race 
horses,  cafes,  avenues  and  squares,  a 
city  of  60,000,  a  whole  county,  are  being 
named  after  him,  and  minor  poets  are 
taking  his  name  in  vain  daily,  "  Hinden- 
burg Marches "  are  being  composed  in 
endless  procession,  a  younger  brother  is 
about  to  publish  his  biography,  and 
legends  are  already  thickly  clustering 
about  his  name.  He  laid  the  Russian 
bugaboo  before  it  had  a  chance  to  make 
its  debut;  there  is  not  today  the  slight- 
est nervousness  about  the  possible  com- 
ing of  the  Cossacks,  and  there  will  not 
be,  so  long  as  the  Commander  in  Chief 
of  all  the  armies  in  the  east  continues 
to  find  time  to  give  sittings  to  portrait 
painters,  pose  for  the  moving-picture 
artists,  autograph  photographs,  appear 
on  balconies  while  school  children  sing 
patriotic  airs,  answer  the  Kaiser's  tele- 
grams of  congratulation,  acknowledge 
decorations,  receive  interminable  delega- 
tions, personages,  and  journalists,  and 
perform  all  the  other  time-consuming 
duties  incident  to  having  greatness 
thrust  upon  you;  for  things  obviously 
cannot  be  in  a  very  bad  way  when  the 


master  strategist  can  thus  take  "  time 
out "  from  strategizing.  But  the  influ- 
ence of  "our  Hindenburg,"  as  he  is  often 
affectionately  called,  is  wider  than  the 
east;  the  magic  of  his  name  stiffens  the 
deadline  in  the  west,  and  the  man  in  the 
street,  whose  faith  is  great,  feels  sure 
that  when  he  has  fought  his  last  great 
battle  in  the  east  the  turn  of  the  French 
and  English  will  come. 

While  the  German  in  the  street, 
thanks  largely  to  Hindenburg,  regards 
the  military  situation  with  optimism,  he 
sees  no  grounds  for  pessimism  in  the 
present  political  situation.  Italy  and 
Bulgaria  are  regarded  as  "  safe." 

How  the  Germans  regard  the  eco- 
nomic, industrial,  and  financial  situation 
is  rather  hard  to  estimate,  because  their 
practical  patriotism  keeps  them  from 
making  any  public  parade  of  their  busi- 
ness troubles  and  worries,  if  they  have 
any.  The  oft-repeated  platitude  that 
you  would  never  suspect  here  that  a  war 
was  going  on  if  you  didn't  read  the 
papers  is  quite  just.  Conditions — on  the 
surface — are  so  normal  that  there  is 
even  a  lively  operatic  fight  on  in 
Munich,  where  the  personal  friction  be- 
tween Musical  Director  Walters  and  the 
star  conductor,  Otto  Hess,  has  caused  a 
crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  Royal  Munich 
Opera,  rivaling  in  interest  the  fighting 
at  the  front. 

There  are  certainly  fewer  "  calamity 
howlers  "  here  than  on  Broadway  during 
boom  times,  and  you  see  no  outward  evi- 
dence of  hard  times,  no  acute  poverty, 
no  misery,  no  derelicts,  for  the  war-time 
social  organization  seems  as  perfect  as 
the  military.  In  the  last  three  months 
only  one  beggar  has  stopped  me  on  the 
streets  and  tried  to  touch  my  heart  and 
pocketbook  —  a  record  that  seems  re- 
markable to  an  American  who  has  run 
the  nocturnal  gauntlet  of  peace-time 
panhandlers  on  the  Strand  or  the  Em- 
bankment. 

Business  is  most  certainly  not  going 
on  as  usual.  You  note  many  shops  and 
stores  with  few  or  no  customers  in 
them.  About  the  only  people  who  are 
making  any  money  are  army  contractors 


170 


THE^NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


and  the  shopkeepers  who  sell  things 
availably  for  "  Liebesgaben  "  ("  love 
gifts  ")  for  the  troops  in  the  field.  Those 
businesses  hardest  hit  by  the  war  are 
in  a  state  of  suspended  animation,  em- 
balmed by  the  credit  of  the  State. 

But,  again,  the  influence  of  Hinden- 
burg  is  wider  than  the  east — and  the 
west;   it  permeates   the   business   world 


and  stiffens  the  economic  backbone  of 
the  nation.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  the  whole  German  people,  barring 
the  inevitable  though  small  percentage 
of  weaklings,  is  trying  with  terrific 
earnestness  to  live  up  to  the  homely 
Hindenburgian  motto,  "  Durchhalten !  " 
("  Hold  out,")  or,  in  more  idiomatic 
American,  "  See  the  thing  through." 


Bombardment  of  the  Dardanelles 

First  Allied  Attack  Described  by  an  Onlooker 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  March  S,  11)15.] 


ATHENS,  Saturday,  March  6, 
(Dispatch  to  The  London  Daily 
Chronicle.) — The  bombardment 
of  the  Dardanelles  forts,  ac- 
cording to  the  latest  news,  proceeds  with 
success  and  cautious  thoroughness.  It 
is  now  anticipated  that  before  another 
two  weeks  are  over  the  allied  fleet  will 
be  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  Con- 
stantinople will  quickly  fall  to  the  vic- 
torious Allies. 

Two  features  of  the  operations  make 
extreme  caution  necessary  for  the  at- 
tacking battleships.  In  the  first  place, 
the  number  of  mines  laid  in  the  strait 
has  been  found  to  be  enormous.  They 
must  all  be  picked  up,  and  the  work 
takes  considerable  time,  seeing  that  it 
must   be   done   thoroughly. 

In  the  second  place,  the  larger  bat- 
teries, against  whom  the  allied  fleet  is 
contending,    are   very    skillfully    hidden, 

I  have  had  an  interesting  talk  with  a 
gentleman  who  has  just  arrived  from 
Tenedos,  where,  from  the  height  of 
Mount  Ilios,  he  witnessed  the  bombard- 
ment.    He  tells  me: 

"  The  sight  was  most  magnificent.  At 
first  the  fleet  was  ranged  in  a  semi- 
circle some  miles  out  to  sea  from  the 
entrance  to  the  strait.  It  afforded  an 
inspiring  spectacle  as  the  ships  came 
along  and  took  up  position,  and  the  pic- 
ture became  most  awe-inspiring  when 
the  guns  began  to  boom. 

"  The  bombardment  at  first  was  slow, 
shells  from  the  various  ships  screaming 


through  the  air  at  the  rate  of  about  one 
every  two  minutes.  Their  practice  was 
excellent,  and  with  strong  glasses  I 
could  see  huge  masses  of  earth  and 
stonework  thrown  high  up  into  the  air. 
The  din,  even  at  the  distance,  was  ter- 
rific, and  when  the  largest  ship,  with 
the  biggest  guns  in  the  world,  joined  in 
the  martial  chorus,  the  air  was  rent 
with  ear-splitting  noise. 

"  The  Turkish  batteries,  however, 
were  not  to  be  drawn,  and,  seeing  this, 
the  British  Admiral  sent  one  British 
ship  and  one  French  ship  close  inshore 
tov/ard  the   Sedd-el-Bahr  forts. 

"  It  was  a  pretty  sight  to  see  the  two 
battleships  swing  rapidly  away  toward 
the  northern  cape,  spitting  fire  and 
smoke  as  they  rode.  They  obscured  the 
pure  atmosphere  with  clouds  of  smoke 
fi'om  their  funnels  and  guns;  yet 
through  it  all  I  could  see  they  were  get- 
ting home  with  the  shots  they  fired, 

"  As  they  went  in  they  sped  right 
under  the  guns  of  the  shore  batteries, 
which  could  no  longer  resist  the  tempta- 
tion to  see  what  they  could  do.  Puffs 
of  white  smoke  dotted  the  landscape  on 
the  far  shore,  and  dull  booms  echoed 
over  the  placid  water.  Around  the  ships 
fountains  of  water  sprang  up  into  the 
air.  The  enemy  had  been  drawn,  but 
his  marksmanship  was  obviously  very 
bad.  I  think  I  am  right  in  saying  that 
not  a  single  shot  directed  against  the 
ships  came  within  a  hundred  yards  of 
either. 


The  French  Battlefront 

Account  of  First  Extended  View  of  the  Intrenchments  Defending  France 

[By  a  Special  Correspondent  of  The  New  York  Times.] 


\ 


PARIS,  March  7. — I  have  just  been 
permitted  a  sight  of  the  French 
Army — the  first  accorded  to  any 
correspondent  in  so  comprehen- 
sive a  measure  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
war.  Under  the  escort  of  an  officer  of 
General  Joff re's  staff,  I  was  allowed 
along  a  great  section  of  the  fighting  line, 
into  the  trenches  under  fire,  and  also  re- 
ceived scientific  detailed  information  re- 
garding this  least  known  of  European 
forces. 

France  has  been  so  silent  about  her 
army  and  her  Generals  and  so  indiffer- 
ent to  the  use  of  journalism  in  the  war  it 
is  scarcely  realized  even  in  France  that 
450  of  the  500  miles  of  fighting  front  are 
held  by  the  French  and  only  the  remain- 
ing fifty  by  the  British  and  Belgians.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  no  newspaper 
men  were  allowed  with  the  army,  and 
those  who  managed  to  get  to  the  front, 
including  myself,  all  returned  to  Paris 
under  escort.  Although  we  saw  what  a 
powerful  machine  it  was  and  knew  it  was 
getting  stronger  every  day,  we  were  per- 
mitted to  say  very  little  about  it — Ger- 
many, meanwhile,  granting  interviews, 
taking  war  correspondents  to  trenches 
and  up  in  balloons  in  the  campaign  for 
neutral  sympathy. 

France,  or,  rather,  General  Joffre,  for 
his  is  the  first  and  last  word  on  the  sub- 
ject of  war  correspondents,  gradually  de- 
cided to  combat  the  German  advertising. 
Only  he  decided  to  go  them  one  better, 
as  I  hope  to  show.  There  have  been  sev- 
eral trips,  all  tryouts.  I  was  informed 
at  the  Foreign  Office  a  month  ago  that 
when  the  representative  of  so  important 
a  paper  as  The  New  York  Times  was  to 
be  taken  to  the  front  it  would  be  for  a 
more  important  trip  than  any  up  to  that 
date — that  I  was  to  be  saved  up  for  such 
an  occasion  as  I  am  now  privileged  to 
describe. 


I  propose  to  give  as  few  names  of 
places  and  Generals  as  possible,  first,  to 
meet  the  wishes  of  the  personal  censor, 
who  is  the  same  officer  who  escorted  me 
throughout  the  trip,  and,  second,  because 
I  believe  general  facts  relating  to  the 
morale  of  the  French  Army  and  their 
prospects  in  the  Spring  campaign  will  be 
of  more  interest  than  specific  details  con- 
cerning places  where  the  lines  have  been 
established  for  the  past  six  months. 

From  scores  of  letters  received  from 
America  the  first  question  which  seems 
to  arise  in  the  minds  of  neutrals  outside 
the  war  zone  is.  What  are  the  prospects 
of  the  Germans  taking  Paris  when  the 
second  great  phase  of  the  war  is  really 
under  way?  First,  let  me  admit  that  a 
lurking  fear  that  the  Germans  might 
penetrate  the  lines  had  caused  me  to 
make  certain  arrangements  for  the  hasty 
exit  of  my  family  from  Paris  as  soon  as 
the  Spring  fighting  began.  I  am  now 
willing  to  cancel  these  arrangements,  for 
I  am  convinced  there  is  no  danger  to 
Paris. 

The  German  Army,  in  my  opinion,  will 
never  for  a  second  time  dictate  terms  of 
peace  in  Paris.  I  feel  that  I  am  in  a- 
position  to  make  the  statement,  founded 
on  an  unusual  knowledge  of  the  facts, 
that  should  German  ambition  again  fly 
that  high  they  would  need  at  least  3,000,- 
000  men  concentrated  before  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Paris — these  in  addition  to  the 
enormous  force  to  oppose  the  French  and 
allied  field  armies. 

The  defenses  of  Paris  since  the  city  had 
its  narrow  escape  before  the  battle  of  the 
Marne  present  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
world.  Not  only  has  Gallieni's  army  in- 
trenched the  surrounding  country  and 
barb-wired  it  until  the  idea  of  any  forward 
advance  seems  preposterous,  but  every 
foot  of  ground  is  measured  and  the  ex- 


172 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


act  artillery  ranges  taken  to  every  other 
foot  of  ground. 

For  instance,  from  every  single  trench 
which  also  contains  an  artillery  observa- 
tory the  exact  distance  is  recorded  to 
every  other  trench,  to  every  house,  hil- 
lock, tree,  and  shrub  behind  which  the 
enemy  might  advance.  In  fact,  the  Ger- 
man organization  which  threatened  to 
rule  the  world  seems  overtaken  by  French 
organization  which  became  effective  since 
the  war  began. 

All  through  the  trip  it  was  this  new 
spirit  of  organization  that  impressed  me 
most.  I  have  sent  you  many  cables 
on  the  new  spirit  of  the  French,  but 
never  before  dared  to  picture  them  in  the 
role  which  to  my  mind  they  never  before 
occupied — that  of  organizers.  I  started 
the  trip  to  see  the  real  French  Ai'my  in 
the  most  open  but  unexpectant  frame  of 
mind.  For  weeks  I  had  read  only  laconic 
official  communiques  that  told  me  noth- 
ing. I  saw  well-fed  officers  in  beautiful 
limousines  rolling  about  Paris  with  an 
air  that  the  war  was  a  million  miles 
away.  The  best  way  now  to  explain  my 
enthusiasm  is  to  give  the  words  of  a  fa- 
mous English  correspondent,  also  just 
returned  from  a  similar  trip,  (he  is  Fred- 
eric Villiers,  who  began  war  corresj)ond- 
ing  with  Archibald  Forbes  at  the  battle 
of  Plevna,  and  this  is  his  seventeenth 
war,)  who  said: 

"  In  all  my  life  this  trip  is  the  biggest 
show  I  have  ever  had." 

The  first  point  on  the  trip  where  the 
French  intelligence  proved  superior  to 
the  German  was  that  I  was  allowed  to 
pay  my  own  expenses.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  motor  cars  and  a  hundred  cour- 
tesies extended  by  the  scores  of  French 
officers,  I  paid  my  own  railroad  fare, 
hotel  and  food  bills. 

"  This  army  has  nothing  to  hide,"  said 
one  of  the  greatest  Generals  to  me. 
"  You  see  what  you  like,  go  where  you 
desire,  and  if  you  cannot  get  there, 
ask." 

This  General  was  de  Maud'Huy,  the 
man  who  with  a  handful  of  territorials 
stopped  the  Prussian  Guard  before  Ar- 
ras shortly  after  the  battle  of  the  Marne 
and  who  since  then  has  never  lost  a  sin- 


gle trench.  His  name  is  now  scarcely 
known,  even  in  France,  but  I  venture  the 
prophecy  that  when  the  French  Army 
marches  down  the  Champs  Elysees  after 
the  war  is  over,  when  the  vanguard 
passes  under  the  Arch  de  Triomph,  de 
Maud'Huy — a  nervous  little  firebrand — 
will  be  right  up  in  the  front  rank  with 
Joffre. 

While  our  party  did  all  the  spectacular 
stunts  the  Germans  have  offered  the  cor- 
respondents in  such  profusion,  such  as 
visiting  the  trenches,  where  in  our  case 
a  German  shell  burst  thirty  feet  from  us, 
splattering  us  with  mud,  also  where 
snipers  sent  rifle  balls  hissing  only  a  few 
feet  away,  almost  our  greatest  treats 
wei'e  the  scientific  daily  discourses  given 
by  our  Captain  concerning  the  entire  his- 
tory of  the  first  campaign,  explaining 
each  event  leading  up  to  the  present  posi- 
tion of  the  two  armies.  He  gave  the  ex- 
act location  of  every  French  and  allied 
army  corps  on  the  entire  front. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  line  he  dem- 
onstrated the  efficiency  of  the  French 
secret  service  by  detailing  the  position 
and  name  of  every  German  regiment, 
also  the  date  and  the  position  it  now 
holds.  Thus,  we  were  able  to  know  dur- 
ing the  journey  that  it  was  the  crack 
Prussian  Guard  that  was  stopped  by  de 
Maud'Huy's  Territorials  and  that  the 
English  section  under  General  French 
was  opposed  by  Saxons. 

Our  Captain  by  these  lectures  gave  us 
an  insight  into  the  second  great  German 
blunder  after  the  failure  to  occupy  Paris, 
which  was  the  failure  immediately  to 
swing  a  line  across  Northern  France, 
thus  cutting  off  Calais  and  Boulogne, 
w^here  they  could  really  have  leveled  a 
pistol  at  England's  head.  He  explained 
that  it  was  the  superiority  of  the  French 
cavalry  that  dictated  that  the  line  should 
instead  run  straight  north  through  the 
edge  of  Belgium  to  the  sea.  His  expla- 
nations went  further  than  this,  for  he  re- 
futed many  military  arguments  to  the 
effect  that  cavalry  became  obsolete  with 
the  advent  of  aeroplanes. 

Cavalry  formerly  was  used  to  screen 
the  infantry  advance  and  also  for  shock 
purposes  in  the  charges.     Now  that  the 


WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 


173 


lines  are  established,  it  is  mostly  used 
with  the  infantry  in  the  trenches;  but 
in  the  great  race  after  the  Marne  to  turn 
the  western  flanks  it  was  the  cavalry's 
ability  to  outstrip  the  infantry  that  kept 
the  Germans  from  practically  all  of 
Northern  France.  In  other  words,  the 
French  chausseurs,  more  brilliant  than 
the  Uhlans,  kept  that  northern  line 
straight  until  the  infantry  corps  had  time 
to  take  up  position. 

My  introduction  to  the  real  French 
Army  was  made  at  the  point  of  junction 
with  the  English  troops,  so  I  was  thus 
able  to  make  some  comparison  between 
the  types  of  the  Allies.  I  did  not  see  the 
Germans  except  as  prisoners,  although  on 
this  trip  I  was  sometimes  within  a  few 
yards  of  their  lines.  With  all  considera- 
tion for  the  statement  that  they  are  the 
greatest  fighting  machine  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  all  I  can  say  is  that  the  great- 
est fighting  machine  I  have  even  seen  is 
the  French  Army. 

To  me  they  seem  invincible  from  the 
standpoints  of  power,  intelligence,  and 
humanity.  This  latter  quality  specially 
impressed  me.  I  do  not  believe  any  army 
with  such  high  ideals  can  easily  be 
beaten,  and  I  judge  not  only  from  Gen- 
erals in  command,  but  the  men  in  the 
trenches.  One  morning  I  was  going 
through  the  trenches  near  the  most  im- 
portant point  where  the  line  was  continu- 
ally under  fire. 

Passing  from  the  second  line  to  a  point 
less  than  a  hundred  yards  from  the  Ger- 
man rifles  I  came  face  to  face  with  a 
General  of  division.  He  was  sauntering 
along  for  the  morning's  stroll  he  chose 
to  take  in  the  trenches  with  his  men 
rather  than  on  the  safer  roads  at  the 
rear.  He  smoked  a  cigarette  and  seemed 
careless  of  danger.  He  continually  patted 
his  soldiers  on  thd  back  as  he  passed  and 
called  them  "  his  little  braves." 

I  could  not  help  wondering  whether  the 
German  General  opposite  was  setting  his 
men  the  same  splendid  example.  I  in- 
quired the  French  General's  name;  he 
was  General  FayoUe,  conceded  by  all  the 
armies  to  be  the  greatest  artillery  expert 
in  the  world.  Comradeship  between  offi- 
cers and  men  always  is  well  known  in  the 


French  Army,  but  I  never  before  realized 
how  the  officers  were  so  willing  to  ac- 
cept quite  the  same  fate. 

In  Paris  the  popular  appellation  for  a 
German  is  "  boche."  Not  once  at  the 
front  did  I  hear  this  word  used  by  offi- 
cers or  men.  They  deplore  it,  just  as  they 
deplore  many  things  that  happen  in  Paris. 
Every  officer  I  talked  to  declared  the 
Germans  were  a  brave,  strong  enemy; 
they  waste  no  time  calling  them  names. 

"  They  are  wonderful,  but  we  will  beat 
them,"  was  the  way  one  officer  summed 
up  the  general  feeling. 

Another  illustration  of  the  French  offi- 
cer at  the  front:  The  City  of  Vermelles 
of  10,000  inhabitants  was  captured  from 
the  Germans  after  fifty-four  days'  fight- 
ing. It  was  taken  literally  from  house 
to  house,  the  French  engineers  sapping 
and  mining  the  Germans  out  of  every 
stronghold,  destroying  every  single  house, 
incidentally  forever  upsetting  my  own 
one-time  idea  that  the  French  are  a  friv- 
olous people.  So  determined  were  they  to 
retake  this  town  that  they  fought  in  the 
streets  with  artillery  at  a  distance  of 
twenty-one  feet,-  probably  the  shortest 
range  artillery  duel  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 

The  Germans  before  the  final  evacu- 
ation buried  hundreds  of  their  own  dead. 
Every  yard  in  the  city  was  filled  with 
little  crosses  —  the  ground  was  so 
trampled  that  the  mounds  of  graves  were 
crushed  down  level  with  the  ground — and 
on  the  crosses  are  printed  the  names  with 
the  number  of  the  German  regiments.  At 
the  base  of  every  cross  there  rests  either 
a  crucifix  or  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  or  a 
wreath  of  artificial  flowers,  all  looted 
from  the  French  graveyard. 

With  the  German  graves  are  French 
graves  made  afterward.  I  walked 
through  this  ruined  city  where,  aside 
from  the  soldiery,  the  only  sign  of  life 
I  saw  was  a  gaunt,  prowling  cat.  With 
me  past  these  hundreds  of  graves  walked 
half  a  dozen  French  officers.  They  did 
not  pause  to  read  inscriptions;  they  did 
not  comment  on  the  loot  and  pillage  of 
the  graveyard ;  they  scarcely  looked  even 
at  the  graves,  but  they  kept  constantly 
raising  their  hands  to  their  caps  in  salute 


174 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


regardless  of  whether  the  cross  numbered 
a  French  or  a  German  life  destroyed. 

We  were  driving  along  back  of  the  ad- 
vance lines.  On  the  road  before  us  was 
a  company  of  territorial  infantry  who 
had  been  eight  days  in  the  trenches  and 
were  now  to  have  two  days  of  repose  at 
the  rear.  Plodding  along  the  same  road 
was  a  refugee  mother  and  several  little 
children  in  a  donkey  cart;  behind  the 
cart,  attached  by  a  rope,  trundled  a  baby 
buggy  with  the  youngest  child  inside. 
The  buggy  suddenly  struck  a  rut  in  the 
road  and  overturned,  spilling  the  baby 
into  the  mud.  Terrible  wails  arose,  and 
the  soldiers  stiffened  to  attention.  Then, 
seeing  the  accident,  the  entire  company 
broke  ranks  and  rescued  the  infant.  They 
wiped  the  dirt  from  its  face  and  restored 
it  to  its  mother  in  the  cart. 

So  engrossing  was  the  spectacle  our 
motor  halted,  and  our  Captain  from 
Great  General  Headquarters  in  his  gor- 
geous blue  uniform  climbed  from  the 
car,  discussing  with  the  mother  the  safety 
of  a  baby  buggy  riding  behind  a  donkey 
•  cart,  at  the  same  time  congratulating  the 
soldier  who  rescued  the  child. 

Our  trip  throughout  moved  with  that 
clockwork  precision  usually  associated 
only  with  the  Germans.  The  schedule 
throughout  the  week  never  varied  from 
the  arrangements  made  before  we  left 
Paris.  When  we  arrived  at  certain  towns 
we  were  handed  slips  of  paper  bearing 
our  names  and  the  hotel  number  of  our 
room. 

Amazing  meals  appeared  at  most  amaz- 
ing places,  all  the  menus  carefully 
thought  out  days  before.  Imagine  fresh 
trout  served  you  with  other  famous 
French  delicacies  in  a  little  house  in  the 
battle  zone,  where  only  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  barbed  wire  and  a  few  feet 
more  of  air  separated  you  from  the  Ger- 
man trenches.  During  the  German  ad- 
vance, also  after  the  battle  of  the  Marne, 
there  were  many  towns  in  the  districts 
where  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  tobacco, 
spirits,  or  food  staples.  This  condition 
has  entirely  abated,  and  the  commissariat 
is  now  so  well  supplied  that  soldiers  have 
sufficient  tobacco  even  in  the  trenches. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  take  a  brief  ride 


at  the  front  in  an  antebellum  motor  bus 
of  glorious  memory — there  being  nothing 
left  in  Paris  but  the  subway.  Buses  are 
now  used  to  carry  fresh  meat,  although 
they  have  been  used  in  transporting 
troops  and  also  ammunition.  We  trun- 
dled quite  merrily  along  a  little  country 
road  in  Northern  France,  the  snow-white 
fields  on  either  side  in  strange  contrast 
to  the  scenery  when  last  I  rode  in  that 
bus.  I  am  sure  I  rode  in  the  same  bus 
before  the  war  in  my  daily  trips  to  the 
Paris  office  of  The  New  York  Times. 
Its  sides  are  bullet  riddled  now,  but  the 
soldier  conductor  still  jingles  the  bell  to 
the  motorman,  although  he  carries  a  re- 
volver where  he  used  to  wear  the  register 
for  fares. 

Trench  life  was  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting surprises  of  the  trip.  Every  night 
since  the  war  began  I  have  heard  pity- 
ing remarks  about  "  the  boys  in  the 
trenches,"  especially  if  the  nights  were 
cold.  I  was,  therefore,  prepared  to  find 
the  men  standing  in  water  to  the  knees, 
shivering,  wretched,  sick,  and  unhappy. 
I  found  just  the  contrary — the  trenches 
were  clean,  large,  and  sanitary,  although, 
of  course,  mud  is  mud.  I  found  the  bot- 
toms of  the  trenches  in  every  instance 
corduroy-lined  with  modern  drains, 
which  allowed  the  feet  to  keep  perfectly 
dry,  and  also  the  large  dugouts  where 
the  men,  except  those  doing  sentry  duty, 
sleep  comfortably  on  dry  straw.  There 
are  special  dugouts  for  officers  and  ar- 
tillery observers. 

I  also  visited  a  large,  perfectly 
equipped  Red  Cross  First  Aid  camp,  all 
built  underground,  extending  from  one 
line  of  trenches  to  another.  All  trenches, 
communication  traverses,  and  observatory 
dugouts  have  received  names  which  are 
printed  on  shingles  affixed  to  the 
trenches  on  little  upright  posts.  For  in- 
stance, we  entered  one  section  of  the 
trenches  through  Boyau  d'Espagne,  we 
traversed  Avenue  de  Bois,  Avenues  Wag- 
ram  and  Friedland,  and  others  commem- 
orating Napoleonic  victories.  The  dug- 
outs of  officers  and  observers  were  all 
called  villas — Villa  Chambery,  Villa  Mont- 
morency being  examples.  It  all  seemed 
like  cozy  camp  life  underground  except 


WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 


175 


that  three  times  the  morning  of  our  visit 
i.  was  necessary  to  flatten  ourselves 
against  the  mud  sidewalls  while  dead 
men  on  crossed  rifles  were  carried  out, 
every  head  in  that  particular  bit  of  trench 
being  bared  as  the  sad  procession  disap- 
peared. 

Although  the  maps  show  the  lines  of 
fighting  to  be  rather  wavy,  one  must  go 
to  the  front  really  to  appreciate  the  ir- 
regular zigzag,  snakelike  line  that  it 
really  is.  The  particular  bit  of  trenches 
we  visited  cover  a  front  of  twelve  miles, 
but  so  irregular  is  the  line,  so  intricate 
and  vast  the  system  of  intrenchments, 
that  they  measure  200  miles  on  that  par- 
ticular twelve-mile  fighting  front. 

When  one  leaves  the  trenches  at  the 
rear  of  the  communication  boyaux,  it  is  as- 
tonishing how  little  of  the  war  can  be 
seen.  Ten  feet  after  we  left  our  trenches 
we  could  not  see  even  the  entrance.  We 
stood  in  a  beautiful  open  field  having 
our  pictures  taken,  and  a  few  hundred 
yards  away  our  motor  waited  behind  some 
trees.  Suddenly  we  heard  a  "  zip  zip  " 
over  our  heads.  German  snipers  were 
taking  shots  at  us. 

In  addition  to  the  enormous  force  of 
men  constantly  in  the  trenches  along  the 
entire  line  there  is  an  equal  size  reserve 
line  directly  behind  them  in  case  of  sud- 
den attack.  The  artillery  is  posted  con- 
siderably further  to  the  rear  along  with 
revictualing  stations,  aeroplane  hangars, 
and  headquarters  of  the  Generals,  but 
through  all  this  enormous  mass  of  men 
which  we  passed  daily  going  to  and  from 
our  front  observation  posts  never  once 
did  we  get  the  impression  of  parade. 
Three  were  just  troops,  troops,  troops 
everywhere,  every  hamlet,  every  village 
filled  with  them,  every  crossroads  with 
their  sentries.  All  of  them,  hardened  by 
Winter  and  turns  in  the  trenches,  are  in 
splendid  condition,  and  as  opposed  to  the 
Germans,  at  least  to  the  German  pris- 


oners I  have  seen,  each  French  soldier 
has  a  clear  and  definite  knowledge  of 
what  the  war  is  all  about.  The  greatest 
event  of  his  day  is  when  the  Paris  news- 
papers arrive. 

What  impressed  me  greatly  was  that 
in  all  the  officers'  quarters  were  copies 
of  the  French  "  Yellow  Book,"  the  English 
"  White  Paper  "  and  German  documents  at- 
tempting to  prove  their  innocence  in  caus- 
ing the  conflict.  It  is  not  sufficient  for 
French  Generals  or  officers  just  to  go  to 
war;  they  must  know  why  they  go  to 
war,  down  to  the  last  papers  in  the  case. 
In  six  months  the  French  privates  have 
acquired  one  habit  from  the  British  Tom- 
mies— that  is  drinking  tea.  Back  of  every 
section  of  trenches  I  found  huge  tea  can- 
teens, where  thousands  of  cups  are  served 
daily  to  the  soldiers  who  have  decided 
for  the  first  time  in  their  life  they  really 
like  such  stuff.  There  one  sees  more  sol- 
diers at  the  same  time  than  at  any  other 
place  in  the  fighting  zone;  there  they 
sit  and  discuss  the  future  calmly  and  con- 
fidently, there  being  a  distinct  feelinj 
that  the  war  is  likely  to  be  over  next 
Summer. 

No  one  knows  what  the  Spring  tactics 
of  General  Joffre  will  be.  Along  the 
section  of  the  front  I  visited  the  officers 
are  all  satisfied  that  the  Commander 
in  Chief's  "  nibbling  tactics  "  have  forced 
the  Germans  to  retire  on  the  average  of 
two  to  three  miles  all  along  the  line.  The 
very  name  of  that  great  man  is  spoken 
with  reverence,  almost  with  awe,  by  his 
"  children  at  the  front." 

I,  therefore,  from  the  facilities  given 
me,  can  only  make  one  assertion  in  sum- 
ming up  my  opinion  of  the  French  grand 
army  of  1915,  that  it  is  strong,  coura- 
geous, scientifically  intelligent,  and  well 
trained  as  a  champion  pugilist  after 
months  of  preparation  for  the  greatest 
struggle  of  his  career.  The  French  Army 
waits  eager  and  ready  for  the  gong. 


Dodging    Shells 


[From  The  London  Morning  Post,  Feb.  1,  1915.] 


THE  Echo  de  Paris  has  published 
today  a  letter  that  throws  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  light  upon 
the  psychology  of  the  P'rench 
soldier,  and  that  shows  how  he  behaves 
himself  when  subjected  to  very  trying 
fire  and  compelled  to  act  on  his  own 
initiative.  It  is  written  by  the  man  to 
his  wife,  and  is  as  follows: 

I  am  acting  as  guard  to  a  convoy,  and 
am  comfortably  installed,  with  no  work 
to  do,  in  the  house  of  an  old  woman  who 
has  lent  me  a  candle  and  writing  mate- 
rials. I  shan't  be  suffering  from  the  cold 
in  the  way  I  have  done  on  previous 
nights,  as  I  have  a  roof  over  me  and  a 
fire.  What  luxury!  It's  been  freezing 
for  several  nights,  and  you  feel  the  frost 
when  you  are  sleeping  in  the  open.  But 
that   is   nothing   to   the   three    days    we 

passed  in  the  village  of  .     We  were 

stationed  in  the  mairie.  In  front  of  us 
in  the  clock  tower  an  artillery  Captain 
was  taking  observations.  On  the  road 
between  the  church  and  the  mairie  a 
Sergeant  and  four  artillerymen  were 
sending  orders  to  the  battery  behind  us. 
Suddenly  a  shell  struck.  We  saw  the 
artillerymen  on  the  ground  and  the 
Sergeant  alone  left  standing. 

The  fire  was  so  thick  that  no  one  could 
think  of  going  out.  But  suddenly  one  of 
the  men  moved,  so  I  got  up  to  find  out 
about  it,  taking  cai'e  to  put  on  my  knap- 
sack. When  I  was  among  them  I  found 
that  one  had  been  hit  right  in  the  heart; 
two  others  were  dying,  one  with  his  head 
in  a  pulp  and  the  other  with  his  thigh 
broken  and  the  calf  of  his  leg  torn  to  a 
jelly.  I  helped  the  Sergeant  to  mend  the 
telephone  wire  that  had  been  broken  by 
the  shell,  and  all  the  time  we  were  having 
«,  shells  and  bits  of  brick  breaking  around 
us. 

Then  I  went  back  to  the  mairie,  and 
asked  for  some  one  who  would  not  be 
frightened  to  come  with  me.  Two  of  us 
went  off  to  the  village  for  a  stx-etcher. 
I  found  one  at  the  old  ambulance,  and 


was  just  leaving  it  when  I  heard  the 
scream  of  a  shell,  and  took  cover  in  the 
chimney — just  in  time.  A  big  black  bi-ute 
smashed  half  the  house  'in.  My  comrade 
and  I  hurried  off  after  the  wounded  man. 
Our  pals  were  watching  us  from  the 
mairie,  wondering  if  we  should  ever  get 
back.  Old  Gerome,  (that's  me,)  they  said, 
will  get  back  all  right,  and  when  back  at 
the  mairie  I  began  to  give  the  wounded 
man  first  aid.  Another  shell  came  along, 
and  the  place  shook,  window  panes  rained 
upon  us,  and  dust  blinded  us,  but  at  last 
it  cleared. 

Left  alone  with  my  wounded  man  I 
went  on  dressing  him,  and  when  the 
others  got  back  I  got  them  to  help  me 
take  him  to  the  schoolhouse  near  by.  I 
got  congratulated  by  my  comrades  and 
the  senior  Sergeant,  but  the  Colonel  and 
Lieutenant  said  nothing,  though  later  I 
heard  they  were  pleased  with  me,  but 
suddenly  the  Colonel  said:  "We  can't  stop 
here.  Go  and  see  if  there's  room  in  the 
cellars  of  the  castle  for  four  officers  and 
thirty  men.  If  there  is  don't  come  back, 
as  we  will  follow  you." 

We  got  there  at  last,  two  of  us,  but  the 
owner  took  a  long  time  opening.  Mean- 
while scraps  of  roofs  and  walls  were 
raining  on  us,  but  with  our  knapsacks  on 
our  heads  we  were  a  bit  protected.  At 
last  our  knocks  were  answered,  and  we 
learned  that  there  was  room  for  four  of- 
ficers, but  not  for  thirty  men !  The  Colo- 
nel and  the  men  had  to  be  warned,  so  my 
comrade  started  running  back  and  I  fol- 
lowed about  fifteen  yards  behind. 

We  passed  a  gap  in  the  houses,  with 
no  cover,  nothing  but  gardens.  A  shell 
came  along.  I  dropped,  while  the  other 
man  hid  in  a  doorway.  The  bits  of  it 
sang  about  our  ears.  I  then  sang  out: 
"  As  you  are  nearly  there,  go  on,  and  I'll 
see  if  there  is  room  in  the  farm  near  by." 
I  reached  the  houses  and  waited  to  see 
that  he  got  through,  because  if  he'd 
fallen  I  should  have  had  to  go  back  to 
warn   the   rest.     As  he   was   going   two 


VICE    ADMIRAL     SIR    DAVID    BEATTY 

Youngest  of  British  Admirals,  Whose  Fleet  Sank  the  Blmcher, 
and  Won  the  Battle  of  the  Bight  of  Heligoland 

(Jt'rom  the  painHnff  by  PMlip  Al*mW9  Lo9$l9  d*  L9mo99) 


COUNT    VON    REVENTLOW 

The  German  Naval  Critic  Who  Has  Intimated  That  the  United 
States  Might   Be  a   Divided   Nation  in  Case  of  War 


WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 


177 


shells  burst  in  the  courtyard  of  the 
mairie,  and  I  thought  of  the  Colonel  and 
the  rest,  but  at  last  my  comrade  reached 
the  place  and  went  in,  and  I  was  free  to 
try  for  the  farm. 

On  my  way  I  met  a  friend  and  asked 
him  to  join  me.  At  the  time  I  was  think- 
ing of  you  all,  and  it  was  not  till  later 
that  I  got  frightened.  There  were  five 
horses  at  the  gate  of  the  farm.  I  shifted 
them  and  showed  my  friend  the  entrance 
to  the  cellar.  It  was  narrow,  and  he  lost 
time  through  his  knapsack,  and  these  are 
the  occasions  when  your  life  depends  on 
seconds.  I  heard  the  scream  that  I  know 
only  too  well,  and  guessed  where  the 
beast  would  lodge,  and  called  out  to  him 
'*  That's  for  us."  I  shrank  back  with  my 
knapsack  over  my  head  and  tried  to  bury 
myself  in  the  corner  among  the  coal. 

I  had  no  time,  though.  The  shell 
reached,  smashed  down  part  of  the  house, 
and  burst  in  the  basement  a  couple  of 
yards  from  me.  I  heard  no  more,  but 
stone,  plaster,  and  bricks  fell  all  around 
me  on  the  coal  heap.  I  was  gasping,  but 
found  myself  untouched.  I  got  up  and 
saw  the  poultry  struggling  and  the  horses 
struck  down.  I  ran  to  the  cellar,  with  the 
same  luck  as  my  friend. 

My  knapsack  caught  me.  A  shell 
screamed  a  second  time  again  for  us,  and 
it  struck,  wallop,  on  the  gable,  while  the 
ruins  fell  around  my  head.  I  pulled  at  my 
knapsack  so  vigorously  that  I  fell  into  the 
cellar,  and  some  of  our  men  who  were 
there  called  "  Here's  a  poor  brute  done 
in."  Not  a  bit  of  it.  I  was  not  touched 
then  either.  *  *  *  At  last  the  bom- 
bardment stopped,  and  we  all  got  out.  I 
noticed  about  forty  hens.  Some  were 
pulped.  Others  had  had  their  heads  and 
legs  cut  off.  In  the  m'iddle  three  horses 
lay  dead.  Their  saddles  were  in  ribbons. 
Equipment,  revolvers,  swords,  all  that  had 
been  left  above  the  cellar  had  vanished, 
but  there  were  bits  of  them  to  be  seen 
on  the  roof.  My  rifle,  which  had  been 
torn  from  my  hands,  was  in  fragments, 
and  I  was  stupefied  at  not  having  been 
hit.  I  noticed,  however,  that  my  wrap- 
pings that  were  rolled  around  my  knap- 
sack had  been  pierced  by  a  splinter  of 
shell  that  had  stuck  dn  it.    Later  in  the 


evening  when  I  started  cutting  at  my 
bread  the  knife  stuck.  I  broke  the  bread 
open  and  found  another  bit  of  shell  in  it. 
I  don't  yet  know  why  I  was  not  made 
mincemeat  of  that  day.  There  were  fifty 
chances  to  one  against  me. 

The  two  following  days  I  stopped  in  the 
cellar,  hearing  nothing  but  their  big 
shells,  while  the  farm  and  the  buildings 
near  it  were  smashed  in.  Now  it  is  all 
over.  I  am  all  right  and  bored  to  death 
mounting  guard  over  wagons  ten  miles 
from  the  firing  line,  with  a  crowd  of 
countrymen  who  have  been  comman- 
deered with  their  wagons. 

I  ought  to  tell  you  that  the  two 
shells  I  saw  fall  on  the  mairie  when  my 
comrade  was  going  there  unfortunately 
killed  one  and  wounded  five.  It  was  a 
bit  of  luck  for  me,  as  I  always  used  to 
be  hanging  about  the  courtyard.  That's 
the  sad  side  of  it,  but  we  have  an  amus- 
ing time  all  the  same.  [The  writer  goes 
on  to  explain  how  he  and  his  friends 
dressed  up  some  men  of  straw  in  uniform 
and  induced  the  Germans  to  shoot  at 
them,  and  finally  to  charge  them,  while 
they  fired  at  the  Germans  and  brought 
several  of  them  down.     He   continues.] 

But  that's  nothing  to  what  they'll  get, 
and  their  villages  will  get,  and  their 
mairies,  chateaux,  and  farms,  and  cellars, 
when  we  get  there.  I  will  respect  old 
men,  women,  and  children,  but  let  their 
fighting  men  look  out.  I  don't  mind  sac- 
rificing my  life  to  do  my  duty,  and  to 
defend  those  I  love  and  who  love  me,  hut 
if  I've  got  to  lose  my  skin  I  want  to  lose 
it  in  Boche-land.  I  want  the  joy  of  get- 
ting into  their  dirty  Prussia  to  avenge 
our  beautiful  land.  Bandits!  Let  them 
and  their  choucroute  factories  look  out! 
If  you  saw  the  countryside  we  are  recov- 
ering— there's  nothing  left  but  ruins. 
Everything  burned  and  smashed  to  bits. 
Cattle,  more  dead  than  alive,  are  bolting 
in  all  directions,  and  as  for  our  poor 
women,  when  I  see  them  I  would  destroy 
everything. 

Our  officers  say:  "  We'll  never  be  able 
to  hold  our  men  when  we  get  into  their 
country."  But  I  say  that  I  want  to  go 
there  all  the  same,  and  yet  when  I  say 
that  I  had  a  German  prisoner  to  guard  at 
the  mairie.     I  gave  him  half  my  bread 


178 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


and  knocked  walnuts  off  the  trees  for 
him.  All  the  time  I  saw  five  or  more 
villages  in  flames  around.  Well,  it  all 
proves  that  a  soldier  should  never  say 


what  he  will  do  tomorrow.  My  job  is  to 
protect  the  flag,  and  the  Boches  can  come 
on.  Before  they  get  it  they'll  have  to  get 
me.     *     *     *     Vive  la  France! 


Somali  Volunteers 


[From   The  London  Times,   Nov.   10,   1914.] 


We  have  received  from  a  correspondent  a 
copy  of  a  petition  sighted  by  the  principal 
Somali  chiefs  in  Jtibaland,  praying  that  they 
may  be  allowed  to  fight  for  England.  The 
terms  of  this  interesting  document  are  as 
follows: 

TO  His  Highness  the  Governor, 
Through  the  Hakim  of  Jubaland: 
Salaams,  yea,  many  salaams, 
with  God's  mercy,  blessing,  and 
peace.     After  salaams, 

We,  the  Somali  of  Jubaland,  both 
Herti  and  Ogaden,  comprising  all  the 
tribes  and  including  the  Maghavbul,  but 
not  including  the  Tulamuya  Ogaden,  who 
live  in  Biskaya  and  Tanaland  and  the 
Marehan,  desire  humbly  to  address  you. 

In  former  days  the  Somali  have 
fought  against  the  Government.  Even 
lately  the  Marehan  have  fought  against 
the  Government.  Now  we  have  heard 
that  the  German  Government  have  de- 
clared war  on  the  English  Government. 
Behold,  our  "  f  itna  "  against  the  English 
Government  is  finished.  As  the  mon- 
soon wind  drives  the  sandhills  of  our 
coast  into  new  forms,  so  does  this  news 
of  German  evildoing  drive  our  hearts  and 
spears  into  the  service  of  the  English 
Government.  The  Jubaland  Somali  are 
with  the  English  Government.  Daily  in 
our  mosques  we  pray  for  the  success  of 
the  English  armies.  Day  is  as  night  and 
night  is  as  day  with  us  until  we  hear  that 
the  English  are  victorious.  God  knows  the 
right.  He  will  help  the  right.  We  have 
heard  that  Indian  askaris  have  been  sent 


to  fight  for  us  in  Europe.  Humbly  we 
ask  why  should  not  the  Somali  fight  for 
England  also?  We  beg  the  Government 
to  allow  our  warriors  to  show  their 
loyalty.  In  former  days  the  Somali 
tribes  made  fitna  against  each  other. 
Even  now  it  is  so;  it  is  our  custom; 
yet,  with  the  Government  against  the 
Germans,  we  are  as  one,  ourselves,  our 
warriors,  our  women,  and  our  children. 
By  God  it  is  so.  By  God  it  is  so.  By 
God  it  is  so. 

A  few  days  ago  many  troops  of  the 
military  left  this  country  to  eat  up  the 
Germans  who  have  invaded  our  country 
in  Africa.  May  God  prosper  them.  Yet, 
0  Hakim,  with  all  humbleness  we  desire 
to  beg  of  the  Government  to  allow  our 
sons  and  warriors  to  take  part  in  this 
great  war  against  the  German  evil- 
doers. They  are  ready.  They  are  eager. 
Grant  them  the  boon.  God  and  Moham- 
med are  with  us  all. 

If  Government  wish  to  take  away  all 
the  troops  and  police  from  Jubaland,  it 
is  good.  We  pledge  ourselves  to  act 
as  true  Government  askaris  until  they 
return. 

We  humbly  beg  that  this  our  letter 
may  be  placed  at  the  feet  of  our  King 
and  Emperor,  who  lives  in  England,  in 
token  of  our  loyalty  and  our  prayers. 

[Here  follow  the  signatures  of  all  the 
principal  Somali  chiefs  and  elders  living 
in  Jubaland.] 


When  King  Peter  Re-Entered  Belgrade 

[From  The  New  Yoik  Evening  Post,  Feb.   15,  1915.] 


PARIS,    Jan.    29. 

SO  King  Peter  himself  became  priest; 
and  the  great  cathedral  was  filled 
with  the  sobbing  of  his  people. 
Everybody  knows  the  story  of 
the  deliverance  of  Belgrade;  how  the  lit- 
tle Serbian  Army  fell  back  for  strategic 
reasons  as  the  Austrians  entered  the  city, 
but  finally,  after  seventeen  days  of  fight- 
ing without  rest,  (for  the  Serbian  Army 
has  had  no  reserves  since  the  Turkish 
war,)  knit  its  forces  together,  marched 
100  miles  in  three  days,  and  drove  the 
Austrians  headlong  out  of  the  capital. 

King  Peter  rode  at  the  head  of  his 
army.  Shrapnel  from  the  Austrian  guns 
was  still  bursting  over  the  city.  But  the 
people  were  too  much  overjoyed  to  mind. 
They  lined  the  siidewalks  and  threw  flow- 
ers as  the  troops  passed.  The  soldiers 
marched  in  close  formation;  the  sprays 
clung  to  them,  and  they  became  a  moving 
flower  garden.  The  scream  of  an  occa- 
sional shell  was  drowned  in  the  cheers. 

They  are  emotional  people,  these  Ser- 
bians, And  something  told  them  that, 
even  with  death  and  desolation  all  about 
them,  they  had  reason  to  be  elated.  A 
few  hours  before,  the  Austrians  had  been 
established  in  Belgrade,  confident  that 
they  were  there  to  stay  for  months,  if 
not  for  years.  Now  they  were  fleeing 
headlong  over  the  River  Save,  their  com- 
missariat jammed  at  the  bridge,  their 
fighting  men  in  a  rout. 

So  King  Peter  rode  through  the  streets 
of  the  capital  with  bis  army,  and  came 
to  the  cathedral.  The  great  church  was 
locked,  because  the  priests  had  left  the 
city  on  errands  of  mercy.  But  a  soldier 
went  through  a  window  and  undid  the 
portals.  The  King  and  his  officers  and 
some  of  the  soldiers  and  as  many  of  the 
people  as  could  get  in  crowded  into  the 
cathedral.  And,  lacking  some  one  to  say 
mass,  the  King  became  a  priest — which 
is  an  ancient  function  of  Kings — and,  as 
he  knelt,  the  officers  and  soldiers  and 
people  knelt.     There  was  a  vast  silence 


for  a  moment;  and  then,  in  every  part  of 
the  church,  a  sobbing. 

This  account  is  a  free  translation  of  a 
woman's  letter,  in  Serbian,  received  in 
this  city  a  few  days  ago  by  Miss  Helen 
Losanich,  who  is  here  with  Mme.  Slavko 
Grouitch  to  interest  Americans  in  helping 
her  countrymen  back  to  their  devastated 
farms.  Mme.  Grouitch  is  an  American  by 
birth;  but  Miss  Losanich  is  a  Serbian, 
with  the  black  hair  and  burning  black 
eyes  of  the  Slavs,  and  boasting  twenty 
years  perhaps.  Her  sister,  Mme.  Marinc- 
ovich,  is  wife  of  the  Serbian  Minister  of 
Commerce  and  Agriculture.  It  was  Mme. 
Marincovich  who  had  written  the  letter. 

"  I've  just  had  this  letter  from  my  sis- 
ter in  Serbia,"  cried  Miss  Losanich,  when 
a  friend  called,  and  she  waved  in  one 
hand  a  dozen  sheets  closely  written  in  a 
script  that  resembled  Russian.  "  I've 
hardly  had  time  to  read  it  myself.  But 
we  will  sit  down  and  translate  it  into 
English,  if  you  say. 

"  She  says  here  that,  when  the  Aus- 
trians had  to  leave  Belgrade,  they  took 
1,200  people  as  hostages — non-combat- 
ants, you  know.  .  When  they  came  into 
the  city  first  they  gave  assurances  that 
all  non-combatants  would  be  safe;  but  for 
the  last  few  days  before  they  left,  no  non- 
combatant  could  walk  on  the  street  with- 
out being  taken  up  as  a  hostage. 

"  Just  imagine,  it  says  here  that  they 
even  took  a  little  boy.  He  can  fight  when 
he  is  older,  they  say.  You  know,  the 
Turks  used  to  do  that.  They  came  and 
took  our  boys  of  nine  and  ten  years,  and 
trained  them  as  soldiers  in  their  janis- 
saries; and  when  they  had  forgotten  their 
own  country  they  sent  them  back  to  fight 
against  it.    It  is  terrible,  isn't  it! 

"  The  Austrians  took  the  furniture 
from  our  people's  houses  and  carried  it 
across  the  River  Save  to  the  Semlin. 
They  behaved  frightfully,  my  sister  says; 
brought  all  kinds  of  people  with  them, 
including  women  from  the  very  lowest 
class;  broke  into  the  houses  and  stole  the 


180 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ladies'  toilettes.  One  lady  with  many 
beautiful  dresses  found  them  all  cut  to 
ribbons  when  she  got  back  to  Belgrade. 

"  The  Austrians  brought  lots  of  tea  and 
crackers  and  conserves  with  them.  Some 
soldiers  had  taken  a  lady's  evening  gown 
and  pinned  strawberries  from  strawberry 
jam  all  over  it,  in  appropriate  places,  and 
laid  the  gown  out  for  the  lady  to  see." 

A  merry  smile  illuminated  Miss  Lo- 
sanich's  face  as  she  read  this  part  of  the 
letter. 

"  Our  brother,"  she  went  on,  "  entered 
Belgrade  with  the  army.  He  came  back 
to  Nish  on  leave  about  Christmas,  the 
Serbian  Christmas,  which  is  about  thir- 
teen days  later  than  yours.  Nish  is  the 
temporary  capital;  and  my  sister  is  there. 
He  told  them  all  about  Belgrade.  He  had 
been  to  his  house;  the  whole  house  was 
upset,  drawers  forced,  old  letters  opened 
and  thrown  on  the  floor,  papers  strewn 
about.  King  Peter's  picture  (autographed 
by  the  King)  thrown  on  the  floor,  and 
King  Ferdinand's  picture  stamped  on. 

"  Brother  went  to  a  private  sanitarium 
that  our  uncle  has  in  Belgrade.  The 
Austrians  had  seized  this,  and  had  begun 
making  it  over  for  a  hospital.  They 
wanted  the  Bulgarian  Red  Cross  installed. 
They  had  brought  quantities  of  biscuits 
and  tea  and  conserves.  But  they  had  to 
leave  in  such  a  hurry  they  couldn't  take 
the  things  with  them.  '  And  now,'  my  sis- 
ter says,  '  we  are  eating  them!  ' 

"  Across  the  street  four  of  our  cousins 
live — young  men.  They  are  all  at  the 
front  now  " — Miss  Losanich  laughed  out- 
right as  she  read  this  part — *'  their  house 
was  entered  and  all  their  clothes  taken; 
dress  suits,  smoking  jackets,  linen,  and 
all  those  things.  It  makes  me  laugh;  it's 
naughty,  I  know.  But  they  used  to  go 
out  a  good  deal.  I  have  seen  them  in 
those  clothes  so  often.  One  of  them 
wanted  to  marry  me.  He  used  to  go  out 
a  great  deal  " — this  with  another  merry 
peal  of  laughter. 

"  Mme.  Grouitch's  house  was  undis- 
turbed; and  ours.  We  used  to  know  the 
Austrian  attache  before  the  war.  He  was 
rather  a  nice  fellow.  Played  tennis  with 
us  a  good  deal,  and  so  on.  He  came  into 
Belgrade   with  his  army,  and  he   came 


around  to  our  house.  The  servants  recog- 
nized him,  because,  you  see,  they  knew 
him.  The  servants  had  stayed  behind. 
He  seemed  to  think  he  would  like  to  make 
my  sister's  house  his  quarters,  but  after 
he  had  thought  about  it  a  while  he  went 
away. 

"  She  says  that  she  would  like  to  go 
back  to  Belgrade,  but  the  railroad  has 
been  destroyed — a  big  viaduct  of  stone 
at  Ralya,  about  17  kilometers  from  Bel- 
grade; and  they  have  to  go  from  Ralya 
to  Belgrade  by  carriage.  There  are  so 
many  wagons  of  the  commissariat  on  the 
road — so  many  carriages  have  been  seized 
by  the  Government — it  is  impossible  for 
private  citizens  to  get  through. 

"  A  gibbet  was  put  up  in  the  square 
after  the  Austrians  came  into  the  city 
and  a  man  was  hanged  the  first  morning, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Austrians 
had  promised  safety  to  the  non-combat- 
ants. Dr.  Edward  Ryan,  the  head  of  the 
American  Red  Cross  in  Belgrade,  pro- 
tested, and  the  gibbet  was  taken  down. 
But  my  sister  says  that  eighteen  more 
people  were  hanged  in  the  fortress  down 
by  the  Save — she  hears — where  they 
wouldn't  be  seen. 

"  Mr.  Bisserce,  a  Belgian,  is  director  of 
the  electric  lighting  plant  in  Belgrade. 
He  is  a  nice  man,  and,  being  a  Belgian,  he 
does  not  like  the  Austrians.  He  wouldn't 
light  the  town  until  they  made  him,  and 
he  wouldn't  give  them  a  map  of  the  sys- 
tem at  all.  He  was  bound  in  ropes  and 
taken  away  as  a  hostage,  and  they 
haven't  heard  from  him  since. 

"  The  most  touching  thing  was  the 
entrance  of  King  Peter — "  whereupon 
Miss  Losanich  told  the  story  related 
above. 

"  Rubbish,  straw,  and  dead  horses  were 
strewn  through  all  the  streets  when  the 
King  and  the  army  came  in.  The  shoot- 
ing was  still  going  on.  There  was  a  jam 
of  commissariat  wagons  at  the  bridge — 
you  know  there  is  a  bridge  across  the 
Save.  The  Austrians  couldn't  get  across 
fast  enough,  there  was  so  much  confusion 
— too  many  wanting  to  get  over  at  one 
time.  The  Serbian  artillery  was  shooting 
at  them  all  the  time.  Presently  the 
middle  of  the  bridge  went  down.     The 


WAR  CORRESPONDENCE 


181 


men  and  the  horses  and  the  carriages 
and  the  wagons  all  went  down  together. 
They  were  pinned  down  by  the  masses  of 
stone,  but  there  were  so  many  of  them 
that  they  filled  up  the  river  and  stuck  up 
above  the  water.  It  was  so  bad  that  our 
people  couldn't  clear  it  up — so  there  is  an 
awful  odor  all  over  the  town. 

"  She  says  that  the  Austrians  brought 
17,000  wounded,  thinking  that  they  were 
going  to  stay  for  months — and  perhaps 
for  ever.  They  turned  over  quantities  of 
them  to  Dr.  Ryan  at  the  American  Red 
Cross  Hospital. 

"  General  Franck,  the  Austrian  com- 
mander, made  a  remark — and  he  must 
have  made  it  to  Dr.  Ryan,  although  my 
sister  doesn't  say  so.  General  Franck 
said:  'If  the  Russians  had  fought  the 
way  the  Serbians  have,  there  wouldn't  be 
an  Austrian  soldier  left!  ' 

"  That's  a  good  deal  for  the  head  of 
the  Austrians  to  say,  isn't  it?     We  al- 


ways expected  victory;  but  even  the  most 
optimistic  of  us  were  surprised  at  what 
our  peasant  soldiers  did. 

"  In  the  flight,  the  Austrians  could  not 
take  cai'e  of  their  wounded,  she  says,  and 
sent  them  back  to  Belgrade,  many  of 
them,  as  prisoners.  Many  must  have  died 
during  the  flight,  too,  for  they  got  a 
jolting  that  wounded  men  can't  stand. 

"  Our  brother,  who  was  a  professor  of 
chemistry,  is  a  Sergeant  now  in  charge 
of  two  German  Krupp  guns,  which  were 
captured  from  Turkey  in  the  other  war. 
He  is  at  Banovo  Brdo,  a  residence  section 
outside  Belgrade,  on  a  hill.  All  the  villas 
have  been  destroyed  by  the  Austrian 
artillery  fire. 

"  And,"  continued  Miss  Losanich,  "  she 
says  that  the  toys  sent  by  the  Americans 
were  received  in  Nish  and  distributed  to 
the  poor  children  for  Christmas,  and  that 
the  feeling  of  cordiality  toward  the 
Americans  is  growing  fast." 


THE     DRAGON'S     TEETH 


BY      CAROLINE.    DUER 


OH,  sunny,  quiet,  fruitful  fields  of  France, 
Golden  and  green  a  month  ago. 
Through    you    the    great    red    tides    of 
war's  advance 
Sweep  raging  to  and  fro. 
For  patient  toil   of  years. 
Blood,  fire  and  tears 
Reward   you   now  ! 


The  dragon's  teeth  are  sown,  and  in  a  night 

There  springs  to  life  the  armed  host ! 
And  men  leap  forth   bewildered  to  the  fight. 
Legion  for  legion  lost  1 

"  Toll  for  my  tale  of  sons," 
Roar   out    the   guns, 
"Cost  what  it  cost!" 


This  is  a   "  holy  war  "  !    A  holy   war? 

With  thousand  millions  maimed  and  dead  ! 
To  show  one  Power  dares  more   than   others 
dare — 
That  higher  rears  one  Head  I 

How   will    you    count    your  gain, 
Lord   of   the   slain, 
When  all  is  said? 


The  dragon's  teeth  are  sown,  iand  in  a  night 

There  springs  to  life  the  armed   host! 
And   men  leap  forth  bewildered   to  the  fight. 
Legion  for  legion  lost ! 

"  Toll  for  my   tale  of  sons," 
Roar   out   the   guns, 
"Cost   what   it   cost!" 

r>h,  tragedy  of  Nations!    Who  may  see 

The  outcome,   or  foretell   the  end? 
Haili    men    and    weeping    women,    misery 
That  none  may  mend. 

Ruin    in    peaceful    marts. 
Dazed   commerce,    stricken   arts. 
God,    to   the   ravaged   hearts 
Some  mercy  send  ! 

The  dragon's  teeth  are  sown,  and  in  a  night 

There  springs  to  life  the  armed  host ! 
And  men  leap  forth  bewildered  to  the  fight. 
Legion   for   legion   lost ! 

"  Toll  for  my  tale  of  sons," 
Roar   out    the    guns, 
"Cost  what  it  cost!" 

Copyright,   1914, 
by    The    New    York    Tinpes    Company. 


The  Greatest  of  Campaigns 

The  French  Official  Account 

The  Associated  Press  received  in  London  on  March  5,  1915,  an  official  French  historical 
review  of  the  operations  in  the  western  theatre  of  war  from  its  beginning  up  to  the  end  of 
January,  the  first  six  months,  which  in  terseness  and  dramatic  power  will  rank  among  the 
world's  most  important  military  documents.  The  first  chapter  of  the  review  w^as  released 
for  publication  by  The  Associated  Preess  on  March  16  and  appears  below.  It  is  one  of  those 
documents,  rare  in  military  annals,  that  frankly  confesses  a  succession  of  initial  reverses  and 
official  incompetence,  only  retrieved  by  exercise  of  the  utmost  skill  in  retreat. 

CHAPTER    I. 


THE       FRENCH       SETBACKS       IN 
AUGUST. 

THE  first  month  of  the  campaign  be- 
gan with  successes  and  finished 
with  defeats  for  the  French 
troops.  Under  what  circum- 
stances did  these  come  about? 

Our  plan  of  concentration  had  fore- 
seen the  possibility  of  two  principal  ac- 
tions, one  on  the  right  between  the 
Vosges  and  the  Moselle,  the  other  on  the 
left  to  the  north  of  Verdun-Toul  line, 
this  double  possibility  involving  the 
eventual  variation  of  our  transport.  On 
Aug.  2,  owing  to  the  Germans  passing 
through  Belgium,  our  concentration  was 
substantially  modified  by  General  Joffre 
in  order  that  our  principal  effort  might 
be  directed  to  the  north. 

From  the  first  week  in  August  it  was 
apparent  that  the  lengfth  of  time  re- 
quired for  the  British  Army  to  begin  to 
move  would  delay  our  action  in  connec- 
tion with  it.  This  delay  is  one  of  the 
reasons  which  explain  our  failures  at  the 
end  of  August. 

Awaiting  the  moment  when  the  oper- 
ations in  the  north  could  begin,  and  to 
prepare  for  it  by  retaining  in  Alsace 
the  greatest  possible  number  of  German 
forces,  the  General  in  Chief  ordered  our 
troops  to  occupy  Mulhouse,  (Mulhousen,) 
to  cut  the  bridges  of  the  Rhine  at  Hun- 
ingue  and  below,  and  then  to  flank  the 
attack  of  our  troops,  operating  in  Lor- 
raine. 

This  operation  was  badly  carried  out 
by  a  leader  who.  was  at  once  relieved  of 


his  command.  Our  troops,  after  having 
carried  Mulhouse,  lost  it  and  were  thrown 
back  on  Belfort.  The  work  had,  there- 
fore, to  be  recommenced  afresh,  and  this 
was  done  from  Aug.  14  under  a  new 
command. 

Mulhouse  was  taken  on  the  19th,  after 
a  brilliant  fight  at  Dornach.  Twenty- 
four  guns  were  captured  from  the  enemy. 
On  the  20th  we  held  the  approaches  to 
Colmar,  both  by  the  plain  and  by  the 
Vosges.  The  enemy  had  undergone  enor- 
mous losses  and  abandoned  great  stores 
of  shells  and  forage,  but  from  this  mo- 
ment what  was  happening  in  Lorraine 
and  on  our  left  prevented  us  from  carry- 
ing our  successes  further,  for  our  troops 
in  Alsace  were  needed  elsewhere.  On 
Aug.  28  the  Alsace  army  was  broken  up, 
only  a  small  part  remaining  to  hold  the 
region  of  Thann  and  the  Vosges. 

THE  OPERATIONS  IN  LORRAINE. 

The  purpose  of  the  operations  in  Al- 
sace was,  namely,  to  retain  a  large  part 
of  the  enemy's  forces  far  from  the  north- 
ern theatre  of  operations.  It  was  for  our 
offensive  in  Lorraine  to  pursue  still  more 
directly  by  holding  before  it  the  German 
army  corps  operating  to  the  south  of 
Metz. 

This  offensive  began  brilliantly  on 
Aug.  14.  On  the  19th  we  had  reached  the 
region  of  Saarburg  and  that  of  the 
Etangs,  (lakes,)  and  we  held  Dieuze,  Mor- 
hange,  Delme,  and  Chateau  Salins. 

On  the  20th  our  success  was  stopped. 
The  cause  is  to  be  found  in  the  strong 
organization  of  the  region,  in  the  power 


THE   GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


183 


of  the  enemy's  artillery,  operating  over 
ground  which  had  been  minutely  sur- 
veyed, and,  finally,  in  the  default  of 
certain  units. 

On  the  22d,  in  spite  of  the  splendid 
behavior  of  several  of  our  army  corps, 
notably  that  of  Nancy,  our  troops  were 
brought  back  on  to  the  Grand  Couronne, 
while  on  the  23d  and  24th  the  Germans 
concentrated  reinforcements — three  army 
corps,  at  least — in  the  region  of  Lune- 
ville  and  forced  us  to  retire  to  the  south. 

This  retreat,  however,  was  only  mo- 
mentary. On  the  2oth,  after  two  vig- 
orous counter-attacks,  one  from  south 
to  north  and  the  other  from  west  to 
east,  the  enemy  had  to  fall  back.  From 
that  time  a  sort  of  balance  was  estab- 
lished on  this  terrain  between  the  Ger- 
mans and  ourselves.    Maintained  for  fif- 


teen days,  it  was  afterward,  as  will  be 
seen,  modified  to  our  advantage. 

OPERATIONS  IN  BELGIAN  LUXEM- 
BOURG. 

There  remained  the  principal  business, 
the  battle  of  the  north — postponed  owing 
to  the  necessity  of  waiting  for  the  Brit- 
ish Army.  On  Aug.  20  the  concentra- 
tion of  our  lines  was  finished  and  the 
General  in  Chief  gave  orders  for  our 
centre  and  our  left  to  take  the  offensive. 
Our  centre  comprised  two  armies.  Our 
left  consisted  of  a  third  army,  reinforced 
to  the  extent  of  two  army  corps,  a  corps 
of  cavalry,  the  reserve  divisions,  the  Brit- 
ish Army,  and  the  Belgian  Army,  which 
had  already  been  engaged  for  the  pre- 
vious three  weeks  at  Liege,  Namur,  and 
Louvain. 


ADVANCE 

^i^M>i^    PREStNT  BATTLE  LINf 
•-••—•—     FRONTIEB   LINES 

IN    KAILROAD   LINES 


184 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


The  German  plan  on  that  date  was  as 
follows:  From  seven  to  eight  army  corps 
and  four  cavalry  divisions  were  endeav- 
oring to  pass  between  Givet  and  Brussels, 
and  even  to  prolong  their  movements 
more  to  the  west.  Our  object  was,  there- 
fore, in  the  first  place,  to  hold  and  dis- 
pose of  the  enemy's  centre  and  afterward 
to  throw  ourselves  with  all  available 
forces  on  the  left  flank  of  the  German 
grouping  of  troops  in  the  north. 

On  Aug.  21  our  offensive  in  the  centre 
began  with  ten  army  corps.  On  Aug.  22 
it  failed,  and  this  reverse  appeared 
serious. 

The  reasons  for  it  are  complex.  There 
were  in  this  affair  individual  and  col- 
lective failures,  imprudences  committed 
under  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  divisions  ill- 
engaged,  rash  deployments,  precipitate 
retreats,  a  premature  waste  of  men,  and, 
finally,  the  inadequacy  of  certain  of  our 
troops  and  their  leaders,  both  as  regards 
the  use  of  infantry  and  artillery. 

In  consequence  of  these  lapses  the 
enemy,  turning  to  account  the  difficult 
terrain,  was  able  to  secure  the  maximum 
of  profit  from  the  advantages  which  the 
superiority  of  his  subaltern  complements 
gave  him. 
OPERATIONS    SOUTH   OF    SAMBRE. 

In  spite  of  this  defeat  our  manoeuvre 
had  still  a  chance  of  success,  if  our  left 
and  the  British  Army  obtained  a  de- 
cisive result.  This-  was  unfortunately 
not  the  case.  On  Aug.  22,  at  the  cost 
of  great  losses,  the  enemy  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  Sambre  and  our  left  army 
fell  back  on  the  24th  upon  Beaumont- 
Givet,  being  perturbed  by  the  belief  that 
the  enemy  was  threatening  its  right. 

On  the  same  day,  (the  24th,)  the  Brit- 
ish Army  fell  back  after  a  German  at- 
tack upon  the  Maubeuge-Valenciennes 
line.  On  the  25th  and  26th  its  retreat 
became  more  hurried.  After  Landrecies 
and  Le  Gateau  it  fell  back  southward  by 
forced  marches.  It  could  not  from  this 
time  keep  its  hold  until  after  crossing 
the  Marne. 

The  rapid  retreat  of  the  English,  co- 
inciding with  the  defeat  sustained  in 
Belgian  Luxembourg,  allowed  the  enemy 
to  cross  the  Meuse  and  to  accelerate,  by 


fortifying  it,  the  action  of  his  right. 

The  situation  at  this  moment  may  be 
thus  summed  up:  Either  our  frontier  had 
to  be  defended  on  the  spot  under  con- 
ditions which  the  British  retreat  ren- 
dered extremely  perilous,  or  we  had  to 
execute  a  strategic  retirement  which, 
while  delivering  up  to  the  enemy  a  part 
of  the  national  soil,  would  permit  us,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  resume  the  offensive 
at  our  own  time  with  a  favorable  dis- 
position of  troops,  still  intact,  which  we 
had  at  our  command.  The  General  in 
Chief  determined  on  the  second  alter- 
native. 

PREPARATION  OF  THE  OFFENSIVE. 

Henceforward  the  French  command 
devoted  its  efforts  to  preparing  the  of- 
fensive. To  this  end  three  conditions 
had  to  be  fulfilled: 

1.  The  retreat  had  to  be  carried  out 
in  order  under  a  succession  of  counter- 
attacks which  would  keep  the  enemy 
busy. 

2.  The  extreme  point  of  this  retreat 
must  be  fixed  in  such  a  way  that  the  dif- 
ferent armies  should  reach  it  simulta- 
neously, ready  at  the  moment  of  occupy- 
ing it  to  resume  the  offensive  all  to- 
gether. 

3.  Every  circumstance  permitting  of 
a  resumption  of  the  offensive  before 
this  point  should  be  reached  must  be 
utilized  by  the  whole  of  our  forces  and 
the  British  forces. 

THE  FRENCH  COUNTER-ATTACK. 

The  counter-attacks,  executed  during 
the  retreat,  were  brilliant  and  often 
fruitful.  On  Aug.  20  we  sucessfully  at- 
tacked St.  Quentin  to  disengage  the  Brit- 
ish Army.  Two  other  corps  and  a  re- 
serve division  engaged  the  Prussian 
Guard  and  the  Tenth  German  Army 
Corps,  which  was  debouching  from  Guise. 
By  the  end  of  the  day,  after  various 
fluctuations,  the  enemy  was  thrown  back 
on  the  Oise  and  the  British  front  was 
freed. 

On  Aug.  27  we  had  also  succeeded  in 
throwing  back  upon  the  Meuse  the  en- 
emy, who  was  endeavoring  to  gain  a 
foothold  on  the  left  bank.  Our  successes 
continued  on  the  28th  in  the  woods  of 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


185 


Marfee  and  of  Jaulnay.  Thanks  to  them 
we  were  able,  in  accordance  with  the  or- 
ders of  the  General  in  Chief,  to  fall 
back  on  the  Buzancy-Le  Chesne-Bouvelle- 
mont  line. 

Further  to  the  right  another  army  took 
part  in  the  same  movement  and  carried 
out  successful  attacks  on  Aug.  25  on  the 
Othain  and  in  the  region  of  Spincourt. 

On  the  26th  these  different  units  re- 
crossed  the  Meuse  without  being  dis- 
turbed and  were  able  to  join  in  the  action 
of  our  centre.  Our  armies  were,  there- 
fore, again  intact  and  available  for  the 
offensive. 

On  Aug.  26  a  new  army  composed  of 
two  army  corps,  five  reserve  divisions, 
and  a  Moorish  brigade  was  constituted. 
This  army  was  to  assemble  in  the  region 
of  Amiens  between  Aug.  27  and  Sept.  1 
and  take  the  offensive  against  the  Ger- 
man right,  uniting  its  action  with  that  of 
the  British  Army,  operating  on  the  line 
of  Ham-Bray-sur-Somme. 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE  RETREAT. 

The  hope  of  resuming  the  offensive 
was  from  this  moment  rendered  vain  by 
the  rapidity  of  the  march  of  the  German 
right  wing.  This  rapidity  had  two  con- 
sequences, which  we  had  to  parry  before 
thinking  of  advancing.  On  the  one  hand, 
our  new  army  had  not  time  to  complete 
its  detraining,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  British  Army,  forced  back  further  by 
the  enemy,  uncovered  on  Aug.  31  our 
left  flank.  Our  line,  thus  modified,  con- 
tained waves  which  had  to  be  redressed 
before  we  could  pass  to  the  offensive. 

To  understand  this  it  is  sufficient  to 
consider  the  situation  created  by  the 
quick  advance  of  the  enemy  on  the  even- 
ing of  Sept.  2. 

A  corps  of  cavalry  had  crossed  the 
Oise  and  advanced  as  far  as  Chateau 
Thierry.  The  First  Army,  (General  von 
Kluck,)  compi'ising  four  active  army 
corps  and  a  reserve  corps,  had  passed 
Compiegne. 

The  Second  Army,  (General  von  Bil- 
low,) with  three  active  army  corps  and 
two  reserve  corps,  was  reaching  the  Laon 
region. 

The  Third  Army,   (General  von  Hau- 


sen,)  with  two  active  army  corps  and  a 
reserve  corps,  had  crossed  the  Aisne  be- 
tween the  Chateau  Porcien  and  Attigny. 
More  to  the  east  the  Fourth,  Fifth, 
Sixth,  and  Seventh  Armies,  namely, 
twelve  army  corps,  four  reserve  corps, 
and  numerous  Ersatz  formations,  were 
in  contact  with  our  troops,  the  Fourth 
and  Fifth  Armies  between  Vouziers  and 
Verdun  and  the  others  in  the  posi- 
tions which  have  been  indicated  above, 
from  Verdun  to  the  Vosges. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that  our 
left,  if  we  accepted  battle,  might  be  in 
great  peril  through  the  British  forces 
and  the  new  French  Army,  operating 
more  to  the  westward,  having  given  way. 

A  defeat  in  these  conditions  would 
have  cut  off  our  armies  from  Paris  and 
from  the  British  forces  and  at  the  same 
time  from  the  new  army  which  had  been 
constituted  to  the  left  of  the  English. 
We  should  thus  be  running  the  risk  of 
losing  by  a  single  stroke  the  advantage 
of  the  assistance  which  Russia  later  on 
was  to  furnish. 

General  Joffre  chose  resolutely  for  the 
solution  which  disposed  of  these  risks, 
that  is  to  say,  for  postponing  the  offen- 
sive and  the  continuance  of  the  retreat. 
In  this  way  he  remained  on  ground 
which  he  had  chosen.  He  waited  only 
until  he  could  engage  in  better  con- 
ditions. 

In  consequence,  on  Sept.  1,  he  fixed  as 
an  extreme  limit  for  the  movement  of 
retreat,  which  was  still  going  on,  the  line 
of  Bray-sur-Seine,  Nogent-sur-Seine, 
Arcis-sur-Aube,  Vitry-le-Francois,  and 
the  region  to  the  north  of  Bar-le-Duc. 
This  line  might  be  reached  if  the  troops 
were  compelled  to  go  back  so  far.  They 
would  attack  before  reaching  it,  as  soon 
as  there  was  a  possibility  of  bringing 
about  an  offensive  disposition,  permit- 
ting the  co-operation  of  the  whole  of  our 
forces. 

THE  EVE  OF  THE  OFFENSIVE. 

On  Sept.  5  it  appeared  that  this  de- 
sired situation  existed. 

The  First  Germany  Army,  carrying 
audacity  to  temerity,  had  continued  its 
endeavor     to     envelop     our     left,     had 


186 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


crossed  the  Grand  Morin,  and  reached 
the  region  of  Chauffry,  to  the  south  of 
Rebaix  and  of  Esternay.  It  aimed  then 
at  cutting  our  armies  off  from  Paris, 
in  order  to  begin  the  investment  of  the 
capital. 

The  Second  Army  had  its  head  on  the 
line  Champaubert,  Etoges,  Bergeres,  and 
Vertus. 

The  Third  and  Fourth  Armies  reached 
to  Chalons-sur-Marne  and  Bussy-le-Re- 
pos.  The  Fifth  Army  was  advancing  on 
one  side  and  the  other  from  the  Ar- 
gonne  as  far  as  Triacourt-les-Islettes 
and  Juivecourt.  The  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Armies  were  attacking  more  to  the  east. 

But — and  here  is  a  capital  difference 
between  the  situation  of  Sept.  5  and 
that  of  Sept.  2 — the  envelopment  of  our 
left  was  no  longer  possible. 

In  the  first  place,  our  left  army  had 
been  able  to  occupy  the  line  of  Sezanne, 


Villers-St.  Georges  and  Courchamps. 
Furthermore,  the  British  forces,  gathered 
between  the  Seine  and  the  Marne, 
flanked  on  their  left  by  the  newly  cre- 
ated army,  were  closely  connected  with 
the  rest  of  our  forces. 

This  was  precisely  the  disposition 
which  the  General  in  Chief  had  wished  to 
see  achieved.  On  the  4th  he  decided  to 
take  advantage  of  it,  and  ordered  all  the 
armies  to  hold  themselves  ready.  He 
had  taken  from  his  right  two  new  army 
corps,  two  divisions  of  infantry,  and  two 
divisions  of  cavalry,  which  were  distrib- 
uted between  his  left  and  his  centre. 

On  the  evening  of  the  5th  he  addressed 
to  all  the  commanders  of  armies  a  mes- 
sage ordering  them  to  attack. 

"  The  hour  has  come,"  he  wrote,  "  to 
advance  at  all  costs,  and  to  die  where 
you  stand  rather  than  give  way." 

{To  be  continued  in  the  next  issue.) 


BY  THE  NORTH  SEA. 

By  W.  L.  COURTNEY. 
[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 

DEATH  and  Sorrow  and  Sleep : 
Here  where  the  slow  waves  creep, 
This  is  the  chant  I  hear, 
The    chant   of   the   measureless   deep. 

What  was  sorrow  to  me 

Then,    when    the    young    life    free 

Thirsted   for  joys  of  earth 
Far   from   the   desolate   sea? 


What  was   Sleep   but  a  rest, 
Giving  to  youth  the  best 

Dreams  from  the  ivory  gate. 
Visions  of   God    manifest? 

What    was    Death    but    a    tale 
Told    to    faces    grown    pale, 

Worn  and  wasted  with  years — 
A   meaningless  thing  to   the   hale? 

Death  and  Sorrow  and   Sleep : 
Now  their  sad  message  I  keep. 

Tossed  on  the  wet  wind's  breath, 
The  chant  of  the  measureless  deep. 


When  Marthe  Chenal  Sang  the 
"Marseillaise" 


By   Wythe   Williams 


[From  The   New   York  Times,  Feb.   14,   1915.] 


I  WENT  to  the  Opera  Comique  the 
other  day  to  hear  Marthe  Chenal 
sing  the  "  Marseillaise."  For  sev- 
eral weeks  previous  I  had  heard  a 
story  going  the  rounds  of  what  is  left 
of  Paris  life  to  the  effect  that  if  one 
wanted  a  regular  old-fashioned  thrill  he 
really  should  go  to  the  Opera  Comique  on 
a  day  when  Mile,  Chenal  closed  the  per- 
formance by  singing  the  French  national 
hymn.  I  was  told  there  would  be  diffi- 
culty in  securing  a  seat. 

I  was  rather  skeptical.  I  also  con- 
sidered that  I  had  had  sufficient  thrills 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  both  old 
fashioned  and  new.  I  believed  also  that 
I  had  already  heard  the  "  Marseillaise  " 
sung  under  the  best  possible-  circum- 
stances to  produce  thrills.  One  of  the 
first  nights  after  mobilization  10,000 
Frenchmen  filled  the  street  beneath  the 
windows  of  The  New  York  Times  office, 
where  I  was  at  work.  They  sang  the 
"  Marseillaise "  for  two  hours,  with  a 
solemn  hatred  of  their  national  enemy 
sounding  in  every  note.  The  solemnity 
changed  to  a  wild  passion  as  the  night 
wore  on.  Finally,  cuirassiers  of  the 
guard  rode  through  the  street  to  disperse 
the  mob.    It  was  a  terrific  scene. 

So  I  was  willing  to  admit  that  the 
"  Marseillaise "  is  probably  the  most 
thrilling  and  most  martial  national  song 
ever  written,  but  I  was  just  not  keen  on 
the  subject  of  thrills. 

Then  one  day  a  sedate  friend  went  to 
the  Opera  Comique  and  came  away  in  a 
raving  condition.  It  was  a  week  before 
his  ardor  subsided.  He  declared  that  this 
rendition  of  a  song  was  something  that 
will  be  referred  to  in  future  years. 
"  Why,"  he  said,  "  when  the  war  is  over 


the  French  will  talk  about  it  in  the  way 
Americans  still  talk  concerning  Jenny 
Lind  at  Castle  Garden,  or  De  Wolf  Hop- 
per reciting  '  Casey  at  the  Bat.'  " 

This  induced  me  to  go.  I  was  con- 
vinced that  whether  I  got  a  thrill  or  not 
the  singing  of  the  "  Marseillaise "  by 
Chenal  had  become  a  distinct  feature  of 
Paris  life  during  the  war. 

I  never  want  to  go  again.  To  go  again 
might  deepen  my  impression — might  bet- 
ter register  the  thrill.  But  then  it  might 
not  be  just  the  same.  I  would  be  keyed 
to  such  expectancy  that  I  might  be  dis- 
appointed. Persons  in  the  seats  behind 
me  might  whisper.  And  just  as  Chenal 
got  to  the  "  Amour  sacre  de  la  patrie  " 
some  one  might  cough.  I  am  confident 
that  something  of  the  sort  would  surely 
happen.  I  want  always  to  remember 
that  ten  minutes  while  Chenal  was  on  the 
stage  just  as  I  remember  it  now.  So  I 
will  not  go  again. 

The  first  part  of  the  performance  was 
Donizetti's  "  Daughter  of  the  Regi- 
ment," beautifully  sung  by  members  of 
the  regular  company.  But  somehow  the 
spectacle  of  a  fat  soprano  nearing  forty 
in  the  role  of  the  twelve-year-old  vivan- 
diere,  although  impressive,  was  not  sub- 
lime. A  third  of  the  audience  were  sol- 
diers. In  the  front  row  of  the  top  bal- 
cony were  a  number  of  wounded.  Their 
bandaged  heads  rested  against  the  rail. 
Several  of  them  yawned. 

After  the  operetta  came  a  "  Ballet  of 
the  Nations."  The  "  nations,"  of  course, 
represented  the  Allies.  We  had  the  de- 
lectable vision  of  the  Russian  ballerina 
dancing  with  arms  entwined  about  sev- 
eral maids  of  Japan.  The  Scotch  lassies 
wore  violent  blue  jackets.  The  Belgian 
girls  carried  large  pitchers  and  rather 


188 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


wept  and  watered  their  way  about  the 
stage.    There  were  no  thrills. 

After  the  intermission  there  was  not 
even  available  standing  space.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  women  were  in  black — the 
prevailing  color  in  these  days.  The  only 
touches  of  brightness  and  light  were  in 
the  uniforms  of  the  officers  liberally 
sprinkled  through  the  orchestra  and 
boxes. 

Then  came  "  Le  Chant  du  Depart," 
the  famous  song  of  the  revolution.  The 
scene  was  a  littls  country  village.  The 
principals  were  the  officer,  the  soldier, 
the  wife,  the  mother,  the  daughter,  and 
the  drummer  boy.  There  was  a  magnifi- 
cent soldier  chorus  and  the  fanfare  of 
drums  and  trumpets.  The  audience  then 
became  honestly  enthusiastic.  I  con- 
cluded that  the  best  Chenal  could  do 
with  the  "  Marseillaise,"  which  was  next 
on  the  programme,  would  be  an  anti- 
climax. 

The  orchestra  played  the  opening  bars 
of  the  martial  music.  With  the  first 
notes  the  vast  audience  rose.  I  looked 
up  at  the  row  of  wounded  leaning  heavily 
against  the  rail,  their  eyes  fixed  and  star- 
ing on  the  curtain.  I  noticed  the  officers 
in  the  boxes,  their  eyes  glistening.  I 
heard  a  convulsive  catch  in  the  throats 
of  persons  about  me.  Then  the  curtain 
lifted. 

I  do  not  remember  what  was  the  stage 
setting.  I  do  not  believe  I  saw  it.  All 
I  remember  was  Chenal  standing  at  the 
top  of  a  short  flight  of  steps,  in  the  cen- 
tre near  the  back  drop.  I  indistinctly  re- 
member that  the  rest  of  the  stage  was 
filled  with  the  soldier  chorus  and  that 
near  the  footlights  on  either  side  were 
clusters  of  little  children. 

"  Up,  sons  of  France,  the  call  of 
glory  " 

Chenal  swept  down  to  the  footlights. 
The  words  of  the  song  swept  over  the 
audience  like  a  bugle  call.  The  singer 
wore  a  white  silk  gown  draped  in  perfect 
Grecian  folds.  She  wore  the  large  black 
Alsatian  head  dress,  in  one  corner  of 
which  was  pinned  a  small  tri-colored 
cockade.  She  has  often  been  called  the 
most    beautiful    woman    in    Paris.     The 


description  was  too  limited.  With  the 
next  lines  she  threw  her  arms  apart, 
drawing  out  the  folds  of  the  gown  into 
the  tricolor  of  France — heavy  folds  of 
red  silk  draped  over  one  arm  and  blue 
over  the  other.  Her  head  was  thrown 
back.  .Her  tall,  slender  figure  simply 
vibrated  with  the  feeling  of  the  words 
that  poured  forth  from  her  lips.  She 
was  noble.  She  was  glorious.  She  was 
sublime.  With  the  "  March  on,  March 
on  "  of  the  chorus,  her  voice  arose  high 
and  fine  over  the  full  orchestra,  and  even 
above  her  voice  could  be  sensed  the 
surging  emotions  of  the  audience  that 
seemed  to  sweep  over  the  house  in  waves. 
I  looked  up  at  the  row  of  wounded. 
One  man  held  his  bandaged  head  be- 
tween his  hands  and  was  crying.  An 
officer  in  a  box,  wearing  the  gorgeous 
uniform  of  the  headquarters  staff,  held 
a  handkerchief  over  his  eyes. 

Through  the  second  verse  the  audience 
alternately  cheered  and  stamped  their 
feet  and  wept.  Then  came  the  wonderful 
"Amour  sacre  de  la  patrie  " — sacred  love 
of  home  and  country — verse.  The  crash- 
ing of  the  orchestra  ceased,  dying  away 
almost  to  a  whisper.  Chenal  drew  the 
folds  of  the  tricolor  cloak  about  her. 
Then  she  bent  her  head  and,  drawing  the 
flag  to  her  lips,  kissed  it  reverently.  The 
first  words  came  like  a  sob  from  her  soul. 
From  then  until  the  end  of  the  verse, 
when  her  voice  again  rang  out  over  the 
renewed  efforts  of  the  orchestra,  one 
seemed  to  live  through  all  the  glorious 
history  of  France.  At  the  very  end,  when 
Chenal  drew  a  short  jeweled  sword  from 
the  folds  of  her  gown  and  stood,  silent 
and  superb,  with  the  folds  of  the  flag 
draped  about  her,  while  the  curtain  rang 
slowly  down,  she  seemed  to  typify  both 
Empire  and  Republic  throughout  all  time. 
All  the  best  of  the  past  seemed  concen- 
ti-ated  there  as  that  glorious  woman,  with 
head  raised  high,  looked  into  the  future. 

And  as  I  came  out  of  the  theatre  with 
the  silent  audience  I  said  to  myself  that 
a  nation  with  a  song  and  a  patriotism 
such  as  I  had  just  witnessed  could  not 
vanish  from  the  earth — nor  again  be  van- 
quished. 


A  War  of  Commerce  to  Follow 


By    Sir    William    Ramsay 


That  commerce  in  Germany  is  regarded  as  war,  that  the  "  powerful  mass  of  the 
German  State "  is  projected  into  methods  meant  to  kill  off  the  trade  of  other  nations, 
and  that  after  the  war  between  the  nations  the  German  war  with  British  trade  will  be 
resumed,  is  the  burden  of  this  address.  Sir  William  Ramsay  delivered  it  in  Manchester  on 
Jan.  22,  1915,  before  representatives  of  British  associations  of  employers  and  of  leading 
industrial  concerns  in  many  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  making  up  the  Employers' 
Parliamentary   Association.      Sir   William   is   one   of   the   world's   great   chemists. 


I  SUPPOSE  that  among  my  audience 
some  are  convinced  free  traders, 
while  some  believe  that  our  com- 
mercial interests  would  be  better 
served  by  a  measure  of  protection.  This 
is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place,  nor  have 
I  the  knowledge  and  ability  for  a  dis- 
cussion of  this  much-debated  question. 
Nor  will  I  reveal  my  own  private  views, 
except  in  so  far  as  to  say  that  I  agree 
with  the  majority.  But,  as  the  question 
cannot  be  ignored,  I  should  like  to  say 
that  I  hold  firmly  the  conviction  that  all 
trade  should  be  carried  on  for  the  mutual 
advantage  of  the  parties  engaged.  The 
old  fable  of  ^Esop  may  be  quoted,  which 
relates  to  a  quarrel  between  the  different 
members  of  the  body.  Every  one  of  us 
can  be,  and  should  be,  helpful  to  every 
other,  independent  of  nation,  country, 
and  creed.  That  is,  I  am  sure,  what  lies 
on  the  conscience  of  each  one  of  us,  as 
an  ultimate  end  to  be  struggled  for, 
although  perhaps  by  many  considered 
unattainable. 

For  the  same  kind  of  reason,  it  appears 
to  me  that  we  all  think  that  peace  is  a 
blessing,  and  war  a  curse.  For  under 
peace  commerce  and  industry  prosper; 
science  and  the  arts  flourish;  friendships 
are  made  and  adorn  the  amenities  of  life. 
Moreover,  our  religious  traditions  in  all 
Christian  countries,  and  in  some  non- 
Christian  ones  like  China,  influence  us 
to  believe  that  war  is  wrong,  indefensible, 
and,  in  the  present  year  of  our  Lord,  an 
anachronism. 

We  imagined,  perhaps  not  most,  but 
many  of  us,  that  no  important  European 
nation  thought  differently.  Your  leading 
Liberal    paper.    The    Manchester    Guar- 


dian, on  July  22,  1908,  wrote,  "Ger- 
many, though  the  most  military  of  na- 
tions, is  probably  the  least  warlike  ";  and 
this  doubtless  represented  the  views  of 
the  majority  of  Englishmen.  Some  of  us 
knew  better.  I  have,  or  had,  many  Ger- 
man friends;  we  have  lived  for  many 
years  on  a  footing  of  mutual  kindliness; 
but  it  was  impossible  to  disregard  the 
signs  of  the  times.  The  reason  of  this  war 
is  at  bottom,  as  we  have  now  discovered, 
the  existence  of  a  wholly  different  ideal 
in  the  Germanic  mind  from  that  which 
lies  at  the  base  of  the  Latin,  Anglo- 
Saxon,  Dutch,  or  Scandinavian  nations. 
Such  a  statement  as  this  is  sweeping;  it 
can  be  illustrated  by  a  trivial  tale.  In 
1912  an  international  scientific  congress 
met  at  Berlin;  I  was  a  member.  Although 
the  conventional  language  was  German, 
in  compliment  to  our  hosts,  it  turned  out 
that  in  the  long  run  all  discussions  were 
conducted  in  French.  After  such  a  sit- 
ting, the  members  separated,  the  German 
committee  remaining  behind  for  business 
purposes.  The  question  of  language  was 
raised,  I  think  by  a  Dutchman,  in  the 
corridor.  Of  the  representatives  of  the 
fourteen  or  fifteen  nations  present,  all 
were  agreed  on  this — that  they  were  not 
going  to  be  compelled  to  publish  in  Ger- 
man; some  chose  English;  some  French; 
Spanish  was  suggested  as  a  simple  and 
easily  understood  language;  but  there 
was  no  love  lost  between  the  "  foreign  " 
and  the  German  representatives,  and  this 
not  the  least  on  personal,  but  purely  on 
national  grounds.  Acknowledging  to  the 
full  the  existence  of  high-minded  German 
gentlemen,  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  the 
character  of  the  individuals  of  the  nation 


190 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


is  not  acceptable  to  individuals  of  other 
nations.  Listen  to  a  quotation  from  a 
letter  I  have  received  from  a  very  dis- 
tinguished Swiss:  "  Une  chose  me  frap- 
pait  aussi,  dans  les  tendances  allemandes, 
une  incroyable  inconscience.  Accaparer 
le  bien  d'autrui  leur  paraissait  si  naturel 
qu'ils  ne  comprenaient  meme  pas  que  Ton 
eut  quelque  desir  de  se  defendre.  Le 
monde  entier  etait  fait  pour  constituer 
le  champ  d'exploitation  de  I'Allemagne, 
et  celui  qui  s'opposait  a  I'accomplissement 
de  cette  destinee  etait,  pour  tout  alle- 
mand,  I'objet  d'une  surprise."  [Trans- 
lation: "  One  thing  has  also  struck  me 
in  German  tendencies;  that  is  an  un- 
believable want  of  conscience.  To  grab 
the  belongings  of  others  appeared  to 
them  so  natural,  that  they  did  not  under- 
stand that  one  had  some  wish  to  defend 
himself.  The  whole  world  was  made  for 
the  field  of  German  operations,  and  who- 
ever placed  himself  in  opposition  to  the 
accomplishment  of  this  destiny  was  for 
every  German  the  object  of  surprise."] 
The  view  is  not  new;  the  feeling  of 
surprise  at  opposition  was  expressed 
wittily  by  a  French  poet  in  the  words: 

Cet  animal  est  tr4s  mechant ; 
Lorsqu'on  I'attaque,   il  se  defend. 
This   animal   is   full   of  spite ; 
If  you  attack  him,  he  will  bite. 

Well,  gentlemen,  this  war  has  opened 
the  eyes  of  some  of  us,  and  has  confirmed 
the  fears  of  others.  Not  one  of  us  wanted 
to  fight.  Our  hand  was  forced,  so  that 
we  could  not  have  abstained  without 
national    and    personal    dishonor. 

Now,  I  do  not  think  it  is  even  yet 
realized  that  Germany's  methods  in  trade 
have  been,  and  are,  as  far  as  possible 
identical  with  her  methods  in  war.  Let 
me  rub  this  in.  As  long  ago  as  1903,  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Chemical 
Industry,  under  the  Presidency  of  your 
fellow-citizen,  Mr.  Levinstein,  I  pointed 
out  that  under  the  German  State  there 
was  a  trade  council,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  secure  and  keep  trade  for  Ger- 
many. This  council  had  practical  con- 
trol of  duties,  bounties,  and  freights;  its 
members  were  representative  of  the  dif- 
ferent commercial  interests  of  the  em- 
pire; and  they  acted,  as  a  rule,  without 
control   from   the    Reichstag.     You   can 


read  what  I  said  for  yourselves,  if  you 
think  it  worth  while,  in  The  Journal  of 
the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  for 
1903. 

Let  me  give  you  a  simple  case  of  the 
operations  of  that  trade  council.  Ex  uno 
clisce  omnes.  A  certain  firm  had  a  fairly 
profitable  monopoly  in  a  chemical  prod- 
uct which  it  had  maintained  for  many 
years.  It  was  not  a  patented  article, 
but  one  for  which  the  firm  had  discovered 
a  good  process  of  manufacture.  About 
six  years  ago  this  firm  found  that  its 
Liverpool  custom  was  being  transferred 
to  German  makers.  On  inquiry,  it  trans- 
pired that  the  freight  on  this  particular 
article  from  Hamburg  to  Liverpool  had 
been  lowered.  The  firm  considered  its 
position,  and  by  introducing  economies 
it  found  that  it  could  still  compete  at  a 
profit.  A  year  later  German  manu- 
facturers lowered  the  price  substantially, 
so  that  the  English  firm  could  not  sell 
without  making  a  dead  loss.  It  trans- 
pired that  the  lowering  of  price  was  due 
to  a  heavy  export  bounty  being  paid  to 
the  German  manufacturers  by  the  Ger- 
man State. 

It  is  the  bringing  of  the  heavy  machin- 
ery of  State  to  bear  on  the  minutiae  of 
commerce  which  makes  it  impossible  to 
compete  with  such  methods.  One  article 
after  another  is  attacked,  as  opportunity 
offers;  British  manufacture  is  killed;  and 
Germany  acquires  a  monopoly.  No  trade 
is  safe;  its  turn  may  not  have  come. 

Much  has  been  said  about  British 
manufacture  of  dyestuffs,  and  much  non- 
sense has  been  written  about  the  lack  of 
young  British  chemists  to  help  in  their 
manufacture.  There  is  no  lack  of  able 
inventive  young  British  chemists.  Ow- 
ing to  the  unfairness  of  German  com- 
petition by  methods  just  exemplified,  a 
manufacturer,  as  a  rule,  does  not  care 
to  risk  capital  in  the  payment  of  a 
number  of  chemists  for  making  "  fine 
chemicals."  He  finds  "  heavy  chemi- 
cals "  simpler.  I  do  not  wonder  at  his 
decision,  though  I  lament  it.  There  are 
also  other  reasons.  The  duty  on  methyl 
alcohol  (for  which  no  rebate  is  given) 
makes  it  impossible  to  introduce  eco- 
nomically methyl  groups  into  dyes;  the 


A    WAR  OF  COMMERCE   TO  FOLLOW 


191 


restrictions  incident  on  the  use  of  duty- 
free alcohol  do  not  commend  themselves 
to  manufacturers;  these  constitute  other 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  British  color 
maker.  Lastly,  our  patent  regulations 
are  even  yet  not  what  they  might  be, 
although  an  attempt  has  recently  been 
made  to  improve  them.  The  British 
manufacturer  is  thus  trebly  handicapped. 

Besides,  the  English  competitor  is  at  a 
disadvantage  owing  to  what  may  be 
termed  systematic  and  fraudulent  at- 
tacks, for  which  no  redress  has  been 
obtainable.  Thus  the  manufacturers  of 
Sheffield  still  complain,  I  suppose  justly, 
that  German  articles  for  foreign  con- 
sumption bear  the  words  "  Sheffield 
steel "  stamped  upon  them.  I  myself 
have  been  approached  by  a  German 
swindler  with  the  proposition  that  I 
should  assist  his  firm  in  infringing  pat- 
ents; he  was  surprised  and  pained  to 
learn  that  I  did  not  consider  his  proposal 
an  honorable  one. 

Nor  are  methods  like  these  confined 
to  business  or  manufacture;  they  have 
greatly  affected  British  shipping.  Our 
shipping  companies,  in  good  faith,  have 
associated  themselves  with  others  in 
"  conferences,"  apparently  for  the  mutual 
advantage  of  all,  forgetting  that  behind 
the  German  companies  lay  the  powerful 
mass  of  the  German  State.  Tramp 
steamers,  and  with  them  cheap  freights 
to  the  East,  have  been  eliminated.  The 
Royal  Commission  on  Shipping  Rings, 
which  met  some  years  ago,  referring  to 
the  system  obtaining  in  Germany,  and 
fostered  by  the  German  Government,  on 
charging  through  rates  on  goods  from 
toAvns  in  the  interior  to  the  port  of  desti- 
nation, observed  in  its  report;  "  Such  rates 
constitute  a  direct  subsidy  to  the  export 
trade  of  German  manufacturers,  and  an 
indirect  subs'idy  to  those  German  lines 
by  whom  alone  they  are  available.  And 
as  they  are  only  rendered  possible  by  the 
action  of  the  German  Government,  it 
appears  to  us  that  the  British  lines  can 
in  no  way  be  held  responsible  for  the 
preferences  which  these  rates  afford  to 
German  goods."  Now,  our  Government 
pays  large  mail  subsidies  to  many  of 
our  shipping  companies.    Could  these  not 


be  so  utilized  that  it  would  become  im- 
possible for  Germans  to  capture  our  trade 
by  indirect  state  bounties? 

These  are  a  few  examples  (and  your 
greater  knowledge  will  enable  you  to 
supplement  them  with  many  others)  of 
the  methods  which  have  been  employed 
against  us  by  Germans  with  the  co-opera- 
tion— nay,  the  active  support — of  their 
State. 

Of  late  a  new  factor  has  appeared. 
The  German  Imperial  Chancellor  made 
his  noteworthy  (or  notorious)  remark 
about  a  "  scrap  of  paper."  And  Dr.  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  speaking  in  the 
Reichstag,  acknowledged  openly  that  the 
German  Nation  had  been  guilty  of  a 
"  wrong "  to  Belgium.  This  breach  of 
faith  has  the  approval  of  the  whole 
German  people.  Do  they  realize  what 
it  means?  Are  they  not  aware  that  no 
treaty,  political  or  otherwise,  with  the 
German  people  is  worth  the  paper  it  is 
written  on?  That  the  country  and  its 
inhabitants  have  forfeited  all  claims  to 
trust?  That  no  one,  in  future,  should 
make  a  bargain  with  a  German,  know- 
ing that  he  is  a  dishonorable  and  dis- 
honored man?  *  *  *  Germany  has 
made  many  blunders — an  almost  in- 
conceivable number  of  blunders;  but 
this  blundering  crime  is  surely  the 
culminating  point  of  blunder.  Did 
any  nation  ever  before  deliberately 
throw  away  its  political,  commercial, 
financial,  and  social  credit  to  no  pur- 
pose? To  gain  what?  England  as 
an  adversary,  and  the  contempt  of  the 
>yhole  civilized  world.  Her  treatment  of 
the  poor  Belgian  civilians  has  added  to 
contempt,  loathing  and  scorn. 

Now,  gentlemen,  you  see  our  problem. 
At  the  end  of  this  war  we  shall  have 
Germans  again  as  trade  rivals;  if  there  is 
a  German  State  our  German  rivals  will 
be  backed  by  their  State.  They  will,  as 
they  have  done  before,  steal  our  inven- 
tions, use  trickery  and  fraud  to  oust  us 
from  world  markets,  and  we  know  now 
that  we  need  not  expect  any  bargain  to 
be  binding.  I  am  not  a  commercial  man; 
science  is  supposed  to  be  above  such 
trickery.  Yet  I  read  a  few  days  ago,  not 
as  a  single  example,  but  only  as  the  last 


192 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


I  happen  to  remember,  an  article  by  a 
distinguished  American  professor,  pro- 
testing with  great  moderation  that  an 
important  scientific  generalization  which 
he  published  in  1902  had  been  annexed, 
without  acknowledgment,  by  a  versatile 
and  adroit  pi'ofessor  in  the  University  of 
Berlin — an  acquaintance  of  my  own — in 
the  year  1906;  and  it  was  not  until  1910 
that  the  latter  was  made  to  confess  his 
guilt,  with  much  subterfuge  and  bluster- 
ing. 

Commerce,  indeed,  is  in  Germany  re- 
garded as  war;  we  now  know  it,  and  we 
must  meet  war  by  war.  How  is  that 
war  to  be  waged  ? 

I  can  see  only  two  methods.  One  is 
recommended  by  a  writer  in  The  Ob- 
server of  the  10th  inst.,  who  acknowledges 
himself  to  have  been  a  lifelong  free 
trader.  His  remedy  is  a  25  per  cent, 
duty  on  all  Gei'man  goods,  and  on  Ger- 
man goods  only,  imported  (or  rather 
offered  for  import)  into  Great  Britain 
and  her  colonies,  and  also  that  German 
passenger  liners  and  freight  boats  should 
not  be  allowed  to  call  at  any  one  of  the 
ports  of  the  empire.  His  reasons  are 
fully  stated  in  his  letter;  it  is  signed 
"  A  City  Merchant." 

The  other  method  is  perhaps  less  apt 
to  offend  free  trade  susceptibilities;  it 
is  to  impose  on  what  remains  of  our 
opponents  at  the  conclusion  of  this  war 
free  trade  for  a  term  of  years.  It  re- 
mains to  be  seen  whether  we  shall  be 
powerful     enough     to     insist     on     this 


measure,  or  to  persuade  our  allies  that  it 
is  one  likely  to  fulfill  the  proposed  end. 
It  is,  so  far  as  I  see,  the  only  other 
alternative. 

Those  who  are  thoroughly  convinced 
of  the  benefits  of  free  trade  should 
welcome  this  suggestion,  unless,  indeed, 
they  think  that  such  a  blessing  is  not 
deserved  by  Germany.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  may  comfort  themselves  with  the 
certain  knowledge  that  no  possible  pun- 
ishment inflicted  on  the  Germans  could 
possibly  be  more  galling  and  repulsive  to 
them.  Doubtless,  too,  it  would  suit  the 
books  of  our  allies  very  well,  who  could 
impose  on  German  goods  any  duty  they 
thought  fit,  and  deposit  their  surplus 
and  inferior  goods  in  Germany  at  a  price 
which  would  defy  competition.  But  these 
are  questions  which  I  must  leave  to  those 
more  conversant  with  the  merits  and 
demerits  of  free  trade  and  protection 
than  I  am. 

Whatever  view  you  take,  you  cannot 
but  acknowledge  that  the  situation  calls 
for  early  and  anxious  deliberation,  and 
well-thought-out  and  fii*m  action;  and 
it  must  be  action  taken  as  a  nation — 
through  our  Government — whatever  the 
political  complexion  of  the  Government 
may  be  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  is  for 
you,  as  members  of  the  Employers'  Par- 
liamentary Association,  to  make  up  your 
minds  what  you  wish  to  do;  above  all, 
to  agree,  and  to  take  steps  to  force  the 
Government  in  power  to  carry  out  your 
wishes. 


BELGIUM. 

By  EDITH  WHARTON. 

[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 

La  Belgique  regrette  rien. 

NOT  with  her  ruined  silver  spires, 
Xot  with  her  cities  shamed  and  rent, 
Perish  tlie  imperisliable  fires 
That   sliape    the    homestead    from    the   tent. 

Wherever  men  are  stanch   and  free, 
There  shall  she  keep  her  fearless  state. 

And,    homeless,    to    great   nations   be 
The  home  of  all  that  makes  them  great. 


Desired  Peace  Terms  for  Europe 

Outlined  by  Proponents  for  the  Allies  and  for  Germany 


The  following  forecast  of  the  terms 
of  peace  which  the  Allies  could  enforce 
upon  Germany  and  Austria  is  made  for 
The  New  York  Times  Current  History 
by  a  former  Miyiister  of  France,  one  of 
the  leading  publicists  of  the  French  Re- 
public: 

THE  Allies  will  decline  to  treat  with 
any  member  of  the  Hohenzollern 
or  Hapsburg  family  or  any  dele- 
gates representing  them  and  will 
insist  on  dealing  with  delegations  repre- 
senting the  German  and  Austro-Hun- 
garian  people  elected  by  their  respective 
Parliaments  or  by  direct  vote  of  the 
people,  if  they  so  desire. 

The  Allies  will  facilitate  in  every 
possible  way  negotiations  between  Aus- 
tria-Hungary and  Italy  with  a  view  to 
the  latter  obtaining  the  southern  part  of 
the  Tyrol,  known  as  Trentino,  and  the 
Peninsula  of  Istria,  known  as  Trieste. 

The  200  miles  "  strait "  channel 
(Dardanelles,  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  Bos- 
porus,) between  Turkey  in  Europe  and 
Turkey  in  Asia,  is  to  be  declared  free 
to  the  ships  of  all  nations,  and  under  the 
direction  of  an  international  commission, 
which  will  also  administer  Turkey  in 
Europe  and  form  a  permanent  court  of 
arbitration  for  all  questions  which  may 
arise  among  Rumania,  Bulgaria,  Serbia, 
Montenegro,  and  Greece.  In  settling  the 
status  of  Albania  respect  will  be  paid  to 
the  wishes  of  the  inhabitants. 

Alsace  and  Lorraine,  after  recitifi- 
cations  of  the  French  boundary  line  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  in- 
habitants, are  to  be  annexed  to  Bel- 
gium, whose  permanent  neutrality  will 
be  guaranteed  by  the  powers.  Schlswig- 
Holstein  is  to  be  returned  to  Denmark 
and  the  Kiel  Canal  made  an  international 
waterway,  under  either  an  international 
commission  or  a  company  which  will 
operate  it  as  the  Suez  Canal  is  operated. 

Poland  is  to  be  declared  an  autono- 
mous State  under  the  protection  of  Rus- 


sia, and  its  boundaries  are  to  be  restored 
as  they  were  in  1715. 

The  Allies  will  also  entertain  a  propo- 
sition for  the  restoration  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  Hungary  and  the  geo- 
graphical integrity  of  the  country  as  it 
was  in  1715. 

The  delegates  representing  the  Ger- 
man people  must  pledge  themselves  that 
military  conscription  shall  be  abolished 
among  them  for  a  period  of  twenty-five 
years. 

The  status  of  all  German  colonies  and 
protectorates  is  to  be  settled  by  a  joint 
commission  appointed  by  the  Govern- 
ments of  England,  Japan,  and  France. 

The  ownership  of  Italy  and  Greece  to 
the  Aegean  Islands,  now  in  their  re- 
spective possessions,  is  to  be  confirmed 
by  the  powers  and  guarantees  shall  be 
given  that  the  said  islands  shall  not  be 
fortified. 

The  ownership  of  England  to  the  Isl- 
and of  Cyprus  is  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
powers  and  her  protectorate  over  Egypt 
acknowledged. 

The  Mediterranean  Sea  is  to  be  de- 
clared a  "  maritime  area  "  to  be  policed 
by  England,  France,  and  Italy. 

Here  is  the  declaration  of  peace  terms 
by  the  Central  Committee  for  National 
Patriotic  Organization  of  England: 

Great  Britain  can  never  willingly  make 
peace  with  Germany  until  the  power  of 
Prussian  militarism  is  completely  de- 
stroyed ahd  there  is  no  possibility  of  our 
children  or  our  children's  children  being 
forced  again  to  fight  for  the  national 
existence.  As  far  as  we  are  concerned, 
this  is  a  fight  to  a  definite  finish.  We 
must  either  win  all  along  the  line  or  we 
must  be  completely  defeated  and  our  em- 
pire destroyed.  Our  allies  fully  share 
the  same  conviction.  The  thousands  of 
lives  already  lost,  and,  alas!  still  to  be 
lost,  will  have  been  tragically  wasted  if 
the  German  menace  remains  to  terrorize 


194 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Europe  and  to  stunt  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization. In  order  to  convince  public 
opinion  that  the  only  peace  worth  having 
is  a  peace  absolutely  on  our  own  terms, 
a  Central  Committee  for  National  Patri- 
otic Organization  has  been  formed  from 
the  members  of  all  the  four  political  par- 
ties. The  committee  will,  in  addition, 
take  steps  to  lay  a  clear  statement  of  the 
British  case  before  neutral  countries. 
Both  the  tasks  it  has  undertaken  are  of 
the  first  importance,  and  it  should  have 
the  support  of  every  patriot. 

GERMANY'S  PROGRAM. 

Professor  Ernst  Haeckel,  the  militant 
German  zoologist,  supplies,  in  an  inter- 
view in  the  Berliner  Tagesblatt,  the  fol- 
lowing summary: 

Freedom  from  the  tyranny  of  England 
to  be  secured  as  follows: 

1.  The  Invasion  of  the  British  piratical 
State  by  the  German  Army  and  Navy  and 
the  occupation  of  London. 

2.  The  partition  of  Belgium,  the  west- 
ern portion  as  far  as  Ostend  and  Antwerp 
to  becom^  a  German  Federal  State ;  the 
northern  portion  to  fall  to  Holland,  and 
the  southeastern  portion  to  be  added  to 
Luxemburg,  which  also  should  become  a 
German  Federal   State. 

3.  Germany  to  obtain  the  greater  part 
of  the  British  colonies  and  of  the  Congo 
State. 

4.  France  to  give  up  a  portion  of  her 
northeastern  provinces. 

5.  Russia  to  be  reduced  to  impotency 
by  the  re-establishment  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Poland,  which  should  be  united  with 
Austria-Hungary. 

6.  The  Baltic  Provinces  of  Russia  to  be 
restored    to    Germany. 

7.  Finland,  to  become  an  independent 
kingdom  and  be  united  with  Sweden. 

An  article  by  Georges  Clemenceau,  in 
L'Homme  Enchaine,  reports  the  follow- 
ing view  of  the  German  terms  accredited 
to  Count  Bemstorff,  German  Am- 
bassador at  Washington: 

One  of  my  friends  in  America  informs 
me  of  a  curious  conversation  between  an 
influential  banker  and  the  German  Am- 
bassador, Count  Bernstorff.  The  banker, 
who  had  just  handed  over  a  substantial 
check  for  the  German  Red  Cross,  asked 
Count  Bernstorff  what  the  Kaiser  would 
take  from  France  after  the  victory. 

The  Ambassador  did  not  seem  the  least 


surprised  at  this  somewhat  premature 
question.  He  answered  it  quite  calmly, 
ticking  off  the  various  points  on  his 
fingers  as  follows: 

1.  All  the  French  colonies,  including 
the  whole  of  Morocco,  Algeria,  and  Tunis. 

2.  All  the  country  northeast  of  a 
straight  line  from  Saint-Val6ry  to  Lyons, 
that  is  to  say,  more  than  one  quarter  of 
French  territory,  including  15,000,000  in- 
habitants. 

3.  An  indemnity  of  10,000,000,000  francs, 
($2,000,000,000.) 

4.  A  tariff  allowing  all  German  goods 
to  enter  France  free  during  twenty-five 
years,  without  reciprocity  for  French 
goods  entering  Germany.  After  this  period 
the  Treaty  of  Frankfurt  will  again  be 
applied. 

5.  The  suppression  of  recruiting  in 
France  during  twenty-five  years. 

6.  The  destruction  of  all  French 
fortresses. 

7.  France  to  hand  over  3,000,000  rifles, 
2,000  cannon,  and  40,000  horses. 

8.  The  protection  of  all  German  patents 
without   reciprocity. 

9.  France  must  abandon  Russia  and 
Great  Britain. 

10.  A  treaty  of  alliance  with  Germany 
for  twenty-five  years. 

Dr.  Bemhard  Dernburg,  late  Ger- 
man Colonial  Secretary  of  State,  has 
published  an  article  in  The  Independent, 
in  which  this  forecast  appears: 

1.  Germany  will  not  consider  it  wise 
to  take  any  European  territory,  but  will 
make  minor  corrections  of  frontiers  for 
military  purposes  by  occupying  such 
frontier  territory  as  has  proved  a  weak 
spot  in  the  German  armor. 

2.  Belgium  belongs  geographically  to 
the  German  Empire.  She  commands  the 
mouth  of  the  biggest  German  stream; 
Antwerp  is  essentially  a  German  port. 
That  Antwerp  should  not  belong  to  Ger- 
many is  as  much  an  anomaly  as  if  New 
Orleans  and  the  Mississippi  delta  had 
been  excluded  from  Louisiana,  or  as  if 
New  York  had  remained  English  after 
the  War  of  Independence.  Moreover, 
Belgium's  present  plight  was  her  own 
fault.  She  had  become  the  vassal  of 
England  and  France.  Therefore,  while 
"  probably  "  no  attempt  would  be  made 
to  place  Belgium  within  the  German  Em- 
pire alongside  Bavaria,  Wiirttemberg, 
and  Saxony,  because  of  her  non-German 
population,  she  will  be  incorporated  in 


DESIRED  PEACE  TERMS  FOR  EUROPE 


195 


the    German    Customs    Union    after   the 
Luxemburg  pattern. 

3.  Belgian  neutrality,  having  been 
proved  an  impossibility,  must  be  abolish- 
ed. Therefore  the  harbors  of  Belgium 
must  be  secured  for  all  time  against 
British  or  French  invasion. 

4.  Great  Britain  having  bottled  up  the 
North  Sea,  a  mare  liberum  must  be  es- 
tablished. England's  theory  that  the  sea 
is  her  boundary,  and  all  the  sea  her  ter- 
ritory down  to  the  three-mile  limit  of 
other  powers,  cannot  be  tolerated.  Con- 
sequently the  Channel  coasts  of  Eng- 
land, Holland,  Belgium,  and  France 
must  be  neutralized  even  in  times  of  war, 
and  the  American  and  German  doctrine 
that  private  property  on  the  high  seas 
should  enjoy  the  same  freedom  of  seizure 
as  private  property  does  on  land  must 
be  guaranteed  by  all  nations.  This  con- 
dition Herr  Dernburg  accompanies  by  an 
appeal  to  the  United  States  duly  to  note, 
and  Britain  is  making  commercial  war 
upon  Germany, 

5.  All  cables  must  be  neutralized. 

6.  All  Germany's  colonies  are  to  be 
returned.  Germany,  in  view  of  her 
growing  population,  must  get  extra  ter- 


ritory capable  of  population  by  whites. 
The  Monroe  Doctrine  bars  her  from 
America,  therefore  she  must  take  Mo- 
rocco, "  if  it  is  really  fit  for  the  pur- 
pose." 

7.  A  free  hand  must  be  given  to  Ger- 
many in  the  development  of  her  com- 
mercial and  industrial  relations  with 
Turkey  "  without  interference."  This 
would  mean  a  recognized  sphere  of  Ger- 
man influence  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to 
the  Dardanelles. 

8.  There  must  be  no  further  develop- 
ment of  Japanese  influence  in  Manchuria. 

9.  All  small  nations,  such  as  Finland, 
Poland,  and  the  Boers  in  South  Africa, 
if  they  support  Germany,  must  have  the 
right  to  frame  their  own  destinies,  while 
Egypt  is  to  be  returned,  if  she  desires  it, 
to  Turkey. 

These  conditions,  Herr  Dernburg  con- 
cludes, would  "  fulfill  the  peaceful  aims 
which  Germany  has  had  for  the  last 
forty-four  years."  They  show,  in  his 
opinion,  that  Germany  has  no  wish  for 
world  dominion  or  for  any  predominance 
in  Europe  incommensurate  with  the 
rights  of  the  122,000,000  Germans  and 
Austrians. 


THE   BRITISH   VOLUNTEERS. 

By  KATHERINE  DRAYTON  MAYRANT  SIMONS,  Jr. 


WE  are  coming,  Mother,  coming 
O'er   the   seas — your   Younger 
From     the     mighty  -  mouthed 
Lawrence 
Or  where  sacred  Ganges  runs, 
We  are  coming  for  your  blessing 
By  a  ritual  of  guns ! 

We  are  coming,  Mother,  coming 
On  the  way  our  fathers  came  ! 

For  their  spirits  rise  to  beckon 
At  the  whisper  of  your  name ; 

And  we  come  that  you  may  knight  ug 
By  your  accolade  of  flame ! 

We  are  coming.  Mother,  coming! 

For  the  death  is  less  to  feel 
Than  to  hear  you  call  unanswered? 

'Tls  the  Saxon's  old  appeal, 
And  we  come  to  prove  us  worthy 

By  its  ordeal  of  steel ! 


Sons  I 
Saint 


Chronology  of  the  War 

Showing  Progress  of  Campaigns  on  AH  Fronts  and  Collateral  Events 

from  Jan.  31,  1915,  up  to  and  Including  Feb.  28,  1915. 

Continued  from  the  last  Number. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  EASTERN  EUROPE 


Feb.  1— Russians  retake  Borjimow  trenches 
and  capture  men  of  Landsturm ;  severe 
cold  hampers  operations  in  Galicia. 

Feb.  2 — Germans  advance,  with  heavy  losses, 
southward  toward  the  Vistula  and  east- 
ward between  Bejoun  and  Orezelewo. 

Feb.  3 — Russians  again  pour  into  Hungary 
as  Austrians  yield  important  positions ; 
German  position  north  of  the  Vistula  is 
insecure. 

Feb.  4 — Von  Hindenburg  hurls  50,000  men  at 
Russian  lines  near  Warsaw. 

Feb.  5 — Russians  reported  to  have  killed  30,- 
000  Germans  under  Gen.  Mackensen ;  Rus 
sians  recapture  Gumine. 

Feb.  6 — General  German  offensive  Is  looked 
for ;  Russians  shift  troops  in  East  Galicia 
and  Bukowina. 

Feb.  7 — Germans  rush  reinforcements  to  East 
Prussia ;  second  line  of  trenches  pierced 
by  Russians  near  Borjimow ;  Austrians 
resume  attacks  on  Montenegrin  positions 
on  the  Drina. 

Feb.  8 — Russian  cavalry  sweeps  northward 
toward  East  Prussia ;  Russians  move  their 
right  wing  forward  in  the  Carpathians  but 
retire  in  Bukowina ;  Germans  shift  600,000 
troops  from  Poland  to  East  Prussia,  using 
motor  cars ;  Italians  say  that  15,000  Ger- 
mans died  in  attempting  to  take  Warsaw. 

Feb.  9 — Austro-German  forces  attack  Rus- 
sians at  three  points  in  the  Carpathians; 
Russians  begin  the  evacuation  of  Buko- 
wina, where  Austrians  have  had  successes ; 
Russians  make  a  wedge  in  East  Prussia 
across  Angorapp  River. 

Feb.  10 — Fierce  fighting  in  the  Carpathian 
passes ;  Russians  are  retreating  from 
Bukowina. 

Feb.  11 — Russians  fall  back  in  Mazurlan  Lake 
district;  they  still  hold  Czernowitz. 

Feb.  12 — ^Von  Hindenburg,  as  a  result  of  a 
several  days'  battle,  wins  a  great  victory 
over  the  Tenth  Russian  Army  in  the  Ma- 
zurian  Lake  region,  part  of  the  operations 
taking  place  under  the  eyes  of  the  Kaiser; 
more  than  50,000  prisoners  are  taken, 
with  fifty  cannon  and  sixty  machine  gruns ; 
the  Russians  retreat  in  disorder  across 
the  frontier,  their  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded  being  estimated  at  30,000;  a  sec- 


ond line  of  defense  is  being  strengthened 
by  the  Russians ;  Paris  announces  the 
complete  failure  of  German  offensive  In 
Poland. 

Feb.  14 — Russians  check  Germans  in  Lyck 
region ;  battle  raging  in  Bukowina ;  Al- 
banians invade  Servia  and  force  Servians 
to  retreat  from  the  frontier. 

Feb.  15 — Russian  lines  hold  in  the  north ; 
Austrians  state  that  Bukowina  has  been 
entirely  evacuated  by  the  Russians ;  Ger- 
mans retake  Czernowitz. 

Feb.  16 — Germans  occupy  Plock  and  Bielsk; 
Russians  fall  back  in  North  Poland ;  Aus- 
trians win  in  Dukla  Pass ;  Servians  drive 
back   Albanian    invaders. 

Feb.  17 — Germans  prepare  for  attack  along 
whole  Russian  front ;  cholera  and  typhus 
gain  headway  in  Poland. 

Feb.  18 — Belgrade  bombarded ;  Germans  try 
to  cut  off  Warsaw. 

Feb.  19 — Germans  abandon  march  to  Niemen ; 
they  march  toward  Plonsk  from  two  di- 
rections ;  they  occupy  Tauroggen. 

Feb.  20— Germans  repulsed  at  Ossowetz ;  Rus- 
sians bombard  Przemysl ;  Germans  capture 
French  Hospital  Corps  in  East  Prussia. 

Feb.  21— Russians  force  fighting  from  East 
Prussia  to  Bukowina. 

Feb.  22 — Russians  make  progress  in  Galicia 
and  the  Carpathians ;  it  is  said  that  Ger- 
man and  Austrian  armies  are  being 
merged. 

Feb.  23 — Russians  force  Germans  back  along 
the  Bobr ;  Germans  assemble  greater 
forces  at  Przanysz ;  Russians  destroy  two 
Austrian  brigades  between  Stanislau  and 
Wyzkow ;  Austrians  repulsed  near  Krasne. 

Feb.  24— Russians  have  successes  in  the  Car- 
pathians near  Uzrok  Pass. 

Feb.  2.5 — Germans  besiege  Ossowetz ;  Rus- 
sians gain  in  the  Carpathians  and  again 
invade  Bukowina ;  Russian  wedge  splits 
Austrian  Army  in  the  Carpathians ;  fight- 
ing on  Stanislau  Heights. 

Feb.  26 — Fighting  in  progress  on  a  260-mile 
front ;  battle  in  north  sways  to  East 
Prussian  frontier;  Germans  retire 
Przanysz  region ;  Germans  claim  capture 
of  eleven  Russian  Generals  in  Mazurian 
Lake  battle;  snow  and  intense  cold  hinder 
operations  in  Bukowina. 


CHRONOLOGY    OF    THE    WAR 


197 


Feb.  27 — Germans  retire  in  the  north ;  Rus- 
sians recapture  Przanysz ;  German  bat- 
talion annihilated  on  the  Bobr ;  Russians 
advance  in  Galicia  and  claim  recapture  of 
Stanislau  and  Kolomea ;  stubborn  fighting 
north  of  Warsaw. 

Feb.  28 — Russians  are  attacking  along  whole 
front ;  Germans  checked  in  North  Poland 
and  many  taken  prisoners ;  General  Brusi- 
loff's  army  is  claimed  by  the  Russians  to 
have  thus  far  captured  188,000  Austrians. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  WESTERN  EUROPE. 

Feb.  1— Germans  evacuate  Cernay  and  burn 
Alsatian  towns  as  French  advance. 

Feb.  3 — Germans  try  to  retake  Great  Dune ; 
Allies  make  gains  in  Belgium ;  fighting  at 
Westende. 

Feb.  5— Allies  are  making  a  strong  offensive 
movement  in  Belgium. 

Feb.  7— British  take  German  trenches  at 
Guinchy. 

Feb.  9— Germans  again  bombard  Rheims, 
Soissons,  and  other  places ;  fighting  on 
skis  is  occurring  in  Alsace. 

Feb.  14 — Germans  are  making  preparations 
for  an  offensive  movement  in  Alsace. 

Feb.  16— French  forces  gain  in  Champagne 
and  advance  on  a  two-mile  front;  fight- 
ing in  La  Bassfie. 

Feb.  18— Allies  make  offensive  movements ; 
Germans  give  up  Norroy. 

Feb.  2.3— Germans  use  Austrian  twelve-inch 
howitzers   for   bombardment  of  Rheims. 

Feb.  26— French  gain  on  the  Meuse. 

Feb.  28 — Germans  advance  west  of  the 
Vosges,  forcing  French  back  four  miles 
on  a  thirteen-mile  front ;  French  gain  in 
Champagne,  taking  many  trenches. 

CAMPAIGN   IN   AFRICA. 

Feb.  3 — Portugal  is  sending  reinforcements  to 
Angola,  much  of  which  is  in  German 
hands,  although  there  has  been  no  decla- 
ration of  war  between  Portugal  and  Ger- 
many ;  some  of  the  anti-British  rebels  in 
South  Africa  surrender. 

Feb.  4 — Germans  have  evacuated  Angola ; 
some  South  African  rebel  leaders,  includ- 
ing "  Prophet  "  Vankenbsburg,  surrender. 

Feb.  6 — Germans  are  repulsed  at  Kakamas, 
a  Cape  Colony  village. 

Feb.  13 — Germans  have  won  a  success  against 
the  British  on  the  Orange  River ;  German 
East  Africa  is  reported  now  clear  of  the 
enemy ;  Germans  have  invaded  Uganda 
and  British  East  Africa. 

Feb.  16 — Trial  of  General  De  Wet  and  other 
South  African  rebel  leaders  is  begun. 

F'eb.  21 — German  newspaper  report  charges 
that  German  missionaries  are  tortured  Ly 
pro-British  Africans. 

Feb.  26 — Botha  heads  British  troops  that 
plan  invasion  of  German  Southwest  Af- 
rica. 


TURKISH     AND     EGYPTIAN     CAM- 
PAIGN. 

Feb.  1— Turks  withdraw  forces  from  Adria- 
nople  to  defend  Tchatalja ;  Russian  vic- 
tories over  Turks  in  the  Caucasus  and  at 
Tabriz  prove  to  be  of  a  sweeping  char- 
acter' ;  Turks  have  been  massacring  Per- 
sians. 

Feb.  2— American  Consul,  Gordon  Paddock, 
prevented  much  destruction  by  Turks  at 
Tabriz. 

Feb.  3 — Turks,  while  trying  to  cross  Suez 
Canal,  are  attacked  by  British,  many  of 
them  being  drowned ;  Turks  are  driven 
back  at  Kurna  by  British  gunboats. 

Feb.  4— Turks  routed,  with  heavy  loss,  in 
two  engagements  on  the  Suez  Canal,  New 
Zealand  forces  being  engaged ;  Turks  are 
near  Armageddon. 

Feb.  5— British  take  more  Turkish  prisoners. 

Feb.  7— British  expect  Turks  again  to  attack 
Suez  Canal,  and  make  plans  accordingly. 

Feb.  8— Turks  in  Egypt  are  in  full  retreat ; 
their  losses  in  dead  have  been  heavy. 

Feb.  13— British  wipe  out  Turkish  force  at 
Tor. 

Feb.  17— Work  of  Consul  Paddock  in  saving 
British  property  at  Tabriz  is  praised  in 
British  House  of  Commons. 

Feb.  22— Turks  are  massacring  Armenians  in 
Caucasus  towns ;  Turks  make  general  re- 
tirement on  Damascus.    • 

Feb.  28— Turks  have  evacuted  the  Sinai 
Peninsula. 

NAVAL  RECORD— GENERAL. 

Feb.  1 — German  submarine  seen  near  Liver- 
pool ;  there  is  a  new  theory  that  infernal 
machines  in  coal  caused  blowing  up  of 
the  Formidable  and  the  Bulwark. 

Feb.  2— English  shipping  paper  offers  reward 
of  $2,500  to  first  British  merchant  vessel 
that  sinks  a  German  submarine ;  German 
submarine  tries  to  torpedo  British  hos- 
pital ship  Asturias;  men  from  a  Swed- 
ish warship  are  killed  by  a  mine. 

Feb.  3— German  auxiliary  is  sunk  by  British 
cruiser  Australia  off  Patagonia ;  German 
destroyer  reported  sunk  by  Russians  in 
the  Baltic. 

Feb.  4— British  ships  shell  Germans  at  West- 
ende. 

Feb.  5— Germans  deny  that  Russians  sank 
a  destroyer  in  the  Baltic. 

Feb.  7— Allied  fleets  menace  the  Dardanelles. 

Feb.  9 — Turkish  cruiser  bombards  Yalta ; 
Russians  shell  Trebizond. 

Feb.  10— Germans  are  said  to  have  sunk 
casks  of  petrol  off  the  English  coast  for 
use  by  their  submarines ;  French  Govern- 
ment, in  report  to  neutrals,  denounces 
sinking  of  refugee  ship  Admiral  Gan- 
teaume. 


198 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Feb.  11— Cargo  of  American  steamship  Wil- 
helmina,  bound  for  Hamburg,  is  seized 
by  British  at  Falmouth,  and  a  prize 
court  will  pass  upon  question  whether 
food  destined  only  for  German  civilians 
can  go  through  in  neutral  bottoms;  it  is 
generally  understood  that  the  Wilhelmina 
shipment  was  made  as  a  test  case ;  Ger- 
man submarines,  driven  into  Norwegian 
ports  by  storm,  are  forced  to  put  to  sea 
again. 

Feb.  13— Two  British  steamers  long  overdue 
are  believed  to  have  been  sunk  by  the 
Germans. 

Feb.  14— Canada  is  guarding  her  ports  more 
vigilantly ;  the  Captain  of  British  steamer 
Laertes  is  decorated  for  saving  his  ship 
from  a  German  submarine  by  fast  ma- 
noeuvring. 

Feb.  15— British  steamer  Wavelet  hits  mine 
in  English  Channel  and  is  badly  damaged; 
British  submarines  are  in  the  Baltic; 
Austrian  fleet  bombards  Antivari. 

Feb.  16— Captain  of  the  German  battle- 
cruiser  Bliicher  dies  from  pneumonia  con- 
tracted when  his  ship  went  down  in  the 
North  Sea  fight ;  British  merchant  collier 
Dulwich  is  torpedoed  and  sunk  off  French 
coast. 

Feb.  17— French  steamer  Ville  de  Lille  is 
sunk   by    German    submarine. 

Feb.  18— German  auxiliary  cruiser  Kronprinz 
Wilhelm  has  sunk  six  British  ships  off 
the  coast  of  Brazil. 

Feb.  20— Allied  fleets  are  pounding  the  Dar- 
danelles forts  with  great  effect ;  German 
steamer  Holger  interned  at  Buenos  Aires. 

Feb.  21— Berlin  papers  report  that  a  British 
transport,  loaded  with  troops,  has  been 
sunk. 

Feb.  22— Two  German  submarines  are  miss- 
ing; Germans  are  building  submarines 
near  Antwerp. 

Feb.  23— Australian  mail  boat  Maloja  fired 
on  by  armed  merchantman  in  English 
Channel ;  operations  at  the  Dardanelles 
interrupted  by  unfavorable  weather. 

Feb.  24 — British  capture  German  steamer 
Gotha;  British  armed  merchantman  Clan 
Macnaughton    reported    missing. 

Feb.  25— The  four  principal  forts  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  Dardanelles  are  reduced  by 
the  allied  British  and  French  fleet ;  three 
German  submarines  are  sent  to  Austria 
for  use  in  the  Adriatic  and  Mediterranean. 

Feb.  26— Inner  forts  of  Dardanelles  are  being 
shelled ;  mine  sweeping  begun ;  wreckage 
indicates  disaster  to  German  submarine 
U-9  off  Norwegian  coast ;  French  destroy- 
er Dague  hits  Austrian  mine  off  Antivari ; 
Allies  blockade  coast  of  German  East 
Africa. 


Feb.  27— Forty  British  and  French  warships 
penetrate  the  Dardanelles  for  fourteen 
miles ;  French  cruiser  seizes,  in  the  Eng- 
lish Channel,  the  American  steamer  Dacia, 
which  was  formerly  under  German  reg- 
istry and  belonged  to  the  Hamburg-Amer- 
ican Line,  and  takes  her  to  Brest;  a 
French  prize  court  will  determine  the 
validity  of  her  transfer  to  American  reg- 
istry ;  British  skipper  reports  that  the 
German  converted  cruiser  Prinz  Eitel 
Friedrich  sank  a  British  ship  and  a 
French  ship  in   December. 

Feb.  28— Allied  fleet  prepares  to  engage  the 
strongest  and  last  of  the  Dardanelles  de- 
fenses ;  land  attack  in  conjunction  with 
the  fleet  is  being  considered ;  English  and 
French  flags  now  fly  over  wrecked  forts; 
London  welcomes  seizure  of  Dacia  by 
French. 

NAVAL  RECORD— WAR  ZONE. 

Feb.  4 — Germany  proclaims  the  waters  around 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  except  a  pas- 
sage north  of  Scotland,  a  war  zone  from 
and  after  Feb.  18,  and  states  that  neutral 
ships  entering  the  zone  will  be  in  danger, 
in  consequence  of  the  misuse  of  neutral 
flags  said  to  have  been  ordered  by  the 
British  Government. 

Feb.  6 — Decree  is  discussed  by  President  "Wil- 
son and  the  Cabinet ;  dangers  of  com- 
plications for  the  United  States  are  fore- 
seen ;  indignation  is  expressed  in  Italy, 
Holland,  and  Denmark ;  text  of  the  decree 
is  submitted  to  the  United  States  State 
Department  by  Ambassador  Gerard. 

Feb.  9— Some  European  neutrals  intend  to 
have  the  names  of  their  ships  printed  in 
huge  letters  on  ships'  sides  and  the  na- 
tional colors  painted  en. 

Feb.  11— The  State  Department  makes  public 
the  text  of  the  American  note,  dated  Feb. 
10,  sent  to  Ambassador  Gerard  for  de- 
livery to  the  German  Government;  the 
note  is  firm  but  friendly,  and  tells  Ger- 
many that  the  United  States  will  hold  her 
"  to  a  strict  accountability  "  should  com- 
manders of  German  vessels  of  war  "  de- 
stroy on  the  high  seas  an  American  ves- 
sel or  the  lives  of  American  citizens." 

Feb.  12— Ambassador  Gerard  delivers  the 
American  note  to  the  German  Foreign 
Secretary  and  has  a  long  conference  with 
him. 

Feb.  13— The  German  Legation  at  The  Hague 
warns  neutral  vessels  against  entering 
the  war  zone ;  German  Foreign  Office 
comments  on  the  friendly  tone  of  the 
American  note;  Germany  has  requested 
the  United  States  to  advise  ship  owners 
to  man  vessels  sailing  to  German  ports 
with  subjects  of  neutral  States. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   WAR 


199 


Feb.  15— Germany  communicates  to  the 
United  States  through  Ambassador  von 
Bernstorff  a  preliminary  answer  to  the 
American  note ;  Germany  would  be  will- 
ing to  recede  from  her  decree  if  England 
would  permit  foodstuffs  to  enter  Ger- 
many for  use  by  the  civilian  population ; 
the  preliminary  answer  is  cabled  to  Am- 
bassador Page  for  presentation  to  the 
British  Foreign  Office  as  a  matter  of  in- 
formation ;  Italy  and  Holland  protest  to 
Germany  against  war  zone  decree ;  Win- 
ston Churchill,  in  Parliament,  hints  at 
retaliation. 

Feb.  18— Germany  replies  to  American  note; 
reply  is  friendly  in  tone,  but  its  substance 
causes  concern  in  Washington ;  Germany 
still  disclaims  responsibility  for  fate  of 
neutral  vessels  in  war  zone ;  war  zone  de- 
cree now  in  effect ;  ships  are  moving  in 
and  out  of  British  ports  as  usual ;  Nor- 
wegian steamer  Nordcap  is  blown  up  by  a 
mine. 

Feb.  19— German  submarines  torpedo  Nor- 
wegian tanker  Belridge  near  Folkestone 
and  French  steamer  Denorah  off  Dieppe ; 
British  Government  suspends  passenger 
travel  between  England  and  the  Conti- 
nent ;  Irish  Channel  services  are  con- 
tinued, and  it  is  said  that  the  ships  may 
fly  the  Irish  flag. 

Feb.  20— British  steamer  Cambank  sunk  by 
submarine  in  Irish  Sea ;  Norwegian 
steamer  Bjarka  sunk  by  mine  off  Den- 
mark ;  it  is  reported  that  hundreds  of 
armed  merchant  ships  are  hunting  for 
German  submarines. 

Feb.  21— American  steamer  Evelyn  sunk  by 
Tnine  off  coast  of  Holland,  eight  men  be- 
ing lost;  German  submarine  U-12  sinks 
British  steamer  Downshire;  Dutch  ves- 
sels sail  from  Amsterdam  painted  with 
the  national  colors ;  traffic  between  Eng- 
land and  Sweden  is  suspended. 

Feb.  22— The  United  States,  through  Am- 
bassadors Page  and  Gerard,  presents 
notes  to  England  and  Germany  proposing 
modifications  of  war  zone  decree  by  Ger- 
many and  an  arrar.gement  by  which  Eng- 
land w(5uld  allow  food  to  enter  Germany 
for  the  use  of  civilians  only ;  ships  leave 
Savannah  with  the  American  flag  painted 
on  their  sides. 

Feb.  2."?— American  steamer  Carib  sunk  by  a 
mine  off  German  coast,  three  men  being 
lost ;  Norwegian  steamer  Regin  destroyed 
off  Dover;  British  collier  Brankshome 
Chine  attacked  in  English  Channel ;  Swed- 
ish steamer  Specia  sunk  by  mine  in  North 
Sea:  British  limit  traffic  in  Irish  Chan- 
nel; twelve  ships,  of  which  two  were 
American,  have  been  sunk  or  damaged 
since  the  war  zone  decree  went  into  ef- 
fect; Germany  in'^ludes  Orkney  and  Shet- 
land Islands  in  war  zone. 


Feb.  24 — Germany,  replying  to  Italian  pro- 
test, promises  to  respect  Italian  flag : 
British  steamer  Harpalion  torpedoed  off 
Beachy  Head;  Minister  van  Dyke  re- 
ports that  the  Carib  was  sunk  outside 
route  prescribed  by  the  German  instruc- 
tions. 

Feb.  25 — British  steamer  Western  Coast  lost 
in  English  Channel ;  British  steamer 
Deptford  hits  a  mine  off  Scarborough ; 
Scandinavian  conference  decides  against 
convoying  ships ;  sailings  between  Sweden 
and  England  resumed. 

Feb.  26 — It  is  reported  from  London  that 
the  Allies  favor  reprisals  against  Germany 
by  which  shipment  of  all  commodities  to 
and  from  Germany  will  be  stopped ; 
formal  announcement  from  Premier  As- 
quith  expected  in  a  few  days ;  German 
submarines  allow  Dutch  steamer  to  pass ; 
Swedish  steamship  Svarton  hits  mine; 
passenger  service  between  England  and 
Flushing   to   be   resumed. 

NAVAL  RECORD— NEUTRAL  FLAGS 

Feb.  6— Lusitania,  warned  of  submarines,  flies 
American  flag  in  Irish  Sea  on  voyage  to 
Liverpool. 

Feb.  7— British  Foreign  Office  issues  state- 
ment upholding  use  of  American  flag  by 
Lusitania  and  declares  that  the  practice 
of  thus  protecting  merchant  ships  is  well 
established ;  passengers  uphold  Capt. 
Dow's   act. 

Feb.  8— British  Government  says  that  Capt. 
Dow  was  not  ordered  by  Government 
officials  to  use  neutral  flag. 

Feb.  11— The  State  Department  makes  public 
the  text  of  the  American  note,  dated  Feb. 
10,  sent  to  Ambassador  Page  for  delivery 
to  the  British  Government ;  the  note  asks 
the  British  authorities  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  prevent  the  deceptive  use  of  the 
American  flag  by  British  ships  and  sug- 
gests that  responsibility  might  rest  upon 
Great  Britain  in  case  of  destruction  of 
American  ships  by  Germans ;  according 
to  passengers  arriving  in  New  York,  the 
Cunarder  Orduna  flew  American  flag  as 
precaution  against  submarine  attack  be- 
fore Lusitania  did. 

Feb.  15— Holland  sends  protest  to  England 
against  use  by  British  ships  of  neutral 
flags. 

Feb.  19— England,  replying  to  American  note, 
says  that  the  United  States  and  other 
neutrals  should  not  grudge  the  use  of 
their  flags  to  avoid  danger,  and  that  the 
use  of  neutral  flags  has  hitherto  been 
generally  permitted. 

AERIAL    RECORD. 
Feb.    1— Germans    drop    bombs   on    Dunkirk; 

Russia   threatens   to    treat   air   raiders   of 

unfortified   towns  as  pirates. 
Feb.  2— French  airmen  bum  castle  in  Alsace 

where  German  staff  officers  are  housed. 


200 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Feb.  3 — Swiss  troops  fire  on  German  airmen  ; 
indications  are  that  England  will  not  up- 
hold Russia's  threat  to  treat  hostile  avia- 
tors as  pirates. 

Feb.  4— Body  of  German  aviator  engaged  in 
Christmas  Day  raid  found  in  the  Thames. 

Feb.  5— Allies*  airmen  force  German  General 
to  abandon  Altkirch  headquarters ;  Ger- 
many protest.s  against  Russian  threat 
against  aviators. 

Feb.  6— British  aviator  sinks  German  sub- 
marine. 

Feb.  10— Allies'  aviators  damaged  Dusseldorf 
arsenal  in  recent  raid ;  bombs  dropped  in 
Adrianople ;  French  bring  down  aviator 
who  had  dropped  bombs  on  Paris. 

Feb.  11— Bomb  dropped  by  British  airmen 
kills  thirty-five  Germans  in  Antwerp  fort ; 
Dunkirk  repulses  raid  by  German  aviator. 

Feb.  12— Thirty-four  British  airships  raid 
Belgian  coast  seaports ;  Ostend  station 
set  on  fire ;  Grahame-White  narrowly 
escapes  drowning ;  attack  intended  as  a 
check  for  German  blockade  plans ;  French 
aviators  raid  German  aerdome  in  Alsace. 

Feb.  13— Germany  states  that  the  British  raid 
of  yesterday  caused  "  regrettable  damage 
to  the  civilian  population  " ;  two  British 
airmen   killed   at   Brussels. 

Feb.  14 — Excitement  in  Ottawa  over  report 
of  German  raid ;  French  aeroplanes  rout 
Zeppelin  near  Miilhausen. 

Feb.  15— Austrian  aviators  fire  on  Montene- 
grin royal  family  at  Rieka. 

Feb.  16— British  aviators  make  another  raid 
in  Belgium ;  French  attack  aerdome  at 
Ghistelle  and  attack  Eichwald  in  Alsace. 

Feb.  17 — Copenhagen  reports  explosion  of  a 
Zeppelin  off  the  coast  of  Jutland ;  Allies' 
airmen  attack  network  of  Belgian  canals, 
which   may   be   used   as   submarine   base. 

Feb.  18— Another  Zeppelin  wrecked  off  the 
coast   of   Jutland. 

Feb.  19— French  aviator  drops  bombs  on 
Ostend ;  Germany  apologizes  to  Switzer- 
land for  aviator's  flight  over  Swiss  terri- 
tory. 

Feb.  20— Austrian  aviator  drops  bombs  on 
Cettinje ;  England  distributes  illustrated 
posters  showing  differences  between  Eng- 
lish and  German  aircraft. 

Feb.  21— German  aeroplane  drops  bombs  on 
Braintree,  Colchester,  and  Marks  Tey, 
little  damage  being  done. 

Feb.  22— Zeppelin  bombards  Calais,  killing 
five ;  Buckingham  Palace  and  other  places 
in  London  are  guarded  against  aeroplane 
attack. 

Feb.  2.3— German  aeroplane  seen  off  the  Eng- 
lish  coast. 

Feb.   24— Three  British  aviators  lost  in   raid 

on  Belgium. 
Feb.     27— French     aviators     bombard     Metz; 

Germans  drop  bombs  on  Nieuport. 


AUSTRALIA. 

Feb.  2 — Second  contingent  of  troops  reaches 
Egypt ;  Minister  of  Defense  says  that 
Government  has  placed  no  limit  on  num- 
ber of  men  to  be  sent. 

AUSTRIA. 

Feb.  2 — Government  issues  warning  that  Ru- 
manian volunteers  caught  serving  with 
Russians  will  be  shot. 

Feb.  6 — Two  Czech  newspapers  suspended 
for  comments  on  the  war  unacceptable  to 
the  authorities ;  editors  of  papers  in  Styria 
threaten  to  stop  publication  unless  censor- 
ship  is  relaxed. 

Feb.  9 — Commercial  and  political  organiza- 
tions protest  against  muzzling  of  the 
press.  ■ 

Feb.  12 — Czechs  clamor  for  independence; 
Hungarian  Deputies  have  been  conferring 
with  Rumanian  Deputies  to  try  to  reach 
an  agreement  about  Transylvania  which 
would  keep  Rumania  out  of  the  war;  the 
negotiations  have  now  been  abandoned, 
as  Rumanians  wanted  complete  autonomy 
for  Transylvania. 

Feb.  13 — Entire  Austro-Hungarian  Landsturm 
is  called   out. 

Feb.  15 — Church  bells  may  be  melted  to 
supply  copper. 

Feb.  21 — Foreign  Minister  Burian  and  Ger- 
man Imperial  Chancellor  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg  have  three  long  conferences  in 
Vienna. 

Feb.  22 — Austrian  and  German  troops  have 
been  concentrating  for  several  days  along 
the  Swiss-Italian  border ;  miles  of  trenches 
have  been  dug. 

Feb.  24 — Germany  is  reported  to  be  bringing 
strong  pressure  on  Austria  to  induce  the 
latter  to  cede  to  Italy  her  Italian  province 
of  Trent  and  a  portion  of  the  Istrian  Pe- 
ninsula for  the  purpose  of  keeping  Italy 
neutral. 

Feb.  2S — Full  text  of  Austro-Hungrarian  "Red   j 
Book"    is    published    In    The    New    York 
Times;  it  is  estimated  that  the  total  Aus- 
trian loss,  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners,] 
is  now  1,600,000. 

BELGIUM. 

Feb.  5 — Government  protests  against  annul- 
ment by  Germany  of  exequaturs  of  Con- 
suls of  neutral  powers. 

Feb.  8 — Letter  from  Cardinal  Mercier  to  the) 
higher  clergy  of  his  diocese  protests  f 
against  violation  of  his  rights  as  a  Belgian] 
and  as  a  Cardinal ;  legation  in  Washing- 
ton denounces  tax  imposed  by  Germans] 
on  refugees  who  fail  to  return  to  Belgium,  j 

Feb.  18 — Germany  withdraws  interdiction  j 
against  correspondence  by  Cardinal  Mer-j 
cier  with  Belgian  Bishops. 

Feb.  24 — Belgian  women  in  Brussels  are  j 
ordered  by  Germans  to  stop  wearing  hats  J 
made  after  style  of  Belgian  soldiers'  caps. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   WAR 


^01 


Feb.  27 — Committee  appointed  by  Germans 
to  investigate  condition  of  Belgian  art 
treasures  reports  that  the  actual  destruc- 
tion has  been  insignificant,  while  objects 
which  have  been  damaged  can  be  repaired. 

BULGARIA. 

Feb.  2 — Forces  have  been  sent  to  organize 
the  naval  defense  of  Dedeagatch. 

Feb.  3 — Premier  Radoslavoff  says  that  the 
Government  is  neutral,  but  that  the  Mace- 
donian  question   causes   apprehension. 

Feb.  10 — Government  plans  to  remain  neu- 
tral despite  German  loan. 

CANADA. 

Feb.  3 — Unusual  measures  taken  to  guard 
the  Duke  of  Connaught,  Governor  Gen- 
eral, at  the  opening  of  Parliament. 

Feb.  8 — The  first  working  day  of  Parliament: 
party  leaders  declare  there  will  be  a  politi- 
cal truce  during  the  war ;  Government  to 
have  ample  funds ;  Colonial  Secretary 
sends  dispatch  reviewing  military  opera- 
tions from  British  viewpoint  and  stating 
that  no  Canadian  troops  are  yet  on  the 
firing  line  except  the  Princess  Patricia 
Light   Infantry. 

Feb.  10 — Sixty-five  Canadians  have  died  in 
the  encampment  at  Salisbury  Plain,  Eng- 
land. 

Feb.  14 — Excitement  in  Ottawa  over  report 
of  intended  German  air  raid  from  Ameri- 
can soil. 

Feb.  15 — Parliament  buildings.  Royal  Mint, 
and  Rideau  Hall,  the  Governor  General's 
residence,  are  darkened  in  fear  of  German 
air  raid. 

Feb.  16 — Government  asks  United  States  to 
guard  American  end  of  international 
bridges ;  the  whole  of  the  first  contingent 
is  now  in  France. 

Feb.  19 — Guards  at  international  bridges  are 
doubled. 

ENGLAND. 

Feb.  3 — It  is  planned  to  devote  the  present 
session  of  Parliament  entirely  to  war 
measures. 

Feb.  5 — Official  estimates  place  the  number 
of  effective  men  in  the  army,  exclusive 
of  those  serving  in   India,  at  3,000,0(X). 

Feb.  8— Premier  Asquith  tells  Parliament  that 
British  losses  to  Feb.  4  are  about  104,000 
in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing. 

Feb.  9 — Admiral  Lord  Charles  Beresford  sug- 
gests public  hanging  of  captured  German 
sea  and  air  raiders. 

Feb.  10— At  a  cost  of  .$100,000  the  Govern- 
ment has  converted  Donington  Hall,  Lei- 
cestershire, one  of  the  most  beautiful  old 
places  in  England,  into  a  rest  home  for 
captured  German  officers. 

Feb.  11 — Government  plans  to  publish  bi- 
weekly communications  from  Field  Mar- 
shal French. 


Feb.  12 — First  exchanges  of  disabled  prison- 
ers between  England  and  Germany  are 
arranged  through  the  Papal  Nuncio  at 
Berlin. 

Feb.  13 — Pamphlet  issued  to  the  public  gives 
instructions  as  to  how  to  act  in  case  of 
German  invasion. 

Feb.  15 — First  troops  of  new  armies  are 
pouring  into  France ;  enemy  subjects 
denied  admittance  at  ports. 

Feb.  17 — Board  of  Trade  plans  to  compensate 
all  merchant  seamen  who  may  be  injured 
during  hostilities. 

Feb.  18 — ^Victoria  Cross  is  conferred  on 
twelve  men,  one  of  whom.  Corporal  Leary 
of  the  Irish  Guards,  killed  eight  Germans 
in  hand-to-hand  combat  and  took  two 
Germans  prisoners. 

Feb.  2.*? — Captain  who  was  formerly  in  com- 
mand of  the  super-dreadnought  Auda- 
cious, generally  stated  to  have  been  sunk 
by  a  mine  on  Oct.  27,  is  made  a  Rear 
Admiral ;  promotion  revives  rumors  that 
the  Audacious  was  savel  and  is  being 
repaired;  British  merchant  shipping  loss 
thus  far  is  $20,7.50,000,  including  both  ships 
and  cargoes,  the  Liverpool  and  London 
"War  risks  Association  citing  figures  as 
showing  the  efficacy  of  British  Navy's 
protection. 

Feb.  2.5 — Sir  Edward  Grey,  Foreign  Secre- 
tary, announces  in  the  House  of  Commons 
that  Great  Britain  is  in  "  entire  accord 
with  Russia's  desire  for  access  to  the 
sea." 

Feb.  27 — Six  newspaper  correspondents,  in- 
cluding one  American,  are  to  be  permitted 
to  go  to  the  front  under  auspices  of  the 
War  Office,  according  to  present  plans. 

GERMANY. 

Feb.  1 — Official  order  has  been  issued  that 
all  stocks  of  copper  and  other  metals  used 
for  war  purposes  are  to  be  reserved  for 
the  army. 

Feb.  4 — German  refugees  from  Kiao-Chau 
reach  New  York. 

Feb.  5 — It  is  reported  that  a  sham  railroad 
station  has  been  built  outside  of  Cologne 
to  deceive  French  aviators ;  the  Second 
Secretary  of  the  British  Legation  is  ar- 
rested in  Brussels. 

Feb.  6 — An  Alsatian  is  condemned  to  death 
for   fighting  in   French   Army. 

Feb.  7 — French  prisoner  condemned  to  two 
years'  imprisonment  for  defacing  portrait 
of  the  Kaiser. 

Feb.  8 — Government  orders  neutrals  expelled 
from  Alsace ;  Archbishop  of  Cologne 
writes    pastoral   letter    predicting   victory. 

Feb.  9 — Cardinal  von  Harlman  says  that 
the  motto  of  the  day  is  "Trust  in  God 
and  hold  out  ";  there  is  a  scene  in  Prus- 
sian Diet  when  two  Socialists  protest 
against  the  war. 

Feb.  10— Socialists  indorse  the  war  at  a 
meeting  in  Mainz. 


202 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Feb.  11 — Berlin  communes  suggest  that  all 
members  of  the  Rmden's  crew  be  author- 
ized to  add  the  word  Emden  to  their 
names. 

Feb.  12 — Government  warns  against  offering 
insults   to   Americans. 

Feb.  14 — Many  French  civilians  are  freed ; 
the  Kaiser  is  said  to  be  fifth  in  popularity 
among  contemporary  German  heroes,  von 
Hindenburg  being  first  and  the  Crown 
Prince  second. 

Feb.  15 — Substitute  for  petrol  is  stated  to 
have  been  found. 

Feb.  16— Spaniards  are  expelled  from  Baden; 
Iron  Crosses  given  to  Emden's  men  ;  Ger- 
man nurses  and  surgeons  are  acquitted  by 
the  French  of  charges  of  pillage  at 
Peronne. 

Feb.  19 — Passport  rules  are  made  stricter; 
all  men  of  last  reserve  are  stated  to  have 
been  called  out- 

Feb.  20 — New  submarines,  airshsips,  and  two 
more  dreadnoughts  are  under  construc- 
tion. 

Feb.  21 — Afternoon  entertainments  are  sup- 
pressed in  Berlin. 

Feb.  22 — Boys  from  seventeen  to  twenty  are, 
it  is  reported,  to  be  called  out  for  Land- 
sturm ;  charges  of  cruelty  to  British 
prisoners  of  war  are  denied. 

Feb.  24 — Frankfurter  Zeitung  estimates  that 
prisoners  of  war  now  held  in  Germany 
and  Austria  are  l.O.'Jo.OOO,  75  per  cent, 
being  held  by  the  Germans. 

Feb.  27 — Admiral  von  Pohl,  Chief  of  the 
Admiralty  Staff,  has  been  selected  as 
successor  to  Admiral  von  Ingenohl,  who 
has  been  removed  from  command  of  the 
battle  fleet :  manufacturing  and  agricul- 
ture enterprises  in  the  occupied  parts  of 
France  and  Belgium  are  being  kept  alive 
under  the  management  of  Germans  to 
contribute  to  support  of  the  armies;  high 
school  teachers  and  pupils  are  in  the 
■  army. 

Feb.  2S — Tt  is  reported  that  Ambassador  von 
Bernstorff  is  to  be  recalled  to  Berlin  and 
that  Baron  Treutler,  a  friend  of  the 
Kaiser,  will  be  his  successor ;  the  total 
Prussian  losses  are  now  1,102,212,  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners. 

GREECE. 

Feb.  1 — Nation  at  large  is  declared  to  be 
ready  to  join  war  on  behalf  of  Serbia. 

Feb.  9 — The  Government  believes  that  Ger- 
many should  respect  Greek  rights  in  the 
naval  war  zone. 

Feb.  14 — There  is  danger  of  Greece's  becom- 
ing involved  in  hostilities  because  of  the 
Albanian  Invasion  of  Serbia. 

ITALY. 

Feb.  2 — Reservists  in  England  warned  to  b© 

ready   to  respond   to  call. 
Feb.  7— Russia  plans  to  send  to  Italy  many 
Austrian  prisoners  of  Italian  nationality. 


Feb.  &— Soldiers  of  Second  Category  are  to 
remain  under  colors  until  May;  meeting 
in  Padua  is  held  in  favor  of  joining  the 
war  and  of  dissolving  the  Triple  Alliance. 

Feb.  9 — Federation  of  the  Italian  Press 
condemns  pi-o-German  propaganda;  Gari- 
baldi visits  Joffre. 

Feb.  10 — Garibaldi,  in  "London,  says  that 
popular  feeling  in  Italy  is  against  Ger- 
mans and  Austrians. 

Feb.  20 — One  million  men  are  under  arms; 
Premier  Salandra  avoids  war  debate  in 
Parliament;  volunteers  await  arrival  of 
Garibaldi  to  head  expedition  to  aid  Allies. 

Feb.  2."? — Tt  is  planned  to  call  more  men  to 
the  colors. 

Feb.  27 — Premier  Salandra,  addressing! 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  says  the  nation  does 
not  desire  war  but  is  ready  to  make  any 
sacrifice  to   realize   her   aspirations. 

RUMANIA. 

Feb.  19 — There  is  much  uneasiness  through- 
out the  nation  as  Parliament  reopens 
after    a    recess. 

Feb.  20 — Russian  Minister  to  Rumania  re- 
ports to  the  Russian  Foreign  Minister 
that,  as  far  as  he  can  gather,  Rumania 
intends  to  continue  her  policy  of  armed 
neutrality  and  that  Russia  should  not  rely 
upon  Rumanian  co-operation. 

Feb.  2.*? — The  nation  is  alarmed  by  the  re- 
vival of  the  traditional  Russian  policy  of 
obtaining  command  of  Constantinople  and 
the  straits ;  Rumania  stands  for  the  inter- 
nationalization of  Constantinople,  the  Bos- 
porus, and  the  Dardanelles,  free  passage 
of  the  Dardanelles  being  held  vital  for 
her  existence. 

RUSSIA. 

Feb.  2— Six  German  subjects  and  two  Rus- 
sians are  sentenced  to  prison  for  collecting 
funds  for  German  Navy ;  Government  is- 
sues statement  giving  instances  of  alleged 
German  cruelties  to  Russians  in  Germany 
after  declaration  of  war. 

Feb.  .S — Girl  who  fought  in  nineteen  battles 
is  awarded  the  St.  George's  Cross. 

Feb.  4 — It  is  stated  that  regimental  chap- 
lains sometimes  lead  men  in  charges  after 
the  officers  are  killed   or  wounded. 

Feb.  9 — Lvov  (Lemberg)  to  be  recognized 
as  Russian ;  Sir  Edward  Grey  may  send 
British  commercial  attach^  there;  Duma 
opens ;  Foreign  Minister  Sazonof  assails 
Germany  and  declares  that  her  intrigues 
caused  •  the   war. 

Feb.  10 — Resolution  is  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  Duma  declaring  that  the  Russian 
Nation  is  determined  to  carry  on  the  war 
until  such  conditions  have  been  imposed 
on  the  enemy  as  will  insure  the  peace  of 
Europe;  Prof.  Paul  N.  Milukoff,  speaking 
in  the  Duma  in  behalf  of  the  Constitution- 
al Democrats,  says  that  the  principal 
task  is  the  acquisition  of  Constantinople 
and   the   straits. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


203 


Feb.  13 — Duma  adopts  resolutions  asking' 
war  relief  for  i)rovinoe^  suffering  from 
the  war  and  an  inriuiry  by  commission 
into  enemies'  alleged  violations  of  inter- 
national law:  the  session  is  suspended 
until  not  later  than  the  middle  of  De- 
cember. 

Feb.  20 — It  is  planned  to  put  war  prisoners 
to   work. 

Feb.  24 — Russian  Ambassador  at  Washington 
presents  to  United  States  Government  a 
"  m^moire  "  dealing  with  atrocities  and 
violations  of  the  laws  and  usages  of  war 
alleged  to  have  been  committed  by  Ger- 
man and  Austro-Hungarian  armies  along 
the  Polish  and  East  Prussian  frontiers ; 
the  communication  is  also  delivered  to 
other  neutral  Governments,. and  it  is  plan- 
ned to  bring  it  before  all  the  Red  Cross 
societies  of  the  world. 

Feb.  26 — Consul  in  London  says  men  living 
abroad  will  be  held  liable  for  military 
service. 

SERBIA. 

Feb. .  15— Prince  Alexine  Karageorgevitch  of 
Serbia  arrives  in  London  with  photographs 
in  support  of  charges  of  atrocities  alleged 
to  have  been  committed  against  Serbian 
women  and  children  by  Austrians  during 
the    Austrian    occupation. 

TURKEY. 

Feb.  1 — There  is  widespread  suffering  in 
Palestine   and    Syria. 

Feb.  3 — Abdul  Hamid  advises  peace. 

Feb.  6 — Archives  of  the  Porte  are  moved  to 
Asia  Minor;  Field  Marshal  von  der  Goltz's 
rule  is  stated  to  be  absolute ;  it  is  re- 
ported that  able-bodied  men  are  exempted 
from  service  on  payment  of  money. 

Feb.  m — The  Russians  hold  a  total  of  49.000 
Turkish  prisoners  of  war,  according  to 
estimates  from  Petrograd ;  a  strict  mail 
censorship  prevails  in  Syria. 

Feb.  15 — Officers  who  conspired  to  stop  the 
war   are  court-martialed. 

Feb.  10— French  Vice  Consul  at  Sana  is 
fieed    from    detention. 

Feb.  20— Jerusalem  authorities  are  ordered 
to  guard  non-Moslems  as  a  result  of 
intervention  of  United  States  Ambassador 
Morgenthau. 

Feb.  21 — More  reserves  are  called  out ;  bit- 
terness toward  Germans  is  being  expressed 
in    Syria. 

Feb.  27 — At  a  Cabinet  Council  in  Constanti- 
nople it  was  decided  to  transfer  the  seat 
of  Government  to  Broussa  in  Asia  Minor. 

UNITED    STATES. 

Feb.  2 — Werner  Horn,  a  German,  tries  to 
blow  up  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad 
bridge  over  the  St.  Croix  River  between 
Vanceboro,  Me.,  and  New  Brunswick;  at- 
tempt is  a  failure,  bridge  being  only  ' 
slightly  damaged  ;  he  is  arrested  in  Maine; 
Canada  asks  for  his  extradition. 


Feb.  5 — Horn  sentenced  to  jail  for  thirty 
days  on  the  technical  charge  of  injuring 
property,  several  windows  in  Vanceboro 
having  been  broken  by  the  explosion. 

Feb.  24— R.  P.  Stegler,  a  German  naval  re- 
servist, confesses  to  Federal  authorities 
in  New  York,  when  arrested,  details  of 
alleged  passport  frauds  by  which  German 
spies  travel  as  American  citizens,  and 
charges  that  Capt.  Boy-Ed,  German  Naval 
Attach^  at  Washington,  is  involved  ;  Fed- 
eral Grand  Jury  in  Boston  begins  inquiry 
to  determine  whether  Horn  violated  law 
regulating  interstate  transportation  of 
explosives. 

Feb.  25 — Capt.  Boy-Ed  denies  the  truth  of 
statements  made  by  Stegler  involving 
him ;  Stegler  is  held  for  alleged  obtain- 
ing of  a  United  States  passport  by  fraud  ; 
two  other  men  under  arrest. 

Feb.  28 — German  Embassy  at  Washington 
issues  a  statement  characterizing  Steg- 
ler's  allegations  aboyt  Capt.  Boy-Ed  as 
"false  and  fantastic,"  and  "of  a  patholog- 
ical character,"  and  hinting  at  attempted 
blackmail. 

RELIEF    WORK. 

Feb.  2 — It  is  planned  to  send  a  Belgian  relief 
ship  with  supplies  donated  wholly  by  the 
people  of  New  York  State ;  France  fa- 
cilitates entry  of  tobacco  sent  by  Ameri- 
cans as  gift  to  French  soldiers;  organiza- 
tion is  formed  in  New  York  called  the  War 
Relief  Clearing  House  for  France  and 
Her  Allies  to  systematize  shipment  of 
supplies. 

Feb.  3 — Russia  permits  supplies  to  be  sen*, 
to  captives,  but  Russian  military  author- 
ities will  do  the  distributing. 

Feb.  4 — Steamer  Aymeric  sai's  with  cargo  of 
food  from  twelve  States  for  Belgium. 

Feb.  5 — Russia  refuses  to  permit  relief  ex- 
peditions to  minister  to  German  and  Aus- 
trian prisoners  in  Siberia;  the  United 
States  asks  that  an  American  doctor  be 
permitted  to  accompany  Red  Cross  sup- 
plies to  observe  their  distribution  ;  Ameri- 
can Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium  is 
sending  food  to  some  towns  and  villages 
of  Northern  France  in  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans, where  the  commission's  repre- 
sentatives have  found  distressing  condi- 
tions. 

Feb.  7 — New  York  women  plan  to  equip  a 
lying-in  hospital  for  destitute  mothers  of 
Belgium. 

Feb.  10 — Steamer  Great  City  sails  with  sup- 
plies for  the  Belgians  estimatel  to  be 
worth  $.'):!0,00(^),  this  being  the  most  valu- 
able cargo  yet  shipped ;  the  shipment 
represents  gifts  from  every  State,  50,000 
persons  having  contributed ;  Rockefeller 
Foundation  is  negotiating  in  Rumania  for 
grain   for  people  of  Poland. 

Feb.  12 — American  Girls'  Aid  Society  send"? 
apparel  to  France  sufficient  to  clothe 
20,000  persons. 


204 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Feb.  13 — Otto  H.  Kahn  lends  his  London 
residence  for  the  use  of  soldiers  and 
sailors  who  have  been  made  blind  during 
the  war. 

Feb.  14 — Rockefeller  Foundation  reports  that 
the  situation  in  Belgium  is  without  a 
parallel  in  history ;  Commission  for  Relief 
announces  that  it  is  possible  to  send 
money  direct  from  United  States  to  per- 
sons   in    Belgium. 

Feb.  16 — Queen  Mary  sends  letter  of  thanks 
for  gifts  to  the  British-American  War 
Relief  Committee;  American  Red  Cross 
sends  a  large  consignment  of  supplies  to 
Russia  and   Poland. 

Feb.  19 — London  Times  Fund  for  the  sick 
and  wounded  passes  the  $5,000,000  mark, 
thought  in  London  to  be  a  record  for  a 
popular  fund ;  steamer  Batiscan  sails  with 
donations  from  thirty  States ;  Red  Cross 
ships  seventeen  automobile  ambulances 
for  various  belligerents  donated  by  stu- 
dents of  Tale  and  Harvard. 


Feb.  22 — Sienkiewicz  and  Paderew^ski  appeal 
through  Paris  newspapers  for  help  for 
Poland. 

Feb.  2.*? — Rockefeller  Foundation's  report  to 
Industrial  Commission  shows  an  expendi- 
ture of  $1,0(»9,0(X)  on  war  relief  up  to  Jan. 
1 ;  food,  not  clothes,  is  Belgium's  need, 
so  the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium 
announces   from    London   office. 

Feb.  24 — Plans  are  made  for  Arnerican  chil- 
dren to  send  a  ship  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Easter  Argosy — a  Ship  of  Life  and 
Love  "  with  a  cargo  for  the  children  of 
Belgium. 

Feb.  25 — Queen  Alexandra  thanks  British- 
American   War   Relief   Committee. 

Feb.  26 — The  American  Belgian  Relief  Fund 
is  now  $040,000. 

Feb.  27 — Doctors  and  nurses  sail  to  open  the 
French  Hospital  of  New  York  in  France. 


THE   GREAT  SEA  FIGHT. 

By   J.    ROBERT   FOSTER. 


IN  my  watch  on  deck  at  the  turn  of  the 
night 
I   saw   the   spindrift   rise. 
And  I  saw  by  the  thin  moon's  waning  light 

The  shine  of  dead  men's  eyes. 
They  rose  from  the  wave  in  armor  bright. 

The    men    who    never    knew    fear ; 
They    rose    with    their    swords    to    their    hips 
strapped  tight, 
And  stripped  to  their  fighting  gear. 


They  swore  to  fight  till  the  Judgment  Day, 

Each  night  ere  the  cock  should  crow, 
Where  the  thunders  boom  and  the  lightnings 
play 

In  the  wrack  of  the  battle-glow. 
They  swore  by  Drake  and  Plymouth  Bay, 

The  men  of  the  Good  Hope's  crew. 
By  the  bones  that  lay  in  fierce  Biscay, 

And  they  swore  by  Cradock,  too —  « 


I  hauled  below,  but  to  and  fro 

I  saw  the  dead  men  glide, 
With  never  a  plank  their  bones  to  tow. 

As  the  slippery  seas  they  ride. 
While  the  bale-star  burned   where  the  mists 
swayed  low 

They  clasped  each  hand  to  hand. 
And  swore  an  oath  by  the  winds  that  blow — 

They  swore  by  the  sea  and  land. 


That  every  night,  ere  the  dawn  flamed  red. 

For  each  man  there  should  be  twain 
Upon  the  ships  that  make  their  bed 

Where  England  rules  the  Main. 
Thoy  pledged — and  the  ghost  of  Nelson  led — 

When  the  last  ship's  gunner  fell. 
They   would   man   the  guns — these  men   long 
dead — 

And  ram  the  charges  well. 


So  we'll  choose  the  night  for  the  Great  Sea 
Fight 

Nor  ever  give  chase  by  day. 
Our  compeers  rise  in  the  white  moonlight. 

In   the   wash   of   the  flying   spray ; 
Aiid  if  we  fall  in  the  battle-blight. 

The  shade  of  a  man  long  dead 
Fights  on  till  dawn  on  the  sea  burns  bright 

And  Victory,  overhead  ! 


i 


COMMANDER     THIERICHENS 

Commander  of  the   German  commerce-raider   Prinz    Eitel 

Friedrich,    which  sank  the  American  sailing 

ship   William   P.   Frye. 


THE  GRAND  DUCHESS  OF  LUXEMBURG 

Whose  little  State  was  first  occupied  by  the  German  forces. 
iPhoto   from    Oei^rge    Orantham    Bain.) 


CURRENT    HISTORY 


A    MONTHLY    MAGAZINE 


THE    EUROPEAN    WAR 

MAY,     1915 


Genera]  Sir  John  French's 
Own  Story 

The  Costly  Victory  of  Neuve  Chapelle 


/ONDON,  April  U.— Field  Marshal 
Sir  John  French,  commander  of 
i  the  British  expeditionary  forces 
on  the  Continent,  reports  the 
British  losses  in  the  three  days'  fighting 
at  Neuve  Chapelle  last  month,  as  fol- 
lows: Killed,  190  officers,  2,337  men; 
wounded,  359  officers,  8,174  other  ranks; 
missing,  23  officers,  1,728  men;  total 
casualties,  12,811.    The  report  continues: 

The  enemy  left  several  thousand  dead 
on  the  field,  and  we  have  positive  infor- 
mation that  upward  of  12,000  wounded 
were  removed  by  trains.  Thirty  officers 
and  1,657  of  other  ranks  were  captured. 

The  British  commander's  dispatch  con- 
cerning the  battle  is  long,  and  says, 
among  other  things: 

Considerable  delay  occurred  after  the 
capture  of  Neuve  Chapelle,  and  the  in- 
fantry was  greatly  disorganized.  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  this  delay  would  not 
have  occurred  had  the  clearly  expressed 
order  of  the  general  officer  commanding 
the  First  Army  been  more  carefully  ob- 
served. 

Field  Marshal  Sir  John  French's  re- 
port, which  covers  the  battles  of  Neuve 
Chapelle    and    St.    Eloi   under   date    of 


April  5,  was  published  in  the  official 
Gazette  today.  The  Commander  in  Chief 
writes : 

The  event  of  chief  interest  and  im- 
portance which  has  taken  place  is  the 
victory  achieved  over  the  enemy  in  the 
battle  of  Neuve  Chapelle,  which  was 
fought  on  March  10,  11,  and  12. 

The  main  attack  was  delivered  by  the 
troops  of  the  First  Army  under  com- 
mand of  General  Sir  Douglas  Haig, 
supported  by  a  large  force  of  heavy  ar- 
tillery, a  division  of  cavalry,  and  some 
infantry  of  the  General  Reserve.  Sec- 
ondary and  holding  attacks  and  demon- 
strations were  made  along  the  front  of 
the  Second  Army,  under  direction  of  its 
comm.ander,    Sir   Horace    Smith-Dorrien. 

While  the  success  attained  was  due  to 
the  magnificent  bearing  and  indomitable 
courage  displayed  by  the  troops  of  the 
Fourth  and  Indian  Corps,  I  consider  that 
the  able  and  skillful  dispositions  which 
were  made  by  the  general  officer  com- 
manding the  First  Army  contributed 
largely  to  the  defeat  of  the  enemy  and  to 
the  capture  of  his  position.  The  energy 
and  vigor  with  which  General  Sir  Doug- 
las Haig  handled  his  command  show  him 


«06 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


to  be  a  leader  of  great  ability  and  power. 

Another  action  of  considerable  import- 
ance was  brought  about  by  a  surprise  at- 
tack made  by  the  Germans  on  March  14 
against  the  Twenty-seventh  Division 
holding  the  trenches  east  of  St.  Eloi.  A 
large  force  of  artillery  was  concentrated 
in  this  area  under  the  cover  of  a  mist  and 
a  heavy  volume  of  fire  was  suddenly 
brought  to  bear  on  the  trenches. 

At  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  this 
artillery  attack  was  accompanied  by  two 
mine  explosions,  and  in  the  confusion 
caused  by  these  and  by  the  suddenness 
of  the  attack  the  position  of  St.  Eloi  was 
captured  and  held  for  some  hours  by  the 
enemy. 

Well-directed  and  vigorous  counter- 
attacks, in  which  the  troops  of  the  Fifth 
Army  Corps  showed  great  bravery  and 
determination,  restored  the  situation  by 
the  evening  of  the  15th. 

The  dispatch  describes  further  oper- 
ations, saying: 

On  Feb.  6  a  brilliant  action  by  the 
troops  of  the  First  Corps  materially  im- 
proved our  position  in  the  area  south  of 
La  Bassee  Canal.  During  the  previous 
night  parties  of  the  Irish  Guards  and  the 
Third  Battalion  of  the  Coldstream 
Guards  had  succeeded  in  gaining  ground 
from  which  a  converging  fire  could  be 
directed  on  the  flanks  and  rear  of  certain 
brick  stacks  occupied  by  the  Germans, 
which  had  been  for  some  time  a  source 
of  considerable  annoyance.  At  2  P.  M. 
the  affair  commenced  with  a  severe 
bombardment  of  the  brick  stacks  and  the 
enemy's  trenches. 

A  brisk  attack  by  the  Third  Battalion 
of  the  Coldstream  Guards  and  Irish 
Guards  from  our  trenches  west  of  the 
brick  stacks  followed  and  was  supported 
by  the  fire  from  the  flanking  position 
which  had  been  seized  the  previous  night 
by  the  same  regiments. 

The  attack  succeeded,  the  brick  stacks 
were  occupied  without  difficulty,  and  a 
line  was  established  north  and  south 
through  a  point  about  forty  yards  east 
of  the  brick  stacks. 

The  casualties  suffered  by  the  Fifth 
Corps   throughout  the   period  under  re- 


view, and  particularly  during  the  month 
of  February,  have  been  heavier  than 
those  on  other  parts  of  the  line.  I  re- 
gret this,  but  do  not  think,  taking  all 
circumstances  into  consideration,  that 
they  were  unduly  numerous.  The  posi- 
tion then  occupied  by  the  Fifth  Corps 
had  always  been  a  very  vulnerable  part 
of  our  line.  The  ground  was  marshy, 
and  trenches  were  most  difficult  to  con- 
struct and  maintain.  The  Twenty-sev- 
enth and  Twenty-eighth  Divisions  of  the 
Fifth  Corps  had  no  previous  experience 
in  European  warfare,  and  a  number  of 
the  units  composing  the  corps  had  only 
recently  returned  from  service  in  tropical 
climates.  In  consequence,  the  hardships 
of  a  rigorous  Winter  campaign  fell  with 
greater  weight  upon  these  divisions  than 
upon  any  other  in  the  command. 

Chiefly  owing  to  these  causes  the 
Fifth  Corps,  up  to  the  beginning  of 
March,  was  constantly  engaged  in 
counter-attacks  to  retake  trenches  and 
ground  which  had  been  lost.  In  their 
difficult  and  arduous  task,  however,  the 
troops  displayed  the  utmost  gallantry 
and  devotion,  and  it  is  most  creditable 
to  the  skill  and  energy  of  their  leaders 
that  I  am  able  to  report  how  well  they 
have  surmounted  all  their  difficulties 
and  that  the  ground  first  taken  over  by 
them  is  still  intact  and  held  with  little 
greater  loss  than  is  incurred  by  the 
troops  in  all  other  parts  of  the  line. 

Describing  an  attack  on  the  German 
trenches  near  St.  Eloi  on  Feb.  28  by 
Princess  Patricia's  Regiment,  of  the 
Canadian  contingent,  under  command  of 
Lieut.  C.  E.  Crabbe,  the  Commander  in 
Chief  says: 

The  services  performed  by  this  dis- 
tinguished corps  have  continued  to  be 
verj'  valuable  since  I  had  occasion  to 
refer  to  them  in  my  last  dispatch.  They 
have  been  most  ably  organized  and 
trained  and  were  commanded  by  Lieut. 
Colonel  F.  D.  Farquhar,  D.  S.  O.,  who 
I  deeply  regret  to  say  was  killed  while 
superintending  some  trench  work  on 
March  20.     His  loss  will  be  deeply  felt. 

Emphasizing  the  co-operation  of  the 
British  and  French  forces  and  the  new 


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Map  showing  the  field  of  the  Battle  of  Neuve  Chapelle  and  its  position  in  the 

Allied  line. 


role  in  warfare  assumed  by  the  cavalry, 
the  Commander  in  Chief  writes: 

During  the  month  of  February  I  ar- 
ranged with  General  Foch  to  render  the 
Ninth  French  Corps,  holding  the  trenches 
to  my  left,  some  much-needed  rest  by 
sending  the  three  divisions  of  the  Brit- 
ish Cavalry  Corps  to  hold  a  portion  of 
the  French  trenches,  each  division  for 
a  period  of  ten  days  alternately. 


It  was  very  gratifying  to  me  to  note 
once  again  in  this  campaign  the  eager 
readiness  which  the  cavalry  displayed  to 
undertake  a  role  which  does  not  prop- 
erly belong  to  them  in  order  to  support 
and  assist  their  French  comrades.  In 
carrying  out  this  work  the  leader,  of- 
ficers, and  men  displayed  the  same  skill 
and  energy  which  I  have  had  reason  to 
comment  upon  in  former  dispatches. 


£08 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Referring  to  Neuve  Chapelle  and  the 
considerations  leading  up  to  this,  the 
Field  Marshal  says: 

About  the  end  of  February  many  vital 
considerations  induced  me  to  believe  that 
a  vigorous  offensive  movement  by  the 
troops  under  my  command  should  be 
planned  and  carried  out  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment.  Among  the  more  im- 
portant reasons  which  convinced  me  of 
this  necessity  were  the  general  aspect  of 
the  allied  situation  throughout  Europe, 
and  particularly  the  marked  success  of 
the  Russian  Army  in  repelling  the  violent 
onslaughts  of  Marshal  von  Hindenburg; 
the  apparent  weakening  of  the  enemy  on 
my  front,  and  the  necessity  for  assisting 
our  Russian  allies  to  the  utmost  by  hold- 
ing as  many  hostile  troops  as  possible  in 
the  western  theatre;  the  efforts  to  this 
end  which  were  being  made  by  the 
French  forces  at  Arras  and  in  Cham- 
pagne, and — perhaps  the  most  weighty 
consideration  of  all — the  need  of  foster- 
ing the  offensive  spirit  in  the  troops 
under  my  command  after  the  trying  and 
possibly  enervating  experiences  which 
they  had  gone  through  of  a  severe  Win- 
ter in  the  trenches. 

In  a  former  dispatch  I  commented 
upon  the  difficulties  and  drawbacks 
which  the  Winter  weather  in  this  climate 
imposes  upon  a  vigorous  offensive. 
Early  in  March  these  difficulties  became 
greatly  lessened  by  the  drying  up  of  the 
country  and  by  spells  of  brighter 
weather. 

I  do  not  propose  in  this  dispatch  to 
enter  at  length  into  the  considerations 
which  actuated  me  in  deciding  upon  the 
plan,  time,  and  place  of  my  attack.  As 
mentioned  above,  the  main  attack  was 
carried  out  by  units  of  the  First  Army, 
supported  by  troops  of  the  Second  Army 
and  the  general  reserve.  The  object  of 
the  main  attack  was  to  be  the  capture  of 
the  village  of  Neuve  Chapelle  and  the 
enemy's  position  at  that  point,  and  the 
establishment  of  our  line  as  far  forward 
as  possible  to  the  east  of  that  place. 

The  object,  nature,  and  scope  of  the 
attack  and  the  instructions  for  the  con- 
duct  of  the   operations   were   communi- 


cated by  me  to  Sir  Douglas  Haig  in  a 
secret  memorandum,  dated  Feb.  19. 

After  describing  the  main  topographi- 
cal features  of  the  battlefield  and  show- 
ing how  the  Germans  had  established  a 
strong  post  with  numerous  machine  guns 
among  the  big  houses,  behind  walls  and 
in  orchards  which  flanked  the  approaches 
to  the  village,  Sir  John  proceeds: 

The  battle  opened  at  7:30  o'clock  the 
morning  of  the  10th  of  March  by  a  pow- 
erful bombardment  of  the  enemy's  posi- 
tion in  Neuve  Chapelle.  The  artillery 
bombardment  had  been  well  prepared 
and  was  most  effective,  except  on  the 
extreme  northern  portion  of  the  front  of 
attack. 

At  8:05  o'clock  the  Twenty-third  and 
Twenty-fifth  Brigades  of  the  Eighth 
Division  assaulted  the  German  trenches 
on  the  northwest  of  the  village.  At  the 
same  hour  the  Garhwal  Brigade  of  the 
Meerut  (British  India)  Division,  which 
occupied  a  position  to  the  south  of  Neuve 
Chapelle,  assaulted  the  German  trenches 
in  its  front.  The  Garhwal  Brigade  and 
the  Twenty-fifth  Brigade  carried  the 
enemy's  lines  of  intrenchment,  where  the 
wire  entanglements  had  been  almost  en- 
tirely swept  away  by  our  shrapnel  fire. 

The  Twenty-third  Brigade,  however, 
on  the  northeast,  was  held  up  by  wire 
entanglements  which  were  not  suffi- 
ciently cut.  At  8:05  o'clock  the  artillery 
was  turned  on  Neuve  Chapelle,  and  at 
8:35  o'clock  the  advance  of  the  infantry 
was  continued.  The  Twenty-fifth  and 
the  Garhwal  Brigades  pushed  on  east- 
ward and  northeastward,  respectively, 
and  succeeded  in  gettmg  a  foothold  in 
the  village.  The  Twenty-third  Brigade 
was  still  held  up  in  front  of  the  enemy's 
wire  entanglements,  and  could  not  pro- 
gress. Heavy  losses  were  suffered,  espe- 
cially in  the  Middlesex  Regiment  and  the 
Scottish  Rifles. 

The  progress,  however,  of  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Brigade  into  Neuve  Chapelle  imme- 
diately to  the  south  of  the  Twenty-third 
Brigade  had  the  effect  of  turning  the 
southern  flank  of  the  enemy's  defenses 
in  front  of  the  Twenty-third  Brigade. 
This  fact,  combined  with  powerful  artil- 
lery support,   enabled  the  Twenty-third 


GENERAL  SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  OWN  STORY 


209 


Brigade  to  get  forward  between  10  and 
11  A.  M.,  and  by  11  o'clock  the  whole  of 
the  village  of  Neuve  Chapelle  and  the 
roads  leading  northward  and  southwest- 
ward  from  the  eastern  end  of  that  village 
were  in  our  hands. 

During  this  time  our  artillery  com- 
pletely cut  off  the  village  and  surround- 
ing country  from  any  German  reinforce- 
ments which  could  be  thrown  into  the 
fight  to  restore  the  situation,  by  means 
of  a  curtain  of  shrapnel  fire.  Prisoners 
subsequently  reported  that  all  attempts 
at  reinforcing  the  front  line  were 
checked.  Steps  were  at  once  taken  to 
consolidate  the  positions  won. 

Considerable  delay  occurred  after  the 
capture  of  the  Neuve  Chapelle  position. 
The  infantry  was  greatly  disorganized 
by  the  violent  nature  of  the  attack  and 
by  its  passage  through  the  enemy's 
trenches  and  the  buildings  of  the  village. 
It  was  necessary  to  get  the  units  to  some 
extent  together  before  pushing  on.  The 
telephonic  communication  being  cut  by 
the  enemy's  fire  rendered  communica- 
tion between  the  front  and  the  rear  most 
difficult.  The  fact  of  the  left  of  the 
Twenty-third  Brigade  having  been  held 
up  had  kept  back  the  Eighth  Division 
and  had  involved  a  portion  of  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Brigade  in  fighting  to  the  north, 
out  of  its  proper  direction  of  advance. 
All  this  required  adjustment.  An  orchard 
held  by  the  enemy  north  of  Neuve  Cha- 
pelle also  threatened  the  flank  of  an 
advance  toward  the  Aubers  Bridge. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  this  delay 
would  not  have  occurred  had  the  clearly 
expressed  order  of  the  general  officer 
commanding  the  First  Army  been  care- 
fully observed. 

The  difficulties  above  enumerated 
might  have  been  overcome  earlier  in  the 
day  if  the  general  officer  commanding 
the  Fourth  Corps  had  been  able  to  bring 
his  reserve  brigades  more  speedily  into 
action.  As  it  was,  a  further  advance  did 
not  commence  before  3:30  o'clock.  The 
Twenty-first  Brigade  was  able  to  form 
up  in  the  open  on  the  left  without  a  shot 
being  fired  at  it,  thus  showing  that,  at 
the  time,  the  enemy's  resistance  had  been 
paralyzed. 


The  brigade  pushed  forward  in  the  di-* 
rection  of  Moulin-du-Pietre.  At  first  it 
made  good  progress,  but  was  subsequent- 
ly held  up  by  machine  gun  fire  from 
houses  and  from  a  defended  work  in  the 
line  of  the  German  intrenchments  oppo- 
site the  right  of  the  Twenty-second  Bri- 
gade. 

Further  to  the  south  the  Twenty-fourth 
Brigade,  which  had  been  directed  on 
Pietre,  was  similarly  held  up  by  machine 
guns  in  houses  and  trenches.  At  the 
road  junction,  600  yards  to  the  northwest 
of  Pietre,  the  Twenty-fifth  Brigade,  on 
the  right  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  was  also 
held  up  by  machine  guns  from  a  bridge 
held  by  the  Germans  over  the  River  Les 
Layes,  which  is  situated  to  the  northwest 
of  the  Bois  du  Biez. 

While  two  brigades  of  the  Meerut 
Division  were  establishing  themselves  on 
a  new  line  the  Dehra  Dun  Brigade,  sup- 
ported by  the  Jullunder  Brigade  of  the 
Lahore  Division,  moved  to  the  attack  of 
the  Bois  du  Biez,  but  were  held  up  on 
the  line  of  the  River  Les  Layes  by  a  Ger- 
man post  at  the  bridge,  which  enfiladed 
them  and  brought  them  to  a  standstill. 

The  defended  bridge  over  the  Les 
Layes  and  its  neighborhood  immediately 
assumed  considerable  importance.  While 
the  artillery  fire  was  brought  to  bear,  as 
far  as  circumstances  would  permit,  on 
this  point.  General  Sir  Douglas  Haig 
directed  the  First  Corps  to  dispatch  one 
or  more  battalions  of  the  First  Brigade 
in  support  of  the  troops  attacking  the 
bridge.  Three  battalions  were  thus  sent 
to  Richebourg  St.  Vaast. 

Darkness  coming  on  and  the  enemy 
having  brought  up  reinforcements,  no 
further  progress  could  be  made,  and  the 
Indian  Corps  and  the  Fourth  Corps  pro- 
ceeded to  consolidate  the  position  they 
had  gained. 

While  the  operations,  which  I  have 
thus  briefly  reported,  were  going  on,  the 
First  Corps,  in  accordance  with  orders, 
delivered  an  attack  in  the  morning  from 
Givenchy  simultaneously  with  that 
against  Neuve  Chapelle,  but  as  the 
enemy's  wire  was  insufficiently  cut  very 
little  progress   could  be  made,  and  the 


«10 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


troops  at  this  point  did  little  more  than 
hold  fast  to  the  Germans  in  front  of 
them. 

On  the  following  day,  March  11,  the 
attack  was  renewed  by  the  Fourth  and 
Indian  Corps,  but  it  was  soon  seen  that 
further  advance  would  be  impossible  until 
the  artillery  had  dealt  effectively  with 
the  various  houses  and  defended  locali- 
ties which  had  held  the  troops  up  along 
the  entire  front. 

Efforts  were  made  to  direct  the  artil- 
lery fire  accordingly,  but,  owing  to  the 
weather  conditions,  which  did  not  permit 
of  aerial  observations,  and  the  fact  that 
nearly  all  the  telephone  communications 
between  the  artillery  observers  and  their 
batteries  had  been  cut,  it  was  impossible 
to  do  so  with  sufficient  accuracy.  When 
our  troops,  who  were  pressing  forward, 
occupied  a  house  there,  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  stop  our  artillery  fire,  and  the 
infantry  had  to  be  withdrawn. 

As  most  of  the  objects  for  which  the 
operations  had  been  undertaken  had  been 
attained,  and  as  there  were  reasons  why 
I  considered  it  inadvisable  to  continue  the 
attack  at  that  time,  I  directed  General 
Sir  Douglas  Haig  on  the  night  of  the 
12th  to  hold  and  consolidate  the  ground 
which  had  been  gained  by  the  Fourth 
and  Indian  Corps,  and  suspend  further 
offensive  operations  for  the  present. 

The  losses  during  these  three  daj's' 
fighting  were,  I  regret  to  say,  very 
severe,  numbering  190  officers  and  2,337 


of  other  ranks  killed,  359  officers  and 
8.174  of  other  ranks  wounded,  and  23 
officers  and  1,720  of  other  ranks  miss- 
ing. But  the  results  attained  were,  in 
my  opinion,  wide  and  far-reaching. 

Referring  to  the  severity  of  the  cas- 
ualties in  action,  the  Commander  in  Chief 
writes : 

I  can  well  understand  how  deeply  these 
casualties  are  felt  by  the  nation  at  large, 
but  each  daily  report  shows  clearly  that 
they  are  endured  on  at  least  an  equal 
scale  by  all  the  combatants  engaged 
throughout  Europe,  friends  and  foe  alike. 

In  war  as  it  is  today,  between  civilized 
nations  armed  to  the  teeth  with  the  pres- 
ent deadly  rifle  and  machine  gun,  heavy 
casualties  are  absolutely  unavoidable. 
For  the  slightest  undue  exposure  the 
heaviest  toll  is  exacted.  The  power  of 
defense  conferred  by  modern  weapons  is 
the  main  cause  for  the  long  duration  of 
the  battles  of  the  present  day,  and  it  is 
this  fact  which  mainly  accounts  for  such 
loss  and  waste  of  life.  Both  one  and  the 
other  can,  however,  be  shortened  and 
lessened  if  attacks  can  be  supported  by 
a  most  efficient  and  powerful  force  of 
artillery  available;  but  an  almost  un- 
limited supply  of  ammunition  is  neces- 
sary, and  a  most  liberal  discretionary 
power  as  to  its  use  must  be  given  to 
artillery  commanders.  I  am  confident 
that  this  is  the  only  means  by  which 
great  results  can  be  obtained  with  a 
minimum  of  loss. 


ROBERTS   OF   KANDAHAR. 

SIDNEY  LOW,   in  The  London  Times. 

THROUGH  the  long  years  of  peril  and  of 
strife. 
He  faced  Death  oft,  and  Death  forbore 
to  slay, 
Reserving:  for  its  sacrificial  Day, 
The  garnered  treasure  of  his  full-crowned  life ; 
So  saved  him  till  the  furrowed  soil  was  rife. 
With  the  rich  tillage  of  our  noblest  dead  ; 
Then  reaped  the  offering  of  his  honored  head. 
In  that  red  field  of  harvest,  where  he  died. 
With  the  embattled  legions  at  his  side. 


The  Surrender  of  Przemysl 

How  Galicia*s  Strong  Fortress  Yielded  to  the  Russian  Siege 

The  Austrian  fortress  of  Przemysl  fell  on  March  22,  1915,  after  an  investment  and  siege 
which  lasted,  with  one  short  interruption,  for  nearly  four  months.  This  important  event 
was  celebrated  by  a  Te  Deum  of  thanksgiving  in  the  presence  of  the  Czar  and  the 
General  Staff.  The  importance  to  the  Russians  of  the  capitulation  of  f rzemysl  is  suggested 
by  the  fact  that  about  120,000  prisoners  were  reported  talcen  when  the  Austrians  yielded. 
Until  this  was  effected  the  Russians  could  not  venture  upon  a  serious  invasion  of  Hungary, 
and  the  investing  troops  who  were  then  freed  were  more  numerous  than  the  defenders. 

[By  the  Correspondent  of  The  London  Times.] 


PETROGRAD,  March  22. 

THE  Minister  of  War  has  informed 
me  that  he  has  just  received  a 
telegram  from  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas  announcing  the  fall  of 
Przemysl. 

The  fall  of  Przemysl  marks  the  most 
important  event  of  the  Russian  cam- 
paign this  year.  It  finally  and  irrevo- 
cably consolidates  the  position  of  the 
Russians  in  Galicia.  The  Austro-Ger- 
man  armies  are  deprived  of  the  incentive 
hitherto  held  out  to  them  of  relieving  the 
isolated  remnant  of  their  former  domin- 
ion. The  besieging  army  will  be  freed 
for  other  purposes.  From  information 
previously  published  the  garrison  aggre- 
gated about  25,000  men,  hence  the  in- 
vesting forces,  which  must  always  be  at 
least  four  times  as  great  as  the  garrison, 
represent  not  less  than  100,000  men. 
From  all  the  information  lately  received 
from  both  Russian  and  neutral  sources, 
the  position  of  the  Austro-German 
armies  in  the  Carpathians  has  become 
distinctly  critical.  The  reinforcements 
for  the  gallant  troops  of  General  Brusi- 
loff.  General  Radko  Dmitrieff,  and  other 
commanders  are  bound  to  exercise  an 
enormous  influence  on  the  future  course 
of  the  campaign  in  the  Carpathians. 

All  honor  and  credit  are  given  by  the 
Russians  to  the  garrison  of  Przemysl  and 
General  Kusmanek.  Russian  officers  ever 
had  the  highest  opinion  of  the  person- 
ality of  the  commandant.  I  heard  from 
those  who  fought  under  General  Radko 
Dmitrieff  in  the  early  stages  of  the  Gali- 
cian   campaign   that   when    our   troops. 


after  sweeping  away  the  resistance  at 
Lwow  and  Jaroslau,  loudly  knocked  at 
the  doors  of  the  fortress  of  Przemysl, 
they  met  with  a  stern  rebuff.  In  reply 
to  the  summons  of  the  Russians  to  sur- 
render the  keys  the  commandant  wrote  a 
curt  and  dignified  note  remarking  that 
he  considered  it  beyond  his  own  dignity 
or  the  dignity  of  the  Russian  General  to 
discuss  the  surrender  of  the  fortress  be- 
fore it  had  exhausted  all  its  powers  of 
resistance.  During  the  second  invasion 
of  Poland  by  the  Austro-German  armies 
the  enemy's  lines  swept  up  to  and  just 
beyond  Przemysl,  interrupting  the  in- 
vestment of  the  fortress.  The  wave  of 
the  Austrian  invasion  began  to  subside 
at  the  end  of  the  first  week  in  Novem- 
ber. Only  then  could  we  begin  the  siege 
of  the  mighty  fortress,  which  proved  suc- 
cessful after  the  lapse  of  four  months. 

The  first  Russian  attempt  to  storm 
Przemysl  without  previous  bombardment, 
which  followed  immediately  upon  the 
commandant's  refusal  to  surrender,  re- 
sulted in  very  great  loss  of  life  to  no  pur- 
pose. Thereafter  it  was  decided  to  ab- 
stain from  further  attempts  to  take  the 
fortress  until  our  siege  guns  could  be 
placed  and  a  preliminary  bombardment 
could  sufficiently  facilitate  the  task  of 
the  besiegers.  Meanwhile,  although  the 
fortress  and  town  were  duly  invested, 
our  lines  were  somewhat  remote  from  the 
outlying  forts,  and  the  peasants  of  adja- 
cent villages  were,  it  is  said,  able  to  pass 
freely  to  and  from  the  town  of  Przemysl 
— a  fact  which  would  enable  the  inhab- 
itants to  obtain  supplies.     From  all  ac- 


212 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


counts  neither  the  garrison  nor  the  in- 
habitants were  reduced  to  very  great 
straits  for  food.  The  announcement 
made  at  the  time  of  the  first  investment 
of  the  fortress  that  provisions  and  sup- 
plies would  easily  last  till  May  was,  how- 
ever, obviously  exaggerated. 

I  understand  that  heavy  siege  guns 
were  ready  to  be  conveyed  to  Przemysl 
at  the  end  of  January,  but  that  the  Rus- 
sian military  authorities  decided  to  post- 
pone their  departure  in  view  of  the  de- 
termined attempts  made  by  the  Austro- 
German  forces  to  pierce  the  Russian  lines 
in  the  Carpathians  in  order  to  relieve  the 
fortress,  which,  if  successful,  might  have 
endangered  the  safety  of  the  siege  ma- 
terial. Owing  to  this  fact  the  bombard- 
ment of  Przemysl  began  only  about  a 
fortnight  ago,  when  the  Austro-German 
offensive  had  so  far  weakened  as  to 
satisfy  the  Russian  authorities  that  there 
was  no  further  danger  from  this  quarter. 

The  concluding  stages  of  the  siege  have 
been  related  in  the  dispatches  from  the 
Field  Headquarters  during  the  past  week. 
The  capture  of  the  dominating  heights  in 
the  eastern  sector  followed  close  upon  the 
first  bombardment.  The  final  desperate 
sortie  led  by  General  Kusmanek  at  the 
head  of  the  Twenty-third  Division  of  the 
Honved  precipitated  the  end.  The  dem- 
nants  of  the  garrison  were  unable  to  man 
the  works  extending  to  a  thirty-mile 
periphery. 

The  loss  of  the  western  approaches  left 
General  Kusmanek  no  alternative  but  to 
surrender.  He  had  exhausted  his  ammu- 
nition and  used  up  his  effectives.  His 
messages  for  help  were  either  intercepted 
or  unanswered.  The  assailants  broke 
down  the  last  resistance.  The  most  im- 
portant strategical  point  in  the  whole  of 
Galicia  is  now  in  Russian  hands. 

TE  DEUM  AT  HEADQUARTERS. 
PETROGRAD,  March  22. 

The  following  official  communique  was 
issued  from  the  Main  Headquarters  this 
morning : 

The  fortress  of  Przemysl  has  sur- 
rendered to  our  troops. 

At    the    Headquarters    of    the    Com- 


mander in  Chief  a  Te  Deum  of  thanks- 
giving was  celebrated  in  the  presence  of 
the  Czar,  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  Com- 
mander in  Chief,  and  all  the  staff. 

The  following  communique  from  the 
Great  Headquarters  is  issued  here  to- 
day: 

Northern  Front. — From  the  Niemen 
to  the  Vistula  and  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
latter  river  there  has  been  no  important 
change.  Our  troops  advancing  from 
Tauroggen  captured,  after  a  struggle, 
Laugszargen,  (near  the  frontier  of  East 
Prussia,)  where  they  took  prisoners  and 
seized  an  ammunition  depot  and  en- 
gineers' stores. 

The  Carpathians. — There  has  been  fu- 
rious fighting  on  the  roads  to  Bartfeld 
(in  Hungary)  in  the  valleys  of  the  Onda- 
wa  and  Laborcz. 

Near  the  Lupkow  Pass  and  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Upper  San  our  troops  have 
advanced  successfully,  forcing  the  way 
with  rifle  fire  and  with  the  bayonet.  In 
the  course  of  the  day  we  took  2,500  pris- 
oners, including  fifty  officers  and  four 
machine  guns. 

In  the  direction  of  Munkacz  the  Ger- 
mans, in  close  formation,  attacked  our 
positions  at  Rossokhatch,  Oravtchik,  and 
Kosziowa,  but  were  everywhere  driven 
back  by  our  fire  and  by  our  counter-at- 
tacks with  severe  losses.  In  Galicia  there 
has  been  a  snowstorm. 

Przemysl. — On  the  night  of  the  21st 
there  was  a  fierce  artillery  fire  round 
Przemysl.  Portions  of  the  garrison  who 
once  more  tried  to  effect  a  sortie  toward 
the  northeast  toward  Oikowic  were  driven 
back  within  the  circle  of  forts  with  heavy 
losses. 

Note. — This  portion  of  the  communique 
was  evidently  drafted  before  the  fall  of 
Przemysl  took  place,  and  the  communique 
proceeds : 

In  recognition  of  the  joyous  event  of 
the  fall  of  Przemysl  the  Czar  has  con- 
ferred upon  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas 
the  Second  Class  of  the  Order  of  St. 
George  and  the  Third  Class  of  the  same 
order  on  General  Ivanoff,  the  command- 
er of  the  beseiging  army. 


^/xiNAHURCZANY 


MRASICE^ 


1^      OZALES/E 


395 


KROyvjviICA      SIEbUSHA    /        \ 


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cfVo  ^rc^i--^  ^9.  ^  ^  V.    V  ^i^^^uu//^>.^=v    PLE3ZOWICE 


t//fr^ j^^^o^>»c^^  GROCHOWICE 

BRYTINCE  ^     '"^^ 


p;J  \CYHoyN 


POPOWICE 


Map  of  the  Siege  of  Przemysl.    The  small  triangles  indicate  outlying  fortified  hills 

with  their  height  in  feet. 


COLLECTING  THE  ARMS. 
By  Hamilton  Fyfe,  Correspondent  of  The 
London  Daily  Mail. 
PETROGRAD,  March  23. 
Advance  detachments  of  Russian  troops 
entered  Przemysl  last  night.    The  busi- 
ness of  collecting  the  arms  in  proceed- 
ing.   I  believe  the   officers  will  be   al- 
lowed to  keep  their  swords. 

Great  surprise  has  been  caused  here 
by  a  statement  that  the  number  of 
troops  captured  exceeds  three  army 
corps.  Possibly  on  account  of  the  snow- 
storm no  further  telegram  has  been  re- 
ceived from  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas, 
and  no  details  of  the  fall  of  the  garrison 
have  yet  been  officially  announced.  I 
have,  however,  received  the  definite  as- 
surance of  a  very  high  authority  that 
the  force  which  has  surrendered  includes 
nine  Generals,  over  2,000  officers,  and 
130,000  men.  In  spite  of  the  authority 
of  my  informant,  I  am  still  inclined  to 
await  confirmation  of  these  figures. 

The  leading  military  organ,  the  Russki 
Invalid,  says  that  the  garrison  was  known 


to  number  60,000  men  and  that  it  had  been 
swelled  to  some  extent  by  the  additional 
forces  drafted  in  before  the  investment 
began.  The  Retch  estimates  the  total  at 
80,000,  and  a  semi-official  announcement 
also  places  the  strength  of  the  garrison 
at  that  figure,  excluding  artillery  and 
also  the  men  belonging  to  the  auxiliary 
and  technical  services. 

There  is  an  equal  difference  of  opin- 
ion regarding  the  number  of  guns  taken. 
The  estimates  vary  from  1,000  to  2,000. 
What  is  known  for  certain  is  that  the 
fortress  contained  600  big  guns  of  the 
newest  type  and  a  number  of  small, 
older  pieces. 

The  characteristic  spirit  in  which  Rus- 
sia is  waging  war  is  shown  by  the  service 
of  thanksgiving  to  God  which  was  held 
immediately  the  news  of  the  fall  of  the 
fortress  reached  the  Grand  Duke's  head- 
quarters. The  Czar  was  there  to  join 
with  the  staff  in  offering  humble  grati- 
tude to  the  Almighty  for  the  great  vic- 
tory accorded  to  the  Russian  arms. 

The  first  crowds  which  gathered  here 
yesterday  to  rejoice  over  the  great  news 


214 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


moved  with  one  consent  to  the  Kazan 
Cathedral,  where  they  sang  the  national 
hymn  and  crossed  themselves  reverently 
before  the  holy,  w^onder-working  picture 
of  Kazan,  the  Mother  of  God.  In  spite 
of  the  heaviest  snowstorm  of  the  Winter, 
which  made  the  streets  impassable  and 
stopped  the  tramway  cars,  the  Nevski 
Prospekt  rang  all  the  afternoon  and 
evening  with  the  sound  of  voices  raised 
in  patriotic  song. 

Przemysl  is  admitted  to  be  the  first 
spectacular  success  of  the  war  on  the 
side  of  the  Allies.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  the  nation  is  proud  and  delighted, 
yet  so  generous  is  the  Russian  mind  that 
there  mingle  with  its  triumph  admiration 
and  sympathy  for  the  garrison  which 
was  compelled  to  surrender  after  a  long, 
brave  resistance.  Popular  imagination 
has  been  thrilled  by  the  story  of  the  last 
desperate  sortie,  which  will  take  a  high 
place  in  the  history  of  modern  war. 

When  toward  the  end  of  the  week  the 
hope  of  relief,  which  had  so  long  buoyed 
up  the  defenders,  was  with  heavy,  re- 
solved hearts  abandoned.  General  Kous- 
manek  resolved  to  try  to  save  at  all 
events  some  portion  of  his  best  troops 
by  sending  them  to  fight  a  way  out. 
From  the  ranks,  thinned  terribly  by 
casualties  and  also  by  typhus  and  other 
diseases  caused  through  hunger  and  the 
unhealthy  state  of  the  town,  he  selected 
20,000  men  and  served  out  to  them  five 
days'  reduced  rations,  which  were  all  he 
had  left.  He  also  supplied  them  with 
new  boots  in  order  to  give  them  as  good 
a  chance  as  possible  to  join  their  com.- 
rades  in  the  Carpathians,  whose  summits 
could  be  seen  from  Przemysl  in  the  shin- 
ing, warm  Spring  sunshine. 

It  was  a  hopeless  enterprise,  pitifully 
futile.  It  is  true  that  the  Austrian 
armies  sent  to  relieve  the  city  were  only 
a  few  days'  march  distant,  but  even  if 
the  20,000  had  cut  a  way  through  the  in- 
vesting force  they  would  have  found  an- 
other Russian  army  between  them  and 
their  fellow-countrymen.  General  Kous- 
manek,  before  they  started,  addressed 
them.  In  a  rousing  speech  he  said: 
Soldiers,  for  nearly  half  a  year,  in  spite 
of  cold   and    hunger,    you    have   defended 


the  fortress  intrusted  to  you.  The  eyes 
of  the  world  are  fixed  on  you.  Millions 
at  home  are  waiting  with  painful  eager- 
ness to  hear  the  news  of  your  success. 
The  honor  of  the  army  and  our  father- 
land requires  us  to  make  a  superhuman 
effort.  Around  us  lies  the  iron  ring  of 
the  enemy.  Burst  a  way  through  it  and 
join  your  comrades  who  have  been  fight- 
ing so  bravely  for  you  and  are  now  so 
near. 

I  have  given  you  the  last  of  our  sup- 
plies of  food.  I  charge  you  to  go  forward 
and  sweep  the  foe  aside.  After  our  many 
gallant  and  glorious  fights  we  must  not 
fall  Into  the  hands  of  the  Russians  like 
sheep ;  we  must  and  will  break  .through. 

In  case  this  appeal  to  the  men's  fight- 
ing spirit  were  ineffective  threats  were 
also  used  to  the  troops,  who  were  warned 
by  their  officers  that  any  who  returned 
to  the  fortress  would  be  treated  as 
cowards  and  traitors.  After  the  Gen- 
eral's speech  the  men  were  told  to  rest 
for  a  few  hours.  At  4  in  the  morn- 
ing they  paraded  and  at  5  the  battle 
began.  For  nine  hours  the  Austrians 
hurled  themselves  against  the  iron  ring, 
until  early  in  the  afternoon,  when, 
broken  and  battered,  the  remains  of  the 
twenty  thousand  began  to  straggle  back 
to  the  town.  Exhausted  and  disheart- 
ened, the  garrison  was  incapable  of 
further  effort. 

In  order  to  prevent  useless  slaughter 
General  Kousmanek  sent  officers  with  a 
flag  of  truce  to  inquire  about  the  terms 
of  surrender.  These  were  arranged  very 
quickly. 

In  spite  of  the  local  value  of  the  vic- 
tory, and  the  vastness  of  the  captures  of 
material  as  well  as  of  men,  it  must  not 
be  thought,  as  many  are  inclined  to  think 
here,  that  the  Novoe  Vremya  exagge- 
rates dangerously  when  it  compares  the 
effect  likely  to  be  produced  with  that  of 
the  fall  of  Metz  and  Port  Arthur. 

It  certainly  brings  the  end  of  the  Aus- 
trians' participation  in  the  war  more 
clearly  in  sight.  But  the  Austrians  will 
fight  for  some  time  yet.  What  it  ac- 
tually does  is  to  free  a  large  Russian 
force  for  the  operations  against  Cracow 
or  to  assist  in  the  invasion  of  Hungary. 

What  is  the  strength  of  this  force  it 
would  be  imprudent  to  divulge,  but  I  can 
say  that  it  certainly  amounts  to  not  less 


THE  SURRENDER   OF  PRZEMYSL. 


215 


than  an  "  army,"  (anything  from  80,000 
to  200,000  men.)  Those  who  are  anxious 
to  arrive  at  a  closer  figure  can  calculate 
by  the  fact  that  the  Russians  had  a  forty- 
mile  front  around  Przemysl  which  was 
strong  enough  to  repulse  attacks  at  all 
points.  Another  very  useful  consequence 
is  that  all  the  Galician  railway  system 
is  now  in  Russian  hands.  It  makes  the 
transport  of  troops  much  easier. 

One  further  reflection  was  suggested 
to  me  last  night  by  a  very  distinguished 
and  influential  Russian  soldier,  holding 
office  under  the  Government.  "  The 
method  which  prevailed  at  Przemysl  was 
as  follows:  Instead  of  rushing  against 
the  place  and  losing  heavily,  we  waited 
and  husbanded  our  forces  until  the  gar- 
rison was  unable  to  hold  out  any  longer. 
That  is  the  method  adopted  by  the  Allies. 
It  must  in  the  course  of  time  force  Ger- 
many to  surrender  also. 

"  Up  to  now  we  have  held  our  own 
against  her  furious  sorties.  Soon  we 
shall  begin  to  draw  more  closely  our  in- 
vesting lines.  Only  one  end  was  possible 
to  Przemysl.  The  fate  of  Germany  is 
equally  sure." 

Now  all  eyes  are  fixed  on  the  Darda- 
nelles. The  phrase  on  every  lip  is: 
"  When  the  fall  of  Constantinople  fol- 
lows, then  Prussia  must  begin  to  see  that 
the  case  is  hopeless."  But  we  must  not 
deceive  ourselves,  for  even  when  her 
allies  are  defeated  Prussia  will  still  be 
hard  to  beat.  Przemysl  must  not  cause 
us  to  slacken  our  effort  in  any  direction 
or  in  the  slightest  degree. 

WHAT  THE  RUSSIANS  FOUND 
Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times. 
LONDON,  April  S.—The  London 
Times  under  date  Przemysl,  March  30, 
publishes  a  dispatch  from  Stanley  Wash- 
burn, its  special  correspondent  with  the 
Russian  armies,  who,  by  courtesy  of  the 
Russian  high  command,  is  the  first  for- 
eigner to  visit  the  great  Galician  fortress 
since  its  fall.     He  says: 

Przemysl  is  a  story  of  an  impregnable 
fortress  two  or  three  times  over-gar- 
risoned with  patient,  haggard  soldiers 
starving  in  trenches,  and  sleek,  fault- 
lessly dressed  officers  living  off  the  fat 


of   the   land   in   fashionable   hotels   and 
restaurants. 

The  siege  started  with  a  total  popu- 
lation within  the  lines  of  investment  of 
approximately  200,000.  Experts  estimate 
that  the  fortress  could  have  been  held 
with  50,000  or  60,000  men  against  any 
forces  the  Russians  could  bring  against 
it.  It  is  probable  that  such  supplies 
as  there  were  were  uneconomically  ex- 
pended, with  the  result  that  when  the 
push  came  the  situation  was  at  once 
acute,  and  the  suffering  of*  all  classes 
save  the  officers  became  general.  First 
the  cavalry  and  transport  horses  were 
consumed.  Then  everything  available. 
Cats  were  sold  at  8  shillings,  and  fair- 
sized  dogs  at  a  sovereign. 

While  the  garrison  became  thin  and 
half  starved,  the  mode  of  life  of  the  offi- 
cers in  the  town  remained  unchanged. 
The  Cafe  Sieber  was  constantly  well 
filled  with  dilettante  officers  who  gos- 
sipped  and  played  cards  and  billiards  and 
led  the  life  to  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed in  Vienna.  Apparently  very  few 
shared  any  of  the  hardships  of  their  men 
or  made  any  effort  to  relieve  their  condi- 
tion. At  the  Hotel  Royal  until  the  last, 
the  officers  had  their  three  meals  a  day, 
with  fresh  meat,  cigars,  cigarettes,  wines, 
and  every  luxury,  while,  as  a  witness  has 
informed  me,  their  own  orderlies  and 
servants  begged  for  a  slice  of  bread. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  ultimate 
surrender  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
garrison  was  on  the  verge  of  starvation, 
while  the  officers'  diet  was  merely  threat- 
ened with  curtailment.  Witnesses  state 
that  private  soldiers  were  seen  actually 
to  fall  in  the  streets  from  lack  of  nourish- 
ment. The  officers  are  reported  to  have 
retained  their  private  thoroughbred  rid- 
ing horses  until  the  day  before  the  sur- 
render, when  2,000  of  them  were  killed  to 
prevent  them  from  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Russians.  A  Russian  officer  of 
high  rank  informed  me  that  when  he  en- 
tered the  town  hundreds  of  these  bodies 
of  beautiful  thoroughbred  horses  were  to 
be  seen  with  half-crazed  Austrian  and 
Hungarian  soldiers  tearing  into  the 
bodies     with     their     faces     and     hands 


THE  SURRENDER  OF  PRZEMYSL. 


217 


smeared  with  red  blood  as  they  devoured 
the  raw  flesh. 

The  Russians  were  utterly  amazed  at 
the  casual  reception  which  they  received. 
The  Austrian  officers  showed  not  the 
slightest  sign  of  being  disconcerted  or 
humiliated  at  the  collapse  of  their  for- 
tress. 

The  first  Russian  effort  was  at  once  to 
relieve  the  condition  of  the  garrison  and 
civilians.  Owing  to  the  destruction  of 
the  bridge  this  was  delayed,  but  soon 
with  remarkable  efficiency  distribution 
depots  were  opened  everywhere  and  the 
most  pressing  needs  were  somewhat  re- 
lieved. 

The  entire  conduct  of  the  siege  on  the 
part  of  the  garrison  seems  wholly  with- 
out explanation.  The  Austrians  had 
throughout  plenty  of  ammunition,  and 
they  certainly  grossly  outnumbered  the 
Russians;  yet  they  made  but  one  recent 
effort  to  break  out,  which  occurred  three 
days  before  the  surrender. 

Civilians  inform  me  that  they  gladly 
welcome  the  Russians  and  that  the  first 
troops  who  entered  were  greeted  with 
cheers,  while  the  garrison  was  frankly 
pleased  that  the  siege  was  over  and  their 
troubles  at  an  end. 


As  an  example  of  overoff icering  it  may 
be  stated  that  General  Kusmanek  had 
seventy-five  officers  on  his  staff,  while 
C4eneral  Artamonov,  the  acting  Russian 
Governor,  had  but  four  on  his  immediate 
staff. 

The  removal  of  the  prisoners  is  pro- 
ceeding with  great  efficiency.  They  are 
going  out  at  the  rate  of  ^about  10,000  a 
day.  The  docility  of  the  captives  is  indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  the  Russian  guards 
attached  to  the  prisoners'  columns  num- 
ber about  one  for  every  hundred  pris- 
oners. They  are  all  strung  out  for  miles 
between  the  fortress  and  Lemberg.  The 
prisoners  are  so  eager  to  get  out  and  to 
see  the  last  of  the  war  that  they  follow 
the  instructions  of  their  captors  like 
children. 

All  the  civilians  as  well  as  prisoners 
I  have  talked  with  are  unanimous  in  their 
praise  of  the  Russian  officers  and  sol- 
diers, who  have  shown  nothing  but  kind- 
ness and  delicacy  of  feeling  since  their 
entrance  into  the  fortress.  This  consid- 
eration strikes  me  as  being  utterly 
wasted  on  the  captured  officers,  who 
treat  the  situation  superciliously  and  are 
quite  complacent  in  their  relations  with 
the  Russians. 


THE  JESTERS. 


By    MARION    COUTHOUY    SMITH. 

EV'N  he,  the  master  of  the  songs  of  life. 
May    speak    at    times    with    less    than 
certain   sound — 
"He  jests  at  scars  who  never  felt  a  wound." 
So  runs  his  word !    Yet  on  the  verge  of  strife. 
They    jest   not    who    have    never    known    the 
knife; 
They  tremble  who  in  the  waiting  ranks  are 

found, 
While  those  scarred  deep  on  many  a  battle- 
ground 
Sing  to  the  throbbing  of  the  drum  and  fife. 
They    laugh    who    know    the    open,    fearless 
breast. 
The  thrust,  the  steel-point,  and  the  spread- 
ing stain ; 
Whose  flesh  is  hardened  to  the  searing  test. 
Whose  souls  are  tempered  to  a  high  disdain. 
Theirs  is  the  lifted  brow,   the  gallant  jest. 
The  long  last  breath,   that  holds  a  victor- 
strain. 


Lord  Kitchener  Advertises  for  Recruits 


This  map  shows  the  comparative  distances  from  London  of  Ostend  and  of  some 
English    towns.       London    is    in    the    exact    center    of    the    map. 


If  the  German  Army  were 
in  Manchester. 

IF  the  German  Army  were  in  Manchester,  every 
fit  man  in  the  country  would  enlist  without  a 
moment's  delay. 

Do  you  realise  that  the  German  Army  is  now  at 
Ostend,  only  125  miles  away — or  40  miles  nearer 
to  London  than  is  Manchester? 

How  much  nearer  must  the  Germans  come  before 
you  do  something  to  stop  them? 

The  German  Army  must  be  beaten  in  Belgium., 
The  time  to  do  it  is  now. 

Will  you  help?  Yes?   Then  enlist  TO-DAY. 

God  Save  the  King. 

[Facsimile  of  an  advertisement  that  appeared  in  The  London  Times,  March  17, 
-  1915.] 


Battle  of  the  Dardanelles 


The  Disaster  That  Befell  the  Allies'  Fleet 


AS   THE   TURKS    SAW   IT. 

BERLIN,  March  22,  (via  London, 
11:33  A.  M.) — The  correspondent  at  Con- 
stantinople of  the  Wolff  Bureau  tele- 
graphed today  a  description  of  the  fight- 
ing at  the  Dardanelles  on  Thursday, 
March  18,  in  which  the  French  battleship 
Bouvet  and  two  British  battleships  xoere 
sent  to  the  bottom.  An  abridgment  of 
the  correspondent's  story  follows: 

The  efforts  of  the  Allies  to  force  the 
Strait  of  the  Dardanelles  reached  their 
climax  in  an  artillery  duel  on  Thursday, 
March  18,  which  lasted  seven  hours.  The 
entire  atmosphere  around  the  Turkish 
forts  was  darkened  by  clouds  of  smoke 
from  exploding  shells  and  quantities  of 
earth  thrown  into  the  air  by  the  projec- 
tiles of  the  French  and  British  warships. 
The  earth  trembled  for  miles  around. 

The  Allies  entered  the  strait  at  11:30 
in  the  morning,  and  shelled  the  town  of 
Chank  Kale.  Four  French  and  five  Brit- 
ish warships  took  part  in  the  beginning. 
This  engagement  reached  its  climax  at 
1 :30,  when  the  fire  of  the  Allies  was  con- 
centrated upon  Fort  Hamidieh  and  the 
adjacent  fortified  positions. 

The  attack  of  modern  marine  artillery 
upon  strong  land  forts  presented  an  in- 
teresting as  well  as  a  terrifying  spectacle. 
At  times  the  forts  were  completely  en- 
veloped in  smoke.  At  2  o'clock  the  Allies 
changed  their  tactics  and  concentrated 
their  fire  upon  individual  batteries,  but 
it  was  evident  that  they  found  difficulty 
in  getting  the  range.  Many  of  the  shells 
fell  short,  casting  up  pillars  of  water,  or 
went  over  the  forts  to  explode  in  the 
town. 

At  3:15,  when  the  bombardment  was 
at  its  hottest,  the  French  battleship  Bou- 
vet was  seen  to  be  sinking  at  the  stern. 
A  moment  later  her  bows  swung  clear  of 
the  water,  and  she  was  seen  going  down. 
Cheers  from  the  Turkish  garrisons  and 
forts  greeted  this  sight.  Torpedo  boats 
and  other  craft  of  the  Allies  hurried  to 


the  rescue,  but  they  were  successful  in 
saving  only  a  few  men.  Besides  having 
been  struck  by  a  mine,  the  Bouvet  was 
severely  damaged  above  the  water  line  by 
shell  fire.  One  projectile  struck  her 
forward  deck.  A  mast  also  was  shot 
away  and  hung  overboard.  It  could  be 
seen  that  the  Bouvet  when  she  sank  was 
endeavoring  to  gain  the  mouth  of  the 
strait.  This,  however,  was  difficult,  ow- 
ing, apparently,  to  the  fact  that  her  ma- 
chinery had  been  damaged. 

Shortly  after  the  sinking  of  the  Bou- 
vet a  British  ship  was  struck  on  the  deck 
squarely  amidship  and  compelled  to  with- 
draw from  the  fight.  Then  another  Brit- 
ish vessel  was  badly  damaged,  and  at 
3:45  was  seen  to  retire  under  a  terrific 
fire  from  the  Turkish  battery.  This  ves- 
sel ran  in  toward  the  shore.  For  a  full 
hour  the  Allies  tried  to  protect  her  with 
their  guns,  but  it  was  apparent  that  she 
was  destined  for  destruction.  Eight  ef- 
fective hits  showed  the  hopelessness  of 
the  situation  for  this  vessel.  She  then 
withdrew  toward  the  mouth  of  the  Dar- 
danelles, which  she  reached  in  a  few  min- 
utes under  a  hail  of  shells.  The  forts 
continued  firing  until  the  Allies  were  out 
of  range. 

This  was  the  first  day  when  the  war- 
ships attacking  the  Dardanelles  kept 
within  range  of  the  Turkish  guns  for  any 
considerable  length  of  time.  The  result 
for  them  was  terrible,  owing  to  the  excel- 
lent marksmanship  from  the  Turkish  bat- 
teries. The  Allies  fired  on  this  day  2,000 
shells  without  silencing  one  shore  battery. 
The  result  has  inspired  the  Turks  with 
confidence,  and  they  are  looking  forward 
to  further  engagements  with  calm  assur- 
ance. 

ELIMINATION  OF  MINES. 

The  London  Times  naval  correspond- 
ent writes,  in  its  issue  of  March  20: 

The  further  attack  upon  the  inner  forts 
at  the  Dardanelles,  which  was  resumed 


220 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


by  the  allied  squadrons  on  Thursday,  has 
resulted,  unfortunately,  but  not  alto- 
gether unexpectedly,  in  some  loss  of 
ships  and  gallant  lives. 

The  clear  and  candid  dispatch  in  which 
the  operations  are  described  attributes 
the  loss  of  the  ships  to  floating  mines, 
which  were  probably  released  to  drift 
down  with  the  current  in  such  large  num- 
bers that  the  usual  method  of  evading 
these  machines  was  unavailable.  This 
danger,  it  is  said,  will  require  special 
treatment.  Presumably  the  area  having 
been  swept  clear  of  anchored  mines,  it 
was  not  considered  necessary  to  take 
other  precautions  than  such  as  were  con- 
cerned with  the  movement  of  the  battle- 
ships themselves. 

The  satisfactory  feature  of  the  opera- 
tions is  that  the  ships  maintained  their 
superiority  over  the  forts,  and  succeeded 
in  silencing  them  after  a  few  hours'  bom- 
bardment. The  sinking  of  the  battle- 
ships occurred  later  in  the  afternoon,  and 
it  would  seem  at  a  time  when  a  portion 
of  the  naval  force  was  making  a  further 
advance  to  cover  the  mine-sweeping 
operations.  There  is  nothing  in  the  dis- 
patch which  indicates  anything  but  the 
eventual  success  of  the  work,  nor  that 
the  defenses  have  proved  more  formid- 
able than  was  anticipated.  The  danger 
from  floating  mines  may  have  been 
somewhat  underestimated,  but  it  is  one 
that  can  be  met  and  is  most  unlikely  to 
form  a  decisive  factor. 

Manifestly  the  Turks,  with  their  Ger- 
man advisers,  have  done  their  utmost  to 
repair,  by  means  of  howitzers  and  field 
guns,  the  destruction  of  the  fixed  de- 
fenses; but  it  is  not  likely  that  any  tem- 
porary expedients  will  prove  more  than 
troublesome  to  the  passage  of  the  fleet. 
The  determination  of  the  Allies  to  make 
a  satisfactory  ending  of  the  operations 
is  shown  by  the  immediate  dispatch  of 
reinforcing  ships,  and  by  the  fact  that 
ample  naval  and  military  forces  are 
available  on  the  spot. 

Every  one  will  regret  that  illness  has 
obliged  Vice  Admiral  Garden  to  relinquish 
the  chief  command,  but  this  is  now  in 
the  very  capable  hands  of  Vice  Admiral 
Roberk. 


BRITISH  OFFIGIAL  REPORT. 
[From  The  London  Times,   March  20,   1915.] 

After  ten  days  of  mine-sweeping  inside 
the  Dardanelles  the  British  and  French 
fleets  made  a  general  attack  on  the 
fortresses  at  the  Narrows  on  Thursday. 
After  about  three  hours'  homhardment 
all  the  forts  ceased  firing. 

Three  battleships  were  lost  in  these 
operations  by  striking  m,ines — the  French 
Bouvet,  and  the  Irresistible  and  the 
Ocean.  The  British  crews  were  prac- 
tically all  saved,  but  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  men  on  the  Bouvet  perished. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty  issued 
the  following  statement  last  night: 

Mine-sweeping  having  been  in  progress 
during  the  last  ten  days  inside  the  strait, 
a  general  attack  was  delivered  by  the 
British  and  French  fleets  yesterday  morn- 
ing upon  the  fortresses  at  the  Narrows 
of  the  Dardanelles. 

At  10:45  A.  M.  Queen  Elizabeth,  In- 
flexible, Agamemnon,  and  Lord  Nelson 
bombarded  Forts  J,  L,  T,  U,  and  V;  while 
Triumph  and  Prince  George  fired  at  Bat- 
teries F,  E,  and  H.  A  heavy  fire  was 
opened  on  the  ships  from  howitzers  and 
field  guns. 

At  12:22  the  French  squadron,  consist- 
ing of  the  Suff  ren,  Gaulois,  Charlemagne, 
and  Bouvet,  advanced  up  the  Dardanelles 
to  engage  the  forts  at  closer  range.  Forts 
J,  U,  F,  and  E  replied  strongly.  Their 
fire  was  silenced  by  the  ten  battleships 
inside  the  strait,  all  the  ships  being  hit 
several  times  during  this  part  of  the 
action. 

By  1:25  P.  M.  all  forts  had  ceased  fir- 
ing. 

Vengeance,  Irresistible,  Albion,  Ocean, 
Swiftsure,  and  Majestic  then  advanced  to 
relieve  the  six  old  battleships  inside  the 
strait. 

As  the  French  squadron,  which  had  en- 
gaged the  forts  in  the  most  brilliant  fash- 
ion was  passing  out,  Bouvet  was  blown 
up  by  a  drifting  mine  and  sank  in  thirty- 
six  fathoms  north  Erenkeui  Village  in 
less  than  three  minutes. 

At  2:36  P.  M.,  the  relief  battleships  re- 
newed the  attack  on  the  forts,  which 
again  opened  fire.  The  attack  on  the 
forts  was  maintained  while  the  opera- 


QUEEN     MARY 

Wife  of   Geprge   V.,    King  of   Great    Britain   and    Ireland. 

(Photo   from    Underwood    rf    Underwood.) 


THE     RIGHT     HON.      DAVID     LLOYD     GEORGE 

The  radical  Chancellor  of   the  British  Exchequer,  upon   whom  has 
devolved  the  task  of  financing  the  great   war. 

{Photo    hu    A.    d    R.    Annun    rf     So»is.> 


BATTLE  OF  THE  DARDANELLES 


221 


tions  of  the  mine-sweepers  continued.  At 
4:09  Irresistible  quitted  the  line,  listing 
heavily;  and  at  5:50  she  sank,  having 
probably  struck  a  drifting  mine.  At 
6:05,  Ocean,  also  having  struck  a  mine, 
both  vessels  sank  in  deep  water,  prac- 
tically the  whole  of  the  crews  having 
been  removed  safely  under  a  hot  fire. 

The  Gaulois  was  damaged  by  gun  fire. 

Inflexible  had  her  forward  control  po- 
sition hit  by  a  heavy  shell,  and  requires 
repair. 

The  bombardment  of  the  forts  and  the 
mine-sweeping  operations  terminated 
when  darkness  fell.  The  damage  to  the 
forts  effected  by  the  prolonged  direct 
fire  of  the  very  powerful  forces  em- 
ployed cannot  yet  be  estimated,  and  a 
further  report  will  follow. 

The  losses  of  ships  were  caused  by 
mines  drifting  with  the  current  which 
were  encountered  in  areas  hitherto  swept 
clear,  and  this  danger  will  require  special 
treatment. 

The  British  casualties  in  personnel  are 
not  heavy,  considering  the  scale  of  the 
operations;  but  practically  the  whole  of 
the  crew  of  the  Bouvet  were  lost  with  the 
ship,  an  internal  explosion  having  ap- 
parently supervened  on  the  explosion  of 
the  mine. 

The  Queen  and  Implacable,  which  were 
dispatched  from  England  to  replace 
ships'  casualties  in  anticipation  of  this 
operation,  are  due  to  arrive  immediately, 
thus  bringing  the  British  fleet  up  to  its 
original  strength. 

The  operations  are  continuing,  ample 
naval  and  military  forces  being  avail- 
able on  the  spot 

On  the  16th  inst..  Vice  Admiral  Car- 
den,  who  has  been  incapacitated  by  ill- 
ness, was  succeeded  in  the  chief  com- 
mand by  Rear  Admiral  John  Michael  de 
Robeck,  with  acting  rank  of  Vice  Ad- 
miral. 

THE  SCENE  IN  THE  STRAIT. 

The  London  Times  publishes  this  story 
of  an  eyewitness: 

TENEDOS,    (Aegina,)    March   18. 

This  is  not  so  much  an  account  of  the 
five  hours'  heavy  engagement  between 
the  Turkish  forts  and  the  allied  ships 
which  has  been  fought  actually  within 
the  Dardenelles  today  as  an  impression 


of  the  bombardment  as  seen  at  a  distance 
of  fifteen  miles  or  so  from  the  top  of  a 
high,  steep  hill  called  Mount  St.  Elias, 
at  the  northern  end  of  Tenedos. 

Over  the  ridge  of  Kum  Kale  you 
plainly  see,  like  a  great  blue  lake,  the 
first  reach  of  the  Dardanelles  up  to  the 
narrow  neck  between  Chanak  and  Kilid 
Bahr.  It  was  up  and  down  in  this  stretch 
of  water  that  the  largest  vessels  of  the 
allied  fleet  steamed  today  for  over  four 
hours,  hurling,  with  sheets  of  orange 
flame  from  their  heavy  guns,  a  constant 
succession  of  shells  on  the  forts  that 
guard  the  Narrows  at  Chanak,  while  the 
Turkish  batteries,  with  a  frequency  that 
lessened  as  the  day  went  on,  flashed  back 
at  them  in  reply,  with  the  difference  that, 
while  the  effects  of  the  Allies'  shells 
were  continually  manifest  in  the  columns 
of  smoke  and  dust  that  were  signs  of 
the  damage  they  had  wrought,  a  great 
number  of  the  enemy's  shots  fell  in  the 
sea  hundreds  of  yards  from  the  bom- 
barding ships,  sending  torrents  of  water 
towering  harmlessly  into  the  air. 

Not  that  the  successes  of  the  day  have 
been  won  without  cost.  I  saw  several 
ships,  French  and  British,  struck  by 
shells  that  raised  volumes  of  white 
smoke,  and  one  of  the  French  squadron 
is  toiling  slowly  home  at  this  moment 
down  by  the  head  and  with  a  list  to  port, 
while,  so  far  as  one  could  make  out  with 
a  glass,  several  boatloads  of  men  were 
being  taken  off  her. 

The  ships  left  their  stations  between 
the  Turkish  and  Asiatic  coasts  and  Tene- 
dos early  this  morning  and  by  11  they 
were  steaming  in  line  up  the  Dardanelles. 

It  was  11:45  when  the  first  notable  hit 
was  made  by  an  English  ship.  I  could 
see  eight  vessels,*  apparently  all  battle- 
ships, lying  in  line  from  the  entrance  up 
the  strait.  The  ship  furthest  up  appeared 
to  be  the  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  I  think  it 
was  she  that  fired  the  shot  which  ex- 
ploded the  powder  magazine  at  Chanak. 
A  great  ballooon  of  white  smoke  sprang 
up  in  the  midst  of  the  magazine  which 
leaped  out  from  a  fierce,  red  flame,  and 
reached  a  great  height.  When  the  flame 
had  disappeared  the  dense  smoke  con- 
tinued to  grow  till  it  must  have  been  a 
column  hundreds  of  feet  high. 


In  the  five  minutes  that  followed  this 
shot  three  more  shells  from  the  Queen 
Elizabeth  fell  practically  on  the  same 
spot,  and  two  minutes  later  yet  another 
by  the  side  of  the  smoking  ruins. 

There  were  now  eight  battleships,  all 
pre-dreadnoughts,  left  at  Tenedos,  and  at 
noon  six  of  them  started  off  in  line 
a-head  toward  the  strait.  The  English 
ships  already  within  were  passing  further 
up  and  went  out  of  sight. 

The  bombarding  ships  were  steaming 
constantly  up  and  down,  turning  at  each 
end  of  the  stretch,  which  is  about  a  couple 
of  miles  long. 

A  long  thin  veil  of  black  smoke  was 
drifting  slowly  westward  from  the  fight- 
ing. At  about  1:30  Erenkeui  Village, 
standing  high  on  the  Asiatic  side,  re- 
ceived a  couple  of  shells.  At  1:45  a  divi- 
sion of  eight  destroyers  in  line  steamed 
into  the  entrance  of  the  strait,  and  a  lit- 
tle later  the  last  two   battleships  from 


Tenedos  joined,  the  Dublin  patrolling  out- 
side. An  hour  later  the  most  striking 
effect  was  produced  by  a  shell  falling  on 
a  fort  at  Kilid  Bahr,  which  evidently  ex- 
ploded another  magazine.  A  huge  mass 
of  heavy  jet-black  smoke  gradually  rose 
till  it  towered  high  above  the  cliffs  on 
the  European  and  Asiatic  sides.  It  bal- 
looned slowly  out  like  a  gigantic  genie 
rising  from  a  fisherman's  bottle. 

By  now  the  action  was  slackening,  and 
at  3:45  five  ships  were  slowly  steaming 
homeward  from  the  entrance.  At  4:30 
there  were  still  eight  vessels  in  the  strait, 
but  the  forts  had  practically  ceased  to 
fire.    The  action  was  over  for  the  day. 

The  result  had  been  the  apparent 
silencing  of  several  Turkish  batteries,  and 
those  terrific  explosions  at  the  forts  at 
Chanak  and  Kilid  Bahr,  the  ultimate 
effect  of  which  remains  to  be  seen  when 
the  attack  is  renewed  tonight.  For  Cha- 
nak is  burning. 


Official  Story  of  Two  Sea  Fights 


[From  The  London  Times,  March  3,  1915.] 


ADMIRALTY,  March  3,  1915. 

The  following  dispatch  has  been  re- 
ceived from  Vice  Admiral  Sir  David 
Beatty,  K.  C.  B.,  M.  V.  O.,  D.  S.  O., 
commanding  the  First  Battle  Cruiser 
Squadron,  reporting  the  action  in  the 
North  Sea  on  Sunday,  the  2ith  of  Jan- 
uary, 1915: 

H  M.  S.  Princess  Royal, 

Feb.  2,  1915. 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that 
at  daybreak  on  Jan.  24,  1915,  the  follow- 
ing vessels  were  patrolling  in  company: 

The  battle  cruisers  Lion,  Capt.  Alfred 
E.  M.  Chatfield,  C.  V.  O.,  flying  my  flag; 
Princess  Royal,  Capt.  Osmond  de  B. 
Brock,  Aide  de  Camp;  Tiger,  Capt.  Henry 

B.  Pelly,  M.  V.  0.;  New  Zealand,  Capt. 
Lionel  Halsey,  C.  M.  G.,  Aide  de  Camp, 
flying  the  flag  of  Rear  Admiral  Sir 
Archibald  Moore,  K.  C.  B.,  C.  V.  O.,  and 
Indomitable,  Capt.  Francis  W.  Kennedy. 

The  light  cruisers  Southampton,  flying 
the  broad  pennant  of  Commodore  William 
E.  Goodenough,  M.  V.  0.;  Nottingham, 
Capt.  Charles  B.  Miller;  Birmingham, 
Capt.  Arthur  A.  M.  Duff,  and  Lowestoft, 
Capt.  Theobald  W.  B.  Kennedy,  were  dis- 
posed on  my  port  beam. 

Commodore  (T)  Reginald  Y.  Tyrwhitt, 

C.  B.,  in  Arethusa,  Aurora,  Capt.  Wilmot 
S.  Nicholson;  Undaunted,  Capt.  Francis 
G.  St.  John,  M.  v.  0.;  Arethusa  and  the 
destroyer  flotillas  were  ahead. 

At  7:25  A.  M.  the  flash  of  guns  was 
observed  south-southeast.  Shortly  after- 
ward a  report  reached  me  from  Aurora 
that  she  was  engaged  with  enemy's  ships. 
I  immediately  altered  course  to  south- 
southeast,  increased  to  22  knots,  and  or- 
dered the  light  cruisers  and  flotillas  to 
chase  south-southeast  to  get  in  touch  and 
report  movements  of  enemy. 

This  order  was  acted  upon  with  great 
promptitude,  indeed  my  wishes  had  al- 
ready been  forestalled  by  the  respective 
senior  officers,  and  reports  almost  imme- 
diately followed "  from  Southampton, 
Arethusa,  and  Aurora  as  to  the  position 


and  composition  of  the  enemy,  which  con- 
sisted of  three  battle  cruisers  and 
Bliicher,  six  light  cruisers,  and  a  number 
of  destroyers,  steering  northwest.  The 
enemy  had  altered  course  to  southeast. 
From  now  onward  the  light  cruisers 
maintained  touch  with  the  enemy,  and 
kept  me  fully  informed  as  to  their  move- 
ments. 

The  battle  cruisers  worked  up  to  full 
speed,  steering  to  the  southward.  The 
wind  at  the  time  was  northeast,  light, 
with  extreme  visibility.  At  7:30  A.  M. 
the  enemy  were  sighted  on  the  port  bow 
steaming  fast,  steering  approximately 
southeast,  distant  14  miles. 

Owing  to  the  prompt  reports  received 
we  had  attained  our  position  on  the  quar- 
ter of  the  enemy,  and  so  altered  course 
to  southeast  parallel  to  them,  and  settled 
down  to  a  long  stern  chase,  gradually  in- 
creasing our  speed  until  we  reached  28.5 
knots.  Great  credit  is  due  to  the  engi- 
neer staffs  of  New  Zealand  and  Indomit- 
able— these  ships  greatly  exceeded  their 
normal  speed. 

At  8:52  A.  M.,  as  we  had  closed  to 
within  20,000  yards  of  the  rear  ship,  the 
battle  cruisers  manoeuvred  to  keep  on  a 
line  of  bearing  so  that  guns  would  bear, 
and  Lion  fired  a  single  shot,  which  fell 
short.  The  enemy  at  this  time  were  in 
single  line  ahead,  with  light  cruisers 
ahead  and  a  large  number  of  destroyers 
on  their  starboard  beam. 

Single  shots  were  fired  at  intervals  to 
test  the  range,  and  at  9:09  A.  M.  Lion 
made  her  first  hit  on  the  Bliicher,  No.  4 
in  the  line.  The  Tiger  opened  fire  at  9:20 
A.  M.  on  the  rear  ship,  the  Lion  shifted 
to  No.  3  in  the  line,  at  18,000  yards,  this 
ship  being  hit  by  several  salvos.  The 
enemy  returned  our  fire  at  9:14  A.  M. 
Princess  Royal,  on  coming  into  range, 
opened  fire  on  Bliicher,  the  range  of  the 
leading  ship  being  17,500  yards,  at  9:35 
A.  M.  New  Zealand  was  within  range  of 
Bliicher,  which  had  dropped  somewhat 
astern,  and  opened  fire  on  her.    Princess 


In  the  five  minutes  that  followed  this 
shot  three  more  shells  from  the  Queen 
Elizabeth  fell  practically  on  the  same 
spot,  and  two  minutes  later  yet  another 
by  the  side  of  the  smoking  ruins. 

There  were  now  eight  battleships,  all 
pre-dreadnoughts,  left  at  Tenedos,  and  at 
noon  six  of  them  started  off  in  line 
a-head  toward  the  strait.  The  English 
ships  already  within  were  passing  further 
up  and  went  out  of  sight. 

The  bombarding  ships  were  steaming 
constantly  up  and  down,  turning  at  each 
end  of  the  stretch,  which  is  about  a  couple 
of  miles  long. 

A  long  thin  veil  of  black  smoke  was 
drifting  slowly  westward  from  the  fight- 
ing. At  about  1:30  Erenkeui  Village, 
standing  high  on  the  Asiatic  side,  re- 
ceived a  couple  of  shells.  At  1:45  a  divi- 
sion of  eight  destroyers  in  line  steamed 
into  the  entrance  of  the  strait,  and  a  lit- 
tle later  the  last  two  battleships  from 


Tenedos  joined,  the  Dublin  patrolling  out- 
side. An  hour  later  the  most  striking 
effect  was  produced  by  a  shell  falling  on 
a  fort  at  Kilid  Bahr,  which  evidently  ex- 
ploded another  magazine.  A  huge  mass 
of  heavy  jet-black  smoke  gradually  rose 
till  it  towered  high  above  the  cliffs  on 
the  European  and  Asiatic  sides.  It  bal- 
looned slowly  out  like  a  gigantic  genie 
rising  from  a  fisherman's  bottle. 

By  now  the  action  was  slackening,  and 
at  3:45  five  ships  were  slowly  steaming 
homeward  from  the  entrance.  At  4:30 
there  were  still  eight  vessels  in  the  strait, 
but  the  forts  had  practically  ceased  to 
fire.    The  action  was  over  for  the  day. 

The  result  had  been  the  apparent 
silencing  of  several  Turkish  batteries,  and 
those  terrific  explosions  at  the  forts  at 
Chanak  and  Kilid  Bahr,  the  ultimate 
effect  of  which  remains  to  be  seen  when 
the  attack  is  renewed  tonight.  For  Cha- 
nak is  burning. 


Official  Story  of  Two  Sea  Fights 


[From  The  London  Times,  March  3,  1915.] 


ADMIRALTY,  March  3,  1915. 

The  following  dispatch  has  been  re- 
ceived from  Vice  Admiral  Sir  David 
Beatty,  K.  C.  B.,  M.  V.  O.,  D.  S.  O., 
commanding  the  First  Battle  Cruiser 
Squadron,  reporting  the  action  in  the 
North  Sea  on  Sunday,  the  2ith  of  Jan- 
uary, 1915: 

H  M.  S.  Princess  Royal, 

Feb.  2,  1915. 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that 
at  daybreak  on  Jan.  24,  1915,  the  follow- 
ing vessels  were  patrolling  in  company: 

The  battle  cruisers  Lion,  Capt.  Alfred 
E.  M.  Chatfield,  C.  V.  O.,  flying  my  flag; 
Princess  Royal,  Capt.  Osmond  de  B. 
Brock,  Aide  de  Camp;  Tiger,  Capt.  Henry 

B.  Pelly,  M.  V.  0.;  New  Zealand,  Capt. 
Lionel  Halsey,  C.  M.  G.,  Aide  de  Camp, 
flying  the  flag  of  Rear  Admiral  Sir 
Archibald  Moore,  K.  C.  B.,  C.  V.  O.,  and 
Indomitable,  Capt.  Francis  W.  Kennedy. 

The  light  cruisers  Southampton,  flying 
the  broad  pennant  of  Commodore  William 
E.  Goodenough,  M.  V.  0.;  Nottingham, 
Capt.  Charles  B.  Miller;  Birmingham, 
Capt.  Arthur  A.  M.  Duff,  and  Lowestoft, 
Capt.  Theobald  W.  B.  Kennedy,  were  dis- 
posed on  my  port  beam. 

Commodore  (T)  Reginald  Y.  Tyrwhitt, 

C.  B.,  in  Arethusa,  Aurora,  Capt.  Wilmot 
S.  Nicholson;  Undaunted,  Capt.  Francis 
G.  St.  John,  M.  V.  O.;  Arethusa  and  the 
destroyer  flotillas  were  ahead. 

At  7:25  A.  M.  the  flash  of  guns  was 
observed  south-southeast.  Shortly  after- 
ward a  report  reached  me  from  Aurora 
that  she  was  engaged  with  enemy's  ships. 
I  immediately  altered  course  to  south- 
southeast,  increased  to  22  knots,  and  or- 
dered the  light  cruisers  and  flotillas  to 
chase  south-southeast  to  get  in  touch  and 
report  movements  of  enemy. 

This  order  was  acted  upon  with  great 
promptitude,  indeed  my  wishes  had  al- 
ready been  forestalled  by  the  respective 
senior  officers,  and  reports  almost  imme- 
diately followed  *  from  Southampton, 
Arethusa,  and  Aurora  as  to  the  position 


and  composition  of  the  enemy,  which  con- 
sisted of  three  battle  cruisers  and 
Bliicher,  six  light  cruisers,  and  a  number 
of  destroyers,  steering  northwest.  The 
enemy  had  altered  course  to  southeast. 
From  now  onward  the  light  cruisers 
maintained  touch  with  the  enemy,  and 
kept  me  fully  informed  as  to  their  move- 
ments. 

The  battle  cruisers  worked  up  to  full 
speed,  steering  to  the  southward.  The 
wind  at  the  time  was  northeast,  light, 
with  extreme  visibility.  At  7:30  A.  M. 
the  enemy  were  sighted  on  the  port  bow 
steaming  fast,  steering  approximately 
southeast,  distant  14  miles. 

Owing  to  the  prompt  reports  received 
we  had  attained  our  position  on  the  quar- 
ter of  the  enemy,  and  so  altered  course 
to  southeast  parallel  to  them,  and  settled 
down  to  a  long  stern  chase,  gradually  in- 
creasing our  speed  until  we  reached  28.5 
knots.  Great  credit  is  due  to  the  engi- 
neer staffs  of  New  Zealand  and  Indomit- 
able— these  ships  greatly  exceeded  their 
normal  speed. 

At  8:52  A.  M.,  as  we  had  closed  to 
within  20,000  yards  of  the  rear  ship,  the 
battle  cruisers  manoeuvred  to  keep  on  a 
line  of  bearing  so  that  guns  would  bear, 
and  Lion  fired  a  single  shot,  which  fell 
short.  The  enemy  at  this  time  werfe  in 
single  line  ahead,  with  light  cruisers 
ahead  and  a  large  number  of  destroyers 
on  their  starboard  beam. 

Single  shots  were  fired  at  intervals  to 
test  the  range,  and  at  9:09  A.  M.  Lion 
made  her  first  hit  on  the  Bliicher,  No.  4 
in  the  line.  The  Tiger  opened  fire  at  9:20 
A.  M.  on  the  rear  ship,  the  Lion  shifted 
to  No.  3  in  the  line,  at  18,000  yards,  this 
ship  being  hit  by  several  salvos.  The 
enemy  returned  our  fire  at  9:14  A.  M. 
Princess  Royal,  on  coming  into  range, 
opened  fire  on  Bliicher,  the  range  of  the 
leading  ship  being  17,500  yards,  at  9:35 
A.  M.  New  Zealand  was  within  range  of 
Bliicher,  which  had  dropped  somewhat 
astern,  and  opened  fire  on  her.    Princess 


224 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Royal  shifed  to  the  third  ship  in  the  line, 
inflicting  considerable  damage  on  her. 

Our  flotilla  cruisers  and  destroyers  had 
gradually  dropped  from  a  position  broad 
on  our  beam  to  our  port  quarter,  so  as 
not  to  foul  our  range  with  their  smoke; 
but  the  enemy's  destroyers  threatening 
attack,  the  Meteor  and  M  Division  passed 
ahead  of  us,  Capt.  the  Hon.  H,  Meade, 
D.  S.  O.,  handling  this  division  with  con- 
spicuous ability. 

About  9:45  A.  M.  the  situation  was  as 
follows:  Bliicher,  the  fourth  in  their  line, 
already  showed  signs  of  having  suffered 
severely  from  gun  fire;  their  leading  ship 
and  No.  3  were  also  on  fire.  Lion  was 
engaging  No.  1,  Princess  Royal  No.  3, 
New  Zealand  No.  4,  while  the  Tiger, 
which  was  second  in  our  line,  fired  first 
at  their  No.  1,  and  when  interfered  with 
by  smoke,  at  their  No.  4. 

The  enemy's  destroyers  emitted  vast 
columns  of  smoke  to  screen  their  battle 
cruisers,  and  under  cover  of  this  the  lat- 
ter now  appeared  to  have  altered  course 
to  the  northward  to  increase  their  dis- 
tance, and  certainly  the  rear  ships  hauled 
out  on  the  port  quarter  of  their  leader, 
thereby  increasing  their  distance  from 
our  line.  The  battle  cruisers,  therefore, 
were  ordered  to  form  a  line  of  bearing 
north-northwest,  and  proceed  at  their 
utmost  speed. 

Their  destroyers  then  showed  evident 
signs  of  an  attempt  to  attack.  Lion  and 
Tiger  opened  fire  on  them,  and  caused 
them  to  retire  and  resume  their  original 
coujse. 

The  light  cruisers  maintained  an  excel- 
lent position  on  the  port  quarter  of  the 
emeny's  line,  enabling  them  to  observe 
and  keep  touch,  or  attack  any  vessel  that 
might  fall  out  of  the  line. 

At  10:48  A.  M.  the  Bliicher,  which  had 
dropped  considerably  astern  of  enemy's 
line,  hauled  out  to  port,  steering  north 
with  a  heavy  list,  on  fire,  and  apparently 
in  a  defeated  condition.  I  consequently 
ordered  Indomitable  to  attack  enemy 
breaking  northward. 

At  10:54  A.  M.  submarines  were  re- 
ported on  the  starboard  bow,  and  I  per- 
sonally observed  the  wash  of  a  periscope 
two  points  on  our  starboard  bow.  I  im- 
mediately turned  to  port. 


At  Jl:03  A.  M.  an  injury  to  the  Lion 
being  reported  as  incapable  of  immediate 
repair,  I  directed  Lion  to  shape  course 
northwest.  At  11:20  A.  M.  I  called  the 
Attack  alongside,  shifting  my  flag  to  her 
at  about  11:35  A.  M.  I  proceeded  at 
utmost  speed  to  rejoin  the  squadron,  and 
met  them  at  noon  retiring  north-north- 
west. 

I  boarded  and  hoisted  my  flag  on  Prin- 
cess Royal  at  about  12:20  P.  M.,  when 
Capt.  Brock  acquainted  me  of  what  had 
occurred  since  the  Lion  fell  out  of  the 
line,  namely,  that  Bliicher  had  been  sunk 
and  that  the  enemy  battle  cruisers  had 
continued  their  course  to  the  eastward  in 
a  considerably  damaged  condition.  He 
also  informed  me  that  a  Zeppelin  and  a 
seaplane  had  endeavored  to  drop  bombs 
on  the  vessels  which  went  to  the  rescue 
of  the  survivors  of  Bliicher. 

The  good  seamanship  of  Lieut.  Com- 
mander Cyril  Callaghan,  H.  M.  S.  Attack, 
in  placing  his  vessel  alongside  the  Lion 
and  subsequently  the  Princess  Royal, 
enabled  the  transfer  of  flag  to  be  made 
in  the  shortest  possible  time. 

At  2  P.  M.  I  closed  Lion  and  received 
a  report  that  the  starboard  engine  was 
giving  trouble  owing  to  priming,  and  at 
3:38  P.  M.  I  ordered  Indomitable  to  take 
her  in  tow,  which  was  accomplished  by 
5  P.  M. 

The  greatest  credit  is  due  to  the  Cap- 
tains of  Indomitable  and  Lion  for  the  sea- 
manlike manner  in  which  the  Lion  was 
taken  in  tow  under  difficult  circum- 
stances. 

The  excellent  steaming  of  the  ships 
engaged  in  the  operation  was  a  conspic- 
uous feaure. 

I  attach  an  appendix  giving  the  names 
of  various  officers  and  men  who  specially 
distinguished  themselves. 

Where  all  did  well  it  is  difficult  to 
single  out  officers  and  men  for  special 
mention,  and  as  Lion  and  Tiger  were  the 
only  ships  hit  by  the  enemy,  the  majority 
of  these  I  mention  belong  to  those  ships. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

(Signed)     DAVID  BEATTY, 
Vice  Admiral. 


OFFICIAL  STORY  OF   TWO  SEA   FIGHTS 


225 


OFFICERS.  Ch.  Stkr.  J.  E.  James,  0.  N.  174,232, 

Commander  Charles  A.  Fountaine,  H.      New  Zealand. 


M.  S.  Lion. 

Lieut.  Commander  Evan  C.  Bunbury, 
H.  M.  S.  Lion. 

Lieut.  Frederick  T.  Peters,  H.  M.  S. 
Meteor. 

Lieut.  Charles  M.  R.  Schwerdt,  H.  M. 
S.  Lion. 

Engineer  Commander  Donald  P.  Green, 
H.  M.  S.  Lion. 

Engineer  Commander  James  L.  Sands, 
H.  M.  S.  Southampton. 

Engineer  Commander  Thomas  H.  Tur- 
ner, H,  M.  S.  New  Zealand. 

Engineer  Lieut.  Commander  George 
Preece,  H.  M.  S.  Lion. 

Engineer  Lieut.  Albert  Knothe,  H.  M. 
S.  Indomitable. 

Surgeon  Probationer  James  A.  Stirling, 
R.  N.  V.  R.,  H.  M.  S.  Meteor. 

Mr.  Joseph  H.  Burton,  Gunner  (T),  H. 
M.  S.  Lion. 

Chief  Carpenter  Frederick  E.  Dailey, 
H.  M.  S.  Lion. 

PETTY  OFFICERS  AND  MEN. 

Py.  Or.  J.  W.  Kemmett,  0.  N.  186,788, 
Lion. 

A.  B.  H.  Davis,  0.  N.  184,526,  Tiger. 

A.  B.  H.  F.  Griffin,  O.  N.  J.  14,160, 
Princess  Royal. 

A.  B.  P.  S.  Livingstone,  O.  N.  234,328, 
Lion. 

A.  B.  H.  Robison,  O.  N.  209,112,  Tiger. 

A.  B.  G.  H.  le  Seilleur,  O.  N.  156,802, 
Lion. 

Boy,  1st  CI.,  F.  G.  H.  Bamford,  0.  N. 
J.  26,598,  Tiger. 

Boy,  1st  CI.,  J.  F.  Rogers,  0.  N.  J.  28,- 
329,  Tiger. 

Ch.  Ee.  R.  Artr.,  1st  CI.,  E.  R.  Hughes, 
0.  N.  268,999,  Indomitable. 

Ch.  Ee.  R.  Artr.,  2d  CI.,  W.  B.  Dand, 
0.  N.  270,648,  New  Zealand. 

Ch.  Ee.  A.  Artr.  W.  Gillespie,  O.  N. 
270,080  Meteor. 

Mechn.  A.  J.   Cannon,  O.  N.   175,440,      ^'  ^'>  ^^^^^  ^^^y* 
Lion.  Admiralty,  S.  W., 

Mechn.  E.  C.  Ephgrave,  0.  N.  288,231,  March  3,  1915. 

Lion.  The  King  has  been  graciously  pleased 

Ch.  Stkr.  P.  Callaghan,  0.  N.  278,953,      to  give  orders  for  the  following  appoint- 
Lion.  ment  to  the  Distinguished  Service  Order, 

Ch.  Stkr.  A.  W.  Ferris,  O.  N.  175,824,      and  for  the  award  of  the  Distinguished 
Lion.  Service  Cross,  to  the  undermentioned  of- 


Ch.  Stkr.  W.  E.  James,  0.  N.  294,406, 
Indomitable. 

Ch.  Stkr.  J.  Keating,  R.  F.  R.,  0.  N. 
165,732,  Meteor. 

Stkr.  Py.  Or.  M.  Flood,  R.  F.  R.,  0.  N. 
158,418,  Meteor. 

Stkr.  Py.  Or.  T.  W.  Hardy,  O.  N.  292,- 
542,  Indomitable. 

Stkr.  Py.  Or.  A.  J.  Sims,  0.  N.  276,502, 
New  Zealand. 

Stkr.  Py.  Or.  S.  Westaway,  R.  F.  R., 
0.  N.  300,938,  Meteor. 

Actg.  Ldg.  Skr.  J.  Blackburn,  O.  N.  K. 
4,844,  Tiger. 

Stkr.,  1st  CI.,  A.  H.  Bennet,  0.  N.  K. 
10,700,  Tiger. 

Stkr.,  2d  CI.,  H.  Turner,  0.  N.  K.  22,- 
720,  Tiger. 

Ldg.  Carpenter's  Crew,  E.  0.  Bradley, 
O.  N.  346,621,  Lion. 

Ldg.  Carpenter's  Crew,  E.  Currie,  0. 
N,  344,851,  Lion. 

Sick  Berth  Attendant  C.  S.  Hutchinson, 
O.  N.  M.  3,882,  Tiger. 

Ch.  Writer  S.  G.  White,  0.  N.  340,597, 
Tiger. 

Third  Writer  H.  C.  Green,  0.  N.  M. 
8,266,  Tiger. 

Officers'  Steward,  3d  CL,  F.  W.  Kear- 
ley,  0.  N.  L.  2,716,  Tiger. 

HONORS   AWARDED. 
Lord  Chamberlain's  Office, 

St.  James's  Palace, 
March  3,  1915. 
The  King  has  been  graciously  pleased 
to  give  orders  for  the  following  appoint- 
ment to  the  Most  Honorable  Order  of  the 
Bath,  in  recognition  of  the  services  of  the 
undermentioned  officer  mentioned  in  the 
foregoing  dispatch: 

To  be  an  Additional  Member  of  the  Mili- 
tary Division  of  the  Third  Class  or 
Companion. 
Capt.  Osmond  de  Beauvoir  Brock,  A. 


«26 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ficers    in    recognition    of    their    services 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  dispatch: 
To  be   Companion  of  the  Distinguished 
Service  Order. 
Lieut.  Frederic  Thornton  Peters,  Royal 
Navy. 

To    receive    the     Distinguished     Service 
Cross. 
Surg.    Probationer    James    Alexander 
Stirling,  R.  N.  V.  R. 

Gunner  (T)  Joseph  H.  Burton. 
Chief  Carpenter  Frederick  E.  Dailey. 
The    following    promotion    has    been 
made: 

Commander  Charles  Andrew  Fountaine 
to  be  a  Captain  in  his  Majesty's  fleet,  to 
date  March  3,  1915. 

The  following  awards  have  also  been 
made: 

To    receive    the    Distinguished    Service 
Medal. 
P.  0.  J.  W.  Kemmett,  0.  N.  186,788. 
A.  B.  H.  Davis,  0.  N.  184,526. 
A.  B.  H.  F.  Griffin,  0.  N.  J.  14,160. 
A.  B.  P.  S.  Livingstone,  O.  N.  234,328. 
A.  B.  H.  Robison,  O.  N.  209,112. 
A.  B.  G.  H.  le  Seilleur,  O.  N.  156,802. 
Boy,  1st  CI.,  F.  G.  H.  Bamford,  0.  N.  J. 
26,598. 

Boy,  1st  CI.,  J.  F.  Rogers,  0.  N.  J". 
28,329. 

Ch.  E.  R.  Art,  1st  CI.,  E.  R.  Hughes,  0. 
N.  268,999. 

Ch.  E.  R.  Art.,  2d  CI.,  W.  B.  Dand,  0. 
N.  270,648. 

Ch.  E.  R.  Art.,  W.  Gillespie,  0.  N.  270,- 
080. 

Mechn.  A.  J.  Cannon,  0.  N.  175,440. 
Mechn.  E.  C.  Ephgrave,  0.  N.  288,231. 
Ch.  Stkr.  P.  Callaghan,  O.  N.  278,953. 
Ch.  Stkr.  A.  W.  Ferris,  O.  N.  175,824. 
Ch.  Stkr.  J.  E.  James,  O.  N.  174,232. 
Ch.  Stkr.  W.  E.  James,  0.  N.  294,406. 
Ch.  Stkr.  J.  Keating,  R.  F.  R.,  O.  N. 
165,732. 

Stkr.  P.  0.  M.  Flood,  R.  F.  R.,  O.  N. 
153,418. 

Stkr.  P.  O.  T.  W.  Hardy,  O.  N.  292,542. 
Stkr.  P.  O.  A.  J.  Sims,  O.  N.  276,502. 
Stkr.  P.  0.  S.  Westaway,  R.  F.  R.,  0.  N. 
300,938. 

Actg.  Ldg.  Stkr.  J.  Blackburn,  O.  N.  K. 
4,844. 

Stkr.,  1st  CL,  A  H.  Bennet,  O.  N.  K. 
10,700. 


Stkr.,  2d  CI.,  H.  Turner,  O.  N.  K.  22,720. 
Ldg.  Carpenter's  Crew,  E.  0.  Bradley, 
0.  N.  346,621. 

Ldg.  Carpenter's  Crew,  E.  Currie,  O.  N. 
344,851. 

Sick  Berth  Attendant  C.  S.  Hutchinson, 
0.  N.  M.  3,882. 

Ch.  Writer  S.  G.  White,  0.  N.  340,597. 

Third  Writer  H.  C.  Green,  0.  N.  M. 

8,266. 

Officers'  Steward,  3d  CI.,  F.  W.  Kear- 
ley,  O.  N.  L.  2,716. 

BATTLE  OF  THE  FALKLANDS 

Admiralty,  March  3,  1915. 
The  following  dispatch  has  been  re- 
ceived from  Vice  Admiral  Sir  F.  C. 
Doveton-Sturdee,  K.  C.  B.,  C.  V.  O., 
C.  M.  G.,  reporting  the  action  off  the 
Falkland  Islands  on  Tuesday,  the  Sth 
of  December,  1914: 

INVINCIBLE,  at  Sea, 

Dec.  19,  1914. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  forward  a  re- 
port on  the  action  which  took  place  on 
Dec.  8,  1914,  against  a  German  squadron 
off  the  Falkland  Islands. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

F.  C.  D.  STURDEE, 
Vice  Admiral,  Commander  in  Chief. 
The  Secretary,  Admiralty. 

(A)— PRELIMINARY  MOVEMENTS. 
The  squadron,  consisting  of  H.  M.  ships 
Invincible,  flying  my  flag.  Flag  Capt. 
Percy  T.  M.  Beamish;  Inflexible,  Capt. 
Richard  F.  Phillimore;  Carnarvon,  flying 
the  flag  of  Rear  Admiral  Archibald  P. 
Soddart,  Flag  Capt.  Harry  L.  d'E.  Skip- 
with;  Cornwall,  Capt.  Walter  M.  Eller- 
ton;  Kent,  Capt.  John  D.  Allen;  Glasgow, 
Capt.  John  Loce;  Bristol,  Capt.  Basil  H. 
Fanshawe,  and  Macedonia,  Capt.  Bertram 
S.  Evans,  arrived  at  Port  Stanley,  Falk- 
land Islands,  at  10:30  A.  M.  on  Monday, 
Dec.  7,  1914.  Coaling  was  commenced  at 
once,  in  order  that  the  ships  should  be 
ready  to  resume  the  search  for  the 
enemy's  squadron  the  next  evening, 
Dec.  8. 

At  8  A.  M.  on  Tuesday,  Dec.  8, 
a  signal  was  received  from  the  signal 
station  on  shore: 


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228 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY' 


"  A  four-funnel  and  two-funnel  man- 
of-war  in  sight  from  Sapper  Hill,  steer- 
ing northward." 

At  this  time  the  positions  of  the  va- 
rious ships  of  the  squadron  were  as 
follows: 

Macedonia:  At  anchor  as  lookout  ship. 

Kent  (guard  ship):  At  anchor  in  Port 
William. 

Invincible  and  Inflexible:  In  Port  Wil- 
liam. 

Carnarvon:  In  Port  William. 

Cornwall:  In  Port  William. 

Glasgow:   In  Port   Stanley. 

Bristol:  In  Port  Stanley. 

The  Kent  was  at  once  ordered  to 
weigh,  and  a  general  signal  was  made  to 
raise  steam  for  full  speed. 

At  8:20  A.  M.  the  signal  station  re- 
ported another  column  of  smoke  in  sight 
to  the  southward,  and  at  8:45  A.  M.  the 
Kent  passed  down  the  harbor  and  took 
up  a  station  at  the  entrance. 

The  Canopus,  Capt.  Heathcoat  S. 
Grant,  reported  at  8:47  A.  M.  that  the 
first  two  ships  were  eight  miles  off,  and 
that  the  smoke  reported  at  8:20  A.  M. 
appeared  to  be  the  smoke  of  two  ships 
about  twenty  miles  off. 

At  8:50  A.  M.  the  signal  station  re- 
ported a  further  column  of  smoke  in 
sight  to  the  southward. 

The  Macedonia  was  ordered  to  weigh 
anchor  on  the  inner  side  of  the  other 
ships,  and  await  orders. 

At  9:20  A.  M.  the  two  leading  ships 
of  the  enemy,  (Gneisenauand  Niirnberg,) 
with  guns  trained  on  the  wireless  sta- 
tion, came  within  range  of  the  Canopus, 
which  opened  fire  at  them  across  the  low 
land  at  a  range  of  11,000  yards.  The 
enemy  at  once  hoisted  their  colors  and 
turned  away.  At  this  time  the  masts 
and  smoke  of  the  enemy  were  visible 
from  the  upper  bridge  of  the  Invincible 
at  a  range  of  approximately  17,000  yards 
across  the  low  land  to  the  south  of  Port 
William. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  two  cruisers 
altered  course  to  port,  as  though  to  close 
the  Kent  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor, 
but  about  this  time  it  seems  that  the 
Invincible  and  Inflexible  were  seen  over 
the  land,  as  the  enemy  at  once  altered 


course  and  increased  speed  to  join  their 
consorts. 

The  Glasgow  weighed  and  proceeded 
at  9:40  A.  M.  with  orders  to  join  the 
Kent  and  observe  the  enemy's  move- 
ments. 

At  9:45  A.  M.  the  squadron — less  the 
Bristol — weighed,  and  proceeded  out  of 
harbor  in  the  following  order:  Carnar- 
von, Inflexible,  Invincible,  and  Cornwall. 
On  passing  Cape  Pembroke  Light  the 
five  ships  of  the  enemy  appeared  clearly 
in  sighh  to  the  southeast,  hull  down.  The 
visibility  was  at  its  maximum,  the 
sea  was  calm,  with  a  bright  sun,  a  clear 
sky,  and  a  light  breeze  from  the  north- 
west. 

At  10 :20  A.  M.  the  signal  for  a  general 
chase  was  made.  The  battle  cruisers 
quickly  passed  ahead  of  the  Carnarvon 
and  overtook  the  Kent.  The  Glasgow 
was  ordered  to  keep  two  miles  from  the 
Invincible,  and  the  Inflexible  was  sta- 
tioned on  the  starboard  quarter  of  the 
flagship.  Speed  was  eased  to  twenty 
knots  at  11:15  A.  M.,  to  enable  the  other 
cruisers  to  get  into  station. 

At  this  time  the  enemy's  funnels  and 
bridges  showed  just  above  the  horizon. 

Information  was  received  from  the 
Bristol  at  11:27  A.  M.  that  three  enemy 
ships  had  appeared  off  Port  Pleasant, 
probably  colliers  or  transports.  The 
Bristol  was  therefore  directed  to  take 
the  Macedonia  under  orders  and  de- 
stroy transports. 

The  enemy  were  still  maintaining  their 
distance,  and  I  decided,  at  12:20  P.  M., 
to  attack  with  the  two  battle  cruisers 
and  the  Glasgow. 

At  12:47  P.  M.  the  signal  to  "Open 
fire  and  engage  the  enemy  "  was  made. 

The  Inflexible  opened  fire  at  12:55 
P.  M.  from  her  fore  turret  at  the  right- 
hand  ship  of  the  enemy,  a  light  cruiser; 
a  few  minutes  later  the  Invincible  opened 
fire  at  the  same  ship. 

The  deliberate  fire  from  a  range  of 
16,500  to  15,000  yards  at  the  right-hand 
light  cruiser,  which  was  dropping  astern, 
became  too  threatening,  and  when  a  shell 
fell  close  alongside  her  at  1:20  P.  M. 
she  (the  Leipzig)  turned  away,  with  the 
Niirnberg  and  Dresden,  to  the  southwest. 


OFFICIAL  STORY  OF  TWO  SEA  FIGHTS 


229 


These  light  cruisers  were  at  once  fol- 
lowed by  the  Kent,  Glasgow,  and  Corn- 
wall, in  accordance  with  my  instructions. 

The  action  finally  developed  into  three 
separate  encounters,  besides  the  sub- 
sidiary one  dealing  with  the  threatened 
landing. 

(B.)— ACTION  WITH  THE  ARMORED 
CRUISERS. 

The  fire  of  the  battle  cruisers  was 
directed  on  the  Scharnhorst  and  Gneise- 
nau.  The  effect  of  this  was  quickly  seen 
when,  at  1:25  P.  M.,  with  the  Scharn- 
herst  leading,  they  turned  about  seven 
points  to  port  in  succession  into  line 
ahead  and  opened  fire  at  1:30  P.  M. 
Shortly  afterward  speed  was  eased  to 
twenty-four  knots  and  the  battle  cruisers 
were  ordered  to  turn  together,  bringing 
them  into  line  ahead,  with  the  Invincible 
leading. 

The  range  was  about  13,500  yards  at 
the  final  turn,  and  increased  until  at 
2  P.  M.  it  had  reached  16,450  yards. 

The  enemy  then  (2:10  P.  M.)  turned 
away  about  ten  points  to  starboard,  and 
a  second  chase  ensued  until  at  2:45  P.  M. 
the  battle  cruisers  again  opened  fire; 
this  caused  the  enemy,  at  2:53  P.  M.,  to 
turn  into  line  ahead  to  port  and  open  fire 
at  2:55  P.  M. 

The  Scharnhorst  caught  fire  forward, 
but  not  seriously,  and  her  fire  slackened 
perceptibly;  the  Gneisenau  was  badly  hit 
by  the  Inflexible. 

At  3:30  P.  M.  the  Scharnhorst  led 
around  about  ten  points  to  starboard; 
just  previously  her  fire  had  slackened 
perceptibly,  and  one  shell  had  shot  away 
her  third  funnel;  some  guns  were  not 
firing,  and  it  would  appear  that  the  turn 
was  dictated  by  a  desire  to  bring  her 
starboard  guns  into  action.  The  effect  of 
the  fire  on  the  Scharnhorst  became  more 
and  more  apparent  in  consequence  of 
smoke  from  fires,  and  also  escaping 
steam.  At  times  a  shell  would  cause  a 
large  hole  to  appear  in  her  side,  through 
which  could  be  seen  a  dull  red  glow  of 
flame.  At  4:04  P.  M.  the  Scharnhorst, 
whose  flag  remained  flying  to  the  last, 
suddenly  listed  heavily  to  port,  and  with- 
in a  minute  it  became  clear  that  she  was 
a  doomed  ship,  for  the  list  increased  very 


rapidly  until  she  lay  on  her  beam  ends, 
and  at  4:17  P.  M.  she  disappeared. 

The  Gneisenau  passed  on  the  far  side 
of  her  late  flagship,  and  continued  a  de- 
termined but  ineffectual  effort  to  fight 
the  two  battle  cruisers. 

At  5.08  P.  M.  the  forward  funnel  was 
knocked  over  and  remained  resting 
against  the  second  funnel.  She  was  evi- 
dently in  serious  straits,  and  her  fire 
slackened  very  much. 

At  5:15  P.  M.  one  of  the  Gneisenau's 
shells  struck  the  Invincible;  this  was  her 
last  effective  effort. 

At  5:30  P.  M.  she  turned  toward  the 
flagship  with  a  heavy  list  to  starboard, 
and  appeared  stopped,  with  steam  pour- 
ing from  her  escape  pipes  and  smoke 
from  shell  and  fires  rising  everywhere. 
About  this  time  I  ordered  the  signal 
"  Cease  fire!"  but  before  it  was  hoisted 
the  Gneisenau  opened  fire  again,  and 
continued  to  fire  from  time  to  time  with 
a  single  gun. 

At  5:40  P.  M.  the  three  ships  closed 
in  on  the  Gneisenau,  and  at  this  time  the 
flag  flying  at  her  fore  truck  was  ap- 
parently hauled  down,  but  the  flag  at 
the  peak  continued  flying. 

At  5:50  Pi  M.  "  Cease  fire! "  was 
made. 

At  6  P.  M.  the  Gneisenau  heeled  over 
very  suddenly,  showing  the  men  gath- 
ered on  her  decks  and  then  walking  on 
her  side  as  she  lay  for  a  minute  on  her 
beam  ends  before  sinking. 

The  prisoners  of  war  from  the  Gneise- 
nau report  that  by  the  time  the  ammu- 
nition was  expended  some  600  men  had 
been  killed  and  wounded.  The  surviving 
officers  and  men  were  all  ordered  on 
deck  and  told  to  provide  themselves  with 
hammocks  and  any  articles  that  could 
support  them  in  the  water. 

When  the  ship  capsized  and  sank  there 
were  probably  some  200  unwounded  sur- 
vivors in  the  water,  but,  owing  to  the 
shock  of  the  cold  water,  many  were 
drowned  within  sight  of  the  boats  and 
ship. 

Every  effort  was  made  to  save  life  as 
quickly  as  possible,  both  by  boats  and 
from  the  ships;  lifebuoys  were  thrown 
and   ropes   lowered,   but   only   a   portion 


230 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


could  be  rescued.  The  Invincible  alone 
rescued  108  men,  fourteen  of  whom  were 
found  to  be  dead  after  being  brought  on 
board.  These  men  were  buried  at  sea  the 
following  day  with  full  military  honors. 

(O— ACTION  WITH  THE  LIGHT 
CRUISERS. 

At  about  1  P  M.,  when  the  Scharnhorst 
and  Gneisenau  turned  to  port  to  engage 
the  Invincible  and  Inflexible,  the  enemy's 
light  cruisers  turned  to  starboard  to  es- 
cape; the  Dresden  was  leading  and  the 
Niirnberg  and  Leipzig  followed  on  each 
quarter. 

In  accordance  with  my  instructions,  the 
Glasgow,  Kent,  and  Cornwall  at  once 
went  in  chase  of  these  ships;  the  Car- 
narvon, whose  speed  was  insufficient  to 
overtake  them,  closed  the  battle  cruisers. 

The  Glasgow  drew  well  ahead  of  the 
Cornwall  and  Kent,  and  at  3  P.  M.  shots 
were  exchanged  with  the  Leipzig  at 
12,000  yards.  The  Glasgow's  object  was 
to  endeavor  to  outrange  the  Leipzig  with 
her  6-inch  guns  and  thus  cause  her  to 
alter  course  and  give  the  Cornwall  and 
Kent  a  chance  of  coming  into  action. 

At  4:17  P.  M.  the  Cornwall  opened 
fire,  also  on  the  Leipzig. 

At  7:17  P.  M.  the  Leipzig  was  on  fire 
fore  and  aft,  and  the  Cornwall  and  Glas- 
gow ceased  fire. 

The  Leipzig  turned  over  on  her  port 
side  and  disappeared  at  9  P.  M.  Seven 
officers  and  eleven  men  were  saved. 

At  3:36  P.  M.  the  Cornwall  ordered 
the  Kent  to  engage  the  Niirnberg,  the 
nearest  cruiser  to  her. 

Owing  to  the  excellent  and  strenuous 
efforts  of  the  engine  room  department, 
the  Kent  was  able  to  get  within  range 
of  the  Niirnberg  at  5  P.  M.  At  6:35 
P.  M.  the  Niirnberg  was  on  fire  forward 
and  ceased  firing.  The  Kent  also  ceased 
firing  and  closed  to  3,300  yards;  as  the 
colors  were  still  observed  to  be  flying 
on  the  Niirnberg,  the  Kent  opened  fire 
again.  Fire  was  finally  stopped  five 
minutes  later  on  the  colors  being  hauled 
down,  and  every  preparation  was  made 
to  save  life.  The  Niirnberg  sank  at  7:27 
P.  M.,  and,  as  she  sank,  a  group  of  men 
were  waving  a  German  ensign  attached 


to  a  staff.     Twelve  men  were  rescued, 
but  only  seven  survived. 

The  Kent  had  four  killed  and  twelve 
wounded,  mostly  caused  by  one  shell. 

During  the  time  the  three  cruisers 
were  engaged  with  the  Niirnberg  and 
Leipzig,  the  Dresden,  which  was  beyond 
her  consorts,  effected  her  escape  owing 
to  her  superior  speed.  The  Glasgow  was 
the  only  cruiser  with  sufficient  speed  to 
have  had  any  chance  of  success.  How- 
ever, she  was  fully  employed  in  engaging 
the  Leipzig  for  over  an  hour  before 
either  the  Cornwall  or  Kent  could  come 
up  and  get  within  range.  During  this 
time  the  Dresden  was  able  to  increase 
her  distance  and  get  out  of  sight. 

The  weather  changed  after  4  P.  M., 
and  the  visibility  was  much  reduced; 
further,  the  sky  was  overcast  and  cloudy, 
thus  assisting  the  Dresden  to  get  away 
unobserved. 

(D)— ACTION   WITH   THE   ENEMY'S 
TRANSPORTS. 

A  report  was  received  at  11:27  A.  M. 
from  H.  M.  S.  Bristol  that  three  ships  of 
the  enemy,  probably  transports  or  col- 
liers, had  appeared  off  Port  Pleasant. 
The  Bristol  was  ordered  to  take  the 
Macedonia  under  his  orders  and  destroy 
the  transports. 

H.  M.  S.  Macedonia  reports  that  only 
two  ships,  steamships  Baden  and  Santa 
Isabel,  were  present;  both  ships  were 
sunk  after  the  removal  of  the  crews. 

I  have  pleasure  in  reporting  that  the 
officers  and  men  under  my  orders  car- 
ried out  their  duties  with  admirable  ef- 
ficiency and  coolness,  and  great  credit  is 
due  to  the  engineer  officers  of  all  the 
ships,  several  of  which  exceeded  their 
normal  full  speed. 

The  names  of  the  following  are  spe- 
cially mentioned: 

OFFICERS. 

Commander  Richard  Herbert  Denny 
Townsend,  H.  M.  S.  Invincible. 

Commander  Arthur  Edward  Frederick 
Bedford,  H.  M.  S.  Kent. 

Lieut.  Commander  Wilfred  Arthur 
Thompson,  H.  M.  S.  Glasgow. 

Lieut.  Commander  Hubert  Edward 
Danreuther,  First  and  Gunnery  Lieu- 
tenant, H.  M.  S.  Invincible. 


OFFICIAL  STORY  OF   TWO  SEA   FIGHTS 


281 


Engineer  Commander  George  Edward 
Andrew,  H.  M.  S.  Kent. 

Engineer  Commander  Edward  John 
Weeks,  H.  M.  S.  Invincible. 

Paymaster  Cyril  Sheldon  Johnson,  H. 
M.  S.  Invincible. 

Carpenter  Thomas  Andrew  Walls,  H. 
M.  S.  Invincible. 


Sigmn.  F.  Glover,  0.  N.  225,731,  Corn- 
wall. 

Ch.  E.  R.  Art.,  2d  CI.,  J.  G.  Hill,  0.  N. 
269,646,  Cornwall. 

Actg.  Ch.  E.  R.  Art.,  2d  CI.,  R.  Snow- 
don,  O.  N.  270,654,  Inflexible. 

E.  R.  Art.,  1st  CI.,  G.  H.  F.  McCarten, 
O.  N.  270,023,  Invincible. 

Stkr.  P.  O.  G.  S.  Brewer,  0.  N.  150,950^ 
Carpenter  William  Henry  Venning,  H.      Kent. 

M.  S.  Kent.  Stkr.   P.    0.   W.    A.   Townsend,    0.    N. 

Carpenter   George   Henry  Egford,   H.  301,650,  Cornwall. 

M.  S.  Cornwall.  Stkr.,  1st  CI.,  J.  Smith,  O.  N.  SS  111,- 

PETTY  OFFICERS  AND  MEN.  ^^^'  Cornwall. 

/-.I.    Tj    r»    T^    T    •  1,*        o    XT    -lo^ooo  Shpwrt.,    1st   CI.,   A.   N.    E.   England, 

Ch.  P.  0.  D.  Leighton,  O.  N.  124,238,  ^   ^^  g^^^^^^  Glasgow. 

^®"*-  Shpwrt.,  2d  CI.,  A.  C.  H.  Dymott,  0.  N- 

P.  0.,  2d  CI.,  M.  J.  Walton,  (R.  F.  R.,  m.  8,047,  Kent. 

A.  1,756,)  O.  N.  118,358,  Kent.  Portsmouth   R.   F.   R.   B.  3,307   Sergt. 

Ldg.  Smn.  F.  S.  Martin,  0.  N.  233,301,  Charles  Mayes,  H.  M.  S.  Kent. 

Invincible,  Gnr's.  Mate,  Gunlayer,  1st  CI.  F.  C.  D.  STURDEE. 


BETWEEN  MIDNIGHT  AND 
MORNING. 

By    SIR    OWEN    SEAMAN. 
[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 

YOU  that  have  faith  to  look  with  fearless 
eyes 
Beyond    the    tragedy    of    a    world    at 
strife, 
And  trust  that  out  of  night  and  death  shall 
rise 

The  dawn  of  ampler  life ; 

Rejoice,   whatever  anguish   rend  your  heart, 
That    God    has    given    you,    for    a    priceless 
dower, 
To  live  in  these  great  times  and  have  your 
part 

In  Freedom's  crowning  hour. 

That   you   may   tell   your   sons   who   see    the 
light 
High    in    the    heavens,     their    heritage    to 
take — 
"  I  saw  the  powers  of  darkness  put  to  flight! 
I  saw  the  moi'ning  break!  " 


The  Greatest  of  Campaigns 

The   French    Official   Account    Concluded 

The  second  and  succeeding  installments — the  first  installment  appeared  In  Current  History 
for  April— of  the  official  French  historical  review  of  the  operations  in  the  western  theatre 
of  war  from  the  beginning  until  the  end  of  January,  1915— the  first  six  months-''«re 
described  in  the  subjoined  correspondence  of  The  Associated  Press. 


LONDON,  March  18,  {Correspondence 
of  The  Associated  Press.) — The  Asso- 
ciated Press  has  received  the  second  in- 
stallment of  the  historical  review  ema- 
nating from  French  official  sources  of 
the  operations  in  the  Western  theatre  of 
war,  from  its  beginning  up  to  the  end 
of  January.  It  should  be  understood 
that  the  narrative  is  made  purely  from 
the  French  standpoint.  The  additional 
installment  of  the  docwment,  dealing  with 
the  victory  of  the  Marne,  Sept.  6th  to 
15th,  is  as  follows: 

IF  one  examines  on  the  map  the  re- 
spective positions  of  the  German 
and  French  armies  on  Sept.  6  as 
previously  described,  it  will  be  seen 
that  by  his  inflection  toward  Meaux  and 
Coulommiers  General  von  Kluck  was  ex- 
posing his  right  to  the  offensive  action 
of  our  left.  This  is  the  starting  point 
of  the  victory  of  the  Marne. 

On  the  evening  of  Sept.  5  our  left 
army  had  reached  the  front  Penchard- 
Saint-Souflet-Ver.  On  the  6th  and  7th 
it  continued  its  attacks  vigorously  with 
the  Ourcq  as  objective.  On  the  evening 
of  the  7th  it  was  some  kilometers  from 
the  Ourcq,  on  the  front  Chambry-Mar- 
cilly-Lisieux-Acy-en-Multien.  On  the  8th, 
the  Germans,  who  had  in  great  haste 
reinforced  their  right  by  bringing  their 
Second  and  Fourth  Army  Corps  back  to 
"the  north,  obtained  some  successes  by 
attacks  of  extreme  violence.  They  oc- 
cupied Betz,  Thury-en-Valois,  and  Nan- 
teuil-le-Haudouin.  But  in  spite  of  this 
pressure  our  troops  held  their  ground 
well.  In  a  brilliant  action  they  took 
three  standards,  and,  being  reinforced, 
prepared  a  new  attack  for  the  IjOth.  At 
the  moment  that  this  attack  was  about 
to  begin  the  enemy  was  already  in  re- 


treat toward  the  north.     The  attack  be- 
came   a    pursuit,    and    on    the    12th    we 
established  ourselves  on  the  Aisne. 
LEFT  OF  KLUCK'S  ARMY  THREAT- 
ENED. 

Why  did  the  German  forces  which 
were  confronting  us  and  on  the  evening 
before  attacking  so  furiously  retreat  on 
the  morning  of  the  10th?  Because  in 
bringing  back  on  the  6th  several  army 
corps  from  the  south  to  the  north  to 
face  our  left  the  enemy  had  exposed  his 
left  to  the  attacks  of  the  British  Army, 
which  had  immedii.tely  faced  around  to- 
ward the  north,  and  to  those  of  our 
armies  which  were  prolonging  the  Eng- 
lish lines  to  the  right.  This  is  what  the 
French  command  had  sought  to  bring 
about.  This  is  what  happened  on  Sept.  8 
and  allowed  the  development  and  reha- 
bilitation which  it  was  to  effect. 

On  the  6th  the  British  Army  had  set 
out  from  the  line  Rozcy-Lagny  and  had 
that  evening  reached  the  southward 
bank  of  the  Grand  Morin.  On  the  7th 
and  8th  it  continued  its  march,  and  on 
the  9th  had  debouched  to  the  north  of 
the  Marne  below  Chateau-Thiery,  taking 
in  flank  the  German  forces  which  on 
that  day  were  opposing,  on  the  Ourcq, 
our  left  army.  Then  it  was  that  these 
forces  began  to  retreat,  while  the  Brit- 
ish Army,  going  in  pursuit  and  captur- 
ing seven  guns  and  many  prisoners, 
reached  the  Aisne  between  Soissons  and 
Longueval. 

The  role  of  the  French  Army,  which 
was  operating  to  the  right  of  the  British 
Army,  was  threefold.  It  had  to  support 
the  British  attacking  on  its  left.  It  had 
on  its  right  to  support  our  centre,  which 
from  Sept.  7  had  been  subjected  to  a 
German   attack   of   great   violence.      Fi- 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


233 


nally,  its  mission  was  to  throw  back  the 
three  active  army  corps  and  the  reserve 
corps  which  faced  it. 

On  the  7th  it  made  a  leap  forward, 
and  on  the  following  days  reached  and 
crossed  the  Marne,  seizing,  after  des- 
perate fighting,  guns,  howitzers,  mitrail- 
leuses, and  1,300,000  cartridges.  On  the 
12th  it  established  itself  on  the  north 
edge  of  the  Montagne-de-Reime  in  con- 
tact with  our  centre,  which  for  its  part 
had  just  forced  the  enemy  to  retreat  in 
haste. 

THE  ACTION  OF  FERE-CHAM- 
PENOISE. 

Our  centre  consisted  of  a  new  army 
created  on  Aug.  29  and  of  one  of  those 
which  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign 
had  been  engaged  in  Belgian  Luxemburg. 
The  first  had  retreated  on  Aug.  29  to 
Sept.  5  from  the  Aisne  to  the  north  of 
the  Marne  and  occupied  the  general 
front  Sezanne-Mailly. 

The  second,  more  to  the  east,  had 
drawn  back  to  the  south  of  the  line  Hum- 
bauville-Chateau-Beauchamp-Bignicourt- 
Blesmes-Maurupt-le-Montoy. 

The  enemy,  in  view  of  his  right  being 
arrested  and  the  defeat  of  his  envelop- 
ing movement,  made  a  desperate  effort 
from  the  7th  to  the  10th  to  pierce  our 
centre  to  the  west  and  to  the  east  of 
Fere-Champenoise.  On  the  8th  he  suc- 
ceeded in  forcing  back  the  right  of  our 
new  army,  which  retired  as  far  as  Gour- 
agangon.  On  the  9th,  at  6  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  there  was  a  further  retreat  to 
the  south  of  that  village,  while  on  the 
left  the  other  army  corps  also  had  to  go 
back  to  the  line  Allemant-Connantre. 

Despite  this  retreat  the  General  com- 
manding the  army  ordered  a  general  of- 
fensive for  the  same  day.  With  the  Mo- 
rocco Division,  whose  behavior  was 
heroic,  he  met  a  furious  assault  of  the 
Germans  on  his  left  toward  the  marshes 
of  Saint  Gond.  Then  with  the  division 
which  had  just  victoriously  overcome  the 
attacks  of  the  enemy  to  the  north  of  Se- 
zanne, and  with  the  whole  of  his  left 
army  corps,  he  made  a  flanking  attack 
in  the  evening  of  the  9th  upon  the  Ger- 
man forces,  and  notably  the  guard,  which 
had  thrown  back  his  right  army  corps. 


The  enemy,  taken  by  surprise  by  this 
bold  manoeuvre,  did  not  resist,  and  beat 
a  hasty  retreat. 

On  the  11th  we  crossed  the  Marne  be- 
tween Tours-sur-Marne  and  Sarry,  driv- 
ing the  Germans  in  front  of  us  in  dis- 
order. On  the  12th  we  were  in  contact 
with  the  enemy  to  the  north  of  the  Camp 
de  Chalons.  Our  other  army  of  the  cen- 
tre, acting  on  the  right  of  the  one  just 
referred  to,  had  been  intrusted  with  the 
mission  during  the  7th,  8th,  and  9th  of 
disengaging  its  neighbor,  and  it  was  only 
on  the  10th  that,  being  reinforced  by 
an  army  corps  from  the  east,  it  was 
able  to  make  its  action  effectively  felt. 
On  the  11th  the  Germans  retired.  But, 
perceiving  their  danger,  they  fought  des- 
perately, with  enormous  expenditure  of 
projectiles,  behind  strong  intrenchments. 
On  the  12th  the  result  had  none  the  less 
been  attained,  and  our  two  centre  armies 
were  solidly  established  on  the  ground 
gained. 

THE  OPERATIONS  OF  THE  RIGHT. 

To  the  right  of  these  two  armies  were 
three  others.  They  had  orders  to  cover 
themselves  to  the  north  and  to  debouch 
toward  the  west  on  the  flank  of  the 
enemy,  which  was  operating  to  the  west 
of  the  Argonne.  But  a  wide  interval  in 
which  the  Germans  were  in  force  sepa- 
rated them  from  our  centre.  The  attack 
took  place,  nevertheless,  with  very  bril- 
liant success  for  our  artillery,  which  de- 
stroyed eleven  batteries  of  the  Sixteenth 
German  Army  Corps. 

On  the  10th  inst.  the  Eighth  and 
Fifteenth  German  Army  Corps  counter- 
attacked, but  were  repulsed.  On  the  11th 
our  progress  continued  with  new  suc- 
cesses, and  on  the  12th  we  were  able 
to  face  round  toward  the  north  in  ex- 
pectation of  the  near  and  inevitable  re- 
treat of  the  enemy,  which,  in  fact,  took 
place  from  the  13th. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  mass  of  the 
German  force  involved  also  that  of  the 
left.  From  the  12th  onward  the  forces 
of  the  enemy  operating  between  Nancy 
and  the  Vosges  retreated  in  a  hurry  be- 
fore our  two  armies  of  the  East,  which 
immediately  occupied  the  positions  that 
the   enemy  had   evacuated.     The   offen- 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


235 


sive  of  our  right  had  thus  prepared  and 
consolidated  in  the  most  useful  way  the 
result  secured  by  our  left  and  our  cen- 
tre. 

Such  was  this  seven  days'  battle,  in 
which  more  than  two  millions  of  men 
were  engaged.  Each  army  gained 
ground  step  by  step,  opening  the  road 
to  its  neighbor,  supported  at  once  by  it, 
taking  in  flank  the  adversary  which  the 
day  before  it  had  attacked  in  front,  the 
efforts  of  one  articulating  closely  with 
those  of  the  other,  a  perfect  unity  of 
intention  and  method  animating  the  su- 
preme command. 

To  give  this  victory  all  its  meaning 
it  is  necessary  to  add  that  it  was  gained 
by  troops  which  for  two  weeks  had  been 
retreating,  and  which,  when  the  order 
for  the  offensive  was  given,  were  found 
to  be  as  ardent  as  on  the  first  day.  It 
has  also  to  be  said  that  these  troops 
had  to  meet  the  whole  German  army,  and 
that  from  the  time  they  marched  for- 
ward they  never  again  fell  back.  Under 
their  pressure  the  German  retreat  at 
certain  times  had  the  appearance  of  a 
rout. 

In  spite  of  the  fatigue  of  our  men, 
in  spite  of  the  power  of  the  German 
h«  avy  artillery,  we  took  colors,  guns, 
mitrailleuses,  shells,  more  than  a  million 
cartridges,  and  thousands  of  prisoners. 
A  German  corps  lost  almost  the  whol6 
of  its  artillery,  which,  from  information 
brought  by  our  airmen,  was  destroyed 
by  our  guns. 

"THE  RUSH  TO  THE  SEA." 
LONDON,  March  18.— The  third  in- 
stallment of  the  historical  review  of  the 
war,  emanating  from  French  official 
sources  and  purely  from  the  French 
viewpoint,  has  been  received  by  The  As- 
sociated Press.  The  French  narrative 
contains  a  long  chapter  on  the  siege  war 
from  the  Oise  to  the  Vosges,  which  lasted 
from  Sept.  13  to  Nov.  30.  Most  of  the 
incidents  in  this  prolonged  and  severe 
warfare  have  been  recorded  in  the  daily 
bulletins.  The  operations  were  of  sec- 
ondary importance,  and  were  conducted 
on  both  sides  with  the  same  idea  of  wear- 
ing down  the  troops  and  the  artillery  of 
the  opposing  forces  with  the  view  of  in- 


fluencing the  decisive  result  in  the  great 
theatre  of  war  in  the  north.  The  next 
chapter  deals  with  "the  rush  to  the  sea," 
Sept.  13  to  Oct.  23,  and  is  as  follows: 
GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE 
ACTION. 
As  early  as  Sept.  11  the  Commander  in 
Chief  had  directed  our  left  army  to  have 
as  important  forces  as  possible  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Oise.  On  Sept.  17  he 
made  that  instruction  more  precise  by 
ordering  "a  mass  to  be  constituted  on 
the  left  wing  of  our  disposition,  capable 
of  coping  with  the  outflanking  movement 
of  the  enemy."  Everything  led  us  to  ex- 
pect that  flanking  movement,  for  the 
Germans  are  lacking  in  invention.  In- 
deed, their  effort  at  that  time  tended  to 
a  renewal  of  their  manoeuvre  of  August. 
In  the  parallel  race  the  opponents  were 
bound  in  the  end  to  be  stopped  only  by 
the  sea;  that  is  what  happened  about 
Oct.  20. 

The  Germans  had  an  advantage  over 
us,  which  is  obvious  from  a  glance  at 
the  map — the  concentric  form  of  their 
front,  which  shortened  the  length  of  their 
transports.  In  spite  of  this  initial  in- 
feriority we  arrived  in  time.  From  the 
middle  of  September  to  the  last  week 
in  October  fighting  went  on  continually 
to  the  north  of  the  Oise,  but  all  the  time 
we  were  fighting  we  were  slipping  north- 
ward. On  the  German  side  this  move- 
ment brought  into  line  more  than  eight- 
een new  army  corps,  (twelve  active  army 
corps,  six  reserve  corps,  four  cavalry 
corps.)  On  our  side  it  ended  in  the  con- 
stitution of  three  fresh  armies  on  our 
left  and  in  the  transport  into  the  same 
district  of  the  British  Army  and  the  Bel- 
gian Army  from  Antwerp. 

For  the  conception  and  realization  of 
this  fresh  and  extended  disposition  the 
French  command,  in  the  first  place,  had 
to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  needs  for 
effectives  of  our  armies  to  the  east  of 
the  Oise,  and  afterwards  to  utilize  to  the 
utmost  our  means  of  transport.  It  suc- 
ceeded in  this,  and  when,  at  the  end  of 
October,  the  battle  of  Flanders  opened, 
when  the  Germans,  having  completed  the 
concentration  of  their  forces,  attempted 
with  fierce  energy  to  turn  or  to  pierce 


236 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


our  left,  they  flung  themselves  upon  a 
resistance  which  inflicted  upon  them  a 
complete  defeat. 
DEPLOYMENT   OF   A   FIRST   ARMY, 

The  movement  began  on  our  side  only 
with  the  resources  of  the  army  which 
had  held  the  left  of  our  front  during  the 
battle  of  the  Marne,  reinforced  on  Sept. 
15  by  one  army  corps. 

This  reinforcement,  not  being  suffi- 
cient to  hold  the  enemy's  offensive,  (dis- 
trict of  Vaudelincourt-Mouchy-Uaugy,)  a 
fresh  army  was  transported  more  to  the 
left,  with  the  task  "  of  acting  against  the 
German  right  wing  in  order  to  disengage 
its  neighbor,  *  *  *  while  preserving 
a  flanking  direction  in  its  march  in  rela- 
tion to  the  fresh  units  that  the  enemy 
might  be  able  to  put  into  line." 

To  cover  the  detrainments  of  this  fresh 
army  in  the  district  Clermont-Beauvais- 
Boix  a  cavalry  corps  and  four  territorial 
divisions  were  ordered  to  establish  them- 
selves on  both  banks  of  the  Somme.  In 
the  wooded  hills,  however,  which  extend 
between  the  Oise  and  Lassigny  the  enemy 
displayed  increasing  activity.  Neverthe- 
less, the  order  still  further  to  broaden 
the  movement  toward  the  left  was  main- 
tained, while  the  territorial  divisions 
were  to  move  toward  Bethune  and 
Aubigny.    The  march  to  the  sea  went  on. 

From  the  21st  to  the  26th  all  our  forces 
were  engaged  in  the  district  Lassigny- 
Roye-Peronne,  with  alternations  of  re- 
verse and  success.  It  was  the  first  act 
of  the  great  struggle  which  was  to 
spread  as  it  went  on.  On  the  26th  the 
whole  of  the  Sixth  German  Army  was 
deployed  against  us.  We  retained  all 
our  positions,  but  we  could  do  no  more; 
consequently  there  was  still  the  risk  that 
the  enemy,  by  means  of  a  fresh  afflux 
of  forces,  might  succeed  in  turning  us. 

Once  more  reinforcements,  two  army 
corps,  were  directed  no  longer  on  Beau- 
vais,  but  toward  Amiens.  The  front 
was  then  again  to  extend.  A  fresh  army 
was  constituted  more  to  the  north. 

DEPLOYMENT  OF  THE  SECOND 
ARMY. 

From  Sept.  30  onward  we  could  not 
but  observe  that  the  enemy,  already 
strongly  posted  on  the  plateau  of  Thiep- 


val,  was  continually  slipping  his  forces 
from  south  to  north,  and  everywhere 
confronting  us  with  remarkable  energy. 

Accordingly,  on  Oct.  1  two  cavalry 
corps  were  directed  to  make  a  leap  for- 
ward and,  operating  on  both  banks  of 
the  Scarpe,  to  put  themselves  in  touch 
with  the  garrison  of  Dunkirk,  which,  on 
its  side,  had  pushed  forward  as  far  as 
Douai.  But  on  Oct.  2  and  3  the  bulk  of 
our  fresh  army  was  very  strongly  at- 
tacked in  the  district  of  Arras  and  Lens. 
Confronting  it  were  two  corps  of  cav- 
alry, the  guards,  four  active  army  corps, 
and  two  reserve  corps.  A  fresh  French 
army  corps  was  immediately  transported 
and  detrained  in  the  Lille  district. 

But  once  more  the  attacks  became 
more  pressing,  and  on  Oct.  4  it  was  a 
question  whether,  in  view  of  the  enemy's 
activity  both  west  of  the  Oise  and  south 
of  the  Somme,  and  also  further  to  the 
north,  a  retreat  would  not  have  to  be 
made.  General  Joffre  resolutely  put  this 
hypothesis  aside  and  ordered  the  offen- 
sive to  be  resumed  with  the  reinforce- 
ments that  had  arrived.  It  was,  how- 
ever, clear  that,  despite  the  efforts  of  all, 
our  front,  extended  to  the  sea  as  it  was 
by  a  mere  ribbon  of  troops,  did  not  pos- 
sess the  solidity  to  enable  it  to  resist 
with  complete  safety  a  German  attack, 
the  violence  of  which  could  well  be  fore- 
seen. 

In  the  Arras  district  the  position  was 
fairly  good.  But  between  the  Oise  and 
Arras  we  were  holding  our  own  only  with 
difficulty.  Finally,  to  the  north,  on  the 
Lille-Estaires-Merville  -  Hazebrouck-Cas- 
sel  front,  our  cavalry  and  our  territorials 
had  their  work  cut  out  against  eight 
divisions  of  German  cavalry,  with  very 
strong  infantry  supports.  It  was  at  this 
moment  that  the  transport  of  the  British 
Army  to  the  northern  theatre  of  opera- 
tions began. 

THE  TRANSPORT  OF  THE  BRITISH 
ARMY. 

Field  Marshal  French  had,  as  early  as 
the  end  of  September,  expressed  the  wish 
to  see  his  army  resume  its  initial  place 
on  the  left  of  the  allied  armies.  He  ex- 
plained this  wish  on  the  ground  of  the 
greater  facility  of  which  his  communica- 


I 


VICE   ADMIRAL  H.   R.   H.  THE  DUKE  OF  THE  ABRUZZI 

Cousin  of  the   King  of   Italy,   Commander  of  the  dreadnought  • 
•  squadron  of  the  Italian  Navy. 

{Photo     (c)     by     Pack     Bros.,     N.     Y.\ 


H.      M.     FERDINAND 

Tsar   of   the    Bulgars. 

(Photo    from     P      8.     Rogers.) 


I. 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


237 


tions  would  have  the  advantage  in  this 
new  position,  and  also  of  the  impending 
arrival  of  two  divisions  of  infantry  from 
home  and  of  two  infantry  divisions  and 
a  cavalry  division,  from  India,  which 
would  be  able  to  deploy  more  easily  on 
that  terrain.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties 
which  such  a  removal  involved,  owing  to 
the  intensive  use  of  the  railways  by  our 
own  units,  General  Joffre  decided  at  the 
beginning  of  October  to  meet  the  Field 
Marshal's  wishes  and  to  have  the  British 
Army  removed  from  the  Aisne. 

It  was  clearly  specified  that  on  the 
northern  terrain  the  British  Army  should 
co-operate  to  the  same  end  as  ourselves, 
the  stopping  of  the  German  right.  In 
other  terms,  the  British  Army  was  to 
prolong  the  front  of  the  general  disposi- 
tion without  a  break,  attacking  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  at  the  same  time  seek- 
ing touch  with  the  Belgian  Army. 

But  the  detraining  took  longer  than 
had  been  expected,  and  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  attack  the  Germans  during  the 
time  when  they  had  only  cavalry  in  the 
Lille  district  and  further  to  the  north. 

THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  BELGIAN 
ARMY. 

There  remained  the  Belgian  Army.  On 
leaving  Antwerp  on  Oct.  9  the  Belgian 
Army,  which  was  covered  by  8,000  Brit- 
ish bluejackets  and  6,000  French  blue- 
jackets, at  first  intended  to  retire  as 
far  as  to  the  north  of  Calais,  but  after- 
wards determined  to  make  a  stand  in 
Belgian  territory.  Unfortunately,  the 
condition  of  the  Belgian  troops,  exhaust- 
ed by  a  struggle  of  more  than  three 
months,  did  not  allow  any  immediate 
hopes  to  be  based  upon  them.  This  situ- 
ation weighed  on  our  plans  and  delayed 
their  execution. 

On  the  16th  we  made  progress  to  the 
east,  of  Ypres.  On  the  18th  our  cavalry 
even  reached  Roulers  and  Cortemark. 
But  it  was  now  evident  that,  in  view  of 
the  continual  reinforcing  of  the  German 
right,  our  left  was  not  capable  of  main- 
taining the  advantages  obtained  during 
the  previous  few  days.  To  attain  our 
end  and  make  our  front  inviolable  a  fresh 
effort  was  necessary.  That  effort  was 
immediately  made  by  the  dispatch  to  the 


north  of  the  Lys  of  considerable  French 
forces,  which  formed  the  French  Army 
of  Belgium. 

THE  FRENCH  ARMY  OF  BELGIUM. 

The  French  Army  of  Belgium  consist- 
ed, to  begin  with,  of  two  territorial  di- 
visions, four  divisions  of  cavalry,  and  a 
naval  brigade.  Directly  after  its  consti- 
tution it  was  strengthened  by  elements 
from  other  points  on  the  front  whose 
arrival  extended  from  Oct.  27  to  Nov.  11. 
These  reinforcements  were  equivalent 
altogether  in  value  to  five  army  corps,  a 
division  of  cavalry,  a  territorial  division, 
and  sixteen  regiments  of  cavalry,  plus 
sixty  pieces  of  heavy  artillery. 

Thus  was  completed  the  strategic  ma- 
noeuvre defined  by  the  instructions  of  the 
General  in  Chief  on  Sept.  11  and  devel- 
oped during  the  five  following  weeks 
with  the  ampleness  we  have  just  seen. 
The  movements  of  troops  carried  out 
daring  this  period  were  methodically 
combined  with  the  pursuit  of  operations, 
both  defensive  and  offensive,  from  the 
Oise  to  the  North  Sea. 

On  Oct.  22  our  left,  bounded  six  weeks 
earlier  by  the  Noyon  district,  rested  on 
Nieuport,  thanks  to  the  successive  de- 
ployment of  five  fresh  armies — three 
French  armies,  the  British  Army,  and 
the  Belgian  Army. 

Thus  the  co-ordination  decided  upon  by 
the  General  in  Chief  attained  its  end. 
The  barrier  was  established.  It  remained 
to  maintain  it  against  the  enemy's  offen- 
sive. That  was  the  object  and  the  result 
of  the  battle  of  Flanders,  Oct.  22  to 
Nov.  15. 

OPERATIONS  IN  FLANDERS. 

The  fourth  installment  of  the  French 
review  takes  up  the  operations  in  Flan- 
ders, as  follows: 

The  German  attack  in  Flanders  was 
conducted  strategically  and  tactically 
with  remarkable  energy.  The  complete 
and  indisputable  defeat  in  which  it  re- 
sulted is  therefore  significant. 

The  forces  of  which  the  enemy  dis- 
posed for  this  operation  between  the  sea 
and  the  Lys  comprised: 

(1)  The  entire  Fourth  Army  com- 
manded by  the   Duke  of  Wurttemberg, 


O     ^M   0  1.   I.  A  N 

TWBNHOOT 

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BOUU>6NE      STOKM 


LILLE 

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fONDE     KPy 

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AHBF 


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NAMyB^4,/Jy:J^  KlALMEDY 


BEAUVAIS 


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piiovm& 
rOHTAINEBLEAU 


1 


•    •  #  ]FARTHEST  GERMAN 
;  ADVANCE 

XXX  \FARTHEST  FRENCH 
>  ADVANCE 

■  PRESENT  BATTLE  LINE 
'FRONTIER  LINES 
MAIN  R.R. LINES 


SCALE  OF  MILES 

IP        20       SO       40        50 


Map   showing  the   swaying  battle  line  from   Belfort  to  the  North   Sea   and  the 
intrenched  line  on  April  15,  1915. 


consisting  of  one  naval  division,  one  di- 
vision of  Ersatz  Reserve,  (men  who  had 
received  no  training  before  the  war,) 
which  was  liberated  by  the  fall  of  Ant- 
werp; the  Twenty-second,  Twenty-third, 
Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty-seventh  Re- 
serve Corps,  and  the  Forty-eighth  Di- 
vision belonging  to  the  Twenty-fourth 
Reserve  Corps. 

(2)  A  portion  of  another  army  under 
General  von  Fabeck,  consisting  of  the 
Fifteenth  Corps,  two  Bavarian  corps  and 
three  (unspecified)  divisions. 

(3)  Part  of  the  Sixth  Army  under  the 
command  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Ba- 
varia. This  army,  more  than  a  third  of 
which  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Flan- 
ders,   comprised    the    Nineteenth    Army 


Corps,  portions  of  the  Thirteenth  Corps 
and  the  Eighteenth  Reserve  Corps,  the 
Seventh  and  Fourteenth  Corps,  the  First 
Bavarian  Reserve  Corps,  the  Guards,  and 
the  Fourth  Army  Corps. 

(4)  Four  highly  mobile  cavalry  corps 
prepared  and  supported  the  action  of  the 
troops  enumerated  above.  Everything 
possible  had  been  done  to  fortify  the 
"  morale  "  of  the  troops.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  October  the  Crown  Prince  of  Ba- 
varia in  a  proclamation  had  exhorted  his 
soldiers  "  to  make  the  decisive  effort 
against  the  French  left  wing,"  and  "  to 
settle  thus  the  fate  of  the  great  battle 
which  has  lasted  for  weeks." 

On  Oct.  28,  Prince  Rupprecht  of  Ba- 
varia declared  in  an  army  order  that  his 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


239 


troops  "  had  just  been  fighting  under 
very  difficult  conditions,"  and  he  added: 
"  It  is  our  business  now  not  to  let  the 
struggle  with  our  most  detested  enemy 
drag  on  longer  *  *  *  The  decisive  blow 
is  still  to  be  struck."  On  Oct.  30,  General 
von  Deimling,  commanding  the  Fifteenth 
Army  Corps  (belonging  to  General  von 
Fabeck's  command,)  issued  an  order  de- 
claring that  "  the  thrust  against  Ypros 
will  be  of  decisive  importance."  It  should 
be  noted  also  that  the  Emperor  proceeded 
in  person  to  Thielt  and  Courtrai  to  exalt 
by  his  presence  the  ardor  of  his  troops. 
Finally,  at  the  close  of  October,  the  en- 
tire German  press  incessantly  proclaimed 
the  importance  of  the  "  Battle  of  Calais." 
It  is  superfluous  to  add  that  events  in 
Poland  explain  in  a  large  measure  the 
passionate  resolve  of  the  German  General 
Staff  to  obtain  a  decision  in  the  West- 
ern theatre  of  operations  at  all  costs. 
This  decision  would  be  obtained  if  our 
left  were  pierced  or  driven  in.  To 
reach  Calais,  that  is,  to  break  our  left; 
to  carry  Ypres,  that  is,  to  cut  it  in  half: 
through  both  points  to  menace  the  com- 
munications and  supplies  of  the  British 
expeditionary  corps,  perhaps  even  to 
threaten  Britain  in  her  island — such  was 
the  German  plan  in  the  Battle  of  Flan- 
ders. It  was  a  plan  that  could  not  be  ex- 
ecuted. 

CHECK  OF  GERMAN  ATTACK. 

The  enemy,  who  had  at  his  disposal  a 
considerable  quantity  of  heavy  artillery, 
directed  his  efforts  at  first  upon  the 
coast  and  the  country  to  the  north  of 
Dixmude.  His  objective  was  manifestly 
the  capture  of  Dunkirk,  then  of  Calais 
and  Boulogne,  and  this  objective  he  pur- 
sued until  Nov.  1. 

On  Oct.  23  the  Belgians  along  the  rail- 
way line  from  Nieuport  to  Dixmude  were 
strengthened  by  a  French  division.  Dix- 
mude was  occupied  by  our  marines  (fu- 
siliers marins).  During  the  subsequent 
day  our  forces  along  the  railway  devel- 
oped a  significant  resistance  against  an 
enemy  superior  in  number  and  backed 
by  heavy  artillery.  On  the  29th  the  in- 
undations effected  between  the  canal  and 
the  railway  line  spread  along  our  front. 


On  the  30th  we  recaptured  Ramscapelle, 
the  only  point  on  the  railway  which  Bel- 
gians had  lost.  On  the  1st  and  2d  of 
November  the  enemy  bombarded  Fumes, 
but  began  to  show  signs  of  weariness. 
On  the  2d  he  evacuated  the  ground  be- 
tween the  Yser  and  the  railway,  abandon- 
ing cannon,  dead  and  wounded.  On  tTie 
3d  our  troops  were  able  to  re-enter  the 
Dixmude  district.  The  success  achieved 
by  the  enemy  at  Dixmude  at  this  juncture 
was  without  fruit.  They  succeeded  in 
taking  the  town.  They  could  not  debouch 
from  it.  The  coastal  attack  had  thus 
proved  a  total  failure.  Since  then  it  has 
never  been  renewed.  The  Battle  of  Ca- 
lais, so  noisily  announced  by  the  German 
press,  amounted  to  a  decided  reverse 
for  the  Germans. 

GERMAN  DEFEAT  AT  YPRES. 

The  enemy  had  now  begun  an  attack 
more  important  than  its  predecessor,  in 
view  of  the  numbers  engaged  in  it.  This 
attack  was  intended  as  a  renewal  to 
the  south  of  the  effort  which  had  just 
been  shattered  in  the  north.  Instead  of 
turning  our  flank  on  the  coast,  it  was 
now  sought  to  drive  in  the  right  of  our 
northern  army  under  the  shock  of  pow- 
erful masses.  This  was  the  Battle  of 
Ypres. 

In  order  to  understand  this  long,  des- 
perate, and  furious  battle,  we-  must  hark 
back  a  few  days  in  point  of  time.  At  the 
moment  when  our  cavalry  reached  Rou- 
lers  and  Cortemark  (Oct.  28)  our  terri- 
torial divisions  from  Dunkirk,  under  Gen- 
eral Biden,  had  occupied  and  organized  a 
defensive  position  at  Ypres.  It  was  a 
point  d'appui,  enabling  us  to  prepare  and 
maintain  our  connections  with  the  Bel- 
gian Army.  From  Oct.  23  two  British 
and  French  army  corps  were  in  occupa- 
tion of  this  position,  which  was  to  be  the 
base  of  their  forward  march  in  the  di- 
rection of  Roulers-Menin.  The  delays  al- 
ready explained  and  the  strength  of  the 
forces  brought  up  by  the  enemy  soon 
brought  to  a  standstill  our  progress  along 
the  line  Poelcapelle,  Paschendaele,  Zand- 
vorde,  and  Gheluvelt.  But  in  spite  of  the 
stoppage  here,  Ypres  was  solidly  covered, 
and  the  connections  of  all  the  allied  forces 


240 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


were  established.  Against  the  line  thus 
formed  the  German  attack  was  hurled 
from  Oct.  25  to  Nov.  13,  to  the  north,  the 
east,  and  the  south  of  Ypres.  From  Oct. 
26  on  the  attacks  were  renewed  daily  with 
extraordinary  violence,  obliging  us  to 
employ  our  reinforcements  at  the  most 
threatened  points  as  soon  as  they  came 
up.  Thus,  on  Oct.  31,  we  were  obliged 
to  send  supports  to  the  British  cavalry, 
then  to  the  two  British  corps  between 
which  the  cavalry  formed  the  connecting 
link,  and  finally  to  intercalate  between 
these  two  corps  a  force  equivalent  to 
two  army  corps.  Between  Oct.  30  and 
Nov.  6  Ypres  was  several  times  in  dan- 
ger. The  British  lost  Zandvorde,  Ghelu- 
vclt,  Messines,  and  Wytschaete.  TIiq 
front  of  the  Allies,  thus  contracted,  was 
all  the  more  difficult  to  defend;  but  de- 
fended it  was  without  a  recoil. 

REINFORCEMENTS  ARRIVE. 

The  arrival  of  three  French  divisions 
in  our  line  enabled  us  to  resume  from  the 
4th  to  the  8th  a  vigorous  offensive.  On 
the  10th  and  11th  this  offensive,  brought 
up  against  fresh  and  sharper  German  at- 
tacks, was  checked.  Before  it  could  be 
renewed  the  arrival  of  fresh  reinforce- 
ments had  to  be  awaited,  which  were  dis- 
patched to  the  north  on  Nov.  12.  By  the 
14th  our  troops  had  again  begun  to  pro- 
gress, barring  the  road  to  Ypres  against 
the  German  attacks,  and  inflicting  on  the 
enemy,  who  advanced  in  massed  forma- 
tion, losses  which  were  especially  terrible 
in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the 
French  and  British  artillery  had  crowded 
nearly  300  guns  on  to  these  few  kilome- 
ters of  front. 

Thus  the  main  mass  of  the  Germans 
sustained  the  same  defeat  as  the  detach- 
ments operating  further  to  the  north 
along  the  coast.  The  support  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  idea  of  the  German  Gen- 
eral Staff,  the  attack  on  Ypres  was  to 
render  to  the  coastal  attack,  was  as  futile 
as  that  attack  itself  had  been. 

During  the  second  half  of  November 
the  enemy,  exhausted  and  having  lost  in 
the  Battle  of  Ypres  alone  more  than  150,- 
000  men,  did  not  attempt  to  renew  his 
effort,  but  confined  himself  to  an  inter- 


mittent cannonade.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
achieved  appreciable  progress  to  the 
north  and  south  of  Ypres,  and  insured 
definitely  by  a  powerful  defensive  organ- 
ization of  the  position  the  inviolability 
of  our  front. 

[The  compiler  of  the  report  here  adds 
a  footnote  saying  that  the  bodies  of  more 
than  40,000  Germans  were  found  on  the 
battlefield  during  these  three  weeks  of 
battle.  The  report  next  proceeds  to 
summarize  the  character  and  results  of 
the  operations  since  the  Battle  of  Flan- 
ders— that  is,  during  the  period  Nov.  30- 
Feb.  1.] 

Since  the  former  date  the  French  su- 
preme command  had  not  thought  it  ad- 
visable to  embark  upon  important  of- 
fensive operations.  It  has  confined  itself 
to  local  attacks,  the  main  object  of  which 
was  to  hold  in  front  of  us  as  large  a 
number  of  German  corps  as  possible,  and 
thus  to  hinder  the  withdrawal  of  the 
troops  which  to  our  knowledge  the  Ger- 
man General  Staff  was  anxious  to  dis- 
patch to  Russia. 

FEW  SENT  TO  THE  EAST. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  numbers  trans- 
ported to  the  eastern  front  have  been 
very  moderate.  Of  the  fifty-two  army 
corps  which  faced  us  on  the  westei-n 
front,  Germany  has  only  been  able  to 
take  four  and  one-half  corps  for 
the  eastern  front.  On  the  other  hand, 
climatic  conditions — the  rain,  mud,  and 
mist — were  such  as  to  diminish  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  offensive  operations  and 
to  add  to  the  costliness  of  any  under- 
taken, which  was  another  reason  for 
postponing  them.  Still  another  reason 
lies  in  the  fact  that  from  now  on  the 
allied  forces  can  count  upon  a  steadily  ex- 
panding growth,  equally  in  point  of  num- 
bers and  units  as  of  material,  while  the 
German  forces  have  attained  the  maxi- 
mum of  their  power,  and  can  only  dimin- 
ish now  both  in  numbers  and  in  value. 
These  conditions  explain  the  character 
of  the  siege  warfare  which  the  operations 
have  assumed  during  the  period  under 
review. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  by  no  means  the  case 
that  the  siege  warfare  has  had  the  same 


SCALE  OF   MILrS 

Z  7>  4  5 
RAILROADS 
CANALS 


^'^^i^  FORCST5 
HIGHWAYS 


.j=-jr-  -tXlNUNDATED 

-^-"--/region 
HEAVY  LINE  SHOWS, 
BATTLE   LINE 
ON  APRIH.1915 


Map  illustrating  the  Battle  of  Flanders,  the  Battle  of  Ypres,  and  the  terrain  of 
the  frustrated  German  efforts  to  reach  Dunkirk  and  Calais. 


242 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


results  for  the  Germans  as  for  us.  From 
Nov.  15  to  Feb.  1,  our  opponents,  in  spite 
of  very  numerous  attacks,  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  taking  anything  from  us,  except 
a  few  hundred  metres  of  ground  to  the 
north  of  Soissons.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
have  obtained  numerous  and  appreciable 
results. 

[The  French  writer  here  proceeds  to 
strike  a  balance  of  gains  and  losses  be- 
tween the  allied  and  tTie  German  forces 
in  France  during  the  Winter  campaign. 
The  result  he  sums  up  as  follows:] 

1.  A  general  progress  of  our  troops; 
very  marked  at  certain  points. 

2.  A  general  falling  back  of  the  enemy, 
except  to  the  northeast  of  Soissons. 

To  complete  the  balance  it  must  be 
added  that: 

1.  The  German  offensive  in  Poland  was 
checked  a  month  ago. 

2.  The  Russian  offensive  continues  in 
Galicia  and  the  Carpathians. 

3.  A  large  part  of  the  Turkish  Cau- 
casian army  has  been  annihilated. 

4.  Germany  has  exhausted  her  re- 
sources of  officers,  (there  are  now  on  an 
average  twelve  officers  to  a  regiment,) 
and  henceforth  will  only  be  able  to  de- 
velop her  resources  in  men  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  existing  units. 

5.  The  allied  armies,  on  the  contrary, 
possess  the  power  of  reinforcing  them- 
selves in  a  very  considerable  degree. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  declared  that  in 
order  to  obtain  complete  success  it  is 
sufficient  for  France  and  her  allies  to 
know  how  to  wait  and  to  prepare  victory 
with  indefatigable  patience. 

The  German  offensive  is  broken. 

The  German  defensive  will  be  broken 
in  its  turn. 

[It  is  evident  from  the  report  that  the 
numbered  German  army  corps  are  Prus- 
sian corps  unless  otherwise  specified.]  ■ 

THE   FRENCH  ARMY  AS   IT  IS. 

LONDON,  March  18,  (Correspond- 
ence of  The  Associated  Press.) — All  of 
Part  II.,  of  the  historical  review  of  the 
war,  emanating  from  French  official 
sources,  and  purely  from  the  French 
viewpoint,  has  been  received  by  The  As- 
sociated  Press.     Part  II.  deals  with  the 


conditions  in  the  French  Army,  furnish- 
ing a  most  interesting  chapter  on  this 
subject  under  the  title,  "  The  French 
Army  as  it  Is." 

The  compiler  of  the  report,  beginning 
this  part  of  his  review  on  Feb.  1,  says 
that  the  condition  of  the  French  Army 
is  excellent  and  appreciably  superior  to 
ivhat  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
from  the  three  points  of  view  of  num- 
bers, quality,  and  equipment.  Continu- 
ing, he  says: 

In  the  higher  command  important 
changes  have  been  made.  It  has,  in  fact, 
been  rejuvenated  by  the  promotion  of 
young  commanders  of  proved  quality  to 
high  rank.  All  the  old  Generals,  who  at 
the  beginning  of  August  were  at  the 
head  of  large  commands,  have  been  grad- 
ually eliminated,  some  as  the  result  of  the 
physical  strain  of  war  and  others  by  ap- 
pointment to  territorial  commands.  This 
rejuvenation  of  the  higher  ranks  of  the 
army  has  been  carried  out  in  a  far-reach- 
ing manner,  and  it  may  be  said  that  it 
has  embraced  all  the  grades  of  the  mili- 
tary hierarchy  from  commanders  of  bri- 
gades to  commanders  of  armies.  The  re- 
sult has  been  to  lower  the  average  age  of 
general  officers  by  ten  years.  Today 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  officers 
commanding  armies  and  army  corps  are 
less  than  60  years  of  age.  Some  are  con- 
siderably younger.  A  number  of  the 
army  corps  commanders  are  from  46  to 
54  years  of  age,  and  the  brigade  com- 
manders are  usually  under  50.  There  are, 
in  fact,  at  the  front  extremely  few  gen- 
eral officers  over  60,  and  these  are  men 
who  are  in  full  possession  of  their  phy- 
sical and  intellectual  powers. 

MANY  COLONELS  PROMOTED. 
This  rejuvenation  of  the  high  command 
was  facilitated  by  a  number  of  circum- 
stances, notable  among  which  were  the 
strengthening  of  the  higher  regimental 
ranks  carried  out  during  the  three  years 
preceding  the  war,  as  a  result  of  which 
at  the  outset  of  the  campaign  each  in- 
fantry regiment  had  two  Lieutenant 
Colonels,  and  each  cavalry  and  artillery 
regiment  a  Colonel  and  Lieutenant  Colo- 
nel, and  also  the  system  of  promotion  for 
the  duration  of  the  war.     Many  officers 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


243 


who  began  the  war  as  Colonels  now  com- 
mand brigades.  Some  are  even  at  the 
head  of  divisions  or  army  corps.  Ability 
proved  on  the  field  of  battle  is  now  im- 
mediately recognized  and  utilized,  and  in 
this  way  it  has  been  possible  to  provide 
in  the  most  favorable  manner  for  the  va- 
cancies created  by  the  changes  in  com- 
mand which  were  considered  necessary 
in  the  first  weeks  of  the  war. 

The  higher  grades  of  the  French  Army 
are  inspired  by  a  remarkable  unity  in  the 
matter  of  military  theory,  and  by  a  soli- 
darity of  spirit  which  has  found  striking 
expression  in  the  course  of  the  numerous 
moves  of  army  corps  from  one  part  of 
the  theatre  of  operations  to  another, 
which  have  been  carried  out  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war. 

The  cavalry  after  six  months  of  war 
still  possesses  an  excess  of  officers.  There 
are  on  an  average  thirty-six  officers  to 
a  regiment  instead  of  the  thirty-one  con- 
sidered to  be  the  necessary  minimum. 
The  artillery,  which  has  suffered  rela- 
tively little,  has  also  an  excess  of  offi- 
cers, and  is  further  able  to  count  upon  a 
large  number  of  Captains  and  other  offi- 
cers, who  before  the  war  were  employed 
in  the  arsenals  or  in  technical  research. 
Finally  the  reserve  artillery  officers  have 
nearly  all  proved  to  be  excellent  battery 
commanders. 

The  losses  in  the  junior  commissioned 
ranks  have  naturally  been  highest  in  the 
infantry.  There  is,  however,  nothing 
like  a  want  of  officers  in  this  arm.  Many 
Captains  and  Lieutenants  who  have  been 
wounded  by  machine-gun  fire  (such 
wounds  are  usually  slight  and  quickly 
healed,)  have  been  able  to  return  speed- 
ily to  the  front.  The  reserve  officers 
have  in  general  done  remarkably  well, 
and  in  many  cases  have  shown  quite  ex- 
ceptional aptitude  for  the  rank  of  com- 
pany commanders.  The  non-commis- 
sioned officers  promoted  to  sub-Lieuten- 
ancies make  excellent  section  leaders, 
and  even  show  themselves  very  clever 
and  energetic  company  commanders  in 
the  field. 

It  must  be  remembered  also  that 
thanks  to  the  intellectual  and  physical 
development  of  the  generation  now  serv- 
ing with  the  colors;  and  thanks,  above 


all,  to  the  warlike  qualities  of  the  race, 
and  the  democratic  spirit  of  our  army, 
we  have  been  able  to  draw  upon  the  lower 
grades  and  even  upon  the  rank  and  file 
for  officers.  Many  men  who  began  the 
war  on  Aug.  2  as  privates,  now  wear  the 
officers'  epaulettes.  The  elasticity  of  our 
regulations  regarding  promotion  in  war 
time,  the  absence  of  the  spirit  of  caste, 
and  the  friendly  welcome  extended  by  all 
officers  to  those  of  their  military  infe- 
riors who  have  shown  under  fire  their 
fitness  to  command,  have  enabled  us  to 
meet  all  requirements. 

The  state  of  our  infantry  on  Jan.  15 
was  very  satisfactory  and  much  superior 
to  that  of  the  German  infantry.  On  an 
average  each  of  our  regiments  has  forty- 
eight  officers,  including  eighteen  regular 
officers,  fifteen  reserve  officers,  and  fif- 
teen non-commissioned  officers.  In  each 
regiment  six  of  the  twelve  companies  are 
commanded  by  Captains  who  are  regular 
officers,  three  by  Captains  of  the  reserve 
and  three  by  Lieutenants.  Each  com- 
pany has  at  least  three  officers.  The 
state  of  the  army  as  regards  the  com- 
missioned ranks  from  the  highest  to  tl>e 
lowest  is  declared  to  be  exceptionally 
brilliant.  The  army  is  led  by  youfig, 
well-trained,  and  daring  chiefs,  and  the 
lower  commissioned  ranks  have  acquired 
the  art  of  war  by  experience. 

2,500,000  FRENCH  AT  FRONT.  . 
Including  all  ranks,  France  now  has 
more  than  2,500,000  men  at  the  front, 
and  every  unit  is,  or  was  on  Jan.  15,  at 
war  strength.  The  infantry  companies 
are  at  least  200  strong.  In  many  regi- 
ments the  companies  have  a  strength  of 
250  or  more. 

In  other  arms,  which  have  suffered  less 
than  the  infantry,  the  units  are  all  up 
to,  or  above,  regulation  strength. 

This  fact  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
important  advantages  of  the  French 
Army  over  the  Germans.  While  Ger- 
many has  created  a  great  number  of  new 
units,  army  corps  or  divisions,  which  ab- 
sorbed at  a  blow  all  of  her  available  re- 
sources in  officers  and  men,  the  French 
supreme  command  has  avoided  the  for- 
mation of  new  units,  except  in  limited 
number,  and  has  only  admitted  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  when  it  was  able  to 


244 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


count  with  certainty  on  being  able  to 
provide  amply  for  both  the  present  and 
future  requirements  of  the  new  units,  as 
regards  all  ranks,  without  encroaching 
upon  the  reserves  needed  for  the  existing 
units. 

At  the  same  time,  thanks  to  the  depots 
in  the  interior  of  the  country,  the  effec- 
tives at  the  front  have  been  maintained 
at  full  strength.  The  sources  of  supply 
for  this  purpose  were  the  remainder  of 
the  eleven  classes  of  the  reserves,  the 
younger  classes  of  the  territorial  army, 
and  the  new  class  of  1914.  A  large  num- 
ber of  the  men  wounded  in  the  earlier  en- 
gagements of  the  war  have  been  able  to 
return  to  the  front.  They  have  been  in- 
corporated in  the  new  drafts,  providing 
these  with  a  useful  stiffening  of  war- 
tried  men. 

With  regard  to  the  supplies  of  men 
upon  which  the  army  can  draw  to  repair 
the  wastage  at  the  front,  we  learn  that 
there  are  practically  half  as  many  men 
in  the  depots  as  at  the  front,  in  other 
words  about  1,250,000.  Further  supplies 
of  men  are  provided  by  the  class  of  1915 
and  the  revision  of  the  various  categories 
of  men  of  military  age  previously  ex- 
empted on  grounds  of  health  or  for  other 
reasons  from  the  duty  of  bearing  arms. 
As  a  result  of  this  measure  nearly  half 
a  million  men  have  been  claimed  for  the 
army,  almost  all  of  whom,  after  rigorous 
physical  tests,  have  been  declared  fit  for 
military  service. 

DRILLED   BY   CONVALESCENTS. 

In  the  depots  in  which  the  new  soldiers 
are  being  trained  the  services  of  many 
officers  and  non-commissioned  officers 
discharged  as  convalescents  after  being 
wounded  are  utilized  in  order  to  give  a 
practical  turn  to  the  instruction.  There 
are  still  many  voluntary  enlistments,  and 
with  all  these  resources  of  men  the  army 
can  count  upon  reinforcements  soon  to  be 
available  which  will  considerably  aug- 
ment its  offensive  power. 

The  quality  of  the  troops  has  improved 
perceptibly  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  The  men  have  become  hardened 
and  used  to  war,  and  their  health — 
largely  owing  to  the  excellence  of  the 
commissariat — is  extremely  satisfactory. 


In  spite  of  the  severity  of  the  Winter 
hardly  any  cases  of  disease  of  the  res- 
piratory organs  have  occurred,  and  the 
sanitary  returns  of  the  army  show  an  ap- 
preciable improvement  on  those  of  the 
preceding  Winter. 

With  regard  to  the  reserves,  experience 
has  verified  the  dictum  of  the  Serbian 
and  Bulgarian  Generals  in  the  war  of 
1913,  namely,  that  "  two  months  in  the 
field  are  necessary  in  order  to  get  at  the 
full  value  of  reserves."  Our  infantry  is 
now  accustomed  to  the  rapid  and  thorough 
"  organization "  of  the  defensive.  In 
August  it  neither  liked  nor  had  the  habit 
of  using  the  spade.  Today  those  who  see 
our  trenches  are  astounded.  They  are 
veritable  improvised  fortresses,  proof 
against  the  77-millimeter  gun  and  often 
against  artillery  of  higher  calibre.  Dur- 
ing the  last  five  months  not  a  single  en- 
counter can  be  cited  in  which  our  infantry 
did  not  have  the  advantage  over  the  Ger- 
man infantry.  All  the  enemy's  attacks 
have  been  repulsed,  except  to  the  north 
of  Soissons,  where  their  success  was  due 
to  the  flooded  state  of  the  Aisne  and  the 
carrying  away  of  our  bridges.  Our  at- 
tacks, on  the  other  hand,  have  yielded 
important  results,  and  have  been  carried 
out  with  plenty  of  spirit,  although  with- 
out the  imprudence  which  cost  us  such 
heavy  losses  in  August. 

The  cavalry  has  made  remarkable 
progress.  Throughout  October  this 
branch  was  called  on  to  eke  out  the  in- 
adequate numbers  of  the  infantry,  and 
showed  itself  perfectly  adapted  to  the 
necessities  of  fighting  on  foot.  Several 
regiments  of  cavalry  have  been  used  as 
infantry,  and,  armed  with  rifles,  have 
rendered  the  most  valuable  services. 

The  artillery  has  displayed  a  superi- 
ority in  the  use  of  its  admirable  mate- 
rial, which  is  recognized  by  the  Ger- 
mans themselves. 

LONDON,  March  27,  (Cot-respondence 
of  The  Associated  Press.) — Further  in- 
stallments of  the  French  official  review 
of  the  condition  of  the  French  Army 
after  six  months  of  war  have  been  ob- 
tained by  The  Associated  Press.  The 
sxxth  installment  deals  with  material, 
artillery,    transport,    and    supplies,    and 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


245 


the  seventh  takes  up  the  situation  of 
the  German  Army  and  makes  an  analy- 
sis of  the  German  forces  in  the  field 
and  available  for  service. 

The  first  chapter  of  the  seventh  in- 
stallment, headed  "  The  German  Effort," 
opens  vnth  a  statement  as  to  the  German 
iorces  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign. 
The  writer  says: 

The  military  effort  of  Germany  at  the 
outset  of  the  campaign  exceeded  all  an- 
ticipations. Her  design  was  to  crush 
the  French  Army  in  a  few  weeks  under 
a  tremendous  mass  of  troops.  Nothing 
was  neglected  to  bring  that  mass  to- 
gether. 

The  number  of  German  army  corps 
in  time  of  peace  is  twenty-five.  When 
war  began  the  German  General  Staff 
put  in  the  field  on  the  two  theatres  of 
operations:  1,  as  fighting  troops,  (active, 
reserve.  Ersatz  or  Landwehr,)  sixty-one 
army  corps;  2,  as  troops  to  guard  com- 
munications and  territory,  formations  of 
the  Landsturm. 

In  October  six  and  a  half  new  army 
corps  made  their  appearance,  plus  a  di- 
vision of  sailors — in  all  seven  corps. 
From  the  end  of  November  to  the  end 
of  December  there  was  only  an  insig- 
nificant increase,  consisting  of  the  divi- 
sion of  sailors.  In  January,  1915,  the 
number  of  fighting  formations  put  into 
line  by  the  German  Army  was  there- 
fore sixty-nine  army  corps,  divided  as 
follows : 

Active  corps,  twenty-five  and  a  half; 
reserve  corps,  twenty-one  and  a  half; 
Ersatz  brigades,  six  and  a  half;  reserve 
corps  of  new  formation,  seven  and  a 
half,  and  corps  of  Landwehr,  eight  and 
a  half. 

GERMANY'S    GREAT    INITIAL    EF- 
FORT. 

The  immense  effort  thus  made  by  Ger- 
many explains  itself  very  well,  if,  hav- 
ing regard  to  the  position  of  Germany 
at  the  opening  of  the  war,  one  considers 
that  of  the  Allies.  Germany  desired  to 
take  advantage  of  the  circumstances 
which  enabled  her  to  make  a  simultane- 
ous mobilization  of  all  her  forces — a  mo- 
bilization which  the  three  allied  armies 
could  not  carry  out  so  rapidly.    Germany 


wished  with  the  mass  of  troops  to  crush 
first  of  all  the  adversary  who  appeared 
to  her  the  most  dangerous.  This  effort, 
broken  for  the  first  time  on  the  Marne, 
attained  its  maximum  at  the  moment  of 
the  battle  of  Flanders,  in  which  more 
than  fifty  army  corps  out  of  sixty-nine 
were  pitted  against  the  French,  British, 
and  Belgian  Armies. 

Here  also  the  method  followed  by  Ger- 
many is  easily  comprehensible.  At  the 
end  of  October  the  Russian  danger  was 
beginning  to  become  pressing,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  win  a  decisive  victory  in 
the  western  theatre  of  the  war.  It  was 
imperative  to  give  international  opinion 
the  impression  that  Germany  remained 
in  that  quarter  mistress  of  operations. 
Finally,  it  behooved  her  by  this  victory 
to  gain  the  freedom  to  transport  a  large 
number  of  army  corps  to  Poland.  We 
have  seen  that  the  battle  of  Flanders, 
instead  of  being  a  success  for  Germany, 
was  a  marked  defeat.  This  defeat  was 
fraught  with  results,  and  it  dominates 
the  present  position  of  the  German 
Army.  The  plans  above  described  of 
the  German  mobilization,  which  had  tbeir 
justification  in  view  of  a  prompt  vic- 
tory, were  calculated  to  become  extreme- 
ly perilous  from  the  moment  that  that 
victory  failed  to  be  gained. 

INITIATIVE    LOST    BY    GERMANY. 

From  that  moment,  in  fact,  Germany 
lost  the  initiative  and  the  direction  of 
the  war.  And,  furthermore,  she  was 
condemned  to  suffer  the  counter-effects 
of  the  enormous  and  precipitate  effort 
which  she  had  made  in  vain.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  her  effectiveness  and 
her  regimental  cadres,  (basic  organiza- 
tion,) she  had  undergone  a  wastage 
which  her  adversaries,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  been  able  to  save  themselves. 
She  had,  in  the  words  of  the  proverb, 
put  all  her  eggs  in  one  basket,  and  in 
spite  of  her  large  population  she  could 
no  longer,  owing  to  the  immediate  and 
sterile  abuse  which  she  had  made  of  her 
resources,  pretend  to  regain  the  superi- 
ority of  numbers. 

She  was  reduced  to  facing  as  best  she 
could  on  both  war  fronts  the  unceas- 
ingly increasing  forces  of  the  Allies.   She 


246 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


had  attained  the  maximum  of  tension 
and  had  secured  a  minimum  of  results. 
She  had  thus  landed  herself  in  a  diffi- 
culty which  will  henceforward  go  on  in- 
creasing and  which  is  made  clear  when 
the  wantage  which  her  army  has  suf- 
fered is  closely  studied. 
WASTAGE  OF  GERMAN  EFFECT- 
IVES. 

Chapter  II.  of  this  section  of  the  re- 
view bears  the  headline  "  Wastage  of 
German  Effectives." 

The  wastage  of  effectives  is  easy  to 
establish,  it  says.  We  have  for  the  pur- 
pose two  sources — the  official  lists  of 
losses  published  by  the  German  General 
Staff  and  the  notebooks,  letters,  and  ar- 
chives of  soldiers  and  officers  killed  and 
taken  prisoners.  These  different  docu- 
ments show  that  by  the  middle  of  Jan- 
uary the  German  losses  on  the  two 
fronts  were  1,800,000  men. 

These  figures  are  certainly  less  than 
the  reality,  because,  for  one  thing,  the 
sick  are  not  comprised,  and,  for  another, 
the  losses  in  the  last  battle  in  Poland 
are  not  included.  Let  us  accept  them, 
however;  let  us  accept  also  that  out  of 
these  1,800,000  men  500,000 — this  is  the 
normal  proportion — have  been  able  to 
rejoin  after  being  cured.  Thus  the  final 
loss  for  five  months  of  the  campaign  has 
been  1,300,000  men,  or  260,000  men  per 
month.  These  figures  agree  exactly  with 
what  can  be  ascertained  when  the  varia- 
tions of  effectives  in  certain  regiments 
are  examined. 

It  is  certain  that  the  majority  of  the 
German  regiments  have  had  to  be  com- 
pletely renewed.  What,  then,  is  the  sit- 
uation created  by  these  enormous 
losses? 

This  question  is  answered  by  a  state- 
ment headed  "  German  troops  available 
for  1915." 

The  total  of  German  formations  known 
at  the  beginning  of  January,  says  the  re- 
view, represented  in  round  numbers  4,- 
000,000  men.  According  to  the  official 
reports  on  German  recruiting,  the  entire 
resources  of  Germany  in  men  amount  to 
9,000,000.  But  from  these  9,000,000  have 
to  be  deducted  men  employed  on  rail- 
ways, in  the  police,  and  in  certain  admin- 


istrations and  industries — altogether 
500,000  men.  The  total  resources  avail- 
able for  the  war  were  therefore  8,500,00.0. 
Out  of  these  about  one-half,  say  4^- 
000,000,  are  now  at  the  front.  The  defin- 
itive losses  represent  at  least  1,300,000 
men.  The  available  resources  amounted, 
then,  at  the  beginning  of  January,  to 
3,200,000  men. 

GERMANY'S  RESERVES  UN- 
TRAINED. 

Of  what  are  these  resources  composed? 
Chiefly  of  men  who  were  untrained  ia 
time  of  peace,  the  trained  reservists  hav- 
ing almost  all  left  the  depots  for  the 
front.  It  has,  moreover,  to  be  noted  that 
out  of  these  3,200,000  men  there  are, 
according  to  the  statistics,  800,000  wha 
are  more  than  39  years  of  age,  and 
therefore  of  only  mediocre  military 
value.  Thus  there  remain  2,400,000. 
Finally,  the  category  of  the  untrained 
in  peace  comprises,  according  to  the  es- 
timates of  German  military  authorities 
themselves,    one-quarter    of   inefficients. 

The  really  valuable  resources  capable 
of  campaigning  are  therefore  just  2,- 
000,000.  These  men,  comprising  the 
1915,  1916,  and  1917  classes,  called  out  in 
anticipation,  constitute — and  this  point 
cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon — 
the  total  of  available  resources  for  the 
operations  during  the  twelve  months  of 
1915.  As  to  what  the  military  value  of 
these  troops  will  be,  considering  the 
haste  with  which  they  have  been  trained, 
the  formidable  losses  sustained  in  the 
battle  of  Flanders  by  the  newly  formed 
corps  show  very  clearly.  Their  military 
value  will  be  limited. 

GERMAN  LOSSES  260,000  A  MONTH. 

When  it  is  remembered  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  German  documents  them- 
selves, the  definite  loss  each  month  is 
260,000  men,  it  is  manifest  that  the 
available  resources  for  the  year  1915  will 
not  suffice  to  fill  the  gaps  of  a  war  of 
ten  months. 

It  is  then  superabundantly  established 
that  in  the  matter  of  effectives  Germany 
has  reached  the  maximum  of  possible  ef- 
fort. If  with  the  men  at  present  avail- 
able she  creates,  as  it  is  certain  that  she 
is  preparing  to  do  at  this  moment,  fresh 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


247 


formations,  she  will  be  preventing  her- 
self, if  the  war  lasts  another  ten 
months,  as  is  admissible,  from  being  able 
to  complete  afresh  her  old  formations. 
If  she  creates  no  new  formations,  she 
will  have  in  1915  exactly  what  is  neces- 
sary and  no  more  to  complete  the  ex- 
isting units  afresh. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  ways  of  the  Ger- 
man General  Staff,  one  may  suppose 
that,  disregarding  the  eventual  impos- 
sibility of  recomputing,  it  is  still  ad- 
dressing itself  to  creating  new  forma- 
tions. The  weakness  to  which  Germany 
will  expose  herself  in  the  matter  of  ef- 
fectives has  just  been  set  forth,  and  it 
is  easy  to  show  that  this  weakness  will 
be  still  further  aggravated  by  the  wast- 
age in  the  regimental  orders. 

PRAISES  FRENCH  "SEVENTY- 
FIVES." 

In  the  sixth  installment,  beginning 
with  the  field  gun,  the  famous  "  seventy- 
fives,"  the  compiler  of  the  report,  after 
rehearsing  the  splendid  qualities  of  this 
weapon — its  power,  its  rapadity  of  action, 
and  its  precision — points  out  that  it 
possesses  a  degree  of  strength  and  en- 
durance which  makes  it  an  implement 
of  war  of  the  first  order. 

It  may  be  stated  without  hesitation 
[says  the  review]  that  our  "seventy- 
five  "  guns  are  in  as  perfect  condition 
today  as  they  were  on  the  first  day  of 
the  war,  although. the  use  made  of  them 
has  exceeded  all  calculations.  The  con- 
sumption of  projectiles  was,  in  fact,  so 
enormous  as  to  cause  for  a  moment  an 
ammunition  crisis,  which,  however,  was 
completely  overcome   several  weeks  ago. 

The  methodical  and  complete  exploita- 
tion of  all  the  resources  of  the  country, 
organized  sinc^  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  has  enabled  us  to  accumulate  a 
considerable  stock  of  fresh  munitions, 
and  an  increasing  rate  of  production  is 
henceforth  assured.  We  are  thus  sure 
of  being  able  to  provide  without  par- 
ticular effort  for  all  the  needs  of  the 
campaign,  present  and  future,  however 
long  the  war  may  last,  and  it  is  this  cer- 
tainty which  has  enabled  us  to  supply 
projectiles  to  several  of  the  allied  armies, 
among  others,  to  the  Serbian  and  Bel- 


gian  armies.      From   the    statements   ol! 
German  prisoners  we  have  learned  thaft 
the  effectiveness  of  our  new  projectiles 
is  superior  to  that  of  the  old  ones. 
FRENCH  HEAVY  GUNS  SUPERIOR- 

Our  heavy  artillery  was  in  process  of 
reorganization  when  the  war  broke  out^ 
with  the  result  that  we  were  indisput- 
ably in  a  position  of  inferiority  in  re- 
spect of  this  arm  during  the  first  bat- 
tles. But  today  the  roles  have  beem 
changed  and  our  adversaries  themselves 
acknowledge  the  superiority  of  our 
heavy  artillery. 

The  change  has  been  brought  about 
in  various  ways,  partly  by  the  intense 
activity  of  the  cannon  foundries  in  new- 
production,  partly  by  the  employment  at 
the  front  of  the  enormous  reserves  of 
artillery  preserved  in  the  fortresses.  The 
very  large  number  of  heavy  guns  at 
the  front  represents  only  a  part  of  the 
total  number  available  for  use.  There 
is  an  abundant  stock  of  projectiles  for 
the  heavy  artillery,  which,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  field  gun  ammunition,  is  daily- 
growing  in  importance.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  reserves  of  powder  and  other  ex- 
plosives and  of  all  materials  needed  for 
the  manufacture  of  shells. 

With  regard  to  small  arms,  hand  gre- 
nades, bombs,  and  all  the  devices  for 
lifetaking  which  the  trench  warfare  at 
short  distance  has  brought  into  use,  the 
position  of  the  French  troops  is  in  every 
way  favorable. 

There  follows  a  passage  on  the  devel- 
opment of  the  machine  gun  in  this  kind 
of  warfare. 

Owing  to  the  extended  use  of  this 
weapon,  the  number  supplied  to  the  vari- 
ous units  has  been  appreciably  increased^ 
says  the  review.  Not  only  is  each  unit 
in  possession  of  its  full  regulation  com- 
plement of  machine  guns,  but  the  num- 
ber of  these  guns  attached  to  each  unit 
has  been  increased  since  Feb.  1  by  one- 
third. 

The  report  next  passes  to  the  trans- 
port service,  which,  it  says,  has  worked 
with  remarkable  precision  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war.  This  section  of  the 
review  closes  by  referring  to  food  sup- 
plies for  the  army,  which  are  described 
as  abun&ant. 


248 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


LONDON,  March  27,  {Correspondence 
of  The  Associated  Press.) — The  eighth 
installment  of  the  French  official  review 
of  the  war,  previous  chapters  of  which 
have  been  published,  takes  up  the  Ger- 
onan  losses  of  officers,  the  wastage  of 
guns  and  projectiles,  and  "  the  moral 
wastage  of  the  German  Army." 

The  chapter  on  losses  of  officers  be- 
gins with  the  statement  that  the  condi- 
tion of  the  cadres,  or  basic  organiza- 
tions, in  the  German  Army  is  bad.  The 
proportion  of  officers,  and  notably  of 
officers  by  profession,  has  been  enor- 
mously reduced,  it  says;  and  a  report 
made  in  December  showed  that  in  a 
total  of  124  companies,  active  or  reserve, 
there  were  only  49  officers  of  the  active 
army.  The  active  regiments  have  at 
the  present  time,  according  to  the  re- 
view, an  average  of  12  professional  of- 
ficers; the  reserve  regiments,  9  to  10; 
the  reserve  regiments  of  new  formation, 
6  to  7 ;  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
these  officers  have  to  be  drawn  upon 
afresh  for  the  creation  of  new  units. 

"  If  Germany  creates  new  army  corps, 
and  if  the  war  lasts  ten  months,"  it  con- 
tinues, "  she  will  reduce  almost  to  noth- 
ing the  number  of  professional  officers 
in  each  regiment,  a  number  which  already 
is  very  insufficient." 
FRENCH  CONDITIONS  IN  CONTRAST. 

The  French  report  points  out  that  on 
the  other  hand  all  the  French  regiments 
have  been  constantly  kept  at  a  minimum 
figure  of  eighteen  professional  officers 
per  regiment.  At  the  same  time  it  ad- 
mits that  the  commanders  of  German 
corps,  commanders  of  active  battalions, 
and  the  officers  attached  to  the  com- 
manders of  army  corps  are  officers  by 
profession. 

The  French  report  then  addresses  it- 
self to  the  wastage  of  material.  Discuss- 
ing the  wastage  of  guns,  it  says: 

It  is  easy  to  ascertain  the  German 
losses  in  artillery.  On  Dec.  28  the  Sixty- 
sixth  Regiment  of  Artillery  entrained  at 
Courtrai  for  Germany  twenty-two  guns, 
of  which  eighteen  were  used  up.  This 
figure  is  extremely  high  for  a  single 
regiment. 

The  same  facts  have  been  as&ertained 


as  regards  heavy  artillery.  On  Dec.  21 
and  22  seventy-seven  guns  of  heavy  ar- 
tillery, which  were  no  longer  service- 
able, were  sent  to  Cologne.  These  move- 
ments, which  are  not  isolated  facts,  show 
how  ill  the  German  artillery  has  resis<-ed 
the  ordeal  of  the  campaign. 

Other  proofs,  moreover,  are  decisive. 
For  some  weeks  we  have  noted  the  very 
peculiar  aspect  of  the  marking  on  the 
bands  of  a  great  number  of  shells  of  the 
77  gun.  When  these  markings  are  com- 
pared with  those  of  shells  fired  three 
months  ago  it  is  plain  beyond  all  ques- 
tion that  the  tubes  are  worn  and  that 
many  of  them  require  to  be  replaced. 
This  loss  in  guns  is  aggravated  by  the 
necessity  which  has  arisen  of  drawing 
upon  the  original  army  corps  for  the 
guns  assigned  to  the  recently  formed 
corps  or  those  in  course  of  formation. 
Several  regiments  of  field  artillery  have, 
in  fact,  had  to  give  up  two  batteries.^ 

WEARING  OUT   OF   MATERIAL. 

These  two  phenomena — wearing  out  of 
material  and  drafts  upon  batteries — will 
inevitably  result  either  in  the  reduction 
of  batteries  from  six  to  four  guns,  a  re- 
duction of  the  number  of  batteries  in  the 
army  corps,  or  the  partial  substitution 
for  77  guns  of  9-centimeter  cannon  of 
the  old  pattern,  the  presence  of  which  has 
been  many  times  perceived  at  the  front. 

Furthermore,  the  German  artillery 
lacks  and  has  lacked  for  a  very  long  time 
munitions.  It  has  been  obliged  to  reduce 
its  consumption  of  shells  in  a  notable  de- 
gree. No  doubt  is  possible  in  this  re- 
spect. The  statements  of  prisoners  since 
the  battle  of  the  Marne,  and  still  more 
since  the  battle  of  the  Yser,  make  it  clear 
that  the  number  of  shots  allowed  to  the 
batteries  for  each  action*  is  strictly  lim- 
ited. We  have  found  on  officers  killed 
or  taken  prisoner  the  actual  orders  pre- 
scribing positively  a  strict  economy  of 
munitions. 

For  the  last  three  months,  too,  we  no- 
tice that  the  quality  of  the  projectiles  is 
mediocre.  Many  of  them  do  not  burst. 
On  Jan.  7,  in  the  course  of  a  bombard- 
ment of  Laventie,  scarcely  any  of  the 
German  shells  burst.  The  proportion  of 
non-bursts  was  estimated  at  two-fifths 


THE  GREATEST  OF  CAMPAIGNS 


249 


by  the  British  on  Dec.  14,  two-thirds  by 
ourselves  in  the  same  montl\.  On  Jan.  3 
at  Bourg-et-Comin,  and  at  other  places 
since  then,  shrapnel  fell  the  explosion  of 
which  scarcely  broke  the  envelope  and 
the  bullets  were  projected  without  any 
force.  About  the  same  time  our  Four- 
teenth Army  Corps  was  fired  at  with 
shrapnel  loaded  with  fragments  of  glass, 
and  on  several  points  of  our  front  shell 
casings  of  very  bad  quality  have  been 
found,  denoting  hasty  manufacture  and 
the  use  of  materials  taken  at  hazard. 

From  numerous  indications  it  appears 
that  the  Germans  are  beginning  to  run 
short  of  their  1898  pattern  rifle.  A  cer- 
tain number  of  the  last  reinforcements 
(January)  are  armed  with  carbines  or 
rifles  of  a  poor  sort  without  bayonets. 
Others  have  not  even  rifles.  Prisoners 
taken  at  Woevre  had  old-pattern  weap- 
ons. 

The  upshot  of  these  observations  is 
that  Germany,  despite  her  large  stores 
at  the  beginning,  and  the  great  resources 
of  her  industrial  production,  presents 
manifest  signs  of  wear,  and  that  the  of- 
ficial optimism  which  she  displays  does 
not  correspond  with  the  reality  of  the 
facts. 

MORAL  WASTAGE. 

Under  the  caption  "  Moral  Wastage  of 
the  German  Army,"  the  review  con- 
tinues : 

The  material  losses  of  the  German 
Army  have  corresponded  with  a  moral 
wastage  which  it  is  interesting  and  possi- 
ble to  follow,  both  from  the  interrogation 
of  prisoners  and  the  pocketbooks  and  let- 
ters seized  upon  them  or  on  the  killed. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  entire 
German  Army,  as  was  natural,  was  ani- 
mated by  an  unshakable  faith  in  the  mili- 
tary superiority  of  the  empire.  It  lived 
on  the  recollections  of  1870,  and  on  those 
of  the  long  years  of  peace,  during  which 
all  the  powers  which  had  to  do  with  Ger- 
many displayed  toward  her  a  spirit  of 
conciliation  and  patience  which  might 
pass  for  weakness. 

The  first  prisoners  we  took  in  August 
showed  themselves  wholly  indifferent  to 
the  reverses  of  the  German  Army.  They 
v/ere  sincerely  and  profoundly  convinced 


that,  if  the  German  Army  retired,  it  was 
in  virtue  of  a  preconceived  plan,  and  that 
our  successes  would  lead  to  nothing.  The 
events  at  the  end  of  August  were  calcu- 
lated to  strengthen  this  contention  in  the 
minds  of  the  German  soldiers. 

The  strategic  retreat  of  the  French 
Army,  the  facility  with  which  the  Ger- 
man armies  were  able  to  advance  from 
Aug.  25  to  Sept.  5,  gave  our  adversaries  a 
feeling  of  absolute  and  final  superiority, 
which  manifested  itself  at  that  time  by 
all  the  statements  gleaned  and  all  the 
documents  seized. 

At  the  moment  of  the  battle  of  the 
Marne  the  first  impression  was  one  of 
failure  of  comprehension  and  of  stupor. 
A  great  number  of  German  soldiers,  not- 
ably those  who  fell  into  our  hands  during 
the  first  days  of  that  battle,  believed 
fully,  as  at  the  end  of  August,  that  the 
retreat  they  were  ordered  to  make  was 
only  a  means  of  luring  us  into  a  trap. 
German  military  opinion  was  suddenly 
converted  when  the  soldiers  saw  that  this 
retreat  continued,  and  that  it  was  being 
carried  out  in  disorder,  under  conditions 
which  left  no  doubt  as  to  its  cause  and 
its  extent. 

This  time  it  was  really  a  defeat,  and 
a  defeat  aggravated  by  the  absence  of 
regular  supplies  and  by  the  physical  and 
moral  depression  which  was  the  result. 
The  severity  of  the  losses  sustained,  the 
overpowering  effects  of  the  French  artil- 
lery, began  from  this  moment  to  be  noted 
in  the  German  pocketbooks  with  veritable 
terror.  Hope  revived,  however,  at  the 
end  of  some  weeks,  and  there  is  to  be 
found  in  the  letters  of  soldiers  and  offi- 
cers the  announcement  of  "  a  great  move- 
ment "  which  is  being  prepared,  and 
which  is  to  lead  the  German  armies  anew 
as  far  as  Paris. 
LOSSES  IN  "BATTLE   OF   CALAIS." 

This  is  the  great  "  battle  of  Calais," 
which,  contrary  to  the  anticipations  of  the 
enemy,  was  in  reality  fought  to  the  east 
of  the  Yser.  The  losses  of  the  Germans, 
which  during  those  ten  days  exceeded 
150,000  men,  and  may  perhaps  have 
reached  200,000,  produced  a  terrifying 
impression  on  the  troops.  From  that  mo-  f 
ment  prisoners  no  longer  declared  them- 


250 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


selves  sure  of  success.  For  a  certain 
time  they  had  been  consoled  by  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  capture  of  Warsaw. 
This  pretended  success  having  proved  to 
be  fictitious,  incredulity  became  general. 

During  the  last  two  months  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  prisoners  have  all  ad- 
mitted that  no  one  could  any  longer  say 
on  which  side  victory  would  rest.  If  we 
think  of  the  absolute  confidence  with 
which  the  German  people  had  been  sus- 
tained, this  avowal  is  of  great  impor- 
tance. 

Letters  seized  on  a  dead  officer  speak 
of  the  imminence  of  a  military  and  eco- 
nomic hemming-in  of  Germany.  They 
discuss  the  possibility  of  Germany  find- 


ing herself  after  the  war  with  "  empty 
hands  and  pockets  turned  inside  out." 
There  is  no  longer  any  question  of  im- 
posing the  conqueror's  law  upon  adver- 
saries at  his  mercy,  but  of  fighting  with 
the  energy  of  despair  to  secure  an  hon- 
orable peace.  An  officer  of  the  General 
Staff  who  was  made  prisoner  on  Jan.  18 
said :  "  Perhaps  this  struggle  of  despair 
has  already  begun." 

There  follows  a  chapter  hearing  the 
title,  "  The  System  of  Lies,"  in  which 
the  review  describes  the  methods  by 
tvhich  it  is  alleged  the  German  Govern- 
ment "  made  a  sustained  effort  to  create 
in  the  army  an  artificial  state  of  mind 
based  entirely  upon  lies  and  a  scientific 
system  of  fables." 


SONNET  ON  THE  BELGIAN  EXPATRIATION. 


By  THOMAS   HARDY. 


[From  Kingr  Albert's  Book.] 


I  DREAMT  that  people  from  the  Land  of 
Chimes 
Arrived  one  Autumn  morning  with  their 
bells. 
To  hoist  them  on  the  towers  and  citadels 
Of  my  own  country,  that  the  musical  rhymes 

Rung  by  them  into  space  at  measured  times 
Amid  the  market's  daily  stir  and  stress, 
And  the  night's  empty  starlit  silentness. 

Might  solace  souls  of  this  and  kindred  climes. 

Then  I  awoke:  and,  lo,  before  me  stood 
The  visioned  ones,  but  pale  and  full  of  fear; 
From  Bruges  they  came,  and  Antwerp,  and 
Ostend, 

No  carillons  in  their  train.     Vicissitude 
Had  left  these  tinkling  to  the  invaders'  ear. 
And   ravaged  street,   and   smoldering  gable- 
end. 


War  Correspondence 

A  Month  of  German  Submarine 

War 

By  Vice  Admiral  Kirchhof f  of  the  German  Navy 

Under  the  heading,  "  A  Month  of  U-Boat  War,"  Vice  Admiral  Kirchhof f  of  the  German 
Navy  discusses  the  German  submarine  warfare  against  merchant  shipping  in  its  first  month. 
The  article,  appearing  in  the  Hamburger  Framdenblatt  of  March  19,   1915,  is  reproduced : 


ON  March  18  a  month  had  passed 
since  the  beginning  of  our  sharp 
procedure  against  our  worst  foe. 
*We  can  in  every  way  be  satisfied 
with  the  results  achieved  in  the  mean- 
time! In  spite  of  all  "  steps  "  taken  be- 
fore and  thereafter,  the  English  have 
everywhere  had  important  losses  to 
show  at  sea — some  200  ships  lost  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  according  to 
the  latest  statements  of  the  Allies — so 
that  even  they  themselves  no  longer  dare 
to  talk  about  the  "  German  bluff." 

On  the  new  and  greater  "  war  zone  " 
established  by  us,  our  submarines  have 
known  how  to  work  bravely,  and  have 
been  able,  for  instance,  to  operate  suc- 
cessfully on  a  single  morning  on  the  east 
coast,  in  the  Channel,  and  in  the  Irish 
Sea.  We  have  heard  of  many  losses  of 
our  opponents,  and  on  the  other  hand  of 
the  subjugation  of  only  two  of  our  brave 
U-boats.  Ceaselessly  they  are  active  on 
the  coasts  of  Albion;  shipping  is  par- 
alyzed at  some  points;  steamship  com- 
panies— including  also  many  neutral 
ones — have  suspended  their  sailings;  in 
short,  our  threat  of  a  more  acute  condi- 
tion of  war  "  with  all  means  at  hand  " 
has  been  fully  fulfilled. 

The  "  peaceful  shipping,"  too,  has 
taken  notice  of  it  and  adjusted  itself  ac- 
cording to  our  instructions.  The  official 
objections  of  neutrals  have  died  away 
without  effect;  throughout  the  world  we 
have  already  been  given  right;  the  ship- 
ping circles  of  the  neutral  States  are  in 
great  part  holding  entirely  back.     The 


empty  threats  that  floated  over  to  us 
from  across  the  Channel,  that  the  capt- 
ured crews  of  German  submarines  will 
be  treated  differently  than  other  prison- 
ers— yes,  as  plain  pirates  and  sea  robbers 
— those  are  nothing  but  an  insignificant 
ebullition  of  British  "  moral  insanity." 
They  are  a  part  of  the  hypocritical  cant 
without  which,  somehow.  Great  Britain 
cannot  get  along.  If  Great  Britain 
should  act  in  accordance  with  it,  how- 
ever, then  we  shall  know  what  we,  for 
our  part,  have  to  do! 

German  and  probably  English  mines, 
too,  have  helped  our  submarines  in  clear- 
ing up  among  the  English  mercantile 
and  war  fleet.  Many  merchant  ships 
warned  long  in  advance  have  been  com- 
pelled to  believe  in  the  warning,  and 
with  them  frequently  a  great  part  of 
their  crews — "  without  any  warning 
whatever,"  as  our  opponents  like  to  say. 

All  measures  of  defense,  yes,  even 
more  significant,  all  measures  of  decep- 
tion and  boastful  "  ruses  de  guerre,"  and 
even  all  attempts  to  hush  up  the  news 
of  German  accomplishments  and  when- 
ever possible  to  suppress  it  completely — 
all  these  efforts  have  been  futile.  Our 
results  surpass  the  expectations  that  had 
been  cherished.  Who  knows  how  many 
accomplishments  other  than  those  which 
have  been  published  may  also  have  been 
achieved?  Foreign  newspapers  report  a 
large  number  of  steamships  overdue. 
From  overseas  likewise  we  receive  fav- 
orable reports  about  the  sinking  of 
enemy  ships.     But  the  best  is  the  news 


25« 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


that  our  submarines  have  succeeded  in 
sinking  two  English  auxiliary  cruisers 
and  perhaps  also  one  or  two  larger  Eng- 
lish transport  ships  with  several  thou- 
sand men  on  board. 

The  last  announcement  has  filled  us  all 
with  greatest  satisfaction.  This,  our 
latest  method  of  warfare,  4s  "  truly  hu- 
mane ";  it  leads  more  speedily  to  the 
goal  than  anything  else,  so  that  the  num- 
ber of  victims  will  in  the  end  be  smaller 
after  all.  It  brings  peace  to  all  of  us 
sooner  than  the  empty  paper  protests 
and    crying    to    Heaven    about    violence 


and  international  law,  law  of  the  sea,  and 
laws  of  humanity  could  do.  In  the  inno- 
cent exalted  island  kingdom  many  a  fel- 
low is  already  striking;  why  should  not 
even  the  recruit  strike,  who  is  also  be- 
ginning to  get  a  glimmer  of  the  truth 
that  there  are  no  props  in  the  ocean 
waves  ? 

The  more  opponents  come  before  the 
bows  of  our  ships  and  are  sunk,  the  bet- 
ter! Down  with  them  to  the  bottom  of 
the  sea;  that  alone  will  help!  Let  us 
hope  that  we  shall  soon  receive  more 
such  cheerful  news. 


Three  Weeks  of  the  War  in  Champagne 


By  a  British  Observer 


The  following  article,  issued  by  the 
British  Press  Bureau,  London,  March  18, 
1915,  is  from  a  British  observer  with 
the  French  forces  in  the  field  who  has 
the  permission  of  General  Joffre  to  send 
communications  home  from  time  to  time, 
giving  descriptions  of  the  work,  &c.,  of 
the  French  Army  which  will  be  of  in- 
terest to  the  British  reader. 

I  PROPOSE  to  give  some  account  of 
the  operations  which  have  been  in 
progress  for  the  last  three  weeks 
in  Champagne.  Every  day  since 
Feb.  15  the  official  communiques  find 
something  to  say  about  a  district  which 
lies  midway  between  Rheims  and  Ver- 
dun. The  three  places  which  are  always 
mentioned,  which  form  the  points  of 
reference,  are  Perthes-lez-Hurlus,  Le 
Mesnil-lez-Hurlus,  and  Beausejour  Farm. 
The  distance  between  the  first  and  the 
last  is  three  and  one-half  miles;  the 
front  on  which  the  fighting  has  taken 
place  is  about  five  miles;  and  the  French 
have  been  attacking  at  one  point  or  an- 
other in  this  front  every  day  for  the  last 
three  weeks.  It  is,  therefore,  an  opera- 
tion of  a  different  kind  to  those  which 
we  have  seen  during  the  Winter  months. 
Those  were  local  efforts,  lasting  a  day 
or  two,  designed  to  keep  the  enemy  busy 
and     prevent     him     from     withdrawing 


troops  elsewhere;  this  is  a  sustained 
effort,  made  with  the  object  of  keeping 
a  constant  pressure  on  his  first  line  of 
defense,  of  affecting  his  use  of  the  rail- 
way from  Bazancourt  to  Challerange,  a 
few  miles  to  the  north,  and  of  wearing 
down  his  reserves  of  men  and  ammuni- 
tion. It  may  be  said  that  Feb.  15  marks 
the  opening  of  the  1915  campaign,  and 
that  this  first  phase  will  find  an  impor- 
tant place  when  the  history  of  the  war 
comes  to  be  written. 

We  must  first  know  something  of  the 
nature  of  the  country,  which  is  entirely 
different  to  that  in  which  the  British 
Army  is  fighting.  It  is  one  vast  plain, 
undulating,  the  hills  at  most  200  feet 
higher  than  the  valleys,  gentle  slopes 
everywhere.  The  soil  is  rather  chalky, 
poor,  barely  worth  cultivating;  after 
heavy  rain  the  whole  plain  becomes  a 
sea  of  shallow  mud;  and  it  dries  equally 
quickly.  The  only  features  are  the  pine 
woods,  which  have  been  planted  by  hun- 
dreds. From  the  point  of  view  of  profit, 
this  would  not  appear  to  have  been  a 
success;  either  the  soil  is  too  poor,  or 
else  it  is  unsuitable  to  the  maritime  pine; 
for  the  trees  are  rarely  more  than  25 
feet  high.  As  each  rise  is  topped,  a  new 
stretch  of  plain,  a  new  set  of  small 
woods  appear,  just  like  that  which  has 
been  left  behind. 


ELEUTHERIOS     K.      VENIZELOS 

The  great  Greek  statesman  who  recently  resigned  as  Prime  Minister. 

{Photo    from    Medcm    Photo    Service.) 


LORD       HARDINGE       OF       PENSHURST 
Who,  as  Viceroy,   rules  England's  Indian   Empire  during  the  critical 

period  of  the  war. 


WAR    CORRESPONDENCE 


253 


The  villages  are  few  and  small,  most 
of  them  are  in  ruins  after  the  fighting 
in  September;  and  the  troops  live  almost 
entirely  in  colonies  of  little  huts  of  wood 
or  straw,  about  four  feet  high,  dotted 
about  in  the  woods,  in  the  valleys, 
wherever  a  little  water  and  shelter  is 
obtainable.  Lack  of  villages  means  lack 
of  roads;  this  has  been  one  of  the  great 
difficulties  to  be  faced;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  the  movement  of  wagons  across 
country  is  possible  to  a  far  greater  ex- 
tent than  in  Flanders,  although  it  is  often 
necessary  to  use  eight  or  ten  horses  to 
get  a  gun  or  wagon  to  the  point  desired. 

From  the  military  point  of  view  the 
country  is  eminently  suitable  for  troops, 
with  its  possibilities  of  concealment,  of 
producing  sudden  surprises  with  cavalry, 
and  of  manoeuvre  generally.  It  is,  in 
fact,  the  training  ground  of  the  great 
military  centre  of  Chalons;  and  French 
troops  have  doubtless  been  exercised 
over  this  ground  in  every  branch  of  mil- 
itary operation,  except  that  in  which 
they  are  engaged  at  the  present  moment. 

What  commander,  training  his  men 
over  this  ground,  could  have  imagined 
that  the  area  from  Perthes-lez-Hurlus  to 
Beausejour  Farm  would  become  two 
fortress  lines,  developed  and  improved 
for  four  months;  or  that  he  would  have 
to  carry  out  an  attack  modeled  on  the 
same  system  as  that  employed  in  the  last 
great  siege  undertaken  by  French  troops, 
that  of  Sebastopol  in  1855?  Yet  this  is 
-what  is  being  done.  Every  day  an  at- 
tack is  made  on  a  trench,  on  the  edge  of 
one  of  the  little  woods  or  to  gain  ground 
in  one  of  them;  every  day  the  ground 
gained  has  to  be  transformed  so  as  to 
give  protection  to  its  new  occupants  and 
means  of  access  to  their  supports;  every 
night,  and  on  many  days,  the  enemy's 
counter-attacks  have  to  be  repulsed. 

Each  attack  has  to  be  prepared  by  a 
violent  and  accurate  artillery  fire;  it 
may  be  said  that  a  trench  has  to  be 
morally  captured  by  gun  fire  before  it 
can  be  actually  seized  by  the  infantry. 
Once  in  the  new  trench,  the  men  have  to 
work  with  their  intrenching  tools,  with- 
out exposing  themselves,  and  wait  for 
a  counter-attack,  doing  what  damage 
they  can  to  the  enemy  with  hand  gre- 


nades and  machine  guns.  Thus  the 
amount  of  rifle  fire  is  very  small;  it  is 
a  war  of  explosives  and  bayonets. 

Looking  at  the  battle  at  a  distance  of 
about  2,000  yards  from  the  enemy's  line, 
the  stillness  of  what  one  sees  is  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  turmoil  of  shells 
passing  overhead.  The  only  movement 
is  the  cloud  of  smoke  and  earth  that 
marks  the  burst  of  a  shell.  Here  and 
there  long  white  lines  are  visible,  when 
a  trench  has  brought  the  chalky  subsoil 
up  to  the  top,  but  the  number  of  trenches 
seen  is  very  small  compared  to  the  num- 
ber that  exist,  for  one  cannot  see  into 
the  valleys,  and  the  top  of  the  ground 
is  an  unhealthy  place  to  choose  for  seat- 
ing a  trench.  The  woods  are  pointed 
out,  with  the  names  given  them  by  the 
soldiers,  but  it  needs  fieldglasses  to  see 
the  few  stumps  that  remain  in  those 
where  the  artillery  has  done  its  work. 
And  then  a  telephone  message  arrives, 
saying  that  the  enemy  are  threatening  a 
counter-attack  at  a  certain  point,  and 
three  minutes  later  there  is  a  redoubled 
whistling  of  shells.  At  first  one  cannot 
see  the  result  of  this  fire — the  guns  are 
searching  the  low  ground  where  the 
enemy's  reserves  are  preparing  for  the 
movement,  but  a  little  later  the  ground 
in  front  of  the  threatened  trench  becomes 
alive  with  shell  bursts,  for  the  searching 
has  given  place  to  the  building  up  of  a 
wall  of  fire  through  which  it  is  impos- 
sible for  the  foe  to  pass  without  enor- 
mous loss. 

The  attached  map  may  enable  us  to 
look  more  closely  at  what  has  been 
achieved.  The  lowest  dotted  line,  num- 
bered 15,  is  the  line  of  the  French 
trenches  on  Feb.  15.  They  were  then 
close  up  to  the  front  of  the  German  line 
with  its  network  of  barbed  wire,  its  ma- 
chine-gun emplacements,  often  of  con- 
crete, and  its  underground  chambers  for 
sheltering  men  from  the  shells.  Each 
successive  dotted  line  shows  the  line  held 
by  the  French  on  the  evening  of  the  date 
written  in  the  dotted  line.  Thus  the  total 
gain  of  ground,  that  between  the  most 
southerly  and  the  most  northerly  dotted 
lines,  varies  between  200  yards,  where 
the  lines  are  close  together  northeast  of 


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WAR    CORRESPONDENCE 


255 


Perthes,  and  1,400  yards,  half  way  be- 
tween Le  Mesnil  and  Beausejour  Farm. 
But  the  whole  of  this  space  has  been  a 
series  of  trenches  and  fortified  woods, 
each  of  which  has  had  to  be  attacked 
separately. 

Some  of  the  points  where  the  fighting 
has  been  heaviest  are  shown  in  letters  on 
the  map.  A  is  the  "  little  fort,"  a  re- 
doubt on  an  open  spur,  holding  perhaps 
600  men.  This  was  first  attacked  in 
January;  it  was  partly  taken,  but  the 
French  in  the  end  retained  only  the 
southern  corner,  where  they  remained 
for  something  like  a  fortnight.  On  Feb. 
16  it  was  again  taken  in  part,  and  lost 
the  same  day.  On  the  17th  the  same 
thing  happened.  On  the  23d  they  once 
more  got  into  the  work;  in  the  evening 
they  repulsed  five  separate  counter- 
attacks; then  a  sixth  succeeded  in  turn- 
ing them  out.  On  the  27th  they  took 
all  except  a  bit  of  trench  in  the  northern 
face,  and  two  days  later  they  made  that 
good,  as  well  as  a  trench  about  fifty 
yards  to  the  north  of  the  work. 

B  is  a  small  hill,  marked  196.  The 
capture  of  this,  with  its  two  lines  of 
trenches,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
pieces  of  work  done.  Since  this  date,  the 
26th,  the  enemy  have  continued  to 
counter-attack  nearly  every  day.  It  was 
here  that  the  Prussian  Guard  was  put  in; 
but  they  have  failed  to  get  it  back,  and 
their  losses  have  been  very  high.  The 
prisoners  stated  that  one  regiment  had 
its  Colonel  and  all  the  superior  officers 
killed  or  wounded.  C  is  a  wood,  called 
the  "Yellow  Burnt  Wood."  It  is  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  a  regular 
nest  of  machine  guns,  which  command 
the  ground  not  only  to  the  front  but  also 
down  valleys  to  the  east  and  west.  The 
French  are  just  in  the  southwest  corner. 

At  D  there  are  two  woods;  the  south- 
ern we  will  call  No.  3,  the  northern  No.  4. 
On  the  16th  our  allies  got  a  trench  just 
south  of  No.  3;  they  got  into  the  wood 
on  the  18th,  and  fought  backward  and 
forward  in  the  wood  that  day  and  all  the 
19th  and  20th;  by  the  evening  of  the 
20th  they  had  almost  reached  the  north- 
ern edge.  On  the  21st  a  stronger  counter- 
attack than  usual  was  repulsed,  and  in 


pursuing  the  retiring  enemy  they  secured 
the  northern  edge.  On  the  22d  there  was 
more  fighting  in  No.  3,  but  in  the  end 
the  French  managed  to  make  their  way 
into  No.  4  as  far  as  a  trench  which  runs 
along  a  crest  midway  through  the  wood. 
The  next  six  days  saw  continuous  fight- 
ing in  No.  4,  sometimes  near  the  north- 
ern end,  sometimes  at  the  crest  in  the 
middle,  and  occasionally  back  near  the 
southern  end.  The  French  now  hold  the 
northern  edge,  and  have  pushed  troops 
into  the  "  Square "  wood  just  north  of 
the  line  of  the  25th. 

At  E  again  there  are  two  small  woods; 
these  were  both  captured  on  the  26th, 
but  the  trenches  in  the  northern  one  had 
been  mined,  and  the  French  had  no 
sooner  seized  them  than  they  were  blown 
up.  At  F  there  was  another  small  re- 
doubt; part  of  this  was  taken  on  the  19th 
from  the  east,  but  the  work  was  not 
finally  captured  till  the  27th,  when  240 
corpses  were  found  in  it.  On  the  ex- 
treme west,  at  G,  is  a  wood  which  has 
twice  been  unsuccessfully  attacked.  On 
the  first  occasion  troops  got  into  the 
wood,  but  a  severe  snowstorm  prevented 
the  artillery  from  continuing  to  assist 
them,  and  they  were  driven  out.  The 
second  was  an  attempt  to  surprise  the 
enemy  at  2  A.  M.  on  the  25th;  this  also 
failed.  A  third  attack  was  made  on 
March  7  and  was  successful;  the  French 
line  now  runs  through  the  wood. 

The  above  will  serve  to  show  the  te- 
nacity which  is  required  for  an  operation 
of  this  kind.  Up  to  the  present  the 
French  have  made  steady  and  continuous 
progress,  and  their  success  may  be  best 
judged  from  the  fact  that  they  have  not 
been  forced  back  on  any  day  behind  the 
line  they  held  in  the  morning,  despite 
innumerable  counter-attacks.  And  this 
is  not  merely  a  question  of  ground,  but 
one  of  increasing  moral  superiority,  for 
it  is  in  the  unsuccessful  counter-attacks 
that  losses  are  heavy,  and  these  and  the 
sense  of  failure  affect  the  morale  of  an 
army  sooner  or  later. 

Will  the  French  push  through  the 
line?  Will  a  hole  be  made,  cr  is  the 
enemy  like  a  badger,  who  digs  himself  in 
rather  faster  than  you  can  dig  him  out? 


856 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


I  cannot  tell;  it  would  indeed  be  an  as- 
tonishing measure  of  success  for  a  first 
attempt,  and  the  enemy  may  require  a 
great  deal  more  hammering  at  many 
points    before    he    has    definitely    had 


operations  have  brought  the  day  closer, 
and  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  time  when 
we  shall  be  able  to  move  forward,  and 
one  finds  the  cavalrymen  wondering 
whether  perhaps  they,  too,  vdll  get  their 


enough    at    any    one    point.      But   these      chance. 


The  Germans  Concrete  Trenches 

By  F.  H.  Gailor,  American  Rhodes  Scholar  of  New  College,  Oxford 

[From  The  London  Daily  Mail,   March  24,   1915.] 


BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. 

AT  the  kind  invitation  of  General 
Longchamps,  German  Military 
Governor  of  the  Province  of 
Namur,  I  spent  two  days  with 
him  going  along  the  country  in  and  be- 
hind the  firing  line  in  Northern  France 
from  near  Rheims  to  the  small  village  of 
Monthois,  near  Vouziers,  on  the  Aisne. 

About  five  miles  out  of  Monthois  we 
came  to  the  artillery  positions  of  the  Ger- 
mans. We  could  see  the  flashes  of  the 
guns  long  before  we  reached  the  hills 
where  they  were  placed,  but  when  we 
came  up  and  dismounted  the  position  was 
most  cleverly  concealed  by  a  higher  hill 
in  front  and  the  heavy  woods  which 
served  as  a  screen  for  the  artillery.  I 
noticed  many  holes  where  the  French 
shells  had  burst,  and  the  valley  to 
the  north  looked  as  if  some  one  had  been 
experimenting  with  a  well  digger.  One 
21-centimeter  shell  had  cut  a  swath 
about  100  yards  long  out  of  the  woods  on 
the  hill  where  we  dismounted.  The  trees 
were  twisted  from  their  stumps  as  if  a 
small  cyclone  had  passed,  and  one  could 
realize  the  damage  the  shells  could  do 
merely  by  the  displaced  air. 

We  went  on  forward  into  the  valley  on 
foot  and  stopped  about  two  hundred  yards 
in  front  and  to  the  left  of  where  the 
German  guns  were  firing.  There,  al- 
though of  course  we  could  not  see  the 
French  position,  we  could  hear  and  see 
their  shells  as  they  exploded.  They  were 
firing  short,  one  of  the  officers  told  me, 
because  they  thought  the  Germans  were 
on  the  forward  hill.    He  could  see  one  of 


the  French  aeroplanes  directing  their 
fire,  but  I  could  not  make  it  out.  We 
stayed  there  listening  to  the  shells  and 
watching  the  few  movements  of  German 
batteries  that  were  taking  place.  A  par- 
ty of  officers  hidden  by  the  trees  were 
taking  observations  and  telephoning  the 
results  of  the  German  fire  and,  no  doubt, 
of  the  French  fire  in  the  German 
trenches.  There  was  no  excitement;  but 
for  the  noise  the  whole  scene  reminded 
me  of  some  kind  of  construction  work, 
such  as  building  a  railroad. 

After  about  an  hour,  when  nothing 
had  happened,  one  began  to  realize  that 
even  such  excitement  may  become  monot- 
onous and  be  taken  as  a  matter  of 
course.  One  of  the  officers  told  me  that 
the  Germans  had  been  there  since  the 
beginning  of  October  and  that  even  the 
trenches  were  in  the  same  position  as 
when  they  first  came. 

Certainly  the  trenches  seem  perma- 
nent enough  for  spending  many  Winters. 
A  number  of  them  have  now  been  built 
of  concrete,  especially  in  that  swampy 
part  near  the  Aisne  where  they  strike 
water  about  three  feet  underground. 
The  difficulty  is  in  draining  out  the  wa- 
ter when  it  rains. 

Some  of  the  trenches  have  two  stories, 
and  at  the  back  of  many  of  them  are 
subterranean  rest  houses  built  of  con- 
crete and  connected  with  the  trenches  by 
passages.  The  rooms  are  about  seven 
feet  high  and  ten  feet  square,  and  above 
the  ground  all  evidence  of  the  work  is 
concealed  by   green  boughs   and   shrub- 


WAR    CORRESPONDENCE 


257 


bery  so  that  they  may  escape  the  atten- 
tion of  the  enemy's  aeroplanes. 

With  the  noise  and  the  fatigue,  the 
men  say  it  is  impossible  to  sleep  natur- 
ally, but  they  become  so  used  to  the 
firing  and  so  weary  that  they  become 
oblivious  of  everything  even  when  shells 
are  falling  within  a  dozen  yards  of  them. 
They  stay  in  the  trenches  five  days  and 
then  get  five  days'  rest.  In  talking  to 
the  men  one  feels  the  influence  on  them 
of  a  curious  sort  of  fatalism — they  have 
been  lucky  so  far  and  will  come  through 
all  right.  One  sees  and  feels  every- 
where the  spirit  of  a  great  game.  The 
strain  of  football  a  thousand  times  mag- 
nified. The  joy  of  winning  and  boyish 
pleasure  in  getting  ahead  of  the  other 
fellows  side  by  side  with  the  stronger 
passions  of  hatred  and  anger  and  the 
sight  of  agony  and  death. 

We  talked  to  some  of  the  little  groups 
of  men  along  the  road  who  were  going 
back  to  their  five  days  in  the  trenches. 
Of  course  all  large  units  are  split  up  so 
as  not  to  attract  attention.  They  were 
all  the  same,  all  sure  of  winning,  and  all 
bearded,  muddy,  and  determined.  I  could 
not  help  thinking  of  American  football 
players  at  the  end  of  the  first  half.  These 
men  seemed  all  the  same.  I  have  no  re- 
collection of  a  single  individual.  The 
"  system  "  and  its  work  has  made  a  type 
not  only  of  clothes  but  of  face.  Their  an- 
swers to  the  usual  questions  were  all  the 
same,  and  one  felt  in  talking  to  them 
that  their  opinions  were  machine-made. 
Three  points  stood  out — Germany  is  right 
and  will  win;  England  is  wrong  and  will 
knuckle  under;  we  hate  England  because 
we  are  alike  in  religion,  custom,  and  opin- 
ion, and  it  is  the  war  of  kindred  races. 
Everywhere  one  met  the  arguments  and 
stories  of  unfairness  and  cruelty  in  fight- 
ing that  have  appeared  in  the  English 
papers,  but  with  the  names  reversed. 
English  soldiers  had  surrendered  and 
then  fired;  had  shot  from  beneath  a  Red 
Cross  flag  or  had  killed  prisoners.  The 
stories  were  simple  and  as  hackneyed  as 
most  of  those  current  in  England. 


The  concrete  rest  houses  were  interest- 
ing. Most  of  them  have  furniture  made 
from  trees  "  to  amuse  us  and  pass  the 
time."  Both  officers  and  men  use  the 
same  type  of  house,  though  discipline  for- 
bids that  the  same  house  be  used  by  both 
officers  and  men.  The  light  in  these 
houses  is  bad  and  the  ventilation  not  all 
that  it  should  be,  but  they  are  extremely 
careful  about  sanitation,  and  everywhere 
one  smells  disinfectants  and  sees  evi- 
dence of  scrupulous  guarding  against  dis- 
ease. Oil  and  candles  are  scarce  and  the 
"  pocket  electric  "  that  all  the  men  and 
officers  carry  does  not  last  long  enough 
for  much  reading.  There  are  always  tele- 
phone connections,  but  in  most  cases 
visits  are  impossible  save  by  way  of  the 
underground  passages  and  the  trenches. 

One  officer  described  the  life  as  entire- 
ly normal;  another  said,  in  speaking  of 
a  Louis  XV.  couch  which  had  been  bor- 
rowed from  a  near-by  chateau  and  was 
the  pride  of  a  regiment,  "  Oh!  we  are 
cave-dwellers,  but  we  have  some  of  the 
luxuries  of  at  least  the  nineteenth  cent- 
ury." 

The  Major  Commandant  at  Rethel 
showed  me  a  letter  from  a  friend  de- 
manding "  some  easy  chairs  and  a  piano 
for  his  trench  house,"  and  the  Major 
said,  "  I  hear  they  have  music  up  on  the 
Yser,  but  the  French  are  too  close  to  us 
here!  " 

All  that  I  saw  of  the  German  Red 
Cross  leads  me  to  believe  that  it  is  ade- 
quate and  efficient.  At  Rethel  we  saw  a 
Red  Cross  train  of  thirty-two  cars  per- 
fectly equipped.  The  cars  are  made  spe- 
cially with  open  corridors,  so  that 
stretchers  or  rubber-wheeled  trucks  may 
be  rolled  from  one  car  to  another.  The 
berths  are  in  two  tiers,  much  like  an 
American  sleeping  car,  and  each  car 
when  full  holds  twenty-eight  men.  There 
is  an  operating  car  fully  equipped  for  the 
most  delicate  and  dangerous  cases;  in 
fact,  when  we  saw  the  train  at  Rethel  it 
had  stopped  on  its  way  to  Germany  for 
an  operation  on  a  man's  brain. 


The  Spirits  of  Mankind 

By  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States 

The  conviction  that  great  spiritual  forces  will  assert  themselves  at  the  end  of  the  Euro- 
pean war  to  enlighten  the  judgment  and  steady  the  spirits  of  mankind  was  expressed  by 
President  Wilson  in  an  address  of  welcome  delivered  at  the  Maryland  annual  conference  of 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  at  Washington  on  April  8,  1915.  The  text  of  his  address 
appears  below. 


THESE  are  days  of  great  perplex- 
ity, when  a  great  cloud  of  trouble 
hangs  and  broods  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  world.  It  seems  as  if 
great,  blind,  material  forces  had  been  re- 
leased which  had  for  long  been  held  in 
leash  and  restraint.  And  yet  underneath 
that  you  can  see  the  strong  impulses  of 
great  ideals. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  men  to  go 
through  what  men  are  going  through  on 
the  battlefields  of  Europe  and  struggle 
through  the  present  dark  night  of  their 
terrible  struggle  if  it  were  not  that  they 
saw,  or  thought  that  they  saw,  the 
broadening  of  light  where  the  morning 
should  come  up  and  believed  that  they 
were  standing  each  on  his  side  of  the 
contest  for  some  eternal  principle  for 
right. 

Then  all  about  them,  all  about  us,  there 
sits  the  silent,  waiting  tribunal  which  is 
going  to  utter  the  ultimate  judgment 
upon  this  struggle,  the  great  tribunal 
of  the  opinion  of  the  world;  and  I  fancy 
I  see,  I  hope  that  I  see,  I  pray  that  it 
may  be  that  I  do  truly  see,  great  spir- 
itual forces  lying  waiting  for  the  out- 
come of  this  thing  to  assert  themselves, 
and  are  asserting  themselves  even  now 
to  enlighten  our  judgment  and  steady 
our  spirits. 

No  man  is  wise  enough  to  pronounce 
judgment,  but  we  can  all  hold  our  spirits 
in  readiness  to  accept  the  truth  when  it 
dawns  on  us  and  is  revealed  to  us  in  the 
outcome  of  this  titanic  struggle. 

It  is  of  infinite  benefit  that  in  assem- 
blages like  this  and  in  every  sort  of  as- 


semblage we  should  constantly  go  back 
to  the  sources  of  our  moral  inspiration 
and  question  ourselves  as  to  what  prin- 
ciple it  is  that  we  are  acting  on.  Whither 
are  we  bound?  What  do  we  wish  to  see 
triumph?  And  if  we  wish  to  see  certain 
things  triumph,  why  do  we  wish  to  see 
them  triumph?  What  is  there  in  them 
that  is  for  the  lasting  benefit  of  man- 
kind? 

For  we  are  not  in  this  world  to  amuse 
ourselves  with  its  affairs.  We  are  here 
to  push  the  whole  sluggish  mass  forward 
in  some  particular  direction,  and  unless 
you  know  the  direction  in  which  you 
want  to  go  your  force  is  of  no  avail.  Do 
you  love  righteousness?  is  what  each  one 
of  us  ought  to  ask  himself.  And  if  you 
love  righteousness  are  you  ready  to 
translate  righteousness  into  action  and 
be  ashamed  and  afraid  before  no  man  ? 

It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  it  is 
worth  suggesting  to  you  that  you  are 
not  sitting  here  merely  to  transact  the 
business  and  express  the  ideals  of  a 
great  church  as  represented  in  the  State 
of  Maryland,  but  you  are  here  also  as 
part  of  the  assize  of  humanity,  to  re- 
mind yourselves  of  the  things  that  are 
permanent  and  eternal,  which  if  we  do 
not  translate  into  action  we  have  failed 
in  the  fundamental  things  of  our  lives. 

You  will  see  that  it  is  only  in  such 
general  terms  that  one  can  speak  in  the 
midst  of  a  confused  world,  because,  as  I 
have  already  said,  no  man  has  the  key 
to  this  confusion.  No  man  can  see  the 
outcome,  but  every  man  can  keep  his 
own  spirit  prepared  to  contribute  to  the 
net  result  when  the  outcome  displays 
itself. 


it 


What  the  Germans  Say  About 
Their  Own  Methods  of  Warfare" 

By  Joseph  Bedier,  Professor  in  the  College  de  France 

[From  an  article  in  the  Revue  de  Paris  for  January,  1915.], 


I   PURPOSE  to  show  that  the  German 
armies  cannot  altogether  escape  the 
reproach   of   violating   on   occasion 
the  law  of  nations.     I  shall  estab- 
lish this  by  French  methods,  through  the 
use  of  documents  of  sound  value. 

My  texts  are  genuine,  well  vouched 
for,  and  I  have  taken  pains  to  subject 
them  to  a  critical  examination,  as 
scrupulous  and  minute  as  heretofore  in 
times  of  peace  I  expended  in  weighing 
the  authority  of  some  ancient  chronicle, 
or  in  scrutinizing  the  authenticity  of 
some  charter.  Perhaps  this  care  was 
born  of  professional  habit,  or  due  to  a 
natural  craving  for  exactness,  but  in 
either  case  it  is  a  voucher  for  the  work, 
which  is  meant  for  all  comers — for  the 
passer-by,  for  the  indifferent,  and  even 
for  my  country's  foes.  My  wish  is  that 
the  veriest  looker-on,  idly  turning  these 
pages,  may  be  confronted  only  with 
documents  whose  authenticity  will  be 
self-evident,  if  he  is  willing  to  see,  and 
whose  ignominious  tale  will  reach  his 
heart,  if  ye  have  a  heart. 

I  have,  moreover,  sought  for  docu- 
ments not  only  incontestably  genuine 
but  of  unquestioned  authority.  Accusa- 
tion is  easy,  while  proof  is  difficult. 
No  belligerent  has  ever  been  troubled 
to  find  mountains  of  testimony,  true  or 
false,  against  his  enemy;  but  were  this 
evidence  gathered  by  the  most  exalted 
magistrates,  under  the  most  solemn  ju- 
dicial sanction,  it  must  unfortunately 
long  remain  useless;  until  the  accused 
has  full  opportunity  to  controvert  it, 
every  one  is  free  to  treat  it  as  false  or, 
at  the  best,  as  controvertible.  For  this 
reason  I  shall  avoid  resting  the  case 
upon  Belgian  or  French  statements, 
though  I  know  them  to  be  true.     My 


purpose  has  been  to  bring  forward  such 
testimony  that  no  man  living,  be  he 
even  a  German,  should  be  privileged  to 
cast  a  doubt  upon  it.  German  crimes 
will  be  established  by  German  docu- 
ments. 

These  will  be  taken  mainly  from  the 
"War  Diaries,"  which  Article  75  of  the 
German  Army  Regulations  for  Field 
Service  enjoins  upon  soldiers  to  keep 
during  their  marches,  and  which  were 
seized  by  the  French  upon  the  persons 
of  their  prisoners,  as  military  papers, 
as  authorized  by  Article  4  of  The 
Hague  Convention  of  1907.  The  number 
of  these  is  daily  increasing,  and  I  trust 
that  some  day,  for  the  edification  of  all, 
the  complete  collection  may  be  lodged 
in  the  Germanic  section  of  manuscripts 
in  the  National  Library.  Meantime,  the 
Marquis  de  Dampierre,  paleographer 
and  archivist,  graduate  of  the  Ecole  des 
Chartes,  is  preparing,  and  will  shortly 
publish,  a  volume  in  which  the  greater 
part  of  these  notebooks  will  be  mi- 
nutely described,  transcribed,  and  clari- 
fied. Personally,  I  have  only  examined 
about  forty  of  them,  but  they  will  an- 
swer my  purpose,  by  presenting  rele- 
vant extracts,  furnishing  the  name,  rank, 
and  regiment  of  the  author,  with  indi- 
cations of  time  and  place.  Classification 
is  difficult,  mainly  because  ten  lines  of 
a  single  text  not  infrequently  furnish 
evidence  of  a  variety  of  offenses.  I 
must  take  them  almost  at  random, 
grouping  them  under  such  analogies  or 
association  of  ideas  or  images  as  they 
may  offer. 

I. 

The  first  notebook  at  hand  is  that  of 
a  soldier  of  the  Prussian  Guard,  the 
Gefreiter  Paul  Spielmann,  (of  Company 


260 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


I,  First  Brigade  of  the  Infantry  Guard.) 
He  tells  the  story  of  an  unexpected 
night  alarm  on  the  1st  of  September  in 
a  village  near  Blamont.  The  bugle 
sounds,  and  the  Guard,  startled  from 
sleep,  begins  the  massacre,  (Figs.  1 
and  2:) 


a^u-o^  -t^A^  -tJZ^ a/a*^ °^^^C^ 


/{■4''ViMj 


Figure    1. 

The  inhabitants  fled  through  the  village. 
It  was  horrible.  The  walls  of  houses  are 
bespattered  with  blood  and  the  faces  of 
the  dead  are  hideous  to  look  upon.  They 
■were  buried  at  once,  some  sixty  of  them. 
Among  them  many  old  women,  old  men, 
and  one  woman  pregnant— the  whole  a 
dreadful  sight.  Three  children  huddled 
together— all  dead.  Altar  and  arches  of 
the  church  shattered.  Telephone  com- 
munication with  the  enemy  was  found 
there.  This  morning,  Sept.  2,  all  the  sur- 
vivors were  driven  out ;  I  saw  four  little 
boys  carrying  on  two  poles  a  cradle  with 
a  child  some  five  or  six  months  old. 
The  whole  makes  a  fearful  sight.  Blow 
upon  blow!  Thunderbolt  on  thunderbolt! 
Everything  given  over  to  plunder.  I  saw 
a  mother  with  her  two  little  ones— one 
of  them  had  a  great  wound  in  the  head 
and  an  eye  put  out. 

Deserved  repression,  remarks  this 
soldier:  "  They  had  telephone  communi- 
cation with  the  enemy."     And  yet,  we 


for  which  the  population  is  not  respon- 
may  recall  that  by  Article  30  of  The 
Hague  Convention  of  1907,  signed  on 
behalf  of  H.  M.  the  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, "no  collective  penalty,  pecuniary 
or  other,  shall  be  proclaimed  against  a 
population,  by  reason  of  individual  acts 


^l^ypt^' 


yV-»^^    >iu<tA>^t-'vi~  •^•^<>'v-y'> ^^^■**-^4t-v. 

Figure   2. 
sible  in  solido."     What  tribunal  during 
that   dreadful   night   took   the   pains   to 
establish  this  joint  participation? 

II. 

The  unsigned  notebook  of  a  soldier 
of  the  Thirty-second  Reserve  Infantry 
(Fourth  Reserve  Corps)  has  this  entry: 
Creil,     Sept.     3.— The    iron    bridge    was 

blown    up.      For    this   we   set   the   streets 

on  fire,  and  shot  the  civilians. 

Yet  it  must  be  obvious  that  only  the 
regular  troops  of  the  French  Engineer 
Corps  could  have  blown  up  the  iron 
bridge  at  Creil;  the  civilians  had  no  hand 
in  it.  As  an  excuse  for  these  massacres, 
when  any  excuse  is  offered,  the  note- 
books usually  note  that  "  civilians  "  or 
"francs-tireurs"  had  fired  on  the  troops. 
But  the  "  scrap  of  paper  "  which  Ger- 
many    subscribed — the     Convention     of 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS      261 


1907 — provides  in  its  first  article  "  the 
laws,  the  rights,  and  the  duties  are  not 
applicable  solely  to  the  army,  but  also 
to  militia  and  bodies  of  volunteers  "  un- 
der certain  conditions,  of  which  the  main 
one  is  that  they  shall  "  openly  bear 
arms;  "  while  Article  2  stipulates  that 
"  the  population  of  an  unoccupied  terri- 
tory, which  on  the  approach  of  the 
enemy  spontaneously  takes  up  arms  to 
resist  the  invading  forces,  without  hav- 
ing had  time  to  organize  as  provided 
in  Article  1,  shall  be  considered  as  a 
belligerent,  if  they  bear  arms  openly  and 
observe  the  laws  and  customs  of  war." 


Figure  3. 

In  the  light  of  this  text,  the  bearing 
of  the  barbarous  recitals  which  follow 
may  be  properly  estimated: 

(a)  Notebook  of  Private  Hassemer, 
(Eighth  Corps,  Sept.  3,  1914,  at  Sorh- 
mepy,  Marne.— Dreadful  butchery.  Village 
burned  to  the  ground ;  the  French  thrown 
into  the  burning  houses,  civilians  and  all 
burned    together. 

(b)  Notebook  of  Lieut.  Kietzmann,  (Sec- 
ond Company,  First  Battalion,  Forty- 
ninth  Infantry,)  under  date  of  Aug.  18, 
1914,  (Fig.  3.)— A  short  distance  above 
Diest  is  the  village  of  Schaffen.  About 
fifty  civilians  were  concealed  in  the 
church  tower,  and  from  there  fired  on  our 
troops  with  a  mitrailleuse.  AH  the  civil- 
ians were  shot. 

[It  may  here  be  noted,  for  the  sake  of 
precision,  that  the  First  Report  of  the 
Belgian  Commission  of  Inquiry,  Antwerp, 
Aug.  28,  Page  3,  identifies  some  of  the 
"  civilians "  killed  at  Schaffen  on  the 
18th  of  August ;  among  them,  "  the  wife  of 
Frangois   Luyckz,    45   years    of    age,    with 


her  daughter  aged  12,  who  were  discov- 
ered in  a  sewer  and  shot" ;  and  "  the 
daughter  of  Jean  Ooyen,  9  years  of  age, 
who  was  shot  "  ;  and  "Andr6  Willem,  sac- 
ristain,  who  was  bound  to  a  tree  and 
burned   alive."] 

(c)  Notebook  of  a  Saxon  officer,  un- 
named, (178th  Regiment,  Twelfth  Army 
Corps,  First  Saxon  Corps,)  Aug.  26.— The 
exquisite  village  of  Gu$-d'Hossus  (Ar- 
dennes) was  given  to  the  flames,  although 
to  my  mind  it  was  guiltless.  I  am  told 
that  a  cyclist  fell  from  his  machine,  and 
in  his  fall  his  gun  was  discharged ;  at 
once  the  firing  was  begun  in  his  direction, 
and  thereupon  all  the  male  inhabitants 
were  simply  thrown  into  the  flames.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  like  atrocities  will  not 
be  repeated. 

This   Saxon  officer  had,  nevertheless, 
already      witnessed      like      "  atrocities." 
The    preceding    day,    Aug,    25,    at    Vil- 
lers-en-Fagne,        (Belgian        Ardennes,) 
"  where    we    found    grenadiers     of    the 
guard,  killed  and  wounded,"  he  had  seen 
"  the  cure  and  other  inhabitants  shot "; 
and  three  days  previous,  Aug.  23,  at  the 
village  of  Bouvignes,  north  of  Dinant,  he 
had  witnessed  what  he  thus  describes: 
Through    a    breach    made    in    the    rear 
we    get    access    into    the    residence    of    a 
well-to-do     inhabitant     and     occupy     the 
house.      Passing    through    a    number    of 
apartments,    we  reach    a   door   where   we 
find  the  corpse  of  the  owner.     Further  on  ' 
in    the    interior    our    men    have    wrecked  '; 
everything  like  vandals.     Everything  has 
been    searched.      Outside,    throughout    the 
country,    the   spectacle  of  the   inhabitants 
who   have   been    shot    defies   any   descrip- 
tion.    They  have  been  shot  at  such  short 
range   that   they   are   almost  decapitated. 
Every   house  has   been   ransacked   to   the 
furthest     corners,     and     the     inhabitants 
dragged    from    their    hiding    places.      The 
men  shot ;  the  women  and  children  locked 
into    a   convent,    from    which    shots   were 
fired.     And,   for  this   reason,   the  convent 
is  about  to  be  set  fire  to ;  it  may,   how- 
ever   be    ransomed    if    it    surrenders    the 
guilty  ones  and  pays  a  ransom  of  15,(X)0 
francs. 

We  shall  see  as  we  proceed  how  these 
notebooks  complement  one  another. 

(d)  Notebook  of  the  Private  Philipp, 
(from  Kamenz,  Saxony,  First  Company, 
First  Battalion,  178th  Regiment.)  On  the 
day  indicated  above— Aug.  23— a  private 
of  the  same  regiment  was  the  witness 
of  a  scene  similar  to  that  just  described; 
perhaps,  the  same  scene,  but  the  point 
of  view  is  different.— At  10  o'clock  in  the 
evening  the  First  Battalion  of  the  178th 
came    down    into    the    burning   village   to 


262 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  north  of  Dinant— a  saddening  specta- 
cle—to  make  one  shiver.  At  the  entrance 
to  the  village  lay  the  bodies  of  some  fifty- 
citizens,  shot  for  having  fired  upon  our 
troops  from  ambush.  In  the  course  of  the 
night  many  others  were  shot  down  in  like 
manner,  so  that  we  counted  more  than 
two  hundred.  Women  and  children,  hold- 
ing their  lamps,  were  compelled  to  assist 
at  this  horrible  spectacle.  We  then  sat 
down  midst  the  corpses  to  eat  our  rice, 
as  we  had  eaten  nothing  since  morning. 
(Fig.  4.) 


,   MiM^S,^ 


S~^- 


H 


-^ccz:3.fy^ 


'*^*^^      TJ^yJL    '^Jt^t,>v*_      .w-w'   -^viaHt. 


^ 


V* 


^, 


Figure  4. 

Here  is  a  military  picture  fully  outlined, 
and  worthy  to  compete  in  the  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts  of  Dresden.  But  one 
passage  of  the  text  is  somewhat  obscure 
and  might  embarrass  the  artist — 
"Women  and  children,  holding  their 
lamps,  were  compelled  to  assist  at  this 
horrible  spectacle."  What  spectacle? — 
the  shooting,  or  the  counting  of  the 
corpses?  To  get  some  certainty  on  this 
historic  point,  the  artist  should  question 
that  noble  soldier — the  Colonel  of  the 
178th. 

His  work  of  that  night,  however,  was 
in   accord   with   the   spirit   of  his    com- 


panions in  arms,  and  of  his  chiefs.  We 
may  assure  ourselves  of  this  by  con- 
sulting the  Sixth  Report  of  the  Belgian 
Commission  of  Inquiry  upon,  the  viola- 
tion of  the  rules  of  the  law  of  nations 
(Havre,  Nov.  10,  1914)  and  the  ignoble 
proclamations  placarded  by  the  Ger- 
mans throughout  Belgium.  I  will  con- 
tent myself  with  three  short  extracts. 

Extract  from  a  proclamation  of  Gen- 
eral von  Billow,  placarded  at  Liege,  Aug. 
22,  1914: 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Andenne, 
after  having  protested  their  peaceful  in- 
tentions, were  guilty  of  a  treacherous 
surprise  upon  our  troops.  It  was  with 
my  consent  that  the  General  in  Chief  set 
fire  to  the  whole  locality,  and  that  about 
one  hundred  persons  were  shot. 

(The  Belgian  report  controverts  the 
accusation  against  the  inhabitants  of 
Andenne  of  having  taken  hostile  meas- 
ures against  the  German  troops,  and 
adds :  "  As  a  matter  of  fact,  more  than 
two  hundred  persons  were  shot " — al- 
most everything  was  ravaged.  For  a 
distance  of  at  least  three  leagues  the 
houses  were  destroyed  by  fire.) 

Extract  from  a  proclamation  of  Major 
Dieckmann,  placarded  at  Grivegnee,  Sept. 
8,  1914: 

Any  one  not  responding  instantly  to  the 
command  "  raise  your  arms  "  is  subject 
to   the   penalty   of  death. 

Extract  from  proclamation  of  Marshal 
Baron  von  der  Goltz,  placarded  at 
Brussels,  Oct.  5,  1914: 

Hereafter  the  localities  nearest  the  place 
where  similar  acts  (destruction  of  rail- 
ways or  telegraphic  lines)  were  done — 
whether  or  not  they  were  accomplices 
in  the  act— will  be  punished  without 
mercy.  To  this  end  hostages  have  been 
taken  from  all  the  localities  adjacent  to 
railways  menaced  by  similar  attacks, 
and  upon  the  first  attempt  to  destroy 
the  railways,  telegraphic  or  telephone 
lines,   they  will  at  once  be  shot. 

HI. 
I  copy  from  the  first  page  of  an  un- 
signed notebook,  (Fig.  5:) 

Langeviller,  Aug.  22.— Village  destroyed 
by  the  Eleventh  Battalion  of  Pioneers. 
Three  women  hanged  to  trees;  the  first 
dead  I  have  seen. 

Who  can  these  three  women  be? — 
criminals  undoubtedly — guilty  of  having 
fired   upon   German   troops,   unless,   in- 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS      263 


/♦^t*-*- 


't/IA^ 


\U1yt. 


•**-t. 


^ 


/»- 


-^/t,*^^ 


Figure  5. 

deed,  they  may  have  been  "  in  communi- 
cation by  telephone "  with  the  enemy; 
and  the  Eleventh  Pioneers  unquestion- 
ably meted  out  to  them  just  punishment. 
But,  at  all  events,  they  expiated  their 
guilt,  and  the  Eleventh  Pioneers  has 
passed  on.  The  crime  these  women  com- 
mitted is  unknown  to  the  troops  which 
are  to  follow.  Among  these  new  troops 
will  there  be  found  no  chief,  no  Christian, 
to  order  the  ropes  cut  and  allow  these 
dangling  bodies  to  rest  on  the  earth? 
No,  the  regiment  passes  under  the  gib- 
bets and  their  flags  brush  against  the 
hanging  corpses;  they  pass  on.  Colonel 
and  officers — gentlemen  all — Kultur- 
trager.  And  they  do  this  knowingly; 
these  corpses  must  hang  there  as  an 
example,  not  for  the  other  women  of 
the  village,  for  these  doubtless  already 
understand,  but  as  an  example  to  the 
regiment  and  to  the  other  regiments 
that  will  follow,  and  who  must  be  at- 
tuned to  war,  who  must  be  taught  their 
stern  duty  to  kill  women  when  occasion 
offers.     The  teaching  will  be  effective. 


unquestionably.  Shall  we  look  for  proof 
of  it?  The  young  soldier,  who  tells  us 
above  that  these  corpses  were  the  first 
dead  he  had  ever  seen,  adds  a  week  later, 
on  the  tenth  and  last  page  of  his  note- 
book, the  following,  (Fig.  6:) 

In  this  way  we  destroyed  eight  dwell- 
ings and  their  inhabitants.  In  one  of  the 
houses  we  bayoneted  two  men,  with  their 
wives  and  a  young  girl  18  years  old.  The 
young  one  almost  unmanned  me,  her  look 
was  so  innocent !  But  we  could  not  mas- 
ter the  excited  troop,  for  at  such  times 
they  are  no  longer  men— they  are  beasts. 


r*#»^ 


/»6 


L 


Figure  6. 


Let  me  add  a  few  texts  which  will 
attest  that  these  assassinations  of 
women  and  children  are  customary  tasks 
set  to  German  soldiers: 

(a)  The  writer  in  a  notebook,  un- 
signed, reports  that  at  Orchies  (Nord) 
"  a  woman  was  shot  for  not  having 
obeyed   the   command   to  halt!  "  where- 


264 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


upon  he  adds,  "the  whole  locality  was 

set  on  fire."     (Fig.  7.) 


Jf^:l  ^-  ^,  ^  ;?2^  !L^/.x//[ 


Figure  7. 

(b)  The  officer  of  the  178th  Saxon 
Regiment,  mentioned  above,  reports  that 
in  the  vicinity  of  Lisognes  (Belgian 
Ardennes)  "  the  Chasseur  of  Marburg, 
havirg  placed  three  women  in  line,  killed 
them  all  with  one  shot." 

(c)  A  few  lines  more,  taken  from 
the  notebook  of  the  Reservist  Schlauter 
(Third  Battery,  Fourth  Regiment,  Field 
Artillery  of  the  Guard,)   (Fig.  8:) 

Aug.  25,  (in  Belgium.)— We  shot  300  of 
tiie  inhabitants  of  the  town.  Those  that 
survived  the  salvo  were  requisitioned  as 
grave  diggers.  You  should  have  seen  the 
women  at  that  time !  But  it  was  impos- 
sible to  do  otherwise.  In  our  march  upon 
Wilot  things  went  better;  the  inhabitants 
who  wished  to  leave  were  allowed  to  do 
so.  But  whoever  fired  was  shot.  Upon 
our  leaving  Owele  the  rifles  rang  out,  and 
with  that,  flames,  women,  and  all  the  rest. 

IV. 

Frequently  when  a  German  troop 
want  to  carry  a  position,  they  place  be- 
fore them  civilians — men,  women,  and 
children — and  find  shelter  behind  these 
ramparts  of  living  flesh.  As  such  a 
stratagem  is  essentially  playing  upon 
the  nobility  of  heart  of  the  adversary, 
and  saying  to  him  "  you  .won't  fire  upon 
these  unfortunates,  I  know  it,  and  I  hold 
you  at  my  mercy,  unarmed,  because  you 
are  not  as  craven  as  I  am,"  as  it  implies 
a  homage  to  the  enemy  and  the  self- 
degradation  of  the  one  employing  it,  it 
is  almost  inconceivable  that  soldiers 
should  resort  to  it;  it  represents  a  new 
invention   in   the    long   story   of   human 


vileness,  which  even  the  dreadful  Peni- 
tentiels  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  not  dis- 
covered. In  reading  the  stories  from 
French,  Belgian,  and  English  sources, 
attributing  such  practices  to  the  Ger- 
mans, it  has  made  me  doubt,  if  not 
the  truthfulness,  at  least  the  detailed 
exactness  of  the  stories.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  the  tales  must  be  of  crimes  by 


t/ulC  hit- TIaM '*^»^^.t^  ^00 


Figure  8. 
men  who  would  be  disavowed,  individual 
lapses,  which  do  not  dishonor  the  nation, 
because  the  nation  on  ascertaining  them 
would  repudiate  them.  But  how  can  we 
doubt  that  the  German  Nation  has,  on 
the  contrary,  accepted  these  acts  as  ex- 
ploits worthy  of  herself,  that  in  them 
she  recognizes  her  own  aptitudes,  and 
finds  pleasure  in  the  contemplation;  how, 
I  ask,  can  we  doubt  this  in  reading  the 
following  narrative  signed  by  a  Bavarian 
officer,  Lieut.  A.  Eberlein,  spread  out 
in  the  columns  of  one  of  the  best  known 
periodicals  of  Germany,  the  Miinchner 
Neueste  Nachrichten,  in  its  issue  of 
Wednesday,  Oct.  7,  1914,  Page  22,  Lieut. 
Eberlein  relates  there  the  occupation  of 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS       2G; 


Wl&aaiatt  9<eucft»  WaiftHt^tWb^ 


unI«r,ttot)?t  Cffh{«roftfDacTtrvi«r  5P.  f>at  fa  TOtt 

oo-i  JiftjcKt  lu'btu'ufiifa.Cflflc  fjCWfli^t;    Vt  vault 

$aus  loir  uns  ouf^oltcn.  '^uin  UcJxtiluH  ikrfcn 
mil  cui)  nwfi  eii\  uxtjcs  S^tiitii^  o6<n  3«m  35c,rf'« 
ffpjtcr  l!!rau5.  ,'  "  '  ■"  ' 

3"  bitift  .JrajK.  ooattoubia' c^i^tft^iiUu'h  ran 
untftcr  'iirigaV,  mo^ssu  loit  mcl-it  jtotl  -ctu-ittn 


tiidKt  in  ben  fidnbci  Idhuingen^,  unb  I^Ji  intt  •« 
yiii^cit  tocrfcnb.  3Mc  SiluJtion  irot  inir.  man 
vcx-^(\f;t.  mi-  btcffn  '3u5briiff.  ^ocfibramnttiri).  ?i« 
fiitc  ivritftt  b«ut!4  ^  h-  F'*  f'i)M  ctr.ijiut  il'i-rte 
iKrous,  bsc  i<^  mti  9i:jQminH:r.rcrnfc.  5^tc  ajiultct 
nnb  €(f)tDcflct  finb'  pcfangcn  ptn  b<n  Seut'sfcon,' 
fie  Ul5ft  loUcn  bfii  'li?oire  von  St  Sio  Ijolen. 
tonit  mertrtu  bi*  fcibcrt  ols  GcifcJn  cjMioitrn.  Ctiic 
fjolfic  €ii]ib«  fjat  l!)ncn  bcj  $fi:t  CcltcrcLocit 
fl(fl?fccit.  3iun  Ftnb  ?ic  auf  ber  Gu^  .itt,'  anfc't 
Slitiltctff^  unb  5"ftt'rt"i<f«"ft  ficfomttwm,  Hnb' 
Finb  iitci:  brc  Cctd^cn  btc  llnKitgctt  Jjinnxg  In 
ii;;Ior  §qu5  (icipruttpc!^  "' 

3<f(  iciTc  fte  in  bcii  fiorfi6cnR4«"ft'5B««nf<iIfrt 
Mnur.fcifiiiircn.  iBcrnhrfluttf,:  SBilibe  fpdtct  nit 
bon  t>titn  ffitncial  t«Tjonlid)  [^M<^cn.  9Iufe«rbfm 
oujft*  i<&  {<f)i>n  langft,  ba{(  b«r  §ttr  SJioitc  wit. 
|fl:n!  brn  5Ji*!psciixicttn  r>«tbu|t?t  iff.  f^e^frt  m"'? 
unict  n.'rtBJcriiiJfc  Sjicbcrnftni,  ijcx  f,^    ki;MU 

;  't!Ibcr"rt,T  dii^iri' StiitiTfTe'OaT'C''.  mlr  oen- 
filftci  r.nb  ba  fmntnt  tnir  etn  gntct  Gk-banfc."  St* 
jntrbfn  cuf  6tu^I«  ?<h^i  ur>b  il)rc:i  bcbrutd,, 
»!n«n  6ttjpIo^  mttlcH  in  b<fr  SitOBc  yi. 
neTimrii.  SSiiabcrinircn  unb  <5f«l)«n  ouf  l^r  cirvn. 
(ir.  j'oot  ■(5ctt'c^tfcil).-!i>aui  'in    r.nthcn  <;c:^^ 

i^fiian  BJtrb  ontnafilirf)  fut^fiat  Ijort.  3)ann 
I'r.fn  \xt  fctQupcn  oi:f  bcr  Gtto^c  SJJie  tiff*  6tc^» 
ffhctc  fie  lof-gcfanen, ,  ©ci^  i(^  nj^t,  Qb<t  !l;te 
uiiirb*  jinb  bit  BQn,ie  3«it  frampf^afl  «cin!Uf. 
3o  kio  fu'  inir  Jun,  (tfvr  b<is  SJittlcI  ^ilit  iVIor'. 
?os  JtJcrfcnicuct:  quo  btn  Jjaufttn  lii'U  lofott 
fort?,  ©it  .'piiivcn  jtjt  01'^  bfts  Sfjcniifefilitgcrbo 
,iau9  tc^wn  unb'i'j^ib  bcntit  lie  .f«nfn  bo: 
ijnuEtifraH,.  2T?a4  liA'fetl  nc^  ouf  b«r  6tJo{-,v; 
^ufiU  ©iib  nifbcrac!>1)oiit'n-  Sfuri>  btc  Sfrtinctie 
not  i:ntcrb-.-[!cn  fraf;'.{t-  (icailKiict,  u;ib  nio  c<9ni 
7  JIfi:  nOcit^o  bic  23rifiubt  jum  wturnx  ccrriiiJt, 
:im  uno  ;«  I:ft:«i-:n,  fcnn  it^  ble  SJfcIbiina  ctFitJi-' 
^n :  .,G  t,  T  i  6't>  p  m  l<>  c  0  !T  c  r  f  t  e^i!"   i.        - 

,  ^'-Jl^::'  if.)  i^;trT  fri;tl)r.  !)at  bas  .T.  9vcK'rtK*-y.c« 

j  K'cu^l/fiftn;  fltnliajj  Grfo^rurBftt  ocncirfit  irif 
}  iPT. »  oflft  Hct  ^iuiUfttn,  b:c  (ts  cbcnfafls  o'.f 
I  Sie  c'tnitf  kfttcn.  muibcn  jebo^  ton  bcu  Jvtav. 
{ i;ri<;n  cridjoiirtj  ?«  f,o6«  lie  itlbFt  am  Stanfcn. 
')^^-^i«Vl  i.^bs^-SiJ^By  IwfltBjcIjCVl.        .  ,^ 

ru)cilf.  tKcTdrt  {f.Kift  unfctj  €o?batcn,  aui)  in  ioltf) 
rritijiftr  £'t::(ttion  fccljctrfrfit.  (fg  teat  gcta^c  in 
I  b»m  Sl'JS'Vifiiiff.^  in  b«m  ftiwt  tiort  uns  fill  iclni 
I  Sc&rn  riiwi  '^jrifrrrltna  imift  fftgcfecn  Ijiittf,  b<i 
tri;i  r.i-,!cr  .fiocniit  —  ct  tTt  bt.r  Xapus  einf?  invf- 
tiliijcn  jiSfKnicmonr.f*  —  iiuf  mid)  mi.  in  bcr 
Sonb  —  ciu  (5Io&  Sicr.  •  „Si«r  gcfoniii,  J^fit 
Cbftfcutnant?'  ~  CEt  ^t  in  .aUcr  Seekntu^c 
hiiit<!r  b«:n  aSuftet  cir.  „3a3l"  Si"  angcjapFt  unb 
icbcm  «n  Cjlos  hfbcnal,  ou^  moment,  bent  bits 
brr  let'*  Siftliiif  pxibjn  \ontf. 

OQ.  jo,  bn<i  !2cl>fu  l)tts<0t  fi^  tn  (Sfflfnfdfcitn, 
am  mfi[trn.:m  .*t»ife- 

Dterkttlnonl  .8»,e^<riyj|    (m.) 


Saint-Die  at  the  end  of  August.   He  en- 
tered the  town  at  the  head  of  a  column, 
and    while    waiting    for    reinforcements 
Figure  9. 


was  compelled  to  barricade  himself  in  a 

house,  (Fig,  9:) 

We  arrested  three  civilians,  and  a  bright 
idea  struck  me.  We  furnished  them  with 
chairs  and  made  them  seat  themselves  in 
the  middle  of  the  street.  There  were 
supplications  on  one  part,  and  some  blows 
with  the  stocks  of  our  guns  on  the  other. 
One,  little  by  little,  gets  terribly  har- 
dened. Finally,  there  they  were  sitting 
in  the  street.  How  many  anguished 
prayers  they  may  have  muttered,  I  can- 
not say,  but  during  the  whole  time  their 
hands  were  joined  in  nervous  contrac- 
tion. I  am  sorry  for  them,  but  the 
stratagem  was  of  immediate  effect.  The 
enfilading  directed  from  the  houses  dimin- 
ished at  once ;  we  were  able  then  to  take 
possession  of  the  house  opposite,  and 
thus  became  masters  of  the  principal 
street.  From  that  moment  every  one  that 
showed  his  face  in  the  street  was  shot. 
And  the  artillery  meanwhile  kept  up 
vigorous  work,  so  that  at  about  7  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  when  the  brigade  advanced 
to  rescue  us,  I  could  report  "  Saint-Di6 
has  been   emptied   of  all   enemies." 

As    I    learned    later,    the   Regiment 

of  Reserves,  which  came  into  Saint-Di6 
further  north,  had  experiences  entirely 
similar  to  our  own.  The  four  civilians 
whom  they  had  placed  on  chairs  in  the 
middle  of  the  street  were  killed  by  French 
bullets.  I  saw  them  myself  stretched 
out  in  the  street  near  the  hospital. 

V. 

Article  28  of  The  Hague  Convention 
of  1907,  subscribed  to  by  Germany,  uses 
this  language:  "  The  sacking  of  any 
town  or  locality,  even  when  taken  by 
assault,  is  prohibited."  And  Article  47 
runs:  "  [in  occupied  territory]  pillage  is 
forbidden," 

We  shall  see  how  the  German  armies 
interpret  these  articles. 

Private  Handschuhmacher  (Eleventh 
Battalion  of  Chasseurs  Reserves)  writes 
in  his  notebook: 

Aug.  8,  1914,  Gouvy,  (Belgium.)— There, 
the  Belgians  having  fired  on  some  Ger- 
man soldiers,  we  started  at  once  pillaging 
the  merchandise  warehouse.  Several 
cases— eggs,  shirts,  and  everything  that 
could  be  eaten  was  carried  off.  The  safe 
was  forced  and  the  gold  distributed 
among  the  men.  As  to  the  securities, 
they   were   torn    up. 

This  happened  as  early  as  the  fourth 
day  of  the  war,  and  it  helps  us  to  under- 
stand a  technical  article  on  the  opera- 
tions of  the  military  treasury  (Der  Zahl- 
meister  im  Felde)  in  the  Berliner  Tage- 


266 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


blatt  of  the  26th  of  November,  1914,  in 
which  an  economic  phenomenon  of  rather 
unusual  import  is  recited  as  a  simple  in- 
cident: "  Experience  has  demonstrated 
that  very  much  more  money  is  for- 
warded by  postal  orders  from  the  theatre 
of  operations  to  the  interior  of  the  coun- 
try than  vice  versa." 

As,  in  accordance  with  the  continual 
practice  of  the  German  armies,  pillaging 
is   only   a   prelude   to   incendiarism,  the 
sub-officer  Hermann  Levith  (160th  Regi- 
ment of  Infantry,  Eighth  Corps)  writes: 
The     enemy    occupied     the     village    of 
Bievre  and  the  edge  of  the  wood  behind 
It.    The  Third  Company  advanced  in  first 
line.     We    carried    the   village,    and    then 
pillaged  and  burned  almost  all  the  houses. 

And  Private  Schiller  (133d  Infantry, 
Nineteenth  Corps)  writes: 

Our  first  fight  was  at  Haybes  (Bel- 
gium) on  the  24th  of  August.  The  Second 
Battalion  entered  the  village,  ransacked 
the  houses,  pillaged  them,  and  burned 
those   from  which  shots   had   been  fired. 

And  Private  Sebastian  Reishaupt 
(Third  Bavarian  Infantry,  First  Bavarian 
Corps)  writes: 

The  first  village  we  burned  was  Parux, 
(Meurthe-et-Moselle.)  After  this  the 
dance  began,  throughout  the  villages,  one 
after  the  other ;  over  the  fields  and  pas- 
tures we  went  on  our  bicycles  up  to  the 
ditches  at  the  edge  of  the  road,  and 
there  sat  down  to  eat  our  cherries. 

They  emulate  each  other  in  their 
thefts;  they  steal  anything  that  comes 
to  hand  and  keep  records  of  the  thefts 
— "  Schnaps,  Wein,  Marmelade,  Zigar- 
ren,"  writes  this  private  soldier;  and 
the  elegant  officer  of  the  178th  Saxon 
Regiment,  who  was  at  first  indignant 
at  the  !*  vandalismus  "  of  his  men,  fur- 
ther on  admits  that  he  himself,  on  the 
1st  of  September,  at  Rethel,  stole  "  from 
a  house  near  the  Hotel  Moderne  a  su- 
perb waterproof  and  a  photographic  ap- 
paratus for  Felix."  All  steal,  without 
distinction  or  grade,  or  of  arms,  or  of 
cause,  and  even  in  the  ambulances  the 
doctors  steal.  Take  this  example  from 
the  notebook  of  the  soldier  Johannes 
Thode  (Fourth  Reserve  Regiment  of  Er- 
satz): 

At  Brussels,  Oct.  5,  1914.— An  automo- 
bile arrived  at  the  hospital  laden  with  war 
booty — one   piano,    two    sewing    machines. 


many    albums,    and    all 
things. 


sorts    of    other 


"  Two  sewing  machines "  as  "  war 
booty."  From  whom  were  these  stolen? 
Beyond  a  doubt  from  two  humble  Bel- 
gian women.  And  for  whom  were  they 
stolen  ?  ' ' 

VI. 

I  must  admit  that,  out  of  the  forty 
notebooks,  or  thereabout,  that  I  have 
handled,  there  are  six  or  seven  that  do 
not  relate  any  exactions,  either  from 
hypocritical  reticence  or  because  there 
are  some  regiments  which  do  not  make 
war  in  this  vile  fashion.  And  there  are 
as  many  as  three  notebooks  whose 
writers,  in  relating  these  igpioble  things, 
express  astonishment,  indignation,  and 
sorrow.  I  will  not  give  the  names  of 
these,  because  they  deserve  our  regard, 
and  I  wish  to  spare  them  the  risk  of 
being  some  day  blamed  or  punished  by 
their  own. 


y 


v*<  4*^*  *»^>*»it/^.'^ 


^^M^., 

^*i*^^ 


^-^/^J^i 


W' ^  .^f-*  i/^<^^^^^«^M^ -^:i^  *^  ^4n*(j ' 


Figure  10. 

The  first,  the  Private  X.,  who  belongs 
to  the  Sixty-fifth  Infantry,  Regiment  of 
Landwehr,  says  of  certain  of  his  com- 
panions in  arms,  (Fig.  10:) 

They    do    not    behave    as    soldiers,    but 

rather  as  highwaymen,  bandits,  and  brig- 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS       267 


ands,    and   are   a   dishonor   to    our   regi- 
ment and  to  our  army. 
Another,    Lieut.   Y.,   of   the    Seventy- 
seventh  Infantry  of  Reserves,  says: 

No  discipline,  *  *  *  tlie  Pioneers  are 
well  nigh  worthless ;  as  to  the  artillery, 
It  is  a  band  of  robbers. 

The  third,  Private  Z.,  of  the  Twelfth 
Infantry  of  Reserves,  First  Corps, 
writes,  ((Fig.  11:) 


y^»***^.^  I 


Figure  11. 

Unfortunately,  I  am  forced  to  make  note 
of  a  fact  which  should  not  have  occurred, 
but  there  are  to  be  found,  even  in  our 
own  army,  creatures  who  are  no  longer 
men,  but  hogs,  to  whom  nothing  is  sacred. 
One  of  these  broke  into  a  sacristy ;  it  was 
locked,  and  where  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment was  kept.  A  Protestant,  out  of  re- 
spect, had  refused  to  sleep  there.  This 
man  used  it  as  a  deposit  for  his  excre- 
ments. How  is  it  possible  there  should 
be  such  creatures?  Last  night  one  of  the 
men  of  the  Landwehr,  more  than  thirty- 
five  years  of  age,  married,   tried  to  rape 


the  daughter  of  the  inhabitant  where 
he  had  taken  up  his  quarters — a  mere 
girl— and  when  the  father  intervened  he 
pressed  his  bayonet  against  his  breast. 

Beyond  these  three,  who  are  still 
worthy  of  the  name  of  soldiers,  the  other 
thirty  are  all  alike,  and  the  same  soul 
(if  we  can  talk  of  souls  among  such  as 
these)  animates  them  low  and  frantic. 
I  say  they  are  all  about  alike,  but  there 
are  shades  of  difference.  There  are 
some  who,  like  subtle  jurists,  make  dis- 
tinctions, blaming  here  and  approving 
there — "  Dort  war  ein  Exempel  am 
Platze."  Others  laugh  and  say  "  Krieg 
ist  Krieg,"  or  sometimes  they  add  in 
French,  to  emphasize  their  derision, 
"  Ja,  Ja,  c'est  la  guerre,"  and  some 
among  them,  when  their  ugly  business 
is  done,  turn  to  their  book  of  canticles 
and  sing  psalms,  such  as  the  Saxon 
Lieut.  Reislang,  who  relates  how  one 
day  he  left  his  drinking  bout  to  assist 
at  the  "Gottesdienst,"  but  having  eaten 
too  much  and  drunken  too  much,  had  to 
quit  the  holy  place  in  haste;  and  the 
Private  Moritz  Grosse  of  the  177th  In- 
fantry, who,  after  depicting  the  sacking 
of  Saint- Vieth,  (Aug.  22,)  the  sacking 
of  Dinant,  (Aug.  23,)  writes  this  phrase: 

Throwing  of  incendiary  grenades  into 
the  houses,  and  in  the  evening  a  mili- 
tary chorus—"  Now  let  all  give  thanks 
to  God."     (Fig.  12.) 

They're  all  of  a  like  tenor.  Now,  if 
we  consider  that  I  could  exchange  the 
preceding  texts  with  others  quite  similar, 
quite  as  cynical,  and  taken  at  random, 
for  instance — from  the  notebook  of  the 
Reservist  Lautenschlager  of  the  First 
Battalion,  Sixty-sixth  Regiment  of  In- 
fantry, or  the  notebook  of  the  Private 
Eduard  Holl  of  the  Eighth  Corps,  or  the 
notebook  of  the  sub-officer  Reinhold 
Koehn  of  the  Second  Battalion  of  Pome- 
ranien  Pioneers,  or  that  of  the  sub-of- 
ficer Otto  Brandt  of  the  Second  Section 
of  Reserve  Ambulances,  or  of  the  Re- 
servist Martin  Miiller  of  the  100th  Saxon 
Reserve,  or  of  Lieut.  Karl  Zimmer  of  the 
Fifty-fifth  Infantry,  or  that  of  the  Pri- 
vate Erich  Pressler  of  the  100th  Gren- 
adiers, First  Saxon  Corps,  &c.,  aiid  if  we 
will  note  that,  among  the  exactions  re- 
ported  above,   there   are   very  few  that 


268 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


About  thirty  soldiers  of  Stenger's 
Brigade  (112th  and  142d  Regiments  of 
Baden  Infantry)  were  questioned.  I  have 
read  their  depositions,  taken  under  oath 
and  signed  with~  their  own  names;  all 
confirming  the  fact  that  this  order  of  the 
day  was  given  to  them  on  the  26th  of 
August.  In  one  place  by  the  Major  Mose- 
bach,  in  another  by  Lieut.  Curtius,  &c. 
Most  of  these  witnesses  said  that  they 
were  ignorant  whether  the  order  was  car- 
ried out,  but  three  among  them  testified 
that  it  was  carried  out  under  their  own 
eyes  in  the  Forest  of  Thiaville,  where  ten 
or  twelve  wounded  French,  already  made 
prisoners  by  a  battalion,  were  done  away 
with ;  two  others  of  the  witnesses  saw  the 
order  carried  out  along  the  road  of 
Thiaville,  where  several  wounded,  found 
in  the  ditches  by  the  company  as  it 
marched  past,  were  killed. 


yJW^^  ^^-^Aax^.  .y/A-*'''^^ 


II' <».*-»'»-'^S^ 


e^ 


^aJu/.*^ 


>*^<f'*-i^  -^^^^^^  ^t^t-tpt.  ^yc^c..*'*^ 


Figure  13. 
Of  course,  I  cannot  here  produce  the 
original  autograph  of  General  Stenger, 
nor  am  I  here  called  upon  to  furnish  the 
names  of  the  German  prisoners  who  gave 
this    testimony.      But    I    shall    have    no 


trouble  to  establish  entirely  similar 
crimes  on  the  faith  of  German  auto- 
graphs. 

For  instance,  we  find  in  the  notebook 
of  Private  Albert  Delfosse  (111th  In- 
fantry of  Reserves,  Fourteenth  Reserve 
Corps,   (Fig.  13:) 

In  the  woods  (near  Saint-R4my.  4th  or 
5th  of  September)— Found  a  very  fine  cow 
and  a  calf  killed ;  and  again  the  corpses 
of    Frenchmen    horribly    mutilated. 

Must  we  understand  that  these  bodies 
were  mutilated  by  loyal  weapons,  torn 
perhaps  by  shells?  This  may  be,  but  it 
would  be  a  charitable  interpretation, 
which  is  belied  by  this  newspaper  head- 
ing, (Figs.  14  and  15:) 

JAUERSCHES   TAGEBLATT 

Amtlicher  Anzeiger 

Fur  Stadt  und  Kreis  Jauer 

Jauer,    Sonntag,   Den  18,  Oktober,   1914. 

Nr.  245.  106.   Jahrgang. 

This  is  a  heading  of  a  newspaper 
picked  up  in  a  German  trench.  Jauer 
is  a  city  of  Silesia,  about  fifty  kilo- 
meters west  of  Breslau,  where  two  bat- 
talions of  the  154th  Regiment  of  Saxon 
Infantry  are  garrisoned.  One  Sunday 
morning,  Oct.  18,  doubtless  at  the  hour 
when  the  inhabitants — women  and  chil- 
dren— were  wending  their  way  to  church, 
there  was  distributed  throughout  the 
quiet  little  town,  and  through  the  ham- 
lets and  villages  of  the  district,  the 
issue  of  this  local  paper  with  the  fol- 
lowing inscription:  "A  day  of  honor 
for  our  regiment,  Sept.  24,  1914,"  as  the 
title  of  an  article  of  some  two  hundred 
lines,  sent  from  the  front  by  a  member 
of  the  regiment — the  sub-officer  Klemt 
of  the  First  Company,  154th  Infantry 
Regiment. 

The  sub-officer  Klemt  relates  how,  on 
the  24th  of  September,  his  regiment  hav- 
ing left  Hannonville  in  the  morning,  ac- 
companied by  Austrian  batteries, 
suddenly  came  up  against  a  double  fire 
of  infantry  and  artillery.  Their  losses 
were  terrible,  and  yet  the  enemy  was 
still  invisible.  Finally,  says  this  of- 
ficer, it  was  found  that  the  bullets  came 
from  above,  from  trees  which  the  French 


GENERAL     VON      KUSMANEK 

Whose  stubborn  defense  of  Przemysl  made  it  one  of  the 

most  notable  sieges  of  history. 

(Photo    from    Underwood   d    Underwood.) 


CAPT.-LIEUT.     OTTO      WEDDIGEN 

Whose   submarine  exploits  have   done  more   damage  to    England's 
navy  than  all   Germany's  gunners. 

(Photo     from     7  he     Photo     Veto«.) 


lAdennnis  tin  tn^miii  Jumia  ncriildjlc!. 

'S'tc  Unferfccbjjofc  tctCHt  an  bcv  3lrt)elt. 

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!?er  neiieftc  iirnK*  iieittfrije3rf)liiri)ten(ierid|t 

->';!ul!;l?.  Wroftc^  •^''niivt^nftrnrr,  17.  Cfwtifr,  imnuiifn;i.  3" '^»""!>!tc  nMb  Cfknbc  !r.;r?c' 
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iWu't";tiDi8,  fiiJwic  'iOO  Uotoiiiutiurti.  ,  _ 

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irtjiiJjc  ntiuMitiitctt. 

?!f  Jiiiinpfr  bri  mib  fi'iMidt  "23nr?rfrn«  brtnerw  ni>(^  for*.  ®.  'iyi^. 

(Hn  Irtfl  iicr  («^Ijrc  fiir  uiifcr  9icjitmcnt 


U,  Zt$UviUt  IU14. 


nn*n-  r^rt**,  «•••  r-jv  ^*'  3  :.  ififolnr  on      H^n  ^«■ 

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fcar  I^it^*  Iijc."  "S..-,!  ^»fi.w  fi*  fin  j<>rt  »yn 
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Witra.  cwi  UK!  Irtw,  uVttf  Jt  t*li  ftljf  <fnn«tt)insra. 

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Ifin   crvt  itt>».'^.^r.s  ;j;n/^ 


lif 


tn-;;fii** 


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n^ifi  ; 


fftt* 


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hiHS**   tU  t^n^n  bw  5a*«  ^U^mt  «B*  'v.f-R  un 


Figure  14. 

soldiers  had  climbed.     From  this  point 
let  me  quote  verbatim,  (Fig.  16:) 


They're  brought  down  from  the  trees 
like  squirrels,  to  get  a  hot  reception  with 
bayoneted    stock;    they'll    need    no    more 


doctors'  care.  We  are  not  fighting  loyal 
enemies,  but  treacherous  brigands:  [Note — 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that 
it  is  no  more  "treacherous,"  but  quite 
as  lawful,  to  fire  from  the  branches  of  a 
tree  as  from  a  window,  or  from  a  trench. 


}a:u.^' 


6H*.  tRh  feirt^  ^4rfH«.   'j**b»  eafi  wy«n , 


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Shiwtn  an,   llf  «/ii,i   ur-  »tt! 

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Jinn  uaawWji  tJr 

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lit  '4;  iirjri;  /FWfiliffrt  O^t^.  Jli 


SU  ti«r,(  rilt.'l,  :4.<-.  n. 

Jm  !9ii)U  sill!  '■  .•  'i.'Vnt  .--. 

ittt  firte  T'Ml  r-itri»;.-r  VJIK.I 

Stf  S".'rti()cti  t>a  n;:. f 
esyjCi  a>yj!  ^sir  kf  - ■•  '. 

niB  .t!  tnu  »/*  ;i-.--  ■■'-  * 
i£u  t«$[f/n  ttiif  i*',.*!  J;.:..k'"  ..4:1:"' 

X)»fti  ^'i'fr.  —  ^rt*ra  tianc-i  wlr 

jW    -oft*.  r«inii«9,  fu  Jnlifi  Vi'.'V 
T"i.   i'.ilfl  •tn  Cnfl  ><it  Sn,-.  <•' 
■4;.  !.:.nta  ii:^;(,  —  o«i   :;ii|ICT  hi 


a,'.:- 


..■'■■.•.•.     '.^iiv:,.  SiJt.   ».    ?»«(.  «niii>.5  #«^'. 
'.'  i'iii\inJl  VlcJiie  fVtn.  Sc^uw.  ?;»!»n»;; 

.•lir,    K>i»i-tlji:«-.i;.i<!nt.  .  *     t>ijt«l»»l.t 

4iiH-;ii  S...ai.i»ti,   IfciidM.   3tit   flo?ji». 

j  »«>!  9t(.-j  3(.>>i  Cf<r<ljliR«i.«.  «rt  •.!>«.  S-iCTt. 
j  Steu^m!  ;itr  »i.ltcnJ,-Jii).  Ha*!  CKI«  IftuOr.  Bwlin- 
I  »inuu.  11^,1.  WII>,  t:zaKt-tr-i.  CS,-Bl«!fi'ABl  (if!'. 

,  '.(94.  ll.  5t    *5l*iue  HftMi    T"'t*iJll.  IHiitl   CsTs  ^fTT* 

t  irono.  Sniiii  ni«i.!aa., 

i  Suj.  MtlW-IJ.  JlalrerM 
I  3II1II-   Mil,   'iSSVItu,-.:;, 

«i-M«-:.'vo>^i-» 


t  nalcv  I 


Figure   lo. 


and  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  rather 
more  venturesome  and  more  courageous, 
as  the  sequel  of  this  story  will  show.] 
We  crossed  the  clearing  at  a  bound.  Tlie 
foe  is  hidden  here  and  there  among  the 


bushes,  and  now  we  are  upon  them.  No 
quarter  will  be  given.  We  fire  standing, 
at  will ;  very  few  fire  kneeling ;  nobody 
dreams  of  shelter.  We  finally  reach  a 
slight     depression     in     the     ground,     and 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS        271 


fecft  ollc.  Sdjnn  tnerbcri  fcic  erfkn  Jtf«'"on'Q""f''  fit' 
bcdt.  aSon  ben  SSduiricn  merbcn  fie  t)eruntcvgefnaUt 
n»ie  Gid)t)orn(1)en,  untcn  mit  5?oIben  iinb  Scitengcujf^r 
.worm"  empffltigen,  braucfjiti  \\e  feinen  SJrjl  mcJ)r, 
mir  fdmpfcn  nidjt  mefjr  gcgen  ebrl!d}c  Scinbc,  fonbem 
(ifg^n  tiirfi[rf)0  SJduber.  ^prlngenb  getjt's  ubcir  ble 
Sirtjtung  tjiniiber  —  ba  1  borl  1  in  ten  fjerfen  fleden 
iie  brin,  nun  ober  brauf,  ^jJarbon  tutrb  nid)t  gegeben. 
Sfeljcnb,  [rcif)anblg,  !)6d)ftens  fnieenb  mirb  gcfd)of{en, 
on  Dcdung  benft  nicmanb  mctjr.  aBit  fommen  an 
eine  2KuIbe,  tote  unb  oertBunbefe  Koltjofen  liegcn 
mcffcnlTQit  umf)cr.  Me  iPerrounbetcnnjerben  erfrf)Iagen 
ober  erftorfjen,  bcnn  fdjon  toi|fen  mir,  b<i6  bicfe  Cumpen, 
roenn  tcir  oorbci  finb,  uns  im  !Rii(fen  befeuern. 
Ttlii  ber  grdgfen  <Erbi((ming  roirtt  gefdmpff. 
2)ort  liryl  lin  5r<in3;p>in:i  Iniig  cujgfftredt,  bas 
(Sefidjt  auf  bem  SSobcn,  cr  fteOt  fid)  ober  nur  tot..  Dcr 
gufetritl  cinis  ftrommcn  TOusfetiers  belel)rt'il)n,  bog 
toir  ia  finb.  Si*  umbreijenb,  ruft  er  ^Porbon,  ober 
jdjon  ift  er  mit  ten  2Borfcn :  ,6ic^ft  bu,  bu  58  .  .  ., 
fo  ftet^en  eure  Singer"  auf  ber  Grbe  feftgenagclt. 
jjcben  mir  bos  unf)ctnilid)e  firorfjen  fommt  oon  ben 
Rolbcnfdjiagen  Ijcr,  tie  cin  154cr  mudjtig  ouf  eincn 
fionjofif^en  Kotjlfopf  nleberfaufcn  Idfet.  aBob'lmtislid) 
bcnufite  er  gu  bcr  Sirbnt  ein  fran3ofif(t)es®enjc{)r/um 
bos  feinige  nidjt  gu  jicrfi^fagen.  Ccute  mit  befonbers 
iDeii^ctn  (Benr'it  gcbcn  ccriuunbefcn  Q-onjojen  bic 
CBnabenfugel,  bie  onbevn  ijaucn  unb  fiedien  nod)  TOog* 
lit^feit.  lopfer  f)oben  fic^  bie  ©egner  fle[d)Iagcn,  es 
moren  Glitctruppen,  ble  mir  oor  uns  gotten,  ouf  30 — 
10  35Jcter  lie^ijn  fie  una  fjeronfommcn,  bonn  mar's 
oDfrhings  gu  ipdt.  TOaffcnl)aft  mcggemcrfc'ne  SJcrnifter 
unb  aSSoffen  geugen  booon,  bo§  fie  fliel)en  inoUtcn, 
ober  bns  Cnlfeg^n  beirn  Slnblirf  bcr  ffliJgraitcn  „Un» 
l)o!be"  f)Qt  itinen  bie  giige  gclcl)mi  iiub  miUcn  im 
fd)ma>en  oiege  I)at  if;ncn  ble  bcnlf«J)e  Sii^gcl  i!;r  nStopp" 


Figure  16. 

there  the  red  trousers  are  lying  in 
masses,  here  and  there — dead  or  wounded. 
We  club  or  stab  the  wounded,  for  we 
know  that  these  rascals,  as  soon  as  we 
are  gone  by,  will  fire  from  behind.  We 
find  one  Frenchman  lying  at  full  length 
upon  his  face,  but  he  Is  counterfeiting 
death.  A  kick  from  a  robust  fusilier 
gives  him  notice  that  we  are  there.  Turn- 
ing over  he  asks  for  quarter,  but  he  gets 
the  reply—"  Oh  !  is  that  the  way,  black- 
guard, that  your  tools  work?"  and  he  is 
pinned  to  the  ground.  On  one  side  of  me 
I  hear  curious  cracklings.  They're  the 
blows  which  a  soldier  of  the  lij4th  is 
vigorously  showering  upon  the  bald  pate 
of  a  Frenchman  with  the  stock  of  his 
gun ;  he  very  wisely  chose  for  this  work 
a  French  gun,  for  fear  of  breaking  his 
own.  Some  men  of  particularly  sensitive 
soul  grant  the  French  wounded  the  grace 
to  finish  them  with  a  bullet,  but  others 
scatter  here  and  there,  wherever  they 
can,  their  clubbings  and  stabbings.  Our 
adversaries  have  fought  bravely.  They 
were  elite  troops  that  we  had  before  us. 
They  had  allowed  us  to  come  within 
thirty,  and  even  within  ten,  meters — too 
close.  Their  arms  and  knapsacks  thrown 
down  in  heaps  showed  that  they  wanted 
to  fly,  but  upon  the  appearance  of  our 
"  gray  phantoms  "  terror  paralyzed  them. 


and,  on  the  narrow  path  in  which  they 
crowded,  the  German  bullets  brought 
them  the  order  to  halt !  There  they  are 
at  the  very  entrance  of  their  leafy  hiding 
places,  lying  down  moaning  and  asking 
for  quarter,  but  whether  their  wounds 
are  light  or  grievous,  the  brave  fusiliers 
saved  their  country  the  expensive  care 
which  would  have  to  be  given  to  such  a 
number   of   enemies. 

Now  the  recital  continues  very  ornate, 
very  literary,  and  the  writer  relates  how 
his  Imperial  Highness  Prince  Oscar  of 
Prussia,  being  advised  of  the  exploits 
(perhaps,  indeed,  other  exploits  than 
these)  of  the  154th  and  of  the  Regi- 
ment of  Grenadiers,  which  forms  the 
Brigade  with  the  154th,  declared  them 
both  worthy  of  the  name  of  "  King's  Bri- 
gade," and  the  recital  closes  with  this 
phrase:  "When  night  came  on,  with  a 
prayer  of  thankfulness  on  our  lips  we 
fell  asleep  to  await  the  coming  day," 
Then  adding,  by  way  of  postcript,  a 
little  phrase  "  Heimkehr  vom  Kampf ." 
He  carries  the  notebook — prose  and 
verse  together — to  his  Lieutenant,  who 
countersigns  it:  "  Certified  as  correct, 
De  Niem,  Lieutenant  Commanding  the 
Company,"  and  then  he  sends  his  paper 
to  his  town  of  Jauer,  where  he  is  quite 
confident  that  he  will  find  some  news- 
paper publisher  to  accept  it,  printers  to 
set  it  up,  and  a  whole  population  to  en- 
joy it.  Now,  let  me  ask  any  reader — 
whatever  be  his  country — if  he  can  im- 
agine it  possible  for  such  a  tale  to  be 
spread  abroad  in  any  paper  in  his 
language,  in  his  native  town,  for  the 
edification  of  his  wife  and  his  children. 
In  what  other  country  than  in  Germany 
is  such  a  thing  conceivable?  Not  in 
France,  at  all  events.  Now,  if  my 
readers  want  another  document  to  show 
how  customary  it  is  in  the  German 
Army  to  mutilate  the  wounded,  well,  I 
will  borrow  one  from  the  notebook  of 
Private  Paul  Glode  of  the  Ninth  Battalion 
of  Pioneers,  Ninth  Corps,  (Figs.  17 
and  18:) 

Aug.  12,  1914,  in  Belgium.— One  can  get 
an  idea  of  the  fury  of  our  soldieis  in 
seeing  the  destroyed  villages.  Not  one 
house  left  untouched.  Everything  eatable 
is  requisitioned  by  the  unofficered  sol- 
diers. Several  heaps  of  men  and  women 
put  to  execution.  Toung  pigs  are  run- 
ning   about    looking    fpr    their    mothers. 


272 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Figure   12. 

are  the  work  of  isolated  brutes,  (such  as, 
unfortunately,  may  be  found  even  in  the 
most  noble  armies,)  but  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  crimes  represented  her©  are 
collective  actions  in  obedience  to  service 
orders,  and  such  as  rest  upon  and  dis- 
honor not  only  the  individual  but  the  en- 
tire troop,  the  officers,  and  the  nation; 
and  if  we  will  further  note  that  these 
thirty  notebooks  taken  at  random — Ba- 
varian, Saxon,  Pomeranian,  Brandebur- 
ger,  or  from  the  provinces  of  Baden  and 
the  Rhine — must  of  necessity  represent 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  others  quite 
similar,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  fright- 
ful monotony  of  their  recitals;  if  we  con- 
sider all  this,  we  must,  I  think,  be  forced 
to  admit  that  these  atrocities  are  nothing 
less  than  the  practical  application  of  a 
methodically  organized  system. 
VIL 
H.  M.  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  by 
ratifying  The  Hague  Convention  of 
1907,  covenanted   (Article  24)   that  "it 


is  forbidden  (c)  to  kill  or  wound  an 
enemy  who,  having  laid  down  his  arms, 
or  being  without  means  of  defense,  has 
surrendered  unconditionally,  (d)  To  de- 
clare that  no  quarter  shall  be  given." 

Have  the  German  armies  respected 
these  covenants?  Throughout  Belgian 
and  French  reports  depositions  such  as 
the  following  abound.  This  is  taken 
from  a  French  Captain  of  the  288th  In- 
fantry: 

On  the  22d,  in  the  evening,  I  learned 
that  in  the  woods,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  meters  north  of  the  square  formed 
by  the  intersection  of  the  great  Calonne 
trench  with  the  road  from  Vaux-les-Pala- 
meis  to  Saint-RSmy,  there  were  corpses 
of  French  soldiers  shot  by  the  Germans. 
I  went  to  the  spot  and  found  the  bodies 
of  about  thirty  soldiers  within  a  small 
space,  most  of  them  prone,  but  several 
still  kneeling,  and  all  having  a  precisely 
similar  wound— a.  bullet  through  the  ear. 
One  only,  seriously  wounded  in  his  lower 
parts,  could  still  speak,  and  told  me 
that  the  Germans  before  leaving  had  or- 
dered them  to  lie  down  and  that  then 
had  them  shot  through  the  head ;  that  he, 
already  wounded  had  secured  indulgence 
by  stating  that  he  was  the  father  of  three 
small  children.  The  skulls  of  these  un- 
fortunates were  scattered ;  the  guns, 
broken  at  the  stock,  were  scattered  here 
and  there ;  and  the  blood  had  besprinkled 
the  bushes  to  such  an  extent  that  in 
coming  out  of  the  woods  my  cape  was 
spattered  with  it ;  it  was  a  veritable 
shambles. 

I  quote  this  testimony,  not  to  base 
any  accusations  upon  it,  but  simply  to 
give  precision  to  our  indictment.  I 
will  not  lay  stress  upon  it  as  evidence, 
for  I  wish  to  keep  to  the  rule  which  I 
have  laid  down — to  have  records  of  noth- 
ing but  German  sources  of  information. 

I  will  quote  here  the  text  of  an  order 
of  the  day  addressed  by  General  Stenger, 
in  command  of  the  Fifty-eighth  German 
Brigade,  on  the  26th  of  August,  to  the 
troops  under  his  orders: 

From  this  day  forward  no  further  pris- 
oners will  be  taken.  All  prisoners  will 
be  massacred.  The  wounded,  whether 
in  arms  or  not  in  arms,  shall  be  mas- 
sacred. Even  the  prisoners  already 
gathered  in  convoys  will  be  massacred. 
No  living  enemy  must  remain  behind  us. 
Signed— First  Lieutenant  in  Command  of 
the  Company,  Stoy ;  Colonel  Command- 
ing the  Regiment,  Neubauer ;  General  in 
Command   of   the   Brigade,    Stenger. 


WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY  ABOUT  THEIR  OWN  METHODS       i73 


Dogs  chained,  without  food  or  drink. 
And  the  houses  about  them  on  fire.  But 
the  just  anger  of  our  soldiers  is  accom- 
panied also  by  pure  vandalism.  In  the 
villages,  already  emptied  of  their  in- 
habitants, the  houses  are  set  on  fire.  I 
feel  sorry  for  this  population.  If  they 
have  JTiade  use  of  disloyal  weapons,  after 
all,  they  are  only  defending  their  own 
coimtry.  The  atrocities  which  these  non- 
combatants  are  still  committing  ai'e  re- 
venged after  a  savage  fashion.  Mutila- 
tions of  the  wounded  are  the  order  of  the 
day. 

This  was  written  as  early  as  the  12th 
of  August — the  tenth  day  after  the  in- 
vasion of  innocent  Belgium — and  these 
wounded  creatures  that  were  tortured 
had  done  nothing  more  than  defend  their 
land  against  Germany — their  native 
land — which  Germany  had  sworn,  not 
only  to  respect  but,  if  need  be,  to  de- 
fend. And  yet,  in  many  countries  phari- 
sees  reading  these  lines  will  go  forward 
tranquilly  to  their  churches,  or  their 
temples,  or  their  banking  houses,  or  their 
foreign  offices,  saying:  "  In  what  do 
these  things  concern  us?"  "Ja,  ja,  this 
is  war."  Yes,  it  is  war,  but  war  such  as 
was  never  made  by  the  soldiers  of  Mar- 
ceau,  such  as  never  will  be  made  by  the 
soldiers  of  Joffre,  such  as  never  has 
been  made  and  never  will  be  made  by 
France — "  Mother  of  Arts,  of  Arms,  and 
of  Laws."  Yes,  it  is  war,  but  war  such 
as  Attila  would  not  have  carried  on  if 
he  had  subscribed  to  certain  stipula- 
tions; for,  in  subscribing  them,  he  would 
have  awakened  to  the  notion,  which 
alone  distinguishes  the  civilized  man 
from  the  barbarian,  distinguishes  a  na- 
tion from  a  horde — respect  for  the  word 
once  given.  Yes,  it  is  war,  but  war  the 
theory  of  which  could  only  be  made  up 
by  such  pedant  megalomaniacs  as  the 
Julius  von  Hartmanns,  the  Bernhardis, 
and  the  Treitschkes;  the  theory  which 
accords  to  the  elect  people  the  right  to 
uproot  from  the  laws  and  customs  of 
war  what  centuries  of  humanity,  of 
Christianity,  and  chivalry  have  at  great 
pains  injected  into  it;  the  theory  of  sys- 
tematic and  organized  ferocity;  today 
exposed  to  public  reprobation,  not  only 
as  an  odious  thing,  bu\;  no  less  silly  and 
absurd.  For  have  we  not  reached  the 
ridiculous  when  the  incendiaries  of  Lou- 


f 


<tHu»-w-        <v-v-»--«-^         -/z-o-jv-*^      rix-tt,^. 


4-^ 


gg-fc^ 


Figure   17. 


^'^^•*-*'^      ^^^%.-tn./p^    ^..^-♦"s-.^C-, 


Fii;ure   IS. 
L  Continuation  of  Figure  17.] 

vain,  and  Malines,  and  Rheims,  the  as- 
sassins of  women  and  children,  and  of 
the  wounded,  already  find  it  necessary 
to  repudiate  their  actions,  at  least  in 
words,  and  to  impose  upon  the  servility 
of  their  ninety-three  Kulturtrager  such 
denials  as  this:  "  It  is  not  true  that  v/e 
are  making  war  in  contempt  of  the  law 
of  nations,  nor  that  our  soldiers  are 
committing  acts  of  cruelty,  or  of  in- 
subordination, or  indiscipline.  *  *  * 
We  will  carry  this  conflict  through  to 
the  end  as  a  civilized  people,  and  we 
answer  for  this  upon  our  good  name  and 
upon  our  honor!"  Why  this  humble 
and  pitiful  repudiation?  Perhaps  because 
their  theory  of  war  rested  upon  the 
postulate  of  their  invincibility,  and  that, 
in  the  first  shiver  of  their  defeat  upon 


274 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  Marne,  it  collapsed,  and  now  their 
repudiation  quickly  follows — in  dread  of 
the  lex  talionis. 

I  will  stop  here.  I  leave  the  conclu- 
sion to  the  allied  armies,  already  in  sicht 
of  victory. 

Note. — General  Stenger's  order  of  the  day, 
mentioned    on    page  ,    was    communicated 

orally  by  various  officers  in  various  units  of 
the  brigade.  Consequently,  the  form  in  which 
we  have  received  it  may  possibly  be  incom- 
plete or  altered.  In  face  of  any  doubt,  the 
French  Government  has  ordere'l  an  inquiry 
to  be  made  into  the  prisoners'  camps.  Not 
one  of  the  prisoners  to  whom  our  magis- 
trates presented  the  order  of  the  day  in  the 


above-mentioned  form  found  a  word  to  alter. 
They  one  and  all  declared  that  this  was  the 
order  of  the  day  which  had  been  orally  given 
in  the  ranks,  repeated  from  man  to  man ; 
many  added  the  names  of  the  officers  who 
had  communicated  the  order  to  them ;  some 
related  in  what  a  vile  way  it  had  been  carried 
out  under  their  eyes.  All  the  evidence  of 
these  German  soldiers  was  collected  in  a 
legal  manner,  under  the  sanction  of  an  oath, 
and  it  is  after  reading  their  depositions  that 
1  wrote  the  order  of  the  day. 

The  text  of  all  this  evidence  was  trans- 
mitted to  all  the  French  Embassies  and  Lega- 
tions in  foreign  countries  on  the  24th  of 
October,  1914.  Every  neutral  wishing  to  clear 
his  conscience  is  at  liberty  to  obtain  it  from 
the  representatives  of  the  French  Republic, 
who  will  certainly  respond  willingly. 


THE  RECRUIT. 

By   HORTENSE   FLEXNER. 

HE   had    a   woodland   look— half-startled, 
gay- 
As  if  his  eyes,   light-thirsty,   had  not 
learned 
To  wake  accustomed  on  earth's  joyous  day. 
A    child,     whose     merriment    and    wonder 
burned 
In  harmless  flame,  even  his  uniform 

Was  but  a  lie  to  hide  his  wind-wild  grace, 
V'hose  limbs  were  rounded  youth,  too  supple, 
warm. 
To    hold    the    measure    of    the    street-made 
pace. 
Music   and    marching — colors   in   the   sky— 
The     crowded     station,     then     the     train- 
farewell  ! 
For  all  he  had  the  glance,  exultant,  shy, 
That  seemed   to  marvel,    "  More  to  see — to 
tell  !" 
Yet  with  his  breathing  moved,  hid  by  his  coat, 
A  numbered,  metal  disk,  strapped  round  his 
throat ! 


American  Reply  to  Britain's 
Blockade  Order 

By  William  J.  Bryan,  American  Secretary  of  State 


W   W  yiTH  the  publication  on  April  6, 
§/§/      1915,  of  its  note  in  reply  to 
f  f  the  British  Government's  Or- 

der in  Council,  proclaiming  a 
virtual  blockade  against  commerce  to  and 
from.  Germany — printed  in  the  April, 
1915,  mimber  of  The  New  York  Times 
Current  History — the  American  Gov- 
ernment rested  its  case.  The  text  of  the 
note  to  Great  Britain  folloivs: 

WASHINGTON,  March  30,  1915. 
The  Secretary  of  State  to  the  American 
Ambassador  at  London: 

You  are  instructed  to  deliver  the  fol- 
lowing to  his  Majesty's  Government  in 
reply  to  your  Nos.  1,795  and  1,798  of 
March  15:  The  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  given  careful  consid- 
eration to  the  subjects  treated  in  the 
British  notes  of  March  13  and  March  15, 
and  to  the  British  Order  in  Council  of 
the  latter  date. 

These  communications  contain  matters 
of  grave  importance  to  neutral  nations. 
They  appear  to  menace  their  rights  of 
trade  and  intercourse,  not  only  with  bel- 
ligerents but  also  with  one  another.  They 
call  for  frank  comment  in  order  that  mis- 
understandings may  be  avoided.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  deems 
it  its  duty,  therefore,  speaking  in  the 
sincerest  spirit  of  friendship,  to  make  its 
own  view  and  position  with  regard  to 
them  unmistakably  clear. 

The  Order  in  Council  of  the  15th  of 
March  would  constitute,  were  its  pro- 
visions to  be  actually  carried  into  effect 
as  they  stand,  a  practical  assertion  of 
unlimited  belligerent  rights  over  neutral 
commerce  within  the  whole  European 
area  and  an  almost  unqualified  denial  of 
the  sovereign  rights  of  the  nations  now 
at  peace. 

This  Government  takes  it  for  granted 
that  there  can  be  no  question  what  those 


rights  are.  A  nation's  sovereignty  over 
its  own  ships  and  citizens  under  its  own 
flag  on  the  high  seas  in  time  of  peace  is, 
of  course,  unlimited,  and  that  sover- 
eignty suffers  no  diminution  in  time  of 
war,  except  in  so  far  as  the  practice  and 
consent  of  civilized  nations  has  limited  it 
by  the  recognition  of  certain  now  clearly 
determined  rights  which  it  is  conceded 
may  be  exercised  by  nations  which  are 
at  war. 

A  belligerent  nation  has  been  conceded 
the  right  of  visit  and  search,  and  the 
right  of  capture  and  condemnation,  if 
upon  examination  a  neutral  vessel  is 
found  to  be  engaged  in  unneuti'al  service 
or  to  be  carrying  contraband  of  war  in- 
tended for  the  enemy's  Government  or 
armed  forces. 

It  has  been  conceded  the  right  to  es- 
tablish and  maintain  a  blockade  of  an 
enemy's  ports  and  coasts  and  to  capture 
and  condemn  any  vessel  taken  in  trying 
to  break  the  blockade.  It  is  even  con- 
ceded the  right  to  detain  and  take  to  its 
OAvn  ports  for  judicial  examination  all 
vessels  which  it  suspects  for  substantial 
reasons  to  be  engaged  in  unneutral  or 
contraband  service  and  to  condemn  them 
if  the  suspicion  is  sustained.  But  such 
rights,  long  clearly  defined  both  in  doc- 
trine and  practice,  have  hitherto  been 
held  to  be  the  only  permissible  excep- 
tions to  the  principle  of  univei'sal  equal- 
ity of  sovereignty  on  the  high  seas  as 
between  belligerents  and  nations  not  en- 
gaged hi  war. 

It  is  confidently  assumed  that  his  Maj- 
esty's Government  will  not  deny  that  it 
is  a  rule  sanctioned  by  general  practice 
that,  even  though  a  blockade  should  exist 
and  the  doctrine  of  contraband  as  to  un- 
blockaded  territory  be  rigidly  enforced, 
innocent  shipments  may  be  freely  trans- 
ported  to   and   from   the   United    States 


276 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


through  neutral  countries  to  belligerent 
territory,  without  being  subject  to  the 
penalties  of  contraband  traffic  or  breach 
of  blockade,  much  less  to  detention, 
requisition,  or  confiscation. 

Moreover,  the  rules  of  the  Declaration 
of  Paris  of  1856 — among  them  that  free 
ships  make  free  goods — will  hardly  at 
this  day  be  disputed  by  the  signatories 
of  that  solemn  agreement. 

His  Majesty's  Government,  like  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  have 
often  and  explicitly  held  that  these 
rights  represent  the  best  usage  of  war- 
fare in  the  dealings  of  belligerents  with 
neutrals  at  sea.  In  this  connection  I 
desire  to  direct  attention  to  the  opinion 
of  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States 
in  the  case  of  the  Peterhof,  which  arose 
out  of  the  civil  war,  and  to  the  fact  that 
that  opinion  was  unanimously  sustained 
in  the  award  of  the  Arbitration  Commis- 
sion of  1871,  to  which  the  case  was  pre- 
sented at  the  request  of  Great  Britain. 
From  that  time  to  the  Declaration  of 
London  of  1909,  adopted  with  modifica- 
tions by  the  Order  in  Council  of  the  23d 
of  October  last,  these  rights  have  not 
been  seriously  questioned  by  the  British 
Government.  And  no  claim  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain  of  any  justification  for 
interfering  with  the  clear  rights  of  the 
United  States  and  its  citizens  as  neu- 
trals could  be  admitted.  To  admit  it 
would  be  to  assume  an  attitude  of  un- 
neutrality  toward  the  present  enemies 
of  Great  Britain,  which  would  be  ob- 
viously inconsistent  with  the  solemn 
obligations  of  this  Government  in  the 
present  circumstances.  And  for  Great 
Britain  to  make  such  a  claim  would  be 
for  her  to  abandon  and  set  at  nought 
the  principles  for  which  she  has  con- 
sistently and  earnestly  contended  in 
other  times  and  circumstances. 

The  note  of  his  Majesty's  principal 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
which  accompanies  the  Order  in  Coun- 
cil, and  which  bears  the  same  date,  no- 
tifies the  Government  of  the  United 
States  of  the  establishment  of  a  block- 
ade which  is,  if  defined  by  the  terms  of 
the  Order  in  Council,  to  include  all  the 
coasts  and  ports  of  Germany  and  every 
port  of  possible  access  to  enemy  terri- 


tory. But  the  novel  and  quite  unprece- 
dented feature  of  that  blockade,  if  we  are 
to  assume  it  to  be  properly  so  defined,  is 
that  it  embraces  many  neutral  ports  and 
coasts,  bars  access  to  them,  and  subjects 
all  neutral  ships  seeking  to  approach 
them  to  the  same  suspicion  that  would 
attach  to  them  were  they  bound  for  the 
ports  of  the  enemies  of  Great  Britain, 
and  to  unusual  risks  and  penalties. 

It  is  manifest  that  such  limitations, 
risks,  and  liabilities  placed  upon  the 
ships  of  a  neutral  power  on  the  seas, 
beyond  the  right  of  visit  and  search  and 
the  right  to  prevent  the  shipment  of 
contraband  already  referred  to,  are  a  dis- 
tinct invasion  of  the  sovereign  rights  of 
the  nation  whose  ships,  trade,  or  com- 
merce is  interfered  with. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
is,  of  course,  not  oblivious  to  the  great 
changes  which  have  ocurred  in  the  con- 
ditions and  means  of  naval  warfare  since 
the  rules  hitherto  governing  legal  block- 
ade were  formulated.  It  might  be  ready 
to  admit  that  the  old  form  of  "  close  " 
blockade,  with  its  cordon  of  ships  in  the 
immediate  offing  of  the  blockaded  ports, 
is  no  longer  practicable  in  the  face  of 
an  enemy  possessing  the  means  and  op- 
portunity to  make  an  effective  defense 
by  the  use  of  submarines,  mines,  and  air 
craft;  but  it  can  hardly  be  maintained 
that,  whatever  form  of  effective  blockade 
may  be  made  use  of,  it  is  impossible  to 
conform  at  least  to  the  spirit  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  established  rules  of  war. 

If  the  necessities  of  the  case  should 
seem  to  render  it  imperative  that  the 
cordon  of  blockading  vessels  be  extend- 
ed across  the  approaches  to  any  neigh- 
boring neutral  port  or  country,  it  would 
seem  clear  that  it  would  still  be  easily 
practicable  to  comply  with  the  well-rec- 
ognized and  reasonable  prohibition  of 
international  law  against  the  blockading 
of  neutral  ports,  by  according  free  admis- 
sion and  exit  to  all  lawful  traffic  with 
neutral  ports  through  the  blockading  cor- 
don. 

This  traffic  would,  of  course,  include  all 
outward-bound  traffic  from  the  neutral 
country  and  all  inward-bound  traffic  to 
the  neutral  country,  except  contra- 
band in  transit  to  the  enemy.    Such  pro- 


AMERICAN  REPLY   TO  BRITAIN'S  BLOCKADE  ORDER 


277 


cedure  need  not  conflict  in  any  respect 
with  the  rights  of  the  belligerent  main- 
taining the  blockade,  since  the  right 
would  remain  with  the  blockading  ves- 
sels to  visit  and  search  all  ships  either 
entering  or  leaving  the  neutral  territory 
which  they  were  in  fact,  but  not  of 
right,  investing. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
notes  that  in  the  Order  in  Council  his 
Majesty's  Government  give  as  their  rea- 
son for  entering  upon  a  course  ol  action, 
which  they  are  aware  is  without  prece- 
dent in  modern  warfare,  the  necessity 
they  conceive  themselves  to  have  been 
placed  under  to  retaliate  upon  their  ene- 
mies for  measures  of  a  similar  nature, 
which  the  latter  have  announced  it 
their  intention  to  adopt,  and  which  they 
have  to  some  extent  adopted,  but  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  recall- 
ing the  principles  upon  which  his  Maj- 
esty's Government  have  hitherto  been 
scrupulous  to  act,  interprets  this  as 
merely  a  reason  for  certain  extraor- 
dinary activities  on  the  part  of  his  Maj- 
esty's naval  forces  and  not  as  an  excuse 
for  or  prelude  to  any  unlawful  action. 

If  the  course  pursued  by  the  present 
enemies  of  Great  Britain  should  prove  to 
be  in  fact  tainted  by  illegality  and  disre- 
gard of  the  principles  of  war  sanctioned 
by  enlightened  nations,  it  cannot  be  sup- 
posed, and  this  Government  does  not  for 
a  moment  suppose,  that  his  Majesty's 
Government  would  wish  the  same  taint 
to  attach  to  their  own  actions  or  v/ould 
cite  such  illegal  acts  as  in  any  sense  or 
degree  a  justification  for  similar  prac- 
tices on  their  part  in  so  far  as  they  affect 
neutral  rights. 

It  is  thus  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  interprets  the  language  of 
the  note  of  his  Majesty's  principal  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  which 
accompanies  the  copy  of  the  Order  in 
Council,  which  was  handed  to  the  Ambas- 
sador of  the  United  States  by  the  Gov- 
ernment in  London  and  by  him  trans- 
mitted to  Washington. 

This  Government  notes  with  gratifica- 
tion that  "  wide  discretion  is  afforded  to 
the  prize  court  in  dealing  with  the  trade 
of  neutrals  in  such  a  manner  as  may  in 


the  circumstances  be  deemed  just,  and 
that  full  provision  is  made  to  facilitate 
claims  by  persons  interested  in  any  goods 
placed  in  the  custody  of  the  Marshal  of 
the  prize  court  under  the  order."  That 
"  the  effect  of  the  Order  in  Council  is  to 
confer  certain  powers  upon  the  executive 
officers  of  his  Majesty's  Government," 
and  that  "  the  extent  to  which  these  pow- 
ers will  be  actually  exercised  and  the  de- 
gree of  severity  with  which  the  measure 
of  blockade  authorized  will  be  put  into 
operation  are  matters  which  will  depend 
on  the  administrative  orders  issued  by 
the  Government  and  the  decisions  of  the 
authorities  especially  charged  with  the 
duty  of  dealing  with  individual  ships  and 
cargoes,  according  to  the  merits  of  each 
case." 

This  Government  further  notes  with 
equal  satisfaction  the  declaration  of  the 
British  Government  that  "  the  instruc- 
tions to  be  issued  by  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment to  the  fleet  and  to  the  customs 
officials  and  executive  committees  con- 
cerned will  impress  upon  them  the  duty 
of  acting  with  the  utmost  dispatch  con- 
sistent with  the  object  in  view,  and  of 
showing  in  every  case  such  consideration 
for  neutrals  as  may  be  compatible  with 
that  object,  which  is  succinctly  stated,  to 
establish  a  blockade  to  prevent  vessels 
from  carrying  goods  for  or  coming  from 
Germany." 

In  view  of  these  assurances  formally 
given  to  this  Government,  it  is  confi- 
dently expected  that  the  extensive  powers 
conferred  by  the  Order  in  Council  on  the 
executive  officers  of  the  Crown  will  be 
restricted  by  orders  issued  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, directing  the  exercise  of  their 
discretionary  powers  in  such  a  manner 
an  to  modify  in  practical  application 
those  provisions  of  the  Order  in  Council, 
which,  if  strictly  enforced,  would  violate 
neutral  rights  and  interrupt  legitimate 
trade.  Relying  on  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  these  voluntary  assurances  by 
his  Majesty's  Government,  the  United 
States  takes  it  for  granted  that  the 
approach  of  American  merchantmen  to 
neutral  ports  situated  upon  the  long  line 
of  coast  affected  by  the  Order  in  Council 
will   not  be   interfered   with  when   it  is 


US 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


know  that  they  do  not  carry  goods  which 
are  contraband  of  war  or  goods  destined 
to  or  proceeding  from  ports  within  the 
belligerent  territory  affected. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
assumes  with  the  greater  confidence  that 
his  Majesty's  Government  will  thus  ad- 
just their  practice  to  the  recognized  rules 
of  international  law  because  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  British  Government  have 
adopted  an  extraordinary  method  of 
"  stopping  cargoes  destined  for  or  com- 
ing from  the  enemy's  territory,"  which, 
owing  to  the  existence  of  unusual  con- 
ditions in  modern  warfare  at  sea,  it  will 
be  difficult  to  restrict  to  the  limits  which 
have  been  heretofore  required  by  the  law 
of  nations.  Though  the  area  of  opera- 
tions is  confined  to  "  European  waters, 
including  the  Mediterranean,"  so  great 
an  area  of  the  high  seas  is  covered  and 
the  cordon  of  ships  is  so  distant  from  the 
territory  affected  that  neutral  vessels 
must  necessarily  pass  through  the  block- 
ading force  in  order  to  reach  important 
neutral  ports  which  Great  Britain  as  a 
belligerent  has  not  the  legal  right  to 
blockade  and  which,  therefore,  it  is  pre- 
sumed she  has  no  intention  of  claiming 
to  blockade. 

The  Scandinavian  and  Danish  ports, 
for  example,  are  open  to  American  trade. 
They  are  also  free,  so  far  as  the  actual 
enforcement  of  the  Order  in  Council  is 
concerned,  to  carry  on  trade  with  Ger- 
man Baltic  ports,  although  it  is  an  essen- 
tial element  of  blockade  that  it  bear  with 
equal  severity  upon  all  neutrals. 

This  Government,  therefore,  infers 
that  the  commanders  of  his  Majesty's 
ships  of  war,  engaged  in  maintaining 
the  so-called  blockade,  will  be  instructed 
to  avoid  an  enforcement  of  the  proposed 
measures  of  non-intercourse  in  such  a 
way  as  to  impose  restrictions  upon  neu- 
tral trade  more  burdensome  than  those 
which  have  been  regarded  as  inevitable, 
when  the  ports  of  a  belligerent  are  actu- 
ally blockaded  by  the  ships  of  its  enemy. 


The  possibilities  of  serious  interrup- 
tion of  American  trade  under  the  Order 
in  Council  are  so  many,  and  the  methods 
proposed  are  so  unusual,  and  seem  liable 
to  constitute  so  great  an  impediment  and 
embarrassment  to  neutral  commerce, 
that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  if  the  Order  in  Council  is  strictly 
enforced,  apprehends  many  interferences 
with  its  legitimate  trade  which  will  im- 
pose upon  his  Majesty's  Government 
heavy  responsibilities  for  acts  of  the 
British  authorities  clearly  subversive  of 
the  rights  of  neutral  nations  on  the  high 
seas.  It  is,  therefore,  expected  that  the 
Majesty's  Government,  having  considered 
these  possibilities,  will  take  the  steps 
necessary  to  avoid  them,  and,  in  the 
event  that  they  should  unhappily  occur, 
will  be  prepared  to  make  full  reparation 
for  every  act  which,  under  the  rules  of 
international  law,  constitutes  a  violation 
of  neutral  rights. 

As  stated  in  its  communication  of 
Oct.  22,  1914,  "this  Government  will 
insist  that  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
United  States  and  its  citizens  in  the 
present  war  ba  defined  by  the  existing 
rules  of  international  law  and  the  treat- 
ies of  the  United  States  irrespective  of 
the  provisions  of  the  Declaration  of  Lon- 
don, and  that  this  Government  reserves 
to  itself  the  right  to  enter  a  protest  or 
demand  in  each  case,  in  which  those 
rights  and  duties  so  defined  are  violated 
or  their  free  exercise  interfered  with  by 
the  authorities  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment." 

In  conclusion  j'ou  will  reiterate  to  his 
Majesty's  Government  that  this  state- 
ment of  the  view  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  is  made  in  the  most 
friendly  spirit,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  uniform  candor  which  has  character- 
ized the  relations  of  the  two  Govern- 
ments in  the  past,  and  which  has  been 
in  large  measure  the  foundation  of  the 
peace  and  amity  existing  between  the 
two  nationals  without  interruption  for  a 
century.  BRYAN. 


Germany's  Conditions  of  Peace 

The  First  Authoritative  German  Presentation  of  the  Idea 
By  Dr.  Bernhard  Dernburg,  Late  German  Colonial  Secretary  of  State 


k 


rHAT  Germany  would  be  willing 
to  make  peace  on  the  basis  of  a 
free  neutral  sea,  guaranteed  by 
the  powers,  was  indicated  in  a 
letter  written  by  Dr.  Bernhard  Dernburg, 
ex-Colonial  Secretary  of  Germ,any,  and 
read  at  a  pro-German  mass  meeting  held 
in  Portland,  Me.,  on  April  17,  1915.  After 
an  explanatory  note  Dr.  Dernburg  di- 
vided into  numbered  clauses  his  letter,  as 
follows  : 

(1)  Whatever  peace  is  concluded 
should  be  of  a  permanent  nature;  no  per- 
functory patching  up  should  be  permitted. 
The  horror  of  all  the  cvilized  nations 
of  the  Old  World  slaughterng  one  an- 
other, every  one  convinced  of  the  perfect 
righteousness  of  their  own  cause — a  re- 
currence, if  it  could  not  be  avoided  abso- 
lutely, should  be  made  most  remote,  so 
as  to  take  the  weight  from  our  minds 
that  all  this  young  blood  of  the  best  man- 
hood of  Europe  might  be  spilled  in  vain. 

(2)  For  this  purpose  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  world  has  changed  con- 
siderably since  the  last  big  conflagration, 
and  that  all  the  countries  striving  for 
humanity  and  civilization  are  now  one 
big  family,  with  interests,  spiritual  as 
well  as  commercial,  interlocking  to  a  de- 
gree that  no  disturbance  of  any  part  of 
the  civilized  globe  can  exist  without 
seriously  affecting  the  rest.  A  disturb- 
ance in  one  quarter  must  make  quite  in- 
nocent bystanders  involuntary  victims,  to 
the  serious  detriment  of  spiritual  peace 
and  commercial  pursuits. 

The  great  highway  on  which  thoughts 
and  things  travel  are  the  high  seas.  I 
can  with  full  authority  disclaim  any  am- 
bition by  my  country  as  to  world  do- 
minion. She  is  much  too  modest,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  too  experienced,  on.  the 
other  hand,  not  to  know  that  such  a 
state  will  never  be  tolerated  by  the  rest. 


Events  have  shown  that  world  dominion 
can  only  be  practiced  by  dominion  of  the 
high  seas.  The  aim  of  Germany  is  to 
have  the  seas,  as  well  as  the  narrows, 
kept  permanently  open  for  the  free  use 
of  all  nations  in  times  of  war  as 
well  as  in  times  of  peace.  The  sea 
is  nobody's  property  and  must  be  free 
to  everybody.  The  seas  are  the  lungs 
from  which  humanity  draws  a  fresh 
breath  of  enterprise,  and  they  must  not 
be  stopped  up. 

I,  personally,  would  go  so  far  as  to 
neutralize  all  the  seas  and  narrows  per- 
manently by  a  common  and  effective 
agreement  guaranteed  by  all  the  powers, 
so  that  any  infringement  on  that  score 
would  meet  with  the  most  severe  punish- 
ment that  can  be  meted  out  to  any 
transgressor. 

(3)  A  free  sea  is  useless  except  com- 
bined with  the  freedom  of  cable  and 
mail  communications  with  all  countries, 
whether  belligerent  or  not.  I  should  like 
to  see  all  the  cables  jointly  owned  by  the 
interested  nations  and  a  world  mail  sys- 
tem over  sea  established  by  common  con- 
sent. But,  more  than  this,  an  open  sea 
demands  an  open  policy.  This  means 
that,  while  every  nation  must  have  the 
right,  for  commercial  and  fiscal  pur- 
poses, to  impose  whatever  duties  it  thinks 
fit,  these  duties  must  be  equal  for  all 
exports  and  imports  for  whatever  des- 
tination and  from  whatever  source.  It 
would  be  tantamount  to  world  empire, 
in  fact,  if  a  country  owning  a  large  part 
of  the  globe  could  make  discriminating 
duties  between  the  motherland  and  do- 
minions or  colonies  as  against  other  na- 
tions. 

This  has  been  of  late  the  British  prac- 
tice. German  colonies  have  always  been 
open  to  every  comer,  including  the  moth- 
erland, on  equal  terms.    Such  equality  of 


880 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


treatment  should  be  the  established  prac- 
tice for  all  the  future.  The  only  alter- 
native to  an  open  sea  and  free  inter- 
course policy  would  be  a  Chinese  wall 
around  each  country.  If  there  is  no  free 
intercourse  every  country  must  become 
self-sufficient.  Germany  has  proved  that 
it  can  be  done.  But  this  policy  would 
mean  very  high  customs  barriers,  dis- 
crimination, unbounded  egotism,  and  a 
world  bristling  in  arms.  While  the  free 
sea  policy  stands  for  the  true  aims  of  in- 
ternational relations,  namely,  in  exchange 
of  goods,  which  must  benefit  either  party, 
to  be  mutually  satisfactory,  it  will  en- 
gender friendly  feeling  among  all  the 
peoples,  advance  civilization,  and  thereby 
have  a  sure  tendency  toward  disarm- 
ament. 

(4)  Germany  has  been  taxed  with  dis- 
regarding treaty  obligations,  tearing  up 
a  scrap  of  paper — a  solemn  engagement 
of  international  character  regarding  Bel- 
gium. I  have  the  less  reason  to  enter 
into  this  matter  since — if  it  was  a  breach 
of  international  law  at  all — it  has  been 
followed  up  by  all  other  belligerents  by  de- 
stroying other  parts  of  that  code  so 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  commu- 
nity of  nations.  Two  German  men-of- 
war  have  been  destroyed  in  neutral  wa- 
ters. The  protests  that  the  Government 
of  this  country  had  to  make  against 
Great  Britain's  treatment  of  international 
sea  law  and  the  rights  of  the  neutrals 
are  too  numerous  to  be  recounted.  Chi- 
nese neutrality  has  been  violated  in  the 
grossest  way. 

In  disregard  of  all  conventions,  China 
is  now  being  subjected  to  demands  in- 
compatible with  the  rights  of  self-re- 
specting nations.  Egypt  and  Cyprus 
have  been  annexed  by  Great  Britain,  dis- 
regarding all  treaties.  Germany's  diplo- 
matic representatives  have  been  driven 
from  China,  Morocco,  and  Egypt — all 
countries  sovereign  at  the  time.  The 
Declaration  of  London,  which  had  been 
set  up  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  as  the  governing  document,  had 
to  be  dropped  as  such.  There  is  prac- 
tically no  part  of  international  law  that 
could  stand  the  test.  Justice  toward  neu- 
trals   compels    that    international    law 


should  be  re-established  in  a  codified 
form,  with  sufficient  guarantees  so  as 
to  save,  as  far  as  possible,  all  the  neu- 
trals from  possible  implication  in  a  war 
in  which  they  do  not  take  part. 

(5)  Germany  does  not  strive  for  ter- 
ritorial aggrandizement  in  Europe;  she 
does  not  believe  in  conquering  and  sub- 
jugating unwilling  nations — this  on  ac- 
count of  a  spirit  of  justice  and  her  knowl- 
edge of  history.  No  such  attempts  have 
ever  been  permanently  successful. 

Belgium  commands  the  main  outlet  of 
Western  German  trade,  is  the  natural 
foreland  of  the  empire,  and  has  been 
conquered  with  untold  sacrifice  of  blood 
and  treasure.  It  offers  to  German  trade 
the  only  outlet  to  an  open  sea  and  it  has 
been  politically  established,  maintained, 
and  defended  by  England  in  oi'der  to  keep 
these  natural  advantages  from  Germany. 

The  love  for  small  peoples  that  Eng- 
land heralds  now  will  never  stand  in- 
vestigation, as  shown  by  the  destruction 
of  the  small  Boer  republics.  So  Belgium 
cannot  be  given  up.  However,  these  con- 
siderations could  be  disregarded  if  all 
the  other  German  demands,  especially  a 
guaranteed  free  sea,  were  fully  complied 
with  and  the  natural  commercial  rela- 
tionship of  Belgium  to  Germany  was  con- 
sidered in  a  just  and  workable  form.  In 
this  case  Germany  will  not  fail  when  the 
times  come  to  help  in  rebuilding  the  coun- 
try; in  fact,  she  is  doing  so  now. 

(6)  Germany  is  a  country  smaller  in 
size  than  California,  but  populated  thir- 
ty-five times  as  thickly  as  that  Slate. 
She  loves  and  fosters  family  life,  and  sees 
her  future  in  the  raising  of  large  fam- 
ilies of  healthy  children  under  the  home 
roof  and  under  the  national  flag.  Ger- 
man parents  have  no  desire  to  expatriate 
every  year  a  considerable  number  of 
their  children.  This  implies  that  her  in- 
dustrial development,  which  would  alone 
give  occupation  to  the  yearly  increase  of 
pretty  nearly  a  million  people,  should  go 
on  unhampered. 

The  actvity  of  her  people  should  have  an 
outlet  in  the  development  of  such  foreign 
parts  as  need  or  wish  for  development. 
Great  Britain  has  shown  very  little  fore- 
sight in  constantly  opposing  such  efforts, 


GERMANY'S  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE 


281 


playing  Morocco  into  the  hands  of 
France,  a  nation  that  remained  station- 
ary for  forty-four  years,  with  little  more 
than  half  of  the  population  of  Germany, 
and  with  a  system  equally  undermining 
religion  and  morality  in  keeping  families 
small  for  the  sake  of  worldly  comforts. 

England,  furthermore,  constantly  ob- 
structed the  German  endeavor  to  reclaim 
for  the  benefit  of  all  of  the  world  the 
'  granary  in  Mesopotamia.  A  permanent 
peace  will  mean  that  this  German  ac- 
tivity must  get  a  wide  scope  without  in- 
fringement upon  the  rights  of  others. 
Germany  should  be  encouraged  to  con- 
tinue her  activities  in  Africa  and  Asia 
Minor,  which  can  only  result  in  perma- 
nent benefit  to  all  the  world.  Amer- 
icans have  a  saying  "  that  it  will  never 
do  good  to  sit  on  a  safety  valve." 

There  is  nothing  in  the  program  of 
my  country  which  would  not  be  benefi- 
cial to  the  rest  of  the  world,  especially  the 
United  States.  That  this  is  so  the  events 
of  the  la-st  months  have  conclusively 
shown,  and  a  better  appreciation  of  what 
Germany  really  stands  for  has  recently 


taken  place.  So,  if  I  plead  the  cause  of 
my  country,  I  am  not  pleading  as  a  Ger- 
man alone,  but  as  a  citizen  of  a  country 
who  wishes  to  be  a  useful  and  true  mem- 
ber of  the  universality  of  nations,  con- 
tributing by  humanitarian  aims  and  by 
the  enhancement  of  personal  freedom  to 
the  happiness  of  even  the  lowliest  mem- 
bers of  the  great  world  community. 

I  am  proud  to  say  that  I  cannot  only 
give  this  assurance,  but  produce  facts, 
and  I  beg  to  refer  to  the  modern  system 
of  social  reforms  which  Germany  inau- 
gurated and  carries  through  at  an  ex- 
pense which  is  every  year  larger  by  half 
than  the  expense  of  the  military  system. 

The  brunt  of  this  war  has  not  been 
borne  by  the  men  who  fight,  but  by  the 
women  who  suffer,  and  it  will  be  one  of 
the  proudest  and  most  coveted  achieve- 
ments that  Germany  will  gain  in  reward- 
ing in  a  dignified  and  permanently  bene- 
ficial way  the  enormous  sacrifices  of  wo- 
manhood, to  alleviate  to  the  extent  of  the 
possible  the  hardships  and  sorrows  that 
this  war  has  brought  upon  them. 


I 


The  Allies'  Conditions  of  Peace 

By  Sir  Edward  Grey 

Sir  Edward  G>ey,  i>resid)ng  at  a  lecture  on  the  war  by  Mr.  Buchan,  delivered  March  22, 
15)15,  reviewed  the  origin  and  causes  of  tlie  conflict.  Germany,  he  said,  refused  every  sug- 
gestion made  to  her  for  settling  the  dispute  by  means  of  a  conference.  On  her  must  rest  for 
all  time  the  appalling  responsibility  for  having  plunged  Europe  into  this  war.  One  essential 
condition  of  peace  must  be  the  restoration  to  Belgium  of  her  independence  and  reparation  to 
her  for  the  cruel  wrong  done  to  her.  England  claims  for  heisclf  and  her  allies  claim  for 
themselves,  and  together  will  secure  for  Europe,  the  right  of  independent  sovereignty  for  the 
different  nations,  the  right  to  pursue  a  national  existence  in  the  light  of  general  liberty. 


THE  occasion  of  our  meeting  this 
afternoon  is  to  hear  a  lecture  from 
my  friend  Mr.  Buchan  on  the 
strategy  of  the  war,  and  he  is 
sure  to  make  it  informing  and  inter- 
esting. His  friends  know  him  as  a  man 
of  fine  public  spirit  and  patriotism,  in 
whom  a  crisis  such  as  this  in  his  coun- 
try's history  arouses  the  noblest  feel- 
ings. I  am  sorry  that  an  engagement 
makes  it  necessary  for  me  to  return 
soon  to  the  Foreign  Office,  and  there- 
fore it  will  be  a  great  disappointment 
to  me  not  to  hear  the  whole  of  the 
lecture.  I  take  the  opportunity  to 
make  my  apology  now,  and  also  to 
make  one  or  two  remarks  on  the 
origin  and  issues  of  the  war.  While  we 
are  engaged  in  considering  the  particu- 
lar methods  by  which  the  war  may  be 
prosecuted  to  a  successful  conclusion 
do  not  let  us  lose  sight  even  for  a  mo- 
ment of  the  character  and  origin  of 
this  war  and  of  the  main  issues  for  which 
we  are  fighting.  Hundreds  of  millions 
of  money  have  been  spent,  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  lives  have  been  lost,  and 
millions  ha\e  been  maimed  and  wounded 
in  Europe  during  the  last  few  months. 
And  all  this  might  have  been  avoided  by 
the  simple  method  of  a  conference  or  a 
joint  discussion  between  the  powei's  con- 
cerned which  might  have  been  held  in 
London,  at  The  Hague,  or  wherever  and 
in  whatever  forni  Germany  would  have 
consented  to  have  it.  It  would  havt! 
been  far  easier  to  have  settled  by 
conference  the  dispute  between  Aus- 
tria-Hungary and  Serbia,  which  Ger- 
many made  the  occasion  for  this  war, 
than  it  was  to  get  successfully  through 


the  Balkan  crisis  of  two  years  ago.  Ger- 
many knew  from  her  experience  of  the 
conference  in  London  which  settled  the 
Balkan  crisis  that  she  could  count  upon 
our  good  will  for  peace  in  any  confer- 
ence of  the  powers.  We  had  sought  no 
diplomatic  triumph  in  the  Balkan  Con- 
ference; we  did  not  give  ourselves  to 
any  intrigue;  we  pursued  impartially  and 
honorably  the  end  of  peace,  and  we  were 
ready  last  July  to  do  the  same  again. 

In  recent  years  we  have  given  Ger- 
many every  assurance  that  no  aggression 
upon  her  would  receive  any  support  from 
us.  We  withheld  from  her  one  thing — 
we  would  not  give  an  unconditional 
promise  to  stand  aside,  however  ag- 
gressive Germany  herself  might  be  to 
her  neighbors.  Last  July,  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  France  was 
ready  to  accept  a  conference;  Italy 
was  ready  to  accept  a  conference;  Rus- 
sia was  ready  to  accept  a  conference; 
and  vve  know  now  that  after  the  British 
proposal  for  a  conference  was  made,  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  himself  proposed  to 
the  Germ.an  Emperor  that  the  dispute 
should  be  referred  to  The  Hague.  Ger- 
many refused  every  suggestion  made  to 
her  for  settling  the  dispute  in  this  way. 
On  her  rests  now,  and  must  rest  for  all 
time,  the  appalling  responsibility  for 
having  plunged  Europe  into  this  war  and 
for  having  involved  herself  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  Continent  in  the  con- 
sequences of  it. 

We  know  now  that  the  German  Gov- 
ernment had  prepared  for  war  as  only 
people  who  plan  can  prepare.  This  is 
the  fourth  time  within  living  memory 
that  Prussia  had  made  war  in  Europe. 


THE  ALLIES'  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE 


283 


In  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war,  in  the 
war  against  Austria  in  1866,  in  the 
war  against  France  in  1870,  as  we  now 
know  from  all  the  documents  that  have 
been  revealed,  it  was  Prussia  who 
planned  and  prepared  these  wars.  The 
same  thing  has  occurred  again,  and  we 
are  determined  that  it  shall  be  the  last 
time  that  war  shall  be  made  in  this  way. 

We  had  assured  Belgium  that  never 
would  we  violate  her  neutrality  so  long 
as  it  was  respected  by  others.  I  had 
given  this  pledge  to  Belgium  long  before 
the  war.  On  the  eve  of  the  war  we 
asked  France  and  Germany  to  give  the 
same  pledge.  France  at  once  did  so. 
Germany  declined  to  give  it.  When, 
after  that,  Germany  invaded  Belgium  we 
were  bound  to  oppose  Germany  with  all 
our  strength,  and  if  we  had  not  done  so 
at  the  first  moment,  is  there  any  one 
who  now  believes  that  when  Germany 
attacked  the  Belgians,  when  she  shoT 
down  combatants  and  non-combatants  in 
a  way  that  violated  all  the  rules  of  war 
of  recent  times  and  the  laws  of  hu- 
manity of  all  time — is  there  any  one 
who  thinks  it  possible  now  that  we  could 
have  sat  still  and  looked  on  without  eter- 
nal disgrace? 

Now  what  is  the  issue  for  which  we 
are  fighting?  In  due  time  the  terms  of 
peace  will  be  put  forward  by  our  Allies 
in  concert  with  us — in  accordance  with 
the  alliance  that  exists  between  us — and 
published  to  the  world.  One  essential 
condition  must  be  the  restoration  to  Bel- 
gium of  her  independence,  national  life, 
and  free  possession  of  her  territory,  and 
reparation  to  her  as  far  as  reparation  is 
possible  for  the  cruel  wrong  done  to  her. 
That  is  part  of  the  great  issue  for  which 
we,  with  our  allies,  are  contending,  and 
the  great  part  of  the  issue  is  this — We 
wish  the  nations  of  Europe  to  be  free  to 
live  their  independent  lives,  working 
out  their  own  form  of  government  for 
themselves,  and  their  own  national  de- 
velopments, whether  they  be  great  na- 
tions or  small  States,  in  full  liberty. 
This  is  our  ideal.  The  German  ideal — 
w^e  have  had  it  poured  out  by  Ger- 
man professors  and  publicists  since 
the  war  began — is  that  of  the  Ger- 
mans as  a  superior  people,  to  whom  all 


things  are  lawful  in  the  securing  of  their 
own  power,  against  whom  resistance  of 
any  sort  is  unlawful — a  people  estab- 
lishing a  domination  over  the  nations 
of  the  Continent,  imposing  a  peace  which 
is  not  to  be  liberty  for  every  nation,  but 
subservience  to  Germany.  I  would  rather 
perish  or  leave  the  Continent  altogether 
than  live  on  it  under  such  conditions. 

After  this  war  we  and  the  other  na- 
tions of  Europe  must  be  free  to  live, 
not  menaced  continually  by  talk  of  "  su- 
preme war  lords,"  and  "  shining  armor," 
and  the  sword  continually  "  rattled  in 
the  scabbard,"  and  heaven  continually 
invoked  as  the  accomplice  of  Germany, 
and  not  having  our  policy  dictated  and 
our  national  destinies  and  activities  con- 
trolled by  the  military  caste  of  Prussia. 
We  claim  for  ourselves  and  our  allies 
claim  for  themselves,  and  together  we 
will  secure  for  Europe,  the  right  of  in- 
dependent sovereignty  for  the  different 
nations,  the  right  to  pursue  a  national 
existence,  not  in  the  shadow  of  Prussian 
hegemony  and  supremacy,  but  in  the 
light  of  equal  liberty. 

All  honor  for  ever  be  given  from  us 
whom  age  and  circumstances  have  kept 
at  home  to  those  who  have  voluntarily 
come  forward  to  risk  their  lives,  and 
give  their  lives  on  the  field  of  battle  on 
land  and  on  sea.  They  have  their  re- 
ward in  enduring  fame  and  honor.  And 
all  honor  be  from  us  to  the  brave  armies 
and  navies  of  our  Allies,  who  have  ex- 
hibited such  splendid  courage  and  noble 
patriotism.  The  admiration  they  have 
aroused,  and  their  comradeship  in  arms, 
will  be  an  ennobling  and  enduring  mem- 
ory between  us,  cementing  friendships 
and  perpetuating  national  gopd  will.  For 
all  of  us  who  are  serving  the  State  at 
home  or  in  whatever  capacity,  whether 
officials,  or  employers,  or  wage  earners, 
doing  our  utmost  to  carry  on  the  na- 
tional life  in  this  time  of  stress,  there 
is  the  knowledge  that  there  can  be  no 
nobler  opportunity  than  that  of  serving 
one's  country  when  its  existence  is  at 
stake,  and  when  the  cause  is  just  and 
right;  and  never  was  there  a  time  in 
our  national  history  when  the  crisis  was 
so  great  and  so  imperative,  or  the  cause 
more  just  and  right. 


South  Africa's  Romantic  Blue 

Paper 

Recording  the  Vision  of  "  Oom  Niklaas,"  the  Boer  Seer  of  Lichtenburg 

[From  The  Nkw   York  Times,  April  IS,   I!)!."..] 


THE  South  African  "Blue  Paper" 
is  out.  It  is  unique.  However 
widely  and  however  eagerly  the 
official  documents  of  the  other 
countries  involved  in  the  present  war 
may  have  been  read,  they  could  not  be 
called  romantic  in  any  sense  of  the 
word. 

The  "  Blue  Paper  "  issued  by  the  Union 
of  South  Africa  presents  a  distinct  con- 
trast. In  the  third  paragraph  of  the 
very  first  page  of  this  weighty  document, 
which  deals  with  the  recent  rebellion,  is 
the  following  unusual  sentence: 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  in  the  fer- 
ment aroused  by  the  gigantic  struggle  In 
Europe,  -which  seemed  to  toe  shaking  the 
world  to  its  foundations,  joung  men  began 
to  see  visions  and  old  men  to  dream  dreams 
of  what  the  outcome  might  be  for  South 
Africa. 

And  this  is  followed  by  a  still  stranger 
passage: 

The  times  were  not  without  their  signs. 
There  v.as  a  seer  in  Lichtenburg  who  had 
visions  of  strange  import.  Years  ago  and 
long  before  any  one  in  this  country  had 
dreamed  of  war  he  beheld  a  great  fight  of 
bulls,  six  or  seven  of  them,  engaged  In 
bloody  combat;  a  gray  bull  had  emerged 
victorious  from  the  contest. 

The  bulls  signified  the  great  nations  of 
Europe,  and  the  gray  bull  was  Germany. 
Thousands  had  discussed  this  strange  vis- 
ion and  had  remembered  its  prophetic  char- 
acter when,  later,  war  actually  broke  out. 
The  vision  seemed  ominous.  Germany  was 
predestined  to  triumph. 

The  seer  is  Niklaas  van  Rensburg,  and 
ho  runs  through  this  Government  report 
like  a  scarlet  thread  through  gray  home- 
spun. It  is  around  his  influence  that  the 
uprising  of  Sept.  15  is  built.  It  is  under 
his  roof  that  all  manner  of  lurid  con- 
spiracies are  hatched.  Not  only  do  his 
words  carry  with  the  crowds  that  gather 
before  his  house  to  hear  his  prophecy, 
but  his   warnings   shape  the  actions   of 


some  of  the  Transvaal  Generals.  The 
Government  report  will  not  go  so  far  as 
to  brand  "  Oom  Niklaas "  as  a  hoax. 
Says  the  preface: 

It  is  desired  to  point  out  that  the  narrative 
of  events  has  been  compiled  in  as  objective  a 
manner  as  possible,  and  that  it  contains  no 
statement  which  is  not  borne  out  by  evidence 
in  possession  of  the  Govei'nment. 

Evidently,  to  denounce  visions  of  gray 
bulls  as  hocus-pocus  would  be  to  describe 
a  puzzling  situation  much  too  subjective- 
ly, since  the  Government  has  apparently 
no  evidence  that  these  are  not  genuine 
prophecy.  The  best  the  Government  can 
do  is  to  call  them  "  extraordinary  and  ap- 
parently quite  authentic." 

But  the  extraordinary  part  of  it  is  that 
an  illiterate  old  soothsayer  should  be  con- 
sidered important  enough  to  be  included 
in  an  official  report. 

His  most  famous  and  most  influ- 
ential prophecy,  the  one  that  will  go 
down  in  the  history  of  South  Africa,  was 
that  which  concerned  General  de  la  Rey 
and  the  fatal  number  15. 

The  prophecy  which  came  back  to  the 
minds  of  van  Rensburg's  followers  when 
war  broke  out  was  one  concerning  Gen- 
eral de  la  Rej',  the  intrepid  soldier  who 
had  commanded  the  Lichtenburg  burgh- 
ers in  the  Boer  war  and  since  become 
President  of  the  Western  Transvaal 
Farmers'  Association.  Van  Rensburg 
had  always  admired  General  de  la  Rey. 
He  had  frequently  hinted  to  his  circle 
that  great  things  were  in  store  for  him. 
One  of  his  visions  had  been  well  known 
to  General  de  la  Rey  and  his  friends  for 
some  years.     The  report  says: 

The  seer  had  beheld  the  number  15  on  a 
dark  cloud  from  which  blood  issued,  and 
then  General  de  la  Rey  returning  home 
without  his  hat.  Immediately  afterward 
came  a  carriage  covered  with  flowers. 


H.      M.      CONSTANTINE     I. 

King  of  Greece. 

(Photo    from     P.     S.     Rogt^ra.) 


JOHN      REDMOND 

The  great  Irish  leader,  who  says  that  Ireland  has  now  taken 
her  proper  place  in  the  British   Empire. 

(Photo    from     P.     S.     Rogers. ^ 


SOUTH   AFRICA'S    ROMANTIC   BLUE   PAPER 


i85 


This  was  several  years  ago.  But  the 
people  did  not  forget  the  prophecy,  and 
when  war  broke  out  in  Europe  the 
Western  Transvaal — in  the  Lichtenburg- 
Wolmaransstad  area,  where  van  Rens- 
burg's  influence  was  strongest — was  im- 
mediately aflame.  The  Government  does 
not  seek  to  minimize  the  importance  of 
this  influence: 

When  the  war  at  last  broke  out,  the  effect 
in  Lichtenburg  was  instantaneous.  The 
phophecies  of  van  Rensburg  were  eagerly- 
recalled,  and  it  was  remembered  that  he  had 
foretold  a  day  on  which  the  independence  of 
the  Transvaal  would  be  restored. 

Certain  individuals  could  be  seen  daily 
cleaning  their  rifles  and  cartridges  in  order 
to  be  ready  for  the  day.  Within  a  week  of 
the  declaration  of  war  between  England  and 
Germany  the  district  was  further  profoundly 
stirred  by  the  news  (now  become  generally 
known)  that  a  great  meeting  of  local  burgh- 
ers was  to  be  held  at  Treurfontein  on  the 
15th  of  August,  and  that  certain  local  offi- 
cers were  commandeering  their  burghers  to 
come  to  this  meeting  armed  and  fully 
equipped  for  active  service. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  in  Europe 
suddenly  brought  the  Lichtenburger's 
prophecy  down  to  earth  and  crystallized 
the  dream.  The  commandants  were  evi- 
dently as  convinced  that  independence 
was  at  hand  as  the  crowd. 

Careful  inquiries  by  other  local  officers 
brought  to  light  the  following  facts: 

Veld  Kornet,  I.  E.  Claassen,  and  Com- 
mandant P.  G.  A.  Wolmarans  of  Ward  On- 
der  Hartsrivier  had  been  commandeering 
their  own  burghers  as  well  as  their  political 
friends  since  the  first  week  of  August  to 
come  to  the  meeting  which  was  co  be  held 
at  Treurfontein  on  the  loth.  The  instruc- 
tions given  to  these  men  were  that  they 
were  to  come  with  rifle,  horse,  saddle  and 
bridle,  and  as  much  ammunitions  and  pro- 
visions as  they  could  manage  to  bring. 

The  meeting  was  to  be  addressed  by  Gen- 
eral de  la  Rey,  and  it  was  generally  believed 
that  the  assembled  burghers  would  march 
on  Potchefstroom  immediately  after  the 
meeting. 

None  doubted  the  truth  of  the  seer's 
prophecy  now.  The  Western  Transvaal 
took  it  for  its  guide  with  implicit  con- 
fidence. 

The  strange  vision  of  the  number  15,  which 
had  long  been  common  knowledge,  was  now 
discussed  with  intense  interest.  The  15,  it 
was  said,  signified  the  loth  of  August,  the 
day  of  the  meeting.  That  would  be  the  day 
which  had  been  so  long  expected— the  day  of 
liberation. 


Van  Rensburg  was  now  the  oracle.  His 
prophecies  with  regard  to  the  great  war  had 
been  signally  fulfilled.  Germany  was  at 
grips  with  England,  and  her  triumph  was 
looked  upon  as  inevitable. 

The  day  had  arrived  to  strike  a  blow  for 
their  lost  independence.  Van  Rensburg  as-  " 
sured  his  following  that  the  Union  Govern- 
ment was  "  finished."  Not  a  shot  would  be 
fired.  The  revolution  would  be  complete  and 
bloodless. 

Between  the  10th  and  the  loth  the  plotters 
in  Lichtenburg  were  actively  preparing  for 
the  day.  There  is  evidence  that  German  se- 
cret agents  were  working  in  concert  with 
them.  When  doubters  asked  how  they  could 
be  so  certain  that  the  15  signified  a  day  of 
the  month— and  of  the  month  of  August  in 
particular— they  were  scornfully  if  illogical- 
ly  told  that  "  in  God's  time  a  month  sooner 
or  later  made  no  difference." 

Of  course.  General  de  la  Rey  was  the 
storm  centre.  He  had  been  mentioned  in 
the  same  vision  with  the  number  15  and 
it  was  taken  for  granted  that  he  would 
play  the  chief  role  in  the  Treurfontein 
meeting.  De  la  Rey  was  the  unques- 
tioned ruler  of  the  Western  Transvaal. 
The  report  states: 

He  possessed  an  unrivaled  influence  and 
was  looked  up  to  as  the  uncrowned  king  of 
the  West.  His  attitude  at  the  meeting  would 
sway  the  mass  of  his  adherents  and  decide 
the  question  of  peace  or  war. 

Accordingly,  General  Louis  Botha,  Pre- 
mier of  the  South  African  Union,  sum- 
moned General  de  la  Rey  to  Pretoria, 
some  days  before  the  meeting,  and  per- 
suaded him  to  use  his  best  efforts  to  allay 
excitement. 

On  the  15th  the  meeting  was  held.  The 
situation  was  a  tense  one.  Not  one  of 
the  burghers  present  doubted  the  out- 
come. Yet  General  de  la  Rey  ^horted 
them  to  remain  cool  and  calm.  He  urged 
them  to  await  the  turn  of  events  in  Eu- 
rope. After  his  address  a  "  strange  and 
unusual  silence  "  was  observed,  says  the 
"  Blue  Paper." 

A  resolution  was  passed  unanimously  ex- 
pressing complete  confidence  in  the  Govern- 
ment to  act  in  the  best  interests  of  South 
Africa  in  the  present  world  crisis.  Ths 
burghers  appeared  to  have  taken  their  lead- 
er's advice  to  heart,  as  they  dispersed  quietly 
to  their  homes. 

All  danger  of  a  rebellious  movement 
had  apparently  been  averted. 

The  only  difficulty  was  that  the 
prophecy   of   "  Oom   Niklaas "   was   still 


286 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


standing.  The  fact  that  the  uprising  had 
failed  did  not  seem  in  the  least  to  in- 
validate the  vision.  If  the  mysterious 
number  did  not  mean  Aug.  15,  then  per- 
haps it  did  mean  Sept.  15. 

Accordingly,  preparations  were  laid 
for  a  rebellion  for  the  latter  date.  The 
plot  was  engineered  by  Lieut.  Colonel 
Solomon  G.  Maritz  and  General  Christian 
Frederick  Beyers.  Maritz  is  a  brilliant 
though  unlettered  Colonel  who  won  dis- 
tinction in  the  Boer  war,  while  Beyers 
was  the  Commandant  General  of  the 
South  African  Union  forces.  Beyers  is 
dead  now;  Maritz  and  some  of  the  promi- 
nent men  associated  in  the  conspiracy 
are  in  prison  awaiting  trial. 

Beyers  and  Maritz  did  not  trust  en- 
tirely to  the  prophecy  of  the  seer  of 
Lichtenburg.  Maritz  had  already  ob- 
tained a  guarantee  from  the  authorities 
in  German  West  Africa,  with  whom  he 
had  been  in  communication  for  some 
time,  that  in  the  event  of  Germany's 
victory  the  Free  State  and  the  Transvaal 
would  be  given  their  freedom.  He  had 
organized  the  back-veldt  Boers  into 
readiness  to  go  over  into  German  West 
Africa  at  a  moment's  notice.  In  the 
Free  State,  General  de  Wet  was  ready 
to  aid  the  rebellion,  and  the  Western 
Transvaal,  already  excited,  could  easily 
be  swung  into  line. 

The  regiments  of  the  west  were  to  con- 
centrate at  Potchefstroom  early  in  Sep- 
tember for  their  annual  training.  At 
that  time  the  members  of  the  Govern- 
ment, among  them  General  de  la  Rey, 
who  is  a  member  of  the  Legislative  As- 
sembly, would  be  in  Cape  Town  for  the 
session  of  the  Parliament. 

Everything  made  the  15th  of  Septem- 
ber look  like  an  auspicious  date  for  the 
conspirators  and  those  who  believed  in 
van  Rensburg.  But  General  de  la  Rey 
still  remained  the  storm  centre.  He  was 
the  factor  which  upset  all  plans.  He 
was  the  most  difficult  obstacle.  A  large 
personality,  his  influence  could  never  be 
discounted.  If  he  could  be  induced  to 
join  the  conspiracy  the  cause  was  as 
good  as  won.  Should  he  oppose  the 
movement  it  was  lost,  for  neither  Beyers 
nor  Major  Kemp,  a  leader  in  his  district 
in  West  Transvaal,  could  hope  to  do  any- 


thing against  General  de  la  Rey  in  the 
west. 

General  de  la  Rey  believed  in  the  Lich- 
tenburg prophet.  A  strong  man,  of  ex- 
traordinary force  and  intelligence,  the 
whole  course  of  his  plans  might  be 
altered  by  a  new  vision  from  van  Rens- 
burg. Beyers  knew  this,  says  the  report, 
and  saw  the  way  by  which  he  should  win 
the  General  to  the  conspiracy. 

There  is  evidence  to  prove  that  General 
Beyers  set  himself  systematically  to  work 
in  General  de  la  Key's  mind  in  order  to  in- 
duce   him    to   join    the    conspiracy. 

General  de  la  Rey  was  known  to  hold 
strong  religious  views,  which  colored  his 
whole  outlook.  The  seer,  van  Rensburg,  who 
was  always  full  of  religious  talk,  had  in  this 
way  acquired  a  considerable  amount  of  in- 
fluence over  General  de  la  Rey. 

There  is  the  best  of  evidence  (General 
Beyers's  own  statement)  for  the  belief  that  he 
himself  did  not  scruple  to  work  on  General 
de  la  Rey's  mind  through  his  religious 
feelings. 

•Just  how  Beyers  accomplished  this  has 
not  yet  been  revealed,  but  there  was 
material  enough  to  his  hand.  The  news 
from  Europe  was  disquieting.  The  Ger- 
man drive  to  Paris  seemed  irresistible. 
It  looked  as  if  in  a  week  or  two  Germany 
would  have  the  Allies  at  her  mercy. 

The  prophet  saw  visions  in  which 
40,000  German  soldiers  were  marching 
up  and  down  the  streets  of  London.  He 
predicted  significantly  that  the  new  South 
African  State  would  have  at  its  head  "  a 
man  who  feared  God."  The  Government 
of  Premier  Botha  and  General  Smuts, 
the  Minister  of  Finance  and  Defense, 
was  "finished."  He  had  seen  the  Eng- 
lish leaving  the  Transvaal  and  moving 
down  toward  Natal.  When  they  had 
gone  far  away,  a  vulture  flew  from 
among  them  and  returned  to  the  Boers 
and  settled  down  among  them.  That 
was  Botha.  As  for  Smuts,  he  would 
flee  desperately  to  England  and  would 
never  be  seen  in  South  Africa  again. 
Through  it  all  ran  the  strange  number 
15. 

This  was  excellent  material  for  the 
conspirators.  But  the  problem  was  to  get 
General  de  la  Rey  away  from  the  Parlia- 
ment session  at  Cape  Town  and  into 
the  Potchefstroom  camp  at  the  psycho- 
logical moment.     Beyers  sent  a  series  of 


® 


288 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


urgent  telegrams  to  Cape  Town  hinting 
at  important  business.  He  emphasized 
the  need  for  General  de  la  Key's  imme- 
diate presence  in  Potchefstroom.  He  had 
evidently  not  yet  broached  the  conspir- 
acy to  the  General,  but  hoped  only  to  get 
him  to  the  camp  at  the  critical  moment 
when  his  presence  would  prove  the  de- 
ciding factor. 

Everything  in  Potchefstroom  was  in 
readiness.  The  Active  Citizen  Force  con- 
centrated here — about  1,600  men — was 
to  start  the  uprising.  The  movement 
was  to  be  promptly  seconded  throughout 
the  Western  Transvaal.  The  "  Vier- 
kleur  "  was  to  be  hoisted,  and  a  march 
made  on  Pretoria,  men  and  horses  being 
commandeered  on  the  way.  This  was  to 
take  place  on  Tuesday,  the  15th.  There 
was  an  attempt  to  line  up  the  prophet 
to  add  to  the  theatric  effect,  says  the 
report. 

On  the  night  of  the  14th  the  "  Prophet  " 
himself  was  specially  sent  for  by  motor  car 
to  be  personally  present  on  the  15th  to  wit- 
ness the  consummation  of  his  prophecy.  The 
conspirators  hoped  to  profit  by  the  impres- 
sion he  would  undoubtedly  make  on  those 
who  still   hesitated. 

Unfortunately  for  them,  however,  the  seer 
refused  to  leave  his  home,  saying  that  "  it 
was  not  yet  clear  to  him  that  that  was  his 
path." 

The  signal  for  the  revolt  was  to  be  the 
arrival  of  General  Beyers  and  General 
de  la  Rey  in  the  Potchefstroom  camp. 
The  latter  was  returning  from  Cape  Town 
via  Kimberley,  and  was  due  to  arrive  in 
Potchefstroom  on  the  15th.  But  for  some 
reason  he  chose  to  come  hack  through 
the  Free  State,  and  by  the  15th  was  only 
at  Johannesburg. 

This  upset  plans.  Beyers  had  to  act 
quickly.  He  had  his  chauffeur  overhaul 
his  motor  car,  equip  it  with  new  tubes 
and  covers,  in  readiness  for  "  a  long  jour- 
ney." In  a  short  time  the  car  was  on  its 
way  to  bring  General  de  la  Rey  from 
Johannesburg  to  Pretoria,  where  Beyers 
would  meet  him. 

There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  It  was 
too  late  to  stage  the  rebellion  for  the 
15th,  but  Beyers  arranged  for  it  to  be  at 
4  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday, 
the  16th. 

General  de  la  Rey  arrived  in  Pretoria. 


General  Beyers  met  him  and  asked  him 
to  go  immediately  with  him  to  Potchef- 
stroom. 

The  car  came  within  sight  of  Johannes- 
burg. A  police  cordon  had  been  thrown 
around  the  town  for  the  purpose  of  cap- 
turing three  desperadoes,  known  as  the 
"  Foster  gang,"  who  were  trying  to  es- 
cape in  a  motor  car.  The  police  were 
instructed  to  stop  all  motors  and  to  ex- 
amine in  particular  any  car  containing 
three  men. 

Beyers's  car  held  three  men.  It  was 
racing  at  high  speed.  It  was,  of  course, 
challenged  by  the  police  and  ordered  to 
stop.  But  Beyers  knew  nothing  of  the 
"  Foster  gang  "  and  the  reason  for  the 
police  cordon.  Keyed  up  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  nervous  tension,  his  immediate 
conclusion  was  that  his  plot  had  been 
discovered  and  that  the  police  were  after 
him.    He  believed  he  was  trapped. 

Meanwhile,  Major  Kemp  at  Potchef- 
stroom grew  more  and  more  anxious  as 
the  hours  slipped  by.  Midnight  came, 
and  no  news  of  the  two  Generals.  About 
3  o'clock  in  the  morning,  says  the  report, 
an  officer  sharing  the  tent  of  a  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  by  the  name  of  Kock,  who 
was  Kemp's  confidant,  was  awakened 
by  the  entrance  of  a  man.  It  proved  to 
be  Major  Kemp.  He  leaned  over  Kock's 
bed  and  whispered  something  in  his 
ear. 

Kock,  in  a  profoundly  startled  voice, 
exclaimed,  "Oh,  God!" 

Kemp  left  immediately,  and  Kock  then 
whispered  to  his  friend :  "  General  de 
la  Rey  is  dood  geskiet,"  (General  de  la 
Rey  has  been  shot  dead.) 

The  effect  of  this  news  on  South  Africa 
can  be  imagined.  The  whole  country  was 
aflame.  This  was  what  the  number  15 
meant.  The  General  had  indeed  "  re- 
turned home  without  his  hat,  followed  by 
a  carriage  full  of  flowers." 

Report  ran  through  every  town  that 
General  de  la  Rey  had  been  deliberately 
assassinated  by  the  Government,  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  report  states  that  the 
shooting  was  purely  accidental,  done  by 
the  police  under  the  belief  that  this  motor 
car  which  would  not  halt  at  their  com- 


SOUTH   AFRICA'S   ROMANTIC   BLUE   PAPER  289 

mand  contained  the  "  Foster  gang."  eral  Botha  would  offer  no  resistance,  that 
Beyers  exhibited  the  motor-car  every-  the  revolution  would  be  bloodless,  and 
where,  arousing  sentiment  to  the  highest  thousands  went  over  to  the  cause  led  by 
pitch.  Maritz  and  Beyers  in  this  belief.  But  it 
The  rest  was  easy.  The  rank  and  file,  was  not  until  Oct.  12  that  martial  law 
at  least,  now  believed  firmly  in  the  was  proclaimed  in  South  Africa.  The  re- 
prophet.     He  had  always  said  that  Gen-  bellion  had  begun. 


THE  BELLS  OF  BERLIN 

[From  Punch  of  London.] 

(Which  are  said  to  be  rung  by  order  occa- 
sionally to  announce  some  supposed  Ger- 
man victory. J 

The   Bells   of  Berlin,    how   they   hearten   the 

Hun 
(Oh,  dingle   dong  dangle   ding   dongle  ding 

dee;) 
No   matter  what  devil's   own  work   has  been 

done 
They  chime  a  loud  chant  of  approval,   each 

one, 
Till  the  people  feel  sure  of  their  place  in  the 

sun 
(Oh,   dangle   ding   dongle   dong   dingle   ding 

dee. ) 

If  Hindenburg  hustles  an  enemy  squad 
(Oh,   dingle   dong   dangle   ding   dongle  ding 
dee,) 
The  bells  all  announce  that  the  alien  sod 
Is    damp    with    the    death    of    some    thousand 

men  odd, 
Till  the  populace  smiles  with  a  gratified  nod 
(Oh,  dangle   ding   dongle   dong   dingle  ding 
dee.) 

If  Tirpitz  behaves  like  a  brute  on  the  brine 
(Oh,   dingle   dong   dangle   ding   dongle  ding 
dee,) 
The  bells  with  a  clash  and  a  clamor  combine 
To  hint  that  the  Hated  One's  on  the  decline. 
And  the  city  gulps  down  the  good  tidings  like 
wine, 
(Oh,  dangle   ding   dongle  dong   dingle   ding 
dee.) 

The  Bells  of  Berlin,  are  they  cracked  through 

and  through 
(Oh,   dingle   dong   dangle    ding   dongle  ding 

dee,) 
Or  deaf  to  the  discord  like  Germany,   too? 
For  whether  their  changes  be  many  or  few. 
The  worst  of  them   is   that  they  never   ring 

true, 
(Oh,   dangle   ding   dongle   dong   dingle  ding 

dee.) 


Warfare  and  British  Labor 

By  Earl  Kitchener,  England's  Secretary  of  State  for  War 

In  his  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  March  15,  1915,  Earl  Kitchener  calls 
upon  the  whole  nation  to  work,  not  only  in  supplying  the  manhood  of  the  country  to  serve 
in  the  ranks,  but  in  supplying  the  necessary  arms,  ammunition,  and  equipment  for  successful 
operations  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 


FOR  many  weeks  only  trench  fight- 
ing has  been  possible  owing  to 
the  climatic  conditions  and 
waterlogged  state  of  the  ground. 
During  this  period  of  apparent  inaction, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  our  troops 
have  had  to  exercise  the  utmost  individ- 
ual vigilance  and  resource,  and,  owing  to 
the  proximity  of  the  enemy's  lines,  a 
great  strain  has  been  imposed  upon  them. 
Prolonged  warfare  of  this  sort  might 
be  expected  to  affect  the  morale  of  an 
army,  but  the  traditional  qualities  of 
patience,  good  temper,  and  determina- 
tion have  maintained  our  men,  though 
highly  tried,  in  a  condition  ready  to  act 
with  all  the  initiative  and  courage  re- 
quired when  the  moment  for  an  ad- 
vance arrived.  The  recently  published 
accounts  of  the  fighting  in  France  have 
enabled  us  to  appreciate  how  success- 
fully our  troops  have  taken  the  offen- 
sive. The  German  troops,  notwithstand- 
ing their  carefully  prepared  and  strongly 
intrenched  positions,  have  been  driven 
back  for  a  considerable  distance  and  the 
villages  of  Neuve  Chapelle  and  L'Epi- 
nette  have  been  captured  and  held  by 
our  army,  with  heavy  losses  to  the 
enemy. 

In  these  operations  our  Indian  troops 
took  a  prominent  part  and  displayed  fine 
fighting  qualities.  I  will  in  this  con- 
nection read  a  telegram  I  have  received 
from  Sir  John  French: 

Please  transmit  following  message  to 
Viceroy  India :  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to 
inform  your  Excellency  that  the  Indian 
troops  under  General  Sir  James  Will- 
cocks  fought  with  great  gallantry  and 
marked  success  in  the  capture  of  Neuve 
Chapelle  and  subsequent  fighting  which 
took  place  on  the  10th,  11th,  12th  and  i:5th 
of  this  month.  The  fighting  was  very 
severe  and  the  losses  heavy,  but  nothing 
daunted    them.       Their    tenacity,    courage 


and  endurance  were  admirable  and 
worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  the 
soldiers  of  India. 

I  should  like  also  to  mention  that  the 
Canadian  Division  showed  their  mettle 
and  have  received  the  warm  commenda- 
tion of  Sir  John  French  for  the  high 
spirit  and  bravery  with  which  they  have 
performed  their  part.  Our  casualties 
during  the  three  days'  fighting,  though 
probably  severe,  are  not  nearly  so  heavy 
as  those  suffered  by  the  enemy,  from 
whom  a  large  number  of  prisoners  have 
been  taken. 

Since  I  last  spoke  in  this  House  sub- 
stantial reinforcements  have  been  sent 
to  France.  They  include  the  Canadian 
Division,  the  North  Midland  Division,  and 
the  Second  London  Division,  besides 
other  units.  These  are  the  first  com- 
plete divisions  of  the  Territorial  Force 
to  go  to  France,  where  I  am  sure  they 
will  do  credit  to  themselves  and  sustain 
the  high  reputation  which  the  Terri- 
torials have  already  won  for  themselves 
there.  The  health  of  the  troops  has  been 
remarkably  good,  and  their  freedom  from 
enteric  fever  and  from  the  usual  dis- 
eases incidental  to  field  operations  is  a 
striking  testimony  to  the  value  of  in- 
oculation and  to  the  advice  and  skill  of 
the  Royal  Army  Medical  Corps  and  its 
auxiliary  organizations. 

The  French  army,  except  for  a  slight 
withdrawal  at  Soissons,  owing  to  their 
reinforcements  being  cut  off  by  the 
swollen  state  of  the  Aisne  River,  have 
made  further  important  progress  at  va- 
rious points  on  the  long  line  they  hold, 
especially  in  Champagne.  Association 
with  both  our  allies  in  the  western  the- 
atre has  only  deepened  our  admiration 
of  their  resolute  tenacity  and  fighting 
qualities. 

In  the  Eastern  theatre  the  violent  Ger- 


\ 


WARFARE  AND  BRITISH  LABOR 


291 


man  attacks  on  Warsaw  have  failed  in 
their  purpose,  and  a  considerable  con- 
centration of  German  troops  to  attack 
the  Russian  positions  in  East  Prussia, 
after  causing  a  retirement,  are  now 
either  well  held  or  are  being  driven 
back.  In  the  Caucasus  fresh  defeats 
have  been  inflicted  by  the  Russians  on 
the  Turks,  and  the  latter  have  also  been 
repulsed  by  our  forceu  In  Egypt  when 
they  attempted  to  attack  the  Suez 
Canal.  The  operations  now  proceeding 
against  the  Dardanelles  show  the  great 
power  of  the  allied  fleets,  and,  although 
at  the  present  stage  I  can  say  no  more 
than  what  is  given  in  the  public  press 
on  the  subject,  your  Lordships  may  rest 
assured  that  the  matter  is  well  in  hand. 

The  work  of  supplying  and  equipping 
new  armies  depends  largely  on  our  abil- 
ity to  obtain  the  war  material  required. 
Our  demands  on  the  industries  concerned 
with  the  manufacture  of  munitions  of 
war  in  this  country  have  naturally  been 
very  great,  and  have  necessitated  that 
they  and  other  ancillary  trades  should 
work  at  the  highest  possible  pressure. 
The  armament  firms  have  promptly  re- 
sponded to  our  appeal,  and  have  under- 
taken orders  of  vast  magnitude.  The 
great  m.ajority  also  of  the  employees 
have  loyally  risen  to  the  occasion,  and 
have  worked,  and  are  working,  overtime 
and  on  night  shifts  in  all  the  various 
workshops  and  factories  in  the  country. 

Notwithstanding  these  efforts  to  meet 
our  requirements,  we  have  unfortunately 
found  that  the  output  is  not  only  not 
equal  to  our  necessities,  but  does  not 
fulfill  our  expectations,  for  a  very  large 
number  of  our  orders  have  not  been 
completed  by  the  dates  on  which  they 
were  promised.  The  progress  in  equip- 
ping our  new  armies,  and  also  in  supply- 
ing the  necessary  war  material  for  our 
forces  in  the  field,  has  been  seriously 
hampered  by  the  failure  to  obtain  suf- 
ficient labor,  and  by  delays  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  necessary  plant,  largely 
due  to  the  enormous  demands  not  only 
of  ourselves,  but  of  our  allies. 

While  the  workmen  generally,  as  I 
have  said,  have  worked  loyally  and  well, 
there  have,  I  regret  to  say,  been  in- 
stances where   absence,  irregular  time- 


keeping, and  slack  work  have  led  to  £ 
marked  diminution  in  the  output  of  our 
factories.  In  some  cases  the  temptations 
of  drink  account  for  this  failure  to  work 
up  to  the  high  standard  expected.  It' 
has  been  brought  to  my  notice  on  more 
than  one  occasion  that  the  restrictions 
of  trade  unions  have  undoubtedly  added 
to  our  difficulties,  not  so  much  in  ob- 
taining sufficient  labor,  as  in  making  the 
best  use  of  that  labor.  I  am  confident, 
however,  that  the  seriousness  of  the  posi- 
tion as  regards  our  supplies  has  only  to 
be  mentioned,  and  all  concerned  will 
agree  to  waive  for  the  period  of  the  war 
any  of  those  restrictions  which  prevent 
in  the  very  slightest  degree  our  utilizing 
all  the  labor  available  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent that  is  possible. 

I  cannot  too  earnestly  point  out  that, 
unless  the  whole  nation  works  with  us 
and  for  us,  not  only  in  supplying  the 
manhood  of  the  country  to  serve  in  our 
ranks,  but  also  in  supplying  the  neces- 
sary arms,  ammunition,  and  equipment, 
successful  operations  in  the  various  parts 
of  the  world  in  which  we  are  engaged 
will  be  very  seriously  hampered  and  de- 
layed. I  have  heard  rumors  that  the 
workmen  in  some  factories  have  an  idea 
that  the  war  is  going  so  well  that  there 
is  no  necessity  for  them  to  work  their 
hardest.  I  can  only  say  that  the  supply 
of  war  material  at  the  present  moment 
and  for  the  next  two  or  three  months  is 
causing  me  very  serious  anxiety,  and  I 
wish  all  those  engaged  in  the  manufac- 
ture and  supply  of  these  stores  to  real- 
ize that  it  is  absolutely  essential  not  only 
that  the  arrears  in  the  deliveries  of  our 
munitions  of  war  should  be  wiped  off, 
but  that  the  output  of  every  round  of 
ammunition  is  of  the  utmost  importance, 
and  has  a  large  influence  on  our  opera- 
tions in  the  field. 

The  bill  which  my  noble  friend  is 
about  to  place  before  the  House  as  an 
amendment  to  the  Defense  of  the  Realm 
act  is  calculated  to  rectify  this  state  of 
things  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  and,  in 
my  opinion,  it  is  imperatively  necessary. 
In  such  a  large  manufacturing  country 
as  our  own  the  enormous  output  of  what 
we  require  to  place  our  troops  in  the 
field  thoroughly  equipped  and  found  with 


292 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ammunition  is  undoubtedly  possible,  but 
this  output  can  only  be  obtained  by  a 
careful  and  deliberate  organization  for 
developing  the  resources  of  the  country 
so  as  to  enable  each  competent  work- 
man to  utilize  in  the  most  useful  man- 
ner possible  all  his  ability  and  energy 
in  the  common  object  which  we  all  have 
in  view,  which  is  the  successful  prose- 
cution and  victorious  termination  of  this 
war.  [Cheers.]  I  feel  sure  that  there 
is  no  business  or  manufacturing  firm  in 
this  country  that  will  object  for  one  mo- 
ment to  any  delay  or  loss  caused  in  the 
product  of  their  particular  industry 
when  they  feel  that  they  and  their  men 
are  taking  part  with  us  in  maintaining 
the  soldiers  in  the  field  with  those  neces- 
saries without  which  they  cannot  fight. 

As  I  have  said,  the  regular  armament 
firms  have  taken  on  enormous  contracts 
vastly  in  excess  of  their  ordinary  en- 
gagements in  normal  times  of  peace.  We 
have  also  spread  orders  both  in  the  form 
of  direct  contracts  and  subcontracts  over 
a  large  number  of  subsidiary  firms  not 
accustomed  in  peace  time  to  this  class 
of  manufacture.  It  will,  I  am  sure,  be 
readily  understood  that,  when  new  plant 
is  available  for  the  production  of  war 
material,  those  firms  that  are  not  now 
so  engaged  should  release  from  their 
own  work  the  labor  necessary  to  keep 
the  machinery  fully  occupied  on  the  pro- 
duction for  which  it  is  being  laid  down, 
as  well  as  to  supply  sufficient  labor  to 


keep  working  at  full  power  the  whole  of 
the  machinery  which  we  now  have. 

I  hope  that  this  result  will  be  attained 
under  the  provisions  of  the  bill  now 
about  to  be  placed  before  you.  Labor 
may  very  rightly  ask  that  their  patriotic 
work  should  not  be  used  to  inflate  the 
profits  of  the  directors  and  shareholders 
of  the  various  great  industrial  and  arma- 
ment firms,  and  we  are  therefore  ar- 
ranging a  system  under  which  the  im- 
portant armament  firms  will  come  under 
Government  control,  and  we  hope  that 
workmen  who  work  regularly  by  keep- 
ing good  time  shall  reap  some  of  the 
benefits  which  the  war  automatically 
confers  on  these  great  companies. 

I  feel  strongly  that  the  men  working 
long  hours  in  the  shops  by  day  and  by 
night,  week  in  and  week  out,  are  doing 
their  duty  for  their  King  and  country  in 
a  like  manner  with  those  who  have 
joined  the  army  for  active  service  in 
the  field.  [Cheers.]  They  are  thus 
taking  their  part  in  the  war  and  dis- 
playing the  patriotism  that  has  been  so 
manifestly  shown  by  the  nation  in  all 
ranks,  and  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  state 
that  his  Majesty  has  approved  that 
where  service  in  this  great  work  of  sup- 
plying the  munitions  of  war  has  been 
thoroughly,  loyally  and  continuously  ren- 
dered, the  award  of  a  medal  will  be 
granted  on  the  successful  termination  of 
the  war.     [Cheers.] 


SAVIORS    OF    EUROPE 
By  Rene  Bazin 

[From   King  Albert's  Book.] 


I  BELIEVE   that   King   Albert   and     Belgium,    in    sacrificing   themselves 
as  they  have  done  for   right,   have  saved  Europe. 
I  believe  that  in  order  to  act  with  such  decision  it  was  essential 
to  have  a  King,  that  is  to  say,  a  leader  responsible  to  history,  of  an  old 
and  proved  stock. 

I  believe  that  for  such  action  a  Christian  nation  was  essential, 
a  nation  capable  of  understanding,  of  accepting,  and  of  enduring  the 
ordeal. 

I  believe  that  the  first  duty  of  the  Allies  will  be  to  restore  the  Kingdom 
of  BelgiHm,  and  that  the  example  shown  by  the  King  and  his  people  will 
be  exalted  In  all  civilized  countries  as  long  as  the  world  reads  history. 


Britain's  Peril  of  Strikes  and 

Drink 

By  David  Lloyd  George,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 

The  gravity  of  labor  disputes  in  the  present  time  of  national  danger  was  dealt  with  by 
Mr.  Lloyd  George  in  a  speech  to  his  constituents  at  Bangor  on  Feb.  28,  1915,  special  refer- 
ence being  made  to  the  Clyde  stril<e.  He  declared  that  compulsory  arbitration  in  war  time 
was  imperative,  as  it  was  "  intolerable  that  the  lives  of  Britons  should  be  imperiled  for  a 
matter  of  a  farthing  an  hour."  This  was  essentially  an  engineers'  war,  for  equipment  was 
even  more  needed  than  men.  Mr.  Lloyd  George  went  on  to  comment  on  the  adverse  effect  of 
drinking  upon  production,  and  added :  "  We  have  great  powers  to  deal  with  drink,  and  we 
shall  use  them." 


I  HAVE  promised  for  some  time  to 
address  a  meeting  at  Bangor.  I 
have  been  unable  to  do  so  because 
Ministers  of  the  Crown  have  been 
working  time  and  overtime,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  we  are  not  even  able 
to  make  the  best  of  the  day  of  rest,  the 
urgency  is  so  great,  the  pressure  is  so 
severe.  I  had  something  to  say  today, 
otherwise  I  should  not  have  been  here, 
and  I  had  something  to  say  that  required 
stating  at  once.  This  is  the  only  day  I 
had  to  spare.  It  is  no  fault  of  mine.  It 
is  because  we  are  entirely  absorbed  in 
the  terrible  task  which  has  been  cast 
upon  our  shoulders.  I  happened  to  have 
met  on  Friday  morning,  before  I  decided 
to  come  down  here,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  Scottish  divines,  a  great  and  old 
friend  of  mine,  Dr.  Whyte  of  Edinburgh. 
We  were  discussing  what  I  have  got  to 
say  today.  I  remarked  to  him,  "  I  have 
only  one  day  on  which  to  say  it,  and  as 
that  is  Sunday  afternoon  I  am  very 
much  afraid  my  constituents  won't  listen 
to  me."  He  replied,  "  If  they  won't  have 
you,  come  to  Scotland,  and  we  will  give 
you  the  best  Sunday  afternoon  meeting 
you  ever  had."  But  I  thought  I  would 
try  Wales  first.  [Cheers.]  He  told  me 
that  in  the  Shorter  Catechism  you  are 
allowed  to  do  works  of  charity  and  ne- 
cessity, and  those  who  tell  me  that  this 
is  not  work  of  necessity  do  not  know  the 
need,  the  dire  need,  of  their  country  at 
this  hour.  At  this  moment  there  are 
Welshmen  in  the  trenches  of  France  fac- 


ing cannon  and  death;  the  hammering 
of  forges  today  is  ringing  down  the 
church  bells  from  one  end  of  Europe  to 
the  other.  When  I  know  these  things 
are  going  on  now  on  Sunday  as  well  as 
the  week  days  I  am  not  the  hypocrite  to 
say,  "  I  will  save  my  own  soul  by  not 
talking  about  them  on  Sundays." 
[Cheers.] 

Do  we  understand  the  necessity?  Do 
we  realize  it?  Belgium,  once  comfort- 
ably well-to-do,  is  now  waste  and  weep- 
ing, and  her  children  are  living  on  the 
bread  of  charity  sent  them  by  neighbors 
far  and  near.  And  France — the  German 
Army,  like  a  wild  beast,  has  fastened  its 
claws  deep  into  her  soil,  and  every  effort 
to  drag  them  out  rends  and  tears  the 
living  flesh  of  that  beautiful  land.  The 
beast  of  prey  has  not  leaped  to  our  shores 
— not  a  hair  of  Britain's  head  has  been 
touched  by  him.  Why?  Because  of  the 
vigilant  watchdog  that  patrols  the  deep 
for  us;  and  that  is  my  complaint  against 
the  British  Navy.  It  does  not  enable  us 
to  realize  that  Britain  at  the  present 
moment  is  waging  the  most  serious  war 
it  has  ever  been  engaged  in.  We  do  not 
understand  it.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  vis- 
ited France.  We  had  a  conference  of 
the  Ministers  of  Finance  of  Russia, 
France,  Great  Britain,  and  Belgium. 
Paris  is  a  changed  city.  Her  gayety,  her 
vivacity,  is  gone.  You  can  see  in  the 
faces  of  every  man  there,  and  of  every 
woman,  that  they  know  their  country  is 
in  the  grip  of  grim  tragedy.     They  are 


294 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


resolved  to  overcome  it,  confident  that 
they  will  overcome  it,  but  only  through  a 
long  agony. 

No  visitor  to  our  shores  would  realize 
that  we  are  engaged  in  exactly  the  same 
conflict,  and  that  on  the  stricken  fields 
of  the  Continent  and  along  the  broads 
and  the  narrows  of  the  seas  that  en- 
circle our  islands  is  now  being  deter- 
mined, not  merely  the  fate  of  the  British 
Empire,  but  the  destiny  of  the  human 
race  for  generations  to  come.  [Cheers.] 
We  are  conducting  a  war  as  if  there  was 
no  war.  I  have  never  been  doubtful 
about  the  result  of  the  war,  [cheers,] 
and  I  will  give  you  my  reasons  by  and 
by.  Nor  have  I  been  doubtful,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  about  the  length  of  the 
war  and  its  seriousness.  In  all  wars 
nations  are  apt  to  minimize  their  dan- 
gers and  the  duration.  Men,  after  all, 
see  the  power  of  their  own  country;  they 
cannot  visualize  the  power  of  the  enemy. 
I  have  been  accounted  as  a  pessimist 
among  my  friends  in  thinking  the  war 
would  not  be  over  before  Christmas.  I 
have  always  been  convinced  that  the  re- 
sult is  inevitably  a  triumph  for  this 
country.  I  have  also  been  convinced  that 
that  result  will  not  be  secured  without  a 
prolonged  struggle.  I  v/ill  tell  you  why. 
I  shall  do  so  not  in  order  to  indulge  in 
vain  and  idle  surmises  as  to  the  dura- 
tion of  the  war,  but  in  order  to  bring 
home  to  my  countrymen  what  they  are 
confronted  with,  so  as  to  insure  that 
they  will  leave  nothing  which  is  at  their 
command  undone  in  order,  not  merely  to 
secure  a  triumph,  but  to  secure  it  at  the 
speediest  possible  moment.  It  is  in  their 
power  to  do  so.  It  is  also  in  their  power, 
by  neglect,  by  sloth,  by  heedlessness,  to 
prolong  their  country's  agony,  and 
maybe  to  endanger  at  least  the  complete- 
ness of  its  triumphs.  This  is  what  I 
have  come  to  talk  to  you  about  this 
afternoon,  for  it  is  a  work  of  urgent 
necessity  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom, 
and  I  make  no  apology  for  discussing  on 
a  Sunday  the  best  means  of  insuring 
human  liberty.     [Cheers.] 

I  will  give  you  first  of  all  my  reasons 
for  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  after 
this  sti-uggle  victory  must  wait  on  our 
banners   if  we   properly   utilize   our   re- 


sources and  opportunities.  The  natural 
resources  of  the  allied  countries  are  over- 
whelmingly greater  than  those  of  their 
enemies.  In  the  man  capable  of  bearing 
arms,  in  the  financial  and  economic  re- 
sources of  these  countries,  in  their  ac- 
cessibility to  the  markets  of  the  world 
through  the  command  of  the  sea  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  material  and  muni- 
tions— all  these  are  preponderatingly  in 
favor  of  the  allied  countries.  But  there 
is  a  greater  reason  than  all  these.  Be- 
yond all  is  the  moral  strength  of  our 
cause,  and  that  counts  in  a  struggle 
which  involves  sacrifices,  suffering,  and 
privation  for  all  those  engaged  in  it.  A 
nation  cannot  endure  to  the  end  that  has 
on  its  soul  the  crimes  of  Belgium.  [I^oud 
cheers.]  The  allied  powers  have  at  their 
disposal  more  than  twice  the  number  of 
men  which  their  enemies  can  command. 
You  may  ask  me  why  are  not  those  over- 
whelming forces  put  into  the  field  at 
once  and  this  terrible  war  brought  to  a 
triumphant  conclusion  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment.  In  the  answer  to  that 
question  lies  the  cause  of  the  war.  The 
reason  why  Germany  declared  war  is  in 
the  answer  to  that  question. 

In  the  old  days  when  a  nation's  liberty 
was  menaced  by  an  aggressor  a  man 
took  from  the  chimney  corner  his  bow 
and  arrow  or  his  spear,  or  a  sword  which 
had  been  left  to  him  by  an  ancestry  of 
warriors,  went  to  the  gathering  ground 
of  his  tribe,  and  the  nation  was  fully 
equipped  for  war.  That  is  not  the  case 
now.  Now  you  fight  with  complicated, 
highly  finished  v/eapons,  apart  alto- 
gether from  the  huge  artillery.  Every 
rifle  which  a  man  handles  is  a  compli- 
cated and  ingenious  piece  of  mechanism, 
and  it  takes  time.  The  German  arsenals 
were  full  of  the  machinery  of  horror 
and  destruction.  The  Russian  arsenals 
were  not,  and  that  is  the  reason  for  the 
v/ar.  Had  Russia  projected  war,  she 
also  would  have  filled  her  arsenals,  but 
she  desired  above  everything  peace. 
["  Hear,  hear!"]  I  am  not  sure  that 
Russia  has  ever  been  responsible  for  a 
war  of  aggression  against  any  of  her 
European  neighbors.  Certainly  this  is 
not  one  of  them.  She  wanted  peace,  she 
needed  peace,  she  meant  peace,  and  she 


BRITAIN'S  PERIL  OF  STRIKES  AND  DRINK 


295 


would  have  had  peace  had  she  been  left 
alone.  She  was  at  the  beginning  of  a 
great  industrial  development,  and  she 
wanted  peace  in  order  to  bring  it  to  its 
full  fructification.  She  had  repeatedly 
stood  insolences  at  the  hands  of  Germany 
up  to  the  point  of  humiliation,  all  for 
peace,  and  anything  for  peace. 

Whatever  any  one  may  say  about  her 
internal  Government,  Russia  was  essen- 
tially a  peaceable  nation.  The  men  at 
the  head  of  her  affairs  were  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  peace.  The  head  of 
her  army,  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas, 
[cheers,]  is  about  the  best  friend  of 
peace  in  Europe.  Never  was  a  nation 
so  bent  on  preserving  peace  as  Russia 
was.  It  is  true  Germany  six  or  seven 
years  ago  had  threatened  to  march  her 
legions  across  the  Vistula  and  trample 
down  Russia  in  the  mud,  and  Russia, 
fearing  a  repetition  of  the  same  threat, 
was  putting  herself  in  a  position  of  de- 
fense. But  she  was  not  preparing  for 
any  aggression,  and  Germany  said, 
"  This  won't  do.  We  don't  like  people 
who  can  defend  themselves.  We  are 
fully  prepared.  Russia  is  not.  This  is 
the  time  to  plant  our  dagger  of  tempered 
steel  in  her  heart  before  her  breast- 
plates are  forged."  That  is  why  we  are 
at  war.  [Cheers.]  Germany  hurried 
her  preparations,  made  ready  for  war. 
She  made  a  quarrel  with  the  same  cool 
calculation  as  she  had  made  a  new  gun. 
She  hurled  her  warriors  across  the  fron- 
tier. Why?  Because  she  wanted  to 
attack  somebody,  a  country  that  could 
not  defend  herself.  It  was  the  purest 
piece  of  brigandage  in  history.  [Cheers.] 
All  the  same  there  remains  the  fact  that 
Russia  was  taken  at  a  disadvantage,  and 
is,  therefore,  unable  to  utilize  beyond  a 
fraction  the  enormous  resources  which 
she  possesses  to  protect  her  soil  against 
the  invader.  France  was  not  expecting 
war,  and  she,  therefore,  was  taken  un- 
awares. 

What  about  Britain?  We  never  con- 
templated any  war  of  aggression  against 
any  of  our  neighbors,  and  therefore  we 
never  raised  an  army  adequate  to  such 
sinister  purposes.  During  the  last  thirty 
years  the  two  great  political  parties  in 
the  State  have  been  responsible  for  the 


policy  of  this  country  at  home  and 
abroad.  For  about  the  same  period  we 
have  each  been  governing  this  country. 
For  about  fifteen  years  neither  one  party 
nor  the  other  ever  proposed  to  raise  an 
army  in  this  country  that  would  enable 
us  to  confront  on  land  a  great  Continent- 
al power.  What  does  that  mean?  We 
never  meant  to  invade  any  Continental 
country.  [Cheers.]  That  is  the  proof 
of  it.  If  we  had  we  would  have  started 
our  great  armies  years  ago.  We  had  a 
great  navy,  purely  for  protection,  purely 
for  the  defense  of  our  shores,  and  we 
had  an  army  which  was  just  enough  to 
deal  with  any  small  raid  that  happened 
to  get  through  the  meshes  of  our  navy, 
and  perhaps  to  police  the  empire.  That 
was  all,  no  more.  But  now  we  have  to 
assist  neighbors  becoming  the  victims  of 
a  power  with  millions  of  warriors  at  its 
command,  and  we  have  to  improvise  a 
great  army,  and  gallantly  have  our  men 
flocked  to  the  standard.  [Cheers.]  We 
have  raised  the  largest  voluntary  army 
that  has  been  enrolled  in  any  country  or 
any  century — the  largest  voluntary 
army,  and  it  is  going  to  be  larger. 
[Cheers.] 

I  saw  a  very  fine  sample  of  that  army 
this  morning  at  Llandudno.  I  attended 
a  service  there,  and  I  think  it  was  about 
the  most  thrilling  religious  service  I 
have  ever  been  privileged  to  attend. 
There  were  men  there  of  every  class, 
every  position,  every  calling,  every  con- 
dition of  life.  The  peasant  had  left  his 
plouw,  the  workman  had  left  his  lathe 
and  his  loom,  the  clerk  had  left  his  desk, 
the  trader  and  the  business  man  had  left 
their  counting  houses,  the  shepherd  had 
left  his  sunlit  hills,  and  the  miner  the 
darkness  of  the  earth,  the  rich  proprietor 
had  left  his  palace,  and  the  man  earning 
his  daily  bread  had  quitted  his  humble 
cottage.  There  were  men  there  of 
diverse  and  varied  faiths  who  wor- 
shipped at  different  shrines — men  who 
were  in  array  against  each  other  months 
ago  in  bitter  conflict,  and  I  saw  them 
march  with  one  step  under  one  flag  to 
fight  for  the  same  cause,  and  I  saw 
them  worship  the  same  God.  What  has 
brought  them  together?  The  love  of 
their  native  land,  resentment  for  a  cruel 


296 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


wrong  inflicted  upon  the  weak  and  de- 
fenseless. More  than  that,  what  brought 
them  together  was  that  instinct  which 
comes  to  humanity  at  critical  times  when 
the  moment  has  arrived  to  cross  rivers  of 
blood  in  order  to  rescue  humanity  from 
the  grip  of  some  strangling  despotism. 
[Cheers.]  They  have  done  nobly.  That 
is  what  has  brought  them  together,  but 
we  want  more,  [cheers,]  and  I  have  no 
doubt  we  will  get  more. 

If  this  country  had  produced  an  army 
which  was  equal  in  proportion  to  its 
population  to  the  number  of  men  under 
arms  in  France  and  in  Germany  at  the 
present  moment  there  would  be  three 
millions  and  a  half  in  this  country  and 
1,200,000  in  the  Colonies.  [Cheers.] 
That  is  what  I  mean  when  I  say  our 
resources  are  quite  adequate  to  the  task. 
It  is  not  our  fight  merely — it  is  the 
fight  of  humanity.  [Cheers.]  The 
allied  countries  betv/een  them  could  raise 
armies  of  over  twenty  millions  of  men. 
Our  enemies  can  put  in  the  field  barely 
half  that  number. 

Much  as  I  should  like  to  talk  about  the 
need  for  more  men,  that  is  not  the  point 
of  my  special  appeal  today.  We  stand 
more  in  need  of  equipment  than  we  do 
of  men.  This  is  an  engineers'  war, 
[cheers,]  and  it  will  be  won  or  lost  owing 
to  the  efforts  or  shortcomings  of  engi- 
neers. I  have  something  to  say  about 
that,  for  it  involves  sacrifices  for  all  of 
us.  Unless  we  are  able  to  equip  our 
armies  our  predominance  in  men  will 
avail  us  nothing.  We  need  men,  but  we 
need  arms  more  than  men,  and  delay  in 
producing  them  is  full  of  peril  for  this 
country.  You  may  say  that  I  am  saying 
things  that  ought  to  be  kept  from  the 
enemy.  I  am  not  a  believer  in  giving 
any  information  which  is  useful  to  him. 
You  may  depend  on  it  he  knows,  but  I 
do  not  believe  in  withholding  from  our 
own  public  information  which  they  ought 
to  possess,  because  unless  you  tell  them 
you  cannot  invite  their  co-operation. 
The  nation  that  cannot  bear  the  truth 
is  not  fit  for  war,  and  may  our  young 
men  be  volunteers,  while  the  unflinching 
pride  of  those  they  have  left  behind  them 
in  their  deed  of  sacrifice  ought  to  satisfy 
the  most  apprehensive  that  we  are  not  a 


timid  race,  who  cannot  face  unpleasant 
facts!  The  last  thing  in  the  world  John 
Bull  wants  is  to  be  mollycoddled.  The 
people  must  be  told  exactly  what  the 
position  is,  and  then  we  can  ask  them 
to  help.  We  must  appeal  for  the  co- 
operation of  employers,  workmen,  and 
the  general  public;  the  three  must  act 
and  endure  together,  or  we  delay  and 
maybe  imperil  victory.  We  ought  to 
requisition  the  aid  of  every  man  who  can 
handle  metal.  It  means  that  the  needs 
of  the  community  in  many  respects  will 
suffer  acutely  vexatious,  and  perhaps  in- 
jurious, delay;  but  I  feel  sure  that  the 
public  are  prepared  to  put  up  with  all 
this  discomfort,  loss,  and  privation  if 
thereby  their  country  marches  trium- 
phantly out  of  this  great  struggle. 
[Cheers.]  We  have  every  reason  for 
confidence;  we  have  none  for  complac- 
ency. Hope  is  the  mainspring  of  effi- 
ciency; complacency  is  its  rust. 

We  laugh  at  things  in  Germany  that 
ought  to  terrify  us.  We  say,  "  Look  at 
the  way  they  are  making  their  bread — 
out  of  potatoes,  ha,  ha!  "  Aye,  that 
potato-bread  spirit  is  something  which  is 
more  to  dread  than  to  mock  at.  I  fear 
that  more  than  I  do  even  von  Hinden- 
burg's  strategy,  efficient  as  it  may  be. 
That  is  the  spirit  in  which  a  country 
should  meet  a  great  emergency,  and 
instead  of  mocking  at  it  we  ought  to 
emulate  it.  I  believe  we  are  just  as  im- 
bued with  the  spirit  as  Germany  is,  but 
we  want  it  evoked.  [Cheers.]  The 
average  Briton  is  too  shy  to  be  a  hero 
until  he  is  asked.  The  British  temper  is 
one  of  never  wasting  heroism  on  needless 
display,  but  there  is  plenty  of  it  for  the 
need.  There  is  nothing  Britishers  would 
not  give  up  for  the  honor  of  their  coun- 
try or  for  the  cause  of  freedom.  In- 
dulgences, comforts,  even  the  necessities 
of  life  they  would  willingly  surrender. 
Why,  there  are  two  millions  of  them  at 
this  hour  who  have  willingly  tendered 
their  lives  for  their  country.  What 
more  could  they  do?  If  the  absorption 
of  all  our  engineering  resources  is  de- 
manded, no  British  citizen  will  grudge 
his  share  of  inconvenience. 

But  what  about  those  more  immediate- 
ly concerned  in  that  kind  of  work?   Here 


BRITAIN'S  PERIL  OF  STRIKES  AND   DRINK 


297 


I  am  approaching  something  which  is 
very  difficult  to  talk  about — I  mean  the 
employers  and  workmen.  I  must  speak 
out  quite  plainly;  nothing  else  is  of  the 
slightest  use.  For  one  reason  or  another 
we  are  not  getting  all  the  assistance  we 
have  the  right  to  expect  from  our  work- 
ers. Disputes,  industrial  disputes,  are 
inevitable;  and  when  you  have  a  good 
deal  of  stress  and  strain,  men's  nerves 
are  not  at  their  best.  I  think  I  can  say 
I  always  preserve  my  temper  in  these 
days — I  hope  my  wife  won't  give  me 
away — [laughter] — and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  spirit  of  unrest  creeps  into  the 
relations  between  employer  and  work- 
men. Some  differences  of  opinion  are 
quite  inevitable,  but  we  cannot  afford 
them  now;  and,  above  all,  we  cannot  re- 
sort to  the  usual  method  of  settling 
them. 

I  suppose  I  have  settled  more  labor 
disputes  than  any  man  in  this  hall,  and, 
although  those  who  only  know  me  slight- 
ly may  be  surprised  to  hear  me  say  it, 
the  thing  that  you  need  most  is  patience. 
If  I  were  to  give  a  motto  to  a  man  who 
is  going  to  a  conference  between  em- 
ployers and  workmen  I  would  say: 
"  Take  your  time ;  Son't  hurry.  It  will 
come  around  with  patience  and  tact  and 
temper."  But  you  know  we  cannot  afford 
those  leisurely  methods  now.  Time  is 
victory,  [cheers,]  and  while  employers 
and  workmen  on  the  Clyde  have  been 
spending  time  in  disputing  over  a  frac- 
tion, and  when  a  week-end,  ten  days, 
and  a  fortnight  of  work  which  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  defense  of  the 
country  has  been  set  aside,  I  say  here 
solemnly  that  it  is  intolerable  that  the 
life  of  Britain  should  be  imperiled  for 
the  matter  of  a  farthing  an  hour. 

Who  is  to  blame?  That  is  not  the 
question,  but — How  it  is  to  be  stopped? 
Employers  will  say,  "  Are  we  always  to 
give  way?  "  Workmen  say,  "  Employers 
are  making  their  fortunes  out  of  an 
emergency  of  the  country;  why  are  not 
we  to  have  a  share  of  the  plunder?  " 
["  Hear,  hear !  "  and  laughter.]  There  is 
one  gentleman  here  who  holds  that  view. 
[Laughter.]  I  hope  he  is  not  an  engineer. 
[Renewed  laughter.]  "  We  work  harder 
than  ever,"  say  the  workmen.     All  I  can 


say  is,  if  they  do  they  are  entitled  to 
their  share.  But  that  is  not  the  point — 
who  is  right?  Who  is  wrong?  They  are 
both  right  and  they  are  both  wrong. 
The  whole  point  is  that  these  questions 
ought  to  be  settled  without  throwing 
away  the  chances  of  humanity  in  its 
greatest  struggle.  [Cheers.]  There  is 
a  good  deal  to  be  said  for  and  there  is  a 
vast  amount  to  be  said  against  compul- 
sory arbitration,  but  during  the  war  the 
Government  ought  to  have  power  to 
settle  all  these  differences,  and  the  work 
should  go  on.  The  workman  ought  to 
get  more.  Very  well,  let  the  Govern- 
ment find  it  out  and  give  it  to  him.  If 
he  ought  not,  then  he  ought  not  to  throw 
up  his  tools.  The  country  cannot  afford 
it.  It  is  disaster,  and  I  do  not  believe 
the  moment  this  comes  home  to  workmen 
and  employers  they  will  refuse  to  comply 
with  the  urgent  demand  of  the  Govern- 
ment.   There  must  be  no  delay. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  the  question 
which  it  is  difficult  and  dangerous  to 
tackle.  There  are  all  sorts  of  regulations 
for  restricting  output.  I  will  say  noth- 
ing about  the  merits  of  this  question. 
There  are  reasons  why  they  have  been 
built  up.  The  conditions  of  employment 
and  payment  are  mostly  to  blame  for 
those  restrictions.  The  workmen  had  to 
fight  for  them  for  their  own  protection, 
but  in  a  period  of  war  there  is  a  suspen- 
sion of  ordinary  law.  Output  is  every- 
thing in  this  war. 

This  war  is  not  going  to  be  fought 
mainly  on  the  battlefields  of  Belgium 
and  Poland.  It  is  going  to  be  fought  in 
the  workshops  of  France  and  Great 
Britain;  and  it  must  be  fought  there 
under  war  conditions.  There  must  be 
plenty  of  safeguards  and  the  workman 
must  get  his  equivalent,  but  I  do  hope 
he  will  help  us  to  get  as  much  out  of 
those  workshops  as  he  can,  for  the  life 
of  the  nation  depends  on  it.  Our  ene- 
mies realize  that,  and  employers  and 
workmen  in  Germany  are  straining  their 
utmost.  France,  fortunately,  also  realizes 
it,  and  in  that  land  of  free  institutions, 
with  a  Socialist  Prime  Minister,  a  So- 
cialist Secretary  of  State  for  War,  and 
a  Socialist  Minister  of  Marine,  the  em- 
ployers and  workmen  are  subordinating 


298 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


everything  to  the  protection  of  their 
beautiful  land. 

I  have  something  more  to  say  about 
this,  and  it  is  unpleasant.  I  would  wish 
that  it  were  not  I,  but  somebody  else 
that  should  say  it.  Most  of  our  workmen 
are  putting  every  ounce  of  strength  into 
this  urgent  work  for  their  country,  loy- 
ally and  patriotically.  But  that  is  not 
true  of  all.  There  are  some,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  who  shirk  their  duty  in  this  great 
emergency.  I  hear  of  workmen  in 
armaments  w^orks  who  refuse  to  work 
a  full  week's  work  for  the  nation's  need. 
What  is  the  reason?  They  are  a  minor- 
ity. The  vast  majority  belong  to  a  class 
we  can  depend  upon.  The  others  are  a 
minority.  But,  you  must  remember,  a 
small  minority  of  workmen  can  throw 
a  whole  works  out  of  gear.  What  is  the 
reason?  Sometimes  it  is  one  thing, 
sometimes  it  is  another,  but  let  us  be 
perfectly  candid.  It  is  mostly  the  lure 
of  the  drink.  They  refuse  to  work  full 
time,  and  when  they  return  their 
strength  and  efficiency  are  impaired  by 
the  way  in  which  they  have  spent  their 
leisure.  Drink  is  doing  us  more  damage 
in  the  war  than  all  the  German  sub- 
marines put  together. 

What  has  Russia  done?  [Cheers.] 
Russia,  knowing  her  deficiency,  knowing 
how  unprepared  she  was,  said,  "  I  must 
pull  myself  together.  I  am  not  going  to 
be  trampled  upon,  unready  as  I  am.  I 
will  use  all  my  resources."  What  is  the 
first  thing  she  does?  She  stops  the 
drink,  [Cheers.]  I  was  talking  to  M. 
Bark,  the  Russian  Minister  of  Finance, 
a  singularly  able  man,  and  I  asked, 
"What  has  been  the  result?"  He  said, 
"  The  productivity  of  labor,  the  amount 
of  work  which  is  put  out  by  the  work- 
men, has  gone  up  between  30  and  50  per 
cent."  [Cheers.]  I  said,  "  How  do  they 
stand  it  without  their  liquor?"  and  he 
replied,  "  Stand  it  ?  I  have  lost  revenue 
over  it  up  to  £65,000,000  a  year,  and  we 
certainly  cannot  afford  it,  but  if  I  pro- 
posed to  put  it  back  there  would  be  a 
revolution  in  Russia."  That  is  what  the 
Minister  of  Finance  told  me.  He  told 
me  that  it  is  entirely  attributable  to  the 
act  of  the  Czar  himself.  It  was  a  bold 
and  courageous  step — one  of  the  most 


heroic  things  in  the  war.  [Cheers.] 
One  afternoon  we  had  to  postpone  our 
conference  in  Paris,  and  the  French  Min- 
ister of  Finance  said,  "  I  have  got  to  go 
to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  because  I 
am  proposing  a  bill  to  abolish  absinthe." 
[Cheers.]  Absinthe  plays  the  same  part 
in  France  that  whisky  plaj'S  in  this 
country.  It  is  really  the  worst  form  of 
drink  used,  not  only  among  workmen, 
but  among  other  classes  as  well.  Its 
ravages  are  terrible,  and  they  abolished 
it  by  a  majority  of  something  like  10  to 
1  that  afternoon.     [Cheers.] 

That  is  how  those  great  countries  are 
facing  their  responsibilities.  We  do  not 
propose  anything  so  drastic  as  that — we 
are  essentially  moderate  men.  [Laugh- 
ter.] But  we  are  armed  with  full  pow- 
ers for  the  defense  of  the  realm.  We 
are  approaching  it,  I  do  not  mind  telling 
you,  for  the  moment,  not  from  the  point 
of  view  of  people  who  have  been  consid- 
ering this  as  a  social  problem — we  are 
approaching  it  purely  from  the  point  of 
view  of  these  works.  We  have  got  great 
powers  to  deal  with  drink,  and  we  mean 
to  use  them.  [Cheers.]  We  shall  use 
them  in  a  spirit  of  moderation,  we  shall 
use  them  discreetly,  we  shall  use  them 
wisely,  but  we  shall  use  them  fearlessly, 
[cheers,]  and  I  have  no  doubt  that,  as 
the  country's  needs  demand  it,  the  coun- 
try will  support  our  action  and  will  allow 
no  indulgence  of  that  kind  to  interfere 
with  its  prospects  in  this  terrible  war 
which  has  been  thrust  upon  us. 

There  are  three  things  I  want  you  to 
bear  in  mind.  The  first  is — and  I  want 
to  get  this  into  the  minds  of  every  one — 
that  we  are  at  war;  the  second,  that  it  is 
the  greatest  war  that  has  ever  been 
fought  by  this  or  any  other  country,  and 
the  other,  that  the  destinies  of  your  coun- 
try and  the  future  of  the  human  race  for 
generations  to  come  depend  upon  the  out- 
come of  this  war.  What  does  it  mean 
were  Germany  to  win  ?  It  means  world 
power  for  the  worst  elements  in  Ger- 
many, not  for  Germany.  The  Germans 
are  an  intelligent  race;  they  are  are  un- 
doubtedly a  cultivated  race;  they  are  a 
race  of  men  who  have  been  responsible 
for  great  ideas  in  this  world.  But  this 
would  mean  the  dominance  of  the  worst 


1 


BRITAIN'S  PERIL   OF  STRIKES  AND   DRINK 


299 


elements  among  them.  If  you  think  I 
am  exaggerating  just  you  read  for  the 
moment  extracts  from  the  articles  in  the 
newspapers  which  are  in  the  ascendency 
now  in  Germany  about  the  settlement 
which  they  expect  after  this  war.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  I  am  stating  nothing  but 
the  bare,  brutal  truth.  I  do  not  say  that 
the  Kaiser  will  sit  on  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land if  he  should  win.  I  do  not  say  that 
he  will  impose  his  laws  and  his  language 
on  this  country  as  did  William  the  Con- 
queror. I  do  not  say  that  you  will  hear 
the  tramp,  the  noisy  tramp  of  the  goose 
step  in  the  cities  of  the  Empire.  [Laugh- 
ter.] I  do  not  say  that  Death's  Head 
Hussars  will  be  patrolling  our  highways. 
I  do  not  say  that  a  visitor,  let  us  say,  to 
Aberdaron,  will  have  to  ask  a  Pomeranian 
policeman  the  best  way  to  Hell's  Mouth. 
[Loud  laughter.]  That  is  not  what  I 
mean.  What  I  mean  is  that  if  Germany 
were  triumphant  in  this  war  it  would 
practically  be  the  dictator  of  the  inter- 
national policy  of  the  world.  Its  spirit 
would  be  in  the  ascendant.  Its  doc- 
trines would  be  in  the  ascendant;  by  the 
sheer  power  of  its  will  it  would  bend  the 
minds  of  men  in  its  own  fashion.  Ger- 
manism in  its  later  and  worst  form  would 
be  the  inspiriting  thought  and  philoso- 
phy of  the  hour. 

Do  you  remember  what  happened  to 
France  after  1870?  The  German  armies 
left  France,  but  all  the  same  for  years 
after  that,  and  while  France  was  build- 
ing up  her  army,  she  stood  in  cowering  ter- 
ror of  this  monster.  Even  after  her  great 
army  was  built  France  was  oppressed 
with  a  constant  anxiety  as  to  what  might 
happen.  Germany  dismissed  her  Minis- 
ters. Had  it  not  been  for  the  interven- 
tion of  Queen  Victoria  in  1874  the 
French  Army  would  never  have  been  al- 
lowed to  be  reconstructed,  and  France 
would  simply  have  been  the  humble  slave 
of  Germany  to  this  hour.  What  a  con- 
dition for  a  country!  And  now  France 
is  fighting  not  so  much  to  recover  her 
lost  provinces,  she  is  fighting  to  recover 
her  self-respect  and  her  national  inde- 
pendence; she  is  fighting  to  shake  off 
this  nightmare  that  has  been  on  her  soul 
for  over  a  generation,  [cheers,]  a  France 


with  Germany  constantly  meddling,  bully- 
ing, and  interfering.  And  that  is  what 
would  happen  if  Russia  were  trampled 
upon,  France  broken,  Britain  disarmed. 
We  should  be  left  without  any  means  to 
defend  ourselves.  We  might  have  a  navy 
that  would  enable  us,  perhaps,  to  resent 
insult  from  Nicaragua,  [laughter,]  we 
might  have  just  enough  troops,  perhaps, 
to  confront  the  Mad  Mullah — I  mean  the 
African  specimen.     [Loud  laughter.] 

Where  would  the  chivalrous  country  be 
to  step  in  to  protect  us  as  we  protected 
France  in  1874?  America?  If  countries 
like  Russia  and  France,  with  their  huge 
armies,  and  the  most  powerful  navy  in 
the  world  could  not  face  this  terrible 
military  machine,  if  it  breaks  that  com- 
bination, how  can  America  step  in?  It 
would  be  more  than  America  can  do  to 
defend  her  own  interests  on  her  own  con- 
tinent if  Germany  is  triumphant.  They 
are  more  unready  than  we  were.  Ah!  but 
what  manner  of  Germany  would  we  be 
subordinate  to  ?  There  has  been  a  strug- 
gle going  on  in  Germany  for  over  thirty 
years  between  its  best  and  its  worst 
elements.  It  is  like  that  great  struggle 
which  is  depicted,  I  think,  in  one  of  Wag- 
ner's great  operas  between  the*  good  and 
the  evil  spirit  for  the  possession  of  the 
man's  soul.  That  great  struggle  has 
been  going  on  in  Germany  for  thirty  or 
forty  years.  At  each  successive  general 
election  the  better  elements  seemed  to 
be  getting  the  upper  hand,  and  I  do  not 
mind  saying  I  was  one  of  those  who  be- 
lieved they  were  going  to  win.  I  thought 
they  were  going  to  snatch  the  soul  of 
Germany — it  is  worth  saving,  it  is  a 
great,  powerful  soul — I  thought  they 
were  going  to  save  it.  So  a  dead  mili- 
tary caste  said,  "  We  will  have  none  of 
this,"  and  they  plunged  Europe  into  seas 
of  blood.  Hope  was  again  shattered. 
Those  worst  elements  will  emerge  tri- 
umphant out  of  this  war  if  Germany 
wins. 

What  does  that  mean?  We  shall  be 
vassals,  not  to  the  best  Germany,  not  to 
the  Germany  of  sweet  songs  and  inspir- 
ing, noble  thoughts — not  to  the  Germany 
of  science  consecrated  to  the  service  of 
man,  not  to  the  Germany  of  a  virile 
philosophy    that    helped    to    break    the 


300 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


shackles  of  superstition  in  Europe — not 
to  that  Germany,  but  to  a  Germany  that 
talked  through  the  raucous  voice  of 
Kropp's  artillery,  a  Germany  that  has 
harnessed  science  to  the  chariot  of  de- 
struction and  of  death,  the  Germany  of  a 
philosophy  of  force,  violence,  and  bru- 
tality, a  Germany  that  would  quench 
every  spark  of  freedom  either  in  its  own 
land  or  in  any  other  country  in  rivers  of 
blood.  I  make  no  apology  on  a  day  con- 
secrated to  the  greatest  sacrifice  for 
coming  here  to  preach  a  holy  war  against 
that.     [Great  cheering.] 

Concluding  this  speech  in  Welsh,  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  said:  "War  is  a  time  of 
sacrifice  and  of  service.  Some  can 
render  one  service,  some  another,  some 
here  and  some  there.  Some  can  render 
great  assistance,  others  but  little.  There 
is  not  one  who  cannot  help  in  some  meas- 
ure, whether  it  be  only  by  enduring 
cheerfully  his  share  of  the  discomfort. 
In  the  old  Welsh  legend  there  is  a  story 
of  a  man  who  was  given  a  series  of  what 
appeared  to  be  impossible  tasks  to  per- 
form ere  he  could  reach  the  desires  of  his 
heart.  Among  other  things  he  had  to  do 
was  to  recover  every  grain  of  seed  that 
had  been  sown  in  a  large  field  and  bring 
it  all  in  without  one  missing  by  sunset. 
He  came  to  an  anthill  and  won  all  the 
hearts  and  enlisted  the  sympathies  of  the 
industrious  little  people.  They  spread 
over  the  field,  and  before  sundown  the 
seed  was  all  in  except  one,  and  as  the  sun 
was  setting  over  the  western  skies  a  lame 
ant  hobbled  along  with  that  grain  also. 
Some  of  us  have  youth  and  vigor  and 
suppleness  of  limb;  some  of  us  are  crip- 
pled with  years  or  infirmities,  and  we 
are  at  best  but  little  ants.  But  we  can 
all  limp  along  with  some  share  of  our 
country's  burden,  and  thus  help  her  in 
this  terrible  hour  to  win  the  desire  of  her 
heart."     [Loud  cheers.] 

Mr.  Lloyd  George  and  his  party  re- 
turned after  the  meeting  to  Llandudno, 
where  today  he  will  inspect  the  First 
Brigade  of  the  Welsh  Army  Corps. 

BRITAIN'S  MUNITIONS  COMMITTEE 

LONDON,  April  U.—The  Times  says 
this  morning: 

An   important   step   has   at   last   been 


taken  by  the  Government  toward  the 
solution  of  the  supreme  problem  of  the 
moment — the  organization  of  the  na- 
tional output  of  munitions  of  war.  A 
strong  committee  has  been  appointed, 
with  full  power  to  deal  with  the  ques- 
tion. It  is  to  be  representative  of  not 
merely  one  department  but  of  the  Treas- 
ury, Admiralty,  War  Office,  and  Board 
of  Trade;  in  short,  of  the  whole  Govern- 
ment, with  all  its  resources  and  authority. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  is  to 
be  Chairman,  and  the  first  meeting  will 
be  held  today. 

The  work  before  the  committee  is 
nothing  less  than  the  organization  of  the 
whole  resources  of  the  nation  for  the 
production  of  materials  of  war.  Hither- 
to, in  spite  of  many  warnings  and  some 
half-hearted  attempts  at  organization, 
there  has  been  no  central,  co-ordinated 
authority. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  it  was  during 
Lloyd  George's  visit  to  France  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  that  he  first  appre- 
ciated the  scientific  organization  of  labor 
which  our  Allies  had  already  achieved. 
Not  content  with  utilizing  and  extending 
the  existing  armament  plant,  the  French 
have  long  since  diverted  several  tempo- 
rarily irrelevant  industries  to  the  main 
business  of  waging  war. 

With  reference  to  the  drink  problem. 
The  Times  says: 

While  the  Government  is  apparently 
considering  the  expropriation  of  all  the 
licensed  houses  in  the  kingdom,  this  far- 
reaching  proposal  has  not  at  present 
gone  beyond  the  stage  of  inquiry  and 
consultation,  and  it  is  tolerably  certain 
that  it  will  go  no  further  unless  it  is 
assured  of  no  serious  opposition  in  the 
country. 

The  Parliamentary  Opposition,  the 
leaders  of  which  have  been  consulted  in 
a  general  way,  are  believed  to  stand  by 
the  principle  which  they  followed  since 
the  war  began,  namely:  They  are  not 
prepared  to  quarrel  with  any  measure 
which  the  Government  regards  as  neces- 
sary for  the  active  prosecution  of  the 
war  so  long  as  no  injustice  is  done  to 
established  interests. 


I 


Italy's  Evolution  as  Reflected  in 

Her  Press 


Italy  has  reached  her  present  position  through  the  development  of  a  policy  the  steps 
of  which  have  been  brightly  illuminated  by  the  press  of  the  Peninsula.  The  most  important 
of  these  steps  may  be  designated  as  follows : 

First,  the  declaration  of  the  Government  to  the  German  Ambassador  at  Rome  on  Aug.  1, 
1914,  that  it  did  not  regard  the  conflict  begun  by  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany  as  a  de- 
fensive war  and  hence  not  binding  on  it  as  a  member  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  and  its  sub- 
sequent declarations  of  "  neutrality,"  of  "  armed  neutrality,"  and  of  "  a  neutrality  which  is 
likely  to  be  broken  if  the  interests  of  the  country  demanded  it." 

Second,  Premier  Salandra's  speech  of  Dec.  3  for  "  armed,  alert  neutrality,"  and  the  declara- 
tion in  Parliament  on  Dec.  5  by  Signer  Giolitti  showing  that  the  declaration  of  Aug.  1  was 
merely  a  repetition  of  one  conveyed  to  Austria  in  the  Summer  of  1913,  when  Austria  had 
suggested  that  she  aid  Bulgaria  in  subduing  Serbia. 

Third,  the  arrival  in  Rome  in  December  of  the  former  German  Imperial  Chancellor, 
Prince  von  Blilow,  as  Extraordinary  Ambassador  to  the  Quirinal,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
Italy  neutral,  and,  when  this  seemed  doubtful,  to  negotiate  between  Italy  and  Austria  what 
territorial  compensation  the  latter  would  render  the  former  in  order  to  perpetuate  the 
neutrality  of  the  Peninsula. 

Aside  from  the  influence  of  these  official  acts,  which  invited  press  comments,  the 
Italian  papers  have  paid  keen  attention  to  the  conduct  of  the  war,  concerning  which  the 
Government  could  not,  on  account  of  its  neutrality,  offer  an  opinion.  Among  such  incidents 
of  conduct  have  been  the  British  declaration  of  a  protectorate  over  Egypt  and  the  bombard- 
ment of  the  Dardanelles  by  the  Franco-British  fleet.^ 

In  order  to  weigh  the  full  significance  of  the  comments  of  the  Italian  papers  on  these 
subjects  a  word  may  be  said  concerning  the  status  of  the  journals  themselves : 

The  most  conspicious  is  the  Idea  Nazionale,  a  paper  of  Rome  practically  dedicated  to 
intervention.  Then  comes  the  conservative  and  solid  Corriere  della  Sera  of  Milan,  whose 
Rome  correspondent,  Signor  Torre,  has  peculiar  facilities  for  learning  the  intentions  of  the 
Ministry.  Both  the  Tribuna  and  the  Giornale  d' Italia  are  considered  Government  organs,  but, 
while  the  former  rarely  comments  with  authority  except  on  accomplished  facts,  the  latter, 
although  often  voicing  the  unofficial  and  personal  opinions  of  Premier  Salandra,  who  is  known 
to  be  privately  in  favor  of  intervention,  also  voices  the  sentiment  of  former  Premier  Giolitti, 
who  is  known  to  be  for  continued  neutrality.    The  Stampa  of  Turin  is  a  Giolitti  organ. 

The  Osservatore  Romano  is  the  well-known  Vatican  organ,  which  naturally  supports 
Austria,  a  Catholic  country,  where  such  support  does  not  conflict  too  pointedly  with  the 
sentiments  of  Catholics  in  neutral  countries.  Other  clerical  papers  with  strong  pro-German 
opinions  and  with  German  industrial  backing  are  the  Corriere  d'ltalia  and  the  Popolo  Romano. 
The  Messaggero  of  Rome  and  the  Secolo  of  Milan,  influenced  by  important  British  and 
French  interests,  are  for  intervention  at  all  costs.    The  Avanti  is  the  Socialist  organ. 

CAUSES  OF  ITALY'S  NEUTRALITY,  ing  the  three  countries  without  full  mu- 

From  the  Corriere  della  Sera,  Aug.  2,  tual    discussion    and    agreement.      Italy 

IQl^.  was  not  even  consulted  by  Austria-Hun- 

Italy's   decision  to   remain   neutral  is  gary    and    the    course    of    events    was 

based  on  three  causes:  brought  to  her  knowledge  only  by  news 

1.  The   terms   of   the   Triple   Alliance  ^^^"^^  reports. 

call  for  Italy's  participation  in  war  only  3,  When  Italy  went  to  war  with  Tur- 

if  Germany   or  Austria-Hungary  is   at-  key,  Austria  prevented  her  from  acting 

tacked  by  another  power.     The  present  with  a  free  hand  in  the  Adriatic  and  the 

war    is   not    a    defensive    war,    but    one  Aegean,  thereby  prolonging  the  war  at 

brought    on    by    Austria-Hungary    and  an  enormous  cost  in  men  and  money  to 

Germany.  Italy.     Italy  would  be  justified  in  acting 

2.  The  spirit  of  the  alliance  demands  in  precisely  the  same  manner  now  to- 
that  no  warlike  action  be  taken  involv-  ward  Austria-Hungary. 


302 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


From  Secolo,  Sept.  3,  1914: 

During  the  last  few  days  we  have  as- 
sisted at  a  deplorable  example  of  our 
Latin  impressionability.  The  first  Ger- 
man victories  have  made  Italians  waver, 
and  Germany  is'taking  advantage  of  the 
popular  nervousness,  and  is  working  on 
public  opinion  in  countless  ways.  Italy 
is  invaded  by  Germans,  who  assert  that 
Germany  will  issue  victorious,  and  that 
her  commercial  and  industrial  activity 
will  not  be  arrested.  We  are  inundated 
with  German  letters,  telegrams,  news- 
papers, and  private  communications  from 
German  commercial  houses,  all  asserting 
that  Germany  will  win,  and  that  Italy 
should  keep  neutral,  to  be  on  the  winning 
side. 

We  are  not  of  that  opinion.  We  can- 
not lose  sight  of  England.  Germany 
knows  that  England  represents  her  great 
final  danger,  hence  the  bitterness  with 
which  she  speaks  of  England  in  all  the 
above  communications.  England  is  not 
playing  a  game  of  bluff.  She  is  not 
impotent  by  land,  as  Germany  says,  and 
may  give  Germany  a  mortal  blow  by 
sea.  The  war  may  possibly  end  in  a 
titanic  duel  between  England  and  Ger- 
many. In  this  case  England  will  go 
through  with  the  struggle  calmly  and 
grimly,  smiling  at  difficulties  and  dis- 
regarding losses. 

From  the  Corriere  d'ltalia,  Sept.  17, 
1914: 

We  do  not  know  what  Italy  will  do  to- 
morrow, but  we  are  of  opinion  that,  in 
face  of  all  eventualities,  it  is  the  ele- 
mentary duty  of  patriotism  not  to 
trouble  the  calm  expectancy  of  public 
opinion  and  not  to  mar  the  task  of  the 
Government,  already  difficult  enough. 

From  the  Messaggero,  Sept.  18,  1914: 
The  Italian  Nation  is  beginning  to  ask 
itself  whether  it  ought  to  remain  until 
the  conclusion  of  peace  in  an  attitude  of 
resignation.  It  is  necessary  for  us  with 
clear  vision  to  take  our  place  in  the 
fighting  line.  While  the  destinies  of  a 
new  Europe  are  being  decided  on  the 
battlefields  of  Champagne,  Belgium, 
Galicia,  and  Hungary  the  Government 
is   assuming  a   grave   responsibility   be- 


fore the  country  in  deciding  to  be  disin- 
terested in  the  struggle.  The  keen  popu- 
lar awakening  which  is  manifested  in 
demonstrations,  meetings,  and  public 
discussions  shows  that  growing  preoccu- 
pation and  varied  uneasiness  will  not 
cease  so  long  as  the  fate  of  the  country 
is  not  decided  at  the  right  time  by  men 
who  by  temperament  are  best  fitted  to 
be  interpreters  of  the  soul  and  the  inter- 
ests of  the  nation. 

From  the  Corriere  delta  Sera,  Oct.  4, 
1914: 

Many  who  now  invoke  a  war  of 
liberation  complained  at  the  beginning 
of  August  that  Italy  had  not  helped  her 
allies.  The  declaration  of  neutrality 
then  seemed  the  greatest  act  of  wisdom 
performed  by  Italy  for  many  years. 
Now,  however,  we  must  think  of  the  fu- 
ture. Let  us  remember  that  the  powers 
will  only  support  our  wishes  when  they 
have  need  of  us.  Gratitude  and  sym- 
pathy are  mere  phrases  when  the  map 
of  Europe  is  being  redrawn.  If  Italy 
desire  to  safeguard  her  interests  in  the 
Adriatic  she  cannot  postpone  her  deci- 
sion till  the  last  moment.  Italy  is  iso- 
lated; the  Triple  Alliance  treaty  cannot 
defend  her  even  if  it  be  still  in  force. 
Italy  and  Austria,  as  Count  Nigra  and 
Prince  Biilow  said,  must  be  allies  or 
enemies.  Can  they  remain  allies  after 
what  has  happened? 

ITALY'S   ARMED,  ALERT   NEU- 
TRALITY. 

From  the  Idea  Nazionale,  Dec.  3,  1914 : 
The  day  on  which  Italy  will  undertake 
to  realize  those  aspirations  she  will  find 
full  and  unconditional  support.  Great 
Britain  is  favorable  to  Italy  gaining 
supremacy  in  the  Adriatic,  which  is  so 
necessary  to  her  existence.  If  Great 
Britain  needs  Italy's  support  in  Africa 
it  will  be  only  a  matter  of  one  or  two 
army  corps,  and  such  an  expedition, 
while  having  a  great  moral  and  political 
importance,  would  not  diminish  Italian 
military  power  in  Europe. 

From  the  Avanti,  Dec.  4,  1914: 
Premier  Salandra's  speech  was  Jesuit- 
ical.    It  contents  the  Jingoes  by  certain 


ITALY'S  EVOLUTION  AS  REFLECTED  IN  HER  PRESS 


303 


dubious  phrases,  while  discontenting  the 
Clerical  and  Conservative  neutrals. 

From  the  Corriere  d'ltalia,  Dec.  4, 
1914: 

This  much-applauded  word,  "  aspira- 
tions," was  not  (in  Signer  Salandra's 
speech)  meant  to  refer  to  any  particular 
belligerent,  and  the  Cabinet  consequently 
has  no  program. 

From  the  Stampa,  Dec.  5,  1914: 

Austria,  before  the  war,  disclaimed 
any  intention  of  occupying  Serbia,  and 
her  declaration  cannot  be  disregarded  by 
Italy,  whose  relations  with  Austria  have 
been  always  conditional  on  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  Balkan  status  quo,  which 
Austria  now  threatens  to  alter.  The 
Italian  Government  cannot  ignore  this 
condition,  especially  as  during  the  Libyan 
war  Austria  menaced  Italy,  unless  she 
desisted  from  bombarding  the  Albanian 
coast.  Thus  the  Serbian  situation  may 
constitute  a  new  factor. 

From  the  Corriere  della  Sera,  Jan.  31, 
1915: 

Italy's  true  policy  is  to  come  to  a 
friendly  agreement  with  the  Slavs,  which 
will  guarantee  their  mutual  interests. 
Italy  wants  a  national  settlement  in  the 
Balkan  Peninsula,  independent  of  the 
great  powers.  In  no  circumstances  can 
Italy  bind  her  lot  to  Austria-Hungary's 
policy. 

BRITISH  PROTECTORATE  OVER 
EGYPT. 

From  the  Idea  Nazionale,  Dec.  19, 
1914: 

The  British  Government's  act  merely 
sanctions  a  situation  already  existing  in 
fact  since  1882.  In  our  governing  circle 
it  is  not  thought  that  the  change  of 
regime  in  Egypt  will  occasion,  at  least 
for  the  time  being,  any  great  modifica- 
tions in  public  law  in  relation  to  the  in- 
ternational statutes  regulating  the  po- 
sition of  foreigners  in  Egypt. 

From  the  Trihuna,  Dec.  20,  1914: 
Tlie      Mediterranean      agreement,     in 
which    Italy,   too,    has    taken    part,    im- 
plicitly recognized  the  actual  status  Eng- 


land had  acquired  in  Egypt.  Now  the 
war  has  demonstrated  the  judicial  in- 
congruity of  a  Turkish  province  in  which 
and  for  which  the  English  had  to  carry 
out  warlike  operations  against  Turkey. 
The  protectorate  already  existed  in  sub- 
stance, and  Great  Britain  might  now 
even  have  proclaimed  annexation. 

From  the  Giornale  d'ltalia,  Dec.  19, 
1914: 

Great  Britain  had  for  some  months 
been  preparing  this  event,  which  legally 
regulates  a  situation  which  has  existed 
in  fact.  The  present  situation  has  been 
brought  about  without  any  disturbance, 
like  everything  that  England  does,  in 
silence,  neatly  and  without  disturbing 
any  one.  Nobody  can  be  astonished  at 
Great  Britain's  declaration  of  a  protec- 
torate over   Egypt. 

THE  DARDANELLES. 

From  the  Giornale  d'ltalia,  March  7, 
1915: 

It  will  be  extremely  difficult  for  Italy 
longer  to  remain  neutral.  The  attack  by 
the  allied  fleet  on  the  Dardanelles  has 
brought  up  three  great  problems  affect- 
ing Italian  interests.  The  first  of  these 
problems  is  the  new  rule  to  allow  Russia 
access  to  the  Mediterranean  through  the 
Dardanelles;  the  second  concerns  the 
equilibrium  of  the  Balkans,  and  the 
third  the  partition  of  Asiatic  Turkey, 
which  affects  the  equilibrium  of  the 
Eastern  Mediterranean.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  Italy  to  keep  out  of  the  solution 
of  such  problems  unless  she  be  satisfied 
to  see  not  only  the  powers  of  the  Triple 
Entente  settle  these  affairs  according  to 
their  interests,  but  also  the  small  but 
audacious  and  resolute  nation,  Greece. 

From  the  Messaggero,  March  17,  1915* 

The  cession  of  the  Trentino  would  be 
valueless  if  it  implied  the  abandonment 
of  Italian  aspirations  in  Venetia  Giulia, 
(land  west  of  the  Julian  Alps,)  in  the 
Adriatic,  and  in  Asia  Minor,  and  sub- 
mission to  German  policy.  We  cannot 
obtain  by  neutrality  the  territory  we 
want,  nor,  if  we  renew  the  Triple  Al- 
liance, can  we  make  an  agreement  with 


304 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Great    Britain    for   our   security    in    the 
Mediterranean. 

VON  BUELOW'S  WORK  AND  PLEA 
FOR  INTERVENTION. 

From  the  Corriere  della  Sera,  Feb.  8, 
1915: 

Happily  our  aspirations  in  the  Adri- 
atic, our  interests  in  the  Central  Mediter- 
ranean and  in  Northern  Africa  coincide 
admirably  with  the  policy  which  it  is 
easiest  for  us  to  pursue.  Unless  we 
profit  with  the  utmost  prudence,  with 
the  greatest  circumspection,  by  the  pres- 
ent rare  opportunity  which  history  of- 
fers us  to  set  the  finishing  touches  to 
our  unification,  to  render  our  land  and 
sea  frontiers  immeasurably  more  secure 
than  they  are,  to  harmonize  our  foreign 
with  our  domestic  policy,  we  shall  ex- 
perience after  the  close  of  the  war  the 
darkest  and  most  difficult  days  of  our 
existence.  The  crisis  through  which  we 
are  passing  is  the  gravest  we  have  yet 
encountered.  Let  us  make  it  a  crisis  of 
growth,  not  a  sympton  of  irreparable 
senile  decay. 

From  the  Stampa,  March  15,  1915: 
There  is  surely  no  possibility  of  an 
Austro-Italian  war  without  German  in- 
tervention. If  Italy  attacks  Austria, 
Germany  will  attack  Italy;  nor  will  Aus- 
tria make  concessions,  for  Austria,  like 
Turkey,  never  changes  her  system,  even 
when  wrong. 


From  the  Giornale  d'ltalia,  March  19, 
1915: 

Italy  either  can  obtain  peacefully  im- 
mediate and  certain  satisfaction  of  her 
sacred  aspirations,  together  with  the 
protection  of  her  great  and  complex  in- 
terests, or  she  can  have  recourse  to  the 
supreme  test  of  arms.  It  is  absurd  to 
think  that  Italy,  after  seven  months  of 
preparation,  when  she  is  in  an  especially 
advantageous  diplomatic  and  military 
position,  will  be  satisfied  with  the  Bibli- 
cal mess  of  pottage  or  less — mere  prom- 
ises. 

However  negotiations  go  the  great  na- 
tional interests  must  be  protected  at  any 
costs.  This  is  the  firm  will  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  duty  of  the  Government.  For 
fifty  years  Italy  has  made  great  sacri- 
fices to  be  an  element  of  peace  in  Eu- 
rope. The  equilibrium  and  peace  of  the 
Continent  were  broken  through  the  fault 
of  others  against  Italy's  desire  and  with- 
out consulting  her.  Others  have. the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  present  terrible  crisis, 
but  Italy  would  be  unworthy  if  she  did 
not  issue  with  honor  and  advantage  from 
the  conflict.  Greece,  Rumania,  and  Bul- 
garia are  awaiting  Italy's  move  arid  will 
follow  suit.  Thus  Italian  influence  is 
great  at  this  moment,  which  must  be 
seized,  as  it  is  in  her  power  to  contribute 
to  the  formation  of  a  new  international 
combination. 


SOME  RUSES  DE  GUERRE. 

By  A.   M.   WAKEMAN. 
(Respectfully  submitted  to  the  British  Government.) 


GREAT    Churchill's    plan    to    fool    the   foe 
is    simple    and    unique — 
You  only  take  a  neutral  flag  and  hoist 
it  at  your  peak. 
Thereby  a  ship  with  funnels  four  looks  just 

like  one  with  two, 
Because    the    pattern    has    been    changed    on 
her  Red,  White,   and  Blue. 

Now,    cannot    you    improve   on    this,    and    so 

protect  your  towns. 
As  well  as  all  your  gallant  ships  at  anchor 

in  the  Downs? 
Old    London,    with    the    Stars    and    Stripes, 

might  well  pass  for  New  York ; 
And     Baltimore     for     Maryland     instead     of 

County   Cork. 


To  mouth  of  Thames  (N-O-R-E)  just  add 
four  letters  more, 

Then  hoist  the  Danish  ensign,  and,  behold, 
'tis  Elslnore ! 

And  Paris  will  be  Washington  if,  on  the 
Eiffel  Tower, 

They  raise  the  flag  of  U.  S.  A.,  (a  well- 
known   neutral  power.) 

lour  sailors  might  wear  Leghorn  hats,  and 

out  upon  the  blue, 
They'd   look   like   sons  of  Italy,    (at   present 

neutral,   too ; ) 
And,   if  upon  your  King  the  Hun  would   try 

to    work   some    ill, 
With  pickelhaube  on  his  head  he'd  pass  for 

Uncle    Bill. 


I 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS 
SEEN    BY   CARTOONISTS 

[German  Cartoon] 

The  Fatal  Moment  In  America 


-From  Stmphcissimus,  Munich. 


"  Citizens  of  America,  protect  your  existence  and  your 
honor  by  the  force  of  arms!" 

"  Sorry,  but  just  now  we  happen  to  be  sold  out!" 


305 


[English  Cartoon] 

Top  Dog 


— From    The    Bystander,    London* 


306 


[German  Cartoon] 


England's  "Splendid  Isolation" 


— From  Simplicissimus,  Munich. 


307 


[English  Cartoon] 

The  Sultan  "Over  the  Water" 


— From   Punch,   London. 


Mehmed  V.  (to  Constantinople) :  "  I  don't  want  to  leave  you, 
but  I  think  I  ought  to  go." 


308 


[German  Cartoon] 


Churchill's  Flag  Swindle 


— From  Simplicissitnua,   Afnnic/i. 

"  Really  I  don't  care  to  go  out  any  more  in  these  dis- 
graceful rags!" 

"  Cheer  up,  Mrs.  Britannia,  just  steal  something  better !" 


309 


[German  Cartoon] 

May  God  Punish  England! 


[Reproduction  of  a  cover  design  of  a  widely  advertised  issue  of 
"  Simplicissimus,"  the  German  comic  weekly  published  in  Munich.  The 
legend  at  the  top  reads,  "  May  God  Punish  England !"] 


sio 


[Italian  Cartoon] 


Speeches  of  the  Kaiser  in  1915 


— From  L'Asino,  Rome. 
January:  "I  alone  will  defeat  the  world."  March:  "  Naturally,  with  God's  help." 


June:  "All  goes  badly — the  fault  is  not 


mine. 


December  :    "  The  fault  is  his.' 


311 


[English  Cartoon] 

Our  Embarrassing  Cousin 


— From    The    Bystander,    London* 

Jonathan  :  "  In  spite  'f  my  noo-trality,  John,  d'ye  notice  how  'f fectionate 
I  am? — how  I  sympathise  with   yer?  " 

John  Bull:  "M — m'yes,  that's  all  right,  but  I  should  like  it  better  just  now 
if  you'd  leave  my  hands  a  bit  freer  to  fight  those  rascals  as  they  deserve!" 

319 


[German  Cartoon] 


John  Bull  at  the  Costumer's 


— From  Simplicissiinus,  Munich. 

What  costume  shall  I  choose  so  that  none  will  recognize  me?" 
Why  don't  you  go  as  a  gentleman  ?  " 

313 


[English  Cartoon] 


William  o'  the  Wisp 


— From    Punch,    London. 


314 


[German  Cartoon] 


American  Neutrality 


— From  Meggendorfcr-Blaetter,  Munich, 


315 


[English  Cartoon] 

What  the  War  Office  Has  to  Put  Up  With 


— From    Punch,   London. 

Demonstration  of  a  device  for  catching  bombs  from  airships. 

316 


[German  Cartoon] 


Va  Banque! 


— From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin.      j 

The  Monte  Carlo  habitue's  last  play. 

317 


[Italian  Cartoon] 

The  Final  Earthquake — In  Germany 


— From  L'Asino,  Rome. 

By  the-  grace  of  God  and  the  will  of  the  nation. 

[The  falling  columns  are  marked  "  feudalism  "  and  "  militarism."] 

318 


[German  Cartoon] 

From  the  English  Eating-House 


— From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 

England  utilizes  the  refuse  of  her  domestic  establishment  as 

cannon  fodder. 


S19 


[English  Cartoon] 


The  Bread- Winner 


-From  Punch,  London 


320 


[Italian  Cartoon] 

Italy's  Neutrality 


— From   L'Asino,  Rome. 

Every  day  the  dance  becomes  more  difficult. 
[The  dancer  is  the  German  Ambassador,  von  Buelow,] 


321 


[English  Cartoon] 

Busy  Packing 


— From  The  Bystander,  London 

Sultan  Mehmed:  "'Am  I  there'  ?  !  !     I  should  rather  think  I  am  !  !     We're 

being  '  moved,'  you  know.     And  the  hammering  outside  is  something  too  awful  !  !  " 

His  Islamic  Majesty  Hadji  Guillioun  :  "  Kismet,  my  boy.  Kismet  !     Besides, 

I  feel  sure  you'll  be  awfully  pleased  with  Asia  Minor — so  quiet  ! — we  Mussulmans 

always  feel  so  at  home  there,  too  !" 

[The  English  preface  their  telephone  conversations  with  "  Are  you  there?"  instead 

of  "Hello!"] 
322 


[German  Cartoon] 


In  the  Cause  of  Culture 


— From  SUnplicissimus,  Munich. 

"  Papa  has  gone  away  to  Europe  to  protect  the  nice 
Englishmen  from  the  savages.  If  you  are  very  good,  perhaps 
he  will  bring  you  back  a  nice  German  beefsteak. 


[English  Cartoon] 

Queen  Elizabeth  in  the  Dardanelles 


—From  Punch,  London 


[The  reference  is  to  the  huge  British  dreadnought  that  bears  the  name  of  England's 

famous  queen.] 

324 


[French  Cartoon] 

The  "Sick  Man"  At  Home 


—From  Le  Rira,  Paris 

The  camel  with  two  humps. 
[The  original  title  was  "  Le  Chameau  a  deux  Boches."    In  French  slang  a  German  is 

a  bosche.} 


325 


[German  Cartoon] 


"The  Cripple-Entente" 


-From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin 


As  it  must  finally  be. 


828 


[French  Cartoon] 


Beware  of  the  John-Bull-Dog! 


Go  lie  down, 
contemptible  little 
England!" 


"  What  I  get  my 
teeth  into  I 
hang  onto!" 

-From   Le   Rire,   Paris 


327 


[German  Cartoon] 


The  Great  Question 


(joHAMlEN        ffSi-c* 


"  If  I  remain  neutral,  will  you  remain  "  If  you  were  neutral,  would  be  he  neu- 

neutral?"  tral?" 


HOi-lAHO.  OR,f(H[VL««>       MO<V-'0JM  JcKWltfJ    IMNfARK. 


"  If  he  is  neutral  then  we  will  remain  "  If  we  remain  neutral,  will  they  re- 

neutral."  main  neutral?" 


And  you  also,  neutral?' 


"Shall  you  remain  neutral?" 

— From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 


323 


Facsimile  of  a  Belgian  Bread-Check 


N9    6715  GRATUiT 

•OTT.t.w  DE  BRUXElrUES.  —  S'I'AD  DRUSSEL 

SerYice  de  TAliinentaticn  poblipe 

Dienst  der  Openbare  Voiding 

msK  r 4_      RDB_ . 

Komiultif  1 »;rua/ 


CART 


(i©micili6e 


"EL  remise    6    Ip   fe 


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t-iior    /ie<    doffeiijt*  nerinjjren  van 

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por(i.-«  o  5 

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i(uci(te. 
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bATES  DES  DISTRIBUTIONS 

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The  card  is  in  French  and  Flemish.     The  face  reads :  "  No.  6,715.     Gratis.     City  of  Brus- 
sels.    Department  of   Public  Supplies.     Committee   No.    1.     Street  .     Card   issued  to  the 

family  ,  living  at  ,  for  the  daily  delivery  of  portions.     To  be  presented  at  

Street.  N.  B.— Victuals  will  be  delivered  only  to  the  father  or  mother  of  a  family."  The 
reverse  side  bears  stamps  showing  the  dates  on  which  rations  were  issued  to  the  holder.  The 
original  is  somewhat  larger  than  this  reproduction. 


TO  A  GERMAN   APOLOGIST 

By    BEATRICE-  BARRY. 


YOU    may    seek    and    find    if    you    will, 
perchance, 
Excuses  for  your  attack  on  Prance, 
And  perhaps  'twill  not  be  so  hard  to  show 
Why  England  finds   you   her   deadly  foe ; 
There  are   reasons  old    and    reasons   new 
For  feelings  hard  'twixt  the  Russ  and  you, 
But  talk  as  you  may  till  the  Judgment  Day, 
You  cannot  ever  explain  away — 
Belgium. 

You  have  used  both  speech  and  the  printed 

word 
To  have  your  side  of  the  story  heard, 
We  have  listened  long,  we  have  listened  well 
To   everything   that   you   had   to   tell. 
We  would  fain  be  fair,  but  it  seems  as  though 
You   can't  explain  what  we   wish   to  know, 
And    when    lesser    points    have    been    cleared 

away. 
You   are  sure  to  fail  us  when  we  say — 
"  Belgium !" 


You   may   rant   and   talk   about   British   gold. 
And    opinions    that    are   bought   and   sold. 
But  facts,   no  matter  how   hard   to  face. 
Are  facts,   and   the  horrors   taking  place 
In  that  little  land,  pledged  to  honor's  creed. 
Make  your  cause  a  luckless  one  to  plead. 
There  are  two  sides?    True.     But  when  both 

are  heard. 
Our  sad  hearts  echo  a  single  word— 
"  Belgium  !" 

We  are  not  misled   by   the   savage  tales 

An   invading  army  never  fails 

To  have  told  of  it.    There  are  false  and  true, 

And  we  want  to  render  you   your  due. 

But  our  hearts  go  out  to  that  ravished  land 

Where  a  few  grim  heroes  make  their  stand. 

And  our  ears  hear  faintly,   from  overseas. 

The  wailing  cry  of  those  refugees— 

"  Belgium — Belgium — Belgium !" 


America's  Neutrality 

By  Count   Albert   Apponyi 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  March  28,  1913.] 

The  letter  which  follows  was  sent  by  Count  Albert  Apponyi  to  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray 
Butler,  and  was  written  in  the  latter  part  of  last  month  in  Budapest.  Count  Apponyi, 
who  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  contemporary  European  statesmen,  was  President 
of  the  Hungarian  Parliament  from  1S72  to  1904.  He  was  formerly  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction,  Privy  Councillor,  Member  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration  at  The 
Hagrue,   and  Member  of  the  Interparliamentary  Union. 


I  HAVE  been  greatly  interested  in 
your  account  of  American  neutral- 
ity in  the  present  European  crisis. 
I  must  confess  that  I  had  seen  it 
in  a  somewhat  different  light  before  and 
that  some  of  the  facts  under  our  notice 
still  appear  to  me  as  hardly  concordant 
with  the  magnificent  attitude  of  impar- 
tiality, nay,  not  even  with  the  interna- 
tional duties  of  neutrality,  which  intel- 
lectual and  official  America  professes  to 
keep. 

We  cannot  explain  to  ourselves  that  a 
neutral  power  should  suffer  the  selling 
of  arms  and  ammunition  by  its  citizens 
to  one  of  the  belligerent  parties,  when 
no  such  selling  to  the  other  party  is 
practically  feasible;  we  cannot  under- 
stand why  America  should  meekly  sub- 
mit to  the  dictates  of  England,  declar- 
ing all  foodstuffs  and  manufacturing 
materials  contraband  of  war,  with  not 
even  a  show  of  right  and  with  the  clear 
and  openly  proclaimed  intention  of  starv- 
ing Germany  and  Austria-Hungary;  why, 
on  the  other  hand,  America  should  use 
an  almost  threatening  language  against 
Germany,  and  against  Germany  alone, 
when  the  latter  country  announces  re- 
prisals against  the  English  trade,  which, 
under  given  circumstances,  can  be  con- 
sidered only  as  acts  of  legitimate  self- 
defense  against  an  enemy  who  chooses 
to  wage  war  not  on  our  soldiers  only, 
but  on  our  women  and  children,  too. 

With  all  the  respect  we  feel  for  the 
United  States,  we  cannot  find  this  atti- 
tude of  their  Government  either  fair  or 
dignified.  I  offer  these  remarks  in  no 
spirit  of  uncalled-for  criticism,  but  be- 
cause I  see  how  much  the  moral  author- 
ity of  the  United  States  and  their  splen- 
did  situation  as  the  providential  peace 


makers  of  some  future — alas!  still  far 
off — day  has  been  impaired  by  the  afore- 
mentioned proceedings.  We  cannot  help 
considering  them  as  so  many  acts  of  ill- 
disguised  hostility  against  ourselves  and 
of  compliance  with  our  foes.  How  can 
you  expect,  then,  to  have  your  good 
offices  accepted  with  confidence  by  both 
belligerent  parties  when  the  times  are 
ripe  for  them  ?  It  seems  like  the  throw- 
ing away  of  a  magnificent  opportunity, 
and  I  think  that  those  who,  like  yourself, 
cherish  for  your  country  the  noble  am- 
bition of  being  some  day  the  restorer  of 
peace,  should  exert  themselves  to  pre- 
vent practices  which,  if  continued,  would 
disable  her  to  play  any  such  part. 

In  your  letter  you  strike  the  keynote 
of  what  I  cannot  help  considering  the 
partiality  of  Americans  for  the  Entente 
powers.  It  is  the  idea  that  "  in  the 
western  area  of  conflict,  at  least,  there 
is  an  armed  clash  between  the  repre- 
sentatives of  dynastic  institutions  and 
bureaucratic  rule  on  the  one  hand  with 
those  of  representative  government  and 
liberal  institutions  on  the  other."  I  can 
understand  that  it  impresses  some  people 
that  way,  but  I  beg  to  enter  a  protest 
against  this  interpretation  of  the  conflict. 

Liberal  or  less  liberal  institutions  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it  in  the  west;  the 
progress  of  democracy  in  Germany  will 
not  be  stopped  by  her  victory,  it  will 
rather  be  promoted  by  it,  because  the 
masses  are  conscious  of  bearing  the  bur- 
den of  war  and  of  being  the  main  force 
of  its  vigorous  prosecution,  and  they 
are  enlightened  and  strong  enough  to 
insist  on  a  proper  reward.  Rights  can- 
not be  denied  to  those  who  fulfilled 
duties  involving  self-sacrifice  of  the  sub- 
limest   kind    with    unflinching   devotion. 


AMERICA'S  NEUTRALITY 


331 


No  practical  interest  of  democracy  then 
is  involved  in  the  conflict  of  the  western 
powers. 

As  to  their  representing  libsral  insti- 
tutions in  a  higher  or  lower  degree, 
I  am  perfectly  willing  to  admit  Eng- 
land's superior  claims  in  that  respect, 
but  I  am  not  at  all  inclined  to  recognize 
such  superiority  in  modern  France,  re- 
public though  she  calls  herself.  The 
omnipresence  and  omnipotence  of  an  ob- 
truding bureaucratic  officialism  is  just 
what  it  has  been  under  the  old  monarchy ; 
religious  oppression  has  only  changed 
sides,  but  it  still  flourishes  as  before.  In 
former  times  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
was  considered  as  a  State  religion  and  in 
her  name  were  dissent  and  Freemasonry 
oppressed;  today  atheism  is  the  official 
creed,  and  on  its  behalf  are  Catholic  be- 
lievers oppressed. 

Separation  of  Church  and  State,  hon- 
estly planned  and  loyally  fulfilled  in 
America  has  been  perverted  in  modern 
France  into  a  network  of  vexations  and 
unfair  measures  against  the  Church  and 
her  faithful  servants;  the  same  term  is 
used  and  this  misleads  you  to  cover 
widely  different  meanings.  In  a  word, 
it  is  a  perfect  mistake  to  consider  mod- 
ern France  as  the  "  sweet  land  of  lib- 
erty "  which  America  is.  A  German  citi- 
zen, with  less  show  of  political  rights, 
enjoys  more  personal  freedom  than  is 
granted  to  a  French  one,  if  he  happens 
to  differ  from  the  ruling  mentality. 

So  stand  things  in  the  western  area  of 
conflict.  But  how  about  the  east?  You 
are  kind  enough  to  admit  in  your  letter 
that  "  from  this  (the  aforementioned) 
standpoint  of  course  the  appearance  of 
Russia  among  the  allies  is  an  anomaly 
and  must  be  explained  on  other  grounds." 
Anomaly  is  a  rather  tame  word  to  char- 
acterize the  meaning  of  this  appearance 
of  Russia.  I  should  hardly  designate  it 
by  this  term. 

She  does  not  "  appear  among  the 
allies."  She  is  the  leading  power  among 
them;  it  is  her  war,  as  Mr.  Tsvolski,  the 
Russian  Ambassador  to  Paris,  very  prop- 
erly remarked:  "  C'est  ma  guerre."  She 
planned  it,  she  gave  Austria-Hungary  no 
chance  to  live  on  peaceful  terms  with  her 
neighbors,   she   forced   it   upon   us,   she 


drew  France  into  it  by  offering  her  a  bait 
which  that  poor  country  could  not  resist, 
she  created  the  situation  which  England 
considered  as  her  best  opportunity  for 
crushing  Germany.  I  must  repeat  it  over 
and  over  again:  it  is  in  its  origin  a  Rus- 
sian war,  with  a  clearly  outlined  Russian 
program  of  conquest. 

Here,  then,  you  have  a  real  clash  be- 
tween two  principles;  not  shades  of  prin- 
ciples as  these  may  subsist  between  Ger- 
many and  her  western  foes,  but  prin- 
ciples in  all  their  essential  features;  not 
between  different  tints  of  gray,  but  be- 
tween black  and  white,  between  affirma- 
tion and  negation;  affirmation  of  the 
principle  of  human  dignity,  liberty, 
safety,  and  negation  of  the  same;. west- 
ern evolution  and  eastern  reaction. 

I  wonder  why  those  prominent  Amer- 
icans who  are  so  deeply  impressed  by 
the  comparatively  slight  shades  of  lib- 
eralism differentiating  Germany  from 
England  and  France  are  not  struck  by 
the  absolute  contrast  existing  between 
Muscovitism  and  western  civilized  rule 
as  represented  by  Austria-Hungary  and 
Germany;  that  they  overlook  the  out- 
standing fact  that  while  in  the  western 
area  the  conflict  has  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  principles  embodied  in 
the  home  policy  of  the  belligerents,  in 
the  east,  on  the  other  hand,  these  princi- 
ples will  in  truth  be  affected  by  the  re- 
sults of  war,  since  a  Russian  victory, 
followed  by  a  Russian  conquest,  would 
mean  the  retrogression  of  western  in- 
stitutions and  the  corresponding  expan- 
sion of  eastern  ones  over  a  large  area  and 
large  numbers  of  men. 

It  is  the  consciousness  of  fighting  in 
this  war  which  has  been  forced  upon 
us,  against  the  direst  calamity  threat- 
ening our  kind  and  on  behalf  of  the 
most  precious  conquests  of  progress  and 
civilization,  which  enhances  our  moral 
force  so  as  to  make  it  unconquerable. 
The  hope  which  I  expressed  in  my  first 
letter,  that  Serbia's  doom  would  soon 
be  fulfilled,  has  been  prostrated  by  the 
mistakes  of  an  over-confident  Comman- 
der in  Chief;  but  that  means  postpone- 
ment only  and  does  not  alter  the  pros- 
pects of  war  in  their  essentials. 


832 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Good  progress  is  achieved  in  the  cam- 
paign against  Russia;  a  chapter  of  it 
may  be  brought  to  a  happy  close  before 
long.  The  spirit  of  the  country  shows 
no  symptom  of  weakening;  it  is  really 
wonderful  what  a  firm  resolve  pervades 
our  whole  people,  though  every  man  be- 
tween twenty  and  forty-two  stands  in 
the  field,  and  though  the  losses  are 
frightful.  Economically  we  hold  out 
easily;  the  expenses  of  war  are  de- 
frayed by  inner  loans,  which  give  un- 
expected results;  every  bit  of  arable 
land  is  tilled  as  in  time  of  peace,  the  old, 
the  women  and  the  half-grown  youths 
doing  the  work  of  their  absent  support- 
ers, neighbors  assisting  each  other  in  a 
spirit  of  brotherhood  truly  admirable. 
In  cases  of  urgent  need  we  have  the 
prisoners  of  war,  whose  number  in- 
creased to  nearly  300,000  (in  Austria- 
Hungary  alone)  and  to  whom  it  is  a  real 
boon  to  find  employment  in  the  sort  of 
work  they  are  accustomed  to. 

The  manufacturing  interest,  of  course, 
suffers  severe  losses;  but  the  number  of 
the  unemployed  is  rather  less  than  usual, 
since  a  greater  part  of  the  "  hands  "  is 
absorbed  by  the  army.  In  a  word,  though 
the  sufferings  of  war  are  keenly  felt, 
they  are  less  severe  than  had  been  ex- 
pected, and  there  is  not  the  smallest  indi- 
cation of  a  break-down.  The  area  of 
Germany,  Austria,  and  Hungary  taken  as 
a  whole  is  self-supporting  with  regard  to 
foodstuffs.  The  English  scheme  of  starv- 
ing us  is  quite  as  silly  as  it  is  abominable. 
England  can,  of  course,  inflict  severe 
losses  on  our  manufacturers  by  closing  the 
seas  against  their  imports  and  exports; 
but  this  is  not  a  matter  of  life  and  death, 
such  as  the  first  reprisals  of  Germany, 
if  successful,  may  prove  to  England. 

Generally  speaking,  it  seems  likely  that 
England  will  be  caught  in  the  net  of  her 
own  intrigue.  She  did  not  scruple  to  en- 
list the  services  of  Japan  against  her 
white  enemies,  but  this  act  of  treachery 
will  be  revenged  upon  herself.  The  latest 
proceedings  of  Japan  against  China  can 
have  one  meaning  only — the  wholesale 
expulsion  of  the  white  man  from  Eastern 
Asia.  The  Japs  do  not  care  one  straw 
who  wins  in  Europe;  they  seized  upon 
their  own  opportunity  for  their  own  pur- 


poses. England  only  gets  her  deserts; 
but  how  do  Americans  feel  about  it  ?  Can 
America  be  absolved  from  a  certain 
amount  of  responsibility  for  what  may 
soon  prove  imminent  danger  to  herself? 
Has  not  her  partiality  for  England  given 
encouragement  to  methods  of  warfare 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  civilized 
nations  and  fruitful  of  evil  consequences 
to  neutral  nations? 

To  us,  in  our  continental  position,  all 
this  means  much  less  than  it  means  to 
you.  It  does  not  endanger  our  prospects. 
We  feel  comparatively  stronger  every 
day.  Our  losses,  though  enormous,  are 
only  one-half  of  those  of  the  Entente 
armies,  according  to  the  Geneva  Red 
Cross  Bureau's  calculation.  The  as- 
tounding number  of  unwounded  prisoners 
of  war  which  Russia  loses  at  every  en- 
counter, and  even  in  spaces  of  time  be- 
tween two  encounters,  shows  that  the 
moral  force  of  her  army  is  slowly  giving 
way,  while  the  vigor  of  our  troops  is 
constantly  increasing.  After  six  months 
of  severe  fighting  our  military  position 
is  certainly  stronger  than  the  position  of 
the  Entente  powers,  though  the  latter 
represent  a  population  of  250,000,000, 
(English  colonies  and  Japan  not  includ- 
ed,) against  the  140,000,000  of  Germany, 
Austria-Hungary,  and  Turkey.  Who  can 
doubt  on  which  side  superior  moral  power 
fights?  Who  can  doubt,  therefore,  what 
the  ultimate  result  promises  to  be? 
■  If  it  takes  more  time  to  bring  matters 
to  a  decision — and  a  decision  must  be 
obtained  at  any  price,  if  there  is  to  fol- 
low a  period  of  permanent  peace — part, 
at  least,  of  the  responsibility  for  the  hor- 
rors of  the  protracted  war,  for  the 
slaughter  of  many  hundred  thousands 
more  of  human  beings,  rests  on  America. 
But  for  the  American  transports  of  guns 
and  ammunition,  the  power  of  Russia 
would  give  way  in  a  shoi'ter  time,  con- 
sidering her  enormous  losses  in  that  re- 
spect and  her  inability  to  supplement 
them  from  her  own  workshops. 

It  is  very  edifying  that  American 
pacifists  are  exerting  themselves  against 
the  current  of  militarism  which  appears  to 
spread  in  their  country;  but  wouldn't  it  be 
better  still,  more  to  the  purpose  and  cer- 
tainly practically  more  urgent,  to  insist 


AMERICA'S  NEUTRALITY 


333 


upon  a  truly  neutral  attitude  of  the  great 
republic,  to  protest  against  her  feeding  the 
war  by  providing  one  belligerent  side  with 
its  implements?  Do  American  pacifists 
really  fail  to  see  that  their  country  by 
such  proceedings  disables  herself  from 
being  the  peacemaker  of  the  future?  Do 
they  think  it  immaterial  from  the  stand- 
point of  her  moral  power,  as  well  as  of 
her  material  interests,  how  central  Eu- 
rope, a  mass  of  120,000,000,  think  of  her, 
feel  about  her? 

I  hope  my  readers  will  not  find  fault 
with  me  for  using  such  plain  language. 
My  well-known  enthusiastic  regard  for 
the  great  American  commonwealth 
makes  it  unnecessary  that  I  should  pro- 
test against  the  charge  of  meaning  dis- 
respect or  anything  else  whatever  but 
a  sincere  desire  to  state  with  absolute 
sincerity  how  we  feel  about  these  mat- 
ters, in  what  light  they  appear  to  us. 
I  think  America  must  know  this,  because 
it  is  part  of  the  general  situation  she 
has  to  reckon  with  when  shaping  her 
policies.  I  fervently  hope  these  policies 
will  remain  in  concordance  with  the 
great  principles  on  which  the  common- 
wealth is  built  and  with  the  teaching 
embodied  in  that  farewell  address  which 
is  read  once  a  year  in  Congress  and  in 
which  the  greatest  American  emphat- 
ically warns  his  countrymen  from  be- 
coming entangled  in  the  conflicts  of  Eu- 
ropean nations. 

A  few  words  more  about  the  future 
of  Europe  may  be  said  on  this  occasion. 
I  have  read  with  the  keenest  interest 
your  own  and  Mr.  Carnegie's  statements 
concerning  a  future  organization  of  Eu- 
rope on  the  pattern  of  the  United  States. 
My  personal  views  concerning  this  mag- 
nificent idea  have  been  expressed  in  an- 
ticipation in  my  America  lectures  of  the 
year  1911.  Allow  me  to  quote  my  own 
words : 

Analogies  are  often  misleading,  the  most 
obvious  ones  especially  so.  Notliing 
seems  more  obvious  than  to  draw  con- 
clusions from  the  existing  union  of  Ameri- 
can States  to  a  possible  union  of  European 
nations ;  but  no  fancied  analogy  is  to  be 
applied  with  greater  caution  than  this 
one.  The  American  Union's  origin  was 
the  common  struggle  of  several  English 
colonies,  now  States,  for  their  emanci- 
pation ;    unity    of    purpose    was    the    main 


principle  of  their  growth,  union  its  natural 
result. 

Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  is,  in  her 
origin  and  in  her  present  state,  a  com- 
pound of  conflicting  interests  and  strug- 
gling potentialities.  Mutual  antagonism 
remained  the  principle  of  growth  embodied 
in  the  several  national  lives.  The  juridi- 
cal formula  of  this  system  is  the  principle 
of  national  sovereignty  in  its  most  un- 
compromising interpretation  and  most 
limitless  conception.  As  such  it  is  the 
natural  result  of  a  historical  growth 
mainly  filled  with  antagonism ;  in  the 
consciousness  of  (European)  nations  it 
lives  as  synonymous  with  national  honor, 
as  something  above  doubt  and  discussion. 

Let  me  add  to  this  the  following  re- 
marks : 

1.  Any  sort  of  union  among  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  appears  impossible  if  it 
is  meant  to  include  Russia.  Russia  rep- 
resents eastern  mentality,  which  implies 
an  unadmissible  spirit  of  aggression  and 
of  conquest.  It  seems  to  be  a  law  of 
nature  on  the  old  Continent  that  eastern 
nations  should  wish  to  expand  to  the 
west  as  long  as  they  are  powerful.  Not 
to  mention  the  great  migration  of  na- 
tions which  gave  birth  to  mediaeval  or- 
ganizations, you  may  follow  this  law  in 
the  history  of  the  Tartars,  of  the  Turks, 
and  of  Russia  herself.  The  spirit  of 
aggressiveness  vanishes  only  when  decay 
sets  in,  which  is  still  far  from  being  the 
case  of  Russia,  or  when  a  nation  is 
gradually  converted  to  Occidental  men- 
tality, which,  I  hope,  will  some  day  be  her 
happy  lot.  But  till  then,  and  that  may 
mean  a  century  or  two,  any  sort  of 
union  including  Russia  would  mean  a 
herd  of  sheep  including  a  wolf. 

2.  What  I  hope  then,  for  the  present, 
as  the  most  desirable  result  of  the  war, 
is  a  thorough  understanding  between  the 
nations  of  the  Western  European  Conti- 
nent, construction  of  a  powerful  political 
block,  corresponding  to  the  area  of 
western  mentality,  in  close  connection 
with  America;  such  a  block  would  dis- 
courage aggression  from  the  east;  it 
would  urge  Russia  on  the  path  of  reform 
and  home  improvement.  England  would 
be  welcome  to  join  it,  on  condition  of  re- 
nouncing those  pretensions  to  monopoliz- 
ing the  seas  which  are  as  constant  a 
menace  to  peace  as  Russian  aggressive- 
ness is.    So  we  should  have,  if  not  "  the 


834 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


United  States  of  Europe,"  which  at 
present  lies  beyond  the  boundary  lines 
of  possibilities,  a  strong  peace  union  of 
the  homogeneous  western  nations.  Alas ! 
this  result  can  be  reached  only  by  de- 
stroying the  present  unnatural  connec- 
tions, which  mean  the  continuance  of 
war  till  a  crushing  decision  is  obtained. 

3.  The  American  colonies  of  England 
did  not  think  of  union  as  of  a  peace 
scheme;  they  had  been  compelled  into  it 
by  war,  by  the  necessity  of  self-defense.  It 
is  only  such  an  overpowering  motive  which 
has  force  enough  to  blot  out  petty  rival- 
ries and  minor  antagonisms.  If  union 
between  States  belonging  to  the  same 
race  and  not  divided  either  by  history  or 
by  serious  conflicting  interests  could  be 
effected  only  under  the  pressure  of  a 
common  peril,  we  must  infer  "  a  minori 
ad  ma  jus  "  that  such  a  powerful  incentive 
will  be  more  necessary  still  to  persuade 
into  union  nations  of  different  races,  each 
cherishing  memories  of  mutual  collisions 
and  actually  aware  of  not  unimportant 
clashing  interests. 

The  menace  of  aggression  from  the 
east  has  been  brought  home  to  us  by 
the  present  war;  gradually  it  will  be  un- 
derstood even  by  those  Occidentals  who 
at  present  unhappily  lend  their  support 
to  that  aggression.  On  this  perception 
of  the  higher  common  interests  of  self- 
defense  do  I  build  the  possibilities  of  a 
western,   coalition.      But    a    time    may 


come  when  Russia  will  be  compelled 
to  join  it  and  to  complete  thereby  the 
union  of  the  whole  of  Europe;  it  may  come 
sooner  than  the  conversion  of  Russia  to 
western  ideas  could  be  effected  by  nat- 
ural evolution;  it  may  come  through 
the  yellow  peril,  the  menace  of  which 
has  been  brought  nearer  to  us  by  the 
accursed  policy  of  England. 

Let  Japan  organize  the  dormant  forces 
of  China,  as  it  seems  bent  upon  doing, 
and  the  same  law  of  eastern  aggressive- 
ness which  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  pres- 
ent war  will  push  the  yellow  mass  toward 
Europe.  Russia,  as  comparatively  west- 
ern, will  have  to  bear  their  first  onset; 
for  this  she  will  require  Occidental  as- 
sistance, and  in  the  turmoil  of  that  dire- 
ful conflict — or,  let  us  hope,  in  order  to 
avoid  it — she  will  readily  give  up  all  de- 
signs against  her  western  neighbors, 
and  she  may  become  really  western  by 
the  necessities  which  impel  her  to  lean 
on  the  west. 

But  this  may  or  may  not  happen. 
What  I  see  before  me  as  a  tangible  pos- 
sibility is  the  great  western  block.  It 
is  the  only  principle  of  reconstruction 
after  war  that  contains  a  guarantee  of  a 
permanent  peace;  it  is  the  one,  therefore, 
which  the  pacifists  of  all  nations  should 
strive  for,  once  they  get  rid  of  the  pass- 
ing mentality  of  conflict  that  now  ob- 
scures the  judgment  of  the  best  among 
us. 


Neutral  Spirit  of  the  Swiss 

An  Interview  With  President  Motta  of  the  Swiss  Confederation 


[From    The   London    Times,    Jan.    30,    1915.] 


BERNE,  Jan.  20. 

THE  President  of  the  Swiss  Con- 
federation is  the  symbol  of  a 
democracy  so  perfect  that  the 
man  in  the  street  is  not  quite 
sure  who  the  President  is.  He  knows 
that  he  is  one  of  a  council  of  seven,  and 
that  he  is  elected  for  one  year,  and  that 
is  all.  In  the  Federal  Palace,  the  Berne 
Westminster  and  Downing  Street,  the 
anonymity  is  almost  as  complete.  Of- 
ficers pass  and  repass  in  the  corridors — 
one  of  the  signs,  like  the  waiting  mili- 
tary motor  cars  at  the  door,  of  mobil- 
ization— but  this  does  not  change  the 
spirit,  simple  and  civilian,  of  the  interior. 

M.  Motta,  Chief  of  State  for  this  year, 
is  a  man  of  early  middle  life.  He  is  the 
best  type  of  Swiss,  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession, whose  limpid  French  seems  to 
express  culture  as  well  as  candor.  Nor 
could  one  doubt  for  a  moment  the  sincer- 
ity of  his  speech.  Speaking  on  the  Swiss 
position  in  the  war,  M.  Motta  was  anx- 
ious to  remove  the  impression  that  it  was 
colored,  dominated  by  the  existence  of 
the  German-speaking  cantons,  more  nu- 
merous than  the  French.  "  Of  course," 
he  said,  "we  have  our  private  sympathies, 
which  incline  us  one  way  or  the  other, 
and  there  is  the  language  tie — though 
here  we  are  greatly  attached  to  our 
Bernese  patois — but  I  would  have  you 
believe  the  Swiss  are  essentially  just  and 
impartial,  they  look  at  the  war  object- 
ively. 

"  We  have  good-will  toward  all  the 
nations.  Need  I  say  that  we  respect  and 
esteem  England?  Have  you  not  found 
that  you  are  well  received?  There  is  no 
antagonistic  feeling  against  any  one. 
Our  neutrality  is  imposed  upon  us  by  our 
position,  a  neutrality  that  is  threefold  in 
its  effects,  for  it  is  political,  financial, 
and  economic.  Italy,  France,  Germany, 
Austria,  are  our  neighbors;  we  send  them 


goods,  and  we  receive  supplies  from  them 
in  return." 

We  then  talked  of  the  army,  of  that 
wonderful  little  army  which,  at  this 
moment,  is  watching  the  snowy  passes 
of  the  Alps.  Two  years  ago  it  is  said 
to  have  impressed  the  Kaiser  on  ma- 
noeuvres; perhaps  for  that  reason  he  has 
refrained  to  pass  that  way.  Outside,  in 
the  slippery  streets,  over  which  the 
red-capped  children  passed  with  shouts 
of  glee,  I  had  seen  something  of 
the  preparations;  the  men,  steel-like  and 
stolid,  marching  by,  the  officers,  stiff 
and  martial-looking,  saluting  right  and 
left  under  the  quaint  arcades  of  this 
charming  city.  Colored  photographs 
of  corps  commanders  adorned  the  win- 
dows and  seemed  to  find  a  ready  sale. 
These  things  pointed  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. Switzerland,  posted  on  her  crests, 
was  watching  the  issue  of  the  terrific 
struggle  in  the  plains. 

"  We  must  defend  our  neutrality,"  the 
President  said,  "  our  600  years  of  free- 
dom. There  is  not  a  single  man  in  the 
country  who  thinks  differently.  I  am  an 
Italian-Swiss,  one  of  the  least  numerous 
of  our  nationalities,  but  there  is  only  one 
voice  here  as  elsewhere — only  one  voice 
from  Ticino  to  Geneva.  That  we  shall 
defend  our  neutrality  is  proved  by  the 
great  expenditure  on  our  army;  other- 
wise, it  would  be  the  height  of  folly." 

The  President  spoke  of  army  expendi- 
ture, of  the  simple  army  system,  of  the 
reorganization  which  had  been  carried 
out  some  years  befdre.  Switzerland  was 
spending  £20,000  a  day,  a  large  sum  for  a 
small  country.  Since  the  day  when  the 
general  mobilization  had  been  decreed — 
some  classes  have  now  been  liberated — 
Switzerland  had  spent  £4,500,000.  It  was 
a  lot  of  money. 

The  army,  of  course,  was  a  militia; 
some  few  officers  were  professional  sol- 


836 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


diers,  others  were  drawn  from  a  civil 
career  and  were  doctors,  lawyers,  engi- 
neers, and  merchants.  In  1907  the  coun- 
try had  consented  to  lengthen  the  periods 
of  training  in  what  are  quaintly  called 
the  "  recruits'  schools  "  and  "  rehearsal 
schools."  In  the  former  category  the 
men  do  sixty-five  days'  training  a  year, 
in  the  latter  forty-five. 

"  I  assure  you,"  continued  M.  Motta, 
"  whatever  sympathy  the  German-Swiss 
may  feel  toward  Germany,  the  French- 
Swiss  toward  France,  or  the  Italian  to- 
ward Italy,  it  is  nothing  like  as  warm 
and  as  intimate  as  that  which  each  Swiss 
feels  toward  his  fellow-Swiss." 

This  was  the  national  note  which  domi- 
nated everything.  At  first  there  was  a 
little  difficulty  in  the  councils  of  the  na- 
tion. Some  showed  a  tendency  to  lose 
their  balance,  but  that  phase  had  passed, 
and  each  day,  I  gathered,  purely  Swiss 
interests  were  coming  uppermost. 

"  And  the  press,  M.  le  President  ?  " 

M,  Motta  admitted  that  some  writers 


had  been  excessive  in  their  language  and 
had  been  lacking  in  good  taste;  but,  on 
the  whole,  he  thought  the  newspapers 
had  impartially  printed  news  from  both 
sides,  and  he  cited  a  list  of  leading  or- 
gans— Switzerland  is  amazingly  full  of 
papers — which  had  been  conspicuous  for 
their  moderation. 

And  then  there  was  the  question  of 
contraband.  Orders  were  very  precise  on 
the  subject;  the  Cabinet  had  limitless 
power  since  the  opening  of  the  war;  if 
there  was  any  smuggling  it  was  infini- 
tesimal, and,  as  to  foodstuffs,  Switzer- 
land regretted  she  could  not  import  more 
for  her  own  needs.  The  Government  had 
established  a  monopoly  and  forbidden  re- 
exportation, but  supplies  were  not  up  to 
the  normal.  The  route  by  the  Rhine  was 
closed. 

Finally  came  the  phrase,  concluding 
the  conversation :  "  Whoever  violates  our 
neutrality  will  force  us  to  become  the 
allies  of  his  enemy."  There  could  be  noth- 
ing more  categorical. 


TO  KING  AND  PEOPLE. 

By  WALTER   SICHEL. 
[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 

All  the  great  things  have  been  done  by  the 
little  peopies.— DISRAELI. 

SIRE,  King  of  men,  disdainer  of  the  mean, 
Belgium's  inspirer,   well  thou  stand'st 
for  all 
She  bodes   to   generations   yet  unseen, 
Freedom   and    fealty — Kingship's    coronal. 

Nation  of  miracles,  how  swift  you  start 
To  super-stature  of  heroic  deeds 

So  brave,  so  silent  beats  your  bleeding  heart 
That   ours,    e'en   in   the   flush   of   welcome, 
bleeds. 


No  sound  of  wailing.     Look,  above,  afar. 
Throbs    in    the    darkness    with    triumphant 
ray 
A  little  yet  an  all-commanding  star. 
The   morning   star   that   heralds    forth    the 
day. 


A  Swiss  View  of  Germany 


By  Maurice  Millioud 


M.  Maurice  Millioud,  an  eminent  member  of  the  Faculty  of  the  University  of  Lausanne, 
Switzerland,  has  written  an  article  of  marked  breadth  and  penetration  in  which  he  presents 
a  quite  novel  view  of  the  forces  which,  in  combination,  have  brought  Germany  to  its  actual 
position.  These  forces  are  poliucal,  social,  and  economic ;  beneath  and  through  them  worlds 
the  subtle  impulsion  of  a  national  conception  of  right  and  might  which  the  author  sums  up 
as  the  "  ideology  of  caste."  Want  of  space  forbids  the  publication  of  the  entire  article.  We 
give  its  most  significant  parts  with  such  summary  of  those  portions  which  it  was  necessary 
to  omit  as,  we  trust,  will  enable  our  readers  to  follow  the  general  argument. 


HUMANITARIANS  the  most  deep- 
ly buried  in  dreams  yield  with 
stupefaction  to  the  evidence  of 
fact.  European  war  was  pos- 
sible, since  here  it  is,  and  even  a  world 
war,  for  all  continents  are  represented  in 
the  melee.  Millions  of  men  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other  are  ranged  along  battle 
fronts  of  from  500  to  1,000  kilometers. 
We  are  witnessing  a  displacement  of  hu- 
man masses  to  which  there  is  nothing 
comparable  except  the  formidable  con- 
vulsions of  geologic  ages. 

The  world  then  was  in  formation.  Will 
a  new  Europe,  a  new  society,  a  new  hu- 
manity, take  form  from  the  prodigious 
shock  by  which  our  imagination  is  con- 
founded ? 

We  can  at  least  seek  to  understand 
what  we  cannot  hinder. 

This  war  was  not  a  matter  of  blind 
fate,  but  had  been  foreseen  for  a  long 
time.  What  are  the  forces  that  have  set 
the  nations  in  movement?  I  do  not  seek 
to  establish  responsibility.  Whosoever 
it  may  be,  those  who  have  let  loose  the 
conflict  have  behind  them  peoples  of  one 
mind.  That,  perhaps,  is  the  most  sur- 
prising feature  in  an  epoch  when  eco- 
nomic, social,  and  moral  interests  are  so 
interwoven  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to 
the  other  that  the  conqueror  himself 
must  suffer  cruelly  from  the  ruin  of  the 
conquered. 

The  Governments  have  determined  the 
day  and  the  hour.  They  could  not  have 
done  it  in  opposition  to  the  manifest  will 
of  the  nations.  Public  sentiment  has  sec- 
onded them.  What  is  it  then  which  rouses 
man  from  his  repose,  impels  him  to  de- 


sert his  gains,  his  home,  the  security  of 
a  regular  life,  and  sends  him  in  eager 
search  for  bloody  adventures  ? 

This  problem  involves  different  solu- 
tions because  it  embraces  a  number  of 
cases.  Between  the  Russians,  the  French, 
the  English,  the  Germans  there  is  a  simi- 
larity of  will,  but  not,  it  seems,  an  anal- 
ogy of  sentiment.  I  shall  undertake  to 
analyze  the  case  of  Germany.  It  has 
peculiar  interest  on  account  of  its  impor- 
tance, of  its  definiteness,  of  the  compari- 
sons to  which  it  leads,  and  the  reflections 
which  it  suggests.  Numerous  facts  easy 
to  verify  and  in  part  recent  permit  us  to 
throw  some  light  upon  it  and  offer  us  a 
guarantee  against  hazardous  conjectures. 

Defining  a  caste  as  "  a  group  of  men 
hound  to  each  other  by  solidarity  of 
functions  in  society"  such  as  the  Brah- 
mins of  India  and  the  feudal  nobility. 
Prof.  Millioud  says  that  he  will  use  the 
terms  as  equivalent  or  nearly  equivalent 
to  a  "  directing  class."  Quoting  the 
article  from  Vorwaerts  which  led  to  the 
suspension  of  that  Socialist  organ  and 
ivhich  "  admits  by  implication  that  re- 
sponsibility for  the  war  falls  on  Ger- 
many," he  proceeds  to  examine  the  ori- 
gins of  the  influence  of  the  war  party 
and  the  interests  it  served. 

Here  we  must  have  recourse  to  history. 
In  Germany  the  dominant  class  is  com- 
posed in  part  of  an  aristocracy  by  birth 
and  of  bourgeois  capitalists,  more  or  less 
of  them  ennobled.  The  interior  policy  of 
Germany  since  1871  and  even  since  1866 
is  explained  by  the  relations,  sometimes 
kindly,  sometimes  hostile,  of  these  two 
categories  of  persons,  by  the  opposition 


338 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


or  the  conjunction  of  these  two  influ- 
ences, and  not  by  a  struggle  of  the  domi- 
nant class  against  the  socialistic  mass. 
That  struggle,  which  is  in  France  and  is 
becoming  in  England  a  fact  of  essential 
gravity,  has  been  in  Germany  only  a 
phenomenon  of  secondary  importance.  It 
has  determined  neither  the  profound  evo- 
lution of  the  national  life  nor  the  chief 
decisions  of  the  Government. 

In  Germany,  as  is  known,  the  abolition 
of  the  ancien  regime  did  not  take  place 
brusquely  as  in  France.  After  the  revo- 
lution and  the  French  occupation,  the 
noble  caste  recovered  all  its  privileges. 
It  has  lost  them  little  by  little,  but  not 
yet  entirely.  Even  the  liquidation  of  the 
property  of  the  feudal  regime  was  not 
completed  until  toward  1850.  Napoleon 
made  some  sad  cuts  in  the  little  sov- 
ereignties, but  from  1813  to  1815  the 
princely  families  did  their  utmost  to  re- 
cover their  independence.  The  greater 
part  were  mediatized,  but  their  tenacity 
offered  a  serious  obstacle  up  to  1871  to 
the  establishment  of  German  unity. 

That  unity  was  accomplished  in  despite 
of  them,  by  sword  and  fire,  as  Bismarck 
said,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  wars  of  1866 
and  1870.  Care  was  taken,  however,  not 
to  abase  them  more  than  was  strictly 
necessary,  for  it  was  intended  to  main- 
tain the  hierarchy.  What  was  wanted 
was  a  monarchical  unity,  made  from 
above  down,  and  not  a  democratic  unity 
brought  about  by  popular  impulsion. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  smaller  nobles 
formed,  after  1820,  a  vast  association  for 
the  defense  of  their  rights,  the  Adels- 
kette.  Moreover,  they  could  not  be  sac- 
rificed, in  the  first  place,  because  they 
had  rendered  invaluable  services  in  the 
wars  of  independence,  they  had  arisen  as 
one  man,  and  they  had  ruined  themselves 
in  sacrifices  for  the  national  cause,  they 
had  organized  the  people  and  led  it  to 
victory,  finally  because  they  served  to 
restrain  the  high  nobility  whose  domina- 
tion was  feared.  They  sustained  the 
throne  against  the  princes,  the  higher 
nobility  against  the  democracy,  the  lesser 
Ecbility  against  the  higher,  the  two  form- 
ing an  intermediary  class  between  the 
monarch  and  the  nation.    That  was  the 


social  conception  which  prevailed  with 
those  who  were  working  to  realize  the 
unity  of  Germany,  so  that  the  nobility, 
lesser  or  higher,  in  default  of  its  priv- 
ileges retained  its  functions. 

Treitschke,  in  his  last  lessons,  about 
1890,  called  it  "a  political  class."  For 
the  bourgeois,  he  said,  wealth,  instruc- 
tion, letters,  arts.  Their  part  is  fine 
enough.  The  nobility  is  apt  at  govern- 
ing. That  is  its  special  distinction.  For 
a  long  time,  in  fact,  the  nobility  has  filled 
alone  or  almost  alone  the  great  adminis- 
trative, governmental,  and  military  posts. 

Bismarck  was  the  finished  type,  the 
representative  par  excellence  of  this  class 
of  men.  He  had  their  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities  carried  to  the  highest 
degree  of  superiority.  But  he  underwent 
evolution  after  1871,  and  his  caste  with 
him,  under  the  pressure  of  general  cir- 
cumstances. 

Bismarck  was  a  Junker,  a  Prussian 
rustic,  monarchist,  particularist,  agra- 
rian and  militarist.  Each  of  his  quali- 
ties is  an  attribute  of  a  mentality  of 
caste,  a  very  curious  one,  not  lacking  in 
grandeur,  but  very  narrow  and  not  al- 
ways adequate  to  the  conduct  of  affairs. 

Monarchist  means  anti-Parliamenta- 
rian. The  fine  scorn  of  rhetoric  and  even 
of  public  discussion,  a  conviction  that 
democracy  will  not  lead  to  anything  be- 
yond a  display  of  mediocrity,  that  is  one 
of  the  salient  features  of  his  mind.  Pa- 
triotism conceived  as  an  attachment  to 
personal  relations,  as  the  service  of  one 
man,  the  subject,  to  another  man,  the 
King,  and  not  the  service  of  an  anony- 
mous person,  the  functionary,  to  an  ab- 
straction, the  State,  the  republic,  this 
was  formerly  designated  by  the  word 
faithful,  (feal,)  which  has  disappeared 
from  our  vocabulary  because  it  is  with- 
out meaning  in  our  present  moral  state. 

The  Junker  is  particularist,  at  least  he 
was.  The  political  and  administrative 
centralization  which  the  Jacobins 
achieved  in  France  inspires  him  with 
horror.  For  him  it  is  disorder.  He  sees 
in  it  nothing  but  a  dust  heap  of  individu- 
als crushed  beneath  a  formula.  Even  to- 
day, when  the  German  accuses  France  of 
anarchy,  that  it  what  he  means.    He  fig- 


A   SWISS  VIEW  OF  GERMANY 


339 


ures  to  himself  the  nation  as  a  vast 
hierarchy  of  liberties,  an  autonomy  of 
States  within  the  empire,  of  provinces 
within  the  State,  of  communes  within  the 
province,  of  proprietors  within  the  com- 
mune. Equality  is  equality  of  rank,  of 
worth,  of  wealth,  of  force,  but  imper- 
sonal equality  before  the  law  is  for  him 
an  unnatural  thing,  an  invention  of  the 
professors  which  at  heart  he  despises. 

He  is  agrarian  and  militarist,  that  is 
to  say,  conservative  and  enamored  of 
force.  In  1830  four-fifths  of  the  popula- 
tion lived  by  agriculture  and  the  land- 
lord governed  his  peasants  partriarchally. 
He  kept  the  conservatist  spirit  of  a  rus- 
tic, a  very  lively  sense  of  authority  and 
the  military  instinct.  He  had  scant  lik- 
ing for  distant  enterprises  or  adventures. 
He  was  at  once  religious,  warlike,  and 
realist,  knowing  how  to  nurse  his  ambi- 
tions and  to  confine  his  view  to  what  was 
within  reach. 

Bismarck  for  a  long  time  was  the  de- 
cided opponent  of  naval  armaments  and 
colonial  policy,  in  short,  of  imperialism. 
Even  his  projects  for  social  reform — in- 
surance against  sickness,  against  old  age 
— which  have  been  accepted  as  conces- 
sions to  modern  ideas,  were  due  entirely 
to  his  monarchical  and  patriarchal  con- 
ception of  the  State.  He  copied  the  an- 
cient decrees  of  Colbert  as  to  naval  per- 
sonnel. He  would  have  gone  as  far  as 
assurance  against  non-employment.  In 
the  dominion  of  the  King,  he  said,  no  one 
should  die  of  hunger. 

The  Junker  made  a  force  of  Prussia; 
he  made  Prussia  itself.  It  was  due  to 
him  that  she  passed  after  1815  from  the 
form  of  a  Polizeistaat  to  the  form  of  Kul- 
turstaat,  the  latter  only  an  expansion  of 
the  former.  In  place  of  a  watchful,  reg- 
ulating, and  vexatious  State  she  became 
an  organized  State,  the  instructor  of 
youth,  the  protector  of  religion,  the 
source  of  inspiration  for  agricultural  re- 
forms, and  all  great  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial enterprises.  This  State  was  not 
an  emanation  from  the  national  will,  but 
the  creator  of  a  nation,  the  living  and 
moving  self-incarnation  of  the  Hegelian 
"  idea,"  that  is  to  say,  the  Divine  thought. 

Of  all  the  German  aristocracy  the  noble 
of  Pomerania  or  Brandenburg,  the  Prus- 


sian Junker,  represented  this  social  type 
most  definitely.  In  the  south  the  liberal 
tendencies — to  be  exact,  the  memories  of 
the  French  Revolution — persisted  far 
into  the  nineteenth  century.  But  it  is 
well  known  that  German  unity  was  ac- 
complished by  military  force  and  against 
liberalism. 

After  1871,  and  even  after  Sadowa, 
the  problem  of  interior  policy  which  pre- 
sented itself  was  that  of  the  "  Prussian- 
ization "  of  Germany.  At  one  time  it 
seemed  that  Bismarck  was  on  the  point 
of  succeeding  in  it.  What  was  that  na- 
tional liberal  party  upon  which  he  de- 
pended for  so  long?  It  was  the  old  lib- 
eral party,  with  advanced  tendencies 
tainted  with  democratic  liberalism  and 
even  with  cosmopolitanism,  keeping  up 
its  relations  with  the  intellectuals,  the 
university  men,  who  made  so  much  noise 
with  pen  and  voice  about  1848  and  later. 
They  dreamed  of  the  unity  of  Germany  in 
the  democratic  liberty  and  moral  hege- 
mony of  their  nation,  having  become  in 
Europe  the  sobered  heir  of  the  French 
Revolution. 

Under  the  influence  of  Bismarck  they 
sacrificed  to  their  dream  of  unity,  to 
their  national  dream,  their  liberal  dream, 
and  they  secured  for  the  Chancellor  the 
support  of  the  upper  bourgeoisie. 

It  was  indeed  the  Prussianization  of 
Germany,  but  in  that  spirit  and  in  that 
system  contemporary  German  militarism 
would  never  have  fructified.  It  was  con- 
trary to  the  characteristic  tendencies  of 
a  monarchical  State  supported  by  a  con- 
servative caste,  which  was  also  particu- 
larist,  military,  and  agricultural.  A 
State  of  this  kind  tends  to  become  a 
closed  State. 

What  then  happened?  An  event  of 
capital  importance  which  everybody 
knows,  but  of  which  we  only  now  begin 
to  see  the  consequences.  It  was  the 
radical  transformation  of  Germany  from 
an  agricultural  to  an  industrial  nation. 
In  its  origin  this  phenomenon  dates  from 
before  the  nineteenth  century.  By  1848 
it  had  become  perceptible.  Since  1866, 
and  especially  since  1871,  it  has  domi- 
nated the  entire  social  evolution  of  the 
empire.     Here,  in  fact,  is  the  revolution. 


840 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


It  partakes  of  the  character  of  a  tragedy, 
it  has  overturned  the  conditions  of  life 
throughout  the  entire  German  territory. 

At  the  close  of  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence, four  out  of  five  Germans  lived  on 
the  land,  two  out  of  three  were  engaged 
in  agriculture.  By  1895  the  agricultural 
population  was  only  35.7  per  cent.  That, 
supported  by  industry  and  commerce, 
kept  continually  increasing.  In  1895  it 
was  50.6  per  cent. 

This  progress  of  industry  and  trade  in- 
dicates the  rise  of  a  new  class  of  the 
population,  that  of  the  capitalists.  It 
seemed  at  first  that  their  arrival  would 
result  in  a  dispossession  of  the  nobility. 
For  example,  under  the  ancien  regime 
the  bourgeois  could  not  acquire  the  prop- 
erty of  the  nobles.  Toward  1880,  for 
Eastern  Prussia  only,  7,086  estates  of 
11,065  belonged  to  non-nobles.  They 
could  have  been  acquired  only  with 
money.  Capital  was  supplanting  birth. 
Today  even,  in  Prussia,  five  members  of 
the  Ministry,  a  little  more  than  one-third, 
are  bourgeois  not  enjoying  the  particle 
von. 

The  new  dominant  class  encroached 
upon  the  ancient  in  two  ways,  by  depriv- 
ing it  of  its  clientele  and  by  acquiring  a 
considerable  weight  in  the  State.  "  The 
weight  of  a  social  class  "  is  the  totality 
of  its  means  of  action,  which  it  possesses 
on  account  of  its  "numbers,  its -personal 
influence,  its  wealth,  and  the  importance 
of  the  interests  which  it  represents.  The 
clientele  of  the  agrarian  nobility  was  es- 
sentially the  peasants,  who  have  contin- 
ually diminished  in  number,  the  attrac- 
tion of  industrial  and  commercial  em- 
ployments having  caused  a  great  migra- 
tion to  the  interior,  to  the  factories,  and 
the  cities. 

For  many  years  this  phenomenon  has 
been  disclosed  by  statistics  and  pointed 
out  by  economists  and  sociologists,  but 
no  remedy  has  been  found.  Today,  al- 
though emigration  abroad  has  much  mod- 
erated, Germany  has  not  labor  for  its 
tillage.  It  is  obliged  to  import  farm 
hands  and  even  cereals.  It  no  longer 
produces  foodstuffs  sufficient  for  its  own 
support. 

Moreover,   the   peasant   who    remains 


upon  the  soil  is  freed  from  the  landlord, 
and  agricultural  production  has  become 
specialized — industrialized.  There  is  the 
case,  for  instance,  of  that  peasant  wo- 
man who  declared  that  she  had  not  the 
time  to  wash  her  linen  and  who  sent  it  to 
the  steam  laundry  at  Karlsruhe.  Here 
is  not  merely  an  economic  transforma- 
tion, but  a  moral  evolution.  The  agri- 
culturist who  no  longer  produces  in  order 
to  consume  but  in  order  to  sell,  and  who 
must  live  from  the  product  of  his  sales, 
tries  to  produce  as  much  as  possible.  He 
hires  foreign  labor  to  get  from  it  all  that 
he  can.  The  impersonal  relations  of  em- 
ployer and  employed  replace  the  patri- 
archal traditions.  Thus  the  land  owner 
finds  himself  caught  in  the  mechanism 
of  the  capitalistic  system. 

As  to  the  "  weight "  of  the  new  class, 
it  increased  prodigiously  during  the  years 
following  the  war  of  1870,  thanks  to  the 
millions  which  the  empire  could  invest  in 
its  industries  and  which  allowed  it  to  en- 
dow its  commerce  and  its  merchant  ma- 
rine, to  complete  the  network  of  its  roads, 
canals,  and  railways. 

The  law  of  concentration  of  capital 
was  verified  on  this  occasion  in  a  strik- 
ing manner.  In  the  famous  years  1871 
to  1874,  which  the  Germans  call  the 
Griindejahre,  the  foundation  years,  gi- 
gantic industrial  and  commercial  enter- 
prises took  a  spring  which  seemed  irre- 
sistible. A  Director  of  the  Deutsche 
Bank,  of  the  Dresdener  Bank,  the  Presi- 
dent of  a  company  for  transatlantic  com- 
merce, such  as  the  Hamburg-American 
Line,  or  of  the  committee  of  great  elec- 
tric establishments,  enjoyed  an  influence 
in  the  councils  of  the  State  far  greater 
than  that  of  a  Baron,  a  Count,  or  a  little 
mediatized  Prince. 

What  was  the  aristocracy  of  birth  go- 
ing to  do  about  it?  Struggle  desperate- 
ly ?  It  took  that  tack  at  first.  Bismarck 
ranged  himself  in  its  support  for  some 
time.  He  was  himself  an  agrarian.  But 
he  was  not  long  in  installing  paper  mills 
on  his  estates  at  Varzin.  It  is  said  that 
the  Emperor  himself  possesses  porcelain 
factories.  A  part  of  the  nobility  for  a 
long  time  tried  to  adapt  itself  to  the  new 


A   SWISS  VIEW  OF  GERMANY 


S41 


method  of  production.  It  took  to  it  awk- 
wardly and  often  ended  in  ruin. 

Freytag  has  described  this  phenome- 
non at  its  beginnings  in  a  romance  which 
is  a  chef  d'oeuvre.  A  part  of  the  no- 
bility yielded,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
financiers,  the  money  lenders,  the  man- 
agers of  agricultural  enterprises,  sold 
their  lands,  and  took  refuge  in  the  great 
civil,  administrative  and  military  posts. 
The  remainder  resisted  as  well  as  they 
could.  There  was  antagonism  between 
their  interests  and  those  of  the  capital- 
ists, between  the  religious  and  particu- 
larist  tendencies  on  one  hand  and  free 
thought  and  cosmopolitanism  on  the 
other.  The  agrarians  demanded  tariff 
duties  on  agricultural  products  to  raise 
the  price  of  their  foodstuffs.  The  in- 
dustrials wanted  a  low  cost  of  living  in 
order  to  avoid  the  rise  of  wages  and  to 
compete  with  better  advantage  for  for- 
eign markets. 

Bismarck  was  the  target  for  vehement 
opposition  when  he  inclined  toward  the 
party  of  the  traders  and  the  industrials 
in  his  colonial  and  tariff  policy.  This 
evolution  came  about  1879.  For  a  while 
the  great  Chancellor  was  looked  upon 
almost  as  a  traitor. 

Nevertheless,  his  view  was  just.  Bal- 
ancing the  forces  on  the  one  hand  by 
those  on  the  other,  ceding  protective; 
duties  first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the 
other,  offsetting  the  advantages  which 
he  offered  to  one  side  by  the  preroga- 
tives which  he  accorded  to  the  other,  he 
finally  succeeded  in  reconciling  them. 

From  this  reconciliation  of  the  two 
dominant  classes  has  resulted  the  ex- 
traordinary power  of  Germany.  The 
bourgeois  parties  have  from  time  to  time 
grumbled  over  the  military  appropria- 
tions, but  they  have  always  voted  them. 
And  militarism,  which  is  the  support  of 
the  aristocracy,  has  been  placed  at  the 
service  of  capitalistic  ambition.  By  the 
prestige  of  force,  awakening  hopes  here 
and  inspiring  fears  there,  more  than 
once  by  the  help  of  manoeuvres  of  in- 
timidation, it  has  become  an  instrument 
of  economic  conquest. 

Other  combinations,  other  reciprocal 
interfacings,  have  taken  place  which 
have   given   an   exceptional   and   unique 


character  to  contemporary  Germany.  It  is 
a  case  of  social  psychology  of  extreme 
interest.  To  describe  it  would  require 
long  detail.  The  combination  of  the 
aristocratic  and  military  tendency  with 
the  industrial  and  plutocratic  tendency, 
the  tendency  of  the  police  spirit,  the  reg- 
ularizing spirit  of  the  Kulturstaat  with 
the  individual  initiative  of  the  capitalist 
entrepreneur,  methodical  habits  of  ad- 
ministration with  the  love  of  risk  char- 
acteristic of  the  speculator,  all  this  con- 
stitutes imperialism,  German  imperial- 
ism, distinct  from  every  other,  because 
to  a  definite  object,  economic  conquest, 
it  adds  another,  less  precise,  in  which  the 
moral  satisfaction  dear  to  aristocracy, 
the  pleasure  of  dominating,  the  love  of 
displaying  force,  the  tendency  to  prove 
one's  own  superiority  to  one's  self,  play 
a  large  part. 

Economic  conquest  has  become  a  neces- 
sity for  Germany.  Transformed  into  an 
industrial  State,  it  no  longer  produces  its 
own  food.  Since  1885  its  imports  have 
exceeded  its  exports  by  1,353,000,000 
marks.  Whence  did  Germany  derive 
these  1,300,000,000  marks  which  were 
needed,  good  year  and  bad,  to  meet  its 
balance  of  trade?  It  owes  them  to  its 
maritime  commerce  and  the  revenue  of 
its  capital  invested  abroad.  Its  maritime 
commerce  then  must  augment  and  must 
triumph  over  all  competition.  At  every 
cost  it  must  open  for  itself  outlets  for  its 
industrial  products  in  order  to  buy  food- 
stuffs which  it  does  not  produce  suf- 
ficiently.   If  not,  famine. 

Let  us  see  now  how  the  Complicated 
play  of  all  these  social  forces  and  the 
effect  of  this  economic  situation  have 
been  embodied  in  formulas,  what  has 
been  its  intellectual  expression. 

This  is  no  idle  question,  for  men  have 
always  claimed  to  be  guided  by  ideas, 
and  generally  they  are,  but  they  rarely 
know  where  their  ideas  come  from  or  in 
what  they  consist.  Without  intellectual 
expression  imperialism  would  not  have 
extended  to  all  the  classes  of  society.  The 
passion  of  economic  conquest  did  not  pre- 
vail throughout  the  whole  of  Germany. 
The  bourgeois  in  the  Liberal  provinces, 
the  corps  of  officers,  the  corps  of  teach- 


342 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ers,  the  clergy  were  refractory  to  it. 
This  direct  form  of  imperialism  does  not 
seduce  them.  Not  everybody  can  see  his 
country  and  the  universe  through  the  eyes 
of  an  oligarch  of  high  finance.  A  doc- 
trine works  with  power  when  it  appeals 
to  instincts,  when  it  awakens  collective 
emotions,  diverse  enough  in  themselves, 
and  joins  them  to  each  other  with  an  ap- 
pearance of  logical  deduction.  It  is  not 
indispensable,  but  it  is  useful  that  it 
should  borrow  the  language  of  the  day. 
In  the  mediaeval  epoch  this  language 
was  religious.  Beginning  with  the  sev- 
enteenth century  it  was  metaphysical.  In 
our  own  time  it  is  a  scientific  language 
set  off  by  Greek  words. 

If  the  German  philosophies  of  the  sec- 
ond half  of  the  nineteenth  century  are 
considered,  there  are  not  many  of  them 
that  pass  beyond  the  limit  of  the  school. 
They  are  honest,  scholarly  productions 
elaborated  by  men  who  have  read  much, 
of  whom  some,  like  Wundt,  are  eminent 
specialists,  but  who  have  not  conquered 
either  their  subjects  or  their  readers. 
One  feels  that  they  are  not  of  their  cen- 
tury. 

It  is  not  from  them,  it  is  not  from 
Eucken,  the  pleasant  popularizer,  it  is 
not  from  Windelbund  or  Ostwald  that  the 
cultivated  public  sought  the  direction  for 
its  thought.  To  satisfy  the  need  of  gen- 
eral ideas  which  was  everywhere  felt,  as- 
sociations were  formed,  churches  with  or 
without  God,  of  which  a  very  important 
one  was  the  "  Monistenbund,"  in  which 
Haeckel  exploited  his  materialism  trans- 
formed into  a  sort  of  biological  panthe- 
ism. 

But  it  was  outside  of  the  associations 
and  outside  of  the  school  that  the  flame 
of  creative  genius  burned  brightly.  The 
man  of  the  last  generation  was  Nietzsche. 
That  his  thought  has  been  perverted  by 
his  interpreters  there  is  no  doubt.  They 
have  taken  this  eagle  who  gazed  unblind- 
ed  at  the  sun  and  exhibited  him  to  the 
young  people  in  all  sorts  of  philosophic 
roles  for  the  benefit  of  the  industrial  and 
military  coalition.  Nietzsche  depicted 
in  lines  of  fire  the  resurrection  of  hero- 
ism, his  vision  of  the  superman  was  that 
of  an  ardent  soul,  steeled  by  sufferings, 


meditating  a  tragic  conception  of  life 
with  serenity,  and  in  his  solitary  individ- 
ualism surmounting  the  infirmity  of  man 
and  his  own  by  the  insistent  will  to  eter- 
nal ascension. 

He  was  made  the  apostle  of  brute  force, 
a  sort  of  Messiah  of  the  "  struggle  for 
life."  Moveover,  he  was  soon  put  one 
side  and  Gobineau  was  revived.  He  also, 
who  if  he  did  not  have  genius  had  wit, 
would  have  been  surprised  and  hardly 
flattered  perhaps  by  the  role  which  they 
made  him  play.  The  dolichocephalic 
(long-skulled)  blonde  whom  he  celebrated 
was  not  exactly  the  one  whom  we  are 
now  judging  by  his  works,  but  at  least  he 
proclaimed  the  superiority  of  the  Ger- 
man race. 

His  doctrine  was  the  centre  around 
which  were  gathered  a  complete  ensemble 
of  dogmas  and  of  very  diverse  theories, 
whose  connected  thread  it  is  not  easy  to 
discover  when  it  is  searched  for  logically, 
but  appears  quite  distinctly  when  not 
reason,  but  reasons,  are  demanded.  The 
reasons  are  found  in  the  need  of  justify- 
ing in  theory  the  economic  and  military 
imperialism,  bom  as  we  have  seen  from 
conditions  of  fact  and  from  very  practical 
motives. 

I  do  not  pretend  that  it  was  calculated, 
nor  that  the  optimates  made  express 
requisition  of  the  naturalists,  economists, 
and  historians  and  sociologists  and  moral- 
ists to  provide  an  imperialistic  philosophy 
for  the  use  of  adult  and  normal  dolicho- 
cephalous  blondes.  But  there  certainly 
was  a  coincidence.  It  may  have  been  due 
to  the  influence  of  what  is  called  a  milieu 
ambiant,  that  of  the  commercial  and  mili- 
tary party.  The  authors  of  the  doctrine 
lived  in  a  special  atmosphere.  Their  in- 
tellect was  there  formed — or  deformed — 
their  work  consisted  in  gathering  facts, 
inventing  reasonings,  elaborating  formu- 
las, so  as  to  subject  natural  science,  his- 
tory and  morality  to  the  service  of  that 
keen  will  for  hegemony  which  was  in 
Germany  the  common  characteristic  and 
was  the  connecting  link  between  the 
ancient  and  the  new  directing  class. 

To  convince  one  that  this  is  so,  it 
is  enough  to  arrange  the  works  of  the 
pan-Germanists  in  a  series  passing  from 
the   simplest   to  the   most   complicated. 


A   SWISS  VIEW  OF  GERMANY 


343 


The  dates  are  of  no  importance.  We 
might  put  at  one  of  the  extremes  the 
works  of  the  Prussian  General,  von  Bern- 
hardi,  and  at  the  other  the  gigantic 
lucubration  of  a  famous  pan-German 
zealot,  a  neophite,  a  convert,  almost  a 
deserter,  Mr.  Houston  Stewart  Chamber- 
Iain. 

Prof.  Millioud  examines  at  some  length 
and  acutely  the  tendencies  and  teachings 
of  von  Bemhardi,  now  familiar  to  Ameri- 
can readers,  sums  up  the  work  of  the 
philosophers  of  minor  rank  and  turns  to 
Mr.  Chamberlain. 

With  Mr.  Chamberlain  the  thesis  of 
vital  competition,  the  morality  of  force, 
the  judgment  of  history  against  little 
nations,  the  civilizing  mission  imposed 
upon  greater  Germany  by  its  very  great- 
ness, by  its  economic,  scientific  and  ar- 
tistic superiority,  everything  tends  to  the 
glorification  of  the  German,  to  his  duty 
to  govern  the  whole  world  which  he  feels 
so  imperatively  and  which  he  accepts 
with  such  a  noble  simplicity.  His  work 
is  not  easily  summarized,  not  only  be- 
cause it  counts  1,379  pages  and  two  ap- 
pendices, but  because  all  is  in  everything, 
and  everything  in  the  universe  is  also  in 
Mr.  Chamberlain's  book.  And  the  Ger- 
man has  made  everything.  Not  indeed 
the  world;  that  he  has  only  remade  and 
is  about  to  remake.  But  he  has  a  way 
of  remaking  so  creative  that  one  might 
say  that  without  him  the  Creator  Himself 
would  be  a  bit  embarrassed.  He  has 
gathered  to  himself  alone  the  heritage 
of  Greece  and  Rome  as  far  as  it  was 
worth  anything.  From  the  year  1200  to 
the  year  1800  he  founded,  ripened,  and 
saved  a  new  civilization  several  times 
over.  The  mother  of  our  sciences  and 
our  arts,  Italy,  is  Germanic;  the  great 
architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  Ger- 
manic ;  the  true  interpretation  of  Christi- 
anity, the  true  conception  of  art,  the 
true  social  economy,  the  love  of  nature, 
the  sense  of  individuality,  the  exploration 
of  the  world  and  of  the  soul,  the  great  re- 
awakenings  of  conscience,  all  the  great 
flashes  of  thought  are  Germanic;  every- 
thing is  Germanic,  except  you  and  me, 
perhaps;  so  much  the  worse  for  me  and 
so  much  the  worse  for  you.  After  this 
book,  the  success  of  which  has  been  pro- 


digious, it  would  truly  seem  that  there 
is  nothing  more  to  say.  Germanic  thought 
has  appropriated  the  universe  to  itself. 
It  only  remained  for  the  German  sword 
to  complete  the  work.    It  is  drawn ! 

I  have  tried  to  describe  the  modifi- 
cations, or  rather  the  successive  addi- 
tions, by  which  the  elementary  themes 
disclosing  economic,  political,  and  mili- 
tary appetites  in  the  directing  class 
have  been  disguised  as  theories  of  bi- 
ology, history,  political  economy,  so- 
ciology, and  morality.  It  would  take 
another  study  or  another  article  to  show 
how  science  was  perverted  to  such  ends. 
The  severity  of  methods,  rigor  in  the 
determination  of  facts,  precision  in  reas- 
oning, prudence  in  generalization,  serene 
impartiality  and  objectivity  in  verifi- 
cation, in  a  word  the  scientific  spirit, 
cannot  be  bent  to  so  many  pleasant  com- 
promises without  sacrificing  a  great  part 
of  its  dignity  and  its  title  to  respect. 

This  has  been  a  singular  and  melan- 
choly event  for  those  of  us  who  have 
been  raised  in  respect  for  German  sci- 
ence and  in  admiration  for  its  methods, 
as  well  as  for  its  discoveries.  Cer- 
tainly, from  Liebig  to  Roentgen  and  to 
Behring,  from  Kant  to  Wundt,  Germany 
has  counted  many  distinguished  pioneers. 
In  the  matter  of  fecund  originality,  how- 
ever, and  creative  inspiration,  Italy  and 
France  have  always  equaled,  if  not  sur- 
passed, her.  She  has  had  no  Marconi, 
no  Pasteur  or  Poincare,  no  Carrel. 

What  we  have  received  from  her  so 
long  that  it  has  become  almost  a  matter 
of  instinct  is  less  dazzling  flashes  than 
an  equal  and  constant  light.  And  the 
savants,  the  university  men  who  bring 
to  us  anthropological  romances,  history 
stuffed  with  legends  and  personal  preju- 
dices, sociology  constructed  in  contempt 
of  the  facts! 

In  these  later  days  we  have  seen  all 
these  joining  under  the  guidance  of  their 
most  illustrious  members  to  address  the 
civilized  nations  in  an  appeal  in  which 
by  virtue  of  their  quality  as  savants 
they  undertook  to  pronounce  upon  facts 
which  they  don't  understand,  to  deny 
those  which  they  cannot  help  under- 
standing, and  solemnly  to  declare  that  it 
is  not  true  that  Germany  has  violated 


S44 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  neutrality  of  the  territory  of  Bel- 
gium. For  proof  of  this,  nothing  but 
their  word  of  honor.  Do  they  take  us 
for  those  young  gentlemen  who  said  to 
Monge,  "  Professor,  give  us  your  word  of 
honor  that  this  theorem  is  true  and 
we  will  excuse  you  from  the  demonstra- 
tion of  it "? 

Fully  to  explain  the  role  of  the  intel- 
lectual savants  and  university  men  in 
the  formation  of  the  ideology  of  caste 
which  prevails  among  the  Germans  it 
would  be  necessary  to  recite  the  history 
of  instruction  in  Germany,  not  such  as 
Davis  and  Paulson  have  written  it,  but 
such  as  it  actually  is  under  the  influence 
of  institutions  and  programmes — I  mean 
the  moral  history  of  instruction. 

The  great  Frederick  was  wont  to  cry, 
"I  commence  by  taking;  afterward  I 
shall  always  have  pedants  enough  to  es- 
tablish my  rights."  Pedants  or  not,  the 
members  of  the  teaching  corps  of  every 
grade  in  Germany  are  a  wheel  of  the 
State,  their  mission  is  to  form  not  men, 
but  Germans,  to  inculcate  the  national 
idea.  Their  views  have  penetrated  even 
to  the  common  people. 

Germany  receives  a  double  education — 
that  of  the  school  and  that  of  the  bar- 
racks. The  spirit  of  these  two  institu- 
tions is  the  same,  and  their  influence, 


which  has  been  exercised  since  1848  in 
opposition  to  humanitarian  and  interna- 
tionalist ideas,  has  encountered  no  se- 
rious obstables,  for  it  went  readily  with 
certain  old  instincts  which  it  was  not 
difficult  to  reawaken  and  which  general 
circumstances  favored. 

"  Latrocinia  nullam  habent  infamiam," 
said  Caesar,  speaking  of  the  Germans. 
Pillage  brings  no  shame.  This  desire  of 
gain,  this  positive  and  realistic  tendency 
is  one  of  the  motives  which  the  brusque 
and  prodigious  economic  expansion  of 
Germany  has  promoted  in  the  most  effi- 
cient manner. 

This  total  assimilation  of  a  people  of 
70,000,000  of  souls  by  an  aristocratic, 
almost  a  feudal,  directing  class,  a  com- 
bination of  plutocrats  arid  militarists,  is 
in  reality  a  most  curious  phenomenon, 
more  than  curious,  in  a  sense  grandiose, 
and  in  any  case  full  of  suggestions  and 
menaces. 

Surrender  of  body  and  soul,  confidence 
almost  religious,  enthusiastic  faith,  the 
directing  class  has  conquered  every- 
thing within  in  order  to  conquer  every- 
thing without.  Now  it  stakes  everything 
upon  the  cast  of  the  dice.  I  have  not 
undertaken  to  decide  whether  it  is  just 
or  not.  The  event  will  determine 
whether  it  is  genius  or  madness. 


THE  LAND  OF  MAETERLINCK 
By  Alfred  Sutro 

[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 


I  HAVE  translated  many  books  of  Maeterlinck's ;  I  have  wandered  with 
him  among  the  canals  of  Bruges  and  the  fragrant  gardens  of  Ghent ; 
I  have  seen  the  places  where  he  dreamed  of  Pellgas  and  Mfilisande, 
and  the  hives  of  the  bees  he  loved.  Through  him  I  learned  to  know  Bel- 
gium ;  today  all  the  world  knows.  Her  cities  are  laid  waste  now  and 
her  people  scattered,  but  her  people  will  return  and  rebuild  the  cities,  and 
the  enemy  will  be  dust.  The  day  will  come  when  the  war  will  be  far 
distant,  a  thing  of  the  past,  remote,  forgotten,  but  never,  while  men  endure 
or  heroism  counts,  will  it  be  forgotten  what  the  Belgians  did  for  Liberty's 
sake  and  for  the  sake  of  Albert,  their  King. 


America  and  Prohibition  Russia 

Two  Mustard  Seeds  of  Reform  Carried  From  This  Land  to  the  Steppes 

By   Isabel  F.   Hapgood 


WHEN  Russia  recently  abolished 
the  sale  of  liquor,  first  in  the 
shops  run  as  a  Government 
monopoly,  and,  after  a  brief 
experience  of  the  beneficent  results,  in 
the  restaurants  and  clubs  as  well,  an 
astonished  and  admiring  world  recog- 
nized the  measure  as  one  of  the  greatest 
events  in  the  moral  history  of  a  nation. 
It  takes  rank  with  the  reforms  of  Peter 
the  Great.  It  almost  casts  into  the 
shade  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs. 

There  has  always  existed  in  Russia  a 
strong  party  which  severely  disapproved 
of  Peter  precisely  because  he  forced 
"  Western  "  ideas  upon  them.  Their  idea 
has  always  been  that  Russia  would  have 
developed  a  far  higher  degree  of  genu 
ine  culture  and  far  more  precious  spir- 
itual qualities  had  she  been  left  to  the 
promptings  of  her  own  genius  and  its 
"  healthy,  natural  "  development.  And 
there  are,  indubitably,  persons  scattered 
through  the  vast  Russian  Empire  who 
entertain  parallel  opinions  with  regard  to 
the  total  prohibition  of  liquor  just  ef- 
fected, and  with  regard  to  the  projected 
change  in  the  calendar  now  assumed  to 
be  imminent.  I  trust  that  I  shall  not 
increase  their  numbers  to  dangerous  pro- 
portions if  I  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  these  reforms  have  also,  like  Peter 
the  Great's  ideas,  been  imported  from 
the  West — from  the  Far  West,  the  United 
States.  I  am  sure  my  fellow-countrymen 
will  be  gratified  to  learn  the  truth,  and 
I  cheerfully  accept  the  risk,  and  assume 
that  Russia  will,  in  all  probability,  re- 
main ignorant  of  my  interference! 

It  is  true  that  we  do  not  have  actual, 
effective  prohibition  anywhere  here  in 
America,  and  that  we  do  not  seem  to  be 
within  measurable  distance  of  such  an 
achievement;  that  Russia  has  distanced 
us  again  in  this,  just  as  she  distanced  us 
by    emancipating    her    serfs,    without    a 


war,  before  we  emancipated  our  slaves, 
with  the  aid  of  a  war.  But  we  have  sup- 
plied the  scriptural  mustard  seed  in  the 
case  of  prohibition  in  Russia,  and  have 
either  furnished  the  seed  for  the  change 
in  the  calendar,  or,  at  any  rate,  have 
provided  elements  that  have  hastened  its 
growth  to  a  very  remarkable  degree. 

Mustard  seed  No.  1  was  carried  over 
from  the  United  States  in  the  Autumn 
of  1887  and  sown  on  the  good  ground  of 
the  late  Count  Tolstoy,  and  other  noble 
men,  whence — as  results  show — it  spread 
abroad  with  a  swiftness  suggestive  rather 
of  the  proverbial  weed  than  of  the  fair 
flower  its  blossoming  has  shown  it  to  be. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1886  Dr.  Peter  Sem- 
yonovitch  Alexyeef  of  Moscow,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife,  sailed  for  Canada 
and  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of 
inspecting  the'  hospitals,  prisons,  and  ele- 
mentary schools;  and  they  came  for  the 
Winter  because  some  parts  of  Canada 
during  that  season  possess  a  climate  sim- 
ilar to  that  of  Central  Russia,  while  in 
other  parts  the  climates  are  identical.  In 
fact,  Canada  is  the  only  country  in  the 
world  where  the  climatic  conditions  are 
at  all  analogous.  The  construction  of 
new  hospitals,  the  adaptation  of  already 
existing  buildings  for  hospital  use,  the 
internal  arrangement,  and  the  perfection 
of  their  internal  machinery  had  long 
been  matters  of  deep  interest  to  Dr. 
Alexyeeff. 

Germany  and  France,  with  climates  so 
different  from  that  of  Russia,  could  not 
furnish  him  with  the  information  avail-  > 
able  in  North  America,  where,  in  his  opin- 
ion, the  habits  and  conditions  of  exist-  j 
ence — such  important  factors  in  matters 
connected  with  hospitals  and  invalids — 
also  differ  less  from  those  of  Russia  than 
do  the  general  surroundings  in  the  coun- 
tries of  the  Continent.  After  visiting 
the  principal  cities  of  Canada  and  the 


346 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


United  States  from  Quebec  to  Vancouver, 
and  from  Boston  to  Washington,  (some 
of  them  more  than  once,)  Dr.  Alexyeeff 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  hos- 
pitals of  the  United  States  were  better 
built  and  much  better  administered  than 
those  of  London,  Paris,  Berlin,  and 
Vienna. 

Naturally,  no  one  could  spend  nine 
months  in  investigating  hospitals  and 
prisons  in  this  country  without  coming  in 
contact  with  the  liquor  problem.  More- 
over, Dr.  Alexyeeff  was  a  wideawake 
man,  who  took  an  interest  not  only  in  all 
matters  connected  with  his  profession, 
but  in  very  many  outside  of  it.  He  was, 
also,  a  man  of  very  lofty  character.  His 
wife  once  wrote  me  concerning  him  some- 
what as  follows:  "He "walks,  habitually, 
on  such  moral  heights,  in  such  a  rarefied 
spiritual  atmosphere,  that  I,  the  daughter 
of  an  English  clergyman,  reared  accord- 
ingly, and  myself  (as  you  know)  deeply 
in  sympathy  with  it,  find  difficulty  in 
following  him."  Obviously,  he  was  pre- 
cisely the  man  to  appreciate  the  temper- 
ance movement,  and  to  carry  it  to  its 
logical  conclusion.  In  the  preface  to  a 
volume,  "  About  America,"  which  he 
published  in  Moscow  in  1888,  he  writes : 

Neither  the  wonders  of  wild  nature  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains  nor  the  menacing 
might  and  grandeur  of  Niagara  produce 
such  an  impression  on  a  Russian  as  the 
success  of  the  fight  with  drunlvenness — 
the  temperance  movement — and  the  suc- 
cessful development,  in  all  classes  of 
society,  of  morality  and  the  strict  appli- 
cation of  practical  morals. 

He  did  not  confine  himself  to  this  brief, 
general  statement.  He  wrote  in  praise 
of  temperance,  of  prohibition,  for  learned 
Russian  societies.  Then  he  wrote  a  book 
entitled  "  Concerning  Drunkenness."  The 
Censor's  permit  to  publish  is  dated  March 
29,  (April  10,)  1887.  It  was  published 
by  the  management  of  the  magazine, 
Russkaya  Mysl,  (Russian  Thought,) 
which  may  indicate  that  it  had  first 
appeared  in  that  monthly  as  a  series  of 
articles,  though  I  have  not  been  able  to 
verify  the  fact.  The  book  may  have  been 
published  promptly,  or  at  least  the  article 
from  the  medical  magazine  may  have 
been  published  in  the  cheap  form  (costing 


two  or  three 'cents)  used  by  the  semi- 
commercial,  semi-philanthropic  firm 
"  Posrednik,"  which  may  be  rendered 
"  Middleman  "  or  "  Mediator,"  designed 
for  the  dissemination  of  good  and  useful 
reading  among  the  masses. 

At  any  rate,  "  Concerning  Drunken- 
ness "  appeared  at  the  price  of  one  ruble 
(about  fifty  cents)  in  1891,  prefaced  by 
a  dissertation  by  Count  Tolstoy,  "  Why 
Do  People  Stupefy  Themselves?  "  special- 
ly written  for  this  occasion,  as  Dr.  Alexy- 
eeff told  me.  (It  has  been  translated 
under  the  title  of  "  Alcohol  and  Tobac- 
co," London,  and  published  without  any 
indication  that  Dr.  Alexyeeff  inspired  it.) 

In  1896  a  second  edition,  revised  and 
enlarged,  was  published,  also  in  Moscow; 
and  to  this  the  author  added  a  list  of 
helpful  publications  and  a  summary  bibli- 
ography, which  included  books  issued  in 
various  foreign  countries,  ranging  in 
number  from  705  for  Great  Britain  and 
Colonies,  142  for  the  United  States,  247 
for  Germany,  124  for  ten  other  countries 
combined,  (up  to  1885  in  all  these  cases,) 
to  ten  for  Russia.  Of  these  ten,  four 
are  in  Latin,  four  in  German,  one  is  in 
Swedish  and  one  in  Russian — the  latter, 
evidently,  an  article  republished  from 
The  Medical  News.  On  the  whole,  a  list 
practically  non-existent,  so  far  as  Rus- 
sia was  concerned! 

Dr.  Alexyeeff  had  discovered  a  field  of 
endeavor  as  virgin  as  the  unplowed 
steppe.  Only  scientists  desperately 
hard  up  for  an  unusual  topic  for  a 
strictly  academic  discussion  and  reck- 
lessly willing  to  risk  incurring  universal 
unpopularity  would  have  dreamed  of  un- 
earthing those  volumes.  He  promptly 
aroused  Count  Tolstoy's  interest  in  the 
subject  of  temperance,  which  in  this  c?ise 
signified  prohibition,  since  the  Count  in 
his  preface  to  Dr.  Alexyeeff's  book 
(dated  July  10-22,  1890,)  treated  liquor 
on  the  same  basis  as  tobacco,  which  he 
had  totally  abjured  at  least  two  years 
previously.  With  Tolstoy,  to  become  con- 
vinced that  a  reform  was  desirable  was, 
as  all  the  world  knows,  to  become  an 
ardent  propagandist  of  that  reform. 
Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Alexyeeff, 
seconded  by  those  of  Tolstoy,  temperance 
began  to   attract   attention    in    Russia, 


AMERICA   AND  PROHIBITION  RUSSIA 


347 


temperance  societies  were  formed,  and 
have  been  steadily  increasing  ever  since 
in  numbers  and  activity. 

Eventually  Mr.  Tchelisheff  arrived  on 
the  scene  with  his  splendid  vital  force 
and  practical  solutions  of  the  financial 
and  other  problems  (or  suggestions  for 
them)  that  arise  from  prohibition,  (es- 
pecially when  a  Government  monopoly 
and  revenue  are  concerned,)  which  he 
most  strenuously  advocated  when  Mayor 
of  Samara,  as  representative  in  the 
Duma — everywhere,  in  fact,  where  he 
could  obtain  a  hearing,  willing  or  unwilU 
ing,  up  to  the  Emperor  Nicholas  himself. 
And  the  Emperor  showed  that  he  was 
equal  to  the  magnificent  opportunity, 
and  joined  hands  with  the  former  peas- 
ant in  aiding  his  country. 

In  an  interview  published  by  The 
Times  a  while  ago  Mr.  Tchelisheff  men- 
tions that  his  attention  was  first  drawn 
to  the  subject  of  the  evils  of  drunken- 
ness by  a  book  which  he  saw  a  muzhik 
reading.  Judging  from  the  point  at 
which  he  inserts  that  mention  into  his 
outline  sketch  of  his  career  (previous  to 
the  great  famine  which  he — erroneously 
— assigns  to  the  "  end  of  the  '80s,"  but 
which  came  in  1891)  his  interest  was 
aroused  precisely  at  the  time  when  Dr. 
Alexyeeff's  first  utterances  may  be  as- 
sumed to  have  seen  the  light  of  print. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  an  admitted  fact  that 
Dr.  Alexyeeff  carried  to  Russia  and  to 
Tolstoy  from  the  United  States  the  idea 
and  inspiration  which  has  borne  such 
wonderful  fruit  in  the  abolition  of  the 
liquor  traffic  "  forever,"  as  the  Imperial 
ukase  runs. 

Mr.  Tchelisheff  is  a  noteworthy  figure 
in  history  accordingly,  but  Dr.  Alexyeeff 
should  not  be  forgotten.  When  I  made 
his  acquaintance  at  Count  Tolstoy's,  in 
Moscow,  he  had  just  requested  (and  ob- 
tained) a  detail  of  service  in  Tchita, 
Trans-Baikal  Province,  Siberia,  as  phy- 
sician to  the  political  exiles  there,  think- 
ing the  region  would  repay  study  from 
many  points  of  view,  in  his  leisure  hours. 
The  preface  to  the  first  edition  of  his 
book  "  Concerning  Drunkenness "  is 
dated  "July,  1899,  Tchita,"  and  from 
Tchita  I  received  my  copy  from  him.     In 


that  preface  he  states  the  scope  of  his 
book  in  a  way  which  confirms  my  con- 
viction that  Mr.  Tchelisheff  was  first 
stirred  to  interest,  and  in  the  end  aroused 
to  action,  by  the  United  States,  via  Dr. 
Alexyeeff.    He  writes: 

The  battle  which  in  all  ages  has  been 
waged  against  drunkenness  has  been  con- 
fined hitherto  almost  exclusively  to  the 
realms  of  medicine  and  ethics ;  the  social 
part  of  the  question  is  only  just  beginning 
to  be  worked  out,  and  has  hardly  as  yet 
won  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  down 
to  our  own  day  there  have  been  no  seri- 
ous legal  measures  adopted  for  the  battle 
with  drunkenness. 

Therefore,  he  omits  the  legal  aspects 
of  the  matter  in  his  book  and  confines 
himself   to   an   attempt   at   popularizing 
the  information  scattered  in  divers  indi- 
vidual    books,     "  borrowing     everything 
which  can  lead  to  the  ultimate  goal — the 
extermination  of  the  evil  caused  by  the 
use  of  spirituous  drinks."    He  continues: 
Public  opinion  has  nowhere  as  yet,  even 
in   the   lands   where   considerable   success 
has    attended    the    war    on    drunkenness, 
ripened  sufficiently  a  desire  to  give,  even 
incompletely,  a  summary  of  the  informa- 
tion   about    that    battle,    and    make    my 
fellow-countrymen      acquainted      with      a 
matter  still  little   known   in   Russia,    so  I 
am   prompted   to   write  what   follows. 

The  second  edition  of  this  book,  with 
the  surprising  list  of  Russian  treatises  on 
drunkenness  to  which  I  have  already 
alluded,  is  dated  "  June,  1895,  Riga," 
where  he  lived  after  his  return  from  Si- 
beria, as  an  official  of  the  Government 
medical  service,  until  his  death  in  August, 
1913.  During  the  stay  in  Tchita  of  the 
Alexyeeff s,  the  present  Emperor  (then 
the  heir,)  passed  through  it,  on  his  way 
home  (from  the  trip  to  India  and  Japan 
which  came  so  near  terminating  fatally 
in  the  latter  country)  after  having  of- 
ficially opened  work  upon  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway,  on 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  A 
formal  reception  and  ceremonies  were  or- 
ganized in  Tchita;  and  I  allude  to  the 
matter  because  of  a  curious  detail  men- 
tioned in  a  letter  to  me  by  Mrs.  Alex- 
yeeff. Foreigners  have  very  queer 
ideas,  she  said,  as  to  the  position  and 
treatment  of  the  political  exiles  in  Si- 
beria; some  of  the  Tchita  exiles  served 
as  heads  of  the  committees  for  welcom- 


S48 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ing  the  heir,  and  he  shook  hands  with 
them  and  treated  them  exactly  as  he 
treated  the  Governor  General  of  the 
Province. 

Whether  it  was  his  admiration  for  the 
American  temperance  movement  which 
influenced  Dr.  Alexyeeff's  views  on 
everything  American,  I  cannot  say.  But, 
assuredly,  not  many  foreign  visitors  have 
pronounced  upon  our  country  such  a 
panegyric  as  is  contained  in  the  preface 
to  his  "Across  America."      He  writes: 

Conscientious  fulfillment  of  every  duty, 
industry,  energy,  and  moral  purity  are 
the  typical  qualities  of  the  genuine  Ameri- 
can. It  is  difficult  to  form  any  idea  of 
the  wide  development  of  philanthropy, 
the  significance  of  religion,  and  the 
practical  application  to  life  of  ethical 
principles,  the  application  of  moral  obli- 
gations in  business,  the  upright.  God- 
fearing life  of  the  Americans,  unless  one 
has  lived  among  them.  They  have  neither 
prostitution,  foundling  hospitals,  nor  hos- 
pitals for  venereal  diseases.  A  European 
is  not  acustomed  to  see  empty  prisons 
and  hospitals  in  densely  settled  localities — 
to  come  upon  cities  where  there  is  nothing 
for  the  police,  the  Judges,  and  the  doctors 
to  do  he  finds  startling.  They  have 
attained  the  height  where  priests,  pastors, 
preachers,  and  teachers  are  rarely  obliged 
to  contend  with  indifference.    ♦    ♦    ♦ 

After  a  trip  to  America  it  would  be 
difficult  to  return  an  atheist — you  are 
more  likely  to  come  back  in  a  religious 
frame  of  mind.  *  *  *  Idleness  and 
luxury  are  not  among  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  the  descendants  of  the 
Puritans.  *  ♦  ♦  In  the  light,  transpar- 
ent atmosphere  of  the  States,  simplicity, 
the  cheerful,  alert  spirit  infects  the 
foreigner,  makes  him  a  more  frank,  trust- 
ful, optimistic  warrior  for  the  truth,  and 
causes  him  to  forget  what  it  means  to  be 
downcast  in  spirit,  or  what  spleen  and 
hypochondria  are. 

Until  he  died,  in  Siberia,  in  Russia, 
everywhere,  Dr.  Alexyeeff  worked  for 
temperance.  He  was  enthusiastic  about 
it  when  I  saw  him  and  his  wife  in  Eng- 
land, in  1907. 

Mr.  Tchelisheff  having  been  aroused 
to  interest,  theoretically,  by  America,  via 
Dr.  Alexyeeff,  as  is  fairly  proven,  it 
was  only  natural  that  he  should  proceed 
to  make  the  personal  observations  on 
the  practical,  social  side  of  drunkenness 
which  he  mentions  in  his  Times  inter- 
view. He  noticed,  during  the  great 
famine  of  1891,  that  it  was  the  drunkards 


who  had  squandered  their  grain  and 
pawned  their  possessions  to  the  keepers 
of  the  dramshops  who  robbed  other  men's 
granaries  and  houses,  burned,  rioted,  and 
murdered;  while  the  men  who  did  not 
drink  had  plenty  of  food  and  grain  to  hold 
out.  We  are  informed  from  Russia  that 
even  during  its  still  brief  reign  prohibi- 
tion has  resulted  in  remarkable  improve- 
ment in  health,  living  conditions,  and 
bank  accounts. 

Mr.  Tchelisheff  is,  as  I  have  said,  a 
noteworthy  figure  in  history.  He  would 
be  a  remarkable  figure  in  any  land;  but 
for  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with 
Russia,  the  rise  of  a  man  born  a  peasant, 
educated  solely  by  his  own  efforts  on 
stray  newspapers  and  books  which  fell  in 
his  way  in  his  schoolless  village,  and  ab- 
solutely lacking  in  money  or  influence, 
("  svyazi  " — connections,  is  the  Russian 
version  of  "  pull,")  to  the  position  of 
multi-millionaire  and  co-worker  with  the 
Emperor,  is  amazing  almost  beyond  be- 
lief. In  reality,  it  is  as  simple  as  the  rise 
of  an  American  newsboy,  of  an  Edison  or 
a  Carnegie  to  a  position  of  power  in  the 
United  States.  Fate,  circumstances,  as 
well  as  their  own  personality  are  the 
factors  in  all  these  cases;  and  in  every 
similar  case. 

Moreover,  there  is  in  Russia  no  eter- 
nally impassable  barrier  of  caste,  but 
there  is  a  genuine  democracy  which  is 
not  easy  to  define,  but  is  very  easily  felt. 
For  instance,  the  title  of  "  Prince,"  (to 
which,  unlike  that  of  "  Count "  or 
"  Baron  " — conferrable — one  must  be 
born,  runs  the  rule,  with  exceptions  for 
such  national  heroes  as  Suvaroff,)  counts 
for  nothing  or  approximately  that,  unless 
its  owner  possesses,  in  addition,  the 
wealth,  character,  learning  or  other  char- 
acteristics which  would  render  him  a  man 
of  mark  without  it. 

There  are  other  interesting  instances 
of  peasants  who  have  risen  high  in  Rus- 
sia, and  Mr.  Tchelisheff  is  their  worthy 
successor.  The  founder  of  the  great 
silversmiths'  firm  of  Ovtchinnikoff  was 
a  serf.  His  successors  have  made  it  their 
rule,  "  out  of  gratitude  to  God,"  to  main- 
tain and  educate  a  certain  number  of 
poor  boys,  who,  when  their  intellectual 


AMERICA   AND  PROHIBITION  RUSSIA 


349 


and  technical  training  is  completed,  are 
free  to  remain  with  the  firm  as  valued 
artists  or  to  go  forth  independently. 
When  the  Emperor  Alexander  II.  cele- 
brated the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  all  the  Sov- 
ereigns of  Europe  sent  him  magnificent 
presents.  These  are  assembled  in  his 
library,  at  the  Winter  Palace,  Petrograd; 
and  in  the  centre — accorded  that  place 
by  the  Russians  with  equal  good  feeling, 
good  taste,  and  justice — is  a  large  group 
in  solid  silver,  representing  a  huge  mass 
of  rock  upon  whose  pinnacles  stand 
figures  representing  the  different  parts 
of  the  empire — Little  Russia,  Siberia,  and 
so  forth.  The  inscription  reads :  "  To 
the  Tzar-Liberator  from  the  Liberated 
Serf."  It  was  made  by  the  Ovtchinni- 
koffs  and  presented  by  another  ex-serf, 
who  had  become  a  millionaire  railway 
magnate. 

Mustard  Seed  No.  2  from  America  to 
Russia  falls  into  a  somewhat  different 
category.  It  more  nearly  resembles  one 
of  those  grains  of  antique  wheat  found 
in  a  tomb  and  sprouting  vigorously  when 
finally  planted  in  congenial,  helpful  soil. 
I  trust  that  my  comparison  may  not  be 
regarded  as  disrespectful.  One  could 
not,  willingly,  be  disrespectful  to  the 
calendar,  any  more  than  to  the  thermom- 
eter! 

Russia,  by  adhering  to  the  Julian 
Calendar  and  refusing  to  adopt  the  Gre- 
gorian, has  now  fallen  thirteen  days  be- 
hind the  rest  of  the  world.  It  falls  be- 
hind about  a  day  for  every  century.  There 
are  several  reasons  why  Russia  has  not, 
up  to  now,  remedied  the  serious  incon- 
venience caused  by  this  conflict  of  dates. 
One  is — the  Gregorian  Calendar  is  Roman 
Catholic,  and  named  after  a  Pope.  It  is, 
also,  inaccurate.  Worst  of  all,  the 
rectification  might — almost  infallibly 
would,  under  ordinary  circumstances — 
cause  trouble  at  the  outset,  especially  in 
one  incalculably  important  direction. 

Russian  scientists  long  ago  worked  out 
a  new  calendar  far  more  accurate  than 
the  Gregorian  for  thousands  of  years, 
and  when  the  change  is  made  that  cal- 
endar will  be  adopted.  The  fundamental 
difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  all  the 
people    whose    saints'    days    must   inevi- 


tably be  skipped  for  the  first  year  in  the 
process  of  rectification  will  inevitably 
feel  that  they  are  being  robbed  of  their 
guardian  angels,  that  they  are  "  or- 
phans " — a  mournful  word  greatly  be- 
loved of  the  Russian  masses  under  mul- 
tiform circumstances,  both  material  and 
spiritual — and  orphaned  in  a  peculiarly 
distressing  and  irrevocable  way.  They 
might  even  feel  when  their  saints'  days 
came  around  quite  correctly  the  next 
year  that  some  spurious  adventurer — 
Angel  of  Darkness — was  being  foisted 
upon  them. 

Fanatics  and  professional  mischief- 
makers  would  certainly  seize  with  avidity 
upon  such  a  godsend  of  a  chance,  unpar- 
alleled since  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great's 
father,  when  the  Patriarch  Nikon  had 
the  errors  of  the  copyists  in  the  Script- 
ures and  church  service  books  corrected. 
But  the  present  war  has  fused  all  par- 
ties, united  all  hearts  in  patriotism,  loy- 
alty to,  and  confidence  in  their  Emperor 
and  created  a  fervid  inclination  amount- 
ing to  enthusiasm  to  accept  even  the 
most  drastic  reforms  he  may  make 
cheerfully,  unquestionably,  as  for  the 
good  of  the  fatherland. 

On  the  matter  of  the  calendar  reform 
America  has  for  many  years  past  been 
exerting  a  steadily  increasing  influence. 
During  the  past  twenty  years  the  steady 
flow  of  immigrants  from  Russia  and 
other  countries  belonging  to  the  Ortho- 
dox Catholic  Church  of  the  East,  (Greco- 
Rii.ssian,)  has  increased  to  a  great  vol- 
ume, and  it  seems  destined  to  attain  still 
greater  proportions  when  the  war  is 
over.  These  people  are  obliged  to  work 
and  keep  holiday  by  the  Gregorian  cal- 
endar and  to  worship  by  the  Julian. 
This  entails  hardships. 

For  example,  a  devout  Russian  who 
has  been  forced  to  remain  idle  on  our 
Christmas  and  New  Year's  Days  must 
sacrifice  his  pay — sometimes  risk  or  lose 
his  job — if  he  wishes  to  observe  the  feasts 
of  his  own  church.  A  reform  of  the 
calendar  would  be  hailed  with  joy  by 
innumerable  such  immigrants,  who  have 
been  over  here  long  enough  to  consider 
calmly  the  practical  aspects  of  a  tempo- 
rary dislocation  of  saints'  days.  The 
ecclesiastical  authorities  in  this  country 


S50 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


have  frequently  protested,  in  print,  both 
here  and  in  Russia,  and  I  have  been  in- 
formed that  the  Holy  Synod  has  been 
appealed  to,  more  than  once,  to  induce 
it  to  cast  its  influence  into  the  balance 
with  that  of  the  scientists  and  the  gov- 
ernmental authorities,  who  have  been  dis- 
cussing the  matter  for  years  past,  and 
hesitating  over  the  probable  consequences 
of  action — a  case  of  peasant  joining 
hands  with  the  rulers  of  Russia,  once 
more  like  Mr.  Tchelisheff  and  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas — or  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  and  the  President — to  secure  a 
needed  reform ! 

And  these  same  peasant-immigrants  in 
America  have,  without  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt,  already  written  back  to  their  rela- 
tives and  friends  in  the  old  country — and 


very  frequently — about  the  difficulties  of 
the  antiquated  Julian  calendar,  and 
these,  in  turn,  can  disseminate  common 
sense  about  the  change  in  a  way  which 
the  Government,  aided  by  the  Holy  Syn- 
od and  the  explanations  of  home-staying 
parish  priests,  unaided,  could  never  ef- 
fect. When  the  fitting  time  arrives,  per- 
haps the  Russian  Government  will  avail 
itself  of  just  this  argument,  among  oth- 
ers— the  welfare  of  friends  in  distant 
America.  There  has  never  been  a  propi- 
tious time  in  Russia  to  make  that  calen- 
dar reform  since  the  reign  of  Peter  the 
Great  until  now.  And  America  may  fair- 
ly be  said  to  have  brought  from  its  dark 
hiding  place  the  mustard  seed  which  has 
been  trying  so  long  to  germinate,  and 
imparted  to  it  a  vivifying  impulse. 


THE  MOTHER'S  SONG. 

By    CECILIA   REYNOLDS    ROBERTSON. 


HUSH,    oh,    my    baby,    your    father's    a 
soldier, 
He's  off  to  the  war,   and  we've  noth- 
ing  to   eat. 
And  the  glory  is  neither  for  you  nor  fdr  me. 
With    the    cockleburr   crushing   the   wheat. 

Little  boy  baby,   look  well  on  your  mother ; 
Some  day  you  may  ask  why  she  bore  you 
at  all; 
For  the  trenches  are  foul  with  the  blood  and 
the  wallow, 
And  the  bayonet  is  sharp  for  your  fall. 

Rest,    rosy    limbs,    and    blue    eyes    and    gold 
lashes — 
Made  in  the  mold  of  the  Saviour,  they  say ! 
Drink  deep  of  my  bosom,  my  starved,  meagre 
bosom, 
That— keeps  you  alive  for  the  fray. 

.Sleep,  oh,  my  m^n  child,  and  smile  in  your 
sleeping. 
But  the  gun   has   been   fashioned   to  lay  in 
your   hand, 
And   your   life    blood   flows   smooth    in   your 
fair  little  body 
The  better  to  water  and  plenish  the  land ! 


Pan-American  Relations  As 
Affected  by  the  War 

Consequences  of  the  European  Conflict  on  Future  Commerce 
Between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America 


By  Huntington  Wilson, 

Formerly  Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 


I. 


A  STUDY  of  the  effects  of  the 
war  upon  our  relations  with 
the  other  republics  of  this  hem- 
isphere involves  political,  com- 
mercial, financial  and  strategic  elements 
of  far-reaching  scope  and  much  com- 
plexity. The  situatioii  presents  an  op 
portunity.  It  offers  a  lesson  even  more 
vital  than  the  opportunity.  The  political 
considerations  are  most  relevant  to  the 
lesson;  and  the  final  text  of  the  lesson 
will  be  the  result  of  the  war.  The  eco- 
nomic opportunity  is  already  upon  us, 
definite  and  clear.  It  will  not  wait.  It 
must  be  grasped  without  delay  and  may 
therefore  be  first  discussed. 

There  13  something  repellent  in  count- 
ing our  advantages  under  the  shadow 
of  so  great  a  tragedy  but  we  must  try 
to  be  as  practical  as  those  who  c-re  fond 
of  accusing  us  of  materialism.  Does 
any  one  think  that  the  steam-roller  of 
admirably  organized  and  Government- 
fostered  German  competition  would 
pause  if  we  lay  in  the  road;  that  if  we 
received  a  check,  Anglo-Saxon  cousin- 
ship  and  fair  play  'ould  always  miti- 
gate British  competition;  or  that  then 
not  a  single  European  merchant  in 
South  America  would  ever  again  use 
scorn  and  detraction  against  our  goods, 
or  encourage,  through  influer.ee  with 
the  press,  prejudice  due  to  "  Yankee 
peril "  nonsense?    In  short,   is   it  likely 


that  all  our  competitors  would  suddenly 
love  us  just  because  we  were  in  trouble? 
No,  things  are  not  as  they  should  be  and 
meanwhile  must  be  dealt  with  as  they 
are. 

There  used  to  be  apparently  very  lit- 
tle hope  of  our  shaking  the  tree  and 
gathering  the  golden  fruit  of  foreign  en- 
terprise unless  forced  to  it  by  the  col- 
lapse, through  dire  hard  times,  of  the 
wonderful  home  market  which  has  made 
spoiled  children  of  our  manufacturers. 
Now  comes  this  war.  It  forces  upon  us 
a  wonderful,  a  unique  opportunity  to 
gain  and  hold  our  proper  place  in  the 
finance,  trade,  and  enterprise  of  Latin 
America.  The  richness  of  the  field  is 
often  exaggerated,  but  its  cultivation  is 
certainly  worth  the  effort  of  men  of 
foresight. 

What  are  we  going  to  do  about  it? 
This  is  the  question;  for  if  American 
business  men  do  not  do  their  part  the  ulti- 
mate effect  of  the  war  upon  our  economic 
interests  in  this  part  of  the  world  will  be 
unimportant.  We  must  not  be  like  the 
young  gold  miners  who  were  looking  ex- 
clusively for  large  nuggets  with  han- 
dles. We  must  go  at  it  seriously  and 
scientifically  and  solidly,  not  superfi- 
cially, casually,  and  opportunistically. 
We  must  begin  with  the  earnest  inten- 
tion of  continuing  our  efforts  for  all 
time. 


L 


852 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


An  enthusiastic  commercial  spasm 
will  be  worth  nothing.  There  have  got 
to  be  real  efforts,  real  hard  work,  the 
expenditure  of  money  for  future  and  not 
merely  immediate  profits,  a  cheerful 
readiness  to  discard  old  and  cherished 
methods,  a  new  adaptability,  a  new 
painstaking  attention  to  details.  There 
has  got  to  be  serious  study  of  foreign 
countries  and  keen  interest  in  our  rela- 
tions to  them.  Without  all  this,  mailing 
catalogues,  (usually  in  English,)  ban- 
quets and  speeches  and  organizations 
will  take  us  nowhere. 

American  business  men  are  bestirring 
themselves.  They  know  that  we  need 
ships  to  carry  our  goods  advantageously, 
and  banks  for  the  favorable  financing 
of  our  trade.  They  should  be  able  to 
compel  our  Government's  support  where 
needful,  as  in  a  ship  subsidy  or  a  limited 
guarantee  of  reasonable  profit  to  Amer- 
ican investment  in  ships.  In  connection 
with  our  efforts  at  Caribbean  com- 
merce, as  another  instance,  they  should 
be  able  to  get  a  flexible  sliding  scale 
tariff  provision  passed  by  Congress,  so 
that,  in  dealing  with  the  countries  whose 
coffee  or  other  special  products  we  buy, 
we  could  induce  them  to  give  us  for  our 
exports  reciprocal  advantages  over  our 
competitors.  Indeed,  a  kind  of  Carib- 
bean tariff  union  might  well  be  feasible 
and   desirable. 

So  long  ago  as  last  August  the  British 
Government  sent  all  over  the  world  for 
samples  and  specifications  of  German 
goods  which  their  manufacturers  might 
contrive  to  displace.  We  should  take 
corresponding  action  in  regard  to  the 
goods  of  our  competitors.  Our  manu- 
facturers should  be  reconciled  to  send- 
ing to  find  out  what  each  market  wants 
instead  of  asking  a  population  to  take 
or  leave  what  we  make.  Our  commer- 
cial campaign  should  include  the  effort 
to  replace  goods  from  one  belligerent 
country  formerly  handled  by  local  mer- 
chants from  another  belligerent  country, 
such  as  British  goods  previously  sold 
through  the  German  houses  which  so 
abound  in  these  countries. 

Good  men  from  small  countries  with- 
out political  significance  in  world-pol- 
itics  already  make  their   influence   felt 


as  employes  of  foreign  Governments  and 
as  merchants  in  foreign  countries.  The 
war  may  set  free  many  more  men  and 
send  them  about  the  world  to  work  for 
their  own  interests,  for  the  country  they 
most  believe  in,  and  perhaps  ultimately 
for  an  adopted  country.  International 
commerce  must  have  its  courtiers,  and 
the  good  will  of  all  such  men  should  also 
be  reckoned  with.  They  spread  friendship 
or  prejudice  against  us.  Many  of  them 
are  importers  and  will  push  our  goods 
or  some  one  else's  according  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  we  deal  with  them. 

American  manufacturers  are  doubt- 
less weary  of  being  told  that  they  pack 
badly,  that  they  are  niggardly  about 
credits,  that  they  do  not  send  enough  or 
sufficiently  qualified  representatives, 
that  they  are  careless  of  details,  and  so 
on.  Still,  before  mentioning  soma  fur- 
ther particular  steps  that  should  be 
taken,  it  is  necessary  to  emphasize  the 
fact  that  these  same  old  faults  are,  and 
until  corrected  must  remain,  the  chief 
detriments  to  our  foreign  trade. 

In  some  of  the  republics  there  is  a 
real  disposition  to  deal  with  us;  in  oth- 
ers there  is  a  preference  for  Europe. 
Now,  as  to  many  goods,  they  must  deal 
with  us  or  go  without,  although  I  am 
informed  that  a  German  firm,  for  ex- 
ample, has  got  word  to  its  clients  in  these 
countries  that  it  is  prepared  to  fill  or- 
ders via  Copenhagen.  If  we  think  that 
our  competitors  have  gone  entirely  or 
permanently  out  of  business  we  shall  be 
ridiculously  and  sadly  disappointed.  We 
shall  be  on  trial,  and  if  our  exporters 
make  good  they  will  find  u  conservative 
disposition  to  continue  to  buy  from  us. 

In  the  effort  it  is  important  to  remem- 
ber that  there  is  much  to  live  down  in 
criticism  of  methods  of  the  past.  One 
Latin-American  gentleman,  an  enthusiast 
for  American  commerce,  exclaimed  to  me 
in  despair:  "  Son  hombres  capazes  de 
poner  una  hacha  Collins  con  vidrios  para 
ventanas,"  which  means:  "they  (the 
American  exporters)  are  capable  of  pack- 
ing a  Collins  hatchet  with  window  glass." 
Others  told  me  how  leading  firms  always 
stamped  their  letters  for  domestic  and 
not  foreign  postage.  The  office  boy 
simply  would  not  learn  geography.     No- 


PAN-AMERICAN  RELATIONS 


353 


body  mindad  paying  the  deficit,  but 
through  local  red  tape  this  seeming  trifle 
sometimes  caused  two  or  even  three 
weeks'  delay  in  the  delivery  of  impor- 
tant letters. 

Certain  of  our  strongest  firms  have 
been  calmly  ignoring  shipping  directions. 
What  did  they  care  if  the  packages  had 
to  cross  the  Andes  on  mule  back,  and  if 
mules  could  only  carry  packages  of  a 
certain  size  and  weight?  What  did 
they  care  if  the  duty  remission  for 
materials  on  some  Government  contract, 
or  the  customs  classification  of  a  ship- 
ment, depended  on  adherence  to  specific 
directions?  I  could  multiply  examples 
of  the  most  amazing  casualness  and  care- 
less disregard,  of  bad  packing,  of  ungen- 
erous credit,  which  have  enraged  the  im- 
porter. 

A  European  merchant,  many  years 
established  in  a  South  American  city, 
and  knowing  the  community,  has  been 
selling  pianos  in  this  way:  The  manu- 
facturer would  quote  him  a  price  and 
deliver  the  piano,  giving  him  long  credit 
at  an  ordinary  rate  of  interest.  The 
merchant  would  finally  sell  the  piano 
on  the  installment  plan,  receiving  in- 
terest at  a  higher  rate  on  the  deferred 
payments,  the  merchant  trusting  the 
buyer,  the  manufacturer  trusting  the 
merchant,  both  thus  making  good  prof- 
its, and  the  purchaser  being  accommo- 
dated. This  man  found  the  American 
manufacturer  entirely  unwilling  to  deal 
in  this   way. 

European  houses  on  the  spot,  whether 
independent  or  financed  by  large  home 
houses,  give  credits  for  as  long,  some- 
times, as  a  year.  They  would  not  con- 
tinue to  do  so  if  they  lost  by  doing  it. 
Often  this  fits  the  customs  of  the  local 
domestic  trade.  In  one  country  the  local 
retailer  is  expected  to  be  paid  within 
eighteen  months.  Naturally,  our  export- 
ers' demand  for  "  cash  down  on  receipt 
of  documents,"  even  when  the  customer 
is  well  vouched  for,  does  hot  appeal  to 
him. 

He  prefers  to  get  long  credit  from  a 
European  house,  and  pay  interest  for  it, 
rather  than  to  borrow  from  his  bank  at 
high  interest  or  sink  his  own  capital  to 


pay  for  American  goods,  long  before  he 
gets  them,  their  price  plus  the  profit  of 
a  commission  house.  Indeed,  he  is  gen- 
erally dissatisfied  with  the  methods  of 
American  export  trade  as  now  conduct- 
ed, which  is  almost  exclusively  through 
commission  houses.  These,  it  seems, 
might  become  more  efficient  through  or- 
ganization and  more  aggressive  and  sci- 
entific methods. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  export  trade 
of  certain  of  the  big  combinations  is  be- 
ginning to  be  pushed  with  commendable 
zeal  and  efficiency.  Trade  at  large,  to 
reach  its  greatest  volume,  must  include 
th3  pushing  of  smaller  lines  of  goods. 
These  smaller  lines,  in  the  aggregate, 
would  reach  considerable  sums,  and  it 
does  not  appear  that  there  have  hitherto 
existed  efficient  agencies  for  their  mar- 
keting. To  hold  Latin-American  trade 
we  must  equal  our  competitors  in  lib- 
erality of  credits,  in  representation  on 
the  spot,  and  in  other  facilities. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  more  American 
merchants  resident  in  the  trade  centres 
would  give  valuable  impetus  to  our  com- 
merce. Even  our  commission  houses  op- 
erating on  the  spot  are  so  few  that  in 
handling  many  lines  there  is  the  great- 
est danger  of  their  sacrificing  the  build- 
ing up  of  a  steady  trade  to  the  oppor- 
tunities of  unduly  heavy  profits  now 
and  then,  and  so  damaging  our  general 
commercial  interests.  Then  we  must 
send  many  commercial  travelers. 

Just  here,  however,  it  cannot  be  too 
strongly  emphasized  that  Americans 
sent  to  these  countries  to  do  business 
must  above  all  be  men  of  agreeable  man- 
ners. In  these  countries  many  quite  un- 
worthy people  have  these:  so  a  good 
man  who  lacks  them  is  likely  to  be  bad- 
ly misjudged.  They  should  have  sympa- 
thetic personality  and  sufficient  educa- 
tion, besides  being  men  of  sobriety  and 
good  character,  and  should  be  able  to 
speak  the  language  of  the  country. 

All  this  will  be  expensive,  but  non- 
competing  firms  might  join  in  sending 
men,  or  competing  firms  might,  it  is 
hoped,  be  guaranteed  against  the  ter- 
rors of  the  Sherman  law  in  order  to 
join  in  sending  a  corps  of  representa- 
tives upon  some  basis  of  division  of  the 


854 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


field  or  the  profits.  Combination  is  even 
more  necessary  abroad  to  put  forth  the 
nation's  strength  in  world  competition 
than  it  is  for  efficiency  at  home.  These 
men  would  be  students  and  salesmen, 
and  perhaps  future  merchants  who 
would  settle  in  these  countries  and  em- 
ulate the  patriotic  groups  of  resident 
foreigners  who  in  so  many  places  help 
to  form  an  atmosphere  favorable  to 
their  countries'  interests. 

They  would  work  to  replace  with  our 
goods  those  now  shut  off  by  the  war,  but 
also  to  introduce  dozens  of  lines  of  Amer- 
ican products  which  are  now  compara- 
tively hard  to  find  in  these  markets. 
A  number  of  strong  firms  might  join 
to  establish  commercial  houses  or  selling 
agencies  in  trade  centres  of  certain 
groups  of  countries.  Commission  houses 
might  do  the  same  if  they  carried  sam- 
ples and  instructed  their  clients  in  pack- 
ing, credits,  &c.,  but  in  each  case  there 
should  be  American  houses  on  the  spot 
which  would  carry  general  lines  and 
supply  to  the  eye  that  visible  evidence 
of  the  goods  themselves  which  is  such  a 
valuable  form   of  advertisement. 

In  the  establishment  of  American 
houses  in  these  countries,  as  in  many 
other  respects,  much  may  be  learned 
from  the  Germans.  They  bring  out  care- 
fully selected  young  men.  These,  if 
efficient,  have  sure  promotion.  The 
partners  retire  before  old  age  to  make 
room  for  those  who  work  up.  The  in- 
efficient are  dropped.  It  is  a  little  like 
the  principle  of  a  good  foreign  service. 

I  think  the  most  minute  study  should 
be  given,  first,  to  the  nearer  countries, 
say  those  north  of  the  Equator,  includ- 
ing the  republics  of  the  Caribbean.  Each 
country  must  be  separately  studied.  Pri- 
marily, there  will  be  found  a  cry,  some- 
times desperate,  for  capital.  Public 
works,  concessionary  and  otherwise, 
have  stopped  for  lack  of  funds  from 
Europe.  New  developments  in  railroad 
building,  mining,  harbor  works,  planta- 
tions, are  arrested.  Where  European 
credits  have  been  customarily  used  to 
handle  crops,  there  is  distress,  and  no 
less  so  in  cases  in  which  such  credit  has 
previously     been     given     by     ostensibly 


American  houses  operating  really  with 
European  capital. 

American  capital  may  come  to  the 
rescue  by  advances  upon  good  security 
through  local  banks.  It  can  establish 
banks  or  buy  controlling  interests  in  ex- 
isting banks,  many  of  which  pay  their 
stockholders  15  per  cent,  or  more.  It  can 
relieve  the  stagnation  and  make  profit- 
able investment  by  an  active  campaign 
for  public  and  private  contracts  and  for 
sound  and  fair  concessions,  not  vision- 
ary or  get-rich-too-quick  schemes. 

Supposably,  the  repairing  of  the  de- 
struction brought  by  the  war  will  make 
European  capital  scarce  for  some  years, 
but  an  effort  will  doubtless  be  made  to 
retain  for  it  its  former  preponderance 
in  these  countries;  and  so  it  is  impor- 
tant that,  whatever  the  war's  effects 
upon  our  own  money  markets,  use  should 
be  made  of  such  an  opportunity  as  does 
not  come  more  than  once. 

To  be  sure,  the  scarcity  of  money  in 
the  United  States  makes  this  difficult, 
but  the  same  worldwide  money  scarcity 
will  secure  an  especially  high  rate  of 
interest  in  Latin  America,  where  even 
in  normal  times  money  can  often  be 
placed  on  excellent  security  in  some 
of  the  countries,  and  at  a  rate  very 
high  indeed  compared  to  that  prevailing 
now  in  the  United  States.  For  safe  in- 
vestments with  such  a  margin  of  profit, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  money,  even  if  dear 
at  home,  will  be  forthcoming. 

Undoubtedly  the  purchasing  power  of 
these  republics  has  been  hard  hit  by  the 
cutting  off  of  credits  and  markets  by  the 
war,  as  their  Governments  have  been 
hard  hit  through  the  falling  off  of  rev- 
enues from  import  duties.  Some  of  the 
Governments  will  require  foreign  loans. 
Capital,  I  repeat — and  I  mean  really 
American  capital — is  the  urgent  need. 
We  are  not  asked  to  make  them  a  pres- 
ent of  capital  to  buy  our  goods  with, 
but  if  we  do  not  help  finance  them  and 
buy  their  products  they  will  have  nothing 
with  which  to  buy  our  goods. 

The  situation  invites  us  to  give  capital 
and  credit  to  take  the  place  of  the  Euro- 
pean supply  which  has  failed.  One  need 
not  fear  that  the  returns  will  be  uninvit- 


PAN-AMERICAN  RELATIONS 


355 


ing,  for  Europe  would  hardly  have  been 
supplying  credit  and  capital  to  Latin 
America  as  a  mere  matter  of  amiability. 
Thus  our  capital  must  regenerate  Latin- 
American  prosperity,  while  our  bankers, 
merchants,  and  manufacturers  are  en- 
gaged in  making  solid,  permanent  ar- 
rangements, not  opportunistic  ones,  to 
take  possession  of  a  great  share  in  the 
present  and  still  more  in  the  growing 
future  development  and  commerce  of 
these  countries.  Capital,  then,  and  credit 
are  the  first  requisites. 

The  war  has  had  the  effect  of  making 
the  Latin-American  countries  realize  for 
once  the  economic  importance  to  them  of 
the  United  States.  The  products  of  some, 
like  the  tin  of  Bolivia  and  the  nitrates  of 
Chile,  have  been  going  almost  entirely  to 
Europe.  Several  republics  suffer  the 
more  acutely  in  proportion  to  their  pre- 
vious failure  to  cultivate  financial  and 
commercial  relations  with  the  United 
States. 

They  now  feel  this  and  are  compelled 
to  a  mood  receptive  to  our  advances. 
More,  they  are  forced  to  seek  new  mar- 
kets for  their  goods  just  as  they  are 
forced  to  buy  some  of  ours.  In  this  way 
there  should  come  about  new  exports  to 
the  United  States,  and  there  should 
spring  up  there  the  corresponding  new 
industries  and  habits  of  consumption, 
to  the  ultimate  benefit  of  all  the  coun- 
tries concerned. 

Meanwhile,  the  United  States  is  the 
only  present  economic  hope  of  a  num- 
ber of  the  republics.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  our  capitalists  and  business  men 
will  realize  the  responsibilities  as  well 
as  the  opportunities  of  profit  in  the  role 
they  are  asked  to  play,  and  that  their 
response  to  their  new  opportunities  will 
be  one  of  courage,  thoroughness  and  in- 
telligence, and  one  also  of  quiet  patriot- 
ism. 

II. 

POLITICAL  POTENTIALITIES. 
Turning  from  the  opportunity  to  the 
lesson,  from  the  commercial  and  economic 
aspects  of  this  question  to  those  that  are 
political  in  the  large  sense,  one's  imagina- 
tion is  appalled  at  the  potentialities  of 


the  yet  unknown  results  of  so  vast  an 
upheaval.  Yet  we  must  envisage  some 
of  these  if  we  are  to  be  prepared  for 
their  effect  upon  us.  We  must  be  ready 
for  the  impact  of  the  resultant  forces  of 
these  great  dynamics.  We  must  be  ready 
everywhere,  but  nowhere  more  than  in 
our  relations  with  Latin  America,  in  the 
zone  of  the  Caribbean,  and  wherever  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  as  still  interpreted 
gives  us  a  varying  degree  of  responsi- 
bility. 

The  war's  first  effect  upon  our  Latin- 
American  relations  is  to  compel  through 
commercial  and  financial  rapproche- 
ment a  larger  measure  of  material  in- 
terdependence, more  contact,  and,  we 
may  hope,  a  substitution  of  knowledge 
for  the  former  reciprocity  of  ignorance. 
All  this  makes  for  better  social  and  in- 
tellectual relations,  good  understanding 
and  friendship,  and  so  for  political  rela- 
tions much  more  substantial  in  the  case 
of  many  of  the  republics  than  the  rather 
flimsy  Pan-Americanism  celebrated  in 
eloquent  speeches  and  futile  interna- 
tional conferences. 

There  is  little  in  Pan-Americanism  of 
that  kind.  The  "raza  Latina"  of  elo- 
quence is  not  itself  homogeneous;  still 
less  so  is  the  population  of  the  whole 
hemisphere.  And  with  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Buenos  Aires,  and  Santiago  we  have,  of 
course,  far  less  propinquity  than  we  have 
with  the  capitals  of  Europe.  But  what 
we  really  can  do  is  to  build  up,  especially 
with  the  nearer  republics,  real  ties  of 
common  interest  and  good  neighborhood, 
and  with  the  distant  ones  ties  of  com- 
merce and  esteem. 

The  war  may  tend  to  cure  certain 
rather  self-centred  countries  of  affect- 
ing the  morbid  view  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  are  lying  awake  nights 
contriving  to  devour  them,  when,  in  fact, 
it  would  be  hard  to  find  in  a  crowded 
street  in  the  United  States  one  in  a  thou- 
sand of  the  passersby  who  knew  more 
than  the  name,  at  most,  of  one  of  those 
very  few  countries  referred  to. 

Europe's  preoccupation  with  the  war 
temporarily  deprives  such  a  country  and 
its  few  misguided  prophets  whose  mono- 
mania is   dread    of    that    chimera,  the 


856 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


"Colossus  of  the  North,"  of  the  pastime 
of  nestling  up  to  Europe  in  the  hope  of 
annoying  us.  It  postpones,  too,  the  hope 
of  the  morbid  ones  that  we  shall  come 
to  war  with  a  powerful  enemy.  Now, 
perhaps,  even  these  will  appreciate  the 
remark  of  a  diplomatist  of  a  certain 
weak  country  in  contact  with  European 
powers,  who  once  said:  "  If  we  only  had 
the  United  States  for  a  neighbor!  What 
I  can't  understand  is  that  your  neighbors 
do  not  realize  their  good  luck."  Turning 
from  these  exceptional  phenomena,  the 
very  fact  of  the  war  leaves  the  United 
States  in  a  general  position  of  greater 
political  prestige. 

Whatever  the  upshot  of  the  European 
tragedy,  its  political  and  psychological 
consequences  are  likely  to  be  great.  If 
it  result  in  new  national  divisions  upon 
racial  lines  of  more  reality,  who  knows 
but  that  the  awakened  spirits  of  nation- 
ality will  germinate  fresh  military  am- 
bitions? Or  will  the  horrors  of  the  war 
force  political  reforms  and  the  search 
for  assurance  in  more  democratic  insti- 
tutions against  any  repetition  of  those 
horrors?  And  is  popular  government  an 
assurance  against  useless  war  while  men 
remain  warlike  even  when  not  military? 

Except  from  the  successful  countries 
or  from  those  where  disaster  has  brought 
such  sobering  change  that  men  can  re- 
turn to  work  heartened  with  new  hope, 
when  the  war  is  over  there  is  likely  to 
be  a  heavy  emigration  of  disgusted  peo- 
ple. Possibly  even  victory  will  be  so  dear 
that  men  will  emigrate  from  a  country 
half  prostrate  in  its  triumph.  Many  will 
come  as  the  Puritans  came,  and  as  the 
bulk  of  our  own  excellent  Germanic  ele- 
ment came,  and  will  cast  in  their  lot 
with  a  new  nation.  We  shall  get  a  good 
share,  but  doubtless  some  will  go  to  the 
republics  of  the  far  South,  and  some  to 
the  highlands  of  the  tropics  and  through 
the  canal  to  the  West  Coast.  If  so,  this 
will  tend  gradually  toward  increased 
production  and  purchasing  power,  as 
well  as  toward  a  leavening  of  social,  po- 
litical, and  economic  conditions  of  life. 

If  the  war  were  indecisive  or  left  all 
the  combatants  more  or  less  prostrated, 
peaceful  immigration  might  give  a  big 


impulse  to  the  gradual  growing  up  of 
powerful  States  in  the  temperate  zone 
of  the  extreme  South.  The  situation 
there,  and  the  evolution  of  oiu-  own 
power,  make  it  perhaps  even  now  fair 
to  consider  the  question  of  regarding  as 
optional  in  any  given  case  the  assertion 
by  us  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  much  below 
the  equator,  let  us  say,  beyond  which  it 
may  possibly  be  doubtful  whether  we 
have  nowadays  much  reason  for  special 
interest. 

But,  even  so,  our  relations  to  South 
America  and  our  obligations  under  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  in  spite  of  the  blessed 
fortifications  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Oceans,  leave  us  where  it  is  tempting 
fate  to  be  without  a  navy  of  the  first 
magnitude,  and  a  big  merchant  marine. 
We  have  seen  what  happened  to  Belgium 
and  Luxemburg.  We  have  seen  how 
even  some  of  the  most  enlightened  na- 
tions can  still  make  force  their  god. 
Nations  learn  slowly,  and  there  are  per- 
haps some  new  big  ones  coming  on,  like 
China. 

If  the  war  is  a  fight  to  a  finish,  and 
the  Allies  triumph,  we  can  imagine  Rus- 
sia, with  its  teeming  millions  of  people, 
occupied  for  a  while  in  the  Near  East; 
Japan  consolidating  her  position  in  the 
Far  East,  an  increasingly  powerful 
neighbor  to  us  in  the  Philippines,  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  and  the  Pacific  Ocean; 
France  still  a  great  power;  and  Eng- 
land as  a  world  power  of  uncomfortably 
ubiquitous  strength,  able  to  challenge  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  at  will. 

Or,  let  us  suppose  that  Germany 
should  triumph  and  that  German  emi- 
gration should  swarm  into  the  Carib- 
bean countries,  or  into  Brazil  or  some 
other  country  where  there  is  already  a 
large  German  colony — elated,  triumph- 
ant Germans,  not  Germans  disgusted  by 
a  disastrous  war.  Would  Germany  be 
likely  to  heed  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  or 
would  it  be  only  another  "  scrap  of 
paper  "? 

In  the  present  stage  of  civilization  the 
safety  of  America  should  not  be  left  de- 
pendent upon  the  forbearance  of  any 
power  that  may  emerge  dangerously 
strong  from  the  war  or  that  may  other- 


PAN-AMERICAN  RELATIONS  357 

wise  arise.  The  obligations  and  rights  of  need  of  these  and  of  a  diplomacy  of  in- 
cur Latin-American  relations,  under  the  telligent  self-interest,  continuity,  and  in- 
Monroe  Doctrine  and  otherwise,  like  our  tense  nationalism  is  the  lesson  brought 
security  and  our  efficiency  as  a  force  ^^^^  ^o  us  by  the  European  war  in  its 
for  peace  and  good  in  the  world,  de-  ^^^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  Latin-American  rela- 
mand  a  big  navy,  a  merchant  marme,  ,•  n  i  . 
J  ^1  1^  J-  •  T  J  J?  J  i  tions  as  well  as  upon  our  general  posi- 
and  the  self-disciplme  and  safeguard  of        .                                 r               c  f 

adequate    military    preparedness.      The  ^''^^  ^'  ^  ^^^^^  P^^^^' 


AN    EASTER    MESSAGE 

By   BEATRICE    BARRY. 

INTO     what    depths    of    misery    thou    art 
hurled, 
Belgium,     thou     second    Saviour     of    the 
World  ! 
Thou  who  hast  died 
For  all  of  Europe,    lo,    we   bathe  thy  feet 
So     cruelly    pierced,     and     find     the     service 
sweet, 
Thou   crucified. 

But  though  we  mourn  thy  agony  and  loss. 
And  weep  beneath  the  shadow  of  thy  cross — 

"We   know   the   day 
That  brings   the   resurrection   and   the   life 
Shall    dawn   for    thee    when   war   and    all    its 
strife 

Hath   passed    away. 

Then,   out  of  all  her  travail  and  her  pain, 
Belgium,   though  crushed  to  earth,  shall  rise 
again  ; 
And   on    the   sod 
Whence    sprang    a    race    so    strong,    so    free 

from    guile. 
Men  shall  behold,    in  just  a  little  while, 
The  smile   of   God. 

Land  of  the  brave — soon,  by  God's  grace,  the 

free — 
Thy  woe  is  transient ;  joy  shall  come  to  thee  ; 

It  cannot  fail. 
The  darkest  night  gives  way  to  rosy  dawn. 
And    thou,    perchance,    shalt    see    on    Easter 
morn. 
The    Holy    Grail. 


An  Interview  on  the  War  With 
Henry  James 

By  Preston  Lockwood 

[From  The  New  York  Times.  March  21,  1915.] 


ONE  of  the  compensations  of  the 
war,  which  we  ought  to  take  ad- 
vantage of,  is  the  chance  given 
the  general  public  to  approach 
on  the  personal  side  some  of  the  distin- 
guished men  who  have  not  hitherto  lived 
much  in  the  glare  of  the  footlights. 
Henry  James  has  probably  done  this  as 
little  as  any  one;  he  has  enjoyed  for  up- 
ward of  forty  years  a  reputation  not 
confined  to  his  own  country,  has  pub- 
lished a  long  succession  of  novels,  tales, 
and  critical  papers,  and  yet  has  appar- 
ently so  delighted  in  reticence  as  well  as 
in  expression  that  he  has  passed  his 
seventieth  year  without  having  responsi- 
bly "  talked  "  for  publication  or  figured 
for  it  otherwise  than  pen  in  hand. 

Shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
Mr.  James  found  himself,  to  his  pro- 
fessed great  surprise.  Chairman  of  the 
American  Volunteer  Motor  Ambulance 
Corps,  now  at  work  in  France,  and  to- 
day, at  the  end  of  three  months  of  bring- 
ing himself  to  the  point,  has  granted,  me, 
as  a  representative  of  The  New  York 
Times,  an  interview.  What  this  depart- 
ure from  the  habit  of  a  lifetime  means 
to  him  he  expressed  at  the  outset: 

"I  can't  put,"  Mr,  James  said,  speak- 
ing with  much  consideration  and  asking 
that  his  punctuation  as  well  as  his  words 
should  be  noted,  "  my  devotion  and  sym- 
pathy for  the  cause  of  our  corps  more 
strongly  than  in  permitting  it  thus  to 
overcome  my  dread  of  the  assault  of  the 
interviewer,  whom  I  have  deprecated, 
all  these  years,  with  all  the  force  of  my 
preference  for  saying  myself  and  with- 
out superfluous  aid,  without  interference 
in  the  guise  of  encouragement  and  cheer, 
anything  I  may  think  worth  my  saying. 
Nothing  is  worth  my  saying  that  I  can- 
not help  myself  out  with  better,  I  hold, 


than  even  the  most  suggestive  young 
gentleman  with  a  notebook  can  help  me. 
It  may  be  fatuous  of  me,  but,  believing 
myself  possessed  of  some  means  of  ex- 
pression, I  feel  as  if  I  were  sadly  giving 
it  away  when,  with  the  use  of  it 
urgent,  I  don't  greatefully  employ  it,  but 
appeal  instead  to  the  art  of  somebody 
else." 

It  Was  impossible  to  be  that  "some- 
body else,"  or,  in  other  words,  the  per- 
son privileged  to  talk  with  Mr.  James, 
to  sit  in  presence  of  his  fine  courtesy 
and  earnestness,  without  understanding 
the  sacrifice  he  was  making,  and  mak- 
ing only  because  he  had  finally  con- 
sented to  believe  that  it  would  help  the 
noble  work  of  relief  which  a  group  of 
young  Americans,  mostly  graduates  of 
Harvard,  Yale,  and  Princeton,  are  car- 
rying on  along  their  stretch  of  the  fight- 
ing line  in  Northern  France. 

Mr.  James  frankly  desired  his  remarks 
to  bear  only  on  the  merits  of  the  Amer- 
ican Volunteer  Motor  Ambulance  Corps. 
It  enjoys  today  the  fullest  measure  of  his 
appreciation  and  attention;  it  appeals 
deeply  to  his  benevolent  instincts,  and  he 
gives  it  sympathy  and  support  as  one 
who  has  long  believed,  and  believes  more 
than  ever,  in  spite  of  everything,  at  this 
international  crisis,  in  the  possible  de- 
velopment of  "  closer  communities  and 
finer  intimacies  "  between  America  and 
Great  Britain,  between  the  country  of  his 
birth  and  the  country,  as  he  puts  it,  of 
his  "  shameless  frequentation." 

There  are  many  people  who  are  elo- 
quent about  the  war,  who  are  authorities 
on  the  part  played  in  it  by  the  motor 
ambulance  and  who  take  an  interest  in 
the  good  relations  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States;  but  there  is  nobody 
who  can  tell  us,  as  Mr.  James  can,  about 
style  and  the  structure  of  sentences,  and 


AN  INTERVIEW  ON  THE  WAR   WITH  HENRY  JAMES 


359 


all  that  appertains  to  the  aspect  and 
value  of  words.  Now  and  then  in  what 
here  follows  he  speaks  familiarly  of  these 
things  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  not 
by  any  means  because  he  jumped  at  the 
chance,  but  because  his  native  kindness, 
whether  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
seemed  so  ready  to  humor  the  insisting 
inquirer. 

"  It  is  very  difficult,"  he  said,  seeking 
to  diminish  the  tension  so  often  felt  by  a 
journalist,  even  at  the  moment  of  a  high- 
ly appreciated  occasion,  "  to  break  into 
graceful  license  after  so  long  a  life  of 
decorum;  therefore  you  must  excuse  me 
if  my  egotism  doesn't  run  very  free  or 
my  complacency  find  quite  the  right 
turns." 

He  had  received  me  in  the  offices  of 
the  corps,  businesslike  rooms,  modern  for 
London,  low-ceiled  and  sparely  furnished. 
It  was  not  by  any  means  the  sort  of  set- 
ting in  which  as  a  reader  of  Henry  James 
I  had  expected  to  run  to  earth  the  author 
of  "  The  Golden  Bowl,"  but  the  place  is, 
nevertheless,  today,  in  the  tension  of 
war  time,  one  of  the  few  approaches  to 
a  social  resort  outside  his  Chelsea  home 
where  he  can  be  counted  on.  Even  that 
delightful  Old  World  retreat.  Lamb 
House,  Rye,  now  claims  little  of  his  time. 

The  interviewer  spoke  of  the  waterside 
Chelsea  and  Mr.  James's  long  knowledge 
of  it,  but,  sitting  not  overmuch  at  his 
ease  and  laying  a  friendly  hand  on  the 
shoulder  of  his  tormentor,  he  spoke,  in- 
stead, of  motor  ambulances,  making  the 
point,  in  the  interest  of  clearness,  that 
the  American  Ambulance  Corps  of 
Neuilly,  though  an  organization  with 
which  Richard  Norton's  corps  is  in  .the 
fullest  sympathy,  does  not  come  within 
the  scope  of  his  remarks. 

"  I  find  myself  Chairman  of  our  Corps 
Committee  for  no  great  reason  that  I 
can  discover  save  my  being  the  oldest 
American  resident  here  interested  in  its 
work;  at  the  same  time  that  if  I  render 
a  scrap  of  help  by  putting  on  record  my 
joy  even  in  the  rather  ineffectual  con- 
nection so  far  as  '  doing '  anything  is 
concerned,  I  needn't  say  how  welcome 
you  are  to  my  testimony.  What  I 
mainly  seem  to  grasp,  I  should  say,  is 
that  in  regard  to  testifying  at  all  un- 


limitedly  by  the  aid  of  the  newspapers,  I 
have  to  reckon  with  a  certain  awkward- 
ness in  our  position.  Here  comes  "up, 
you  see,  the  question  of  our  reconciling 
a  rather  indispensable  degree  of  reserve 
as  to  the  detail  of  our  activity  with  the 
general  American  demand  for  publicity 
at  any  price.  There  are  ways  in  which 
the  close  presence  of  war  challenges  tho 
whole  claim  for  publicity;  and  I  need 
hardly  say  that  this  general  claim  has 
been  challenged,  practically,  by  the  pres- 
ent horrific  complexity  of  things  at  the 
front,  as  neither  the  Allies  themselves 
nor  watching  neutrals  have  ever  seen  it 
challenged  before.  The  American  pub- 
lic is,  of  course,  little  used  to  not  being 
able  to  hear,  and  hear  as  an  absolutei 
right,  about  anything  that  the  press  may 
suggest  that  it  ought  to  hear  about;  so 
that  nothing  may  be  said  ever  to  hap- 
pen anywhere  that  it  doesn't  count  on 
having  reported  to  it,  hot  and  hot,  as  the 
phrase  is,  several  times  a  day.  We  were 
the  first  American  ambulance  corps  in 
the  field,  and  we  have  a  record  of  more 
than  four  months'  continuous  service 
with  one  of  the  French  armies,  but  the 
rigor  of  the  objection  to  our  taking  the 
world  into  our  intimate  confidence  is  not 
only  shown  by  our  still  unbroken  in- 
ability to  report  in  lively  installments, 
but  receives  also  a  sidelight  from  the 
fact  that  numerous  like  private  corps 
maintained  by  donations  on  this  side  of 
the  sea  are  working  at  the  front  with- 
out the  least  commemoration  of  their 
deeds — that  is,  without  a  word  of  jour- 
nalistic notice. 

"  I  hope  that  by  the  time  these  possibly 
too  futile  remarks  of  mine  come  to  such 
light  as  may  await  them  Mr.  Norton's 
report  of  our  general  case  may  have  been 
published,  and  nothing  would  give  the 
committee  greater  pleasure  than  that 
some  such  controlled  statement  on  our 
behalf,  best  proceeding  from  the  scene  of 
action  itself,  should  occasionally  appear. 
The  ideal  would,  of  course,  be  that  ex- 
actly the  right  man,  at  exactly  the  right 
moment,  should  report  exactly  the  right 
facts,  in  exactly  the  right  manner,  and 
when  that  happy  consummation  becomes 
possible  we  shall  doubtless  revel  in 
funds." 


860 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Mr.  James  had  expressed  himself  with 
such  deliberation  and  hesitation  that  I 
was  reminded  of  what  I  had  heard  of  all 
the  verbal  alterations  made  by  him  in 
novels  and  tales  long  since  published;  to 
the  point,  we  are  perhaps  incorrectly  told 
of  replacing  a  "  she  answered "  by  a 
"  she  indefinitely  responded." 

I  should,  indeed,  mention  that  on  my 
venturing  to  put  to  Mr.  James  a  question 
or  two  about  his  theory  of  such  changes 
he  replied  that  no  theory  could  be  stated, 
at  any  rate  in  the  off-hand  manner  that 
I  seemed  to  invite,  without  childish  in- 
justice to  the  various  considerations  by 
which  a  writer  is  moved.  These  determi- 
nant reasons  differ  with  the  context  and 
the  relations  of  parts  to  parts  and  to  the 
total  sense  in  a  way  of  which  no  a  priori 
account  can  be  given. 

"  I  dare  say  I  strike  you,"  he  went  on, 
"  as  rather  bewilderedly  weighing  my 
words;  but  I  may  perhaps  explain  my  so 
doing  very  much  as  I  the  other  day  heard 
a  more  interesting  fact  explained.  A 
distinguished  English  naval  expert  hap- 
pened to  say  to  me  that  the  comparative 
non-production  of  airships  in  this  coun- 
try indicated,  in  addition  to  other  causes, 
a  possible  limitation  of  the  British  genius 
in  that  direction,  and  then  on  my  asking 
him  why  that  class  of  craft  shouldn't  be 
within  the  compass  of  the  greatest  mak- 
ers of  sea-ships,  replied,  after  brief  re- 
flection :  *  Because  the  airship  is  es- 
sentially a  bad  ship,  and  we  English  can't 
make  a  bad  ship  well  enough.'  Can  you 
pardon,"  Mr.  James  asked,  "  my  making 
an  application  of  this  to  the  question  of 
one's  amenability  or  plasticity  to  the  in- 
terview? The  airship  of  the  interview 
is  for  me  a  bad  ship,  and  I  can't  make  a 
bad  ship  well  enough." 

Catching  Mr.  James's  words  as  they 
came  was  not  very  difficult;  but  there 
was  that  in  the  manner  of  his  speech 
that  cannot  be  put  on  paper,  the  deli- 
cate difference  between  the  word  recalled 
and  the  word  allowed  to  stand,  the 
earnestness  of  the  massive  face  and  alert 
eye,  tempered  by  the  genial  "  comment  of 
the  body,"  as  R.  L.  Stevenson  has  it. 

Henry  James  does  not  look  his  seventy 
years.  He  has  a  finely  shaped  head,  and 
a  face,  at  once  strong  and  serene,  which 


the  painter  and  the  sculptor  may  well 
have  liked  to  interpret.  Indeed,  in  fine 
appreciation  they  have  so  wrought.  Der- 
went  Wood's  admirable  bust,  purchased 
from  last  year's  Royal  Academy,  shown 
by  the  Chantrey  Fund,  will  be  permanently 
placed  in  the  Tate  Gallery,  and  those  who 
fortunately  know  Sargent's  fine  portrait, 
to  be  exhibited  in  the  Sargent  Room  at 
the  San  Francisco  Exhibition,  will  recall 
its  having  been  slashed  into  last  year  by 
the  militant  suffragettes,  though  now 
happily  restored  to  such  effect  that  no 
trace  of  the  outrage  remains. 

Mr.  James  has  a  mobile  mouth,  a 
straight  nose,  a  forehead  which  has 
thrust  back  the  hair  from  the  top  of  his 
commanding  head,  although  it  is  thick 
at  the  sides  over  the  ears,  and  repeats 
in  its  soft  gray  the  color  of  his  kindly 
eyes.  Before  taking  in  these  physical 
facts  one  receives  an  impression  of 
benignity  and  amenity  not  often  con- 
veyed, even  by  the  most  distinguished. 
And,  taking  advantage  of  this  amiabil- 
ity, I  asked  if  certain  words  just  used 
should  be  followed  by  a  dash,  and  even 
boldly  added:  "  Are  you  not  famous, 
Mr.  James,  for  the  use  of  dashes  ?  " 

"  Dash  my  fame!  "  he  impatiently  re- 
plied. "  And  remember,  please,  that 
dogmatizing  about  punctuation  is  ex- 
actly as  foolish  as  dogmatizing  about 
any  other  form  of  communication  with 
the  reader.  All  such  forms  depend  on 
the  kind  of  thing  one  is  doing  and 
the  kind  of  effect  one  intends  to  pro- 
duce. Dashes,  it  seems  almost  platitu- 
dinous to  say,  have  their  particular  rep- 
resentative virtue,  their  quickening 
force,  and,  to  put  it  roughly,  strike  both 
the  familiar  and  the  emphatic  note, 
when  those  are  the  notes  required,  with 
a  felicity  beyond  either  the  comma  or  the 
semicolon;  though  indeed  a  fine  sense 
for  the  semicolon,  like  any  sort  of  sense 
at  all  for  the  pluperfect  tense  and  the 
subjunctive  mood,  on  which  the  whole 
perspective  in  a  sentence  may  depend, 
seems  anything  but  common.  Does  no- 
body ever  notice  the  calculated  use  by 
French  writers  of  a  short  series  of  sug- 
gestive points  in  the  current  of  their 
prose?  I  confess  to  a  certain  shame  for 
my  not  employing  frankly  that  shade  of 


AN  INTERVIEW  ON  THE  WAR   WITH  HENRY  JAMES 


3G1 


indication,  a  finer  shade  still  than  the 
dash.  *  *  *  But  what  on  earth  are 
we  talking  about?  "  And  the  Chairman 
of  the  Corps  Committee  pulled  himself 
up  in  deprecation  of  our  frivolity,  which 
I  recognized  by  acknowledging  that  we 
might  indeed  hear  more  about  the  work 
done  and  doing  at  the  front  by  Richard 
Norton  and  his  energetic  and  devoted 
co-workers.  Then  I  plunged  recklessly 
to  draw  my  victim. 

"  May  not  a  large  part  of  the  spirit 
which  animates  these  young  men  be  a 
healthy  love  of  adventure?"  I  asked. 

The  question  seemed  to  open  up  such 
depths  that  Mr.  James  considered  a  mo- 
ment and  began: 

"  I,  of  course,  don't  personally  know 
many  of  our  active  associates,  who  natur- 
ally waste  very  little  time  in  London. 
But,  since  you  ask  me,  I  prefer  to  think 
of  them  as  moved,  first  and  foremost,  not 
by  the  idea  of  the  fun  or  the  sport  they 
may  have,  or  of  the  good  thing  they  may 
make  of  the  job  for  themselves,  but  by 
that  of  the  altogether  exceptional  chance 
opened  to  them  of  acting  blessedly  and 
savingly  for  others,  though  indeed  if  we 
come  to  that  there  is  no  such  sport  in 
the  world  as  so  acting  when  anything 
in  the  nature  of  risk  or  exposure  is  at- 
tached. The  horrors,  the  miseries,  the 
monstrosities  they  are  in  presence  of  are 
so  great  surely  as  not  to  leave  much  of 
any  other  attitude  over  when  intelligent 
sympathy  has  done  its  best. 

"  Personally  I  feel  so  strongly  on 
everything  that  the  war  has  brought  into 
question  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples 
that  humorous  detachment  or  any  other 
thinness  or  tepidity  of  mind  on  the  sub- 
ject affects  me  as  vulgar  impiety,  not  to 
say  as  rank  blasphemy;  our  whole  race 
tension  became  for  me  a  sublimely  con- 
scious thing  from  the  moment  Germany 
flung  at  us  all  her  explanation  of  her 
pounce  upon  Belgium  for  massacre  and 
ravage  in  the  form  of  the  most  insolent, 
'Because  I  choose  to,  damn  you  all!'  re- 
corded in  history. 

"  The  pretension  to  smashing  world  rule 
by  a  single  people,  in  virtue  of  a  monop- 
oly of  every  title,  every  gift  and  every 
right,  ought  perhaps  to  confound  us  more 
by  its  grotesqueness  than  to  alarm  us 


by  its  energy;  but  never  do  cherished 
possessions,  whether  of  the  hand  or  of 
the  spirit,  become  so  dear  to  us  as  when 
overshadowed  by  vociferous  aggression. 
How  can  one  help  seeing  that  such  ag- 
gression, if  hideously  successful  in  Eu- 
rope, would,  with  as  little  loss  of  time  as 
possible,  proceed  to  apply  itself  to  the 
American  side  of  the  world,  and  how  can 
one,  therefore,  not  feel  that  the  Allies  are 
fighting  to  the  death  for  the  soul  and  the 
purpose  and  the  future  that  are  in  us,  for 
•the  defense  of  every  ideal  that  has  most 
guided  our  growth  and  that  most  assures 
our  unity? 

"  Of  course,  since  you  ask  me,  my 
many  years  of  exhibited  attachment  to 
the  conditions  of  French  and  of  English 
life,  with  whatever  fond  play  of  reflec- 
tion and  reaction  may  have  been  involved 
in  it,  make  it  inevitable  that  these  coun- 
tries should  peculiarly  appeal  to  me  at 
the  hour  of  their  peril,  their  need  and 
their  heroism,  and  I  am  glad  to  declare 
that,  though  I  had  supposed  I  knew  what 
that  attachment  was,  I  find  I  have  any 
number  of  things  more  to  learn  about  it. 
English  life,  wound  up  to  the  heroic 
pitch,  is  at  present  most  immediately  be- 
fore me,  and  I  can  scarcely  tell  you  what 
a  privilege  I  feel  it  to  share  the  inspira- 
tion and  see  further  revealed  the  charac- 
ter of  this  decent  and  dauntless  people. 

"  However,  I  am  indeed  as  far  as  you 
may  suppose  from  assuming  that  what 
you  speak  to  me  of  as  the  '  political '  bias 
is  the  only  ground  on  which  the  work  of 
our  corps  for  the  Allies  should  appeal 
to  the  American  public.  Political,  I  con- 
fess, has  become  for  me  in  all  this  a  loose 
and  question-begging  term,  but  if  we 
must  resign  ourselves  to  it  as  explain- 
ing some  people's  indifference,  let  us  use 
a  much  better  one  for  inviting  their  con- 
fidence. It  will  do  beautifully  well  if 
givers  and  workers  and  helpers  are  moved 
by  intelligent  human  pity,  and  they  are 
with  us  abundantly  enough  if  they  feel 
themselves  simply  roused  by,  and  respond 
to,  the  most  awful  exhibition  of  phys- 
ical and  moral  anguish  the  world  has 
ever  faced,  and  which  it  is  the  strange 
fate  of  our  actual  generations  to  see  un- 
rolled before  them.  We  welcome  any 
lapse  of  logic  that  may  connect  inward 


362 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


vagueness  with  outward  zeal,  if  it  be  the 
zeal  of  subscribers,  presenters  or  drivers 
of  cars,  or  both  at  once,  stretcher-bear- 
ers, lifters,  healers,  consolers,  handy  An- 
glo-French interpreters,  (these  extremely 
precious,)  smoothers  of  the  way;  in  short, 
after  whatever  fashion.  We  ask  of  no- 
body any  waste  of  moral  or  of  theoretic 
energy,  nor  any  conviction  of  any  sort, 
but  that  the  job  is  inspiring  and  the  hon- 
est, educated  man  a  match  for  it. 

"  If  I  seem  to  cast  doubt  on  any  very 
driving  intelligence  of  the  great  issue  as ' 
a  source  of  sympathy  with  us,  I  think 
this  is  because  I  have  been  struck,  when- 
ever I  have  returned  to  my  native  land, 
by  the  indifference  of  Americans  at  large 
to  the  concerns  and  preoccupations  of 
Europe.  This  indifference  has  again 
and  again  seemed  to  me  quite  beyond 
measure  or  description,  though  it  may 
be  in  a  degree  suggested  by  the  absence 
throughout  the  many-paged  American 
newspaper  of  the  least  mention  of  a  Euro- 
pean circumstance  unless  some  not-to-be- 
blinked  war  or  revolution,  or  earthquake 
or  other  cataclysm  has  happened  to  ap- 
ply the  lash  to  curiosity.  The  most  com- 
prehensive journalistic  formula  that  I 
have  found  myself,  under  that  observa- 
tion, reading  into  the  general  case  is  the 
principle  that  the  first  duty  of  the  truly 
appealing  sheet  in  a  given  community  is 
to  teach  every  individual  reached  by  it — 
every  man,  woman  and  child — to  count  on 
appearing  there,  in  their  habit  as  they 
live,  if  they  will  only  wait  for  their  turn. 

"  However,"  he  continued,  "  my  point 
is  simply  my  plea  for  patience  with  our 
enterprise  even  at  the  times  when  we 
can't  send  home  sensational  figures. 
*  They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and 
wait,'  and  the  essence  of  our  utility,  as 
of  that  of  any  ambulance  corps,  is  just 
to  be  there,  on  any  and  every  contingency, 
including  the  blessed  contingency  of  a 
temporary  drop  in  the  supply  of  the 
wounded  turned  out  and  taken  on — since 
such  comparative  intermissions  occur.  Ask 
our  friends,  I  beg  you,  to  rid  themselves 
of  the  image  of  our  working  on  schedule 
time  or  on  guarantee  of  a  maximum  de- 
livery; we  are  dependent  on  the  humors 
of    battle,    on    incalculable    rushes    and 


lapses,  on  violent  outbreaks  of  energy 
which  rage  and  pass  and  are  expressly 
designed  to  bewilder.  It  is  not  for  the 
poor  wounded  to  oblige  us  by  making  us 
showy,  but  for  us  to  let  them  count  on 
our  open  arms  and  open  lap  as  troubled 
children  count  on  those  of  their  mother. 
It  is  now  to  be  said,  moreover,  that  our 
opportunity  of  service  threatens  inordi- 
nately to  grow;  such  things  may  any  day 
begin  to  occur  at  the  front  as  will  make 
what  we  have  up  to  now  been  able  to  do 
mere  child's  play,  though  some  of  our 
help  has  been  rendered  when  casualties 
were  occurring  at  the  rate,  say,  of  5,000 
in  twenty  minutes,  which  ought,  on  the 
whole,  to  satisfy  us.  In  face  of  such 
enormous  facts  of  destruction — " 

Here  Mr,  James  broke  off  as  if  these 
facts  were,  in  their  horror,  too  many  and 
too  much  for  him.  But  after  another 
moment  he  explained  his  pause. 

"  One  finds  it  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
as  hard  to  apply  one's  words  as  to  endure 
one's  thoughts.  The  war  has  used  up 
words;  they  have  weakened,  they  have 
deteriorated  like  motor  car  tires;  they 
have,  like  millions  of  other  things,  been 
more  overstrained  and  knocked  about 
and  voided  of  the  happy  semblance  dur- 
ing the  last  six  months  than  in  all  the 
long  ages  before,  and  we  are  now  con- 
fronted with  a  depreciation  of  all  our 
terms,  or,  otherwise  speaking,  with  a 
loss  of  expression  through  increase  of 
limpness,  that  may  well  make  us  Avonder 
what  ghosts  will  be  left  to  walk." 

This  sounded  rather  desperate,  yet  the 
incorrigible  interviewer,  conscious  of  the 
wane  of  his  only  chance,  ventured  to 
glance  at  the  possibility  of  a  word  or 
two  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  James's 
present  literary  intentions.  But  the 
kindly  hand  here  again  was  raised,  and 
the  mild  voice  became  impatient. 

"  Pardon  my  not  touching  on  any  such 
irrelevance.  All  I  want  is  to  invite  the 
public,  as  unblushingly  as  possible,  to 
take  all  the  interest  in  us  it  can; 
which  may  be  helped  by  knowing  that 
our  bankers  are  Messrs.  Brown  Brothers 
&  Co.,  59  Wall  Street,  New  York  City, 
and  that  checks  should  be  made  payable 
to  the  American  Volunteer  Motor  Am- 
bulance Corps." 


A  Talk  With  Belgium's  Governor 

By   Edward  Lyall   Fox 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  April   11,  1915.] 
Copyright,     1915,     by     the     Wildman     News  Service. 


IT  would  have  been  a  very  grave  mis- 
take not  to  have  invaded  Belgium. 
It  would  have  been  an  unforgiv- 
able military  blunder.  I  justify  the 
invading  of  Belgium  on  absolute  military 
grounds.  What  other  grounds  are  there 
worth  while  talking  about  when  a  nation 
is  in  a  war  for  its  existence  ?  " 

It  is  the  ruler  of  German  Belgium 
speaking.  The  stern,  serious-faced  Gov- 
ernor General  von  Bissing,  whom  they 
call  "  Iron  Fist,"  the  man  who  crushes 
out  sedition.  Returning,  I  had  just  come 
up  from  the  front  around  Lille,  and  al- 
most the  only  clothes  I  had  were  those  on 
my  back;  and  the  mud  of  the  trenches 
still  clung  to  my  boots  and  puttees  in  yel- 
low cakes.  They  were  not  the  most  prop- 
er clothes  in  which  to  meet  King  Albert's 
successor,  but  in  field  gray  I  had  to  go. 
The  Governor  General  received  me  in 
a  dainty  Louis  Quinze  room  done  in  rose 
and  French  gray,  and  filled  incongruous- 
ly with  delicate  chairs  and  heavy  brocad- 
ed curtains,  a  background  which  instantly 
you  felt  precisely  suited  his  Excellency. 
In  the  English  newspapers,  which,  by  the 
way,  are  not  barred  from  Berlin  cafes,  I 
had  read  of  his  Excellency  as  the  "Iron 
Fist,"  or  the  "Heavy  Heel,"  and  I  rather 
expected  to  see  a  heavy,  domineering 
man.  Instead,  a  slender,  stealthy  man  in 
the  uniform  of  a  General  rose  from  be- 
hind a  tapestry  topped  table,  revealing, 
as  he  did,  a  slight  stoop  in  his  back,  per- 
haps a  trifle  foppish.  He  held  out  a  long- 
fingered  hand. 

General  von  Bissing  spoke  no  English. 
Somehow  I  imagined  him  to  be  one  of 
those  old  German  patriots  who  did  not 
learn  the  language  simply  because  it  was 
English.  Through  Lieut.  Herrmann  I 
asked  the  Governor  General  what  Ger- 
many was  doing  toward  the  reconstruc- 
tion  of  Belgium.    I  told  him  America, 


when  I  had  left,  was  under  the  impres- 
sion that  Belgium  was  a  land  utterly  laid 
waste  by  the  German  armies.  I  frankly 
told  him  that  in  America  the  common  be- 
lief was  that  the  German  military  Gov- 
ernment meant  tyranny;  what  was  Ger- 
many doing  for  Belgium? 

"  I  think,"  replied  Governor  General 
von  Bissing,  "  that  we  are  doing  every- 
thing that  can  be  done  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. Those  farm  lands  which  you 
saw,  coming  up  from  Lille  to  Brussels, 
were  planted  by  German  soldiers  and  in 
the  Spring  they  will  be  harvested  by  our 
soldiers.  Belgium  has  not  been  devastat- 
ed, and  its  condition  has  been  grievously 
misstated,  as  you  have  seen.  You  must 
remember  that  the  armies  have  passed 
back  and  forth  across  it — German,  Bel- 
gian, English,  and  French — but  I  think 
you  have  seen  that  only  in  the  paths 
of  these  armies  has  the  countryside  suf- 
fered. Where  engagements  were  not 
fought  or  shots  fired,  Belgium  is  as  it 
was. 

"  There  has  been  no  systematic  devas- 
tation for  the  purpose  of  Intimidating 
the  people.  You  will  learn  this  if  you 
go  all  over  Belgium.  As  for  the  cities, 
we  are  doing  the  best  we  can  to  encour- 
age business.  Of  course,  with  things 
the  way  they  are  now,  it  is  difficult. 
I  can  only  ask  you  to  go  down  one  of 
the  principal  business  streets  here,  the 
Rue  de  la  Neuf,  for  instance,  and  price 
the  articles  that  you  find  in  the  shops 
and  compare  them  with  the  Berlin  prices. 
The  merchants  of  Brussels  are  not  having 
to  sacrifice  their  stock  by  cutting  prices, 
and,  equally  important,  there  are  peo- 
ple buying.  I  can  unhesitatingly  say 
that  things  are  progressing  favorably 
in  Belgium." 

The  conversation  turned  upon  Belgian 
and   English  relations  before  this  war. 


364 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


The  Governor  General  mentioned  docu- 
mentary evidence  found  in  the  archives 
in  Brussels,  proving  an  understanding  be- 
tween these  countries  against  Germany. 
He  spoke  briefly  about  the  point  that  the 
subjects  of  King  Albert  had  been  be- 
trayed into  the  hands  of  English  finan- 
ciers and  then  laconically  said:  "The 
people  of  Belgium  are  politically  undis- 
ciplined children. 

"  They  are  the  victims  of  subtle  prop- 
aganda that  generally  takes  the  form 
of  articles  in  French  and  neutral  news- 
papers," and  General  von  Bissing  looked 
me  straight  in  the  eyes,  as  though  to 
emphasize  that  by  neutral  he  meant  the 
newspapers  of  the  United  States.  "  I 
can  understand  the  French  doing  this," 
he  said,  "  because  they  always  use  the 
Belgians  and  do  not  care  what  happens 
to  them.  It  is  beyond  my  comprehen- 
sion, though,  how  the  Government  of  any 
neutral  country  permits  the  publication 
of  newspaper  articles  that  can  have  but 
one  effect,  and  that  is  to  encourage  re- 
volt in  a  captured  people.  A  country 
likes  to  call  itself  humanitarian,  and  yet 
it  persists  in  allowing  the  publication  of 
articles  that  only  excite  an  ignorant,  un- 
disciplined people  and  lead  them  to  acts 
of  violence  that  must  be  wiped  out  by 
force,"  and  the  Governor  General's  mouth 
closed  with  a  click. 

"  Do  you  know  that  the  people  of 
Brussels,  whenever  a  strong  wind  carries 
the  booming  of  heavy  guns  miles  in  from 
the  front,  think  that  French  and  Eng- 
lish are  going  to  recapture  the  city?  Any 
day  that  we  can  hear  the  guns  faintly, 
we  know  that  there  is  an  undercurrent 
of  nervous  expectancy  running  through 
the  whole  city.  It  goes  down  alleys  and 
avenues  and  fills  the  cafes.  You  can  see 
Belgians  standing  together,  whispering. 
Twice  they  actually  set  the  date  when 
King  Albert  would  return. 

"  This  excitement  and  unrest,  and  the 
feeling  of  the  English  coming  in,  is 
fostered  and  encouraged  by  the  articles 
in  French  and  neutral  newspapers  that 
are  smuggled  in.  I  do  not  anticipate 
any  uprising  among  the  Belgians,  al- 
though the  thoughtless  among  them  have 
encouraged  it.  An  uprising  is  not  a  topic 
of  worry  in  our  councils.     It  could  do  us 


no  harm.  We  would  crush  it  out  like 
that,"  and  von  Bissing  snapped  his  thin 
fingers,  "  but  if  only  for  the  sake  of  these 
misled  and  betrayed  people,  all  seditious 
influences  should  cease." 

I  asked  the  Governor  General  the  at- 
titude of  officials  of  the  Belgian  Govern- 
ment who  were  being  used  by  the  Ger- 
mans in  directing  affairs. 

"  My  predecessor.  General  von  der 
Goltz,"  he  replied,  "  informed  me  that 
the  municipal  officials  in  Brussels  and 
most  Belgian  cities  showed  a  good  co- 
operative spirit  from  the  start.  The 
higher  officials  were  divided,  some  re- 
fusing flatly  to  deal  with  the  German 
administration.  I  do  not  blame  these 
men,  especially  the  railway  officials,  for 
I  can  see  their  viewpoint.  In  these  days 
railway  roads  and  troop  trains  were  in- 
separable, and  if  those  Belgian  railway 
officials  had  helped  us,  they  would  have 
committed  treason  against  their  country. 
There  was  no  need,  though,  for  the  Post 
Office  officials  to  hold  out,  and  only 
lately  they  have  come  around.  Realiz- 
ing, however,  that  without  their  depart- 
ment the  country  would  be  in  chaos,  the 
officials  of  the  Department  of  Justice 
immediately  co-operated  with  us.  Today 
the  Belgian  Civil  Courts  try  all  ordinary 
misdemeanors  and  felonies.  Belgian 
penal  law  still  exists  and  is  administered 
by  Belgians.  However,  all  other  cases 
are  tried  by  a  military  tribunal,  the  Feld 
Gericht." 

I  asked  General  von  Bissing  if  there 
was  much  need  for  this  military  tribunal. 
I  shall  not  forget  his  reply. 

"  We  have  a  few  serious  cases,"  he 
said.  "  Occasionally  there  is  a  little 
sedition  but  for  the  most  part  it  is  only 
needle  pricks.  They  are  quiet  now. 
They  know  why,"  and,  slowly  shaking  his 
head,  von  Bissing,  who  is  known  as  the 
sternest  disciplinarian  in  the  entire  Ger- 
man Army,  smiled. 

We  talked  about  the  situation  in 
America. 

"  The  truth  will  come  out,"  said  von 
Bissing  slowly.  "  Your  country  is  re- 
nowned for  fair  play.  You  will  be  fair 
to  Germany,  I  know.  Your  American 
Relief  Commission  is  doing  excellent 
work.     It  is  in  the  highest  degree  nee- 


H.      M.      MOHAMMED 
Sultan  of   Turkey. 

{Photo    from     P.     S.     Rogers.) 


H.      M.     VITTORIO     EMANUELE     III. 
King  of  Italy. 


A    TALK  WITH  BELGIUM'S  GOVERNOR 


365 


essary.  At  first  the  German  Army 
had  to  use  the  food  they  could  get  by 
foraging  in  Belgium,  for  the  country 
does  not  begin  to  produce  the  food  it 
needs  for  its  own  consumption,  and  there 
were  no  great  reserves  that  our  troops 
could  use.  But  the  German  Army  is  not 
using  any  of  the  Belgian  food  now." 

I  asked  the  Governor  General  if  the 
Germans  had  not  been  very  glad  that 
America  was  sending  over  food. 

"  It  is  most  important,"  he  said,  "  that 
America  regularly  sends  provisions  to 
Belgium.  Your  country  should  feel  very 
proud  of  the  good  it  has  done  here.  I 
welcome  the  American  Relief  Committee; 
we  are  working  in  perfect  harmony.     De- 


spite reports  to  the  contrary,  we  never 
have  had  any  misunderstanding.  Through 
the  American  press,  please  thank  your 
people  for  their  kindness  to  Belgium. 

"  But,"  he  continued  impressively,  re- 
ferring back  to  the  justification  of  Ger- 
many's occupation  and  speaking  with 
quiet  force,  "  if  we  had  not  sent  our 
troops  into  Belgium,  the  English  would 
have  landed  their  entire  expeditionary 
army  at  Antwerp,  and  cut  our  line  of 
communication.  How  do  I  know  that? 
Simply  because  England  would  have  been 
guilty  of  the  grossest  blunder  if  she  had 
not  done  that,  and  the  man  who  is  in 
charge  of  England's  Army  has  never 
been  known  as  a  blunderer. 


A  CHARGE  IN  THE  DARK 

By    O.    C.    A.    CHILD. 

OUT  of  the  trenches  lively,  lads ! 
Steady,  steady  there,  number  two! 
Step  like  your  feet  were  tiger's  pads- 
Crawl  w^hen  crawling's  the  thing  to  do ! 

Column  left,   through  the   sunken   road ! 
Keep  in  touch  as  you  move  by  feel ! 

Empty   rifles— no   need   to   load- 
Night  work's  close  work,  stick  to  steel ! 

Walt  for  shadows  and  watch  the  clouds. 
When  it's  moonshine,  down  you  go ! 

Quiet,    quiet,    as    men    in    shrouds. 
Cats   a-prowl   in   the   dark   go   slow. 

Curse  you,   there,   did  you  have  to   fall? 

Damn  your  feet  and   your  blind-bat  eyes ! 
Caught   in   the   open,    caught— that's   all ! 

Searchlights  !  slaughter— we  meant  surprise ! 

Shrapnel  fire  a  bit  too  low- 
Gets  us  though  on  the  ricochet ! 

Open  order  and  in  we  go. 
Steel,  cold  steel,  and  we'll  make  'em  pay. 

God  above,   not  there  to  win? 

Left,   while  my  men  go  on  to  die ! 
Take  them   in,   Sergeant,   take   them   in! 

Go  on,  fellows,  good  luck— good-bye ! 


A  New  Poland 

By  Gustave  Herve 

Gustave  Herv4,  author  of  the  article  translated  below,  which  appears  in  a  recent  number 
of  his  paper.  La  Guerre  Sociale — suppressed,  it  is  reported,  by  the  French  authorities — ■ 
has  been  described  as  "  the  man  who  fights  all  France."  He  is  44  years  old,  and  has 
spent  one-fourth  of  his  life  in  prison,  on  account  of  Socialistic  articles  against  the  French 
flag  and  Government.  He  used  to  continue  writing  such  articles  from  prison  and  thus  get 
liis    sentences    lengthened. 

Herv6  has  always  opposed  everything  savoring  of  militarism  and  conquest.  From  his 
article  on  Poland  it  will  be  seen  that,  although  he  says  nothing  anti-French  or  antagonistic 
to  the  Allies  in  general,  he  desires  a  Russian  triumph  over  Germany  not  for  his  own  sake, 
but  as  a  preliminary  to  a  reconstruction  of  the  Polish  Nation  out  of  the  lands  wrested  from 
Poland  by  Russia,  Germany,  and  Austria. 


IN  spite  of  its  vagueness,  the  Grand 
Duke  Nicholas's  proclamation  justi- 
fies the  most  sanguine  hopes.  This 
has  been  recognized  not  only  by  all 
the  Poles  whom  it  has  reached,  those  of 
Russian  Poland,  and  the  three  million 
Polish  refugees  who  live  in  America,  but 
moreover,  all  the  Allies  have  interpreted 
it  as  a  genuine  promise  that  Poland 
would  be  territorially  and  politically  re- 
constructed. 

What  would  it  be  right  to  include  in  a 
reconstructed  Poland,  if  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  nationality  is  to  be  respected? 

First,  such  a  Poland  would  naturally 
include  all  of  the  Russian  Poland  of  to- 
day— by  that  I  mean  all  the  districts 
where  Poles  are  in  a  large  majority. 
This  forms  a  preliminary  nucleus  of  12,- 
000,000  inhabitants,  among  whom  are 
about  2,000,000  Jews.  This  great  pro- 
portion of  Jews  is  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  Poland  is  in  the  zone  where 
Jews  are  allowed  to  live  in  Russia. 

Our  new  Poland  would  not  comprise 
the  ancient  Lithuania — the  districts  of 
Wilno,  Kovno,  and  Grodno — although 
Lithuania  formerly  was  part  of  Poland 
and  still  has  about  one  million  Polish  in- 
habitants who  form  the  aristocracy  and 
bourgeoisie.  Lithuania,  which  is  really 
the  region  of  the  Niemen,  is  peopled  by 
Letts,  who  have  their  own  language,  re- 
sembling neither  Polish  nor  Russian,  and 
they  likewise  hope  to  obtain  some  day  a 
measure  of  autonomy  in  the  Russian  Em- 
pire, with  the  right  to  use  their  language 
in  schools,  churches,  and  civil  proceed- 
ings.    One  thing  is  certain:  they  would 


protest,  and  rightly,   against  actual  in- 
corporation into  the  new  Poland. 

The  125,000  square  kilometers  and  12,- 
000,000  inhabitants  of  Russian  Poland, 
lying  around  Warsaw,  would  constitute 
the  nucleus  of  reconstructed  Poland. 

Must  we  add  to  this  the  79,000  square 
kilometers  and  8,000,000  inhabitants  of 
Galicia,  which  was  Austria's  share  in  the 
spoils  of  old  Poland?  Certainly,  so  far 
as  western  Galicia  around  Cracow  is  con- 
cerned, for  this  is  a  wholly  Polish  region, 
the  Poles  there  numbering  2,500,000. 

As  for  eastern  Galicia,  of  which  the 
principal  city  is  Lemberg,  (Lvov  in  Pol- 
ish,) the  question  is  more  delicate. 
Though  Eastern  Galicia  has  over  1,500,- 
000  Poles  and  600,000  Jews,  most  of  the 
population  is  Ruthenian.  Now  these  Ru- 
thenians,  who  are  natives,  subjugated  in 
former  times  by  the  conquering  Poles, 
and  who  still  own  much  of  the  big  es- 
tates, are  related  to  the  "  Little  Rus- 
sians," the  southerners  of  Russia,  and 
speak  a  dialect  which  is  to  Russian  what 
Provencal  is  to  French. 

Besides,  whereas  the  Poles  are  Catho- 
lics, the  Ruthenians  are  Greek  Orthodox 
Christians  like  the  Russians,  but  differ 
from  the  latter  in  that  they  are  con- 
nected with  the  Roman  Church,  and  are 
thus  schismatics  in  the  eyes  of  the  Rus- 
sian priests. 

Should  these  Ruthenians  be  annexed  to 
Russia  along  with  the  1,500,000  Poles 
and  500,000  Jews,  among  whom  they  have 
lived  for  centuries,  they  would  scarcely 
look  upon  this  as  acceptable  unless  they 
were   certain   of  having   under   Russian 


A  NEW  POLAND 


367 


rule  at  least  equal  political  liberty  and 
respect  for  their  dialect  and  religion  as 
they  have  under  Austrian  rule. 

Should  they  be  incorporated  with  the 
rest  of  Polish  Galicia  into  the  new 
Poland  ?  It  is  hardly  probable  that  they 
desire  this,  having  enjoyed  under  Austria 
a  considerable  measure  of  autonomy  as 
regards  their  language  and  schools. 
Would  not  the  best  solution  be  to  make 
of  Eastern  Galicia  an.  autonomous  prov- 
ince of  the  reconstructed  Poland,  guar- 
anteeing to  it  its  local  privileges? 

That  leaves  for  consideration  the  por- 
tion of  Poland  now  forming  part  of 
Prussia. 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  what 
should  be  done  with  the  districts  of 
Posen  and  Thorn.  These  are  the  parts 
of  Poland  stolen  by  Prussia,  which  the 
Prussians,  a  century  and  a  quarter  after 
the  theft,  have  not  succeeded  in  German- 
izing. 

North  of  the  Posen  district  is  Western 
Prussia,  whose  principal  city  is  Dantzic; 
that  too  is  a  Polish  district,  stolen  in 
1772.  Since  then  Dantzic  has  been  Ger- 
manized and  there  are  numerous  Ger- 
man officials  and  employes  in  the  other 
towns  of  the  region.  All  the  rural  dis- 
tricts and  a  part  of  the  towns,  however, 
have  remained  Polish  in  spite  of  at- 
tempts to  Germanize  them  as  brutal  as 
those  applied  to  Posnania.  But,  if  united 
Poland  should  include  Western  Prussia, 
as  she  has  the  right  to  do — there  being 
no  rule  against  what  is  right — Eastern 
Prussia,  including  Konigsberg,  will  be 
cut  off  from  the  rest  of  Germany. 

Now,  Eastern  Prussia,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  southern  part  about  the 
Masurian  Lakes,  which  has  remained 
Polish,  has  been  German  from  early 
mediaeval  times.  It  is  the  home  of  the 
most  reactionary  junkers  of  all  Prussia, 
a  cradle  of  Prussian  royalty  and  of  the 
Hohenzollerns.  Despite  our  hatred  for 
these  birds  of  prey,  could  we  wish  that 


the  new  Poland  should  absorb  these 
2,000,000  genuine  Germans? 

If  the  region  of  Konigsberg  remains 
Prussian  and  the  Masurian  Lakes  region 
is  added  to  Poland,  why  not  leave  to  Ger- 
many the  strip  of  land  along  the  coast, 
including  Dantzic,  in  order  that  Eastern 
Prussia  may  thus  be  joined  to  Germany 
at  one  end? 

Another  question :  There  is  in  Prussian 
Upper  Silesia  a  district,  that  of  Oppeln, 
rich  in  iron  ore,  which  was  severed  in  the 
Middle  Ages  from  Poland,  but  which  has 
remained  mostly  Polish  and  which  ad- 
joins Poland.  If  the  majority  of  Polish 
residents  there  demand  it,  would  it  not 
be  well  to  join  it  once  more  to  Polanc", 
which  would  become,  by  this  addition, 
contiguous  to  the  Czechs  of  Bohemia? 

To  sum  up: 

Without  laying  hands  on  the  German 
district  of  Konigsberg,  united  Poland,  by 
absorbing  all  the  territory  at  present  held 
by  Prussia,  in  which  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  are  Poles,  will  take  from  the 
latter  70,000  square  kilometers  and 
5,700,000  inhabitants.  With  these,  the 
new  Poland  would  have  24,000,000  inhab- 
itants, including  Eastern  Galicia. 

If  Russia  gave  to  this  Poland  in  lieu 
of  actual  independence  the  most  liberal 
autonomy  and  reconstructed  a  Polish 
kingdom  under  the  suzerainty  of  the  Czar 
— a  Poland  with  its  Diet,  language, 
schools  and  army — would  not  the  present 
war  seem  to  us  a  genuine  war  of  libera- 
tion and  Nicholas  II.  a  sort  of  Czar- 
liberator  ? 

And  if  resuscitated  Poland,  taught  by 
misfortune,  compassionate  toward  the 
persecuted  and  proscribed  because  she 
herself  has  been  persecuted  and  pro- 
scribed, should  try  to  cure  herself  of  her 
anti-Semitism,  which  has  saddened  her 
best  friends  in  France,  would  not  you  say 
that  she  indeed  deserved  to  be  resusci- 
tated from  among  the  dead? 


"With  the  Honors  of  War 


9J 


By  Wythe  Williams 


[From  The  New  York  Times,  April,  1915.] 


IT  was  just  at  the  dawn  of  a  March 
morning  when  I  got  off  a  train  at 
Gerbeviller,  the  little  "  Martyr 
City  "  that  hides  its  desolation  as 
it  hid  its  existence  in  the  foothills  of  the 
Vosges. 

There  was  a  dense  fog.  At  6  A.  M. 
fog  usually  covers  the  valleys  of  the 
Meurthe  and  Moselle.  From  the  station 
I  could  see  only  a  building  across  the 
road.  A  gendarme  demanded  my  cre- 
dentials. I  handed  him  the  laisser-passer 
from  the  Quartier  General  of  the  "  First 
French  Army,"  which  controls  all  com- 
ing and  going,  all  activity  in  that  region. 
The  gendarme  demanded  to  know  the 
hour  when  I  proposed  to  leave.  I  told 
him.  He  said  it  would  be  necessary  to 
have  the  permit  "  vised  for  departure  " 
at  the  headquarters  of  the  gendarmerie. 
He  pointed  to  the  hazy  outlines  of  an- 
other building  just  distinguishable 
through  the  fog. 

This  was  proof  that  the  town  contained 
buildings — not  just  a  building.  The  place 
was  not  entirely  destroyed,  as  I  had  sup- 
posed. I  went  down  the  main  street  from 
the  station,  the  fog  enveloping  me.  I  had 
letters  to  the  town  officials,  but  it  was 
too  early  in  the  morning  to  present 
them.  I  would  first  get  my  own  im- 
pressions of  the  wreck  and  the  ruin.  But 
I  could  see  nothing  on  either  hand  as  I 
stumbled  along  in  the  mud.  So  I  com- 
mented to  myself  that  this  was  not  as 
bad  as  some  places  I  had  seen.  I  thought 
of  the  substantial  station  and  the  build- 
ings across  the  road — untouched  by  war. 
I  compared  Gerbeviller  with  places  where 
there  is  not  even  a  station — where  not  one 
simple  house  remains  'as  the  result  of 
"  the  day  when  the  Germans  came." 

The  road  was  winding  and  steep,  dip- 
ping down  to  the  swift  little  stream  that 
twists  a  turbulent  passage  through  the 
town.    The  day  was  coming  fast  but  the 


fog  remained  white  and  impenetrable. 
After  a  few  minutes  I  began  to  see  dark 
shapes  on  either  side  of  the  road.  Tall, 
thin,  irregular  shapes,  some  high,  some 
low,  but  with  outlines  all  softened,  toned 
down  by  the  banks  of  white  vapor. 

I  started  across  the  road  to  investi- 
gate and  fell  into  a  pile  of  jagged 
masonry  on  the  sidewalk.  Through  tne 
nearness  of  the  fog  I  could  see  tumbled 
piles  of  bricks.  The  shapes  still  re- 
m.ained — spectres  that  seemed  to  move 
in  the  light  wind  from  the  valley*  An 
odor  that  was  not  of  the  freshness  of  the 
morning  assailed  me.  I  climbed  across 
the  walk.  No  wall  of  buildings  barred 
my  path,  but  I  mounted  higher  on  the- 
piles  of  brick  and  stones.  A  heavy  black 
shape  was  now  at  my  left  hand.  I  looked 
up  and  in  the  shadow  there  was  no  fog. 
I  could  see  a  crumbled  swaying  side  wall 
of  a  house  that  was.  The  odor  I  noticed 
was  that  caused  by  fire.  Sticking  from 
the  wall  I  could  see  the  charred  wood 
joists  that  once  supported  the  floor  of 
the  second  story.  Higher,  the  lifting  fog 
permitted  me  to  see  the  waving  boughs 
of  a  tree  that  hung  over  the  house  that 
was,  outlined  against  a  clear  sky.  At 
my  feet,,  sticking  out  of  the  pile  of  bricks 
and  stones,  was  the  twisted  iron  frag- 
ments that  was  once  the  frame  of  a 
child's  bed.  I  climbed  out  into  the  sun- 
shine. 

T  was  standing  in  the  midst  of  a 
desolation  and  a  silence  that  was  pro- 
found. There  was  nothing  there  that 
lived,  except  a  few  fire-blacked  trees 
that  stuck  up  here  and  there  in  the 
shelter  of  broken  walls.  Now  I  under- 
stood the  meaning  of  the  spectral  shapes. 
They  were  nothing  but  the  broken  walls 
of  the  other  houses  that  were.  They  were 
all  that  remained  of  nine-tenths  of 
Gerbeviller. 

I  wandered  along  to  where  the  street 


WITH  THE  HONORS  OF  WAR" 


30!) 


turned  abruptly.  There  the  ground 
pitched  more  sharply  to  the  little  river. 
There  stood  an  entire  half  of  a  house  un- 
scathed by  fire;  it  was  one  of  those  un- 
explainable  freaks  that  often  occur  in 
great  catastrophes.  Even  the  window 
glass  was  intact.  Smoke  was  coming 
from  the  chimney.  I  went  to  the  opposite 
side  and  there  stood  an  old  woman  look- 
ing out  toward  the  river,  brooding  over 
the  ruin  stretching  below  her. 

"  You  are  lucky,"  I  said.  "  You  still 
have  your  home." 

She  threw  out  her  hands  and  turned  a 
toothless  countenance  toward  me.  I 
judged  her  to  be  well  over  seventy.  It 
wasn't  her  home,  she  explained.  Her 
home  was  "  la-bas  " — pointing  vaguely  in 
the  distance.  She  had  lived  there  fifty 
years — now  it  was  burned.  Her  son's 
house  for  which  he  had  saved  thirty 
years  to  be  able  to  call  it  his  own,  was 
also  gone;  but  then  her  son  was  dead,  so 
what  did  it  matter?  Yes,  he  was  shot  on 
the  day  the  Germans  came.  He  was  ill, 
but  they  killed  him.  Oh,  yes,  she  saw 
him  killed.  When  the  Germans  went 
away  she  came  to  this  house  and  built  a 
fire  in  the  stove.    It  was  very  cold.  ' 

And  why  were  the  houses  burned?  No; 
it  was  not  the  result  of  bombardment. 
Gerbeviller  was  not  bombarded  until 
after  the  houses  were  burned.  They  were 
burned  by  the  Germans  systematically. 
They  went  from  house  to  house  with 
their  torches  and  oil  and  pitch.  They  did 
not  explain  why  they  burned  the  houses, 
but  it  was  because  they  were  angry. 

The  old  woman  paused  a  moment,  and 
a  faint  flicker  of  a  smile  showed  in  the 
wrinkles  about  her  eyes.  I  asked  her  to 
continue  her  story. 

"  You  said  because  they  were  angry,"  I 
prompted.  The  smile  broadened.  Oh, 
yes,  they  were  very  angry,  she  explained. 
They  did  not  even  make  the  excuse  that 
the  villagers  fired  upon  them.  They  were 
just  angry  through  and  through.  And  it 
was  all  because  of  those  seventy-five 
French  chasseurs  who  held  the  bridge. 
Some  one  called  to  her  from  the  house. 
She  hobbled  to  the  door.  "  Anyone  can 
tell  you  about  the  seventy-five  chas- 
seurs," she  said,  disappearing  within. 

I  went  on  down  the  road  and  stood  upon, 


the  bridge  over  the  swift  little  river. 
It  was  a  narrow  little  bridge  only  wide 
enough  for  one  wagon  to  pass.  Two 
roads  from  the  town  converged  there,  the 
one  over  which  I  had  passed  and  another 
which  formed  a  letter  "  V  "  at  the  junc- 
ture with  the  bridge.  Across  the  river 
only  one  road  led  away  from  the  bridge 
and  it  ran  straight  up  a  hill,  when  it 
turned  suddenly  into  the  broad  national 
highway  to  Luneville  about  five  miles 
away. 

One  house  remained  standing  almost  at 
the  entrance  to  the  bridge,  at  the  end 
nearest  the  town.  Its  roof  was  gone,  and 
its  walls  bore  the  marks  of  hundreds  of 
bullets,  but  it  was  inhabited  by  a  little  old 
man  of  fifty,  who  came  out  to  talk  with 
me.  He  was  the  village  carpenter.  His 
house  was  burned,  so  he  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  little  house  at  the  bridge.  During 
the  time  the  Germans  were  there  he  had 
been  a  prisoner,  but  they  forgot  him  the 
morning  the  French  army  arrived. 
Everybody  was  in  such  a  hurry,  he  ex- 
plained. 

I  asked  him  about  the  seventy-five 
chasseurs  at  the  bridge.  Ah,  yes,  we  were 
then  standing  on  the  site  of  their  barri- 
cade. He  would  tell  me  about  it,  for  he 
had  seen  it  all  from  his  house  half  way 
up  the  hill. 

The  chasseurs  were  first  posted  across  . 
the  river  on  the  road  to  Luneville,  and 
when  the  Germans  approached,  early  in 
the  morning,  they  fell  back  to  the  bridge, 
which  they  had  barricaded  the  night  be- 
fore. It  was  the  only  way  into  Gerbe- 
viller, so  the  chasseurs  determined  to 
fight.  They  had  torn  up  the  street  and 
thrown  great  earthworks  across  one  end 
of  the  bridge.  Additional  barricades  were 
thrown  up  on  the  two  converging  streets, 
part  way  up  the  hill,  behind  which  they 
had  mitrailleuses  which  could  sweep  the 
road  at  the  other  end  of  the  bridge. 

About  a  half  mile  to  the  south  a  nar- 
row footbridge  crossed  the  river,  only 
wide  enough  for  one  man.  It  was  a  little 
rustic  affair  that  ran  through  the 
grounds  of  the  Chateau  de  Gerbeviller 
that  faced  the  river  only  a  few  hundred 
yards  below  the  main  bridge.  It  was  a 
very  ancient  chateau,  built  in  the  twelfth 
century  and  restored  in  the  seventeenth 


370 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


century.  It  was  a  royal  chateau  of  the 
Bourbons.  In  it  once  lived  the  great 
Frangois  de  Montmorency,  Due  de  Lux- 
embourg and  Marshal  of  France.  Now  it 
belonged  to  the  Marquise  de  Lamberty,  a 
cousin  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

I  interrupted,  for  I  wanted  to  hear 
about  the  chasseurs.  I  gave  the  little  old 
man  a  cigarette.  He  seized  it  eagerly — 
so  eagerly  that  I  also  handed  him  a  cigar. 
He  just  sort  of  fondled  that  cigar  for  a 
moment  and  then  placed  it  in  an  inside 
pocket.  It  was  a  very  cheap  and  very  bad 
French  cigar,  for  I  was  in  a  part  of  the 
country  that  has  never  heard  of  Havanas, 
"but  to  the  little  old  man  it  was  something 
precious.  "  I  will  keep  it  for  Sunday," 
he  said. 

I  then  got  him  back  to  the  seventy-five 
chasseurs.  It  was  just  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning — a  beautiful  sunshiny  morn- 
ing— when  the  German  column  appeared 
around  the  bend  in  the  road  which  we 
could  see  across  the  bridge,  and  which 
joined  the  highway  from  Luneville.  There 
were  twelve  thousand  in  that  first  col- 
umn. One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
more  came  later.  A  band  was  playing 
"  Deutschland  iiber  alles  "  and  the  men 
were  singing.  The  closely  packed  front 
ranks  of  infantry  broke  into  the  goose 
step  as  they  came  in  sight  of  the  town. 
It  was  a  wonderful  sight;  the  sun  glist- 
ened on  their  helmets;  they  marched  as 
though  on  parade  right  down  almost  to 
the  opposite  end  of  the  bridge. 

Then  came  the  command  to  halt.  For 
a  moment  there  was  a  complete  silence. 
The  Germans,  only  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  from  the  barricade,  seemed  slowly 
to  consider  the  situation.  The  Captain  of 
the  chasseurs,  from  a  shelter  behind  the 
very  little  house  that  is  still  standing — 
and  where  his  men  up  the  two  roads  could 
see  him — softly  waved  his  hand. 

Crack-crack-crack' — crack-crack-crack- 
crack — crack-crack-crack!  The  bullets 
from  the  mitrailleuses  whistled  across 
the  bridge  into  the  front  ranks  of  the 
"  Deutchland  iiber  alles  "  singers,  while 
the  men  behind  the  bridge  barricade  be- 
gan a  deadly  rifle  fire. 

Have  you  ever  heard  a  mitrailleuse  ?  It 
is  just  like  a  telegraph  instrument,  with 


its  insistant  clickety  click-click-click,  only 
it  is  a  hundred  times  as  loud.  Indeed  I 
have  been  told  by  French  officers  that  it 
has  sometimes  been  used  as  a  telegraph 
instrument,  so  accurately  can  its  operator 
reel  out  its  hundred  and  sixty  shots  a 
minute. 

On  that  morning  at  the  Gerbeviller 
barricade,  however,  it  went  faster  than 
the  telegraph.  These  men  on  the  converg- 
ing roads  just  shifted  their  range  slightly 
and  poured  bullets  into  the  next  ranks  of 
infantry  and  so  on  back  along  the  line, 
until  Germans  were  dropping  by  the 
dozen  at  the  sides  of  the  little  straight 
road.  Then  the  column  broke  ranks 
wildly  and  fled  back  into  the  shelter  of 
the  road  from  Luneville. 

A  half  hour  later  a  detachment  of  cav- 
alry suddenly  rounded  the  corner  and 
charged  straight  for  the  barricade.  The 
seventy-five  were  ready  for  them.  Some 
of  them  got  half  way  across  the  bridge 
and  then  tumbled  into  the  river.  Not  one 
got  back  around  the  corner  of  the  road  to 
Luneville. 

There  was  another  half  hour  of  quiet, 
and  then  from  the  Luneville  road  a  bat- 
tery of  artillery  got  into  action.  Their 
range  was  bad,  so  far  as  any  achieve- 
ment against  the  seventy-five  was  con- 
cerned, so  they  turned  their  attention  to 
the  chateau,  which  they  could  easily  see 
from  their  position  across  the  river.  The 
first  shell  struck  the  majestic  tower  of 
the  building  and  shattered  it.  The  next 
smashed  the  roof,  the  third  hit  the  chapel 
— and  so  continued  the  bombardment  un- 
til flames  broke  out  to  complete  the 
destruction. 

Of  course  the  Germans  could  not  know 
that  the  chateau  was  empty,  that  its 
owner  was  in  Paris  and  both  her  sons 
fighting  in  the  French  Army.  But  they 
had  secured  the  military  advantage  of 
demolishing  one  of  the  finest  country 
houses  in  France,  with  its  priceless 
tapestries,  ancient  marbles  and  heir- 
looms of  the  Bourbons.  A  howl  of  Ger- 
man glee  was  heard  by  the  seventy-five 
chasseurs  crouching  behind  their  barri- 
cades. So  pleased  were  the  invaders  with 
their  achievement,  that  next  they  bravely 
swung  out  a  battery  into  the  road  lead- 


I 


J 


"  WITH  THE  HONORS  OF  WAR  " 


371 


ing  to  the  bridge,  intending  to  shell  the 
barricades.  The  Captain  of  chasseurs 
again  waved  his  hand.  Every  man  of  the 
battery  was  killed  before  the  guns  were 
in  position.  It  took  an  entire  company 
of  infantry — half  of  them  being  killed 
in  the  action — to  haul  those  guns  back 
into  the  liuneville  road,  thus  to  clear  the 
way  for  another  advance. 

From  then  on  until  1  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  there  were  three  more  infantry 
attacks,  all  failing  as  lamentably  as  the 
first.  The  seventy-five  were  holding  off 
the  12,000.  At  the  last  attack  they  let 
the  Germans  advance  to  the  entrance  of 
the  bridge.  They  invited  them  with 
taunts  to  "  avancez."  Then  they  poured 
in  their  deadly  fire,  and  as  the  Germans 
broke  and  fled  they  permitted  themselves 
a  cheer.  Up  to  this  time  not  one  chas- 
seur was  killed.  Only  four  were 
wounded. 

Shortly  after  1  o'clock  the  German 
artillery  wasted  a  few  more  shells  on 
the  ruined  chateau  and  the  chasseurs 
could  see  a  detachment  crawling  along 
the  river  bank  in  the  direction  of  the 
narrow  footbridge  that  crossed  through 
the  chateau  park  a  half  mile  below.  The 
Captain  of  the  chasseurs  sent  one  man 
with  a  mitrailleuse  to  hold  the  bridge. 
He  posted  himself  in  the  shelter  of  a 
large  tree  at  one  end.  In  a  few  minutes 
about  fifty  Germans  appeared.  They  ad- 
vanced cautiously  on  the  bridge.  The 
chasseur  let  them  get  half  way  over  be- 
fore he  raked  them  with  his  fire.  The 
water  below  ran  red  with  blood. 

The  Germans  retreated  for  help  and 
made  another  attack  an  hour  later  with 
the  same  result.  By  4  o'clock,  when  the 
lone  chasseur's  ammunition  was  ex- 
hausted, it  is  estimated  that  he  had  killed 
175  Germans,  who  made  five  desperate 
rushes  to  take  the  position,  which  would 
have  enabled  them  to  make  a  flank  at- 
tack on  the  seventy-four  still  holding  the 
main  bridge.  When  his  ammunition  was 
gone — which  occurred  at  the  same  time 
as  the  ammunition  at  the  main  bridge 
was  exhausted — this  chasseur  with  the 
others  succeeded  in  effecting  a  retreat 
to  a  main  body  of  cavalry.  If  he  still 
lives — this  modern  Horatius  at  the  bridge 


— he  remains  an  unnamed  hero  in  the 
ranks  of  the  French  Army,  unhonored 
except  in  the  hearts  of  those  few  of  his 
countrymen  who  know. 

During  the  late  hours  of  the  afternoon 
aeroplanes  flew  over  the  chasseurs'  posi- 
tion, thus  discovering  to  the  Germans' 
how  really  weak  were  the  defenses  of 
the  town,  how  few  its  defenders.  Be- 
sides, the  ammunition  was  gone.  But  for 
eight  hours — from  8  in  the  morning  until 
4  in  the  afternoon — the  seventy-five  had 
held  the  12,000.  General  Joffre  has  said 
in  one  of  his  reports  that  the  defense 
of  the  bridge  at  Gerbeyiller  had  an  im- 
portant bearing  on  the  battle  of  the 
Marne,  which  was  just  beginning,  for  it 
gave  Castelnau's  Army  of  the  East  time 
to  dig  its  trenches  a  few  miles  back  of 
Gerbeviller  before  the  Germans  got 
through. 

Had  that  body  of  12,000  succeeded 
earlier  the  150,000  Germans  that  ad- 
vanced the  next  day  might  have  been 
able  to  fall  on  the  French  right  flank 
during  the  most  critical  and  decisive  bat- 
tle of  the  war.  The  total  casualties  of 
the  chasseurs  were  three  killed,  three 
captured,  and  six  wounded. 

The  little  old  man  and  I  had  walked 
to  the  entrance  of  the  chateau  park  be- 
fore he  finished  his  story.  It  was  still 
too  early  for  breakfast.  I  thanked  him 
and  told  him  to  return  to  his  work  in  the 
little  house  by  the  bridge.  I  wanted  to 
explore  the  chateau  at  leisure. 

I  entered  the  place — what  was  left  of 
it.  Most  of  the  walls  were  standing. 
Walls  built  in  the  twelfth  century  do  not 
break  easily,  even  with  modern  artillery. 
But  the  modern  roof  and  seventeenth 
century  inner  walls  were  all  demolished. 
Not  a  single  article  of  furniture  or  dec- 
oration remained.  But  the  destruction 
showed  some  of  the  same  freaks — similar 
to  that  little  house  left  untouched  by  fire 
on  the  summit  of  the  hill. 

For  instance,  the  Bourbon  coat  of  arms 
above  the  grand  staircase  was  untouched, 
while  the  staircase  itself  was  just  splint- 
ered bits  of  marble.  On  another  frag- 
ment of  a  wall  there  still  hung  a  mag- 
nificent stag's  antlers.  Strewed  about 
in  the  corners  I  saw  fragments  of  vases 


372 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


that  had  been  priceless.  Even  the  rem- 
nants were  valuable.  In  the  ruined  mu- 
sic room  I  found  a  piece  of  fresh,  clean 
music,  (an  Alsatian  waltz,)  lying  on  the 
mantelpiece.  I  went  out  to  the  front  of 
the  building,  where  the  great  park 
sweeps  down  to  the  edge  of  the  river. 
An  old  gardener  in  one  of  the  side  paths 
saw  me.  We  immediately  established 
cordial  relations  with  a  cigarette. 

He  told  me  how,  after  the  chasseurs 
retreated  beyond  the  town,  the  Ger- 
mans— reduced  over  a  thousand  of  their 
original  number  by  the  activities  of  the 
day — swept  ove^  the  barricades  of  the 
bridge  and  into  the  town.  Yes,  the  old 
v;oman  I  had  talked  with  was  right 
about  it.  They  were  very  angry.  They 
were  ferociously  angry  at  being  held 
eight  hours  at  that  bridge  by  a  force  so 
ridiculously  small. 

The  first  civilians  they  met  they  killed, 
and  then  they  began  to  fire  the  houses. 
One  young  man,  half  witted,  came  out  of 
one  of  the  houses  near  the  bridge.  They 
hanged  him  in  the  garden  behind  the 
house.  Then  they  called  his  mother  to 
see.  A  mob  came  piling  into  the  chateau 
headed  by  four  officers.  All  the  fur- 
niture and  valuables  that  were  not  de- 
stroyed they  piled  into  a  wagon  and  sent 
back  to  Luneville.  Of  the  gardener  who 
was  telling  me  the  story  they  demanded 
the  keys  of  the  wine  cellars.  No;  they 
did  not  injure  him.  They  just  held  him 
by  the  arms  while  several  dozen  of  the 
soldiers  spat  in  his  face. 

While  the  drunken  crew  were  reeling 
about  the  place,  one  of  them  accidentally 
stumbled  upon  the  secret  underground 
passage  leading  to  the  famous  grottoes. 
These  grottoes  and  the  underground  con- 
nection from  the  chateau  were  built  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  They  are  a  half 
mile  away,  situated  only  half  above 
ground,  the  entrance  looking  out  on  a 
smooth  laAvn  that  extends  to  the  edge  of 
the  river.  Several  giant  trees,  the  trunks 
of  which  are  covered  with  vines,  semi- 
shelter  the  entrance,  which  is  also  ob- 
scured by  climbing  ivy.    The  interior  was 


one  of  the  treasures  of  France.  The 
vaulted  ceilings  were  done  in  wonderful 
mosaic.  The  walls  decorated  with  marbles 
and  rare  sea  shells.  In  every  nook  were 
marble  pedestals  and  antique  statuary, 
while  the  fountain  in  the  centre,  supplied 
from  an  underground  stream,  was  of 
porphyry  inlaid  with  mosaic. 

The  Germans  looked  upon  it  with  ap- 
preciative eyes  and  cultured  minds.  But 
it  did  not  please  them.  They  were  still 
very  angry.  Its  destruction  was  a  neces- 
sity of  war.  It  could  not  be  destroyed 
by  artillery  because  it  was  half  under- 
ground and  screened  by  the  giant  trees. 
But  it  could  be  destroyed  by  picks  and 
axes.  A  squad  of  soldiers  was  detailed 
to  the  job.  They  did  it  thoroughly.  The 
gardener  took  me  there  to  see.  Not  a 
scrap  of  the  mosaic  remained.  The  foun- 
tain was  smashed  to  bits.  A  headless 
Venus  and  a  smashed  and  battered 
Adonis  were  lying  prone  upon  the 
ground. 

The  visitors  to  the  chateau  and  envi- 
rons afterward  joined  their  comrades  in 
firing  the  town.  Night  had  come.  Also 
across  the  bridge  waited  the  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  reinforcements  come  from 
Luneville.  The  five  hundred  of  the  two 
thousand  inhabitants  who  remained  were 
herded  to  the  upper  end  of  the  town  near 
the  station.  That  portion  was  not  to  be 
destroyed  because  the  German  General 
would  make  his  headquarters  there. 

The  inhabitants  were  to  be  given  a 
treat.  They  were  to  witness  the  entrance 
of  the  hundred  and  fifty  thousand — the 
power  and  might  of  Germany  was  to  be 
exhibited  to  them.  So  while  the  flames 
leaped  high  from  the  burning  city,  red- 
dening the  sky  for  miles,  while  old  men 
prayed,  while  women  wept,  while  little 
children  whimpered,  the  sound  of  martial 
music  was  heard  down  the  street  near  the 
bridge.  The  infantry  packed  in  close 
formation,  the  red  light  from  the  fire 
shining  on  their  helmets,  were  doing  the 
goose  step  up  the  main  street  to  the  sta- 
tion— the  great  German  army  had  en- 
tered the  city  of  Gerbeviller  with  the 
honors  of  war. 


General  Foch,  the  Man  of  Ypres 

An  Account  of  France's  New  Master  of  War 


[From  The  New  York  Times,  April,  1915.] 


FIND  out  the  weak  point  of  your 
enemy  and  deliver  your  blow 
there,"  said  the  Commander  of 
the  Twentieth  French  Army 
Corps  at  Nancy  at  a  staff  banquet  in 
1913. 

"  But  suppose,  General,"  said  an  ar- 
tillery officer,  "  that  the  enemy  has  no 
weak  point?  " 

"  If  the  enemy  has  no  weak  point," 
returned  the  commander,  with  a  gleam  of 
the  eye  and  an  aggressive  tilt  of  the 
chin,  "  make  one." 

The  commander  was  Foch — Ferdinand 
Foch — who  has  suddenly  flashed  before 
the  world  as  the  greatest  leader  in  the 
French  Army  after  Joffre,  and  who  in 
that  remark  at  Nancy  gave  the  index  to 
the  basic  quality  of  his  character  as  a 
General.  General  Foch  is  today  in  com- 
mand of  the  northern  armies  of  France, 
besides  being  the  chief  Lieutenant  and 
confidant  of  Joffre.  Joffre  conceives; 
Foch,  master  tactician,  executes.  He 
finds  the  weak  point;  if  there  is  no  weak 
point,  he  creates  or  seeks  to  create  one. 

When  King  George  of  England  was  at 
the  front  in  France  recently  he  conferred 
the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Order  of  the 
Bath — the  highest  military  distinction 
in  the  form  of  an  order  within  the  gift  of 
the  British  Crown — on  two  Frenchmen. 
Joffre  was  one.     The  other  was  Foch. 

"  Foch  ?  Foch  ?  Who  is  Foch  ?  "  asked 
the  British  public,  perplexed,  when  the 
newspapers  printed  the  news  of  the 
granting  of  this  signal  honor. 

"  Foch  is  the  General  who  was  at  the 
head  of  the  French  military  mission 
which  followed  our  army  manoeuvres 
three  years  ago,"  replied  a  few  men  who 
happened  to  have  been  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  those  manoeuvres. 

"  But  what  has  that  to  do  with  the 
Grand  Cross  of  the  Order  of  the  Bath?  " 
asked  John  Bull.  And  the  manoeuvre  ex- 
perts not  being  able  to  reply,  the  Eng- 


lish newspapers  demanded  from  their 
correspondents  in  France  an  answer  to 
the  query,  "  Who  is  Foch  ?  Why  the 
Grand  Cross  ?  " 

And  the  main  features  of  the  answers 
to  that  query  were  these: 

Foch  is  the  "  greatest  strategist  in 
Europe  and  the  humblest,"  in  the  words 
of  Joffre. 

Foch  is  the  hero  of  the  Marne,  the 
man  who  perceived  on  Sept.  9  that  there 
must  be  a  gap  between  the  Prussian 
Guard  and  the  Saxon  Armj,  and  who 
gathered  enough  artillery  to  crush  the 
guard  in  the  St.  Gond  marshes  and 
forced  both  the  Prussians  and  the  Saxons, 
now  separated,  to  retreat. 

Foch  is  the  man  of  Ypres,  the  com- 
mander who  was  in  general  control  of  the 
successful  fight  made  by  the  French  and 
the  British,  aided  by  the  Belgians,  to  pre- 
vent the  Germans  from  breaking  through 
to  Calais. 

Foch,  in  short,  is  one  of  the  military 
geniuses  of  the  war,  so  record  observers 
at  the  front.  He  is  a  General  who  has 
something  of  the  Napoleonic  in  his  com- 
position; the  dramatic  in  war  is  for  him 
— secrecy  and  suddenness,  gigantic  and 
daring  movements;  fiery,  yet  coldly  cal- 
culated attacks;  vast  strategic  concep- 
tions carried  out  by  swift,  unfaltering 
tactics.  Foch  has  a  tendency  to  the  im- 
petuous, but  he  is  impetuous  scientif- 
ically. He  has,  however,  taken  all  in  all, 
much  more  of  the  dash  and  nervousness 
and  warmth  of  the  Southern  Latin  than 
has  Joffre  —  cool,  cautious,  taciturn 
Joffre.  Yet  both  men  are  from  the 
south  of  France.  They  were  born  within 
a  few  miles  of  one  another,  within  three 
months  of  one  another,  Foch  being  born 
on  Oct.  2,  1851,  and  Joffre  on  Jan.  12, 
1852. 

Most  writers  who  have  dealt  with  Foch 
agree  on  this  as  one  of  his  paramount 


374 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


characcteristics — the  Napoleonic  mode  of 
military  thought.  When  Foch  was  di- 
rector of  the  Ecole  de  Guerre,  where  he 
had  much  to  do  with  shaping  the  military 
views  of  many  of  the  men  who  are  now 
commanding  units  of  the  French  Armies, 
he  was  considered  to  be  possessed  of  al- 
most an  obsession  on  the  subject  of 
Napoleon.  He  studied  Napoleon's  cam- 
paigns, and  restudied  them.  He  went 
back  much  further,  however,  in  his 
choice  of  a  master,  and  gave  intense  ap- 
plication to  the  campaigns  of  Caesar. 
Napoleon  and  Caesar — these  were  the 
minds  from  which  the  mind  of  the  Marne 
and  Ypres  has  learned  some  of  its  lessons 
of  success. 

Here  Foch  invites  comparison  with 
another  of  the  dominant  figures  of  the 
war — General  French.  For  French  is  de- 
scribed by  his  biographer  as  "  a  worship- 
per of  Napoleon,"  regarding  him  as  the 
world's  greatest  strategist,  and  in  fol- 
lowing out  and  studying  Napoleon's  cam- 
paigns French  personally  covered  and 
studied  much  of  the  ground  in  Belgium 
over  which  he  has  been  fighting.  French 
is  a  year  younger  than  Foch.  They  are 
old  friends,  as  are  French  and  Joffre, 
and  Joffre  and  Foch. 

The  inclination  of  Foch  to  something 
of  the  Napoleonic  is  shown  beyond  the 
realm  of  strategy  and  tactics.  Foch  is 
credited  with  knowing  the  French  sol- 
dier, his  heart,  his  mind,  his  capabilities, 
and  the  method  of  getting  the  most  out 
of  those  capabilities,  in  a  way  reminiscent 
of  the  winner  of  Jena.  And  Foch  knows 
not  only  the  privates,  but  the  officers. 
When  he  went  to  the  front  he  visited  each 
commander;  the  Colonels  he  called  by 
name;  the  corps  commanders,  without  ex- 
ception, had  attended  his  lectures  at  the 
Ecole  de  Guerre. 

As  for  the  men,  Foch  makes  it  his 
business  to  get  into  personal  contact  with 
them,  as  Napoleon  used  to  do.  Foch  does 
not  hobnob  with  them,  there  is  no  joking 
or  familiarity,  but  he  goes  into  the 
trenches  and  the  occupied  villages  and 
looks  the  men  over  informally,  inspects 
food  or  equipment,  makes  a  useful  com- 
ment or  two,  drops  a  phrase  that  is  worth 
repeating,    and    leaves    behind    him    en- 


thusiasm and  respect.  The  Paris  Figaro 
says  that  he  has  the  gift  of  setting  souls 
afire,  of  arousing  that  elan  in  the  French 
fighter  which  made  that  fighter  perform 
military  miracles  when  the  "  sun  of 
Austerlitz "  was  high.  It  has  been  de- 
clared by  a  French  writer  that  Foch 
knows  the  human  element  in  the  French 
Army  better  than  any  other  man  living. 

With  all  his  knowledge  of  men,  his 
power  of  inspiring  them,  Foch  is  quiet, 
retiring,  non-communicative,  with  no 
taste  for  meeting  people  in  social  inter- 
course. His  life  has  been  monotonous — 
work  and  work  and  work.  He  has  the 
reputation  of  being  a  driver;  he  used  to 
be  particularly  severe  on  shirkers  in  the 
war  college,  and  such,  no  matter  what 
their  influence,  had  no  chance  of  getting 
a  diploma  leading  to  an  attractive  staff 
position  when  Foch  was  Director.  When 
he  was  in  command  at  Nancy  and  else- 
where he  used  to  work  his  staffs  hard, 
and  they  had  to  share  much  of  the 
m.onotony  of  work  which  has  been  chiefly 
Foch's  life.  He  did  not  go  in  for  society, 
merely  making  the  formal  calls  required 
by  the  etiquette  of  garrison  towns  on 
the  chief  garrison  hostesses,  and  giving 
dinners  two  or  three  times  a  year  to  his 
staff. 

Foch,  indeed,  with  his  quiet  ways  and 
his  hard  work  and  his  studying  of  Na- 
poleon and  Caesar,  was  characterized  by 
some  of  the  officers  of  the  army  as  a 
pedant,  a  theorist,  and  these  held  that 
Foch  had  small  chance  of  doing  anything 
important  in  such  a  practical  realm  as 
that  of  real  war. 

Because  of  his  Directorship  of  the  Ecole 
de  Guerre  he  was  known  to  many  offi- 
cers, but  as  far  as  France  at  large  was 
concerned  his  name  was  scarcely  known 
at  all  last  August.  Yet  officers  knew 
him  in  other  lands  besides  his  own.  His 
two  great  books,  "  Principles  of  War " 
and  "  Conduct  of  War,"  have  been  trans- 
lated into  English,  German,  and  Italian, 
and  are  highly  regarded  by  military  men. 
He  has  been  ranked  by  the  Militar- 
Wochenblatt,  organ  of  the  German  Gen- 
eral Staff,  as  one  of  the  few  strategists 
of  first  class  ability  among  the  Allies. 

Foch  is  a  slim  man,  with  a  great  deal 
of  nervous  energy  in  his  actions,  being 


GENERAL  FOCH,   THE  MAN  OF  YPRES 


375 


so  quick  and  graceful  in  movement,  in- 
deed, that  a  recent  English  observer  de- 
clares he  carries  himself  more  like  a  man 
of  40  than  one  of  64.  His  gray  blue  eyes 
are  particularly  to  be  noticed,  so  keen 
are  they.  His  speech  is  quick,  precise, 
logical. 

So  little  has  Foch  been  known  to  the 
French  public  that  it  has  been  stated 
time  and  again  that  he  is  an  Alsatian. 
He  is  not,  but  comes  of  a  Basque  family 
which  has  lived  for  many  generations  in 
the  territory  which  is  now  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Hautes-Pyrenees,  directly  on 
the  border  of  Spain.  Foch  was  born  in 
the  town  of  Tarbes  in  that  department. 
Joffre  was  born  in  the  Department  Pyr- 
enees-Orientales,  on  the  Spanish  border 
to  the  east.  Foch's  father.  Napoleon 
Foch,  was  a  Bonapartist  and  Secretary 
of  the  Prefecture  at  Tarbes  under  Na- 
poleon III.  One  of  his  two  brothers,  a 
lawyer,  is  also  called  Napoleon.  The 
other  is  a  Jesuit  priest.  Foch  and  these 
brothers  attended  the  local  college,  and 
then  turned  to  their  professions. 

In  1870  Foch  served  as  a  subaltern 
against  the  Germans,  as  did  Joffre. 
After  the  war  Foch  began  to  win  recog- 
nition as  a  man  of  brains,  and  at  26 
he  was  given  a  commission  as  artillery 
Captain.  Later  he  became  Professor  of 
Tactics  in  the  Ecole  de  Guerre,  with  the 
title  of  Commandant,  where  he  remained 
for  five  years,  and  then  returned  to  regi- 
mental work.  It  was  when  Foch  reached 
the  grade  of  Brigadier  General  that  he 
went  back  to  the  War  College,  this  time 
as  Director,  one  of  the  most  confidential 
positions  in  the  War  Department.  From 
this  post  he  went  to  the  command  of  the 
Thirteenth  Division,  thence  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Eighth  Corps  at  Bourges, 
and  thence  to  the  command  of  the  Twen- 
tieth Corps  at  Nancy. 

At  the  time  that  Foch  was  appointed 
Director  of  the  Ecole  de  Guerre,  Cle- 
menceau  was  Premier,  and  upon  the 
latter  fell  the  task  of  choosing  an  officer 
for  the  important  Directorship.  There 
was  keen  competition  for  the  position, 
many  influential  Generals  desiring  the 
appointment,  and  in  consequence  much 
wire-pulling  went   on.     The   story   goes 


that  Clemenceau,  a  man  of  action,  b'e- 
came  impatient  of  the  intrigues  for  the 
post,  and  determined  to  make  his  own 
choice  unhampered. 

According  to  the  story,  Clemenceau, 
after  a  conference  one  day  upon  routine 
business  with  Foch,  asked  the  latter  to 
dine.  The  Ecole  de  Guerre  was  not  men- 
tioned during  the  meal,  the  men  chatting 
upon  general  topics.  But  as  the  coffee 
was  being  brought  on,  the  Premier  turned 
suddenly  to  the  General  and  said,  brus- 
quely: 

"  By  the  way,  I've  a  good  bit  of  news 
for  you.  You're  nominated  Director  of 
the  Ecole  de  Guerre." 

"  Director  of  the  Ecole  de  Guerre!  But 
I'm  not  a  candidate  for  the  post." 

"  That  is  possible.  But  you're  ap- 
pointed all  the  same,  and  I  know  you 
will  do  excellent  work  in  the  position." 

Foch  thanked  the  Premier,  but  he  still 
had  some  doubts,  and  added: 

"  I  fear  you  don't  know  all  my  family 
connections.  "  I  have  a  brother  who  is  a 
Jesuit." 

"Jesuit  be  d !"  the  Premier  is  re- 
ported to  have  roared  in  reply.  "  Oh,  I 
beg  your  pardon,  Mr."  Director!  You  are 
the  Director  of  the  Ecole  de  Guerre.  All 
the  Jesuits  in  creation  won't  alter  that — 
it  is  a  fait  accompli." 

Among  the  confidential  bits  of  work 
worthy  of  note  that  Foch  has  done  for 
the  War  Department  is  the  report  he 
made  upon  the  larger  guns  of  the  French 
field  artillery,  which  have  done  such  ex- 
ecution in  the  present  war.  For  many 
weeks  Foch  went  around  the  great  Creu- 
sot  gun  works  in  the  blouse  of  a  work- 
man, testing,  watching,  experimenting, 
analyzing. 

Foch  was  one  of  the  high  officers  in 
France  who  was  not  in  the  least  sur- 
prised by  the  war  and  who  had  person- 
ally been  holding  himself  in  readiness  for 
it  for  years.  He  felt,  and  often  said,  that 
a  great  war  was  inevitable;  so  much  < 
used  he  to  dwell  upon  the  certainty  of 
war  that  some  persons  regarded  him  as 
an  alarmist  when  he  kept  declaring  that 
French  officers  should  take  every  step 
within  their  power  to  get  themselves 
and  the  troops  ready  for  active  service 


376 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


&t  an  instant's  notice.  He  also  held  that 
France  as  a  nation  should  prepare  to  the 
utmost  of  her  power  for  the  assured  con- 
flict. 

In  a  recent  issue  of  The  London  Times 
there  was  a  description  of  Foch  by  a 
Times  correspondent  who  had  been  at 
Foch's  headquarters  in  the  north  of 
France.  The  correspondent's  remarks  are 
prefaced  by  the  statement  that  in  a  late 
dispatch  General  French  mentions  Gen- 
eral Foch  as  one  of  those  whose  help 
he  has  "  once  more  gratefully  to  acknow- 
ledge." The  correspondent  writes  in  part: 

What  Ernest  Lavisse  has  done  for  civilian 
New  France  in  his  direction  of  the  Ecole 
Normale  General  Foch  has  done  in  a  large 
measure  for  the  officers  of  New  France  by 
his  teaching  of  strategy  and  tactics  at  the 
Ecole  de  Guerre.  He  left  his  mark  upon  the 
■whole  teaching  of  general  tactics. 

I  had  the  honor  of  being  received  recently 
by  General  Foch  at  his  headquarters  in  the 
north  of  France — a  house  built  for  very  dif- 
ferent purposes  many  years  ago,  when  Flem- 
ish civil  architecture  was  in  its  flower.  The 
quiet  atmosphere  of  Flemish  ease  and  burgo- 
master comfort  has  completely  vanished.  The 
building  hums  with  activity,  as  does  the 
whole  town.  A  fleet  of  motor  cars  is  ready 
for  instant  action.  Officers  and  orderlies 
hurry  constantly  to  and  fro.  There  is  an  oc- 
casional British  uniform,  a  naval  airman's 
armored  car,  and  above  all  the  noise  of  this 
bustle,  though  lower  in  tone,  the  sound  of 
guns  in  the  distance  from  Tpres. 

The  director  of  all  this  activity  is  General 
Foch.  There  in  the  north  he  is  putting  his 
theories  of  war  to  the  test  with  as  much  suc- 
cess as  he  did  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities 
in  Lorraine  and  later  in  the  centre  during  the 
battle  of  the  Marne.  Although  born  with  the 
brain  of  a  mathematician.  General  Foch's 
ideas  upon  war  are  by  no  means  purely  sci- 
entific. He  refuses,  indeed,  to  regard  war, 
and  more  especially  modern  war,  as  an  exact 
science.  The  developments  of  science  have, 
indeed,  but  increased  the  mental  and  moral 
effort  required  of  each  participant,  and  it  is 
only  in  the  passions  aroused  in  each  man  by 
the  conflict  of  conception  of  life  that  the 
combatant  finds  the  strength  of  will  to  with- 
stand the  horrors  of  modern  warfare. 

General  Foch  is  a  philosopher  as  well  as  a 
fighter.  He  is  one  of  the  rare  philosophers 
who  have  proved  the  accuracy  of  their  ideas 
in  the  fire  of  battle.  A  typical  instance  of 
this  is  given  by  "  Miles  "  in  a  recent  number 
of  the  Correspondant.  During  the  battle  of 
the  Marne '  the  Germans  made  repeated  ef- 
forts to  cut  through  the  centre  where  General 
Foch  commanded  between  Suzanne  and  Mail- 
ly.  On  three  ■  consecutive  days  General  Foch 
was  forced  to  retire.  Every  morning  he  re- 
sumed the  offensive,  with  the  result  that  his 


obstinacy  won  the  day.  He  was  able  to 
profit  by  a  false  step  by  the  enemy  to  take 
him  in  the  flank  and  defeat  him. 

General  Foch's  wliole  life  and  teaching  were 
proved  true  in  those  days.  He  has  resolved 
the  art  of  war  into  three  fundamental  ideas- 
preparation,  the  formation  of  a  mass,  and  the 
multiplication  of  this  mass  in  its  use.  In  or- 
der to  derive  the  full  benefit  of  the  mass  cre- 
ated it  is  necessary  to  have  freedom  of  ac- 
tion, and  that  is  only  obtained  by  intellectual 
discipline.     General  Foch  has  written  :  . 

"  Discipline  for  a  leader  does  not  mean  the 
execution  of  orders  received  in  so  far  as  they 
seem  suitable,  just  reasonable,  or  even  pos- 
sible. It  means  that  you  have  entirely 
grasped  the  ideas  of  the  leader  who  has 
given  the  order  and  that  you  take  every  pos- 
sible means  of  satisfying  him.  Discipline 
does  not  mean  silence,  abstention,  only  doing 
what  appears  to  you  possible  without  com- 
promising yourself;  it  is  not  the  practice  of 
the  art  of  avoiding  responsibilities.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  action  in  the  sense  of  orders 
received." 

Fifteen  years  ago  at  the  Ecole  de  Guerre 
General  Foch  was  fond  of  quoting  Joseph  de 
Maistre's  remark,  "  A  battle  lost  is  a  battle  • 
which  one  believes  to  have  lost,  for  battles 
are  not  lost  mateiially,"  and  of  adding, 
"  Battles  are  therefore  lost  morally,  and  it  is 
therefore  morally  that  they  are  won."  The 
aphorism  can  be  extended  by  this  one :  "  A 
battle  won  is  a  battle  in  which  one  will  not 
admit  one's  self  vanquished."  As  "Miles" 
remarks,   "  He  did  as  he  had  said." 

Ernest  Dimnet  in  The  London  Satur- 
day Review  has  this  to  say  in  part  about 
Foch  and  his  two  widely  known  books: 

During  his  two  terms  of  servMce  at  the 
Ecole  de  Guerre  he  produced  two  consider- 
able works,  "  Principes  de  la  Guerre  "  and 
"  De  la  Conduite  de  la  Guerre,"  which  give 
a  high  idea  of  their  author's  character  and 
talent.  There  is  nothing  in  them  that  ought 
to  scare  away  the  average  reader.  Their 
style  has  the  geometrical  lucidity  which  is 
the  polytechnician's  birthright,  but  in  spite 
of  the  deliberate  impersonality  generally 
attached  to  that  style  of  writing,  there 
emanates  from  it  a  curious  quality  which 
gradually  shows  us  the  author  as  a  living 
person. 

We  have  the  impression  of  a  vast  mental 
capacity  turned  to  the  lifelong  study  of  a 
fascinating  subject  and  acquiring  in  it  the 
dignity  of  attitude  and  the  naturalness  which 
mastery  inevitably  produces.  War  has  been 
the  constant  meditation  of  this  powerful 
brain.  In  "  La  Conduite  de  la  Guerre  "  this 
meditation  is  the  minute  historical  examina- 
tion of  the  battles  of  the  First  Empire  and 
1870.  "  Nothing  can  replace  the  experience 
of  war,"  writes  the  author,  "  except  the  his- 
tory of  war,"  and  it  is  clear  that  he  under- 
stands the  wotd  "  history  "  as  all  those  who 
go  to  the  past  for  a  lesson  In  greatness  un- 
derstand it. 


GENERAL  FOCH,  THE  MAN  OF  YPRES  377 

"  Les  Principes  de  la  Guerre  "  is  more  im-  extraordinary  simplicity  of  these  views.    But 

mediately  technical,  yet  it  strikes  one  as  be-  a  good  judge  who  was  very  near  the  General 

ing  less  a  speculation   than   a   visualizing  of  until  a  wound  removed  him  for  a  while  from 

what    modern    war    was    sure    to    be.     If    the  the— to   him— fascinating   scene    tells    me    that 

reader   did   not   feel   that  he   lacks   the   back-  this  simplicity  and  directness — which  marked 

ground  which  only  the  contemplation  a  mil-  the  action  of  Foch  at  the  battle  of  the  Marne 

lion    times    repeated    of    concrete    details    can  as    they    formerly    marked    his    teaching— are 

create,  he  would  be  tempted  to  marvel  at  the  the  perfection  to  which  only  a  few  can  aspire. 


THE   UNREMEMBERED  DEAD 

By    ELLA    A.     FANNING. 

"  For  those  who  die  in  war,  and  have  none 
to  pray  for   them." — Litany. 

WE  lay  a  wreath  of  laurel  on  the  sward. 
Where  rest  our  loved  ones  in  a  deep 
repose 
Unvexed   by   dreams   of  any  earthly  care. 
And,    checking   not   our   tears,    we   breathe   a 

prayer. 
Grateful  for  even  the  comfort  which  is  oui's — 
That  we  may  kneel  and  sob  our  sorrow  there, 
And    place    the    deathless    leaf,     the    rarest 
flowers. 

Though  Winter's  cruel  fingers  brown  the  sod. 
It's  dearer  far  than  all  the  world  beside  I 
Forms  live  again — we  gaze  in  love  and  pride 
On  youthful  faces  prest  close  to  our  own. 
Eyes  smile  to  ours ;  we  hear  each  tender  tone. 
Grief's  smart  is   softened — less   the  sense  of 

loss. 
This    grave    we    have,    at    least ;    we're    not 

alone ! 

And  they  must  know  of  our  unchanging  love— 

Our  tender  thought  —  our  memory  —  our 
prayers ! 

And  in  our  constancy,  ah !   each  one  shares 

To  whom  death  comes  on  distant  battle- 
fields. 

When  life's  last  breath  not  even  the  solace 
yields— 

"  There's  one  who'll  mourn  for  me — whoso 
teais  will  flow  !  " — 

Not  even  a  grave  is  theirs,  unnamed,  un- 
wept ! 

God  rest  their  souls — the  dead  we  do  not 
know ! 


Canada  and  Britain's  War  Union 

By  Edward  W.  Thomson,  F.  R.  S.  L.,  F.  R.  S.  C. 

[From  The   New   York   Times,   April,    1915.] 


CANADA'S  political  relation  to 
Great  Britain,  and,  indeed,  to  all 
other  countries,  has  been  essen- 
tially altered  by  Canada's  quite 
voluntary  engagement  in  the  war.  Were 
feudal  terms  not  largely  inapplicable,  one 
might  aver  that  the  vassal  has  become 
the  suzerain's  ally,  political  equality  con- 
noted. 

But,  indeed,  Canadians  were  never  vas- 
sals. They  have  ever  been  Britons,  what- 
ever their  individual  origins,  retaining 
the  liberties  of  their  political  birthright. 
While  in  a  certain  tutelage  to  their  own 
monarchs'  immediate  Ministries,  they 
have  continually,  slowly,  consciously,  ex- 
panded their  freedom  from  such  tutelage, 
substituting  for  it  self-government  or 
rule  by  their  own  representatives,  with- 
out forsaking  but  rather  enhancing  their 
allegiance  to  the  common  Crown.  This 
has  long  been  the  symbol  of  their  self- 
government,  even  as  it  is  to  old  country 
kinsmen  the  symbol  of  rule  by  them- 
selves. 

The  alteration  manifested  by  Canada';; 
active,  voluntary  engagement  in  the 
European  war  is  the  change  from  Canadi- 
ans holding,  as  they  formerly  did,  that 
Great  Britain  was  bound  to  defend  Can- 
ada, while  Canadians  were  not  bound  1o 
defend  Great  Britain  outside  Canada. 
The  "  dependency "  has  not  been  now 
dragged  in;  it  acted  as  an  independency; 
it  recognized  its  participation  with  Great 
Britain  in  a  common  danger;  it  proceeded 
quite  voluntarily,  quite  independently,  to 
recruit,  organize,  dispatch,  and  maintain 
large  forces  for  the  common  cause.  Can- 
ada's course  has  become  that  of  a  partner 
in  respect  of  acceptance  of  risks  and  of 
contribution  to  expenses. 

This  partner  has  no  formally  specified 
share  in  gains,  or  in  authority,  or  in 
future  policy  of  the  concern.  Canada  has 
no  obvious,  distinct,  admitted  way  or  voice 


as  to  the  conduct  of  war  or  making  of 
peace.  She  appears,  with  the  other  self- 
governing  Dominions  of  the  Crown,  as  an 
ally  having  no  vote  in  settlements,  none 
of  the  prerogatives  of  an  ally.  Hence 
some  observers  in  Great  Britain,  in  Can- 
ada, in  other  realms  of  the  Crown  con- 
tend that  the  old,  expressed  relations  be- 
tween Great  Britain,  Canada,  and  the 
other  Dominions  must  inevitably  be  ex- 
tensively changed  formally  as  well  as 
actually  in  consequence  of  the  war. 

Some  say  imperial  federation  cannot 
but  ensue.  Others  argue  that  formal  in- 
dependence must  arrive  if  such  federa- 
tion come  not  speedily.  Others  contend 
for  an  Empire  League  of  sister  States. 
Nobody  ventures  to  mention  what  was 
often  talked  publicly  by  Canadians 
from  thirty  to  fifty  years  ago,  and 
later  by  Goldwin  Smith,  viz.,  Can- 
ada's entrance  to  the  United  States 
as  a  new  tier  of  sovereign  States. 
The  idea  of  severance  from  Great  Britain 
has  vanished.  Discussion  of  the  other  al- 
ternatives is  not  inactive,  but  it  is  forced. 
It  engages  the  quidnuncs.  They  are  talk- 
ers who  must  say  something  for  the  de- 
light of  hearing  themselves;  or  they  are 
writers  who  live  under  the  exigency  of 
needing  to  get  "  something  different " 
daily  into  print.  They  are  mostly  either 
"  Jingoes  "  or  Centralizationists,  as  con- 
tra to  Nationalists  or  Decentralization- 
ists,  long-standing  opponents. 

Each  set  perceives  their  notions  liable 
to  be  profoundly  affected  by  Canada's 
fighting  in  Europe.  Each  affects  belief 
that  their  own  political  designs  cannot 
but  be  thereby  served;  each  is  afflicted 
with  qualms  of  doubt.  They  alike  appre- 
ciate the  factors  that  make  for  their  op- 
ponent's cause.  Both  know  the  strength 
of  popular  attachment  to  Great  Britain; 
both  know  the  traditional  and  inbred 
loathing  of  the  industrious   masses  for 


CANADA  AND  BRITAIN'S  WAR  UNION 


379 


tho  horrible  bloodshed  and  insensate 
waste  of  treasure  in  war.  Both  sets  bal- 
ance inwardly  the  chances  that  senti- 
ments seemingly  irreconcilable  and  about 
equally  respectable  may,  after  the  war, 
urge  Canadians  either  to  draw  politically 
closer  to  their  world-scattered  kin,  or  to 
cut  ligaments  that  might  pull  them  again 
and  again,  time  without  end,  into  the  im- 
memorial European  shambles. 

But  is  the  Canadian  public  excitedly 
interested  in  the  discussion  ?  Not  at  all. 
Spokesmen  and  penmen  of  the  two  con- 
tentious factions  are  victimized  by  their 
own  perfervid  imaginations.  The  elec- 
torate, the  masses,  are  not  so  swayed. 
The  Canadian  people,  essentially  British 
no  matter  what  their  origins,  are  mainly, 
like  all  English-speaking  democracies,  of 
straight,  primitive,  uncomplicated  emo- 
tions, and  of  essentially  conservative 
mind.  They  "  plug "  along.  The  hour 
and  the  day  hold  their  attention.  It  is 
given  to  the  necessary  private  works  of 
the  moment,  as  to  the  necessary  public 
conduct  of  the  time. 

They  did  not,  as  a  public,  spin  them- 
selves any  reasons  or  excuses  for  their 
hearty  approval  of  Canada's  engagement 
in  the  war.  Her  or  their  contributions  of 
men  and  money  to  its  fields  of  slaughter 
and  waste  appeared  and  appear  to  them 
natural,  proper,  inevitable.  They  ap- 
plauded seriously  the  country's  being  "put 
in  fpr  it "  by  agreement  of  the  two  sets 
of  party  politicians,  and  without  any 
direct  consultation  of  the  electorate  in 
this,  the  most  important  departure  Can- 
ada ever  made,  because  prompt  action 
seemed  the  only  way,  and  time  was  lack- 
ing for  debate  about  what  seemed  the 
next  thing  that  had  to  be  done.  In  fact, 
the  Canadian  people,  regarded  collective- 
ly, felt  and  acted  in  this  case  with  as 
much  ingenuousness  as  did  those  Ty- 
rolese  mountaineers,  bred,  according  to 
Heine,  to  know  nothing  of  politics  save 
that  they  had  an  Emperor  who  wore  a 
white  coat  and  red  breeches. 

When  the  patriots  climbed  up  to  them,  and 
told  them  with  oratory  that  they  now  had  a 
Prince  who  wore  a  blue  coat  and  white 
breeches,  they  grasped  their  rifles,  and  kissed 
wife  and  children,  and  went  down  the 
mountain  and  offered  their  lives  in  defense 


of    the    white    coat    and    the    dear    old    red 
breeches. 

But  did  they  forsake  their  relish  of 
and  devotion  to  their  customary,  legend- 
ary Tyrolese  liberties?  No  more  will  the 
Canadian  masses,  by  reason  of  their 
hearty  participation  in  the  war,  incline 
to  yield  jot  or  tittle  of  their  usual,  long- 
struggled-for,  gradually  acquired,  val- 
uable and  valued  British  self-governing 
rights.  Can  the  Jingoes  or  Centraliza- 
tionists  scare  them  backward  ?  Or  the 
Decentralizationists  or  Separatists  hurry 
them  forward  ?  Won't  they  just  continue 
to  "  plug  along  "  as  their  forefathers  did 
in  the  old  country  and  in  the  new,  gain- 
ing a  bit  more  freedom  to  do  well  or  ill 
at  their  own  collective  choice — that  is,  if 
the  war  result  "  as  usual  "  in  British  se- 
curity, according  to  confident  British  ex- 
pectation. 

Such  is  the  Canadian  political  situation. 
It  has  been  essentially  similar  any  time 
within  living  memory.  The  people  ap- 
prove in  politics  what  they  feel,  instinc- 
tively, to  be  the  profitable  or  the  decent 
and  reasonable  necessary  next  thing  to 
do.  Which  signifies  that  those  contro- 
versialists are  probably  wrong  who  con- 
ceive that  a  result  of  the  war,  if  it  be  a 
win  for  the  Allies,  will  cause  any  great 
formal  change  in  Canada's  political  rela- 
tion to  Great  Britain. 

The  truly  valuable  change  in  such  rela- 
tions is  already  secured;  it  cannot  but 
become  more  notably  established  by  fut- 
ure discussion;  it  is  and  will  be  a  change 
by  reason  of  greatly  increased  influence 
on  Great  Britain  by  Canada  and  the  oth- 
er Dominions.  And  it  appears  highly 
probable  that  such  inevitable  change  in 
influence  or  weight  of  the  new  countries 
is  sufficient  for  all  sentiments  concerned, 
and  for  all  useful  purposes  on  behalf  of 
which  formal  changes  are  advocated  by 
doctrinaires  and  idealists. 

The  British  peoples  have  acquired  by 
long  practice  in  very  various  politics  a 
'  way  of  making  existing  arrangements 
"  do  "  with  some  slight  patching.  They 
are  instinctively  seized  of  the  truth  of 
Edmund  Burke's  maxim,  "  Innovation  is 
not  improvement."  They  have  "  muddled 
along  "  into  precisely  the  institutions  that 
suit  any  exigency,  their  sanest  political 


380 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


philosophers  recognizing  that  the  exi- 
gency must  always  be  most  amenable  to 
the  most  flexible  system. 

It  is  because  the  existing  arrange- 
ments between  London  and  the  several 
Dominion  capitals  don't  suit  logicians 
that  they  do  suit  experienced  statesmen 
pretty  well.  Because  these  institutions 
can  be  patched  as  occasion  may  require, 
they  are  retained  for  patching  on  occa- 
sion. Because  the  loose,  go-as-you-please 
organization  of  the  so-called  "  empire  " 
has  revealed  almost  incredible  unity  of 
sentiment  and  purpose,  practiced  states- 
men regard  it  as  a  prodigious  success. 
They  are  mighty  shy  of  affiliating  with 
any  of  the  well-meaning  doctrinaires  who 
have  been  explaining  any  time  within  the 
last  century  that  the  system  is  essential- 
ly incoherent  and  absurd  and  urgently 
needs  profound  change  with  doctrinaire 
improvements. 

Sir  Robert  Borden,  for  instance.  Some 
days  ago  he  most  amiably  gave  me  a 
little  private  talk  on  these  matters,  of 
course  on  the  tacit  understanding  that  he 
■was  not  to  be  "  interviewed  "  as  for  close 
reporting  of  his  informal  sentences.  He 
was,  by  the  way,  apparently  in  robust 
health,  as  if,  like  Mr.  Asquith,  of  a  tem- 
perament to  flourish  under  the  heaviest 
responsibilities  ever  laid  on  a  Prime  Min- 
ister in  his  own  country.  No  statesman 
could  be  of  aspect  and  utterance  less  hur- 
ried, nor  more  pleasant,  lucid,  cautious, 
disposed  to  give  a  friendly  caller  large 
and  accurate  information  briefly,  while 
disclosing  nothing  at  variance  with  or 
unfindable  in  his  published  speeches.  Of 
some  of  them  he  repeated  apposite  slices; 
tc  others  he  referred  for  further  enlight- 
enment as  to  his  views  on  imperial  feder- 
ation. Really  he  was  neither  secretive 
nor  newly  informative.  The  Premier  of 
Canada  at  any  time  is  governed,  much  as  I 
have  endeavored  to  show  how  the  electors 
are,  by  that  natural,  instinctive  course 
of  the  general  loyal  Canadian  mind,  which 
constitutes  "  the  situation  "  and  controls 
Governmental  proceedings  on  behalf  of 
the  public. 

Well  meaning  persons  who  allege  Sir 

Robert  to  have  either  favored  or  disfa- 

_  vored  imperial  federation  have  been  inac- 


curate. Precisely  what  imperial  federa- 
tion may  be  nobody  knows,  for  the  sim- 
ple and  sufficient  reason  that  nobody  has 
ever  sketched  or  elaborated  a  scheme  in 
that  regard  which  appeared  or  appears 
desirable  as  a  change  from  the  all-com- 
pelling situation.  What  has  never  been 
adopted  as  desirable  cannot  be  termed 
practicable  in  statesmen's  language.  To 
declare  an  untried  scheme  impracticable 
might  be  an  error  of  rashness. 

The  idea  of  federating  the  empire  has 
long  attracted  Sir  Robert,  with  many 
other  admirable  Canadians  and  Britons, 
since  it  connotes  or  involves  the  concept 
of  British  Union  for  all  worthy  and  nec- 
essary purposes,  including  maintenance 
of  local  autonomy  or  self-government, 
surely  a  most  praiseworthy  design.  Dis- 
cussion of  that  idea  is  unlikely  to  be 
harmful;  it  may  be  useful;  something 
may  come  of  it  that  may  seem  desirable 
and  practicable  to  substantially  all  "inter- 
ests and  people  concerned.  A  consumma- 
tion devoutly  to  be  wished,  but  not  to  be 
rushed!  One  point,  frequently  specified 
in  Sir  Robert's  public  speeches,  was 
stated  as  follows  in  a  recent  report, 
pamphleted  for  distribution  by  his  own 
side  : 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  existing 
status,  so  far  as  it  concerns  the  control  of 
foreign  policy  and  extra-imperial  relations, 
can  remain  as  it  is  today.  All  are  conscious 
of  the  complexity  of  the  problem  thus  pre- 
sented ;  and  no  one  need  despair  of  a  sgitis- 
factory  solution,  and  no  one  can  doubt  the 
profound  influence  which  the  tremendous 
events  of  the  past  few  months  and  of  those 
in  the  immediate  future  must  exercise  upo« 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  far-reaching 
questions  ever  presented  for  the  considera- 
tion of  statesmen. 

There  Sir  Robert  was  recommending 
no  particular  solution.  A  little  earlier  in 
the  same  speech  he  illustrated  the  deep 
sense  of  all  experienced  British  states- 
men that  there  never  is  or  can  be  in  the 
British  system  any  final  solution  of  any 
grave  problem,  the  vital  essence  of  the 
system  being  flux  and  change  to  suit 
ever-changing  circumstance. 

In  so  far  as  this  empire  may  be  said  to 
possess  a  Constitution,  it  is  of  modern  growth 
and  is  still  in  the  stage  of  development.  One 
can  hardly  conceive  that  it  will  ever  distinctly 
emerge  from  that  state  or  attain  a  status  in 


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President  of  the  Chinese   Republic. 

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PRINCE     VON     BUELOW 

German  Ambassador  to  Italy. 


CANADA  AND  BRITAIN'S  WAR  UNION 


381 


which  constitutional  development  is  no  longer 
to  be  anticipated.  Indeed,  the  genius  of  the 
British  people  and  all  our  past  history  lead  us 
to  believe  the  contrary.  The  steps  in  advance 
have  been  usually  gradual  and  always  prac- 
tical; and  they  have  been  taken  on  instinct 
rather  than  upon  any  carefully  considered 
theory. 

Which  was  admonition  at  once  of  the 
Centralizationists  and  their  opponents, 
the  Nationalists. 

Whatever  alteration  of  existing  Brit- 
ish inter-arrangements  may  come  after 
the  war  will  be  done  on  instinct  in  view 
of  circumstances  that  cannot  now  be  fore- 
seen. Wherefore  clamorers  for  this  or 
that,  their  favorite  scheme,  are  now  in- 
opportunists.  Hence  they  are  neglected  by 
the  public  as  unimpressive,  futile  wast- 
ers of  breath  or  ink.  Indeed  Canada, 
Great  Britain,  the  whole  race  of  mankind 
are  now  swept  on  the  crest  of  a  huge 
wave  of  Fate.  When  it  casts  them  ashore, 
recedes,  leaves  men  to  consider  what  may 
best  be  done  for  the  future,  then  will  have 
come  the  time  to  rearrange  political  fab- 
rics, if  need  be.  Then  Sir  Robert  Borden 
will  probably  continue  in  his  often  clearly 
specified  opinion  that  Canada,  if  remain- 
ing liable  as  now  to  be  drawn  into  Great 
Britain's  more  perilous  wars — a  liability 
which  must  ever  urge  Canada  to  strong 
participation  in  order  that  the  peril  may 
be  the  sooner  ended — ought  to  have  a 
share  in  controlling  Great  Britain's  for- 
eign policy.  Which  sharing  Mr.  Asquith 
declared  last  year  impracticable,  in  that 
sense  inadmissible. 

Westminster  must  retain  freedom  to 
move,  act,  strike  quickly.  Her  course 
toward  Germany  had  to  be  decided  last 
August  within  a  few  hours.  Obviously 
her  freedom,  her  power  for  promptitude 
would  be  hindered  in  proportion  to  need 
for  such  consultation  with  and  approval 
by  councilors  of  many  distant  countries 
as  is  presupposed  by  advocates  of  im- 
perial federation.  Why  establish  con- 
trol by  cumbersome,  superfluous  ma- 
chinery when  the  war  has  made  it  clear 
as  the  sun  at  high  noon  that  the  es- 
sential desideratum,  British  Union,  ex- 
ists now?  All  the  notable  communities 
of  the  King's  realms  have  demonstrated 
that  they  are  in  the  mind,  the  condi- 
tion of  a  voluntary  empire.    What  more 


can  be  desired  save  by  such  as  desire 
old  country  domination  of  all  the  con- 
cerned countries,  and  who  really  long  for 
a  formal  and  subservient  Empire? 

Sir  Richard  Jebb,  a  deep  student  of  the 
Empire  problem,  declared  clearly  last 
November  the  meaning  of  that  general 
voluntary  British  war  union  which  is  a 
wonder  of  mankind,  and  in  the  course  to 
teach  a  profound,  general  political  lesson. 
He  wrote: 

That  the  war  will  in  any  event  change  the 
external  relations  is  evident.  But  why,  if  we 
win,  should  it  change  the  political  relations 
between  the  parts,  except  to  the  extent  of  en- 
couraging us  to  conserve  and  develop  the  ex- 
isting system  which  has  given  so  signal  an 
example  of  effective  imperial  unity  in  time 
of  need?  Continually  talking  of  imperial 
unity,  we  fail  to  recognize  it  when  we  have 
got  it.  There  is  never  going  to  be  a  moment 
when  one  might  say  "  Yesterday  we  were 
not  united ;  today  the  Grand  Act  (of  ImperiaL 
Federation  understood)  has  been  signed ; 
henceforth  we  are  united." 

The  cult  of  the  Grand  Act  is  a  snare  and  a 
delusion.  Whatever  may  happen  hereafter — 
even  the  Grand  Act  itself— posterity  is  likely 
to  look  back  upon  August,  1914,  as  the  mo- 
ment when  the  British  Empire  reached  the 
zenith  of  its  unity.  Let  us  remember  that 
the  existing  system  is  not  stationary,  though 
its  principle  (voluntary  union)  may  be  final. 
It  has  been  developing  steadily  since  1902. 

The  Australian  fleet  unit,  the  first  of  the 
Dominion  navies,  which  enables  each  to  exert 
upon  foreign  policy  the  full  weight  of  its 
importance  in  the  empire,  was  not  begun  until 
1910.  The  corollary,  that  any  Dominion  Min- 
ister appointed  to  reside  in  London  should 
have  free  and  constant  access  to  the  British 
Prime  Minister  and  Foreign  Secretary,  was 
only  conceded  in  January,  1912,  and  has  not 
yet  been  taken  advantage  of,  even  by  Aus- 
tralia. 

But  the  development  is  all  true  to  principle. 
What  principle?  Voluntary  co-operation,  as 
opposed  to  central  compulsion.  In  war,  as  in 
peace,  each  of  the  Britannic  nations  is  free 
to  do  or  not  to  do.  But  we  have  invoked 
naval  and  military  co-ordination,  with  re- 
sults which  the  Australian  Navy  has  already 
exemplified  (on  the  Emden,  &c.) 

Has  this  system  of  the  free  Commonwealth, 
as  distinguished  from  the  German  principle 
of  a  centralized  empire  organized  primarily 
for  war,  broken  down  under  the  supreme  test, 
as  so  many  of  our  prophets  predicted?  On 
the  contrary,  it  has  alone  saved  South  Africa 
to  the  empire,  besides  eliciting  unrestricted 
military  aid  from  each  part.  Why  change 
it  for  something  diametrically  opposed  to  Its 
spirit,  substituting  compulsion  for  liberty, 
provinces  for  nation-States? 

Sir  Richard  Jebb's  sentence,  specifying 


882 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  nature  of  the  Australian  influence 
on  foreign  policy,  seems  apt  reply  to 
Sir  Robert  Borden's  oft-repeated  speci- 
fication that  a  share  in  control  of  foreign 
policy  should  accrue  to  the  Dominions 
by  reason  of  their  participation  in 
or  liability  to  war.  This  liability  real- 
ly compels  them  to  engage  with  all 
their  strength,  lest  they  comfort  an 
enemy  by  abstention,  or  by  confining 
their  armaments  to  self-defense,  which 
might  and  would  be  read  as  disapproval 
of  Britain's  course,  if  the  war  were  one 
of  magnitude  endangering  her.  A  system 
more  powerfully  requiring  Great  Britain 
to  take  heed  that  her  quarrel  be  just, 
lest  she  be  not  thrice  armed  by  approv- 
ing children,  can  scarcely  be  imagined. 

On  this  matter  I  have  had  the  pleasure 
and  benefit,  during  the  last  twelve  years, 
of  talking  with  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  often. 
In  the  quoted  Jebb  view  he  agreed  closely 
when  I  saw  him  a  few  days  ago.  He 
remarked,  with  special  regard  to  this 
article  for  The  New  York  Times,  that 
his  point  of  insistence  at  the  Imperial 
Conferences  of  1902,  1907,  1911,  and  on 
all  proper  occasions,  has  been  that  local 
autonomy — that  is,  complete  self-govern- 
ment for  each  of  the  Dominions — is  not 
only  consistent  with  British  unity  but 
necessary  thereto  as  promoting  and  con- 
serving that  unity. 

When  Mr.  Asquith's  denial  of  the  prac- 
ticability of  giving  the  Dominions  a  direct 
share  in  control  of  Great  Britain's  foreign 
policy  is  considered,  the  Jebb-Laurier 
view  would  appear  one  to  which  Sir  Rob- 
ert Borden,  cautious  statesman,  must  be 
led  by  recognition  that  potent  influence 
on  foreign  policy  cannot  but  come  to 
Dominions  energetically  providing  at 
once  for  their  own  defense  and  for  their 
power  to  aid  Great  Britain  all  along  the 
line. 

As  to  imperial  federation.  Sir  Wilfrid 
remarked  that  he  has  ever  been  openly 
attracted  by  that  aspiration  toward  per- 
manent British  union,  on  which  advocacy 
of  the  vague  project  has  ever  been  bot- 
tomed. He  is,  as  he  said  to  me,  and  as 
all  his  long  series  of  political  actions 
have  manifested,  British  in  heart  and 
way  of  political  thinking,  as  indeed  sub- 


stantially all  his  French-Canadian  com- 
patriots are.  British  liberality,  not  to  say 
liberalism,  has  attached  them  to  the 
British  system  as  firmly  as  any  com- 
munity originating  from  the  United 
Kingdom.  It  was  a  French-Canadian 
statesman  who  asserted,  some  fifty  years 
ago,  when  many  British-Canadians 
seemed  tending  toward  union  with  the 
United  States,  "  The  last  shot  fired  in 
Canada  for  British  connection  will  be 
from  a  French-Canadian."  That  was  be- 
fore the  civil  war  abolished  slavery. 

But,  even  as  the  Britishism  of  Old 
Country  liberals  is  strongly  tinctured  by 
devotion  to  ideals  which  Americans  are 
wont  to  regard  as  theirs — ideals  making 
for  settled  peace,  industry,  the  uplift  of 
the  "  common  people,"  fair  room  and  re- 
ward for  those  abilities  which  conspic- 
uously serve  the  general  welfare — so  Sir 
Wilfrid  and  his  compatriots  acknowl- 
edge their  Britishism  to  be  acutely  con- 
scious of  political  kinship  with  the  Amer- 
ican people.  The  French-Canadian  yearn- 
ing, like  that  of  many  Canadians  of  Brit- 
ish origin,  is  rather  for  English-speaking 
union — a  union  of  at  least  thorough  un- 
derstanding and  common  designs  with  the 
American  people — than  for  the  narrower 
exclusive  British  union  sought  by  Cana- 
dian imperial  federationists. 

Sir  Wilfrid  said,  in  effect,  (I  do  not 
profess  to  report  his  very  words,)  that 
federation  of  those  British  communities 
widely  separated  by  geography,  but  alike 
in  race,  language,  laws,  principles,  has 
always  attracted  him  as  a  project  of  ex- 
cellent intentions.  It  is  at  worst  a  noble 
dream.  That  dream  has  become  less  im- 
practicable than  it  was  formerly,  he 
thinks,  by  reason  of  the  essential  diminu- 
tion of  the  world,  diminution  of  distances 
and  of  time  by  latter-day  inventions. 

Against  the  idea  of  general  repre- 
sentation in  a  central  Parliament  at 
London,  Sir  Wilfrid  pointed  out  that 
Edmund  Burke  objected  "  opposuit 
natura  " — nature  forbade  it.  The  wisest 
of  political  philosophers  could  not  fore- 
see the  telegraph,  wireless,  steam,  air- 
ships. These  have  made  a  useful  central 
imperial  Parliament  at  least  conceivable. 
Could  it  be  more  useful  than  the  advisory 


CANADA  AND  BRITAIN'S  WAR  UNION 


383 


council,  or  Imperial  Conference  which 
has  become  quadrennial,  and  might 
possibly  become  annual?  That  is  matter 
for  discussion.  Sir  Wilfrid  said  that 
such  is  the  political  genius  of  the  British 
race  that  he  would  be  rash  who  alleged 
any  design  impracticable  toward  which 
the  race  may  tend  so  generally  as  to  put 
it  under  discussion  for  arrangement  of 
details.  Conservation  of  local  self-gov- 
ernment, prime  essential  to  agreement 
for  union  on  common  purposes,  might 
prove  reconcilable  with  federated  de- 
fense. 

But  there  is,  to  Sir  Wilfrid's  way  of 
thinking,  one  large  objection  against  now 
attempting  imperial  federation.  Its 
agitators  contemplate  a  scheme  immense, 
yet  not  sufficiently  inclusive.  They  do  not 
contemplate  English-speaking  solidarity. 
They  purpose  leaving  out  the  majority 
of  English-speakers — the  American  peo- 
ple. In  this  they  do  not  follow  Cecil 
Rhodes,  a  chief  propagandist  of  their 
main  design.  It  is  true  that  the  idea  of 
getting  Americans  to  participate  in  any 
formal  union  with  all  the  rest  of  their 
brethren  by  race  and  tongue  seems  now 
impractical.  But  time  works  wonders. 
Mr.  Gladstone  foresaw  the  United  States 
a  people  of  six  hundred  comfortable 
millions,  living  in  union  before  the  end 
of  the  next  century.  The  hegemony  of 
the  English-speaking  nations  seems  like- 
ly to  be  within  attainment  by  that  one 
of  them  which  appears  destined  to  be- 
come far  the  most  powerful  of  all  in 
numbers,  in  wealth,  and  in  security  of 
environment.  Time  may  show  to  our 
successors  in  this  world  some  effective 
method  of  establishing  agreements 
amounting  to  that  solidarity  for  English- 
speaking  action  which  has  been  ac- 
claimed as  existent  for  English-speaking 
thinking  by  a  mind  so  eminently  reason- 
able as  that  of  Lord  Haldane. 

It  would  be  hasty,  thinks  Sir  Wilfrid, 
r.nd  it  might  be  injurious  for  the  British 
countries  to  move  toward  any  sort  of 
formal  union  ostensibly  tending  to  set 
them  collectively  apart  from  the  United 
States.  Give  great  beneficent  ideas 
time  to  develop.  Britons  can  well 
afford  to  take  their  time,  since  the  war 


has  shown  existent  among  them  an  al- 
most perfect  union  of  sentiment  and 
purpose.  And  this,  apparently,  with  the 
blessed  effect  of  enhancing  general 
American  good-will  to  Britons.  From 
so  much  good  understanding  more  may 
ensue,  Sir  Wilfrid  concluded. 

Such  Canadians  as  hold  Edmund  Burke 
to  have  been  a  spokesman  of  consummate 
political  wisdom  are  apt  to  regard  the 
busy  stir  of  doctrinaires,  who  scream  for 
closer  political  junction  of  the  British 
peoples,  even  as  Burke  regarded  the 
hurry  of  some  of  the  same  kidney  in  his 
time.  Resolute  to  bind  the  thirteen 
colonies  forever  to  England,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  offend,  outrage,  and  drive 
those  colonies  to  independence.  Be  it  re- 
membered that  these  colonies  had  con- 
tributed so  loyally,  so  liberally  to  Eng- 
land's armaments  and  wars  that  grateful 
London  Parliaments  had  insisted  on  vot- 
ing back  to  them  the  subsidies  they  had 
granted,  holding  the  contributions  too 
generous.  To  later  proposals  of  foolish 
henchmen  of  George  III.,  proposals  that 
the  colonies,  since  they  had  revealed 
themselves  as  strong  and  rich,  should  be 
dragged  into  some  formal  political  sub- 
ordination by  which,  as  by  latter-day  Im- 
perial Federation,  they  might  be  involun- 
tarily mustered  and  taxed  for  imperial 
purposes,  Burke  said: 

Our  hold  on  the  colonies  is  the  close  af- 
fection which  grows  from  common  names, 
from  Itindred  blood,  from  similar  privileges, 
and  equal  protection.  These  are  the  ties 
which,  though  light  as  air,  are  strong  as 
linlis  of  iron.  Let  the  colonies  always  keep 
the  idea  of  their  civil  rights  associated  v/ith 
your  Government ;  they  will  cling  and  grapple 
to  you,  and  no  force  under  heaven  will  be 
of  power  to  tear  them  from  their  alle- 
giance.   *    ♦    ♦ 

As  long  as  you  have  the  wisdom  to  keep 
the  sovereign  authority  of  this  country  as 
the  sanctuary  of  liberty,  the  sacred  temple 
consecrated  to  our  common  faith,  wherever 
the  chosen  race  and  sons  of  England  worship 
freedom,  they  will  turn  their  faces  toward 
you.  The  more  they  multiply,  the  more 
friends  you  will  have.  The  more  ardently 
they  love  liberty,  the  more  perfect  will  be 
their  obedience.  Slavery  they  can  have  any- 
where. It  is  a  weed  that  grows  on  every 
soil.  They  may  have  it  from  Spain ;  they 
may  have  it  from  Prussia;  but  until  you 
become  lost  to  all  feeling  of  your  true  in- 
terest and  your  natural  dignity,  freedom 
they  can  have  from   none  but  you. 


SSI 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


This  is  the  commodity  of  price,  of  which 
you  have  the  monopoly.  ♦  •  •  Do  not  en- 
tertain so  wealc  an  imagination  as  that  your 
registers  and  your  bonds,  your  affidavits 
and  your  sufferances,  •  •  •  your  letters 
of  office  and  your  instructions  and  your  sus- 
pending clauses  are  the  things  that  hold  to- 
gether the  great  contexture  of  this  mysterious 
whole.  These  things  do  not  make  your  Gov- 
ernment. Dead  instruments,  passive  tools  as 
they  are,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  English  com- 
munion that  gives  all  their  life  and  efficacy 
to  them.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  English  Con- 
stitution which,  infused  through  the  mighty 
mass,  pervades,  feeds,  unites,  invigorates, 
vivifies  every  part  of  the  empire,  even  to  the 
minutest  member. 

And  the  doctrinaires  of  Centralization, 
vociferating  their  fad  of  Imperial  Feder- 
ation, would  have  that  Constitution,  in 
the  moment  of  its  supreme  triumph  for 
unity,  cast  away!  Cast  away  for  a  new 
and  written  one  by  which  Great  Britain 


and  all  her  children  alike  would  chain 
themselves  together!  Well  may  prac- 
tical statesmen  view  the  doctrinaires 
with  some  disdain,  not  unmindful  of 
Burke's  immortal  scorn  of  such  formal- 
ists: 

"  A  sort  of  people  who  think  that  noth- 
ing exists  but  what  is  gross  and  material, 
and  who,  therefore,  far  from  being  qual- 
ified to  be  directors  of  the  great  move- 
ment of  empire,  are  not  fit  to  turn  a 
wheel  in  the  machine.  To  men  truly 
initiated  and  rightly  taught,  those  ruling 
and  master  principles  which,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  such  men  as  I  have  mentioned, 
have  no  substantial  existence,  are  in 
truth  everything  and  all  in  all.  Mag- 
nanimity in  politics  is  not  seldom  the 
truest  wisdom;  and  a  great  empire  and 
little  minds  go  ill  together." 


ENGLAND. 

By    JOHN    E.    DOLSON. 

BIRTH  land  of  statesmen,  bards,  heroes, 
and  sages ; 
Mother   of    nations— the    homes   of   the 
free ; 
Builder  of   work  that  will  last   through   the 
ages, 
Hope  for  Humanity  centres  in  thee. 

Now    that    thy   bugles    their    clear   calls    are 
shrilling. 
Now    that    thy   battle   voice   echoes   world- 
wide. 
O'er  the  long  reaches  of  sea  rush  the  willing 
Sons  of  thy  children  to  fight  by  thy  side. 

Eager  to  aid  thee  with  treasure  and  tissue. 
Other  leal   millions   will  come   to   thy  call. 

Civilization  is  staked  on  the  issue — 
Woe  to  Mankind  if  thy  lion  should  fall! 

Fall  he  will  never,  till  English  force  slacken 
In  the  great  soul  of  thy  dominant  race, 

Now,  as  of  old,  do  the  Destinies  beckon 
Thee  to  be  highest  in  power  and  place. 

Conflicts  now  raging  will  pass  into  story, 
Nations  may  sink  in  defeat  or  disgrace; 

Long  be  thy  future   resplendent  with  glory. 
Long  be  thy  triumphs  the  pride  of  our  race ! 


American  Aid  of  France 

By   Eugene   Brieux 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  April,  1915.] 

M.  Eug6ne  Brieux,  the  celebrated  French  poet  and  playwright,  who  is  in  this  country 
as  the  official  representative  of  the  French  Academy— the  "  Forty  Immortals  "—has  written 
a  remarkable  tribute  to  American  aid  of  France  during  the  present  war.  The  address, 
which  is  herewith  presented,  was  read  by  M.  Brieux  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  John  Henry 
Hammond  of  New  York  City  recently  before  a  gathering  of  two  hundred  men  and  women 
who  have  been  interested   in  the  work  of  the  American  Ambulance  Hospital  in  Paris. 


MISS  MARIE  VAN  VORST,  who 
nursed  the  wounded  at  the 
American  Ambulance  in 
Paris,  will  speak  to  you  of  it 
as  an  eyewitness.  From  her  you  will  re- 
ceive direct  news  of  your  splendid  work 
of  humanity.  While  she  was  caring  for 
wounded  French,  English,  and  German  I 
was  attached  to  another  hospital  at  Char- 
tres.  It  happens,  therefore,  that  I  have 
never  seen  the  American  Military  Hos- 
pital created  by  you,  but  I  am  not  in  ig- 
norance concerning  it  any  more  than 
any  other  Parisian,  any  more,  indeed, 
than  the  majority  of  the  French  people. 
I  know  that  the  American  Ambulance 
is  the  most  remarkable  hospital  that  the 
world  has  seen.  I  know  that  you,  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  have  brought 
the  aid  of  medical  science  to  wounded 
men  and  that  you  have  given  not  only 
money,  but  an  institution,  all  ready,  com- 
plete and  of  the  most  modern  typo,  and, 
even  more,  that  you  have  sent  there  your 
best  surgeons  and  a  small  army  of  order- 
lies and  nurses. 

I  know  that  at  first  one  could  not 
find  a  place;  that  there  was  available 
only  a  building  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, intended  to  be  the  Pasteur  School 
at  Neuilly.  This  building  was  far  from 
completion;  it  lacked  doors  and  there 
were  no  stairs.  I  know  that  in  three 
weeks  your  generosity,  your  energy,  and 
your  quick  intelligence  has  made  of  this 
uncertain  shell  a  modern  military  hos- 
pital, with  white  walls,  electric  light, 
baths,  rooms  for  administering  anaes- 
thetics, operating  rooms,  sterlizing  plants, 
apparatus    for    X-rays,    and    a    dental 


clinic.  I  know  that  automobiles,  admir- 
ably adapted  to  the  service,  carried  the 
wounded.  And  yet  I  do  not  know  all.  I 
know  only  by  instinct  of  the  devotion  of 
your  young  girls,  of  your  women,  and  of 
your  young  men,  belonging  often  to  prom- 
inent families,  who  served  as  stretcher 
bearers  and  orderlies. 

I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  they 
count  by  the  hundreds  those  who  have 
been  cured  at  the  American  Ambulance 
at  Neuilly,  nor  of  the  further  fact  that 
the  rate  of  mortality  is  extremely  low, 
although  they  have  sent  you  those  most 
gravely  injured.  I  know  that  it  is  all 
free;  that  there  are  no  charges  made  for 
the  expenses  of  administration;  that  for 
the  service  rendered  by  your  people  there 
is  no  claim,  and  that  every  cent  of  every 
dollar  subscribed  goes  entirely  and  di- 
rectly to  the  care  of  the  wounded.  I 
know  also  that  the  expenses  at  the  hos- 
pital are  $4,000  a  day,  and  that  ever 
since  the  beginning  your  charity  has  met 
this  demand. 

Such  splendid  effort  has  not  been  ig- 
nored or  misunderstood.  The  President 
of  the  French  Republic  has  cabled  to 
President  Wilson  his  appreciation  and 
his  gratitude;  General  Fevier,  Inspector 
General  of  Hospitals  of  the  French 
Army,  has  publicly  expressed  his  admira- 
tion; the  English  physicians  and  public 
men  have  shared  their  sentiments. 

As  to  the  people  of  Paris,  as  to  the 
French  nation,  they  have  been  touched 
to  the  depths  of  their  being.  And  yet 
in  France  we  have  found  all  this  quite 
natural.  I  shall  tell  you  why.  We  have 
so  high  a  regard  for  you  that  when  you 


386 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


do  anything  well  no  one  is  surprised.  I 
believe  that  if  a  wounded  soldier  arriving 
at  your  hospital  exclaimed,  "  This  is 
wonderful!  "  his  comrade  who  had  been 
ahead  of  him  would  answer  in  a  tone  of 
admonition:  "  That  surprises  you?  You 
do  not  know  then  that  it  is  done  by  the 
Americans,  by  the  people  from  the  United 
States? "  In  this  refusal  to  be  aston- 
ished in  the  face  of  remarkable  achieve- 
ments, when  they  come  from  you,  there 
is  a  tribute,  a  praise  of  high  quality 
which  your  feelings  and  your  patriotism 
will  know  how  to  appreciate. 

I  have  said  that  all  that  comes  from 
you  which  is  good  and  great  seems  nat- 
ural to  us,  and  I  have  given  you  a  rea- 
son; but  there  is  another.  In  France  we 
are  accustomed  to  consider  the  Republic 
of  the  United  States  as  an  affectionate, 
distant  sister.  When  one  receives  a  gift 
from  a  stranger  one  is  astonished  and 
cries  out  his  thanks,  but  when  the  gift 
comes  from  a  brother  or  from  some  one 
who,  on  similar  occasions,  has  never 
failed,  the  thanks  are  not  so  outspoken 
but  more  profound.  One  says :  "  Ah,  it 
is  you,  my  brother.  I  suffer.  I  expected 
you.  I  knew  that  you  would  come,  for  I 
should  have  gone  to  you  had  you  needed 
me.    I  thank  you." 

And,  indeed,  we  are  closely  bound  to- 
gether, you  and  we.  Without  doubt,  com- 
mon interest  and  an  absence  of  possible 
competition  helps  to  that  end,  but  there 
is  something  more  which  unites  us — it  is 
our  kindred  sentiments.  It  is  this  kin- 
ship which  has  created  our  attraction 
for  each  other  and  which  has  cemented 
it;  it  is  our  common  ground  of  affections, 
of  hatreds,  of  hopes ;  our  ideals  rest  upon 
the  same  high  plane.  To  mention  but 
one  point,  one  of  you  has  said :  "  The 
United  States  and  France  are  the  only 
two  nations  which  have  fought  for  an 
ideal."  And  it  is  that  which  separates 
us,  you  and  us,  from  a  certain  other 
nation,  and  which  has  served  to  bring 
us  two  close  together. 

We  love  you  and  we  are  grateful  for 
what  you  are  doing  for  us.  When  the 
day  came  for  my  departure  from  France 
to  represent  here  the  French  Academy  I 
asked  of  Mr.  Poincare,  who  had  visited 


the  American  Ambulance  at  Neuilly,  if 
duty  did  not  forbid  me  to  go.  "  No,"  he 
said  to  me.  "  Go  to  the  United  States. 
Carry  greetings  to  the  great  nation  of 
America."  And  he  gave  to  me,  for  your 
President,  the  letter  with  which  you  are 
familiar,  where  he  expressed  the  admira- 
tion and  the  sympathy  that  he  has  for 
you. 

I  have  been  traveling  North  and 
South  in  the  Eastern  part  of  the  United 
States.  I  have  had  many  opportunities  to 
admire  your  power  and  the  extent  of 
your  efforts.  Today,  in  thinking  of  the 
American  Ambulance  Hospital  in  Paris, 
I  admire  your  persistence  in  labor.  You 
have  established  this  hospital.  That  was 
good.  But  it  costs  a  thousand  dollars  a 
day,  and  yet  you  keep  on  with  the  work. 
That  is  doubly  good.  Indeed,  one  can 
understand  that  you  have  not  been  will- 
ing, after  having  created  this  model  hos- 
pital, that  some  day  through  lack  of 
support  its  doors  should  close  and  the 
wounded  you  have  taken  in  be  turned 
over  to  others;  certainly  those  first  sub- 
scribers undertook  a  sort  of  moral  obli- 
gation to  themselves  not  to  permit  the 
work  to  fail.  But,  none  the  less,  it  is 
admirable  that  it  should  be  so.  To  give 
once  is  something,  but  it  is  little  if  one 
compares  the  value  of  the  first  gift  to 
those  which  follow. 

The  first  charity  is  easily  understood. 
Suddenly  war  is  at  hand.  Its  horrors  can 
be  imagined  and  every  one  feels  that  he 
can  in  some  measure  lessen  them,  and 
he  opens  his  purse.  Then  time  passes, 
the  war  continues,  and  one  becomes  ac- 
customed to  the  thoughts  that  were  at 
first  unbearable — it  is  so  far  away  and 
so  long.  Others  in  this  way  were 
checked  after  their  first  impulse. 

But  you,  you  have  thought  that,  if  it 
is  good  to  establish  a  hospital,  that  alone 
was  not  enough,  and  that  each  day  would 
bring  new  wounded  to  replace  those  who, 
cured,  took  up  their  guns  again  and  re- 
turned to  the  field  of  battle.  And  since 
at  the  American  Ambulance  the  wounded 
are  cured  quickly,  the  very  excellence  of 
your  organization,  the  science  of  your 
surgeons,  and  the  greatness  of  your  sac- 
rifices all  bring  upon  you  other  and 
new  sacrifices  to  be  made. 


AMERICAN    AID    OF    FRANCE 


887 


But  the  word  "  sacrifice "  is  badly 
chosen.  You  do  not  make  sacrifices,  for 
you  are  strong  and  you  are  good.  When 
you  decide  upon  some  new  generous  act 
you  have  only  to  appeal  to  your  national 
pride,  which  will  never  allow  an  Ameri- 
can undertaking  to  fail.  You  have  the 
knowledge  of  the  good  that  you  are 
doing,  and  that,  for  you,  is  sufficient. 
You  know  that,  thanks  to  your  generos- 
ity, suffering  is  relieved,  and  you  know 
that,  thanks  to  the  science  of  your  sur- 
geons, this  relief  is  not  merely  momen- 
tary, but  that  the  wounded  man  who 
would  have  remained  a  cripple  if  he  had 
been  less  ably  cared  for,  will  be,  thanks 
to  you,  completely  cured,  and  that,  in- 
stead of  dragging  out  a  miserable  ex- 
istence, he  will  be  able  to  live  a  normal 
life  and  support  a  family  which  will  bless 


you.    Such  men  will  owe  it  all  to  the  per- 
sistence of  your  generosity. 

I  return  always  to  that  point,  and  it 
is  essential.  To  give  once  is  a  common 
impulse,  common  to  nearly  all  the  world. 
It  means  freeing  one's  self  from  the  suf- 
fering which  good  souls  feel  when  they 
see  others  suffer.  But  to  give  again  after 
having  given  is  a  proof  of  reflection,  of 
an  understanding  of  the  meaning  of  life; 
it  is  to  work  intelligently;  it  is  to  in- 
sure the  value  of  the  first  effort;  it 
means  the  possession  of  goodness  which 
is  lasting  and  far-seeing.  That  is  a  rare 
virtue.  You  have  it.  And  that  is  why 
I  express  a  three-fold  thanks,  for  the 
past,  for  the  present,  and  for  the  future 
— thanks  that  come  from  the  bottom  of 
the  heart  of  a  Frenchman. 


A  FAREWELL. 

By    EDNA    MEAD. 


LOOK,  Love !    I  lay  my  wistful  hands  In 
thine 
A  little  while  before  you  seek  the  dark, 
Untraversed   ways  of  War   and   its   Reward, 
I  cannot  bear  to  lift  my  gaze  and  mark 
The  gloried  light  of  hopeful,   high  emprise 
That,  like  a  bird  already  poised  for  flight. 

Has  waked  within  your  eyes. 
For  me  no  proud  illusions  point  the  road. 

No  fancied  flowers  strew  the  paths  of  strife : 
War  only  wears  a  horrid,   hydra  face, 
Mocking  at  strength  and  courage,  youth  and 
life. 
If  you  were  going  forth  to  cross  your  sword 
In  fair  and   open,    man-to-man   affray, 
One  might  be  even  reconciled  and  say, 
"  This  is  not   murder ;   only   passion  bent 

On  pouring  out  its  poison  "—one  could  pray 
That  the   day's   end  might  see   the   madness 

done 
And  saner  souls  rise  with  the  morrow's  sun. 
But  this  incarnate  hell  that   yawns   before 
Your  bright,  brave  soul  keyed  to  the  fighter's 

clench — 
This  purgatory  that  men  call  the  "  trench  " — 
This  modern    "  Black   Hole  "    of  a  modern 
war ! 
Yea,  Love !  yet  naught  I  say  can  save  you,  so 
I  lay  my  heart  In  yours  and  let  you  go. 


stories  of  French  Courage 

By  Edwin  L.  Shuman 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  April,  1915.] 


THERE  has  just  appeared  in  Paris 
a  book  called  "  La  Guerre  Vue 
d'Une  Ambulance,"  which  brings 
the  war  closer  to  the  eye  and 
heart  than  anything  else  I  have  read. 
It  is  written  by  Abbe  Felix  Klein, 
Chaplain  of  the  American  Ambulance 
Hospital  at  Neuilly,  a  suburb  of  Paris, 
and  has  the  added  merit  of  describing 
the  noble  work  which  American  money 
and  American  Red  Cross  nurses  are  do- 
ing there  for  the  French  wounded.  The 
abbe,  by  the  way,  has  twice  visited  the 
United  States  in  recent  years,  has  many 
warm  friends  here,  and  has  wi-itten  sev- 
eral enthusiastic  books  about  the  "  Land 
of  the  Strenuous  Life." 

When  the  war  broke  out  this  large- 
hearted  priest  and  busy  author  dropped 
all  his  literary  and  other  plans  to  min- 
ister to  the  wounded  soldiers  brought  to 
the  war  hospital  established  by  Ameri- 
cans in  the  fine  new  building  of  the 
Lycee  Pasteur,  which  was  to  have  re- 
ceived its  first  medical  students  a  few 
weeks  later.  There  were  250  beds  at 
first,  and  later  500,  with  more  than  a 
hundred  American  automobiles  carry- 
ing the  wounded  to  it,  often  direct  from 
the  front. 

Through  all  these  months  Abbe  Klein 
has  labored  day  and  night  among  these 
sufferers,  cheering  some  to  recovery, 
easing  the  dying  moments  of  others  with 
spiritual  solace,  and,  hardest  of  all, 
breaking  the  news  of  bereavement  to 
parents. 

From  day  to  day,  through  those 
terrible  weeks  of  fighting  on  the  Aisne 
and  the  Marne,  with  Paris  itself  in 
danger,  the  good  abbe  wrote  brief  records 
of  his  hopes  and  fears  regarding  his 
wounded  friends,  and  set  down  in  liv- 
ing words  the  more  heroic  or  touching 
phases  of  their  simple  stories.  Let  me 
translate  a  few  of  them  for  the  reader. 


Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  Charles 
Maree,  a  blue-eyed,  red-bearded  hero  of 
thirty  years,  an  only  son  who  had  taken 
the  place  of  his  invalid  father  at  the 
head  of  their  factory,  and  who  had  re- 
sponded to  the  first  call  to  arms.  Dur- 
ing his  months  of  suffering  his  parents 
were  held  in  territory  occupied  by  the 
enemy  and  could  not  be  reached.  The 
abbe  goes  on  to  tell  his  story: 

Let  us  not  be  deceived  by  the  calm  smile 
on  his  face.  For  six  weelts  Charles  Marfee 
has  been  undergoing  an  almost  continual 
martyrdom,  his  pelvis  fractured,  with  all  the 
consequences  one  divines,  weakened  by  hem- 
orrhage, his  back  broken,  capable  only  of 
moving  his  head  and  arms.  •  •  •  He  is  one 
of  our  most  fervent  Christians :  I  bring  him 
the  communion  twice  a  week,  and  he  never 
complains  of  suffering.  He  is  also  one  of  our 
bravest  soldiers ;  he  has  received  the  military 
medal,  and  when  I  asked  him  how  it  came 
about  he  told  me  the  following  in  a  firm  tone 
and  with  his  hand  in  mine,  for  we  are  great 
friends : 

"  It  was  given  to  me  the  Sth  of  October.  I 
had  to  fulfill  a  mission  that  was  a  little  dif- 
ficult. It  was  at  Mazingarbe,  between 
B§thune  and  Lens,  and  9  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  Two  of  the  enemy's  armored  auto- 
machine  guns  had  just  been  discovered  ap- 
proaching our  lines.  I  was  ordered  to  go 
and  meet  them  with  a  Pugeot  of  twenty-five 
or  thirty  horse  power— I  was  automobilist  in 
the  Thirtieth  Dragoons. 

"  I  left  by  the  little  road  from  Vermelles 
on  which  the  two  hostile  machines  were  re- 
ported to  be  approaching.  After  twenty 
minutes  I  stopped,  put  out  my  lights,  and 
waited.  A  quarter  of  an  hour  of  profound 
silence  followed,  and  then  I  caught  the  sound 
of  tlie  first  mitrailleuse.  With  one  spin  of 
the  wheel  I  threw  my  machine  across  the 
middle  of  the  road.  That  of  the  enemy  struck 
us  squarely  in  the  centre.  The  moment  the 
shock  was  past  I  rose  from  my  seat  with  my 
revolver  and  killed  the  chauffeur  and  the 
mechanician. 

"  But  almost  immediately  the  second  ma- 
chine gun  arrived.  The  two  men  on  it  com- 
prehended what  had  happened.  While  one  of 
them  stopped  the  machine,  the  other  aimed 
at  me  under  his  seat  and  fired  a  revolver 
ball  that  pierced  both  thighs;  then  they 
turned  their  machine  and  retreated.  My 
companion,   happily,   was   not    hurt,    so     he 


I 


STORIES   OF   FRENCH    COURAGE 


889 


could  take  me  to  Vermfelles,  where  the  am- 
bulance service  was.  The  same  evening  they 
gave  me  the  military  medal,  for  which  I  had 
already  been  proposed  three  times." 

After  three  months  of  suffering,  borne 
without  complaint,  this  man  died  wath- 
out  having  been  able  to  get  a  word  to 
his  parents.  The  abbe  had  become  deep- 
ly attached  to  him,  and  the  whole  hos- 
pital corps  felt  the  loss  of  his  courageous 
presence. 

Some  of  the  horror  of  war  is  in  these, 
pages,  as  where  the  author  says: 

The  doctors  worked  till  3  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing. They  had  to  amputate  arms  and  legs 
affected  with  gangrene.  The  operating  room 
was  a  sea  of  blood. 

Some  of  the  pathos  of  war  is  here,  and 
even  a  little  of  its  humor,  but  most  of 
all  its  courage.  Both  of  the  latter  are 
mingled  in  the  case  of  an  English  soldier 
who  was  brought  in  wounded  from  the 
field  of  Soissons. 

"  I  fought  until  such  a  day,  when  I  was 
wounded." 

"  And    since    then?" 

"  Since  then   I  have  traveled." 

An  English  infantry  officer,  a  six- 
footer,  brought  to  the  hospital  with  his 
head  bandaged  in  red  rather  than  white, 
showed  the  abbe  his  cap  and  the  bullet 
hole  in  it. 

"  A  narrow  escape,"  said  the  abbe  in 
English,  and  then  learned  that  the  escape 
was  narrower  than  the  wounded  fore- 
head indicated.  Another  bullet,  without 
touching  the  officer,  had  pierced  the  sole 
of  his  shoe  under  his  foot,  and  a  third 
had  perforated  his  coat  between  the  body 
and  the  arm  without  breaking  the  skin. 

The  author's  attitude  toward  the  Ger- 
mans, always  free  from  bitterness,  is 
sufficiently  indicated  in  such  a  para- 
graph as  this: 

This  afternoon  I  gave  absolution  and  ex- 
treme unction  to  an  Irishman,  who  has  not 
regained  consciousness  since  he  was  brought 
here.  He  had  in  his  portfolio  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  his  mother.  The  nurse  is  going 
to  add  a  word  to  say  that  he  received  the 
last  sacraments.  A  Christian  hope  will  soften 
the  frightful  news.  Emperors  of  Austria 
and  Germany,  if  you  were  present  when  the 
death  is  announced  in  that  poor  Irish  home, 
and  In  thousands,  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
others,  in  England,  in  Prance,  in  Russia,  in 
Servia,  in  Belgium,  in  your  own  countries,  in 
all  Europe,  and  even  in  Africa  and  Asia! 
•    *    *    May  God  enlighten  your  consciences! 


The  French  wounded  in  the  hospital 
at  Neuilly — during  the  period  when  th-3 
German  right  wing  was  being  beaten 
back  from  Paris — frequently  accused  the 
German  regulars  of  wanton  cruelty,  but 
testified  to  the  humanity  of  the  reserv- 
ists. The  author  relates  several  episodes 
illustrating  both  points.     Here  are  two: 

"  The  regulars  are  no  good,"  said  a  brave 
peasant  reservist.  "  They  struck  me  with 
the  butts  of  their  rifles  on  my  wound.  They 
broke  and  threw  away  all  that  I  had.  The 
reserves  arrive,  and  it  is  different ;  they  take 
care  of  me.  My  comrade,  wounded  in  the 
breast,  was  dying  of  thirst ;  he  actually  died 
of  it  a  little  while  afterward.  I  dragged  my- 
self up  to  go  and  seek  water  for  him ;  the 
young  fellows  aimed  their  guns  at  me.  I 
was  obliged  to  make  a  half-turn  and  lie 
down   again." 

Another,  who  also  begins  by  praising  the 
German  field  officers,  saw  soldiers  of  the  ac- 
tive army  stripping  perfectly  nude  one  of  our 
men  who  had  a  perforated  lung,  and  whom 
they  had  made  prisoner  after  his  wound : 
"  When  they  saw  that  they  would  have  to 
abandon  him,  they  took  away  everything  from 
him,  even  his  shirt,  and  it  was  done  in  pure 
wickedness,  since  they  carried  nothing  away." 

One  of  the  most  amazing  escapes  is 
that  of  a  soldier  from  Bordeaux,  told 
partly  in  his  own  racy  idiom,  and  fully 
vouched  for  by  the  author.  After  re- 
lating how  he  left  the  railway  at  Nan- 
teuil  and  traversed  a  hamlet  pillaged  by 
the  Germans  he  continues: 

We  form  ourselves  into  a  skirmish  line. 
The  shells  come.  The  dirt  flies :  holes  to  bury 
an  ox?  One  can  see  them  coming:  zzz— 
boom !  There  is  time  to  get  out  of  the  way. 

Arrived  at  the  edge  of  the  woods,  we  sep- 
arate as  scouts.  We  are  ordered  to  advance. 
But,  mind  you,  they  already  have  our  range. 
The  artillery  makes  things  hum.  My  bugler, 
near  me,  is  killed  instantly ;  he  has  not  said 
a  word,  poor  boy !  I  am  wounded  in  the  leg. 
It  is  about  two  o'clock.  As  I  cannot  drag 
myself  further,  a  comrade,  before  leaving, 
hides  me  under  three  sheaves  of  straw  with 
my  head  under  my  knapsack.  The  shells 
have  peppered  it  full  of  holes,  that  poor  sack. 
Without  it— ten  yards  away  a  comrade,  who 
had  his  leg  broken  and  a  piece  of  shell  in  his 
arm,  received  seven  or  eight  more  wounds. 

I  stayed  there  all  day.  In  the  evening  the 
soldiers  of  the  101st  took  me  into  the  woods, 
where  there  were  several  French  wounded 
and  a  German  Captain,  wounded  the  evening 
before.  He  was  suffering  too,  poor  wretch. 
About  midnight  the  French  soldiers  came  to 
seek  those  who  were  transportable.  They  left 
only  my  comrade,  myself  and  the  German 
Captain.     There  were  other  wounded  further 


S90 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


along:,   and   we  heard  their    cries.       It     was 
dreary. 

These  wounded  men  passed  two  whole 
days  there  without  help.  On  the  third 
day  the  Germans  arrived  and  the  nar- 
rator gave  himself  up  for  lost.  But  the 
German  Captain,  with  whom  the  French- 
men had  divided  their  food  and  drink, 
begged  that  they  be  cared  for.  Ultimate- 
ly they  were  taken  to  the  German  camp 
and  their  wounds  attended  to.  But  in  a 
few  minutes  the  camp  became  the  centre 
of  a  violent  attack,  and  again  it  looked 
as  if  the  last  day  of  the  wounded  prison- 
ers had  come. 

Suddenly  the  Germans  ran  away  and 
left  everything.  An  hour  later,  when  the 
firing  ceased,  they  returned,  carried 
away  the  wounded  of  both  nationalities 
on  stretchers,  crowded  about  twenty-five 
of  them  into  one  wagon  (the  narrator's 
broken  leg  was  not  stretched  out,  and  he 
suffered,)  and  all  the  way  the  wagon 
gave  forth  the  odor  of  death.  All  day 
they  rode  without  a  bite  to  eat.  At  1 
o'clock  at  night  they  reached  the  village 
of  Cuvergnon,  where  their  wounds  were 
well  attended  to.  The  following  day  the 
Germans  departed  without  saying  a  word, 
but  the  villagers  cared  for  the  wounded, 
both  friends  and  enemies,  and  in  time  the 
American  automobiles  carried  them  to 
Neuilly. 

It  is  a  paradise  [added  the  wounded  man.] 
Now  we  are  saved.  But  what  things  I  have 
seen !  I  have  seen  an  officer  with  his  brain 
hanging  liere,  over  his  eye.  And  blaclt 
corpses,  and  bloated  horses !  The  saddest 
time  is  the  night.  One  hears  cries:  "  Help!" 
There  are  some  who  call  their  mothers.  No 
one  answers. 

All  these  recitals  of  soldiers  are 
stamped  with  the  red  badge  of  courage. 
A  priest  serving  as  an  Adjutant  was 
superintending  the  digging  of  trenches 
close  to  the  firing  line  on  the  Aisne.  He 
had  to  expose  himself  for  a  space  of 
three  feet  in  going  from  one  trench  to 
another.  In  that  instant  a  Mauser  bul- 
let struck  him  under  the  left  eye,  trav- 
ersed the  nostril,  the  top  of  the  palate, 
the  cheek  bone  and  came  out  under  the 
right  ear.  He  felt  the  bullet  only  where 
it  came  out,  but  soon  he  fell,  covered 
with  blood  and  believed  he  was  wounded 
to  death.     Then  his   courage   returned, 


and  he  crawled  into  the  trench.  Com- 
rades carried  him  to  the  ambulance  at 
Ambleny,  with  bullets  and  "  saucepans  " 
raining  about  them  from  every  direction. 
In  time  he  was  transferred  to  the  Ameri- 
can Hospital  at  Neuilly.  "  I'm  only  a  lit- 
tle disfigured  and  condemned  to  liquids," 
he  told  his  friend  the  abbe.  "  In  a  few 
weeks  I  shall  be  cured  and  will  return 
to  the  front." 

Abbe  Klein  tells  the  curious  story  of  a 
Zouave  and  his  faithful  dog.  In  one  of 
the  zigzag  corridors  connecting  the 
trenches  near  Arras  the  man  was  terri- 
bly wounded  by  a  shell  that  killed  all  his 
companions  and  left  him  three-quarters 
buried  in  the  earth.  With  only  the  dead 
around  him,  he  "felt  himself  going  to 
discouragement,"  to  use  the  author's 
mild  phrase,  when  his  dog,  which  had 
never  left  him  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  arrived  and  began  showing  every 
sign  of  distress  and  affection.  The 
wounded  man  told  the  author: 

It  is  not  true  that  he  dug  me  out,  but  he 
roused  my  courage.  I  commenced  to  free  my 
arms,  my  head,  the  rest  of  my  body.  Seeing 
this,  he  began  scratching  with  all  his  might 
around  me,  and  then  caressed  me,  licking  my 
wounds.  The  lower  part  of  my  right  leg  was 
torn  off,  the  left  wounded  in  the  calf,  a  piece 
of  shell  in  the  back,  two  fingers  cut  off,  and 
the  right  arm  burned.  I  dragged  myself 
bleeding  to  the  trench,  where  I  waited  an 
hour  for  the  litter  carriers.  They  brought 
me  to  the  ambulance  post  at  Roclincourt, 
where  my  foot  was  taken  off,  shoe  and  all; 
it  hung  only  by  a  tendon.  From  there  I  was 
carried  on  a  stretcher  to  Anzin,  then  in  a 
carriage  to  another  ambulance  post,  where 
they  carved  me  some  more.  *  •  ♦  My  dog 
was  present  at  the  first  operation.  An  hour 
after  my  departure  he  escaped  and  came  to 
me  at  Anzin. 

But  when  the  Zouave  was  sent  to 
Neuilly  the  two  friends  had  to  separate. 
At  the  railway  station  he  begged  to  take 
his  dog  along,  and  told  his  story;  but 
the  field  officer,  touched  though  he  was, 
could  not  take  it  upon  himself  to  send  a 
dog  on  a  military  train.  The  distress  of 
both  man  and  beast  was  so  evident  that 
more  than  one  nurse  had  tears  in  her 
eyes  as  the  train  pulled  out. 

They  tried  to  pet  the  dog,  dubbed  him 
Tue-Boches,  offered  him  dog  delicacies  of 
all  sorts,  but  in  vain.  He  refused  all 
food  and   remained  for  two  days  "  sad 


STORIES   OF   FRENCH    COURAGE 


391 


to  death."  Then  some  one  went  to  the 
American  Hospital,  told  how  the  dog  had 
saved  the  Zouave,  and  the  upshot  of  it 
was  that  the  faithful  animal,  duly  combed 
and  passed  through  the  disinfecting 
room,  was  admitted  to  the  hospital  and 
recovered  his  master  and  his  appetite. 
But  at  last  accounts  his  master  was  still 
very  weak,  and  "  in  the  short  visit  which 
the  dog  is  allowed  to  make  each  day,  he 
knows  perfectly,  after  a  tender  and  dis- 
creet good  morning,  how  to  hold  him- 
self very  wisely  at  the  foot  of  the  bed, 
his  eyes  fixed  upon  his  patient." 

Thanks  to  modern  science,  the  cases  of 
tetanus  are  few  in  this  war,  but  there  are 
many  deaths  from  gangrene,  because, 
with  no  truce  for  the  removal  of  the 
wounded,  so  many  lie  for  days  before  re- 
ceiving medical  aid.  Abbe  Klein  tells  of 
one  Breton  boy,  as  gentle  a  soul  as  his 
sister — "  my  little  Breton,"  he  always 
calls  him,  affectionately — and  comments 
again  and  again  upon  the  boy's  patient 
courage  amid  sufferings  that  could  have 
but  one  end.  The  infection  spread  in 
spite  of  all  that  science  could  do,  and 
even  amputation  could  not  save  him.  At 
last  he  ceased  to  live,  "  like  a  poor  little 
bird,"  as  his  French  attendant,  herself  a 
mother  with  three  boys  in  the  army, 
said  with  tears. 

Saddest  of  all  are  the  bereaved  wives 
and  mothers.  The  reader  will  find  many 
of  them  in  the  good  Chaplain's  book,  and 
they  will  bring  the  war  closer  than  any- 
thing else.  Sometimes  they  stand  mute 
under  the  blow,  looking  on  the  dead  face 
without  a  sound,  and  then  dropping  un- 
conscious to  the  floor.  Sometimes  they 
cry  wild  things  to  heaven.  The  Chap- 
lain's work  in  either  case  is  not  easy, 
and  some  of  his  most  touching  pages 
depict  such  scenes. 

There  was  a  boy  of  twenty  years,  who 
was  slowly  but  surely  dying  of  gangrene. 
Let  the  abbe  tell  the  end  of  the  story: 

At  9  o'clock  the  parents  arrive.  Frightened 
at  first  by  the  change,  they  are  reassured  to 
see  that  he  is  suffering  so  little,  and  soon 
leave  him,  as  they  think,  to  rest.  When  they 
return  at  10,  suddenly  called,  their  child  is 
dead.  Their  grief  is  terrible.  The  father 
still  masters  himself,  but  the  mother  utters 
cries.  They  are  led  to  the  chapel,  while  some 
^ne  comes  to  look  for  me.     The  poor  woman. 


who  was  wandering  about  stamping  and 
wringing  her  hands;  rushes  to  me  and  cries, 
r.o,  it  is  not  possible  that  her  son  is  dead,  a 
child  like  that,  so  healthy,  so  beautiful,  so 
lovable ;  she  wishes  me  to  reassure  her,  to  say 
it  is  as  she  says.  Before  my  silence  and  the 
tears  that  come  to  my  eyes  her  groans  re- 
double, and  nothing  can  calm  her :  "  But  what 
will  become  of  us?    "We  had  only  him." 

Nothing  quiets  her.  My  words  of  Christian 
hope  have  no  more  effect  than,  what  the 
father  tries  to  say  to  her.  For  a  moment 
she  listens  to  my  account  of  the  poor  boy's 
words  of  faith,  of  the  communion  yesterday, 
of  his  prayer  this  morning.  But  soon  she 
falls  back  into  her  distraction,  and  I  suggest 
to  the  husband  that  he  try  to  occupy  her 
mind,  to  make  a  diversion  of  some  kind ;  the 
more  so,  I  add,  as  I  must  leave  to  attend  a 
burial.  She  hears  this  word:  "  I  don't  want 
him  to  be  taken  from  me.  You  are  not  going 
to  bury  him  at  once!"  I  explain  softly  that 
no  one  is  thinking  of  such  a  thing;  that  on 
the  contrary  I  am  going  to  take  her  to  those 
who  will  let  her  see  her  boy.  We  go  then  to 
the  office,  and  I  hurry  away  to  commence  the 
funeral  of  another. 

I  learn  on  my  return  that  they  have  seen 
their  son,  such  as  death  has  made  him,  and 
that  on  hearing  the  cries  of  the  mother,  three 
other  women,  already  agitated  by  the  visit  to 
their  own  wounded  and  by  the  funeral  prep- 
arations, have  fallen  in  a  faint. 

One  day  last  Fall  President  Poincare, 
accompanied  by  M.  Viviani  and  General 
Gallieni,  was  received  at  the  American 
Hospital  by  Mr.  Herrick,  the  American 
Ambassador,  and  by  the  members  of  the 
Hospital  Committee.  Abbe  Klein  has 
words  of  praise  not  only  for  Mr.  Herrick, 
but  also  for  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Bacon, 
and  for  his  successor,  Mr.  Sharp.  His 
admiration  for  the  devoted  American 
women  who  are  serving  as  nurses  in  the 
hospital  is  expressed  frequently  in  his 
pages.  He  says  the  labors  of  the  Ameri- 
can nurses  and  those  of  the  French 
nurses  complement  each  other  admirably. 
Of  the  founding  and  maintenance  of  the 
hospital  at  Neuilly,  he  says: 

The  resources  are  provided  wholly  by  the 
charity  of  Americans.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  war  the  administrative  council  of  their 
Paris  hospital  took  the  initiative  in  the  move- 
ment. The  American  colony  in  France,  al- 
most unaided,  gave  the  half-million  francs 
that  was  subscribed  the  first  month.  New 
York  and  other  cities  of  the  United  States 
followed  their  lead,  and,  in  spite  of  the  finan- 
cial crisis  that  grips  there  as  elsewhere,  one 
may  be  sure  that  the  funds  will  not  be  want- 
ing. America  has  its  Red  Cross,  which,  justly 
enough,  aids  the  wounded  of  all  nations ;  but, 
among  the  belligrerents,  it  has  chosen  to  dis- 


892  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

tinguish   the  compatriots   of  Lafayette   and  Mrs.  Harry  Payne  Whitney,  and  its  use 

Rocharnbeau ;  our  field  hospital  is  the  witness  ^     ^j^^  committee  to  establish  an  affili- 

of  their  faithful  gratitude.     France  will   not  T    ,  ,          .^    ,            ,       ^   ,,             .,.,,. 

forget.  ^''^^  hospital  at  the  College  of  JuiUy,  m 

Later  the  abbe  recorded  in  his  diary      ^^^^  Department  of  Seine-et-Marne.     He 

added    that    still    other    branches    were 


about    to    be    founded    with    American 
funds. 


that  the  500  beds  would  soon  be  filled, 
but  added  that  the  generous  activity  cf 
the'  Americans  would  not  end  there. 
They  would  establish  branch  hospitals.  Abbe  Klein  writes  out  of  a  full  and 
Large  sums  had  been  placed  at  the  dis-  sincere  heart,  whether  as  a  priest,  a 
posal  of  the  committee  to  found  an  "  am-  patriot,  or  a  man  who  loves  his  fellow- 
bulance "  in  Belgium  and  another  in  men;  and,  without  seeking  it,  he  writes 
France  as  near  the  front  as  prudence  as  a  master  of  phrase.  His  new  book 
permitted.  Toward  the  end  of  January  probably  will  scon  be  translated  and  pub- 
he  recorded  the  gift   of  $200,000  from  lished  in  the  United  States. 


A  TROOPER'S  SOLILOQUY 

By   O.    C.    A.    CHILD 

J^T^IS  very  peaceful  by  our  place  the  now! 
I       Aye,    Mary's   home   from    school — the 
-■-  little  toad— 

And  Jeck  is  likely  bringing  in  the  cow, 
Away  from  pasture,  down  the  hillside  road. 

Now  Nancy,  I'll  be  bound,   is  brewing  tea! 

She's  humming  at  her  work  the   way  she 
will. 
And,  happen  so,  she  maybe  thinks  of  me 

And  wishes  she'd  another  cup  to  fill. 

'Tis  very   queer   to   sit   here   on   this   nag 
And    swing    this    bit    o'    blade    within    my 
hand- 
To  keep   my  eye  upon   that   German  flag 
And    wonder    will    they    run    or    will    they 
stand ; 

To  watch  their  Uhlans  forming  up  below. 
And   feel   a   queersome   way    that's   like   to 
fear; 

To  hope  to  God  that  I  won't  make  a  show. 
And  that  my  throat  is  not  too  dry  to  cheer; 

To   close  my  eyes   a  breath   and   say   "  God 

bless 

And  keep  all  safe  at  home,  and  aid  us  win," 

Then  straighten  as  the  bugle  sounds  "  Right, 

Dress    *    ♦    »  •• 

Hurrah  !    Hurrah  !    Hurrah  !      We're    going 


American  Unfriendliness 

By  Maximilian  Harden 

[From  The  New  York  Times,   April,   1915.] 

Maximilian  Harden,  author  of  the  article  of.  which  the  following  is  a  translation,  is  the 
widely  known  German  journalist  and  publicist  who  has  been  termed  "  the  German  George 
Bernard  Shaw."     The  article  was  published  in  the  second  February  number  of  Die  Zukunft. 


TTAPAN  and  the  United  States  are 
m  being  ivooed.  Ever  since  the 
%J  Western,  powers'  hope  of  speedy 
decisive  blows  on  the  part  of  Rus- 
sia have  shriveled  up,  they  would  like  to 
lure  the  Japanese  Army,  two  to  four 
hundred  thousand  men,  to  the  Continent. 
What  was  scoffed  at  as  a  whim  of  Pin- 
chon  and  Clemenceau  now  is  unveiled  as 
a  yearning  of  those  at  the  head  of  the 
Governments. 

The  sentimental  wish  to  see  Germany's 
collapse  completed  by  the  activities  of 
the  allied  European  powers  now  ventures 
only  shyly  into  the  light  of  day.  The 
ultimate  wearing  down  of  the  German 
Army  assures  us  of  victory;  but  a  speedy 
termination  of  the  war  under  which  the 
whole  hemisphere  suffers  would  be  pref- 
erable. The  Trans-Siberian  Railway  could 
bring  the  Japanese  to  Poland  and  East 
Prussia.  The  greatness  of  the  expendi- 
tures therefor  cannot  frighten  him  who 
knows  what  tremendous  sums  each  week 
of  the  war  costs  the  Allies.  Where  it  is 
a  question  of  our  life,  of  the  existence  of 
all  free  lands,  every  consideration  must 
vanish.  Public  opinion  desires  an  agree- 
ment with  the  Government  of  the  Mikado. 
These  sentences  I  found  in  the  Temps. 
England  will  not  apply  the  brakes.  Mr. 
Winston  Churchill,  to  be  sure,  lauds  the 
care-free  fortune  of  his  fatherland, 
which  even  after  Trafalgar,  he  says,  did 
not  command  the  seas  as  freely  as  today; 
but  in  his  inmost  heart  even  this  "  savior 
of  Calais  "  does  not  cheat  himself  con- 
cerning the  fact  that  it  is  a  matter  of  life 
and  death.  In  order  not  to  succumb  in 
such  a  conflict,  England  will  sacrifice  its 
prosperous  comfort  and  the  lordly  pride 
of  the  white  man  just  as  willingly  as  it 
would,  if  necessary,  Gibraltar  and  Egypt, 


(which  might  be  within  the  reach  of  Ger- 
man armies  in  the  Spring.) 

Will  Japan  follow  the  luring  cry?  Any 
price  will  be  paid  for  it.  What  is  Indo- 
China  to  the  Frenchmen,  whose  immense 
colonial  empire  is  exploited  by  strangers, 
if  thereby  they  can  purchase  the  bliss  of 
no  longer  being  "  the  victims  of  1870  "? 
And  the  yellow  race  that  co-operated  on 
Europe's  soil  in  the  most  momentous  de- 
cision of  all  history  would  live  in  splen- 
dor such  as  had  never  before  been  seen, 
and  could  keep  China,  the  confused,  reel- 
ing republic,  for  at  least  a  generation  in 
its  guardianship. 

The  land  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  is 
only  being  asked  to  give  its  neutrality  the 
color  of  good-^vill.  It  is,  for  the  time 
being,  unlikely  that  the  United  States 
would  stand  beside  our  opponents  with 
army  and  navy,  as  has  been  urgently 
counseled  by  Mr.  Roosevelt,  (who  re- 
ceived the  honorary  doctor's  title  in  Ber- 
lin and  as  a  private  citizen  reviewed  a 
brigade  drill  at  the  Kaiser's  side.)  Nev- 
ertheless, experience  warns  us  to  be  pre- 
pared for  every  change  of  weather,  from 
the  distant  West,  as  well  as  the  distant 
East,  (and  to  guard  ourselves  alike 
against  abuse  and  against  flattery.) 

The  sentiment  of  the  Americans  is  un- 
friendly to  us.  In  spite  of  Princes'  trav- 
els, Fritz  monuments,  exchanges  of  pro- 
fessors, Kiel  Week,  and  cable  compli- 
ments? Yes,  in  spite  of  all  that.  We 
can't  change  it.  And  should  avoid  im- 
petuous wooing. 

The  missionaries  of  the  Foreign  Office 
brought  along  with  them  in  trunks  and 
bundles  across  the  sea  the  prettiest  eag- 
erness; but  in  many  cases  they  selected 
useless  and  in  some  cases  even  injurious 
methods.    Lectures,  pamphlets,  defensive 


394 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


writings — the  number  of  the  defenders 
and  the  abundance  of  their  implements 
and  talk  only  nursed  suspicion.  What- 
ever could  be  done  for  the  explanation  of 
the  German  conduct  was  done  by  Ger- 
mania's  active  children,  who  know  the 
country  and  the  people. 

The  American  business  man  never  likes 
to  climb  mountains  of  paper.  He  has  grown 
up  in  a  different  emotional  zone,  accus- 
tomed to  a  different  standard  of  values 
than  the  Middle  European.  To  feel  his 
way  into  foreign  points  of  view,  finally  to 
become,  in  ordinary  daily  relations,  a 
psychologist,  that  will  be  one  of  the  chief 
duties  of  the  German  of  tomorrow.  He 
may  no  longer  demand  that  the  stranger 
shall  be  like  him;  no  longer  denounce  es- 
sential differences  of  temperament  as  a 
sin.  The  North  American,  among  whose 
ancestors  are  Britons  and  Spaniards, 
Celts  and  Dutchmen,  South  Frenchmen 
and  Low  Germans,  does  not  easily  under- 
stand the  Englishman,  despite  the  com- 
mon language;  calls  him  surly,  stiff,  cold; 
charges  him  with  selfishness  and  pre- 
sumption, and  has  never,  as  a  glance 
l^ckward  will  show,  shirked  battle  with 
him  for  great  issues.  For  the  most  part, 
to  be  sure,  it  remains  the  scolding  of 
relatives,  who  wish  to  tug  at  and  tousel 
each  other,  not  to  murder  each  other. 

Only  before  the  comrade  of  Japan  did 
the  brow  of  Jonathan  wrinkle  more  deep- 
ly. But  every  Briton  swore  that  his 
knisman  wjuld  bar  the  yellow  man's  way 
to  Hawaii,  California,  and  the  Philip- 
pines, and  put  him  in  the  fields  of  Asia 
only  as  a  terror  to  the  Russians  or  a 
scarecrow  to  the  Germans.  A  doubt  re- 
mained, nevertheless;  and  we  missed  the 
chance  of  a  strong  insurance  against  Jap- 
anese encroachment.  Stroked  caressing- 
ly yesterday  and  boxed  ears  today: 

Over  there  the  dollar  alone  rules,  and  all 
diplomacy  is  a  pestilential  swamp;  decency 
is  an  infrequent  guest,  with  scorn  grinning 
ever  over  its  shoulder;  the  entrepreneur  is 
a  rogue,  the  official  a  purchasable  puppet, 
the  lady  a  cold-cream-covered  lady-peacock. 

The '  stubborn  idealism,  the  cheerful 
ability  of  the  American,  his  joy  in  giv- 
ing, his  achievements  in  and  for  art, 
science,   culture — all    that   was   scarcely 


noticed.     Such  a  caricature  could  not  be 
erased  by  compliments. 

Before  Mr.  Roosevelt  bared  his  set  of 
stallion's  teeth  (Hengstgebiss)  to  the 
Berliners,  he  had  spoken  cheerfully  to 
Admirals  Dewey  and  Beresford  concern- 
ing the  possibilities  of  a  war  of  the  Star- 
Spangled  Banner  against  Germany.  And 
gentler  fellow-countrymen  of  the  bill- 
board man  said: 

You're  amazing.  Yourselves  devilishly 
greedy  for  profits,  yet  you  scoff  at  us  be- 
cause we  go  chasing  after  business.  You 
fetch  heaps  of  money  across  the  sea,  and 
then  turn  up  your  sublimely  snuffing  noses 
as  if  it  stinks. 

To  reach  an  understanding  would  have 
been  difficult  even  in  times  of  peace. 
The  American  is  unwilling  to  be  either 
stiff  or  subservient.  He  does  not  wish 
to  be  accounted  of  less  value  as  a  mer- 
chant than  the  officer  or  official;  wishes 
to  do  what  he  likes  and  to  call  the  Presi- 
dent an  ox  outright  if  he  pleases.  Leave 
him  as  he  is;  and  do  not  continually  hurt 
the  empire  and  its  swarms  of  emigrant 
children  by  the  attempt  to  force  strangers 
into  the  shell  of  your  will  and  your  opin- 
ion. 

Is  it  not  possible  that  the  American  is 
analyzing  the  origin  of  the  war  in  his 
own  way?  That  he  looks  upon  Belgium's 
fate  with  other  eyes  than  the  German? 
That  he  groans  over  "  the  army  as  an 
end  in  itself  "  and  over  "  militarism  "  ? 
That  he  does  not  understand  us  any 
quicker  than  the  German  Michel  under- 
stands him?  And  that  he  puffs  furious- 
ly when,  after  a  long  period  of  drought, 
the  war,  a  European  one,  now  spoils  his 
trade? 

Only  for  months  at  the  worst,  Sam; 
then  it  will  spring  up  again  in  splendor 
such  as  has  never  been  seen  before.  No 
matter  how  the  dice  fall  for  us,  the  chief 
winnings  are  going  to  you.  The  cost  of 
the  war  (expense  without  increment, 
devastation,  loss  of  business)  amounts  to 
a  hundred  thousand  million  marks  or 
'nore  for  old  Europa;  she  will  be  loaded 
down  with  loans  and  taxes.  Even  to  the 
gaze  of  the  victor,  customers  will  sink 
away  that  were  yesterday  capable  of 
buying  and  paying.  Extraordinary  risks 
cannot  be  undertaken  for  many  a  year 


AMERICAN    UNFRIENDLINESS 


395 


on  our  soil.  But  everybody  will  drift 
over  to  you — Ministers  of  Finance,  art- 
ists, inventors,  and  those  vsrho  scent  prof- 
its. You  will  merely  have  to  free  your- 
selves from  dross  (and  from  the  trust 
thought  that  cannot  be  stifled)  and  to 
weed  out  the  tares  of  demagogy;  then 
you  will  be  the  effective  lords  of  the 
world  and  will  travel  to  Europe  like  a 
great  Niirnberg  that  teaches  people  sub- 
sequently to  feel  how  once  upon  a  time  it 
felt  to  operate  in  the  Narrows. 

The  scope  of  your  planning  and  of  your 
accomplishment,  the  very  rank  luxuri- 
ance of  your  life,  will  be  marveled  at  as 
a  fairy  wonder.  We,  victors  and  con- 
quered and  neutrals,  will  alike  be  con- 
fined by  duty  to  austere  simplicity  of 
living.  Your  complaint  is  unfounded; 
only  gird  yourselves  for  a  wee  short  time 
in  patience.  Whether  the  business  deals 
which  you  grab  in  the  wartime  smell 
good  or"  bad,  we  shall  not  now  publicly 
investigate.  If  law  and  custom  permit 
them,  what  do  you  care  for  alien  heart- 
ache? If  the  statutes  "of  international 
law  prohibit  them,  the  Governments  must 


insure  the  effectiveness  thereof.  Scold- 
ing does  not  help.  Until  the  battle  has 
been  fought  out  to  the  finish,  until  the 
book  of  its  genesis  has  been  exalted 
above  every  doubt,  your  opinion  weighs 
as  heavy  as  a  little  .chicken's  feather  to 
us.  Let  "writer  and  talker  rave  till  they 
are  exhausted — not  a  syllable  yet  in  de- 
fense. 

We  do  not  feel  hurt,  (haven't  spare 
time  for  it;)  indeed,  we  are  glad  that  you 
gave  ten  millions  each  month  for  Bel- 
gium, that  you  intend  to  help  care  for 
Poland,  that  you  are  opening  the  savings 
banks  of  your  children.  But,  seriously, 
we  beg  you  not  to  howl  if  American 
ships  are  damaged  by  the  attack  of  Ger- 
man submarines.  England  wishes  to 
shut  off  our  imports  of  foodstuffs  and 
raw  materials,  and  we  wish  to  shut  off 
England's.  You  do  not  attempt  to  land 
on  our  coast;  keep  away  also  from  that 
of  Britain.  You  were  warned  early. 
What  is  now  to  take  place  is  commanded 
by  merciless  necessity;  must  be. 

And  let  no  woeful  cries,  no  threats, 
crowd  into  Germany's  ears. 


ENDOWED  WITH  A  NOBLE  FIRE  OF  BLOOD 
By  A.  Kouprine 


[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 


NOT  applause,  not  admiration,  but  the  deep,  eternal  gratitude  of  the 
whole  civilized  world  is  now  due  to  the  self-denying  Belgian  people 
and  their  noble  young  sovereign.  They  first  threw  themselves 
before  the  savage  beast,  foaming  with  pride,  maddened  with  blood.  They 
thought  not  of  their  own  safety,  nor  of  the  prosperity  of  their  houses,  nor 
of  the  fate  of  the  high  culture  of  their  country,  nor  of  the  vast  numbers 
and  cruelty  of  the  enemy.  They  have  saved  not  only  their  fatherland,  but 
all  Europe — the  cradle  of  intellect,  taste,  science,  creative  art,  and  beauty — 
they  have  saved  from  the  fury  of  the  barbarians  trampling,  in  their  inso- 
lence, the  best  roses  in  the  holy  garden  of  God.  Compared  with  their 
modest  heroism  the  deed  of  L-eonidas  and  his  Spartans,  who  fought  In 
the  Pass  of  Thermopylae,  falls  into  the  shade.  And  the  hearts  of  all 
the  noble  and  the  good  beat  in  accord  with  their  great  hearts.    *    *    ♦ 

No,  never  shall  die  or  lose  its  power  a  people  endowed  with  such  a 
noble  fire  of  blood,  with  such  feelings  that  inspire  it  to  confront  bereave- 
ment, sorrow,  siclcness,  wounds;  to  march  as  friends,  hand  in  hand,  adored 
King  and  simple  cottager,  man  and  woman,  poor  and  rich,  weak  and 
strong,  aristocrat  and  laborer.  Salutation  and  humblest  reverence  to 
them ! 


Chronology  of  the  War 

Showing  Progress  of  Campaigns  on  All  Fronts  and  Collateral  Events 
from  Feb.  28,  1915,  Up  To  and  Including  March  31,  1915 

[Continued  from  the  March  Number] 

CAMPAIGN  IN  EASTERN  EUROPE 


March  1 — Two  German  army  corps  are  de- 
feated In  struggle  for  Przasnysz ;  Ger- 
mans bombard  Ossowetz. 

March  2 — Russians  win  Dukla  Pass;  10,000 
Germans  taken  prisoner  at  Przasnysz; 
Russians  reinforced  on  both  flanks  in 
Poland ;  Austrians  meet  reverse  near  Stan- 
islau ;  Austrians  make  progress  in  the 
Carpathians ;    Russians    shell    Czernowitz. 

March  3 — Russians  press  forward  from  the 
Niemen  and  the  Dniester ;  Austro-Ger- 
man  army  driven  back  in  Galicia;  Ger- 
mans demolish  two  Ossowetz  forts. 

March  4 — Russians  are  pressing  four  armies 
through  the  mountain  passes  into  Hun- 
gary ;  they  have  checked  a  new  Bukowina 
drive  on  the  part  of  the  Austrians. 

March  5 — Russians  are  taking  the  offensive 
from  the  Baltic  Sea  to  the  Rumanian 
frontier;  German  armies  in  the  north 
have  been  split  into  isolated  columns; 
Russians  report  the  recapture  of  Stan- 
islau  and  Czernowitz ;  snow  is  retarding 
the    invasion    of   Hungary. 

March  G — Russian  centre  takes  up  attack; 
Russians  are  gaining  in  North  Poland ; 
Austrians   give   ground   in   East  Galicia. 

March  7 — Germans  start  another  drive  in 
region  of  Pilica  River;  Austrians  retreat 
in   Bukowina. 

March  8 — Russians  silence  two  batteries  of 
German  siege  artillery  at  Ossowetz ;  Aus- 
trians gain  ground  in  the  Carpatians 
and  Galicia ;  it  is  reported  that  German 
troops  in  Northern  Poland  aid  Galicia 
are    exhausted. 

March  0 — Germans  are  raising  the  siege  of 
Ossowetz  and  are  retreating  in  Northern 
Poland  ;  Russians  claim  that  the  Austrian 
offensive  in  Eastern  Galicia  is  a  com- 
plete  failure. 

March  10 — Germans  attempt  to  break 
through  Russian  line  in  Northern  Poland ; 
General  Eichorn's  army,  retreating  from 
the  Niemen,  is  being  harried  by  Rus- 
sian cavalry  and  has  been  pierced  at  one 
point;  Austrians  have  successes  in  the 
Carpathians    and    Western    Galicia. 

March  11 — One  million  men  are  engaged  in 
a  series  of  battles  in  Northern  Poland, 
the    front    being    eighty    miles    long. 

March  12 — In  the  Carpathians  the  Russians 
capture  the  villages  of  I^upkow  and  Smol- 
nik  and  the  surrounding  heights. 


March  13 — Russians  check  German  offensive 
against  Przasnysz;  fighting  in  progress 
along  Orzyc  River ;  Austrians  repulse 
Russian  attack  near  Cisna  in  the  Car- 
pathians. 

March  14 — Russians  check  German  advance 
in  Mlawa  region. 

March  15 — Russians  capture  the  chief  east- 
ern defense  of  Przemysl,  three  miles  from 
the  heart  of  the  defense  system,  Aus- 
trian troops  which  held  the  position  leav- 
ing many  guns  in  the  snow;  the  siege 
ring  is  now  drawn  tighter ;  battle  is  on 
in  Bukowina ;  there  is  fighting  among 
the  ice  fields  of  the  Carpathians. 

March  16 — Russians  take  vigorous  offensive 
and  drive  back  army  that  was  marching 
on  Przasnysz ;  100,000  men  have  been 
buried  in  a  triangle  a  few  miles  in  area 
between  Warsaw  and  Skierniewice ;  Ger- 
mans are  making  use  of  fireworks  at 
night  to  locate  Russian  guns ;  Austrian 
Archduke  Frederick  suggests  to  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  the  abandonment  of  the 
campaign  against  Serbia,  all  troops  to  be 
diverted  to  the  Carpathians. 

March  17 — Przemysl  wis  in  peril;  Russians 
have  recrossed  the  German  frontier  in 
two  places ;  there  is  fighting  on  a  600- 
mile  front ;  it  is  reported  that  the  Aus- 
trian Army  in  East  Galicia  has  been 
flanked ;  a  battle  is  being  fought  in  the 
snow   for   the  possession   of   Tarnowice. 

March  IS — Germans  threaten  severe  repris- 
als on  Russians  for  devastation  in  East 
Prussia;  German  offensive  in  much  of 
Poland  is  reported  to  be  broken. 

March  19 — Memel,  German  port  on  the  Bal- 
tic, is  occupied  by  the  Russians ;  Tilsit 
is  menaced  ;  Von  Hindenburg  starts  a  new 
offensive  in  Central  Poland ;  the  Germans 
have  lost  heavily  along  the  Pilica ;  Aus- 
trians claim  that  they  have  halted  the 
Russian  advance  in  the  Carpathians. 

March  20 — Russians  win  battle  in  streets 
of  Memel ;  battle  line  extends  to  Ru- 
manian border;  sortie  by  Przemysl  garri- 
son is  driven  back;  statistics  published 
in  Petrograd  show  that  95  towns  and  4,. 500 
villages  in  Russian  Poland  have  been 
devastated  as  result  of  German  invasion ; 
damage  estimated  at  1500,000,000. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    WAR 


397 


March  21 — Austrians  renew  operations 
against  Serbia  and  are  defeated  in 
artillery  duel  near  Belgrade ;  Russians 
are  advancing  on  Tilsit;  another  Przemysl 
sortie   is    repelled. 

March  22 — After  a  seige  which  began  on 
Sept.  2,  the  longest  siege  in  modern 
history,  the  great  Galician  fortress  of 
Przemysl  is  surrendered  to  the  Russians, 
who  capture  9  Austrian  Generals,  JlOO 
officers,  and  125,000  men,  according  to 
Russian  statements ;  the  strategic  value 
of  Przemysl  is  considered  great,  as  it 
guarded  the  way  to  Cracow  and  to  im- 
portant Carpathian  passes ;  Germans  re- 
take Memel ;  Russians  are  preparing  for 
vigorous  offensive  in  the  Carpathians ; 
Austrians  are  shelling  the  Montenegrin 
front. 

March  23 — Demonstrations  are  held  in  Rus- 
sia over  fall  of  Przemysl ;  Germans  say 
that  the  capture  of  the  place  cannot  in- 
fluence   general    situation. 

March  24 — Battle  is  being  fought  in  tne 
Carpathians ;  Russians  march  on  Hungary 
and  pursue  strong  column  that  had  been 
seeking  to  releive  Przemysl ;  Germans 
withdraw  big  guns   from  Ossowetz. 

March  25 — Russians  carry  Austrian  position 
on  crest  of  Beskid  Mountains  in  Lupkow 
Pass  region  and  win  victory  in  Bukowina; 
fighting  in  Southern  Poland  is  resumed. 

March  2(5 — It  is  reported  that  the  Austro- 
German  armies  in  the  Carpathians  are 
withdrawing  into  Hungary ;  Germans  re- 
treat  in    the   north. 

March  27— Violent  fighting  in  the  Carpa- 
thians ;  Austrians  make  gains  in  Buko- 
wina. 

March  28 — Russians  break  into  Hungary  and 
carry  on  offensive  operations  against 
Uszok    and    Lupkow    Passes. 

March  29 — Austrians  make  gains  at  several 
points ;  Russians  say  that  the  Memel 
-dash   was   a    mere    raid. 

March  30 — Russians  storm  crests  in  the 
Carpathians ;  Austrians  are  in  a  big  drive 
across  Bukowina;  160,000  Germans  are 
reported    as    being    rushed    to    Austria. 

March  31 — Russians  are  making  their  way 
down  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Car- 
pathians into  Hungary;  German  army 
corps  reported  trapped  and  cut  to  pieces 
in  Northern  Poland ;  Pola  is  preparing 
for  a  siege. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  WESTERN  EUROPE. 

March  2 — Germans  are  pouring  reinforce- 
ments into  Belgium ;  British  gain  ground 
near   La  Bass4e. 

March  4 — Hard  fighting  in  the  Vosges ;  Ger- 
mans spray  burning  oil  and  chemicals 
upon  French  advancing  in  Malancourt 
woods. 

March  5 — Germans  checked  at  Rheims ;  re- 
port of  Sir  John  French  says  situation 
is  unchanged  in  Belgium ;  Germans  are 
holding  reserves  in  Alsace. 


March  9 — Floods  hamper  campaign  in  Alsace ; 
it  is  reported  that  Germans  are  shelling 
factories  in  France  which  they  cannot 
capture. 

March  10 — Germans  declare  that  the  French 
have  failed  in  the  Champagne  district 
and  have  lost  45,000  men. 

March  11 — After  several  days  of  severe 
fighting  the  British  capture  Neuve  Cha- 
pelle,  the  German  loss  being  estimated  by 
British  at  18,000 ;  the  British  also  have  lost 
heavily,  particularly  in  officers ;  British 
believe  they  will  now  be  able  to  threaten 
seriously  the  German  position  at  La  Bas- 
s6e ;  French  "War  Office  says  operations 
in  Champagne  have  aided  Russians  by 
preventing  Germans  from  reinforcing 
eastern  armies. 

March  12 — British  are  pressing  on  toward 
Lille ;  they  gain  near  ArmentiSres,  oc- 
cupy Epinette,  and  advance  toward  La 
Bass4e ;  Germans  are  intrenched  in  Au- 
bers ;  the  new  drive  is  expected  by  Allies 
to  prevent  Germans  in  the  west  from 
sending  reinforcements  to  the  east. 

March  13 — Sir  John  French  reports  further 
gains  in   Neuve   Chapelle  region. 

March  14 — French  occupy  Vauquois,  the  key 
to  a  wide  area  of  the  Argonne ;  they  cap- 
ture trenches  and  occupy  Embermenil ; 
Belgians  gain  on  the  Yser ;  British  repel 
German  attack  on  Neuve  Chapelle ;  it 
announced  that  the  French  recent 
a  victory  at  Reichackerkopf  in 

March  15 — French  capture  trenches  north  of 
Arras ;  Germans  drive  back  British  south 
of  Ypres ;  Germans  meet  reverse  at  Neuve 
Chapelle ;  it  is  announced  that  the  French 
recently  won  a  victory  at  Combres; 
French  and  British  are  preparing  for  a 
general  offensive ;  the  first  installment 
is  given  out  from  French  official  sources 
of  a  historical  review  of  the  war,  from 
the  French  viewpoint,  covering  the  first 
six  months. 

March  1(5 — Belgians  cross  the  Ysim-;  they 
drive  Germans  from  trenches  south  of 
Nieuport ;  British  retake  St.  Eloi ;  barbed 
wire  fence,  ten  feet  high,  encompasses 
entire  zone  of  German  military  oper- 
ations in  Alsace ;  British  still  hold  Neuve 
Chapelle  after  several  spirited  attempts 
to  retake  it. 

March  17 — Westende  bombarded ;  Belgians 
carry  two  positions  in  Yser  region. 

March  18 — Belgian  Army  continues  to  ad- 
vance on  the  Yser ;  French  continue  to 
hold  the  heights  near  Notre  Dame  de 
Lorette  despite  repeated  shelling  of  their 
position ;  Germans  are  fortifying  towns 
in  Alsace. 

March  19 — Belgians  and  Germans  are  fight- 
ing a  battle  in  the  underground  pas- 
sages of  a  monastery  in  front  of  Rams- 
cappelle ;  official  British  report  tells  of 
new  German   repulse  at  St.   Eloi.        , 

March  21 — Germans  take  a  hill  in  the  Vosges. 

March  24 — New  battle  begins  along  the  Yser. 


398 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


March  26 — Belgians  make  progress  on  road 
from   Dixmude    to    Ypres. 

March  27 — Fjench  capture  summit  of  Hart- 
manns-Weilerkopf   Mountain. 

March  29 — French  are  pressing  the  Germans 
hard  at  various  points  in  Champagne ; 
as  an  offset,  the  Germans  renew  activity 
against  Rheims  with  lively  bombard- 
ments; sapping  and  mining  operations 
are  stated  to  be  the  only  means  of 
gaining  ground  in  the  Argonne. 

TURKISH     AND     EGYPTIAN     CAM- 
PAIGN. 

March  1 — Turkish  forces  mass  on  Asiatic 
side  of  the  Dardanelles  under  Essad 
Pasha,  defender  of  Janina ;  Russians 
have  completed  the  expulsion  of  Turks 
from  Transcaucasus  region  and  dominate 
the  Black  Sea. 

March  3 — Russians,  after  three  days'  battle, 
stop  reiinforcements  for  Turks  in  the 
Caucasus. 

March  5 — Turks  abandon  for  the  time  the 
campaign  against  Egypt  and  recall 
troops. 

March  7 — British  drive  Turks  back  from  the 
Persian  Gulf,  with  considerable  losses  on 
both  sides ;  it  is  reported  that  the  Ger- 
mans killed  300  Turks  in  a  conflict  be- 
tween these  allies  after  the  Egyptian  re- 
treat. 

Mai^^^  Germans  report  that  British  were 
^^^BHI^Tecently  in  Southern  Mesopotamia. 

Marrli  12— General  d'Amaade,  commander  of 
the  French  forces  in  Morocco,  has  been 
put  m  command  of  a  force  which  is  to  aid 
the  allied  fleets  in  operations  against 
Constantinople. 

March  13— Turks  are  driven  back  in  Armenia 
anil    Northwestern    Persia. 

Marcli  16— Russians  rout  Turks  in  Armenia 
and   threaten   Turks  in  the  Caucasus. 

March  IS— Turkish  soldiers  kill  several  civ- 
ilians in  the  Urumiah  district  of  Persia; 
Turks  are  massing  large  forces  near  Con- 
stantinople and  on  Asiatic  side  of  the 
Dardanelles. 

March    1!»     Russians    occupy    Archawa. 

March  20-  Turks  reported  to  be  four  days' 
march    from    Suez    Canal. 

March  23- — Turkish  force  operating  against 
town  of  Suez  is  routed. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  FAR  EAST. 
March  12— Tt  is  reported  from  Peking  that 
nine  d  inians,  among  them  the  German 
Military  Attach^  at  Peking,  who  is  lead- 
ing the  party,  escaped  from  Tsing-tao 
when  it  fell,  and  have  made  their  way 
1,000  miles  into  Manchuria,  where  they 
are  trying  to  blow  up  tunnels  along  the 
Trans-Siberian  railway ;  Russian  troops 
are   pursuing   them. 

,    CAMPAIGN  IN  AFRICA. 

March  21 — Official  announcement  is  made 
that  General  Botha,   Commander  in  Chief 


of  the  Army  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa, 
has  captured  200  Germans  and  two  field 
guns  at  Swakopmund,  German  South- 
west   Africa. 

NAVAL  RECORD— GENERAL. 

March  1— Norwegian  steamer  reports  ram- 
ming a  submarine  off  English  coast. 

March  2— Bulgaria  protests  to  Austria,  Rus- 
sia, and  Serbia  against  mines  in  the 
Danube ;  diligent  inquiry  in  England  fails 
to  produce  any  evidence  supporting  report 
that  British  superdreadnought  Audacious, 
wrecked  by  mine  or  torpedo  on  Oct.  27, 
is  about  to  be  restored  to  the  fighting 
line. 

March  3— Allied  fleet  silences  three  inner 
forts  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Dar- 
danelles ;  Berlin  report  says  British 
cruiser  Zephyr  was  damaged. 

March  4— Attack  on  Dardanelles  continues; 
French  ships  bombard  Bulair  forts  and 
destroy  Kavak  Bridge;  Field  Marshal  von 
der  Goltz  has  asked  for  German  artillery 
officers  to  aid  in  defending  Dardanelles, 
but  it  is  reported  that  Germans  cannot 
spare  any ;  German  submarine  U-8  is  sunk 
by  destroyers  of  the  Dover  flotilla ;  Ger- 
man submarine  chases  hospital  ship  St. 
Andrew. 

March  S — Allies  report  that  six,  possibly 
seven,  German  submarines  have  been 
sunk  since  beginning  of  the  war;  two 
Captains  of  British  merchant  ships  claim 
prize  for  sinking  German  submarines ; 
British  Admiralty  informs  shipping  in- 
terests that  a  new  mine  field  has  been 
laid  in  the  North  Sea ;  Germans  report 
a  French  ammunition  ship  sunk  at  Os- 
tend ;  Japanese  report  that  the  schooner 
Aysha,  manned  by  part  of  the  crew  of 
the  Emden,  is  still  roving  the  Indian 
Ocean ;  there  is  despair  in  Constantinople 
as  Dardanelles  bombardment  continues ; 
Russian  Black  Sea  fleet  is  steaming  to- 
ward the  Bosporus;  allied  fleet  is  bom- 
barding Smyrna. 

March  fi— British  ships  Queen  Elizabeth  and 
Prince  George  attack  strong  Dardanelles 
forts,  they  blow  up  one  and  damage  two ; 
allied  landing  party  suffers  loss ;  Asia 
Minor  ports  are  being  shelled  ;  one-third  of 
the  Dardanelles  reported  clear  of  Turkish 
mines ;  concentration  of  Turkish  fleet  re- 
ported ;  Germans  state  that  a  submarine, 
reported  by  the  Captain  of  British  mer- 
chantman Thordis  to  have  been  sunk  by 
his  vessel,  escaped ;  German  Embassy  at 
Washington  expresses  regret  over  tor- 
pedo attack  on  British  hospital  ship  As- 
turias  in  February,  stating  that  the  at- 
tack, which  did  no  harm,  was  due  to 
mistake. 

March  7— Queen  Elizabeth  and  other  ships 
continue  bombardment  of  Dardanelles 
forts. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


399 


March  8— Allied  fleet  forces  its  way  further 
into  Dardanelles,  British  ships  opening 
direct  fire  on  main  Turkish  positions ; 
more  forts  are  silenced ;  most  of  the  Al- 
lies' ships  are  hit,  but  little  damage  is 
done ;  effective  fire  at  21,000  yards  against 
batteries  on  the  Asiatic  side ;  seaplanes 
are  being  much  used  for  locating  con- 
cealed guns ;  it  is  reported  from  Petrograd 
that  when  the  allied  fleets  began  the 
forcing  of  the  Dardanelles  a  Russian  ship 
was  invited  to  head  the  column,  and  did 
so;  ports  on  the  Black  Sea  are  destroyed 
by  Russians ;  British  Admiralty  announces 
that  prisoners  from  U-8  will  be  segregated 
under  special  restrictions,  and  they  may 
be  put  on  trial  after  the  war  because  of 
German  submarine  methods ;  British  col- 
lier Bengrove  sunk  in  Bristol  Channel  by 
torpedo  or  mine. 

March  &— German  submarines  sink  three 
British  merchantmen,  thirty-seven  men 
going  down  with  one  ship;  Military  Gov- 
ernor of  Smyrna  says  that  British  have 
bombarded  unfortified  villages ;  another 
British  superdreadnought  joins  allied 
fleet  at  Dardanelles ;  French  transports 
are  on  way  with  troops ;  Turks  lose  coal 
supply  by  Russian  bombardment  of  Zun- 
guldiak ;  report  from  Berlin  that  German 
submarine  U-16  has  sunk  five  merchant- 
men ;  British  Admiralty  states  that  Ger- 
man submarines,  from  Jan.  21  to  March  3, 
sank  fifteen  British  steamships  out  of  a 
total  of  8,734  vessels  above  300  tons  ar- 
riving at  or  departing  from  British  ports 
in  that  period ;  more  mines  planted  near 
Denmark. 

March  10— German  auxiliary  cruiser  Prince 
Eitel  Friedrich  anchors  at  Newport  News 
for  repairs  and  supplies;  she  brings  pas- 
sengers and  crews  of  eleven  merchant 
ships  sunk  by  her  in  a  cruise  of  30,000 
miles,  including  crew  of  American  sailing 
ship  William  P.  Frye,  bound  from  Seattle 
to  Queenstown  with  wheat,  sunk  on  Jan. 
28,  despite  protests  of  the  Frye's  Cap- 
tain; more  Dardanelles  forts  are  reduced; 
batteries  on  Eren-Keui  Heights  silenced ; 
British  sink  German  submarine  U-12; 
British  collier  Beethoven   sunk. 

March  11— President  Wilson  states  that  there 
will  be  *'  a  most  searching  inquiry  "  into 
the  sinking  of  the  William  P.  Frye  by  the 
Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich,  "  and  whatever 
action  is  taken  will  be  based  on  the  re- 
sult of  that  inquiry  "  ;  Commander  Thier- 
ichens  of  the  Eitel  defends  sinking  of  the 
Frye,  claiming  her  cargo  was  contraband ; 
British  warships  are  ordered  to  the  en- 
trance to  the  Capes  of  the  Chesapeake  to 
prevent  escape  of  the  Eitel ;  Eitel  goes 
into  drydock  for  repairs ;  more  Darda- 
nelles forts  are  damaged ;  mine  sweeping 
is  being  conducted  by  the  Allies  at  night ; 
allied  fleet  before  Smyrna  gives  Turkish 
commander  twenty-four  hours  to  sur- 
render,   otherwise    bombardment    will    go 


on ;  it  is  reported  from  The  Hague  that 
twelve  German  submarines  are  missing; 
Germans  talk  of  reprisals  if  British  do 
not  treat  submarine  crews  as  prisoners  of 
war. 

March  12— Dardanus  batteries  on  the  Darda- 
nelles are  silenced ;  Germans  are  fortify- 
ing Constantinople ;  Allies'  Consuls  de- 
mand establishment  of  a  neutral  zone  at 
Smyrna;  British  auxiliary  cruiser  Bayano 
sunk  off  coast  of  Scotland,  probably  by 
a  submarine,  with  loss  of  200;  it  is 
learned  that  British  bark  Conway  Castle 
was  sunk  on  Feb.  27  off  the  Chilean  coast 
by  the  German  cruiser  Dresden ;  it  is 
learned  that  French  steamer  Guadeloupe 
has  been  sunk  off  Brazil  by  the  German 
auxiliary  cruiser  Kronprinz  Wilhelm ;  it 
is  reported  from  Berlin  that  Germans 
have  sunk  111  merchant  steamships,  with 
tonnage  of  400,000,  since  war  began ; 
British  cotton  ship  Indian  Prince  is  re- 
ported sunk. 

March  13— England  has  lost  90  merchant  ships 
and  47  fishing  vessels,  sunk  or  captured, 
since  the  war  began ;  Vice  Admiral  Car- 
den  is  stated  to  have  predicted  the  forc- 
ing of  the  Dardanelles  by  Easter ;  fog  de- 
lays Allies'  operations  in  Dardanelles ; 
five  British  warships  wait  for  Eitel  off 
Virginia   Capes. 

March  14— Three  British  cruisers  .'^ink  Ger- 
man cruiser  Dresden  near  Juan  Fernan- 
dez Island;  no  damage  to  British  ships; 
French  steamer  Auguste  (■'in.seil  sunk  by 
German  submarine ;  German  submarine 
U-29  is  reported  to  have  sunk  five  Britisli 
merchantmen  in  the  last  few  days ;  citi- 
zen of  Leipsic  offers  reward  to  crew  of 
submarine  that  sinks  a  British  transport. 

March  15— It  is  reported  from  Rio  Janeiro 
that  Kronprinz  Wilhelm  has  sunk  thirteen 
ships  since  she  began  her  attack  on  Al- 
lies'  commerce. 

March  16— Officers  of  the  Dresden  at  Val- 
paraiso say  their  ship  was  sunk  in  neu- 
tral waters ;  British  say  she  was  sunk 
ten  miles  off  shore ;  German  liner  Mace- 
donia, interned  at  Las  Palmas,  Canary 
Islands,  slips  out  of  port ;  British  cruiser 
Amethyst  is  reported  to  have  made  a 
dash  to  the  further  ^nd  of  the  Darda- 
nelles and  back;  a  mine  sweeper  of  the 
Allies  is  blown  up;  Vice  Admiral  Garden, 
"  incapacitated  by  illness,"  in  words  of 
British  Admiralty,  is  succeeded  in  chief 
command  in  the  Dardanelles  by  Vice  Ad- 
miral De  Robeck ;  Germany  "protests  to 
England  against  promised  harsh  treat- 
ment of  submarine  crews ;  British  and 
French  warships  again  appear  off  coast 
of   Belgium. 

March  17— It  is  reported  from  Denmark  that 
the  German  cruiser  Karlsruhe  has  been 
sunk ;  it  is  reported  from  Spain  that  the 
Macedonia  has  been  captured  by  a  British 
cruiser ;  two  British  steamers  are  sunk 
and    one    is    damaged    by    German    sub- 


i 


400 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


marines;  German  steamer  Sierra  Cor- 
doba, which  aided  the  Dresden,  is  detained 
by  Peruvian  authorities  until  end  of  the 
war;  British  lose  three  mine  sweepers 
and  one  sailing  vessel  in  the  Dardanelles. 

March  18— British  battleships  Irresistible  and 
Ocean  and  French  battleship  Bouve't  are 
sunk  by  floating  mines  in  the  Dardanelles 
while  bombarding  forts ;  600  men  lost  with 
th«  Bouvet,  but  almost  all  of  the  British 
escape;  British  battle-cruiser  Inflexible 
and  French  battleship  Gaulois  are  badly 
damaged  by  shells  from  the  forts ;  most 
of  the  forts  suffer  severely  from  the  fleet 
fire ;  French  submarine  is  sunk  in  the 
Dardanelles;  there  is  a  lull  in  bombard- 
ment of  Dardanelles  and  of  Smyrna;  Ger- 
man submarine  sinks  British  steamer 
Glenartney  in  English  Channel;  Copen- 
hagen report  says  a  German  sea  Captain 
states  that  the  Karlsruhe  was  sunk  in 
December. 

March  19— Negotiations  are  being  carried  on, 
with  American  Embassy  at  Constantinople 
as  intermediary,  to  try  to  avert  shelling 
of  Pera  when  allied  fleet  forces  the  Dar- 
danelles; British  steamers  Hyndford  and 
Bluejacket  torpedoed  in  English  Channel. 

March  20— One  French  and  two  British  bat- 
tleships are  on  their  way  to  Dardanelles 
to  take  place  of  vessels  sunk;  new  attack 
is  planned  by  Allies,  with  Russia  co-oper- 
ating; Turks  say  that  the  ships  sunk  on 
M^rf>ii  i><  were  torpedoed;  Chilean  seamen 
11  was  sunk  in  Chilean  waters; 
s  uarrison    is    reinforced;    dummy 

war  fleet,  composed  of  disguised  mer- 
chantment,  is  reported  to  be  ready  in 
England  for  use  in  strategy  against  the 
Germans. 

March  21 — German  submarine  sinks  British 
collior    Cairntorr    off   Beachy    Head. 

March  -'2 — British  steamer  Concord  is  tor- 
pedoed by  a  German  submarine,  but  is 
stated  not  to  have  been  sunk. 

March  23  Dutch  steamer  is  fired  on  by  a 
German  tiawler;  Turks  send  reinforce- 
ments  tu    Dardanelles   forts. 

March  24—  Corman  vessels  shell  Russian 
positions  near  Memel ;  allied  fleet  resumes 
bombardment  of  Dardanelles  forts ;  Allies 
land  troops  on  Gallipoli  Peninsula  to  help 
in  a  general  atjtack  on  the  forts  which 
is  planned  on  arrival  of  more  British 
and  French  ships ;  many  Europeans  are 
leaving  Constantinople. 

March  27— r.  S.  battleship  Alabama  is 
ordered  to  proceed  to  Norfolk  at  once  to 
guard  American  neutrality  should  Prinz 
Eitel    Friedrich    leave    port. 

March  28 — British  African  liner  Falaba  is 
torpedoed  and  sunk  by  German  submarine 
in  St.  George's  Channel ;  she  carried  160 
passengers  and  crew  of  90,  of  which  total 
140  were  saved  ;  many  were  killed  by  the 
torpedo  explosion ;  British  steamer  Aguila 
is  sunk  by  German  submarine  U-28  off 
Pembrokeshire  coast ;  she  carried  three 
passengers  and  crew  of  forty-two,  all  pas- 


sengers and  twenty-three  of  crew  being 
lost;  Russian  Black  Sea  fleet  attacks 
Bosporus  forts ;  Dardanelles  forts  again 
bombarded ;  German  Government,  in  offi- 
cial statement,  says  that  Dresden  was 
sunk   in   neutral    Chilean   waters. 

March  29 — Dutch  steamer  Amstel  is  blown 
up  by  a  mine;  Russians  renew  Bosporus 
attack ;  allied  fleet  sheels  Dardanelles 
forts  at  long  range;  reinforced  Russian 
fleet  is  showing  activity  in  the  Baltic ; 
German  Baltic  fleet  is  out. 

March  31 — London  reports  that  three  fleets 
and  three  armies  will  combine  in  attack 
on  Dardanelles  forts ;  the  forts  are  again 
bombarded;  British  steamers  Flaminian 
and  Crown  of  Castile  are  sunk  by  German 
submarines ;  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich  coals 
under  guard  of  American  sailors  and 
soldiers ;   Germans  shell  Libau. 

NAVAL    RECORD  —  EMBARGO    AND 
WAR  ZONE. 

March  1 — Premier  Asquith  announces  in  the 
House  of  Commons  the  purpose  of  Eng- 
Inad  and  France  to  cut  Germany  off 
from  all  trade  with  the  rest  of  the  world ; 
"  the  British  and  French  Governments 
will,  therefore,  hold  themselves  free  to 
detain  and  take  into  port  ships  carrying 
goods  of  presumed  enemy  destination, 
ownership,  or  origin"  ;  officials  in  Wash- 
ington think  this  attitude  of  the  Allies 
disregards  American   rights. 

March  3 — Germany  alters  relief  ship  rules; 
vessels  may  pass  through  the  English 
Channel  unmolested,  but  because  of  mines 
Germany  cannot  grant  safe  conduct  for 
relief  ships  to  and  from  England. 

March  4 — Secretary  Bryan  makes  public  the 
text  of  German  reply  to  American  note 
suggesting  modifications  of  war  zone 
decree ;  Germany  expresses  willingness 
to  make  modifications  if  England  will 
allow  foodstuffs  and  raw  materials  to  so 
to  German  civilians,  and  if  England  will 
make  other  modifications  in  her  sea 
policy ;  German  reply  is  forwarded  to  Am- 
bassador Page  to  be  submitted  to  the 
British  Foreign  Office  for  information 
of  English  Government ;  American  State 
Department  makes  public  part  of  a  recent 
dispatch  from  Ambassador  Gerard  stat- 
ing that  German  Government  refuses  to 
accept  responsibility  for  routes  followed 
by  neutral  steamers  outside  German 
waters ;  Henry  van  Dyke,  American  Min- 
ister at  The  Hague,  advises  the  State 
Department  that  Germany  is  anxious  to 
give  every  possible  support  to  the  work  of 
American  Relief  Commission  for  Belgium, 
and  will  facilitate  the  passage  of  ships 
as    much    as    possible. 

March  5 — Holland-America  Line  steamer 
Noorderdijk,  bound  for  New  York,  re- 
turns to  Rotterdam  badly  disabled,  It 
being  reported  that  she  was  torpedoed  in 
English    Channel. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


401 


March  G — Passenger  service  from  Holland  lo 
England    is    to    be    extended. 

March  8 — Germany  includes  in  the  war  zone 
the  waters  surrounding  the  Orkney  and 
Shetland  Islands,  but  navigation  on  both 
sides  of  the  Faroe  Islands  is  not  en- 
dangered. 

March  9— It  is  announced  at  Washington  that 
identical  notes  of  inquiry  have  been  sent 
to  the  British  and  French  Governments 
asking  for  particulars  as  to  how  embargo 
on  shipments  to  and  from  Germany  is 
to   be   enforced. 

March  13 — Submarine  blows  up  Swedish 
steamer  Hanna,  flying  her  own  flag,  off 
east  coast  of  England  ;    six   of  crew  lost. 

March  15 — Text  made  public  of  British 
Order  in  Council  cutting  off  trade  to  and 
from  Germany ;  British  Government,  re- 
plying to  American  note,  refuses  to  permit 
foodstuffs  to  enter  Germany  for  civilian 
population  as  suggested ;  British  Govern- 
ment also  replies  to  American  note  of 
inquiry  as  to  particulars  of  embargo,  Sir 
Edward  Grey  saying  that  object  of  Allies 
is,  "  succintly  stated,  to  establish  a 
blockade  to  prevent  vessels  from  carrying 
goods    for    or    coming    from    Germany." 

March  17 — Secretary  Bryan  makes  public 
full  text  of  six  recent  notes  exchanged 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Allies 
and  Germany  regarding  the  embargo  and 
the  war  zone ;  Allies  contend  German  war 
methods  compel  the  new  means  of  re- 
prisal. 

March  18 — Denmark,  Norway  and  Sweden 
make  an  identical  representation  to  the 
Allies  against  the  embargo  decree  on 
trade  to   and   from   Germany. 

March  20 — Holland  protests  to  Allies  against 
embargo. 

March  21 — German  submarine  U-2.S  seizes 
Dutch  steamers  Batavier  V.  and  Zaan.s- 
troom   and    their   cargoes. 

March  22 — Holland  asks  explanation  from 
Germany  of  seizure  of  Batavier  V.  and 
Zaanstroom. 

March  25 — Submarine  U-28  sinks  Dutch 
steamer  Medea. 

March  26 — Dutch  press  is  aroused  over  the 
sinking  of  the  Medea;  Ministry  holds 
extraordinary   council. 

March  27 — Germany  tells  Holland  that  in- 
vestigation into  seizure  of  the  Batavier  V. 
and  Zaanstroom  has  not  been  concluded. 

AERIAL  RECORD. 

March  2 — It  is  learned  that  in  a  recent  air 
raid  German  aviators  killed  two  women 
and  a  child  at  La  Panne,  a  bathing  town 
on   Belgian   coast. 

March  3 — German  aviator  bombards  War- 
saw. 

March  4 — French  bombard  German  powder 
magazine  at  Rottweil. 

March  5 — Zeppelin  raid  over  Calais  falls; 
Pegoud  receives  French  military  medal 
for    his    services. 


March  7 — French  official  statement  shows 
that  French  airmen  during  the  war  have 
made  10,000  aerial  reconnoissances,  con- 
suming 18,000  hours  in  the  air,  and  have 
traveled  more  than  1,116,000  miles ; 
Zeppelin  reported  captured  by  allied  air- 
men   near    Bethune. 

March  9 — British  seaplanes  drop  bombs  on 
Ostend ;  Lieut,  von  Hidden,  who  dropped 
bombs  on  Paris  in  September,  is  at  Toulon 
as   a   prisoner   of   war. 

March  12 — German  airmen  bombard  Osso- 
wetz. 

March  14 — Strassburg  is  threatened  by  a 
fire  started  by  French  airman's  bomb; 
allied  aeroplanes  said  to  have  wrecked 
Zeppelin    near    Tirlemont. 

March  17 — German  airman  unsuccessfully 
aims  five  bombs  at  British  coasting 
steamer  Blonde  in   the  North  Sea. 

March  IS — Bombs  from  Zeppelin  kill  seven 
in    Calais. 

March  20 — German  airmen  drop  bombs  near 
Deal,  but  all  fall  into  the  sea ;  one  bomb 
narrowly  misses  American  bark  Manga 
Reva. 

March  21 — Two  Zeppelins  drop  bombs  on 
Paris,  but  damage  is  slight ;  eight  persons 
are  injured ;  Zeppelin  drops  bombs  on 
Calais,  with  slight  damage,  and  is  driven 
off    by    guns. 

March  22 — Rotterdam  reports  that  German 
aviators  are  aiming  bomlK^^  indiscrimi- 
nately at  ships  in  the  N  n  th  Pea,  one 
Taube  dropping  five  bomlis  ii.  ar  a  Bel- 
gian relief  ship;  airmen  of  .Allies  drop 
bombs  on  Mulheim,  injuring  three  German 
soldiers. 

March  23 — German  aeroplane  aims  seven 
bombs  at  British  steamer  Pamlion,  all 
missing;  Paris  Temps  says  that  author- 
ities plan  hereafter  to  fight  Zeppelins 
by  aeroplanes  over  Paris,  something 
which  had  hitherto  been  avoided  because 
of  danger  to   Parisians. 

March  24 — British  airmen,  in  dash  on  Ant- 
werp shipyards,  destroy  one  German  sub- 
marine and  damage  anothah;  German 
avaitors  aim  bombs  and  arro\re  at  British 
freighter   Teal,    doing   little   ^mage. 

March  26 — French  drop  bomhg  on  Metz, 
killing  three  soldiers;  little  damage  to 
property. 

March  27— German  aviators  tliop  bombs  on 
Calais    and    Dunkirk;    little    damage. 

March  28 — German  aviator  di<iiis  bombs  on 
Calais;   little   damage. 

March  29 — Germans  state  that  during  recent 
raid  on  Strassburg,  bombs  dropped  by 
allied  aviators  killed  two  children  and 
wounded  seven  others  and  one  woman. 

March  30 — Copenhagen  reports  that  two 
Zeppelins  have  been  badly  damaged  by 
a  storm  while  manoeuvering  for  a  raid 
on  England;  Turkish  seaplane  drops 
bombs  on  British  warship  outside  Dar- 
danelles. 


A 


402 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


March  31 — Thirty  German  soldiers  are  killed 
and  sixty  wounded  near  Thourout,  Bel- 
gium, by  bombs  dropped  by  airmen  of 
Allies ;  fifteen  German  aeroplanes  drop 
100  bombs  at  Ostrolenka,  Russia ;  German 
aeroplane  aims  bomb  at  Dutch  trawler 
in  North  Sea,  but  misses  her. 

AUSTRIA. 

March   1 — Two   Czech   regiments   revolt. 

March  2 — It  is  learned  that  the  troops  ex- 
ecuted   200    civilians    in    Stanislau. 

March  17 — Conviction  is  stated  to  prevail 
In  Vienna  that  war  with  Italy  is  in- 
evitable in  the  near  future;  many  Aus- 
trians  are  declared  to  be  indignant  that 
Germany  is  trying  to  force  the  nation 
to   cede   territory   to    Italy. 

March  18 — Russian  prisoners  and  Galician 
refugees  are  working  on  defensive  forti- 
fications in  the  Trentino,  which  are  being 
prepared  in  event  of  war  with  Italy; 
heavy  guns  are  being  mounted  in  the 
mountain  passes;  fleet  is  again  concen- 
trated at  Pola ;  Austria  and  Serbia  agree 
to  exchange  interned  men  under  18  or 
over   50,    and   also   women. 

March  22 — Men  up  to  52  are  now  being 
trained  for  active  service ;  men  formerly 
rejected  as  unfit  are  being  called  to  the 
colors. 

^rch  24 — Five  hundred  thousand  troops  are 
jassed  in  Southern  Tyrol  and  the 
.  rentlno  ;:?many  villages  near  the  Italian 
frontiei  liave  been  evacuated  and  many 
hou^^es  destroyed  by  dynamite,  so  as  to 
afford  better  range  for  the  bi^  guns. 

March  26 — Army  contract  frauds  are  dis- 
covei  ed  in  Hungary ;  rich  manufacturers 
jailed. 

BELGIUM. 

March  2— Gen.  von  Bissing,  German  Governor 
General,  says  the  tax  recently  ordered 
imposed  on  Belgians  who  do  not  return 
to  their  homes  was  suggested  by  Belgians 
themseh  es. 

March  8 — I'elgian  Press  Bureau  announces 
that  Kins  Albert  now  has  an  army  of 
14(i,(X)0  men,  a  larger  force  than  that 
which    began    the    war. 

March  9 — ^As  a  result  of  new  royal  decrees 
calling  refugee  youths  to  the  colors  the 
number  of  recruits  is  increasing  daily ; 
a  few  days  ago  King  Albert  presented 
a  numbei-  of  recruits  to  two  veteran  regi- 
ments in  a  speech ;  Belgian  officials  are 
arrested  by  Germans  on  charge  that  they 
induced  Belgian  customs  officials  to  go 
through    Holland    to    join    Belgian    Army. 

March  17 — Government  issues  protest  against 
the  German  allegation  that  documents 
found  in  Brussels  show  that  Belgium  and 
England  had  a  secret  understanding  be- 
fore the  war  of  such  a  nature  as  to  con- 
stitute a  violation  of  Belgium's  neutrality ; 
the  Government  declares  that  conversa- 
tions  which   took   place   between    Belgian 


and  British  military  officers  in  1906  and 
1912  had  reference  only  to  the  situation 
that  would  be  created  if  Belgium's  neu- 
trality had  already  been  violated  by  a 
third  party ;  it  is  declared  that  the  docu- 
ments found  by  Germans,  "  provided  no 
part  of  them  is  either  garbled  or  sup- 
pressed," will  prove  the  innocent  nature 
of  negotiations  between  Belgium  and 
England. 

March  18 — Firm  of  Henri  Leten  is  fined 
$5,000  for  violating  order  of  German  Gov- 
ernor General  prohibiting  payments  to 
creditors   in   England. 

March  20 — One  million  pigs  owned  by  Ger- 
mans are  billeted  on  the  civilian  popu- 
lation of  Belgium,  the  Belgians  being 
required  to  feed  and  care  for  the  animals. 

March  21 — Germans  are  relaxing  iron  regu- 
lations to  some  extent  in  attempt  to  get 
the  normal  life  of  Belgium  moving  again. 

March  2^ — Seventeen  Belgian  men  are  shot 
in  Ghent  barracks  after  having  been 
found  guilty  by  German  court-martial 
of  espionage  in  the  interests  of  the  Allies. 

March  28 — Belgian  Legation  at  Washington 
issues  official  response  to  statement  made 
by  Herr  von  Jagow,  the  Imperial  German 
Secretary  of  State,  that  "  Belgium  was 
dragged  into  the  war  by  England";  re- 
sponse says  that  it  was  Germany,  not 
England,   that  drew  the  nation  into  war. 

BULGARIA. 

March  6— Mobilization  is  now  completed  of 
three  divisions  of  troops  near  Tirnova. 

March  12 — Heavy  artillery  is  being  trans- 
ported to  Janthe,  near  the  Greek  fron- 
tier. 

March  20— Three  Bulgarian  soldiers  are  killed 
and  several  Greek  soldiers  are  wounded 
in  a  fight  which  followed  an  attempted 
movement  by  strong  Bulgarian  force  into 
the  region  of  Demir-Hissar,  formerly 
Turkish  territory,   now  Greek. 

March  26— Opposition  leaders  are  demanding 
an  interview  with  the  King  with  a  view 
of  bringing  about  a  change  of  policy 
favoring  the  Anglo-Franco-Russian  alli- 
ance ;  Field  Marshal  von  der  Goltz  is  in 
Sofia. 

March  .30— Bulgaria  is  holding  up  shipments 
of  German  artillery  and  large  quantities 
of  ammunition  destined  for  Constanti- 
nople. 

CANADA. 

March  5 — Three  transports  arrive  In  England 
with  4,000  Canadian  troops. 

March  14 — Second  contingent  is  now  in  camp 
in  England ;  it  is  expected  that  these 
troops  will  soon  go  to  the  front. 

March  26 — Publication  of  first  account  by 
Official  Canadian  Recorder  with  troops 
in  the  field  of  contingent's  experiences ; 
he  states  that  there  have  been  but  few 
casualties  so  far ;  the  infantry  was  held 
in  reserve  in  the  Neuve  Chapelle  fight, 
but  the  artillery  was  engaged. 


I 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   WAR 


403 


March  27 — There  is  made  public  in  Ottawa 
the  address  delivered  by  General  Alderon, 
commanding  the  Canadian  Division,  Just 
before  the  men  first  entered  the  trenches ; 
he  warns  against  taking  needless  risks 
and  tells  the  men  he  expects  them  to  win, 
when  they  meet  the  Germans  with  the  bay- 
onet, because  of  their  physique. 

ENGLAND. 

March  2 — Order  in  Council  promulgated  pro- 
viding for  prize  money  for  crews  of 
British  ships  which  capture  or  destroy 
enemy  vessels  to  be  distributed  among 
officers  and  men  at  rate  calculated  at 
$25  for  each  person  aboard  the  enemy 
vessel  at  beginning  of  engagement;  Brit- 
ish spy  system  has  been  so  perfected 
that  it  is  said  in  some  respects  to  excel 
the  German ;  Embassy  in  Washington 
denies  that  women  or  children  are  in- 
terned   in   civilian    camps. 

March  4 — Government  appeals  to  aviators  of 
British    nationality   in   United    States    and  , 
Canada  to  join  the  Royal  Flying  Corps. 

March  8 — Shipowner  offers  $2,000  apiece  to 
next  four  merchant  ships  which  sink 
German  submarines. 

March  9 — House  of  Commons  authorizes 
Government  to  take  over  control  of  en-» 
gineering  trade  of  country  in  order  to 
increase  output  of  war  munitions. 

March  14 — John  E.  Redmond,  leader  of  the 
Irish  Nationalist  Party,  declares  in  speech 
that  Ireland  is  now  firmly  united  in  Eng- 
land's cause,  and  that  250,000  Irishmen 
are  fighting  for  Britain. 

March  15 — Kitchener  discusses  the  war  sit- 
uation in  House  of  Lords,  he  expresses 
anxiety  over  supply  of  war  materials  and 
blames  labor  unions  and  dram  shops  in 
part  for  the  slow  output;  he  praises  the 
Canadian  and  Indian  troops  and  the 
French  Army;  passport  rules  for  persons 
going  to  France  are  made  more  stringent. 

March  16 — Heavy  losses  among  officers  cause 
anxiety;  T.  P.  Ot'Connor  says  Irish  are 
with  the  Allies ;  stringent  passport  rules 
are  extended  to  persons  going  into  Hol- 
land. 

March  19 — In  six  days  511  officers  have 
been  lost  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing; 
newspapers   hint  at   conscription. 

March  20— Officers  lost  since  beginning  of 
the  war,  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing, 
now  total  5,476,  of  which  1,783  have  been 
killed. 

March  23 — It  is  reported  that  a  second  Ger- 
man spy  was  shot  in  the  Tower  of  London 
on  March  5,  that  a  third  spy  is  under 
sentence,  and  that  a  fourth  man,  a  sus- 
pect,   is    under    arrest. 

March  24 — Earl  Percy  is  acting  as  Official 
Observer  with  the  expeditionary  force ; 
warships  are  ordered  not  to  get  supplies 
from  neutral  nations  in  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. 


March  26 — Field  Marshal  French  says  that 
"  the  protraction  of  the  war  depends  en- 
tirely upon  the  supply  of  men  and  muni- 
tions," and  if  this  supply  is  unsatisfactory 
the  war  will  be  prolonged ;  German  news- 
papers charge  British  atrocities  at  Neuve 
Chapelle ;  Colonial  Premiers  may  meet 
for  consultation  before  terms  of  peace 
are  arranged. 

March  27 — Storm  of  protest  is  aroused  by 
suggestions  of  Dr.  Lyttelton,  Headmaster 
of  Eton,  that  concessions  should  be  made 
to   Germany. 

March  28 — Premier  Asquith  is  attacked  by 
the  Unionist  press  for  alleged  lack  of 
vigor  in  direction  of  the  war. 

March  30 — Three  of  the  nine  prison  ships 
on  which  prisoners  have  been  kept  are 
vacated,  and  it  is  planned  to  empty  the 
others  by  the  end  of  April,  prisoners  being 
cared  for  on  shore. 

March  31 — King  George  announces  that  he  is 
ready  to  give  up  use  of  liquor  in  the 
royal  household  as  an  example  to  the 
working  classes,  it  being  stated  that 
slowness  of  output  of  munitions  of  war 
is  partly  due,  to  drink ;  Lord  Derby  an- 
nounces that  Liverpool  dock  workers  are 
to  be  organized  into  a  battalion,  enlisted 
under  military  law,  as  a  means  of  pre- 
venting delays  in  making  war  supplies. 

FRANCE. 

March  1 — Official  note  issued  in  Paris- states 
that  there  are  2,080,000  Germans  and 
Austrians  on  the  Russian  and  Serbian 
front,  and  1,800,000  Germans  on  the 
French  and  Belgian  front. 

March  5 — War  Minister  introduces  bill  in 
Chamber  of  Deputies  giving  authoriza- 
tion to  call  to  the  colors  the  re<  t  uits  of 
1915  and   to  start   training  those   of   1916. 

March  6 — French  Press  Bureau  estimates  the 
total  German  losses  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  in  killed,  wounded,  sick,  and 
prisoners,   at  3,000,000. 

March  10 — Foreign  Office  issues  report  on 
treatment  of  French  civilian  prisoners  by 
the  Germans,  charging  many  iMtances  of 
cruelty. 

March  11 — Eight  thousand  German  and  Aus- 
trian houses  have  been  sequestered  to 
date ;  bill  introduced  into  Chamber  of 
Deputies  provides  for  burning  TK  soldiers' 
bodies  as  a  precaution  agaiiA  possible 
epidemic  of  disease ;  Mi-Car?m^Pestivitie3 
omitted    because    of    the    war. 

March  12 — Fine  of  $100,000,  to  be  paid  before 
March  20,  is  imposed  on  inhabitants  of 
Lille,  in  hands  of  the  Germans,  because 
of  a  demonstration  over  a  group  of  French 
prisoners  of  war  brought  into  the  city. 

March  14 — Copenhagen  report  states  that 
there  has  been  a  revolt  in  Lille. 

March  25 — War  Ministry  denies  General  von 
Bernhardi's  charge  that  France  and  Eng- 
land had  an  arrangement  for  violation  of 
the   neutrality   of   Belgium. 


4 


404 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


March  28 — A  cannon  is  mentioned  in  the 
orders  of  the  day  for  gallantry  in  action ; 
General  Joffre  decorates  thirty  men  for 
gallantry  in  action  in  the  Champagne 
district. 

March  31 — Intense  indignation  is  expressed 
by  the  French  press  over  sinking  of 
British  passenger  steamer  Falaba  by 
German  submarine. 

GERMANY. 

March  5 — ^Interned  French  civilians  are  sent 
to  Switzerland  for  exchange  for  German 
civilians  held   by   the  French. 

March  6 — Government  asks  the  United  States 
to  care  for  German  diplomatic  interests 
in  Constantinople  if  Allies  occupy  the 
Turkish  capital ;  two  British  prisoners  of 
war  are  punished  for  refusing  to  obey 
their  own  officers. 

March  7 — Copenhagen  reports  that  men  up 
to  55  have  been  called  out ;  it  is  stated 
that  there  are  now  781,000  war  prisoners 
interned  in  Germany. 

March  8 — British  charge  that  German  dum- 
dum bullets  were  found  after  a  recent 
battle  in  Egypt. 

March    10 — Reichstag    is    Informed    that    the 

budget      is      $3,250,000,000  —  four      tim€s 

greater    than    any   estimates    ever    before 

presented ;  a  further  war  credit  is  asked 

3,000,000,    to   insure   financing    the 

the   late   Autumn ;    Landsturm 

1869-1873  are  summoned  to  the 

in  the  Rhine  provinces. 

March  15 — Prussian  losses  to  date  (excluding 
Bavarian,  Wiirttemberg,  Saxon,  and  naval 
losses)  are  1,050,029  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing. 

March  16 — German  committee  is  planning  to 
send  Americans  to  the  United  States  as 
propagandists  to  lay  German  case  before 
the  American  people ;  20,000  high  school 
boys    have  volunteered   for  service. 

March  Is— Copenhagen  reports  that  Emperor 
William  and  General  von  Falkenhayn, 
Chief  of  the  German  General  Staff,  ar- 
rived today  at  the  German  Army  Head- 
quarters near  Lille  to  participate  in  a 
council  of  war ;  Chief  President  of  the 
Province  of  East  Prussia  states  that 
80,000  houses  have  been  entirely  destroyed 
by  the  ^v^sians  and  that  300,000  refugees 
the  province ;  German  War 
^states  that  for  every  German 
by  the  Russians  three 
res    will    be    burned    by   the 


hav 


C 

Marcf! 
M        drd 

gestl 

at   CO. 
March  22-. 

ers  and 

land. 
March   23— En, 

lowed   to   lei 


\op  of  Cologne  asks  chil- 

md  offerings,   and  sug- 

without    new    clothes 

Kaden  urges  teach- 
^ster  hatred  of  Eng- 

and   children   al- 


March  30— It  is  reported  that  Emperor 
William  is  holding  an  important  war 
council  in  Berlin  with  military  chiefs. 

March  31— Much  enthusiasm  over  sinking  of 
British  passenger  steamer  Falaba ;  offi- 
cial statistics  of  second  war  loan  show 
that  $2,265,000,000  was  subscribed,  of 
which  $17,750,000  came  from  452,113 
persons  in  sums  of  $50  or  less ;  local 
option  is  permitted  by  German  Federal 
Council. 

GREECE. 

March  3 — Crown  Council  meets  at  the  palace 
in  Athens  under  Presidency  of  the  King; 
among  the  eminent  statesmen  present  are 
five  ex-Premiers ;  deliberations  deal  with 
question  whether  Greece  should  take  part 
in  the  war ;  further  conferences  of  the 
Council  are  planned,  and  Parliament  has 
been  summoned  to  meet  after  the  delib- 
erations  are   finished. 

March  4— Crown  Council  meets  again. 

March  10— M.  Ghounaris  completes  formation 
of  a  new  Cabinet ;  Ministerial  statement 
declares  that  the  observance  of  neutrality 
is  imperative  on  Greece  if  she  is  to  pro- 
tect her  national  interests. 

March  14 — M.  Venizelos,  former  Premier,  says 
that  Greece  will  soon  be  forecd  by  course 
of  events  to  abandon  neutrality  and  join 
with  Allies  in  operations  against  Con- 
stantinople and  Smyrna ;  by  so  doing,  he 
says,  the  Government  can  quadruple  the 
area  of  Greece. 

March  17 — M.  Venizelos  is  quoted  by  an 
Italian  newspaper  correspondent  as  say- 
ing that  the  Allies  have  twice  asked 
Greece  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  to 
help  Serbia,  but  attitude  of  Bulgaria  pre- 
vented Greece  from  doing  so ;  Venizelos 
resigned,  according  to  this  correspondent, 
because  Crown  Council  overruled  his  plan 
to  send  50,000  men   to   aid  Allies. 

HOLLAND. 

March  2— Semi-official  circles  deny  persistent 
reports  that  countrjr  is  to  enter  the  war ; 
American  Minister  van  Dyke  says  that 
he  sees  no  signs  of  any  change  in  the 
attitude   of  Holland. 

ITALY. 

March  2— Much  Italian  comment  caused  by 
introduction  in  Chamber  of  Deputies  of 
bills  against  espionage,  contraband,  and 
publication  in  newspapers  of  news  of 
military  movements;  Italy  is  hiring  hulks 
of  ships  for  grain  storage. 

March  3 — General  Zupelli,  Minister  of  War, 
speaks  in  Chamber  of  Deputies  in  favor 
of  a  bill  authorizing  a  recall  to  the  colors 
of  reserve  officers ;  Government  asks 
Chamber  for  authorization  to  take  con- 
trol of  every  industry  connected  with  the 
defense  of  the  country,  including  wireless 
telegraphy  and  aviation. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   WAR 


405 


March  8 — Premier  Salandra  hints  at  war  at 
inauguration  of  new  military  harbor  at 
Gaeta. 

March  10 — Garibaldians  in  the  French  For- 
eign Legion  are  allowed  by  French  Gov- 
ernment to  return  to  Italy  in  response 
to  call  of  certain  categories  of  reservists 
by  Italian  Government. 

March  11 — Military  preparations  are  being 
pushed  with  much  vigor. 

March  12 — Soldiers  near  Austro-Italian  fron- 
tier are  drilling  daily;  new  cannon  is 
being  tested ;  fleet  is  in  readiness  under 
Duke  of  the  Abruzzi ;  Prince  von  Buelow 
is  reported  to  have  failed  in  his  efforts 
to  satisfy  Italian  demands  for  Austrian 
territory  as  the  price  of  continued  neu- 
trality ;  it  is  said  that  Italy  was  asked 
to  be  satisfied  with  the  Trentino,  while 
nothing   was   said   as    to   Trieste. 

March  14 — Rome  reports  that  Emperor  Fran- 
cis Joseph,  despite  urgent  solicitations 
of  Emperor  William,  refuses  to  sanction 
any  cession  of  territory  to  Italy  and 
insists  that  von  Buelow's  negotiations 
with  the  Italian  Government  be  stopped ; 
Premier  Salandra's  personal  organ,  the 
Giornale  d'ltalia,  says  Italy  must  obtain 
territorial  expansion ;  National  League 
meets  at  Milan  and  demands,  through 
intervention  in  the  war,  the  liberation  of 
all  Italians  from  Austrian  rule. 

March  15 — Exchange  of  telegraphic  money 
orders  with  Austria  is  suspended ;  the 
traveling  Post  Offices  on  trains  bound  for 
the  Austrian  frontier  are  also  stopped; 
it  is  denied  that  Austria  has  refused  to 
cede  any  territory  whatever,  but  that 
what  she  is  willing  to  cede  is  far  too 
little  from   the  Italian  viewpoint. 

March  16 — Report  from  Rome  states  that 
an  authoritative  outline  of  the  territorial 
demands  of  Italy  shows  that  she  wishes 
a  sweep  of  territory  to  the  north  and 
east  which  would  extend  her  boxmdary 
around  northern  end  of  the  Adriatic  as 
far  south  as  Fiume  on  the  eastern  coast; 
this  would  include  Austrian  naval  base 
at  Pola  and  the  provinces  of  Trent  and 
Trieste ;  von  Buelow  is  said  to  have  as- 
sured Italian  Government  that  concessions 
will  be  made. 

March  18 — Germans  are  leaving  the  Riviera. 

March  20 — Identification  cards  for  use  in 
active  service  are  distributed  among 
soldiers. 

March  21— King  signs  the  decree  promul- 
gating a  national  defense  law,  which  will 
become  operative  tomorrow;  the  law  gives 
the  Government  various  powers  necessary 
for  efficient  war  preparations ;  Parlia- 
ment adjourns  until  the  middle  of  May, 
leaving  military  preparations  in  hands  of 
the  Government. 

March  22 — Austrians  and  Germans  are  ad- 
vised by  their  Consuls  to  leave  Italy  as 
quickly   as    possible. 


March  23 — Crowds  in  streets  of  Venice  clamor 
for  war;  Government  orders  seizure  of 
twenty-nine  freight  cars  with  material 
destined  for  Krupp  gun  works  in  Ger- 
many. 

March  26— All  is  ready  for  general  mobili- 
zation ;  seven  complete  classes  are  already 
under  the  colors ;  Austrian  and  German 
families  are  leaving. 

March  27 — Italian  Consul  at  Buenos  Aires 
calls  a  meeting  of  agents  of  Italian  steam- 
ship lines  and  warns  them  to  be  in  readi- 
ness for  possible  transportation  of  60,000 
reservists. 

March  28— Report  from  Berne  that  Emperor 
William  in  person  has  persuaded  Em- 
peror Francis  Joseph  to  cede  the  territory 
to  Italy  which  the  latter  desires;  it  is  also 
said  that  negotiations  are  being  conducted 
with  Rome  directly  and  solely  by  Berlin. 

PERSIA. 

March  18 — India  Office  of  British  Government 
says  that  documents  have  reached  Lon- 
don showing  that  German  Consular  offi- 
cers and  business  men  have  been  engaged 
in  intrigues  with  the  object  of  facilitating 
a  Turkish  invasion  of  Persia. 

March  20 — Persian  Government  calls  upon 
Russia  to  evacuate  the  Province  of  Azer- 
bijan,   Northwest  Persia. 

March  2.j — Kurds  and  Turks  are  massacring 
Christians  at  Urumiah,  North^^tern  Per- 
sia ;  situation  of  American  ^l^byterian 
Mission  there  is  described  as  desperate; 
Dr.  Harry  P.  Packard,  doctor  of  the 
American  missionary  station,  risks  his 
life  to  unfurl  American  flag  and  save 
Persian  Christians  at  Geogtopa  :  15,000 
Christians  are  under  protection  of"  Ameri- 
can Mission  and  2,000  under  prot.,  tion  of 
French  Mission  at  Urumiah;  it  is  learned 
that  at  Gulpashan,  the  last  of  lo::  villages 
to  be  taken  after  resistance,  the  Kurds 
shot  the  male  citizens  in  groups  of  five, 
while  the  younger  women  were  taken  as 
slaves ;  20,000  Persian  Christians  are  dead 
or  missing,  while  12,000  are  refugees  in 
the  Caucasus ;  disease  is  raging  among 
the  refugees. 

March  26— Turks  force  their  way  into  the 
compound  of  the  American  Mission  at 
Urumiah,  seize  some  Assyrian  Christian 
refugees  and  kill  them;  Tmks  beat  and 
insult  American  missionaries  ;  American 
and  British  Consuls  at  Tabriz,  near 
Urumiah,  have  joined  in  apix-al  to  Geneial 
commanding  Russian  forces  at  Tabriz  to 
go  to  relief  of  American  Mission  at 
Urumiah,  which  is  described  as  practi- 
cally besieged  by  Turks  and  Kurds ; 
United  States  State  Department  is  active 
and  asks  Ambassador  Morgenthau  at 
Constantinople  to  urge  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment to  send  protection ;  Persian  War 
Relief  Committee  cables  funds  to  Ameri- 
can Consul  at  Tabriz  for  relief  at  Uru- 
miah. 


A 


408 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Australasia,  $900,000;  clothing  which  has 
been  distributed  is  estimated  to  have  been 
worth  an  additional  $1,000,000;  it  is  an- 
nounced that  Queen  Alexandra,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  English  Red  Cross  Society, 
has  written  an  autograph  note  to  Mrs. 
Whitelaw     Reid     in     London     expressing 


gratitude  for  the  aid  given  by  the  Ameri- 
can Red  Cross. 
March  30— The  cash  collected  by  the  Belsian 
Relief  Fund,  New  York,  now  totals 
$1,004,000,  said  to  be  the  largest  amount 
ever  raised  in  the  United  States  for 
relief  of  distress  in  a  foreign  country. 


THE     DAY 

By  HENRY  CHAPPELL. 

[The  author  of  this  poeui  is  Mr.  Henry 
Chappell,  a  railway  porter  at  Bath,  England. 
Mr.  Chappell  is  known  to  his  comrades  as 
the   "  Bath   Railway   Poet."^ 

YOU  boasted   the  Day,   and  you  toasted 
the    Day, 
And   now   the   Day  has   come. 
Blasphemer,    braggart    and    coward    all, 
Little  you  feck  of  the  numbing  ball. 
The    blasting    shell,    or    the    "  white    arm's" 
fall, 
As  they  speed  poor  humans  home. 

You  spied  for  the  Day,  you  lied  for  the  Day, 
And  woke  the  Day's  red  spleen, 

Monster,    who    asked    God's    aid    Divine, 

Then  strewed  His  seas  with  the  ghastly  mine ; 

Not  all   the  waters  of  all  the  Rhine 
Can   wash   thy   foul   hands   clean. 

You  dreamed  for  the  Day,  you  schemed  for 
the  Day ; , 

Watch  how  the  Day  will  go. 
Slayer    of   age    and    youth    and    prime 
(Defenseless  slain   for  never  a  crime) 
Thou  art  steeped  in  blood  as  a  hog  in  slime. 

False    friend    and    cowardly    foe. 

You  have  sown  for  the  Day,  you  have  grown 
for   the   Day ; 

Yours    is   the   Harvest   red. 
Can  you  hear  the  groans  and  the  awful  cries? 
Can  you  see  the  heap  of  slain  that  lies. 
And  sightless  turned  to  the  flame-split  skies 

The   glassy   eyes  of   the  dead? 


You    have   wronged   for   the   Day,    you    have 
longed   for   the   Day 

That  lit  the  awful   flame. 
'Tis   nothing   to   you   that   hill   and   plain 
Yield  sheaves  of  dead  men  amid  the  grain ; 
That  widows  mourn  for  their  loved  ones  slain. 

And  mothers  curse  thy  name. 

But  after  the  Day  there's  a  price  to  pay 

For  the  sleepers  under  the  sod, 
And  Him  you  have  mocked  for  many  a  day — 
Listen,  and  hear  what  He  has  to  say : 
"  Vengeance  is  mine,   I  will  repay." 

What  can  you  say  to  God? 

Reprinted  from   The   London   Daily   Express 
(Copyright). 


r 


H.      M.     QUEEN     ELIZABETH 

Queen    of    the    Belgians.      Though     Born    a     Bavarian 

Duchess,  She   Has   Equaled   Her   Husband  in 

Devotion     ro     Belgium 

{Photo  from  Bain  Sews  Service.) 


KRONPRINZ    WILHELM    AND    HIS    FAMILY 

The  Kronprinzessin  Cecilie  and  the  Little  Princes  Wilhelm 

Ludwig  Ferdinand,  Hubertus,  and  Friedrich 

(Photo    ©    American   Press    Assn.) 


®I|f  Nftu  fork  ©ittwa 

CURRENT    HISTORY 


A    MONTHLY    MAGAZINE 


THE    EUROPEAN    WAR 

JUNE,     1915 


THE  LUSITANIA  CASE 

President  Wilson's  Speeches  and 
Note  to  Germany 

History  of  a  Series  of  Attacks  on  American  Lives 
in  the  German  War  Zone 

President  Wilson's  note  to  Germany,  written  consequent  on  the  torpedoing  by  a  German 
submarine  on  May  7,  1915,  of  the  British  passenger  steamship  Lusitania,  off  Kinsale 
Head,  Ireland,  by  which  over  100  American  citizens  lost  their  lives,  is  dated  six  days 
later,  showing  that  time  for  careful  deliberation  was  duly  taken.  The  President's  Secretary, 
Joseph  P.  Tumulty,  on  May  8  made  this  statement : 

"  Of  course,  the  President  feels  the  distress  and  the  gravity  of  the  situation  to  the 
"  utmost,  and  is  considering  very  earnesly,  but  very  calmly,  the  right  course  of  action 
"  to  pursue.  He  knows  that  the  people  of  the  country  wish  and  expect  him  to  act  with 
"  deliberation  as  well  as  with  firmness."  , 

Although  signed  by  Mr.  Bryan,  as  Secretary  of  State,  the  note  was  written  originally 
by  the  President  in  shorthand — a  favorite  method  of  Mr.  Wilson  in  making  memoranda — 
and  transcribed  by  him  on  his  own  typewriter.  The  document  was  then  presented  to  the 
members  of  the  President's  Cabinet,  a  draft  of  it  was  sent  to  Counselor  Lansing  of  the 
State  Department,  and,  after  a  few  minor  changes,  it  was  transmitted  by  cable  to  Ambas- 
sador Gerard  in  Berlin. 

DEPARTMENT   OF   STATE, 

WASHINGTON,  May  13,  1915. 
The  Secretary  of  State  to  the  American  Ambassador  at  Berlin : 
Please  call  on  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  after  reading  to 
him  this  communication  leave  with  him  a  copy. 

In  view  of  recent  acts  of  the  German  authorities  in  violation  of 
American  rights  on  the  high  seas,  which  culminated  in  the  torpedoing 
and  sinking  of  the  British  steamship  Lusitania  on  May  7,  1915,  by  which 
over  100  American  citizens  lost  their  lives,  it  is  clearly  wise  and  desirable 


410  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 

that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  Imperial  German 
Government  should  come  to  a  clear  and  full  understanding  as  to  the 
grave  situation  which  has  resulted. 

The  sinking  of  the  British  passenger  steamer  Falaba  by  a  German 
submarine  on  March  28,  through  which  Leon  C.  Thrasher,  an  American 
citizen,  was  drowned;  the  attack  on  April  28  on  the  American  vessel 
Gushing  by  a  German  aeroplane ;  the  torpedoing  on  May  1  of  the  Ameri- 
can vessel  Gulflight  by  a  German  submarine,  as  a  result  of  which  two  or 
more  American  citizens  met  their  death;  and,  finally,  the  torpedoing 
and  sinking  of  the  steamship  Lusitania,  constitute  a  series  of  events 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  observed  with  growing 
concern,  distress,  and  amazement. 

Recalling  the  humane  and  enlightened  attitude  hitherto  assumed 
by  the  Imperial  German  Government  in  matters  of  international  right, 
and  particularly  with  regard  to  the  freedom  of  the  seas ;  having  learned 
to  recognize  the  German  views  and  the  German  influence  in  the  field 
of  international  obligation  as  always  engaged  upon  the  side  of  justice 
and  humanity;  and  having  understood  the  instructions  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government  to  its  naval  commanders  to  be  upon  the  same  plane 
of  humane  action  prescribed  by  the  naval  codes  of  other  nations,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  loath  to  believe — it  cannot  now 
bring  itself  to  believe — that  these  acts,  so  absolutely  contrary  to  the 
rules,  the  practices,  and  the  spirit  of  modern  warfare,  could  have  the 
countenance  or  sanction  of  that  great  Government.  It  feels  it  to  be  its 
duty,  therefore,  to  address  the  Imperial  German  Government  concerning 
them  with  the  utmost  frankness  and  in  the  earnest  hope  that  it  is  not 
mistaken  in  expecting  action  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment, which  will  correct  the  unfortunate  impressions  which  have  been 
created,  and  vindicate  once  more  the  position  of  that  Government  with 
regard  to  the  sacred  freedom  of  the  seas. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  apprised  that  the 
Imperial  German  Government  considered  themselves  to  be  obliged  by  the 
extraordinary  circumstances  of  the  present  war  and  the  measures 
adopted  by  their  adversaries  in  seeking  to  cut  Germany  off  from  all 
commerce,  to  adopt  methods  of  retaliation  which  go  much  beyond  the 
ordinary  methods  of  warfare  at  sea,  in  the  proclamation  of  a  war  zone 
from  which  they  have  warned  neutral  ships  to  keep  away.  This  Govern- 
ment has  already  taken  occasion  to  inform  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment that  it  cannot  admit  the  adoption  of  such  measures  or  such  a 
warning  of  danger  to  operate  as  in  any  degree  an  abbreviation  of  the 
rights  of  American  shipmasters  or  of  American  citizens  bound  on  lawful 
errands  as  passengers  on  merchant  ships  of  belligerent  nationality,  and 
that  it  must  hold  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  a  strict  account- 
ability for  any  infringement  of  those  rights,  intentional  or  incidental. 
It  does  not  understand  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  question 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE  411 


those  rights.  It  assumes,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Imperial  Government 
accept,  as  of  course,  the  rule  that  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  whether 
they  be  of  neutral  citizenship  or  citizens  of  one  of  the  nations  at  war, 
cannot  lawfully  or  rightfully  be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  de- 
struction of  an  unarmed  merchantman,  and  recognize  also,  as  all  other 
nations  do,  the  obligation  to  take  the  usual  precaution  of  visit  and  search 
to  ascertain  whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is  in  fact  of  belligerent 
nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband  of  war  under  a  neutral  flag. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  therefore,  desires  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  with  the  utmost  earnest- 
ness to  the  fact  that  the  objection  to  their  present  method  of  attack 
against  the  trade  of  their  enemies  lies  in  the  practical  impossibility  of 
employing  submarines  in  the  destruction  of  commerce  without  disre- 
garding those  rules  of  fairness,  reason,  justice,  and  humanity  which  all 
modern  opinion  regards  as  imperative.  It  is  practically  impossible  for 
the  officers  of  a  submarine  to  visit  a  merchantman  at  sea  and  examine 
her  papers  and  cargo.  It  is  practically  impossible  for  them  to  make  a 
prize  of  her ;  and,  if  they  cannot  put  a  prize  crew  on  board  of  her,  they 
cannot  sink  her  without  leaving  her  crew  and  all  on  board  of  her  to  the 
mercy  of  the  sea  in  her  small  boats.  These  facts  it  is  understood  the 
Imperial  German  Government  frankly  admit.  We  are  informed  that 
in  the  instances  of  which  we  have  spoken  time  enough  for  even  that 
poor  measure  of  safety  was  not  given,  and  in  at  least  two  of  the  cases 
cited  not  so  much  as  a  warning  was  received.  Manifestly,  submarines 
cannot  be  used  against  merchantmen,  as  the  last  few  weeks  have  shown, 
without  an  inevitable  violation  of  many  sacred  principles  of  justice  and 
humanity. 

American  citizens  act  within  their  indisputable  rights  in  taking 
their  ships  and  in  traveling  wherever  their  legitimate  business  calls 
them  upon  the  high  seas,  and  exercise  those  rights  in  what  should  be  the 
well- justified  confidence  that  their  lives  will  not  be  endangered  by  acts 
done  in  clear  violation  of  universally  acknowledged  international  obliga- 
tions, and  certainly  in  the  confidence  that  their  own  Government  will 
sustain  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights. 

There  was  recently  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  United 
States,  I  regret  to  inform  the  Imperial  German  Government,  a  formal 
warning,  purporting  to  come  from  the  Imperial  German  Embassy  at 
Washington,  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  stating, 
in  effect,  that  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  exercised  his  right  of 
free  travel  upon  the  seas  would  do  so  at  his  peril  if  his  journey  should  ^ 
take  him  within  the  zone  of  waters  within  which  the  Imperial  German 
Navy  was  using  submarines  against  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  notwithstanding  the  respectful  but  very  earnest  protest  of  his 
Government,  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  I  do  not  refer  to 
this  for  the  purpose  of  calling  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  German 


412  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 

Government  at  this  time  to  the  surprising  irregularity  of  a  communica- 
tion from  the  Imperial  German  Embassy  at  Washington  addressed  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States  through  the  newspapers,  but  only  for 
the  purpose  of  pointing  out  that  no  warning  that  an  unlawful  and  inhu- 
mane act  will  be  committed  can  possibly  be  accepted  as  an  excuse  or  pal- 
liation for  that  act  or  as  an  abatement  of  the  responsibility  for  its  com- 
mission. 

Long  acquainted  as  this  Government  has  been  with  the  character  of 
the  Imperial  Government,  and  with  the  high  principles  of  equity  by 
which  they  have  in  the  past  been  actuated  and  guided,  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  cannot  believe  that  the  commanders  of  the  vessels 
which  committed  these  acts  of  lawlessness  did  so  except  under  a  misap- 
prehension of  the  orders  issued  by  the  Imperial  German  naval  authori- 
ties. It  takes  it  for  granted  that,  at  least  within  the  practical  possi- 
bilities of  every  such  case,  the  commanders  even  of  submarines  were 
expected  to  do  nothing  that  would  involve  the  lives  of  noncombatants 
or  the  safety  of  neutral  ships,  even  at  the  cost  of  failing  of  their  object 
of  capture  or  destruction.  It  confidently  expects,  therefore,  that  the 
Imperial  German  Government  will  disavow  the  acts  of  which  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  complains ;  that  they  will  make  reparation 
so  far  as  reparation  is  possible  for  injuries  which  are  without  measure, 
and  that  they  will  take  immediate  steps  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
anything  so  obviously  subversive  of  the  principles  of  warfare  for  which 
the  Imperial  German  Government  have  in  the  past  so  wisely  and  so 
firmly  contended. 

The  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States  look  to  the 
Imperial  German  Government  for  just,  prompt,  and  enlightened  action 
in  this  vital  matter  with  the  greater  confidence,  because  the  United 
States  and  Germany  are  bound  together  not  only  by  special  ties  of  friend- 
ship, but  also  by  the  explicit  stipulations  of  the  Treaty  of  1828,  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia. 

Expressions  of  regret  and  offers  of  reparation  in  case  of  the  de- 
struction of  neutral  ships  sunk  by  mistake,  while  they  may  satisfy 
international  obligations,  if  no  loss  of  life  results,  cannot  justify  or 
excuse  a  practice  the  natural  and  necessary  effect  of  which  is  to  subject 
neutral  nations  and  neutral  persons  to  new  and  immeasurable  risks. 

The  Imperial  German  Government  will  not  expect  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  omit  any  word  or  any  act  necessary  to  the  per- 
formance of  its  sacred  duty  of  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  United 
States  and  its  citizens  and  of  safeguarding  their  free  exercise  and  en- 
joyment. BRYAN. 


THE  WARNING  AND  THE 
CONSEQUENCE— 


THE  GERMAN  WARNING. 
[On  Saturday,  May  1,  the  day  that  the 
Lusitania  left  New  York  on  her  last 
voyage,  the  following  advertisement 
bearing  the  authentication  of  the  German 
Embassy  at  Washington  appeared  in  the 
chief  newspapers  of  the  United  States, 
placed  next  the  advertisement  of  the 
Cunard  Line: 


NOTICE! 

TRAVELLERS  intending  to 
embark  on  the  Atlantic  voyage  are 
reminded  that  a  state  of  war  exists 
between  Germany  and  her  aUies  and 
Great  Britain  and  her  allies;  that 
the  zone  of  war  includes  the  waters 
adjacent  to  the  British  Isles;  that, 
in  accordance  with  formal  notice 
given  by  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment, vessels  flying  the  flag  of 
Great  Britain,  or  of  any  of  her 
allies,  are  liable  to  destruction  in 
those  waters  and  that  travellers  sail- 
ing in  the  war  zone  on  ships  of 
Great  Britain  or  her  allies  do  so 
at  their  own  risk. 

IMPERIAL  GERMAN  EMBASSY 

WASHINGTON,    D.    C.    AFRIL    22,    1915. 


Despite  this  warning,  relying  on  Pres- 
ident Wilson's  note  to  Germany  of  Feb. 
10,  1915,  which  declared  that  the  United 
States  would  "  hold  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment of  Germany  to  a  strict  accountabil- 
ity "  for  such  an  act  within  the  submarine 
zone;  relying,  also,  on  the  speed  of  the 
ship,  and  hardly  conceiving  that  the 
threat   would  be   carried   out,   over   two 


thousand  men,  women,  and  children  em- 
barked. The  total  toll  of  the  dead  was 
1,150,  of  whom  114  were  known  to  be 
American  citizens. 

The  German  Embassy's  warning  adver- 
tisement was  repeated  on  May  8,  the  day 
following  the  loss  of  the  Lusitania.  On 
May  12  the  German  Embassy  notified  the 
newspapers  to  discontinue  publication  of 
the  advertisement,  which  had  been  sched- 
uled to  appear  for  the  third  time  on  the 
following  Saturday.] 

GERMAN  OFFICIAL  REPORT. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

BERLIN,  May  14,  {via  Amsterdam  to 
London,  May  15.) — From  the  report  re- 
ceived from  the  submarine  which  sank 
the  Cunard  Line  steamer  Lusitania  last 
Friday  the  following  official  version  of 
the  incident  is  published  by  the  Ad- 
miralty Staff  over  the  signature  of 
Admiral  Behncke: 

The  submarine  sighted  the  steamer, 
which  showed  no  flag.  May  7  at  2:20 
o'clock.  Central  European  time,  afternoon, 
on  the  southeast  coast  of  Ireland,  in  fine, 
clear  weather. 

At  3:10  o'clock  one  torpedo  was  fired 
at  the  Lusitania,  which  hit  her  starboard 
side  below  the  Captain's  bridge.  The 
detonation  of  the  torpedo  was  followed 
immediately  by  a  further  explosion  of 
extremely  strong  effect.  The  ship  quick- 
ly listed  to  starboard  and  began  to  sink. 

The  second  explosion  must  be  traced 
back  to  the  ignition  of  quantities  of  am- 
munition inside  the  ship. 

It  appears  from  this  report  that 
the  submarine  sighted  the  Lusitania  at 
1:20  o'clock,  London  time,  and  fired  the 
torpedo  at  2:10  o'clock,  London  time. 
The  Lusitania,  according  to  all  reports, 
was  traveling  at  the  rate  of  eighteen 
knots  an  hour.  An  fifty  minutes 
elapsed  between  the  sighting  and  the 
torpedoing,  the  Lusitania  when  first 
seen    from    the    submarine    must    have 


414 


THE  NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


SCALE  OF  MILES 


Map  Showing  Locations  of  Ships  Attacked  in  Submarine  War  Zone  with 

American  Citizens  Aboard. 


been  distant  nearly  fifteen  knots,  or 
about  seventeen  land  miles.  The  Lusi- 
tania  must  have  been  recognized  at  the 
first  appearance  of  the  tops  of  her  fun- 
nels above  the  horizon.  To  the  Captain 
on  the  bridge  of  the  Lusitania  the  sub- 
marine would  have  been  at  that  time 
invisible,  being  below  the  horizon. 
BRITISH  CORONER'S  VERDICT. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

KINS  ALE,  Ireland,  May  10.— The 
verdict,  rendered  here  today  by  the 
coroner's  jury,  which  investigated  five 
deaths  resulting  from  the  torpedoing  of 
the  Lusitania,  is  as  follows: 

We  find  that  the  deceased  met  death 


from  prolonged  immersion  and  exhaus- 
tion in  the  sea  eight  miles  south-south- 
east of  Old  Head  of  Kinsale,  Friday,  May 
7,  1915,  owing  to  the  sinking  of  the  Lu- 
sitania by  torpedoes  fired  by  a  German 
submarine. 

We  find  that  the  appalling  crime  was 
committed  contrary  to  international  law 
and  the  conventions  of  all  civilized  na- 
tions. 

We  also  charge  the  officers  of  said 
submarine  and  the  Emperor  and  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Germany,  under  whose  orders 
they  acted,  with  the  crime  of  wholesale 
murder  before  the  tribunal  of  the  civilized 
world. 


THE  LUSITANIA    CASE 


415 


We  desire  to  express  sincere  condo- 
lences and  sympathy  with  the  relatives 
of  the  deceased,  the  Cunard  Company, 
and  the  United  States,  many  of  whose 
citizens  perished  in  this  murderous  at- 
tack on  an  unarmed  liner. 

GERMAN  NOTE  OF  REGRET. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  May  10. — The 
following  dispatch  has  been  sent  by  the 
German  Foreign  Office  to  the  German 
Embassy  at  Washington: 

Please  communicate  the  following  to 
the  State  Department:  The  German  Gov- 
ernment desires  to  express  its  deepest 
sympathy  at  the  loss  of  lives  on  board 
the  Lusitania.  The  responsibility  rests, 
however,  with  the  British  Government, 
which,  through  its  plan  of  starving  the 
civilian  population  of  Germany,  has 
forced  Germany  to  resort  to  retaliatory 
measures. 

In  spite  of  the  German  offer  to  stop 
the  submarine  war  in  case  the  starvation 
plan  was  given  up,  British  merchant  ves- 
sels are  being  generally  armed  with  guns 
and  have  repeatedly  tried  to  ram  sub- 
marines, so  that  a  previous  search  was 
impossible. 

They  cannot,  therefore,  be  treated  as 
ordinary  merchant  vessels.  A  recent  dec- 
laration made  to  the  British  Parliament 
by  the  Parliamentary  Secretary  in  an- 
swer to  a  question  by  Lord  Charles 
Eeresford  said  that  at  the  present  prac- 
tically all  British  merchant  vessels  were 
armed  and  provided  with  hand  grenades. 

Besides,  it  has  been  openly  admitted 
by  the  English  press  that  the  Lusitania 
on  previous  voyages  repeatedly  carried 
large  quantities  of  war  material.  On  the 
present  voyage  the  Lusitania  carried  5,400 
cases  of  ammunition,  while  the  rest  of 
her  cargo  also  consisted  chiefly  of  con- 
traband. 

If  England,  after  repeated  official  and 
unofficial  warnings,  considered  herself 
able  to  declare  that  that  boat  ran  no  risk 
and  thus  light-heartedly  assumed  re- 
sponsibility for  the  human  life  on  board 
a  steamer  which,  owing  to  its  armament 
and  cargo,  was  liable  to  destruction,  the 
German  Government,  in  spite  of  its 
heartfelt  sympathy  for  the  loss  of  Amer- 


ican lives,  cannot  but  regret  that  Amer- 
icans felt  more  inclined  to  trust  to  Eng- 
lish promises  rather  than  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  the  warnings  from  the  German 
side.  FOREIGN  OFFICE. 

ENGLAND  ANSWERS  GERMANY.* 

[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

LONDON,  Wednesday,  May  12.— In- 
quiry in  official  circles  elicited  last 
night  the  following  statement,  represent- 
ing the  official  British  view  of  Ger- 
many's justification  for  torpedoing  the 
Lusitania  which  Berlin  transmitted  to 
the  State  Department  at  Washington: 

The  German  Government  states  that 
responsibility  for  the  loss  of  the  Lusi- 
tania rests  with  the  British  Government, 
which  through  their  plan  of  starving  the 
civil  population  of  Germany  has  forced 
Germany  to  resort  to  retaliatory  meas- 
ures.   The  reply  to  this  is  as  follows: 

As  far  back  as  last  December  Ad- 
miral von  Tirpitz,  (the  German  Marine 
Minister,)  in  an  interview,  foreshad- 
owed a  submarine  blockade  of  Great 
Britain,    and    a    merchant    ship    and    a 

♦In  Germany's  reply  to  the  American  pro- 
test   against    certain    features    of    the    "  war 
zone  "  order,  which  was  received  in  Washing- 
ton on  Feb.  14,  occurred  this  expression : 
If  the  United  States    ♦    •    *    should  suc- 
ceed at  the  last  moment  in  removing  the 
grounds  which  make  that  procedure  [sub- 
marine warfare  on  merchant  vessels]   an 
obligatory  duty  for  Germany    *    *    *    and 
thereby  make  possible  for  Germany  legiti- 
mate   importation    of    the    necessaries    of 
life  and  industrial  raw  material,  then  the 
German  Government    ♦    *    *    would  gladly 
draw  conclusions  from  the  new  situation. 
In  the  German  note  to  the  American  Gov- 
ernment,  justifying  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania, presented  above,  appears  this  clause: 
In  spite  of  the  German  offer  to  stop  the 
submarine  war  in  case  the  starvation  plan 
was  given  up    ♦    *    • 

These  two  expressions  are  referred  to  in  the 
British  official  statement,  published  herewith, 
in  these  words : 

It  was  not  understood  from  the  reply  of 
the  German  Government  [of  Feb.  14]  that 
they  were  prepared  to  abandon  the  princi- 
ple of  sinking  British  vessels  by  subma- 
rine. 

Whether  this  may  regarded  as  an  opening 
for  the  renewal  of  the  German  offer  in  ex- 
plicit terms,  with  the  implication  that  Eng- 
land might  accept  it,  is  not  explained. 


416 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


hospital  ship  were  torpedoed  Jan.  30  and 
Feb.  1,  respectively. 

The  German  Government  on  Feb.  4 
declared  their  intention  of  instituting  a 
general  submarine  blockade  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  with  the  avowed 
purpose  of  cutting  off  supplies  for  these 
islands.  This  blockade  was  put  into  ef- 
fect Feb  .18. 

As  already  stated,  merchant  ves- 
sels had,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  been  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine  at  the  end  of 
January.  Before  Feb.  4  no  vessel  car- 
rying food  supplies  for  Germany  had 
been  held  up  by  his  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment, except  on  the  ground  that  there 
was  reason  to  believe  the  foodstuffs  were 
intended  for  use  of  the  armed  forces  of 
the  enemy  or  the  enemy  Government. 

His  Majesty's  Government  had,  how- 
ever, informed  the  State  Department  on 
Jan.  29  that  they  felt  bound  to  place  in 
a  prize  court  the  foodstuffs  of  the 
steamer  Wilhelmina,  which  was  going  to 
a  German  port,  in  view  of  the  Govern- 
ment control  of  foodstuffs  in  Germany, 
as  being  destined  for  the  enemy  Govern- 
ment, and,  therefore,  liable  to  capture. 

The  decision  of  his  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment to  carry  out  the  measures  laid 
down  by  the  Order  in  Council  was  due 
to  the  action  of  the  German  Government 
in  insisting  on  their  submarine  blockade. 

This,  added  to  other  infractions  of 
international  law  by  Germany,  led  to 
British  reprisals,  which  differ  from  the 
German  action  in  that  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment scrupulously  respect  the  lives  of 
noncombatants  traveling  in  merchant 
vessels,  and  do  not  even  enforce  the 
recognized  penalty  of  confiscation  for  a 
breach  of  the  blockade,  whereas  the  Ger- 
man policy  is  to  sink  enemy  or  neutral 
vessels  at  sight,  with  total  disregard  for 
the  lives  of  noncombatants  and  the  prop- 
erty of  neutrals. 

The  Germans  state  that,  in  spite  of 
their  offer  to  stop  their  submarine  war 
in  case  the  starvation  plan  was  given 
up,  Great  Britain  has  taken  even  more 
stringent  blockade  measures.  The  an- 
swer to  this  is  as  follows: 

It  was  not  understood  from  the  reply 
of   the    German    Government   that   they 


were  prepared  to  abandon  the  principle 
of  sinking  British  vessels  by  submarine. 

They  have  refused  to  abandon  the 
use  of  mines  for  offensive  purposes  on 
the  high  seas  on  any  condition.  They 
have  committed  various  other  infractions 
of  international  law,  such  as  strewing 
the  high  seas  and  trade  routes  with 
mines,  and  British  and  neutral  vessels 
will  continue  to  run  danger  from  this 
course,  whether  Germany  abandons  her 
submarine  blockade  or  not. 

It  should  be  noted  that  since  the  em- 
ployment of  submarines,  contrary  to  in- 
ternational law,  the  Germans  also  have 
been  guilty  of  the  use  of  asphyxiating 
gas.  They  have  even  proceeded  to  the 
poisoning  of  water  in  South  Africa. 

The  Germans  represent  British  mer- 
chant vessels  generally  as  armed  with 
guns  and  say  that  they  repeatedly  ram 
submarines.  The  answer  to  this  is  as 
follows: 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  mer- 
chant vessels,  knowing  they  are  liable 
to  be  sunk  without  warning  and  without 
any  chance  being  given  those  on  board 
to  save  their  lives,  should  take  measures 
for  self-defense. 

With  regard  to  the  Lusitania:  The 
vessel  was  not  armed  on  her  last  voyage, 
and  had  not  been  armed  during  the  whole 
war. 

The  Germans  attempt  to  justify  the 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania  by  the  fact  that 
she  had  arms  and  ammunition  on  board. 
The  presence  of  contraband  on  board  a 
neutral  vessel  does  render  her  liable  to 
capture,  but  certainly  not  to  destruction, 
with  the  loss  of  a  large  portion  of  her 
crew  and  passengers.  Every  enemy  ves- 
sel is  a  fair  prize,  but  there  is  no  legal 
provision,  not  to  speak  of  the  principles 
of  humanity,  which  would  justify  what 
can  only  be  described  as  murder  because 
a  vessel  carries  contraband. 

The  Germans  maintain  that  after  re- 
peated official  and  unofficial  warnings 
his  Majesty's  Government  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  loss  of  life,  as  they 
considered  themselves  able  to  declare  that 
the  boat  ran  no  risk,  and  thus  "  light- 
heartedly  assume  the  responsibility  for 
the  human  lives  on  board  a  steamer 
which,  owing  to  its  armament  and  cargo, 


I 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE 


417 


is  liable  to  destruction."  The  reply 
thereto  is: 

First  —  His  Majesty's  Government 
never  declared  the  boat  ran  no  risk. 

Second — The  fact  that  the  Germans 
issued  their  warning  shows  that  the 
crime  was  premeditated.  They  had  no 
more  right  to  murder  passengers  after 
warning  them  than  before. 

Third — In  spite  of  their  attempts  to 
put  the  blame  on  Great  Britain,  it  will 
tax  the  ingenuity  even  of  the  Germans 
to  explain  away  the  fact  that  it  was  a 
German  torpedo,  fired  by  a  German  sea- 
man from  a  German  submarine,  that 
sank  the  vessel  and  caused  over  1,000 
deaths. 

CAPTAIN  TURNER  TESTIFIES. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

KINSALE,  Ireland,  May  10.— The 
inquest  which  began  here  Saturday  over 
five  victims  of  the  Lusftania  was  con- 
cluded today.  A  vital  feature  of  the 
hearing  was  the  testimony  of  Captain  W. 
T.  Turner  of  the  lost  steamship.  Coroner 
Horga  questioned  him: 

"  You  were  aware  threats  had  been 
made  that  the  ship  would  be  torpedoed  ?  " 

"  We  were,"  the  Captain  replied. 

"  Was  she  armed  ?  " 

"No,  Sir." 

"  What  precautions  did  you  take  ?  " 

"We  had  all  the  boats  swung  when 
we  came  within  the  danger  zone,  be- 
tween the  passing  of  Fastnet  and  the 
time  of  the  accident." 

The  Coroner  asked  him  whether  he  had 
received  a  message  concerning  the  sink- 
ing of  a  ship  off  Kinsale  by  a  submarine. 
Captain  Turner  replied  that  he  had  not. 

"  Did  you  receive  any  special  instruc- 
tions as  to  the  voyage?  " 

"  Yes,  Sir." 

"  Are  you  at  liberty  to  tell  us  what 
they  were?  " 

"  No,  Sir." 

"  Did  you  carry  them  out  ?  " 

"  Yes,  to  the  best  of  my  ability." 

"  Tell  us  in  your  own  words  what  hap- 
pened after  passing  Fastnet." 

"  The  weather  was  clear,"  Captain  Tur- 
ner answered.  "  We  were  going  at  a 
speed  of  eighteen  knots.     I  waS'  on  the 


port  side  and  heard  Second  Officer  Hef- 
ford  call  out: 

"  '  Here's  a  torpedo.' 

"  I  ran  to  the  other  side  and  saw 
clearly  the  wake  of  a  torpedo.  Smoke 
and  steam  came  up  between  the  last  two 
funnels.  There  was  a  slight  shock.  Im- 
mediately after  the  first  explosion  there 
was  another  report,  but  that  may  possi- 
bly have  been  internal. 

"  I  at  once  gave  the  order  to  lower 
the  boats  down  to  the  rails,  and  I  direct- 
ed that  women  and  children  should  get 
into  them.  I  also  had  all  the  bulkheads 
closed. 

"  Between  the  time  of  passing  Fastnet, 
about  11  o'clock,  and  of  the  torpedoing 
I  saw  no  sign  whatever  of  any  subma- 
rines. There  was  some  haze  along  the 
Irish  coast,  and  when  we  were  near  Fast- 
net  I  slowed  down  to  fifteen  knots.  I 
was  in  wireless  communication  with  shore 
all  the  way  across." 

Captain  Turner  was  asked  whether  he 
had  received  any  messages  in  regard  to 
the  presence  of  submarines  off  the  Irish 
coast.  He  replied  in  the  affirmative. 
Questioned  regarding  the  nature  of  the 
message,  he  replied: 

"  I  respectfully  refer  you  to  the  Ad- 
miralty for  an  answer." 

"  I  also  gave  orders  to  stop  the  ship," 
Captain  Turner  continued,  "  but  we  could 
not  stop.  We  found  that  the  engines 
were  out  of  commission.  It  was  not  safe 
to  lower  boats  until  the  speed  was  off  the 
vessel.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was 
a  perceptible  headway  on  her  up  to  the 
time  she  went  down. 

"  When  she  was  struck  she  listed  to 
starboard.  I  stood  on  the  bridge  when 
she  sank,  and  the  Lusitania  went  down 
under  me.  She  floated  about  eighteen 
minutes  after  the  torpedo  struck  her. 
My  watch  stopped  at  2:36.  I  was  picked 
up  from  among  the  wreckage  and  after- 
ward was  brought  aboard  a  trawler. 

"  No  warship  was  convoying  us.  I 
saw  no  warship,  and  none  was  reported 
to  me  as  having  been  seen.  At  the  time 
I  was  picked  up  I  noticed  bodies  floating 
on  the  surface,  but  saw  no  living  per- 
sons." 

"  Eighteen  knots  was  not  the  normal 
speed  of  the  Lusitania,  was  it  ?  " 


418 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


"  At  ordinary  times,"  answered  Cap- 
tain Turner,  "  she  could  make  25  knots, 
but  in  war  times  her  speed  was  reduced 
to  21  knots.  My  reason  for  going  18 
knots  was  that  I  wanted  to  arrive  at 
Liverpool  bar  without  stopping,  and  with- 
in two  or  three  hours  of  high  water." 

"Was  there  a  lookout  kept  for  sub- 
marines, having  regard  to  previous  warn- 
ings? " 

"  Yes,  we  had  double  lookouts." 

"Were  you  going  a  zigzag  course  at 
the  moment  the  torpedoing  took  place?  " 

"  No.  It  was  bright  weather,  and  land 
was  clearly  visible." 

"  Was  it  possible  for  a  submarine  to 
approach  without  being  seen?  " 

"  Oh,  yes;  quite  possible." 

"  Something  has  been  said  regarding 
the  impossibility  of  launching  the  boats 
on  the  port  side  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Captain  Turner,  "  owing 
to  the  listing  of  the  ship." 

"  How  many  boats  were  launched 
safely?  " 

"  I  cannot  say." 

"  Were  any  launched  safely  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  one  or  two  on  the  port  side." 

"  Were  your  orders  promptly  carried 
out?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Was  there  any  panic  on  board  ?  " 

"  No,  there  was  no  panic  at  all.  It 
was  all  most  calm." 

"  How  many  persons  were  on  board  ?  " 

"  There  were  1,500  passengers  and 
about  600  crew." 

By  the  foreman  of  the  jury — In  the 
face  of  the  warnings  at  New  York  that 
the  Lusitania  would  be  torpedoed,  did 
you  make  any  application  to  the  Admi- 
ralty for  an  escort? 

"  No,  I  left  that  to  them.  It  is  their 
business,  not  mine.  I  simply  had  to  carry 
out  my  orders  to  go,  and  I  would  do  it 
again." 

Captain  Turner  uttered  the  last  words 
of  this  reply  with  great  emphasis. 

By  the  Coroner — I  am  very  glad  to 
hear  you  say  so.  Captain. 

By  a  juryman — Did  you  get  a  wireless 
to  steer  your  vessel  in  a  northern  direc- 
tion? 

"  No,"  replied  Captain  Turner. 


"  Was  the  course  of  the  vessel  altered 
after  the  torpedoes  struck  her?  " 

"  I  headed  straight  for  land,  but  it  was 
useless.  Previous  to  this  the  watertight 
bulkheads  were  closed.  I  suppose  the 
explosion  forced  them  open.  I  don't  know 
the  exact  extent  to  which  the  Lusitania 
was  damaged." 

"  There  must  have  been  serious  dam- 
age done  to  the  watertight  bulkheads?  " 

"  There  certainly  was,  without  doubt." 

"  Were  the  passengers  supplied  with 
lifebelts?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Were  any  special  orders  g:iven  that 
morning  that  lifebelts  be  put  on  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Was  any  warning  given  before  you 
were  torpedoed  ?  " 

"  None  whatever.  It  was  suddenly 
done  and  finished." 

"  If  there  had  been  a  patrol  boat  about 
might  it  have  been  of  assistance?  " 

"  It  might,  but  it  is  one  of  those  things 
one  never  knows." 

With  regard  to  the  threats  against  his 
ship  Captain  Turner  said  he  saw  nothing 
except  what  appeared  in  the  New  York 
papers  the  day  before  the  Lusitania 
sailed.  He  had  never  heard  the  passen- 
gers talking  about  the  threats,  he  said. 

"  Was  a  warning  given  to  the  lower 
decks  after  the  ship  had  been  struck?  " 
Captain  Turner  was  asked. 

"  All  the  passengers  must  have  heard 
the  explosion,"  Captain  Turner  replied. 

Captain  Turner,  in  answer  to  another 
question,  said  he  received  no  report  from 
the  lookout  before  the  torpedo  struck  the 
Lusitania. 

Ship's  Bugler ,  Livermore  testified  that 
the  watertight  compartments  were 
closed,  but  that  the  explosion  and  the 
force  of  the  water  must  have  burst  them 
open.  He  said  that  all  the  officers  were 
at  their  posts  and  that  earlier  arrivals 
of  the  rescue  craft  would  not  have  saved 
the  situation. 

After  physicians  had  testified  that  the 
victims  had  met  death  through  prolonged 
immersion  and  exhaustion  the  Coroner 
summed  up  the  case. 

He  said  that  the  first  torpedo  fired  by 
the  German  submarine  did  serious  dam- 
age to  the  Lusitania,  but  that,  not  satis- 


"Lusitania's"  First  Cabin  List 


List  Of 

SALOON    PASSENGERS 

SY  THE  QUADRUPLE^^RtW  TURBME 

CAPTAM 

**     T.    TURNER.    R.  N.  R. 

STAfT^ATrAIH 

•  1.  C.  ANOeRSON 


From  New  York    lo    Liverpool  May  1st  1915. 


Mr.  Henry  Adams 

England. 

Mra.  A<)am> 

England. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Adams 

Lotidoii.  Eng. 

H  Mr.  William  UcM.  Adams 

London,  Eng. 

1,  Udy  Allan 

Montreal.  Can. 

^           and  maid  itmitg  Oariu) 

*  Miss  Anna  Allan 

Montreal.  Can. 

•   Miss  Gwcn  Allan 

Montreal.  Can. 

It     and  maid  |.<>i»<  rolhr) 

-*   Mr.  N.  N.  Alles     . 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

.It  Mr.  Julian  de  Ayala 

Liverpool,  Eng. 

"                       l(M«idC<wM;)>rkta*l^r«, 

iw^l 

JL   Mr.  James  Baker 

Miss  Maisarct  A.  Baker 

England. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

^  Mr.  Allan  Barnes 

X  Mr.  G.  W.  B.  Banlett 

i  Mrs.  Bartlell 

Mr.  Uodoo  Bales  Jr. 

Toronto,  Ont. 

London.  Eng. 

London.  Ene 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

^  Mr.  J.  J-  Ballersby 
£  Mr.  Oliver  Bernard 
i  Mr.  Charles  P.  Bernard 
i   Mr.  Albert  C.  Bilicke 

Sloclpo,!,  Eng. 

Boston.  Masi. 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

I.OS   Angeles.  CaL 

^  Mrs.  Bilicke 

Mr.  Harry  8.  Baldwin 

Los  Angeles,  CaL- 

New.  York,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  Baldwin 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Leonidas  Bistij 

Greece 

Mr.  James  J.  Black 

Liverpool,  Eng. 

Mr.  Tbomas  Bliiom6eld 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

^  Mr.  James  Boban 

X   Mr.  Harold  Boulton  Jr. 

Toronto.  Canada. 

Chicago.  III. 

^t  Mr.  Charles  W.  BowrinK 
Miss  Dorothy  Bmithwaitc 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Montreal.  Can. 

^  Miss  Josephine  Braodeli 
S  Mr.  C.  T.  Brodnck 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Boston.  Mass. 

♦  Ml.  J.  H.  Brooks 

Uridgeporl,  Conn. 

Mrs.  Mary  C.  Brown 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

«    Mr.  H.  A.  Bruno 

Montdair,  N.  J. 

Mrs.  Bruno 

Monlclair,  N.  J 

It  Mrs.  J.  S    Burnside 

Toronto,  Ont. 

^           and  maid  (.v-irci*  Whilii) 

Toronto,  •ut. 

Miss  Kis  Bumside      , 

Toronto.  Ont, 

■f,  Mr.  A.  J    Byington 

London.  Eng. 

it  Mr.  Michael  G.  Byrne 

New  York.  N.  Y 

■Jt  Mr.  Petar  Buswell 

England. 

«   Mr.  William  H.  H.  Brown 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

,il  Mr.  Hy  0.  Bureess 

England 

•ft  Mr.  Robert  W.  Cairns 

Booked  on  Board 

Mr.  Conway  S. 

Camiibell-Johnslon 

Los    Angeles,  CaL 

#  Mrs.  Campbell.Jobiiston 

Los   Angeles,  C»L 

Mr   Alexander  Campbell 

London.  Eng. 

•   Mr.  David  I.   Cbabot 

Montreal.  Can. 

it  Mrs.  W.  Chapman 

Toroiiio.  Canada. 

i,  Mr.  John  H.  Charles 

Toronto.  Canada. 

It  Miss  Doris  Charles 

Toronto.  Canada. 

it  Rev.  Cowley  Clarke 

London,  Eng. 

it  Mr.  A.  R.  Clarke 

Toronto,  Canada. 

•   Mr.  W.  Broderick  Cloe<e 

San  Antonio  Ten* 

it  Mr.  H.G.  Colebrook 

Toronto,  Canada. 

it  Miss  Dorothy  Conner 

New  York  N.  Y. 

•    Ml.  George  R.  Copping 

Toronto.  Canada. 

Mrs.  Coppinx 

Toronto.  Canada. 

•  Mrs.  William  CrichtoB 

New  York,  N.  V. 

Mr.  Paul  Ctompton 

Fliiladelphia,  Pa. 

Mr*.  Crompton 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Master  Peter  Ciomplon  (»  at 

M 

and  none  |li>roitt  D.  Mt 

•   Master  Steven  Cromptoo 

"pii.ladelphia.Pa. 

Master  John  David  Crompton 

rii.l.rdelphi.i.  Pa. 

Master  Paul  RomcUy  Croenptc 

in  Pli.ljdelphia,  Pa. 

(»raaei) 

Miss  Alberta  CmiBMin 

Philadelphia.  Pa. 

Mm  Catherine  Crompton 
•   Mr.  Rober(  W   Crooks 

PMaiielphi.i.  Pa. 

Toi  onto,  Canada. 

it  Mr.  A.  B.  Cross 

F-  Malay  Stales 

it  Mr    Harold  U.  Daly 

Ottawa,  Ont. 

•  Mr.  Robert  E.  Dearbergli 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

•    Mr^.  A.  Depage 

Belgium. 

Mr.  C    A.  Dinitwall 

1  -uiMlon,  Eng 

MissC.  Dougall 

Coelph.  Ont. 

Ml.  Audley  Drake 

Oelroil.  Mich. 

Mr.  Alan  Dredee 

British  Hoodiuas 

Mrs.  Dredge 

British  Honnuraa 

Mr.  James  Dunsmuir 

Toronto.  Canada. 

Mr.  W.  A.  Emond 

'Juebec  Can. 

Mr.  John  Fenwiek 

Switzerland 

*   Dr.  Howard  Fi.her 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Justin  M.  Foinua 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Cbas.  F.  Fowlea 

New  York.  N."Y. 

•  Mrs.  Fowles 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Richard  R.  Freemaaft, 

Boston,  Mass. 

Mr.  J.  Friedensteio 

London,  Eng. 

Mr    Edwin  W.  Friend 

Farmington  Ct. 

•  Mr.  Charles  Frobman 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

•           and  valet  ima.  Aalatm) 

if  Mr.  Fred.  J.  Ga>intlctt 
Mr.  Matbew  Gibson 
Mr.  Georga  A.  Gilpin 
Mr.  Edgar  Gorer 

it  Mr.  Oscar  P.  Grab 


Mr.  Frederick  S.  Hammond 
it  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hammond 
it  Mr.  O.  H.  Hammond 

Mrs.  O.  H.  Hammond 
it  Mr.  C.  C.  Hardwick 

Mr.  John  H.  Harjicr 
it  Mr.  Diright  C.  Harris 

Mr.  F.  W.  Hawkins    ;  . 

•  Mis?  Katberyo  Hickson 
it   Hr.-Charles  T.  Hill 

Mr.  William  S.  Hodgea 
Mrs.  Hodges 

•  Master  W.  S.  Hodges  Jr.'  ' 
Master  Dean  W.  Hodges 

it  Master  W.  R.  G.  Holt 
it  Mr.  Thomas  Home 

•  Mr.  Albert  L.  Hopkins 
it  Dr.  J.  T.  Houghton 

Mr.  Elbert  Hubbard 
Mrs.  Hubbard 
Miss  P.  Hutchinson 

it  Mr.  C.  T.  Jeffery 

it  Mr.  Francis  B   Jenkins 

i^   Miss  Rita  Jolivet 

•  Miss  Margaret  D.  Jones 

it  Mr.  W.  Keeble 

it  Mrs.  Keeble 

.     Mr.  Francis  C.  Kellett 

it  Mr.  Maitland  Kempson 

it  Dr.  Owen  Kenan 

Mrs.  C.  Ilickson  Kennedy 

Mr.  Harry  J.  Keser 

•  Mrs.  Kcser 

■^   Mr   Geo.  A.  KesMer 

•  Mr.  Thos,  B.  King 
Mr.  Charles  Klein 

•Mr   C.  Harwood  Knight 
Miss  Elaine  H.  Knight 
it  .Mr.  S.  M.  Knox 

Sir  Hugh  Lane 
*•  Mrs.  H.  B.  La^setter 
it  Mr.  V.  UN^eller 
,1t  Mr.  Charles  K.  Lanriat  (r. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Learoyd 
it  Mrs.  Learoyd 
it  aod  maid  (Marft  fiirlay) 

it  Mr.  James  Leary 

Mr.  Hvan  A.  Leigh 
it  Mr.  Isaac  Uhmaiin 
it  Miss  Dilane  Lehmann 
*.  Mr.  Martin  Lehmann 

Mr.  Joseph  Levinson  Jr. 

Mr.  Gerald  A    Utis 

Mr.  F.  Guy  Lewin 

•  Mrs.  Pophini  Uobb 
it  Mr.  R    K.  Lockhart 

Mr.  Allen  D.  Loney 


New  York,  N.Y. 
Glasgow,  >Scot. 
England. 
London.  Eng. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Chicago,  IX 
Chicago,  V 
Toronto.  Canada. 
Toronto.  Canada. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Niw  York,  N.  Y. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
NcwvYork.  N.  Y 
Winnipeg.  Man. 
New  York.  N.  Y 
London,  Eng.  . 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Pli.l.idel|.lil3.  Pa. 
Pliiladelphia,  Pa. 
Philadelphia.  Pi 
-Montreal.  Can. 
.  Toronto.  Canada. 
New  York.  N.  Y.  - 
Saratoga  Spnogs  N.Y 
E.  Atirora  N.  Y. 
j;.  Aurora.  N  V 
England. 

Oiicago,  in. 
Nciv  York,  N.  Y 
r.iris,  France. 
Honolulu.  Hawaii 
Toronto.  Canada. 
Toronto.  Canada. 
Tuckahoe,  N.  Y. 
Toronto.  Canada. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Neiv  York.  N   Y 
Pluladeliihia,  Pa. 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
New.York.  N.  Y.' 


t|iss  Amy  W.  W.  Pearl 

Miss  Susan  W.  Pearl 
if       I  and  maid  l^liet  Ltnu) 
if  Master  Stuart  Duncan  D.  P«arl 


e,"fid. 


Mrs.  Loney 

and  maid  (n.it  BouliUUr) 

■  Miss  Virginia  Looey 
'Mrs.  A.  C.  Luck 

Master  Eldndee  C.  Luck 
Master  Kenneth  T.  Luck 

■  Mr.  John  W.  McConnel 
Mr.  William  McLean 
Mr.  F.  E.  MacUnnan 

■  Mr.  Louis  Mc  Murray 
Mr   Fred.  A.  McMurtry 

>   Mrs.  Henry  D.  Macdooa 

■  Lady  Mackwortb 

Mr.  Stewart  S.  Mason 
I    Mrs.  Mason 

■  Mr.  Arthur  T.  Matberra 
Rev.  B^it  W.  Maturin 
Mr.  George  Maurice 

Mr.  Maurice  B.  Medbnry 

Capt.  J.  B.  Miller 

Mr.  Charle-  V.  Mills 

Mr.  James  D.  Mitchell 

Mr.  K.  T.  Moodie 
r  Mrs.  M,  S.  Morell 

Mr.  K.  J.  Morrison 
r  Mr.  G.  G.  Mosley 

Mrs.  C.  Muoro 

Mr.  Herman  A.  Myera 
r  Mr.  Jcaeph  L.  .Myers 
I   Mr.  F.  G.  Naumann 
I   Mr.  Gustaf  Adolf  Nyblom 
r  Mr.  F.  Orr-Lewis 


Baltir 
Baltimore.  Md. 
PliilHdelphia.  Pa. 

England. 
London,  Cng. 
London,  Eng. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Sidney,  Aus. 
Sidney,  Aus. 

Ntw  York,  N.Y. 
-Liverpool,  Eng. 
New  York.  N.  V 
looked  on  Board 
Booked  on  Board 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

England. 

New  York.  N.V 

Toronto,  Canada. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

New  York.  N.  Y. 
Worcester.  Mass. 
Worcester  Mass. 
Worcester  Mass. 

Manchester,  Eng, 
Frattce 

GlaNgow,  Seot. 
Toronto,  Canada. 
New  York,  N.  Y, 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
Cardiff  Wales 
Boston,  Mass. 
Boston,  Man 
Montreal,  Can. 
Oxtotll.  Eng. 
London.  Eng. 
New  York,  NY. 
Washington.  D,  C 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
England. 

Gainesville,  Tex. 
Toronto.  Canada. 
Canada 
England. 
Liverpool.  Eng. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
Neir  York.  N.Y. 


Mr.  J.  H.  Page 

Mr.  M.  N-  Pappadopoulo' 
'  Mrs.  Pappadopoulo 

Mr.  Frank  Partridge 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Paynter 
■  Miss  Irene  Paynter 

Mr.  F.  A.  Peardon 

Dr.  F.  S.  Pearson 

Mrs,  Pearson 

Major  F.  Warren  Pearl 

Mrs.  Pearl 
infant 

and  maid  tCrtt*  Urtmttm) 


Montreal.  Can. 

Hamilton  Ont. 
Glasgow,  Scot. 
Uverpoo).  En^ 
Liverpool,  Eng, 
New  York.  N.  V. 
Greece 

New^York,  N.  Y.- 
Ltverpool.  Eng. 
Liverpool,  Enf. 
Toronto  Can. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
New  York.  N.Y. 
New  York.  N.  T. 


if  Mr.  Robinson  Pi 
if  Mr.  William  J.  Pierpoint 
^    Mr.  Charles  A.  PtamondOQ 
9   Mrs.  Plamondott 

Mr.  Henry  Pollanl 
.if  Miss  Theodate  Pope 

and  maid  (fmily  KaiikMni 
^i  Mr.  Eugene    H:  Pasen 

Mr.  George  A.  Powell 
if  Mr.  Norman  A.  Ratclifl 
it  Mr.  Robert  Rankiir 
it   Mr.  A.  L.  Rhys  Kvans 

Mr.  Chas.  K.  Robinson . 

Mrs.  Robinson 

Mr.  Frank' A.  Rogers 
#    Mrs.  Rogers 
it  Mr.  Percy  W. -Rogers 

Mr.  Thos.  W.  Rumble. 

Mrs.  G.  Sterling  Rycrson 
it  Miss  Laura  Ryerson 


Mr.  Max  M.  Schwarca 
Mr.  A   J.  Scott 

•  .Mr    Percy  W.  Seccombe. 
Miss  Elizabeth  Seccombo 
Mr.  Victor  E  Shields 
Mrs.  Shields 

•  Mrs.  R    D.  Shyiner 
Mr   Jacobus  Sigord 

-     Mr.  Thomas  J.  Silva 

•  Mr.  Thomas  Slidell . 
it  Mrs.  Jessie  Taft  Smith 

Mr..  Henry  B.  Sonnebom 

•  Comd'r.  J.  Foster  Stackbouse 

•  Mrs.  George  W.  Stephen^ 

and  maid  {tlUt  Obtrtin) 
Master  John  H.  C.  Stephens 
and  nurse  {Cterotin.jrilien) 
Mr.  Duncan  Stewart 
Mr.  Herbert  S.  Stone 

•  Mr.  Martin  van  Straater 
Mr.  Julius  Strands 

Mr.  Alex.  Smart 

•  Mr.  Charles  F.  Sturdy 

•  Mr.  R.  L.  Taylor 
Mr.  F.  B.  Tesson 
Mrs.  Tesson 

if  Mr.  D.  A., Thomas 

Mr.  E.  Blish  Thompson 
it  Mrs.  Thompson 

•  Mr.  Georeea  Tibergbien 

•  Mr.  R.  J.  Tilvmis 

•  Mr.  F.  E.  O.  Tootal 

•  Mr.  Ernest  Townley 

•  Mr.  Isaac  F.  Trumbal 
if  Mr.  Scott  Turner 

i^  Mr.  O.  H.  Tunon 

Mr.  Alfred  0.  VanderbUl 
and  valet  (Aonald  D*mgmi 
it  Mr.  W.  A.  F.  Vasaar 

•  Mr.  G.  L.  P.  Vemon 

.J^  Mrs.  A.  T.  WakefieM 
Mr.  Das-id  Walker 
Mrs.  Wallace  WaLson 
Mrs.  Anthony  Watson 

«  Mrs.  Catherine  E.  Willey 
Mr.  Thomas  H.  Williams 
Mr.  Charles  F.  Williamson 

if  Mrs.  A.  S.  Witherhee 

Master  A.S.Witherbee  Jr.Hlr" 
Mr.  Lothrop  W'lthingtoo 
Mr   Walter  Wright 

•  Mr.  Arthur  John  Wood 
it' ill.  Robt.  C.  Wright 

Mr.  J.  M.  Young 
Mrs.  Young 
if  Mr.  Philip  J.  Yung 


New  York. N.Y. 
England. 
Buffalo.  N.  Y. 
Buffalo.  N.  Y. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
Hamilton  Oat. 
Liverpool,  Eng, 
l-hK-ago.  111. 
Chicago,  IIL 
Washington.  D.  C 
Farmington  Ct. 
London,  Eng. 
New  York;  fl.Y. 
Toronto,  Ont. 
■England. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cardiff  Wales 
PhiUdclphia.  Fa. 
Philadelphia.  Pa. 
Toronto,  Canada. 
Toronto,  Canada. 
Toronto  Can. 
Toronto,  Canada. 
Toronto  Canada 
Tortmto  Canada 
Baltimore.  Md. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
New  York,  N    Y- 
Manila,  P.I.     • 
Peterboto,  N  H.. 
Petcrboro,  N.Hl 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
New  Nork.  N.  Y. 

Temple,  Texas 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Braceville  O. 


Ballin 


Md. 


&f  ontreal.  ICaiu 

Montreal.  Can. 
New  York. N.Y. 
London,  Eng. 
Hamilton  Ont. 
Glasgow,  Scot. 
'Montreal,  Can. 

Montreal.  Can. 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Plinadelphia,  Pa. 
Cardiff  Wales 
Seymour,  Indiana 
Seymour.  Indiana 
France 

Gainesville,  Texas 
London,  Eng. 
Toronto  Canada 
Bridgeport,  Conn. 
Lansing,  Mich. 
Mcltioiuoe  Asatralia 

New  York,  N.Y. 


Honolulu.  HawaaL 
Me«  York.  N.  Y. 
Montreal,  C^. 
England. 
Lake  Forest  III.. 
Liverpool.  Eng. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
Liverpool,  Eng. 
New  York.  N.  Y. 
)New  York.  N.  Y.- 
Boston, Mass. 
Scotland 
EnKl.ind. 
Clevjljnd,  Ohidi 

Haniill.in  Ont. 


Total  number  of  SailooD  Paaiciigers  293 


Survtvora  marlzad  it 
UcntifMit  Dead  martnd  • 


[This  list,  as  corrected 
to  May  22,  1915 — the  final 
revision — is  a  facsimile  of 
the  broadside  issued  by 
the  Cunard  Company.  It 
will  be  noted  that  all  of 
Paul  Crompton's  family 
perished,  including  him- 
self, his  wife,  and  six 
children.] 


420 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


fied  with  this,  the  Germans  had  dis- 
charged another  torpedo.  The  second 
torpedo,  he  said,  must  have  been  more 
deadly,  because  it  went  right  through  the 
ship,  hastening  the  work  of  destruction. 
The  characteristic  courage  of  the  Irish 
and  British  people  was  manifested  at  the 
time  of  this  terrible  disaster,  the  Coroner 
continued,  and  there  was  no  panic.  He 
charged  that  the  responsibility  "  lay  on 


the  German  Government  and  the  whole 
people  of  Germany,  who  collaborated  in 
the  terrible  crime. 

"  I  propose  to  ask  the  jury,"  he  contin- 
ued, "  to  return  the  only  verdict  possible 
for  a  self-respecting  jury,  that  the  men 
in  charge  of  the  German  submarine  were 
guilty  of  willful  murder." 

The  jury  then  retired  and  prepared 
their  verdict. 


Descriptions  by  Survivors 


SUBMARINE  CREW  OBSERVED. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

LONDON,  May  10.— The  Fishguard 
correspondent  of  The  Daily  News  quotes 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Guvier  of  the  Church  of 
England's  Canadian  Railway  Mission,  a 
Lusitania  survivor,  as  saying  that  when 
the  ship  sank  a  submarine  rose  to  the 
surface  and  came  within  300  yards  of 
the  scene. 

"  The  crew  stood  stolidly  on  the  deck," 
he  said,  "  and  surveyed  their  handiwork. 
I  could  distinguish  the  German  flag,  but. 
it  was  impossible  to  see  the  number  of 
the  submarine,  which  disappeared  after 
a  few  minutes." 

ERNEST   COWPER'S   ACCOUNT. 

QUEENSTOWN,  Saturday,  May  8, 
3:18  A.  M. — A  sharp  lookout  for  sub- 
marines was  kept  aboard  the  Lusitania 
as  she  approached  the  Irish  coast,  ac- 
cording to  Ernest  Cowper,  a  Toronto 
newspaper  man,  who  was  among  the  sur- 
vivors landed  at  Queenstown. 

He  said  that  after  the  ship  was  tor- 
pedoed there  was  no  panic  among  the 
c>ew,  but  that  they  went  about  the  work 
of  getting  passengers  into  the  boats  in  a 
prompt  and  efficient  manner. 

"  As  we  neared  the  coast  of  Ireland," 
said  Mr.  Cowper,  "  we  all  joined  in  the 
lookout,  for  a  possible  attack  by  a  sub- 
marine was  the  sole  topic  of  conversation. 

"  I  was  chatting  with  a  friend  at  the 
rail  about  2  o'clock,  when  suddenly  I 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  conning  tower 
of  a  submarine  about  a  thousand  yards 
distant.  I  immediately  called  my  friend's 
attention   to   it.     Immediately   we   both 


saw  the  track  of  a  torpedo,  followed 
almost  instantly  by  an  explosion.  Por- 
tions of  splintered  hull  were  sent  flying 
into  the  air,  and  then  another  torpedo 
struck.  The  ship  began  to  list  to  star- 
board. 

"  The  crew  at  once  proceeded  to  get 
the  passengers  into  boats  in  an  orderly, 
prompt,  and  efficient  manner.  Miss  Hel- 
en Smith  appealed  to  me  to  save  her. 
I  placed  her  in  a  boat  and  saw  her 
safely  away.  I  got  into  one  of  the  last 
boats  to  leave. 

"  Some  of  the  boats  could  not  be 
launched,  as  the  vessel  was  sinking. 
There  was  a  large  number  of  women  and 
children  in  the  second  cabin.  Forty  of 
thf'.  children  were  less  than  a  year  old." 

From  interviews  with  passengers  it  ap- 
pears that  when  the  torpedoes  burst  they 
sent  forth  suffocating  fumes,  which  had 
their  effect  on  the  passengers,  causing 
some  of  them  to  lose  consciousness. 

Two  stokers,  Byrne  and  Hussey  of 
Liverpool,  gave  a  few  details.  They  said 
the  submarine  gave  no  notice  and  fired 
two  torpedoes,  one  hitting  No.  1  stoke 
hole  and  the  second  the  engine  room. 
The  first  torpedo  was  discharged  at  2 
o'clock.  In  twenty-five  minutes  the  great 
liner  disappeared. 

The  Cunard  Line  agent  states  that  the 
total  number  of  persons  aboard  the  Lu- 
sitania was  2,160. 

MR.   KESSLER'S   DESCRIPTION. 
[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.] 

LONDON,  Monday,  May  10.— Sur- 
vivors of  the  Lusitania  arriving  in  Lon- 
don   yesterday    from    Queenstown    told 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE 


421 


some  of  their  tragic  experiences  to  The 
New  York  Times  correspondent. 

They  forcibly  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  Lusitania  was  badly  handled 
in  being  run  into  waters  where  it  was 
known  submarines  were  waiting.  Al- 
though not  for  a  moment  attempting  to 
shift  the  blame  from  the  "  murder- 
ous Germans  "  for  the  sinking  of  a  ship 
full  of  innocent  passengers,  they  insisted 
that  the  officers  of  the  steamship,  knoiv- 
ivg  that  submarines  were  lurking  off  the 
Irish  coast,  ought  to  have  taken  a  dif- 
ferent path  to  avoid  all  danger.   *    *   * 

George  A.  Kessler  of  New  York,  in 
an  interview,  gave  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  the  Lusitania  sinking  and  of 
preliminary  incidents  aboard: 

"  On  Wednesday  I  saw  the  crew  tak- 
ing tarpaulins  from  the  boats,  and  I  went 
up  to  the  Purser  and  said: 

"  It's  all  right  drilling  your  crew,  but 
why  don't   you   drill   your   passengers?" 

"  The  Purser  said  he  thought  it  was 
a  good  idea,  and  added,  '  Why  not  tell 
Captain  Turner,  Sir?' 

"  The  next  day  I  had  a  conversation 
with  the  Captain,  and  to  him  suggested 
that  the  passengers  should  receive 
tickets,  each  with  a  number  denoting  the 
number  of  the  boat  he  should  make  for  in 
case  anything  untoward  happened.  I 
added  that  this  detail  would  minimize 
difficulties  in  the  event  of  trouble. 

"  The  Captain  replied  that  this  sug- 
gestion was  made  after  the  disaster  to 
the  Titanic.  The  Cunard  people  had 
thought  it  over  and  considered  it  im- 
practicable. He  added  that,  of  course, 
he  could  not  act  on  the  advice  given, 
because  he  should  first  have  the  author- 
ity of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

"  I  talked  with  the  Captain  generally 
about  the  torpedo  scare,  which  neither  of 
us  regarded  as  of  any  moment.  The 
Captain  (you  understand,  of  course, 
that  we  were  smoking  and  chatting) 
explained  his  plans  to  me.  He  said 
that  they  were  then  slowing  down,  (in 
fact,  we  were  going  only  about  eighteen 
knots,)  and  that  the  ship  would  be 
slowed  down  until  they  got  somewhere 
further  on  the  voyage,  and  then  they 
would  go  at  all  speed  and  get  over  the 
war  zone. 


"  I  asked  him  what  the  war  zone 
was,  and  he  said  500  miles  from  Liver- 
pool. 

"  According  to  the  next  day's  run, 
ending  about  two  hours  before  the  mis- 
hap occurred,  we  were  about  380  or  390 
miles  from  Liverpool.  So  we  were  in  the 
war  zone,  and  we  were  going  only  at  a 
speed  of  eighteen  knots  at  the  critical 
moment. 

"  For  the  two  days  previous,  as  well 
as  I  remember,  the  mileage  was  506 
and  501,  and  on  Thursday  the  mileage 
was  488.  On  Friday  I  was  playing 
bridge  when  the  pool  was  put  up  on 
the  day's  run  and  I  heard  twenty  num- 
bers go  from  480  to  499.  I  thought  it 
would  be  a  grand  speculation  to  buy  the 
lowest  number,  as  we  were  going  so  slow. 
I  did  buy  it,  and  paid  $100.  The  amount 
in  the  pool  was  between  $300  and  $350, 
and  when  the  pool  was  declared,  I  was 
the  winner. 

"  The  steward  offered  to  hand  over 
the  money  if  I  would  go  to  his  cabin, 
but  I  said  that  he  could  pay  me  later. 

"  Shortly  after  the  steward  had  left 
me  I  was  on  the  upper  deck  and  look- 
ing out  to  sea.  I  saw  all  at  once  the 
wash  of  a  tfcrpedo,  indicated  by  a  snake- 
like churn  of  the  surface  of  the  water. 
It  may  have  been  about  thirty  feet  away. 
And  vhcn  came  a  thud." 

Mr.  Kessler  told  of  the  general  rush 
for  the  deck  and  the  second  explosion. 
Then  he  continued: 

"  Mr.  Berth  and  his  wife,  from  New 
York,  first-class  passengers,  were  the 
last  ones  I  spoke  to.  I  should  say  that 
all  the  passengers  in  the  dining  saloon 
had  come  up  on  deck.  The  upper  deck 
was  crowded,  and,  of  course,  the  pas- 
sengers were  wondering  what  was  the 
matter,  few  really  believing  what  it 
proved  to  be.  Still  they  began  to  lower 
boats,  and  then  things  began  to  happen 
very  quickly. 

"  Mr.  Berth  was  trying  to  persuade 
his  wife  to  get  into  a  boat.  She  said 
she  would  not  do  so  without  him.  He 
said,  *  Oh,  come  along,  my  darling;  I  will 
be  all  right,'  and  I  added  to  his  persua- 
sions. 

"  I  saw  him  help  her  into  the  boat  with 
the  ropes  of  the  davits.     I  fell  into  the 


422 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


same  boat,  and  we  were  slipped  down 
into  the  water  over  the  side  of  the  liner, 
which  was  bulging  out,  the  list  being 
the  other  way.  The  boat  struck  the  water, 
and  after  some  seconds  (it  may  have  been 
a  minute)  I  looked  up  and  cried  out, 
'  My  God,  the  Lusitania  is  gone !  ' 

"  We  saw  the  entire  bulk,  which  had 
been  almost  upright  just  a  few  sec- 
onds before,  suddenly  lurch  over  away 
from  us.  Then  she  seemed  to  stand  up- 
right in  the  water,  and  the  next  instant 
the  keel  of  the  vessel  caught  the  keel 
of  the  boat  in  which  we  were  floating, 
and  we  were  thrown  into  the  water. 
There  were  only  about  thirty  people  in 
tke  boat,  and  I  should  say  that  all  were 
stokers  or  third-class  passengers.  There 
may  have  been  one  or  two  first  class;  I 
cannot  recall  who  they  were. 

"  When  the  boat  was  overturned  I 
sank  fifteen  or  twenty  feet.  I  thought 
I  was  gone.  However,  I  had  my  life- 
belt around  me,  and  managed  to  rise 
again  to  the  surface.  There  I  floated 
for  possibly  ten  or  fifteen  minutes, 
when  I  saw  and  made  a  grab  at  a 
collapsible  lifeboat  at  which  other  pas- 
.sengers  were  also  grabbing.  We  man- 
aged to  get  it  shipshape  and  clamber 
in.  There  were  eight  or  nine  in  the 
boat,  all  stokers  except  one  or  two  third- 
class  passengers. 

"  It  was  partly  filled  with  water  and 
in  the  scramble  which  occurred  the  boat 
was  overturned,  and  once  more  we  were 
pitched  into  the  water.  This  occurred,  I 
should  say,  eight  times,  the  boat  usually 
righting  itself.  Before  we  were  picked 
up  by  the  Bluebell  six  of  the  party  of 
eight  or  nine  were  lying  drowned  in  the 
bilge  water  which  was  in  the  bottom." 

When  asked  what  he  thought  the  ef- 
fect of  the  sinking  would  be  on  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Kessler  answered: 

"My  God!  what  can  America  do? 
Nothing  will  bring  back  these  people  to 
life. 

"  It  was  cold-blooded,  deliberate 
murder,  and  nothing  else — the  great- 
est murder  the  world  has  ever  known. 
How  will  going  to  war  mend  that?" 

To  the  question  whether  the  loss  of 
the  liner  could  have  been  avoided,  Mr. 
Kessler  said  slowly: 


"  That  is  a  very  serious  question,  and 
I  hesitate  to  give  an  opinion  on  matters 
which  are  purely  technical. 

"  Still,  it  seems  to  me  as  a  landsman, 
and  one  who  has  crossed  the  ocean  a 
great  many  times,  that  the  safety  of 
the  Lusitania  lay  in  speed.  We  were 
in  the  war  zone  by  140  or  150  miles, 
and  every  moment  that  we  dawdled  at 
fifteen  or  eighteen  knots  was  an  increase 
of  our  risk  of  being  torpedoed. 

"  Again,  (and  of  course  I  merely 
make  the  comment,)  I  cannot  under- 
stand why  there  were  no  destroyers  or 
patrol  boats  about,  as  we  certainly  had 
been  led  to  expect  there  would  be  when 
we  reached  the  war  zone. 

"The  ship  was  torpedoed  at  2:05  P. 
M.  My  watch  stopped  at  2:30.  It  was 
5  o'clock  when  I  was  picked  up  by  the 
Bluebell,  and  it  was  10  o'clock  before 
v»'e  were  landed  in  Queenstown." 

CHARLES  FROHMAN'S  DEATH. 

[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.  1 

LONDON,  May  10.— A  highly  interest- 
ing story  was  told  tonight  by  Rita 
Jolivet,  the  actress,  who  stood  calmly 
chatting  with  Charles  Frohman  and  Al- 
fred G.  Vanderbilt  during  the  last  tense 
momenler  before  the  Lusitania  sank.  The 
three  of  them,  together  with  G.  L.  S. 
Vernon,  Miss  Jolivet's  brother-in-law, 
and  Mr.  Scott,  who  had  come  all  the  way 
f-oin  Japan  to  enlist,  joined  hands  and 
stood  waiting  to  face  death  together. 
Miss  Jolivet  said: 

We  stood  talking  about  the  Germans 
and  the  rumor  which  had  gained  cur- 
rency that  a  man,  obviously  of  German 
origin,  had  been  arrested  for  tampering 
with  the  wireless.  The  story  was  that 
the  man  had  been  discovered  at  1  o'clock 
in  the  morning  a  day  or  two  before  do- 
ing something  to  the  wireless  apparatus 
and  had  been  immediately  imprisoned.  I 
did  not  see  the  man  arrested,  so  I  am  not 
sure  about  the  story's  truth,  but  there 
were  good  grounds  for  believing  it. 

We  determined  not  to  enter  the  boats, 
and  just  a  minute  or  two  before  the  end 
Mr.  Frohman  said  with  a  smile:  "Why 
fear  death  ?  It  is  the  most  beautiful  ad- 
venture that  life  gives  us." 

Mr.  Scott  fetched  three  lifebelts,  one 


THE  LU  SIT  AN  I A   CASE 


423 


for  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  one  for  Mr.  Frohman, 
and  one  for  my  brother-in-law.  He  said 
he  was  not  going  to  wear  one  himself, 
and  my  brother-in-law  also  refused  to 
put  his  on.  I  hear  that  Mr.  Vanderbilt 
gave  his  to  a  lady,  Mrs.  Scott.  I  helped 
to  put  a  lifebelt  on  Mr.  Frohman.  My 
brother-in-law  took  hold  of  my  hand  and 
I  grasped  the  hand  of  Mr.  Frohman,  who, 
as  you  know,  was  lame.  Mr.  Scott  took 
hold  of  his  other  hand,  and  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt joined  the  row,  too.  We  had  made 
up  our  minds  to  die  together. 

Then  Mr.  Frohman,  in  a  perfectly  calm 
voice,  said:  "They've  done  for  us;  we 
had  better  get  out."  He  knew  that  his 
beautiful  adventure  was  about  to  begin. 
He  had  hardly  spoken  when,  with  a  tre- 
mendous roar,  a  great  wave  swept  along 
the  deck  and  we  were  all  divided  in  a 
moment.  I  have  not  seen  any  of  those 
brave  men  alive  since.  Mr.  Frohman, 
Mr.  Vanderbilt,  and  my  brother-in-law 
were  drowned.  When  Mr.  Frohman's 
body  was  recovered  there  was  the  most 
beautiful  and  peaceful  smile  upon  his 
lips. 

VANDERBILT'S  HEROIC  END. 

[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.] 

LONDON,  May  9. — Two  survivors  of 
the  Lusitania  disaster  have  given  testi- 
mony that  Alfred  G.  Vanderbilt  died 
heroically;  that  he  went  to  death  to  save 
the  life  of  a  woman. 

Thomas  SUdell,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt, who  lives  at  the  Knickerbocker  Club 
in  New  York,  and  was  traveling  with 
him,  told  of  the  sacrifice  first.  Then 
tonight  Norman  Ratcliffe,  who  lives  in 
Gillingham,  Kent,  and  was  returning 
from  Japan,  offered  verification.  Mr. 
Ratcliffe  was  rescued,  after  clinging  to 
a  box  in  the  sea  for  three  hours.  With 
him  was  a  steward  of  the  Lusitania.  He 
said : 

This  steward  told  me  he  had  seen  Mr. 
Vanderbilt  on  the  Lusitania's  deck,  short- 
ly after  the  ship  was  struck,  with  a  life- 
belt about  his  body.  When  the  ship  gave 
every  indication  that  it  would  sink  with- 
in a  few  minutes,  the  steward  said,  Mr. 
Vanderbilt  took  off  his  lifebelt  and  gave 
it  to  a  woman  who  passed  him  on  the 


deck,  trembling  with  fear  of  the  fate  she 
expected  to  meet.  The  steward  said  Mr. 
Vanderbilt  turned  back,  as  though  to 
look  for  another  belt,  and  he  saw  him  no 
more. 

Telling  of  his  last  moments  on  the 
ship  and  his  last  sight  of  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt, Mr.  SUdell  said: 

I  saw  Alfred  G.  Vanderbilt  only  a  few 
minutes  before  I  left  the  ship.  He  was 
standing  with  a  lifebelt  in  his  hand.  A 
woman  came  up  to  him,  and  I  saw  him 
place  the  belt  around  the  woman.  He 
had  none  for  himself,  and  I  know  that 
he  could  not  swim. 

Only  the  day  before  we  had  been  talk- 
ing of  a  day  and  a  dawn  some  years  ago 
when  we  went  down  the  bay  at  New 
York  in  his  yacht  and  waited  to  welcome 
and  dip  our  flag  to  the  Lusitania  on  her 
maiden  voyage.  We  saw  the  first  and 
last  of  her.  Vanderbilt,  who  had  given 
largely  to  the  Red  Cross,  was  returning 
to  England  in  order  to  offer  a  fleet  of 
wagons  and  himself  as  driver  to  the  Red 
Cross  Society,  for  he  said  he  felt  every 
day  that  he  was  not  doing  enough. 

KLEIN  AND  HUBBARD  LOST. 

Oliver  0.  Bernard,  scenic  artist  of 
Covent  Garden,  said: 

Only  one  or  two  of  the  shining  marks 
which  disasters  at  sea  seem  invariably 
to  involve  have  lived  to  tell  the  Lusi- 
tania's tale.  Vanderbilt,  the  sportsman, 
is  gone.  Genial  Charles  Klein,  the  play- 
wright, is  gone.  That  erratic  American 
literary  genius,  Elbert  Hubbard,  is  gone, 
and  with  him  a  wife  to  whom  he  seemed 
particularly  devoted.  And  Charles  Froh- 
man is  gone. 

Frohman's  was  the  only  body  I  could 
recognize  in  the  Queenstown  mortuary, 
and  perhaps  it  will  interest  his  many 
friends  in  London  and  New  York  to 
know  that  the  famous  manager's  face  in 
death  gives  uncommonly  convincing  evi- 
dence that  he  died  without  a  struggle. 
It  wears  a  serenely  peaceful  look. 

Frohman  must  have  found  it  more  dif- 
ficult for  him  to  take  his  place  in  a  life- 
boat than  any  other  man  on  the  ship. 
He  was  quite  lame,  and  hobbled  about  on 
deck  laboriously  with  a  heavy  cane.     He 


424 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


seldom  came  to  the  general  dining 
saloon,  either  out  of  sensitiveness  \>r  be- 
cause of  distress  caused  by  his  leg. 

I  last  saw  Alfred  G.  Vanderbilt  stand- 
ing at  the  port  entrance  to  the  grand 
saloon.  He  stood  there  the  personification 
of  sportsmanlike  coolness.  In  his  right 
hand  was  grasped  what  looked  to  me  like 
a  large  purple  leather  jewel  case.  It  may 
have   belonged  to   Lady   Mackworth,  as 


Mr.  Vanderbilt  had  been  much  in  com- 
pany of  the  Thomas  party  during  the 
trip,  and  evidently  had  volunteered  to  do 
Lady  Mackworth  the  service  of  saving 
her  gems  for  her.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  was 
absolutely  unperturbed.  In  my  eyes,  he 
was  the  figure  of  a  gentleman  waiting 
unconcernedly  for  a  train.  He  had  on  a 
dark  striped  suit,  and  was  without  cap 
or  other  head  covering. 


Germany  Justifies  the  Deed 

[It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  subjoined  official  and  semi-official  out- 
givings on  behalf  of  Germany,  announcing  the  destruction  of  the  Lusitania,  justify- 
ing it,  striving  to  implicate  the  British  Government,  and  to  some  extent  modifying 
the  original  war  zone  proclamation  of  Feb.  18,  1915,  were  published  prior  to  the 
receipt  by  the  German  Imperial  Government  of  President  Wilson's  note  of  May  13. 
British  official  rejoinders  and  a  statement  by  the  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York 
are  included  under  this  head. — Editor.] 


GERMAN  OFFICIAL  REPORT. 

BERLIN,  May  8,  (via  wireless  to  Lon- 
don, Sunday,  May  9.) — The  following  of- 
ficial communication  was  issued  tonight: 

The  Cunard  liner  Lusitania  was  yes- 
terday torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine 
and  sank. 

The  Lusitania  was  naturally  armed 
with  guns,  as  were  recently  most  of  the 
English  mercantile  steamers.  Moreover, 
as  is  well  known  here,  she  had  large 
quantities  of  war  material  in  her  cargo. 

Her  owners,  therefore,  knew  to  what 
danger  the  passengers  were  exposed. 
They  alone  bear  all  the  responsibility  for 
what  has  happened. 

Germany,  on  her  part,  left  nothing  un- 
done to  repeatedly  and  strongly  warn 
them.  The  Imperial  Ambassador  in 
Washington  even  went  so  far  as  to  make 
a  public  warning,  so  as  to  draw  attention 
to  this  danger.  The  English  press  sneered 
at  the  warning  and  relied  on  the  pro- 
tection of  the  British  fleet  to  safeguard 
Atlantic  traffic. 

BRITAIN'S  DENIAL. 

LONDON,  May  S.—The  British  Gov- 
ernment today  made  the  following  an^ 
nouncement : 

The     statement     appearing     in     some 


newspapers  that  the  Lus-itania  was 
armed  is  wholly  false. 

COLLECTOR  MALONE'S  DENIAL. 

In  The  New  York  Times  of  May  9, 
1915,  the  following  report  appeared: 

Dudley  Field  Malone,  Collector  of  the 
Port,  gave  an  official  denial  yesterday 
to  the  German  charge  that  the  Lusitania 
had  guns  mounted  when  the  left  this  port 
on  Saturday,  May  1.    He  said: 

"  This  report  is  not  correct.  The  Lu- 
sitania was  inspected  before  sailing,  as  is 
customary. 

"  No  guns  were  found,  mounted  or  un- 
mounted, and  the  vessel  sailed  without 
any  armament.  No  merchant  ship  would 
be  allowed  to  arm  in  this  port  and  leave 
the  harbor." 

This  statement  was  given  out  by  the 
Collector  yesterday  morning  at  his  home, 
270  Riverside  Drive. 

Herman  Winter,  Assistant  Manager  of 
the  Cunard  Line,  22  State  Street,  who 
was  on  the  Lusitania  for  three  hours 
before  she  sailed  for  Liverpool,  denied 
the  report  that  she  ever  carried  any  guns. 

"It  is  true,"  Mr.  Winter  said,  "that 
she  had  aboard  4,200  cases  of  cartridges, 
but  they  were  cartridges  for  small  arms, 
packed  in  separate  cases,  and  could  not 


SIR     ROBERT     BORDEN,      K.  C.  M.  G. 

Prime    Minister    of    Canada 


H.R.H.  FIELD  MAHSHAL  THE  DUKE  OF  CONNAUGHT 
Urjcle  of  George  V.  and  Governor  General  of  Canada 

( Photo  from   P.    f^.   Rogers. ) 


THE  LU  SIT  AN  I A    CASE 


iis 


have  injured  the  vessel  by  exploding. 
They  certainly  do  not  come  under  the 
classification  of  ammunition.  The  United 
States  authorities  would  not  permit  us 
to  carry  ammunition,  classified  as  such 
by  the  military  authorities,  on  a  passen- 
ger liner.  For  years  we  have  been  send- 
ing small-arms  cartridges  abroad  on  the 
Lusitania. 

"  The  Lusitania  had  1,250  steel  shrap- 
nel cases,  but  they  were  empty.  There 
was  no  explosive  of  any  sort  aboard.  As 
to  the  report  that  the  Lusitania  had 
guns  aboard,  I  cannot  assert  too  strongly 
that  it  is  positively  untrue.  There  were 
no  guns  whatever  aboard.  The  Lusitania 
was  an  unarmed  passenger  steamer.  Fur- 
thermore, she  never  has  been  armed,  and 
never  carried  an  unmounted  gun  or  rifle 
out  of  port  in  times  of  war  or  peace." 

"  Then  you  unqualifiedly  declare  that 
the  Lusitania  was  not  armed  against 
submarines  ?  "  he  was  asked. 

"  The  ship,"  Mr.  Winter  replied,  "  was 
as  defenseless  against  undersea  and  un- 
derhanded attack  as  a  Hoboken  ferry- 
boat in  the  North  River  would  be  against 
one  of  the  United  States  battleships." 

Captain  D.  J.  Roberts,  Marine  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Cunard  Line,  said  yester- 
day that  he  was  prepared  to  testify  under 
oath  in  any  court  and  from  his  personal 
knowledge  that  the  Lusitania  did  not 
carry  any  guns  when  she  sailed  from 
New  York  at  12:28  P.  M.  on  May  1  for 
Liverpool. 

"  It  is  my  invariable  custom  to  go 
through  the  passenger  ships  every  day 
they  are  in  port,"  he  said,  "  and  I  made 
my  last  inspection  of  the  Lusitania  on 
sailing  day  at  7  A.  M.  There  were  no 
guns  or  plates  or  mountings  where  guns 
could  be  fitted  on  the  Lusitania,  nor  have 
there  been  since  she  has  been  in  the 
service.  The  ship  has  never  carried 
troops  or  been  chartered  by  the  British 
Government  for  any  purpose  whatsoever. 

"  In  order  that  there  should  be  no 
mistake  about  the  ensigns  flown  by  Brit- 
ish merchant  vessels,  the  Admiralty  or- 
dered after  war  had  been  declared  that 
only  the  red  ensign,  a  square  red  flag 
with  the  union  jack  in  the  corner,  should 
be  shown  at  the  stern  of  a  merchantman, 
and  the  white  St.  George's  ensign  by  all 


war  vessels,  whether  armored  or  unar- 
mored.  These  are  the  only  two  flags 
that  are  hoisted  on  British  ships  today, 
with  the  exception  of  the  company's 
house  flag,  when  they  are  entering  port 
or  passing  at  sea,  and  the  mail  flag  on 
the  foremast,  which  every  steamship  flies 
coming  in  to  denote  that  she  has  mails  on 
board. 

"  Before  the  war  both  the  Lusitania 
and  the  Mauretania  flew  the  blue  ensign 
of  the  Royal  Naval  Reserve,  which  any 
British  merchant  vessel  is  allowed  to  do 
if  her  commander  and  officers  and  two- 
thirds  of  the  crew  belong  to  the  reserve." 

NEUTRALS  IN  THE  WAR  ZONE. 

[German  Foreign  Office  Note.] 
[Special  to  The  New  York  Times.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  11.— Secretarrj 
Bryan  received  from  Ambassador  Gerard 
at  Berlin  today  the  text  of  an  official 
declaration  by  the  German  Government 
of  its  policy  with  respect  to  American 
and  other  neutral  ships  meeting  German 
submarines  in  the  naval  war  zone 
around  the  British  Isles  and  in  the  North 
Sea.  This  declaration  was  handed  to 
Mr.  Gerard  by  the  German  Foreign  Of- 
fice, which  explained  that  it  was  being 
issued  as  a  "  circular  statement "  in  re- 
gard to  "  mistaken  attacks  by  German 
submarines  on  commerce  vessels  of  neu- 
tral nations." 

First — The  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment has  naturally  no  intention  of  caus- 
ing to  be  attacked  by  submarines  or  air- 
craft such  neutral  ships  of  commerce  in 
the  zone  of  naval  warfare,  more  defi- 
nitely described  in  the  notice  of  the  Ger- 
man Admiralty  staff  of  Feb.  4  last,  as 
have  been  guilty  of  no  hostile  act.  On 
the  contrary,  the  most  definite  instruc- 
tions have  ropeatedly  been  issued  to  Ger- 
man war  vessels  to  avoid  attacks  on  such 
ships  under  all  circumstances.  Even 
when  such  ships  have  contraband  of  war 
on  board  they  are  dealt  with  by  subma- 
rines solely  according  to  the  rules  of  in-  , 
ternational  law  applying  to  prize  war- 
fare. 

Second — Should  a  neutral  ship  never- 
theless come  to  harm  through  German 
submarines  or  aircraft  on  account  of  an 
unfortunate     (X)      [mistake?]     in     the 


426 


THE  NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


above-mentioned  zone  of  naval  warfare, 
the  German  Government  will  unreservedly 
recognize  its  responsibility  therefor.  In 
such  a  case  it  will  express  its  regrets 
and  afford  damages  without  first  insti- 
tuting a  prize  court  action. 

Third — It  is  the  custom  of  the  German 
Government  as  soon  as  the  sinking  of  a 
neutral  ship  in  the  above-mentioned  zone 
of  naval  warfare  is  ascribed  to  German 
war  vessels  to  institute  an  immediate  in- 
vestigation into  the  cause.  If  grounds 
appear  thereby  to  be  given  for  associa- 
tion of  such  a  hypothesis  the  German 
Navy  places  itself  in  communication  with 
the  interested  neutral  Government  so 
so  that  the  latter  may  also  institute  an 
investigation.  If  the  German  Govern- 
ment is  thereby  convinced  that  the  ship 
has  been  destroyed  by  Germany's  war 
vessels,  it  will  not  delay  in  carrying  out 
the  provisions  of  Paragraph  2  above.  In 
case  the  German  Government,  contrary 
to  the  viewpoint  of  the  neutral  Govern- 
ment, is  not  convinced  by  the  result  of 
the  investigation,  the  German  Govern- 
ment has  already  on  several  occasions 
declared  itself  ready  to  allow  the  ques- 
tion to  be  decided  by  an  international  in- 
vestigation commission,  according  to 
Chapter  3  of  The  Hague  Convention  of 
Oct.  18,  1907,  for  the  peaceful  solution 
of  international  disputes. 

This  circular  is  understood  to  have 
been  rather  reassuring  to  high  officials 
of  the  United  States  Government,  al- 
though it  does  not  cover  the  attitude  of 
the  German  Government  toward  the 
treatment  to  be  accorded  to  Americans 
and  other  neutral  noncombatants,  men, 
women,  and  children,  on  board  vessels 
flying  the  flag  of  England,  France,  or 
Russia.  The  absence  of  any  allusion  to 
the  principle  involved  in  the  Lusitania 
case  is  believed  here  to  mean  that  the 
statement  was  prepared  and  was  ready 
for  promulgation  before  the  destruction 
of  the  Lusitania  on  Friday.  Several  days 
usually  have  been  required  for  messages 
to  come  to  Washington  from  Ambassador 
Gerard,  by  roundabout  cable  relay  route, 
and  it  is  believed  that  this  dispatch  is  no 
exception  in  this  respect. 


DR.  DERNBURG'S  DEFENSE. 

The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  as  a  man- 
of-war  was  justified  by  Dr.  Bernhard 
Dernburg,  late  German  Colonial  Secre- 
tary and  recognized  as  quasi-official 
spokesman  of  the  German  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment in  the  United  States,  in  a  state- 
ment issued  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  May 
8,  1915.    The  statement  reads: 

Great  Britain  declared  the  North  Sea 
a  war  zone  in  the  Winter.  No  protest 
was  made  by  the  United  States  or  any 
neutral.  Great  Britain  held  up  all  neu- 
tral ships  carrying  non-contraband  goods, 
detaining  them,  buying  or  confiscating 
their  cargoes. 

Great  Britain  constantly  changed  the 
contrband  lists,  so  no  foodstuffs  of  any 
kind  have  actually  ^-eached  Germany 
since  the  war  began.  International  law 
says  foodstuffs  destined  for  the  civil 
population  must  pass.  It  does  not  recog- 
nize any  right  to  starve  out  a  whole 
people. 

As  a  consequence,  and  in  retaliation, 
Germany  declared  the  waters  around 
England  a  war  zone,  and  started  a  sub- 
marine warfare.  It  became  known  in 
February  that  British  ships  were  flying 
the  American  flag  as  a  protection. 

Great  Britain  replied  by  officially  de- 
claring its  purpose  to  starve  120,000,000 
Germans  and  Austrians.  The  United 
States  very  thoughtfully  tried  to  mediate, 
proposing  that  foodstuffs  should  be 
passed  and  submarine  warfare  be 
stopped. 

Germany  agreed;  England  turned  the 
proposal  down.  Then,  in  order  to  pro- 
tect American  passengers,  they  were 
warned  by  public  advertisement  of  the 
danger  of  sailing  under  the  flag  of  a 
belligerent. 

Vessels  carrying  contraband  of  war 
are  liable  to  destruction  unless  they  can 
be  taken  to  a  port  of  the  country  that 
captures  them.  The  right  of  search  need 
not  be  exercised  if  it  is  certain  such 
ships  carry  contraband. 

Oil  is  contraband,  like  war  ammunition 
and  all  metals.  The  master  of  the  Gulf- 
light  (an  American  oil  tank  steamer 
sunk  recently)  swore  before  customs 
officials  to  his  cargo  of  oil  for  France. 


J 


THE  LUSITANIA    CASE 


427 


The  master  of  the  Lusitania  similarly 
swore  to  his  manifest  of  cargo  of  met- 
als and  ammunition.  Both  the  Gulflight 
and  the  Lusitania  carried  contraband 
when  attacked,  it  is  obvious. 

The  Lusitania's  manifest  showed  she 
carried  for  Liverpool  260,000  pounds  of 
brass;  60,000  pounds  of  copper;  189 
cases  of  military  goods;  1,271  cases  of 
ammunition,  and  for  London,  4,200  cases 
of  cartridges. 

Vessels  of  that  kind  can  be  seized  and 
be  destroyed  under  The  Hague  rules 
without  any  respect  to  a  war  zone.  The 
Lusitania  was  a  British  auxiliary 
cruiser,  a  man-of-war.  On  the  same  day 
she  sailed  the  Cameronia,  another  Cu- 
narder,  was  commandeered  in  New  York 
Harbor  for  military  service. 

The  fact  is  that  the  Lusitania  was  a 
British  war  vessel  under  orders  of  the 
Admiralty  to  carry  a  cargo  of  contra- 
band of  war.  The  passengers  had  had 
full  warning,  first  by  the  German  note 
to  England  in  February,  second  by  ad- 
vertisement. 

Germany  wants  to  do  anything  rea- 
sonable so  as  not  to  make  the  United 
States  or  its  citizens  suffer  in  any  way. 
But  she  cannot  do  so  unless  Americans 
will  take  necessary  precautions  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  dangers  of  which 
they  are  cognizant. 

What  Germany  has  done,  she  has  done 
by  way  of  retaliation  after  her  offer 
through  President  Wilson,  regarding 
submarine  warfare,  was  turned  down 
and  after  Britain  declared  the  war  was 
directed  toward  the  120,000,000  mnocent 
noncombatants,  women  and  children. 

Americans  can  do  their  own  thinking 
when  the  facts  are  laid  before  them.  I 
have  really  no  authority  to  speak.    But 


my  mission  in  the  United  States  is  to 
inform  your  people  of  the  German  at- 
titude. The  German  Ambassador,  Count 
von  Bernstorff,  can  speak  only  in  official 
phrases.     I  talk  straight  out,  bluntly. 

Dr.  Dernburg  put  much  stress  on  the 
fact  that  the  Cunard  Line  officials  did 
not  warn  American  passengers  that  the 
ship  carried  a  large  store  of  ammunition 
and  other  contraband  of  war.  He  con- 
tinued : 

Did  they  issue  a  warning?  I  would 
like  an  answer.  If  that  warning  was 
not  given,  American  passengers  were 
being  used  as  a  cloak  for  England's  war 
shipments. 

It  is  not  reasonable  that  such  a  vessel 
could  not  be  sunk  because  there  were 
American  passengers  on  board.  They  had 
been  warned  by  Germany  of  the  danger. 

England  could  hire  one  American  to 
travel  to  and  fro  on  each  of  her  ships, 
carry  on  shipments  of  arms,  and  place 
her  men-of-war  anywhere,  if  American 
passengers  can  be  used  as  shields. 

Asked  whether  he  expected  action  by 
the  United  States  because  of  the  Lusi- 
tania's sinking,  Dr.  Dernburg  said: 

That  is  a  question  I  cannot  discuss. 
I  can  only  say  that  any  ship  flying  the 
American  flag  and  not  carrying  contra- 
band of  war  is  and  will  be  as  safe  as 
a  cradle.  But  any  other  ship,  not  so 
exempt,  is  as  unsafe  as  a  volcano — or  as 
was  the  Lusitania. 

When  he  was  told  that  the  Transyl- 
vania, another  Cunard  liner,  sailed  from 
New  York  on  May  7,  to  cover  the  same 
route  as  the  Lusitania,  Dr.  Dernburg 
said : 

I  can  only  say  that  the  German  warn- 
ings will  reappear  henceforth  by  adver- 
tisement.    That  is  significant. 


German  Press  Opinion 


Contrasting  with  the  attitude  of  the 
German- American  press  since  the  issu- 
ance of  President  Wilson's  note  of  May 
13  to  the  German  Imperial  Government, 
the  comment  of  the  press  in  Germany 
has  been  in  accordance  with  the  German 
official  statements  put  forth  prior  to  the 


receipt  of  the  American  note.  Under  date 
of  May  9,  1915,  the  following  dispatch 
by  The  Associated  Press  was  received 
from  Berlin: 


Commenting  on  the  destruction  of  the 
Lusitania,  the  Berliner  Tageblatt  says: 


as 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


With  deep  emotion  we  learn  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Lusitania,  in  which 
countless  men  lost  their  lives.  We  lament 
with  sincere  hearts  their  hard  fate,  but 
we  know  we  are  completely  devoid  of 
blame. 

We  may  be  sure  that  through  the  Eng- 
lish telegrams  communicated  to  the  world 
indignation  will  again  be  raised  against 
Germany,  but  we  must  hope  that  calm  re- 
flection will  later  pronounce  the  verdict 
of  condemnation  against  the  British  Ad- 
miralty. 

The  many  who  are  now  sorrowing 
•may  raise  complaint  against  Winston 
Spencer  Churchill,  First  Lord  of  the  Brit- 
ish Admiralty,  who,  by  conscienceless  in- 
structions which  must  bring  him  the 
curse  of  mankind,  conjured  up  this  cruel 
warfare.    *    *    * 

The  Lusitania  was  a  warship  on  the 
list  of  English  auxiliary  cruisers  and 
carried  armament  of  twelve  strongly 
mounted  guns.  She  was  more  strongly 
mounted  with  guns  than  any  German 
armored  cruiser.  As  an  auxiliary  cruiser 
she  must  have  been  prepared  for  attack. 

Count  von  Reventlow,  the  naval  expert, 
says,  in  the  Tages  Zeitung: 

The  American  Government  probably 
will  make  the  case  the  basis  for  diplo- 
matic action,  but  it  could  have  prevented 
the  loss  of  American  lives  by  appropriate 
instructions.  It  is  the  American  Gov- 
ernment's fault,  therefore,  if  it  did  not 
take  Germany's  war  zone  declarations 
seriously  enough. 

The  writer  declares,  further,  that  Ger- 
many had  full  and  trustworthy  informa- 
tion that  the  Lusitania  carried  a  cargo 
of  war  material,  as  she  had  on  previous 
trips. 

The  Lokal  Anzeiger  also  assumes  that 
the  steamship  was  carrying  munitions  of 
war,  and  maintains  that  this  and  "  the 
fact  that  she  was  a  fully  armed  cruiser 
completely  justifies  her  destruction  un- 
der the  laivs  of  warfare." 

The  Kreuz  Zeitung,  after  referring  to 
the  warning  issued  by  Ambassador  von 
Bernstorff,  adds: 

If  citizens  of  neutral  States  were  lost 
with  the  sunken  ship  they  must  bear  the 
full  blame. 

Some  papers  further  testify  the  sinking 


of  the  steamer  because  on  a  previous  oc- 
casion she  had  resorted  to  the  expedient 
of  flying  the  American  flag.  Germania, 
the  clerical  organ,  deprecates  probable  at- 
tempts by  Germany's  antagonists  to  make 
moral  capital  against  her  out  of  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Lusitania  and  the  loss  of  life. 
The  paper  says: 

We  can  look  forward  to  such  efforts 
with  a  clear  conscience,  for  we  have  pro- 
ceeded correctly.  We  can  only  answer 
to  those  who  place  their  sympathies 
above  justice,  that  war  is  war. 

An  editorial  article  in  the  Frankfurter 
Zeitung  was  quoted  in  an  Amsterdam 
dispatch  to  The  London  Times  of  May  10, 
as  follows: 

The  Lusitania  has  been  sent  to  the 
bottom.  That  is  the  announcement 
which  must  arouse  measureless  horror 
among  many  thousands. 

A  giant  ship  of  the  British  merchant 
fleet,  a  vessel  of  over  31,000  tons,  one  of 
the  most  famous  of  the  fast  steamers  of 
the  British-American  passenger  service, 
a  ship  full  of  people,  who  had  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  the  war,  has  been 
attacked  and  sunk  by  a  German  torpedo. 
This  is  the  announcement  which  in  a  few 
words  indicates  a  mighty  catastrophe  to 
a  ship  with  2,000  people  aboard. 

We  always  feel  that  it  is  tragic  and 
all  too  hard  when  war  inflicts  wounds  on 
those  who  do  not  carry  its  weapons. 

We  lament  similarly  the  fate  of  the 
unfortunate  villages  and  towns  where 
war  rages  and  the  innocent  victims  of 
bombs  who,  far  behind  the  trenches,  and 
often  without  our  being  able  to  estimate 
the  meaning  of  this  murder,  are  snatched 
from  the  ranks  of  the  unarmed. 

Much  more  terrible  is  the  fate  of  those 
who  on  the  high  sea,  many  hundreds  in 
number,  suddenly  see  death  before  their 
eyes. 

A  German  war  vessel  has  sunk  the 
ship.     It  has  done  its  duty. 

For  the  German  Navy  the  sinking  of 
the  Lusitania  means  an  extraordinary 
success.  Its  destruction  demolished  the 
last  fable  with  which  the  people  of  Eng- 
land consoled  themselves;  on  which  hos- 
tile shipping  relied  when  it  dared  to  defy 
the  German  warnings. 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE 


429 


We  do  not  need  to  seek  grounds  to 
justify  the  destruction  of  a  British  ship. 
She  belonged  to  the  enemy  and  brought 
us  harm.     She  has  fallen  to  our  shots. 

The  enemy  and  the  whole  world  were 
warned  that  he  who  ventured  to  trust 
himself  within  her  staked  his  life. 

The  London  Daily  Mail  of  May  16 
quotes  from  Der  Tag  the  following  ar- 
ticle by  Herr  von  Rath,  who  is  described 
as  a  favorite  spokesman  in  the  Wilhelm- 
strasse : 

President  Wilson  is  very  much  troubled 
by  the  drowning  of  so  many  American 
citizens,  and  we  Germans  sincerely  share 
his  feelfngs,  but  we  see  in  the  Lusitania 
affair  one  of  the  many  cruel  necessities 
which  the  struggle  for  existence  brings 
with  it. 

If,  as  English  reports  try  to  make  us 
believe,  Mr.  Wilson  is  now  meditating 
revenge,  we  will  not  disturb  him  in  this 
occupation,  but  would  only  hope  that  his 
demands  will  be  addressed  to  the  right 
and  not  the  wrong  quarters. 

The  right  address  is  England.  On 
the  German  side,  everything  was  done  to 
warn  American  travelers  from  the  im- 
pending peril,  while  British  irresponsi- 
bility and  arrogance  nullified  the  effect 
of  the  German  admonition. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  certainly  in  a  precarious 
position.  After  showing  himself  so 
weak  in  the  face  of  the  long  and  ruth- 
less British  provocations,  he  has  to  play 
the  strong  man  with  Germany.-  Other- 
wise he  will  lose  what  prestige  he  has 
left,  and  he  knows  that  in  the  background 
the  pretender  to  the  throne,  Mr.  Roose- 
velt, is  lurking. 

But  what  are  the  gallant  shouters  in 
the  United  States  thinking  about? 
Should  the  United  States  send  troops 
to  take  part  in  the  fighting  in  Flanders  ? 
The  gigantic  losses  of  their  Canadian 
neighbors  should  not  exactly  encourage 
them,  from  a  military  standpoint.  More- 
over, the  United  States  are  so  weak  that 
.they  have  never  even  been  able  to  im- 
pose their  will  on  Mexico  or  to  do  any- 
thing to  the  still  more  unpleasant  Japa- 
nese than  to  clench  their  fists  in  their 
pockets. 

Should  their  superdreadnoughts  cross 


the  Atlantic  Ocean?  England  has  not 
even  useful  work  for  her  own  ironclads 
in  this  war.  What  would  American  war- 
ships do? 

How  about  our  Germanic  brethren  in 
the  United  States — the  half  million  Ger- 
man and  Austro-Hungarian  reservists 
who  are  not  permitted  to  take  part  in 
the  defense  of  their  home  lands?  Will 
they  stand  with  folded  arms  and  see  their 
fatherlands  attacked? 

What  the  United  States  has  already 
done  to  support  our  enemies  is,  apart 
from  interference  with  private  property, 
the  worst  which  she  could  do  to  us.  We 
have  nothing  more  to  expect  or  to  fear. 
Therefore,  the  threats  of  our  erstwhile 
friend  Roosevelt  leave  us  quite  cold. 

Let  the  United  States  also  preserve 
up  from  warmed-up  humanitarian  plati- 
tudes, for  her  craven  submission  to  Eng- 
land's will  is  promoting  an  outrageous 
scheme  to  deliver  Germany's  women  and 
children  to  death  by  starvation. 

A  wireless  dispatch  from  Berlin  to 
Sayville,  L.  I.,  on  May  16  reported  this 
outgiving  by  the  Overseas  Neivs  Agency: 

The  whole  German  press,  particularly 
the  Cologne  Gazette,  the  Frankfort  Ga- 
zette, and  the  Berliner  Tageblatt,  deeply 
regret  the  loss  of  American  lives  caused 
by  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania. 

The  Tages  Zeitung  and  other  news- 
papers state  that  the  responsibility  rests 
with  the  British  Government,  which,  at- 
tempting to  starve  the  peaceful  civilian 
population  of  a  big  country,  forced  Ger- 
many in  self-defense  to  declare  British 
waters  a  war  zone;  with  shipowners,  who 
allowed  passengers  to  embark  on  an 
armed  steamer  carrying  war  material, 
and  neglected  German  warnings  against 
entering  the  war  zone,  and,  finally,  with 
the  English  press. 

Heartfelt  sympathy  is  expressed  by 
the  German  press  and  public  for  the  vic- 
tims of  the  catastrophe  and  their  rela- 
tives. 

From  The  Hague,  via  London,  on  May 
19  a  special  cable  to  The  New  York 
Times  reported  that,  acting  apparently 
under  official  instructions,  several  lead~ 
ing  German  newspapers  had  on  that  day 
joined  in  a  fierce  attack  on  the  United 


430 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


States,  making  a  concerted  demand  that 
Germany  refuse  to  yield  to  the  Amer- 
ican protest. 

Practically  all  these  newspapers  re- 
peat the  same  arguments,  declaring  that 
neutrals  entering  the  war  zone  do  so  at 
their  own  risk,  and  that  the  Americans 
aboard  the  Lusitania  "were  shielding 
contraband  goods  with  their  persons." 
The  Berliner  Tageblatt  said: 

The  demand  of  the  Washington  Gov- 
ernment must  be  rejected.  Indeed,  the 
whole  note  hardly  merits  serious  con- 
sideration. Its  "firm  tone"  is  only  a 
cloak  to  hide  America's  consciousness  of 
her  own  culpability.  If  American  citi- 
zens, in  spite  of  the  warnings  of  the 
German  Admiralty,  intrusted  themselves 
on  the  Lusitania,  the  blame  for  the  con- 
sequences falls  on  themselves  and  their 
Government. 

Can  the  United  States  affirm  that 
there  were  no  munitions  aboard  ?  If  not, 
it  has  not  the  shadow  of  a  right  to  pro- 
test. 

GERMAN-AMERICAN    PRESS    COM- 
MENTS. 

Under  the  heading  "  The  President's 
Note,"  Herman  Ridder,  editor  of  the 
New  Yorker  Staats-Zeitung,  one  of  the 
leading  German-American  newspapers, 
said  in  that  publication  on  May  15: 

The  attitude  assumed  by  the  President, 
in  the  note  delivered  yesterday  to  the 
Gej-man  Government,  toward  the  in- 
fringement of  our  rights  on  the  seas  is 
diplomatically  correct  and  must  compel 
the  support  of  the  entire  American  peo- 
ple. 

We  have  suffered  grievously  at  the 
hands  of  more  than  one  of  the  belliger- 
ent nations,  but  for  the  moment  we  are 
dealing  only  with  Germany.  The  note 
recites  a  series  of  events  which  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  could 
not  silently  pass  by,  and  demands  rep- 
aration for  American  -  lives  lost  and 
American  property  already  destroyed 
and  a  guarantee  that  the  rights  of  the 
United  States  and  its  citizens  shall  be 
observed  in  the  future.  All  this  the  Ger- 
man Government  may  well  grant,  frankly 
and    unreservedly    and   without   loss    of 


honor  or  prestige.     It  would  be  incom- 
prehensible if  it  did  not  do  so. 

The  note  admits,  as  most  diplomatic 
documents  do,  of  two  interpretations. 
They  will  be  applied  to  it  variously,  as 
the  reader  is  inclined  to  pessimism  or  to 
optimism.  It  is  a  document  in  which  lies 
the  choice  of  war  or  peace  evenly  bal- 
anced. I  prefer  to  read  into  it  all  the 
optimism  which  can  be  derived  from  the 
knowledge  that  two  nations,  historically 
like-minded  and  bound  to  one  another  by 
strong  ties  of  friendship,  seldom  go  to 
war  over  matters  which  can  be  settled 
without  resort  to  the  arbitrament  of 
arms.  There  is  no  question  outstanding 
today  between  the  United  States  and 
Germany  which  cannot  be  settled  through 
diplomatic  channels.  I  am  inclined  all 
the  more  to  this  optimism  by  the  tem- 
perament and  character  of  the  President 
of  the  United  for  the  time  being. 

I  see  in  the  note  great  possibilities  for 
good.  The  undersea  activities  of  the 
German  Navy  in  their  effect  upon  the 
rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citi- 
zens form,  properly,  the  burden  of  its 
argument.  We  are  addressing  Germany, 
and  it  is  only  over  her  submarine  policy 
that  our  interests  have  clashed  with 
hers.  The  note  takes  cognizance,  how- 
ever, of  the  inter-relation  of  Germany's 
submarine  policy  and  the  British  policy 
of  "  starving  out  Germany."  The  Presi- 
dent has  opened  an  avenue  to  the  full 
discussion  of  the  rights  and  obligations 
of  submarines  in  naval  warfare,  and 
when  Germany  has  stated  her  case  it  is 
not  only  not  impossible  but  it  is  highly 
probable  that  he  will  be  asked  to  sug- 
gest a  modus  vivendi  by  which  the  ob- 
jectionable features  of  both  these  poli- 
cies may  be  removed. 

The  situation  is  basically  triangular 
and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  settle- 
ment of  our  difficulties  with  Germany 
can  escape  involving  at  the  same  time 
the  rectification  of  Great  Britain's 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  trade  be- 
tween neutral  countries  and  her  adver- 
saries. It  is  but  a  step  from  the  posi- 
tion of  mediator  in  a  question  of  this  sort 
to  that  of  mediator  in  the  larger  ques- 
tions which  make  for  war  or  peace.    I 


I 


THE  LUSITANIA    CASE 


431 


believe  that  the  note  contains  the  hope- 
ful sign  that  these  things  may  come  to 
pass. 

The  possibilities  are  there  and  the 
President,  I  am  confident,  will  overlook 
no  possibility  of  advancing  the  cause  of 
an  early  return  of  peace  to  Europe  nor 
leave  any  unturned  stone  to  free  this 
country  of  the  dangers  and  inconven- 
iences which  have  become  the  concom- 
itants of  the  European  struggle.  Out 
of  the  troubled  waters  of  our  present  re- 
lations with  Germany  may  thus  come  a 
great  and,  we  may  hope,  a  lasting  good. 
Should  this  happily  be  the  case,  the  wis- 
dom of  the  President  will  have  been  con- 
firmed and  the  thankfulness  of  the  na- 
tion secured  to  him.  On  the  other  hand, 
should  his  pacific  hand  be  forced  by  those 
who  wax  fat  and  wealthy  on  strife  and 
the  end  should  be  disaster  untold  to  the 
country,  he  will  still  have  the  consolation 
of  having  fought  a  good  battle  and  of 
knowing  that  he  was  worsted  only  by 
the  irresistible  force  of  demagogy  in 
this  country  or  abroad. 

The  subject  with  which  the  note  deals 
is  one  of  the  same  paramount  importance 
to  Germany  as  it  is  to  this  country,  and 
we  must  wait  in  patience  for  Germany's 
reply;  and  I,  for  one,  shall  wait  in  the 
confidence  that  when  it  is  received  it  will 
be  found  to  offer  a  basis  for  a  friendly 
solution  of  the  questions  which  exist  be- 
tween Germany  and  the  United  States 
and,  not  unlikely,  for  those  further  steps 
which  I  have  intimated. 

Under  the  caption  "A  Word  of  Earnest 
Advice,"  the  evening  edition  of  the  New 
Yorker  Staats-Zeitung  on  May  14  issued 
the  following  warning  to  Germans  and 
German-Americans : 

The  times  are  grave — even  very 
grave.  *  *  *  ^  conflict  between 
America  and  the  old  Fatherland  is 
threatening.  Such  a  conflict  must  rend 
the  heart  of  every  German-American 
who  has  acquired  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship here,  who  has  founded  a  new  career 
for  himself  and  brought  up  his  children. 

It  is  probably  unnecessary  to  give  any 
advice  to  the  American  citizens  among 
our  readers  in  regard  to  their  conduct  in 
this  grave  time.    A  series  of  years  must 


pass  before  an  immigrant  can  obtain  his 
citizenship  papers;  nobody  is  forced  to 
become  a  citizen.  Of  the  man  who  has 
voluntarily  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  we  may  therefore  expect 
that  he  knows  the  conditions  here  obtain- 
ing, the  institutions  of  the  country  of  his 
adoption,  as  well  as  his  rights  and  duties. 
But  there  are  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  our  readers  who  are  not  citizens,  and 
to  them  a  serious  word  of  advice  shall 
now  be  addressed.  In  the  grave  time  of 
the  conflict  let  efforts  be  made  to  avoid 
every  personal  conflict.  It  is  not  neces- 
sarily cowardly  to  deny  one's  descent, 
but  it  is  not  necessary,  either,  to  make 
demonstrations. 

Where  there  is  life  there  is  hope.  The 
hope  still  is  entertained  that  the  conflict 
will  be  eliminated,  that  the  bond  of 
friendship  between  Germany  and  Amer- 
ica will  not  be  torn.  Through  thought- 
less Hotspurs,  who  allow  themselves  to 
be  carried  away  by  excitement  and  do 
not  dam  up  the  flood  of  their  eloquence, 
much  mischief  can  be  done.  Keeping 
away  from  the  public  places  where  the 
excited  groups  congregate  and  discuss 
the  burning  questions  of  the  day  must  be 
urgently  recommended.  It  was  for  many 
a  sport  to  participate  in  these  discus- 
sions, and  with  more  or  less  skill,  but  al- 
ways energetically  to  champion  the  Ger- 
man cause. 

The  American  is  in  general  very  lib- 
eral in  regard  to  expression  of  opinion. 
He  likes  to  hear  also  the  "  other  side," 
but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  times 
of  conflict  the  "  other  side  "  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  "  enemy  side."  What  has 
heretofore  sounded  harmless  may  now  be 
interpreted  as  a  criticism  made  against 
the  United  States.  But  the  American  as 
a  rule  repels  a  criticism  made  by 
strangers  against  the  affairs  of  his  own 
country.  Through  heated  discussions 
and  unwise  demonstrations  nothing  is  at 
present  to  be  achieved  but  much  can  be_ 
spoiled. 

Grave  times! 

Calmness  is  now  the  first  duty  of  citi- 
zenship— for  all  non-citizens. 

But  whoever  is  a  citizen — he  would  be 
doing  well  in   any  event  to   stay  away 


4rW 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


from  the  streets  and  squares  where  the 
noisy  ones  congregate. 

There  are  very  many  Germans  whose 
motto  here,  too,  is:  "We  Germans  fear 
God  and  nothing  else  in  the  world."  But 
whoever  bellows  that  into  the  ears  of 
hundreds  of  persons  of  hostile  mind  in 
the  public  market  place  is  either  a  fool 
or — weary  of  life. 

In  submarine  warfare  the  Germans 
may  be  superior  to  the  British,  but  in 
undermining  the  latter  are  superior  to 
the  former.  They  have  now  succeeded 
in  undermining  the  friendship  between 
Uncle  Sam  and  the  Deutsche  Michel. 
Let  us  hope  that  the  fuse  can  be  extin- 
guished before  the  explosion  follows. 

Charles  Neumeyer,  editor  of  The 
Louisville  (Ky.)  Anzeiger,  in  a  dispatch 
on  May  14  to  The  New  York  Times, 
said  of  President  Wilson's  note: 

The  American  note  to  Berlin  evidences 
the  desire  of  the  President  to  hold  Ger- 
many to  strict  accountability  for  the  loss 
of  American  lives  in  the  Lusitania  disas- 
ter. This  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the 
American  Government  is  eminently  just 
and  proper.  If  the  President  had  failed 
to  hold  Germany  to  strict  accountability 
he  would  have  failed  of  his  official  duty. 
The  President's  forceful  action  cannot  be 
but  of  salutary  effect  in  this  country 
also.  It  gives  the  American  people  the 
assurance  that  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington is  prepared  and  ready  for  the  pro- 
tection of  American  citizens  wherever 
they  may  chance  to  be. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Govern- 
ment did  not  resort  to  very  vigorous 
measures  in  this  respect.  American  citi- 
zens while  traveling  abroad  were  fre- 
quently subject  to  insult  and  violence, 
and  the  authorities  at  Washington  seem- 
ingly paid  little  heed  to  complaints.  The 
result  was  that  the  American  citizen 
abroad  was  not  held  in  that  respect  which 
emanates  from  the  knowledge  that  his 
home  Government  is  prepared  to  go  to 
the  length  of  its  ability,  if  necessary,  to 
accord  him  protection. 

One  or  two  of  the  demands  formulated 
against  Germany  do  not  meet  with  our 
approval.    The  President  demands  a  ces- 


sation of  German  submarine  warfare  on 
merchant  vessels,  but  while  the  inter- 
ruption of  the  starvation  plan  adopted  by 
England  against  the  civil  population  is 
urged  upon  the  latter  it  will  continue.  The 
starvation  plan  is  primarily  being  waged 
against  the  weak  and  helpless,  and  is, 
therefore,  responsible.  It  is  also  in  viola- 
tion of  the  spirit  if  not  the.  letter  of  in- 
ternational law.  If  the  President  can 
force  a  demand  for  the  cessation  of  the 
submarine  warfare,  he  ought  also  to  have 
the  right  to  demand  the  lifting  of  the 
starvation  blockade.  The  tragedy  was 
chiefly  due  to  either  stupidity  or  design 
on  the  part  of  the  British  Admiralty  in 
failing  to  afford  proper  protection  to  the 
ship.  While  we  do  not  agree  with  the 
President  on  some  points  in  his  note,  we 
repose  the  fullest  confidence  in  his  pa- 
triotism, as  well  as  his  deliberate  judg- 
ment as  giving  assurance  that,  whatever 
the  outcome,  the  case  of  the  American 
people  rests  in  trustworthy  hands. 

The  people  should  by  their  action  spare 
him  unnecessary  embarrassment  and  rely 
for  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  grave 
questions  confronting  us  on  his  patriot- 
ism and  honesty. 

A  dispatch  on  May  14  to  The  New 
York  Times  from  Max  Burgheim,  editor 
of  the  Freie  Presse  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
reads : 

The  part  of  the  note  referring  to  the 
I-usitania  catastrophe  had  better  been 
directed  to  London.  England,  not  Ger- 
many, is  responsible  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Lusitania.  England,  through  the 
violation  of  the  rights  of  nations  and  the 
brutal  threat  to  starve  70,000,000  Ger- 
mans, has  forced  Germany  to  a  policy 
against  English  commerce  of  which  the 
Lusitania  was  a  victim.  Germany  de- 
clared to  our  President  her  willingness 
to  stop  submarine  warfare  if  England 
would  allow  the  importation  of  food  for 
the  German  civil  population.  England 
contemptuously  cast  aside  the  President's 
mediation. 

It  has  not  yet  been  proved  that  sub- 
marine warfare  is  not  in  keeping  with 
international  law.  Distinguished  author- 
ities on  international  law  have  declared 
that  Germany  was  not  only  justified  but 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE 


438 


bound  to  adopt  this  method  in  the  hour  of 
need,  because  it  is  the  only  effective  de- 
fense against  England's  warfare.  Ger- 
many cannot  cease  this  warfare  unless 


to  a  ruthless  enemy.  All  we  can  justly 
ask  of  Germany  is  that  neutral  ships  be 
not  attacked,  and  that  damages  be  paid 
in  case  of  loss  through  mistakes.     Ger- 


she  wishes  to  surrender  with  tied  hands      many  has  already  agreed  to  this. 


Falaba,  Gushing,  Gulflight 


CASE  OF  THE  FALABA. 

A  Washington  dispatch  to  The  New 
York  Times  on  March  31,  1915,  reported 
that  the  records  of  the  State  Depart- 
ment's Passport  Bureau  show  that  a 
passport  tvas  issued  on  June  1,  1911,  to 
Leon  Chester  Thrasher,  a  passenger 
aboard  the  British  African  steamship 
Falaba,  which  was  torpedoed  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  in  the  "  zone  of  naval 
warfare  "  on  March  28.  The  American 
citizenship  of  Thrasher,  who  was 
drowned,  has  been  established. 

[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.] 

LONDON,  Wednesday,  March  31.— An 
American  citizen,  Leon  Chester  Thrasher, 
an  engineer,  was  among  the  victims  of 
.the  German  submarine  that  sank  the 
British  steamer  Falaba  in  St.  George's 
Channel  last  Sunday  with  a  loss  of  111 
lives.  Mr.  Thrasher's  name  is  included  in 
the  official  list  of  the  missing.  For  the 
last  year  he  had  been  employed  on  the 
Gold  Coast,  British  West  Africa,  and  it  is 
presumed  he  was  returning  to  his  post 
when  he  met  his  death  at  the  hands  of 
the  German  sea  raiders. 

The  Daily  Mail  says  Mr.  Thrasher  was 
bound  for  Secondee,  West  Africa.  Ref- 
erence to  the  form  which  has  to  be  filled 
out  to  satisfy  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
customs  requirements  by  every  passenger 
embarking  at  a  British  port  before  tick- 
ets will  be  issued  shows  that  Mr.  Thrasher 
was  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Here 
are  the  particulars: 

Name,  Leon  Chester  Thrasher;  age, 
last  birthday,  31;  single;  sex,  male;  pro- 
fession, engineer;  country  of  residence  for 
last  twelve  months,  Gold  Coast  Colony, 
West  Africa;  country  of  intended  resi- 
dence for  next  twelve  months,  the  same; 
country  of  which  citizen  or  subject. 
United   States   of  America;   present  ad- 


dress, 29  Cartwright  Gardens,  St.  Pan- 
eras,  W.  C. 

When  Mr.  Thrasher  went  on  board  the 
Falaba  he  produced  an  American  pass- 
port. 

The  British  Official  Press  Bureau  on 
April  8  issued  the  following  report  on 
the  destruction  of   the  Falaba: 

It  is  not  true  that  sufficient  time  was 
given  the  passengers  and  the  crew  of 
this  vessel  to  escape.  The  German  sub- 
marine closed  in  on  the  Falaba,  ascer- 
tained her  name,  signaled  her  to  stop, 
and  gave  those  on  board  five  minutes  to 
take  to  the  boats.  It  would  have  been 
nothing  short  of  a  miracle  if  all  the  pas- 
sengers and  crew  of  a  big  liner  had  been 
able  to  take  to  their  boats  within  the 
time  allotted. 

While  some  of  the  boats  were  still  on 
their  davits  the  submarine  fired  a  torpedo 
at  short  range.  This  action  made  it  abso- 
lutely certain  that  there  must  be  great 
loss  of  life  and  it  must  have  been  com- 
mitted knowingly  with  the  intention  of 
producing  that  result. 

The  conduct  of  all  on  board  the  Falaba 
appears  to  have  been  excellent.  There 
was  no  avoidable  delay  in  getting  out  the 
boats.  To  accuse  the  Falaba's  crew  of 
negligence  under  the  circumstances  could 
not  easily  be  paralleled. 

THE  GERMAN  DEFENSE. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

BERLIN,  April  13,  (via  Amsterdam 
to  London,  April  14.) — A  semi-official 
account  of  the  sinking  of  the  British 
steamer  Falaba  by  a  German  submarine 
on  March  28  was  made  public  here  today. 
It  follows: 

On  receiving  the  signal  "  Stop,  or  I 
fire,"  the  Falaba  steamed  off  and  sent 
up  rocket  signals  to  summon  help,  and 


434 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


was  only  brought  to  a  standstill  after  a 
chase  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

Despite  the  danger  of  an  attack  from 
the  steamer  or  from  other  vessels  hur- 
rying up,  the  submarine  did  not  imme- 
diately fire,  but  signaled  that  the  steam- 
er must  be  abandoned  whithin  ten  min- 
utes. The  men  of  the  Falaba  quickly 
entered  the  boats,  although  the  launch- 
ing took  place  in  an  unseamanlike  man- 
ner. They  failed  to  give  assistance, 
which  was  possible,  to  passengers  strug- 
gling in  the  water. 

From  the  time  of  the  order  to  leave 
the  ship  until  the  torpedo  was  discharged 
not  ten  but  twenty-three  minutes  elapsed, 
prior  to  which  occurred  the  chase  of.  the 
steamer,  during  which  period  time  might 
have  been  used  to  get  the  boats  ready. 

The  torpedo  was  fired  only  when  the 
approach  of  suspicious-looking  vessels, 
from  which  an  attack  was  to  be  expected, 
compelled  the  commander  of  the  sub- 
marine to  take  quick  action.  When  the 
torpedo  was  discharged  nobody  was  seen 
on  board  the  ship  except  the  Captain,  who 
bravely  stuck  to  his  post. 

Afterward  some  persons  became  visi- 
ble who  were  busy  about  a  boat. 

Of  the  crew  of  the  submarine,  the 
only  ones  on  deck  were  those  serving 
the  cannon  or  those  necessary  for  sig- 
naling. It  was  impossible  for  them  to 
engage  in  rescue  work,  because  the  sub- 
marine could  not  take  on  passengers. 

Every  word  is  superfluous  in  defend- 
ing our  men  against  malignant  accusa- 
tions. At  the  judicial  proceedings  in 
England  no  witness  dared  raise  accusa- 
tions. It  is  untrue  that  at  any  time 
the  submarine  displayed  the  English  flag. 
The  submarine  throughout  the  affair 
showed  as  much  consideration  for  the 
Falaba  as  was  compatible  with  safety. 

COMMANDER  SCHMITZ'S  STORY. 
LFrom  The  New  York  Times,   May  G,  1915.] 

J.  J.  Ryan,  the  American  cotton  broker 
who  went  to  Germany  on  March  30  and 
sold  28,000  bales  of  cotton  he  had  shipped 
to  Bremen  and  Ham,burg,  returned  yes- 
terday on  the  Cunard  liner  Carpathia 
very  well  satisfied  with  the  results  of  his 
trip.    He  said: 

While  I  was  in  Bremen  I  met  Com- 


mander Schmitz  of  the  German  subma- 
rine U-28,  which  sank  the  British  Afri- 
can liner  Falaba  off  the  English  coast 
on  March  28.  He  told  me  that  he  re- 
gretted having  been  compelled  to  torpedo 
the  vessel,  as  she  had  passengers  on 
board.     In  explanation,  he  said: 

"  I  warned  the  Captain  of  the  Falaba 
to  dismantle  his  wireless  apparatus  and 
gave  him  ten  minutes  in  which  to  do  it 
and  get  his  passengers  off.  Instead  of 
acting  upon  my  demand  he  continued  to 
send  messages  out  to  torpedo  destroy- 
ers, that  were  less  than  twenty  miles 
away,  to  come  as  quickly  as  possible  to 
his  assistance. 

"  At  the  expiration  of  the  ten  minutes 
I  gave  him  a  second  warning  about  dis- 
mantling his  wireless  apparatus  and 
waited  twenty  minutes,  and  then  I  tor- 
pedoed the  ship,  as  the  destroyers  were 
getting  close  up  and  I  knew  they  would 
go  to  the  rescue  of  the  passengers  and 
crew." 

I  mentioned  the  fact  to  the  commander 
that  it  had  been  reported  by  some  of  the 
survivors  of  the  liner  that  while  the  men 
and  women  were  struggling  for  their 
lives  in  the  icy  water  his  crew  were  stand- 
ing on  the  deck  of  the  submarine  laugh- 
ing. He  looked  very  gravely  at  me  and 
replied,  "  That  is  not  true,  and  is  most 
cruelly  unjust  to  my  men.  They  were 
crying,  not  laughing,  when  the  boats 
were  capsized  and  threw  the  people  into 
the  water." 

CASE  OF  THE  GUSHING. 

[Special  to  The  New  York  Times.] 
WASHINGTON,  May  1.— Secretary 
Bryan  today  received  from  American 
Minister  Henry  van  Dyke  at  The  Hague 
a  report  on  the  attack  by  German  avi- 
ators on  the  American  steamship  Gush- 
ing, and  said  tonight  that  this  report 
would  be  immediately  cabled  to  Ambas- 
sador Gerard  at  Berlin  for  his  informa- 
tion. Ambassador  Gerard  will  bring  the 
matter  to  the  attention  of  the  German 
Government.  The  report  from  Minister 
van  Dyke  was  very  brief,  and  read  as 
follows : 

The  American  Consul  at  Rotterdam 
reports  that  the  American  steamship 
Cushing,   Captain   Herland,   with   petro- 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE 


435 


leum  from  New  York  to  Rotterdam,  fly- 
ing the  American  flag,  was  attacked  by 
German  aeroplanes  near  the  North  Hin- 
der Lightship,  afternoon  April  29.  Three 
bombs  dropped,  one  struck  ship,  causing 
damage,  but  no  life  lost. 

The  report  of  Captain  Lars  Larsen 
Herland,  master  of  the  American  tank 
steamer  Cushing,  made  upon  his  arrival 
in  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  on  May  19,  1915, 
is  as  follows: 

The  airmen  swept  in  narrow  circles 
over  the  tanker,  trying  to  get  directly 
over  the  funnel,  with  the  idea,  apparent- 
ly, of  dropping  a  bomb  into  it  and  wreck- 
ing the  engine  room. 

When  attacked  the  Cushing  was  about 
twenty-five  miles  from  Antwerp  and 
eight  miles  from  the  North  Hinder  Light- 
ship. It  was  near  7  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, but  the  sun  had  barely  touched  the 
horizon,  and  there  was  ample  light  for 
the  pilot  of  the  biplane  to  see  the  words, 
"  Cushing,  New  York,  United  States  of 
America,"  painted  on  each  side  of  the 
vessel  in  letters  eight  feet  high,  and  to 
note  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  the  mast- 
head and  the  taffrail. 

When  the  airship  was  first  noted  it 
was  several  thousand  feet  in  the  air,  but 
dropped  as  it  approached  the  ship,  and 
soon  was  only  about  500  feet  up.  Sud- 
denly it  swooped  down  to  about  300  feet 
above  the  Cushing.  Then  there  was  a 
tremendous  explosion,  and  a  wave  flood- 
ed the  stern  deck.  A  second  bomb 
missed  the  port  quarter  by  a  foot  or  so, 
and  sent  another  wave  over  the  lower 
deck. 

The  biplane  swung  up  into  the  wind, 
hung  motionless  for  a  second  or  so,  then 
came  the  third  bomb,  which  just  grazed 
the  starboard  rail  and  shot  into  the  sea. 
The  airship  hung  around  for  a  few 
minutes,  then  headed  toward  the  Dutch 
coast.  She  was  flying  a  white  flag,  with 
a  black  cross  in  the  centre,  the  pennant 
of  the  German  air  fleet. 

CASE  OF  THE  GULFLIGHT. 

Official  confirmation  of  the  attack  on 
May  1,  1915,  hy  a  German  submarine  on 
the  American  oil  tank  steamer  Gulflight 
off  the  Scilly  Islands  came  to  the  State 
Department  at  Washington  on  May  3  in 


dispatches  from  Joseph  G.  Stephens,  the 
United  States  Consul  at  Plymouth,  Eng- 
land. Two  members  of  the  crew  were 
drowned,  the  Captain  died  of  heart  fail- 
ure, and  thirty-four  members  of  the  crew 
were  saved.  Following  is  the  sivorn  state- 
ment of  Ralph  E.  Smith,  late  chief  of- 
ficer and  now  master  of  the  Gulflight, 
received  from  Ambassador  Page  and  pub- 
lished by  the  State  Department  at  Wash- 
ington on  May  11 : 

I  am  Ralph  E.  Smith,  now  master  of 
the  steamship  Gulflight.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  voyage  I  was  chief 
officer.  The  ship  left  port  at  Port  Arthur 
on  the  10th  day  of  April,  1915,  about  4 
P.  M.,  laden  with  a  tank  cargo  of  gaso- 
line and  wooden  barrels  of  lubricating 
oil.    The  voyage  was  uneventful. 

When  about  half  way  across  the  At- 
lantic the  wireless  operator  told  me  there 
was  a  British  cruiser  in  our  vicinity  and 
that  he  had  heard  messages  from  this 
ship  the  whole  time  since  leaving  Port 
Arthur,  but  she  made  no  direct  com- 
munication with  or  to  our  ship.  From 
the  sound  of  the  wireless  messages  given 
cut  by  the  British  ship,  she  seemed  to 
maintain  the  same  distance  from  us  until 
about  three  days  before  we  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  English  Channel. 

On  the  first  day  of  May,  about  11 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  we  spoke  two 
British  patrol  vessels  named  lago  and 
Filey.  We  were  then  about  twenty-two 
miles  wcf  t  o^'  the  Bishop  Lighthouse.  The 
patrol  vessels  asked  where  we  were 
bound.  After  informing  them  we  were 
bound  for  Rouen,  they  ordered  us  to  fol- 
low them  to  the  Bishop.  The  Filey  took 
up  a  position  a  half  mile  distant  on  our 
port  bow,  the  lago  off  our  starboard 
quarter  close  to  us.  We  steered  as  di- 
rected, and  at  about  12:22,  the  second 
officer  being  on  watch,  sighted  a  sub- 
marine on  our  port  bow — slightly  on  the 
port  bow — steaming  at  right  angles  to 
our  course.  The  submarine  was  in  sight 
for  about  five  minutes,  when  she  sub- 
merged about  right  ahead  of  us.  I  saw 
her,  but  could  not  distinguish  or  see  any 
flag  flying  on  her. 

The  Gulflight  was  then  steering  about 
true  east,  steaming  about  eight  miles  an 


436 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


hour,  flying  a  large  American  ensign,  six 
feet  by  ten  feet.  The  wind  was  about 
south,  about  eight  miles  an  hour  in  force. 
I  personally  observed  our  flag  was  stand- 
ing out  well  to  the  breeze. 

Immediately  after  seeing  the  sub- 
marine I  went  aft  and  notified  the  crew 
and  came  back  and  went  on  the  bridge 
and  heard  the  Captain  make  the  remark 
that  that  must  be  a  British  submarine, 
as  the  patrol  boats  took  no  notice  of  it. 

About  12:50  an  explosion  took  place  in 
the  Gulflight  on  the  bluff  of  the  star- 
board bow,  sending  vast  quantities  of 
water  high  in  the  air,  coming  down  on 
the  bridge  and  shutting  everything  off 
from  our  view.  After  the  water  cleared 
away  our  ship  had  sunk  by  the  head  so 
that  the  sea  was  washing  over  the  fore- 
deck,  and  the  ship  appeared  to  be  sink- 
ing. 

Immediately  after  I  went  aft  to  see 
to  the  boats.  On  my  way  I  saw  one  man 
overboard  on  the  starboard  side.  The 
water  at  that  time  was  black  with  oil. 
The  boats  were  lowered  and  the  crew 
got  into  them  without  delay  or  dam- 
age. After  ascertaining  there  was  no 
one  left  on  board  the  ship  I  got  in  my 
boat  and  we  were  picked  up  by  the  patrol 
vessel  lago  and  were  advised  by  her  crew 
to  leave  the  scene.  We  proceeded  toward 
St.  Mary's,  but  the  dense  fog  which  then 
came  on  prevented  us  getting  into  the 
harbor  that  night. 

About  2:30  in  the  morning  following 


I  saw  Captain  Gunter,  rhaster  of  the 
Gulflight,  who  had  been  sleeping  in  the 
room  of  the  skipper  of  the  lago,  stand- 
ing in  the  room  with  a  queer  look  in 
his  face.  I  asked  him  what  his  trouble 
was,  and  he  made  no  reply.  Then  he 
reached  for  the  side  of  the  berth  with 
his  hands,  but  did  not  take  hold.  I  went 
in  the  room,  but  he  fell  before  I  reached 
him. 

He  was  taken  on  deck,  as  the  cabin 
was  small  and  hot.  After  reaching  the 
deck  he  seemed  to  revive  and  said:  "I 
am  cold."  After  that  he  had  apparently 
two  fainting  attacks  and  then  expired 
in  a  third  one — this  being  about  3:40. 

We  arrived  at  St.  Mary's,  Scilly,  about 
10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  May  2. 
The  Gulflight  was  towed  to  Crow 
Sound,  Scilly,  on  May  2  by  British 
patrol  vessels,  and  Commander  Oliver, 
senior  naval  officer  of  the  Port  of  Scilly, 
sent  for  some  one  to  come  on  board  the 
Gulflight,  and  I  went,  and  the  ship  was 
anchored  about  6  P.  M. 

I  again  left  the  ship  that  evening^she 
being  then  in  charge  of  the  Admiralty. 
I  visited  the  ship  on  Monday.  I  went  out 
again  on  Tuesday,  but  it  was  too  rough 
to  get  on  board.  To  the  best  of  my 
knowledge  there  was  no  examination  of 
the  vessel  made  by  divers  until  Wednes- 
day about  3  P.  M.,  when  members  from 
the  American  Embassy  were  present. 
The  divers  at  this  time  made  an  external 
examination  only  of  the  ship's  bottom 
and  left  the  ship  with  me  at  5 :40  P.  M. 


Aim  of  Submarine  Warfare 

[From  The  London  Times,  April  30,  1915.] 


Dr.  Flamm,  Professor  of  Ship  Con- 
struction at  the  Technical  High  School  at 
Charlottenburg,  publishes  in  the  Vos- 
sische  Zeitung  an  extraordinary  article 
on  the  impending  destruction  of  the 
British  Empire  by  German  submarines. 
Whatever  Professor  Flamm's  profes- 
sional opinion  may  be  worth,  he  is  evi- 
dently attacking  his  task  with  a  pas- 
sionate hatred  of  England  that  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired. 


Professor  Flamm  begins   by  explain- 
ing how  England  has  been  protected  for 
centuries  by  her  insularity.     He  writes: 
This  country,  whose   dishonorable  Gov- 
ernment    produced      this     terrible     world 
war  by  the  most  contemptible  means,  and 
solely  in  selfish  greed  of  gain,  has  always 
been  able   to  enjoy  the   fruits   of  its   un- 
scrupulousness    because    it    was    reckoned 
as   unassailable.    But   everything    is    sub- 
ject to  change,  and  that  applies  today  to 
the  security  of  England's  position.     Thank 
God,    the  time   has   now  come  when  pre- 


THE  LUSITANIA   CASE 


437 


cisely  its  complete  encirclement  by  the  sea 
has   become   the   greatest   danger  for   the 
existence   of    the    British    Nation. 
The  writer  explains  that  England  can- 
not   be    self-supporting,    and,    strangely 
enough,  admits  that  recognition  of  this 
fact  justifies   British  naval  policy.     He 
proceeds : 

The  time,  however,  has  passed  in  which 
even  the  strongest  squadron  of  battleships 
or    cruisers    can   protect    England's    fron- 
tiers   and    secure    imports    from    oversea. 
Technical   progress,   in   the  shape  of  sub- 
marines,   has    put   into    the    hands    of   all 
England's   enemies   the    means    at   last   to 
sever   the  vital  nerve  of  the  much -hated 
enemy,    and   to   pull   him   down   from   his 
position  of  ruler  of  the  world,   which   he 
has    occupied     for     centuries     with     ever- 
increasing    ruthlessness     and     selfishness. 
What   science    has    once    begun    she    con- 
tinues,   and   for   every    shipbuilder   in    the 
whole  world  there  is  now  no  sphere  which 
offers  a  stronger  stimulus   to  progressive 
activity  than  the  sphere  of  the  submarines. 
Here  an  endless  amount  of  work  is  being, 
and    will    be,    done,    because    the    reward 
which   beckons  on   the  horizon   is   an   ex- 
traordinarily high  one,  an  extraordinarily 
profitable    one,    a    reward    containing    the 
most    ideal    blessings    for    humanity— the 
destruction    of   English    world    supremacy, 
the   liberation   of   the   seas.    This   exalted 
and    noble    aim    has    today    come    within 
reach,  and  it  is  German  intellect  and  Ger- 
man work  that  have  paved  the  way. 
It  will  be  noted  that  Professor  Flamm, 
as  other  contemporary  German  writers, 
believes    that    submarines,    like    Shake- 
speare, are  a  German  invention.     He  is 
also,  notwithstanding  the  experience  of 
two  and  a  half  months,  confident  that 
the  German  "  submarine  blockade  "  will 
both  be  successful  and  become  popular 
with  neutrals.     Building  upon  the   Ger- 
man myth  that  Captain  Weddigen's  sub- 
marine, U-29,  was  destroyed  while  sav- 
ing   life.    Professor    Flamm    "  expects " 
that   the   neutrals   will    stop   all   traffic 
with  England,  "  in  view  of  the  cowardly 
and  cunning  method  of  fightng  of  the 
English." 

Professor  Flamm  then  discusses  Ger- 
many's prospects,  as  follows: 

Anybody  who  wants  to  fight  England 
must  not  attempt  it  by  striving  to  bring 
against  England  larger  and  more  nume- 
rous battleships  and  cruisers.  That  would 
be  not  only  unwise  but  also  very  costly. 
He  must  try  another  method,  which  makes 
England's  great  sea  power  completely 
illusory,  and  gives  it  practically  no  op- 
portunity for  activity.    This  method  is  the 


cutting-off  of  imports  by  submarine  fleets. 
Let  it  not  be  said  that  the  attainment  of 
this  end  requires  a  very  great  deal  of  ma- 
terial. England,  as  can  easily  be  seen 
from  the  map,  possesses  a  fairly  limited 
number  of  river  mouths  and  ports  for 
rapid  development  of  her  great  oversea 
trade.  Beginning  in  the  northeast,  those 
on  the  east  coast  are  mainly  the  Firth  of 
Forth,  the  mouths  of  the  Tyne  and  Hum- 
ber,  and  then  the  Thames ;  in  the  south, 
Portsmouth,  Southampton,  and  Plymouth, 
with  some  neighboring  harbors ;  in  the 
west,  the  Bristol  Channel,  the  Mersey, 
the  Solway,  and  the  Clyde.  These  are  the 
entries  that  have  to  be  blocked  in  order 
to  cut  off  imports  in  a  way  that  will  pro- 
duce the  full  impression.  For  this  pur- 
pose 150  of  the  submarines  of  today  fully 
suffice,  so  that  the  goal  is  within  reach. 
Moreover,  the  development  of  this  arm 
will  enormously  increase  its  value,  and  so, 
come  what  may,  England  must  reckon 
with  the  fact  that  her  world  supremacy 
cannot  much  longer  exist,  and  that  the 
strongest  navy  can  make  no  difference. 
When  once  the  invisible  necktie  is  round 
John  Bull's  neck,  his  breathing  will  soon 
cease,  and  the  taslt  of  successfully  putting 
this  necktie  on  him  is  solely  a  question  of 
technical  progress  and  of  time,  which  now 
moves  so  fast. 

Professor  Flamm  ends  with  a  passage 
about  German  submarine  bases.  It 
would  be  more  intelligible  if  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  whether  Germany  is 
going  to  take  Calais  or  whether,  accord- 
ing to  another  popular  German  theory, 
England  is  going  to  annex  the  north 
coast  of  France.     He  writes: 

"  The  eyes  of  France  also  will  one  day 
be  opened  when,  having  been  sufficiently 
weakened,  she  is  compelled  to  leave  the 
north  coast  of  France,  including  Calais, 
to  her  friend  of  today.  Precisely  this 
coast  which  England  has  seized  may  be 
expected  now  to  remain  in  English  pos- 
session, for  the  purpose  of  better  and 
surer  control  of  the  Channel,  for  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  control  renders, 
and  will  render,  difficult  for  the  German 
submarines  effective  activity  in  the  Irish 
Sea — an  activity  which  will  become  all 
the  easier  as  soon  as  Calais  has  been 
freed  of  the  enemy,  or  is  even  in  Ger- 
man possession. 

"  Thus  before  very  long  a  world  fate 
should  befall  England.  The  trees  do  not 
grow  up  to  heaven.  England,  through 
her  criminal  Government,  has  stretched 
the  bow  too  tight,  and  so  it  will  snap." 


THREE  SPEECHES  BY 
PRESIDENT  WILSON 

In  New  York  at  the  annual  luncheon  of  The  Associated  Press  on  April  20,  1915;  at 
Philadelphia  In  Convention  Hall  on  May  10,  in  an  address  to  4,000  newly  naturalized  citizens, 
and  again  at  New  Yorli  in  his  speech  on  the  navy,  May  17,  delivered  at  the  luncheon  given 
for  the  President  by  the  Mayor's  Committee  formed  for  the  naval  review,  Mr.  Wilson  set 
forth  the  principles  on  which  he  would  meet  the  crises  of  the  European  war  as  they  affect 
the  United  States.     The  texts  of  the  three  speeches  appear  below. 


"AMERICA  FIRST." 

[President  Wilson's  address  on  April  20, 
1915,  to  the  members  of  The  Associated 
Press  at  their  annual  luncheon  in  New 
York:] 

I  am  deeply  gratified  by  the  generous 
reception  you  have  accorded  me.  It 
makes  me  look  back  with  a  touch  of 
regret  to  former  occasions  when  I  have 
stood  in  this  place  and  enjoyed  a  greater 
liberty  than  is  granted  me  today.  There 
have  been  times  when  I  stood  in  this  spot 
and  said  what  I  really  thought,  and  I 
pray  God  that  those  days  of  indulgence 
may  be  accorded  me  again.  But  I  have 
come  here  today,  of  course,  somewhat 
restrained  by  a  sense  of  responsibility 
that  I  cannot  escape. 

For  I  take  The  Associated  Press  very 
seriously.  I  know  the  enormous  part 
that  you  play  in  the  affairs  not  only  of 
this  country,  but  the  world.  You  deal 
in  the  raw  material  of  opinion  and,  if 
my  convictions  have  any  validity,  opinion 
ultimately  governs  the  world. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  very  serious  things 
that  I  think  as  I  face  this  body  of  men. 
I  do  not  think  of  you,  however,  as  mem- 
bers of  The  Associated  Press.  I  do  not 
think  of  you  as  men  of  different  parties 
or  of  different  racial  derivations  or  of 
different  religous  denominations,  I  want 
to  talk  to  you  as  to  my  fellow-citizens  of 
the  United  States.  For  there  are  serious 
things  which  as  fellow-citizens  we  ought 
to  consider. 

The  times  behind  us,  gentlemen,  have 
been  difficult  enough,  the  times  before  us 
are  likely  to  be  more  difficult  because, 
whatever  may  be  said  about  the  present 
condition  of  the  world's  affairs,  it  is  clear 


that  they  are  drawing  rapidly  to  a  climax, 
and  at  the  climax  the  test  will  come,  not 
only  of  the  nations  engaged  in  the  pres- 
ent colossal  struggle,  it  will  come  for 
them  of  course,  but  the  test  will  come  to 
us  particularly. 

Do  you  realize  that,  roughly  speaking, 
we  are  the  only  great  nation  at  present 
disengaged?  I  am  not  speaking,  of 
course,  with  dispai'agement  of  the  greater 
of  those  nations  in  Europe  which  are  not 
parties  to  the  present  war,  but  I  am 
thinking  of  their  close  neighborhood  to 
it.  I  am  thinking  how  their  lives  much 
more  than  ours  touch  the  very  heart  and 
stuff  of  the  business;  whereas,  we  have 
rolling  between  us  and  those  bitter  days 
across  the  water  three  thousand  miles  of 
cool  and  silent  ocean. 

Out  atmosphere  is  not  yet  charged 
with  those  disturbing  elements  which 
must  be  felt  and  must  permeate  every 
nation  of  Europe.  Therefore,  is  it  not 
likely  that  the  nations  of  the  world  will 
some  day  turn  to  us  for  the  cooler  assess- 
ment of  the  elements  engaged? 

I  am  not  now  thinking  so  preposterous 
a  thought  as  that  we  should  sit  in  judg- 
ment upon  them.  No  nation  is  fit  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  any  other  nation,  but  that 
we  shall  some  day  have  to  assist  in  re- 
constructing the  processes  of  peace.  Our 
resources  are  untouched;  we  are  more 
and  more  becoming  by  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances the  mediating  nation  of  the 
world  in  respect  to  its  finances.  We 
must  make  up  our  minds  what  are  the 
best  things  to  do  and  what  are  the  best 
ways  to  do  them. 

We  must  put  our  money,  our  energy, 
our  enthusiasm,  our  sympathy  into  these 
things;  and  we  must  have  our  judgments 


THE  LU  SI  TAN  I A   CASE 


43J) 


prepared  and  our  spirits  chastened 
against  the  coming  of  that  day.  So  that 
I  am  not  speaking  in  a  selfish  spirit  when 
I  say  that  our  whole  duty  for  the  present, 
at  any  rate,  is  summed  up  in  this  motto, 
"  America  first."  Let  us  think  of  Amer- 
ica before  we  think  of  Europe,  in  order 
that  America  may  be  fit  to  be  Europe's 
friend  when  the  day  of  tested  friendship 
comes.  The  test  of  friendship  is  not  now 
sympathy  with  the  one  side  or  the  other, 
but  getting  ready  to  help  both  sides  when 
the  struggle  is  over. 

The  basis  of  neutrality,  gentlemen,  is 
not  indifference;  it  is  not  self-interest. 
The  basis  of  neutrality  is  sympathy  for 
mankind.  It  is  fairness,  it  is  good-will  at 
bottom.  It  is  impartiality  of  spirit  and 
of  judgment.  I  wish  that  all  of  our 
fellow-citizens  could  realize  that. 

There  is  in  some  quai'ters  a  disposition 
to  create  distempers  in  this  body  politic. 
Men  are  even  uttering  slanders  against 
the  United  States  as  if  to  excite  her. 
Men  are  saying  that  if  we  should  go  to 
war  upon  either  side  there  will  be  a 
divided  America — an  abominable  libel  of 
ignorance.  America  is  not  all  of  it  vocal 
just  now.    It  is  vocal  in  spots. 

But  I  for  one  have  a  complete  and 
abiding  faith  in  that  great  silent  body  of 
Americans  who  are  not  standing  up  and 
shouting  and  expressing  their  opinions 
just  now,  but  are  waiting  to  find  out  and 
support  the  duty  of  America.  I  am  just 
as  sure  of  their  solidity  and  of  their  loy- 
alty and  of  their  unanimity,  if  we  act 
justly,  as  I  am  that  the  history  of  this 
country  has  at  every  crisis  and  turning 
point  illustrated  this  great  lesson. 

We  are  the  mediating  nation  of  the 
world.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  undertake 
not  to  mind  our  own  business  and  to 
mediate  where  other  people  are  quarrel- 
ing. I  mean  the  word  in  a  broader  sense. 
We  are  compounded  of  the  nations  of  the 
world.  We  mediate  their  blood,  we  medi- 
ate their  traditions,  we  mediate  their 
sentiments,  their  tastes,  their  passions; 
we  are  ourselves  compounded  of  those 
things. 

We  are,  therefore,  able  to  understand 
all  nations;  we  are  able  to  understand 
them  in  the  compound,  not  separately,  as 
partisans,  but  unitedly,  as  knowing  and 


comprehending  and  embodying  them  all. 
It  is  in  that  sense  that  I  mean  that  Amer- 
ica is  a  mediating  nation.  The  opinion  of 
America,  the  action  of  America,  is  ready 
to  turn  and  free  to  turn  in  any  direction. 

Did  you  ever  reflect  upon  how  almost 
all  other  nations,  almost  every  other  na- 
tion, has  through  long  centuries  been 
headed  in  one  direction  ?  That  is  not  true 
of  the  United  States.  The  United  States 
has  no  racial  momentum.  It  has  no  his- 
tory back  of  it  which  makes  it  run  all  its 
energies  and  all  its  ambitions  in  one  par- 
ticular direction;  and  America  is  particu- 
larly free  in  this,  that  she  has  no  hamper- 
ing ambitions  as  a  world  power. 

If  we  have  been  obliged  by  circum- 
stances, or  have  considered  ourselves  to 
be  obliged  by  circumstances,  in  the  past 
to  take  territory  which  we  otherwise 
would  not  have  thought  of  taking,  I  be- 
lieve I  am  right  in  saying  that  we  have 
considered  it  our  duty  to  administer  that 
territory,  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  the 
people  living  in  it,  and  to  put  this  burden 
upon  our  consciences  not  to  think  that 
this  thing  is  ours  for  our  use,  but  to  re- 
gard ourselves  as  trustees  of  the  great 
business  for  those  to  whom  it  does  really 
belong,  trustees  ready  to  hand  over  the 
cosmic  trust  at  any  time  when  the  busi- 
ness seems  to  make  that  possible  and 
feasible.  That  is  what  I  mean  by  saying 
we  have  no  hampering  ambitions. 

We  do  not  want  anything  that  does  not 
belong  to  us.  Isn't  a  nation  in  that  posi- 
tion free  to  serve  other  nations,  and  isn't 
a  nation  like  that  ready  to  form  some 
part  of  the  assessing  opinion  of  the 
world  ? 

My  interest  in  the  neutrality  of  the 
United  States  is  not  the  petty  desire  to 
keep  out  of  trouble.  To  judge  by  my  ex- 
perience I  have  never  been  able  to  keep 
out  of  trouble.  I  have  never  looked  for 
it,  but  I  have  always  found  it.  I  do  not 
want  to  walk  around  trouble.  If  any  man 
wants  a  scrap — that  is,  an  interesting 
scrap  and  worth  while — I  am  his  man.  I 
warn  him  that  he  is  not  going  to  draw  me 
into  the  scrap  for  his  advertisement,  but 
if  he  is  looking  for  trouble — that  is,  the 
trouble  of  men  in  general — and  I  can  help 
a  little,  why,  then,  I  am  in  for  it.  But  I 
am  interested  in  neutrality  because  there 


440 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


is  something  so  much  greater  to  do  than 
fight,  because  there  is  something,  there  is 
a  distinction  waiting  for  this  nation  that 
no  nation  has  ever  yet  got.  That  is  the 
distinction  of  absolute  self-control  and 
self-mastery. 

Whom  do  you  admire  most  among  your 
friends?  The  irritable  man?  The  man 
out  of  whom  you  can  get  a  "  rise  "  with- 
out trying?  The  man  who  will  fight  at 
the  drop  of  the  hat,  whether  he  knows 
what  the  hat  is  dropped  for  or  not? 

Don't  you  admire  and  don't  you  fear, 
if  you  have  to  contest  with  him,  the  self- 
mastered  man  who  watches  you  with 
calm  eye  and  comes  in  only  when  you 
have  carried  the  thing  so  far  that  you 
must  be  disposed  of?  That  is  the  man 
you  respect.  That  is  the  man  who  you 
know  has  at  bottom  a  much  more  funda- 
mental and  terrible  courage  than  the 
irritable,  fighting  man. 

Now,  I  covet  for  America  this  splendid 
courage  of  reserve  moral  force,  and  I 
wanted  to  point  out  to  you  gentlemen 
simply  this:  There  is  news  and  news.- 
There  is  what  is  called  news  from  Turtle 
Bay,  that  turns  out  to  be  falsehood,  at 
any  rate  in  what  it  is  said  to  signify,  and 
which  if  you  could  get  the  nation  to  be- 
lieve it  true  might  disturb  our  equilibrium 
and  our  self-possession.  We  ought  not  to 
deal  in  stuff  of  that  kind.  We  ought  not 
to  permit  things  of  that  sort  to  use  up  the 
electrical  energy  of  the  wires,  because  its 
energy  is  malign,  its  energy  is  not  of  the 
truth,  its  energy  is  of  mischief. 

It  is  possible  to  sift  truth.  I  have 
known  some  things  to  go  out  on  the  wires 
as  true  when  there  was  only  one  man  or 
one  group  of  men  who  could  have  told  the 
originators  of  the  report  whether  it  was 
true  or  not,  and  they  were  not  asked 
whether  it  was  true  or  not  for  fear  it 
might  not  be  true.  That  sort  of  report 
ought  not  to  go  out  over  the  wires. 

There  is  generally,  if  not  always,  some- 
body who  knows  whether  that  thing  is  so 
or  not,  and  in  these  days  above  all  other 
days  we  ought  to  take  particular  pains  to 
resort  to  the  one  small  group  of  men  or 
to  the  one  man,  if  there  be  but  one,  who 
knows  whether  those  thing.?  are  true  or 
not. 

The  world  ought  to  know  the  truth,  but 


the  world  ought  not  at  this  period  of  un- 
stable equilibrium  to  be  disturbed  by 
rumor,  ought  not  to  be  disturbed  by 
imaginative  combinations  of  circum- 
stances, or,  rather,  by  circumstances 
stated  in  combination  which  do  not  be- 
long in  combination.  For  we  are  holding 
— not  I,  but  you  and  gentlemen  engaged 
like  you — the  balances  in  your  hand.  This 
unstable  equilibrium  rests  upon  scales 
that  are  in  your  hands.  For  the  food  of 
opinion,  as  I  began  by  saying,  is  the  news 
of  the  day.  I  have  known  many  a  man 
go  off  at  a  tangent  on  information  that 
was  not  reliable.  Indeed,  that  describes 
the  majority  of  men.  The  world  is  held 
stable  by  the  man  who  waits  for  the  next 
day  to  find  out  whether  the  report  was 
true  or  not. 

We  cannot  afford,  therefore,  to  let  the 
rumors  of  irresponsible  persons  and  ori- 
gins get  into  the  atmosphere  of  the 
United  States.  We  are  trustees  for  what  I 
venture  to  say  is  the  greatest  heritage 
that  any  nation  ever  had,  the  love  of 
justice  and  righteousness  and  human  lib- 
erty. For  fundamentally  those  are  the 
things  to  which  America  is  addicted  and 
to  which  she  is  devoted. 

There  are  groups  of  selfish  men  in  the 
United  States,  there  are  coteries  where 
sinister  things  are  purposed,  but  the 
great  heart  of  the  American  people  is 
just  as  sound  and  true  as  it  ever  was. 
And  it  is  a  single  heart;  it  is  the  heart  of 
America.  It  is  not  a  heart  made  up  of 
sections  selected  out  of  other  countries. 

So  that  what  I  try  to  remind  myself  of 
every  day  when  I  am  almost  overcome  by 
perplexities,  what  I  try  to  remember,  is 
what  the  people  at  home  are  thinking 
about.  I  try  to  put  myself  in  the  place 
of  the  man  who  does  not  know  all  the 
things  that  I  know  and  ask  myself  what 
he  would  like  the  policy  of  this  country  to 
be.  Not  the  talkative  man,  not  the 
partisan  man,  not  the  man  that  remem- 
bers first  that  he  is  a  Republican  or 
Democrat,  or  that  his  parents  were  Ger- 
mans or  English,  but  who  remembers 
first  that  the  whole  destiny  of  modern 
affairs  centres  largely  upon  his  being  an 
American  first  of  all. 

If  I  permitted  myself  to  be  a  partisan 
in  this  present  struggle  I  would  be  un- 


THE     LATE     ARCHDUKE     FERDINAND 
Whose  Assassination  at  Serajevo  Precipitated  the  European    War 


H.      M.      NICHOLAS     I. 

King  of   Montenegro,  the  Smallest  of  the  Allied  Powers 

(Photo    ©    American    Press    Assn.) 


THE  LUSITANIA    CASE 


441 


worthy  to  represent  you.  If  I  permitted 
myself  to  forget  the  people  who  are  not 
partisans  I  would  be  unworthy  to  repre- 
sent you.  I  am  not  saying  that  I  am 
worthy  to  represent  you,  but  I  do  claim 
this  degree  of  worthiness — that  before 
everything  else  I  love  America. 

II. 
"  HUMANITY  FIRST." 

IPresident  Wilson's  speech  in  Conven- 
tion Hall,  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  May  10, 
1915,  before  4,000  newly  naturalized 
citizens  .*] 

It  warms  my  heart  that  you  should 
give  me  such  a  reception,  but  it  is  not 
of  myself  that  I  wish  to  think  tonight, 
but  of  those  who  have  just  become  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States.  This  is  the 
only  country  in  the  world  which  ex- 
periences this  constant  and  repeated  re- 
birth. Other  countries  depend  upon  the 
multiplication  of  their  own  native  people. 
This  country  is  constantly  drinking 
strength  out  of  new  sources  by  the  volun- 
tary association  with  it  of  great  bodies 
of  strong  men  and  forward-looking  wo- 
men. And  so  by  the  gift  of  the  free  will 
of  independent  people  it  is  constantly 
being  renewed  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration by  the  same  process  by  which  it 
was  originally  created.  It  is  as  if  hu- 
manity had  determined  to  see  to  it  that 
this  great  nation,  founded  for  the  bene- 
fit of  humanity,  should  not  lack  for  the 
allegiance  of  the  people  of  the  world. 

You  have  just  taken  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  United  States.  Of  alle- 
giance to  whom  ?  Of  allegiance  to  no  one, 
unless  it  be  God.  Certainly  not  of  alle- 
giance to  those  who  temporarily  repre- 
sent this  great  Government.  You  have 
taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  a  great 
ideal,  to  a  great  body  of  principles,  to  a 
great  hope  of  the  human  race.  You  have 
said,  "  We  are  going  to  America, "  not 
only  to  earn  a  living,  not  only  to  seek 
the  things  which  it  was  more  difficult 
to  obtain  where  you  were  born,  but  to 
help  forward  the  great  enterprises  of  the 
human  spirit — to  let  men  know  that 
everywhere  in  the  world  there  are  men 
who  will  cross  strange  oceans  and  go 
where  a  speech  is  spoken  which  is  alien 


to  them,  knowing  that,  whatever  the 
speech,  there  is  but  one  longing  and  ut- 
terance of  the  human  heart,  and  that  is 
for  liberty  and  justice. 

And  while  you  bring  all  countries  with 
you,  you  come  with  a  purpose  of  leaving 
all  other  countries  behind  you — bringing 
what  is  best  of  their  spirit,  but  not  look- 
ing over  your  shoulders  and  seeking  to 
perpetuate  what  you  intended  to  leave 
in  them.  I  certainly  would  not  be  one 
even  to  suggest  that  a  man  cease  to  love 
the  home  of  his  birth  and  the  nation  of 
his  origin — these  things  are  very  sacred 
and  ought  not  to  be  put  out  of  our  hearts 
— but  it  is  one  thing  to  love  the  place 
where  you  were  born  and  it  is  another 
thing  to  dedicate  yourself  to  the  place 
.to  which  you  go.  You  cannot  dedicate 
yourself  to  America  unless  you  become 
in  every  respect  and  with  every  purpose 
of  your  will  thorough  Americans.  You 
cannot  become  thorough  Americans  if 
you  think  of  yourselves  in  groups.  Amer- 
ican does  not  consist  of  groups.  A  man  who 
thinks  himself  as  belonging  to  a  partic- 
ular national  group  in  America  has  not 
yet  become  an  American,  and  the  man 
who  goes  among  you  to  trade  upon  your 
nationality  is  no  worthy  son  to  live  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

My  urgent  advice  to  you  would  be  not 
only  always  to  think  first  of  America, 
hut  always,  also,  to  think  first  of  hu- 
manity. You  do  not  love  humanity  if 
you  seek  to  divide  humanity  into  jealous 
camps.  Humanity  can  be  welded  togeth- 
er only  by  love,  by  sympathy,  by  justice, 
not  by  jealously  and  hatred.  I  am  soriy 
for  the  man  who  seeks  to  make  personal 
capital  out  of  the  passions  of  his  fellow- 
men.  He  has  lost  the  touch  and  ideal  of 
America,  for  America  was  created  to 
unite  mankind  by  those  passions  which 
lift  and  not  by  the  passions  which 
separate  and  debase. 

We  came  to  America,  either  ourselves 
or  in  persons  of  our  ancestors,  to  better 
the  ideals  of  men,  to  make  them  see  finer 
things  than  they  had  seen  before,  to  get 
rid  of  things  that  divide,  and  to  make  sure 
of  the  things  that  unite.  It  was  but  a  his- 
torical accident  no  doubt  that  this  great 
country  was  called  the  "  United  States," 


442 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


and  yet  I  am  very  thankful  that  it  has 
the  word  "united"  in  its  title;  and  the 
man  who  seeks  to  divide  man  from  man, 
[.froup  from  group,  interest  from  interest, 
in  the  United  States  is  striking  at  its 
very  heart. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  circumstance 
to  me,  in  thinking  of  those  of  you  who 
have  just  sworn  allegiance  to  this  great 
Government,  that  you  were  drawn  across 
the  ocean  by  some  beckoning  finger  of 
hope,  by  some  belief,  by  some  vision  of 
a  new  kind  of  justice,  by  some  expecta- 
tion of  a  better  kind  of  life. 

No  doubt  you  have  been  disappointed 
in  some  of  us;  some  of  us  are  very  dis- 
appointing. No  doubt  you  have  found 
that  justice  in  the  United  States  goes 
only  with  a  pure  heart  and  a  right  pur- 
pose, as  it  does  everywhere  else  in  the 
world.  No  doubt  what  you  found  here 
didn't  seem  touched  for  you,  after  all, 
with  the  complete  beauty  of  the  ideal 
which  you  had  conceived  beforehand. 

But  remember  this,  if  we  had  grown 
at  all  poor  in  the  ideal,  you  brought  some 
of  it  with  you.  A  man  does  not  go  out 
to  seek  the  thing  that  is  not  in  him.  A 
man  does  not  hope  for  the  thing  that  he 
does  not  believe  in,  and  if  some  of  us 
have  forgotten  what  America  believed  in, 
you,  at  any  rate,  imported  in  your  own 
hearts  a  renewal  of  the  belief.  That  is 
the  reason  that  I,  for  one,  make  you  wel- 
come. 

If  I  have  in  any  degree  forgotten  what 
America  was  intended  for,  I  will  thank 
God  if  you  will  remind  me. 

I  was  born  in  America.  You  dreamed 
dreams  of  what  America  was  to  be,  and 
I  hope  you  brought  the  dreams  with  you. 
No  man  that  does  not  see  visions  will 
ever  realize  any  high  hope  or  undertake 
any  high  enterprise. 

Just  because  you  brought  dreams  with 
you,  America  is  more  likely  to  realize  the 
dreams  such  as  you  brought.  You  are 
enriching  us  if  you  came  expecting  us  to 
be  better  than  we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that  means.  It 
means  that  Americans  must  have  a  con- 
sciousness different  from  the  conscious- 
ness of  every  other  nation  in  the  world. 
I  am  not  saying  this  with  even  the  slight- 


est thought  of  criticism  of  other  nations. 
You  know  how  it  is  with  a  family.  A 
family  gets  centred  on  itself  if  it  is  not 
careful  and  is  less  interested  in  the 
neighbors  than  it  is  in  its  own  mem- 
bers. 

So  a  nation  that  is  not  constantly  re- 
newed out  of  new  sources  is  apt  to  have 
the  narrowness  and  prejudice  of  a  fam- 
ily. Whereas,  America  must  have  this 
consciousness,  that  on  all  sides  it  touches 
elbows  and  touches  hearts  with  all  the 
nations  of  mankind. 

The  example  of  America  must  be  a 
special  example.  The  example  of  Amer- 
ica must  be  the  example  not  merely  of 
peace  because  it  will  not  fight,  but  of 
peace  because  peace  is  the  healing  and 
elevating  influence  of  the  world  and 
strife  is  not. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being 
too  proud  to  fight.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it  does 
not  need  to  convince  others  by  force  that 
it  is  right. 

So,  if  you  come  into  this  great  nation 
as  you  have  come,  voluntarily  seeking 
something  that  we  have  to  give,  all  that 
we  have  to  give  is  this:  We  cannot 
exempt  you  from  work.  No  man  is  ex- 
empt from  work  anywhere  in  the  world. 
T  sometimes  think  he  is  fortunate  if  he 
has  to  work  only  with  his  hands  and  not 
with  his  head.  It  is  very  easy  to  do  what 
other  people  give  you  to  do,  but  it  is  very 
difficult  to  give  other  people  things  to 
do.  We  cannot  exempt  you  from  work; 
we  cannot  exempt  you  from  the  strife 
and  the  heart-breaking  burden  of  the 
struggle  of  the  day — that  is  common  to 
mankind  everywhere.  We  cannot- exempt 
you  from  the  loads  that  you  must  carry; 
we  can  only  make  them  light  by  the 
spirit  in  which  they  are  carried.  That 
is  the  spirit  of  hope,  it  is  the  spirit  of 
liberty,  it  is  the  spirit  of  justice. 

When  I  was  asked,  therefore,  by  the 
Mayor  and  the  committee  that  accom- 
panied him  to  come  up  from  Washington 
to  meet  this  great  company  of  newly  ad- 
mitted citizens  I  could  not  decline  the  in- 
vitation. I  ought  not  to  be  away  from 
Washington,  and  yet  I  feel  that  it  has 
renewed  my  spirit  as  an  American. 


THE  LU  SI  TAN  I A   CASE 


443 


In  Washington  men  tell  you  so  many 
things  every  day  that  are  not  so,  and  I 
like  to  come  and  stand  in  the  presence 
of  a  great  body  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
whether  they  have  been  my  fellow- 
citizens  a  long  time  or  a  short  time,  and 
drink,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  common 
fountains  with  them  and  go  back  feeling 
that  you  have  so  generously  given  me  the 
sense  of  your  support  and  of  the  living 
vitality  in  your  hearts,  of  its  great  ideals 
which  made  America  the  hope  of  the 
world. 

III. 
AMERICA  FOR  HUMANITY. 

[President  Wilson's  address  to  the 
Mayor's  Committee  in  New  York,  May 
17,  1915,  on  the  occasion  of  the  naval 
parade  and  review  in  the  Hudson:} 

Mr.  Mayor,  Mr.  Secretary,  Admiral 
Fletcher,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Fleet: 
This  is  not  an  occasion  upon  which  it 
seems  to  me  that  it  Would  be  wise  for  me 
to  make  many  remarks,  but  I  would  de- 
prive myself  of  a  great  gratification  if  I 
did  not  express  my  pleasure  in  being 
here,  my  gratitude  for  the  splendid  recep- 
tion which  has  been  accorded  me  as  the 
representative  of  the  nation,  and  my  pro- 
found interest  in  the  navy  of  the  United 
States.  That  is  an  interest  with  which  I 
was  apparently  born,  for  it  began  when  I 
was  a  youngster  and  has  ripened  with  my 
knowledge  of  the  affairs  and  policies  of 
the  United  States. 

I  think  it  is  a  natural,  instinctive  judg- 
ment of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
that  they  express  their  power  appropri- 
ately in  an  efficient  navy,  and  their  in- 
terest is  partly,  I  believe,  because  that 
navy  somehow  is  expected  to  express 
their  character,  not  within  our  own  bor- 
ders, where  that  character  is  understood, 
but  outside  our  borders,  where  it  is  hoped 
we  may  occasionally  touch  others  with 
some  slight  vision  of  what  America 
stands  for. 

But  before  I  speak  of  the  navy  of  the 
United  States  I  want  to  take  advantage 
of  the  first  public  opportunity  I  have  had 
to  speak  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  to 
express  my  confidence  and  my  admira- 
tion, and  to  say  that  he  has  my  unquali- 
fied support,  for  I  have  counseled  with 


him  in  intimate  fashion.  I  know  how 
sincerely  he  has  it  at  heart  that  every- 
thing that  the  navy  does  and  handles 
should  be  done  and  handled  as  the  people 
of  the  United  States  wish  them  handled — 
because  efficiency  is  something  more 
than  organization.  Efficiency  runs  into 
every  well-considered  detail  of  personnel 
and  method.  Efficiency  runs  to  the  ex- 
tent of  lifting  the  ideals  of  a  service 
above  every  personal  interest.  So  that 
when  I  speak  my  support  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy  I  am  merely  speaking 
my  support  of  what  I  know  every  true 
lover  of  the  navy  to  desire  and  to  purpose, 
for  the  navy  of  the  United  States  is  a 
body  specially  trusted  with  the  ideal  of 
America. 

I  like  to  image  in  my  thought  this 
ideal.  These  quiet  ships  lying  in  the  river 
have  no  suggestion  of  bluster  about  them 
— no  intimation  of  aggression.  They  are 
commanded  by  men  thoughtful  of  the 
duty  of  citizens  as  well  as  the  duty  of 
officers — men  acquainted  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  great  service  to  which  they 
belong — men  who  know  by  touch  with  the 
people  of  the  United  States  what  sort  of 
purposes  they  ought  to  entertain  and 
what  sort  of  discretion  they  ought  to  ex- 
ercise, in  order  to  use  those  engines  of 
force  as  engines  to  promote  the  interests 
of  humanity. 

For  the  interesting  and  inspiring  thing 
about  America,  gentlemen,  is  that  she 
asks  nothing  for  herself  except  what  she 
has  a  right  to  ask  for  humanity  itself. 
We  want  no  nation's  property;  we  wish 
to  question  no  nation's  honor;  we  wish  to 
stand  selfishly  in  the  way  of  the  develop- 
ment of  no  nation;  we  want  nothing  that 
wc-  cannot  get  by  our  own  legitimate 
enterprise  and  by  the  inspiration  of  our 
own  example,  and,  standing  for  these 
things,  it  is  not  pretention  on  our  part  to 
say  that  we  are  privileged  to  stand  for 
what  every  nation  would  wish  to  stand 
for,  and  speak  for  those  things  which  all 
humanity  must  desire. 

When  I  think  of  the  flag  that  those 
ships  carry,  the  only  touch  of  color  about 
them,  the  only  thing  that  moves  as  if  it 
had  a  settled  spirit  in  it,  in  their  solid 
structure,  it  seems  to  me  I  see  alternate 
strips    of    parchment    upon    which    are 


444 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


written  the  rights  of  liberty  and  justice 
and  strips  of  blood  spilt  to  vindicate  those 
rights,  and  then,  in  the  corner,  a  predic- 
tion of  the  blue  serene  into  which  every 
nation  may  swim  which  stands  for  these 
great  things. 

The  mission  of  America  is  the  only 
thing  that  a  sailor  or  soldier  should  think 
about;  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
formulation  of  her  policy;  he  is  to  sup- 
port her  policy,  whatever  it  is — but  he  is 
to  support  her  policy  in  the  spirit  of 
herself,  and  the  strength  of  our  policy  is 
that  we,  who  for  the  time  being  admin- 
ister the  affairs  of  this  nation,  do  not 
originate  her  spirit;  we  attempt  to  em- 
body it;  we  attempt  to  realize  it  in  ac- 
tion; we  are  dominated  by  it,  we  do  not 
dictate  it. 

And  so  with  every  man  in  arms  who 
serves  the  nation — he  stands  and  waits  to 
do  the  thing  which  the  nation  desires. 
America  sometimes  seems  perhaps  to 
forget  her  programs,  or,  rather,  I  would 
say  that  sometimes  those  who  represent 
her  seem  to  forget  her  programs,  but  the 
people  never  forget  them.  It  is  as 
startling  as  it  is  touching  to  see  how 
whenever  you  touch  a  principle  you  touch 
the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  They  listen  to  your  debates  of 
policy,  they  determine  which  party  they 
will  prefer  to  power,  they  choose  and 
prefer  as  ordinary  men;  but  their  real 
affection,  their  real  force,  their  real  irre- 


sistible momentum,  is  for  the  ideas  which 
men  embody. 

I  never  go  on  the  streets  of  a  great  city 
without  feeling  that  somehow  I  do  not 
confer  elsewhere  than  on  the  streets  with 
the  great  spirit  of  the  people  themselves, 
going  about  their  business,  attending  to 
the  things  which  concern  them,  and  yet 
carrying  a  treasure  at  their  hearts  all 
the  while,  ready  to  be  stirred  not  only  as 
individuals,  but  as  members  of  a  great 
union  of  hearts  that  constitutes  a  patri- 
otic people. 

And  so  this  sight  in  the  river  touches 
me  merely  as  a  symbol  of  that,  and  it 
quickens  the  pulse  of  every  man  who 
realizes  these  things  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  them.  When  a  crisis  occurs  in 
this  country,  gentlemen,  it  is  as  if  you 
put  your  hand  on  the  pulse  of  a  dynamo, 
it  is  as  if  the  things  which  you  were  iu 
connection  with  were  spiritually  bred. 
You  had  nothing  to  do  with  them  except, 
if  you  listen  truly,  to  speak  the  things 
that  you  hear.  These  things  now  brood 
over  the  river,  this  spirit  now  moves  with 
the  men  who  represent  the  nation  in  the 
navy,  these  things  will  move  upon  the 
waters  in  the  manoeuvres;  no  threat 
lifted  against  any  man,  against  any  na- 
tion, against  any  interest,  but  just  a 
great,  solemn  evidence  that  the  force  of 
America  is  the  force  of  moral  principle, 
that  there  is  not  anything  else  that  she 
loves  and  that  there  is  not  anything  else 
for  which  she  will  contend. 


Two  Ex-Presidents'  Views 


MR.  ROOSEVELT  SPEAKS. 

[Special  to  The  New  York  Times.] 
SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.,  May  7.— Ex-Pres- 
ident Roosevelt,  after  learning  details  of 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  made  this 
statement  late  tonight: 

This  represents  not  merely  pira'cy,  but 
piracy  on  a  vaster  scale  of  murder  than 
old-time  pirates  ever  practiced.  This  is 
the  warfare  which  destroyed  Louvain  and 
Dinant  and  hundreds  of  men,  women,  and 
children  in  Belgium.  It  is  a  warfare 
against  innocent  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren traveling  on  the  ocean,  and  our  own 


fellow-countrymen  and  countrywomen, 
who  are  among  the  sufferers 

It  seems  inconceivable  that  we  can  re- 
frain from  taking  action  in  this  matter, 
for  we  owe  it  not  only  to  humanity,  but 
to  our  own  national  self-respect 

On  May  9  a  Syracuse  dispatch  to  The 
New  York  Times  conveyed  this  state- 
ment from  Mr.  Roosevelt: 

On  the  night  of  the  day  that  the  disas- 
ter occurred  I  called  the  attention  of  our 
people  to  the  fact  that  the  sinking  of 
the  Lusitania  was  not  only  an  act  of 
simple   piracy,   but  that   it  represented 


THE  LUSITANIA    CASE 


un 


piracy  accompanied  by  murder  on  a 
vaster  scale  than  any  old-time  pirate  had 
ever  practiced  before  being  hanged  for 
his  misdeeds. 

I  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  this 
was  merely  the  application  on  the  high 
seas,  and  at  our  expense,  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  when  applied  on  land  had 
produced  the  innumerable  hideous  trag- 
edies that  have  occurred  in  Belgium  and 
in  Northern  France. 

I  said  that  not  only  our  duty  to  hu- 
manity at  large  but  our  duty  to  pre- 
serve our  own  national  self-respect  de- 
manded instant  action  on  our  part  and 
forbade  all  delay. 

I  can  do  little  more  than  reiterate 
what  I  then  said. 

When  the  German  decree  establishing 
the  war  zone  was  issued,  and  of  course 
plainly  threatened  exactly  the  type  of 
tragedy  which  has  occurred,  our  Govern- 
ment notified  Germany  that  in  the  event 
of  any  such  wrongdoing  at  the  expense 
of  our  citizens  we  would  hold  the  Ger- 
man Government  to  "  a  strict  account- 
ability." 

The  use  of  this  phrase,  "  strict  ac- 
countability," of  course,  must  mean,  and 
can  only  mean,  that  action  will  be  taken 
by  us  without  an  hour's  unnecessary  de- 
lay. It  was  eminently  proper  to  use  the 
exact  phrase  that  was  used,  and,  having 
used  it,  our  own  self-respect  demands  that 
we  forthwith  abide  by  it. 

On  May  11,  following  the  report  of 
President  Wilson's  speech  at  Philadel- 
phia, Mr.  Roosevelt  stated  the  course 
which  he  considered  that  this  country 
should  adopt,  reported  as  follows  in  a 
Syracuse  dispatch  to  The  New  York 
Times: 

Colonel  Roosevelt  announced  today 
what  action,  in  his  opinion,  this  country 
should  take  toward  Germany  because  of 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania.  Colonel 
Roosevelt  earnestly  said  that  the  time  for 
deliberation  was  past  and  that  within 
twenty-four  hours  this  country  could,  and 
should,  take  effective  action  by  declaring 
that  all  commerce  with  Germany  forth- 
with be  forbidden  and  that  all  commerce 
of  every  kind  permitted  and  encouraged 


with  France,  England,  and  "the  rest  of 
the  civilized  world." 

Colonel  Roosevelt  said  that  for  Amer- 
ica to  take  this  step  would  not  mean  war, 
as  the  firm  assertion  of  our  rights  could 
not  be  so  construed,  but  he  added  that 
we  would  do  well  to  remember  that  there 
were  things  worse  than  war. 

The  Colonel  has  been  reading  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  speech  carefully,  and  what 
seemed  to  impress  him  more  than  any- 
thing else  was  this  passage  from  it: 

"  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being 
too  proud  to  fight.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it  does 
not  need  to  convince  others  by  force  that 
it  is  right." 

Asked  if  he  cared  to  make  any  com- 
ment upon  the  speech  of  the  President, 
Mr.   Roosevelt  said: 

"  I  think  that  China  is  entitled  to  draw 
all  the  comfort  she  can  from  this  state- 
ment, and  it  would  be  well  for  the  United 
States  to  ponder  seriously  what  the  ef- 
fect upon  China  has  been  of  managing 
her  foreign  affairs  during  the  last  fif- 
teen years  on  the  theory  thus  enun- 
ciated. 

"  If  the  United  States  is  satisfied  with 
occupying  some  time  in  the  future  the 
precise  international  position  that  China 
now  occupies,  then  the  United  States  can 
afford  to  act  on  this  theory.  But  it  can- 
not act  on  this  theory  if  it  desires  to 
retain  or  regain  the  position  won  for  it 
by  the  men  who  fought  under  Washing- 
ton and  by  the  men  who,  in  the  days 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  wore  the  blue 
under  Grant  and  the  gray  under  Lee. 

"  I  very  earnestly  hope  that  we  will 
act  promptly.  The  proper  time  for  de- 
liberation was  prior  to  sending  the  mes- 
sage that  our  Government  would  hold 
Germany  to  a  strict  accountability  if  it 
did  the  things  it  has  now  actually  done. 
The  150  babies  drowned  on  the  Lusi- 
tania, the  hundreds  of  women  drowned 
with  them,  scores  of  these  women  and' 
children  being  Americans,  and  the 
American  ship,  the  Gulflight,  which 
was  torpedoed,  offer  an  eloquent  com- 
mentary on  the  actual  working  of  the 
theory  that  force  is  not  necessary  to  as- 
sert, and  that  a  policy  of  blood  and  iron 


446 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


can  with  efficacy  be  met  by  a  policy  of 
milk  and  water. 

"  I  see  it  stated  in  the  press  dispatches 
from  Washington  that  Germany  now  of- 
fers to  stop  the  practice  on  the  high 
seas,  committed  in  violation  of  the  neu- 
tral rights  that  she  is  pledged  to  ob- 
serve, if  we  will  abandon  further  neu- 
tral rights,  which  by  her  treaty  she  has 
solemnly  pledged  herself  to  see  that  we 
exercise  without  molestation.  Such  a 
proposal  is  not  even  entitled  to  an  an- 
swer. The  manufacturing  and  ship- 
ment of  arms  and  ammunition  to  any 
belligerent  is  moral  or  immoral  accord- 
ing to  the  use  to  which  the  arms  and 
munitions  are  to  be  put.  If  they  are  to 
be  used  to  prevent  the  redress  of  the 
hideous  wrongs  inflicted  on  Belgium, 
then  it  is  immoral  to  ship  them.  If  they 
are  to  be  used  for  the  redress  of  those 
wrongs  and  the  restoration  of  Belgium 
to  her  deeply  wronged  and  unoffending 
people,  then  it  is  eminently  moral  to 
send  them. 

"  Without  twenty-four  hours'  delay 
this  country  could,  and  should,  take  ef- 
fective action  by  declaring  that  in  view 
of  Germany's  murderous  offenses  against 
the  rights  of  neutrals,  all  commerce  with 
Germany  shall  be  forthwith  forbidden, 
and  all  commerce  of  every  kind  permitted 
and  encouraged  with  France,  England, 
and  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world.  This 
would  not  be  a  declaration  of  war.  It 
would  merely  prevent  munitions  of  war 
being  sent  to  a  power  which  by  its  con- 
duct has  shown  willingness  to  use  mu- 
nitions to  slaughter  American  men  and 
women  and  children.  I  do  not  believe  the 
assertion  of  our  rights  means  war,  but 
we  will  do  well  to  remember  there  are 
things  worse  than  war. 

"  Let  us,  as  a  nation,  understand  that 
peace  is  worthy  only  when  it  is  the 
handmaiden  of  international  righteous- 
ness and  of  national  self-respect." 

MR.  TAFT  SPEAKS. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 
MILWAUKEE,  May  8.—"  The  news 
of  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  as  it 
comes  this  morning  is  most  distressing," 
said  former  President  Taft  on  his  ar- 
rival from  Madison  today.    "  It  presents 


a  situation  of  the  most  difficult  char- 
acter, properly  awakening  great  national 
concern. 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  embarrass  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Administration  by  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject  at  this  stage  of 
the  information,  except  to  express  con- 
fidence that  the  President  will  follow  a 
wise  and  patriotic  course." 

That  it  is  possible  for  the  United 
States  to  hold  Germany  "  strictly  ac- 
countable "  for  the  destruction  of  Amer- 
ican lives  on  the  Lusitania  without  resort 
to  war  is  Mr.  Taft's  opinion,  reported  in 
the  following  dispatch  from  Philadelphia 
to  The  New  York  Times  on  May  11: 

"  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  if  we 
have  a  war  it  is  the  people,  the  men  and 
women,  fathers  and  mothers,  brothers 
and  sisters,  who  must  pay  with  lives  and 
money  the  cost  of  it,  and  therefore  they 
should  not  be  hurried  into  the  sacrifices 
until  it  is  made  clear  that  they  wish  it 
and  know  what  they  are  doing  when  they 
wish  it." 

This  was  the  keynote  of  a  speech  by 
ex-President  Taft  at  the  celebration  of 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Union 
League's  occupancy  of  the  historic  home 
which  it  occupies  in  this  city. 

"  Is  war  the  only  method  of  making  a 
nation  accountable?  Let  us  look  into 
our  own  history.  England  connived  at 
the  fitting  out  of  armed  vessels  to  prey 
on  our  commerce,  to  attack  our  navy,  and 
to  kill  our  sailors.  We  protested,  and 
what  did  we  do  then?  We  held  her 
strictly  accountable  in  the  Geneva  Con- 
ference. Was  not  our  honor  as  much  pre- 
served by  this  method  as  it  would  have 
been  had  we  declared  war? 

"  I  agree  that  the  inhumanity  of  the 
circumstances  in  the  case  now  presses 
us  on,  but  in  the  heat  of  even  just  in- 
dignation is  this  the  best  time  to  act, 
when  action  involves  such  momentous 
consequences  and  means  untold  loss  of 
life  and  treasure?  There  are  things 
worse  than  war,  but  delay,  due  to  calm 
deliberation,  cannot  change  the  situation 
or  minimize  the  effect  of  what  we  final- 
ly conclude  to  do. 

"With   the   present   condition   of   the 


THE  LUSITANIA    CASE  447 


war  in  Europe,  our  action,  if  it  is  to  be  vive  the  passion  of  the  first  days  of  pub- 
extreme,  will  not  lose  efficiency  by  giv-  lie  indignation  and  will  not  endure  the 
ing  time  to  the  people,  whose  war  it  will  test  of  delay  and  deliberation  by  all  the 
be,  to  know  what  they  are  facing.  people  is  not  one  that  should  be  yielded 
"  A  demand  for  war  that  cannot  sur-  to." 


President  Wilson's  Note 

By  Ex-President  William  H.   Taft. 

At  the  dinner  of  Methodist  laymen  in  Keiv  York  on  May  14,  lOlo,  foUoicing  the 
publication    of   President    Wilson's    note    to    Germany,    ex-President    Taft    said: 

"  Admirable  in  tone,  moderate  in  the  judicial  spirit  that  runs  through  the 
entire  communication,  dignified  in  the  level  that  the  writer  takes  with  respect  to 
international  obligations,  accurate  in  its  statement  of  international  law,  he  puts 
the  case  of  the  United  States  in  a  way  that  may  well  call  for  our  earnest  con- 
currence and  confirmation. 


Another  View 

By  Beatrice  Barry. 

"  When  the  torch  is  near  the  powder  " — when  a  boat,  f 'r  instance,  sinks, 
And  the  "  hyphens  "  raise  a  loud  hurrah  and  blow  themselves  to  drinks; 
When  'bout  a  hundred  neutral  lives  are  snuffed  out  like  a  torch, 
An'  "  hyphens  "  read  the  news  an'  smoke,  a-settin'  on  the  porch — 
Well,  it's  then  the  native's  kind  o'  apt  to  see  a  little  red, 
An'  it's  hardly  fair  to  criticise  the  burning  things  he  sed. 
For  since  the  eagle's  not  a  bird  that  thrives  within  a  cage, 
One  kind  o'  hears  with  sympathy  his  screams  of  baffled  rage. 

There's  something  sort  o'  horrible,  that  catches  at  the  breath, 

To  visualize  some  two  score  babes  most  foully  done  to  death; 

To  see  their  fright,  their  struggles — to  watch  their  lips  turn  blue — 

There  ain't  no  use  denyin',  it  will  raise  the  deuce  with  you. 

O  yes,  God  bless  the  President — he's  an  awful  row  to  hoe. 

An'  God  grant,  too,  that  peace  with  honor  hand  in  hand  may  go, 

But  let's  not  call  men  "  rotters,"  'cause,  while  we  are  standing  pat, 

They  lose  their  calm  serenity,  an'  can't  see  things  like  that! 


In  the  Submarine  War  Zone 

[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

LIVERPOOL,  May  16. — The  passengers  on  board  the  American  Line  steamer 
Philadelphia,  which  arrived  here  today  from  New  York,  the  steamer  docking  at 
1  P.  M.,  experienced  during  the  voyage  much  anxiety.  On  Friday  afternoon,  out 
in  the  Atlantic  off  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  a  cruiser  appeared  and  approached 
the  liner.  The  chief  topic  of  conversation  during  the  voyage  had  been  about  the 
German  submarine  activities,  and  the  sight  of  the  warship  caused  some  alarm. 
The  cruiser  approached  near  enough  to  the  steamer  to  exchange  signals  with  her. 

A  number  of  passengers  spent  last  night  on  deck  in  their  chairs  with  life- 
belts beside  them  in  case  of  danger.  The  boats  of  the  Philadelphia  were  ready 
for  use.  The  steamer  kept  a  course  much  further  out  from  the  Irish  coast  than 
the  Lusitania  was  traversing  when  she  was  torpedoed. 

The  port  officials  subjected  the  passengers  of  the  Philadelphia  to  a  careful 
examination  to  discover  if  there  were  any  spies  on  board,  but  nobody  was  de- 
tained. By  reason  of  this  precaution  it  was  more  than  an  hour  after  the  steamer 
arrived  before  her  passengers  began  to  debark. 


American  Shipments  of  Arms 

By  Count  von  Bernstorff,  German  Ambassador  at  Washington 

Count  von  Bernstorff,  the  German  Ambassador,  made  public  on  April  11,  1915,  a  memo- 
randum addressed  to  the  United  States  Government  on  April  4,  complaining  of  its  attitude 
toward  the  shipment  of  war  munitions  to  the  Allies  and  the  non-shipment  of  foodstuffs  to 
Germany.  After  picturing  the  foreign  policy  of  the  United  States  Government  as  one  of 
futility,  Count  von  Bernstorff's  memorandum  says  it  must  be  "  assumed  that  the  United 
States  Government  has  accepted  England's  violations  of  international  law."  Its  full  text 
appears  below,  followed  by  that  of  the  American  State  Department's  reply. 


THE  different  British  Orders  in 
Council  have  altered  the  univer- 
sally recognized  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  in  such  a  one-sided 
manner  that  they  arbitrarily  suppress 
the  trade  of  neutral  countries  with  Ger- 
many. Already,  prior  to  the  last  Order 
in  Council,  the  shipment  of  conditional 
contraband,  especially  foodstuffs,  to  Ger- 
many, was  practically  impossible.  In 
fact,  prior  to  the  protest  which  the  Amer- 
ican Government  made  in  London  on  Dec. 
28,  1914,  not  a  single  shipment  of  such 
goods  for  Germany  has  been  effected 
from  the  United  States. 

Also,  after  the  lodging  of  the  protest, 
and  as  far  as  is  known  to  the  German 
Embassy,  only  one  such  shipment  has 
been  attempted  by  an  American  skipper. 
Ship  and  cargo  were  immediately  seized 
by  the  British,  and  are  still  detained  at  a 
British  port.  As  a  pretext  for  this  un- 
warranted action  the  British  Government 
referred  to  a  decree  of  the  German  Fed- 
eral Council  concerning  the  wheat  trade, 
although  this  decree  only  covered  wheat 
and  flour  and  no  other  foodstuffs,  al- 
though imported  foodstuffs  were  espe- 
cially exempt  from  this  decree,  and  al- 
thought  the  German  Government  had 
given  all  necessary  guarantees  to  the 
United  States  Government,  and  had  even 
proposed  a  special  organization  in  order 
to  secure  these  foodstuffs  for  the  exclu- 
sive consumption  of  the  civilian  popula- 
tion. 

The  seizure  of  an  American  ship 
under  these  circumstances  was  in  con- 
tradiction with  the  recognized  principles 
of  international  law.  Nevertheless  the 
United   States  Government  has  not  yet 


obtained  the  release  of  the  ship,  nor  has 
it  after  eight  months  of  war  succeeded 
in  safeguarding  the  legitimate  American 
trade  with  Germany.  Such  a  delay,  espe- 
cially when  the  supply  of  foodstuffs  is 
concerned,  seems  equivalent  to  complete 
failure.  It  is  therefore  to  be  assumed 
that  the  United  States  Government  has 
accepted  England's  violations  of  inter- 
national law. 

Furthermore  has  to  be  considered  the 
attitude  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  concerning  the  question  of  the 
exportation  of  war  material.  The  Im- 
perial Embassy  hopes  to  agree  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  in  as- 
suming that,  with  regard  to  the  question 
of  neutrality,  there  is  not  only  the  for- 
mal side  to  be  considered,  but  also  the 
spirit  in  which  neutrality  is  enforced. 

Conditions  in  the  present  war  are 
different  from  those  in  any  former  wars. 
For  this  reason  it  is  not  justified  to  point 
at  the  fact  that  perhaps  in  former  wars 
Germany  furnished  belligerents  with  war 
material,  because  in  those  former  cases 
the  question  was  not  whether  any  war 
material  was  to  be  furnished  to  the  bel- 
ligerents, but  merely  which  one  of  the 
competing  countries  would  furnish  it.  In 
the  present  war,  with  the  exception  of 
the  United  States,  all  the  countries  capa- 
ble of  a  noteworthy  production  of  war 
material  are  either  at  war  themselves  or 
completing  their  armaments,  and  have 
accordingly  prohibited  the  exportation  of 
war  material.  Therefore  the  United 
States  of  America  is  the  only  country  in 
a  position  to  export  war  material.  This 
fact  ought  to  give  a  new  meaning  to  the 


AMERICAN  SHIPMENTS   OF   ARMS 


449 


idea  of  neutrality,  independent  of  the 
formal  law. 

Instead  of  that,  and  in  contradiction 
with  the  real  spirit  of  neutrality,  an 
enormous  new  industry  of  war  materials 
of  every  kind  is  being  built  up  in  the 
United  States,  inasmuch  as  not  only  the 
existing  plants  are  kept  busy  and  en- 
larged, but  also  new  ones  are  continually 
founded. 

The  international  agreements  for  the 
protection  of  the  right  of  neutrals  origi- 
nate in  the  necessity  of  protecting  the 
existing  industries  of  the  neutral  coun- 
tries. They  were  never  intended  to  en- 
courage the  creation  of  entirely  new  in- 
dustries in  neutral  States,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  new  war  industry  in  the 
United  States,  which  supplies  only  one 
party  of  the  belligerents. 

In  reality  the  American  industry  is 
supplying  only  Germany's  enemies.  A 
fact  which  is  in  no  way  modified  by  the 
purely  theoretical  willingness  to  furnish 
Germany  as  well,  if  it  were  possible. 

If  the  American  people  desire  to  ob- 
serve   true    neutrality,    they    will    find 


means  to  stop  the  exclusive  exportation 
of  arms  to  one  side,  or  at  least  to  use 
this  export  trade  as  a  means  to  uphold 
the  legitimate  trade  with  Germany,  es- 
peciallj'  the  trade  in  foodstuffs.  This 
spirit  of  neutrality  should  appear  the 
more  justified  to  the  United  States  as  it 
has  been  maintained  toward  Mexico, 

According  to  the  declaration  of  a  Con- 
gressman, made  in  the  House  Committee 
for  Foreign  Relations  Dec.  30,  1914, 
President  Wilson  is  quoted  as  having 
said  on  Feb.  4,  1914,  when  the  embargo 
on  arms  for  Mexico  was  lifted: 

"  We  should  stand  for  genuine  neutral- 
ity, considering  the  surrounding  facts  of 
the  case."  He  then  held  in  that  case, 
because  Carranza  had  no  ports,  while 
Huerta  had  them  and  was  able  to  im- 
port these  materials,  that  "  it  was  our 
duty  as  a  nation  to  treat  them  (Car- 
ranza and  Huerta)  upon  an  equality  if 
we  wished  to  observe  the  true  spirit  of 
neutrality  as  compared  with  a  mere  paper 
neutrality." 

This  conception  of  "  the  true  spirit  -of 
neutrality,"  if  applied  to  the  present 
case,  would  lead  to  an  embargo  on  arms. 


The  American  Reply 


The  following  note,  which  contains  a 
vigorous  rebuke  to  the  German  Ambas- 
sador for  the  freedom  of  his  remarks  on 
the  course  taken  by  the  United  States 
toward  the  belligerent  powers,  was  made 
public  at  Washington  on  April  21,  1915. 
It  was  then  reported  that  the  note  was 
finally  drafted  by  President  Wilson  him- 
self and  written  by  him  on  his  own 
typewriter  at  the  White  House,  although 
H  is  signed  by  Mr.  Bryan  as  Secretary 
of  State: 

I  have  given  thoughtful  consideration 
to  your  Excellency's  note  of  the  4th  of 
April,  1915,  inclosing  a  memorandum  of 
the  same  date,  in  which  your  Excellency 
discusses  the  action  of  this  Government 
with  regard  to  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  Germany,  and  the  attitude  of 
this  Government  with  regard  to  the  ex- 
portation of  arms  from  the  United  States 
to  the  nations  now  at  war  with  Germany. 


I  must  admit  that  I  am  somewhat  at 
a  loss  how  to  interpret  your  Excellency's 
treatment  of  these  matters.  There  are 
many  circumstances  connected  with  these 
important  subjects  to  which  I  would 
have  expected  your  Excellency  to  ad- 
vert, but  of  which  you  make  no  mention, 
and  there  are  other  circumstances  to 
whiCh  you  do  refer  which  I  would  have 
supposed  to  be  hardly  appropriate  for 
discussion  between  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  and  the  Government 
of  Germany. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  of 
regarding  your  Excellency's  references 
to  the  course,  pursued  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  with  regard  to 
interferences  with  trade  from  this  coun- 
try such  as  the  Government  of  Great 
Britain  have  attempted,  as  intended 
merely  to  illustrate  more  fully  the  situa- 
tion to  which  you  desire  to  call  our  at- 


450 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


tention,  and  not  as  an  invitation  to  dis- 
cuss that  course. 

Your  Excellency's  long  experience  in 
international  affairs  will  have  suggested 
to  you  that  these  relations  of  the  two 
Governments  with  one  another  cannot 
v/isely  be  made  a  subject  of  discussion 
with  a  third  Government,  which  cannot 
bo  fully  informed  as  to  the  facts,  and 
which  cannot  be  fully  cognizant  of  the 
reasons  for  the  course  pursued. 

I  believe,  however,  that  I  am  justified 
in  assuming  that  what  you  desire  to 
call  forth  is  a  frank  statement  of  the 
position  of  this  Government  in  regard 
to  its  obligations  as  a  neutral  power. 

The  general  attitude  and  course  of 
policy  of  this  Government  in  the  main- 
tenance of  its  neutrality  I  am  particu- 
larly anxious  that  your  Excellency 
should  see  in  their  true  light.  I  had 
hoped  that  this  Government's  position  in 
these  respects  had  been  made  abundantly 
clear,  but  I  am,  of  course,  perfectly  will- 
ing to  state  it  again. 

This  seems  to  me  the  more  necessary 
and  desirable  because,  I  regret  to  say, 
the  language,  which  your  Excellency  em- 
ploys in  your  memorandum,  is  susceptible 
of  being  construed  as  impugning  the 
good  faith  of  the  United  States  in  the 
performance  of  its  duties  as  a  neutral. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  no  such  im- 
plication was  intended,  but  it  is  so  evi- 
dent that  your  Excellency  is  laboring 
under  certain  false  impressions  that  I 
cannot  be  too  explicit  in  setting  forth 
the  facts  as  they  are,  when  fully  re- 
viewed and  comprehended. 

In  the  first  place,  this  Government  has 
at  no  time  and  in  no  manner  yielded  any 
one  of  its  rights  as  a  neutral  to  any  one 
of  the  present  belligerents. 

It  has  acknowledged,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  the  right  of  visit  and  search  and 
the  right  to  apply  the  rules  of  contra- 
band of  war  to  articles  of  commerce.  It 
has,  indeed,  insisted  upon  the  use  of  visit 
and  search  as  an  absolutely  necessary 
safeguard  against  mistaking  neutral 
vessels  for  vessels  owned  by  any  enemy 
and  against  mistaking  legal  cargoes  for 
illegal.  It  has  admitted  also  the  right 
of  blockade  if  actually  exercised  and  ef- 
fectively maintained. 


These  are  merely  the  well-known  limi- 
tations which  war  places  upon  neutral 
commerce  on  the  high  seas.  But  nothing 
beyond  these  has  it  conceded.- 

I  call  your  Excellency's  attention  to 
this,  notwithstanding  it  is  already  known 
to  all  the  world  as  a  consequence  of 
the  publication  of  our  correspondence  in 
regard  to  these  matters  with  several  of 
the  belligerent  nations,  because  I  cannot 
assume  that  you  have  official  cognizance 
of  it. 

In  the  second  place,  this  Government 
attempted  to  secure  from  the  German 
and  British  Governments  mutual  con- 
cessions with  regard  to  the  measures 
those  Governments  respectively  adopted 
for  the  interruption  of  trade  on  the  high 
seas.  This  it  did,  not  of  right,  but  merely 
as  exercising  the  privileges  of  a  sincere 
friend  of  both  parties  and  as  indicating 
its  impartial  good-will. 

The  attempt  was  unsuccessful,  but  I 
regret  that  your  Excellency  did  not  deem 
it  worthy  of  mention  in  modification  of 
the  impressions  you  expressed.  We  had 
hoped  that  this  act  on  our  part  had 
shown  our  spirit  in  these  times  of  dis- 
tressing war,  as  our  diplomatic  corre- 
spondence had  shown  our  steadfast  re- 
fusal to  acknowledge  the  right  of  any 
belligerent  to  alter  the  accepted  rules  of 
war  at  sea  in  so  far  as  they  affect  the 
rights  and  interests  of  neutrals. 

In  the  third  place,  I  note  with  sin- 
cere regret  that  in  discussing  the  sale 
and  exportation  of  arms  by  citizens  of 
the  United  States  to  the  enemies  of  Ger- 
many, your  Excellency  seems  to  be  un- 
der the  impression  that  it  was  within 
the  choice  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  notwithstanding  its  pro- 
fessed neutrality  and  its  diligent  efforts 
to  maintain  it  in  other  particulars,  to 
inhibit  this  trade,  and  that  its  failure 
to  do  so  manifested  an  unfair  attitude 
toward  Germany. 

This  Government  holds,  as  I  believe 
your  Excellency  is  aware  and  as  it  is 
constrained  to  hold  in  view  of  the  pres- 
ent indisputable  doctrines  of  accepted 
international  law,  that  any  change  in 
its  own  laws  of  neutrality  during  the 
progress  of  a  war,  which  would  affect 


AMERICAN    SHIPMENTS    OF    ARMS 


4.31 


unequally  the  relations  of  the  United 
States  with  the  nations  at  war,  would 
be  an  unjustifiable  departure  from  the 
principle  of  strict  neutrality,  by  which 
it  has  consistently  sought  to  direct  its 
actions,  and  I  respectfully  submit  that 
none  of  the  circumstances,  urged  in  your 
Excellency's  memorandum,  alters  the 
principle  involved. 

The  placing  of  an  embargo  on  the 
trade  in  arms  at  the  present  time  would 
constitute  such  a  change  and  be  a  di- 
rect violation  of  the  neutrality  of  the 
United  States.  It  will,  I  feel  assured, 
be  clear  to  your  Excellency  that  holding 
this  view  and  considering  itself  in  honor 
bound  by  it,  it  is  out  of  the  question  for 
this  Government  to  consider  such  a 
course. 

I  hope  that  your  Excellency  will  realize 
the  spirit  in  which  I  am  drafting  this 
reply.     The  friendship  between  the  peo- 


ple of  the  United  States  and  the  people 
of  Germany  is  so  warm  and  of  such 
long  standing,  the  ties  which  bind  them 
to  one  another  in  amity  are  so  many  and 
so  strong,  that  this  Government  feels 
under  a  special  compulsion  to  speak  with 
perfect  frankness,  when  any  occasion 
arises  which  seems  likely  to  create  any 
misunderstanding,  however  slight  or  tem- 
porary, between  those  who  represent  the 
Governments  of  the  two  countries. 

It  will  be  a  matter  of  gratification  to 
me  if  I  have  removed  from  your  Ex- 
cellency's mind  any  misapprehension  you 
may  have  been  under  regarding  either 
the  policy  or  the  spirit  and  purposes  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States, 

Its  neutrality  is  founded  upon  the 
firm  basis  of  conscience  and  good-will. 

Accept,    Excellency,    the    renewed    as- 
surances of  my  highest  consideration. 
W.  J.  BRYAN. 


Munitions  From  Neutrals 


[Colloquy  in  the  House  of  Commons,   May  4,   1915.] 


Sir  E.  Grey,  in  reply  to  Sir  A.  Markham,  (L.,  Mansfield,)  said:  The  United 
States  Government  have  not  at  any  time  during  the  present  war  supplied  any 
war  material  of  any  kind  to  his  Majesty's  Government,  and  I  do  not  suppose 
that  they  have  supplied  any  of  the  belligerents.  It  has  always  been  a  recognized 
legitimate  practice,  and  wholly  consistent  with  international  law,  for  manufac- 
turers in  a  neutral  country  to  sell  munitions  of  war  to  belligerents.  They  were 
supplied  in  this  way  from  Germany  to  Russia  during  the  Russo-Japanese  war, 
and  from  Germany  to  Great  Britain  during  the  Boer  war,  and  are  no  doubt  being 
supplied  in  the  same  way  from  manufacturers  in  neutral  countries  to  belligerents 
now. 

Mr.  MacNeill  (N.,  South  Donegal) — Has  not  the  rule  always  been,  before  The 
Hague  Conferences  at  all,  that  subjects  of  neutral  nations  are  allowed  to  supply 
munitions  of  war  at  their  own  risk? 

Sir  E.  Grey — It  is  wholly  consistent  with  international  law  that  that  practice 
should  go  forward,  and  if  there  be  any  question  of  departure  from  neutrality  I 
think  it  will  be,  not  in  permitting  that  practice,  but  in  interfering  with  it. 
[Cheers.] 


Germany  and  the  Lusitania 

By    Charles    W.    Eliot 

President  Emeritus  of  Harvard   University. 

That  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  was  an  act  which  outraged  not  only  the  existing 
conventions  of  the  civilized  world  but  the  moral  feelings  of  present  civilized  society  is 
the  view  put  forth  in  his  letter  to  The  New  York  Times^  appearing  May  15,  1915,  by  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  commentators  on  the  war.  Dr.  Eliot  counsels  that  America's  part  is 
to   resist   such   a   no-faith    policy    while    keeping   its    neutral    status. 


Cambridge,  Mass.,  May  13,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

THE  sinking  of  a  great  merchant 
vessel,  carrying  2,500  noncombat- 
ant  men,  women,  and  children, 
without  giving  them  any  chance 
to  save  their  lives,  was  in  violation  of 
long-standing  conventions  among  civil- 
ized nations,  concerning  the  conduct  of 
naval  warfare.  The  pre-existing  conven- 
tions gave  to  a  German  vessel  of  war 
the  right  to  destroy  the  Lusitania  and 
her  cargo,  if  it  were  impossible  to  carry 
her  into  port  as  a  prize;  but  not  to 
drown  her  passengers  and  crew.  The 
pre-existing  conventions  or  agreements 
were,  however,  entered  into  by  the  civil- 
ized nations  when  captures  at  sea  were 
made  by  war  vessels  competent  to  take 
a  prize  into  some  port,  or  to  take  off  the 
passengers  and  crew  of  the  captured 
vessel. 

The  German  Government  now  alleges 
that  submarines  are  today  the  only  ves- 
sels it  can  employ  effectively  for  attack 
on  British  commerce  in  the  declared  war 
zone  about  the  British  Isles,  since  the 
rest  of  the  German  Navy  cannot  keep 
the  seas  in  face  of  the  superior  British 
Navy.  Germany  further  alleges  that 
the  present  British  blockade  of  German 
ports  is  conducted  in  a  new  way — that 
is,  by  vessels  which  patrol  the  German 
coast  at  a  greater  distance  from  the  act- 
ual harbors  than  was  formerly  the  in- 
ternational practice;  and  hence,  that 
Germany  is  justified  in  conducting  her 
attack  on  British  commerce  in  a  novel 
way  also.  In  short,  Germany  argues 
that  her  military  necessities  compel  her 
to  sink  enemy  commercial  vessels  with- 
out regard  to  the  lives  of  passengers  and 


crews,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  was 
party  to  international  agreements  that 
no  such  act  should  be  committed. 

The  lesson  which  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  teaches  is,  therefore,  this: 
Germany  thinks  it  right  to  disregard  on 
grounds  of  military  necessity  existing 
international  conventions  with  regard  to 
naval  warfare,  precisely  as  she  disre- 
garded the  agreed-upon  neutrality  of 
Belgium  on  the  ground  of  military  neces- 
sity. As  in  the  case  of  Belgium  she  had 
decided  many  years  beforehand  to  vio- 
late the  international  neutrality  agree- 
ment, and  had  made  all  her  plans  for 
reaching  Paris  in  a  few  weeks  by  pass- 
ing through  Belgium,  so  on  the  sea  she 
had  decided  months  ago  that  the  neces- 
sity of  interfering  as  much  as  possible 
with  British  commerce  and  industries 
warrants  her  total  disregard  of  the  ex- 
isting rules  of  naval  warfare,  and  has 
deliberately  contrived  the  sinking  of 
merchant  vessels  without  regard  to  the 
lives  of  the  people  on  board. 

Again,  when  Germany  thought  it  nec- 
essary on  her  quick  march  toward  Paris 
not  only  to  crush  the  Belgian  Army  but 
to  terrify  the  noncombatant  population 
of  Belgium  into  complete  submission  by 
bombarding  and  burning  cities,  towns, 
and  villages,  by  plundering  and  shooting 
noncombatants,  by  imposing  heavy  fines 
and  ransoms,  and  by  holding  noncombat- 
ants as  hostages  for  the  peaceable  be- 
havior of  all  Belgian  citizens,  she  dis- 
regarded all  the  conventions  made  by 
the  civilized  nations  within  seventy 
years  for  mitigating  the  horrors  of  war, 
and  justified  her  action  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  a  military  necessity,  since  in 
no  other  way  could  she  immediately  se- 


GERMANY   AND    THE   LUSITANIA 


453 


cure  the  safety  of  her  communications  as 
she  rushed  on  Paris.  The  civilized 
world  had  supposed  that  each  nation 
would  make  war  only  on  the  public 
forces  and  resources  of  its  antagonist; 
but  last  August  Germany  made  ferocious 
war  on  noncombatants  and  private 
property. 

The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  is  an- 
other demonstration  that  the  present 
German  Government  will  not  abide  bjf 
any  international  contracts,  treaties,  or 
agreements,  if  they,  at  a  given  moment, 
would  interfere  with  any  military  or 
naval  course  of  action  which  the  Govern- 
ment deems  necessary. 

These  demonstrated  policies  and  pur- 
poses of  the  German  Empire  raise  the 
fundamental  question — how  is  the  civil- 
ization of  the  white  race  to  be  carried 
forward?  How  are  the  real  welfare  of 
that  race  and  the  happiness  of  the  in- 
dividuals that  compose  it  to  be  hereafter 
furthered?  Since  the  revolutions  in 
England,  America,  and  France,  it  has 
been  supposed  that  civilization  was  to  be 
advanced  by  international  agreements! 
or  treaties,  by  the  co-operation  of  the 
civilized  nations  in  the  gradual  improve- 
ment of  these  agreements,  and  by  the 
increasing  practical  effect  given  to  them 
by  nations  acting  in  co-operation;  but 
now  comes  the  German  Empire  with  its 
military  force,  immense  in  numbers  and 
efficient  beyond  all  former  experience 
through  the  intelligent  use  for  destruc- 
tive purposes  of  the  new  powers  attained 
by  applied  science,  saying  not  only  in 
words,  but  in  terrible  acts:  "We  shall 
not  abide  by  any  international  contracts 
or  agreements  into  which  we  may  have 
previously  entered,  if  at  the  passing  mo- 
ment they  interfere  or  conflict  with  the 
most  advantageous  immediate  use  of  our 
military  and  naval  force."  If  this  doc- 
trine shall  now  prevail  in  Europe,  the 
foundations  of  modern  civilization  and 
of  all  friendly  and  beneficial  commerce 
the  world  over  will  be  undermined. 

The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  there- 
fore, makes  perfectly  clear  the  nature  of 
the  problem  with  which  the  three  Allies 
in  Europe  are  now  struggling.  They 
are  resisting  with  all  the  weapons  of 
war   a   nation   which   declares   that   its 


promises  are  good  only  till  it  is,  in  its 
own  judgment,  under  the  military  neces- 
sity of  breaking  them. 

The  neutral  nations  are  looking  on  at 
this  tremendous  conflict  between  good- 
faith  nations  and  no-faith  nations  with 
intense  anxiety  and  sorrow,  but  no 
longer  in  any  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  issue.  The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania 
has  removed  every  doubt;  because  that 
was  a  deliberate  act  in  full  sight  of  the 
world,  and  of  a  nature  not  to  be  ob- 
scured or  confused  by  conflicting  testi- 
monies or  questions  about  possible  ex- 
aggeration of  outrages  or  about  official 
responsibility  for  them.  The  sinking  of 
the  Lusitania  was  an  act  which  out- 
raged not  only  the  existing  conventions 
of  the  civilized  world  in  regard  to  naval 
warfare,  but  the  moral  feelings  of  pres- 
ent civilized  society. 

The  neutral  nations  and  some  of  the 
belligerent  nations  feel  another  strong 
objection  to  the  present  German  way  of 
conducting  war  on  land  and  sea,  name- 
ly, that  it  brutalizes  the  soldier  and  the 
sailor  to  an  unprecedented  degree.  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  Russian  soldiers  on  the 
ont:  side  can  contend  with  German,  Aus- 
trian, and  Turkish  soldiers  on  the  other 
with  the  utmost  fierceness  from  trenches 
or  in  the  open,  use  new  and  old  weapons 
of  destruction,  and  kill  and  wound  each 
other  with  equal  ardor  and  resolution, 
and  yet  not  be  brutalized  or  degraded  in 
their  moral  nature,  if  they  fight  from 
love  of  country  or  with  self-sacrificing 
loyalty  to  its  spiritual  ideals;  but  neither 
soldiers  nor  sailors  can  attack  defense- 
less noncombatants-  systematically  de- 
stroy towns  and  villages,  and  put  to 
death  captured  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren without  falling  in  their  moral  nat- 
ure before  the  brutes.  That  he  obeyed 
orders  will  not  save  from  moral  ruin  the 
soldier  or  sailor  who  does  such  deeds. 
He  should  have  refused  to  obey  such  or- 
ders and  taken  the  consequences.  This 
is  true  even  of  the  privates,  but  more 
emphatically  of  the  officers  The  white 
race  has  often  been  proud  of  the  way  in 
which  its  soldiers  and  sailors  have 
fought  in  many  causes — good,  bad,  and 
indifferent;  because  they  fought  brave- 
ly, took   defeat   resolutely,   and   showed 


454 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


humanity  after  victory.  The  German 
method  of  conducting  war  omits  chiv- 
alry, mercy,  and  humanity,  and  thereby 
degrades  the  German  Nation  and  any 
other  nation  which  sympathizes  with  it 
or  supports  its  methods.  It  is  no  an- 
swer to  the  world's  objection  to  the 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania  that  Great 
Britain  uses  its  navy  to  cut  off  from 
Germany  food  and  needed  supplies  for 
its  industries,  for  that  is  a  recognized 
and  effective  method  of  warfare;  where- 
as the  sinking  of  an  occasional  merchant 
ship  with  its  passengers  and  crew  is  a 
method  of  warfare  nowhere  effective, 
and  almost  universally  condemned.  If 
war,  with  its  inevitable  stratagems,  am- 
buscades, and  lies  must  continue  to  be 
the  arbiter  in  international  disputes,  it 
is  certainly  desirable  that  such  mag- 
nanimity in  war  as  the  conventions  of 
the  last  century  made  possible  should 
not  be  lost  because  of  Germany's  be- 
havior in  the  present  European  convul- 
sion. It  is  also  desirable  to  reaffirm 
with  all  possible  emphasis  that  fidelity 
to  international  agreements  is  the  tap- 
root of  human  progress. 

On  the  supposition  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  learned  the  les- 
son of  the  Lusitania,  so  far  as  an  un- 
derstanding of  the  issues  at  stake  in 
this  gigantic  war  is  concerned,  can  they 
also  get  from  it  any  guidance  in  regard 
to  their  own  relation  to  the  fateful  strug- 
gle? Apparently,  not  yet.  With  prac- 
tical unanimity  the  American  people 
will  henceforth  heartily  desire  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Allies,  and  the  decisive  de- 
feat of  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  and 
Turkey.  With  practical  unanimity  they 
will  support  whatever  action  the  Ad- 
ministration at  Washington  shall  decide 
to  take  in  the  immediate  emergency;  but 
at  present  they  do  not  feel  that  they 
know  whether  they  can  best  promote  the 
defeat  of  the  Triple  Alliance  of  Ger- 
many, Austria-Hungary,  and  Turkey  by 
remaining  neutral  or  by  taking  active 
part  in  the  conflict.  Unless  a  dismem- 
berment of  Austria-Hungary  is  brought 
about   by   Italy   and   Rumania   or   some 


other  Balkan  State  entering  the  war  on 
the  side  of  the  Allies,  it  now  seems  as  if 
neither  party  would  acknowledge  defeat 
until  exhausted  or  brought  to  a  sudden 
moral  collapse.  Exhaustion  in  war  can 
best  be  prevented  by  maintaining  in  ac- 
tivity the  domestic  industries  and  gen- 
eral productiveness  of  the  nation  in- 
volved in  war  and  those  of  the  neutral 
nations  which  are  in  position  to  feed  it, 
and  manufacture  for  it  munitions,  cloth- 
ing, and  the  other  supplies  that  war 
demands.  While  remaining  strictly  neu- 
tral. North  and  South  America  can  be 
of  great  service  to  the  Allies.  To  be 
sure,  as  a  neutral  the  United  States  will 
be  obliged  to  give  some  aid  to  Germany 
and  her  allies,  such,  for  example,  as  har- 
boring the  interned  commercial  fleet  of 
Germany;  but  this  aid  will  be  compara- 
tively insignificant.  The  services  which 
the  American  republics  can  thus  render 
to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  civilization 
are  probably  more  considerable  than 
any  they  could  render  by  direct  contri- 
butions of  military  or  naval  force.  Kept 
free  from  the  drain  of  war,  the  repub- 
lics will  be  better  able  to  supply  food, 
clothing,  munitions,  and  money  to  the 
Allies  both  during  the  war  and  after 
the.  conclusion  of  peace. 

On  the  whole,  the  wisest  thing  the 
neutral  nations  can  do,  which  are  re- 
mote from  the  theatres  of  war,  and  have 
no  territorial  advantages  to  seek  at  the 
coming  of  peace,  is  probably  to  defend 
vigorously  and  with  the  utmost  sincerity 
and  frankness  all  the  existing  rights  of 
neutrals.  By  acting  thus  in  the  present 
case  they  will  promote  national  right- 
e(  usness  and  hinder  national  depravity, 
discourage,  for  the  future,  domination 
by  any  single  great  power  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  and  help  the  cause  of  civil- 
ization by  strengthening  the  just  liberty 
and  independence  of  many  nations — 
large  and  small,  and  of  different  ca- 
pacities and  experiences — which  may 
reasonably  hope,  if  the  Prussian  terror 
can  be  abolished,  to  live  together  in 
peaceful  co-operation  for  the  common 
good. 


Appeals  for  American  Defense 

Need  of  Further  Protecting  Neutral  Rights  Set  Forth. 


By  GEORGE  W.  WICKERSHAM. 
Formerly  United  States  Attorney  General. 

To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

THE  destruction  of  the  Lusitania  by 
the  Germans,  and  the  wanton  kill- 
ing of  American  men,  women,  and 
children,  without  warning,  brings 
sharply  before  the  -American  people  the 
question  of  how  long  the  present  sexless 
policy  of  the  conduct  of  our  affairs  is  to 
be  continued.  Germany  has  apparently 
decided  to  run  amuck  with  civilization. 
It  is  now  for  the  American  people  to  de- 
cide whether  this  nation  has  any  virility 
left,  or  if  it  is  content  to  sink  to  the 
level  of  China. 

A  very  clear  course,  it  seems  to  me,  is 
open  for  us  to  pursue:  We  should  cancel 
all  diplomatic  relations  with  a  country 
which  has  declared  war  upon  civilization, 
recall  our  Ambassador  from  Berlin,  and 
hand  Count  Bernstorff  his  passports. 
Congress  should  be  summoned  in  extra 
session,  and  an  appropriation  of  at  least 
$250,000,000  asked  to  put  us  in  a  condi- 
tion to  protect  our  rights  as  a  neutral 
civilized  power.  At  the  same  time  we 
should  invite  all  neutral  nations  of  the 
world  to  join  us  in  a  council  of  civilization 
to  agree  upon  the  steps  to  be  taken  to 
protect  the  interests  of  all  neutral 
powers  and  their  citizens  from  such  wan- 
ton acts  of  destruction  of  life  and  prop- 
erty as  those  which  Germany  has  been 
committing  and  which  have  culminated 
in  the  destruction  of  the  Lusitania  and 
of  so  many  of  her  passengers. 

Until  now  the  National  Administration 
has  been  proceeding  not  only  on  the 
basis  of  "safety  first,"  but  of  safety 
first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  The  time  has 
arrived  when  we  must  remember  the 
truth  of  what  Lowell  so  well  expressed, 
that 

'Tis   man's   perdition   to   be   safe,    when 
for  the  truth  he  ought  to  die. 

GEORGE  W.  WICKERSHAM. 


BY     THE      NATIONAL      SECURITY 
LEAGUE. 

[From  The  New  York  Times,  May  11,  1915.] 

The  army,  navy,  and  coast  defenses  of 
the  United  States  are  declared  to  be  in- 
adequate in  an  open  letter  signed  by 
Joseph  H.  Choate,  Alton  B.  Parker, 
Henry  L.  Stimson,  and  S.  Stanwood  Men- 
ken,  which  was  given  out  yesterday  in 
support  of  the  plans  of  the  National  Se- 
curity League.  This  organization,  ivhich 
maintains  offices  at  31  Pine  Street,  has 
embarked  on  a  national  campaign  for 
better  war  defenses,  and  its  appeal  for 
members  and  supporters  is  expressed  by 
the  catch-phrase,  "  a  first  defense  army 
of  1,000,000  workers." 

The  letter  of  Messrs.  Choate,  Parker, 
Stimson,  and  Menken  contains  most  of 
the  arguments  put  forth  by  the  league 
in  asking  public  support  and  enrollment. 
Its  text  follows: 

Careful  investigation  by  our  commit- 
tees who  have  looked  into  the  question  of 
national  defense  brings  to  light  the  fol- 
lowing conditions  of  affairs: 

According  to  official  Government  re- 
ports, there  are  barely  30,000  mobile 
troops  in  continental  United  States. 
These  are  distributed  among  fifty-two 
v/idely  scattered  posts,  which  would  make 
it  impossible  to  mobilize  quickly  at  any 
given  point.  Even  this  small  force  is 
short  of  officers,  ammunition,  and  equip- 
ment. Furthermore,  it  has  no  organized 
reserve. 

Our  National  Guard,  with  negligible 
exceptions,  is  far  below  its  paper 
strength  in  men,  equipment,  and  effi- 
ciency. 

Our  coast  defenses  are  inadequate,  our 
fortifications  insufficiently  manned  and 
without  adequate  organized  reserves. 

Our  navy  is  neither  adequate  nor  pre- 
pared for  war.  This,  our  first  line  of  de- 
fense, is  inadequately  manned,  short  of 
ammunition,  and  has  no  organized  re- 
serve of  trained   men.      Our   submarine 


456 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


flotilla  exists  chiefly  upon  paper.  Fast 
scout  cruisers,  battle  cruisers,  aeroplanes, 
mine  layers,  supply  ships,  and  transports 
are  lacking.  Target  practice  has  been 
neglected  or  altogether  omitted. 

In  view  of  this  condition  of  affairs, 
and  since  there  is  no  assurance  that  the 
United  States  will  not  again  become  in- 
volved in  war,  "  and  since  a  peaceful  pol- 
icy, even  when  supported  by  treaties,  is 
not  a  sufficient  guarantee  against  war, 
of  which  the  subjugation  of  Belgium  and 
the  present  coercion  of  China  by  a  for- 
eign power  are  noteworthy  examples; 
and  the  United  States  cannot  safely  in- 
trust the  maintenance  of  its  institutions 
and  nationality  to  the  mere  negations  of 
peace,  and  since .  we  are  not  adequately 
prepared  to  maintain  our  national  pol- 
icies, and  since  the  present  defenseless 
condition  of  the  nation  is  due  to  the  fail- 
ure of  Congress  not  only  to  follow  the 
carefully  considered  plans  of  our  naval 
and  military  advisers,  but  also  to  provide 
any  reasonable  measure  for  gradually 
putting  such  plans  into  practice,  it  is 
manifest  that  until  a  workable  plan  for 
a  world  alliance  has  been  evolved  and 
agreed  to  by  the  principal  nations,  with 
proper  guarantee  of  good  faith,  the 
United  States  must  undertake  adequate 
military  preparations  for  its  defense." 

In  the  meantime  the  National  Security 
League  feels  impelled  to  call  public  at- 
tention to  our  deplorable  condition  of  un- 
preparedness.  At  the  same  time  the 
league  issues  an  appeal  for  public  sup- 
port in  behalf  of  the  following  program 
for  better  national  defense: 

1.  Legislation  correcting  present  waste- 
ful methods  of  military  appropriations 
and  disbursement. 

2.  Adoption  of  a  definite  military 
policy. 

3.  A  stronger,  better  balanced  navy. 

4.  An  effective  mobile  army. 

5.  Larger  and  better  equipped  Na- 
tional Guard. 

6.  The  creation  of  an  organized  re- 
serve for  each  branch  of  our  military 
service. 

All  those  interested  in  the  work  of 
the  league  are  invited  to  send  their 
names  and  contributions  to  the  National 


Security   League,   31   Pine   Street,   New 
York  City. 

[The  letter  is  addressed  to  "present  and 
former  members  of  the  Cabinet,  to  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  to  Governors  of  our 
States  and  Territories,  to  Mayors  of  all 
American  cities,  to  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce and  Boards  of  Trade,  to  merchants' 
associations,  to  colleges  and  universities, 
to  university  clubs  and  alumni  associa- 
tions, to  all  patriotic  organizations,  to 
all  women's  clubs,  and  to  all  American 
citizens." 

"  Until  a  satisfactory  plan  of  disarma- 
ment has  been  worked  out  and  agreed 
upon  by  the  nations  of  the  world,"  says 
a  statement,  "  the  United  States  must  be 
adequately  prepared  to  defend  itself 
against  invasion  A  military  equipment 
sufficient  for  this  purpose  can  be  had 
without  recourse  to  militarism.  The 
league  was  formed  as  a  preparation  not 
for  war,  but  against  war."] 

BY  THE  NAVY  LEAGUE. 
[From  The  New  York  Times,  May  12,  1913.] 

The  Navy  League  of  the  United  States, 
of  which  General  Horace  Porter  is  Pres- 
ident, and  which  includes  in  its  mem- 
bership Herbert  L.  Satterlee,  George  von 
L.  Meyer,  Beekman  Winthrop,  J.  Pier- 
pont  Morgan,  Governor  Emmet  O'Neal 
of  Alabama,  Senator  James  D.  Phelan  of 
California,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  Elihu  Root,  Edward  T,  Stotes- 
bury,  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler,  Joseph  H. 
Choate,  George  B.  Cortelyou,  C.  Oliver 
Iselin,  Seth  Low,  Myron  T.  Herrick,  Al- 
ton B.  Parker,  and  scores  of  other  men 
prominent  in  the  public  and  business  life 
of  the  country,  through  its  Executive 
Committee  adopted  a  resolution  yester- 
day calling  upon  President  Wilson  to  call 
Congress  in  extra  session  to  authorize  a 
bond  issue  of  $500,000,000,  which  sum,  it 
is  stated,  is  "  needed  to  provide  this  coun- 
try with  adequate  means  of  naval 
defense." 

The  resolution,  which  was  adopted  at 
a  session  at  which  members  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  consulted  by  long-dis- 
tance telephone,  some  of  them  being  in 
Washington  and  others  in  New  York  at 
the  Union  League  Club,  read: 

"  In  view  of  the  crisis  in  our  foreigrn 


RAYMOND      POINCARE 

President  of  the  French  Republic  Since  Feb.  18, 

(  Photo  from  P.   S.  IJogcra. ) 


1913 


THE     RIGHT     HON.     H.     H.     ASQUITH 

Prime   Minister  of  Great  Britain  and   Ireland 

(  Photo  froui  Brown  Bros,  t 


APPEALS  FOR  AMERICAN  DEFENSE  457 

relations,  we,  as  representatives  of  the  mighty  fleet,  American  life  and  Amer- 
Navy  League  of  the  United  States,  ex-  ican  rights  would  be  scrupulously  re- 
press our  emphatic  belief  that  Congress  spected  by  all  belligerents.  In  such  case 
should  be  immediately  assembled  and  there  would  be  no  thought  of  our  enter- 
that  measures  should  be  taken   at  once  ing  into  war. 

to  strengthen  our  national  defense.    Our  «  GENERAL  HORACE  PORTER, 

most  pacific  country  should,  because  of  President* 

its  supreme  love  of  peace,  possess  pre-  «  ROBERT  M    THOMPSON 

ponderant  naval  strength  and  adequate  Chairman  Executive  Committee; 

military  strength.    A  large  bond  issue  of,  «  rxr  a  pr  p,«  a    TrnwT  FP 

if  necessary,  $500,000,000  should  be  au-  ^^  CHAKLh^b  A.  l<OWLt.K, 

thorized  at  once.    These  bonds  would  be  "  PERRY  BELMONT, 

rapidly  absorbed  by  the  American  people  "  JOHN  C.  O'LAUGHLIN, 

for  such  a  purpose.     Equipped  with  a  "  FRANK  J.  SYMES." 


The  Drowned  Sailor 

By   MAURICE   HEWLETT. 
[From  "  Sing  Songs  of  the  M''ar."] 


L 


AST  night  I  saw  my  true  love  stand 
All  shadowy  by  my  bed. 
He  had  my  locket  in  his  hand; 
I  knew  that  he  was  dead. 


"  Sweetheart,  why  stand  you  there  so  fast, 
Why  stand  you  there  so  grave?  " 

"  I  think,"  said  he,  "  this  hour's  the  last 
That  you  and  I  can  have. 

"  You  gave  me  this  from  your  fair  breast, 

It's  never  left  me  yet; 
And  now  it  dares  not  seek  the  nest 

Because  it  is  so  wet. 

"  The  cold  gray  sea  has  covered  it, 

Deep  in  the  sand  it  lies; 
While  over  me  the  long  weeds  flit 

And  veil  my  staring  eyes. 

"  And  there  are  German  sailors  laid 

Beside  me  in  the  deep; 
We  have  no  need  of  gun  nor  blade, 

United  in  our  sleep." 

"  Dear  heart,  dear  heart,  come  to  my  bed, 
My  arms  are  warm  and  sweet!  " 

"  Alack  for  you,  my  love,"  he  said, 
"  My  limbs  would  wet  the  sheet. 

"  Cold  is  the  bed  that  I  lie  on 

And  deep  beneath  the  swell; 
No  voice  is  left  to  make  my  moan 

And  bid  my  love  farewell." 

Now  I  am  widow  that  was  wife — 
Would  God  that  they  could  prove 

What  law  should  rule,  without  the  strife 
That's  robbed  me  of  my  love! 


War  With  Poisonous  Gases 

The  Gap  at  Ypres  Made  by  German 
Chlorine  Vapor  Bombs 

Reports  by  the  OflScial  "Eyewitness" 

and 

Dr.  J.  S.  Haldane,  F.  R.  S. 


Dr.  John  Scott  Haldane,  F.  R.  S.,  tvho 
has  conducted  the  investigation  for  the 
British  War  Office,  is  a  brother  of  Lord 
Haldane.  He  is  a  graduate  in  medicine 
of  Edinburgh  University  and  an  M.  A. 
of  Oxford  and  an  LL.  D.  of  Birmingham. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  engaged  in 
scientific  investigation,  and  has  contrib- 
uted largely  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
causes  of  death  in  colliery  and  mine  ex- 
plosions. He  is  the  author  of  a  work  on 
the  physiology  of  respiration  and  air 
analysis. 

Professor  Baker,  F.  R.  S.,  who  is  car- 
rying out  chemical  investigations  into 
the  nature  of  the  gases,  is  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  the  Imperial  College  of 
Science  and  Technology,  London.  He  was 
a  Scholar  in  Natural  Science  at  Balliol. 
He  has  conducted  important  experiments 
into  the  nature  of  gases. 

Sir  Wilmot  Herringham,  M.  D.  Oxon., 
is  a  physician  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hos- 
pital and  Vice  Chancellor  of  the  London 
University. 

Lieutenant  McNee,  M.  B.,  M.  Ch.  Glas- 
gow, a  Carnegie  Research  Fellow,  is  as- 
sistant to  the  Professor  of  Pathology  in 
Glasgow  University  and  has  conducted 
m,any  investigations  of  an  important 
character  in  pathology  and  chemical 
pathology. 

General  Headquarters, 

British  Expeditionary  Force, 
April  27,  1915. 
To  Earl   Kitchener,   Secretary  of   State 
for  War. 

My  Lord:  I  have  the  honor  to  report 
that,  as  requested  by  you  yesterday  morn- 


ing, I  proceeded  to  France  to  investigate 
the  nature  and  effects  of  the  asphyxiating 
gas  employed  in  the  recent  fighting  by 
the  German  troops.  After  reporting  my- 
self at  General  Headquarters  I  proceeded 
to  Bailleul  ■with  Sir  Wilmot  Herringham, 
Consulting  Physician  to  the  British 
Force,  and  examined  with  him  sev- 
eral men  from  Canadian  battalions  who 
were  at  the  No.  2  Casualty  Clearing  Sta- 
tion, suffering  from  the  effects  of  the 
gas. 

These  men  were  lying  struggling  for 
breath  and  blue  in  the  face.  On  exam- 
ining the  blood  with  the  spectroscope 
and  by  other  means,  I  ascertained  that 
the  blueness  was  not  due  to  the  presence 
of  any  abnormal  pigment.  There  was 
nothing  to  account  for  the  blueness 
(cyanosis)  and  struggle  for  air  but  the 
one  fact  that  they  were  suffering  from 
acute  bronchitis,  such  as  is  caused  by  in- 
halation of  an  irritant  gas.  Their  state- 
ments were  that  when  in  the  trenches 
they  had  been  overwhelmed  by  an  irri- 
tant gas  produced  in  front  of  the  German 
trenches  and  carried  toward  them  by  a 
gentle  breeze. 

One  of  them  died  shortly  after  our 
arrival.  A  post-mortem  examination  was 
conducted  in  our  presence  by  Lieutenant 
McNee,  a  pathologist  by  profession,  of 
Glasgow  University.  The  examination 
showed  that  death  was  due  to  acute 
bronchitis  and  its  secondary  effects. 
There  was  no  doubt  that  the  bronchitis 
and  accompanying  slow  asphyxiation 
were  due  to  the  irritant  gas. 

Lieutenant  McNee  had  also  examined 


WAR   WITH  POISONOUS   GASES 


459 


yesterday  the  body  of  a  Canadian  Ser- 
geant, who  had  died  in  the  clearing  sta- 
tion from  the  effects  of  the  gas.  In  this 
case,  also,  very  acute  bronchitis  and 
oedema  of  the  lungs  caused  death  by 
asphyxiation. 

A  deposition  by  Captain  Bertram, 
Eighth  Canadian  Battalion,  was  carefully 
taken  down  by  Lieutenant  McNee.  Cap- 
tain Bertram  was  then  in  the  clearing 
station,  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the 
gas  and  from  a  wound.  From  a  support 
trench,  about  600  yards  from  the  Ger- 
man lines,  he  had  observed  the  gas.  He 
saw,  first  of  all,  a  white  smoke  arising 
from  the  German  trenches  to  a  height  of 
about  three  feet.  Then  in  front  of  the 
white  smoke  appeared  a  greenish  cloud, 
which  drifted  along  the  ground  to  our 
trenches,  not  rising  more  than  about 
seven  feet  from  the  ground  when  it 
reached  our  first  trenches.  Men  in  these 
trenches  were  obliged  to  leave,  and  a 
number  of  them  were  killed  by  the  ef- 
fects of  the  gas.  We  made  a  counter- 
attack about  fifteen  minutes  after  the 
gas  came  over,  and  saw  twenty-four  men 
lying  dead  from  the  effects  of  the  gas  on 
a  small  stretch  of  road  leading  from  the 
advanced  trenches  to  the  supports.  He 
was  himself  much  affected  by  the  gas 
still  present,  and  felt  as  if  he  could  not 
breathe. 

The  symptoms  and  the  other  facts  so 
far  ascertained  point  to  the  use  by  the 
German  troops  of  chlorine  or  bromine 
for  purposes  of  asphyxiation. 

There  are  also  facts  pointing  to 
the  use  in  German  shells  of  other  irri- 
tant substances,  though  in  some  cases  at 
least  these  agents  are  not  of  the  same 
brutally  barbarous  character  as  the  gas 
used  in  the  attack  on  the  Canadians. 
The  effects  are  not  those  of  any  of  the 
ordinary  products  of  combustion  of  ex- 
plosives. On  this  point  the  symptoms 
described  left  not  the  slightest  doubt  in 
my  mind. 

Professor  H.  B.  Baker,  F.  R.  S.,  who 
accompanied  me,  is  making  further  in- 
quiries from  the  chemical  side. 

I  am,  my  Lord,  your  obedient  servant, 
J.  S.  HALDANE. 

The  following  announcement  was  is- 


sued by  the  British  War  Office  on  April 
29,  1915: 

Thanks  to  the  magnificent  response 
already  made  to  the  appeal  in  the  press 
for  respirators  for  the  troops,  the  War 
Office  is  in  a  position  to  announce  that 
no  further  respirators  need  be  made. 

THE  "  EYEWITNESS  "  STORY. 

The  following  descriptive  account  was 
communicated  by  the  British  Official 
Eyewityiess  present  with  General  Head- 
quarters, supplementing  his  continuous 
narrative  of  the  movements  of  the  Brit- 
ish force  and  the  French  armies  in  im- 
mediate touch  with  it: 

April  27,  1915. 

Since  the  last  summary  there  has  been 
a  sudden  development  in  the  situation 
on  our  front,  and  very  heavy  fighting  has 
taken  place  to  the  north  and  northeast 
of  Ypres,  which  can  be  said  to  have 
assumed  the  importance  of  a  second 
battle  for  that  town.  With  the  aid  of  a 
method  of  warfare  up  to  now  never 
employed  by  nations  sufficiently  civil- 
ized to  consider  themselves  bound  by 
international  agreements  solemnly  rati- 
fied by  themselves,  and  favored  by  the 
atmospheric  conditions,  the  Germans 
have  put  into  effect  an  attack  which 
they  had  evidently  contemplated  and 
prepared  for  some  time. 

Before  the  battle  began  our  line  in 
this  quarter  ran  from  the  cross-roads  at 
Eroodseinde,  east  of  Zonnebeke  on  the 
Ypres-Moorslede  Road  to  the  cross-roads 
half  a  mile  north  of  St.  Julien,  on  the 
Ypres-Poelcapelle  Road,  roughly  follow- 
ing the  crest  of  what  is  known  as  the 
Grafenstafel  Ridge.  The  French  pro- 
longed the  line  west  of  the  Ypres-Poel- 
capelle Road,  whence  their  trenches  ran 
around  the  north  of  Langemarck  to 
Steenstraate  on  the  Yperlee  Canal.  The 
area  covered  by  the  initial  attack  is 
that  between  the  canal  and  the  Ypres- 
Poelcapelle  Road,  though  it  was  after- 
ward extended  to  the  west  of  the  canal 
and  to  the  east  of  the  road. 

An  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Germans 
in  this  direction  was  not  unexpected, 
since  movements  of  troops  and  transport 
behind  their  front  line  had  been  detected 
for  some  days.     Its  peculiar  and  novel 


460 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


nature,  however,  was  a  surprise  which 
was  largely  responsible  for  the  measure 
of  success  achieved.  Taking  advantage 
of  the  fact  that  at  this  season  of  the 
year  the  wind  not  infrequently  blows 
from  the  north,  they  secretly  brought  up 
r.paratus  for  emitting  asphyxiating 
vapor  or  gas,  and  distributed  it  along 
the  section  of  their  front  line  opposite 
that  of  our  allies,  west  of  Langemarck, 
which  faced  almost  due  north.  Their 
plan  was  to  make  a  sudden  onslaught 
southwestward,  which,  if  successful, 
might  enable  them  to  gain  the  crossings 
on  the  canal  south  of  Bixschoote  and 
place  them  well  behind  the  British  left 
in  a  position  to  threaten   Ypres. 

The  attack  was  originally  fixed  for 
Tuesday,  the  20th,  but  since  all  chances 
of  success  depended  on  the  action  of  the 
asphyxiating  vapor  it  was  postponed, 
the  weather  being  unfavorable.  On 
Thursday,  the  22d,  the  wind  blew  steadily 
from  the  north,  and  that  afternoon,  all 
being  ready,  the  Germans  put  their  plan 
into  execution.  Since  then  events  have 
moved  so  rapidly  and  the  situation  has 
moved  so  frequently  that  it  is  difficult  to 
give  a  consecutive  and  clear  story  of 
what  happened,  but  the  following  ac- 
count represents  as  nearly  as  can  be  the 
general  course  of  events.  The  details 
of  the  gas  apparatus  employed  by  them 
are  given  separately,  as  also  those  of 
the  asphyxiating  grenades,  bombs,  and 
shells  of  which  they  have  been  throwing 
hundreds. 

At  some  time  between  4  and  5  P.  M. 
the  Germans  started  operations  by  re- 
leasing gases  with  the  result  that  a  cloud 
of  poisonous  vapor  rolled  swiftly  before 
the  wind  from  their  trenches  toward 
those  of  the  French  west  of  Langemarck, 
held  by  a  portion  of  the  French  Colonial 
Division.  Allowing  sufficient  time  for 
the  fumes  to  take  full  effect  on  the 
troops  facing  them,  the  Germans  charged 
forward  over  the  practically  unresisting 
enemy  in  their  immediate  front,  and, 
penetrating  through  the  gap  thus  created, 
pressed  on  silently  and  swiftly  to  the 
south  and  west.  By  their  sudden  irrup- 
tion they  were  able  to  overrun  and  sur- 
prise a  large  proportion  of  the  French 


troops  billeted  behind  the  front  line  in 
this  area  and  to  bring  some  of  the  French 
guns  as  well  as  our  own  under  a  hot  rifle 
fire  at  close  range. 

The  first  intimation  that  all  was  not 
well  to  the  north  was  conveyed  to  our 
troops  holding  the  left  of  the  British  line 
between  5  and  6  P.  M.  by  the  withdrawal 
of  some  of  the  French  Colonials  and  the 
sight  of  the  wall  of  vapor  following  them. 
Our  flank  being  thus  exposed  the  troops 
were  ordered  to  retire  on  St.  Julien,  with 
their  left  parallel  to  but  to  the  west  of 
the  highroad.  The  splendid  resistance  of 
these  troops,  who  saved  the  situation, 
has  already  been  mentioned  by  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief. 

Meanwhile,  apparently  waiting  till 
their  infantry  had  penetrated  well  be- 
hind the  Allies'  line,  the  Germans  had 
opened  a  hot  artillery  fire  upon  the 
various  tactical  points  to  the  north  of 
Ypres,  the  bombardment  being  carried 
out  with  ordinary  high-explosive  shell 
and  shrapnel  of  various  calibres  and  also 
with  projectiles  containing  asphyxiating 
gas.  About  this  period  our  men  in  re- 
serve near  Ypres,  seeing  the  shells  burst- 
ing, had  gathered  in  groups,  discussing 
the  situation  and  questioning  some  scat- 
tered bodies  of  Turcos  who  had  appeared; 
suddenly  a  staff  officer  rode  up  shout- 
ing "  Stand  to  your  arms,"  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  troops  had  fallen  in  and 
were  marching  northward  to  the  scene 
of  the  fight. 

Nothing  more  impressive  can  be  imag- 
ined than  the  sight  of  our  men  falling  in 
quietly  in  perfect  order  on  their  alarm 
posts  amid  the  scene  of  wild  confusion 
caused  by  the  panic-stricken  refugees 
who  swarmed  along  the  roads. 

In  the  meantime,  to  the  north  and 
northeast  of  the  town,  a  confused  fight 
was  taking  place,  which  gave  proof  not 
only  of  great  gallantry  and  steadiness 
on  the  part  of  the  troops  referred  to 
above,  but  of  remarkable  presence  of 
mind  on  the  part  of  their  leaders.  Behind 
the  wall  of  vapor,  which  had  swept  across 
fields,  through  woods,  and  over  hedge- 
rows, came  the  German  firing  line,  the 
men's  mouths  and  noses,  it  is  stated,  pro- 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


461 


tected  by  pads  soaked  in  a  solution  of 
bicarbonate  of  soda.  Closely  following 
them  again  came  the  supports.  These 
troops,  hurrying  forward  with  their  for- 
mation somewhat  broken  up  by  the  ob- 
stacles encountered  in  their  path,  looked 
like  a  huge  mob  bearing  down  upon  the 
town.  A  battery  of  4.7-inch  guns  a  little 
beyond  the  left  of  our  line  was  surprised 
and  overwhelmed  by  them  in  a  moment. 
Further  to  the  rear  and  in  a  more  easter- 
ly direction  were  several  field  batteries, 
and  before  they  could  come  into  action 
the  Germans  were  within  a  few  hundred 
yards.     Not  a  gun,  however,  was  lost. 

One  battery,  taken  in  flank,  swung 
around,  fired  on  the  enemy  at  point-blank 
range,  and  checked  the  rush.  Another 
opened  fire  with  the  guns  pointing  in  al- 
most opposite  directions,  the  enemy  being 
on  three  sides  of  them.  It  was  under  the 
very  heavy  cannonade  opened  about  this 
time  by  the  Germans,  and  threatened  by 
the  advance  of  vastly  superior  numbers, 
that  our  infantry  on  our  left  steadily, 
and  without  any  sign  of  confusion,  slowly 
retired  to  St.  Julien,  fighting  every  step. 

Help  was  not  long  in  arriving,  for 
some  of  our  reserves  near  Ypres  had 
stood  to  arms  as  soon  as  they  were  aware 
of  the  fact  that  the  French  line  had  been 
forced,  and  the  officers  on  their  own 
initiative,  without  waiting  for  orders, 
led  them  forward  to  meet  the  advancing 
enemy,  who,  by  this  time,  were  barely 
two  miles  from  the  town.  These  bat- 
talions attacked  the  Germans  with  the 
bayonet,  and  then  ensued  a  melee,  in 
which  our  men  more  than  held  their  own, 
both  sides  losing  very  heavily. 

One  German  battalion  seems  to  have 
been  especially  severely  handled,  the 
Colonel  being  captured  among  several 
other  prisoners.  Other  reinforcements 
were  thrown  in  as  they  came  up,  and, 
when  night  fell,  the  fighting  continued 
by  moonlight,  our  troops  driving  back  the 
enemy  by  repeated  bayonet  charges,  in 
the  course  of  which  our  heavy  guns  were 
recaptured. 

By  then  the  situation  was  somewhat 
restored  in  the  area  immediately  north 
of  Ypres.  Further  to  the  west,  how- 
ever, the   enemy  had  forced  their  way 


over  the  canal,  occupying  Steenstraate 
and  the  crossing  at  Het  Sast,  about 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  south  of  the 
former  place,  and  had  established  them- 
selves at  various  points  on  the  west 
bank.  All  night  long  the  shelling  con- 
tinued, and  about  1:30  A.  M.  two  heavy 
attacks  were  made  on  our  line  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Broodseinde,  east  of 
Zonnebeke.  These  were  both  repulsed. 
The  bombardment  of  Ypres  itself  and  its 
neighborhood  had  by  now  redoubled  in 
intensity  and  a  part  of  the  town  was  in 
flames. 

In  the  early  morning  of  Friday,  the 
23d,  we  delivered  a  strong  counter-attack 
northward  in  co-operation  with  the 
French.  Our  advance  progressed  for 
some  little  distance,  reaching  the  edge 
of  the  wood  about  half  a  mile  west  of  St. 
Julien  and  penetrating  it.  Here  our 
men  got  into  the  Germans  with  the  bayo- 
net, and  the  latter  suffered  heavily.  The 
losses  were  also  severe  on  our  side,  for 
the  advance  had  to  be  carried  out  across 
the  open.  But  in  spite  of  this  nothing 
could  exceed  the  dash  with  which  it  was 
conducted.  One  man — and  his  case  is 
typical  of  the  spirit  shown  by  the  troops 
— who  had  had  his  rifle  smashed  by  a 
bullet,  continued  to  fight  with  an  in- 
trenching tool.  Even  many  of  the 
wounded  made  their  way  out  of  the  fight 
with  some  article  of  German  equipment 
as  a  memento. 

About  11  A.  M.,  not  being  able  to  pro- 
gress further,  our  troops  dug  themselves 
in,  the  line  then  running  from  St.  Julien 
practically  due  west  for  about  a  mile, 
whence  it  curved  southwestward  before 
turning  north  to  the  canal  near  Boe- 
singhe.  Broadly  speaking,  on  the  section 
of  the  front  then  occupied  by  us  the  re- 
sult of  the  operations  had  been  to  re- 
move to  some  extent  the  wedge  which 
the  Germans  had  driven  into  the  allied 
line,  and  the  immediate  danger  was  over. 
During  the  afternoon  our  counter-attack 
made  further  progress  south  of  Pilkem, 
thus  straightening  the  line  still  more. 
Along  the  canal  the  fighting  raged 
fiercely,  our  allies  making  some  progress 
here  and  there.  During  the  night,  how- 
ever, the  Germans  captured  Lizerne,  a 


462 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


village  on  the  main  road  from  Ypres  to 
Steenstraate. 

When  the  morning  of  the  24th  came 
the  situation  remained  much  the  same, 
but  the  enemy,  who  had  thrown  several 
bridges  across  the  canal,  continued  to 
gain  ground  to  the  west.  On  our  front 
the  Germans,  under  cover  of  their  gas, 
made  a  further  attack  between  3  and  4 
A.  M.  to  the  east  of  St.  Julien  and  forced 
back  a  portion  of  our  line.  Nothing  else 
in  particular  occurred  until  about  mid- 
day, when  large  bodies  of  the  enemy 
were  seen  advancing  down  the  Ypres- 
Poelcapelle  road  toward  St.  Julien.  Soon 
after  a  very  strong  attack  developed 
against  that  village  and  the  section  of 
the  line  east  of  it.  Under  the  pressure 
of  these  fresh  masses  our  troops  were 
compelled  to  fall  back,  contesting  every 
inch  of  ground  and  making  repeated 
counter-attacks;  but  until  late  at  night 
a  gallant  handful,  some  200  to  300  strong, 
held  out  in  St.  Julien.  During  the  night 
the  line  was  re-established  north  of  the 
hamlet  of  Fortuin,  about  700  yards 
further  to  the  rear.  All  this  time  the 
fighting  along  the  canal  continued,  the 
enemy  forcing  their  way  across  near 
Boesinghe,  and  holding  Het  Sast,  Steen- 
straate, and  Lizerne  strongly.  The  French 
counter-attacked  in  the  afternoon,  cap- 
tured fifty  prisoners,  and  made  some 
further  progress  toward  Pilkem.  The 
Germans,  however,  were  still  holding  the 
west  bank  firmly,  although  the  Belgian 
artillery  had  broken  the  bridge  behind 
them  at  Steenstraate. 

On  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  fourth 
day  of  the  battle,  we  made  a  strong 
counter-attack  on  St.  Julien,  which  gained 
some  ground  but  was  checked  in  front  of 
the  village.  To  the  west  of  it  we  reached 
a  point  a  few  hundred  yards  south  of 
the  wood  which  had  been  the  objective 
on  the  23d  and  which  we  had  had  to  re- 
linquish subsequently.  In  the  afternoon 
the  Germans  made  repeated  assaults  in 
great  strength  on  our  line  near  Brood- 
seinde.  These  were  backed  up  by  a  tre- 
mendous artillery  bombardment  and  the 
throwing  of  asphyxiating  bombs;  but  all 
were  beaten  off  with  great  slaughter  to 
the  enemy,  and  forty-five  prisoners  fell 


into  our  hands.  When  night  came  the 
situation    remained    unchanged. 

This  determined  offensive  on  the  part 
of  the  enemy,  although  it  has  menaced 
Ypres  itself,  has  not  so  far  the  appear- 
ance of  a  great  effort  to  break  through 
the  line  and  capture  the  Channel  ports, 
such  as  that  made  in  October.  Its  initial 
success  was  gained  by  the  surprise  ren- 
dered possible  by  the  use  of  a  device 
which  Germany  pledged  herself  not  to 
employ.  The  only  result  upon  our  troops 
has  been  to  fill  them  with  an  even  greater 
determination  to  punish  the  enemy  and 
to  make  him  pay  tenfold  for  every  act 
of  "  frightfulness  "  he  has  perpetrated. 

Along  the  rest  of  the  British  front 
nothing  of  special  importance  has  oc- 
curred. 

WHAT  THE  GERMANS  SAY. 

The  comments  of  the  German  news- 
papers on  the  advance  of  the  imperial 
army  north  of  Ypres  readily  admitted 
and  justified  the  use  of  asphyxiating 
gases.  The  leading  Prussian  military  or- 
gan, the  Kreuz  Zeitung,  said: 

The  moral  success  of  our  victory  is 
quite  upon  a  level  with  its  strategic 
value.  It  has  again  been  proved  that  in 
the  west  also  we  are  at  any  time  in  a 
position  to  take  the  offensive,  and  that, 
notwithstanding  their  most  violent  ef- 
forts, it  is  impossible  for  the  English  and 
the  French  to  throw  back  or  to  break 
through  our  battle  line. 

In  another  article  the  Kreuz  Zeitung 
said  : 

When  the  French  report  says  that  we 
used  a  large  number  of  asphyxiating 
bombs,  our  enemies  may  infer  from  this 
that  they  always  are  making  a  mistake 
when  by  their  behavior  they  cause  us  to 
have  recourse  to  new  technical  weapons. 

Dealing  with  the  same  subject  in  a 
leading  article,  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung 
declared : 

It  is  quite  possible  that  our  bombs  and 
shells  made  it  impossible  for  the  enemy 
to  remain  in  his  trenches  and  artillery 
positions,  and  it  is  even  probable  that 
missiles  which  emit  poisonous  gases  have 
actually  been  used  by  us,  since  the  Ger- 
man leaders  have  made  it  plain  that,  as 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


463 


an  answer  to  the  treacherous  missiles 
which  have  been  used  by  the  English 
and  the  French  for  many  weeks  past,  we, 
too,  shall  employ  gas  bombs  or  whatever 
they  are  called.  The  German  leaders 
pointed  out  that  considerably  more  effec- 
tive materials  were  to  be  expected  from 
German  chemistry,  and  they  were  right. 
But,  however  destructive  these  bombs 
and  shells  may  have  been,  do  the  English 
and  the  other  people  think  that  it  makes 
a  serious  difference  whether  hundreds 
of  guns  and  howitzers  throw  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  shells  on  a  single  tiny 
spot  in  order  to  destroy  and  break  to 
atoms  everything,  living  there,  and  to 
make  the  German  trenches  into  a  terrible 
hell  as  was  the  case  at  Neuve  Chapelle, 
or  whether  we  throw  a  few  shells  which 
spread  death  in  the  air?  These  shells 
are  not  more  deadly  than  the  poison  of 
English  explosives,  but  they  take  effect 
over  a  wider  area,  produce  a  rapid  end, 
and  spare  the  torn  bodies  the  tortures 
and  pains  of  death. 


The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  then  com- 
pared the  results  achieved  as  follows: 

The  shells  of  Neuve  Chapelle  cost  the 
Germans  a  trench  and  a  village,  but  on 
the  edge  of  the  ruin  the  German  ring 
remained  firm  and  strong.  How  was  it 
at  Ypres  ?  The  enemy  was  thrown  back 
on  a  front  of  more  than  five  and  a  half 
miles.  Along  this  whole  front  we  gained 
two  miles.  These  figures  would  signify 
little  in  comparison  with  the  distance  to 
the  sea,  but  our  next  goal  is  Ypres,  and 
on  the  north  we  are  now  only  a  few  kilo- 
meters from  this  stronghold. 

The  Cologne  Gazette  referred  to  Sir 
John  French's  reports  as  follows: 

It  is  delightful  to  read  the  complaints 
about  the  use  of  shells  containing  asphyx- 
iating gases.  This  sounds  particularly 
well  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Commander 
in  Chief  of  a  nation  which  for  centuries 
past  has  trodden  every  provision  of  in- 
ternational law  under  foot. 


The  Canadians  at  Ypres 

[From  the  Canadian  Record  Officer.] 


The  full  narrative  of  the  part  played 
by  the  Canadians  at  Ypres  is  given  in  a 
communication  from,  the  Record  Officer 
now  serving  with  the  Canadian  Division 
at  the  front  and  published  in  the  British 
press  on  May  1,  1915.  The  division  was 
commanded  by  a  distinguished  English 
General,  but  these  "  amateur  soldiers  of 
Canada,"  as  the  narrator  describes  them, 
were  officered  largely  by  lawyers,  college 
professors,  and  business  men  who  before 
the  war  were  neither  disciplined  nor 
trained.  Many  striking  deeds  of  heroism 
and  self-sacrifice  were  performed  in  the 
course  of  their  brilliant  charge  and 
dogged  resistance,  which,  in  the  words  of 
Sir  John  French,  "  saved  the  situation  " 
in  the  face  of  overwhelming  odds. 

ON  April  22  the  Canadian  Division 
held    a    line    of,    roughly,    5,000 
yards,     extending    in    a    north- 
westerly     direction     from     the 
Ypres-Roulers    Railway    to    the    Ypres- 


Poelcapelle  road,  and  connecting  at  its 
terminus  with  the  French  troops.  The 
division  consisted  of  three  infantry  bri- 
gades, in  addition  to  the  artillery  bri- 
gades Of  the  infantry  brigades  the  First 
was  in  reserve,  the  Second  was  on  the 
right,  and  the  Third  established  contact 
with  the  Allies  at  the  point  indicated 
above. 

The  day  was  a  peaceful  one,  warm  and 
sunny,  and  except  that  the  previous  day 
had  witnessed  a  further  bombardment 
of  the  stricken  town  of  Ypres,  everything 
seemed  quiet  in  front  of  the  Canadian 
line.  At  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a 
plan,  carefully  prepared,  was  put  into 
execution  against  our  French  allies  on 
the  left.  Asphyxiating  gas  of  great  in- 
tensity was  projected  into  their  trenches, 
probably  by  means  of  force  pumps  and 
pipes  laid  out  under  the  parapets.  The 
fumes,  aided  by  a  favorable  wind,  floated 
backward,  poisoning  and  disabling  over 


464 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


an  extended  area  those  who  fell  under 
their  effect. 

The  result  was  that  the  French  were 
compelled  to  give  ground  for  a  con- 
siderable distance.  The  glory  which  the 
French  Army  has  won  in  this  war  would 
make  it  impertinent  to  labor  the  com- 
pelling nature  of  the  poisonous  dis- 
charges under  which  the  trenches  were 
lost.  The  French  did,  as  every  one  knew 
they  would  do,  all  that  stout  soldiers 
could  do,  and  the  Canadian  Division,  offi- 
cers and  men,  look  forward  to  many  oc- 
casions in  the  future  in  which  they  will 
stand  side  by  side  with  the  brave  armies 
of  France. 

The   immediate   consequences    of   this 


OPOELCAPELLE    H 


y^OOO 


O  STJUUEN 
OFORTOIN 


YPRES 


POSITION   BEFORE  DISCHARGE. 
OF   &AS 


Contrast  this  with: 


OPOELCAPELLE 


« 


WOOD 


% 


O^TJUUEN 

Ofortuin 


YPRES 

® 


POSITION  AFTER  DISCHARGE 
OF    OAS 


enforced  withdrawal  were,  of  course,  ex- 
tremely grave.  The  Third  Brigade  of 
the  Canadian  Division  was  without  any 
left,  or,  in  other  words,  its  left  was  in 
the  air.  Rough  diagrams,  may  make 
the  position  clear. 

It  became  imperatively  necessary 
greatly  to  extend  the  Canadian  lines  to 
the  left  rear.  It  was  not,  of  course, 
practicable  to  move  the  First  Brigade 
from  reserve  at  a  moment's  notice,  and 
the  line,  extending  from  5,000  to  9,000 
yards,  was  naturally  not  the  line  that  had 
been  held  by  the  Allies  at  5  o'clock,  and 
a  gap  still  existed  on  its  left.  The  new 
line,  of  which  our  recent  point  of  contact 
with  the  French  formed  the  apex,  ran 
quite  roughly  as  follows: 


O 


K 


y^ooD 


O  STJUUEN 

O  FomruiN 


YPRES 

@ 


POSITION  ON  FRIDAY  MORNING 


As  shown  above,  it  became  necessary 
for  Brig.  Gen.  Turner,  commanding  the 
Third  Brigade,  to  throw  back  his  left 
flank  southward  to  protect  his  rear.  In 
the  course  of  the  confusion  which  fol- 
lowed upon  the  readjustments  of  position, 
the  enemy,  who  had  advanced  rapidly 
after  his  initial  successes,  took  four  Brit- 
ish 4.7  guns  in  a  small  wood  to  the  west 
of  the  village  of  St.  Julien,  two  miles  in 
the  rear  of  the  original  French  trenches. 

The  story  of  the  second  battle  of  Ypres 
is  the  story  of  how  the  Canadian  Divi- 
sion, enormously  outnumbered — for  they 
had  in  front  of  them  at  least  four  divi- 
sions, supported  by  immensely  heavy 
artillery — with  a  gap  still  existing, 
though  reduced,  in  their  lines,  and  with 
dispositions    made    hurriedly   under    the 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


465 


stimulus  of  critical  danger,  fought 
through  the  day  and  through  the  night, 
and  then  through  another  day  and  night; 
fought  under  their  officers  until,  as  hap- 
pened to  so  many,  those  perished  glo- 
riously, and  then  fought  from  the  im- 
pulsion of  sheer  valor  because  they  came 
from  fighting  stock. 

The  enemy,  of  course,  was  aware — 
whether  fully  or  not  may  perhaps  be 
doubted — of  the  advantage  his  breach  in 
the  line  had  given  him,  and  immediately 
began  to  push  a  formidable  series  of  at- 
tacks upon  the  whole  of  the  newly- 
formed  Canadian  salient.  If  it  is  pos- 
sible to  distinguish  when  the  attack  was 
everywhere  so  fierce,  it  developed  with 
particular  intensity  at  this  moment  upon 
the  apex  of  the  newly  formed  line,  run- 
ning in  the  direction  of  St.  Julien. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  four 
British  guns  were  taken  in  a  wood  com- 
paratively early  in  the  evening  of  the 
22d.  In  the  course  of  that  night,  and 
under  the  heaviest  machine-gun  fire,  this 
wood  was  assaulted  by  the  Canadian 
Scottish,  Sixteenth  Battalion  of  the  Third 
Brigade,  and  the  Tenth  Battalion  of  the 
Second  Brigade,  which  was  intercepted 
for  this  purpose  on  its  way  to  a  reserve 
trench.  The  battalions  were  respectively 
commanded  by  Lieut.  Col.  Leckie  and 
Lieut.  Col.  Boyle,  and  after  a  most  fierce 
struggle  in  the  light  of  a  misty  moon 
they  took  the  position  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  At  midnight  the  Second  Bat- 
talion, under  Colonel  Watson,  and  the 
Toronto  Regiment,  Queen's  Own,  Third 
Battalion,  under  Lieut.  Col.  Rennie,  both 
of  the  First  Brigade,  brought  up  much- 
needed  reinforcement,  and  though  not 
actually  engaged  in  the  assault  were  in 
reserve. 

All  through  the  following  days  and 
nights  these  battalions  shared  the  for- 
tunes and  misfortunes  of  the  Third  Bri- 
gade. An  officer  who  took  part  in  the 
attack  describes  how  the  men  about  him 
fell  under  the  fire  of  the  machine  guns, 
which,  in  his  phrase,  played  upon  them 
"  like  a  watering  pot."  He  added  quite 
simply,  "  I  wrote  my  own  life  off."  But 
the  line  never  wavered.  When  one  man 
fell  another  took  his  place,  and  with  a 


final  shout  the  survivors  of  the  two  bat- 
talions flung  themselves  into  the  wood. 
The  German  garrison  was  completely  de- 
moralized, and  the  impetuous  advance  of 
the  Canadians  did  not  cease  until  they 
reached  the  far  side  of  the  wood  and  in- 
trenched themselves  there  in  the  position 
so  dearly  gained.  They  had,  however,  the 
disappointment  of  finding  that  the  guns 
had  been  blown  up  by  the  enemy,  and 
later  on  in  the  same  night  a  most  formid- 
able concentration  of  artillery  fire, 
sweeping  the  wood  as  a  tropical  storm 
sweeps  the  leaves  from  a  forest,  made 
it  impossible  for  them  to  hold  the  posi- 
tion for  which  they  had  sacrificed  so 
much. 

The  fighting  continued  without  inter- 
mission all  through  the  night,  and,  to 
those  who  observed  the  indications  that 
the  attack  was  being  pushed  with  ever- 
growing strength,  it  hardly  seemed  pos- 
sible that  the  Canadians,  fighting  in  po- 
sitions so  difficult  to  defend  and  so  lit- 
tle the  subject  of  deliberate  choice,  could 
maintain  their  resistance  for  any  long 
period.  At  6  A.  M.  on  Friday  it  be- 
came apparent  that  the  left  was  becom- 
ing more  and  more  involved,  and  a  pow- 
erful German  attempt  to  outflank  it  de- 
veloped rapidly.  The  consequences,  if  it 
had  been  broken  or  outflanked,  need  not 
be  insisted  upon.  They  were  not  merely 
local. 

It  was  therefore  decided,  formidable 
as  the  attempt  undoubtedly  was,  to  try 
and  give  relief  by  a  counter-attack  upon 
the  first  line  of  German  trenches,  now 
far,  far  advanced  from  those  originally 
occupied  by  the  French.  This  was  car- 
ried out  by  the  Ontario  First  and  Fourth 
Battalions  of  the  First  Brigade,  under 
Brig.  Gen.  Mercer,  acting  in  combination 
with  a  British  brigade. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  youngest 
private  in  the  rank,  as  he  set  his  teeth 
for  the  advance,  knew  the  task  in  front 
of  him,  and  the  youngest  subaltern  knew 
all  that  rested  upon  its  success.  It  did 
not  seem  that  any  human  being  could 
live  in  the  shower  of  shot  and  shell  which 
began  to  play  upon  the  advancing  troops. 
They  suffered  terrible  casualties.  For  a 
short  time  every  other  man  seemed  to 


466 


THE  NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


fall,  but  the  attack  was  pressed  ever 
closer  and  closer. 

The  Fourth  Canadian  Battalion  at  one 
moment  came  under  a  particularly  with- 
ering fire.  For  a  moment — not  more — it 
wavered.  Its  most  gallant  commanding 
officer,  Lieut.  Col.  Burchill,  carrying, 
after  an  old  fashion,  a  light  cane,  coolly 
and  cheerfully  rallied  his  men  and,  at 
the  very  moment  when  his  example  had 
infected  them,  fell  dead  at  the  head  of 
his  battalion.  With  a  hoarse  cry  of 
anger  they  sprang  forward,  (for,  indeed, 
they  loved  him,)  as  if  to  avenge  his 
death.  The  astonishing  attack  which  fol- 
lowed— pushed  home  in  the  face  of  direct 
frontal  fire  made  in  broad  daylight  by 
battalions  whose  names  should  live  for 
ever  in  the  memories  of  soldiers — was 
carried  to  the  first  line  of  German 
trenches.  After  a  hand-to-hand  struggle 
the  last  German  who  resisted  was  bayo- 
neted, and  the  trench  was  won. 

The  measure  of  this  success  may  be 
taken  when  it  is  pointed  out  that  this 
trench  represented  in  the  German  ad- 
vance the  apex  in  the  breach  which  the 
enemy  had  made  in  the  original  line  of 
the  Allies,  and  that  it  was  two  and  a  half 
miles  south  of  that  line.  This  charge,  made 
by  men  who  looked  death  indifferently 
in  the  face,  (for  no  man  who  took  pai't 
in  it  could  think  that  he  was  likely  to 
live,)  saved,  and  that  was  much,  the 
Canadian  left.  But  it  did  more.  Up  to 
the  point  where  the  assailants  conquered, 
or  died,  it  secured  and  maintained  dur- 
ing the  most  critical  moment  of  all  the 
integrity  of  the  allied  line.  For  the 
trench  was  not  only  taken,  it  was  held 
thereafter  against  all  comers,  and  in  the 
teeth  of  every  conceivable  projectile,  un- 
til the  night  of  Sunday,  the  25th,  when 
all  that  remained  of  the  war-broken  but 
victorious  battalions  was  relieved  by 
fresh  troops. 

It  is  necessary  now  to  return  to  the 
fortunes  of  the  Third  Brigade,  com- 
manded by  Brig.  Gen.  Turner,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  5  o'clock  on 
Thursday  was  holding  the  Canadian  left, 
and  after  the  first  attack  assumed  the 
defense  of  the  new  Canadian  salient,  at 
the  same  time  sparing  all  the  men  it 
could  to  form  an  extemporized  line  be- 


tween the  wood  and  St.  Julien.  This 
brigade  also  was  at  the  first  moment  of 
the  German  offensive,  made  the  object 
of  an  attack  by  the  discharge  of  poison- 
ous gas.  The  discharge  was  followed  by 
two  enemy  assaults.  Although  the  fumes 
were  extremely  poisonous,  they  were  not, 
perhaps  having  regard  to  the  wind,  so 
disabling  as  on  the  French  lines,  (which 
ran  almost  east  to  west,  )  and  the  brigade, 
though  affected  by  the  fumes,  stoutly 
beat  back  the  two  German  assaults. 

Encouraged  by  this  success,  it  rose  to 
the  supreme  effort  required  by  the  as- 
sault on  the  wood,  which  has  already 
been  described.  At  4  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  Friday,  the  23d,  a  fresh  emission 
of  gas  was  made  both  upon  the  Second 
Brigade,  which  held  the  line  running 
northeast,  and  upon  the  Third  Brigade, 
which,  as  has  been  fully  explained,  had 
continued  the  line  up  to  the  pivotal  point, 
as  defined  above,  and  had  then  spread 
down  in  a  southeasterly  direction.  It  is, 
perhaps,  worth  mentioning  that  two 
privates  of  the  Forty-eighth  Highlanders 
who  found  their  way  into  the  trenches 
commanded  by  Colonel  Lipsett,  Ninetieth 
Winnipeg  Rifles,  Eighth  Battalion, 
perished  in  the  fumes,  and  it  was  no- 
ticed that  their  faces  became  blue  imme- 
diately after  dissolution. 

The  Royal  Highlanders  of  Montreal, 
Thirteenth  Battalion,  and  the  Forty- 
eighth  Highlanders,  Fifteenth  Battalion, 
were  more  especially  affected  by  the  dis- 
charge. The  Royal  Highlanders,  though 
considerably  shaken,  remained  im- 
movable upon  their  ground.  The  Forty- 
eighth  Highlanders,  which,  no  doubt,  re- 
ceived a  more  poisonous  discharge,  was 
for  the  moment  dismayed,  and,  indeed, 
their  trench,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  very  hardened  soldiers,  became  in- 
tolerable. The  battalion  retired  from 
the  trench,  but  for  a  very  short  distance, 
and  for  an  equally  short  time.  In  a  few 
moments  they  were  again  their  own  men. 
They  advanced  upon  and  occupied  the 
trenches  which  they  had  momentarily 
abandoned. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  night  the 
Third  Brigade,  which  had  already  dis- 
played  a   resource,   a    gallantry,  and  a 


■RAILROADS 
-HI  OH  WAYS 


The  German  rush  across  the  Yser-Ypres  Canal  was  checked  at 
Lizerne  and  opposite  Boesinghe.  The  shaded  area  on  the  map  marks 
the  scene  of  the  battle.  Within  this  area  are  Steenstraate,  Het  Sast, 
Pilkem,  St.  Julien,  and  Langemarck,  all  of  which  the  Germans  claimed 
to  have  captured. 


468 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


tenacity  for  which  no  eulogy  could  be 
excessive,  was  exposed  (and  with  it  the 
whole  allied  case)  to  a  peril  still  more 
formidable. 

It  has  been  explained,  and,  indeed,  the 
fundamental  situation  made  the  peril 
clear,  that  several  German  divisions  were 
attempting  to  crush  or  drive  back  this 
devoted  brigade,  and  in  any  event  to  use 
their  enormous  numerical  superiority  to 
sweep  around  and  overwhelm  its  left 
wing.  At  some  point  in  the  line  which 
cannot  be  precisely  determined  the  last 
attempt  partially  succeeded,  and  in  the 
course  of  this  critical  struggle  German 
troops  in  considerable  though  not  in 
overwhelming  numbers  swung  past  the 
unsupported  left  of  the  brigade,  and, 
slipping  in  between  the  wood  and  St. 
Julien,  added  to  the  torturing  anxieties 
of  the  long-drawn  struggle  by  the  ap- 
pearance, and  indeed  for  the  moment 
the  reality,  of  isolation  from  the  brigade 
base. 

In  the  exertions  made  by  the  Third 
Brigade  during  this  supreme  crisis  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  single  out  one  bat- 
talion without  injustice  to  others,  but 
though  the  efforts  of  the  Royal  High- 
landers of  Montreal,  Thirteenth  Bat- 
talion, were  only  equal  to  those  of  the 
other  battalions  who  did  such  heroic 
service,  it  so  happened  by  chance  that 
the  fate  of  some  of  its  officers  attracted 
special  attention. 

Major  Norsworth,  already  almost  dis- 
abled by  a  bullet  wound,  was  bayoneted 
and  killed  while  he  was  rallying  his  men 
with  easy  cheerfulness.  The  case  of 
Captain  McCuaig,  of  the  same  battalion, 
was  not  less  glorious,  although  his  death 
can  claim  no  witness.  This  most  gallant 
officer  was  seriously  wounded,  in  a  hur- 
riedly constructed  trench,  at  a  moment 
when  it  would  have  been  possible  to  re- 
move him  to  safety.  He  absolutely  re- 
fused to  move  and  continued  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duty. 

But  the  situation  g^rew  constantly 
worse,  and  peremptory  orders  were  re- 
ceived for  an  immediate  withdrawal. 
Those  who  were  compelled  to  obey  them 
were  most  insistent  to  carry  with  them, 
at  whatever  risk  to  their  own  mobility 


and  safety,  an  officer  to  whom  they 
were  devotedly  attached.  But  he,  know- 
ing, it  may  be,  better  than  they,  the 
exertions  which  still  lay  in  front  of 
them,  and  unwilling  to  inflict  upon  them 
the  disabilities  of  a  maimed  man,  very 
resolutely  refused,  and  asked  of  them 
one  thing  only,  that  there  should  be 
given  to  him,  as  he  lay  alone  in  the 
trench,  two  loaded  Colt  revolvers  to  add 
to  his  own,  which  lay  in  his  right  hand 
as  he  made  his  last  request.  And  so, 
with  three  revolvers  ready  to  his  hand 
for  use,  a  very  brave  officer  waited  to 
sell  his  life,  wounded  and  racked  with 
pain,  in  an  abandoned  trench. 

On  Friday  afternoon  the  left  of  the 
Canadian  line  was  strengthened  by  im- 
portant reinforcements  of  British  troops 
amounting  to  seven  battalions.  From 
this  time  forward  the  Canadians  also 
continued  to  receive  further  assistance 
on  the  left  from  a  series  of  French  coun- 
ter-attacks pushed  in  a  northeasterly  di- 
rection from  the  canal  bank. 

But  the  artillery  fire  of  the  enemy 
continually  grew  in  intensity,  and  it  be- 
came more  and  more  evident  that  the 
Canadian  salient  could  no  longer  be 
maintained  against  the  overwhelming 
superiority  of  numbers  by  which  it  was 
assailed.  Slowly,  stubbornly,  and  con- 
testing every  yard,  the  defenders  gave 
ground  until  the  salient  gradually  re- 
ceded from  the  apex,  near  the  point 
where  it  had  originally  aligfned  with  the 
French,  and  fell  back  upon  St.  Julien. 

Soon  it  became  evident  that  even  St. 
Julien,  exposed  to  fire  from  right  and 
left,  was  no  longer  tenable  in  the  face  of 
overwhelming  numerical  superiority.  The 
Third  Brigade  was  therefore  ordered  to 
retreat  further  south,  selling  every  yard 
of  ground  as  dearly  as  it  had  done  since 
5  o'clock  on  Thursday.  But  it  was  found 
impossible,  without  hazarding  far  larger 
forces,  to  disentangle  the  detachment  of 
the  Royal  Highlanders  of  Montreal, 
Thirteenth  Battalion,  and  of  the  Royal 
Montreal  Regiment,  Fourteenth  Bat- 
talion. The  brigade  was  ordered,  and  not 
a  moment  too  soon,  to  move  back.  It 
left  these  units  with  hearts  as  heavy  as 
those  with  which  his  comrades  had  said 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


469 


farewell  to  Captain  McCuaig.  The  Ger- 
man tide  rolled,  indeed,  over  the  deserted 
village,  but  for  several  hours  after  the 
enemy  had  bcome  master  of  the  village 
the  sullen  and  persistent  rifle  fire  which 
survived  showed  that  they  were  not  yet 
master  of  the  Canadian  rearguard.  If 
they  died,  they  died  worthily  of  Canada. 

The  enforced  retirement  of  the  Third 
Brigade  (and  to  have  stayed  longer  would 
have  been  madness)  reproduced  for  the 
Second  Brigade,  commanded  by  Brig. 
Gen.  Curry,  in  a  singularly  exact  fashion, 
the  position  of  the  Third  Brigade  itself 
at  the  moment  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
French.  The  Second  Brigade,  it  must  be 
remembered,  had  retained  the  whole  line 
of  trenches,  roughly  2,500  yards,  which 
it  was  holding  at  5  o'clock  on  Thursday 
afternoon,  supported  by  the  incompar- 
able exertions  of  the  Third  Brigade,  and 
by  the  highly  hazardous  deployment  in 
which  necessity  had  involved  that  bri- 
gade. The  Second  Brigade  had  main- 
tained its  lines. 

It  now  devolved  upon  General  Curry, 
commanding  this  brigade,  to  reproduce 
the  tactical  maneuvres  with  which, 
earlier  in  the  fight,  the  Third  Brigade 
had  adapted  itself  to  the  flank  move- 
ment of  overwhelming  numerical  su- 
periority. He  flung  his  left  flank  around 
south,  and  his  record  is,  that  in  the  very 
crisis  of  this  immense  struggle  he  held 
his  line  of  trenches  from  Thursday  at  5 
o'clock  till  Sunday  afternoon.  And  on 
Sunday  afternoon  he  had  not  abandoned 
his  trenches.  There  were  none  left.  They 
had  been  obliterated  by  artillery.  He 
withdrew  his  undefeated  troops  from  the 
fragments  of  his  field  fortifications,  and 
the  hearts  of  his  men  were  as  completely 
unbroken  as  the  parapets  of  his  trenches 
were  completely  broken.  In  such  a  bri- 
gade it  is  invidious  to  single  out  any 
battalion  for  special  praise,  but  it  is, 
perhaps,  necessary  to  the  story  to  point 
out  that  Lieut.  Col.  Lipsett,  commanding 
the  Ninetieth  Winnipeg  Rifles,  Eighth 
Battalion  of  the  Second  Brigade,  held 
the  extreme  left  of  the  brigade  position 
at  the  most  critical  moment. 

The  battalion  was  expelled  from  the 
trenches  early  on  Friday  morning  by  an 


emission  of  poisonous  gas,  but,  recover- 
ing in  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  it  coun- 
ter-attacked, retook  the  trenches  it  had 
abandoned,  and  bayoneted  the  enemy. 
And  after  the  Third  Brigade  had  been 
forced  to  retire  Lieut.  Col.  Lipsett  held 
his  position,  though  his  left  was  in  the 
air,  until  two  British  regiments  filled  up 
the  gap  on  Saturday  night. 

The  individual  fortunes  of  these  two 
brigades  have  brought  us  to  the  events 
of  Sunday  afternoon,  but  it  is  necessary, 
to  make  the  story  complete,  to  recur  for 
a  moment  to  the  events  of  the  morning. 
After  a  very  formidable  attack  the  enemy 
succeeded  in  capturing  the  village  of  St. 
Julien,  which  has  so  often  been  referred 
to  in  describing  the  fortunes  of  the  Cana- 
dian left.  This  success  opened  up  a  new 
and  formidable  line  of  advance,  but  by 
this  time  further  reinforcements  had  ar- 
rived. Here,  again,  it  became  evident 
that  the  tactical  necessities  of  the  situa- 
tion dictated  an  offensive  movement  as 
the  surest  method  of  arresting  further 
progress. 

General  Alderson,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  reinforcements,  according- 
ly directed  that  an  advance  should  be 
made  by  a  British  brigade  which  had 
been  brought  up  in  support.  The  attack 
was  thrust  through  the  Canadian  left 
and  centre,  and  as  the  troops  making  it 
swept  on,  many  of  them  going  to  certain 
death,  they  paused  an  instant,  and,  with 
deep-throated  cheers  for  Canada,  gave 
the  first  indication  to  the  division  of  the 
warm  admiration  which  their  exertions 
had  excited  in  the  British  Army. 

The  advance  was  indeed  costly,  but  it 
could  not  be  gainsaid.  The  story  is  one 
of  which  the  brigade  may  be  proud,  but 
it  does  not  belong  to  the  special  account 
of  the  fortunes  of  the  Canadian  con- 
tingent. It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose 
to  notice  that  the  attack  succeeded  in  its 
object,  and  the  German  advance  along 
the  line,  momentarily  threatened,  was  ar- 
rested. 

We  had  reached,  in  describing  the 
events  of  the  afternoon,  the  points  at 
which  the  trenches  of  the  Second  Bri- 
gade had  been  completely  destroyed. 
This  brigade,  the  Third  Brigade,  and  the 


470 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


considerable  reinforcements  which  this 
time  filled  the  gap  between  the  two  bri- 
gades were  gradually  driven  fighting 
every  yard  upon  a  line  running,  roughly, 
from  Fortuin,  south  of  St.  Julien,  in  a 
northeasterly  direction  toward  Passchen- 
daele.  Here  the  two  brigades  were  re- 
lieved by  two  British  brigades,  after 
exertions  as  glorious,  as  fruitful,  and, 
alas!  as  costly  as  soldiers  have  ever  been 
called  upon  to  make. 

Monday  morning  broke  bright  and 
clear  and  found  the  Canadians  behind 
the  firing  line.  This  day,  too,  was  to 
bring  its  anxieties.  The  attack  was  still 
pressed,  and  it  became  necessary  to  ask 
Brig.  Gen.  Curry  whether  he  could 
once  more  call  upon  his  shrunken 
brigade.  "  The  men  are  tired,"  this  in- 
domitable soldier  replied,  "  but  they  are 
ready  and  glad  to  go  again  to  the 
trenches."  And  so  once  more,  a  hero 
leading  heroes,  the  General  marched 
back  the  men  of  the  Second  Brigade,  re- 
duced to  a  quarter  of  its  original 
strength,  to  the  very  apex  of  the  line  as 
it  existed  at  that  moment. 

This  position  he  held  all  day  Monday; 
on  Tuesday  he  was  still  occupying  the  re- 
serve trenches,  and  on  Wednesday  was 
relieved  and  retired  to  billets  in  the  rear. 

Such,  in  the  most  general  outline,  is 
the  story  of  a  great  and  glorious  feat  of 
arms.  A  story  told  so  soon  after  the 
event,  while  rendering  bare  justice  to 
units  whose  doings  fell  under  the  eyes  of 
particular  observers,  must  do  less  than 
justice  to  others  who  played  their  part — 
and  all  did — as  gloriously  as  those  whose 
special  activities  it  is  possible,  even  at 
this  stage,  to  describe.  But  the  friends 
of  men  who  fought  in  other  battalions 
may  be  content  in  the  knowledge  that 
they,  too,  shall  learn,  when  time  allows 
the  complete  correlation  of  diaries,  the 
exact  part  which  each  unit  played  in 
these  unforgettable  days.  It  is  rather 
accident  than  special  distinction  which 
had  made  it  possible  to  select  Individual 
battalions  for  mention. 

It  would  not  be  right  to  close  even  this 
account  without  a  word  of  tribute  to  the 
auxiliary  services.  The  signalers  were 
always  cool  and  resourceful.  The  tele- 
graph  and   telephone   wires   being   con- 


stantly cut,  many  belonging  to  this  serv- 
ice rendered  up  their  lives  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty,  carrying  out  re- 
pairs with  the  cost  complete  calmness  in 
exposed  positions.  The  dispatch  carriers, 
as  usual,  behaved  with  the  greatest  brav- 
ery. Theirs  is  a  lonely  life,  and  very 
often  a  lonely  death.  One  cycle  mes- 
senger lay  upon  the  ground,  badly 
wounded.  He  stopped  a  passing  officer 
and  delivered  his  message,  together  with 
some  verbal  instructions.  These  were  co- 
herently given,  but  he  swooned  almost  be- 
fore the  words  were  out  of  his  mouth. 

The  artillery  never  flagged  in  the 
sleepless  struggle  in  which  so  much  de- 
pended upon  its  exertions.  Not  a  Cana- 
dian gun  was  lost  in  the  long  battle  of 
retreat.  And  the  nature  of  the  position 
renders  such  a  record  very  remarkable. 
One  battery  of  four  guns  found  itself  in 
such  a  situation  that  it  was  compelled 
to  turn  two  of  its  guns  directly  about  and 
fire  upon  the  enemy  in  positions  almost 
diametrically  opposite. 

It  is  not  possible  in  this  account  to  at- 
tempt a  description  of  the  services  ren- 
dered by  the  Canadian  Engineers  or  the 
Medical  Corps.  Their  members  rivaled 
in  coolness,  endurance,  and  valor  the 
Canadian  infantry,  whose  comrades  they 
were,  and  it  is  hoped  in  separate  commu- 
nications to  do  justice  to  both  these  bril- 
liant services. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  in  this  de- 
scription to  explain  the  recent  operations 
except  in  so  far  as  they  spring  from,  or 
are  connected  with,  the  fortunes  of  the 
Canadian  Division.  It  is  certain  that 
the  exertions  of  the  troops  who  rein- 
forced and  later  relieved  the  Canadians 
were  not  less  glorious,  but  the  long, 
drawn-out  struggle  is  a  lesson  to  the 
whole  empire.  "Arise,  O  Israel!"  The 
empire  is  engaged  in  a  struggle,  without 
quarter  and  without  compromise,  against 
an  enemy  still  superbly  organized,  still 
immensely  powerful,  still  confident  that 
its  strength  is  the  mate  of  its  necessities. 
To  arms,  then,  and  still  to  arms!  In 
Great  Britain,  in  Canada,  in  Australia 
there  is  need,  and  there  is  need  now,  of 
a  community  organized  alike  in  military 
and  industrial  co-operation. 

That  our  countrymen  in  Canada,  even 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


471 


while  their  hearts  are  still  bleeding,  will 
answer  every  call  which  is  made  upon 
them,  we  well  know. 

The  graveyard  of  Canada  in  Flanders 
is  large;  it  is  very  large.  Those  who  lie 
there  have  left  their  mortal  remains  on 


alien    soil.      To    Canada    they   have    be- 
queathed their  memories  and  their  glory. 
On    Fame's   eternal   camping   ground 

Their  silent  tents  are  spread, 
And   Glory  guards  with  solemn  round 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead. 


Vapor  Warfare  Resumed 


SIR  JOHN  FRENCH'S  REPORT. 
The  British  Press  Bureau  authorized 
the  publication  of  the  following  report, 
dated  May  3,  by  Field  Marshal  Sir  John 
French  on  the  employment  by  the  Ger- 
mans of  poisonous  gases  as  weapons  of 
warfare : 

THE  gases  employed  have  been 
ejected  from  pipes  laid  into  the 
trenches,  and  also  produced  by 
the  explosion  of  shells  specially 
manufactured  for  the  purpose.  The  Ger- 
man troops  who  attacked  under  cover  of 
these  gases  were  provided  with  specially 
designed  respirators  which  were  issued 
in  sealed  patent  covers. 

This  all  points  to  long  and  methodical 
preparation  on  a  large  scale.  A  week 
before  the  Germans  first  used  this 
method  they  announced  in  their  official 
communique  that  we  were  making  use  of 
asphyxiating  gases.  At  the  time  there 
appeared  to  be  no  reason  for  this  astound- 
ing falsehood,  but  now,  of  course,  it  is 
obvious  that  it  was  part  of  the  scheme. 
It  is  a  further  proof  of  the  deliberate 
nature  of  the  introduction  by  the  Ger- 
mans of  a  new  and  illegal  weapon,  and 
shows  that  they  recognized  its  illegality, 
and  were  anxious  to  forestall  neutral  and 
possibly   domestic   criticism. 

Since  the  enemy  has  made  use  of  this 
method  of  covering  his  advance  with  a 
cloud  of  poisoned  air,  he  has  repeated  it 
both  in  offense  and  defense  whenever  the 
wind  has  been  favorable.  The  effect  of 
this  poison  is  not  merely  disabling  or 
even  painlessly  fatal  as  suggested  in  the 
German  press.  Those  of  its  victims  who 
do  not  succumb  on  the  field  and  who  can 
be  brought  into  hospital  suffer  acutely, 
and  in  a  large  proportion  of  cases  die  a 


painful  and  lingering  death.  Those  who 
survive  are  in  little  better  case,  as  the 
injury  to  their  lungs  appears  to  be  of  a 
permanent  character,  and  reduces  them 
to  a  condition  which  points  to  their  being 
invalids  for  life. 

These  facts  must  be  well  known  to  the 
German  scientists  who  devised  this  new 
weapon  and  to  the  military  authorities 
who  have  sanctioned  its  use.  I  am  of 
opinion  that  the  enemy  has  definitely  de- 
cided to  use  these  gases  as  a  normal  pro- 
cedure, and  that  protests  will  be  useless. 
THE  "  EYEWITNESS  "  STORY. 

The  following  descriptive  account,.com- 
municated  by  the  British  Eyewitness 
present  with  General  Headquarters,  con- 
tinues and  supplements  the  narrative 
published  on  April  29  of  the  movements 
of  the  British  force  and  the  French 
armies  in  immediate  touch  with  it: 

April  30,  1915. 

As  will  have  been  gathered  from  the 
last  summary,  assaults  accompanied  with 
gas  were  not  made  on  every  position  of 
the  front  held  by  the  British  to  the  north 
of  Ypres  at  the  same  time.  At  one 
point  it  was  not  until  the  early  morning 
of  Saturday,  April  24,  that  the  Ger- 
mans brought  this  method  into  operation 
against  a  section  of  our  line  not  far 
from  our  left  flank. 

Late  on  Thursday  afternoon  the  men 
here  saw  portions  of  the  French  retiring 
some  distance  to  the  west,  and  observed 
the  cloud  of  vapor  rolling  along  the 
ground  southward  behind  them.  Our 
position  was  then  shelled  with  high  ex- 
plosives until  8  P.  M.  On  Friday  also 
it  was  bombarded  for  some  hours,  the 
Germans  firing  poison  shells  for  one 
hour.     Their     infantry,    who     were     in- 


472 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


trenched  about  120  yards  away,  evidently 
expected  some  result  from  their  use  of 
the  latter,  for  they  put  their  heads  above 
the  parapets,  as  if  to  see  what  the  effect 
had  been  on  our  men,  and  at  intervals 
opened  rapid  rifle  fire.  The  wind,  how- 
ever, was  strong  and  dissipated  the  fumes 
quickly,  our  troops  did  not  suffer  seri- 
ously from  their  noxious  effect,  and  the 
enemy  did  not  attempt  any  advance. 

On  Saturday  morning,  just  about 
dawn,  an  airship  appeared  in  the  sky  to 
the  east  of  our  line  at  this  point,  and 
dropped  four  red  stars,  which  floated 
downward  slowly  for  some  distance  be- 
fore they  died  out.  When  our  men, 
whose  eyes  had  not  unnaturally  been 
fixed  on  this  display  of  pyrotechnics, 
again  turned  to  their  front  it  was  to 
find  the  German  trenches  rendered  in- 
visible by  a  w^all  of  greenish-yellow 
vapor,  similar  to  that  observed  on  the 
Thursday  afternoon,  which  was  bearing 
down  on  them  on  the  breeze.  Through 
this  the  Germans  started  shooting.  Dur- 
ing Saturday  they  employed  stupefying 
gas  on  several  occasions  in  this  quarter, 
but  did  not  press  on  very  quickly.  One 
reason  for  this,  given  by  a  German 
prisoner,  is  that  many  of  the  enemy's 
infantry  were  so  affected  by  the  fumes 
that  they  could  not  advance. 

To  continue  the  narrative  from  the 
night  of  Sunday,  April  25.  At  12:30 
A.  M.,  in  face  of  repeated  attacks,  our 
infantry  fell  back  from  a  part  of  the 
Grafenstafel  Ridge,  northwest  of  Zonne- 
beke,  and  the  line  then  ran  for  some  dis- 
tance along  the  south  bank  of  the  little 
Haanebeek  stream.  The  situation  along 
the  Yperlee  Canal  remained  practically 
unchanged. 

When  the  morning  of  the  26th  dawned 
the  Germans,  who  had  been  seen  massing 
in  St.  Julien,  and  to  the  east  of  tho 
village  on  the  previous  evening,  made 
several  assaults,  which  grew  more  and 
more  fierce  as  the  hours  passed,  but  rein- 
forcements were  sent  up  and  the  position 
was  secured.  Further  east,  however,  our 
line  was  pierced  near  Broodseinde,  and 
a  small  body  of  the  enemy  established 
themselves  in  a  portion  of  our  trenches. 
In  the  afternoon  a  strong,  combined 
counter-attack    was     delivered    by    the 


French  and  British  along  the  whole  front 
from  Steenstraate  to  the  east  of  St. 
Julien,  accompanied  by  a  violent  bom- 
bardment. This  moment,  so  far  as  can 
be  judged  at  present,  marked  the  turn- 
ing point  of  the  battle,  for,  although  it 
effected  no  great  change  in  the  situation, 
is  caused  a  definite  check  to  the  enemy's 
offensive,  relieved  the  pressure,  and 
gained  a  certain  amount  of  ground. 

During  this  counter-attack  the  guns 
concentrated  by  both  sides  on  this  com- 
paratively narrow  front  poured  in  a 
great  volume  of  fire.  From  the  right 
came  the  roar  of  the  British  batteries, 
fi'om  the  left  the  rolling  thunder  of  the 
soixante-quinze,  and  every  now  and  then 
above  the  turmoil  rose  a  dull  boom  as 
a  huge  howitzer  shell  burst  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Ypres.  On  the  right  our  infantry 
stormed  the  German  trenches  close  to 
St.  Julien,  and  in  the  evening  gained 
the  southern  outskirts  of  the  village.  In 
the  centre  they  captured  the  trenches  a 
little  to  the  south  of  the  Bois  des  Cuisin- 
irs,  west  of  St.  Julien,  and  still  further 
west  more  trenches  were  taken.  This 
represented  an  advance  of  some  600  or 
700  yards,  but  the  gain  in  ground  could 
not  at  all  points  be  maintained.  Oppo- 
site St.  Julien  we  fell  back  from  the 
village  to  a  position  just  south  of  the 
place,  and  in  front  of  the  Bois  des  Cuisin- 
irs  and  on  the  left  of  the  line  a  similar 
retirement  took  place,  the  enemy  making 
extensive  use  of  his  gas  cylinders  and  of 
machine  guns  placed  in  farms  at  or  other 
points  of  vantage.  None  the  less,  the 
situation  at  nightfall  was  more  satis- 
factory than  it  had  been.  We  were  hold- 
ing our  own  well  all  along  the  line  and 
had  made  progress  at  some  points.  On 
the  right  the  enemy's  attacks  on  the  front 
of  the  Grafenstafel  Ridge  had  all  been 
repulsed. 

In  the  meantime  the  French  had 
achieved  some  success,  having  retaken 
Lizerne  and  also  the  trenches  round  Het 
Sast,  captured  some  250  prisoners,  and 
made  progress  all  along  the  west  bank 
of  the  canal.  Heavy  as  our  losses  were 
during  the  day,  there  is  little  doubt  that 
the  enemy  suffered  terribly.  Both  sides 
were  attacking  at  different  points,  the 
fighting  was  conducted  very  largely  in 


GENERAL     SIR     IAN      HAMILTON 

Commanding  the  Allied  Expeditionary  Forces  Operating 

Against  the  Dardanelles 

(Photo  from  P.   S.   Rogers.) 


ANDREW     BONAR     LAW 

The  Canadian-born  Leader  of  the  Opposition  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons 

(Photo    hy   Bo.s.siino.) 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


473 


the  open,  and  the  close  formations  of  the 
Germans  on  several  occasions  presented 
excellent  targets  to  our  artillery,  which 
did  not  fail  to  seize  its  opportunities. 

Nothing  in  particular  occurred  during 
the  night. 

The  morning  of  the  27th  found  our 
troops  occupying  the  following  posi- 
tions: North  of  Zonnebeke  the  right  of 
the  line  still  held  the  eastern  end  of  the 
Grafenstafel  Ridge,  but  from  here  it 
bent  southwestward  behind  the  Haane- 
beek  stream,  which  it  followed  to  a  point 
about  half  a  mile  east  of  St.  Julien. 
Thence  it  curved  back  again  to  the  Vam- 
heule  Farm,  on  the  Ypres-Poelcappelle 
road,  running  from  here  in  a  slight 
southerly  curve  to  a  point  a  little  west 
of  the  Ypres-Langemarck  road,  where 
it  joined  the  French.  In  the  last  men- 
tioned quarter  of  the  field  it  followed 
generally  the  line  of  a  low  ridge  running 
from  west  to  east.  On  the  French  front 
the  Germans  had  been  cleared  from  the 
west  bank  of  the  canal,  except  at  one 
point,  Steenstraate,  where  they  continued 
to  hold  the  bridgehead. 

About  1  P.  M.  a  counter-attack  was 
made  by  us  all  along  the  line  between 
the  canal  and  the  Ypres-Poelcappelle 
road,  and  for  about  an  hour  we  con- 
tinued to  make  progress.  Then  the  right 
and  centre  were  checked.  A  little  later 
the  left  was  also  held  up,  and  the  situa- 
tion remained  very  much  as  it  had  been 
on  the  previous  day.  The  Germans  were 
doubtless  much  encouraged  by  their 
initial  success,  and  their  previous  bold- 
ness in  attack  was  now  matched  by  the 
stubborn  manner  in  which  they  clung  on 
to  their  positions.  In  the  evening  the 
French  stormed  some  trenches  east  of 
the  canal,  but  were  again  checked  by  the 
enemy's  gas  cylinders. 

The  night  passed  quietly,  and  was 
spent  by  us  in  reorganizing  and  consoli- 
dating our  positions.  The  enemy  did  not 
interfere.  This  is  not  surprising,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  by  Tuesday  even- 
ing they  had  been  fighting  for  over  five 
days.  Their  state  of  exhaustion  is  con- 
firmed by  the  statements  of  the  prisoners 
captured  by  the  French,  who  also  report- 


ed that  the  German  losses  had  been  very 
heavy. 

On  Wednesday,  the  28th,  there  was  a 
complete  lull  on  this  sector  of  our  line, 
and  the  shelling  was  less  severe.  Some 
fighting,  however,  occurred  along  the 
canal,  the  French  taking  over  100  prison- 
ers. 

Nothing  of  any  importance  has  oc- 
curred on  other  parts  of  the  front.  On  the 
27th,  at  the  Railway  Triangle  opposite 
Guinchy,  the  south  side  of  the  embank- 
ment held  by  the  Germans  was  blown  up 
by  our  miners.  On  the  28th  a  hostile 
aeroplane  was  forced  to  descend  by  our 
anti-aircraft  guns.  On  coming  down  in 
rear  of  the  German  lines,  it  was  at  once 
fired  upon  and  destroyed  by  our  field 
artillery.  Another  hostile  machine  was 
brought  down  by  rifle  fire  near  Zonne- 
beke. 

Splendid  work  has  been  done  during 
the  past  few  days  by  our  airmen,  who 
have  kept  all  the  area  behind  the  hostile 
lines  under  close  observation.  On  the 
26th  they  bombed  the  stations -of  Staden, 
Thielt,  Courtrai,  Roubaix,  and  other 
places,  and  located  an  armored  train  near 
Langemarck,  which  was  subsequently 
shelled  and  forced  to  retire.  There  have 
been  several  successful  conflicts  in  the 
air,  on  one  occasion  a  pilot  in  a  single 
seater  chasing  a  German  machine  to 
Roulers,  and  forcing  it  to  land. 

The  raid  on  Courtrai  unfoi'tunately  cost 
the  nation  a  very  gallant  life,  but  it  will 
live  as  one  of  the  most  heroic  episodes  of 
the  war.  The  airman  started  on  the 
enterprise  alone  in  a  biplane.  On  arrival 
at  Courtrai  he  glided  down  to  a  height 
of  300  feet  and  dropped  a  large  bomb  on 
the  railway  junction.  While  he  did  this 
he  was  the  target  of  hundreds  of  rifles, 
of  machine  guns,  and  of  anti-aircraft 
armament,  and  was  severely  wounded  in 
the  thigh.  Though  he  might  have  saved 
his  life  by  at  once  coming  down  in  the 
enemy's  lines,  he  decided  to  save  his  ma- 
chine at  all  costs,  and  made  for  the  Brit- 
ish lines.  Descending  to  a  height  of  only 
100  feet  in  order  to  increase  his  speed, 
he  continued  to  fly  and  was  again  wound- 
ed, this  time  mortally.  He  still  flew  on, 
however,  and  without  coming  down   at 


474 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  nearest  of  our  aerodromes  went  all 
the  way  back  to  his  own  base,  where  he 
executed  a  perfect  landing  and  made  his 
report.  He  died  in  hospital  not  long 
afterward.* 

The  outstanding  feature  of  the  action 
of  the  past  week  has  been  the  steadiness 
of  our  troops  on  the  extreme  left;  but 
of  the  deeds  of  individual  gallantry  and 
devotion  which  have  been  performed  it 
would  be  impossible  to  narrate  one- 
hundredth  part.  At  one  place  in  this 
quarter  a  machine  gun  was  stationed  in 
the  angle  of  a  trench  when  the  German 
rush  took  place.  One  man  after  another 
of  the  detachment  was  shot,  but  the  gun 
still  continued  in  action,  though  five 
bodies  lay  around  it.  When  the  sixth  man 
took  the  place  of  his  fallen  comrades,  of 
whom  one  was  his  brother,  the  Germans 
were  still  pressing  on.  He  waited  until 
they  were  only  a  few  yards  away,  and 
then  poured  a  stream  of  bullets  on  to  the 
advancing  ranks,  which  broke  and  fell 
back,  leaving  rows  of  dead.  He  was  then 
wounded  himself. 

Under  the  hot  fire  to  which  our  bat- 
teries were  subjected  in  the  early  part 
of  the  engagement  telephone  wires  were 
repeatedly  cut.  The  wire  connecting  one 
battery  with  its  observing  officer  was 
severed  on  nine  separate  occasions,  and 
on  each  occasion  repaired  by  a  Sergeant, 
who  did  the  work  out  in  the  open  under 
a  perfect  hail  of  shells. 

On  May  5  the  folloiving  account  of  the 
British  Official  Eyeivitness,  continuing 
the  report  of  April  30,  was  published: 

About  5  P.  M.  a  dense  cloud  of  suf- 
focating vapors  was  launched  from  their 
trenches  along  the  whole  front  held  by 
the  French  right  and  by  our  left  from 
the  Ypres-Langemarck  road  to  a  consid- 
erable distance  east  of  St.  Julien.     The 

*The  obituary  columns  of  The  Times  of 
April  30  contained  tlie  following  notice  under 
"  Died  of  Wounds  "  : 

RHODES-MOORHOUSE.— On  Tuesday, 
the  27th  April,  of  wounds  received  while 
dropping  bombs  on  Courtrai  the  day 
before,  William  Barnard  Rhodes  Rhodes- 
MooRHOVSE,  Second  Lieutenant,  Royal  Fly- 
ing Corps,  aged  27,  dear  elder  son  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Edward  Moorehouse  of  Parnham 
House,  Dorset,  and  most  loved  husband 
of   Linda   Rhodes-Moorhouse. 


fumes  did  not  carry  much  beyond  cur 
front  trenches.  But  these  were  to  a 
great  extent  rendered  untenable,  and  a 
retirement  from  them  was  ordered. 

No  sooner  had  this  started  than  the 
enemy  opened  a  violent  bombardment 
with  asphyxiating  shells  and  shrapnel  on 
our  trenches  and  on  our  infantry  as  they 
were  withdrawing.  Meanwhile  our  guns 
had  not  been  idle.  From  a  distance,  per- 
haps owing  to  some  peculiarity  of  the 
light,  the  gas  on  this  occasion  looked  like 
a  great  reddish  cloud,  and  the  moment 
it  was  seen  our  batteries  poured  a  con- 
centrated fire  on  the  German  trenches. 

Curious  situations  then  arose  between 
us  and  the  enemy.  The  poison  belt,  the 
upper  part  shredding  into  thick  wreaths 
of  vapor  as  it  was  shaken  by  the  wind, 
and  the  lower  and  denser  part  sinking 
into  all  inequalities  of  the  ground,  rolled 
slowly  down  the  trenches.  Shells  would 
rend  it  for  a  moment,  but  it  only  settled 
down  again  as  thickly  as  before. 

Nevertheless,  the  German  infantry 
faced  it,  and  they  faced  a  hail  of  shrap- 
nel as  well.  In  some  cases  where  the 
gas  had  not  reached  our  lines  our  troops 
held  firm  and  shot  through  the  cloud  at 
the  advancing  Germans.  In  other  cases 
the  men  holding  the  front  line  managed 
to  move  to  the  flank,  where  they  were 
more  or  less  beyond  the  affected  area. 
Here  they  waited  until  the  enemy  came 
on  and  then  bayoneted  them  when  they 
reached  our  trenches. 

On  the  extreme  left  our  supports 
waited  until  the  wall  of  vapor  reached 
our  trenches,  when  they  charged  through 
it  and  met  the  advancing  Germans  with 
the  bayonet  as  they  swarmed  over  the 
parapets. 

South  of  St.  Julien  the  denseness  of 
the  vapor  compelled  us  to  evacuate 
trenches,  but  reinforcements  arrived  who 
charged  the  enemy  before  they  could  es- 
tablish themselves  in  position.  In  every 
case  the  assaults  failed  completely.  Large 
numbers  were  mown  down  by  our  artil- 
lery. Men  were  seen  falling  and  others 
scattering  and  running  b:ick  to  their  own 
lines.  Many  who  reached  the  gas  cloud 
could  not  make  their  way  through  it,  and 
in  all  probability  a  great  number  of  the 
wounded  perished  from  the  fumes. 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS   GASES 


475 


It  is  to  that  extent,  from  a  military 
standpoint,  a  sign  of  weakness.  Another 
sign  of  weakness  is  the  adoption  of  illegal 
methods  of  fighting,  such  as  spreading 
poisonous  gas.  It  is  a  confession  by  the 
Germans  that  they  have  lost  their  former 
great  superiority  in  artillery  and  are, 
in  any  cost,  seeking  another  technical  ad- 
vantage over  their  enemy  as  a  substitute. 

Nevertheless,  this  spirit,  this  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  our  enemies  to 
stick  at  nothing  must  not  be  underesti- 
mated. Though  it  may  not  pay  the  Ger- 
mans in  the  long  run,  it  renders  it  all 
the  more  obvious  that  they  are  a  foe  that 
can  be  overcome  only  by  the  force  of 
overwhelming  numbers  of  men  and  guns. 

Further  to  the  east  a  similar  attack 
was  made  about  7  P.  M.  which  seems  to 
have  been  attended  with  even  less  suc- 
cess, and  the  assaulting  infantry  was  at 
once  beaten  back  by  our  artillery  fire. 

It  was  not  long  before  all  our  trenches 
were  reoccupied  and  the  whole  line  re- 
established in  its  original  position.  The 
attack  on  the  French  met  with  the  same 
result. 

The  Eyewitness  then  relates  incidents 
showing  the  steadiness  of  the  Indian 
troops,  who,  he  says,  "  advanced  under 
a  murderous  fire,  their  war  cry  swelling 
louder  and  louder  above  the  din" 

Prisoners  captured  in  the  recent  fight- 
ing, the  narrative  continues,  stated  that 
one  German  corps  lost  80  per  cent,  of  its 
men  in  the  first  week;  that  the  losses 
from  our  artillery  fire,  even  during  days 
•when  no  attacks  were -taking  place,  had 
been  very  heavy  and  that  many  of  their 
own  men  had  suffered  from  the  effects 
of  the  gas. 

The  writer  concludes  as  follows: 

In  regard  to  the  recent  fighting  on  our 
left,  the  German  offensive,  effected  in 
the  first  instance  by  surprise,  resulted 
in  a  considerable  gain  of  ground  for  the 
enemy.  Between  all  the  earlier  German 
efforts,  the  only  difference  was  that  on 
this  latest  occasion  the  attempt  was  car- 
ried out  with  the  aid  of  poisonous  gases. 

There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not 
expect  similar  tactics  in  the  future. 
They  do  not  mean  that  the  Allies  have 
lost  the  kiitiative  in  the  Western  theatre, 


nor  that  they  are  likely  to  lose  it.  They 
do  mean,  however,  and  the  fact  has  been 
repeatedly  pointed  out,  that  the  enemy's 
defensive  is  an  active  one,  that  his  con- 
fidence is  still  unshaken  and  that  he 
still  is  able  to  strike  in  some  strength 
where  he  sees  the  chance  or  where  mere 
local  advantage  can  be  secured. 

The  true  idea  of  the  meaning  of  the 
operations  of  the  Allies  can  be  gained 
only  by  bearing  in  mind  that  it  is  their 
primary  object  to  bring  about  the  ex- 
haustion of  the  enemy's  resources  in 
men. 

In  the  form  now  assumed  by  this 
struggle — a  war  of  attrition — the  Ger- 
mans are  bound  ultimately  to  lose,  and  it 
is  the  consciousness  of  this  fact  that  in- 
spires their  present  policy.  This  is  to 
achieve  as  early  as  possible  some  success 
of  sufficient  magnitude  to  influence  the 
neutrals,  to  discourage  the  Allies,  to 
make  them  weary  of  the  struggle  and  to 
induce  the  belief  among  the  people  igno- 
rant of  war  that  nothing  has  been  gained 
by  the  past  efforts  of  the  Allies  because 
the  Germans  have  not  yet  been  driven 
back.  It  is  being  undertaken  with  a  po- 
litical rather  than  a  strategical  object. 

The  official  British  Eyewitness,  under 
rate  of  May  11,  1915,  gives  an  account  of 
the  German  attempts  on  the  previous  Sat- 
urday and  Sunday  to  break  the  British 
lines  around  Ypres,  and  of  the  beginning 
of  the  Anglo-French  offensive  north  of 
Arras.     He  said: 

The  calm  that  prevailed  Thursday  and 
Friday  proved  to  be  only  the  lull  before 
the  storm.  Early  Saturday  morning  it 
became  apparent  that  the  Germans  were 
preparing  an  attack  in  strength  against 
our  line  running  east  and  northeast  from 
Ypres,  for  they  were  concentrating  under 
cover  of  a  violent  artillery  fire,  and  at 
about  10  o'clock  the  battle  began  in 
earnest. 

At  that  hour  the  Germans  attacked 
our  line^  from  the  Ypres-Poelcappelle 
road  to  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
Menin  highroad,  it  being  evidently  their 
intention  while  engaging  us  closely  on 
the  whole  of  this  sector  to  break  our 
front  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Ypres-Roul- 
ffrs  Railway,  to  the  north  and  to  the  south 


476 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


of  which  their  strongest  and  most  deter- 
mined assaults  were  delivered. 

Under  this  pressure  our  front  was 
penetrated  at  some  points  around  Frez- 
enberg,  and  at  4:30  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon we  made  a  counter-attack  between 
the  Zonnebeke  road  and  the  railway  in 
order  to  recover  the  lost  ground.  Our 
offensive  was  conducted  most  gallantly, 
but  was  checked  before  long  by  the  fire 
of  machine  guns. 

Meanwhile,  the  enemy  launched  an- 
other attack  through  the  woods  south  of 
the  Menin  road,  and  at  the  same  time 
threatened  our  left  to  the  north  of  Ypres 
with  fresh  masses.  Most  desperate 
fighting  ensued,  the  German  infantry 
coming  on  again  and  again  and  gradual- 
ly forcing  our  troops  back,  though  only 
for  a  short  distance,  in  spite  of  repeated 
counter-attacks. 

During  the  night  the  fighting  con- 
tinued to  rage  with  ever-increasing  fury. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  at  exactly  what 
hour  our  line  was  broken  at  different 
points,  but  it  is  certain  that  at  one  time 
the  enemy's  infantry  poured  through 
aiong  the  Poelcappelle  road,  and  even  got 
as  far  as  Wieltje  at  9  P.  M. 

There  was  also  a  considerable  gap  in 
our  front  about  Frezenberg,  where  hos- 
tile detachments  had  penetrated.  At 
both  points  counter-attacks  were  organ- 
ized without  delay.  To  the  east  of  the 
salient  the  Germans  first  were  driven 
back  to  Frezenberg,  but  there  they  made 
a  firm  stand,  and  under  pressure  of  fresh 
reinforcements  we  fell  back  again  to- 
ward Verlorenhoek. 

Northeast  of  the  salient  a  counter- 
attack carried  out  by  us  about  1  A.  M. 
was  more  successful.  Our  troops  swept 
the  enemy  out  of  Wieltje  at  the  bayo- 
net's point,  leaving  the  village  strewn 
with  German  dead  and,  pushing  on,  re- 
gained most  of  the  ground  to  the  north 
of  that  point.  And  so  the  fight  surged 
to  and  fro  throughout  the  night.  All 
around  the  scene  of  the  conflict  the  sky 
was  lit  up  by  the  flashes  of  the  guns 
and  the  light  of  blazing  villages  and 
farms,  while  against  this  background  of 
smoke  and  flame,  looking  out  in  the 
murky  light  over  the  crumbling  ruins  of 


the  old  town,  rose  the  battered  wreck  of 
the  cathedral  town  and  the  spires  of 
Cloth  Hall. 

When  Sunday  dawned  there  came  a 
short  respite,  and  the  firing  for  a  time 
died  down.  The  comparative  lull  enabled 
us  to  reorganize  and  consolidate  our 
position  on  the  new  line  we  had  taken 
up  and  to  obtain  some  rest  after  the 
fatigue  and  strain  of  the  night.  Tt  did 
not  last  long,  however,  and  in  the  after- 
noon the  climax  of  the  battle  was 
reached,  for,  under  the  cover  of  intense 
artillery  fire,  the  Germans  launched  no 
less  than  five  separate  assaults  against 
the  east  of  the  salient. 

To  the  north  and  northeast  their  at- 
tacks were  ^not  at  first  pressed  so  hard 
as  on  the  south  of  the  Menin  road, 
where  the  fighting  was  especially  fierce. 
In  the  latter  direction  masses  of  infan- 
try were  hurled  on  with  absolute  desper- 
ation and  were  beaten  off  with  corre- 
sponding slaughter. 

At  one  point,  north  of  the  town,  500 
cf  the  enemy  advanced  from  the  wood, 
and  it  is  affirmed  by  those  present  that 
not  a  single  man  of  them  escaped. 

On  the  eastern  face,  at  6:30  P.  M.,  an 
endeavor  was  made  to  storm  the  grounds 
of  the  Chateau  Hooge,  a  little  north  of 
the  Menin  road,  but  the  force  attempting 
it  broke  and  fell  back  under  the  hail  of 
shrapnel  poured  upon  them  by  our  guns. 
It  was  on  this  side,  where  they  had  to 
face  the  concentrated  fire  of  guns, 
Maxims  and  rifles  again  and  again  in 
their  efforts  to  break  their  way  through, 
that  the  Germans  incurred  their  heaviest 
losses,  and  the  ground  was  literally 
heaped  with  dead. 

They  evidently,  for  the  time  being  at 
least,  were  unable  to  renew  their  efforts, 
and  as  night  came  on  the  fury  of  their 
offensive  gradually  slackened,  the  hours 
of  darkness  passing  in  quietness. 

During  the  day  our  troops  saw  some 
of  the  enemy  busily  employed  in  strip- 
ping the  British  dead  in  our  abandoned 
trenches,  east  of  the  Hooge  Chateau,  and 
several  Germans  afterward  were  noticed 
dressed   in   khaki. 

So  far  as  the  Ypres  region  is  con- 
cerned, this  for  us  was  a  most  successful 


WAR    WITH   POISONOUS    GASES 


477 


day.  Our  line,  which  on  the  northeast 
of  the  salient  had,  after  the  previous 
day's  fighting,  been  reconstituted  a  short 
distance  behind  the  original  front,  re- 
mained intact.  Our  losses  were  com- 
paratively slight,  and,  owing  to  the  tar- 
gets presented  by  the  enemy,  the  action 
resolved  itself  on  our  part  into  pure 
killing. 

The  reason  for  this  very  determined 
effort  to  crush  our  left  on  the  part  of 
the  Germans  is  not  far  to  seek.  It  is 
probable  that  for  some  days  previously 
they  had  been  in  possession  of  informa- 
tion which  led  them  to  suppose  that  we 
intended  to  apply  pressure  on  the  right 
of  our  line,  and  that  their  great  attack 
upon  Ypres  on  the  7th,  8th,  and  9th  was 
undertaken  with  a  view  to  diverting  us 
from  our  purpose. 

In  this  the  Germans  were  true  to  their 
principles,  for  they  rightly  hold  that  the 
best  manner  of  meeting  an  expected  hos- 
tile offensive  is  to  forestall  it  by  attack- 
ing in  some  other  quarter.  In  this  in- 
stance their  leaders  acted  with  the  ut- 
most determination  and  energy  and  their 
soldiers  fought  with  the  greatest  courage. 

The  failure  of  their  effort  was  due  to 
the  splendid  endurance  of  our  troops, 
who  held  the  line  around  the  salient  un- 
der a  fire  which  again  and  again  blotted 
out  whole  lengths  of  the  defenses  and 
killed  the  defenders  by  scores.  Time 
after  time  along  those  parts  of  the  front 
selected  for  assault  were  parapets  de- 
stroyed, and  time  after  time  did  the 
thinning  band  of  survivors  build  them  up 
again  and  await  the  next  onset  as  stead- 
ily as  before. 

Here,  in  May,  in  defense  of  the  same 
historic  town,  have  our  incomparable  in- 
fantry repeated  the  great  deeds  their 
comrades  performed  half  a  year  ago  and 
beaten  back  most  desperate  onslaughts 
of  hostile  hordes  backed  by  terrific  artil- 
lery support. 

The  services  rendered  by  our  troops  in 
this  quarter  cannot  at  present  be  esti- 
mated, for  their  full  significance  will 
only  be  realized  in  the  light  of  future 
events.  But  so  far  their  devotion  has 
indirectly  contributed  in  no  small  meas- 
ure to  the  striking  success  already 
achieved  by  our  allies. 


Further  south,  in  the  meantime,  on 
Sunday  another  struggle  had  been  in 
progress  on  that  portion  of  the  front 
covered  by  the  right  of  our  line  and  the 
left  of  the  French,  for  when  the  firing 
around  Ypres  was  temporarily  subsiding 
during  the  early  hours  of  the  morning 
another  and  even  more  tremendous  can- 
nonade was  suddenly  started  by  the  artil- 
lery of  the  Allies  some  twenty  miles  to 
the  south. 

The  morning  was  calm,  bright,  and 
c'ear,  and  opposite  our  right,  as  the  sun 
rose,  the  scene  in  front  of  our  line  was 
the  most  peaceful  imaginable.  Away  to 
tbf.  right  were  Guinchy,  with  its  brick- 
fields and  the  ruins  of  Givenchy.  To 
the  north  of  them  lay  low  ground,  where, 
hidden  by  trees  and  hedgerows,  ran  the 
opposing  lines  that  were  about  to  be- 
come the  scene  of  the  conflict,  and  be- 
yond, in  the  distance,  rose  the  long  ridge 
of  Aubers,  the  villages  crowning  it  stand- 
ing out  clear  cut  against  the  sky. 

At  5  o'clock  the  bombardment  began, 
slowly  at  first  and  then  growing  in  vol- 
ume until  the  whole  air  quivered  with  the 
rush  of  the  larger  shells  and  the  earth 
shook  with  the  concussion  of  guns.  In  a 
few  minutes  the  whole  distant  landscape 
disappeared  in  smoke  and  dust,  which 
hung  for  a  while  in  the  still  air  and  then 
drifted  slowly  across  the  line  of  battle. 

Shortly  before  6  o'clock  our  infantry 
advanced  along  our  front  between  the 
Bois  Grenier  and  Festubert.  On  the  left, 
north  of  Fromelles,  we  stormed  the  Ger- 
man first  line  trenches.  Hand-to-hand 
fighting  went  on  for  some  time  with 
bayonet,  rifle,  and  hand  grenade,  but  we 
continued  to  hold  on  to  this  position 
throughout  the  day  and  caused  the  enemy 
very  heavy  loss,  for  not  only  were  many 
Germans  killed  in  the  bombardment,  but 
their  repeated  efforts  to  drive  us  from 
the  captured  positions  proved  most 
costly. 

On  the  right,  to  the  north  of  Festu- 
bert, our  advance  met  with  considerable 
opposition  and  was  not  pressed. 

Meanwhile,  the  French,  after  a  pro- 
longed bombardment,  had  taken  the  Ger- 
man positions  north  of  Arras  on  a  front 
of  nearly  five  miles,  and  had  pushed  for- 


478 


THE   NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


ward  from  two  to  three  miles,  capturing: 
2,000  prisoners  and  six  ^ns.  This  re- 
markable success  was  gained  by  our 
allies  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours. 

As  may  be  supposed  from  the  nature 
of  the  fighting  which  has  been  in  pro- 
gress, our  losses  have  been  heavy.  On 
other  parts  of  the  front  our  action  was 
confined  to  that  of  the  artillery,  but  this 
proved  most  effective  later,  all  the  com- 
munications of  the  enemy  being  sub- 
jected to  so  heavy  and  accurate  a  fire 
that  in  some  quarters  all  movement  by 
daylight  within  range  of  our  lines  was 
rendered  impracticable.  At  one  place 
opposite  our  centre  a  convoy  of  ammu- 
nition was  hit  by  a  shell,  which  knocked 
out  six  motor  lorries  and  caused  two 
to  blow  up.  Opposite  our  centre  we  fired 
two  mines,  which  did  considerable  dam- 
age to  the  enemy's  defenses. 

During  the  day  also  our  aeroplanes  at- 


tacked several  points  of  importance.  One 
of  our  airmen,  who  was  sent  to  bomb  the 
canal  bridge  near  Don,  was  wounded  on 
his  way  there,  but  continued  and  fulfilled 
his  mission.  Near  Wytschaete,  one  of 
our  aviators  pursued  a  German  aero- 
plane and  fired  a  whole  belt  from  his 
machine  gun  at  it.  The  Taube  suddenly 
swerved,  righted  itself  for  a  second,  and 
then  descended  from  a  height  of  several 
thousand  feet  straight  to  the  ground. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  British  machine 
unfortunately  was  brought  down  over 
Lille  by  the  enemy's  anti-aircraft  guns, 
but  it  is  hoped  that  the  aviator  escaped. 

In  regard  to  the  German  allegation, 
that  the  British  used  gas  in  their  at- 
tacks on  Hill  60,  the  Eyewitness  says: 

No  asphyxiating  gases  have  been  em- 
ployed by  us  at  any  time,  nor  have  they 
yet  been  brought  into  play  by  us. 


To  Certain  German  Professors  of  Chemies 


[From  Punch,  May  5,  1915.] 


WHEN  you  observed  how  brightly  other  tutors 
Inspired  the  yearning  heart  of  Youth; 
How  from  their  lips,  like  Pilsen's  foaming  pewters, 
It  sucked  the  fount  of  German  Truth; 
There,  in  your  Kaiserlich  laboratory, 

"  We,  too,"  you  said,  "  will  find  a  task  to  do, 
And  so  contribute  something  to  the  glory 
Of  God  and  William  Two. 

"  Bring  forth  the  stink-pots.    Such  a  foul  aroma 

By  arts  divine  shall  be  evoked 
As  will  to  leeward  cause  a  state  of  coma 

And  leave  the  enemy  blind  and  choked; 
By  gifts  of  culture  we  will  work  such  ravages 

With  our  superbly  patriotic  smells 
As  would  confound  with  shame  those  half-baked  savages, 
The  poisoners  of  wells." 

Good!    You  have  more  than  matched  the  rival  pastors 

That  tute  a  credulous  Fatherland; 
And  we  admit  that  you  are  proved  our  masters 

When  there  is  dirty  work  in  hand; 
But  in  your  lore  I  notice  one  hiatus: 

Your  Kaiser's  scutcheon  with  its  hideous  blot — 
You've  no  corrosive  in  your  apparatus 

Can  out  that  damned  spot!  0.  S. 


Seven  Days  of  War  East  and  West 

Fighting  of  the  Second  Week  in  May  on  French  and  Russian  Fronts, 

[By  a  Military  Expert  of  The  New  York  Times.] 


THE  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  has, 
for  the  week  ended  May  15,  so 
completely  absorbed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  press  and  the  interest 
of  the  public  that  the  military  operations 
themselves  have  not  received  the  notice 
that  otherwise  would  have  been  awarded 
them.  The  sinking  of  this  ship,  with  the 
delicate  diplomatic  situation  between 
Germany  and  the  United  States  which 
the  act  brought  about,  is  not  a  military  or 
naval  operation  as  such,  and  comments 
on  it  have  no  place  in  this  column  At 
the  same  time  there  is  an  indirect  effect 
of  the  drowning  of  hundreds  of  British 
citizens  which  will  have  a  very  direct 
bearing  on  Britain's  military  strength 
and  policy. 

The  British  public  is  notably  hard  to 
stir,  are  slow  to  act,  and  almost  always 
underrate  their  adversary.  In  almost 
every  war,  from  1775  down  to  and  in- 
cluding the  South  African  war,  England, 
with  a  self-assurance  that  could  only  be 
based  on  ignorance  of  true  conditions, 
has  started  with  only  a  small  force,  and 
it  has  been  only  when  this  force  has  been 
defeated  and  used  up  that  the  realization 
of  the  true  needs  of  the  situation  has 
dawned.  Then,  and  then  only,  has  re- 
cruiting been  possible  at  a  pace  commen- 
surate with  the  necessity. 

In  the  Boer  war,  for  example,  every 
one  in  England,  official  and  civilian,  be- 
lieved that  30,000  men  would  be  more 
than  enough  to  defeat  the  South  African 
burghers.  Yet  ten  times  30,000  British 
soldiers  were  operating  in  the  Transvaal 
and  Orange  Free  State  before  the  war 
ended.     . 

In  the  present  conflict  Lord  Kitchener 
himself  admits  that  there  are  many 
times  the  number  of  British  soldiers  in 
France  than  was  thought  would  be  nec- 
essary  when    war   was    declared.      And 


even  up  to  May  6  the  British  public  was 
not  thoroughly  aroused.  Many  of  the 
peasants  in  the  back  counties  hardly 
believed  the  war  was  a  reality.  Recruit- 
ing was  slow,  there  was  but  little  en- 
thusiasm, and  Lord  Haldane's  thinly 
veiled  hint  that  a  draft  might  soon  be- 
come necessary  was  almost  unnoticed. 

But  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  has 
brought  the  war  home  to  England  as 
nothing  else  has  or  could  have  done,  and 
all  England  is  aflame  with  a  bitterness 
against  Germany  which  is  already  in- 
creasing the  flow  of  recruits  and  can- 
not but  add  to  the  fighting  efficiency  of 
the  men  now  at  the  front.  The  effect 
will  be  far-reaching  throughout  the  Brit- 
ish Empire,  and  will  do  much  to  solve 
the  problem  which  faced  the  organizers 
of  Great  Britain's  forces  of  how  to  get 
sufficient  volunteers  to  swell  the  volume 
of  the  French  expeditionary  force  and  to 
replace  the  casualties. 

To  turn  to  the  direct  military  opera- 
tions in  the  various  theatres  of  war,  no 
week  since  last  Fall  has  witnessed  more 
important  activities  or  offensive  move- 
ments conducted  on  such  a  scale.  On 
both  western  and  eastern  fronts  truly 
momentous  actions  involving  great  num- 
bers of  men  have  been  under  way,  and 
though  not  yet  concluded,  have  advanced 
so  far  as  to  give  a  reasonable  basis  for 
estimating  the  results. 

ON  THE  WESTERN  FRONT. 
On  the  western  front  the  principal 
scenes  of  action  have  been  the  front 
from  Nieuport  to  Arras,  the  Champagne 
district,  and  the  southern  side  of  the 
German  wedge  from  its  apex  at  St. 
Mihiel  to  Pont-a-Mousson.  On  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  Allies'  line  from  Ypres 
to  Nieuport  the  Germans  have  been  the 
aggressors.  They  have  selected  as  the 
principal  points  of  attack  the  Belgian  line 


480 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


back  of  the  Yfser  just  south  of  Nieuport 
and  the  point  of  juncture  of  the  British 
with  the  Belgian  lines. 

Both  attacks  have  the  same  general 
object — the  bending  back  of  the  line 
between  these  two  points  with  a  vision, 
for  the  future,  of  Dunkirk  and  Calais. 
The  attack  along  the  Yser  has  not 
been  pushed  to  any  extent,  and  what 
advantage  there  is  rests  with  the  Bel- 
gians. In  fact,  the  Belgians  have  ad- 
vanced somewhat  and  have  been  able  to 
throw  a  bridge  across  the  Yser  near  St. 
George,  just  east  of  Nieuport,  on  the 
Nieuport-Bruges  road. 

Around  Ypres  the  fighting  has  been 
more  than  usually  fierce  and  desperate. 
Blow  after  blow  has  been  struck,  first 
by  one  side,  then  by  the  other.  Both 
German  and  British  have  admittedly 
suffered  enormous  losses,  but  the  posi- 
tions of  their  respective  lines  arc  almost 
unchanged  from  those  occupied  a  v/eek 
ago.  The  German  gains  of  last  week  in 
the  vicinity  of  Steenstraate  produced  in 
the  British  lines  around  Ypres  a  aharp 
salient,  and  it  is  against  the  sides  of 
this  salient  that  the  Germans  have  been 
hurling  their  forces. 

The  town  of  Ypres  is  now  in  com.pl  ete 
ruins,  and,  although  it  would  normally 
be  of  importance  because  of  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  point  of  crossing  of  a  number 
of  roads,  this  importance  is  destroyed 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  entirely  dominated 
by  the  German  artillery.  As  long  as  this 
state  of  affairs  exists  the  town  has  prac- 
tically no  strategic  value.  All  that  the 
Germans  can  accomplish  if  they  take 
Ypres  will  have  been  a  flattening  out 
of  the  British  salient. 

Germany  cannot  be  content  with  occa- 
sional bending  of  the  Allies'  line.  The' 
process  is  too  slow  and  too  costly.  Ger- 
many has  almost,  if  not  quite,  reached 
her  maximum  strength,  and  the  losses 
she  now  suffers  will  be  difficult  to  re- 
place. Viewing  the  situation  entirely 
from  the  German  standpoint,  success 
can  only  mean  breaking  through  and 
attacking  the  two  exposed  flanks  at  the 
point  pierced.  This  would  force  a  re- 
treat, as  in  the  case  of  the  Russian 
lines  along  the  Dunajec,  which  will  be 


taken  up  later  on.  No  other  form  of 
action  can  be  decisive,  though  it  might 
permit  a  little  more  of  Belgian  or 
French  territory  to  change  hands.  This 
would,  of  course,  in  case  the  war  were 
declared  a  draw,  give  Germany  an  ad- 
ditional advantage  in  the  discussion  of 
terms  of  peace,  especially  if  the  rule 
of  uti  posseditis  were  applied  as  a  basis 
from  which  to  begin  negotiations.  But 
this  contingency  is  too  remote  for  pres- 
ent consideration. 

As  to  the  probability  of  German  suc- 
cess around  Ypres,  it  seems  to  grow 
less  as  time  passes.  After  the  first 
rush  was  over  and  the  British  lines  had 
time  to  re-form  Germany  has  accom- 
plished nothing.  Moreover,  it  is  certain 
that  in  back  of  the  short  twenty-five 
miles  of  line  held  by  the  British  troops 
there  is  a  reserve  of  almost  a  half  mil- 
lion men.  No  other  portion  of  the  battle 
line  in  either  theatre  has  such  great 
latent  strength  ready  to  be  thrown  in 
when  the  critical  moment  comes.  Just 
why  it  has  not  been  used  so  far  is  a  mys- 
tery, the  solution  of  which  can  be  found 
only  in  the  brain  of  Sir  John  French. 
But  it  is  known  to  be  in  France  and  is 
there  for  a  purpose. 

From  Loos  to  Arras  the  French  have 
undertaken  the  most  ambitious  and  the 
most  successful  offensive  movement 
made  in  the  west  since  Winter  set  in. 
The  entire  French  line  along  this  front 
of  twenty-five  miles,  taking  the  Germans 
by  surprise,  has  gone  forward  a  distance 
varying  from  one-half  to  two  and  a  half 
miles.  The  attack  was  launched  at  an 
extremely  opportune  moment.  The  Ger- 
mans were,  in  the  first  place,  extremely 
busy  in  the  north  at  Ypres,  and  were 
making  every  effort  to  drive  that  attack 
home.  The  probabilities  were,  therefore, 
that  the  line  in  front  of  the  Arras-Loos 
position  was  none  too  strong,  and  that 
such  reserves  as  could  be  spared  had  been 
sent  north.  Then,  again,  it  would  tend 
to  divert  attention  from  the  Ypres  line, 
and  so  relieve  somewhat  the  pressure  on 
the  British  lines  at  that  point. 

The  objective  of  the  French  attack 
seems  to  have  been  the  town  of  Lens, 
which  is  the  centre  of  the  coal  district 


SEVEN  DAYS  OF  WAR  EAST  AND  WEST 


481 


of  France.  Loos,  which  is  about  three 
miles  north  of  Lens,  has  been  one  of  the 
centres  of  fighting.  This  indicates  how 
close  the  French  are  to  their  objective. 
Lens  is  an  important  railroad  centre, 
and  is  the  point  of  junction  of  many 
roads  which  radiate  in  all  directions.  As 
yet  the  French  advance  is  not  sufficient 
to  denote  anything,  but  another  step  in 
the  "  nibbling "  process  by  means  of 
which  the  French  have  kept  the  Germans 
occupied  for  some  months. 

In  the  German  angle,  from  Etain  to  St. 
Mihiel  to  Pont-a-Mousson,  the  French 
achieved  what  will  probably  prove  to  be 
the  greatest  local  success  of  the  past 
week.  That  is,  the  complete  occupation 
of  the  Le  Pretre  woods.  Sooner  or  later 
the  continual  French  encroachments  on 
the  German  area  of  occupation  must 
cause  the  straightening  out  of  this  line 
and  the  retirement  of  the  Germans  to 
the  supporting  forts  of  Metz.  The  object 
of  all  the  French  moves  against  this 
angle  has  been  the  town  of  Thiancourt, 
on  the  German  supply  line  from  Metz, 
The  capture  of  the  last  German  line  of 
trenches  in  the  Pretre  Forest  brings  the 
French  within  six  miles  of  this  town. 
When  the  French  reach  the  northern 
edge  of  this  forest,  and  they  must  be 
very  close  to  it  now,  it  will  be  a  simple 
matter  to  drop  shells  into  Thiancourt 
and  seriously  endanger  every  train  that 
comes  in. 

On  the  rest  of  the  western  front  there 
have  been  a  number  of  isolated  actions, 
notably  in  the  Champagne  district,  in 
the  Argonne  Forest  and  north  of  Flirey, 
between  St.  Mihiel  and  Pont-a-Mousson. 
They  have  been  of  no  particular  advan- 
tage, however,  and  seem  to  have  had  no 
definite  purpose  beyond  making  addi- 
tions to  the  casualty  lists. 

Considering  the  results  of  the  week's 
operations  in  the  west,  therefore,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  advantage  lies  with 
the  Allies.  That  part  of  the  line  which 
has  been  thrown  on  the  defensive  has 
more  than  held  its  own,  while  the  French 
offense  has  resulted  in  a  considerable 
advance  over  a  wide  front.  If  we  may 
di*aw  any  comparison  at  all  from  this, 
it  must  be  that  the  German  line  is  not 


nearly  so  impenetrable  as  the  British, 
and  that  when  the  Allies  think  the  at- 
tempt will  justify  the  losses  that  will 
be  inevitably  sustained,  the  German  line 
can  be  broken  even  though  the  rup- 
ture may  be  quickly  healed. 

IN  THE  EASTERN  THEATRE. 

In  the  eastern  theatre  interest  still  cen- 
tres in  the  battles  in  Galicia.  In  West- 
ern Galicia,  between  the  Dunajec  and  the 
San,  the  Russian  forces  are  steadily  giv- 
ing way  before  the  attacks  of  the  Ger- 
manic allies.  Their  retreat,  which,  dur- 
ing the  past  week,  has  been  rapid,  has 
been  well  protected  by  heavy  rear  guard 
actions,  which  have  temporarily  delayed 
the  pursuing  Austrians  at  various  points. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  but  little 
respite  was  given  to  the  Russians. 

German  and  Austrian  reports  as  to  the 
number  of  prisoners  and  amount  of  booty 
will  bear  scrutiny,  and,  taken  into  con- 
sideration with  recent  disturbances  in 
Italy,  may  safely  be  discounted.  The 
surrender  of  such  large  bodies  of  troops, 
even  in  the  Russian  Army,  cannot  be 
forced  when  the  lines  of  retreat  are  open 
or  when  sufficient  notice  is  given  that 
such  lines  are  dangerously  menaced.  It 
is  only  when  troops  are  surrounded  or 
when  a  large  hostile  force  is  thrust  in 
between  units,  as  happened  some  months 
ago  with  the  Tenth  Russian  Army  in  the 
Masurian  Lakes  district,  that  such  sur- 
renders occur. 

This  does  not  apply,  of  course,  to  the 
wounded,  and  in  the  present  case  the 
Russians,  through  the  enforced  rapidity 
of  their  retreat,  must  necessarily  in 
many  instances  have  left  their  wounded 
on  the  field  of  battle  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  pursuing  enemy.  Certainly 
the  Russian  losses  were  heavy.  Equally 
certain  is  it  that  the  battle  for  the  Car- 
pathian passes  is  now  history. 

This  is  evident  from  a  brief  review  of 
the  Russian  position  on  the  Carpathian 
front,  with  particular  reference  to  the 
necessary  lines  of  communications  and 
an  outline  of  the  present  Russian  posi- 
tion, as  accurately  as  it  can  at  present 
be  determined.  It  must  be  stated  at  this 
point,  however,  that  this  position  is  a 


482 


THE  NEW.  YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


matter  of  doubt,  as  reports  from  Vienna 
and  from  Petrograd  are  greatly  at  vari- 
ance as  to  what  has  been  accomplished. 

It  was  noted  last  week  that  the  Rus- 
sian line  formed  a  huge  crescent,  the 
longer  arc  of  which  (and  this  was  the 
Carpathian  front)  extended  from  Bart- 
feld  north,  then  east  along  the  Carpathi- 
an crests,  north  of  Uzsok  to  a  point  on 
the  Stryi  River.  This  line  is  over  100 
miles  long.  It  was  dependent  for  sup- 
plies on  five  roads,  three  of  which  were 
fairly  good  dirt  roads,  the  other  two 
railroads;  of  the  latter  one  runs  through 
Uzsok,  and  is  so  far  east  that  only  a 
small  section  of  the  line  was  reached 
by  it. 

The  main  line,  however,  has  been  sup- 
plied from  the  remaining  four,  all  of 
which  turn  off  either  from  the  one  lat- 
eral railroad  from  Przemysl  to  Jaslo  or 
from  the  dirt  road  between  Jaslo  and 
Sanok,  and  run  south  to  the  various 
passes.  As  this  latter  road  simply  loops 
the  railroad  between  these  two  points, 
the  entire  Russian  Carpathian  line  may 
be  considered  to  have  been  supplied  by 
the  lateral  railroad  from  Sanok  to  Jaslo. 
In  proportion  to  the  number  of  troops 
that  had  to  be  fed  and  supplied,  these 
lines  were  only  too  few,  and  the  marvel 
is  that  Russia  was  able  to  keep  up  the 
necessary  flow  of  food  and  ammunition 
throughout  her  effort  against  the  Car- 
pathian passes.  The  possession  of  all  of 
these  roads  was  the  sine  qua  non  of 
Russian  success.  The  loss  of  any  one 
of  them  would  affect  so  many  miles  of 
her  line  that  the  whole  line  would  have 
felt  the  influence. 

The  Austrian  troops  are  said  to  have 
reached  the  lower  San,  but  no  particular 
point  is  mentioned.  Nothing  is  said 
about  the  upper  San  or  the  stretch  of 
Galicia  between  the  two.  It  may,  there- 
fore, be  assumed  that  the  Russian  left 
is  on  the  Vistula,  near  the  confluence  of 
the  San,  and  that  the  general  line  runs 
from  there  south,  probably  through 
Rzeszow  along  the  valley  of  the  Wistok 
River,  occupying  the  wooded  hills  east 
of  that  river,  and  bending  eastward 
slightly  toward  the  upper  San.  This 
means  that  all  of  the  lines  of  communi- 


cation that  supplied  the  Carpathian 
front  except  the  line  through  Uzsok  Pass 
are  now  in  Austrian  hands. 

Russia  still  clings  tenaciously  to 
Uzsok,  however,  doubtless  having  under 
consideration  the  possibility  that  Italy 
may  enter  the  war,  and  that  another  ad- 
vance against  the  Carpathians  may  then 
be  made.  In  such  a  contingency  the  Rus- 
sian losses  in  the  various  engagements 
around  Uzsok  would  not  have  been  in 
vain. 

Russia  has  answered  the  Austrian 
drive  from  the  west  by  a  vigorous  of- 
fense against  the  defenses  of  Bukowina 
Province.  The  Austrian  forces  east  of 
the  San  River  are  divided — one  part 
which  has  been  extremely  active  against 
the  Russians  being  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Stryi,  and  the  other,  which  has  been 
quiescently  defensive,  along  the  Bis- 
tritza,  the  latter  line  running  almost  due 
east  and  west.  This  latter  force  the  Rus- 
sians struck,  using  large  bodies  of  Cos- 
sack cavalry  in  a  flanking  movement 
from  the  north.  The  Austrian  retreat 
has  been  more  precipitate,  and  the  losses 
greater  in  proportion  than  in  the  Rus- 
sian retreat  from  the  Dunajec. 

If  in  addition  the  Rumanians  came 
across  Transylvania  and  cought  the 
Austrians  in  the  rear  the  defeat  would 
almost  offset  that  of  the  Russians  in 
the  west.  Rumania's  advent  into  the 
war  is,  however,  still  a  matter  of  doubt, 
and  any  conclusions  pedicated  on  that 
assumption  are  entirely  speculative. 

The  two  known  facts  in  regard  to  the 
Galician  situation  are  that  in  Western 
Galicia  the  Russian  Dunajec  line  is  re- 
treating, uncovering  and  therefore  in- 
volving in  its  retreat  the  troops  in  the 
Carpathians,  and  in  Eastern  Galicia  the 
Russians  seem  to  have  the  greater  meas- 
ure of  success.  Of  the  two,  however,  the 
operations  in  Western  Galicia  are  of  in- 
finitely greater  importance.  Eventually 
the  Russian  retreat  will  probably  reach 
the  general  line  of  the  San  River  north 
of  Jaraslau,  where  there  will  be  an  op- 
portunity to  re-form  on  a  much  shorter 
line,  and  after  recuperation  of  men  and 
supplies  preparations  for  a  new  offense 
may  be  begun. 


Operation  on  the  Russian  Front 


SCALE  OF  MILES 


-»■  MAIN  RAILROADS 


This  map  records  the  action  for  the  week  ended  May  15.  In  the  extreme  north, 
in  the  Russian  Baltic  Province  of  Courland,  the  Germans  still  held  the  port  of  Libau, 
(1,)  and  a  fierce  battle  was  in  progress  south  of  Shavli,  (2,)  where  the  Russians 
stopped  the  raid  toward  Mitau. 

In  South  Poland  and  West  Galicia  the  changes  brought  about  by  the  great  Austro- 
German  drive  of  1,500,000  men  from  Cracow  are  shown  by  the  heavy  dotted  and  solid 
lines.  The  dotted  line  shows  the  approximate  position  of  the  German  battle  front 
when  the  drive  began  and  the  solid  line  its  approximate  position  according  to  latest 
advices  from  Berlin  and  Vienna,  Jaroslau  (3)  being  the  latest  important  position 
reported  captured. 

In  extreme  Eastern  Galicia  the  situation  was  reversed,  the  dotted  line  showing 
roughly  the  position  of  the  Russian  line  when  the  counter-drive  by  the  Czar's  forces 
was  launched  and  the  solid  line  its  position,  so  far  as  was  ascertainable,  on  May  15. 


484 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


Their  defeat,  however,  has  been  a  se- 
vere blow,  and  has  cost  Russia  a  terrible 
price  in  men  and  in  guns,  the  latter  of 
which  she  could  less  afford  to  lose.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  have  inflicted  terri- 
ble punishment  on  the  victors,  so  that 


the  victory  partakes  of  a  Pyrrhian  char- 
acter. 

In  the  meantime  operations  in  the 
Dardanelles  are  being  pressed,  but  are 
not  reported  with  sufficient  definiteness 
to  give  an  idea  as  to  the  probable  result. 


Austro-German  Success 


By  Major  E.  Moraht. 


Major  E.  Moraht,  the  military  expert 
of  the  Berliner  Tageblatt,  discussed  the 
operations  on  the  eastern  war  front  as 
follows  in  the  Tageblatt  of  April  30: 

Austria-Hungary,  through  its  latest 
decision  to  create  a  supplementary  Land- 
sturm  service  law,  has  given  notice  that 
it  desires  under  any  circumstances  to  be 
able  to  wage  the  war  for  a  longer  time, 
if  conditions  should  compel  it  to  do  so. 
Thus  are  contradicted  all  the  reports 
spread  by  ill-informed  correspondents  of 
foreign  newspapers,  who  sought  to  create 
the  impression  that  Austria-Hungary 
was  tired  and  had  not  the  energy  to  face 
the  situation  such  as  it  is.  Furthermore, 
the  acceptance  of  the  supplementary 
Landsturm  service  gave  testimony,  in  the 
Hungarian  Parliament,  of  the  unanimity 
in  which  the  Hungarian  Nation  unites  as 
soon  as  it  is  a  question  of  furthering  the 
armed  preparedness  of  the  army. 

The  Landsturm  law  heretofore  had 
two  defects — it  included  in  its  scope  only 
the  once-trained  men  liable  to  Landsturm 
service  up  to  the  age  of  42  years,  and 
restricted  the  use  of  certain  Landsturm 
troops  to  certain  areas.  Hereafter  it  will 
be  possible  to  use  the  men  capable  of 
bearing  arms  up  to  the  fiftieth  year, 
though,  to  be  sure,  only  in  case  the 
younger  classes  have  in  general  already 
been  exhausted.  It  will  also  be  possible 
to  draw  Hungarian  formations  and  Aus- 
trian Landsturm  troops  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  area  available  will  offer  no  more 
difficulties.  Even  though  the  new  law 
will  presumably  hold  good  only  during 
the  present  war,  the  impression  created 
by  the  decision  of  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Government    on   the    enemy  and 


on  neutrals  cannot  be  a  slight  one. 
We  in  Germany  can  only  congratulate 
the  peoples  of  our  ally,  so  willing  to 
make  sacrifices,  upon  this  resolve,  and 
no  one  among  us  will  be  able  to  deny 
recognition  thereof,  the  less  because  we 
ourselves,  according  to  human  calcula- 
tions, will  not  have  to  adopt  such  an  ex- 
tension of  Landsturm  service. 

Our  northeastern  army  has  again  been 
heard  of.  After  a  considerable  time  the 
situation  has  again  changed,  and  that, 
too,  in  our  favor.  The  battles  northeast 
and  east  of  Suwalki  have  again  revived 
and  have  given  into  our  hands  the  Rus- 
sian trenches  along  a  front  of  twenty 
kilometers.  Between  Kovno  and  Grodno, 
both  situated  on  the  Niemen,  we  must 
note  in  our  battle  line  the  towns  of 
Mariampol,  Kalwarya,  and  tfee  territory 
east  of  Suwalki.  This  front  has  opposed 
to  it  the  two  Russian  fortresses  men- 
tioned and  between  them  the  bridge- 
heads at  Olita  and  Sereje.  Owing  to  the 
brevity  of  the  latest  report,  it  cannot  be 
told  whether  our  attack  found  an  end  in 
the  Russian  positions.  It  may  be  that 
the  attack  went  further  and  won  terri- 
tory at  least  twenty  kilometers  wide  to- 
ward the  Niemen.  Moreover,  we  have 
learned  that  the  Russians  still  held  on 
north  of  Prasznysz,  where  on  April  27 
they  lost  prisoners  and  machine  guns. 

No  answer  is  given  by  the  sparse  re- 
ports from  the  eastern  army  to  the  ques- 
tion of  the  entire  foreign  press:  "  Where 
has  Hindenburg  been  keeping  himself?  " 
Wishes  and  speculations  may  thus  busy 
themselves  as  much  as  they  like  with  the 
answering  of  that  question.    In  the  Rus- 


SEVEN  DAYS  OF  WAR  EAST  AND  WEST 


485 


sian  version  of  the  war  situation  there  is 
reference  to  advance  guard  skirmishes  in 
the  territory  of  Memel,  a  brief  interrup- 
tion of  the  quiet  southeast  of  Augustowa 
and  before  Ossowicz.  The  Russians  are 
clearly  worried  by  the  possibility  of  an 
undertaking  of  the  navy  against  the  Rus- 
sian Baltic  coast. 

The  territory  of  the  fighting  in  the 
Carpathians  still  claims  the  chief  interest 
— especiall:'  because  everywhere  where 
the  general  position  and  the  weather 
conditions  and  topographical  conditions 
permitted  the  Austro-Hungarian-German 
offensive  has  begun.  As  has  been  em- 
phasized on  previous  occasions,  the 
eagerness  for  undertaking  actions  on  the 
part  of  our  allies  had  never  subsided  at 
any  point,  in  spite  of  the  strenuous  rigors 
of  a  stationary  warfare.  As  early  as 
April  14  an  advance  enlivened  the  terri- 
tory northwest  of  the  Uzsok  Pass.  The 
position  on  the  heights  of  Tucholka  has 
been  won.  The  heights  west  and  east  of 
the  Laborcz  valley  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  Austro-German  allies,  and  each  day 
furnishes  new  proofs  of  the  forward 
pressure.  Of  especial  importance  is  the 
capture  of  Russian  points  of  support 
southeast  of  Koziowa,  east  of  the  Orawa 
valley.  The  advance  takes  its  course 
against  the  Galician  town  of  Stryi.  The 
progress  which  the  Austro-German 
southern  army  made  has  so  far  been 
moving  in  the  same  direction,  and  one 
can  understand  why  the  Russians  insti- 
tuted the  fiercest  counter-attacks  in 
order  to  force  the  allied  troops  to  halt  in 
this  territory.  The  counter-attacks, 
however,  ended  with  a  collapse  of  the 
Russians,  and  the  resultant  pursuit  was 
so  vigorous  that  twenty-six  more 
trenches  were  wrested  from  the  foe. 
Daily  our  front  is  being  advanced  in  a 
noi'theasterly  direction,  and  there  is  little 
prospect  for  the  Russians  of  being  able 
to  oppose  successful  resistance  to  our 
pressure.  For  it  is  not  a  matter  of  the 
success  of  a  single  fighting  group  that 
has  been  shoving  forward  like  a  wedge 
from  the  great  line  of  attack,  but  of  a 
strategic  offensive  led  as  a  unit,  and 
everywhere  winning  territory,  the  time 
for  which  seems  to  have  arrived. 


It  is  an  important  fact  that  the  eastern 
group  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  army 
will  clearly  not  be  shattered.  At 
Zaleszcyki  a  stand  is  being  maintained, 
and  at  Boyan  on  the  Pruth  the  Austrian 
mortars  have  driven  the  Russians  out  of 
their  next-to-the-last  positions  before  the 
Bessarabian  frontier. 

The  speech  of  the  Hungarian  Minister 
of  Defense  of  the  Realm,  Baron  Hazai, 
who  a  few  days  ago  discussed  the  mili- 
tary situation  of  the  recent  past  in  ex- 
haustive fashion,  is  very  interesting  in 
many  respects.  It  doubtless  aimed  to  set 
in  the  right  light  the  bravery  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Army,  for  there  have 
been  persons  who  took  little  or  no  note  of 
the  achievements  of  that  army.  The 
Minister  selected  examples  from  the  war- 
fare of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  time 
of  the  lukewarm  campaigns,  and  the 
warfare  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
era,  of  logical  and  energetical  battles. 
From  this  period  of  mobile  wars,  that 
were  carried  on  under  the  principle  of 
energy,  he  came  to  the  preparations  for 
the  present  war  and  estimated  the  num- 
ber of  soldiers  which  the  belligerent 
parties  had  drawn  to  the  colors  at  be- 
tween 25,000,000  and  26,000,000  men. 
More  than  half  of  these  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  warriors,  while  the  rest  are 
doing  service  as  reserves  for  the  army  or 
in  the  lines  of  support  and  communica- 
tion, outside  the  fighting  zone.  The 
highest  number  of  fighters  on  a  single 
theatre  of  the  war  included  from  six  to 
seven  million  fighters  on  both  sides.  The 
long  trench  warfare,  the  Minister  rightly 
pointed  out,  demands  greater  energy 
than  was  ever  demanded  at  any  time  of 
the  troops,  and  a  loss  of  from  10  per  cent, 
to  15  per  cent,  of  the  fighting  force  to- 
day no  longer  keeps  back  the  leaders 
from  executing  far-going  decisions.  To- 
day the  fronts  clash,  not  in  one-day  or 
several  day  battles,  but  for  weeks  and 
months  at  a  time,  so  that  many  of  the 
fighters  even  now  have  already  taken 
part  in  100  battles.  These  instructive 
and  appreciative  words  from  an  authori- 
tative station  throw  a  bright  light  upon 
the  strength  of  the  nations  which  are 
sacrificing  their  forces  in  a  sense  of  duty 


486 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


to  their  fatherland.  But  the  lesson 
which  the  homeland  should  draw  from 
such  unprecedented  self-sacrifice  consists 
of  this — always  to  stand  as  a  firm  pro- 


tective wall  behind  the  army,  never  to 
deny  it  recognition  and  encouraging  ap- 
proval, and  to  dissipate  its  cares  for  the 
present  and  for  the  future. 


The  Campaign  in  the  Carpathians 

Russian  Victory  Succeeded  by  Reverses  and  Defeat. 


THE  VICTORY  IN  APRIL. 

[By  the  Correspondent  of  The  London  Times.] 
Petrograd,  April  18. 

A  dispatch  from  the  Headquarters 
Staff  of  the  Commander  in  Chief  says: 

At  the  beginning  of  March,  (Old  Style,) 
in  the  principal  chain  of  the  Carpathians, 
we  only  held  the  region  of  the  Dukla 
Pass,  where  our  lines  formed  an  exterior 
angle.  All  the  other  passes — Lupkow  and 
further  east — were  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy. 

In  view  of  this  situation,  our  armies 
were  assigned  the  further  task  of  de- 
veloping, before  the  season  of  bad  roads 
due  to  melting  snows  began,  our  positions 
in  the  Carpathians  which  dominated  the 
outlets  into  the  Hungarian  plain.  About 
the  period  indicated  great  Austrian 
forces,  which  had  been  concentrated  for 
the  purpose  of  relieving  Przemysl,  were 
in  position  between  the  Lupkow  and 
Uzsok  Passes. 

It  was  for  this  sector  that  our  grand 
attack  was  planned.  Our  troops  had  to 
carry  out  a  frontal  attack  under  very 
difficult  conditions  of  terrain.  To  facil- 
itate their  attack,  therefore,  an  auxiliary 
attack  was  decided  upon  on  a  front  in  the 
direction  of  Bartfeld  as  far  as  the  Lup- 
kow. This  secondary  attack  was  opened 
on  March  19  and  was  completely  devel- 
oped. 

On  the  23rd  and  28th  of  March  our 
troops  had  already  begun  their  principal 
attack  in  the  direction  of  Baligrod,  en- 
veloping the  enemy  positions  from  the 
west  of  the  Lupkow  Pass  and  on  the  east 
near  the  source  of  the  San. 

The  enemy  opposed  the  most  desperate 
resistance  to  the  offensive  of  our  troops. 


They  had  brought  up  every  available  man 
on  the  front  from  the  direction  of  Bart- 
feld as  far  as  the  Uzsok  Pass,  including 
even  German  troops  and  numerous  cav- 
alrymen fighting  on  foot.  His  effectives 
on  this  front  exceeded  300  battalions. 
Moreover,  our  troops  had  to  overcome 
great  natural  difficulties  at  every  step. 

Nevertheless,  from  April  5 — that  is, 
eighteen  days  after  the  beginning  of  our 
offensive — the  valor  of  our  troops  enabled 
us  to  accomplish  the  task  that  had  been 
set,  and  we  captured  the  principal  chain 
of  the  Carpathians  on  the  front  Reghe- 
toff-Volosate,  110  versts  (about  70  miles) 
long.  The  fighting  latterly  was  in  the 
nature  of  actions  in  detail  with  the  object 
of  consolidating  the  successes  we  had 
won. 

To  sum  up:  On  the  whole  Carpathian 
front,  between  March  19  and  April  12, 
the  enemy,  having  suffered  enormous 
losses,  left  in  our  hands,  in  prisoners 
only,  at  least  70,000  men,  including  about 
900  officers.  Further,  we  captured  more 
than  thirty  guns  and  200  machine  guns. 

On  April  16  the  actions  in  the  Car- 
pathians were  concentrated  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Rostoki.  The  enemy,  notwith- 
standing the  enormous  losses  he  had 
suffered,  delivered,  in  the  course  of  that 
day,  no  fewer  than  sixteen  attacks  in 
great  strength.  These  attacks,  all  of 
which  were  absolutely  barren  of  result, 
were  made  against  the  heights  which  we 
had  occupied  further  to  the  east  of  Tele- 
povce. 

Our  troops,  during  the  night  of  the 
16th-17th,  after  a  desperate  fight, 
stormed  and  captured  a  height  to  the 
southeast  of  the  village  of  Polen,  where 
we  took  many  prisoners.     Three  enemy 


488 


THE   NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


counter-attacks  on  this  height  were  re- 
pulsed. 

In  other  sectors  all  along  our  front 
there  is  no  change. 

THE  GRAND  DUKE'S  STRATEGY. 
Petrograd,  April  19. 

Today's  record  of  the  brilliant  feats  of 
the  Russian  Army  in  the  Carpathians 
during  the  past  month,  contained  in  the 
survey  of  the  Grand  Duke,  presents  only 
one  aspect — the  discomfiture  of  the  Aus- 
tro-German  forces.  The  Neue  Freie 
Presse  gives  some  indication  of  the  other 
aspect. 

In  a  recent  issue  it  stated  that  "  the 
fortnight's  battle  around  the  Lupkow  and 
Uzsok  Passes  has  been  one  of  the  most 
obstinate  in  history.  The  Russians  suc- 
ceeded in  forcing  the  Austrians  out  of 
their  positions.  The  difficulties  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Army  are  complicated 
by  the  weather  and  the  lack  of  ammuni- 
tion and  food."  The  question  naturally 
suggests  itself,  why  did  these  difficulties 
not  equally  disturb  the  Russian  opera- 
tions? On  our  side  the  difficulties  of 
transport  were,  if  anything,  greater.  The 
enemy  was  backed  by  numerous  railways, 
with  supplies  close  at  hand,  and  was 
fighting  on  his  native  soil,  and  these  ad- 
vantages undoubtedly  compensated  for 
the  greater  difficulties  of  commissariat 
for  the  larger  numbers  of  Austro-Ger- 
mans.  But  from  the  avowal  of  the  Neue 
Freie  Presse  it  is  suggested  here  that  the 
Austrians  were  disorganized.  The  causes 
of  this  disorganization  are  attributed  by 
military  observers  to  the  mixing  up  of 
German  with  Austrian  units,  rendering 
the  task  of  command  and  supply  very 
difficult. 

The  Grand  Duke  is  fully  prepared  to 
take  the  field  as  soon  as  the  allied  com- 
manders decide  that  the  time  for  a  gen- 
eral action  has  come.  Never  has  the 
spirit  of  the  Russian  Army  been  firmer. 

The  critics  this  morning  comment  on 
the  official  communique  detailing  a  gi- 
gantic task  brilliantly  fulfilled  by  the 
Carpathian  army  during  March.  Our 
position  in  the  region  of  the  Dukla  Pass 
early  last  month  exposed  us  to  pressure 
from  two  sides,  and  might  have  involved 
the  necessity  of  evacuating  the  main 
range.    Our  army  thus  required  to  extend 


its  positions  commanding  the  outlets  to 
the  Hungarian  plain,  before  the  Spring 
thaws,  in  face  of  a  large  hostile  concen- 
tration between  Lupkow  and  Uzsok.  The 
chief  attack  was  directed  against  the 
latter  section,  and  an  auxiliary  attack 
against  the  Bartfeld-Lupkow  section. 
The  auxiliary  attack  began  on  March  19 
against  the  Austro-German  left  flank 
and  reached  its  full  development  four 
days  later.  Mistaking  the  auxiliary  for 
the  principal  attack,  the  enemy  began  an 
advance  from  the  Bukowina,  hoping  to 
divert  us  from  Uzsok,  but,  instead,  the 
larger  portion  of  our  army  assailed  the 
enemy's  flanks  while  a  smaller  body  ad- 
vanced against  Rostoki,  surmounting  the 
immense  difficulties  of  mountain  warfare 
in  Springtime. 

By  means  of  the  envelopment  of  both 
his  flanks  the  enemy  was,  by  April  5, 
dislodged  from  the  main  range  on  the 
entire  seventy-mile  front  from  Regetow 
to  Wolosate.  Convinced  that  we  were 
directing  our  chief  efforts  against  his 
flanks,  the  enemy  now  strove  to  break 
our  resistance  in  the  Rostoki  direction, 
but,  after  sixteen  futile  attacks,  he  was 
obliged  to  cede  the  commanding  height 
of  Telepovce,  our  occupation  of  which  will 
probably  compel  him  to  evacuate  his  posi- 
tions at  Polen  and  Smolnik  and  withdraw 
to  the  valley  of  the  Cziroka,  a  tributary 
of  the  Laborcz. 

DEFEAT  IN  EARLY  MAY. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

VIENNA,  May  13,  (via  Amsterdam  to 
London,  May  14.) — An  official  state' 
ment  issued  here  tonight  after  recalling 
that  in  November  and  December  at  Lodz 
and  Limanowa  the  Austro-Germans  com- 
pelled the  Russians  to  draw  back  on  a 
front  to  the  extent  of  400  kilometers, 
(about  249  miles,)  thereby  stopping  the 
Russian  advance  into  Germany,  con- 
tinues : 

From  January  to  the  middle  of  April 
the  Russians  vainly  exerted  themselves  to 
break  through  to  Hungary,  but  they  com- 
pletely failed  with  heavy  losses.  There- 
upon the  time  had  come  to  crush  the 
enemy  in  a  common  attack  with  a  full 
force  of  the  combined  troops  of  both 
empires. 


VICE     ADMIRAL     JOHN      M.      DE      ROBECK 

Commandinjg  the  Allied  Fleet  Operating  Against  the  Dardanelles 


(Photo    ©    American    Press    Aasn.) 


FIELD    MARSHAL    BARON    VON    DER    GOLTZ 

Commander  of  the  First  Turkish  Army,  Formerly  Military 
Governor  of  Belgium 

{Photo  from   Paul   Thompson.) 


THE  CAMPAIGN  IN  THE  CARPATHIANS 


489 


A  victory  at  Tarnow  and  Gorlice  freed 
West  Galicia  from  the  enemy  and  caused 
the  Russian  fronts  on  the  Nida  and  in 
the  Carpathians  to  give  way.  In  a  ten 
days'  battle  the  victorious  troops  beat 
the  Riissian  Third  and  Eighth  Armies  to 
annihilation,  and  quickly  covered  the 
ground  from  the  Dunajec  and  Beskids  to 
the  San  River^lSO  kilometers  (nearly  81 
miles)  of  territory. 

From  May  2  to  12  the  prisoners  taken 
numbered  143,500,  while  100  guns  and 
350  machine  guns  were  captured,  besides 
the  booty  already  mentioned.  We  sup- 
pressed small  detachments  of  the  enemy 
scattered  in  the  woods  in  the  Car- 
pathians. 

Near  Odvzechowa  the  entire  staff  of 
the  Russian  Forty-eighth  Division  of  In- 
fantry, including  General  Korniloff,  sur- 
rendered. The  best  indication  of  the 
confusion  of  the  Russian  Army  is  the  fact 
that  our  Ninth  Corps  captured  in  the  last 
few  days  Russians  of  fifty-one  various 
regiments.  The  quantity  of  captured 
Russian  war  material  is  piled  up  and  has 
not  yet  been  enumerated. 

North  of  the  Vistula  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  troops  are  advancing  across 
Stopnica.  The  German  troops  have  capt- 
ured Kielce. 

East  of  Uzsok  Pass  the  German  and 
Hungarian  troops  took  several  Russian 
positions  on  the  heights  and  advanced 
to  the  south  of  Turka,  capturing  4,000 
prisoners.  An  attack  is  proceeding  here 
and  in  the  direction  of  Skole. 

In  Southeast  Galicia  strong  hostile 
troops  are  attacking  across  Horodenka. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  May  IS.— The 
German  War  Office  announced  today  that 


in  the  recent  fighting  in  Galicia  and 
Russian  Poland  143,500  Russians  had 
been  captured.  It  also  stated  that  69 
cannon  and  255  machine  guns  had  been 
taken  from  the  Russians,  ayid  that  the 
victorious  Austrian  and  German  forces, 
continuing  their  advance  eastward  in 
Galicia,  were  approaching  the  fortress  of 
Przemysl.     The  statement  follows: 

The  army  under  General  von  Macken- 
sen  in  the  course  of  its  pursuit  of  the 
Russians  reached  yesterday  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Subiecko,  on  the  lower  Wis- 
loka,  and  Kolbuezowa,  northeast  of 
Debica.  Under  the  pressure  of  this  ad- 
vance the  Russians  also  retreated  from 
their  positions  north  of  the  Vistula.  In 
this  section  the  troops  under  General  von 
Woyrech,  closely  following  the  enemy, 
penetrated  as  far  as  the  region  northwest 
of  Kielce. 

In  the  Carpathians  Austro-Hungarian 
and  German  troops  under  General  von 
Linsingen  conquered  the  hills  east  of  the 
upper  Stryi  and  took  3,650  men  prisoners, 
as  well  as  capturing  six  machine  guns. 

At  the  present  moment,  while  the 
armies  under  General  von  Mackensen  are 
approaching  the  Przemysl  fortress  and 
the  lower  San,  it  is  possible  to  form  an 
approximate  idea  of  the  booty  taken.  In 
the  battles  of  Tarnow  and  Gorlice,  and  in 
the  battles  during  the  pursuit  of  these 
armies,  we  have  so  far  taken  103,500  Rus- 
sian prisoners,  69  cannon,  and  255  ma- 
chine guns.  In  these  figures  the  booty 
taken  by  the  allied  troops  fighting  in  the 
Carpathians  and  north  of  the  Vistula  is 
not  included.  This  amounts  to  a  further 
40,000  prisoners. 


Mr.  Rockefeller  and  Serbia 

[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Timks.] 


LONDON,  Thursday,  May  13. — A  Paris  dispatch  to  the  Exchange  Telegraph 
Company,  quoting  the  Cri  de  Paris,  says: 

"John  D.  Rockefeller  has  just  sent  35,000,000  francs  ($5,000,000)  to  Prince 
Alexis  of  Serbia,  President  of  the  Serbian  Red  Cross  Society. 

"  Prince  Alexis  married  last  year  an  American  woman,  Mrs.  Hugo  Pratt, 
whose  father  loaned  years  ago  £2,000  to  Rockefeller  when  the  oil  king  started 
in  business." 


Italy  in  the  War 

Her  Move  Against  Austro-Hungary 

Last  Phase  of  Italian  Neutrality  and  Causes  of  the 

Struggle 


DECLARATION  OF   WAR. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

VIENNA,  May  23,  {via  Amsterdam 
and  London,  May  24.) — The  Duke  of 
Avarna,  Italian  Am.bassador  to  Austria, 
presented  this  afternoon  to  Baron  von 
Barian,  the  Austro-Hung avian  Foreign 
Minister,  the  following  declaration  of 
war: 

Vienna,  May  23,   1915. 

Comformably  with  the  order  of  his 
Majesty  the  King,  his  august  sovereign, 
the  undersigned  Ambassador  of  Italy  has 
the  honor  to  deliver  to  his  Excellency, 
the  Foreign  Minister  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary, the  following  communication : 

"  Declaration  has  been  made,  as  from 
the  fourth  of  this  month,  to  the  Imperial 
and  Royal  Government  of  the  grave  mo- 
tives for  which  Italy,  confident  in  her 
good  right,  proclaimed  anulled  and  hence- 
forth without  effect  her  treaty  of  al- 
liance with  Austria-Hungary,  which  was 
violated  by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Gov- 
ernment, and  resumed  her  liberty  of  ac- 
tion in  this  respect. 

"  The  Government  of  the  King,  firmly 
resolved  to  provide  by  all  means  at  its 
disposal  for  safeguarding  Italian  rights 
and  interests,  cannot  fail  in  its  duty  to 
take  against  every  existing  and  future 
menace  measures  which  events  impose 
upon  it  for  the  fulfillment  of  national 
aspirations. 

"  His  Majesty  the  King  declares  that 
he  considers  himself  from  tomorrow  in 
a  state  of  war  with  Austria-Hungary." 

The  undersigned  has  the  honor  to  make 
known  at  the  same  time  to  his  Excel- 
lency, the  Foreign  Minister,  that  pass- 
ports will  be  placed  this  very  day  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Ambassador   at   Rome,   and  he   will   be 


obliged  to  his  Excellency  if  he  will  kindly 
have  his  passports  handed  to  him. 

Avarna. 

FRANCIS  JOSEPH'S  DEFIANCE. 
[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

LONDON,  May  24,  5:45  A.  M.—A 
Reuter  dispatch  from  Amsterdam  says 
the  Vienna  Zeitung  publishes  the  follow- 
ing autograph  letter  from  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  to  Count  Karl  Stuergkh: 

Dear  Count  Stuergkh:  I  request  you 
to  make  public  the  attached  manifesto 
to  my  troops: 

"VIENNA,  May  23.— Francis  Joseph 
to  his  troops: 

"  The  King  of  Italy  has  declared  war 
on  me.  Perfidy  whose  like  history  does 
not  know  was  committed  by  the  King- 
dom of  Italy  against  both  allies.  After 
an  alliance  of  more  than  thirty  years* 
duration,  during  which  it  was  able  to  in- 
crease its  territorial  possessions  and  de- 
velop itself  to  an  unthought  of  flourish- 
ing condition,  Italy  abandoned  us  in  our 
hour  of  danger  and  went  over  with  fly- 
ing colors  into  the  camp  of  our  enemies. 

"We  did  not  menace  Italy;  did  not 
curtail  her  authority;  did  not  attack  her 
honor  or  interests.  We  always  respond- 
ed loyally  to  the  duties  of  our  alliance 
and  afforded  her  our  protection  when 
she  took  the  field.  We  have  done  more. 
When  Italy  directed  covetous  glances 
across  our  frontier  we,  in  order  to  main- 
tain peace  and  our  alliance  relation,  were 
resolved  on  great  and  painful  sacrifices 
which  particularly  grieved  our  paternal 
heart.  But  the  covetousness  of  Italy, 
which  believed  the  moment  should  be 
used,  was  not  to  be  appeased,  so  fate 
must  be  accommodated. 

"  My   armies   have   victoriously   with- 


ITALY    IN    THE    WAR 


491 


stood  mighty  armies  in  the  north  in  ten 
months  of  this  gigantic  conflict  in  most 
loyal  comradeship  of  arms  with  our  illus- 
trious ally.  A  new  and  treacherous 
enemy  in  the  south  is  to  you  no  new 
enemy.  Great  memories  of  Novara, 
Mortaro,  and  Lissa,  which  constituted 
the  pride  of  my  youth;  the  spirit  of  Ra- 
detzky,  Archduke  Albrecht,  and  Tegett- 
hoff,  which  continues  to  live  in  my  land 
and  sea  forces,  guarantee  that  in  the 
south  also  we  shall  successfully  defend 
the  frontiers  of  the  monarchy. 

"  I  salute  my  battle-tried  troops,  who 
are  inured  to  victory.  I  rely  on  them 
and  their  leaders.  I  rely  on  my  people 
for  whose  unexampled  spirit  of  sacrifice 
my  most  paternal  thanks  are  due.  I 
pray  the  Almighty  to  bless  our  colors 
and  take  under  His  gracious  protection 
our  just  cause." 

ITALY'S  CABINET  EMPOWERED. 

[By  The  Associated  Press.] 
ROME,  May  20. — Amid  tremendous 
enthusiasm  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  late 
today  adopted,  by  a  vote  of  407  to  74, 
the  bill  conferring  upon  the  Government 
full  power  to  make  war. 

The  bill  is  composed  of  a  single  article 
and  reads  as  follows: 

The  Government  is  authorized  in  case 
of  war  and  during  the  duration  of  war 
to  malie  decisions  with  due  authority  of 
law,  in  every  respect  required,  for  the 
defense  of  the  State,  the  guarantee  of 
public  order,  and  urgent  economic  na- 
tional necessities.  The  provisions  con- 
tained in  Articles  243  to  251  of  the  Mili- 
tary Code  continue  in  force.  The  Gov- 
ernment is  authorized  also  to  have  re- 
course until  Dec.  31,  1915,  to  monthly 
provisional  appropriations  for  balancing 
the  budget.  This  law  shall  come  into 
force   the   day   it   is   passed. 

All  members  of  the  Cabinet  maintain 
absolute  silence  regarding  what  step  will 
follow  the  action  of  the  Chamber.  For- 
mer Ministers  and  other  men  prominent 
in  public  affairs  declare,  however,  that 
the  action  of  Parliament  virtually  was 
a  declaration  of  war. 

When  the  Chamber  reassembled  this 
afternoon  after  its  long  recess  there  were 
present  482  Deputies  out  of  500,  the 
absentees  remaining  away  on  account  of 
illness.    The  Deputies  especially  applaud- 


ed were  those  who  wore  military  uni- 
forms and  who  had  asked  permission 
for  leave  from  their  military  duties  to 
be  present  at  the  sitting. 

All  the  tribunes  were  filled  to  over- 
flowing. No  representatives  of  Ger- 
many, Austria,  or  Turkey  were  to  be 
seen  in  the  diplomatic  tribune.  The  first 
envoy  to  arrive  was  Thomas  Nelson 
Page,  the  American  Ambassador,  who 
was  accompanied  by  his  staff.  M.  Bar- 
rere.  Sir  J.  Bennell  Rodd,  and  Michel  de 
Giers,  the  French,  British,  and  Russian 
Ambassadors,  respectively,  appeared  a 
few  minutes  later  and  all  were  greeted 
with  applause,  which  was  shared  by  the 
Belgian,  Greek,  and  Rumanian  Minis- 
ters. George  B.  McClellan,  former 
Mayor  of  New  York,  occupied  a  seat  in 
the  President's  tribune. 

A  few  minutes  before  the  session  be- 
.  gan  the  poet,  Gabriele  d'Annunzio,  one 
of  the  strongest  advocates  of  war,  ap- 
peared in  the  rear  of  the  public  tribune, 
which  was  so  crowded  that  it  seemed 
impossible  to  squeeze  in  anybody  else. 
But  the  moment  the  people  saw  him  they 
lifted  him  shoulder  high  and  passed 
him  over  their  heads  to  the  first  row. 
The  entire  Chamber  and  all  those  occupy- 
ing the  other  tribunes  rose  and  applaud- 
ed for  five  minutes,  crying,  "  Viva  d'An- 
nunzio! "  Later  thousands  sent  him 
their  cards,  and  in  return  received  his 
autograph,  bearing  the  date  of  this  event- 
ful day. 

Signer  Marcora,  President  of  the 
Chamber,  took  his  place  at  3  o'clock. 
All  the  members  of  the  House  and  every- 
body in  the  galleries  stood  up  to  acclaim 
the  old  follower  of  Garibaldi. 

Premier  Salandra,  followed  by  all  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  entered  shortly 
afterward.  It  was  a  solemn  moment. 
Then  a  delirium  of  cries  broke  out. 
"  Viva  Salandra !  "  roared  the  Deputies, 
and  the  cheering  lasted  for  five  minutes. 
Premier  Salandra  appeared  to  be  much 
moved  by  the  demonstration. 

After  the  formalities  of  the  opening 
Premier    Salandra   arose   and    said: 

"  Gentlemen :  I  '  have  the  honor  to 
present  to  you  a  bill  to  meet  the  even- 
tual expenditures  of  a  national  war  " — 


492 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


an  anuoncement  that  was  greeted  by 
further  prolonged  applause. 

The  Premier  began  an  exposition  of 
the  situation  of  Italy  before  the  open- 
ing of  hostilities  in  Europe.  He  de- 
clared that  Italy  had  submitted  to  every 
humiliation  from  Austria-Hungary  for 
the  love  of  peace.  By  her  ultimatum 
to  Serbia  Austria  had  annulled  the 
equilibrium  of  the  Balkans  and  preju- 
diced Italian  interests  there. 

Notwithstanding  this  evident  viola- 
tion of  the  treaty  of  the  Triple  Alliance, 
Italy  endeavored  during  long  months  to 
avoid  a  conflict,  but  these  efforts  were 
bound  to  have  a  limit  in  time  and  dig- 
nity. "  This  is  why  the  Government  felt 
itself  forced  to  present  its  denunciation 
of  the  Triple  Alliance  on  May  4,"  said 
Premier  Salandra,  who  had  difficulty  in 
quieting  the  wild  cheering  that  ensued. 
When  he  had  succeeded  in  so  doing  he 
continued,  amid  frequent  enthusiastic  in- 
terruptions : 

Italy  must  be  united  at  this  moment, 
■when  her  destinies  are  being  decided. 
We  have  confidence  in  our  august  chief, 
who  is  preparing  to  lead  the  army  to- 
ward a  glorious  future.  Let  us  gather 
around  this  well-beloved  sovereign. 

Since  Italy's  resurrection  as  a  Stat© 
she  has  asserted  herself  in  the  world 
of  nations  as  a  factor  of  moderation, 
concord,  and  peace,  and  she  can  proudly 
proclaim  that  she  has  accomplished  this 
mission  with  a  firmness  which  has  not 
wavered  before  even  the  most  painful 
sacrifices. 

In  the  last  period,  extending  over  thirty 
years,  she  maintained  her  system  of  alli- 
ances and  friendships  chiefly  with  the 
object  of  thus  assuring  the  European 
equilibrium,  and,  at  the  same  time,  peace. 
In  view  of  the  nobilty  of  this  aim  Italy 
not  only  subordinated  her  most  sacred 
■  aspiration,  but  has  also  been  forced  to 
look  on,  with  sorrow,  at  the  methodical 
attempts  to  supress  specifically  the 
Italian  characteristics  which  nature  and 
history    imprinted    on    those    regions. 

The  ultimatum  which  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Empire  addressed  last  July  to 
Serbia  annulled  at  one  blow  the  effects 
of  a  long-sustained  effort  by  violating 
the  pact  which  bound  us  to  that  State, 
violated  the  pact,  in  form,  for  it  omitted 
to  conclude  a  preliminary  agreement  with 
us  or  even  give  us  notification,  and  vio- 
lated it  also  in  substance,  for  it  sought 
to  disturb,  to  our  detriment,  the  delicate 
system     of     territorial     possessions     and 


spheres  of  influence  which  had  been  set 
up   in    the   Balkan   Peninsula. 

But,  more  than  any  particular  point, 
it  was  the  whole  spirit  of  the  treaty 
which  was  wronged,  and  even  suppressed, 
for  by  unloosing  in  the  world  a  most 
terrible  war,  in  direct  contravention  of 
our  interests  and  sentiments,  the  balance 
which  the  Triple  Alliance  should  have 
helped  to  assure  was  destroyed  and  the 
problem  of  Italy's  national  integrity  was 
virtualy  and  irresistibly  revived. 

Nevertheless,  for  long  months,  the 
Government  has  patiently  striven  to  find 
a  compromise,  with  the  object  of  re- 
storing to  the  agreement  the  reason  for 
being  which  it  had  lost.  These  negotia- 
tions were,  however,  limited  not  only 
by  time,  but  by  our  national  dignity. 
Beyond  these  limits  the  interests  both 
of  our  honor  and  of  our  country  would 
have  been  compromised. 

Signor  Salandra  was  interrupted  time 
and  time  again  by  rounds  of  applause 
from  all  sides,  and  the  climax  was 
reached  when  he  made  a  reference  to  the 
army  and  navy.  Then  the  cries  seemed 
interminable,  and  those  on  the  floor  of 
the  House  and  in  the  galleries  turned 
to  the  Military  Tribune,  from  which  the 
officers  answered  by  waving  their  hands 
and  handkerchiefs.  At  the  end  of  the 
Premier's  speech  there  were  deafening 
"  vivas  "  for  the  King,  war,  and  Italy. 

Only  thirty-four  Intransigeant  Social- 
ists refused  to  join  in  the  cheers,  even 
in  the  cry  "  Viva  Italia!"  and  they  were 
hooted  and  hissed. 

After  the  presentation  of  the  bill  con- 
ferring full  powers  upon  the  Government 
the  President  of  the  Chamber  submitted 
the  question  whether  a  committee  of 
eighteen  members  should  be  elected.  Out 
of  the  421  Deputies  who  voted  367  cast 
their  ballot  in  the  affirmative.  The  other 
54  were  against.  The  opposition  was 
composed  of  Socialists  and  some  adhe- 
rents of  ex-Premier  Giolitti. 

Foreign  Minister  Sonnino  then  rose, 
and,  taking  a  copy  of  the  "  Green  Book  " 
from  his  pocket,  said :  "  I  have  the 
honor  to  present  to  the  Chamber  a  book 
containing  an  account  of  all  the  pour- 
parlers with  Austria  from  the  9th  of 
September  to  the  4th  of  May."  He 
handed  the  book  to  Signor  Macora. 

The  Chamber  then  adjourned  until  5 
o'clock,  when  the  committee  reported  in 
favor  of  the  bill,  and  it  was  adopted. 


Italy  and  the  Austrian  Frontier 


o    20  40  60  eo   100 

MAIN   RAILROADS 
■■%B>FHONTieR  LINES 


The  shaded  portions  on  the  Austrian  frontier  represent  the  provinces 
of  "  Italia  Irredenta,"  which  Italy  would  win  back. 


494 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


ITALY'S   JUSTIFICATION. 

The  first  complete  official  statement 
of  the  difficulties  between  Italy  and 
Austria-Hungary,  which  forced  the 
Italian  declaration  of  war  against  the 
Dual  Monarchy,  was  rmide  public  in 
Washington  on  May  25  by  Count  V. 
Macchi  di  Cellere,  the  Italian  Ambas- 
sador. It  took  the  form  of  a  carefully 
prepared  telegraphic  statement  to  the 
Ambassador  from  Signor  Sonnino,  the 
Italian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  with 
instructions  that  it  be  delivered  in  the 
form  of  a  note  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  After  presenting  the 
communication  to  Secretary  Bryan, 
Count  Cellere  made  public  the  following 
translation  of  its  full  text: 

The  Triple  Alliance  was  essentially- 
defensive  and  designed  solely  to  preserve 
the  status  quo,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
equilibrium,  in  Europe.  That  these  were 
its  only  objects  and  purposes  is  estab- 
lished by  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
treaty  as  well  as  by  the  intentions  clear- 
ly described  and  set  forth  in  official  acts 
of  the  Ministers  who  created  the  alliance 
and  confirmed  and  renewed  it  in  the  in- 
terest of  peace,  which  always  has  in- 
spired Italian  policy. 

The  treaty,  as  long  as  its  intents  and 
purposes  had  been  loyally  interpreted 
and  regarded  and  as  long  as  it  had  not 
been  used  as  a  pretext  for  aggression 
against  others,  greatly  contributed  to  the 
elimination  and  settlement  of  causes  of 
conflict,  and  for  many  years  assured  to 
Europe  the  inestimable  benefits  of  peace. 

But  Austria-Hungary  severed  the 
treaty  by  her  own  hands.  She  rejected 
the  response  of  Serbia,  which  gave  to 
her  all  the  satisfaction  she  could  legiti- 
mately claim.  She  refused  to  listen  to 
the  conciliatory  proposals  presented  by 
Italy  in  conjunction  with  other  powers 
in  the  effort  to  spare  Europe  from  a 
vast  conflict  certain  to  drench  the  Con- 
tinent with  blood  and  to  reduce  it  to 
ruin  beyond  the  conception  of  human 
imagination,  and  finally  she  provoked 
that  conflict. 

Article  I.  of  the  treaty  embodied  the 
usual  and  necessary  obligation  of  such 
pacts — the    pledge    to    exchange    views 


upon  any  fact  and  economic  questions  of 
a  general  nature  that  might  arise  pur- 
suant to  its  terms.  None  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  had  the  right  to  under- 
take, without  a  previous  agreement,  any 
step  the  consequence  of  which  might 
impose  a  duty  upon  the  other  signatories 
arising  out  of  the  Alliance,  or  which 
would  in  any  way  whatsoever  encroach 
upon  their  vital  interests.  This  article 
was  violated  by  Austria-Hungary  when 
she  sent  to  Serbia  her  note  dated  July 
23,  1914,  an  action  taken  without  the 
previous  assent  of  Italy. 

Thus,  Austria-Hungary  violated  be- 
yond doubt  one  of  the  fundamental  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty.  The  obligation  of 
Austria-Hungary  to  come  to  a  previous 
understanding  with  Italy  was  the  greater 
because  her  obstinate  policy  against 
Serbia  gave  rise  to  a  situation  which  di- 
rectly tended  to  the  provocation  of  a 
European  war. 

As  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  July, 
1914,  the  Italian  Government,  preoccupied 
by  the  prevailing  feeling  in  Vienna, 
caused  to  be  laid  before  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  a  number  of 
suggestions  advising  moderation,  and 
warning  (it  of  the  impending  danger 
of  a  European  outbreak.  The  course 
adopted  by  Austria-Hungary  against 
Serbia  constituted,  moreover,  a  direct 
encroachment  upon  the  general  interests 
of  Italy,  both  political  and  economical, 
in  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  Austria-Hun- 
gary could  not  for  a  moment  imagine 
that  Italy  could  remain  indifferent  while 
Serbian  independence  was  being  trodden 
upon. 

On  a  number  of  occasions  theretofore 
Italy  gave  Austria  to  understand,  in 
friendly  but  clear  terms,  that  the  inde- 
pendence of  Serbia  was  considered  by 
Italy  as  essential  to  Balkan  equilibrium. 
Austria-Hungary  was  further  advised 
that  Italy  could  never  permit  that  equilib- 
rium to  be  disturbed  to  her  prejudice. 
This  warning  had  been  conveyed  not  only 
by  her  diplomats  in  private  conversations 
with  responsible  Austro-Hungarian  offi- 
cials, but  was  proclaimed  publicly  by 
Italian  statesmen  on  the  floors  of  Par- 
liament. 


ITALY    IN    THE    WAR 


495 


Therefore  when  Austria-Hungary  ig- 
nored the  usual  practices  and  menaced 
Serbia  by  sending  her  an  ultimatum 
without  in  any  way  notifying  the  Italian 
Government  of  what  she  proposed  to  do, 
indeed  leaving  that  Government  to  learn 
of  her  action  through  the  press  rather 
than  through  the  usual  channels  of  di- 
plomacy, when  Austria-Hungary  took 
this  unprecedented  course  she  not  only 
severed  her  alliance  with  Italy  but  com- 
mitted an  act  inimical  to  Italy's  interests. 
The  Italian  Government  had  obtained 
trustworthy  information  that  the  com- 
plete program  laid  down  by  Austria- 
Hungary  with  reference  to  the  Balkans 
was  prompted  by  a  desire  to  decrease 
Italy's  economical  and  political  influence 
in  that  section,  and  tended  directly  and 
indirectly  to  the  subservience  of  Serbia 
to  Austria-Hungary,  the  political  and 
territorial  isolation  of  Montenegro,  and 
the  isolation  and  political  decadence  of 
Rumania. 

This  attempted  diminution  of  the  in- 
fluence of  Italy  in  the  Balkans  would 
have  been  brought  about  by  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  program,  even  though  Aus- 
tria-Hungary had  no  intention  of  making 
further  territorial  acquisitions.  Further- 
more, attention  should  be  called  to  the 
fact  that  the  Austro-Hungarian  Govern- 
ment had  assumed  the  solemn  obligation 
of  prior  consultation  of  Italy  as  required 
by  the  special  provisions  of  Article  VII. 
of  the  treaty  of  the  Triple  Alliance, 
which,  in  addition  to  the  obligation  of 
previous  agreements,  recognized  the  right 
of  compensation  to  the  other  contracting 
parties  in  case  one  should  occupy  tem- 
porarily or  permanently  any  section  of 
the  Balkans. 

To  this  end,  the  Italian  Government 
approached  the  Austro-Hungarian  Gov- 
ernment immediately  upon  the  inaugu- 
ration of  Austro-Hungarian  hostilities 
against  Serbia,  and  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing reluctant  acquiescence  in  the  Italian 
representations.  Conversations  were 
initiated  immediately  after  July  23,  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  a  new  lease  of  life 
to  the  treaty  which  had  been  violated  and 
thereby  annulled  by  the  act  of  Austria- 
Hungary. 


This  object  could  be  attained  only  by 
the  conclusion  of  new  agreements.  The 
conversations  were  renewed,  with  addi- 
tional propositions  as  the  basis,  in  De- 
cember, 1914.  The  Italian  Ambassador 
at  Vienna  at  that  time  received  instruc- 
tions to  inform  Count  Berchtold,  the  Aus- 
tro-Hungarian Minister  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, that  the  Italian  Government  con- 
sidered it  necessary  to  proceed  without 
delay  to  an  exchange  of  views  and  con- 
sequently to  concrete  negotiations  with 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  con- 
cerning the  complex  situation  arising  out 
of  the  conflict  which  that  Government 
had  provoked. 

Count  Berchtold  at  first  refused.  He 
declared  that  the  time  had  not  arrived 
for  negotiations.  Subsequently,  upon  our 
rejoinder,  in  which  the  German  Govern- 
ment united,  Count  Berchtold  agreed  to  • 
exchange  views  as  suggested.  We 
promptly  declared,  as  one  of  our  funda- 
mental objects,  that  the  compensation  on 
which  the  agreement  should  be  based 
should  relate  to  territories  at  the  time 
under  the  dominion  of  Austria-Hungary. 

The  discussion  continued  for  months, 
from  the  first  days  of  December  to 
March,  and  it  was  not  until  the  end  of 
March  that  Baron  Burian  offered  a  zone 
of  territory  comprised  within  a  line  ex- 
tending from  the  existing  boundary  to  a 
point  just  north  of  the  City  of  Trent. 

In  exchange  for  this  proposed  cession 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  de- 
manded a  number  of  pledges,  including 
among  them  an  assurance  of  entire  lib- 
erty of  action  in  the  Balkans.  Note 
should  be  made  of  the  fact  that  the  ces- 
sion of  the  territory  around  Trent  was 
not  intended  to  be  immediately  effective 
as  we  demanded,  but  was  to  be  made 
only  upon  the  termination  of  the  Euro- 
pean war.  We  replied  that  the  offer 
was  not  acceptable,  and  then  presented 
the  minimum  concessions  which  could 
meet  in  part  our  national  aspirations  and 
strengthen  in  an  equitable  manner  our 
strategic  position  in  the  Adriatic. 

These  demands  comprised:  The  exten- 
sion of  the  boundary  in  Trentino,  a  new 
boundary  on  the  Isonzo,  special  provision 
for  Trieste,  the  cession  of  certain  islands 


496 


THE   NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


of  the  Curzolari  Archipelago,  the  aban- 
donment of  Austrian  claims  in  Albania, 
and  the  recognition  of  our  possession  of 
Avlona  and  the  islands  of  the  Aegean 
Sea,  which  we  occupied  during  our  war 
with  Turkey. 

At  first  our  demands  were  categor- 
ically rejected.  It  was  not  until  another 
month  of  conversation  that  Austria- 
Hungary  was  induced  to  increase  the 
zone  of  territory  she  was  prepared  to 
cede  in  the  Trentino  and  then  only  as  far 
as  Mezzo  Lombardo,  thereby  excluding 
the  territory  inhabited  by  people  of  the 
Italian  race,  such  as  the  Valle  del  Noce, 
Val  di  Fasso,  and  Val  di  Ampezzo.  Such 
a  proposal  would  have  given  to  Italy  a 
boundary  of  no  strategical  value.  In  ad- 
dition the  Austro-Hungarian  Govern- 
ment maintained  its  determination  not 
to  make  the  cession  effective  before  the 
end  of  the  war. 

The  repeated  refusals  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary were  expressly  confirmed  in  a  con- 
versation between  Baron  Burian  and  the 
Italian  Ambassador  at  Vienna  on  April 
29.  While  admitting  the  possibility  of 
recognizing  some  of  our  interests  in 
Avlona  and  granting  the  above-men- 
tioned territorial  cession  in  the  Tren- 
tino, the  Austro-Hungarian  Government 
persisted  in  its  opposition  to  all  our 
other  demands,  especially  those  regard- 
ing the  boundary  of  the  Isonzo,  Trieste, 
and  the  islands. 

The  attitude  assumed  by  Austria-Hun- 
gary from  the  beginning  of  December 
until  the  end  of  April  made  it  evident 
that  she  was  attempting  to  temporize 
without  coming  to  a  conclusion.  Under 
such  circumstances  Italy  was  confronted 
by  the  danger  of  losing  forever  the  op- 
portunity of  realizing  her  aspirations 
based  upon  tradition,  nationality,  and 
her  desire  for  a  safe  position  in  the 
Adriatic,  while  other  contingencies  in  the 
European  conflict  menaced  her  principal 
interests  in  other  seas. 

Hence  Italy  faced  the  necessity  and 
duty  of  recovering  that  liberty  of  action 
to  which  she  was  entitled  and  of  seeking 
protection  for  her  interests,  apart  from 
the  negotiations  which  had  been  drag- 
ging uselessly  along  for  five  months  and 
without  reference  to  the  Treaty  of  Al- 


liance which  had  virtually  failed  as  a 
result  of  its  annullment  by  the  action  of 
Austria-Hungary  in  July,  1914. 

It  would  not  be  out  of  place  to  ob- 
serve that  the  alliance  having  termi- 
nated and  there  existing  no  longer  any 
reason  for  the  Italian  people  to  be  bound 
by  it,  though  they  had  loyally  stood  by 
it  for  so  many  years  because  of  their 
desire  for  peace,  there  naturally  revived 
in  the  public  mind  the  grievances  against 
Austria-Hungary  which  for  so  many 
years  had  been  voluntarily  repressed. 

While  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  contained 
no  formal  agreement  for  the  use  of  the 
Italian  language  or  the  maintenance  of 
Italian  tradition  and  Italian  civilization 
in  the  Italian  provinces  of  Austria, 
nevertheless  if  the  alliance  was  to  be 
effective  in  preserving  peace  and  har- 
mony it  was  indisputably  clear  that 
Austria-Hungary,  as  our  ally,  should 
have  taken  into  account  the  moral  obli- 
gation of  respecting  what  constituted 
some  of  the  most  vital  interests  of  Italy. 

Instead,  the  constant  policy  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Government  was  to 
destroy  Italian  nationality  and  Italian 
civilization  all  along  the  coast  of  the 
Adriatic.  A  brief  statement  of  the  facts 
and  of  the  tendencies  well  known  to  all 
will  suffice. 

Substitution  of  officials  of  the  Italian 
race  by  officials  of  other  nationalities; 
artificial  immigration  of  hundreds  of 
families  of  a  different  nationality;  re- 
placement of  Italian  by  other  labor; 
exclusion  from  Trieste  by  the  decree 
of  Prince  Hohenlohe  of  employes  who 
were  subjects  of  Italy;  denational- 
ization of  the  judicial  administration;  re- 
fusal of  Austria  to  permit  an  Italian  uni- 
versity in  Trieste,  which  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  diplomatic  negotiations;  dena- 
tionalization of  navigation  companies; 
encouragement  of  other  nationalities  to 
the  detriment  of  the  Italian,  and,  finally, 
the  methodical  and  unjustif  iabe  expulsion 
of  Italians  in  ever-increasing  numbers. 

This  deliberate  and  persistent  policy 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government 
with  reference  to  the  Italian  population 
was  not  only  due  to  internal  conditions 
brought  about  by  the  competition  of  the 
different    nationalities   within   its   terri- 


ITALY    IN    THE    WAR 


497 


tory,  but  was  inspired  in  great  part  by  a 
deep  sentiment  of  hostility  and  aversion 
toward  Italy,  which  prevailed  particular- 
ly in  the  quarters  closest  to  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  and  influenced 
decisively  its  course  of  action. 

Of  the  many  instances  which  could  be 
cited  it  is  enough  to  say  that  in  1911, 
while  Italy  was  engaged  in  war  with 
Turkey,  the  Austro-Hungarian  General 
Staff  prepared  a  campaign  against  us, 
and  the  military  party  prosecuted  ener- 
getically a  political  intrigue  designed  to 
drag  in  other  responsible  elements  of 
Austria.  The  mobilization  of  an  army 
upon  our  frontier  left  us  in  no  doubt  of 
our  neighbor's  sentiment  and  intentions. 

The  crisis  was  settled  pacifically 
through  the  influence,  so  far  as  known, 
of  outside  factors;  but  since  that  time 
we  have  been  constantly  under  appre- 
hension of  a  sudden  attack  whenever  the 
party  opposed  to  us  should  get  the  upper 
hand  in  Vienna.  All  of  this  was  known 
in  Italy,  and  it  was  only  the  sincere  de- 
sire for  peace  prevailing  among  the  Ital- 
ian people  which  prevented  a  rupture. 

After  the  European  war  broke  out, 
Italy  sought  to  come  to  an  understanding 
with  Austria-Hungary  with  a  view  to  a 
settlement  satisfactory  to  both  parties 
which  might  avert  existing  and  future 
trouble.  Her  efforts  were  in  vain,  not- 
withstanding the  efforts  of  Germany, 
which  for  months  endeavored  to  induce 
Austria-Hungary  to  comply  with  Italy's 
suggestions,  thereby  recognizing  the 
propriety  and  legitimacy  of  the  Italian 
attitude.     Therefore  Italy  found  herself 


compelled  by  the  force  of  events  to  seek 
other  solutions. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Treaty  of  Alliance 
with  Austria-Hungary  had  ceased  virtu- 
ally to  exist  and  served  only  to  prolong 
a  state  of  continual  friction  and  mutual 
suspicion,  the  Italian  Ambassador  at 
Vienna  was  instructed  to  declare  to  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Government  that  the 
Italian  Government  considered  itself  free 
from  the  ties  arising  out  of  the  Treaty 
of  the  Triple  Alliance  in  so  far  as  Austria- 
Hungary  was  concerned.  This  communi- 
cation was  delivered  in  Vienna  on 
May    4. 

Subsequently  to  this  declaration,  and 
after  we  had  been  obliged  to  take  steps 
for  the  protection  of  our  interests,  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Government  submitted 
new  concessions,  which,  however,  were 
deemed  insufficient  and  by  no  means  met 
our  minimum  demands.  These  offers 
could  not  be  considered  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

The  Italian  Government,  taking  into 
consideration  what  has  been  stated  above, 
and  supported  by  the  vote  of  Parliament 
and  the  solemn  manifestation  of  the 
country,  came  to  the  decision  that  any 
further  delay  would  be  inadvisable. 
Therefore,  on  this  day  (May  23)  it  was 
declared  in  the  name  of  the  King  to  the 
Austro-Hungfrian  Ambassador  at  Rome 
that,  beginning  tomorrow.  May,  24,  it  will 
consider  itself  in  a  state  of  war  with 
Austria-Hungary.  Orders  to  this  effect 
were  also  telegraphed  yesterday  to  the 
Italian  Ambassador  at  Vienna. 


German   Hatred   of  Italy 

[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

AMSTERDAM,  May  23.— The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  today  prints  a  telegram 
received  from  Vienna  saying: 

"  The  exasperation  and  contempt  which  Italy's  treacherous  surprise  attack 
and  her  hypocritical  justification  arouse  here  (Vienna)  are  quite  indescribable. 

"  Neither  Serbia  nor  Russia,  despite  a  long  and  costly  war,  is  hated.  Italy, 
however,  or  rather  those  Italian  would-be  politicians  and  business  men  who  offer 
violence  to  the  majority  of  peaceful  Italian  people,  are  so  unutterably  hated  with 
the  most  profound  honesty  that  this  war  can  be  terrible." 


ITALY'S  NEUTRALITY— THE 
LAST  PHASE 

The  attitude  of  the  Italian  press  since  the  character  of  its  papers  were  defined  in  the 
May  number  of  The  Current  History  is  here  recorded.  Since  May  17,  when  the  King,  on 
account  of  the  heated  pro-intervention  demonstrations  held  all  over  Italy,  declined  to  accept 
the  resignation  of  the  Salandra  Ministry,  the  Giolittian  organ,  the  Stampa,  of  Turin,  has 
dropped  something  of  its  feverish  neutralistic  propaganda,  the  Giolittian  color  has  gradually 
faded  from  the  Giornale  d'ltalia  and  the  Tribuna,  while  ex-Premier  Giolitti  himself  has 
left  Rome,  declaring  that  he  had  been  misunderstood  in  having  his  declaration  that  Italy 
could  obtain  what  she  desired  without  fighting  construed  into  meaning  that  he  desired  peace 
at   all   costs. 

It  is  understood  that  in  the  middle  of  April  Austria-Hungary  became  convinced  that 
neutralistic  sentiments  might  prevail  in  the  peninsula,  and  consequently  became  less  active 
in  her  negotiations  with  the  Salandra  Government.  Thereupon  Italy  resumed  negotiations 
with  the  Entente  powers,  and  on  April  14  acknowledged  that  Serbia  should  have  an  opening 
on  the  Adriatic  Sea.  This  caused  the  Austro-Italian  negotiations  to  be  heatedly  resumed, 
and  on  May  18  the  German  Imperial  Chancellor  read  to  the  Reichstag  the  eleven  Austro- 
Hungarian  proposals.  The  text  of  these  proposals,  together  with  the  Italian  counter-pro- 
posals and  the  Italian  exchange  of  claims  in  the  Adriatic  with  the  Entente  powers,  will  be 
found  outlined  in  the  Italian  official  statement  cabled  by  Minister  Sonnino  to  the  Italian 
Ambassador  at  Washington,  presented  on  Page  494. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  press  comments  are  based  upon  an  imperfect  knowledge, 
of  the  ultimate  proposals  and  claims,  and  that  the  Italian  attitude  for  rejecting  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  proposals  obviously  rests  on  these  grounds : 

1.  They  are  inadequate  and  might  be  rendered  nought  in  case  of  the  victory  of  the  Entente 
powers. 

2.  They  do  not  give  Italy  a  defensive  frontier  in  the  north  and  east. 

3.  They  do  not  materially  improve  Italy's  commercial  and  military  condition  in  the 
Adriatic. 

4.  They  make  no  mention  of  Dalmatia  and  the  Dalmatian  Archipelago,  with  their  deep 
harbors  and  natural  fortifications= — a  curious  contrast  to  the  lowland  harbors  of  the  Italian 
coast  opposite. 

The  Italian  demands  take  into  account  the  possible  victory  of  the  Entente  powers. 

In  the  circumstances,  it  is  best  to  begin  with  an  extract  from  a  German  paper,  as  there 
seems  to  be  an  impression  abroad  that  Germany  has  not  appreciated  Italy's  reasons  for  not 
joining  with  her  allies  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  has  conducted  a  propaganda  dis- 
crediting her  willingness  to  remain  neutral  provided  the  Austro-Hungarian  concessions  proved 
sufficient  and   were  sufficiently   guaranteed. 

THE    GERMAN   VIEW.  when  Italy  wished  to  extend  her  occu- 

From     the     Frankfurter     Zeitung     of  pation  of  the  Aegean  Islands,  which  lie 

March  3.  as  advance  posts  before  the  Dardanelles, 

Article  VII.  of  the  Austro-German-  she  was  obliged  to  forego  her  aims,  and 
Italian  Treaty,  the  terms  of  which  have  did  loyally  forego  them,  because  Austria 
never  before  been  made  public,  not  only  at  that  time  did  not  yet  desire  a  move- 
provides  for  the  right  of  compensation  ment  on  the  then  still  quiescent  Balkan 
in  case  one  party  to  the  contract  en-  Peninsula.  According  to  the  Italian 
riches  itself  territorially  in  the  Balkans,  view,  Austria,  in  determining  to  liqui- 
but  also  forbids  either  Austria  or  Italy  date  her  matured  account  with  Serbia 
to  undertake  anything  in  the  Balkans  without  coming  to  an  agreement  in  the 
without  the  consent  of  the  other.    *    *    *  matter  with   Italy,  canceled  the   treaty 

In  the  Tripoli  war,  when  the  energetic  in  an  important  and  essential  part,  irre- 

Duca  degli  Abruzzi  made  his  advance  in  spective  of  the  assurance  that  she  con- 

the  Adriatic  against  Prevesa  and  wished  templated  merely  punishment  of  Serbia 

to  force   the   Porte   to   yield  through   a  and  not  the   acquisition  of  territory  in 

serious   action   in   the    Dardanelles,   and  the    Balkans.      The    Italian    policy    con- 


500 


THE    NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


sidered  itself  from  that  moment  free 
from  every  obligation,  even  if  the  speech 
of  Premier  Salandra  in  December  could 
not  be  interpreted  as  a  formal  denun- 
ciation of  the  Dreibund.     *     *     * 

We  have  today  good  grounds  for  as- 
suming that  much  as  we  must  reckon 
with  the  fact  that  the  country  is  deter- 
mined to  go  to  war  if  nothing  is  granted 
to  it,  just  so  little  would  it  support  a 
Government  bent  on  making  war  be- 
cause it  does  not  receive  anything. 

It  will  be  as  impossible  to  solve  the 
Trentino  question  from  the  point  of  view 
of  abstract  right  as  to  solve  any  other 
iridescent  question  in  that  way.  The 
Trentino  question,  which  was  long  a 
question  of  national,  historical,  and  eth- 
nological idealism,  has  now  become  a 
real  question  of  power.  The  European 
war  and  its  developments  have  placed 
Italy  in  a  position  to  use  her  power  in 
order  to  expand.  This  is  not  unusual  in 
history,     *     *     * 

But  it  should  be  carefully  noted  that 
only  to  an  Italy  remaining  within  the 
Triple  Alliance  can  compensation  be 
given,  and,  of  course,  only  on  the  basis 
of  complete  reciprocity — (zug  um  zug- 
leistung  gegen  leistung).  To  demand 
anything  whatsoever  Italy  has  no  right. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  ignoble  exploita- 
tion of  the  needs  of  an  ally  fighting  for 
her  existence  would  correspond  neither 
with  the  generosity  of  the  Italian  na- 
ture nor  with  her  real  interests. 

The  honest  path  for  Italy,  who  finds 
herself  unable  to  enter  the  war  on  the 
side  of  her  allies  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Alliance,  is  to  preserve  un- 
conditional neutrality.  A  simple  dis- 
cussion between  the  leading  statesmen 
of  all  the  three  powers  will  banish  every 
shade  of  misunderstanding  and  clear  the 
situation.  Italy  will  spare  her  strength 
for  the  great  task  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Mediterranean  and  for  her  correct 
and  sensible  attitude  will  receive,  under 
the  guarantee  of  her  friend,  (Germany,) 
the  promise  of  the  fulfillment  of  her 
comprehensible  desire.  Any  other  policy 
would  be  foolish  and  criminal. 


ITALY  AND  ENGLAND. 

Frovi  the  Giornale  d'ltalia,  March  26. 

It  is  known  in  London,  we  believe, 
that  Italy  is  firmly  resolved  to  assure 
her  own  future  in  whatever  manner 
seems  best.  A  seafaring,  agricultural, 
industrial,  mercantile,  emigrant  people 
like  the  Italian  must  for  its  very  exist- 
ence conquer  its  own  place  in  the  sun, 
cannot  endure  hegemonies  of  any  kind, 
cannot  suggest  exclusions,  oppressions, 
or  prohibitions  of  any  kind,  but  must  de- 
fend at  any  cost  its  own  liberty,  not 
only  political,  but  economic  and  mari- 
time. Italy  is  resolved  to  defend  a 
outrance  that  sum  total  of  her  rights 
in  which  the  whole  future  is  inclosed. 
A  people  does  not  spend  for  nothing  in  a 
few  months  $300,000,000  to  complete  its 
military  preparations  and  does  not  in- 
trust for  nothing,  with  a  gi*eat  example 
of  concord,  the  most  ample  powers  to 
the  Government. 

From  the  Messaggero,  April  1. 

As  Prince  von  Billow's  negotiations 
have  apparently  failed,  Italy  naturally 
addresses  herself  to  England.  There  is, 
however,  this  diffculty:  England  has 
already  made  arrangements  with  France 
and  Russia  for  the  solution  of  the  ques- 
tions of  the  Dardanelles  and  Asia  Minor, 
whereas  Italy  wishes  to  have  her  say  in 
these  questions  before  giving  her  assist- 
ance to  the  Triple  Entente.  Moreover, 
there  are  Greek  aspirations  in  the  Le- 
vant and  Serbian  in  the  Adriatic  to  be 
reconciled  with  those  of  Italy.  Conse- 
quently the  situation  is  not  easy. 

From  the  Stampa,  April  11. 

Not  only  must  Italy  have  her  natural 
frontiers  on  the  east  restored,  not  only 
must  she  have  her  legitimate  supremacy 
in  the  Adriatic  assured,  not  only  must 
she  safeguard  her  interests  in  the  East- 
ern Mediterranean  and  in  the  eventual 
partition  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  but  she 
must  also  see  assured  in  the  Western 
Mediterranean  a  greater  guarantee  for 
the  safety  of  herself  and  her  possessions 
and  wider  liberty  of  action  than  that  of 
which  she  has  recently  had  painful  ex- 
perience.   These  things  must  be  guaran- 


ITALY    IN    THE    WAR 


501 


teed  by  an   alliance  with   either   Russia 
or  with  England.   *    *    * 

Before  having  solved  this  difficulty 
any  decision  in  favor  of  war  would  be  a 
leap  in  the  dark,  an  act  of  inconceivable 
political  blindeness.  It  would  be,  to 
adopt  a  rough,  but  inevitable,  term,  a 
veritable  betrayal. 

From  the  Giornaale  cl'Italia  of  April  12, 
in  criticising  the  foregoing. 

We  absolutely  fail  to  understand  the 
motive  which  induced  the  Piedmontese 
journal  to  print  matter  so  calculated  to 
confuse  public  opinon.  Indeed,  the  care 
with  which  our  contemporary  seeks  to 
embarrass  Italian  diplomatic  action 
seems  somewhat  strange  and  cannot  es- 
cape the  blame  of  all  those  who  think 
it  necessary  not  to  hamper  the  liberty  of 
action  conceded  to  the  Government 
almost  unanimously  by  Parliament  and 
by  the  people.     *     *     * 

It  seems  almost  as  though  the  Pied- 
montese journal  had  no  thought  but  to 
put  insoluble  problems  to  the  Govern- 
ment, in  the  face  of  public  opinion,  so 
as  to  try  to  prejudice  its  action  in  ad- 
vance. The  Stampa's  program  prac- 
tically means  that  to  the  diplomatic 
rupture  with  the  Central  Empires  would 
be  added  another  diplomatic  rupture 
with  the  Triple  Entente,  thus  insuring 
the  isolation  which  the  Stampa  professes 
to  fear  so  much. 

From  the  Corriere  della  Sera,  April  12. 
The  article  in  the  Stampa,  which  ap- 
pears ultra-nationalist,  is  in  reality 
purely  neutralist.  Italian  aspirations 
must  be  kept  within  reasonable  bounds. 
What  would  happen  to  Italy  if  demands 
were  put  forward  which  the  Entente 
could  not  entertain?  Quite  apart  from 
questions  of  direct  interest  and  gain, 
other  factors  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count. There  is  the  danger  to  Italy  in 
case  of  the  success  of  her  late  allies, 
which  would  mean  the  prostration  of 
France,  the  annexation  of  Belgium  to 
Germany,  the  arrival  of  Austria  at  Sa- 
loniki,  British  naval  hegemony  replaced 
by  German,  the  revival  of  Turkey,  and 
the  consequent  ambition  to  resume  pos- 
session of  lost  territories. 


ADRIATIC  PROBLEM. 
From  the  Politika  of  Belgrade,  March  30.  • 

Italy  is  claiming  not  only  Italian  ter- 
ritories which  are  under  Austro-Hunga- 
rian  domination,  but  also  a  very  consid- 
erable part  of  the  most  purely  southern 
Slav  regions.  Italy  will  have  to  realize 
one  simple  fact.  Until  this  war  Serbia 
was  closed  in  on  all  sides  by  Austria- 
Hungary.  She  therefore  asked  that 
Europe  should  secure  for  her  from  Aus- 
tria-Hungary at  least  a  free  outlet  to 
the  Adriatc,  the  price  of  which  she  had 
already  paid  in  blood. 

The  two  Balkan  wars  were  waged 
primarily  for  the  same  thing,  since  they 
were  wars  of  liberation.  Today  it  is  no 
longer  a  question  of  the  economic  inde- 
pendence of  Serbia,  since  Austria- 
Hungary  is  passing  from  the  scene,  but 
it  is  a  matter  of  the  liberation  and  of 
the  union  into  a  single  State  of  our  race 
as  a  whole.  This  is  the  idea  which  at 
this  moment  governs  the  masses  of  our 
people,  and  the  numberless  graves  of  our 
fallen  heroes  testify  to  the  sacrifice 
which  we  have  made  for  the  sake  of  this 
idea.  Whoever,  therefore,  opposes  our 
national  union  is  an  enemy  of  our  race. 

Deeply  as  it  would  pain  Serbia  to 
uproot  out  of  her  heart  the  sympathy 
which  she  feels  for  Italy,  she  will  none 
the  less  do  so  without  fail  if  ever  it 
should  become  manifest  that  Italy's 
present  policy  signifies  that  she  desires 
not  only  to  consolidate  her  legitimate 
interests,  but  also  to  encroach  upon  the 
Balkans  by  attacking  Serbia. 

From  the  Giornale  d'ltalia,  April  4. 

No  one  in  Italy  has  ever  said  or 
thought  that  in  the  event  of  a  boule- 
versement  in  the  Adriatic  and  the  Bal- 
kans there  should  be  denied  to  Serbia 
or  any  Slav  State  which  might  arise 
from  the  ruins  of  Austria-Hungary  a 
wide  outlet  to  the  Adriatic.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  no  one  in  Italy  could  ever 
permit  that  the  reversion  of  Austria's 
strategic  maritime  position  should  fall 
into  any  hands  but  ours. 

There  are  political  and  military  con- 
siderations which  are  above  any  ques- 
tion of  nationality  whatever.  It  should 
be   enough   to   cite   the   example   of  an 


502 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


England  which  holds  a  Spanish  Gibraltar 
and  an  Italian  Malta,  besides  a  Greek 
Cyprus  and  the  Egyptian  Suez  Canal.  It 
should  be  enough  to  recall  the  claim 
made  by  all  the  press  of  Petrograd  to 
establish  Russia  at  Constantinople  and 
on  the  banks  of  the  Bosporus  and  the 
Dardanelles,  in  spite  of  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  nationality,  Balkan  or  Turk. 

Let  the  Serbians,  in  case  of  an  Adri- 
atic and  Balkan  upset,  have  an  ample 
outlet  to  the  Adriatic,  but  do  not  let 
them  aspire  to  conquer  a  predominance 
in  that  sea.  The  Italian  people  is  not, 
and  can  not  be  at  this  moment,  either 
phil  or  phobe  regarding  any  other  people. 
The  existence,  or  at  least  the  future,  of 
all  the  nations  is  at  stake  today,  and 
whoever  desires  the  friendship  of  Italy 
must  begin  by  loyally  recognizing  her 
rights  and  interests. 

From  the  Giornale  d'ltalia  of  April  19. 

We  reject  altogether  the  idea  that 
Italy  would  be  satisfied  with  the  western 
portion  of  Istria,  leaving  the  rest  of  the 
Eastern  Adriatic  shore  to  the  Croatians 
and  Serbians.  While  Italy  would  cer- 
tainly gain  by  the  possession  of  Trieste 
and  Pola,  the  strategic  position  in  the 
Adriatic  would  still  be  exceedingly  dis- 
advantageous, especially  as  the  Slav 
claim  advanced  by  certain  Russian  news- 
papers, (that  Croatia  become  an  autono- 
mous State  and  divide  Dalmatia  with 
Serbia,)  includes  the  right  to  maintain 
fortified  naval  bases  on  the  eastern 
shore. 

This  would  merely  mean  exchanging 
Austrian  strategical  predominance  for 
Slavonic,  and,  consequently,  Russian  pre- 
dominance nearly  as  threatening  to  Ital- 
ian interests. 

The  principal  objective  of  Italy  in 
the  Adriatic  is  the  solution  once  for  all 
of  the  politico-strategic  qu^tion  of  a  sea 
which  is  commanded  in  the  military  sense 
from  the  eastern  shore,  and  such  a  prob- 
lem can  be  solved  only  by  one  method — 
by  eliminating  from  the  Adriatic  every 
other  war  fleet.  Otherwise  the  existing 
most  difficult  situation  in  the  Adriatic 
will  be  perpetuated  and  in  time  inevita- 
bly aggravated. 


From  the  Messaggero  of  April  21. 

We  understand  that  an  Italian-Russian 
accord  has  been  practically  concluded. 
This  accord  refers  both  to  the  war,  on 
which  Italy  will  shortly  embark,  as  well 
as  to  the  peace  which  will  be  finally 
signed.  The  French  and  British  Govern- 
ments have  taken  an  active  part  in  facil- 
itating this  accord,  as  it  deals  with  other 
questions  besides  that  of  the  Adriatic. 

From  Idea  Nazionale,  May  10. 
Italy  desires  war: 

1.  In  order  to  obtain  Trent,  Trieste, 
and  Dalmatia.  The  country  desires  it. 
A  nation  which  has  the  opportunity  to 
free  its  land  should  do  so  as  a  matter  of 
imperative  necessity.  If  the  Government 
and  the  institutions  will  not  make  war, 
they  render  themselves  guilty  of  high 
treason  toward  the  country. 

2.  We  desire  war  in  order  to  conquer 
for  ourselves  a  good  strategic  frontier  in 
the  north  and  east  in  place  of  the  treach- 
erous one  which  we  now  have.  When  a 
nation  can  assure  the  protection  of  its 
domain  it  ought  to  do  so,  otherwise  its 
future  will  have  less.  It  is  a  necessary 
duty.  There  is  no  other  alternative  but 
this — either  complete  the  work  or  betray 
what  has  already  been  done. 

3.  We  desire  war  because  today  in  the 
Adriatic,  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  the 
Mediterranean,  and  Asia  Italy  should 
have  all  the  advantages  it  is  possible  for 
her  to  have  and  without  which  her  politi- 
cal, economic,  and  moral  power  would 
diminish  in  proportion  as  that  of  others 
augmented.  To  this  has  the  Hon.  Salan- 
dra  borne  witness.  If  we  should  avoid 
war  we  desire  less  than  his  words  most 
sacredly  proclaimed  to  the  nation  in  Par- 
liament. If  we  would  be  a  great  power 
we  must  accept  certain  obligations;  one 
of  them  is  war  in  order  to  keep  us  a 
great  power.  If  we  do  not  want  to  be  a 
great  power  any  longer,  we  deliberately 
and  vilely  betray  ourselves. 

The  foregoing  are  the  three  reasons 
for  entering  the  war — reasons  which  are 
tangible,  material^  and  comprehensive. 

From  the  Giornale  d'ltalia,  May  12. 

Italy  is  determined  to  realize  her  na- 
tional aspirations,  cost  what  it  may.    For 


ITALY    IN    THE    WAR  503 


this  reason  the  Government  has  hastened  Italian  Government  opened  negotiations 
its  preparations  for  war  which,  when  with  the  Allies,  which  had  the  effect  of 
completed,  caused  Austria  to  offer  com-  increasing  the  offers  of  Austria, 
pensations,  thus  tacitly  acknowledging  During  the  ultimate,  delicate  phase  of 
the  claims  of  Italy.  the  conversations,  when  those  who  ad- 
When  the  Austro-Italian  negotiations  vocate  neutrality  are  causing  great  in- 
were  begun  Signor  Giolitti  most  unfor-  jury  to  the  interests  of  the  country  and 
tunately  obstructed  their  successful  issue  also  helping  its  enemies,  the  Govern- 
by  his  inopportune  letter  declaring  that  ment,  reposing  in  the  support  of  the  peo- 
war  was  unnecessary.  Nevertheless,  pie,  is  determined  to  expose  the  intrigues 
owing  to  the  firmness  of  the  Government  and  conspiracies  intended  to  favor  the 
and  the  determination  to  resort  to  war,  Austrians  and  Germans, 
the  conversations  were  resumed.  How-  Hence  the  Government  will,  if  neces- 
ever,  Austria,  aside  from  offering  in-  sary,  make  an  appeal  to  Parliament, 
sufficient  concessions,  assumed  a  waiting  Meanwhile,  it  will  conserve  its  power 
policy  and  sought  secretly  to  conclude  a  and  righteously  defend  the  interests  of 
secret  peace  with  Russia.    Thereupon  the  the  country. 


ANNUNCIATION 

By  Ernst  Lissauer. 

Ernst  Lissauer,  the  author  of  the  famous  "  Song  of  Hate  Against 
England,"  has  written  a  second  poem  entitled  "  Bread,"  and  directed  against 
the  British  policy  of  cutting  off  Germany's  food  supply.  The  poem  was 
published  in  the  Bonner  Zeitung  and  reprinted  in  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung 
of  March  26,  1915.    Following  is  a  translation: 

WITH  arms  they  cannot  overpower  us, 
With  hunger  they  would  fain  devour  us; 
Foe  beside  foe  in  an  iron  ring. 
Has  want  crossed  our  borders,  or  hunger,  or  dearth  ? 
Listen:   I  chant  the  tidings  of  Spring: 
Our  soil  is  our  ally  in  this  great  thing; 
Already  new  bread  is  growing  in  the  earth. 

ADMONITION: 

Save  the  food  and  guard  and  hoard! 
Bread  is  a  sword. 

PRAYER: 

The  peasants  have  sown  the  seed  again. 

Now  gather  and  pray  the  prayer  of  the  grain: 

Earth  of  our  land, 

With  arms  they  cannot  overpower  us, 

With  hunger  they  would  fain  devour  us, 

Arise  thou  in  thy  harvest  wrath ! 

Thick  grow  thy  grass,  rich  the  reaper's  path! 

Dearest  soil  of  earth 

Our  prayer  hear: 

Show  them  of  little  worth. 

Shame  them  with  blade  and  ear. 


The  Great  End 

By  Arnold  Bennett. 

Pear  that  the  British  Government  in  its  discussion  of  peace  terms  with  Germany 
might  defer  to  the  policy  of  France  and  Russia  of  keeping  important  negotiations  secret 
inspired  the  writing  of  this  article,  which  appeared  in  The  London  Daily  News  of  April  1, 
1915,  and  is  here  published  by  the  author's  permission.  Mr.  Bennett  points  out  that  despite  her 
alliance   Great   Britain   is   essentially  a  democracy   subject   to   the   mandates   of   her  people. 


THE  well-meant  but  ingenuous  ef- 
forts of  the  Government  to  pro- 
duce pessimism  among  the  citi- 
zens have  failed.  The  object  of 
these  efforts  was  clear;  it  has,  I  think, 
been  attained  by  more  direct  and  wiser 
means.  Munitions  of  war  are  now  being 
more  satisfactorily  manufactured,  though 
the  country  still  refuses  to  be  gloomy. 
"  Eyewitness  "  pretended  to  quake,  but 
Przemysl  fell.  He  tried  again,  but  Sir 
John  French  announced  that  he  did  not 
believe  in  a  protracted  war.  Since  Sir 
John  French  said  also  that  he  believed  in 
victory,  it  follows  that  he  believes  in  a 
victory  not  long  delayed.  The  incom- 
parable and  candid  report*  of  the  French 
War  Office  about  the  first  stages  of  the 
war  increased  our  confidence,  and  at  the 
same  time  showed  to  us  the  inferiority  of 
our  own  reports.  Only  victors  could  pub- 
lish such  revelations,  and  Britain,  with 
her  passion  for  forgetting  mistakes  and 
her  hatred  of  the  confessional,  could 
never  bring  herself  to  publish  them. 
These  reports  were  confirmed  and  capped 
by  the  remarkable  communications  of 
General  Joffre  to  a  journalistic  friend. 
The  New  York  Stock  Exchange  began 
to  gamble  about  the  date  of  victory.  Tha 
London  Stock  Exchange  took  on  a  new 
firmness.  Not  even  the  sinister  losses 
at  Neuve  Chapelle,  nor  the  rumors  con- 
cerning the  same,  could  disturb  our  con- 
fidence. Peace,  therefore,  in  the  general 
view,  and  certainty  in  the  view  of  those 
who  knew  most,  is  decidedly  nearer  than 
when  I  wrote  last  about  peace. 

A  short  while  ago  Mr.  Asquith  referred 
with  sarcasm  and  reproof  to  those  who 
talk  of  peace.  But,  for  once,  his  meaning 
was  not  clear.  If  he  meant  that  to  sug- 
gest peace  to  the  enemy  at  this  stage  is 


both  dangerous  and  ridiculous,  he  will  be 
approved  by  the  nation.  But  if  he  meant 
that  terms  of  peace  must  not  even  be 
mentioned  among  ourselves,  he  will  find 
people  ready  to  disagree  with  him,  and 
to  support  the  weight  of  his  sarcasm  and 
his  reproof.  I  am  one  of  those  people. 
Bellicose  by  disposition,  I  nevertheless 
like  to  know  what  I  am  fighting  for.  This 
is  perhaps  an  idiosyncrasy,  but  many 
persons  share  it,  and  they  are  not  to  be 
ignored.  It  may  be  argued  that  Mr.  As- 
quith has  defined  what  we  are  fighting 
for.  He  has  not.  He  has  only  defined 
part  of  what  we  are  fighting  for.  His 
reference  to  the  overthrow  of  Prussian 
militarism  is  futile,  because  it  gives  no 
indication  of  the  method  to  be  employsd. 
The  method  of  liberating  and  compen- 
sating Belgium  and  other  small  commu- 
nities is  clear;  but  how  are  you  to  over- 
throw an  ideal?  Prussian  militarism 
v;ill  not  be  destroyed  by  a  defeat  in  the 
field.  Militarism  cannot  overthrow  mili- 
tarism; it  can  only  breed  militarism.  The 
point  is  of  the  highest  importance. 

I  do  not  assume  that  Mr.  Asquith's  no- 
tions about  the  right  way  to  overthrow 
militarism  are  not  sound  notions.  I  as- 
sume that  they  are  sound.  I  think  that 
his  common  sense  is  massive.  Though  it 
is  evident  that  he  lets  his  Ministerial  col- 
leagues do  practically  what  they  choose 
in  their  own  spheres,  and  though  there 
are  militarists  in  the  Cabinet,  I  do  not, 
like  The  Morning  Post,  consider  that  the 
Prime  Minister  exists  in  a  stupor  of 
negligence.  On  the  contrary,  I  assume 
that  at  the  end  of  the  war,  as  at  the  be- 
ginning, Mr.  Asquith  will  control  the 
foolish,  and  that  common  sense  will  pre- 
vail in  the  Cabinet  when  a  treaty  is  the 
subject  of  converse.    Still  further,  I  will 


538 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


assume  that,  contrary  to  nearly  all  prece- 
dent, the  collective  sagacity  of  the  Minis- 
try has  n6t  been  impaired,  and  its  self- 
conceit  perilously  tickled,  by  the  long 
exercise  of  absolute  power  in  face  of  a 
Parliament  of  poltroons.  And,  lastly,  I 
will  abandon  my  old  argument  thnt  the 
discussion  of  pe^ce  terms  might  shorten 
the  war,  without  any  risk  of  prolonging 
it.  And  still  I  very  ptrongly  hold  that 
peace  terms  ought  to  be  discussed. 

It  appears  to  me  that  there  is  a  desire 
— I  will  not  say  a  conspiracy — on  the 
part  of  the  Government  to  bring  this  war 
to  an  end  in  the  same  manner  as  it  will 
be  brought  to  an  end  in  Germany — that 
is  to  say,  autocratically,  without  either 
the  knowledge  or  the  consent  of  the 
nation.  The  projected  scheme,  I  imagine, 
is  to  sit  tight  and  quiet,  and  in  due 
course  inform  the  nation  of  a  fact  ac- 
complished. It  can  be  done,  and  I  think 
it  will  be  done,  unless  the  House  of  Com- 
mons administers  to  itself  a  tonic  and 
acquires  courage.  Already  colonial  states- 
men have  been  politely  but  firmly  in- 
formed that  they  are  not  wanted  in  Eng- 
land this  year!  The  specious  excuse  for 
keeping  the  nation  in  the  dark  is  that  we 
are  allied  to  Russia,  where  the  people  are 
never  under  any  circumstances  consulted, 
and  to  France,  where  for  the  duration 
of  the  war  the  Government  is  as  abso- 
lute, in  spirit  and  in  conduct,  as  that  of 
Russia;  and  that  we  must  not  pain  those 
allied  Governments  by  any  exhibition  of 
democracy  in  being.  Secrecy  and  a  com- 
plete autocratic  control  of  the  people  are 
the  watchwords  of  the  allied  Govern- 
ments, and  therefore  they  must  be  the 
watchwords  of  our  Government. 

This  is  very  convenient  for  British 
autocrats,  but  the  argument  is  not  con- 
vincing. The  surrender  of  ideals  ought 
not  to  be  so  one-sided.  We  do  not  dream 
of  suggesting  to  the  Russian  and  the 
French  Governments  how  they  ought  to 
conduct  themselves  toward  their  peo- 
ples; and  similarly  we  should  not  allow 
them  to  influence  the  relations  between 
our  Government  and  ourselves. 

The  basis  of  peace  negotiations  must 
necessarily  be  settled  in  advance  by  rep- 
resentatives   of   all    the    allied    Govern- 


ments in  conclave.  The  mandate  of  each 
Government  in  regard  to  the  conclave  is 
the  affair  of  that  Government,  and  it  is 
the  affair  of  no  other  Government.  The 
mandate  of  our  Government  is,  there- 
fore, the  affair  of  our  Government,  and 
the  allied  Governments  are  just  as  much 
entitled  to  criticise  or  object  to  it  as  we, 
for  example,  are  entitled  to  suggest  to 
the  Czar  how  he  ought  to  behave  in  Fin- 
land. Our  Government,  being  a  demo- 
cratic Government,  has  no  right  to  go 
into  conclave  without  a  mandate  from 
the  people  who  elected  it.  It  possesses 
no  mandate  of  the  kind.  It  has  a  man- 
date, and  a  mighty  one,  to  prosecute  the 
war,  and  it  is  prosecuting  the  war  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  majority  of  the 
electorate.  But  a  peace  treaty  is  a  dif- 
ferent and  an  incomparably  more  im- 
portant thing.  Up  to"  the  present  the 
mind  of  the  nation  has  found  no  expres- 
sion, and  it  probably  will  not  find  any 
expression  unless  the  Government  recog- 
nizes fairly  that  it  is  a  representative 
Government  and  behaves  with  the  defer- 
ence which  is  due  from  a  representative 
Government.  As  matters  stand,  the 
mandate  of  the  British  Government  will 
come,  not  from  Britain,  but  from  Russia 
and  France. 

The  great  argument  drawn  from  the 
Government's  alleged  duty  to  the  allied 
Governments  is,  no  doubt,  reinforced,  in 
the  minds  of  Ministers  and  at  Cabinet 
meetings,  by  two  subsidiary  arguments. 
The  first  of  these  rests  in  the  traditional 
assumption  that  all  international  politics 
must  be  committed,  perpetrated,  and  ac- 
complished in  secret.  This  strange  tra- 
ditional notion  will  die  hard,  but  some 
time  it  will  have  to  die,  and  at  the 
moment  of  its  death  excellent  and  sin- 
cere persons  will  be  convinced  that  the 
knell  of  the  British  Empire  has  sounded. 
The  knell  of  the  British  Empire  has  fre- 
quently sounded.  It  sounded  when  capital 
punishment  was  abolished  for  sheep- 
stealing,  when  the  great  reform  bill  was 
passed,  when  purchase  was  abolished  in 
the  army,  when  the  deceased  wife's  sister 
bill  was  passed,  when  the  Parliament  act 
became  law;  and  it  will  positively  sound 
again  when  the  mediaeval  Chinese  tradi- 


THE    GREAT    END 


539 


tions  of  the  Diplomatic  Service  are  cast 
aside.  There  are  many  important  people 
alive  today  who  are  so  obsessed  by  those 
traditions  as  to  believe  religiously  that  if 
the  British  people,  and  by  consequence 
the  German  Government,  were  made 
aware  of  the  peace  terms,  the  German 
Army  would  in  some  mysterious  way  be 
strengthened  and  encouraged,  and  our 
own  ultimate  success  imperiled.  Such 
is  the  power  of  the  dead  hand,  and 
against  this  power  the  new  conviction 
that  in  a  democratic  and  candid  foreign 
policy  lies  the  future  safety  of  the  world 
will  have  to  fight  hard. 

The  other  subsidiary  argument  for  ig- 
noring the  nation  is  that  Ministers  are 
wiser  than  the  nation,  and  therefore  that 
Ministers  must  save  the  nation  from 
itself  by  making  it  impotent  and  acting 
over  its  head.  This  has  always  been  the 
argument  of  autocrats,  and  even  of 
tyrants.  It  is  a  ridiculous  argument,  and 
it  was  never  more  ridiculous  than  when 
applied  to  the  British  Government  and 
the  British  Nation  today.  Throughout 
the  war  the  Government  has  underesti- 
mated the  qualities  of  the  nation — cour- 
age, discipline,  fortitude,  and  wisdom.  It 
is  still  underestimating  them.  For  myself, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  in  the  making  of 
peace  the  sagacity  of  the  nation  as  a 
whole  would  be  greater  than  the  sagacity 
of  the  Government.  But  even  if  it  were 
not,  the  right  of  the  nation  to  govern 
itself  in  the  gravest  hour  of  its  career 
remains  unchallengeable.  All  arguments 
in  favor  of  depriving  the  nation  of  that 
right  amount  to  the  argument  of  Ger- 
many in  favor  of  taking  Belgium — "  We 
do  it  in  your  true  interests,  and  in  our 
own." 

If  the  Government  does  not  on  its  own 
initiative  declare  that  it  will  consult — 
and  effectively  consult — Parliament  con- 
cerning the  peace  terms,  then  it  is  the 
duty  of  Parliament,  and  especially  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  to  make  itself  un- 
pleasant and  to  produce  that  appearance 
of  internal  discord  which  (we  are  told  by 
all  individuals  who  dislike  being  dis- 
turbed) is  so  enheartening  to  Germany. 
There  have  always  been,  and  there  still 


are,  ample  opportunities  for  raising  ques- 
tions of  foreign  policy  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  If  foreign  policy  has  seldom 
or  never  been  adequately  handled  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  the  reason  simply  is 
that  the  House  has  not  been  interested 
in  it.  Not  to  the  tyranny  of  Ministries, 
but  to  the  supineness  and  the  ignorance 
of  the  people's  representatives,  is  the 
present  state  of  affairs  due.  Hence  the 
rank  and  file  of  Radicals  should  organ- 
ize themselves.  They  would  unquestion- 
ably receive  adequate  support  in  the 
press  and  at  public  meetings.  And  none 
but  they  can  do  anything  worth  doing. 
And  among  the  rank  and  file  of  Radicals 
the  plain  common-sense  men  should  make 
themselves  heard.  Foreign  policy  de- 
bates in  the  House  are  usually  the  play- 
ground of  cranks  of  all  varieties,  and  the 
plain  common-sense  man  seems  to  shrink 
from  being  vocal  in  such  company.  It  is 
a  pity.  The  plain  common-sense  man 
should  believe  in  himself  a  little  more. 
The  result  would  perhaps  startle  his 
modesty.  And  he  should  begin  instantly 
on  the  resumption  of  Parliament.  He 
will  of  course  be  told  that  he  is  prema- 
ture. But  no  matter.  When  he  gets  up 
and  makes  a  row  he  will  be  told  that  he 
is  premature,  until  Sir  Edward  Grey  is 
in  a  position  to  announce  in  the  icy  cold 
and  impressive  tones  of  omniscience  and 
omnipotence  and  perfect  wisdom  that  the 
deed  is  irrevocably  done  and  only  the 
formal  ratification  of  the  people  is  re- 
quired. We  have  been  through  all  that 
before,  and  we  shall  go  through  it  again 
vinless  we  start  out  immediately  to  be  un- 
pleasant. 

I  hope  nobody  will  get  the  impression 
that  I  think  we  are  a  nation  of  angels 
under  a  Government  of  earthy  and  pri- 
meval creatures.  I  do  not.  We  are  not 
in  a  Christian  mood,  and  we  don't  want 
to  be  in  a  Christian  mood.  When  last 
week  a  foolish  schoolmaster  took  ad- 
vantage of. his  august  position  to  advo- 
cate Christianity  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
we  frightened  the  life  out  of  him,  and  he 
had  to  say  that  he  had  been  "  woefully 
misunderstood."  In  spite  of  this,  the 
nation,  being  cut  off  from  direct  com- 
munication with  foreign  autocracy  and  re- 


640  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

action,  is  in  my  view  very  likely  to  be  less  at  the  worst,  it  is  and  should  be  the 
unwise  than  the  Government  at  the  su-  master  and  not  the  slave  of  the  Govern- 
preme  crisis.    And  even  if  it  isn't,  even      ment. 

German  Women  Not  Yet  For  Peace 

By  Gertrude  Baumer,  President  of  the  Bund  Deutscher  Frauen. 

An  emphatic  refusal  of  German  women  to  take  part  in  the  recent  Women's 
Peace  Conference  at  The  Hague  was  issued  by  the  Bund  Deutscher  Frauen  {League 
of  German  Women)  signed  by  Gertrude  Baumer  as  President,  and  published  by  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung  in,its  issue  of  April  29,  1915.     The  manifesto  reads: 

ON  April  28  begins  the  Peace  Congress  to  which  women  of  Holland  have  invited 
the  women  of  neutral  and  belligerent  nations.  The  German  woman's  movement 
has  declined  to  attend  the  congress,  by  unanimous  resolution  of  itg  Executive 
Committee.  If  individual  German  women  visit  the  congress  it  can  be  only  such  as 
have  no  responsible  position  in  the  organization  of  the  German  woman's  movement 
and  for  whom  the  organization  is,  therefore,,  not  responsible. 

This  declination  must  not  be  understood  to  mean  that  the  German  women  do 
not  feel  as  keenly  as  the  women  of  other  countries  the  enormous  sacrifices  and 
sorrows  which  this  war  has  caused,  or  that  they  refuse  to  recognize  the  good  inten- 
tions that  figure  in  the  institution  of  this  congress.  None  can  yearn  more  eagerly 
than  we  for  an  end  of  these  sacrifices  and  sorrows.  But  we  realize  that  in  our 
consciousness  of  the  weight  of  these  sacrifices  we  are  one  with  our  whole  people  and 
Government;  we  know  that  the  blood  of  those  who  fall  out  there  on  the  field  cannot 
be  dearer  to  us  women  than  to  the  men  who  are  responsible  for  the  decisions  of 
Germany.  Because  we  know  that,  we  must  decline  to  represent  special  desires  in  an 
international  congress.  We  have  no  other  desires  than  those  of  our  entire  people:  a 
peace  consonant  with  the  honor  of  our  State  and  guaranteeing  its  safety  in  the  future. 

The  resolutions  that  are  to  be  laid  before  the  women's  congress  at  The  Hague 
are  of  two  kinds.  One  kind  denounces  war  as  such,  and  recommends  peaceful  settle- 
ment of  international  quarrels.  The  other  offers  suggestions  for  hastening  the 
concluding  of  peace. 

As  concerns  the  first  group  of  suggestions,  there  are  in  the  German  woman's 
movement  women  who  are  in  principle  very  much  in  sympathy  with  the  aims  of  the 
peace  movement.  But  they,  too,  are  convinced  that  negotiations  about  the  means  of 
avoiding  future  wars  and  conquering  the  mutual  distrust  of  nations  can  be  considered 
only  after  peace  has  again  been  concluded.  But  we  must  most  vigorously  reject  the 
proposition  of  voting  approval  to  a  resolution  in  which  the  war  is  declared  to  be  an 
"  insanity "  that  was  made  possible  only  through  a  "  mass  psychosis."  Shall  the 
German  women  deny  the  moral  force  that  is  impelling  their  husbands  and  sons  into 
death,  that  has  led  home  countless  German  men,  amid  a  thousand  dangers,  from  for- 
eign lands,  to  battle  for  their  threatened  Fatherland,  by  declaring  in  common  with 
the  women  of  hostile  States  that  the  national  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  of  our  men  is 
insanity  and  a  psychosis  ?  Shall  we  psychologically  attack  in  the  rear  the  men  who 
are  defending  our  safety  by  scoffing  at  and  deprecating  the  internal  forces  that  are 
keeping  them  up?  Whoever  asks  us  to  do  that  cannot  have  experienced  what 
thousands  of  wives  and  mothers  have  experienced,  who  have  seen  their  husbands  and 
sons  march  away. 

Just  as  in  these  fundamental  questions  the  women  of  the  belligerent  States 
must  feel  differently  from  those  of  neutral  States,  so,  too,  there  is  naturally  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  the  women  of  the  different  belligerent  States  concerning  the 
time  of  the  conclusion  of  peace.  Inasmuch  as  the  prospects  of  the  belligerent  States 
depend  upon  the  time  of  the  conclusion  of  peace  and  therewith  the  future  fate  of  th^ 
nations  involved  in  the  war,  there  can  likewise  be  no  international  conformity  of 
opinion  on  this  question  either. 

Dear  to  us  German  women  as  well,  are  the  relations  that  bind  us  to  the  women 
of  foreign  lands,  and  we  sincerely  desire  that  they  may  survive  this  time  of  hatred 
and  enmity.  But  precisely  for  that  reason  international  negotiations  seem  fraught 
with  fate  to  us  at  a  time  when  we  belong  exclusively  to  our  people  and  when  strict 
limits  are  set  to  the  value  of  international  exchange  of  views  in  the  fact  that  we  are 
citizens  of  our  own  country,  to  strengthen  whose  national  power  of  resistance  is  our 
highest  task. 


Diagnosis  of  the  Englishman 

By   John    Galsworthy 

This  article  originally  appeared  in  the  Amsterdaemer  Revue,  having  been  written 
during  the  lull  of  the  war  while  England  fitted  her  volunteer  armies  for  the  Spring  cam- 
paign, and  is  here  published  by  special  permission  of  the  author. 


A  FTER  six  months  of  war  search 
/\  for  the  cause  thereof  borders 
1  V  on  the  academic.  Comment  on 
the  physical  facts  of  the  situa- 
tion does  not  come  within  the  scope  of 
one  who,  by  disposition  and  training,  is 
concerned  with  states  of  mind.  Specu- 
lation on  what  the  future  may  bring 
forth  may  be  left  to  those  with  an  apti- 
tude for  prophecy. 

But  there  is  one  thought  which  rises 
supreme  at  this  particular  moment  of 
these  tremendous  times:  The  period  of 
surprise  is  over;  the  forces  known;  the 
issue  fully  joined.  It  is  now  a  case  of 
"  Pull  devil,  pull  baker  "  and  a  ques- 
tion of  the  fibre  of  the  combatants.  For 
this  reason  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  try  to 
present  to  any  whom  it  may  concern  as 
detached  a  picture  as  one  can  of  the 
real  nature  of  that  combatant  who  is 
called  the  Englishman,  especially  since 
ignorance  in  Central  Europe  of  his  char- 
acter was  the  chief  cause  of  this  war, 
and  speculation  as  to  the  future  is  use- 
less without  right  comprehension  of  this 
curious  creature. 

The  Englishman  is  taken  advisedly 
because  he  represents  four-fifths  of  the 
population  of  the  British  Isles  and 
eight-ninths  of  the  character  and  senti- 
ment therein. 

And,  first,  let  it  be  said  that  there  is 
no  more  deceptive,  unconsciously  decep- 
tive, person  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 
The  Englishman  certainly  does  not  know 
himself,  and  outside  England  he  is  but 
guessed  at.  Only  a  pure  Englishman — 
and  he  must  be  an  odd  one — really  knows 
the  Englishman,  just  as,  for  inspired 
judgment  of  art,  one  must  go  to  the  in- 
spired artist. 

Racially,  the  Englishman  is  so  com- 
plex and  so  old  a  blend  that  no  one  can 
say  what  he  is.    In  character  he  is  just 


as  complex.  Physically,  there  are  two 
main  types — one  inclining  to  length  of 
limb,  narrowness  of  face  and  head,  (you 
will  see  nowhere  such  long  and  narrow 
heads  as  in  our  islands,)  and  bony  jaws; 
the  other  approximating  more  to  the 
ordinary  "John  Bull."  The  first  type 
is  gaining  on  the  second.  There  is  little 
or  no  difference  in  the  main  character 
behind. 

In  attempting  to  understand  the  real 
nature  of  the  Englishman  certain  salient 
facts  must  be  borne  in  mind: 

THE  SEA. — To  be  surrounded  genera- 
tion after  generation  by  the  sea  has  de- 
veloped in  him  a  suppressed  idealism,  a 
peculiar  impermeability,  a  turn  for  ad- 
venture, a  faculty  for  wandering,  and 
for  being  sufficient  unto  himself  in  far 
surroundings. 

THE  CLIMATE.— Whoso  weathers  for 
centuries  a  climate  that,  though  healthy 
and  never  extreme,  is  perhaps  the  least 
reliable  and  one  of  the  wettest  in  the 
world,  must  needs  grow  in  himself  a 
counterbalance  of  dry  philosophy,  a  de- 
fiant humor,  an  enforced  medium  tem- 
perature of  soul.  The  Englishman  is 
no  more  given  to  extremes  than  is  his 
climate;  against  its  damp  and  perpetual 
changes  he  has  become  coated  with  a 
sort  of  bluntness. 

THE  POLITICAL  AGE  OF  HIS 
COUNTRY.— This  is  by  far  the  oldest 
settled  Western  power,  politically  speak- 
ing. For  eight  hundred  and  fifty  years 
England  has  known  no  serious  military 
disturbance  from  without;  for  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty  she  has  known  no 
military  disturbance,  and  no  serious  po- 
litical turmoil  within.  This  is  partly  the 
outcome  of  her  isolation,  partly  the 
happy  accident  of  her  political  constitu- 
tion, partly  the  result  of  the  English- 
man's habit  of  looking  before  he  leaps, 


542 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


which  comes,  no  doubt,  from  the  mixture 
in  his  blood  and  the  mixture  in  his 
climate. 

THE  GREAT  PREPONDERANCE 
FOR  SEVERAL  GENERATIONS  OF 
TOWN  OVER  COUNTRY  LIFE. — 
Taken  in  conjunction  with  centuries  of 
political  stability  this  is  the  main  cause 
of  a  certain  deeply  ingn'ained  humane- 
ness of  which,  speaking  generally,  the 
Englishman  appears  to  be  rather 
ashamed  than  otherwise. 

THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.— This  po- 
tent element  in  the  formation  of  the 
modern  Englishman,  not  only  of  the  up- 
per but  of  all  classes,  is  something  that 
one  rather  despairs  of  making  under- 
stood— in  countries  that  have  no  similar 
institution.  But,  imagine  one  hundred 
thousand  youths  of  the  wealthiest, 
healthiest,  and  most  influential  classes 
passed  during  each  generation  at  the 
most  impressionable  age,  into  a  sort  of 
ethical  mold,  emerging  therefrom 
stamped  to  the  core  with  the  impress 
of  a  uniform  morality,  uniform  manners, 
uniform  way  of  looking  at  life;  remem- 
bering always  that  these  youths  fill 
seven-eighths  of  the  important  positions 
in  the  professional  administration  of 
their  country  and  the  conduct  of  its 
commercial  enterprise;  remembering, 
too,  that  through  perpetual  contact  with 
every  other  class  their  standard  of  mo- 
rality and  way  of  looking  at  life  filters 
down  into  the  very  toes  of  the  land. 
This  great  character-forming  machine 
is  remarkable  for  an  unself-conscious- 
ness  which  gives  it  enormous  strength 
and  elasticity.  Not  inspired  by  the 
State,  it  inspires  the  State.  The  char- 
acteristics of  the  philosophy  it  enjoins 
are  mainly  negative  and,  for  that,  the 
stronger.  "  Never  show  your  feelings — 
to  do  so  is  not  manly  and  bores  your 
fellows.  Don't  cry  out  when  you're 
hurt,  making  yourself  a  nuisance  to 
other  people.  Tell  no  tales  about  your 
companions,  and  no  lies  about  yourself. 
Avoid  all  '  swank,'  '  side,'  *  swagger,* 
braggadocio  of  speech  or  manner,  on 
pain  of  being  laughed  at."  (This  maxim 
is  carried  to  such  a  pitch  that  the  Eng- 
lishman, except  in  his  press,  habitually 
understates  everything.)     "  Think  little 


of  money,  and  speak  less  of  it.  Play 
games  hard,  and  keep  the  rules  of  them 
even  when  your  blood  is  hot  and  you 
are  tempted  to  disregard  them.  In 
three  words,  '  play  the  game,' "  a  little 
phrase  which  may  be  taken  as  the  char- 
acteristic understatement  of  the  modern 
Englishman's  creed  of  honor  in  all 
classes.  This  g:reat,  unconscious  ma- 
chine has  considerable  defects.  It  tends 
to  the  formation  of  "caste";  it  is  a 
poor  teacher  of  sheer  learning,  and, 
aesthetically,  with  its  universal  suppres- 
sion of  all  interesting  and  queer  indi- 
vidual traits  of  personality,  it  is  almost 
horrid.  But  it  imparts  a  remarkable 
incorruptibility  to  English  life;  it  con- 
serves vitality  by  suppressing  all  ex- 
tremes, and  it  implants  everywhere  a 
kind  of  unassuming  stoicism  and  respect 
for  the  rules  of  the  great  game — Life. 
Through  its  unconscious  example  and 
through  its  cult  of  games  it  has  vastly 
influenced  even  the  classes  not  directly 
under  its  control. 

Three  more  main  facts  must  be  borne 
in  mind: 

THE  ESSENTIAL  DEMOCRACY  OF 
THE  GOVERNMENT. 

FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH  AND  THE 
PRESS. 

ABSENCE  OF  COMPULSORY  MILI- 
TARY SERVICE. 

These,  the  outcome  of  the  quiet  and 
stable  home  life  of  an  island  people, 
have  done  more  than  anything  to  make 
the  Englishman  a  deceptive  personality 
to  the  outside  eye.  He  has  for  centuries 
been  permitted  to  grumble.  There  is  no 
such  confirmed  grumbler  —  until  he 
really  has  something  to  grumble  at,  and 
then  no  one  who  grumbles  less.  There 
is  no  such  confirmed  carper  at  the  con- 
dition of  his  country,  yet  no  one  really 
so  profoundly  convinced  of  its  perfec- 
tion. A  stranger  might  well  think  from 
his  utterances  that  he  was  spoiled  by 
the  freedom  of  his  life,  unprepared  to 
sacrifice  anything  for  a  land  in  such  a 
condition.  Threaten  that  country,  and 
■v^ath  it  his  liberty,  and  you  will  find 
that  his  grumbles  have  meant  less  than 
nothing.  You  will  find,  too,  that  behind 
the  apparent  slackness  of  every  ar- 
rangement'and  every  individual  are  pow- 


DIAGNOSIS    OF    THE   ENGLISHMAN 


B*S 


ers  of  adaptability  to  facts,  elasticity, 
practical  genius,  a  latent  spirit  of  com- 
petition and  a  determination  that  are 
staggering.  Before  this  war  began  it 
was  the  fashion  among  a  number  of 
English  to  lament  the  decadence  of  the 
race.  These  very  grumblers  are  now 
foremost  in  praising,  and  quite  rightly, 
the  spirit  shown  in  every  part  of  their 
country.  Their  lamentations,  which 
plentifully  deceived  the  outside  ear,  were 
just  English  grumbles,  for  if  in  truth 
England  had  been  decadent  there  could 
have  been  no  such  universal  display  for 
them  to  be  praising  now.  But  all  this 
democratic  grumbling  and  habit  of  "  go- 
ing as  you  please "  serve  a  deep  pur- 
pose. Autocracy,  censorship,  compulsion 
destroy  humor  in  a  nation's  blood  and 
elasticity  in  its  fibre;  they  cut  at  the 
very  mainsprings  of  national  vitality. 
Only  free  from  these  baneful  controls 
can  each  man  arrive  in  his  own  way  at 
realization  of  what  is  or  is  not  national 
necessity;  only  free  from  them  will 
each  man  truly  identify  himself  with 
a  national  ideal — not  through  deliberate 
instruction  or  by  command  of  others,  but 
by  simple,  natural  conviction  from 
within. 

Two  cautions  are  here  given  to  the 
stranger  trying  to  form  an  estimate  of 
the  Englishman:  The  creature  must 
not  be  judged  from  his  press,  which, 
manned  (with  certain  exceptions)  by 
those  who  are  not  typically  English,  is 
too  highly  colored  altogether  to  illus- 
trate the  true  English  spirit;  nor  can  he 
be  judged  by  such  of  Lis  literature  as 
is  best  known  on  the  Continent.  The 
Englishman  proper  is  inexpressive,  un- 
expressed. Further,  he  must  be  judged 
by  the  evidences  of  his  wealth.  England 
may  be  the  richest  country  in  the  world 
per  head  of  population,  but  not  5  per 
cent,  of  that  population  have  any  wealth 
to  speak  of,  certainly  not  enough  to 
have  affected  their  hardihood,  and,  with 
inconsiderable  exceptions,  those  who 
have  enough  are  brought  up  to  worship 
hardihood.  For  the  vast  proportion  of 
young  Englishmen  active  military  ser- 
vice is  merely  a  change  from  work  as 
hard,  and  more  monotonous. 


From  these  main  premises,  then,  we 
come  to  what  the  Englishman  really  is. 

When,  after  months  of  travel,  one  re- 
turns to  England  one  can  taste,  smel?, 
feel  the  difference  in  the  atmosphere, 
physical  and  moral — the  curious,  damp, 
blunt,  good-humored,  happy-go-lucky, 
old-established,  slow-seeming  formless- 
ness of  everything.  You  hail  a  porter, 
you  tell  him  you  have  plenty  of  time; 
he  muddles  your  things  amiably,  with  an 
air  of  "  It'll  be  all  right,"  till  you  have 
only  just  time.  But  suppose  you  tell 
him  you  have  no  time;  he  will  set  him- 
self to  catch  that  train  for  you,  and  he 
will  catch  it  faster  than  a  porter  of  any 
other  country.  Let  no  stranger,  how- 
ever, experiment  to  prove  the  truth  of 
this,  for  that  porter — and  a  porter  is 
very  like  any  other  Englishman — is  in- 
capable of  taking  the  foreigner  serious- 
ly, and,  quite  friendly  but  a  little  pity- 
ing, will  lose  him  the  train,  assuring 
the  unfortunate  gentleman  that  he  really 
doesn't  know  what  train  he  wants  to 
catch — how  should  he? 

The  Englishman  must  have  a  thing 
brought  under  his  nose  before  he  will 
act;  bring  it  there  and  he  will  go  on 
rc';ing  after  everybody  else  has  stopped. 
He  lives  very  much  in  the  moment,  be- 
cause he  is  essentially  a  man  of  facts 
and  not  a  man  of  imagination.  Want  of 
imagination  makes  him,  philosophically 
speaking,  rather  ludicrous;  in  practical 
affairs  it  handicaps  him  at  the  start, 
but  once  he  has  "  got  going,"  as  we  say, 
it  is  of  incalculable  assistance  to  his 
stamina.  The  Englishman,  partly 
through  this  lack  of  imagination  and 
nervous  sensibility,  partly  through  his 
inbred  dislike  of  extremes  and  habit  of 
minimizing  the  expression  of  everything, 
is  a  perfect  example  of  the  conservation 
of  energy.  It  is  very  difficult  to  come  to 
the  end  of  him.  Add  to  this  unimag- 
inative, practical,  tenacious  moderation 
an  inherent  spirit  of  competition — not  to 
say  pugnacity — so  strong  that  it  will 
often  show  through  the  coating  of  his 
"  Live  and  let  live,"  half -surly,  half- 
good-humored  manner;  add  a  peculiar, 
ironic,  "  don't  care  "  sort  of  humor;  an 
underground  but  inveterate  humaneness, 
and  an  ashamed  idealism — and  you  get 


544 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


some  notion  of  the  pudding  of  English 
character.  Its  main  feature  is  a  kind 
of  terrible  coolness,  a  rather  awful  level- 
headedness. The  Englishman  makes 
constant  small  blunders;  but  few,  almost 
no,  deep  mistakes.  He  is  a  slow  starter, 
but  there  is  no  stronger  finisher  be- 
cause he  has  by  temperament  and  train- 
ing the  faculty  of  getting  through  any 
job  that  he  gives  his  mind  to  with  a 
minimum  expenditure  of  vital  energy; 
nothing  is  wasted  in  expression,  style, 
spread-eagleism;  everything  is  instinc- 
tively kept  as  near  to  the  practical  heart 
of  the  matter  as  possible.  He  is — to  the 
eye  of  an  artist — distressingly  matter-of- 
fact,  a  tempting  mark  for  satire.  And 
yet  he  is  in  truth  an  idealist,  though  it 
is  his  nature  to  snub,  disguise,  and  mock 
his  own  inherent  optimism.  To  admit 
enthusiasms  is  "  bad  form "  if  he  is  a 
"  gentleman  ";  "  swank  "  or  mere  waste 
of  good  heat  if  he  is  not  a  "  gentleman." 
England  produces  more  than  its  proper 
percentage  of  cranks  and  poets;  it  may 
be  taken  that  this  is  Nature's  way  of  re- 
dressing tTie  balance  in  a  country  where 
feelings  are  not  shown,  sentiments  not 
expressed,  and  extremes  laughed  at.  Not 
that  the  Englishman  lacks  heart;  he  is 
not  cold,  as  is  generally  supposed — on 
the  contrary  he  is  warm-hearted  and 
feels  very  strongly;  but  just  as  peasants, 
for  lack  of  words  to  express  their  feel- 
ings, become  stolid,  so  it  is  with  the 
Englishman  from  sheer  lack  of  the  habit 
of  self-expression.  Nor  is  the  English- 
man deliberately  hypocritical;  but  his 
tenacity,  combined  with  his  powerless- 
ness  to  express  his  feelings,  often  gives 
him  the  appearance  of  a  hypocrite.  He 
is  inarticulate,  has  not  the  clear  and 
fluent  cynicism  of  expansive  natures 
wherewith  to  confess  exactly  how  he 
stands.  It  is  the  habit  of  men  of  all 
nations  to  want  to  have  things  both 
ways;  the  Englishman  is  unfortuately  so 
unable  to  express  himself,  even  to  him- 
self, that  he  has  never  realized  this 
truth,  much  less  confessed  it — hence  his 
appearance  of  hypocrisy. 

He  is  quite  wrongly  credited  with  be- 
ing attached  to  money.  His  island  posi- 
tion, his  early  discoveries  of  coal,  iron, 
and  processes  of  manufacture  have  made 


him,  of  course,  into  a  confirmed  indus-> 
trialist  and  trader;  but  he  is  more  of  an 
adventurer  in  wealth  than  a  heaper-up 
of  it.  He  is  far  from  sitting  on  his 
money-bags — ^has  absolutely  no  vein  of 
proper  avarice,  and  for  national  ends 
will  spill  out  his  money  like  water,  when 
he  is  convinced  of  the  necessity. 

In  everything  it  comes  to  that  with 
the  Englishman — he  must  be  convinced, 
and  he  takes  a  lot  of  convincing.  He 
absorbs  ideas  slowly,  reluctantly;  he 
would  rather  not  imagine  anything  un- 
less he  is  obliged,  but  in  proportion  to 
the  slowness  with  which  he  can  be  moved 
is  the  slowness  with  which  he  can  be 
*  removed!  Hence  the  symbol  of  the  bull- 
dog. When  he  does  see  and  seize  a 
thing  he  seizes  it  with  the  whole  of  his 
weight,  and  wastes  no  breath  in  telling 
you  that  he  has  got  hold.  That  is  why 
his  press  is  so  untypical;  it  gives  the 
impression  that  he  does  waste  breath. 
And,  while  he  has  hold,  he  gets  in  more 
mischief  in  a  shorter  time  than  any 
other  dog  because  of  his  capacity  for 
concentrating  on  the  present,  without 
speculating  on  the  past  or  future. 

For  the  particular  situation  which  the 
Englishman  has  now  to  face  he  is  ter- 
ribly well  adapted.  Because  he  has  so 
little  imagination,  so  little  power  of  ex- 
pression, he  is  saving  nerve  all  the  time. 
Because  he  never  goes  to  extremes,  he 
is  saving  energy  of  body  and  spirit.  That 
the  men  of  all  nations  are  about  equally 
endowed  with  courage  and  self-sacrifice 
has  been  proved  in  these  last  six  months; 
it  is  to  other  qualities  that  one  must  look 
for  final  victory  in  a  war  of  exhaustion. 
The  Englishman  does  not  look  into  him- 
self; he  does  not  brood;  he  sees  no  fur- 
ther forward  than  is  necessary,  and  he 
must  have  his  joke.  These  are  fearful 
and  wonderful  advantages.  Examine 
the  letters  and  diaries  of  the  various 
combatants  and  you  will  see  how  far  less 
imaginative  and  reflecting,  (though 
shrewd,  practical,  and  humorous,)  the 
English  are  than  any  others;  you  will 
gain,  too,  a  profound,  a  deadly  conviction 
that  behind  them  is  a  fibre  like  rubber, 
that  may  be  frayed,  and  bent  a  little  this 
way  and  that,  but  can  neither  be  perme- 
ated nor  broken. 


DIAGNOSIS   OF    THE   ENGLISHMAN 


545 


When  this  war  began  the  Englishman 
rubbed  his  eyes  steeped  in  peace;  he  is 
still  rubbing  them  just  a  little,  but  less 
and  less  every  day.  A  profound  lover 
of  peace  by  habit  and  tradition,  he  has 
actually  realized  by  now  that  he  is  in  for 
it  up  to  the  neck.  To  any  one  who  really 
knows  him — c'est  quelque  chose! 

It  shall  be  freely  confessed  that,  from 
an   aesthetic    point    of    view,    the    Eng- 


lishman, devoid  of  high  lights  and 
shadows,  coated  with  drab,  and  super- 
human! y  steady  on  his  feet,  is  not  too 
attractive.  But  for  the  wearing,  tear- 
ing, slow,  and  dreadful  business  of  this 
war,  the  Englishman — fighting  of  his 
own  free  will,  unimaginative,  humorous, 
competitive,  practical,  never  in  extremes, 
a  dumb,  inveterate  optimist,  and  terribly 
tenacious — is  undoubtedly  equipped  with 
Victory. 


Bernard  Shaw's  Terms  of  Peace 

A  letter  written  by  G.  Bernard  Shaw  to  a  friend  in  Vienna  is  published 
in  the  MUnchener  Neueste  Nachrichten  and  in  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung  of  April 
21,  1915.     Mr.  Shaiv  says: 

WE  are  already  on  the  way  out  of  the  first  and  worst  phase.  When  reason 
began  to  bestir  itself,  I  appeared  each  week  in  great  open  meetings  in 
London;  and  when  the  newspapers  discovered  that  I  was  not  only  not 
being  torn  to  pieces,  but  that  I  was  growing  better  and  better  liked,  then  the 
feeling  that  patriotism  consists  of  insane  lies  began  to  give  place  to  the  discovery 
that  the  presentation  of  the  truth  is  not  so  dangerous  as  every  one  had  believed. 

At  that  time  scarcely  one  of  the  leading  newspapers  took  heed  of  my  in- 
sistence that  this  war  was  an  imperialistic  war  and  popular  only  in  so  far  as  all 
wars  are  for  a  time  popular.  But  I  need  hardly  assure  you  that  if  Grey  had 
announced:  "  We  have  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Germany  and  Austria 
and  must  wage  war  upon  France  and  Russia,"  he  would  have  evoked  precisely 
the  same  patriotic  fervor  and  exactly  the  same  democratic  anti-Prussianism, 
(with  the  omission  of  the  P.)  Then  the  German  Kaiser  would  have  been  cheered 
as  the  cousin  of  our  King  and  our  old  and  faithful  friend. 

As  concerns  myself,  I  am  not  unqualifiedly  what  is  called  a  pan-German; 
the  Germans,  besides,  would  not  have  a  spark  of  respect  left  for  me  if  now,  when 
all  questions  of  civilization  are  buried,  I  did  not  hold  to  my  people.  But  neither 
am  I  an  anti-German. 

Militarism  has  just  compelled  me  to  pay  about  £1,000  as  war  tax,  in  order 
to  help  some  "  brave  little  Serbian  "  or  other  to  cut  your  throat,  or  some  Russian 
mujik  to  blow  out  your  brains,  although  I  would  rather  pay  twice  as  much  to 
save  your  life  or  to  buy  in  Vienna  some  good  picture  for  our  National  Gallery, 
and  although  I  should  mourn  far  less  about  the  death  of  a  hundred  Serbs  or 
mujiks  than  for  your  death. 

I  am,  even  aside  from  myself,  sorry  for  your  sake  that  my  plays  are  no 
longer  produced.  Why  does  not  the  Burgtheater  play  the  "  Schlachtenlenker  "  ? 
Napoleon's  speech  about  English  "  Realpolitik  "  would  prove  an  unprecedented 
success.  If  the  English  win,  I  shall  call  upon  Sir  Edward  Grey  to  add  to  the 
treaty  of  peace  a  clause  in  which  Berlin  and  Vienna  shall  be  obliged  each  year  to 
produce  at  least  100  performances  of  my  plays  for  the  next  twenty-five  years. 

In  London  during  August  the  usual  cheap  evening  orchestra  concerts,  so- 
called  promenade  concerts,  were  announced  in  a  patriotic  manner,  with  the  com- 
ment that  no  German  musician  would  be  represented  on  the  program.  Everybody 
applauded  this  announcement,  but  nobody  attended  the  concerts.  A  week  later 
a  program  of  Beethoven,  Wagner,  and  Richard  Strauss  was  announced.  Every- 
body was  indignant,  and  everybody  went  to  hear  it.  It  was  a  complete  and 
decisive  German  victory,  without  a  single  man  being  killed. 


A  Policy  of  Murder 

By   Sir    Arthur    Conan    Doyle 

This  article  is  taken  from  Conan   Doyle's  book  "  The  German  War,"   and  is  reproduced 
by  permission  of  the  author. 


WHEN  one  writes  with  a  hot 
heart  upon  events  which  are 
still  recent  one  is  apt  to  lose 
one's  sense  of  proportion.  At 
every  step  one  should  check  one's  self  by 
the  reflection  as  to  how  this  may  appear 
ten  years  hence,  and  how  far  events 
which  seem  shocking  and  abnormal  may 
prove  themselves  to  be  a  necessary  ac- 
companiment of  every  condition  of  war. 
But  a  time  has  now  come  when  in  cold 
blood,  with  every  possible  restraint,  one 
is  justified  in  saying  that  since  the  most 
barbarous  campaigns  of  Aiva  in  the 
Lowlands,  or  the  excesses  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  there  has  been  no  such  de- 
liberate policy  of  murder  as  has  been 
adopted  in  this  struggle  by  the  German 
forces.  This  is  the  more  terrible  since 
these  forces  are  not,  like  those  of  Alva, 
Parma,  or  Tilly,  bands  of  turbulent  and 
mercenary  soldiers,  but  they  are  the  na- 
tion itself,  and  their  deeds  are  condone .1 
cr  even  applauded  by  the  entire  national 
press.  It  is  not  on  the  chiefs  of  the 
army  that  the  whole  guilt  of  this  ter- 
rible crime  must  rest,  but  it  is  upon  the 
whole  German  Nation,  which  for  genera- 
tions to  come  must  stand  condemned  be- 
fore the  civilized  world  for  this  rever- 
sion to  those  barbarous  practices  from 
which  Christianity,  civilization,  and  chiv- 
alry had  gradually  rescued  the  human 
race.  They  may,  and  do,  plead  the  ex- 
cuse that  they  are  "  earnest "  in  war, 
but  all  nations  are  earnest  in  war,  which 
is  the  most  desperately  earnest  thing  of 
v/hich  we  have  any  knowledge.  How 
earnest  we  are  will  be  shown  when  the 
question  of  endurance  begins  to  tell.  But 
no  earnestness  can  condone  the  crime 
of  the  nation  which  deliberately  breaks 
those  laws  which  have  been  indorsed 
by  the  common  consent  of  humanity. 

War  may  have  a  beautiful  as  well  as 
a  terrible  side,  and  be  full  of  touches 
of  human  sympathy  and  restraint  which 


mitigate  its  unavoidable  horror.  Such 
have  been  the  characteristics  always  of 
the  secular  wars  between  the  British  and 
the  French.  From  the  old  glittering 
days  of  knighthood,  with  their  high  and 
gallant  courtesy,  through  the  eighteenth 
century  campaigns  where  the  debonair 
guards  of  France  and  England  ex- 
changed salutations  before  their  volleys, 
down  to  the  last  great  Napoleonic  strug- 
gle, the  tradition  of  chivalry  has  al- 
ways survived.  We  read  how  in  the 
Peninsula  the  pickets  of  the  two  armies, 
each  of  them  as  earnest  as  any  Ger- 
mans, would  exchange  courtesies,  how 
they  would  shout  warnings  to  each 
other  to  fall  back  when  an  advance  in 
force  was  taking  place,  and  how  to  pre- 
vent the  destruction  of  an  ancient 
bridge,  the  British  promised  not  to  use 
it  on  condition  that  the  French  would 
forgo  its  destruction — an  agreement 
faithfully  kept  upon  either  side.  Could 
one  imagine  Germans  making  war  in 
such  a  spirit  as  this?  Think  of  that  old 
French  bridge,  and  then  think  of  the 
University  of  Louvain  and  the  Cathedral 
of  Rheims.  What  a  gap  between  them 
— the  gap  that  separates  civilization 
from  the  savage! 

Let  us  take  a  few  of  the  points  which, 
when  focused  together,  show  how  the 
Germans  have  degraded  warfare — a  deg- 
radation which  affects  not  only  the 
Allies  at  present,  but  the  whole  future 
of  the  world,  since  if  such  examples 
were  followed  the  entire  human  race 
would,  each  in  turn,  become  the  suffer- 
ers. Take  the  very  first  incident  of  the 
war,  the  mine  laying  by  the  Konigin 
Luise.  Here  was  a  vessel,  which  was 
obviously  made  ready  with  freshly 
charged  mines  some  time  before  there 
was  any  question  of  a  general  European 
war,  which  was  sent  forth  in  time  of 
peace,  and  which,  on  receipt  of  a  wire- 
less message,  began  to  spawn  its  hellish 


A    POLICY    OF   MURDER 


547 


cargo  across  the  North  Sea  at  points 
fifty  miles  from  land  in  the  track  of  all 
neutral  merchant  shipping.  There  was 
the  keynote  of  German  tactics  struck 
at  the  first  possible  instant.  So  pro- 
miscuous was  the  effect  that  it  was  a 
mere  chance  which  prevented  the  vessel 
which  bore  the  German  Ambassador 
from  being  destroyed  by  a  German  mine. 
From  first  to  last  some  hundreds  of 
people  have  lost  their  lives  on  this  tract 
of  sea,  some  of  them  harmless  British 
trawlers,  but  the  greater  number  sailors 
of  Danish  and  Dutch  vessels  pursuing 
their  commerce  as  they  had  every  right 
to  do.  It  was  the  first  move  in  a  con- 
sistent policy  of  murder. 

Leaving  the  sea,  let  us  turn  to  the  air. 
Can  any  possible  term  save  a  policy  of 
murder  be  applied  to  the  use  of  aircraft 
by  the  Germans?  It  has  always  been 
a  principle  of  warfare  that  unfortfied 
towns  should  not  be  bombarded.  So 
closely  has  it  been  followed  by  the  Brit- 
ish that  one  of  our  aviators,  flying  over 
Cologne  in  search  of  a  Zeppelin  shed, 
refrained  from  dropping  a  bomb  in  an 
uncertain  light,  even  though  Cologne  is 
a  fortress,  lest  the  innocent  should  suf- 
fer. What  is  to  be  said,  then,  for  the 
continual  use  of  bombs  by  the  Ger- 
mans, which  have  usually  been  wasted 
in  the  destruction  of  cats  or  dogs,  but 
which  have  occasionally  torn  to  pieces 
some  woman  or  child?  If  bombs  were 
dropped  on  the  forts  of  Paris  as  part 
of  a  scheme  for  reducing  the  place,  then 
nothing  could  be  said  in  objection,  but 
how  are  we  to  describe  the  action  of 
men  who  fly  over  a  crowded  city  drop- 
ping bombs  promiscuously  which  can 
have  no  military  effect  whatever,  and 
are  entirely  aimed  at  the  destruction  of 
innocent  civilians?  These  men  have 
been  obliging  enough  to  drop  their  cards 
as  well  as  their  bombs  on  several  oc- 
casions. I  see  no  reason  why  these 
should  not  be  used  in  evidence  against 
them,  or  why  they  should  not  be  hanged 
as  murderers  when  they  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Allies.  The  policy  is  idi- 
otic from  a  military  point  of  view;  one 
could  conceive  nothing  which  would  stimu- 
late and  harden  national  resistance  more 
surely  than  such  petty  irritations.    But 


it  is  a  murderous  innovation  in  the  laws 
of  war,  and  unless  it  is  sternly  repressed 
it  will  establish  a  most  sinister  prece- 
dent for  the  future. 

As  to  the  treatment  of  Belgium,  what 
has  it  been  but  murder,  murder  all  the 
way?  From  the  first  days  of  Vise, 
when  it  was  officially  stated  that  an 
example  of  "  f rightfulness "  was  de- 
sired, until  the  present  moment,  when 
the  terrified  population  has  rushed  from 
the  country  and  thrown  itself  upon  the 
charity  and  protection  of  its  neighbors, 
there  has  been  no  break  in  the  record. 
Compare  the  story  with  that  of  the  oc- 
cupation of  the  South  of  France  by 
Wellington  in  1813,  when  no  one  was  in- 
jured, nothing  was  taken  without  full 
payment,  and  the  villagers  fraternized 
with  the  troops.  What  a  relapse  of  civil- 
ization is  here!  From  Vise  to  Louvain, 
Louvain  to  Aerschot,  Aerschot  to 
Malines  and  Termonde,  the  policy  of 
murder  never  fails. 

It  is  said  that  more  civilians  than 
soldiers  have  fallen  in  Belgium.  Peruse 
the  horrible  accounts  taken  by  the  Bel- 
gian Commission,  who  took  evidence  in 
the  most  careful  and  conscientious  fash- 
ion. Study  the  accounts  of  that  dread- 
ful night  in  Louvain  which  can  only  be 
equaled  by  the  Spanish  Fury  of  Ant- 
werp. Read  the  account  of  the  wife  of 
the  Burgomaster  of  Aerschot,  with  its 
heartrending  description  of  how  her 
h^me  son,  aged  sixteen,  was  kicked  along 
to  his  death  by  an  aide  de  camp.  It  is 
all  so  vile,  so  brutally  murderous  that 
one  can  hardly  realize  that  one  is  read- 
ing the  incidents  of  a  modern  campaign 
conducted  by  one  of  the  leading  nations 
in  Europe. 

Do  you  imagine  that  the  thing  has 
been  exaggerated?  Far  from  it — the 
volume  of  crime  has  not  yet  been  ap- 
preciated. Have  not  many  Germans  un- 
wittingly testified  to  what  they  have 
seen  and  done?  Only  last  week  we  had 
the  journal  of  one  of  them,  an  officer 
whose  service  had  been  almost  entirely 
in  P'rance  and  removed  from  the  crime 
centres  of  Belgium.  Yet  were  ever  such 
entries  in  the  diary  of  a  civilized  soldier  ? 
"  Our  men  behaved  like  regular  Van- 
dals."   "  We  shot  the  whole  lot,"  (these 


548 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


were  villagers.)  "They  were  drawn  up 
in  three  ranks.  The  same  shot  did  for 
three  at  a  time."  "  In  the  evening  we 
set  fire  to  the  village.  The  priest  and 
some  of  the  inhabitants  were  shot." 
"  The  villages  all  around  were  burning." 
"  The  villages  were  burned  and  the  in- 
habitants shot."  "  At  Leppe  apparently 
two  hundred  men  were  shot.  There 
must  have  been  some  innocent  men 
among  them."  "  In  future  we  shall 
have  to  hold  an  inquiry  into  their  guilt 
instead  of  merely  shooting  them."  "  The 
Vandals  themselves  could  not  have  done 
more  damage.  The  place  is  a  disgrace 
to  our  army."  So  the  journal  runs  on 
with  its  tale  of  infamy.  It  is  an  in- 
famy so  shameless  that  even  in  the  Ger- 
man record  the  story  is  perpetuated  of 
how  a  French  lad  was  murdered  be- 
cause he  refused  to  answer  certain 
questions.  To  such  a  depth  of  degrada- 
tion has  Prussia  brought  the  standard 
of  warfare. 

And  now,  as  the  appetite  for  blood 
grows  ever  stronger — and  nothing  waxes 
more  fast — we  have  stories  of  the  treat- 
ment of  prisoners.  Here  is  a  point 
where  our  attention  should  be  most  con- 
centrated and  our  action  most  prompt. 
It  is  the  just  duty  which  we  owe  to  our 
own  brave  soldiers.  At  present  the  in- 
stances are  isolated,  and  we  will  hope 
that  they  do  not  represent  any  general 
condition.  But  the  stories  come  from 
sure  sources.  There  is  the  account  of 
the   brutality   which   culminated   in   the 


death  of  the  gallant  motor  cyclist  Pear- 
son, the  son  of  Lord  Cowdray.  There 
is  the  horrible  story  in  a  responsible 
Dutch  paper,  told  by  an  eyewitness,  of 
t?ie  torture  of  three  British  wounded 
prisoners  in  Landen  Station  on  Oct.  9. 

The  story  carries  conviction  by  its 
detail.  Finally,  there  are  the  disquiet- 
ing remarks  of  German  soldiers,  repeat- 
ed by  this  same  witness,  as  to  the  Brit- 
ish prisoners  whom  they  had  shot.  The 
whole  lesson  of  history  is  that  when 
troops  are  allowed  to  start  murder  one 
can  never  say  how  or  when  it  will  stop. 
It  may  no  longer  be  part  of  a  deliberate, 
calculated  policy  of  murder  by  the  Ger- 
man Government.  But  it  has  undoubt- 
edly been  so  in  the  past,  and  we  cannot 
say  when  it  will  end.  Such  incidents 
will,  I  fear,  make  peace  an  impossibility 
in  our  generation,  for  whatever  states- 
men may  write  upon  paper  can  never 
affect  the  deep  and  bitter  resentment 
which  a  war  so  conducted  must  leave  be- 
hind it. 

Other  German  characteristics  we  can 
ignore.  The  consistent,  systematic  ly- 
ing of  the  German  press,  or  the  grotesque 
blasphemies  of  the  Kaiser,  can  be  met 
by  us  with  contemptuous  tolerance.  Aft- 
er all,  what  is  is,  and  neither  falsehood 
nor  bombast  will  alter  it.  But  this  pol- 
icy of  murder  deeply  affects  not  only 
ourselves  but  the  whole  framework  of 
civilization,  so  slowly  and  painfully  built 
upward  by  the  human  race. 


The  Soldier's  Epitaph 

"HE   DIED  FOR  ENGLAND." 
[Inscription   on   the   tombstone    of   a   private   soldier,    recently   killed   in    action.] 


These  four  short  words  his  epitaph. 

Sublimely  simple,  nobly  plain; 
Who  adds  to  them  but  addeth  chaff. 

Obscures  with  husks  the  golden  grain. 
Not  all  the  bards  of  other  days. 
Not  Homer  in  his  loftiest  vein, 
Not  Milton's  most  majestic  strain, 


Not  the  whole  wealth  of  Pindar's  lays, 
Could  bring  to  that  one  simple  phrase 
What  were  not  rather  loss  than  gain; 
That  elegy  so  briefly  fine, 
That  epic  writ  in  half  a  line, 
That  little  which  so  much  conveys, 
Whose  silence  is  a  hymn  of  praise 
And  throbs  with  harmonies  divine. 


The  Will  to  Power 


By  Eden  Phillpotts 


A  distinction  between  power  as  physical  force  and  as  expressed  in  terms  of 
spiritual  value  is  drawn  by  Mr.  Phillpotts  in  his  article,  appearing  in  The  Westminster 
Gazette  of   March  27,    1915,   which   is   here   reproduced. 


IT  has  not  often  happened  in  the 
world's  history  that  any  genera- 
tion can  speak  with  such  assured 
confidence  of  future  events  as  at 
present.  When  the  living  tongue  is 
concerned  with  destiny  it  seldom  does 
more  than  indicate  the  trend  of  things  to 
come,  examine  tendencies  and  move- 
ments, and  predict,  without  any  sure 
foreknowledge  or  conviction,  what  gen- 
erations unborn  may  expect  to  find  and 
the  conditions  they  will  create.  Destiny 
for  us,  who  speak  of  it,  is  an  unknown 
sea  whose  waves,  indeed,  drive  steadily 
onward  before  strong  winds,  but  whose 
shore  is  still  far  distant.  We  know  that 
we  men  of  the  hour  can  never  see  these 
billows  break  upon  the  sands  of  future 
time. 

But  today  we  may  look  forward  to 
stupendous  events;  today  there  are 
mighty  epiphanies  quickening  earth,  not 
to  be  assigned  to  periods. of  future  time, 
but  at  hand,  so  near  that  our  living 
selves  shall  see  their  birth,  and  partici- 
pate in  their  consequences.  Nor  can  we 
stand  as  spectators  of  this  worldwide 
hope;  we  must  not  only  hear  the  evangel 
whose  first  mighty  murmur  is  drifting 
to  our  ears  from  the  future,  we  must 
take  it  up  with  heart  and  voice  and 
help  to  sound  and  resound  it.  There  is 
tremendous  work  lying  ahead,  not  only 
for  our  children,  but  for  us.  Weighty 
deeds  will  presently  have  to  be  per- 
formed by  all  adult  manhood  and  wo- 
manhood— deeds,  perhaps,  greater  than 
any  living  man  has  been  called  to  do — 
deeds  that  exalt  the  doer  and  make 
sacred  for  all  history  the  hour  in  which 
they  shall  be  done. 

On  Time's  high  canopy  the  years  are 
as  stars  great  and  small,  some  of  lesser 
magnitude,  some  forever  bright  Avith  the 


splendor  of  supreme  human  achieve- 
ments; and  now  there  flashes  out  a  year 
concerning  which,  indeed,  no  man  can 
say  as  yet  how  great  it  will  be;  but  all 
men  know  that  it  must  be  great.  It  is 
destined  to  drown  all  lesser  years,  even 
as  sunrise  dims  the  morning  stars  with 
day;  it  is  a  year  bright  with  promise 
and  bodeful  with  ill-tidings  also;  for  in 
the  world  at  this  moment  there  exist 
stupendous  differences  that  this  year 
will  go  far  to  set  at  rest.  This  year 
must  solve  profound  problems,  determine 
the  trend  of  human  affairs  for  centuries, 
and  influence  the  whole  future  history 
of  civilization.  This  year  may  actually 
see  the  issue;  at  least  it  will  serve  to 
light  the  near  future  when  that  issue 
shall  be  accomplished. 

There  has  risen,  then,  a  year  that  is 
great  with  no  less  a  thing  than  the  fu- 
ture welfare  of  the  whole  earth.  It 
must  embrace  the  victory  of  one  ideal 
over  another,  and  include  a  decision 
which  shall  determine  whether  the  sub- 
lime human  hope  of  freedom  and  se- 
curity for  all  mankind  is  to  guide  human 
progress  henceforth,  or  the  spirit  of 
domination  and  slavery  to  win  a  new 
lease  of  life.  On  the  one  hand,  this  year 
of  the  first  magnitude  will  shine  with 
the  glory  of  such  a  victory  for  demo- 
cratic ideas  as  we  have  not  seen,  or  ex- 
pected to  see,  in  our  generation;  on  the 
other,  its  bale-fire  will  blaze  upon  the 
overthrow  of  all  great  ideals,  the  de- 
struction of  a  weak  nation  by  a  power- 
ful one,  and  the  triumph  of  that  policy 
of  "  blood  and  iron  "  from  which  every 
enlightened  man  of  this  age  shrinks  with 
horror.  The  situation  cannot  be  stated 
in  simpler  terms;  no  words  can  make  it 
less  than  tremendous;  and  it  is  demanded 
from  us  to  make  it  personal — as  per- 
sonal to  ourselves  as  it  is  to  the  King  of 


550 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


England,  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  or 
the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias 

They  live  who,  when  this  far-flung 
agony  of  war  is  ended,  when  the  last 
hero  has  fallen  and  lies  in  his  grave, 
when  the  final  cannon  has  sounded  its 
knell,  must  be  called  upon  to  make  the 
great  peace.  They  live  who  will  weave 
a  shroud  of  death  for  the  exhausted 
world,  or  plant  the  tree  of  life  upon  her 
bosom;  and  since  we,  inspired  by  the 
splendor  of  our  cause,  are  assured  that 
the  day-spring  will  be  ours,  we  already 
feel  and  know  that  we  shall  see  that  tree 
of  life  planted.  But  do  we  also  feel  and 
know  that  we  must  help  to  plant  it,  that 
the  labor  and  toil  of  each  of  us  is  vital, 
that  none  is  so  weak  but  that  there  is  a 
part  of  that  planting  for  which  he  was 
born,  a  part  consecrated  to  his  individual 
effort,  a  part  that  will  go  undone  if  he 
does  not  do  it? 

Look  to  yourself,  man,  woman,  child, 
that  with  heart  and  soul  and  strength 
you  perform  your  part  in  the  great  world 
work  lying  ahead;  remember  that  not 
princes  and  rulers,  not  regiments  of 
your  kinsmen,  not  the  armed  might  of 
nations  can  do  your  appointed  task  for 
you.  Fail  of  it,  and  by  so  much  will 
the  life  tree  lack  in  her  planting;  suc- 
ceed, and  by  so  much  will  she  be  the 
more  splendid  and  secure.  Her  name  is 
Freedom  and  her  fruits  are  for  the  weak 
and  humble  as  well  as  the  strong  and 
great,  for  the  foolish  as  well  as  the  wise, 
for  all  subjects  as  well  as  for  all  States. 
Put  out  your  power,  then,  for  that  most 
sacred  tree;  deny  yourself  no  pang  that 
she  may  flourish;  labor  according  to 
your  strength  that  her  blossom  shall 
win  the  worship  of  humanity  and  her 
fruit  be  worthy  of  the  blood  of  heroes 
that  has  poured  for  her  planting. 

Much  we  hear  of  the  Will  to  Power, 
and  because  that  great  impulse  has  lifted 
our  enemies  on  the  full  flood  tide  of 
their  might  and  manhood  in  one  over- 
whelming torrent,  Germany  has  been 
condemned.  But  not  for  her  united  ef- 
fort and  whole-hearted  sacrifice  should 
•we  condemn  her — not  for  her  patriotism 
and  response  to  the  call.     Her  reply  is 


wholly  magnificent,  and  it  only  stands 
condemned  for  the  evil  ends  and  ignoble 
ambitions  toward  which  it  is  directed. 
The  spectacle  of  a  great  nation  at  one, 
inspired  by  a  single  ideal  and  pouring 
its  life,  its  wealth,  its  energy,  with  a 
single  impulse  in  the  name  of  the 
Fatherland  can  only  be  called  sublime. 
The  tragedy  lies  in  the  fact  that  this 
stupendous  effort  is  not  worthy  of  the 
cause;  that  for  false  hopes,  false  ambi- 
tions, and  mistaken  sense  of  right  and 
justice  Germany  has  wasted  her  life  and 
given  her  soul. 

Who  blames  the  Will  to  Power  ?  Power 
is  the  mightiest  weapon  fate  can  forge 
for  a  nation — a  treasure  beyond  the 
strength  of  commerce,  or  armies,  or 
navies,  or  intellect  of  man  to  produce. 
But  it  is  necessary  that  we  define  power 
in  terms  of  spiritual  value;  and  then, 
surely,  it  appears  that  Power  and  Force 
can  never  be  the  same.  A  Frederick  I., 
or  a  Napoleon,  may  pretend  to  confound 
power  with  force,  and  believe  that  their 
might  must  be  right.  They  possessed  a 
giant's  strength  and  used  it  like  giants. 
But  true  Power  is  ever  the  attribute  of 
Right  and  they  who  strive  for  it  must 
cleanse  their  souls,  see  that  their  ambi- 
tion is  worthy  of  such  a  possession,  and, 
before  all  else,  strive  to  realize  the  awful 
responsibility  that  goes  with  Power. 

Never  was  a  moment  more  golden 
than  the  present  for  this  nation  to  Will 
to  Power.  For  once  our  hearts  are  single, 
our  resolutions  pure,  our  patriotism,  as 
well  as  the  objects  that  we  seek  to  at- 
tain, sure  set  upon  the  line  of  human 
progress.  In  the  sane  and  sacred  name 
of  Freedom,  therefore,  and  at  her  an- 
cient inspiration  it  becomes  us  now  to 
strive  by  all  that  is  highest  and  best 
in  us  to  fulfill  our  noblest  possibilities 
and  give  soul  and  strength  that  the 
united  Will  to  Power  of  our  nation  may 
surmount  that  of  her  enemies,  even  as 
our  goal  and  purpose  surmount  theirs. 

It  is  for  the  victory  that  must  crown 
this  victory  we  should  labor,  and  cease 
not  while  hand  can  toil,  mind  achieve, 
and  heart  sacrifice  to  make  the  vital 
issue  assured. 


Alleged  German  Atrocities 

Report  of  the  Committee  Appointed 
by  the  British  Government 

and  Presided  Over  by 

The  Right  Hon.   Viscount  Bryce 

Formerly  British  Ambassador  at   Washington 

Proofs  of  alleged  atrocities  committed  by  the  German  armies  in  Belgium — proofs 
collected  by  men  trained  in  the  law  and  presented  with  unemotional  directness  after  a 
careful  inquiry — are  presented  in  the  report  of  the  "  Committee  on  Alleged  German 
Atrocities  "  headed  by  Viscount  Bryce,  the  English  historian  and  formerly  British  Am- 
bassador at  Washington.  The  document  was  made  public  simultaneously  in  London  and 
the  United  States  on  May  12,  1915,  four  days  after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania.  It 
was  pointed  out  at  the  time  that  this  was  a  coincidence,  as  the  report  had  been  prepared 
several   weeks    before   and   forwarded   by    mail    from    England    for   publication    on    May    12. 


WARRANT  OF  APPOINTMENT. 

I  hereby  appoint — 

The  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Bryce,  0.  M.; 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  Frederick  Pol- 
lock, Bt.,  K.  C; 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  Edward  Clarke, 
K.   C; 

Sir  Alfred  Hopkinson,  K.  C; 

Mr.  H.  A.  L.  Fisher,  Vice  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Sheffield;  and 
■    Mr.  Harold  Cox; 

to  be  a  committee  to  consider  and  ad- 
vise on  the  evidence  collected  on  be- 
half of  his  Majesty's  Government  as  to 
outrages  alleged  to  have  been  com- 
mitted by  German  troops  during  the 
present  war,  cases  of  alleged  maltreat- 
ment of  civilians  in  the  invaded  terri- 
tories, and  breaches  of  the  laws  and  es- 
tablished usages  of  war;  and  to  prepare 
a  report  for  his  Majesty's  Government 
showing  the  conclusion  at  which  they 
arrive  on  the  evidence  now  available. 

And  I  appoint  Viscount  Bryce  to  be 
Chairman,  and  Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears 
and  Mr.  W.  J.  H.  Brodrick,  barristers 
at  law,  to  be  Joint  Secretaries  to  the 
committee. 

(Signed)       H.  H.  ASQUITH. 

15th  December,  1914. 


Sir  Kenelm  E.  Digby,  K.  C,  G.  C.  B., 
was  appointed  an  additional  member  of 
the  committee  on  22d  January,  1915. 

To  the  Right  Hon.  H.  H.  Asquith,  &c., 
&c.,  First  Lord  of  H.  M.  Treasury. 
The  committee  have  the  honor  to 
present  and  transmit  to  you  a  report 
upon  the  evidence  which  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  them  regarding  outrages  al- 
leged to  have  been  committed  by  the 
German  troops  in  the  present  war. 

By  the  terms  of  their  appointment  the 
committee    were    directed 

"  to  consider  and  advise  on  the  evidence 
collected  on  behalf  of  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment, as  to  outrages  alleged  to  have 
been  committed  by  German  troops  during 
the  present  war,  cases  of  alleged  mal- 
treatment of  civilians  in  the  invaded  ter- 
ritories, and  breaches  of  the  laws  and  es- 
tablished usages  of  war;  and  to  prepare 
a  report  for  his  Majesty's  Government 
showing  the  conclusion  at  which  they  ar- 
rive on  the  evidence  now  available." 

It  may  be  convenient  that  before  pro- 
ceeding to  state  how  we  have  dealt  with 
the  materials,  and  what  are  the  con- 
clusions we  have  reached,  we  should  set 
out  the  manner  in  which  the  evidence 
came  into  being,  and  its  nature. 

In  the   month  of  September,   1914,  a 


552 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


minute  was,  at  the  instance  of  the 
Prime  Minister,  drawn  up  and  signed 
by  the  Home  Secretary  and  the  At- 
torney General.  It  stated  the  need  that 
had  arisen  for  investigating  the  ac- 
cusations of  inhumanity  and  outrage 
that  had  been  brought  against  the  Ger- 
man soldiers,  and  indicated  the  pre- 
cautions to  be  taken  in  collecting  evi- 
dence that  would  be  needed  to  insure  its 
accuracy.  Pursuant  to  this  minute  steps 
were  taken  under  the  direction  of  the 
Home  Office  to  collect  evidence,  and  a 
great  many  persons  who  could  give  it 
were  seen  and  examined. 

For  some  three  or  four  months  before 
the  appointment  of  the  committee,  the 
Home  Office  had  been  collecting  a  large 
body  of  evidence.*  More  than  1,200  depo- 
sitions made  by  these  witnesses  have 
been  submitted  to  and  considered  by  the 
committee.  Nearly  all  of  these  were 
obtained  under  the  supervision  of  Sir 
Charles  Mathews,  the  Director  of  Public 
Prosecutions,  and  of  Mr.  E.  Grimwood 
Mears,  barrister  of  the  Inner  Temple, 
while  in  addition  Professor  J.  H. 
Morgan  has  collected  a  number  of  state- 
ments mainly  from  British  soldiers, 
which  have  also  been  submitted  to  the 
committee. 

The  labor  involved  in  securing,  in  a 
comparatively  short  time,  so  large  a 
number  of  statements  from  witnesses 
scattered  all  over  the  United  Kingdom, 
made  it  necessary  to  employ  a  good  many 
examiners.  The  depositions  were  in  all 
cases  taken  down  in  this  country  by 
gentlemen  of  legal  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience, though,  of  course,  they  had  no 
authority  to  administer  an  oath.  They 
were  instructed  not  to  "  lead  "  the  wit- 
nesses, or  make  any  suggestions  to  them, 
and  also  to  impress  upon  them  the 
necessity  for  care  and  precision  in  giv- 
ing their  evidence. 

They  were  also  directed  to  treat  the 
evidence  critically,  and  as  far  as  possible 
satisfy  themselves,  by  putting  questions 
which  arose  out  of  the  evidence,  that  the 

♦Taken  from  Belgian  witnesses,  some 
soldiers,  but  most  of  them  civilians  from 
those  towns  and  villages  through  which  the 
German  Army  passed,  and  from  British 
officers    and    soldiers. 


witnesses  were  speaking  the  truth. 
They  were,  in  fact,  to  cross-examine 
them,  so  far  as  the  testimony  given  pro- 
vided materials  for  cross-examination. 

We  have  seen  and  conversed  with  many 
of  these  gentlemen,  and  have  been  great- 
ly impressed  by  their  ability  and  by 
what  we  have  gathered  as  to  the  fair- 
ness of  spirit  which  they  brought  to 
their  task.  We  feel  certain  that  the  in- 
structions given  have  been  scrupulously 
observed. 

In  many  cases  those  who  took  the  evi- 
dence have  added  their  comments  upon 
the  intelligence  and  demeanor  of  the  wit- 
nesses, stating  the  impression  which  each 
witness  made,  and  indicating  any  cases 
in  which  the  story  toM  appeared  to  them 
open  to  doubt  or  suspicion.  In  coming  to 
a  conclusion  upon  the  evidence  the  com- 
mittee have  been  greatly  assisted  by 
these  expressions  of  opinion,  and  have 
uniformly  rejected  every  deposition  on 
which  an  opinion  adverse  to  the  witness 
has  been  recorded. 

This  seems  to  be  a  fitting  place  at 
which  to  put  on  record  the  invaluable 
help  which  we  have  received  from  our 
secretaries,  Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears  and 
Mr.  W.  J.  H.  Brodrick,  whose  careful 
diligence  and  minute  knowledge  of  the 
evidence  have  been  of  the  utmost  ser- 
vice. Without  their  skill,  judgment,  and 
untiring  industry  the  labor  of  examin- 
ing and  appraising  each  part  of  so  large 
a  mass  of  testimony  would  have  occupied* 
us  for  six  months  instead  of  three. 

The  marginal  references  in  this  report 
indicate  the  particular  deposition  or 
depositions  on  which  the  statements  made 
in  the  text  are  based.* 

The  depositions  printed  in  the  ap- 
pendix themselves  show  that  the  stories 
were  tested  in  detail,  and  in  none  of 
these  have  we  been  able  to  detect  the 
trace  of  any  desire  to  "  make  a  case " 
against  the  German  Army.  Care  was 
taken  to  impress  upon  the  witness  that 
the  giving  of  evidence  was  a  grave  and 
serious  matter,  and  every  deposition  sub- 
mitted to  us  was  signed  by  the  witness 
in  the  presence  of  the  examiner. 

[♦Marginal  references  are  omitted  in  this 
reproduction.— Ebitor.  ] 


[American    Cartoon] 


Nearing  the  Brink 


— From  The  Republic,  St.  Louis. 


Hold  Fast! 


521 


[American    Cartoon] 


The  Announcer 


— From    The   Herald,  New    York. 


[The  Notice  on  the  Bulletin  Board  is  the  German  Embassy's  ad- 
vertisement giving  warning  that  travellers  who  sailed  on|  ships  of  Great 
Britain  or  her  Allies  entering  the  War  Zone  did  so  at  their  own  risk.] 


5it 


[American    Cartoon] 


The  Sacrifice  of  Cain 


— From  The  Sun,  New  York. 


What  have  you  done  with  your  brother  Abel? 


523 


[American    Cartoon] 


Removing  the  Hyphen 


— From   The   Times,  New  York. 

Now  it  must  be  either  one  or  the  other. 

524 


[American    Cartoon] 


A  Misunderstanding 


— From  The  Evening  Sun,  New  York. 


The  Allies:    "Ouch!    Don't  you  know  we've  taken  the  offensive?" 


5i5 


[English  Cartoon] 

The  Elixir  of  Hate 


— From  Punch,  London. 


Kaiser  :  "  *  Fair  is  foul,  and  foul  is  fair ; 

Hover  through  the  fog  and  filthy  air.' 

526 


[German  Cartoon] 

It's  a  Long  Way  to  Constantinople 


■■■"  ^'^MS 


— From  Simplicissimus,  M^mich, 

The  English,  soldiers  have  a  war  song  "It's  a  Long  Way  to  Tip- 
perary."  This  has  been  changed ;  they  now  sing  "  It's  a  Long  Way  to 
Constantinople.'* 

527 


[English  Cartoon] 

Canada! 


— From  Punch,  Lotidon, 


Ypres:  April  22-24,  1915. 

528 


[French  Cartoon] 


Our  Colors  Advance! 


-From  La  Vie  Partaienne,  Paris. 


War  is  teaching  geography  to  the  women  of  France.      Alas !  it  is  by  heart 
they  are  learning  their  lessons. 


529 


[German  Cartoon] 


The  English  Chameleon 


The    Merchant    Flag 
of    Norway 


— From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 

When  the  Beast  sees  the  enemy  coming  it 
changes  its  British  colors  and  appears  in  neutral 
hues. 


Th«    Merchant    Flag 
of     Great     Britain 


[Although  this  cartoon  depends  on  color  for  its  full  value,   the  effect  of  the  blending 
of  the  two  flags  is  preserved  in  the  black  and  white  reproduction.] 


530 


[English  Cartoon] 


A  Great  Naval  Triumph 


— From  Punch,  London. 

German  Submarine  Officer:   "  This  ought  to  make  them  jealous 
in  the  sister  service.    Belgium  saw  nothing  better  than  this." 

[Although  Punch  did  not  disclose  the  artist's  allusion  to  Revelations,  xiii.,  18,  contained 
in  the  number  of  the  submarine  "  U-666,"  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  quote  the  passage :  "  Let 
him  that  hath  understanding  count  the  number  of  the  beast:  for  it  is  the  number  of  a 
man ;   and  his  number  is  six  hundred  three  score  and  six."] 


L 


531 


[German  Cartoon] 


Opening  of  the  Bathing  Season — Feb.  18 


— brum    Kiudtlcrtulolsch,    Utilin. 


The  German  stickle-backs  worry  the  "  Ruler  of  the  Seas." 


532 


What  Is  Our  Duty? 

By    Mrs.    Emmeline    Pankhurst 

The  position  of  the  British  suffragettes,  who  suspended  their  militant  program  and 
are  zealously  supporting  the  cause  of  the  Allies,  is  stated  in  this  speech  by  Mrs.  Pankhurst, 
delivered    in    the    Sun    Hall,    Liverpool,    and    reported    in    The    Suffragette   of   April    23,    1915. 


I  THINK  that  throughout  our  agitation 
tor  the  franchise  for  political 
emancipation,  on  platforms  and  on 
ether  places — even  in  prisons — we 
have  talked  about  rights,  and  fought  for 
rights;  at  the  same  time  we  have  al- 
ways coupled  with  the  claim  for  rights 
cl^ar  statements  as  to  duty.  We  hava 
never  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  to  pos- 
sess rights  puts  upon  human  beings  grave 
responsibilities  and  serious  duties.  We 
have  fought  for  rights  because,  in  order 
to  perform  your  duty  and  fulfill  your 
responsibilities  properly,  in  time  of 
peace,  you  must  have  certain  citizen 
rights.  When  the  State  is  in  danger, 
when  the  very  liberties  in  your  posses- 
sion are  imperiled,  is,  above  all,  the  time 
to  think  of  duty.  And  so,  when  the  war 
broke  out,  some  of  us  who,  convalescing 
after  cur  fights,  decided  that  one  of  the 
duties  of  the  Women's  Social  and  Po- 
litical Union  in  war  time  was  to  talk  to 
men  about  their  duty  to  the  nation — the 
duty  of  fighting  to  preserve  the  inde- 
pendence of  our  country,  to  preserve 
what  our  forefathers  had  won  for  us, 
and  to  protect  the  nation  from  foreign 
invasion. 

There  are  people  who  say,  "  What 
right  have  women  to  talk  to  men  about 
fighting  for  their  country,  since  women 
are  rot,  according  to  the  custom  of  civil- 
ization, called  upon  to  fight?"  That 
used  to  be  said  to  us  in  times  of  peace. 

Certainly  women  have  the  right  to  say 
to  men,  "  Are  you  going  to  fight  to  de- 
fend your  country  and  redeem  your 
promise  to  women?" 

Men  have  said  to  women,  not  only  that 
they  fight  to  defend  their  country,  but 
that  they  protect  women  from  all  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  life,  and  they 
are  proud  to  be  in  the  position  to  do  it. 
Why,  then,  we  say  to  those  men,  "  You 


are  indeed  now  put  to  the  test.  The  men 
of  Belgium,  the  men  of  France,  the  men 
of  Serbia,  however  willing  they  were  to 
protect  women  from  the  things  that  are 
most  horrible — and  more  horrible  to  wo- 
men than  death  itself — have  not  been 
able  to  do  it." 

It  is  only  by  an  accident,  or  a  series 
of  accidents,  for  which  no  man  here  has 
the  right  to  take  credit,  that  British  wo- 
men on  British  soil  are  not  now  endur- 
ing the  horrors  endured  by  the  women  of 
France,  the  women  of  Belgium,  and  the 
women  of  Serbia.  The  least  that  men 
can  do  is  that  every  man  of  fighting  age 
should  prepare  himself  to  redeem  his 
word  to  women,  and  to  make  ready  to 
do  his  best,  to  save  the  mothers,  the 
wives,  and  the  daughters  of  Great  Brit- 
ain from  outrage  too  horrible  even  to 
think  of. 

We  have  the  right  to  say  to  the  men, 
"  Fight  for  your  country,  defend  the 
shores  of  this  land  of  ours.  Fight  for 
your  homes,  for  the  women,  and  for  the 
children."  We  have  the  right  if  that 
VN^as  the  only  reason,  but  in  these  days, 
v/hen  women  are  taking  larger  views  of 
their  duty  to  the  State,  we  go  further 
than  that;  we  claim  the  right  to  hold 
recruiting  meetings  and  ask  men  to 
fight  for  bigger  reasons  than  are  ad- 
vanced ordinarily.  We  say  to  men,  "  In 
this  war  there  are  issues  at  stake  bigger 
even  than  the  safety  of  your  homes  and 
your  own  country.  Your  honor  as  a  na- 
tion is  at  stake." 

We  have  our  duties  in  this  war.  First 
of  all,  this  duty  begins  at  home — this 
duly  to  our  home,  because  I  always  feel 
that  if  we  are  not  ready  to  do  our  duty 
to  those  nearest  to  us  we  are  not  fit  to 
do  our  duty  far  away.  And  so  the  first 
duty  is  to  ourselves  and  to  our  homes. 
Then  there  is  the  duty  to  protect  those 


534 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


who,  having  made  a  gallant  fight  for 
self-defense — and  by  that  I  mean  the 
country  of  Belgium — what  we  owe  to 
Belgium  we  can  never  repay,  because 
now  the  whole  German  plan  of  campaign 
is  perfectly  plain  to  all  those  who  are 
not  prejudiced,  and  who  are  not  affected 
by  pan-Germanism;  and,  unfortunately, 
in  their  methods  of  warfare — and  their 
n.ethods  of  warfare  are  many — they  not 
only  fight  physically,  but  they  fight 
mentally  and  morally  as  well,  and  in 
this  country  and  in  France,  and  in  every 
country  in  Europe,  long  before  the  war 
broke  out,  in  fact,  ever  since  the  year 
1870,  they  have  been  preparing  by  subtle 
means  to  take  possession  of  Europe,  and 
I  believe  their  ambitions  are  not  limited 
by  that,  they  want  to  rule  the  whole 
world  The  whole  thing  is  clear  to  any 
unprejudiced  observer 

It  is  very  difficult  for  your  attacking 
bully  to  imagine  that  a  small  State — I 
mean  small  numerically,  and  weak  phys- 
ically— will  ever  have  the  courage  to 
stand  up  and  resist  the  bully  when  he 
prepares  to  attack.  The  Germans  did 
not  expect  Belgium  to  keep  them  at  bay 
while  the  other  countries  involved  pre- 
pared, but  there  is  absolutely  no  doubt 
that  the  plan  was  to  press  through  Bel- 
gium, to  take  possession  of  Paris,  and 
then,  having  humiliated  and  crippled 
France,  to  cross  the  Channel  and  defeat 
us.  There  is  no  doubt  that  was  the  plan ; 
it  is  perfectly  clear.  And  that  being  so, 
we  owe — civilization  owes — to  Belgium  a 
debt  which  it  can  never  repay. 

Then  we  have  our  duty  to  our  ally, 
France.  How  much  democracy  owes  to 
France!  France  is  the  mother  of  Euro- 
pean democracy.  There  is  no  doubt 
about  her  claim  to  that.  If  there  had 
been  nothing  else  worth  fighting  for  in 
this  war,  in  my  opinion  that  alone  would 
have  been  worth  fighting  for,  to  preserve 
that  spirit  and  that  democracy — which 
France  has  given  to  the  world,  and 
■\\hich  would  perish  if  France  were  de- 
stroyed. The  people  of  France  are  a 
people  who  never  have  been,  and  I  be- 
lieve never  will  be,  corrupted  in  the 
sense  of  thinking  that  material  things 
are  of  more  value  than  spiritual  things. 
The  people  of  France  have  always  been 


leady  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  ideals. 
They  have  been  ready  to  sacrifice  life, 
they  have  been  ready  to  sacrifice  money, 
they  have  been  ready  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing for  an  ideal. 

You  know  the  old  saying,  that  men 
should  work  and  women  should  weep? 
That  is  not  true,  for  it  is  for  all  of  us 
to  work  and  for  all  of  us  to  weep  when 
there  is  occasion  to  do  so.  Therefore,  it 
is  because  in  the  French  Nation  you 
have  splendid  qualities  combined  in  both 
sexes,  because  the  history  of  the  French 
Nation  is  so  mag^iificent,  because  the 
French  Nation  has  contributed  so  much 
to  civilization,  and  so  much  in  art, 
beauty,  and  in  great  qualities,  it  is  our 
duty  to  stand  by  France,  and  to  prevent 
her  being  crushed  by  the  oversexed,  that 
is  to  say,  overmasculine,  country  of 
Germany. 

It  is  our  duty  as  women  to  do  what  we 
can  to  help  our  country  in  this  war,  be- 
cause if  the  unthinkable  thing  happened, 
and  Germany  were  to  win,  the  women's 
movement,  as  we  know  it  in  Europe, 
would  be  put  back  fifty  years  at  least; 
there  is  no  doubt  about  it.  Whether  it 
ever  could  rise  again  is  to  my  mind  ex- 
tremely doubtful.  The  ideal  of  women 
in  Germany  is  the  lowest  in  Europe. 
Infantile  mortality  is  very  high,  immoral- 
ity is  widespread,  and,  in  consequence, 
venereal  disease  is  rampant.  Notice,  too, 
the  miserable  and  niggardly  pittance  that 
is  being  paid  to  the  wives  and  families 
of  German  soldiers,  while  nothing  what- 
ever is  being  paid  to  unmarried  wives 
and  their  children.  True  security  for 
women  and  children  is  for  women  to 
have  control  over  their  own  destiny. 
And  so  it  is  a  duty,  a  supreme  duty,  of 
women,  first  of  all  as  human  beings  and 
as  lovers  of  their  country,  to  co-operate 
with  men  in  this  terrible  crisis  in  which 
we  find  ourselves. 

If  all  were  trained  to  contribute  some- 
thing to  the  community,  both  in  time  of 
peace  and  in  time  of  war,  how  much 
better  it  would  be. 

What  bitterness  there  was  in  the 
hearts  of  many  women  when  they  saw 
work  and  business  going  on  as  usual, 
carried  on  by  men  who  ought  to  be  in 
the  fighting  line.     There  were  thousands 


WHAT    IS    OUR    DUTY? 


535 


upon  thousands  of  women  willing,  even 
if  they  were  not  trained,  to  do  that 
work  and  release  men,  and  we  have  urged 
the  authorities  to  take  into  account  the 
g^eat  reserve  force  of  the  nation,  the 
women  who  are  or  might  be  quite  cap- 
able to  step  into  the  shoes  of  the  men 
when  they  were  called  up  to  fight. 

The  Board  of  Trade  issued  its  appeal 
to  women  just  before  Easter  to  register 
their  names  as  willing  to  do  national 
service  in  any  capacity  during  the  course 
of  the  war.  I  want  to  tell  you  tonight 
that  I  am  very  proud  of  the  women  of 
the  country.  When  the  first  recruiting 
appeals  were  made  to  men,  the  hoard- 
ings were  covered  with  placards  and  ap- 
peals and  they  were  making  efforts  by 
recruiting  bands,  in  places  of  pleasure 
— everywhere  in  the  columns  of  the  news- 
papers there  were  recruiting  appeals  to 
men.  Then  the  time  came  when  the 
Board  of  Trade  wished  to  know  to  what 
extent  it  could  depend  upon  the  services 
of  the  women  of  the  country,  and  what 
was  done  in  the  case  of  women? 
There  were  no  posters  for  us;  there  were 
no  recruiting  meetings  for  us;  there  were 
no  appeals  from  great  names  to  us;  no 
attractive  pictures,  "  Your  King  and 
Country  Want  You " — nothing  of  that 
kind.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  that,  in  one 
week  34,000  women  sent  in  their  names 
as  volunteers  for  a  national  service. 
[Loud  applause.] 

And  now,  something  about  this  talk 
of  peace,  and  the  terms  of  peace.  Well, 
I  consider  it  very  sinister  and  very  dan- 
gerous. Very  dangerous,  indeed,  because 
nothing  heartens  the  Kaiser  and  his  ad- 
visers so  much  as  weakness  in  any  of 
the  allied  nations.  It  is  no  use  expect- 
ing Germany  to  understand  that  the 
people  who  are  talking  about  peace  are 
animated  by  a  genuine  love  for  peace. 
I  go  further  as  regards  peace  movements. 
I  think  that  in  this  country,  and  in  Amer- 
ica, and  in  all  the  neutral  countries, 
there  are  a  great  many  very  well-mean- 
ing people  who  are  genuine  lovers  of 
peace.  What  woman  does  not  dread  the 
effects  of  war?  Germans  are  encour- 
aging the  call  for  peace.  The  Kaiser 
knows  he  is  going  to  be  beaten,  and  he 


wants  to  get  out  of  it  on  as  easy  terms  as 
possible,  and  so  it  is  worth  while  for 
German-Americans  to  run  a  peace  move- 
ment in  America.  They  want  America, 
which  is  a  great  neutral  country,  to  inter- 
vene to  try  to  force  peace  and  to  let  the 
Germans  down  easily  without  having  to 
pay  for  all  that  they  have  done  in  Bel- 
gium and  in  France.  Similar  tactics  are 
being  pursued  in  this  country. 

Only  those  who  have  been  in  close 
touch  mth  people  who  know  what  goes 
on,  and  what  has  gone  on,  since  the  year 
1870,  after  the  Franco-German  war,  can 
realize  how  insidious  this  German  influ- 
ence is,  and  so  I  say  to  you  who  love  peace 
(and  who  does  not  love  peace?)  if  you 
take  part  in  any  of  these  peace  move- 
ments, you  are  playing  the  German  game 
and  helping  Germany.  [Loud  applause.] 
They  talk  of  peace,  but  consider  the 
position  of  our  allies.  The  Germans  in 
possession  of  the  North  of  France,  dev- 
astating the  country,  even  today  driving 
thousands  of  innocent,  helpless  people  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet,  outraging  wo- 
men, and  burning  homes!  And  people 
in  this  country — an  allied  nation — allow- 
ing themselves  to  talk  about  terms  of 
peace. 

It  is  for  Germany  to  talk  of  peace,  not 
for  us.  [Loud  applause.]  It  is  for  us 
to  show  a  strong  and  determined  front, 
because  if  we  do  anything  else  we  are 
misunderstood,  and  advantage  is  taken 
of  the  situation.  Since  some  women  have 
responded  to  an  invitation  to  take  part 
in  a  peace  conference  at  The  Hague,  I 
feel  bound  to  say  that  they  do  not  repre- 
sent the  mass  of  Englishwomen.  [Loud 
applause.]  The  mass  of  Englishwomen 
are  whole-hearted  in  our  support  of 
our  own  Government  in  this  mat- 
ter and  in  the  support  of  our 
allies — [loud  applause] — and  we  are  pre- 
pared to  face  all  the  necessary  sac- 
rifices to  bring  this  war  to  a  successful 
issue  from  our  point  of  view,  because 
we  know,  because  we  feel,  that  this 
terrible  business,  forced  upon  us,  has  to 
be  properly  finished  to  save  us  from  the 
danger  of  another  war  perhaps  in  ten 
years'  time.      [Applause.] 

We  have  clear  consciences  on  this  mat- 


536 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


ter.  We  did  not.  want  this  war.  France 
did  not  want  this  war.  Belgium  did  not 
want  this  war.  I  do  not  believe  that 
Russia  wanted  this  war.  It  has  been 
forced  upon  us,  and  since  Germany  took 
up  the  sword,  the  sword  must  be  held  in 
the  hands  of  the  Allies  until  Germany 
has  had  enough  of  war  and  does  not 
want  any  more  of  it.  [Loud  applause.] 
For  us  to  talk  about  peace  now,  for  us 
to  weaken  our  side  now,  is  to  make  the 
condition  of  those  men  who  are  laying 
down  their  lives  for  us  in  France  more 
terrible  than  it  already  is.  We  have  to 
support  them,  and  to  stand  loyally  by 
them,  and  to  make  our  sacrifices  and 
show  our  patriotism  to  them. 

And,  speaking  of  sacrifices,  let  us 
consider  this  drink  question.  What  is 
our  duty  in  that  matter?  Well,  I  think 
our  duty  is  this,  that,  if  the  Government 
of  this  country  seriously  think  it  is  nec- 
essary for  our  success  in  this  war  to 
stop  drink  altogether  until  the  war  is 
ended,  it  is  our  duty  loyally  to  support 
and  accept  that  decision.  [Loud  ap- 
plause.] 


At  any  rate,  in  time  of  war  we  should 
be  ready  to  say,  "  Let  us  sacrifice  a 
personal  pleasure  in  order  to  get  a  great 
national  good."  Would  not  that  be  a 
something  to  lift  up  a  nation  and  make 
it  a  wonderful  and  a  great  nation? 

I  believe  that  in  this  war  we  are 
fighting  for  things  undying  and  great; 
we  are  fighting  for  liberty;  we  are 
fighting  for  honor;  we  are  fighting  to 
preserve  the  great  inheritance  won  for 
us  by  our  forefathers,  and  it  is  worth 
while  to  fight  for  those  things,  and  it 
is  worth  while  to  die  for  them — to  die 
a  glorious  death  in  defense  of  all  that 
makes  life  worth  having  is  better  than 
to  live  unending  years  of  inglorious  life. 
And  so,  out  of  this  great  trial  that  has 
come  upon  us,  I  believe  a  wonderful 
transformation  will  come  to  the  people 
of  this  country  and  we  shall  emerge  from 
it  stronger  and  better  and  nobler  and 
more  worthy  of  our  great  traditions 
than  ever  we  should  perhaps  have  been 
without  it.  [Loud  and  continued  ap- 
plause.] 


The  Soldiers  Pass 

By  MAURICE   HEWLETT. 
[From  "  Sing  Songs  of  the  War."] 


THE  soldiers  pass  at  nightfall, 
A  girl  within  each  arm, 
And  kisses  quick  and  light  fall 
On  lips  that  take  no  harm. 
Lip  language  serves  them  better 
Who  have  no  parts  of  speech: 
No  syntax  there  to  fetter 
The  lore  they  love  to  teach. 

What  waist  would  shun  th'  indenture 

Of  such  a  gallant  squeeze? 
What  girl's  heart  not  dare  venture 

The  hot-and-cold  disease? 
Nay,  let  them  do  their  service 

Before   the   lads   depart! 
That  hand  goes  where  the  curve  is 

That  billows  o'er  the  heart. 


Who  deems  not  how  'tis  given, 

What  knows  he  of  its  worth? 
'Tis  either  fire  of  heaven 

Or  earthiness  of  earth. 
And  if  the  lips  are  fickle 

That  kiss,  they'll  never  know 
If  tears  begin  to  trickle 

Where  they  saw  roses  blow. 

"  The  girl  I  left  behind  me," 

He'll  sing,  nor  hear  her  moan, 
"  The  tears  they  come  to  blind  me 

As  I  sit  here  alone." 
What  else  had  you  to  offer. 

Poor  spendthrift  of  the  town? 
Lay  out  your  unlockt  coffer — 

The  Lord  will  know  His  own. 


The  Great  End 

By  Arnold  Bennett. 

Fear  that  the  British  Government  in  its  discussion  of  peace  terms  with  Germany 
might  defer  to  the  policy  of  France  and  Russia  of  Iveeping  important  negotiations  secret 
inspired  the  writing  of  this  article,  which  appeared  in  The  London  Daily  News  of  April  1, 
1915,  and  is  here  published  by  the  author's  permission.  Mr.  Bennett  points  out  that  despite  her 
alliance   Great   Britain   is   essentially   a   democracy   subject   to   the   mandates   of   her  people. 


THE  well-meant  but  ingenuous  ef- 
forts of  the  Government  to  pro- 
duce pessimism  among  the  citi- 
zens have  failed.  The  object  of 
these  efforts  was  clear;  it  has,  I  think, 
been  attained  by  more  direct  and  wiser 
means.  Munitions  of  war  are  now  being 
more  satisfactorily  manufactured,  though 
the  country  still  refuses  to  be  gloomy. 
"  Eyewitness "  pretended  to  quake,  but 
Przemysl  fell.  He  tried  again,  but  Sir 
John  French  announced  that  he  did  not 
believe  in  a  protracted  war.  Since  Sir 
John  French  said  also  that  he  believed  in 
victory,  it  follows  that  he  believes  in  a 
victory  not  long  delayed.  The  incom- 
parable and  candid  report*  of  the  French 
War  Office  about  the  first  stages  of  the 
war  increased  our  confidence,  and  at  the 
same  time  showed  to  us  the  inferiority  of 
our  own  reports.  Only  victors  could  pub- 
lish such  revelations,  and  Britain,  with 
her  passion  for  forgetting  mistakes  and 
her  hatred  of  the  confessional,  could 
never  bring  herself  to  publish  them. 
These  reports  were  confirmed  and  capped 
by  the  remarkable  communications  of 
General  Joffre  to  a  journalistic  friend. 
The  New  York  Stock  Exchange  began 
to  gamble  about  the  date  of  victory.  The 
London  Stock  Exchange  took  on  a  new 
firmness.  Not  even  the  sinister  losses 
at  Neuve  Chapelle,  nor  the  rumors  con- 
cerning the  same,  could  disturb  our  con- 
fidence. Peace,  therefore,  in  the  general 
view,  and  certainty  in  the  view  of  those 
who  knew  most,  is  decidedly  nearer  than 
when  I  wrote  last  about  peace. 

A  short  while  ago  Mr,  Asquith  referred 
with  sarcasm  and  reproof  to  those  who 
talk  of  peace.  But,  for  once,  his  meaning 
was  not  clear.  If  he  meant  that  to  sug- 
gest peace  to  the  enemy  at  this  stage  is 


both  dangerous  and  ridiculous,  he  will  be 
approved  by  the  nation.  But  if  he  meant 
that  terms  of  peace  must  not  even  be 
mentioned  among  ourselves,  he  will  find 
people  ready  to  disagree  with  him,  and 
to  support  the  weight  of  his  sarcasm  and 
his  reproof.  I  am  one  of  those  people. 
Bellicose  by  disposition,  I  nevertheless 
like  to  know  what  I  am  fighting  for.  This 
is  perhaps  an  idiosyncrasy,  but  many 
persons  share  it,  and  they  are  not  to  be 
ignored.  It  may  be  argued  that  Mr.  As- 
quith has  defined  what  we  are  fighting 
for.  He  has  not.  He  has  only  defined 
part  of  what  we  are  fighting  for.  His 
reference  to  the  overthrow  of  Prussian 
militarism  is  futile,  because  it  gives  no 
indication  of  the  method  to  be  employed. 
The  method  of  liberating  and  compen- 
sating Belgium  and  other  small  commu- 
nities is  clear;  but  how  are  you  to  over- 
throw an  ideal  ?  Prussian  militarism 
v;ill  not  be  destroyed  by  a  defeat  in  the 
field.  Militarism  cannot  overthrow  mili- 
tarism; it  can  only  breed  militarism.  The 
point  is  of  the  highest  importance. 

I  do  not  assume  that  Mr.  Asquith's  no- 
tions about  the  right  way  to  overthrow 
militarism  are  not  sound  notions.  I  as- 
sume that  they  are  sound.  I  think  that 
his  common  sense  is  massive.  Though  it 
is  evident  that  he  lets  his  Ministerial  col- 
leagues do  practically  what  they  choose 
in  their  own  spheres,  and  though  there 
are  militarists  in  the  Cabinet,  I  do  not, 
like  The  Morning  Post,  consider  that  the 
Prime  Minister  exists  in  a  stupor  of 
negligence.  On  the  contrary,  I  assume 
that  at  the  end  of  the  war,  as  at  the  be- 
ginning, Mr.  Asquith  will  control  the 
foolish,  and  that  common  sense  will  pre- 
vail in  the  Cabinet  when  a  treaty  is  the 
subject  of  converse.     Still  further,  I  will 


538 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


assume  that,  contrary  to  nearly  all  prece- 
dent, the  collective  sagacity  of  the  Minis- 
try has  not  been  impaired,  and  its  self- 
conceit  perilously  tickled,  by  the  long 
exercise  of  absolute  power  in  face  of  a 
Parliament  of  poltroons.  And,  lastly,  I 
will  abandon  my  old  argument  thrt  the 
discussion  of  pc^ce  terms  might  shorten 
the  war,  without  any  risk  of  prolonging 
it.  And  still  I  verj"-  .strongly  hold  that 
peace  terms  ought  to  be  discussed. 

It  appears  to  me  that  there  is  a  desire 
— I  will  not  say  a  conspiracy — on  the 
part  of  the  Government  to  bring  this  war 
to  an  end  in  the  same  manner  as  it  will 
be  brought  to  an  end  in  Germany — that 
is  to  say,  autocratically,  without  either 
the  knowledge  or  the  consent  of  the 
nation.  The  projected  scheme,  I  imagine, 
is  to  sit  tight  and  quiet,  and  in  due 
course  inform  the  nation  of  a  fact  ac- 
complished. It  can  be  done,  and  I  think 
it  will  be  done,  unless  the  House  of  Com- 
mons administers  to  itself  a  tonic  and 
acquires  courage.  Already  colonial  states- 
men have  been  politely  but  firmly  in- 
formed that  they  are  not  wanted  in  Eng- 
land this  year!  The  specious  excuse  for 
keeping  the  nation  in  the  dark  is  that  we 
are  allied  to  Russia,  where  the  people  are 
never  under  any  circumstances  consulted, 
and  to  France,  where  for  the  duration 
of  the  war  the  Government  is  as  abso- 
lute, in  spirit  and  in  conduct,  as  that  of 
Russia;  and  that  we  must  not  pain  those 
allied  Governments  by  any  exhibition  of 
democracy  in  being.  Secrecy  and  a  com- 
plete autocratic  control  of  the  people  are 
the  watchwords  of  the  allied  Govern- 
ments, and  therefore  they  must  be  the 
watchwords  of  our  Government. 

This  is  very  convenient  for  British 
autocrats,  but  the  argument  is  not  con- 
vincing. The  surrender  of  ideals  ought 
not  to  be  so  one-sided.  We  do  not  dream 
of  suggesting  to  the  Russian  and  the 
French  Governments  how  they  ought  to 
conduct  themselves  toward  their  peo- 
ples; and  similarly  we  should  not  allow 
them  to  influence  the  relations  between 
our  Government  and  ourselves. 

The  basis  of  peace  negotiations  must 
necessarily  be  settled  in  advance  by  rep- 
resentatives   of    all    the    allied    Govern- 


ments in  conclave.  The  mandate  of  each 
Government  in  regard  to  the  conclave  is 
the  affair  of  that  Government,  and  it  is 
the  affair  of  no  other  Government.  The 
mandate  of  our  Government  is,  there- 
fore, the  affair  of  our  Government,  and 
the  allied  Governments  are  just  as  much 
entitled  to  criticise  or  object  to  it  as  we, 
for  example,  are  entitled  to  suggest  to 
the  Czar  how  he  ought  to  behave  in  Fin- 
land. Our  Government,  being  a  demo- 
cratic Government,  has  no  right  to  go 
into  conclave  without  a  mandate  from 
the  people  who  elected  it.  It  possesses 
no  mandate  of  the  kind.  It  has  a  man- 
date, and  a  mighty  one,  to  prosecute  the 
war,  and  it  is  prosecuting  the  war  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  majority  of  the 
electorate.  But  a  peace  treaty  is  a  dif- 
ferent and  an  incomparably  more  im- 
portant thing.  Up  to  the  present  the 
mind  of  the  nation  has  found  no  expres- 
sion, and  it  probably  will  not  find  any 
expression  unless  the  Government  recog- 
nizes fairly  that  it  is  a  representative 
Government  and  behaves  with  the  defer- 
ence which  is  due  from  a  representative 
Government.  As  matters  stand,  the 
mandate  of  the  British  Government  will 
come,  not  from  Britain,  but  from  Russia 
and  France. 

The  great  argument  drawn  from  the 
Government's  alleged  duty  to  the  allied 
Governments  is,  no  doubt,  reinforced,  in 
the  minds  of  Ministers  and  at  Cabinet 
meetings,  by  two  subsidiary  arguments. 
The  first  of  these  rests  in  the  traditional 
assumption  that  all  international  politics 
must  be  committed,  perpetrated,  and  ac- 
complished in  secret.  This  strange  tra- 
ditional notion  will  die  hard,  but  some 
time  it  will  have  to  die,  and  at  the 
moment  of  its  death  excellent  and  sin- 
cere persons  will  be  convinced  that  the 
knell  of  the  British  Empire  has  sounded. 
The  knell  of  the  British  Empire  has  fre- 
quently sounded.  It  sounded  when  capital 
punishment  was  abolished  for  sheep- 
stealing,  when  the  great  reform  bill  was 
passed,  when  purchase  was  abolished  in 
the  army,  when  the  deceased  wife's  sister 
bill  was  passed,  when  the  Parliament  act 
became  law;  and  it  will  positively  sound 
again  when  the  mediaeval  Chinese  tradi- 


THE    GREAT    END 


539 


tions  of  the  Diplomatic  Service  are  cast 
aside.,  There  are  many  important  people 
alive  today  who  are  so  obsessed  by  those 
traditions  as  to  believe  religiously  that  if 
the  British  people,  and  by  consequence 
the  German  Government,  were  made 
aware  of  the  peace  terms,  the  German 
Army  would  in  some  mysterious  way  be 
strengthened  and  encouraged,  and  our 
own  ultimate  success  imperiled.  Such 
is  the  power  of  the  dead  hand,  and 
against  this  power  the  new  conviction 
that  in  a  democratic  and  candid  foreign 
policy  lies  the  future  safety  of  the  world 
will  have  to  fight  hard. 

The  other  subsidiary  argument  for  ig- 
noring the  nation  is  that  Ministers  are 
wiser  than  the  nation,  and  therefore  that 
Ministers  must  save  the  nation  from 
itself  by  making  it  impotent  and  acting 
over  its  head.  This  has  always  been  the 
argument  of  autocrats,  and  even  of 
tyrants.  It  is  a  ridiculous  argument,  and 
it  was  never  more  ridiculous  than  when 
applied  to  the  British  Government  and 
the  British  Nation  today.  Throughout 
the  war  the  Government  has  underesti- 
mated the  qualities  of  the  nation — cour- 
age, discipline,  fortitude,  and  wisdom.  It 
is  still  underestimating  them.  For  myself, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  in  the  making  of 
peace  the  sagacity  of  the  nation  as  a 
whole  would  be  greater  than  the  sagacity 
of  the  Government.  But  even  if  it  were 
not,  the'  right  of  the  nation  to  govern 
itself  in  the  gravest  hour  of  its  career 
remains  unchallengeable.  All  arguments 
in  favor  of  depriving  the  nation  of  that 
right  amount  to  the  argument  of  Ger- 
many in  favor  of  taking  Belgium — "  We 
do  it  in  your  true  interests,  and  in  our 
own." 

If  the  Government  does  not  on  its  own 
initiative  declare  that  it  will  consult — 
and  effectively  consult — Parliament  con- 
cerning the  peace  terms,  then  it  is  the 
duty  of  Parliament,  and  especially  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  to  make  itself  un- 
pleasant and  to  produce  that  appearance 
of  internal  discord  which  (we  are  told  by 
all  individuals  who  dislike  being  dis- 
turbed) is  so  enheartening  to  Germany. 
There  have  always  been,  and  there  still 


are,  ample  opportunities  for  raising  ques- 
tions of  foreign  policy  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  If  foreign  policy  has  seldom 
or  never  been  adequately  handled  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  the  reason  simply  is 
that  the  House  has  not  been  interested 
in  it.  Not  to  the  tyranny  of  Ministries, 
but  to  the  supineness  and  the  ignorance 
of  the  people's  representatives,  is  the 
present  state  of  affairs  due.  Hence  the 
rank  and  file  of  Radicals  should  organ- 
ize themselves.  They  would  unquestion- 
ably receive  adequate  support  in  the 
press  and  at  public  meetings.  And  none 
but  they  can  do  anything  worth  doing. 
And  among  the  rank  and  file  of  Radicals 
the  plain  common-sense  men  should  make 
themselves  heard.  Foreign  policy  de- 
bates in  the  House  are  usually  the  play- 
ground of  cranks  of  all  varieties,  and  the 
plain  common-sense  man  seems  to  shrink 
from  being  vocal  in  such  company.  It  is 
a  pity.  The  plain  common-sense  man 
should  believe  in  himself  a  little  more. 
The  result  would  perhaps  startle  his 
modesty.  And  he  should  begin  instantly 
on  the  resumption  of  Parliament.  He 
will  of  course  be  told  that  he  is  prema- 
ture. But  no  matter.  When  he  gets  up 
and  makes  a  row  he  will  be  told  that  he 
is  premature,  until  Sir  Edward  Grey  is 
in  a  position  to  announce  in  the  icy  cold 
and  impressive  tones  of  omniscience  and 
omnipotence  and  perfect  wisdom  that  the 
deed  is  irrevocably  done  and  only  the 
formal  ratification  of  the  people  is  re- 
quired. We  have  been  through  all  that 
before,  and  we  shall  go  through  it  again 
unless  we  start  out  immediately  to  be  un- 
pleasant. 

I  hope  nobody  will  get  the  impression 
that  I  think  we  are  a  nation  of  angels 
under  a  Government  of  earthy  and  pri- 
meval creatures.  I  do  not.  We  are  not 
in  a  Christian  mood,  and  we  don't  want 
to  be  in  a  Christian  mood.  When  last 
week  a  foolish  schoolmaster  took  ad- 
vantage of  his  august  position  to  advo- 
cate Christianity  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
we  frightened  the  life  out  of  him,  and  he 
had  to  say  that  he  had  been  "  woefully 
misunderstood."  In  spite  of  this,  the 
nation,  being  cut  off  from  direct  com- 
munication, with  foreign  autocracy  and  re- 


640  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

action,  is  in  my  view  very  likely  to  be  less  at  the  worst,  it  is  and  should  be  the 
unwise  than  the  Government  at  the  su-  master  and  not  the  slave  of  the  Govem- 
preme  crisis.    And  even  if  it  isn't,  even      ment. 

German  Women  Not  Yet  For  Peace 

By  Gertrude  Baumer,  President  of  the  Bund  Deutscher  Frauen. 

An  emphatic  refusal  of  German  wom,en  to  take  part  in  the  recent  Women's 
Peace  Conference  at  The  Hague  was  issued  by  the  Bund  Deutscher  Frauen  {League 
of  German  Women)  signed  by  Gertrude  Baumer  as  President,  and  published  by  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung  in  its  issue  of  April  29,  1915.     The  m,anifesto  reads: 

ON  April  28  begins  the  Peace  Congress  to  which  women  of  Holland  have  invited 
the  women  of  neutral  and  belligerent  nations.  The  German  woman's  movement 
has  declined  to  attend  the  congress,  by  unanimous  resolution  of  itg  Executive 
Conmiittee.  If  individual  German  women  visit  the  congress  it  can  be  only  such  as 
have  no  responsible  position  in  the  organization  of  the  German  woman's  movement 
and  for  whom  the  organization  is,  therefore,  not  responsible. 

This  declination  must  not  be  understood  to  mean  that  the  German  women  do 
not  feel  as  keenly  as  the  women  of  other  countries  the  enormous  sacrifices  and 
sorrows  which  this  war  has  caused,  or  that  they  refuse  to  recognize  the  good  inten- 
tions that  figure  in  the  institution  of  this  congress.  None  can  yearn  more  eagerly 
than  we  for  an  end  of  these  sacrifices  and  sorrows.  But  we  realize  that  in  our 
consciousness  of  the  weight  of  these  sacrifices  we  are  one  with  our  whole  people  and 
Government;  we  know  that  the  blood  of  those  who  fall  out  there  on  the  field  cannot 
be  dearer  to  us  women  than  to  the  men  who  are  responsible  for  the  decisions  of 
Germany.  Because  we  know  that,  we  must  decline  to  represent  special  desires  in  an 
international  congress.  We  have  no  other  desires  than  those  of  our  entire  people:  a 
peace  consonant  with  the  honor  of  our  State  and  guaranteeing  its  safety  in  the  future. 

The  resolutions  that  are  to  be  laid  before  the  women's  congress  at  The  Hague 
are  of  two  kinds.  One  kind  denounces  war  as  such,  and  recommends  peaceful  settle- 
ment of  international  quarrels.  The  other  offers  suggestions  for  hastening  the 
concluding  of  peace. 

As  concerns  the  first  group  of  suggestions,  there  are  in  the  German  woman's 
movement  women  who  are  in  principle  very  much  in  sympathy  with  the  aims  of  the 
peace  movement.  But  they,  too,  are  convinced  that  negotiations  about  the  means  of 
avoiding  future  wars  and  conquering  the  mutual  distrust  of  nations  can  be  considered 
only  after  peace  has  again  been  concluded.  But  we  must  most  vigorously  reject  the 
proposition  of  voting  approval  to  a  resolution  in  which  the  war  is  declared  to  be  an 
"  insanity  "  that  was  made  possible  only  through  a  "  mass  psychosis."  Shall  the 
German  women  deny  the  moral  force  that  is  impelling  their  husbands  and  sons  into 
death,  that  has  led  home  countless  German  men,  amid  a  thousand  dangers,  from  for- 
eign lands,  to  battle  for  their  threatened  Fatherland,  by  declaring  in  common  with 
the  women  of  hostile  States  that  the  national  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  of  our  men  is 
insanity  and  a  psychosis  ?  Shall  we  psychologically  attack  in  the  rear  the  men  who 
are  defending  our  safety  by  scoffing  at  and  deprecating  the  internal  forces  that  are 
keeping  them  up?  Whoever  asks  us  to  do  that  cannot  have  experienced  what 
thousands  of  wives  and  mothers  have  experienced,  who  have  seen  their  husbands  and 
sons  march  away. 

Just  as  in  these  fundamental  questions  the  women  of  the  belligerent  States 
must  feel  differently  from  those  of  neutral  States,  so,  too,  there  is  naturally  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  the  women  of  the  different  belligerent  States  concerning  the 
time  of  the  conclusion  of  peace.  Inasmuch  as  the  prospects  of  the  belligerent  States 
depend  upon  the  time  of  the  conclusion  of  peace  and  therewith  the  future  fate  of  th". 
nations  involved  in  the  war,  there  can  likewise  be  no  international  conformity  of 
opinion  on  this  question  either. 

Dear  to  us  German  women  as  well,  are  the  relations  that  bind  us  to  the  women 
of  foreign  lands,  and  we  sincerely  desire  that  they  may  survive  this  time  of  hatred 
and  enmity.  But  precisely  for  that  reason  international  negotiations  seem  fraught 
with  fate  to  us  at  a  time  when  we  belong  exclusively  to  our  people  and  when  strict' 
limits  are  set  to  the  value  of  international  exchange  of  views  in  the  fact  that  we  are 
citizens  of  our  own  country,  to  strengthen  whose  national  power  of  resistance  is  our 
highest  task. 


Diagnosis  of  the  Englishman 

By   John    Galsworthy 

This  article  originally  appeared  in  the  Amsterdaemer  Revue,  having  been  written 
during  the  lull  of  the  war  while  England  fitted  her  volunteer  armies  for  the  Spring  cam- 
paign, and  is  here  published  by  special  permission  of  the  author. 


A  FTER  six  months  of  war  search 
/\  for  the  cause  thereof  borders 
1  V  on  the  academic.  Comment  on 
the  physical  facts  of  the  situa- 
tion does  not  come  within  the  scope  of 
one  who,  by  disposition  and  training,  is 
concerned  with  states  of  mind.  Specu- 
lation on  what  the  future  may  bring 
forth  may  be  left  to  those  with  an  apti- 
tude for  prophecy. 

But  there  is  one  thought  which  rises 
supreme  at  this  particular  moment  of 
these  tremendous  times:  The  period  of 
surprise  is  over;  the  forces  known;  the 
issue  fully  joined.  It  is  now  a  case  of 
"  Pull  devil,  pull  baker  "  and  a  ques- 
tion of  the  fibre  of  the  combatants.  For 
this  reason  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  try  to 
present  to  any  whom  it  may  concern  as 
detached  a  picture  as  one  can  of  the 
real  nature  of  that  combatant  who  is 
called  the  Englishman,  especially  since 
ignorance  in  Central  Europe  of  his  char- 
acter was  the  chief  cause  of  this  war, 
and  speculation  as  to  the  future  is  use- 
less without  right  comprehension  of  this 
curious  creature. 

The    Englishman    is    taken    advisedly 

because  he  represents  four-fifths  of  the 

population     of    the     British     Isles     and 

eight-ninths  of  the  character  and  senti- 

.  ment  therein. 

And,  first,  let  it  be  said  that  there  is 
no  more  deceptive,  unconsciously  decep- 
tive, person  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 
The  Englishman  certainly  does  not  know 
himself,  and  outside  England  he  is  but 
guessed  at.  Only  a  pure  Englishman — 
and  he  must  be  an  odd  one — really  knows 
the  Englishman,  just  as,  for  inspired 
judgment  of  art,  one  must  go  to  the  in- 
spired artist, 

Raciallj',  the  Englishman  is  so  com- 
plex and  so  old  a  blend  that  no  one  can 
say  what  he  is.    In  character  he  is  just 


as  complex.  Physically,  there  are  two 
main  types — one  inclining  to  length  of 
limb,  narrowness  of  face  and  head,  (you 
will  see  nowhere  such  long  and  narrow 
heads  as  in  our  islands,)  and  bony  jaws; 
the  other  approximating  more  to  the 
ordinary  "John  Bull."  The  first  type 
is  gaining  on  the  second.  There  is  little 
or  no  difference  in  the  main  character 
behind. 

In  attempting  to  understand  the  real 
nature  of  the  Englishman  certain  salient 
facts  must  be  borne  in  mind: 

THE  SEA. — To  be  surrounded  genera- 
tion after  generation. by  the  sea  has  de- 
veloped in  him  a  suppressed  idealism,  a 
peculiar  impermeability,  a  turn  for  ad- 
venture, a  faculty  for  wandering,  and 
for  being  sufficient  unto  himself  in  far 
surroundings. 

THE  CLIMATE.— Whoso  weathers  for 
centuries  a  climate  that,  though  healthy 
and  never  extreme,  is  perhaps  the  least 
reliable  and  one  of  the  wettest  in  the 
world,  must  needs  grow  in  himself  a 
counterbalance  of  dry  philosophy,  a  de- 
fiant humor,  an  enforced  medium  tem- 
perature of  soul.  The  Englishman  is 
no  more  given  to  extremes  than  is  his 
climate;  against  its  damp  and  perpetual 
changes  he  has  become  coated  with  a 
sort  of  bluntness. 

THE  POLITICAL  AGE  OF  HIS 
COUNTRY.— This  is  by  far  the  oldest 
settled  Western  power,  politically  speak- 
ing. For  eight  hundred  and  fifty  years 
England  has  known  no  serious  military 
disturbance  from  without;  for  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty  she  has  known  no 
military  disturbance,  and  no  serious  po- 
litical turmoil  within.  This  is  partly  the 
outcome  of  her  isolation,  partly  the 
happy  accident  of  her  political  constitu- 
tion, partly  the  result  of  the  English- 
man's habit  of  looking  before  he  leaps, 


542 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


which  comes,  no  doubt,  from  the  mixture 
in  his  blood  and  the  mixture  in  his 
climate. 

THE  GREAT  PREPONDERANCE 
FOR  SEVERAL  GENERATIONS  OF 
TOWN  OVER  COUNTRY  LIFE. — 
Taken  in  conjunction  with  centuries  of 
political  stability  this  is  the  main  cause 
of  a  certain  deeply  ingn"ained  humane- 
ness of  which,  speaking  generally,  the 
Englishman  appears  to  be  rather 
ashamed  than  otherwise. 

THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.— This  po- 
tent element  in  the  formation  of  the 
modern  Englishman,  not  only  of  the  up- 
per but  of  all  classes,  is  something  that 
one  rather  despairs  of  making  under- 
stood— in  countries  that  have  no  similar 
institution.  But,  imagine  one  hundred 
thousand  youths  of  the  wealthiest, 
healthiest,  and  most  influential  classes 
passed  during  each  generation  at  the 
most  impressionable  age,  into  a  sort  of 
ethical  mold,  emerging  therefrom 
stamped  to  the  core  with  the  impress 
of  a  uniform  morality,  uniform  manners, 
uniform  way  of  looking  at  life;  remem- 
bering always  that  these  youths  fill 
seven-eighths  of  the  important  positions 
in  the  professional  administration  of 
their  country  and  the  conduct  of  its 
commercial  enterprise;  remembering, 
too,  that  through  perpetual  contact  with 
every  other  class  their  standard  of  mo- 
rality and  way  of  looking  at  life  filters 
down  into  the  very  toes  of  the  land. 
This  great  character-forming  machine 
is  remarkable  for  an  unself-conscious- 
ness  which  gives  it  enormous  strength 
and  elasticity.  Not  inspired  by  the 
State,  it  inspires  the  State.  The  char- 
acteristics of  the  philosophy  it  enjoins 
are  mainly  negative  and,  for  that,  the 
stronger.  "  Never  show  your  feelings — 
to  do  so  is  not  manly  and  bores  your 
fellows.  Don't  cry  out  when  you're 
hurt,  making  yourself  a  nuisance  to 
other  people.  Tell  no  tales  about  your 
companions,  and  no  lies  about  yourself. 
Avoid  all  '  swank,'  '  side,'  '  swagger,' 
braggadocio  of  speech  or  manner,  on 
pain  of  being  laughed  at."  (This  maxim 
is  carried  to  such  a  pitch  that  the  Eng- 
lishman, except  in  his  press,  habitually 
understates  everything.)     "  Think  little 


of  money,  and  speak  less  of  it.  Play 
games  hard,  and  keep  the  rules  of  them 
even  when  your  blood  is  hot  and  you 
are  tempted  to  disregard  them.  In 
three  words,  '  play  the  game,' "  a  little 
phrase  which  may  be  taken  as  the  char- 
acteristic understatement  of  the  modern 
Englishman's  creed  of  honor  in  all 
classes.  This  great,  unconscious  ma- 
chine has  considerable  defects.  It  tends 
to  the  formation  of  "  caste ";  it  is  a 
poor  teacher  of  sheer  learning,  and, 
aesthetically,  with  its  universal  suppres- 
sion of  all  interesting  and  queer  indi- 
vidual traits  of  personality,  it  is  almost 
horrid.  But  it  imparts  a  remarkable 
incorruptibility  to  English  life;  it  con- 
serves vitality  by  suppressing  all  ex- 
tremes, and  it  implants  everywhere  a 
kind  of  unassuming  stoicism  and  respect 
for  the  rules  of  the  great  game — Life. 
Through  its  unconscious  example  and 
through  its  cult  of  games  it  has  vastly 
influenced  even  the  classes  not  directly 
under  its  control. 

Three  more  main  facts  must  be  borne 
in  mind: 

THE  ESSENTIAL  DEMOCRACY  OF 
THE  GOVERNMENT. 

FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH  AND  THE 
PRESS. 

ABSENCE  OF  COMPULSORY  MILI- 
TARY SERVICE. 

These,  the  outcome  of  the  quiet  and 
stable  home  life  of  an  island  people, 
have  done  more  than  anything  to  make 
the  Englishman  a  deceptive  personality 
to  the  outside  eye.  He  has  for  centuries 
been  permitted  to  grrumble.  There  is  no 
such  confirmed  grumbler  —  until  he 
really  has  something  to  grumble  at,  and 
then  no  one  who  grumbles  less.  There 
is  no  such  confirmed  carper  at  the  con- 
dition of  his  country,  yet  no  one  really 
so  profoundly  convinced  of  its  perfec- 
tion. A  stranger  might  well  think  from 
his  utterances  that  he  was  spoiled  by 
the  freedom  of  his  life,  unprepared  to 
sacrifice  anything  for  a  land  in  such  a 
condition.  Threaten  that  country,  and 
•v^nth  it  his  liberty,  and  you  will  find 
that  his  grumbles  have  meant  less  than 
nothing.  You  will  find,  too,  that  behind 
the  apparent  slackness  of  every  ar- 
rangement and  every  individual  are  pow- 


DIAGNOSIS    OF    THE   ENGLISHMAN 


543 


ers  of  adaptability  to  facts,  elasticity, 
practical  genius,  a  latent  spirit  of  com- 
petition and  a  determination  that  are 
staggering.  Before  this  war  began  it 
was  the  fashion  among  a  number  of 
English  to  lament  the  decadence  of  the 
race.  These  very  grumblers  are  now 
foremost  in  praising,  and  quite  rightly, 
the  spirit  shown  in  every  part  of  their 
country.  Their  lamentations,  which 
plentifully  deceived  the  outside  ear,  were 
just  English  grumbles,  for  if  in  truth 
England  had  been  decadent  there  could 
have  been  no  such  universal  display  for 
them  to  be  praising  now.  But  all  this 
democratic  grumbling  and  habit  of  "  go- 
ing as  you  please "  serve  a  deep  pur- 
pose. Autocracy,  censorship,  compulsion 
destroy  humor  in  a  nation's  blood  and 
elasticity  in  its  fibre;  they  cut  at  the 
very  mainsprings  of  national  vitality. 
Only  free  from  these  baneful  controls 
can  each  man  arrive  in  his  own  way  at 
realization  of  what  is  or  is  not  national 
necessity;  only  free  from  them  will 
each  man  truly  identify  himself  with 
a  national  ideal — not  through  deliberate 
instruction  or  by  command  of  others,  but 
by  simple,  natural  conviction  from 
within. 

Two  cautions  are  here  given  to  the 
stranger  trying  to  form  an  estimate  of 
the  Englishman:  The  creature  must 
not  be  judged  from  his  press,  which, 
manned  (with  certain  exceptions)  by 
those  who  are  not  typically  English,  is 
too  highly  colored  altogether  to  illus- 
trate the  true  English  spirit;  nor  can  he 
be  judged  by  such  of  Lis  literature  as 
is  best  known  on  the  Continent.  The 
Englishman  proper  is  inexpressive,  un- 
expressed. Further,  he  must  be  judged 
by  the  evidences  of  his  wealth.  England 
may  be  the  richest  country  in  the  world 
per  head  of  population,  but  not  5  per 
cent,  of  that  population  have  any  wealth 
to  speak  of,  certainly  not  enough  to 
have  affected  their  hardihood,  and,  with 
inconsiderable  exceptions,  those  who 
have  enough  are  brought  up  to  worship 

t hardihood.  For  the  vast  proportion  of 
young  Englishmen  active  military  ser- 
vice is  merely  a  change  from  work  as 
hard,  and  more  monotonous. 


From  these  main  premises,  then,  we 
come  to  what  the  Englishman  really  is. 

When,  after  months  of  travel,  one  re- 
turns to  England  one  can  taste,  smell, 
feel  the  difference  in  the  atmosphere, 
physical  and  moral — the  curious,  damp, 
blunt,  good-humored,  happy-go-lucky, 
old-established,  slow-seeming  formless- 
ness of  everything.  You  hail  a  porter, 
you  tell  him  you  have  plenty  of  time; 
he  muddles  your  things  amiably,  with  "an 
air  of  "  It'll  be  all  right,"  till  you  have 
only  just  time.  But  suppose  you  tell 
him  you  have  no  time;  he  will  set  him- 
self to  catch  that  train  for  you,  and  he 
will  catch  it  faster  than  a  porter  of  any 
other  country.  Let  no  stranger,  how- 
ever, experiment  to  prove  the  truth  of 
this,  for  that  porter — and  a  porter  is 
very  like  any  other  Englishman — is  in- 
capable of  taking  the  foreigner  serious- 
ly, and,  quite  friendly  but  a  little  pity- 
ing, will  lose  him  the  train,  assuring 
the  unfortunate  gentleman  that  he  really 
doesn't  know  what  train  he  wants  to 
catch — how  should  he? 

The  Englishman  must  have  a  thin^ 
brought  under  his  nose  before  he  will 
act;  bring  it  there  and  he  will  go  on 
rc.ing  after  everybody  else  has  stopped. 
He  lives  very  much  in  the  moment,  be- 
cause he  is  essentially  a  man  of  facti 
and  not  a  man  of  imagination.  Want  of 
imagination  makes  him,  philosophically 
speaking,  rather  ludicrous;  in  practical 
affairs  it  handicaps  him  at  the  start, 
but  once  he  has  "  got  going,"  as  we  say, 
it  is  of  incalculable  assistance  to  his 
stamina.  The  Englishman,  partly 
through  this  lack  of  imagination  and 
nervous  sensibility,  partly  through  his 
inbred  dislike  of  extremes  and  habit  of 
minimizing  the  expression  of  everything, 
is  a  perfect  example  of  the  conservation 
of  energy.  It  is  very  difficult  to  come  to 
the  end  of  him.  Add  to  this  unimag- 
inative, practical,  tenacious  moderation 
an  inherent  spirit  of  competition — not  to 
say  pugnacity — so  strong  that  it  will 
often  show  through  the  coating  of  his 
"  Live  and  let  live,"  half -surly,  half- 
good-humored  manner;  add  a  peculiar, 
ironic,  "  don't  care  "  sort  of  humor;  an 
underground  but  inveterate  humaneness, 
and  an  ashamed  idealism — and  you  get 


544 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


some  notion  of  the  pudding  of  English 
character.  Its  main  feature  is  a  kind 
of  terrible  coolness,  a  rather  awful  level- 
headedness. The  Englishman  makes 
constant  small  blunders;  but  few,  almost 
no,  deep  mistakes.  He  is  a  slow  starter, 
but  there  is  no  stronger  finisher  be- 
cause he  has  by  temperament  and  train- 
ing the  faculty  of  getting  through  any 
job  that  he  gives  his  mind  to  with  a 
minimum  expenditure  of  vital  energy; 
nothing  is  wasted  in  expression,  style, 
spread-eagleism;  everything  is  instinc- 
tively kept  as  near  to  the  practical  heart 
of  the  matter  as  possible.  He  is — to  the 
eye  of  an  artist — distressingly  matter-of- 
fact,  a  tempting  mark  for  satire.  And 
yet  he  is  in  truth  an  idealist,  though  it 
is  his  nature  to  snub,  disguise,  and  mock 
his  own  inherent  optimism.  To  admit 
enthusiasms  is  "  bad  form "  if  he  is  a 
"  gentleman  " ;  "  swank  "  or  mere  waste 
of  good  heat  if  he  is  not  a  "  gentleman." 
England  produces  more  than  its  proper 
percentage  of  cranks  and  poets;  it  may 
be  taken  that  this  is  Nature's  way  of  re- 
dressing tlie  balance  in  a  country  where 
feelings  are  not  shown,  sentiments  not 
expressed,  and  extremes  laughed  at.  Not 
that  the  Englishman  lacks  heart;  he  is 
not  cold,  as  is  generally  supposed — on 
the  contrary  he  is  warm-hearted  and 
feels  very  strongly;  but  just  as  peasants, 
for  lack  of  words  to  express  their  feel- 
ings, become  stolid,  so  it  is  with  the 
Englishman  from  sheer  lack  of  the  habit 
of  self-expression.  Nor  is  the  English- 
man deliberately  hypocritical;  but  his 
tenacity,  combined  with  his  powerless- 
ness  to  express  his  feelings,  often  gives 
him  the  appearance  of  a  hypocrite.  He 
is  inarticulate,  has  not  the  clear  and 
fluent  cynicism  of  expansive  natures 
wherewith  to  confess  exactly  how  he 
stands.  It  is  the  habit  of  men  of  all 
nations  to  want  to  have  things  both 
ways;  the  Englishman  is  unfortuately  so 
unable  to  express  himself,  even  to  him- 
self, that  he  has  never  realized  this 
truth,  much  less  confessed  it — hence  his 
appearance  of  hypocrisy. 

He  is  quite  wrongly  credited  with  be- 
ing attached  to  money.  His  island  posi- 
tion, his  early  discoveries  of  coal,  iron, 
and  processes  of  manufacture  have  made 


him,  of  course,  into  a  confirmed  indus- 
trialist and  trader;  but  he  is  more  of  an 
adventurer  in  wealth  than  a  heaper-up 
of  it.  He  is  far  from  sitting  on  his 
money-bags — has  absolutely  no  vein  of 
proper  avarice,  and  for  national  ends 
will  spill  out  his  money  like  water,  when 
he  is  convinced  of  the  necessity. 

In  everything  it  comes  to  that  with 
the  Englishman — he  must  be  convinced, 
and  he  takes  a  lot  of  convincing.  He 
absorbs  ideas  slowly,  reluctantly;  he 
would  rather  not  imagine  anything  un- 
less he  is  obliged,  but  in  proportion  to 
the  slowness  with  which  he  can  be  moved 
is  the  slowness  with  which  he  can  be 
removed!  Hence  the  symbol  of  the  bull- 
dog. When  he  does  see  and  seize  a 
thing  he  seizes  it  with  the  whole  of  his 
weight,  and  wastes  no  breath  in  telling 
you  that  he  has  got  hold.  That  is  why 
his  press  is  so  untypical;  it  gives  the 
impression  that  he  does  waste  breath. 
And,  while  he  has  hold,  he  gets  in  more 
mischief  in  a  shorter  time  than  any 
other  dog  because  of  his  capacity  for 
concentrating  on  the  present,  without 
speculating  on  the  past  or  future. 

For  the  particular  situation  which  the 
Englishman  has  now  to  face  he  is  ter- 
ribly well  adapted.  Because  he  has  so 
little  imagination,  so  little  power  of  ex- 
pression, he  is  saving  nerve  all  the  time. 
Because  he  never  goes  to  extremes,  he 
is  saving  energy  of  body  and  spirit.  That 
the  men  of  all  nations  are  about  equally 
endowed  with  courage  and  self-sacrifice 
has  been  proved  in  these  last  six  months; 
it  is  to  other  qualities  that  one  must  look 
for  final  victory  in  a  war  of  exhaustion. 
The  Englishman  does  not  look  into  him- 
self; he  does  not  brood;  he  sees  no  fur- 
ther forward  than  is  necessary,  and  he 
must  have  his  joke.  These  are  fearful 
and  wonderful  advantages.  Examine 
the  letters  and  diaries  of  the  various 
combatants  and  you  will  see  how  far  less 
imaginative  and  reflecting,  (though 
shrewd,  practical,  and  humorous,)  the 
English  are  than  any  others;  you  will 
gain,  too,  a  profound,  a  deadly  conviction 
that  behind  them  is  a  fibre  like  rubber, 
that  may  be  frayed,  and  bent  a  little  this 
way  and  that,  but  can  neither  be  perme- 
ated nor  broken. 


DIAGNOSIS   OF    THE   ENGLISHMAN  545 

When  this  war  began  the  Englishman  lishman,  devoid  of  high  lights  and 
rubbed  his  eyes  steeped  in  peace;  he  is  shadows,  coated  with  drab,  and  super- 
still  rubbing  them  just  a  little,  but  less  humanly  steady  on  his  feet,  is  not  too 
and  less  every  day.  A  profound  lover  attractive.  But  for  the  wearing,  tear- 
of  peace  by  habit  and  tradition,  he  has  ing,  slow,  and  dreadful  business  of  this 
actually  realized  by  now  that  he  is  in  for  war,  the  Englishman — ^fighting  of  his 
it  up  to  the  neck.  To  any  one  who  really  own  free  will,  unimaginative,  humorous, 
knows  him — c'est  quelque  chose!  competitive,  practical,  never  in  extremes, 

a  dumb,  inveterate  optimist,  and  terribly 

It  shall  be  freely  confessed  that,  from  tenacious — is  undoubtedly  equipped  with 

an   aesthetic    point   of   view,    the    Eng-  Victory. 


Bernard  Shaw's  Terms  of  Peace 

A  letter  written  by  G.  Bernard  Shaw  to  a  friend  in  Vienna  is  published 
in  the  Munchener  Neueste  Nachrichten  and  in  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung  of  April 
21,  1915.     Mr.  Shaxv  says: 

WE  are  already  on  the  way  out  of  the  first  and  worst  phase.  When  reason 
began  to  bestir  itself,  I  appeared  each  week  in  great  open  meetings  in 
London;  and  when  the  newspapers  discovered  that  I  was  not  only  not 
being  torn  to  pieces,  but  that  I  was  growing  better  and  better  liked,  then  the 
feeling  that  patriotism  consists  of  insane  lies  began  to  give  place  to  the  discovery 
that  the  presentation  of  the  truth  is  not  so  dangerous  as  every  one  had  believed. 

At  that  time  scarcely  one  of  the  leading  newspapers  took  heed  of  my  in- 
sistence that  this  war  was  an  imperialistic  war  and  popular  only  in  so  far  as  all 
wars  are  for  a  time  popular.  But  I  need  hardly  assure  you  that  if  Grey  had 
announced:  "  We  have  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Germany  and  Austria 
and  must  wage  war  upon  France  and  Russia,"  he  would  have  evoked  precisely 
the  same  patriotic  fervor  and  exactly  the  same  democratic  anti-Prussianism, 
(with  the  omission  of  the  P.)  Then  the  German  Kaiser  would  have  been  cheered 
as  the  cousin  of  our  King  and  our  old  and  faithful  friend. 

As  concerns  myself,  I  am  not  unqualifiedly  what  is  called  a  pan-German; 
the  Germans,  besides,  would  not  have  a  spark  of  respect  left  for  me  if  now,  when 
all  questions  of  civilization  are  buried,  I  did  not  hold  to  my  people.  But  neither 
am  I  an  anti-German. 

Militarism  has  just  compelled  me  to  pay  about  £1,000  as  war  tax,  in  order 
to  help  some  "  brave  little  Serbian  "  or  other  to  cut  your  throat,  or  some  Russian 
mujik  to  blow  out  your  brains,  although  I  would  rather  pay  twice  as  much  to 
save  your  life  or  to  buy  in  Vienna  some  good  picture  for  our  National  Gallery, 
and  although  I  should  mourn  far  less  about  the  death  of  a  hundred  Serbs  or 
mujiks  than  for  your  death. 

I  am,  even  aside  from  myself,  sorry  for  your  sake  that  my  plays  are  no 
longer  produced.  Why  does  not  the  Burgtheater  play  the  "  Schlachtenlenker  "  ? 
Napoleon's  speech  about  English  "  Realpolitik  "  would  prove  an  unprecedented 
success.  If  the  English  win,  I  shall  call  upon  Sir  Edward  Grey  to  add  to  the 
treaty  of  peace  a  clause  in  which  Berlin  and  Vienna  shall  be  obliged  each  year  to 
produce  at  least  100  performances  of  my  plays  for  the  next  twenty-five  years. 

In  London  during  August  the  usual  cheap  evening  orchestra  concerts,  so- 
called  promenade  concerts,  were  announced  in  a  patriotic  manner,  with  the  com- 
ment that  no  German  musician  would  be  represented  on  the  program.  Everybody 
applauded  this  announcement,  but  nobody  attended  the  concerts.  A  week  later 
a  program  of  Beethoven,  Wagner,  and  Richard  Strauss  was  announced.  Every- 
body was  indignant,  and  everybody  went  to  hear  it.  It  was  a  complete  and 
decisive  German  victory,  without  a  single  man  being  killed. 


A  Policy  of  Murder 

By    Sir    Arthur    Conan    Doyle 

This  article  is  taken  from  Conan   Doyle's  book  "  The  German  War,"   and  is  reproduced 
by  permission  of  the  author. 


WHEN  one  writes  with  a  hot 
heart  upon  events  which  are 
still  recent  one  is  apt  to  lose 
one's  sense  of  proportion.  At 
every  step  one  should  check  one's  self  by 
the  reflection  as  to  how  this  may  appear 
ten  years  hence,  and  how  far  events 
which  seem  shocking  and  abnormal  may 
prove  themselves  to  be  a  necessary  ac- 
companiment of  every  condition  of  war. 
But  a  time  has  now  come  when  in  cold 
blood,  with  every  possible  restraint,  one 
is  justified  in  saying  that  since  the  most 
barbarous  campaigns  of  Alva  in  the 
Lev/lands,  or  the  excesses  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  there  has  been  no  such  de- 
liberate policy  of  murder  as  has  been 
adopted  in  this  struggle  by  the  German 
fcrces.  This  is  the  more  terrible  since 
these  forces  are  not,  like  those  of  Alva, 
Parma,  or  Tilly,  bands  of  turbulent  and 
mercenary  soldiers,  but  they  are  the  na- 
tion itself,  and  their  deeds  are  condoned 
cr  even  applauded  by  the  entire  national 
press.  It  is  not  on  the  chiefs  of  the 
army  that  the  whole  guilt  of  this  ter- 
rible crime  must  rest,  but  it  is  upon  the 
whole  German  Nation,  which  for  genera- 
tions to  come  must  stand  condemned  be- 
fore the  civilized  world  for  this  rever- 
sion to  those  barbarous  practices  from 
which  Christianity,  civilization,  and  chiv- 
alry had  gradually  rescued  the  human 
race.  They  may,  and  do,  plead  the  ex- 
cuse that  they  are  "  earnest "  in  war, 
but  all  nations  are  earnest  in  war,  which 
is  the  most  desperately  earnest  thing  of 
v.hich  we  have  any  knowledge.  How 
earnest  we  are  will  be  shown  when  the 
question  of  endurance  begins  to  tell.  But 
no  earnestness  can  condone  the  crime 
of  the  nation  which  deliberately  breaks 
those  laws  which  have  been  indorsed 
by  the  common  consent  of  humanity. 

War  may  have  a  beautiful  as  well  as 
a  terrible  side,  and  be  full  of  touches 
of  human  sympathy  and  restraint  which 


mitigate  its  unavoidable  horror.  Such 
have  been  the  characteristics  always  of 
the  secular  wars  between  the  British  and 
the  French.  From  the  old  glittering 
days  of  knighthood,  with  their  high  and 
gallant  courtesy,  through  the  eighteenth 
century  campaigns  where  the  debonair 
guards  of  France  and  England  ex- 
changed salutations  before  their  volleys, 
down  to  the  last  great  Napoleonic  strug- 
gle, the  tradition  of  chivalry  has  al- 
ways survived.  We  read  how  in  the 
Peninsula  the  pickets  of  the  two  armies, 
each  of  them  as  earnest  as  any  Ger- 
mans, would  exchange  courtesies,  how 
they  would  shout  warnings  to  each 
other  to  fall  back  when  an  advance  in 
force  was  taking  place,  and  how  to  pre- 
vent the  destruction  of  an  ancient 
bridge,  the  British  promised  not  to  use 
it  on  condition  that  the  French  would 
forgo  its  destruction — an  agreement 
faithfully  kept  upon  either  side.  Could 
one  imagine  Germans  making  war  in 
such  a  spirit  as  this?  Think  of  that  old 
French  bridge,  and  then  think  of  the 
University  of  Louvain  and  the  Cathedral 
of  Rheims.  What  a  gap  between  them 
— the  gap  that  separates  civilization 
from  the  savage! 

Let  us  take  a  few  of  the  points  which, 
when  focused  together,  show  how  the 
Germans  have  degraded  warfare — a  deg- 
radation which  affects  not  only  the 
Allies  at  present,  but  the  whole  future 
of  the  world,  since  if  such  examples 
were  followed  the  entire  human  race 
v^ould,  each  in  turn,  become  the  suffer- 
ers. Take  the  very  first  incident  of  the 
war,  the  mine  laying  by  the  Konigin 
Luise.  Here  was  a  vessel,  which  was 
obviously  made  ready  with  freshly 
charged  mines  some  time  before  there 
was  any  question  of  a  general  European 
war,  which  was  sent  forth  in  time  of 
peace,  and  which,  on  receipt  of  a  wire- 
less message,  began  to  spawn  its  hellish 


A    POLICY    OF   MURDER 


547 


cargo  across  the  North  Sea  at  points 
fifty  miles  from  land  in  the  track  of  all 
neutral  merchant  shipping.  There  was 
the  keynote  of  German  tactics  struck 
at  the  first  possible  instant.  So  pro- 
miscuous was  the  effect  that  it  was  a 
mere  chance  which  prevented  the  vessel 
which  bore  the  German  Ambassador 
from  being  destroyed  by  a  German  mine. 
From  first  to  last  some  hundreds  of 
people  have  lost  their  lives  on  this  tract 
of  sea,  some  of  them  harmless  British 
trawlers,  but  the  greater  number  sailors 
of  Danish  and  Dutch  vessels  pursuing 
their  commerce  as  they  had  every  right 
to  do.  It  was  the  first  move  in  a  con- 
sistent policy  of  murder. 

Leaving  the  sea,  let  us  turn  to  the  air. 
Can  any  possible  term  save  a  policy  of 
murder  be  applied  to  the  use  of  aircraft 
by  the  Germans?  It  has  always  been 
a  principle  of  warfare  that  unfortfied 
towns  should  not  be  bombarded.  So 
closely  has  it  been  followed  by  the  Brit- 
ish that  one  of  our  aviators,  flying  over 
Cologne  in  search  of  a  Zeppelin  shed, 
refrained  from  dropping  a  bomb  in  an 
uncertain  light,  even  though  Cologne  is 
a  fortress,  lest  the  innocent  should  suf- 
fer. What  is  to  be  said,  then,  for  the 
continual  use  of  bombs  by  the  Ger- 
mans, which  have  usually  been  wasted 
in  the  destruction  of  cats  or  dogs,  but 
which  have  occasionally  torn  to  pieces 
some  woman  or  child?  If  bombs  were 
dropped  on  the  forts  of  Paris  as  part 
of  a  scheme  for  reducing  the  place,  then 
nothing  could  be  said  in  objection,  but 
how  are  we  to  describe  the  action  of 
men  who  fly  over  a  crowded  city  drop- 
ping bombs  promiscuously  which  can 
have  no  military  effect  whatever,  and 
are  entirely  aimed  at  the  destruction  of 
innocent  civilians?  These  men  have 
been  obliging  enough  to  drop  their  cards 
as  well  as  their  bombs  on  several  oc- 
casions. I  see  no  reason  why  these 
should  not  be  used  in  evidence  against 
them,  or  why  they  should  not  be  hanged 
as  murderers  when  they  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Allies.  The  policy  is  idi- 
otic from  a  military  point  of  view;  one 
could  conceive  nothing  which  would  stimu- 
late and  harden  national  resistance  more 
surely  than  such  petty  irritations.    But 


it  is  a  murderous  innovation  in  the  laws 
of  war,  and  unless  it  is  sternly  repressed 
it  will  establish  a  most  sinister  prece- 
dent for  the  future. 

As  to  the  treatment  of  Belgium,  what 
has  it  been  but  murder,  murder  all  the 
way?  From  the  first  days  of  Vise, 
when  it  was  officially  stated  that  an 
example  of  "  f rightfulness "  was  de- 
sired, until  the  present  moment,  when 
the  terrified  population  has  rushed  from 
the  country  and  thrown  itself  upon  the 
charity  and  protection  of  its  neighbors, 
there  has  been  no  break  in  the  record. 
Compare  the  story  with  that  of  the  oc- 
cupation of  the  South  of  France  by 
Wellington  in  1813,  when  no  one  was  in- 
jured, nothing  was  taken  without  full 
payment,  and  the  villagers  fraternized 
with  the  troops.  What  a  relapse  of  civil- 
ization is  here!  From  Vise  to  Louvain, 
Louvain  to  Aerschot,  Aerschot  to 
Malines  and  Termonde,  the  policy  of 
murder  never  fails. 

It  is  said  that  more  civilians  than 
soldiers  have  fallen  in  Belgium.  Peruse 
the  horrible  accounts  taken  by  the  Bel- 
gian Commission,  who  took  evidence  in 
the  most  careful  and  conscientious  fash- 
ion. Study  the  accounts  of  that  dread- 
ful night  in  Louvain  which  can  only  be 
equaled  by  the  Spanish  Fury  of  Ant- 
werp. Read  the  account  of  the  wife  of 
the  Burgomaster  of  Aerschot,  with  its 
heartrending  description  of  how  her 
lame  son,  aged  sixteen,  was  kicked  along 
to  his  death  by  an  aide  de  camp.  It  is 
all  so  vile,  so  brutally  murderous  that 
one  can  hardly  realize  that  one  is  read- 
ing the  incidents  of  a  modern  campaign 
conducted  by  one  of  the  leading  nations 
in  Europe. 

Do  you  imagine  that  the  thing  has 
been  exaggerated?  Far  from  it — the 
volume  of  crime  has  not  yet  been  ap- 
preciated. Have  not  many  Germans  un- 
wittingly testified  to  what  they  have 
seen  and  done?  Only  last  week  we  had 
the  journal  of  one  of  them,  an  officer 
whose  service  had  been  almost  entirely 
in  P'rance  and  removed  from  the  crime 
centres  of  Belgium.  Yet  were  ever  such 
entries  in  the  diary  of  a  civilized  soldier? 
"  Our  men  behaved  like  regular  Van- 
dals."   "  We  shot  the  whole  lot,"  (these 


548 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


were  villagers.)  "  They  were  drawn  up 
in  three  ranks.  The  same  shot  did  for 
three  at  a  time."  "  In  the  evening  we 
set  fire  to  the  village.  The  priest  and 
some  of  the  inhabitants  were  shot." 
"  The  villages  all  around  were  burning." 
"  The  villages  were  burned  and  the  in- 
habitants shot."  "  At  Leppe  apparently 
two  hundred  men  were  shot.  There 
must  have  been  some  innocent  men 
among  them."  "  In  future  we  shall 
have  to  hold  an  inquiry  into  their  guilt 
instead  of  merely  shooting  them."  "  The 
Vandals  themselves  could  not  have  done 
more  damage.  The  place  is  a  disgrace 
to  our  army."  So  the  journal  runs  on 
with  its  tale  of  infamy.  It  is  an  in- 
famy so  shameless  that  even  in  the  Ger- 
man record  the  story  is  perpetuated  of 
how  a  French  lad  was  murdered  be- 
cause he  refused  to  answer  certain 
questions.  To  such  a  depth  of  degrada- 
tion has  Prussia  brought  the  standard 
of  warfare. 

And  now,  as  the  appetite  for  blood 
grows  ever  stronger — and  nothing  waxes 
more  fast — we  have  stories  of  the  treat- 
ment of  prisoners.  Here  is  a  point 
where  our  attention  should  be  most  con- 
centrated and  our  action  most  prompt. 
It  is  the  just  duty  which  we  owe  to  our 
own  brave  soldiers.  At  present  the  in- 
stances are  isolated,  and  we  will  hope 
that  they  do  not  represent  any  general 
condition.  But  the  stories  come  from 
sure  sources.  There  is  the  account  of 
the   brutality   which   culminated   in  the 


death  of  the  gallant  motor  cyclist  Pear- 
son, the  son  of  Lord  Cowdray.  There 
is  the  horrible  story  in  a  responsible 
Dutch  paper,  told  by  an  eyewitness,  of 
the  torture  of  three  British  wounded 
prisoners  in  Landen  Station  on  Oct.  9. 

The  story  carries  conviction  by  its 
detail.  Finally,  there  are  the  disquiet- 
ing remarks  of  German  soldiers,  repeat- 
ed by  this  same  witness,  as  to  the  Brit- 
ish prisoners  whom  they  had  shot.  The 
whole  lesson  of  history  is  that  when 
troops  are  allowed  to  start  murder  one 
can  never  say  how  or  when  it  will  stop. 
It  may  no  longer  be  part  of  a  deliberate, 
calculated  policy  of  murder  by  the  Ger- 
man Government.  But  it  has  undoubt- 
edly been  so  in  the  past,  and  we  cannot 
say  when  it  will  end.  Such  incidents 
will,  I  fear,  make  peace  an  impossibility 
in  our  generation,  for  whatever  states- 
men may  write  upon  paper  can  never 
affect  the  deep  and  bitter  resentment 
which  a  war  so  conducted  must  leave  be- 
hind it. 

Other  German  characteristics  we  can 
ignore.  The  consistent,  systematic  ly- 
ing of  the  German  press,  or  the  grotesque 
blasphemies  of  the  Kaiser,  can  be  met 
by  us  with  contemptuous  tolerance.  Aft- 
er all,  what  is  is,  and  neither  falsehood 
nor  bombast  will  alter  it.  But  this  pol- 
icy of  murder  deeply  affects  not  only 
ourselves  but  the  whole  framework  of 
civilization,  so  slowly  and  painfully  built 
upward  by  the  human  race. 


The  Soldier's  Epitaph 

"HE   DIED   FOR  ENGLAND." 
[Inscription   on   the   tombstone    of   a   private   soldier,    recently   killed   in    action.] 


These  four  short  words  his  epitaph, 

Sublimely  simple,  nobly  plain; 
Who  adds  to  them  but  addeth  chaff. 

Obscures  with  husks  the  golden  grain. 
Not  all  the  bards  of  other  days, 
Not  Homer  in  his  loftiest  vein. 
Not  Milton's  most  majestic  strain, 


Not  the  whole  wealth  of  Pindar's  lays, 
Could  bring  to  that  one  simple  phrase 
What  were  not  rather  loss  than  gain; 
That  elegy  so  briefly  fine. 
That  epic  writ  in  half  a  line. 
That  little  which  so  much  conveys. 
Whose  silence  is  a  hymn  of  praise 
And  throbs  with  harmonies  divine. 


The  Will  to  Power 


By  Eden  Phillpotts 


A  distinction  between  power  as  physical  force  and  as  expressed  in  terms  of 
spiritual  value  is  drawn  by  Mr.  Phillpotts  in  his  article,  appearing  in  The  Westminster 
Gazette   of   March  27,    1915,   which   is   here   reproduced. 


IT  has  not  often  happened  in  the 
world's  history  that  any  genera- 
tion can  speak  with  such  assured 
confidence  of  future  events  as  at 
present.  When  the  living  tongue  is 
concerned  with  destiny  it  seldom  does 
more  than  indicate  the  trend  of  things  to 
come,  examine  tendencies  and  move- 
ments, and  predict,  without  any  sure 
foreknowledge  or  conviction,  what  gen- 
erations unborn  may  expect  to  find  and 
the  conditions  they  will  create.  Destiny 
for  us,  who  speak  of  it,  is  an  unknown 
sea  whose  waves,  indeed,  drive  steadily 
onward  before  strong  winds,  but  whose 
shore  is  still  far  distant.  We  know  that 
we  men  of  the  hour  can  never  see  these 
billows  break  upon  the  sands  of  future 
time. 

But  today  we  may  look  forward  to 
stupendous  events;  today  there  are 
mighty  epiphanies  quickening  earth,  not 
to  be  assigned  to  periods  of  future  time, 
but  at  hand,  so  near  that  our  living 
selves  shall  see  their  birth,  and  partici- 
pate in  their  consequences.  Nor  can  we 
stand  as  spectators  of  this  worldwide 
hope;  we  must  not  only  hear  the  evangel 
whose  first  mighty  murmur  is  drifting 
to  our  ears  from  the  future,  we  must 
take  it  up  with  heart  and  voice  and 
help  to  sound  and  resound  it.  There  is 
tremendous  work  lying  ahead,  not  only 
for  our  children,  but  for  us.  Weighty 
deeds  will  presently  have  to  be  per- 
formed by  all  adult  manhood  and  wo- 
manhood— deeds,  perhaps,  greater  than 
any  living  man  has  been  called  to  do — 
deeds  that  exalt  the  doer  and  make 
sacred  for  all  history  the  hour  in  which 
they  shall  be  done. 

On  Time's  high  canopy  the  years  are 
as  stars  great  and  small,  some  of  lesser 
magnitude,  some  forever  bright  with  the 


splendor  of  supreme  human  achieve- 
ments; and  now  there  flashes  out  a  year 
concerning  which,  indeed,  no  man  can 
say  as  yet  how  great  it  will  be;  but  all 
men  know  that  it  must  be  great.  It  is 
destined  to  drown  all  lesser  years,  even 
as  sunrise  dims  the  morning  stars  with 
day;  it  is  a  year  bright  with  promise 
and  bodeful  with  ill-tidings  also;  for  in 
the  world  at  this  moment  there  exist 
stupendous  differences  that  this  year 
will  go  far  to  set  at  rest.  This  year 
must  solve  profound  problems,  determine 
the  trend  of  human  affairs  for  centuries, 
and  influence  the  whole  future  history 
of  civilization.  This  year  may  actually 
see  the  issue;  at  least  it  will  serve  to 
light  the  near  future  when  that  issue 
shall  be  accomplished. 

There  has  risen,  then,  a  year  that  is 
great  with  no  less  a  thing  than  the  fu- 
ture welfare  of  the  whole  earth.  It 
must  embrace  the  victory  of  one  ideal 
over  another,  and  include  a  decision 
which  shall  determine  whether  the  sub- 
lime human  hope  of  freedom  and  se- 
curity for  all  mankind  is  to  guide  human 
progress  henceforth,  or  the  spirit  of 
domination  and  slavery  to  win  a  new 
lease  of  life.  On  the  one  hand,  this  year 
of  the  first  magnitude  will  shine  with 
the  glory  of  such  a  victory  for  demo- 
cratic ideas  as  we  have  not  seen,  or  ex- 
pected to  see,  in  our  generation;  on  the 
other,  its  bale-fire  will  blaze  upon  the 
overthrow  of  all  great  ideals,  the  de- 
struction of  a  weak  nation  by  a  power- 
ful one,  and  the  triumph  of  that  policy 
of  "  blood  and  iron  "  from  which  every 
enlightened  man  of  this  age  shrinks  with 
horror.  The  situation  cannot  be  stated 
in  simpler  terms;  no  words  can  make  it 
less  than  tremendous;  and  it  is  demanded 
from  us  to  make  it  personal — as  per- 
sonal to  ourselves  as  it  is  to  the  King  of 


550 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


England,  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  or 
the  Czar  of  all  the  Russia"! 

They  live  who,  when  this  far-flung 
agony  of  war  is  ended,  when  the  last 
hero  has  fallen  and  lies  in  his  grave, 
when  the  final  cannon  has  sounded  its 
knell,  must  be  called  upon  to  make  the 
great  peace.  They  live  who  will  weave 
a  shroud  of  death  for  the  exhausted 
world,  or  plant  the  tree  of  life  upon  her 
bosom;  and  since  we,  inspired  by  the 
splendor  of  our  cause,  are  assured  that 
the  day-spring  will  be  ours,  we  already 
feel  and  know  that  we  shall  see  that  tree 
of  life  planted.  But  do  we  also  feel  and 
know  that  we  must  help  to  plant  it,  that 
the  labor  and  toil  of  each  of  us  is  vital, 
that  none  is  so  weak  but  that  there  is  a 
part  of  that  planting  for  which  he  was 
born,  a  part  consecrated  to  his  individual 
effort,  a  part  that  will  go  undone  if  he 
does  not  do  it? 

Look  to  yourself,  man,  woman,  child, 
that  with  heart  and  soul  and  strength 
you  perform  your  part  in  the  great  world 
work  lying  ahead;  remember  that  not 
princes  and  rulers,  not  regiments  of 
your  kinsmen,  not  the  armed  might  of 
nations  can  do  your  appointed  task  for 
you.  Fail  of  it,  and  by  so  much  will 
the  life  tree  lack  in  her  planting;  suc- 
ceed, and  by  so  much  will  she  be  the 
more  splendid  and  secure.  Her  name  is 
Freedom  and  her  fruits  are  for  the  weak 
and  humble  as  well  as  the  strong  and 
great,  for  the  foolish  as  well  as  the  wise, 
for  all  subjects  as  well  as  for  all  States. 
Put  out  your  power,  then,  for  that  most 
sacred  tree;  deny  yourself  no  pang  that 
she  may  flourish;  labor  according  to 
your  strength  that  her  blossom  shall 
win  the  worship  of  humanity  and  her 
fruit  be  worthy  of  the  blood  of  heroes 
that  has  poured  for  her  planting. 

Much  we  hear  of  the  Will  to  Power, 
and  because  that  great  impulse  has  lifted 
our  enemies  on  the  full  flood  tide  of 
their  might  and  manhood  in  one  over- 
whelming torrent,  Germany  has  been 
condemned.  But  not  for  her  united  ef- 
fort and  whole-hearted  sacrifice  should 
we  condemn  her — not  for  her  patriotism 
and  response  to  the  call.     Her  reply  is 


wholly  magnificent,  and  it  only  stands 
condemned  for  the  evil  ends  and  ignoble 
ambitions  toward  which  it  is  directed. 
The  spectacle  of  a  great  nation  at  one, 
inspired  by  a  single  ideal  and  pouring 
its  life,  its  wealth,  its  energy,  with  a 
single  impulse  in  the  name  of  the 
Fatherland  can  only  be  called  sublime. 
The  tragedy  lies  in  the  fact  that  this 
stupendous  effort  is  not  worthy  of  the 
cause;  that  for  false  hopes,  false  ambi- 
tions, and  mistaken  sense  of  right  and 
justice  Germany  has  wasted  her  life  and 
given  her  soul. 

Who  blames  the  Will  to  Power  ?  Power 
is  the  mightiest  weapon  fate  can  forge 
for  a  nation — a  treasure  beyond  the 
strength  of  commerce,  or  armies,  or 
navies,  or  intellect  of  man  to  produce. 
But  it  is  necessary  that  we  define  power 
in  terms  of  spiritual  value;  and  then, 
surely,  it  appears  that  Power  and  Force 
can  never  be  the  same.  A  Frederick  I., 
or  a  Napoleon,  may  pretend  to  confound 
power  with  force,  and  believe  that  their 
might  must  be  right.  They  possessed  a 
giant's  strength  and  used  it  like  giants. 
But  true  Power  is  ever  the  attribute  of 
Right  and  they  who  strive  for  it  must 
cleanse  their  souls,  see  that  their  ambi- 
tion is  worthy  of  such  a  possession,  and, 
before  all  else,  strive  to  realize  the  awful 
responsibility  that  goes  with  Power. 

Never  was  a  moment  more  golden 
than  the  present  for  this  nation  to  Will 
to  Power.  For  once  our  hearts  are  single, 
our  resolutions  pure,  our  patriotism,  as 
well  as  the  objects  that  we  seek  to  at- 
tain, sure  set  upon  the  line  of  human 
progress.  In  the  sane  and  sacred  name 
of  Freedom,  therefore,  and  at  her  an- 
cient inspiration  it  becomes  us  now  to 
strive  by  all  that  is  highest  and  beat 
in  us  to  fulfill  our  noblest  possibilities 
and  give  soul  and  strength  that  the 
united  Will  to  Power  of  our  nation  may 
surmount  that  of  her  enemies,  even  as 
our  goal  and  purpose  surmount  theirs. 

It  is  for  the  victory  that  must  crown 
this  victory  we  should  labor,  and  cease 
not  while  hand  can  toil,  mind  achieve, 
and  heart  sacrifice  to  make  the  vital 
issue  assured. 


Alleged  German  Atrocities 

Report  of  the  Committee  Appointed 
by  the  British  Government 

and  Presided  Over  by 

The  Right  Hon.   Viscount  Bryce 

Formerly  British  Ambassador  at   Washington 

Proofs  of  alleged  atrocities  committed  by  the  German  armies  in  Belgium — proofs 
collected  by  men  trained  in  the  law  and  presented  with  unemotional  directness  after  a 
careful  inquiry — are  presented  In  the  report  of  the  "  Committee  on  Alleged  German 
Atrocities  "  headed  by  Viscount  Bryce,  the  English  historian  and  formerly  British  Am- 
bassador at  Washington.  The  document  was  made  public  simultaneously  in  London  and 
the  United  States  on  May  12,  1915,  four  days  after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania.  It 
was  pointed  out  at  the  time  that  this  was  a  coincidence,  as  the  report  had  been  prepared 
several   weeks   before   and   forwarded   by    mail    from    England    for   publication    on    May    12. 


WARRANT  OF  APPOINTMENT. 

I  hereby  appoint — 

The  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Bryce,  0.  M.; 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  Frederick  Pol- 
lock, Bt.,  K.  C; 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  Edward  Clarke, 
K.   C; 

Sir  Alfred  Hopkinson,  K.  C; 

Mr.  H.  A.  L.  Fisher,  Vice  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Sheffield;  and 

Mr.  Harold  Cox; 
to  be  a  committee  to  consider  and  ad- 
vise on  the  evidence  collected  on  be- 
half of  his  Majesty's  Government  as  to 
outrages  alleged  to  have  been  com- 
mitted by  German  troops  during  the 
present  war,  cases  of  alleged  maltreat- 
ment of  civilians  in  the  invaded  terri- 
tories, and  breaches  of  the  laws  and  es- 
tablished usages  of  war;  and  to  prepare 
a  report  for  his  Majesty's  Government 
showing  the  conclusion  at  which  they 
arrive  on  the  evidence  now  available. 

And  I  appoint  Viscount  Bryce  to  be 
Chairman,  and  Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears 
and  Mr.  W.  J.  H.  Brodrick,  barristers 
at  law,  to  be  Joint  Secretaries  to  the 
committee. 

(Signed)       H.  H.  ASQUITH. 

15th  December,  1914. 


Sir  Kenelm  E.  Digby,  K.  C,  G.  C.  B., 
was  appointed  an  additional  member  of 
the  committee  on  22d  January,  1915. 

To  the  Right  Hon.  H.  H.  Asquith,  &c., 
&c..  First  Lord  of  H.  M.  Treasury. 
The  committee  have  the  honor  to 
present  and  transmit  to  you  a  report 
upon  the  evidence  which  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  them  regarding  outrages  al- 
leged to  have  been  committed  by  the 
German  troops  in  the  present  war. 

By  the  terms  of  their  appointment  the 
committee    were    directed 

"  to  consider  and  advise  on  the  evidence 
collected  on  behalf  of  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment, as  to  outrages  alleged  to  have 
been  committed  by  German  troops  during 
the  present  war,  cases  of  alleged  mal- 
treatment of  civilians  in  the  invaded  ter- 
ritories, and  breaches  of  the  laws  and  es- 
tablished usages  of  war;  and  to  prepare 
a  report  for  his  Majesty's  Government 
showing  the  conclusion  at  which  they  ar- 
rive on  the  evidence  now  available." 

It  may  be  convenient  that  before  pro- 
ceeding to  state  how  we  have  dealt  with 
the  materials,  and  what  are  the  con- 
clusions we  have  reached,  we  should  set 
out  the  manner  in  which  the  evidence 
came  into  being,  and  its  nature. 

In   the   month   of   September,    1914,   a 


552 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


minute  was,  at  the  instance  of  the 
Prime  Minister,  drawn  up  and  signed 
by  the  Home  Secretary  and  the  At- 
torney General.  It  stated  the  need  that 
had  arisen  for  investigating  the  ac- 
cusations of  inhumanity  and  outrage 
that  had  been  brought  against  the  Ger- 
man soldiers,  and  indicated  the  pre- 
cautions to  be  taken  in  collecting  evi- 
dence that  would  be  needed  to  insure  its 
accuracy.  Pursuant  to  this  minute  steps 
were  taken  under  the  direction  of  the 
Home  Office  to  collect  evidence,  and  a 
great  many  persons  who  could  give  it 
were  seen  and  examined. 

For  some  three  or  four  months  before 
the  appointment  of  the  committee,  the 
Home  Office  had  been  collecting  a  large 
body  of  evidence.*  More  than  1,200  depo- 
sitions made  by  these  witnesses  have 
been  submitted  to  and  considered  by  the 
committee.  Nearly  all  of  these  were 
obtained  under  the  supervision  of  Sir 
Charles  Mathews,  the  Director  of  Public 
Prosecutions,  and  of  Mr.  E.  Grimwood 
Mears,  barrister  of  the  Inner  Temple, 
while  in  addition  Professor  J.  H. 
Morgan  has  collected  a  number  of  state- 
ments mainly  from  British  soldiers, 
which  have  also  been  submitted  to  the 
committee. 

The  labor  involved  in  securing,  in  a 
comparatively  short  time,  so  large  a 
number  of  statements  from  witnesses 
scattered  all  over  the  United  KingdoiTi, 
made  it  necessary  to  employ  a  good  many 
examiners.  The  depositions  were  in  all 
cases  taken  down  in  this  country  by 
gentlemen  of  legal  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience, though,  of  course,  they  had  no 
authority  to  administer  an  oath.  They 
were  instructed  not  to  "  lead  "  the  wit- 
nesses, or  make  any  suggestions  to  them, 
and  also  to  impress  upon  them  the 
necessity  for  care  and  precision  in  giv- 
ing their  evidence. 

They  were  also  directed  to  treat  the 
evidence  critically,  and  as  far  as  possible 
satisfy  themselves,  by  putting  questions 
which  arose  out  of  the  evidence,  that  the 

•Taken  from  Belgian  witnesses,  some 
soldiers,  but  most  of  them  civilians  from 
those  towns  and  villages  through  which  the 
German  Army  passed,  and  from  British 
officers    and    soldiers. 


witnesses  were  speaking  the  truth. 
They  were,  in  fact,  to  cross-examine 
them,  so  far  as  the  testimony  given  pro- 
vided materials  for  cross-examination. 

We  have  seen  and  conversed  with  many 
of  these  gentlemen,  and  have  been  great- 
ly impressed  by  their  ability  and  by 
what  we  have  gathered  as  to  the  fair- 
ness of  spirit  which  they  brought  to 
their  task.  We  feel  certain  that  the  in- 
structions given  have  been  scrupulously 
observed. 

In  many  cases  those  who  took  the  evi- 
dence have  added  their  comments  upon 
the  intelligence  and  demeanor  of  the  wit- 
nesses, stating  the  impression  which  each 
witness  made,  and  indicating  any  cases 
in  which  the  story  told  appeared  to  them 
open  to  doubt  or  suspicion.  In  coming  to 
a  conclusion  upon  the  evidence  the  com- 
mittee have  been  greatly  assisted  by 
these  expressions  of  opinion,  and  have 
uniformly  rejected  every  deposition  on 
which  an  opinion  adverse  to  the  witness 
l:as  been  recorded. 

This  seems  to  be  a  fitting  place  at 
which  to  put  on  record  the  invaluable 
help  which  we  have  received  from  our 
secretaries,  Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears  and 
Mr.  W.  J.  H.  Brodrick,  whose  careful 
diligence  and  minute  knowledge  of  the 
evidence  have  been  of  the  utmost  ser- 
vice. Without  their  skill,  judgment,  and 
untiring  industry  the  labor  of  examin- 
ing and  appraising  each  part  of  so  large 
a  mass  of  testimony  would  have  occupied 
us  for  six  months  instead  of  three. 

The  marginal  references  in  this  report 
indicate  the  particular  deposition  or 
depositions  on  which  the  statements  made 
in  the  text  are  based.* 

The  depositions  printed  in  the  ap- 
pendix themselves  show  that  the  stories 
were  tested  in  detail,  and  in  none  of 
these  have  we  been  able  to  detect  the 
trace  of  any  desire  to  "  make  a  case " 
against  the  German  Army.  Care  was 
taken  to  impress  upon  the  witness  that 
the  giving  of  evidence  was  a  grave  and 
serious  matter,  and  every  deposition  sub- 
mitted to  us  was  signed  by  the  witness 
in  the  presence  of  the  examiner. 

[•Marginal  references  are  omitted  in  this 
reproduction.— Editor.  ] 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


553 


A  noteworthy  feature  of  many  of  the 
depositions  is  that,  though  taken  at  dif- 
ferent places  and  on  different  dates,  and 
by  different  lawyers  from  different  wit- 
nesses, they  often  corroborate  each  other 
in  a  striking  manner. 

The  evidence  is  all  couched  in  the  very 
words  which  the  witnesses  used,  and 
where  they  spoke,  as  the  Belgian  wit- 
nesses did,  in  Flemish  or  French,  pains 
were  taken  to  have  competent  trans- 
lators, and  to  make  certain  that  the 
translation  was  exact. 

Seldom  did  these  Belgian  witnesses 
show  a  desire  to  describe  what  they  had 
seen  or  suffered.  The  lawyers  who  took 
the  depositions  were  surprised  to  find 
how  little  vindictiveness,  or  indeed  pas- 
sion, they  showed,  and  how  generally 
free  from  emotional  excitement  their  nar- 
ratives were.  Many  hesitated  to  speak 
lest  what  they  said,  if  it  should  ever  be 
published,  might  involve  their  friends  or 
relatives  at  home  in  danger,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  give  an  absolute 
promise  that  names  should  not  be  dis- 
closed. 

For  this  reason  names  have  been 
omitted. 

A  large  number  of  depositions,  and  ex- 
tracts from  depositions,  will  be  found  in 
Appendix  A,  and  to  these  your  attention 
is  directed. 

In  all  cases  these  are  given  as  nearly 
as  possible  (for  abbreviation  was  some- 
times inevitable)  in  the  exact  words  of 
the  witness,  and  wherever  a  statement 
has  been  made  by  a  witness  tending  to 
exculpate  the  German  troops,  it  has 
been  given  in  full.  Excisions  have  been 
made  only  where  it  has  been  felt  neces- 
sary to  conceal  the  identity  of  the  de- 
ponent, or  to  omit  what  are  merely  hear- 
say statements,  or  are  palpably  ir- 
relevant. In  every  case  the  name  and 
description  of  the  witnesses  are  given  in 
the  original  depositions  and  in  copies 
which  have  been  furnished  to  us  by  H. 
M.  Government.  The  originals  remain 
in  the  custody  of  the  Home  Department, 
where  they  will  be  available,  in  case  of 
need,  for  reference  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  war. 

The  committee  have  also  had  before 


them  a  number  of  diaries  taken  from 
the  German  dead. 

It  appears  to  be  the  custom  in  the  Ger- 
man Army  for  soldiers  to  be  encouraged 
to  keep  diaries  and  to  record  in  them 
the  chief  events  of  each  day.  A  good 
many  of  these  diaries  were  collected  on 
the  field  when  British  troops  were  ad- 
vancing over  ground  which  had  been  held 
by  the  enemy,  were  sent  to  headquar- 
ters in  France,  and  dispatched  thence  to 
the  War  Office  in  England.  They  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Prisoners  of 
War  Information  Bureau,  and  were 
handed  by  it  to  our  secretaries.  They 
have  been  translated  with  great  care. 
We  have  inspected  them  and  are  abso- 
lutely satisfied  of  their  authenticity. 
They  have  thrown  important  light  upon 
the  methods  followed  in  the  conduct  of 
the  war.  In  one  respect,  indeed,  they  are 
the  most  weighty  part  of  the  evidence, 
because  they  proceed  from  a  hostile 
source  and  are  not  open  to  any  such 
criticism  on  the  ground  of  bias  as  might 
be  applied  to  Belgian  testimony.  From 
time  to  time  references  to  these  diaries 
v/ill  be  found  in  the  text  of  the  report. 
In  Appendix  B  they  are  set  out  at 
greater  length  both  in  the  German  orig- 
inal and  in  an  English  translation,  to- 
gether with  a  few  photographs  of  the 
more  important  entries. 

In  Appendix  C  are  set  out  a  number 
of  German  proclamations.  Most  of 
these  are  included  in  the  Belgian  Report 
No.  VI.,  which  has  been  furnished  to  us. 
Actual  specimens  of  original  proclama- 
tions, issued  by  or  at  the  bidding  of  the 
German  military  authorities,  and  posted 
in  the  Belgian  and  French  towns  men- 
tioned, have  been  produced  to  us,  and 
copies  thereof  are  to  be  found  in  this 
appendix. 

Appendix  D  contains  the  rules  of  Tha 
Hague  Convention  dealing  with  the  con- 
duct of  war  on  land  as  adopted  in  1907, 
Germany  being  one  of  the  signatory 
powers. 

In  Appendix  E  will  be  found  a  selec- 
tion of  statements  collected  in  France  by 
Professor  Morgan. 

These  five  appendices  are  contained 
in  a  separate  volume. 

In  dealing  with  the  evidence  we  have 


554 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


recognized  the  importance  of  testing  it 
severely,  and  so  far  as  the  conditions 
permit  we  have  followed  the  principles 
which  are  recognized  in  the  courts  of 
England,  the  British  overseas  domin- 
ions, and  the  United  States.  We  have 
also  (as  already  noted)  set  aside  the 
testimony  of  any  witnesses  who  did  not 
favorably  impress  the  lawyers  who  took 
their  depositions,  and  have  rejected  hear- 
say evidence  except  in  cases  where  hear- 
say furnished  an  undersigned  con- 
firmation of  facts  with  regard  to  which 
we  already  possessed  direct  testimony 
from  some  other  source,  or  explained  in 
a  natural  way  facts  imperfectly  nar- 
rated or  otherwise  perplexing.* 

It  is  natural  to  ask  whether  much  of 
the  evidence  given,  especially  by  the  Bel- 
gian witnesses,  may  not  be  due  to  ex- 
citement and  overstrained  emotions,  and 
whether,  apart  from  deliberate  falsehood, 
persons  who  mean  to  speak  the  truth 
may  not  in  a  more  or  less  hysterical  con- 
dition have  been  imagining  themselves 
to  have  seen  the  things  which  they  say 
that  they  saw.  Both  the  lawyers  who 
took  the  depositions,  and  we  when  we 
came  to  examine  them,  fully  recognized 
this  possibility.  The  lawyers,  as  al- 
ready observed,  took  pains  to  test  each 
witness  and  either  rejected,  or  appended 
a  note  of  distrust  to,  the  testimony  of 
those  who  failed  to  impress  them  favor- 
ably. We  have  carried  the  sifting  still 
further  by  also  omitting  from  the  depo- 
sitions those  in  which  we  found  some- 
thing that  seemed  too  exceptional  to  be 
accepted  on  the  faith  of  one  witness  only, 
or  too  little  supported  by  other  evidence 
pointing  to  like  facts.    Many  depositions 


♦For  instance,  the  dead  body  of  a  man  is 
found  lying  on  the  doorstep,  or  a  woman  is 
seen  who  has  the  appearance  of  having 
been  outraged.  So  far  the  facts  are  proved 
by  the  direct  evidence  of  the  person  by 
whom  they  have  been  seen.  Information  is 
sought  for  by  him  as  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  death  or  outrages  took 
place.  The  bystanders  who  saw  the  cir- 
cumstances, but  who  are  not  now  accessible, 
relate  what  they  saw,  and  this  is  reported 
by  the  witness  to  the  examiner  and  Is 
placed  on  record  in  the  depositions.  We 
have  had  no  hesitation  in  taking  such  evi- 
dence   into    consideration. 


have  thus  been  omitted  on  which,  though 
they  are  probably  true,  we  think  it  safer 
not  to  place  reliance. 

Notwithstanding  these  precautions,  we 
began  the  inquiry  with  doubts  whether 
a  positive  result  would  be  attained.  But 
the  further  we  went  and  the  more  evi- 
dence we  examined  so  much  the  more 
was  our  skepticism  reduced.  There 
might  be  some  exaggeration  in  one  wit- 
ness, possible  delusion  in  another,  inac- 
curacies in  a  third.  When,  however,  we 
foujid  that  things  which  had  at  first 
seemed  improbable  were  testified  to  by 
many  witnesses  coming  from  different 
places,  having  had  no  communication 
with  one  another,  and  knowing  nothing 
of  one  another's  statements,  the  points 
in  which  they  all  agreed  became  more 
and  more  evidently  true.  And  when  this 
concurrence  of  testimony,  this  converg- 
ence upon  what  were  substantially  the 
same  broad  facts,  showed  itself  in  hun- 
dreds of  depositions,  the  truth  of  those 
broad  facts  stood  out  beyond  question. 
The  force  of  the  evidence  is  cumulative. 
Its  worth  can  be  estimated  only  by  pe- 
rusing the  testimony  as  a  whole.  If  any 
further  confirmation  had  been  needed, 
we  found  it  in  the  diaries  in  which  Ger- 
man officers  and  private  soldiers  have 
recorded  incidents  just  such  as  those  to 
v/hich  the  Belgian  witnesses  depose. 

The  experienced  lawyers  who  took  the 
depositions  tell  us  that  they  passed  from 
the  same  stage  of  doubt  into  the  same 
stage  of  conviction.  They  also  began 
their  work  in  a  skeptical  spirit,  expecting 
to  find  much  of  the  evidence  colored  by 
passion,  or  prompted  by  an  excited  fancy. 
But  they  were  impressed  by  the  general 
moderation  and  matter-of-fact  level- 
headedness of  the  witnesses.  We  have 
interrogated  them,  particularly  regard- 
ing some  of  the  most  startling  and  shock- 
ing incidents  which  appear  in  the  evi- 
dence laid  before  us,  and  where  they  ex- 
pressed a  doubt  we  have  excluded  the 
evidence,  admitting  it  as  regards  the 
cases  in  which  they  stated  that  the  wit- 
nesses seemed  to  them  to  be  speaking 
the  truth,  and  that  they  themselves  be- 
lieved the  incidents  referred  to  have  hap- 
pened.    It   is   for   this   reason   that  we 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


555 


have  inserted  among  the  depositions 
printed  in  the  appendix  several  cases 
which  we  might  otherwise  have  deemed 
scarcely  credible. 

The  committee  has  conducted  its  in- 
vestigations and  come  to  its  conclusions 
independently  of  the  reports  issued  by 
the  French  and  Belgian  commissions,  but 
it  has  no  reason  to  doubt  that  those  con- 
clusions are  in  substantial  accord  with 
the  conclusions  that  have  been  reached 
by  these  two  commissions. 
ARRANGEMENT  OF  THE  REPORT. 

As  respects  the  framework  and  ar- 
rangement of  the  report,  it  has  been 
deemed  desirable  to  present  first  of  all 
what  may  be  called  a  general  historical 
account  of  the  events  which  happened, 
and  the  conditions  which  prevailed  in 
the  parts  of  Belgium  which  lay  along  the 
line  of  the  German  march,  and  there- 
after to  set  forth  the  evidence  which 
bears  upon  particular  classes  of  offenses 
against  the  usages  of  civilized  warfare, 
evidence  which  shows  to  what  extent 
the  provisions  of  The  Hague  Convention 
have  been  disregarded. 

This  method,  no  doubt,  involves  a  cer- 


tain amount  of  overlapping,  for  some  of 
the  offenses  belonging  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  report  will  have  been  already  re- 
ferred to  in  the  earlier  part  which  deals 
with  the  invasion  of  Belgium.  But  the 
importance  of  presenting  a  connected 
narrative  of  events  seems  to  outweigh 
the  disadvantage  of  occasional  repetition. 
The  report  will  therefore  be  found  to 
consist  of  two  parts,  viz.  : 

(1)  An  analysis  and  summary  of 
the  evidence  regarding  the  conduct 
of  the  German  troops  in  Belgium  to- 
ward the  civilian  population  of  that 
country  during  the  first  few  weeks 
of  the  invasion. 

(2)  An  examination  of  the  evi- 
dence relating  to  breaches  of  the 
rules  and  usages  of  war  and  acts  of 
inhumanity,  committed  by  German 
soldiers  or  groups  of  soldiers,  during 
the  lirst  four  months  of  the  war, 
whelliei  in  Belgium  or  in  France. 

This  second  part  has  again  been  sub- 
divided into  two  sections: 

a.  Offenses  committed  against 
noncombatant  civilians  during  the 
conduct  of  the  war  generally. 

b.  Offenses  committed  against 
combatants,  whether  in  Belgium  or 
in  France. 


PART  I. 
THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  GERMAN  TROOPS  IN  BELGIUM. 


Although  the  neutrality  of  Belgium 
had  been  guaranteed  by  a  treaty  signed 
in  1839  to  which  France,  Prussia,  and 
Great  Britain  were  parties,  and  al- 
though, apart  altogether  from  any  duties 
imposed  by  treaty,  no  belligerent  nation 
has  any  right  to  claim  a  passage  for  its 
army  across  the  territory  of  a  neutral 
State,  the  position  which  Belgium  held 
between  the  German  Empire  and  France 
had  obliged  her  to  consider  the  possibil- 
ity that  in  the  event  of  a  war  between 
these  two  powers  her  neutrality  might 
not  be  respected.  In  1911  the  Belgian 
Minister  at  Berlin  had  requested  an  as- 
surance from  Germany  that  she  would 
observe  the  Treaty  of  1839;  and  the 
Chancellor  of  the  empire  had  declared 
V  that  Germany  had  no  intention  of  violat- 
■  ing  Belgian  neutrality.  Again  in  1913 
I       the    German    Secretary    of    State    at    a 

m 


meeting  of  a  Budget  Committee  of  the 
Reichstag  had  declared  that  "  Belgian 
neutrality  is  provided  for  by  interna- 
tional conventions  and  Germany  is  de- 
termined to  respect  those  conventions." 
Finally,  on  July  31,  1914,  when  the 
danger  of  war  between  Germany  and 
France  seemed  imminent,  Herr  von 
Below,  the  German  Minister  in  Brussels, 
being  interrogated  by  the  Belgian  For- 
eign Department,  replied  that  he  knew 
of  the  assurances  given  by  the  German 
Chancellor  in  1911,  and  that  he  "  was 
certain  that  the  sentiments  expressed  at 
that  time  had  not  changed."  Neverthe- 
less on  Aug.  2  the  same  Minister  pre- 
sented a  note  to  the  Belgian  Government 
demanding  a  passage  through  Belgium 
for  the  German  Army  on  pain  of  an  in- 
stant declaration  of  war.  Startled  as 
they  were  by  the  suddenness  with  which 


S'9    l'.'^-^"      t\ 


s  lie 
E 


'T  .^ 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


657 


this  terrific  war  cloud  had  risen  on  the 
eastern  horizon,  the  leaders  of  the  nation 
rallied  around  the  King  in  his  resolution 
to  refuse  the  demand  and  to  prepare  for 
resistance.  They  were  aware  of  the 
danger  which  would  confront  the  civilian 
population  of  the  country  if  it  were 
tempted  to  take  part  in  the  work  of  na- 
tional defense.  Orders  were  accordingly 
issued  by  the  Civil  Governors  of  prov- 
inces, and  by  the  Burgomasters  of 
towns,  that  the  civilian  inhabitants  were 
to  take  no  part  in  hostilities  and  to  of- 
fer no  provocation  to  the  invaders.  That 
no  excuse  might  be  furnished  for  sever- 
ities, the  populations  of  many  important 
towns  were  instructed  to  surrender  all 
firearms  into  the  hands  of  the  local  of- 
ficials.^ 

This  happened  on  Aug.  2.  On  the 
evening  of  Aug.  3  the  German  troops 
crossed  the  frontier.  The  storm  burst  so 
suddenly  that  neither  party  had  time  to 
adjust  its  mind  to  the  situation.  The 
Germans  seem  to  have  expected  an  easy 
passage.  The  Belgian  population,  never 
tlieaming  of  an  attack,  were  startled 
and  stupefied. 

LIEGE  AND  DISTRICT. 

On  Aug.  4  the  roads  converging  upon 
Liege  from  northeast,  east,  and  south 
were  covered  with  German  Death's  Head 
Hussars  and  Uhlans  pressing  forward  to 
seize  the  passage  over  the  Meuse.  From 
the  very  beginning  of  the  operations  the 
civilian  population  of  the  villages  lying 
upon  the  line  of  the  German  advance 
were  mad^  to  experience  the  extreme 
horrors  of  war.  "  On  the  4th  of  August," 
says  one  witness,  "  at  Herve,"  (a  village 
not  far  from  the  frontier,)  "  I  saw  at 
about  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  near  the 
station,  five  Uhlans;  these  were  the  first 
German  troops  I  had  seen.  They  were 
followed  by  a  German  officer  and  some 
soldiers  in  a  motor  car.  The  men  in  the 
car  called  out  to  a  couple  of  young  fel- 
lows who  were  standing  about  thirty 
yards  away.  The  young  men,  being 
afraid,   ran   off  and  then   the   Germans 

1  Copies  of  typical  proclamations  have 
been  printed  in  L'Allemagne  et  la  Belgique, 
Documents  Annexes,  xxxvi. 


fired  and  killed  one  of  them  named 
D."  The  murder  of  this  innocent 
fugitive  civilian  was  a  prelude  to  the 
burning  and  pillage  of  Herve  and  ot 
other  villages  in  the  neighborhood,  to  the 
indiscriminate  shooting  of  civilians  of 
both  sexes,  and  to  the  organized  military 
execution  of  batches  of  selected  males. 
Thus  at  Herve  some  fifty  men  escaping 
from  the  burning  houses  were  seized, 
taken  outside  the  town  and  shot.  At 
Melen,  a  hamlet  west  of  Herve,  forty 
men  were  shot.  In  one  household  alone 
the  father  and  mother  (names  given) 
were  shot,  the  daughter  died  after  being 
repeatedly  outraged,  and  the  son  was 
wounded.  Nor  were  children  exempt. 
"  About  Aug.  4,"  says  one  witness,  "  near 
Vottem,  we  were  pursuing  some  Uhlans. 
I  saw  a  man,  woman,  and  a  girl  about 
nine,  who  had  been  killed.  They  were  on 
the  threshold  of  a  house,  one  on  the  top 
of  the  other,  as  if  they  had  been  shot 
down,  one  after  the  other,  as  they  tried 
to  escape." 

The  burning  of  the  villages  in  this 
neighborhood  and  the  wholesale  slaughter 
of  civilians,  such  as  occurred  at  Herve, 
Micheroux,  and  Soumagne,  appear  to  be 
connected  with  the  exasperation  caused 
by  the  resistance  of  Fort  Fleron,  whose 
guns  barred  the  main  road  from  Aix  la 
Chapelle  to  Liege.  Enraged  by  the  losses 
which  they  had  sustained,  suspicious  of 
the  temper  of  the  civilian  population, 
and  probably  thinking  that  by  ex- 
ceptional severities  at  the  outset  they 
could  cow  the  spirit  of  the  Belgian  Na- 
tion, the  German  officers  and  men  speed- 
ily accustomed  themselves  to  the 
slaughter  of  civilians.  How  rapidly  the 
process  was  effected  is  illustrated  by  an 
entry  in  the  diary  of  Kurt  Hoffman,  a 
one-year's  man  in  the  First  Jagers,  who 
on  Aug.  5  was  in  front  of  Fort  Fleron. 
He  illustrates  his  story  by  a  sketch  map. 
"  The  position,"  he  says,  "  was  danger- 
ous. As  suspicious  civilians  were  hang- 
ing about — houses  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  were 
cleared,  the  owners  arrested,  (and  shot 
the  following  day.)  Suddenly  village  A 
was  fired  at.  Out  of  it  bursts  our  bag- 
gage train,  and  the  Fourth  Company  of 
the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment  who  had 
lost  their  way  and  been  shelled  by  our 


558 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


own  artillery.  From  the  point  D.  P., 
(shown  in  diary,)  I  shoot  a  civilian  with 
rifle  at  400  meters  slap  through  the 
head,  as  we  afterward  ascertained." 
Within  a  few  hours,  Hoffman,  while  in 
house  3,  was  himself  under  fire  from 
his  own  comrades  and  narrowly  escaped 
being  killed.  A  German,  ignorant  that 
house  3  had  been  occupied,  reported,  as 
was  the  fact,  that  he  had  been  fired  upon 
from  that  house.  He  had  been  chal- 
lenged by  the  field  patrol,  and  failed  to 
give  the  countersign.  Hoffman  con- 
tinues: 

"  Ten  minutes  later,  people  approach 
who  are  talking  excitedly — apparently 
Germans.  I  call  out  *  Halt,  who's  there?' 
Suddenly  rapid  fire  is  opened  upon  us, 
which  I  can  only  escape  by  quickly  jump- 
ing on  one  side — with  bullets  and  frag- 
ments of  wall  and  pieces  of  glass  flying 
around  me.  I  call  out  '  Halt,  here  Field 
Patrol.'  Then  it  stops,  and  there  appears 
Lieutenant  Romer  with  three  platoons. 
A  man  has  reported  that  he  had  been 
shot  at  out  of  our  house;  no  wonder,  if 
he  does  not  give  the  countersign." 

The  entry,  though  dated  Aug.  5,  was 
evidently  written  on  the  6th  or  later,  be- 
cause the  writer  refers  to  the  suspicious 
civilians  as  having  been  shot  on  that  day. 
Hoffman  does  not  indicate  of  what  of- 
fense these  civilians  were  guilty,  and 
there  is  no  positive  evidence  to  connect 
their  slaughter  with  the  report  made  by 
the  German  who  had  been  fired  on  by  his 
comrades.  They  were  "  suspicious  "  and 
that  was  enough. 

The  systematic  execution  of  ciilians, 
which  in  some  cases,  as  the  diary  just 
cited  shows,  was  founded  on  a  genuine 
mistake,  was  given  a  wide  extension 
through  the  Province  of  Liege.  In 
Soumagne  and  Micheroux  very  many 
civilians  were  summarily  shot.  In  a  field 
belonging  to  a  man  named  E.  fifty- 
six  or  fifty-seven  were  put  to  death.  A 
German  officer  said:  "  You  have  shot 
at  us."  One  of  the  villagers  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  speak,  and  said:  "  If  you 
think  these  people  fired  kill  me,  but  let 
them  go."  The  answer  was  three  volleys. 
The  survivors  were  bayoneted.  Their 
corpses  were  seen  in  the  field  that  night 
by  another  witness.  One  at  least  had 
been  mutilated.    These  were  not  the  only 


victims  in  Soumagne.  The  eyewitness  of 
the  massacre  saw,  on  his  way  home, 
twenty  bodies,  one  that  of  a  young  girl 
of  thirteen.  Another  witness  saw  nine- 
teen corpses  in  a  meadow. 

At  Blegny  Trembleur,  on  the  6th, 
some  civilians  were  captured  by  German 
soldiers,  who  took  steps  to  put  them  to 
death  forthwith,  but  were  restrained  by 
the  arrival  of  an  officer.  The  prisoners 
subsequently  were  taken  off  to  Battice 
and  five  were  shot  in  a  field.  No  reason 
was  assigned  for  their  murder. 

In  the  meantime  house  burners  were  at 
work.  On  the  6th,  Battice  was  destroyed 
in  part.  From  the  8th  to  the  10th  over 
300  houses  were  burned  at  Herve,  while 
mounted  men  shot  into  doors  and  win- 
dows to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  in- 
habitants. 

At  Heure  le  Romain  on  or  about  the 
15th  of  August  all  the  male  inhabitants, 
including  some  bedridden  old  men,  were 
imprisoned  in  the  church.  The  Burgo- 
master's brother  and  the  priest  were 
bayoneted. 

On  or  about  the  14th  and  15th  the  vil- 
lage of  Vise  was  completely  destroyed. 
Officers  directed  the  incendiaries,  who 
worked  methodically  with  benzine.  An- 
tiques and  china  were  removed  from  the 
houses,  before  their  destruction,  by  of- 
ficers, who  guarded  the  plunder,  revolver 
in  hand.  The  house  of  a  witness,  which 
contained  valuables  of  this  kind,  was 
protected  for  a  time  by  a  notice  posted  on 
the  door  by  officers.  This  notice  has  been 
produced  to  the  committee.  ^ After  the 
removal  of  the  valuables  this  house  also 
was  burned. 

German  soldiers  had  arrived  on  the 
15th  at  Blegny  Trembleur  and  seized  a 
quantity  of  wine.  On  the  16th  prisoners 
were  taken;  four,  including  the  priest 
and  the  Burgomaster,  were  shot.  On  the 
same  day  200  (so-called)  hostages  were 
seized  at  Flemalle  and  marched  off. 
There  they  were  told  that  unless  Fort 
Flemalle  surrendered  by  noon  they  would 
be  shot.  It  did  surrender  and  they  were 
released. 

Entries  in  a  German  diary  show  that 
on  the  19th  the  German  soldiers  gave 
themselves    up    to    debauchery    in    the 


i 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


559 


I 


streets  of  Liege,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
20th  (Thursday)  a  massacre  took  place 
in  the  streets,  beginning  near  the  Cafe 
Carpentier,  at  which  there  is  said  to  have 
been  a  dinner  attended  by  Russian  and 
other  students.  A  proclamation  issued 
by  General  Kolewe  on  the  following  day 
gave  the  German  version  of  the  affair, 
which  was  that  his  troops  had  been  fired 
on  by  Russian  students.  The  diary  states 
that  in  the  night  the  inhabitants  of 
I.iege  became  mutinous  and  that  fifty 
persons  were  shot.  The  Belgian  wit- 
nesses vehemently  deny  that  there  had 
been  any  provocation  given,  some  stating 
that  many  German  soldiers  were  drunk, 
others  giving  evidence  which  indicates 
that  the  affair  was  planned  beforehand. 
It  is  stated  that  at  5  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, long  before  the  shooting,  a  citizen 
was  warned  by  a  friendly  German  soldier 
not  to  go  out  that  night. 

Though  the  cause  of  the  massacre  is 
in  dispute,  the  results  are  known  with 
certainty.  The  Rue  des  Pitteurs  and 
houses  in  the  Place  de  I'Universite  and 
the  Quai  des  Pecheurs  were  systematic- 
ally fired  with  benzine,  and  many  in- 
habitants were  burned  alive  in  their 
houses,  their  efforts  to  escape  being  pre- 
vented by  rifle  fire.  Twenty  people  were 
shot,  while  trying  to  escape,  before  the 
eyes  of  one  of  the  witnesses.  The  Liege 
Fire  Brigade  turned  out  but  was  not 
allowed  to  extinguish  the  fire.  Its  carts, 
however,  were  usefully  employed  in  re- 
moving heaps  of  civilian  corpses  to  the 
Town  Hall.  The  fire  burned  on  through 
the  night  and  the  murders  continued  on 
the  following  day,  the  21st  Thirty-two 
civilians  were  killed  on  that  day  in  the 
Place  de  TUniversite  alone,  and  a  wit- 
ness states  that  this  was  followed  by  the 
rape  in  open  day  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
women  on  tables  in  the  square  itself. 

No  depositions  are  before  us  which 
deal  with  events  in  the  City  of  Liege 
after  this  date.  Outrages,  however,  con- 
tinued in  various  places  in  the  province. 

For  example,  on  or  about  the  21st  of 
August,  at  Pepinster  two  witnesses  were 
seized  as  hostages  and  were  threatened, 
together  with  five  others,  that,  unless 
they  could  discover  a  civilian  who  was  al- 


leged to  have  shot  a  soldier  in  the  leg, 
they  would  be  shot  themselves.  They  es- 
caped their  fate  because  one  of  the 
hostages  convinced  the  officer  that  the 
alleged  shooting,  if  it  took  place  at  all, 
took  place  in  the  Commune  of  Cornesse 
and  not  that  of  Pepinster,  whereupon  the 
Burgomaster  of  Cornesse,  who  was  old 
and  very  deaf,  was  shot  forthwith. 

The  outrages  on  the  civilian  population 
were  not  confined  to  the  villages  men- 
tioned above,  but  appear  to  have  been 
general  throughout  this  district  from  the 
very  outbreak  of  the  war. 

An  entry  in  one  of  the  diaries  says: 

"  We  crossed  the  Belgian  frontier  on 
15th  August,  1914,  at  11:50  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  then  we  went  steadily  along 
the  main  road  till  we  got  into  Belgium. 
Hardly  were  we  there  when  we  had  a 
horrible  sight.  Houses  were  burned 
down,  the  inhabitants  chased  away  and 
some  of  them  shot.  Not  one  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  houses  were  spared.  Everything 
was  plundered  and  burned.  Hardly  had 
we  passed  through  this  large  village  be- 
fore the  next  village  was  burned,  and  so 
it  went  on  continuously.  On  the  16th 
August,  1914,  the  large  village  of  Bar- 
chon  was  burned  down.  On  the  same  day 
we  crossed  the  bridge  over  the  Meuse  at 
11:50  in  the  morning.  We  then  arrived 
at  the  town  of  Wandre.  Here  the  houses 
were  spared,  but  everything  was  exam- 
ined. At  last  we  were  out  of  the  town 
and  everything  went  in  ruins.  In  one 
house  a  whole  collection  of  weapons  was 
found.  The  inhabitants  without  excep- 
tion were  shot.  This  shooting  was  heart- 
breaking, as  they  all  knelt  down  and 
prayed,  but  that  was  no  ground  for 
mercy.  A  few  shots  rang  out  and  they 
fell  back  into  the  green  grass  and  slept 
for  ever."  ["  Die  Einwohner  wurden 
samt  und  sonders  herausgeholt  und  ers- 
chossen:  aber  dieses  Erschiessen  war 
direkt  herzzerreisend  wie  sie  alle  knieben 
und  beteten,  aber  dies  half  kein  Erbar- 
men.  Ein  paar  Schiisse  krackten  und  die 
fielen  rucklings  in  das  griine  Gras  und 
erschliefen  fiir  immer."] 

VALLEYS  OF  MEUSE  AND 
SAMBRE. 

While  the  First  Army,  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Alexander  von  Kluck, 
was  mastering  the  passages  of  the  Meuse 
between  Vise  and  Namur,  and  carrying 
out  the  scheme  of  devastation  which  has 
already  been  described,  detachments  of 
the  Second  German  Army,  under  General 
von     Biilow,    were    proceeding    up    the 


k 


560 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


Meuse  valley  toward  Namur.  On  Wed- 
nesday, Aug.  12,  the  town  of  Huy,  which 
stands  half  way  between  Namur  and 
Liege,  was  seized.  On  Aug.  20  German 
guns  opened  fire  on  Namur  itself.  Three 
days  later  the  city  was  evacuated  by  its 
defenders,  and  the  Germans  proceeded 
along  the  valley  of  the  Sambre  through 
Tamines  and  Charleroi  to  Mons.  Mean- 
while a  force  under  General  von  Hausen 
had  advanced  upon  Dinant,  by  Laroche, 
Marche,  and  Achene,  and  on  Aug.  15 
made  an  unsuccessful  assault  upon  that 
town.  A  few  days  later  the  attack  was 
renewed  and  with  success,  and,  Dinant 
captured,  von  Hausen's  army  streamed 
into  France  by  Bouvines  and  Rethel,  fir- 
ing and  looting  the  villages  and  shooting 
the  inhabitants  as  they  passed  through. 

The  evidence  with  regard  to  the 
Province  of  Namur  is  less  voluminous 
than  that  relating  to  the  north  of  Bel- 
gium. This  is  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  testimony  of  soldiers  is  seldom 
available,  as  the  towns  and  villages  once 
occupied  by  the  Germans  were  seldom 
reoccupied  by  the  opposing  troops,  and 
the  number  of  refugees  who  have  reached 
England  from  the  Namur  district  is 
comparatively  small. 

ANDENNE. 
Andenne  is  a  small  town  on  the  Meuse 
between  Liege  and  Namur,  lying  opposite 
the  village  of  Seilles,  (with  which  it  is 
connected  by  a  bridge  over  the  river,) 
and  was  one  of  the  earlier  places  reached 
on  the  German  advance  up  the  Meuse. 
In  order  to  understand  the  story  of  the 
massacre  which  occurred  there  on  Thurs- 
day, Aug.  20,  the  following  facts  should 
be  borne  in  mind:  The  German  advance 
was  hotly  contested  by  Belgian  and 
French  troops.  From  daybreak  onward 
on  the  19th  of  August  the  Eighth  Belgian 
Regiment  of  the  Line  were  fighting  with 
the  German  troops  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Meuse  on  the  heights  of  Seilles.  At 
8  A.  M.  on  the  19th  the  Belgians  found 
further  resistance  impossible  in  the  dis- 
trict, and  retired  under  shelter  of  the 
forts  of  Namur.  As  they  retired  they 
blew  up  Andenne  Bridge.  The  first  Ger- 
mans arrived  at  Andenne  at  about  10 
A.  M.,  when  ten  or  twelve  Uhlans  rode 


into  the  town.  They  went  to  the  bridge 
and  found  it  was  destroyed.  They  then 
retired,  but  returned  about  half  an  hour 
afterward.  Soon  ofter  that  several 
thousand  Germans  entered  the  town  and 
m.ade  arrangements  to  spend  the  night 
there.  Thus,  on  the  evening  of  the  19th 
of  August,  a  large  body  of  German 
troops  were  in  possession  of  the  town, 
which  they  had  entered  without  any  re- 
sistance on  the  part  of  the  allied  armies 
or  of  the  civilian  population. 

About  4:30  on  the  next  afternoon  shots 
were  fired  from  the  left  bank  of  the 
Meuse  and  replied  to  by  the  Germans 
in  Andenne.  The  village  of  Andenne 
had  been  isolated  from  the  district  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Meuse  by  the  de- 
struction of  the  bridge,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing to  suggest  that  the  firing  on  the  left 
came  from  the  inhabitants  of  Andenne. 
Almost  immediately,  however,  the 
slaughter  of  these  inhabitants  began,  and 
continued  for  over  two  hours  and  in- 
termittently during  the  night.  Machine 
guns  were  brought  into  play.  The  Ger- 
man troops  were  said  to  be  for  the  most 
part  drunk,  and  they  certainly  murdered 
and  ravaged  unchecked.  A  reference  to 
the  German  diaries  in  the  appendix  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which 
the  army  gave  itself  up  to  drink  through 
the  month  of  August, 

When  the  fire  slackened  about  7 
o'clock,  many  of  the  townspeople  fled  in 
the  direction  of  the  quarries;  others  re- 
mained in  their  houses.  At  this  mo- 
ment the  whole  of  the  district  around  the 
station  was  on  fire  and  houses  were 
flaming  over  a  distance  of  two  kilometers 
in  the  direction  of  the  hamlet  of  Tra- 
maka.  The  little  farms  which  rise  one 
above  the  other  on  the  high  ground  of 
the  right  bank  were  also  burning. 

At  6  o'clock  on  the  following  morning, 
the  21st,  the  Germans  began  to  drag 
the  inhabitants  from  their  houses.  Men, 
women,  and  children  were  driven  into 
the  square,  where  the  sexes  were  sepa-  ■ 
rated.  Three  men  were  then  shot,  and  a  I 
fourth  was  bayoneted.  A  German  Colonel 
was  present  whose  intention  in  the  first 
place  appeared  to  be  to  shoot  all  the  men. 
A  young  German  girl  who  had  been  stay- 
ing in  the  neighborhood  interceded  with 


i 


ALLEGED    GERMAN  ATROCITIES 


561 


him,  and  after  some  parleying,  some  of 
the  prisoners  were  picked  out,  taken  to 
the  banks  of  the  Meuse  and  there  shot. 
The  Colonel  accused  the  population  of 
firing  on  the  soldiers,  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  think  that  any  of  them  had 
done  so,  and  no  inquiry  appears  to  have 
been  made. 

About  400  people  lost  their  lives  in  this 
massacre,  some  on  the  banks  of  the 
Meuse,  where  they  were  shot  according 
to  orders  given,  and  some  in  the  cellars 
of  the  houses  where  they  had  taken 
refuge.  Eight  men  belonging  to  one 
family  were  murdered.  Another  man 
was  placed  close  to  a  machine  gun  which 
was  fired  through  him.  His  wife  brought 
his  body  home  on  a  wheelbarrow.  The 
Germans  broke  into  her  house  and  ran- 
sacked it,  and  piled  up  all  the  eatables  in 
a  heap  on  the  floor  and  relieved  them- 
selves upon  it. 

A  hairdresser  was  murdered  in  his 
kitchen  where  he  was  sitting  with  a  child 
on  each  knee.  A  paralytic  was  mur- 
dered in  his  garden.  After  this  came  the 
general  sack  of  the  town.  Many  of  the 
inhabitants  who  escaped  the  massacre 
were  kept  as  prisoners  and  compelled  to 
clear  the  houses  of  corpses  and  bury 
them  in  trenches.  These  prisoners  were 
subsequently  used  as  a  shelter  and  pro- 
tection for  a  pontoon  bridge  which  the 
Germans  had  built  across  the  river,  and 
were  so  used  to  prevent  the  Belgian  forts 
from  firing  upon  it. 

A  few  days  later  the  Germans  cele- 
brated a  Fete  Nocturne  in  the  square. 
Hot  wine,  looted  in  the  town,  was  drunk, 
and  the  women  were  compelled  to  give 
three  cheers  for  the  Kaiser  and  to  sing 
"  Deutschland  viber  Alles." 

NAMUR  DISTRICT. 

The  fight  around  Namur  was  accom- 
panied by  sporadic  outrages.  Near 
Marchovelette  wounded  men  were  mur- 
dered in  a  farm  by  German  soldiers.  The 
farm  was  set  on  fire.  A  German  cavalry- 
man rode  away  holding  in  front  of  him 
one  of  the  farmer's  daughters  crying  and 
disheveled. 

At  Temploux,  on  the  23d  of  August,  a 
professor  of  modern  languages  at  the 
College  of  Namur  was  shot  at  his  front 


door  by  a  German  officer.  Before  he 
died  he  asked  the  officer  the  reason  for 
this  brutality,  and  the  officer  replied 
that  he  had  lost  his  temper  because  some 
civilians  had  fired  upon  the  Germans 
as  they  entered  the  village.  This  al- 
legation was  not  proved.  The  Belgian 
Army  was  still  operating  in  the  district, 
and  it  may  well  be  that  it  was  from 
them  that  the  shots  in  question  proceeded. 
After  the  murder  the  house  was  burned. 

On  the  24th  and  25th  of  August  mas- 
sacres were  carried  out  at  Surice,  in 
which  many  persons  belonging  to  the 
professional  classes,  as  well  as  others, 
were  killed. 

Namur  was  entered  on  the  24th  of 
August.  The  troops  signalized  their 
entry  by  firing  on  a  crowd  of  150  un- 
armed, unresisting  civilians,  ten  alone  of 
whom  escaped. 

A  witness  of  good  standing  who  was 
in  Namur  describes  how  the  town  was 
set  on  fire  systematically  in  six  dif- 
ferent places.  As  the  inhabitants  fled 
from  the  burning  houses  they  were  shot 
by  the  German  troops.  Not  less  than 
140  houses  were  burned. 

On  the  25th  the  hospital  at  Namur  was 
set  on  fire  with  inflammable  pastilles, 
the  pretext  being  that  soldiers  in  the 
hospital  had  fired  upon  the  Germans. 

At  Denee,  on  the  28th  of  August,  a 
Belgian  soldier  who  had  been  taken 
prisoner  saw  tree  civilian  fellow-prison- 
ers shot.  One  was  a  cripple  and  another 
an  old  man  of  eighty  who  was  paralyzed. 
It  was  alleged  by  two  German  soldiers 
that  these  men  had  shot  at  them  with 
rifles.  Neither  of  them  had  a  rifle,  nor 
had  they  anything  in  their  pockets.  The 
witness  actually  saw  the  Germans  search 
them  and  nothing  was  found. 

CHARLEROI  DISTRICT. 

In  Tamines,  a  large  village  on  the 
Meuse  between  Namur  and  Charleroi,  the 
advance  guard  of  the  German  Army  ap- 
peared in  the  first  fortnight  in  August, 
and  in  this  as  well  as  in  other  villages 
in  the  district,  it  is  proved  that  a  large 
number  of  civilians,  among  them  aged 
people,  women,  and  children,  were  de- 
liberately killed  by  the  soldiers.  One 
witness  describes  how  she  saw  a  Belgian 


562 


THE   NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


boy  of  fifteen  shot  on  the  village  green 
at  Tamines,  and  a  day  or  two  later  on 
the  same  green  a  little  girl  and  her  two 
brothers,  (name  given,)  who  were  look- 
ing at  the  German  soldiers,  were  killed 
before  her  eyes  for  no  apparent  reason. 

The  principal  massacre  at  Tamines 
took  place  about  Aug.  23.  A  witness  de- 
scribes how  he  saw  the  public  square 
littered  with  corpses,  and  after  a  search 
found  those  of  his  wife  and  child,  a 
little  girl  of  seven. 

Another  witness,  who  lived  near 
Tamines,  went  there  on  Aug.  27,  and 
says:  "  It  is  absolutely  destroyed  and 
a  mass  of  ruins." 

At  Morlanwelz,  about  this  time,  the 
British  Army,  together  with  some  French 
cavalry,  were  compelled  to  retire  before 
the  German  troops.  The  latter  took 
the  Burgomaster  and  his  man  servant 
prisoner  and  shot  them  both  in  front  of 
the  Hotel  deVille  at  Peronne,  (Belgium,) 
where  the  bodies  were  left  in  the  street 
for  forty-eight  hours.  They  burned  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  and  sixty-two  houses.  The 
usual  accusation  of  firing  by  civilians 
was  made.  It  is  strenuously  denied  by 
the  witness,  who  declares  that  three  or 
four  days  before  the  arrival  of  the  Ger- 
mans, circulars  had  been  distributed  to 
every  house  and  placards  had  been  posted 
in  the  town  ordering  the  deposit  of  all 
firearms  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  that 
this  order  had  been  complied  with. 

At  Monceau-sur-Sambre,  on  the  21st 
of  August,  a  young  man  of  eighteen  was 
shot  in  his  garden.  His  father  and 
brother  were  seized  in  their  house  and 
shot  in  the  courtyard  of  a  neighboring 
country  house.  The  son  was  shot  first. 
The  father  was  compelled  to  stand  close 
to  the  feet  of  his  son's  corpse  and  to  fix 
his  eyes  upon  him  while  he  himself  was 
shot.  The  corpse  of  the  young  man 
shot  in  the  garden  was  carried  into  the 
house  and  put  on  a  bed.  The  next  morn- 
ing the  Germans  asked  where  the  corpse 
was.  When  they  found  it  was  in  the 
house,  they  fetched  straw,  packed  it 
around  the  bed  on  which  the  corpse  was 
lying,  and  set  fire  to  it  and  burned  the 
house  down.  A  great  many  houses  were 
burned  in  Monceau. 

A  vivid  picture  of  the  events  at  Mon- 


tigny-sur-Sambre  has  been  given  by  a 
witness  of  high  standing  who  had  ex- 
ceptional opportunities  of  observation. 
In  the  early  morning  of  Saturday,  Aug. 
22,  Uhlans  reached  Montigny,  The 
French  Army  was  about  four  kilometers 
away,  but  on  a  hill  near  the  village  were 
a  detachment  of  French,  about  150  to  200 
strong,  lying  in  ambush.  At  about  1:30 
o'clock  the  main  body  of  the  German 
Army  began  to  arrive.  Marching  with 
them  were  two  groups  of  so-called  host- 
ages, about  400  in  all.  Of  these,  300 
were  surrounded  with  a  rope  held  by 
the  front,  rear,  and  outside  men.  The 
French  troops  in  ambush  opened  fire, 
and  immediately  the  Germans  commenced 
to  destroy  the  town.  Incendiaries  with 
a  distinctive  badge  on  their  arm  went 
down  the  main  street  throwing  handfuls 
of  inflammatory  and  explosive  pastilles 
into  the  houses.  These  pastilles  were  car- 
ried by  them  in  bags,  and  in  this  way 
about  130  houses  were  destroyed  in  the 
main  street.  By  10:30  P.  M.  some  200 
more  hostages  had  been  collected.  These 
were  drawn  from  Montigny  itself,  and  on 
that  night  about  fifty  men,  women,  and 
children  were  placed  on  the  bridge  over 
the  Sambre  and  kept  there  all  night. 
The  bridge  was  similarly  guarded  for  a 
day  or  two,  apparently  either  from  a 
fear  that  it  was  mined  or  in  the  belief 
that  these  men,  women,  and  children 
would  afford  some  protection  to  the  Ger- 
mans in  the  event  of  the  French  at- 
tempting to  storm  the  bridge.  At  one 
period  of  the  German  occupation  of 
Montigny,  eight  nuns  of  the  Order  of 
Ste.  Marie  were  captives  on  the  bridge. 
House  burning  was  accompanied  by 
murder,  and  on  the  Monday  morning 
twenty-seven  civilians  from  one  parish 
alone  were  seen  lying  dead  in  the  hos- 
pital. 

Other  outrages  committed  at  Jumet, 
Bouffioulx,  Charleroi,  Marchiennes-au- 
Pont,  Couillet,  and  Maubeuge  are  de- 
scribed in  the  depositions  given  in  the 
appendix. 

DINANT. 

A  clear  statement  of  the  outrages  at 
Dinant,  which  many  travelers  will  recall 
as  a  singularly  picturesque  town  on  the 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


563 


Meuse,  is  given  by  one  witness,  who  says 
that  the  Germans  began  burning  houses 
in  the  Rue  St.  Jacques  on  the  21st  of 
August,  and  that  every  house  in  the 
street  was  burned.  On  the  following  day 
an  engagement  took  place  between  the 
French  and  the  Germans,  and  the  wit- 
ness spent  the  whole  day  in  the  cellar 
of  a  bank  with  his  wife  and  children. 
On  the  morning  of  the  23d,  about  5 
o'clock,  firing  ceased,  and  almost  im- 
mediately afterward  a  party  of  Germans 
came  to  the  house.  They  rang  the  bell 
and  began  to  batter  at  the  door  and 
windows.  The  witness's  wife  went  to 
the  door  and  two  or  three  Germans  came 
in.  The  family  were  ordered  out  into 
the  street.  There  they  found  another 
family,  and  the  two  families  were  driven 
Avlth  their  hands  above  their  heads  along 
the  Rue  Grande.  All  the  houses  in  the 
street  were  burning.  The  party  was 
eventually  put  into  a  forge  where  there 
were  a  number  of  other  prisoners,  about 
a  hundred  in  all,  and  were  kept  there 
from  11  A.  M.  till  2  P.  M.  They  were 
then  taken  to  the  prison.  There  they 
were  assembled  in  a  courtyard  and 
searched.  No  arms  were  found.  They 
were  then  passed  through  into  the  prison 
itself  and  put  into  cells.  The  witness  and 
his  wife  were  separated  from  each  other. 
During  the  next  hour  the  witness  heard 
rifle  shots  continually,  and  noticed  in 
the  corner  of  a  courtyard  leading  off  the 
row  of  cells  the  body  of  a  young  man 
with  a  mantle  thrown  over  it.  He  recog- 
nized the  mantle  as  having  belonged  to 
his  wife.  The  witness's  daughter  was 
allowed  to  go  out  to  see  what  had  hap- 
pened to  her  mother,  and  the  witness 
himself  was  allowed  to  go  across  the 
courtyard  half  an  hour  afterward  for 
the  same  purpose.  He  found  his  wife 
lying  on  the  floor  in  a  room.  She  had 
bullet  wounds  in  four  places,  but  was 
alive  and  told  her  husband  to  return  to 
the  children,  and  he  did  so.  About  5 
o'clock  in  the  evening  he  saw  the  Ger- 
mans bringing  out  all  the  young  and 
middle-aged  men  from  the  cells,  and 
ranging  their  prisoners,  to  the  number 
of  forty,  in  three  rows  in  the  middle  of 
the  courtyard.  About  twenty  Germans 
were  drawn  up  opposite,  but  before  any- 


thing was  done  there  was  a  tremendous 
fusillade  from  some  point  near  the  prison 
and  the  civilians  were  hurried  back  to 
their  cells.  Half  an  hour  later  the  same 
forty  men  were  brought  back  into  the 
courtyard.  Almost  immediately  there 
was  a  second  fusillade  like  the  first  and 
and  they  were  driven  back  to  the  cells 
again.  About  7  o'clock  the  witness  and 
other  prisoners  were  brought  out  of  their 
cells  and  marched  out  of  the  prison. 
They  went  between  two  lines  of  troops 
to  Roche  Bayard,  about  a  kilometer  away. 
An  hour  later  the  women  and  children 
were  separated  and  the  prisoners  were 
brought  back  to  Dinant,  passing  the 
prison  on  their  way.  Just  outside  the 
prison  the  witness  saw  three  lines  of 
bodies  which  he  recognized  as  being  those 
of  neighbors.  They  were  nearly  all  dead, 
but  he  noticed  moevment  in  some  of  them. 
There  were  about  120  bodies.  The  prison- 
ers were  then  taken  up  to  the  top  of 
the  hill  outside  Dinant  and  compelled  to 
stay  there  till  8  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
On  the  following  day  they  were  put  into 
cattle  trucks  and  taken  thence  to  Coblenz. 
For  three  months  they  remained  prison- 
ers in  Germany. 

Unarmed  civilians  were  killed  in  masses 
at  other  places  near  the  prison.  About 
ninety  bodies  were  seen  lying  on  the  top 
of  one  another  in  a  grass  square  op- 
posite the  convent.  They  included  many- 
relatives  of  a  witness  whose  deposition 
will  be  found  in  the  appendix.  This  wit- 
ness asked  a  German  officer  why  her 
husband  had  been  shot,  and  he  told  her 
that  it  was  because  two  of  her  sons  had 
been  in  the  civil  guard  and  had  shot  at 
the  Germans.  As  a  matter  of  fact  one 
of  her  sons  was  at  that  time  in  Liege 
and  the  other  in  Brussels.  It  is  stated 
that,  besides  the  ninety  corpses  referred 
to  above,  sixty  corpses  of  civilians  were; 
recovered  from  a  hole  in  the  brewery 
yard  and  that  forty-eight  bodies  of  womert 
and  children  were  found  in  a  garden.. 
The  town  was  systematically  set  on  fire 
by  hand  grenades. 

Another  witness  saw  a  little  girl  of 
seven,  one  of  whose  legs  was  broken 
and  the  other  injured  by  a  bayonet. 

We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
civilian  population  of  Dinant  gave  any 


564 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


provocation,  or  that  any  other  defense 
can  be  put  forward  to  justify  the  treat- 
ment inflicted  upon  its  citizens. 

As  regards  this  town  and  the  advance 
of  the  German  Army  from  Dinant  to 
Rethel  on  the  Aisne,  a  graphic  account 
is  given  in  the  diary  of  a  Saxon  officer/ 
This  diary  confirms  what  is  clear  from 
the  evidence  as  a  whole,  both  as  regards 
these  and  other  districts,  that  civilians 
were  constantly  taken  as  prisoners,  often 
dragged  from  their  homes,  and  shot  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  authorities  with- 
out any  charge  being  made  against  them. 
An  event  of  the  kind  is  thus  referred  to 
in  a  diary  entry: 

"  Apparently  200  men  were  shot. 
There  must  have  been  some  innocent  men 
among  them.  In  future  we  shall  have 
to  hold  an  inquiry  as  to  their  guilt  in- 
stead of  shooting  them" 

The  shooting  of  inhabitants,  women  and 
children  as  well  as  men,  went  on  after 
the  Germans  had  passed  Dinant  on  their 
way  into  France.  The  houses  and  vil- 
lages were  pillaged  and  property  wan- 
toly  destroped. 

AERSCHOT,      MALINES,      VIL- 
VORDE,  AND  LOUVAIN  QUAD- 
RANGLE. 

About  Aug.  9  a  powerful  screen  of 
cavalry  masking  the  general  advance  of 
the  First  and  Second  German  Armies  was 
thrown  forward  into  the  provinces  of 
Brabant  and  Limburg.  The  progress  of 
the  invaders  was  contested  at  several 
points,  probably  near  Tirlemont  on  the 
Louvain  road,  and  at  Diest,  Haelen,  and 
Schaffen,  on  the  Aerschot  road,  by  de- 
tachments of  the  main  Belgian  Army, 
which  was  drawn  up  upon  the  line  of 
the  Dyle.  In  their  preliminary  skirmishes 
the  Belgians  more  than  once  gained  ad- 
vantages, but  after  the  fall  on  Aug.  15 
of  the  last  of  the  Liege  forts  the  great 
line  of  railway  which  runs  through  Liege 


1  A  copy  of  this  diary  was  given  by  tVie 
French  military  authorities  to  the  British 
Headquarters  Staff  in  France,  and  the  latter 
have  communicated  It  to  the  committee.  It 
will  be  found  in  Appendix  B  after  the  Ger- 
man diaries  shown  to  us  by  the  British  War 
Office. 


toward  Brussels  and  Antwerp  in  one 
direction  and  toward  Namur  and  the 
French  frontier  in  another  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Germans.  From  this  mo- 
ment the  advance  of  the  main  army  was 
swift  and  irresistible.  On  Aug.  19  Lou- 
vain and  Aerschot  were  occupied  by  the 
Germans,  the  former  without  resistance, 
the  latter  after  a  struggle  which  resulted 
early  in  the  day  in  the  retirement  of  the 
Belgian  Army  upon  Antwerp.  On  Aug. 
20  the  invaders  made  their  entry  into 
Brussels. 

The  quadrangle  of  territory  bounded 
by  the  towns  of  Aerschot,  Malines, 
Vilvorde,  and  Louvain  is  a  rich  agricul- 
tural tract,  studded  with  small  villages 
and  comprising  two  considerable  cities, 
Louvain  and  Malines.  This  district  on 
Aug.  19  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Germans,  and  owing  perhaps  to  its 
proximity  to  Antwerp,  then  the  seat  of 
the  Belgian  Government  and  headquar- 
ters of  the  Belgian  Army,  it  became 
from  that  date  a  scene  of  chronic  out- 
rage, with  respect  to  which  the  commit- 
tee has  received  a  great  mass  of  evi- 
dence. 

The  witnesses  to  these  occurrences  are 
for  the  most  part  imperfectly  educated 
persons  v/ho  cannot  give  accurate  dates, 
so  it  is  impossible  in  some  cases  to  fix 
the  dates  of  particular  crimes;  and  the 
total  number  of  outrages  is  so  great 
that  we  cannot  refer  to  all  of  them  in 
the  body  of  the  report  or  give  all  the 
depositions  relating  to  them  in  the  ap- 
pendix. The  main  events,  however,  are 
abundantly  clear,  and  group  themselves 
naturally  around  three  dates — Aug.  19, 
Aug.  25,  and  Sept.  11. 

The  arrival  of  the  Germans  in  the 
district  on  Aug.  19  was  marked  by  sys- 
tematic massacres  and  other  outrages 
at  Aerschot  itself,  Gelrode,  and  some 
other  villages. 

On  Aug.  25  the  Belgians,  sallying 
out  of  the  defenses  of  Antwerp,  attacked 
the  German  positions  at  Malines,  drove 
the  enemy  from  the  town,  and  reoccu- 
pied  many  of  the  villages,  such  as 
Sempst,  Hofstade,  and  Eppeghem,  in  the 
neighborhood.     And,   just  as   numerous 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


565 


outrages  against  the  civilian  population 
had  been  the  immediate  consequence  of 
the  temporary  repulse  of  the  German 
vanguard  from  Fort  Fleron,  so  a  large 
body  of  depositions  testify  to  the  fact 
that  a  sudden  outburst  of  cruelty  was 
the  response  of  the  German  Army  to 
the  Belgian  victory  at  Malines.  The 
advance  of  the  German  Army  to  the 
Dyle  had  been  accompanied  by  repre- 
hensible, and,  indeed,  (in  certain  cases,) 
terrible  outrages,  but  these  had  been, 
it  would  appear,  isolated  acts,  some  of 
which  are  attributed  by  witnesses  to 
indignation  at  the  check  at  Haelen,  while 
others  may  have  been  the  consequence 
of  dnmkenness.  But  the  battle  of  Ma- 
lines had  results  of  a  different  order. 
In  the  first  place,  it  was  the  occasion 
of  numerous  murders  committed  by  the 
German  Army  in  retreating  through  the 
villages  of  Sempst,  Hofstade,  Eppeghem, 
Elewyt,  and  elsewhere.  In  the  second 
place,  it  led,  as  it  will  be  shown  later, 
to  the  massacres,  plunderings,  and  burn- 
ings at  Louvain,  the  signal  for  which 
was  provided  by  shots  exchanged  be- 
tween the  German  Army  retreating  after 
its  repulse  at  Malines  and  some  members 
of  the  German  garrison  of  Louvain  who 
mistook  their  fellow-countrymen  for  Bel- 
gians. Lastly,  the  encounter  at  Malines 
seems  to  have  stung  the  Germans  into 
establishing  a  reign  of  terror  in  so  much 
of  the  district  comprised  in  the  quad- 
rangle as  remained  in  their  power.  Many 
houses  were  destroyed  and  their  contents 
stolen.  Hundreds  of  prisoners  were 
locked  up  in  various  churches  and  were 
in  some  instances  marched  about  from 
one  village  to  another.  Some  of  these 
were  finally  conducted  to  Louvain  and 
linked  up  with  the  bands  of  prisoners 
taken  in  Louvain  itself,  and  sent  to 
Germany  and  elsewhere. 

On  Sept.  11,  when  the  Germans  were 
driven  out  of  Aerschot  across  the  River 
Demer  by  a  successful  sortie  from  Ant- 
werp, murders  of  civilians  were  taking 
place  in  the  villages  which  the  Belgian 
Army  then  recaptured  'from  the  Ger- 
mans. These  crimes  bear  a  strong  re- 
semblance to  those  committed  in  Hof- 
stade and  other  villages  after  the  battle 
of  Malines. 


AERSCHOT  AND  DISTRICT. 

Period  I.,  (Aug.  19  and  following  days.) 
AERSCHOT. 

The  German  Army  entered  Aerschot 
quite  early  in  the  morning.  Workmen 
going  to  their  work  were  seized  and 
taken  as  hostages. 

The  Germans,  apparently  already  ir- 
ritated, proceeded  to  make  a  search  for 
the  priests  and  threatened  to  burn  the 
convent  if  the  priests  should  happen  to 
be  found  there.  One  priest  was  accused 
of  inciting  the  inhabitants  to  fire  on 
the  troops,  and  when  he  denied  it  the 
Burgomaster  was  blamed  by  the  officer. 
The  priest  then  showed  the  officer  the 
notices  on  the  walls,  signed  by  the  Bur- 
gomaster, warning  the  inhabitants  not 
to  intervene  in  hostilities. 

It  appears  that  they  accused  the  priest 
of  having  fired  at  the  Germans  from 
the  tower  of  the  church.  This  is  im- 
portant, because  it  is  one  of  the  not 
infrequent  cases  in  which  the  Germans 
ascribed  firing  from  a  church  to  priests, 
whereas  in  fact  this  firing  came  from 
Belgian  soldiers,  and  also  because  it 
seems  to  show  that  the  Germans  from 
the  moment  of  their  arrival  in  Aerschot 
were  seeking  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  the 
inhabitants,  and  this  goes  far  to  explain 
their  subsequent  conduct.  Hostages  were 
collected  until  200  men,  some  of  whom 
were  invalids,  were  gathered  together. 

M.  Tielmans,  the  Burgomaster,  was 
then  ordered  by  some  German  officers 
to  address  the  crowd  and  to  tell  them 
to  hand  in  any  weapons  which  they 
might  have  in  their  possession  at  the 
Town  Hall,  and  to  warn  them  that  any 
one  who  was  found  with  weapons  would 
be  killed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
arms  in  the  possession  of  civilians  had 
already  been  collected  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war.  The  Burgomaster's  speech 
resulted  in  the  delivery  of  one  gun, 
which  had  been  used  for  pigeon  shoot- 
ing. The  hostages  were  then  released. 
Throughout  the  day  the  town  was  loot- 
ed by  the  soldiers.  Many  shop  windows 
were  broken,  and  the  contents  of  the 
shop  fronts  ransacked. 

A  shot  was  fired  about  7  o'clock  in 
the    evening,    by    which    time    many    of 


566 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  soldiers  were  drunk.  The  Germans 
were  not  of  one  mind  as  to  the  direction 
from  which  the  shot  proceeded.  Some 
said  it  came  from  a  jeweler's  shop,  and 
some  said  it  came  from  other  houses. 
No  one  was  hit  by  this  shot,  but  there- 
after German  soldiers  began  to  fire  in 
various  directions  at  people  in  the 
streets. 

It  is  said  that  a  German  General  or 
Colonel  was  killed  at  the  Burgomaster's 
house.  As  far  as  the  committee  have 
been  able  to  ascertain,  the  identity  of  the 
officer  has  never  been  revealed.  The 
German  version  of  the  story  is  that  he 
was  killed  by  the  15-year-old  son  of  the 
Burgomaster.  The  committee,  however, 
is  satisfied  by  the  evidence  of  several 
independent  witnesses  that  some  German 
officers  were  standing  at  the  window  of 
the  Burgomaster's  house,  that  a  large 
body  of  German  troops  was  in  the 
square,  that  some  of  these  soldiers  were 
drunk  and  let  off  their  rifles,  that  in 
the  volley  one  of  the  officers  standing 
at  the  window  of  the  Burgomaster's 
house  fell,  that  at  the  time  of  the  acci- 
dent the  wife  and  son  of  the  Burgo- 
master had  gone  to  take  refuge  in  the 
cellar,  and  that  neither  the  Burgomaster 
nor  his  son  were  in  the  least  degree 
responsible  for  the  occurrence  which 
served  as  the  pretext  for  their  subse- 
quent execution,  and  for  the  firing  and 
sack  of  the  town.* 

The  houses  were  set  on  fire  with  spe- 


cial apparatus,  while  people  were 
dragged  from  their  houses,  already 
burning,  and  some  were  shot  in  the 
streets. 

Many  civilians  were  marched  to  a 
field  on  the  road  to  Louvain  and  kept 
there  all  night.  Meanwhile  many  of  the 
inhabitants  were  collected  in  the  square. 
By  this  time  very  many  of  the  troops 
were  drunk. 

On  the  following  day  a  number  of 
the  civilians  were  shot  under  the  orders 
of  an  officer,  together  with  the  Burgo- 
master, his  brother,  and  his  son.  Of  this 
incident,  which  is  spoken  to  by  many 
witnesses,  a  clear  account  is  given: 

"German  soldiers  came  and  took  hold  of 
me  and  every  other  man  they  could  see, 
and  eventually  there  were  about  sixty  of 
us,  including  some  of  80,  (i.  e.,  years  of 
age,)  and  they  made  us  accompany  them 
*  *  *  all  the  prisoners  had  to  walk 
with  their  hands  above  their  heads.  We 
were  then  stopped  and  made  to  stand 
in  a  line,  and  an  officer,  a  big  fat  man 
who  had  a  bluish  uniform  *  *  * 
came  along  the  line  and  picked  out"  the 
Burgomaster,  his  brother,  and  his  son, 
and  some  men  who  had  been  employed 
under  the  Red  Cross.  In  all,  ten  men 
were  picked  out  *  *  *  th?  remain- 
der were  made  to  turn  their  backs  upon 
the  ten.  I  then  heard  some  shots  fired, 
and  I  and  the  other  men  turned  around 
and  we  saw  all  the  ten  men,  including 
the  Burgomaster,  were  lying  on  the 
ground." 

This  incident  is  spoken  to  by  other 
witnesses  also.  Some  of  their  deposi- 
tions appear  in  the  appendix. 


•This  account  agrees  substantially  with 
that  given  in  a  letter  written  by  Mme.  Tiel- 
mans,  the  Burgomaster's  wife,  which  is 
printed  in  the  fifth  report  of  the  Belgian 
Commission.     The  letter  is  as  follows : 

This  is  how  it  happened.  About  4  in 
the  afternoon  my  husband  was  giving  ci- 
gars to  the  sentinels  stationed  at  the 
door.  I  saw  that  the  General  and  his 
aides  de  camp  were  looking  at  us  from 
the  balcony  and  told  him  to  come  indoors. 
Just  then  I  looked  toward  the  Grand 
Place,  where  more  than  2,000  Germans 
were  encamped,  and  distinctly  saw  two 
columns  of  smoke  followed  by  a  fusil- 
lade. The  Germans  were  firing  on  the 
houses  and  forcing  their  way  into  them. 
My  husband,  children,  servant,  and  my- 
self had  just  time  to  dash  into  the  stair- 
case leading  to  the  cellar.  The  Germans 
were  even  firing  into  the  passages  of  the 
houses.  After  a  few  minutes  of  inde- 
scriable  horror,  one  of  the  General's 
aides  de  camp  came  down  and  said : 
*'  The  General  is  dead.  Where  is  the 
Burgomaster?  "  My  husband  said  to  me, 
"  This  will  be  serious  for  me."  As  he 
went  forward  I  said  to  the  aide  de  camp : 
"  You  can  see  for  yourself,  Sir,  that  my 


husband  did  not  fire."  "  That  makes  no 
difference,"  he  said.  "  He  is  responsi- 
ble." My  husband  was  taken  off.  My 
son,  who  was  at  my  side,  took  us  into 
another  cellar.  The  same  aide  de  camp 
came  and  dragged  him  out  and  made  him 
walk  in  front  of  him,  kicking  him  as  he 
went.  The  poor  boy  could  hardly  walk. 
That  morning  when  they  came  to  the 
town  the  Germans  had  fired  through  the 
windows  of  the  houses,  and  a  bullet  had 
come  into  the  room  where  my  son  was, 
and  he  had  been  wounded  in  the  calf  by 
the  ricochet.  After  my  husband  and  son 
had  gone  I  was  dragged  all  through  the 
house  by  Germans,  with  their  revolvers 
leveled  at  my  head.  I  was  compelled  to 
see  their  dead  General.  Then  my  daugh- 
ter and  I  were  thrown  into  the  street 
without  cloaks  or  anything.  We  were 
massed  in  the  Grand  Place,  surrounded 
by  a  cordon  of  soldiers,  and  compelled 
to  witness  the  destruction  of  our  beloved 
town.  And  then,  by  the  hideous  light 
of  the  fire,  I  saw  them  for  the  last  time, 
about  1  in  the  morning,  my  husband  and 
my  boy  tied  together.  My  brotJier-in-law 
was  behind  them.  They  were  being  led 
out  to  execution. 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


567 


GELRODE. 

On  the  same  day  at  Gelrode,  a  small 
village  close  to  Aerschot,  twenty-five 
civilians  were  imprisoned  in  the  church. 
Seven  were  taken  out  by  fifteen  German 
soldiers  in  charge  of  an  officer  just  out- 
side. One  of  the  seven  tried  to  run 
away,  whereupon  all  the  six  who  re- 
mained behind  alive  were  shot.  This 
was  on  the  night  of  Aug.  19.  No  prov- 
ocation whatever  had  been  given.  The 
men  in  question  had  been  searched,  and 
no  arms  had  been  found  upon  them. 
Here,  as  at  Aerschot,  precautions  had 
been  taken  previously  to  secure  the  de- 
livery up  of  all  arms  in  the  hands  of 
civilians. 

Some  of  the  survivors  were  compelled 
to  dig  graves  for  the  seven.  At  a  later 
date  the  corpses  were  disinterred  and 
reburied  in  consecrated  ground.  The 
marks  of  the  bullets  in  the  brick  wall 
against  which  the  six  were  shot  were 
then  still  plainly  visible.  On  the  same 
day  a  woman  was  shot  by  some  German 
soldiers  as  she  was  walking  home.  This 
was  done  at  a  distance  of  100  yards  and 
for  no  apparent  reason. 

An  account  of  a  murder  by  an  officer 
at  Campenhout  is  given  In  a  later  part 
of  this  report,  and  depositions  relating 
to  Rotselaer,  Tremeloo,  and  Wespelaer 
will  be  found  in  the  appendix. 

The  committee  is  specially  impressed 
by  the  character  of  the  outrages  com- 
mitted in  the  smaller  villages.  Many  of 
these  are  exceptionally  shocking  and  can- 
not be  regarded  as  contemplated  or  pre- 
scribed by  the  responsible  commanders 
of  the  troops  by  whom  they  were  com- 
mitted. The  inference,  however,  which 
we  draw  from  these  occurrences  is  that 
when  once  troops  have  been  encouraged 
in  a  career  of  terrorism  the  more  sav- 
age and  brutal  natures,  of  whom  there 
are  some  in  every  large  army,  are  liable 
to  run  to  wild  excess,  more  particularly 
in  those  regions  where  they  are  least 
subject  to  observation  and  control. 

AERSCHOT  AND  DISTRICT. 

Period  II.,  (Aug.  25.) 
Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Ma- 
lines,  which  resulted   in  the  evacuation 


by  the  Germans  of  the  district  of  Ma- 
lines,  Sempst,  Hofstade,  and  Eppeghem, 
a  long  series  of  murders  were  committed 
either  just  before  or  during  the  retreat 
of  the  army.  Many  of  the  inhabitants 
who  were  unarmed,  including  women  and 
young  children,  were  killed — some  of 
them  under  revolting  circumstances. 

Evidence  given  goes  to  show  that  the 
death  of  these  villagers  was  due  not  to 
accident,  but  to  deliberate  purpose.  The 
wounds  were  generally  stabs  or  cuts,  and 
for  the  most  part  appear  to  have  been 
inflicted  with  the  bayonet. 

MALINES. 

In  Malines  itself  many  bodies  were 
seen.  One  witness  saw  a  German  sol- 
dier cut  a  woman's  breasts  after  he  had 
murdered  her,  and  saw  many  other  dead 
bodies  of  women  in  the  streets. 

HOFSTADE. 

In  Hofstade  a  number  of  houses  had 
been  set  on  fire  and  many  corpses  were 
seen,  some  in  houses,  some  in  back  yards, 
and  some  in  the  streets. 

Several  examples  are  given  below. 

Two  witnesses  speak  to  having  seen 
the  body  of  a  young  man  pierced  by 
bayonet  thrusts  with  the  wrists  cut  also. 

On  a  side  road  the  corpse  of  a  civ- 
ilian was  seen  on  his  doorstep  with  a 
bayonet  wound  in  his  stomach,  and  by 
his  side  the  dead  body  of  a  boy  of  5  or  6 
with  his  hands  nearly  severed. 

The  corpses  of  a  woman  and  boy 
were  seen  at  the  blacksmith's.  They  had 
been  killed  with  the  bayonet. 

In  a  cafe  a  young  man,  also  killed  with 
the  bayonet,  was  holding  his  hands  to- 
gether as  if  in  the  attitude  of  suppli- 
cation. 

Two  young  women  were  lying  in  the 
back  yard  of  the  house.  One  had  her 
breasts  cut  off,  the  other  had  been 
stabbed. 

A  young  man  had  been  hacked  with 
the  bayonet  until  his  entrails  protruded. 
He  also  had  his  hands  joined  in  the  atti- 
tude of  prayer. 

In  the  garden  of  a  house  in  the  main 
street   bodies   of   two   women   were    ob- 


568 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


served,  and  in  another  house  the  body 
of  a  boy  of  16  with  two  bayonet  wounds 
in  the  chest. 

SEMPST. 

In  Sempst  a  similar  condition  of  af- 
fairs existed.  Houses  were  burning  and 
in  some  of  them  were  the  charred  re- 
mains of  civilians. 

In  a  bicycle  shop  a  witness  saw  the 
burned  corpse  of  a  man.  Other  witnesses 
speak  to  this  incident. 

Another  civilian,  unarmed,  was  shot 
as  he  was  running  away.  As  will  be 
remembered,  all  the  arms  had  been  given 
up  some  time  before  by  order  of  the 
Burgomaster. 

The  corpse  of  a  man  with  his  legs  cut 
off,  who  was  partly  bound,  was  seen  by 
another  witness,  who  also  saw  a  girl  of 
17  dressed  only  in  a  chemise,  and  in  great 
distress.  She  alleged  that  she  herself 
and  other  girls  had  been  dragged  into 
a  field,  stripped  naked,  and  violated,  and 
that  some  of  them  had  been  killed  with 
the  bayonet. 

WEERDE. — At  Weerde  four  corpses 
of  civilians  were  lying  in  the  road.  It 
was  said  that  these  men  had  fired  upon 
the  German  soldiers;  but  this  is  denied. 
The  arms  had  been  given  up  long  before. 

Two  children  were  killed  in  a-  village, 
apparently  Weerde,  quite  wantonly  as 
they  were  standing  in  the  road  with 
their  mother.  They  were  3  or  4  years 
old  and  were  killed  with  the  bayonet. 

A  small  farm  burning  close  by  formed 
a  convenient  means  of  getting  rid  of  the 
bodies.  They  were  thrown  into  the 
flames  from  the  bayonets.  It  is  right  to 
add  that  no  commissioned  officer  was 
present  at  the  time. 

EPPEGHEM.— At  Eppeghem  on  Aug. 
25  a  pregnant  woman  who  had  been 
wounded  with  a  bayonet  was  discovered 
in  the  convent.  She  was  dying.  On  the 
road  six  dead  bodies  of  laborers  were 
seen. 

ELEWYT.— At  Elewyt  a  man's  naked 
body  was  tied  up  to  a  ring  in  the  wall  in 
the  back  yard  of  a  house.  He  was  dead, 
and  his  corpse  was  mutilated  in  a  man- 
ner too  horrible  to  record.  A  woman's 
naked  body  was  also  found  in  a  stable 
abutting  on  the  same  back  yard. 


VILVORDE.— At  Vilvorde  corpses  of 
civilians  were  also  found.  These  villages 
are  all  on  the  line  from  Malines  to 
Brussels. 

BOORT  MEERBEEK.  —  At  Boort 
Meerbeek  a  German  soldier  was  seen  to 
fire  three  times  at  a  little  girl  5  years 
old.  Having  failed  to  hit  her,  he  sub- 
sequently bayoneted  her.  He  was  killed 
with  the  butt  end  of  a  rifle  by  a  Belgian 
soldier  who  had  seen  him  commit  this 
murder  from  a  distance. 

HERENT.— At  Herent  the  charred 
body  of  a  civilian  was  found  in  a  butcher's 
shop,  and  in  a  handcart  twenty  yards 
away  was  the  dead  body  of  a   laborer. 

Two  eyewitnesses  relate  that  a  Ger- 
man soldier  shot  a  civilian  and  stabbed 
him  with  a  bayonet  as  he  lay.  He  then 
made  one  of  these  witnesses,  a  civilian 
prisoner,  smell  the  blood  on  the  bayonet. 

HAECHT.— At  Haecht  the  bodies  of 
ten  civilians  were  seen  lying  in  a  row  by 
a  brewery  wall. 

In  a  laborer's  house,  which  had  been 
broken  up,  the  mutilated  corpse  of  a 
woman  of  30  to  35  was  discovered. 

A  child  of  3  with  its  stomach  cut  open 
by  a  bayonet  was  lying  near  a  house. - 

WERCHTER.  —  At  Werchter  the 
corpses  of  a  man  and  woman  and  four 
younger  persons  were  found  in  one  house. 
It  is  stated  that  they  had  been  murdered 
because  one  of  the  latter,  a  girl,  would 
not  allow  the  Germans  to  outrage  her. 

This  catalogue  of  crimes  does  not  by 
any  means  represent  the  sum  total  of 
the  depositions  relating  to  this  district 
laid  before  the  committee.  The  above 
are  given  merely  as  examples  of  acts 
which  the  evidence  shows  to  have  taken 
place  in  numbers  that  might  have  seemed 
scarcely  credible. 

In  the  rest  of  the  district,  that  is  to 
say,  Aerschot  and  the  other  villages  from 
which  the  Germans  had  not  been  driven, 
the  effect  of  the  battle  was  to  cause  a 
recrudescence  of  murder,  arson,  pillage, 
and  cruelty,  which  had  to  some  extent 
died  down  after  Aug.  20  or  21. 

In  Aerschot  itself  fresh  prisoners  seem 
to  have  been  taken  and  added  to  those 
who  were  already  in  the  church,  since  it 
would  appear  that  prisoners  were  kept 
to  some  jBxtent  in  the  church  during  the 


GENERAL  SIR   WILLIAM   ROBERTSON,   K.   C.   B. 

Chief  of  the  British  General  Staff,    Who   Made  a   Remarkable   Record 
as  Quartermaster  General  in  France 

(Pholo  from    liiiin   Nrwa   Service. ) 


GENERAL       FOCH 

The  Brilliant  Strategist  Who  Commands  the  French 
Armies  of   the    North 

(Photo  frovi  P.   8.  Rogers.) 


k 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


5G9 


whole  of  the  German  occupation  of 
Aerschot.  The  second  occasion  on  which 
large  numbers  of  prisoners  were  put 
there  was  shortly  after  the  battle  of  Ma- 
lines,  and  it  was  then  that  the  priest  of 
Gelrode  was  brought  to  Aerschot  Church, 
treated  abominably,  and  finally  mur- 
dered . 

One  witness  describes  the  scene  graph- 
ically: 

"The  whole  of  the  prisoners — men,  wo- 
men, and  children — were  placed  in  the 
church.  Nobody  was  allowed  to  go  out- 
side the  church  to  obey  the  calls  of  nat- 
ure; the  church  had  to  be  used  for  that 
purpose.  We  were  afterward  allov/ed  to 
go  outside  the  church  for  this  purpose, 
and  then  I  saw  the  clergyman  of  Gelrode 
standing  by  the  wall  of  the  church  with 
his  hands  above  his  head,  being  guarded 
by  soldiers." 

The  actual  details  of  the  murder  of 
the  priest  are  as  follows:  The  priest  was 
struck  several  times  by  the  soldiers  on 
the  head.  He  was  pushed  up  against  the 
wall  of  the  church.  He  asked  in  Flemish 
to  be  allowed  to  stand  with  his  face  to 
the  wall,  and  tried  to  turn  around.  The 
Germans  stopped  him  and  then  turned 
him  with  his  face  to  the  wall,  with  his 
hands  above  his  head.  An  hour  later  the 
same  witness  saw  the  priest  still  stand- 
ing there.  He  was  then  led  away  by  the 
Germans  a  distance  of  about  fifty  yards. 
There,  with  his  face  against  the  v/all  of 
a  house,  he  was  shot  by  five  soldiers. 

Other  murders  of  which  we  have  evi- 
dence appear  in  the   appendix. 

Some  of  the  prisoners  in  the  church  at 
Aerschot  were  actually  kept  there  until 
the  arrival  of  the  Belgian  Army  on  Sept. 
11,  when  they  were  released.  Others 
were  marched  to  Louvain  and  eventually 
merged  with  other  prisoners,  both  from 
Louvain  itself  and  the  surrounding  dis- 
tricts, and  taken  to  Germany  and  else- 
where. 

It  is  said  by  one  witness  that  about 
1,500  were  marched  to  Louvain  and  that 
the  journey  took  six  hours. 

The  journey  to  Louvain  is  thus  de- 
scribed by  a  witness:  We  were  all 
marched  off  to  Louvain,  walking.  There 
vi^ere  some  very  old  people,  among  others 
a  man  90  years  of  age.  The  very  old 
people  were  drawn  in  carts  and  barrows 


by  the  younger  men.  There  was  an  of- 
ficer with  a  bicycle,  who  shouted,  as  peo- 
ple fell  out  by  the  side  of  the  road, 
"  Shoot  them!" 

AERSCHOT  AND  DISTRICT. 

Period  IIL,  (September.) 
It  is  unnecessary  to  describe  with 
much  particularity  the  events  of  the 
period  beginning  about  Sept.  10.  The 
Belgian  soldiers,  who  had  recaptured  the 
place,  found  corpses  of  civilians  who 
must  have  been  murdered  in  Aerschot  it- 
self, just  as  they  found  them  in  Sempst 
and  the  other  villages  on  Aug.  25.  Some 
of  these  bodies  were  found  in  wells  and 
some  had  been  burned  alive  in  their 
houses. 

The  prisoners  released  by  the  Belgian 
Army  from  the  church  were  almost 
starved. 

HAECHT.— At  Haecht  several  chil- 
dren had  been  murdered,  one  of  2  or  3 
years  of  age  was  found  nailed  to  the 
door  of  a  farmhouse  by  its  hands  and 
feet — a  crime  which  seems  almost  in- 
credible, but  the  evidence  for  which  we 
feel  bound  to  accept.  In  the  garden  of 
this  house  was  the  body  of  a  girl  who 
had  been  shot  in  the  forehead. 

CAPELLE-AU-BOIS.— At  Capelle-au- 
Bois  two  children  were  murdered  in  a 
cart  and  their  corpses  were  seen  by  many 
witnesses  at  different  stages  of  the  cart's 
journey. 

EPPEGHEM.— At  Eppeghem  the  dead 
body  of  a  child  of  2  was  seen  pinned 
to  the  ground  with  a  German  lance. 
Same  witness  saw  a  mutilated  woman 
alive  near  Weerde  on  the  same  day. 

TREMELOO.— Belgian  soldiers  on  pa- 
trol duty  found  a  young  girl  naked  on 
the  ground,  covered  with  scratches.  She 
complained  of  having  been  violated.  On 
the  same  day  an  old  woman  was  seen 
kneeling  by  the  body  of  her  husband, 
and  she  told  them  that  the  Germans  had 
shot  him  as  he  was  trying  to  escape  from 
the  house. 

LOUVAIN  AND  DISTRICT. 

The  events  spoken  to  as  having  oc- 
curred in  and  around  Louvain  between 
the  19th  and  the  25th  of  August  deserve 
close  attention. 


570 


THE  NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


For  six  days  the  Germans  were  in 
peaceful  occupation  of  the  city.  No 
houses  were  set  on  fire — no  citizens 
killed.  There  was  a  certain  amount  of 
looting  of  empty  houses,  but  otherwise 
discipline  was  effectively  maintained. 
The  condition  of  Louvain  during  these 
days  was  one  of  relative  peace  and  quie- 
tude, presenting  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  previous  and  contemporaneous  con- 
duct of  the  German  Army  elsewhere. 

On  the  evening  of  Aug.  25  a  sudden 
change  takes  place.  The  Germans,  on 
that  day  repulsed  by  the  Belgians,  had 
retreated  to  and  reoccupied  Louvain.  Im- 
mediately the  devastation  of  that  city 
and  the  holocaust  of  its  population  com- 
mences. The  inference  is  irresistible  that 
the  army  as  a  whole  wreaked  its  ven- 
geance on  the  civil  population  and  the 
buildings  of  the  city  in  revenge  for  the 
setback  which  the  Belgian  arms  had  in- 
flicted on  them.  A  subsidiary  cause  al- 
leged was  the  assertion,  often  made  be- 
fore, that  civilians  had  fired  upon  the 
German  Army. 

The  depositions  which  relate  to  Lou- 
vain are  numerous,  and  are  believed  by 
the  committee  to  present  a  true  and  fair- 
ly complete  picture  of  the  events  of  the 
25th  and  26th  of  August  and  subsequent 
days.  We  find  no  grounds  for  thinking 
that  the  inhabitants  fired  upon  the  Ger- 
man Army  on  the  evening  of  the  25th 
of  August.  Eyewitnesses  worthy  of  cre- 
dence detail  exactly  when,  where,  and  how 
the  firing  commenced.  Such  firing  was 
by  Germans  on  Germans.  No  impartial 
tribunal  could,  in  our  opinion,  come  to 
any  other  conclusion. 

On  the  evening  of  the  25th  firing 
could  be  heard  in  the  direction  of  Herent, 
some  three  kilometers  from  Louvain.  An 
alarm  was  sounded  in  the  oity.  There 
was  disorder  and  confusion,  and  at  8 
o'clock  horses  attached  to  baggage  wag- 
ons stampeded  in  the  street  and  rifle  fire 
commenced.  This  was  in  the  Rue  de  la 
Station  and  came  from  the  German  police 
guard,  (21  in  number,)  who,  seeing  the 
troops  arrive  in  disorder,  thought  it  was 
the  enemy.  Then  the  corps  of  incen- 
diaries got  to  work.  They  had  broad 
belts   with   the   words   "  Gott   mit   uns " 


and  their  equipment  consisted  of  a  hatch- 
et, a  syringe,  a  small  shovel,  and  a 
revolver.  Fires  blazed  up  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Law  Courts,  St.  Martin's 
Barracks,  and  later  in  the  Place  de  la 
Station.  Meanwhile  an  incessant  fusil- 
lade was  kept  up  on  the  windows  of  the 
houses.  In  their  efforts  to  escape  the 
flames  the  inhabitants  climbed  the  walls. 

"  My  mother  and  servants,"  says  a  wit- 
ness, "  had  to  do  the  same  and  took  ref- 
uge at  Monsieur  A.'s,  whose  cellars  are 
vaulted  and  afforded  a  better  protection 
than  mine.  A  little  later  we  withdrew 
to  Monsieur  A.'s  stables,  where  about 
thirty  people  who  had  got  there  by  climb- 
ing the  walls  were  to  be  found.  Some 
of  these  poor  wretches  had  to  climb  twen- 
ty walls.  A  ring  came  at  the  bell.  We 
opened  the  door.  Several  civilians  flung 
themselves  under  the  porch.  The  Ger- 
mans were  firing  upon  them  from  the 
street.  Every  moment  new  fires  were 
lighting  up,  accompanied  by  explosions. 
In  the  middle  of  the  night  I  heard  a 
knock  at  the  outer  door  of  the  stable 
which  led  into  a  little  street,  and  heard  a 
woman's  voice  crying  for  help.  I  opened 
the  door,  and  just  as  I  was  going  to  let 
her  in  a  rifle  shot  fired  from  the  street 
by  a  German  soldier  rang  out  and  the 
woman  fell  dead  at  my  feet.  About  9 
in  the  morning  things  got  quieter,  and  we 
took  the  opportunity  of  venturing  into 
the  street.  A  German  who  was  carrying 
a  silver  pyx  and  a  number  of  boxes  of 
cigars  told  us  we  were  to  go  to  the 
station,  where  trains  would  be  waiting  for 
us.  When  we  got  to  the  Place  de  la 
Station  we  saw  in  the  square  seven  or 
eight  dead  bodies  of  murdered  civilians. 
Not  a  single  house  in  the  place  was 
standing.  A  whole  row  of  houses  behind 
the  station  at  Blauwput  was  burned. 
After  being  driven  hither  and  thither 
interminably  by  officers,  who  treated  us 
roughly  and  insulted  us  throughout,  we 
were  divided." 

The  prisoners  were  then  distributed 
between  different  bodies  of  troops  and  ij 
marched  in  the  direction  of  Herent.  Sev-  ^ 
enty-seven  inhabitants  of  Louvain,  in- 
cluding a  number  of  people  of  good  posi- 
tion, (the  names  of  several  are  given,) 
were  thus  taken  to  Herent. 

"We  found  the  village  of  Herent  in 
flames,  so  much  so  that  we  had  to  quick- 
en up  to  prevent  ourselves  from  being 
suffocated  and  burned  up  by  the  flames 
in  the  middle  of  the  road.  Half-burned 
corpses  of  civilians  were  lying  in  front 
of  the  houses.  During  a  halt  soldiers 
stole  cattle  and  slaughtered  them  where 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


571 


they  stood.  Firing  started  on  our  loft 
We  were  told  it  was  the  civilians  firing, 
and  that  we  were  going  to  be  shot.  The 
truth  is  that  it  was  the  Germans  them- 
selves who  were  firing  to  frighten  us. 
There  was  not  a  single  civilian  in  the 
neighborhood.  Shortly  afterward  we  pro- 
ceeded on  our  march  to  Malines.  We 
were  insulted  and  threatened.  *  *  * 
The  officers  were  worse  than  the  men. 
We  got  to  Campenhout  about  7  P.  M., 
and  were  locked  into  the  church  with 
all  the  male  population  of  the  village. 
Some  priests  had  joined  our  numbers. 
We  had  had  nothing  to  eat  or  drink  since 
the  evening  of  the  day  before.  A  few 
compassionate  soldiers  gave  us  water  to 
drink,  but  no  official  took  the  trouble 
to  see  that  we  were  fed." 

Next  day,  Thursday,  the  27th,  a  safe 
conduct  to  return  to  Louvain  was  given, 
but  the  prisoners  had  hardly  started, 
when  they  were  stopped  and  taken  before 
a  Brigade  General  and  handed  to  another 
escort.  Some  were  grossly  ill-treated. 
They  were  accused  of  being  soldisrs  out 
of  uniform,  and  were  told  they  could  not 
go  to  Louvain,  "  as  the  town  was  going 
to  be  razed  to  the  ground."  Other  pris- 
oners were  added,  even  women  and  chil- 
dren, until  there  were  more  than  200. 
They  were  then  taken  toward  Malines, 
released,  and  told  to  go  to  that  town 
together,  and  that  those  who  separated 
would  be  fired  on.  Other  witnesses  cor- 
roborate the  events  described  by  the  wit- 
ness. 

A  woman  employed  by  an  old  gentle- 
man living  in  the  Rue  de  la  Station  tells 
the  story  of  her  master's  death: 

"  We  had  supper  as  usual  about  8,  but 
two  German  officers,  (who  were  staying 
in  the  house,)  did  not  come  in  to  supper 
that  evening.  My  master  went  to  bed 
at  8:15,  and  so  did  his  son.  The  servants 
went  to  bed  at  9:30.  Soon  after  I  got  to 
my  bedroom  I  saw  out  of  my  room  flames 
from  some  burning  house  near  by.  I 
roused  my  master  and  his  son.  As  they 
came  down  the  stairs  they  were  seized 
by  German  soldiers  and  both  were  tied 
up  and  led  out,  my  master  being  tied 
with  a  rope  and  his  son  with  a  chain. 
They  were  dragged  outside.  I  did  not 
actually  see  what  happened  outside,  but 
heard  subsequently  that  my  master  was 
bayoneted  and  shot,  and  that  his  son 
was  shot.  I  heard  shots  from  the  kitchen, 
where  I  was,  and  was  present  at  the 
burial  of  my  master  and  his  son  thirteen 
days  later.     German  soldiers  came  back 


into  the  house  and  poured  some  inflam- 
mable liquid  over  the  floors  and  set  fire 
to  it.  I  escaped  by  another  staircase  to 
that  which  my  master  and  his  son  had 
descended." 

On  the  26th,  (Wednesday,)  in  the  City 
of  Louvain,  massacre,  fire,  and  destruc- 
tion went  on.  The  universiity,  with  its 
library,  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  and 
many  houses  were  set  on  fire  and  burned 
to  the  ground.  Citizens  were  shot  and 
others  taken  prisoners  and  compelled  to 
go  with  the  troops.  Soldiers  went 
through  the  streets  saying  "  Man  hat 
geschossen."*  One  soldier  was  seen  go- 
ing along  shooting  in  the  air. 

Many  of  the  people  hid  in  cellars,  but 
the  soldiers  shot  down  through  the  grat- 
ings. Some  citizens  were  shot  on  open- 
ing the  doors,  others  in  endeavoring  to 
escape.  Among  other  persons  whose 
houses  were  burned  was  an  old  man  of 
90  lying  dangerously  ill,  who  was  taken 
out  on  his  mattress  and  left  lying  in  his 
garden  all  night.  He  died  shortly  after 
in  the  hospital  to  which  a  friend  took 
him  the  following  morning. 

On  Thursday,  the  27th,  orders  were 
given  that  every  one  should  leave  the  city, 
which  was  to  be  razed  to  the  ground. 
Some  citizens,  including  a  canon  of  the 
cathedral,  vnth  his  aged  mother,  were 
ordered  to  go  to  the  station  and  after- 
ward to  take  the  road  to  Tirlemont. 
Among  the  number  were  about  twenty 
priests  from  Louvain.  They  were  in- 
sulted and  threatened,  but  ultimately 
allowed  to  go  free  and  make  their  way 
as  best  they  could,  women  and  sick  per- 
sons among  them,  to  Tirlemont.  Other 
groups  of  prisoners  from  Louvain  were 
on  the  same  day  taken  by  other  routes, 
some  early  in  the  morning,  through  va- 
rious villages  in  the  direction  of  Malines, 
with  hands  tightly  bound  by  a  long  cord. 
More  prisoners  were  afterward  added, 
and  all  made  to  stay  the  night  in  the 
church  at  Campenhout.  Next  day,  the 
28th,  this  group,  then  consisting  of  about 
1,000  men,  women  and  children,  was 
taken  back  to  Louvain.  The  houses  along 
the  road  were  burning  and  many  dead 
bodies  of  civilians,  men  and  women,  were 

*"  They  have  been  shooting." 


578 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


seen  on  the  way.  Some  of  the  principal 
streets  in  Louvain  had  by  that  time 
been  burned  out.  The  prisoners  were 
placed  in  a  large  building  on  the  cavalry 
exercise  ground —  "One  woman  went 
mad,  some  children  died,  others  were 
born."  On  the  29th  the  prisoners  were 
marched  along  the  Malines  road,  and  at 
Herent  the  women  and  children  and  men 
over  40  were  allowed  to  go;  the  others 
were  taken  to  Boort  Meerbeek,  15  kilo- 
meters from  Malines,  and  told  to  march 
straight  to  Malines  or  be  shot.  At  11 
P.  M.  they  reached  the  fort  of  Waelhem 
and  were  at  first  fired  on  by  the  sentries, 
but  on  calling  out  they  were  Belgians 
were  allowed  to  pass.  These  prisoners 
were  practically  without  food  from  early 
morning  on  the  26th  until  midnight  on 
the  29th.  Of  the  corpses  seen  on  the 
road,  some  had  their  hands  tied  behind 
their  backs,  others  were  burned,  some  had 
been  killed  by  blows,  and  some  corpses 
were  those  of  children  who  had  been  shot. 

Another  witness,  a  man  of  independent 
means,  was  arrested  at  noon  by  the  sol- 
diers of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-fifth 
Regiment  and  taken  to  the  Place  de  la 
Station.  He  was  grossly  ill-treated  on 
the  way  and  robbed  by  an  officer  of  his 
purse  and  keys.  His  hands  were  tied 
behind  his  back.  His  wife  was  kept  a 
prisoner  at  the  other  side  of  the  station. 
He  was  then  made  to  march  with  about 
500  other  prisoners  until  midnight,  slept 
in  the  rain  that  night,  and  next  day,  hav- 
ing had  no  food  since  leaving  Louvain, 
was  taken  to  the  church  in  Rotselaer, 
where  there  were  then  about  1,500  pris- 
oners confined,  including  some  infants. 
No  food  was  given,  only  some  water. 
Next  day  they  were  taken  through 
Wespelaer  and  back  to  Louvain.  On  the 
way  from  Rotselaer  to  Wespelaer  fifty 
bodies  were  seen,  some  naked  and  car- 
bonized and  unrecognizable.  When  they 
arrived  at  Louvain  the  Fish  Market, 
the  Place  Marguerite,  the  cathedral,  and 
many  other  buildings  were  on  fire.  In 
the  evening  about  100  men,  women,  and 
children  were  put  in  horse  trucks  from 
which  thfi  dung  had  not  been  removed, 
and  at  6  the  next  morning  left  for 
Cologne. 


The  wife  of  this  witness  was  also  taken 
prisoner  with  her  husband  and  her  maid, 
but  was  separated  from  him,  and  she  saw 
other  ladies  made  to  walk  before  the  sol- 
diers with  their  hands  above  their  heads. 
One,  an  old  lady  of  85,  (name  given,) 
was  dragged  from  her  cellar  and  taken 
with  them  to  the  station.  They  were 
kept  there  all  night,  but  set  free  in 
the  morning,  Thursday,  but  shortly  after- 
ward sent  to  Tirlemont  on  foot.  A  num- 
ber of  corpses  were  seen  on  the  way. 
The  prisoners,  of  whom  there  are  said 
to  have  been  thousands,  were  not  allowed 
even  to  have  water  to  drink,  although 
there  were  streams  on  the  way  from 
which  the  soldiers  drank.  Witness  was 
given  some  milk  at  a  farm,  but  as  she 
raised  it  to  her  lips  it  was  taken  away 
from  her. 

A  priest  was  taken  on  Friday  morn- 
ing, Aug.  28,  and  placed  at  the  head  of 
a  number  of  refugees  from  Wygmael. 
He  was  led  through  Louvain,  abused  and 
'ill-treated,  and  placed  with  some  thou- 
sands of  other  people  in  the  riding  school 
in  the  Rue  du  Manege.  The  glass  roof 
broke  in  the  night  from  the  heat  of 
burning  buildings  around.  Next  day  the 
prisoners  were  marched  through  the 
country  with  an  armed  guard.  Burned 
farms  and  burned  corpses  were  seen  on 
the  way.  The  prisoners  were  finally 
separated  into  three  groups,  and  the 
younger  men  marched  through  Herent 
and  Bueken  to  Campenhout,  and  ulti- 
mately reached  the  Belgian  lines  about 
midmght  on  Saturday,  Aug.  29.  All  the 
houses  in  Herent,  a  village  of  about  5,000 
inhabitants,  had  been  burned. 

The  massacre  of  civilians  at  Louvain 
was  not  confined  to  its  citizens.  Large 
crowds  of  people  were  brought  into  Lou- 
vain from  the  surrounding  districts,  not 
only  from  Aerschot  and  Gelrode  as  above 
mentioned,  but  also  from  other  places. 
For  example,  a  witness  describes  how 
many  women  and  children  were  taken 
in  carts  to  Louvain,  and  there  placed  in 
a  stable.  Of  the  hundreds  of  people  thus 
taken  from  the  various  villages  and 
brought  to  Louvain  as  prisoners,  some 
were  massacred  there,  others  were 
foced  to  march  along  with  citizens   of 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


573 


Louvain  through  various  places,  some 
being  ultimately  sent  on  the  29th  to  the 
Belgian  lines  at  Malines,  others  were 
taken  in  trucks  to  Cologne  as  described 
below,  others  were  released.  An  account 
of  the  massacre  of  some  of  these  unfor- 
tunate civilian  prisoners  given  by  two 
witnesses  may  be  quoted: 

"  We  were  all  placed  in  Station  Street, 
Louvain,  and  the  German  soldiers  fired 
upon  us.  I  saw  the  corpses  of  some 
women  in  the  street.  I  fell  down,  and 
a  woman  who  had  been  shot  fell  on  top 
of  me.  I  did  not  dare  to  look  at  the 
dead  bodies  in  the  street,  there  were  so 
many  of  them.  All  of  them  had  been 
shot  by  the  German  soldiers.  One  woman 
whom  I  saw  lying  dead  in  the  street  was 
a  Miss  J.,  about  35.  I  also  saw  the  body 
of  A.  M.,  (a  woman.)  She  had  been  shot. 
I  saw  an  officer  pull  her  corpse  under- 
neath a  wagon." 

Another  witness,  who  was  taken  from 
Aerschot,  also  describes  the  occurrence: 

"  I  was  afterward  taken  with  a  large 
number  of  other  civilians  and  placed  in 
the  church  at  Louvain.  Then  we  were 
taken  to  Station  Street,  Louvain.  There 
were  about  1,500  civilians  of  both  sexes, 
and  we  had  been  marched  from  Aerschot 
to  Louvain.  When  we  were  in  Station 
Street  I  felt  that  something  was  about 
to  happen,  and  I  tried  to  shelter  in  a 
doorway.  The  German  soldiers  then 
fired  a  mitrailleuse  and  their  rifles  upon 
the  people,  and  the  people  fell  on  all 
sides.  Two  men  next  to  me  were  killed. 
I  afterward  saw  some  one  give  a  signal, 
and  the  firing  ceased.  I  then  ran  away 
with  a  married  woman  named  B.,  (whose 
maiden  name  was  A.  M.,)  aged  29,  who 
belonged  to  Aerschot,  but  we  were  again 
captured.  She  was  shot  by  the  side  of 
me,  and  I  saw  her  fall.  Several  other 
people  were  shot  at  the  same  time.  I 
again  ran  away,  and  in  my  flight  saw 
children  falling  out  of  their  mothers' 
arms.  I  cannot  say  whether  they  were 
shot,  or  whether  they  fell  from  their 
mothers'  arms  in  the  great  panic  which 
ensued.  I,  however,  saw  children  bleed- 
ing." 

JOURNEY  TO   COLOGNE. 

The  greatest  number  of  prisoners  from 
Louvain,  however,  were  assembled  at  the 
station  and  taken  by  trains  to  Cologne. 
Several  witnesses  describe  their  suffer- 
ings and  the  ill-treatment  they  received 
on  the  journey.  One  of  the  first  trains 
started  in  the  afternoon.  It  consisted  of 
cattle  trucks,  about   100  being  in  each 


truck.  It  took  three  days  to  get  to 
Cologne.  The  prisoners  had  nothing  to 
eat  but  a  few  biscuits  each,  and  they 
were  not  allowed  to  get  out  for  water  and 
none  was  given.  On  a  wagon  the  words 
"  Civilians  who  shot  at  the  soldiers  at 
Louvain "  were  written.  Some  were 
marched  through  Cologne  afterward  for 
the  people  to  see.  Ropes  were  put  about 
the  necks  of  some  and  they  were  told 
they  would  be  hanged.  An  order  then 
came  that  they  were  to  be  shot  instead 
of  hanged.  A  firing  squad  was  pre- 
pared, and  five  or  six  prisoners  were 
put  up,  but  were  not  shot.  After  being 
kept  a  week  at  Cologne  some  of  these 
prisoners  were  taken  back — this  time 
only  thirty  or  forty  in  a  truck — and  al- 
lowed to  go  free  on  arriving  at  Limburg. 
Several  witnesses  who  were  taken  in 
other  trains  to  Cologne  describe  their 
experiences  in  detail.  Some  of  the  trucks 
were  abominably  filthy.  Prisoners  were 
not  allowed  to  leave  to  obey  the  calls 
of  nature;  one  man  who  quitted  the 
truck  for  the  purpose  was  killed  by  a 
bayonet.  Describing  what  happened  to 
another  body  of  prisoners,  a  witness  says 
that  they  were  made  to  cross  Station 
Street,  where  the  houses  were  burning,, 
and  taken  to  the  station,  placed  in  horse 
trucks,  crowded  together,  men,  women, 
and  children,  in  each  wagon.  They  were 
kept  at  the  station  during  the  night,  and 
the  following  day  left  for  Cologne.  For 
two  days  and  a  half  they  were  without 
food,  and  then  they  received  a  loaf  of 
bread  among  ten  persons,  and  some 
water.  The  prisoners  were  afterward 
taken  back  to  Belgium.  They  were,  in 
all,  eight  days  in  the  train,  crowded  and 
almost  without  food.  Two  of  the  men 
went  mad.  The  women  and  children 
were  separated  from  the  men  at  Brus- 
sels. The  men  were  taken  to  a  suburb 
and  then  to  the  villages  of  Herent,  Vil- 
vorde,  and  Sempst,  and  afterward  set  at 
liberty. 

This  taking  of  the  inhabitants,  includ- 
ing some  of  the  influential  citizens,  in 
groups  and  marching  them  to  various 
places,  and  in  particular  the  sending  of 
them  to  Malines  and  the  dispatch  of 
great  numbers  to  Cologne,  must  evident- 
ly have  been  done  under  the  direction  of 


574 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  higher  military  authorities.  The  ill- 
treatment  of  the  prisoners  was  under 
the  eyes  and  often  by  the  direction  or 
with  the  sanction  of  officers,  and  officers 
themselves  took  part  in  it. 

The  object  of  taking  many  hundreds 
of  prisoners  to  Cologne  and  back  into 
Belgium  is  at  first  sight  difficult  to  un- 
derstand. Possibly  it  is  to  be  regarded 
as  part  of  the  policy  of  punishment  for 
Belgian  resistance  and  general  terrori- 
zation  of  the  inhabitants — possibly  as  a 
desire  to  show  these  people  to  the  popu- 
lation of  a  German  city  and  thus  to 
confirm  the  belief  that  the  Belgians  had 
shot  at  their  troops. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  case 
when  the  burning  began  on  the  evening 
of  the  25th,  it  appears  clear  that  the 
subsequent  destruction  and  outrages 
were  done  with  a  set  purpose.  It  was 
not  until  the  26th  that  the  library,  and 
other  university  buildings,  the  Church  of 
St.  Peter  and  many  houses  were  set  on 
fire.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  cases  occur 
in  the  depositions  in  which  humane  acts 
by  individual  officers  and  soldiers  are 
mentioned,  or  in  which  officers  are  said 
to  have  expressed  regret  at  being  obliged 
to  carry  out  orders  for  cuel  action  against 
the  civilians.  Similarly,  we  find  entries 
in  diaries  which  reveal  a  genuine  pity 
for  the  population  and  disgust  at  the 
conduct  of  the  army.  It  appears  that 
a  German  non-commissioned  officer 
stated  definitely  that  he  "was  acting  un- 
der orders  and  executing  them  with  great 
unwillingness."  A  commissioned  officer 
on  being  asked  at  Louvain  by  a  witness — 
a  highly  educated  man — about  the  hor- 
rible acts  committed  by  the  soldiers,  said 
he  "was  merely  executing  orders,"  and 
that  he  himself  would  be  shot  if  he  did 
not  execute  them.  Others  gave  less  credi- 
ble excuses,  one  stating  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Louvain  had  burned  the  city 
themselves  because  they  did  not  wish  to 
supply  food  and  quarters  for  the  German 
Army.  It  was  to  the  discipline  rather 
than  the  want  of  discipline  in  the  army 
that  these  outrages,  which  we  are  obliged 
to  describe  as  systematic,  were  due,  and 
the  special  official  notices  posted  on  cer- 
tain houses  that  they  were  not  to  be 
destroyed  show  the  fate  which  had  been 


decreed  for  the  others  which  were  not 
so  marked. 

We  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  harrying  of  the  villages  in  the  dis- 
trict, the  burning  of  a  large  part  of 
Louvain,  the  massacres  there,  the  march- 
ing out  of  the  prisoners,  and  the  trans- 
port to  Cologne,  (all  done  without  in- 
quiry as  to  whether  the  particular  per- 
sons seized  or  killed  had  committed  any 
wrongful  act,)  were  due  to  a  calculated 
policy  carried  out  scientifically  and  de- 
liberately, not  merely  with  the  sanction 
but  under  the  direction  of  higher  military 
authorities,  and  were  not  due  to  any 
provocation  or  resistance  by  the  civilian 
population. 

TERMONDE. 

To  understand  the  depositions  describ- 
ing what  happened  at  Termonde  it  is  nec- 
essary to  remember  that  the  German 
Army  occupied  the  town  on  two  occa- 
sions, the  first,  from  Friday,  Sept.  4,  to 
Sunday,  Sept.  6,  and  again  later  in  the 
month,  about  the  16th.  The  civilians 
had  delivered  up  their  arms  a  fortnight 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Germans. 

Early  in  the  month,  probably  about  the 
4th,  a  witness  saw  two  civilians  mur- 
dered by  Uhlans.  Another  witness  saw 
their  dead  bodies,  which  remained  in  the 
street  for  ten  days.  Two  hundred  civil- 
ians were  utilized  as  a  screen  by  the 
German  troops  about  this  date. 

On   the    5th   the   town   was    partially 
burned.    One  Avitness  was  taken  prisoner 
in  the  street  by  some  German  soldiers, 
together  with  several  other  civilians.    At 
about  12  o'clock  some  of  the  tallest  and 
strongest     men     among     the     prisoners         j 
were  picked  out  to  go  around  the  streets         fl 
with  paraffin.     Three  or  four  carts  con- 
taining paraffin  tanks  were  brought  up, 
and  a  syringe  was  used  to  put  paraffin 
on  to  the  houses,  which  were  then  fired. 
The   process   of  destruction   began   with         J 
the  houses  of  rich  people,  and  afterward  ■ 

the  houses  of  the  poorer  classes  were 
treated  in  the  same  manner.  German 
soldiers  had  previously  told  this  witness 
that  if  the  Burgomaster  of  Termonde, 
who  was  out  of  town,  did  not  return  by 
12  o'clock  that  day  the  town  would  be 
set   on   fire.     The   firing   of   the   town 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


575 


was  in  consequence  of  his  failure  to  re- 
turn. The  prisoners  were  afterward 
taken  to  a  factory  and  searched  for 
weapons.  They  were  subsequently  pro- 
vided with  passports  enabling  them  to 
go  anywhere  in  the  town,  but  not  out- 
side. The  witness  in  question  managed 
to  effect  his  escape  by  swimming  across 
the  river. 

Another  witness  describes  how  the 
tower  of  the  Church  of  Termonde  St. 
Gilles  was  utilized  by  the  Belgian  troops 
for  offensive  purposes.  They  had  in  fact 
mounted  a  machine  gun  there.  This 
witness  was  subsequently  taken  prisoner 
in  a  cellar  in  Termonde  in  which  he  had 
taken  refuge  with  other  people.  All  the 
men  were  taken  from  the  cellar  and  the 
women  were  left  behind.  About  seventy 
prisoners  in  all  were  taken;  one,  a  brew- 
er, who  could  not  walk  fast  enough,  was 
wounded  with  a  bayonet.  He  fell  down 
and  was  compelled  to  get  up  and  follow 
the  soldiers.  The  prisoners  had  to  hold 
up  their  hands,  and  if  they  dopped  their 
hands  they  were  struck  on  the  back  with 
the  butt  end  of  rifles.  They  were  taken 
to  Lebbeke,  where  there  were  in  all  300 
prisoners,  and  there  they  were  locked  up 
in  the  church  for  three  days  and  with 
scarcely  any  food. 

A  witness  living  at  Baesrode  was  taken 
prisoner  with  250  others  and  kept  all 
night  in  a' field.  The  prisoners  were  re- 
leased on  the  following  morning.  This 
witness  saw  three  corpses  of  civilians, 
and  says  that  the  Germans  on  Sunday, 
the  6th,  plundered  and  destroyed  the 
houses  of  those  who  had  fled.  The  Ger- 
mans left  on  the  following  day,  taking 
about  thirty  men  with  them,  one  a  man 
of  72  years  of  age. 

Later  in  the  month  civilians  were 
again  used  as  a  screen,  and  there  is  evi- 
dence of  other  acts  of  outrage. 

ALOST. 

Alost  was  the  scene  of  fighting  be- 
tween the  Belgian  and  German  Armies 
during  the  whole  of  the  latter  part  of 
the  month  of  September.  In  connection 
with  the  fighting  numerous  cruelties  ap- 
pear to  have  been  perpetrated  by  the 
German  troops. 

On  Saturday,  Sept.  11,  a  weaver  was 


bayoneted  in  the  street.  Another  civil- 
ian was  shot  dead  at  his  door  on  the  same 
night.  On  the  following  day  the  witness 
was  taken  prisoner  together  with  thirty 
others.  The  money  of  the  prisoners  was 
confiscated,  and  they  were  subsequently 
used  as  a  screen  for  the  German  troops 
who  were  at  that  moment  engaged  in  a 
conflict  with  the  Belgian  Army  in  the 
town  itself.  The  Germans  burned  a 
number  of  houses  at  this  time.  Corpses 
of  14  civilians  were  seen  in  the  streets 
on  this  occasion. 

A  well-educated  witness,  who  visited 
the  Wetteren  Hospital  shortly  after  this 
date,  saw  the  dead  bodies  of  a  number 
of  civilians  belonging  to  Alost,  and  other 
civilians  wounded.  One  of  these  stated 
that  he  took  refuge  in  the  house  of  his 
sister-in-law;  that  the  Germans  dragged 
the  people  out  of  the  house,  which  was 
on  fire,  seized  him,  threw  him  on  the 
ground,  and  hit  him  on  the  head  with  the 
butt  end  of  a  rifle,  and  ran  him  through 
the  thigh  with  a  baj^onet.  They  then 
placed  him  with  seventeen  or  eighteen 
others  in  front  of  the  German  troops, 
threatening  them  with  revolvers.  They 
said  that  they  were  going  to  make  the 
people  of  Alost  pay  for  the  losses  sus- 
tained by  the  Germans.  At  this  hospital 
was  an  old  woman  of  80  completely 
transfixed  by  a  bayonet. 

Other  crimes  on  noncombatants  at 
Alost  belong  to  the  end  of  the  month 
of  September.  Many  witnesses  speak  to 
the  murder  of  harmless  civilians. 

In  Binnenstraat  the  Germans  broke 
open  the  windows  of  the  houses  and 
threw  fluid  inside,  and  the  houses  burst 
into  flames.  Some  of  the  inhabitants 
were  burned  to  death. 

The  civilians  were  utilized  on  Saturday, 
Sept.  26,  as  a  screen.  During  their  re- 
treat the  Germans  fired  twelve  houses 
in  Rue  des  Trois  Clefs,  and  three  civil- 
ians, whose  names  are  given,  were  shot 
dead  in  that  street  after  the  firing  of 
the  houses.  On  the  following  day  a  heap 
of  nine  dead  civilians  were  lying  in  the 
Rue  de  I'Argent. 

Similar  outrages  occurred  at  Erpe,  a 
village  a  few  miles  from  Alost,  about  the 
same  date.     The  village  was  deliberately 


576 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


burned.     The  houses  were  plundered  and 
some  civilians  were  murdered. 

Civilians  were  apparently  used  as  a 
screen  at  Erpe,  but  they  were  prisoners 
taken*  from  Alost  and  not  dwellers  in 
that  village. 

DIARIES  OF  GERMAN  SOLDIERS. 
This  disregard  for  the  lives  of  civilians 
is  strikingly  shown  in  extracts  from  Ger- 
man soldiers'  diaries,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing are  representative  examples. 

Barthel,  who  was  a  Sergeant  and  stand- 
ard bearer  of  the  Second  Company  of 
the  First  Guards  Regiment  of  Foot,  and 
who  during  the  campaign  received  the 
Iron  Cross,  says,  under  date  Aug.  10, 
1914: 

"  A  transport  of  300  Belgians  came 
through  Duisburg  in  the  morning.  Of 
these,  eighty,  including  the  Oberburgo- 
master,  were  shot  according  to  martial 
law." 

Matbern  of  the  Fourth  Company  of 
Jagers,  No.  11,  from  Marburg,  states 
that  at  a  village  between  Birnal  and 
Dinant  on  Sunday,  Aug.  23,  the  Pioneers 
and  Infantry  Regiment  One  Hundred  and 
Seventy-eight  were  fired  upon  by  the  in- 
habitants. He  gives  no  particulars  be- 
yond this.    He  continues: 

"  About  220  inhabitants  were  shot,  and 
the  village  was  burned.  Artillery  is  con- 
tinuously shooting — the  village  lies  in  a 
large  ravine.  Just  now,  6  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  the  crossing  of  the  Meuse  be- 
gins near  Dinant.  All  villages,  chateaux 
and  houses  are  burned  down  during  the 
night.  It  is  a  beautiful  sight  to  see  the 
fires  all  around  us  in  the  distance." 

Bombardier  Wetzel  of  the  Second 
Mounted  Battery,  First  Kurhessian  Field 
Artillery  Regiment,  No.  11,  records  an 
incident  which  happened  in  French  terri- 
tory near  Lille  on  Oct.  11:  "We  had 
no  fight,  but  we  caught  about  twenty 
men  and  shot  them."  By  this  time  kill- 
ing not  in  a  fight  would  seem  to  have 
passed  into  a  habit. 

Diary  No.  32  gives  an  accurate  picture 
of  what  took  place  in  Louvain: 

"  What  a  sad  scene — all  the  houses 
surrounding  the  railway  station  com- 
pletely destroyed — only  some  foundation 
walls  still  standing.  On  the  station 
square  captured  guns.  At  the  end  of 
a  main  street  there  is  the  Council  Hall 


which  has  been  completely  preserved 
with  all  its  beautiful  turrets;  a  sharp 
contrast:  180  inhabitants  are  stated  to 
have  been  shot  after  they  had  dug  their 
own  graves." 

The  last  and  most  important  entry  is 
that  contained  in  Diary  No.  19.  This  is 
a  blue  book  interleaved  with  blotting 
paper,  and  contains  no  name  and  ad- 
dress; there  is,  however,  one  circum- 
stance which  makes  it  poss:ible  to  speak 
with  certainty  as  to  the  regiment  of  the 
writer.  He  gives  the  names  of  First 
Lieutenant  von  Oppen,  Count  Eulenburg, 
Captain  von  Roeder,  First  Lieutenant  von 
Bock  und  Polach,  Second  Lieutenant 
Count  Hardenberg,  and  Lieutenant  Eng- 
elbrecht.  A  perusal  of  the  Prussian 
Army  list  of  June,  1914,  shows  that  all 
these  officers,  with  the  exception  of 
Lieutenant  Engelbrecht,  belonged  to  the 
P^irst  Regiment  of  Foot  Guards.  On 
Aug.  24, 1914,  the  writer  was  in  Ermeton. 
The  exact  translation  of  the  extract, 
grim  in  its  brevity,  is  as  follows: 

"24.8.14.  We  took  about  1,000  prison- 
ers: at  least  500  were  shot.  The  village 
was  burned  because  inhabitants  had  also 
shot.    Two  civilians  were  shot  at  once." 

We  may  now  sum  up  and  endeavor  to 
explain  the  character  and  significance  of 
the  wrongful  acts  done  by  the  German 
Army  in  Belgium. 

If  a  line  is  drawn  on  a  map  from  the 
Belgian  frontier  to  Liege  and  continued 
to  Charleroi,  and  a  second  line  drawn 
from  Liege  to  Malines,  a  sort  of  figure 
resembling  an  irregular  Y  will  be  formed. 
It  is  along  this  Y  that  most  of  the  sys- 
tematic (as  opposed  to  isolated)  outrages 
were  committed.  If  the  period  from 
Aug.  4  to  Aug.  30  is  taken  it  will  be 
found  to  cover  most  of  these  organized 
outrages.  Termonde  and  Alost  extend, 
it  is  true,  beyond  the  Y  lines,  and  they 
belong  to  the  month  of  September.  Mur- 
der, rape,  arson,  and  pillage  began  from 
the  moment  when  the  German  Army 
crossed  the  frontier.  For  the  first  fort- 
night of  the  war  the  towns  and  villages 
near  Liege  were  the  chief  sufferers. 
From  Aug.  19  to  the  end  of  the  month, 
outrages  spread  in  the  directions  of 
Charleroi  and  Malines  and  reach  their 
period  of  greatest  intensity.     There  is  a 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


577 


certain  significance  in  the  fact  that  the 
outrages  around  Liege  coincide  with  the 
unexpected  resistance  of  the  Belgian 
Army  in  that  district,  and  that  the 
slaughter  which  reigned  from  Aug.  19 
to  the  end  of  the  month  is  contempora- 
neous with  the  period  when  the  German 
Army's  need  for  a  quick  passage  through 
Belgium  at  all  costs  was  deemed  impera- 
tive. 

Here  let  a  distinction  be  drawn  be- 
tween two  classes  of  outrages. 

Individual  acts  of  brutality — ill-treat- 
ment of  civilians,  rape,  plunder,  and  the 
like — were  very  widely  committed.  These 
are  more  numerous  and  more  shocking 
than  would  be  expected  in  warfare  be- 
tween civilized  powers,  but  they  differ 
rather  in  extent  than  in  kind  from  what 
has  happened  in  previous  though  not  re- 
cent wars. 

In  all  wars  many  shocking  and  out- 
rageous acts  must  be  expected,  for  in 
every  large  army  there  must  be  a  pro- 
portion of  men  of  criminal  instincts 
whose  worst  passions  are  unloosed  by 
the  immunity  which  the  conditions  of 
warfare  afford.  Drunkenness,  moreover, 
may  turn  even  a  soldier  who  has  no  crim- 
inal habits  into  a  brute,  who  may  com- 
mit outrages  at  which  he  would  himself 
be  shocked  in  his  sober  moments,  and 
there  is  evidence  that  intoxication  was 
extremely  prevalent  among  the  German 
Army,  both  in  Belgium  and  in  France, 
for  plenty  of  wine  was  to  be  found  in 
the  villages  and  country  houses  which 
were  pillaged.  Many  of  the  worst  out- 
rages appear  to  have  been  perpetrated 
by  men  under  the  influence  of  drink. 
Unfortunately,  little  seems  to  have  been 
done  to  repress  this  source  of  danger. 

In  the  present  war,  however — and  this 
is  the  gravest  charge  against  the  German 
Army — the  evidence  shows  that  the  kill- 
ing of  noncombatants  was  carried  out 
to  an  extent  for  which  no  previous  war 
between  nations  claiming  to  be  civilized, 
(for  such  cases  as  the  atrocities  perpe- 
trated by  the  Turks  on  the  Bulgarian 
Christians  in  1876,  and  on  the  Armenian 
Christians  in  1895  and  1896,  do  not  be- 
long  to   that   category,)    furnishes   any 


precedent.  That  this  killing  was  done 
as  part  of  a  deliberate  plan  is  clear  from 
the  facts  hereinbefore  set  forth  regard- 
ing Louvain,  Aerschot,  Dinant,  and  other 
towns.  The  killing  was  done  under  or- 
ders in  each  place.  It  began  at  a  certain 
fixed  date,  and  stopped,  (with  some  few 
exceptions,)  at  another  fixed  date.  Some 
of  the  officers  who  carried  out  the  work 
did  it  reluctantly,  and  said  they  were 
obeying  directions  from  their  chiefs.  The 
same  remarks  apply  to  the  destruction  of 
property.  House  burning  was  part  of  the 
program;  and  villages,  even  large  parts 
of  a  city,  were  given  to  the  flames  as 
part  of  the  terrorizing  policy. 

Citizens  of  neutral  States  who  visited 
Belgium  in  December  and  January  report 
that  the  German  authorities  do  not  deny 
that  noncombatants  were  systematically 
killed  in  large  numbers  during  the  first 
weeks  of  the  invasion,  and  this,  so  far 
as  we  know,  has  never  been  officially 
denied.  If  it  were  denied,  the  flight  and 
continued  voluntary  exile  of  thousands  of 
Belgian  refugees  would  go  far  to  contra- 
dict a  denial,  for  there  is  no  historical 
parallel  in  modern  times  for  the  flight 
of  a  large  part  of  a  nation  before  an 
invader. 

The  German  Government  have,  how- 
ever, sought  to  justify  their  severities  on 
the  grounds  of  military  necessity,  and 
have  excused  them  as  retaliation  for 
cases  in  which  civilians  fired  on  Ger- 
man troops.  There  may  have  been  cases 
in  which  such  firing  occurred,  but  no 
proof  has  ever  been  given,  or,  to  our 
knowledge,  attempted  to  be  given,  of 
such  cases,  nor  of  the  stories  of  shock- 
ing outrages  perpetrated  by  Belgian  men 
and  women  on  German  soldiers. 

The  inherent  improbability  of  the  Ger- 
man contention  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
after  the  first  few  days  of  the  invasion 
every  possible  precaution  had  been  taken 
by  the  Belgian  authorities,  by  way  of 
placards  and  handbills,  to  warn  the 
civilian  population  not  to  intervene  in 
hostilities.  Throughout  Belgium  steps 
had  been  taken  to  secure  the  handing 
over  of  all  firearms  in  the  possession  of 
civilians  before  the  German  Army  ar- 
rived.   These  steps  were  sometimes  taken 


578 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


by  the  police  and  sometimes  by  the  mili- 
tary authorities. 

The  invaders  appear  to  have  pro- 
ceeded upon  the  theory  that  any  chance 
shot  coming  from  an  unexpected  place 
was  fired  by  civilians.  One  favorite  form 
of  this  allegation  was  that  priests  had 
fired  from  the  church  tower.  In  many 
instances  the  soldiers  of  the  allied 
armies  used  church  towers  and  private 
houses  as  cover  for  their  operations.  At 
Aerschot,  where  the  Belgian  soldiers 
were  stationed  in  the  church  tower  and 
fired  upon  the  Germans  as  they  ad- 
vanced, it  was  at  once  alleged  by  the 
Germans  when  they  entered  the  town, 
and  with  difficulty  disproved,  that  the 
firing  had  come  from  civilians.  Thus 
one  elementary  error  creeps  at  once  into 
the  German  argument,  for  they  were 
likely  to  counfound,  and  did  in  some  in- 
stances certainly  confound,  legitimate 
military  operations  with  the  hostile  in- 
tervention of  civilians. 

Troops  belonging  to  the  same  army 
often  fire  by  mistake  upon  each  other. 
That  the  German  Army  was  no  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  is  proved  not  only  by 
many  Belgian  witnesses,  but  by  the  most 
irrefragable  kind  of  evidence — the  ad- 
mission of  German  soldiers  themselves, 
recorded  in  their  war  diaries.  Thus  Otto 
Clepp,  Second  Company  of  the  Reserve, 
says,  under  date  of  Aug.  22 :  "  Three 
A.  M.  Two  infantry  regiments  shot  at 
each  other — 9  dead  and  50  wounded — 
fault  not  yet  ascertained."  In  this  con- 
nection the  diaries  of  Kurt  Hoffman 
and  a  soldier  of  the  112th  Regiment, 
(Diary  No.  14,)  will  repay  study.  In 
such  cases  the  obvious  interest  of  the 
soldier  is  to  conceal  his  mistake,  and  a 
convenient  method  of  doing  so  is  to  raise 
the  cry  of  "  francs-tireurs!" 

Doubtless  the  German  soldiers  often 
believed  that  the  civilian  population,  nat- 
urally hostile,  had,  in  fact,  attacked 
them.  This  attitude  of  mind  may  have 
been  fostered  by  the  German  authorities 
themselves  before  the  troops  passed  the 
frontier,  and  thereafter  stories  of  alleged 
atrocities  committed  by  Belgians  upon 
Germans,  such  as  the  myth  referred  to 
in  one  of  the  diaries  relating  to  Liege, 


were  circulated  among  the  troops  and 
roused  their  anger. 

The  diary  of  Barthel,  when  still  in 
Germany  on  Aug.  10,  shows  that  he 
believed  that  the  Oberburgomaster  of 
Liege  had  murdered  a  Surgeon  General. 
The  fact  is  that  no  violence  was  in- 
flicted on  the  inhabitants  at  Liege  until 
the  19th,  and  no  one  who  studies  these 
pages  can  have  any  doubt  that  Lieg^e 
would  immediately  have  been  given  over 
to  murder  and  destruction  if  any  such 
incident  had  occurred. 

Letters  written  to  their  homes  which 
have  been  found  on  the  bodies  of  dead 
Germans  bear  witness,  in  a  way  that 
now  sounds  pathetic,  to  the  kindness 
with  which  they  were  received  by  the 
civil  population.  Their  evident  surprise 
at  this  reception  was  due  to  the  stories 
which  had  been  dinned  into  their  ears  of 
soldiers  with  their  eyes  gouged  out, 
treacherous  murders,  and  poisoned  food 
— stories  which  may  have  been  encour- 
aged by  the  higher  military  authorities  in 
order  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  troops, 
as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  justifying  the 
measures  which  they  took  to  terrify  the 
civil  population.  If  there  is  any  truth 
in  such  stories,  no  attempt  has  been 
made  to  establish  it.  For  instance,  the 
Chancellor  of  the  German  Empire,  in  a 
communication  made  to  the  press  on 
Sept.  2  and  printed  in  the  Nord  Deutsche 
Allgemeine  Zeitung  of  Sept.  21,  said  as 
follows : 

"  Belgian  girls  gouged  out  the  eyes  of 
the  German  wounded.  Officials  of  Bel- 
gian cities  have  invited  our  officers  to 
dingier  and  shot  and  killed  them  across 
the  table.  Contrary  to  all  international 
law,  the  whole  civilian  population  of 
Belgium  was  called  out  and,  after  having 
at  first  shown  friendliness,  carried  on 
in  the  rear  of  our  troops  terrible  war- 
fare with  concealed  weapons.  Belgian 
women  cut  the  throats  of  soldiers  whom 
they  had  quartered  in  their  homes  while 
they  were  sleeping." 

No  evidence  whatever  seems  to  have 
been  adduced  to  prove  these  tales,  and 
though  there  may  be  cases  in  which  in- 
dividual Belgians  fired  on  the  Germans, 
the  statement  that  "  the  whole  civilian 
population  of  Belgium  was  called  out " 
is  utterly  opposed  to  the  fact. 

An  invading  army  may  be  entitled  to 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


579 


shoot  at  sight  a  civilian  caught  red- 
handed,  or  any  one  who,  though  not 
caught  redhanded,  is  proved  guilty  on 
inquiry.  But  this  was  not  the  practice 
followed  by  the  German  troops.  They 
do  not  seem  to  have  made  any  inquiry. 
They  seized  the  civilians  of  the  villages 
indiscriminately  and  killed  them,  or  such 
as  they  selected  from  among  them,  with- 
out the  least  regard  to  guilt  or  inno- 
cence. The  mere  cry,  "  Civilisten  haben 
geschossen!"  was  enough  to  hand  over 
a  whole  village  or  district,  and  even  out- 
lying places,  to  ruthless  slaughter. 

We  gladly  record  the  instances  where 
the  evidence  shows  that  humanity  had 
not  wholly  disappeared  from  some  mem- 
bers of  the  German  Army,  and  that  they 
realized  that  the  responsible  heads  of 
that  organization  were  employing  them 
not  in  war,  but  in  butchery:  "  I  am 
merely  executing  orders,  and  I  should  be 
shot  if  I  did  not  execute  them,"  said  an 
officer  to  a  witness  at  Louvain.  At  Brus- 
sels another  officer  says:  "  I  have  not 
done  one-hundredth  part  of  what  we  have 
been  ordered  to  do  by  the  high  German 
military  authorities." 

As  we  have  already  observed,  it  would 
be  unjust  to  charge  upon  the  German 
Army  generally  acts  of  cruelty  which, 
whether  due  to  drunkenness  or  not,  were 
done  by  men  of  brutal  instincts  and  un- 
bridled passions.  Such  crimes  were 
sometimes  punished  by  the  officers.  They 
were  in  some  cases  offset  by  acts  of 
humanity  and  kindliness.  But  when  an 
army  is  directed  or  permitted  to  kill 
noncombatants  on  a  large  scale  the  fe- 
rocity of  the  worst  natures  springs  into 
fuller  life,  and  both  lust  and  the  thirst 
of  blood  become  more  widespread  and 
more  formidable.  Had  less  license  been 
allowed  to  the  soldiers  and  had  they  not 
been  set  to  work  to  slaughter  civilians 
there  would  have  been  fewer  of  those 
painful  cases  in  which  a  depraved  and 
morbid   cruelty   appears. 

Two  classes  of  murders  in  particular 
require  special  mention  because  one  of 
them  is  almost  new  and  the  other  alto- 
gether unprecedented.  The  former  is  the 
seizure  of  peaceful  citizens  as  so-called 
hostages,  to  be  kept  as  a  pledge  for  the 
conduct  of  the  civil  population  or  as  a 


means  to  secure  some  military  advantage 
or  to  compel  the  payment  of  a  contribu- 
tion, the  hostages  being  shot  if  the  con- 
dition imposed  by  the  arbitrary  will  of 
the  invader  is  not  fulfilled.  Such  hostage 
taking,  with  the  penalty  of  death  at- 
tached, has  now  and  then  happened,  the 
most  notable  case  being  the  shooting  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Paris  and  some  of  his 
clergy  by  the  Communards  of  Paris  in 
1871,  but  it  is  opposed  both  to  the  rules 
of  war  and  to  every  principle  of  justice 
and  humanity.  The  latter  kind  of  mur- 
der is  the  killing  of  the  innocent  inhab- 
itants of  a  village  because  shots  have 
been  fired,  or  are  alleged  to  have  been 
fired,  on  the  troops  by  some  one  in  the 
village.  F'or  this  practice  no  previous 
example  and  no  justification  have  been 
or  can  be  pleaded.  Soldiers  suppressing 
an  insurrection  may  have  sometimes 
slain  civilians  mingled  with  insurgents, 
and  Napoleon's  forces  in  Spain  are  said 
to  have  now  and  then  killed  promiscu- 
ously when  trying  to  clear  guerrillas  out 
of  a  village.  But  in  Belgium  large  bodies 
of  men,  sometimes  including  the  Burgo- 
master and  the  priest,  were  seized, 
marched  by  officers  to  a  spot  chosen  for 
the  purpose,  and  there  shot  in  cold  blood, 
without  any  attempt  at  trial  or  even 
inquiry,  under  the  pretense  of  inflicting 
punishment  upon  the  village,  though 
these  unhappy  victims  were  not  even 
charged  with  having  themselves  com- 
mitted any  wrongful  act,  and  though,  in 
some  cases  at  least,  the  village  authori- 
ties had  done  all  in  their  power  to  pre- 
vent any  molestation  of  the  invading 
force.  Such  acts  are  no  part  of  war,  for 
innocence  is  entitled  to  respect  even  in 
war.  They  are  mere  murders,  just  as 
the  drowning  of  the  innocent  passengers 
and  crews  on  a  merchant  ship  is  murder 
and  not  an  act  of  war. 

That  these  acts  should  have  been  per- 
petrated on  the  peaceful  population  of 
an  unoffending  country  which  was  not 
at  war  with  its  invaders,  but  merely  de- 
fending its  own  neutrality,  guaranteed 
by  the  invading  power,  may  excite  amaze- 
ment and  even  incredulity.  It  was  with 
amazement  and  almost  with  incredulity 
that  the  committee  first  read  the  depo- 
sitions relating  to  such  acts.     But  when 


580 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  evidence  regarding  Liege  was  fol- 
lowed by  that  regarding  Aerschot,  Lou- 
vain,  Andenne,  Dinant,  and  the  other 
towns  and  villages,  the  cumulative  effect 
of  such  a  mass  of  concurrent  testimony 
became  irresistible,  and  we  were  driven 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  things  de- 
scribed had  really  happened.  The  ques- 
tion then  arose,  how  they  could  have 
happened.  Not  from  mere  military 
license,  for  the  discipline  of  the  German 
Army  is  proverbially  stringent,  and  its 
obedience  implicit.  Not  from  any  special 
ferocity  of  the  troops,  for  whoever  has 
traveled  among  the  German  peasantry 
knows  that  they  are  as  kindly  and  good- 
natured  as  any  people  in  Europe,  and 
those  who  can  recall  the  war  of  1870 
will  remember  that  no  charges  resem- 
bling those  proved  by  these  depositions 
were  then  established.  The  excesses  re- 
cently committed  in  Belgium  were,  more- 
over, too  widespread  and  too  uniform  in 
their  character  to  be  mere  sporadic  out- 
bursts of  passion  or  rapacity. 

The  explanation  seems  to  be  that  these 
excesses  were  committed — in  some  cases 
ordered,  in  others  allowed — on  a  sys- 
tem and  in  pursuance  of  a  set  purpose. 
That  purpose  was  to  strike  terror  into 
the  civil  population  and  dishearten  the 
Belgian  troops,  so  as  to  crush  down  re- 
sistance and  extinguish  the  very  spirit 
of  self-defense.  The  pretext  that  civ- 
ilians had  fired  upon  the  invading  troops 
was  used  to  justify  not  merely  the  shoot- 
ing of  individual  francs-tireurs,  but  the 
murder  of  large  numbers  of  innocent  civ- 
ilians, an  act  absolutely  forbidden  by  the 
rules  of  civilized  warfare.* 

In  the  minds  of  Prussian  officers  war 
seems  to  have  become  a  sort  of  sacred 
mission,  one  of  the  highest  functions  of 
the  omnipotent  State,  which  is  itself  as 
much  an  army  as  a  State.  Ordinary 
morality  and  the  ordinary  sentiment  of 
pity  vanish  in  its  presence,  superseded  by 
a  new  standard,  which  justifies  to  the 
soldier  every  means  that  can  conduce  to 
success,  however  shocking  to  a  natural 
sense  of  justice  and  humanity,  however 


*  As  to  this,  see,  in  appendix,  the  Rules  of 
The  Hague  Convention  of  1907,  to  which 
Germany  was  a  signatory. 


revolting  to  his  own  feelings.  The  spirit 
of  war  is  deified.  Obedience  to  the 
State  and  its  war  lord  leaves  no  room 
for  any  other  duty  or  feeling.  Cruelty 
becomes  legitimate  when  it  promises  vic- 
tory. Proclaimed  by  the  heads  of  the 
army,  this  doctrine  would  seem  to  have 
permeated  the  officers  and  affected  even 
the  private  soldiers,  leading  them  to  jus- 
tify the  killing  of  noncombatants  as  an 
act  of  war,  and  so  :  ccustoming  them  to 
slaughter  that  even  women  and  children 
become  at  last  the  victims.  It  cannot 
be  supposed  to  be  a  national  doctrine,  for 
it  neither  springs  from  nor  reflects  the 
mind  and  feelings  of  the  German  people 
as  they  have  heretofore  been  known  to 
other  nations.  It  is  a  specifically  mili- 
tary doctrine,  the  outcome  of  a  theory 
held  by  a  ruling  caste  who  have  brooded 
and  thought,  written  and  talked,  and 
dreamed  about  war  until  they  have  fallen 
under  its  obsession  and  been  hypnotized 
by  its  spirit. 

The  doctrine  is  plainly  set  forth  in  the 
German  Official  Monograph  on  the 
usages  of  war  on  land,  issued  under  the 
direction  of  the  German  Staff.  This 
book  is  pervaded  throughout  by  the  view 
that  whatever  military  needs  suggest  be- 
comes thereby  lawful,  and  upon  this  prin- 
ciple, as  the  diaries  show,  the  German  of- 
ficers acted.* 

If  this  explanation  be  the  true  one,  the 
mystery  is  solved,  and  that  which  seemed 
scarcely  credible  becomes  more  intelli- 
gible, though  not  less  pernicious.  This  is 
not  the  only  case  that  history  records  in 
which  a  false  theory,  disguising  itself  as 
loyalty  to  a  State  or  to  a  Church,  has 
perverted  the  conception  of  duty  and 
become  a  source  of  danger  to  the  world. 

PART  11. 

Having  thus  narrated  the  offenses 
committed  in  Belgium,  which  it  has  been 
proper  to  consider  as  a  whole,  we  now 
turn  to  another  branch  of  the  subject, 
the  breaches  of  the  usages  of  war  which 

"  Kriegsbrauch  im  Landltriege,"  Berlin, 
1902,  in  Vol.  VI.,  in  the  series  entitled 
"  Kriegsgeschichtliche  Einzelschriften,"  pub- 
lished in  1905.  A  translation  of  this  mon- 
ograph, by  Professor  J.  H.  Morgan,  has  re- 
cently been  published. 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


581 


appear   in   the  conduct  of    the   German 
Army  generally. 

This  branch  has  been  considered  under 
the  following  heads: 

First. — The  treatment  of  noncom- 
batants,  whether  in  Belgium  or  in 
France,  including — 

(a)  The  killing  of  noncombatants 
in  France; 

(b)  The  treatment  of  women  and 
children ; 

(c)  The  using  of  innocent  non- 
combatants  as  a  screen  or  shield  in 
the  conduct  of  military  operations ; 

(d)  Looting,  burning,  and  the 
wanton  destruction  of  property. 

Second. — Offenses  committed  in 
the  course  of  ordinary  military  oper- 
ations, which  violate  the  usages  of 
war  and  the  provisions  of  The  Hague 
Convention. 

This  division  includes: 

(a)  Killing  of  wounded  or  pris- 
oners; 

(6)  Firing  on  hospitals  or  on  the 
Red  Cross  ambulances  and  stretcher 
bearers; 

(c)  Abuse  of  the  Red  Cross  or  of 
the  white  flag. 

TREATMENT    OF    THE    CIVIL- 
IAN POPULATION, 
(a)    Killing   of   Noncombatants. 

The  killing  of  civilians  in  Belgium  has 
been  already  described  sufficiently.  Out- 
rages on  the  civilian  population  of  the 
invaded  districts,  the  burning  of  villages, 
the  shooting  of  innocent  inhabitants,  and 
the  taking  of  hostages,  pillage,  and  de- 
struction continued  as  the  German  ar- 
mies passed  into  France.  The  diary  of 
the  Saxon  officer  above  referred  to  de- 
scribes acts  of  this  kind  committed  by 
the  German  soldiers  in  advancing  to  the 
Aisne  at  the  end  of  August  and  after 
they  had  passed  the  French  frontier,  as 
well  as  when  they  were  in  Belgian  ter- 
ritory. 

A  proclamation,  (a  specimen  of  which 
was  produced  to  the  committee,)  issued 
at  Rheims  and  placarded  over  the  town, 
affords  a  clear  illustration  of  the  meth- 
ods adopted  by  the  German  Higher  Com- 
mand. The  population  of  Rheims  is 
warned  that  on  the  slightest  disturb- 
ance part  or  the  whole  of  the  city  will 
be  burned  to  the  ground  and  all  the  hos- 


tages taken  from  the  city  (a  long  list 
of  whom  is  given  in  the  proclamation) 
immediately   shot. 

The  evidence,  however,  submitted  to 
the  committee  with  regard  to  the  con- 
duct of  the  German  Army  in  France  is 
not  nearly  so  full  as  that  with  regard  to 
Belgium.  There  is  no  body  of  civilian 
refugees  in  England,  and  the  French 
witnesses  have  generally  laid  their  evi- 
dence before  their  own  Government.  The 
evidence  forwarded  to  us  consists  prin- 
cipally of  the  statements  of  British  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  who  took  part  in  the 
retreat  after  the  battle  of  Mons  and  in 
the  subsequent  advance,  following  the 
Germans  from  the  Marne.  The  area 
covered  is  relatively  small,  and  it  is 
from  French  reports  that  any  complete 
account  of  what  occurred  in  the  invaded 
districts  in  France  as  a  whole  must  be 
obtained. 

Naturally,  soldiers  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try, with  which  they  were  unacquainted, 
cannot  be  expected  always  to  give  ac- 
curately the  names  of  villages  through 
which  they  passed  on  their  marches,  but 
this  does  not  prevent  their  evidence  from 
being  definite  as  to  what  they  actually 
saw  in  the  farms  and  houses  where  the 
German  troops  had  recently  been.  Many 
shocking  outrages  are  recorded.  Three 
examples  may  here  suffice;  others  are 
given  in  the  appendix.  A  Sergeant 
who  had  been  through  the  retreat  from 
Mons  and  then  taken  part  in  the  ad- 
vance from  the  Marne,  and  who  had  been 
engaged  in  driving  out  some  German 
troops  from  a  village,  states  that  his 
troop  halted  outside  a  bakery  just  in- 
side the  village.  It  was  a  private  house 
where  baking  was  done,  "  not  like  our 
bakeries  here."  Two  or  three  women  were 
standing  at  the  door.  The  women  mo- 
tioned them  to  come  into  the  house,  as 
did  also  three  civilian  Frenchmen  who 
were  there.  They  took  them  into  a  gar- 
den at  the  back  of  the  house.  At  the 
end  of  the  garden  was  the  bakery.  They 
saw  two  old  men  between  60  and  70  years 
of  age  and  one  old  woman  lying  close 
to  each  other  in  the  garden.  All  three 
had  the  scalps  cut  right  through  and 
the  brains  were  hanging  out.  They  were 
still  bleeding.    Apparently  they  had  only 


582 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


just  been  killed.  The  three  French  civ- 
ilians belonged  to  this  same  house.  One 
of  them  spoke  a  few  words  of  English. 
He  gave  them  to  understand  that  these 
three  had  been  killed  by  the  Germans  be- 
cause they  had  refused  to  bake  bread  for 
them. 

Another  witness  states  that  two  Ger- 
man soldiers  took  hold  of  a  young  civil- 
ian named  D.  and  bound  his  hands  be- 
hind his  back,  and  struck  him  in  the 
face  with  their  fists.  They  then  tied 
his  hands  in  front  and  fastened  the 
cord  to  the  tail  of  the  horse.  The  horse 
dragged  him  for  about  fifty  yards,  and 
then  the  Germans  loosened  his  hands 
and  left  him.  The  whole  of  his  face 
was  cut  and  torn,  and  his  arms  and  legs 
were  bruised.  On  the  following  day 
one  of  his  sisters,  whose  husband  was 
a  soldier,  came  to  their  house  with  her 
four  children.  His  brother,  who  was 
also  married  and  who  lived  in  a  village 
near  Valenciennes,  went  to  fetch  the 
bread  for  his  sister.  On  the  way  back 
to  their  house  he  met  a  patrol  of  Uhlans, 
who  took  him  to  the  market  place  at 
Valenciennes,  and  then  shot  him.  About 
twelve  other  civilians  were  also  shot 
in  the  market  place.  The  Uhlans  then 
burned  nineteen  houses  in  the  village, 
and  afterward  burned  the  corpses  of  the 
civilians,  including  that  of  his  brother. 
His  father  and  his  uncle  afterward  went 
to  see  the  dead  body  of  his  brother,  but 
the  German  soldiers  refused  to  allow 
them  to  pass. 

A  lance  corporal  in  the  Rifles,  who  was 
on  patrol  duty  with  five  privates  during 
the  retirement  of  the  Germans  after  the 
Marne,  states  that  they  entered  a  house 
in  a  small  village  and  took  ten  Uhlans 
prisoners,  and  then  searched  the  house 
and  found  two  women  and  two  children. 
One  was  dead,  but  the  body  not  yet 
cold.  The  left  arm  had  been  cut  off 
just  below  the  elbow.  The  floor  was 
covered  with  blood.  The  woman's  cloth- 
ing was  disarranged.  The  other  wo- 
man was  alive  but  unconscious.  Her 
right  leg  had  been  cut  off  above  the 
knee.  There  were  two  little  children, 
a  boy  about  4  or  5  and  a  girl  of  about 
6  or  7.  The  boy's  left  hand  was  cut 
off   at   the   wrist   and   the    girl's    right 


hand  at  the  same  place.  They  were 
both  quite  dead.  The  same  witness 
states  that  he  saw  several  women  and 
children  lying  dead  in  various  other 
places,  but  says  he  could  not  say  wheth- 
er this  might  not  have  been  accidentally 
caused  in  legitimate  fighting. 

The  evidence  before  us  proves  that 
in  the  parts  of  France  referred  to  mur- 
der of  unoffending  civilians  and  other 
acts  of  cruelty,  including  aggravated 
cases  of  rape,  carried  out  under  threat 
of  death,  and  sometimes  actually  fol- 
lowed by  murder  of  the  victim,  were 
committed  by  some  of  the  German 
troops. 

(b)     The    Treatment     of    Women     and 
Children. 

The  evidence  shows  that  the  German 
authorities,  when  carrying  out  a  policy 
of  systematic  arson  and  plunder  in  se- 
lected districts,  usually  drew  some  dis- 
tinction between  the  adult  male  popu- 
lation on  the  one  hand  and  the  women 
and  children  on  the  other.  It  was  a 
frequent  practice  to  set  apart  the  adult 
males  of  the  condemned  district  with  a 
view  to  the  execution  of  a  suitable  num- 
ber— preferably  of  the  younger  and 
more  vigorous — and  to  reserve  the  wo- 
men and  children  for  milder  treatment. 
The  depositions,  however,  present  many 
instances  of  calculated  cruelty,  often 
going  the  length  of  murder,  toward  the 
women  and  children  of  the  condemned 
area.  We  have  already  referred  to  the 
case  of  Aerschot,  where  the  women  and 
children  w^ere  herded  in  a  church  which 
had  recently  been  used  as  a  stable,  de- 
tained for  forty-eight  hours  with  no 
food  other  than  coarse  bread,  and  denied 
the  common  decencies  of  life.  At  Dinant 
sixty  women  and  children  were  confined 
in  the  cellar  of  a  convent  from  Sunday 
morning  till  the  following  Friday,  (Aug. 
2S,)  sleeping  on  the  ground,  for  there 
were  no  beds,  with  nothing  to  drink 
during  the  whole  period,  and  given  no 
food  until  the  Wednesday,  "  when  some- 
body threw  into  the  cellar  two  sticks 
of  macaroni  and  a  carrot  for  each  pris- 
oner." In  other  cases  the  women  and 
children  were  marched  for  long  dis- 
tances   along    roads,    (e.    g.,    march    of 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


583 


women  from  Louvain  to  Tirlemont,  Aug. 
28,)  the  laggards  pricked  on  by  the 
attendant  Uhlans.  A  lady  complains  of 
having  been  brutally  kicked  by  privates. 
Others  were  struck  with  the  butt  end  of 
rifles.  At  Louvain,  at  Lioge,  at  Aer- 
schot,  at  Malines,  at  Montigny,  at  An- 
denne,  and  elsewhere,  there  is  evidence 
that  the  troops  were  not  restrained  from 
drunkenness,  and  drunken  soldiers  can- 
not to  be  trusted  to  observe  the  rules  or 
decencies  of  war,  least  of  all  when  they 
are  called  upon  to  execute  a  preordained 
plan  of  arson  and  pillage.  From  the 
very  first  women  were  not  safe.  At 
liiege  women  and  children  were  chased 
about  the  streets  by  soldiers.  A  witness 
gives  a  story,  very  circumstantial  in  its 
details,  of  how  women  were  publicly 
raped  in  the  market  place  of  the  city, 
five  young  German  officers  assisting.  At 
Aerschot  men  and  women  were  deliber- 
ately shot  when  coming  out  of  burning 
houses.  At  Liege,  Louvain,  Sempst,  and 
Malines  women  were  burned  to  death, 
either  because  they  were  surprised  and 
stupefied  by  the  fumes  of  the  conflagra- 
tion or  because  they  were  prevented  from 
escaping  by  German  soldiers.  Wit- 
nesses recount  how  a  great  crowd  of 
men,  women,  and  children  from  Aerschot 
were  marched  to  Louvain,  and  then  sud- 
denly exposed  to  a  fire  from  a  mitrail- 
leuse and  rifles.  "  We  were  all  placed," 
recounts  a  sufferer,  "  in  Station  Street, 
Louvain,  and  the  German  soldiers  fired 
on  us.  I  saw  the  corpses  of  some  women 
in  the  street.  I  fell  down,  and  a  woman 
who  had  been  shot  fell  on  top  of  me." 
Women  and  children  suddenly  turned  out 
into  the  streets,  and,  compelled  to  wit- 
ness the  destruction  by  fire  of  their 
homes,  provided  a  sad  spectacle  to  such 
as  were  sober  enough  to  see.  A  humane 
German  officer,  witnessing  the  ruin  of 
Aerschot,  exclaims  in  disgust:  "  I  am 
a  father  myself,  and  I  cannot  bear  this. 
It  is  not  war,  but  butchery."  Officers 
as  well  as  men  succumbed  to  the  tempta- 
tion of  drink,  with  results  whtch  may 
be  illustrated  by  an  incident  which  oc- 
curred at  Campenhout.  In  this  village 
there  was  a  certain  well-to-do  merchant 
(name  given)  who  had  a  good  cellar  of 
champagne.     On   the  afternoon   of   the 


14th  or  15th  of  August  three  German 
cavalry  officers  entered  the  house  and 
demanded  champagne.  Having  drunk 
ten  bottles  and  invited  five  or  six  offi- 
cers and  three  or  four  private  soldiers  to 
join  them,  they  continued  their  carouse, 
and  then  called  for  the  master  and  mis- 
tress of  the  house. 

"  Immediately  my  mistress  came  in," 
says  the  valet  de  chambre,  "  one  of  the 
officers  who  was  sitting  on  the  floor  got 
up,  and,  putting  a  revolver  to  my  mis- 
tress' temple,  shot  her  dead.  The  offi- 
cer was  obviously  drunk.  The  other 
officers  continued  to  drink  and  sing,  and 
they  did  not  pay  great  attention  to  the 
killing  of  my  mistress.  The  officer  who 
shot  my  mistress  then  told  my  master 
to  dig  a  grave  and  bury  my  mistress. 
My  master  and  the  officer  went  into  the 
garden,  the  officer  threatening  my  mas- 
ter with  a  pistol.  My  master  was  then 
forced  to  dig  the  grave  and  to  bury 
the  body  of  my  mistress,  in  it.  I  cannot 
say  for  what  reason  they  killed  my 
mistress.  The  officer  who  did  it  was 
singing  all  the  time." 

In  the  evidence  before  us  there  are 
cases  tending  to  show  that  aggravated 
crimes  against  women  were  sometimes 
severely  punished.  One  witness  reports 
that  a  young  girl  who  was  being  pursued 
by  a  drunken  soldier  at  Louvain  ap- 
pealed to  a  German  officer,  and  that  the 
offender  was  then  and  there  shot.  An- 
other describes  how  an  officer  of  the 
Thirty-second  Regiment  of  the  Line  was 
led  out  to  execution  for  the  violation 
of  two  young  girls,  but  reprieved  at  the 
request  or  with  the  consent  of  the  girls' 
mother.  These  instances  are  sufficient 
to  show  that  the  maltreatment  of  wo- 
men was  no  part  of  the  military  scheme 
of  the  invaders,  however  much  it  may 
appear  to  have  been  the  inevitable  result 
of  the  system  of  terror  deliberately 
adopted  in  certain  regions.  Indeed,  so 
much  is  avowed.  "  I  asked  the  com- 
mander why  we  had  been  spared,"  says 
a  lady  in  Louvain,  who  deposes  to  having 
suffered  much  brutal  treatment  during 
the  sack.  He  said :  "  We  will  not  hurt 
you  any  more.  Stay  in  Louvain.  All  is 
finished."  It  was  Saturday,  Aug.  29, 
and  the  reign  of  terror  was  over. 

Apart  from  the  crimes  committed  in 
special  areas  and  belonging  to  a  scheme 
of  systematic  reprisals  for  the  alleged 


584 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


shooting  by  civilians,  there  is  evidence 
of  offenses  committed  against  women 
and  children  by  individual  soldiers,  or 
by  small  groups  of  soldiers,  both  in  the 
advance  through  Belgium  and  France 
as  in  the  retreat  from  the  Marne.  In- 
deed, the  discipline  appears  to  have  been 
loose  during  the  retreat,  and  there  is 
evidence  as  to  the  burning  of  villages 
and  the  murder  and  violation  of  their 
female  inhabitants  during  this  episode 
of  the  war. 

In  this  tale  of  horrors  hideous  forms 
of  mutilation  occur  vinth  some  frequency 
in  the  depositions,  two  of  which  may 
be  connected  in  some  instances  with  a 
perverted  form  of  sexual  instinct. 

A  third  form  of  mutilation,  the  cut- 
ting of  one  or  both  hands,  is  frequently 
said  to  have  taken  place.  In  some  cases 
where  this  form  of  mutilation  is  alleged 
to  have  occurred  it  may  be  the  conse- 
quence of  a  cavalry  charge  up  a  village 
street,  hacking  and  slashixig  at  every- 
thing in  the  way;  in  others  the  victim 
may  possibly  have  held  a  weapon;  in 
others  the  motive  may  have  been  the 
theft  of  rings. 

We  find  many  well-established  cases 
of  the  slaughter  (often  accompanied  by 
mutilation)  of  whole  families,  including 
not  infrequently  that  of  quite  small 
children.  In  two  cases  it  seems  to  be 
clear  that  preparations  were  made  to 
burn  a  family  alive.  These  crimes  were 
committed  over  a  period  of  many  weeks 
and  simultaneously  in  many  places,  and 
the  authorities  must  have  known,  or 
ought  to  have  known,  that  cruelties  of 
this  character  were  being  perpetrated; 
nor  can  any  one  doubt  that  they  could 
have  been  stopped  by  swift  and  decisive 
action  on  the  part  of  the  heads  of  the 
German  Army. 

The  use  of  women  and  even  children 
as  a  screen  for  the  protection  of  the 
German  troops  is  referred  to  in  a  later 
part  of  this  report.  From  the  number 
of  troops  concerned,  it  must  have  been 
commanded  or  acquiesced  in  by  officers, 
and  in  some  cases  the  presence  and  con- 
nivance of  officers  is  proved. 

The  cases  of  violation,  sometimes  un- 
der threat  of  death,  are  numerous  and 
clearly    proved.      We    referred    here    to 


comparatively  few  out  of  the  many  that 
have  been  placed  in  the  appendix,  be- 
cause the  circumstances  are  in  most  in- 
stances much  the  same.  They  were 
often  accompanied  with  cruelty,  and  the 
slaughter  of  women  after  violation  is 
more  than  once  credibly  attested. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  in  some  cases 
where  the  body  of  a  Belgian  or  a  French 
woman  is  reported  as  lying  on  the  road- 
side pierced  with  bayonet  wounds  or 
hanging  naked  from  a  tree,  or  else  as 
lying  gashed  and  mutilated  in  a  cottage 
kitchen  or  bedroom,  the  woman  in  ques- 
tion gave  some  provocation.  She  may 
by  act  or  word  have  irritated  her  as- 
sailant, and  in  certain  instances  evi- 
dence has  been  supplied  both  as  to  the 
provocation  offered  and  as  to  the  retri- 
bution inflicted. 

(1)  "Just  before  we  got  to  Melen," 
says  a  witness  who  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  Germans  on  Aug.  5, 
"I  saw  a  woman  with  a  child  in  her 
arms  standing  on  the  side  of  the  road 
on  our  left-hand  side  watching  the 
soldiers  go  by.  Her  name  was  G., 
aged  about  63,  and  a  neighbor  of 
mine.  The  officer  asked  the  woman 
for  some  water  in  good  French.  She 
went  inside  her  son's  cottage  to  get 
some  and  brought  it  immediately  he 
had  stopped.  The  officer  went  into 
the  cottage  garden  and  drank  the 
water.  The  woman  then  said,  when 
she  saw  the  prisoners,  *  Instead  of 
giving  you  water  you  deserve  to  be 
shot.'  The  officer  shouted  to  us, 
'  March.'  We  went  on,  and  immedi- 
ately I  saw  the  officer  draw  his  re- 
volver and  shoot  the  woman  and 
child.    One  shot  killed  both." 

Two  old  men  and  one  old  woman 
refused  to  bake  bread  for  the  Ger- 
mans.    They  were  butchered. 

Aug.  23 — I  went  with  two  friends 
(names  given)  to  see  what  we 
could  see.  About  three  hours 
out  of  Malines  we  were  taken  pris- 
oners by  a  German  patrol — an  offi- 
cer and  six  men — and  marched  off 
into  a  little  wood  of  saplings,  where 
there  was  a  house.  The  officer 
spoke  Flemish,  He  knocked  at  the 
door;  the  peasant  did  not  come.  The 
officer  ordered  the  soldiers  to  break 
down  the  door,  which  two  of  them 
did.  The  peasant  came  and  asked 
what  they  were  doing.  The  officer 
said  he  did  not  come  quickly  enough 
.  and  that  they  had  *•'  trained  up " 
plenty  of  others.  His  hands  were 
tied   behind  his  back,  and   he   was 


BARON     STEPHAN     BURIAN     VON      RAJECZ 

The  Hungarian   Who  Succeeded  Count  Berchtold  as  Austro-Hungarian 
Foreign  Minister  and  Presidfent  of  the  Common  Ministerial  Couhcil 


H.      M.      FERDINAND     I. 

The  New  King  of  Rumania,  in  succession  to  his  uncle 
the  late  King  Charles  I 

(^ Photo  from   P.    S.   Rogers.) 


ALLEGED   GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


BBS 


shot  at  once  without  a  moment's 
delay.  The  wife  came  out  with  a 
little  sucking  child.  She  put  the 
child  down  and  sprang  at  the  Ger- 
mans like  a  lioness.  She  clawed 
their  faces.  One  of  the  Germans 
took  a  rifle  and  struck  her  a  tre- 
mendous blow  with  the  butt  on  the 
head.  Another  took  his  bayonet  and 
fixed  it  and  thrust  it  through  the 
child.  He  then  put  his  rifle  on  his 
shoulder  with  the  child  upon  it;  its 
little  arms  stretched  out  once  or 
twice.  The  officers  ordered  the 
houses  to  be  set  on  fire,  and  straw 
was  obtained  and  it  was  done.  The 
man  and  his  wife  and  the  child  were 
thrown  on  the  top  of  the  straw. 
There  were  about  forty  other  peas- 
ant prisoners  there  also,  and  the  of- 
ficer said:  "  I  am  doing  this  as  a 
lesson  and  example  to  you.  When  a 
German  tells  you  to  do  something 
next  time  you  must  move  more 
quickly."  The  regiment  of  Germans 
was  a  regiment  of  Hussars,  with 
crossbones  and  a  death's  head  on  the 
cap. 

Can  anjT^  one  think  that  such  acts  as 
these,  committed  by  women  in  the  cir- 
cumstances created  by  the  invasion  of 
Belgium,  were  deserving  of  the  extreme 
form  of  vengeance  attested  by  these  and 
other  depositions? 

In  considering  the  question  of  prov- 
ocation it  is  pertinent  to  take  into  ac- 
count the  numerous  cases  in  which  old 
women  and  very  small  children  have 
been  shot,  bayoneted,  and  even  mutilat- 
ed. Whatever  excuse  may  be  offered 
by  the  Germans  for  the  killing  of  grown- 
up women,  there  can  be  no  possible 
defense  for  the  murder  of  children,  and 
if  it  can  he  shown  that  infants  and 
small  children  were  not  infrequently 
bayoneted  and  shot  it  is  a  fair  inference 
that  many  of  the  offenses  against  wo- 
men require  no  explanation  more  recon- 
dite than  the  unbridled  violence  of  bru- 
tal or  drunken  criminals. 

It  is  clearly  shown  that  many  offenses 
were  committed  against  infants  and 
quite  young  children.  On  one  occasion 
children  were  even  roped  together  and 
used  as  a  military  screen  against  the 
enemy;  on  another  three  soldiers  went 
into  action  carrying  small  children  to 
protect  themselves  from  flank  fire.  A 
shocking  case  of  the  murder  of  a  baby 
by  a  drunken  soldier  at  Malines  is  thus 


recorded  by  one  eyewitness  and  confirm- 
ed by  another: 

"One  day  when  the  Germans  were 
•  not  actually  bombarding  the  town 
I  left  my  house  to  go  to  my  moth- 
er's house  in  High  Street.  My  hus- 
band was  with  me.  I  saw  eight 
German  soldiers,  and  they  were 
drunk.  They  were  singing  and  mak- 
ing a  lot  of  noise  and  dancing  about. 
As  the  German  soldiers  came  along 
the  street  I  saw  a  small  child, 
whether  boy  or  girl  I  could  not  see, 
come  out  of  a  house.  The  child 
was  about  two  years  of  age.  The 
child  came  into  the  middle  of  the 
street  so  as  to  be  in  the  way  of  the 
soldiers.  The  soldiers  were  walking 
in  twos.  The  first  line  of  two 
passed  the  child.  One  of  the  second 
line,  the  man  on  the  left,  stepped 
aside  and  drove  his  bayonet  with 
both  hands  into  the  child's  stomach, 
lifting  the  child  into  the  air  on  his 
bayonet  and  carrying  it  away  on  his 
bayonet,  he  and  his  comrades  still 
singing.  The  child  screamed  when 
the  soldier  struck  it  with  his  bayo- 
net, but  not  afterward." 

These,  no  doubt,  were  for  the  most 
part  the  acts  of  drunken  soldiers,  but 
an  incident  has  been  recorded  which 
discloses  the  fact  that  even  sober  and 
highly  placed  officers  were  not  always 
disposed  to  place  a  high  value  on  child 
life.  Thus  the  General,  wishing  to  be 
conducted  to  the  Town  Hall  at  Lebbeke, 
remarked  in  French  to  his  guide,  who 
was  accompanied  by  a  small  boy:  "  If 
you  do  not  show  me  the  right  way  I 
will  shoot  you  and  your  boy."  There 
was  no  need  to  carry  the  threat  into 
execution,  but  that  the  threat  should 
have  been  made  is  significant. 

We  cannot  tell  whether  these  acts  of 
cruelty  to  children  were  part  of  the 
scheme  for  inducing  submission  by  in- 
spiring terror.  In  Louvain,  where  the 
system  of  terrorizing  was  carried  to 
the  furthest  limit,  outrages  on  children 
were  uncommon.  The  same,  however, 
cannot  be  said  of  some  of  the  smaller 
villages  which  were  subjected  to  the 
system.  In  Hofstade  and  Sempst,  in 
Haecht,  Rotselaer,  and  Wespelaer,  many 
children  were  murdered.  Nor  can  it  be 
said  of  the  village  of  Tamines,  v,rhere 
three  small  children  (whose  names  are 
given  by  an  eye  witness  of  the  crime) 


586 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


were  slaughtered  on  the  green  for  no 
apparent  motive.  It  is  difficult  to 
imagine  the  motives  which  may  have 
prompted  such  acts.  Whether  or  no- 
Belgian  civilians  fired  on  German  sol- 
diers, young  children  at  any  rate  did 
not  fire.  The  number  and  character 
of  these  murders  constitute  the  most 
distressing  feature  connected  with  the 
conduct  of  the  war  so  far  as  it  is  re- 
vealed in  the  depositions  submitted  to 
the  committee. 

(c)  The  Use  of  Civilians  as  Screens. 

We  have  before  us  a  considerable  body 
of  evidence  with  reference  to  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Germans  of  using  civilians 
and  sometimes  military  prisoners  as 
screens  from  behind  which  they  could 
fire  upon  the  Belgian  troops,  in  the  hope 
that  the  Belgians  would  not  return  the 
fire  for  fear  of  killing  or  wounding  their 
own  fellow-countrymen. 

In  some  cases  this  evidence  refers  to 
places  where  fighting  was  actually  go- 
ing on  in  the  streets  of  a  town  or  village, 
and  to  these  cases  we  attach  little  im- 
portance. It  might  well  happen  when 
terrified  civilians  were  rushing  about  to 
seek  safety  that  groups  of  them  might 
be  used  as  a  screen  by  either  side  of  the 
combatants  without  any  intention  of  in- 
humanity or  of  any  breach  of  the  rules 
of  civilized  warfare.  But,  setting  aside 
these  doubtful  cases,  there  remains  evi- 
dence which  satisfies  us  that  on  so  many 
occasions  as  to  justify  its  being  de- 
scribed as  a  practice  the  German  soldiers, 
under  the  eyes  and  by  the  direction  of 
their  officers,  were  guilty  of  this  act. 

Thus,  for  instance,  outside  Fort  Fle- 
ron,  near  Liege,  men  and  children  were 
marched  in  front  of  the  Germans  to  pre- 
vent the  Belgian  soldiers  from  firing. 

The  progress  of  the  Germans  through 
Mons  was  marked  by  many  incidents  of 
this  character.  Thus,  on  Aug.  22  half 
a  dozen  Belgian  colliers  returning  from 
work  were  marching  in  front  of  some 
German  troops  who  were  pursuing  the 
English,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  wit- 
nesses they  must  have  been  placed  there 
intentionally.  An  English  officer  de- 
scribes how  he  caused  a  barricade  to  be 
erected  in  a  main  thoroughfare  leading 


out  of  Mons  when  the  Germans,  in  order 
to  reach  a  crossroad  in  the  rear,  fetched 
civilians  out  of  the  houses  on  each  side 
of  the  main  road  and  compelled  them  to 
hold  up  white  flags  and  act  as  cover. 

Another  British  officer  who  saw  this 
incident  is  convinced  that  the  Germans 
were  acting  deliberately  for  the  purpose 
of  protecting  themselves  from  the  fire  of 
the  British  troops.  Apart  from  this  pro- 
tection the  Germans  could  not  have  ad- 
vanced, as  the  street  was  straight  and 
commanded  by  the  British  rifle  fire  at 
a  range  of  700  or  800  yards.  Several 
British  soldiers  also  speak  to  this  inci- 
dent, and  their  story  is  confirmed  by  a 
Flemish  witness  in  a  side  street. 

On  Aug.  24  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren were  actually  pushed  into  the  front 
of  the  German  position  outside  Mons. 
The  witness  speaks  of  16  to  20  women, 
about  a  dozen  children,  and  half  a  dozen 
men  being  there. 

Seven  or  eight  women  and  five  or  six 
very  young  children  were  utilized  in  this 
way  by  some  Uhlans  between  Landrecies 
and  Guise. 

A  Belgian  soldier  saw  an  incident  of 
this  character  during  the  retreat  from 
Namur. 

At  the  battle  of  Malines  60  or  80  Bel- 
gian civilians,  among  whom  were  some 
women,  were  driven  before  the  German 
troops.  Another  witness  saw  a  similar 
incident  near  Malines,  but  a  much  larger 
number  of  civilians  was  involved,  and  a 
priest  was  in  front  with  a  white  flag. 

In  another  instance,  related  by  a  Bel- 
gian soldier,  the  civilians  were  tied  by 
the  wrists  in  groups. 

At  Eppeghem,  where  the  Germans 
were  driven  back  by  the  Belgian  sortie 
from  Antwerp,  civilians  were  used  as  a 
cover  for  the  German  retreat. 

Near  Malines,  early  in  September, 
about  10  children,  roped  together,  were 
driven  in  front  of  a  German  force 

At  Londerzeel  30  or  40  civilians,  men, 
women,  and  children,  were  placed  at  the 
head  of  a  German  column. 

One  witness  from  Termonde  was  made 
to  stand  in  front  of  the  Germans,  to- 
gether with  others,  all  with  their  hands 
above  their  heads.     Those  who  allowed 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


SKf 


their  hands  to  drop  were  at  once  prodded 
with  the  bayonet  Again,  at  Termonde, 
about  Sept.  10,  a  number  of  civilians 
were  shot  by  the  Belgian  soldiers,  who 
were  compelled  to  fire  at  the  Germans, 
taking  the  risk  of  killing  their  own  coun- 
trymen. 

At  Tournai  400  Belgian  civilians,  men, 
women,  and  children,  were  placed  in 
front  of  the  Germans,  who  then  engaged 
the  French. 

The  operations  outside  Antwerp  were 
not  free  from  incidents  of  this  character. 
Near  Willebroeck  some  civilians,  includ- 
ing a  number  of  children,  a  woman,  and 
one  old  man,  were  driven  in  front  of  the 
German  troops.  German  officers  were 
present,  and  one  woman  who  refused  to 
advance  was  stabbed  twice  with  the  bay- 
onet, and  a  little  child  who  ran  up  to 
"her  as  she  fell  had  half  its  head  blown 
away  by  a  shot  from  a  rifle. 

Other  incidents  of  the  same  kind  are 
reported  from  Nazareth  and  Ypres.  The 
British  troops  were  compelled  to  fire,  in 
some  cases  at  the  risk  of  killing  civilians. 

At  Ypres  the  Germans  drove  women 
in  front  of  them  by  pricking  them  with 
bayonets.  The  wounds  were  afterward 
seen  by  the  witness. 

(d)  Looting,  Burning,  and  Destruction  of 
Property. 

There  is  an  overwhelming  mass  of  evi- 
dence of  the  deliberate  destruction  of 
private  property  by  the  German  soldiers. 
The  destruction  in  most  cases  was  ef- 
fected by  fire,  and  the  German  troops, 
as  will  be  seen  from  earlier  passages  in 
the  report,  had  been  provided  beforehand 
with  appliances  for  rapidly  setting  fire 
to  houses.  Among  the  appliances  enu- 
merated by  witnesses  are  syringes  for 
squirting  petrol,  g^uns  for  throwing  small 
inflammable  bombs,  and  small  pellets 
made  of  inflammable  material.  Speci- 
mens of  the  last  mentioned  have  been 
shown  to  members  of  the  committee.  Be- 
sides burning  houses,  the  Germans  fre- 
quently smashed  furniture  and  pictures; 
they  also  broke  in  doors  and  windows. 
Frequently,  too,  they  defiled  houses  by 
relieving  the  wants  of  nature  upon  the 
floor.  They  also  appear  to  have  per- 
petrated the  same  vileness  upon  piled  up 


heaps  of  provisions  so  as  to  destroy  what 
they  could  not  themselves  consume.  They 
also  on  numerous  occasions  threw  corpses 
into  wells,  or  left  in  them  the  bodies  of 
persons  murdered  by  drowning. 

In  addition  to  these  acts  of  destruction 
the  German  troops,  both  in  Belgium  and 
France,  are  proved  to  have  been  guilty  of 
persistent  looting.  In  the  majority  of 
cases  the  looting  took  place  from  houses, 
but  there  is  also  evidence  that  German 
soldiers  and  even  officers  robbed  their 
prisoners,  both  civil  and  military,  of 
sums  of  money  and  other  portable  pos- 
sessions. It  was  apparently  well  known 
throughout  the  German  Army  that  towns 
and  villages  would  be  burned  whenever 
it  appeared  that  any  civilians  had  fired 
upon  the  German  troops,  and  there  is 
reason  to  suspect  that  this  known  inten- 
tion of  the  German  military  authorities 
in  some  cases  explains  the  sequence  of 
events  which  led  up  to  the  burning  and 
sacking  of  a  town  or  village.  The  sol- 
diers, knowing  that  they  would  have  an 
opportunity  of  pi  mder  if  the  place  was 
condemned,  had  a  motive  for  arranging 
some  incident  which  would  provide  the 
necessary  excuse  for  condemnation.  More 
than  one  witness  alleges  that  shots  com- 
ing from  the  window  of  a  house  were 
fired  by  German  soldiers  who  had  forced 
their  way  into  the  house  for  the  purpose 
of  thus  creating  an  alarm.  It  is  also 
alleged  that  German  soldiers  on  some 
occasions  merely  fired  their  rifles  in  the 
air  in  a  side  street  and  then  reported  to 
their  officers  that  they  had  been  fired 
at.  On  the  report  that  firing  had  taken 
place  orders  were  given  for  wholesale 
destruction,  and  houses  were  destroyed 
in  streets  and  districts  where  there  was 
no  allegation  that  firing  had  taken  place, 
as  well  as  in  those  where  the  charge 
arose.  That  the  destruction  could  have 
been  limited  is  proved  by  the  care  taken 
to  preserve  particular  houses  whose  oc- 
cupants had  made  themselves  in  one  way 
or  another  agreeable  to  the  conquerors. 
These  houses  were  marked  in  chalk,  or- 
dering them  to  be  spared,  and  spared 
they  were. 

The  above  statements  have  reference 
to  the  burning  of  towns  and  villages.  In 
addition,  the  German  troops  in  numerous 


588 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


instances  have  set  fire  to  farmhouses  and 
farm  buildings.  Here,  however,  the  plea 
of  military  necessity  can  more  safely  be 
alleged.  A  farmhouse  may  afford  con- 
venient shelter  to  an  enemy,  and  where 
such  use  is  probable  it  may  be  urged 
that  the  destruction  of  the  buildings  is 
justifiable.  It  is  clearly,  however,  the 
duty  of  the  soldiers  who  destroy  the 
buildings  to  give  reasonable  warning  to 
the  occupants  so  that  they  may  escape. 
Doubtless  this  was  in  many  cases  done  by 
the  German  commanders,  but  there  is 
testimony  that  in  some  cases  the  burning 
of  the  farmhouse  was  accompanied  by 
the  murder  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  same  fact  stands  out  clearly  in 
the  more  extensive  burning  of  houses  in 
towns  and  villages.  In  some  cases,  in- 
deed, as  a  prelude  to  the  burning,  inhab- 
itants were  cleared  out  of  their  houses 
and  driven  along  the  streets,  often  with 
much  accompanying  brutality — some  to  a 
place  of  execution,  others  to  prolonged 
detention  in  a  church  or  other  public 
buildings.  In  other  cases  witnesses  as- 
sert that  they  saw  German  soldiers  forc- 
ing back  into  the  flames  men,  women, 
and  children  who  were  trying  to  escape 
from  the  burning  houses.  There  is  also 
evidence  that  soldiers  deliberately  shot 
down  civilians  as  they  fled  from  the  fire. 

The  general  conclusion  is  that  the 
burning  and  destruction  of  property 
which  took  place  was  only  in  a  very 
small  minority  of  cases  justified  by  mili- 
tary necessity,  and  that  even  then  the 
destruction  was  seldom  accompanied  by 
that  care  for  the  lives  of  noncombatants 
which  has  hitherto  baen  expected  from 
a  military  commander  belonging  to  a 
civilized  nation.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
plain  that  in  many  cases  German  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  deliberately  added  to 
the  sufferings  of  the  unfortunate  people 
■whose  property  they  were  destroying. 

OFFENSES     AGAINST     COM- 
BATANTS, 
(a)   The  Killing  of  the  Wounded  and  of 
Prisoners. 
In  dealing  with  the  treatment  of  the 
wounded  and  of  prisoners  and  the  cases 
in  which  the  former  appear  to  have  been 
killed  when  helpless,  and  the  latter  at, 


or  after,  the  moment  of  capture,  we  are 
met  by  some  peculiar  difficulties,  be- 
cause such  acts  may  not  in  all  cases  be 
deliberate  and  cold-blooded  violations  of 
the  usages  of  war.  Soldiers  who  are  ad- 
vancing over  a  spot  where  the  wounded 
have  fallen  may  conceivably  think  that 
some  of  these  lying  prostrate  are  sham- 
ming dead,  or,  at  any  rate,  are  so  slightly 
wounded  as  to  be  able  to  attack  or  to 
fire  from  behind  when  the  advancing 
force  has  passed,  and  thus  they  may  be 
led  into  killing  those  whom  they  would 
otherwise  have  spared.  There  will  also 
be  instances  in  which  men  intoxicated 
with  the  frenzy  of  battle  slay  even  those 
whom  on  reflection  they  might  have 
seen  to  be  incapable  of  further  harming 
them.  The  same  kind  of  fury  may  vent 
itself  on  persons  who  are  already  sur- 
rendering, and  even  a  soldier  who  is ' 
usually  self -controlled  or  humane  may, 
in  the  heat  of  the  moment,  go  on  killing, 
especially  in  a  general  melee,  those  who 
were  offering  to  surrender.  This  is 
most  likely  to  happen  when  such  a  sol- 
dier has  been  incensed  by  an  act  of 
treachery  or  is  stirred  to  revenge  by  the 
death  of  a  comrade  to  whom  he  is  at- 
tached. Some  cases  of  this  kind  appear 
in  the  evidence.  Such  things  happen  in 
aM  wars  as  isolated  instances,  and  the 
circumstances  may  be  pleaded  in  exten- 
uation of  acts  otherwise  shocking.  We 
ha^e  made  due  allowance  for  these  con- 
siderations and  have  rejected  those  cases 
in  which  there  is  a  reasonable  doubt  as 
to  whether  those  who  killed  the  wounded 
knew  that  the  latter  were  completely 
disabled.  Nevertheless,  after  making 
all  allowances,  there  remain  certain  in- 
stances in  which  it  is  clear  that  quarter 
was  refused  to  persons  desiring  to  sur- 
render when  it  ought  to  have  been  given, 
or  that  persons  already  so  wounded  as 
to  be  incapable  of  fighting  further  were 
wantonly  shot  or  bayoneted. 

The  cases  to  which  references  are  given 
all  present  features  generally  similar, 
and  in  several  of  them  men  who  had  been 
left  wounded  in  the  trenches  when  a 
trench  was  carried  by  the  enemy  were 
found,  when  their  comrades  subsequently 
retook  the  trench,  to  have  been  slaugh- 
tered, although  evidently  helpless,  or  else 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    ATROCITIES 


SS9 


they  would  have  escaped  with  the  rest 
of  the  retreating  force.  For  instance, 
a  witness  says: 

"About  Sept.  20  our  regiment  took  part 
in  an  engagement  with  the  Germans. 
After  we  had  retired  into  our  trenches,  a 
few  minutes  after  we  got  b.ack  into  them, 
the  Germans  retired  into  their  trenches. 
The  distance  between  the  trenches  of 
the  opposing  forces  was  about  400  yards. 
I  should  say  about  fifty  or  sixty  of  our 
men  had  been  left  lying  on  the  field 
from  our  trenches.  After  we  got  back 
to  them  I  distinctly  saw  German  soldiers 
come  out  of  their  trenches,  go  over  the 
spots  where  our  men  were  lying,  and 
bayonet  them.  Some  of  our  men  were 
lying  nearly  half  way  between  the 
trenches." 

Another  says: 

"  The  Germans  advanced  over  the 
trenches  of  the  headquarters  trench, 
where  I  had  been  on  guard  for  three 
days.  When  the  Germans  reached  our 
wounded  I  saw  their  officer  using  his 
sword  to  cut  them  down." 

Another  witness  says: 

"  Outside  Ypres  we  were  in  trenches 
and  were  attacked,  and  had  to  retire  until 
reinforced  by  other  companies  of  the 
Royal  Fusiliers.  Then  we  took  the 
trenches  and  found  the  wounded,  between 
twenty  and  thirty,  lying  in  the  trenches 
with  bayonet  wounds,  and  some  shot. 
Most  of  them,  say  three-quarters,  had 
their  throats  cut." 

In  one  case,  given  very  circumstan- 
tially, a  witness  tells  how  a  party  of 
wounded  British  soldiers  were  left  in  a 
chalk  pit,  all  very  badly  hurt,  and  quite 
unable  to  make  resistance.  One  of  them, 
an  officer,  held  up  his  handkerchief  as 
a  white  flag,  and  this 

"  attracted  the  attention  of  a  party  of 
about  eight  (Germans.  The  Germans 
came  to  the  edge  of  the  pit.  It  was 
getting  dusk,  but  the  light  was  still  good, 
and  everything  clearly  discernible.  One 
of  them,  who  appeared  to  be  carrying  no 
arms  and  who,  at  any  rate,  had  no  rifle, 
came  a  few  feet  down  the  slope  into  the 
chalk  pit,  within  eight  or  ten  yards  of 
some  of  the  wounded  men." 

He  looked  at  the  men,  laughed,  and 
said  something  in  German  to  the  Ger- 
mans who  were  waiting  on  the  edge  of 
the  pit.  Immediately  one  of  them  fired 
at  the  officer,  then  three  or  four  of  these 
ten  soldiers  were  shot,  then  another  of- 
ficer, and  the  witness,  and  the  rest  of 
them. 


"After  an  interval  of  some  time  I  sat 
up  and  found  that  I  was  the  only  man  of 
the  ten  who  were  living  when  the  Ger- 
mans came  into  the  pit  remaining  alive 
and  that  all  the  rest  were  dead." 

Another  witness  describes  a  painful 
case  in  which  five  soldiers,  two  Belgians 
and  three  French,  were  tied  to  trees  by 
German  soldiers  apparently  drunk,  who 
stuck  knives  in  their  faces,  pricked  them 
with  their  bayonets,  and  ultimately  shot 
them. 

We  have  no  evidence  to  show  whether 
and  in  what  cases  orders  proceeded  from 
the  officer  in  command  to  give  no  quar- 
ter, but  there  are  some  instances  in 
which  persons  obviously  desiring  to  sur- 
render were,  nevertheless,  killed. 
(6)  Firing  on  Hospitals  or  on  the  Red 
Cross  Ambulances  or  Stretcher  Bearers. 

This  subject  may  conveniently  be  di- 
vided into  three  subdivisions,  namely, 
firing  on — 

(1)  Hospital  buildings  and  other  Red 
Cross  establishments. 

(2)  Ambulances. 

(3)  Stretcher  bearers. 

Under  the  first  and  second  categories 
there  is  obvious  difficulty  in  proving  in- 
tention, especially  under  the  conditions 
of  modern  long-range  artillery  fire.  A 
commanding  officer's  duty  is  to  give 
strict  orders  to  respect  hospitals,  am- 
bulances, &c.,  and  also  to  place  Red  Cross 
units  as  far  away  as  possible  from  any 
legitimate  line  of  fire.  But  with  all 
care  some  accidents  must  happen,  and 
many  reported  cases  will  be  ambiguous. 
At  the  same  time,  when  military  observ- 
ers have  formed  a  distinct  opinion  that 
buildings  and  persons  under  the  recog- 
nizable protection  of  the  Red  Cross  were 
willfully  fired  upon,  such  opinions  cannot 
be  disregarded. 

Between  thirty  and  forty  of  the  depo- 
sitions submitted  related  to  this  offense. 
This  number  does  not  in  itself  seem  so 
greaf  as  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  pos- 
sibility of  accident. 

In  one  case  a  Red  Cross  depot  wa3 
shelled  on  most  days  throughout  the 
week.  This  is  hardly  reconcilable  with 
the  enemy's  gunners  having  taken  any 
care  to  avoid  it. 

There  are  other  cases  of  conspicuous 


590 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


hospitals  being  shelled,  in  the  witnesses' 
opinion,  purposely. 

In  one  of  these  the  witness,  a  Sergeant 
Major,  makes  a  suggestion  which  ap- 
pears plausible,  namely,  that  the  German 
gunners  use  any  conspicuous  building  as 
a  mark  to  verify  their  ranges  rather 
than  for  the  purpose  of  destruction.  It 
would  be  quite  according  to  the  modern 
system  of  what  German  writers  call 
Kriegsrdson  to  hold  that  the  convenience 
of  range-finding  is  a  sufficient  military 
necessity  to  justify  disregarding  any  im- 
munity conferred  on  a  building  by  the 
Red  Cross  or  otherwise.  In  any  case, 
artillery  fire  on  a  hospital  at  such  a 
moderate  range  as  about  1,000  yards  can 
hardly  be  thought   accidental. 

(2)  As  to  firing  on  ambulances,  the 
evidence  is  more  explicit. 

In  one  case  the  witness  is  quite  clear 
that  the  ambulances  were  aimed  at. 

In  another  case  of  firing  at  an  ambu- 
lance train  the  range  was  quite  short. 

In  another  a  Belgian  Red  Cross  party 
is  stated  to  have  been  ambushed. 

On  the  whole  we  do  not  find  proof 
of  a  general  or  systematic  firing  on 
hospitals  or  ambulances;  but  it  is  not 
possible  to  believe  that  much  care  was 
taken  to  avoid  this. 

(3)  As  to  firing  on  stretcher  bearers 
in  the  course  of  trench  warfare,  the 
testimony  is  abundant,  and  the  facts 
do  not  seem  explicable  by  accident.  It 
may  be  that  sometimes  the  bearers  were 
suspected  of  seeing  too  much;  and  it  is 
plain  from  the  general  military  policy 
of  the  German  armies  that  very  slight 
suspicion  would  be  acted  on  in  case  of 
doubt. 

(c)  Abuse  of  the  Red  Cross  and  of  the 

White  Flag. 

THE  RED  CROSS. 

Cases  of  the  Red  Cross  being  abused 
are  much  more  definite. 

There  are  several  accounts  of  fire 
being  opened,  sometimes  at  very  short 
range,  by  machine  guns  which  had  been 
disguised  in  a  German  Red  Cross  ambu- 
lance or  car.  This  was  aggravated  in 
one  case  near  Tirlemont  by  the  German 
soldiers  wearing  Belgian  uniforms. 

Witness    speaks    also    of    a    stretcher 


party  with  the  Red  Cross  being  used  to 
cover  an  attack  and  of  a  German  Red 
Cross  man  working  a  machine  gun. 

There  is  also  a  well-attested  case  of 
a  Red  Cross  motor  car  being  used  to 
carry  ammunition  under  command  of 
officers. 

Unless  all  these  statements  are  will- 
fully false,  which  the  committee  sees 
no  reason  to  believe,  these  acts  must 
have  been  deliberate,  and  it  does  not 
seem  possible  that  a  Red  Cross  car 
could  be  equipped  with  a  machine  gun 
by  soldiers  acting  without  orders.  There 
is  also  one  case  of  firing  from  a  cottage 
where  the  Red  Cross  flag  was  flying, 
and  this  could  not  be  accidental. 

On  the  whole,  there  is  distinct  evi- 
dence of  the  Red  Cross  having  been 
deliberately  misused  for  offensive  pur- 
poses, and  seemingly  under  orders,  on. 
some,  though  not  many,  occasions. 
ABUSE  OF  THE  WHITE  FLAG. 

Cases  of  this  kind  are  numerous.  It 
is  possible  that  a  small  group  of  men 
may  show  a  white  flag  without  author- 
ity from  any  proper  officer,  in  which 
case  their  action  is,  of  course,  not  bind- 
ing on  the  rest  of  the  platoon  or  other 
unit.  But  this  will  not  apply  to  the 
case  of  a  whole  unit  advancing  as  if  to 
surrender,  or  letting  the  other  side  ad- 
vance to  receive  the  pretended  surren- 
der, and  then  opening  fire.  Under  this 
head  we  find  many  depositions  by  Brit- 
ish soldiers  and  several  by  officers.  In 
some  cases  the  firing  was  from  a  ma- 
chine gun  brought  up  under  cover  of 
the  white  flag. 

The  depositions  taken  by  Professor 
Morgan  in  France  strongly  corroborate 
the  evidence  collected  in  this  country. 

The  case  numbered  h  70  may  be  noted 
as  very  clearly  stated.  The  Germans, 
who  had  "  put  up  a  white  flag  on  a 
lance  and  ceased  fire,"  and  thereby  in- 
duced a  company  to  advance  in  order 
to  take  them  prisoners,  "  dropped  the 
white  flag  and  opened  fire  at  a  distance 
of  100  yards."  This  was  near  Nesle,  on 
Sept.  6,  1914.  It  seems  clearly  proved 
that  in  some  divisions  at  least  of  the 
German  Army  this  practice  is  very  com- 
mon.    The  incidents  as  reported  cannot 


ALLEGED    GERMAN   ATROCITIES 


591 


be  explained  by  unauthoriz6d  surrenders 
of  small  groups. 

There  is,  in  our  opinion,  sufficient 
evidence  that  these  offenses  have  been 
frequent,  deliberate,  and  in  many  cases 
committed  by  whole  units  under  orders. 
All  the  acts  mentioned  in  this  part  of 
the  report  are  in  contravention  of  The 
Hague  Convention,  signed  by  the  great 
powers,  including  France,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States,  in 
1907,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to 
Appendix  D,  in  which  the  provisions 
of  that  convention  relating  to  the  con- 
duct of  war  on  land  are  set  forth. 
CONCLUSIONS. 

From  the  foregoing  pages  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  committee  have  come  to 
a  definite  conclusion  upon  each  of  the 
heads  under  which  the  evidence  has  been 
classified. 

It  is  proved — 

(i.)  That  there  were  in  many  parts 
of  Belgium  deliberate  and  systemat- 
ically organized  massacres  of  the 
civil  population,  accompanied  by 
many  isolated  murders  and  other 
outrages. 

(ii.)  That  in  the  conduct  of  the 
war  generally  innocent  civilians, 
both  men  and  women,  were  mur- 
dered in  large  numbers,  women  vio- 
lated, and  children  murdered. 

(iii.)  That  looting,  house  burning, 
and  the  wanton  destruction  of  prop- 
erty were  ordered  and  countenanced 
by  the  officers  of  the  German  Army, 
that  elaborate  provision  had  been 
made  for  systematic  incendiarism  at 
the  very  outbreak  of  the  war,  and 
that  the  burnings  and  destruction 
were  frequent  where  no  military  ne- 
cessity could  be  alleged,  being  in- 


deed  part   of  a   system   of   general 
terrorization. 

(iv.)  That  the  rules  and  usages  of 
war  were  frequently  broken,  partic- 
ularly by  the  using  of  civilians,  in- 
cluding women  and  children,  as  a 
shield  for  advancing  forces  exposed 
to  fire,  to  a  less  degree  by  killing 
the  wounded  and  prisoners,  and  in 
the  frequent  abuse  of  the  Red  Cross 
and  the  white  flag. 

Sensible  as  they  are  of  the  gravity 
of  these  conclusions  the  committee  con- 
ceive that  they  would  be  doing  less  than 
their  duty  if  they  failed  to  record  them 
as  fully  established  by  the  evidence. 
Murder,  lust,  and  pillage  prevailed  over 
many  parts  of  Belgium  on  a  scale  un- 
paralleled in  any  war  between  civilized 
nations  during  the  last  three  centuries. 

Our  function  is  ended  when  we  have 
stated  what  the  evidence  establishes,  but 
we  may  be  permitted  to  express  our 
belief  that  these  disclosures  will  not 
have  been  made  in  vain  if  they  touch 
and  rouse  the  conscience  of  mankind, 
and  we  venture  to  hope  that  as  soon  as 
the  present  war  is  over  the  nations  of 
the  world  in  council  will  consider  what 
means  can  be  provided  and  sanctions 
devised  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
such  horrors  as  our  generation  is  now 
witnessing. 

We  are,  &c., 

BRYCE, 
F.   POLLOCK, 
EDWARD    CLARKE, 
KENELM    E.    DIGBY, 
ALFRED    HOPKINSON, 
H.  A.  L.  FISHER, 
HAROLD   COX. 


SCRIABIN'S    LAST    WORDS. 

[From  The  London  Times,   May  1,    1915.] 


M.  Briantchaninov,  an  intimate  friend  of  Scriabin,  telegraphed  the  news  of 
the  composer's  death  to  a  friend  in  England.  He  stated  that  Scriabin  died  of  the 
disease  of  the  lip  from  which  he  was  suffering  when  in  England  last  year,  and 
that  he  had  just  finished  the  "  wonderful  poetical  text "  of  the  prologue  to  his 
"  Mystery."  When  Scriabin  was  suffering  terrible  pain  just  before  his  death  he 
clenched  his  hands  and  his  last  words  were:  "I  must  be  self-possessed,  like 
Englishmen." 

M.  Briantchaninov  is  collecting  a  fund  for  Scriabin's  children,  and  he  sug- 
gests that  possibly  "  some  English  friends  and  admirers  "  may  care  to  contribute. 


Chronology  of  the  War 

Showing  Progress  of  Campaigns  on  All  Fronts  and  Collateral  Events 
From  March  31,  1915,  Up  to  and  Including  April  30,  1915 

[Continued   from   the   May   number.] 

CAMPAIGN  IN  EASTERN  EUROPE 


April  1— Russians  take  up  lively  offensive 
in  Central  Poland,  seeking  to  prevent 
reinforcements  being  sent  to  the  Carpa- 
thians; they  halt  a  raid  from  Bukowina ; 
Austrians  drive  back  Russians  near  Inow- 
lodz,  on  the  Pilica  River ;  Germans  cheek 
night  attempt  of  Russians  to  cross  the 
Rawka  River ;  German  bombardment  of 
Ossowetz  has  been  abandoned ;  cold 
-weather  is  favoring  German  operations 
in  East  Prussia;  German  Headquarters 
Staff  reports  that  in  March  the  German 
Eastern  army  took  55,800  Russian  pris- 
oners, 9  cannon,  and  61  machine  guns. 

April  2— Russians  take  the  offensive  along 
their  whole  front  from  the  Baltic  Sea 
to  Rumanian  border ;  they  are  reported 
to  be  concentrating  an  enormous  force  on 
the  coast  of  Finland  to  prevent  any  at- 
tempt at  a  German  landing ;  Germans  in 
Poland  are  being  pushed  back  to  the  East 
Prussian  border ;  Russians  capture  an- 
other strongly  fortified  ridge  in  the  Car- 
pathians, scaling  ice-covered  hills  to  do 
it ;  vast  bodies  of  Russian  cavalry  are 
held  in  readiness  for  a  sweep  across  the 
plains  of  Hungary;  main  Austrian  Army 
in  Bukowina  is  falling  back ;  Russians 
now  stand  upon  last  heights  of  the  main 
chain  of  Beskid  Mountains ;  Austrians  re- 
pulse Russian  attacks  east  of  Beskid 
Pass ;  Russians  drive  back  Germans  to 
the  east  of  Pilwiszka ;  Austrians  repulse 
Russian  attacks  between  the  Pruth  and 
Dniester  Rivers. 

April  3 — Fighting  in  the  Carpathians  con- 
tinues night  and  day  along  a  forty-mile 
front ;  Russians  are  making  gains  and 
pressing  Austrians  hard ;  Germans  are 
pouring  reinforcements  into  Hungary  to 
support  Austrians ;  Austrians  gain  in 
Bukowina ;  Austrians  are  trying  to  cut 
off  Montenegro  from  all  communication 
with  the  outside  world  and  starve  her 
into  submission. 

April  A — Austrians  retreat  from  the  Beskid 
region  after  Russian  success;  Austrians 
make  progress  in  the  Laborcza  Valley ; 
fighting  has  been  going  on  for  twenty- 
four  continuous  hours  on  both  sides  of 
the  Dukla  Pass ;  Germans,  repulse  Rus- 
sian attacks  near  Augustowo. 


April  5 — Russians  continue  to  make  steady 
progress  in  the  Carpathians ;  they  are  now 
on  the  Hungarian  side  of  both  the  Dukla 
and  Lupkow  Passes  and  are  making  ad- 
vances on  the  heights  which  dominate 
Uzsok  Pass ;  Russians  gain  in  Bukowina 
and  in  North  Poland. 

April  6 — Russians  continue  their  great  offen- 
sive in  the  Carpathians ;  Austrians  are 
retreating  at  some  points  and  burning 
their  bridges  behind  them ;  Russians  make 
progress  in  direction  of  Rostok  Pass ; 
German  reinforcements  are  being  rushed 
from  Flanders  to  Austria  via  Munich ; 
Austrian  and  German  troops  take  strong 
Russian  positions  east  of  Laborcza  Val- 
ley ;  Russians  have  been  repulsed  in  an 
attempt  to  cross  to  the  left  bank  of  the 
Dniester  River  southwest  of  Uscie-Die- 
kupie ;  Austrian  artillery  is  bombarding 
Serbian  towns  on  the  Danube  and  the 
Save. 

April  7 — Russians  continue  offensive  between 
the  River  Toplia  and  the  Uzsok  Pass 
region ;  Austrians  take  guns  and  war  ma- 
terial on  the  heights  east  of  the  Laborcza 
Valley ;  Austrians  bombard  Belgrade ; 
Austrians  win  ground  along  the  River 
Pruth ;  Austrians  are  reported  to  have 
passed  the  Dniester  and  to  be  advancing 
on  Kamenitz  Podolsky,  in  Russian  terri- 
tory. 

April  8 — Russian  advance  in  the  Carpathians 
cuts  one  Austrian  army  in  two ;  Russians 
capture  Smolnik,  east  of  Lupkow  Pass; 
fierce  fighting  is  going  on  in  the  mountain 
passes. 

April  9 — The  whole  southern  slope  of  the 
Carpathians  has  been  strongly  fortified 
by  the  Austrians ;  twenty-four  Austrian 
and  six  German  army  corps  are  stated  to 
be  now  facing  the  Russians. 

April  10 — Russians  begin  attack  on  German 
forces  which  hold  the  hills  from  DzsoK 
Pass  eastward  to  Beskid  Pass;  Russians 
make  gains  in  the  direction  of  Rostok; 
the  general  Russian  offensive  continues  on 
the  Niznia  -  Destuszica  -  Volestate-Buko- 
wecz  line;  in  places  in  the  Carpathians 
the  Russians  are  progressing  through 
seven  feet  of  snow ;  Austro-German  forces 
repulse  a  strong  Russian  attack  in  the 
Opor   Valley. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    WAR 


593 


April  11 — All  the  main  ridges  of  the  Car- 
pathians are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Rus- 
sians, who  hold  the  eighty-mile  front 
Uzsok-Mezo-Laborcza-Bartfeld,  with  the 
head  sections  of  five  main  railways;  at 
some  points  the  Russians  are  descending 
the  southern  slopes  and  are  approaching 
the  Uzsok  Valley. 

April  12— Germans  repulse  Russian  attack 
near  Kaziouwka,  Russians  losing  heavily ; 
artillery  duels  are  in  progress  near  Osso- 
wetz  and  in  the  region  of  Bdvabno ;  Ger- 
man attack  on  village  of  Szafranki  is  re- 
pulsed ;  Austro-Germans  still  hold  the 
Uzsok  Pass ;  they  repulse  Russian  attacks 
east  of  there. 

April  13— Large  German  reinforcements  are 
being  sent  to  the  Austrians ;  280,000  Ger- 
mans, comprising  seven  army  corps,  are 
co-operating  with  the  Austrians  in  a  fd%- 
midable  attack  on  the  left  wing  of  the 
Russian  army  which  is  invading  Hun- 
gary ;  Austrian  Embassy  at  Washington 
gives  out  an  official  bulletin  from  Vienna 
saying  the  Russian  advance  in  the  Car- 
pathians is  halted ;  heavy  fighting  is  in 
progress  in  the  Bartfeld-Stryi  region ; 
Russians  advance  on  both  banl<s  of  the 
Ondawa,  and  gain  success  in  direction  of 
Uzsok,  capturing  certain  heights ;  Aus- 
tro-German  forces  strongly  attack  the 
heights  south  of  Koziouwka,  but  are  re- 
pulsed ;  Russians  repel  German  attacks 
on  the  front  west  of  the  Niemen ;  Osso- 
wetz  is  again  bombarded  by  the  Ger- 
mans; fierce  fighting  is  on  in  Bukowina. 

April  14— After  a  twelve-hour  battle  the  Aus- 
trians retreat  precipitately  from  a  strong 
position  at  Mezo  Laborcz,  on  Hungarian 
side  of  the  East  Beskid  Mountains ;  the 
whole  main  front  in  this  district  is  in 
Russian  hands  ;  Austro-German  forces  are 
contesting  stubbornly  every  foot  of  the 
German  advance  along  the  front  from 
Bartfeld  to  Stryi ;  Austrians  are  trying 
to  penetrate  into  Russian  territory  from 
Bukowina  ;  Germans  are  active  in  Poland  ; 
Germans  attack  the"  town  of  Chafranka, 
on  the  Skwa  River,  near  Ostrolenka ;  it 
is  stated  at  Petrograd  that  4,000,000  com- 
batants, including  both  sides,  are  now 
'engaged  along  the  Carpathians. 

April  15— Russians  crush  fierce  counter-attack 
against  their  left  wing  in  the  Carpathians 
made  by  picked  Bavarian  infantry  ;  Rus- 
sians repulse  an  attack  by  Austrians  on 
the  extreme  east;  Austrians  defeat  Rus- 
sians near  Oiezkowice,  on  the  Biala. 

April  16— War  correspondents  at  Austrian 
headquarters,  in  summing  up  the  result  of 
the  fighting  in  the  Carpathians,  say  that 
the  Russian  loss  has  been  500,000,  and 
that  the  backbone  of  the  invading  army 
is  broken ;  Germans  prepare  to  attack 
along  an  800-mile  Russian  front. 
April  17— The  melting  of  the  snow  in  the 
Carpathians,  resulting  in  overflowing 
streams  and  rivers  and  in   seas  of  mud. 


is  stopping  various  intended  movements 
on  both  sides ;  artillery  engagements  are 
in  progress  in  Southeast  Galicia  and  Bu- 
kowina ;  Russians  repulse  attacks  in  the 
direction  of  Stryi ;  Russian  Emperor 
leaves  for  the  front. 

April  IS— In  a  review  of  the  Carpathian  cam- 
paign issued  by  Russian  General  Head- 
quarters it  is  stated  that  since  the  be- 
gining  of  March  Russian  troops  have  car- 
ried by  storm  75  miles  of  the  principal 
chain  of  the  Carpathians,  have  taken 
70,000  prisoners,  30  field  guns,  and  200 
machine  guns ;  fighting  in  the  Carpathi- 
ans on  main  line  of  Russian  advance  is 
now  concentrated  on  the  narrow  section 
between  the  villages  of  Telepoche  and 
Zuella;  Russians  gain  on  the  heights  of 
Telepotch ;  artillery  duels  continue  in 
Southeast  Galicia. 

April  20 — Russians  repulse  vigorous  German 
attack  east  of  Telepotch  and  Polen ;  se- 
vere fighting  for  the  height  near  Oravozil 
is  in  progress,  the  Russians  reoccupying  it 
by  a  desperate  assault  after  losing  it  ear- 
lier in  the  day ;  600,000  Austro-German 
troops  are  now  engaged  over  an  irregular 
line  between  the  Lupkow  and  Uzsok 
Passes. 

April  21— Austrians  repel,  after  several  days' 
fighting,  a  strong  Russian  attack  on  the 
extreme  wings  of  the  Austrian  forces  in 
the  wooded  mountains  near  Laborcza  and 
the  Ung  Valley;  Austrians  still  hold 
Uzsok  Pass ;  Russians  repulse  Austrian 
attack  in  Western  Galicia  near  Gorlitz ; 
Russians  check  an  Austrian  counter-attack 
against  the  heights  of  Polen ;  the  counter- 
attack of  General  Litzinger's  Bavarian 
army  against  Russian  left  wing  in  the 
Carpathian  position  has  now  been  defi- 
nitely halted  ;  nevertheless  the  Russian  ad- 
vance in  the  Carpathians  has  now  ap- 
parently come  to  a  full  stop ;  Russians  re- 
occupy  the  hill  village  of  Oravtchik. 

April  22— Russians  defeat  Austrians  in 
bayonet  fighting  on  the  Bukowina  front; 
artillery  duels  are  in  progress  in  Russian 
Poland  and  Western  Galicia ;  Austrians 
repulse  Russian  attacks  on  both  sides  of 
the  Uzsok  Pass,  taking  1,200  prisoners; 
Russians  check  attempted  Austrian  out- 
flanking movements  on  the  central  Car- 
pathian front ;  in  Galicia  an  Austro-Ger- 
man army,  defeated  by  Russians,  is  fall- 
ing back. 

April  23 — Austrians  have  success  in  artillery 
duel  in  the  sector  of  Nagypolany ;  Rus- 
sians gain  in  the  direction  of  Lutovisk; 
a  strong  force  of  Russian  cavalry  invades 
East  Prussia  near  Memel,  the  seaport  at 
the  northern  extremity  of  the  province, 
and  is  threatening  the  German  left  flank ; 
Russians  make  gains  in  the  region  of 
Telepotch  and  at  Sianka ;  Austrians  re- 
pulse several  day  attacks  at  points  near 
Uzsok  Pass;  heavy  artillery  engagements 
are  being  fought  in  the  region  of  this 
pass. 


694 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


April  25 — Austro-German  troops  take  by 
storm  Ostry  Mountain,  in  the  Orava 
Valley,  in  the  Carpathians,  to  the  south  of 
Koziouwa;  the  mountain  is  3,500  feet 
high,  with  precipitous  sides,  and  the  Rus- 
sians believed  their  fortifications  had 
made  it  impregnable ;  this  victory  gives 
the  Austrians  command  of  the  Orava 
Valley  and  allows  them  to  advance  their 
lines  east  of  Uzsok  Pass  eleven  miles  into 
Galician  territory ;  Russian  artillery  re- 
pulses a  German  attack  between  Kalwaya 
and  Ludwinow  in  Prussian  Poland ;  heavy 
fighting  continues  in  the  Carpathians  in 
the  Uzsok  Pass  region,  the  Austrians 
having  brought  up  fresh  units  of  heavy 
artillery. 

April  26 — Russian  counter-attacks  on  the 
height  of  Ostry  are  beaten  off ;  Austrians 
capture  twenty-six  Russian  trenches ; 
Austrians  gain  ground  south  of  Koziouwa ; 
artillery  duel  is  being  fought  on  the 
Dniester  in  Bukowina. 

April  27 — Russians  have  begun  another 
strong  offensive  around  the  heights  of 
Uzsok  Pass ;  Austro-German  casualties 
there  in  two  days  are  estimated  by  Rus- 
sians at  20,000;  Russians  repel  Austrian 
attacks  on  the  heights  to  the  northeast 
of  Oroszepatak ;  Russians  are  concentrat- 
ing at  Bojan,   Northern   Bukowina. 

April  28 — Heavy  fighting  continues  in  the 
Uzsok  Pass  region ;  a  battle  has  been 
raging  for  five  days  in  the  vicinity  of 
Stryi :  Russians  repulse  Germans  at  Jed- 
norojetz ;  Germans  take  twelve  miles  of 
Russian  trenches  east  of  Suwalki ;  Aus- 
trians occupy  Novoselitsky,  on  border  of 
Bessarabia,  and  are  advancing  into  Rus- 
sian   territory. 

April  29 — Germans  begin  an  offensive  along 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  East  Prussian 
front,  extending  from  north  of  the  Niemen 
River  to  the  sector  north  of  the  Vistula; 
Russians  are  beaten  back  in  an  attack  in 
the  Carpathians  northeast  of  Loubnia; 
Russians  repulse  an  attack  on  the  heights 
of  the  Opor  Valley. 

April  30 — German  cavalry  is  invading  the 
Russian  Baltic  Provinces ;  German  at- 
tempt to  advance  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Vistula  is  checked :  in  the  region  of  Golo- 
vetzko  the  Russians  take  the  offensive, 
capturing  trenches  and  prisoners ;  Rus- 
sians check  an  attempted  offensive  north 
of  Nadvorna ;  Austrians  repulse  Russian 
night  attacks  in  the  Orawa  and  Opor 
Valleys. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  WESTERN  EUROPE. 

April  1— Artillery  duels  are  in  progress  in 
the  Woevre  district ;  French  occupy  the 
village  of  Fey-en-Haye  to  the  west  of 
the  Forest  of  Le  Pretre ;  outpost  engage- 
ments  take   place  near   Lun^ville. 

April  2— Heavy  artillery  fighting  is  on  be- 
tween the  Meuse  and  the  Moselle;  night 
infantry  fighting  takes  place  in  the  For- 
est of  Le  Prfitre. 


April  3— Germans  repulse  French  in  Forest 
of  Le  Pretre;  Germans  repulse  French  at- 
tack on  heights  west  of  Miilhausen ; 
French  make  progress  with  mining  op- 
erations southwest  of  Peronne ;  French 
check  a  German  attempt  to  debouch  near 
Lassigny ;  French  repulse  attacks  in  Up- 
per Alsace. 

April  4— Germans  take  from  the  Belgians 
the  village  of  Drei  Grachten  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Yser,  this  being  the  first  time 
the  Germans  have  gained  a  foothold  on 
the  west  bank  for  weeks ;  French  make 
progress  in  the  Woevre  district;  French 
take  village  of  Regni^ville,  west  of  Fey- 
en-Haye  ;  Germans  repulse  French  charges 
in  Forest  of  Le  PrStre. 

April  5— French  capture  three  successive 
lines  of  trenches  at  the  Forest  of  Ailly, 
■♦  near  St.  Mihiel ;  Germans  repulse  Bel- 
gians near  Drei  Grachten;  Germans  re- 
pulse French  attempt  to  advance  in  the 
Argonne  Forest  and  Germans  gain  ground 
in  the  Forest  of  Le  PrStre ;  French  are 
advancing  in  Champagne;  French  gain 
ground  in  the  Hurlus  district  and  beyond 
the  Camp  de  Chalons,  capturing  some  of 
the  Germans'  prepared  positions :  bom- 
bardment of  Rheims  is  being  continued 
night  and  day,  and  it  is  reported  that 
one-third  of  the  houses  have  been  de- 
stroyed and  another  one-third  damaged. 

April  6 — French  are  conducting  a  sustained 
offensive  between  the  Meuse  and  Moselle 
in  an  effort  to  dislodge  Germans  from  St. 
Mihiel ;  French  gain  trenches  in  the  Wood 
of  Ailly ;  French  make  progress  near 
Maizeray  and  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Pr&tre ; 
strong  French  attacks  at  points  east  of 
Verdun  are  repulsed,  but  French  occupy 
village  of  Gussainville. 

April  7 — French,  continuing  extensive  opera- 
tions, make  gains  in  the  Woevre  district 
and  southward  between  St.  Mihiel  and 
Pont-a-Mousson ;  east  of  Verdun  the 
French  take  two  lines  of  trenches,  and 
repulse  German  counter-attacks;  Germans 
report  that  French  offensive,  as  a  whole, 
is  thus  far  a  failure. 

April  8 — French  official  report  states  that 
since  April  4  the  French  offensive  between 
the  Meuse  and  the  Moselle  has  resulted 
in  important  gains  on  the  heights  of  the 
Ome,  on  the  heights  of  the  Meuse  at 
Les  Eparges,  in  the  Ailly  Wood,  and  in 
the  Southern  Woevre  between  the  Forest 
of  Mortmare  and  the  Forest  of  Le  PrStre, 
the  Germans  losing  heavily ;  the  German 
report  is  at  variance  with  French  claims 
and  states  that  the  French  have  failed ; 
Belgians  report  that  the  western  side  of 
the  Yser  Canal,  in  the  direction  of  Drei 
Grachten,   is  completely  free  of  Germans. 

April  9 — Desperate  fighting  continues  on  the 
heights  of  the  Meuse  and  along  the  St. 
Mihiel-Pont-A-Mousson  front ;  French 
announce  complete  occupation  of  Les 
Eparges,    one    of    their    chief    objectives ; 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   WAR 


595 


French  say  Germans  were  repulsed  fifteen 
times  in  the  Forest  of  Mortmare ;  Berlin 
report  is  at  sharp  variance  with  the 
French,  stating  that  all  French  attacks 
in  the  Meuse  region  have  been  repulsed 
■with  heavy  loss ;  Germans  make  gains  in 
Champagne ;  Germans  retake  Drei  Grach- 
ten  from  Belgians. 

April  10 — -French  extend  their  gains  in  the 
Woevre ;  French  push  forward  on  St. 
Mihiel-Pont-a--Mousson  front  in  attempt 
to  cut  German  communications ;  French 
hold  Les  Eparges  firmly,  where,  accord- 
ing to  the  official  French  report,  the 
Germans  have  lost  30,000  men  in  two 
months ;  Germans  repulse  French  between 
the  Orne  and  the  heights  of  the  Meuse, 
and  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Pr§tre;  French 
attacks  on  the  village  of  Bezange  la 
Grande  fail. 

April  11 — French  state  that  they  maintain 
their  gains  of  previous  days  in  the  St. 
Mihiel  region,  though  Germans  recapture 
some  of  their  own  lost  trenches  in  Mort- 
mare Wood ;  French  repulse  attacks  in 
the  Forest  of  Le  Prgtre,  though  the  Ger- 
mans capture  some  machine  guns ;  a 
strong  French  attack  on  German  posi- 
tions north  of  Combres  results  in  failure ; 
German  main  army  headquarters  denies 
that  the  recent  French  attacks  in  the  St. 
Mihiel  region  have  been  successful ;  Ger- 
mans take  three  villages  from  the  Bel- 
gians ;  Germans  are  vigorously  attacking 
positions  recently  taken  from  them  by  the 
French  on  Hartmanns-Weilerkopf ;  furious 
German  attacks  are  made  near  Albert, 
being  a  continuation  of  an  attack  begun 
yesterday ;  Germans  blow  up  some  French 
trenches  by  mines ;  heavy  German  losses, 
due  to  the  pounding  of  six  miles  of  French 
artillery,  occur  in  an  infantry  advance. 

April  12 — Lively  fighting  in  the  Woevre  dis- 
trict ;  Germans  attack  Les  Eparges,  but 
are  repulsed ;  French  make  gains  at 
Courie ;  Germans  have  successes  in  close- 
quarter  fighting  in  the  Forests  of  Ailly 
and  Le  Fr§tre ;  German  sappers  throw 
letters  into  British  trenches  saying  they 
are  tired  of  fighting  and  expressing  hopes 
for  peace. 

April  1.3 — French  make  slight  gains  east  of 
Berry -au-Bac ;  Germans  repulse  French 
attacks  at  several  points ;  Germans  gain 
ground  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Prgtre ;  Ger- 
mans are  moving  up  reinforcements  in  the 
region  of  Thionville  and  Metz. 

April  14 — French  penetrate  the  German  line 
at  Marcheville,  but  are  driven  out  by 
counter-attacks ;  French  extend  their 
front  in  the  Forest  of  Ailly,  and  make 
progress  in  the  Forest  of  Mortmare; 
French  artillery  checks  a  German  attack 
at  Les  Eparges ;  activity  is  renewed  at 
Berry-au-Bac ;  Germans  are  strengthen- 
ing the  forts  at  Istein,  on  the  Rhine. 

April  15 — The  whole  spur  northeast  of  Notre 
Dame  de  Lorette  has  been  carried  by  the 


French  with  the  bayonet ;  French  gain  at 
Bagatelle  in  the  Argonne ;  French  repulse 
German  counter-attacks  at  Les  Eparges ; 
Germans  repulse  French  attacks  at 
Marcheville,  at  the  Forest  of  Le  Pr§tre, 
and  elsewhere. 

April  1€ — French  repulse  German  attacks 
north  of  Arras  and  in  the  St.  Mihiel  re- 
gion. 

April  17 — French  make  progress  in  the 
Vosges  on  both  sides  of  the  Fecht  River; 
in  Champagne,  northeast  of  Perthes,  the 
Germans  explode  mines  under  French 
trenches ;  Germans  repulse  French  near 
Flirey ;  French  repulse  Germans  at  Notre 
Dame  de  Lorette ;  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Aisne  French  heavy  artillery  bombards 
the  caves  of  Pasly,  used  as  German 
shelters. 

April  IS — Germans  repulse  British  attack  in 
the  hills  southeast  of  Tpres ;  Germans 
capture  an  advanced  French  position  in 
the  Vosges  southwest  of  Stossweier ; 
French  have  successes  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Aisne,  at  the  Bois  de  St.  Mord,  and 
in  Champagne,  to  the  northwest  of 
Perthes ;  French  make  progress  in  region 
of   Schnepfen-Riethkopf   in   Alsace. 

April  19 — British  line  south  of  Ypres  has 
been  pushed  forward  three  miles  after 
much  hard  fighting ;  British  take  Hill  60, 
an  important  strategic  point,  lying  two 
miles  south  of  Zille-beke;  German  counter- 
attacks are  repulsed ;  British  attacks  are 
repulsed  between  Ypres  and  Comines ; 
French  make  gains  along  the  Fecht  River, 
and  capture  a  division  of  mountain  artil- 
lery ;  French  gain  the  summit  of  Burg- 
korpfeld,  and  are  advancing  on  the  north 
banlt  of  the  Fecht ;  French  repulse  coun- 
ter-attacks at  Les  Eparges;  Germans  re- 
pulse French  attacks  at  Combres. 

April  20— Heavy  artillery  fighting  in  Cham- 
pagne and  the  Argonne ;  French  infantry 
attack  fails  north  of  Four-de- Paris ; 
French  make  slight  progress  in  the  Forest 
of  Mortmare ;  Germans  storm  and  re- 
occupy  the  village  of  Embermenil,  west 
of  Avrecourt. 

April  21— Violent  German  counter-attacks 
are  being  made  on  Hill  60,  but  all  have 
been  repulsed,  "  with  great  loss  to  the 
enemy,"  according  to  the  British;  Ger- 
mans capture  a  French  battery  near 
Rheims ;  French  repulse  German  attacks 
at  several  points  between  the  Meuse  and 
the  Moselle ;  French  repulse  attack  in  Al- 
sace east  of  Hartmanns-Weilerkopf;  Ger- 
mans repulse  French  attack  north  of  Four- 
de-Paris  ;  Germans  repulse  French  attack 
extending  over  a  considerable  front  at 
Flirey ;  German  gain  In  the  Forest  of  Le 
PrStre. 

April  22— A  great  new  battle  is  being  fought 
at  Ypres,  Germans  taking  a  strong  of- 
fensive from  the  northeast ;  they  drive 
the  Allies  back  to  the  Ypres  Canal,  tak- 
ing 6,000  prisoners  and  35  guns ;  at  Steen- 


596 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


straete  and  Het  Sase  the  Germans  force 
their  way  across  the  canal  and  establish 
themselves  on  the  west  bank ;  Germans 
capture  villages  of  Langemarck,  Steen- 
straete,  Het  Sase,  and  Pilken ;  Ypres  is 
being  heavily  bombarded ;  British  and 
French  official  reports  declare  that  at 
one  point  where  the  French  fell  back  they 
did  so  because  of  asphyxiating  gas  used 
by  the  Germans ;  the  Germans,  on  the 
contrary,  have  claimed  several  times  re- 
cently that  the  French  have  been  using 
asphyxiating  bombs  at  various  points ; 
Germans  continue  tremendous  attacks  on 
Hill  00,  with  what  is  declared  to  be  one 
of  the  fiercest  artillery  bombardments  in 
history,  but  the  British  still  hold  it;  Ger- 
man troops  are  pouring  through  Belgium 
to  the  Ypres  front ;  Germans  gain  ground 
south  of  La  Bass6e ;  Germans  repulse 
French  attack  in  the  western  part  of 
the  Forest  of  Le  Pretre ;  French  repulse 
attack  at  Bagatelle,  in  the  Argonne; 
French  gain  ground  near  St.  Mihiel; 
French  continue  to  advance  on  both 
banks  of  the  Fecht  River;  official  French 
report  states  that  all  the  Ailly  woods  are 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  French  after  sev- 
eral days'  fighting  in  the  early  part  of 
April ;  infantry  attacks  were  preceded  by 
a  concentrated  artillery  fire,  at  one  point 
the  French  firing  20,000  shells  in  I.  i 
minutes. 

April  2.'?— French  make  progress  at  Forstat 
and  near  St.  Mihiel ;  artillery  duels  at 
Combres,  St.  Mihiel.  Apremont,  and  north- 
east of  Flirey ;  French  take  advanced 
German  trenches  between  Ailly  and 
Apremont. 

April  24— One  of  the  most  furious  battles  of 
the  war  is  now  raging  north  of  Ypres, 
where  the  Allies  have  regained  some  of 
the  ground  recently  lost;  Germans  are 
pouring  more  troops  into  Flanders  to 
push  the  attack;  the  Canadians  make  a 
brilliant  counter-attack,  regaining  part  of 
the  ground  this  division  lost,  and  retake 
four  Canadian  4.7-inch  guns  which  they 
had  lost ;  the  Canadians  are  highly  praised 
in  the  British  War  Office  report;  Ger- 
mans make  further  gains  at  another  point 
on  the  line  and  they  seize  Lizerne  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Ypres  Canal;  the 
French  report  says  the  French  and  Bel- 
gians recaptured  Lizerne  later  in  the  day; 
the  British  have  consolidated  their  posi 
tion  on  Hill  60;  fierce  fighting  is  in 
progress  in  the  Ailly  wood;  French  re- 
pulse another  attack  on  Les  Eparges  and 
an  attack  south  of  the  Forest  of  Parroy; 
Germans  repel  a  number  of  French  at- 
tacks between  the  Meuse  and  the  Mo- 
selle ;  Germans  make  progress  in  the 
Forest  of  Le  Pr§tre. 

April  25— Germans  gain  more  ground  at 
Ypres  and  begin  a  terrific  drive  near  La 
Bass^e;  Germans  capture  villages  of  St. 
Julien  and   Kersselaere   and   advance   to- 


ward Grafenstafel,  taking  British  pris- 
oners and  machine  guns ;  Allies  repulse 
Germans  at  several  other  points ;  Ger- 
mans repulse  French  attack  in  the  Ar- 
gonne and  win  in  the  Meuse  hills,  south- 
west of  Combres,  taking  seventeen  can- 
non and  1,000  prisoners ;  London  reports 
that  clouds  of  chlorine  were  released 
from  bottles  by  the  Germans  during  the 
recent  fighting  at  Ypres.  the  gas  being 
borne  by  the  wind  to  the  French  trenches, 
killing  many  men. 

April  26— Allies  rally  and  check  the  German 
drive  near  Ypres.  fresh  German  assaults 
north  and  northeast  of  the  city  being 
beaten  off;  Berlin  says  that  the  Germans 
retain  the  west  bank  of  the  Yser,  while 
London  reports  that  the  Allies  have  re- 
taken it ;  Germans  still  hold  Lizerne, 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  canal ;  Germans 
take  from  the  French  the  summit  of  Hart- 
manns-Weilerkopf,  capturing  750  men  and 
four  machine  guns ;  French  repulse  Ger- 
man attack  at  Notre  Dame  de  Lorette ; 
fighting  is  in  progress  on  the  heights  of 
the  Meuse ;  German  attack  on  Les  Eparges 
fails. 

April  27— Allies  repulse  German  attack  north- 
east of  Ypres ;  British  make  progress  near 
St.  Julien ;  French  retake  Het  Sase ;  Bel- 
gians repel  three  attacks  south  of  Dix- 
mude,  and  charge  Germans  with  again 
using  asphyxiating  gases ;  Allies  retake 
Lizerne ;  Germans  still  hold  the  bridge- 
head on  the  left  bank  of  the  canal  Just 
east  of  Lizerne ;  French  state  they  have 
retaken  the  summit  of  Hartmanns-Well- 
erkopf,  but  the  Germans  declare  all 
French  attacks  failed ;  German  attacks 
near  Les  Eparges  fail. 

April  28— Allies  are  delivering  counter-at- 
tacks in  an  attempt  to  regain  the  ground 
lost  north  and  northeast  of  Ypres ;  Ger- 
mans are  bringing  up  reinforcements  and 
hold  firmly  their  present  lines ;  scarcely 
a  house  is  left  standing  in  Ypres ;  Ger- 
mans take  French  trenches  near  Beaus6- 
jour  in  Champagne ;  French  repulse  (Jer- 
mans  in  the  Argonne,  near  Marie  Th6r6se  ; 
both  the  Germans  and  French  claim  to  be 
in  possession  of  Hartmanns-Weilerkopf ; 
French  gain  ground  on  heights  of  the 
Meuse ;  Germans  repulse  strong  French 
night  attack  in  the  Forest  of  Le  PrStre. 

April  20— Germans  repulse  Allies  north  of 
Ypres ;  German  official  report  states  Ger- 
mans have  taken  sixty-three  guns  in  Ypres 
fighting ;  Germans  repulse  French  night 
attacks  at  Le  Mesnil  in  Champagne ;  Ger- 
mans gain  ground  on  heights  of  the 
Meuse ;  French  repulse  Germans  at  Les 
Eparges. 

April  30— French  gain  ground  north  of  Ypres. 
taking  two  lines  of  trenches ;  Belgians 
have  repulsed  a  German  attack  from 
Steenstraete ;  Germans  have  fortified  and 
hold  bridgeheads  on  the  west  bank  of 
Ypres   Canal  near   Steenstraete   and   Het 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


597 


Sase  and  on  the  east  bank  of  the  canal 
north  of  Ypres  ;  Germans  repel  a  charge 
of  Turcos  and  Zouaves ;  a  huge  German 
gun  shells  Dunkirk  from  behind  the  Ger- 
man lines  near  Belgian  coast,  about  twen- 
ty-two miles  away ;  twenty  persons  are 
killed  and  forty-five  wounded ;  British 
airmen  locate  the  gun  and  bombard  it, 
while  allied  warships  attack  from  the  sea ; 
Fiench  state  that  they  hold  the  summit 
of  Hartmanns-Weilerkopf ;  500  shells  fall 
in  Rheims  ;  French  fail  in  an  attempt  in 
the  Champagne  district  to  win  back  their 
former  positions  north  of  Le  Mesnil ; 
Germans  repulse  French  charge  north  of 
Flirey. 
TURKISH  AND  EGYPTIAN  CAM- 
PAIGNS. 

April  1 — It  is  learned  that  the  Turks  lost 
12,000  men  and  many  guns  in  a  fight 
against  the  Russians  at  Atkutur,  Persia, 
on  March  25 ;  preceding  the  reoccupation 
by  the  Russians  of  Solmac  Plains,  north- 
west of  Urumiah,  720  Christians  were 
massacred  by  the  Turks. 

April  2 — Turks  are  building  new  forts  at  San 
Stefano,  near  Constantinople,  and  thou- 
sands of  Turkish  troops  are  employed  as 
worl^men  in  the  ammunition  factories, 
which  are  being  worked  to  their  capacity. 

April  3 — Turks  have  repulsed  an  attempt  to 
land  troops  from  a  British  cruiser  at 
Mowilah,  at  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea. 

April  7 — Russians  enter  Artvin,  Russian  Ar- 
menia ;  the  entire  province  of  Batum  has 
been  cleared  of  Turks. 

April  8 — French  War  Office  announces  that 
the  expeditionary  corps  to  the  Orient, 
under  command  of  General  d'Amade,  has 
been  ready  for  three  weeks  to  aid  the 
allied  fleets  and  the  British  expeditionary 
force  in  operations  against  Turkey ;  the 
French  troops  are  now  in  camp  at  Ram- 
leh,  Egypt,  resting  and  perfecting  their 
organization. 

April  14— An  official  report  is  issued  by  the 
India  Office  of  the  British  Government 
which  states  that  23,000  Turks  and  Kurds 
attacked  the  British  positions  at  Kurna, 
Ahwaz,  and  Shaiba  in  Mesopotamia  on 
March  12 ;  they  were  driven  off :  Turks 
are  daily  massing  troops  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula,  especially  at  Kiled  Bahr ;  heavy 
guns  formerly  around  Constantinople, 
Principo,  and  Marmora  seaports  are  being 
removed  to  the  Dardanelles;  a  large 
number  of  German  aeroplanes  are  with 
the  Turkish  troops. 

April  15— The  greater  part  of  the  garisons 
at  Adrianople,  Demotika,  and  Kirk 
Kilisseh  have  been  withdrawn  for  the 
defense   of  Constantinople. 

April  16— India  Office  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment makes  public  an  official  report 
stating  that  the  British  India  troops  have 
inflicted  another  defeat  on  the  Turks  in 
the     vicinity     of     Shaiba,     Mesopotamia ; 


British  casualties  were  700;  the  Turkish 
forces  numbered  15,000,  their  loses  being 
so  heavy  that  they  fled  to  Nakhailah. 

April  19— Reports  sent  to  London  state  that 
the  Turks  have  massed  350,000  men  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula,  and  have  200,000  more 
around  Constantinople ;  .35,000  French  and 
British  troops  are  at  Lemnos  Island,  off 
the  entrance  to  the  Dandanelles ;  Field 
Marshal  Baron  von  der  Goltz  has  been 
appointed  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
First  Turkish  Army. 

April  21— Twenty  thousand  British  and 
French  troops  have  been  landed  near 
Enos,  European  Turkey,  on  the  Gulf  of 
Saros ;  General  Sir  Ian  Hamilton,  veteran 
of  the  Boer  and  other  wars,  is  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  the  Allies'  expedition- 
ary force  for  the  Dardanelles. 

April  23 — Troops  of  Allies  are  being  landed 
at  three  points  ^ — at  Enos,  at  Suol,  a 
promontory  on  the  west  of  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula,  and  at  the  Bulair  Isthmus. 

April  24 — Observations  made  by  aviators  of 
the  Allies  show  ?.5,000  Turkish  troops  are 
concentrated  for  the  defense  of  Smyrna ; 
they  occupy  trenches  extending  from 
Vourlah  to  Smyrna,  and  are  posted  on 
heights  commanding  the  city. 

April  26 — British  War  Office  announces  that 
in  spite  of  serious  opposition  troops  have 
been  landed  at  various  points  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula,  and  their  advance 
continues ;  a  general  attack  is  now  in 
progress  on  the  Dardanelles  by  both  the 
allied  army  and  fleet. 

April  27 — On  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula  the 
allied  troops  under  General  Sir  Ian  Ham- 
ilton are  trying  to  batter  their  way 
through  large  Turkish  forces  led  by  Ger- 
man officers  in  an  effort  to  force  the 
Dardanelles  and  reach  Constantinople; 
the  French  state  that  they  have  occupied 
Kum  Kale,  the  Turkish  fortress  on  the 
Asiatic  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  Darda- 
nelles, but  the  official  Turkish  report 
says  the  French  were  repulsed  here; 
Turks  repulse  Allies  at  Teke  Burum. 

April  28 — Allied  troops  have  established  a 
line  across  the  southern  tip  of  the  Gal- 
lipoli Peninsula,  from  Eske-Hissarlik  to 
the  mouth  of  a  stream  on  the  opposite 
side;  Allies  beat  off  attacks  at  Sari-Bair 
and  are  advancing;  Turks  are  strongly 
intrenching,  and  have  constructed  many 
wire  entanglements;  report  from  Berlin 
states  that  the  left  wing  of  the  allied 
army  has  been  beaten  back  by  the  Turks 
and  12,000  men  captured. 

April  29 — The  landing  of  allied  troops  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  is  still  going  on ;  forces 
disembarked  at  Enos  have  advanced 
twenty  miles ;  11,000  Turks  have  been 
captured,  and  many  German  officers ; 
British  aerial  fleet  is  co-operating  with 
the  troops ;  Turks  drive  back  Allies  who 
landed  near  Gaba  Tepeh,  and  sink  twelve 


89% 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


sloops  bearing  allied  troops;  the  landing 
of  one  detachment  of  allied  troops  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  was  accomplished  by 
a  ruse,  1,000  decrepit  .donkeys  with 
dummy  baggage  being  landed  at  one  point 
while  the  troops  landed  elsewhere;  Rus- 
sians have  dislodged  Turks  from  Kotur, 
110  miles  northwest  of  Tabriz. 
April  30 — After  hard  fighting  the  British 
have  firmly  established  themselves  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  and  have  advanced 
toward  the  Narrows  "€  the  Dardanelles; 
the  French  have  cleared  Cape  Kum  Kalo 
of  Turks ;  activity  is  renewed  on  the  Cau- 
casus front ;  Russians  are  advancing  in 
direction  of  Olti,  on  border  of  Turkey, 
and  have  cleared  the  Kurds  out  of  the 
Alasehkert   Valley. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  AFRICA. 

April  1— British  troops  occupy  Aus,  an  im- 
portant trading  station  in  German  West 
Africa. 

April  2 — Madrid  reports  that  Moorish  rebels 
have  occupied  Fez  and  Mekines,  and  that 
the  French  hold  only  Casablanca  and 
Rabat. 

April  6— It  is  announced  officially  at  Cape 
Town  that  troops  of  the  Union  of  South 
Africa  have  captured  Warmbad,  twenty 
miles  north  of  the  Orange   River. 

April  7 — It  is  announced  officially  at  Cape 
Town  that  troops  of  the  Union  of  South 
Africa  have  occupied  without  opposition 
the  railway  stations  at  Kalkfontein  and 
Kanus,   German  Southwest  Africa. 

April  21— German  troops  in  Kamerun  have 
been  forced  by  allied  forces  to  retreat 
from  the  plateau  in  the  centre  of  the 
colony ;  seat  of  Government  has  been 
transferred  to  Jatinde ;  allied  troops  have 
forced  a  passage  across  the  Kele  River; 
British  troops  have  taken  possession  of 
the  Ngwas  Bridge :  French  native  troops 
from  Central  Africa  have  attained  in  the 
east  the  Lomis-Dume  line ;  official  news 
reaches  Berlin  of  the  defeat  of  a  British 
force  in  German  East  Africa  on  Jan. 
18-19  near  Jassini,  the  total  British  loss 
being  700;  Mafia  Island,  off  the  coast  of 
German  East  Africa,  was  occupied  by 
the  British  on  Jan.   10. 

NAVAL  RECORD. 

April  1— German  submarines  sink  British 
steamer  Seven  Seas  and  French  steamer 
Emma,  thirty  men  going  down  with  the 
vessels;  British  squadron  shells  Zee- 
brugge,  where  Germans  have  established 
a  submarine  base,  by  moonlight;  Ham- 
burg-American liner  Macedonia,  which 
had  been  interned  at  Las  Palmas,  Canary 
Islands,  but  recently  escaped,  has  now 
eluded  British  cruisers  and  sailed  for 
South  American   waters. 

April  2— It  is  learned  that  Chile  has  made 
representations  to  the  British  Government 
regarding    the    sinking    of    the    German 


cruiser  Dresden ;  Chile  says  she  was  blown 
up  by  her  own  crew  in  Chilean  waters 
after  bombardment  by  British  squadron, 
and  when  the  Chilean  Government  was 
on  the  point  of  interning  her ;  three  Brit- 
ish trawlers  are  sunk  by  the  German  sub- 
marine U-10,  whose  Captain,  the  fisher- 
men state,  told  them  he  has  "  orders  to 
sink  everything  " ;  Norwegian  sailing 
ship  Nor  is  burned  by  a  German  subma- 
rine, the  submarine  Captain  giving  the 
Nor's  Captain  a  document  saying  she 
was  destroyed  for  carrying  contraband ; 
Dutch  steamer  Schieland  is  blown  up 
off  the  English  coast,  presumably  by  a 
mine  ;  British  steamer  Lockwood  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine  off  Devonshire 
coast,   the  crew  escaping. 

April  3— Ports  at  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of 
Smyrna  are  bombarded  by  allied  fleet ; 
French  fishing  vessel  is  sunk  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine,  her  crew  escaping;  Ber- 
lin estimates  state  that  from  Aug.  1  to 
March  1  a  tonnage  of  437,879  in  British 
merchant  ships  and  auxiliary  cruisers 
has  been  destroyed. 

April  4 — German  submarine  sinks  British 
steamer  City  of  Bremen  in  the  English 
Channel,  four  of  the  crew  being  drowned ; 
German  submarine  sinks  a  Russian  bark 
In  the  English  Channel ;  three  German 
steamers  are  sunk  by  mines  in  the  Baltic, 
25  men  being  drowned ;  Turkish  armored 
cruiser  Medjidieh  is  sunk  by  a  Russian 
mine ;  it  is  learned  that  an  Austrian 
steamer  with  600  tons  of  ammunition 
aboard  was  blown  up  by  a  mine  in  the 
Danube  on  March  30,  35  of  the  crew  being 
drowned ;  it  is  learned  that  the  American 
steamer  Greenbriar,  lost  in  the  North 
Sea  a  few  days  ago,  was  sunk  by  a  mine. 

April  5 — A  Turkish  squadron  sinks  two  Rusr 
sian  ships ;  Turkish  batteries  off  Kum 
Kale  sink  an  allied  mine  sweeper ;  an 
Athens  report  says  that  the  British  bat- 
tleship Lord  Nelson,  recently  stranded  in 
the  Dardanelles,  has  been  destroyed  by 
the  fire  of  the  Turkish  shore  guns ;  Brit- 
ish trawler  Agantha  is  sunk  by  a  German 
submarine  off  Longstone,  the  crew  being 
subjected  to  rifle  fire  from  the  submarine 
while  taking  to  the  boats ;  German  sub- 
marine U-31  sinks  British  steamer  Olivine 
and  Russian  bark  Hermes,  the  crews  being 
saved ;  German  .  Baltic  fleet,  returning 
from  bombardment  of  Libau,  is  cut  off 
from  its  base  by  German  mines,  which 
have  gone  adrift  in  large  numbers  be- 
cause of  a  storm. 

April  6 — A  German  submarine  is  entangled  in 
at  net  off  Dover  specially  designed  for  the 
catching  of  submarines  ;  Stockholm  reports 
that  the  Swedish  steamer  England  has 
been  seized  by  the  Germans  in  the  Baltic 
and  taken  to  a  German  port. 

April  7 — United  States  Oovernment,  at  re- 
quest of  Commander  Thierichens,  takes 
over  for  intermuent  the  German  converted 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    WAR 


599 


cruiser  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich,  to  hold  her 
until  the  end  of  the  war;  German  Ad- 
miralty admits  loss  of  submarine  U-9, 
already  reported  by  the  British  as  being 
sunk. 

April  8 — French  sailing-  ship  Chateaubriand 
is  sunk  by  a  German  submarine  off  the 
Isle  of  Wight,    the  crew   being  saved. 

April  9 — British  and  French  cruisers  have 
taken  from  Italian  mail  steamers  2, '500 
bags  of  outgoing  German  mail,  and  it  Is 
planned  to  seize  bags  from  abroad  in- 
tended for  Germany. 

April  10 — British  steamer  Harpalyce,  which 
made  one  voyage  ns  a  relief  ship  with 
supplies  for  the  Belgians  donated  by  resi- 
dents of  New  York  State,  is  sunk  in  the 
North  Sea  by  a  submarine ;  some  of  her 
crew   are   missing. 

April  11 — German  auxiliary  cruiser  Kron- 
prinz  Wilhelm  anchors  at  Newport  News, 
needing  coal  and  provisions ;  Captain 
Thierfelder  reports  that  his  ship  has  sunk 
fourteen  ships  of  the  Allies  and  one  Nor- 
wegian ship ;  allied  fleet  is  bombarding 
Dardanelles  forts  from  the  Gulf  of  Saros ; 
French  steamer  Frederic  Franck,  after 
being  torpedoed  by  a  German  subn>arlno 
in  the  English  Channel,  is  towed  to 
Plymouth. 

April  12 — United  States  State  Department  Is 
notified  by  Ambassador  Page  that  the 
British  Government  will  settle  the  case 
of  the  American  steamship  Wilhelmina  in 
accordance  with  the  contentions  of  the 
owners  of  the  cargo ;  the  British  state 
that  they  will  requisition  and  pay  for  the 
cargo,  and  the  owners  of  both  ship  and 
cargo  will  be  reimbursed  for  the  delay 
caused  in  sending  the  case  before  a  prize 
court ;  Captains  of  the  American  steamers 
Navajo,  Joseph  W.  Fordney,  and  Llama 
appeal  to  American  Embassy  at  London 
to  procure  their  release  from  British 
marine  authorities  at  Kirkwall ;  British 
collier  Newlyn  is  damaged  by  an  unex- 
plained explosion  off  the  Scilly  Islands, 
but  makes  port;  a  French  battleship,  as- 
sisted by  French  aeroplanes,  bombards 
the  Turkish  encampment  near  Gaza. 

April  13 — British  torpedo  boat  destroyer 
Renard  dashes  up  the  Dardanelles  over 
ten  miles  at  high  speed  on  a  scouting 
expedition. 

April  14 — Allied  patrol  ships  bombard  Dar- 
danelles forts ;  a  cruiser  and  a  destroyer 
are  struck  by  shells  from  the  forts ;  Dutch 
steamer  Katwyk,  from  Baltimore  to  Rot- 
terdam with  a  cargo  of  corn  consigned  to 
the  Netherlands  Government,  is  blown  up 
and  sunk  while  at  anchor  seven  miles 
west  of  the  North  Hinder  Lightship  in 
the  North  Sea ;  crew  is  saved  ;  indignation 
expressed  in  Holland ;  Swedish  steamer 
Folke  is  sunk  by  a  mine  or  torpedo  off 
Peterhead;  thirty-one  new  cases  of  beri- 
beri  have   developed   among   the   crew   of 


the  Kronprinz  Wilhelm  since  her  arrival 
at  Newport  News. 

April  15—"  White  Paper "  made  public  in 
London  shows  that  Great  Britain  has 
made  "  a  full  and  ample  apology  "  to 
the  Government  of  Chile  for  the  sinking 
in  Chilean  territorial  waters  last  month 
of  the  German  cruiser  Dresden,  the  in- 
ternment of  which  had  already  been  or- 
dered by  the  Maritime  Governor  of  Cum- 
berland Bay  when  the  British  squadron 
attacked  her;  two  allied  battleships  enter 
the  bay  at  Enos  and  with  shells  destroy 
the  Turkish  camp  there ;  Russian  squad- 
ron bombards  Kara-Burum,  inside  the 
Tchatalja  lines;  British  steamer  Ptarmi- 
gan is  sunk  by  a  German  submarine  in 
the  North  Sea,  eight  of  the  crew  being 
lost ;  tabulation  made  in  London  of  sta- 
tistics of  maritime  losses  shows  that  Eng- 
land and  her  allies  have  sunk,  captured, 
or  detained  543  ships  belonging  to  Ger- 
many and  her  allies,  while  Germany  and 
her  allies  have  sunk,  captured,  or  de- 
tained 265  ships  belonging  to  England, 
France,    Belgium,   and  Russia. 

April  16— French  cruiser  bombards  fortifi- 
cations of  El-Arish,  near  the  boundary  of 
Egypt  and  Palestine,  as  well  as  detach- 
ments of  Turkish  troops  concentrated  near 
that  place;  one  cruiser  bombards  the  Dar- 
danelles forts ;  Russian  squadron  bom- 
bards Eregli  and  Sunguldaik,  in  Asia 
Minor,  on  the  Black  Sea. 

April  17— Two  British  ships  drive  ashore  and 
destroy  a  Turkish  torpedo  boat  which  at- 
tacked a  British  transport  in  the  Aegean 
Sea ;  it  is  reported  that  100  men  on  the 
transport  were  drowned ;  Greek  steamer ' 
Ellispontis,  en  route  for  Montevidio  from 
Holland,  is  torpedoed  in  the  North  Sea, 
the   crew   being   saved. 

April  18 — British  submarine  E-15  runs 
ashore  in  the  Dardanelles,  the  crew  being 
captured  by  Turks ;  two  British  picket 
boats,  under  a  heavy  fire,  then  torpedo 
and  destroy  the  stranded  vessel  to  prevent 
her  being  used  by  the  Turks. 

April  19 — Russian  Black  Sea  torpedo  boat 
squadron  bombards  the  coast  of  Turkey 
in  Asia,  between  Archav  and  Artaschin ; 
provision  stores  and  barracks  are  de- 
stroyed ;  many  Turkish  coastwise  vessels 
laden  with  ammunition  and  supplies  are 
sunk;  six  allied  torpc lo  boats  fail  in  an 
attempt  to  penetrate  the  Dardanelles. 

April  20 — Two  Turkish  torpedo  boat  de- 
stroyers are  blown  up  while  passing 
through  a  mine  belt  laid  by  the  Russians 
across  the  entrance  to  the  Bosporus. 

April  21 — British  freighter  Ruth  is  sunk  by  a 
German  submarine  in  the  North  Sea, 
crew   being  rescued. 

April  22 — M.  Augagneur,  French  Minister  of 
Marine,  and  Winston  Spencer  Churchill, 
First  Lord  of  the  British  Admiralty,  hold 
a  conference  in  the  north  of  France  as  to 
the    best    means    of    forcing    the    Darda- 


I 


600 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


nelles;  an  Anglo-French  fleet  is  sighted 
off  the  lower  coast  of  Norway ;  German 
Admiralty  gives  out  a  statement  that 
British  submarines  have  been  repeatedly 
sighted  lately  in  Heligoland  Bay  and 
that  one  of  these  submarines  was  sunk 
on  April  17;  all  steamship  communication 
between  the  British  Isles  and  Holland  is 
suspended ;  allied  fleet  bombards  Darda- 
nelles forts  and  points  on  the  west  coast 
of  Gallipoli ;  British  trawler  St.  Lawrence 
is  sunk  in  the  North  Sea  by  a  German 
submarine,  two  of  the  crew  being  lost ;  a 
German  submarine  has  taken  the  British 
steam  trawler  Glancarse  into  a  German 
port  from  a  point  off  Aberdeen ;  British 
trawler  Fuschia  brings  into  Aberdeen  the 
crew  of  the  trawler  Envoy,  which  was 
shelled  by  a  German  submarine. 

April  23 — German  Admiralty  announces  that 
the  German  high  seas  fleet  has  recently 
cruised  repeated  in  the  North  Sea,  ad- 
vancing into  English  waters  without 
meeting  British  ships ;  the  British 
Official  Gazette  announces  a  blockade, 
beginning  at  midnight,  of  Kamerun,  Ger- 
man West  Africa ;  Norwegian  steamer 
Caprivi  is  sunk  by  a  mine  off  the  Irish 
coast. 

April  24 — Finnish  steamer  Frack  is  sunk  in 
the  Baltic  by  a  German  submarine;  Nor- 
wegian barks  Oscar  and  Eva  are  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine,  the  crews  being 
saved. 

April  2i5 — Russian  Black  Sea  fleet  bombards 
the  Bosporus  forts. 

April  26 — French  armored  cruiser  Leon  Gam- 
betta  is  torpedoed  by  the  Austrian  sub- 
marine U-5  in  the  Strait  of  Otranto;  502 
of  her  men,  including  Admiral  Senes  and 
all  her  commissioned  officers,  perish ; 
Italian  vessels  rescue  162  men;  the  cruiser 
was  attacked  while  on  patrol  duty  in  the 
waterway  leading  to  the  Adriatic  Sea,  and 
sank  in  ten  minutes  after  the  torpedo  hit ; 
England  stops  all  English  Channel  and 
North  Sea  shipping,  experts  believing  that 
the  Admiralty  order  is  conncted  with  the 
desperate  fighting  now  groing  on  at  Ypres ; 
German  converted  cruiser  Kronprinz  "Wil- 
helm,  lying  at  Newport  News,  interns  until 
the  end  of  the  war. 

April  27— Sixteen  battleships  and  armored 
cruisers  of  the  Allies  attack  advance  bat- 
teries at  the  Dardanelles,  but  do  litttle 
damage ;  British  batttleships  Majestic  and 
Triumph,  damaged,  have  to  withdraw  from 
the  fighting  line;  the  fleet  is  operating 
in   conjunction   with   the  land   forces. 

April  28— Bombardment  of  the  Dardanelles 
is  continued  by  the  Allies;  French  armored 
cruiser  Jeanne  d'Arc  is  damaged  by 
fort  fire ;  Captain  of  a  Swedish  steamer 
reports  the  presence  in  the  North  Sea  of 
a  German  fleet  of  sixty-eight  vessels  of 
all   classes. 

Apr'l  29— British  steamer  Mobile  is  sunk  by 
a  German  submarine  off  the  north  coast 
of  Scotland,  the  crew  being  saved. 


April  30— Allied  fleet  is  co-operating  with  the 
troops  in  their  advance  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula ;  British  battleship  Queen  Eliza- 
beth directs  the  fire  of  her  fifteen-inch 
guns  upon  the  Peninsula  under  guidance 
of  aviators ;  a  Turkish  troopship  is  sunk : 
Zeebrugge  is  bombarded  from  the  sea ; 
British  trawler  Lily  Dale  is  sunk  by  a 
German  submarine  in  the  North  Sea;  Brit- 
ish Admiralty  announces  that  the  German 
steamship  Macedonia,  which  escaped  from 
Las  Palmas,  Canary  Islands,  a  few  weeks 
ago,  has  been  captured  by  a  British 
cruiser. 

AERIAL  RECORD. 

April  1— British  airmen  bombard  German 
submarines  which  are  being  built  at  Ho- 
boken,  near  Antwerp. 

April  2— French  aeroplane  squadron  drops 
thirty-three  bombs  on  barracks  and  aero- 
plane hangars  at  Vigneulles,  in  the 
Woevre  region ;  French  and  Belgian  avi- 
ators drop  thirty  bombs  on  aviation  camp 
at  Handezaema ;  allied  aviators  drop 
bombs  on  Miihlheim  and  Neuenberg,  doing 
slight  damage ;  Adolphe  Pegoud,  French 
aviator,  attacks  and  brings  down  a  Ger- 
man Taube  near  Saint  Menehould  by 
shooting  at  it;  he  captures  the  pilot  and 
observer,    unhurt. 

April  3— French  bring  down  a  German  aero- 
plane at  Rheims,  the  aviators,  unhurt,  be- 
ing captured. 

April  4— German  Taube  drops  bombs  cJn  New- 
kerk  church,  near  Ypres ;  twelve  women 
and  Abb§  Reynaert  are  killed ;  many  per- 
sons injured ;  bombs  are  dropped  from 
a  British  aeroplane  on  the  forts  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Smyrna;  the  tenth 
Zeppelin  to  be  constructed  at  Friedrichs- 
hafen  has  its  trial  trip;  the  latest  type  is 
longer  and  faster  than  preceding  models. 

April  5 — French  "War  Office  announces  that 
in  the  British  raid  on  Belgium,  at  the  end 
of  March,  40  German  workmen  were  killed 
and  62  wounded  ;  at  Hoboken  two  German 
submarines  were  destroyed,  a  third  dam- 
aged, and  the  Antwerp  Naval  Construction 
Yards  were  gutted ;  French  aviators  bom- 
bard Miihlheim,  killing  three  women. 

April  6 — German  seaplane  is  brought  down 
by  the  Russians  off  Libau,  after  dropping 
bombs  on  city,  the  aviators  being  cap- 
tured. 

April  7— Austrian  aviators  drop  bombs  in 
the  market  place  of  Porgoritza,  Monte- 
negro, killing  twelve  women  and  children, 
and  injuring  forty-eight  other  persons; 
many  buildings  are  destroyed. 

April  8— One  Austrian  aeroplane  beats  three 
Russian  machines  in  mid-air,  all  the 
Russian  aeroplanes  falling  to  earth. 

April  9— It  is  reported  from  Furnes,  Belgium, 
that  Garros,  French  aviator,  recently  won 
a  duel  in  mid-air  against  a  German 
aeroplane,  shooting  down  Germans. 

April  11— Captain  of  British  steamer  Serula 
drives    off   two   German   aeroplanes    with 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


601 


a  rifle ;  the  aviators  drop  twenty-five 
bombs,  all  missing;  German  aeroplane 
bombards  an  allied  transport  near  the 
Dardanelles. 

April  12— German  dirigible  drops  seven  bombs 
on  Nancy,  doing  slight  damage. 

April  13 — French  aviators  bombard  military 
hangars  at  Vigneulles,  and  disperse,  near 
there,  a  German  battalion  on  the  march; 
according  to  a  report  printed  in  a  Swiss 
newspaper.  Count  Zeppelin's  secretary 
told  this  journal's  correspondent  that 
Germany  is  preparing  for  a  great  air  raid 
on  London  in  August,  with  two  squadrons 
of  five  dirigibles  each. 

April  14— A  Zeppelin  makes  a  night  raid 
over  the  Tyne  district  of  England ;  in- 
habitants of  the  whole  region  from  New- 
castle to  the  coast,  warned  by  authorities, 
plunge  the  territory  into  darkness,  which 
has  the  effect  of  baffling  the  airship 
pilot;  bombs,  chiefly  of  the  incendiary 
kind,  are  dropped  from  time  to  time 
haphazard ;  a  Zeppelin,  while  flying  over 
the  Ypres  district,  is  shot  at  and  badly 
damaged,  coming  down  some  hours  after- 
ward a  complete  wreck  near  Maria 
Aeletre ;  a  Zeppelin  drops  bombs  on 
Bailleul,  the  objective  being  the  aviation 
ground,  but  this  is  not  hit ;  three  civilians 
are  killed ;  two  German  aeroplanes  are 
forced  to  come  to  the  ground  within  the 
French  lines,  one  near  Braine  and  the 
other    near    Lun§ville. 

April  15 — Fifteen  French  aeroplanes  drop 
bombs  on  German  military  buildings  at 
Ostend ;  German  aviator  drops  bombs  on 
Mourmelow ;  French  aviator  drops  five 
bombs  on  the  buildings  occupied  by  the 
German  General  Staff  at  Maziferes ; 
French  aviators  bombard  Freiburg-in- 
Breisgau,  killing  six  children,  two  men, 
and  one  woman,  and  injuring  fourteen 
other  persons,  including  several  children ; 
three  allied  aeroplanes  make  a  flight  of 
170  miles  over  the  Sinai  Peninsula,  aiming 
bombs  at  the  tents  of  Turkish  troops. 

April  16 — Two  Zeppelins  attack  the  east 
coast  of  England  in  the  early  morning, 
dropping  bombs  at  Lowestoft,  at  Maiden, 
thirty  miles  from  London,  •  while  one  of 
the  raiders  is  seen  near  Dagenham,  eleven 
and  one-half  miles  from  London  Mansion 
House ;  one  woman  is  injured  and  con- 
siderable property  damage  Is  done ;  a 
German  biplane  flies  over  Kent,  dropping 
bombs,  which  do  little  damage ;  at  Sheer- 
ness  the  anti-aircraft  guns  open  fire,  but 
the  machine  escapes ;  a  single  bomb, 
dropped  by  a  German  Taube  on  Amiens, 
kills  or  wounds  thirty  persons,  mostly 
civilians,  while  twenty-two  houses  are 
destroyed  outright  and  many  others 
seriously  damaged ;  French  aviators  drop 
bombs  at  Leopoldshohe,  Rothwell,  and 
Mazi§res-les-Metz ;  two  civilians  are  killed 
at  Rothwell ;  a  combined  attack  is  made 
by  one  British  and  five  French  aeroplanes 


on  a  number  of  Rhine  towns ;  two  allied 
hydroplanes  fall  into  the  Dardanelles  as 
a  result  of  Turkish  fire ;  Garros  kills 
two  German  aviators  in  their  aeroplane 
by  shooting   them   from   his   aeroplane. 

April  17— French  airship  bombards  Strass- 
burg,  wounding  civilians ;  two  German 
aeroplanes  drop  bombs  on  Amiens,  killing 
seven  persons  and  wounding  eight. 

April  18— Garros  brings  down,  between  Ypres 
and  Dixmude,  another  Gorman  aeroplane, 
his  third  within  a  short  period. 

April  19— Two  French  aerial  squadrons  at- 
tack railway  positions  along  the  Rhine, 
and  bombard  the  Miihlheim  and  Hab- 
sheim  stations;  at  Mannheim  huge  forage 
stores  are  set  on  fire;  Garros  is  captured 
by  the  Germans  at  Ingelmunster,  Bel- 
gium, after  being  forced  to  alight  there; 
German  aeroplanes  drop  bombs  in  Bel- 
fort;  Germans  repulse  French  aeroplanes 
at  Combres. 

April  20— German  aeroplane  squadron  drops 
100  bombs  at  Bialystok,  Russian  Poland, 
killing  and  wounding  civilians;  a  Zeppelin 
bombards  the  town  of  Oiechanow,  doing 
slight  damage;  the  Rhine  from  Basle  to 
MiJlhausen  is  the  scene  of  a  considerable 
engagement  lasting  two  hours,  in  which 
two  French  and  two  British  aeroplanes 
attack  a  larger  German  squadron  and  are 
driven  off;  returning  with  reinforce- 
ments, and  now  outnumbering  the  Ger- 
man squadron,  they  drive  off  the  Ger- 
mans; no  report  as  to  losses;  reports 
from  Swiss  towns  around  Lake  Con- 
stance, on  which  the  Zeppelin  works  are 
situated,  state  that  Emperor  William  has 
ordered  much  larger  Zeppelins  construct- 
ed ;  each  of  the  new  Zeppelins,  it  Is  stated, 
will  cost  over  $600,000,  and  will  throw 
bombs  double  the  size  of  those  now  used. 

April  21 — French  aeroplanes  bombard  head- 
quarters of  General  von  Etrantz  in  the 
Woevre ;  French  aeroplanes  bombard 
German  convoys  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Baden  and  an  electric  power  plant  at 
Loerrach,  at  the  latter  place  injuring 
civilians ;  British  aviators  drop  bombs  on 
the  German  aviation  harbor  and  shed  at 
Ghent ;  Russian  aeroplanes  bombard  the 
railroad  station  at  Soldau. 

April  23 — Russian  aeroplanes  drop  bombs  on 
Mlawa  and  Plock,  and  bombard  the  Ger- 
man aviation  field  near  Sanniky;  Ger- 
mans bring  down  a  Russian  aeroplane  at 
Czernowitz,   the  pilot  being  killed. 

April  24 — French  aviator  drops  two  bombs  on 
Fort  Kastro,  at  Smyrna,  killing  several 
soldiers ;  official  German  statement  says 
a  British  battleship  was  badly  damaged 
in  the  recent  Zeppelin  attack  on  the  Tyne 
region. 

April  25 — Aviators  of  the  Allies  are  making 
daily  attacks  on  the  Germans  between 
the  Yser  and  Bruges ;  a  Zeppelin  throws 
bombs  on  the  town  of  Slalvstok. 


602 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


April  26 — A  Zeppelin  drops  on  Calais  large 
bombs  of  a  ney  type,  with  greatly  in- 
creased power ;  thirty  civilians  are  in- 
jured ;  a  Russian  aeroplane  drops  three 
bombs  on  Czernowitz,  injuring  children. 

April  27 — British  airmen  bombard  eight  towns 
in  Belgium  occupied  by  Germans ;  Rus- 
sians damage  and  capture  two  Austro- 
German  aeroplanes ;  Russian  aviators  drop 
bombs  on  German  aeroplanes  at  the  avia- 
tion field  near  Sanniliy ;  French  aviators 
drop  bombs  at  BoUweiler,  Chambley,  and 
Arnaville ;  French  airman  throws  six 
bombs  on  the  Mauser  rifle  factory  at 
Oberdorf. 

April  28 — A  German  aeroplane  throws  three 
bombs  at  the  American  tanker  Gushing, 
owned  by  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  the 
attaclc  taking  place  in  daylight  in  the 
North  Sea;  the  ship  was  flying  the 
American  flag;  splinters  from  one  bomb 
strike  the  vessel  and  tear,  the  American 
ensign,  according  to  the  report  of  the 
Cushing's  Captain ;  Russian  giant  aero- 
plane drops  1,200  pounds  of  explosives  on 
the  East  Prussian  town  of  Neidenburg; 
allied  airmen  drop  bombs  on  Haltingen, 
Southern  Baden ;  German  aeroplane  drops 
bombs  on  Nancy,  three  persons  being 
killed  and  several  injured ;  allied  airmen 
bombard  Oberdorf,  killing  six  civilians 
and  wounding  seven ;  six  allied  aeroplanes 
bombard  the  hangars  of  dirigibles  at 
Friedrichshafen ;  French  aviators  drop 
bombs  on  the  station  and  a  factory  at 
Leopoldshohe ;  French  capture  or  destroy 
four  German  aeroplanes. 

April  29 — Three  German  aeroplanes  drop 
bombs  on  Belfort,  four  workmen  being 
wounded ;  German  aeroplanes  bombard 
Epernay. 

April  30 — A  Zeppelin  drops  bombs  on  Ipswich 
and  other  places  in  Suffolk ;  no  lives  are 
reported  lost,  but  a  number  of  dwellings 
are  set  on  fire;  four  Zeppelins  are  sighted 
off  Wells,  Norfolk;  they  change  their 
course  and  head  out  to  sea ;  French  air- 
ship bombards  the  railway  in  the  region 
of  Valenciennes ;  a  destroyed  French 
aeroplane  falls  within  the  German  lines; 
British  bring  down  a  German  aeroplane 
east  of  Ypres. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

April  1 — Report  from  Prague  states  that  some- 
thing akin  to  a  reign  of  terror  prevails  in 
certain  parts  of  Austria,  people  being 
punished  severely  for  trivial  offenses. 

April  2 — Czech  regiment  refuses  to  entrain 
for  the  front ;  most  of  the  Czech  terri- 
torials have  been  sent  to  Istria ;  Govern- 
ment issues  appeal  to  cooks  and  house- 
wives to  exercise  economy  in  foodstuffs. 

April  3— It  is  officially  denied  at  "Vienna  thai 
Austria  has  opened  negotiations  with  Rus- 
sia for  a  separate  peace,  as  has  been  per- 
sistently reported  of  late. 


April  4— Budapest  continues  gay  despite  the 
war,  and  night  life  goes  on  much  as 
usual. 

April  11— The  Foreign  Office  publishes  a  sec- 
ond "  Red  Book,"  charging  atrocities  and 
breaches  of  international  law  against 
Serbia,  Russia,  France,  and  England ;  it 
is  declared  that  there  is  not  an  article  of 
international  law  which  has  not  been  vio- 
lated repeatedly  by  the  troops  of  the 
Allies. 

April  12— A  law  court  at  Vienna,  in  the  case 
of  Dubois,  a  Belgian,  holds  that  despite 
the  German  occupation  Dubois  has  not 
lost   his   Belgian  citizenship. 

April  14— Wealthy  Hungarians  are  preparing 
to  flee  before  the  Russian  invasion. 

April  15 — Some  of  the  Hungarian  newspapers 
are  discussing  peace. 

April  17— War  Office  announces  that  men  be- 
tween 18  and  50  of  the  untrained  Land- 
strum  will  hereafter  be  liable  for  military 
service. 

April  18 — Bread  riots  occur  in  Vienna  and  at 
points  in  Bohemia ;  Vienna  is  now  pro- 
tected by  long  lines  of  trenches  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Danube;  $14,000,000  is 
said  to  have  been  spent  in  fortifications 
at  Budapest  and  Vienna. 

April  19— The  foood  situation  In  Trieste  is 
critical. 

April  21 — All  Austrian  subjects  in  Switzer- 
land are  recalled  by  their  Government. 

April  22— Riots  in  Trieste  are  assuming  a 
revolutionary  character ;  "  Long  Live 
Italy !  "  is  being  shouted  by  the  mobs ;  it 
is  reported  from  Paris  that  the  Hungarian 
Chamber  at  its  opening  session  refused  to 
vote  the  new  military  credits  demanded 
by  the  General  Staff. 

April  25 — Anti-war  riots  continue  at  Trieste; 
there  are  also  serious  riots  at  Vienna, 
Goerz,  Prague,  and  elsewhere ;  the  Aus- 
trians  have  fortified  the  entire  Italian 
frontier,  at  places  having  built  intrench- 
ments  of  concrete  and  cement. 

April  28 — Railway  service  on  the  Austrian 
side  of  the  Austro-Italian  frontier  has 
been  virtually  suspended  for  ordinary  pur- 
poses ;  all  lines  are  being  used  to  carry 
troops  to  the  frontier. 

BELGIUM. 

April  1 — The  German  Governor  General  has 
revived  an  old  law  which  holds  each  com- 
munity responsible  for  damage  done 
during  public  disturbances ;  a  Berlin 
newspaper  charges  that  American  pass- 
ports have  been  used  to  smuggle  Belgian 
soldiers  from  the  Yser  to  Holland  and 
thence  to  the  Belgian  Army;  the  Pope 
expresses  his  sympathy  for  Belgium's 
woes  to  the  new  Belgian  Minister  to  the 
Vatican. 

April  3 — Officials  of  the  Belgian  Public 
Works  Department  resign  when  ordered 
by  the  German  administration  to  direct 
construction  of  roads  designed  for 
strategic  purposes. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


603 


April  5 — Gifford  Pinchot,  who  has  been  super- 
intending relief  work  for  Northern 
France,  has  been  expelled  from  Belgium 
by  order  of  the  German  Governor  Gen- 
eral ;  the  reason  is  that  Mr.  Pinchot's 
sister  is  the  wife  of  Sir  Alan  Johnstone, 
British  Minister  at  The  Hague,  with 
whom  Mr.  Pinchot  stayed  on  his  way  to 
Belgium ;  Prince  Leopold,  elder  son  of 
King  Albert,  IS*/^  years  old,  joins  the  line 
regiment  famous  for  its  defense  of.  Dix- 
mude. 

April  6 — Cardinal  Gasparri,  Papal  Secretary 
of  State,  sends  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Mer- 
cier  inclosing  $5,000  as  a  personal  gift 
from  Pope  Benedict  to  the  Belgian  suffer- 
ers from  the  war ;  the  letter  expresses  the 
Pope's  love  and  pity. 

April  8 — President  Wilson  cables  greetings 
to  King  Albert  on  his  birthday. 

April  13 — The  German  Governor  General 
orders  establishment  of  a  credit  bank 
which  will  advance  money  on  the  requisi- 
tion bills  given  in  payment  for  goods 
seized  by  the  authorities. 

April  15 — It  is  reported  from  Rome  that  the 
German  Embassy  there  has  asked  the 
Belgian  Government,  through  the  Belgian 
Legation  to  the  Quirinal,  whether,  in 
event  of  the  German  armies  evacuating 
Belgian  territory,  Belgium  would  remain 
neutral  during  the  remainder  of  the  war. 

April  17 — The  German  Governor  General  has 
ordered  the  dissolution  of  the  Belgian  Red 
Cross  Society,  because,  it  is  stated,  the 
managing  committee  refused  to  partici- 
pate in  carrying  out  a  systematic  plan  for 
overcoming  the  present  distress  in  Bel- 
gium. 

April  24 — A  memorial  addressed  to  President 
Wilson,  signed  by  40,000  Belgian  refu- 
gees now  in  Holland,  expressing  gratitude 
for  the  aid  which  the  United  States  has 
extended  to  the  Belgian  war  sufferers, 
is  mailed   to  Washinfton. 

BULGARIA. 

April  7 — Travelers  from  Serbia  and  Saloniki 
are  barred  from  Bulgaria  because  typhus 
is  epidemic  in  Serbia. 

CANADA. 

April  1— Canadians  approve  the  anti-Uquor 
stand  taken  by  King  George,  and  prom- 
inent men  declare  themselves  in  favor  of 
restricting  the  use  of  alcohol  in  the 
Dominion. 

April  10— Premier  Borden  tells  Parliament 
that  Lord  Kitchener  has  called  on  Canada 
for  a  second  expeditionary  force ;  the 
first  contingent  of  the  first  expeditionary 
force  numbered  35,420,  and  the  second 
contingent  of  that  force  22,272. 

April  15— Parliament  is  prorogued,  the  Duke 
of  Connaught,  Governor  General,  praising 
Canada's  troops  for  "  conspicuous  bra- 
very and  efficiency  on  the  field  of  battle." 


April  25— King  George  cables  to  the  Duke  of 
Connaught  an  expression  of  his  admira- 
tion of  the  gallant  work  done  by  the 
Canadian  division  near  Ypres ;  General 
Hughes,  Canadian  Minister  of  Militia, 
cables  the  appreciation  of  the  Dominion 
to  General  Alderson,  commanding  the 
Canadian  division. 

April  28— About  200  Canadian  officers  were 
put  out  of  action  in  the  fighting  near 
Ypres,   out  of  a  total  of  600. 

April  29— Four  prominent  German  residents 
of  Vancouver  are  arrested  on  a  charge  of 
celebrating  German  successes  over  the 
Canadians  near  Ypres,  indignation  being 
aroused   among   Vancouver   citizens. 

EGYPT. 

April  8 — An  attempt  is  made  at  Cairo  to 
assassinate  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  Hussien 
Kamel,  a  native  firing  at  him,  but 
missing. 

FRANCE. 

April  1— A  delegation  of  foreign  newspaper 
men  who  have  visited  the  prison  camps 
say  they  found  the  German  prisoners  well 
treated  and  contented. 

April  3— General  Joffre  is  quoted  as  predict- 
ing a  speedy  end  of  the  war  in  favor  of 
the  Allies. 

April  4— The  second  report  of  the  French 
commission  appointed  to  investigate  the 
treatment  of  French  citizens  by  the  Ger- 
mans charges  many  acts  of  cruelty ;  300 
former  captives  of  the  Germans  tell,  un- 
der oath,  stories  contained  in  the  report 
of  brutality,  starvation,  and  death  in  the 
German  concentration  camps. 

April  5— There  are  insistent  reports  that  the 
French  have  a  new  shell  which  kills  by 
concussion ;  it  is  officially  stated  in  an 
army  bulletin  that  a  new  explosive  re- 
cently put  into  use  doubles  the  explosive 
force  of  shells  of  three-inch  guns. 

April  9— The  General  commanding  the  Vosges 
army  has  forbidden,  with  General  Jof- 
fre's  approval,  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks 
in  the  district  under  his  command ;  the 
general  movement  to  restrict  the  sale  of 
intoxicants  is  growing ;  the  municipal  au- 
thorities of  Paris  are  preparing  a  decree 
prohibiting  the  tango. 

April  10— A  court-martial  acquits  Captain 
Herail  of  the  Eleventh  Hussars,  who  shot 
and  killed  his  wife  in  November  because 
she  persisted  in  following  the  army  to  be 
near  him,  in  direct  violation  of  orders 
Issued  by  the  military  authorities ;  the 
President  of  the  Touring  Club  of  France 
states  that  the  French  people  want  Amer- 
ican tourists  as  usual  this  Summer;  the 
Almanach  de  Gotha  is  being  boycotted  by 
the  allied  royalty  and  nobility  and  a  new 
volume,  to  be  called  the  Almanach  de 
Bruxelles,  is  being  prepared  for  speedy 
publication  in  Paris. 


m)i 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


April  11 — Computation  made  by  the  Paris 
Matin  shows  that  the  total  length  of  the 
battle  front  of  the  Allies  is  1,(>56  miles, 
the  French  occupying  540  miles  of 
trenches,  the  British  31,  and  the  Belgians 
17,  while  in  the  east  the  Russians  are 
facing  a  front  of  851  miles,  and  the  Ser- 
bians and  Montenegrins  are  fighting  on 
a  front  of  217  miles. 

April  12 — General  Pau,  who  has  been  on  a 
mission  in  Russia,  Italy,  and  the  Balkan 
States,  gets  a  notable  reception  on  arriv- 
ing in  Paris. 

April  13 — President  Poincar§  leaves  Dunkirk 
for  Paris  after  three  days  with  the  French 
and  Belgian  troops ;  M.  Poincarg  had  a 
long  conference  with  King  Albert ;  the 
War  Office  is  organizing  an  expedition  of 
cinematograph  operators  throughout  the 
whole  French  line ;  it  is  planned  to  multi- 
ply and  circulate  the  films. 

April  15 — An  official  denial  of  reports  from 
Berlin  that  public  buildings  in  Paris  are 
being  used  as  military  observation  posts 
is  cabled  to  the  French  Embassy  at  "Wash- 
ington by  Foreign  Minister  Delcassfe ;  vital 
statistics  for  the  first  half  of  1914,  just 
published,  show  that  the  net  diminution 
in  the  population  of  France  was  17,000, 
while  the  population  of  Germany  in- 
creased, in  the  same  period,  nearly  500,- 
000;  the  Temps  says  that  the  problem  of 
depopulation  must  receive  serious  con- 
sideration  after  the  war. 

April  19 — A  regiment  of  women  is  being 
formed  in  Paris ;  it  is  planned  that  they 
wear  khaki  uniforms,  learn  how  to  handle 
rifles,  and  undertake  various  military 
duties  in  areas  back  of  the  firing  line. 

April  22— General  Joffre  retires  twenty-nine 
more  Generals  to  make  way  for  younger 
and  more  active  men ;  the  Cabinet  decides 
that  children  made  orphans  by  the  death 
in  the  war  of  their  fathers  should  be 
cared  for  by  the  State ;  it  is  decided  to 
appoint  a  commission  to  study  the  ques- 
tion and  decide  what  steps  should  be 
taken ;  "  Tout  Paris,"  the  social  register 
of  the  capital,  contains  the  names  of 
1,500  Parisians  killed  in  action  up  to  Feb. 
25,  including  20  Generals  and  193  men  of 
title. 

April  24 — The  famous  Chambord  estate  is  se- 
questrated on  the  ground  that  it  is  the 
property  of  Austrian  subjects ;  the  Bank 
of  France  releases  $1,000,000  gold  to  the 
Bank  of  England  for  transmission  to  New 
York  to  assist  in  steadying  exchange: 
French  official  circles  and  French  news- 
papers are  pleased  with  the  American  note 
to  Germany  in  reply  to  the  von  Bernstorff 
memorandum  on  the  sale  of  arms  to  the 
Allies,  and  with  the  expressions  of  Ger- 
man annoyance  resulting  from  the  note. 
April  SO — President  Poincarg  receives  a  dele- 
gation of  Irish  Members  of  the  British 
Parliament,  headed  by  T.  P.  O'Connor  and 
Joseph  Devlin,  bringing  addresses  to  the 


President  and   Cardinal   Amette,   and   as- 
surance of  devotion  to  the  Allies'  cause. 

GERMANY. 

April    1— Circular    of    the    Minister    of    Agri- 
culture says  that  through  economical  use 
of  available  grain  the  bread  supply  is  as- 
sured until  the  next  harvest ;  it  is  decided 
to  hold  horse  races  this  season,   including 
the    German    Derby ;    812,808    prisoners    of 
war  are  now  held  in  Germany,  10,175  be- 
ing officers. 
April  ;$— It  is  reported  from  Konigsberg,  East 
Prussia,    that   along  a   line  of  150  miles, 
and  for  a  distance  varying  from  five  to 
fifty  miles  from  the  Russian  border,  therf 
is  nothing  but  ruins  as  the  result  of  the 
Russian    invasion ;    thousands    of    women 
and  children  are  stated  to  have  been  car- 
ried   off    to    Russia ;    it    is    learned    that 
spotted  fever  has  been  introduced  into  con- 
centration   camps    by    Russian    prisoners, 
but  spread  to  the  German  civil  population 
has  thus  far  been  prevented;  skilled  arti- 
sans,  urgently  needed  in  various  lines  of 
industrial    work,    are   being   granted    fur- 
loughs from  the  front. 
April  6— Postal  officials  suspend  parcel  post 
service    to    Argentina    and    several    other 
South    American    countries    and    to    Spain, 
Portugal,     Greece,     Italian    colonies,     and 
Dutch  West   Indies ;   Press   Bureau  of  the 
French  War  Office  gives  out  figures,  com- 
piled from  official  German  sources,  show- 
ing   that    the    Germans    have    lost    31,726 
officers   in   killed,    wounded,    and   missing 
since  the  begenning  of  the  war,  out  of  a 
total   of   52,805   who    started    in    the   war ; 
General  von  Kluck  is  recovering  from  his 
wound    and    has   been   decorated   by   Em- 
peror   William. 
April  8— Germans  are  mourning  Captain  Otto 
Weddigen  of  submarines  U-9  and  U-29,  it 
being   now    accepted    as   a   fact   that   the 
U-29,  his  last  command,  has  been  lost. 
April  9 — Official  list  shows  that  on  March  1 
there    were    in    Germany    5,510   pieces    of 
captured   artillery. 
April  12 — The  Government  is  making  repris- 
als for  the  treatment  of  captured  German 
submarine  crews  in   England,   having  im- 
prisoned    thirty-nine    British    officers    in 
the   military   detention  barracks. 
April   13 — Germany   is  detaining  freight  cars 
belonging    to    Italian    lines;    semi-official 
statement   says  the  passengers   and  crew 
of  the  steamer  Falaba  were  given  twenty- 
three  minutes  to  leave  the  ship  and  were 
shown  as  much  consideration  as  was  com- 
patible   with    safety    to    the    submarine ; 
according    to    a    dispatch    from    Switzer- 
land,   there    is    an    alarming    increase    of 
madness  in  the  German  Army. 
April    14 — It    is    reported    from    Switzerland 
that  Emperor  William  last  month  paid  a 
visit  to  Emperor  Francis  Joseph. 
April  15 — Several  thousand  parcel  post  pack- 
ages mailed  from  Germany  for  the  United 
States  have  been  returned  to  the  senders 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


605 


by  Swiss  postal  authorities,  because  the 
French  and  British  Governments  have 
given  notice  that  parcels  addressed  to 
German  citizens  in  the  United  States  will 
be  seized  whenever  found  on  shipboard ; 
the  Reichsbank's  statement  up  to  April 
15  shows  an  increase  In  gold  of  $2,000,000. 

April  17 — Ten  British  officers  have  been 
placed  in  solitary  confinement  in  Magde- 
burg as  a  measure  of  reprisal  for  the 
treatment  accorded  captured  German  sub- 
marine crews  by  Great  Britain ;  a  letter 
frorn  Dr.  Bernhard  Dernburg,  form'?r 
Colonial  Secretary  of  Germany,  who  has 
for  some  time  been  in  the  United  States, 
Is  read  at  a  pro-German  mass  meeting  in 
Portland,  Me.  ;  it  suggests  the  neutraliza- 
tion of  the  high  seas  in  time  of  war  and 
makes  various  other  proposals,  which  are 
regarded  in  some  qualrters  as  a  possible 
indication  that  Germany  is  willing  to 
discuss  terms  of  peace ;  because  of  a, 
shortage  of  rubber,  the  Government  is 
arranging  a  special  campaign  to  collect 
rubber  In  all  shapes  throughout  the 
empire. 

April  19 — The  second  officer  and  some  of 
the  crew  of  the  German  converted  cruiser 
Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich,  now  interned  at 
Newport  News,  reach  Copenhagen  on 
their  way  to  Germany ;  it  is  stated  in  the 
Copenhagen  report  that  they  are  provided 
with  false  passports  describing  them  as 
Swedish  subjects. 

April  20 — A  conference  of  German  and  Aus- 
trian Socialists  in  Vienna  has  agreed  that 
after  the  war  international  treaties  for 
limitation  of  armaments  must  be  agreed 
upon,  with  a  view  to  disarmament. 

April  21 — All  German  subjects  in  Switzer- 
land are  recalled  by  their  Government ; 
reports  from  The  Hague  declare  that  Ger- 
man Socialists  are  trying  to  get  a  basis 
on  which  the  war  can  be  stopped ;  the 
soldiers  at  the  front  are  asking  for  flower 
seeds  to  plant  on  the  graves  of  the  slain. 

April  22 — During  the  last  few  days  Emperor 
William  has  been  visiting  the  German 
front  in  Alsace ;  he  promoted  Colonel 
Reuter  of  Zabern  fame  to  the  rank  of 
Major  General ;  the  Government  has  sent 
2,20.3  more  maimed  French  officers  and 
men  to  Constance,  where  they  will  be  ex- 
changed for  German  wounded ;  university 
courses  are  being  conducted  by  Belgian 
professors  in   the   prison  camp  at  Soldau. 

April  2.3 — The  Federal  Council  has  extended 
until  July  31  the  operation  of  the  order 
which  provides  that  claims  held  by  for- 
eign persons  or  corporations  which  ac- 
crude  before  July  .31,  1!)14,  cannot  be 
sued  upon  in  the  German  courts ;  many 
newspapers  comment  bitterly  upon  the 
American  note  replying  to  the  Bernstorff 
memorandum  on  the  sale  of  arms  to  the 
Allies  by  the  United  States ;  there  is  re- 
joicing in  Berlin  over  German  gains  near 
Ypres. 


April  24 — Dr.  Dernburg,  in  address  at  Brook- 
lyn, says  that  evacuation  of  Belgium  de- 
pends on  England's  agreeing  to  the  neu- 
tralization of  the  sea,  free  cable  com- 
munications, revision  of  international 
law,  and  consent  to  German  colonial  ex- 
pansion ;  interview  printed  In  Paris  quotes 
M.  Zographos,  Foreign  Minister  of 
Greece,  as  declaring  that  Greece  is  ready 
to  unite  with  the  Allies  in  the  operations 
at  the  Dardanelles  if  invited  to  do  so. 

April  27 — Copenhagen  reports  that  systematic 
efforts  are  being  made,  under  instructions 
from  Imperial  Chancellor  von  Bethmann- 
HoUweg,  to  buy  sufficient  foodstuffs  in 
neutral  countries  to  last  Germany  for 
four   years. 

April  28 — The  Supreme  Military  Court  has 
confirmed  the  sentence  of  death  imposed 
on  Dec.  29  on  William  Lonsdale  of 
Leeds,  England,  a  private  in  the  British 
Army,  for  striking  a  German  non-com- 
missioned officer  at  a  military  prison 
camp    at    Doeberitz. 

April  30 — The  subscriptions  for  three-quarters 
of  the  latest  war  loan  have  already  been 
paid;  the  payments  reach  the  total  of 
$1,687,750,000,  more  than  twice  the  amount 
required  at  this  time  under  the  stipulated 
conditions  of  the  issue ;  German  Embassy 
at  Washington  states  that  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  has  ordered  prisoners  of  war 
of  Czech  or  other  Slav  origin  treated 
kindly,  but  prisoners  of  German  or 
Magyar   race   treated   severely. 

GREAT  BRITAIN. 

April  1 — ^Lord  Kitchener  follows  the  lead  of 
King  George  in  announcing  his  intention 
to  abstain  from  liquor  during  the  war; 
the  nation  is  stirred  by  the  drink  ques- 
tion, and  prominent  observers  believe  that 
anti -alcohol  legislation  will  not  be  neces- 
sary ;  25,000  women  volunteer  to  aid  In 
making  munitions  of  war. 

April  2 — Text  is  made  public  of  a  protest  by 
Germany,  transmitted  through  the  Ameri- 
can Ambassador  in  London,  against  treat- 
ment of  captured  German  submarine 
crews ;  Germany  threatens  reprisals  in  the 
form  of  harsh  treatment  of  captured  Brit- 
ish officers ;  Sir  Edward  Grey  in  reply 
says  the  submarine  crews  have  violated 
the  laws  of  humanity  and  they  are  segre- 
gated in  naval  barracks. 

April  3 — Government  takes  control  of  all 
motor  manufacturing  plants  to  accelerate 
the  supplying  of  war  material. 

April  4 — The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  In 
his  Easter  sermon  dwells  upon  the  na- 
tional necessity  for  prohibition  during  the 
war ;  a  band  of  the  Irish  Guards,  ariiving 
in  Dublin  on  a  recruiting  tour,  is  enthu- 
siastically cheered ;  John  E.  Redmond  re- 
views at  Dublin  25,000  of  the  Irish  Nation- 
al Volunteers ;  Limerick  welcomes  recruit- 
ing officers ;  every  man  in  the  British 
Navy  has  received  a  pencil  case,  the  gift 


606 


THE  NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


of  Queen  Mary,  formed  of  a  cartridge 
which  had  been  used  "  somewhere  in 
France,"  with  silver  mountings. 

April  6 — Official  announcement  states  that 
"  by  the  King's  command  no  wines  or 
spirits  will  be  consumed  in  any  of  his 
Majesty's  houses  after  today  " ;  George 
M.  Booth  heads  committee  appointed  by 
Kitchener  to  provide  such  additional  labor 
as  is  needed  for  making  sufficient  war 
supplies. 

April  8 -Official  report  of  the  bombardment 
of  Hartlepool,  Scarborough,  and  Whitby 
by  a  German  naval  squadron  on  Dec.  16 
states  that  SC  civilians  were  killed  and  424 
wounded,  of  whom  2G  have  died  ;  7  soldiers 
were  killed  and  14  wounded ;  nearly  all 
industries  are  working  at  top  speed  ;  un- 
employment has  largely  disappeared  ;  King 
Albert's  birthday  is  celebrated  in  London 
by  Belgian  refugees,  many  thousands  of 
English  joining  in  the  observance. 

April  ()— A  "  White  Paper  "  is  published  giv- 
ing correspondence  which  passed  between 
the  British  and  German  Foreign  Offices 
through  the  United  States  Ambassador  re- 
garding treatment  of  British  prisoners  of 
war  in  Germany ;  testimony  which  is  in- 
cluded is  to  the  effect  that  Germans  treat 
British  prisoners  brutally ;  John  B.  Jack- 
son of  the  American  Embassy  at  Berlin, 
who,  on  behalf  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment, recently  inspected  German  prison 
camps  in  England,  reports  that  prisoners 
are  well  cared  for ;  Captain  and  crew  of 
the  steamer  Vosges,  sunk  in  March  by  a 
German  submarine,  are  rewarded  for  per- 
sistent attempt  to  escape  the  submarine ; 
in  party  circles  it  is  accepted  as  a  fact 
that  there  will  be  no  general  election  this 
year,  and  that  the  terms  of  the  present 
Members  of  Parliament  will  be  extended. 

April  11— A  great  campaign  to  obtain  recruits 
for  Kitchener's  new  army  is  begun  in 
London,  it  being  planned  to  hold  1,500 
meetings. 

April  12— Government  is  now  transferring 
men  from  the  working  forces  of  munici- 
palities to  factories  making  munitions  of 
war. 

April  1.^— Official  announcement  states  that 
33,000  women  had  registered  themselves 
up  to  the  end  of  March  for  war  service, 
as  being  ready  to  undertake  various  forms 
of  labor  in  England  usually  done  by  men ; 
the  Foreign  Office  cables  the  United  States 
State  Department,  asking  that  an  inves- 
tigation be  started  at  once  of  Berlin  re- 
ports that  thirty-nine  British  officers  have 
been  put  in  a  military  prison  as  a  meas- 
ure of  reprisal  for  England's  declining  to 
accord  full  privileges  to  German  sub- 
marine prisoners ;  a  serious  explosion  oc- 
curs at  Lerwick,  Shetland,  in  which  many 
persons  are  killed ;  Lerwick  is  one  of  the 
chief  stations  in  Scotland  for  the  Royal 
Naval  Reserve. 


April  14— Report  from  Field  Marshal  French 
on  the  Neuve  Chapelle  fight  is  made  pub- 
lic ;  the  British  losses  were  12,811  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing;  German  losses  are 
declared    to    have    been    several    thousand 
more;  French  says  his  orders  were  badly 
executed   in    some   instances,    resulting   in 
disorganization   of   infantry   after    victory 
was  won ;   it  is  intimated   that  Britsh  ar- 
tillery   fired    on    British    troops;    Govern- 
ment  decides   against   placing    cotton    on 
the  contraband  list ;  Government  is  mak- 
ing huge  purchases   of  wheat. 
April    15— The    total    British    casualties   from 
the  beginning  of  the  war  up  to  April  11 
were   139,.347,    according   to   an    announce- 
ment  in    the   House   of   Commons   by   the 
Under  Secretary  for  War;  part  of  Kitch- 
ener's   new    army,    after    six    months    of 
training,   is  going  into  camp  at  Salisbury 
Plain,  where  it  is  stated  that  100,000  men 
will  soon  be  encamped. 
April   16— The   Foreign    Office   is   adivsed   by 
Ambassador   Page   that  press   reports  are 
correct  which  state  that  the  Germans  have 
put    thirty-nine    British    officers    in    mili- 
tary detention  barracks  as  a  measure  of 
reprisal    for    British    action    in    refusing 
honors    of    war     to     crews     of     German 
submarines ;  the  London  Times  states  that 
$9,500,000    in    life    insurance    claims    has 
been  paid  to  heirs  of  British  officers  thus 
far  killed  in  action, 
April    17— Wages    are    rising   and    unemploy- 
ment is  decreasing. 
April   18— Ten   thousand   Protestant  churches 
observe    "  King's    Pledge   Sunday,"    thou- 
sands of  persons  signing  a  pledge  to  ab- 
stain from  intoxicants  for  the  rest  of  the 
war. 
April    19— English    Football    Association    an- 
nounces that  with  closing  of  present  sea- 
son on  May  5  no  more  professional  foot- 
ball games  will  be  played  during  the  war. 
April  20 — Premier  Asquith,  in  an  appeal  made 
at    Newcastle    to    the    workmen     of    the 
northeast   coast   to    hasten    the    output   of 
munitions  of  war,  refrains  from  all  men- 
tion   of    the    drink    question    and    declares 
that   there  has  been   no   slackness   on   the 
part  of  either  employes  or  employers,  this 
statement   being   at   variance   with    recent 
statements  made  by  other  Cabinet  mem- 
bers,   who    have    blamed    tippling   on    the 
part    of    workmen    for    slow    output ;    the 
Government    has    made    an    arrangement 
by    which    skilled    workmen    now    at    the 
front  can  be  recalled  to  England   to  work 
In    munition    factories    as    needed ;    Davia 
Lloyd    George,    Chancellor  of   the   Exche- 
quer, says  in  the  House  of  Commons  that 
the  Government  does  not  believe  that  the 
war    would    be    more    successfully    prose- 
cuted  by  conscription,  adding  that  Kitch- 
ener is  erratified  with  the  response  to  his 
appeal     for    volunteers ;     since     the     war 
began,    1,961    officers    have    been    killed, 
3,528   wounded,   and  738  are   missing. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


607 


April  21 — Chancellor  Lloyd  George  states  in 
the  House  of  Commons  that  the  expedi- 
tionary force  in  France  now  consists  of 
more  than  thirty-six  divisions,  or  about 
750,000  men ;  the  Chancellor  also  states 
that  as  much  ammunition  was  expended 
at  Neuve  Chapelle  as  was  used  during 
the  entire  Boer  war,  which  lasted  for 
two    years    and    nine    months. 

April  22 — F.  T.  Jane,  a  well-known  British 
naval  expert,  in  an  address  at  Liverpool 
declares  that  the  Germans  tried  to  land 
an  expeditionary  force  in  England,  but 
the  vigilance  of  the  British  Navy  caused 
the   expedition    to   turn   back. 

April  24 — An  official  list  received  in  London 
of  the  thirty-nine  British  officers  placed 
in  detention  barracks  by  the  Germans  in 
retaliation  for  English  treatment  of  Ger- 
man submarine  crews  shows  the  names  of 
seven  Captains  and  thirty-two  Lieuten- 
ants, included  being  the  names  of  Lieu- 
tenant Goschen,  son  of  a  former  Ambas- 
sador to  Berlin ;  Robin  Grey,  a  nephew  of 
Sir  Edward  Grey,  and  many  sons  of  peers. 

April  25— Jamaica  begins  raising  money  to 
send  a  contingent  to  join  Kitchener's 
army. 

April  20— The  "  war  babies  "  question  is  to 
be  investigated  by  a  committee  headed  by 
the  Archbishop  of  York,  and  a  report  is 
to  be  made. 

April  27— Lord  Kitchener,  speaking  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  scores  the  Germans 
for  what  he  declares  to  be  their  barbarous 
methods  of  conducting  war ;  the  importa- 
tion of  raw  cotton  from  the  United  King- 
dom is  specifically  prohibited ;  Lord 
Derby,  in  an  address  at  Manchester,  in- 
timates that  conscription  is  to  come  soon ; 
British  War  Office  states  that  medical 
examination  shows  that  Canadian  sol- 
diers died  in  the  Ypres  fight  from  poi- 
soning by  gases  employed  by  the 
Germans. 

April  28— Clergy  oppose  prohibition,  the  lower 
house  of  the  Convocation  at  York  going 
on  record  as  believing  it  would  be  un- 
wise and  would  lead  in  the  end  to  an  ex- 
cess of  intemperance ;  opposition  news- 
papers and  politicians  are  criticising  the 
conduct  of  affairs  by  Winston  Churchill, 
First    Lord    of   the   Admiralty. 

April  30— Large  numbers  of  protests  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  are  being  made 
against  the  proposal  of  Chancellor  Lloyd 
George  to  increase  the  duty  on  alcoholic 
drinks. 

GREECE. 

April  4— After  being  repulsed  in  their  raid  on 
Serbia,  a  detachment  of  Bulgarian  irreg- 
ulars makes  a  raid  on  Dorian,  Greece ; 
the  Greeks  repulse  them  with  machine 
guns. 

HOLLAND. 

April    1— More    reservists    are    called ;    traffic 
•  between  Holland  and  Germany  has  prac- 
tically ceased. 


April  10— Government  has  handed  to  Ger- 
many a  note  of  protest  on  the  sinking 
in  March  of  the  Dutch  steamship  Medea 
by  a  German   submarine. 

April  16— Intense  indignation  and  resentment 
are  expressed  by  the  newspapers  over  the 
sinking  of  the  Dutch  steamer  Katwyk  by 
a  German  submarine ;  some  of  them  talk 
of  war. 

April  21 — It  is  reported  from  Amsterdam  that 
Emperor  William  has  sent  a  long  personal 
message  to  Queen  Wilhelmina  about  the 
sinking  of  the  Katwyk,  declaring  that  full 
compensation  would  be  made  if  it  is  proved 
that  the  Katwyk  was  sunk  by  a  German 
ship ;  arrangements  have  been  made  be- 
tween the  Dutch  and  British  Governments 
whereby  not  only  conditional  contraband, 
but  also  goods  on  the  contraband  list  of 
the  British  Government,  may  be  given  safe 
passage  to  Holland  through  the  blockade 
lines. 

April  27— The  forty-two  delegates  from  the 
United  States  to  the  International  Wo- 
men's Peace  Congress  arrive  at  The 
Hague;  the  congress  is  formally  opened 
for  a  four  days'  session  with  delegates 
present  from  many  neutral  nations  and 
from  most  of  the  warring  nations,  in- 
cluding England  and   Germany. 

April  2S — Miss  Jane  Addams  presides  over  the 
Women's  Peace  Congress, the  first  business 
session   being   held. 

INDIA. 

April  12— Lieutenant  Seybold  of  the  Philip- 
pine Constabulary,  on  arriving  in  New 
York,  says  that  the  Fifth  Native  Light 
Infantry,  composed  of  Hindus,  revolted 
in  Singapore  on  Feb.  15,  while  en  route  to 
Hongkong,  and  nearly  1,000  of  them  were 
killed  before  the  mutiny  was  quelled ;  the 
rebellion  is  stated  to  have  been  fomented 
by  agents  of  the  German  Government  in 
Singapore ;  seven  Germans  are  stated  to 
have  been  executed  for  connection  with 
the  uprising. 

April  27— Reports  from  the  Straits  Settlements 
state  that  serious  disorders  are  taking 
place  in  various  parts  of  India,  the  effect 
beginning  to  be  felt  of  the  Turko-German 
alliance  and  of  the  German  propaganda; 
riots  have  occured  at  Cawnpore  and  in 
the  Central  Provinces ;  a  mutiny  by  native 
troops  has  taken  place  at  Rangoon ;  it  is 
reported  from  India  that  the  Ameer  of 
Afghanistan  has  been  assassinated. 

ITALY. 

April  1— There  Is  economic  distress  in  Italy 
due  to  eight  months  of  war ;  budget  of 
the  Government,  which  for  years  has 
show  a  surplus,  shows  a  deficit  of 
$13,800,000  since  Aug.   1. 

April  5— Many  Italian  troops  are  being  as- 
sembled on  the  Austrian  frontier ;  great 
excitement  prevails  in  Genoa  in  conse- 
quence of  a  report  that  a  German  sub- 
marine has  sunk  the  Italian  steamer  Lulgi 


608 


THE  NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


Parodi,  and  strong  measures  are  taken  by 
the  authorities  to  protect  the  German 
colony. 

April  6— Owner  of  the  Luigi  Perodi  declares 
the  steamer  has  not  been  lost. 

April  7— The  fleet  concentrates  at  Augusta, 
Sicily,  and  at  Taranto,  within  a  few  hours 
of  the   Adriatic. 

April  11— Demonstrations  at  Rome  in  favor 
of  Italian  intervention  in  the  war  cause 
riots  and  collisions  with  the  police. 

April  12— An  order  is  printed  in  the  Military 
Journal  directing  all  army  officers  to  dull 
the  metal  on  their  uniforms  and  sword 
scabbards ;  it  is  reported  that  the  Pope 
is  ready  to  espouse  the  Italian  cause  if 
the  nation  enters  the  war. 

April  14— Indignation  is  expressed  at  the 
Papal  Court  over  an  alleged  interview 
with  Pope  Benedict  recently  printed  in 
the  United  States,  Germany,  and  other 
countries,  some  of  the  statements  attrib- 
uted to  the  Pope  being  characterized  as 
false ;  particular  exception  is  taken  to  a 
statement,  credited  to  the  Pope,  urging 
President  Wilson  to  stop  exportation  of 
munitions  of  war  to  the  Allies ;  many  tele- 
graphic protests  on  the  interview  have 
reached  the  Vatican  from  Roman  Cath- 
olic clergy  and  laity  in  the  United  States, 
Britain,   and   France. 

April  16— Italy  now  has  1,200,000  first-line 
soldiers  under   arms. 

April  20— Reports  from  Rome  state  that  Aus- 
tria is  rapidly  gathering  ti-oops  on  the 
Italian  border ;  Austrians  have  fortified 
the  whole  line  of  the  Isonzo  River  with 
intrenchments ;  it  is  stated  that  the  Ger- 
man and  Austrian  Ambassadors  are  se- 
cretly preparing  for  departure ;  Papal 
Guards  are  enlisting  in  the  regular  army. 

April  21— Sailings  of  liners  from  Italy  to 
the  United  States  have  been  canceled ; 
Council  of  Ministers  is  held,  a  report  on 
the  international  situation  being  made  by 
the  Foreign   Minister. 

April  24 — It  is  stated  in  high  official  circles 
that  it  is  becoming  increasingly  improb- 
able that  Italy  will  participate  in  the 
war,  at  least  for  .some  time  to  come ;  the 
Austrian  Ambassador  and  the  Italian 
Foreign  Minister  have  a  long  conference ; 
it  is  reported  from  Rome  that  Austria  1-as 
made  further  concessions  in  an  attempt 
to  preserve  Italian  neutrality ;  neverthe- 
less further  military  preparations  are 
being  made  by  Italy ;  the  exodus  of  Ger- 
man families  from  Italy  continues ; 
French  military  experts  estimate  the  full 
military  strength  of  Italy  at  2,000,000- 
men,  of  whom  800,000  form  the  active 
field  army. 

April  2.'} — It  is  reported  from  Rome  that 
Austria  has  offered  to  give  autonomy  to 
Trieste ;  Italian  opinion,  as  expressed  in 
the  newspapers,  is  that  Austria  must 
yield  all  the  territory  occupied  by  Ital- 
ians, and  must  yield  not  only  the  Province 


of  Trent,  but  Pola,  Fiume,  and  the 
greater  part  of  Dalmatia. 

April  27 — The  Italian  Ambassadors  at  Paris, 
London,  Vienna,  and  Berlin  have  been 
summoned  to  Rome  to  confer  with  the 
Foreign  Minister. 

April  29 — It  is  reported  from  Rome  that 
Italy  and  the  Allies  have  reached  a  defin- 
ite agreement  concerning  terms  on  which 
Italy  will  enter  the  war,  if  she  ultimately 
decides  to  do  so,  and  that  she  will  become 
a  member  of  a  quadruple  entente  after 
the  war ;  Prince  von  Biilow,  German 
Ambassador  to  Italy,  is  stated  to  have 
failed  in  attempts  to  get  Italy  and  Austria 
to   come   to   an   understanding. 

April  .^0 — Belgian  and  French  Cardinals, 
Archbishops,  and  Bishops  have  united  in 
an  appeal  to  Pope  Benedict  for  the  Vati- 
can to  abandon  the  attitude  of  neutrality 
it  has  maintained  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war. 

LUXEMBURG. 

April  23 — Grand  Duchess  Marie  has  sent  an 
official  protest  to  Berlin  against  the 
methods  of  distributing  food  supplies, 
which  is  said  to  have  brought  nearly  half 
her  subjects  to  the  verge  of  starvation ; 
she  says  that  gifts  of  food,  money,  and 
clothes  have  been  sent  to  Luxemburg 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  but  that  only 
a  small  part  of  these  reach  the  civilian 
population. 

PERSIA. 

April  24 — Confirmation  has  been  received  at 
Oilman,  Persia,  of  the  flight  of  from 
20,000  to  30,000  Armenian  and  Nestorian 
Christians  from  Azerbaijan  Province ;  of 
the  massacre  of  over  1,500  who  were  un- 
able to  escape;  of  the  death  of  2.000  in 
the  compounds  of  the  American  Mission 
at  Urumiah. 

POLAND. 

April  22 — It  is  stated  in  London  that  7,000,000 
Poles  are  in  dire  need  of  food. 

RUMANIA. 

April  9— Artillery  and  supplies  of  ammunition 
are  reaching  Turkey  through  Rumania. 

April  14 — The  army,  reported  as  splendidly 
equipped,  is  ready  for  instant  action. 

RUSSIA. 

April  1 — Persistent  rumors  are  current  in  Pe- 
trograd  that  Austria  has  opened  negotia- 
tions for  a  separate  peace ;  General 
Ruzsky,  who  won  praise  for  his  conduct 
of  the  Galician  campaign,  taking  Lem- 
berg,  and  also  for  his  success  at  Przasnysz, 
retires   because   of   ill-health. 

April  3 — General  Alexiev  is  appointed  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  the  army  on  the  north- 
ern front  in  place  of  General  Ruzsky ;  it  is 
officially  announced  that  Colonel  Miassoy- 
doff,  attached  as  interpreter  to  the  staff 
of  the  Tenth  Army,  which  was  badly  de- 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    WAR 


609 


I 


feated  in   the  Mazurian  Lake  region,   has 
been  shot  as  a  German  spy. 

April  4— Petrograd  reports  that  the  Russians 
have  talien  260,000  prisoners  on  the 
Carpathian   front  since  Jan.    21. 

April  7— All  towns  in  Russian  Poland  are 
given  local  municipal  self-government ;  Pe- . 
trograd  reports  that  during  the  celebration 
of  Easter,  the  greatest  of  Russian  festi- 
vals, there  has  been  an  entire  absence  of 
drunkenness. 

April  14— Imperial  order  calls  up  for  train- 
ing throughout  the  empire  all  men  from 
twenty  to  thirty-five  not  summoned  be- 
fore ;  it  is  stated  that  the  call  will  ulti- 
mately almost  double  the  Russian 
strength  ;  the  men  summoned  are  all  un- 
trained. 

April  17— The  General  Anzeiger  of  Duisburg, 
Rhenish  Prussia,  says  it  learns  "  from  an 
absolutely  unimpeachable  source  "  that 
the  reported  sickness  of  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas,  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
Russian  forces,  was  due  to  a  shot  in  the 
abdomen  fired  by  the  late  General  Baron 
Sievers  of  the  defeated  Tenth  Army,  who 
is  stated  to  have  then  committed  suicide. 

April  20— Orders  have  been  issued  that  Aus- 
trian officers  who  are  prisoners  of  war 
shall  no  longer  be  allowed  to  retain  their 
swords,  as  a  penalty  for  the  cutting  out 
of  the  tongue  of  a  captured  Russian  scout 
who  refused  to  betray  the  Russian  posi- 
tion. 

April  21— As  a  substitute  for  vodka  shops 
there  have  been  erected  in  open  places  in 
communities  throughout  Russia  "  people's 
palaces,"  where  the  public  may  gather 
for  entertainment  and  instruction ;  in  the 
Government  of  Poltava  alone  300  of  these 
recreative  centres  have  been  opened  or 
are  projected. 

April  22-Details  of  an  $83,000,000  order  for 
shrapnel  and  howitzer  shell,  placed  early 
in  April  by  the  Russian  Government  with 
the  Canadian  Car  and  Foundry  Company, 
show  that  contracts  for  $21,724,400  of  that 
amount  have  been  sublet  by  the  Canadian 
company  .to  American  manufacturers;  it 
is  also  learned  that  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment recently  placed  a  $15,000,000  con- 
tract with  American  mills  for  miscellane- 
ous artillery ;  a  letter  from  an  American 
Red  Cross  nurse  states '  that  she  and 
other  American  Red  Cross  nurses  were 
recently  received  by  the  Czar  at  Kief, 
where  he  shook  hands  and  chatted  with 
each. 

April  2.S— The  Czar  arrives  at  Lemberg  and 
holds  a  council  of  war  with  the  Grand 
Duke   Nicholas. 

April  24— Copenhagen  reports  that  the  Czar 
has  decided  to  re-establish  the  Finnish 
army  with  the  same  constitution  as  previ- 
ous to  1898;  Grand  Duke  Nicholas  has 
been  much  impressed  with  the  brilliant 
strategic  work  done  by  Finnish  officers 
serving  with    the   Russian   Army. 


April  25— Army  orders  contain  the  promotion 
of  a  young  woman,  Alexandra  Lagerev, 
to  a  Lieutenancy ;  she  has  been  fighting 
alongside  male  relatives  since  the  be- 
ginning   of    the    war. 

SERBIA. 

April  2 — American  sanitary  experts,  who 
will  work  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Rich- 
ard P.  Strong  of  Harvard,  now  in  Europe, 
sail  from  New  York  on  their  way  to 
Serbia,  where  they  will  fight  typhus  and 
other  diseases   devastating  the  nation. 

April  3 — Several  thousand  Bulgarian  irregu- 
lars cross  the  Serbian  frontier  near  Val- 
landovo,  surprising  and  killing  the  Serbian 
guards ;  Serbian  reinforcements,  after  an 
all-day  fight,  repulse  and  scatter  the  in- 
vaders ;    Bulgarians   lose   heavily. 

April  4 — Serbia  protests  to  Bulgaria  be- 
cause of  the  raid,  which  is  said  to  be  the 
fifth  of  the  kind  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war;  the  Bulgarian  Minister  to  Rome 
says  that  the  raid  is  the  work  of  Mace- 
donian revolutionists  in  Serbia. 

April  6 — Bulgarian  Government  disclaims  re- 
sponsibility for  the  raid  on  Serbia;  it  is 
stated  that  the  invasion  was  initiated  by 
Turks  among  the  inhabitants  of  that  part 
of  Macedonia  included  in  Serbia;  Serbians 
are  not  satisfied  and  say  that  more  at- 
tacks are  being  planned  on  Bulgarian 
soil,  with  the  object  of  cutting  off  sup- 
plies from  the   Serbian  Army. 

April  10 — Disease  conditions  are  growing 
worfee  and  the  percentage  of  deaths  from 
typhus  is  very  high  ;  107  Serbian  doctors 
out  of  452  have  died  of  typhus;  the 
municipality  of  Uskub  decides  to  name  its 
finest  street  after  Lady  Ralph  Paget,  who 
has  been  working  in  Serbia  with  the  Red 
Cross  and  is  now  convalescing  from  a  re- 
sultant illness. 

April  16 — Rockefeller  Foundation  War  Re- 
lief Commission's  first  installment  of  a  re- 
port on  Serbia  states  that  disease  is 
spreading  all  over  the  country;  there  are 
more  than  25,000  cases  of  typhus,  while 
other  fevers  are  also  epidemic ;  cholera 
is  expected  with  the  warm  weather;  the 
nation  is  declared  unable  to  aid  itself. 

April  17 — The  Government  submits  to  Par- 
liament a  new  army  credit  of  $40,000,000. 

April  21 — Two  invasions  into  Serbian  terri- 
tory are  made  by  Bulgarian  Irregulars. 

April  28 — Serbia  holds  60,000  Austrian  prison- 
ers. 

SWEDEN. 
April  7 — Sweden   makes  a  strong  protest   to 
Germany  against  seizure  of  the   Swedish 
steamer  England. 

SWITZERLAND. 
April  13 — German  shells  fall  upon  Swiss 
territory  for  the  third  time  since  the  war 
began,  according  to  a  Delemont  news- 
paper ;  the  shots  were  intended  for  the 
French,  but  the  aim  was  bad  and  they 
dropped  near  the  town  of  Beurnevesain. 


610 


THE  NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


TURKEY. 

April  1 — Troops  are  being  concentrated  at 
Adrianople  as  a  precaution  in  case  war 
starts  with  Bulgaria. 

April  2 — Both  the  Turkish  and  Russian  Am- 
bassadors to  Italy  deny  a  report  that 
Turkey  is  seeking  a  separate  peace, 

April  7 — Field  Marshal  von  der  Goltz,  in  an 
interview  in  Vienna,  says  that  Turkey  is 
well  prepared  for  war;  she  has  1,250,000 
well-trained  men  and  several  hundred 
thousand  reserves ;  the  Sultan  gives  an 
interview  at  Constantinople  to  American 
newspaper  men  ;  he  deplores  "  unjust  " 
attack  of  Allies  on  the  Dardanelles,  add- 
ing that  he  does  not  believe  the  strait 
can  be  forced. 

April  15 — Pillage  and  murder  are  reported  to 
be  rife  in  villages  and  smaller  towns  of 
the  littoral  near  Smyrna ;  lives  of 
Christians  are  in  danger. 

April  18 — Enver  Pasha,  War  Minister  and 
Generalissimo  of  the  Turkish  Army,  in  a 
newspaper  interview  lays  the  blame  for 
Turkey's  participation  in  the  war  on  Rus- 
sia and  England;  he  says  Turkey  has  a 
well-prepared  army  of  2,000,000. 

April  24 — Refugees  who  have  reached  the 
Russian  line  near  Tiflis,  Transcaucasia, 
report  that  widespread  massacres  of  Ar- 
menians are  being  carried  out  by  Moham- 
medans ;  they  state  that  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  ten  villages  near  Van,  in  Armenia, 
Asiatic   Turkey,    have   been   killed/ 

April  27 — An  appeal  for  relief  of  Armenian 
Christians  in  Turkey  is  made  to  the  Turk- 
ish Government  by  the  United  States;  a 
plot  is  discovered  to  blow  up  the  council 
chamber  in  the  Ministry  of  War  at  Con- 
stantinople during  a  session  of  the  War 
Council. 

April  29 — The  War  Minister  has  called  all 
available  men  to  arms;  Kurds  are 
massacring  Christians  in  Armenia. 

UNITED  STATES. 

April  1— Secretary  Bryan  orders  an  inquiry 
into  the  circumstances  of  the  arrest  by 
the  authorities  in  Paris  of  Raymond  Rolfe 
Swoboda,  stated  to  be  an  American  citi- 
zen, held  in  connection  with  the  i-ecent 
fire  on  the  French  liner  La  Touraine  in 
mid-oceean ;  the  State  Department  is  in- 
vestigating the  death  of  Leon  Chester 
Thrasher  of  Hard  wick,  Mass.,  who  was 
lost  when  the  British  steamer  Falaba  was 
sunk  by  a  German  submarine ;  infoima- 
tion  is  being  sought  as  to  whether  Thrash- 
er was  an  American  citizen  at  the  time 
of  his   death. 

April  2— The  Government  is  informed  by  the 
British  Government,  through  Ambassador 
Page,  that  no  trade  messages  can  be  sent 
over  British  cables  if  they  refer  to  tran- 
sactions in  which  the  enemies  of  Britain 
are   interested. 

April  5 — Text  is  made  public  of  the  United 
States    note    to    Germany,    recently    pre- 


sented by  Ambassador  Gerard,  demanding 
payment  by  the  German  Government  of 
$228,059.54,  with  interest  from  Jan.  28, 
for  the  destruction  of  the  American  sail- 
ing ship  William  P.  Frye  by  the  German 
converted  cruiser  Prinz  Eitel  Friedrich ; 
Secretary  Bryan  makes  public  the  text 
of  the  identic  notes  recently  sent  by  the 
United  States  to  the  British  and  French 
Governments  protesting  against  invasion 
of  neutral  rights  involved  in  the  recent 
British  Order  in  Council,  establishing  a 
long-range  blockade  of  European  waters ; 
the  note  insists  on  the  right  of  innocent 
shipments  "  to  be  freely  transported  to 
and  from  the  United  States  through  neu- 
tral countries  to  belligerent  territory, 
without  being  subjected  to  the  penalties 
of  contraband  traffic  or  breach  of  block- 
ade, much  less  to  detention,  requisition, 
or  confiscation  " ;  it  is  reported  form 
Washington  that  the  reason  for  the  order, 
issued  a  few  days  ago,  for  the  recall  of 
the  five  American  Army  officers  who 
have  been  acting  as  military  observers  in 
Germany,  is  due  to  the  growing  feeling 
of  hostility  to  Americans  in  Germany, 
and  the  belief  that  it  is  wise  to  withdrawn 
the  officers  before  they  become  involved 
in  any  incident  that  might  cause  embar- 
rassment in  American-German  relations ; 
Dudley  Field  Malone,  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  announces  that  he 
has  evidence  of  a  widespread  conspiracy 
to  violate  President  Wilson's  neutrality 
proclamation  through  the  establishment 
here  of  an  agency  to  supply  the  British 
warships  lying  outside  the  three-mile 
zone  with  food  and  fuel;  he  asks  the 
Government  for  additional  warships  to 
protect    the    harbor's    neutrality. 

April  6 — An  official  message  from  Berlin  la 
issued  by  the  German  Embassy  at  Wash- 
ington giving  an  intimation  that  Germany 
would  not  regard  with  favor  the  idea  of 
paying  damages  for  the  death  of  Leon 
Chester  Thrasher;  the  statement  says 
that  neutrals  were  warned  not  to  cross 
the  war  zone ;  the  German  Embassy  gives 
out  a  statement  on  the  stopping  of  the 
German  merchant  ship  Odenwald,  halted 
by  a  shot  across  her  bows  when  she  was 
attempting  to  leave  San  Juan,  Porto  Rico, 
without  clearance  papers,  on  March  22 ; 
statement  refers  to  the  episode  as  an 
'*  attack,"  and  says  '*  a  sharp  fire  "  was 
opened,  but  the  American  official  report 
shows  that  only  warning  shots  were  fired. 

April  7 — British  Government  denies  Collector 
Malone's  charge  that  British  warships 
have  been  receiving  supplies  from  ports 
of  the  United  States  in  violation  of 
neutrality ;  acting  upon  a  request  of  the 
German  Ambassador,  the  Government  is 
making  a  new  investigation  of  the  Oden- 
wald case. 

April  8 — Secretary  Bryan  makes  public  the 
reply  of  the  German  Government  to  the 
American  claim  for  compensation  for  the 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   WAR 


611 


loss  of  the  William  P.  Frye ;  Germany  is 
willing  to  pay  both  for  ship  and  cargo, 
basing  this  readiness  wholly  on  treaties 
of  1799  and  1828  between  the  United  States 
and  Prussia,  but  under  international  law 
justifying  the  destruction  of  both  ship 
and  cargo ;  Collector  Malone  says  investi- 
gation shows  that  charges  that  supplies 
have  been  sent  to  British  warships  from 
New  York  in  violation  of  neutrality  were 
part  of  a  plot  to  involve  this  country  in 
trouble  with  England. 

April  11— Count  von  Bernstorff,  the  German 
Ambassador,  makes  public  a  memoran- 
dum, addressed  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment and  delivered  several  days  ago, 
charging  in  effect  that  the  United  States 
is  violating  the  true  spirit  of  neutrality 
by  permitting  vast  quantities  of  arms  to 
be  shipped  to  England,  France,  and  Rus- 
sia, and  characterizing  as  a  failure  the 
diplomatic  efforts  of  the  United  States  to 
effect  shipment  of  food  supplies  to  Ger- 
many ;  the  memorandum  intimates  that 
the  United  States  maintained  a  true  spirit 
of  neutrality  to  Mexico  in  placing  an  em- 
bargo on  arms  exports  to  Huerta  and  Car- 
ranza,  and  quotes  a  statement  attributed 
to  President  Wilson  on  the  Mexican  sit- 
uation. 

April  13— The  Government  War  Risk  Insur- 
ance Bureau  settles  its  first  claim  for 
losses  by  paying  $401,000  to  the  owners 
of  the  American  steamer  Evelyn,  sunk 
off  the  coast  of  Holland,  supposedly  by 
a  mine,  on  Feb.  21 ;  London  reports  that 
negotiations  are  under  way  for  a  short- 
term  loan  of  $100,000,000  to  England  by 
American    interests. 

April  14 — Secretary  Bryan  announces  that 
arrangements  have  been  completed  with 
the  British  Government  by  which  two 
shiploads  of  dyestuffs  may  be  shipped 
from  Germany  to  the  United  States  with- 
out   interference    from    British    warships. 

April  15 — The  text  is  made  public  of  a  letter 
written  by  Theodore  Roosevelt  to  Mrs. 
George  Rublee  of  Washington,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  principles  advanced  by  the 
Woman's  Party  for  Constructive  Peace, 
in  which  he  says  the  platform  is  "  both 
silly  and  base  " ;  at  a  meeting  in  New 
York  of  the  Central  Federated  Union  a 
resolution  is  passed  in  favor  of  a  general 
strike  in  those  industries  employed  in 
producing  munitions  of  war. 

April  16 — The  American  Locomotive  Com- 
pany has  practically  completed  arrange- 
ments with  the  Russian  Government  for 
the  manufacture  of  $05,000,000  worth  of 
shrapnel  shells. 

April  17 — The  Hamburg-American  steamship 
Georgia  is  transferred  to  American  regis- 
try and  renamed  the  Housatonic. 

April  20 — French  military  authorities  decide 
to  abandon  the  charge  of  setting  fire  to 
La  Touraine  preferred  against  Raymond 
Swoboda,  because  of  lack  of  evidence. 


April  21 — The  Government  replies  to  the 
recent  memorandum  from  Ambassador 
von  Bernstorff  on  American  neutrality ; 
the  American  answer  regrets  use  of  lan- 
guage that  seems  to  impugn  our  good 
faith,  and  it  restates  our  position ;  It  de- 
clares that  we  have  at  no  time  yielded 
any  of  our  rights  as  a  neutral,  and  that 
we  cannot  prohibit  exportation  of  arms 
to  belligerents,  because  to  do  so  would  be 
an  unjustifiable  breach  of  our  neutrality ; 
the  State  Department  has  cabled  the 
American  Consul  at  Warsaw  to  report 
fully  on  the  present  situation  of  Jews 
in   Poland. 

April  23 — The  Tclefunken  wireless  plant  at 
Sayville,  L.  I.,  through  which  the  German 
Government  and  its  embassy  at  Wash- 
ington chiefly  communicate,  has  been 
trebled  in  power  for  the  purpose  of  over- 
coming climatic  conditions  likely  in  Sum- 
mer to  be  unfavorable  for  the  handling  of 
messages ;  Secretary  Bryan  is  refusing  to 
issue  passports  to  Americans  who  wish  to 
visit  belligerent  countries  in  Europe  for 
sightseeing   purposes. 

April  28— Secretary  Bryan  replies  to  the  Ger- 
man note  on  the  sinking  of  the  American 
ship  William  P.  Frye ;  the  answer  de- 
clares that  the  destruction  of  the  vessel 
was  "  unquestionably  "  a  violation  of  ex- 
isting treaties  between  the  United  Stataes 
and  Prussia ;  the  answer  states  that  the 
American  Government  does  not  believe 
the  matter  should  go  before  a  prize 
court,  as  suggested  by  the  German  note. 

April  29— Samuel  Pearson,  who  was  a  Boer 
General  in  the  Boer  war  and  is  an  Amer- 
ican citizen,  begins  an  action  in  Wiscon- 
sin aimed  at  preventing  shipment  of  mu- 
nitions of  war  from  the  United  States  to 
the  enemies  of  Germany ;  a  complaint  is 
filed  on  Pearson's  behalf  under  the  so- 
called  "  Discovery  "  statute  of  Wisconsin, 
to  obtain  information  whether  the  Allis- 
Chalmers  Company  and  others  have  en- 
tered into  a  conspiracy  with  the  Bethle- 
hem Steel  Company  and  others  to  manu- 
facture and  ship  shrapnel  shells  to  Euro- 
pean belligerents  contrary  to  Wisconsin 
law. 

April  30— Directions  are  given  by  President 
Wilson  for  an  investigation  to  be  made 
of  the  Pearson  bill  of  complaint ;  German 
Embassy  at  Washington  publishes  an  ad- 
vertisement in  the  newspapers  declaring 
that  "  travelers  sailing  in  the  war  zone 
on  ships  of  Great  Britain  or  her  allies 
do  so  at  their  own  risk." 

RELIEF. 
April  1 — American   Red   Cross   sends  200,000 

pounds  of  disinfectants  to  Serbia  for  use 

in  the  fight  against  typhus. 
April   2 — Mme.    Lalla    Vandervelde,    wife    of 

the  Belgian  Minister  of  State,   sails  from 

New  York  after  collecting  nearly  $.300,000 

for  relief  in  Belgium. 


612 


THE  NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


April  3 — Henryk  Sienkiewicz,  the  Polish 
writer,  appeals  to  the  United  States  for 
help  for  Poland ;  it  is  stated  that  an  area 
seven  times  as  great  as  Belgium  has  been 
laid  waste,  5,000  villages  have  been  de- 
stroyed. 1,000,000  horses  and  2,000,000 
cattle  are  dead  or  seized  by  the  enemy, 
and  damage  to  the  extent  of  $600,000,000 
has  been  done ;  Serbian  Agricultural  Ke- 
lief  Commission  of  America  announces 
that  Walter  Camp  will  take  charge  of 
Serbian  relief  in  the  colleges  and  univer- 
sities of  the  United  States. 

April  fi — Australians  have  contributed  $700,- 
000  in  four  days  for  Belgian  relief,  and 
measures  are  being  taken  to  insure  $500,- 
000  a  month  from  the  Australian  States. 

April  8 — German  Red  Cro.ss  sends  through 
Ambassador  Gerard  its  thanks  for  gifts 
from  the  United  States. 

April  9 — Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium 
announces  the  organization  of  a  New 
York  State  Belgian  Committee  which  will 
work  in  co-operation  with  the  commis- 
sion. Dr.  John  H.  Finley  being  Chairman. 

April  10 — Major  Gen.  Gorgas,  U.  S.  A.,  has 
been  invited  to  go  to  Serbia  for  the  Rocke- 
feller Commission  to  take  charge  of  an 
attempt  to  stamp  out  typhus. 

April  12 — The  State  of  Oklahoma  makes 
Belgian  relief  an  official  matter,  and  the 
Governor  has  issued  a  proclamation  call- 
ing upon  the  people  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  aid. 

April  15 — Three  hospital  trains,  each  con- 
sisting of  an  automobile  with  two  trail- 
ers, have  been  presented  to  the  Military 
Commander  at  Frankfort-on-Main  as  a 
gift  *'  from  friends  of  Germany  in  the 
United    States  " ;    Mme.    Marcella    Sem- 


brich.  President  of  the  American  Polish 
Relief  Committee,  issues  an  appeal  to 
"all  America"  for  aid  for  Poland; 
Paderewski  arrives  in  New  York  to  seek 
American    help    for    Poland. 

April  17 — Donations  to  the  American  Red 
Cross  total  to  date  $1,415,000;  during  the 
last  week  eight  steamers  have  sailed  from 
the  United  States  for  Rotterdam  carry- 
ing relief  for  Belgium ;  the  cargoes  totaled 
55,000  tons,    valued    at   $3,000,000. 

April  21 — Rockefeller  Foundation  gives  out 
a  report  of  its  Relief  Commission  con- 
cerning Belgian  refugees  in  Holland ;  up 
to  Feb.  22  cases  containing  1,386,572  arti- 
cles of  clothing,  contributed  by  the  neutral 
world,  principally  the  United  States,  have 
been  delivered  in  Rotterdam  for  the  Bel- 
gians. 

April  24 — Report  of  the  American  Red  Cross, 
covering  the  period  from  Sept.  12  to  April 
17,  shows  that  supplies  valued  at  over 
$1,000,000  have  been  sent  to  France,  which 
got  the  largest  individual  share  of  the 
shipments,  and  to  Great  Britain,  Ger- 
many, Austria-Hungary,  Russia,  Serbia, 
Turkey,  and  the  Belgians;  the  supplies 
have  included  600,000  pounds  of  absorbent 
cotton ;  surgical  gauze  that  if  stretched 
in  a  single  line  would  reach  from  the 
Battery,  New  York,  to  Niagara  Falls; 
32,600  pounds  of  chloroform  and  ether; 
a"i,000  yards  of  bandages,  and  1,123  cases 
of  surgical  instruments. 

April  2f — A  new  British  committee,  with 
many  well-known  Englishmen  on  it, 
has  been  organized  for  Belgian  relief. 
King  George  heading  the  subscription  list. 

April  27 — American  Red  Cross  ships  a  large 
consignment  of  supplies  to  the  Russian 
Red  Cross  at  Petrograd. 


The  Drink  Question 

[From  Truth,  April  7,  1915.] 

Sir  Topas  Port,  in  angry  sort, 

A  scowl  upon  his  forehead, 
Relieved  his  chest,  of  wrath  possessed, 

In  words  distinctly  torrid; 
His  brows  were  raised,  his  eyes  they  blazed, 

His  nose  inclined  to  florid. 

"  Disgraceful  state!    That  we  must  wait 

For  guns  and  ammunition, 
Because — Great  Scott! — men  play  the  sot 

And  ruin  their  condition. 
Low,  drunken  swine!     If  power  were  mine, 

I'd  teach  'em  their  position! 

"  I'd  close  the  pubs  and  workmen's  clubs — 
What  says  that  Welshman  feller  ? 

All  drink  tabooed?     Alike  preclude 
Mile-Ender  and  Pall-Mailer? 

Good-bye!    Can't  stay.    I  must  away 
Post  haste  to  stock  my  cellar." 


LIEUT.     GEN.     COUNT     CADORNA 

Chief     of     the     Italian      General      Staff 
(Photo    from    Paul    Thompson) 


THE     HON.     ROBERT     J.     LANSING 

Who  Was  Called  by  the  President  to  Take  Charge  of  the  State  Department 

after  Mr.  Bryan's  Resignation 

(Photo    from    Paul    Thompson) 


CURRENT    HISTORY 


A    MONTHLY    MAGAZINE 


THE    EUROPEAN    WAR 

JULY,     1915 


THE    LUSITANIA   CASE 

President   Wilson's    Reply    to    Germany 

Account  of  the  Resignation  of  William  J.  Bryan  as 
American  Secretary  of  State 

True  to  the  intimation  in  his  note  to  President  Wilson,  Mr.  Bryan  has  made  public  in  full 
his  reasons  for  resigning  while  American  relations  with  Germany  were  strained.  His  state- 
ments are  given  herewith,  together  with  comments  in  Europe  and  America  on  the  causes  and 
consequences  of  Mr.  Bryan's  act.  The  German  reply  to  President  Wilson's  note  of  May  13 
on  the  Lusitania  case  and  the  American  rejoinder  of  June  9 ;  the  sending  to  Berlin  of  Dr. 
Anton .  Meyer-Gerhard,  as  arranged  by  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  in  the  White  House  on 
June  4,  in  order  to  explain  more  fully  to  the  German  Government  the  American  policy  and 
public  feeling  in  this  country;  the  Stahl  perjury  case,  relating  to  the  German  charge  that  the 
Lusitania  was  armed ;  the  question  whether  the  American  steamer  Nebraskan  was  torpedoed 
on  May  2fi  in  the  German  submarine  "  war  zone  "  ;  the  controversy  over  exportations  to  the 
Allies  of  American  munitions  of  war:  the  agitation  for  a  stronger  army  and  navy  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  meeting  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia,  on  June  17,  when  109 
of  the  foremost  men  in  the  United  States  took  steps  toward  forming  a  League  of  Peace 
among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth— these,  as  recorded  below,  form  a  new  chapter  in 
American   history. 

THE  GERMAN  MINISTER  FOR  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  TO  THE 
AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  AT  BERLIN. 

[TELEGRAM.] 
No.  2,326.] 

BERLIN,  May  28,  1915. 
Tlie  undersigned  lias  the  honor  to  make  the  following  reply  to  the 
note  of  his  Excellency  Mr.  James  W.  Gerard,  Ambassador  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  dated  the  fifteenth  instant,  on  the  subject 
of  the  impairment  of  many  American  interests  by  the  German  sub- 
marine war. 

The  Imperial  Government  has  subjected  the   statements  of  the 


614 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Government  of  the  United  States  to  a  careful  examination  and  has  the 
lively  wish  on  its  part  also  to  contribute  in  a  convincing  and  friendly 
manner  to  clear  up  any  misunderstandings  which  may  have  entered  into 
the  relations  of  the  two  Governments  through  the  events  mentioned 
by  the  American  Government. 

With  regard  firstly  to  the  cases  of  the  American  steamers  Gush- 
ing and  Gulflight,  the  American  Embassy  has  already  been  informed 
that  it  is  far  from  the  German  Government  to  have  any  intention  of 
ordering  attacks  by  submarines  or  flyers  on  neutral  vessels  in  the  zone 
which  have  not  been  guilty  of  any  hostile  act ;  on  the  contrary  the  most 
explicit  instructions  have  been  repeatedly  given  the  German  armed 
forces  to  avoid  attacking  such  vessels.  If  neutral  vessels  have  come 
to  grief  through  the  German  submarine  war  during  the  past  few 
months  by  mistake,  it  is  a  question  of  isolated  and  exceptional  cases 
which  are  traceable  to  the  misuse  of  flags  by  the  British  Government 
in  connection  with  carelessness  or  suspicious  actions  on  the  part  of  the 
captains  of  the  vessels.  In  all  cases  where  a  neutral  vessel  through  no 
fault  of  its  own  has  come  to  grief  through  the  GeiTnan  submarines  or 
flyers  according  to  the  facts  as  ascertained  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment, this  Government  has  expressed  its  regret  at  the  unfortunate  oc- 
currence and  promised  indemnification  where  the  facts  justified  it.  The 
German  Government  will  treat  the  cases  of  the  American  steamers 
Gushing  and  Gulflight  according  to  the  same  principles.  An  investiga- 
tion of  these  cases  is  in  progi'ess.  Its  results  will  be  communicated  to 
the  Embassy  shortly.*     The  investigation  might,  if  thought  desirable, 


♦Germany's   apology    and    offer    of    repara- 
tion   for    the    attack    on    the    Gulflight,    to- 
gether   with    a    request    for    information    in 
the    case    of    the    Gushing,    are    conveyed    in 
the   following   note,    which    was    received   by 
the    State    Department    in    Washington    from 
Ambassador    Gerard    on    June    3,     and    laid 
before  the  Cabinet,  and  published  on  June  4: 
Referring    to    the    note    of    May    28,    the 
undersigned   has   the   honor   to  inform   his 
Excellency   the   American    Ambassador   of 
the  United  States  of  America,   Mr.  James 
W.    Gerard,    that   the   examination   under- 
taken   on    the   part   of    the    German    Gov- 
ernment concerning  the   American  steam- 
ers Gulflight  and  Gushing  has  led  to  the 
following   conclusions : 

In  regard  to  the  attack  on  the  steamer 
Gulflight,  the  commander  of  a  German 
submarine  saw  on  the  afternoon  of  May 
1,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Scilly  Islands,  a 
large  merchant  steamer  coming  in  his  di- 
rection which  was  accompanied  by  two 
smaller  vessels.  These  latter  took  such 
position  in  relation  to  the  steamer  that 
they  formed  a  regulation  safeguard 
against  submarines ;  moreover,  one  of 
tliem  had  a  wireless  apparatus,  which  is 
not  usual  with  small  vessels.  From  this 
it  evidently  was  a  case  of  English  con- 
voy vessels.  Since  such  vessels  are  fre- 
quently armed,  the  submarine  could  not 
approach  the  steamer  on  the  surface  of 
the  water  without  running  the  danger  of 
destruction.  It  was,  on  the  other  hand, 
to    be    assumed    that    the   steamer    was   of 


considerable  value  to  the  British  Gov- 
ei  nment,  since  it  was  so  guarded.  The 
commander  could  see  no  neutral  mark- 
ings on  it  of  any  kind— that  is,  distinctive 
marks  painted  on  the  freeboard  recog- 
nizable at  a  distance,  such  as  are  now 
usual  on  neutral  ships  in  the  English 
zone  of  naval  warfare.  In  consequence 
he  arrived  at  the  conclusion  from  all  the 
circumstances  that  he  had  to  deal  with 
an  English  steamer,  submerged,  and  at- 
tacked. 

The  torpedo  came  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  one  of  the  convoy  ships, 
which  at  once  lapidly  approached  the 
point  of  firing ;  that  the  submarine  was 
forced  to  go  to  a  great  depth  to  avoid 
being  rammed.  The  conclusion  of  the 
commander  that  an  English  convoy  ship 
was  concerned  was  in  this  way  confirmed. 
That  the  attacked  steamer  carried  the 
American  flag  was  first  observed  at  the 
moment  of  firing  the  shot.     The  fact  that 

the  steamship  was  pursuing  a  course  which 
led  neither  to  nor  from  America  was  a 
further  reason  why  it  did  not  occur  to 
the  commander  of  the  submarine  that 
he  was  dealing  with  an  American  steam- 
ship. 

Upon  scrutiny  of  the  time  and  place  of 
the  occurrence  described,  the  German  Gov- 
ernment has  become  convinced  that  the 
attacked      steamship     was     actually     the 

American  steamship  Gulflight.  There  can 
be  no  doubt,  according  to  the  attendant 
circumstances,  that  the  attack  is  to  be 
attributed  to  an  unfortunate  accident,  and 
not  to  the  fault  of  the  commander.  The 
German  Government  expiesses  its  regrets 


THE    LU  SIT  AN  I A    CASE 


615 


be  supplemented  by  an  International  Commission  of  Inquiry,  pursuant 
to  Title  Three  of  The  Hague  Convention  of  October  18,  1907,  for  the 
pacific  settlement  of  international  disputes. 

In  the  case  of  the  sinking  of  the  English  steamer  Falaba,  the  com- 
mander of  the  German  submarine  had  the  intention  of  allowing  pas- 
sengers and  crew  ample  opportunity  to  save  themselves. 

It  was  not  until  the  captain  disregarded  the  order  to  lay  to  and 
took  to  flight,  sending  up  rocket  signals  for  help,  that  the  German 
commander  ordered  the  crew  and  passengers  by  signals  and  mega- 
phone to  leave  the  ship  within  ten  minutes.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he 
allowed  them  twenty-three  minutes  and  did  not  fire  the  torpedo  until 
suspicious  steamers  were  hurrying  to  the  aid  of  the  Falaba. 

With  regard  to  the  loss  of  life  when  the  British  passenger  steamer 
Lusitania  was  sunk,  the  German  Government  has  already  expressed 
its  deep  regret  to  the  neutral  Governments  concerned  that  nationals 
of  those  countries  lost  their  lives  on  that  occasion.  The  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment must  state  for  the  rest  the  impression  that  certain  important 
facts  most  directly  connected  with  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  may 
have  escaped  the  attention  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
It  therefore  considers  it  necessary  in  the  interest  of  the  clear  and  full 
understanding  aimed  at  by  either  Government  primarily  to  convince 
itself  that  the  reports  of  the  facts  which  are  before  the  two  Govern- 
ments are  complete  and  in  agreement. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  proceeds  on  the  assumption 
that  the  Lusitania  is  to  be  considered  as  an  ordinary  unarmed  mer- 
chant vessel.  The  Imperial  Government  begs  in  this  connection  to 
point  out  that  the  Lusitania  was  one  of  the  largest  and  fastest  English 
commerce  steamers,  constructed  with  Government  funds  as  auxiliary 
cruisers,  and  is  expressly  included  in  the  navy  list  published  by  British 
Admiralty.  It  is  moreover  known  to  the  Imperial  Government  from 
reliable  information  furnished  by  its  officials  and  neutral  passengers 
that  for  some  time  practically  all  the  more  valuable  English  merchant 
vessels  have  been  provided  with  guns,  ammunition  and  other  weapons, 
and  reinforced  with  a  crew  specially  practiced  in  manning  guns.     Ac- 


to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
concerning  this  incident,  and  declares  it- 
self ready  to  furnish  full  recompense  for 
the  damage  thereby  sustained  by  Amer- 
ican citizens.  It  is  left  to  the  discretion 
of  the  American  Government  to  present 
a  statement  of  this  damage,  or,  if  doubt 
may  arise  over  individual  points,  to  des- 
ignate an  expert  who  would  have  to  de- 
termine, together  with  a  German  expert, 
the  amount  of  damage. 

It  has  not  yet  been  possible  by  means 
of  an  inquiry  to  clear  up  fully  the  case 
of  the  American  ship  Gushing.  Offi- 
cial reports  available  report  only  one 
merchant  ship  attacjied  by  a  German 
flying  machine  in  the  vicinity  of  Nord- 
hind  Lightship.  The  German  aviator  was 
forced  to  consider  the  vessel  as  hostile 
because  it  carried  no  flag,  and,  further, 
because  of  no  recognizable  neutral  mark- 


ings,    The  attaclt  of   four  bombs  was,   of 
course,   not  aimed  at  any  American  ship. 

However,  that  the  ship  attacked  was  the 
American  steamer  Gushing  is  possible, 
considering  the  time  and  place  of  the 
occurrences.  Nevertheless,  the  German 
Government  accordingly  requests  of  the 
American  Government  that  it  communi- 
cate to  the  German  Government  the  ma- 
terial which  was  submitted  for  judgment, 
in  order  that,  with  this  as  a  basis,  a 
further  position  can  be  taken  in  the  mat- 
ter. 

The  undersigned  leaves  it  to  the  Am- 
bassador to  bring  the  foregoing  to  the 
immediate  attention  of  his  Government, 
and  takes  this  opportunity  to  renew  to 
him  the  assurance  of  his  most  distin- 
guished consideration. 

VON    JAGOW, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 


616  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

cording  to  reports  at  hand  here,  the  Lusitania  when  she  left  New  York 
undoubtedly  had  guns  on  board  which  were  mounted  under  decks  and 
masked. 

The  Imperial  Government  furthermore  has  the  honor  to  direct  the 
particular  attention  of  the  American  Government  to  the  fact  that  the 
British  Admiralty  by  a  secret  instruction  of  February  of  this  year  ad- 
vised the  British  merchant  marine  not  only  to  seek  protection  behind 
neutral  flags  and  markings,  but  even  when  so  disguised  to  attack  Ger- 
man submarines  by  ramming  them.  High  rewards  have  been  offered  by 
the  British  Government  as  a  special  incentive  for  the  destruction  of  the 
submarines  by  merchant  vessels,  and  such  rewards  have  already  been 
paid  out.  In  view  of  these  facts,  which  are  satisfactorily  known  to  it, 
the  Imperial  Government  is  unable  to  consider  English  merchant  ves- 
sels any  longer  as  "  undefended  territory  "  in  the  zone  of  maritime  war 
designated  by  the  Admiralty  Staff  of  the  Imperial  German  Navy,  the 
German  commanders  are  consequently  no  longer  in  a  position  to  ob- 
serve the  rules  of  capture  otherwise  usual  and  with  which  they  in- 
variably complied  before  this.  Lastly,  the  Imperial  Government  must 
specially  point  out  that  on  her  last  trip  the  Lusitania,  as  on  earlier  oc- 
casions, had  Canadian  troops  and  munitions  on  board,  including  no  less 
than  5,400  cases  of  ammunition  destined  for  the  destruction  of  brave 
German  soldiers  who  are  fulfilling  with  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  their 
duty  in  the  service  of  the  Fatherland.  The  German  Government  be- 
lieves that  it  acts  in  just  self-defense  when  it  seeks  to  protect  the  lives 
of  its  soldiers  by  destroying  ammunition  destined  for  the  enemy  with 
the  means  of  war  at  its  command.  The  English  steamship  company 
must  have  been  aware  of  the  dangers  to  which  passengers  on  board  the 
Lusitania  were  exposed  under  the  circumstances.  In  taking  them  on 
board  in  spite  of  this  the  company  quite  deliberately  tried  to  use  the 
lives  of  American  citizens  as  protection  for  the  ammunition  carried, 
and  violated  the  clear  provisions  of  American  laws  which  expressly 
prohibit,  and  provide  punishment  for,  the  carrying  of  passengers  on 
ships  which  have  explosives  on  board.  The  company  thereby  wantonly 
caused  the  death  of  so  many  passengers.  According  to  the  express  re- 
port of  the  submarine  commander  concerned,  which  is  further  con- 
firmed by  all  other  reports,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  rapid  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania  was  primarily  due  to  the  explosion  of  the  cargo  of  am- 
munition caused  by  the  toi*pedo.  Otherwise,  in  all  human  probability, 
the  passengers  of  the  Lusitania  would  have  been  saved. 

The  Imperial  Government  holds  the  facts  recited  above  to  be  of 
sufficient  importance  to  recommend  them  to  a  careful  examination  by 
the  American  Government.  The  Imperial  Government  begs  to  reserve 
a  final  statement  of  its  position  with  regard  to  the  demands  made  in 
connection  with  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  until  a  reply  is  received 
from  the  American  Government,  and  believes  that  it  should  recall  here 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE  617 


that  it  took  note  with  satisfaction  of  the  proposals  of  good  offices  sub- 
mitted by  the  American  Government  in  Berlin  and  London  with  a  view 
to  paving  the  way  for  a  modus  vivendi  for  the  conduct  of  maritime  war 
between  Germany  and  Great  Britain.  The  Imperial  Government  fur- 
nished at  that  time  ample  evidence  of  its  good  will  by  its  willingness 
to  consider  these  proposals.  The  realization  of  these  proposals  failed, 
as  is  known,  on  account  of  their  rejection  by  the  Government  of  Great 
Britain. 

The  undersigned  requests  his  Excellency  the  Ambassador  to 
bring  the  above  to  the  knowledge  of  the  American  Government  and 
avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  renew,  &c. 

VON  JAGOW. 

MR.  BRYAN'S  RESIGNATION 

WASHINGTON,  June  8,  1915. 
My  Dear  Mr.  President: 

It  is  with  sincere  regret  that  I  have  reached  the  conclusion  that  I 
should  return  to  you  the  commission  of  Secretary  of  State,  with  which 
you  honored  me  at  the  beginning  of  your  Administration. 

Obedient  to  your  sense  of  duty  and  actuated  by  the  highest  motives, 
you  have  prepared  for  transmission  to  the  German  Government  a  note 
in  which  I  cannot  join  without  violating  what  I  deem  to  be  an  obliga- 
tion to  my  country,  and  the  issue  involved  is  of  such  moment  that  to 
remain  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  would  be  as  unfair  to  you  as  it  would 
be  to  the  cause  which  is  nearest  my  heart;  namely,  the  prevention  of 
war. 

I,  therefore,  respectfully  tender  my  resignation,  to  take  effect  when 
the  note  is  sent,  unless  you  prefer  an  earlier  hour. 

Alike  desirous  of  reaching  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  problems, 
arising  out  of  the  use  of  submarines  against  merchantmen,  we  find 
ourselves  differing  irreconcilably  as  to  the  methods  which  should  be 
employed. 

It  falls  to  your  lot  to  speak  officially  for  the  nation;  I  consider  it 
to  be  none  the  less  my  duty  to  endeavor  as  a  private  citizen  to  promote 
the  end  which  you  have  in  view  by  means  which  you  do  not  feel  at  lib- 
erty to  use.* 

In  severing  the  intimate  and  pleasant  relations  which  have  existed 
between  us  during  the  past  two  years,  permit  me  to  acknowledge  the 

In     Washington     dispatches      of     June     8,  made   public   therewith   state   my   reasons, 

1915,    Mr.    Bryan   was   reported    to   have   said  ^^^  }  .Yf''i    ^*^»®  ^    ""P''®    complete    state- 

„.    ..      ,  ,  .  ,,      ^     ,       ^  ,  mcnt    that    will    be    given    out    when    the 

at    his    home,    when    told    of    the,  formal    an-  American    reply    to    the    German    note    is 

nouncement   of    his    resignation :  sent,    which    p.obably    will    be    tomorrow. 

In    view    of    thp    annonnrpmpnt    nf    mv  ^^^  resignation   takes   effect  as   soon  as 

ill     view     uL     Liie    announcemeni    or     my  ii,_    »,,,»«»    hn<i   hi>on    fnrwnrHori 

resignation,   I  will  say  that  letters   being  '■"®  ""'•®  '^^   "^^^  lorwaraea. 


618  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

profound  satisfaction  which  it  has  given  me  to  be  associated  with  you 
in  the  important  work  which  has  come  before  the  State  Department, 
and  to  thank  you  for  the  courtesies  extended. 

With  the  heartiest  good  wishes  for  your  personal  welfare  and  for 
the  success  of  your  Administration,  I  am,  my  dear  Mr.  President,  very 
truly  yours, 

W.  J.  BRYAN. 

THE  PRESIDENT  TO  SECRETARY  BRYAN. 

Washington,  June  8,  1915. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Bryan : 

I  accept  your  resignation  only  because  you  insist  upon  its  accept- 
ance; and  I  accept  it  with  much  more  than  deep  regret,  with  a  feeling 
of  personal  sorrow. 

Our  two  years  of  close  association  have  been  very  delightful  to 
me.  Our  judgments  have  accorded  in  practically  every  matter  of  of- 
ficial duty  and  of  public  policy  until  now ;  your  support  of  the  work  and 
purposes  of  the  Administration  has  been  generous  and  loyal  beyond 
praise ;  your  devotion  to  the  duties  of  your  great  office  and  your  eager- 
ness to  take  advantage  of  every  great  opportunity  for  service  it  offered 
have  been  an  example  to  the  rest  of  us ;  you  have  earned  our  affectionate 
admiration  and  friendship.  Even  now  we  are  not  separated  in  the  ob- 
ject we  seek,  but  only  in  the  method  by  which  we  seek  it. 

It  is  for  these  reasons  my  feeling  about  your  retirement  from  the 
Secretaryship  of  State  goes  so  much  deeper  than  regret.  I  sincerely  de- 
plore it. 

Our  objects  are  the  same  and  we  ought  to  pursue  them  together. 
I  yield  to  your  desire  only  because  I  must  and  wish  to  bid  you  Godspeed 
in  the  parting.  We  shall  continue  to  work  for  the  same  causes  even  when 
we  do  not  work  in  the  same  way. 

With  affectionate  regard. 

Sincerely  yours, 

WOODROW   WILSON. 
To  Hon.  William  Jennings  Bryan, 
Secretary  of  State. 

ROBERT  LANSING,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  AD  INTERIM. 

The  White  House,  Washington,  June  9,  1915. 
The  Hon.  William  Jennings  Bryan  having  resigned  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  do  hereby,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  Sections 
177  and  179  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  and  of  the  act  of  Congress  ap- 
proved February  9,  1891,  authorize  and  direct  the  Hon.  Robert  Lansing, 
Counselor  for  the  Department  of  State,  to  perform  the  duties  of  the 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE  619 


office  of  Secretary  of  State  for  a  period  not  to  exceed  thirty  days,  until 
a  Secretary  shall  have  been  appointed  and  have  qualified. 

WOODROW    WILSON. 


PRESIDENT  WILSON^S 
REPLY  TO  BERLIN 

No.  1803.] 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 
Washington,  June  9,  1915. 
American  Ambassador,  Berlin: 

You  are  instructed  to  deliver  textually  the  following  note  to  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs: 

In  compliance  with  your  Excellency's  request  I  did  not  fail  to 
transmit  to  my  Government  immediately  upon  their  receipt  your  note 
of  May  28  in  reply  to  my  note  of  May  15,  and  your  supplementary  note 
of  June  1,  setting  forth  the  conclusions  so  far  as  reached  by  the  Imperial 
German  Government  concerning  the  attacks  on  the  American  steamers 
Gushing  and  Gulflight.  I  am  now  instructed  by  my  Government  to 
communicate  the  following  in  reply: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  notes  with  gratification  the 
full  recognition  by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  in  discussing  the 
cases  of  the  Gushing  and  the  Gulflight,  of  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of 
all  parts  of  the  open  sea  to  neutral  ships  and  the  frank  willingness  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government  to  acknowledge  and  meet  its  liability 
where  the  fact  of  attack  upon  neutral  ships  "  which  have  not  been  guilty 
of  any  hostile  act  "  by  German  aircraft  or  vessels  of  war  is  satisfactorily 
established ;  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  in  due  course 
lay  before  the  Imperial  German  Government,  as  it  requests,  full  informa- 
tion concerning  the  attack  on  the  steamer  Gushing. 

With  regard  to  the  sinking  of  the  steamer  Falaba,  by  which  an 
American  citizen  lost  his  life,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is 
surprised  to  find  the  Imperial  German  Government  contending  that  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  a  merchantman  to  escape  capture  and  secure 
assistance  alters  the  obligation  of  the  officer  seeking  to  make  the  cap- 
ture in  respect  of  the  safety  of  the  lives  of  those  on  board  the  merchant- 
man, although  the  vessel  had  ceased  her  attempt  to  escape  when  tor- 
pedoed. These  are  not  new  circumstances.  They  have  been  in  the 
minds  of  statesmen  and  of  international  jurists  throughout  the  develop- 
ment of  naval  warfare,  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does 
not  understand  that  they  have  ever  been  held  to  alter  the  principles  of 
humanity  upon  which  it  has  insisted.     Nothing  but  actual  forcible 


620  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

resistance  or  continued  efforts  to  escape  by  flight  when  ordered  to  stop 
for  the  purpose  of  visit  on  the  part  of  the  merchantman  has  ever  been 
held  to  forfeit  the  lives  of  her  passengers  or  crew.  The  Government 
of  the  United  States,  however,  does  not  understand  that  the  Imperial 
German  Government  is  seeking  in  this  case  to  relieve  itself  of  liability, 
but  only  intends  to  set  forth  the  circumstances  which  led  the  commander 
of  the  submarine  to  allow  himself  to  be  hurried  into  the  course  which 
he  took. 

Your  Excellency's  note,  in  discussing  the  loss  of  American  lives 
resulting  from  the  sinking  of  the  steamship  Lusitania,  adverts  at  some 
length  to  certain  information  which  the  Imperial  German  Government 
has  received  with  regard  to  the  character  and  outfit  of  that  vessel,  and 
your  Excellency  expresses  the  fear  that  this  information  may  not  have 
been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  stated  in  the  note  that  the  Lusitania  was  undoubedly  equipped  with 
masked  guns,  supplied  with  trained  gunners  and  special  ammunition, 
transporting  troops  from  Canada,  carrying  a  cargo  not  permitted  under 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  a  vessel  also  carrying  passengers,  and 
serving,  in  virtual  effect,  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  naval  forces  of  Great 
Britain.  Fortunately  these  are  matters  concerning  which  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  in  a  position  to  give  the  Imperial  German 
Government  official  information.  Of  the  facts  alleged  in  your  Ex- 
cellency's note,  if  true,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would  have 
been  bound  to  take  official  cognizance  in  performing  its  recognized  duty 
as  a  neutral  power  and  in  enforcing  its  national  laws.  It  was  its  duty  to 
see  to  it  that  the  Lusitania  was  not  armed  for  offensive  action,  that 
she  was  not  serving  as  a  transport,  that  she  did  not  carry  a  cargo  pro- 
hibited by  the  statutes  of  the  United  States,  and  that,  if  in  fact  she  was 
a  naval  vessel  of  Great  Britain,  she  should  not  receive  clearance  as  a 
merchantman;  and  it  performed  that  duty  and  enforced  its  statutes 
with  scrupulous  vigilance  through  its  regularly  constituted  officials.  It 
is  able,  therefore,  to  assure  the  Imperial  German  Government  that  it  has 
been  misinformed.  If  the  Imperial  German  Government  should  deem 
itself  to  be  in  possession  of  convincing  evidence  that  the  officials  of  the 
Government  of  the  Unted  States  did  not  perform  these  duties  with 
thoroughness  the  Government  of  the  United  States  sincerely  hopes  that 
it  will  submit  that  evidence  for  consideration. 

Whatever  may  be  the  contentions  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment regarding  the  carriage  of  contraband  of  war  on  board  the  Lusi- 
tania or  regarding  the  explosion  of  that  material  by  the  torpedo,  it  need 
only  be  said  that  in  the  view  of  this  Government  these  contentions  are 
irrelevant  to  the  question  of  the  legality  of  the  methods  used  by  the 
German  naval  authorities  in  sinking  the  vessel. 

But  the  sinking  of  passenger  ships  involves  principles  of  humanity 
which  throw  into  the  background  any  special  circumstances  of  detail 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE  621 

that  may  be  thought  to  affect  the  cases,  principles  which  lift  it,  as  the 
Imperial  German  Government  will  no  doubt  be  quick  to  recognize  and 
acknowledge,  out  of  the  class  of  ordinary  subjects  of  diplomatic  dis- 
cussion or  of  international  controversy.  Whatever  be  the  other  facts 
regarding  the  Lusitania,  the  principal  fact  is  that  a  great  steamer,  pri- 
marily and  chiefly  a  conveyance  for  passengers,  and  carrying  more  than 
a  thousand  souls  who  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  was 
torpedoed  and  sunk  without  so  much  as  a  challenge  or  a  warning,  and 
that  men,  women,  and  children  were  sent  to  their  death  in  circumstances 
unparalleled  in  modern  warfare.  The  fact  that  more  than  one  hundred 
American  citizens  were  among  those  who  perished  made  it  the  duty  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  speak  of  these  things  and  once 
more,  with  solemn  emphasis,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  to  the  grave  responsibility  which  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  conceives  that  it  has  incurred  in  this  tragic  occurrence, 
and  to  the  indisputable  principle  upon  which  that  responsibility  rests. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  contending  for  something  much 
greater  than  mere  rights  of  property  or  privileges  of  commerce.  It  is 
contending  for  nothing  less  high  and  sacred  than  the  rights  of  humanity, 
which  every  Government  honors  itself  in  respecting  and  which  no  Gov- 
ernment is  justified  in  resigning  on  behalf  of  those  under  its  care  and 
authority.  Only  her  actual  resistance  to  capture  or  refusal  to  stop  when 
ordered  to  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  visit  could  have  afforded  the  com- 
mander of  the  submarine  any  justification  for  so  much  as  putting  the 
lives  of  those  on  board  the  ship  in  jeopardy.  This  principle  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  understands  the  explicit  instructions  issued 
on  August  3,  1914,*  by  the  Imperial  German  Admiralty  to  its  com- 
manders at  sea  to  have  recognized  and  embodied,  as  do  the  naval  codes 
of  all  other  nations,  and  upon  it  every  traveler  and  seaman  had  a  right 
to  depend.  It  is  upon  this  principle  of  humanity  as  well  as  upon  the  law 
founded  upon  this  principle  that  the  United  States  must  stand. 

♦The  reference  made  by  President  Wilson  in  form  whose  observance,  even  against  the 

his  first  note  of  May  13  to  the  German  Gov-  eneniy,     will     comport    with     the     dignity 

ernment  regarding  the  sinking  of  the  Lusita-  ^i^d'^o?'Teu'?raTr^c^nfo"Xwi'^o"  the 

nia  to  the  "  humane  and  enlightened  attitude  usages  of  international  law  and  the  Ger- 

hitherto    assumed    by    the    Imperial    German  man  interest. 

Government  in  matters  of  international  right,  The  method  of  signaling  ships  to  be  halted 

and  particularly  with  regard  to  the  freedom  is   prescribed,    and   it   is   directed   that    "  two 

of  the  seas,"   was  based,   it  was   learned  in  successive  blank  charges  are  to  be  fired,  and, 

Washington    on    June    12,    upon    the    instiuc-  if  necessary,  a  shotted  charge  over  the  ship  " 

tions  of  Aug.  3,  1014,  which  the  German  Gov-  if  the  signals  are  not  obeyed.     "  If  the  ship 

ernment  sent  to  its  naval  commanders.     These  does   not  then   stop   or  makes  resistance,    the 

German   rules  are  now   in   the   possession  of  Captain    will    compel   her    to    stop,"    the    in- 

the  State  Department.     While  no  mention  is  structions    continue.       After   specifying   what 

made  in  them  of  submarine  warfare,  the  ex-  ships    may   be    captured   and    destroyed,    the 

tent  and  method  of  the  exercise  of  the  right  regulations  continue : 

of  search  and  the  stoppage  of  ships  is  pre-  Before  destruction  all  persons  on  board, 

scribed    with    great    nicety,    and    provision    is  if  possible  with  their  personal  effects,  are 

made  for  the  safety  of  passengers  and  crew.  ^pe^'^fn^d'  ll^lf^'/ritc^ei  "^'f  ^^e^id^e'^l^e^ 

After    outlmmg   the  purpose    of    visiting    and  which    in    the    opinion    of    the    interested 

searching  vessels,  the  regulations  state  •  parties    are  of  value  for  the  judgment  of 

,  „  the  prize  court,   are  to  be  taken  over  by 

All  measures  are  to  be  carried  out  in  a  the  Captain. 


622  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  happy  to  observe  that  your 
Excellency's  note  closes  with  the  intimation  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government  is  willing,  now  as  before,  to  accept  the  good  offices  of  the 
United  States  in  an  attempt  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Great  Britain  by  which  the  character  and  conditions  of  the 
war  upon  the  sea  may  be  changed.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  would  consider  it  a  privilege  thus  to  serve  its  friends  and  the 
world.  It  stands  ready  at  any  time  to  convey  to  either  Government 
any  intimation  or  suggestion  the  other  may  be  willing  to  have  it  convey 
and  cordially  invites  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  make  use  of 
its  services  in  this  way  at  its  convenience.  The  whole  world  is  concerned 
in  anything  that  may  bring  about  even  a  partial  accommodation  of  inter- 
ests or  in  any  way  mitigate  the  terrors  of  the  present  distressing  con- 
flict. 

In  the  meantime,  whatever  arrangement  may  happily  be  made 
between  the  parties  to  the  war,  and  whatever  may  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government  have  been  the  provocation  or  the  circum- 
stantial justification  for  the  past  acts  of  its  commanders  at  sea,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  confidently  looks  to  see  the  justice 
and  humanity  of  the  Government  of  Germany  vindicated  in  all  cases 
where  Americans  have  been  wronged  or  their  rights  as  neutrals  invaded. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  therefore  very  earnestly  and 
very  solemnly  renews  the  representations  of  its  note  transmitted  to  the 
Imperial  German  Government  on  the  15th  of  May,  and  relies  in  these 
representations  upon  the  principles  of  humanity,  the  universally  recog- 
ized  understandings  of  international  law,  and  the  ancient  friendship  of 
the  German  Nation. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  admit  that  the  procla- 
mation of  a  war  zone  from  which  neutral  ships  have  been  warned  to 
keep  away  may  be  made  to  operate  as  in  any  degree  an  abbreviation  of 
the  rights  either  of  American  shipmasters  or  of  American  citizens  bound 
on  lawful  errands  as  passengers  on  merchant  ships  of  belligerent  nation- 
ality. It  does  not  understand  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  ques- 
tion those  rights.  It  understands  it,  also,  to  accept  as  established  beyond 
question  the  principle  that  the  lives  of  non  combatants  cannot  lawfully 
or  rightfully  be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruction  of  an  unre- 
sisting merchantman,  and  to  recognize  the  obligation  to  take  sufficient 
precaution  to  ascertain  whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is  in  fact  of 
belligerent  nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband  of  war  under  a 
neutral  flag.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  therefore  deems  it 
reasonable  to  expect  that  the  Imperial  German  Government  will  adopt 
the  measures  necessary  to  put  these  principles  into  practice  in  respect 
of  the  safeguarding  of  American  lives  and  American  ships,  and  asks 
for  assurances  that  this  will  be  done. 

ROBERT  LANSING, 
Secretary  of  State  ad  Interim. 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  "GUNS" 


In  a  Washington  dispatch  of  June  2, 
1915,  to  The  New  York  Times,  the  fol- 
lowing  report  appeared: 

In  his  conversation  with  President  Wil- 
son today  the  German  Ambassador  said 
that  he  had  obtained  evidence  through 
means  of  affidavits  that  the  Lusitania 
was  an  armed  vessel,  as  asserted  by  the 
German  Government.  The  affidavits  to 
which  Count  von  Bernstorff  referred 
have  been  placed  in  possession  of  the 
State  Department,  which  has  turned  them 
over  to  the  Department  of  Justice  for  an 
investigation  as  to  the  statements  sworn 
to  and  the  character  of  the  individuals 
making  them. 

One  of  the  affidavits  is  made  by  Gus- 
tav  Stahl  of  20  Leroy  Street,  New  York 
City.    He  says: 

On  the  day  prior  to  the  sailing  of  the 
Lusitania,  I  was  asked  by  my  friend,  A. 
Lietch,  who  was  employed  as  first  cabin 
steward,  to  help  him  to  bring  his  trunk 
aboard.  In  the  course  of  the  evening  we 
went  on  board,  without  being  hindered 
by  the  quartermaster  on  guard.  After 
having  remained  some  time  in  the  "  glo- 
ria," (steward's  quarters,)  we  went  to  the 
stern  main  deck.  About  fifteen  to  eighteen 
feet  from  the  entrance  to  the  "  gloria,"  on 
port  and  starboard,  respectively,  I  saw 
two  guns  of  twelve  to  fifteen  centimeters. 
They  were  covered  with  leather,  but  the 
barrel  was  distinctly  to  be  seen.  To  sat- 
isfy my  curiosity  I  unfastened  the  buckles 
to  ascertain  the  calibre  of  the  guns.  I 
could  also  ascertain  that  the  guns  were 
mounted  on  deck  on  wooden  blocks.  The 
guns  were  placed  about  three  feet  from 
the  respective  ship  sides  and  the  wall 
could  be  removed  at  that  particular  place. 
On  the  foredeck  there  were  also  two 
guns  of  the  same  calibre  and  covered  in 
the  same  manner.  They  were  placed  at 
about  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  from  the  en- 
trance of  the  crew's  quarters,  and  four 
feet  from  the  ship  side,  where  the  wall 
could  also  be  removed. 

Josephine  Weir,  who  describes  herself 
as  a  New  York  boarding  house  keeper, 
provided  another  affidavit.  She  swore 
that  Lietch,  who  is  named  in  Stahl's 
statement,  told  her  he  was  to  sail  on  the 
Lusitania  as  a  steward,  and  when  she 
spoke  of  the  danger  from  German  sub- 
marines, he  said: 


"  Oh,  I  am  not  afraid.  We  have  four 
big  brightly  polished  copper  guns." 

A  man  named  Grieve  has  an  affidavit 
that  he  heard  Lietch  make  this  state- 
ment to  Mrs.  Weir. 

In  an  affidavit  furnished  by  one  Bruck- 
ner it  is  stated  that  he  saw  a  cannon  on 
the  Lusitania.  He  was  standing  on  the 
dock  in  New  York  at  the  time,  he  avers. 

The  affidavits  were  supplied  to  the 
State  Department  by  the  German  Em- 
bassy in  order  to  support  the  allegation, 
contained  in  the  German  response  to 
President  Wilson's  note  of  May  13,  that 
the  Lusitania  was  an  armed  vessel. 

By   The  Associated   Press. 

WASHINGTON,  June  2.— The  four  af- 
fidavits as  presented  to  the  State  De- 
partment by  the  German  Embassy  alleg- 
ing that  guns  were  carried  by  the  Lusi- 
tania are  believed  to  constitute  the  evi- 
dence to  which  the  German  Government 
referred  in  its  last  note.  Should  it  de- 
velop that  the  Foreign  Office  had  been 
misinformed,  German  diplomatists  said, 
an  acknowledgment  of  the  mistake  would 
not  be  withheld. 

These  affidavits  were  not  made  public 
by  either  the  embassy  or  the  State  De- 
partment, but  the  character  of  the  indi- 
viduals who  made  them  and  their  testi- 
mony is  being  made  the  subject  of  a  quiet 
investigation.  Those  officials  who  had 
seen  the  statements,  however,  were  confi- 
dent that  they  could  not  be  accepted  as 
disproving  the  testimony  given  by  In- 
spectors whose  duty  it  was  to  search  for 
guns. 

THE  ARREST  OF  STAHL. 

The  foUoiving  report  appeared  in  The 
New  York  Times  June  11,  1915: 

Gustav  Stahl,  the  former  German  sol- 
dier who  made  an  affidavit  that  he  saw 
four  guns  mounted  on  the  Lusitania  on 
the  night  before  it  sailed  from  this  port 
on  its  last  voyage  and  who  disappeared 
immediately  after  the  affidavit  was  made 
public,  was  produced  by  Secret  Service 
men  before  the  Federal  Grand  Jury  yes- 


624 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


terday  afternoon  at  a  proceeding  to  de- 
termine whether  Paul  Koenig,  alias 
Stemler,  who  is  the  head  of  the  detective 
bureau  of  the  Hamburg-American  Line, 
and  others  unnamed,  had  entered  into  a 
conspiracy  to  defraud  the  United  States 
Government.  The  fraud  is  not  stated 
specifically,  and  the  charge  is  a  technical 
one  that  may  cover  a  variety  of  acts. 

Stahl,  who  speaks  little  English,  af- 
firmed through  an  interpreter  to  the 
Grand  Jury  that  he  had  seen  the  guns 
on  the  Lusitania.  He  was  questioned  for 
two  hours  and  a  half  and  told  his  story 
with  great  detail. 

As  he  was  leaving  the  Grand  Jury 
room  he  was  arrested  by  United  States 
Marshal  Thomas  B.  McCarthy  on  a  com- 
plaint made  on  information  and  belief 
by  Assistant  District  Attorney  Raymond 
H.  Sarfaty  that  Stahl  had  committed 
perjury  in  his  testimony  before  the  Fed- 
eral Grand  Jury.  Stahl  was  held  in  bail 
of  $10,000  by  United  States  Commissioner 
Houghton  and  locked  up  in  the  Tombs. 

Stahl  was  the  only  witness  heard  by 
the  Grand  Jury  in  the  proceedings 
against  Koenig.  It  was  learned  that 
Stahl  had  been  in  conference  with  Koenig 
before  he  made  the  affidavit,  and  that  his 
affidavit  had  passed  through  Koenig's 
hands  before  it  went  to  Ambassador 
Bernstorff ,  who  submitted  it  to  Secretary 
of  State  Bryan. 

The  proceedings  against  Koenig  were 
initiated  to  establish  the  charge  that 
Koenig  used  improper  influence  to  induce 
Stahl  to  make  the  affidavit. 

While  Stahl  was  waiting  in  the  Mar- 
shal's chamber  in  the  Federal  Building, 
after  his  arrest,  for  the  arrival  of  Ed- 
ward Sanford,  a  lawyer,  of  27  William 
Street,  who  had  been  assigned  to  act  as 
his  counsel,  he  was  asked,  through  an 
interpreter: 

"  Would  you  be  willing  to  spend  twenty 
years  in  jail  for  your  Fatherland?  " 

"  Make  it  a  hundred!  "  he  replied,  in 
German,  and  then  broke  into  a  hearty 
laugh. 

Stahl  is  about  27  years  old  and  slight- 
ly under  middle  size.  He  has  a  round, 
somewhat  rosy  countenance,  dark  hair 
getting  very  thin  in  front,  and  parted 
in   the   middle,   dark-brown   eyes   and   a 


small,  closely-cropped  dark  mustache. 
He  was  calm  and  smiling,  ready  with  his 
answers,  and  very  insistent  and  emphatic 
in  repeating  that  he  had  seen  the  guns  on 
the  Lusitania. 

He  was  neatly  dressed  in  a  dark  mixed 
suit,  with  a  new  straw  hat,  a  green  tie 
on  which  was  a  stickpin  with  a  dog's 
head  in  porcelain,  brightly  polished  tan 
shoes,  and  lavender  socks  with  scarlet- 
embroidered  flowers. 

Following  is  the  complaint  on  which 
he  was  held: 

Raymond  H.  Sarfaty,  being  duly  sworn, 
deposes  and  says  that  he  is  an  Assistant 
United  States  Attorney  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  Yorli. 

That  on  the  10th  day  of  June,  1915,  there 
was  then  and  there  pending  before  the 
Grand  Jury  of  the  United  States  in  and 
for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York,  a 
certain  proceeding  against  one  Paul 
Koenig,  alias  Stemler,  and  others,  upon  a 
charge  of  having  conspired  to  defraud  the 
United  States,  in  violation  of  Section  37, 
U.  S.  C.  C. ;  that  on  the  said  10th  day  of 
June,  1915,  the  foreman  of  said  Grand 
Jury,  Frederick  M.  Delano,  an  officer  duly 
empowered  and  qualified  to  administer 
oaths  in  the  proceedings  before  said  Grand 
Jury,  duly  administered  an  oath  to  the 
said  Gustav  Stahl,  that  he  would  testify 
to  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  with  respect  to  the  afore- 
said matter  then  being  presented  be- 
fore the  said  Grand  Jury;  that  the  said 
Gustav  Stahl,  at  the  time  and  place  afore- 
said, and  within  the  district  aforesaid, 
and  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  court, 
after  said  oath  was  administered,  know- 
ingly and  fraudulently  committed  perjury, 
In  that  he  testified  in  part,  in  substance, 
and  effect  as  follows : 

That  on  the  30th  day  of  April,  1915,  the 
eaid  Gustav  Stahl  went  aboard  the  steam- 
ship Lusitania  at  the  City  of  New  York, 
in  the  Southern  District  of  New  York, 
with  one  Neal  J.  Leach ;  that  while  on 
said  steamship  he  saw  four  guns  on  one 
of  the  decks  of  said  steamship,  two  for- 
ward and  two  aft ;  that  the  said  guns 
were  mounted  on  wooden  blocks ;  that  the 
said  guns  were  covered  with  leather. 

That  affiant  is  informed  and  believes, 
and  therefore  avers,  that,  whereas,  in 
truth  and  in  fact,  the  said  Gustav  Stahl 
did  not,  on  the  30th  day  of  April,  1915,  go 
aboard  the  steamship  Lusitania  at  the 
City  of  New  York,  in  the  Southern  Dis- 
trict of  New  York,  with  one  Neal  J. 
Leach,  nor  did  he,  the  said  Gustav  Stahl, 
go  aboard  the  steamship  Lusitania  on 
said  last  mentioned  date ;  and  the  said 
Gustav  Stahl  did  not  see  four  guns  on  the 
deck  of  the  said   steamship,   two   forward 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


6i5 


and  two  aft,  nor  did  he,  the  said  Gustav 
Stahl,  see  four  guns  on  the  deck  of  said 
steamship  mounted  on  wooden  blocks ;  nor 
did  he,  the  said  Gustav  Stahl,  see  four 
iruns  on  the  deck  of  said  steamship  covered 
with  leather. 

That  the  said  matters  testified  to  before 
the  said  Grand  Jury  by  the  said  Gustav 
Stahl,  as  aforesaid,  were  material  matters 
in  the  investigation  aforesaid ;  against  the 
peace  of  the  United  States  and  their  dig- 
nity, and  contrary  to  the  form  of  the 
statute  of  the  United  States  in  such  case 
made  and  provided. 

That  to  disclose  the  source  of  affiant's 
information  at  this  time  might  defeat  the 
ends  of  justice. 

Wherefore,      affiant     prays     that     said 
Gustav   Stahl    may    be   arrested    and    im- 
prisoned, or  bailed,  as  the  case  may  be. 
This  complaint  was  read  to  Stahl  when 
he     was     taken     before     Commissioner 
Houghton,    being    interpreted    for    him, 
sentence  by  sentence.     When  the  name 
of  Neal  J.  Leach  was  read  as  the  alleged 
steward  who  had  taken  him  aboard  the 
Lusitania,  Stahl  exclaimed:  "  Not  Neal." 
In    his    affidavit   he    had    described    the 
steward    as    "  A.    Leach."       A    steward 
named  Neal  J.  Leach  went  down  when  the 
Lusitania  was  torpedoed. 

When  that  part  of  the  complaint  was 
read  which  said  that  Stahl  had  not  seen 
guns  on  the  Lusitania,  he  exclaimed  in 
German: 
"  Yes,  I  did  see  them." 
After  the  complaint  had  been  read, 
Commissioner  Houghton  asked  about  bail. 
Assistant  District  Attorney  Roger  B. 
Wood,  who  conducted  the  proceedings  be- 
fore the  Grand  Jury,  said: 

"  Ten  thousand  dollars,  not  a  cent 
less." 

Commissioner  Houghton  fixed  bail  at 
that  figure.  He  then  asked  Stahl  if  he 
had  anything  to  say,  and  the  prisoner  re- 
plied: 

"  Before  I  say  anything  I  would  like 
to  see  several  gentlemen." 

Commissioner  Houghton  then  asked  if 
he  had  a  lawyer.  Stahl  replied  that  he 
had  not,  and  that  he  had  no  means  to 
employ  one. 

"  Shall  I  assign  one  for  you  ?  "  asked 
the  Commissioner. 

"  No,"  replied  Stahl;  "I  should  like  to 
have    Mr.    Sandford,   who   acted   for   me 
yesterday  and  the  day  before." 
He  referred  to  Edward  Sandford  of  27 


William  Street,  who  was  counsel  for  Carl 
Buenz,  a  Director  of  the  Hamburg- Amer- 
ican Line,  and  for  other  officials  of  that 
line,  who  were  indicted  by  the  Federal 
Grand  Jury  on  March  1  on  the  charge  of 
conspiring  against  the  United  States  by 
making  out  false  clearance  papers  and 
false  manifests  for  the  collection  of  cus- 
toms in  connection  with  the  steamships 
Fram,  Somerstadt,  Lorenzo,  and  Berwind, 
which  were  loaded  with  coal  and  pro- 
visions intended  for  the  German  cruiser 
Karlsruhe  and  the  auxiliary  cruiser 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse. 

Commissioner  Houghton  assigned  Mr. 
Sandford  as  counsel  for  Stahl.  The  Com- 
missioner then  asked  Stahl  if  he  had  any 
friends  in  the  room,  to  which  Stahl  with 
a  smile,  replied  in  the  negative. 

"  I  would  like  to  have  the  date  of 
June  24  set  for  the  hearing,"  said  Assist- 
ant District  Attorney  Wood.  "  The 
Grand  Jury  which  is  now  holding  this  in- 
vestigation will  probably  continue  its 
hearings  until  then." 

Commissioner  Houghton  fixed  the  date 
accordingly. 

After  the  hearing  adjourned  Stahl  was 
asked  where  he  had  been  since  his  disap- 
pearance.   He  replied  in  German: 

"  I  told  the  Grand  Jury  all  I  have  to 
say." 

He  was  asked  where  he  would  live  if  he 
got  bail. 

"  I  don't  want  anybody  to  know,"  he 
said.  "  I  have  had  so  many  visitors  in  the 
past  few  days  that  I  don't  want  any 
more,  if  I  can  help  it." 

He  was  asked  if  he  was  a  German  re- 
servist, and  he  replied  that  that  was  his 
business.  Other  questions  got  the  same 
response.  He  denied  that  he  knew  Paul 
Koenig,  the  Hamburg-American  detect- 
ive, but  he  admitted  he  knew  Stemler, 
which  is  a  name  sometimes  used  by  the 
detective.  When  he  was  informed  that 
he  was  to  spend  the  night  in  the  Tombs 
he  said: 

"Will  Stemler  be  with  me?  " 

He  seemed  disappointed  when  he  was 
told  that  he  would  have  to  go  there  alone. 
Stahl  was  asked  if  Josephine  Weir,  who 
had  signed  a  corroborative  affidavit, 
knew  of  his  whereabouts  during  his  hid- 
ing.   He  refused  to  answer  this  question, 


626 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


but  of  Josephine  Weir  he  said  in  Eng- 
lish: 

"  Oh,  that's  a  nice  girl." 

Stahl  sat  smoking  a  cigar  and  laughing 
in  the  best  of  temper  until  a  flashlight 
powder  was  exploded  unexpectedly.  He 
put  both  hands  to  his  face  and  hid  in  a 
corner  made  by  a  wall  and  a  filing  cabi- 
net, but  when  he  realized  that  his  picture 
had  been  taken  he  ran  to  a  man  whom  he 
thought  to  be  a  Federal  employe,  and 
protested  in  German.  A  little  later  Mr. 
Sandford  arrived  with  another  interpreter 
and  went  into  consultation  with  his 
client. 

Stahl  went  to  Albany  on  June  4,  the 
day  after  his  affidavit  was  made  public. 
While  a  search  was  being  conducted  in 
this  city  and  surrounding  cities  by  Fed- 
eral agents  and  newspapers,  Stahl  was 
in  hiding  in  Albany,  his  expenses  there 
being  paid  for  him  by  a  confidential  ad- 
viser sent  with  him. 

Instead  of  relaxing  after  a  few  days, 
the  search  for  Stahl  grew  more  rigorous. 
When  it  was  seen  that  there  was  little 
chance  of  keeping  Stahl  In  permanent  se- 
clusion and  that  the  extraordinary  char- 
acter of  the  disappearance  of  the  German 
Ambassador's  chief  witness  against  the 
Lusitania  was  arousing  intense  nation- 
wide interest,  Paul  Koenig,  the  Secret 
Service  man  of  the  Hamburg-American 
Line,  decided  that  it  would  be  better  if 
he  were  found  at  once. 

On  Monday  of  this  week  Koenig  and 
Mr.  Sandford  called  on  Inspector  Lamb 
of  the  Customs  Service  and  told  him  that 
Stahl  was  at  Albany  and  would  be  avail- 
able if  the  Federal  officials  wanted  him. 
Superintendent  William  M.  Offley,  of  the 
special  agents  of  the  Department  of 
Justice,  had  at  that  time  some  strong 
clues  as  to  Stahl's  whereabouts. 

On  Tuesday  Stahl  and  his  personal 
conductor  arrived  in  this  city  from  Al- 
bany and  were  met  by  Superintendent 
Offley  and  Special  Agents  Adams  and 
Pigniullo.  Stahl  was  taken  to  the  of- 
fice of  Superintendent  Offley  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Mr.  Sandford,  who  was  asked 
to  take  part  in  the  proceedings  in  the 
interests  of  fair  play,  although  he  was 
not  then  Stahl's  lawyer. 

At  this  examination  and  at  a  second 


one  held  on  Wednesday,  Stahl  repeated 
his  charge  that  he  had  seen  guns  on  the 
Lusitania.  He  showed  great  familiarity 
with  the  details  of  the  construction  of 
the  Lusitania. 

At  the  end  of  the  examination  it  was 
urged  by  representatives  of  the  Ham- 
burg-American Line  that  Stahl  should 
stay  under  the  watch  of  the  Federal 
agents  in  order  that,  if  he  told  a  dif- 
ferent story  later,  there  could  be  no 
charge  that  outsiders  had  tampered 
with  him.  Stahl  remained  with  the  Gov- 
ernment detectives  on  Tuesday,  Wednes- 
day and  yesterday,  although  he  was  not 
under  arrest.  When  he  appeared  yes- 
terday before  the  Grand  Jury  it  was 
under  a  subpoena. 

Assistant  District  Attorney  Wood  said 
yesterday  that  the  charge  of  perjury 
had  been  lodged  against  Stahl  on  the 
strength  of  the  statement  by  the  Col- 
lector of  the  Port,  Dudley  Field  Malone, 
that  there  wera  no  guns  aboard  the 
Lusitania. 

"  We  can  bring  fifty  witnesses,"  he 
said,  "  to  prove  that  the  Lusitania  had 
no  guns  on  board  and  that  Stahl.  is 
guilty  of  perjury." 

Mr.  Wood  was  asked  if  there  was 
any  evidence  that  Stahl  had  ever  been 
in  the  employ  of  the  German  Consul- 
General  at  this  port  or  of  Captain  Boy- 
Ed,  Naval  Attache  of  the  German  Em- 
bassy, who  is  said  to  be  the  head  of 
the  German  Secret  Service  here.  Mr. 
Wood  refused  to  discuss  either  ques- 
tion. When  he  was  asked  if  the  in- 
vestigation promised  to  involve  any  man 
of  importance,  he  said: 

"  I  don't  know.  We  are  holding  the 
Grand  Jury  investigation  to  find  out 
all  that  we  can  about  the  case." 

After  consulting  with  Stahl,  Mr.  Sand- 
ford said  that  he  would  not  represent 
the  prisoner  but  would  seek  to  get  a 
good  lawyer  for  him  at  once.  When 
asked  if  he  represented  Koenig,  he  re- 
fused to  say.  He  was  asked  if  he  knew 
anything  about  the  charge  against  Koe- 
nig.    He  said: 

"  No.  The  charge  of  attempting  to 
defraud  the  Government  is  a  charge  on 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


627 


which  the  Government  can  get  anybody 
at  any  time  for  anything." 

CAPT.  TURNER'S  DENIAL. 

A  London  cable  dispatch  of  June  15  to 
The  New  York  Times  said: 

At  the  opening  of  the  Court  of  Inquiry 
today  into  the  torpedoing  of  the  steam- 
ship Lusitania  on  May  7,  two  outstand- 
ing points  were  vividly  impressed.  One 
was  that  the  Cunarder  was  unarmed.  The 
other  was  that  the  ship  was  proceeding 
at  reduced  speed,  eighteen  knots  an  hour, 
only  nineteen  of  her  twenty-five  boilers 
being  used,  the  result  of  her  effort  to 
save  in  coal  and  labor. 

Sir  Edward  Carson,  the  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, in  outlining  the  evidence  in  the 
hands  of  the  Crown,  adverted  impres- 
sively to  President  Wilson's  note  to  Ger- 
many on  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  in 
which  the  President  informed  the  German 
Government  that  it  was  wrong  in  assum- 
ing that  the  Lusitania  was  equipped  with 
masked  guns  and  manned  by  trained  gun- 
ners. "  We  have  ample  evidence  to  dis- 
prove the  German  lie  that  the  Lusitania 
was  armed,"  said  the  Attorney  General. 
"  Aside  from  the  word  of  witnesses  we 
have  that  of  President  Wilson  in  his  re- 
cent note  to  Germany,  based  upon  inves- 
tigation made  by  officials  under  him.  The 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania  was  murder." 

Sir  Edward  lifted  a  newspaper  clip- 
ping of  the  President's  note  from  the 
table  and  slowly  read  the  passage  dispos- 
ing of  the  German  allegation  that  the 
Lusitania  was  an  armed  auxiliary. 

Captain  W.  T.  Turner,  who  seemed 
slightly  grayer  than  before  the  Lusitania 
was  torpedoed,  in  that  way  alone  showing 
the  strain  under  which  he  has  been  since 
his  ship  was  sunk  under  him,  gave  evi- 
dence that  there  was  not  one  gun  on  the 
Lusitania's  deck,  and  declared  that  the 
German  assertion  that  the  steamer  was 
armed  was  a  "  sheer  lie." 

STAHL  INDICTED  FOR  PERJURY. 
In  The  New  York  Times  of  June  19 
appeared  the  following  report  of  the 
Grand  Jury's  indictment  of  Stahl  on  a 
charge  of  perjury  and  the  announcement 
that  the  Federal  investigation  will  be 
continued: 


Gustav  Stahl,  the  alleged  German  re- 
servist, who  made  an  affidavit  that  he 
had  seen  guns  on  board  the  Lusitania 
on  the  day  before  she  sailed  on  her  last 
voyage,  was  indicted  on  a  charge  of  per- 
jury by  the  Federal  Grand  Jury  yester- 
day. The  perjury  charge  is  based  on  his 
testimony  before  the  Grand  Jury,  dur- 
ing which  examination  he  repeated  that 
he  had  seefi  the  guns  on  the  Lusitania  as 
set  forth  in  his  affidavit  filed  by  the  Ger- 
man Embassy  in  Washington  and  now  in 
the  hands  of  the  State  Department. 

The  name  of  Paul  Koenig,  who,  it  is 
said,  was  known  to  Stahl  as  Stemler,  and 
who  is  the  chief  of  the  secret  service  of 
the  Hamburg-American  Line,  is  men- 
tioned by  name  in  the  indictment.  The 
indictment  sets  forth  that  on  June  10 
there  was  pending  before  the  Grand  Jury 
an  investigation  concerning  Koenig  and 
others  and  that  Stahl  was  among  the  wit- 
nesses called  in  the  course  of  that  investi- 
gation. It  then  goes  on  to  say  that  Stahl 
testified  in  substance  and  to  the  effect 
that  on  April  30  he  went  aboard  the  Lusi- 
tania, then  with  one  Leach,  and  that 
while  on  the  vessel  he  saw  four  guns  on 
one  of  the  decks  of  the  steamship,  two 
forward  and  two  aft,  and  all  mounted  on 
wooden  blocks  and  covered  with  leather. 
The  indictment  further  charges  that  at 
the  time  of  so  swearing  Stahl  did  not  be- 
lieve it  to  be  true  that  he  had  been  on 
board  the  Lusitania  and  had  seen  the  four 
guns. 

The  indictment,  in  conclusion,  charges 
that  there  were  no  guns  upon  the  decks 
of  the  Lusitania  on  April  30.  "  There- 
fore," the  Grand  Jury  charges,  "  that 
Stahl,  after  taking  an  oath  before  a  com- 
petent officer  to  truly  depose  and  testify, 
did  willfully,  knowingly  and  feloniously 
and  contrary  to  his  said  oath,  depose  and 
state  material  matters  which  were  not 
true  and  which  he  did  not  then  believe 
to  be  true,  and  thereby  did  commit  willful 
and  corrupt  perjury  against  the  peace  of 
the  United  States  and  their  dignity  and 
contrary  to  the  form  of  the  statute  of 
the  United  States  in  such  cases  made  and 
provided." 

Stahl  will  be  arraigned  before  Judge 
Russell  in  the  criminal  branch  of  the 
United  States  District  Court  on  Monday. 


628 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


He  is  now  in  the  Tombs  in  default  of 
$10,000  bail.  Should  he  be  convicted  of 
perjury  he  may  be  sentenced  to  prison 
for  five  years  or  fined  $10,000,  or  both. 

The  indictment  of  Stahl  does  not  mean 
that  the  Government's  investigation  of 
the  Lusitania  affidavits,  and  the  way  in 
which  they  were  procured,  is  at  an  end. 
On  the  other  hand  it  is  proceeding  vigor- 
ously. Three  witnesses,  all  Government 
officials,  were  before  the  Grand  Jury 
yesterday  in  connection  with  the  case. 
Heinz  Hardenberg,  who  was  found  in 
Cincinnati  a  week  ago  today  and  brought 
here  to  be  examined  by  the  Grand  Jury, 
has  not  yet  appeared  before  that  body, 
although  the  Government  agents  insist 
they  can  produce  him  when  his  testimony 
is  desired. 

THE  NEBRASKAN  CASE. 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  dated 
at  London  on  May  26,  1915,  reported: 

The  American  steamer  Nebraskan, 
Captain  Green,  from  Liverpool  May  24 
for  Delaware  Breakwater,  was  torpedoed 
yesterday  evening  by  a  submarine  at  a 
point  forty  miles  west-southwest  of  Fast- 
net,  off  the  south  coast  of  Ireland.  [Cap- 
tain Green's  report,  given  below,  says 
the  Nebraskan  was  "  struck  by  either 
mine  or  torpedo."] 

The  sea  was  calm  at  the  time.  The 
crew  at  once  took  to  the  boats  and  stood 
by  the  steamer.  It  was  soon  ascertained 
that  the  Nebraskan  was  not  seriously 
damaged,  but  she  had  been  struck  for- 
ward, and  her  foreholds  were  full  of 
water. 

The  crew  returned  on  board  and  got 
the  vessel  under  way.  No  lives  were 
lost  among  the  crew.  The  Nebraskan 
did  not  carry  any  passengers. 

This  information  was  received  at  the 
British  Admiralty  in  London,  and  it  was 
at  once  communicated  to  the  American 
Embassy. 

Immediately  she  was  struck  the  Ne- 
braskan began  calling  for  help  by  wire- 
less. Brow  Head  received  the  wireless 
communication  at  9  P.  M.  yesterday  from 
Crookhaven. 

A  message  to  Lloyd's  from  Kinsale, 
Ireland,  says  that  the  Nebraskan  passed 
that   point   at   11    o'clock   this   morning. 


She  was  down  at  the  bows,  but  was  pro- 
ceeding under  her  own  steam,  and  flying 
the  signal:  "  I  am  not  under  control." 

The  vessel  passed  Queenstown  in  the 
afternoon  on  the  way  to  Liverpool.  She 
was  proceeding  at  eight  knots. 

A  message  to  The  Star  from  Liverpool 
says  that  the  name  and  nationality  of  the 
Nebraskan  were  painted  in  large  letters 
on  her  sides.    She  was  in  water  ballast. 

A  message  to  Lloyd's  says  that  an 
armed  trawler  went  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Nebraskan  and  stood  by  her  all  night. 

The  report  that  the  Nebraskan  had 
been  torpedoed  caused  surprise  to  Amer- 
ican officials  here.  Apparently  the  af- 
fair occurred  before  9  o'clock  last  night. 

Last  evening  was  clear,  and  the  period 
between  8  and  9  o'clock  is  the  twilight 
hour  in  the  British  islands  at  this  season. 

The  German  submarine  campaign  is 
continuing  actively.  Dispatches  fi'om 
Norway  state  that  the  people  of  that 
country  have  been  aroused  by  the  sink- 
ing last  week  of  the  Norwegian  steamer 
Minerva  and  the  attempt  to  torpedo  the 
Iris,  which  went  to  her  assistance. 

The  steamer  Cromer,  loaded  Avith  pas- 
sengers, had  a  narrow  escape  from  being 
torpedoed  while  bound  for  Rotterdam 
yesterday.  A  submarine  fired  a  torpedo 
without  warning.  It  missed  the  ship  by 
cnly  fifteen  yards.  According  to  the 
Captain's  story,  told  to  Rotterdam  corre- 
spondents, the  periscope  was  seen  500 
yards  distant,  and  then  the  wash  of  the 
torpedo,  which  was  moving  so  rapidly 
that  nothing  could  be  done  to  avoid  it. 
The  attack  occurred  at  a  point  four  miles 
north  of  North  Hinder  Lightship. 

The  first  netvs  of  the  Nebraskan  hav- 
ing been  disabled  off  the  southwest 
coast  of  Ireland  was  received  on  May  26, 
at  the  office  of  the  American-Hawaiian 
Line  in  a  message  from  the  Captain, 
which  read: 

Struck  by  either  mine  or  torpedo, 
forty-eight  miles  west  of  Fastnet.  Am 
steaming  under  convoy  to  Liverpool. 
Water  in  lower  hold.     No  one  injured. 

GREENE. 

Three  dispatches  concerning  the  Ne- 
braskan incident  were  received  at  the 
State    Department    at    Washington    on 


THE      NEW      BRITISH      COALITION      CABINET 


EARL  KITCHENER 
Secretary    of    State    for    War 

SIR  EDWARD  GREY 

Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 

Affairs 

BARON  BUCKMASTER 
Lord      Hieh     Chancellor 


MARQUESS  OF  LANSDOWNE 

Minister     Without     Portfolio 

H.   H.   ASQUITH 
Prime      Minister 

ARTHUR  J.  BALFOUR 
Fir8t    Lord   of   the    Admiralty 

WALTER   HUME  LONG 
President   of   the   Local    Gov- 
ernment   Board 


DAVID  LLOYD  GEORGE 

Minister   of    Munitions 

ANDREW  BONAR   LAW 
Secretary     for     the     Colonics 

WINSTON  S.  CHURCHILL 

Chancellor   of    the    Duchy    of 

Lancaster 


THE      NEW      BRITISH      COALITION      CABINET 


AUGUSTINE  BIRRELL 
Chief    Secretary    fox    Ireland 

SIR  EDWARD  CARSON 

Attorney    General 

THOMAS  McK.   WOOD 
Secretary  for  Scotland 

REGINALD  McKENNA 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 


AUSTEN  CHAMBERLAIN 

Secretary  for  India 

LEWIS  HARCOURT 

First  Commissioner  of  Works 

WALTER  RUNCIMAN 

President    of     i  ho     Hoard     of 

Tradr 

-  EARL  OF  SELHORNE 

President     of     t  hi-     Board     of 

AKricull  ure 


MARQUESS  OF  CREWE 
Lord  President  of  the  Council 

SIR  JOHN  SIMON 

Secretary   of  State   for    Home 

Affairs 

ARTHUR  HENDERSON 

President     of     the     Board     of 

Education 

EARL  CURZON 

Lord   Privy   Seal 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


629 


Map  indicating  sites  of  attacks  on  American  ships  or  American  lives  in  the  German 
submarine  war  zone.    The  damage  to  the  Nebraskan  was  sustained  on  May  25,  last. 


May  26 — one  from  Walter  H.  Page,  the 
American  Ambassador  in  London,  and 
two  from  Robert  P.  Skinner,  the  United 
States  Consul  General  in  London.  The 
dispatch  from  the  Ambassador  said: 

Urgent.  Report  at  midnight  last 
night  to  British  Admiralty  from  Lands 
End  states  that  American  steamer  Ne- 
braskan torpedoed  forty-five  miles  south 
by  west  of  Southcliffe,  crew  taking  to 
boats.  British  trawler  standing  by  now 
reports  Nebraskan  still  afloat  and  mak- 
ing for  Liverpool  with  four  holds  full 
of  water.     No  lives  reported  lost. 

The  first  dispatch  from  Consul  Gen- 
eral Skinner  was  as  follows: 


Admiralty  reports  American  steamer 
Nebraskan,  Liverpool  for  Delaware 
Breakwater,  torpedoed  forty  miles  south 
by  west  of  Fastnet.  Crew  in  boats. 
Standing  by.    Weather  fine. 

The  following  cablegram  came  from 
the  Consul  General: 

Nebraskan  proceeding  to  Liverpool 
under  own  steam  about  8V^  knots,  crew 
having  returned  on  board.  Apparently 
no  lives  lost.  Extent  of  damage  un- 
known. 

In  an  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
Crookhaven,  Ireland,  on  May  26,  this  re- 
port appeared: 

It  was  learned  today  that  a  submarine 


630 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


was  seen  last  night  off  the  southern 
coast  of  Ireland.  She  was  sighted  soon 
after  9  P.  M.,  near  Barley  Cove,  which  is 
about  ten  miles  from  Fastnet.  The  mis- 
hap to  the  steamer  Nebraskan  is  reported 
to  have  occurred  shortly  before  9  o'clock, 
about  forty  miles  from  Fastnet. 

A  steamer  was  seen  outside  Crook- 
haven,  which  lies  just  north  of  Barley 
Cove,  at  about  9  o'clock  last  night.  As 
she  approached  in  the  direction  of  Fast- 
net  Lighthouse  two  loud  reports  of  a  gun 
were  heard.  A  boat  in  Crookhaven  Har- 
bor went  in  the  direction  of  the  steamer 
which  put  about  and  was  lost  to  sight. 

Several  residents  of  Crookhaven  turned 
out  and  went  along  the  shore,  keeping  a 
sharp  lookout.  They  sighted  a  submarine 
off  Cove,  near  the  mouth  of  a  little  creek. 
One  of  the  men  on  shore  fired  two  shots 
with  a  rifle  at  the  man  in  the  conning 
tower  of  the  submarine.  The  submarine 
dived  immediately,  but  soon  rose  again 
further  out.  Three  more  shots  were  fired 
at  her  and  she  again  disappeared. 

The  detailed  report  on  the  Nebraskan 
incident  by  Lieutenant  Toivers  of  the 
American  Embassy  in  London,  as  sub- 
mitted by  Ambassador  Gerard  to  the 
State  Department,  is  thus  described  in  a 
Washington  dispatch  to  THE  New  York 
Times  of  June  16,  1915: 

Evidence  indicating  that  the  American 
steamer  Nebraskan  was  torpedoed  by  a 
German  submarine  on  May  25,  was  ob- 
tained by  the  State  Department  today 
when  it  received  a  long  mail  report  from 
Ambassador  Page  at  London  containing 
the  results  of  the  investigation  conducted 
by  the  American  Consul  General  at  Liv- 
repool  upon  the  arrival  of  the  Nebraskan 
at  that  port. 

Ambassador  Page's  mail  report  con- 
tained the  detailed  report  made  by  Lieu- 
tenant John  H.  Towers,  Naval  Attache 
of  the  American  Embassy  at  London, 
who  made  a  technical  and  expert  exam- 
ination of  the  Nebraskan  in  drydock  at 
Liverpool.  Lieutenant  Towers's  report 
contained  a  number  of  photographs  of  the 
shattered  fore  section  of  the  hull  of  the 
Nebraskan,  but  the  most  interesting  fea- 
ture of  the  report  consisted  of  exhibits  in 


the  form  of  what  Secretary  Lansing  de- 
scribed as  "  fragments  of  metal." 

While  officials  would  not  make  known 
the  character  of  these  fragments  or  the 
details  of  the  report  until  they  had  op- 
portunity to  carefully  examine  the  data, 
it  was  learned  tonight  that  the  report 
indicated  that  the  Nebraskan  was  tor- 
pedoed, and  that  the  fragments  sent  with 
the  report  consisted  of  portions  of  the 
shell  of  a  torpedo,  which  were  found  in 
the  hull  of  the  Nebraskan. 

The  report  also  contained  the  deposi- 
tions of  three  of  the  officers  of  the  Ne- 
braskan, taken  by  the  Consul  at  Liver- 
pool, including  the  statement  of  the  Cap- 
tain and  the  Chief  Engineer.  The  latter 
stated  that  at  8:24  o'clock  on  the  night 
of  May  25,  after  the  flag  of  the  Nebras- 
kan had  been  hauled  down,  he  observed  a 
white  streak  in  the  water  perpendicular 
to  the  ship  on  the  starboard  side  and  a 
severe  shock  was  almost  instantly  felt, 
followed  by  a  violent  explosion  abreast  of 
No.  1  hold. 

The  report  of  Lieutenant  Towers 
showed  that  the  hatch  covers  of  No.  1 
hold  were  blown  off,  also  the  cargo 
booms  above  it,  and  that  the  bottom 
plating  and  pieces  of  the  side  of  the 
ship  were  blown  up  through  two  decks 
of  the  ship. 

THE  "  FRAGMENTS   OF  METAL  " 
The  following  appeared  as   a   special 
dispatch  from  Washington  to  The  New 
York  Times,  dated  June  17: 

Despite  the  extreme  secrecy  of  offi- 
cials, indications  were  abundant  in 
Washington  tonight  that  the  case  of  the 
American  steamer  Nebraskan,  believed 
to  have  been  torpedoed  by  a  German 
submarine,  was  assuming  great  im- 
portance in  the  eyes  of  the  United 
States  Government.  One  evidence  of 
this  is  found  in  the  unusual  pains  that 
are  being  taken  to  determine  by  indis- 
putable evidence  whether  the  Nebraskan, 
which  was  damaged  by  an  external  ex- 
plosion off  Fastnet  Rock,  on  May  25, 
was  the  victim  of  a  torpedo  or  a  mine. 

Despite  the  reports  forwarded  by  Am- 
bassador Page,  the  Administration  is  un- 
willing to  base  its  conclusions  in  the  Ne- 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


6.-51 


braskan  case  on  the  verbal  evidence  it 
already  possesses.  It  has  determined 
upon  an  independent  expert,  technical, 
and  scientific  examination  of  the  "  frag- 
ments of  metal  "  that  have  been  sent  by 
Ambassador  Page,  in  conjunction  with 
the  photographs  that  have  been  re- 
ceived. This  investigation  is  being  con- 
ducted by  experts  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment, and  will  probably  take  about  ten 
days.  Robert  Lansing,  the  Secretary  of 
State  ad  interim,  refused  tonight  to  di-s- 
cuss  the  "  fragments  of  metal "  received 
from  Ambassador  Page  in  connection 
with  the  Nebraskan  case  further  than 
to  say  that  the  reports  received  yester- 
day, with  the  photographs  and  accom- 
panying exhibits,  had  been  referred  to 
the  Navy  Department.  Josephus  Dan- 
iels, Secretary  of  the  Navy,  said  tonight 
that  the  report  had  been  referred  to  ex- 
perts of  the  Navy  Department  for  a 
confidential  report  to  be  submitted  to 
the  State  Depaitment. 

Neither  at  the  State  Department  nor 
from  any  official  or  officer  of  the  Navy 
Department  was  it  possible  to  obtain 
any  further  clue  as  to  the  character 
of  the  reports. 

It  was  learned  that  the  reports  ac- 
companying the  set  of  photographs  and 
"  fragments  of  metal "  were  not  the 
original  reports  en  the  Nebraskan  case, 
made  by  Lieutenants  Towers  and  Mc- 
Bride,  which  were  received  by  the  State 
Department  last  week,  but  were  in  the 
nature  of  a  second  set  of  supplementary 
reports,  based  on  actual  examination  of 
the  battered  bow  of  the  Nebraskan  and 
the  technical  examination  of  the  interior 
of  her  forward  compartment.  This  ex- 
amination was  made  by  Lieutenant.s 
Towers  and  McBride,  while  the  Nebras- 
kan was  in  a  drydock  at  Liverpool. 
Photographs  of  the  interior  and  exterior 
of  the  steamer's  hull  were  taken  by  the 
naval  experts. 

The  "  fragments  "  in  question  will  be 
analyzed  metallurgically  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  precisely  what  metal 
they  contain.     Generally  speaking,  tor- 


pedoes are  made  of  a  higher  grade  of 
metal,  within  and  without,  than  that 
used  in  the  construction  of  mines.  The 
exterior  metal  of  torpedoes  consists  of 
nickel  steel  and  copper,  and  the  interior 
mechanism  includes  the  same  kinds  of 
metal  and  brass.  The  exterior  shell  of  a 
mine  is  generally  made  of  less  expen- 
sive material,  such  as  galvanized  iron, 
but  the  interior  mechanism  and  clock- 
work are  of  finer  metal. 

In  the  examination  being  conducted 
by  the  Navy  Department  the  metallur- 
gical nature  of  the  fragments  will  be 
ascertained  after  their  size,  shape,  con- 
tour and  character  have  been  very  care- 
fully studied  by  a  large  number  of  naval 
experts  who  will  endeavor  to  ascertain 
not  only  the  character  of  the  naval  en- 
gine of  destruction  these  fragments 
once  fitted,  but  also  the  particular  por- 
tion of  torpedo  or  mine  the  fragments 
constituted.  These  studies  and  tests  are 
to  be  conducted  partly  in  the  Navy  De- 
partment, partly  at  the  Washington 
Navy  Yard,  partly  at  the  naval  proving 
grounds  at  Indian  Head,  Md.,  and  partly 
at  the  experimental  station  at  the  Naval 
Academy  at  Annapolis. 

All  the  naval  experts  in  Washington 
qualified  to  have  a  hand  in  the  tests 
will  be  utilized.  There  are  some  naval 
experts  outside  of  Washington,  within 
a  few  days'  reach  of  the  city,  who  v/ill 
be  summoned  here  to  participate  in  the 
examination  It  is  understood  the  ex- 
amination will  continue  about  ten  days 
before  any  report  can  be  formulated  for 
submission  to  the  State  Department. 

While  this  unusual  care  is  being  exer- 
cised in  the  tests  of  the  fragments,  it  is 
understood  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
conclusions  thus  far  drawn  in  the  re- 
ports to  indicate  that  the  fragments  were 
once  part  of  a  mine,  and  that  the  reports 
as  they  stand  indicate  that  the  Nebras- 
kan was  hit  by  a  torpedo.  This  is  the 
conclusion  the  Administration  is  expected 
to  draw  from  the  evidence  unless  the 
technical  examination  of  the  fragments 
nullifies  this  evidence. 


Dr.  Meyer-Gerhard's  Mission 


In  a  cable  dispatch  from  Berlin,  via 
London,  dated  June  2,  1915,  the  follow- 
ing complaint  of  lack  of  official  news 
from  Washington  and  of  m.eans  for  ob- 
tainig  it  ivas  made  known  by  the  Ger- 
man Government: 

The  German  Foreign  Office  is  unable 
to  communicate  with  Count  von  Bern- 
storff,  the  Ambassador  at  Washington, 
except  by  wireless  in  plain  language,  and 
even  this  mode  of  communication  is  un- 
certain during  periods  when  the  static 
conditions  of  the  atmosphere  are  un- 
favorable. 

Reports  which  reach  the  newspapers  are 
regarded  with  suspicion,  not  only  be- 
cause they  come  exclusively  through 
British  channels,  but  on  account  of  their 
contradictory  character. 

One  set  of  reports  intimates  that  the 
German  counter-proposals  have  been 
found  to  harmonize  with  Mr.  Bryan's 
plan  of  providing  for  a  period  of  investi- 
gation in  cases  of  international  conflict, 
while  other  advices  reproduce  various 
American  editorials,  declaring  that  the 
German  note  is  utterly  unacceptable,  and 
demanding  that  steps  of  varying  degrees 
of  aggressiveness  be  taken. 

While  waiting,  the  time  is  being  util- 
ized by  some  of  the  more  aggressive  Ger- 
man newspapers  and  writers  of  the  type 
of  Reventlow  to  launch  abusive  articles 
against  the  United  States  and  President 
Wilson's  policy,  but  the  press  and  public 
generally  seem  desirous  of  avoiding  any- 
thing which  might  increase  the  tension 
between  the  two  Governments  while  the 
German  note  is  under  consideration.  In 
this  they  are  acting  in  complete  accord 
with  the  Foreign  Office,  which  apparent- 
ly is  sincerely  anxious  to  preserve  friend- 
ly relations  with  the  United  States  and 
deprecates  any  publication  which  would 
tend  to  inflame  the  feelings  either  in 
Germany  or  America. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Foreign  Office  would  rejoice  at  a  solu- 


tion consfstent  with  German  interests, 
and  it  is  considered  here  that  one  of  the 
unfortunate  features  of  the  situation  is 
the  inability  of  the  Foreign  Office  to 
cope  with  the  chronic  firebrands  of  the 
press. 

This  complaint  was  followed  by  the 
news,  published  by  The  Chicago  Herald 
on  June  4,  that  a  special  arrangement 
had  been  effected  by  Ambassador  Bern- 
storff  in  his  conference  with  President 
Wilson  on  June  2,  as  follows: 

With  the  approval  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  Count  von  Bernstorff, 
the  German  Ambassador  in  Washing- 
ton, has  sent  a  special  agent  to  Berlin 
to  discuss  the  American  view  of  the 
Lusitania  tragedy  with  the  German  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  agent  is  Dr.  Anton  Meyer-Ger- 
hard. He  sailed  today  for  Denmark.  It 
is  not  believed  that  his  voyage  will  be 
interfered  with.  Mr.  Gerhard's  connec- 
tion with  the  great  question  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany  has  been 
guarded  with  the  utmost  secrecy.  It 
leaked  out  only  when  inquiries  were 
made  regarding  his  departure  in  such  a 
hurry.  Mr.  Gerhard  himself  could  not 
be  seen. 

The  suggestion  that  Mr.  Gerhard  go 
to  Berlin  was  made  by  Count  von  Bern- 
storff to  the  President  at  the  White 
House  conference  on  Wednesday.  The 
Ambassador  described  to  the  President 
the  difficulties  he  experienced  in  trans- 
mitting information  to  his  Government. 
He  cannot  use  the  cables,  which  are  in 
the  possession  of  the  Allies.  So  far  as 
wireless  is  concerned,  conditions  make  it 
almost  impossible  to  send  anything  but 
the  briefest  dispatches.  As  a  result, 
Germany  is  not  well  informed  in  regard 
to  the  reasons  controlling  the  policy  of 
the  Administration  or  the  state  of  pub- 
lic sentiment.  If  his  Government  were 
adequately  informed  the  Ambassador  is 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


633 


confident  that  it  would  look  at  the  de- 
mands of  the  United  States  in  a  differ- 
ent fashion. 

The  President  apparently  appreciated 
the  view  presented  by  the  Ambassador. 
In  any  event,  he  authorized  him  to  send 
an  agent  to  Berlin,  and  it  is  presumed 
that  thereupon  he  was  apprised  of  the 
identity  of  the  man  selected.  Count  von 
Bernstorff  vouched  for  Mr.  Gerhard  as 
thoroughly  informed  on  the  entire  dip- 
lomatic situation  as  well  as  upon  the 
condition  of  public  sentiment.  In  ad- 
dition, he  is  carrying  full  explanatory 
reports   from    the    Ambassador   himself. 

[Dr.  Meyer-Gerhard  arrived  in  Berlin 


via  Copenhagen  on  June  16  and  reported 
at  the  German  Colonial  Office.  While 
en  route  The  Providence  Journal  and 
The  New  York  Tribune  published  stories, 
varying  in  detail,  to  the  effect  that  the 
L'nited  States  Government  had  been 
hoaxed  into  obtaining  safe  conduct  into 
Germany  for  a  Dr.  Alfred  Meyer,  re- 
ported to  be  a  German  buyer  of  muni- 
tions of  war  in  this  country,  either  under 
the  name  of  Dr.  Anton  Meyer-Gerhard, 
falsely  given,  or  under  Meyer-Gerhard's 
protection.  On  receiving  assurances  to 
the  contrary  from  Count  von  Bernstorff, 
Secretary  Lansing  announced  on  June  18 
that  the  charge  was  false.] 


Germany's  Press  Opinion 


Editorial  comment  of  the  German 
newspapers  on  President  Wilson's  note 
of  June  9  was  reported  by  The  Times 
staff  correspondent  in  Berlin  on  June  12 
as  being  "  surprisingly  restrained  and 
optimistic."  Captain  L.  Persius,  the 
naval  critic  of  the  Berliner  Tageblatt, 
which  is  close  to  Dr.  von  Bethmann-Holl- 
w eg,  writing  under  the  caption,  "On  the 
Way  to  an  Understanding,"  said: 

An  agreement  is  possible  and  the 
Washington  Government  shows  an  honest 
desire  to  arrive  at  an  agreement.  This 
is  characteristic  of  the  American  note. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  rattling  the 
sabre,  as  those  who  viewed  American 
statesmen  and  American  conditions 
rightly  anticipated.  The  hopes  of  our 
enemies  who  have  already  rejoiced  at  the 
thought  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  soon 
would  be  floating  beside  the  union  jack 
and  the  tricolor  are  proved  false,  and 
one  can  anticipate  that  the  answer  of 
our  Government  will  put  aside  that  last 
stumbling  block  to  doing  away  with  all 
differences.  The  note  indicates  that 
America  by  no  means  takes  the  position 
that  the  German  Admiralty  must  issue 
an  order  to  end  the  submarine  warfare 
before   any  negotiations  can   be   entered 


upon.  Giving  up  submarine  warfare  is 
only  hinted  at  by  implication.  Ger- 
many's humanity  is  appealed  to  entirely 
in  general  terms  and  merely  the  expecta- 
tion is  expressed  that  the  lives  of  Amer- 
ican citizens  and  their  property  will  be 
spared  in  the  future. 

A  willingness  is  expressed  to  help 
make  England  give  up  the  plan  to  starve 
out  Germany.  The  giving  up  of  the  at- 
tempt to  starve  Germany  out  on  the 
part  of  England  is  the  most  important 
point  for  us.  The  main  interest  will 
centre  in  future  upon  it.  Will  England 
declare  herself  ready  to  return  to  the 
basis  of  the  London  Declaration  ?  Will 
.she  no  longer  place  any  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  neutral  commerce,  and  in 
particular  will  she  remove  the  declara- 
tion of  the  North  Sea  as  a  war  zone? 
We  will  wait  and  see  if  the  English 
statesmen  have  learned  that  Germany 
can't  be  starved.  We  can  await  Great 
Britain's  decision  with  quietness. 

The  evening  edition  of  the  Vossische 
Zeitung  said: 

President  Wilson's  note  creates  no  new 
situation  between  Germany  and  America, 
but  its  honorable  and  carefully  weighed 


634 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


tone  will  help  to  clear  up  the  existing 
situation.  There  can  be  no  difference  of 
opinion  about  Mr.  Wilson's  final  aim — 
that  the  lives  of  peaceful  neutrals  must 
be  kept  out  of  danger.  What  we  can  do 
and  what  America  must  do  to  achieve 
this  will  require  negotiations  between  us 
and  America,  which  must  be  conducted 
with  every  effort  toward  being  just  and 
by  maintaining  our  standpoint  in  the 
friendliest  spirit. 

The  Lokalanzeiger  commented: 

The  colored  reports  spread  by  our 
enemies  are  not  borne  out  by  the  text, 
which  contains  no  trace  of  an  ultimatum. 
The  tone  is  friendly  and  free  from  all 
brusqueness.  The  contents  are  only  a  re- 
writing of  the  earlier  standpoint,  and  it 
will  be  a  matter  for  further  negotiations 
to  state  again  the  arguments  advanced 
by  Germany  and  to  justify  them.  It 
would  be  premature  to  comment  on  indi- 
vidual points,  particularly  those  of  a 
technical  nature.  One  can  rejoice,  how- 
ever, that  the  Wilson  note  is  so  couched 
as  not  to  preclude  a  possibility  for  fur- 
ther negotiations  promising  success. 

He  gives  the  German  Government  an 
opportunity  to  send  further  proofs  in  the 
Lusitania  case  and  declares  his  willing- 
ness to  negotiate  between  Germany  and 
England  relative  to  mutual  concessions 
having  a  bearing  on  submarine  warfare. 
This  offer,  to  be  sure,  would  have  been 
decidedly  more  valuable  if  he  had  ex- 
pressed a  willingness  to  take  the  initia- 
tive. But  be  that  as  it  may,  in  the  fur- 
ther negotiations  America  will  see  that 
on  the  German  side  exists  an  honorable 
desire  to  deal  with  friendly  suggestions 
in  a  friendly  spirit.  In  any  event,  the 
situation  resulting  from  the  American 
note  is  such  that  it  is  apparent  that  in 
the  statement  trumpeted  abroad  that 
America  had  also  entered  the  ranks  of 
our  enemies  the  wish  was  father  to  the 
thought. 

The  widely  read  Mittag  Zeitung  said 
of  the  note: 

The  alarming  messages  which  the 
Reuter  Bureau  appended  to  the  Bryan 
resignation  must  be  all  taken  back  to- 
day.   There  is  neither  an  ultimatum  nor 


any  threatening  language  toward  Ger- 
many in  the  note.  To  be  sure,  the  differ- 
ence between  America's  and  Germany's 
conception  of  the  submarine  warfare  re- 
main. The  Americans  for  the  present 
simply  will  not  see  that  the  best  protec- 
tion against  endangering  the  lives  of 
American  citizens  is  for  Americans  not 
to  go  aboard  English  ships. 

Over  the  question  of  whether  the  Lusi- 
tania carried  ammunition  or  not,  which 
for  us  is  not  in  question,  the  present  in- 
quiry will  throw  some  light.  In  any  case, 
the  English  hope  and  prophecy  that  the 
new  note  would  mean  a  rupture  in  the 
German-American  negotiations  have  not 
been  fulfilled.  For  everything  else  we 
can  wait  with  calmness. 

The  morning  edition  of  the  Vossiche 
Zeitung,  coynmenting  on  the  summary, 
merely  said: 

The  contents  and  tone  of  this  note 
make  it  inexplainable  that  the  break  be- 
tween Wilson  and  Bryan  was  on  its  ac- 
count. After  Bryan's  declarations  we 
had  expected  a  note  which  might  conjure 
up  danger  of  a  German-American  war. 
Mr.  Bryan,  who  heads  all  the  American 
peace  associations  and  likes  to  hear  him- 
self popularly  referred  to  as  the  Prince 
of  Peace,  apparently  wants  to  appear  as 
the  savior  from  this  danger  for  reasons 
of  internal  politics,  so  as  to  win  peace 
friends  among  the  Gei*man-Americans, 
Irish,  and  Jews  with  a  view  to  the  Demo- 
cratic Presidential  nomination.  Mr.  Wil- 
son, on  the  other  hand,  hopes  as  nego- 
tiator between  England  and  Germany  to 
play  the  role  of  arbiter  mundi  and 
through  a  great  success  in  foreign  politics 
assure  his  position  at  home.  The  new 
Secretary,  Mr.  Lansing,  has  been  long 
considered  a  coming  man.  He  has  by  no 
means  been  considered  an  out-and-out 
friend  of  England. 

The  M  or  gen  Post,  in  a  particularly 
sane  two-column  editorial,  expresses  Ger- 
m,any's  genuine  satisfaction  over  Amer- 
ica's hearty  offer  of  good  offices,  and 
says : 

There  is  no  tinge  of  threat  or  high- 
handed tone  toward  Germany  in  the  note. 
On  the  contrary,  its  tone  is  quiet  though 
earnest  throughout,  and  in  several  places 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


e7>5 


it  strikes  a  note  of  whole-hearted  friend- 
ship and  seeks  to  leave  a  way  open  for 
further  friendly  negotiations.  No  doubt 
the  German  Government  will  accept 
America's  proffered  good  offices  with 
pleasure.  It  will  be  interesting  to  see 
what  attitude  the  English  will  now  take. 
If  they  will  revise  the  contraband  list  set 
up  by  themselves  and  desist  from  making 
difficulties  for  neutral  commerce  with 
Germany,  and,  above  all,  let  foodstuffs 
and  textile  raw  materials  through  un- 
hindered to  Germany,  then  so  far  as  we 
are  concerned  the  submarine  warfare  can 
cease. 

Let  the  English  continue  to  violate  in- 
ternational law  whereby  they  forced  us 
to  resort  to  the  use  of  the  submarine  as 
a  weapon  against  their  commerce,  and 
we  will  never  allow  ourselves  to  be  per- 
suaded to  give  up  this  weapon,  the  only 
one  we  have  to  protect  us  against  viola- 
tion at  the  hands  of  England  and  with 
which  we  can  punish  England  for  her  un- 
lawful conduct.  Should  America's  good 
offices  prove  to  be  in  vain  it  will  be  not 
ours  but  England's  fault,  and  the  Amer- 
icans will  then  readily  understand  that 
the  reproach  of  an  inhuman  mode  of  war- 
fare must  be  laid  at  the  doors  of  England 
and  not  Germany. 

It  will  soon  be  seen  whether  President 
Wilson  employs  the  same  measure  of 
energy  against  the  English  as  against  us. 
We  sincerely  hope  so  because  of  the 
friendly,  hearty  tone  of  his  note.  "  The 
American  Government  cannot  admit  that 
the  proclamation  of  a  war  zone  may  be 
made  to  abbreviate  the  rights  of  Amer- 
ican citizens?  "  Really  not?  We  recall 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  England 
declared  the  whole  North  Sea  as  a  war 
zone  and  the  Americans  did  not  get  ex- 
cited at  that  time.  We  had  a  right  to 
protest  bitterly  at  America's  attitude 
then,  but  we  will  forget  about  it  at  the 
present  moment.  America  has  proffered 
her  good  offices,  and  we  will  not  doubt 
that  her  intentions  are  honorable  and 
meant  in  good  faith. 

Paul  Michaelis,  in  the  Tageblatt,  said: 

It   is   certain   that  the   note   does   not 

simplify  the  serious  situation,  and  it  is 

equally    certain   that    it    does    not    com- 


pletely bar  the  way  to  a  peaceful  and 
friendly  understanding.  The  American 
Government  holds  fast  to  the  principle 
that  submarine  warfare  on  merchant- 
men is  inconsistent  with  the  principles 
of  justice  and  humanity,  but  the  Ger- 
man Government  has  never  left  the 
slightest  doubt  that  it  only  decided  on 
the  submarine  warfare  because  the 
English  method  of  scorning  all  previous 
rules  of  naval  warfare  forced  Germany 
to  a  counter-war  on  commerce  with  the 
submarine.  . 

But  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why 
the  German  and  American  Governments 
should  not  get  together  in  a  joint  dis- 
cussion looking  toward  some  other  form 
of  naval  warfare.  This  presupposes  that 
England,  which  took  the  first  step  in 
the  commerce  war,  also  takes  the  first 
step  to  end  it.  At  the  same  time  the 
question  must  be  investigated  of  how 
ammunition  shipments  to  our  enemies 
can  be  reconciled  with  the  eternal  prin- 
ciples of  humanity  featured  by  the 
American  note. 

While  there  may  be  some  practical  dif- 
ficulties, there  can  be  no  doubt  of  Ger- 
many's willingness  to  help  to  bring  about 
a  modification  of  the  naval  war  along 
more  humane  lines.  The  answer  to  the 
American  note  must,  of  course,  take 
most  carefully  into  account  all  the  dip- 
lomatic, political,  and  military  exigen- 
cies, and  it  will  be  several  weeks  before 
it  is  ready  to  be  handed  to  the  American 
Ambassador,  especially  as  we  must  wait 
to  hear  Dr.   Meyer-Gerhard. 

But  it  must  be  said  now  that  the  Ger- 
man people,  now,  as  formerly,  lay  great 
value  on  a  continuation  of  unclouded  re- 
lations with  the  United  States,  whose 
war  for  freedom  it  once  greeted  with  re- 
joicing, and  within  whose  borders  mill- 
ions of  Germans  have  found  a  new  home. 

Coiint  Reventlow,  Germany's  "  enfant 
terrible,"  who  has  been  a  consistent  thorn 
in  the  flesh  of  the  German  Foreign  Of- 
fice because  of  his  anti-American  utter- 
ances, struck  a  surprisingly  restrained 
and  moderate  tone  in  the  Tageszeitung : 

The  question  is  not  how  it  may  be 
possible  to  do  away  with  all  differences 
of  opinion  under  all  circumstances,  but 


636 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


whether  it  is  at  all  possible  to  do  away 
with  them  without  rendering  the  sub- 
marine war  impotent.  This  standpoint 
contains  nothing  unfriendly,  nothing 
brusque  against  the  United  States.  The 
practical  question  remains  whether  we 
can  preserve  our  German  standpoint  and 
still  come  to  an  understanding  with 
America.  If  Mr.  Wilson  holds  to  his 
non-recognition  of  the  war  zone,  with  all 
its  corollaries,  then  we  cannot  see  how 
we  can  possibly  come  to  a  real  under- 
standing. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  question 
arises  whether  President  Wilson  would 
continue  to  cling  to  that  standpoint  if 
certain  modifications  and  mutual  guar- 
antees could  be  brought  about  which  un- 
der certain  circumstances  would  render 
American  passenger  traffic  safe. 

A  newspaper  war  between  advocates 
of  a  friendly  settlement  and  the  "no  com- 
promise "  representatives  soon  began  to 
rage.  Naval  writers  in  particular  urged 
that  Germany  could  not  afford  to  yield 
an  iota  regarding  the  principles  and  prac- 
tice of  submarine  warfare,  but  the  very 
violence  of  their  attacks  upon  the  advo- 
cates of  an  understanding  idicates  that 
the  latter  are  not  without  infhience. 

The  Cologne  Gazette  points  out  edito- 
rially that  the  German  press  in  general 
has  shown  satisfaction  that  President 
Wilson's  communication  offers  opportu- 
nity for  an  understanding,  and  expresses 
the  belief  that  diplomacy  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  will  work  with  zeal  and 
good-will  to  this  end.    It  adds: 

It  is  quite  certain  the  German  Govern- 
ment, at  least,  will  do  this,  and  will  be 
generally  supported  therein  by  the  peo- 
ple. It  would  be  pure  imbecility  to  seek 
to  drag  in  without  necessity  a  ninth  or 
tenth  enemy  for  ourselves,  even  though 
its  participation  in  the  war  should  be 
limited  to  supplying  the  Quadruple  Al- 
liance with  money  and  munitions.  We 
say  without  necessity;  for  recognition  of 
the  fact  that  Germany  is  acting  in  self- 
defense  in  using  the  torpedoes  of  its  sub- 
marines against  hostile  merchantmen  so 
long  as  England  maintains  its  business 
blockade  against  us  should,  we  believe, 
be  a  condition  which  the  United  States 


should   recognize  as   preliminary   to   ne- 
gotiations. 

In  a  leading  article  entitled  "  Bad  Ad- 
vice "  the  Cologne  Gazette  takes  the 
Lokalanzeiger  to  task  for  attempting  to 
palliate  the  British  "  starving-out  pol- 
icy "  and  exportations  from  Ameinca  of 
war  supplies.  Conceding  that  the  cutting 
off  of  supplies  is  an  accepted  method  of 
warfare,  it  states  that  international  law 
provides  expressly  that  this  weapon  may 
be  used  only  in  the  form  of  an  effective 
blockade.  It  holds  that  no  effective 
blockade  of  the  German  coasts  has  been 
declared,  however,  and  that  Germany 
therefore  is  deprived  of  the  possibility  of 
taking  action  against  blockading  ships. 

Regarding  the  exportation  of  muni- 
tions from  the  United  States,  the  Gazette 
adopts  the  argument  of  Philip  Zorn, 
German  member  of  The  Hague  Tribunals, 
that,  although  the  convention  adopted  at 
The  Hague  justifies  sales  by  private 
firms,  a  neutral  State  is  bound  to  pro- 
hibit sales  of  this  nature  when  the  com- 
merce in  arms  assumes  such  magnitude 
that  continuation  of  war  is  directly  de- 
pendent thereoyi.     He  says: 

"  That  the  German  representatives  [at 
The  Hague]  voted  in  favor  of  permis- 
sion to  deliver  arms  is  incontestable," 
the  article  continues,  "  but  there  is  a 
great  difference  between  stamping  ev- 
ery sale  of  arms  by  a  private  firm  in  a 
neutral  State  as  a  violation  of  interna- 
tional law — this  was  what  the  German 
representatives  objected  to — and  argu- 
ing that  to  supply  enormous  quantities 
to  one  group  of  belligerents  alone,  and 
to  devote  practically  the  entire  avail- 
able industry  of  a  country  thereto,  is 
consonant  with  the  spirit  of  true  neu- 
trality." 

Captain  von  Kuehlwetter,  the  naval  ex- 
pert of  the  Tag,  points  out  that  the 
American  note  passes  over  in  silence  the 
German  representations  regarding  the 
British  Admiralty's  instructions  to  mer- 
chantmen to  seek  cover  under  neutral 
flags  and  to  attack  submarines  under 
this  cover.  He  declares  this  is  the  kernel 
of  the  whole  argument  and  the  jxistifica- 
tion  for  the  German  policy.    He  adds: 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


687 


If  a  submarine  attacks  such  a  ship 
there  is  an  outcry  about  barbarians  who 
violate  international  law  and  endanger 
innocent    neutral    passengers,    but    if   a 


ship  attacks  a  submarine  then  it  is  a 
brave  act  of  a  daring  shipper,  to  whom  is 
given  a  commission,  a  gold  watch,  and 
a  diploma. 


Press  Opinion  of  the  Allies 


BRITISH  COMMENT. 

A.  G.  Gardiner,  editor  of  The  London 
Daily  News,  writing  in  that  paper  on 
June  12,  says  the  rupture  between  Pres- 
ident Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan  is  one  of 
the  great  landmarks  of  the  war.  He  goes 
on: 

Whatever  other  significance  the  event 
may  have,  it  is  conclusive  evidence  of 
the  failure  of  German  diplomacy  in 
America.  The  Kaiser  has  made  many 
miscalculations  about  nations  and  about 
men,  but  no  greater  miscalculation  than 
that  which  he  has  made  in  regard  to 
President  Wilson  and  the  United  States. 

He  is  not  alone  in  that.  There  has 
been  a  good  deal  of  ignorance  on  the 
same  subject  in  this  country.  In  the 
early  stages  of  the  war  there  was  a  mis- 
chievous clamor  against  the  United 
States  in  a  section  of  the  press,  which 
has  never  quite  got  rid  of  the  idea  that 
America  is  only  a  rather  rebellious  mem- 
ber of  our  own  household,  to  be  patron- 
ized when  it  does  what  we  want  and 
lectured  like  a  disobedient  child  when  it 
does   not. 

President  Wilson  has  assumed  in  these 
ill-informed  quarters  to  be  a  timid  aca- 
demic person,  so  different  from  that  mag- 
nificent tub  thumper,  Roosevelt,  who 
would  have  been  at  war  with  Mexico  in 
a  trice,  and  would,  it  was  believed,  have 
plunged  into  the  European  struggle  with 
or  without  an  excuse. 

If  there  was  misunderstanding  here  on 
this  subject,  we  cannot  be  surprised  that 
the  Kaiser  blundered  so  badly.  He,  too, 
believed  in  the  schoolmaster  view  of 
Woodrow  Wilson.  A  man  who  had  re- 
fused such  a  golden  opportunity  of  an- 
nexing Mexico  must  be  a  timid,  inverte- 
brate person,  who  had  only  to  be  bullied 
in  order  to  do  what  he  was  told.     More- 


over, was  there  not  a  great  German 
population  to  serve  as  a  whip  for  the 
Presidential  blank  and  see  that  he  did 
not  send  the  polite,  the  gracious,  the 
supple  Prince  von  Biilow  to  Washington  ? 

That  courtly  gentleman  was  dis- 
patched to  Italy  to  charm  the  Italian 
Nation  into  quiescence.  For  the  Amer- 
icans he  needed  another  style  of  diplo- 
macy, and  he  sent  thither  the  stout  and 
rather  stupid  Dernburg  to  let  President 
Wilson  and  the  Americans  know  that 
Germany  was  a  very  rough  customer 
and  would  stand  no  nonsense  from  any- 
body. 

It  was  a  fatal  blunder,  the  blunder 
of  a  people  who  had  been  so  blinded 
by  materialism  that  they  do  not  seem 
to  have  so  much  as  the  consciousness 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  moral 
strength  on  earth.  No  one  who  had 
followed  with  intelligent  understanding 
the  career  of  President  Wilson  could 
have  doubted  that  he  had  to  deal  with  a 
man  of  iron,  a  man  with  a  moral  pas- 
sion as  fervid  as  that  of  his  colleaguo 
Bryan,  but  with  that  passion  informed 
by  wide  knowledge  and  controlled  by 
a  masterful  will,  a  quiet,  still  man,  who 
does  not  live  with  his  ear  to  the  ground 
and  his  eye  on  the  weathercock,  who  re- 
fuses to  buy  popularity  by  infinite  hand- 
shaking and  robustous  speech,  but  comes 
out  to  action  from  a  sanctuary  of  his 
own  thoughts,  where  principle  and  not 
expediency  is  his  counselor. 

It  is  because  no  man  in  a  conspicuous 
position  of  the  democratic  world  today 
is  so  entirely  governed  by  principle  and 
by  moral  sanctions  that  President  Wilson 
if  not  merely  the  first  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  but  the  first  citizen  of 
the  world. 

The  Daily  Chronicle  says: 

President  Wilson's  note  gives  Germany 


688 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


every  opportunity  of  saving  her  face  if 
she  desires  to  do  so.  Not  only  is  it 
phrased  in  the  most  friendly  terms,  but 
it  invites  a  submission  of  further  evi- 
dence regarding  the  Lusitania's  alleged 
guns  and  even  the  resumption  of  nego- 
tiations with  Great  Britain  through 
American  intermediacy.  Here  are  the 
vistas  of  a  negotiation  which  might  keep 
the  diplomatists  of  Berlin  and  Washing- 
ton happily  employed  till  the  war  is 
over;  only  the  President  insists  once 
more  that  the  submarine  outrages  must 
stop  while  the  negotiations  are  in  prog- 
ress. It  is  this  last  point,  firmly  sub- 
mitted at  the  end  of  the  note,  which 
gives  significance  to  the  whole.  Obvi- 
ously, without  it  the  note  would  be 
nothing  but  an  abdication  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  and  it  is  because  it  is 
not  that  Mr.  Bryan  disapproves  it. 

We  do  not  question  the  sincerity  of 
Mr.  Bryan's  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
arbitration;  but  it  is  strange  that  he 
does  not  see  what  a  disservice  he  does 
to  arbitration  by  accepting  and  preach- 
ing a  travesty  of  it.  ^Tien  there  is  litti- 
gation  between  individuals  over  an  al- 
leged wrong,  the  first  condition  is  that 
the  wrong  shall  stop  for  the  interim — a 
result  effected  through  an  interim  in- 
junction between  nations.  There  is  no 
judge  to  grant  such  an  injunction.  It 
has  to  be  obtained  by  mutual  consent 
unless  it  is  obtained  by  arbitration.  It 
simply  means  a  license  to  the  wrongdoer 
to  continue  his  wrongdoing  for  as  long 
as  he  can  make  the  arbitration  last, 
which,  where  the  time  is  important,  will 
be  all  that  he  wants.  To  accept  such  a 
doctrine,  as  Mr.  Bryan  apparently  does, 
is  simply  to  put  a  premium  on  the  wrong- 
doing and  a  very  heavy  discount  on  arbi- 
tration. 

The  Morning  Post  comments  as  fol- 
lows : 

Mr.  Bryan  resigned,  according  to  his 
own  explanation,  because  he  thought 
President  Wilson's  note  to  Germany 
would  endanger  the  cause  of  peace.  It 
might,  therefore,  have  been  supposed 
that  the  American  note  was  to  be  a 
departure  from  the  previous  American 
policy;  but  now  that  President  Wilson's 


note  is  published  we  are  puzzled  to  find 
the  reason  for  Mr.  Bryan's  action.  The 
note  contains  nothing  new;  it  merely 
affirms  in  a  friendly  manner  the  posi- 
tion taken  up  by  the  United  States — a 
position  founded  upon  the  generally  ac- 
cepted principles  of  international  law. 
It  testates  the  claim  which  America  has 
always  made,  that  a  belligerent  has 
no  right  to  sink  a  presumably  innocent 
merchantman  and  endanger  the  lives  of 
its  crew  and  passengers,  but  must  first 
determine  the  character  of  its  cargo  and 
establish  its  contraband  nature  and  must 
secure  the  safety  of  the  people  on  board. 
This  is  obviously  a  stand  in  the  cause 
of  humanity.  We  might  call  it  the  ir- 
reducible minimum  of  the  rights  of 
neutrals;  for  it  is  clear  that,  if  a  Gov- 
ernment allows  its  subjects  to  be  slain 
in  cold  blood  and  its  ships  to  be  destroy- 
ed, it  abandons  the  primary  function  of 
a  Government. 

The  Daily  Mail  says: 

The  first  impression  made  upon  most 
readers  of  the  new  American  note  to 
Germany  will  be,  we  suspect,  that  it  is 
extremely  polite  and  quite  harmless. 
They  will  ask  in  wonder  what  Mr.  Bryan 
could  have  found  in  it  sufficiently  men- 
acing to  call  for  his  resignation.  To 
many  people  it  will  seem  that  Mr.  Bryan 
altogether  misjudged  the  effect  of  the 
American  reply.  They  will  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  believe  that  any  diplomatic  dis- 
patch could  in  the  circumstances  be 
more  courteous  or  more  restrained.  It 
observes  all  the  forms  of  international 
politeness,  with,  if  anj^hing,  almost  ex- 
aggerated punctiliousness. 

Yet  it  is  possible  that  Mr.  Bryan  is 
an  nearly  right  as  he  ever  is.  The  vital 
passages  in  the  note  are  those  in  which 
the  United  States  Government  "  very 
earnestly  and  very  solemnly  renews  the 
representations  of  its  note  "  of  May  15, 
and  again  asks  for  assurances  that 
American  lives  and  American  ships  shall 
not  be  endangered  on  the  high  seas.  In 
other  words,  the  United  States  still 
presses  for  an  official  disavowal  of  the 
acts  of  German  submarine  command- 
ers, still  demands  reparation  for  the 
American  lives  lost  in  the  Lusitania,  and 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


639 


still  calls  for  a  promise  that  no  similar 
outrage  will  be  perpetrated  in  future. 

The  Daily  Telegraph  says: 

The  note  presented  to  Germany  on  be- 
half of  the  United  States  Government 
is  a  firm  and  courteous  document — the 
courtesy  at  least  as  obvious  as  the  firm- 
ness— stating  the  position  of  the  Presi- 
dent very  much  on  the  lines  expected, 
and  leaving  us  to  wonder  even  more  than 
we  did  before  why  Bryan  thought  it 
necessary  to  resign  his  Secretaryship. 
The  spirit  of  the  second  note  is  exactly 
that  of  the  first. 

Following  is  The  London  Times  com- 
ment : 

The  gist  of  President  Wilson's  note 
lies  in  the  last  half  dozen  words  and 
proceeds.  It  remains  to  be  seen  what 
answer  will  be  made  to  this  categorical 
demand.  The  general  opinion  in  the 
United  States  appears  to  be  that  it  will 
not  be  a  refusal.  Germany,  it  is  thought, 
will  begin  by  making  concessions  enough 
to  prevent  the  abrupt  conclusion  of  con- 
versations, and  will  finally  extend  them 
sufficiently  to  preserve  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Republic. 

It  would  be  rash  to  express  a  decided 
view,  but  we  shall  not  be  surprised 
should  this  forecast  prove  to  be  correct. 
The  feeling  in  Germany  is  very  bitter 
against  the  Government  and  people  of 
the  United  States;  but  it  seems  unlikely 
that  the  Government  in  Berlin  will  allow 
the  ill-temper  of  the  public  to  influence 
its  conduct.  The  semi-official  Lokalan- 
zeiger  is  already  deprecating  an  un- 
friendly attitude  toward  the  United 
States.  There  is  nothing  in  the  note  to 
suggest  that  a  policy  such  as  the  Amer- 
ican newspapers  seem  to  expect  from 
Germany  would  be  doomed  to  failure. 
The  American  people,  we  are  told,  are 
determined  to  attain  their  ends,  but  they 
welcome  every  prospect  of  attaining 
them  by  peaceful  means. 

The  note,  it  is  observed,  not  only  does 
not  shut  out  further  conversations,  but 
gives  a  distinct  opening  for  them  by  its 
treatment  of  von  Jagow's  renewed  inti- 
mation that  Germany  would  gladly  ac- 
cept American  good  offices  in  negotia- 


tions with  this  country  as  to  the  char- 
acter and  conditions  of  maritime  war. 
The  Wilhelmstrasse  can  discover  in  this 
and  some  other  passages  material  for 
procrastination  if  it  so  desires. 

PRAISE  FROM  CANADA. 

The  Daily  Standard  of  Kingston,  Ont., 
commenting  on  June  11,  says: 

President  Wilson's  second  message  to 
Germany  will  rank  with  his  first  one  as 
a  document  that  at  once  convinces  and 
convicts — convinces  of  the  sincerity  of 
the  President  that  he  is  "  contending 
for  nothing  less  high  and  sacred  than  the 
rights  of  humanity,"  and  convicts  the  na- 
tion to  whom  it  is  addressed  of  being 
responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  men, 
women,  and  children  on  the  Lusitania 
were  sent  to  their  death  under  circum- 
stances "  unparalleled  in  modern  war- 
fare." 

The  note  is  not  only  dignified  and 
statesmanlike,  but  it  breathes  a  spirit 
of  tolerance  and  Christianity  that  is  as 
noteworthy  as  it  is  admirable.  There 
is  in  it  not  even  a  suggestion  of  a  threat, 
no  word  of  bluster,  no  breath  of  jingo- 
ism. It  is  sound,  sensible,  firm,  reso- 
lute, self-contained,  magnanimous  even. 
It  does  not  incite  to  war,  but,  instead, 
appeals  to  the  highest  principles  of  jus- 
tice and  right. 

But  though  the  words  are  conciliatory 
and  the  spirit  admirable,  there  is  not 
the  least  abatement  of  the  insistence 
upon  the  principles  which  the  President 
formulated  in  his  earlier  message  and 
laid  down  for  the  guidance  of  Germany 
and  for  the  protection  of  the  American 
people.  The  way  is  now  open  to  Ger- 
many either  for  peace  or  for  war.  The 
decision  is  left  with  her. 

FRENCH  COMMENT. 

The  Temps  of  June  12  says: 
Germany  must  choose  between  having 
the  services  of  America  in  proposing  to 
the  Allies  a  moderation  of  their  block- 
ade, conducted  with  the  strictest  hu- 
manity, and  the  cessation  of  torpedoing 
neutral  ships,  the  continuation  of  which 
exposes  Germany  to  a  diplomatic  rup- 
ture with  the  United  States,  if  not  to 


640 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


war.      Assuredly    this    prospect    caused 
Bryan's  resignation. 

La  Liberie  says  of  the  note: 

It  is  in  every  way  worthy  of  a  great 
country  conscious  of  its  dignity,  its 
rights,  and  its  duties.  It  has  not  the 
tone  of  an  ultimatum,  since  it  is  couched 
in  courteous  terms,  but  it  is  energetic, 
and  it  requires  Germany  finally  to  cease 
recourse  to  false  expedients. 

The  Journal  des  Debats,  in  discussing 
the  note,  says: 

The  United  States,  representing  in  this 
case  the  civilized  world,  places  the  sacred 
rights  of  humanity  above  considerations 
of  the  military  order,  to  which  Germany 
subordinates  everything.  They  are  re- 
solved, so  far  as  concerns  American  sub- 
jects, to  have  those  rights  respected. 

The  essence  of  the  note  is,  first,  meas- 
ures required  by  humanity  must  be 
taken,  and  afterward,  if  desired,  will 
come  discussions  of  a  new  regulation  of 
naval  warfare.  If  Germany  insists  on 
putting  herself  outside  the  pale  of  hu- 
manity she  will  suffer  the  consequences. 

ITALIAN  COMMENT. 

The  Corriere  delta  Sera  of  June  12 
compares  the  attitude  of  Secretary  Bryan 
to  that  of  former  Premier  Giolitti,  leader 
of  the  party  which  sought  to  prevent  war 
with  Austria.  It  says  Mr.  Bryan's  action 
probably  will  have  the  same  effect  in 
America  that  Signor  Giolitti's  interven- 
tion   had    in    Italy,    and    that    it    will 


strengthen   public    opinion    in   favor   of 
President  Wilson. 

It  will  give  him  greater  power  in  this 
important  moment,  defeating  men  who 
are  ready  to  lower  the  prestige  and 
honor  of  the  country. 

The  Tribuna  says: 

The  United  States,  the  greatest  neu- 
tral nation,  has  with  this  document  as- 
sumed a  special  role,  that  is,  the  defense 
not  of  a  particular  group  or  interest, 
but  the  interest  of  civil  humanity;  to 
guard  those  principles  of  common  right 
which  above  any  particular  right  con- 
stitute the  sacred  patrimony  of  human- 
ity. She  raises  her  voice,  whose  firm- 
ness is  not  diminished  by  the  courtesy  of 
the  language. 

We  do  not  know  if  Germany  will  be 
able  to  understand  the  significance,  but 
if  she  does  not  she  will  commit  a  grave 
error — the  gravest  perhaps  in  the  im- 
mens2  series  made  by  her  in  this  war. 
Mr.  Wilson  seems  to  persevere  in  the 
hope  that  Germany  will  listen  to  the 
American  admonition.  Germany  must 
not  forget  that  the  longer  the  hope  the 
more  violent  will  be  the  reaction. 

The  Idea  Nazionale  says: 

The  note  is  not  only  not  a  declaration 
of  war  or  the  prelude  to  a  declaration 
of  war,  but  a  species  midway  of  humani- 
tarian sentimentalism  and  lawyerlike 
arguments  which  can  have,  at  least  for 
the  present,  but  one  consequence,  that 
of  encouraging  Germany  in  intransigen- 
tism — that  is,  the  maintenance  of  her 
point  of  view  regarding  naval  warfare. 


American  Comment  on  Mr. 
Bryan's  Resignation 


The  New  York  Times  of  June  14, 
1915,  presented  the  following  condensed 
quotations  condemning  unsparingly  Mr. 
Bryan's  retirement  from,  the  Secretary- 
ship of  State,  gathered  from  newspapers 
throughout  the  United  States,  and  classi- 


fied according  to  their  professions  of  po- 
litical faith: 

DEMOCRATIC  NEWSPAPERS. 
From  The  New  York  World. 

Unspeakable  treachery,  not  only  to  the 
President,  but  to  the  nation. 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


641 


From  The  Buffalo  Enquirer. 

If  Mr.  Bryan  goes  on,  he  will  share  the 
detestation  of  the  most  despised  charac- 
ter in  American  history. 

From  The  Buffalo  Courier. 

The  new  note  to  Germany  puts  Em- 
peror William  and  former  Secretary 
Bryan  in  the  same  hole. 

From  The  Utica  Observer. 

He  turns  tail  in  the  face  of  a  crisis  and 
seeks  refuge  by  counseling  dishonor. 

From    The    Louisville    Courier-Journal, 
(Henri/  Watterson.) 
Treason   to  the  country,  treachery  to 
his  party  and  its  official  head. 

From     The     Portland     (Me.)     Eastern 
Argus. 

Bryan's  announced  campaign  has  some- 
thing of  the  character  of  submarine  war- 
fare. 
From  The  Helena  (Mon.)  Independent. 

As  much  mistaken  in  this  instance  as 
in  years  gone  by. 

From  The  Lexington  (Ky.)  Herald. 

His  propaganda  is  designed  and  in- 
tended "  to  defeat  the  measures  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  "  in  vio- 
lation of  Section  5,  [of  the  law  of  trea- 
son.] 
From  The  Mobile  Register. 

If  Germany  is  misled  into  actions  still 
further  violative   of  our   rights,  the   re- 
sultant hostility  will  be  very  largely  at- 
tributable to  Mr.  Bryan. 
From  The  Columbia  (S.  C.)  State. 

The  President's  clear  head  may  now  be 
trusted   the    more    that   his    methods    of 
thinking  are  relieved  of  opposition  in  the 
Cabinet. 
From  The  Montgomery  Advertiser. 

He  will  go  back  to  his  first  love,  agita- 
tion. 
From  The  Richmond  Times-Dispatch. 

Wilson,  not  Bryan,  strikes  the  note  to 
which  the  hearts  of  the  American  people 
respond. 
From  The  Savannah  News. 

The  people  are  following  the  President 
and  not  Mr.  Bryan. 


From  The  Austin  (Texas)  Statesman. 

Mr.  Bryan's  diplomacy  has  not  been  of 
the  type  that  has  inspired  the  confidence 
of  the  American  people. 

From  The  Charleston  Netvs  and  Courier. 
The  bald  and  ugly  fact  will  remain — he 
deserted   his   chief   and   his   Government 
in  the  midst  of  an  international  crisis. 

From  The  Memphis  Commercial-Appeal. 
Mr.  Bryan's  views,  turned  into  a  na- 
tional    policy,      would      mean      national 
suicide. 

From  The  Brooklyn  Eagle. 

An  obstacle  has  seen  fit  to  remove  it- 
self; it  has  substituted  harmony  for  dis- 
cordance. 

From  The  Boston  Post. 

Mr.  Bryan  has  shabbily  infringed  that 
good  American  doctrine  that  politics 
should  end  at  the  water's  edge. 

From  The  Baltimore  Sun. 

The  Germans  torpedo  one  "  Nebras- 
kan."  Oh,  for  a  "  Busy  Bertha "  that 
could  effectually  dispose  of  the  other 
one! 

From  The  Charlotte  Observer. 

The  country  simply  was  afraid  of  him. 
From  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer. 

He  is  a  preacher  of  disloyalty. 
From  The  Chattanooga  Times. 

The  reason   given   for  his  resignation 
*     *     *     approximates       disloyalty,       if 
nothing  else;  a  monstrous  statement. 
From  The  New  Orleans  Times-Picayune. 

His  voluntary  resignation  will  give 
satisfaction. 

REPUBLICAN  NEWSPAPERS. 
From  The  New  York  Tribune. 

A  man  with  such  a  cheaply  commercial 
conception  of  the  post  held  by  so  long  a 
line    of    American     statesmen    was    by 
nature  disqualified  for  it. 
From  The  Nexv  York  Globe. 

Instead  of  promoting  a  peaceful  settle- 
ment, Mr.   Bryan  practically  throws  his 
influence  in  the  other  balance. 
From  The  Syracuse  Post-Standard. 

Billy  Sunday  in  the  wrong  niche. 


642 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


From  The  Rochester  Post-Express. 

Amazement  and  contempt  for  him 
grow. 

From  The  Pittsburgh  Gazette  Times. 

He  has  not  filled  the  place  with  dig- 
nity, ability,  or  satisfaction,  nor  yet  with 
fidelity;  a  cheap  imitation. 

From    The    Pittsburgh    Chronicle    Tele- 
graph. 
The  peace-piffle  and  grape- juice  states- 
man. 

From  The  Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

A  peace-at-any-price  man. 
From  The  Wilkes-Barre  Record. 

An  amazing,  an  astounding  blunder. 
From       The       Cincinnati       Commercial 
Tribune. 

The  seriousness  of  the  situation  is  all 
that  prevents  Mr.  Bryan's  foreign  policy 
from  being  laughable. 
From  The  Baltimore  American. 

The  country  wants  no  more  vapid  theo- 
rizing; it  wants  no  more  Bryanism. 
From  The  Hartford  C  our  ant. 

Those  newspapers  that  said  Mr.  Bryan 
was  in  bad  taste  made  a  slight  mistake. 
He  is  a  bad  taste. 

From     The    Augusta     (Me.)     Kennebec 
Journal. 

Impossible  for  a  man  of  Mr.  Bryan's 
ability  and  love  of  the  limelight  to  re- 
main longer  wholly  obscure  in  this  na- 
tional crisis. 
From  The  Portsmouth  (N.  H.)  Chronicle. 

Childish  policies  and  small  politics, 
even  if  the  Nobel  Peace  Prize  is  at  stake, 
must  not  be  considered  by  an  American 
statesman. 

From  The  Portland  (Me.)  Press. 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  get  out 
and  shut  up. 
From  The  Pater  son  Press. 

He  has  dealt  his   country  a   stunning 
blow. 
From  The  Lincoln  (Neb.)  State  Journal. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Mr.  Bryan  to 
shut  his  eyes  to  arguments  and  facts 
when  he  reaches  the  ecstacy  of  senti- 
mental conviction. 


From  The  Omaha  Bee. 

His  action  may  have  a  weakening 
effect  on  our  position. 

From  The  Nebraska  City  (Neb.)  Press. 

Knowing  his  disposition  to  watch  out 
for  the  main  chance  *  *  *  that  Mr. 
Bryan  will  be  a  candidate  for  the  Senate 
from  Nebraska  is  almost  a  foregone  con- 
clusion. 

From  The  Topeka  Capital. 

Represents  only  the  personal  idiosyn- 
crasies of  William  J.  Bryan. 

From  The  Milwaukee  SentineL 

Calculated  to  create  prejudice  and  mis- 
giving against  the  American  note  and  to 
mislead  foreign  opinion. 

From  The  St.  Louis  Globe- Democrat. 

Mr.  Bryan  could  have  found  no  better 
way  of  causing  the  President  embarrass- 
ment at  this  crisis. 
From  The  Minneapolis  Tribune. 

President  Wilson  has  had  his  own  way 
in     State     Department    affairs,    to    the 
minimization  of  Secretary  Bryan,  almost 
at  times  to  the  point  of  humiliation. 
From  The  Seattle  Post-Intelligencer. 

A  pacifist  temporarily  bereft  of  reason 
and  lost  to  sense  of  patriotic  duty;  a  mis- 
placed figurehead. 
From  The  Portland  Oregonian. 

The    archpriest    of    the    peace-at-any- 
price    party     *     *     *     ^    poor    staff    to 
lean  upon. 
From  The  Albany  Knickerbocker-Press. 

Mr.    Bryan   must    Chautauquahoot,   as 
the  rooster  must  crow. 
From  The  Scranton  Republican. 

Prompt  acceptance  of  his  resignation 
was  the  proper  thing. 
From  The  Los  Angeles  Times. 

The  inefficiency  and  ineptness  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  have  been  a  reproach 
to  the  country. 
From  The  Wilmington  (Del.)  News. 

Far  better  if   Mr.   Bryan  had  retired 
long  ago. 
From  The  St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press. 

His  retirement  was  merely  a  matter  of 
time. 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


643 


PROGRESSIVE  NEWSPAPERS. 
From  The  New  York  Press. 

A   sorry  misfit  in  our  Government — 
mortifyingly,  dangerously  so. 
From  The  Boston  Journal. 

He  appoints  himself,  though  now  a 
private  citizen,  the  director  of  the  nation. 
From  The  Washington  Times. 

The  only  person  who  has  been  talking 
war  and  giving  out  the  impression  that 
he  thought  this  note  meant  war. 


INDEPENDENT  NEWSPAPERS. 
From,  The  New  York  Evening  Post. 

How  far  he  will  carry  his  treachery  by 
actual  machinations  against  Mr.  Wilson 
remains  to  be  seen. 
From  The  New  York  Sun. 

Sulked    and    ran    away    when    honor 
and  patriotism  should  have  kept  him  at 
his  post. 
From  The  New  York  Herald. 

His  convictions  are  all  wrong;  his  re- 
tirement should  be  heartily  welcomed  by 
the  country. 

From  The  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

How    much    longer,    as    Cicero    asked 
Catiline,  does  he  intend  to  abuse  our  pa- 
tience ? 
From  The  Pittsburgh  Dispatch. 

Bryan's  obsession  by  the  peace-at-any- 
price  propaganda  bordered  on  the  fanat- 
ical. 
From  The  Baltimore  News. 

A   surrender  to   opportunism   such  as 
calls  for  a  nation's  contempt. 
From  The  Chicago  Herald. 

As  a  private  citizen  he  will  be  less  a 
menace  to  the  peace  of  the  nation  than 
he  has  been  as  Secretary  of  State. 
From  The  Denver  Post. 

His  services  can  be  most  satisfactorily 
dispensed  with. 
From  The  Kansas  City  Star. 

Has  not  impressed  the  country  as  a 
practical  man  in  dealing  with  large  af- 
fairs. 

From  The  Toledo  Times. 

He  should  support  the  President. 


From  The  Terre  Haute  Star. 

Now    free    to    pursue    the    prohibition 
propaganda. 
From  The  Newark  (N.  J.)  Star. 

The  statement  [Bryan's]  is  simply  an 
effort  to  corral  for  himself  a  large  vot- 
ing element  in  the  population. 
From  The  Newark  Evening  News. 

His  narrow  vision  has  overcome  him. 
From  The  Boston  Traveler. 

If  war  does  come  Mr.  Bryan  will  be 
the  one  American  held  most  responsible 
for  the  trouble. 
From  The  Boston  Globe. 

Mr.  Wilson  has  been  relieved  of  one  of 
his  many  problems. 
From  The  Boston  Herald. 

Is  certainly  not  inspired  by  a  sense  of 
loyalty  to  the  party  or  the  country. 
From  The  Loivell  Courier-Citizen. 

Lagged    superfluous    on    a    stage    in 
which  he  played  no  part  beyond  that  of 
an  amanuensis,  and  hardly  even  that. 
From  The  Manchester  (N.  H.)  Union. 

Should  mark  the  end  of  Bryanism  in 
American  politics. 
From  The  Providence  Journal. 

He  has  bowed  himself  into  oblivion. 

GERMAN-AMERICAN     PRESS. 

Under  the  caption,  "  He  Kept  His 
Vow,"  the  evening  edition  of  the  New- 
Yorker  Staats-Zeitung,  which  for  months 
had  been  referring  to  Secretary  Bryan 
as  "  Secretary  Bryan  Stumping,"  as  op- 
posed to  "Secretary  Lansing  Acting," 
said  on  June  9: 

As  unreservedly  as  we  believe  that  he 
[Mr.  Bryan]  is  sacrificing  high  office  to 
a  principle — something  that  seems  to  be 
incomprehensible  not  alone  to  American 
politicians;  readily  as  we  pay  him 
tribute  that  a  man  in  public  life  has 
again  had  the  courage  to  act,  despite  the 
machinations  of  editorial  offices,  pulpits, 
and  the  counting  rooms  of  money  agents; 
clearly  as  we  see  again  his  latest  act, 
the  old  Bryan,  who  can  sacrifice  nothing 
to  utilitarianism,  everything  to  an  idea, 
no  matter  how  fantastic  it  may  be, 
nevertheless  it  must  not  be  left  unmen- 


644 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


tioned  that  his  exit  out  of  the  Wilson 
Cabinet  was  under  all  circumstances  only 
a  question  of  time.  Bryan  may  want  to 
be  a  candidate  in  1916,  a  rival  of  Wil- 
son; there  may  be  a  political  motive  at 
the  bottom  of  the  dramatically  staged 
resignation;  the  fact  remains  that  two 
hard  heads,  Wilson  and  Bryan,  could  not 
permanently  agree.  One  had  to  yield; 
one  had  to  go.  Just  as  Bismarck  had  to 
go  when  Wilhelm  II.  felt  himself  safe  in 
the  saddle,  so  Bryan  had  to  yield  as  soon 
as  Woodrow  Wilson  himself  took  the 
reins,  all  the  reins,  into  his  hand. 

Whether  the  departure  of  Bryan  will 
exercise  great  influence  on  the  course  of 
events,  so  far  as  relations  with  Germany 
are  concerned,  is  an  open  question.  At 
all  events,  the  peace  party  in  Congress 
and  in  the  country  as  a  whole  has  found 
a  leader  who  is  a  fighter,  who  today 
still  has  a  large  following  in  Congress 
and  out  of  it.  And  in  Congress,  through 
the  masses,  the  question  must  finally  be 
decided.  Meanwhile,  is  it  to  be  assumed 
without  further  ado  that  President  Wil- 
son himself  stands  diametrically  opposed 
to  the  peace  views  of  Bryan?  We  do 
not  believe  that.  We  are  even  today  still 
of  the  opinion  that  Wilson  desires  war 
with  Germany  as  little  as  does  Bryan, 
the  friend  of  peace,  who  has  just  let  his 
deeds  follow  his  words. 
From  the  St.  Paul  Daily  Volks  Zeitung. 

Bryan's  stand  for  fair  play  forces  his 
resignation.  Bryan's  resignation  at  this 
critical  moment  is  the  greatest  service 
the  Commoner  has  ever  rendered  his 
country,  because  it  has  aroused  the  peo- 
ple to  see  the  danger  of  the  foreign  policy 
now  pursued  by  the  President. 
From  the  Minneapolis  Freie  Presse  Her- 
ald. 

It  is  evident  that  Mr.  Bryan,  believing 
that  Wilson  and  Roosevelt  will  be  the 
next  Presidential  nominees,  now  sees  the 
opportunity  to  secure  the  German  vote 
for  himself,  but  Mr.  Bryan's  hypocrisy 
will  fool  no  one,  particularly  the  Ger- 
mans. 

From   Alex   E.   Oberlander,    Editor    the 
Syracuse  Union. 

Mr.  Bryan  will  be  a  greater  power  for 


peace  out  of  the  Cabinet  than  in  it.  As 
a  member  of  the  Cabinet  diplomacy  muz- 
zled him,  but  now  as  a  private  citizen 
he  can  and  will  be  outspoken,  and  his 
voice  for  peace  will  carry  far  more 
weight  than  the  manufacturers  of  war 
munitions.  Wall  Street,  would-be  Gen- 
erals, Colonels,  and  Captains,  and  the 
jingo  press. 

From  Paul  F.  Mueller,  Editor  Abendpost 
of  Chicago. 
The  people  will  choose  Mr.  Bryan's 
side  if  the  President  persists  on  a  way 
which  may  lead  to  war  and  must  lead  to 
dishonor. 

From  Horace  L.  Brand,  Publisher  Illinois 
Staats-Zeitung . 
Mr.  Bryan  will  have  the  support  of 
all  sane  Americans  on  any  reasonable 
proposition  which  will  keep  this  country 
out  of  war.  Mr.  Bryan,  with  all  his 
faults,  evidently  has  his  principles. 

From  the  Waechter  und  Anzeiger  of 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 
He  would  not  be  a  man  had  he  signed 
the  death  warrant  for  what  he  regarded 
as  the  crowning  deed  and  success  of  his 
life's  work.  And,  because  this  was 
asked  of  him,  many  a  person  will  say 
the  Scotch  in  the  President's  veins  did 
not  deny  itself  in  the  manner  which 
compelled  Mr.  Bryan's  resignation,  al- 
though keeping  up  the  appearance  that 
it  came  of  Bryan's  own  free  will  be- 
cause of  a  disagreement  over  principles. 

From  the  Colorado  Herald  of  Denver. 

Bryan's  resignation  comes  as  the  big- 
gest surprise  of  the  year  to  all  those  of 
pro-German  proclivities  who  were  here- 
tofore laboring  under  the  impression  that 
Bryan  represented  the  spirit  in  the  Cabi- 
net that  savored  of  anything  but  a  square 
deal  for  Germany. 

From  the  Illinois  Staats-Zeitung  of  Chi- 
cago. 

Mr.  William  Jennings  Bryan,  by  his 
resignation  and  by  his  reasons  of  his 
resignation,  caused  us  fear  that  President 
Wilson's  second  note  to  Germany  would 
be  full  of  thunder  and  lightning,  and 
would  lead  at  best  to  a  severance  of  the 
diplomatic    relations    between    the    two 


CAPTAIlSt      WILLIAM    T.      TURNER,      R.     N.    R. 

Commander     of     the     R.    M.   S.      Lusitania 
{Photo  from   Underwood  d   Underwood) 


H.      M.      GEORGE     V. 

King     of     Great     Britain     and     Ireland     and     of     the     British     Dominions 

Beyond      the      Seas.       Emperor      of      India 

(Photo   from    W.    d   D.    Downey) 


THE    LU  SIT  AN  I A    CASE 


645 


countries,  the  friendship  of  which  grew 
almost  to  be  a  tradition. 

Our  surprise  is  just  as  great  as  it  is 
pleasant.  The  note  of  the  President  is 
in  its  tone  sound  and  friendly,  and  ex- 
cludes the  possibility  of  hostilities.  Ger- 
many, though  she  had  many  reasons  to 
complain  about  a  hostile  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  the  press,  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
will  readily  admit  that  our  Government 
is  in  duty  bound  to  protect  American 
lives  and  American  property,  even  though 
she  should  have  been  justified  in  tor- 
pedoing the  Lusitania.  President  Wilson 
seems  to  be  willing  to  admit  such  justi- 
fication and  invites  Germany  to  submit 
her  evidence.     This  means  an  invitation 


to  further  negotiations,  to  which  Presi- 
dent Wilson  was  apparently  opposed  in 
his  first  note. 

From    Charles    Neumeyer,    Editor    the 
Louisville  Anzeiger. 

It  is  inexplicable  why  Bryan  could 
reconcile  the  signing  of  the  first  note, 
which  was  of  a  much  more  assertive 
tone,  with  his  sentiments  and  principles, 
and  then  refuse  his  assent  to  this  one, 
characterized  by  dignified  friendliness. 
Mr.  Bryan  must  either  have  become  ex- 
tremely touchy  and  particular  over  night, 
or  somebody  must  have  been  fooling 
somebody  else.  At  any  rate,  the  Ameri- 
can note  is  a  guarantee  of  continued 
peace  as  to  the  issues  now  pending. 


Mr.  Bryan's  Defense 

In  a  statement  headed  "  The  Real  Issue  "  and  addressed  "  To  the  the  American  People,* 
issued  on  June  10,  1915;  in  a  second  statement,  appealing  "To  the  German-Americans,"  on 
June  11;  in  a  third,  issued  June  12,  on  the  "First  and  Second  German  Notes,"  and  in  a 
series  of  utterances  put  forth  on  three  successive  days,  beginning  June  10,  Mr.  Bryan  justified 
his  resignation  and  offered  what  he  styled  a  practical  working  solution  of  the  problem  of 
bringing  peace  to  Europe.  These  statements  were  preceded  by  a  formal  utterance  about  his 
resignation,  published  on  June  10.     Their  texts  are  presented  below. 


THE  REASON  FOR  RESIGNING. 

Washington,  June  9,  1915. 

My  reason  for  resigning  is  clearly 
stated  in  my  letter  of  resignation,  name- 
ly, that  I  may  employ,  as  a  private  citi- 
zen, the  means  which  the  President  does 
not  feel  at  liberty  to  employ.  I  honor 
him  for  doing  what  he  believes  to  be 
right,  and  I  am  sure  that  he  desires,  as 
I  do,  to  find  a  peaceful  solution  of  the 
problem  which  has  been  created  by  the 
action  of  the  submarines. 

Two  of  the  points  on  which  we  differ, 
each  conscientious  in  his  conviction,  are: 

First,  as  to  the  suggestion  of  investi- 
gation by  an  International  commission, 
and, 

Second,  as  to  warning  Americans 
against  traveling  on  belligerent  vessels 
or  with  cargoes  of  ammunition. 

I  believe  that  this  nation  should  frank- 
ly state  to  Germany  that  we  are  willing 
to  apply  in  this  case  the  principle  which 


we  are  bound  by  treaty  to  apply  to  dis- 
putes between  the  United  States  and 
thirty  countries  with  which  we  have 
made  treaties,  providing  for  investigation 
of  all  disputes  of  every  character  and 
nature. 

These  treaties,  negotiated  under  this 
Administration,  make  war  practically 
impossible  between  this  country  and 
these  thirty  Governments,  representing 
nearly  three-fourths  of  all  the  people  of 
the  world. 

Among  the  nations  with  which  we 
have  these  treaties  are  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Russia.  No  matter  what 
disputes  may  arise  between  us  and  these 
treaty  nations,  we  agree  that  there  shall 
be  no  declaration  and  no  commencement 
of  hostilities  until  the  matters  in  dispute 
have  been  investigated  by  an  interna- 
tional commission,  and  a  year's  time  is 
allowed  for  investigation  and  report. 
This  plan  was  offered  to  all  the  nations 


646 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


without  any  exceptions  whatever,  and 
Germany  was  one  of  the  nations  that 
accepted  the  principle,  being  the  twelfth, 
I  think,  to  accept. 

No  treaty  was  actually  entered  into 
with  Germany,  but  I  cannot  see  that  that 
should  stand  in  the  way  when  both  na- 
tions indorsed  the  principle.  I  do  not 
know  whether  Germany  would  accept  the 
offer,  but  our  country  should,  in  my 
judgment,  make  the  offer.  Such  an 
offer,  if  accepted,  would  at  once  relieve 
the  tension  and  silence  all  the  jingoes 
who  are  demanding  war. 

Germany  has  always  been  a  friendly 
nation,  and  a  great  many  of  our  people 
are  of  German  ancestry.  Why  should 
we  not  deal  with  Germany  according  to 
this  plan  to  which  the  nation  has  pledged 
its  support? 

The  second  point  of  difference  is  as 
to  the  course  which  should  be  pursued 
in  regard  to  Americans  traveling  on  bel- 
ligerent ships  or  with  cargoes  of  ammu- 
nition. 

Why  should  an  American  citizen  be 
permitted  to  involve  his  country  in  war 
by  traveling  upon  a  belligerent  ship, 
when  he  knows  that  the  ship  will  pass 
through  a  danger  zone?  The  question 
is  not  whether  an  American  citizen  has 
a  right,  under  international  law,  to  travel 
on  a  belligerent  ship;  the  question  is 
whether  he  ought  not,  out  of  considera- 
tion for  his  country,  if  not  for  his  own 
safety,  avoid  danger  when  avoidance  is 
possible. 

It  is  a  very  one-sided  citizenship  that 
compels  a  Government  to  go  to  war  over 
a  citizen's  rights  and  yet  relieve  the  citi- 
zen of  all  obligations  to  consider  his  na- 
tion's welfare.  I  do  not  know  just  how 
far  the  President  can  legally  go  in  ac- 
tually preventing  Americans  from  trav- 
eling on  belligerent  ships,  but  I  believe 
the  Government  should  go  as  far  as  it 
can,  and  that  in  case  of  doubt  it  should 
give  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

But  even  if  the  Government  could  not 
legally  prevent  citizens  from  traveling  on 
belligerent  ships,  it  could,  and  in  my 
judgment  should,  earnestly  advise  Amer- 


ican citizens  not  to  risk  themselves  or  the 
peace  of  their  country,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  these  warnings  would  be 
heeded. 

President  Taft  advised  Americans  to 
leave  Mexico  when  insurrection  broke 
out  there,  and  President  Wilson  has  re- 
peated the  advice.  This  advice,  in  my 
judgment,  was  eminently  wise,  and  I 
think  the  same  course  should  be  followed 
in  regard  to  warning  Americans  to  keep 
off  vessels  subject  to  attack. 

I  think,  too,  that  American  passenger 
ships  should  be  prohibited  from  carry- 
ing ammunition.  The  lives  of  passengers 
ought  not  to  be  endangered  by  cargoes  of 
ammunition,  whether  that  danger  comes 
from  possible  explosions  within  or  from 
possible  attacks  from  without.  Passen- 
gers and  ammunition  should  not  travel 
together.  The  attempt  to  prevent  Amer- 
ican citizens  from  incurring  these  risks 
is  entirely  consistent  with  the  effort 
which  our  Government  is  making  to  pre- 
vent attacks  from  submarines. 

The  use  of  one  remedy  does  not  ex- 
clude the  use  of  the  other.  The  most 
familiar  illustration  is  to  be  found  in 
the  action  taken  by  municipal  authorities 
during  a  riot.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Mayor 
to  suppress  the  mob  and  to  prevent  vio- 
lence, but  he  does  not  hesitate  to  warn 
citizens  to  keep  off  the  streets  during  the 
riots.  He  does  not  question  their  right 
to  use  the  streets,  but  for  their  own  pro- 
tection and  in  the  interest  of  order  he 
warns  them  not  to  incur  the  risks  in- 
volved in  going  upon  the  streets  when 
men  are  shooting  at  each  other. 

The  President  does  not  feel  justified 
in  taking  the  action  above  stated.  That 
is,  he  does  not  feel  justified,  first,  in  sug- 
gesting the  submission  of  the  controversy 
to  investigation,  or,  second,  in  warning 
the  people  not  to  incur  the  extra  hazards 
in  traveling  on  belligerent  ships  or  on 
ships  carrying  ammunition.  And  he  may 
be  right  in  the  position  he  has  taken,  but, 
as  a  private  citizen,  I  am  free  to  urge 
both  of  these  propositions  and  to  call 
public  attention  to  these  remedies,  in  the 
hope  of  securing  such  an  expression  of 
public  sentiment  as  will  support  the  Pres- 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


647 


ident  in  employing  these  remedies  if  in 
the  future  he  finds  it  consistent  with 
his  sense  of  duty  to  favor  them. 

W.  J.  BRYAN. 

"  THE  REAL  ISSUE." 

Washington,  June  10,  1915. 
To  the  American  people: 

You  now  have  before  you  the  text  of 
the  note  to  Germany — the  note  which  it 
would  have  been  my  official  duty  to  sign 
had  I  remained  Secretary  of  State.  I 
ask  you  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  my 
decision  to  resign  rather  than  to  share 
responsibility  for  it. 

I  am  sure  you  will  credit  me  with 
honorable  motives,  but  that  is  not  enough. 
Good  intentions  could  not  atone  for  a 
mistake  at  such  a  time,  on  such  a  subject, 
and  under  such  circumstances.  If  your 
verdict  is  against  me,  I  ask  no  mercy;  I 
desire    none   if    I    have    acted    unwisely. 

A  man  in  public  life  must  act  accord- 
ing to  his  conscience,  but,  however  con- 
scientiously he  acts,  he  must  be  prepared 
to  accept  without  complaint  any  con- 
demnation which  his  own  errors  may 
bring  upon  him;  he  must  be  willing  to 
bear  any  deserved  punishment,  from 
ostracism  to  execution.  But  hear  me  be- 
fore you  pass  sentence. 

The  President  and  I  agree  in  pur- 
pose; we  desire  a  peaceful  solution  of  the 
dispute  which  has  arisen  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany.  We  not 
only  desire  it,  but,  with  equal  fervor, 
we  pray  for  it;  but  we  differ  irreconcil- 
ably as  to  the  means  of  securing  it. 

If  it  were  merely  a  personal  difference, 
it  would  be  a  matter  of  little  moment, 
for  all  the  presumptions  are  on  his  side 
— the  presumptions  that  go  with  power 
and  authority.  He  is  your  President,  I 
am  a  private  citizen  without  office  or 
title — but  one  of  the  one  hundred  million 
of  inhabitants. 

But  the  real  issue  is  not  between  per- 
sons, it  is  between  systems,  and  I  rely 
for  vindication  wholly  upon  the  strength 
of  the  position  taken. 

Among  the  influences  which  Govern- 
ments employ  in  dealing  with  each 
other    there    are    two    which    are    pre- 


eminent and  antagonistic — force  and 
persuasion.  Force  speaks  with  firmness 
and  acts  through  the  ultimatum;  per- 
suasion employs  argument,  courts  in- 
vestigation, and  depends  upon  negotia- 
tion. Force  represents  the  old  system — 
the  system  that  must  pass  away;  per- 
suasion represents  the  new  system — the 
system  that  has  been  growing,  all  too 
slowly,  it  is  true,  but  growing  for  1,900 
years.  In  the  old  system  war  is  the 
chief  cornerstone — war,  which  at  its  best 
is  little  better  than  war  at  its  worst;  the 
new  system  contemplates  a  universal 
brotherhood  established  through  the  up- 
lifting power  of  example. 

If  I  correctly  interpret  the  note  to 
Germany,  it  conforms  to  the  standards 
of  the  old  system  rather  than  to  the 
rules  of  the  new,  and  I  cheerfully  admit 
that  it  is  abundantly  supported  by  pre- 
cedents— precedents  written  in  characters 
of  blood  upon  almost  every  page  of  hu- 
man history.  Austria  furnishes  the  most 
recent  precedent;  it  was  Austria's  firm- 
ness that  dictated  the  ultimatum  against 
Serbia,  which  set  the  world  at  war. 

Every  ruler  now  participating  in  this 
unparalleled  conflict  has  proclaimed  his 
desire  for  peace  and  denied  responsibility 
for  the  war,  and  it  is  only  charitable  that 
we  should  credit  all  of  them  with  good 
faith.  They  desired  peace,  but  they 
sought  it  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
old  system.  They  believed  that  firmness 
would  give  the  best  assurance  of  the 
maintenance  of  peace,  and,  faithfully 
following  precedent,  they  went  so  near 
the  fire  that  they  were,  one  after  an- 
other, sucked  into  the  contest. 

Never  before  have  the  frightful  follies 
of  this  fatal  system  been  so  clearly  re- 
vealed as  now.  The  most  civilized  and 
enlightened — aye,  the  most  Christian — 
of  the  nations  of  Europe  are  grappling 
with  each  other  as  if  in  a  death  struggle. 
They  are  sacrificing  the  best  and  bravest 
of  their  sons  on  the  battlefield;  they  are 
converting  their  gardens  into  cemeteries 
and  their  homes  into  houses  of  mourning; 
they  are  taxing  the  wealth  of  today  and 
laying  a  burden  of  debt  on  the  toil  of 
the  future;  they  have  filled  the  air  with 
thunderbolts  more  deadly  than  those  of 


648 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Jove,  and  they  have  multiplied  the  perils 
of  the  deep. 

Adding  fresh  fuel  to  the  flame  of  hate, 
they  have  daily  devised  new  horrors, 
until  one  side  is  endeavoring  to  drown 
noncombatant  men,  women,  and  children 
at  sea,  while  the  other  side  seeks  to 
starve  noncombatant  men,  women,  and 
children  on  land.  And  they  are  so  ab- 
sorbed in  alternate  retaliations  and  in 
competive  cruelties  that  they  seem,  for 
the  time  being,  blind  to  the  rights  of 
neutrals  and  deaf  to  the  appeals  of  hu- 
manity. A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit. 
The  war  in  Europe  is  the  ripened  fruit  of 
the  old  system. 

This  is  what  firmness,  supported  by 
force,  has  done  in  the  Old  World;  shall 
we  invite  it  to  cross  the  Atlantic?  Al- 
ready the  jingoes  of  our  own  country 
have  caught  the  rabies  from  the  dogs  of 
war;  shall  the  opponents  of  organized 
slaughter  be  silent  while  the  disease 
spreads  ? 

As  an  humble  follower  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace,  as  a  devoted  believer  in  the 
prophecy  that  "  they  that  take  the  sword 
shall  perish  with  the  sword,"  I  beg  to  be 
counted  among  those  who  earnestly  urge 
the  adoption  of  a  course  in  this  matter 
which  will  leave  no  doubt  of  our  Govern- 
ment's willingness  to  continue  negotia- 
tions with  Germany  until  an  amicable 
understanding  is  reached,  or  at  least  un- 
til, the  stress  of  war  over,  we  can  appeal 
from  Philip  drunk  with  carnage  to  Philip 
sobered  by  the  memories  of  a  historic 
friendship  and  by  a  recollection  of  the 
innumerable  ties  of  kinship  that  bind 
the  Fatherland  to  the  United  States. 

Some  nation  must  lead  the  world  out 
of  the  black  night  of  war  into  the  light 
of  that  day  when  "  swords  shall  be 
beaten  into  plowshares."  Why  not  make 
that  honor  ours?  Some  day — why  not 
now? — the  nations  will  learn  that  en- 
during peace  cannot  be  built  upon  fear — 
that  good-will  does  not  grow  upon  the 
stalks  of  violence.  Some  day  the  na- 
tions will  place  their  trust  in  love,  the 
weapon  for  which  there  is  no  shield;  in 
love,  that  suffereth  long  and  is  kind;  in 
love,  that  is  not  easily  provoked,  that 
beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 


hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things;  in 
love,  which,  though  despised  as  weakness 
by  the  worshippers  of  Mars,  abideth 
when  all  else  fails.  W.  J.  BRYAN. 

THE  GERMAN-AMERICANS. 

Washington,  June  11,  1915. 
To  the   German- Americans: 

Permit  me  to  address  a  word  to  you, 
as  one  American  citizen  speaking  to  fel- 
low-citizens in  whose  patriotism  he  has 
entire  confidence.  It  is  natural  that  in 
a  contest  between  your  Fatherland  and 
other  European  nations  your  sympathies 
should  be  with  the  country  of  your  birth. 
It  is  no  cause  for  censure  that  this  is 
true.  It  would  be  a  reflection  upon  you 
if  it  were  not  true.  Do  not  the  sons  of 
Great  Britain  sympathize  with  their 
mother  country?  Do  not  the  sons  of 
France  sympathize  with  theirs?  Is  not 
the  same  true  of  Russia  and  of  Italy? 
Why  should  it  not  be  true  of  those  who 
are  born  in  Germany  or  Austria?  The 
trouble  is  that  the  extremists  on  both 
sides  have  mistaken  a  natural  attach- 
ment felt  for  birthplace  for  disloyalty  to 
this  country. 

The  President  has  been  unjustly  crit- 
icised by  the  partisans  of  both  sides — 
the  very  best  evidence  of  his  neutrality. 
If  he  had  so  conducted  the  Government 
as  to  wholly  please  either  side  it  would 
excite  not  only  astonishment,  but  mis- 
givings, for  partisans  cannot  give  an  un- 
biased judgment;  they  will  of  necessity 
look  at  the  question  from  their  own  point 
of  view,  giving  praise  or  blame,  accord- 
ing as  the  act,  regardless  of  its  real  char- 
acter, helps  or  hurts  the  side  with  which 
they  have  aligned  themselves. 

The  fact  that  the  Administration  has 
received  more  criticism  from  German- 
Americans  than  from  those  in  sympathy 
with  the  Allies  is  due  to  the  fact  that, 
while  both  sides  are  at  liberty  under  in- 
ternational law  to  purchase  ammunition 
in  the  United  States,  the  Allies,  because 
of  their  control  of  the  seas,  have  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  export  it. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  partisan  sup- 
porters of  Germany  should  have  over- 
looked the  legal  requirements  of  the  situ- 
ation and  have  thus  misunderstood  the 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


649 


position  of  the  Administration.  The  Ad- 
ministration's position  has  not  only  been 
perfectly  neutral,  but  it  could  not  have 
been  otherwise  without  a  palpable  and 
intentional  violation  of  the  rules  govern- 
ing neutrality. 

This  Government  is  not  at  liberty  to 
materially  change  the  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  during  the  war,  because  every 
change  suggested  is  discussed,  not  upon 
its  merits  as  an  abstract  proposition,  but 
according  to  the  effect  it  will  have  upon 
the  contest.  Those  who  wanted  to  lay  an 
embargo  upon  the  shipments  of  arms  de- 
fended their  position  on  the  ground  that 
it  would  hasten  peace,  but  it  is  strange 
that  they  could  have  overlooked  the  fact 
that  the  only  way  in  which  such  action 
on  our  part  could  hasten  peace  would 
have  been  by  helping  one  side  to  over- 
come the  other. 

While  the  attacks  made  upon  the  Presi- 
dent by  the  extremists  of  both  sides  were 
very  unjust,  it  was  equally  unjust  to 
suspect  the  patriotism  of  those  who  took 
sides.  I  feel  well  enough  acquainted  with 
the  European-born  Americans  to  believe 
that  in  a  war  between  this  country  and 
any  European  power  the  naturalized  citi- 
zens from  that  country  would  be  as  quick 
to  enlist  as  native-born  citizens. 

As  I  am  now  speaking  to  German- 
Americans,  I  am  glad  to  repeat  in  public 
what  I  have  often  said  in  private,  and 
would  have  said  in  public  before  but  for 
the  fact  that  it  would  not  have  been 
proper  for  one  in  my  official  position  to 
do  so — namely,  that  in  case  of  war  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Germany — 
if  so  improbable  a  supposition  can  be 
considered — German- Americans  would  be 
as  prompt  to  enlist  and  as  faithful  to  the 
flag  as  any  other  portion  of  our  people. 
What  I  have  said  in  regard  to  German- 
Americ^ins  is  an  introduction  to  an  ap- 
peal which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  make  to 
them. 

First,  if  any  of  them  have  ever  in  a 
moment  of  passion  or  excitement  sus- 
pected the  President  of  lack  of  friendship 
toward  the  German  Government  and  the 
German  people,  let  that  thought  be  for- 
gotten, never  again  to  be  recalled.  I 
have,  since  my  resignation,  received  nu- 
merous  telegrams  from  German-Ameri- 


cans and  German-American  societies 
commending  my  action.  I  think  the 
senders  of  these  telegrams  understand 
my  position;  but  that  no  one  may  mis- 
take it  let  me  restate  it.  The  President 
is  not  only  desirous  of  peace,  but  he 
hopes  for  it,  and  he  has  adopted  the 
methods  which  he  thinks  most  likely  to 
contribute  toward  peace. 

My  difference  from  him  is  as  to  meth- 
od, not  as  to  purpose,  and  my  utterances 
since  resigning  have  been  intended  to 
crystallize  public  sentiment  in  support 
of  his  efforts  to  maintain  peace,  or,  to 
use  a  similar  phrase,  "  Peace  with  Honor." 
But  remember  that  when  I  use  the 
phrase  "  Peace  with  Honor  "  I  do  not  use 
it  in  the  same  sense  that  those  do  who 
regard  every  opponent  of  war  as  favor- 
ing "  peace  at  any  price."  Peace  at  any 
price  is  an  epithet,  not  a  true  statement 
of  any  one's  position  or  of  the  policy  of 
any  group.  The  words  are  employed  by 
jingoes  as  an  expression  of  contempt, 
and  are  applied  indiscriminately  to  all 
who  have  faith  in  the  nation's  ability  to 
find  a  peaceful  way  out  of  every  diffi- 
culty, so  long  as  both  nations  want  peace. 

The  alarmists  of  the  country  have  had 
control  of  the  metropolitan  press,  and 
they  have  loudly  proclaimed  that  the 
prolongation  of  negotiations  or  the  sug- 
gestion of  international  investigation 
would  be  a  sign  of  weakness — and  every- 
thing is  weakness  that  does  not  contain 
a  hint  of  war.  The  jingo  sees  in  the 
rainbow  of  promise  only  one  color — red. 

Second — Knowing  that  the  President 
desires  peace,  it  is  our  duty  to  help  him 
secure  it.  And  how?  By  exerting  your 
influence  to  convince  the  German  Gov- 
ernment of  this  fact  and  to  persuade 
that  Government  to  take  no  steps  that 
would  lead  in  the  direction  of  war.  My 
fear  has  been  that  the  German  Govern- 
ment might,  despairing  of  a  friendly  set- 
tlement, break  off  diplomatic  relations, 
and  thus  create  a  condition  out  of  which 
war  might  come  without  the  intention  of 
either  country. 

I  do  not  ask  you  to  minimize  the  earn- 
estness of  the  President's  statement — 
that  would  be  unfair,  both  to  him  and  to 
Germany.    The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania 


650 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


cannot  be  defended  upon  the  facts  as  we 
understand  them.  The  killing  of  inno- 
cent women  and  children  cannot  be  justi- 
fied, whether  the  killnig  is  by  drowning 
or  starving. 

No  nation  can  successfully  plead  the 
inhumanity  of  her  enemies  as  an  excuse 
for  inhumanity  on  her  own  part.  While 
it  is  true  that  cruelty  is  apt  to  beget 
cruelty,  it  cannot  be  said  that  "  like  cures 
like."  Even  in  war,  we  are  not  absolved 
from  the  obligation  to  remedy  evils  by 
the  influence  of  a  good  example.  "  Let 
your  light  so  shine "  is  a  precept  that 
knows  no  times  nor  seasons  as  it  knows 
neither  latitude  nor  longitude. 

Third — Do  not  attempt  to  connect  the 
negotiations  which  are  going  on  between 
the  United  States  and  Germany  with 
those  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain.  The  cases  are  different, 
but,  even  if  they  were  the  same,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  treat  with  each  nation 
separately.  My  personal  preference  has 
been  to  repeat  our  insistence  that  the 
Allies  shall  not  interfere  with  our  com- 
merce with  neutral  countries,  but  the 
difference  on  this  point  was  a  matter  of 
judgment  and  not  a  matter  of  principle. 
In  the  note  to  Great  Britain,  dated  March 
30,  this  Government  said: 

Tn  view  of  these  assurances  formally- 
given  to  this  Government,  it  is  confident- 
ly expected  that  the  extensive  powers  con- 
ferred by  the  Order  in  Council  on  the 
executive  officers  of  the  Crown  will  be 
restricted  by  "  orders  issued  by  the  Gov- 
ernment "  directing  the  exercise  of  their 
discretionary  powers  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  modify  in  practical  application  those 
provisions  of  the  Order  in  Council  which, 
if  strictly  enforced,  would  violate  neutral 
rights  and  interrupt  Jegitimate  trade.  Re- 
lying on  the  faithful  performance  of  these 
voluntary  assurances  by  his  Majesty's 
Government  the  United  States  takes  it 
for  granted  that  the  approach  of  Ameri- 
can merchantmen  to  neutral  ports  situated 
upon  the  long  line  of  coast  affected  by 
the  Order  in  Council  will  not  be  inter- 
fered with,  when  it  is  known  that  they 
do  not  carry  goods  which  are  contraband 
of  war  or  goods  destined  to  or  proceeding 
from  ports  within  the  belligerent  territory 
affected. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  our  Government 
will  insist  upon  this  position — that  is  an 
important  thing,  the  exact  date  of  the 
note  is  not  material.     My  reason  for  de- 


siring to  have  the  matter  presented  to 
Great  Britain  at  once  was  not  that  Ger- 
many had  any  right  to  ask  it,  but  be- 
cause I  was  anxious  to  make  it  as  easy 
as  possible  for  Germany  to  accept  the 
demands  of  the  United  States  and  cease 
to  employ  submarines  against  merchant- 
men. 

There  is  no  reason  why  any  German- 
Americans  should  doubt  the  President's 
intentions  in  this  matter.  I  am  sure  that 
every  one  upon  reflection  recognizes  that 
our  duty  to  prevent  loss  of  life  is  more 
urgent  than  our  duty  to  prevent  inter- 
ference with  trade — loss  of  trade  can  be 
compensated  for  with  money,  but  no  set- 
tlement that  the  United  States  and  Ger- 
many may  reach  can  call  back  to  life 
those  who  went  down  with  the  Lusita- 
nia — and  war  would  be  the  most  ex- 
pensive of  all  settlements  because  it 
would  enoromusly  add  to  the  number  of 
the  dead. 

Fourth — I  hope  that  Germany  will  ac- 
quiesce in  the  demands  that  have  been 
made,  and  I  hope  that  she  will  acquiesce 
in  them  without  conditions.  She  can 
trust  the  United  States  to  deal  justly 
with  her  in  the  consideration  of  any 
changes  that  she  may  propose  in  the  in- 
ternational rules  that  govern  the  taking 
of  prizes.  The  more  generously  she  acts 
in  this  matter  the  greater  will  be  the 
glory  which  she  will  derive  from  it.  She 
has  raised  a  question  which  is  now  re- 
ceiving serious  consideration,  namely, 
whether  the  introduction  of  the  subma- 
rine necessitates  any  change  in  the  rules 
governing  the  capture  of  prizes.  The 
position  seemingly  taken  by  Germany, 
namely,  that  she  is  entitled  to  drown 
noncombatants  because  they  ride  with 
contraband,  is  an  untenable  position. 
The  most  that  she  could  insist  upon  is 
that,  in  view  of  the  introduction  of  this 
new  weapon  of  warfare,  new  rules  should 
be  adopted,  separating  passengers  from 
objectionable  cargo. 

If  the  use  of  the  submarine  justifies 
such  a  change  in  the  law  of  blockade  as 
will  permit  the  cordon  to  be  withdrawn 
far  enough  from  the  shore  to  avoid  the 
danger  of  submarine  attack,  may  it  not 
be  found  possible  to  se'cure  an  interna- 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


651 


tional  agreement  by  which  passengers 
will  be  excluded  from  ships  carrying  con- 
traband, or,  at  least,  from  those  carrying 
ammunition  ? 

It  would  require  but  a  slight  change  in 
the  shipping  laws  to  make  this  separa- 
tion, and  belligerent  nations  might  be  re- 
strained from  unnecessarily  increasing 
the  contraband  list  if  they  were  com- 
pelled to  carry  contraband  on  transports 
as  they  now  carry  troops. 

Personally,  I  would  like  to  see  the  use 
of  submarines  abandoned  entirely,  just 
as  I  would  like  to  see  an  abandonment 
of  the  use  of  aeroplanes  and  Zeppelins 
for  the  carrying  of  explosives,  but  I  am 
not  sanguine  enough  to  believe  that  any 
effective  instrument  of  warfare  will  be 
abandoned  as  long  as  war  continues. 

The  very  arguments  which  the  advo- 
cates of  peace  advance  against  the  sub- 
marine, the  aeroplane,  and  the  Zeppelin 
are  advanced  for  them  by  those  who  con- 
duct war.  The  more  fatal  a  weapon  is 
the  more  it  is  in  demand,  and  it  is  not 
an  unusual  thing  to  see  a  new  instrument 
of  destruction  denounced  as  inhuman  by 
those  against  whom  it  is  employed,  only 
to  be  employed  later  by  those  who  only 
a  little  while  before  denounced  it. 

The  above  suggestions  are  respectfully 
submitted  to  those  of  German  birth  or 
descent,  and  they  are  submitted  in  the 
same  spirit  to  naturalized  citizens  from 
other  countries.  To  the  naturalized  citi- 
zen this  is  the  land  of  adoption,  but  in 
one  sense  it  may  be  nearer  to  him  than  it 
is  to  us  who  are  native  born,  for  those 
who  come  here  are  citizens  by  voluntary 
choice,  while  we  are  here  by  accident  of 
birth.  They  may  be  said  to  have  paid  a 
higher  compliment  to  the  United  States 
than  we  who  first  saw  the  light  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes.  But,  more  than 
that,  it  is  the  land  of  their  children  and 
their  children's  children,  no  matter  for 
what  reason  they  crossed  the  ocean.  They 
not  only  share  with  us  the  shaping  of  our 
nation's  destiny,  but  their  descendants 
have  a  part  with  ours  in  all  the  blessings 
which  the  present  generation  can,  by 
wise  and  patriotic  action,  bequeath  to  the 
generations  that  are  to  follow. 

W.  J.  BRYAN. 


SEES  CHANGE  IN  TONE  OF  PRESS. 

On  the  same  day  with  this  outgiving 
Mr.  Bryan  issued  a  statement  expressing 
his  gratification  over  what  he  termed  a 
change  in  the  tone  of  the  press  regarding 
the  note.     The  statement  follows: 

I  am  glad  to  note  the  change  in  the 
tone  of  the  press  in  regard  to  the  note  to 
Germany.  From  the  time  the  papers 
began  to  publish  forecasts  down  to  yes- 
terday the  jingo  editors  have  been  pre- 
dicting that  the  matter  would  be  dealt 
with  with  "  great  firmness  ";  that  Ger- 
many would  be  told  that  there  must  be 
no  more  delay  in  the  acceptance  of  this 
country's  demands,  &c. 

Instead  of  waiting  until  the  note  was 
issued  they  put  their  own  construction 
upon  it  in  advance,  and  colored  it  to  suit 
their  own  purposes.  It  is  a  relief  to  find 
the  papers  now  emphasizing  the  friendly 
tone  of  the  note,  and  pointing  out  that  it 
does  not  necessarily  mean  war. 

Something  has  been  gained  if  the 
warrior  journalists  at  last  realize  that 
the  country  does  not  want  war,  but  that, 
on  the  contrary,  it  will  support  the  Presi- 
dent in  his  efforts  to  find  a  peaceful 
solution  of  the  difficult  problem  raised 
by  the  use  of  the  submarine  against  mer- 
chantmen. 

In  giving  out  his  statement  Mr.  Bryan 
supplemented  it  with  the  following  anec- 
dote : 

A  Congressman  replying  to  a  jingo 
speech  recently  said: 

"  While  I  am  personally  against  war,  I 
am  in  favor  of  the  country  having  what 
it  wants.  If  the  country  wants  war,  let 
it  have  war,  but  let  it  first  find  out  if 
the  country  does  want  war.  If  it  becomes 
necessary  to  ascertain  the  sentiment  of 
the  country,  I  suggest  that  a  ballot  be 
taken;  let  those  who  want  war  vote  for 
war  and  those  opposed  to  war  vote 
against  it,  and  let  the  vote  be  taken  with 
the  understanding  that  those  who  vote 
for  war  will  enlist  for  war  and  that  those 
who  vote  against  war  will  not  be  called 
upon  until  after  those  who  want  war 
have  exhausted  their  efforts." 

"  I  still  believe,"  added  Mr.  Bryan,  "  in 
the  right  of  the  people  to  rule,  and  think 


652 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  Congressman's  suggestion  might  in' 
sure  deliberate  action  on  the  part  of  the 
voters." 

Mr.  Bryan  was  reminded  of  the  sug- 
gestion of  some  of  his  friends  that  in 
case  of  wnr  he  would  be  one  of  the  first 
to  eitlist.^'  He  replied: 

I  do  not  want  to  talk  about  war,  but 
on  one  occasion  I  enlisted  to  defend  my 
country  on  the  first  day  war  was  de- 
clared. 

GERMAN-AMERICAN  OPINION. 

Commenting  on  Mr.  Bryan's  appeal, 
the  evening  edition  of  the  New  Yorker 
Herold  on  June  12  said: 

The  arguments  which  Mr.  Bryan 
dishes  up  will  not  be  agreed  to  by  most 
citizens  of  German  descent,  but  the  open 
discussion  of  the  various  points  can  only 
be  useful. 

So  far  as  influencing  the  German 
Government  is  concerned,  we  are  con- 
vinced that  in  Berlin  they  will  not  forget 
for  an  instant  how  terrible  a  warlike 
conflict  between  the  two  countries  would 
be,  particularly  for  the  Germans  in 
America.  In  view  of  the  many  bonds 
of  blood  that  link  the  German  popula- 
tion of  our  country  with  the  old  Father- 
land, a  war  with  the  United  States 
would  be  regarded  practically  as  fratri- 
cidal, as  a  calamity  which,  if  in  any 
way  possible,  must  be  avoided.  Mr. 
Bryan  may  rest  assured  of  this. 

The  influence  of  the  German-Amer- 
icans is  required  less  in  Germany  than 
here,  at  this  point  and  place,  in  the 
United  States.  Here  the  jingo  press  is 
raging  and  seeking  to  fire  minds  to  war, 
not  in  Germany. 
From  the  Detroiter  Abendpost. 

Mr.  Bryan's  proclamation  will  disap- 
point only  those  who  hailed  him  when 
he  published  his  reasons  for  leaving  the 
Cabinet;  but  we  find  in  his  last  docu- 
ment the  confirmation  of  what  we  have 
always  thought  of  the  man  and  the 
politician  Bryan,  namely,  that  he  con- 
siders all  means  right  if  they  suit  his 
political  intentions. 

From  Charles  Neumeyer,  Editor  Louis- 
ville Anzeiger. 

Mr.  Bryan's  appeal  directed  chiefly  to 


American  citizens  of  German  birth  ex- 
hibits an  astonishing  lack  of  tact  as  well 
as  lack  of  judgment.  The  former  Sec- 
retary of  State  seems  to  be  going  on 
the  presumption,  like  many  other  na- 
tive Americans  not  actuated  by  a  feel- 
ing of  prejudice  or  race  hatred,  that 
German-Americans  have  left  their  hearts 
behind  them  in  the  old  country  and  are, 
therefore,  unable  to  feel  as  true  Ameri- 
can citizens  should  feel  toward  their 
country  and  everything  involving  its 
destiny. 

Mr.  Bryan's  appeal,  especially  the  one 
directed  to  German-Americans,  will  not, 
can  not,  and  should  not  meet  with  the 
slightest  response. 
From  the  Colorado  Herold  of  Denver. 

Bryan's  appeal  to  the  Germans,  while 
it  may  be  classed  as  patriotic,  was  un- 
necessary, and  Dr.  Dernburg,  Germany's 
special  envoy,  practically  voiced  the 
same  sentiments  in  his  farewell  address 
in  New  York  Friday  night.  Bryan's 
well-known  prohibition  tendencies,  how- 
ever, preclude  the  idea  that  he  was  bid- 
ding for  German-American  votes. 
From  the  Waechter  und  Anzeiger  of 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Bryan  might  well  have  abstained 
from  issuing  his  statement  to  the  Ger- 
man-Americans. To  make  any  impres- 
sion he  should  have  explained  why  he 
now  thinks  it  the  duty  of  neutrality  to 
furnish  contraband  to  England,  when  in 
1914  he  stated  in  his  Commoner  that  the 
President  had  blazed  a  new  way  when 
he,  without  conference  with  other  na- 
tions, committed  this  nation  to  the  policy 
that  furnishing  the  "  contraband  of 
money  "  was  inconsistent  with  the  spirit 
of  neutrality.  What  are  the  influences 
that  have  now  changed  his  views?  Mr. 
Bryan  is  neither  frank  nor  consistent, 
hence  not  impressive. 

A  "  SOPTENED  "  NOTE. 

[The  First  and  Second  German  Notes.] 
Washington,  June  12,  1915. 
My  attention  has  been  called  to  a  num- 
ber of  newspaper  editorials  and  articles 
which,  in  varying  language,  asks  the 
question,  "  Why  did  Mr.  Bryan  sign  the 
first  note  to  Germany,  and  then  refuse 
to    sign    the    second?"    The    argument 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


653 


presented  in  the  question  is  based  on  the 
supposition  that  the  two  notes  were  sub- 
stantially the  same  and  that  the  second 
note  simply  reiterates  the  demands  con- 
tained in  the  first.  They  then  declare 
it  inconsistent  to  sign  one  and  refuse  to 
sign  the  other.  The  difference  between 
the  two  cases  would  seem  obvious  enough 
to  make  an  answer  unnecessary,  but, 
lest  silence  on  the  subject  be  taken  as 
an  admission  of  inconsistency,  the  fol- 
lowing explanation  is  given: 

The  notes  must  be  considered  in  con- 
rection  with  the  conditions  under  which 
they  were  sent.  The  first  note  presented 
the  case  of  this  Government  upon  such 
evidence  as  we  then  had.  It  was  like 
the  plaintiff's  statement  in  a  case,  his 
claim  being  based  on  the  facts  as  he  pre- 
sents them.  I  did  not  agree  entirely 
with  the  language  of  the  first  note,  but 
the  difference  was  not  so  material  as  to 
justify  a  refusal  to  sign  it.  Then,  too, 
I  was  at  that  time  hoping  that  certain 
thingse  would  be  done  which  would  make 
it  easier  for  Germany  to  acquiesce  in 
our  demands. 

The  three  things  which  I  had  in  mind 
which,  in  my  judgment,  would  have 
helped  the  situation  were:  First,  an  an- 
nouncement of  a  willingness  upon  our 
part  to  employ  the  principle  of  inves- 
tigation, embodied  in  our  thirty  peace 
treaties;  second,  action  which  would  pre- 
vent American  citizens  from  traveling 
on  belligerent  ships  or  on  American  ships 
carrying  contraband,  especially  if  that 
contraband  consisted  of  ammunition; 
and,  third,  further  insistence  upon  our 
protest  against  interference  of  our  trade 
with  neutrals.  I  thought  that  these 
three  things  were  within  the  range  of 
possibilities,  and  that  two,  or  at  least 
one  was  probable. 

Some  weeks  have  elapsed  since  the 
first  note  was  sent,  and  we  have 
not  only  failed  to  do  any  of  these 
things  hoped  for,  but  Germany  has 
in  the  meantime  answered  and  in 
her  answer  has  not  only  presented 
a  number  of  alleged  facts  which, 
in  her  judgment,  justified  the  deviation 
which  she  has  made  from  the  ordinary 
rules  applicable  to  prize  cases,  but  she 


has  suggested  arbitration.  A  rejection 
of  the  arguments  which  she  presented 
and  of  the  allegations  made,  together 
with  a  reiteration  of  the  original  de- 
mands, creates  a  very  different  situa- 
tion from  that  which  existed  when  the 
first  demand  was  made. 

As  I  have  before  stated,  my  fear  has 
been  that,  owing  to  the  feeling  existing 
in  Germany,  the  Government  might, 
upon  receipt  of  such  a  note  under  such 
circumstances,  break  off  diplomatic  re- 
lations and  thus  create  a  situation  out 
of  which  war  might  come  without  the  in- 
tention of  either  side.  I  am  sure  that 
the  President  does  not  want  war  and  I 
am  confident  that  our  people  do  not  want 
war;  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that 
either  the  German  Government  or  the 
German  people  desire  war. 

But  war,  a  calamity  at  any  time,  is 
especially  to  be  avoided  now  because 
our  nation  is  relied  upon  by  both  neu- 
trals and  belligerents  as  the  one  na- 
tion which  can  exert  most  influence 
toward  bringing  this  war  to  an  end. 
If  we  were,  by  accident,  to  be  drawn  into 
the  conflict,  we  would  not  only  surrender 
the  opportunity  to  act  as  a  mediator, 
but  we  might  become  responsible  for 
drawing  other  nations  into  this  contest. 
When  we  see  how  one  nation  after 
another  has  been  dragged  into  this  war 
we  cannot  have  confidence  in  the  ability 
of  any  one  to  calculate  with  certainty 
upon  the  results  that  might  follow  if 
we  became  embroiled  in  the  war. 

No  one  would  be  happier  than  I  if  the 
President's  plan  results  in  a  peaceful 
settlement,  but  no  one  was  in  position  to 
say  what  effect  our  note  would  have  upon 
Germany,  or  what  results  would  follow 
if  she,  in  anger,  broke  off  diplomatic 
relations,  and  I  was  not  only  unwilling 
to  assume  the  responsibility  for  the  risks 
incurred — risks  which  no  one  could  with 
any  degree  of  accuracy  measure — but  I 
felt  that,  having  done  all  I  could  in 
the  Cabinet,  it  was  my  duty  to  undertake, 
outside  the  Cabinet,  the  work  upon  which 
I   have  entered. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  country  will 
unanimously  support  the  President  dur- 
ing  the   war,   if  so   great   a   misfortune 


654 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


should  overtake  us,  but  I  believe  that  the 
chances  of  war  will  be  lessened  in  pro- 
portion as  the  country  expresses  itself 
in  favor  of  peace — not  "  peace  at  any 
price " — but  peace  in  preference  to  a 
war  waged  for  the  redress  of  such  griev- 
ances as  we  have  against  Germany — at 
least  against  war  until  we  have  given  to 
Germany  the  opportunity  which  we  are 
pledged  to  give  to  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  Russia — to  have  every  difference  of 
every  character  submitted  to  an  inter- 
national  commission  of  investigation. 

I  would  contend  as  earnestly  for  the 
application  of  the  treaty  principle  to  the 
Allies  as  I  contend  for  it  in  the  case  of 
Germany.  If  the  principle  is  sound,  it 
ought  to  be  applied  to  every  country  with 
which  we  have  a  difference,  and  if  it 
ought  to  be  applied  at  all  I  think  it  is 
better  to  suggest  it  in  the  beginning  than 
to  accept  it  later  after  a  seeming  re- 
luctance to  apply  it. 

I  understand  that  Secretary  Lansing 
has  already  given  out  a  statement,  cor- 
recting an  inaccuracy  which  appeared  in 
this  morning's  paper.  I  appreciate  his 
kindness. 

It  is  true  that  I  saw  the  final  draft 
of  the  note  just  before  my  resignation 
took  effect,  but  it  contained  an  important 
change.  I  had  no  knowledge  of  this 
change  at  the  time  my  resignation  was 
tendered  and  accepted.  This  change, 
while  very  much  softening  the  note,  was 
not,  however,  sufficient,  in  my  judgment, 
to  justify  me  in  asking  permission  to 
withdraw  my  resignation. 

As  Germany  had  suggested  arbitra- 
tion, I  felt  that  we  could  not  do  less 
than  reply  to  this  offer  by  expressing  a 
willingness  to  apply  the  principle  of  the 
peace  treaties  to  the  case.  These  treaties, 
while  providing  for  investigation  of  all 
questions,  leave  the  nations  free  to  act 
independently  after  the  international 
commission  has  concluded  the  investiga- 
tion. W.  J.  BRYAN. 

STATEMENTS  ON  THE  WAR  IN 
EUROPE. 
Mr.  Bryan  on  June  16  gave  out  the 
first  of  three  statements  about  the  pres- 
ent war,   and  in  it  he  predicts   that   a 


conference  will  be  held  at  the  close  of 
the  conflict  to  revise  the  rules  of  inter- 
national law.  The  present  rules,  in  Mr. 
Bryan's  opinion,  "  seem  to  have  been 
made  for  the  nations  at  war  rather  than 
for  the  nations  at  peace." 

The  statement  contains  a  hint  to  Pres- 
ident Wilson  in  the  concluding  paragraph 
which  says  that  "  in  all  history  no  other 
peacemaker  has  ever  been  in  position  to 
claim  so  rich  a  blessing  as  that  which 
will  be  pronounced  on  our  President 
when  the  time  for  mediation  comes — as 
come  it  must."    Its  text  follows: 

Washington,  June   16,   1915. 

I  shall  tomorrow  discuss  the  origin  of 
the  war  and  the  reasons  which  led  the 
nations  of  Europe  to  march,  as  if  blind- 
folded, into  the  bloody  conflict  which  now 
rests  like  a  pall  over  the  fairest  parts  of 
the  Old  World;  today  let  us  consider  the 
war  as  it  is  and  the  injury  it  is  doing  to 
the  neutral  nations. 

The  war  is  without  a  precedent  in  the 
populations  represented,  in  the  number 
of  combatants  in  the  field,  in  daily  ex- 
penditures, in  the  effectiveness  of  the 
implements  employed,  in  the  lists  of  dead 
and  wounded,  in  the  widespread  suffering 
caused  and  in  the  intensity  of  the  hatreds 
aroused. 

No  class  or  condition  is  exempt  from 
the  burdens  which  this  war  imposes.  The 
rich  bear  excessive  taxation  and  the  poor 
are  sorely  oppressed;  the  resources  of  to- 
day are  devoured  and  the  products  of  to- 
morrow are  mortgaged.  No  age  is  im- 
mune. The  first  draft  was  upon  the 
strong  and  vigorous,  but  the  Governments 
are  already  calling  for  those  above  and 
below  the  ordinary  enlistment  zone. 

The  war's  afflictions  are  visited  upon 
women  as  well  as  upon  men — upon  wives 
who  await  in  vain  a  husband's  return, 
and  upon  mothers  who  must  surrender 
up  the  sons  whose  support  is  the  natural 
reliance  of  declining  years.  Even  chil- 
dren are  its  victims — children  innocent  of 
wrong  and  incapable  of  doing  harm.  By 
war's  dread  decree  babes  come  into  the 
world  fatherless  at  their  birth,  while  the 
bodies  of  their  sires  are  burned  like 
worthless  stubble  in  the  fields  over  which 
the  Grim  Reaper  has  passed. 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


655 


The  most  extreme  illustrations  collected 
from  history  to  prove  the  loathsomeness 
of  war  are  overshadowed  by  new  indict- 
ments written  daily;  the  most  distress- 
ing pictures  drawn  by  the  imagination 
are  surpassed  by  the  realities  of  this 
indescribable  contest.  Surely  we  behold 
"  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  dark- 
ness and  the  destruction  that  wasteth  at 
noonday." 

Neutral  nations  cannot  look  on  with 
indifference — the  ties  that  bind  them  to- 
gether are  too  strong,  the  relationship 
too  intimate.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  United  States.  We  have  a  composite 
population,  every  nation  of  Europe  hav- 
ing contributed  liberally  to  our  citizen- 
ship. These  our  countrymen,  themselves 
born  abroad  or  immediately  descended 
from  foreign-born  ancestors,  cannot  but 
take  a  likely  interest  in  the  conduct  as 
well  as  in  the  results  of  the  war,  and  a 
still  larger  circle  shares  the  concern  of 
those  directly  connected.  Not  a  soldier 
falls  on  either  side  but  the  sorrow  ex- 
pressed in  his  home  finds  an  echo  at 
some  fireside  in  the  United  States. 

But,  aside  from  sentimental  considera- 
tions, neutral  nations  suffer  serious  dis- 
turbances because  of  the  war.  Duelists, 
when  dueling  was  in  fashion,  were  care- 
ful to  select  a  place  where  they  could 
settle  their  personal  differences  without 
harm  to  unoffending  bystanders,  but 
warring  nations  cannot,  no  matter  how 
earnestly  they  try,  avoid  injury  to  neu- 
trals. As  the  nauseous  odors  of  a 
slaughterhouse,  carried  on  the  breeze, 
pollute  the  air  in  every  direction,  so  the 
evil  influences  emanating  from  these 
wide-extended  battlefields  taint  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  whole  political  world. 
War  is  an  international  nuisance.  Nearly 
every  neutral  nation  finds  new  domes- 
tic problems  thrust  upon  it  and  old 
problems  made  more  difficult. 

No  American  citizen  can  note  without 
deep  concern  the  manner  in  which  war 
questions  have  intruded  themselves  into 
our  politics — overshadowing  economic 
issues  and  stimulating  agitation  in  favor 
of  enlarged  appropriations  for  military 
and  naval  purposes.  Business  is  de- 
ranged    and     expensive     readjustments 


made  necessary,  while  commerce  with 
foreign  nations  is  seriously  interrupted. 
Fluctuations  in  price  abroad  are  re- 
flected in  the  markets  of  the  United 
States.  A  fall  of  one  cent  in  the  price 
of  cotton  means  tens  of  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  our  producers  and  merchants. 
Added  to  this,  freight  rates  and  insur- 
ance premiums  have  been  increased  to 
cover  the  greater  risks  incident  to  war. 
Scarcity  of  ships  is  one  of  the  great- 
est commercial  embarrassments  caused 
by  the  war.  We  have  depended  largely 
upon  foreign  ships  to  carry  our  com- 
merce, and  we  could  not  but  suffer  when 
the  merchantmen  of  one  side  were 
driven  from  the  sea  and  a  part  of  the 
merchant  fleet  of  the  other  side  was 
withdrawn  for  Government  use. 

The  neutral  nations  are  put  to  a  great 
expense  to  preserve  neutrality  and  are 
constantly  in  danger  of  being  embroiled 
in  the  war  without  intention  or  fault  on 
their  part. 

The  rules  of  international  law  seem 
to  have  been  made  for  the  nations  at 
war  rather  than  for  the  nations  at  peace. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  alter  these 
rules  during  the  war,  because  any  mate- 
rial change,  affecting  as  it  would  the 
interests  of  belligerents,  would  be  a 
seeming  violation  of  neutrality.  As  soon 
as  peace  returns  there  will  be  a  demand 
for  an  international  conference  on  the 
subject.  The  presumption  should  then 
be  given  to  peace,  for  peace,  not  war,  is 
the  normal  condition.  If  nations  are  de- 
termined to  fight  they  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  bear  their  burden  themselves 
and  not  be  permitted  to  transfer  it  to 
the  nations  which  avoid  war  by  resorting 
to  reason  instead  of  force. 

Under  the  stress  and  strain  of  the 
titanic  struggle  in  which  they  are  en- 
gaged, each  side  has  felt  itself  justified 
in  encroaching  upon  the  rights  of  neu- 
trals. The  ocean  highways,  the  common 
property  of  all,  have  been  to  some  ex- 
tent appropriated  for  war  purposes,  and 
delicate  diplomatic  questions  are  forced 
upon  the  neutral  nations.  Just  at  this 
time,  when  these  questions  are  most 
acute,  the  belligerent  Governments  are 
least  able  to  deal  with  them  with  the 


656 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


calmness  and  poise  which  their  great 
importance  demands. 

No  wonder  every  neutral  nation  is  in- 
creasingly anxious  for  the  war  to  end; 
but  of  all  the  neutral  nations  ours  has 
the  most  reason  for  the  return  of  peace 
— most  reason  to  set  its  face  resolutely 
against  participation  in  this  war.  This 
nation,  the  head  of  the  neutral  group 
and  the  sincere  friend  of  all  the  belliger- 
ents, is  in  duty  bound  to  set  an  example 
in  patience  and  self-restraint. 

In  all  history  no  such  opportunity  has 
ever  come  to  any  other  nation  as  that 
which  is  destined  to  come  to  the  United 
States.  In  all  history  no  other  peace- 
maker has  ever  been  in  a  position  to 
claim  so  rich  a  blessing  as  that  which 
will  be  pronounced  upon  our  President 
when  the  time  for  mediation  comes — as 
come  it  must.  W.  J.  BRYAN. 

"  PREPAREDNESS  "  AND  WAR. 

That  military  preparedness  provokes 
war  is  the  conclusion  drawn  by  Mr, 
Bryan  in  the  second  utterance  in  his 
series  of  three  concerning  the  European 
conflict  and  war  in  general.  It  reads: 
Washington,  June  17,  1915. 

The  conflict  now  raging  in  Europe  has 
been  described  as  "  The  Causeless  War," 
but  since  no  one  would  be  bold  enough  to 
lay  the  blame  for  such  an  unholy  situa- 
tion upon  an  overruling  Providence,  it 
must  find  its  origin  in  acts  for  which 
man,  and  man  alone,  is  responsible. 

It  is  not  a  race  war;  on  the  contrary, 
the  races  are  quite  inexplicably  mixed. 
Latin  joins  with  Saxon;  the  Frank  is  the 
ally  of  the  Slav;  while  in  the  opposing 
ranks  Teuton  and  Turk  fight  side  by 
side. 

Neither  is  it  a  religious  war.  On  the 
Bosporus  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent 
make  common  cause;  Protestant  Kaiser 
and  Catholic  Emperor  have  linked  their 
fortunes  together  and  hurl  their  veteran 
legions  against  an  army  in  which  are 
indiscriminately  mingled  communicants 
of  the  Greek  Church,  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Nor  yet  is  it  a  rivalry  between  fami- 
lies. The  leading  actors  in  this  -unprece- 
dented tragedy  are  related  by  blood,  but 


kinship  seems  to  be  a  negligible  factor — 
it  explains  neither  friendships  nor  en- 
mities. 

No.  Race,  religion,  and  family,  each 
with  many  wars  to  answer  for,  can  plead 
not  guilty  in  the  present  inquiry.  So  far 
as  can  be  judged,  there  appears  upon  the 
surface  no  cause  that  by  any  known 
standard  can  be  regarded  as  adequate  for 
such  a  cataclysm  as  we  are  now  witness- 
ing. 

The  notes  that  passed  from  chancellery 
to  chancellery  were  couched  in  most 
friendly  language.  These  notes  could 
not  have  been  intended  to  deceive.  Sov- 
ereigns visited  each  other  and  were  re- 
ceived with  every  evidence  of  cordiality 
and  good-will.  This  hospitality  could 
not  have  been  insincere. 

Each  ruler  declared  that  he  did  not 
wish  war;  would  they  all  say  this  if  an 
adequate  cause  for  war  had  actually  ex- 
isted? They  have  all  denied  responsi- 
bility for  the  war — would  they  have  done 
so  if  they  had  regarded  the  war  as  either 
necessary  or  desirable? 

But  there  is  even  better  proof,  aye, 
indisputable  proof,  that  no  sufficient 
cause  existed,  viz.,  the  conclusion  to  be 
drawn  from  inaction. 

Would  not  these  rulers  have  busied 
themselves  trying  to  save  their  subjects 
by  the  eradication  of  the  cause  had  they 
known  of  the  existence  of  such  a  cause? 
Would  they  have  spent  their  time  in  so- 
cial festivities  and  in  exchanging  com- 
pliments had  they  known  that  they  were 
on  the  brink  of  war?  It  is  inconceivable! 
It  would  be  a  gross  libel  on  them,  one 
and  all,  to  charge  such  a  wanton  disre- 
gard of  their  sacred  duty. 

What,  then,  was  the  cause?  If  I  have 
correctly  analyzed  the  situation,  the  war 
is  the  natural  result  of  a  false  philos- 
ophy. Theories  of  life  are  invisible,  but 
they  control  for  good  or  for  evil.  They 
enter  our  very  being,  and  may  be  as 
deadly  to  the  moral  man  as  germs  of 
disease,  taken  into  the  body,  are  deadly 
to  the  physical  man.  The  fundamental 
precept  of  this  false  philosophy  is  that 
"  might  makes  right."  It  is  not  pro- 
claimed now  as  loudly  as  it  once  was,  but 
it  is  often  acted  upon  in  particular  cases 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


637 


by  those  who  would  be  unwilling  to  in- 
dorse it  as  a  general  principle. 

The  individual  makes  this  maxim  his 
excuse  for  violating  three  command- 
ments that  stand  in  his  way;  this  maxim 
also  leads  nations  to  violate  these  same 
three  commandments  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, but  on  a   larger  scale. 

Strange  that  men  should  fail  to  apply 
to  nations  the  moral  principles  which  are 
now  so  generally  applied  to  the  individ- 
ual units  of  a  nation! 

The  tendency  is  to  condemn  the  vio- 
lation of  these  commandments,  not  in 
proportion  to  the  injury  done,  but  rather 
in  inverse  proportion.  No  one  will  dis- 
pute the  validity  of  the  injunction 
against  covetousness  as  long  as  the  ob- 
ject coveted  is  of  little  value  or  not 
gn"eatly  desired,  but  the  last  and  all- 
inclusive  specifications,  viz.,  "  or  any- 
thing that  is  thy  neighbor's,"  is  some- 
times interpreted  by  nations  to  except  a 
neighbor's  vineyard  or  a  neighbor's  ter- 
ritory. Covetousness  turns  to  might  as 
the  principle  to  be  invoked,  and  the 
greater  the  unlawful  desire  the  firmer 
the  faith  in  the  false  principle. 
"  Conquest  is  the  word  used  to  describe 
the  means  employed  for  securing  the 
thing  desired,  if  the  force  is  employad 
by  a  nation,  and  conquest  violates  the 
commandments  Thou  Shalt  Not  Steal 
and  Thou  Shalt  Not  Kill. 

By  what  sophistry  can  rulers  convince 
themselves  that,  while  petit  larceny  is 
criminal,  grand  larceny  is  patriotic;  that, 
while  it  is  reprehensible  for  one  man  to 
kill  another  for  his  money,  it  is  glorious 
for  one  nation  to  put  to  the  sword  the 
inhabitants  of  another  nation  in  order 
to  extend  boundaries? 

It  is  a  mockery  of  moral  distinctions 
to  hang  one  man  for  taking  the  life  of 
another,  either  for  money  or  in  revenge, 
and  then  make  a  hero  of  another  man 
who  wades  "  through  slaughter  to  a 
throne,  and  shut  the  doors  of  mercy  on 
mankind." 

As  in  the  case  of  the  individual,  the 
violation  of  the  commandments  Thou 
Shall  Not  Covet,  Thou  Shalt  Not  Steal, 
and  Thou  Shalt  Not  Kill,  are  usually 
traceable  to  the  violation  of  the  first 
great   commandment — Thou   Shalt   Have 


No  Other  Gods  Before  Me — that  is,  to 
the  putting  of  self  before  service  of  the 
Creator. 

The  violation  of  these  commandments 
by  nations  is  not  always,  but  usually, 
due  to  selfishness — the  putting  of  sup- 
posed material  advantages  before 
obedience  to  the  Divine  Law. 

War  is  occasionally  altruistic  in  pur- 
pose and  the  soldier  always  exhibits  un- 
selfishness of  high  order,  but,  as  a  rule, 
conflicts  are  waged  for  selfish  ends. 

The  individual  finds  that  Jehovah's 
justice  cannot  be  evaded;  for  wrongdoing 
works  its  own  punishment  on  the  wrong- 
doer in  the  form  of  perverted  character 
when  he  escapes  the  penalties  of  human 
law.  The  nation  is  as  powerless  to  re- 
peal or  to  ignore  with  impunity  the  laws 
of  God — "  Though  hand  join  in  hand 
they  shall  not  be  unpunished." 

If  I  have  made  it  clear  that  the  doc- 
trine that  might  makes  right  is  the  most 
common  cause  of  war,  we  may  pass  to 
the  consideration  of  a  maxim  quite  sure 
to  be  applied  in  war,  namely,  that  "  like 
cures  like  " — the  theory  upon  which  re- 
taliation rests. 

The  two  are  so  closely  allied  that  it  is 
almost  inevitable  that  those  who  indorse 
the  former  will  resort  to  the  latter — 
one  representing  the  spirit  of  will,  the 
other  its  most  familiar  manifestation. 
Rivalry  for  rivalry  in  wrongdoing — a 
neck-and-neck  race  to  the  bottomless 
pit.  And  yet  there  are  many  believers 
in  the  gospel  of  force,  who  have  brought 
themselves  to  think  that  cruelty  can  be 
cured  by  greater  cruelty — that  the  only 
way  to  win  an  antagonist  away  from  in- 
human acts  is  to  surpass  him  in  inhu- 
manities.    Absurdity   of   absurdities! 

But  might  must  find  a  pretext  for 
arming  itself;  and  what  is  the  pretext? 
There  was  a  time  when  men  openly  ad- 
vocated war  as  a  thing  to  be  desired; 
commended  it  to  each  generation  as  a 
sort  of  tonic  to  tone  up  the  moral  sys- 
tem and  prevent  degeneracy,  but  we 
have  passed  that  day. 

Now  all  join  in  the  chorus  for  peace. 
And  how,  according  to  the  jingoes,  shall 
peace  be  insured  ?  "  By  preparedness," 
say  these   sons   of   Mars.     Prepare,  all 


658 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


prepare;  equip  yourselves  with  the  most 
modern  implements  of  destruction;  arm, 
drill,  get  ready,  and  then  stand  with 
fingers  on  a  barrel  of  a  musket  and 
preserve  peace — you  preserve  it  until 
some  one,  by  accident  or  design,  gives 
the  sigrnal — then  all  fall  upon  each  other 
with  cries  for  blood.  Preparedness  is 
the  kindling;  opportunity  is  the  match. 

We  dare  not  trust  the  peace  of  the 
world  to  those  who  spend  their  time  in 
getting  ready  for  wars  that  should  never 
come.  Half  the  energy  employed  in  pre- 
paring for  war  would  effectually  pre- 
vent war  if  used  in  propagating  the 
principles  which  make  for  peace. 

Instead  of  preventing  war,  prepared- 
ness provokes  war,  because  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  coerce  the  people  into  bearing  the 
burdens  incident  to  continuous  and  in- 
creasing preparation  without  cultivating 
hatred  as  if  it  were  a  national  virtue. 
There  must  be  some  one  to  fear;  some 
other  preparing  nation  that  must  be 
represented  as  plotting  for  war. 

Hate  sets  up  sham  standards  of  honor 
and  converts  every  wound  into  a  fester- 
ing sore;  hate  misunderstands;  hate  mis- 
interprets; hate  maligns  its  supposed 
adversary,  while  every  contractor,  bat- 
tleship builder,  and  manufacturer  of 
munitions  of  war  applauds. 

How  can  preparedness  prevent  war, 
if  all  prepared?  Each  step  taken  by 
one  nation  toward  more  complete  pre- 
paredness excites  the  other  nations  to  ad- 
ditional purchases  and  new  levies,  until 
all  have  exhausted  their  productive  in- 
dustries and  menaced  their  moral  prog- 
ress. 

The  doctrine  that  preparedness  will 
prevent  war  will  not  stand  the  test  of 
logic,  and  the  conflagration  in  Europe 
shows  that  it  fails  when  tested  by  ex- 
perience. 

If  any  nation  is  without  excuse  for 
entering  into  a  mad  rivalry  with  the 
belligerent  nations  in  preparation  for 
war  it  is  the  United  States.  We  are 
protected  on  either  side  by  thousands  of 
miles  of  ocean,  and  this  protection  is 
worth  more  to  us  than  any  number  of 
battleships.     We  have  an  additional  pro- 


tection in  the  fact — known  to  every  one — 
that  we  have  the  men  with  whom  to 
form  an  army  of  defense  if  we  are  ever 
attacked,  and  it  is  known  also  that  we 
have  the  money,  too — more  money  than 
we  would  have  if  the  surplus  earnings 
of  the  people  had  been  invested  in  arma- 
ment. We  not  only  do  not  need  addi- 
tional preparation,  but  we  are  fortunate 
in  not  having  it,  as  now  it  seems  im- 
possible for  a  nation  to  have  what  is 
called  preparedness  on  slight  notifica- 
tion. 

The  leading  participants  in  the  pres- 
ent war  are  the  nations  that  were  best 
prepared,  and  I  fear  it  would  have  been 
difficult  for  us  to  keep  out  of  this  war 
if  we  had  been  as  well  prepared  as  they. 

Happily  for  our  nation,  we  have  in  the 
White  House  at  this  time  a  President 
who  believes  in  setting  the  Old  World 
an  example  instead  of  following  the  bad 
example  which  it  has  set  in  this  matter. 
What  an  unspeakable  misfortune  it 
would  have  been  if  in  such  an  hour  as 
l:his  the  nation  had  been  under  the  lead 
ership  of  a  President  inflamed  by  the 
false  philosophy  which  has  plunged  Eu- 
rope into  the  abyss  of  war. 

W.  J.  BRYAN. 

HOW  TO  END  THE  WAR. 

The  concluding  argument  of  ex-Secre- 
tary Bryan  for  permanent  peace  among 
the  great  powers  was  published  on  June 
18,  1915.     The  statement  follows: 

Washington,  June   18,   1915. 

Having  considered  the  war  as  it  is 
and  the  injury  which  it  does  neutrals, 
and  then  the  origin  of  the  war  and  the 
causes  which  led  up  to  it,  we  are  now 
ready  to  make  inquiry  as  to  the  way 
out — that  is,  the  means  by  which  hos- 
tilities can  be  brought  to  an  end  and 
permanent  peace  restored.  To  state  in 
a  sentence  the  propositions  which  I  shall 
proceed  to  elaborate:  Mediation  is  the 
means,  provided  by  international  agree- 
ment, through  which  the  belligerent  na- 
tions can  be  brought  into  conference; 
time  for  the  investigation  of  all  dis- 
putes is  the  means  by  which  future 
wars  can  be  averted,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion   of   international   friendship    is   the 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


659 


means  by  which  the  desire  for  war  can 
be  rooted  out. 

What  are  the  nations  fighting 
about?  No  one  seems  to  know,  or  if 
any  one  does  know,  he  has  not  taken 
the  public  into  his  confidence.  We  have 
been  told,  in  a  general  way,  that  the 
Allies  are  fighting  against  "  militarism  " 
and  in  defense  of  "  popular  government," 
and  that  Germany  is  fighting  in  defense 
of  "  German  culture "  and  for  the  na- 
tion's right  to  "  a  place  in  the  sun."  But 
these  generalities  are  so  differently  in- 
terpreted as  not  to  convey  a  definite 
idea.  When  the  President  offered  media- 
tion at  the  very  beginning  of  the  strug- 
gle the  answers  which  he  received  from 
the  various  rulers  were  so  much  alike 
that  one  telegram  might  have,  served  for 
all.  The  substance  of  each  answer  was, 
"  I  did  not  want  war  and  I  am  not  to 
blame  for  the  war  that  now  exists."  But 
that  was  ten  months  ago;  the  question 
now  is  not  whether  those  in  authority 
in  the  belligerent  nations  did  or  did  not 
want  war  then;  we  may  accept  their  an- 
swers as  given  in  good  faith,  but  the 
important  question  is  still  unanswered. 
"  I  did  not  want  war "  may  have  been 
deemed  sufficient  at  the  time  the  an- 
swers were  given,  but  the  real  question 
is,  "  Do  you  want  war  now  ?  If  not,  why 
not  say  so?  " 

The  months  have  dragged  their  bloody 
length  along — each  more  terrible  than 
the  month  before — and  yet  the  crimson 
line  of  battle  sways  to  and  fro,  each 
movement  marked  by  dreadful  loss  of 
life.  While  warriors  die  and  widows 
weep,  the  sovereign  rulers  of  the  war- 
ring powers  withhold  the  word  that 
would  stop  the  v/ar.  No  Chief  of  State 
has  yet  said,  "  I  do  not  want  war."  No 
one  in  authority  has  yet  publicly  de- 
clared his  willingness  to  state  the  terms 
upon  which  his  nation  is  ready  to  nego- 
tiate peace.  Are  not  these  dying  men 
and  these  sorrowing  women  entitled  to 
know  definitely  for  what  their  nation  is 
fighting?  Is  it  territory?  Then  how 
much  territory,  and  where  is  it  located? 
Is  it  the  avenging  of  a  wrong  done? 
Then  how  much  more  blood  must  be 
spilled  to  make  atonement  for  the  blood 
already   shed?      Some    day   accumulated 


suffering  will  reach  its  limit;  some  day 
the  pent-up  anguish  which  this  war  is 
causing  will  find  a  voice.  Then,  if  not 
before,  the  rulers  in  the  war  zone  will 
pause  to  listen  to  the  stern  question, 
"  Why  do  we  die  ?  " — the  question  which 
shakes  thrones  and  marks  the  further- 
most limits  of  arbitrary  power. 

And  is  not  the  outside  world  entitled 
to  know  the  price  of  peace?  Must  the 
neutrals  bear  the  penalties  which  war 
necessarily  visits  upon  them,  and  yet 
remain  in  ignorance  as  to  the  issues  at 
stake?  Their  trade  is  interrupted,  their 
citizens  are  drowned,  they  are  the  vic- 
tims of  stray  bullets — have  they  no  right 
to  know  what  it  is  that,  being  done,  will 
draw  down  the  curtain  of  this  dark 
tragedy?  Has  any  nation  a  purpose  for 
continuing  this  war  which  it  does  not 
dare  to  state  to  the  world,  or  even  to  its 
own  people? 

Surely  neither  side  thinks  it  can  an- 
nihilate the  other.  Great  nations  cannot 
be  exterminated — population  cannot  be 
wiped  out  by  the  sword.  The  combat- 
ants, even  though  the  war  may  have 
rr.f.de  them  heartless,  will  shrink  from 
the  task  of  carrying  this  slaughter  be- 
yond the  point  necessary  to  win  a  vic- 
tory. And  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Vvar  plans  often  miscarry.  Predictions 
Titiide  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  have 
rot  been  fulfilled.  The  British  did  not 
destroy  the  German  fleet  in  a  month, 
and  Germany  did  not  take  Paris  in  two 
months,  and  the  Russian  Army  did  not 
eat  Christmas  dinner  in  Berlin.  But 
even  if  extermination  were  possible,  it 
would  be  a  crime  against  civilization 
which  no  nation  or  group  of  nations 
C('Uld  afford  to  commit.  If  it  is  vandal- 
ism to  destroy  the  finest  specimens  of 
man's  workmanship,  is  it  not  sacrilege 
to  engage  in  the  wholesale  destruction 
of  human  beings — the  supreme  example 
of  God's  handiwork?  We  may  find  cases 
of  seeming  total  depravity  among  indi- 
viduals, but  not  in  a  nation  or  in  a  race. 
The  future  has  use  for  the  peoples  now 
at  war;  they  have  a  necessary  part  in 
that  destiny  which  mankind  must  work 
out  together  regardless  of  these  ebulli- 
tions of  anger.     The   Lord  might  have 


660 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


made  all  flowers  of  one  kind,  of  one 
color  and  alike  in  fragrance — but  He  did 
not.  And  because  He  did  not,  the  world 
is  more  beautiful.  Variety,  not  uni- 
formity, is  the  law  among  men  as  well 
as  among  the  flowers.  The  nations 
which  are  actively  participating  in  this 
war  are  what  they  are  because  of  strug- 
gles that  have  lasted  for  centuries.  They 
differ  in  language,  in  institutions,  in 
race  characteristics,  and  in  national  his- 
tory, but  together  they  constitute  a  great 
living  bouquet  that  is  of  surpassing 
beauty. 

We  may  put  aside,  therefore,  as  wholly 
impracticable,  if  not  inconceivable,  the 
thought  that  this  war  can  continue  until 
one  side  has  annihilated  the  other. 
What,  then,  can  be  the  purpose?  The 
complete  domination  of  Europe  by  one 
nation  or  group  of  nations?  The  ab- 
surdity of  such  a  plan  is  only  second  to 
the  absurdity  of  the  thought  that  either 
side  can  annihilate  the  other.  The  world 
is  not  looking  for  a  master;  the  day  of 
the  despot  is  gone.  The  future  will  be 
gloomy  indeed  if  the  smaller  nations 
must  pass  under  the  yoke  of  any  power 
or  combination  of  powers.  The  question 
is  not  who  shall  dictate  on  land,  or  who 
shall  dominate  upon  the  sea.  These 
questions  are  not  practical  ones.  The 
real  question  is,  not  how  a  few  can  lay 
burdens  upon  the  rest,  but  how  all  can 
work  together  as  comrades  and  brothers. 

Even  if  it  were  possible  for  one  side 
to  force  the  other  side  to  its  knees  in 
supplication,  even  if  it  were  possible  for 
one  side  to  write  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
in  blood  and  compel  the  other  side  to  sign 
it,  face  downward  and  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  it  could  not  afford  to  do  so;  and 
unless  the  belligerents  have  read  history 
to  no  purpose,  they  will  not  desire  to  do 
so.  Time  and  again  some  nation,  boast- 
ful of  its  strength,  has  thought  itself 
invincible,  but  the  ruins  of  these  mis- 
taken and  misguided  nations  line  the 
pathway  along  which  the  masses  have 
marched  to  higher  ground.  Despotism 
has  in  it  the  seeds  of  death;  the  spirit 
that  leads  a  nation  to  aspire  to  a  su- 
premacy based  on  force  is  the  spirit  that 
destroys  its  hope  of  immortality.     Only 


those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the 
larger  influences  can  place  their  sole  re- 
liance on  the  weapons  used  in  physical 
warfare.  They  see  only  the  things  that 
are  transient  and  ephemeral;  they  do 
not  comprehend  the  higher  truth  that 
"the  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal; 
the  things  that  are  unseen  are  eternal." 

Christian  nations  need  to  read  again 
Christ's  prayer  upon  the  Cross,  "  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do."  All  the  participants  in  this 
war  have  sinned  enough  to  make  them 
anxious  to  exhibit  that  forgiving  spirit 
which  is  the  measure  of  the  forgiveness 
which  can  be  claimed. 

When  can  peace  be  restored?  Any 
time — now,  if  the  participants  are  really 
weary  of  this  war  and  ready  for  it  to 
end.  If  any  nation  is  not  ready,  let  its 
ruler  state  in  clear,  distinct,  and  defi- 
nite terms  the  conditions  upon  which  it 
is  willing  to  agree  to  peace;  then  if  an 
agreement  is  not  reached  the  blame  for 
the  continuance  of  the  war  will  be  upon 
those  who  make  unreasonable  demands. 

What  can  be  done  by  the  advocates 
of  peace?  First,  they  can  crystallize 
the  sentiment  in  favor  of  peace  into  a 
coersive  force,  for  public  opinion  at  last 
controls  the  world.  There  is  a  work 
which  the  neutrals  can  do;  they  can  of- 
fer mediation,  jointly  or  severally.  It 
is  not  an  act  of  hostility,  but  an  act  of 
friendship.  The  Hague  Convention,  to 
which  all  the  Governments  are  parties, 
expressly  declares  that  the  offer  of 
mediation  .shall  not  be  considered  an  un- 
friendly act.  The  duty  of  offering 
mediation  may  seem  to  rest  primarily 
upon  the  United  States,  the  largest  of 
the  neutral  nations,  and  the  one  most 
intimately  bound  by  ties  of  blood  to  all 
the  belligerents.  The  United  States  did 
make  an  offer  immediately  after  the 
war  began.  But  why  not  again  and  again 
and  again,  until  our  offer  or  some  other 
offer  is  accepted?  Why  not  stand  at 
the  door  and  knock,  as  we  would  at  the 
door  of  a  friend  if  we  felt  that  the 
friend  was  in  need  and  that  we  could 
render  a  service? 

But  our  action  or  failure  to  act  need 
not  deter  any  other  neutral  country  from 
acting.     This  is  not  a  time  to  stand  on 


BARON     SYDNEY     SONNINO 

Italian      Minister     of      Foreign      Affairs 
(Photo    from    Paul    Thompson) 


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FIELD     MARSHAL     VON     MACKENSEN 
Who   Commanded    the   Victorious    Teutonic    Forces   Against    the     Russians 

in     the     Southeast 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


661 


ceremony;  if  any  other  country,  for  any 
reason,  no  matter  what  that  reason  may 
be,  is  in  a  better  position  than  we  to" 
tender  its  good  offices,  it  should  not  de- 
lay for  a  moment.  It  is  for  the  belliger- 
ents to  decide  which  offer,  if  any,  they 
will  accept.  I  am  sure  they  will  not 
complain  if,  following  the  promptings  of 
our  hearts,  we  beseech  them  to  let  us 
help  them  back  to  the  paths  of  peace. 

Will  they  object  on  the  ground  that 
they  will  not  consent  to  any  peace  until 
they  have  assurances  that  it  will  be  a 
permanent  peace?  That  suggestion  has 
been  made — I  think  both  sides  have  ex- 
pressed a  desire  that  the  peace,  when  se- 
cured, shall  be  permanent — but  who  can 
give  a  pledge  as  to  the  future?  If  fear 
that  the  peace  may  not  be  permanent 
is  given  as  the  reason  for  refusal  it  is 
not  a  sufficient  reason.  While  no  one 
can  stand  surety  for  what  may  come,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  adopt  measures  which 
will  give  far  greater  assurance  of  per- 
manent peace  than  the  world  has  ever 
known  befoipe. 

Second — The  treaty  in  which  they  join 
should  provide  for  Investigation  by  a 
permanent  international  commission  of 
every  dispute  that  may  arise,  no  mat- 
ter what  its  character  or  nature.  The 
United  States  has  already  made  thirty 
treaties  embodying  this  principle,  and 
these  thirty  treaties  link  our  country  to 
nearly  three-quarters  of  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  world.  We  have  such  a 
treaty  in  force  between  the  United  States 
and  four  of  the  countries  now  at  war — 
Great  Britain,  France,  Russia,  and  Italy. 
The  principle  of  this  treaty  has  been 
accepted  by  three  other  belligerents — 
Germany,  Austria,  and  Belgium — al- 
though treaties  with  these  nations  have 
not  yet  been  negotiated.  These  seven 
warring  nations  have  indorsed  the  prin- 
ciple embodied  in  these  treaties,  namely, 
that  there  shall  be  no  declaration  of  war 
or  commencement  of  hostilities  until  the 
subject  in  dispute  has  been  investigated 
by  an  international  commission.  Why 
cannot  they  apply  the  principle  as  be- 
tween themselves?  What  cause  of  war 
is  of  such  magnitude  that  nations  can 
afford    to    commence    shooting    at    each 


other  befofe  the  cause  is  investigated? 
A  treaty  such  as  those  which  now  pro- 
tect the  peace  of  the  United  States  would 
give  a  year's  time  for  investigation  and 
report,  and  who  doubts  that  a  year's 
time  would  be  sufficient  to  reach  an 
amicable  settlement  of  almost  every  dif- 
ficulty? 

Does  any  one  suppose  that  the  pres- 
ent war  would  have  been  begun  if  a 
year's  time  had  been  taken  to  investigate 
the  dispute  between  Austria  and  Serbia  ? 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Serbia  had 
only  twenty-four  hours  in  which  to  re- 
ply,  and  it  will  also  be  remembered  that 
during  this  brief  time  the  rulers  of  the 
Old  World  endeavored  to  find  a  means 
of  preventing  war.  If  they  had  only 
had  some  machinery  which  they  could 
have  employed  to  avert  war,  how  gladly 
would  they  have  availed  themselves  of 
it!  The  machinery  provided  by  treaty 
can  be  resorted  to  with  honor — yes,  with 
honor — no  matter  how  high  a  sense  of 
honor  the  nation  has.  The  trouble  has 
been  that,  while  the  nations  were  abun- 
dantly provided  with  machinery  for  con- 
ducting war,  they  possessed  no  machinery 
for  the  promotion  of  peace.  A  year's 
time  allows  passion  to  subside  and  rea- 
son to  resume  its  sway.  It  allows  man 
to  act  when  he  is  calm  instead  of  having 
to  act  when  he  is  angry.  When  a  man 
is  angry  he  swaggers  around  and  talks 
about  what  he  can  do,  and  he  often  over- 
estimates his  strength;  when  he  is  calm 
he  considers  what  he  ought  to  do.  When 
he  is  angry  he  hears  the  rumbling  of 
earthquakes  and  the  sweep  of  the  hurri- 
cane; when  he  is  calm  he  listens  to  the 
still  small  voice  of  conscience. 

Third — While  the  period  of  investiga- 
tion provided  for  in  our  treaties  will  go 
far  toward  preventing  war,  still  even  a 
year's  deliberation  does  not  give  com- 
plete protection.  In  order  to  secure  the 
investigation  of  all  questions  without 
exception  it  was  necessary  to  reserve  to 
the  contracting  parties  liberty  of  action 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  investigation. 
War  is  thus  reduced  from  a  probability 
to  a  mere  possibility,  and  this  is  an  im- 
measurable advance;  but  the  assurance 
of  permanent  peace  cannot  be  given  un- 


662 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


til  the  desire  for  war  is  eradfcated  from 
the  human  heart.  Compulsory  periods 
of  investigation  supply  the  machinery  by 
which  nations  can  maintain  peace  with 
honor  if  they  so  desire;  but  the  final 
work  of  the  advocates  of  peace  is  educa- 
tional— it  is  the  cultivation  of  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood  condensed  into  the  com- 
mandment "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself."  Is  it  impossible  to  im- 
agine a  civilization  in  which  greatness 
will  be  measured  by  service  and  in  which 
the  rivalry  will  be  a  rivalry  in  doing 
good?  No  one  doubts  that  the  lot  of 
each  member  of  society  would  be  in- 
finitely better  under  such  conditions; 
why  not  strive  to  bring  about  such  con- 
ditions ?  Is  it  visionary  to  hope  and  labor 
for  this  end?  "Where  there  is  no  vision 
the  people  perish."  It  is  a  "  death  grap- 
ple in  the  darkness  'twixt  old  systems 
and  the  Word."  The  old  system  has 
broken  down;  it  can  let  loose  the  furies, 
but  it  cannot  bind  them;  it  is  impotent 
to   save.     The   question   is   not   whether 


the  Word  will  triumph — that  is  certain — 
but  when?     And  after  what  sufferings? 

Thomas  Carlyle,  his  voice  rising  clear 
and  strong  above  the  babble  of  Mammon, 
asked,  in  the  closing  chapters  of  his 
French  Revolution: 

"  Hast  thou  considered  how  Thought 
is  stronger  than  Artillery  Parks,  and 
(were  it  fifty  years  after  death  and 
martyrdom,  or  were  it  two  thousand 
years)  writes  and  un writes  Acts  of  Par- 
liament, removes  mountains,  models  the 
World  like  soft  clay?  Also  how  the  be- 
ginning of  all  Thought  worth  the  name 
is  Love." 

The  truth  which  he  uttered  is  still 
truth,  and  no  matter  who  uttered  it,  the 
thought  is  the  thought  of  Him  who  spake 
as  never  man  spake;  who  was  described 
in  prophecy  as  the  Prince  of  Peace; 
whose  coming  was  greeted  with  the  song 
of  "  Peace  on  earth;  good-will  to  men," 
and  whose  teachings,  when  applied,  will 
usher  in  the  enduring  peace  of  a  uni- 
versal brotherhood.  W.  J.  BRYAN. 


Bryan,  Idealist  and  Average  Man 


By  Charles  Willis  Thompson 


The  subjoined  estimate  of  William  J.  Bryan's  character  and  public  career,  which  ap- 
peared in  The  New  York  Times  of  June  9,  1915,  is  by  the  hand  of  one  of  its  staff  writers 
who  has  specialized  in  American  national  politics. 


THE  plain  man  of  the  prairie  became 
Secretary  of  State  when  William 
J.  Bryan  did;  the  pi-airie  then 
entered  diplomacy,  international 
controversy.  The  secret  of  all  that  has 
puzzled  the  land  in  his  behavior  lies  in 
that  fact.  His  hold  on  the  West  lies  in 
the  fact  that  he  is  in  himself  the  average 
man  of  that  country,  with  that  man's 
ideals,  aspirations,  defects,  and  draw- 
backs. There  seems  nothing  strange  or 
funny  in  a  Secretary  of  State  who  goes 
to  New  York  and  signs  temperance 
pledges,  or  holds  Billy  Sunday's  platform 
in  Philadelphia,  when  you  get  a  few 
miles  away  from  the  cities;  and  if  it 
seems  a  little  queer  to  New  York  to  find 


the  Secretary  of  State  undertaking  to 
demolish  the  Darwinian  theory,  there  are 
plenty  of  regions  where  the  Darwinian 
theory  is  regarded  as  a  device  of  the 
devil  to  upset  the  Mosaic  cosmogony. 
Chesterton  says  that  Dickens  never 
wrote  down  to  the  mob,  because  he  was 
himself  the  mob ;  and  Bryan  never  talked 
down  to  the  men  of  the  prairie  for  the 
same  reason. 

He  is  not  a  man  of  culture,  nor  of 
reading.  He  has  been  around  the  world, 
but  when  he  came  back  the  books  and 
articles  he  wrote  were  such  as  might 
have  been  published  as  guide  books  or 
in  encyclopedias;  he  could  have  written 
them  without  leaving  home.     Travel  had 


THE    LU  SIT  AN  I A    CASE 


663 


no  broadening  or  polishing  effect  upon 
his  mind. 

The  vast  influence  he  still  has  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  common  man,  with 
all  his  mistakes  and  gaucheries,  speaks 
in  him,  and  that  when  the  common  man 
hears  his  own  thoughts  spoken  in  Bry- 
an's voice  he  knows  that  the  accent  is 
sincere.  Bryan  may  have  taken  up  this 
or  that  particular  issue  because  it  sound- 
ed like  a  vote-maker,  but  none  of  them 
represented  tne  least  divergence  from 
his  course  as  a  whole,  which  has  always 
been  honestly  bent  in  a  certain  plain  di- 
rection. He  never  hesitated  to  be  in  a 
minority  and  never  dodged  a  fight.  He 
is  an  innocent  theorist,  who  frequently 
goes  wrong  because  of  the  simplicity  of 
his  mental  processes;  but  he  acts  upon 
his  theories-,  right  or  wrong,  with  an 
intrepidity  and  a  whole-hearted  courage 
in  which  the  ordinary  man  sees  the  quali- 
ties he  himself  would  like  to  have,  and 
dreams  he  has.  His  mind  is  not  broad, 
but  it  is  strong;  he  is  always  sure  he 
is  right,  and  always  ready  to  fight  for 
his  beliefs,  and  he  keeps  his  hold  upon 
his  followers  because  he  is  not  below 
them,  and  not  much  above  them,  and 
because  they  know  he  is  honest  and  sin- 
cere. 

In  1906,  the  Democratic  Party,  picking 
itself  out  of  the  wreckage  of  Parker's 
defeat,  was  yearning  to  reunite.  "  Big 
business,"  assaulted  and  bruised  and 
banged  about  by  President  Roosevelt, 
was  ready  to  come  into  line.  Roosevelt 
or  his  candidate  could  be  defeated  in 
1908  only  by  Democratic  harmony. 
Bryan  was  abroad,  traveling,  and  some- 
how his  distant  figure  looked  less  ap- 
palling than  the  near-by  figure  in  the 
White  House.  The  East  did  not  ask  him 
to  recant  his  radicalism,  but  only  not  to 
talk  about  it.  He  arrived  in  New  York, 
and  business  went  to  hear  him  make  a 
harmony  speech.  If  he  made  it,  business 
would  support  him  for  President.  He 
made  the  speech;  he  declared  for  Govern- 
ment ownership  of  railroads.  Business, 
roaring  with  pain,  fell  back  into  the  Re- 
publican arms,  and  Bryan  was  defeated 
for  President.  No,  Bryan  is  not  an  op- 
portunist— not  in  things  that  really 
matter. 


William  Bayard  Hale  once  accurately 
described  him  as  "  essentially  a  preacher, 
a  high-class  exhorter,  a  glorified  circuit 
rider."  There  are  vast  spaces  of  our 
country  still  populated  by  men  and 
women  of  the  old-fashioned  kind;  Ches- 
terton describes  them  as  "  full  of  stale 
culture  and  ancestral  simplicity."  They 
are  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans — 
intellectually,  at  any  rate — they  look 
askance  on  cards,  dancing,  and  the 
stage;  they  are  the  kind  of  folks  who 
peopled  the  Mississippi  Valley  in  Lin- 
coln's day  and  Massachusetts  in  John 
Hancock's.  Bryan  does  not  talk  down 
to  that  type  for  votes;  he  is  that  type. 
Colonel  George  Harvey,  with  sarcastic 
intent,  alleged  that  Bryan  became  a 
white-ribboner  after  hearing  a  little  girl 
recite  "  The  Lips  That  Touch  Liquor 
Shall  Never  Touch  Mine."  There  are 
regions  which  would  accept  that  parable 
as  Gospel  truth,  and  much  to  Bryan's 
credit. 

Salem,  111.,  is  a  little  town  which  fairly 
shrieks  at  you  its  pre-eminence  as  a  pict- 
ure of  that  type.  As  you  pass  through 
its  orderly  little  streets,  with  its  little 
frame  houses,  all  of  the  same  kind  and 
all  neat  and  unassuming,  with  its  dirt 
roads  and  its  typical  Town  Hall,  set  cor- 
rectly back  behind  a  correct  little  patch 
of  grass  in  a  neat  square,  you  feel  in- 
stinctively that  the  Darwinian  theory 
must  be  avoided  in  your  Salem  conversa- 
tion. You  know  at  once  that  the  same 
families  have  lived  there  for  generations. 
So  they  have;  one  of  them  was  Bryan's, 
and  he  was  born  there  on  March  19, 
1860. 

Of  course,  he  was  the  valedictorian  of 
his  class — Illinois  College,  1881.  Of 
course,  he  became  a  lawyer;  and,  of 
course,  in  the  Middle  West,  that  involved 
politics.  He  lived  now  in  Lincoln,  Neb., 
in  a  Republican  district,  but  he  was  a 
Democrat.  There  was  a  landslide  in  1890. 
The  whole  country  went  Democratic,  and 
many  a  forlorn  hope  leader  in  some  hide- 
bound Republican  disti-ict  was  swept  into 
Congress,  Bryan  among  them.  He  made 
a  great  speech  on  the  tariff,  which  won 
him  instantly  a  national  reputation;  but 
Lincoln  had  recovered  its  Republican 
poise,  and  he  did  not  go  back  to  Con- 


664 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


gress.  He  added  to  his  reputation  in  his 
own  State,  however,  as  editor  of  its  chief 
Democratic  organ,  The  Omaha  World- 
Herald,  and  went  to  Chicago  as  the  head 
of  its  delegation  to  the  National  Conven- 
tion of  1896. 

At  a  moment  when  David  B.  Hill's 
masterly  presentation  of  the  gold-stand- 
ard case  and  Tillman's  failure  in  his  ef- 
fort at  rejoinder  had  thrown  a  wet 
blanket  over  the  silverites,  Bryan  came 
forward  with  his  "  Cross  of  Gold  "  speech. 
The  cheering  delegations  carried  him 
around  the  hall  on  their  shoulders.  None 
of  the  candidates  before  the  convention 
was  dominating  or  really  of  Presidential 
size;  the  convention  was  deadlocked  for 
many  ballots,  and  at  last  it  turned  to 
Bryan  and  nominated  him. 

His  defeat  by  McKinley  really  marked 
the  begfinning  of  his  career  as  a  national 
leader.  Despite  the  accident  which  had 
made  him  the  Democracy's  nominal  lead- 
er, he  demonstrated  that  he  was  the 
ablest  of  the  radicals  into  whose  hands 
it  had  fallen,  and  his  nominal  chieftain- 
ship became  a  real  one.  It  was  evident 
from  the  beginning  that  he  would  be  re- 
nominated in  1900.  When  the  Spanish 
war  broke  out  he  offered  his  services  and 
became  Colonel  of  the  Third  Nebraska 
Regiment.  The  Republican  Administra- 
tion was  taking  no  chances  on  his  getting 
any  military  glory,  and  it  marooned  him 
in  Florida  till  after  the  war.  He  returned 
good  for  evil  by  going  to  Washington, 
uniform  and  all,  and  dragooning  reluctant 
Democratic  Senators  into  voting  for  the 
treaty  with  Spain  whereby  we  acquired 
the  Philippines.  This  was  one  of  his 
incidental  opportunisms;  he  believed  it 
would  give  the  Democrats  a  winning 
issue,  that  of  imperialism.  The  cast  of 
Bryan's  mind  is  such  that  he  always  gets 
his  winning  issues  on  wrong  end  fore- 
most; it  gave  the  Republicans  a  winning 
issue,  that  of  imperialism. 

Bryan  went  down  to  defeat  again  in 
1900,  on  this  new  issue,  and  as  usual 
epitaphs  were  written  over  his  political 
grave.  It  is  a  favorite  parlor  game;  but 
Bryan  never  stays  dead,  because  there  is 
something  enduring  in  him.  What  is  it? 
That  same  spokesmanship  for  the  aver- 


age man  of  many  regions,  the  man  of 
the  little  parlor  with  the  melodeon  or 
parlor  organ,  the  plush-bound  photograph 
album  and  the  "  History  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Earthquake  "  bought  by  subscrip- 
tion from  a  book  agent,  and  the  grand- 
father's clock  in  the  corner  of  the  hall. 

But  in  1904  the  Democratic  leaders, 
tired  of  defeat,  turned  desperately  to  the 
opposite  wing  of  the  party.  The  radical 
leaders,  really  opportunists,  forswore  or 
hid  their  convictions  for  the  sake  of 
victory,  tried  to  teach  their  unskillful 
tongues  the  language  of  conservatism, 
and  joined  in  with  the  conservatives  in 
the  nomination  of  Parker.  But  Bryan 
did  not  yield;  he  forswore  nothing,  hid 
nothing,  and  he  fought  a  lonely  fight, 
the  bravest  of  his  life. 

His  fight  was  of  one  man  against  a 
multitude.  Alone,  he  had  to  be  every- 
where; he  was  in  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions,  in  the  Committee  on  Cre- 
dentials, on  the  floor  of  the  convention, 
speaking,  fighting,  working,  twenty  hours 
a  day.  He  had  no  one  to  help  him;  all 
his  fellows  were  on  the  other  side, 
strangling  their  convictions  and  fighting 
against  him.  H'3  was  insulted  on  the 
platform,  even  by  fellow-radicals;  he 
was  elbowed  aside  and  snarled  at  by 
men  who  bad  been  more  radical  than 
himself;  at*:e)npts  were  made  to  deny 
him  a  hearing.  Nothing  could  daunt  him 
or  perturb  him;  he  fought  on  until 
Farker  was  nominated,  went  to  his 
hotel  at  dawn  as  the  convention  ad- 
journed, and  fell  into  his  bed  in  utU.r 
collapse.  A  doctor  was  summoned,  who 
said  that  Bryan  must  instantly  give  up 
all  work  and  undergo  treatment. 

That  evening  the  news  came  that 
Parker  had  refused  to  run  unless  the 
word  "  gold  "  was  written  into  the  plat- 
form; the  convention  was  thrown  into 
panic;  the  sick  man  rose  from  his  bed 
and  entered  the  wild  and  turbulent  hall, 
white-faced,  breathing  with  difficulty, 
sweat  pouring  down  his  face,  and  there  • 
took  up  the  work  again,  single-handed 
still.  He  fought  on  all  night,  was  de- 
feated again,  and  went  under  the  doc- 
tor's hands.  Those  speeches  in  that  con- 
vention were  really  the  greatest  of  his 


THE    LU  SIT  AN  I A    CASE 


CC5 


life,  though  they  may  not  read  as  well 
as  others;  each  of  them  was  a  battle. 

Parker's  defeat  by  Roosevelt  again 
erased  that  ever-recurring  epitaph  over 
Bryan's  political  grave.  It  was  evident 
at  once  that  nothing  could  prevent  him 
from  being  again  the  candidate  in  1908. 
Again  he  was  defeated,  and  again  the 
epitaph  was  jubilantly  rewritten.  He 
was  extinguished,  he  would  never  again 
be  an  influence  in  the  party;  it  was,  to 
use  the  phrase  of  1896,  1900,  and  1904, 
"  the  end  of  Bryan." 

Again  the  epitaph  had  to  be  erased. 
He  was  so  far  from  being  extinguished 
that  he  became  the  dominating  force  of 
the  convention  of  1912.  There  is  no 
doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  who 
was  there,  that  Bryan  had  given  up  all 
hope  of  running  for  President,  because, 
as  he  expressed  it  in  a  thrilling  mid- 
night speech  at  that  convention,  he 
recognized  at  last  that  he  had  too  many 
enemies  ever  to  expect  to  win.  But  he 
did  determine  to  be  a  king-maker  if  he 
could  not  be  a  king,  and  king-maker  he 
was. 

Not  even  the  convention  of  1904 
showed  Bryan  in  better  light  as  a  fighter 
than  that  of  1912.  He  was  determined 
that  the  reactionaries  should  not  control 
the  convention.  At  the  beginning  he 
was  defeated,  but  defeat  never  affected 
Bryan  in  the  least  in  all  his  life,  and 
this  time,  as  usual,  he  only  went  on 
fighting.  When  the  convention  rejected 
him  for  Temporary  Chairman  and  elected 
Parker,  the  embodiment  of  all  he  op- 
posed, he  merely  took  a  fresh  hold  and 
fought  harder. 

When  he  swung  Nebraska  from  Champ 
Clark  to  Wilson  he  had  won,  and  there- 
after Wilson's  nomination  was  only  a 
question  of  time.  He  was  the  centre  of 
violent  scenes,  as  when  maddened  men 
swept  down  upon  him  and  shook  their 
standards  in  his  face  and  seemed  on  the 
verge  of  assaulting  him.  When  he  tried 
to  get  a  hearing  and  the  opposition 
shouted  him  down,  he  simply  climbed 
up  on  the  platform  beside  the  Chairman 
and  forced  them  to  hear.  Once,  while 
the  whole  convention  seemed  to  be  yell- 
ing at  him,  and  he  stood  in  the  midst 
of  a  whirlwind  of  angry  noise,  ex-Gov- 


ernor McCorkle  of  West  Virginia,  jump- 
ing up  and  facing  him,  shrieked  in  a 
voice  heard  above  the  cyclone :  "  Are  you 
a  Democrat?" 

"  My  Democracy  has  been  certified  to 
by  six  and  a  half  million  voters.  But," 
pointing  his  palm-leaf  fan  at  McCorkle, 
with  magnificent  contempt,  "  I  will  ask 
the  secretary  to  record  one  vote  in  the 
negative  if  the  gentleman  will  give  me 
his  name." 

He  won;  Wilson  was  nominated.  He 
brought  his  great  following  into  line  for 
an  Eastern  man,  and  Wilson  was  elected. 
The  new  President,  following  a  prece- 
dent set  by  Taylor,  Garfield,  and  Harri- 
son, made  him  Secretary  of  State. 

Then  Bryan  showed  a  new  side  of  his 
character  to  the  country.  He  effaced 
himself  in  Wilson's  interest;  he  became 
a  loyal  subordinate,  accepting  a  minor 
place  cheerfully  and  laboring  with  might 
and  main  to  make  the  Administration  a 
success.  It  is  chiefly  due  to  his  efforts 
that  it  was  one  for  its  first  two  years. 
The  new  President  was  unknown  to  most 
of  his  party,  and  the  legislation  he  rec- 
ommended would  have  met  with  internal 
opposition  but  for  Bryan.  The  Secretary 
whipped  his  followers  into  line  even  for 
legislation  so  repugnant  to  them  as  the 
Currency  bill,  and  the  Presidential  pro- 
gram went  through.  In  two  years  Mr. 
Wilson  had  become  a  definite  personality 
to  the  country,  and  had  a  following  of 
his  own;  but  his  initial  success  was  due 
to  Bryan,  and  but  for  Bryan  Mr.  Wilson 
might  have  had  to  face  a  party  as  di- 
vided as  did  Cleveland,  and  might  have 
seen  his  Administration  wrecked  as 
Cleveland's  was. 

Mr.  Bryan  hoped  to  make  an  enduring 
name  for  himself  as  Secretary  of  State. 
In  the  years  that  had  elapsed  since  he 
was  Colonel  of  the  Third  Nebraska  he 
had  become  an  ardent  pacifist,  and  he 
dreamed  of  going  into  history  with  a 
title  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
statesman  who  ever  lived — for  such, 
surely,  would  have  been  the  meed  of 
the  man  who  abolished  war.  That  mind 
of  his,  honest  as  the  day,  but  far  from 
great;  strong  but  not  broad,  sees  every- 
thing as  simple,  not  as  complex.    Is  there 


666 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


a  wrong?  Why,  then,  abolish  it;  it  is 
as  simple  as  A  B  C.  War  is  wrong; 
therefore  let  us  stop  it.  How?  Why, 
get  everybody  to  agree  not  to  fight  with- 
out taking  a  year  to  look  into  the  thing. 
And  he  busied  himself  drafting  and  ne- 
gotiating treaties  with  all  the  world  to 
get  it  to  agree  to  this  simple  but  cer- 
tain remedy.  The  "  glorified  circuit 
rider"  was  at  the  head  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  of  the  United  States.  If 
anybody  had  suggested  to  him  that  there 
were  nations  which  no  treaty  could  bind, 
he  would  have  answered,  in  the  style  of 
the  prayer-meeting  exhorter,  "  Ah !  I 
have  a  higher  faith  in  human  nature." 
So  he  worked  busily,  building  himself 
his  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame,  and 
meanwhile  the  greatest  war  in  history 
broke  out. 

With  such  a  mind  as  has  been  de- 
scribed, it  is  evident  that  this  event 
could  not  shake  Mr.  Bryan's  confidence 
in  himself  or  his  remedies.  To  him  it 
was  obvious  that  the  war  came  because 
the  nations  involved  had  not  signed  his 
treaty;  if  they  had,  Germany  would  have 
abided  by  it;  would  not  have  dreamed 
of  treating  it  as  a  scrap  of  paper;  would 
have  waited  the  prescribed  year,  and 
Austria  would  have  given  Serbia  the 
same  time  to  reply  to  her  ultimatum. 
The  mischief  was  done,  but  he  set  about 
heroically  to  repair  it;  he  sought  to 
have  the  United  States  intervene  as  a 
peacemaker;   he  sought  to   prevent  the 


United  States  from  protecting  its  citi- 
zens on  the  high  seas,  since  that  seemed 
likely  to  lead  to  war;  and  at  last,  finding 
his  efforts  of  no  avail,  he  resigned. 

No  one  who  had  seen  him  in  his  un- 
equal fights  for  his  principles  on  less 
momentous  occasions  could  doubt  that 
he  would  fight  for  them  to  the  end  on 
this  greatest  one.  There  is  no  parallel 
to  his  action  in  American  history.  So 
far  as  its  political  aspects  are  concerned, 
the  nearest  thing  to  it  is  Blaine's  resig- 
nation from  Harrison's  Cabinet  in  1892; 
but  that  only  faintly  resembles  it.  Blaine 
did  not  resign  because  of  any  difference 
in  principles,  but  because  he  wanted  to 
fight  the  Administration;  and  the  super- 
ficial resemblance  lies  only  in  the  sim- 
ilarity of  the  relations  of  the  two  Presi- 
dents to  their  Secretaries  of  State. 

Bryan  leaves  the  Cabinet  saddened, 
but  not  disillusioned.  When  he  had  been 
Secretary  of  State  two  months  he  said 
that  he  would  not  have  taken  office  "  if 
I  thought  there  was  to  be  a  war  during 
my  tenure."  "  I  believe,"  he  added, 
"  there  will  be  no  war  while  I  am  Secre- 
tary of  State,  and  I  believe  there  will  be 
no  war  so  long  as  I  live."  It  has  not 
come  out  that  way;  it  might  have  so 
easily  come  out  that  way  if  only  Ger- 
many had  signed  that  treaty  of  his! 
But  he  is  not  disillusioned;  nothing  can 
disillusion  him;  his  ideal  is  still  only  a 
day  or  two  ahead  of  him,  and  he  resigns 
to  fight  for  it,  since  fight  for  it  in  the 
Cabinet  he  cannot  any  longer. 


In  the  Name  of  Peace. 

By  LAVINIA  V.   WHITNEY. 
(After  Kipling.) 

V/hen  the  last  of  the  soldiers  has  fallen,  and  the  cannons  lie  twisted  aside. 

When  the  last  of  all  homes  has  been  ruined,  and  the  heart  of  the  youngest  girl  bride, 

We  shall  wake  from  our  terrible  madness,  and  pause  for  an  eon  or  two, 

Till  the  Master  of  all  the  good  soldiers  shall  call  us  to  battle  anew. 

Then  those  that  were  brave  shall  be  braver — they  shall  love  with  a  love  more  fair; 
They  shall  hear,  o'er  a  worldwide  battlefield,  the  Voice  of  their  God  in  the  air; 
They  shall  have  the  real  saints  for  their  comrades — Magdalene,  Peter,  and  Paul; 
They  shall  fight  unembittered,  and  never  again  shall  be  weary  at  all. 

And  only  the  Master  shall  praise  us,  for  only  the  Master  shall  lead; 
And  no  one  shall  fight  for  his  country,  and  none  for  his  honor  or  creed; 
But  each  for  the  Master  Who  loves  him,  and  Teuton  and  Briton  and  all 
Shall  fight,  each  the  cause  of  the  other,  for  the  God  of  the  Love  of  us  All! 


A  World  League  to  Enforce  Peace 

By  William  Howard  Taft,  ex-President  of  the  United  States. 


President  Wilson  on  June  15  denied  the  statement,  cabled  from  Europe,  that  the  United 
States  was  the  only  great  neutral  Government  that  had  not  encouraged  the  movement  among 
neutral  nations  looking  to  a  conference  of  neutrals  to  end  the  European  conflict.  To  this  Gov- 
ernment, said  the  President,  answering  a  direct  inquiry,  had  been  given  no  more  opportunity 
than  everybody  knew  in  furthering  a  neutral  movement  for  peace.  He  stated  that  this  Govern- 
ment had  supported  everything  of  the  sort  as  far  as  it  could  legitimately.  It  had  done  every- 
thing that  was  for  peace  and  accommodation,  he  added.  But  the  great  drawback  has  been 
that  none  of  the  warring  Governments  has  directly,  that  is  officially,  indicated  that  it  would 
respond  sympathetically  to  any  suggestion  that  it  become  a  party  to  a  movement  to  end  the 
war.  The  idea  of  a  league  of  neutral  nations,  having  for  its  object  a  concerted  effort  to  bring 
about  peace,  is  reported  to  be  in  the  back  of  the  President's  mind,  and  members  of  the  Cabinet 
have  given  some  thought  to  the  suggestion,  which  might  contemplate  the  firm  maintenance  of 
neutral  rights  if  peace  could  not  be  obtained,  but  the  situation  has  not  developed  to  a  point 
where  the  American  Government  is  ready  to  make  a  definite  move. 

Meanwhile,  as  the  outgrowth  of  a  series  of  meetings  held  in  the  Century  Club,  New  York, 
terminating  in  a  call  for  a  conference  signed  by  a  National  Provisional  Committee  of  109  mem- 
bers headed  by  ex-President  Taft,  an  organization  known  as  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace, 
American  Branch,  was  formed  on  June  17,  1915,  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  conference  was  explained  by  Mr.  Taft  in  his  address  as  President,  which  appears 
in  full  below. 


M 


'Y  fellow-seekers  after  peace,  we 
thank  you  for  your  cordial 
greeting.  In  calling  this  meet- 
ing my  associates  and  I  have 
not  been  unaware  that  we  might  be 
likened  to  the  tailors  of  Tooley  Street, 
who  mistook  themselves  for  the  people 
of  England.  We  wish  first  to  say  that 
we  do  not  represent  anybody  but  our- 
selves. We  are  not  national  legislators, 
nor  do  we  control  the  foreign  policy  of 
this  Government.  A  number  of  us  were 
invited  to  dinner  at  the  Century  Club 
(New  York)  by  four  generous  hosts, 
who  were  deeply  interested  in  devising  a 
plan  for  an  international  agreement  by 
which,  when  this  present  wax  shall  cease, 
a  recurrence  of  such  a  war  will  be  made 
less  probable. 

We  are  not  here  to  suggest  a  means 
of  bringing  this  war  to  an  end;  much  as 
that  is  to  be  desired  and  much  as  we 
would  be  willing  to  do  to  obtain  peace, 
that  is  not  within  the  project  of  the 
present  meeting. 

We  hope  and  pray  for  peace,  and  our 
hope  of  its  coming  in  the  near  future  is 
sufficient  to  make  us  think  that  the  pres- 
ent is  a  good  time  to  discuss  and  formu- 
late a  series  of  proposals  to  which  the 
assent  of  a  number  of  the  great  powers 


could  be  secured.  We  think  a  League  of 
Peace  could  be  formed  that  would  enable 
nations  to  avoid  war  by  furnishing  a 
practical  means  of  settling  international 
quarrels,  or  suspending  them  until  the 
blinding  heat  of  passion  had  cooled. 

When  the  World  Conference  is  held 
our  country  will  have  its  official  repre- 
sentatives to  speak  for  us.  "  We,  Tailors 
of  Tooley  Street,"  will  not  be  there,  but 
if,  in  our  sartorial  leisure,  we  shall  have 
discussed  and  framed  a  practical  plan 
for  a  league  of  peace,  our  official  repre- 
sentatives will  be  aided  and  may  in  theii 
discretion  accept  it  and  present  it  to  the 
conference  as  their  own. 

There  are  Tooley  Streets  in  every  na- 
tion today  and  the  minds  of  earnest  men 
are  being  stirred  with  the  same  thought 
and  the  same  purpose.  We  have  heard 
from  them  through  various  channels. 
The  denizens  of  those  Tooley  Streets  will 
have  their  influence  upon  their  respective 
official  representatives.  No  man  can 
measure  the  effect  upon  the  peoples  of 
the  belligerent  countries  and  upon  the 
peoples  of  the  neutral  countries — the 
horrors  and  exhaustion  that  this  un- 
precedented war  is  going  to  have.  It  is 
certain  they  all  will  look  with  much  more 


668 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


favorable  eye  to  leagues  foT  the  preserva- 
tion of  peace  than  ever  before. 

In  no  war  has  the  direct  interest  that 
neutrals  have  in  preventing  a  war  be- 
tween  neighbors  been  so  closely  made 
known. 

This  interest  of  neutrals  has  been  so 
forced  upon  them  that  it  would  require 
only  a  slight  development  and  growth 
in  the  law  of  international  relations  to 
develop  that  interest  into  a  right  to  be 
consulted  before  such  a  war  among 
neighbors  can  be  begun.  This  step  we 
hope  to  have  taken  by  the  formation  of 
a  Peace  League  of  the  Great  Powers, 
whose  primary  and  fundamental  princi- 
ple shall  be  that  no  war  can  take  place 
between  any  two  members  of  the  league 
until  they  have  resorted  to  the  machin- 
ery that  the  league  proposes  to  furnish 
to  settle  the  controversy  likely  to  lead 
to  war. 

If  any  member  refuses  to  use  this  ma- 
chinery and  attacks  another  member  of 
the  league  in  breach  of  his  league  obli- 
gation, all  members  of  the  league  agree 
to  defend  the  members  attacked  by  force. 

We  do  not  think  the  ultimate  resort  to 
force  can  be  safely  omitted  from  an  et^ 
fective  League  of  Peace.  We  sincerely 
hope  that  it  may  never  become  necessary, 
and  that  the  deterrent  effect  of  its  inev- 
itable use  in  case  of  a  breach  of  the 
league  obligation  will  help  materially  to 
give  sanction  to  the  laws  of  the  league 
and  to  render  a  resort  to  force  avoidable. 

We  are  not  peace-at-any-price  men, 
because  we  do  not  think  we  have 
reached  the  time  when  a  plan  based  on 
the  complete  abolition  of  war  is  imprac- 
ticable. So  long  as  nations  partake  of 
the  frailties  of  men  who  compose  them, 
war  is  a  possibility,  and  that  possibility 
should  not  be  ignored  in  any  League  of 
Peace  that  is  to  be  useful.  We  do  not 
think  it  necessary  to  call  peace-at-any- 
price  men  cowards  or  apply  other  epi- 
thets to  them.  We  have  known  in  his- 
tory the  most  noble  characters  who  ad- 
hered to  such  a  view  and  yet  whose 
physical  and  moral  courage  is  a  heritage 
of  mankind. 

To  those  who  differ  with  us  in  our 
view  of  the  necessity  for  this  feature  of 
possible  force  in  our  plan,  we  say  we  re- 


spect your  attitude.  We  admit  your 
claim  to  sincere  patriotism  to  be  as  just 
as  ours.  We  do  not  ascribe  your  desire 
to  avoid  war  to  be  a  fear  of  death  to 
yourselves  or  your  sons;  but  rather  to 
your  sense  of  the  horrors,  injustice,  and 
ineffectiveness  of  settling  any  interna- 
tional issue  by  such  a  brutal  arbitra- 
ment. Nevertheless,  we  differ  with  you 
in  judgment  that,  in  the  world  of  na- 
tions as  they  are,  war  can  be  completely 
avoided. 

We  believe  it  is  still  necessary  to  use 
a  threat  of  overwhelming  force  of  a 
great  league  with  a  willingness  to  make 
the  threat  good  in  order  to  frighten,  na- 
tions into  a  use  of  rational  and  peaceful 
means  to  settle  their  issues  with  their 
associates  of  the  league.  Nor  are  we 
militarists  or  jingoes.  We  are  trying 
to  follow  a  middle  path. 

Now  what  is  the  machinery,  a  resort 
to  which  we  wish  to  force  an  intending 
belligerent  of  the  league — it  consists  of 
two  tribunals,  to  one  of  which  every 
issue  must  be  submitted.  Issues  be- 
tween nations  are  of  two  classes: 

First — Issues  that  can  be  decided  on 
principles  of  international  law  and 
equity,  called  justiciable. 

Second — Issues  that  cannot  be  decided 
on  such  principles  of  law  and  equity, 
but  which  might  be  quite  as  irritating 
and  provocative  of  war,  called  non- 
justiciable. 

The  questions  of  the  Alaskan  bound- 
ary, of  the  Bering  Sea  seal  fishing,  and 
of  the  Alabama  Claims  were  justiciable 
issues  that  could  be  settled  by  a  court, 
exactly  as  the  Supreme  Court  would  set- 
tle claims  between  States.  The  ques- 
tions whether  the  Japanese  should  be 
naturalized,  whether  all  American  citi- 
zens should  be  admitted  to  Russia  as 
merchants  without  regard  to  religious 
faith,  are  capable  of  causing  great  irri- 
tation against  the  nation  denying  the 
privilege,  and  j'et  such  nations,  in  the 
absence  of  a  treaty  on  the  subject,  are 
completely  within  their  international 
right,  and  the  real  essence  of  the  trou- 
ble cannot  be  aided  by  a  resort  to  a 
court.     The  trouble  is  non-justiciable. 

We  propose  that  for  justiciable  ques- 
tions we  shall  have  an  impartial  court 


A    WORLD    LEAGUE    TO    ENFORCE    PEACE 


669 


to  which  all  questions  arising  between 
members  of  the  league  shall  be  submitted. 
If  the  court  finds  the  question  justic- 
iable, it  shall  decide  it.  If  it  does  not,  it 
shall  refer  it  to  a  Commission  of  Con- 
ciliation to  investgate,  confer,  hear  ar- 
gument, and  recommend  a  compromise. 

We  do  not  propose  to  enforce  com- 
pliance either  with  the  court's  judgment 
or  the  Conciliation  Commission's  recom- 
mendations We  feel  that  we  ought  not 
to  attempt  too  much — we  believe  that 
the  forced  submission  and  the  truce 
taken  to  investigate  the  judicial  deci- 
sion or  the  conciliatory  compromise 
recommended  will  form  a  material  in- 
ducement to  peace.  It  will  cool  the  heat 
of  passion,  and  will  give  the  men  of 
peace  in  each  nation  time  to  still  the 
jingoes. 

The  League  of  Peace  will  furnish  a 
great  opportunity  for  more  definite 
formulation  of  the  principles  of  interna- 
tional law.  The  arbitral  court  will  am- 
plify it  and  enrich  it  in  their  applica- 
tion of  its  general  principles  to  particu- 
lar cases.  They  will  create  a  body  of 
Judge-made  law  of  the  highest  value. 
Then  the  existence  of  the  league  will 
lead  to  ever-recurring  congresses  of  the 
league,  which,  acting  in  a  quasi-legisla- 
tive capacity,  may  widen  the  scope  of 
international  law  in  a  way  that  a  court 
may  not  feel  able  or  competent  to  do. 

This  is  our  plan.  It  is  not  so  compli- 
cated— at  least,  in  statement.  In  its 
practical  application  difficulties  now  un- 
foreseen may  arise,  but  we  believe  it 
offers  a  working  hypothesis  upon  which 
a  successful  arrangement  can  be  made. 

We  are  greeted  first  by  the  objection 
that  no  treaties  can  prevent  war.  We 
are  not  called  upon  to  deny  this  in  order 


to  justify  or  vindicate  our  proposals  as 
useful.  We  realize  that  nations  some- 
times are  utterly  immoral  in  breaking 
treaties  and  shamelessly  bold  in  avowing 
their  right  to  do  so  on  the  ground  of 
necessity;  but  this  is  not  always  the 
case.  We  cannot  give  up  treaties  because 
sometimes  they  are  broken  any  more 
than  we  can  give  up  commercial  con- 
tracts because  men  sometimes  dishonor 
themselves  in  breaking  them.  We 
decline  to  assume  that  all  nations 
always  are  dishonorable,  or  that  a 
solemn  treaty  obligation  will  not 
have  some  deterrent  effect  upon  a  na- 
tion that  has  plighted  its  faith  to  pre- 
vent its  breach.  When  we  add  to  this 
the  sanction  of  an  agreement  by  a  num- 
ber of  powerful  nations  to  enforce  the 
obligation  of  the  recalcitrant  and  faith- 
less member,  we  think  we  have  a  treaty 
that  is  much  more  than  a  "  scrap  of 
paper  " — ayid  we  base  our  faith  in  this 
on  a  common-sense  view  of  human  nat- 
ure. 

It  is  obected  that  we  propose  only  to 
include  the  more  powerful  nations. 
We'll  gladly  include  them  all.  But  we 
don't  propose  to  have  the  constitution  of 
our  court  complicated  by  a  demand  for 
equal  representation  of  the  many  smaller 
nations.  We  believe  that  when  we  have 
a  league  of  larger  powers  the  smaller 
powers  will  be  glad  to  come  in  and  enjoy 
the  protection  that  the  league  will  afford 
against  the  unjust  aggression  of  the 
strong  against  the  weak. 

It  is  suggested  that  we  invite  a  con- 
ference of  neutral  nations  to  bring  about 
measures  for  present  peace  and  to  form- 
ulate demands  as  to  the  protection  of 
neutral  rights.  This  may  be  a  good  plan, 
but,  as  Kipling  says,  that  is  another 
story. 


The  League  to  Enforce  Peace 

Personnel  and  Text  of  the  Resolutions  Adopted 


RESOLUTIONS. 
[Adopted  in  Independence  Hall,  Phila- 
delphia, June  17,  1915.] 

Throughout  5,000  years  of  recorded  his- 


tory, peace,  here  and  there  established, 
has  been  kept,  and  its  area  has  been 
widened,  in  one  way  only.  Individuals 
have  combined  their  efforts  to  suppress 
violence   in    the   local    community.      Com- 


670 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


munities  have  co-operated  to  maintain 
the  authoritative  state  and  to  preserve 
peace  within  its  borders.  States  have 
formed  leagues  or  confederations  or  have 
otherwise  co-operated  to  establish  peace 
among  themselves.  Always  peace  has 
been  made  and  kept,  when  made  and  kept 
at  all,  by  the  superior  power  of  superior 
numbers  acting  in  unity  for  the  common 
good. 

Mindful  of  this  teaching  of  experience, 
we  believe  and  solemnly  urge  that  the 
time  has  come  to  devise  and  to  create 
a  working  union  of  sovereign  nations  to 
establish  peace  among  themselves  and  to 
guarantee  it  by  all  known  and  available 
sanctions  at  their  command,  to  the  end 
that  civilization  may  be  conserved,  and 
the  progress  of  mankind  in  comfort,  en- 
lightenment, and  happiness  may  continue. 

We,  therefore,  believe  it  to  be  desirable 
for  the  United  States  to  join  a  league  of 
nations  binding  the  signatories  to  the  fol- 
lowing : 

1.  All  justiciable  questions  arising  be- 
tween the  signatory  powers,  not  settled 
by  negotiations,  shall,  subject  to  the  limi- 
tations of  treaties,  be  submitted  to  a  ju- 
dicial tribunal  for  hearing  and  judgment, 
both  upon  the  merits  and  upon  any  issue 
as    to    its   jurisdiction    of    the    question. 

2.  All  other  questions  arising  between 
the  signatories  and  not  settled  by  negotia- 
tion shall  be  submitted  to  a  Council  of 
Conciliation  for  hearing,  consideration, 
and  recommendation. 

3.  The  signatory  powers  shall  jointly  use 
forthwith  both  their  economic  and  military 
forces  against  any  one  of  their  number 
that  goes  to  war,  or  commits  acts  of  hos- 
tility, against  another  of  the  signatories 
before  any  question  arising  shall  be  sub- 
mitted as  provided  in  the  foregoing. 

4.  Conferences  between  the  signatory 
powers  shall  be  held  from  time  to  time 
to  formulate  and  codify  rules  of  interna- 
tional law,  which,  unless  some  signatory 
shall  signify  its  dissent  within  a  stated 
period,  shall  thereafter  govern  the  de- 
cision of  the  judicial  tribunal  mentioned 
in  Article  1. 

There  were  half  a  dozen  brief  speeches 
in  favor  of  the  report.  John  Wanamaker 
did  not  think  the  report  went  far  enough. 
He  had  hoped  the  conference  would  send 
out  a  message  to  the  warring  nations, 
that  would  make  them  pause  and  think. 
He  could  not  help  but  favor  the  report, 
he  added,  but  felt  that  it,  standing  alone 
without  any  further  action,  would  be 
laughed  at  by  those  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic. 


It  is  expected  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee will  meet  in  the  near  future  to 
adopt  plans  to  carry  out  the  objects  of 
the  league.  One  of  the  things  that  prob- 
ably will  be  done,  according  to  members 
of  the  Executive  Committee,  will  be  to 
start  a  propaganda  in  this  country  with 
a  view  to  having  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate adopt  measures  in  line  with  the  ob- 
ject of  the  league.  Mr.  Taft  said  today 
that,  judging  by  its  action  in  rejecting 
treaties  in  the  past,  the  chief  stumbling 
block  to  the  aspirations  of  the  league 
would  be  the  Senate.  Steps  will  also 
be  taken  to  get  European  countries  in- 
terested in  the  league. 

ORGANIZATION. 

President. 

William  Howard  Taft. 

Vice  Presidents. 


Lyman  Abbott, 
Edwin  A.  Alderman, 

A.  Graham  Bell, 
R.  Blankenburg, 
Charles  R.  Brown, 
Francis  E.  Clark, 
John  H.  Pinley, 
W.  D.  Foulke, 
James  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, 

W.  Gladden, 
George  Gray, 
Myron  T.  Herrick, 
John  G.  Hibben, 
George  C.   Holt, 
D.  P.  Kingsley, 
S.  W.  McCall, 
J.  B.  McCreary, 
VJctor  H.  Metcalf, 
John  Mitchell, 
John  B.  Moore, 
Alton  B.  Parker, 
George  H.  Prduty, 
Jacob  H.  Schiff, 
John  C.  Schaffer, 
Robert  Sharp, 
Edgar  F.  Smith, 
C.   R.  Van  Hise, 

B.  I.  Wheeler, 
Harry  A.  Wheeler, 
Andrew  D.  White, 

Executive 
W.  H.  Mann, 
John  B.  Clark, 
J.  M.  Dickinson, 
Austen  G.  Fox, 
Henry  C.  Morris, 
Leo  S.  Rowe, 
Oscar  S.  Straus, 
Thomas  R.  White, 


W.  A.  W^hite, 
George  G.  Wilson, 
Luther  B.  Wilson, 
Oliver  Wilson, 
Stephen  S.  Wise, 
T.  S.  Woolsey, 
James  L.  Slayden, 
David  H.  Greer, 
Bernard  N.  Baker, 
Victor  L.  Berger, 
Edward  Bok, 
Arthur  J.  Brown, 
Edward  O.  Browne, 
R.  Fulton  Cutting, 
John   F.    Fort, 
A.  W.  Harris, 
L.  L.  Hobbs, 
George  H.  Lorimer, 
Edgar  O.  Lovett, 
S.  B.  McCormick, 
Martin  B.  Madden, 
Charles  Nagel, 
George  A.  Plimpton, 
Isaac  Sharpless, 
William  F.  Slocum, 
Dan  Smiley, 
F.  H.  Strawbridge, 
Joseph  Swain, 
Edwin  Warfield, 
H.  St.  G.  Tucker. 

Committee 

Hamilton  Holt, 
Theodore  Marburg, 
W.   B.   Howland, 
John  H.  Hammond, 
W.  H.  Short, 
A.  L.  Lowell, 
John  A.  Stewart, 
William  H.  Taft. 


German-American  Dissent 

By  Hugo  Muensterberg. 

Th©  subjoined  letter  fi-om  Hugo  Muensterberg,  Professor  of  Psychology  at  Harvard 
University,  is  addressed  to  Augustus  J.  Cadwalader,  Secretary  of  the  National  Provisional 
Committee  for  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace. 


Clifton,  Mass.,  June  9,  .1915. 

Dear  Sir:  I  beg  to  express  my  thanks 
for  the  courtesy  of  the  invitation  to  at- 
tend the  conference  of  the  League  of 
Peace  in  Independence  Hall  under  the 
Presidency  of  the  Hon.  W.  H.  Taft.  I 
feel  myself,  of  course,  in  deepest  sym- 
pathy with  the  spirit  of  justice  and 
peacefulness  which  has  suggested  the 
foundation  of  such  a  league.  Neverthe- 
less, I  beg  to  be  excused  from  attend- 
ance, as  I  am  convinced  that  this  time 
of  international  excitement  and  preju- 
dice is  unfit  for  the  crystallization  of 
new  forms  for  the.  common  life  of  the 
nations. 

I  venture,  however,  to  add  that  I  feel 
in  any  case  grave  doubts  of  the  value 
of  any  plans  which  aim  to  secure  future 
peace  by  the  traditional  type  of  agree- 
ments and  treaties.  We  live  in  the  midst 
of  a  war  in  which  one  belligerent  nation 
after  another  has  felt  obliged  to  disre- 
gard treaties  and  to  interpret  agree- 
ments in  a  one-sided  way.  Only  yes- 
terday Italy,  without  any  reason  of 
vital  necessity,  annulled  an  agreement 
and  a  treaty  which  had  appeared  the 
firmest  in  European  politics,  and  which 
yet  failed  in  the  first  hour  of  clashing 
interests.  A  psychologist  has  no  right 
to  expect  that  the  national  temper  of 
the  future  will  be  different. 

Moreover,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  has  sanctioned  the  idea, 
which  is  shared  practically  by  all  na- 
tions, that  treaties  are  no  longer  bind- 
ing when  a  situation  has  changed  so 
that  the  fulfillment  of  the  agreement 
would  be  against  the  vital  interests  of 
the  nation.  We  have  learned  during  the 
last  ten  months  how  easily  such  dis- 
burdening changes  can  be  discovered  as 
soon  as  the  national  passions  are 
awakened. 


The  new  plan  depends  upon  only  one 
new  feature  by  which  the  mutual  agree- 
ment is  to  be  fortified  against  the  de- 
mands of  national  excitement.  The  plan 
of  the  League  of  Peace  promises  the 
joint  use  of  military  forces  in  case  that 
one  nation  is  unwilling  to  yield.  But  the 
world  witnesses  today  the  clear  proof 
that  even  the  greatest  combination  of 
fighting  forces  may  be  unable  to  subdue 
by  mere  number  a  nation  which  is  ready 
t&  make  any  sacrifice  for  its  convictions. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  millions  are  at- 
tacked by  eight  handred  and  fifty  mill- 
ions, by  joint  forces  from  five  conti- 
nents, which  moreover  are  backed  by  the 
economic  forces  of  the  richest  country  in 
the  world;  and  yet  after  ten  months  of 
fighting  one  million  prisoners,  but  no 
other  hostile  soldiers,  stand  on  German 
soil.  After  this  practical  example  the 
plan  merely  to  join  the  military  forces 
will  less  than  ever  appear  a  convincing 
argument  in  an  hour  in  which  a  nation 
feels  its  existence  or  its  honor  threat- 
ened. For  a  long  time  we  heard  the 
claim  that  the  Socialists  and  the  bank- 
ers would  now  make  great  wars  impossi- 
ble; both  prophecies  have  failed.  The 
threat  that  the  warring  nation  will 
have  to  face  the  world  in  arms  will  be 
no  less  futile.  But  the  failure  in  this 
case  will  be  disastrous,  as  the  terms  of 
such  an  agreement  would  draw  many 
nations  into  the  whirlpool  which  would 
have  no  reason  of  their  own  for  entering 
the  war. 

The  interests  of  strong  growing  na- 
tions will  lead  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past  to  conflicts  in  which  both  sides  are 
morally  in  the  right  and  in  which  one 
must  yield.  We  have  no  right  to  hope 
that  after  this  war  the  nations  will  be 
more  willing  to  give   up   their   chances 


672 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


in  such  conflicts  without  having  appealed 
to  force.  On  the  contrary,  the  world 
has  now  become  accustomed  to  war  and 
will  therefore  more  easily  return  to  the 
trenches.  The  break  between  England 
and  Russia  and  finally  the  threatening 
cloud  of  world  conflict  between  Occi- 
dent and  Orient  can  already  be  seen  on 
the  horizon;  the  battles  of  today  may 
be  only  the  preamble.  In  such  tremen- 
dous hours  the  new-fashioned  agree- 
ments would  be  cobwebs  which  surely 
could  not  bind  the  arms  of  any  energetic 
nation. 

But,  worst  of  all,  they  would  not  only 
be  ineffective — they  would  awake  a 
treacherous  confidence.  The  nations 
would  deceive  themselves  with  a  feel- 
ing of  safety,  while  all  true  protection 
would  be  lacking.  The  first  step  for- 
ward toward  our  common  goal  must  be 
to  learn  the  two  lessons  of  the  war  of 
today  and  to  face  them  unflinchingly; 
mere  agreements  do  not  and  can  not 
bind  any  nation  on  the  globe  in  an  hour 
of  vital  need,  and  the  mere  joining  of 


forces  widens  and  protracts  a  war,  but 
does  not  hinder  it.  We  must  learn  that 
success  for  peace  endeavors  can  be  se- 
cured only  from  efforts  to  avert  war 
which  are  fundamentally  different  from 
the  old  patterns  of  pledges  and  threats. 
These  old  means  were  negative;  we  need 
positive  ones. 

If  a  psychologist  can  contribute  any- 
thing to  the  progress  of  mankind,  he* 
must,  first  of  all,  offer  the  advice  not 
to  rely  on  plans  by  which  the  attention 
is  focused  on  the  disasters  which  are  to 
be  avoided.  Education  by  forbidding 
the  wrong  action  instead  of  awaking 
the  impulses  toward  the  right  one  is  as 
unpromising  for  peoples  as  it  is  for  in- 
dividuals. We  must  truly  build  up  from 
within.  But  a  time  in  which  the  war 
news  of  every  hour  appeals  to  sympa- 
thies and  antipathies  is  hardly  the  time 
to  begin  this  sacred  work,  which  alone 
could  bring  us  the  blessed  age  of 
our  vision,  the  United  States  of  the 
World. 

HUGO  MUENSTERBERG. 


Chant  of  Loyalty. 


By   ELIAS   LIEBERMAN. 


Firm  as  the  furnace  heat 
Rivets  the  bars  of  steel, 
Thus  to  thy  destiny, 

Flag,   are   we   plighted; 
One  are  the  hearts  that  beat, 
One  is  the  throb  we  feel, 
One  in  our  loyalty. 

Stand    we    united. 

Many  a  folk  have  brought 
Sinew  and  brawn  to  thee; 
Many  an  ancient  wrong 

Well  hast  thou  righted; 
Here  in  the  land  we  sought, 
Stanchly,  from  sea  to  sea. 
Here,   where   our   hearts   belong, 

Stand  we  united. 


Ask  us  to  pay  the  price, 
All  that  we  have  to  give, 
Nothing  shall  be  denied. 

All  be  requited; 
Ready  for  sacrifice. 
Ready  for  thee  to  live, 
Over  the  country  wide. 

Stand  we  united. 

One  under  palm  and  pine. 

One   in   the   prairie   sun. 

One  on   the   rock-bound   shore. 

Liberty-sighted ; 
All  that  we  have  is  thine. 
Thine,  who  hast   made  us  one, 
True  to  thee  evermore, 

Stand  we  united. 


American  Munition  Supplies 

The  Alleged  German  Plot  to  Buy 
Control  of  Their  Sources 


The  following  dispatch  from  Wash- 
ington, dated  June  8,  1915,  appeared  in 
The  Chicago  Herald: 

President  Wilson  and  his  Cabinet  con- 
sideied  today  the  known  fact  that  Ger- 
man interests,  reported  backed  by  the 
German  Government,  are  negotiating 
for  the  purchase  of  the  great  gun  and 
munition  of  war  plants  in  this  country. 

Secretary  McAdoo  of  the  Treasury 
laid  the  matter  before  the  Cabinet.  He 
had  information  from  Secret  Service 
agents  of  the  Government  who  have 
been  following  these  German  activities 
for  some  weeks.  It  is  reported  today, 
confirming  The  Herald  dispatch  of  last 
night,  that  the  plants  for  which  nego- 
tiations are  on  include  that  of  Charles 
M.  Schwab  at  Bethlehem,  Penn.;  the 
Remington  small  arms  works  at  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  and  the  Cramp  works  at 
Philadelphia,  which,  it  is  said,  Schwab 
is  about  to  acquire;  the  Metallic  Cart- 
ridge Company,  the  Remington  Com- 
pany, and  other  munition  and  small 
arms  works. 

Included  in  the  Schwab  plant  holdings 
are  the  Fore  River  Shipbuilding  Com- 
pany, Massachusetts,  and  the  Union 
Iron  Works,  San  Francisco,  where  it  is 
reported  parts  of  submarines  are  being 
made  for  English  contract,  shipment  be- 
ing made  through  Canada. 

This  new  move  of  the  Germans  in- 
volves the  outlay  of  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions, a  gigantic  financial  operation  in 
the  face  of  war  needs  and  conditions. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  sensational  devel- 
opments of  the  present  conflict  in  con- 
nection with  the  United  States.  Its 
consummation  inevitably  would  lead  this 
country  into  serious  disagreement,  if 
not  conflict,  with  Great  Britain  and  the 
Allies. 

The  latter  will  demand  the  fulfillment 
of   their  contracts  with   these  concerns. 


The  German  move  is  to  prevent  this  de- 
livery of  munitions  of  war.  With  the 
consummation  of  the  purchases,  the 
German  owners  could  refuse  to  fill  these 
contracts.  They  will  not  fear  suits  for 
broken  contracts. 

The  whole  matter  is  fraught  with 
such  possibilities  of  danger  to  this  coun- 
try that  Attorney  General  Gregory  and 
the  experts  of  the  Department  of  Jus- 
tice have  taken  up  the  question  with  a 
view  to  interposing  legal  obstacles.  It 
may  become  necessary,  it  was  suggested 
today,  to  prevent  such  a  sale  on  the 
grounds  of  public  welfare  because  of 
strained   relations    with    Germany. 

Secretary  McAdoo  will  not  disclose 
who  are  the  agents  for  the  German  in- 
terests seeking  to  purchase  the  muni- 
tions plants,  or  who  are  the  financial 
backers.  The  Secret  Service  men  are 
believed  to  know  these  details,  having 
been  on  the  investigation  for  three 
weeks.  Rich  Germans  in  the  United 
States  are  believed  to  be  interested. 

Charles  M.  Schwab,  head  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Company,  came  here  two  weeks 
ago  in  response  to  an  urgent  summons. 
He  saw  Secretary  McAdoo,  Secretary 
Daniels,  and  other  officials.  At  that 
time  it  was  given  out  that  he  was  con- 
ferring as  to  details  of  supplies  to  be 
furnished  this  Government  under  con- 
tracts for  new  warship  construction 
about  to  be  awarded.  It  is  now  under- 
stood that  Secretary  McAdoo  sought  in- 
formation as  to  the  negotiations  under 
way  at  that  time  for  the  purchase  of 
the  munitions  plants  in  this  country  by 
the  German  interests. 

The  report  of  Secretary  McAdoo  to- 
day stirred  the  Cabinet  as  deeply  al- 
most as  the  resignation  of  Secretary  of 
State  Bryan.  •  Complete  reports  were 
asked  and  the  Secret  Service  arm  of 
the  Government  will  be  required  to  fur- 


674 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


nish  immediately  more  complete  and 
detailed   information. 

Of  the  efforts  to  obtain  control  of  the 
munitions  companies,  The  Providence 
Journal  of  June  9,  1915,  reported: 

Acting  under  the  personal  instruc- 
tions of  the  German  Ambassador,  sev- 
eral German  bankers  of  New  York  have 
been  working  together  for  the  last  week 
on  preliminary  negotiations  for  the  pur- 
chase of  every  large  plant  they  can  lay 
their  hands  on  which  is  now  engaged 
in  turning  out  munitions  of  war  for  the 
Allies. 

Count  von  Bernstorff,  I)r.  Dernburg, 
and  two  well-known  German  bankers 
held  a  conference  at  the  German  Em- 
bassy in  Washington  on  Tuesday,  June 
1.  At  that  conference  the  Ambassador 
outlined  in  detail  instructions  he  had  re- 
ceived the  day  before  from  Berlin  to 
proceed  with  this  propaganda,  and  he 
declared  to  the  three  men  there  present 
that  his  Government  considered  the  suc- 
cess of  the  plan  as  of  vital  importance, 
superseding  every  other  phase  of  the 
war  situation. 

The  bankers  at  once  returned  to  New 
York,  and  at  a  meeting  next  day  with 
Captain  Boy-Ed  and  several  other  men 
at  the  German  Club  outlined  their  plan 
of  campaign. 

For  months  past  the  German  Ambas- 
sador has  been  in  possession  of  a  list  of 
factories  all  over  the  country  engaged 
in  turning  out  munitions  of  war  for  the 
Allies.  Last  Saturday  a  concerted 
movement  was  begun  toward  securing  a 
majority  control  of  many  of  these 
plants. 

When  one  of  the  bankers  at  the  con- 
ference in  Washington  asked  the  Am- 
bassador if  he  had  any  conception  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  financial  problems  in- 
volved in  the  scheme  he  replied  that  his 
Government  was  fully  prepared  to  pay 
everything  necessary,  and  repeated  that 
the  fate  of  the  empire  might  rest  on  the 
success  or  failure  of  the  plan.  He  then 
added  these  words: 

"  There  is  no  limit,  gentlemen,  to  the 
amount  of  money  available." 

The  activities  of  the  representatives 
of  Count  von  Bernstorff  in  this  matter 


have  already  brought  them  up  to  the 
point  of  negotiation,  or  attempted  nego- 
tiation, with  the  Fore  River  Shipbuild- 
ing Company,  the  Remington  Arms 
Company,  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Com- 
pany, and  the  Union  Metallic  Cartridge 
Company. 

Government  officials,  when  notified  of 
this  new  propaganda  yesterday,  were  a  '. 
unit  in  declaring  it  was  impossible  to  be- 
lieve that  such  a  scheme  could  be  carried 
through  successfully.  In  the  first  place, 
they  pointed  out  that  activity  of  this 
kind  would  be  a  direct  violation  of  the 
Sherman  act,  and,  secondly,  a  case  of 
conspiracy  would  lie  against  individuals 
attempting  such  a  movement  for  whole- 
sale violation  of  contracts,  which  would 
become  necessary  in  order  to  carry  the 
plan  to  its  successful  conclusion. 

The  moment  the  German  agents  in 
New  York  began  to  disclose  their  pur- 
pose, several  cunning  individuals  who 
have  had  some  slight  connection  with 
the  contracts  for  supplying  the  Allies 
with  various  materials  have  deliberately 
put  themselves  in  the  path  of  these 
agents  under  the  pretext  that  they  al- 
ready had  contracts,  or  were  about  to  be 
given  contracts,  and  have  already 
mulcted  the  German  Government  of 
many  thousands  of  dollars. 

In  two  specific  cases  men  have  talked 
of  having  contracts  for  picric  acid — the 
manufacture  of  which  necessitates  the 
most  skilled  training,  with  most  expen- 
sive and  complicated  machinery,  and 
which  is  only  being  attempted  in  four 
places  in  this  country,  and  were  prompt- 
ly paid  off,  on  their  pledge  that  they 
would  violate  these  alleged  agreements. 
One  of  these  deals  was  made  in  the  Wal- 
dorf-Astoria Hotel  last  Saturday. 

Another  case,  which  is  fully  authenti- 
cated, is  that  of  a  Western  dealer  in 
horses,  who  delivered  1,500  horses  to  the 
port  of  New  Orleans  for  the  British  Gov- 
ernment last  January.  As  soon  as  he 
ascertained  what  the  German  agents, 
were  doing,  he  produced  his  receipt  for 
delivery  of  his  first  and  only  order,  and 
declared  he  was  now  searching  for  5,000 
horses,  in  addition,  for  the  British  Gov- 
ernment.   On  his  pledge  to  abandon  this 


AMERICAN  MUNITION  SUPPLIES 


675 


search,  he  was  given  $2,500  by  German 
agents. 

The  keen  anxiety  of  the  German  Gov- 

ment,  acting  through  the  embassy  in 
Washington,  to  deprive  the  Allies  of  any 
shipments  of  war  materials  that  they  can 
possibly  stop  is  based  on  the  result  of 
calculations  made  in  Berlin  and  forward- 
ed to  this  country  two  weeks  ago,  which 
profess  to  show  that  the  Allies  cannot 
possibly  arm  their  increasing  forces  or 
secure  ammunition  for  their  great  num- 
bers of  large  guns  from  their  own  re- 
sources, and  that  they  must  have  the 
help  of  this  country  in  order  to  accom- 
plish their  purpose.  The  German  repre- 
sentatives also  thoroughly  believe  that 
without  this  assistance  the  Allies  cannot 
continue  and  complete  an  aggressive 
campaign,  driving  the  Kaiser's  armies 
out  of  Belgium  and  France. 

In  The  New  York  Times  of  June  9, 
1915,  appeared  the  following  statement 
of  counter-negotiations  to  checkmate  the 
German  operators  in  America: 

Negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  arms 
and  ammunition  manufactories  in  this 
country  have  been  under  way  for  some 
little  time,  it  is  asserted,  but  so  quietly 
have  they  been  conducted  that  no  hint 
of  them  became  public  until  yesterday. 
Yet,  coincident  with  their  disclosure, 
came  yesterday,  also,  announcement  of  a 
contract  for  the  manufacture  for  the  Al- 
lies of  shrapnel  and  high  explosive  shells 
on  the  greatest  scale  yet  undertaken  by 
an  American  corporation,  which  revealed 
as  could  nothing  else  how  carefully  these 
supposedly  secret  dealings  had  been  dis- 
covered, watched,  and  checkmated  by  the 
Allies. 

This  contract,  all  but  the  smallest  de- 
tails of  which  are  said  to  be  settled,  is  to 
be  taken  by  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, directors  of  which  admitted  that 
the  total  involved  would  be  at  least 
$100,000,000  and  might  run  far  in  excess 
of  this  figure.  In  fact,  the  order  was 
spoken  of  as  limited  more  by  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  General  Electric's  plants 
than  by  any  restricting  order  of  the 
Allies. 

The  significance  of  this  contract  does 
not  lie  wholly,  or  even  chiefly,  in  its  size, 


for  the  American  Locomotive  Company 
recently  closed  a  $65,000,000  contract 
with  the  Allies  for  shells.  What  is  con- 
sidered of  especial  note  is  that  less  than 
a  week  ago  an  official  of  the  General 
Electric  stated  emphatically  that  his  com- 
pany had  not  taken  any  orders  and  was 
not  negotiating  for  any  despite  the  fact 
that  for  some  time  a  proposal  to  special- 
ize in  war  orders  had  been  under  con- 
sideration. X.ess  than  a  week  ago  the 
company  had  reached  a  negative  decision 
and  less  than  a  week  ago  there  was  no 
i-eason  to  suppose  that  it  would  rescind 
this  decision. 

J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  fiscal  agents  for 
Great  Britain  and  France  in  the  matter 
of  war  supplies,  then  entered  the  field. 
Charles  Steele,  a  partner  in  the  banking 
house,  is  a  Director  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  and  negotiations  went  for- 
ward rapidly.  These  were  conducted 
with  a  secrecy  which  exceeded  that  even 
of  the  German  interests  with  the  other 
arms  and  ammunition  companies,  but 
there  are  several  factors  which,  it  is 
known,  were  of  prime  importance  in  ef- 
fecting the  General  Electric's  change  of 
policy. 

In  the  past  much  valuable  time  has 
been  lost  in  the  distribution  of  orders 
among  a  score  or  so  of  concerns  which 
have  had  facilities  for  making  shells, 
ordnance,  and  so  forth.  Competitive  bid- 
ding for  parts  of  contracts  has  held  back 
the  finished  product  and  successful  bid- 
ders have  frequently  been  handicapped 
by  inability  to  obtain  necessary  ma- 
chinery. 

Now  plans  for  accelerating  manufac- 
ture in  all  war  lines  have  been  launched 
by  David  Lloyd  George,  the  new  Brit- 
ish Minister  of  Munitions,  and  in  the 
shadow  of  his  influence  J.  P.  Morgan  & 
Co.  have  practically  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion plans  to  centre  future  war  orders 
in  a  few  great  companies,  with  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company  as  the  dominant 
unit. 

The  extent  to  which  the  banking  house 
used  its  tremendous  influence  is  proble- 
matical, but  it  is  history  that  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  has  been  bringing  all  pressure 
to  bear  to  increase  England's  supplies, 
and  with  them  the  supplies  of  the  re- 


676 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


xnaining  allies,  since  British  purchasing 
agents  are,  to  a  large  extent,  looking 
after  the  interests  of  France  and  Russia, 
and  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  Morgan 
firm  has  been  as  active  as  possible  in 
carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the  European 
nations. 

Persons  in  touch  with  the  progress 
being  made  in  war  orders  state  that  the 
British  authorities  have  become  greatly 
concerned  over  their  supplies'of  ammuni- 
tion at  hand  and  in  process  of  manu- 
facture. While  orders  aggregating  many 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  have  been 
placed  in  this  country  and  Canada,  de- 
liveries have  been  disappointing.  Ca- 
nadian plants  got  to  work  early  in  the 
war,  but  the  delay  in  ordering  supplies 
in  the  United  States  and  other  neutral 
countries  has  seriously  affected  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  allied  armies  in  France 
and  Poland,  it  is  said. 

The  experience  of  the  American  Loco- 
motive Company  is  typical  of  the  situa- 
tion. After  negotiations  which  covered 
several  weeks,  the  company  procured  a 
contract  which  is  said  to  amount  to  ap- 
proximately $65,000,000  for  shells.  Dur- 
ing the  discussion  of  terms,  and  even  be- 
fore, the  Locomotive  officials  were  busy 
buying  the  necessary  lathes  and  other 
machinery,  but  installation  of  equipment 
and  the  training  of  men  could  not  be  done 
in  a  few  days.  The  contract  was  defi- 
nitely closed  six  weeks  ago,  but  the  com- 
pany has  only  begun  to  turn  out  the 
shells  at  its  Richmond  plant,  and  it  was 
said  in  authoritative  quarters  that  sev- 
eral weeks  more  would  pass  before  any- 
thing like  a  substantial  output  would  be 
possible. 

The  centring  of  manufacture  in  a 
single,  or  a  few,  great  plants  carries  the 
additional  and  chief  advantage  to  Great 
Britain  and  the  Allies,  that  no  efforts 
of  Germany  can  now  cut  off  their  ammu- 
nition supply.  The  stoppage  of  this 
supply  has  been  one  of  Germany's  chief 
concerns  since  the  war  began,  and  by 
embargo  propaganda  here  and  by  the 
attempt  to  create  sentiment  she  has  tried 
to  cut  down  the  supplies  reaching  the 
Allies  from  this  country. 

Well-founded  gossip  in  Wall  Street  has 
had  it  that  early  rises  in  the  stocks  of 


munition-making  concerns  were  occa- 
sioned not  so  much  by  the  acquisition  of 
war  orders  as  by  efforts  of  German 
agents  quietly  to  buy  up  control  of  these 
companies  in  the  open  market.  These  de- 
vices failing,  it  is  said,  orders  for  ammu- 
nition and  other  supplies  have  been 
placed  by  Germany  with  no  hope  of  re- 
ceiving the  goods,  but  merely  to  clog  the 
channels  against  the  Allies.  With  the 
General  Electric  and  other  co-operating 
companies  pledged  to  the  Allies  this 
danger  will  cease  to  exist. 

The  concerns  selected  to  join  with  the 
General  Electric  for  what  will  thus 
amount  practically  to  a  combination  of 
resources  for  rapid  manufacture  will  be 
those  whose  equipment,  with  a  few  al- 
terations, can  be  adapted  to  the  new 
work. 

The  General  Electric  Company,  accord- 
ing to  a  Director,  is  in  a  position  to  begin 
turning  out  shells  at  a  high  daily  rate, 
and,  under  present  plans,  the  company 
will  not  sublet  any  of  the  $100,000,000 
order.  There  are  facilities  available  in 
the  plants  at  Schenectady,  Lynn,  Harri- 
son, Pittsfield,  and  Fort  Wayne  to  carry 
on  the  work  rapidly  and  without  inter- 
fering with  the  ordinary  electrical  manu- 
facture now  being  conducted. 

Wall  Street  offered  one  of  the  first 
evidences  that  things  of  moment  were 
occurring  in  the  war  supply  situation. 
Bethlehem  Steel  shot  forward  10  points, 
to  165,  a  new  high  record,  although  Mr. 
Schwab's  company  was  not  mentioned  in 
connection  with  fresh  contracts. 

It  is  believed  that  when  the  proposed 
concentration  of  munition  making  occurs 
the  Bethlehem  Steel  Corporation  and 
other  companies  which  already  have 
booked  sufficient  contracts  to  keep  them 
busy  for  some  time  will  not  be  included. 

Stock  of  the  Studebaker  Corporation 
was  in  large  demand  as  the  result  of  re- 
ports that  about  $7,000,000  of  additional 
war  orders  had  been  taken  for  artillery 
wheels,  motor  trucks,  and  harness.  Ten- 
nessee Copper  shares  were  strong  after 
it  became  known  definitely  that  the  con- 
cern had  arranged  with  the  du  Pont 
Powder  Company  for  an  increased  month- 
ly supply  of  sulphuric  acid.  Toward  the 
close    of    business    stocks    generally    re- 


GENERAL  KONRAD  VON  HOETZENDORFF 

On  the   Staff  of  the   Archduke   Eugene  in  the   Campaign   Against   Italy 


GENERAL     GOURAND 

Commander  of  the  French   Land   Forces  Operating  Against  the  Dardanelles 

(Photo    from    Medem) 


AMERICAN  MUNITION  SUPPLIES 


677 


acted,  being  influenced  by  the  desire  of 
many  traders  to  keep  out  of  the  market 
until  the  tenor  of  President  Wilson's  note 
to  Germany  was  known. 

But  despite  the  many  physical  mani- 
festations of  unusual  activity,  officers 
and  Directors  of  the  companies  men- 
tioned as  those  on  which  Germany  had 
set  her  eyes  were  uniformly  non-com- 
mittal when  they  did  not  positively  deny 
that  there  was  truth  in  the  story. 

William  J.  Bruff,  who  is  President  of 
the  Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Company 
and  a  Director  of  the  Remington  Arms 
and  Ammunition  Company,  said: 

"  I  don't  think  there  is  apy  truth  in  it. 
Yes,  I  am  certain  that  no  offer  of  any 
kind  has  been  made  by  Germany  to  buy 
the  two  companies.  I  would  know  if 
such  offers  had  been  made  and  I  haven't 
heard  of  them,  except  such  reports  as  I 
have  read  in  the  newspapers." 

Henry  Bronner,  a  Director  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Steel  Company,  said: 

"  I  have  not  heard  that  Germany  or 
any  one  else  has  offered  to  buy  the  Beth- 
lehem Steel  Company.  If  such  an  offer 
were  made,  Charles  M.  Schwab  would  be 
the  man  who  would   know  it." 

The  New  York  Times  of  June  10, 
1915,  included  this  report  of  Charles  M. 
Schwab's  purposes  with  respect  to  the 
control  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company: 

There  is  not  the  least  danger  of  Ger- 
man interests  getting  control  of  the 
Bethlehem  Steel  Company,  and  breaking 
the  concern's  contracts  with  the  British 
for  arms  and  ammunition,  it  was  made 
known  yesterday  from  an  authoritative 
source.  This  same  authority  had  no  in- 
formation that,  as  alleged  by  The  Chi- 
cago Herald  and  The  Providence  Jour- 
nal, and  quoted  in  The  New  York 
Times  yesterday,  the  same  interests 
were  seeking  to  obtain  control  of  other 
companies 

What  blocks  the  attempts  of  the  Ger- 
man agents,  in  the  case  of  the  Bethle- 
hem Steel  Company,  for  one  thing,  is 
that  the  majority  of  the  stock  of  the 
concern  is  not  in  the  market.  Contrary 
to  rumors  that  have  lately  been  float- 
ing about  hotel  corridors  and  into  and 
out  of  the  brokers'  offices  adjacent  to 
them.,  Charles  M.  Schwab  still  owns  the 


majority  of  stock.  This  much  Mr. 
Schwab  emphatically  confirmed  to  a 
Times  reporter  yesterday  at  the  St. 
Regis.  That  he  had  no  intention  of 
selling  he  asserted  just  as  emphatically. 

At  the  same  time  the  information  is 
authoritative  that  agents  representing 
the  German  Government  or  German  in- 
terests have  approached  Mr.  Schwab, 
not  once,  but  several  times,  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  asking  that  nego- 
tiations be  opened.  It  has  been  inti- 
mated that  interests,  private  or  Gov- 
ernmental, were  willing  to  pay  any  price 
that  Mr.  Schwab  would  name  for  his 
controlling  interest. 

Figures  running  into  scores  of  mill- 
ions have  been  named  in  offers,  it  being 
the  understanding  that  the  prospective 
owners  simply  wished  to  buy  the  big 
plant — the  only  one  in  the  world  that 
now  compares  with  that  of  the  Krupps, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  that  of 
the  Schneiders  at  Creusot — and  shut  it 
up,  in  order  to  stop  the  vast  sales  of 
munitions  of  war  to  the  Allies,  and  the 
filling  of  contracts  so  big  that  their  de- 
livery has  hardly  begun.  Mr.  Schwab, 
it  is  understood,  could  get  today  $100,- 
000,000  or  more  for  his  stock  in  the 
Bethlehem  Company. 

It  was  established  yesterday  that  more 
or  less  directly  the  visit  of  Mr.  Schwab 
to  England  last  Fall,  on  the  Olympic, 
was  due  to  the  activity  of  German  agents 
in  this  country  in  their  efforts  to  buy  the 
Bethlehem  Steel  Company. 

Word  of  the  attempts  of  the  German 
agents  to  obtain  control  of  the  Bethlehem 
Company  soon  found  its  way  to  England, 
and  the  result  was  that  Mr.  Schwab  was 
invited  to  London  for  a  special  confer- 
ence with  the  War  Office.  He  renewed 
his  acquaintance  with  Lord  Kitchener, 
and  his  previously  formed  intention  not 
to  sell  out  was  fortified  with  a  guarantee 
of  orders  large  enough  to  keep  the  big 
plant  at  Bethlehem  going  steadily  for 
eighteen  months  or  more. 

When  rumors  were  prevalent  about 
New  York  that  the  visit  of  Sir  Trevor 
Dawson,  head  of  a  great  English  steel 
concern,  had  as  its  object  an  attempt  to 
obtain  control  of  the  Bethlehem  Com- 
pany so  as  to  insure  that  it  would  con- 


678 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


tinue  turning  out  supplies  for  the  Allies, 
the  German  agents  here  were  making  a 
strong  bid  for  the  control  of  the  concern, 
and  their  efforts  have  since  continued. 

A  Times  reporter  put  to  Mr.  Schwab 
yesterday  the  direct  question  as  to 
whether  he  was  in  actual  control  of  the 
Bethlehem  Steel  Company. 

"  Absolutely,"  he  said.  "  The  only  way 
anybody  else  could  obtain  control  would 
be  to  get  my  interest.  I  would  never 
sell  my  interest  without  making  for  the 
men  who  stood  by  me  with  their  support 
when  I  was  struggling  to  put  the  Bethle- 
hem Company  where  it  is  today  the  same 
terms  that  would  be  offered  for  my 
share.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  my  interest 
in  the  Bethlehem  Company  is  not  for 
sale.  Indeed,  I  could  not  sell.  I  have 
contracts  that  I  cannot  break." 

It  was  said  yesterday  that  the  Ger- 
mans had  been  trying  to  conduct  their 
negotiations  for  the  Bethlehem  Com- 
pany in  much  the  same  fashion  as  they 
recently  had  employed  in  their  diplo- 
matic negotiations,  and  that  if  they  had 
been  successful  in  getting  the  Bethlehem 
Company  they  would  have  found  them- 
selves with  contracts  on  their  hands 
which  they  would  have  had  to  carry  out. 
The  mere  closing  of  the  plant  and  the  re- 
fusal to  continue  the  further  manufac- 
ture and  delivery  of  munitions  of  war 
already  contracted  for  would  not  save 
them  from  a  situation  which  would  be 
the  equivalent  of  jumping  from  the  fry- 
ing pan  into  the  fire. 

Not  only  the  courts  would  be  promptly 


invoked  to  see  that  legal  contracts  were 
carried  out,  but,  if  necessary,  the  Fed- 
eral Government  could  step  in  and  insist 
that  the  manufacture  and  delivery  of 
supplies  contracted  for  be  continued,  in 
order  to  prevent  a  breach  of  neutrality. 
Then  would  be  presented  the  spectacle  of 
German  interests  turning  out  vast  quan- 
ties  of  guns,  shells,  and  shrapnel  to  be 
sent  to  Europe  to  be  used  in  fighting 
their  own  troops. 

According  to  the  authority  already 
mentioned,  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company 
is  the  only  plant  in  the  United  States 
that  can  turn  out  shrapnel  shell  complete. 
Most  of  the  contracts  that  have  been 
given  here  have  been  taken  for  various 
parts  of  the  ammunition  by  different 
firms.  One  thing  necessary  for  the  turn- 
ing out  of  shrapnel  and  shells  is  a  twelve- 
mile  proving  ground,  and  the  only  pri- 
vately owned  range  of  the  kind  in  this 
country  is  that  of  the  Bethlehem  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Schwab  has  insisted  to  his  friends 
who  have  questioned  him  about  the  rise 
in  Bethlehem  stock  that  the  only  valid 
reason,  aside  from  whatever  might  be 
the  intrinsic  value  of  the  property,  is  the 
tremendous  war  orders  that  have  been 
obtained.  On  this  account,  as  well  as 
on  account  of  his  knowledge  that  the 
majority  of  the  stock  was  safe  in  his 
possession,  he  was  able  to  enjoy  his  trip 
to  the  Pacific  Coast  regardless  of  rumors 
at  one  time  prevalent  that  a  big  market 
operator,  who  was  supposed  to  retain  an 
ancient  grudge  against  him,  was  trying 
to  wrest  from  him  the  control  of  the 
company  he  had  built  up. 


A  League  for  Preparedness 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt,  ex-President  of  the  United  States, 

and 
George  L.  von  Meyer,  ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy. 


It  was  ascertained  in  Washington  on  June  1,  1915,  that  the  Atlantic  battleship  fleet  would 
remain  in  Atlantic  Ocean  waters  indefinitely.  The  plan  to  send  the  fleet  through  the  canal  in 
July  for  participation  in  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  at  San  Francsco  had  been  abandoned, 
and  Admiral  Fletcher's  ships  would  not  cross  the  Isthmus  this  year.  The  decision  to  hold  the 
fleet  in  Atlantic  waters  is  predicated  on  two  principle  factors.  These  are :  First,  there  undoubt- 
edly will  be  another  great  slide  in  Culebra  Cut  in  the  Panama  Canal  some  time  this  Summer, 
and  it  would  be  considered  highly  undesirable  to  have  the  fleet  on  the  Pacific  Coast  with  such 
a  slide  interposed  between  Admiral  Fletcher's  vessels  and  the  Atlantic  waters.  Second,  the 
general  situation  of  American  foreign  affairs  growing  out  of  relations  with  Germany  is  such 
that  it  is  considered  unwise  to  send  the  fleet  to  the  west  coast  and  leave  the  Atlantic  Coast 
unguarded.    This  is  the  extent,  at  present,   of  national  preparation  against  war. 

The  Peace  and  Preparation  Conference,  called  in  the  name  of  the  National  Security  League 
to  discuss  the  military  needs  of  the  nation,  began  on  the  evening  of  June  14,  1915,  with  the 
opening  to  the  public  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Exhibit  in  the  Hotel  Astor,  where  there  were  to 
be  seen  numerous  placards  which  gave  in  figures  and  words  information  as  to  the  situation 
of  the  United  States  so  far  as  military  preparedness  is  concerned. 

General  Luke  E.  Wright  of  Memphis,  who  was  Secretary  of  War  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  Roosevelt  Administration,  was  among  the  visitors  to  the  conference,  and  said  he  was 
in  thorough  sympathy  with  the  aims  of  the  National  Security  League.  In  his  opinion  the 
American  first  line  of  defense,  to  be  immediately  available  for  service,  should  be  at  least 
300,000  men. 

An  audience  composed  of  nearly  as  many  women  as  men  heard  in  Carnegie  Hall,  on  the 
evening  of  June  15,  the  arguments  of  Alton  B.  Parker,  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  Henry  L.  Stimson, 
ex-Secretary  of  War ;  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  ex-Attorney  General,  and  Jacob  M.  Dickinson, 
ex-Secretary  of  War,  advocating  immediate  increases  in  the  army  and  navy  as  the  best  safe- 
guard against  war.  Ex -Judge  Parker,  who  was  C'nairman  of  the  meeting,  struck  the  keynote 
of  the  conference  in  these  words : 

"  We  want  to  arouse  the  people  of  the  United  States  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  to 
the  end  that  they  shall  let  Congress  know  that  they  have  made  up  their  minds  to  spend  a  little 
of  that  $187,000,000,000  of  which  we  boast  in  order  that  our  wives  and  our  children  and  our 
grandchildren  shall  not  be  visited  with  the  calamity  which  has  befallen  Belgium." 

Two  features  of  the  conference  were  the  reading  of  a  letter  to  Hudson  Maxim  from  ex- 
President  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  a  speech  on  naval  unpreparedness  by  George  von  L.  Meyer, 
ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy.  The  speech  is  reproduced  below  in  part,  and  the  letter  from  Mr. 
Roosevelt  in  full,  together  with  the  resolution  of  the  conference. 

MR.  ROOSEVELT'S   LETTER.  P-  Gray,  Holman  Day,  and  the  others.    On 

Tw     n        MM-  ^^'^  other  hand,  I  was  saddened  by  the 

My  Dear  Mr.  Maxim:  extraordinary  letter  sent  you  by  the  three 

I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  book  on  young  men  who  purported  to  speak  for 
"  Defenseless  America."  It  is  a  capital  the  senior  class  of  the  college  of  which 
book  and  I  believe  it  is  safe  to  say  that  they  are  members.  The  course  of  con- 
no  wise  and  patriotic  American  can  fail  duct  which  these  men  and  those  like  them 
to  recognize  the  service  that  you  have  advocate  for  the  nation  would,  of  course, 
rendered  in  writing  it.  I  hope  it  will  not  only  mean  a  peculiar  craven  avoid- 
have  the  widest  possible  circulation  ance  of  national  duty  by  our  people  at 
throughout  our  country.  this  time,  but  would  also  inevitably  tend 

I  was  glad  to  see  the  first-class  letters  permanently  to  encourage  the  spirit  of 

that  have  been  written  you  by  such  good  individual  cowardice  no  less  than  of  na- 

Americans  as   Oscar  Straus,   Garrett  P.  tional  cowardice. 
Serviss,  Rear  Admiral  W.  W.  Kimball,  C.  The    professional    pacifists,    the     pro- 


680 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


fessional  peace-at-any-price  men,  who 
during  the  last  five  years  have  been  so 
active,  who  have  pushed  the  mischievous 
all-arbitration  treaties  at  Washington, 
who  have  condoned  our  criminal  inactiv- 
ity as  regards  Mexico  and,  above  all,  as 
regards  the  questions  raised  by  the  great 
world  war  now  raging,  and  who  have  ap- 
plauded our  abject  failure  to  live  up  to 
the  obligations  imposed  upon  us  as  a 
signatory  power  of  The  Hague  Conven- 
tion, are,  at  best,  an  unlovely  body  of 
men,  and  taken  as  a  whole  are  probably 
the  most  undesirable  citizens  that  this 
country  contains. 

But  it  is  less  shocking  to  see  such 
sentiments  developed  among  old  men 
than  among  young  men.  The  college 
students  who  organize  or  join  these 
peace-at-any-price  leagues  are  engaged, 
according  to  their  feeble  abilities,  in  cul- 
tivating a  standard  of  manhood  which,  if 
logically  applied,  would  make  them  desire 
to  "  arbitrate  "  with  any  tough  individual 
who  slapped  the  sister  or  sweetheart  of 
one  of  them  in  the  face. 

Well-meaning  people,  as  we  all  know, 
sometimes  advocate  a  course  of  action 
which  is  infamous;  and,  as  was  proved  by 
the  great  Copperhead  Party  fifty  years 
ago,  there  are  always  some  brave  men  to 
be  found  condoning  or  advocating  deeds 
of  national  cowardice.  But  the  fact  re- 
mains that  the  advocates  of  pacifism 
who  have  been  most  prominent  in  our 
country  during  the  past  five  years  have 
been  preaching  poltroonery. 

Such  preaching,  if  persevered  in  long 
enough,  softens  the  fibre  of  any  nation, 
and,  above  all,  of  those  preaching  it;  and 
if  it  is  reduced  to  practice  it  is  ruinous 
to  national  character.  These  men  have 
been  doing  their  best  to  make  us  the 
China  of  the  Occident,  and  the  college 
students,  such  as  those  of  whom  you 
speak,  have  already  reached  a  level  con- 
siderably below  that  to  which  the  higher 
type  of  Chinaman  has  now  struggled  on 
his  upward  path. 

On  the  whole,  for  the  nation  as  for  the 

individual,  the  most  contemptible  of  all 

sins  is  the  sin  of  cowardice;   and  while 

there  are  other  sins  as  base  there  are 

none  baser.    The  prime  duty  for  this  na- 


tion is  to  prepare  itself  so  that  it  can 
protect  itself — and  this  is  the  duty  that 
you  are  preaching  in  your  admirable 
volume.  It  is  only  when  this  duty  has 
been  accomplished  that  we  shall  be  able 
to  perform  the  further  duty  of  helping 
the  cause  of  the  world  righteousness  by 
backing  the  cause  of  the  international 
peace  of  justice  (the  only  kind  of  peac>3 
worth  having)  not  merely  by  words  but 
by  deeds. 

A  peace  conference  such  as  that  which 
some  of  our  countrymen  propose  at  the 
moment  to  hold  is  purely  noxious,  until 
as  a  preliminary  we  put  ourselves  in  such 
shape  that  what  we  say  will  excite  the 
respect  and  not  the  derision  of  foreign 
nations;  and,  furthermore,  until  we  have 
by  practical  action  shown  that  we  are 
heartily  ashamed  of  ourselves  for  our 
craven  abandonment  of  duty  in  not  dar- 
ing to  say  a  word  when  The  Hague  Con- 
ventions were  ruthlessly  violated  before 
our  eyes. 

Righteousness  must  be  put  before 
peace,  and  peace  must  be  recognized  as 
of  value  only  when  it  is  the  hand-maiden 
of  justice.  The  doctrine  of  national  or 
individual  neutrality  between  right  and 
wrong  is  an  ignoble  doctrine,  unworthy 
the  support  of  any  brave  or  honorable 
man.  It  is  wicked  to  be  neutral  between 
right  and  wrong,  and  this  statement  can 
be  successfully  refuted  cnly  by  men  who 
are  prepared  to  hold  up  Pontius  Pilate, 
the  arch-typical  neutral  of  all  time,  as 
worthy  of  our  admiration. 

An  ignoble  peace  may  be  the  worst 
crime  against  humanity,  and  righteous 
war  may  represent  the  greatest  service 
a  nation  can  at  a  given  moment  render  to 
itself  and  to  mankind. 

Our  people  also  need  to  come  to  their 
senses  about  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  arms  and  ammunition.  Of  course,  the 
same  moral  law  applies  here  between  na- 
tions as  between  individuals  within  a 
nation.  There  is  not  the  slightest  dif- 
ference between  selling  ammunition  in 
time  of  war  and  in  time  of  peace,  because 
when  sold  in  time  of  peace  it  is  only  sold 
with  a  view  to  possibility  or  likelihood  of 
war.  It  should  never  be  sold  to  people 
who  will  make  bad  use  of  it,  and  it  should 


A    LEAGUE    FOR    PREPAREDNESS 


681 


be  freely  sold  at  all  times  to  those  who 
will  use  it  for  a  proper  purpose. 

It  is  absolutely  essential  that  we 
should  have  stores  where  citizens  of  a 
nation  can  buy  arms  and  ammunition.  It 
is  a  service  to  good  citizenship  to  sell  a 
revolver  to  an  honest  householder  for  use 
against  burglars  or  to  a  policeman  for 
use  against  "  gunmen."  It  is  an  outrage 
against  humanity  knowingly  to  sell  such 
a  revolver  to  a  burglar  or  a  "  gunman." 
The  morality  of  the  sale  depends  upon 
the  purpose  and  the  probable  use.  This 
is  true  among  individuals.  It  is  no  less 
true  among  nations. 

I  am  speaking  of  the  moral  right.  Our 
legal  right  to  sell  ammunition  to  the 
Allies  is,  of  course,  perfect,  just  as  Ger- 
many, the  greatest  trader  in  ammunition 
to  other  nations  in  the  past,  had  an  entire 
legal  right  to  sell  guns  and  ammunition 
to  Turkey,  for  instance.  But,  in  addition 
to  our  legal  right  to  sell  ammunition  to 
those  engaged  in  trying  to  restore  Bel- 
gium to  her  own  people,  it  is  also  our 
moral  duty  to  do  so,  precisely  as  it  is  a 
moral  duty  to  sell  arms  to  policemen  for 
use  against  "  gunmen." 

Wishing  you  all  possible  success,  I  am, 
faithfully  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
Hudson  Maxim,  Esq.,  Lansing,  N.  J. 

MR.  MEYER'S  SPEECH. 

The  National  Security  League  brought 
its  two-day  Peace  and  Preparation  Con- 
ference to  a  close  on  June  15,  1915,  with 
a  luncheon  in  the  Hotel  Astor  at  which 
more  than  1,000  men  and  women  listened 
to  George  von  L.  Meyer,  ex-Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  as  he  announced  that  the  navy 
of  the  United  States  was  utterly  unfit 
for  war  with  any  first-class  nation.  Mr. 
Meyer  was  interrupted  many  times  by 
applause,  and  the  loudest  outburst  came 
when  he  placed  the  blam,e  for  what  he 
termed  the  present  demoralized  state  of 
the  navy  squarely  up  to  Secretary  Jo- 
sephus  Daniels.    He  said,  in  part  : 

In  calling  attention  to  these  defects 
I  have  not  done  so  from  a  desire  to 
criticise  the  present  head  of  the  navy, 
although  I  do  believe  that  he  is  respon- 
sible  for    the    demoralized   condition    of 


the    personnel    and    the    decreased    effi- 
ciency of  the  navy. 

In  advancing  his  argument  for  a 
greater  navy  Mr.  Meyer  contended  that 
such  a  step  would  be  the  best  safeguard 
against  war.  He  asserted  that  we  would 
have  had  no  war  with  Spain  in  1908  if 
we  had  had  four  more  ships  like  the  Ore- 
gon. With  such  a  powerful  fighting 
force,  he  argued,  no  nation  at  that  time 
would  have  dared  to  meet  us.  Spain 
xvould  have  yielded  without  a  fight,  and 
this  country  would  have  saved  $500,000,- 
000.     He  continued: 

The  only  attack  we  need  consider  is 
an  attack  from  some  great  naval  power, 
and  for  that  reason  we  need  an  ade- 
quate navy  because  it  tends  toward 
peace,  because  it  discourages  attack  and 
serves  the  best  interests  of  the  country, 
while  an  inadequate  navy  is  a  vast  ex- 
pense to  the  country  and  does  not  serve 
as  a  protection. 

Of  the  thirty-five  battleships  that  we 
have  today  only  twenty-one  are  in  com- 
mission and  ready  for  emergency.  Of 
those  twenty-one,  three  have  broken 
shafts,  and  the  fourth  is  a  turbine  bat- 
tleship which  was  put  out  of  commis- 
sion because  it  needs  to  be  thoroughly 
overhauled.  In  addition  to  that,  there 
are  seventy  fighting  vessels  which  are 
not  ready  to  be  called  upon  for  an  emer- 
gency because  they  are  out  of  commis- 
sion and  would  require  a  long  overhaul- 
ing. We  lack  battle  cruisers,  scout 
cruisers,  aeroplanes,  and  armed  airships. 

Our  submarine  fleet  is  in  a  critical 
condition.  The  complement  of  torpedo 
vessels  has  been  reduced  from  15  to  25 
per  cent,  to  get  men  to  commission  new 
boats.  This  reduction  in  personnel  is  a 
serious  handicap,  reduces  the  efficiency 
of  the  destroyers,  affects  contentment, 
and  prevents  the  boats  being  kept  in 
good  condition.  The  Atlantic  fleet  needs 
5,000  men,  according  to  the  evidence  of 
the  Commander  in  Chief  of  that  fleet. 
The  reserve  fleet  at  Philadelphia  was 
largely  depleted  in  order  to  get  a  new 
crew  for  the  Alabama  when  she  was  or- 
dered to  Hampton  Roads  to  enforce  neu- 
trality; and  the  naval  force  of  Hampton 
Roads  was   a  pitifully  weak  one:    One 


682 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


small  submarine,  one  little  torpedo  de- 
stroyer diverted  from  Annapolis,  and  one 
reserve  battleship,  of  which  the  fleet  in 
Philadelphia  had  been  robbed  in  order  to 
put  her  in  commission. 

The  review  in  New  York  this  year  was 
a  poor  imitation  of  previous  reviews,  in 
that  the  reserve  fleet  was  absent.  It 
was  a  mere  parade,  not  a  mobilization. 
It  did  not  indicate  the  true  condition  of 
the  fleet,  because  the  people  did  not 
know  the  whole  truth.  For  lack  of  men, 
ships  are  laid  up  in  navy  yards,  where 
they  rapidly  deteriorate,  like  a  vacant 
house. 

All  small  ships  and  all  cruisers  now 
laid  up  for  lack  of  men  are  needed  in 
Mexico  and  elsewhere,  and  should  be 
ready  for  an  emergency  call.  The  com- 
plement of  enlisted  men  at  shore  sta- 
tions and  training  stations  has  been  kept 
down,  with  a  decided  loss  of  efficiency 
and  greatly  to  the  discontent  and  dis- 
comfort of  the  men.  A  navy  with  an  in- 
sufficient and  disgn"untled  personnel  can- 
not be  efficient,  and  its  morale  must 
necessarily  be  disastrously  affected. 

It  would  take  18,000  men  in  order  to 
put  the  vessels  that  are  fit  for  war  serv- 
ice into  commission,  Mr.  Meyer  asserted. 
Congress  was  to  blame  for  not  having  es- 
tablished a  national  council  of  defense, 
a  general  staff,  and  a  national  reserve  of 
50,000  efficient  men.    He  added: 

It  is  the  lack  of  any  definite  naval 
policy  and  the  failure  of  Congress  to 
recognize  the  necessity  for  such  a  policy 
that  has  placed  us  in  a  position  of  in- 
feriority, which  may  lead  us  to  v/ar  or 
cause  us  great  embarrassment  as  well  as 
dscredit  to  the  country. 

Mr.  Meyer  urged  an  investigation  by 
Congress  of  our  national  defense,  to  the 
end  that  a  comprehensive  plan  should  be 
adopted  for  the  future.  He  declared 
further: 

This  investigation  has  been  denied  to 


the  people  by  the  leaders  of  the  party  in 
power,  and  it  is  deplorable  that  there 
should  be  an  attempt  to  deceive  the  peo- 
ple in  a  matter  of  such  vital  importance. 

OFFICIAL  RESOLUTION. 

Here  is  the  resolution  of  the  league, 
which  was  later  ratified  by  the  official 
delegates  and  forwarded  to  the  White 
House  at  Washington: 

Whereas,  The  events  of  the  past  year 
have  demonstrated  the  fact  that  war,  no 
matter  how  greatly  it  may  be  deplored, 
may  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  occur, 
notwithstanding  the  existence  of  treaties 
of  peace  and  amity,  and  have  also  shown 
that  nations  who  were  unprepared  have 
paid  and  are  paying  the  price  of  their 
lack  of  foresight; 

And,  Whereas,  The  reports  of  our  mili- 
tary and  naval  experts  have  made  clear 
that  the  defensive  forces  of  the  country 
are  inadequate  for  the  proper  protection 
of  our  coasts  and  to  enable  our  Govern- 
ment to  maintain  its  accepted  policies 
and  to  fulfill  its  obligations  to  other 
States,  and  to  exert  in  the  adjustment  of 
international  questions  the  influence  in 
which  the  Republic  is  entitled; 

Therefore,  be  it  Resolved 

That  we  appeal  to  the  President,  if 
consistent  with  the  public  interest,  to  call 
the  early  attention  of  Congress  to  the 
pressing  need  of  prompt  and  efficient 
action  so  that  the  resources  of  our  great 
country  can  be  utilized  for  the  proper 
defense  of  the  Republic; 

And,  Resolved,  That  the  National  Se- 
curity League,  under  whose  auspices  this 
Peace  and  Preparation  Conference  has 
been  held,  be  urged  to  continue  the  work 
which  it  has  already  undertaken,  of 
bringing  the  American  people  to  a  full 
realization  of  our  deplorable  state  of  un- 
preparedness  and  of  the  necessity  of 
action  by  Congress. 


Przemysl  and  Lemberg 

German  Reports  of  Mackensen's 
Victorious  Thrust  in  Galicia 

Przemysl  fell  to  the  German  arms  on  June  3,  1915,  ten  weeks  after  the  Russians  had  cap- 
tured the  fortress  and  its  Austrian  garrison  following  a  six  months'  investment.  The  cam- 
paign which  meant  as  its  first  result  the  recapture  of  this  great  fortress  of  nineteen  modern 
forts  and  sixteen  field  fortifications,  with  innumerable  trenches,  was  continued  by  the  re- 
newal of  the  "  thrust  "  of  General  von  Mackensen  toward  Lemberg,  the  capital  of  Galicia. 
Semi-official  figures  published  in  Berlin  estimated  the  Russian  losses  from  May  1  to  June  18, 
when  the  victorious  German  armies  were  approaching  the  gates  of  Lemberg,  at  400,000  dead 
and  wounded  and  300,000  prisoners,  besides  100,000  lost  before  Field  Marslial  von  Hindenburg's 
forces  in  Poland  and  Courland.  On  June  22  Berlin  reported  five  Austro-German  armies 
shelling  the  last  lines  of  the  Russian  defenses  before  Lemberg,  which  fell  on  June  23. 

The  admitted  wealiness  of  Russia  in  this  campaign  was  the  exhaustion  of  her  ammunition 
supplies.  The  intent  of  the  German  thrust  was  to  drive  the  Russians  far  back  and  establish 
easily  defended  positions  from  which  the  Germans  might  detach  forces  for  operations  against 
Italy  and  the  Allies  in  the  west.  Political  consequences,  also,  were  expected  from  German 
success  in  Galicia  in  deterring  Bulgaria  and  Rumania  from  entering  the  war. 

On  June  21  advices  reaching  Tokio  fiom  Vladivostok  indicated  that  heavy  shipments  of 
munitions  of  war  intended  for  use  by  Russia's  armies  had  arrived  at  that  seaport,  in  such 
Quantities  that  facilities  were  lacking  to  forward  them  by  rail  through  Siberia. 


THE  WEST  GALICIAN  "  DRIVE." 

(Wolff  Telegraphic    B\5reau,    Berlin,    May   6, 
1915.) 

From  the  Great  Headquarters  we  have 
received  the  following  in  regard  to  the 
"  drive  "  in  West  Galicia: 

To  the  complete  surprise  of  the  enemy, 
lerge  movements  of  troops  into  West 
Galicia  had  been  completed  by  the  end 
of  April.  These  troops,  subject  to  the 
orders  of  General  von  Mackensen,  had 
been  assigned  the  task  in  conjunction 
with  the  neighboring  armies  of  our  Aus- 
trian ally  of  breaking  through  the  Rus- 
sian front  between  the  crest  of  the  Car- 
pathians and  the  middle  Dunajee.  It 
was  a  new  problem  and  no  easy  under- 
taking. The  heavens  granted  our  troops 
wonderful  sunshine  and  dry  roads.  Thus 
fliers  and  artillery  could  come  into  full 
activity  and  the  difficulties  of  the  ter- 
rain, which  here  has  the  character  of 
the  approaches  of  the  German  Alps,  or 
the  Horsal  hills  in  Thuringia,  could  be 
overcome.  At  several  points  ammuni- 
tion had  to  be  transported  amid  the 
greatest  hardships  on  pack  animals  and 
the  marching  columns  and  batteries  had 
to  be  moved  forward  over  corduroy  roads, 


(artificial  roads  made  of  logs.)  All  the 
accumulation  of  information  and  prepara- 
tions necessary  for  breaking  through  the 
enemy's  line  had  been  quietly  and  se- 
cretly accomplished.  On  the  first  of 
May  in  the  afternoon  the  artillery  began 
it.=5  fire  on  the  Russian  positions.  These 
in  some  five  months  had  been  perfected 
according  to  all  the  rules  of  the  art  of 
fortification.  In  stories  they  lay  one 
over  the  other  along  the  steep  heights, 
whose  slopes  had  been  furnished  with 
obstacles.  At  some  points  of  special  im- 
portance to  the  Russians  they  consisted 
of  as  many  as  seven  rows  of  trenches, 
one  behind  the  other.  The  works  were 
very  skillfully  placed,  and  were  adopted 
to  flanking  one  another.  The  infantry 
of  the  allied  [Teutonic]  troops  in  the 
nights  preceding  the  attack  had  pushed 
forward  closer  to  the  enemy  and  had 
assumed  positions  in  readiness  for  the 
forward  rush.  In  the  night  from  May  1 
to  2  the  artillery  fired  in  slow  rhythm  at 
the  enemy's  positions.  Pauses  in  the 
fire  served  the  pioneers  for  cutting  the 
wire  entanglements.  On  the  2d  of  May 
at  6  A.  M.  an  overwhelming  artillery 
fire,  including  field  guns  and  running  up 


684 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


to  the  heaviest  calibres,  was  begun  on  the 
front  many  miles  in  extent  selected  for 
the  effort  to  break  through.  This  was 
iraintained  unbroken  for  four  hours. 

At  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  these 
hundreds  of  fire-spouting  tubes  suddenly 
ceased  and  the  same  moment  the  swarm- 
ing lines  and  attacking  columns  of  the 
assailants  threw  themselves  upon  the 
hostile  positions.  The  enemy  had  been 
so  shaken  by  the  heavy  artillery  fire 
that  his  resistance  at  many  points  was 
very  slight.  In  headlong  flight  he  left 
hit  defenses,  when  the  infantry  of  the 
[Teutonic]  allies  appeared  before  his 
trenches,  throwing  away  rifles  and  cook- 
ing utensils  and  leaving  immense  quanti- 
ties of  infantry  ammunition  and  dead. 
At  one  point  the  Russians  themselves  cut 
the  wire  entanglements  to  surrender 
themselves  to  the  Germans.  Frequently 
the  enemy  made  no  further  resistance 
in  his  second  and  third  positions.  On 
the  other  hand,  at  certain  other  points 
of  the  front  he  defended  himself  stub- 
bornly, making  an  embittered  fight  and 
holding  the  neighborhood.  With  the  Aus- 
trian troops,  the  Bavaria^  regiments  at- 
tacked Mount  Zameczyka,  lying  250 
meters  above  their  positions,  a  veritable 
fortress.  A  Bavarian  infantry  regiment 
here  won  incomparable  laurels.  To  the 
left  of  the  Bavarians  Silesian  regi- 
ments stormed  the  heights  of  Sekowa 
and  Sakol.  Young  regiments  tore  from 
the  enemy  the  desperately  defended 
cemetery  height  of  Gorlise  and  the  per- 
sistently held  railway  embankment  at 
Kennenitza.  Among  the  Austrian  troops 
Galician  battalions  had  stormed  the  steep 
heights  of  the  Pustki  Hill,  Hungarian 
troops  having  taken  in  fierce  fighting 
the  Wiatrowka  heights.  Prussian  guard 
regiments  threw  the  enemy  out  of  his 
elevated  positions  east  of  Biala  and  at 
Staszkowka  stormed  seven  successive 
Russian  lines  which  were  stubbornly 
held.  Either  kindled  by  the  Russians  or 
hit  by  a  shell,  a  naphtha  well  behind 
Gorlise  burst  into  flames.  Higher  than 
the  houses  the  flames  struck  up  into  the 
sky  and  pillars  of  smoke  rose  to  hun- 
dreds of  yards. 

On  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  May,  when 


the  warm  Spring  sun  had  begun  to  yield 
to  the  coolness  of  night  the  first  main 
position  in  its  whole  depth  and  extent,  a 
distance  of  some  sixteen  kilometers  had 
been  broken  through  and  a  gain  of 
ground  of  some  four  kilometers  had  been 
attained.  At  least  20,000  prisoners,  doz- 
ens of  cannon  and  fifty  machine  guns 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  allied  troops 
that  in  the  battle  had  competed  with  one 
another  for  the  palm  of  victory.  In 
addition,  an  amount  of  booty  to  be  read- 
ily estimated,  in  the  shape  of  war  ma- 
terials of  all  sorts,  including  great 
masses  of  rifles  and  ammunition,  had 
been  secured. 

WORK  OF  GERMAN  ARTILLERY. 
(German  Press  Headquarters  in  Galicia, 
May  4,  1915.) 
Reports  of  prisoners  are  unanimous 
in  describing  the  effect  of  the  artillery 
fire  of  the  Teutonic  allies  as  more  ter- 
rible than  the  imagination  can  picture. 
The  men,  who  were  with  difficulty  re- 
covering from  the  sufferings  and  exer- 
tions they  had  undergone,  agreed  that 
they  could  not  imagine  conditions  worse 
in  hell  than  they  had  been  for  four  hours 
in  the  trenches.  Corps,  divisions,  bri- 
gades, and  regiments  melted  away  as 
though  in  the  heat  of  a  furnace.  In  no 
direction  was  escape  possible,  for  there 
was  no  spot  of  ground  on  which  the 
four  hundred  guns  of  the  Teutonic  allies 
had  not  exerted  themselves.  All  the  Gen- 
erals and  Staff  Officers  of  one  Russian 
division  were  killed  or  wounded.  More- 
over, insanity  raged  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Russians,  and  from  all  sides  hysterical 
cries  could  be  heard  rising  above  the  roar 
of  our  guns,  too  strong  for  human 
nerves.  Over  the  remnants  of  the  Rus- 
sians who  crowded  in  terror  into  the  re- 
motest corners  of  their  trenches  there 
broke  the  mighty  rush  of  our  masses  of 
infantry,  before  which  also  the  Russian 
reserves,  hurrying  forward,  crumbled 
away. 

GERMAN  TEAM  WORK. 

(."Wolff  Telegraphic  Bureau,   Vienna,   May  7, 
1915.) 

From  a   well-informed   source   at   the 
Royal  and  Imperial  Chief  Command,  the 


The  Routes  to  Lemberg 


\0  »5  20         25 

RAILROA^OS 

M I  OH  WAYS        i  BORY5LAW 


At  least  four  Austro-German  armies  were  operating  toward  Lemberg,  the 
capital  of  Eastern  Galicia,  which  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
Russian  Army,  evacuated  on  June  23  to  escape  being  surrounded.  After  the  recapture 
of  Przemysl  (1)  one  army  advanced  along  the  railroad  to  Lemberg  and  captured 
Grodek,  (2,)  where  the  Russians  were  expected  to  make  a  possibly  successful  stand 
at  the  line  of  the  lakes.  Another,  advancing  along  the  railroad  from  Jaroslau,  (3,) 
took  Krakowice,  Jaworow,  Skio,  Janow,  and  Zolkiew  (4).  A  third,  advancing  from 
Sieniawa,  (5,)  apparently  was  joined  by  forces  which  took  Tarnogrod  (6)  and  on 
June  21  captured  Rawa  Ruska,  (7,)  thus  cutting  the  Russian  communications  and 
line  of  retreat  to  the  north.  Finally  an  army,  operating  from  Stryi,  (8,)  drove  the 
Russians  across  the  Dniester. 


683 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


War  Press  Bureau  has  received  the  fol- 
lowing communication: 

While  by  those  concerned  in  conduct- 
ing the  operations  of  the  armies  indi- 
vidual achievements  and  isolated  develop- 
ments of  distinction  are  regarded  as  ex- 
cluded from  particular  mention,  in  the 
public  press  not  infrequently  certain  suc- 
cesses are  assigned  to  certain  personali- 
ties. This,  too,  has  been  the  case  fre- 
quently with  reference  to  the  recent  hap- 
penings in  Galicia.  The  suggestions  and 
plans  made  in  the  war  are  always  the 
result  of  the  co-operation  of  a  number  of 
persons.  The  Commander  in  Chief  then 
assumes  the  responsibility  for  them.  So 
far  as  the  present  operations  in  Galicia 
are  concerned,  these  had  in  March  already 
been  similarly  planned,  and  at  that  time 
such  forces  as  were  available  were  put 
into  position  for  a  penetrating  thrust  in 
the  direction,  by  way  of  Gorlice,  through 
the  chain  of  valleys  toward  Zmygrod. 
These  forces,  however,  proved  to  be  nu- 
merically too  weak,  in  spite  of  initial 
successes  at  Senkorva  and  Gorlice,  to 
break  through  the  enemy's  stubbornly 
defended  front.  Only  the  proposal  made 
by  General  von  Falkanhayn  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  German  chief  command, 
to  bring  up  further  strong  German 
forces  for  a  forward  drive,  supplied  the 
foundation  for  the  brilliant  success  of 
May  1  by  the  armies  of  Mackensen, 
Archdukes  Joseph  and  Frederick  and  Bo- 
roevic. 

ADVANCE  IN  MIDDLE  GALICIA. 

(Wolff  Telegraphic  Bureau,    Berlin,   May  26, 
1915.) 

We  learn  from  the  Great  Headquarters 
the  following  concerning  the  progress  of 
the  operations  of  the  Teutonic  allies  in 
Middle  Galicia: 

In  barely  fourteen  days  the  army  of 
Mackensen  has  carried  its  offensive  for- 
ward from  Gorlice  to  Jaroslaw.  With 
daily  fighting,  for  the  most  part  against 
fortified  positions,  it  has  crossed  the 
line  of  three  rivers  and  gained  in  terri- 
tory more  than  100  kilometers  in  an  air- 
line. On  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth 
day,  with  the  taking  of  the  city  and 
bridge-head,  Jaroslau,  they  won  access 
to  the  lower  San.    It  was  now  necessary 


to  cross  this  stream  on  a  broad  front. 
The  enemy,  though,  still  held  before 
Radymo  and  in  the  angle  of  San-Wislok 
with  two  strongly  fortified  bridge-heads 
the  west  bank  of  this  river.  For  the  rest 
he  confined  himself  to  the  frontal  de- 
fense of  the  east  bank. 

While  troops  of  the  guard  in  close 
touch  with  Austrian  regiments  gained, 
fighting,  the  crossing  of  the  river  at 
Jaroslau,  and  continued  to  throw  the 
enemy,  who  was  daily  receiving  rein- 
forcements, continually  further  toward 
the  east  and  northeast,  Hanoverian  regi- 
ments forced  the  passage  of  the  river 
several  kilometers  further  down  stream. 
Brunswickers,  by  the  storming  of  the 
heights  of  Wiazowinca,  opened  the  way 
and  thereby  won  the  obstinately  de- 
fended San  crossing.  Further  to  the 
north  the  San  angle  was  cleared  of  the 
enemy  that  had  still  held  on  there.  One 
Colonel,  fifteen  officers,  7,800  prisoners, 
four  cannon,  twenty-eight  machine  guns, 
thirteen  ammunition  wagons,  and  a  field 
kitchen  fell  into  our  hands.  The  rest 
found  themselves  obliged  to  make  a 
hasty  retreat  to  the  east  bank. 

These  battles  and  successes  took  place 
on  the  17th  of  May  in  the  presence  of  the 
German  Emperor,  who,  on  the  same  day, 
conferred  upon  the  Chief  of  Staff  of  the 
army  here  engaged.  Colonel  von  Seeckt, 
the  order  pour  le  merite,  the  commander 
of  the  army.  General  von  Mackensen, 
having  already  received  special  honors. 
The  Emperor  had  hurried  forward  to  his 
troops  by  automobile.  On  the  way  he 
was  greeted  with  loud  hurrahs  by  the 
wounded  riding  back  in  wagons.  On  the 
heights  of  Jaroslau  the  Emperor  met 
Prince  Eitel  Friedrich,  and  then,  from 
several  points  of  observation,  for  hours 
followed  with  keen  attention  the  progress 
of  the  battle  for  the  crossing. 

In  the  days  from  the  18th  to  the  20th 
of  May  the  Teutonic  allies  pressed  on 
further  toward  the  east,  northeast,  and 
north,  threw  the  enemy  out  of  Sieniawa 
and  took  up  positions  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  river  upon  a  front  of  twenty  or 
thirty  kilometers.  The  enemy  withdrew 
behind  the  Lerbaczowa  stream.  All  his 
attempts  to  win  back  the  lost  ground 
were  unsuccessful,  although  in  the  days 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG 


687 


from  the  13th  to  the  20th  of  May  he 
brought  on  no  less  than  six  fresh  divi- 
sions to  stem  our  advance  at  and  be- 
yond Jaroslau. 

Altogether,  the  Russian  command  had 
since  the  beginning  of  the  operation 
thrown  seven  army  corps  from  other 
areas  of  the  war  against  the  front  of  the 
army  of  von  Mackensen  and  against  the 
centre  and  right  wing  of  the  army  of 
Archduke  Joseph  Ferdinand.  These  were 
the  Third  Caucasian,  the  Fifteenth,  and 
a  combined  army  corps,  six  individual  in- 
fantry regiments,  the  Thirty-fourth, 
Forty-fifth,  Fifty-eighth,  Sixty-second, 
Sixty  -  third.  Seventy  -  seventh,  and 
Eighty-first  Infantry,  and  the  Thirteenth 
Siberian  division,  not  counting  a  cavalry 
division,  which  entered  the  field  already 
in  the  earliest  days.  With  the  combined 
army  corps  there  appeared  a  Caucasian 
infantry  division,  the  Third,  made  up  of 
Armenians  and  Grusinians,  which  till 
January  had  fought  in  Persia,  was  trans- 
ferred in  April  to  Kars,  and  later  to 
Odessa,  where  it  formed  part  of  the  so- 
called  Army  of  the  Bosporus.  Before 
our  front  now  also  appeared  Cossacks 
on  foot,  a  special  militia  formation, 
which  hitherto  had  fought  in  the  Cau- 
casus. Finally,  there  came  on  the  outer- 
most left  wing  of  the  Russians  the  Trans- 
Amoor  border  guards,  a  troop  designed 
purely  for  protection  of  the  railway  in 
North  Manchuria,  whose  use  in  this  part 
of  the  area  of  war  was  probably  not 
foreseen  even  in    Russia. 

Yet  the  Russians  still  held  along  the 
lower  San  the  bridge-head  of  Radymo  on 
the  west  bank.  The  problem  of  the  next 
ensuing  battles  was  to  drive  him  also 
from  this  point. 

APPROACHING  PRZEMYSL. 
(By  The  Associated  Press.) 

VIENNA,  June  1,  (via  Amsterdam 
and  London.) — The  following  official 
communication  was  issued  today: 

East  of  the  San  our  troops  were  at- 
tacked Monday  night  along  the  entire 
front  by  strong  Russian  forces.  This 
was  especially  true  on  the  lower  Lubac- 
zowka,  where  superior  forces  attempted 
to  advance.  All  the  attacks  were  re- 
pulsed with  severe  losses  to  the  enemy, 


who  at  some  points  retreated  in  disorder. 

On  the  lower  San,  below  Sieniawa, 
Russian  attacks  also  failed. 

On  the  north  front  of  Przemysl  Ba- 
varian troops  stormed  three  defenses  of 
the  circle  of  forts,  capturing  1,400  pris- 
oners and  28  heavy  guns. 

South  of  the  Dniester  the  allied  troops 
penetrated  the  enemy's  defensive  posi- 
tion, defeated  the  Russians  and  con- 
quered Stry,  the  enemy  retreating  to- 
ward the  Dniester.  We  captured  53  of- 
ficers and  over  9,000  prisoners,  8  can- 
non, and  15  machine  guns. 

On  the  Pruth  and  in  Poland  the  situa- 
tion is  unchanged. 

BERLIN,  June  1,  (via  London.) — The 
German  General  Staff  gave  out  the  fol- 
lowing report  today  on  the  operations 
in  the  eastern  theatre  of  war: 

In  the  eastern  theatre  of  war,  near 
Amboten,  fifty  kilometers,  (about  thirty 
miles,)  east  of  Libau,  (Courland,)  Ger- 
man cavalry  defeated  the  Russian 
Fourth  Regiment  of  Dragoons.  Near 
Shavli,  hostile  attacks  were  unsuccessful. 

Our  booty  in  the  month  of  May,  north 
of  the  Niemen  River,  amounts  to  24,700 
prisoners,  seventeen  cannon,  and  forty- 
seven  machine  guns;  south  of  the  Nie- 
men and  the  Pilica,  6,943  prisoners, 
eleven  machine  guns,  and  one  aeroplane. 

In  the  southeastern  theatre  of  war: 
In  front  of  Przemysl  Bavarian  troops 
yesterday  stormed  Forts  10-A,  11-A,  and 
12,  west  of  Dunkowiczki,  capturing  the 
remainder  of  a  garrison  of  1,400  men, 
with  eighteen  heavy  and  five  light  can- 
non. The  Russians  attempted  to  escape 
their  fate  by  an  attack  in  masses  against 
our  positions  east  of  Jaroslau,  but  failed, 
an  enormous  number  of  dead  covering 
the  battlefield  before  our  front. 

The  conquerors  of  Zwinin  (a  ridge  in 
the  Carpathians) — the  Prussian  Guard 
under  command  of  the  Bavarian  Gen- 
eral, Count  Bothmer — stormed  a  strong- 
ly fortified  place  on  the  Stry,  and  broke 
through  Russian  positions  near  and 
northwest  of  Stry.  Up  to  the  present 
time  we  have  captured  in  this  region 
fifty-three  officers,  9,183  men,  eight  can- 
non, and  fifteen  machine  guns. 

According  to  an  unofficial  report  from 


688 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


TO  TARNOW 


O  t 


-2.  -5 
FORT'S 
BATTERIES 


MOOO]  ELEVATIONS  IN  FEET 
I    t   t     RAILROAD^ 
=1^=^  H I G  H  Vv'AYS 


Map  of  Przemysl  and  its  defenses. 


Piotrkow,  Russian  Poland,  the  Russians 
have  evacuated  Radom,  in  Poland,  to 
the  south  of  Warsaw. 

MORE  DEFENSES  TAKEN. 

VIENNA,  June  2,  (via  Amsterdam 
and  London.) — The  official  statement  is- 
sued by  the  Austrian  War  Office  tonight 
reads  as  follows: 

The  Russians  have  renewed  their 
strong  attacks  against  the  allied  troops 
on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  San.  Des- 
perate attacks  everywhere  have  been  re- 
pulsed with  heavy  Russian  losses. 

On  the  northern  front  of  Przemysl 
two  additional  fortifications  have  been 
taken  by  storm,  and  we  have  maintained 
the  conquered  ground. 

South  of  the  Dniester  our  attacks  are 
making  successful  progress.  Hostile  po- 
sitions between  Stry  and  Drohobycz 
were  stormed  yesterday. 

Strong  Russian  forces,  which  yester- 
day attacked  our  position  near  Solowina, 
in  South  Galicia,  suffered  severe  losses. 
They  retreated  and,  at  some  points,  took 
to  flight. 


Besides  the  booty  mentioned  in  ';he 
German  communication  as  having  been 
captured  during  the  month  of  May  from 
the  Russians  we  took  189  ammunition 
wagons  and  a  quantity  of  other  war  ma- 
terial, such  as  8,500  rounds  of  artillery 
ammunition,  5,500,000  cartridges,  and 
32,000  rifles. 

BERLIN,  June  2,  (via  London.) — The 
following  report  on  the  operations  in  the 
eastern  theatre  of  war  was  issued  today 
by  the  German  General  Staff: 

Successful  engagements  occurred 
against  minor  Russian  divisions  at  Neu- 
hausen,  fifty  kilometers  (about  thirty 
miles)  northeast  of  Libau,  and  at  Shidiki, 
sixty-nine  kilometers  (about  forty  miles) 
southeast  of  Libau.  The  same  thing 
happened  further  south  in  the  district  of 
Shavli,  and  on  the  Dubysa,  southeast  of 
Kielmy  and  between  Ugiamy  and  Ejar- 
gola.    At  Shavli  we  took  500  prisoners. 

Further  Russian  intrenchments  sit- 
uated around  Dunkowiozki  (near  Prze- 
mysl) were  taken  by  storm  yesterday. 
After  the  victory  at  Stry  the  allied  troops 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG 


689 


advanced  yesterday  in  the  direction  of 
Medenice. 

In  -the  month  of  May  863  officers  and 
268,869  men  were  taken  prisoners  in  the 
southeastern  theatre  of  war,  while  251 
cannon  and  576  machine  guns  were  cap- 
tured. Of  these  numbers,  the  capturing 
of  400  officers,  including  two  Generals, 
153,254  men,  160  cannon,  including 
twenty-eight  heavy  ones,  and  403  ma- 
chine guns,  is  to  the  credit  of  the  troops 
under  General  Mackensen. 

Including  prisoners  taken  in  the  east- 
ern theatre  of  war,  as  well  as  those  an- 
nounced yesterday,  the  total  number  of 
Russians  who  have  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  Germanic  allied  troops  during 
the  month  of  May  amounts  to  about 
1,000  officers  and  more  than  300,000 
men. 

PRZEMYSL  RECAPTURED. 

VIENNA,  June  3,  (via  Amsterdam 
and  London-) — The  following  official 
communication  on  the  Przemysl  victory 
was  issued  in  Vienna  today: 

In  the  Russian  war  theatre  the  German 
troops  last  night  stormed  the  last  posi- 
tions on  the  north  front  of  Przemysl  and 
entered  the  town  at  3:30  o'clock  this 
morning  from  the  north. 

Our  Tenth  Corps  entered  the  town 
from  the  west  and  south  and  reached  the 
centre  of  the  town  soon  after  6  o'clock. 

The  importance  of  this  success  can- 
not yet  be  estimated. 

The  attack  of  the  allied  troops  in  the 
sector  north  of  Stry  is  making  success- 
ful progress. 

Following  is  the  Berlin  official  an- 
nouncement of  the  fall  of  Przemysl, 
dated  June  3: 

The  fortified  town  of  Przemysl  was 
taken  by  us  early  this  morning,  after  the 
fortifications  on  the  northern  front, 
which  still  held  out,  had  been  stormed 
during  the  night.  The  amount  of  booty 
taken  has  not  yet  been  ascertained. 

PETROGRAD  ADMITS  DEFEAT. 

PETROGRAD,  June  S.—Petrograd  ad- 
mits the  loss  of  the  fortress  in  the  fol- 
lowing official  bulletin: 

As  Przemysl,  in  view  of  the  state  of 
its  artillery  and  its  works,  which  were 


destroyed  by  the  Austrians  before  their 
capitulation,  was  recognized  as  incapable 
of  defending  itself,  its  maintenance  in 
our  hands  only  served  our  purpose  until 
such  time  as  our  possession  of  positions 
surrounding  the  town  on  the  northwest 
facilitated  our  operations  on  the  San. 

The  enemy  having  captured  Jaroslau 
and  Radymno  and  begun  to  spread  along 
the  right  bank  of  the  river,  the  mainte- 
nance of  these  positions  forced  our  troops 
to  fight  on  an  unequal  and  very  diffi- 
cult front,  increasing  it  by  thirty-five 
versts,  (about  twenty-four  miles,)  and 
subjecting  the  troops  occupying  these 
positions  to  the  concentrated  fire  of  the 
enemy's  numerous  guns. 

Przemysl  was  bombarded  with  heavy 
guns  up  to  16-inch  calibre,  and  the  enemy 
delivered  his  principal  attack  againsfthe 
north  front  in  the  region  of  Forts  10  and 
11,  which  the  Austrians  had  almost  com- 
pletely demolished  before  the  surrender 
of  the  fortress. 

When  we  repulsed  these  attacks  the 
enemy  succeeded  in  taking  several  of  our 
guns,  which  had  bombarded  the  enemy's 
columns  until  the  latter  were  close  to  the 
muzzles,  and  the  last  shell  was  spent. 
According  to  supplementary  information 
we  took  two  hundred  prisoners  and  eight 
quick-firers. 

In  Galicia  on  Monday  between  the  Vis- 
tula and  Przemysl  stubborn  fighting  de- 
veloped, our  troops  gaining  somewhat  im- 
portant successes  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  lower  San,  taking  several  villages, 
some  with  the  bayonet.  On  the  right 
bank  of  the  same  river  we  were  suc- 
cessful near  the  village  of  Kalukouve, 
taking  a  base  south  of  the  village,  cap- 
turing 1,200  prisoners,  including  twenty- 
two  officers  and  eight  quick-firers. 

RUSSIAN  RETREAT  FROM 
PRZEMYSL. 
VIENNA,  (via  London,)  June  A.— The 
Austrian  War  Office  this  evening  issued 
the  following  official  communication  an- 
nouncing the  retreat  of  the  Russians 
from  Przemysl,  their  stand  at  Medyka, 
ten  miles  to  the  east,  and  their  defeat  at 
other  points: 

During  the  day  Przemysl  was  cleared 


690 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


of  the  enemy,  who  is  retreating  in  an 
easterly  direction,  offering  resistance  on 
the  height  southwest  of  Medyka.  The 
allied  troops  there  are  attacking. 

Meanwhile  the  army  of  the  Austrian 
General  Eduard  von  Boehm-Ermolli  has 
succeeded  in  breaking  through  the  Rus- 
sian defensive  positions  from  the  south, 
and  advanced  in  the  direction  of  Moscis- 
ka,  on  the  railroad  to  Lemberg,  ten 
miles  beyond  Medyka,  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  which  our  troops  now  hold  posi- 
tions. In  these  engagements  we  have 
captured  numerous  prisoners. 

The  army  under  General  Alexander 
Linsingen  also  has  achieved  fresh  suc- 
cesses, and  the  Russians  are  in  full  re- 
treat before  him. 

On  the  Pruth  line,  in  consequence  of 
the  events  on  the  San  and  the  upper 
Dniester,  further  fighting  has  developed. 
Wherever  the  enemy  attempts  an  attack 
he  is  repulsed  with  severe  losses.  We 
have  captured  900  men. 

Otherwise  the  situation  on  the  lower 
San  and  in  Poland  is  unchanged. 


A  USTRO-HUNGARIAN  FIELD 
HEADQUARTERS,  (via  London,)  June 
5. — According  to  information  given  out  by 
the  Austro-Hungarian  military  authori- 
ties to  representatives  of  the  press, 
heavy  fighting  is  now  in  progress  along 
virtually  the  entire  Galician  front,  and 
the  general  situation  is  very  favorable 
to  the  Austro-Germans.  A  decisive  con- 
clusion to  the  entire  Russian  campaign 
in  Galicia  is  in  sight. 

Przemysl's  recapture  by  Austrian  and 
Bavarian  troops,  according  to  details  re- 
ceived from  the  front,  resulted  from  the 
taking  of  five  forts  in  the  northern  sec- 
tor and  the  simultaneous  threatening  of 
the  forts  on  the  south  and  west  fronts. 

With  the  forts  on  the  north  side  in  the 
possession  of  the  besiegers,  with  a  Ba- 
varian corps  pressing  impetuously 
through  the  breach  against  the  city,  and 
with  the  Austrian  Tenth  Army  Corps 
within  storming  distance  of  the  southern 
and  western  forts,  which  artillery  fire 
already  had  reduced  sufficiently  for  at- 
tack, the  Russians  decided  to  evacuate 
the  town  and  all  the  forts  except  those 
on  the  eastern  and  southeastern  sectors. 


This  movement  was  executed  Wednesday 
night. 

The  Bavarians  resumed  their  attack 
at  dawn  on  Thursday,  and  entered  Przem- 
ysl  upon  the  heels  of  the  retiring  Rus- 
sians. 

The  Austrian  Tenth  Army  Corps  sim- 
ultaneously started  toward  the  west  and 
south  fronts,  but  found  the  forts  there 
had  been  evacuated.  An  attack  now  is 
in  progress  against  the  forts  still  held 
by  the  Russians,  those  positions  being 
defended  apparently  with  the  object  of 
covering  the  latter's  retirement. 

"  The  Russian  rear  guards,"  the  state- 
ment to  the  press  says,  "  are  fighting 
delaying  actions  south  of  the  Dniester 
River  against  the  Austro-German  forces 
advancing  from  Stry  to  cover  the  passage 
of  the  river.  The  Russians  north  of 
Przemsyl  are  launching  a  series  of  the 
most  desperate  attacks  against  General 
von  Mackensen's  army.  Here  they  are 
making  use  of  new  reserves,  and  at  the 
same  time  they  are  exerting  heavy  pres- 
sure against  the  troops  commanded  by 
Archduke  Joseph  Ferdinand  in  the  tri- 
angle between  the  River  San  and  the 
River  Vistula. 

"  The  Russian  offensive  in  Southeast- 
ern Galicia,  designed  to  relieve  this  situ- 
ation, has  been  a  complete  failure" 


BERLIN,  (via  London,)  June  4. — The 
following  official  communication  on  the 
Eastern  fighting  was  issued  here  today: 

Our  troops,  after  much  fighting, 
reached  the  line  east  of  Przemysl  and 
to  the  northeast  thereof,  to  Bolestea- 
syzce,  Ormis,  Poodziao,  and  Tarzawa. 
The  booty  taken  at  Przemysl  has  not  yet 
been  ascertained.  According  to  state- 
ments made  by  prisoners  of  the  most 
varied  descriptions,  the  Russians  during 
the  night  of  June  2-3,  during  which 
Przemysl  was  taken  by  storm,  had  pre- 
pared a  general  attack  over  the  whole 
front  against  the  army  under  General 
von  Mackensen.  This  offensive  broke 
down  completely  at  the  outset.  Twenty- 
two  kilometers  (about  13%  miles)  east 
of  Przemysl  German  troops  under  Gen- 
eral von  Marwitz  are  fighting  on  the 
heights    on    both    sides    of    Myslatyeze. 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG 


691 


The  army  of  General  von  Linsingen  is 
about  to  cross  the  lower  crossing  of  the 
Stry,  northeast  of  the  town  of  the  same 
name. 

Our  cavalry  has  driven  Russian  divi- 
sions out  of  the  villages  of  Lenen  and 
Schrunden,  sixty  kilometers,  (thirty- 
seven  miles,)  and  seventy  kilometers, 
(forty-three  miles,)  east  of  Libau  Cour- 
land.  In  the  district  of  Rawcliany,  west 
of  Kurschany  and  near  Sredniki,  on  the 
Dubysa,  attacks  by  the  enemy  failed. 

GERMAN     THRUST     TOWARD 
LEMBERG. 

[By   The   Associated   Press.] 

VIENNA,  June  3,  {via  London,  Fri- 
day, June  4.) — The  German  and  Aus- 
trian forces  which  broke  the  Russian 
lines  at  Stry  are  moving  northward  rap- 
idly. The  Russians  are  apparently  un- 
able to  make  a  stand  in  the  plains,  and 
the  chances  of  doing  so  north  of  the 
river  are  regarded  as  problematical. 

Now  that  Przemysl  has  fallen,  render- 
ing it  possible  for  General  Mackensen  to 
continue  his  movement  eastward,  he 
would  naturally  meet  a  check  at  the  Rus- 
sian fortified  positions  partly  composed 
of  a  chain  of  lakes  extending  north  and 
south,  about  eighteen  miles  west  of  Lem- 
berg.  It  is  thought,  however,  that  these 
positions  will  prove  untenable,  because 
General  Linsingen,  having  crossed  the 
Dniester  to  the  west  of  Mikolajow,  will 
likely  cut  the  communications  with 
Lemberg.  The  Austro-German  plan  of 
operations  against  Lemberg  apparently 
is  the  same  as  against  Przemysl.  The 
assailants  are  expected  to  throw  columns 
on  both  sides  of  the  city  and  then  press 
together  some  distance  beyond  it.  In 
the  meantime  this  movement  seems  to 
threaten  the  Russians  fighting  around 
Nadworna  with  a  loss  of  contact  with  the 
main  body. 

In  view  of  the  double  success  at  Prze- 
mysl and  Stry,  it  is  expected  in  Vienna 
that  the  Galician  campaign  will  move  at 
an  accelerated  pace  the  next  few  days. 

AN  ENCIRCLING  MOVEMENT. 
LONDON,  June  5. — Heavy  fighting  is 
still  in  progress   in   Galicia,   where   the 
Austro-Germans  are  attempting  an  en- 


circling movement  against  Lemberg 
such  as  proved  successful  at  Przemysl. 
The  following  statement  was  given  out 
today  at  the  War  Office  in  Vienna: 

East  of  Przemysl,  near  Medkya,  the 
Russians  have  been  unable  to  resist  a 
further  advance  of  the  Teutonic  allies 
toward  Mosziska. 

In  the  district  of  the  Lower  San  the 
enemy's  attacks  were  repulsed.  From 
the  west  Austro-German  troops  ap- 
proached the  district  near  Kalusz  and 
Zurawna. 

On  the  Pruth  fighting  is  proceeding. 
The  enemy  obstinately  attacked  here  at 
several  points  but  was  driven  back  to 
the  river. 


The  following  is  the  official  report 
from  Berlin: 

In  connection  with  the  Russian  at- 
tacks repulsed  yesterday  at  Rawdejany 
and  Sawdyniki,  our  troops  have  made 
further  advances  and  have  driven  off 
their  opponents  who  held  the  bridgehead 
at  Sawdyniki.  They  made  1,970  prison- 
ers. Further  north  cavalry  engage- 
ments took  place  yesterday  in  the  region 
of  Fokeljanij  with  good  results  for  us. 

To  the  east  of  Jaroslau  the  situation 
remains  unchanged.  South  of  Prezmysl 
our  troops,  under  General  Marwitz,  to- 
gether with  Austro-Hungarian  troops, 
are  advancing  in  the  direction  of  Mos- 
ziska. The  army  under  General  von  Lin- 
singen has  driven  the  enemy  back  in  the 
direction  of  Kalusz  and  Zurawno  on  the 
Dniester. 

SIXTH  WEEK  OF  THE  "THRUST." 
BERLIN,  June  7,  (via  London.) — Ev- 
erything indicates  that  the  Teutonic  al- 
lies are  beginning  the  sixth  week  of 
their  Galician  campaign  with  a  promis- 
ing outlook.  The  Russians  have  lost 
their  line  on  the  River  San,  and  they 
appear  also  about  to  lose  their  positions 
on  the  River  Dniester.  These  same  ad- 
vices indicate  further  that  the  Russians 
to  the  east  and  northeast  of  Czernowitz 
already  have  begun  to  retreat.  The  fol- 
lo7ving  bulletin  was  issued  by  the  War 
Office  today: 

During  the  battles  at  Przemysl  33,805 
prisoners  were  taken.    East  of  Przemysl 


692 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  troops  of  the  Teutonic  allies  con- 
tinued their  victorious  battle.  They  drove 
back  the  enemy  toward  Wysznia,  to  the 
northweast  of  Mosciska. 

Part  of  the  army  under  General  von 
Linsingen  has  crossed  the  Dniester  at 
Zurawna,  and  has  taken  the  hill  to  the 
north  of  the  eastern  bank  by  storm. 
Further  south  the  pursuit  reached  the 
Nowica-Kalusz-Tomaszow  line.  The  num- 
ber of  prisoners  taken  has  been  in- 
creased to  more  than  13,000. 

In  addition  to  crossing  the  Dniester, 
which  was  accomplished  by  General  von 
Linsingen's  army  through  a  feint  at- 
tack on  Zurawna,  the  Austro-German 
forces  also  were  victors  at  Klusz,  forty- 
five  m.iles  southeast  of  Drohobycz,  where 
they  took  many  prisoners 


VIENNA,  {via  London,)  June  7. — 
The  following  official  statement  was  is- 
sued tonight  by  the  Austrian  War  Of- 
fice : 

After  the  severe  defeat  at  Przemysl 
the  Russian  Army  command,  during  the 
last  few  days,  has  made  strong  efforts  to 
break  our  line  by  attacks  against  our 
positions  on  the  Pruth,  especially  against 
the  district  of  Kolomea  and  Delatyn, 
where  the  enemy  continues  to  push  for- 
ward masses  of  fresh  troops 

While  all  thees  attacks  were  being  put 
down  by  the  tenacious  bravery  of  Gen- 
eral Pflanzer's  army,  through  which  the 
Russians  suffered  severely,  allied  forces 
under  General  Linsingen  were  approach- 
ing from  the  west.  Yesterday  they  cap- 
tured Kalusz,  the  district  north  of  Kalusz 
and  the  heights  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Dniester,  north  of  Zurawna.  Between 
Nadowarna,  near  the  Bystrica,  and  the 
Lomnica,  our  troops  joined  in  the  attack. 

Battles  to  the  east  of  Przemysl  and 
Jaroslau  continue.  North  of  Mosciska 
the  enemy  has  been  forced  to  evacuate 
Sieniawa.  Isolated  weak  counter-attacks 
by  the  Russians  collapsed. 

Near  Przemysl  we  have  captured  since 
June  1  33,805  prisoners. 

LINSINGEN  AT  LUBACZOW. 
BERLIN,    June    8,     (via    London.)  — 
General  von  Linsingen,  in  his  advance 


from,  Przemysl  in  the  direction  of  Lem- 
berg,  has  reached  Lubaczow,  forty-five 
miles  northeast  of  Przem,ysl.  This  in- 
formation was  contained  in  the  following 
official  report  given  out  at  German 
Army  Headquarters  today: 

Eastern  Theatre  of  War — Our  offen- 
sive movement  in  the  Shavli  district  and 
east  of  the  Dubsa  is  taking  its  course. 
Southwest  of  Plodock  an  enemy  aero- 
plane was  captured. 

Southeastern  Theatre  of  War — East  of 
Przemysl  the  general  situation  is  the 
same.  The  number  of  prisoners  taken 
by  the  army  under  General  von  Macken- 
sen  since  June  1  amounts  to  more  than 
20,000.  In  the  hills  near  Nowoszyn, 
northeast  of  Zuralt,  the  troops  under 
General  Linsingen  again  defeated  the 
enemy.  The  pursuit  reached  the  line  of 
Lubaczow. 

South  of  the  Dniester  River  we  crossed 
the  Lukew  River  and  reached  Byslow, 
east  of  Kalusz,  Wojnilow,  Feredne,  and 
Kolodziejow.  The  booty  taken  this  day 
amounts  to  4,300  prisoners,  four  cannon, 
and  twelve  machine  guns. 


VIENNA,  June  8.  (via  London.) — At 
Army  Headquarters  toaay  the  following 
statement  was  given  out: 

In  the  districts  of  the  Pruth  and  Dnies- 
ter (Galicia)  the  troops  of  the  Teutonic 
allies  yesterday  prosecuted  an  attack 
along  the  Lanozyn  -  Nadworna  -  Kalusz 
line  and  pushed  back  the  enemy  toward 
Stanislau  and  Halicz.  Further  progress 
was  made  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnies- 
ter, east  and  north  of  Zurawna,  6,200 
Russians  being  captured.  Otherwise  the 
situation  is  unchanged. 

STANISLAU  TAKEN. 

BERLIN,  June  9,  (via  London.) — Fol- 
lowing is  the  bulletin  concerning  the 
operations  issued  today  by  the  War 
Office: 

unchanged.  To  the  northeast  of  Zurawna 
troops  under  General  Linsingen  brought 
the  Russian  counter-attack  to  a  stand- 
still. Further  to  the  south  fighting  is  in 
progress  for  possession  of  the  hills  to  the 
east  of  Kalusz  and  west  of  Jezuwol. 

Stanislau  already  is  in  our  possession. 


ENVER     PASHA 

The      AU-Powerful     Turkish      Minister     of      War 


PRINCE     SAID     HALIM 

The      Grand      Vizier     of      Turkey 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG 


693 


We  took   4,500   men  prisoners   and   cap- 
tured thirteen  machine  guns. 


BERLIN,  June  9,  {by  Wireless  to  Say- 
ville.) — Included  in  the  items  given  out 
today  by  the  Overseas  News  Agency  is 
the  following: 

The  army  under  General  von  Linsingen 
has  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Dniester 
River,  in  Galicia,  with  the  purpose  of 
cutting  communications  to  the  Russian 
armies  in  Bukowina  and  Galicia. 


VIENNA,  June  9,  (via  London.)— The 
Austrian  War  Office  issued  the  follow- 
ing official  communication  tonight: 

South  of  the  Dniester  the  Russians 
have  again  lost  ground.  After  many 
victorious  engagements  the  [Teutonic] 
allies  yesterday  reached,  to  the  north  of 
Kolomea,  the  Kulacz-Kowcekorzow  line 
and  occupied  the  heights  of  Otynia.  In 
the  evening  they  occupied  Stanislau,  and 
made  a  further  advance  toward  Halicz. 
The  day's  captures  amounted  to  5,570 
prisoners 

No  important  events  have  occurred  on 
the  remainder  of  the  front  in  Poland  and 
Galicia. 

GERMAN  SETBACK  IN  THE  NORTH. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  June  10. — An 
official  announcement  from  Army  Head- 
quarters today  states  that  the  German 
forces  which  invaded  the  Baltic  prov- 
inces of  Russia  have  retreated.  Folloiv- 
ing  is  the  text  of  the  statement : 

To  the  southeast  of  Shavli  the  Rus- 
sians offered  strong  resistance  yester- 
day to  our  advance.  Minor  progress  was 
made.  The  booty  taken  by  us  in  the 
last  two  days  in  this  district  amounts  to 
2,250  prisoners  and  two  machine  guns. 

The  enemy  brought  forward  reinforce- 
ments from  a  northeasterly  direction  in 
opposition  to  our  encircling  movement  on 
the  east  of  the  Dubysa.  On  account  of 
this  menace  our  wing  was  withdrawn 
toward  the  line  of  Beisagola-Zoginie 
without  being  interfered  with  by  the 
enemy. 

South  of  the  Niemen  River  we  took 
3,200  Russian  prisoners,  while  in  pursuit 
of   the   enemy   since   June   6.      We    also 


captured  two  flags,  twelve  machine  guns, 
and  many  field  kitchens  and  carts. 

In  the  southeastern  theatre  the  situa- 
tion to  the  east  of  Przemysl  remains  un- 
changed. 

Fresh  Russian  forces  advanced  from 
the  region  of  Mikolaiow  and  Rohatyn,  to 
the  south  and  the  southeast  of  Lemberg, 
respectively.  Their  attack  was  repulsed 
by  parts  of  the  army  under  General  Lin- 
singen on  the  line  of  Lityma,  northeast 
of  Drohobac,  and  Zurawna,  in  the  Dnies- 
ter section. 

East  of  Stanislau  and  at  Kaledniz  bat- 
tles and  pursuit  continue. 


NORTH  OF  SHAVLI. 

BERLIN,  June  13,  (via  London.)  — 
The  followiyig  report  of  the  operations 
on  the  Russian  front  was  issued  by  the 
War  Office  today: 

In  the  eastern  theatre  our  attack 
northwest  of  Shavli  made  good  progress. 
Kuzie  was  taken  by  storm.  Enemy 
counter-attacks  failed.  Eight  officers 
and  3,350  men  and  eight  machine  guns 
were  captured. 

Southeast  of  the  Mariampol-Kovno 
Road  battles  against  Russian  reinforce- 
ments arriving  from  the  south  have 
commenced. 

North  of  Przasnysz  another  150  pris- 
oners were  made. 

Our  invasion  into  the  enemy  lines 
south  of  Bolimow  was  followed  in  the 
night  by  Russian  counter-attacks,  all  of 
which  were  unsuccessful.  The  gained  po- 
sitions are  firmly  in  our  hands.  Our 
booty  in  this  sector  has  been  increased 
to  1,600  prisonrirs,  eight  cannon,  two  of 
which  are  of  heavy  calibre,  and  nine  ma- 
chine guns, 

DRIVING  NEAR  MOSCISKA. 

VIENNA,  June  14,  {via  London.)  — 
The  following  official  statement  was  is- 
sued today  from  General  Headquarters: 

In  the  Russian  war  theatre  the  allied 
armies  again  attacked  yesterday  in  Mid- 
dle Galicia.  After  stubborn  fighting  the 
Russian  front  to  the  east  and  southeast 
of  Jaroslau  was  broken  and  the  enemy 
was  forced  to  retreat  with  very  heavy 
losses. 

Since    last    night   the    Russians    have 


694 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


novogNudok 


MITAU 


Scene  of  General  von  Hindenberg's  operation  in  Courland. 


also  been  retreating  near  Mosciska  and 
to  the  southeast  of  that  place.  We  cap- 
tured yesterday  10,000  Russians. 

Battles  south  of  the  Dniester  are  con- 
tinuing. Near  Derzow,  south  of  Miko- 
laiow,  our  troops  repulsed  four  strong 
attacks.  The  enemy  was  routed  from 
the  battlefield. 

Northeast  of  Zurawna  the  allied  troops 
advanced  against  Zydaczow  yesterday 
and  captured  it  after  heavy  fighting. 
North  of  Tlamcz  an  attack  is  also  in 
progress.     Many  prisoners,  the  number 


of  whom  has   not  yet  been  fixed,  have 
fallen  into  our  hands. 

North  of  Zale  Szczyky  the  Russians 
attacked,  after  11  o'clock  at  night,  on 
a  front  of  three  kilometers,  (nearly  two 
miles,)  but  the  attack  failed  under  losses 
to  the  enemy 


BERLIN,  June  14,  (via  London.)  — 
The  following  official  announcement  was 
issued  here  today: 

Eastern  Theatre  of  War:  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Kuzie,  northwest  of 
Shavli,  (Baltic  provinces,)  a  few  enemy 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG 


695 


positions  were  taken.  Three  officers  and 
300  men  were  taken  prisoners.  South- 
east of  the  road  from  Mariampol  to 
Kovno  our  troops  took  the  first  Russian 
line  by  storm.  Three  officers  and  313 
men  were  captured. 

Southeast  Theatre  of  War:  General 
von  Mackensen  began  an  attack  over  a 
line  extending  seventy  kilometers,  (forty- 
three  miles.)  Starting  from  their  posi- 
tions at  Cyerniawa,  northwest  of  Mos- 
ciska,  and  at  Sieniawa,  the  enemy's  po- 
sitions have  been  taken  along  the  entire 
length  of  this  front.  Sixteen  thousand 
prisoners  fell  into  our  hands  yesterday. 

Attacks  by  the  troops  under  General 
von  Linsingen  and  General  von  der  Mar- 
witz  also  made  progress. 

LEMBERG  IN  DANGER. 

VIENNA,  June  15,  (via  London.)  — 
The  following  official  communication 
was  issued  today: 

There  is  heavy  fighting  along  the  en- 
tire Galician  front. 

The  army  of  Archduke  Joseph  Ferdi- 
nand, after  the  capture  of  Sieniawa,  on 
the  east  bank  of  the  San,  has  advanced 
in  a  northern  and  northeastern  direction. 
The  castle  and  farm  of  Piskorvice  were 
stormed  yesterday  and  numerous  pris- 
oners captured. 

Fighting  heavily,  the  army  of  General 
Mackensen  is  advancing  on  both  sides 
of  Krakowiec  (southeast  of  Jaroslau) 
and  toward  Oleszyce  (northeast  of  Jaros- 
lau.) 

Southeast  of  Mosciska  the  troops  of 
General  Soehm-Ermolli  are  attacking 
fresh  hostile  positions  covering  the  road 
to  Grodek  (on  the  railroad  between 
Mosciska  and  Lemberg.) 

On  the  upper  Dniester  strong  Russian 
forces  are  defending  the  bridge-head  at 
Mikolajow  against  the  advancing  allies 
under  General  Linsingen,  while  further 
down  the  river  the  troops  of  General 
Pflanzer  and  General  Baltin  are  stand- 
ing before  Nizniow  (south  of  Maryam- 
pol)  and  Czernelica,  maintaining  the  cap- 
tured town  of  Zale  Szczyky  against  all 
Russian  attacks.  Portions  of  this  army 
again  have  forced  the  Russian  troops 
making  a  stand  in  Bessarabia,  between 
the  Dniester  and  the  Pruth  Rivers,  to  re- 


treat, driving  them  toward   Chotin   and 
along  the  Pruth. 

The  number  of  prisoners  taken  in 
Galicia  since  June  12  has  been  increased 
by  several  thousands. 


BERLIN,  June  15.  —  Official  an- 
nouncement that  the  Austro-German 
forces  operating  in  Galicia  had  captured 
the  town  of  Mosciska  was  made  in  the 
following  bulletin  issued  from  Army 
Headquarters   today : 

The  enemy,  who  was  defeated  on  the 
13th  and  14th  of  June  by  the  army  of 
General  yon  Mackensen,  has  been  unable 
to  regain  a  footing  in  the  positions  pre- 
pared by  him.  To  the  northeast  of 
Jaworow  the  enemy  was  driven  back 
from  the  position  at  which  he  had 
stopped,  the  booty  increasing. 

The  Russian  forces  south  of  the  Przem- 
ysl-Lemberg  Railway  have  been  forced 
to  retreat.  The  troops  of  General  von 
der  Marwitz  yesterday  took  Mosciska. 
The  right  v/ing  of  the  army  of  General 
von  Linsingen  stormed  the  heights  east 
of  Zekel.  Our  cavalry  reached  the  dis- 
trict south  of  Maryampol. 

Of  the  operations  in  the  Baltic  Prov- 
inces and  in  Poland  the  bulletin  says: 

East  of  Shavli  German  troops  stormed 
the  village  of  Danksze  and  took  1,660 
prisoners.  The  positions  recently  won 
southwest  and  east  of  the  Maryampol- 
Kovno  Road  were  repeatedly  attacked 
yesterday  by  a  strong  force  of  the  en- 
emy, which  had  no  success.  Our  troops 
advanced  on  the  Lipowo-Kaiwarya  front, 
pressed  back  the  Russian  line,  and  cap- 
tured the  Russian  advanced  trenches. 

On  the  River  Orzyc  our  attacking 
troops  stormed  and  took  the  village  of 
Gednoroczec,  southeast  of  Chorzetten, 
and  Czerwonagora  and  the  bridges  there, 
as  well  as  the  bridges  east  of  this  place. 
The  booty  taken  at  this  place  amounts  to 
365  Russian  prisoners.  Attacks  by  the 
enemy  against  the  point  at  which  we 
broke  through  north  of  Bolimow  failed. 

122,408   PRISONERS. 

The  following  official  report  of  the 
operations  was  issued  today  by  the  War 
Office : 

The   defeated   Russian   armies   in   Ga- 


696 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


licia  attempted  on  Tuesday  along  the 
whole  front  between  the  River  San,  north 
of  Sieniawa  and  the  Dniester  marshes  to 
bring  the  Teutonic  allies  to  a  standstill. 
In  the  evening  the  Russians  everywhere 
had  been  driven  from  their  positions  near 
Cieplice,  north  of  Sieniawa,  in  the  Lubs- 
yow-Zuwadowka  sector,  southwest  of  Nie- 
merow  and  w^est  of  Sadowa-Wiszenia. 
The  enemy  is  being  pursued. 

General  Mackensen's  army  has  cap- 
tured upward  of  40,000  men  and  sixty- 
nine  machine  guns  since  June  12. 

Between  the  Dniester  marshes  and 
Zurawna  the  Russians  have  gained  some 
ground,  but  the  general  situation  there 
has  not  changed 

Of  the  operations  in  the  north  the 
bulletin  says: 

Russian  attacks  against  the  German 
positions  southeast  of  Mariampol,  east 
of  Augustowa,  and  north  of  Bolimow  all 
were  repulsed  Our  attacks  along  the 
Lipowo-Kalwarya  front  gained  further 
ground,  several  positions  being  •  recap- 
tured. We  made  2,040  Russian  prisoners 
and  captured  three  machine  guns. 

On  the  north  of  the  Upper  Vistula  our 
troops  repulsed  an  attack  on  the  posi- 
tions we  took  from  the  Russians  on  Mon- 
day. 


VIENNA,  June  16,  (via  London.)  — 
The  following  official  communication 
was  issued  today: 

In  Galicia  the  Russians,  despite  their 
obstinate  resistance,  could  not  withstand 
the  general  attack  by  the  allied  armies. 
Hotly  pursued  by  our  victorious  troops 
the  remainder  of  the  defeated  Russian 
corps  are  retreating  across  the  Newkow, 
Lubaczow  and  Javorow. 

South  of  the  Lemberg  Railroad  the 
army  of  General  Boehm-ErmoUi  Tuesday 
night  stormed  the  Russian  positions  on 
the  entire  front,  driving  the  enemy  across 
the  Sadowa,  Wyszna,  and  Rudki. 

South  of  the  Dniester  the  fighting  is 
proceeding  before  the  bridge  head.  The 
troops  of  General  Pflanzer  yesterday 
captured  Nijnioff. 

From  June  1  to  June  15  our  total  war 
booty  has  been  108  officers  and  122,300 
men,  53  cannon,  187  machine  guns,  and 
58  munition  wagons. 


LEMBERG'S  LAST  DEFENSES. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  June  18.— 
The  following  official  report  on  the  op- 
erations was  issued  today  by  the  War 
Office: 

In  the  Eastern  Theatre — An  advancing 
Russian  division  was  driven  back  by  Ger- 
man cavalry  across  the  Szymeza  branch. 
At  a  point  to  the  east  of  the  highroad 
between  Cycowyany  and  Shavli  an  at- 
tack by  the  enemy  in  strong  force  against 
the  Dawina  line  was  repulsed. 

In  the  Southeastern  Theatre — On  both 
sides  of  Tarnogrod  Austro-German 
troops  yesterday  drove  the  enemy  back 
toward  a  branch  of  the  Tanew  River. 
Later  during  the  night  these  defeated 
Russians  were  driven  still  further  back 
by  the  army  under  General  von  Macken- 
sen.  They  retreated  as  far  as  the  pre- 
pared positions  at  Grodek,  which  are  on 
the  line  running  from  the  Narol  and 
Wereszyca  brooks  to  their  junction  with 
the  River  Dniester. 

On  the  Dniester  front,  northeast  of 
Stry,  the  situation  remains  unchanged. 


VIENNA,  June  18,  (via  London.) — 
The  Austro-German  troops  in  pursuit  of 
the  retreating  Russians  have  crossed  the 
Galician  border  to  the  north  of  Sieniawa 
and  occupied  the  Russian  town  of  Tar- 
nogrod, according  to  an  official  commu- 
nication issued  by  the  War  Office  to- 
night.    The  communication  says: 

North  of  Sieniawa  our  pursuing  troops 
have  penetrated  Russian  territory  and 
reached  the  heights  north  of  Krezow  and 
occupied  Tarnogrod. 

The  Russian  forces  between  the  Lower 
San  and  the  Vistula  have  retired  at  sev- 
eral points.  The  heights  north  of  Cies- 
zanow  (ten  miles  north  of  Lubaczow) 
have  been  taken.  In  the  mountainous 
region  east  of  Niemirow  and  in  the  rear 
of  Jaworow,  strong  Russian  forces  have 
appeared. 

On  the  Wereszyca  River  the  fighting 
continues.  Our  troops  have  gained  a 
footing  at  some  points  eastward  of  the 
river. 

South  of  the  Upper  Dniester  the  Rus- 
sians, after  hard  fighting,  were  com- 
pelled   to    retire    from    positions    near 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG 


697 


The  dotted  line  shows  the  approximate  position  of  the  Austro-German  battle 
line  in  the  middle  of  February,  when  the  drive  at  Lemberg,  supportd  with  enormous 
reinforcements  which  had  been  concentrated  at  Cracow,  began.  The  heavy  black 
line  shows  the  approximate  position  of  the  victorious  armies  bent  on  driving  the 
Russians  out  of  the  corner  of  Galicia  still  remaining  in  their  possession.  The  frontier 
is  indicated  by  the  line  of  dots  and  dashes. 


Litynia  toward  Kolodrub.  Our  pursuing 
troops  have  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Wereszyca.  Elsewhere  the  situation 
along  the  Dniester  is  unchanged. 

The  eastern  groups  of  General  Pflan- 
zer's  army  yesterday  repulsed  three  Rus- 
sian storming  attacks.  The  enemy  mak- 
ing desperate  attempts  to  throw  our 
troops  back  in  Bukowina,  suffered  heavy 
losses  from  our  artillery  and  retired 
quickly.  Eight  officers  and  1,000  men 
and  three  machine  guns  were  captured. 

GRODEK   POSITION   CAPTURED. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  June  20. — 
The  armies  under  General  von  Macken- 
sen  are  continuing  their  advance  upon 
Lemberg,  the  Galician  capital,  after  cap- 
turing Grodek,  and  have  taken  Russian 
trenches,  one  after  another,  along  a  front 


of  almost  ttventyfour  miles  to  the  north- 
west of  the  city,  where  the  Muscovites 
are  making  a  desperate  stand,  according 
to  a  statement  issued  today  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  German  Army  Staff.  The 
statement  says: 

Eastern  Theatre  —  Russian  attacks 
against  our  lines  in  the  vicinity  of  Szawle 
and  Augustowo  were  beaten  off.  Our 
advance  in  small  divisions  resulted  in 
the  capture  of  advanced  positions  of  the 
enemy  near  Budtbrzysieki  and  Zalesie, 
east  of  the  Przasnysz-Myszyniec  Road. 

Southeastern  Theatre  —  South  of  the 
Pilica,  troops  under  General  von  Woy- 
rich  have  taken  several  advanced  enemy 
positions  during  the  last  few  days. 

The  armies  under  General  von  Macl:- 
ensen   have   taken   the   Grodek   position. 


698 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Early  yesterday  morning  German  troops 
and  the  corps  of  Field  Marshal  von  Arz 
commenced  an  attack  upon  strongly  in- 
trenched enemy  lines.  After  stubborn 
fighting,  lasting  until  afternoon,  enemy 
trenches,  one  behind  the  other,  almost 
along  the  entire  front,  extending  over  a 
distance  of  thirty-five  kilometers  (twen- 
ty-four miles)  north  of  Janow  (eleven 
miles  northwest  of  Lemberg,)  Bisputa, 
and  Obedynski,  and  southeast  of  Rawa 
Ruska,  (thirty-two  miles  northwest  of 
Lemberg,)  had  been  stormed.  In  the 
evening  the  enemy  was  thrown  back  be- 
hind the  high  road  to  Zolkiew,  north  of 
Lemberg  and  Rawa  Ruska. 

Under  pressure  of  this  defeat  the  en- 
ergy also  is  weakened  in  his  communi- 
cation. Between  Grodek  and  the  Dnies- 
ter marshes  the  enemy  is  hard  pressed 
by  Austro-Hungarian  troops. 

Between  the  Dniester  marshes  and  the 
mouth  of  the  River  Stry  the  enemy  has 
evacuated    the    southern    bank    of    the 
Dniester. 
KAISER  WILHELM  AT  THE  FRONT. 

BERLIN,  (via  London,)  June  21. — 
Emperor  William,  it  was  announced  of- 
ficially by  the  German  War  Department 
today,  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Bes- 
kid  for  possession  of  the  Grodek  line. 
These  Russian  positions  are  to  the  west 
of  Lemebrg,  the  Galician  capital. 

The  rapidity  of  the  Austro-German 
success  excites  astonishment  here.  It 
was  believed  that  the  Russians  would  be 
able  to  check  the  allies'  advance  for  some 
days  on  the  Grodek  line;  hence  the  bul- 
letins issued  today  recorded  results  far 
exceeding  the  expectations  of  the  most 
optimistic  observers. 

Special  dispatches  from  the  front  de- 
scribe the  Russian  retreat  from  Grodek 
and  the  Russian  resistance  from  the 
Tanew  River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Weres- 
zyca.  Air  scouts  report  that  the  Rus- 
sians have  fallen  back  upon  their  last 
line  of  defenses  protecting  Lemberg, 
which  is  nine  miles  west  of  the  city 
limits. 

The  situation  at  Lemberg  is  evidently 
precarious,  as  General  von  Mackensen 
today  seized  the  railway  between  Lem- 
berg and  Rawa  Ruska,  which  is  the  main 
line  of  travel  northward.    This,  it  is  con- 


sidered, gives  the  Russians  the  alterna- 
tive of  preparing  for  speedy  evacuation 
or  of  trying  to  hold  the  city,  with  the 
risk  of  being  enveloped  by  von  Macken- 
sen's  army  sweeping  around  southeast- 
ward and  forming  a  junction  with  Gen- 
eral Linsingen's  forces. 

Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  the  Russian 
Commander  in  Chief,  apparently  has  be- 
gun to  realize  the  threatening  dangers, 
for  he  has  ordered  the  withdrawal  of  all 
Russian  forces  from  the  south  bank  of 
the  Dniester.  Military  opinion  here  is 
that  he  cannot  extricate  his  huge  armies 
without  heavy  losses  in  men  and  ma- 
terial. 

FALL  OF  LEMBERG. 

BERLIN,  June  23,  {by  Wireless  Te- 
legraphy to  Sayville,  N.  Y.) — Lemberg 
has  been  conquered  after  a  very  severe 
battle,  according  to  an  official  report  re- 
ceived here  from  the  headquarters  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Army.  The  Galician 
capital  fell  before  the  advance  of  the 
Second   Army. 

The  news  that  Lemberg  has  been  car- 
ried by  Austrian  and  Hungarian  troops 
is  received  today  with  great  jubilation  in 
Berlin.  Throngs  of  people  crowd  the 
public  squares  and  the  parks,  flags  are 
displayed  from  windows,  and  bands  are 
playing  patriotic  airs.  Extra  editions  of 
the  newspapers  are  being  shouted  on  the 
streets,  and  the  church  bells  are  ringing. 
Everybody  seems  to  feel  that  another 
great  step  in  the  direction  of  final  vic- 
tory has  been  gained. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Cologne  Ga- 
zette telegraphs  that  the  Russians,  be- 
fore the  general  retreat  began,  hurriedly 
sent  back  all  the  artillery  they  could 
move.  This  was  done  instead  of  endeav- 
oring to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  artil- 
lery and  saving  all  of  it.  Part  of  the 
cannon  were  useless,  on  account  of  poor 
ammunition.  Continuing,  the  corre- 
spondent says: 

"  It  was  after  the  artillery  had  been 
sent  to  the  rear  that  the  panic-stricken 
troops  began  their  flight.  Wagons  and 
supply  trains  blocked  the  roads.  Men 
detached  the  horses  from  these  vehicles 
and  rode  away  on  them,  heedless  of  the 
crowd  of  soldiers  of  all  arms   crowding 


PRZEMYSL   AND   LEMBERG  699 


LONDON     ACCEPTS     THE      STATE- 
MENT. 


back  to  the  rear.  Generals  and  Colonels  many  was  received  in  London  without 
were  helplessly  carried  away.  Units  surprise.  It  was  known  that  the  Ger- 
were  disbanded,  and  the  army  became  a  manic  allies  were  within  artillery  range 
mere  mob.  It  was  readily  to  be  seen  of  the  Galician  capital,  and  capitulation 
that  catastrophe  was  unavoidable."  was  regarded  as  a  question  only  of  days. 

A   report  given   out   today   sets   forth      Nothing  has  been  heard  yet  from  Petro- 
that,  since  June  12,  60,000  Russian  sol-      ^^ad,  but  there  is  no  disposition  to  doubt 
diers  and  nine  Russian  guns  have  been      the  accuracy  of  the  Austrian  claim, 
captured.  ARCHDUKE  FREDERICK  HONORED. 

VIENNA,  June  23,  (via  London,)  5:42 
P.     M. — Emperor     William     has     given 
Archduke  Frederick  of  Austria  the  rank 
LONDON,  June  23,  12:10  P.  M.— The      of  Field  Marshal  in  the  Prussian  Army 
statement    from    Austrian    headquarters      in  recognition  of  his  services  in  the  cam- 
that  Lemberg  had  fallen  before  the  ad-      paign  which  resulted  in  the  fall  of  Lem- 
vance  of  the  forces  of  Austria  and  Ger-      berg. 

BELGIUM. 

By  LEONID  ANDREYEV. 
[Translated   from  the  Riisslan   by  Leo   Pasvolsky.] 

I  AM  Belgium! 
Oh,  look  at  me,  kind  men!     I  am  clothed  in  snow-white  robes,  for  I  am 
innocent  before  the  God  of  peace  and  love;  it  was  not  I  that  cast  into  the 
world  the  torch  of  strife,  not  I  that  lit  the  horrid  flame  of  conflagration,  not  I 
that  caused  hot  tears  to  stream  from  mothers',  widows'  eyes. 

Oh,  look  at  me,  kind  men!  Look  at  this  scarlet  blot  upon  my  bosom  that 
burns  so  vividly  upon  my  snow-white  robe — Oh,  'tis  my  wounded  heart,  from 
which  red  blood  is  gushing  forth!  The  traitor  pierced  me  to  the  heart,  he 
plunged  his  sword  into  my  bosom.     Ah,  what  a  cruel  blow! 

On  through  this  field  I  marched  in  peace,  bearing  these  flowers,  listening 
to  the  songsters'  choirs  on  high,  and  praising  God,  who  made  the  beauteous 
flowers.  Who  coveted  this  path  of  mine,  that  wound  'midst  flowers  and  songs  ? 
"The  traitor  pierced  my  very  heart,  and  the  white  petals  lifeless  hang,  o'er- 
sprinkled  with  red  blood. 

White  rose!     My  gentle,  dear  white  rose! 

Oh,  look  at  me,  kind  men!  'Tis  not  a  crown  upon  my  head,  'tis  waterplants, 
the  greenish  grass  of  ocean  fields,  with  which  the  sea  had  clad  me.  What  could 
I  do  ?  So  once  again  I  sought  my  dear,  old  sea,  I  knelt  before  its  mighty  waves, 
I  prayed:  "  Oh,  cover  me,  my  dear,  old  sea,  for  nowhere  alse  can  I  seek  aid.  The 
cruel  stranger  rules  my  home;  my  gentle  children  lifeless  lie.  And  dost  thou  see 
those  horrid  flames,  that  rise  where  once  my  temples  stood  ?  Oh,  cover  me, 
protect  me,  my  dear,  my  dear,  old  sea,  for  nowhere  else  can  I  seek  aid!  " 

'Twas  thus  I  spoke  and  wept  in  grief.  And  lo!  the  kindly  sea  gave  me 
protection. 

And  out  of  the  sea  I  came  again,  I  came  to  tell  you  that  I  live. 

Oh,  look  at  me,  kind  men!  For  I  am  Belgium,  and  I  live.  My  King,  my 
Albert  is  alive;  my  Belgian  people  lives. 

No,  these  are  not  tears  that  glisten  in  my  eyes.  Enough  of  tears!  A  holy 
wrath  inflames  my  heart! 

No,  this  is  not  a  wound  upon  my  bosom,  'tis  a  red,  red  rose,  the  quenchless 
flame  of  war,  my  sacred  oath! 

Red  rose!    My  terrible  red  rose! 

No,  this  wreath  upon  my  head  is  not  of  waterplants,  no,  'tis  the  crown  of 
Belgium,  the  crown  of  a  free  nation! 

Where  is  my  sword? 

In  the  name  of  Justice  and  of  Freedom,  in  my  King's  name  I  raise  the  sword. 

To  Belgium's  aid,  O  Nations! 

God  save  the  Czar  and  Russia,  that  gave  her  blood  for  me! 

God  save  the  King  and  Britain,  that  shed  her  blood  for  me! 

Forward,  fair  France's  children!     Form  your  battalions,  hasten,  hasten! 

To  Belgium's  aid,  O  Nations! 


Map  showing  where  the  French  were  trying  on  June  20,  1915,  to  capture  the 
German  lateral  lines  of  communications  about  Arras  and  Lens  in  their  steady 
forward  drive  in  the  north  of  France.  The  "  Labyrinth "  appears  in  the  lower 
left   section. 


Battle  of  the  Labyrinth 

France's  Victory  in  the  Chief  Western   Operation 

Since  the  Marne 

The  Battle  of  the  Labyrinth,  technically  described  in  French  communiques  as  "  opera- 
tions in  the  section  north  of  Arras,"  really  began  in  October,  1914,  when  General  de  Maud-Huy 
stopped  the  Prussian  Guard  before  Arras.  Because  of  their  great  strength  the  labyrinth  of 
German  trenches  and  fortifications  southeast  of  Neuville-St.  Vaa^t  formed  a  dangerous  salient 
which  the  French  troops  had  to  dispose  of  before  they  could  make  progress  eastward  from 
north  and  south  of  that  point.  The  decisive  part  of  the  battle— or  series  of  battles  extending 
over  fifty  miles  of  front — is  described  in  the  brief  review  of  the  French  official  observer  at 
the  front,  and  in  the  two  accounts  by  Wythe  Williams  cabled  to  The  New  York  Times  after  a 
trip  to  the  front  specially  arranged  for  him  and  three  editors  of  Paris  newspapers  by  the 
French  War  Ministry. 

By  The  Associated  Press. 

Account  of  the  French  Official  Observer  At  the  Front 


y^  ARIS,  June  22. — A  terrific  combat 
m—^  from  May  30  to  June  19  has  re- 
Jl  suited   in   the   conquest   by    the 

French  of  the  formidable  system 
of  works  and  trenches  called  the  "  Laby- 
rinth." The  operations  are  described  to- 
day in  a  dispatch  from  an  official  ob- 
server at  the  front. 

The  Labyrinth,  lying  between  Neuville 
St.  Vaast  and  Ecurie,  formed  a  salient  of 
the  German  line,  and  its  position,  a 
strong  one,  had  been  greatly  reinforced 
from  time  to  time.  The  "  Observer " 
writes : 

French  attacks  on  May  9  and  days 
thereafter  failed  to  modify  the  situation. 
At  the  end  of  May  the  French  decided  to 
finish  things,  and  the  order  was  given  to 
take  the  Labyrinth  inch  by  inch. 

This  meant  an  operation  of  two  prin- 
cipal phases  of  different  nature.  It  was 
necessary,  first,  by  well-prepared  and 
vigorous  assaults,  to  get  a  footing  in 
the  enemy  organization,  and  then  to  pro- 
gress to  the  interior  of  the  communicat- 
ing trenches,  repulsing  the  enemy  step 
by  step.  These  two  operations  lasted 
more  than  three  weeks  and  resulted  in 
complete  success. 

The  debouch  must  have  been  difficult, 
as  numerous  German  batteries,  composed 
of  77-millimeter  guns,  the  150,  210,  280, 
and   even   305   millimeter   guns,   concen- 


trated their  fire  on  us.  They  were  sta- 
tioned at  Givenchy,  La  Folie,  Thelus, 
Farbus,  and  Beaurains,  south  of  Arras. 
Nevertheless,  our  men  understood,  and 
prepared  to  do  their  duty. 

It  was  on  May  30  that  the  assaults 
began,  our  regiments  marching  out  from 
different  points.  Their  ardor  was  ad- 
mirable. 

Everywhere,  except  on  the  right,  we 
captured  the  first  line.  Behind  this  were 
a  great  number  of  barricades  and  fort- 
lets.  We  took  some  of  these,  while  others 
stopped  us.  One  hundred  and  fifty  pris- 
oners, surprised  in  their  holes  by  the 
furious  charge  of  the  French  infantry, 
fell  into  our  hands. 

From  this  moment  the  war  of  the  com- 
municating trenches  began.  There  were 
the  trenches  of  von  Kluck,  Eulenburg, 
and  the  Salle  des  Fetes,  without  count- 
ing innumerable  numbered  works,  giving 
a  feeling  of  unheard-of  difficulties  which 
our  troops  had  to  overcome. 

Without  a  stop,  from  May  30  to  June 
17,  they  fought  on  this  ground,  full  of 
big  holes  and  filled  with  dead.  The  com- 
bat never  ceased,  either  day  or  night. 
The  attacking  elements,  constantly  re- 
newed, crushed  the  Germans  with  hand 
grenades  and  demolished  their  earth  bar- 
ricades. There  was  not  an  hour  of  truce 
nor  an  instant  of  repose.     The  men  were 


702 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


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rioo]       HEIGHTS  IN    TEET 


"  The    Labyrinth  " 

under  a  sun  so  hot  in  the  trenches  that 
they  fought  bareheaded  and  in  their 
shirtsleeves. 

On  each  of  these  bloody  days  there 
were  acts  of  incomparable  heroism.  From 
three  sides  at  a  time  we  made  way  where 
the  Germans  had  dug  formidable  shel- 
ters, ten  meters  under  ground.  The  en- 
emy artillery  continued  firing  on  our 
line  without  interruption. 

Our  reserves  suffered,  for  in  this  up- 
turned earth,  where  every  blow  from  the 
pickaxe  would  disinter  a  body,  one  can 
prepare  but  slowly  the  deep  shelters 
which  the  situation  demands. 

We  lost  many  men,  but  the  morale  of 
the  others  was  unshaken.  The  men  asked 
only  one  thing — to  go  forward  to  fight 
with  grenades,  instead  of  waiting,  gun 
in  hand,  the  unceasing  fall  of  shells. 

They  were  hard  days,  and  it  was  neces- 
sary constantly  to  carry  to  the  fighting 
men  munitions  and  food,  and  especially 
water.  Everybody  did  his  best,  and  we 
continued  our  success.  Little  by  little 
our  progress,  indicated  by  a  cloud  of  dust, 


resulting  from  the  combat  of  the  gren- 
ades, brought  us  to  an  extremity  north 
of  the  Labyrinth.  The  fighting  contin- 
ued in  the  Eulenburg  and  other  trenches 
daily,  and  ultimately  the  Labyrinth  be- 
longed to  us. 

The  Germans  lost  an  entire  regiment. 
We  took  a  thousand  prisoners.  The  rest 
were  killed.  A  Bavarian  regiment  also 
was  cut  to  pieces. 

Our  losses  were  2,000  men,  among 
whom  many  were  slightly  wounded. 

The  resistance  was  as  fierce  as  the  at- 
tack. Despite  the  nature  of  the  ground 
and  the  organized  defenses,  which  had 
been  in  preparation  for  seven  months, 
and  despite  the  artillery,  the  bomb- 
throwers,  and  the  quick-firers,  we  re- 
mained the  victors. 

THE  FRENCH  "  CURTAIN  OF  IRON." 
By  Wythe  Williams. 
[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.] 
PARIS,    June    1. — I    have    just    com- 
pleted another  trip  to  the  front,  probably 
the    most   important    one    accorded    any 
correspondent  since  the  war  began.     For 
several  days,  in   the   company   of  three 
Paris  editors,  I  was  escorted  by  an  offi- 
cer  of   the    General    Staff    through   the 
entire  sector  north  of  Arras  where  the 
French  have  been  making  brilliant  gains 
in  the  last  few  weeks. 

The  trip  was  arranged  suddenly  by 
the  War  Ministry  in  order  to  prove  the 
truth  of  the  French  official  communiques 
and  the  falsity  of  the  German  reports. 
I  was  the  only  neutral  in  the  party. 
In  fact,  the  day  before  we  started  I  was 
informed  that  trips  to  the  front  had 
temporarily  been  abandoned  because  the 
fighting  was  too  hot  to  take  correspond- 
ents to  any  place  on  the  line.  During 
the  entire  time  I  was  under  heavy  ar- 
tillery fire  and  got  more  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  modern  war  than  on  all  my 
previous  trips  to  the  front.  I  was  es- 
pecially fortunate  to  be  picked  out  by 
the  War  Office  over  all  competitors  as 
the  single  foreigner  permitted  to  go,  for 
it  so  happened  that  we  covered  the  same 
sector  of  fighting  as  that  traversed  last 
February  on  my  first  officially  author- 
ized visit  to  the  battle  zone.  Thus  I  was 
able  to  make  comprehensive  comparisons 


BATTLE    OF     THE    LABYRINTH 


703 


of  just  what  had  been  accomplished  since 
that  time. 

On  this  trip  I  covered  a  large  stretch 
of  territory  that  until  a  few  weeks  ago 
— some  places  only  a  few  days  ago — 
Germany  had  claimed  as  her  own  by 
right  of  conquest.  I  walked  through 
miles  of  trenches  that  only  last  Febru- 
ary I  peered  at  from  other  trenches 
through  a  periscope;  cautiously,  because 
they  were  then  occupied  by  Germans; 
fearfully,  because  any  instant  the  peri- 
scope was  likely  to  be  struck  from  my 
eyes  and  shattered  by  a  hostile  bullet. 

The  result  of  this  long  walk  taught 
me  many  things.  First  in  importance 
was  that  my  confidence  in  the  superiority 
of  German  trenches  had  been  sadly  mis- 
placed. Since  the  trench  fighting  began 
after  the  battle  of  the  Marne  we  have 
been  regaled  in  Paris  with  stories  of  the 
marvelous  German  trenches.  Humorists 
went  so  far  as  to  have  them  installed  with 
baths  and  electric  lights,  but  we  have 
all  believed  them  to  be  dry,  cement  lined, 
with  weather-proof  tops  and  comfortable 
sleeping  quarters,  and  as  hygienically 
perfect  as  the  German  organization  has 
ever  made  anything.  This  belief  for 
me  had  been  borne  out  in  accounts  of  the 
German  trench  life  reported  for  Ameri- 
can newspapers  and  magazines. 

What  I  can  now  say  is  that  the  cor- 
respondents who  permitted  this  legend  to 
go  over  the  world  must  have  been  grand- 
ly entertained  by  the  Germans  in  special 
sections  of  their  trenches  set  aside  as 
quarters  for  the  officers.  I  believe  that 
these  trenches,  which  I  saw  on  this  trip, 
must  compare  favorably  with  any  they 
hold,  for  they  form  part  of  what  is  called 
"  the  labyrinth."  Some  of  the  most  des- 
perate fighting  of  the  war  is  still  going 
on  there,  with  the  French  literally  blast- 
ing the  Germans  out  yard  by  yard,  trench 
by  trench.  In  fact,  this  trench  line  was 
to  have  formed  part  of  the  new  boundary 
line  of  Germany — they  dug  themselves 
in  to  stay. 

I  entered  these  trenches  following  a 
long  passage  leading  from  the  rear  of 
the  original  French  lines.  I  thought  I 
was  still  in  the  French  trenches,  when 
suddenly  I  found  myself  in  a  mud  ditch, 
much    narrower   than    any    I    had    ever 


traversed.  The  bottom,  instead  of  being 
corduroy  lined,  was  rough  and  uneven, 
making  very  hard  walking.  I  said  to  the 
Major  with  me,  "  You  must  have  made 
these  trenches  in  a  hurry;  they  are  not 
so  good  as  your  others."  He  replied, 
"  We  did  not  make  them.  The  Germans 
are  responsible." 

Then  we  came  to  a  wide  place  where  a 
sign  announced  the  headquarters  of  the 
German  commandant.  The  sides  of  his 
underground  cavern  were  all  solid  con- 
crete, with  cement  inner  walls  separating 
four  rooms.  Paper  and  artistic  burlap- 
ing  covered  the  walls  and  ceilings,  and 
rugs  were  on  the  floors.  The  furniture 
was  all  that  could  be  desired.  There 
was  a  good  iron  bed,  an  excellent  mat- 
tress, a  dresser  with  a  pier  glass,  and 
solid  tables  and  chairs.  The  rooms  con- 
sisted of  an  office,  dining  room,  bedroom, 
and  a  kitchen,  with  offshoots  for  wine, 
and  sleeping  quarters  for  the  orderlies 
and  cook.  Kultur  demanded  that  the 
Kaiser's  office  should  have  the  best  ac- 
commodation transportable  to  the  firing 
line,  but  the  fare  of  the  common  soldier, 
I  should  judge,  averaged  quite  a  third 
below  that  of  the  French — both  privates 
and  officers,  all  of  whom  share  the  com- 
mon lot,  with  straw  for  bedding  and 
either  mud  or  stars  for  the  roof. 

Leaving  this  commandant's  late  mag- 
nificence, we  soon  found  ourselves  in  an- 
other wide,  corduroy-lined  trench,  with 
straw  dugouts.  My  Major,  without  at- 
tempting any  comparison,  but  merely  to 
get  my  geography  right,  said  quite  sim- 
ply: "  We  are  now  in  the  parallel  French 
trench  to  that  German  one  we  just  vis- 
ited." 

All  this  particular  bit  of  trenches  was 
where  the  Germans  cleared  out  precipi- 
tately after  French  night  attacks,  and 
without  waiting  for  the  fearful  "  rideau 
de  fer,"  or  iron  curtain,  with  which  the 
French  usually  devastate  everything  be- 
fore advancing.  Littered  through  them 
were  hundreds  of  unused  cartridges,  ri- 
fles, knapsacks,  bayonets,  and  clothing 
of  every  description.  The  dead  had  been 
taken  away  just  before  our  arrival.  The 
prisoners — hundreds  of  them — we  met 
going  to  the  rear. 

The  second  great  lesson  I  learned  on 


704 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


this  trip  I  already  had  a  good  under- 
standing of  from  my  previous  trip.  It  is 
that  the  "  rideau  de  f  er  "  is  the  most  ter- 
rible thing  ever  devised  by  man  to  devas- 
tate not  only  men  but  every  single  ob- 
ject upon  which  it  descends. 

This  time  I  saw  the  results  of  the 
"  rideau  de  f  er  "  on  another  long  stretch 
of  what  had  lately  been  German  trenches. 
The  "  rideau  de  f  er "  is  simply  the 
French  method  of  converging  artillery 
fire  upon  a  single  point  where  they  in- 
tend to  attack  or  where  they  are  being 
attacked.  The  fact  that  it  is  possible  is 
due  to  the  enormous  number  of  guns  and 
the  unlimited  supply  of  high  explosive 
shells. 

Behind  the  entire  infantry  lines  there 
seems  to  be  an  endless  row  of  batteries 
of  "  seventy-fives,"  .  close  up  to  the 
trenches.  These  terrible  little  destroyers 
can  whirl  in  any  direction  at  will,  so 
when  the  order  comes  for  the  "  rideau  de 
f  er  "  at  any  point,  literally  hundreds  of 
guns  within  a  few  seconds  are  converg- 
ing their  fire  there,  dropping  a  metal 
curtain  through  which  no  mortal  enemy 
can  advance. 

In  this  section  the  French  dropped 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  shells  in 
one  day.  Unlike  the  English  shrapnel, 
which  makes  little  impression  against 
earthworks,  the  French  use  explosive 
shells  almost  entirely. 

As  I  walked  over  this  section  after 
the  curtain  had  been  lifted,  I  was  abso- 
lutely baffled  for  descriptive  words.  All 
the  earth  in  that  vicinity  seemed  bat- 
tered out  of  shape.  The  dead  needed  no 
burial  there.  Down  under  the  wreck  and 
ruin  the  dead  all  lie  covered  just  where 
they  fell. 

Among  the  places  I  either  visited  or 
at  least  was  able  to  see  plainly,  all  of 
which  were  held  by  the  Germans  at  the 
time  of  my  last  trip,  were  Saint  Elci, 
Carrency,  Notre  Dame  de  Lorette,  Sou- 
chez,  and  Neuville  Saint  Vaast,  where  the 
fighting  still  continues  from  house  to 
house. 

I  found  the  same  efficient,  imperturb- 
able army  that  I  discovered  previously, 
all  absolutely  sure  of  complete  victory 
not  very  far  off.  I  got  an  illustration  on 
this  trip  of  the  imperturbability  of  the 


French  soldier  in  such  a  way  as  I  never 
before  believed  existed.  We  were  walk- 
ing along  a  country  lane  to  a  turning 
where  a  trench  boyau  began.  Just  at 
the  turning  the  nose  of  a  "  seventy-five  " 
poked  across  the  path.  Although  the  gun 
was  speaking  at  its  high  record  of  twen- 
ty shots  per  minute,  several  soldiers 
lolled  idly  about  within  a  few  yards, 
smoking  cigarettes.  We  stood  off  at  an 
angle  slightly  in  front,  but  about  thirty 
yards  away. 

It  was  evening.  We  could  see  the 
spurt  of  flame  from  the  mouth  of  the  gun 
as  the  shell  departed  to  the  distant  Ger- 
mans. 

Across  the  road  in  the  direction  the 
gun  pointed  was  a  field.  There,  almost 
in  the  path  of  the  gun,  which,  instead 
of  being  raised  at  an  angle,  was  pointed 
horizontally,  and  only  fifteen  yards 
away,  I  saw  a  man  grubbing  in  the  soil. 
He  seemed  so  directly  in  the  path  of  the 
shells  that  I  don't  believe  they  missed 
blowing  off  his  head  by  more  than  two 
feet.  But  he  just  grubbed  away,  almost 
on  his  hands  and  knees.  If  the  gunners 
saw  him  they  paid  not  the  slightest  at- 
tention, but  just  calmly  went  on  firing. 

One  of  our  party  called  the  situation 
to  the  attention  of  an  officer,  who  im- 
mediately began  dancing  up  and  down, 
calling  to  the  man  to  "  Come  out  of  that 
before  you  are  killed." 

The  man  then  raised  his  head  and 
looked  our  way.  He  was  a  soldier.  His 
cap  was  slanted  over  one  eye,  his  pipe 
dangled  from  his  mouth,  and  his  face 
wore  an  expression  of  irritation.  Seeing 
the  officer,  he  saluted,  but  did  not  trou- 
ble to  stand  up. 

"  What  are  you  doing  there  ? "  the  of- 
ficer called.  The  man  raised  his  dirty 
fist  to  his  cap,  and  said,  "  Digging  car- 
rots." 

As  we  gasped  our  astonishment  he 
calmly  went  back  to  his  grubbing,  this 
time,  it  seemed,  slightly  nearer  to  the 
flash  of  the  cannon  than  before. 

Another  impressive  sight  afforded  me 
was  the  manoeuvres  behind  the  lines.  I 
do  not  mean  strategic  manoeuvres  bear- 
ing upon  real  operations,  but  ma- 
noeuvres such  as  were  held  in  pre- 
manoeuvres   such   as   were   held  in   pre- 


BATTLE     OF     THE     LABYRINTH 


705 


vious  years — mimic  warfare  within  the 
sound  of  real  war  and  only  a  couple  of 
miles  away.  Approaching  the  front,  we 
were  continually  passing  through  these 
manoeuvres.  I  calculated  that  I  saw 
thousands  of  soldiers  playing  at  war  and 
snapping  empty  rifles  who  the  day  before 
stood  in  the  trenches  firing  bullets,  and 
who  will  do  it  again  tomorrow.  The 
manoeuvres  come  during  "  days  of  re- 
pose "  from  the  trenches,  when  the  men 
know  they  at  least  have  that  day  more 
to  live.  Every  field,  every  road  was  full 
of  them. 

We  motored  along  country  lanes  pref- 
erably to  the  main  highways,  where  our 
autos  would  be  more  easily  discerned  by 
the  German  aeroplanes  constantly  hov- 
ering about.  In  these  lanes  we  found 
lines  of  men  sneaking  along,  sometimes 
crawling  inch  by  inch,  to  surprise  an 
imaginary  enemy  down  around  the  bend. 
In  the  fields  we  saw  charges  and  coun- 
ter-charges from  trench  to  trench.  We 
saw  cavalry  manoeuvres  across  the  open 
coiiutry  and  cavalry  on  foot  facing  each 
other  in  long  lines  along  the  roadsides, 
fighting  desperately  with  lance  and 
clubbed  carbine. 

Occasionally  a  real  shell  would  come 
popping  over  from  somewhere  to  tear  a 
hole  in  the  roadside  to  make  our  automo- 
biling  more  difficult.  In  fact,  we  dis- 
covered that  during  "  Joffre's  offensive  " 
days  of  repose  mean  drill,  drill,  and  more 
drill,  and  when  the  men  are  not  drilling 
many  of  them  are  guarding  prisoners. 

Along  other  roadsides  we  saw  hun- 
dreds of  prisoners,  usually  in  charge  of 
a  cavalry  company  marching  them  to 
the  rear.  At  one  place  we  stopped  and 
talked  with  them — several  could  speak 
French.  There  were  many  well  set  up, 
fine-looking  fellows,  who  seemed  per- 
fectly content  to  do  no  more  fighting. 
About  a  dozen  under  one  guard  were 
across  the  road  in  a  meadow,  tossing  a 
tennis  ball  about,  laughing  and  joking. 
Others  were  eating  luncheon.  It  was 
just  1  o'clock.  They  had  the  same  fare 
as  their  captors,  the  only  difference  in 
service  being  that  the  captors  got  theirs 
first. 

Our  officer  talked  to  the  Captain  of 
the  guard,  who  explained  that  his  lot  of 


about  400  had  just  been  taken  at  Neu- 
ville  Saint  Vaast.  Our  officers  then 
talked  to  the  prisoners.  I  was  surprised 
to  note  the  extraordinary  decency  of 
their  attitude  and  conversation.  There 
was  no  boasting,  no  arrogance,  no  ani- 
mosity. On  the  contrary,  I  heard  one 
Captain  telling  the  prisoners  consider- 
able they  apparently  did  not  know  about 
the  progress  of  the  fighting  in  that 
neighborhood.  He  smiled  as  he  talked, 
and  concluded  by  telling  the  men  they 
would  be  well  fed  and  well  treated. 

I  also  noted  the  attitude  of  the  pris- 
oners. As  a  French  officer  approached 
the  German  soldier,  true  to  his  years 
of  iron  discipline,  leaped  to  his  feet  and 
stood  rigid  as  a  poker  through  the  talk, 
but  never  the  raising  of  a  hand  to  cap, 
never  the  salute  to  the  Frenchman. 

I  strolled  down  the  road  and  found 
another  with  whom  I  was  able  to  talk. 
He  was  a  non-commissioned  officer, 
young  and  very  intelligent.  I  told  him 
I  was  an  American,  which  aroused  his 
interest.  He  wanted  to  talk  about  Amer- 
ica. He  had  friends  there.  I  asked 
him: 

"  How  long  do  you  think  Gremany 
can  hold  out  against  so  many  enemies?  " 

He  stood  very  straight,  looked  me  di- 
rectly in  the  eye,  and  said:  "  Germany 
knows  she  is  beaten,  but  she  will  fight 
to  the  last  cartridge." 

He  spoke  French.  His  final  words, 
"  La  derniere  cartouche,"  rang  out.  His 
eyes  flashed.  Several  others  crowded 
about. 

Just  then  a  company  of  Spahis  cav- 
alry came  clattering  down  the  road — a 
more  ferocious-looking  lot  I  have  never 
seen — and  disappeared  dn  a  cloud  of 
dust.  All  of  us  turned  to  look,  the 
prisoner  remarking:  "  I'll  say  one  thing, 
though:  we  never  thought  we  would  have 
to  fight  men  like  those." 

Coming  from  the  trenches  at  night, 
we  waited  in  a  little  hamlet  about  a 
kilometer  in  the  rear  for  our  automo- 
biles. About  1,000  soldiers  were  there, 
waiting  to  return  to  the  trenches  in  the 
morning.  They  completely  surrounded 
us,  singling  me  out  for  observation  on 
account  of  my  khaki  clothes.  I  heard 
one  ask  our  Captain  about  me.    The  Cap- 


706 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


tain  replied  that  I  was  a  correspondent  of 
The  New  York  Times.  Many  had 
never  seen  an  American  before.  I  was 
conscious  that  I  was  an  object  of  intense 
curiosity. 

I  saw  one  little  chap  pushing  through 
the  crowd.  He  stood  before  me  and 
thrust  out  his  hand.  "Hello!"  he  said. 
I  thought  his  "  Hello!  "  might  be  French 
quite  as  easily  as  American,  so  I  merely 
returned  his  handshake.  He  grinned, 
and  then  said  in  perfectly  good  "  Amer- 
ican "  :  "  You  forget  me,  huh  ?  "  I  ad- 
mitted my  shortcoming  in  memory;  but 
his  beard  was  very  thick  and  stubby  and 
Yis  uniform  was  very  dirty.  I  compli- 
mented his  linguistic  ability.  He  waved 
his  arms,  saying:  "  Huh,  didn't  I  live 
eight  years  in  little  old  New  York?  " 
Then  he  came  still  nearer,  saying:  "You 
don't  remember  me,  and  I  have  served 
you  many  a  cocktail.  I  don't  know  your 
name;  but  I  am  sure." 

After  something  like  a  jar  I  gasped 
out,  "Where?" 

"  Five  years  ago,  at  Mouquin's,"  he 
replied,  and  then  I  did  remember  him, 
and  while  the  others  stood  about  mar- 
veling at  their  "  educated  "  comrade  who 
could  actually  converse  with  the  Amer- 
ican, we  talked  about  many  of  the  old 
newspaper  crowd  in  New  York  who  fre- 
quented that  restaurant.  He  had  sailed 
on  Aug.  4  to  rejoin  his  regiment. 

The  automobiles  arrived,  and  I  climbed 
aboard.     He  reached  up  his  hand. 

"  Tell  those  folks  back  in  America  that 
we  are  all  doing  fine,"  he  said.  Then 
his  voice  sank  to  an  impressive  whisper: 
"  And  take  it  from  me,  you  can  say  we 
are  giving  the  Germans  hell  now." 

As  our  automobile  jerked  suddenly 
away  into  the  night  I  could  hear  my  ex- 
waiter  excitedly  introducing  American 
journalism,  particularly  The  New  York 
Times,  to  his  regiment  on  the  battle- 
field. WYTHE  WILLIANS. 


THE  LABYRINTH. 

[Special  Cable  to  The  New  York  Times.] 
PARIS,  June  2. — This  is  a  story  about 
Avhat,  in  the  minds  of  the  French  mili- 
tary  authorities,   ranks   as   the  greatest 
battle  of  the  war  in  the  western  theatre 


of  operations,  excepting  the  battle  of  the 
Marne,  which  has  already  taken  its  place 
among  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world's 
history.  This  battle  is  still  raging,  al- 
though its  first  stages  have  been  defi- 
nitely settled  in  favor  of  the  French, 
who  are  continuing  their  progress  with 
less  and  less  opposition. 

So  far  the  battle  has  received  no  name. 
The  French  official  communiques  lacon- 
ically refer  to  it  as  "  operations  in  the 
section  north  of  Arras." 

I  cannot  minutely  describe  the  con- 
flict; no  one  can  do  that  at  this  stage. 
I  can,  however,  write  about  it  and  tell 
what  I  have  seen  these  past  few  days 
when  the  Ministry  of  War  authorized  me 
to  accompany  a  special  mission  there,  to 
which  I  was  the  only  foreigner  accredit- 
ed. I  purpose  to  call  this  struggle  the 
battle  of  the  Labyrinth,  for  "  labyrinth  " 
is  the  name  applied  to  the  vast  system  of 
intrenchments  all  through  that  region, 
and  from  which  the  Germans  are  being 
literally  blasted  almost  foot  by  foot  by 
an  extravagant  use  of  French  melinite. 

There  have  been  successive  chapters 
by  different  writers  describing  and  dis- 
posing of  as  finished — though  it  is  not 
finished — still  another  battle  which, 
from  the  English  point  of  view,  takes 
top  rank,  namely,  the  battle  of  Ypres. 
While  a  British  defeat  at  Ypres  might 
mean  the  loss  of  Dunkirk  and  possibly 
of  Calais,  a  French  defeat  at  the  Laby- 
rinth would  allow  the  Germans  to  sweep 
clear  across  Northern  France,  cutting  all 
communication  with   England. 

The  battle  of  the  Labyrinth  really  be- 
gan last  October,  when  General  de  Maud- 
Huy  stopped  the  Prussian  Guard  before 
Arras  with  his  motley  array  of  tired  Ter- 
ritorials, whom  he  gathered  together  in 
a  mighty  rush  northward  after  the  battle 
of  the  Marne.  The  crack  Guards  regi- 
ments afterward  took  on  the  job  at 
Ypres,  while  the  Crown  Prince  of  Ba- 
varia assumed  the  vain  task  of  attempt- 
ing to  break  the  more  southward  passage 
to  the  sea. 

All  the  Winter  de  Maud-Huy  worried 
him,  not  seeking  to  make  a  big  advance, 
but  contenting  himself  with  the  record 
of    never    having    lost    a    single   trench. 


BATTLE     OF     THE     LABYRINTH 


707 


With  the  return  of  warm  weather,  just 
after  the  big  French  advance  in  Cham- 
pagne, this  sector  was  chosen  by  Joffre 
as  the  place  in  which  to  take  the  heart 
out  of  his  enemy  by  the  delivery  of  a 
mighty  blow. 

The  Germans  probably  thought  that 
the  French  intended  to  concentrate  in 
the  Vosges,  as  next  door  to  Champagne; 
so  they  carted  all  their  poison  gases 
there  and  to  Ypres,  where  their  ambi- 
tion still  maintains  ascendency  over 
their  good  sense  But  where  the  Germans 
think  Joffre  is  likely  to  strike  is  usually 
the  place  furthest  from  his  thoughts. 
Activities  in  the  Arras  sector  were  be- 
gun under  the  personal  command  of  the 
Commander  in  Chief,  who  was  still  per- 
sonally directing  operations  during  my 
visit  only  two  days  ago. 

I  doubt  whether,  until  the  war  is  over, 
it  will  be  possible  adequately  to  describe 
the  battle,  or  rather,  the  series  of  battles 
extending  along  this  particular  front  of 
about  fifty  miles.  "  Labyrinth  "  certain- 
ly is  the  fittest  word  to  call  it.  I  al- 
ways had  a  fairly  accurate  sense  of  di- 
rection; but,  standing  in  many  places  in 
this  giant  battlefield,  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  say  where  were  the  Germans 
and  where  the  French,  so  completely  was 
I  turned  around  on  account  of  the  con- 
stant zigzag  of  the  trench  lines.  Some- 
times, when  I  was  positive  that  a  furi- 
ous cannonade  coming  from  a  certain 
position  was  German,  it  turned  out  to  be 
French.  At  other  times,  when  I  thought 
I  was  safely  going  in  the  direction  of 
the  French,  I  was  hauled  back  by  of- 
ficers, who  told  me  I  was  heading  direct- 
ly into  the  German  line  of  fire.  I  some- 
times felt  that  the  German  lines  were  on 
three  sides,  and  often  I  was  quite  cor- 
rect. On  the  other  hand,  the  French 
lines  often  almost  completely  surrounded 
the  German  positions. 

One  could  not  tell  from  the  nearness 
of  the  artillery  fire  whether  it  was  from 
friend  or  foe.  Artillery  makes  three  dif- 
ferent noises;  first,  the  sharp  report  fol- 
lowed by  detonations  like  thunder,  when 
the  shell  first  leaves  the  gun;  second,  the 
rushing  sound  of  the  shell  passing  high 
overhead;  third,  the  shrill  whistle,  fol- 
lowed by  the  crash  when  it  finally  ex- 


plodes. In  the  Labyrinth  the  detona- 
tions which  usually  indicated  the  French 
fire  might  be  from  the  German  batteries 
stationed  quite  near  us,  but  where  they 
could  not  get  the  range  on  us,  and  firing 
at  a  section  of  the  French  lines  some 
miles  away.  I  finally  determined  that 
when  a  battery  fired  fast  it  was  French; 
for  the  German  fire  is  becoming  more  in- 
termittent every  day. 

I  shall  attempt  to  give  some  idea  of 
what  this  fighting  looks  like.  Late  one 
afternoon,  coming  out  of  a  trench  into 
a  green  meadow,  I  suddenly  found  myself 
planted  against  a  mudbank  made  of  the 
dirt  taken  from  the  trenches.  We  were 
just  at  the  crest  of  a  hill.  In  khaki 
clothes  I  was  of  the  same  color  as  the 
mudbank;  so  an  officer  told  me  I  was 
in  a  fairly  safe  position. 

Modern  war  becomes  quite  an  ordi- 
nary— often  even  a  sedate,  methodical — 
affair  after  the  first  impressions  have 
been  rubbed  off. 

We  flattened  ourselves  casually 
against  our  mudbank,  carefully  adjusting 
our  glasses,  turned  them  toward  the  val- 
ley before  us,  whence  came  the  sound  of 
exploding  shells,  and  calmly  watched  a 
village  developing  into  nothingness  in  the 
sunset.  It  was  only  about  a  thousand 
yards  away — I  didn't  even  bother  to  ask 
whether  it  was  in  French  or  German 
possession.  There  was  a  loud  explosion, 
a  roll  of  dense  smoke,  which  was  pene- 
trated quickly  enough  by  the  long,  hori- 
zontal rays  of  the  descending  sun  to  per- 
mit the  sight  of  tumbling  roofs  and 
crumbling  walls.  After  a  few  seconds' 
intermission-  there  was  another  explo- 
sion, and  what  looked  like  a  public  school 
in  the  main  street  sagged  suddenly  in 
the  centre.  With  no  entre-acte  came  a 
succession  of  explosions,  and  the  build- 
ing was  prone  upon  the  ground — just  a 
jagged  pile  of  broken  stones. 

We  turned  our  glasses  on  the  other 
end  of  the  village.  A  column  of  black 
smoke  was  rising  where  the  church  had 
caught  fire.  We  watched  it  awhile  in 
silence.  Ruins  were  getting  very  com- 
mon. I  swept  the  glasses  away  from 
the  hamlet  altogether  and  pointed  out 
over  the  distant  fields  to  the  left. 

"Where   are   the   German   trenches?" 


708 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


I  rather  uninterestedly  asked  the  Major. 

"I'll  show  you — just  a  moment!"  he 
answered,  and  at  the  same  time  signal- 
ing to  a  soldier  squatting  in  the  entrance 
to  a  trench  near  by,  he  ordered  the  man 
to  convey  a  message  to  the  telephone 
station  which  connected  with  a  "  seven- 
ty-five "  battery  at  our  rear,  I  was  on 
the  point  of  telling  the  officer  not  to 
bother  about  it.  The  words  were  on  my 
lips.  Then  I  thought  "  Oh,  never  mind ! 
I  might  as  well  know  where  the  trenches 
are,  now  that  I  have  asked." 

The  soldier  disappeared.  "  Watch !  " 
said  the  officer.  We  looked  intently 
across  the  field  to  the  left.  In  less  than 
a  minute  there  were  two  sharp  explo- 
sions behind  us,  two  puffs  of  smoke  out 
on  the  horizon  before  us,  about  a  mile 
away. 

"  That's  where  they  are !  "  the  officer 
said,    "  Both  shells  went  right  in  them." 

"Ah!     Very  interesting!  "  I  replied. 

Away  to  the  right  of  the  village,  now 
reduced  to  ruins,  was  another  larger  vil- 
lage; we  squared  around  on  our  mud 
bank  to  look  at  that.  This  town  was 
more  important;  it  was  Neuville-St, 
Vaast,  which  is  still  occupied  by  both 
French  and  Germans,  the  former  slowly 
retaking  it,  house  by  house.  We  were 
about  half  a  mile  away.  We  could  see 
little;  for,  strangely,  in  this  business  of 
house-to-house  occupation,  most  of  the 
fighting  is  in  the  cellars.  But  I  could 
well  imagine  what  was  going  on,  for  I 
had  already  walked  through  the  ruins 
of  Vermelles,  another  town  now  entirely 
in  French  possession,  but  taken  in  the 
same  fashion  after  two  months'  dogged 
inch-by-inch  advances. 

So,  when  looking  at  Neuville-St,  Vaast, 
I  suddenly  heard  a  tremendous  explosion 
and  saw  a  great  mass  of  masonry  and 
debris  of  all  descriptions  flying  high  in 
the  air,  I  knew  just  what  had  happened. 
The  French — for  it  is  always  the  French 
who  do  it — had  burrowed,  sapped  and 
dug  themselves  laboriously,  patiently, 
slowly,  by  tortuous,  narrow  underground 
routes  from  one  row  of  houses  under  the 
foundations,  gardens,  backyards,  and 
streets  to  beneath  the  foundations  of  the 


next  row  of  houses.  There  they  had 
planted  mines.  The  explosion  I  had  just 
witnessed  was  of  a  mine.  Much  of  the 
debris  I  saw  flying  through  space  had 
been  German  soldiers  a  few  seconds  be- 
fore. 

Before  the  smoke  died  away  we  heard 
a  savage  yell.  That  was  the  French  cry 
of  victory.  Then  we  heard  a  rapid 
crackling  of  rifles.  That  was  the  sign 
that  the  French  had  advanced  across  the 
space  between  the  houses  to  finish  the 
work  their  mine  had  left  undone.  When 
one  goes  to  view  the  work  of  those  mines 
afterward  all  that  one  sees  is  a  great, 
round,  smooth  hole  in  the  ground — some- 
times thirty  feet  deep,  often  twice  that 
in  diameter.  Above  it  might  have  been 
either  a  chateau  or  a  stable;  unless  one 
has  an  old  resident  for  guide  it  is  impos- 
sible to  know. 

It  takes  many  days  and  nights  to  pre- 
pare these  mines.  It  takes  careful 
mathematical  precision  to  determine  that 
they  are  correctly  placed.  It  takes 
morale,  judgment,  courage,  and  intelli- 
gence— this  fighting  from  house  to  house. 
And  yet  the  French  are  called  a  frivolous 
people! 

A  cry  from  a  soldier  warned  us  of  a 
German  aeroplane  directly  overhead;  so 
we  stopped  gazing  at  Neuville-St  Vaast. 
A  French  aeroplane  soon  appeared,  and 
the  German  made  off  rapidly.  They 
usually  do,  as  the  majority  of  German 
aeronauts  carry  only  rifles;  the  French 
now  all  have  mitrailleuses,  A  fight  be- 
tween them  is  unequal,  and  the  inequal- 
ity is  not  easily  overcome,  for  the  Ger- 
man machines  are  too  light  for  mitrail- 
leuses. 

Four  French  machines  were  now  cir- 
cling above,  and  the  German  batteries 
opened  fire  on  them.  It  ws  a  beautiful 
sight.  There  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky, 
and  the  sun  had  not  yet  gone.  We 
could  not  hear  the  shells  explode,  but  we 
could  see  little  feathery  white  clouds  sud- 
denly appear  as  if  some  giant  invisible 
hand  had  just  put  them  there — high  up 
in  the  sky.  Another  appeared,  and  an- 
other. There  were  several  dozen  little 
white  clouds  vividly  outlined  against  the 
blue  before  the  French  machines,  all  un- 


BATTLE     OF     THE     LABYRINTH 


709 


touched,  turned  back  toward  their  own 
lines. 

Again  our  thoughts  and  actions  were 
rudely  disturbed  by  the  soldier  with  us, 
who  suddenly  threw  himself  face  down 
on  the  ground.  Before  we  had  time  to 
wonder  why  a  German  shell  tore  a  hole 
in  the  field  before  us,  less  than  a  hun- 
dred yards  away.  I  asked  the  officer  if 
we  had  been  seen,  and  if  they  were  firing 
at  us.  He  said  he  did  not  think  so,  but 
we  had  perhaps  better  move.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  they  were  hunting  the  bat- 
tery that  had  so  accurately  shown  us 
their  trenches  a  short  time  before. 

Instead  of  returning  to  the  point 
where  we  had  left  our  motors  by  the 
trench,  we  walked  across  an  open  field 
in  quite  another  direction  than  I  thbught 
was  the  correct  one.  All  the  time  we 
heard,  high  overhead,  that  rushing  sound 
as  of  giant  wings.  Occasionally,  when 
a   shell  struck  in  the  neighborhood,  we 


heard  the  shrill  whistling  sound,  and  half 
a  dozen  times  in  the  course  of  the  walk 
great  holes  were  torn  in  our  field,  some 
times  quite  near.  But  artillery  does  not 
cause  fear  easily;  it  is  rifles  that  accom- 
plish that.  The  sharp  hissing  of  the 
bullet  that  resembles  so  much  the  sound 
of  a  spitting  cat  seems  so  personal — ar> 
if  it  was  intended  just  for  you. 

Artillery  is  entirely  impersonal;  you 
know  that  the  gunners  do  not  see  you; 
that  they  are  firing  by  arithmetic  at  a 
certain  range;  that  their  shell  is  not  in- 
tended for  anyone  in  particular.  So  you 
walk  on  striking  idly  with  your  stick 
at  the  daisies  and  buttercups  that  border 
your  path.  You  calculate,  almost  indif- 
ferently, the  distance  between  you  and 
the  bursting  shell.  You  somehow  feel 
that  nothing  will  harm  you.  You  are 
not  afraid;  and  if  you  are  lucky,  as  we 
were,  you  will  find  the  automobiles  wait- 
ing for  you  just  over  there  beyond  the 
brow  of  the  hill. 


The    Modern    Plataea 

By  Frederick  Pollock 

[From   King   Albert's    Book.] 


N 


EARLY  2,400  years  ago  the  Boeotian  city  of  Plataea  was  one  among 
the  many  lesser  Greek  republics.  Her  citizens  earned  immortal 
fame  by  taking  part  with  the  leading  States  of  Athens  and  Sparta 
in  the  decisive  battles,  fought  on  their  own  territory,  which  delivered 
Greece  from  the  fear  of  Persian  conquest  and  saved  the  light  of  Greek 
freedom  and  civilization  from  being  extinguished.  To  this  day  the  name 
of  Plataea  is  held  in  honor  throughout  the  world ;  for  many  years  that 
honor  was  unique.  Belgium  has  now  done  and  dared  for  the  freedom 
of  modern  Europe  as  much  as  Plataea  did  of  old ;  she  has,  unhappily, 
suffered  far  more.  As  her  valor  has  been  equal  and  her  suffering 
greater  her  reward  will  be  no  less  immortal.  Belgium  will  be  remembered 
with  Plataea  centuries  after  the  military  tyranny  of  the  HohenzoUerns 
has  vanished   lilie   an   evil  dream. 


A  British  Call  For  Recruits 


Is  Your  Conscience  Clear? 

Ask  your  conscience  why  you  are  staying  comfort- 
ably at  home  instead  of  doing  your  share  for  your 
King  and  Country. 

1.  Are  you  too  old? 

The  only  man  who  is  too  old  is  the  man  who  is 
over  38. 

2.  Are  you  physically  fit? 

The  only  man  who  can  say  honestly  that  he  is  not 
physically  fit  is  the  man  who  has  been  told  so  by*  a 
Medical  Officer. 

3»  Do  you  suggest  you  cannot  leave  your  business  ? 

In  this  great  crisis  the  only  man  who  cannot  leave  his 
business  is  the  man  who  is  himself  actually  doing  work 
for  the  Government. 

If  your  conscience  is  not  clear  on  these 
three  points  your  duty  is  plain. 

ENLIST  TO-DAY. 


God  Save  the  King. 


This  advertisement,  occupying  full  pages,  was  recently  run  in  the  British 

press. 


The  British  Army  in  France 

Riehebourg,  La  Quinque  Rue,  Festubert,  and  Ypres 

By  the  Official  "  Eyewitness  "  and  Sir  John  French  , 


SAXONS  SLAIN  BY  PRUSSIANS. 

Under  date  of  May  21,  1915,  an  Eye- 
witness with  the  British  Headquarters 
in  France,  continues  and  supplements 
his  narrative  of  operations: 

The  ground  our  troops  were  holding 
on  Monday,  May  17,  projected  as  two 
salients  into  the  enemy's  territory,  one 
south  of  Richebourg-L'Avoue  and  the 
other  to  the  north  of  Festubert.  The 
purpose  of  the  operations  undertaken  on 
Monday  was  to  connect  up  the  space 
which  lay  between  them.  In  this  we 
were  successful. 

At  about  9:30  A.  M.  on  Monday,  May 
17,  our  forces  attacked  the  enemy  oc- 
cupying this  area,  from  north  and  south, 
and  gradually  drove  him  from  all  his  in- 
trenchments  within  it.  The  Germans 
here,  pressed  on  three  sides,  subjected  to 
a  cross-fire  from  several  directions  and 
to  continuous  bombing,  reached  the  limits 
of  their  endurance  during  the  morning, 
and  over  300  surrendered. 

After  this  area  had  been  made  good  by 
us  fighting  continued  throughout  the  day, 
and  our  troops,  having  joined  hands, 
pressed  the  enemy  still  further  eastward, 
forcing  them  out  of  one  post  after  an- 
other. As  the  afternoon  wore  on  more 
prisoners  fell  into  our  hands,  entire 
gi'oups  of  men  giving  themselves  up. 

The  centres  of  the  hostile  resistance  in 
this  quarter  were  the  clusters  of  build- 
ings which  were  very  strongly  held  and 
surrounded  by  networks  of  trenches 
dotted  with  numerous  machine  gun  posts, 
and  in  front  of  one  of  the  nests  of  works 
near  the  Ferme  Cour  de  L'Avoue,  be- 
tween La  Quinque  Rue  and  Richebourg- 
L'Avoue,  a  horrible  scene  was  witnessed 
by  our  troops  during  the  day. 

Desperate  fighting  was  going  on  in 
front  of  this  farm  when  the  remains 
of  a  battalion  of  Saxons,  which,  it  ap- 


pears, had  been  hastily  brought  down 
from  further  north  and  thrown  into  the 
fight,  having  decided  to  surrender  en 
bloc,  advanced  toward  our  line.  Not 
knowing  what  the  movement  of  this  mass 
of  men  implied,  our  infantry  poured  a 
hail  of  bullets  into  them,  whereupon  the 
survivors,  some  hundreds  strong,  halted,' 
threw  down  their  rifles,  and  held  up  their 
hands,  and  one  of  their  number  waved  a 
white  rag  tied  to  a  stick. 

Our  guns  continued  to  fire  from  the 
rear,  and  whether  our  infantry,  who,  by 
this  time,  have  had  some  experience  of 
the  treachery  of  the  enemy,  would  have 
paid  any  attention  to  these  signals  is 
uncertain,  but  the  matter  was  taken  out 
of  their  hands,  for  as  soon  as  the  Prus- 
sian infantry  on  the  north  of  this  point 
realized  what  their  Saxon  comrades  were 
trying  to  do,  they  opened  rapid  fire  fromi 
the  flank,  enfilading  the  mass.  It  ap-; 
pears  also  that  the  news  of  what  was 
happening  must  have  been  telephoned 
back  to  the  German  artillery  further  east 
— which  was  also  probably  Prussian, 
since  its  guns  suddenly  opened  on  the 
Saxon  infantry,  and  under  this  com-^ 
bined  fire  most  of  the  latter  were  very 
soon  accounted  for.  ' 

Among  the  many  scenes  of  the  war 
there  has  probably  been  no  more  strange 
spectacle  than  that  of  the  masses  of 
gray-coated  soldiers  standing  out  in  the 
open,  hands  raised,  amidst  the  dead  and 
dying,  being  butchered  by  their  own  com- 
rades before  the  eyes  of  the  British  in- 
fantry. The  fact  that  the  victims  of 
this  slaughter  were  Saxons  was  a  source 
of  regret  to  us,  since  the  Saxons  have 
always  proved  themselves  more  chival- 
rous and  less  brutal  than  either  the  Prus- 
sians or  the  Bavarians — in  fact,  cleaner 
fighters  in  every  way. 

While  we  were  thus  pressing  forward 


712 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Map  of  the  British  position.  The  solid  line  represents  the  territory  held  by 
the  British,  the  dotted  line  to  the  north  showing  the  position  of  the  Franco-Belgian 
Army,  and  the  dotted  line  to  the  south  the  position  of  the  French  Army. 


gradually  on  the  section  of  front  between 
our  two  original  points  of  penetration, 
our  troops  on  the  right  in  front  of  Fes- 
tubert  were  making  good  progress  south- 
ward along  the  German  trenches.  Their 
attack  began  at  11:30  A.  M.,  and  the 
Germans  were  soon  cleared  out  of  their 
line  in  this  quarter  up  to  a  point  a  short 
distance  south  of  Festubert,  where  they 


made   a   strong  resistance   and   checked 
our  further  lateral  progress. 

The  fighting  here  was  made  up  of  a 
series  of  isolated  and  desperate  hand-to- 
hand  combats  with  bayonet  and  hand 
grenades,  and,  since  the  Germans  were, 
at  many  points,  outflanked  and  enfiladed, 
their  losses  were  very  heavy,  for  in  the 
narrow    trenches    there    was    often    no 


THE   BRITISH   ARMY   IN   FRANCE 


713 


room  for  escape,  and  the  only  alterna- 
tive was  death  or  surrender.  In  some 
places  the  trenches  presented  a  horrible 
sight,  being  heaped  with  German  corpses, 
many  of  whom  had  been  blown  to  pieces 
by  our  bombardment  carried  out  pre- 
vious to  the  original  attack.  By  about 
noon  the  total  number  of  prisoners  cap- 
tured since  the  commencement  of  the  at- 
tack on  Sunday  had  increased  to  550. 

On  the  extreme  right  the  Germans 
were  pressed  back  along  their  communi- 
cation trenches  in  such  large  numbers 
that  they  occasionally  formed  an  ex- 
cellent mark  for  the  machine  guns  in 
our  own  line  to  the  north  of  Givenchy, 
which  were  able  to  do  great  execution 
at  certain  points. 

By  midday  the  total  front  of  the 
"  bite  "  taken  by  us  out  of  the  enemy's 
position  was  almost  exactly  two  miles 
long;  but,  as  trenches  and  isolated  posts 
were  taken  and  retaken  several  times, 
the  exact  situation  at  any  moment,  as  is 
usual  in  such  cases,  is  somewhat  obscure. 
Further  progress  was  made  to  the  south 
during  the  afternoon  and  after  dark,  and 
various  posts  and  breastworks  east  of 
La  Quinque  Rue,  from  which  we  had 
withdrawn  the  previous  night,  again  fell 
into  our  hands,  although  the  enemy  con- 
tinued to  hold  some  trenches  in  rear  of 
them.  But  they  again  formed  an  ex- 
posed salient,  and  were  once  more  tem- 
porarily evacuated  by  us. 

At  nightfall  we  held  a  continuous  line 
embracing  the  whole  of  the  German  orig- 
inal front  trenches  from  the  south  of 
Festubert  to  Richebourg-L'Avoue,  and, 
in  many  places,  were  in  possession  of  the 
whole  series  of  hostile  entrenchments, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  supporting 
points  and  machine-gun  posts  in  rear 
of  the  zone. 

EAST  OF  FESTUBERT. 

The  following  dispatch  was  received 
on  May  26,  1915,  from  Field  Marshal 
Sir  John  French,  commanding  in  chief 
the  British  Army  in  the  field: 

The  First  Army  continues  to  make 
progress  east  of  Festubert.  A  territorial 
division  carried  last  night  a  group  of 
German  trenches,  capturing  thirty-five 
prisoners,  and  this  morning  it  captured 


one  officer,  twenty-one  men,  and  a  ma- 
chine gun. 

Since  May  16  the  First  Army  has 
pierced  the  enemy's  line  on  a  total  front 
of  over  three  miles.  Of  this  the  entira 
hostile  front  line  system  of  trenches  has 
been  captured  on  a  front  of  3,200  yards, 
and  of  the  remaining  "portion  the  first 
and  second  lines  of  trenches  are  in  our 
possession. 

The  total  number  of  prisoners  taken 
is  8  officers  and  777  of  other  ranks.  Ten 
machine  guns  in  all  have  fallen  into  our 
possession,  as  well  as  a  considerable 
quantity  of  material  and  equipment,  par- 
ticulars of  which  are  not  yet  available. 

GERMAN  GAS  WARFARE  AGAIN. 

Under  date  of  May  28,  an  Eyeivit- 
ness  with  the  British  Headquarters  in 
France  continues  and  supplements  his 
narrative  as  follows: 

Monday,  May  24,  witnessed  a  fresh 
development  in  the  situation  in  our  front. 
It  was  a  most  brilliant  May  day,  the 
heat  of  the  sun  being  tempered  by  a 
light  breeze,  which  had  blown  from  the 
northeast  during  the  night,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  morning  had  veered  round 
toward  the  north.  This  breeze  gave  the 
enemy  the  opportunity  they  awaited  of 
repeating  their  gas  tactics  against  our 
position  in  front  of  Ypres,  which,  though 
reduced  in  prominence,  was  still  a  salient 
in  the  general  line. 

Between  2  and  3  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing a  violent  bombardment  with  gas 
shells  was  started  against  a  section  of 
our  line  about  two  and  three-quarters 
miles  long,  and  divided  into  four  approx- 
imately equal  parts  by  the  roads  from 
Ypres  to  St.  Julien  and  Moorslede  and 
the  railway  from  Ypres  to  Roulers.  The 
supply  of  gas  available  must  have  been 
great,  for  it  continued  to  pour  southwest- 
ward  for  some  hours  in  great  volume,  in 
some  places  reaching  to  a  height  of  seve- 
ral feet.  Owing  to  the  direction  of  the 
wind,  also,  it  swept  southward  along  our 
line  as  well  as  penetrating  behind  it. 

The  manner  in  which  such  an  attack 
develops  with  a  favoring  wind  cannot 
better  be  described  than  by  the  reports 
of  its  progress  brought  in  on  Monday 


714 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


morning  by  our  aerial  reconnaissances. 
One  observer  who  crossed  the  opposing 
front  in  this  quarter  shortly  after  dawn 
reported  when  he  came  back  that  a  thick 
cloud  of  what  looked  like  smoke  outlined 
the  whole  of  the  German  trenches.  The 
next  observing  officer,  who  arrived  some 
time  afterward,  stated  that  to  the  west 
and  southwest  of  the  German  line  he 
could  see  a  broad  band  of  yellow  grass 
and  trees  which  looked  as  if  they  had 
been  bleached.  A  third,  who  came  in 
later,  stated  that  the  whole  area  behind 
9ur  line  was  covered  by  a  mist  so  thick 
as  to  interfere  with  observation. 

This  attempt  to  asphyxiate  Was  of 
course  preliminary  to  an  assault  against 
the  salient,  for  which  infantry  had  been 
massing  on  the  east.  It  was  carried  out 
from  three  directions,  being  pushed  for- 
ward under  cover  of  a  heavy  bombard- 
ment against  the  northern  face  from  the 
neighborhood  of  St.  Julien,  against  the 
northeast  face  from  Zonnebeke  along  the 
Roulers  Railway,  and  against  the  west 
direct  from  the  Polygon  Wood.  On  the 
greater  part  of  the  front  assailed  our 
troops  were  able  to  stand  their  ground, 
and  to  maintain  their  positions  in  spite 
of  the  poisonous  fumes,  but  in  certain 
sections  they  were  forced  to  evacuate 
the  trenches,  and  the  German  infantry 
succeeded  in  getting  a  footing  in  our 
front  line  near  the  farm  to  the  north 
of  Wieltje,  for  some  distance  astride  the 
Roulers  Railv^ay,  and  to  the  north  and 
south  of  the  Menin  Road  on  the  south 
of  the  Bellewaarde  Lake. 

In  doing  this  the  enemy  lost  consider- 
ably both  from  our  artillery  fire  and  the 
rifle  fire  of  the  sections  of  the  defense 
which  were  able  to  maintain  their  posi- 
tion. Counter-attacks  were  organized 
during  the  morning,  and  by  about  mid- 
day our  infantry  had  succeeded  in  reoc- 
cupying  our  former  line  to  the  north  of 
the  railway.  By  evening  there  were  no 
Germans  west  of  our  original  position  on 
the  south  of  the  Menin  Road,  though  we 
had  not  been  able  to  reoccupy  our  line  in 
that  quarter,  nor  near  Wieltje.  The  ad- 
vance of  the  enemy,  however,  had  been 
stopped.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Hill  60 
a  party  of  our  infantry  during  the  night 
bombed  their  way  for  some  forty  yards 


up  a  trenche  which  the  Germans  had 
taken  from  us,  destroyed  the  enemy's 
barricade,  reconstructed  it,  and  held  the 
trench. 

In  the  centre,  near  Bois  Grenier,  a 
slight  success  was  gained  in  the  evening, 
our  troops  seizing  some  ground  between 
our  front  line  and  that  of  the  Germans 
near  the  Bois  Grenier — Bridoux  Road. 
This  ground  had  been  partially  in- 
trenched during  the  previous  night,  and 
at  8:50  P.  M.  the  infantry  advanced  un- 
der cover  of  our  artillery  and  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  new  line. 

On  our  right,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Festubert,  our  troops  continued  their 
pressure,  gaining  one  or  two  points  in 
the  maze  of  trenches  and  defended  houses 
here  and  there,  in  spite  of  the  heavy  ar- 
tillery and  machine-gun  fire  to  which 
they  were  subjected.  Before  dark  the 
German  infantry  was  observed  to  be 
massing  opposite  Festubert,  as  if  to 
counter-attack  in  force;  but  their  two 
offensive  efforts  made  during  the  night 
were  not  serious,  and  were  easily  beaten 
back. 

On  Tuesday  matters  were  quieter.  On 
our  left  the  German  infantry  attacking 
the  Ypres  salient  did  not,  in  the  face  of 
our  resistance,  attempt  to  push  on  fur- 
ther, nor  was  gas  employed,  but  the  bom- 
bardment of  our  positions  was  main- 
tained. Except  where  he  had  retained 
or  regained  our  original  line  our  position 
was  established  behind  the  portions 
which  the  Germans  had  succeeded  in  oc- 
cupying. 

A  GAIN  AT  GIVENCHY. 

The  following  dispatch  ums  received 
on  June  4,  1915,  from  Field  Marshal 
Sir  John  French,  commanding  in  chief 
the  British  Army  in  the  field: 

On  the  night  of  the  30th  of  May  wc 
seized  some  outbuildings  in  the  grounds 
of  a  ruined  chateau  at  Hooge.  Since 
then  our  trenches  there  have  been  sub- 
jected to  a  heavy  bombardment. 

Fighting  on  a  small  scale  has  been  con- 
tinuous. At  one  time  we  were  forced  to 
evacuate  the  buildings,  taken  by  us,  but 
last  night  we  recaptured  them. 

Northeast  of  Givenchy  last  night  we 
expelled    the   enemy   from   his    trenches 


THE   BRITISH   ARMY   IN   FRANCE 


715 


on  a  front  of  200  yards,  taking  forty- 
eight  prisoners.  Our  infantry,  however, 
was  unable  to  remain  in  occupation  of 
these  trenches  after  daylight,  owing  to 
the  enemy  fire. 

Field  Marshal  Sir  John  French  in  a 
report,  dated  June  8,  on  the  fighting 
along  the  British  line,  says: 

The  situation  on  our  front  has  not 
changed  since  the  last  communication 
of  June  4.  There  has  been  less  activity 
on  the  part  of  the  artillery. 

On  the  6th,  in  front  of  the  Plogsteert 
wood,  we  sucessfully  exploded  a  mine 
under  the  German  trenches,  destroying 
thirty  yards  of  the  parapet. 

We  have  brought  down  two  German 
aeroplanes,  one  opposite  our  right  by 
gunfire,  and  the  other  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Ypres,  as  the  result  of  an  en- 
gagement in  the  air  with  one  of  our 
aeroplanes. 

AN  ADVANCE   NEAR  YPRES. 

Sir  John  French's  report  of  June  16 — 
the  first  since  that  of  June  8 — said: 

Last  week  there  was  no  change  in  the 
situation.-  The  enemy  exploded  five 
mines  on  different  parts  of  our  front, 
but  none  of  these  caused  any  damage  to 
our  trenches,  and  only  one  caused  any 
casualties. 

Yesterday  evening  we  captured  the 
German  front-line  trenches  east  of  Festu- 
bert  on  a  mile  front,  but  failed  to  hold 
them  during  the  night  against  strong 
counter-attacks. 

Early   this   morning   in   the   neighbor- 


hood of  Ypres  we  successfully  attacked 
the  enemy's  positions  north  of  Hooge, 
(to  the  east  of  Ypres.)  We  occupied  the 
whole  of  his  first  line  of  trenches  on  a 
front  of  1,000  yards,  and  also  parts  of 
his  second  line.  -  ^ 

By  noon  today  157  prisoners  had 
passed  to  our  rear.  The  German  coun- 
ter-attack has  been  repulsed  with  heavy 
losses. 

ALLIES  IN  CONCERTED  ATTACK. 

Field  Marshal  French's  report  of  June 
18  indicates  that  a  strong,  concerted  at- 
tack was  then  being  made  by  British 
and  French  troops  upon  the  German 
front  from  east  of  Ypres  to  south  of 
A7-ras.  This  report  preceded  the  French 
announcement  of  victory  in  the  battle 
of  the  Labyrinth,  an  account  of  which 
appears  elsewhere.    It  says: 

The  fighting  in  the  northern  and 
southern  portions  of  our  front  continued 
throughout  June  16  in  co-operation  with 
the  attack  of  our  ally  about  Arras. 

East  of  Ypres  all  the  German  first- 
line  trenches  which  we  captured  remain 
in  our  hands,  in  spite  of  two  counter-at- 
tacks, which  were  repulsed  with  heavy 
loss  to  the  enemy.  We  were,  however, 
unable  to  retain  those  of  the  enemy's 
second-line  trenches  which  we  had  occu- 
pied in  the  morning. 

East  of  Festubert,  as  a  result  of  a  fur- 
ther attack  on  the  afternoon  of  the  16th, 
we  made  a  slight  advance  and,  judging 
by  the  number  of  dead  Germans  in  the 
trenches  entered  by  us,  our  artillery  fire 
was  very  effective. 


The  Dardanelle's  Campaign 

j      «;t*rogress  of  the  Allies  in  June 
Slow  and  Difficult 

In  his  speech  at  Dundee  on  June  5,  from  which  the  passage  concerning  the  Dardanelles  is 
reproduced  below,  Winston  Spencer  Churchill's  reference  to  "  losses  of  ships  "  constituted 
the  official  comment  on  the  sinking  by  submarine  attack  on  May  26  and  27  of  the  British 
battleships  Triumph  in  the  Gulf  of  Saros,  and  Majestic  off  Sedd-el-Bahr.  That  increased  to 
six  the  sum  of  battleships  lost  to  the  Allies  in  the  Dardanelles  operations.  The  review  of  the 
operations  from  May  15  to  June  17,  shows  a  development  of  slow  trench  warfare  on  land,  which 
postpones  the  attainment  of  a  few  miles  to  a  victory  confidently  predicted  by  Mr.  Churchill. 


A  FEW  MILES   FROM  VICTORY. 

In  the  course  of  his  speech  at  Dundee 
on  June  5,  1915,  Winston  Spencer 
Churchill  said: 

The  operations  which  are  now  pro- 
ceeding at  the  Dardanelles  will  give  him 
(Mr.  Balfour)  the  opportunity  of  using 
that  quality  of  cool,  calm  courage  and 
inflexibility  which  fifteen  years  ago  pre- 
vented Ladysmith  from  being  left  to  its 
fate  and  surrendered  to  the  enemy.  I 
have  two  things  to  say  to  you  about  the 
Dardanelles. 

First,  you  must  expect  losses  both  by 
land  and  sea.  But  the  fleet  you  are  em- 
ploying there  is  your  surplus  fleet,  after 
all  other  needs  have  been  provided  for. 
Had  it  not  been  used  in  this  great  enter- 
prise it  would  have  been  lying  idle  in 
your  southern  ports.  A  large  number  of 
the  old  vessels,  of  which  it  is  composed, 
have  to  be  laid  up  in  any  case  before 
the  end  of  the  year,  because  their  crews 
are  wanted  for  the  enormous  reinforce- 
ments of  new  ships  which  the  industry 
of  your  workships  is  hurrying  into  the 
water.  Losses  of  ships,  therefore,  as 
long  as  the  precious  lives  of  the  officers 
and  men  are  saved — which  in  nearly 
every  case  they  have  been — losses  of  that 
kind,  I  say,  may  easily  be  exaggerated 
in  the  minds  both  of  friend  and  foe.  Mil- 
itary operations  will  also  be  costly,  but 
those  who  suppose  that  Lord  Kitchener — 
(loud  cheers) — has  embarked  upon  them 
without  narrowly  and  carefully  consider- 
ing their  requirements  in  relation  to  all 
other  needs  and  in  relation  to  the  par- 


amount need  of  our  army  in  France  and 
Flanders — such  people  are  mistaken,  and 
not  only  mistaken,*  they  are  presumptu- 
ous. 

My  second  point  is  this.  In  looking 
at  your  losses  squarely  and  soberly  you 
must  not  forget  at  the  same  time  the 
prize  for  which  you  are  contending.  The 
army  of  Sir  Ian  Hamilton,  the  fleet  of 
Admiral  de  Robeck  are  separated  only  by 
a  few  miles  from  a  victory  such  as  this 
war  has  not  yet  seen.  When  I  speak  of 
victory  I  am  not  referring  to  those  vic- 
tories which  crowd  the  daily  placards  of 
any  newspapers.  I  am  speaking  of  vic- 
tory in  the  sense  of  a  brilliant  and 
formidable  fact  shaping  the  destinies  of 
nations  and  shortening  the  duration  of 
the  war.  Beyond  those  few  miles  of 
ridge  and  scrub  on  which  our  soldiers, 
our  French  comrades,  our  gallant  Aus- 
tralian and  New  Zealand  fellow-subjects 
are  now  battling,  lie  the  downfall  of  a 
hostile  empire,  the  destruction  of  an  en- 
emy's fleet  and  army,  the  fall  of  a  world- 
famous  capital,  and  probably  the  acces- 
sion of  powerful  allies.  The  struggle 
will  be  heavy,  the  risks  numerous,  the 
losses  cruel,  but  victory  when  it  comes 
will  make  amend  for  all.  There  never 
was  a  great  subsidiary  operation  of  war 
in  which  a  more  complete  harmony  of 
strategic,  political,  and  economic  advan- 
tages were  combined,  or  which  stood  in 
truer  relation  to  the  main  decision,  which 
is  in  the  central  theatre.  Through  the 
Narrows  of  the  Dardanelles  and  across 
the  ridges  of  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula  lie 


THE   DARDANELLES   CAMPAIGN 


717 


SCALE  OF  MILES 


CRENKEUI 


Scene  of  the  Dardanelles  operations.     The  black  line  marks  the  approximate  allied 
position,  the  dotted  line  the  approximate  Turkish  position,  on  June  18,  1915. 


some    of    the    shortest    paths    to    a    tri- 
umphant peace. 


TWO  WEEKS'  FIGHTING. 
By  The  Associated  Press. 

PARIS,  June  14. — An  official  note 
given  out  today  presents  a  summary  of 
the  operations  in  the  Dardanelles  from 
May  15  to  June  1  as  follows: 

Heavy  fighting  has  taken  place  dur- 
ing this  time.  Today  our  progress  is 
somewhat  slower  than  it  was  in  the  be- 
ginning, but  every  inch  of  ground  gained 


has  been  organized  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  permit  the  repelling  of  counter-at- 
tacks, and  each  advance  has  been  held. 
The  physical  aspects  of  the  country  make 
fighting  extremely  difficult  and  danger- 
ous, as  the  battle  front  presents  the  form 
of  a  triangle 

During  the  second  half  of  May  there 
were  attacks  on  the  Turkish  line  of  in- 
trenchments  in  front  of  Kereves  Dere 
and  the  redoubt  called  the  '  Bouchet,' 
which  we  took  May  8.  All  the  Turkish 
counter-attacks  failed  completely. 

Our  position   being  assured  here,  we 


718 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


endeavored  to  capture  a  small  fortress 
situated  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  ene- 
my's line.  On  account  of  the  strategic 
position  of  this  fortress  it  was  impossible 
to  take  it  in  the  ordinary  way  by  an 
artillery  attack,  followed  by  a  bayonet 
charge;  such  a  method  would  have  re- 
sulted in  heavy  loss  of  life.  The  attack 
had  to  be  a  surprise.  On  the  night  of 
May  28  a  mixed  company  composed  of 
thirty-four  white  and  thirty-two  negro 
troops,  all  volunteers,  under  the  command 
of  a  Lieutenant,  received  orders  to  slip 
out  of  our  first  trench  one  by  one  and 
crawl  on  their  hands  and  knees  to  the 
opposing  trench  Here  they  were  to  sur- 
prise the  occupants  and  kill  them  with- 
out a  shot.  Two  other  companies  bring- 
ing up  the  rear  were  to  go  at  once  to 
the  assistance  of  the  first  company  if 
the  plan  failed. 

At  11:45  P.  M.  our  men,  having  gone 
forward  in  accordance  with  instructions, 
rushed  over  the  embankments  of  the 
enemy  trenches.  The  Turks  were  com- 
pletely surprised.  They  discharged  their 
guns  into  the  air  and  Immediately  took 
to  flight.  Thanks  to  the  rapidity  of 
our  attack  our  only  casualties  were  one 
Sergeant  and  two  men  wounded. 

The  Turks  attacked  twice  without  suc- 
cess, and  dawn  saw  us  firmly  established 
in  our  new  positions 


A  GENERAL  ASSAULT. 

LONDON,  June  6. — Official  announce- 
ment was  made  tonight  that  the  British 
troops  at  the  Dardanelles,  as  a  result 
of  their  new  offensive  movement  last 
week,  captured  two  lines  of  Turkish 
trenches  along  a  three-mile  front.  The 
statement  follows: 

On  the  night  of  June  3-4  the  Turks, 
having  heavily  bombarded  a  small  fort 
in  front  of  the  extreme  right  French  po- 
sition, which  previously  had  been  cap- 
tured, launched  an  infantry  attack 
against  it  which  was  repulsed  with  heavy 
loss  to  the  enemy.  At  the  same  time  the 
Turks  set  fire  to  scrub  in  front  of  the 
left  centre  of  the  position  occupied  by  the 
British  divison  and  attacked,  but  with 
no  success. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  June  Sir 


Ian  Hamilton  ordered  a  general  attack 
on  the  Turkish  trenches  in  the  southern 
area  of  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  preceded 
by  a  heavy  bombardment  by  all  guns, 
assisted  by  battleships,  cruisers,  and  de- 
stroyers. 

At  a  given  signal  the  troops  rushed 
forward  with  the  bayonet.  They  were 
immediately  successful  all  along  the  line 
except  in  one  spot,  where  the  heavy  wire 
entanglement  was  not  destroyed  by  the 
bombardment. 

Indian  troops  on  our  extreme  left  made 
a  magnificent  advance.  They  captured 
two  lines  of  trenches,  but,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  troops  on  their  right  were 
hung  up  by  this  wire  entanglement,  they 
were  obliged  to  retire  to  their  original 
line.  The  regular  division  made  good 
progress  on  the  left  centre,  capturing  a 
strong  redoubt  and  two  lines  of  trenches 
beyond  it,  about  500  yards  in  advance  of 
their  original  line. 

The  Territorial  Division  on  our  centre 
did  brilliantly,  advancing  600  yards  and 
capturing  three  lines  of  trenches,  but 
though  the  advanced  captured  trench  was 
held  all  day  and  half  of  the  ensuing  night, 
they  had  to  be  ordered  back  in  the  morn- 
ing to  the  second  captured  line,  as  both 
their  flanks  were  exposed. 

The  Naval  Division  on  our  right  centre 
captured  a  redoubt  and  a  formidable  line 
of  trenches  constructed  in  three  tiers  300 
yards  to  their  front,  but  they,  too,  had 
to  be  ordered  back,  owing  to  the  heavy 
enfilading  fire. 

The  French  Second  Division  advanced 
with  great  gallantry  and  elan.  They  re- 
took for  the  fourth  time  that  deadly  re- 
doubt they  call  '  Le  Haricot,'  but  unfor- 
tunately the  Turks  developed  heavy 
counter-attacks  through  prepared  com- 
munication trenches,  and  under  cover  of 
an  accurate  shell  fire  were  able  to  recap- 
ture it. 

On  the  French  extreme  right  the 
French  captured  a  strong  line  of  trenches 
which,  though  heavily  counter-attacked 
twice  during  the  night,  they  still  occupy. 

We  captured  400  prisoners,  including 
ten  officers.  Among  the  prisoners  were 
five  Germans,  the  remains  of  a  volun- 
teer machine  gun  detachment  from  the 
Goeben   (the  Turkish  cruiser  Sultan  Se- 


THE    DARDANELLE'S    CAMPAIGN 


719 


lim).  Their  officer  was  killed  and  the 
machine  gun  was  destroyed. 

During  the  night  information  was  re- 
ceived that  enemy  reinforcements  were 
advancing  from  the  direction  of  Maidos 
toward  Kithia.  Thereupon  Lieutenant 
General  Birdwood  arranged  to  attack 
the  trenches  in  front  of  Quinn's  post  at 
10  P.  M.,  which  was  successfully  carried 
out,  and  the  captured  trenches  held 
throughout  the  night.  The  Turkish  cas- 
ualties were  heavy. 

At  6:30  A.  M.  the  enemy  heavily  coun- 
ter-attacked, and  by  means  of  heavy 
bombs  forced  our  men  out  of  the  most 
forward  trench,  though  we  still  hold 
communication  trenches  made  during  the 
night. 

The  result  of  these  operations  is  that 
we  have  made  an  advance  of  500  yards, 
which  includes  two  lines  of  Turkish 
trenches  along  a  front  of  nearly  three 
miles.  We  are  now  consolidating  our 
new  positions  and  strengthening  the 
lines." 


MR.  ASQUITH'S  PREDICTION. 

LONDON,  June  15.— There  have 
been  so  many  rumors  recently  that  tha 
Allies  had  forced  the  Dardanelles  that 
Sir  James  H.  Dalziel  asked  Premier 
Asquith  this  afternoon  in  the  House  of 
Commons  if  there  was  any  truth  in  such 
reports. 

"  None  whatever,"  was  the  reply.  The 
Premier  said  thai  it  teas  not  in  the  public 
interest  to  say  anything  noio  about  the 
Dardanelles.  "  The  operations  are  of  the 
highest  importance,"  he  added,  "  and 
they  ivill  be  pushed  to  a  successful  con~ 
elusion." 

The  follounng  announcement  concern- 
ing the  operations  was  given  out  offi- 
cially today: 

The  situation  on  the  Gallipoli  Penin- 
sula has  developed  into  trench  warfare. 
After  our  success  on  the  4th  instant  the 
Turks  have  evinced  a  graat  respect  for 
our  offensive,  and  by  day  and  by  night 
they  have  to  submit  to  captures  of 
trenches. 

On  the  night  of  the  lith-12th  of  June 
two  regiments  of  a  British  regular  bri- 
gade made  a  simultaneous  attack  on  the 


advanced  Turkish  trenches,  and  after 
severe  fighting,  which  included  the  kill- 
ing of  many  snipers,  succeeded  in  main- 
taining themselves,  in  spite  of  bombs,  in 
the  captured  position. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  a  counter- 
attack was  made  by  the  Turks,  who 
rushed  forward  with  bombs,  but  coming 
under  the  fire  of  the  naval  machine  gun 
squadron  were  annihilated.  Of  the  fifty 
who  attacked,  thirty  dead  bodies  were 
counted  in  front  of  that  part  of  our 
trenches. 

The  situation  is  favorable  to  our  forces, 
but  is  necessarily  slow  on  account  of  the 
difficulties  of  the  ground.  The  Turkish 
offensive  has  sensibly  weakened. 


FROM  THE  TURKISH  SIDE. 

[Staff  Correspondence  of  The  Brooklyn  Eagle.] 

CONSTANTINOPLE,  June  5,  {by 
Courier  to  Berlin  and  Wireless  to  Say^ 
ville,  L.  I.) — The  forces  of  the  Allies 
on  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula  at  Ari  Burnu 
and  Sedd-el-Bahr  are  in  the  greatest  dan- 
ger, as  a  result  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
bombarding  fleets — made  necessary  by 
the  activity  of  German  submarines — and 
the  consequent  difficulty  of  maintaining 
communications  oversea  from  the  Aegean 
Islands. 

The  English  position  is  at  present  des- 
perate. 

The  inability  to  land  heavy  artillery 
was  at  first  compensated  for  by  the  pro- 
tection given  by  the  guns  of  the  fleet, 
but  the  withdrawal  of  the  ships  from 
Ari  Burnu  leaves  the  shore  forces  rest- 
ing almost  on  the  water's  edge  without 
means  of  meeting  attacks. 

Heavy  Turkish  batteries  are  mounted 
on  the  surrounding  heights. 

These  statements  are  made  after  a 
week  spent  in  the  Turkish  field  under 
the  first  personal  pass  issued  to  a  news- 
paper correspondent  by  Field  Marshal 
Liman  von  Sanders,  the  Commander  in 
Chief  of  the  Turkish  Army. 

The  Turks  are  fighting  confidently, 
aided  by  a  few  German  machine  gun 
squads. 

The  farthest  advance  made  by  the 
English    at    Ari    Burnu    is    1,000    yards 


720 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


from  shore;  at  Sedd-el-Bahr,  about  two 
miles. 

Have  seen  Forts  Chanak  and  Kalid 
Bahr,  and  find  they  are  still  intact. 

The  net  results  of  the  English  attempt 
to  force  the  Dardanelles  are  at  present 
almost  nil. 

The  general  impression  at  Constanti- 
nople and  Berlin  is  that  the  attack  as  at 
present  conducted  is  a  failure. 

The  bombardment  of  March  18  was  in- 
effectual, owing  to  the  inadequacy  of  the 
landing  forces,  and  the  failure  of  the 
Entente  powers  to  embroil  Bulgaria 
against  Turkey. 


[By  The  Associated  Press.] 

KRITHIA,  Dardanelles,  June  17,  (via 
London,  June  \9.) — The  allied  troops* 
who  landed  at  Sedd-el-Bahr,  on  the  Gal- 
lipoli  Peninsula,  hold  about  ten  square 
miles  of  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the 
peninsula,  the  occupancy  of  which  is 
maintained  with  the  greatest  difficulties. 

The  ground  held  by  the  Allies  consists 
principally  of  a  small  plateau  to  the 
north  of  Sedd-el-Bahr  and  two  adjoining 
ridges  to  the  northwest,  between  which 
the  Turks  are  pushing  advance  trenches. 

The  Associated  Press  correspondent, 
who  spent  two  days  in  the  trenches, 
found  the  Turkish  troops  in  excellent 
condition  and  spirits,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  Allies  were  using  every  conceiv- 
able means  to  carry  on  the  operations, 
including  bombs  thrown  from  catapults 
and  from  aeroplanes. 

From  the  Turkish  station  of  artillery 
fire  control  the  effect  of  the  Turkish 
fire  upon  the  allied  trenches  could  be 
observed  today,  and  the  shells  were 
reaching  the  mark.  The  sanitary  and 
supply  services  of  the  Turks  are  being 
carried  on  efficiently.  The  number  of 
wounded   at  the   hospital   bases   at   the 


front  was  small,  although  the  fighting 
during  the  night  had  been  fairly  severe. 

During  the  daytime  both  sides  are 
usually  inactive,  the  Turks  preferring 
night  bavonet  attacks.  Many  Turkish 
batteries  are  in  position,  but  the  near- 
ness of  the  opposing  trenches  makes 
their  work  difficult,  and  for  the  most 
part  they  are  directing  their  attention  to 
the  reserves  of  the  Allies  and  to  chang- 
ing shifts  which  are  exposed  at  certain 
points.  The  Turks,  in  this,  have  the  sup- 
port of  their  heavy  batteries  on  the 
Asiatic  side,  which,  since  the  retirement 
of  the  allied  fleet,  work  without  fear  of 
being  molested,  bombarding  chiefly  the 
allied  right  wing,  composed  of  French, 
home,  and  Colonial  troops. 

Weber  Pasha,  the  German  General 
commanding  the  south  group,  gave  the 
correspondent  every  opportunity  to  visit 
the  Sedd-el-Bahr  district,  placing  no  re- 
strictions whatever  upon  his  movements. 
The  result  was  a  thorough  inspection  of 
the  ground.  Weber  Pasha  made  no  com- 
ment on  the  situation  himself  beyond 
saying  that  "  the  failure  of  the  Allies  to 
consummate  their  plan  of  forcing  the 
Dardanelles  is  too  obvious  for  discus- 
sion." 

Weber  Pasha,  who  is  a  member  of  the 
German  military  mission  which  under- 
took the  improvement  of  the  Ottoman 
Army  organization,  is  fully  confident 
that  the-  Turks  will  be  able  to  meet  the 
Gallipoli  situation,  and  that  the  Allies 
will  never  advance  against  the  Darda- 
nelles forts. 

It  has  been  ascertained  that  only  a 
few  German  officers  are  active  in  the 
south  group.  German  privates  are  em- 
ployed in  special  lines. 

Krithia,  once  a  thriving  village  of 
about  4,000  inhabitants,  is  probably  the 
most  ruined  place  in  all  Europe.  The 
Allies  left  no  house  standing  during  their 
bombardment. 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS 
SEEN    BY    CARTOONISTS 


[American  Cartoon] 


An  Old  Time  Aeronaut 


—Frotri.   The  Plain  Dealer ,   Cleveland. 

Poor  Darius  Green,  he  tried  to  fly. 

721 


[American  Cartoon] 


A  Parthian  Brick 


i6iafcv 

—From    The    World,    New    Yj'.-Ic 


•'  God   Bless   You.' 


722 


[American  Cartoon] 


The  Benevolent  Assassin 


—From    The    Sun,    New    York. 


"Et  tu,  Brute!" 

723 


[American  Cartoon] 

The  Black  Flag 


—From    The  Herald,  New    York. 

Will  He  Haul  It  Down? 

7£4 


[American  Cartoon] 


A  Statesman's  Exit 


-From   The   Evening   Sun,  New   York. 


The  White  Feather. 


**'■  --i^'t^'tj^ 


725 


[American  Cartoon] 


"My  Heart  Bleeds  for  Karlsruhe'' 


—From   The  Sun,  New  York. 


"  Emperor  William  has  telegraphed  his  deep  indignation  at  the 
wicked  attack  upon  beloved  Karlsruhe.  The  poor  innocent  victims 
among  civilians  have  greatly  affected  him." — Berlin  Press  Dispatch. 


726 


[German-American  Cartoon] 


The  Sandwich  Man 


CULVER 


—From  The  Express,  Los  Angeles^ 


Peace  and  Prosperity. 


727 


[English  Cartoon] 

The  Two-handed  Sword 


—From    Punch,    London. 

[The  allusion  is  to  the  New  British  Coalition  Cabinet.] 

748 


[German  Cartoon] 


Wilson's  Wrapping  Paper 


— From    Simplicisaimus,    Munich. 

"  Here  is  a  sample  of  a  new  shell.     It  is  wrapped  up  in  a  little 
bit  of  a  protest — but  you  needn't  take  that  very  seriously." 

7«» 


[English  Cartoon] 


A  Haul  of  U-Boats 


-From    The   Sketch,   London 


The  British  Sea  Lion  returns  from  Shrimping. 

730 


[German  Cartoon] 


In  the  Carpathians 


—From  Lustige   Blaetter,   Berlin.'^'^' 

Look  out  Sisyphus,  the  fall  may  be  a  terrible  one! 


731 


[German  Cartoon] 


The  Sphinx  on  the  Bosporus 


— From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 


"  Come  in,  little  boats !    But  you'll  never  get  out  again !" 


732 


[English  Cartoon] 

Twice  Bitten  -Thrice  Shy 


— From   The  Byatander,  London. 

Bulgaria  contemplates  the  outlook  with  some  trepidation. 

783 


MAL  BO^GHE  TTO 
fpQNTAFEL  ^■^^^'^'^., 


TARVi; 


■'l'::i^^-./!i., 


i'.^^-.y 


MOGGIO^ 


:^RACCOLANA  >^/<^\      ;»-ymiTTELBRETH 'A       ^vf  "^  .■:^.. .    I/-./ 


RESIULLA 


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MTPLAJRl^ 


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MITTERDORF 

IN  » 


'*"^'"^*t»^'-     v^  "'''"'■  / 

3AVOGNA    ^'''''*"^.. 

GRIMAOCO   ,^'^"/r 

P02200L0\     \V^>W^^')°/  OMEDANA    ^V<^ 


'#»«v>. 


SEBREUE 


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PAm4NOVA^^WfiRADI5CA. 

lAenADO 

kDOBERDO 


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AN2IANO"       ^  ,   ,  ^ 

"^  "   "^  gABLJE> 


Map  of  the  frontier  between  Italy  and  Austria  where  the  Italians  were  advanc- 
ing on  June  18,  1915,  to  capture  Trieste.  The  boxed  numbers  indicate  altitudes  in 
meters. 


Italy  vs.  Austria-Hungary 

The  Italian  Invasion  and  Italo-Germanic 

Differences 

Official  reviews  of  the  first  month,  ending  June  23,  of  Italy's  war  with  Austria-Hungary 
are  still  lacking.*  On  May  24  it  was  officially  reported  in  London  that  Italy  had  given  her 
adhesion  to  the  agreement,  already  signed  by  the  allied  powers,  not  to  conclude  a  separate 
peace.  Active  war  operations  were  begun  by  Austria  on  the  same  day ;  bombs  were  dropped 
on  Venice  and  five  other  Adriatic  ports,  shelled  from  air  and  some  from  sea.  The  attackers 
were  driven  off. 

The  rapid  advance  of  the  Italian  armies  which  invaded  Austria  on  the  east  had  by  May 
27  carried  part  of  the  forces  across  the  Isonzo  River  to  Monfalcone,  sixteen  miles  northwest 
of  Trieste.  Another  force  penetrated  further  to  the  north  in  the  Crownland  of  Goritz  and 
Gradisca.  On  June  4  the  censored  news  from  Udine,  Italy,  reported  that  encounters  with 
the  enemy  thus  far  had  been  merely  outpost  skirmishes,  but  had  allowed  Italy  to  occupy 
advantageous  positions  in  Austrian  territory.  The  first  important  battle  of  the  Italian 
campaign,  for  the  possession  of  Tolmino,  was  reported  on  June  7. 

A  general  Italian  advance  took  place  on  June  7  across  the  Isonzo  River  from  Caporetto 
to  the  sea,  a  distance  of  about  forty  miles.  On  June  12  reports  from  the  Trentino  indicated 
an  Italian  advance  on  Rovereto  in  Tyrol,  thirteen  miles  southwest  of  Trent,  and  upon  Mori, 
near  by.  Monfalcone  was  taken  by  the  Italians  on  June  10 — the  first  serious  blow  against 
Trieste — as  Monfalcone  is  a  railway  junction  and  its  electrical  works  operate  the  light  and 
power  of  Trieste.  In  the  extreme  north,  on  the  threshold  of  the  Carnic  Alps,  after  three 
days'  fighting  it  was  reported  on  June  10  that  the  Italians  had  swept  the  Austrians  from 
Monte  Croce  and  possessed  themselves  of  Freikofel.  The  Austrian  city  of  Gradisca  was 
reported  taken  on  June  11,  as  indicated  in  an  official  statement  signed  by  Lieut.  Gen.  Count 
Cadorna,  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Italian  Army.  The  defenses  of  Goritz  were  shelled  by  the 
Italian  artillery  on  June  13,  and  on  June  14  the  Italian  eastern  army  had  pushed  forward 
along  the  Gulf  of  Trieste  toward  the  town  of  Nabresina,   nine  miles  from  Trieste. 

The  Italian  advance  was  checked — but  not  until  June  16,  more  than  three  weeks  after 
the  beginning  of  the  war — by  an  elaborate  system  of  intrenchments  prepared  by  the  Aus- 
trians along  the  Isonzo  River.  On  June  17  the  Italians  in  the  Trentino  had  arrived  at  the 
town  of  Mori,  where  their  forces  were  blocked  by  the  fortifications  between  that  town  and 
Rovereto.  On  June  18  a  dispatch  of  The  Associated  Press  from  Rome  reported  that  the 
Austrians  had  then  so  strengthened  their  forces  that  they  were  taking  the  offensive  both 
from  Mori  and  Rovereto  against  the  Italians,  who  were  encamped  at  Brentanico  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Altissimo,  at  Serravale,  situated  in  the  Lagardina  Valley,  and  also  in  the  Arsa 
Valley.     Tolmino,  on  Austria's  battlefront  to  the  north  of  Goritz,  was  being  heavily  fortified 


*In  an  Associated  Press  dispatch  from  Rome  which  the  picked  Austro-Hungarian  troops 

(via  Paris)  on  June  23  one  of  the  chief  Gen-  have  been  unable  to  dislodge  them, 

erals  in  the  Italian  War  Office  was  reported  Austrian   activity  has   been   chiefly   dis- 

to  have  summarized   the  first  month  of  the  played  in  bombarding  the  Italian  Adriatic 

campaign  about  as  follows:  towns. 

One  month  ago  the  Italians  invaded  Aus-  ^^^^  ^j^^^^  ^^.^  London)  on  June  23  the 
trian   territory,    uprooted   the  yellow   and  following    Austro-Hungarian   official   r^sumS 
black  poles  bearing  the  Austrian  eagle,  and  ^^  ^j^^  operations  of  the  first  month  of  war 
occupied  the  enemy  posit.ons  alcng  a  front  ^long  the  Italian  frontier  was  issued : 
of  500  miles.    An  Austrian  squadron  bom- 
barded the  Italian  coast  on  the  Adriacic,  During  the  first  month  of  the  war  the 
and   Austrian    aeroplanes   dropped    eleven  Italians  have  gained  no  great  success.    Our 
bombs  on  Venice.  troops  in  the  southwest  maintain  their  po- 
During  this  month  the  Italians  overran  sitions  as  in  the  beginning,  on  or  near  Uve 
the  whole  of  Priuli.     The  capture  of  Tol-  frontier. 

mino  and  Goritz,  the  two  Austrian  strong-  On  the  Isonzo  front  in  the  fortified  fron- 

holds,  is  considered  imminent,  which  woull  tier   district   from    Flitsch    to    Malborgeth, 

open  the  way  to  Trieste;  while  in  the  Al-  on   the    Carinthian    ridge,    and    on    all    the 

pine  negion  in  the  province  of  Trent  they  fronts  of  Tyrol,  all  enemy  attempts  at  an 

have  conquered   peaks  ajid   passes,   from  advance  have  collapsed  with  heavy  losses. 


736  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

by  the  Austrians  with  a  garrison  of  some  SO.OOO  men,  this  place  being  considered  indispensable 
to  their  operations  as  the  key  to  the  Isonzo  Valley.  On  June  20,  the  fourth  week  of  the  war, 
was  reported  by  General  Cadorna  as  marking  a  brilliant  victory  at  Plava.  But  on  the 
following  day  reports  from  Rome  indicated  that  the  Italians  were  encountering  strong  and 
better-organized  resistance  from  the  Austrians.  On  June  22  dispatches  from  the  Italian 
front  to  Berlin  declared  that  serious  reverses  had  been  experienced  by  the  Italians  in  their 
attempts  to  storm  the  Austro-Hungarian  line  along  the  Isonzo  River. 

Two  things  have  puzzled  the  public :  First,  the  status  of  Germany  in  regard  to  Italy  de- 
claring war  against  Austria-Hungary,  arraying  herself  on  the  side  of  the  Eentente  powers, 
and  pledging  herself,  in  turn,  as  each  of  them  had  done,  not  to  make  a  separate  paece 
with  the  enemy,  and,  second,  the  apparent  weakness  of  the  Austrian  defensive  in  the  Tren- 
tino  and  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  Venetia. 

Diplomatic  relations  between  Rome  and  Berlin  have  been  severed,  but  neither  Chancellery 
has  yet  (June  23)  found  the  other  guilty  of  an  aggression  sufficiently  grave  to  warrant  a  dec- 
laration of  war.  There  is  nothing  astonishing  in  this  situation.  A  similar  situation  obtained 
between  Paris  and  Vienna  and  London  and  Vienna  long  after  a  state  of  war  existed  between 
Germany  and  Russia,  France,  and  England. 

The  Italian  plan  of  campaign  apparently  consists  (1)  in  neutralizing  the  Trentino  by 
capturing  or  "  covering  "  her  defenses  and  cutting  her  two  lines  of  communication  with 
Austria  proper — the  railway  which  runs  south  from  Innsbruck  and  that  which  runs  south- 
west from  Vienna  and  Joins  the  former  at  Franzensfeste,  and  (2)  in  a  movement  in  force  from 
the  eastern  frontier,  with  Trieste  captured  or  "  covered  "  on  the  right  flank,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Austrian  fortress  of  Klagenfurt  and  Vienna,  only  170  miles  northeast  from  the 
present  base  of  operations— a  distance  equal  to  that  from  New  York  City  to  Cape  Cod. 

The  initial  weakness  of  the  Austrian  defensive,  which  will  doubtless  be  strengthened  as 
troops  can  be  spared  from  the  seat  of  war  in  Galicia,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  invaded 
regions  are  normally  defended  by  the  Fourteenth  and  Third  Army  Corps,  which  were,  in 
August,  sent  with  two  reserve  corps  to  defend  the  Austrian  line  in  Galicia.  To  fill  the  cas- 
ualties in  these  corps  the  drain  on  the  population  has  been  great,  so  that  when  Italy  began 
her  invasion  the  defenses  of  the  country  were  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  hastily  mobilized 
youths  below  the  military  age  of  19  and  men  above  the  military  age  of  42. 

During  the  last  six  months,  when  Vienna  gradually  came  to  realize  that  war  with  Italy 
was  inevitable,  the  Austro-Hungarian  military  authorities  enrolled  a  new  army  of  men  who 
had  already  seen  military  service,  but,  for  various  reasons,  had  not  been  availed  of  in  the 
present  war.  They  were  men  of  an  unusually  high  mental  and  physical  standard  and  had 
received  additional  training  under  German  officers.  Their  ages  were  from  35  to  40,  and  they 
numbered  from  700,000  to  800,000.  On  the  desire  of  the  German  War  Office  this  new  army, 
which  should  have  been  sent  to  the  Italian  frontiers,  was  diverted  to  Galicia  toward  the  last 
of  April,  and  since  then  has  been  the  backbone  of  the  Teutonic  drive  against  Russia  in  that 
region. 

Below  are  given  a  sketch  of  the  Alpine  frontier  by  G.  H.  Ferris,  appearing  in  The  London 
Chronicle  of  May  29;  Colonel  Murray's  article  on  Italy's  armed  strength,  and  the  speeches 
of  mutual  defiance  uttered  by  the  German  Imperial  Chancellor  in  the  Reichstag  or  May  28 
and  the  Italian  Premier  at  the  Capitol  in  Rome  on  June  2. 

t 

The  Armed  Strength  of  Italy 

By  Colonel  A.  M.  Murray,  C.  B. 

The  article  presented  below  originally  appeared  in  The  London  Daily  News  of  May  21,  1915. 

The     organization     of     the     military  Every  man  in  Italy  is  liable  to  mili- 

forces   of   Italy   is   based   upon   the   law  tary    service    for    a   period    of   nineteen 

of    organization    of     1887    and     the     re-  years   from   the   age   of   20   to   39.     All 

cruiting    law    of    1888.        Modifications  young  men  on  reaching  the  age  of  20,  if 

have  been  made  in  these  laws  from  time  passed  medically  fit  for  military  service, 

to  time  in  regard  to  the  strength  of  the  are  divided  into  three  categories — first, 

annual     contingent     trained     with     the  those  who  are  taken  by  lot  for  color  ser- 

colors  and  the  duration   of  the  periods  vice;  second,  those  for  whom  there  is  no 

of  training,  but  the  original  laws  have  room  with  the  colors,  and,  third,  those 

not  been  altered  in  principle,  and  have  who  are  exempted  from  military  service 

now  had  time  to  completely  materialize,  for    family    reasons    specified    by    law. 


ITALY   VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


737 


Men  placed  in  the  first  category  serve 
for  two  years  with  the  colors,  after 
which  they  go  to  the  active  army  reserve 
for  six  years.  Men  in  the  second  cate- 
gory are  sent  at  once  into  the  active 
army  reserve  for  the  period  of  eight 
years,  after  which  both  they  and  the 
men  in  the  first  category  are  passed 
into  the  mobile  militia  reserve  for  four 
years,  and  subsequently  into  the  terri- 
torial militia  for  seven  years,  making 
nineteen  years  altogether.  The  men  in 
the  third  category  pass  all  their  nine- 
teen years'  obligatory  period  of  military 
service  in  the  territorial  militia,  receiv- 
ing no  training  whatever  till  they  are 
called  up  to  their  depots  when  mobiliza- 
tion is  ordered.  The  following  table 
shows  the  periods  of  service  of  the  men 
according  to  the  categories  in  which  they 
are  placed  by  the  recruiting  authorities. 
The  figures  are  years: 


RESERVE 
ACTIVE   ARMY.  ARMY. 

With      In  Terri- 

the    the  Re-  Mobile     torial    Tot. 
Categories.  Colors,  serve.  Militia.  Militia.  Yrs. 

First 2  6  4  7  19 

Second 8  4  7  19 

Third 19  19 


In  the  above  table  the  mobile  militia 
corresponds  to  the  German  Landwehr, 
and  the  territorial  militia  to  the  Land- 
sturm. 

After  deducting  emigrants,  men  put 
back  for  the  following  year,  those  who 
are  medically  unfit,  and  one-year  volun- 
teers, the  average  number  of  recruits 
placed  each  year  in  the  first  category  is 
approximately  150,000,  in  the  second  cate- 
gory 36,000,  and  in  the  third  category 
28,000.  All  men  in  the  first  category 
are  fully  trained,  while  those  in  the  second 
category,  who  correspond  to  the  German 
Ersatz  Reserve,  are  only  partially 
trained,  being  called  up  at  the  discretion 
of  the  War  Minister  for  one  or  more 
periods  of  training  not  exceeding  twelve 
months  altogether  during  their  eight 
years'  service. 

Last  year's  returns,  which  were  pub- 
lished in  the  Italian  press,  gave  the  ap- 


proximate war  strength  of  the  army  as 
under: 

Officers     41,692 

Active    army    (with    colors) 289,910 

Reserve   (including  men  of  first  and 

and  second  categories) 638,979 

Mobile    militia    299,596 

Territorial    militia    1,889,659 

Total    war   strength 3,159,836 

According  to  a  calculation,  which  need 
not  be  given  in  detail  here,  the  above 
number  of  total  men  available  includes 
upward  of  1,200,000  fully  trained  soldiers, 
who  have  been  through  the  ranks,  with 
perhaps  another  800,000  partially  trained 
men  of  the  second  category,  the  remain- 
ing million  being  completely  untrained 
men,  who  have  passed  all  their  nineteen 
years  of  obligatory  service  in  the  third 
category. 

The  organization  for  putting  the  above 
numbers  of  men  into  the  field  is  as  fol- 
lows: The  fully  trained  men  are  orga- 
nized in  four  armies,  each  army  consist- 
ing of  three  corps,  one  cavalry  division, 
and  a  number  of  troops  for  the  lines  of 
communication.  The  twelve  corps  are 
recruited  and  organized  on  a  territorial 
basis,  each  corps  having  its  allotted  area, 
as  shown  in  the  sketch,  which  also  indi- 
cates the  locality  of  corps  headquarters. 
The  Italian  army  corps,  which  is  larger 
than  that  in  other  European  armies,  is 
composed  of  two  active  army  divisions, 
with  thirty  guns  each,  one  mobile  militia 
division,  brought  up  to  strength  from  the 
territorial  militia,  one  regiment  of  Ber- 
saglieri,  or  light  infantry,  one  cavalry 
regiment,  one  field  artillery  regiment  of 
six  batteries,  (corps  artillery,)  and  other 
technical  and  administrative  units.  The 
strength  of  the  corps  amounts  to  50,000 
men,  with  8,400  horses  and  126  guns, 
and  this  gives  each  of  the  four  armies 
a  strength  of  150,000  men,  25,200  horses, 
and  378  guns,  with  the  addition  of  a 
cavalry  division  of  4,200  sabres.  The 
first  line  Italian  army,  therefore,  which 
can  be  put  into  the  field  seven  days  after 
mobilization  is  ordered  amounts  to  600,- 
000  men,  100,800  horses,  1,512  guns,  and 
16,200  sabres.  But  these  cadres  only  ab- 
sorb half  the  fully  trained  men  called 
out  on  mobilization;  duplicate  corps  will 


738 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


'^l^'^f: 


-a  ^  ^ 


ARMY   CORP'b 
IFRONXIER«. 
BORDERS   OF  ARtir 


Map  showing  the  Military  Districts  of  Italy. 


consequently  be  formed  to  take  the  place 
of  the  twelve  first-line  corps  as  soon  as 
they  have  been  dispatched  to  their  con- 
centration rendezvous.  It  is  believed  that 
sufficient  guns  have  now  been  provided 
for  these  twelve  duplicate  corps,  but  it 
is  unlikely  that  more  than  two  cavalry 
divisions  could  be  formed  in  addition  to 
the  four  divisions  with  the  first-line 
armies.  These  duplicate  corps  would  be 
ready  to   take  the  field   three  or  four 


weeks  after  the  concentration  of  the  first 
twelve  corps.  The  above  calculations 
show  that  within  a  few  weeks  after  the 
declaration  of  war  Italy  can  place  in  the 
field  a  force  of  1,200,000  men,  (24  corps,) 
and  would  still  have  1,800,000  men  of 
fighting  age  left  at  the  depots  after  the 
field  armies  had  been  dispatched  to  the 
front. 

The  infantry  are  armed  with  the  Mann- 
licher    (1891)    rifle,    the    field    artillery 


ITALY  VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


739 


with  the  75-millimeter  quick-firing  Krupp 
gun,  (1906,)  and  the  mountain  batteries, 
of  which  there  are  twenty-four,  with  a 
new  65-millimeter  (2.56-inch)  quick- 
firing  gun  of  Italian  construction.  The 
heavy  artillery  is  armed  with  a  149-milli- 
meter field  howitzer,  also  of  Italian  con- 
struction. 

The  organization  of  the  Italian  Army 
and  the  ruality  of  the  troops  composing 
it  were  both  tested  in  the  Tripoli  cam- 
paign, (1911-12,)  and  all  military  judges 
agree  that  the  results  prove  the  army 
to  have  reached  a  high  standard  of  effi- 
ciency. The  mobilization  was  only  par- 
tial, but  it  was  well  carried  out,  and  be- 
tween October  and  December,  1911,  90,- 
000  men,  with  12,000  horses,  were  trans- 
ported to  Tripoli  and  Benghasi  without 
a  single  hitch.  Italian  officers  are  well 
educated,  and  the  men  are  brave  and  dis- 
ciplined. Unlike  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Army,  which  is  composed  of  men  split 
into  a  variety  of  racial  sections,  the 
Italian  Army  is  absolutely  homogeneous, 
and  the  troops  will  enter  the  European 
struggle  with  the  moral  consciousness 
that  they  are  fighting,  not  with  aggres- 
siv  2  intentions,  but  for  the  principle  of 
nationality,  which  is  the  keynote  to  that 
marvelous  progress  which  Italy  has  made 
since  she  became  a  nation  in  1860. 

The  Italian  Navy  has  ten  up-to-date 
battleships  in  commission,  all  armed  with 
twelve-inch  gxins,  six  of  these  being  pre- 
dreadnoughts  and  four  quite  recently 
built  dreadnoughts.  These  four  latter 
ships    carry    a    more    powerful    primary 


armament  than  the  battleships  of  any 
other  European  country,  the  Dante  Ali- 
ghieri,  the  first  of  the  type  built,  carry- 
ing twelve  and  the  Conte  di  Cavour,  Leo- 
nardo-da-Vinci, and  Giulio  Cesare  thir- 
teen twelve-inch  guns  mounted  on  the 
triple-turret  system.  Two  more  ships  of 
the  same  class — the  Caio  Duilio  and  An- 
drea Dorea — are  due  to  be  commissioned 
this  Autumn,  and  their  completion  will 
doubtless  now  be  accelerated.  Then  there 
are  four  more  battleships  under  con- 
struction, known  as  the  Dandolo  class — 
the  Dandolo,  Morosini,  Mazzini,  and  Ma- 
meli — two  of  which  are  due  to  be 
launched  in  1916  and  two  others  in  1917. 
When  completed  these  ships  will  be  equal 
in  gun  power  and  speed  to  the  ships  of 
the  Queen  Elizabeth  class,  for  they  will 
carry  eight  fifteen-inch  guns  paired  in 
four  turrets — the  triple-turret  system 
having  been  abandoned — twenty  six-inch 
and  twenty-two  fourteen-pr.  guns,  their 
speed  being  25  knots.  Besides  these  ten, 
or  practically  twelve,  completed  battle- 
ships, Italy  has  ten  armored  cruisers  in 
commission  and  three  twenty-eight  knot 
light  cruisers,  but  no  fastgoing  battle 
cruisers  corresponding  to  those  in  the 
British  and  German  Navies.  She  has  also 
twenty-seven  completed  destroyers  and 
thirteen  thirty-two  knot  destroyers  laid 
down,  along  with  fifty-one  torpedo  boats 
and  sixteen  submarines,  with  four  others 
building.  With  this  fleet,  which  is  half 
as  strong  again  as  the  Austrian  fleet, 
Italy  can  secure  complete  control  of  the 
Adriatic  Sea  and  lock  up  the  Austrian 
ships  in  Pola. 


The  Alpine  Frontier 

By  G.  H.  Ferris. 

[This  article  appeared  originally  in  The  London  Dally  Chronicle  of  May  29,  1915.J 


We  have  all  learned  a  good  deal  of 
French,  Russian,  and  Austrian  geography 
in  the  last  ten  months;  and,  in  the  same 
sad  school,  we  shall  now  become  better 
acquainted  with  the  region  of  mountain 
and  plain  which,  through  and  for  140 
miles  east  of  Lake  Garda,  is  the  Austro- 


Italian  borderland,  and  with  the  north- 
eastern coast  of  the  Adriatic,  where  there 
will  be  important  side  issues.  There  is 
this  great  difference,  among  others,  be- 
tween the  Adriatic  and  the  Alpine  mili- 
tary problems:  On  the  one  side,  the 
Germanic  powers  can  now  only  assume 


740 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  defensive;  on  the  other,  they  can,  and 
probably  will,  attempt  the  invasion  of 
provinces  dear  not  only  to  Italians,  for 
their  homes  and  a  splendid  galaxy  of  his- 
toric associations,  but  to  cultivated  minds 
throughout  the  world  for  treasures  of  art 
abounding  even  in  the  humblest  towns 
and  villages. 

The  irregularity  of  this  northern  fron- 
tier is  the  product  of  an  unhappy  history; 
it  does  not  follow  the  line  of  the  moun- 
tain summits  or  any  other  natural  fea- 
ture, and  still  less  is  it  a  limit  marked 
by  race  or  language.  A  glance  at  the 
map  shows  its  salient  characteristic — 
the  piece  of  the  Austrian  Tyrol,  from 
forty  to  sixty  miles  wide,  which  is  thrust 
southward  toward  the  great  plain  of 
Lombardy  and  Venetia,  and  toward  the 
four  provincial  capitals,  Brescia,  Verona, 
Vicenza,  and  Belluno.  The  Trentino — as 
it  is  called,  after  the  very  ancient  city 
of  Trent,  once  the  chief  town  of  Tyrol, 
now  a  market  centre  dignified  by  many 
towers  and  poverty-stricken  palaces 
and  castles — is  thoroughly  Italian;  but 
it  still  gathers  much  of  its  importance, 
as  it  has  done  ever  since  Roman  times, 
from  the  fact  that  the  best  and  oldest 
road  from  Germany  and  West  Austria 
over  the  Alps  runs  through  it  to  Verona. 
For  nearly  half  a  century  one  of  the 
grandest  of  mountain  railways  has  fol- 
lowed this  olden  track  of  conquest  and 
pilgrimage,  from  Innsbruck  over  the 
Brenner  Pass,  through  Botzen,  and  down 
the  Adige  Valley.  More  recently  a  branch 
line  has  been  built  which  runs  from  Trent 
southeastward    to    Padua   and   Venice. 

It  is  not  only  the  Italian  resistance 
to  Austrian  aggression  and  tyranny  that 
has  made  this  doorway  into  the  lowlands 
about  the  Po  a  vast  battlefield.  From 
the  Middle  Ages  onward  France  and 
Austria  constantly  fought  out  their  quar- 
rels here.  In  1796,  Napoleon,  after  rout- 
ing Marshal  Wurmser  at  Lonato  and 
Castiglione,  small  towns  to  the  south  of 
the  Lake  of  Garda,  drove  him  up  the 
Adige  Valley  to  Trent,  and  then  round 
the  side  track  already  named,  the  Brenta 
Valley,  by  Bassano  back  to  Mantua.  In 
1848  the  Piedmontese  Army  advanced 
upon  the  famous  quadrilateral  of  fort- 
resses, then  Austrian,  covering  the  entry 


— Mantua  and  Peschiera  on  the  Mincio, 
Verona  and  Legnago  on  the  Adige. 
Charles  Albert  was  far  from  being  an- 
other Napoleon;  and  the  three  days'  bat- 
tle of  Custoza,  when  four  weary  and  ill- 
found  Italian  brigades  held  out  against 
Radetzky's  five  army  corps,  did  not  serve 
to  turn  the  tide  of  the  national  fortunes. 
That  year  saw  the  first  appearance  of 
Garibaldi  as  a  military  leader  and  the 
accession  of  the  present  Austrian  Em- 
peror; and  it  is  strange  now  to  recall 
that  in  the  war  of  1859,  when  Lombardy 
was  liberated  by  the  French  and  Sar- 
dinian Armies,  this  same  Francis  Joseph 
was  actually  in  command  of  the  Austrian 
forces.  The  battle  of  Solferino,  fought 
on  a  front  of  five  leagues,  along  the  hills 
to  the  south  of  Lake  Garda,  was  a  ter- 
rible butchery,  even  by  the  worst  of  mod- 
ern standards,  for  in  twelve  hours  25,000 
of  the  300,000  combatants  were  killed  or 
wounded.  In  the  war  of  1866  Garibaldi 
took  a  body  of  volunteers  up  the  Adige; 
but  the  treaty  which  gave  Venetia  to  the 
new  Kingdom  of  Italy  left  the  Trentino 
still  to  be  recovered. 

The  Adige  and  Brenta  Valley  roads  to 
Trent  and  Botzen  are,  then,  clearly 
marked  out  for  Italian  effort  in  the  pres- 
ent juncture;  and  if  the  Austrians  have 
the  advantage  of  innumerable  defensive 
positions  on  the  mountain  heights,  they 
have  the  disadvantage  of  very  long  and 
frail  lines  of  supply  and  reinforcement. 
It  may  be  supposed  that  the  Alpine  regi- 
ments, which  are  in  some  ways  the 
flower  of  the  Italian  Army,  will  also  at- 
tempt the  lesser  approaches  to  Tyrol 
from  the  west,  by  the  Val  di  Sole  and 
the  Valtelline,  and  from  the  east  from 
Belluno  and  Pieve.  The  Brenner  rail- 
way, with  its  twenty-two  tunnels  and 
sixty  large  bridges,  is  peculiarly  vul- 
nerable. With  many  cities  and  good 
railways  behind  them,  and  a  popular  wel- 
come in  front,  the  Italian  troops,  on  the 
other  hand,  will  face  the  hill  roads,  now 
generally  free  from  snow,  with  confi- 
dence. 

Very  different  are  the  natural  condi- 
tions on  the  only  other  part  of  the  fron- 
tier where  the  hostile  forces  can  well 
come  to  grips.     The  Alps  gradually  fall 


ITALY  VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


741 


and  break  up  into  separate  ridges  as  we 
pass  east;  and  beyond  Udine  there  is  a 
flat  gap,  50  miles  wide,  beyond  which 
lies  Trieste,  with  its  fine  harbor  and 
predominantly  Italian  population.  Fur- 
ther north,  where  the  main  line  for 
Vienna  passes  the  border  at  Pontebba,  to 
penetrate  the  double  barrier  of  the  Ca- 
rinthian  and  Styrian  Alps,  there  can  be 
little  temptation  to  adventure  on  either 


side.  But  in  the  lowlands  of  Friuli  a 
beginning  has  been  made,  the  advance 
at  one  point,  Caporetto,  reaching  as  far 
as  the  River  Isonzo,  while  Terzo,  Cor- 
mons,  and  other  small  places  have  been 
occupied.  If  there  is  to  be  any  large- 
scale  warfare  on  the  Alpine  frontier,  it 
must  apparently  occur  either  in  this  gap 
or  in  and  about  the  Adige  Valley,  on  the 
way  to  Trent. 


"Italy's  Violation  of  Faith" 

By    Dr.   von    Bethmann-Hollweg,    German   Imperial    Chancellor. 

[Speech  in  the  Reichstag,   May  28,  1915.] 


When  I  spoke  eight  days  ago  there 
was  still  a  glimpse  of  hope  that  Italy's 
participation  in  the  war  could  be  avoided. 
That  hope  proved  fallacious.  German 
feeling  strove  against  the  belief  in  the 
possibility  of  such  a  change.  Italy  has 
now  inscribed  in  the  book  of  the  world's 
history,  in  letters  of  blood  which  will 
never  fade,  her  violation  of  faith. 

I  believe  Macchiavelli  once  said  that  a 
war  which  is  necessary  is  also  just. 
Viewed  from  this  sober,  practical,  po- 
litical standpoint,  which  leaves  out  of 
account  all  moral  considerations,  has  this 
war  been  necessary?  Is  it  not,  indeed, 
directly  mad?  [Cheers.]  Nobody  threat- 
ened Italy;  neither  Austria-Hungary  nor 
Germany.  Whether  the  Triple  Entente 
was  content  with  blandishments  alone 
history  will  show  later.  [Cheers.] 
Without  a  drop  of  blood  flowing,  and 
without  the  life  of  a  single  Italian  being 
endangered,  Italy  could  have  secured  the 
long  list  of  concessions  which  I  recently 
read  to  the  House — territory  in  Tyrol 
and  on  the  Isonzo  as  far  as  the  Italian 
speech  is  heard,  satisfaction  of  the  na- 
tional aspirations  in  Trieste,  a  free  hand 
in  Albania,  and  the  valuable  port  of 
Valona. 

Why  have  they  not  taken  it?  Do 
they,  perhaps,  wish  to  conquer  the  Ger- 
man Tyrol?  Hands  off!  [Prolonged 
cheers.]  Did  Italy  wish  to  provoke  Ger- 
many, to  whom  she  owes  so  much  in  her 
upward  growth  of  a  great  power,  and 
from  whom  she  is  not  separated  by  any 


conflict  of  interests  ?  We  left  Rome  in 
no  doubt  that  an  Italian  attack  on  Austro- 
Hungarian  troops  would  also  strike  the 
German  troops.  [Cheers.]  Why  did 
Rome  refuse  so  light-heartedly  the  pro- 
posals of  Vienna  ?  The  Italian  manifesto 
of  war,  which  conceals  an  uneasy  con- 
science behind  vain  phrases,  does  not  give 
us  any  explanation.  They  were  too  shy, 
perhaps,  to  say  openly  what  was  spread 
abroad  as  a  pretext  by  the  press  and  by 
gossip  in  the  lobbies  of  the  Chamber, 
namely,  that  Austria's  offer  came  too 
late  and  could  not  be  trusted. 

What  are  the  facts  ?  Italian  statesmen 
have  no  right  to  measure  the  trustworthi- 
ness of  other  nations  in  the  same  propor- 
tion as  they  measured  their  own  loyalty 
to  a  treaty.  [Loud  cheers.]  Germany, 
by  her  word,  guaranteed  that  the  con- 
cessions would  be  carried  through.  There 
was  no  occasion  for  distrust.  Why  too 
late  ?  On  May  4  the  Trentino  was  the 
same  territory  as  it  was  in  February, 
and  a  whole  series  of  concessions  had 
been  added  to  the  Trentino  of  which  no- 
body had  thought  in  the  Winter. 

It  was,  perhaps,  too  late  for  this  reason, 
that  while  the  Triple  Alliance,  the  ex- 
istence of  which  the  King  and  the  Gov- 
ernment had  expressly  acknowledged 
after  the  outbreak  of  war,  was  still  alive, 
Italian  statesmen  had  long  before  en- 
gaged themselves  so  deeply  with  the 
Triple  Entente  that  they  could  not  dis- 
entangle themselves.  There  were  indi- 
cations of  fluctuations  in  the  Romo  Cab- 


742 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


inet  as  far  back  as  December.  To  have 
two  irons  in  the  fire  is  always  useful. 
Before  this  Italy  had  shown  her  predilec- 
tion for  extra  dances.  [Cheers  and 
laughter.]  But  this  is  no  ballroom.  This 
is  a  bloody  battlefield  upon  which  Ger- 
many and  Austria-Hungary  are  fighting 
for  their  lives  against  a  world  of  enemies. 
The  statesmen  of  Rome  have  played 
against  their  own  people  the  same  game 
as  they  played  against  us. 

It  is  true  that  the  Italian-speaking  ter- 
ritory on  the  northern  frontier  has  al- 
ways been  the  dream  and  the  desire 
of  every  Italian,  but  the  great 
majority  of  the  Italian  people,  as 
well  as  the  majority  in  Parliament, 
did  not  want  to  know  anything  of 
war.  According  to  the  observation  of  the 
best  judge  of  the  situation  in  Italy,  in 
the  first  days  of  May  four-fifths  of  the 
Senate  and  two-thirds  of  the  Chamber 
were  against  war,  and  in  that  majority 
were  the  most  responsible  and  impor- 
tant statesmen.  But  common  sense  had 
no  say.  The  mob  alone  ruled.  Under 
the  kindly  disposed  toleration  and  with 
the  assistance  of  the  leading  statesmen 
of  a  Cabinet  fed  with  the  gold  of  the 
Triple  Entente,  the  mob,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  unscrupulous  war  instigators, 
was  roused  to  a  frenzy  of  blood  which 
threatened  the  King  with  revolution  and 
all  moderate  men  with  murder  if  they 
did  not  join  in  the  war  delirium. 

The  Italian  people  were  intentionally 
kept  in  the  dark  with  regard  to  the 
course  of  the  Austrian  negotiations  and 
the  extent  of  the  Austrian  concessions, 
and  so  it  came  about  that  after  the  res- 
ignation of  the  Salandra  Cabinet  nobody 
could  be  found  who  had  the  courage  to 
undertake  the  formation  of  a  new  Cab- 
inet, and  that  in  the  decisive  debate  no 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Party  in 
the  Senate  or  Chamber  even  attempted 
to  estimate  the  value  of  the  far-reaching 
Austrian  concessions.  In  the  frenzy  of 
war  honest  politicians  grew  dumb,  but 
when,  as  the  result  of  military  events, 
(as  we  hope  and  desire,)  the  Italian  peo- 
ple become  sober  again  it  will  recognize 
how  frivolously  it  was  instigated  to  take 
part  in  this  world  war. 

We   did   everything  possible   to   avoid 


the  alienation  of  Italy  from  the  Triple 
Alliance.  The  ungrateful  role  fell  to  us 
of  requiring  from  our  loyal  ally,  Austria, 
with  whose  armies  our  troops  share  daily 
wounds,  death,  and  victory,  the  purchase 
of  the  loyalty  of  the  third  party  to  the 
alliance  by  the  cession  of  old-inherited 
territory.  That  Austria-Hungary  went 
to  the  utmost  limit  possible  is  known. 
Prince  Bulow,  who  again  entered  into 
the  active  service  of  the  empire,  tried 
by  every  means,  his  diplomatic  ability, 
his  most  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Ital- 
ian situation  and  of  Italian  personages, 
to  come  to  an  understanding.  Though 
his  work  has  been  in  vain  the  entire  peo- 
ple are  grateful  to  him.  Also  this  storm 
we  shall  endure.  From  month  to  month 
we  grow  more  intimate  with  our  ally. 
From  the  Pilitza  to  the  Bukowina  we 
tenaciously  withstood  with  our  Austro- 
Hungarian  comrades  for  months  the 
gigantic  superiority  of  the  enemy.  Then 
we  victoriously  advanced. 

So  our  new  enemies  will  perish  through 
the  spirit  of  loyalty  and  the  friendship 
and  bravery  of  the  central  powers.  In 
this  war  Turkey  is  celebrating  a  brilliant 
regeneration.  The  whole  German  peo- 
ple follow  with  enthusiasm  the  different 
phases  of  the  obstinate,  victorious  resist- 
ance with  which  the  loyal  Turkish  Army 
and  fleet  repulse  the  attacks  of  their 
enemies  with  heavy  blows.  Against  the 
living  wall  of  our  warriors  in  the  west 
our  enemies  up  till  now  have  vainly 
stormed.  If  in  some  places  fighting 
fluctuates,  if  here  or  there  a  trench  or 
a  village  is  lost  or  won,  the  great  at- 
tempt of  our  adversaries  to  break 
through,  which  they  announced  five 
months  ago,  did  not  succeed,  and  will  not 
succeed.  They  will  perish  through  the 
heroic  bravery  of  our  soldiers. 

Up  till  now  our  enemies  have  sum- 
moned in  vain  against  us  all  the  forces 
of  the  world  and  a  gigantic  coalition  of 
brave  soldiers.  We  will  not  despise  our 
enemies,  as  our  adversaries  like  to  do. 
At  the  moment  when  the  mob  in  English 
towns  is  dancing  around  the  stake  at 
which  the  property  of  defenseless  Ger- 
mans is  burning,  the  English  Govern- 
ment dared  to  publish  a  document,  with 


ITALY  VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


743 


the  evidence  of  unnamed  witnesses,  on 
the  alleged  cruelties  in  Belgium,  which 
are  of  so  monstrous  a  character  that 
only  mad  brains  could  believe  them.  But 
while  the  English  press  does  not  permit 
itself  to  be  deprived  of  news,  the  terror 
of  the  censorship  reigns  in  Paris.  No 
casualty  lists  appear,  and  no  German 
or  Austrian  communiques  may  be  printed. 
Severely  wounded  invalids  are  kept  away 
from  their  relations,  and  real  fear  of  the 
truth  appears  to  be  the  motive  of  the 
Government. 

Thus  it  comes  about,  according  to 
trustworthy  observation,  that  there  is  no 
knowledge  of  the  heavy  defeats  which 
the  Russians  have  sustained,  and  the  be- 
lief continues  in  the  Russian  "  steam- 
roller "  advancing  on  Berlin,  which  is 
"  perishing  from  starvation  and  misery," 
and  confidence  exists  in  the  great  of- 
fensive in  the  west,  which  for  months  has 
not  progressed.  If  the  Governments  of 
hostile  States  believe  that  by  the  decep- 
tion of  the  people  and  by  unchaining 
blind  hatred  they  can  shift  the  blame  for 
the  crime  of  this  war  and  postpone  the 
day  of  awakening,  we,  relying  on  our 
good  conscience,  a  just  cause,  and  a  vic- 
torious sword,  will  not  allow  ourselves 
to  be  forced  by  a  hair's  breadth  from  the 
path  which  we  have  always  recognized 


as  right.  Amid  this  confusion  of  minds 
on  the  other  side,  the  German  people 
goes  on  its  own  way,  calm  and  sure. 

Not  in  hatred  do  we  wage  this  war, 
but  in  anger — [loud  cheers] — in  holy  an- 
ger. [Renewed  cheers  from  all  parts  of 
the  House.]  The  greater  the  danger  we 
have  to  confront,  surrounded  on  all  sides 
by  enemies,  the  more  deeply  does  the  love 
of  home  grip  our  hearts,  the  more  must 
we  care  for  our  children  and  grandchil- 
dren, and  the  more  must  we  endure  un- 
til we  have  conquered  and  have  secured 
every  possible  real  guarantee  and  assur- 
ance that  no  enemy  alone  or  combined 
will  dare  again  a  trial  of  arms.  [Loud 
cheers.]  The  more  wildly  the  storm 
rages  around  us  the  more  firmly  must 
we  build  our  own  house.  For  this  con- 
sciousness of  united  strength,  unshaken 
courage,  and  boundless  devotion,  which 
inspire  the  whole  people,  and  for  the 
loyal  co-operation  which  you,  gentlemen, 
from  the  first  day  have  given  to  the 
Fatherland,  I  bring  you,  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  entire  people,  the  warm 
thanks  of  the  Emperor. 

In  the  mutual  confidence  that  we  are 
all  united  we  will  conquer,  despite  a 
world  of  enemies.  [Loud  and  prolonged 
applause.] 


Why  Italy  Went  to  War 

By  Signer  Salandra,  Italian  Premier 

[Speech  in  the  Roman  Capitol  on  June  2,  1915.] 


I  address  myself  to  Italy  and  to  the 
civilized  world  in  order  to  show  not  by 
violent  words,  [cheers,]  but  by  exact 
facts  and  documents,  how  the  fury  of 
our  enemies  has  vainly  attempted  to 
diminish  the  high  moral  and  political  dig- 
nity of  the  cause  which  our  arms  will 
make  prevail.  I  shall  speak  with  the 
calm  of  which  the  King  of  Italy  has  given 
a  noble  example,  [loud  cheers,  and  shouts 
of  "  Long  live  the  King!  "]  when  he 
called  his  land  and  sea  forces  to  arms. 
I  shall  speak  with  the  respect  due  to  my 
position  and  to  the  place  in  which  I  speak. 
I  can  afford  to  ignore  the  insults  written 


in  Imperial,  Royal,  and  Archducal  proc- 
lamations. Since  I  speak  from  the  Capi- 
tol, and  represent  in  this  solemn  hour  the 
people  and  the  Government  of  Italy,  I,  a 
modest  citizen,  feel  that  I  am  far  nobler 
than  the  head  of  the  house  of  the  Habs- 
burgs.     [Loud  cheers.] 

The  commonplace  statesmen  who,  in 
rash  frivolity  of  mind  and  mistaken  in 
all  their  calculations,  set  fire  last  July 
to  the  whole  of  Europe  and  even  to  their 
own  hearths  and  homes,  have  now  noticed 
their  fresh  colossal  mistake,  and  in  the 
Parliaments  of  Budapest  and  Berlin  have 
poured  forth  brutal  invective  of  Italy  and 


744 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


her  Government  with  the  obvious  design 
of  securing  the  forgiveness  of  their  fel- 
low-citizens and  intoxicating  them  with 
cruel  visions  of  hatred  and  blood. 
["  Bravo!  "]  The  German  Chancellor 
said  he  was  imbued  not  with  hatred,  but 
with  anger,  and  he  spoke  the  truth,  be- 
cause he  reasoned  badly,  as  is  usually 
the  case  in  fits  of  rage.  ["  Hear,  hear!  " 
and  laughter.]  I  could  not,  even  if  I 
chose,  imitate  their  language.  An  ata- 
vistic throwback  to  primitive  barbarism 
is  more  difficult  for  us  who  have  twenty 
centuries  behind  us  more  than  they 
have.     ["Hear,  hear!"] 

The  fundamental  thesis  of  the  states- 
men of  Central  Europe  is  to  be  found  in 
the  words  "  treason  and  surprise  on  the 
part  of  Italy  toward  her  faithful  allies." 
It  would  be  easy  to  ask  if  he  has  any 
right  to  speak  of  alliance  and  respect  for 
treaties  who,  representing  with  infinitely 
less  genius,  but  with  equal  moral  indif- 
ference, the  tradition  of  Frederick  the 
Great  and  Bismarck  proclaimed  that 
necessity  knows  no  law,  and  consented  to 
his  country  trampling  under  foot  and 
burying  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  all 
the  documents  and  all  the  customs  of 
civilization  and  international  law. 
[Cheers.]  But  that  would  be  too  easy  an 
argument.  Let  us  examine,  on  the  con- 
trary, positively  and  calmly,  if  our  for- 
mer allies  are  entitled  to  say  that  they 
were  betrayed  and  surprised  by  us. 

Our  aspirations  had  long  been  known, 
as  was  also  our  judgment  on  the  act  of 
criminal  madness  by  which  they  shook 
the  world  and  robbed  the  alliance  itself  of 
its  closest  raison  d'etre.  The  Green  Book 
prepared  by  Baron  Sonnino,  with  whom 
it  is  the  pride  of  my  life  to  stand  united 
in  entire  harmony  in  this  solemn  hour 
after  thirty  years  of  friendship — [pro- 
longed cheers  and  shouts  of  "  Long  live 
Sonnino!"] — shows  the  long,  difficult, 
and  useless  negotiations  that  took  place 
between  December  and  May.  But  it  is 
not  true,  as  has  been  asserted  without  a 
shadow  of  foundation,  that  the  Ministry 
reconstituted  last  November  made  a 
change  in  the  direction  of  our  interna- 
tional policy.  The  Italian  Government, 
whose  policy  has  never  changed,  severely 


condemned,  at  the  very  moment  when  it 
learned  of  it,  the  aggression  of  Austria 
against  Serbia,  and  foresaw  the  conse- 
quences of  that  aggression,  consequences 
which  had  not  been  foreseen  by  those 
who  had  premeditated  the  stroke  with 
such  lack  of  conscience. 

As  proof  of  this  statement,  Signor 
Salandra  read  the  following  telegram 
sent  by  the  Marquis  di  San  Giuliano  to 
the  Duke  of  Avarna  {Italian  Minister  in 
Vienna)  on  July  25  last: 

"Salandra,  von  Flotow,  and  myself  have 
had  a  long  conversation.  Salandra  and  I 
emphatically  pointed  out  to  von  Flotow 
that  Austria  had  no  right,  according  to 
the  spirit  of  the  treaty  of  the  Triple  Alli- 
ance, to  make  a  demarche  like  that  made 
in  Belgrade  without  coming  to  an  agree- 
ment  beforehand   with   her   allies." 

In  effect,  [continued  Signor  Salandra,] 
Austria,  in  consequence  of  the  terms  in 
which  her  note  was  couched,  and  in  con- 
sequence of  the  things  demanded,  which, 
while  of  little  effect  against  the  Pan- 
Serbian  danger,  were  profoundly  offen- 
sive to  Serbia,  and  indirectly  so  to  Rus- 
sia, had  clearly  shown  that  she  wished  to 
provoke  war.  Hence  we  declared  to  von 
Flotow  that,  in  consequence  of  this  pro- 
cedure on  the  part  of  Austria  and  in  con- 
sequence of  the  defensive  and  conserva- 
tive character  of  the  Triple  Alliance 
Treaty,  Italy  was  under  no  obligation  to 
assist  Austria  if,  as  the  result  of  this 
demarche,  she  found  herself  at  war  with 
Russia,  because  any  European  war  would 
in  such  an  event  be  the  consequence  of 
the  act  of  provocation  and  aggression 
committed  by  Austria. 

The  Italian  Government  on  July  27 
and  28  emphasized  in  clear  and  unmis- 
takable language  to  Berlin  and  Vienna 
the  question  of  the  cession  of  the  Italian 
provinces  subject  to  Austria,  and  we  de- 
clared that  if  we  did  not  obtain  adequate 
compensation  the  Triple  Alliance  would 
have  been  irreparably  broken.  [Loud  and 
prolonged  cheers.]  Impartial  history  will 
say  that  Austria,  having  found  Italy  in 
July,  1913,  and  in  October,  1913,  hostile 
to  her  intentions  of  aggression  against 
Serbia,  attempted  last  Summer,  in  agree- 


ITALY  VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


745 


merit  with  Germany,  the  method  of  sur- 
prise and  the  fait  accompli. 

The  horrible  crime  of  Serajevo  was  ex- 
ploited as  a  pretext  a  month  after  it 
happened — this  was  proved  by  the  re- 
fusal of  Austria  to  accept  the  very  ex- 
tensive offers  of  Serbia — nor  at  the  mo- 
ment of  the  general  conflagration  would 
Austria  have  been  satisfied  with  the  un- 
conditional acceptance  of  the  ultimatum. 
Count  Berchtold  on  July  31  declared  to 
the  Duke  of  Avarna  that,  if  there  had 
been  a  possibility  of  mediation  being  ex- 
ercised, it  could  not  have  interrupted 
hostilities,  which  had  already  begun  with 
Serbia.  This  was  the  mediation  for 
which  Great  Britain  and  Italy  were 
working.  In  any  case,  Count  Berchtold 
was  not  disposed  to  accept  mediation 
tending  to  weaken  the  conditions  indi- 
cated in  the  Austrian  note,  which,  nat- 
urally, would  have  been  increased  at  the 
end  of  the  war. 

If,  moreover,  Serbia  had  decided  mean- 
while to  accept  the  aforementioned  note 
in  its  entirety,  declaring  herself  ready  to 
agree  to  the  conditions  imposed  on  her, 
that  would  not  have  persuaded  Austria 
to  cease  hostilities.  It  is  not  true,  as 
Count  Tisza  declared,  that  Austria  did 
not  undertake  to  make  territorial  ac- 
quisitions to  the  detriment  of  Serbia, 
who,  moreover,  by  accepting  all  the  con- 
ditions imposed  upon  her,  would  have 
become  a  subject  State.  The  Austrian 
Ambassador,  Herr  Merey  von  Kapos- 
Mere,  on  July  30,  stated  to  the  Marquis 
di  San  Giuliano  that  Austria  could  not 
make  a  binding  declaration  on  this  sub- 
ject, because  she  could  not  foresee 
whether,  during  the  war,  she  might  not 
be  obliged,  against  her  will,  to  keep  Ser- 
bian territory.     [Sensation.] 

On  July  29  Count  Berchtold  stated  to 
the  Duke  of  Avarna  that  he  was  not 
inclined  to  enter  into  any  engagement 
concerning  the  eventual  conduct  of  Aus- 
tria in  the  case  of  a  conflict  with  Serbia. 

Where  is,  then,  the  treason,  the  in- 
iquity, the  surprise,  if,  after  nine  months 
of  vain  efforts  to  reach  an  honorable 
understanding  which  recognized  in  equi- 
table measure  our  rights  and  our  lib- 
erties,   we    resumed    liberty    of    action? 


The  truth  is  that  Austria  and  Germany 
believed  until  the  last  days  that  they 
had  to  deal  with  an  Italy  weak,  bluster- 
ing, but  not  acting,  capable  of  trying 
blackmail,  but  not  enforcing  by  arms 
her  good  right,  with  an  Italy  which 
could  be  paralyzed  by  spending  a  few 
millions,  and  which  by  dealings  which 
she  could  not  avow  was  placing  herself 
between  the  country  and  the  Govern- 
ment.    [Very  loud  cheers.] 

I  will  not  deny  the  benefits  of  the  al- 
liance; benefits,  however,  not  one-sided, 
but  accruing  to  all  the  contracting 
parties,  and  perhaps  not  more  to  us  than 
to  the  others.  The  continued  suspicions 
and  the  aggressive  intentions  of  Austria 
against  Italy  are  notorious  and  are  au- 
thentically proved.  The  Chief  of  the 
General  Staff,  Baron  Conrad  von  Hoetz- 
endorf,  always  maintained  that  war 
against  Italy  was  inevitable,  either  on 
the  question  of  the  irredentist  provinces 
or  from  jealousy,  that  Italy  intended  to 
aggrandize  herself  as  soon  as  she  was 
prepared,  and  meanwhile  opposed  every- 
thing that  Austria  wished  to  undertake 
in  the  Balkans,  and  consequently  it  was 
necessary  to  humiliate  her  in  order  that 
Austria  might  have  her  hands  free,  and 
he  deplored  that  Italy  had  not  been  at- 
tacked in  1907.  Even  the  Austrian  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs  recognized  that 
in  the  military  party  the  opinion  was 
prevalent  that  Italy  must  be  suppressed 
by  war  because  from  the  Kingdom  of 
Italy  came  the  attractive  force  of  the 
Italian  provinces  of  the  empire,  and 
consequently  by  a  victory  over  the  king- 
dom and  its  political  annihilation  all 
hope  for  the  irredentists  would  cease. 

We  see  now  on  the  basis  of  documents 
how  our  allies  aided  us  in  the  Lybian 
undertaking.  The  operations  brilliantly 
begun  by  the  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi  against 
the  Turkish  torpedo  boats  encountered 
at  Preveza  were  stopped  by  Austria  in  a 
sudden  and  absolute  manner.  Count 
Aehrenthal  on  Oct.  1  informed  our  Am- 
bassador at  Vienna  that  our  operations 
had  made  a  painful  impression  upon  him 
and  that  he  could  not  allow  them  to  be 
continued.  It  was  urgently  necessary,  he 
said,  to  put  an  end  to  them  and  to  give 


746 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


orders  to  prevent  them  from  being  re- 
newed, either  in  Adriatic  or  in  Ionian 
waters.  The  following  day  the  German 
Ambassador  at  Vienna,  in  a  still  more 
threatening  manner,  confidentially  in- 
formed our  Ambassador  that  Count 
Aehrenthal  had  requested  him  to  tele- 
graph to  his  Government  to  give  the 
Italian  Government  to  understand  that 
if  it  continued  its  naval  operations  in  the 
Adriatic  and  in  the  Ionian  Seas  it  would 
have  to  deal  directly  with  Austria-Hun- 
gary.   [Murmurs.] 

And  it  was  not  only  in  the  Adriatic  and 
in  the  Ionian  Seas  that  Austria  para- 
lyzed our  actions.  On  Nov.  5  Count 
Aehrenthal  informed  the  Duke  of  Avarna 
that  he  had  learned  that  Italian  warships 
had  been  reported  off  Saloniki,  where 
they  had  used  electric  searchlights — 
[laughter] — and  declared  that  our  action 
on  the  Ottoman  coasts  of  European  Tur- 
key, as  well  as  on  the  Aegean  Islands, 
could  not  have  been  allowed  either  by 
Austria-Hungary  or  by  Germany,  because 
it  was  contrary  to  the  Triple  Alliance 
Treaty. 

In  March,  1912,  Count  Berchtold,  who 
had  in  the  meantime  succeeded  Count 
Aehrenthal,  declared  to  the  German  Am- 
bassador in  Vienna  that,  in  regard  to 
our  operations  against  the  coasts  of  Eu- 
ropean Turkey  and  the  Aegean  Islands, 
he  adhered  to  the  point  of  view  of  Count 
Aehrenthal,  according  to  which  these 
operations  were  considered  by  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  contrary  to  the 
engagement  entered  into  by  us  by  Arti- 
cle VII.  of  the  Triple  Alliance  Treaty.  As 
for  our  operations  against  the  Darda- 
nelles, he  considered  it  opposed,  first, 
to  the  promise  made  by  us  not  to  pro- 
ceed to  any  act  which  might  endanger 
the  status  quo  in  the  Balkans,  and,  sec- 
ondly, to  the  spirit  of  the  same  treaty, 
which  was  based  on  the  maintenance  of 
the  status  quo. 

Afterward,  when  our  squadron  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Dardanelles  was  bom- 
barded by  Fort  Kumkalessi  and  replied, 
damaging  that  fort.  Count  Berchtold 
complained  of  what  had  happened,  con- 
sidering it  contrary  to  the  promises  we 
had  made,  and  declared  that  if  the  Italian 
Government  desired  to  resume  its  liberty 


of  action,  the  Austro-Hungarian  Govern- 
ment could  have  done  the  same.  [Mur- 
murs.] He  added  that  he  could  not  have 
allowed  us  to  undertake  in  the  future 
similar  operations  or  operations  in  any 
way  opposed  to  this  point  of  view.  In 
the  same  way  our  projected  occupation 
of  Chios  was  prevented.  It  is  superflu- 
ous to  remark  how  many  lives  of  Italian 
soldiers  and  how  many  millions  were  sac- 
rificed through  the  persistent  vetoing  of 
our  actions  against  Turkey,  who  knew 
that  she  was  protected  by  our  allies 
against  all  attacks  on  her  vital  parts. 
[Cheers.] 

We  were  bitterly  reproached  for  not 
having  accepted  the  offers  made  toward 
the  end  of  May,  but  were  these  offers 
made  in  good  faith?  [Laughter  and 
cheers.]  Certain  documents  indicate  that 
they  were  not.  Francis  Joseph  said  that 
Italy  was  regarding  the  patrimony  of  his 
house  with  greedy  eyes.  Herr  von  Beth- 
mann-HoUweg  said  that  the  aim  of  these 
concessions  was  to  purchase  our  neutrali- 
ty, and,  therefore,  gentlemen,  you  may 
applaud  us  for  not  having  accepted  them. 
[Loud  cheers.]  Moreover,  these  conces- 
sions, even  in  their  last  and  belated  edi- 
tion, in  no  way  responded  to  the  objec- 
tives of  Italian  policy,  which  are,  first, 
the  defense  of  Italianism,  the  greatest  of 
our  duties;  secondly,  a  secure  military 
frontier,  replacing  that  which  was  im- 
posed upon  us  in  1866,  by  which  all  the 
gates  of  Italy  are  open  to  our  adversa- 
ries; thirdly,  a  strategical  situation  in 
the  Adriatic  less  dangerous  and  unfortu- 
nate than  that  which  we  have,  and  of 
which  you  have  seen  the  effects  in  the 
last  few  days.  All  these  essential  advan- 
tages were  substantially  denied  us. 

To  our  minimum  demand  for  the  grant- 
ing of  independence  to  Trieste  the  reply 
was  to  offer  Trieste  administrative  au- 
tonomy. Also  the  question  of  fulfilling 
the  promises  was  very  important.  We 
were  told  not  to  doubt  that  they  would  be 
fulfilled,  because  we  should  have  Ger- 
many's guarantee,  but  if  at  the  end  of  the 
war  Germany  had  not  been  able  to  keep 
it,  what  would  our  position  have  been? 
And  in  any  case,  after  this  agreement, 
the  Triple  Alliance  would  have  been  re- 
newed, but  in  much  less  favorable  condi- 


ITALY  VS.  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


747 


tions,  for  there  would  have  been  one  sov- 
ereign State  and  two  subject  States, 
[Murmurs.] 

On  the  day  when  one  of  the  clauses 
of  the  treaty  was  not  fulfilled,  or  on  the 
day  when  the  municipal  autonomy  of 
Trieste  was  violated  by  an  imperial  de- 
cree or  by  a  lieutenant's  orders,  to  whom 
should  we  have  addressed  ourselves  ?  To 
our  common  superior — to  Germany? 
[Laughter.]  I  do  not  wish  to  speak  of 
Germany  to  you  without  admiration  and 
respect.  I  am  the  Italian  Prime  Min- 
ister, not  the  German  Chancellor,  and  I 
do  not  lose  my  head.  [Loud  cheers.] 
But  with  all  respect  for  the  learned,  pow- 
erful, and  great  Germany,  an  admirable 
example  of  organization  and  resistance, 
in  the  name  of  Italy  I  declare  for  no  sub- 
jection and  no  protectorate  over  any  one. 
[Cheers.]  The  dream  of  a  universal 
hegemony  is  shattered.  The  world  has 
risen.  The  peace  and  civilization  of 
future  humanity  must  be  founded  on  re- 
spect for  existing  national  autonomies. 
[Loud  cheers.]  Among  these  Germany 
will  have  to  sit  as  an  equal,  and  not  as  a 
master.     [Loud  cheers.] 

But  a  more  remarkable  example  of  the 
unmeasured  pride  with  which  the  di- 
rectors of  German  policy  regard  other 
nations  is  given  in  the  picture  which 
Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  drew  of  the 
Italian  political  world. 

Signor  Salandra  here  read  the  portion 
of  the  German  Chancellor's  speech  to 
which  he  referred,  and  added: 

I  do  not  know  if  it  was  the  intention 
of  this  man,  blinded  by  rage,  personally 
to  insult  my  colleagues  and  me.  If  that 
was  the  case,  I  should  not  mention  it. 
We  are  men  whose  life  you  know,  men 
who  have  served  the  State  to  an  ad- 
vanced age,  men  of  spotless  renown — 
[loud  cheers] — men  who  have  given  the 


lives  of  their  children  for  their  country. 
[Loud  cheers.] 

The  information  on  which  this  judg- 
ment was  based  is  attributed  by  the  Ger- 
man Chancellor  to  him  whom  he  calls  the 
best  judge  of  Italian  affairs.  Perhaps 
he  alludes  to  Prince  Biilow,  with  the 
brotherly  desire  to  shoulder  responsibili- 
ties upon  him.  Now,  I  do  not  wish  you 
to  entertain  an  erroneous  idea  of  Prince 
Billow's  intentions.  I  believe  that  he  had 
sympathies  for  Italy,  and  did  all  he  could 
to  bring  about  an  agreement.  But  how 
great  and  how  numerous  were  the  mis- 
takes he  made  in  translating  his  good  in- 
tentions into  action!  He  thought  that 
Italy  could  be  diverted  from  her  path 
by  a  few  millions  ill-spent  and  by  the 
influence  of  a  few  persons  who  have  lost 
touch  with  the  soul  of  the  nation — [loud 
cheers] — by  contact,  attempted,  but,  I 
hope,  not  accomplished,  with  certain  poli- 
ticians.    [Loud  cheers.] 

The  effect  was  the  contrary.  An  im- 
mense outburst  of  indignation  was 
kindled  throughout  Italy,  and  not  among 
the  populace,  but  among  the  noblest  and 
most  educated  classes  and  among  all  the 
youth  of  the  country,  which  is  ready  to 
shed  its  blood  for  the  nation.  This  out- 
burst of  indignation  was  kindled  as  the 
result  of  the  suspicion  that  a  foreign 
Ambassador  was  interfering  between  the 
Italian  Government,  the  Parliament,  and 
the  country.  [Loud  cheers.]  In  the  blaze 
thus  kindled  internal  discussions  melted 
away,  and  the  whole  nation  was  joined 
in  a  wonderful  moral  union,  which  will 
prove  our  greatest  source  of  strength  in 
the  severe  struggle  which  faces  us,  and 
which  must  lead  us  by  our  own  virtue, 
and  not  by  benevolent  concessions  from 
others,  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
highest  destinies  of  the  country.  [Loud 
and  prolonged  cheers.] 


Britain's  Cabinet  and  Munitions 


A  Coalition  Ministry  with  Lloyd  George  in  a  New 

Office 

The  formation  of  a  British  coalition  Cabinet  was  announced  on  May  25,  1915,  with  the 
creation  of  a  new  office  of  Minister  of  Munitions,  to  which  Lloyd  George  was  transferred 
from  the  Chancellorship  of  the  Exchequer.  Below  is  given  the  official  list  of  the  new  Ministers 
and  their  offices.  In  the  third  column  are  indicated  the  same  offices  as  held  under  the  late 
Liberal  Administration.  The  eight  members  of  the  Opposition  included  in  the  new  Cabinet 
are  indicated  by  an  asterisk : 


Prime  Minister  

Minister  without  portfolio. . . . 

Lord    Chancellor 

President  of  Council 

Lord  Privy  Seal 

Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. . 

Home  Secretary 

Foreign  Minister 

Colonial    Secretary 

India  Office 

War  Office 

Minister  of  Munitions  (new). 

Admiralty 

Board  of  Trade  

Local  Government  Board 

Duchy  of  Lancaster 

Irish  Secretary 

Scottish   Office 

Agriculture 

Works  Office   

Education  Board 

Attorney  General 


Coalition 

Cabinet. 

Mr.   Asquith    

Lord  Lansdowne*. . .  . 
Sir  S.  Buckmaster. . . . 

Lord  Crewe 

Lord  Curzon* 

Mr.  McKenna 

Sir  J.  Simon 

Sir  E.  Grey 

Mr.  Bonar  Law* 

Mr.  Chamberlain*. . . . 

Lord    Kitchener 

Mr.  Lloyd  George. . . . 

Mr.  Balfour* 

Mr.    Runciman 

Mr.  Long* 

Mr.    Churchill 

Mr.    Birrell 

Mr.   McKinnon  Wood. 

Lord  Selborne* 

Mr.    Harcourt 

Mr.  A.  Henderson. . . . 
Sir  E.  Carson* 


Late  Liberal 

Cabinet. 
Mr.  Asquith. 


Lord  Haldane. 
Lord  Beauchamp. 
Lord  Crewe. 
Mr.  Lloyd  George. 
Mr.  McKenna. 
Sir  E.  Grey. 
Mr.  Harcourt. 
Lord  Crewe. 
Lord  Kitchener. 


Mr.  Churchill.  . 
Mr.  Runciman. 
Mr.  H.  Samuel. 
Hon.  E.  Montagu. 
Mr.  Birrell. 
Mr.  McKinnon  Wood. 
Lord  Lucas. 
Lord  Emmott. 
Mr.  J.  A.  Pease. 
Sir  John  Simon. 


The  reconstruction  of  the  Liberal 
Ministry  that  had  ruled  the  British  Em- 
pire for  ten  years  was  announced  by 
Prime  Minister  Asquith  in  the  following 
statement  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
May  19 : 

I  cannot  say  more  at  the  moment  than 
that  steps  are  in  contemplation  which  in- 
volve a  reconstruction  of  the  Govern- 
ment on  a  broader  personal  and  political 
basis.  Nothing  is  yet  definitely  arranged, 
but  to  avoid  any  possible  misapprehen- 
sion I  wish  here  and  now — as  the  House 
is  to  adjourn — to  make  clear  to  every 
one  three  things: 

First,  that  any  change  that  takes  place 
will  not  affect  the  offices  of  the  head  of 
the  Government  or  of  the  Foreign  Sec- 
retary. [Cheers.]  They  will  continue  to 
be  held  as  they  are  now.  [Renewed 
cheers.] 


The  second  is,  there  is  absolutely  no 
change  of  any  kind  in  contemplation  in 
the  policy  of  the  country  in  regard  to  the 
continued  prosecution  of  the  war  with  all 
possible  energy,  and  by  means  of  every 
available  resource.     [Loud  cheers.] 

The  third  and  the  last  point — one  of 
great  importance,  not  only  to  my  friends 
behind  me,  but  also  of  importance  no 
doubt  to  the  Opposition — is  this:  Any  re- 
construction that  may  be  made  will  be 
for  the  purpose  of  the  war  alone,  and  is 
not  to  be  taken  in  any  quarter  as  any 
reason  for  indicating  anything  in  the 
nature  of  surrender  or  compromise  on 
the  part  of  any  person  or  body  of  per- 
sons of  their  several  political  purposes 
and  ideals. 

That  is  really  as  far  as  I  can  go  at  the 
moment.  Nothing  definite  has  yet  taken 
place.     When  and  if  an  arrangement  of 


BRITAIN'S    CABINET   AND    MUNITIONS 


749 


this  kind  should  become  an  accomplished 
fact  the  House  will  have  the  fullest  op- 
portunity of  expressing  itself,  if  it  so  de- 
sires, upon  it.     [Cheers.] 

Mr.  Bonar  Law,  leader  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, rose  immediately  after  the  Prim,e 
Minister  and  said: 

I  think  it  only  necessary  to  say  on  be- 
half of  my  friends  and  myself  that  at 
the  stage  which  this  has  reached  our  sole 
consideration  in  taking  into  account  what 
further  steps  should  be  taken  will  be 
what  is  the  best  method  of  finishing  the 
war  successfully,  and  we  shall  leave  out 
of  our  minds  absolutely  all  considera- 
tions, political  or  otherwise,  beyond  the 
war;  while,  of  course,  if  such  an  arrange- 
ment should  take  place,  it  is  obvious  our 
convictions  on  other  subjects  will  remain 
unchanged,  and  will  be  settled  when  this 
danger  is  over. 

CAUSES  OF  THE  CHANGE. 
At  least  four  causes  which  were  re- 
garded as  contributing  to  bring  about  a 
coalition  Ministry,  or  War  Government, 
are  tersely  outlined  by  A.  P.  Nicholson, 
Parliamentary  correspondent  of  The 
London  Daily  News,  as  follows:    ■ 

First — The  quarrel  between  Mr. 
Churchill  and  Lord  Fisher  at  the  Ad- 
miralty, a  conflict  which  began  with  the 
undertaking  of  the  Dardanelles  expedi- 
tion. Mr.  Churchill  carried  the  War 
Council  on  this,  and  it  was  undertaken 
before  the  Cabinet  were  informed.  The 
Cabinet  were  committed  to  it  by  the 
movement  of  ships  before  they  had  any 
formal  notification.  Lord  Fisher,  for  his 
part,  considered  that  the  enterprise 
should  not  have  been  begun  unless  it  was 
supported  by  land  forces,  but  he  also 
was  committed  to  it.  Mr.  Churchill  was 
counting  on  the  support  of  Greek  forces 
on  land,  a  calculation  which  was  not 
justified  by  the  event. 

Lately  the  quarrel  between  Lord 
Fisher  and  Mr.  Churchill  proved  to  be 
irreconcilable,  and  Lord  Fisher  sent  in 


his  resignation  at  the  week-end.  It  is 
now  hoped  that  he  will  withdraw  his 
resignation,  and  the  possibility  of  Mr. 
Churchill  replacing  Lord  Crewe  at  the 
India  Office  or  taking  another  office  is 
being  discussed. 

Second — The  Cabinet  have  not  been 
kept  informed  by  Lord  Kitchener  as  to 
the  supplies  of  high  explosive  shells 
sent  out  to  our  troops  at  the  front.  It 
is  the  fact  that  huge  supplies  of  shells 
have  been  and  are  being  sent  out,  but 
the  proportion  of  shrapnel  is  greater 
than  the  proportion  of  high  explosive 
shells,  and  the  army  command  require 
that  the  proportion  of  high  explosive 
shells  should  be  greater.  The  fact  that 
the  Cabinet  have  been  to  some  extent  in 
the  dark  of  late  on  this  matter  accounts 
for  some  apparent  discrepancies  in  re- 
cent Ministerial  statements. 

Third — The  Opposition  leaders  were 
in  possession  of  the  facts  as  to  the  high 
explosive  shells,  and  threatened  a  de- 
bate in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  which 
their  statements  should  be  proved.  Such 
a  debate  would  have  gravely  undermined 
the  authority  of  the  Government,  and, 
coupled  with  the  tendered  resignation  of 
Lord  Fisher,  and  the  consequent  disap- 
pearance either  of  the  First  Sea  Lord 
or  Mr.  Churchill,  would  in  all  human 
probability  have  led  to  the  disastrous 
downfall  of  the  King's  Government  in 
the  midst  of  the  national  peril  of  this 
war,  with  consequences  most  lamentable. 

Fourth — There  have  been  on  both 
sides  some  leading  statesmen  in  favor 
of  a  coalition  Ministry  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war.  They  are  few,  but  in- 
fluential. They  perceived  that  the  curi- 
ous circumstances  that  had  arisen  of- 
fered a  brilliant  opportunity  to  achieve 
a  coalition,  and  they  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity. It  should  certainly  be  assumed 
that  they  were  actuated  by  national 
motives,  since  their  action  may  have 
averted  the  downfall  of  one  of  the 
greatest  Governments  of  modern  times 
in  a  time  of  national  peril. 


Lloyd  George's  Appeal  to  Labor 

In  a  speech  at  Manchester  on  June  4,  and  again  on  June  5,  before  the  employers  and  work- 
men of  Lancashire,  the  new  Minister  of  Munitions  announced  his  policy  of  discontinuing  the 
methods  of  red  tape  that  had  hindened  the  mobilization  of  labor  for  the  production  of  arms 
and  ammunition.     His  speech  at  Lancashire  appears  below  in  full. 


I  have  come  here  not  for  speech  but 
for  business,  and  I  shall  only  indulge  in 
speech  to  the  extent  that  speaking  is 
the  essential  preliminary  to  business.  I 
placed  yesterday  before  a  meeting  in  Man- 
chester my  general  views  of  the  position, 
and  I  have  very  little  to  add  to  what  I 
then  said.  But  I  have  come  here  to  ap- 
peal for  the  assistance  of  the  men  of  Liv- 
erpool and  the  surrounding  districts. 

The  situation  is  a  serious  one.  It  is  as 
grave  a  situation  as  this  country  has  ever 
been  confronted  with.  You  need  have  no 
special  knowledge  in  order  to  ascertain 
that  yourselves.  A  careful,  intelligent 
perusal  of  the  published  dispatches  in 
the  newspapers  must  have  caused  you  to 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  country 
is  engaging  one  of  the  most  formidable 
enemies  that  it  has  ever  waged  war 
against. 

The  issues  are  great,  the  perils  are 
great,  and  nothing  can  pull  us  through 
but  the  united  effort  of  every  man  in  the 
British  Empire.  If  you  look  at  what  our 
brave  fellows  are  doing  at  the  front  you 
can  see  the  perils  there  facing  them,  the 
trials,  the  privations,  and  they  are  doing 
it  without  flinching.  ["Hear,  hear!"] 
Never  in  the  history  of  this  country  have 
our  men  shown  greater  courage  and  en- 
durance than  they  have  during  this  war. 
They  have  done  all  you  can  expect  of 
mortal  man. 

We  who  are  comfortable  at  home,  free 
from  privations,  free  from  danger,  let  us, 
each  of  us,  do  his  part  as  nobly  as  those 
heroes  of  ours  are  doing  it  at  the  front. 
[Cheers.]  It  would  be  horrible  for  us  to 
think  that  those  who  fall  fall  through  our 
neglect.  It  would  be  a  still  more  ghastly 
reflection  to  think  that  those  who  fell 
have  given  their  lives  in  vain  through 
any  slackness  or  selfishness  on  the  part 
of  any  one  of  us  in  this  land. 

Yesterday  we  had  a  very  important 
gathering  of  the  employers  and  the  rep- 


resentatives of  labor  in  the  great  engi- 
neering firms  in  Manchester  and  other 
parts  of  this  great  county.  The  response 
made  to  our  appeal  was  gratifying. 
Every  man  there  showed  a  disposition  to 
do  all  in  his  power  to  assist  the  country 
to  pull  through  its  difficulties  triumph- 
antly, and  I  feel  perfectly  certain  that 
the  same  ready  response  will  be  given 
to  the  same  appeal  which  I  am  now 
about  to  make  to  the  men  of  Liverpool 
and  the  area  suiTounding  it. 

What  makes  Germany  a  formidable 
enemy  is  not  merely  its  preparation  for 
war,  it  is  not  merely  its  organization,  po- 
tent as  that  is,  but  it  is  the  spirit  of 
every  class  and  section  of  its  population. 
You  have  only  got  to  read  the  papers  to 
see  that  as  far  as  they  are  concerned 
they  are  all  of  them  subordinating  every- 
thing to  the  one  great  national  purpose 
of  winning  victory  for  their  Fatherland. 
That  is  the  least  we  can  do  in  this  coun- 
try for  our  land.     [Cheers.] 

T  never  doubted  where  ultimate  victory 
would  lie,  never  for  a  moment.  Nor  have 
I  ever  underestimated  the  difficulties. 
But  although  I  have  never  doubted  where 
victory  would  rest,  all  the  same  I  know 
that  victory  will  come  the  sooner  for 
recognizing  the  difficulties  there  are. 

You  cannot  remove  difficulties  without 
looking  at  them,  and  you  cannot  look  at 
difficulties  without  seeing  them,  and 
that  is  why  the  business  of  a  Minister 
is  to  point  them  out,  and  then  to  appeal 
to  every  section  of  the  community  to 
assist  the  Government  in  overcoming  the 
obstacles  in  the  way. 

Now  we  want  especially  the  help  of 
those  who  can  contribute  to  the  increase 
of  the  munitions,  the  equipment,  and 
the  material  of  war.  We  want  the  help 
of  employers,  we  want  the  help  of  the 
workers.  We  want  employers  and  work- 
men to  feel  their  responsibility  in  this 


BRITAIN'S    CABINET   AND    MUNITIONS 


751 


matter.  It  is  my  intention  to  utilize  as 
much  as  I  possibly  can  the  business 
brains  of  the  community.  I  hope  to  get 
their  assistance.  Some  of  them  will  be 
at  my  elbow  in  London  to  advise,  to  coun- 
sel, to  guide,  to  inform  and  instruct  and 
to  direct,  but  I  want  the  help  of  the 
business  brains  in  the  localities. 

This  is  no  time  for  the  usual  methods 
of  doing  business  with  the  Government. 
["Hear,  hear!"]  I  am  assuming  that 
Governments  in  the  past  have  done  their 
business  in  the  most  perfect  way.  This 
is  not  a  time  for  the  usual  roundabout 
methods  of  Government  business.  ["Hear, 
hear!"] 

We  have  got  to  trust  business  men  in 
the  localities  to  organize  for  us,  to  un- 
dertake the  business  in  the  particular 
locality  on  our  behalf.  We  want  to  sus- 
pend during  the  war  not  merely  trade- 
union  regulations,  but  some  Government 
regulations,  too.     ["  Hear,  hear!"] 

We  want  rifles,  we  want  guns,  we  want 
shells,  fuses,  chemicals,  and  explosives. 
There  is  one  thing  we  want  less  of  than 
usual,  and  that  is  red  tape.  It  takes  such 
a  long  time  to  unwind — [laughter] — and 
we  can't  spare  the  time.  Therefore,  the 
first  thing  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  do 
is  to  organize  for  yourselves  in  this 
locality,  and  in  every  other  locality,  the 
engineering  resources,  for  the  purpose 
of  assisting  the  Government.  You  know 
best  what  you  can  do.  I  know  the  re- 
sourcefulness of  the  engineers  of  this 
country,  I  know,  as  the  Lord  Mayor  has 
already  pointed  out,  their  adaptability. 
I  want  you  to  come  together  and  form 
your  own  committee  of  management. 
Having  done  that,  organize  among  your- 
selves the  engineering  resources  of  the 
locality,  with  a  view  to  producing  the 
greatest  result  in  the  way  of  helping  our 
gallant  forces  at  the  front. 

That  involves  a  good  deal  more  con- 
fidence and  trust  than  usual.  We  have 
no  time  to  go  through  the  same  processes 
of  examination,  of  bargaining,  as  you 
get  usually  in  the  matter  of  Govern- 
ment contracts.     ["  Hear,  hear!"] 

Whatever  is  done  has  got  to  be  done 
with  promptitude.  That  involves  our 
trusting  to  the  integrity,  to  the  loyalty, 


to  the  patriotism  of  the  business  men  to 
do  their  best  for  us  in  these  localities, 
and  do  it  on  fair  terms.  That  is  the 
first  thing  I  have  got  to  say  to  the 
business  men  of  the  community.  I  want 
you  to  regard  this  as  your  business  as 
well  as  ours.  This  is  not  a  Government 
entering  into  negotiations  with  you. 
You  are  the  Government,  you  have  got 
an  interest  in  this  concern,  it  is  your 
concern,  just  as  much  as  it  is  ours,  and 
I  want  you  to  help  us. 

This  is  a  business  for  all  of  us,  and 
we  want  every  business  man  in  the 
community  to  give  his  very  best  to  help 
the  old  country  through  in  the  great 
emergency  and  crisis.  [Cheers.]  That 
means  that  you  will,  as  soon  as  you  pos- 
sibly can,  get  your  committee  of  man- 
agement, and,  through  that  committee 
of  management,  organize  your  district 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  such  ma- 
terial of  war,  or  such  other  component 
parts  of  any  particular  material  of  war, 
3'ou  can  help  us  to  produce. 

I  would  make  the  same  appeal  to 
labor.  I  want  them  also  to  feel  that 
this  is  their  business.  Should  Germany 
win,  God  help  labor!  ["Hear,  hear!"] 
It  will  come  out  of  it  worst  of  all.  The 
victory  of  Germany  will  be  the  victory 
of  the  worst  form  of  autocracy  that  this 
world  has  seen  for  many  a  century. 
There  is  no  section  of  the  community 
has  anything  like  the  interest  in  the 
overthrow  of  this  military  caste  which 
labor  has — ["Hear,hear!"] — and  the  more 
they  realize  that,  difficulties  will  vanish, 
obstacles  will  go,  and  bickerings  and 
slackness.  We  have  to  get  to  work  as 
one  man  to  help  to  win  a  triumph  for 
democratic  free  government  against  the 
autocratic  systems  of  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria.    [Cheers.] 

Now,  I  should  like  to  say  one  or  two 
words  beyond  what  I  said  yesterday  on 
this  particular  aspect  of  the  business.  I 
have  had  the  privilege,  both  yesterday 
and  today,  of  meeting  some  of  the  lead- 
ing representatives  of  labor  in  Manches- 
ter and  Liverpool.  And  let  me  say  this: 
As  far  as  the  official  representatives  of 
organized  labor  are  concerned,  we  have 


752 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


had  nothing  but  help.    The  difficulty  has 
been  when  you  get  beyond. 

I  am  not  saying  a  word  about  trade- 
union  regulations  during  a  period  of 
peace.  I  have  no  doubt  they  were  essen- 
tial safeguards  to  the  protection  of  labor 
against  what  otherwise  might  have  been 
a  serious  interference  with  their  rights 
and  with  their  prospects.  But  as  I  have 
already  pointed  out  to  you,  Government 
regulations  have  to  be  suspended  during 
the  period  of  the  war  because  they  are 
inapplicable  in  a  time  of  urgency.  The 
same  thing  applies  to  many  trade-union 
regulations  and  practices.  ["Hear, 
hear!"] 

The  first  I  should  like  to  call  attention 
to  are  those  rules  which  had  been  set  up 
for  very  good  reasons  to  make  it  difficult 
for  purely  unsullied  men  to  claim  the  po- 
sition and  rights  of  men  who  have  had  a 
training — that  is  true  in  every  profes- 
sion, 

I  happen,  my  Lord  Mayor,  to  belong  to 
about  the  strictest  trade  union  in  the 
world — [laughter] — the  most  jealous 
trade  union  in  the  world.  If  any  un- 
skilled man — and  by  an  unskilled  man  wa 
mean  a  man  who  has  not  paid  our  fees — 
if  any  man  of  that  sort,  however  brainy 
he  was,  tried  to  come  in  and  interfere 
with  our  business,  well,  we  would  soon 
settle  him.  [Laughter.]  But  if  during 
the  period  of  the  war  there  were  any  par- 
ticular use  for  lawyers — [laughter] — if 
you  find  that  upon  lawyers  depended  the 
success  of  the  war,  and  it  requires  a  good 
deal  of  imagination;  even  my  Celtic  im- 
agination will  hardly  attain  to  the  ex- 
alted height — [more  laughter] — but  if 
that  were  possible  for  a  moment,  do  you 
suppose  that  even  the  Incorporated  Law 
Society,  the  greatest  and  ni.rrowest  of  all 
trade  unions,  could  stand  in  the  way  of 
bringing  in  outside  help  in  order  to  en- 
able us  to  get  through  our  work? 

Well,  now,  the  same  thing  applies  here. 
If  all  the  skilled  engineers  in  this  coun- 
try were  turned  on  to  produce  what  is 
required,  if  you  brought  back  from  the 
front  every  engineer  who  had  been  re- 
cruited, if  you  worked  them  to  the  ut- 
most limits  of  human  endurance,  you 
have  not  got  enough  labor  even  then  to 
produce  all  we  are  going  to  ask  you  to 


produce  during  the  next  few  months. 
Therefore,  we  must  appeal  to  the  pa- 
triotism of  the  unions  of  this  country  to 
relax  these  particular  rules,  in  order  to 
eke  out.  as  it  were,  the  skill,  to  make  it 
go  as  far  as  it  possibly  can  go,  in  order 
to  enable  us  to  turn  out  the  necessary 
munitions  of  war  to  win  a  real  and 
a  speedy  triumph  for  our  country  in  this 
great  struggle. 

Now,  the  same  thing  applies  to  the 
work  of  women  in  the  factories.  There 
is  a  good  deal  of  work  now  done  by  men, 
and  men  only,  in  this  country  which  is 
done  in  France  at  the  present  moment 
in  shell  factories  by  women.  Why  is 
that?  They  have  not  enough  men  to  go 
round.  The  men  are  working  as  hard  as 
they  can,  for  as  long  hours  as  they  pos- 
sibly can  support,  but  in  spite  of  that 
they  would  not  turn  out  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  shells  and  other  material  of  war 
without  doling  out  a  good  part  of  the 
T/ork  to  women  in  those  factories.  Well, 
now,  if  there  are  any  trade-union  regula- 
tions to  prevent  the  possibility  of  that 
being  done,  I  hope  during  the  period  of 
war  these  will  be  suspended.  ["  Hear, 
hear!"] 

Now,  I  am  coming  to  another  thing — 
and  I  am  here  to  talk  quite  frankly — it 
is  very  much  better  to  do  so.  ["  Hear, 
hear!  "]  There  must  be  no  deliberate 
slowing  down  of  work.  I  have  had  two 
or  three  very  painful  cases  put  before 
me.  One  was  from  an  arsenal  upon 
which  we  were  absolutely  dependent  for 
the  material  of  war.  There  was  a  very 
skilled  workman  there  who  worked  very 
hard  and  who  earned  a  good  deal  of 
money.  He  was  doing  his  duty  by  the 
State.  He  was  not  merely  warned  that 
if  he  repeated  that  offense  he  would  be 
driven  out,  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  he 
was  not  actually  driven  out. 

The  same  thing  happened  in  another 
factory.  Now,  in  the  period  of  war  this 
is  really  intolerable.  ["  Hear,  hear!  "] 
We  cannot  do  with  it.  We  cannot  afford 
it,  I  say  again.  There  may  be  reasons, 
there  might  be  very  good  reasons,  that  a 
policy  of  that  sort  should  be  adopted  in 
the  period  of  peace.  I  am  expressing  no 
opinions  about  that.  I  am  simply  stating 
the   case   of   this   particular   emergency. 


BRITAIN'S    CABINET   AND    MUNITIONS 


753 


and  I  am  sure  that  the  only  thing  in  this 
emergency  is  that  everybody  should  put 
forward  all  his  strength  in  order  to  help 
the  country  through.     [Cheers.] 

Therefore,  I  do  hope  that  whatever 
regulation,  whatever  practice,  whatever 
custom  there  may  be  in  existence  at  the 
present  moment  which  interferes  in  the 
slightest  degree  in  the  increase  of  war 
material,  will  be  suspended  during  the 
period  of  war. 

We  have  given  our  undertaking  as  a 
Government,  and  that  undertaking  has 
been  inherited  by  a  new  Government. 
That  is  that  those  safeguards  which 
have  been  established  by  trade-union 
action  prior  to  the  war  will  be  restored 
exactly  to  the  position  they  were  when 
the  war  is  over,  in  so  far  as  the  action 
of  the  Government  is  concerned.  We 
can  only  ask  for  a  suspension  of  these 
regulations  during  the  period  of  the 
war,  then  afterward  the  same  process 
of  discussion  will  go  on  between  capital 
and  labor  as  has  gone  on,  I  have  no 
doubt,  during  the  last  fifty  or  one  hun- 
dred years. 

Those  are  two  or  three  of  the  things 
which  I  wanted  to  put.  The  lives  of  our 
men  at  the  front  depend  upon  the 
amount  of  war  material  we  are  able  to 
equip  them  with,  success  depends  upon 
it,  the  lives  of  men  depend  upon  it. 
Everybody  ought  to  do  his  best.  There 
is  no  room  for  slackers.  ["  Hear, 
hear!  "]  I  don't  want  to  get  rid  of  the 
slackers,  I  only  want  to  get  rid  of  their 
slackness — [laughter  and  cheers] — and 
we  really  must. 

In  this  war  every  country  is  demand- 
ing as  a  matter  of  right — not  as  a  mat- 


ter of  appeal — as  a  matter  of  right 
from  every  one  of  the  citizens,  that  he 
should  do  his  best — [cheers] — and  that 
is  one  of  the  problems  with  which  we 
have  to  deal  in  this  country.  It  ought 
to  be  established  as  a  duty,  as  one  of 
the  essential  duties  of  citizenship,  that 
every  man  should  put  his  whole  strength 
into  helping  the  country  through. 
[Cheers.]  And  I  don't  believe  any  sec- 
tion of  the  community  would  object  to 
it,  if  it  were  made  a  legal  right  and  duty 
expected  of  every  one.     [Cheers.] 

I  don't  know  that  I  have  anything  fur- 
ther that  I  want  specially  to  say  to  you, 
because  I  want  to  get  to  business  as 
quickly  as  possible.  Sir  Frederick  Don- 
aldson of  Woolwich  Arsenal  and  Sir 
Percy  Girouard  are  here  to  answer  any 
question  you  may  put  to  them  on  the 
business  of  the  meeting.  They  can  in- 
form you  on  the  technical  side  in  a  way 
that  I  can't  pretend  to.  I  can  only  ask 
you  to  help  us.  I  know  that  appeal  to 
you  won't  be  in  vain. 

We  are  engaged  in  the  greatest 
struggle  this  country  has  ever  been  pre- 
cipitated into.  It  is  no  fault  of  ours. 
["  Hear,  hear!"]  We  sought  peace,  we 
asked  for  peace,  we  avoided  all  the  paths 
that  led  to  war,  but  we  should  have  for- 
ever been  dishonored  if  we  had  shirked 
the  conflict  when  it  came.     [Cheers.] 

Harried  into  it,  we  are  there  to  cham- 
pion the  deepest,  the  highest,  the  great- 
est interest  ever  committed  to  the  charge 
of  any  nation.  Let  us  equip  ourselves  in 
such  a  way  that  Great  Britain  through 
the  war  will  be  still  great,  and  when  the 
war  is  over  it  will  be  a  Greater  Britain 
than  ever.     [Cheers.] 


Balkan  Neutrality — As  Seen 
By  the  Balkans 

Inspired  Press  Opinions  from  the  Capitals  of  Greece, 
Bulgaria,  and  Rumania 


THE  GREEK  VIEW. 

From  the  Embros,  an  independent  daily 
of  Athens,  of  May  23,  1915. 

In  what  degree  the  Triple  Entente 
would  have  respected  the  rights  of  Greece 
had  we  entered  the  war  before  Italy's  in- 
tervention is  demonstrated  by  the  conduct 
of  the  Allies  toward  Serbia.  The  whole 
of  the  Adriatic  is  now  an  Italian  sea,  by 
virtue  of  a  mutual  agreement  between 
the  Entente  powers  and  Italy,  and  only 
the  slightest  hope  of  obtaining  Durazzo 
and  Cattero  is  left  to  Serbia. 

Greece  therefore  must  congratulate 
herself  for  holding  back  and  watchfully 
awaiting  developments.  It  is  generally 
admitted  that  the  European  war  will 
last  long  and  that  the  new  ally  will  not 
give  a  decisive  turn  to  its  final  conclu- 
sion. Those,  therefore,  who  have  their 
swords  sharpened  will  be  always  in  time 
to  join.  In  a  struggle  that  has  such  a 
wide  field  of  adventures  those  who  will 
intervene  later  will  be  more  welcome 
than  those  who  have  already  joined  and 
offered  all  the  strength  they  possessed. 
And,  lastly,  if  this  war  will  not  show  in 
the  end  a  single  victor,  then  the  interests 
of  each  one  of  the  participants  will  be 
settled  by  a  European  congress,  where, 
again,  those  who  will  have  preserved  un- 
touched their  forces  will  be  the  real  vic- 
tors. *  *  *  Greece  is  not  going  to  be 
neutral  for  a  long  time;  meanwhile  she 
must  husband  her  resources  and  her 
strength  up  to  the  day  when  events  them- 
selves will  force  her  to  enter  the  war, 
whether  she  likes  it  or  not. 

A  PLEA  FOR  WAR. 
From  the  Patris,  Mr,  Venizelos's  organ, 
of  Athens,  of  May  14. 
We  say  in  one  word  that  the  dangers 


that  threaten  us  as  long  as  we  are  neu- 
tral are  immensely  greater  than  those 
which  we  might  incur  in  joining  in  the 
war,  Greece  cannot  accept  a  comparison 
with  Bulgaria  and  Rumania.  Bulgaria, 
by  remaining  neutral,  is  sure  to  receive 
the  Enos-Midia  line,  and  in  case  of  co- 
operating with  the  entente  powers  she 
may  also  be  sure  of  getting  Dobrudja 
and  Serbian  Macedonia.  Rumania,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  neutral  will  take  a 
slice  of  Transylvania,  and  if  she  sides 
with  the  Allies  in  the  war,  may  obtain 
the  whole  of  Bukowina.  But  Greece  has 
no  alternative.  She  must  by  political 
necessity  act  in  common  with  the  Triple 
Entente.  Of  course,  by  so  doing  she 
runs  certain  risks,  but  we  defy  the  Gov- 
ernment [of  Mr.  Gounaris]  to  prove  that 
the  dangers  threatening  Greece  are  less 
in  the  case  of  a  protracted  neutrality  than 
in  the  case  of  her  joining  in  the  war. 

GREECE  AFTER  ITALY'S  INTERVEN- 
TION. 
From  the  Athenae,  the  Ministerial  paper, 
of  May  25. 
Italy  has  entered  the  war  on  the  Allies' 
side,  because  in  the  territorial  negotia- 
tions England  and  France  outbid  Austria 
and  Germany.  And  now  does  any  one 
imagine  that  the  Triple  Entente  would 
hesitate  to  sacrifice  Hellenic  interests  in 
favor  of  Italy  even  if  Greece  had  been 
the  first  to  indorse  their  cause?  But 
have  we  not  seen  how  the  Serbian  na- 
tional aspirations  have  been  sacrificed  by 
the  Entente  in  its  effort  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  Italy?  And  has  not  the 
Entente  sacrificed  Greek  interests  when 
Italy  was  occupying  Vallona  ?  Was  that 
a  token  of  sympathy  with  Greek  inter- 
ests? And  did  ever  the  Triple  Entente 
say  to  Greece  that  they  would  not  allow 


BALKAN  NEUTRALITY— AS  SEEN  BY  THE  BALKANS 


755 


The  shaded  portion  of  the  map  shows  how,  if  Rumania  and  Bulgaria  join  the 
Allies  in  the  field,  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  will  be  almost  entirely  surrounded 
by  enemies,  the  only  considerable  outlet  then  remaining  being  over  the  Dutch  frontier. 


Italy  to  impose  her  rule  on  Greek  coun- 
tries and  Greek  populations?  And  the 
twelve  Islands  of  the  Aegean,  the  Dode- 
kanisos — have  they  not  been  shown  to 
Italy  as  a  present  and  reward  for  her 
co-operation  whether  or  not  Greece  joined 
the  Entente? 

How  could  Greece,  in  such  circumstan- 
ces, abandon  her  neutrality  and  risk 
everything  for  the  Allies? 


BULGARIAN  VIEWS. 


FAVORING   NEUTRALITY. 
From  Narodni  Prava,  the  viouthpiece  of 
the  Liberal  Party  and  the  Premier 
of    Bulgaria,    Mr.    B.    Radoslavoff, 
April  1,  1915. 
In  his  statement  to  the  Sobranjie  (the 
Bulgarian    Parliament)    the   Prime   Min- 
ister   yesterday    categorically    said    that 
those  wishing  to  march  with  either  side 


756 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


of  the  belligerents  are  free  to  do  so,  if 
they  are  courageous  enough  and  if  they 
are  aware  of  their  duties  to  the  interests 
of  the  country.  *  *  *  The  Parlia- 
mentary majority  and  the  nation  at  large 
are  satisfied  with  the  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, which  consists  in  preserving  a 
strict  neutrality  and  the  peace  of  the 
country  and  in  developing  meanwhile  the 
patriotic  and  military  spirit  of  the  na- 
tion, in  order  that  we  may  be  ready  when 
the  time  comes  to  act  for  the  interests  of 
the  fatherland. 

OPPOSING  NEUTRALITY. 
From  Mir,  organ  of  the  Nationalists  and 

of  ex-Premier  I.  Gueshoff,  April  26, 

1915. 
Greece  is  hoping  to  profit  from  the 
present  situation  without  any  sacrifices, 
or  with  as  few  as  possible,  and  Veni- 
zelos  fell  because  the  Greek  people  did 
not  wish  to  give  the  Allies  the  assist- 
ance he  promised  them.  In  order  to  ex- 
plain and  justify  their  stand,  the  Greeks 
found  an  argument  in  the  Bulgarian  dan- 
ger. *  *  *  "Do  you  want  us  to  prove 
that  we  are  not  willing  to  play  the  game 
of  Germany?  Here  are  the  proofs:  We 
are  ready  to  shield  Serbia  against  any 
possible  attack  from  Bulgaria  and  to 
help  you,  not  against  Turkey  but  against 
Bulgaria  "—that  is  what  the  Greeks  said 
and  wrote  to  the  Entente  powers.  And 
the  chief  newspapers  of  the  Allies  are 
full  of  articles  trying  to  prove  that 
the  Bulgarians,  under  the  guidance  of 
Germany  and  Austria,  are  endangering 
the  Balkan  situation.  According  to  what 
we  learn,  Germany  is  straining  every 
nerve  to  incite  an  armed  conflict  between 
Greece  and  Bulgaria.  In  this  way  Ger- 
many hopes  to  guarantee  Turkey  against 
any  possible  attack  from  Bulgaria,  and 
thus  promote  her  own  interests.  To  this 
fact  we  most  earnestly  call  the  attention 
of  the  Bulgarian  people. 

OPPOSING    GREECE,    SERBIA,    AND 

RUSSIA. 

From  the  Nationalist  Kambana  of  Sofia, 

May  4,   1915. 

Greece   and    Serbia   are,   first   of   all, 

threatened   by   Bulgaria,  and   they  both 

know  that  they  must  step  out  of  Bul- 


garian Macedonia.  The  struggle  for 
Macedonia  does  not  date  from  yesterday 
or  today;  this  is  an  age-long  struggle, 
which  will  end  only  when  Bulgaria  shall 
have  assured  her  frontier,  when  Greece 
shall  return  to  her  peninsula,  and  when 
Serbia  shall  be  entirely  wiped  off  the 
map  of  the  Balkans.  Aside  from  the 
Greeks  and  Serbs,  Bulgaria  constitutes 
a  danger  also  for  Russia,  inasmuch  as  we 
do  not  want  to  be  the  bridge  for  any 
further  Russian  expansion.  Russian 
diplomacy  has  done  everything  in  its 
power  to  alienate  Bulgarian  sympathy 
and  to  make  us  unfriendly  to  Rumania 
and  Turkey:  but  Russia  is  today  severely 
punished  for  her  misdeeds.  Russia,  Ser- 
bia, and  Greece  are  finding  themselves 
in  a  pretty  hard  position,  and  are  looking 
for  our  help.  But  we  must  not  hurry. 
Every  day  that  passes  weakens  our  ene- 
mies, and  the  future  of  Bulgaria  becomes 
daily  brighter. 

THE  RUMANIAN  VIEW. 


A  PRO-GERMAN  OPINION. 
From  the  Moldava  of  Bucharest,  organ 

of  the  Conservative  Party,  of  April 

1,  1915. 
For  a  long  time  public  opinion  in  Ru- 
mania has  been  lulled  into  believing  that 
we  shall  take  Transylvania,  but  not  a 
word  has  been  said  about  Bessarabia. 
We  do  not  know  why  our  political  preda- 
cessors  wanted  to  create  a  strong  bar- 
rier in  the  face  of  Russia,  behind  which 
live,  condemned  to  perpetual  isolation, 
3,000,000  Rumanians.  That  territory 
which  lies  between  the  Rivers  Pruth  and 
Bug  contains  a  population  of  more  than 
5,000,000,  of  which  3,500,000  are  Molda- 
vians; it  comprises,  also,  the  mouth  of 
the  Danube,  fertile  lands,  an  extended 
shore,  and  the  City  of  Odessa  itself.  The 
budget  of  that  part  of  Bessarabia  which 
lies  between  the  Rivers  Pruth  and  Dnies- 
ter amounts  to  250,000,000  lei,  ($50,000,- 
000,)  or  nearly  as  much  as  half  of  the 
entire  budget  of  Rumania.  But  this 
wealth  is  not  used  for  the  benefit  of 
the  country  which  produces  it.  There 
are  neither  schools  nor  highways  nor 
hospitals  in  Bessarabria.  Ignorance  and 
misery  are  the  sole  companions  of  that 
population,  every  national  sentiment  of 


BALKAN  NEUTRALITY— AS  SEEN.  BY  THE  BALKANS 


757 


which  is   smothered  under  the   sway  of 
Russian  absolutism. 

We  in  Rumania  are  ignorant  of  all 
these  facts  because  our  education  is  such 
as  to  make  us  ignore  such  vital  issues. 
But  only  because  we  do  not  know  ought 
we  forsake  Bessarabia  ?  *  *  *  Or  is 
it  that  the  national  ideal  of  Rumania  is 
to  live  at  the  mercy  of  Russia,  by  aban- 
doning old  Moldavia  ? 

FOR  A  BALKAN  UNION. 
From   Le   Journal   des   Balkans    of   the 
.  Liberal  T.  Jonescu,  of  March  33,  1915. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
Balkan  States  get  together — quite  apait 
from  the  present  circumstances — for  their 
own  vital  benefit.  No  matter  what  the 
outcome  of  the  present  war  will  be,  -the 
duty  of  the  Balkan  States  is  to  act  in 
unison,  for  mutual  support  and  for  the 
preservation  of  their  future. 

Under  whatever  form  constituted,  the 
alliance  of  the  Balkan  States  is  essential 
to  the  existence  of  the  countries  of  South- 
eastern Europe. 


To  begin  with,  a  Balkan  congress  must 
be  called  together,  which  should  deal 
principally  with  the  question  of  organiz- 
ing a  common  network  of  communica- 
tion, both  on  rail  and  water,  strictly 
Balkan  in  character,  which  would  con- 
tribute to  a  specific  political  purpose, 
and  at  the  same  time  assure  to  the 
Balkan  countries  the  monopoly  of  East 
Indian  trade. 

IN  CASE  OF  WAR. 
From   the    Government  organ,   Indepen- 

dance  Roumaine,  of  May  18,   1915. 

It  is  most  essential  that,  should  neutral 
countries  decide  to  enter  the  European 
war,  their  first  duty  should  be  that  of 
asking  beforehand  explicit  and  definite 
guarantees  from  the  powers  that  solicit 
their  assistance.  Without  such  guaran- 
tees not  one  of  the  Balkan  States  would 
be  willing  to  enter  the  war,  because  there 
is  not  a  statesman  who  in  like  circum- 
stances would  plunge  his  country  in'^o  an 
action  which,  on  the  face  of  it,  is  only  an 
adventurous  enterprise. 


Portsmouth    Bells 


[From   Punch.] 


A  LAZY  sea  came  washing  in 
Right  through  the  Harbor  mouth. 
Where  gray  and  silent,  half  asleep, 
The  lords  of  all  the  oceans  keep. 

West,  East,  and  North  and  South. 
The  Summer  sun  spun  cloth  of  gold 

Upon  the  twinkling  sea, 
And  little  t.b.d.'s  lay  close, 
Stern  near  to  stern  and  nose  to  nose, 
And  slumbered  peacefully. 

Oh,  bells  of  Portsmouth  Town, 
Oh,  bells  of  Portsmouth  Town, 
You  rang  of  peace  upon  the  seas 
Before  the  leaves  turned  brown. 

A  grayish  sea  goes  sweeping  in 

Beyond  the  boom  today; 
The  Harbor  is  a  cold,  clear  space, 
For  far  beyond  the  Solent's  race 
The  gray-flanked  cruisers  play. 
For  it's  oh!   the  long,  long  night  up  North, 

The  sudden  twilit  day. 
Where  Portsmouth  men  cruise  up  and  down, 
And  all  alone  in  Portsmouth  Town 
Are  women  left  to  pray. 

Oh,  bells  of  Portsmouth  Town, 
Oh,  bells  of  Portsmouth  Town, 
What  will  ye  ring  when  once  again 
The  green  leaves  turn  to  brown? 


The  Wanderers  of  the  Emden 

Odyssey  of  the  German  Raider's  Survivors  Told  by  Captain 

Muecke,  Their  Leader 

By  Emil   Ludwig 

Special   Correspondent  of  the   Berliner   Tageblatt. 


EL  ULA,  (via  Damascus,)  May  7, 
11:40  P.  M.,  (Dispatches  to  the 
Berliner  Tageblatt.)— The  Em- 
den caravan  arrived  here  to- 
night. In  advance,  Captain  Miicke.  We 
were  sitting  in  high  expectation  when 
suddenly  some  Arabs  burst  in  upon  us, 
calling  out  "They're  here!"  A  small 
caravan  climbed  down  from  the  hills;  I 
ran  to  meet  it,  A  big,  blonde  fellow  had 
already  dismounted,  and  laughed  heartily 
at  my  welcome.  Completely  rigged  out 
in  full  tropical  garb  and  with  an  in- 
voluntarily full  beard  and  the  bluest  of 
seamen's  eyes,  he  stood  beside  his  white 
camel. 

"  Bath  or  Rhine  wine  ? "  was  my  first 
question. 

"  Rhine  wine,!'  the  decided  answer. 

Then  we  sat  down  together  in  the  s':a- 
tion  master's  room,  and  without  mora 
ado  Miicke  began  to  narrate  his  Robin- 
son Crusade  by  water  and  land.  Be- 
tween times  he  opened  letters.  "  Have  I 
the  Cross  ?  "  he  suddenly  exclaimed,  as 
he  found  newspapers  that  brought  him 
the  news  that  he  had  been  decorated  with 
the  Iron  Cross,  First  Class,  a  Bavarian 
and  a  Saxon  order.  He  laughed,  got  red 
in  the  face,  and  was  happy  as  a  child 
over  Christmas  presents.  "  It's  really 
too  much,"  he  said,  "  but  I  am  most 
pleased  over  the  Saxon  order;  my  father 
also  wore  it."  In  between  he  asked 
questions  about  Captain  Miiller's  fate, 
about  the  Carpathians  and  the  Darda- 
nelles, and  then  threw  in  scraps  about 
the  Emden  and  the  Ayesha.  Presently 
another  caravan  was  reported.  "  I  must 
ride  out  to  meet  my  men,"  he  said,  and 
we  approached  a  big  caravan.  Thirty 
Bedouins,  with  the  Turkish  flag  at  the 
head  of  the  column;  then,  all  mixed  up. 


sturdy  German  blond  sailors  in  disguise, 
with  fez  or  turban,  all  on  camels,  among 
them  dusky,  melancholy  looking  Arabs. 
"  Children!  "  their  Captain  called  out  to 
them,  "  you've  all  got  the  Cross,  and 
you,  Gyssing,  have  a  Bavarian  order  to 
boot."  "  Hurrah!  "  resounded  through 
the  red  desert.  The  German  flag  was 
raised.     Handshaking  all  around. 

"  Children,  here  is  Paradise;  come,  here 
flows  champagne!  And  here,  these  are 
real  railroad  tracks!  " 

"  How  soon  do  you  want  to  travel  ?  "  a 
Turkish  Major  asked. 

"  In  three  hours,  as  quick  as  possible, 
through  night  and  day,"  Captain  Miicke 
replied.  Even  before  he  had  reported  his 
safe  arrival  to  his  parents  at  home,  he 
files  a  telegraphic  request  for  a  new 
command  before  the  enemy.  Never  have 
I  seen  so  much  modesty  alongside  so 
much  glory  as  among  these  fifty  Emden 
men. 

"  Have  you  papers  here  ?  "  one  of  them 
asks. 

"A  heap." 

"  How  is  it  with  Germany  ?  "  comes  a 
voice  from  the  crowd. 

That's  what  they  all  want  to  know. 
The  men  bathe,  and  then  look  happily  at 
the  special  train  in  the  desert. 

THE  SURVIVORS. 
TABUK,  (via  Damascus,)  May  8,  noon. 
— They're  still  asleep.  Last  night  the  joy 
lasted  a  long  while.  But  I  couldn't  help 
admiring  the  discipline,  which  did  not 
break  down  even  on  that  well-deserved 
joy  day.  Earnestness,  the  basic  charac- 
teristic of  the  soldier,  lay  under  all  their 
merriment.  As  the  engine  was  reported 
to  be  ready  to  start,  Miicke  called  out: 
"  All  abroad!     Youngsters,  only  once  in 


760 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


my  life  do  I  command  a  railroad  train." 
Then  he  and  the  officers  sat  down  among 
the  sailors.  At  every  station  they  made 
jokes,  because  they  were  real  stations 
that  followed  one  another  automatically 
and  without  the  danger  of  adventures! 

But  all  have  only  one  wish — to  get 
quickly  back  to  Germany.  Miicke  wants 
to  shorten  all  the  festivities  in  his  honor; 
he  longs  for  nothing  more  than  a  com- 
mand in  the  North  Sea.  I  go  down  the 
aisle  of  the  cars  and  watch  them  sleeping 
— comrades  held  together  by  the  bonds 
of  nine  months  on  seas  and  desert,  and 
I  think  how  young  they  all  are.  None 
of  them  over  30,  and  their  commander 
only  33.  Of  the  officers,  only  Lieutenant 
von  Gyssing  was  on  the  Emden.  Well- 
man  joined  the  party  at  Padang,  Dr. 
Lang  and  Lieutnant  Gerdts  were  taken 
over  from  the  steamer  Choising.  This 
steamer  of  the  North  German  Lloyd,  the 
third  and  last  ship  to  carry  the  expedi- 
tionary corps  of  the  Emden,  took  over  the 
men  and  provisions  on  Dec.  16,  and  on  the 
same  evening  the  Ayesha  was  sunk.  On 
Jan.  9  they  left  this  ship,  too,  before 
Hodeida,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to 
take  the  overland  route  through  Arabia. 
After  the  loss  of  two  months,  on  March 
17,  they  again  had  to  take  a  small  sail- 
boat of  75  feet  length  and  beat  about 
the  Red  Sea  amid  new  adventures.  All 
are  in  good  health  and  spirits;  they're 
astonished,  however,  and  laugh,  because 
they  see  themselves  featured  as  heroes 
in  the  papers. 

CRUISE  OF  THE  EMDEN. 

OASIS  OF  MAAN,  620  Kilometers 
South  of  Damascus,  May  9. — As  we  ride 
through  Arabia,  Miicke  and  Lieutenant 
Gyssing,  the  only  returning  Emden  offi- 
cers, narrate: 

"  We  on  the  Emden  had  no  idea  where 
we  M'ere  going,  as  on  Aug.  11,  1914,  we 
separated  from  the  cruiser  squadron,  es- 
corted only  by  the  coaler  Markomannia. 
Under  way,  the  Emden  picked  up  three 
officers  from  Gei*man  steamers.  That 
was  a  piece  of  luck,  for  afterward  we 
needed  many  officers  for  the  capturing 
and  sinking  of  steamers,  or  manning  them 
when  we  took  them  with  us.  On  Sept. 
10  the  first  boat  came  in  sight.     We  stop 


her.  She  proves  to  be  a  Greek  tramp, 
chartered  from  England.  On  the  next 
day  we  met  the  Indus,  bound  for  Bom- 
bay, all  fitted  up  as  a  troop  transport, 
but  still  without  troops.  That  was  the 
first  one  we  sunk.  The  crew  we  took 
aboard  the  Markomannia,  '  What's  the 
name  of  your  ship?  '  the  officers  asked 
us.  '  Emden!  Impossible.  Why,  the 
Emden  was  sunk  long  ago  in  battle  with 
the  Ascold!' 

"  Then  we  sank  the  Lovat,  a  troop 
transport  ship,  and  took  the  Kabinga 
along  with  us.  One  gets  used  quickly 
to  new  forms  of  activity.  After  a  few 
days  capturing  ships  became  a  habit. 
Of  the  twenty-three  which  we  captured, 
most  of  them  stopped  after  our  first 
signal.  When  they  didn't,  we  fired  a 
blank  shot.  Then  they  all  stopped. 
Only  one,  the  Clan  Mattesen,  waited 
for  a  real  shot  across  the  bow  before 
giving  up  its  many  automobiles  and  lo- 
comotives to  the  seas.  The  officers  were 
mostly  very  polite  and  let  down  rope 
ladders  for  us.  After  a  few  hours 
they'd  be  on  board  with  us.  We  our- 
selves never  set  foot  in  their  cabins, 
nor  took  charge  of  them.  The  officers 
often  acted  on  their  own  initiative  and 
signaled  to  us  the  nature  of  their  cargo; 
then  the  Commandant  decided  as  to 
whether  to  sink  the  ship  or  take  it  with 
us.  Of  the  cargo,  we  always  took  every- 
thing we  could  use,  particularly  pro- 
visions. Many  of  the  English  officers 
and  sailors  made  good  use  of  the  hours 
of  transfer  to  drink  up  the  supply  of 
whisky  instead  of  sacrificing  it  to  the 
waves.  I  heard  that  one  Captain  was 
lying  in  tears  at  the  enforced  separa- 
tion from  his  beloved  ship,  but  on  inves- 
tigation found  that  he  was  merely  dead 
drunk.  Bat  much  worse  was  the  open 
betrayal  v/hich  many  practiced  toward 
their  brother  Captains,  whom  they  prob- 
ably regarded  as  rivals.  '  Haven't  you 
met  the  Kilo  yet?  If  you  keep  on  your 
course  two  hours  longer,  you  must  over- 
haul her,'  one  Captain  said  to  me  of  his 
own  accord.  To  other  tips  from  other 
Captains  we  owed  many  of  our  prizes. 
I  am  prepared  to  give  their  names,"  Cap- 
tain Miicke  added. 

"  The  Captain  of  one  ship  once  called 


THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EMDEN 


761 


out  cheerily:  *  Thank  God,  I've  been  cap- 
tured! '  He  had  received  expense  money 
for  the  trip  to  Australia,  and  was  now- 
saved  half  the  journey! 

"  We  had  mostly  quiet  weather,  so  that 
communication  with  captured  ships  was 
easy.  They  were  mostly  dynamited,  or 
else  shot  close  to  the  water  line.  The 
sinking  process  took  longer  or  shorter, 
according  to  where  they  were  struck  and 
the  nature  of  the  cargo.  Mostly  the  ships 
keeled  over  on  their  sides  till  the  water 
flowed  down  the  smokestacks,  a  last  puff 
of  smoke  came  out,  and  then  they  were 
gone.  Many,  however,  went  down  sharp- 
ly bow  first,  the  stern  rising  high  in  the 
air. 

"  On  the  Kabinga  the  Captain  had  his 
wife  and  youngster  with  him.  He  was 
inclined  at  first  to  be  disagreeable. 
'  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  us  ? 
Shall  we  be  set  out  in  boats  and  left  to 
our  fate  ?  '  he  asked.  Afterward  he  grew 
confidential,  like  all  the  Captains,  called 
us  '  Old  Chap,'  gave  the  Lieutenant  a 
nice  new  oilskin,  and  as  we  finally  let  the 
Kabinga  go  wrote  us  a  letter  of  thanks, 
and  his  wife  asked  for  an  Emden  arm- 
band and  a  button.  They  all  gave  us 
three  cheers  as  they  steamed  away. 
'  Come  to  Calcutta  some  time!  '  was  the 
last  thing  the  Captain  said,  *  and  catch 
the  pilots  so  that  those  [unprintable  sea- 
man's epithet]  fellows  will  feel  some- 
thing of  the  war,  too.' 

"  A  few  days  later,  by  Calcutta,  we 
made  one  of  our  richest  hauls,  the  Diplo- 
mat, chock  full  of  tea — we  sunk  $2,500,- 
000  worth.  On  the  same  day  the  Trab- 
botch,  too,  which  steered  right  straight 
toward  us,  literally  into  our  arms. 

"  But  now  we  wanted  to  beat  it  out  of 
the  Bay  of  Bengal,  .  because  we  had 
learned  from  the  papers  that  the  Emden 
was  being  keenly  searched  for.  By  Ran- 
goon we  encountered  a  Norwegian  tramp, 
which,  for  a  cash  consideration,  took  over 
all  the  rest  of  our  prisoners  of  war. 
Later  on  another  neutral  ship  rejected  a 
similar  request  and  betrayed  us  to  the 
Japanese  into  the  bargain.  On  Sept.  23 
we  reached  Madras  and  steered  straight 
for  the  harbor.  We  stopped  still  3,000 
yards  before  the  city.    Then  we  shot  up 


the  oil  tanks.  Three  or  four  burned  up 
and  illuminated  the  city.  They  answered. 
Several  of  the  papers  asserted  that  we 
left  with  lights  out.  On  the  contrary, 
we  showed  our  lights  so  as  to  seem  to 
indicate  that  we  were  going  northward; 
only  later  did  we  put  them  out,  turn 
around,  and  steer  southward.  As  we  left 
we  could  see  the  fire  burning  brightly  in 
the  night,  and  even  by  daylight,  ninety 
sea  miles  away,  we  could  still  see  the 
smoke  from  the  burning  oil  tanks.  Two 
days  later  we  navigated  around  Ceylon, 
and  could  see  the  lights  of  Colombo.  On 
the  same  evening  we  gathered  in  two 
more  steamers,  the  King  Lund  and  Ty- 
weric.  The  latter  was  particularly  good 
to  us,  for  it  brought  us  the  very  latest 
evening  papers  from  Colombo,  which  it 
had  only  left  two  hours  before. 

"  Everything  went  well,  the  only 
trouble  was  that  our  prize,  the  Marko- 
mannia,  didn't  have  much  coal  left.  We 
said  one  evening  in  the  mess:  'The  only 
thing  lacking  now  is  a  nice  steamer  with 
500  tons  of  nice  Cardiff  coal.'  The 
next  evening  we  got  her,  the  Burresk, 
brand-new,  from  England  on  her  maiden 
voyage,  bound  for  Hongkong.  Then 
followed  in  order  the  Riberia,  Foyle, 
Grand  Ponrabbel,  Benmore,  Troiens,  Ex- 
fort,  Grycefale,  Sankt  Eckbert,  Chil- 
kana.  Most  of  them  were  sunk;  the 
coal  ships  were  kept.  The  Eckbert  was 
let  go  with  a  load  of  passengers  and 
captured  crews.  We  also  sent  the  Mar- 
komannia  away  because  it  hadn't  any 
more  coal.  She  was  later  captured  by 
the  English  together  with  all  the  prize 
papers  about  their  own  captured  ships. 
All  this  happened  before  Oct.  20;  then 
we  sailed  southward,  to  Deogazia,  south- 
west of  Colombo.  South  of  Lakadiven 
on  Deogazia  some  Englishmen  came  on 
board,  solitary  farmers  who  were  in 
touch  with  the  world  only  every  three 
months  through  schooners.  They  knew 
nothing  about  the  war,  took  us  for  an 
English  man-of-war,  and  asked  us  to  re- 
pair their  motor  boat  for  them.  We  kept 
still  and  invited  them  to  dinner  in  our 
officers'  mess.  Presently  they  stood 
still  in  front  of  the  portrait  of  the 
Kaiser,  quite  astounded.  *  This  is  a 
German  ship! '    We   continued   to  keep 


762 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


still.  '  Why  is  your  ship  so  dirty?  '  they 
asked.  VVe  shrugged  our  shoulders. 
'  Will  you  take  some  letters  for  us  ?  ' 
they  asked.  '  Sorry,  impossible;  we  don't 
know  what  port  we'll  run  into.'  Then 
they  left  our  ship,  but  about  the  war 
we  told  them  not  a  single  word. 

"  Now  we  went  toward  Miniko,  where 
we  sank  two  ships  more.  The  Captain 
of  one  of  them  said  to  us:  'Why  don't 
you  try  your  luck  around  north  of  Min- 
iko? There's  lots  of  ships  there  now?  ' 
On  the  next  day  we  found  three  steam- 
ers to  the  north,  one  of  them  with  much 
desired  Cardiff  coal.  From  English 
papers  on  captured  ships  we  learned  that 
we  were  being  hotly  pursued.  The 
stokers  also  told  us  a  lot.  Our  pursuers 
evidently  must  also  have  a  convenient 
base.  Penang  was  the  tip  given  us. 
ITiere  we  had  hopes  of  finding  two 
French  cruisers. 

"  One  night  we  started  for  Penang. 
[A  graphic  narrative  of  this  raid  on 
Penang  from  the  special  correspondent 
of  The  New  York  Times,  who  was 
ashore  there,  appeared  in  The  New 
York  Times  Current  History  of  March, 
1915.]  On  Oct.  28  we  raised  our  very 
practicable  fourth  smokestack — Miicke's 
own  invention.  As  a  result,  we  were 
taken  for  English  or  French.  The  harbor 
of  Penang  lies  in  a  channel  difficult  of 
access.  There  was  nothing  doing  by 
night,  we  had  to  do  it  at  daybreak.  At 
high  speed,  without  smoke,  with  lights 
out,  we  steered  into  the  mouth  of  the 
channel.  A  torpedo  boat  on  guard  slept 
well.  We  steamed  past  its  small  light. 
Inside  lay  a  dark  silhouette;  that  must 
be  a  warship!  But  it  wasn't  the  French 
cruiser  we  were  looking  for.  We  recog- 
nized the  silhouette — dead  sure;  that  was 
the  Russian  cruiser  Jemtchug.  There  it 
lay,  there  it  slept  like  a  rat.  No  watch 
to  be  seen.  They  made  it  easy  for  us. 
Because  of  the  narrowness  of  the  harbor 
we  had  to  keep  close;  we  fired  the  first 
torpedo  at  400  yards.  Then  to  be  sure 
things  livened  up  a  bit  on  the  sleeping 
warship.  At  the  same  time  we  took  the 
crew  quarters  under  fire,  five  shells  at 
a  time.  There  was  a  flash  of  flame  on 
board,  then  a  kind  of  burning  aureole. 
After  the  fourth  shell,  the  flame  burned 


high.  The  first  torpedo  had  struck  the 
ship  too  deep  because  we  were  too  close 
to  it,  a  second  torpedo  which  we  fired  off 
from  the  other  side  didn't  make  the 
same  mistake.  After  twenty  seconds  there 
was  absolutely  not  a  trace  of  the  ship  to 
be  seen.  The  enemy  had  fired  off  only 
about  six  shots. 

"  But  now  another  ship,  which  we 
couldn't  see,  was  firing.  That  was  the 
French  d'Ibreville,  toward  which  we  now 
turned  at  once.  A  few  minutes  later,  an 
incoming  torpedo  destroyer  was  reported. 
He  mustn't  find  us  in  that  narrow  har- 
bor, otherwise  we  were  finished!  But 
it  proved  to  be  a  false  alarm;  only  a 
small  merchant  steamer  that  looked  like 
a  destroyer,  and  which  at  once  showed 
the  merchant  flag  and  steered  for  shore. 
Shortly  afterward  a  second  one  was  re- 
ported. This  time  it  proved  to  be  the 
French  torpedo  boat  Mousquet.  It  comes 
straight  toward  us.  That's  always  re- 
mained a  mystery  to  me,  for  it  must 
have  heard  the  shooting.  An  officer 
whom  we  fished  up  afterward  explained 
to  me  that  they  had  only  recognized  we 
were  a  German  warship  when  they  were 
quite  close  to  us.  The  Frenchman  be- 
haved well,  accepted  battle  and  fought  on, 
but  was  polished  off  by  us  with  three 
broadsides.  The  whole  fight  with  both 
ships  lasted  half  an  hour.  The  com- 
mander of  the  torpedo  boat  lost  both  legs 
by  the  first  broadside.  When  he  saw 
that  part  of  his  crew  were  leaping  over- 
board, he  cried  out:  '  Tie  me  fast;  I  will 
not  survive  after  seeing  Frenchmen 
desert  their  ship! '  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
he  went  down  with  his  ship  as  a  brave 
Captain,  lashed  fast  to  the  mast.  Then 
we  fished  up  thirty  heavily  wounded; 
three  died  at  once.  We  sewed  a  Tricolor, 
(the  French  flag),  wound  them  in  it  and 
buried  them  at  sea,  with  seamen's  honors, 
three  salvos.  That  was  my  only  sea 
fight.  The  second  one  I  did  not  take 
part  in." 

Miicke,  who  had  been  recounting  his 
lively  narrative,  partly  like  an  officer, 
partly  like  an  artist,  and  not  trying  to 
eliminate  the  flavor  of  adventure,  now 
takes  on  quite  another  tone  as  he  comes 
to  tell  of  the  end  of  the  Emden: 

"  On  Nov.  9  I  left  the  Emden  in  order 


THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EMDEN 


763 


to  destroy  the  wireless  plant  on  the  Cocos 
Island.  I  had  fifty  men,  four  machine 
guns,  about  thirty  rifles.  Just  as  we 
were  about  to  destroy  the  apparatus  it 
reported,  'Careful;  Emden  near.'  The 
work  of  destruction  went  smoothly.  The 
wireless  operators  said:  *  Thank  God! 
It's  been  like  being  under  arrest  day  and 
night  lately.'  Presently  the  Emden  sig- 
naled to  us,  *  Hurry  up.'  I  pack  up,  but 
simultaneously  wails  the  Emden's  siren. 
I  hurry  up  to  the  bridge,  see  the  flag 
*  Anna '  go  up.  That  means  '  Weigh 
anchor.'  We  ran  like  mad  into  our  boat, 
but  already  the  Emden's  pennant  goes 
up,  the  battle  flag  is  raised,  they  fire 
from  starboard. 

"  The  enemy  is  concealed  by  the  island 
and  therefore  not  to  be  seen,  but  I  see 
the  shells  strike  the  water.  To  follow 
and  catch  the  Emden  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion; she's  going  twenty  knots,  I  only 
four  with  my  steam  pinnace.  Therefore, 
I  turn  back  to  land,  raise  the  flag,  de- 
clare German  laws  of  war  in  force,  seize 
all  arms,  set  up  my  machine  guns  on 
shore  in  order  to  guard  against  a  hostile 
landing.  Then  I  run  again  in  order  to 
observe  the  fight.  From  the  splash  of 
the  shells  it  looked  as  if  the  enemy  had 
fifteen-centimeter  guns,  bigger,  therefore, 
than  the  Emden's.  He  fired  rapidly,  but 
poorly.  It  was  the  Australian  cruiser 
Sydney." 

"  Have  you  heard  ?  "  Miicke  suddenly 
asked  in  between,  "  if  anything  has  hap- 
pened to  the  Sydney?  At  the  Darda- 
nelles maybe  ?  "  And  his  hatred  of  the 
Emden's  "  hangman  "  is  visible  for  a  sec- 
ond in  his  blue  eyes.    Then  he  continues: 

"  According  to  the  accounts  of  th^ 
Englishmen  who  saw  the  first  part  of 
the  engagement  from  shore,  the  Emden 
was  cut  off  rapidly.  Her  forward  smoke- 
stack lay  across  the  ship.  She  went  over 
to  circular  fighting  and  to  torpedo  firing, 
but  already  burned  fiercely  aft.  Behind 
the  mainmast  several  shells  struck  home; 
we  saw  the  high  flame.  Whether  circular 
fighting  or  a  running  fight  now  followed, 
I  don't  know,  because  I  again  had  to  look 
to  my  land  defenses.  Later  I  looked  on 
from  the  roof  of  a  house.  Now  the  Emden 
again  stood  out  to  sea  about  4,000  to 
5,000  yards,  still  burning.     As  she  again 


turned  toward  the  enemy,  the  forward 
mast  was  shot  away.  On  the  enemy  no 
outward  damage  was  apparent,  but  col- 
umns of  smoke  showed  where  shots  had 
struck  home.  Then  the  Emden  took  a 
northerly  course,  likewise  the  enemy,  and 
I  had  to  stand  there  helpless  gritting  my 
teeth  and  thinking:  '  Damn  it;  the  Emden 
is  burning  and  you  aren't  on  board!  '  An 
Englishman  who  had  also  climbed  up  to 
the  roof  of  the  house,  approached  me, 
greeted  me  politely,  and  asked:  '  Captain, 
would  you  like  to  have  a  game  of  tennis 
with  us  ?  ' 

"  The  ships,  still  fighting,  disappeared 
beyond  the  horizon.  I  thought  that 
an  unlucky  outcome  for  the  Emden 
was  possible,  also  a  landing  by  the 
enemy  on  Keeling  Island,  at  least  for 
the  purpose  of  landing  the  wounded 
and  taking  on  provisions.  As,  accord- 
ing to  the  statements  of  the  English- 
men, there  were  other  ships  in  the 
neighborhood,  I  saw  myself  faced  with 
the  certainty  of  having  soon  to  sur- 
render because  of  a  lack  of  ammuni- 
tion. But  for  no  price  did  I  and  my 
men  want  to  get  into  English  imprison- 
ment. As  I  was  thinking  about  all  this, 
the  masts  again  appear  on  the  horizon, 
the  Emden  steaming  easterly,  but  very 
much  slower.  All  at  once  the  enemy, 
at  high  speed,  shoots  by,  apparently 
quite  close  to  the  Emden.  A  high,  white 
waterspout  showed  among  the  black 
smoke  of  the  enemy.  That  was  a  tor- 
pedo. I  see  how  the  two  opponents  with- 
drew, the  distance  growing  greater  be- 
tween them;  how  they  separate,  till  they 
disappear  in  the  darkness.  The  fight 
had  lasted  ten  hours. 

"  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  leave  the 
island  as  quick  as  possible.  The  Emden 
was  gone;  the  danger  for  us  growing. 
In  the  harbor  I  had  noticed  a  three- 
master,  the  schooner  Ayesha.  Mr.  Ross, 
the  owner  of  the  ship  and  of  the  island, 
had  warned  me  that  the  boat  was  leaky, 
but  I  found  it  quite  a  seaworthy  tub. 
Now  quickly  provisions  were  taken  on 
board  for  eight  weeks,  water  for  four 
The  Englishmen  very  kindly  showed  us 
the  best  water  and  gave  us  clothing  and 
utensils.  They  declared  this  was  their 
thanks  for  our  *  moderation  '  and  '  gen- 


764 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


erosity.'  Then  they  collected  the  auto- 
graphs of  our  men,  photographed  them 
and  gave  three  cheers  as  our  last  boat 
put  off.  It  was  evening,  nearly  dark. 
We  sailed  away.  After  a  short  address, 
amid  three  hurrahs,  I  raised  the  Ger- 
man war  flag  on  *  S.  M.  S.  Ayesha.' " 


NARRATIVE   CONTINUED. 

DAMASCUS,  May  10.— "  The  Ayesha 
proved  to  be  a  really  splendid  ship," 
Miicke  continued,  and  whenever  he  hap- 
pens to  speak  of  this  sailing  ship  he 
grows  warmer.  One  notices  the  passion 
for  sailing  which  this  seaman  has,  for 
he  was  trained  on  a  sailing  ship  and  had 
won  many  prizes  in  the  regattas  at 
Kiel.  "  But  we  had  hardly  any  instru- 
ments," he  narrated,  "  we  had  only  one 
sextant  and  two  chronometers  on  board, 
but  a  chronometer  journal  was  lacking. 
Luckily  I  found  an  old  '  Indian  Ocean 
Directory'  of  1882  on  board;  its  infor- 
m.ation  went  back  to  the  year  1780. 

"  At  first  we  had  to  overhaul  all  the 
tackle,  for  I  didn't  trust  to  peace,  and 
we  had  left  the  English  Captain  back 
on  the  island.  I  had  said:  '  We  are  go- 
ing to  East  Africa.'  Therefore  I  sailed 
at  first  westward,  then  northward. 
There  followed  the  monsoons,  but  then 
also  long  periods  of  dead  calm.  Then 
we  scolded!  Only  two  neutral  ports 
came  seriously  under  consideration:  Ba- 
tavia  and  Padang.  At  Keeling  I  cau- 
tiously asked  about  Tsing-tao,  of  which 
I  had  naturally  thought  first,  and  so 
quite  by  chance  learned  that  it  had  fall- 
en. Now  T  decided  for  Padang,  because 
I  knew  I  would  be  more  apt  to  meet  the 
Emden  there,  also  because  there  was  a 
German  Consul  there,  because  my 
schooner  was  unknown  there,  and  be- 
cause I  hoped  to  find  German  ships 
there  and  learn  some  news.  '  It'll  take 
you  six  to  eight  days  to  reach  Batavia,' 
a  Captain  had  told  me  at  Keeling.  Now 
we  needed  eighteen  days  to  reach  Pa- 
dang, the  weather  was  so  rottenly  still. 

"  We  had  an  excellent  cook  on  board; 
he  had  deserted  from  the  French  Foreign 
Legion.  But  with  water  we  had  to  go 
sparingly,  each  man  received  three 
glasses  daily.     When  it  rained,  all  pos- 


sible receptacles  were  placed  on  deck  and 
the  main  sail  was  spread  over  the  cabin 
roof  to  catch  the  rain.  The  whole  crew 
went  about  naked,  in  order  to  spare  our 
wash,  for  the  clothing  from  Keeling  was 
soon  in  rags.  Toothbrushes  were  long 
ago  out  of  sight.  One  razor  made  the 
rounds  of  the  crew.  The  entire  ship  had 
one  precious  comb. 

"  As  at  length  we  came  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Padang,  on  Nov.  26,  a  ship 
appeared  for  the  first  time  and  looked 
after  our  name.  But  the  name  had  been 
painted  over,  because  it  was  the  former 
English  name.  As  I  think,  *  You're  rid 
of  the  fellew,'  the  ship  comes  again  in 
the  evening,  comes  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  us.  I  send  all  men  below  deck. 
I  promenade  the  deck  as  the  solitary 
skipper.  Through  Morse  signals  the 
stranger  betrayed  its  identity.  It  was 
the  Hollandish  torpedo  boat  Lyn.  I 
asked  by  signals,  first  in  English,  then 
twice  in  German:  'Why  do  you  follow 
me?  '  No  answer.  The  next  morning 
I  find  myself  in  Hollandish  waters,  so  I 
raise  pennant  and  war  flag.  Now  the 
Lyn  came  at  top  speed  past  us.  As  it 
passes,  I  have  my  men  line  up  on  deck, 
and  give  a  greeting.  The  greeting  is 
answered.  Then,  before  the  harbor  at 
Padang,  I  went  aboard  the  Lyn  in  my 
well  and  carefully  preserved  uniform  and 
declared  my  intentions.  The  commandant 
opined  that  I  could  run  into  the  harbor, 
but  whether  I  might  come  out  again  was 
doubtful." 

"  On  the  South  Coast,"  interjected 
Lieutenant  Wellman,  who  at  that  time 
lay  with  a  German  ship  before  Padang 
and  only  later  joined  the  landing  corps 
of  the  Emden,  "  we  suddenly  saw  a  three- 
master  arrive.  Great  excitement  aboard 
our  German  ship,  for  the  schooner  car- 
ried the  German  war  flag.  We  thought 
she  came  from  New  Guinea  and  at  once 
made  all  boats  clear,  on  the  Kleist, 
Rheinland,  and  Choising,  for  we  were  all 
on  the  search  for  the  Emden.  When  we 
heard  that  the  schooner  carried  the  land- 
ing corps,  not  a  man  of  us  would  be- 
lieve it." 

"  They  wanted  to  treat  me  as  a  prize!" 
Miicke  now  continued.  "  I  said,  *  I  am 
a  man  of  war,'  and  pointed  to  my  four 


THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EMDEN 


765 


machine  guns.  The  harbor  authorities 
demanded  a  certification  for  pennant  and 
war  flag,  also  papers  to  prove  that  I 
was  the  commander  of  this  warship.  I 
answered,  for  that  I  was  only  responsible 
to  my  superior  officers.  Now  they  ad- 
vised me  the  most  insistently  to  allow 
ourselves  to  be  interned  peacefully.  They 
said  it  wasn't  at  all  pleasant  in  the 
neighborhood.  We'd  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  Japanese  or  the  English.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  had  again  had  great 
luck.  On  the  day  before  a  Japanese  war- 
ship had  cruised  around  here.  Naturally, 
I  rejected  all  the  well-meant  and  kindly 
advice,  and  did  this  in  presence  of  my 
Lieutenants.  I  demanded  provisions,  wa- 
ter, sails,  tackle,  and  clothing.  They 
replied  we  could  take  on  board  every- 
thing which  we  formerly  had  on  board, 
but  nothing  which  would  mean  an  in- 
crease in  our  naval  strength.  First 
thing,  I  wanted  to  improve  our  ward- 
robe, for  I  had  only  one  sock,  a  pair  of 
shoes,  and  one  clean  shirt,  which  had  be- 
come rather  seedy.  My  comrades  had 
even  less.  But  the  Master  of  the  Port 
declined  to  let  us  have  not  only  charts, 
but  also  clothing  and  toothbrushes,  on 
the  ground  that  these  would  be  an  in- 
crease of  armament.  Nobody  could  come 
aboard,  nobody  could  leave  the  ship  with- 
out permission.  I  requested  that  the 
Consul  be  allowed  to  come  aboard.  This 
Consul,  Herr  Schild,  as  also  the  Brothers 
Baumer,  gave  us  assistance  in  the  friend- 
liest fashion.  From  the  German  steam- 
ers boats  could  come  alongside  and  talk 
with  us.  Finally  we  were  allowed  to  have 
German  papers.  They  were,  to  be  sure, 
from  August.  Until  March  we  saw  no 
more  papers. 

"  Hardly  had  we  been  towed  out  again 
after  twenty-four  hours,  on  the  evening 
of  the  28th,  when  a  searchlight  appeared 
before  us.  I  think:  '  Better  interned 
than  prisoner.'  I  put  out  all  lights  and 
withdrew  to  the  shelter  of  the  island. 
But  they  were  Hollanders  and  didn't  do 
anything  to  us.  Then  for  two  weeks 
more  we  drifted  around,  lying  still  for 
days.  The  weather  was  alternately  still, 
rainy  and  blowy.  At  leng^th  a  ship  comes 
in  sight — a  freighter.  It  sees  us  and 
makes  a  big  curve  around  us.     I  make 


everything  hastily  '  clear  for  battle.' 
Then  one  of  our  officers  recognizes  her 
for  the  Choising.  She  shows  the  German, 
flag.  I  send  up  light  rockets,  although 
it  was  broad  day,  and  go  with  all  sails 
set  that  were  still  setable,  toward  her. 
The  Choising  is  a  coaster,  from  Hong- 
kong for  Siam.  It  was  at  Singapore 
when  the  war  broke  out,  then  went  to  Ba- 
tavia,  was  chartered  loaded  with  coal  for 
the  Emden,  and  had  put  into  Padang  in, 
need,  because  the  coal  in  the  hold  had 
caught  fire.     There  we  had  met  her. 

"  Great  was  our  joy  now.  I  had  all 
my  men  come  on  deck  and  line  up  for  re- 
view. The  fellows  hadn't  a  rag  on.  Thus, 
in  Nature's  garb,  we  gave  three  cheers 
for  the  German  flag  on  the  Choising. 
The  men  on  the  Choising  told  us  after- 
ward *  we  couldn't  make  out  what  that 
meant,  those  stark  naked  fellows  all 
cheering!  '  The  sea  was  too  high,  and 
we  had  to  wait  two  days  before  we  could 
board  the  Choising  on  Dec.  16.  We  took 
very  little  with  us;  the  schooner  was 
taken  in  tow.  In  the  afternoon  we  sunk 
the  Ayesha  and  we  were  all  very  sad. 
The  good  old  Ayesha  had  served  us  faith- 
fully for  six  weeks.  The  log  showed 
that  we  had  made  1,709  sea  miles  under 
sail  since  leaving  Keeling.  She  wasn't 
at  all  rotten  and  unseaworthy,  as  they 
had  told  me,  but  nice  and  white  and  dry 
inside.  I  had  grown  fond  of  the  ship, 
on  which  1  could  practice  my  old  sailing 
manoeuvres.  The  only  trouble  was  that 
the  sails  would  go  to  pieces  every  now 
and  then  because  they  were  so  old. 

"  But  anyway  she  went  down  quite 
properly,  didn't  she?  "  Miicke  turned  to 
the  officer.  "  We  had  bored  a  hole  in 
her;  she  filled  slowly  and  then  all  of  a 
sudden  plump  disappeared!  That  was 
the  saddest  day  of  the  whole  month.  We 
gave  her  three  cheers,  and  my  next  yacht 
at  Kiel  will  be  named  Ayesha,  that's 
sure. 

"  To  the  Captain  of  the  Choising  I  had 
said,  when  I  hailed  him:  *  I  do  not  know 
what  will  happen  to  the  ship.  The  war 
situation  may  make  it  necessary  for  me 
to  strand  it. '  He  did  not  want  to  under- 
take the  responsibility.  I  proposed  that 
we  work  together,  and  I  would  take  the 
responsibility.  Then  we  traveled  together 


766 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


for  three  weeks,  from  Padang  to  Hodeida. 
The  Choisingwas  some  ninety  meters  long 
and  had  a  speed  of  nine  miles,  though 
sometimes  only  four.  If  she  had  not  ac- 
cidentally arrived  I  had  intended  to  cruise 
high  along  the  west  coast  of  Sumatra  to 
the  region  of  the  northern  monsoon.  I 
came  about  six  degrees  north,  then  over 
Aden  to  the  Arabian  coast.  In  the  Red 
Sea  the  northeastern  monsoon,  which 
here  blows  southeast,  could  bring  us  to 
Djidda.  I  had  heard  in  Padang  that 
Turkey  is  allied  with  us,  so  we  would 
be  able  to  get  safely  through  Arabia  to 
Germany. 

"  I  next  waited  for  information  through 
ships,  but  the  Choising  did  not  know 
anything  definite,  either.  By  way  of 
the  Luchs,  the  Konigsberg,  and  Kor- 
moran  the  reports  were  uncertain.  Be- 
sides, according  to  newspapers  at  Aden, 
the  Arabs  were  said  to  have  fought  with 
the  English.  Therein  there  seemed  to  be 
offered  an  opportunity  near  at  hand  to 
damage  the  enemy.  I  therefore  sailed 
with  the  Choising  in  the  direction  of 
Aden.  Lieutenant  Cordts  of  the  Choising 
had  heard  that  the  Arabian  railway  now 
already  went  almost  to  Hodeida,  near  the 
Perim  Strait.  The  ship's  surgeon  there, 
Docounlang,  found  confirmation  of  this 
in  Meyer's  traveling  handbook.  This  rail- 
way could  not  have  been  taken  over  by 
the  Englishmen,  who  always  dreamed  of 
it.  By  doing  this  they  would  have  further 
and  completely  wrought  up  the  Moham- 
medans by  making  more  difficult  the 
journey  to  Mecca.  Best  of  all,  we  thought, 
we'll  simply  step  into  the  express  train 
and  whizz  nicely  away  to  the  North  Sea. 
Certainly  there  would  be  safe  journeying 
homeward  through  Arabia.  To  be  sure, 
we  hadn't  maps  of  the  Red  Sea;  but  it 
was  the  shortest  way  to  the  foe,  whether 
in  Aden  or  in  Germany. 

"Therefore,  courage!     Adenwards! 

"  On  the  7th  of  January,  between  9 
and  10  o'clock  in  the  evening,  we  sneaked 
through  the  Strait  of  Perim.  That  lay 
swarming  full  of  Englishmen.  We 
steered  along  the  African  coast,  close 
past  an  English  cable  layer.  That  is 
my  prettiest  delight — how  the  English- 
men will  be  vexed  when  they  learn  that 


we  have  passed  smoothly  by  Perim.  On 
the  net  evening  we  saw  on  the  coast  a 
few  lights  upon  the  water.  We  thought 
that  must  be  the  pier  of  Hodeida.  But 
when  we  measured  the  distance  by  night, 
3,000  meters,  I  began  to  think  that  must 
be  something  else.  At  dawn  I  made  out 
two  masts  and  four  smokestacks;  that 
was  an  enemy  ship,  and,  what  is  more, 
an  armored  French  cruiser.  I  therefore 
ordered  the  Choising  to  put  to  sea,  and 
to  return  at  night. 

"The  next  day  and  night  the  same; 
then  we  put  out  four  boats — these  we 
pulled  to  shore  at  sunrise  under  the 
eyes  of  the  unsuspecting  Frenchmen. 
The  sea  reeds  were  thick.  A  few  Arabs 
came  close  to  us;  then  there  ensued  a 
difficult  negotiation  with  the  Arabian 
Coast  Guards.  For  we  did  not  even 
know  whether  Hodeida  was  in  English 
or  French  hands.  We  waved  to  them, 
laid  aside  our  arms,  and  made  signs  to 
them.  The  Arabs,  gathering  together, 
begin  to  rub  two  fingers  together;  that 
means  '  We  are  friends.'  We  thought 
that  meant  *  We  are  going  to  rub  against 
you  and  are  hostile.'  I  therefore  said: 
'Boom-boom!'  and  pointed  to  the  war- 
ship. At  all  events,  I  set  up  my  machine 
guns  and  made  preparations  for  a  skir- 
mish. But,  thank  God!  one  of  the  Arabs 
understood  the  word  '  Germans ';  that 
was  good. 

"  Soon  a  hundred  Arabs  came  and 
helped  us,  and  as  we  marched  into  Ho- 
deida the  Turkish  soldiers,  who  had  been 
called  out  against  us,  saluted  us  as  allies 
and  friends.  To  be  sure,  there  was  not  a 
trace  of  a  railway,  but  we  were  received 
very  well,  and  they  assured  us  we  could 
get  through  by  land.  Therefore,  I  gave 
red-star  signals  at  night,  telling  the 
Choising  to  sail  away,  since  the  enemy 
was  near  by.  Inquiries  and  determina- 
tion concerning  a  safe  journey  by  land 
proceeded.  I  also  heard  that  in  the  in- 
terior, about  six  days'  journey  away,  there 
was  healthy  highland  where  our  fever 
invalids  could  recuperate.  I  therefore 
determined  to  journey  next  to  Sana.  On 
the  Kaiser's  birthday  we  held  a  great 
parade  in  common  with  the  Turkish 
troops — all  this  under  the  noses  of  the 


THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EMDEN 


767 


Frenchmen.    On  the  same  day  we  marched 
away   from    Hodeida    to    the    highland." 


A  PATH  OF  TRIUMPH. 

DAMASCUS,  May  10.— The  Arabian 
railway  was  today  transformed  into  a 
German  Via  Triumpharis — military  re- 
ceptions, flowers,  flags  at  the  stations, 
and  a  feast  in  the  great  rug-carpeted 
tent.  Then  once  more  straight  through 
the  desert  and  in  the  midst  of  1,000  cur- 
ious glances  stood  these  cheerful  and 
serious  men  and  youths,  unembarrassed, 
friendly,  plain;  amid  them  always  the 
tallest,  Miicke,  who  conceals  his  impa- 
tience to  get  to  Germany  behind  every 
courteous  phrase.  The  German  builder 
of  the  railway,  the  German  Consul,  the 
German  bank  director,  and  officials  came 
riding  to  meet  them.  Finally  they  had 
garlanded  the  machine,  decked  with  the 
Turkish  and  the  Emden's  flag.  Thus  the 
German  train  rode  into  this  splendid 
green  and  white  oasis,  into  the  old  city 
of  Arabian  fairy  tales,  Arabian  weapons, 
Arabian  powers,  all  of  which  are  no 
more  fantastic  than  the  adventures  which 
the  fifty  homecomers  told  on  the  journey. 

The  Wali  was  waiting  and  the  com- 
manding General;  militia  by  hundreds 
stood  in  rows,  presenting  arms  with 
white  gloves;  music  played  in  march 
time  they  well  knew;  softly  howling 
Dervishes  with  their  high  hats  stood  in 
orderly  traditional  rows  and  played  their 
wild  flute  notes,  and  the  long  man  and 
his  blond,  young  officers,  all  in  their 
fantastic  Arab  headdress,  the  aghal, 
came  out  first;  they  came  with  their 
guns  in  their  right  hands. 

Now  Miicke  gave  orders  to  the  land- 
ing corps  of  S.  M.  S.  Emden.  They 
marched  in  rhythmic  step.  The  Turk- 
ish company  took  the  Germans  into  its 
midst.  saw  them  marching  in  the  daz- 
zling sunlight,  these  blue-eyed  youths 
of  yesteryear,  now  dressed  in  khaki 
and  fez,  m.any  of  them  yellow  from  the 
malaria  from  which  they  had  recovered; 
and  as,  amid  the  applause  of  the  Turk- 
ish soldiers,  they  marched  into  the  se- 
raglio I  could  understand  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  crowd.     I  have  seen  men  of 


spirit  and  men  of  determination  and 
courage,  but  I  have  found  few  at  the 
same  time  so  modest,  so  uncorruptible 
by  fame,  as  these  German  soldiers.  Can 
there  be  a  greater  temptation  to  lead 
young  officers  astray  than  that  of  be- 
ing gazed  at  with  admiration  as  strange 
adventurers  celebrated  as  heroes,  re- 
ceived as  Princes?  But  not  a  face 
changed  its  expression.  If  German 
heroes  often  lack  the  handsome  intoxi- 
cation, they  are,  therefore,  shielded  also 
against  the  seductions  of  fame.  Grate- 
ful and  well  trained  they  quietly  refused 
the  words  of  praise;  and  surrounded  by 
the  roar  of  applause,  they  thought  only 
of  their  bath  for  today  and  their  return 
home  for  tomorrow. 

In  the  great  hall  Miicke  sat  in  the 
centre,  between  the  wall  and  the  Com- 
mander, then  the  officers,  and  around 
them  the  forty-four  mates,  superior 
mates,  sailors,  firemen.  At  one  pillar 
stood  the  color  bearer  with  his  flag. 
They  took  dainty  coffee  cups  into  their 
big  hands,  and  told  one  another  that 
the  Turks  were  very,  good  to  them.  None 
of  them  wishes  to  extend  the  feasts 
that  are  everywhere  being  prepared  for 
them.  All  want  to  return  to  Germany; 
and  when  I  saw  them  march  away,  the 
German  men  beneath  the  Arabian  sun, 
I  saw  fame  and  achievement  like  shad- 
ows floating  over  them.  I  was  seized 
by  pity  for  those  who  were  at  the  goal, 
whose  great  hour  was  the  way  to  the 
goal,  and  they  knew  it  not.  Behind  the 
little  comfort  company  there  floated 
three  figures— the  three  German  soldiers 
whose  bodies  lie  mouldering  in  the  desert. 


A  FIGHT  WITH  BEDOUINS. 

Damascus,  May  11. 
Concerning    his    further    experiences, 
Lieut  Capt  von  Miicke  told  this  story: 

"  Two  months  after  our  arrival  at 
Hodeida  we  again  put  to  sea.  The  time 
spent  in  the  highlands  of  Sana  passed 
in  lengthy  inquiries  and  discussions  that 
fmally  resulted  in  our  foregoing  the 
journey  by  land  through  Arabia,  for  re- 
ligious reasons.  But  the  time  was  not 
altogether  lost.     The  men  who  were  sick 


768 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


with  malaria  had,  for  the  most  part,  re- 
cuperated in  the  highland  air. 

"  The  Turkish  Government  placed  at 
our  disposal  two  '  sambuks '  (sailing 
ships)  of  about  twenty-five  tons,  fifteen 
meters  long  and  four  meters  wide.  But, 
in  fear  of  English  spies,  we  sailed  from 
Jebaua,  ten  miles  north  of  Hodeida.  That 
was  on  March  14.  At  first  we  sailed  at  a 
considerable  distance  apart,  so  that  we 
would  not  both  go  to  pot  if  an  English 
gunboat  caught  us.  Therefore,  we  al- 
ways had  to  sail  in  coastal  water.  That 
is  full  of  coral  reefs,  however." 

"  The  Commander,"  Lieutenant  Gerdts 
said,  "had  charge  of  the  first  sambuk; 
I  of  the  second,  which  was  the  larger  of 
the  two,  for  we  had  four  sick  men  aboard. 
At  first  everything  went  nicely  for  three 
days.  For  the  most  part  I  could  see  the 
sails  of  the  first  ship  ahead  of  men.  On 
the  third  day  I  received  orders  to  draw 
nearer  and  to  remain  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  first  boat,  because  its  pilot  was  sail- 
ing less  skillfully  than  mine.  Suddenly, 
in  the  twilight,  I  felt  a  shock,  then  an- 
other, and  still  another.  The  water 
poured  in  rapidly.  I  had  run  upon  the 
reef  of  a  small  island,  where  the  smaller 
sambuk  was  able  barely  to  pass  because 
it  had  a  foot  less  draught  than  mine. 
Soon  my  ship  was  quite  full,  listed  over, 
and  all  of  us — twenty-eight  men — had  to 
sit  on  the  uptilted  edge  of  the  boat.  The 
little  island  lies  at  Jesirat  Marka,  200 
miles  north  of  Jebaua.  To  be  sure,  an 
Arab  boat  lay  near  by,  but  they  did  not 
know  us.  Nobody  could  help  us.  If  the 
Commander  had  not  changed  the  order  a 
■few  hours  before  and  asked  us  to  sail  up 
closer,  we  would  probably  have  drowned 
on  this  coral  reef — certainly  would  have 
died  of  thirst.  Moreover,  the  waters 
thereabouts  are  full  of  sharks,  and  the 
evening  was  so  squally  that  our  stranded 
boat  was  raised  and  banged  with  every 
waye.  We  could  scarcely  move,  and  the 
other  boat  was  nowhere  in  sight.  And 
now  it  grew  dark.  At  this  stage  I  began 
to  build  a  raft  of  spars  and  old  pieces  of 
wood,  that  might  at  all  events  keep  us 
afloat. 

"  But   soon   the   first  boat   came   into 
sight    again.      The    commander    turned 


about  and  sent  over  his  little  canoe;  in 
this  and  in  our  own  canoe,  in  which  two 
men  could  sit  at  each  trip,  we  first 
transferred  the  sick.  Now  the  Arabs 
began  to  help  us.  But  just  then  the 
tropical  helmet  of  our  doctor  suddenly 
appeared  above  the  water  in  which  he 
was  standing  up  to  his  ears.  Thereupon 
the  Arabs  withdrew;  we  were  Chris- 
tians, and  they  did  not  know  that  we 
were  friends.  Now  the  other  sambuk 
was  so  near  that  we  could  have  swam 
to  it  in  half  an  hour,  but  the  seas  were 
too  high.  At  each  trip  a  good  swimmer 
trailed  along,  hanging  to  the  painter  of 
the  canoe.  When  it  became  altogether 
dark  we  could  not  see  the  boat  any  more, 
for  over  there  they  were  prevented  by 
the  wind  from  keeping  any  light  burning. 
My  men  asked  *  In  what  direction  shall 
we  swim?'  I  answered:  'Swim  in  the 
direction  of  this  or  that  star;  that  must 
be  about  the  direction  of  the  boat.'  Finally 
a  torch  flared  up  over  there — one  of  the 
torches  that  were  still  left  from  the 
Emden.  But  we  had  suffered  consider- 
ably through  submersion.  One  sailor 
cried  out:  'Oh,  pshaw!  it's  all  up  with 
us  now;  that's  a  searchlight.'  The  man 
who  held  out  best  was  Lieutenant 
Schmidt,  who  later  lost  his  life.  About 
10  o'clock  we  were  all  safe  aboard,  but 
one  of  our  typhus  patients.  Seaman  Keil, 
wore  himself  out  completely  by  the  exer- 
tion; he  died  a  week  later.  On  the  next 
morning  we  went  over  again  to  the  wreck' 
in  order  to  seek  the  weapons  that  had 
fallen  into  the  water.  You  see,  the  Arabs 
dive  so  well;  they  fetched  up  a  consider- 
able lot — both  machine  guns,  all  but  ten 
of  the  rifles,  though  these  were,  to  be 
sure,  all  full  of  water.  Later  they  fre- 
quently failed  to  go  off  when  they  were 
used  in  firing. 

"  Now  we  numbered,  together  with  the 
Arabs,  seventy  men  on  the  little  boat, 
until  evening.  Then  we  anchored  before 
Konfida,  and  met  Sami  Bey,  who  is  still 
with  us.  He  had  shown  himself  useful 
even  before  in  the  service  of  the  Turkish 
Government,  and  has  done  good  service 
as  guide  in  the  last  two  months.  He  is 
an  active  man,  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  country.  He  procured  for  us  a  larger 
boat,  of  fifty-four  tons,  and  he  himself, 


THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EMDEN 


769 


with  his  wife,  sailed  alongside  on  the  lit- 
tle sambuk.  We  sailed  from  the  20th  to 
the  24th  unmolested  to  Lith.  There  Sami 
Bey  announced  that  three  English  ships 
were  cruising  about  in  order  to  intercept 
as.  I  therefore  advised  traveling  a  bit 
overland.  I  disliked  leaving  the  sea  a 
second  time,  but  it  had  to  be  done." 

"  Lith  is,  to  be  sure,  nothing  but  this," 
said  Miicke,  with  a  sweeping  gesture 
toward  the  desert  through  which  we  were 
traveling,  "  and  therefore  it  was  very 
difficult  to  get  up  a  caravan  at  once.  We 
remained  aboard  ship  so  long.  We 
marched  away  on  the  28th.  We  had  only 
a  vague  suspicion  that  the  English  might 
have  agents  here  also.  We  could  travel 
only  at  night,  and  when  we  slept  or 
camped  around  a  spring,  there  was  only 
a  tent  for  the  sick  men.  Two  days' 
march  from  Jeddah,  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment, as  soon  as  it  is  received  news 
about  us,  sent  us  sixteen  good  camels. 

"  Suddenly,  on  the  night  of  April  1, 
things  became  uneasy.  I  was  riding  at 
the  head  of  the  column.  All  our  shoot- 
ing implements  were  cleared  for  action, 
because  there  was  danger  of  an  attack 
by  Bedouins,  whom  the  English  here  had 
bribed.  When  it  began  to  grow  a  bit 
light,  I  already  thought:  *  We're  through 
for  today ';  for  we  were  tired — had  been 
riding  eighteen  hours.  Suddenly  I  saw 
a  line  flash  up  before  me,  and  shots 
whizzed  over  our  heads.  Down  from 
the  camels!  Form  a  fighting  line! 
You  know  how  quickly  it  becomes  day- 
light here.  The  whole  space  around  the 
desert  hillock  was  occupied.  Now,  up 
with  your  bayonets!  Rush  'em!  *  *  * 
They  fled,  but  returned  again,  this  time 
from  all  sides.  Several  of  the  gendarmes 
that  had  been  given  us  as  an  escort  are 
wounded;  the  machine  gun  operator, 
Rademacher,  falls,  killed  by  a  shot 
through  his  heart;  another  is  wounded; 
Lieutenant  Schmidt,  in  the  rear  guard, 
is  mortally  wounded — he  has  received  a 
bullet  in  his  chest  and  abdomen. 

"  Suddenly  they  waved  white  cloths. 
The  Sheik,  to  whom  a  part  of  our  camels 
belonged,  went  over  to  them  to  nego- 
tiate, then  Sami  Bey  and  his  wife.  In 
the  interim  we  quickly  built  a  sort  of 
wagon    barricade,    a    circular   camp    of 


camei  saddles,  rice  and  coffee  sacks,  all 
of  which  we  filled  with  sand.  We  had  no 
shovels,  and  had  to  dig  with  our  bayo- 
nets, plates,  and  hands.  The  whole  bar- 
ricade had  a  diameter  of  about  fifty 
meters.  Behind  it  we  dug  trenches, 
which  we  deepened  even  during  the  skir- 
mish. The  camels  inside  had  to  lie 
down,  and  thus  served  very  well  as  cover 
for  the  rear  of  the  trenches.  Then  an 
inner  wall  was  constructed,  behind  which 
we  carried  the  sick  men.  In  the  very 
centre  we  buried  two  jars  of  water,  to 
guard  us  against  thirst.  In  addition  we 
had  ten  petroleum  cans  full  of  water;  all 
told,  a  supply  for  four  days.  Late  in 
the  evening  Sami's  wife  came  back  from 
the  futile  negotiations,  alone.  She  had 
unveiled  for  the  first  and  only  time  on 
this  day  of  the  skirmish,  had  distributed 
cartridges,  and  had  conducted  herself 
faultlessly. 

"  Soon  we  were  able  to  ascertain  the 
number  of  the  enemy.  There  were  about 
300  men;  we  numbered  fifty,  with  twenty- 
nine  guns.  In  the  night.  Lieutenant 
Schmidt  died.  We  had  to  dig  his  grave 
with  our  hands  and  with  our  bayonets, 
and  to  eliminate  every  trace  above  it,  in 
order  to  protect  the  body.  Rademacher 
had  been  buried  immediately  after  the 
skirmish,  both  of  them  silently,  with  all 
honors. 

"  The  wounded  had  a  hard  time  of  it. 
We  had  lost  our  medicine  chest  in  the 
wreck;  we  had  only  little  packages  of 
bandages  for  skirmishes;  but  no  probing 
instrument,  no  scissors  were  at  hand. 
On  the  next  day  our  men  came  up  with 
thick  tongues,  feverish,  and  crying 
*  Water!  water!  '  But  each  one  received 
only  a  little  cupful  three  times  a  day. 
If  our  water  supply  was  exhausted,  we 
would  have  to  sally  from  our  camp  and 
fight  our  way  through.  Then  we  should 
have  gone  to  pot  under  superior  numbers. 
The  Arab  gendarmes  simply  cut  the 
throats  of  those  camels  that  had  been 
wounded  by  shots,  and  then  drank  the 
yellow  water  that  was  contained  in  the 
stomachs.  Those  fellows  can  stand  any- 
thing. At  night  we  always  dragged  out 
the  dead  camels  that  had  served  as  cover, 
and  had  been  shot.  The  hyenas  came, 
hunting  for  dead  camels.     I  shot  one  of 


770 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


these,  taking  it  for  an  enemy  in  the  dark- 
ness. 

"  That  continued  about  three  days.  On 
the  third  day  there  were  new  negotia- 
tions. Now  the  Bedouins  demanded  arms 
no  longer,  but  only  money.  This  time  the 
negotiations  took  place  across  the  camp 
wall.  When  I  declined,  the  Bedouin  said: 
'  Beau  coup  de  combat,'  (lots  of  fight.)  I 
replied : 

"  '  Please  go  to  it! ' 

"  We  had  only  a  little  ammunition  left, 
and  very  little  water.  Now  it  really 
looked  as  if  we  would  soon  be  dispatched. 
The  mood  of  the  men  was  pretty  dismal. 
Suddenly,  at  about  10  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  there  bobbed  up  in  the  north 
two  riders  on  camels,  waving  white  cloths. 
Soon  afterward  there  appeared,  coming 
from  the  same  direction,  far  back,  a  long 
row  of  camel  troops,  about  a  hundred; 
they  draw  rapidly  near  by,  ride  singing 
toward  us,  in  a  picturesque  train.  They 
were  the  messengers  and  troops  of  the 
Emir  of  Mecca. 

"  Sami  Bey's  wife,  it  developed,  had, 
in  the  course  of  the  first  negotiations, 
dispatched  an  Arab  boy  to  Jeddah.  From 
that  place  the  Governor  had  telegraphed 
to  the  Emir.  The  latter  at  once  sent 
camel  troops,  with  his  two  sons  and  his 
personal  surgeon;  the  elder,  Abdullah, 
conducted  the  negotiations;  the  surgeon 
acted  as  interpreter,  in  French.  Now 
things  proceeded  in  one-two-three  or- 
der, and  the  whole  Bedouin  band  speed- 
ily disappeared.  From  what  I  learned 
later,  I  know  definitely  that  they  had 
been  corrupted  with  bribes  by  the  Eng- 
lish. They  knew  when  and  where  we 
would  pass  and  they  had  made  all  prep- 
arations. Now  our  first  act  was  a  rush 
for  water;  then  we  cleared  up  our  camp, 
but  had  to  harness  our  camels  ourselves, 
for  the  camel  drivers  had  fled  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  skirmish.  More 
than  thirty  camels  were  dead.  The  sad- 
dles did  not  fit,  and  my  men  know  how 
to  rig  up  schooners,  but  not  camels. 
Much  baggage  remained  lying  in  the 
sand  for  lack  of  pack  animals. 

"  Then,  under  the  safe  protection  of 
Turkish  troops,  we  got  to  Jeddah.  There 
the  authorities  and  the  populace  received 


us  very  well.  From  there  we  proceeded 
in  nineteen  days,  without  mischance,  by 
sailing  boat  to  Elwesh,  and  under 
abundant  guard  with  Suleiman  Pasha  in 
a  five-day  caravan  journey  toward  this 
place,  to  El  Ula,  and  now  we  are  seated 
at  last  in  the  train  and  are  riding  toward 
Germany — into  the  war  at  last!" 

"Was  not  the  war  you  had  enough?" 
I  asked. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  replied  the  young- 
est Lieutenant;  "the  Emden  simply  cap- 
tured ships  each  time;  only  a  single  time, 
at  Penang,  was  it  engaged  in  battle,  and 
I  wasn't  present  on  that  occasion.  War? 
No,  that  is  just  to  begin  for  us  now." 

"  My  task  since  November,"  said 
Miicke,  "  has  been  to  bring  my  men  as 
quickly  as  possible  to  Germany  against 
the  enemy.     Now,  at  last,  I  can  do  so." 

"And  what  do  you  desire  for  your- 
self?" I  asked. 

"  For  myself,"  he  laughed,  and  the 
blue  eyes  sparkled,  "  a  command  in  the 
North  Sea." 


CAPTAIN  MUECKE'S  REPORT. 

The  impressive  scene  when  the  intrepid 
survivors  of  the  Emden  crew  ended  their 
long  and  perilous  wanderings  over  the 
sea  and  through  the  desert,  and  reported 
once  more  to  their  superior  naval  officer 
for  duty,  is  described  in  a  dispatch  from 
Constantinople,  published  in  the  Ber- 
linger  Tageblatt  of  May  25.  The  ac- 
count, written  by  Dr.  Emil  Ludwig,  the 
special  correspondent  whom  the  paper 
had  sent  to  meet  the  Emden  men  as  thej 
emerged  from  the  desert,  and  filed  under 
date  of  May  24,  reads: 

Now  the  Emden  men  have  at  last 
reached  Europe.  The  many  feasts  which 
the  German  colonies  and  the  Turkish 
authorities  insisted  on  preparing  for  the 
heroes  on  their  way  through  Asia  Minor, 
in  Adana,  Tarsus,  Bosanti,  Konia,  and 
Eskishehir,  have  improved  the  condition 
of  the  crew,  half  of  whom  are  still  suf- 
fering from  malaria  or  -its  consequences. 
The  officers,  to  be  sure,  pressed  for- 
ward. When  the  train  today  drew  near 
to  Constantinople,  the  cordiality  and  en- 


THE  WANDERERS  OF  THE  EM  DEN 


771 


thusiasm  waxed  to  a  veritable  Whitsun- 
tide fraternizing  with  the  Turks. 

The  Chief  Mayors  delivered  addresses 
at  every  station,  or  children  recited  poems 
amid  the  Turkish  sounds  of  which  only 
the  words  "Allaman "  (Germans)  and 
"  Emden  "  were  intelligible  to  us.  One 
little  child  was  specially  courageous,  and 
recited  in  German.  The  flags  were 
wreathed  with  laurel,  and  prettily  dressed 
little  children  brought  up  to  the  crew  great 
baskets  full  of  cherries  and  the  first 
strawberries ;  but  the  eyes  "of  the  sailors 
hung  more  fondly  upon  beer  and  tobacco, 
which  they  received  in  large  quantities. 
Even  at  those  stations  where  the  train 
whizzed  past  without  stopping.  Oriental 
applause  floated  up  to  us,  and  every- 
where stood  honorary  reception  commit- 
tees. 

When  we  at  last  drew  near  Haidar- 
Pasha,  the  final  station  of  the  railroad 
on  the  Asiatic  side,  the  railway  station 
seemed  to  be  transformed  into  a  festive 
hall.  Lieut.  Capt.  von  Miicke  ordered 
his  men,  who  had  only  now  transformed 
themselves  again  into  blue  lads,  since 
navy  uniforms  had  been  sent'  to  them 
on  the  way,  to  step  up,  and  he  led  them 
up  to  a  group  of  navy  officers  who, 
with  Admiral  Souchon  at  their  head,  re- 
mained quietly  standing. 

Then  this  young  "  triumphator,"  who 
even  a  moment  ago  stood  amid  cheers 
and  a  shower  of  acacia  blossoms,  bow- 
ing and  shaking  hands  on  the  platform, 
the  man  who  for  fourteen  days  has  been 
the  one  man  wherever  stopped,  now 
steps  up  in  military  order  to  the  little 
Admiral  and  lowers  his  sword: 

"  Beg  to  report  most  obediently,  Herr 
Admiral,  landing  coi'ps  of  the  Emden, 
44  men,  4  officers,  1  surgeon." 


Admiral  Souchon  received  the  an- 
nouncement just  as  a  daily  report.  Only 
then  did  he  press  the  Lieutenant  Cap* 
tain's  hand,  bid  him  welcome,  and 
marched  along  the  front  of  the  company. 

No  sooner  had  the  column  with  the 
Emden  flag  appeared  at  the  entrance  of 
the  station  than  there  burst  from  10,000 
throats  a  rousing  "  Hurrah !  "  On  a 
torpedo  boat  that  had  been  waiting  for 
them  the  crew  crossed  the  Bosporus, 
in  which  all  ships  had  decked  themselves 
with  flags,  and  landed  on  the  wide  park- 
like point  of  the  seraglio.  There,  sur- 
rounded by  new  countless  crowds,  were 
the  Ministers  Enver  Pasha  and  Talaat 
Bey,  the  German  Ambassador,  Freiherr 
von  Wangenheim,  and  Marshal  von  der 
Golz  Pasha,  the  combined  navy  corps  of 
officers.  General  Bronsart  von  Schellen- 
dorf,  all  waiting  their  arrival. 

Amid  the  strains  of  the  German  na- 
tional anthem,  played  by  the  Turkish 
military  band,  Lieul.  Capt.  von  Miicke, 
together  with  the  War  Minister,  Enver 
Pasha,  paced  along  the  long  German 
and  Turkish  fronts.  Then  he  led  forth 
his  forty-four  men  and  marched,  amid 
new  ovations,  all  through  Stamboul, 
across  the  great  bridge  to  Galata,  to  the 
deck  of  the  steamship  General,  at  the 
head  of  his  little  band,  now  grown  epic, 
amid  the  cheers  of  Byzantium,  on  which 
he  and  his  officers  had  never  set  foot 
before — always  in  the  clear  blue  and 
sunlight  of  this  war-heavy  Whitsuntide 
day. 

But  nothing  stirred  me  more  deeply  on 
the  whole  journey  than  that  cold  official 
report  of  the  man  who  was  being  cele- 
brated, before  his  Admiral,  and  I  saw  in 
that  lowered  swordpoint  the  symbol  of 
the  old  and  incorruptible  Prussian  spirit. 


Civilization  at  the  Breaking  Point 


By  H.  G.  Wells. 


[Copyright,    1915,    by    The    Nkw    York    Timds    Company.] 


THE  submarine  and  aircraft  have 
put  a  new  proposition  before  the 
world.  It  is  a  proposition  that 
will  be  stated  here  as  plainly  and 
simply  as  possible.  These  two  inventions 
present  mankind  with  a  choice  of  two 
alternatives,  or,  to  vary  the  phrase,  they 
mark  quite  definitely  that  we  are  at  the 
parting  of  two  ways;  either  mankind 
must  succeed  within  quite  a  brief  period 
of  years  now  in  establishing  a  world 
State,  a  world  Government  of  some  sort 
able  to  prevent  war,  or  civilization  as 
we  know  it  must  break  up  into  a  system 
of  warring  communities,  perpetually  on 
the  warpath,  perpetually  insecure  and 
engaged  in  undying  national  vendettas. 
These  consequences  have  been  latent  in 
all  the  development  of  scientific  warfare 
that  has  been  going  on  during  the  last 
century;  they  are  inherent  in  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  aircraft  and  of  the  sub- 
marine for  any  one  to  see. 

They  are  so  manifestly  inherent  that 
even  before  this  war  speculative  minds 
had  pointed  out  the  direction  to  which 
these  inventions  pointed,  but  now,  after 
more  than  three-quarters  of  a  year  of 
war,  it  is  possible  to  approach  this  ques- 
tion, no  longer  r,s  something  as  yet  fan- 
tastically outsida  the  experience  of  man- 
kind, but  as  something  supported  by 
countless  witnesses,  something  which  the 
dullest,  least  imaginative  minds  can 
receive  and  ponder. 

What  the  submarine  and  aircraft  make 
manifest  and  convincing  is  this  point, 
which  argument  alone  has  never  been 
able  to  hammer  into  the  mass  of  inat- 
tentive minds,  that  if  the  human  intelli- 
gence is  applied  continuously  to  the  mech- 
anism of  war  it  will  steadily  develop 
destructive  powers,  but  that  it  will  fail 
to  develop  any  corresponding  power  of 
decision  and  settlement,  because  the  de- 
velopment of  the  former  is  easy  and  ob- 
vious in  comparison  with  the  development 


of  the  latter;  it  will  therefore  progres- 
sively make  war  more  catastrophic  and 
less  definitive.  It  will  not  make  war  im- 
possible in  the  ordinary  meaning  of  the 
word,  the  bigger  the  gun  and  the  viler 
the  lethal  implement  the  more  possible 
does  war  become,  but  it  will  make  war 
"  impossible "  in  the  slang  use  of  five 
or  six  years  ago,  in  the  sense,  that  is,  of 
its  being  utterly  useless  and  mischievous, 
the  sense  in  which  Norman  Angell  em- 
ployed it  and  so  brought  upon  himself 
an  avalanche  of  quite  unfair  derision. 
No  nation  ever  embarked  upon  so  fair  a 
prospect  of  conquest  and  dominion  as 
the  victorious  Germans  when,  after  1871, 
they  decided  to  continue  to  give  them- 
selves to  the  development  of  overwhelm- 
ing military  power.  And  after  exertions 
unparalleled  in  the  whole  history  of  man- 
kind their  net  conquests  are  nothing; 
they  have  destroyed  enormously  and 
achieved  no  other  single  thing,  and  today 
they  repeat  on  a  colossal  scale  the  ad- 
ventures of  Fort  Chabrol  and  Sidney 
Street,  and  are  no  better  than  a  nation 
of  murderous  outcasts  besieged  by  an 
outraged  world. 

Now,  among  many  delusions  that  this 
war  has  usefully  dispelled  is  the  delusion 
that  there  can  be  a  sort  of  legality  about 
war,  that  you  can  make  war  a  little,  but 
not  make  war  altogether,  that  the  civil- 
ized world  can  look  forward  to  a  sort  of 
tame  war  in  the  future,  a  war  crossed 
with  peace,  a  lap-dog  war  that  will  bark 
but  not  bite.  War  is  war;  it  is  the  ces- 
sation of  law  and  argument,  it  is  out- 
rage, and  Germany  has  demonstrated  on 
the  large  scale  what  our  British  suffrag- 
ettes learned  on  a  small  one,  that  with 
every  failure  to  accomplish  your  end  by 
violent  means  you  are  forced  to  further 
outrages.  Violence  has  no  reserves  but 
further  violence.  Each  failure  of  the 
violent  is  met  by  the  desperate  cry,  the 
heroical  scream :  "We  will  not  be  beaten. 


THE     ARCHDUKE     EUGENE 

Titular  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Austrian  Forces  Operating  Against  Italy 


HIS  EXCELLENCY  COUNT  JOHANN  VON  BERNSTORFF 

German     Ambassador     to     the      United     States 


CIVILIZATION     AT     THE     BREAKING     POINT 


773 


If  you  will  not  give  in  to  us  for  this 
much,  then  see!  We  will  go  further." 
Wars  always  do  go  further.  Wars  al- 
ways end  more  savagely  than  they  be- 
gin. Even  our  war  in  South  Africa,  cer- 
tainly the  most  decently  conducted  war 
in  all  history,  got  to  farm  burning  and 
concentration  camps.  A  side  that  hopes 
for  victory  fights  with  conciliation  in  its 
mind.  Victory  and  conciliation  recede 
together.  When  the  German — who  is 
really,  one  must  remember,  a  human  be- 
ing like  the  rest  of  us,  at  the  worst  just 
merely  a  little  worse  in  his  upbringing — 
when  he  finds  he  cannot  march  gloriously 
into  Paris  or  Warsaw,  then,  and  only 
then,  does  he  begin  to  try  to  damage 
Paris  and  Warsaw  with  bombs,  when  he 
finds  he  cannot  beat  the  French  Army 
and  the  British  fleet,  then,  and  not  till 
then,  does  he  attack  and  murder  the 
slumbering  civilians  of  Scarborough  and 
Dunkirk,  and  lies  in  wait  for  and  sinks 
the  Lusitania.  If  war  by  the  rules  will 
not  bring  success,  then  harsher  measures 
must  be  taken;  let  us  suddenly  torture 
and  murder  our  hated  enemies  with  poi- 
son gas,  let  us  poison  the  South  African 
wells,  let  us  ill-treat  prisoners  and  assas- 
sinate civilians.  Let  us  abolish  the  non- 
combatant  and  the  neutral.  These  are 
no  peculiar  German  inquities,  though 
the  Germans  have  brought  them  to  an 
unparalleled  perfection;  they  are  the  nat- 
ural psychological  consequences  of  ag- 
gressive war  heroically  conceived  and 
bitterly  thwarted;  they  are  "  fierceness  "; 
they  are  the  logical  necessary  outcome  of 
going  to  war  and  being  disappointed  and 
getting  hit  hard  and  repeatedly.  Any 
military  nation  in  a  corner  will  play  the 
savage,  the  wildcat  at  bay,  in  this  fash- 
ion, rather  than  confess  itself  done.  And 
since  the  prophetic  Bloch  has  been  justi- 
fied and  the  long  inconclusiveness  of 
modern  war,  with  its  intrenchments  and 
entanglements,  has  been  more  than  com- 
pletely demonstrated,  this  is  the  way  that 
every  war  in  the  future  is  likely  to  go. 
Fair  and  open  conquest  becoming  more 
and  more  out  of  the  question,  each  side 
will  seek  to  cow,  dismay,  and  subjugate 
the  spirit  of  the  other,  and  particularly 
the  spirit  of  the  noncombatant  masses, 
by  more  and  more  horrible  proceedings. 


"  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  "  said  the 
German  officer,  with  a  grin,  as  he  was 
led  prisoner  past  one  of  our  soldiers, 
dying  in  agonies  of  asphyxiation.  To 
that  point  war  brings  men.  Probably  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war  he  was  quite  a 
decent  man.  But  once  he  was  committed 
to  war  the  fatal  logic  of  our  new  re- 
sources in  science  laid  hold  of  him.  And 
war  is  war. 

Now  there  does  not  appear  the  slight- 
est hope  of  any  invention  that  will  make 
war  more  conclusive  or  less  destructive; 
there  are,  however,  the  clearest  prospects 
in  many  directions  that  it  may  be  more 
destructive  and  less  conclusive.  It  will  be 
dreadfuller  and  bitterer;  its  horrors  will 
be  less  and  less  forgivable;  it  will  leave 
vast  sundering  floods  of  hate.  The  sub- 
marine and  the  aircraft  are  quite  typical 
of  the  new  order  of  things.  You  can 
sweep  a  visible  fleet  off  the  seas,  you 
can  drive  an  invading  army  into  its  own 
country,  but  while  your  enemy  has  a 
score  of  miles  of  coast  line  or  a  thousand 
square  miles  of  territory  left  him,  you 
cannot,  it  seems,  keep  his  aircraft  out  of 
your  borders,  and  still  less  can  you  keep 
his  submarines  out  of  the  sea.  You  can, 
of  course,  make  reprisals,  but  you  can 
not  hold  him  powerless  as  it  was  once 
possible  to  do.  He  can  work  his  bloody 
mischief  on  your  civil  life  to  the  very 
end  of  the  war,  and  you  must  set  your 
teeth  and  stick  to  your  main  attack.  To 
that  pitch  this  war  has  come,  and  to  that 
pitch  every  subsequent  war  will  come. 
The  civil  life  will  be"  treated  as  a  hostage, 
and  as  it  becomes  more  and  more  accessi- 
ble, as  it  will  do,  to  the  antagonist  it  will 
be  more  and  more  destroyed.  The  sink- 
ing of  the  Lusitania  is  just  a  sign  and  a 
sample  of  what  war  now  becomes,  its  rich 
and  ever  richer  opportunities  of  unfor- 
gettable exasperation.  Germany  is  re- 
solved to  hurt  and  destroy  to  the  utmost, 
every  exasperated  militarism  will  come 
naturally  to  such  resolves,  and  only  by 
pain  and  destruction,  by  hurting,  sham- 
ing and  damaging  Germany  to  the  point 
of  breaking  the  German  spirit  can  this 
inflamed  and  war-mad  people  be  made  to 
relinquish  their  gigantic  aggression  upon 
the  world.  Germany,  that  great  camp  of 
warriors,  must  be  broken  as  the  Red  In- 


774 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


dians  and  the  Zulus  were  broken,  if  civil- 
ization is  to  have  another  chance,  and  its 
breaking  cannot  be  done  without  unparal- 
leled resentments.  War  is  war,  and  it  is 
rot  the  Allies  who  have  forced  its  logic  to 
this  bitter  end. 

Unless  this  war  does  help  to  bring 
about  a  lasting  peace  in  the  world,  it  is 
idle  to  pretend  that  it  will  have  been 
anything  else  but  a  monstrous  experience 
of  evil.  If  at  the  end  of  it  we  cannot 
bring  about  some  worldwide  political 
synthesis,  unanimous  enough  and  power- 
ful enough  to  prohibit  further  wars  by  a 
stupendous  array  of  moral  and  material 
force,  then  all  this  terrible  year  of  stress 
and  suffering  has  been  no  more  than  a 
waste  of  life,  and  our  sons  and  brothers 
and  friends  and  allies  have  died  in  vain. 
If  we  cannot  summon  enough  good-will 
and  wisdom  in  the  world  to  establish  a 
world  alliance  and  a  world  congress  to 
control  the  clash  of  "  legitimate  national 
aspirations  "  and  "  conflicting  interests  '* 
and  to  abolish  all  the  forensic  trickeries 
of  diplomacy,  then  this  will  be  neither 
the  last  war,  nor  will  it  be  the  worst,  and 
men  must  prepare  themselves  to  face  a 
harsh  and  terrible  future,  to  harden  their 
spirits  against  continuing  and  increasing 
adversity,  and  to  steel  their  children  to 
cruelty  and  danger.  Revenge  will  be- 
come the  burden  of  history.  That  is  the 
price  men  will  pay  for  clinging  to  their 
little  separatist  cults  and  monarchies  and 
complete  independencies,  now.  The  traf- 
fic and  wealth  of  our  great  and  liberal 
age  will  diminish,  the  arts  will  dwindle 
and  learning  fade,  science  will  cease  to 
advance,  and  the  rude  and  hard  will  in- 
herit the  earth.  The  Warpath  or  the 
World  State;  that  is  the  choice  for  man- 
kind. 

This    lesson    of   the    submarine    which 


destroys  much  and  achieves  nothing  has 
ample  support  in  history.  There  never 
was  so  blind  a  superstition  as  the  belief 
that  progress  is  inevitable.  The  world 
has  seen  the  great  civilization  of  the 
Western  empire  give  place  to  the  war- 
ring chaos  of  the  baronial  castles  of  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries;  it  has  seen 
the  Eastern  empire  for  500  years  decay 
and  retrogress  under  the  militarism  of 
the  Turk;  it  has  watched  the  Red  Indians, 
with  rifles  in  their  hands,  grimly  engage 
in  mutual  extermination.  Is  it  still  a 
blind  world,  doomed  to  blunder  down 
again  from  such  light  and  order  and  hope 
as  we  were  born  to,  toward  such  another 
millennium  of  barbaric  hates  and  aim- 
less wars?  That  is  no  mere  possibility; 
it  is  the  present  probability  unless  men 
exert  themselves  to  make  it  impossible. 
It  is  quite  conceivable  that  ours  is  the 
last  generation  for  many  generations  that 
will  go  freely  about  the  world,  that  will 
have  abundance  of  leisure,  and  science 
and  free  speech  and  abundant  art  and 
much  beauty  and  many  varied  occupa- 
tions. We  stand  about  in  our  old  haunts 
and  try  to  keep  on  with  our  old  ways  of 
living  and  speculate  when  the  war  will 
be  "  over,"  and  when  we  shall  be  able  to 
go  back  to  everything  just  as  it  was 
before  the  war.  This  war  and  its  conse- 
quences will  never  be  "  over,"  and  we 
have  not  even  begun  to  realize  what  it 
has  cost  us. 

The  course  of  human  history  is  down- 
ward and  very  dark,  indeed,  unless  our 
race  can  give  mind  and  will  now  unre- 
servedly in  unprecedented  abundance  to 
the  stern  necessities  that  follow  logically 
from  the  aircraft  bomb  and  the  poison 
gas  and  that  silent,  invisible,  unattain- 
able murderer,  the  submarine. 


it 


Human  Beings  and  Germans" 


By  Rudyard  Kipling. 


Addressing:  10,000  persons  at  a  recruiting  rally  in  Southport,   England,   on  June  21,  1915, 
Mr.  Kipling  spoke  as  reported  in  the  subjoined  cable  dispatch  to  The  New  York  Times. 


THE  German  went  into  this  war 
with  a  mind  which  had  been  care- 
fully trained  out  of  the  idea  of 
every  moral  sense  or  obligation, 
private,  public,  or  international.  He  does 
not  recognize  the  existence  of  any  law, 
least  of  all  those  he  has  subscribed  to 
himself,  in  making  war  against  com- 
and  children. 

All  mankind  bears  witness  today  that 
there  is  no  crime,  no  cruelty,  no  abom- 
ination that  the  mind  of  man  can  con- 
ceive which  the  German  has  not  perpe- 
trated, is  not  perpetrating,  and  will  not 
perpetrate  if  he  is  allowed  to  go  on. 

These  horrors  and  perversions  were 
not  invented  by  him  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment.  They  were  arranged  before- 
hand. Their  outlines  are  laid  down  in 
the  German  war  book.  They  are  part  of 
the  system  in  which  Germany  has  been 
scientifically  trained.  It  is  the  essence 
of  that  system  to  make  such  a  hell  of 
countries  where  their  armies  set  foot 
that  any  terms  she  may  offer  will  seem 
like  heaven  to  the  people  whose  bodies 
she  has  defiled  and  whose  minds  she  has 
broken  of  set  purpose  and  intention. 

So  long  as  an  unbroken  Germany 
exists,  so  long  will  life  on  this  planet  be 
intolerable,  not  only  for  us  and  for  our 
allies,  but  for  all  humanity. 

There  are  only  two  divisions  in  the 
world  today,  human  beings  and  Germans, 
and  the  German  knows  it.  Human  be- 
ings have  long  ago  sickened  of  him  and 
everything  connected  with  him,  of  all  he 
does,  says,  thinks,  or  believes. 

From  the  ends  of  earth  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  they  desire  nothing  more  great- 
ly than  that  this  unclean  thing  should  be 
thrust  out  from  membership  and  mem- 
ory of  the  nations 

We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  Ger- 
many will  break  up  suddenly  and   dra- 


matically. She  took  two  generations  to 
prepare  herself  in  every  detail  and 
through  every  fibre  of  her  national  being 
for  this  war.  She  is  playing  for  the 
highest  stakes  in  the  world — the  do- 
minion of  the  world.  It  seems  to  me  that 
she  must  either  win  or  bleed  to  death 
almost  where  her  lines  run  today. 

Therefore,  we  and  our  allies  must  con- 
tinue to  pass  our  children  through  fire  to 
Moloch  until  Moloch  perish. 

In  Belgium  at  this  hour  several  million 
Belgians  are  making  war  material  or 
fortifications  for  their  conquerors.  They 
receive  enough  food  to  support  life,  as 
the  German  thinks  it  should  be  support- 
ed, (by  the  way,  I  believe  the  United 
States  of  America  supplies  a  large  part 
of  that  food.)  In  return  they  are  com- 
pelled to  work  at  the  point  of  the  bayo- 
net. If  they  object,  they  are  shot.  They 
have  no  more  property  and  no  more 
rights  than  cattle,  and  they  cannot  lift 
a  hand  to  protect  the  honor  of  their  wo- 
men. 

There  has  been  nothing  like  the  horror 
of  their  fate  in  all  history. 

If  Germany  is  victorious,  every  re- 
finement of  outrage  which  is  within  the 
compass  of  the  German  imagination  will 
be  inflicted  on  us  in  every  aspect  of  our 
lives.  Realize,  too,  that  if  the  Allies  are 
beaten  there  will  be  no  spot  on  the  globe 
where  a  soul  can  escape  from  the  domi- 
nation of  this  enemy  of  mankind. 

There  has  been  childish  talk  that  the 
Western  Hemisphere  would  offer  a  ref- 
uge from  oppression.  Put  that  thought 
from  your  mind.  If  the  Allies  were  de- 
feated Germany  would  not  need  to  send  a 
single  battleship  over  the  Atlantic.  She 
would  issue  an  order,  and  it  would  be 
obeyed. 

Civilization  would  be  bankrupt,  and  the 


776  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

"Western  world  would  be  taken  over  with  eligible  for  service  but  who  have  not  yet 

the  rest  of  the  wreckage  by  Germany,  offered  themselves,  the  decision  of  war 

the  receiver.  rests. 

So  you   see  that  there  is  no   retreat  This  is,  for  us,  in  truth  a  war  to  death 

possible.      There   are   no   terms    and   no  against  the  power  of  darkness  with  whom 

retreat  in  this  war.    It  must  go  forward,  any  peace  except  on  our  own  terms  would 

and  with  those  men  of  England,  who  are  be  more  terrible  than  any  war. 


Garibaldi's  Promise. 

By     KATHERINE     DRAYTON     MAYRANT 
SIMONS,    JR. 

0  Loveland  of  the  Poets, 
In  the  hour  of  your  pain, 

Does  Garibaldi's  promise 
To  your  heroes  hold  again? 

There  were  fisher  lads  among  them, 

In  the  shirt  of  peasant  red, 
And  mountaineers  from  Tyrol, 

When  Garibaldi  said: 

"  I  have  no  prayer  to  make  you, 
For  to  God  alone  I  kneel! 

1  have  no  price  to  pay  you, 

For  your  wage  is  Austrian  steel! 

"  There  is  naught  of  knightly  emblem 

For  the  honor  of  the  brave, 
And  the  only  land  I  grant  you 

Will  be  length  to  mark  your  grave! 

"  I  promise  cold  and  hunger 

In  the  stead  of  drink  and  meat! 

I  promise  death,  my  brothers, 
Shall  be  yours  before  defeat!  " 

O  Sweetheart  of  the  Nations, 

In  the  hour  of  your  pain, 
Does  Garibaldi's  promise 

To  Italia  hold  again? 


The  Uncivilizable  Nation 


By  Emile  Verhaeren. 


The  Belgian  poet  whom  Maurice  Maeterlinck  preferred  should  rank  among  the  Immortals 
of  the  French  Academy  when  that  honor  was  bestowed  upon  himself,  has  contributed  to  Les 
Annales  the  following  account  of  Germany  and  the  German  people.  The  translation  is  that 
appearing  on  June  11  in  The  Suffragette  of  England. 


LIFE  is  not  a  means;  life  is  an  end. 
That  is  what  we  must  tell  our- 
selves in  order  really  to  live  in 
this  world.  Hence  the  obligation 
to  perfect  life,  to  make  it  high  and  beau- 
tiful, to  make  a  masterpiece  of  it.  Hence 
too  our  contempt  and  hatred  for  those 
who  wish  to  tarnish  life,  either  by  their 
thoughts  or  by  their  deeds. 

Germany  behaves  as  though  it  were  the 
most  backward  among  nations.  And  in- 
deed it  is  in  spite  of  appearances  essen- 
tially feudal.  There  is  perhaps  a  Ger- 
man culture,  but  there  is  no  German 
civilization. 

One  may  be  well  informed  and  yet  be 
hardly  civilized.  A  sense  of  duty  to  hu- 
manity, a  sense  of  pride,  a  sense  of  lib- 
erty are  independent,  certainly  not  of 
intelligence,  but  are  independent  of  mere 
knowledge  of  accumulated  facts. 

The  German  professor  is  a  walking 
library.  He  collects,  he  arranges,  he 
comments.  Arrangement  and  discipline 
with  him  take  the  place  of  everything 
else,  and  they  inculcate  in  him  the  spirit 
of  dependence  and  of  servility.  It  is 
perhaps  because  he  classifies  so  much 
that  he  is  so  dully  submissive.  Every- 
thing according  to  his  view  is  an  ascend- 
ing or  descending  scale.  Everything  is 
in  its  compartment. 

How,  then,  can  we  be  surprised  if 
everything  becomes  materialized  and  the 
mind  of  each  Teuton  can  lay  claim  to  be 
nothing  more  than  a  sort  of  stiff  and 
dingy  compartment,  in  a  sort  of  social 
chessboard. 

It  has  already  been  said:  The  German 
invents  almost  nothing.  He  works  upon 
the  inventions  of  other  people.  In  order 
to  invent  he  would  have  to  possess  the 
spirit  of  rebellion  against  that  which  is. 


He  is  incapable  of  that  spirit.     He  is  a 
being  who  always  accepts. 

But  as  soon  as  a  new  discovery  has 
been  made  by  others  the  German  gets 
hold  of  it.  He  examines  it  patiently.  He 
turns  and  returns  it  this  way,  that  way, 
and  every  way.  He,  as  it  were,  criticises 
it.  He  thus  succeeds  in  augmenting  its 
power.  Moreover,  he  wishes  that  it  shall 
serve  a  practical  purpose  and  be  classi- 
fied accordingly,  just  as  he  himself  serves 
and  is  classified  in  life. 

Never  have  the  Germans  opened  up  a 
great  road  in  science.  They  open  up  only 
bypaths.  Leibnitz  and  Kant  joined  their 
paths  to  the  royal  high  road  of  Descartes. 
Haeckel  would  hardly  have  existed  if 
Darwin  had  not  existed.  Koch  and  Behr- 
ing  are  dependent  upon  the  labors  of 
Pasteur. 

This  second-hand  science  is  excellent 
as  a  means  of  attracting  mediocre  minds. 
To  work,  each  in  his  little  corner,  at 
solving  some  secondary  question,  and  to 
believe  one's  self  a  somebody  when  one 
is  hardly  anybody,  flatters  the  universal 
vanity.  All  the  little  provincial  universi- 
ties of  Germany  can  live  in  the  illusion 
that  they  are  full  of  learned  men — 
thanks  to  the  German  conception  of  what 
is  learned  and  serious! 

It  is  a  system  of  regimenting  in  great 
barracks  of  laboratories.  It  is  the  abso- 
lute negation  of  the  spirit  of  initiative  of 
spontaneity  and  it  is  above  all  the  nega- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  protest  and  revolt. 

If  the  German  people  had  been  truly 
civilized  they  would  never  have  main- 
tained silence  before  the  assassination  of 
Belgium.  Even  among  those  whose  ideas 
are  contrary  to  the  existing  political 
order  in  Germany,  none  has  risen  up 
against  this  crime  admitted  and  pro- 
claimed at  the  beginning  of  the  war  in 


778 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


full  Parliament  by  the  Chancellor  Beth- 
mann-HoUweg  himself.  The  universal 
astonishment  at  such  a  silence  was  so 
great  that  even  today  the  world  has  not 
recovered  from  it.  Apart  from  Lieb- 
knecht  the  whole  of  German  Social  De- 
mocracy is  dishonored:  it  is  desired  to 
expel  the  German  Socialists  from  the 
International  Socialist  Movement.  They 
excuse  themselves;  they  aggravate  their 
fault.    They  say: 

"  We  should  have  been  arrested  and 
imprisoned."     The  world  replies: 

"  Are  they  then  afraid  of  dying  ?  " 

In  the  German  Socialist  Party  every- 
thing has  been  reduced  to  method  and 
organized  as  in  the  German  universities 
and  the  German  Army. 

There  were  I  know  not  how  many  So- 
cialist electors;  German  Socialism  was 
thought  to  be  already  triumphant  and 
invincible.  People  said :  "  They  are  Ger- 
many! " 

The  German  Socialists  were  held  up  as 
an  example  to  all  the  democracies  of  the 
earth. 

Those  who  swore  by  the  German  So- 
cialists affirmed  that  they  would  devour 
Kaiserism  when  it  should  become  neces- 
sary. But  last  August  in  one  hour  in  the 
Reichstag  it  was  the  German  Socialist 
Party  that  was  devoured! 

When  recently  certain  German  Social- 
ists visited  the  Maison  du  Peuple  of 
Brussels  they  expressed  astonishment 
that  the  Socialists  of  Belgium  should  at- 
tach so  much  importance  to  the  invasion 
of  their  country. 

"  When  then  binds  you  to  your  coun- 
try? "  they  asked. 

"  Honor,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Honor!  Honor!  that  is  a  very  bour- 
geois ideal,"  interrupted  the  Germans. 

Yet  a  true  civilization  has  as  its  frame- 
work precisely  honor.  Honor  is  not  a 
bourgeois  ideal,  but  an  aristocratic  ideal. 
It  was  slowly  created  by  the  flower  of 
humanity  throughout  the  centuries. 
When  force  becomes  educated,  force  op- 
poses itself.  It  limits  and  incloses  itself. 
It  becomes  intelligent  and  tempered  by 
reserve  and  by  tact.     Brutal  force  thus 


changes  into  moral  force,  power  becomes 
justice. 

The  more  a  nation  lends  itself  to  such 
a  change,  the  more  it  rises  ironi  the  ma- 
terial plane  toward  the  spiritual  plane. 
The  more  it  enshrines  in  its  institution 
respect  for  humanity  as  a  whole,  the 
greater  and  more  civilized  it  becomes. 
Such  a  nation  remains  faithful  to  its 
pledged  word;  neither  interest  nor  even 
necessity  moves  it  to  commit  felony.  It 
loves  to  protect  and  not  to  oppress  those 
who  are  weaker  than  itself.  It  has  at 
heart  the  work  of  propagating  through- 
out the  world  certain  principles  of  social 
life  which  certainly  are  Utopian,  but  are 
yet  beautiful  to  have  before  the  eyes 
and  in  the  heart,  in  order  to  live  not  only 
for  the  present,  but  also  for  the  future. 

These  admirable  principles  which  may 
never  be  put  wholly  into  practice,  but  to- 
ward which  we  must  try  to  grow  always 
nearer,  are  the  expression  of  the  deepest 
human  generosity.  They  are  the  radical 
negation  of  brutal  and  primitive  force; 
they  incline  the  world  toward  a  unani- 
mous and  serene  peace.  They  have 
based  on  faith  the  infinite  perfectibility 
of  conscience.  Only  a  nation  of  a  high 
degree  of  civilization  can  conceive  of  re- 
lations so  perfect  between  human  beings 
and  cherish  dreams  so  great. 

Germany  was  never  capable  of  this. 
The  individual  German  is  the  least  subtle 
and  the  least  susceptible  to  education  of 
any  in  the  world. 

It  has  been  my  lot  to  take  part  in  cer- 
tain European  capitals  in  a  number  of 
reunions  where  English,  French,  Italians, 
and  Germans  came  together  and  con- 
versed. They  were  all,  I  was  assured, 
distinguished  people,  of  whom  their  re- 
spective nations  might  be  proud.  Now, 
the  German  was  rarely  to  be  seen  in  an 
excellent  attitude.  He  was  at  once  em- 
barrassed and  arrogant.  He  lacked  re- 
finement. His  politeness  was  clumsy. 
He  was  as  though  afraid  of  seeming  not 
to  know  everything.  The  most  eccentric 
taste  seemed  to  him  the  best  taste.  To 
him  to  be  up  to  date  was  to  be  up  to  the 
minute.  He  would  have  been  wretched  if 
any  one  in  his  presence  had  claimed  to 
be  up  to  the  second. 

As  soon  as  he  had  the  chance  to  speak 


THE   UNCIVILIZABLE  NATION 


779 


and  got  a  hearing,  he  inaugurated,  as  it 
were,  a  course  of  lectures.  Clearness 
was  not  at  all  necessary  to  him.  One 
rarely  understood  precisely  what  he 
meant.  The  fastidiousness^  and  subtlety 
which  led  others  to  seek  perfection  in 
phrase  and  thought  had  little  attraction 
for  him.  With  what  heaviness  the  Ger- 
man diplomat  discusses  matters  at  the 
council  table!  With  what  clumsiness  the 
German  conqueror  plants  himself  in  a 
conquered  country!  While  France,  at 
the  end  of  half  a  century,  makes  herself 
beloved  in  Savoy,  at  Mentone,  and  at 
Nice,  while  in  the  space  of  two  centuries 
she  assimilates  Lille  and  Dunkirk  and 
Strasburg  and  Alsace;  while  England  in 
a  few  decades  unites  to  her  Egypt  and 
the  Cape,  Germany  remains  detested  in 
Poland,  Schleswig,  and  in  Alsace-Lor- 
raine. Germany  is  essentially  the  per- 
sona ingrata  everywhere  it  presents 
itself.  It  knows  only  the  methods  that 
divide,  and  not  those  which  unite.  Ger- 
many makes  proclamations  that  act  upon 
the  mind  as  the  frost  acts  upon  plants. 
Germany  knows  neither  how  to  attract 
nor  how  to  charm  nor  how  to  civilize,  be- 
cause she  has  no  personal  and  profound 
moral  force. 


Europe  under  the  successive  spiritual 
hegemonies  of  Athens,  Rome,  and  Paris 
remained  the  most  admirable  centre  of 
human  development  that  has  ever  been. 

Under  German  hegemony  Europe  would 
move  toward  a  sort  of  gloomy  and  hard 
organization  under  which  everything 
would  be  impeccable,  arranged  only  be- 
cause everything  would  be  tyrannized 
over  from  above. 

For  the  true  Germany — we  have  today 
the  sad  but  immovable  conviction  of  this 
— was  never  that  of  Goethe,  of  Beethoven, 
nor  of  Heine.  It  was  that  of  implacable 
Landgraves  and  fierce  soldiers. 

For  thousands  of  years  Germany  has 
let  loose  its  hordes  upon  Europe;  Van- 
dals, Visigoths,  Alains,  Franks,  Herules. 
Germany  continues  to  do  this  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  It  is  Germany's  terrible  and 
sinister  function. 

Only  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  as 
to  this  point  in  future,  Germany  is  the 
dangerous  nation  because  it  is  the  un- 
civilizable  nation,  because  its  castles,  its 
fields,  and  its  barracks  have  remained 
the  inexhausted,  and  perhaps  the  inex- 
haustible, reservoirs  of  human  ferocity. 
EMILE  VERHAEREN. 


Retreat  in  the  Rain. 


By  O.  C.  A.  CHILD. 


Those   Uhlans   now   are  working   in   too 
near. 
Their    carbines    crackle    louder    every 
shot. 
I  say!  our  chaps  a-plodding  in  the  rear 
Are   getting   it — and   most   uncommon 
hot! 
It's  not  much  fun  retreating  in  the  night. 
Through   all   this   mess    of    rain    and 
reeking  slime — 
It  seems  to  me  this  boot's  infernal  tight! 
I  must  have  hurt  me  when  I  slipped 
that  time. 
Whew!  that  was  close  and  there's  a  fel- 
low gone! 
I  know  too  well  that  heavy,  sickenintj 
thud; 
It's  bitter  hard  that  we  must  keep  right 
on 
And  leave  our  wounded  helpless  in  the 
mud. 


My  foot  hurts  so  that  I  can  hardly  see — 
I'll  have  to  stop  for  just  a  breathing 

^space. 

What's  that?     It's  blood!— those  fiends 
have  got  me  now! 
It's  double  time  and  I  can't  stand  the 
pace! 
I'll  use  my  rifle  as  a  crutch.     But,  no! 
I'll  stand  and  fight;  they  have  me  sure 
as  day! 
It's   death   for   death — then   I   will   meet 
it  so 
And  make  a  Uhlan  pay  the  price  I  pay. 
And  here  they  come!    Great  God,  they're 
coming  fast — 
Are  almost  on  me!   Ah,  I  got  that  one! 
Just  one  more  shot — a  good  one  for  the 
last! 
Those   iron   hoofs   have   crushed   me — 
I  am  done! 


War  a  Game  for  Love  and  Honor 

By  Jerome  K.  Jerome  . 

The  chivalrous  spirit  of  the  present  conflict  informs  this  article,  which  appeared 
originally  in  The  London  Daily  News  under  the  title  "  The  Greatest  Game  of  All :  The  True 
Spirit  of  War,"   and  is  here  reproduced  by  special  permission  of  Mr.   Jerome. 


WAR  has  been  described  as  the 
greatest  of  games.  I  am  not 
going  to  quarrel  with  the 
definition.  I  am  going  to  ac- 
cept it.  From  that  point  of  view  there 
is  something  to  be  said  for  it.  As  a 
game  it  can  be  respectable;  as  a  busi- 
ness it  is  contemptible.  Wars  for  profit 
— for  gold  mines,  for  mere  extension  of 
territory,  for  markets — degrade  a  people. 
It  is  like  playing  cricket  for  money.  A 
gentleman — man  or  nation — does  not  do 
such  things.  But  war  for  love — for  love 
of  the  barren  hillside,  for  love  of  the 
tattered  flag,  for  love  of  the  far-off 
dream — played  for  a  hope,  a  vision,  a 
faith,  with  life  and  death  as  the  stakes! 
Yes,  there  is  something  to  be  said  for  it. 

Looked  at  practically,  what,  after  all, 
does  it  matter  whether  Germany  or  Bri- 
tannia rules  the  waves?  Our  tea  and 
our  'baccy,  one  takes  it,  would  still  be 
obtainable;  one  would  pay  for  it  in  marks 
instead  of  shillings.  Our  sailor  men,  in- 
stead of  answering  "  Aye,  aye,  Sir,"  in 
response  to  Captain's  orders,  would  learn 
to  grunt  "  Jawohl."  Their  wages,  their 
rations  would  be  much  the  same. 

These  peaceful  Old  World  villages 
through  which  I  love  to  wander  with  my 
dogs;  these  old  gray  churches  round 
which  our  dead  have  crept  to  rest;  these 
lonely  farmsteads  in  quiet  valleys  mu- 
sical with  the  sound  of  mother  creatures 
calling  to  their  young;  these  old  men 
with  ruddy  faces;  these  maidens  with 
quiet  eyes  who  give  me  greeting  as  we 
pass  by  in  the  winding  lanes  between 
the  hedgerows;  the  gentle,  patient  horses 
nodding  gravely  on  their  homeward 
way;  these  tiny  cottages  behind  their 
trim  bright  gardens;  this  lilliputian  riot 
round  the  schoolhouse  door;  the  Httle 
timid  things  in  fur  and  feather  peering 


anxious,  bright-eyed  from  their  hiding 
places!  Suppose  the  miracle  to  happen. 
Suppose  the  weather-beaten  board  nailed 
to  the  old  beech  tree  warning  us  in  faded 
lettering  as  we  pass  beneath  it  of  the 
penalties  awaiting  trespassers  were  to 
be  superseded  by  a  notice  headed  "  Ver- 
boten!  "  What  essential  difference 
would  there  be — that  a  wise  man  need 
vex  his  soul  concerning?  We  should  no 
longer  call  it  England.  That  would  be 
all.  The  sweep  of  the  hills  would  not  be 
changed;  the  path  would  still  wind 
through  the  woodland.  Yet  just  for  a 
name  we  are  ready  to  face  ruin  and 
death. 

It  certainly  is  not  business.  A  busi- 
ness man  would  stop  to  weigh  the  pros 
and  cons.  A  German  invasion!  It  would 
bring  what  so  many  of  us  desire:  Con- 
scription, tariff  reform.  It  might  even 
get  rid  of  Lloyd  George  and  the  Insur- 
ance act.  And  yet  that  this  thing  shall 
not  be,  Tory  Squire  and  Laborer  Hodge, 
looking  forward  to  a  lifelong  wage  of 
twelve-and-six-pence  a  week,  will  fight 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  die  together,  if 
need  be,  in  the  same  ditch.  Just  for  a 
symbol,  a  faith  we  call  England — I  should 
say  Britain. 

Can  we  explain  it  even  to  ourselves? 
Thousands  of  Germans  come  over  to 
England  to  live.  They  prosper  among 
us,  take  their  pleasures  with  us,  adapt 
themselves  to  our  English  ways,  and 
learn  to  prefer  them.  Thousands  of  Eng- 
lishmen make  their  homes  in  German 
cities;  find  German  ways  of  living,  if 
anything,  suit  them  better.  Suddenly 
there  arises  the  question,  shall  English 
ways  of  life  or  German  ways  of  life  pre- 
vail: English  or  German  culture — which 
shall  it  be?  And  the  English  who  have 
lived  contentedly  dn  Germany  for  years 


WAR  A    GAME  FOR   LOVE   AND   HONOR 


781 


hasten  back  to  fight  for  England,  and 
the  desire  of  every  German  in  England 
is  to  break  up  his  pleasant  home  among 
us  and  fight  to  bring  all  Europe  into 
German  ways  of  thinking. 

Clearly  the  definition  is  a  right  one. 
It  is  just  a  game. 

Just  as  all  life  is  a  game;  joy  and  sor- 
row the  zest  of  it,  suffering  the  strength- 
giving  worth  of  it.  Till  Death  rings  his 
bell,  and  the  game  is  over — for  the  pres- 
ent. What  have  we  learned  from  it? 
What  have  we  gained  from  it?  Have 
we  played  it  to  our  souls'  salvation, 
learning  from  it  courage,  manhood?  Or 
has  it  broken  us,  teaching  us  mean  fear 
and  hate? 

I  quote  from  the  letter  of  a  young 
cavalry  officer  writing  from  the 
trenches : 

Although  I  can't  pretend  to  like  this 
nightmare,  I  cannot  help  realizing  that 
it  is  doing  something  for  those  of  us  who 
are  going  through  it  that  we  otherwise 
would  have  missed ;  it  brings  out  either 
the  best  or  worst  in  a  man.  It  makes 
character. 

He  speaks  of  a  little  black  dog.  They 
are  living  in  two  feet  of  water,  he  and 
his  men.  The  German  lines  are  a  hun- 
dred yards  off;  wounds,  disease,  and 
death  are  around  them.  They  are  wor- 
ried about  this  wretched  little  dog.  He 
has,  it  seems,  lost  his  people,  and  is  not 
to  be  comforted.  It  is  a  curious  picture. 
One  sees  the  straggling  line  of  grimy, 
mud-stained  men.  They  are  there  to 
kill;  their  own  life  hangs  on  a  thread. 
A  nightmare  of  blood  and  dust  and  hor- 
ror, and  in  the  midst  of  it,  growing 
there  as  if  the  soil  suited  it,  this  flower 
of  pity  for  a  little  fellow-creature. 

I  quote  from  another  letter: 

I  can  assure  you  there  is  none  of  that 
insensate  hatred  that  one  hears  about  out 
here.  We  are  out  to  kill,  and  kill  we  do 
at  every  opportunity.  But  when  it  is  all 
over  the  splendid  universal  soldier  spirit 
comes  over  all  the  men.  Just  to  give  you 
some  idea  of  what  I  mean,  the  other  night 
four  German  snipers  were  shot  on  our 
wire.  The  next  night  our  men  went  out 
and  brought  one  in  who  was  near  and 
getatable  and  buried  him.  They  did  it 
with  just  the  same  reverence  and  sadness 
as  they  do  our  own  dear  fellows.  I  went 
to  look  at  the  grave  next  morning,  and 
one  of  the  most  uncouth-looking   men   in 


my   company    had    placed   a   cross    at    the 
head  of  the  grave,  and  had  written  on  it : 

Here  lies  a  German, 

We    don't    know    his    name. 

He  died  bravely   fighting 

For  his  Fatherland. 
And  under  that   "  Got  mitt  uns,"   (sic.) 
that  being  the  highest  effort  of  all  the  men 
at  German. 

"  Got  mitt  uns."  One  has  the  idea  that 
He  is — when  the  game  is  played  in  that 
spirit.  God  with  us  both,  shaping  broth- 
erhood out  of  enmity. 

Bernard  Shaw  in  a  moment  of  inspira- 
tion thinks  that  some  way  will  have  to  be 
found  enabling  England  and  Germany 
to  live  together  peaceably  for  the  future. 
•It  is  an  idea  that  may  possibly  have 
occurred  to  others.  Well,  perhaps  this 
is  the  way.  Shaw  would  not  approve  of 
it.  But  then  there  is  so  much  in  human 
nature  that  Shaw  does  not  approve  of. 
There  are  times  when  one  is  compelled  to 
n  great  pity  for  Shaw.  He  seems  to  have 
got  into  the  wrong  world.  He  is  for 
ever  thanking  God  that  he  is  not  as  we 
other  men — we:  Englishmen  and  Ger- 
mans, mere  publicans  and  sinners.  It  is 
a  difficult  world  to  understand,  I  admit, 
my  dear  Shaw,  full  of  inconsistencies  and 
contradictions.  Perhaps  there  is  a  mean- 
ing in  it  somewhere  that  you  have 
missed. 

Perhaps  we  have  got  to  fight  one  an- 
other before  we  understand  one  another. 
In  the  old  Norse  mythology  Love  is  the 
wife  of  Strife;  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  nature  of  man,  not  such  an  odd 
union  as  it  appears. 

So  long  as  the  law  runs  that  in  sorrow 
woman  shall  bring  forth  her  child;  so 
long  as  the  ground  shall  yield  to  the  sons 
of  Adam  thorns  also  and  thistles,  so  long 
will  there  be  strife  between  man  and 
man.  So  long,  when  the  last  word  has 
been  spoken  and  has  failed,  will  there 
be  war  between  the  nations.  The  only 
hope  of  civilization  is  to  treat  it  as  a 
game.  You  cannot  enforce  a  law  with- 
out a  policeman.  You  can  only  appeal  to 
a  man's  honor — to  his  sporting  instincts. 
The  mistake  Germany  is  making  is  in 
not  treating  war  as  a  game.  To  do  so 
would  be  weakness  and  frivolity.  War 
must  be  ruthless,  must  be  frightful.     It 


782 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


is  not  to  be  bound  down  by  laws  human 
or  Divine.  And  even  then  she  is  not 
logical.  Two  German  officers  interned 
in  Holland  are  released  on  parole.  Tak- 
ing their  country  at  her  word,  they  hasten 
back  to  rejoin  their  regiments.  The  Ger- 
man Staff  is  shocked,  sends  them  back 
to  be  imprisoned. 

So  there  really  are  rules  to  the  game. 
An  officer  and  gentleman  may  not  lie. 
If  a  Sub-Lieutenant  may  not  lie  for  the 
sake  of  his  country,  then  what  argu- 
ment gives  the  right  to  the  German  Gov- 
ernment to  tear  up  its  treaties,  to  the 
German  Military  Staff  to  disregard  its 
Ambassador's  signature  to  The  Hague . 
Convention  ? 

Come,  shade  of  Bismarck,  and  your 
disciples  in  Germany  and  other  countries, 
(including  a  few  in  my  own,)  make  up 
your  mind.  To  be  ruthless  and  frightful 
in  a  half-hearted,  nervous,  vacillating 
fashion  is  ridiculous.  You  have  either 
got  to  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  things, 
and  make  war  a  battle  of  wild  beasts, 
or  you  have  got  to  go  forward  and  make 
it  a  game — a  grim  game,  I  grant  you,  but 
one  that  the  nations  can  play  at  and 
shake  hands  afterward.  We  have  tried 
the  ruthless  and  frightful  method.  We 
used  to  slaughter  the  entire  population. 
To  shoot  a  selected  few  is  to  court  a 
maximum  of  contempt  for  a  minimum 
of  advantage.  We  used  to  lay  waste  the 
land.  We  did  not  content  ourselves  with 
knocking  down  a  church  spire  and  burn- 
ing a  library.  We  left  not  one  stone 
upon  another.  We  sowed  salt  where  the 
cities  had  been.  We  tortured  our  prison- 
ers before  the  ramparts.  We  did  not 
"  leave  them  their  eyes  to  weep  with  "; 
we  burned  them  out  with  hot  irons; 
surely  a  much  swifter  means  of  striking 
terror!  Why  not  return  to  these  meth- 
ods?    They  sound  most  effective. 

They  were  not  effective.  God's  chosen 
people  —  according  to  themselves  —  did 
not  annihilate  the  Philistines,  not  even 
with  the  help  of  the  Ark  of  the  Cove- 
nant. The  Philistines  tightened  their 
belts  and  acquitted  themselves  like  men. 
Today  the  heathen  rules  in  Canaan. 
Where   Mohammed   failed  the   shade   of 


Bismarck  is  not  likely  to  succeed.  Po- 
land is  still  a  sore  in  European  politics. 
The  whole  force  of  the  Vatican  could  not' 
suppress  a  handful  of  reformers.  All 
the  bloodthirsty  edicts  of  the  Revolution- 
could  not  annihilate  a  few  thousand 
aristocrats.  These  things  cannot  be 
done.  War  finishes  nothing,  it  only  in- 
terrupts. A  nation  cannot  be  killed;  it 
can  only  die.  This  war  is  not  going  to 
be  the  end  of  all  things  either  for  Ger- 
many or  for  us.  Germany  can  be  beaten 
to  her  knees,  as  she  beat  France  to  her 
knees  in  1870;  as  more  than  once  before 
that  France  has  beaten  her.  Later  on 
we  have  all  got  to  live  together  in  peace, 
for  a  while. 

Come,  gentlemen,  let  us  make  an 
honorable  contest  of  it,  that  shall  leave 
as  little  of  bitterness  behind  it  as  may 
be.  Let  us  see  if  we  cannot  make  a  fine 
game  of  it  that  we  shall  be  all  the  better 
for  having  played  out  to  the  end.  From 
which  we  shall  all  come  back  home 
cleaner  minded,  clearer  seeing,  made 
kinder  to  one  another  by  suffering. 
Come,  gentlemen,  you  believe  that  God 
has  called  upon  you  to  spread  German 
culture  through  the  lands.  You  are 
ready  to  die  for  your  faith.  And  we  be- 
lieve God  has  a  use  for  the  thing  called 
England.  Well,  let  us  fight  it  out. 
There  seems  no  other  way.  You  for  St. 
Michael  and  we  for  St.  George;  and  God 
be  with  us  both. 

But  do  not  let  us  lose  our  common  hu- 
manity in  the  struggle.  That  were  the 
worst  defeat  of  all — the  only  defeat  that 
would  really  matter,  that  would  really 
be  lasting. 

Let  us  call  it  a  game.  After  all,  what 
else  is  it  ?  We  have  been  playing  it 
since  the  dawn  of  creation;  and  it  has 
settled  nothing — but  the  names  of  things. 
Its  victories,  its  defeats!  Time  wipes 
them  off  the  slate,  with  a  smile. 

I  quote  from  a  letter  written  by  the 
officer  who  boarded  the  Emden.  He 
speaks  of  the  German  officers :  "  A  tho- 
roughly nice  fellow  " — "  also  a  good  fel- 
low." The  order  is  given  that  there  be 
no  cheering  from  the  Sydney  when  enter- 
ing the  harbor  with  her  prisoners.    Eng- 


WAR  A   GAME  FOR   LOVE  AND  HONOR 


78S 


lish  sailormen  have  fought  with  German 
sailormen;  have  killed  a  good  many  of 
them.  It  is  over.  No  crowing,  gentle- 
men— over  fellow- sailormen.  Our  writer 
discusses  the  fight  generally  with  Cap- 
tain von  MuUer.    "  We  agreed  it  was  our 


job  to  knock  one  another  out.    But  there 
was  no  malice  in  it." 

We  shall  do  better  to  regard  war  as  a 
game — a  game  to  be  played  for  love,  for 
honor,  without  hatred,  without  malice. 
So  only  shall  we  profit  by  it. 


THE  BELGIAN 
©/WARo  iteMOTHBRS 


B.y 


The  Dominant  Voice,  shrieking : 

Rancor  unspeakable,  white-hot  wrath 
Spring    in    your    furrow,     rise    in    your 

path! 
Harvest    you    vengeance    from     Belgian 

dust. 
Ye  who  have  turned  love  unto  lust ! 

Subdominant   Voices,   murmuring: 
Month  of  Mary,  may  ye  breed 
Vengers  out  of  the  August   seed! 
Nourish'd   hate  of  father-foe — 
Grow,  ye  War-babes,  grow,  grow! 

II. 

The  Dominant  Voice: 

Anger  implacable,   brand  with  fire. 
Sear  out  the  soul  of  the  bestial  sire ! 
Impotent   render   the  insolent  boor — 
Dead  to  the  love  and  the  life  to  endure ! 

Subdotrinant   Voices: 

Month   of  Mary,   ye  shall   breed 
Vengers  out  of  the  August  seed. 
Cradled  hate  of  father-foe— 
Grow,  ye   War-babes,  groic,  grow! 


III. 

The  Dominant   Voice: 

Miracle-May-month,   fathered  in  death. 
Bred     in     corruption     to     breathe     new 

breath 
Into  foul  body-dregs,   breathe  thy  life 
Into  the  hate-sired  babes  of  strife ! 

Subdominant   Voices: 

Month  of  Mary,  ye  shall  feed 
Saviours  from  the  Judas-deed — 
Gods  of  life  to  quell  that  woe. 
Grow,  ye  War-babes,  grow,  grow! 

IV. 

The  Dominant  Voice: 

Ruin  the  arrogant  hate  of  love! 

Ruin  the  haters,  God  above ! 

Bless   Thou   their   harvest   to  quell   their 

sin — 
Honor    the    sinned-against,    God    within! 

All  Voices: 

Warring  nations,    bleed,   bleed. 
But   to   let   the   leaders   lead! 
Springs  to  cotne  from  Falls  to  go. 
Love's  lords.  Life's  lords,  shoio,  show! 


How  Engfland  Prevented  an  Un- 
derstanding With  Germany 


By  Dr.  Th.  Schiemann. 


The  writings  of  Professor  Schiemann  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  who  Is  also  the 
leading  editorial  writer  of  the  Kreuz  Zeitung,  are  regarded  as  inspired  by  the  Kaiser's 
Government,  and  in  some  degree  by  the  Kaiser  himself.  Dr.  Schiemann  is  often  spolten  of 
as  an  intimate  personal  friend  of  the  Kaiser.  The  subjoined  article  was,  in  the  original, 
sent  by  Dr.  Schiemann  to  Professor  John  Bates  Clark  of  the  Carnegie  Endowemnt  for 
International  Peace,  with  the  special  request  that  it  be  translated  and  forwarded  for  publica- 
tion  in   The   New    York   Times   Cuklent   History.  .t 


A  FTER  the  great  crisis  of  the  first 
/\  world  war,  which  terminated  in 
1  V  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  the  rela- 
tions of  England  to  the  German 
States  were  fairly  good.  People  lived  in 
the  protecting  shade  of  the  great 
alliance;  England  was  busy  digesting  the 
enormous  prey  which  it  had  seized  at  the 
expense  of  all  the  other  powers  that  had 
taken  part  in  the  war;  Continental 
Europe  was  endeavoring,  as  best  it 
could,  to  heal  the  wounds  and  sores 
which  had  remained  behind  as  mementos 
of  oppressive  but,  despite  all,  glorious 
years.  France  recuperated  most  rapidly; 
by  the  Treaties  of  Paris  there  had  been 
recovered  from  it  only  part  of  the 
abundant  harvest  which  it  had  gathered 
in  consequence  of  the  victories  and  the 
coercive  policy  of  Napoleon;  the  national 
soil  was  still  fertile  and  the  national 
consciousness  was  still  imbued  with  the 
"  gloire "  which  the  Corsican  General, 
with  the  help  of  his  own  and  of  foreign 
troops,  had  won  for  the  French  name. 
The  great  disturbances  of  world  peace 
that  marked  the  years  1830,  1854,  and 
1870  were  attributable  to  an  incessant 
pursuit  of  new  "  gloire,"  to  which  all 
other  aims  were  subordinate.  Parallel 
with  this  French  striving  for  new 
"  gloire  "  was  England's  endeavor  to  keep 
the  Continent  in  a  feverish  condition; 
this  was  the  policy  of  Lord  Palmerston, 
and  with  it  was  combined  a  hysterical 
fear  of  attack  on  the  part  of  possible 
enemies  that  were  thought  to  exist  in 
Russia,  and  especially  in  France.  At  the 
same    time    an   arrogant    challenge    was 


constantly  held  forth  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  and  an  almost  uninterrupted 
war  was  carried  on  against  the  small 
States  adjoining  England's  colonies  in 
Asia  and  Africa.  Between  the  years 
1856  and  1900  England  waged  no  less 
than  thirty-four  such  wars,  and  by  so 
doing  acquired  4,000,000  square  miles  of 
land  and  57,000,000  subjects.  In  Europe 
after  the  year  1815  England,  for  the  most 
part,  kept  peace;  the  Crimean  war, 
which  was  a  coalition  war,  constitutes 
an  exception,  and  it  was  not  England's 
fault  that  Prussia,  too,  was  not  drawn 
into  that  war,  which  concerned  a  specif- 
ically English  interest.  At  that  time 
English  threats  were  quite  as  numerous 
as  they  were  in  the  year  1863,  when  The 
Daily  News  declared  King  William  I,  an 
outlaw,  and  The  Daily  Mail  proclaimed 
for  him  the  fate  of  Charles  I.  The  cause 
of  this,  however,  was  that  in  London  it 
was  looked  upon  as  an  interference  with 
English  interests  that  Bismarck,  by  his 
attitude  during  the  Polish  insurrection, 
had  prevented  the  effectuation  of  a  coali- 
tion directed  against  Russia.  During  the 
war  of  1864  over  Schleswig-Holstein  the 
threats  were  renewed,  and  even  then  we 
began  to  hear  the  watchwords  with  which 
public  opinion  in  England  for  a  decade 
has  been  mobilized  against  us:  A  Ger- 
many organized  on  a  military  basis,  and 
with  a  fleet  at  its  command  besides,  indi- 
cates that  the  goal  of  that  State's  policy, 
even  more  than  in  the  case  of  France,  is 
world  rule.  At  that  time,  too,  however, 
France  and  Russia  were  regarded  by 
English  war  makers  as  the  country's  real 


ENGLAND     AND     GERMANY 


785 


enemies,  and  this  conviction,  rather 
than  ideal  considerations  of  any  kind 
whatsoever,  accounts  for  the  fact  that 
in  the  years  1870  and  1871  English  policy 
followed  a  neutral  course.  England 
wished  to  see  France  weakened,  had  not 
foreseen  Germany's  great  success,  and 
had  reserved  for  future  opportunities  the 
settlement  of  accounts  with  Russia,  its 
very  annoying  rival  in  Asia. 

In  other  respects,  however,  Bismarck 
was  by  no  means  satisfied  with  the  way 
in  which  England  pursued  its  policy  of 
"  neutrality."  He  had  expected,  at  least, 
that  the  English  would  condemn  the  war, 
begun,  as  it  was,  in  such  a  criminal  man- 
ner, and  not  that  they  would  carry  on 
with  France  a  flourishing  trade  in 
weapons.  "  It  is  a  surprising  fact,  preg- 
nant with  warning,"  he  wrote  in  May, 
1874,  "that  Mr.  Gladstone  succeeded  so 
easily  in  holding  the  country  to  an  at- 
titude directly  opposed  to  the  traditional 
hostility  of  the  English  masses  toward 
France."  He  had  all  the  more  reason  to 
expect  a  different  attitude  in  view  of 
the  fact  that,  as  was  well  known  in  Eng- 
land, it  had  been  out  of  regard  for  Eng- 
land that  Bismarck  in  December,  1870, 
had  refused  an  offer  of  peace  from 
Thiers,  which  rested  on  the  condition  that 
Belgium  should  be  united  to  France 
under  the  rule  of  King  Leopold.  After 
the  battle  of  Sedan  Lord  Odo  Russell 
and  Disraeli  aroused  the  fears  of  the 
English  people  over  the  possibility  of  a 
German  invasion;  but  Bismarck,  never- 
theless, was  thinking  of  an  English-Ger- 
man alliance,  which,  on  account  of  the 
blood  relationship  of  the  two  dynasties, 
was  by  no  means  impracticable,  and 
which  to  Queen  Victoria  would  have 
seemed  a  natural  combination.  Subse- 
quently, in  the  years  1873  and  1874,  Bis- 
marck negotiated  with  Lord  Odo  Russell 
in  Berlin  regarding  a  German-English 
alliance,  and  through  Miinster  he  also 
took  up  the  matter  with  Disraeli,  who 
denied  very  emphatically  that  he  had 
French  sympathies.  Nothing,  he  said, 
was  more  incorrect.  The  two  peoples, 
he  alleged  further,  who  alone  could  pro- 
ceed hand  in  hand,  and  who  must  become 
more  and  more  cognizant  of  that  fact, 


were  Germany  and  England.  The  power 
of  France,  he  added,  was  on  the  wane,  a 
fact  regarding  which  the  demoralization 
of  the  empire,  the  decrease  of  population, 
and  the  course  of  recent  events  left  no 
room  for  doubt.  Notwithstanding  Dis- 
raeli's views,  however,  the  alliance  with 
England,  as  is  well  known,  was  never 
formed.  The  most  serious  obstacle  was 
created  by  the  fact  that  party  govern- 
.  ment  in  England  rendered  binding  obli- 
gations extraordinarily  difficult.  Then 
came  all  sorts  of  pinpricks,  as,  for 
instance,  Derby's  advocacy  in  the  year 
1875  of  Gortchakoff's  famous  rescue 
campaign.  But  despite  all  Bismarck  held 
fast  to  the  idea  of  bringing  about  closer 
relations  with  England,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  alliance  with  Austria-Hun- 
gary confirmed  him  in  that  purpose. 
"  We  shall  have  to  adjust  our  attitude 
more  and  more,"  he  wrote  to  Schweinitz 
in  March,  1880,  "  with  the  object  of  in- 
creasing the  security  of  our  relations 
with  Austria  and  England."  It  was  this 
political  desire  that  prompted  him  to  re- 
ject a  Russian  proposal  to  unite  the  four 
Eastern  powers  in  a  common  protest 
against  England's  isolated  procedure  in 
connection  with  the  occupation  of  Egypt. 
He  wished  to  prevent  England  from  be- 
ing humiliated  by  a  prearranged  coali- 
tion. A  letter  from  Bismarck  to  Salis- 
bury (July  8,  1885)  has  been  preserved, 
which  is  very  characteristic  of  this 
friendly  attitude  of  German  policy.  "  As 
to  politics,"  he  writes,  "  I  have  not  the 
slightest  doubt  that  the  traditional 
friendly  relations  between  the  two  dy- 
nasties, as  well  as  between  the  two  na- 
tions, will  give  sufficient  security  for 
settling  every  existing  or  arising  ques- 
.tion  in  a  conciliatory  way." 

With  respect  to  the  question  of  the 
Egyptian  loan  that  was  being  discussed 
at  that  time,  as  well  as  with  respect  to 
the  burning  Afghan  question,  Bismarck 
adhered  tenaciously  to  this  policy,  and 
later  on,  too,  he  was  determined  to  spin 
the  threads  further.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  Autumn  of  1887  an  exchange  of 
letters  again  took  place  between  Lord 
Salisbury  and  Prince  Bismarck,  where- 
in the  latter  gave  expression  to  the  idea 


786 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


that  Austria  and  England  were  the  nat- 
ural allies  of  Germany.  If  they  were 
opposed  to  an  alliance  it  would  be  neces- 
sary for  Germany  to  alter  its  policy  en- 
tirely and  to  think  about  establishing 
more  intimate  relations  with  Russia. 
This,  properly  considered,  was  an  invita- 
tion to  enter  into  negotiations  regarding 
an  alliance  treaty.  But  Salisbury,  who 
hoped  for  a  conflict  of  the  Continental 
powers  which  would  insure  England's 
position  of  power  for  another  generation, 
answered  evasively,  and  Bismarck  justly 
regarded  his  reply  as  a  rejection.  But 
such  a  conflict  did  not  arise.  The  men- 
acing danger  brought  about  by  Alexan- 
der III.  was  overcome  by  the  publica- 
tion of  the  German-Austrian  treaty  of 
alliance.  Even  then,  however,  Bismarck 
did  not  give  up  the  idea  of  bring- 
ing about  closer  relations  with  Eng- 
land. In  December,  1888,  he  wrote: 
"  The  promotion  of  common  feeling 
with  England  is  primo  loco  to  be 
encouraged."  If  Bismarck  had  left  be- 
hind a  political  testament  this  sentence 
would  in  all  probability  be  contained  in 
it.  Such  was  also  the  attitude  which  our 
Emperor  has  consistently  maintained 
from  his  accession  to  the  throne  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  present  war.  He  was  a 
favorite  of  the  old  Queen,  and  the  treaty 
signed  on  July  1,  1890,  whereby  we  ob- 
tained possession  of  Heligoland  by  relin- 
quishing our  claims  to  Witu  and  Zanzi- 
bar, was  an  outward  sign  of  an  honest 
endeavor  on  the  part  of  both  nations  to 
bring  about  closer  mutual  relations.  The 
mutual  limitation  of  spheres  of  interest 
in  East  and  West  Africa  in  the  year 
1893,  and  the  friendly  adjustment  of  the 
conflict  which  Article  III.  of  the  British 
Agreement  with  the  Congo  Free  State  of 
the  year  1894  had  threatened  to  bring 
about,  might  be  considered  additional 
symptoms  of  this  general  disposition  or 
tendency. 

The  year  1896,  however,  brought  dis- 
turbances; the  telegram  which  Emperor 
William  on  Jan,  5  sent  to  President 
Kruger,  after  the  predatory  invasion  of 
Dr.  Jameson  had  been  fortunately  re- 
pelled, was  received  very  unfavorably  in 
England,  and  led   to  demonstrations   on 


the  part  of  the  British  fleet,  which,  al- 
though they  had  a  very  provocative 
character,  remained  finally  without  last- 
ing effect.  The  impression  was  created, 
however,  that  public  opinion  in  England 
was  very  easily  excited;  it  saw  itself  dis- 
turbed in  the  execution  of  a  thoroughly 
considered  political  plan,  and,  as  it  were, 
caught  in  flagranti.  But  the  fact  that 
there  were  still  deeper  reasons  for  a 
gradually  increasing  mistrust  of  Ger- 
many is  brought  to  light  by  Wilson's 
book,  published  in  1896,  which,  under 
the  title  "  Made  in  Germany,"  developed 
a  program  of  battle  against  Germany's 
rapidly  growing  economic  power.  Since 
then  all  steps  taken  by  Germany  in  the 
pursuit  of  its  internal  as  well  as  its  ex- 
ternal policy  have  been  viewed  with  ex- 
traordinary disapprobation  on  the  part 
of  England.  The  adoption  of  our  Naval 
bill  by  the  Reichstag  on  March  28,  1898, 
the  foundation  of  the  Naval  League  two 
days  later,  the  new  East-Asiatic  policy 
of  Germany,  which  in  the  leasing  of 
Kiao-Chau  was  exemplified  in  a  manner 
not  at  all  to  the  liking  of  the  English 
politicians,  the  Emperor's  trip  to  the 
Orient,  which  led  to  friendly  relations 
between  Turkey  and  Germany — all  this 
was  looked  upon  with  the  more  dis- 
pleasure in  view  of  the  fact  that  Em- 
peror William  in  the  Summer  of  1895 
had  emphatically  rejected  a  plan,  pro- 
posed to  him  by  Lord  Salisbury,  to 
divide  up  Turkey.  In  August,  1898,  nev- 
ertheless, when  the  Fashoda  crisis  had 
strained  the  relations  of  England  and 
France  to  the  utmost,  and  when,  at  the 
same  time,  English-Russian  relations 
were  becoming  critical  in  the  Far  East, 
an  understanding  between  Germany  and 
England,  which  might  perhaps  have  the 
character  of  an  alliance,  seemed  to  be 
quite  possible.  Secretary  of  State  von 
Billow  and  the  English  Ambassador,  Sir 
Frank  Lascelles,  took  up  the  matter  very 
earnestly,  but  it  was  impossible  to  secure 
from  England  the  assurance  that  the  en- 
tire English  Government  and  Parliament 
would  sanction  an  alliance.  Russia 
warded  off  the  menacing  danger  of  a 
war  with  England  by  means  of  the  well- 
known  proposal  which  on  May  18,  1899, 


ENGLAND     AND     GERMANY 


787 


led  to  the  holding  of  the  Disarmament 
Conference  in  The  Hague,  and  Delcasse 
on  Jan.  20,  1899,  began,  with  reference 
to  the  Fashoda  affair,  the  policy  of  re- 
treat, which  excluded  France  from  the 
Nile  territory.  Then  came  England's 
war  against  the  Boers.  It  is  well  known 
how  the  German  Government  during  this 
war  scrupulously  maintained  its  neutral- 
ity (not  according  to  the  English  meth- 
od) despite  the  fact  that  all  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  German  people  were  with  the 
Boers  in  their  struggle  for  freedom.  It 
is  not  so  well  known,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  Imperial  Government  rejected  a 
Russian  proposal  to  form  an  alliance 
against  England.  That,  too,  was  a  serv- 
ice for  which  England  has  not  thanked 
us.  Of  the  tragedy  in  South  Africa  it 
has  retained  in  mind  only  one  incident, 
the  so-called  "  Kruger  Message,"  which 
it  regarded  as  an  interference  with  its 
right  to  do  violence  to  a  weaker  power, 
figuratively  speaking,  as  a  slap  in  the 
face. 

In  the  course  of  the  war  the  old  Queen 
died,  and  Edward  VII.  entered  upon  his 
fateful  reign.  Emperor  William  hadj 
gone  over  to  London  to  attend  the  funeral 
of  his  grandmother,  and  Prince  Henry 
had  accompanied  him,  so  that  the  dynas- 
tic relationship  was  made  most  con- 
spicuous. After  that  the  political  rela- 
tions of  the  two  States  seemed  about  to 
shape  themselves  most  propitiously.  Of 
the  fact  that  the  Anglo-Japanese  Al- 
liance, concluded  on  Jan.  30,  1902,  was 
directed  against  Russia,  there  was  never 
for  a  moment  any  doubt;  indeed  it  was 
Japan,  not  England,  which  took  the 
initiative  in  bringing  it  about.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  co-operation  of  English 
and  German  war  vessels  in  adjusting  the 
difficulties  which  both  powers  had  with 
Venezuela  was  in  complete  harmony  with 
the  political  wishes  and  convictions  of 
Emperor  William,  who,  like  Bismarck  at 
an  earlier  date,  Vvas  of  the  opinion  that 
the  interests  of  the  two  nations  could 
readily  be  reconciled.  But  in  England 
that  co-operation  resulted  in  an  excited 
anti-German  campaign  on  the  part  of  the 
press.  The  Times,  The  National  Review, 
The  Daily  News,  The  Daily  Telegraph, 
The  Daily  Express,  and  other  newspapers 


vehemently  attacked  the  Government  for 
acting  conjointly  with  us,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  in  so  doing  they  gave 
expression,  not  to  the  ideas  of  the  Bal- 
four Ministry,  but  to  the  sentiments 
which,  as  was  well  known  in  those  jour- 
nalistic circles,  were  held  by  King  Ed- 
ward. Balfour,  in  an  address  which  he 
delivered  in  Liverpool  on  Feb.  13,  1903, 
had  opposed  with  great  emphasis  the 
arousing  of  English  public  opinion 
against  Germany.  "  We  wish,"  he  said, 
"  to  bear  in  mind  an  old  ideal,  namely, 
that  all  the  nations  which  stand  in  the 
front  ranks  of  civilization  should  learn  to 
work  together  in  the  interest  of  the 
whole,  and  that  nothing  any  longer  stands 
in  the  way  of  the  realization  of  this  high 
ideal  save  those  national  bitternesses, 
jealousies,  and  hostilities.  *  *  *  As 
far  as  Venezuela  is  concerned,  that  is 
passing  over  *  *  *  ^,y^  with  respect 
to  the  future  it  fills  me  with  anxiety 
when  I  think  how  easy  it  is  to  stir  up 
the  fire  of  international  jealousy,  and 
how  hard  it  is  to  quench  it."  It  was  all 
the  harder  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
King,  from  the  very  beginning  of  his 
reign,  adhered  tenaciously  to  the  political 
idea  of  using  the  old  French  revanche 
notion  as  the  cardinal  point  of  English 
policy. 

In  April,  1903,  the  King  began  a  series 
of  political  trips  to  Portugal,  Spain, 
France,  and  Austria,  while  Berlin,  very 
strangely,  was  not  visited  by  him.  Each 
one  of  these  visits  resulted  in  political 
agreements,  into  which  Vienna  alone  de- 
clined to  enter,  and  which,  after  a  return 
visit  on  the  part  of  Loubet,  at  that  time 
President  of  the  French  Republic,  and 
after  a  surprising  visit  in  Paris  on  the 
part  of  certain  members  of  the  English 
Parliament,  led  to  the  significant  Eng- 
lish-French agreement  of  April  8,  1904, 
a  treaty  which  culminated  in  the  balanc- 
ing of  Morocco  against  Egypt  and  made 
it  possible  for  the  English  Government, 
as  soon  as  it  chose,  to  regulate  the 
Morocco  question  in  such  a  way  that  it 
would  necessarily  bring  about  a  conflict 
between  France  and  isolated  Germany. 
The  ally  of  King  Edward  was  the  French 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Delcasse, 
who,    on    the    basis    of    the    agreements 


788 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


made  with  England,  had  likewise  con- 
cluded treaties  with  Spain  and  Italy, 
which,  as  he  confidently  assumed,  in- 
sured the  penetration  pacifique,  i.  e.,  the 
conquest,  unhindered  by  Europe,  of  Mo- 
rocco. How  this  plan  presently  fell 
through  and  how  Delcasse  was  over- 
thrown shall  not  be  related  here;  on  the 
other  hand,  attention  should  be  called  to 
the  intimidating  efforts  to  which  Eng- 
land resorted  for  the  purpose  of  exert- 
ing pressure  upon  Germany.  The  first 
effort  of  this  nature  took  the  form  of  an 
address  delivered  on  Feb.  3,  1905,  by 
Arthur  Lee,  a  Civil  Lord  of  the  English 
Admiralty,  who  threatened  the  German 
fleet  with  destruction;  the  second  effort 
came  after  Emperor  William  had  landed 
in  Tangier  on  March  31  and  after  Del- 
casse had  been  overthrown,  and  took  the 
form  of  an  appearance  of  an  English 
fleet  before  Swinemiinde,  on  which  occa- 
sion it  was  officially  asserted  that  the 
resolution  had  been  adopted  back  in  May, 
that  is,  at  a  time  when  the  intrigues  of 
Delcasse  were  culminating  and  when  a 
war  between  Germany  and  France 
seemed  likely  to  break  out  at  any  time. 
For  even  after  Delcasse's  overthrow  Eng- 
land did  not  give  up  the  game  as  lost; 
it  declined  to  take  part  in  a  conference 
regarding  Morocco  and  considered  in  all 
seriousness  the  question  of  an  invasion. 
England's  naval  superiority  was  so  great 
that  the  success  of  such  an  invasion  could 
not  seem  doubtful,  and  in  London  it  was 
thought  that  they  could  even  do  without 
the  support  of  France.  These  plans  were 
finally  given  up;  for  some  time  it  was 
not  known  very  well  in  London  what  de- 
cisions had  been  reached  in  the  meeting 
between  the  Czar  and  Emperor  William 
at  Bjorko,  and  there  was  a  feeling  of  un- 
certainty. Accordingly,  England  also 
sent  delegates  to  the  conference  at  Alge- 
ciras,  wherein  we  were  obliged  to  deal 
solely,  except  for  the  Austrian  delegates, 
with  friends  of  the  English-French  com- 
bination. 

The  result,  therefore,  could  only  be  a 
vague  understanding,  wherein  was  con- 
cealed the  germ  of  subsequent  conflicts. 
The  first  consequence,  nevertheless,  was 
a  relaxation  of  German-English  relations. 


In  December,  1905,  a  Liberal  Ministry 
had  taken  the  helm,  and  the  idea  was 
conceived  of  diverting  Germany  by  other 
means  from  the  pursuit  of  a  "  world 
policy."  Sir  Edward  Grey  championed 
the  contention  that  more  intimate  rela- 
tions between  England  and  Germany 
were,  to  be  sure,  desirable,  but  could  only 
be  effected  if  we  swallowed  France's 
Morocco  policy  unflinchingly,  like  bitter 
medicine.  For  this  event  Mr.  Haldane, 
the  new  Minister  of  War,  proposed  an 
understanding  between  us  similar  to  that 
which  England  had  reached  with  France. 
This  constituted  the  preliminary  step  to- 
ward an  endeavor  to  effect  more  intimate 
relations,  an  endeavor  which  at  first  had 
a  non-official  character.  German  Burgo- 
masters visited  the  City  of  London  and 
were  cordially  received  by  King  Edward 
himself.  This  was  followed,  in  August, 
1906,  by  a  meeting  between  the  King  and 
his  imperial  nephew,  in  Homburg  vor  der 
Hohe,  which,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
passed  off  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  It 
should,  nevertheless,  be  recalled  to  mind 
that  the  King  expressed  himself  very 
ironically  on  the  subject  of  The  Hague 
Conference,  which,  he  asserted,  was  a 
humbug.  And  Sir  Charles  Hardinge,  who 
entered  into  negotiations  with  Secretary 
of  State  von  Tschirschky,  also  voiced  the 
opinion  that  the  conference  should  offer 
no  opportunity  for  serious  interference 
with  England's  naval  policy.  On  this 
point  English  and  German  views  con- 
curred, though  from  different  motives. 
In  the  following  September  the  English 
Minister  of  War,  Mr.  Haldane,  was  our 
guest.  He  came  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  German  military  organization, 
and  every  conceivable  courtesy  was  ex- 
tended to  him.  In  the  addresses  which  he 
delivered  after  his  return  to  England  he 
referred  many  times  to  his  sojourn  in 
Berlin.  He  also  made  the  assertion  that 
the  relations  of  England  to  France  were 
closer  and  more  intimate  than  ever  be- 
fore, that  to  Russia  they  were  friendly, 
and  that  to  Germany  they  were  better 
than  they  recently  had  been.  We  now 
know — a  fact  which  the  Liberte  also 
divulged  at  that  time — that  an  English- 
French  military  convention  had  then  been 
signed  with  reference  to  future  possibil- 


H.     I.     M.     NICHOLAS     II. 

Czar   of   All   the    Russias,    and   the    Grand    Duke   Alexis   Nicholaieviich, 

the     Heir     Apparent 
(Photo  from    Underwood  d   Underwood) 


THE     HON.      WILLIAM     JENNINGS     BRYAN 

Formerly     Secretary     of     State     of     the     United     States 
(Photo    from    Bu{n    News    Agency) 


ENGLAND     AND     GERMANY 


789 


ities.  This  fact  was  immediately  denied, 
but  it  was  merely  a  question  of  word 
quibbling.  No  convention,  to  be  sure, 
was  actually  signed  by  the  Government, 
but  the  "  inner  circle "  of  the  Cabinet 
undoubtedly  agreed  that  "  conversations  " 
between  the  military  authorities  of  the 
two  nations  should  take  place,  and  these 
military  conversations  were  held  regu- 
larly, just  as  if  a  secret  alliance  existed, 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war. 
Parallel  with  these  political  preparations 
were  efforts  that  stood  in  sharp  contrast 
to  the  irritating  activities  carried  on 
without  interruption  by  the  above-men- 
tioned anti-German  press,  which  we  em- 
brace under  the  name  "  Pearson  and 
Harmsworth  Press."  In  England,  as  well 
as  in  Germany,  societies  were  organized 
with  the  object  of  mitigating  and,  if 
possible,  entirely  abolishing  the  differ- 
ences and  antagonisms  which  existed  be- 
tween the  two  nations;  these  were  the 
so-called  "  Friendship  Committees."  In 
England  the  Duke  of  Argyll  and  Lord 
Avebury  were  at  the  head  of  such  a 
committee,  and  a  visit  made  to  London 
by  representatives  of  our  press  initiated 
a  well-meant  movement  which  found  en- 
thusiastic representatives  on  both  sides. 
English  and  German  clergymen  traveled 
back  and  forth  between  England  and 
Germany,  representatives  of  the  English 
press  paid  a  return  visit  to  Germany,  Eng- 
lish and  German  workingmen's  represen- 
tatives endeavored  to  cement  feelings  of 
friendship  by  making  personal  observa- 
tions and  acquaintances,  and  in  a  similar 
way  representatives  of  the  Parliamentary 
groups  of  both  countries  thought  and 
acted,  while  the  leaders  of  science  were 
working  together  at  congresses  held  in 
Berlin  and  London.  In  this  way  were 
formed  a  number  of  valuable  personal 
relations  which  led  to  political  friend- 
ships and  resulted  in  a  conscious  co-op- 
eration toward  an  honest  English-Ger- 
man understanding. 

These  efforts  continued  until  shortly 
before  the  month  of  August,  1914.  One 
may  safely  say,  moreover,  that  nobody 
has  interceded  more  zealously  and  more 
constantly  for  English-German  friend- 
ship and  co-operation  and  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  difficulties  that  are  ever 


cropping  up  anew  than  our  Emperor. 
The  enthusiasm  with  which  Emperor 
William  was  always  received  in  England 
on  occasion  of  his  numerous  visits,  es- 
pecially in  November  and  December, 
1907,  again  in  1910,  when  he  went  to 
London  to  attend  the  funeral  of  Edward 
VII.,  and  again  in  1911,  when  he  visited 
King  George,  would  be  absolutely  in- 
conceivable hypocrisy,  which  we  regard 
as  out  of  the  question,  had  it  not  been 
the  spontaneous  expression  of  popular 
sentiment.  Official  English  policy,  how- 
ever, followed  other  channels.  As  early 
as  the  year  1907  Sir  Edward  Grey  had 
succeeded  in  securing  from  Russia  an 
agreement  which  united  England  and 
Russia  in  co-operation  at  the  expense  of 
Persia,  but  which,  indirectly,  also  af- 
fected German  interests,  the  injury  to 
which  was  later  happily  warded  off  by 
the  Treaty  of  Potsdam.  It  soon  became 
evident,  moreover,  that  England,  in  con- 
cluding the  agreement  relating  to  Per- 
sia, was  in  reality  less  concerned  about 
protecting  its  Asiatic  interests  than  it  was 
about  including  Russia  in  that  coalition 
by  means  of  which  it  expected  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  "  world  policy  "  of  Germany 
and  to  check  the  further  development  of 
the  German  fleet.  This  became  very 
distinctly  evident  on  June  9,  1908,  when 
a  meeting  took  place  at  Reval  between 
Edward  VII.  and  Nicholas  II.  At  that 
time  it  was  agreed  and  decided  between 
Hardinge  and  Iswolski,  not  officially,  but 
in  an  oral  exchange  of  views,  that  Rus- 
sia would  be  ready  to  proceed  hand  in 
hand  with  England  in  European  affairs 
(i.  e.,  in  the  policy  directed  against  Ger- 
many) as  soon  as  it  had  sufficiently  re- 
covered from  the  after-effects  of  the  war 
with  Japan  and  the  revolution.  It  was 
thought  that  this  regeneration  of  Rus- 
sia's military  power  would  take  six  or 
eight  years.  The  scope  of  this  agree- 
ment is  very  obvious.  Whereas  Ger- 
many, during  the  persistent  danger  of  a 
war  with  France  over  Morocco,  had  hith- 
erto considered  it  highly  probable  that 
England  would  maintain  a  neutral  atti- 
tude, it  was  obliged,  as  soon  as  England 
drew  nearer  to  the  Dual  Alliance,  to  fig- 
ure at  all  events  upon  a  malevolent  neu- 
trality and  very  likely  indeed  upon  open 


790 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


hostility.  Sir  Edward  Grey,  to  be  sure, 
who  had  not  yet  escaped  from  the  anxi- 
ety with  which  English  friends  of  peace 
were  following  the  King's  trip  to  Russia, 
ip  order  to  cover  up  his  game,  on  July  7 
had  declared  in  the  lower  house,  in  re- 
ply to  a  question  directed  to  the  Govern- 
ment, that  the  visit  of  the  King  by  no 
means  had  any  diplomatic  significance 
which  might  lead  to  an  alliance  or  to  an 
agreement  or  to  any  kind  of  a  conven- 
tion; no  negotiations  were  being  entered 
into,  he  asserted,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
cluding a  treaty  or  a  convention  with 
Russia,  nor  would  any  such  treaty  or 
convention  be  concluded  during  the 
King's  visit.  But  he  went  on  to  say  that 
the  visit  would  have  some  political  ef- 
fect, and  it  was  very  true  that  political 
effect  was  desired.  "  We  wish  that  the 
visit  shall  exert  a  beneficent  influence 
upon  the  mutual  relations  of  bolh  em- 
pires." Public  opinion  in  England  al- 
lowed itself  to  be  satisfied  with  this 
equivocal,  oracular  statement.  In  other 
countries,  however,  a  keener  insight  was 
displayed.  The  New  York  Times  judged 
the  situation  correctly  when  it  said:  "It 
is  always  a  mistake  to  force  a  warm 
friend,  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  bus- 
iness friend,  a  blood  relative,  out  of  in- 
timate and  useful  friendship  into  bitter 
antagonism,  and  this  mistake,  according 
to  the  judgment  of  all  non-partisan  ob- 
servers of  contemporary  history,  has 
been  committed  by  King  Edward."  When 
Edward  VII.  acceded  to  the  throne,  it 
went  on  to  say,  England  was  a  warm 
friend  of  Germany  and  of  the  German 
Emperor,  who  had  given  numerous 
proofs  of  his  friendship,  and  was  not 
only  willing  but  anxious  to  become  Eng- 
land's ally;  now,  however,  the  guns  of 
the  two  nations  were,  so  to  speak, 
pointed  at  each  other. 

Such,  indeed,  was  the  actual  case;  a 
determined  malevolence  on  the  part  of 
the  King,  the  English  statesmen,  and 
that  newspaper  trust  organized  by  Pear- 
son and  Harmsworth,  began  to  mobilize 
Europe  against  Germany,  and  to  incense, 
by  means  of  cable  and  telegraph,  the 
judgment  of  the  world  against  our 
Emperor  and  against  the  German  policy. 


No  means  seemed  too  infamous  if  it 
served  this  purpose.  Over  a  private  let- 
ter which  Emperor  William  had  sent  to 
Admiral  Lord  Tweedmouth  for  the  pur- 
pose of  checking  false  rumors  that  were 
maliciously  being  spread  abroad  regard- 
ing our  naval  policy,  The  Times  made  a 
terrible  fuss  in  order  to  disseminate  the 
notion  that  Emperor  William  was  inter- 
fering with  the  internal  policy  of  Great 
Britain  with  a  view  to  injuring  English 
military  power.  The  excitement  of  pub- 
lic opinion  in  England  was  then  utilized 
by  the  press  for  the  purpose  of  creating 
a  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  concentration 
of  the  British  fleet  in  the  North  Sea. 
That,  however,  was  certainly  done  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Government,  which  was 
fond  of  attributing  resolutions  it  had  al- 
ready adopted  to  the  pressure  of  public 
opinion  throughout  the  country.  The 
naval  manoeuvres  which  in  July,  1908, 
were  carried  out  in  the  North  Sea,  close 
to  our  coastline,  were  participated  in  by 
a  combination  of  the  canal  fleet  and  the 
so-called  home  fleet,  and  they  bore  a 
very  provocative  and  demonstrative 
character.  At  this  time,  moreover,  ap- 
peared that  widely  read  book  by  Percival 
A.  Hislam,  entitled  "  The  Admiralty  of 
the  Atlantic,"  the  expositions  of  which 
culminated  in  the  statement  that  a  war 
between  England  and  Germany  was  un- 
avoidable, and  that  the  sooner  it  broke 
out  the  shorter  it  would  be  and  the  less 
money  and  blood  it  would  cost.  All  this, 
however,  is  rendered  easily  intelligible 
by  the  fact  that  the  Balkan  crisis,  in 
consequence  of  the  annexation  of  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina,  had  at  that  time  as- 
sumed a  very  dangerous  aspect,  and  was 
threatening  to  bring  on  a  war  between 
Austria  and  Russia  and  perhaps  a  world 
war,  wherein  England  expected  to  gain 
its  own  particular  ends.  It  was  there- 
fore a  severe  disappointment  to  English 
statesmen  that  Nicholas  II.,  despite  the 
vociferous  protests  of  the  Serbs,  and 
despite  the  decidedly  warlike  attitude  of 
the  Russian  people  on  March  25,  1909, 
recognized  the  annexation.  The  disap- 
pointment was  all  the  more  severe  for 
the  reason  that  shortly  before  that  time, 
despite  the  still  menacing  conflict  over 
Casablanca,  the  Morocco  difficulties  be- 


ENGLAND     AND     GERMANY 


791 


tween  Germany  and  France  were  also 
settled.  On  Feb.  9,  1909,  the  day  on 
which  King  Edward  made  his  first  visit 
in  Berlin,  a  German-French  agreement 
regarding  Morocco  was  signed,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  May  the  Casablanca  con- 
flict was  also  adjusted  by  arbitration  to 
the  tolerable  satisfaction  of  both  con- 
testants. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  King 
Edward,  in  so  far  as  he  was  able,  did  his 
best  to  bring  about  another  outcome,  and 
in  England  this  was  generally  recognized. 
"  There  must  be  a  definitive  stopping  of 
the  King's  interference  in  foreign  poli- 
tics," declared  Mr.  Sidebotham,  M.  P.,  in 
the  Reform  Club  at  Manchester  during 
this  crisis.  His  words  were  loudly  ap- 
proved by  his  hearers,  but  his  voice,  as 
well  as  the  voice  of  other  men  in  favor  of 
establishing  good  relations  with  Ger- 
many, was  drowned  without  effect  under 
the  influence  of  the  panic  which  from  the 
end  of  the  year  1908  until  well  on  into 
the  Summer  of  1909  kept  all  England  in 
a  state  of  excitement.  Watchwords  de- 
noting the  necessity  of  taking  immediate 
action  against  the  German  fleet,  as  they 
were  published  in  The  Standard,  The 
Morning  Post,  and  in  the  great  monthly 
periodicals,  The  Nineteenth  Century,  the 
Fortnightly  Review,  and  The  National 
Review,  were  echoed  in  the  negotiations 
of  Parliament,  and  they  dominated  the 
Maritime  Law  Conference  held  in  Lon- 
don. The  naval  manoeuvres  of  July, 
1909,  brought  together  all  three  English 
fleets,  and  the  plan  was  conceived  of 
summoning  the  fleets  of  the  larger 
colonies.  A  meeting  of  newspaper  pub- 
lishers, called  in  London,  was  designed 
to  carry  on  propaganda  for  these  ideas, 
and  the  Imperial  Defense  Conference, 
also  held  in  London,  proposed  that  Eng- 
land should  be  supported  by  its  large 
colonies,  though,  to  be  sure,  with  certain 
reservations.  In  order  to  weaken  the 
impression  which  Russia's  recognition  of 
the  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Her- 
zegovina had  created,  the  Czar  visited 
the  English  fleet  at  Spithead,  and  for 
the  same  reason,  probably,  the  Russian 
Army  manoeuvres  in  the  Fall  were  con- 
sidered a  rehearsal  of  the  measures  that 
would  be  adopted  to  check  the  advance  of 


an  enemy  toward  St.  Petersburg.  Finally, 
on  Oct.  23,  agreements  were  made  in 
Racconigi  between  Iswolski,  who  was  ac- 
companying the  Czar  on  a  new  trip 
abroad,  and  Tittoni,  which  agreements 
were  to  make  it  possible  for  Russia,  as 
a  Russian  newspaper  put  it,  "  to  liberate 
itself  from  the  necessity  of  friendly  re- 
lations with  Germany." 

During  this  excitement  in  the  political 
atmosphere  the  Imperial  Chancellor,  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  endeavored  to  bring 
about  a  turn  for  the  better  by  effecting 
an  understanding  with  England,  in  whose 
attitude  he  correctly  recognized  the  real 
cause  of  the  political  insecurity.  At  this 
point  attention  must  be  called  to  the 
fundamental  difficulty  with  which  all 
negotiations  at  that  time,  and  subse- 
quently, were  confronted,  and  necessarily 
confronted.  In  Germany  it  was  seen 
very  clearly  from  the  start  that  the 
probability  of  a  combined  Ftench-Russian 
attack,  for  which  influential  political 
groups  in  St.  Petersburg,  as  well  as  in 
Paris,  were  working,  was  very  slight,  so 
long  as  England's  entrance  into  this  anti- 
German  combination  could  be  left  out  of 
consideration.  What  we  hoped  to  insure, 
therefore,  was  England's  neutrality  in  the 
event  of  war,  inasmuch  as  a  German- 
English  alliance,  which  might  have  defi- 
nitely insured  world  peace,  could  not  be 
effected.  In  order  to  win  England  over 
to  the  idea  of  neutrality,  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  declared  his  willingness  to 
decrease  the  rate  at  which  our  war  ves- 
sels were  being  constructed.  Both  na- 
tions, moreover,  were  to  give  assurances 
that  neither  intended  to  attack  the  other, 
nor  actually  would  make  an  attack.  A 
second  clause  in  the  German  proposal 
formulated  the  neutrality  obligation. 
These  negotiations  continued  until  the 
Autumn  of  the  year  1909,  and  were  ac- 
companied by  the  threatening  chorus  of 
the  English  anti-German  press:  "Ger- 
man dreadnoughts  must  not  be  built." 
[Black  and  White—"  The  Writing  on  the 
Wall."]  The  positive  refusal  on  the  part 
of  Germany  to  abandon  the  naval  pro- 
gram adopted  by  the  Reichstag,  and  the 
fixed  idea  designedly  fostered  by  the 
British  Government  that  we  were  cher- 
ishing the  intention  of  attacking  France, 


792 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


gave  England  a  pretext  for  rejecting  the 
German  efforts  to  effect  an  understand- 
ing between  the  two  countries.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  believe  in  the  honesty  of 
these  arguments,  which  were  recently 
defended,  in  dialectic  perversion  of  the 
truth,  by  Sir  Edward  Cook  in  an  article 
entitled  "How  Britain  Strove  for  Peace." 
England's  aggressive  tendency  is  clearly 
shown  by  its  above-mentioned  agreements 
with  France  and  Russia,  which  are  today 
publici  juris.  Regarding  that  point  there 
was  no  self-deception  in  those  English 
circles  which  did  not  belong  to  the  con- 
spiracy; Edward  Dicey,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  of  English  publicists,  expressed 
it  in  point-blank  form  in  February,  1910, 
when  he  wrote  in  The  Empire  Review: 
"If  England  and  Germany  are  friends, 
the  peace  of  Europe  is  assured;  but  if 
the  two  nations  fall  apart,  it  will  be  a 
very  unfortunate  day  for  humanity." 
At  that  time,*  when  Delcasse  tendencies 
were  again  asserting  themselves  in 
France  and  a  new  political  storm  was 
brewing  in  the  Balkan  countries.  King 
Edward  died,  on  May  6.  The  hope  could 
now  be  cherished,  the  leader  of  the  anti- 
German  policy  of  England  being  gone, 
that  the  moment  had  come  when  it  would 
be  possible  to  effect  an  understanding. 

Dicey  again  began  to  argue  for  peace, 
the  English-German  Friendship  Commit- 
tee, the  Albert  Committee,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  The  Manchester 
Guardian,  and  The  Economist  advocated 
this  idea,  and  Prime  Minister  Asquith 
found  it  profitable  under  these  circum- 
stances to  strike  the  note  of  peace  in  a 
report  which  he  submitted  to  the  lower 
house  regarding  the  frustrated  German- 
English  negotiations.  But  he  included  in 
this  report  false  and  disquieting  state- 
ments regarding  the  German  fleet.  Herr 
von  Bethmann-Hollweg  replied  to  these 
statements  in  the  Reichstag,  and  this  led 
to  the  resumption  of  negotiations  re- 
garding a  permanent  political  agreement 
on  the  basis  of  the  existing  German  naval 
program,  provided  we  would  decrease 
our  rate  of  building  war  vessels,  as  we 
had  already  offered  to  do.  It  soon  be- 
came evident,  however,  with  what  little 
sincerity  these  negotiations  were  entered 
into  on  the  part  of  England.     With  the 


direct  encouragement  of  England,  which 
renewed  its  promises  regarding  its  atti- 
tude in  the  event  of  war,  France,  in  the 
latter  part  of  April,  and  in  outright  vio- 
lation of  the  treaty,  began  its  advance 
again  Fez;  and  at  the  same  time,  as  if 
it  was  desired  that  no  doubt  should  arise 
regarding  the  solidarity  of  England  and 
France,  The  Fleet  Annual  published  an 
illustration  representing  the  German 
high  sea  fleet  under  full  steam,  and  under 
it  were  printed  the  words  "  The  Enemy." 
As  a  sign  of  our  disapproval  of  the 
French  violation  of  the  treaty  we  sent 
the  Panther  to  Agadir,  and  in  place 
of  German-English  negotiations  German- 
French  negotiations  were  commenced. 
Meanwhile  England,  cherishing  the  hope 
that  a  German-French  war  would  now 
break  out  with  certainty,  armed  itself 
against  us  in  August  and  September  with 
might  and  main.  This  fact  was  placed 
beyond  all  doubt  by  the  well-known  dis- 
closures of  Captain  Faber,  (before  his 
electors  in  Andover.)  The  Times  said 
later  on  that  the  year  1911  had  brought 
three  German-English  crises,  the  first  in 
the  third  week  of  July,  the  second  in  the 
week  ending  on  Aug.  19,  (that  was  the 
time  of  the  enormous  and  very  disillusion- 
ing labor  strikes,)  and  the  third  in  Sep- 
tember. It  is  amazing  that  Sir  Edward 
Cook  dared  to  assert  under  these  cir- 
cumstances that  Great  Britain  had 
facilitated  the  conclusion  of  the  French- 
German  Morocco  agreement,  which  was 
ratified  on  March  12,  1912.  In  the 
"  Open  Letter  on  Foreign  Policy,"  which 
on  Nov.  24,  1911,  was  submitted  to  the 
members  of  the  English  Parliament,  and 
was  signed  with  the  initials  E.  D.  M.  and 
F.  W.  H.,  (which  is  to  be  resolved  into 
Edmund  D.  Morel  and  Francis  W.  Hirst,) 
it  is  expressly  staled  by  these  esteemed 
and  honorable  politicians: 

"  Our  attitude  was  determined  ex- 
clusively by  the  ostensible  interests  of 
France,  which  were  directly  opposed  to  the 
interests  of  British  commerce  and  of  Brit- 
ish enterprise.  *  *  *  From  this  it  fol- 
lows that  alliances,  nay,  even  political 
agreements,  with  Continental  powers, 
which  may  coerce  us  to  take  steps  that 
are,  at  a  given  moment,  harmful  to  our 
national  interests,  should  be  avoided." 


ENGLAND     AND     GERMANY 


793 


Sir  Edward  Grey  took  pains  to  conceal 
these  facts  from  the  lower  house  and 
passed  lightly  over  the  disclosures  of 
Faber — when  the  Imperial  Chancellor 
vigorously  opposed  him — with  skillful 
legerdemain.  In  the  upper  house  Grey's 
policy  also  met  with  severe  criticism,  and 
from  his  declarations,  as  well  as  from 
those  of  Lloyd  George  made  at  the  same 
time,  only  one  conclusion  could  be  drawn 
— that  official  England  was  determined 
to  remain  steadfast  in  the  form  of  its 
political  co-operation  with  France  and 
Russia.  Precisely  to  this  was  to  be  at- 
tributed the  insecurity  of  the  European 
situation.  It  has  not  become  publicly 
known  but  has  been  reliably  ascertained 
that  the  English  Naval  Attache  in  Rome 
at  that  time  pointed  out  that  England,  in 
the  event  of  a  war,  which  he  expected  to 
come,  would  have  to  occupy  either  Bel- 
gium or  Copenhagen.  That,  he  added, 
was  very  brutal,  to  be  sure,  but  at  the 
same  time  was  rendered  necessary  by 
historic  developments  and  by  circum- 
stances. 

In  view  of  all  this  we  cannot  deceive 
ourselves  into  believing  that  the  mission 
which  brought  Lord  Haldane  to  Berlin  in 
February,  1912,  had  any  other  purpose 
than  that  of  satisfying  the  voices  in 
England  which  were  calling  with  ever- 
increasing  vigor  for  an  understanding 
with  Germany.  The  proposals  which  he 
submitted  to  us,  after  a  discussion  with 
Sir  Edward  Grey,  were  formulated  by 
the  English  Cabinet  as  follows:  "Inas- 
much as  both  powers  naturally  wish  to 
maintain  relations  of  peace  and  friend- 
ship with  each  other,  England  declares 
that  it  will  neither  make  an  unprovoked 
attack  upon  Germany,  nor  support  any 
other  power  in  making  such  an  attack. 
To  attack  Germany  is  neither  the  direct 
nor  the  indirect  object  of  any  treaty,  un- 
derstanding, or  combination  to  which 
England  is  now  a  party,  nor  will  Eng- 
land make  itself  a  party  to  anything 
that  has  such  an  object."  This  carefully 
excogitated  statement  embraced  in  its 
Machiavellian  wording  neither  those 
"  oral  conversations "  at  Reval  nor  the 
"  innocent  discussions "  engaged  in  by 
the  English  and  French  General  Staffs — 


discussions  which  were  always  revived  on 
occasion  of  every  political  crisis.  It  was 
only  natural,  therefore,  that  we,  since 
these  relations  between  the  General 
Staffs  of  the  powers  belonging  to  the 
Entente  were  no  secret  to  us,  demanded 
greater  security  and  a  declaration  of 
neutrality  on  the  part  of  England  before 
consenting  to  enter  into  any  general  un- 
derstanding. 

This  was  all  the  more  necessary  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  Poincare,  the 
French  President,  while  the  negotiations, 
commenced  by  Haldane,  between  Berlin 
and  London  were  being  carried  on,  had 
undertaken,  in  August,  1912,  that  trip 
to  St.  Petersburg,  from  which  he  brought 
beck  to  France  the  system  of  three 
years'  compulsory  military  service;  and 
at  the  same  time  Hartwig,  the  Russian 
Ambassador  in  Belgrade,  organized  that 
Balkan  Conference,  the  purpose  of  which 
was,  first,  to  break  the  backbone  of  Tur- 
key, and,  secondly,  to  serve  as  a  tool  for 
the  overthrow  of  Austria.  The  intro- 
duction and  adoption  of  the  German  mili- 
tary program  made  it  evident  to  all  the 
world  that  we  had  recognized  correctly, 
and  betimes,  the  dangers  which  threat- 
ened the  peace  of  the  world,  and  in  par- 
ticular the  peace  of  Germany.  Further- 
more, in  a  conversation  with  Prince 
Lichnowski,  Lord  Haldane  said  in  so 
many  words  that  England,  in  the  event 
of  a  general  war,  would  have  to  place 
itself  on  the  side  of  France  "  in  order  to 
prevent  Germany  from  becoming  too 
powerful."  We  must  not  neglect  to  men- 
tion that  during  this  critical  year,  as 
well  as  in  the  year  1913,  negotiations 
were  again  entered  into  regarding  the 
carrying  out  of  the  treaty  concluded  be- 
tween England  and  Germany  in  the  days 
of  Caprivi  with  respect  to  an  economic 
penetration  of  the  Portuguese  colonies 
in  East  and  West  Africa.  The  refusal  of 
Sir  Edward  Grey  to  give  these  negotia- 
tions the  secure  form  of  a  treaty,  which 
could  be  laid  before  the  English  Parlia- 
ment and  the  German  Reichstag,  here 
again  shows  that  he  was  desirous  of  ef- 
fecting only  the  appearance  of  an  under- 
standing. Both  he  and  France  were  re- 
solved to  postpone  their  action  against 


794 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Germany  until  Russia,  which  was  pre- 
paring itself  with  prodigious  exertion, 
had  finished  its  preparations,  which  in 
August,  1913,  were  critically  inspected  by 
General  Joffre,  and  among  which  is  to 
be  included  the  construction  of  railways 
to  run  through  Poland  to  the  Austrian 
and  Prussian  frontiers.  This  considera- 
tion also  accounts  for  England's  attitude 
during  the  Balkan  confusion  of  1912  and 
1913.  At  the  London  Conference  we 
were  able  to  co-operate  with  Sir  Edward 
Grey  in  settling  the  great  difficulties 
brought  about  by  the  war  of  the  Balkan 
nations  against  Turkey,  and  subse- 
quently their  war  inter  se  and  the  over- 
throw of  Bulgaria.  Under  the  impres- 
sion created  by  this  political  co-opera- 
tion the  peace  party  in  England  also 
seemed  to  gain  ground.  On  Feb.  18,  1913, 
Charles  Trevelyan,  M.  P.,  paid  me  a  visit 
and  assured  me  with  great  positiveness 
that  Englar.d  would  under  no  circum- 
stances wage  war.  A  Ministry  which  un- 
dertook to  make  preparations  for  war,  he 
said,  would  at  once  be  deposed.  An  in- 
clination to  bring  about  an  understanding 
with  Germany,  he  added,  prevailed  in  all 
industrial  circles.  My  impression  that 
such  was  actually  the  case  was  confirmed 
during  a  sojourn  in  London  in  the 
months  of  March  and  April,  1914.  On 
occasion  of  a  political  supper  a  deux 
with  Lord  Haldane  the  latter  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  view  that  the  present 
eroupine  of  the  powers  offered  the  best 
guarantee  •  of  peace,  that  Sir  Edward 
Grey  was  holding  Russia  in  check  and 
we  were  holding  Austria-Hungary  in 
check,  in  saying  which  he  emphasized  the 
fact  that  England  had  implicit  confi- 
dence in  the  German  Imperial  Chancellor. 
I  replied,  saying  that  in  consequence  of 
the  existing  combination  Paris  and  St. 
Petersburg  would  certainly  count  upon 
England's  help  in  the  event  of  a  war, 
and  would  thus  bring  on  the  war.  We 
then  discussed  the  situation  between 
England  and  Germany,  and  remarked 
how  the  present  plan,  adopted  by  both 
Governments,  of  fortifying  both  sides  of 
the  North  Sea  was  detrimental  to  the 
real  interests  of  both.  The  following 
letter,  which  I  received  from  Lord  Hal- 


dane in  Berlin  on  April  17,  is  an  echo  of 
this    conversation : 

"  It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  see 
you  and  have  had  the  full  and 
unreserved  talk  we  had  together.  My 
ambition  is,  like  yours,  to  bring  Germany 
into  relations  of  ever  closer  intimacy  and 
friendship. .  Our  two  countries  have  a 
common  work  to  do  for  the  world  as  well 
as  for  themselves,  and  each  of  them  can 
bring  to  bear  on  this  work  special  en- 
dowments and  qualities.  May  the  co- 
operation, which  I  believe  to  be  now  be- 
ginning, become  closer  and  closer.  Of 
this  I  am  sure,  the  more  wide  and  un- 
selfish the  nations  and  the  groups  ques- 
tions make  her  supreme  purposes  of 
their  policies,  the  more  will  friction  dis- 
appear and  the  sooner  will  the  relations 
that  are  normal  and  healthy  reappear. 
Something  of  this  good  work  has  now 
come  into  existence  between  our  two 
peoples.  We  must  see  to  it  that  the 
chance   of  growth   is   given."  * 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  in  the  sincerity 
of  the  sentiments  here  expressed,  when  we 
consider  that  Lord  Haldane  belonged  to 
the  inner  circle  of  the  Cabinet  and  there- 
fore must  have  known  the  secret  chess- 
moves  of  Grey's  policy.  Furthermore,  he 
did  not  resign,  as  did  three  other  members 
of  the  Cabinet — Lord  Morley,  Burns,  and 
Charles  Trevelyan — when,  on  Aug.  4, 
Sir  Edward's  false  game  was  shown  up 
and  when  treaties  grew  out  of  those 
"  conversations "  and  alliances  out  of 
those  ententes,  which  had  until  then  ex- 
isted under  counterfeit  names.  Even  as 
late  as  June  13  Sir  Edward  Grey  denied 
that  he  had  entered  into  any  binding  ob- 
ligations. Six  weeks  after  that,  however, 
England  confronted  Germany  with  the 
fait  accompli  of  a  life-and-death  strug- 
gle. Grey  had  consciously  uttered  a 
falsehood  before  Parliament,  and,  as  was 
ascertained  from  a  Russian  source,  had 
not  only  accepted  a  Russian  proposal  to 
conclude  a  naval  agreement,  but  had  ex- 
pressly given  his  approval  that  the  de- 
liberations regarding  the  effectuation  of 

♦This  passage  from  a  letter  of  Lord  Hal- 
dane is  quoted  in  the  original  English  by 
Professor  Schiemann  and  is  here  copied  ver- 
batim.—Translator. 


ENGLAND     AND     GERMANY 


795 


this  agreement  should  be  participated  in 
by  the  Naval  Staffs  of  both  countries.  In 
so  doing  he  expressly  counted  upon  a 
war  between  the  Triple  Alliance  and  the 
Triple  Entente,  and  upon  the  complete 
alliance  of  England.  England,  at  the 
proper  time,  was  to  send  merchantmen 
to  Russian  ports  on  the  Baltic  Sea  for 
the  purpose  of  landing  Russian  troops 
in  Pomerania,  and  to  send  as  many  ships 
to  the  Mediterranean  Sea  as  seemed 
necessary  to  insure  the  ascendency  of 
France.  With  the  help  of  French  money 
it  was  intended  to  overthrow  the  Minis- 
try of  Rodoslawow  in  Bulgaria  and,  with 
the  assistance  of  the  Russophile,  Mal- 
inow,  to  win  over  that  country  to  the 
combination,  which  was  to  attack  Aus- 
tria in  the  rear.  All  this,  which  took 
place  before  the  assassination  of  Franz 
Ferdinand,  was  the  political  plan  of  bat- 
tle adopted  by  the  conspiring  powers, 
which  subsequently  found  an  excuse  for 


their  behavior  in  the  alleged  coercion  of 
Serbia.  The  hypocrisy  with  which  the 
intrigue  was  carried  out  is  without  prec- 
cedent.  The  palm  rests,  probably,  on  the 
friendly  visit  of  the  English  squadron, 
under  Admiral  Beatty,  in  Kiel.  Two 
days  after  the  assassination  of  the  Arch- 
duke the  squadron  started  on  its  way 
home,  through  the  Emperor  William 
Canal,  for  the  purpose  of  joining  the 
concentration  of  the  entire  English  fleet, 
which  lay,  ready  for  war,  off  Spithead. 
That  England  afterward  made  common 
cause  with  Russia  and  France  for  the 
murderers  of  the  Archduke,  and  with 
moral  indignation  rose  against  the  satis- 
faction demanded  of  Serbia  by  Austria, 
is  all  part  of  the  system  of  the  frivolous 
use  of  any  pretext  which  might  bring 
England  closer  to  its  longed-for  goal — 
the  deposition  of  Germany  from  her  po- 
sition in  the  world.  Such  was  England's 
role  in  the  preparation  of  this  wantonly 
prearranged  war. 


Germany  Free! 


By    BEATRICE    BARRY. 


Deeds   that   have   startled   the   civilized 

world 
Blot   her   escutcheon,   brand   her   with 

shame; 
But  though  the   German  flag   there   be 

unfurled. 
Do   Germans  know  what    is    done    in 

their  name? 
If  not,  the  final  accounting  may  see — 
Germany  free! 

Germany,  free  from  the  canker  of  self — 
Free  from  the  lusting  for  prestige  and 

power; 
Purged  of  her  passion  for  place  and  for 

pelf- 
Shall  she  not  rise  to  great  heights  in 

that  hour? 
God   speed   its    coming,  for   fain   would 

we  see — 
Germany  free! 


Free  from  the   militant  few   who   have 

ruled 
Seventy  millions  with  sabre  of  steel; 
Free  from  the  doctrine  in  which  they  are 

schooled — 
"Might  shall  prevail!"   All  the  rancor 

we  feel 
Strikes  at  that  dogma,  from  which  we 

would  see — 
Germany  free! 

Much  in  her  national  life  we  admire. 
Much  we   recoil  from,  or  needs   must 
dispute; 
Germany  needs  her  baptism  of  fire. 
But  you  will  find  us  the  first  to  sa- 
lute— 
(God  speed  the  "Day"  the  awakening 

shall  be) 
Germany  FREE! 


Chronology  of  the  War 

Showing  Progress  of  Campaigns  on  All  Fronts  and  Collateral 

Events  from  April  30,  1915,  Up  to  and 

Including  June  15, 1915. 


CAMPAIGN  IN  EASTERN  EUROPE 


May  1— Germans  advance  in  their  invasion  of 
the  Russian  Baltic  provinces,  a  Russian 
force  retreating  toward  Mitau :  fighting 
is  being  renewed  along  the  East  Prussian 
frontier  and  in  Central  Poland  ;  Russians 
gain  ground  in  their  campaign  for  the 
Uzsok  Pass ;  Germans  defeat  Russians 
near  Szawle,  in  Kovno ;  Austrians  repulse 
Russian  attacks  against  the  heights  of  the 
Orawa  and  Opor  Valleys. 

May  2— A  great  battle  is  developing  in  the 
plain  of  Rawa,  Central  Poland  ;  Russians 
are  taking  the  offensive ;  Austrians  have 
opened  an  offensive  in  the  region  of  Ciez- 
kowice. 

May  3— German  and  Austrian  armies,  under 
General  von  Mackensen,  win  a  victory  in 
West  Galicia,  breaking  the  Russian  centre 
for  miles,  and  gaining  ground  across  prac- 
tically the  whole  western  tip  of  Galicia, 
from  near  the  Hungarian  border  to  the 
junction  of  the  River  Dunajec  with  the 
Vistula;  the  Teutonic  allies  take  30,000 
prisoners,  22  cannon,  and  04  machine 
guns ;  the  Austrians  gain  ground  in  the 
Beskid  region,  and  repulse  Russians  north 
of  Osmaloda ;  the  German  advance  in  the 
Russian  Baltic  provinces  continues  un- 
checked along  a  100-mile  front,  extending 
from  the  Baltic  Sea,  near  Libau,  south- 
east to  the  northern  tributaries  of  the 
River  Niemen. 

May  4— Russians  claim  that  the  Austro-Ger- 
man  drive  in  West  Galicia  is  being 
checked ;  Germans  hold  positions  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Dunajec ;  a  fierce  battle 
is  raging  in  the  direction  of  Stry ;  Ger- 
mans make  further  progress  in  the  Rus- 
■  sian  Baltic  provinces. 

May  5— Russians  are  retreating  at  points 
along  the  Galician  line  from  the  Vistula 
to  the  Carpathians,  and  are  in  retreat 
from  positions  they  occupied  on  the  Hun- 
garian slopes  of  the  Carpathians ;  the 
third  line  of  Russian  fortifications  has 
been  pierced ;  Austro-German  Army  cap- 
tures the  town  of  Gorlice. 

May  6— Austro-German  armies  continue  to 
advance  in  West  Galicia ;  the  northern 
wing  has  captured  Tarnow  ;  southern  wing 
has  crossed  the  Wisloka  River  and  Rus- 
sians are  retreating  east  of  the  Lupkow 
Pass ;  Austro-Germans  take  the  last  Rus- 
sian positions  on  the  heights  east  of  the 
Dunajec    and    Biala    Rivers ;    Jaslo    and 


Dukla  have  been  taken  from  the  Rus- 
sians ;  Russians  admit  partial  retreat  in 
West   Galicia. 

May  7 — Austro-German  army  is  pursuing  re- 
treating Russians  in  W«st  Galicia;  Aus- 
trians take  more  prisoners,  stores,  and 
guns ;  in  the  eastern  sector  of  the  Carpa- 
thian front  Russian  attacks  are  repulsed 
by  Austrians;  Russian  attacks  in  South- 
east Galicia  are  repulsed ;  in  Poland  there 
is  severe  fighting. 

May  S — Germans  capture  Libau,  taking  1,600 
prisoners,  18  cannon,  and  much  war  ma- 
terial ;  severe  fighting  continues  in  West 
Galicia,  where  General  von  Mackensen's 
army  is  pursuing  the  Russians ;  a  Russian 
division  surrounded  near  Dukla  cuts  its 
way  through  the  surrounding  troops  and 
gets  to  the  main  Russian  lines ;  all  the 
passes  in  the  Beskid  Mountains,  except 
Lupkow,  are  in  the  hands  of  Austro-Ger- 
man forces ;  Russians  take  the  offensive 
southwest  of  Mitau. 

May  9 — Russians  are  retreating  in  Galicia 
along  a  front  of  124  miles,  from  the  Uzsok 
Pass  to  the  Vistula  ;  Austro-German  forces 
have  passed  the  line  of  the  Uzsok  Pass, 
Komanoza,  Krosno,  Debica;  and  Szczucin ; 
in  Southeast  Galicia  violent  battles  are 
developing ;  Austrians  are  pursuing  Rus- 
sians across  the  Dniester;  Vienna  reports 
that  Hungary  is  now  clear  of  Russians; 
German  advance  northeast  of  Kovno; 
Russian  attacks  on  German  positions  on 
the  Pilica  are  repulsed ;  Russians  make 
progress  southwest  of  Mitau. 

May  10 — Russian  Embassy  at  Washington 
says  that  the  Russians  have  retreated 
thirty  miles  in  Galicia,  but  that  only  one 
division  has  withdrawn  from  Hungary;' 
the  first  stage  of  the  battle  in  West  Ga- 
licia has  been  practically  concluded ;  Gen- 
eral von  Mackensen's  army  is  reforming 
for  a  new  offensive ;  Germans  have  met 
a  severe  check  west  of  Mitau. 

May  11 — Austro-German  troops  are  still  ad- 
vancing in  West  Galicia;  Russians  are 
attacking  in  East  Galicia  and  along  the 
eastern  section  of  the  Carpathians ;  Rus- 
sians have  success  in  Bukowina,  taking 
prisoners  and  guns;  Austrians  force 
Russian  south  wing  in  Russian  Poland  to 
retreat ;  Austrians  repulse  Russian  at- 
tacks near  Baligrod ;  advance  Austrian 
troops  have  crossed  the  San  near  Dvornik. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE  WAR 


797 


May    12 — Russians    state    that    their    counter- 
offensive  has  checked  the  Austro-Germans 
in   West   Galicia,    while   the   Germans   an  1 
Austrians  state  that  their  drive  continues 
successfully ;   Austro-German    troops   have 
occupied    Brozozow,    Dynow,    Sanok,    and 
Lisko;    there    is    severe    fighting    in    the 
central  Carpathians  and  Southeast  Galicia, 
where   the   Russians    are    advancing   on   a 
forty-mile    front;    Austrians    are    repulsed 
in  the  direction  of  the  Uzsok  Pass  and  the 
Stry  River. 
May  13 — Heavy  fighting  is   in  progress  east 
of  Tarnow  ;  north  of  the  Vistula  the  Aus- 
trians have  forced  the  Nida  line ;  Russians 
make   progress   on    the   right   bank   of   the 
Dniester ;  Russians  repulse  Germans  in  the 
region  of   Shavli. 
May  14 — Russians  break  the  Austrian  line  at 
various  places  on  a  ninety-four-mile  front, 
driving    the     Austrians     from     Bukowina 
positions  and  forcing  them  over  the  Pruth 
River;  Russians  check  the  Austro-German 
advance  in  Galicia,  and  are  concentrating 
on    the    line    of   the    River    San,    with    the 
object  of  occupying   a   shorter   front;    the 
advance    guards    of    General    Mackensen's 
armies  are  before  Przemysl ;  the  Teutonic 
allies  are  advancing  in  Russian  Poland. 
May  15 — The  Austro-German  troops  have  now 
driven     the     Russians     completely      from 
Jaroslau,  which  they  hold  firmly,   as  well 
as  all  the  towns  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
San  River ;    the   Austrian    Tenth    Army    is 
now   before    Przemysl,    its    native   strong- 
hold ;   the   rapid   advance   of  the    Teutonic 
allies    is   endangering   the  position    of   the 
Russians  in  the  Carpathians;  credit  for  the 
stiff  and  ceaseless  pursuit  of  the  Russians 
in   the  great  West   Galicia   drive  is   being 
given   by   the   Austrians   to   Field   Marshal 
Baron    Conrad    von    Hotzendorf,    Chief    of 
the   Austrian   General    Staff;   the  Russian 
counter-drive    to    the    east    continues,    and 
the  Czar's  armies  in  Bukowina  force  back 
the  Austro-German  lines  for  twenty  miles. 
May    ir — Russians    continue    to    withdraw    in 
West    Galicia;    they    are    massing    at    the 
San  River  for  a  stand  ;   in  Bukowina  and 
East  Galicia  the  Russian   cavalry   is  pur- 
suing retreating  Austrians ;   the  Austrians 
are  retiring  behind  the  Pruth,  evacuating 
strongly     fortified    positions ;     Hungarian 
cavalry  has  made  sacrifices  of  large  bodies 
to  enable  the  infantry   to  retreat   in  good 
order ;    in    Russian    Poland    the    Teutonic 
allies  continue  to  push  back  the  Russians ; 
Russians    win    success    against    the    Ger- 
mans in  the  Baltic  provinces. 
May  17 — Austro-German  armies  continue  their 
advance  in  West  Galicia ;   Austrians  have 
captured    Drohobycz,    in    Central    Galicia, 
forty  miles  southwest  of  Lemberg ;  fight- 
ing is  in  progress  around  Przemysl ;  Rus- 
sians   repulse    Germans    at    Shavli ;    Rus- 
sians   have    made    advances    on    the   West 
Niemen ;   Russian   official    statement    says 
that   the   West   Galician    defeat   has   been 


offset  by   successes   in  Bukowina  against 
the  Austrians. 
May  18— Austro-German  troops  are  bombard- 
ing   the    western    forts    of    Przemysl ;    the 
Teutonic  allies  have  a  firm  foothold  on  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  San  River;  Russians 
are  making  vigorous  attacks  on  the  Ger- 
mans   in    South    Poland ;    Russians    have 
driven     the    Austro-German    forces    back 
from   the    Dniester   to   ihe    Pruth    in    East 
Galicia,    and    are    making    strong    attacks 
in   Bukowina ;   heavy   fighting   is   in   prog- 
ress in  the  Russian  Baltic  Provinces  and 
along  the  East  Prussian  frontier ;  Austrian 
official    statement    declares     that    174,0;)0 
Russian   prisoners,   128  guns,  and  308  ma- 
chine guns  have  been  taken  since  the  be- 
ginning of  May    as   a  result  of   the   West 
Galicia    drive ;    unofficial    dispatch    from 
Petrograd  says  Russians  have  been  beaten 
back  on  a  200-mile  front  in  West  Galicia. 
May    19— The    Russian    lines    along    the    San 
River  are  in  danger,   the  Austro-Germans 
having  crossed  the  river  on  a  wide  front ; 
the    Russians    are    attempting    to    reform 
their  lines   north  and  south  of  Przemysl ; 
Teutonic  Allies  occupy  Sieniawa ;  in  Buk- 
owina  the   Russians  have   broken   the   ex- 
treme   Austrian    right;    it    is    stated    from 
Petrograd    that    the    Germans    and    Aus- 
trians are  using  between  thirty  and  forty 
army  corps  on  a  200-mile  front  from  Opa- 
tow,     in     Poland,     to     Kolomea,     Eastern 
Galicia. 
May  20— Russians  are  fighting  desperately  to 
save    the    remains   of    their    West    Galicia 
army,    now    in    new    positions    along    the 
San  River ;  Austro-German  forces  are  at- 
tacking     with    tremendous    artillery    fire, 
the  shells  being  followed  by  a  close  pha- 
lanx   of    150,000    men ;    the    Russians    holl 
both  banks  of  the  San  south  of  Jaroslau. 
May  21— Russians  are  rallying  along  the  San 
River ;    a   desperate   battle   is   in    progres  s 
below     Przemysl ;     Russians     are     taking 
a  strong  offensive  in  Poland ;  official  Aus- 
trian   announcements    state    that    Russian 
prisoners    now    in    Austrian    hands,    as    a 
result  of  the  recent  fighting,   are  194,000; 
the    German    official    announcement    says 
that     General    Mackensen's     army,     since 
May    1,    has    taken    104,000    prisoners,    72 
cannon,    and    253    machine    guns;    official 
Russian   statement   says   that  on   four  re- 
cent  days    the   losses    of   the   Austro-Ger- 
mans were  10,000  a  day,  and  on  seventeen 
other  recent  days  were  much  heavier,  and 
adds  that  the  Austro-Germans  have  used 
between  2,000,000  and  3,000,000  shells  dur- 
ing  the   recent   fighting;   Russian   reports 
state    that    3,0<X),000    men,    including    both 
sides,  are  now  daily  attacking  aind  conuter- 
attacking    along    the    whole    front,     from 
Opatow  to  Kolomea  ;  the  Kaiser  is  stated 
to    be    personally    directing    operations    at 
Jaroslau. 
May  22— Stubborn  fighting  continues  along  the 
San,   while  severe   fighting   is   in   progress 
in  the  Russian  Baltic  Provinces  and  near 


798 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the   East   Prussian    frontier;    on   the   left 
bank  of  the  lower  San  the  Russians  have 
taken  the  offensive  and  captured  the  vil- 
lages of  Krawce,   Biercza,   Przyszow,  and 
Kamerale ;    Russians   repulse    counter    at- 
tacks in  the  direction  of  Nisko  ;  Germans 
repulse    Russians    at    Shavli ;    in    Central 
Galicia   the    Austrians   have   gained   some 
ground ;  east  of  Czernowitz  Austrians  re- 
pulse Russians ;  the  right  vv^ing  of  the  Aus- 
trian  Army   in   Bukowina   is   falling   back 
toward  the  Carpathians. 
May    23— Russians,    with    strong    reinforce- 
ments, have  crossed  the  San  at  the  junc- 
tion of   that   river   with    the  Vistula,    and 
are  advancing  southward   in   an  effort  to 
outflank      the      Germany      Army,      which 
crossed   the  San  in  the  vicinity  of  Jaros- 
lau ;   Russians  continue  their  offensive  in 
Bukowina,    and    in    the    Opatow    region ; 
Germans    defeat    Russian    northern    wing 
near  Shavli,  and  repulse  Russian  attacks 
from    the    Dubysa    and    Niemen    Rivers ; 
Russians  are  massing  strong  forces  in  the 
vicinity  of  Warsaw,  Ivangrod,  and  Lublin. 
May  24— Russians  claim  that  they  have  defi- 
nitely   checked    the    German   drive   on   the 
upper    San    River ;    a    Russian    movement 
upon  Nisko,  and  the  occupation  of  Ulan- 
off,  Rudnik,   Kraftza,  Bourgny,  and  Shu- 
shav  to   the  westward   of  the  upper   San, 
threatens    the    German    position    east    of 
the    river ;     General     von     Mackensen     is 
drawing  in  his  wings  to  protect  his  centre 
from   attack  ;   furious  German  assaults   to 
the   south   of   Przemysl    continue   without 
definite   result ;    in    the   region    of   Shavli, 
the  Russian  troops  now  occupy  a  very  ex- 
tended   front    on    the    line    of    the    Rivers 
Visdala,  Venta,   Dubysa,   and  Siup. 
May  25 — General  von  Mackensen  renews  his 
offensive    against    the    Russians    north    of 
Przemysl,  and  takes  six  fortified  villages, 
21,000   prisoners,    39   cannon,    and   40   ma- 
chine    guns ;     Austrians     are     advancing 
southeast  of  Przemysl ;   on   the  left   bank 
of   the   upper  Vistula,    in   the   Opatow   re- 
gion,  Russians  repulse  attacks  and  make 
counter-attacks. 
May    26 — Between    Przemysl    and    Jaroslau, 
east  of  Radymno,   Germans  force  a  pass- 
age of  the  San  River ;   Mackensen's  army 
is  making  progress  on  both  banks  of  the 
San   in   a   southeasterly    direction ;    south- 
east    of     Przemysl     the     Austro-German 
forces  are  progressing  toward  strong  Rus- 
sian positions ;   Russians   repulse   German 
attack  near  Ossowitz. 
May    27 — Austro-German    forces    continue    to 
batter  at  the  Russian  lines  northeast  and 
southeast  of  Przemysl,   and  it  is  reported 
that    they    have    severed    communications 
between  Przemysl  and  Lemberg ;  the  Ger- 
mans have  forced  another  crossing  of  the 
San,  eleven  miles  north  of  Przemysl,  and 
are   extending  by   several   miles    the   zone 
held  by  them  east  of  the  San ;  Austro-Ger- 
man   troops    break    through    the    Russian 


front  line  southeast  of  Drohobycz  and  near 
Stry,  and  force  the  Russians  to  fall  back ; 
Russians    repulse    attacks    on    the    Upper 
Vistula ;  Russians  have  success  in  the  re- 
gion of  the  Dniester  marshes. 
May   28 — Russians    throw   back   the    German 
force    which    crossed    the    San    River    and 
established   itself  at  Sieniawa,   fifty  miles 
north  of  Przemysl ;  the  Germans  have  re- 
treated to  the  west  bank  of  the  San,  with 
the    loss   of   twelve    guns ;    further   south, 
between  Jarislau  and  Przemysl,   the  Aus- 
tro-German   forces   gain   more   ground   on 
both   banks   of   the   San ;    Austrians   reach 
Medyka,  eight  miles  due  east  of  Przemysl, 
leaving  a  gap  of  but  twelve  miles  between 
the  northern  and  eastern  forces  which  are 
trying  to  encircle  the  fortress. 
May  29 — Germans  and  Austrians  continue  to 
fight    fiercely    to    encircle    Przemysl ;     in 
the  Russian  Baltic  provinces  heavy  fight- 
ing is  in  progress ;"  Russians  are  sending 
larger    forces    to    meet    the    Germans    in 
these  provinces. 
May    30 — Fierce    fighting    is    raging    around 
Przemysl,  the  Austro-German  forces  striv- 
ing to  cut  off  the  fortress ;  the  Russians 
are    bringing    up    huge    reinforcements ; 
north  of  Przemysl  the  Russians  are  mak- 
ing   some .  progress,    but    to    the    south- 
east the  Austro-German  forces  are  mak- 
ing   further    headway,    now    commanding 
with   their   artillery   the   railway   between 
Przemysl    and    Grodek ;    Russian    attempts 
to   cross   the   San   near   Sieniawa   fail ;   in 
the  Russian  Baltic  provinces  German  cav- 
alry drives   back  Russian  cavalry  south- 
east of  Libau. 
May   31 — Russians   are   beginning  to   assume 
the  offensive  at  certain  points   along  the 
San    River,    where    severe    fighting    con- 
tinues ;  near  Stry  the  Austrians  take  sev- 
eral Russian  positions, 
June  1 — The  Serblsins  are  resuming  military 
activity   against    Austria ;    Austro-German 
forces  are  storming  three  of  the  outer  forts 
of     Przemysl ;     north    and     southeast    of 
Przemysl    the    Austro-German    forces    are 
advancing  ;  they  have  taken  Stry. 
June    2 — Furious    fighting    continues    around 
Przemysl ;  Austro-German  troops  take  two 
fortifications      on      the     north      front     of 
Przemysl ;    German   official   report   states 
that  during  May  the  Teutonic  allies  took 
863  Russian  officers  prisoners  and  268,869 
men,  as  well  as  capturing  251  cannon  and 
576  machine  guns. 
June  3 — Austro-German  troops,  after  a  siege 
of  twenty  days,  capture  Przemysl,  which 
has    been     in     Russian     possession     since 
March  22,  the  present  conquerors  entering 
after  storming  the  northern  forts  ;  Austro- 
Germans  are  driving  back  Russians  north 
of  Stry. 
June  4 — Severe  fighting  is  in  progress  along 
the     whole     Galician     front,     Austro-Ger- 
mans.  seeking    to    end    the    Russian    cam- 
paign in  Galicia ;  Russians  are  in  position 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE   WAR 


799 


at  Medyka  Heights,  ten  miles  east  of 
Przemysl ;  they  saved  their  batteries  in 
evacuating  Przemysl  and  claim  to  have 
removed  all  war  material  captured  from 
the  Austrians. 

June  5— Austro-Germans  are  attempting  an 
encircling  movement  against  Lemberg; 
they  are  making  progress  from  the  south- 
west, but  their  left  wing  is  checked  by  the 
Russians  on  the  lower  reaches  of  the  San 
River ;  Austro-German  extreme  right  in 
East  Galicia  and  Bukowina  is  pounded 
by  the  Russians. 

June  6 — Battles  over  a  wide  area  are  in 
progress  in  Galicia ;  Russians  are  making 
considerable  advances  on  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  San  ;  southwest  of  Lemberg 
the  Austro-Germans  are  advancing. 

June  7 — Austro-German  armies  are  making 
progress  in  attempt  to  encircle  Lemberg ; 
Russians  are  being  pressed  back  from 
their  line  on  the  San  ;  Teutonic  allies  cross 
the  Dniester ;  Germans  advance  in  their 
invasion  of  the  Baltic  provinces  of  Russia. 

June  8 — Austro-Germans,  having  crossed  the 
Dneister  south  of  Lemberg,  are  assuming 
the  offensive  further  to  the  south  and  are 
pushing  back  the  Russians  between  Kolo- 
mea  and  Kalusz  in  East  Galicia. 

June  9— Austro-Germans  take  Stanislau, 
throwing  the  Russian  left  back  to  the 
Dniester  River;  in  East  Galicia,  along  the 
rest  of  the  line,  the  Russians  are  holding 
their  own  and  are  counter-attacking. 

June  10 — Russians  take  offensive  in  their 
Baltic  provinces,  where  they  force  the 
Germans  to  retreat  to  avoid  being  cut  off; 
Russians  advance  again  in  Galicia ;  they 
attack  Mackensen's  forces,  menacing 
Lemberg  and  Linsingen's  forces  on  the 
Dniester;  the  Austro-German  army  of 
Bukowina  crosses  the  Pruth  and  effects 
junction   with   Galician    troops. 

June  11 — Russians  win  a  series  of  successes 
against  Germans  and  Austrians  in  East 
Galicia ;  they  repulse  Mackensen's  troops 
with  heavy  loss  and  hurl  Linsingen's  army 
back  across  the  Dniester ;  Russians  take 
17  guns  and  49  machine  guns ;  Germans 
are  developing  an  offensive  north  of  the 
Pilitza  in  Poland ;  Serbians  are  marching 
across  Northern  Albania  toward  the  poit 
of  Durazzo,  while  Montenegrins  are  mak- 
ing for  the  port  of  Alessio. 

June  12— A  battle  is  raging  along  the  Dnies- 
ter, Austrians  making  gains  on  the  lower 
reaches,  while  the  Russians  have  success 
further  up  stream ;  Russians  leave  Buko- 
wina, giving  up  their  last  positions  on 
the  Pruth  and  retreating  across  the 
frontier. 

June  1.3 — Austro-Germans  commence  an  at- 
tack on  the  Russians  on  the  River  San 
north  of  Przemysl,  and  along  the  Dniester 
in  Southeast  Galicia ;  Germans  are  at- 
tacking Russian  centre  on  the  River 
Rawka,  west  of  "Warsaw ;  severe  fighting 
continues  in  the  Russian  Baltic  prov- 
inces. 


June  14 — Mackensen's  army  attacks  Rus- 
sian positions  in  Middle  Galicia  along  a 
forty-three-mile  front,  and  breaks  the 
line,  taking  16,000  prisoners;  Austrians 
have  successes  on   the   Dniester. 

June  15 — Austro-Germans  are  renewing  the 
drive  in  Galicia  and  advancing  on  a  wide 
front ;  they  capture  Mosciska,  thirty-seven 
miles  from  Lemberg,  after  a  week's  fight; 
Russian  counter-attacks  to  protect  Lem- 
berg from  the  south  are  repulsed. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  WESTERN   EUROPE. 

May  1— Germans  continue  the  bombardment 
of  Dunkirk  with  a  huge  gun  or  guns,  do- 
ing considerable  damage  and  killing  sev- 
eral persons ;  Germans  make  further  gains 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Ypres  Canal ; 
French  repulse  Germans  in  the  Argonne, 
near  Bagatelle ;  French  take  trenches  in 
the  Forest  of  Le  Pretre ;  French  artillery 
bombards  fortifications  of  Altkirch,  in 
Upper  Alsace. 

May  2— French  have  been  bombarding  for 
two  days  the  southern  fortifications  of 
Metz  ;  British  and  French  attack  the  new 
German  positions  northeast  of  Ypres,  but 
are  beaten  back  ;  Germans  make  progress 
in  the  Argonne ;  German  General  Staff  in 
Belgium  admits  a  loss  of  12,000  dead  in 
the  battle  of  Ypres. 

May  3— Germans  renew  assaults  near  Ypres, 
the  British  lines  being  pounded  north  and 
south  of  that  place,  and  Germans  gain 
ground  southeast  of  St.  Julien ;  Germans 
damage  French  positions  in  Champagne  at 
Ourchen,  Sopain,  and  Perthes;  French  re- 
pulse an  attack  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Pretre. 

May  4— Germans  gain  more  ground  northeast 
of  Ypres,  and  take  the  villages  of  Zonne- 
beke,  Zevecote,  and  Westhoek,  and  the 
Forest  of  Polygonous  and  Nonneboss- 
chen ;  French  gain  in  the  region  of  Steen- 
straete. 

May  5 — Germans  gain  ground  northeast  of 
Ypres,  British  losing  four  positions  and 
being  forced  to  retire ;  Hill  GO  is  again 
menaced  by  the  Germans,  who,  the  British 
state,  have  obtained  a  footing  there 
through  the  use  of  gases ;  French  check 
one  German  attack  near  Perthes,  and 
another  at  Four  de  Paris ;  French  take 
two  lines  of  German  trenches  in  the  Mort- 
mare  "Wood ;  French  gain  ground  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Fecht  River,  in  Al- 
sace. 

May  G— Germans  make  further  gains  near 
Ypres,  taking  two  positions  from  the  Al- 
lies ;  British  recapture  some  of  the 
trenches  at  Hill  60,  recently  lost ;  French 
repulse  a  German  night  attack  near 
Steenstraete ;  Germans  repulse  French 
near  Flirey ;  Germans  advance  west  of 
Combres ;  Germans  take  French  positions 
in   the   Ailly  Wood,    capturing  2,000   men. 

May  7 — Germans  make  more  gains  near 
Ypres;  there  is  severe  fighting  for  Hill  60; 
German  artillery  checks  a  French  attack 


800 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


near  Steinbriick,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Fecht ;  French  repulse  German  attacks  at 
Frise,  west  of  Peronne.  and  in  Cham- 
pagne, around  the  Fort  of  Beaus6jour, 

May  8— French  capture  a  German  position 
west  of  Lens ;  French  check  three  attacks 
in  the  Forest  of  Le  Pretre ;  French  ad- 
vance two-thirds  of  a  mile  along  a  mile 
front  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Fecht 
River  ;  British  repulse  a  daybreak  attack 
near  St.  Julien ;  British  recapture  a  fur- 
ther section  of  recently  lost  trenches  at 
Hill  GO. 

May  9 — British  repulse  German  attack  east  of 
Ypres ;  British  gain  ground  toward  Fro- 
melles,  after  a  vigorous  attack  on  the 
German  line ;  Germans  capture  the  vil- 
lages of  Fresenburg  and  Terleranhoek ; 
French  make  gains  north  of  Arras ;  south 
of  Carency  the  French  make  an  advance 
by  which  they  capture  two  lines  of  trench- 
es over  a  front  of  4  1-3  miles ;  French  take 
the  village  of  La  Targette  and  half  of  the 
village  of  Neuville-St.  Vaast. 

May  10— The  Allies  are  attacking  along  a 
front  of  twenty-six  miles  in  the  direction 
of  Carency  and  Souchez;  Allies  repulse 
German  attacks  near  Ypres ;  Germans 
make  gains  near  Nieuport,  and  renew  the 
bombardment  of  Dunkirk ;  French  repulse 
Germans  at  the  Forest  of  Le  Prgtre  and 
at  Berry-au-Bac. 

May  11— A  strong  French  offensive  against 
the  German  lines  north  of  Arras  is  being 
pushed ;  the  French  carry  the  German 
trenches  guarding  the  road  from  Loos  to 
Vermelles ;  French  take  a  strongly  forti- 
fied position  on  Lorette  Heights;  French 
make  gains  at  Souchez  and  Carency ;  Ger- 
mans shell  the  town  of  Bergues,  near  Dun- 
kirk ;  Germans  heavily  bombard  British 
trenches  east  of  Ypres. 

May  12— Severe  fighting  is  now  raging  over 
the  whole  front  from  Ypres  to  Arras,  the 
Allies  taking  the  offensive ;  to  the  north 
the  British  centre  has  Lille  for  its  ob- 
jective, while  to  the  south  the  French 
centre  is  aiming  at  Lens ;  French  repulse 
counter  attacks  at  Neuville-St.  Vaast,  and 
between  Carency  and  Ablain ;  French 
make  gains  in  the  wood  east  of  Carency, 
and  take  three  successive  lines  of  trench- 
es bordering  the  wood  to  the  north  of 
Carency ;  French  take  another  portion  of 
the  village  of  Carency ;  French  lose  some 
of  the  ground  they  captured  near  Loos ; 
Germans  take  a  hill  east  of  Ypres ;  Ger- 
mans bombard  Dunkirk. 

May  13 — The  French  are  in  complete  posses- 
sion of  Carency,  having  captured  the  last 
German  position  there ;  French  take  large 
stores  of  German  ammunition,  twenty  big 
guns  and  many  machine  guns ;  French 
also  make  progress  north  of  Carency, 
where  they  have  established  themselves  at 
Ablain-St.  Nazalre ;  French  have  also 
taken  all  of  the  Forest  of  Le  PrStre,  al- 
though  Germans   retain   positions   on    the 


north  and  south  slopes  adjacent ;  Germans 
are  making  fierce  assaults  on  the  British 
positions  east  of  Ypres,  piercing  the  line 
at  one  point;  Belgians  repulse  an  attack 
.  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Yser ;  French 
now  hold  the  forest  at  Notre  Dame  de 
Lorette. 

May  14 — French  offensive  is  continued  by  the 
capture  of  German  positions  southeast 
of  Angres,  while  they  also  make  progress 
on  the  southern  and  eastern  slopes  of  the 
Lorette  hills,  and  at  Neuville-St.  Vaast; 
British  attacks  near  Ypres  are  unsuccess- 
ful ;  Germans  gain  in  the  direction  of 
Hooge ;  French  artillery  levels  German 
trenches  in  the  Valley  of  the  Aisne. 

May  15 — French  continue  to  advance  near 
Carency ;  French  also  gain  north  of 
Ypres ;  they  take  several  trenches  in  front 
of  Het  Sase,  and  occupy  part  of  Steen- 
straete ;  French  extend  their  attack  south- 
east of  Notre  Dame  de  Lorette ;  Germans 
make  progress  on  the  St.  Julien-Ypres 
road  against  the  British ;  Germans  state 
that  they  have  taken  since  April  22  in 
the  Ypres  region  5,560  unwounded  officers 
and  men  ;  artillery  fighting  is  in  progress 
southwest  of  Lille. 

May  16 — The  first  British  army  breaks  the 
German  line  over  most  of  a  two-mile 
front  northwest  of  La  Bass^e,  and  wins 
nearly  a  mile  of  territory ;  French  repulse 
a  counter-attack  at  Steenstraete ;  French 
make  gains  north  of  Arras ;  lively  fight- 
ing in  Champagne ;  Germans  repulse 
French  at  Het  Sase ;  British  attack  Ger- 
mans south  of  Lille. 

May  17 — British  make  further  advances 
northwest  of  La  Bass^e  and  carry  addi- 
tional German  trenches,  all  trenches  on 
a  two-mile  front  now  being  in  hands  of 
the  British ;  French  and  Belgians  force 
Germans  to  evacuate  positions  they  held 
west  of  the  Yser  Canal ;  French  maintain 
gains  on  the  east  bank ;  French  repulse 
German  counter-attacks  on  the  slopes  of 
Lorette. 

May  18 — Heavy  rains  and  mists  hamper 
operations  in  Northern  France;  the 
French  have  consolidated  the  positions  re- 
cently occupied  by  them  to  the  east  of 
the  Yser  Canal ;  French  make  gains  near 
Ablain ;  an  almost  constant  artillery  duel 
is  in  progress  north  of  Arras ;  Germans 
repulse  British  south  of  Neuve  Chapelle. 

May  19 — Germans  capture  trenches  from  the 
French  on  the  heights  of  Lorette;  Ger- 
mans repulse  British  attacks  near  Neuve 
Chapelle. 

May  20 — Recent  heavy  rains  have  made  the 
ground  in  Flanders  unsuited  to  infantry 
attacks  and  there  is  a  lull,  but  artillery 
engagements  are  in  progress ;  French  make 
advances  in  Champagne  by  mining; 
French  take  trenches  near  Bagatelle,  in 
the  Argonne ;  fierce  artillery  duels  between 
the  Meuse  and  Moselle. 

May  21 — French  drive  Germans  from  the  last 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE   WAR 


801 


of  their  positions  on  the  heights  of  Lorette ; 
The  French  now  hold  the  entire  Lorette 
Hill  and  the  lesser  ridges,  which  the  Ger- 
mans had  defended  for  six  months ; 
French  repulse  German  attack  to  the  east 
of  the  Yser  Canal ;  Canadians  capture 
a  German  position  to  the  north  of  Ypres 
after  the  British  Guards  fail  twice. 

May  22 — British  repulse  attacks  north  of  La 
Bass4e ;  French  make  gains  north  of 
Arras ;  Germans  repulse  British  and 
French  attacks  southwest  of  Neuve  Chap- 
elle ;  German  official  report  states  that 
the  Allies,  southwest  of  Lille  and  in  the 
Argonne,  are  using  mines  charged  with 
poisonous  gases. 

May  23— British  advance  east  of  Festubert; 
French  gain  ground  northeast  of  Notre 
Dame  de  Lorette  and  near  Neuville-St. 
Vaast ;  Germans  are  repulsed  east  of  the 
Yser  Canal. 

May  24 — Before  attacking  the  British  north- 
east of  Ypres,  the  Germans  roll  a  huge 
cloud  of  asphyxiating  gas  toward  them, 
the  volume  of  fumes  being  forty  feet  high 
along  a  six-mile  front ;  because  of  the  use 
of  respirators,  few  British  succumb  ;  fight- 
ing in  progress  north  of  Arras. 

May  26— British  make  further  gains  in  their 
offensive  against  La  Bassee,  and  it  is 
officially  announced  that  the  net  result 
of  their  operations  in  the  territory  to  the 
west  of  that  town  since  May  1  is  the 
capture  of  a  total  front  of  more  than 
three  miles,  along  a  considerable  part  of 
which  two  lines  of  German  trenches  have 
been  taken  ;  in  the  district  north  of  Arras 
there  is  desperate  fighting  near  Angres, 
the  Germans  attempting  to  regain  ground 
lost  yesterday. 

May  27— French  make  further  gains  north  of 
Arras ;  artillery  engagements  along  the 
Yser  Canal ;  Belgians  repulse  two  Ger- 
man infantry  attacks  near  Dixmude ;  ar- 
tillery duels  in  the  Vosges  ;  French  fail  in 
attempt  to  break  German  lines  between 
Vermelles    and    I^orette    Hills. 

May  28 — British  make  further  gains  toward 
La  Bassee ;  fierce  fighting  occurs  north 
of  Arras ;  French  advance  in  Alsace  on 
the  mountain  of  Schepfenrieth ;  Germans 
repulse  French  attacks  southeast  of  Lor- 
ette Ridge. 

May  29 — The  village  of  Ablain-St.  Nazaire, 
for  which  fighting  has  been  in  progress 
for  three  weeks,  is  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  French,  the  Germans  evacuating  their 
last  position  this  morning. 

May  -30 — French  gain  ground  at  four  points — 
near  Neuville-St.  Vaast,  on  the  Yser,  at 
Le  Pretre  Forest,  and  in  Alsace  at 
Schnepfenriethkopf ;  British  make  small 
gains  at  Festubert ;  Belgian  and  German 
artillery  are  fighting  a  duel  north  and 
soutli  of  Dixmude. 

May  31 — Severe  fighting  continues  in  the  re- 
gion north  of  Arras,  Germans  acting,  for 
the  most  part,   on  the  defensive;   French 


gain  ground  on  the  road,  from  Souchez  to 
Carency ;  artillery  fighting  at  the  Forest 
of  La  Pretre. 

June  1— French  gain  more  ground  at  Souchez, 
where  violent  fighting  is  in  progress,  and 
also  gain  southeast  of  Neuville ;  French 
lose  trenches  on  the  outskirts  of  Lc  PrStre 
Forest. 

June  2— Germans  recapture  from  the  French 
the  sugar  refinery  at  Souchez,  which  has 
changed  hands  four  times  in  twenty  four 
hours;  British,  by  a  bayonet  charge,  take 
Chateau  Hooge,  in  the  Ypres  region ; 
French  make  further  progress  north  of 
Arras,  taking  trenches  in  "  the  labyrinth," 
as  the  system  of  intrenchments  in  that 
region  is  termed ;  Rheims  is  again  bom- 
barded. 

June  8— Fierce  fighting  continues  north  of 
Arras ;  French  and  Germans  still  battle 
for  possession  of  the  sugar  refinery  at 
Souchez. 

June  4 — In  consequence  of  the  successes  in 
the  Galician  campaign,  the  Germans  are 
sending  reinforcements  to  the  Western 
line ;  Germans  retake  some  of  trenches 
northeast  of  Givenchy  captured  by  the 
British ;  Germans  take  the  village  and 
Chateau  of  Hooge ;  French  bombard  the 
southern  front  of  the  intrenched  camp  of 
Metz. 

June  5— French  make  important  gains  in  the 
area  north  of  Arras  where  desperate  fight- 
ing has  so  long  been  in  progress;  they 
have  taken  two-thirds  of  the  village  Df 
Neuville-St.  Vaast;  they  advance  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
labyrinth ;  they  hold  the  sugar  refinery 
at  Souchez,  where  3,000  Germans  have 
been  lulled. 

June  G — French  capture  two-thirds  of  a  mile 
of  trenches  in  a  new  zone  of  activity, 
near  Tracy-le-Mont,  north  of  the  Aisne; 
they  take  more  of  Neuville-St.  Vaast ; 
they  capture  more  trenches  in  the  laby- 
rinth, of  which  they  now  hold  two-thirds; 
they  gain  ground  at  Souchez ;  Germans 
repulse  French  attacks  on  the  eastern 
slopes  of  Lorette. 

June  7 — French  make  further  gains  at  Neu- 
ville-St. Vaast,  and  in  the  labyrinth ; 
near  Hebuterne,  east  of  Doullers,  two 
lines  of  German  trenches  are  carried  by 
the  French ;  French  repulse  a  fierce  at- 
tack at  Tracy-le-Mont,  retaining  their 
recent  gain ;  at  Vauquois,  in  Champagne, 
the  French  spray  flaming  liquid  on  the 
German  trenches,  "  by  way  of  reprisal," 
their  statement  says. 

June  8 — French  advance  on  a  three-quarters, 
of  a  mile  front  south  of  Arras,  near 
Hebuterne,  taking  two  lines  of  trenches ; 
French  make  slight  gains  at  Lorette, 
Neuville-St.    Vaast,    and   in   the   labyrinth. 

June  9 — French  make  gains  at  Neuville-St 
Vaast,  in  the  labyrinth,  at  Hebuterne, 
and  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Prfitre. 


802 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


June  10 — French  hold  substantially  all  their 
recent  gains ;  artillery  fighting  is  in 
progress  north  of  Arras  and  on  the  heights 
of  the  Meuse ;  Germans  take  French 
trenches  near  Souvain  and  Les  Mesnil, 
west   of   the    Argonne. 

June  11 — French  are  organizing  the  positions 
recently  won  from  the  Germans  north  and 
south  of  Arras ;  in  the  Neuville-St.  Vaast 
positions  the  French  find  800,000  cart- 
ridges, three  field  and  fifteen  machine 
guns. 

June  12 — Germans  regain  some  of  the  ground 
they  lost  at  Ecurie,  north  of  Arras ;  Ger- 
mans repulse  attacks  northeast  of  Ypres, 
east  of  Lorette  Heights,  and  in  the  Souchez 
district. 

June  13 — French  take  a  strongly  fortified 
ridge  near  Souchez  and  three  trenches 
near  Hebuterne ;  Germans  bombard  Sois- 
sons  and  the  military  works  around 
LunSville. 

June  14  —  Germans  regain  some  of  the 
trenches  at  Souchez  recently  lost ;  Ger- 
mans repulse  heavy  French  attacks  on 
both  sides  of  the  Lorette  Hills  and  on  the 
Neuville-Rochincourt   line. 

June  15 — Severe  fighting  continues  north  and 
south  of  Arras,  both  sides  claiming  suc- 
cesses. 

ITALIAN  CAMPAIGN. 

May  2.3 — A  clash,  regarded  in  Rome  as  being 
the  first  skirmish  of  the  war,  occurs  be- 
tween Italian  and  Austrian  troops  at  For- 
cellini  di  Montozzo,  in  the  pass  between 
Pont  di  Legno  and  Pejo ;  an  Austrian 
patrol  crosses  the  frontier,  but  is  driven 
back  over  the  border  by  Italian  Alpine 
Chasseurs ;  Lieut.  Gen.  Cadorna,  Chief 
of  the  Italian  General  Staff,  starts  for 
the  front. 

May  24 — Austrian  artillery  shells  Italian  out- 
pcf'^^s  on  the  Adige  in  front  of  Rivoli ; 
there  are  clashes  at  other  points,  includ- 
ing a  skirmish  of  border  forces  in  the 
Isonzo  Valley  on  the  eastern  frontier ;  a 
general  forward  movement  by  the  Italians 
begins ;  Austrians  are  massing  for  de- 
fense. 

May  25 — Italians  are  advancing  on  a  67-mile 
front,  their  line  having  as  extreme  points 
Caporetto  on  the  north  and  the  Gulf  of 
Trieste  on  the  south  ;  in  three  lines  they 
sweep  across  the  frontier  for  four  miles ; 
Italians  occupy  Caporetto,  the  heights  be- 
tween the  Idria  and  Isonzo  Rivers,  Cor- 
mons,  Corvignano,  and  Terzo ;  Austrians 
withdraw,  destroying  bridges  and  burning 
houses. 

May  26. — Italians  occupy  Austrian  territory 
all  along  the  f  on  tier  from  Switzerland  to 
the  Adriatic  ;  Italians  have  seized  various 
towns  in  the  Trentino  and  forced  their 
way  through  mountain  passes  ;  King  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel  has  assumed  supreme  com- 
mand of  the  Italian  army  and  navy,  and 
has  gone  to  the  front. 


May  27 — Italian  armies  make  rapid  progress 
in  the  invasion  of  Austria,  part  of  the 
forces  having  crossed  the  Isonzo  River; 
another  force,  which  penetrated  further 
north  in  the  Crownland  of  Goritz  and 
Gradisca,  has  repaired  the  railroad  be- 
yond Cormons  and  is  marching  on  Goritz, 
the  capital ;  sharp  fighting  has  occurred 
on  the  Tyrol-Trentino  border,  where  the 
Austrians  are  being  driven  back  in  ad- 
vance guard  engagements;  a  battle  is 
raging  around  Ploken  and  also  west  of 
the  Praedil  Pass  in  Austria, 
tinues  in  Austrian  tenitory,  the  Austrians 
not  making  any  determined  resistance; 
they  are  laying  waste  large  areas  as  they 
retreat ;  in  the  Provinces  of  Trentino  and 
Friuli  the  Italians  are  pushing  forward 
fast ;  the  Austrians  fall  back  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Trent ;  Italians  are  occupying  the 
heights  of  Monte  Baldo,  overlooking  the 
Valley  of  the  Adige  and  commanding  the 
railway  from  Verona  to  Trent ;  Italians 
have  crossed  the  Venetian  Alps,  and 
among  the  lower  spurs  of  the  Dolomites 
are  in  touch  with  the  left  wing  of  the 
Austrian  force  thrown  forward  for  the 
defense  of  Trent ;  in  Carinthia  the  Italians 
have  taken  three  passes  and  fourteen  vil- 
lages. 

May  29— A  large  Italian  army  is  trying  to 
cross  the  Isonzo  River ;  bayonet  fighting  is 
in  progress  south  of  Goritz,  the  Austrians 
slowly  falling  back ;  Italian  forces  are  at 
Gradisca,  eighteen  miles  from  Trieste ; 
Austrians  repulse  Italians  at  Caporetto 
and  near  Plava ;  Italians  are  penetrating 
from  Tonale  Pass  into  the  Virmiglio  Val- 
ley, with  an  objective  north  of  Trent,  in 
an  attempt  to  place  that  city  between  two 
Italian  armies ;  Italians  capture  the  town 
of  Storo  and  are  bombarding  Riva ;  the 
headquarters  of  the  Austrian  commander. 
Field  Marshal  Baron  von  Hotzendorf,  are 
established  at  Trent. 

May  30 — Italian  advance  in  Friuli  encounters 
strong  opposition  at  the  Isonzo  defenses, 
where  progress  is  also  being  impeded  be- 
cause the  river  is  swollen  ;  Italian  artillery 
destroys  the  fort  of  Luserna,  on  the 
Asiago  plateau ;  in  Cadore  the  Italians 
take  several  positions ;  a  battle  along  the 
Adige  River  has  been  in  progress,  the 
Italians  taking  the  village  of  Pilcante; 
artillery  duels  are  in  progress  on  the 
frontier  in  Tyrol  and  Trentino ;  Austrians 
repulse  Italians  at  Cortina. 

May  31 — The  Italian  invasion  of  the  Province 
of  Trent  is  progressing  from  the  south 
along  the  Adige  and  Chiese  Rivers,  from 
the  west  across  the  Tonale  Pass,  and 
from  the  east  by  way  of  the  Lavaronne 
Plateau ;  the  Italian  attack  is  continuing 
all  along  the  zigzag  frontier,  up  to  the 
highest  point  north,  where  they  have  oc- 
cupied the  Ampezzo  Valley,  together  with 
the  town  of  Cortina ;  Italians  now  are  in 
possession  of  Monte   Baldo,   which   dom> 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE  WAR 


803 


inates  Lake  Gardo ;  to  the  east  of  Ca- 
poretto  the  Italians  make  a  vain  attempt 
to  climb  the  slopes  of  the  Kern ;  a  great 
Austrian  army  is  being  massed  in  Tyrol. 

June  1 — Thirty-seven  villages  surrounding 
Cortina  in  the  Ampazzo  Valley  are  in 
Italian  hands;  the  whole  high  plateau  of 
Lavarone  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Italian 
force  advancing  Into  the  Trentino  from 
the  east. 

June  2 — In  Friule  the  Italians  are  now  es- 
tablished firmly  on  the  Monte  Nero  ridge 
across  the  Isonzo  River ;  on  the  Carnia 
front  an  artillery  duel  is  in  progress ;  to 
check  Italians  who  are  advancing  from 
the  border  northeast  of  Trent,  Austrians 
are  massing  troops  behind  Monte  Croce 
Pass. 

June  3 — Italians  repulse  Austrian  attempts 
to  dislodge  them  from  the  Monte  Nero 
ridge;  Austrians  repulse  Italians  at  seve- 
ral points  on  the  Tyrolian  and  Carlnthian 
frontiers. 

June  4 — It  is  officially  announced  that  Ital- 
ian mobilization  is  complete ;  in  the 
operations  against  Rovereto,  the  Italians 
occupy  Mattassone  and  Val  Morbia  in  the 
Val  Arsa ;  Italian  artillery  silences  the 
forts  of  Luserna  and  Spitzverle ;  on  the 
middle  Isonzo  fierce  fighting  is  in  prog- 
ress ;  Italians  hold  the  summit  and  slopes 
of  Monterno. 

June  5 — A  battle  is  raging  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Isonzo  River,  in  front  of  Tol- 
mino,  the  key  to  the  railway  and  main 
highway  to  Trieste ;  Italians  are  making 
steady  though  slow  progress  in  Southern 
Tyrol. 

June  6 — Austrians  are  making  a  desperate 
defense  at  Tolmino ;  Italians  fail  in  an 
attempt  to  cross  the  Isonzo  River  near 
Sagrado;  viewing  the  situation  as  a 
whole,  the  Italians  are  making  progress 
along  a  150-mile  front,  smashing  Austrian 
defenses  at  many  points  with  artillery 
fire. 

June  7 — Desperate  fighting  continues  for 
Tolmino;  Italians  are  making  a  general 
advance  across  the  Isonzo  River  from 
Caporetto  to  the  sea,  a  distance  of  forty 
miles ;   Austrians  recapture  Preikofel. 

June  8— Fierce  fighting  is  in  progress  at  the 
Isonzo  River ;  severe  fighting  also  is  going 
on  in  the  Friulian  sector. 

June  9— Italians  take  Monfalcone,  sixteen 
miles  northwest  of  Trieste ;  a  fierce  artil- 
lery duel  is  in  progress  at  Tolmino; 
fighting  continues  at  the  Isonzo  River. 

June  10 — Italians  are  in  full  possession  of 
Monfalcone ;  Italians  occupy  Podestagno, 
north  of  Cortina ;  fighting  continues  along 
the  Isonzo. 

June  11 — Italians  take  Ploeken,  imperiling 
communications  to  Laibach ;  fierce  fight- 
ing is  in  progress  for  Goritz,  Austrians 
still  holding  the  city;  fighting  continues 
along  the  Isonzo. 


June  12— Italians  push  their  advance  almost 
to  Rovereto  thirteen  miles  southwest  of 
Trent,  and  to  Mori,  eighteen  miles  south- 
west of  Trent ;  Italians  are  advancing 
from  Monfalcone  toward  Trieste ;  at  points 
on  the  Carinthian  frontier  Austrians  re- 
pulse  Italians. 

June  1.^— Italian  artillery  is  bombarding  the 
fortifications  defending  Goritz,  capital  of 
the  crownland  of  Goritz  and  Gradisca, 
twenty-two  miles  northwest  of  Trieste ; 
severe  fighting  is  in  progress  on  Monte 
Paralba ;  in  the  last  few  days  Austrians 
have  brought  up  4.'5,000  troops  and  64  bat- 
teries along  the  Isonzo  River. 

June  14 — Italians  in  Carnia  occupy  Valentina ; 
all  the  positions  captured  by  Italians  in 
Trentino  are  held  against  repeated  as- 
saults by  Austrians ;  the  Italian  Eastern 
Army  is  pushing  forward  along  the  Gulf 
of  Trieste  toward  the  City  of  Trieste. 

June  15— Italians  repulse  Austrian  attack  at 
Monfalcone. 

TURKISH   CAMPAIGN. 

May  1— French  Senegalese  troops  occupy 
Yeni  Shehr  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the 
Dardanelles. 

May  2— French  troops  lose  ground  on  the 
Asiatic  side  of  the  Dardanelles ;  Allies 
make  further  advances  on  the  Gallipoli 
1  "oninsula  ;  Allies  now  hold  Gaba  Tens ; 
the  Australian  contingent  has  lost  heav- 
ily. 

May  4— Allies  repulse  Turks  and  are  on  the 
active  offensive  on  Gallipoli ;  Turks  win 
success  near  Avi  Burnu. 

May  5— Turks  check  attempt  of  Allies  to  ad- 
vance at  Sedd-el-Bahr ;  Turks  check  Allies 
near  Avi  Burnu. 

May  n— Russians  have  defeated  a  Turkish 
army  coi  i)s  in  the  Caucasus,  routing  it 
and  taking  many  prisoners ;  desperate 
fighting  is  in  progress  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula,  the  advance  of  the  Allies  being 
met  by  stubborn  resistance ;  Allies  have 
c&ptured  the  heights  facing  Souain  Dere 
Fort,  four  miles  west  of  Kilid  Bahr. 

May  7 — Severe  fighting  at  Avi  Burnu  and  at 
Sedd-el-Bahr,  at  the  latter  place  the  Turks 
capturing  ten  British  machine  guns. 

May  10 — Russians  drive  Turks  from  their  po- 
sitions in  the  direction  of  Olti ;  Russians 
drive  Turks  from  the  South  Pass  near 
Tabriz  and  occupy  villages  ;  8,000  Turkisii 
wounded  have  arrived  at  Constantinople 
from  the  Dardanelles. 

May  i:'— The  Gallipoli  coast  line  is  now  in 
Allies'  possession. 

May  15 — Turks  repulse  Allies  near  Avi  Burnu. 

May  lO— Allies  make  progress  in  hills  behind 
Kilid  Bahr  and  Maidos  ;  Turks  have  been 
attacking  for  three  days  British  positions 
on  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  but  have  been 
repulsed  with  heavy  loss. 

May  18— Counter-attack  by  Allies  near  Sedd- 
el-Bahr  is  repulsed. 


804 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


May  19— Turks  drive  back  Allies  from  their 
advanced  positions  near  Kara  Burun  ;  Al- 
lies are  being  reinforced  daily. 

May  20— Allies  are  reported  to  have  occupied 
Maidos  after  fierce  fighting ;  French 
troops  have  been  landed  at  Sedd-el-Bahr, 
and  are  fighting  around  the  Turkish  posi- 
tions at  Krithia  ;  British  forces  which  de- 
barked at  Gaba  Tepe  are  also  directing 
their  action  toward  Krithia,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  surrounding  the  Turks  ;  the  Allies 
are  attacking  the  fortified  position  at 
Atchi   Baba. 

May  22— Official  announcement  is  made  in 
London  that  the  Allies  have  gained  fur- 
i^her  siound  on  the  southern  fid  of  the 
Gallipoli   Peninsula. 

May  23— Turks  repulse  Allies  near  Sedd-el- 
Bahr;  it  is  estimated  that  the  British  and 
French  now  have  90,000  troops  along  the 
Dardanelles. 

May  24— Turkish  troops  attack  allied  camp 
near  Goritza  and  capture  five  sailing  ves- 
sels with  provisions :  Italian  troops  have 
landed  on  the  Turkish  Island  of  Rhodes 
in  the  Aegean  Sea ;  Turks  capture  two 
British  positions  near  Kurna,  Mesopo- 
tamia. 

May  25— Allies  are  advancing  steadily  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  ;  thousands  of  Turkish 
wounded  are  arriving  at  Constantinople. 

May  27— Allies  carry  five  lines  of  Turkish 
trenches  by  the  bayonet ;  German  esti- 
mates show  that  the  Allies  have  lost 
30,000  men  in  killed,  wounded,  and  miss- 
ing during  land  operations  at  the  Dar- 
danelles ;  it  is  admitted  by  the  British 
that  the  Australians  have  lost  heavily. 

May  28— The  Russian  Army  in  the  Caucasus 
reports  further  gains  in  the  Van  region, 
including  the  occupation  of  Baslan,  and 
announces  that  in  the  capture  of  Van  the 
Russians  took  twenty-six  guns,  large 
stores  of  war  material  and  provisions,  and 
the  Government  treasury. 

May  29— Turkish  forces  defending  the  Gallip- 
oli Peninsula  against  Allies  now  number 
80,000  men ;  reinforcements  are  being  sent 
from  Syria ;  in  the  Caucasus  the  Turks 
are  remaining  on  the  defensive. 

May  30— An  official  French  statement,  re- 
viewing recent  operations  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula,  pays  tribute  to  the  bravery  and 
coolness  of  the  Turkish  troops ;  Turks 
take  allied  trenches  at  Avi  Burnu  with  the 
bayonet ;  Turks  make  gains  at  Sedd-el- 
Bahr. 

May  31— Heavy  fighting  is  in  progress  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula,  the  Turks  being  driv- 
en back  at  several  points ;  Turks  still 
hold  trenches  captured  from  the  Allies 
*  near  Avi  Burnu  ;  it  is  reported  from  Con- 
stantinople that  the  Turkish  casualties 
thus  far  are  40,000. 

June    1— British    repulse    a    severe    attack    at 

Gaba  Tepe. 
June  2— Heavy  fighting  continues  on  Gallipoli 
Peninsula;    all    the    Turks    who    recently 


broke  the  allied  line  between  Gaba  Tepe 
and  Krithia  have  been  either  killed  or 
captured. 

June  4 — A  combined  general  assault  on  Turk- 
ish Gallipoli  positions  is  in  progress. 

June  6— Official  British  announcement  states 
that  during  the  last  week  the  Allies  have 
made  considerable  gains  in  the  southern 
area  of  Gallipoli  Peninsula ;  British  win  a 
500-yard  strip  three  miles  long;  French 
take  trenches ;  Turks  offer  spirited  resist- 
ance, and  lose  heavily ;  it  is  officially  an- 
nounced in  London  that  on  the  Tigris, 
Asiatic  Turkey,  the  British  have  mado 
important  gains,  and  have  received  the 
surrender  of  the  Governor  of  Amara,  with 
700  soldiers. 

June  7— Turks  repulse  the  Allies  near  Sedd- 
el-Bahr. 

June  9— Allies  are  landing  more  troops  at 
Sedd-el-Bahr  under  cover  of  the  fleet's 
guns. 

June  11— The  advance  guard  of  the  Allies  Is 
fighting  near  the  town  of  Gallipoli ;  se- 
vere fighting  is  in  progress  near  Maidos. 

June  13— In  the  Caucasus  the  Russians  are 
pushing  back  the  Turks  in  the  direction  of 
Olti,  on  the  frontier,  and  are  occupying 
Turkish  positions ;  a  counter-attack  by 
Turks  at  Zinatcher  has  been  repulsed. 

June  14— Reports  from  Athens  declare  that 
the  position  of  the  Allies  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula  continues  to  improve  steadily; 
the  Turks  still  occupy  Krithia,  and  the 
British  are  engaging  them. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  AFRICA. 

May  1 — Official  statement  issued  at  Cape 
Town  announces  that  the  British  have  in- 
flicted a  defeat  on  the  Germans  near 
Gibeon,  German  Southwest  Africa;  British 
captured  a  railroad  train,  transport 
wagons,  two  field  guns,  Maxims,  and  200 
prisoners. 

May  5 — British  Secretary  for  the  Colonies 
issues  a.  statement  saying  that  when 
General  Botha,  commander  of  the  forces 
of  the  Union  of  South  Africa,  occupied 
Swakopmund  he  discovered  that  six  wells 
had  been  poisoned  by  the  Germans  with 
arsenical  cattle  wash ;  Botha  says  the 
German  commander  told  him  he  was  act- 
ing under  orders. 

May  11 — A  French  column  captures  the  post 
of  Esoka,  in  the  German  colony  of  Kam- 
erun. 

May  13 — On  official  statement  made  public 
at  Cape  Town  states  that  Windhoek,  cap- 
ital of  German  Southwest  Africa,  was 
captured  yesterday  without  resistance  by 
Union  of  South  Africa  forces  under  Gen- 
eral Botha ;  German  Southwest  Africa  ia 
declared  now  to  be  practically  in  the  hands 
of  the  British. 

June  11 — Garua,  an  important  station  on  the 
Benue  River,  Kamerun,  German  West 
Africa,  surrenders  unconditionally  to  an 
Anglo-French  force. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR 


805 


LUSITANIA. 

May  1— Cunarder  Lusitania  sails  from  New 
York  for  Liverpool ;  no  passenger  book- 
ings are  canceled,  although  discussion  is 
aroused  by  a  newspaper  advertisement  in- 
serted by  the  Gei-man  Embassy  at  Wash- 
ington stating  that  "  travelers  sailing  in 
the  war  zone  on  ships  of  Great  Britain  or 
her  allies  do  so  at  their  own  risk." 

May  7 — Lusitania  is  sunk  ten  miles  off  the 
Old  Head  of  Kinsale,  Ireland,  by  either 
one  or  two  torpedoes  discharged  without 
warning  by  a  German  submarine,  stated 
to  be  the  U-39;  the  Cunarder  is  hit  about 
2:05  P.  M.,  and  sinks  in  about  eighteen 
minutes;  1,154  persons,  including  many 
women  and  children,  are  drowned,  or  ars 
killed  by  explosions,  while  among  tha 
saved  are  47  injured  passengers ;  among 
the  dead  are  102  Americans ;  the  saved 
total  764,  among  whom  are  86  Americans ; 
of  the  saved  462  are  passengers  and  302 
belong  to  the  crew ;  Captain  William  T. 
Turner  of  the  Lusitania  is  saved  by  cling- 
ing to  a  bit  of  wreckage  for  two  hours 
after  remaining  on  the  bridge  until  his 
ship  sank;  the  ship  was  valued  at  $10,- 
000,000,  and  the  1,500  tons  of  cargo,  among 
which  were  munitions  of  war,  at  $7.35,000; 
official  Washington  and  the  nation  gener- 
ally, as  well  as  other  neutral  and  allied 
nations,  are  profoundly  stirred  by  the 
news ;  President  Wilison  receives  bulletins 
at  the  White  House;  J^ondon  is  astounded, 
and  there  are  criticisms  of  the  Admiralty 
for  not  having  convoyed  the  Lusitania ; 
panic  conditions  prevail  on  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange  for  thirty  minutes  after 
the  first  news  is  received,  but  the  market 
closes  with  a  rally. 
May  8— Secretary  Tumulty,  after  a  confer- 
ence with  President  Wilson,  states  that 
the  Chief  Executive  "  is  considering  very 
earnestly,  but  very  calmly,  the  right 
course  of  action  to  pursue " ;  Secretary 
Bryan  directs  Ambassadors  Gerard  and 
Page  to  make  full  reports ;  an  official 
communication  issued  in  Berlin  states  that 
the  Lusitania  "  was  naturally  armed  with 
guns,"  t«iat  "  she  had  large  quantities  of 
war  material  in  her  cargo,"  that  her  own- 
ers are  responsible  for  the  sinking,  and 
that  Germany  gave  full  warning  of  the 
danger ;  the  British  Government  an- 
nounces that  the  statement  that  the  Lusi- 
tania   was     armed     "  is    wholly    false  " ; 

.  American  newspapers  strongly  condemn 
the  sinking,  many  referring  to  it  as  mur- 
der; there  is  talk  of  war  by  many  pri- 
vate citizens  of  the  United  States;  there 
is  rejoicing  in  Germany,  where  towns  are 
hung  with  flags  and  children  in  Southern 
Germany  are  given  a  half-holiday,  so  re- 
ports state ;  Berlin  newspapers  acclaim 
the  sinking,  while  hundreds  of  telegrams 
of  congratulation  are  received  by  Ad- 
miral von  Tirpitz,  Minister  of  Marine ;  Dr. 
Bernhard  Dernburg,  former  German  Colo- 
nial Secretary,   in  a  statement   in   Cleve- 


land, argues  that  the  sinking  was  justified. 

May  9— Dudley  Field  Malone,  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  makes  an  official  de- 
nial that  the  Lusitania  was  arine.-?  when 
the  sailed ;  President  Wil.son  has  not  yet 
consulted  his  Ca>"inet  on  the  situation,  but 
is  studying  the  problem  alone ;  Theodore 
Roosevelt  terms  the  sinking  "  an  act  of 
simple  piracy,"  and  declares  we  should 
acL  at  once  ;  survivors  criticise  the  Brit- 
ish Admiralty  for  not  supplying  a  con- 
A oy,  and  also  ciiticise  the  handling  of  the 
Lusitania ;  newspapers  in  Vienna  rejoice 
over  the  torpedoing. 

May  10— In  a  speech  at  Philadelphia,  Presi- 
dent Wilson  declares  that  "  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  a  man  being  too  proud  to  fight ; 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being 
so  right  that  it  does  not  need  to  convince 
others  by  force  that  it  is  right  "  ;  Coro- 
ner's jury  at  Kinsale,  which  investigated 
five  deaths  resulting  from  the  torpedoing 
of  the  Lusitania,  in  returning  its  verdict 
charges  the  Emperor  and  Government  of 
Germany,  and  the  officers  of  the  subma- 
rine, "  with  the  crime  of  wholesale  mur- 
der before  the  tribunal  of  the  civilized 
world  "  ;  a  spirit  of  vengeance  is  spring- 
ing up  in  England ;  the  German  Foreign 
Office  sends  to  the  German  Embassy  at 
Washington,  which  communicates  it  to  the 
State  Department,  a  message  of  sympathy 
at  the  loss  of  lives,  but  says  the  blame 
rests  with  England  for  her  "  starvation 
plan  "  and  for  her  having  armed  mer- 
chantmen ;  telegrams  are  pouring  in  by 
the  hundred  to  the  White  House  and  the 
Department  of  State,  but  the  majority  ad- 
vise against  the  use  of  force ;  there  is  a 
fifteen-minute  panic  on  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange  on  the  rumor  of  the  as- 
sassination of  President  Wilson,  prices 
falling  from  4  to  15  points ;  British  ex- 
changes bar  German  members ;  the  Na- 
tional Security  League  issues  an  open  let- 
ter in  New  York,  declaring  that  the  army, 
navy,  and  coast  defenses  are  inadequate, 
and  urging  support  for  a  military  effi- 
ciency program ;  various  State  Legisla- 
tures pledge  their  support  to  President 
Wilson. 
May  11 — Secretary  Bryan  receives  an  official 
circular  issued  by  the  German  Government 
which  declares  that  there  is  no  intention 
of  attacking,  either  by  submarine  or  air- 
craft, neutral  ships  In  the  war  zone,  and 
that  if  such  attacks  occur  through  mis- 
take damages  will  be  paid  ;  President  Wil- 
son is  at  work  on  his  communication  to 
Berlin ;  American  Line  announces  it  will 
not  hereafter  carry  contraband  of  war; 
Navy  League  of  the  United  States  passes 
a  resolution  asking  President  Wilson  to 
call  an  extra  session  of  Congress  to  au- 
thorize a  bond  issue  of  $500,000,000  for  a 
bigger  navy ;  riots  occur  all  over  England, 
demonstrations  being  made  against  Ger- 
mans and  German  shops ;  former  Presi- 
dent   Roosevelt    states    that     the     United 


806 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


States  should  act  promptly  and  should 
forbid  all  commerce  with  Germany,  while 
former  President  Taft  states  that  delay 
can  do  no  harm  and  that  the  United  States 
should  not  hurry  into  war ;  President  Wil- 
son's Philadelphia  speech  results  in  a  rise 
in  prices  on  the  New  York  Stock  Ex- 
change ;  the  Committee  of  Mercy  issues  a 
country-wide  appeal  for  help  for  destitute 
survivors  of  the  Lusitania ;  customs  guard 
on  German  ships  at  Boston  is  doubled ; 
Cunard  Line  cancels  intended  sailing  of 
the  Mauretania  from  Liverpool ;  extra  po- 
lice guards  are  placed  over  the  German 
ships  at  Hoboken. 

May  12 — Postponement  is  made  until  tomor- 
row of  the  sending  of  the  American  note 
to  Germany ;  German  Embassy  discontin- 
ues its  advertisement  warning  the  public 
not  to  sail  on  British  or  allied  ships ;  anti- 
alien  rioting  continues  in  England ;  sev- 
enty customs  men,  on  orders  from  "Wash- 
ington, search  German  ships  at  Hoboken 
for  explosives,  none  being  found. 

May  13 — The  text  of  the  American  note  to 
Germany  is  made  public  at  Washington ; 
besides  the  Lusitania,  it  mentions  the 
Falaba,  Gushing,  and  Gulflight  cases;  it 
states  that  the  United  States  Government 
expects  a  disavowal  of  the  acts  of  the  Ger- 
man commanders,  reparation  for  the  in- 
juries, and  a  prevention  of  such  acts  in  the 
future;  it  indicates  that  submarine  war- 
fare should  be  given  up ;  it  refers  to  the 
"  surprising  irregularity  "  of  the  German 
Embassy's  advertisement  warning  Amer- 
icans to  keep  off  British  ships,  and  states 
that  notice  of  an  unlawful  act  cannot  be 
an  excuse  for  its  commission ;  it  states 
that  Germany  will  not  expect  the  United 
States  "  to  omit  any  word  or  any  act " 
necessary  to  maintain  American  rights. 

May  14 — The  American  note  to  Germany  has 
been  dela.ved  in  transmission,  and  is  not 
presented  yet ;  President  Wilson  and  the 
Cabinet  are  pleased  with  the  response  of 
the  country  to  the  note,  which  is  praised 
generally  by  newspapers  and  public  men: 
damage  in  anti-German  rioting  in  South 
Africa  is  reported  from  Cape  Town  to 
exceed  $5,000,000. 

May  1.5 — Ambassador  Gerard  hands  the 
American  note  to  the  German  Foreign 
Office ;  newspapers  in  England  and  France 
praise  the  note ;  Dr.  Dernburg,  who  has 
for  months  been  in  the  United  States  as 
unofficial  spokesman  for  Germany,  ex- 
presses a  desire  to  go  home,  this  being 
due,  it  is  understood  in  Washington,  to 
the  criticisms  resulting  from  his  defense 
of  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania ;  German- 
American  newspapers  and  prominent  Ger- 
man-American individuals  are  going  on 
record  as  being  for  the  United  States  as 
against  Germany  in  event  of  war. 

May  16 — New  York  clergymen  from  their 
pulpits  praise  President  Wilson's  note  tc 
Germany  as  a  powerful  instrument  for  the 


preservation  of  peace  in  this  country ;  tho 
loss  of  the  Lusitania  is  proving  a  stimulus 
to  recruiting  in  Great  Britain. 

May  17 — The  American  note  has  not  yet  been 
published  in  Berlin,  and  most  of  the  news- 
papers, under  confidential  orders  from 
the  Government,  have  refrained  from  com- 
ment. 

May  18— Statements  made  by  the  officers  of 
the  British  tank  steamer  Narragansett 
and  of  the  British  steamship  Etonian,  on 
arriving  at  New  York  and  Boston,  respect- 
ively, show  that  these  ships  and  a  third 
were  prevented  from  going  to  the  rescue 
of  the  Lusitania's  passengers  by  German 
submarines ;  a  torpedo  was  fired  at  the 
Narragansett. 

May  19— Several  leading  German  newspapers 
Join  in  an  attack  on  the  United  States,  de- 
manding that  Germany  refuse  to  yield  to 
the  American  protest,  the  text  of  the  note 
having  been  made  known. 

May  30 — Full  text  of  the  German  reply  to  the 
American  note  arrives  in  Washington  and 
is  made  public;  as  to  the  Gushing 
and  the  Gulflight  it  is  declared  that  the 
German  Government  has  no  intention  of 
attacking  neutral  vessels  by  submarine 
or  aircraft,  and  where  it  Is  proved  that 
the  attacked  ship  is  not  to  blame  is  will- 
ing to  offer  regrets  and  pay  indemnity,  it 
being  added  that  both  the  cases  men- 
tioned are  now  under  investigation,  which 
inquiry  can  be  supplemented  by  reference 
to  The  Hague :  as  to  the  Falaba,  it  is 
declared  that  the  persons  on  board  were 
given  twenty-three  minutes  to  get  off, 
and  it  is  indicated  that  the  passengers 
and  crew  would  have  had  fuller  oppor- 
tunity to  leave  had  the  ship  not  tried  to 
escape  and  had  she  not  signaled  for  help 
by  rockets ;  as  to  the  Lusitania,  it  is  de- 
clared she  was  built  as  an  auxiliary 
cruiser  and  so  carried  on  the  British 
navy  list,  that  Germany  understands  she 
was  armed  with  cannon,  that  she  carried 
war  material  and  Canadian  troops,  while, 
in  addition,  the  British  Admiralty  has 
instructed  merchantmen  to  ram  subma- 
rines ;  thus  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania 
was  a  measure  of  "  justified  self-de- 
fense " ;  it  is  also  declared  that  the  Cunard 
Company  is  "  wantonly  guilty  "  of  the 
deaths,  in  allowing  passengers  to  embark 
under  the  conditions  cited ;  unofficial  ex- 
pressions of  opinion  from  public  men  at 
Washington  show  there  is  disappointment 
and  dissatisfaction  over  the  note,  which  is 
held  to  be  evasive ;  German  Foreign  Sec- 
retary von  Jagow,  in  an  interview  given 
to  The  Associated  Press  correspondent  in 
Berlin,  declares  that  the  note  is  not  a 
final  one  because  the  German  Govern- 
ment considers  it  essential  "  to  establish 
a  common  basis  of  fact  before  entering 
into  a  discussion  of  the  issues  involved." 

May  31 — American  press  as  a  whole  finds 
the  German  reply  unsatisfactory,   declar- 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE  WAR 


807 


ing  that  it  is  evasive  and  falls  to  meet  the 
issue ;  London  newspapers  find  the  reply 
to  be  a  "  weali  evasion  "  ;  German-Amer- 
ican press  as  a  whole  supports  the  reply ; 
Governors  of  States  and  other  public  men 
generally  agree  in  condemning  the  note, 
but  many  of  them  suggest  the  need  for 
caution ;  Berlin  newspapers  hold  that  the 
reply  is  complete. 

June  1— President  Wilson  brings  the  German 
note  before  the  Cabinet,  which  has  a  long 
conference. 

June  2— A  conference  is  held  at  the  White 
House  between  President  Wilson  and  Am- 
bassador von  Bernstorff.  at  the  latter's 
request;  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  ar- 
ranges to  send  through  the  State  Depart- 
ment a  report  to  his  Government  of  his 
talk  with  the  President  and  of  the  condi- 
tion of  public  opinion  in  this  country ;  von 
Bernstorff  tells  the  President  that  he  has 
been  given  affidavits  that  the  Lusitania 
was  armed  ;  these  affidavits  are  given  to 
the  American  Department  of  State  for  in- 
vestigation. 

June  3— Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  is  ar- 
ranging to  send  an  emissary,  Dr.  Anton 
Meyer-Gerhard,  to  Berlin  to  explain  the 
position  of  the  American  Government  and 
the  state  of  public  opinion;  the  affidavits 
that  the  Lusitania  was  armed  are  under 
official  investigation ;  newspaper  investi- 
gations throw  doubt  on  their  authenticity. 

June  5— British  Ambassador  transmits  a  note 
from  his  Government  to  the  United  States 
Government  assuring  this  country  that 
the  Lusitania  was  unarmed. 

June  8— Secretary  of  State  Bryan  resigns  be- 
cause he  cannot  join  in  the  new  note  to 
Germany,  so  he  states  in  a  letter  to  Pres- 
ident Wilson,  without  violating  what  he 
deems  his  duty  to  the  country  and  without 
being  unfair  "  to  the  cause  which  is 
nearest  my  heart,  namely,  the  prevention 
of  war  " ;  President  Wilson's  letter  ac- 
cepting the  resignation  expresses  "  deep 
regret  "  and  "  personal  sorrow  "  ;  Coun- 
selor Robert  Lansing  is  Acting  Secretary 
of  State ;  newspapers  generally  welcome 
Mr.  Bryan's  resignation ;  the  note  to  Ger- 
many is  read  at  a  Cabinet  meeting  and 
finally  decided  upon. 

June  9— Acting  Secretary  of  State  Lansing 
signs  the  note  to  Germany  and  sends  it 
to  Ambassador  Gerard;  Mr.  Bryan's  res- 
ignation causes  interest  in  England  and 
Germany;  Mr.  Bryan  says  that  he  favors 
inquiry  by  an  international  commission 
into  the  points  at  issue  between  the  United 
States  and  Germany,  and  that  Americans 
should  be  warned  not  to  travel  on  bellig- 
erent ships ;  German-American  press 
praises  Mr.   Bryan. 

June  1(1 — Piesident  Wilson's  answer  to  the 
German  note  is  made  public  at  Washing- 
ton;  it  "asks  for  assurances  "  that  Ger- 
many will  safeguard  American  lives  and 
American  ships ;  the  German  Government 
is  assured  that  it  has  been  misinformed  as 


to  the  alleged  arming  of  the  Lusitania;  it 
is  stated  that  the  United  States  is  con- 
tending for  the  rights  of  humanity,  on 
which  principle  "  the  United  States  must 
stand  "  ;  Mr.  Bryan  issues  a  statement  to 
the  public,  explaining  his  views ;  Gustav 
Stahl,  said  to  be  a  former  German  sol- 
dier, who  made  an  affidavit  that  he  saw 
four  guns  on  the  Lusitania,  is  arrested 
.by  Federal  officers  on  a  charge  of  per- 
jury. 

June  11— The  pacific  nature  of  the  American 
note  causes  satisfaction  in  Germany ;  Mr. 
Bryan  issues  a  statement  to  German- 
Americans  ;  Colonel  Roosevelt,  in  a  state- 
ment,   upholds    President   Wilson. 

June  12— Mr.  Bryan  issues  a  third  statement; 
some  German-American  newspapers  criti- 
cise his  statement  addiessed  to  German- 
Americans. 

June  13— Newspapers  of  Germany  today  con- 
tain columns  Of  comment  on  the  last 
American  note,  the  general  tone  being 
milder,  the  friendly  tenor  of  the  note  being 
welcomed. 

June  in — Court  of  inquiry  opens  in  London ; 
Captain  Turner  swears  on  the  stand  that 
his  ship  was  not  armed. 

NAVAL  RECORD— GENERAL. 

May  1— Four  British  torepdo  boat  destroyers 
sink  two  German  torpedo  boats  in  the 
North  Sea,  after  a  fifth  British  destroyer 
is  sunk  by  a  German  submarine ;  Russian 
Black  Sea  fleet  bombards  Bosporus  forts ; 
allied  fleet  bombards  Nagara,  on  the  Dar- 
danelles. 

May  3— The  ships  of  the  allied  fleet  are  now 
working  in  shifts  at  the  bombardment  of 
the  Dardanelles,  which  is  maintahied 
twenty-four  hours  a  day ;  French  battle- 
ship Henri  IV.  and  British  battleship 
Vengeance  are  damaged  by  fire  of  the 
forts. 

May  4— Bombardment  of  Turkish  forts  on  the 
Gulf  of  Smyrna  is  resumed  by  an  allied 
squadron ;  British  warship  Agamemnon  is 
damaged  by  forts  at  the  Dardanelles. 

May  6— Heavy  bombardment  of  the  Dardan- 
elles is  continued  by  the  allied  fleet ;  dur- 
ing the  last  three  days  a  number  of  vil- 
lages and  forts  have  been  set  on  fire  by 
shells ;  British  superdreadnought  Queen 
Elizabeth  is  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
the  bombardment. 

May  8— British  torpedo  boat  destroyer  Cru- 
sader is  sunk  by  a  mine  off  Zeebrugge 
and  the  crew  taken  prisoners  by  the  Ger- 
mans. 

May  9— Russians  sink  six  Turkish  transports 
off  the  Bosporus  and  two  in  the  Sea  of 
Marmora. 

May  12 — Turkish  destroyers  in  the  Darda- 
nelles torpedo  and  sink  the  British  pre- 
dreadnought  Goliath,  500  men  being  lost; 
allied  fleet  bombards  the  forts  at  Kilid 
Bahr,  Chanak  Kalessi,  and  Nagara;  Ital- 


808 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ian  steamer  Astrea  sinks  near  Taranto,  It 
being  believed  that  she  hit  a  mine. 

May  15 — Russian  Blacli  Sea  fleet  destroys 
four  Turkish  steamers  and  twenty  sail- 
ing vessels;  the  fleet  bombards  Kef  fen, 
Eregli,  and  Kilimali. 

May  16 — For  three  days  the  allied  fleet  has 
been  bombarding  Turkish  troop  positions 
on  the  Dardanelles ;  shell  fire  is  stated  to 
have  smashed  whole  trenches  filled  with 
Turkish  soldiers. 

May  17 — Parliamentary  Secretary  of  the 
British  Admiralty  announces  in  House  of 
Commons  that  460,628  tons  of  British  ship- 
ping, other  than  warships,  have  been  sunk 
or  captured  by  the  German  Navy  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war ;  that  the  num- 
ber of  persons  killed  in  connection  with 
the  sinkings  is  1,556;  that  the  tonnage 
of  German  shipping,  not  warships,  sunk 
or  captured  by  the  British  Navy  is  314,- 
465,  no  lives  being  lost,  so  far  as  is  known. 

May  20 — Bombardment  of  Nagara  by  the 
allied  fleet  continues  night  and  day ;  Brit- 
ish battleship  Queen  Elizabeth  is  support- 
ing the  allied  troops  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula  with  the  fire  of  her  big  gun.s 
from  the  Gulf  of  Saros ;  a  new  bombard- 
ment of  the  Turkish  encampments  on  the 
Gulf  of  Smyrna  is  under  way  by  ships  of 
Allies. 

May  24 — Small  naval  units  of  Austria,  espe- 
cially destroyers  and  torpedo  boats,  bom- 
bard the  Italian  portions  of  the  Adriatic 
coast ;  they  are  attacked  by  Italian  tor- 
pedo boats  and  withdraw  after  a  brief 
cannonade ;  the  value  of  German  and  Aus- 
trian ships  now  in  Italian  ports,  which 
have  become  prizes  of  war,  is  estimated  at 
$20,000,000. 

May  25 — American  steamer  Nebraskan,  en 
route  from  Liverpool  to  Delaware  Break- 
water, without  cargo,  is  struck  by  either 
a  torpedo  or  a  mine  forty  miles  off  the 
south  coast  of  Ireland ;  the  ship  is  not 
seriously  damaged  and  starts  for  Liverpool 
at  reduced  speed ;  Italy  declares  a  block- 
ade of  the  Austrian  and  Albanian 
coasts ;  allied  warships  bombard  Adalia, 
Makri,  Kakava,  and  other  places  along 
the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  destroying  Gov- 
ernment buildings  and  public  works;  Aus- 
trian ships  sink  an  Italian  destroyer  near 
Barletta. 

May  27 — Captain  Greene  of  the  Nebraskan, 
which  arrives  at  Liverpool,  states  that  he 
thinks  his  ship  was  hit  by  a  torpedo;  the 
American  flag  had  been  hauled  down 
shortly  before  she  was  struck,  but  the 
ship's  name  and  nationality  were  plainly 
painted  on  her  sides ;  British  auxiliary  ship 
Princess  Irene  is  blown  to  pieces  off  Sheer- 
ness,  321  men  being  killed ;  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  careless  handling  of  explosives 
caused  the  disaster. 

May  28— Austrians  sink  an  Italian  torpedo 
boat  destroyer,  while  the  Italians  sink  an 
Austrian  submarine.     Danish  steamer  Ely 


is  sunk  by  a  mine  off  Stockholm,  crew 
being  saved. 

May  29 — Statement  from  the  German  Foreign 
Office  is  transmitted  to  Washington 
through  Ambassador  Gerard,  urging  that 
American  shipping  circles  be  again  warned 
against  traversing  the  waters  around  the 
British  Isles  incautiously,  and  especially 
that  they  make  their  neutral  markings  on 
the  vessels  very  plain,  and  that  they  light 
them  promptly  and  sufficiently  at  night ; 
American  naval  experts  find  the  facts  to 
indicate  that  the  Nebraskan  was  torpe- 
doed and  not  struck  by  a  mine,  so  Ambas- 
sador Page  reports  to  Washington  ;  Brit- 
ish Admiralty  puts  stricter  rules  in  force 
for  navigation  in  the  war  zone. 

May  30— British  Legation  at  Athens  issues  a 
notice  that,  beginning  on  June  2,  a  block- 
ade will  be  established  off  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor  between  the  Dardanelles  and 
the  Strait  of  Samos. 

May  81— An  Admiralty  statement  shows  that 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war  130  British 
merchant  ships  and  fishing  vessels,  with 
a  tonnage  of  471,000,  have  been  sunk. 

June  2 — Two  Italian  torpedo  boats  sink  two 
Austrian  merchant  vessels  in  the  Gulf  of 
Trieste  and  damage  an  auxiliary  cruiser. 

June  4 — German  transports,  torpedo  boats, 
and  submarines  seek  to  enter  the  Gulf  of 
Riga,  but  sheer  off  on  perceiving  the 
Russian  fleet ;  three  German  transports 
are  sunk  by  mines. 

June  5 — A  strong  German  fleet  has  appeared 
in  the  middle  Baltic  and  has  exchanged 
shots  with  the  Russian  fleet  near  the 
Gulf  of  Riga ;  Winston  Churchill,  in  a 
speech  at  Dundee,  declares  that  the  Brit- 
ish Navy  is  growing  at  an  amazing  rate, 
and  is  much  stronger,  both  actually  and 
relatively,  than  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war;  Greek  steamer  Virginia  is  blown  up 
by  a  floating  mine  while  heading  for  the 
Gulf  of  Trieste,  her  crew  being  killed. 

June  0 — Italian  warships  are  destroying 
cables  and  lighthouses  on  the  Adriatic ; 
Italian  warships  bombard  the  railway  be- 
tween Cattaro  and  Ragusa,  and  shell 
Monfalcone. 

June  11 — Turkish  cruiser  Midullu  sinks  a 
Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyer  in  the 
Black  Sea. 

June  14 — British  steamship  Arndale  sinks 
from  striking  a  mine  in  the  White  Sea. 

June  15 — Official  announcement  states  that 
the  total  loss  from  all  causes  in  the  Brit- 
ish Navy  up  to  May  31  was  13,547  officers: 
and  men. 

NAVAL  RECORD— SUBMARINES. 

May  1 — The  Gulflight,  an  American  oil 
steamer  owned  by  the  Gulf  Refining  Com- 
pany, is  torpedoed  off  the  Scilly  Islands, 
but  does  not  sink,  and  is  towed  to  an  an- 
chorage in  Crow  Sound,  Scilly  Islands; 
the  Captain  dies  of  heart  failure,  and  two 
men   jump   overboard    and   are    drowned; 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE  WAR 


809 


she  was  flying  the  American  flag;  French 
steamer  Europe  is  torpedoed  by  a  German 
submarine,  crew  being  rescued ;  British 
steamer  Fulgent  is  torpedoed  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine ;  some  of  the  crew  are 
missing ;  British  steamer  Edale  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine  off  the  Scilly 
Islands,  crew  being  saved  ;  Russian  steam- 
er Svorono  is  sunk  by  a  German  subma- 
rine off  the  Blasket  Islands,  crew  being 
saved ;  British  trawler  Colombia  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine,  seventeen  of  the 
crew  being  lost. 

May  3 — In  the  last  forty-eight  hours  one 
Swedish  steamer  and  three  Norwegian 
steamers  have  been  sunk  by  German  sub- 
marines ;  British  steamer  Minterne  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine  off  the  Scilly 
Islands,  two  of  crew  being  killed. 

May  4 — Ten  British  trawlers  have  been  sunk 
by  German  submarines  in  the  last  forty- 
eight  hours ;  the  submarine  which  caused 
the  most  damage  has  an  iron  cross  paint- 
ed on  her  conning  tower. 

May  5 — Danish  steamer  Cathay  is  sunk  by 
a  German  submarine  in  the  North  Sea ; 
passengers  and  crew  saved. 

May  6 — British  steamers  Candidate  and 
Centurion  are  sunk  off  the  Irish  coast  by 
German  submarines,  crews  being  saved ; 
British  schooner  Earl  of  Latham  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine ;  two  British 
trawlers  are  sunk  by  German  submarines. 

May  8— British  steamer  Queen  Wilhelmina  is 
sunk  by  a  German  submarine  in  the  North 
Sea,  crew  being  given  time  to  take  to  the 
boats. 

May  12— British  submarine  E-14  has  pene- 
trated to  the  Sea  of  Marmora  and  has 
sunk  two  Turkish  gunboats  and  five  Turk- 
ish transports. 

May  15— German  submarine  sinks  without 
warning  the  Danish  steamer  Martha  in 
Aberdeen  Bay,  Scotland  ;  crew  escapes. 

May  19— German  submarines  sink  British 
steamers  Drumcree  and  Dumfries  and 
British  trawler  Lucerne ;  no  lives  lost. 

May  20— French  steam  trawler  i«  blown  to 
pieces  by  German  submarine  near  Dart- 
mouth ;  thirteen  of  crew  killed ;  British 
trawlers  Chrysolite  and  Crimond  are  sunk 
by  German  submarines ;  crews  saved. 

May  21— German  submarine,  with  thirty-nine 
shots  from  her  gun,  sinks  British  sailing 
ship  Glenholm  off  Irish  coast ;  crew  saved. 

May  22— German  submarine  sinks  Norwegian 
steamer  Minerva :  crew  saved. 

May  23— Repeated  reports  keep  coming  from 
Copenhagen  that  the  German  naval  au- 
thorities admit  the  loss  of  seventeen  sub- 
marines since  the  opening  of  the  war. 

May  24— An  allied  submarine  sinks  Turkish 
gunboat  Pelenk-i-Deria. 

May  25 — British  battleship  Triumph  is  sunk  in 
the  Dardanelles  by  a  German  submarine, 
going  down  in  seven  minutes;  56  men  are 
lost ;  the  Triumph  was  built  in  1904  and 
cost  $4,750,000. 


May  20— A  British  submarine  has  sunk  a 
Turkish  gunboat  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora 
within  sight  of  Constantinople. 

May  27 — German  submarine  torpedoes  and 
sinks  British  battleship  Majestic  off  Sedd- 
el-Bahr;  49  men  are  lost;  Majestic  was 
completed  in  1895  and  belonged  to  the 
oldest  type  of  battleship  in  commission  in 
British  Navy ;  British  Admiralty  an- 
nounces that  submarine  E-11  has  sunk  a 
large  Turkish  munition  ship,  while  she 
caused  a  small  storeship  to  run  ashore ; 
also  that  E-11  entered  Constantinople  har- 
bor and  discharged  a  torpedo  at  a  trans- 
port alongside  the  arsenal ;  British  steam- 
er Cadeby  Is  sunk  off  the  Scilly  Islands 
by  gunfire  from  a  German  submarine; 
crew  saved. 

May  28— The  torpedoing  of  the  American 
tanker  Gulflight  is  now  established  in  Ger- 
many as  having  been  due  to  a  German 
submarine,  the  report  of  the  submarine's 
Captain  having  been  received  by  the  Ger- 
man Admiralty ;  he  reports  that  when  he 
saw  the  Gulflight  she  was  being  convoyed 
by  two  patrol  boats,  and  he  concluded  she 
must  be  British  or  was  carrying  contra- 
band ;  British  steamer  Spennymoor  Is 
sunk  by  a  German  submarine  off  the  Ork- 
ney Islands,  six  men  being  drowned ; 
British  steamer  Tullochmoor  is  shelled 
and  sunk  by  a  German  submarine,  crew 
being  saved ;  British  steamer  Glenlee  is 
sunk  by  a  German  submarine,  crew  being 
saved  ;  Portuguese  steamer  Cysne  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine  off  Cape  Fin- 
isterre,  crew  being  saved  ;  German  subma- 
rine U-24  sinks  British  steamer  Ethiope 
in  the  English  Channel ;  fifteen  of  crew 
are  missing. 

May  29— British  steamer  Dixiana  is  sunk  by 
a  German  submarine,  which  is  disguised 
with  sails ;  crew  saved. 

May  31— Danish  steamer  Soborg  is  sunk  by 
a  German  submarine  in  the  English  Chan- 
nel ;  crew  saved. 

June  1— British  steamer  Saidieh,  carrying 
passengers,  is  torpedoed  without  warning 
in  the  North  Sea  by  a  German  submarine 
and  sinks  in  fifteen  minutes ;  seven  of  the 
crew,  including  a  stewardess,  are  lost; 
Welsh  trawler  Victoria  is  sunk  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine,  several  of  the  crew  being 
killed  by  shell  fire. 

June  2— British  submarine  torpedoes  a  large 
German  transport  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora ; 
German  submarines  sink  the  Norwegian 
steamer  Cubano  and  the  Welsh  trawler 
Hlorld,  the  crews  being  saved ;  Danish 
schooner  Salvador  is  sunk  by  a  German 
submarine,  crew  saved. 

June  :{ — Swedish  steamer  Lapland  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine  off  Scotland,  crew 
being  saved ;  Danish  steamer  Cyrus  is 
sunk  by  a  German  submarine  off  Scot- 
land, crew  being  saved ;  British  steamer 
lona  is  sunk  by  a  German  submarine, 
crew    being   shelled    while    taking    to    the 


810 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


boats  and  four  men  being  wounded ;  Brit- 
ish fishing  steamer  Chrysophrasus  is  sunli 
by  a  German  submarine,  crew  being 
shelled  while  taliing  to  the  boats  ;  Portugal 
is  aroused  over  recent  sinking  of  two 
Portuguese  ships  by  German  submarines ; 
French  steamer  Penfeld  is  sunk  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine,   crew  saved. 

June  4— British  trawler  Ebenezer  is  sunk  by 
shell  fire  from  a  German  submarine,  crew 
escaping;  British  steamer  Inkum  is  sunk 
by  a  German  submarine,  crew  escaping ; 
steam  drifter  Edna  May,  trawler  Strath- 
bran,  sailing  ship  George  and  Mary,  steam 
fishing  vessels  Cortes,  Kathleen,  and 
Evening  Star,  steamer  Sunnet  Head, 
trawlers  Horace  and  Economy,  all  Brit- 
ish, have  been  sunk  by  German  subma- 
rines ;  Russian  mine  layer  is  sunk  by  a 
submarine  near  the  Gulf  of  Riga. 

June  5— German  submarine  U-51  arrives  at 
Constantinople  from  Wilhelmshaven,  after 
a  voyage  of  forty-two  days,  during  which 
she  sunk  the  British  battleships  Triumph 
and  Majestic. 

June  G — Five  more  British  trawlers  have 
been  sunk  by  German  submarines,  all  the 
crews   being   saved. 

June  7 — The  trawler  Arctic,  bark  Sunlight, 
steamer  Star  of  the  West,  and  the  trawler 
Dromio,  all  British,  have  been  sunk  by 
German  submarines ;  four  of  the  Arctic's 
ciew  were  killed  by  shell  fire  from  the 
submarine ;  Russian  schooner  Afold  has 
been  sunk  by  a  German  submarine. 

June  8 — German  submarines  sink  Belgian 
steamer  Menapier,  Noi'wegian  steamer 
Trudvang,  Norwegian  bark  Superb,  Nor- 
wegian steamer  Glittertind,  British  trawl- 
ers Pentland  and  Saturn ;  sixteen  die  on 
the    Menapier. 

June  9 — British  sink  a  German  submarine 
and  capture  her  crew ;  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty  Balfour  states  that  hereafter 
submarine  crews  will  be  treated  like  other 
prisoners  of  war ;  German  submarine  sinks 
British  steamer  Lady  Salisbury ;  one  of 
the  crew  is  killed  and  two  are  missing; 
official  Austrian  statement  declares  that 
submarine  No.  4  torpedoed  and  sank  a 
small  British  cruiser  off  the  Albanian 
coast ;  British  statement  says  the  ship  is 
now  safe  in  harbor,  not  seriously  damaged. 

June  10 — British  torpedo  boats  Nos.  10  and 
12  are  sunk  off  the  east  coast  of  Eng- 
land by  a  German  submarine;  twenty- 
nine  seamen  are  missing ;  German  sub- 
marines sink  steamers  Strathcarron  and 
Erna  Boldt,  and  the  trawlers  Letty, 
Tunisian,  Castor,  Nottingham,  Velocity, 
Cardiff,  Qui  Vive,  and  Edward,  all 
British ;  German  submarines  sink  Russian 
bark  Thomasina,  Russian  steamer  Dania, 
and  Swedish  steamer  Otago,  crews  being 
saved. 

June  12 — German  submarines  sink  British 
steamer  Leuctra  and  trawlers  James  Ley- 
man,  Britannia,  and  Waago,  crews  being 
saved. 


June  1.3— German  submarine  U-."^;'  sinks  Brit- 
ish bark  Crown  of  In  lia  and  Norwegian 
bark  Bellglade  off  Milford  Haven,  crews 
escaping;  German  submarine  sinks  Brit- 
ish trawler  Plymouth,  crew  escaping. 

June  14 — German  submarines  sink  British 
steamer  Hopemount  and  French  schooner 
Diamant,  crews  being  saved ;  German  sub- 
marine burns  the  Danish  schooner  Cocos 
Merstal,  crew  being  saved. 

June  !.'>— German  submarine  sinks  British 
trawler  Argyll,  seven  of  crew  being 
drowned ;  German  submarine  sinks  Nor- 
■"/egian  steamer  Duranger ;  crew  saved. 

AERIAL   RECORD. 

May  1— Germans  bring  down  three  aeroplanes 
of  the  Allies  on  the  western  line. 

May  2— German  aeroplanes  bombard  towns  in 
Eastern  France ;  twenty  incendiary  bombs 
are  dropped  on  Epinal. 

May  3— Germans  state  that  they  have  sunk  a 
British  submarine  in  the  North  Sea  by 
dropping  a  bomb  on  it  from  an  airship ; 
this  is  denied  by  the  British  Admiralty ; 
a  German  aeroplane  is  driven  off  from 
Dover  by  gunfire. 

May  4 — Two  Austrian  aeroplanes  throw  in- 
cendiary bombs  near  Mamaligia,  in  Bessa- 
rabia. 

May  5— An  official  French  note  states  that 
on  March  22  French  aviators  damaged 
Briey,  Conflans,  and  Metz;  that  on  April 
15  French  aviators  destroyed  150  railroad 
cars  at  St.  Quentin,  twenty-four  soldiers 
being  killed  ;  that  on  April  28  French  avi- 
ators destroyed  a  Zeppelin  at  Friedrichs- 
haven;  two  Turkish  aeroplanes  are 
brought  down  by  shells  from  the  allied 
fleet  at  the  Dardanelles. 

May  7— Three  Russian  aviators  drop  bombs 
on  Constantinople. 

May  !>— British  airmen  bombard  the  St.  Andr6 
railway  junction  near  Lille,  the  canal 
bridge  at  Dok,  and  also  Fumes,  Herlies, 
lilies,  Marquelles,  and  La  BassSe. 

May  10— Zeppelins  drop  bombs  on  Westcliffe- 
on-Sea  and  Southend,  seaside  resorts  in 
Essex ;  sligiit  damage. 

May  11— French  aviator  bombards  airship 
hangar  at  Maubeuge;  German  aviator 
bombards  railroad  station  at  Doullens ; 
Germans  bring  down  a  British  aviator, 
and  British  bring  down  two  German  avia- 
tors. 

May  13— A  Zeppelin  falls  in  the  Gierlesche 
woods  in  Belgium,  is  badly  damaged,  and 
is  dismantled  by  the  crew,  being  taken 
away  in  sections. 

May  17— Two  Zeppelins  drop  bombs  on  Rams- 
gate,  damaging  buildings  and  wounding 
three  persons ;  it  is  reported  from  Rot- 
terdam that  a  fight  recently  occurred  in 
the  region  of  the  Yser  between  a  Zeppe- 
lin and  twenty-seven  allied  aeroplanes, 
the  Zeppelin  being  sent  crashing  to  earth 
with  sixty  men,  while  two  aeroplanes 
were   wrecked   and   their   pilots   killed   by 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE  WAR 


811 


machine  gun  fire  from  the  Zeppelin  ;  Brit- 
ish aeroplanes  drop  proclamations  on   the 
town  of  Gallipoli  announcing  an  approach- 
ing bombardment  and  advising  the  popu- 
lation   to    leave. 
May   18— London    reports   that   two   Zeppelins 
have   been    destroyed,    one    falling    within 
the  allied  lines  at  Dunkirk,  and  the  other 
falling  into  the  sea  as  the  result  of  shell 
fire  fiom  a  French  torpedo  boat  destroyer. 
May   20— Squadrons    of    Austro-German   aero- 
planes are  bombarding  Przemysl. 
May  21— Turkish  aeroplanes  are  aiding  their 
troops  on  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula;  British 
bring    down    a     German    aeroplane    near 
Ypres ;    Germans    bring    down    an    allied 
aeroplane  at  Fresnoy. 
May    22— German    aviators,    in    an    aeroplane 
disguised  as  a  French  machine,  drop  eight 
bombs  on  Paris,  two  persons  being  slight- 
ly   injured ;    because    of    the    disguise    the 
French  air  patrol  allowed  the  German  ma- 
chine to  pass. 
May  23— German  aviator  bombards  the  town 

of  Chateau  Thiery. 
May  24— Austrian  aeroplanes  drop  bombs  on 
Venice,  Porto  Corsini,  Ancona,  Gesi,  Po- 
tenza  Picena,  the  Tremitl  Islands,  and 
Barletta ;  a  German  Taube  drops  bombs 
in  the  northern  suburbs  of  Paris ;  no  one 
injured. 
May  25 — Six  French  aeroplanes  drive  off 
two  German  machines  which  seek  to  raid 
Paris ;  French  aeroplanes  are  active  along 
the  entire  front  and  drop  205  projectiles 
upon  German  positions. 
May  2G — A  Zeppelin  drops  fifty  bombs  on 
Southend ;  one  woman  is  killed  and  sev- 
eral persons  injured;  the  property  dam- 
age is  slight ;  this  Zeppelin  later  is  re- 
ported as  having  fallen  into  the  sea  near 
Heligoland,  having  been  struck  by  a  shell 
while  over  England  ;  French  airmen  bring 
down  a  German  aeroplane  which  attacked 
the  suburbs  of  Paris  yesterday,  the  two 
German  aviators  being  killed;  allied  air- 
men drop  nineteen  bombs  on  the  aero- 
drome at  Gontrode,  southeast  of  Ghent, 
destroying  the  greater  part  of  the  aero- 
drome, killing  forty-four  soldiers,  and 
wounding  thirty ;  Italian  aviators  bombard 
railroad  station  at  Monfalcone. 
May  27 — Eighteen  French  aeroplanes,  each 
carrying  110  pounds  of  projectiles,  bom- 
bard an  important  German  manufactory 
of  explosives  at  Ludwigshafen,  on  the 
Rhine,  starting  fires  in  several  of  the 
factory  buildings,  and  killing  eleven  civil- 
ians ;  fifty  German  soldiers  are  killed  at 
Ostend  by  a  bomb  dropped  by  allied  aero- 
plane ;  Italian  and  Austrian  aeroplane 
squadrons  are  active  In  the  operations  of 
the  armies,  doing  much  scouting  and  some 
bombarding ;  squadron  of  :^talian  hydro- 
aeroplanes throws  bombs  on  the  Trieste- 
Nabresina  Railroad ;  allied  aeroplane 
squadron    flies   over   the    Dardanelles   and 


subjects   Turkish   position   to   heavy  bom- 
bardment. 
May      2S — Experts      estimate      that      orders 
amounting  to  $16,000,000  have  been  placed 
in    the    United    States    for    aeroplanes    for 
the  Allies. 
May  29 — Austrian   aeroplane  squadron   drops 
bombs    on   Venice,    causing   several    fires ; 
a  French  and  a  German  aeroplane  fight  a 
duel  at  9,000  feet  near  Fismes,  the  French 
machine,    by    its    gunfire,    shooting    down 
the  German  from  a  height  of  6,000  feet. 
May  30 — A  Zeppelin  drops  bombs  on  Helsing- 
fors,   destroying  cotton   sheds  and   setting 
fire    to    a    passenger    ship ;    British    bring 
down  a  German  aeroplane  near  Courtrai ; 
Turkish  aviators  drop  bombs  on  the  allied 
trenches  at   Sedd-el-Bahr. 
May    31 — Zeppelins    drop    ninety    incendiary 
bombs   on   London    in    a   night   raid ;    four 
civilians    are    killed    and    several    others 
wounded ;  numerous  fires  are  started,  but 
none  prove  serious ;  Berlin  announces  that 
the    attack    is    a    reprisal    for    the    aerial 
attack  on  Ludwigshafen  ;  Italian  dirigible 
makes  a  raid  on  the  Austrian  naval  base 
of    Pola,    damaging    the    railroad    station 
and  arsenal. 
June  2 — Germans  shoot  down  a  British  aero- 
plane at  Bixschoote. 
June  3— Twenty-nine   French   aeroplanes   aim 
178   shells   and   several   thousand   darts  at 
the    headquarters    of    the    German    Crown 
Prince,   killing  several  soldiers. 
June  4 — Zeppelins  drop  bombs  on  the  east  and 
southeast   coasts  of   England  ;   little   dam- 
age is  done  and   casualties  are  few. 
June  5 — A  Taube  drops  bombs  on  Calais,  kill- 
ing one  person  and  doing  slight  property 
damage. 
June  6— Ten  Zeppelins  of  a  new  type  are  re- 
ported   from    Copenhagen    to    have    been 
completed,   these  machines  having  greater 
speed  than  the  old  ships ;  they  are  stated 
to  be  fitted  with   appliances   for  dropping 
poisonous  gas  bombs ;  German  aeroplanes 
drop  bombs  on  Calais  and  on  the  aviation 
grounds    at    Lun§ville ;    a    Zeppelin    drops 
bombs  on  the  east  coast  of  England,  five 
persons  being  killed  and  forty  injured. 
June    7 — Sub-Lieutenant    Warneford    of    the 
British    Flying   Corps    fights    a   duel   with 
a  Zeppelin  at  a  height  of  6,000  feet;  with 
incendiary  bombs  he  explodes  the  airship, 
which   falls   near  Ghent,   the  twenty-eight 
men    on    board    being    killed ;    Warneford 
returns   safely   to   the   British   lines;   Ital- 
ian dirigible  bombards  Pola.  . 
June  8 — King  George   sends   a   warmly   con- 
gratulatory   telegram    to    Sub-Lieutenant 
Warneford    and     confers    upon     him     the 
Victoria   Cross ;   Austrian   aeroplane  bom- 
bards Venice  ;  Austrian  aeroplane  destroys 
an  Italian  airship. 
June  12 — Austrian  aeroplanes  drop  bombs  on 
the    breakwater    of    Bari,    on    Polignano, 
where   a    woman    is    killed,    and    on    Mo- 
nopoli. 


8ie 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


June  13 — Italian  airship  seriously  damages 
the  arsenal  at  the  naval  station  of  Pola. 

June  15 — Twenty-three  allied  aeroplanes 
bombard  the  town  of  Karlsruhe,  killing: 
eleven  and  injuring  six  civilians. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

May  23— Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  in  a  mani- 
festo to  his  troops,  denounces  Italy,  and 
declares  that  his  former  ally's  perfidy  has 
no  parallel  in  history. 

May  25— The  Foreign  Ministry  publishes  doc- 
uments presenting  Austria's  side  of  the 
controversy  with  Italy ;  it  is  contended 
that  Italy,  from  the  beginning,  sought  to 
evade  her  obligations  by  artificial  inter- 
pretation of  the  Triple  Alliance  treaty. 

BELGIUM. 

May  24 — The  German  Government  has  pub- 
lished a  "  White  Book  "  charging  Bel- 
gian civilians  with  many  forms  of  attacks 
on  German  troops ;  German  measures  at 
Louvain  and  elsewhere  are  declared  to 
have  been  only  for  the  purpose  of  stopping 
these  attacks. 

June  6— Belgian  Legation  at  Washington 
gives  out  a  statement  answering  the  Ger- 
man White  Book  recently  issued  at  Berlin 
making  accusations  against  the  Belgian 
civilian  population ;  reply  denounces  alle- 
gations of  franc-tireur  warfare  as  false 
and  unsupported  ;  Belgian  Government,  in- 
stead of  encouraging  civilian  resistance, 
warned  the  population  against  it. 

CANADA. 

May  3 — Official  statement  places  Canadian 
casualties  in  the  battle  of  Langemarck,  as 
the  recent  fighting  near  Ypres  is  now  of- 
ficially termed,  at  6,000  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing ;  total  Canadian  casualties  in 
the  entire  war  to  date  are  6,584. 

May  17 — Canadian  losses  since  the  battle  of 
Langemarck  total  4,792,  made  up  of  680 
killed,  3,208  wounded  ,and  904  missing. 

June  10— Nine  camps  have  been  opened,  at 
intervals  from  Nova  Scotia  to  British  Co- 
lumbia, for  training  troops ;  plans  provide 
for  training  100,000  recruits  this  Summer. 

June  11— Every  battalion  of  the  second  Cana- 
dian division  is  now  in  France. 

FRANCE. 

May  10 — General  Gouraud,  it  is  announced, 
will  relieve  General  d'Amade  in  command 
of  the  expeditionary  force  to  the  Orient ; 
General  d'Amade  has  been  summoned 
back  to  France  for  a  Governmental  mis- 
sion. 

May  19 — The  Minister  of  Finance  introduces 
a  bill  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  pro- 
viding for  a  $220,000,000  appropriation  for 
the  first  six  months  of  1915  in  addition  to 
the  $1,700,000,000  which  has  been  already 
voted. 

May  22 — Captain  Thery,  a  prominent  econo- 
mist, estimates  that  the  cost  of  the  first 


year  of  the  war,  including  the  expenses 
of  all  combatants,  will  be  about  )i;2,0«Kt,(KK) 
an  hour. 
May  29 — A  great  demonstration  is  held  in 
the  Sorbonne  amphitheatre,  attended  by 
the  President  and  the  notables  of  political 
and  artistic  France,  to  express  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  French  people  for  the  sym- 
pathy and  help  of  Americans  during  the 
war. 

GERMANY. 

May  2 — The  last  of  the  Landsturm  is  called 
to  the  colors. 

May  4 — Liibeck,  on  the  Baltic  Sea,  formerly 
a  port  of  relatively  small  importance,  has 
become  a  great  port,  and  dozens  of  ships 
are  there  discharging  vast  quantities  of 
foodstuffs  and  other  supplies ;  twenty- 
three  Socialist  members  of  the  Reichstag 
opposed  the  voting  of  the  full  war  credit 
last  asked  by  the  Government,  according 
to  a  report  from  Berlin. 

May  7 — The  Germans  state  that  they  and  the 
Austrians  now  hold  46.000  square  miles  of 
Russian  territory,  containing  a  population 
of  more  than  5,000,000. 

May  12 — Typhus  has  appeared  in  some  of 
the  German  prison  camps. 

May  14 — Lieutenant  von  Muecke  and  fifty 
men  of  the  Emden's  crew,  who  escaped 
when  that  cruiser  was  sunk  in  November, 
have  arrived  at  Damascus,  after  six 
months  of  adventurous  wanderings. 

May  18— The  London  Chronicle,  on  the  basis 
of  statistics  which  it  has  received,  esti- 
mates the  total  German  losses  in  the  war 
to  be  2,050,000. 

May  24 — Germany  asks  Switzerland  to  take 
over  German  diplomatic  affairs  in  Rome ; 
this  action  is  regarded  in  Washington  as  a 
slap  at  the  United  States. 

May  26 — Prince  von  Biilow,  recently  Ambas- 
sador to  Italy,  arrives  in  Berlin ;  Ger- 
many and  Italy  are  still  theoretically  al- 
lies, war  not  having  been  declared  be- 
tween them. 

May  28— Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg, 
speaking  in  the  Reichstag,  declares  that 
the  Teutonic  allies  are  waging  war  in 
"  holy  anger  "  and  will  fight  until  they 
have  made  it  certain  that  no  enemy 
"  will  dare  again  a  trial  of  arms  "  ;  he 
makes  a  scathing  attack  on  Italy,  and  says 
that  '*  her  violation  of  good  faith  "  is  writ- 
ten   in    "  letters    of    blood." 

May  30— Americans  are  leaving  Germany  by 
the  score,  declaring  the  hate  for  Amer- 
icans is  so  intense  as  to  make  life  un- 
bearable. 

June  2— Officers  and  men  on  furlough  in  Ber- 
lin are  forbidden  to  visit  caf§s  and  res- 
taurants. 

June  4— Prussian  losses  alone  have  reached  a 
total  of  1,388,000. 

June  5— There  are  now  900,000  prisoners  of 
war  held  in  Germany,  in  247  prison  camps. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR 


813 


June  7— An  extensive  exodus  of  Americans 
from  Germany  is  in  progress,  many  going 
to  Italy ;  refugees  declare  the  Germans 
now  hate  Americans  as  bitterly  as  they 
do  the  British. 

June  14— Germany  discontinues  her  excep- 
tional treatment  of  39  British  officers, 
put  into  effect  as  reprisal  for  England's 
exceptional  treatment  of  German  subma- 
rine crews,  now  ended. 

GREAT  BRITAIN. 

May  2— Lord  Kitchener  is  becoming  the 
storm  centre  of  the  Cabinet  upheaval ; 
attacks  on  him  by  the  Northcliffe  news- 
papers- are  resented  by  other  newspapers 
and  by  many  of  the  public;  a  "White 
Paper,"  containing  reports  from  firms  and 
officers  throughout  the  country,  shows 
that  drink  is  having  a  serious  effect  on 
repairs  to  warships  and  transports  and 
on  the  output  of  munitions. 

May  4— Since  the  beginning  of  the  war  the 
British  Army  has  had  2,246  officers  killed, 
4,177  wounded  and  762  missing ;  Chan- 
cellor Lloyd  George,  in  a  budget  speech 
In  Parliament,  places  the  expenditure  for 
the  next  six  months  at  $10,500,000  a  day. 

May  7— Government  abandons  the  plan  to 
place  extra  taxes  on  spirits  and  instead 
substitutes  a  complete  prohibition  of  the 
sale  of  spirits  less  than  three  years  old. 

May  12 — The  Committee  on  Alleged  German 
Atrocities,  headed  by  Viscount  Bryce,  ap- 
pointed by  Premier  Asquith,  makes  public 
its  report,  which  contains  an  account  of 
hundreds  of  cases  investigated  ;  the  report 
finds  that  there  were  in  many  parts  of 
Belgium  "  systematically  organized  mas- 
sacres of  the  civil  population  " ;  that  in 
the  general  conduct  of  the  war  innocent 
civilians,  men  and  women  "  were  mur- 
dered in  large  number,  women  violated, 
and  children  murdered  "  ;  that  "  looting, 
house  burning,  and  the  wanton  destruc- 
tion of  property  were  ordered  "  by  Ger- 
man officers ;  that  "  the  rules  and  usages 
of  war  were  frequently  broken,"  civil- 
ians, including  women  and  children,  be- 
ing used  as  a  shield  for  troops,  and  that 
the  Red  Cross  and  white  flag  were  fre- 
quently abused. 

May  13— Premier  Asquith  announces  in  the 
house  of  Commons  the  new  policy  of  the 
Government  with  reference  to  alien  ene- 
mies now  resident  in  Great  Britain ;  those 
of  military  age  will  be  interned,  while 
those  not  of  military  age,  and  women  and 
children  will  be  deported ;  King  George 
orders  the  names  of  the  German  and  Aus- 
trian Emperors,  and  of  five  German  Kings 
and  Princes  stricken  from  the  rolls  of  the 
Order  of  the  Garter. 

May  18— Premier  Asquith  Is  forming  a  "  Na- 
tional Cabinet,"  or  coalition  government, 
in  which  some  of  the  Cabinet  posts  at 
present  occupied  by  Liberals  will  go  to 
Unionist    and    Labor    Party    leaders ;    the 


crisis  is  the  result  of  the  resignation  of 
Lord  Fisher  as  First  Sea  Lord  of  the  Ad- 
miralty, due  to  differences  between  him 
and  Winston  Churchill,  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty;  Churchill  has  been  much  ciit- 
icised,  particularly  for  the  fiasco  at  Ant- 
werp and  the  policy  pursued  in  the  Dar- 
danelles, while  the  loss  of  the  Lusitania 
has  further  stirred  his  opponents. 

May  19 — The  Northcliffe  newspapers  state 
that  there  has  been  difficulty  over  high 
explosives  for  the  army,  those  in  charge 
at  the  War  Office  not  having  awakened 
in  time  to  the  need  for  such  explosives 
in  large  quantities  ;  these  papers  criticise 
Lord  Kitchener's  conduct  of  the  War  Of- 
fice;  racing  will  be  stopped  after  this 
week  for  the  duration  of  the  war,  except 
at    Newmarket. 

May  25 — The  make-up  of  the  new  coalition 
Cabinet  is  announced ;  it  is  headed  by  Mr. 
Asquith  and  contains  twelve  Liberals, 
eight  Unionists,  one  Laborite,  and  one 
non-partisan,  Lord  Kitchener ;  Arthur  J. 
Balfour  becomes  First  Lord  of  the  Ad- 
miralty ;  John  Redmond  refuses  a  place 
in  the  Cabinet ;  Liberal  newspapers  criti- 
cise the  entry  into  the  Cabinet  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Carson,  who  becomes  Attorney  Gen- 
eral. 

May  27 — Admiral  Sir  Henry  Jackson  is  ap- 
pointed First  Sea  Lord  of  the  Admiralty 
in  the  place  of  Admiral  Lord  Fisher. 

June  3 — Premier  Asquith  ends  a  visit  of  four 
days  at  the  British  front,  during  which 
he  consulted  with  Field  Marshal  French 
and  General  Joffre ;  Minister  of  Munitions 
Lloyd  George,  in  a  speech  at  Manchester, 
declares  that  England  must  have  more 
munitions  and  that  the  fate  of  the  nation 
rests  on  the  workshops. 

June  8 — House  of  Commons  passes  the  Muni- 
tions bill  on  third  reading;  the  measure 
establishes  a  new  department  to  handle 
munitions. 

June  9 — Premier  Asquith  announces  in  the 
House  of  Commons  that  the  total  British 
casualties  up  to  May  31  were  50,342  killed, 
153,980  wounded,  and  53,747  missing. 

June  15 — House  of  Commons  votes  a  war 
credit  of  $1,250,000,000,  making  a  total  of 
$4,310,000,000  thus  far  voted ;  Asquith  says 
expenditure  will  be  not  less  than  $15,000,- 
000  a  day. 

GREECE. 

June  15— Returns  of  the  general  election  show 
that  the  party  of  former  Premier  Veni- 
zelos,  who  has  been  in  favor  of  entering 
the  war  on  the  side  of  the  Allies,  has  a 
considerable  majority  in  Parliament. 

HOLLAND. 

May  19 — A  bill  is  being  prepared  providing  for 
universal  compulsory  military  service ;  the 
measure  will  increase  the  army  approx- 
imately to  1,000,000  men. 


814 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ITALY. 

May  10 — Italy  calls  to  the  colors  all  classes 
of  reserves  back  to  the  class  of  1870;  an 
Italian  army  of  (KX),00()  is  concentrated  at 
Verona. 

May  12 — Government  receives  what  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  final  proposal  of  Austria 
for  territorial  concessions ;  ex-Premier 
Giolitti,  one  of  the  most  influential  men 
in  Italy,  is  against  war ;  war  demonstra- 
tions are  being  held  all  over  Italy. 

May  14 — The  Cabinet  tenders  its  resignation 
to  the  King  because  of  the  strength  of  the 
anti-war  party,  led  by  former  Premier 
Giolitti ;  the  entire  country  is  in  a  tur- 
moil, there  being  much  indignation  over 
the  fall  of  the  Cabinet. 

May  15— Signor  Marcora  having  refused  to 
form  a  Cabinet,  and  a  similar  refusal 
having  been  made  by  Paolo  Carcano,  the 
King  asks  Salandra  to  resume  the  Pre- 
miership ;  Salandra  consents ;  the  people 
and  press  are  furious  with  Giolitti ;  the 
country  is  on  the  verge  of  revolt ;  troops 
save  the  Austrian  Embassy  from  attack. 

May  16— There  is  general  rejoicing  through- 
out the  country  over  the  retention  of 
office  by  Salandra;  it  is  reported  that 
Italy  now  has  1,700,000  men  mobilized  and 
equipped. 

May  19— Italy  issues  a  Green  Book,  tracing 
the  course  of  events  between  Italy  and 
Austria,  from  the  Italian  standpoint,  dur- 
ing recent  months ;  Italy  holds  that  Aus- 
tria has  violated  Article  VII.  of  the  Triple 
Alliance,  which  bound  Austria  to  refrain 
from  occupation  of  Balkan  territory  with- 
out agreement  with  Italy  and  due  com- 
pensation ;  in  the  invasion  of  Serbia  and 
occupation  of  her  cities,  Italy  claims  that 
Austria  has  broken  faith,  and  the  nego- 
tiations between  the  two  countries  have 
been  concerned  chiefly  with  compensation, 
Austria  not  meeting  Italian  demands. 

May  20 — Chamber  of  Deputies,  amid  wild  en- 
thusiasm, adopts,  by  a  vote  of  407  to  74, 
a  bill  conferring  full  power  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment to  make  war  ;  Premier  Salandra 
denounces  Austria  in  a  speech  which  is 
tremendously  acclaimed ;  he  says  she 
broke  her  alliance,  and  was  false  to  the 
treaty  in  its  substance,  form  and  spirit ; 
he  declares  that  Italy  has  long  been  for 
peace  and  strove  to  find  a  compromise 
which  would  restore  agreement's  reason 
for  being. 

May  21 — By  a  vote  of  262  to  2  the  Senate 
passes  the  bill  granting  plenary  powers 
to  the  Government ;  there  is  great  en- 
thusiasm in  the  Chamber ;  Italian  and 
Austrian  troops  continue  to  mass  at  the 
border ;  all  Italy  is  aflame  with  enthusi- 
asm. 
May  22 — General  mobilization  of  the  army 
and  navy  is  ordered ;  martial  law  is  pro- 
claimed, beginning  May  23,  in  Northeast- 
ern Italy ;  the  King  signs  the  bill  giving 
full   power    to    the   Salandra    Ministry    in 


the  present  emergency  and  for  "  the 
duration  of  the  war." 

May  23 — Duke  of  Avarna,  Italian  Ambassa- 
dor at  Austria,  presents  to  Baron  von 
Burian,  Austro-Hungarian  Foreign  Min- 
ister, a  declaration  of  war  by  Italy,  dated 
May  23,  but  not  to  take  effect  until  to- 
morrow ;  the  declaration  states  that  the 
treaty  of  alliance  between  Italy  and  Aus- 
tria has  been  violated  by  Austria ;  esti- 
mates put  the  total  Italian  war  strength 
at  3,300,000  when  all  reservists  are  called. 

May  24 — Italy  has  given  her  adhesion  to  the 
agreement,  already  signed  by  the  allied 
powers,  not  to  conclude  a  separate  peace. 

May  25— Italy  sends  a  note  to  the  United 
States  Government  explaining  her  break 
with  Austria ;  Italy  states  that  she  was 
forced  into  hostilities,  cites  a  long  list  of 
grievances,  and  declares  that,  despite 
warnings,  the  ultimatum  was  sent  to  Ser- 
bia without  notification  to  Rome;  this 
ultimatum,  so  sent,  declares  Italy,  vio- 
lated Article  I.  of  the  Triple  Alliance 
treaty,  which  provided  that  none  of  the 
contracting  parties  had  the  right  to  un- 
dertake, without  a  previous  agreement, 
any  step  whose  consequences  might  im- 
pose a  duty  upon  the  other  signatories 
arising  out  of  the  alliance,  or  which 
would  in  any  way  encroach  upon  their 
vital  interests ;  Italy  further  states  that 
the  Triple  Alliance  was  essentially  de- 
fensive ;  similar  notes  are  sent  by  Italy  to 
all  important  neutral  countries. 

May  28— The  Pope  declines  an  invitation  from 
Spain  to  make  his  headquarters  at  the 
Palace  of  the  Escurial. 

June  1;H — Official  joujnal  publishes  decree 
for  seizing  merchant  ships  of  Italy's  ene- 
mies in  the  ports  of  the  kingdom  and 
colonies. 

RUMANIA. 

June  1 — Rumania  has  1,000,000  fully  equipped 
men  ready  for  battle  against  Austria  on 
a  600-mile  front ;  a  note  to  Austria  con- 
taining Rumania's  demands  is  now  before 
the  Austrian  Government. 

June  6 — A  great  demonstration  is  held  in 
Bucharest  in  favor  of  Rumania's  joining 
the  war  with  the  Allies;  speakers  eulogize 
Italy  for  entering  the  war. 

RUSSIA. 
May  10— Figures  made  public  in  Petrograd 
show  that  the  total  number  of  prisoners 
taken  by  Russian  armies  and  interned 
in  Russia  up  to  April  1  was  10,734  offi- 
cers and  605,378  men ;  in  addition,  the 
statement  says  that  large  numbers  of 
Galician  prisoners  have  been  given  their 
liberty   and   sent  home. 

SAN  MARINO. 

June  3 — The  Republic  of  San  Marino  offi- 
cially approves  of  the  Italian  attitude 
toward  Austria  and  declares  war. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE  WAR 


8K 


SERBIA. 
May  24— The   Serbian   Army  has  been  reor- 
ganized ;   Great  Britain  and  France  have 
supplied  it  abundantly  with  artillery  and 
ammunition. 

SWEDEN. 

June  6 — Stockholm  reports  that  a  treaty  has 
been  ratified  between  Sweden  and  Russia, 
mutually  acknowledging  the  financial, 
commercial,  and  industrial  interests  of 
the  respective  countries. 

TURKEY. 

May  23 — A  joint  official  statement  issued  by 
Great  Britain,  France,  and  Russia  states 
that  for  the  past  month  Kurds  and  the 
Turkish  population  of  Armenia  have  been 
massacring  Armenians,  with  "  the  con- 
nivance and  help  of  the  Ottoman  authori- 
ties " ;  that  the  inhabitants  of  100  villages 
near  Van  were  all  assassinated  ;  that  mas- 
sacres have  taken  place  at  Erzerum, 
Dertshau,  Moush,  Zeitun,  and  in  all  Cili- 
cia  ;  that  the  allied  Governments  announce 
publicly  to  the  Sublime  Porte  that  "  they 
will  hold  all  members  of  the  Government, 
as  well  as  such  of  their  agents  as  are 
implicated,  personally  responsible  for  such 
massacres." 

June  6 — The  Krupps  have  established  a  large 
ammunition  factory  near  Constantinople. 

UNITED  STATES. 

May  3 — Government  is  obtaining  official  re- 
ports on  the  sinking  of  the  Gulflight  from 
Ambassadors  Page  and  Gerard. 

May  5 — State  Department  makes  public  the 
text  of  its  reply  to  the  German  note  in 
the  William  P.  Frye  case,  which  was  for- 
warded on  April  28 ;  the  reply  declines  the 
suggestion  that  a  German  prize  court 
pass  on  the  legality  of  the  destruction  and 
amount  of  indemnity ;  it  suggests  that  the 
German  Embassy  at  Washington  be  au- 
thorized to  deal  with  the  matter;  it  states 
that  unquestionably  the  destruction  of  the 
vessel  was  a  violation  of  old  treaties  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Prussia. 

May  6 — The  State  Department  has  replied  to 
the  German  complaint  that  the  German 
steamer  Odenwald  was  "  attacked  "  when 
she  attempted  to  leave  San  Juan,  Porto 
Rico,  without  clearance  papers ;  text  not 
made  public. 

May  IS — American  tank  steamer  Gushing  ar- 
rives in  Philadelphia,  and  Captain  Herland 
tells  the  details  of  the  attack  made  by  a 
German  aeroplane  on  April  28,  while  the 
ship  was  in  the  North  Sea ;  he  states  that 
the  aviator  manoeuvred  to  drop  a  bomb 
into  the  funnel,  from  a  height  of  .SOO  feet, 
but  the  three  bombs  thrown  missed  the 
ship ;  he  says  the  attack  took  place  at  7 
P.  M.,  but  there  was  ample  light  for  the 
aviator  to  see  the  ship's  name  in  eight- 
foot   letters,    and    the    American    flags   at 


the  masthead  and  the  taffrail ;  Secretary 
Bryan  has  cabled  to  Ambassador  Gerard, 
asking  whether  the  action  of  the  German 
Government  in  placing  the  William  P. 
Frye  case  in  a  prize  court  is  the  reply 
to  the  American  note  stating  that  the 
United  States  did  not  regard  prize  court 
proceedings    with    favor. 

May  21— Recent  orders  from  the  British  Gov- 
ernment bring  up  to  $100,000,000  the  total 
contracts  for  munitions  of  war  given  to 
the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company  since  hos- 
tilities began. 

May    22— The    French     Line    has    chartered 
thirty-seven   freight  steamships   to  aid   in 
transporting  the  huge  quantities  of  muni- 
nitions  of  war  waiting  shipment  from  the 
United  States  to  the  allied  countries. 
May  24— Italy  asks  the  United  States  to  take 
over  Italian  diplomatic  affairs  at  Vienna, 
and  the  United  States  consents ;  Germany, 
through     Ambassador     Gerard,      explains 
that   her   action    of   sending   the   William 
P.   Frye  case  to   a  prize  court   is   not  in- 
tended   as    an    answer    to    the    American 
note   on   the   matter,    but   is   a   necessary 
procedure  under  German  law. 
May  2.5 — United  States  issues  a  proclamation 
of  neutrality,  under  date  of  May  24,  cov- 
ering the  entry  of  Italy  into  the  war. 
May   29 — Federal    Court    at    Milwaukee    dis- 
misses   the    action    brought    by    General 
Samuel  Pearson,  former  Boer  commander, 
in  which  he  sought  to  restrain  the  Allis- 
Chalmers  Company  and  others  from  manu- 
facturing  shrapnel    shells,    which,    it    was 
alleged,  were  being  shipped  to  the  Allies; 
the  court  holds   that  the  relief  sought  by 
the  plaintiff  is  political  rather  than  legal. 
June   2— The    Allies    have    assured    the    State 
Department    that    Dr.    Dernburg    will    be 
given  safe  conduct  if  he  wishes  to  return 
to  Germany. 
June  4 — Germany  in  a  note  expresses  regret 
for  the  torpedoing  of  the  Gulflight,  which 
is  stated  to  have  been  due  to  a  mistake, 
and  offers  to  pay  for  the  damage. 
June  5 — German  war  bonds  are  being  sold  in 
this  country,   and  German-Americans  are 
buying  them  readily. 
June  8— There  are  persistent  rumors  that  Ger- 
man interests  are  trying  to  buy  American 
ammunition  factories  so  as  to  stop  ship- 
ments to  the  Allies. 
June  10— In   a  new  note  on   the  William   P. 
Frye  case  Germany  insists  that  the  case 
go  before  a   prize   court,    and   puts   forth 
the  contention  that  she  has  the   right  to 
destroy  any  American  ship  carrying  con- 
traband, the  contention  being  based  on  the 
American-Prussian  Treaty  of  1799. 
June    12— Dr.    Dernburg    sails    for    Bergen  on 
the  Norwegian  America  liner  Bergensf  jord. 

RELIEF. 

May  15 — A  national  Polish  relief  association 
is  being  organized  in  the  United  States; 
Paderewski,  now  in  New  York  in  the  in- 


813 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


terests  of  relief,  estimates  the  losses  of  his 
compatriots  by  the  war  at  $2,500,000,000; 
he  says  that  an  area  has  been  laid  waste 
equal  in  size  to  New  Yor)<  and  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  that  7,500  villages  have  been  com- 
pletely ruined ;  that  thousands  of  persons 
are  hiding  in  the  woods  and  feeding  on 
roots. 

May  16 — The  American  Commission  for  Re- 
lief in  Belgium  has  now  got  a  financial 
system  w^orking  in  Belgium  by  which  the 
great  bulk  of  food  needed  is  being  sup- 
plied indirectly  by  the  Belgians  them- 
selves through  their  own  energies  and  re- 
sources ;  75  per  cent,  of  the  Belgian  people 
are  being  supplied  with  food  through  the 
arrangements  made  by  the  commission, 
without  recourse  to  charity. 

May  20 — England  has  asked  American  sur- 
geons to  man  her  newest  and  largest  field 


hospital ;  as  a  result,  the  medical  i,chools 
of  Harvard,  Columbia,  and  Johns  Hopkins 
will  send  thirty-two  surgeons  and  physi- 
cians and  seventy-five  nurses ;  the  uni- 
versities will  bear  the  expenses  of  the 
corps. 

May  21— Carleton  Gibson  of  the  Commission 
for  relief  of  Poland  sends  a  report  to 
New  York  stating  that  in  that  part  of 
Russian  Poland  within  the  Austro-Ger- 
man  lines  conditions  are  much  worse  than 
in  the  worst  parts  of  Belgium  and  France, 
and  that  the  population  is  now  actually 
starving. 

May  22— The  Commission  for  Relief  in  Bel- 
gium states  that  about  1,.500,(KX)  persons 
are  now  destitute  in  Belgium  through 
unemployment;  the  monthly  food  require- 
menfs  of  the  Belgians  involve  an  expen- 
diture of  between  $7,000,000  and  ?8,0(J<J,oix>. 


To  the  Captain  of  the  U- 


By   HARRY    VARLET. 


You    have    drunk    your    toast    to    "  the 
Day  "  that  came; 
The  Cross  is  won,  for  you  did  not  fail. 
Do  you  thrill  with  joy  at  your  deathless 
fame? 
Your  hand  is  trembling,  your  lips  are 
pale! 
Ah!   you   drink   again — but  the  wine   is 
spilled, 
A  crimson  stain  on  the  snowy  white. 
Is    it   wine — or    blood    of    the    children 
killed? 
Captain !  what  of  the  night  ? 

When   the   black   night   comes   and   the 
Day  is  done, 
You   sleep,   and  dream   of  the   things 
that  float 
In  a  misty  sea  where  a  blood-red  sun 

Lights  up  the  dead  in  a  drifting  boat. 
Will  you  see  a  face  in  the  waves  that 
swell — 
A  baby's  face  that  is  cold  and  white? 
Will  your  sleep  be  sweet  or  a  glimp^T 
of  Hell? 
Captain!  what  of  the  night? 


Will  you  see  the  stare  of  the  small  blue 
eyes, 
The  tiny  fingers  of  whitest  wax 
That  will  point  at  you,  or  the  wound  that 
lies, 
A  clot  of  red  in  her  fairy  flax? 
Will  the  beads  that  burst  on  your  brows 
be  hot 
As  mothers'  tears  that  are  newly  shed  ? 
Will  each  sear  and  burn  like  a  blazing 
dot 
That  eats  its  way  through  your  tor- 
tured head? 

Will  you  see  the  ship  as  it  onward  sped — 
The    Thing    that    flew    at    your   fatal 
word? 
Will  the  dripping  ghosts  be  around  your 
bed— 
The    screams    of    the    dying    still    be 
heard  ? 
When  the  Big  Night  calls — and  you  must 
obey — 
Will    your    soul    shrink    in    its    awful 
fright? 
You  have  lived  your  life,  you  have  had 
your  Day, 
But,  Captain!  what  of  the  night? 


H.     M.     QUEEN     SOPHIA     OF     GREECE 

Sister  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  and  an  Ardent  Germanophile 

{Photo    from    Bain.) 


HIS     HOLINESS     BENEDICT     XV. 

The   Entrance  of  Italy  into   the    War   has   Increased   the    Delicary  <»f 
the  Pontiff's  Position 

(Photo    from     Internntionnl     News.) 


CURRENT    HISTORY 

A      MONTHLY      MAGAZINE 

THE    EUROPEAN    WAR 

AUGUST,      1915 

THE   LUSITANIA  CASE 

The  American  Note  to  Berlin  of  July  21 

Steps  Leading  Up  to  President  Wilson's  Rejection 
.  of  Germany's  Proposals 

THE  German  Admiralty  on  Feb.  4  proclaimed  a  war  zone  around  Great  Brit- 
ain announcing  that  every  enemy  merchant  ship  found  therein  would  bo 
destroyed  ''  without  its  being  always  possible  to  avert  the  dangers  threaten- 
ing the  crews  and  passengers  on  that  account." 
The  text  of  this  proclamation  was  made  known  by  Ambassador  Gerard  on 
Feb.  6.  Four  days  later  the  United  States  Government  sent  to  Germany  a  note 
of  protest  which  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  "  strict  accountability  note."  After 
pointing  out  that  a  serious  infringement  of  American  rights  on  the  high  seas  was 
likely  to  occur,  should  Germany  carry  out  her  war-zone  decree  in  the  manner 
she  had  proclaimed,  it  declared : 

"  If  such  a  deplorable  situation  should  arise,  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment can  readily  appreciate  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would  be 
constrained  to  hold  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  a  strict  accountability 
for  such  acts  of  their  naval  authorities  and  to  take  any  steps  it  might  be  necessary 
to  take  to  safeguard  American  lives  and  property  and  to  secure  to  American 
citizens  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  acknowledged  rights  on  the  high  seas." 

The  war-zone  decree  went  into  effect  on  Feb.  18.  Two  days  later  dispatches 
were  cabled  to  Ambassador  Page  at  London  and  to  Ambassador  Gerard  at  Berlin 
suggesting  that  a  modus  vivendi  be  entered  into  by  England  and  Germany  by 
which  submarine  warfare  and  sowing  of  mines  at  sea  might  be  abandoned  if  food- 
stuffs were  allowed  to  reach  the  German  civil  population  under  American  consular 
inspection. 

Germany  replied  to  this  on  March  1,  expressing  her  willingness  to  act 
favorably  on  the  proposal.  The  same  day  the  British  Government  stated  that  be- 
cause of  the  war-zone  decree  of  the  German  Goverivnent  the  British  Government 
must  take  measures  to  prevent  commodities  of  all  kinds  from  reaching  or  leaving 
Germany.  On  March  15  the  British  Government  flatly  refused  the  modus  vivendi 
suggestion. 


818  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

On  April  4  Count  von  Bernstorff,  the  German  Ambassador  at  Washington, 
submitted  a  memorandum  to  the  United  States  Government  regarding  Germyn- 
American  trade  and  the  exportation  of  arms.  Mr.  Bryan  replied  to  the  memo- 
randum on  April  21,  insisting  that  the  United  States  was  preserving  her  strict 
status  of  neutrality  according  to  the  accepted  laws  of  nations. 

On  May  7  the  Cunard  steamship  Lusitania  was  sunk  by  a  German  submarine 
in  the  war  zone  as  decreed  by  Germany,  and  more  than  100  American  citizens 
perished,  with  1,000  other  persons  on  board. 

Thereupon,  on  May  13,  the  United  States  transmitted  to  the  German  Gov- 
ernment a  note  on  the  subject  of  this  loss.    It  said: 

"  American  citizens  act  within  their  indisputable  rights  in  taking  their  ships 
and  in  traveling  wherever  their  legitimate  business  calls  them  upon  the  high 
seas,  and  exercise  those  rights  in  what  should  be  the  well  -justified  confidence 
that  their  lives  will  not  be  endangered  by  acts  done  in  clear  violation  of  universally 
acknowledged  international  obligations,  and  certainly  in  the  confidence  that  their 
own  Government  will  sustain  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights." 

This  note  concluded: 

"  The  Imperial  Government  will  not  expect  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  omit  any  word  or  any  act  necessary  to  the  performance  of  its  sacrod 
duty  of  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citizens  and  of  safe- 
guarding their  free  exercise   and  enjoyment." 

Germany  replied  to  this  note  on  May  29.  It  stated  that  it  had  heard  that 
the  Lusitania  was  an  armed  naval  ship  which  had  attempted  to  use  American 
passengers  as  a  protection,  and  that,  anyway,  such  passengers  should  not  have 
been  present.     It  added : 

"  The  German  commanders  are  consequently  no  longer  in  a  position  to  observe 
tlie  rules  of  capture  otherwise  usual  and  with  which  they  .invariablj'  complied 
before  this." 

To  the  foregoing  the  United  States  maintained  in  a  note  sent  to  the  German 
Government  on  June  9  that  the  Lusitania  was  not  an  armed  vessel  and  that  she 
had  sailed  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  that  "  only  her 
actual  resistance  to  capture  or  refusal  to  stop  when  ordered  to  do  so  *  *  *  could 
have  afforded  the  commander  of  the  submarine  any  justification  for  so  much  as 
putting  the  lives  of  those  on  board  the  ship  in  jeopardy." 

In  support  of  this  view  the  note  cited  international  law  and  added: 

"  It  is  upon  this  principle  of  humanity,  as  well  as  upon  the  law  founded  upon 
this  principle,  that  the  United  States  must  stand." 

Exactly  one  month  later,  on  July  9,  came  Germany's  reply.  Its  preamble 
praised  the  United  States  for  its  humane  attitude  and  said  that  Germany  was  fully 
in  accord  therewith.  Something,  it  asserted,  should  be  done,  for  "  the  case  of  the 
Lusitania  shows  with  horrible  clearness  to  what  jeopardizing  of  human  lives  the 
manner  of  conducting  war  employed  by  our  adversaries  leads,"  and  that  under 
certain  conditions  which  it  set  forth,  American  ships  might  have  safe  passage 
through  the  war  zone,  or  even  some  enemy  ships  flying  the  American  flag.  It 
continued : 

"  The  Imperial  Government,  however,  confidently  hopes  the  American  Gov- 
ernment will  assume  to  guarantee  that  these  vessels  have  no  contraband  on  board, 
details  of  arrangements  for  the  unhampered  passage  of  these  vessels  to  be  agreed 
upon  by  the  naval  authorities  of  both  sides." 

It  is  to  this  reply  that  the  note  of  the  United  States  Government  made  public 
on  July  24  is  an  answer. 

Germany's  reply  of  July  8  and  President  Wilson's  final  rejoinder  of  July  21 — 
which  was  given  to  the  American  press  of  July  24 — are  presented  below,  together 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE  819 


with  accounts  of  the  recent  German  submarine  attacks  on  the  ships  Armenian, 
Anglo-Californian,  Normandy,  and  Orduna,  involving  American  lives,  and  an 
appraisal  of  the  German  operations  in  the  submarine  "  war  zone  "  since  February 
18,  1915,  when  it  was  proclaimed.  Also  Austro-Hungary's  note  of  June  29,  pro- 
testing against  American  exports  of  arms,  and  an  account  of  American  and 
German  press  opinion  on  the  Lusitania  case  are  treated  hereunder. 

THE   GERMAN  MINISTER  FOR  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  TO 
THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  AT  BERLIN 

BERLIN,  July  8,  1915. 

The  undersigned  has  the  honor  to  make  the  following  reply  to 
his  Excellency  Ambassador  Gerard  to  the  note  of  the  10th  ultimo  re 
the  impairment  of  American  interests  by  the  German  submarine  war : 

The  Imperial  Government  learned  with  satisfaction  from  the 
note  how  earnestly  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  concerned 
in  seeing  the  principles  of  humanity  realized  in  the  present  war. 
Also  this  appeal  finds  ready  echo  in  Germany,  and  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment is  quite  willing  to  permit  its  statements  and  decisions  in  the 
present  case  to  be  governed  by  the  principles  of  humanity  just  as  it 
has  done  always. 

The  Imperial  Government  welcomed  with  gratitude  when  the 
American  Government,  in  the  note  of  May  15,  itself  recalled  that  Ger- 
many had  always  permitted  itself  to  be  governed  by  the  principles 
of  progress  and  humanity  in  dealing  with  the  law  of  maritime  war. 

Since  the  time  when  Frederick  the  Great  negotiated  with  John 
Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  the  Treaty  of 
Friendship  and  Commerce  of  September  9,  1785,  between  Prussia 
and  the  Republic  of  the  West,  German  and  American  statesmen  have, 
in  fact,  always  stood  together  in  the  struggle  for  the  freedom  of  the 
seas  and  for  the  protection  of  peaceable  trade. 

In  the  international  proceedings  which  since  have  been  conducted 
for  the  regulation  of  the  laws  of  maritime  war,  Germany  and  America 
have  jointly  advocated  progressive  principles,  especially  the  abolish- 
ment of  the  right  of  capture  at  sea  and  the  protection  of  the  interests 
of  neutrals. 

Even  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  the  German  Govern- 
ment immediately  declared  its  willingness,  in  response  to  proposals 
of  the  American  Government,  to  ratify  the  Declaration  of  London 
and  thereby  subject  itself  in  the  use  of  its  naval  forces  to  all  the 
restrictions  provided  therein  in  favor  of  neutrals. 

Germany  likewise  has  been  always  tenacious  of  the  principle  that 
war  should  be  conducted  against  the  armed  and  organized  forces  of 
an  enemy  country,  but  that  the  enemy  civilian  population  must  be 
spared  as  far  as  possible  from  the  measures  of  war.  The  Imperial 
Government  cherishes  the  definite  hope  that  some  way  will  be  found 
when  peace  is  concluded,  or  perhaps  earlier,  to  regulate  the  law  of 


820  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

maritime  war  in  a  manner  guaranteeing  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  and 
will  welcome  it  with  gratitude  and  satisfaction  if  it  can  work  hand  in 
hand  with  the  American  Government  on  that  occasion. 

If  in  the  present  war  the  principles  which  should  be  the  ideal  of 
the  future  have  been  traversed  more  and  more,  the  longer  its  dura- 
tion, the  German  Government  has  no  guilt  therein.  It  is  known  to 
the  American  Government  how  Germany's  adversaries,  by  completely 
paralyzing  peaceful  traffic  between  Germany  and  neutral  countries, 
have  aimed  from  the  very  beginning  -and  with  increasing  lack  of  con- 
sideration at  the  destruction  not  so  much  of  the  armed  forces  as  the 
life  of  the  German  nation,  repudiating  in  doing  so  all  the  rules  of  in- 
ternational law  and  disregarding  all  rights  of  neutrals. 

On  November  3,  1914,  England  declared  the  North  Sea  a  war 
area,  and  by  planting  poorly  anchored  mines  and  by  the  stoppage 
and  capture  of  vessels,  made  passage  extremely  dangerous  and  diffi- 
cult for  neutral  shipping,  thereby  actually  blockading  neutral  coasts 
and  ports  contrary  to  all  international  law.  Long  before  the  begin- 
ning of  submarine  war  England  practically  completely  intercepted 
legitimate  neutral  navigation  to  Germany  also.  Thus  Germany  was 
driven  to  a  submarine  war  on  trade. 

On  November  14,  1914,  the  English  Premier  declared  in  the 
House  of  Commons  that  it  was  one  of  England's  principal  tasks  to 
prevent  food  for  the  German  population  from  reaching  Germany 
via  neutral  ports.  Since  March  1  England  has  been  taking  from 
neutral  ships  without  further  formality  all  merchandise  proceeding 
to  Germany,  as  well  as  all  merchandise  coming  from  Germany,  even 
when  neutral  property.  Just  as  it  was  also  with  the  Boers,  the  Ger- 
man people  is  now  to  be  given  the  choice  of  perishing  from  starva- 
tion with  its  women  and  children  or  of  relinquishing  its  independence. 

While  our  enemies  thus  loudly  and  openly  proclaimed  war  with- 
out mercy  until  our  utter  destruction,  we  were  conducting  a  war  in 
self-defense  for  our  national  existence  and  for  the  sake  of  peace  of 
an  assured  permanency.  We  have  been  obliged  to  adopt  a  sub- 
marine warfare  to  meet  the  declared  intentions  of  our  enemies  and 
the  method  of  warfare  adopted  by  them  in  contravention  of  inter- 
national law. 

With  all  its  efforts  in  principle  to  protect  neutral  life  and  prop- 
erty from  damage  as  much  as  possible,  the  German  Government 
recognized  unreservedly  in  its  memorandum  of  February  4  that  the 
interests  of  neutrals  might  suffer  from  the  submarine  warfare.  How- 
ever, the  American  Government  will  also  understand  and  appreciate 
that  in  the  fight  for  existence,  which  has  been  forced  upon  Germany 
by  its  adversaries  and  announced  by  them,  it  is  the  sacred  duty  of 
the  Imperial  Government  to  do  all  within  its  power  to  protect  and 
save  the  lives  of  German  subjects.    If  the  Imperial  Government  were 


THE   LUSITANIA    CASE  821 


derelict  in  these,  its  duties,  it  would  be  guilty  before  God  and  history 
of  the  violation  of  those  principles  of  highest  humanity  which  are 
the  foundation  of  every  national  existence. 

The  case  of  the  Lusitania  shows  with  horrible  clearness  to  what 
jeopardizing  of  human  lives  the  manner  of  conducting  war  employed 
by  our  adversaries  leads.  In  the  most  direct  contradiction  of  inter- 
national law  all  distinctions  between  merchantmen  and  war  vessels 
have  been  obliterated  by  the  order  to  British  merchantmen  to  arm 
themselves  and  to  ram  submarines,  and  the  promise  of  rewards  there- 
for, and  neutrals  who  use  merchantmen  as  travelers  thereby  have 
been  exposed  in  an  increasing  degree  to  all  the  dangers  of  war. 

If  the  commander  of  the  German  submarine  which  destroyed 
the  Lusitania  had  caused  the  crew  and  passengers  to  take  to  the 
boats  before  firing  a  torpedo  this  would  have  meant  the  sure  destruc- 
tion of  his  own  vessel.  After  the  experiences  in  sinking  much  smaller 
and  less  seaworthy  vessels  it  was  to  be  expected  that  a  mighty  ship 
like  the  Lusitania  would  remain  above  water  long  enough,  even 
after  the  torpedoing,  to  permit  passengers  to  enter  the  ship's  boats. 
Circumstances  of  a  very  peculiar  kind,  especially  the  presence  on 
board  of  large  quantities  of  highly  explosive  materials,  defeated  this 
expectation. 

In  addition  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  if  the  Lusitania  had  been 
spared,  thousands  of  cases  of  munitions  would  have  been  sent  to 
Germany's  enemies  and  thereby  thousands  of  German  mothers  and 
children  robbed  of  breadwinners. 

In  the  spirit  of  friendship  wherewith  the  German  nation  has  been 
imbued  toward  the  Union  (United  States)  and  its  inhabitants  since 
the  earliest  days  of  its  existence,  the  Imperial  Government  will  al- 
ways be  ready  to  do  all  it  can  during  the  present  war  also  to  prevent 
the  jeopardizing  of  lives  of  American  citizens. 

The  Imperial  Government,  therefore,  repeats  the  assurances  that 
American  ships  will  not  be  hindered  in  the  prosecution  of  legitimate 
shipping  and  the  lives  of  American  citizens  in  neutral  vessels  shall 
not  be  placed  in  jeopardy. 

In  order  to  exclude  any  unforeseen  dangers  to  American  pas- 
senger steamers,  made  possible  in  view  of  the  conduct  of  maritime 
war  by  Germany's  adversaries,  German  submarines  will  be  instructed 
to  permit  the  free  and  safe  passage  of  such  passenger  steamers  when 
made  recognizable  by  special  markings  and  notified  a  reasonable  time 
in  advance.  The  Imperial  Government,  however,  confidently  hopes 
that  the  American  Government  will  assume  to  guarantee  that  these 
vessels  have  no  contraband  on  board,  details  of  arrangements  for 
the  unhampered  passage  of  these  vessels  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the 
naval  authorities  of  both  sides. 

In  order  to  furnish  adequate  facilities  for  travel  across  the 


822  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

Atlantic  for  American  citizens,  the  German  Government  submits  for 
consideration  a  proposal  to  increase  the  number  of  available  steamers 
by  installing  in  passenger  service  a  reasonable  number  of  neutral 
steamers  under  the  American  flag,  the  exact  number  to  be  agreed 
upon  under  the  same  condition  as  the  above-mentioned  American 
steamers. 

The  Imperial  Government  believes  it  can  assume  that  in  this 
manner  adequate  facilities  for  travel  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  can 
be  afforded  American  citizens.  There  would,  therefore,  appear  to 
be  no  compelling  necessity  for  American  citizens  to  travel  to  Europe 
in  time  of  war  on  sliips  carrying  an  enemy  flag.  In  particular  the 
Imperial  Government  is  unable  to  admit  that  American  citizens  can 
protect  an  enemy  ship  through  the  mere  fact  of  their  presence  on 
board. 

Germany  merely  followed  England's  example  when  she  declared 
part  of  the  high  seas  an  area  of  war.  Consequently,  accidents  suf- 
fered by  neutrals  on  enemy  ships  in  this  area  of  war  cannot  well  be 
judged  differently  from  accidents  to  which  neutrals  are  at  all  times 
exposed  at  the  seat  of  war  on  land,  when  they  betake  themselves  into 
dangerous  localities  in  spite  of  previous  warnings.  If,  however, 
it  should  not  be  possible  for  the  American  Government  to  acquire  an 
adequate  number  of  neutral  passenger  steamers,  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment is  prepared  to  interpose  no  objections  to  the  placing  under 
the  American  flag  by  the  American  Government  of  four  enemy  pas- 
senger steamers  for  passenger  traffic  between  North  America  and 
England.  Assurances  of  "  free  and  safe  "  passage  for  American  pas- 
senger steamers  would  then  extend  to  apply  under  the  identical  pro- 
conditions  to  these  formerly  hostile  passenger  steamers. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  declared  his  readiness, 
in  a  way  deserving  of  thanks,  to  communicate  and  suggest  proposals 
to  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  with  particular  reference  to  the 
alteration  of  maritime  war.  The  Imperial  Government  will  always 
be  glad  to  make  use  of  the  good  offices  of  the  President,  and  hopes 
that  his  efforts  in  the  present  case  as  well  as  in  the  direction  of  the 
lofty  ideal  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  will  lead  to  an  understanding. 

The  undersigned  requests  the  Ambassador  to  bring  the  above 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  American  Government,  and  avails  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  renew  to  his  Excellency  the  assurance  of  his 
most  distinguished  consideration. 

VON  JAGOW. 


The  American  Rejoinder 

THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  AT  WASHINGTON  TO  THE 
AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  AT  BERLIN 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 
Wasliington,  July  21,  1915. 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador  Gerard : 

You  are  instructed  to  deliver  textually  the  following  note  to  the 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs : 

The  note  of  the  Imperial  German  Government,  dated  the  8th 
day  of  July,  1915,  has  received  the  careful  consideration  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  and  it  regrets  to  be  obliged  to  say  that 
it  has  found  it  very  unsatisfactory,  because  it  fails  to  meet  the  real 
differences  between  the  two  Governments,  and  indicates  no  way  in 
which  the  accepted  principles  of  law  and  humanity  may  be  applied 
in  the  grave  matter  in  controversy,  but  proposes,  on  the  contrary, 
arrangements  for  a  partial  suspension  of  those  principles  which  vir- 
tually set  them  aside. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  notes  with  satisfaction 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  recognizes  without  reserva- 
tion the  validity  of  the  principles  insisted  on  in  the  several  com- 
munications which  this  Government  has  addressed  to  the  Imperial 
German  Government  with  regard  to  its  announcement  of  a  war  zone 
and  the  use  of  submarines  against  merchantmen  on  the  high  seas — 
the  principle  that  the  high  seas  are  free,  that  the  character  and  cargo 
of  a  merchantman  must  first  be  ascertained  before  she  can  lawfully 
be  seized  or  destroyed,  and  that  the  lives  of  noncombatants  may  in 
no  case  be  put  in  jeopardy  unless  the  vessel  resists  or  seeks  to  escape 
after  being  summoned  to  submit  to  examination,  for  a  belligerent 
act  of  retaliation  is  per  se  an  act  beyond  the  law,  and  the  defense  of 
an  act  as  retaliatory  is  an  admission  that  it  is  illegal. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is,  however,  keenly  disap- 
pointed to  find  that  the  Imperial  German  Government  regards  itself 
as  in  large  degree  exempt  from  the  obligation  to  observe  these  prin- 
ciples, even  when  neutral  vessels  are  concerned,  by  what  it  believes 
the  policy  and  practice  of  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  to  be 
in  the  present  war  with  regard  to  neutral  commerce.  The  Imperial 
German  Government  will  readily  understand  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  cannot  discuss  the  policy  of  the  Government 
of  Great  Britain  with  regard  to  neutral  trade  except  with  that  Gov- 
ernment itself,  and  that  it  must  regard  the  conduct  of  other  belliger- 
ent governments  as  irrelevant  to  any  discussion  with  the  Imperial 
German  Government  of  what  this  Government  regards  as  grave  and 


824  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

unjustifiable  violations  of  the  rights  of  American  citizens  by  German 
naval  commanders. 

Illegal  and  inhuman  acts,  however  justifiable  they  may  be 
thought  to  be,  against  an  enemy  who  is  believed  to  have  acted  in 
contravention  of  law  and  humanity,  are  manifestly  indefensible  when 
they  deprive  neutrals  of  their  acknowledged  rights,  particularly  when 
they  violate  the  right  to  life  itself.  If  a  belligerent  cannot  retaliate 
against  an  enemy  without  injuring  the  lives  of  neutrals,  as  well  as 
their  property,  humanity,  as  well  as  justice  and  a  due  regard  for  the 
dignity  of  neutral  powers,  should  dictate  that  the  practice  be  discon- 
tinued. If  persisted  in  it  would  in  such  circumstances  constitute  an 
unpardonable  offense  against  the  sovereignty  of  the  neutral  nation 
affected. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  not  unmindful  of  the 
extraordinary  conditions  created  by  this  war  or  of  the  radical  altera- 
tions of  circumstance  and  method  of  attack  produced  by  the  use 
of  instrumentalities  of  naval  warfare  which  the  nations  of  the  world 
cannot  have  had  in  view  when  the  existing  rules  of  international  law 
were  formulated,  and  it  is  ready  to  make  every  reasonable  allowance 
for  these  novel  and  unexpected  aspects  of  war  at  sea ;  but  it  cannot 
consent  to  abate  any  essential  or  fundamental  right  of  its  people 
because  of  a  mere  alteration  of  circumstance.  The  rights  of  neutrals 
in  time  of  war  are  based  upon  principle,  not  upon  expediency,  and 
the  principles  are  immutable.  It  is  the  duty  and  obligation  of  bel- 
ligerents to  find  a  way  to  adapt  the  new  circumstances  to  them. 

The  events  of  the  past  two  months  have  clearly  indicated  that  it 
is  possible  and  practicable  to  conduct  such  submarine  operations  as 
have  characterized  the  activity  of  the  Imperial  German  Navy  within 
the  so-called  war  zone  in  substantial  accord  with  the  accepted  prac- 
tices of  regulated  warfare.  The  whole  world  has  looked  with  interest 
and  increasing  satisfaction  at  the  demonstration  of  that  possibility 
by  German  naval  commanders.  It  is  manifestly  possible,  therefore, 
to  lift  the  whole  practice  of  submarine  attack  above  the  criticism 
which  it  has  aroused  and  remove  the  chief  causes  of  offense. 

In  view  of  the  admission  of  illegality  made  by  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment when  it  pleaded  the  right  of  retaliation  in  defense  of  its 
acts,  and  in  view  of  the  manifest  possibility  of  conforming  to  the 
established  rules  of  naval  warfare,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  cannot  believe  that  the  Imperial  Government  will  longer  re- 
frain from  disavowing  the  wanton  act  of  its  naval  commander  in 
sinking  the  Lusitania  or  from  offering  reparation  for  the  American 
lives  lost,  so  far  as  reparation  can  be  made  for  a  needless  destruc- 
tion of  human  life  by  an  illegal  act. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  while  not  indifferent  to 
the  friendly  spirit  in  which  it  is  made,  cannot  accept  the  suggestion 


THE   LUSITANIA    CASE  825 


of  the  Imperial  German  Government  that  certain  vessels  be  desig- 
nated and  agreed  upon  which  shall  be  free  on  the  seas  now  illegally 
proscribed.  The  very  agreement  would,  by  implication,  subject  other 
vessels  to  illegal  attack,  and  would  be  a  curtailment  and  therefore 
an  abandonment  of  the  principles  for  which  this  Government  con- 
tends, and  which  in  times  of  calmer  counsels  every  nation  would  con- 
cede as  of  course. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  Imperial  German 
Government  are  contending  for  the  same  great  object,  have  long 
stood  together  in  urging  the  very  principles  upon  which  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  now  so  solemnly  insists.  They  are  both 
contending  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas.  The  Government  of  the 
United  States  will  continue  to  contend  for  that  freedom,  from  what- 
ever quarter  violated,  without  compromise  and  at  any  cost.  It  invites 
the  practical  co-operation  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  at 
this  time,  when  co-operation  may  accomplish  most  and  this  great 
common  object  be  most  strikingly  and  effectively  achieved. 

The  Imperial  German  Government  expresses  the  hope  that  this 
object  may  be  in  some  measure  accomplished  even  before  the  present 
war  ends.  It  can  be.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  not  only 
feels  obliged  to  insist  upon  it,  by  whomsoever  violated  or  ignored,  in 
the  protection  of  its  own  citizens,  but  is  also  deeply  interested  in 
seeing  it  made  practicable  between  the  belligerents  themselves,  and 
holds  itself  ready  at  any  time  to  act  as  the  common  friend  who  may 
be  privileged  to  suggest  a  way. 

In  the  meantime  the  very  value  which  this  Government  sets  upon 
the  long  and  unbroken  friendship  between  the  people  and  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  and  the  people  and  Government  of  the 
German  nation  impels  it  to  press  very  solemnly  upon  the  Imperial 
German  Government  the  necessity  for  a  scrupulous  observance  of 
neutral  rights  in  this  critical  matter.  Friendship  itself  prompts  it 
to  say  to  the  Imperial  Government  that  repetition  by  the  commanders 
of  German  naval  vessels  of  acts  in  contravention  of  those  rights 
must  be  regarded  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  when 
they  affect  American  citizens,  as  deliberately  unfriendly. 

LANSING. 

German  and  American  Press  Opinion 

ON      THE     GEKMAN     NOTE     OF  Germans   and   brought   relief   to   them, 

jTjT  Y    8  ^^^  *^®  mere  thought  that  the  submarine 

war   would   be   abandoned   would  cause 

THE  German  answer  to  the  United  widespread    resentment. 

States  with  regard  to  submarine  The   Berlin   newspapers   printed   long 

warfare  was  reported  from  Ber-  editorials    approving    the    Government's 

lin  on  July  10  as  having  caused  stand    and    "  conciliatory "    tone.     Cap- 

the  most  intense  satisfaction  among  the  tain  Perseus,  in  the  Tageblatt,  said  that 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  "  new  note  makes  clearer  that  the 
present  course  will  be  continued  with 
the  greatest  possible  consideration  for 
American  interests."  The  note  "  stands 
under  the  motto,  '  On  the  way  to  an 
understanding,'  without,  however,  fail- 
ing to  emphasize  the  firm  determination 
that  our  interests  must  hold  first  place  ", 
in  other  words,  that  Germany  "  cannot 
surrender  the  advantages  that  the  use 
of  the  submarine  weapon  gives  to  the 
German  people." 

The  Lokal  Anzeiger  of  Berlin  com- 
mented : 

"  Feeling  has  undoubtedly  cooled 
down  somewhat  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water,  and  Americans  will  undoubtedly 
admit  that  it  is  not  Germany  that  tries 
to  monopolize  the  freedom  of  the  seas 
for  itself  alone. 

"In  any  event,  we  have  now  done  .our 
utmost  and  can  quietly  await  what  an- 
swer President  Wilson  and  his  advisers 
will   think    suitable." 

George  Bernhard  in  the  Vossische  Zei- 
tung  remarked  that  the  publication  of 
the  note  means  "  liberation  from  many 
of  the  doubts  that  have  excited  a  large 
part  of  the  German  people  in  recent 
weeks.  The  note  *  *  *  means  uncondi- 
tional refusal  to  let  any  outsider  pre- 
scribe to  us  how  far  and  with  what 
weapons  we  may  defend  ourselves 
against   England's   hunger   war." 

What  they  considered  the  moderation 
of  the  note  impressed  most  Berlin  news- 
papers. Thus  the  Morgen  Post  said: 
"  Those  who  had  advised  that  we  ought 
to  humble  ourselves  before  America  will 
be  just  as  disappointed  as  those  who 
thought  we  ought  to  bring  the  fist  down 
on  the  table  and  answer  America's  rep- 
resentations with  a  war  threat." 

Count  von  Reventlow,  radical  editor  of 
the  Tageszeitung,  said:  "The  substance 
of  the  proposals  is  to  create  a  situation 
making  it  unnecessary  for  Americans 
to  travel  to  Europe  on  ships  under  an 
enemy  flag,"  and  the  Tagliche  Rund- 
schau said  that  the  "  answer  with 
gratifying  decisiveness,  guards  the  con- 
science of  the  nation  in  the  question  of 
continuing  the  submarine  war,"  but  it 
criticises  the  note  for  possibly  going  too 
far  in  making  concessions,  which  "  may 


prove  impracticable  and  result  in  weak- 
ening the  submarine  war." 

The  unfavorable  reception  of  Ger- 
many's note  in  the  United  States,  as 
reported  through  English  and  French 
agencies,  was  read  in  Berlin  with  in- 
credulity. 

The  Kreuz-Zeitung,  the  Tageszeitung, 
and  the  Boersen  Zeitung  expressed  the 
belief  that  British  and  French  news 
agencies  had  purposely  selected  unfa- 
vorable editorial  expressions  from  the 
American  newspapers  for  the  sake  of 
the  effect  they  would  have  in  Great 
Britain   and    France. 

"  Regarding  the  reception  of  the  Ger- 
man note  in  America,"  the  Kreuz- 
Zeitung  said,  "  several  additional  re- 
ports from  British  sources  are  now  st 
hand.  Reuter's  Telegram  Company  pre- 
sents about  a  dozen  short  sentences  from 
as  many  American  papers.  Were  these 
really  approximately  a  faithful  picture 
of  the  thought  of  the  American  press 
as  a  unit,  we  should  have  to  discard 
every  hope  of  a  possibility  of  an  under- 
standing. The  conception  of  a  great 
majority  of  the  German  people  is  that 
we  showed  in  our  note  an  earnest  desire 
to  meet,  as  far  as  possibly  justified, 
American   interests." 

Like  the  Berlin  press,  German-Amer- 
ican newspapers  were  unanimous  in 
praise  of  the  German  note;  to  the  New 
Yorker  Staats-Zeitung  it  appeared  a 
"  sincere  effort  to  meet  the  questions 
involved  "  and  as  "  eminently  satisfac- 
tory." The  New  Yorker  Herold  thought 
that  any  one  with  "  even  a  spark  of  im- 
partiality "  would  have  to  admit  the 
"  quiet,  conciliatory  tone  of  the  Ger- 
man note "  as  "  born  of  the  conscious- 
ness in  the  heart  of  every  German  that 
Germany  did  not  want  the  war " ;  that 
after  it  was  forced  on  her  she  "  waged 
ft  with  honorable  means."  The  Illinois 
Staats-Zeitung  of  Chicago  declared  it 
to  be  the  "  just  demand  of  Germany " 
that  Americans  should  not  "  by  their 
presence  on  hostile  boats  try  to  protect 
war  materials  to  be  delivered  by  a 
friendly  nation  at  a  hostile  shore."  From 
the  Cincinnati  Freie  Presse  came  the 
comment  that  Washington  "  has  no  busi- 


THE   LU  SIT  AN  I A    CASE 


827 


ness  to  procure  safety  on  the  ocean  for 
British   ships   carrying  ammunition." 

The  American  newspapers  were  near- 
ly unanimous  in  adverse  criticism  of  the 
note.  The  [New  York  Times  said  that 
Germany's  request  was  "  to  suspend  the 
law  of  nations,  the  laws  of  war  and  of 
humanity  for  her  benefit."  The  Chicago 
Herald  declared  that  the  German  an- 
swer "  is  disappointing  to  all  who  had 
hoped  that  it  would  clearly  open  the 
way  to  a  continuance  of  friendly  rela- 
tions." While  the  San  Francisco  Chron- 
icle discerned  in  the  note  "  an  entire 
absence  of  the  belligerent  spirit,"  it 
found  that  "  Germany  is  asking"  us 
to  abridge  certain  of  our  rights  on 
the  high  seas."  To  the  Denver  Post 
the  reply  was  the  "  extreme  of  arro- 
gance, selfishness,  and  obstinacy,"  while 
The  Atlanta  (Ga.)  Constitution  re- 
marks that  German  words  and  German 
deeds  are  separate  matters :  "  The  all- 
important  fact  remains  that  since  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  first  note  was  transmitted 
to  that  country,  Germany  has  given  us 
no  single  reasonable  cause  of  complaint." 
The  Louisville  (Ky.)  Courier-Journal 
believes  the  German  reply  would  carry 
more  weight  and  persuasion  "  if  it  could 
be  considered  wholly  and  apart  as  an 
ex  parte  statement."  "  Without  equivo- 
cation and  with  a  politeness  of  offensive- 
ly insinuating,"  the  Boston  Transcript 
concludes,  "Germany  rejects  each  and  all 
of  our  demands  and  attempts  to  bargain 
with  reelect  to  ti)e  future." 

ON  THE  AMERICAN  NOTE  OF 
JULY  21 

Publication  of  the  American  note  in 
Berlin  was  delayed  imtil  July  25,  owing 
to  difficulty  in  translating  its  shades  of 
meaning.  While  German  statesmen  and 
editors  expressed  keen  appreciation  of 
its  literary  style,  the  press  was  unani- 
mous in  considering  the  note  disappoint- 
ing, expressing  pained  surprise  at  the 
American  stand.  Captain  Perseus, 
naval  critic  of  the  Berlin  Tageblatt,  said 
that  the  note  "  expresses  a  determina- 
tion to  rob  us  of  the  weapon  to  wlilch  we 
pin  the  greatest  hopes  in  the  war  on 
England,"  and  indicates  that  the  "  pro- 


British  troublemakers  have  finally  won 
over  the  President."  Count  von  Revent- 
low  in  the  Tageszeitung  complains  of 
the  note's  "  far  too  threatening  and 
peremptory  tone."  The  Kreuz-Zeitung 
says :  "  We  are  trying  hard  to  resist  the 
thought  that  the  United  States  with  its 
standpoint  as  expressed  in  the  note,  aims 
at  supporting  England,"  and  Georg 
Bernhard  of  the  Vossische  Zeitung  be- 
lieves that  yielding  to  President  Wil- 
son's argument  means  "  the  weakening 
of  Germany  to  the  enemy's  advantage," 
adding  that  any  one  who  has  this  in 
mind  "  is  not  neutral,  but  takes  sides 
against  Germany  and  for  her  enemies." 
The  Boersen  Zeitung  says  it  is  com- 
pelled to  say,  with  regret,  that  the  note 
is  very  unsatisfactory  and  "  one  cannot 
escape  feeling  that  the  shadow  of  En- 
gland stands  behind  it."  The  New 
Yorker  Staats-Zeitung  says  that  the  note 
is  distinguished  for  its  "  clear  language," 
and  quotes  the  phrase  "  deliberately  un- 
friendly "  while  noting  the  demand  for 
disavowal  and  reparation.  "  Of  quite 
unusual  weight,"  the  Staats-Zeitung 
says,  "  is  the  hint  on  the  fact  that  the 
United  States  and  Germany,  so  far  as 
the  freedom  of  the  seas  is  concerned, 
have  the  same  object  in  view."  "  Sharp 
and  clear  is  it  also  explained  "  that  af- 
ter the  end  of  the  war  the  United  States 
is  "  ready  to  play  the  role  of  an  inter- 
mediary, in  order  to  find  a  practicable 
way  out."  In  fact,  the  note  handed  to 
the  Government  in  Berlin  "  is  at  the 
same  time  meant  for  London,"  since  it 
expresses  itself  as  determined  to  protect 
neutrals  ''  against  every  one  of  the  war- 
ring nations."  The  New  Yorker  Herold 
is  "  certain  that  the  complications  will 
be  settled  amicably,"  while  the  Illinois 
Staats-Zeitung  feels  that  "apparently  our 
Government  has  a  secret  agreement  with 
England  intentionally  to  provoke  Ger- 
many." 

In  praise  of  this  note  American  press 
opinion  is  again  nearly  unanimous.  The 
New  York  World  says  that  "  what  the 
President  exacts  of  Germany  is  the 
minimum  that  a  self-respecting  nation 
can  demand."  The  New  York  Tribune 
calls  the  note  an  admirable  American 
document.   The  Rochester  Democrat  and 


828 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Chronicle  says  it  is  strongly  put,  but 
not  too  strongly,  and  the  Boston  Herald 
thinks  there  is  no  escape  from  its  logic. 
The  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger  says 
"the  final  word  of  diplomacy  has  obvi- 
ously been  said,"  and  the  Administra- 
tion cannot  "  engage  in  further  debate 
or  yield  on  any  point."  The  Chicago 
Herald  believes  the  note  is  couched  in 
terms  that  "  no  intelligent  man  would 
resent  from  a  neighbor  whose  friend- 
ship he  values."  The  St.  Louis  Kepublic 
says :  "  One  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
years   of   American   history   and   tradi- 


tion speak  in  President  Wilson's  vindi- 
cation." The  St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press 
calls  the  note  "  a  great  American  char- 
ter of  rights,"  and  the  Charleston  News 
and  Courier  declares  that  "  we  have 
drawn  a  line  across  which  Germany  must 
not  step."  The  Portland  Oregonian 
says:  "If  there  was  any  expectation 
that  the  President's  note  to  Germany 
would  yield  any  measure  of  American 
rights  or  descend  from  the  noble  and 
impressive  determination  of  the  original 
warning  to  and  demand  upon  Germany, 
it  has  not  been  fulfilled." 


Austria-Hungary's  Protest 


An  Associated  Press  dispatch  dated 
London,  July  16,  says: 

According  to  an  Amsterdam  dispatch 
to  Renter's  Telegram  Company  it  is 
stated  from  Vienna  that  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Minister  of  Foreign  Aifairs 
sent  a  note  to  the  American  Ambas- 
sador at  Vienna  on  June  29,  drawing 
attention  to  the  fact  that  commercial 
business  in  war  material  on  a  great 
scale  is  proceeding  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  and  her  Allies, 
while  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany 
are  completely  cut  off  from  the  Ameri- 
can market. 

It  is  set  forth  in  the  note  that  this 
subject  has  occupied  the  Government  of 
the  Dual  Monarchy  from  the  very  be- 
ginning, and,  although  the  Government 
is  convinced  that  the  American  attitude 
arises  from  no  other  intention  than  to 
observe  the  strictest  neutrality  and  in- 
ternational agreements,  yet  "  the  ques- 
tion arises  whether  conditions  as  they 
have  developed  during  the  course  of  the 
war.  certainly  independently  of  the  wish 
of  the  American  Government,  are  not  of 
such  a  kind  as  in  their  effect  to  turn 
the  intentions  of  the  Washington  Cabi- 
net in  a  contrary  direction. 

"  If  this  question  is  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  and  its  affirmation  cannot 
be  doubted,"  according  to  the  opinion  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Government, 
"then  the  question  follows  whether  it 


does  not  seem  possible,  or  even  neces- 
sary, that  appropriate  measures  should 
be  taken  to  make  fully  respected  the  wish 
of  the  American  Government  to  remain 
a  strictly  impartial  vis-a-vis  of  both 
belligerent  parties." 

The  note  continues: 

"  A  neutral  government  cannot  be  al- 
lowed to  trade  in  contraband  unhindered, 
if  the  trade  take  the  form  and  dimen- 
sions whereby  the  neutrality  of  the  coun- 
try will  be  endangered.  The  export  of 
war  material  from  the  United  States  as 
a  proceeding  of  the  present  war  is  not 
in  consonance  with  the  definition  of  neu- 
trality. The  American  Government, 
therefore,  is  undoubtedly  entitled  to  pro- 
hibit the  export  of  war  material. 

"  Regarding  the  possible  objections 
that  American  industry  is  willing  to 
supply  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany, 
which,  however,  is  impossible  owing  to 
the  war  situation,  it  may  be  pointed  out 
that  the  American  Government  is  in  a 
position  to  redress  this  state  of  things. 
It  would  be  quite  sufficient  to  advise 
the  enemies  of  Austria-Hungary  and 
Germany  that  the  supply  of  foodstuffs 
and  war  material  would  be  suspended 
if  legitimate  trade  in  these  articles  be- 
tween Americans  and  neutral  countries 
was  not  permitted." 

In  conclusion,  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Government  appeals  to  the  United 
States,  calling  attention  to  the  uninter- 
rupted good  relations  and  friendship  be- 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


tween  that  country  and  the  dual  mon- 
archy, to  take  the  present  note  under 
careful  consideration. 

WHY  AUSTKIA  ACTED 

A  dispatch  from  Vienna,  via  London, 
dated  July  16,  gives  the  following  infor- 
mation from  The  Associated  Press: 

From  a  highly  authoritative  source  at 
the  Foreign  Office  a  representative  of 
The  Associated  Press  has  received  an 
explanation  of  the  motives  that  are  said 
to  have  inspired  the  dispatch  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  note  to  the  United 
States  regarding  the  American  traffic  in 
war  munitions. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  statesman  who 
spoke  said  that,  although  the  facts  upon 
which  the  note  was  based  had  been  in 
existence  for  a  long  time,  the  communi- 
cation was  sent  only  now,  when,  after 
great  victories  in  Galicia,  it  could  not 
be  interpreted  as  a  cry  for  help  from  a 
land  in  distress.  He  disavowed  in  ad- 
vance any  idea  that  the  note  was  sent 
at  the  request  or  inspiration  of  Ger- 
many, asserting  that  the  step  was  taken 
spontaneously  in  the  hope  that,  owing 
to  the  undisturbed  friendly  relations  be- 
tween Austria-Hungary  and  the  United 
States,  the  note  would  be  assured  a 
sympathetic  reception  in  the  latter 
country. 

"  The  note,"  said  this  statesman,  "  is 
inspired  by  friendly  feelings  of  the  mon- 
archy toward  the  Union,  where  so  many 
of  our  subjects  have  found  a  second 
home.  It  is  the  speech  of  a  friend  to  a 
friend — an  attitude  which  we  are  the 
more  justified  in  taking  because  the  re- 
lations of  the  two  states  have  never  been 
clouded. 

"  It  might,  perhaps,  easily  be  a  source 
of  wonder  that,  since  the  basic  grounds 
of  the  note  have  been  in  existence  for 
months,  the  note  was  not  sent  long  ago; 
but  there  is  a  reason  for  its  appearance 
at  this  particular  time.  In  view  of  the 
incredible  rumors  and  reports  about  the 
condition  of  the  monarchy  which  have 
been  circulating  throughout  the  United 
States,  this  note  would  surely  have  been 
interpreted  at  an  earlier  stage  of  events 
as  a  confession  of  weakness,  as  an  ap- 


peal for  help  in  distress.  Today,  when  a 
rich  harvest  is  being  garnered  through- 
out the  monarchy,  when  talk  of  starving 
out  Austria-Hungary  therefore  is  ren- 
dered idle,  when  complaints  of  shortage 
of  ammunition  are  heard  everywhere  else 
except  in  the  allied  central  monarchies, 
there,  cannot  be  the  slightest  question  of 
this. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  it  might  be 
asked  why  the  note,  under  these  condi- 
tions, was  issued  at  all.  With  nothing 
to  check  the  victorious  progress  of  the 
central  powers  in  sight,  with  their  abil- 
ity to  meet  pressure  in  the  economic 
field  demonstrated,  it  might  well  be 
thought  that  it  is  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence to  them  whether  America  continues 
her  policy  or  not.  That,  however,  is  not 
the  case.  The  problems  of  international 
law  which  this  war  has  brought  up  are 
of  far-reaching  importance.  The  solu- 
tions reached  will  be  standards  of  action 
for  decades  to  come. 

"  For  eminently  practical  as  well  as 
theoretical  reasons,  therefore,  the  mon- 
archy is  forced  now  not  only  to  concern 
itself  with  the  questions  of  the  day,  but 
also  to  feel  its  responsibility  toward  the 
future  interests  of  mankind;  and  for 
this  reason  the  Government  thought  it 
necessary  to  approach  the  subject  under 
discussion — the  more  so  because  it  felt 
that  the  previous  debate  pro  and  con 
had  not,  as  it  wished,  led  to  the  desired 
result,  and  because  it  believed  that  num- 
bers of  arguments  specially  laid  down 
in  The  Hague  Convention  hitherto  had 
escaped  consideration. 

"  It  may,  of  course,  be  assumed  that 
the  note  is  a  product  of  mature  consid- 
eration, and  was  drafted  after  consulta- 
tion with  international  law  experts  of 
the  first  rank.  The  absence  of  the 
slightest  hostile  intent  in  it  against  the 
Union  is  shown  not  only  by  the  opening 
phrases,  but  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
published  only  after  it  leaked  out  in  the 
United  States  that  there  was  no  objec- 
tion to  its  publication. 

"  The  question  of  whether  Austria- 
Hungary  feels  that  she  is  being  cut  off 
by  America  may  be  answered  unreserv- 
edly in  the  affirmative.  The  military 
monarchy  can  and  will  continue  the  war 


830 


THE    NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


as  long  as  necessary.  The  population 
will,  as  hitherto,  suffer  neither  starva- 
tion nor  material  want.  But  there  are 
other  interests  than  those  connected  pri- 
marily with  war  which  every  Govern- 
ment is  bound  to  consider,  and  unham- 
pered trade  relations  with  the  United 
States  are  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  us. 

"  Finally,  not  only  material,  also  I 
might  say  sentimental,  interests  play  a 
certain  role  not  to  be  underestimated 
among  the  people.  Many  warm  friends 
of  America  among  us  are  painfully  af- 
fected by  the  fact  that  actual  conditions 
give  the  impression  that  America,  even 
though  unintentionally,  differentiates  be- 
tween the  belligerents. 

"  Austro-Hungarian  statesmen,  con- 
scious of  the  great  role  that  America 
will  be  called  upon  to  play  in  the  future, 
would  forget  their  duty  if  they  neglected 
to  do  everything  in  their  power  to  clear 
away  the  circumstances  that  shake  the 
confidence  of  the  bravely  fighting  armies 
and  the  whole  population  in  the  justice 
of  America.  It  is  clear  that  the  war 
would  have  been  ended  long  ago  if 
America  had  not  supplied  our  enemies 
with  the  means  of  continuing  it. 

"  The  assumption  that  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  note  was  sent  at  the  wish 
of  the  German  Government  is  incorrect. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  completely  spon- 
taneous demonstration,  inspired  wholly 
by  the  Austro-Hungarian  considerations. 
We  hope  it  will  be  received  and  judged 
in  America  in  the  same  spirit  in  which 
it  was  sent." 

MR.   WOOLSEY'S    OPINION 

Theodore  S.  Woolsey,  formerly  Pro- 
fessor of  International  Law  at  Yale  Uni- 
versity, in  Leslie's  Weekly,  for  July  29, 
has  an  article  entitled  "  The  Case  for 
the  Munitions  Trade."  In  part  Professor 
Woolsey  says: 

In  the  midst  of  widespread  industrial 
depression  came  a  great  war.  This  war 
intensified  the  depression.  It  cut  off 
markets,  raised  freights,  retarded  pay- 
ments, upset  the  whole  commercial  world 
and  we  suffered  with  the  rest.  Then 
shortly  came  a  demand  for  certain  prod- 


ucts and  certain  manufactures  caused  by 
the  war  itself,  varied,  considerable,  even 
unexpected.  This  demand  grew  until  it 
became  an  appreciable  factor  in  our  in- 
dustrial life,  a  welcome  source  of  profit 
when  so  many  other  sources  of  profit 
were  cut  off.  It  was  a  good  thing;  at 
the  same  time  it  was  a  temporary,  un- 
natural thing,  and  directly  or  indirectly 
it  was  based  upon  the  desire  of  some  of 
our  friends  to  kill  others  of  our  friends. 
Accordingly  people  began  to  give  this 
trade  bad  names.  They  called  it  unneu- 
tral, wrong,  inhuman. 

For  the  sake  of  our  pockets  we  were 
adding  to  the  sum  of  human  suffering 
and  slaughter,  and  they  urged  that,  even 
if  legally  justified,  ethically  this  trade 
was  a  blot  upon  our  character  as  a  hu- 
mane and  civilized  people  and  must  be 
stopped.  Where  does  the  truth  lie? 
What  can  the  munitions  trade  say  for 
itself? 

Naturally,  it  turns  for  justification 
first  to  the  usage  of  other  wars,  to  the 
recognized  rules  of  international  law. 
As  expressed  in  Article  7,  Convention 
XIII,  of  the  1907  Conference  at  The 
Hague,  the  law  is  as  follows: 

"  A  neutral  power  is  not  bound  to 
prevent  the  export  or  transit,  for  the 
use  of 'either  belligerent,  of  arms,  am- 
munitions or,  in  general,  of  anything 
which  could  be  of  use  to  an  army  or 
fleet." 

The  next  previous  article  had  pro- 
hibited a  Government  from  engaging  in 
this  trade,  so  that  the  distinction  be- 
tween what  the  State  and  the  individual 
may  do  is  made  perfecly  clear,  provided 
both  belligerents  are  treated  alike.  To 
permit  trade  in  arms  with  one  bellig- 
erent and  forbid  it  with  another  would 
be  unneutral  and  illegal. 

We  permit  the  munitions  trade  with 
both  belligerents,  it  is  true,  and  yet,  ow- 
ing to  the  chances  of  war,  the  right 
to  buy  inures  to  the  advantage  of  one 
only.  Does  this  stamp  our  conduct  as 
unneutral  ?  Quite  the  contrary.  To  em- 
bargo munitions  bought  by  one  because 
the  other  side  does  not  choose  to  buy 
would  be  the  unneutral  act.  Germany 
doesn't  buy  because  she  cannot  transport. 

She  cannot  transport,  because  she  does 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


831 


not  care  to  contest  the  control  of  the 
sea  with  her  enemies.  Have  we  aught 
to  do  with  that?  To  supplement  her 
naval  inferiority  by  denying  to  the 
Allies  the  fruits  of  their  superiority 
would  be  equivalent  to  sharing  in  the 
war  on  the  German  side.  Moreover,  to 
assume  and  base  action  upon  German 
naval  inferiority  in  advance  of  any  gen- 
eral trial  of  strength  would  be  not  only 
illegal,  but  even  an  insult  to  Germany. 
Notice  that  no  complaints  of  our  export 
of  munitions  have  come  from  the  Ger- 
man Government.  To  make  such  com- 
plaint would  be  to  plead  the  baby  act. 
Rather  than  risk  her  fleet  by  contesting 
the  control  of  the  sea,  thus  gaining  her 
share  of  munitions  imports,  Germany 
has  chosen  to  withdraw  it  behind  forti- 
fications, thus  losing  the  munitions 
trade.  Probably  the  decision  is  a  sound 
one,  but  she  must  accept  the  results. 

The  opposition  to  the  trade  seems  to 
come  from  two  classes: 

(1)  German  sympathizers  who  seek  to 
minimize  the  advantage  which  sea  power 
gives  the  Allies. 

(2)  Those  who  are  governed  by  their 
emotions  rather  than  by  reason  and  re- 
spect for  law.  I  would  call  the  atten- 
tion of  both  these  classes  to  the  usage, 
especially  to  the  German  usage,  in  other 
wars. 

Professor  Gregory,  in  an  interesting 
article,  gives  statistics  of  the  large  Ger- 
man exports  of  arms  to  the  British 
forces  in  the  Boer  war  after  the  Boer 
trade  had  been  cut  off.  In  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war  Krupp  notoriously  sup- 
plied both  sides.  In  the  Balkan  war 
there  was  said  to  be  competition  between 
Krupp  and  Creusot  in  furnishing  can- 
non. No  state  in  the  nature  of  things 
can  satisfy  its  needs  in  war  completely 
from  its  own  resources.  Every  bellig- 
erent has  bought,  every  neutral  has  al- 
lowed its  citizens  to  sell,  munitions  since 
modern  war  began.  England  sympa- 
thized with  the  South  in  our  civil  war, 
yet  sold  to  the  North.  She  did  the  same 
in  1870  to  France. 

If  the  trade  in  munitions  is  to  be 
forbidden,  then  every  state  must  accu- 
mulate its  own  supply  or  greatly  enlarge 


its  arms  manufacturing  capacity,  both 
wasteful  processes.  To  say  that  a  mod- 
erate trade  is  lawful  which  a  big  trade 
is  not  is  like  the  excuse  of  the  lady  who 
thought  her  baby  bom  out  of  wedlock 
did  not  matter  because  it  was  such  a 
little  one. 

The  critics  of  the  munitions  trade 
must  note  furthermore  that  in  our  own 
country  that  trade  cannot  be  forbidden 
without  explicit  legislation. 

At  the  outset  of  the  Spanish  war  such 
legislation  was  passed,  as  a  war  meas- 
ure, forbidding  the  export  of  coal  or 
other  war  material  at  the  discretion  of 
the  President.  But  by  resolution  of 
Congress  of  March  14,  1912,  the  1898 
resolution  was  so  amended  as  to  apply 
to  American  countries  only.  The  reason 
for  this  distinction  was,  of  course,  to 
limit  the  danger  of  such  exports  of  arms 
to  our  neighbor  states,  particularly  to 
Mexico,  as  might  endanger  our  own 
peace  and  safety.  The  general  right  to 
trade  was  left  undisturbed. 

But  let  us  argue  the  question  on  eth- 
ical grounds  alone.  I  can  see  no  differ- 
ence between  a  peace  trade  and  a  war 
trade  from  the  humanitarian  standpoint ; 
between  arming  a  neighbor  by  our  ex- 
ports in  preparation  for  war  and  re- 
arming him  during  war.  In  both  cases 
we  help  him  to  kill.  Now,  if  one  regards 
all  war  as  wrong,  aid  in  waging  war  by 
trade  in  munitions,  whether  in  peace 
time  or  war  time,  should  be  abhorrent  to 
one's  conscience.  A  Quaker  gun  is  nOt 
only  a  paradox,  but  a  sinful  one. 

Most  of  us,  however,  believe  that  a 
defensive  war,  against  aggression  threat- 
ening the  life  and  liberties  of  a  nation, 
is  just  and  right.  In  the  present  war 
both  parties  claim  to  be  fighting  in  self- 
defense.  We  are  not  their  judge;  we 
must  take  both  at  their  word ;  what  we 
owe  both,  ethically,  is  simply  equality  of 
treatment. 

We  help  both  alike  in  waging  a  just 
war.  To  do  otherwise  is  to  take  part  in 
their  war.  With  the  flux  and  flow  of 
the  contest  which  makes  our  trade  valu- 
able or  worthless  now  to  one  side,  now 
to  the  other,  both  ethically  and  legally 
we  have  nothing  to  do. 


Armenian,  Orduna,  and  Others 


The  diplomatic  significance  of  the 
sinking  of  the  Leyland  liner  Armenian 
on  June  28  oif  the  northwest  coast  of 
Cornwall  is  thus  dwelt  upon  in  a  Wash- 
ington dispatch  to  The  New  York 
Times,  dated  July  2,  1915: 

The  lessons  to  be  derived  from  the 
destruction  of  the  Leyland  liner  Armen- 
ian off  the  English  coast  are  expected 
to  have  a  most  important  bearing  upon 
the  diplomatic  controversy  between  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States  over  the 
safety  of  human  life  in  the  submarine 
warfare. 

It  is  believed  here  that  the  Armenian 
affair  demonstrates  that  it  is  possible 
for  German  submarines  of  the  latest 
types,  when  equipped  with  outside  rapid- 
fire  guns,  to  comply  with  the  demand 
of  President  Wilson  that  the  belligerent 
right  of  visit  and  search  must  be  com- 
plied with  before  merchantmen  and  pas- 
senger ships  are  torpedoed. 

Whatever  the  facts  as  to  minor  de- 
tail, the  outstanding  lesson  of  the  affair 
is  that  a  merchantman  tried  to  escape 
capture  and  was  finally  forced  to  halt 
and  surrender  by  a  pursuing  submarine, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  liner  by  tor- 
pedo was  not  attempted  until  after 
those  on  board  who  survived  the  chase 
had  an  opportunity  to  take  to  the  boats. 
It  is  evident  that  if  the  Armenian's 
Captain  had  heeded  the  warning  shots 
of  the  submarine  and  halted  the  steamer 
he  could  have  submitted  to  visit  and 
search  and  in  all  probability  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Armenian  could  have  been 
effected  without  loss  of  life.  All  inter- 
national law  experts  agree  that  a  ves- 
sel that  refuses  to  halt  when  chal- 
lenged by  warning  shots  from  a  properly 
commissioned  belligerent  war  vessel  pro- 
ceeds at  her  own  peril. 

In  its  broader  aspects,  the  Armenian 
incident  presents  the  most  important 
lesson  that  has  come  out  of  the  German 
undersea  campaign  for  consideration  by 
those  engaged  in  the  diplomatic  con- 
troversy over  the  various  acts  of  the 
German  submarines — and  the  lesson  is 


considered  extremely  vital  in  its  bear- 
ing on  the  pending  negotiations,  because, 
if  it  is  at  all  possible  for  submarines  to 
exercise  the  right  of  visit  and  search 
and  they  actually  proceed  in  accordance 
with  that  rule,  the  Germans  may  pro- 
ceed with  their  warfare  against  mer- 
chantmen carrying  contraband  without 
running  counter  to  the  expectations  of 
the  United  States  Government.  Occa- 
sional merchantmen  may  try  to  escape 
capture  or  destruction  by  disregarding 
warning  shots,  but  that  will  be  their 
affair  and  the  responsibility  for  loss  of 
life  due  to  efforts  to  elude  submarines, 
and  caused  during  the  period  of  contin- 
ued efforts  to  escape,  would  not  then 
rest  upon  the  submarines. 

The  effective  use  of  rapid-fire  guns 
mounted  on  submarines  in  bona  fide 
efforts  to  halt  merchant  steamers  for 
purpose  of  visit  and  search  is  the  im- 
portant factor  in  the  situation.  A  sub- 
marine not  so  equipped  would  find  it 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  apply  the 
rule  of  visit  and  search.  Without  the 
outside  guns  such  a  submarine  would 
possess  no  other  effective  weapon  than 
the  torpedo.  The  submarine  that  car- 
ried no  exterior  armament  could  not 
compel  obedience  to  its  mandate  for  the 
merchant  Captain  to  stop  without  firing 
a  torpedo  and  thus  risking  the  destruc- 
tion of  life  with  the  sinking  of  the 
steamer,  and  a  submarine  with  no  out- 
side armament  might  run  the  risk,  as 
frequently  contended  by  the  German  Ad- 
miralty, of  bomb  attack  from  the  rails 
of  the  merchant  steamer  when  going 
alongside  of  such  a  vessel. 

A  submarine  like  the  U  38,  which 
sank  the  Armenian,  carrying  one  or 
more  outside  guns,  capable  of  discharg- 
ing various  kinds  of  shell,  from  blank 
shots  to  shrapnel,  represents  an  im- 
portant evolution  in  the  development  of 
marine  warfara  Such  a  craft  has  the 
equipment  to  enable  her  to  visit  and 
search  a  passing  merchantman,  and  to 
provide  for  the  safe  removal  of  officers, 
crew  or  passengers  from  a  challenged 
steamer,  before  the  destruction   of  the 


GENERAL     CARLO     CANEVA 

Onp  of  the    Most  Conspicuous  of  Italian    Military  Commanders 

!  I'hoto     from     Crtttrol     .Vpi/js  ) 


H.     I.     M.     FRANCIS     JOSEPH     I. 
Latest  Portrait  of  the  Venerable  Sovereign  of  the  Auetro-HunRarian 

Empire 

( Photo    from    Bain. ) 


THE    LUSITANIA    CASE 


833 


vessel.  It  is  only  necessary  for  such  a 
submarine  to  fire  her  torpedoes  as  a 
last  resort  for  the  destruction  of  the 
steamer.  With  her  exterior  guns  a 
submarine  like  the  TJ  38,  upon  meeting 
a  merchant  vessel,  may  fire  one  or  more 
warning  shots,  as  Captain  Trickey  of 
the  Armenian  says  the  U  38  did.*  The 
raider,  he  said,  fired  two  warning  shots, 
and  when  he  turned  away  from  her  and 
put  on  speed,  the  submarine's  guns 
opened  fire  on  him  with  shrapnel. 

THE    ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN 

Like  the  Armenian,  the  British  mer- 
chantman Anglo-Calif ornian  refused  to 
lie-to  when  signaled  hy  a  German  sub- 
marine on  July  2.  Her  crew  of  ninety- 
five  included  fifty  Americans  and  Ca- 
nadians. A  Queenstown  dispatch  of  July 
5  gave  the  following  account  of  the 
action : 

The  Anglo-Californian  left  Montreal 
for  the  British  Isles  on  June  24.  The 
submarine  was  sighted  at  S  o'clock  last 
Sunday  morning.  Captain  Parslow 
ordered  full  steam  ahead  and  wireless 
calls  for  aid  were  sent  out.  The  sub- 
marine on  the  surface  proved  to  be  a  far 
speedier  craft  than  the  steamer  and 
rapidly  overhauled  her,  meanwhile 
deluging  her  with  shells.  One  shot  put 
the  wireless  apparatus  on  the  Anglo- 
Californian  out  of  action.  Finding 
that  he  could  nofescape  by  running  for 


it  Captain  Parslow  devoted  his  atten- 
tion to  manoeuvring  his  ship  so  as  to 
prevent  the  submarine  from,  using  tor- 
pedoes effectively. 

"  Our  Captain  was  a  brave  man," 
said  one  of  the  narrators.  "  He  kept 
at  his  post  on  the  bridge,  coolly  giving 
orders  as  the  submarine  circled  around 
us  vainly  seeking  to  get  a  position  from 
which  it  could  give  us  a  death  blow  with 
a  torpedo.  All  the  while  the  under- 
water boat  continued  to  rain  shot  and 
shell  upon  us,  and  at  times  was  so  close 
that  she  was  able  to  employ  rifle  fire  ef- 
fectively. 

"  At  last  one  shell  blew  the  Captain 
off  the  bridge,  killing  him  outright  and 
terribly  mutilating  him.  Just  before 
that  he  had  given  orders  to  launch  the 
boats,  but  this  was  very  difficult  under 
the  shell  fire.  Several  men  were  struck 
down  while  working  at  the  davits.  Ulti- 
mately four  boats  were  got  overboard 
and  were  rowed  away  until  picked  up." 

The  son  of  Captain  Parslow,  serving 
as  second  mate,  was  standing  by  his 
father's  side  when  the  Captain  was 
killed.  The  son  was  knocked  down  by 
the  violence  of  the  explosion.  Spring- 
ing to  his  feet,  he  seized  the  wheel,  and, 
as  ably  as  his  father  had  done,  continued 
dodging  the  submarine.  Another  shell 
burst  alongside  him,  shattering  one  of 
the  spokes  of  the  wheel,  but  young 
Parslow  retained  his  post. 

The  wireless  SOS  calls  that  had  been 


*  Captain  Trickey,  describing  tlie  destruc- 
tion of  his  vessel,  tlirough  whicli  several 
Americans  lost  their  lives,  said  on  July  1  in 
Liverpool : 

"  We  sighted  the  submarine  about  G.48 
o'clock  Monday  night,  June  28,  vphen  we  were 
about  twenty  miles  west  of  Trevose  Head, 
on  the  northwest  coast  of  Cornwall.  We  were 
then  about  four  miles  away.  She  drew  closer. 
She  fired  two  shots  across  our  bows.  I  then 
turned  my  stern  to  her  and  ran-  for  all  I  was 
worth.  The  submarine  shelled  us  all  the  time, 
killing  several  of  the  crew  and  cutting  away 
several  of  our  boats.  The  boats  had  already 
been  swung  out,  and  some  of  the  men  had 
taken  up  positions  in  them  ready  for  the  order 
to  lower  away.  In  some  cases  the  falls  were 
cut  by  shrapnel,  and  several  of  the  men  fell 
into  the  sea. 

"  A  stern  chase  ensued,  lasting  for  about 
an  hour,  the  German  shelling  us  unceasingly. 
My  steering  gear  was  cut  and  knocked  out  of 
order.      One    shell    came    through    the    engine- 


room  skylight,  and  another  knocked  the  Mar- 
coni house  away.  Still  another  shell  went 
down  the  funnel,  disabling  the  stokehole  and 
making  it  impossible  to  keep  up  a  full  head 
of  steam.  Thirteen  of  my  crew  were  lying 
dead  on  the  deck,  and  the  ship  was  on  Are 
in  three  places.  Then  I  decided  to  surrender. 
It  was  the  only  thing  I  could  do.  By  this 
time  the  submarine  had  decreased  the  dis- 
tance between  us  to  about  a  mile. 

"  From  the  moment  we  surrendered  the 
Germans  acted  fairly  toward  us  and  gave  us 
ample  time  to  get  out  of  the  ship.  They 
even  rescued  some  of  the  men — three,  I  think 
— who  had  previously  fallen  from  the  boat.^ 
and  were  still  afloat  aided  by  their  lifebelts. 
When  we  had  got  away  from  the  ship  the 
submarine  flred  two  torpedoes  into  her  and 
she  sank  at  8.07  o'clock.  We  remained  in 
the  boats  all  night  and  were  picked  up  the 
next  morning  by  the  Belgian  steam  trawler 
President    Stevens." 


834 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


scale:  OF  MILES 


lOO        ISO  iXX> 

SHADED  PORTION 
INDICATES  THE  "WAR 
ZONE  PROCLAIMED  BY 
GERMANY  FE'Biie.  I9IS 


War  zone  area  showing  where  the  Armenian,  (British)  ;  Normandy,  (Ameri- 
can) ;  Anglo-Californian,  (British),  and  Orduna,  (British)  ships  were  attacked 
during  the  month  of  July. 


sent  out  at  the  first  alarm  had  reached 
those  able  to  give  more  than  passive  as- 
sistance, however,  and  British  destroy- 
ers appeared.  On  their  approach  the 
submarine  abandoned  the  attack  and 
submerged.  Young  Parslow  was  still 
at  the  wheel  when  the  destroyers  came 
up. 

THE  NOKMANDY 

An   Associated  Press    dispatch    from 
Liverpool,  dated  July  13,  1915,  reported: 

How  an  American  ship  is  alleged  to 
have  been  used  as  a  shield  by  a  Ger- 


man submarine  for  the  sinking  of  an- 
other vessel  is  related  by  members  of 
the  crew  of  the  American  bark  Nor- 
mandy, which  has  arrived  here  from 
Gulfport,  Miss. 

The  story  is  that  the  Normandy  was 
stopped  by  a  German  submarine  sixty 
miles  southwest  of  Tvxskar  Rock,  off  the 
southeast  coast  of  Ireland,  Friday  night. 
The  captain  was  called  aboard  the  sub- 
marine, whence  his  papers  were  exam- 
ined and  found  to  show  that  the  ship 
was  chartered  by  an  American  firm  Jan- 
uary 5. 

The  captain  of  the  bark,  it  was  as- 


THE   LUSITANIA    CASE 


835 


serted,  was  allowed  to  return  to  the 
Normandy,  but  under  the  threat  that 
his  ship  would  be  destroyed  unless  he 
stood  by  and  obeyed  orders.  These  or- 
ders, it  was  stated,  were  that  he  was 
to  act  as  a  shield  for  the  submarine, 
which  lay  around  the  side  of  the  bark, 
hiding  itself  from  an  approaching  ves- 
sel. 

This  vessel  proved  to  be  the  Russian 
steamer  Leo.  Presently  the  submarine 
submerged  and  proceeded  around  the 
bow  of  the  Normandy,  so  the  story 
went,  and  ten  minutes  later  the  crew 
of  the  Normandy  saw  the  Leo  blown 
up. 

Twenty-five  persons  were  on  board, 
of  whom  eleven  were  drowned,  includ- 
ing three  stewardesses.  Those  saved  in- 
cluded three  Americans,  Walter  Emery 
of  North  Carolina,  Harry  Clark  of  Si- 
erra, and  Harry  Whitney  of  Camden,  N. 
J.  All  these  three  men  when  inter- 
viewed corroborated  the  above  story. 
They  declared  that  no  opportunity  was 
given  those  on  board  the  Leo  for  saving 
lives. 

The  Leo  was  bound  from  Philadel- 
phia for  Manchester  with  a  general 
cargo. 

The  Captain  of  the  Normandy  told 
the  survivors  that  he  would  have  liked 
to  signal  their  danger  to  them,  but  that 
he  dared  not  do  so,  because  his  unin- 
sured ship  would  then  have  been  instant- 
ly sunk. 

In  a  Washington  dispatch  to  The 
New  York  Times,  sent  July  13,  ap- 
peared the  following : 

The  State  Department  received  a  short 
dispatch  late  this  afternoon  from  Consul 
General  Washington  at  Liverpool,  con- 
firming the  report  that  three  Americans 
were  among  those  rescued  by  the  Ameri- 
can bark  Normandy  at  the  time  of  the 
sinking  of  the  Russian  merchant  steamer 
Leo  by  a  German  submarine  off  the  Irish 
coast  Friday  night.  This  is  the  case  in 
which  press  dispatches  asserted  that  the 
submarine  commander  forced  the  Cap- 
tain of  the  Normandy  to  use  his  bark 
as  a  shield  behind  which  the  submarine 
hid  before  firing  the  torpedo  which  sank 
the  Leo. 

The  cablegram  from  Consul  General 


Washington  makes  no  mention  of  this 
phase  of  the  affair,  and  does  not  show 
whether  the  German  submarine  gave  any 
warning  to  the  commander  of  the  Rus- 
sian merchant  ship  before  firing  the  shot 
which  destroyed  the  latter  vessel.  The 
official  message  says  that  the  Normandy 
was  stopped  by  the  submarine,  that  the 
Normandy's  papers  were  examined,  and 
that  she  was  allowed  to  proceed.  The 
message  added  that  the  Normandy  res- 
cued three  American  citizens  who  were 
members  of  the  crew  of  the  Leo,  and 
names  them  as  Walter  Emery,  seaman, 
of  Swan  Quarter,  N.  C;  Harry  Whit- 
ney, steward,  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  and 
Harry  Clark,  fireman,  of  113  East  Fifty- 
second  Street,  Seattle,  Wash. 

THE   ORDUNA 

This  is  the  official  statement  of  Cap- 
tain Thomas  M.  Taylor  of  the  Cunard 
liner  Orduna,  concerning  the  attack  made 
on  his  vessel  hy  a  German  submarine  off 
Queenstown,  westbound,  on  the  morning 
of  July  9; 

At  6.05  A.  M.,  July  9,  the  lookout 
man  on  the  after  bridge  rang  the  tele- 
graph, at  the  same  time  pointing  his 
hand  downward  and  out  on  the  port 
beam.  The  third  officer  was  immediate- 
ly sent  aft  to  inquire  what  was  seen.  He 
returned  quickly  and  reported  both  men 
had  seen  a  torpedo  pass  across  the  stern 
from  port  to  starboard,  only  ten  feet 
clear  of  the  rudder.  In  the  meantime 
both  the  chief  officer  and  myself  dis- 
tinctly saw  the  trail  of  the  torpedo,  ex- 
tending from  the  stern  to  about  200 
yards  out  on  the  port  beam.  About 
eight  minutes  afterwards  the  chief  offi- 
cer and  I  saw  the  submarine  come  to 
the  surface  about  two  points  on  the  star- 
board quarter,  a  distance  of  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile,  with  five  or  six  men 
on  her  deck,  getting  her  guns  ready. 

I  immediately  ordered  all  possible 
steam,  altered  the  course,  and  brought 
her  right  astern,  when  they  began  shell- 
ing us.  The  first  shot  struck  the  water 
abreast  of  the  forecastle  on  the  star- 
board side,  about  thirty  feet  off.  The 
second  dropped  just  under  the  bridge; 
third,  abreast  of  No.  5  hatch,  quite  close 


836 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


alongside;  fourth,  under  the  stern,  send- 
ing up  a  volume  of  water  forty  feet  high; 
fifth  and  sixth  and  last  shells  all  fell 
short.  The  firing  then  ceased,  and  the 
submarine  was  soon  left  far  astern. 

Marconi  distress  signals  were  sent  out 
at  once.  We  were  thirty-seven  miles 
south  of  Queenstown.  I  got  a  reply  that 
assistance  would  be  with  us  in  an  hour, 
but  it  was  four  hours  before  the  small 
armored  yacht  Jennette  appeared.  I  ac- 
count for  the  torpedo  missing  the  ship 
to  their  misjudging  the  speed,  allowing 
fourteen  knots  instead  of  sixteen,  which 
we  were  doing  at  the  time.  The  torpedo 
passed  only  ten  feet  clear. 

It  was  an  ideal  day  for  torpedo  attack 
— light  wind,  slight  ripple,  clear  weather. 
The  periscope  eould  only  have  been  a 
few  inches  above  water,  for  a  very  strict 
lookout  was  being  kept  at  the  time  by 
chief  and  third  officers  and  myself  and 
four  lookout  men.  However,  we  failed 
to  see  her  before  she  fired  the  torpedo. 

Not  the  least  warning  was  given,  and 
most  or  nearly  all  the  passengers  were 
asleep  at  the  time.  It  was  almost  an- 
other case  of  brutal  murder. 

We  had  twenty-one  American  passen- 
gers on  board. 

A  Washington  dispatch  of  July  20  to 
The  New  York  Times  announced : 

The  President  and  the  Cabinet  de- 
cided today  to  have  an  investigation 
made  in  the  case  of  the  British  steamer 
Orduna,  which  was  attacked  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  on  July  9  while  on  her 
way  from  Liverpool  to  New  York.  This 
action  was  taken  following  the  receipt 
of  a  statement  from  W.  O.  Thompson, 
counsel  of  the  Federal  Industrial  Com- 
mission, who  was  a  passenger  on  the 
ship. 

Mr.  Thompson  did  not  see  any  tor- 
pedo fired  at  the  Orduna  by  the  German 
submarine,  and  was  unable  to  give  first- 
hand testimony  that  the  Orduna  had 
been  fired  on  without  notice.  It  was 
determined,  however,  that  the  report  of 
Mr.  Thompson  justified  the  Government 
in  making  an  investigation. 

Accordingly,  Secretary  Lansing  wrote 
a  letter  to  Secretary  McAdoo,  requesting 
that  his  department  undertake  the  inves- 
tigation, which  will  probably  be  intrust- 


ed to  the  Collector  of  Customs  at  New 
York. 

At  the  State  Department  it  was  said 
that  the  attention  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment had  not  been  called  to  the 
charge  that  the  Orduna  was  fired  on  by 
a  German  submarine  without  warning. 
Any  action  of  that  sort,  if  taken,  will 
follow  the  investigation  which  is  now  or- 
dered. 

NEBRASKAN'S   CASE 

Ambassador  Gerard  on  July  15  for- 
mally transmitted  to  Washington  Ger- 
many's admission  of  liability  and  expres- 
sion of  regret  for  the  attack  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  on  the  American  steamer 
Nebraskan. 

Secretary  Lansing's  announcement  of 
the  German  memorandum  follows: 

Ambassador  Gerard  has  telegraphed 
to  the  Department  of  State  the  follow- 
ing memorandum  from  the  German  For- 
eign Office  relative  to  the  damaging  of 
the  American  steamer  Nebraskan  by  a 
German  submarine: 

"  The  German  Government  received 
from  newspaper  reports  the  intelligence 
that  the  American  steamer  Nebraskan 
had  been  damaged  by  a  mine  or  tor- 
pedo on  the  southwest  coast  of  Ireland. 
It  therefore  started  a  thorough  investi- 
gation of  the  case  without  delay,  and 
from  the  result  of  the  investigation  it~ 
has  become  convinced  that  the  damage 
to  the  Nebraskan  was  caused  by  an  at- 
tack by  a  submarine. 

"  On  the  evening  of  May  25  last  the 
submarine  met  a  steamer  bound  west- 
ward without  a  flag  and  no  neutral 
markings  on  her  freeboard,  about  65 
nautical  miles  west  of  Fastnet  Rock. 
No  appliance  of  any  kind  for  the  illu- 
mination of  the  flag  or  markings  was 
to  be  seen.  In  the  twilight,  which  had 
already  set  in,  the  name  of  the  steam- 
er was  not  visible  from  the  submarine. 
Since  the  commander  of  the  submarine 
was  obliged  to  assume  from  his  wide 
experience  in  the  area  of  maritime  war 
that  only  English  steamers,  and  no 
neutral  steamers,  traversed  the  war  area 
without  flag  and  markings,  he  attacked 
the  vessel  with  a  torpedo,  in  the  con- 


THE   LUSITANIA    CASE 


837 


viction  that  he  had  an  enemy  vessel  be- 
fore him.  Some  time  after  the  shot  the 
commander  saw  that  the  vessel  had  in 
the  meantime  hoisted  the  American  flag. 
As  a  consequence,  he,  of  course,  re- 
frained from  any  further  attack.  Since 
the  vessel  remained  afloat,  he  had  no  oc- 
casion to  concern  himself  further  with 
the  boats  which  had  been  launched. 

"  It  results  from  this  that  without  a 
doubt  that  attack  on  the  steamer  Ne- 


braskan  was  not  meant  for  the  Amer- 
ican flag,  nor  is  it  traceable  to  any 
fault  on  the  part  of  the  commander  of 
the  German  submarine,  but  is  to  be  con- 
sidered an  unfortunate  accident.  The 
German  Government  expresses  its  regret 
at  the  occurrence  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  of  America  and  de- 
clares its  readiness  to  make  compensa- 
tion for  the  damage  thereby  sustained  by 
American  citizens." 


Results  of  Submarine  Warfare 

LIVEKPOOL'S    EXPEKIENCE  The  German  war-zone  decree  went  into 

effect  on  February  18.     Since  then  the 

A  London  cahle  dispatch  to  the  New  weekly  losses  of   ships   and   lives  from 

York  Times,  dated  London,  July  S,satd:  torpedoes  have  been  as  follows: 

Nearly  20,000  vessels  have  entered  or  Week  Ending                Vessels.      Lives. 

left  the  port  of  Liverpool  since  the  Ger-  February  25 11                 9 

man    submarine   blockade   began.      This,  March  4    1                 0 

said  Sir  A.  Norman  Hill,  Secretary  of  March  11 7              38 

the  Liverpool  Steamship  Owners'  Asso-  March  18 6              13 

elation,  speaking  at  Liverpool  yesterday,  March  25 7                 2 

showed  that  the  Germans  had  failed  in  April  1    13             165 

their  attempt  to  blockade  British  ports.  a^^-i  -ir: a                 n 

On  these  20,000  voyages  the  Germans  ^P"j  ^2 3               10 

had  captured  or  destroyed  only  twenty-  a^^'I  29 3                 0 

nine  ships,  he  continued.    What  did  that  ^            

represent?      Ships   which  'had    sailed   in  ^^        

and  out  of  Liverpool  had  completed  in  m^^  20 7            '  1^ 

safety  998   out  of  every   1,000  voyages  ^^^J  ^7 7                7 

upon   which  they   started.     That  was  a  ^        

magnificent    record,    he    held,    of   perils  ^         . .   „„               . . 

,       ,        J  June  iu 00              zi 

faced  and  overcome.  t         irr                              -.«               <« 

June  17   19  19 

FIRST  WEEK  WITH  NO  LOSS  Ju"y  1  ^  "     9             29 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  of  July  July  8    15                 2 

22  from  London  remarked:  July  15 12               13 

July  22 2  0 

So   far  as   British  vessels  were   con-  

cerned,  the  German  submarines  drew  a  Total 218          1,652 

blank  during  the  week  ended  yesterday.  Of  the   two  vessels   torpedoed   in  the 

Not  a  single  British  merchant  ship  or  week   of  July  22,  the   Russian   steamer 

fishing  craft  was  sunk.  Balwa  was  attacked  on  July  16.    On  the 

It  was  the  first  week  since  the  war  following  day  another  Russian  steamer, 

began  that  some  loss  to  British  shipping  the    General    Radetzky,    was    torpedoed, 

had    not    been    occasioned    by    German  Both  hailed  from  Riga,  and  the  crews  of 

cruisers,  mines,  or  submarines.  both  were  saved. 

During  the  week  1,326  vessels  of  more 

than   300    tons    each    arrived   at   or   de-  WARFARE    MODIFIED? 

parted  from  ports  of  the  United  King-  ^  record  reported  to  have  been  com- 

dom.  piled    chiefly    from    British    Admiralty 


838 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


sources  since  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  was  published  by  The  New  York 
American  on  July  13,  showing  that  out 
of  122  ships  sunk  by  German  submarines 
in  the  war  zone,  every  passenger  or 
sailor  was  saved  on  all  but  14.  Follow- 
ing is  The  American's  summary: 

Total  number  of  ships  definitely  re- 
ported sunk  by  German  subma- 
rines in  sixty-four  days,  since  the 

Lusitania   was  torpedoed   122 

Number  of  ships  on  which  any  loss 

of  life  occurred    14 

[Note:  Some  of  these  fatalities 
occurred,  according  to  British  Ad- 
miralty reports,  either  from  explo- 
sion of  torpedoes  or  from  upsetting 
of  lifeboats,  or  from  gunfire  of  sub- 
marines while  the  enemy  ship  was 
trying  to  escape.] 

Total  loss  of  life  on  122  ships,  from 
all  causes   131 

GERMAN   ACCOUNTS 

In  a  Berlin  dispatch  of  July  14,  by 
wireless  to  Sayville,  Long  Island,  the  fol- 
lowing was  given  out  by  the  Overseas 
News  Agency: 

During  the  month  of  June  twenty- 
nine  British,  three  French,  one  Belgian, 
and  nine  Russian  mtrchantmen  were 
sunk  by  German  submarines. 

The  total  loss  of  the  Entente  Allies 
by  submarines,  including  fishing  steam- 
ers, which  mostly  were  armed  patrol 
boats,  aggregated  125,000  tons. 

The  loss  of  human  life  was  remarkably 
small,  the  submarines  using  every  pre- 
caution and  giving  ample  warning  and 
time  for  crews  to  leave  their  ships  if 
no  resistance  was  attempted. 

The  total  of  losses  in  ships  of  the  Al- 
lies' merchant  marine  around  the  Eng- 
lish coast  in  the  period  between  February 
18  (the  beginning  of  the  Gerinan  sub- 
marine war  zone)  and  May  18,  as  com- 
piled from  German  data,  was  published 
hi  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung  of  June  6. 
This  publication,  the  first  issue  from 
German  quarters,  contains  also  a  list  of 
the  various  allied  ships  sunk,  totaling 
111,  together  with  the  nationality  and 
tonnage  of  each,  and  a  charted  map  of 
the  British  Isles  showing  where  each 
ship  was  sunk. 


In  describing  the  achievements  of  the 
German  submarine  against  their  foes — 
the  neutral  ships  sunk  are  not  included 
— the  Frankfurter  Zeitung' s  article  says: 

In  the  -period  of  three  months  since 
the  18th  of  February,  a  day  memorable 
for  history,  our  submarines  have  inflict- 
ed on  the  enemy  merchant  shipping,  in 
the  first  place  the  English  merchant 
marine,  a  total  loss  of  111  ships  with  a 
displacement  of  234,239  tons.  The  fig- 
ures may,  perhaps,  not  seem  especially 
large  in  comparison  with  the  gigantic 
number  of  merchant  ships  flying  the  flag 
of  the  enemy.  But  in  this  method  of 
warfare  the  percentage  loss  of  ships  of 
our  opponent  as  compared  with  his  total 
does  not  count,  but  rather  the  fact  that 
through  the  regularity  and  inevitable- 
ness  of  the  marine  catastrophes  the 
enemy  shipping  shall  be  disturbed  as 
poignantly  as  possible,  and  that  there 
should  as  a  result  of  this  disturbance 
appear  in  the  economic  life  of  England 
phenomena  similar  to  those  which  the 
English  plan  of  the  isolation  of  Germany 
aims  at  without,  however,  having  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  any  nearer  to  its  goal, 
owing  to  the  inherent  strength  and 
power  of  adaptation  of  German  business. 

The  rise  of  prices  now  prevalent  in 
England,  and*  the  paralyzing  of  great 
branches  of  trade  which  could  not  occur 
in  an  England  that  really  ruled  the  sea, 
may  be  attributed  in  chief  part  to  this 
war  of  the  submarines.  The  advantage 
of  the  insular  position  of  England  hss 
been  greatly  lessened,  thanks  to  this  ex- 
cellent German  weapon,  even  if  it  cannot 
be  completely  eliminated.  But  if  one 
compares  with  the  total  voyages  of  the 
English  merchant  shipping  the  losses  of 
the  English  merchant  marine,  amounting 
to  more  than  100  ships  in  a  period  of  ex- 
actly ninety  days,  and  a  tonnage  of  216,- 
000  tons,  (from  the  totals  mentioned 
above  there  must  be  deducted  the  shares 
of  France  and  Russia,)  then  we  must 
consider  only  that  part  of  the  British 
merchant  marine  that  entered  ports  of 
the  island  kingdom  in  this  period  or  left 
them;  and  one  must  bear  in  mind  further 
that  a  large  number  of  those  ships  is 
contained  several  times  in  the  English 
statistics,  since  they  do  coast  service. 


THE   LUSITANIA    CASE 


839 


But  as  valuable  booty  for  our  sub- 
marines particularly  those  ships  are  to 
be  regarded  that  import  any  kinds  of 
commodities  to  England.  And  statistics 
will  later  be  able  to  show  on  the  basis 
of  these  figures  the  great  success  of  the 
German  submarine  warfare,  as  indicated 
by  figures. 

A  glance  at  the  map  that  accompanies 
the  list  of  losses  suffices  to  show  that 
mine  fields  as  little  as  great  distances 
are  factors  of  decisive  importance  in  the 
activities  of  our  submarines.  The  clos- 
ing of  the  English  Channel  and  of  the 
North  Channel  (between  Ireland  and 
Scotland)  has  not  prevented  our  boats 
from  penetrating  wherever  there  was 
booty.  Even  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
Scotland  and  out  in  the  west  of  Ireland 
the  German  submarines  have  carried  on 
a  successful  hunt.  The  numbers  in  the 
little  circles  on  the  map  represent  the 
successive  ships  on  the  list. 

The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  adds  figures 
given  by  the  British  Admiralty  on  the 
same  subject.  These,  it  says,  total  130 
merchant  ships  with  a  registered  ton- 
nage of  If57,000  tons,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  to  May  26.  Added  to 
these,  it  says,  are  83  fishing  vessels  with 
a  tonnage  of  13,585  tons,  making  a  total 


of  213  ships  ivith  470,585  tows.  It  says: 
These  figures,  however,  are  certainly 
incomplete,  inasmuch  as  up  to  March  16 
there  had  already  been  announced  145 
ships  with  a  total  tonnage  of  500,000  as 
lost,  and  the  figures  published  by  us 
above,  based  upon  authentic  material, 
concerning  the  victims  of  our  submarines 
in  three  months,  contradict  beyond  any 
power  of  dispute  the  euphemistic  presen- 
tation of  the  British  Admiralty.  Even 
so,  however,  the  English  list  still  shows 
that  since  the  beginning  of  the  subma- 
rine warfare,  although  in  that  period 
there  was  little  to  speak  of  in  the  way 
of  activities  of  the  German  cruisers 
abroad,  the  damage  done  to  the  English 
fleet  has  risen  according  to  the  confession 
of  the  Admiralty  itself.  Since  Feb.  18, 
that  is  to  say,  since  scarcely  moi'e  than  a 
quarter  of  a  year,  according  to  the  Eng- 
lish figures,  no  less  than  56  British  mer- 
chant ships  with  a  tonnage  of  187,000 
tons  (that  is  to  say,  more  than  40  per 
cent,  of  the  total  number  of  merchant 
ships  designated  as  lost)  have  been  sunk. 
But  if  instead  of  these  English  figures 
the  German  compilation,  which  is  indu- 
bitably correct,  be  accepted,  then  the  en- 
tire picture  changes  considerably  in  our 
favor. 


g|n  jmemottam: 

REGINALD    WARNEFORD 

[From  Truth  of  London] 


Young  gallant  soul,  unversed  in  fear. 
Who  swiftly  flew  aloft  to  fame. 
And  made  yourself  a  world-wide  name, 

Ere     scarce     had     dawned    your    brief 
career. 

To'  glory  some  but  slowly  climb 
By  painful  inches  of  ascent. 
And     some,     hereon     though     sternly 
bent, 

Ne'er  reach  it  all  their  life's  long  time. 

But  you — you  soared  as  eagles  soar; 
At   one   strong  flight  you   flashed   on 

high; 
The     sudden     chance     came     sudden 
nigh ; 
You  seized  it;  off  its  spoils  you  bore. 


And  now,  while  still  the  welkin  rings 
With  your  unmatched  heroic  deed. 
To  paean  elegies  succeed, 

The     mournful     Muse     your     requiem 
sings. 

A  requiem,  yet  with  triumph  rife! 

How  not,  while  men  their  souls  would 
give 

To  die  your  death,  so  they  might  live 
Your  "crowded   hour  of  glorious  life"? 

Great   hour,   that    knows    not   time   nor 
tide, 
Wild     hour,     that     drinks     an     age's 

sweets, 
Brave  hour,  that  throbs  with  breath- 
less feats. 
Short  hour,  whose  splendours  long  abide. 


American  Preparedness 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt 


In  an  address  at  the  Panama-Pacific 
Exposition  in  Sa7i  Francisco,  delivered 
on  July  21,  Colonel  Theodore  Roosevelt 
said: 

I  HAVE  a  very  strong  feeling  about 
the  Panama  Exposition.  It  was  my 
good  fortune  to  take  the  action  in 
1903,  failure  to  take  which,  in  exactly 
the  shape  I  took  it,  would  have  meant  that 
no  Panama  Canal  would  have  been  built 
for  half  a  century,  and,  therefore,  that 
there  would  have  been  no  exposition  to 
celebrate  the  building  of  the  canal.  In 
everything  we  did  in  connection  with 
the  acquiring  of  the  Panama  Zone  we 
acted  in  a  way  to  do  absolute  justice  to 
all  other  nations,  to  benefit  all  other 
nations,  including  especially  the  ad- 
jacent States,  and  to  render  the  utmost 
service,  from  the  standpoint  alike  of 
honor  and .  of  material  interest,  to  the 
United  States.  I  am  glad  that  this  is 
the  case,  for  if  there  were  the  slightest 
taint  upon  our  title  or  our  conduct  it 
would  have  been  an  improper  and  shame- 
ful thing  to  hold  this  exposition. 

The  building  of  the  canal  nearly 
doubles  the  potential  efficiency  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  as  long  as  it  is 
fortified  and  is  in  our  hands;  but  if  left 
unfortified  it  would  at  once  become  a 
menace  to  us. 

What  is  true  as  to  our  proper  atti- 
tude in  regard  to  the  canal  is  no  less 
true  as  regards  our  proper  attitude  con- 
cerning the  interests  of  the  United 
States  taken  as  a  whole.  The  canal  is 
to  be  a  great  agency  for  peace;  it  can 
be  such  only,  and  exactly  in  proportion 
as  it  increased  our  potential  efficiency 
in  war. 

Those  men  who  like  myself  believe 
that  the  highest  duty  of  this  nation  is 
to  prepare  itself  against  war  so  that  it 
may  safely  trust  its  honor  and  interest 
to  its  own  strength  are  advocating 
merely  that  we  do  as  a  nation  regard- 


ing our  general  interests  what  we  have 
already  done  in  Panama.  If,  instead  of 
acting  as  this  nation  did  in  the  Fall  of 
1903,  we  had  confined  ourselves  to  de- 
bates in  Congress  and  diplomatic  notes; 
if,  in  other  words,  we  had  treated  elo- 
cution as  a  substitute  for  action,  we 
would  have  done  nobody  any  good,  and 
for  ourselves  we  would  have  earned  the 
hearty  derision  of  all  other  nations — the 
canal  would  not  even  have  been  begun 
at  the  present  day,  and  there  would 
have  been  a  general  consensus  of  inter- 
national opinion  to  the  effect  that  we 
were  totally  unfit  to  perform  any  of  the 
duties  of  international  life,  especially,  in 
connection  with  the  Western  hemi- 
sphere. 

Unfortunately  in  the  last  few  years 
we  have  as  regards  pretty  much 
everything  not  connected  with  the  Isth- 
mus of  Panama  so  failed  in  our  duty  of 
national  preparedness  that  I  fear  there 
actually  is  a  general  consensus  of  opin- 
ion to  precisely  this  effect  among  the 
nations  of  the  world  as  regards  the 
United  States  at  the  present  day.  This 
is  primarily  due  to  our  unpreparedness. 

We  have  been  culpably,  well-nigh- 
criminally,  remiss  as  a  nation  in  not 
preparing  ourselves,  and  if,  with  the 
lessons  taught  the  world  by  the  dread- 
ful tragedies  of  the  last  twelve  months, 
we  continue  with  soft  complacency  to 
stand  helpless  and  naked  before  the 
world,  we  shall  excite  only  contempt 
and  derision  if  and  when  disaster  ulti- 
mately overwhelms  us. 

Preparedness  against  war  does  not 
invariably  avert  war  any  more  than  a 
fire  department  in  a  city  will  invariably 
avert  a  fire;  and  there  are  well-meaning 
foolish  people  who  point  out  this  fact 
as  offering  an  excuse  for  unprepared- 
ness. It  would  be  just  as  sensible  if 
after  the  Chicago  fire  Chicago  had  an- 
nounced that  it  would  abolish  its  fire  de- 


AMERICAN   PREPAREDNESS 


841 


partment  as  for  our  people  to  take  the 
same  view  as  regards  military  prepared- 
ness. Some  years  ago  I  was  looking 
over  some  very  old  newspapers  contem- 
poraneous with  the  early  establishment 
of  paid  fire  departments  in  this  coun- 
try, and  to  my  amusement  I  came 
across  a  letter  which  argued  against  a 
paid  fire  department  upon  the  ground 
that  the  knowledge  of  its  existence 
would  tend  to  make  householders  care- 
less, and  therefore  would  encovirage 
fires. 

Greece  was  not  prepared  for  war 
when  she  went  to  war  with  Turkey  a 
score  of  years  ago.  But  this  fact  did  not 
stop  the  war.  It  merely  made  the  war 
unsuccessful  for  Greece.  China  was  not 
prepared  for  war  with  Japan  twenty- 
odd  years  ago,  nor  for  war  with  the 
Allies  who  marched  to  Peking  fifteen 
years  ago. 

Colonel  Roosevelt  then  discussed  in 
detail  the  cases  of  China  and  Belgium, 
comparing  Belgium  with  Switzerland, 
and  asserting  that  Switzerland  would 
have  met  Belgium's  fate  if  she  had  not 
heen  prepared  to  oppose  invasion.  Then 
taking  up  the  case  of  China,  he  said: 

She  has  acted  on  the  theory  that  the 
worst  peace  was  better  than  the  best 
war,  and  therefore  she  has  suffered 
all  the  evils  of  the  worst  war  and  the 
worst  peace.  The  average  Chinaman 
took  the  view  that  China  was  too  proud 
to  fight  and  in  practice  made  evident 
his  hearty  approval  of  the  sentiments 
of  that  abject  pacifist  song :  "  I  Didn't 
Raise  My  Boy  to  be  a  Soldier,"  a  song 
which  should  have  as  a  companion  piece 
one  entitled:  "I  Didn't  Raise  my  Girl 
to  be  a  Mother,"  approval  of  which  of 
course  deprives  any  men  or  women  of 
all  right  of  kinship  with  the  soldiers 
and  with  the  mothers  and  wives  of  the 
soldiers,  whose  valor  and  services  we 
commemorate  on  the  Fourth  of  July  and 
on  Decoration  Day;  a  song,  the  singing 
of  which  seems  incredible  to  every  man 
and  woman  capable  of  being  stirred  to 
lofty  and  generous  enthusiasm  by  the 
tremendous  surge  of  Julia  Ward  Howe's 
"  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic."  China 
has  steadily  refused  to  prepare  for  war. 


Accordingly  China  has  had  province  af- 
ter province  lopped  off  her,  until  one- 
half  of  her  territory  is  now  under  Jap- 
anese, Russian,  English  and  French  con- 
trol. 

The  professional  pacifists,  the  peace- 
at-any-price,  non-resistance,  universal 
arbitration  people  are  now  seeking  to 
Chinafy  this  country. 

During  the  past  year  or  so  this  na- 
tion has  negotiated  some  thirty  all-in- 
clusive peace  treaties  by  which  it  is 
agreed  that  if  any  issue  arises,  no  mat- 
ter of  what  kind,  between  itself  and  any 
other  nation,  it  would  take  no  final  steps 
about  it  until  a  commission  of  investi- 
gation had  discussed  the  matter  for  a 
year.  This  was  an  explicit  promise  in 
each  case  that  if  American  women  were 
raped  and  American  men  murdered,  as 
has  actually  occurred  in  Mexico;  or 
American  men,  women,  and  children 
drowned  on  the  high  seas,  as  rn  the  case 
of  the  Gulflight  and  Lusitania;  or  if  a 
foreign  power  secured  and  fortified 
Magdalena  Bay  or  the  Island  of  St. 
Thomas,  we  would  appoint  a  commission 
and  listen  to  a  year's  conversation  on 
the  subject  before  taking  action. 

England  and  France  entered  into 
these  treaties  with  us,  and  we  begged 
Germany  to  enter  into  one,  and,  al- 
though Germany  refused,  yet  if  we  were 
right  in  entering  into  them  with  En- 
gland and  France,  we  deprived  ourselves 
of  moral  justification  in  refusing  to 
fulfill  their  spirit  as  regards  Germany. 
Personally  I  believe  that  it  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  when  the  concrete  case 
arose  to  repudiate  the  principle  to  which 
we  had  thus  committed  ourselves.  But 
it  was  a  shameful  thing  to  have  put 
ovirselves  in  such  a  position  that  it  had 
to  be  repudiated,  and  it  was  inexcusable 
of  us  to  decline  to  follow  the  principle 
in  the  case  of  the  Lusitania  without  at 
the  same  time  making  frank  confession 
of  our  error  and  misconduct  by  notify- 
ing all  the  powers  with  whom  we  had 
already  made  the  treaties  that  they  were 
withdrawn,  because  in  practice  we  had 
found  it  impossible  and  improper  to  fol- 
low out  the  principle  to  which  they  com- 
mitted us. 


First  Year  of  the  War 

Military  Resumes  of  Operations  on  All  Fronts- 
August,  1914  to  August,  1915 

By  Lieutenant  Walter  E.  Ives 

Formerly  of  the  Royal  Prussian  Thirteenth  Dragoons 
and 

By  An  American  Military  Expert 


One  Year's  War 

By  Lieutenant  Walter  E.  Ives 

I. 

THE   WESTERN   CAMPAIGN 

THE  first  year  of  the  European 
war  has  drawn  to  a  close.  A 
resume  covering  the  military 
events  it  has  produced  brings 
to  view  two  distinct  phases  of  the  cam- 
paign. The  first  phase  comprises  the 
period  from  Aug.  3  to  Oct.  27,  and  con- 
sists of  a  tenacious  effort  to  carry 
through  the  original  plan  of  war  of 
the  German  General  Staff:  to  strike  a 
crushing  blow  at  France,  and  after  put- 
ting her  "  hors  de  combat,"  to  turn  on 
the  enemy  in  the  East.  The  second  phase 
comprises  the  time  from  Oct.  27  to  the 
present,  and  consists  in  the  pursuance 
of  military  aims  forming  the  direct  re- 
versal of  the  original  ones. 

The  campaign  against  France,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  German  plan  of  strategy 
the  first  one  to  come  into  prominence, 
can,  in  its  first  phase,  be  divided  into 
four  periods. 

The  first  period  comprises  the  opera- 
tions in  Belgium,  German  Lorraine  and 
Alsace,  from  Aug.  3  to  Aug.  23,  the  day 
before  the  Battle  for  the  Invasion  of 
France,  commonly,  but  incorrectly  known 
as  the  battle  of  Mons. 

The  main  blow  at  France  was  to  come 
through  Belgium.  Five  German  armies 
out  of  eight  were  hurled  against  this 
gateway  to  Northern  France.  In  Lor- 
raine and  Alsace  the  Germans  were  tem- 


porarily to  remain  on  the  defensive.  The 
protection  of  Lorraine  was  intrusted  to 
the  Bavarian  (Sixth)  Army,  that  of  Al- 
sace to  the  remaining  two  armies. 

The  French  plan  of  operation  was  to 
check  the  invasion  of  Belgium  on  the  line 
Tongres-Liege-Longwy,  where  the  Bel- 
gian Army,  from  a  strictly  military  point 
of  view,  forming  the  advance  guards  of 
the  French  Army  of  the  North,  was  hold- 
ing strong  positions,  and  with  superior 
forces  to  strike  at  the  German  Army  of 
Lorraine.  The  aim  was,  avoiding  Metz, 
to  reach  the  Moselle  near  Trier  through 
tlu!  valley  of  the  Saar,  and  to  roll  up  the 
German  Army  of  the  North  from  its  left 
wing.  An  invasion  of  Alsace  was  mere- 
ly to  satisfy  political  aspirations. 

The  German  advance  in  Belgium,  how- 
ever, remained  unchecked,  and  in  Lor- 
raine the  battles  of  Dieuze  and  Saar- 
bourg  on  Aug.  20  decided  the  issue  in 
favor  of  the  Bavarians.  In  Alsace  the 
French  were  victorious  over  the  Eighth 
Army  and  took  Muelhausen,  while  fur- 
ther north,  between  Muenster  and  Shir- 
meck,  the  Seventh  Army  checked  the 
French  invasion. 

Meanwhile  the  German  avalanche  in 
Belgium  had  reached  the  second  line  of 
defense,  Brussels-Namur-Longwy,  be- 
fore the  French  Army  of  the  North.  The 
capture  of  Namur  prompted  the  French 
staff  to  recall  advance  guards,  which 
had  reached  the  fortress  just  as  it  sur- 
rendered, and  to  accept  battle  in  the  line 
Mons-Charleroi-Givet-Longrwy.  The  bat- 
tle for  the  invasion  of  France  and  the 
retirement  of  the  French  armies  in  all 


FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR 


843 


the  theatres  of  action  which  it  caused 
opens  the  second  period  of  the  campaign 
against  France. 

The  English  contingent  from  Havre 
had  joined  the  French  Army  just  before 
the  German  onslaught  began.  The  bat- 
tle was  lost  by  the  Allies  tactically  and 
strategically  through  the  defeat  of  their 
right  wing  at  Longwy  and  Neufchateau, 
and  through  the  encircling  of  their  left 
wing  at  Mons.  The  direct  result  of 
the  outcome  was  the  German  invasion 
of  France;  the  indirect  consequence  (re- 
sulting from  the  necessity  of  drawing 
troops  from  the  other  fields  of  action  to 
stem  the  German  invasion)  was  the  re- 
tirement of  the  French  armies  in  Lor- 
raine and  Alsace  to  the  line  Verdun- 
Nancy-St.  Die,  and  further  south  to  the 
passes  of  the  Vosges,  which  they  have 
been  holding  ever  since. 

Sweeping  on  through  Northern  France, 
the  German  Army  of  the  North  was 
breaking  up  all  resistance  in  its  path, 
such  as  was  attempted  by  the  British  at 
St.  Quentin  on  Aug.  28,  and  was  tearing 
with  it  all  fortresses,  such  as  Longwy,  La 
Fere,  Maubeuge,  and  others;  but  it  was 
failing  in  its  principal  aim:  to  embrace 
the  skillfully  retreating  enemy  before  he 
could  reach  the  line  Paris-Verdun,  which 
he  had  selected  and  prepared  for  the  next 
stand. 

On  Aug.  30  the  German  plan  of  strat- 
egy was  changed,  and  it  was  resolved  to 
break  the  centre  of  the  enemy,  throwing 
his  left  wing  into  Paris  and  on  the  Seine 
and  his  right  wing  into  Verdun,  Toul, 
and  Epinal.  The  armies  of  the  centre 
were  pushed  forward,  while  either  wing 
held  back.  The  Allies  were  established 
in  the  general  line  Paris-Verdun. 

The  battle  ensuing  on  Sept.  5  and  the 
retreat  of  the  Germans  to  the  Aisne  are 
the  events  of  the  third  period  of  this 
campaign,  lasting  from  Sept.  5  to  Sept. 
28.  On  Sept,  8,  while  the  German  attacks 
had  all  but  pierced  the  French  centre, 
having  already  bent  it  back  beyond  the 
line  Sezanne- Vitry,  the  German  right 
wing  found  itself  outflanked  by  a  new 
allied  army  from  Paris,  which  was  rapid- 
ly moving  northward  and  threatened  to 
roll  up  the  entire  German  battle  front 


from  the  direction  of  Compiegne.  The 
critical  question,  who  would  succeed  first, 
the  Allies  in  outflanking  the  German 
right  or  the  Germans  in  piercing  the 
French  centre,  was  decided  in  favor  of 
the  Allies.  Anglo-French  strategy  tri- 
umphed. 

The  tactical  aspect  of  the  situation, 
though,  is  best  illustrated  by  the  mes- 
sage sent  to  his  commander-in-chief  by 
General  Foch,  commanding  the  French 
Army  of  the  Centre  when  he  received 
the  order  to  counter-attack :  "  My  left 
has  been  forced  back,  my  right  is  routed. 
I  shall  attack  with  the  centre."  When 
the  counter-attack  came  it  found  but 
rear  guards  opposing  it.  The  retreat  of 
the  Germans,  their  right  flank  constantly 
in  danger  of  being  rolled  up,  was  a  fine 
military  achievement.  On  Sept.  12  it 
halted  on  the  Aisne.  In  the  regions 
northeast  of  Verdun  the  German  left 
wing  joined  hands  with  the  Sixth  German 
Army,  which  had  followed  up  the  retire- 
ment of  the  French  Army  of  Lorraine  to 
the  line  Verdun-St.  Die. 

Thus  resting  on  Metz  with  its  left 
wing  the  German  battle-front  was 
strongly  established  on  a  line  passing 
Verdun,  to  the  east  and  northeast,  ex- 
tending from  there  in  a  general  westerly 
direction  to  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  as  far 
as  the  region  north  of  Compiegne,  and 
from  that  point  northward  to  the  region 
west  of  Peronne  and  Cambrai. 

The  stability  of  this  line,  enabling  a 
constant  shifting  of  forces  toward  the 
right  wing,  and  the  arrival  there  of  the 
army  released  from  Maubeuge,  made 
possible  the  extension  of  the  battle-front 
to  the  region  of  Arras,  and  frustrated  all 
flanking  movements  on  the  part  of  the 
Allies. 

The  situation  was  again  safe,  but  the 
plan  to  put  the  French  army  hers  de 
combat  was  far  from  having  been  real- 
ized. The  German  General  Staff  there- 
fore decided  on  a  new  plan.  Its  purpose 
was  to  gain  control  of  the  northeast 
coast  of  France.  A  wedge  should  be 
driven  between  the  two  allied  countries, 
and  Pas-de-Calais  made  the  base  of  fur- 
ther operations  against  both.  The  fol- 
lowing out  of  this  plan  constitutes  the 


844 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


fourth  and  last  period  of  the  first  phase 
of  the  western  campaign.  It  starts  with 
the  beginning  of  the  siege  of  Antwerp 
on  Sept.  28  and  ends  with  the  first  battle 
of  Ypres  on  Oct.  27. 

The  first  step  toward  the  aceomplish- 
Txunt  of  the  new  aims  was  the  capture 
oi  Antwerp.  Antwerp  in  the  hands  of 
the  Allies  meant  a  constant  menace  to 
the  German  line  of  communication;  in 
possession  of  the  Germans  it  signified  the 
key  to  Northern  France.  The  fortress 
was  taken  on  Oct.  9.  The  next  point  of 
strategic  importance  for  the  pursuance 
of  the  German  plan  was  Lille,  which 
was  taken  on  Oct.  12. 

But  the  change  in  the  German  plan  of 
strategy  had  been  recognized  by  the 
Allies,  and  a  new  English  army  from 
Havre  was  hurried  to  the  line  Bethune- 
Dunkirk  to  extend  the  allied  left  wing 
to  the  coast  and  block  the  road  to  Calais. 
It  reached  West  Flanders  on  Oct.  13, 
and  on  Oct.  16  it  came  in  contact  with 
the  German  Army  that  approached  from 
Antwerp.  The  latter  joined  the  German 
right  wing  north  of  Lille  and  extended 
it  to  Westende.  On  the  18th,  after 
having  brought  up  all  their  reserves,  the 
Germans  began  their  onslaught  to  break 
through  in  the  region  of  Dixmude  and 
Ypres. 

While,  by  Oct.  27,  no  appreciable  im- 
pression had  been  made  on  the  allied 
battleline,  the  situation  in  the  eastern 
seat  of  war  had  begun  to  assume  an 
alarming  aspect,  and  necessitated  the 
complete  change  in  the  German  plan  of 
strategy,  which  marks  the  beginning  of 
the  second  phase  of  the  war. 

On  the  western  front  this  second 
phase  meant  for  the  Germans  the  going 
into  the  defensive  along  the  entire  bat- 
tleline, which  the  allied  armies  have  been 
relentlessly  attempting  to  break.  In 
spite  of  their  continuous  heroic  efforts 
only  minor  successes,  such  as  that  of 
the  British  at  Neuve  Chapelle  and  that 
of  the  French  to  the  north  of  Arras, 
have  been  achieved.  Counter  attacks, 
forming  the  most  essential  element 
of  the  modern  defensive,  have  been 
launched  by  the  Germans  incessantly, 
and  have  on  several  occasions  resulted 


in  successes  similar  to  those  of  the 
Allies,  as,  for  instance,  at  Soissons  and 
at  Ypres.  On  the  whole,  no  changes  of 
strategic  importance  have  taken  place, 
and  the  German  wall  in  France  stands 
firm  to  this  day. 


II. 

THE    EASTERN    CAMPAIGN 

WHILE,  in  the  early  days  of  August, 
the  bulk  of  the  German  Army 
was  moving  westward,  not  more 
than  ten  army  "corps  were  available  for 
the  campaign  against  Russia.  To  them 
and  to  the  Austrian  armies  fell  the  task 
of  laying  the  basis  for  the  offensive  con- 
templated for  a  later  date.  The  plan 
of  campaign  was  to  draw  the  Rus- 
sians into  the  Polish  bag  and  tie  it  up. 
It  was  based  on  the  knowledge  that  Rus- 
sia's principal  strategic  aim  must,  under 
all  circumstances,  be  Cracow,  the  gate- 
way to  Vienna  and  Berlin. 

The  enemy  was  to  be  allowed  to  reach 
it  through  Poland,  while  the  Germans 
should  hold  on  to  East  Prussia  and  the 
Austrians  to  Galicia,  to  flank  the  Rus- 
sian advance  from  the  north  and  south 
in  preparation  for  a  campaign  against 
the  Russian  lines  of  communication. 
This  scheme  of  bagging  the  enemy  has 
governed  all  strategic  moves  of  the  cam- 
paign against  Russia  to  this  day. 

But  the  Muscovites  were  on  their 
guard.  They  paid  little  attention  to  the 
few  German  divisions  that  were  thrown 
into  Poland  in  August,  in  order  to  attract 
a  Russian  offensive,  and  began  hammer- 
ing at  the  Teutonic  flanking  positions 
along  the  East  Prussian  frontier  in  the 
north  and  the  line  Lublin-Tarnopol  in 
the  south. 

While  the  Russian  offensive  in  East 
Prussia  came  to  grief  at  Tannenberg,  it 
was  most  successful  against  Galicia,  and 
the  eighth  week  of  the  war  already 
found  the  Russian  invasion  west  of  the 
San,  Przemysl  besieged,  and  the  Aus- 
trian right  wing  flanked  by  vast  bodies 
of  cavalry,  which  had  penetrated  the 
Carpathian  passes  and  reached  the  region 
of  Munkacs. 


FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR 


845 


To  relieve  the  pressure  exerted  on 
their  Allies  and  give  them  a  chance  once 
more  to  establish  themselves  in  north- 
eastern Galicia,  four  German  army  corps 
invaded  Poland  and  advanced  toward 
Radom  and  Ivangorod.  This  counter 
move  was  successful.  Menaced  in  their 
right  flank,  the  Russians  quickly  took 
back  their  army  beyond  the  San.  The 
Austrians  followed,  raised  the  siege  of 
Przemysl,  and  drove  the  invaders  from 
Hungary  and  straightened  out  their  line 
from  Sandomir  to  Czemowitz. 

Meanwhile  heavy  Russian  reinforce- 
ments had  been  brought  up  from  Ivan- 
gorod and  were  gradually  put  in  action 
against  the  Germans  east  of  Radom.  On 
Oct.  24,  as  soon  as  the  Russian  superi- 
ority became  alarming,  the  four  German 
army  corps,  having,  temporarily  at  least, 
accomplished  their  purpose  of  re-estab- 
lishing the  Austrian  campaign,  beat  a 
hasty  retreat  toward  Silesia,  during 
which  the  second  purpose  of  their  inva- 
sion, to  draw  into  the  Polish  bag  great 
masses  of  Russian  troops,  was  success- 
fully achieved,  the  Russians  having  been 
led  to  believe  that  they  were  pursuing  a 
great  German  army. 

Simultaneously,  though,  with  their  ad- 
vance in  the  path  of  the  German  retreat 
in  Poland,  the  Russians  once  more  con- 
centrated vast  forces  against  the  men- 
acing projection  of  the  Austrian  battle- 
line  in  Galicia,  and  the  early  days  of 
November  witnessed  the  second  invasion 
of  the  Austrian  province.  At  the  same 
time  a  new  drive  was  made  on  East 
Prussia,  and  the  Germans  were  forced 
back  into  the  region  of  the  Masurian 
Lakes. 

The  retirement  of  the  entire  Teutonic 
battleline  before  the  Russians,  who  to- 
ward the  end  of  October  had  reached  the 
maximum  of  their  strength,  marks  the 
end  of  the  first  phase  of  the  eastern 
campaign.  It  had  not  accomplished  all 
that  had  been  expected  of  it.  The  ene- 
my had  been  drawn  far  into  South  Po- 
land, but  the  base  of  operations  for  the 
general  offensive  against  his  communi- 
cations in  the  north  had  not  been  es- 
tablished just  where  it  should  have  been, 
and   the   Russian   frontier  fortifications 


had  been  found  better  prepared  for  re- 
sistance than  those  of  Belgium,  while  in 
the  south  the  Austrian  base  of  opera- 
tions was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy. 

The  second  phase  of  the  eastern  cam- 
paign was  therefore  opened  from  a  new 
base — Thorn,  where  the  main  army  had 
been  gathered  ever  since  Oct.  27,  when 
the  Russian  danger  had  become  alarm- 
ing, and  the  offensive  in  the  west  had 
been  abandoned.  It  was  suddenly 
launched  with  irresistible  force  on  Nov. 
12,  and  rolled  back  numerically  inferior 
Russian  armies,  whose  task  it  had  been 
to  protect  the  right  flank  of  the  Rus- 
sian advance  on  Silesia. 

Recognizing  the  danger  to  their  opera- 
tions in  South  Poland  and  Galicia,  where 
they  had  meanwhile  approached  the  line 
of  the  Warta,  Cracow,  and  Neu  Sandec, 
the  Russians  threw  troops  into  North 
Poland  from  all  sides  and  succeeded  in 
temporarily  detaining  the  German  ad- 
vance there,  while  they  were  continuing 
their  supreme  efforts  to  break  the  Aus- 
tro-German  line  south  of  Cracow.  But 
the  line  held.  At  the  same  time  the  Ger- 
man drive  in  North  Poland  was  making 
steady  headway. 

On  Dec.  6  the  Germans  took  Lodz,  and 
further  north  advanced  on  Lowitz,  and 
the  Russian  offensive  in  the  Cracow  dis- 
trict was  given  up.  While  all  troops 
that  could  be  spared  were  sent  north- 
east to  support  the  prepared  lines  of  the 
Bzura  and  Rawka  Rivers,  the  Russians 
in  the  south  fell  back  behind  the  Nida 
and  Dunajec,  joining  with  their  right 
wing  their  northern  army  in  the  region 
of  Tomaschew,  and  extending  their  left 
through  the  region  of  Gorlitz  and  Torka 
toward  the  Pruth.  In  this  line  the  Teu- 
tonic advance  was  checked.  A  new  Ger- 
man drive  on  the  road  from  Soldau  to 
Warsaw  could  likewise  make  no  headway 
beyond  Mlawa,  while  on  the  other  hand 
in  East  Prussia  the  Russian  offensive 
had  been  brought  to  a  standstill. 

A  siege  warfare,  like  that  in  France, 
seemed  imminent,  except  in  the  Buko- 
wina,  where  Russian  forces  during  Janu- 
ary were  driving  Austrian  troops  before 
them.      The    Russian    invasion    of    that 


I 


846 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


province,  however,  so  distant  from  all 
strategically  important  points,  was  but 
a  political  manoeuvre. 

The  first  movement  of  any  conse- 
quence to  occur  was  a  desperate  attempt 
of  the  Austrians  early  in  February  to 
push  forward  with  their  right  wing  in 
the  direction  of  Stanislau,  chiefly  to 
bring  relief  to  the  garrison  of  Przemysl. 
Simultaneously  they  began  sweeping  the 
Russians  out  of  Bukovina.  The  latter 
undertaking  was  successful,  but  the  ad- 
vance on  Stanislau  was  thrown  back  to- 
ward Nadworna. 

While  the  Austrian  offensive  was  un- 
der way.  General  von  Hindenburg  un- 
expectedly launched  a  vigorous  attack 
in  East  Prussia,  which  resulted  in  the 
destruction  of  the  Russian  East  Prus- 
sian Army  in  the  region  of  the  Masu- 
rian Lakes.  Once  more  a  successful 
drive  at  the  Russian  "  bread  line  "  from 
the  north  seemed  at  hand.  Already  the 
armies  pursuing  the  Russians  were  ham- 
mering at  the  Russian  fortifications 
along  the  Niemen,  Bobr,  and  Narew 
when  the  surrender  of  Przemysl,  the 
siege  of  which  had  uninterruptedly  gone 
on  behind  the  Russian  lines  since  No- 
vember, on  March  22  again  presented  to 
the  Russians  an  opportunity  to  break 
the  Austrian  battleline. 

To  check  the  onslaught  of  the  rein- 
forced Russian  armies  against  the  Car- 
pathian passes  early  in  April,  troops 
must  be  dra%vn  from  General  von  Hin- 
denberg's  armies,  and  the  consequence 
was  another  deadlock  in  the  north. 
Meanwhile  the  reinforced  Teutonic 
troops  were  hurriedly  concentrated  for 
the  counter-attack  against  the  Russian 
offensive  in  the  Carpathians,  and  a 
great  drive  began  against  the  Russian 
positions  on  the  Dunajec  line,  east  of 
Cracow,  early  in  May.  Breaking  all  re- 
sistance, it  swept  on  toward  Jaroslau 
and  Przemysl  on  a  sixty-mile  front. 

Threatened  in  their  right  and  left 
flanks,  respectively,  the  Russian  lines  on 
the  Nida  and  in  the  Carpathians  fell  back 
rapidly,  while  reinforcements  were  sent 
to  stem  the  Teutonic  advance  along  the 
San.       But  the  Russian  efforts  were  in 


vain.  The  momentum  the  Teutonic  of- 
fensive had  gained  carried  it  across  the 
river,  while  further  south  the  Austrian 
right  wing  cleared  the  entire  Carpathian 
front  of  the  enemy,  hotly  pushing  his 
retreat. 

Przemysl  was  recaptured,  the  third 
Russian  line  of  defense  from  Rawa- 
Ruska  to  Grodeck  and  the  Dniester  was 
broken,  and  the  end  of  June  saw  Lem- 
berg  once  more  in  the  hands  of  the 
Teutons,  and  the  Russian  line  on  the  de- 
fensive and  sorely  pressed  along  a  front 
extending  from  the  Bassarabian  frontier 
along  the  Dniester  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Zlota-Lipa,  and  from  there  along  the 
Zlota-Lipa  and  the  Bug,  well  into  Rus- 
sian territory,  leaving  the  river  south- 
east of  Grubeschow,  and  continuing  from 
there  in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  the 
region  of  Krasnik. 

Here  it  joined  hands  with  the  left 
wing  of  the  Russian  Army  of  the  Nida, 
which  had  retired  before  the  Austro- 
Gorman  advance  in  a  northeasterly  direc- 
tion, intrenching  along  a  line  from 
Krasnik  across  the  Vistula  and  through 
Sjenno  and  Jastrshob  (about  fifteen 
miles  southwest  of  Radom)  to  the  region 
of  Tomaschew  on  the  Pilitza. 

While  this  great  Spring  offensive  from 
the  Dunajec  line  was  well  under  way, 
small  German  forces  invaded  the  Russian 
province  of  Courland.  Finding  at  first 
little  resistance  in  the  path  of  their  un- 
expected advance,  they  took  Libau  and 
established  themselves  on  the  Dubissa- 
Windau  line.  During  July  the  opera- 
tions in  Courland  steadily  assumed 
gfreater  proportions. 

Two  bases  for  the  campaign  against 
the  Russian  lines  of  communication  have 
thus  been  firmly  established  in  the  flanks 
of  the  Russian  Armies  west  of  the  Vis- 
tula, both  protruding  far  into  their  rear. 
Drives  against  the  Dunaburg-Warsaw 
line  from  the  north  and  the  Minsk-Ivan- 
gorod  line  from  the  south  will  open  the 
second  year  of  the  eastern  campaign. 
The  first  year  of  the  incessant  struggle 
has  brought  the  aims  of  the  German 
strategy,  the  bagging  of  the  Russiian 
Armies,  within  sight  of  its  realization. 


FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR 


847 


III. 

CAMPAIGNS    OF    MINOR 
IMPORTANCE 

WHILE  the  struggle  in  the  two  prin- 
cipal seats  of  war  has  been  going 
on,  the  passing  year  has  wit- 
nessed fighting  also  of  secondary  im- 
portance, though  not  less  heroic,  in  three 
other  fields  of  action:  Serbia,  Turkey, 
and  the  Austro-Italian  frontier.  Where- 
as Turkey  joined  the  Teutons  but  three 
months  after  the  beginning  of  hostilities, 
and  Italy  was  involved  only  at  the  end 
of  May,  Serbia  was  one  of  the  first 
nations  to  take  the  field. 

Austria's  campaign  against  the  little 
kingdom  could  under  no  circumstances 
influence  the  events  of  the  war,  and 
was  therefore  void  of  any  strategic  im- 
portance. For  this  reason,  but  three 
Austrian  Army  corps  were  engaged  in  it. 
The  purpose  was  merely  to  keep  the 
Serbians  busy,  and  prevent  them  from 
invading  Austrian  soil.  For  the  sake  of 
the  moral  effect  on  the  other  Balkan 
States  the  capture  of  Belgrade  should  be 
attempted.  In  view  of  the  strength  of 
the  Danube  fortifications  the  operations 
were  launched  from  Bosnia  and  resulted 
in  the  forcing  of  the  Drina  line  and  the 
capture  of  Valjevo  on  Nov.  17.  The 
Serbian  positions  on  the  Danube  having 
thus  been  flanked,  the  abandonment  of 
Belgrade  on  Dec.  2  was  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  the  Battle  of  Valjevo. 

Misled  by  their  successes  into  the  be- 
lief that  the  Serbian  army  had  been 
placed  hors  de  combat,  the  Austrians  ad- 
vanced beyond  the  lines  destined  to  con- 
stitute the  object  of  their  offensive.  In 
the  difficult  moui\tain  districts  southeast 
of  Valjevo  the  Serbians  turned  on  the  in- 
vaders with  superior  forces  and  defeated 
them.  The  Austrian  retreat  to  the  Drina 
which  followed,  necessitated  the  evacua- 
tion of  Belgrade  on  Dec.  15.  Since  then, 
the  situation  on  the  Serbian  frontier  has 
been  a  deadlock,  only  desultory  and  in- 
significant fighting  occurring  for  the 
rest  of  the  year. 

In  contrast  to  the  operations  in  Serbia, 
.Turkey's  campaign  has  direct  bearing  on 


the  European  war.  Its  chief  feature,  the 
closing  of  the  Dardanelles,  has  been  a 
serious  blow  to  Russia.  The  frantic  ef- 
forts of  the  Allies  to  open  them  are  the 
plainest  evidence  of  its  importance. 

The  attempt  in  March  to  force  the 
straits  by  naval  power  having  resulted 
in  failure,  an  army  was  landed  on  the 
west  coast  of  Gallipoli,  and  after  heavy 
fighting  established  itself  on  a  line  run- 
ning from  Eski-Hissarlik  on  the  south 
coast  of  the  peninsula  to  the  region  of 
Sari-Bair,  on  the  north  coast,  constitut- 
ing a  front  of  approximately  twenty 
miles,  within  five  miles  of  the  west  coast. 
No  progress  further  than  this  have  the 
Allies  been  able  to  make  up  to  the  pres- 
ent, and  the  watch  at  the  Dardanelles 
stands  firm  as  yet. 

The  attacks  of  the  Anglo-French 
armies,  however,  exerted  influence  on 
Turkey's  operations  in  other  fields  of  ac- 
tion. They  caused  the  complete  aban- 
donment of  a  contemplated  invasion  of 
Egypt  and  compelled  the  Turkish  troops 
to  go  on  the  defensive  in  the  Caucasian 
seat  of  war.  This  enabled  Russia  to  call 
back  to  Poland  troops  sorely  needed 
there,  with  which  they  had  had  to  check 
the  Turkish  advance  on  Kars  in  Janu- 
ary. Since  February  both  battlelines 
along  the  Caucasian  front  have  been 
weakened  and  no  fighting  of  any  con- 
sequence has  occurred  in  this  campaign 
of  merely  secondary  importance. 

The  operations  in  the  latest  field  of 
action,  along  the  Austro-Italian  frontier, 
have  been  going  on  for  but  eight  weeks, 
and  do  not,  therefore,  allow  any  con- 
clusions as  to  their  importance  to  be 
made  as  yet.  So  far  the  Italians  have 
been  unable  to  make  any  effective  im- 
pression on  either  Austria's  Tyrolese 
frontier  or  on  the  front  of  the  Isonzo. 
All  attempts  to  break  through  the  Aus- 
trian lines  have  thus  far  failed.  The  aim 
of  Austria's  strategy  is  to  maintain  a 
deadlock  until  the  issue  has  been  decided 
in  Poland. 

In  determining  the  results  of  the  first 
year  of  the  world  war  the  question  as  to 
which  side  is  holding  the  advantage  at 
the  close  of  this  important  period  de- 
pends entirely  upon  what  were  the  polit- 


848 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


ical  aims  of  the  adversaries.  The  Teu- 
tonic allies'  contention  has  ever  been, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  that  they  are  not 
waging  a  war  for  territorial  aggrandize- 


ment, but  purely  one  in  self-defense. 
From  this  point  of  view  they  can  be  well 
satisfied  with  the  results  they  have  so 
far  attained. 


An  American  View 

By  the  Military  Expert  of  The  New  York  Times 


FIRST    PHASE 

Opening  the  Way  to  France 
Through  Belgium 

BY  Aug.  4,  1914,  war  had  been  de- 
clared by  all  the  nations  now  en- 
gaged except  Turkey  and  Italy. 
Subsequent  events  have  proved  that 
of  them  all  the  Teutonic  allies  were  the 
only  nations  actually  prepared  and  that 
as  between  Austria  and  Germany  the 
preparation  of  the  latter  was  much  more 
complete.  It  was  the  Germans,  there- 
fore, who,  with  the  entire  campaign  care- 
fully mapped  out  in  advance,  took  the  ini- 
tiative. Germany,  too,  at  the  very  out- 
set saw  the  one  clear  path  to  victory. 

One  or  the  other  of  her  Continental 
enemies  must  not  only  be  defeated,  but 
crushed  and  eliminated  from  the  conflict 
before  the  other  could  mobilize  against 
her.  One  of  them,  Russia,  would  prob- 
ably take  the  longer  time  to  effect  her 
mobilization.  Russia  had  started,  it  is 
true,  before  war  wds  declared.  But  in- 
terior railroads  in  Russia  are  few.  Rus- 
sia, too,  is  proverbially  slow,  if  for  no 
other  reason  than  by  virtue  of  her  pon- 
derous numbers.  France,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  checked  and  counter-cheeked  by 
good  strategic  railroads,  and,  having  no 
such  vast  territory  over  which  her  troops 
would  have  to  be  moved,  would  be  able 
to  mobilize  in  a  much  shorter  time  than 
her  ally.  England,  for  a  few  weeks  at 
least,  could  be  disregarded.  Deceived  as 
to  the  extent  of  Russian  unpreparedness 
and  believing  that  Russia's  slowness 
would  prevent  an  active  offense  for  some 
weeks,  Germany  selected  France  as  her 
first  objective,  and  took  immediate  steps 


to  hurl  twenty-four  army  corps  across  the 
French  border  at  various  points,  aiming 
at  Paris. 

These  twenty-four  corps  were  divided 
into  three  armies — the  Army  of  the 
Meuse,  based  on  Cologne;  the  Army  of 
the  Moselle,  based  on  Metz  and  Coblenz, 
and  the  Army  of  the  Rhine,  based  on 
Strassburg.  All  of  these  three  armies 
were  naturally  to  converge  on  Paris. 
The  route  of  the  Army  of  the  Meuse 
would  pass  through  Liege,  Namur,  and 
Maubeuge,  and  would  therefore  have  to 
cross  a  part  of  Belgium;  the  Army  of 
the  Moselle  would  take  a  route  through 
Sedan  and  Soissons,  passing  north  of 
the  Verdun  fortress,  but  of  necessity 
crossing  the  Duchy  of  Luxemburg;  the 
Army  of  the  Rhine,  after  crossing  the 
screen  of  the  Vosges  Mountains,  would 
pass  through  Nancy  and  Toul,  between 
the  fortresses  of  Epinal  and  Belfort. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  march  to  Paris 
would  be  most  quickly  achieved  through 
the  flat  country  of  Belgium,  where  the 
French  frontier  is  practically  unguarded 
and  only  the  weakly  manned  barrier 
fortresses  of  Belgium  barred  the  way. 
The  remainder  of  the  French  frontier 
from  Luxemburg  to  Switzerland  was 
well  fortified,  and  Germany  had  no  time 
to  spend  in  reducing  fortified  places. 

The  main  advance  was  therefore  to 
take  place  through  Belgium,  the  Army 
of  the  Moselle  co-operating,  while  to  the 
Army  of  the  Rhine  was  assigned  the 
offensive-defensive  role  of  advancing  to 
the  barrier  fortresses  of  Epinal  and  Bel- 
fort  to  check  any  French  advance  that 
might  be  directed  against  the  communi- 
cations of  the  Armies  of  the  Moselle  and 


THOMAS     A.      EDISON 

The   American    Inventor.   Now    Associated    With    the    Navy    Department 
as  Chief  of  the  Advisory  Board  of  Civilian  Inventors  and  Kn)iinecrs 


HUDSON      MAXIM 

American    Inventor   of    High    Explosives   and    Other    Materials   of    War 


^ Photo    by    White) 


FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR 


849 


the  Meuse  to  ths  north.  The  railroad 
communications  through  the  Belgian 
plain  were  splendidly  adapted  to  this 
plan,  backed  as  they  were  by  the  mili- 
tary railroads  which  Germany  had  con- 
structed several  years  before,  running 
through  the  industrial  districts  in  the 
north  of  the  German  Empire  up  to  the 
Belgian  border. 

Germany's  first  move  was  the  invasion 
of  Luxemburg,  violating  the  neutrality 
of  a  State  which,  under  the  treaty  mak- 
ing her  independent  and  guaranteeing 
neutrality,  (to  which  treaty  Germany 
was  a  party,)  was  not  permitted  to  main- 
tain an  army.  Two  days  later  Germany 
asked  passage  for  her  troops  through 
Belgium,  for  the  purpose  of  attacking 
France.  Belgium  promptly  refused,  and 
on  Aug.  4  Germany  began  the  forcing 
of  this  passage  by  an  attack  on  Liege. 

Thus,  at  the  outset  the  German  plan 
went  awry.  Although  the  contemplated 
line  of  advance  was  through  Liege  and 
Namur,  it  was  not  sufficient,  with  Bel- 
gium openly  in  arms  to  defend  her  coun- 
try, to  reduce  only  these  two  towns.  The 
Belgian  Army  could,  and  later  did,  fall 
back  to  the  north  on  Louvain,  Brussels, 
and  Antwerp,  and  so  be  directly  on  the 
German  flank  and  in  a  position  to  strike 
at  the  line  of  communications.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  to  subjugate  all  of 
Belgium  either  by  destroying  the  Bel- 
gian Army  or  driving  it  before  them  in 
their  advance. 

Thus,  the  German  advance  was  not 
only  doomed  to  delay,  but  at  least  100,- 
000  troops  were  needed  to  garrison  a 
hostile  country  and  to  protect  the  life 
lines  running  to  the  rear. 

Three  days  after  the  attack  on  Liege 
opened  the  Germans  penetrated  between 
the  outer  forts,  their  infantry  advancing 
in  close  formation  and  sustaining  enor- 
mous losses.  But  Liege  was  worth  the 
price  paid.  Some  of  the  forts  held  out 
for  days,  but  were  finally  reduced  by 
the  fire  of  the  42-centimeter  guns — the 
first  of  the  German  surprises.  The  Bel- 
gian garrison,  however,  had  done  its 
.work.  The  German  advance  was  delayed 
for  ten  precious  days,  during  which  the 
first  consignment  of  the  British  expedi- 


tionary force  had  reached  the  Continent 
and  France  and  Russia  had  largely  com- 
pleted their  mobilization. 

As  soon  as  it  was  realized  that  the  un- 
expected Belgian  resistance  had  retarded 
the  German  advance  and  in  all  proba- 
bility had  disarranged  the  German  plan 
of  campaign,  the  French,  even  before  the 
guns  of  Liege  had  cooled,  struck  at  Al- 
sace, through  the  Belford  Gap  and  over 
the  Vosges  Mountains.  At  first  this 
French  offensive  was  successful.  Points 
on  the  Metz-Strassburg  Railroad  were 
taken  and  the  town  of  Miilhausen  cap- 
tured. But  almost  before  the  news  of 
success  reached  Paris  the  French  had 
been  defeated,  not  only  in  Alsace  but 
also  in  Lorraine,  whence  French  troops 
had  been  sent  to  engage  the  German 
Army  of  the  Moselle.  The  result  was 
the  retirement  of  the  French  to  the  line 
of  their  first  defense — a  line  that  had 
been  prepared  for  just  such  an  emer- 
gency during  the  years  since  1871. 

While  the  German  armies  of  the  Mo- 
selle and  of  the  Rhine  were  thus  occupied 
in  repelling  the  French  advance  the 
Army  of  the  Meuse  was  forcing  its  way 
through  Belgium.  Throwing  out  a  strong 
cavalry  screen  in  its  front,  this  army 
avanced  through  Tongres,  St.  Frond, 
Laugen,  Haelen,  and  Terlemont,  and 
finally  confronted  the  Belgians  on  the 
line  from  Louvain  to  Namur.  Fighting 
on  this  front  filled  almost  a  week,  when 
the  destruction  of  the  fortifications  of 
Namur  forced  the  Belgians  to  fall  back, 
pivoting  on  Louvain  to  the  line  from 
Louvain  to  Wavre,  the  last  line  in  front 
of  Brussels.  On  Aug.  20  the  Belgians 
were  defeated  at  Louvain  and  the  Ger- 
mans entered  Brussels,  the  Belgian  Gov- 
ernment having  previously  retired  to 
Antwerp.  The  first  phase  of  the  German 
advance  was  thus  completed  and  the  way 
to  France  was  open. 

SECOND    PHASE 

From  the  Fall  of  Brussels  to  von 
Kluck's  Retreat  to  the  Aisne 

Immediately  following  the  fall  of 
Namur,  which  forced  the  Belgians  to 
take    up    the    Louvain-Wavre    line,    the 


850 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


main  German  Army  of  the  Meuse  started 
for  France,  leaving  possibly  two  army 
corps  to  drive  the  Belgians  from  Brus- 
sels and  to  protect  their  flank  and  their 
lines  of  communication.  The  German 
advance  first  came  in  contact  with  tho 
P'rench  and  British  along  a  line  from 
Mons  to  Charleroi,  southwest  of  Brus- 
sels. The  British  were  supposed  to  have 
been  between  two  French  armies,  but  for 
some  reason  the  army  which  had  be^n 
assigned  to  position  on  the  British  left 
did  not  appear.  Being  outflanked,  a 
retreat  followed,  the  French  being  de- 
feated at  the  same  time  at  Charleroi. 
The  German  Army  of  the  Moselle  then 
attacked  along  the  Meuse,  and,  beinrj 
also  successful,  was  on  the  flank  and 
rear  of  the  British  and  French  retreat- 
ing from  Mons  and  Charleroi. 

Tnus  a  great  enveloping  movement 
was  disclosed  which  for  some  days  gave 
every  evidence  of  being  successful.  It 
was  defeated,  however,  entirely  by  the 
British,  who,  though  outflanked  and  out- 
numbered three  to  one,  fought  steadily 
night  and  day  for  six  days,  their  small 
force  holding  in  complete  check  all  of 
von  Kluck's  army  corps.  Retreat  was 
of  course  inevitable,  but  the  retreat  was 
made  in  good  order  and  with  the  morale 
of  the  troops  unshaken. 

In  the  meantime  the  German  General 
Staff,  which  had  confidently  expected  to 
crush  France  before  Russia  could  become 
a  factor  to  be  reckoned  with,  saw  with 
alarm  Russia  pouring  her  troops  into 
East  Prussia  in  a  drive  against  Konigs- 
berg,  while  in  South  Poland  another  Rus- 
sian army  was  preparing  a  drive  against 
Galicia,  operating  from  the  Ivangorod- 
Rowno  railroad.  Germany  saw  the  Aus- 
trians  being  defeated  everywhere;  Lem- 
berg,  the  capital  of  Galicia,  captured; 
Przemysl  masked,  and  the  Russians  fight- 
ing their  way  westward  through  Galicia 
between  the  Carpathians  and  the  Vis- 
tula. But  Austria's  troubles  at  this  stage 
were  her  own.  Germany  had  all  she 
could  do  to  turn  back  the  Russian  inva- 
sion of  East  Prussia. 

To  face  the  peril  on  her  eastern  bor- 
ders Germany  detached  several  army 
corps — probably  five — from  the  western 


front,  with  them  reinforced  her  eastern 
army,  and  in  a  few  days  after  their 
arrival  inflicted  a  disastrous  defeat  on 
the  Russians  at  Tannenburg,  driving 
them  back  practically  to  their  own  bor- 
ders. But  the  damage  had  been  done. 
The  armies  of  the  west  had  been  weak- 
ened at  a  critical  point,  and  .General 
Joffre  was  given  the  opportunity  he  had 
been  seeking  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war. 

The  French  and  British,  whose  retreat 
had  carried  them  to  the  Marne,  now  out- 
numbered the  Germans,  and,  what  is 
more  important,  were  able  to  concentrate 
their  forces  by  calling  in  those  troops 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  counter- 
offensive  in  Alsace.  Taking  advantage 
of  their  superiority  in  numbers,  the 
Allies  took  the  offensive.  Holding  the 
Germans  fast  in  the  centre,  the  Paris 
garrison  struck  hurriedly  northeast  to- 
ward Soisson  with  the  idea  of  getting 
around  von  Kluck's  flank.  For  several 
days  it  seemed  that  von  Kluck  and  his 
army  must  be  captured.  But,  moving 
north  with  great  rapidity,  abandoning 
much  of  his  artillery  and  supplies,  he 
escaped  the  net  Joffre  had  spread  for 
him,  and  anchored  himself  securely  be- 
hind the  Aisne.  The  great  German 
movement  was  thus  brought  to  an  abrupt 
halt,  and  they  were  now  on  the  de- 
fensive. Paris  was  saved.  For  ten  days 
the  Allies  fought  desperately  to  cross 
the  Aisne  and  force  von  Kluck  to  con- 
tinue his  retreat.  But  finally  the  effort 
was  given  up,  and  the  two  armies  faced 
each  other  across  the  Aisne  deadlocked. 

The  Russians  meanwhile  had  not  been 
idle.  Although  their  operations  against 
the  reinforced  German  Army  had  a  nega- 
tive result,  against  the  Austrians  in  Ga- 
licia their  success  continued.  Przemysl 
had  not  been  taken,  but,  hemming  it  in 
securely,  the  Russians  passed  on  and  took 
the  fortified  town  of  Jaroslau,  near  the 
lower  San.  The  menace  of  the  Russian 
invasion  of  Galicia  then  became  apparent. 
Galicia,  with  her  wealth  of  oil  and  min- 
erals, the  fertile  plains  of  Hungary  just 
the  other  side  of  the  Carpathians,  Cra- 
cow, opening  the  gate  to  Breslau  and 
Berlin — these  were  the  things  the  Teu- 
tons stood  in  danger  of  losing,  and  it  is 


FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR 


851 


not  surprising  that  they  viewed  the  Rus- 
sian advance  with  alarm. 

There  is  but  one  more  incident  to  re- 
cord before  closing  what  might  well  be 
considered  the  second  phase  of  the  war. 
That  is  the  fall  of  Antwerp.  It  was  Bel- 
gium's final  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  her 
national  honor.  And  no  matter  what  our 
ancestry  may  be,  nor  how  our  sympathies 
may  lie,  we  cannot  but  reverence  a  people 
whose  sense  of  national  duty  and  honor 
is  so  high  that  they  are  willing  to  sacri- 
fice and  do  sacrifice  their  all  to  main- 
tain it. 

THIRD    PHASE 

From  the  Fall  of  Antwerp  to  the 

Beginning  of  the  Battle 

for  Warsaw 

When  it  became  apparent  to  General 
French  that  the  line  of  the  Aisne,  to 
which  the  Germans  had  retreated  after 
the  battle  of  the  Marne,  was  too  strong 
to  be  forced,  he  withdrew  his  troops, 
about  100,000  men,  from  the  line,  his 
place  being  filled  by  the  French  reserves. 
The  object  of  the  withdrawal  was  an- 
other flanking  movement  against  the 
German  right.  The  idea  seems  to  have 
been  that  by  withdrawing  and  entrain- 
ing at  night  the  movement  would  be 
entirely  concealed  from  'the  Germans 
until  the  British  were  actually  in  Bel- 
gium, and  that  an  advance  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  Scheldt  would  turn  the 
flank  of  the  whole  German  army  in 
France,  compelling  a  general  retreat. 
The  movement  was  discovered  by  Ger- 
man air  scouts,  however,  and  the  troops 
that  had  been  before  Antwerp  met  and 
checked  the  British,  who  took  up  finally 
the  line  along  the  Yser  Canal,  through 
Ypres  to  La  Bassee,  opposed  by  three 
German  army  corps. 

But  one  thing  saved  the  British  from 
another  defeat  and  prevented  a  more 
disastrous  retreat  than  that  from  Mons 
and  Charleroi.  When  the  Qermans  took 
Antwerp  the  Belgian  garrison  of  about 
50,000  men  escaped  and  by  a  brilliant 
retreat  retired  to  a  line  from  Nieuport 
to  Dixmude.  They  thus  guarded  the  left 
flank  of  the  British  line  and  by  a  stub- 


born resistance  prevented  this  flank 
from  being  turned  and  the  British  driven 
south  toward  Paris.  Nothing  else  pre- 
vented Dunkirk,  Calais,  and  Boulogne 
from  falling  into  German  hands  at  this 
time. 

As  it  afterward  turned  out,  the  Ger- 
man plan,  after  the  fall  of  Antwerp,  was 
a  sudden  drive  to  Calais.  The  plan  was 
conceived  and  the  movement  begun  at 
the  same  time  General  French  put  into 
execution  his  attempt  to  outflank  the 
German  position.  These  forces  met  on 
the  Ypres-La  Bassee  line,  and  both  were 
halted.  It  was  a  fortuitous  chance,  then, 
that  the  Germans  were  held  back  from 
the  coast,  as  well  as  deprived  of  an  op- 
portunity to  strike  at  Paris  from  the 
north.  For  three  weeks  the  Germans 
battled  fiercely,  with  almost  total  disre- 
gard for  the  loss  of  life  involved.  Finally 
the  attack  died  out,  and  with  its  death 
the  whole  line  from  the  North  Sea  to  the 
Swiss  frontier  settled  down  to  trench 
warfare. 

While  the  armies  in  the  west  were 
checking  each  other  until  the  status  of  a 
"  stalemate "  had  been  reached,  affairs 
in  the  eastern  theatre  had  been  moving 
rapidly.  Persuaded  by  German  money,  a 
temptation  the  Turk  has  ever  been  pow- 
erless to  resist,  Turkey  late  in  October 
joined  hands  with  the  Teutons  and  de- 
clared war  on  the  Allies.  The  Japanese, 
who  had  at  the  outset  joined  hands  with 
England,  had,  after  a  wonderful  defense 
by  the  Germans,  taken  the  German  Chi- 
nese city  of  Kiao-Chau.  But  of  more  im- 
portance still  was  the  activity  of  the  op- 
posing armies  in  Russia  and  in  Galicia. 

After  the  battle  of  Fannenburg,  in 
which  Russia  was  defeated,  and  driven 
back  to  her  own  borders,  the  Germans  in- 
vaded Suwalki  Province  in  Northern  Po- 
land. The  Russians  again  took  the  of- 
fensive, defeated  the  Germans  in  the 
battle  of  Augustovo,  and,  pressing  west- 
ward, again  entered  East  Prussia  in  the 
region  of  the  Mazurian  Lakes.  In  this 
territory  a  deadlock  followed,  both  Rus- 
sians and  Germans  remaining  with  horns 
locked  and  unable  to  move  until  early 
Spring. 

In  Galicia,  however,  events  moved  with 
greater   rapidity,   and   the   results   were 


852 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


vastly  more  important.  After  the  fall 
of  Lemberg  and  Jaroslau  the  Russians 
pressed  forward  across  the  San  to  Tar- 
now,  masking  Przemysl  on  the  way,  and 
took  up  a  line  along  the  Dunajec  to  the 
Carpathians  and  east  through  Galicia 
along  the  Dniester  and  the  Pruth  to  the 
Rumanian  frontier,  thus  threatening  not 
only  the  plains  of  Hungary,  which  lay 
just  across  the  Carpathian  summits,  but 
also  Bukowina,  the  Crownland  of  Aus- 
tria. 

Austria's  plight  was  desperate,  and  Ger- 
man assistance  was  necessary.  Von  Hin- 
denburg's  first  attack  on  Warsaw,  the 
battle  being  called  the  battle  of  the  Vis- 
tula, was  the  answer.  The  Germans  ad- 
vanced against  the  Russian  centre,  the 
Austrians  against  the  left  in  Galicia.  At 
first  both  were  successful,  but  heavy  Rus- 
sian reinforcements  succeeded  in  turning 
the  German  left,  almost  at  the  very  gates 
of  Warsaw.  The  Germans  were  forced 
to  retreat,  and  fell  back  to  their  own  bor- 
ders. The  Austrians  were  at  the  same 
time  compelled  to  retreat,  due  to  the  un- 
covering of  their  flank,  and  again  Rus- 
sia was  in  supreme  control  of  Galicia 
as  far  west  as  Cracow.  As  the  Germans 
retreated  the  Russians  followed,  and  an- 
other invasion  of  Germany  was  threat- 
ened, and  it  was  von  Hindenburg  again 
who  was  to  throw  it  back. 

This  he  did,  driving  forward  in  three 
columns,  two  of  which  were  intended  to 
move  against  the  Russian  flanks.  The 
Russian  centre  fell  back  to  Lodz,  but  the 
right  was  still  threatened.  Again  Rus- 
sia assembled  her  reserves,  and  before 
von  Hindenburg  realized  the  situation  a 
Russian  army  was  not  only  on  his  flank 
but  in  his  re'ar.  A  retreat  was  necessary. 
The  Germans,  assisted  by  corps  drawn 
from  the  west,  cut  their  way  out  and 
escaped  from  the  Russian  trap  through 
the  failure  of  one  of  the  Russian  armies 
to  co-operate  in  the  movement  in  time. 
But  the  German  offense  had  failed  and 
the  effort  had  been  terribly  expensive. 

Another  offense  was  immediately 
planned — this  time  to  move  along  the 
Vistula  and  strike  at  Warsaw  from  the 
southwest.  This  also  was  a  failure,  and 
the  two  armies  finally  became  deadlocked 


along  the  line  of  the  Bzura  and  the 
Rawka  Rivers. 

No  further  fighting  of  importance  in 
this  theatre  until  February,  when  the 
battle  of  the  Mazurian  Lakes  was  fought. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  after  the  German 
defeat  at  Augustovo  the  Russians  pur- 
sued the  Germans  into  the  lake  district, 
where  the  two  armies  became  practically 
deadlocked.  This  situation  was  broken 
by  the  Germans,  who  suddenly  attacked 
both  flanks  of  the  Russian  army  and  in- 
flicted upon  it  a  disastrous  defeat,  in 
which  one  army  corps  surrendered  and 
the  remainder  escaped  only  after  enor- 
mous losses. 

But  the  victory,  like  other  German 
victories,  while  decisive  as  far  as  the 
particular  Russian  army  involved  was 
concerned,  did  nothing  toward  hastening 
peace.  The  beginning  of  Spring  found 
the  armies  in  both  theatres  completely  at 
a  standstill,  except  in  Galicia. 

In  the  west  since  the  failure  of  the 
German  drive  on  Calais  there  has  been 
no  movement  that  has  affected  the  gen- 
eral situation.  The  anniversary  of  the 
declaration  of  war  finds  the  lines  of 
the  Germans  and  the  French  practically 
where  they  were  six  months  ago.  A 
number  of  battles  have  been  fought  for 
the  possession  of  certain  points  of  van- 
tage— in  the  ,  Champagne,  the  Argonne, 
at  Neuve  Chapelle,  Ypres,  Les  Eparges, 
Hartmannsweilerkopf,  Metzeral,  Souchez 
— but  they  have  resulted  in  only  a  local 
effect,  although  they  have  been  accom- 
panied in  almost  every  case  by  losses 
that  have  been  staggering. 

The  principal  event  of  the  Spring  in 
the  west  has  been  the  advent  of  Italy 
into  the  maelstrom.  But  this  has  not 
affected  the  situation  up  to  the  present 
time.  Italy  has  a  hard  problem  on  her 
hands  which  must  be  solved  before  she 
can  make  herself  felt.  She  has  but  one 
line  of  advance — the  line  of  the  Isonzo. 
But  she  dare  not  advance  and  leave  the 
passes  through  the  Tyrolean  and  the 
Carnic  Alps  open  for  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria to  pour  troops  in  against  her  flank 
and  rear.  Her  task  therefore  is  first 
to  stop  every  pass  by  which  this  can  be 
done;    and   then,  and   then  only,   is   she 


FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR 


853 


ready  to  move.  This  is  being  done,  but 
the  task  is  a  difficult  one,  the  country 
impossible  from  a  military  viewpoint, 
and  progress  necessarily  slow. 

In  the  east,  however,  the  coming  of 
Spring  brought  a  series  of  the  most  tre- 
mendous movements  of  the  war.  The 
Allies  began  an  operation  against  the 
Dardanelles,  with  the  object  of  forcing 
the  strait,  taking  Constantinople,  and 
thus  at  once  releasing  the  great  store  of 
grain  in  Southern  Russia  and  providing  a 
means  of  getting  ammunition  to  Russia 
from  the  west.  The  operations  at  first 
were  entirely  naval.  But  after  serious 
loss,  with  no  corresponding  advantage,  it 
was  realized  that  the  naval  forces  alone 
were  not  sufficient,  and  troops  were 
landed  on  the  western  end  of  the  Gal- 
lipoli  Peninsula.  This  force  has  been  for 
three  months  hammering  at  the  positions 
of  the  Turks  along  the  Achibaba  line, 
but,  except  for  the  possible  influence  on 
the  Balkan  States  of  the  presence  of 
these  expeditionary  forces  on  Gallipoli, 
little  headway  has  been  made.  Certain 
it  is  that  there  is  no  indication  that  the 
near  future  will  bring  the  Allies  into 
Constantinople. 

In  Galicia  the  Spring  began  with  the 
capitulation  of  Przemysl  and  the  sur- 
render to  the  Russians  of  about  125,000 
Austrians.  This  was  the  greatest  victory 
in  the  eastern  theatre  thus  far,  and  im- 
mediately opened  the  way  wide  to  the 
passes  in  the  Carpathians  that  led  to  the 
Hungarian  plains  and  to  Cracow.  Russia 
evidently  felt  that  if  she  confined  her 
operations  to  Austria  she  could,  by  push- 
ing the  attack  into  Hungary,  crush  Aus- 
tria completely  and  eliminate  her  from 
the  war.  Accordingly,  the  opportunity 
of  laying  siege  to  Cracow  was  passed  by 
and  Russian  efforts  concentrated  in  forc- 
ing the  Carpathian  passes. 

For  weeks  the  battle  of  the  Carpa- 
thians was  in  progress.  The  Austrians, 
reinforced    by    strong    German    contin- 


gents, fought  desperately,  and,  although 
several  of  the  passes  were  finally  cap- 
tured, Uzok  Pass,  the  centre  of  the  line 
and  the  key  to  the  whole  Carpathian  sit- 
uation, held  out.  While  the  battle  for  its 
possession  was  in  progress  the  Germans 
were  quietly  concentrating  along  the 
Dunajec.  Suddenly  their  attack  was 
launched,  the  line  of  the  Dunajec  forced, 
and  the  Russian  flank  and  their  lines  of 
communication  were  seriously  involved. 
To  prevent  being  cut  off,  the  forces  in 
the  Carpathians  were  compelled  to  fall 
back  to  their  lateral  lines.  Preponder- 
ance of  artillery  forced  the  retreat 
through  Galicia,  and  in  an  incredibly 
short  time  Jaroslaw,  Przemysl,  and  Lem- 
berg  were  again  in  the  hands  of  the  Teu- 
tons and  Galicia  practically  cleared  of 
the  Russian  invaders. 

Earlier  in  the  Spring  the  Germans 
under  von  Biilow  had  landed  in  Northern 
Russia  and  the  Gulf  of  Riga,  and,  grad- 
ually working  south,  had  effected  a  junc- 
tion with  von  Hindenburg's  army  in 
front  of  Warsaw.  Coming  north  through 
Galicia,  Mackensen  had  driven  the  Rus- 
sians back  to  the  line  of  the  Ivangorod- 
Lublin  railroad  and  had  established  con- 
nections with  von  Hindenburg's  right. 
Von  Linsengen  and  the  Austrian  Arch- 
duke Francis  Joseph  completed  the  line 
facing  the  Russians  along  the  upper 
Viprez,  the  Bug,  the  Flota  Lipa,  and  the 
Dniester.  Simultaneously,  with  all  flanks 
guarded,  the  Teutons  began  to  close  in 
on  Warsaw  in  the  most  stupendous  mili- 
tary movement  of  history.  As  this 
article  is  written  it  seems  that  nothing 
can  save  the  Polish  capital;  before  it 
goes  to  press,  even,  Warsaw  may  be  in 
German  hands.  One  thing  is  evident — 
the  Kaiser  has  returned  to  his  plan  of 
a  year  ago — Napoleon's  plan — the  only 
plan  that  can  succeed — completely  to 
crush  one  opponent  first  and  then  turn 
against  the  other;  only  now  it  is  Russia 
and  not  France  upon  which  the  blows 
are  falling. 


Note  :  A  military  review  of  the  European  warfare  during  August  will  appear 
in  the  next  number  of  Current  History,  in  connection  with  the  Chronology. — 
[Editor  Current  History.] 


Inferences  from  Eleven  Months 
of  the  European  Conflict 

By  Charles  W.  Eliot,  President  Emeritus  of  Harvard  University 


Asticou,  Maine,  July  16,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Times: 

THE  inferences  of  the  first  im- 
portance are  military  and  na- 
val. In  the  conduct  of  war  on 
land  it  has  been  demonstrated 
during  the  past  eleven  months  that  suc- 
cess in  battle  depends  primarily  on  the 
possession  and  skillful  use  of  artillery 
and  machine  gims.  The  nation  which 
can  command  the  largest  quantity  of 
artillery  in  great  variety  of  calibre  and 
range,  has  developed  the  amplest  and 
quickest  means  of  transporting  artillery 
and  supplies  of  all  sorts,  and  whose 
troops  can  use  mortars,  howitzers,  and 
cannon  at  the  highest  speed  and  with 
the  greatest  accuracy  will  have  impor- 
tant advantages  over  an  enemy  less 
well  provided,  or  less  skillful.  Before 
every  assaidt  by  infantry  artillery  must 
sweep  and  plow  the  position  to  be 
captured,  and  so  soon  as  the  enemy  has 
lost  a  trench  or  a  redoubt  the  enemy's 
artillery  will  try  to  destroy  the  success- 
fid  troops  with  shell  and  shrapnel,  be- 
fore the  enemy's  infantry  makes  a 
counter-attack.  Whenever  troops  have 
open  ground  to  cross  before  they  reach 
the  intrenchments  of  the  enemy,  they 
encounter  a  withering  fire  from  ma- 
chine guns,  which  is  so  effective  that 
assaults  over  open  ground  have,  for  the 
most  part,  to  be  undertaken  at  night 
or  in  fog,  or  by  some  sort  of  surprise. 

In  general  the  defense  has  great  ad- 
vantage over  the  attack,  as  regards  ex- 
penditure of  both  men  and  munitions. 
So  decided  is  the  advantage  of  the  de- 
fense, that  Germany  can  dismiss  all 
those  apprehensions  about  invasion  by 
the  Russian  hordes  with  which  she  set 
out  on  this  war.  Success  in  military 
movements  on  a  large  scale  depends  on 
the  means  of  transportation  at  hand; 
and  these  means  of  transportation  must 


include  railroads,  automobiles,  and 
horse  wagons,  the  function  of  the  au- 
tomobile being  of  high  importance 
wherever  the  roads  are  tolerably  good. 
There  is  little  use  for  cavalry  in  the 
new  fighting;  for  aeroplanes  can  do 
better  scouting  and  more  distant  raid- 
ing than  cavalry  ever  could,  and  large 
bodies  of  infantry  with  their  indispen- 
sable supplies  can  be  mov^d  faster  and 
further  by  automobiles  than  cavalry 
could  ever  be. 

The  aeroplane  also  defeats  the  for- 
mer use  of  cavalry  to  screen  from  the 
enemy's  view  the  movements  of  troops 
and  their  trains  behind  the  actual 
fronts.  Moreover,  cavalry  cannot  stand 
at  all  against  the  new  artillery  and  the 
machine  gun.  An  old-fashioned  cavalry 
charge  in  the  open  is  useless,  and  in- 
deed impossible.  Aerial  warfare  is  still 
undeveloped,  but  the  war  has  proved 
that  the  aeroplane,  even  in  its  pres- 
ent imperfect  condition,  is  a  useful  in- 
strument. The  Zeppelin,  on  the  other 
hand,  seems  to  be  too  fragile  and  too 
unmanageable  for  effective  use  in  war. 
Rifle  fire  is  of  far  less  importance  than 
artillery  and  machine  gun  fire;  and,  in- 
deed, the  abandonment  of  the  rifle  as 
the  principal  arm  for  infantry  is 
clearly  suggested. 

Elaborate  forts  made  of  iron  and  con- 
crete are  of  little  use  against  a  com- 
petent invader,  and  fortifications  round 
about  cities  are  of  no  use  for  protec- 
tion against  an  enemy  that  possesses 
adequate  artillery.  For  the  defense  of 
a  frontier,  or  of  the  approaches  to  a 
railroad  junction  or  a  city,  a  system 
of  trenches  is  immeasurably  superior  to 
forts,  particularly  if  behind  the  trenches 
a  network  of  railways  or  of  smooth 
highways  exists.  Wounds  are  often  in- 
flicted by  jagged  pieces  of  metal  which 
carry   bits   of   dirty   clothing   and   skin 


ELEVEN  MONTHS   OF  THE  EUROPEAN   CONFLICT 


855 


into  the  wounds,  and  the  wounded  «/ften 
lie  on  the  ground  for  hours  or  even 
days  before  aid  can  reach  them.  Hence 
the  surgery  of  this  war  is  largely  the 
surgery  of  infected  wounds,  and  not 
of  smooth  aseptic  cuts  and  holes.  A 
considerable  percentage  of  deaths  and 
permanent  disabilities  among  the 
wounded  is  the  inevitable  result.  Sur- 
geons and  dressers  are  more  exposed 
to  death  and  wounds  than  in  former 
wars,  because  of  the  large  use  of  ar- 
tillery of  long  range,  the  field  hospitals 
being  often  under  fire. 

From  these  changes  in  the  methods 
of  war  on  land  it  may  be  safely  in* 
ferred  that  a  nation  which  would  be 
strong  in  war  on  land  must  be  strong 
in  all  sorts  of  manufacturing,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  metallurgical  industries. 
A  nation  chiefly  devoted  to  agriculture 
and  the  ancient  trades  cannot  succeed 
in  modern  war,  unless  it  can  beg, 
borrow,  or  buy  from  sympathizers  or 
allies  the  necessary  artillery  and  mu- 
nitions. No  amount  of  courage  and  de- 
votion in  troops  can  make  up  for  an 
inadequate  supply  of  artillery,  machine 
guns,  shells,  and  shrapnel,  or  for  the 
lack  of  ample  means  of  rapid  trans- 
portation. Only  in  a  rough  country 
without  good  roads,  like  the  United 
States  in  1861-65,  or  Serbia  or  Russia 
now,  can  the  rifle,  light  artillery,  and 
horse  or  ox  wagons  win  any  consid- 
erable success;  and  in  such  a  country 
the  trench  method  can  bring  about  a 
stalemate,  if  the  combatants  are  well 
matched  in  strength,  diligence,  and 
courage. 

The  changes  in  naval  warfare  are  al- 
most equally  remarkable.  Mines  and 
submarines  can  make  the  offensive 
operation  of  dreadnoughts  and  cruisers 
near  ports  practically  impossible,  and 
can  inflict  great  damage  on  an  enemy's 
commerce.  Hence  important  modifica- 
tions in  the  rules  concerning  effective 
blockade.  In  squadron  actions  victory 
will  probably  go  to  the  side  which  has 
the  gun  of  longest  range  well-manned. 
Defeated  war  vessels  sink  as  a  rule  with 
almost  all  on  board.  Commercial  vessels 
can  seldom  be. taken  into  port  as  prizes, 
and   must    therefore   be   sunk   to   make 


their  capture  effective.  There  have  been 
no  actions  between  large  fleets;  but  the 
indications  are  that  a  defeated  fleet 
would  be  sunk  for  the  most  part,  the 
only  vessels  to  escape  being  some  of  the 
speedier  sort.  Crews  would  go  down 
with  their  vessels.  Shore  batteries  of 
long-range  guns  can  keep  at  a  distance 
a  considerable  fleet,  and  can  sink  ves- 
sels that  come  too  near.  Mines  and 
shore  batteries  together  can  prevent  the 
passage  of  war  vessels  through  straits 
ten  to  fifteen  miles  wide,  no  matter  how 
powerful  the  vessel's  batteries  may  be. 
Every  war  vessel  is  now  filled  with  ma- 
chinery of  various  sorts,  much  of  which 
is  delicate  or  easily  disabled.  Hence  a 
single  shell  exploding  violently  in  a  sen- 
sitive spot  may  render  a  large  ship  un- 
manageable, and  therefore  an  easy  vic- 
tim. A  crippled  ship  will  probably  be 
sunk,  unless  a  port  is  near. 

To  build  and  keep  in  perfect  condition 
a  modern  fleet  requires  dockyards  and 
machine  shops  of  large  capacity,  and 
great  metallurgical  industries  always  in 
operation  within  the  country  which 
maintains  the  fleet.  No  small  nation 
can  create  a  powerful  fleet;  and  no  na- 
tion which  lives  chiefly  by  agriculture 
can  maintain  one.  A  great  naval  power 
must  be  a  mining,  manufacturing,  and 
commercial  power,  with  a  sound  banking 
system   available  all  over  the  world. 

The  war  has  proved  that  it  is  possible 
for  a  combination  of  strong  naval  powers 
to  sweep  off  the  ocean  in  a  few  months 
all  the  warships  of  any  single  great 
power,  except  submarines,  and  all  its 
commerce.  Germany  has  already  suf- 
fered that  fate,  and  incidentally  the  loss 
of  all  her  colonies,  except  portions  of 
German  East  Africa  and  Kamerun,  both 
of  which  remnants  are  vigorously  as- 
sailed and  will  soon  be  lost.  Neverthe- 
less, she  still  exports  and  imports 
through  neutral  countries,  though  to  a 
small  amount  in  comparison  with  the 
volume  of  her  normal  trade.  Here  is 
another  illustration  of  the  general  truth 
that  colonies  are  never  so  good  to  trade 
with  as  independent  and  prosperous  na- 
tions. 

Again  the  war  has  proved  that  it  is 
not  possible  in  a  normal  year  to  reduce 


856 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


by  blockade  or  non-intercourse  the  food 
supply  of  a  large  nation  to  the  point  of 
starvation,  or  even  of  great  distress,  al- 
though the  nation  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  importing  a  considerable  fraction  ot 
its  food  supply.  An  intelligent  popula- 
tion will  make  many  economies  in  its 
food,  abstain  from  superfluities,  raise 
more  food  from  its  soil,  use  grains  for 
food  instead  of  drinks,  and  buy  food 
from  neutral  countries  so  long  as  its 
hard  money  holds  out.  Any  large  coun- 
try which  has  a  long  seaboard  or  neu- 
tral neighbors  can  probably  prevent  its 
noncombatant  population  from  suifer- 
ing  severely  from  want  of  food  or  cloth- 
ing while  at  war.  This  would  not  be 
true  of  the  districts  in  which  actual 
fighting  takes  place  or  over  which 
armies  pass;  for  in  the  regions  of  actual 
battle  modern  warfare  is  terribly  de- 
structive— as  Belgium,  Northern  France, 
Poland,  and  Serbia  know. 

A  manufacturing  people  whose  com- 
mercial vessels  are  driven  off  the  seas 
will,  of  course,  suffer  the  loss  of  such 
raw  materials  of  its  industries  as  habit- 
ually came  to  it  over  seas  in  its  own 
bottoms — a  loss  mitigated,  however,  by 
the  receipt  of  some  raw  materials  from 
or  through  neutral  countries.  This 
abridgment  of  its  productive  industries 
will,  in  the  long  run,  greatly  diminish 
its  powers  of  resistance  in  war;  but 
much  time  may  be  needed  for  the  full 
development  of  this  serious  disability. 

Because  of  the  great  costliness  of  the 
artillery,  munitions  of  war,  and  means  of 
transportation  used  in  the  present  war, 
the  borrowings  of  all  the  combatant 
nations  are  heavy  beyond  any  prece- 
dent; so  that  already  all  the  nations  in- 
volved have  been  compelled  to  raise  the 
rates  of  interest  on  the  immense  loans 
they  have  put  upon  the  market.  The 
burdens  thus  being  prepared  for  the 
coming  generations  in  the  belligerent 
nations  will  involve  very  high  rates  of 
taxation  in  all  the  countries  now  at 
war.  If  these  burdens  continue  to  ac- 
cumulate for  two  or  three  years  more, 
no  financier,  however  experienced  and 
far-seeing,  can  imagine  today  how  the 
resulting  loans  are  to  be  paid  or  how 
the  burden  of  taxation  necessary  to  pay 


the  interest  on  them  can  be  borne  or 
how  the  indemnities  probably  to  be  ex- 
acted can  be  paid  within  any  reasonable 
period  by  the  defeated  nation  or  na- 
tions. 

It  follows  from  these  established  facts 
that  a  small  nation — a  nation  of  not 
more  than  fifteen  millions,  for  example 
— can  have  no  independent  existence 
in  Europe  except  as  a  member  of  a  fed- 
eration of  States  having  similar  habits, 
tendencies,  and  hopes,  and  united  in 
an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance, 
or  under  guarantees  given  by  a  group  of 
strong  and  trustworthy  nations.  The 
firm  establishment  of  several  such  fed- 
erations, or  the  giving  of  such  guaran- 
tees by  a  group  of  powerful  and  faith- 
keeping  nations  ought  to  be  one  of  the 
outcomes  of  the  war  of  1914-15.  Un- 
less some  such  arrangement  is  reached, 
no  small  State  will  be  safe  from  con- 
quest and  absorption  by  any  strong, 
aggressive  military  power  which  covets 
it — not  even  if  its  people  live  chiefly  by 
mining  and  manufacturing  as  the  Bel- 
gians did. 

The  small  States,  being  very  de- 
termined to  exist  and  to  obtain  their 
natural  or  historical  racial  boundaries, 
the  problem  of  permanent  or  any  dur- 
able peace  in  Europe  resolves  itself 
into  this:  How  can  the  small  or  smaller 
nations  be  protected  from  attack  by 
some  larger  nation  which  believes  that 
might  makes  right  and  is  mighty  in 
industries,  commerce,  finance,  and  the 
military  and  naval  arts?  The  experi- 
ence gained  during  the  past  year  proves 
that  there  is  but  one  effective  protection 
against  such  a  power,  namely,  a  firm 
league  of  other  powers — noj;  necessarily 
numerous — which  together  are  stronger 
in  industries,  commerce,  finance,  and 
the  military  and  naval  arts  than  the 
aggressive  and  ambitious  nation  which 
heartily  believes  in  its  own  invincibil- 
ity and  cherishes  the  ambition  to  con- 
quer and  possess. 

Such  a  league  is  the  present  com- 
bination of  Great  Britain,  France,  Rus- 
sia, Italy,  and  Japan  against  the  ag- 
gressive Central  Monarchies  and  Tur- 
key ;  but  this  combination  was  not 
formed  deliberately  and  with  conscious 


ELEVEN  MONTHS   OF  THE  EUROPEAN   CONFLICT 


857 


purpose  to  protect  small  States,  to  satis- 
fy natural  national  aspirations,  and  to 
make  durable  peace  possible  by  remov- 
ing both  fear  of  invasion  and  fear  of 
the  cutting  oif  of  overseas  food  and 
raw  materials.  In  spite  of  the  lack  of 
an  explicit  and  comprehensive  purpose 
to  attain  these  wise  and  precious  ends, 
the  solidity  of  the  alliance  during  a 
year  of  stupendous  efforts  to  resist 
military  aggression  on  the  part  of  Ger- 
many and  Austria-Hungary  certainly 
affords  good  promise  of  success  for  a 
somewhat  larger  league  in  which  all  the 
European  nations — some,  like  the  Scan- 
dinavian and  the  Balkans,  by  represen- 
tation in  groups — and  the  United  States 
should  be  included.  Such  a  league  would 
have  to  act  through  a  distinct  and 
permanent  council  or  commission  which 
would  not  serve  arbitrary  power,  or  any 
peculiar  national  interest,  and  would  not 
in  the  least  resemble  the  "Concert  of 
Europe,''  or  any  of  the  disastrous  spe- 
cial conferences  of  diplomatists  and  Min- 
isters for  Foreign  Affairs,  called  after 
wars  since  that  of  1870-71  to  "settle" 
the  questions  the  wars  raised. 

The  experience  of  the  past  twelve 
months  proves  that  such  a  league  could 
prevent  any  nation  which  disobeyed  its 
orders  from  making  use  of  the  oceans 
and  from  occupying  the  territory  of  any 
other  nation.  Reduction  of  armaments, 
diminution  of  taxation,  and  durable 
peace  would  ensue  as  soon  as  general 
confidence  was  established  that  the 
league  would  fairly  administer  interna- 
tional justice,  and  that  its  military  and 
naval  forces  were  ready  and  effective. 
Its  function  would  be  limited  to  the 
prevention  and  punishment  of  violation 
of  international  agreements,  or,  in  other 
words,  to  the  enforcement  of  treaty  obli- 
gations, until  new  treaties  were  made. 

The  present  alliance  is  of  good  prom- 
ise in  three  important  respects — its  mem- 
bers refuse  to  make  any  separate  peace, 
they  co-operate  cordially  and  efficiently 
in  military  measures,  and  the  richer 
members  help  the  poorer  financially. 
These  policies  have  been  hastily  devised 
and  adopted  in  the  midst  of  strenuous 
fighting  on  an  immense  scale.  If  de- 
liberately planned  and  perfected  in  times 


of  peace,  they  could  be  made  in  the 
highest  degree  effective  toward  durable 
peace. 

The  war  has  demonstrated  that  the 
international  agreements  for  the  mitiga- 
tion of  the  horrors  of  war,  made  by 
treaties,  conferences,  and  conventions  in 
times  of  peace,  may  go  for  nothing  in 
time  of  war;  because  they  have  no  sanc- 
tion, or,  in  other  words,  lack  penalties 
capable  of  systematic  enforcement.  To 
provide  the  lacking  sanction  and  the 
physical  force  capable  of  compelling  the 
payment  of  penalties  for  violating  inter- 
national agreements  would  be  one  of  the 
best  functions  of  the  international 
council  which  the  present  alliance  fore- 
shadows. Some  years  would  probably 
be  required  to  satisfy  the  nations  con- 
cerned that  the  sanction  was  real  and 
the  force  trustworthy  and  sufficient. 
The  absolute  necessity  of  inventing  and 
applying  a  sanction  for  international 
law,  if  Europe  is  to  have  international 
peace  and  any  national  liberty,  will  be 
obvious  to  any  one  who  has  once  per- 
ceived that  the  present  war  became  in- 
evitable when  Austria-Hungary,  in  vio- 
lation of  an  international  agreement  to 
which  she  was  herself  a  party,  seized 
and  absorbed  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, 
and  became  general  and  fierce  when 
Germany,  under  Prussian  lead,  in  vio- 
lation of  an  international  agreement  to 
which  she  was  herself  a  party,  entered 
and  plundered  neutralized  Belgium. 

A  strong,  trustworthy  international  al- 
liance to  preserve  the  freedom  of  the 
seas  under  all  circumstances  would  se- 
cure for  Great  Britain  and  her  federated 
commonwealths  everything  secured  by 
the  burdensome  two-navies  policy  which 
now  secures  the  freedom  of  the  seas  for 
British  purposes.  The  same  interna- 
tional alliance  would  secure  for  Ger- 
many the  same  complete  freedom  of  the 
seas  which  in  times  of  peace  between 
Germany  and  Great  Britain  she  has  long 
enjoyed  by  favor  of  Great  Britain,  but 
has  lost  in  time  of  war  with  the  Triple 
Entente.  This  security,  with  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  policy  of  the  "  open 
door,"  would  fully  meet  Germany's  need 
of  indefinite  expansion  for  her  manu- 
facturing industries  and  her  commerce. 


858 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


and  of  room  "  in  the  sun  "  for  her  sur- 
plus population. 

It  is  a  safe  inference  from  the  events 
of  the  past  six  months  that  the  longer 
the  war  lasts  the  more  significant  will 
be  the  political  and  social  changes  which 
result  from  it.  It  is  not  to  he  expected, 
and  perhaps  not  to  be  desired,  that  the 
ruling  class  in  the  countries  autocrat- 
ically governed  should  themselves  draw 
this  inference  at  present,  but  all  lovers 
of  freedom  and  justice  will  find  con- 
solation for  the  prolongation  of  the  war 
in  this  hopeful  reflection. 

To  devise  the  wise  constitution  of  an 
international  council  or  commission  with 
properly  limited  powers,  and  to  deter- 
mine the  most  promising  composition 
of  an  international  army  and  an  inter- 
national navy  are  serious  tasks,  but  not 
beyond  the  available  international  wis- 
dom and  goodwill,  provided  that  the 
tasks  be  intrusted  to  international  pub- 
licists, business  men  of  large  experi- 
ence, and  successful  administrators, 
rather  than  to  professional  diplomat- 
ists and  soldiers.  To  dismiss  such  a 
noble  enterprise  with  the  remark  that 
it  is  "  academic,"  pr  beyond  the  reach 
of  "  practical"  politics,  is  unworthy  of 
courageous  and  humane  men;  for  it 
seems  now  to  be  the  only  way  out  of 
the  horrible  abyss  into  w^hich  civiliza- 
tion has  fallen.  At  any  rate,  4ome 
such  machinery  must  be  put  into  suc- 


cessful operation  before  any  limitation 
of  national  armaments  can  be  effected. 
The  war  has  shown  to  what  a  catas- 
trophe competitive  national  arming  has 
led,  and  would  probably  again  lead  the 
most  civilized  nations  of  Europe.  Shall 
the  white  race  despair  of  escaping  from 
this  hell?  The  only  way  of  escape  in 
sight  is  the  establishment  of  a  ra- 
tional international  community.  Should 
the  enterprise  fail  after  fair  trial,  the 
world  will  be  no  worse  off  than  it  was 
in  July,  1914,  or  is  today. 

Whoever  studies  the  events  of  the  past 
year  with  some  knowledge  of  political 
philosophy  and  history,  and  with  the 
love  of  his  neighbor  in  his  heart,  will 
discover,  amid  the  horrors  of  the  time 
and  its  moral  chaos,  three  hopeful  lead- 
ings for  humanitarian  effort,  each  in- 
volving a  great  constructive  invention. 
He  will  see  that  humanity  needs  su- 
premely a  sanction  for  international 
law,  rescue  from  alcoholism,  and  a  sound 
basis  for  just  and  unselfish  human  re- 
lations in  the  great  industries,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  machinery  industries. 
The  war  has  brought  out  all  three  of 
these  needs  with  terrible  force  and  viv- 
idness. Somehow  they  must  be  met,  if 
the  white  race  is  to  succeed  in  "  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness,"  or  even  to  hold  the 
gains  already  made. 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT. 


"Revenge  for  Elisabeth!" 

The  Vienna  " Arbeit er  Zeitung"  of  June  22,  1915,  prints  the  appeal 
of  Dr.  Wolfgang  Madjera,  a  well-kyiown  authority  on  municipal  affairs, 
which  he  has  issued  to  Austrian  soldiers  departing  for  the  Italian 
front.     He  says: 

"The  day  has  arrived,"  says  Herr  Madjera,  "when  you  will  have 
to  revenge  your  murdered  Empress  [the  late  Empress  Elisabeth  who 
was  murdered  in  Geneva  by  an  Italian  named  Luccheni].  It  was  a 
son  of  that  land  which  has  now  committed  a  scandalous  act  of  treason 
on  Austria  who  made  your  old  Emperor  a  lonely  man  on  his  throne  of 
thorns.  Take  a  thousandfold  revenge  on  the  brethren  of  that  miserable 
wretch.  Austria's  warriors  feel  the  strength  within  them  to  defeat 
and  smash  with  iron  hand  the  raised  hand  of  the  murderer.  It  is 
Luccheni's  spirit  which  leads  the  army  of  our  enemy.  May  Elisabeth's 
spirit  lead  our  spirit !  " 


A  Year  of  the  War  in  Africa 

and  Asia 


By  Charles  Johnston 


I.    KE-MAPPING  THE  WOKLD. 

SPEAKING  on  July  14,  A.  Bonar 
Law,  British  Colonial  Secretary, 
announced  that  the  Entente  Allies 
have  already  occupied  450,000 
square  miles  of  German  colonial  posses- 
sions. Add  Turkish  possessions  in  Asia 
in  the  hands  of  the  Entente  powers,  and 
the  total  reaches  500,000  square  miles. 

Two  outstanding  facts  are  that  this 
transfer,  if  permanent,  will  change  the 
destiny  of  all  Africa  and  Asia,  and  that, 
for  the  first  time  in  history,  the  oversea 
dominions  of  Britain  have  initiated  and 
carried  on  wars  of  conquest,  Australia 
and  New  Zealand,  in  union,  having  al- 
ready taken  100,000  square  miles  of  Ger- 
man colonies  in  the  Pacific;  while  the 
Union  of  South  Africa  has  conquered 
German  Southwest  Africa. 

In  other  parts  of  Africa,  France  and 
Belgium  are  co-operating  with  English 
imperial  forces,  while  in  East  Africa  and 
on  the  Persian  Gulf  the  brunt  of  the 
fighting  is  being  borne  by  British  Indian 
troops  and  troops  provided  by  the  Princes 
of  India.  The  movement  now  in  progress 
will,  if  completed,  give  the  Entente  pow- 
ers the  whole  of  Africa;  will  give  Britain 
all  Southern  Asia,  from  the  Mount  Sinai 
peninsula  to  Siam;  and  will,  in  all  proba- 
bility, make  the  Entente  powers  heirs  of 
the  whole  Eastern  Hemisphere. 

These  immense  territories  are  the  ulti- 
mate stakes  of  the  battles  in  France,  in 
Poland,  on  the  Dardanelles.  We  lose 
sight  of  them,  perhaps,  in  the  details  of 
local  fighting.  In  reality,  nothing  less  is 
being  effected  than  the  re-mapping  of 
the  whole  eastern  hemisphere. 

II.    TOGOLAND    AND   KAMERUN. 

On  Aug.  1,  a  year  ago,  German  colonial 
possessions  in  Africa  totaled  over  a  mill- 


ion square  miles,  in  four  regions — Togo, 
Kamerun,  Southwest  Africa,  and  East 
Africa.  Togo,  running  from  the  north 
shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  is  wedged 
between  French  and  English  colonies.  In 
August,  France  and  England  joined  in 
attacking  it,  and  on  Aug.  26  their  occu- 
pation was  complete,  a  rich  area  of  33,000 


S»C/M_E  OF  r 


G'C/z.K  OF<S^ 


Togo,  the  German  Colony  which  was 
surrendered  to  a  Franco-English  expedi- 
tionary force. 

square  miles  thus  passing  from  Germany 
to  the  Entente  powers. 

Kamerun,  in  the  elbow  of  the  Gulf  of 
Guinea,  is  about  ten  times  as  large,  one- 
third  of  this  having  been  conceded  by 
France  to  Germany  in  1911,  through  the 


German  East  Africa 


Scene  of  Operation  of  Anglo-French  forces  against  the  German  Colony  of  Kamerun 


A    YEAR   OF   WAR  IN  AFRICA-ASIA 


861 


agency  of  M.  Caillaux.  Recent  letters  to 
The  London  Times  describe  the  fighting 
there : 

On  the  7th  (May)  we  had  a  trying  ex- 
perience. Our  company  commander  went  out 
with  myself  and  another  subaltern  and  about 
forty  men.  We  crossed  the  Mungo  River  in 
canoes,  and  then  did  a  long  and  very  diffi- 
cult march  all  through  the  night  in  absolute 
dense  forest.  However  the  guides  managed 
it   passes    comprehension. 

About  5  in  the  morning,  when  it  was  just 
getting  light,  our  advance  party  were  just 
on  the  point  of  stumbling  on  to  the  German 
outpost,  when  what  should  happen  but  an 
elephant  suddenly  walked  in  between  and 
scattered  our  opposing  parties  in  all  direc- 
tions. I  was  in  the  rear  of  our  little  col- 
umn, and  was  left  in  bewilderment,  all  our 
carriers  dropping  their  loads  and  every  one 
disappearing  into  the  bush.  After  a  few  min- 
utes we  got  our  men  together  and  our  scouts 
went  forward  again,  and  found  the  Germans 
had  bolted  from  their  outpost,  but  soon  re- 
turned and  opened  fire  on  our  scouts. 

A  British  officer  writes: 

I  hope  you  have  heard  ere  this  of  our  cap- 
ture of  Duala  and  Bonaberi,  and  our  further 
advance  along  the  Duala  Railway  to  Tusa, 
and  along  the  Wari  River  to  Jabassi.  The 
heat  and  climate  are  very  trying.  It's  awfully 
hot,  far  hotter  than  the  last  coast  place  I 
was  in ;  a  drier  heat  and  sun  infinitely  more 
powerful,  and  yet  the  rains  are  full  on  and 
we  get  terrific  tornadoes.  The  nights,  how- 
ever,   are    cooler. 

We  are  surrounded  by  mangrove  swamps, 
and  they  breed  mosquitos,  and  consequently 
malaria  and  black-water  fever. 

This  is  quite  a  pretty  little  place  (Duala) 
with  some  jolly  houses,  typical  German  of 
the  Schloss  villa  type ;  nice  inside  and  out. 
The  country  is  pretty,  the  soil  good.  A  good 
deal  of  timber  and  rubber.  I  found  some 
beautiful  tusks  the  other  day,  worth  a  good 
bit.  Elephants  abound.  The  native  villages 
around  are  totally  different  from  other  West 
African  ones — here  their  houses  are  mostly 
one  long  mud  or  palm  erection,  with  thatched 
roof,  and  are  divided  into  compartments  in- 
stead of  the  smaller  separate  huts  one  is 
accustomed   to  see  in   these  parts. 

The  notices  all  over  the  place  are  strangely 
reminiscent  of,  say,  the  Black  Forest — 
"  Bakerei,"  "  Conditorei,"  &c.,  and  yet  it  is 
the  heart  of  tropical  Africa.  None  of  the 
natives,  strange  to  say,  talk  German;  all 
pigeon  English.  The  Hausa  boys  are  splendid 
chaps,  as  different  from  the  Duala  boys  or 
Sierra  Leone  boys  as  chalk  from  cheese. 
Smile  and  make  an  idiotic  but  beautiful  re- 
mark, they  rush  with  a  roar  of  laughter  for 
the  biggest  load. 

We  get  some  beautiful  sunset  effects  here. 
At  sundown  night  before  last,  on  the  sea  near 
mouth   of  river,    it  was   absolutely   gorgeous 


with  the  purple  mountains  standing  clear  out 
against  the  orange  and  emerald  sky  and  the 
dark  gray  shapes  of  our  ships  lying  sombrely 
in  the  background,  talking  to  each  other  in 
flashing  Morse.  The  great  mountain,  Fer- 
nando Po,  standing  up  out  of  the  water  to 
starboard  and  the  Peak  of  Cameroon  (13,760 
feet)  wreathed  in  mist  to  port;  Victoria  in- 
visible, as  also  Buea — both  hidden  behind  the 
clouds  as  we  passed  disdainfully  by  and  en- 
tered the  estuary  of  the  Cameroon  River. 

As  an  added  detail  for  West  Africa, 
it  should  be  recorded  that,  on  March  19,  a 
combined  French  and  Belgian  force  oc- 
cupied Molundu  in  the  German  Congo 
territory,  and  Ngaundere  on  June  29. 

III.    WITH    BOTHA    IN    SOUTH- 
WEST AFRICA. 

On  July  13  a  resolution,  moved  by  Pre- 
mier Asquith,  was  passed  by  acclamation 
in  the  House  of  Commons  thanking  Gen- 
eral Louis  Botha,  General  Smuts  and  the 
forces  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa  for 
their  work  in  "  the  remarkable  campaign 
which  has  just  been  brought  to  a  re- 
markable and  glorious  conclusion."  Pre- 
mier Asquith  concluded: 

The  German  dominion  of  Southwest  Africa 
has  ceased  to  exist.  I  ask  the  House  to 
testify  to  the  admiration  of  the  whole  em- 
pire for  its  gratitude  to  the  illustrious  Gen- 
eral who  has  rendered  such  an  inestimable 
service  to  the  empire,  which  he  entered  by 
adoption  and  of  which  he  has  become  one  of 
the  most  honored  and  cherished  sons,  and  to 
his  dauntless  and  much  enduring  troops, 
whether  of  Burgher  or  British  birth,  who 
fought  like  brethren,  side  by  side,  in  the 
cause  which  is  equally  dear  to  them  as  to 
us — the  broadening  of  the  bounds  of  human 
liberty. 

The  event  which  the  British  Premier 
thus  read  into  the  minutes  of  history 
marks  the  end  of  a  campaign  begun  by 
General  Botha  on  Sept.  27,  when  troops 
ol  the  Union  of  South  Africa  first  entered 
German  territory.  On  Christmas  Day 
Walfisch  (Whale)  Bay  was  occupied,  and 
on  Jan.  14  Swakopmund,  a  military  rail- 
road joining  them  being  finished  a  month 
later. 

The  progress  of  General  Botha's  cam- 
paign from  the  south  and  west  is  thus 
summarized  by  The  Sphere  (July  3): 

The  occupation  of  Windhoek  was  effectefl 
by  General  Botha's  North  Damaraland  forces 
working  along  the  railway  from  Swakop- 
mund.   At  the  former  place  General  Vander- 


a 
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A    YEAR   OF   WAR   IN   AFRICA-ASIA 


863 


venter  joined  up  with  General  Botha's  forces. 
The  force  from  Swakopmund  met  with  con- 
siderable opposition,  first  at  Tretsliopje,  a 
small  township  in  the  great  Namib  Desert 
fifty  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Swakopmund, 
and  secondly  at  Otjimbingwe,  on  the  Swakop 
River,  sixty  miles  northwest  of  Windhoek. 


most  valuable  high-power  stations,  which  was 
able  to  communicate  with  one  relay  only  with 
Berlin — was  captured  almost  intact,  and 
much  rolling  stock  also  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Union  forces. 

The   advance    from     the     south     along   the 
Liideritzbucht-Seeheim-Keetmanshoop      Rail- 


ANGRA  PAQUENA; 

POSSESSION  I  (BR 

V 


ScA,LE  OF  Hues 
20  40    GO   eo 


The  theatre  of  operations  in  German  South  West  Africa. 


Apart  from  these  two  determined  stands, 
however,  little  other  opposition  was  encoun- 
tered, and  Karibib  was  occupied  on  May  5 
and  Okahandja  and  Windhoek  on  May  12. 
With  the  fall  of  "the  latter  place  3,000  Euro- 
peans and  12,000  natives  became  prisoners. 

The    wireless    station — one     of     Germany's 


way,  approximately  500  miles  in  length,  was 
made  by  two  forces  which  joined  hands  at 
Keetmanshoop.  The  advance  from  Aus  (cap- 
tured on  April  1)  was  made  by  General 
Smuts's  forces.  Colonel  (afterward  General) 
Vanderventer,  moving  up  from  the  direction 
of  Warmbad    and    Kalkfontein,    around   the 


864 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


flanks  of  Karas  Mountain,  pushed  on  after 
reaching  Keetmanshoop  In  the  direction  of 
Gibeon.  Bethany  had  previously  been  occu- 
pied during  the  advance  to  Seeheim.  At 
Kabus,  twenty  miles  to  the  north  of  Keet- 
manshoop, and  at  Gibeon  pitched  battles  were 
fought  between  General  Vanderventer's  forces 
and  the  enemy.  No  other  opposition  of  im- 
portance was  encountered,  and  the  operations 
were  brought  to  a  successful  conclusion  at 
"Windhoek. 

A  part  of  the  German  forces  had  re- 
treated to  the  northward,  intending  to 
carry  on  guerrilla  warfare  in  the  hills. 
General  Botha  went  in  pursuit.  A  Reuter's 
telegram,  dated  June  26,  announced  that 
Otjivarongo,  approximately  120  miles 
north  of  Karibib,  on  the  Otavi  Railway, 
was  occupied  on  that  day  by  General 
Botha,  the  enemy  having  retired  north- 
ward during  the  previous  night.  General 
Botha's  movements  have  again  been  char- 
acterized by  rapid  and  extraordinary 
marching  through  dense  bush  country, 
which  is  almost  waterless.  The  retire- 
ment of  the  enemy  was  more  suggestive 
of  a  flight  than  a  strategic  retreat. 

A  telegram  from  Lord  Buxton,  the 
Governor  General  of  the  Union  of  South 
Africa,  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  Colonies,  concludes  the  story: 

This  morning,  July  9,  General  Botha  ac- 
cepted from  Governor  Seitz  the  surrender  of 
all  the  German  forces  in  Southwest  Africa. 
Hostilities  have  ceased  and  the  campaign 
has  thus  been  brought  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion. 

The  newly  conquered  territory,  which 
is  half  as  large  again  as  the  German 
Empire,  is  destined  to  become  a  part  of 
the  South  African  Union.  As  a  great 
part  of  it  is  5,000  feet  above  sea  level, 
it  is  well  adapted  for  white  settlers.  Its 
chief  resources  are  diamond  mines  and 
grazing. 

General  Botha's  force  is  likely  to  be 
divided  between  the  European  seat  of 
war,  to  which  the  South  African  Union 
has  up  to  the  present  sent  no  troops,  and 
German  East  Africa,  much  of  which  still 
remains  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 

IV.    GERMAN  EAST  AFRICA. 

The  early  stage  of  the  struggle  for 
German  East  Africa  is  lucidly  summar- 
ized in  The  Sphere  for  May  8: 

The  fighting  in  British  East  Africa  (imme- 
diately north  of  the  German  colony)  may  be 
said   to   have   really   begrun   toward   the   end 


of  September,  1914.  when  the  Germans  made 
a  determined  attempt  to  capture  Mombasa, 
the  commercial  capital  of  British  East  Africa 
and  the  terminus  of  the  Uganda  Railway. 

Previous  to  this,  somewhat  half-hearted 
attempts  had  been  made  by  them  to  wreck 
the  railway  line  at  various  points,  destroy 
the  telegraph,  and  occupy  Voi  and  Mombasa. 
The  Germans,  who  -were  in  strong  force, 
were,  however,  for  various  reasons,  unable 
to  cut  the  railway  or  even  to  destroy  the 
bridge  across  the  Tsava  River,  and  they 
were  beaten  back  both  at  Vol  and  the  post 
at   Taveta. 

The  attack  on  Mombasa  itself  was  repulsed 
at  Gazi,  some  twenty-five  miles  to  the  south- 
west. The  German  plan  of  action  was  to 
move  up  the  road  from  Vanga  to  Mombasa, 
arriving  at  the  latter  place  somewhere  about 
the  time  the  Konigsburg  was  expected  to 
arrive  and  bombard  it  from  the  sea.  The 
Konigsburg  was,  of  course,  prevented  from 
doing  this  by  the  proximity  of  British  war- 
ships, and  the  land  attack  was  also  frus- 
trated. 

The  Germans  were  held  at  Nargerimi  by  a 
mere  handful  of  Arabs  and  King's  African 
Rifles — about  300  men  all  told — until  the 
arrival  of  the  Indian  troops  strengthened 
our  position  and  the  enemy  was  beaten  back 
to   his  original  lines. 

The  next  big  actions  were  the  British  at- 
tack on  Tanga  and  Jassin  very  early  in 
November;  this  was  the  direct  outcome  of 
the  German  attack  on  Mombasa.  Tanga  is  a 
post  of  considerable  importance  in  German 
East  Africa,  and  lies  midway  between  Zan- 
zibar and  Mombasa.  It  is  the  seaport  of  an 
important  railway  line  which  connects  it 
with  Moshi,  lying  among  the  foothills  of 
Kilimanjaro  (18,700  feet)  and  which  taps 
most  of  the  intervening  country. 

The  force  dispatched  for  the  attack  on 
Tanga  consisted  of  4,000  Indian  Imperial  Ser- 
vice troops,  1,000  Indian  regulars,  together 
with  1,000  white  regulars.  The  force  took 
no  kit  of  any  kind  except  rations.  It  was 
disembarked  from  the  troopship  near  Tanga, 
and  then   moved  against  the  position. 

The  day  the  British  attacked,  however, 
1,000  Germans  had  been  rushed  up  from 
Moshi  and  then  took  up  a  position  to  the 
right  of  the  town.  With  them  were  great 
numbers  of  quick-firing  guns  of  various  sorts. 
This  unexpected  reinforcement  made  the  cap- 
ture of  Tanga  almost  impossible  by  the 
forces  present.  During  the  fight  many  cas- 
ualties   were   incurred    on   both    sides. 

As  regards  the  advance  against  Tanga  and 
Jassin,  the  German  forces  which  had  pre- 
viously advanced  on  Mombasa  were,  up  to 
as  recently  as  January,  maintaining  them- 
selves in  the  valley  of  the  Umba  River.  To 
drive  them  from  their  positions  a  column  of 
l.SOO  men,  composed  of  Indians  and  King's 
African  Rifles,  with  artillery,  was  dispatched. 
After  gaining  Jassin  and  leaving  a  garrison 
of  300  men,  the  post  was  attacked  and  subse- 
quently surrendered  to  a  force  of  2,000  Ger- 


'^Ww^^MEtt  ^  ^Y--'^^f"-rfeiK^aii^i.ui^.K- "./; 


SIR     CECIL     ARTHUR     SPRING-RICE 

British    Ambassador   to    Washington,    Present    When    J.  P.  Morgan    was 
Assaulted     by     Erich      Muenter,     Alias     Holt 


J.      p.      MORGAN 

Whose  Life  was  Recently  Attempted. 

because    of    his    relations    with     the 

Allied  Goverments  in   the  Supply  of 

War     Munitions. 


The  lower  picture  is  of  Erich  Muen 

ter,  Alias  Frank  Holt.  His   Assailant. 

Photograph  taken  Immediately  after 

his   Arrest 


A    YEAR   OF   WAR   IN  AFRICA-ASIA 


865 


mans.  The  minor  operations  along  the  Anglo- 
German  frontier  include  the  attack  on 
Shirati — a  German  post  on  the  southeast 
shore  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza — on  Jan.  9. 

Fighting  also  took  place  near  Karunga  in 
March,  and  on  this  occasion  the  German  force 
was  driven  back  in  disorder  and  with  heavy 
loss  into  their  own  territory,  while  Kisir — 
which  had  been  captured  by  the  Germans — 
was  reoccupied  after  the  defeat  of  Karunga. 
On  Jan.  10  the  large  Island  of  Mafia,  off  the 


remembered  that  the  general  scheme  for  the 
attack  on  Bukoba  was  to  be  a  simultaneous 
advance  on  the  part  of  two  forces,  one  start- 
ing from  the  line  of  the  Kagera  River,  south 
of  Uganda,  the  other  starting  on  steamers 
from  Kisumu. 

The  junction  of  the  two  forces  was 

successfully  accomplished,  and  the  attack 
took  place  on  June  22.  During  the  action  the 
enemy  received  reinforcements  which  brought 


JUGANDA 


bM^^X  I  shW  eas  t 

U.MU        -*.,wf  ■*«..■■•  M'/y       '' 


German  East  Africa  and  the  fighting  which  has  taken  place. 


coast  of  the  German  colony,  was  taken  by 
the  British  and  is  being  administered  by 
them. 

The  history  of  the  war  in  this  region 
is  brought  up  to  date  by  a  British  Press 
Bureau  statement  issued  on  June  30: 

Further  details  are  now  to  hand  of  the 
operations  which  have  been  taking  place 
west   of  Lake  Victoria   Nyanza.      It  will   be 


his  force  up  to  400  rifles,  and  he  made  a 
most  determined  resistance,  the  Arabs  es- 
pecially fighting  most  bravely.  They  were, 
however,  heavily  outnumbered,  and  eventu- 
ally the  whole  force  broke  and  fled,  utterly 
demoralized.  »  *  *  Our  troops  distinguished 
themselves  greatly,  both  in  the  arduous 
march  from  the  Kagera  and  in  the  subse- 
quent fighting.  A  telegram  was  sent  on 
June  28  from  Lord  Kitchener  to  Major  Gen. 


866 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Conquered  German  African  Territory. 


Tighe,  commanding  the  troops  in  Britisli 
East  Africa,  congratulating  him  on  the  suc- 
cess  of  the  operations. 

V.  THE  PERSIAN  GULF  AND 
MESOPOTAMIA. 

Turkey's  entry  into  the  war  has  had 
four  results:  1.  The  annexation  of  Cyprus 
(previously  a  protectorate)  by  Britain  on 


Nov.  5;  2,  the  British  expedition  against 
Turkish  territory  on  the  Persian  Gulf 
two  weeks  later;  3,  the  loss  of  Turkey's 
suzerainty  over  Egypt,  which  became  a 
British  protectorate  under  a  Sultan  on 
Dec.  17,  and,  4,  the  attack  on  the  Gal- 
lipoli  Peninsula,  still  in  progress. 
An  excellent  summary  of  the  Persian 


A    YEAR   OF   WAR  IN  AFRICA-ASIA 


867 


Gulf  expedition  is  given  in  The  Sphere, 
May  15: 

The  Shatt-el-Arab,  (the  united  Euphrates 
and  Tigris,)  for  the  greater  part  of  its  course, 
forms  the  boundary  between  Persia  and 
Turkey.  Some  twenty  miles  below  Basra  (or 
Bussorah)  it  is  joined  by  the  Kasun,  near 
whose  course,  about  a  hundred  miles  from 
its  mouth,  are  the  Anglo-Persian  Company's 
oil   fields. 

The  effective  protection  of  these  is  neces- 
sarily an  object  of  vital  importance.  It  was 
also  of  considerable  importance  to  create  a 
diversion  which  should  cause  the  Osmanli 
Generals  to  feel  uneasiness  as  to  a  possible 
advance  up  the  Euphrates.  "Whether  more 
than  the  occupation  of  Basra  and  the  protec- 
tion of  the  oil  fields  was  or  is  intended  can- 
not, of  course,  be  at  present  definitely  stated. 

The  expeditionary  force,  under  Lieut.  Gen. 
Sir  Arthur  Barrett,  consisted — apparently — 
of  three  Indo-British  infantry  brigades,  a 
brigade  of  Indian  cavalry,  and  artillery  and 
auxiliary  services  in  proportion — in  all 
probability  some  15,000  to  18,000  men.  It 
included  at  least  three  British  battalions — 
the  Second  Dorsets,  the  Second  Norfolks, 
and  the  Oxford  and  Bucks  Light  Infantry. 

The  advanced  brigade  reached  the  Shatt- 
el-Arab  on  Nov.  7,  and  after  a  brief  fight 
occupied  Fao,  a  few  miles  up  the  river.  On 
the  9th  a  night  attack  was  made  upon  it  by 
a  force  from  Basra,  which  was  easily  beaten 
off.  Shortly  afterwards  the  main  body  of 
the  expeditionary  force  began  to  arrive,  and 
by  the  16th  it  had  entirely  disembarked  at 
Saniyeh,  a  place  above  Fao. 

The  weather  was  wretched.  Rain  converted 
the  alluvial  flats  into  a  wilderness  of  mud. 
The  men  were  drenched  and  caked  with  the 
riverine  clay,  the  very  rifles  were  often 
choked. 

Meanwhile  the  advance  guard  carried  out 
a  reconnoissance  up  the  river  and  located  tha 
enemy  in  position  at  Sahilo,  about  nine 
miles  distant.  They  numbered  about  5,(X)0 
men,  with  twelve  guns,  under  General  Subr 
Bey,  the  Vali  (Governor)  of  Basra.  The 
reconnoissance  carried  an  advanced  position 
with  a  loss  of  sixty  killed  and  wounded,  and 
withdrew  unmolested  to  report. 

On  the  17th  General  Barrett  paraded  for 
the  attack  the  bulk  of  his  force.  After  a 
trying  march  through  a  veritable  quagmire, 
the  troops  sometimes  up  to  their  waists  in 
slush,  the  division  at  about  9  A.  M.  came 
within  range  of  the  Turkish  position,  and 
the  leading  brigade,  the  Belguam,  (Major 
Gen.  Fry,)  deployed  for  attack. 

The  ground  was  absolutely  open,  and  the 
Turks  had  a  perfect  field  of  fire.  On  our 
side  the  men  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
getting  forward  through  the  clayey  mud-beds 
and  the  worn-out  horses  could  not  bring  up 
the  field  artillery.  Nevertheless,  the  Bel- 
gaum  brigade  steadily  advanced,  and  the 
attack  being  presently  supported  by  other 
troops  and  assisted  by  the  first  of  the   two 


gunboats  on  the  river,  at  last  closed  upon 
the  Turkish  intrenchments  and  carried  them, 
capturing  two  guns  and  one  hundred  pris- 
oners, besides  inflicting  a  very  heavy  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded. 

The  retreat  of  the  enemy  was  assisted  by 
a  mirage  which  disconcerted  our  gunners. 
Subr  Bey  retreated  on  Basra,  but  he  had  no 
hope  of  being  able  to  hold  the  big  spreading 
place  with  his  small  force,  and  evacuated  it. 
He  retreated  to  Kurna,  where  the  Tigris 
joins  the  Euphrates.  There  he  intrenched 
himself.  His  main  body  was  in  Kurna,  a 
large  village  encircled  by  palm  groves,  in 
the  marshy  angle  formed  by  the  two  rivers. 


The  scene  of  the  Persian  Gulf  Campaign. 

with  a  strong  detachment  in  the  straggling 
village  of  Mazera,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Tigris. 

On  Dec.  7  General  Fry  advanced  upon  the 
Kurna  position.  The  defenders  of  Mazera 
made  a  hard  fight  of  it,  assisted  by  the 
strength  of  their  position  among  a  maze  of 
pottery  works  backed  up  by  the  ubiquitous 
palms,  but  in  the  afternoon  the  village  was 
carried. 

Kurna  was  now  isolated,  but  its  capture 
presented  great  difficulties.  All  through  the 
8th  General  Fry  bombarded  it  from  Mazera, 
while  his  infantry  were  slowly  ferried  over 
higlier  up.  This  was  prepared  by  some  dar- 
ing sappers,  who  swam  the  broad  river  and 
fixed  a  wire  rope  by  which  the  boats  were 
worked  backward  and  forward,  and  an  ad- 
vance was  made  against  Kurna  from  the 
rear. 

Subr  Bey  had  lost  very  heavily  at  Mazera, 
so  he  accepted  the  inevitable  and  surrendered. 
So  a  brilliant  little  episode  came  to  a  vic- 
torious  conclusion.     Subr  Bey   was   returned 


A    YEAR   OF   WAR  IN  AFRICA-ASIA 


869 


his  sword  and  complimented  on  his  stubborn 
defense. 

The  capture  of  Kurna  secured  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Basra  region.  Since  then  opera- 
tions have  been  directed  to  securing  it  against 
Turlcish   attempts   at   recovery. 

A  recent  stage  of  this  campaign  is  thus 
described  in  The  Pioneer  Mail  (Allaha- 
bad) June  4,  1915: 

It  is  announced  from  Simla  that  on  the 
morning  of  May  .31  a  further  advance  up 
the  Tigris  River  was  made  by  the  British 
expeditionary  force  in  close  co-operation  with 
the  navy.  Notwithstanding  the  excessive  heat 
the  troops  advanced  with  great  dash  and 
determination,  and  successively  captured  four 
positions  held  by  the  enemy.  As  far  as  re- 
ported we  suffered  only  a  few  casualties. 
Valuable  work'  was  performed  by  our  aero- 
planes.    The  operations   are  proceeding. 

The  British  force  at  the  end  of  June 
had   reached   Shaiba. 

VI.    THE    "UNREST"    IN    INDIA. 

The  splendid  work  done  by  Indian  reg- 
ulars and  Indian  imperial  forces  (the 
forces  supplied  by  native  Princes)  in 
Europe,  in  Africa,  in  Egypt,  in  Mesopo- 
tamia is  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  sug- 
gestion that  British  influence  in  India 
has  been  weakened  by  the  war.  The 
enthusiastic  formation  of  volunteer  corps, 
both  of  Europeans  and  of  natives,  is  a 
further  proof  that  the  peoples  of  India, 
now  more  than  ever,  realize  the  benefits 
of  liberty  and  security  which  they  enjoy. 
In  India  the  torpedoing  of  the  Lusitania 
m.ade  a  profound  impression,  as  the 
native  press  proves. 

A  notable  trial,  the  Lahore  conspiracy 
case,  disclosed  the  curious  fact  that  al- 
most the  only  case  of  "  unrest "  in  India 
was  "  made  in  America "  by  returned 
emigrants  from  Canada  and  California, 
who,  on  their  way  back,  were  interviewed 
by  the  German  Consuls  at  Chinese  ports 
and  advised  to  stir  up  an  insurrection. 
This  they  tried  to  do,  using  bombs  made 
of  brass  inkpots,  and  bombarding  the 
houses  of  well-to-do  natives,  seeking  in 
this  way  to  raise  money  to  finance  the 
rising. 

The  Pioneer  Mail  (Allahabad)  gives 
an  interesting  account  of  the  trial  of 
these  peculiar  patriots,  half  of  whom 
seem  to  have  informed  on  the  other  half. 
It  appears  that  they,  or  others  like  them, 


were  instrumental  in  causing  the  recent 
riot  at  Singapore,  in  which  some  twenty 
European  men  and  women  were  killed. 

VII.    GERMAN  ISLANDS  IN  THE 
PACIFIC. 

A  curious  result  of  the  world  war  has 
been  the  expeditions  initiated  by  the 
great  oversea  dominions  of  Britain  and 
by  India.  The  work  of  two  of  these,  in 
Africa  and  Mesopotamia,  has  been 
already  described.  There  remain  the 
joint  Australian  and  New  Zealand  ex- 
peditions against  the  island  colonies  of 
Germany  and  the  great  semi-continental 
area  of  New  Guinea. 

A  lively  account  of  the  expedition 
against  the  Samoa  Islands  is  printed  in 
The  Sydney  Bulletin  for  Sept.  24: 

The  recent  expedition  to  Samoa  furnished 
many  surprises,  chief  among  which  was  the 
adaptability  of  the  Maorilanders  to  military 
discipline.  When  the  men  came  on  board 
the  transports  (Moeraki  and  Monowai)  dis- 
cipline simply  wasn't  in  their  dictionaries. 
They  acknowledged  orders  with  a  "  Right  O, 
Sport,"  or  with  an  argument.  Companies 
were  referred  to  as  mobs,  the  commanding 
officer  as  the  boss  or  the  admiral.    *    *    • 

The  night  before  we  reached  Samoa  an 
English  military  officer  on  board  told  me  it 
was  remarkable,  and  highly  creditable,  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  men  had  adapted 
themselves  to  the  changed  circum- 
stances.   *    *    ♦ 

The  expedition  called  at  Noumea  to  pick 
up  the  French  warship  Montcalm,  also  the 
Australia  and  Melbourne  of  ours.  Noumea 
had  been  very  worried  since  the  war  began, 
lest  the  German  fleet  from  Samoa  would 
come  along  and  bombard  the  place.  Had 
notices  up  to  the  effect  that  five  shots  would 
signify  the  arrival  of  the  Germans,  and  that 
every  inhabitant  was  then  to  grab  rations 
and  make  for  the  horizon.  The  welcome  the 
French  handed  to  us  would  have  stirred  the 
blood  of  a  jellyfish. 

Samoa  proved  a  walk-over.  Not  a  gun,  not 
a  ship,  not  a  mine.  A  bunch  of  schoolboys 
with  Shanghais  and  a  hatful  of  rocks  could 
have  taken  it.  The  German  fleet  that  was 
supposed  to  be  waiting  to  welcome  us  hadn't 
'been  around  for  eleven  months.  Seemingly 
the  German  fleet  has  gone  into  the  business 
of  not  being  around. 

VIIL    GERMAN  NEW  GUINEA. 

The  Australasian  (Melbourne)  for  Sept. 
19  prints  the  following,  describing  the 
conquest  of  German  New  Guinea,  which, 
with  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  off  the 


870 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


coast,  has  an  area  of  90,000  square  miles 
— something  less  than  half  the  size  of  the 
German  Empire: 

The  Minister  for  Defense  (Mr.  Millen)  has 
received  the  following  further  information  by 
wireless  regarding  the  operations  at  HerbertST 
hohe  and  Rabaul,  from  Admiral  Patey :  The 
Australian  naval  reserve  captured  the  wire- 
less station  at  Herbertshohe  at  1  P.  M.  on 
Sept.  12,  after  eighteen  hours'  bush  fighting 
over  about  six  miles.  Herbertshohe  and 
Rabaul,  the  seat  of  Government,  have  been 
garrisoned  and  a  base  has  been  established 
at  Simpsonshafen. 

Have  prisoners :  German  officers,  2,  includ- 
ing commandant ;  German  non-commissioned 
officers,  15 ;  and  native  police,  56.  German 
casualties  about  20  to  30  killed.  Simpsons- 
hafen swept  and  ready  to  be  entered  Sept.  12. 

Naval  force  landed  under  Commander 
Beresford  of  the  Australian  Navy  met  with 
vigorous  opposition.  Advanced  party  at 
dawn  established  landing  before  enemy  aware 
of  intention.  From  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  landing  bush  fight  for  almost  four 
miles.  Roads  and  fronts  also  mined  in 
places,  and  stations  intrenched.  Officer 
commanding  German  forces  in  trench  500 
yards  seaward  side  of  station  has  surren- 
dered  unconditionally. 

Our  force  have  reconnoitred  enemy  strength 
holding'  station.  Have  landed  12-pounder 
guns,  and  if  station  does  not  surrender  in- 
tend shelling.  Regret  to  report  following 
casualties :  4  killed,  3  wounded. 

Later  a  wireless  message  from  Rear- 
Admiral  Sir  George  Patey  informed  the 
Minister  for  Defense  (Mr.  E.  D.  Millen) 
on  Monday,  Sept.  14,  that,  as  a  result  of 
the  operations  of  the  Australian  Expe- 
ditionary Force,  Rabaul,  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment in  German  New  Guinea,  had 
been  occupied.  The  British  flag  was 
hoisted  over  the  town  at  3:30  on  Sunday 
afternoon  (Sept.  13,  1914)  and  it  was 
saluted.  A  proclamation  was  then  read 
by  Rear-Admiral  Patey,  formerly  setting 
out  the  occupation. 

Apia  (Samoa)  had  been  occupied  by 
British  forces  on  Aug.  29.  The  Caroline 
Islands,  first  occupied  by  Japan,  were 
turned  over  to  New  Zealand.  The  Mar- 
shall and  Solomon  Islands  were  likewise 
occupied  on  Dec.  9,  thus  completing  the 
tale  of  Germany's  colonial  possessions 
in  the  Pacific. 

There  remain  large  areas  in"  Kamerun 
and  East  Africa,  but  in  both  cases  the 
coast  line  is  in  the  possession  of  the 
Entente  powers.- 


IX.    FIGHTING     IN     THE     CAU- 
CASUS. 

The  first  considerable  battle  in  the 
Caucasus,  after  Turkey  entered  the  war, 
was  decided  in  Yavor  of  Russia,  on  Jan. 
3.  On  Jan.  16  the  Eleventh  Corps  of  the 
Turkish  Army  was  cut  up  at  Kara  Ur- 
gaun.  On  Jan.  30  the  Russians  occupied 
Tabriz.  On  Feb.  8  Trebizond  was  bom- 
barded by  Russian  destroyers.  On  May 
4  the  Turks  were  again  defeated,  leaving 
3,500  dead. 

The  most  recent  considerable  action 
was  the  taking  of  the  ancient  and  im- 
portant City  of  Van,  which  is  graphically 
described  in  Novoe  Vremya,  June  19: 

"  When  our  armies  scattered  the  forces 
of  Halil  Bey  and  gained  marked  suc- 
cesses in  the  western  part  of  Azerbijan, 
the  question  of  taking  Van  and  the 
more  important  towns  on  Lake  Van 
arose.  At  the  same  time  we  received 
news  of  the  desperate  situation  of  the 
Christians  (Armenians)  of  the  Van  vil- 
ayet, who  had  been  compelled  to  take  up 
arms  against  the  Kurds. 

"  Our  division  was  directed  to  go  to 
Van  through  the  Sanjak  of  Bajazet, 
crossing  the  Tatar  Pass  under  fire  of 
Turkish  regulars  and  Kurds.  In  spite 
of  the  Spring  season,  the  whole  pass  was 
covered  with  a  thick  carpet  of  snow,  in 
places  up  to  our  men's  belts.  At  the 
highest  point  of  the  pass,  10,000  feet,  we 
were  forced  to  halt.  After  a  brief  rest 
we  reached  Taparitz  and  were  imme- 
diately in  contact  with  the  enemy,  who 
attacked  with  shell  and  rifle  fire,  but  we 
soon  silenced  them  with  our  rifles  and 
machine  guns.  Scattering,  the  Turks 
and  Kurds  hid  among  the  rocks  and 
sniped  at  us. 

"  From  Taparitz  we  advanced  much 
more  rapidly  along  the  Abaga  Valley, 
then  turned  to  the  west  along  the  River 
Bendimach-Su,  the  best  route  to  Van. 
We  were  informed  that  Begri-Kala  was 
strongly  occupied  by  Turks  who  were 
determined  to  defend  it  to  the  last. 

"  They  began  an  irregular  fire,  which 
soon  developed  into  a  hotly  contested 
battle.  We  were  compelled  to  reply  with 
bullet  and  bayonet.  We  took  several 
mountain    guns,    many   rifles    and   car- 


A    YEAR   OF   WAR  IN  AFRICA-ASIA 


871 


tridges  and  much  ammunition.  Many  of 
the  enemy  threw  up  their  hands  and  sur- 
rendered. We  liberated  several  dozen 
Christian  girls  who  had  been  captured 
by  the  Kurds  at  the  time  of  the  Turk 
and  Kurd  raid  on  the  Armenian  villages. 
"  We  then  resumed  our  march  on  Van, 
after  driving  the  Turks  from  the  Village 


able  fight,  but  the  Kurds  are  foul  fight- 
ers, murdering  and  looting. 

"  Attacking  directly  with  only  a  part 
of  our  forces,  we  sent  the  rest  by  a  long 
detour  around  the  enemy's  position,  tak- 
ing the  Turks  in  flank;  then  our  men 
charged  with  the  bayonet,  and  the  fight 
was  over. 


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Scene  of  operation  of  Russians  against  the  Turks  in  the  Caucasus. 


of  Sor.  The  enemy  gathered  in  the 
Town  of  Janik,  one  march  from  Van,  on 
the  northeast  shore  of  Lake  Van.  To 
take  Janik  cost  us  several  days'  fighting. 
The  Turks  fought  desperately,  un- 
daunted by  enormous  losses,  their  dead 
falling  in  heaps  on  all  sides.  The  Turk- 
ish infantry  fought  a  brave  and  honor- 


"  The  fall  of  Janik  decided  the  fate  of 
Van.  On  the  night  of  May  5  (18)  the 
Turks  evacuated  Van,  leaving  twenty- 
six  guns,  3,000  poods  (a  pood  equals  36 
pounds)  of  powder,  their  treasure  and 
documents;  they  went  so  silently  that 
the  inhabitants  did  not  know  of  it  until 
the  next  morning. 


872  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 

"  On  May  6  (19)  the  birthday  of  Czar  the  streets  and  decking  our  soldiers  with 

Nicholas   II.,   we  entered   antique  Van,  garlands, 
the  centre  of  the  large  and  once  wealthy 

vilayet  of  the  same  name,  amid  extraor-  "  The  capture  of  Van  is  as  important 
dinary  rejoicings,  the  entire  Christian  politically  as  it  is  strategically.  The  ad- 
population  coming  forth  to  meet  us,  vance  on  Mush  and  Bitlis  is  a  necessary 
strewing  flowers  and  green  branches  in  consequence." 

An  "Insult"  to  War 

Mount  Kisco,  N.   Y.,   July  11,   1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

On  Friday  night  at  Carnegie  Hall  Miss  Jane  Addams  stated 
that  in  the  present  war,  in  order  to  get  soldiers  to  charge  with  the 
bayonet,  all  nations  are  forced  first  to  make  them  drunk.  I  quote 
from  The  Times  report: 

In  Germany  they  have  a  regular  formula  for  it  [she  said].  In  England 
they  use  rum  and  the  French  resort  to  absinthe.  In  other  words,  therefore, 
in  the  terrible  bayonet  charges  they  speak  of  with  dread,  the  men  must  be  doped 
before  they  start. 

In  this  war  the  French  or  English  soldier  who  has  been  killed 
in  a  bayonet  charge  gave  his  life  to  protect  his  home  and  coun- 
try. For  his  supreme  exit  he  had  prepared  himself  by  months  of  disci- 
pline. Through  the  Winter  in  the  trenches  he  has  endured  shells,  dis- 
ease, snow  and  ice.  For  months  he  had  been  sparated  from  his  wife, 
children,  friends — all  those  he  most  loved.  When  the  order  to  charge 
came  it  was  for  them  he  gave  his  life,  that  against  those  who  destroyed 
Belgium  they  might  preserve  their  home,  might  live  to  enjoy  peace. 

Miss  Addams  denies  him  the  credit  of  his  sacrifice.  She  strips 
him  of  honor  and  courage.  She  tells  his  children,  "  Your  father  did 
not  die  for  France,  or  for  England,  or  for  you;  he  died  because  he  was 
drunk." 

In  my  opinion,  since  the  war  began,  no  statement  had  becTi  so 
unworthy  or  so  untrue  and  ridiculous.  The  contempt  it  shows  for  the 
memory  of  the  dead  is  appalling;  the  credulity  and  ignorance  it  dis- 
plays  are   inconceivable. 

Miss  Addams  does  not  know  that  even  from  France  they  have 
banished  absinthe.  If  she  doubts  that  in  this  France  had  succeeded 
let  her  ask  for  it.  I  asked  for  it,  and  each  maitre  d'hotel  treated  me 
as  though  I  had  proposed  we  should  assassinate  General  Joifre. 

If  Miss  Addams  does  know  that  the  French  Government  has  ban- 
ished absinthe,  then  she  is  accusing  it  of  openly  receiving  the  con- 
gratulations of  the  world  for  destroying  the  drug  while  secretly 
tising  it  to  make  fiends  of  the  army.  If  what  Miss  Addams  states  is 
trtie,  then  the  French  Government  is  rotten,  French  oflScers  deserve 
only  court-martial,  and  French  soldiers  are  cowards. 

If  we  are  to  believe  her,  the  Canadians  at  Ypres,  the  Australians 
in  the  Dardanelles,  the  English  and  the  French  on  the  Aisne  made  no 
supreme  sacrifice,  but  were  killed  in  a  drunken  brawl. 

Miss  Addams  desires  peace.  So  does  every  one  else.  But  she  will 
not  attain  peace  by  misrepresentation.  I  have  seen  more  of  this  war 
and  other  wars  than  Miss  Addams,  and  I  know  all  war  to  be  wicked, 
wasteful,  and  unintelligent,  and  where  Miss  Addams  can  furnish  one 
argument  in  favor  of  peace  I  will  furnish  a  hundred.  But  against 
this  insult,  flung  by  a  complacent  and  self-satisfied  woman  at  men  who 
^ave  their  lives  for  men,  I  protest.  And  I  believe  that  with  me  are  all 
.     those  women  and  men  who  resrect  courage  and  honor. 

RICHARD  HARDING  DAVIS. 


The  Drive  at  Warsaw 

Germany's  Story  of  the  Eastern  Campaign 

Battles  of  Radymno,  Przemysl,  Lemberg,  the  Dniester, 
Krasnik,  Przasnysz,  Ostrolenka 

The  grand  sweep  of  the  victorious  German  armies  through  Galicia  and  into  Poland,  on  a 
more  tremendous  scale  than  has  hitherto  been  witnessed  in  the  warfare  of  history,  is  recorded 
in  the  semi-official  German  accounts  of  the  Wolff  Telegraphic  Bureau,  published  by  the  Frank- 
furter Zeitung  from  June  3  to  June  29,  and  translated  below.  The  official  German  reports  of 
the  campaign  concentrated  upon  the  Polish  capital  of  Warsaw  follow.  On  July  19  a  Petrograd 
dispatch  to  the  London  Morning  Post  reported  that  Emperor  William  had  telegraphed  his  sister, 
the  Queen  of  Greece,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  "  paralyzed  Russia  for  at  least  six  months  to 
come  "  and  was  on  the  eve  of  "  delivering  a  coup  on  the  western  front  that  will  make  all  Europe 
tremble." 


STOKMING  OF  KADYMNO 

The  semi-official  report  dispatched  hy 
the  Wolff  Telegraphic  Bureau  from  Ber- 
lin on  June  3,  1915,  reads  as  follows: 

FROM  the  Great  Headquarters  we 
learn  the  following  concerning  the 
battles  at  Radymno : 

The  corps  of  General  von  Mack- 
ensen,  on  the  evening  of  the  23d  of  May, 
stood  on  both  sides  of  the  San  in  a  great 
bow  directed  toward  the  east.  On  the 
right  wing  Bavarian  troops  stood  on 
the  watch  facing  the  northwest  front  of 
the  fortress  of  Przemysl.  In  touch 
with  the  Bavarian  troops  German  and 
Austro-Hungarian  forces  stood  south  of 
the  San  before  the  strongly  fortified 
bridgehead  of  Radymno.  Farther  north 
still  other  troops  linked  up  with  the 
army. 

The  bridgehead  of  Radymno  con- 
sisted of  a  threefold  line  of  field  works. 
There  was  in  the  first  place  the  main 
position  well  provided  with  wire  en- 
tanglements. This  ran  along  the 
heights  that  lie  westward  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Ostroro  and  through  the  low 
lands  of  the  San  up  to  this  river.  Then 
there  was  a  well-constructed  interme- 
diate position  which  was  laid  through 
the  long  straggling  village  of  Ostroro. 
Finally  there  was  the  so-called  bridge- 
head of  Zagrody  which  was  constructed 
for  the  protection  of  the  street  and  rail- 


road bridges  crossing  the  river  to  the 
east  of  Radymno.  Air-men  had  pho- 
tographed all  these  positions  and  had 
reduced  the  views  by  the  photogram- 
meter  and  transferred  them  to  the  map. 

The  first  task  was  to  render  the  ene- 
my's main  positions  ripe  for  attack. 
With  this  object  the  artillery  on  the 
afternoon  of  May  23  began  its  fire, 
which  was  continued  on  the  next  day. 
From  the  heights  near  Jaroslau  could 
be  seen  the  valley  of  the  San  lying  in 
the  mists,  out  of  which  jutted  the  cu- 
pola towers  of  Radymno  and  the  ham- 
lets of  Ostroro,  Wietlin,  Wysocko,  etc. 
The  artillery  fire  was  raised  to  the  ut- 
most pitch  of  intensity.  The  heavy 
projectiles  howling,  furrowed  the  air, 
lit  great  fires  as  they  struck  and  exca- 
vated vast  pits  in  the  earth.  The  Rus- 
sian artillery  replied. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  long 
infantry  lines  rose  in  their  storming 
positions  and  advanced  to  the  attack. 
The  flyers  reported  that  behind  the  ene- 
my's positions  they  observed  grazing 
cattle  and  baggage  carts.  The  enemy 
seemed  not  to  expect  a  serious  attack. 
Anyhow,  the  Petersburg  bulletin  had 
announced  that  the  battles  in  Galicia 
had  decreased  in  intensity,  that  the 
Teutonic  allies  had  practically  through- 
out gone  over  to  the  defensive. 

At  six-thirty  in  the  morning  the 
enemy's  main  position  in  its  whole  ex- 


874 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


tent  was  in  the  hands  of  the  German 
troops.  Shaken  by  the  heavy  artillery 
fire  the  enemy  had  made  only  brief  re- 
sistance; he  was  in  hasty  retreat  toward 
the  east. 

But  just  in  that  direction  and  into 
Radymno,  whence  the  enemy's  rein- 
forcements were  to  be  expected,  the  ar- 
tillery had  in  the  meantime  turned  its 
fire.  Great  clouds  of  smoke  covered 
these  villages  set  afire  by  the  bombard- 
ment. The  Russians  thus  did  not  have 
the  chance  to  take  permanent  footing 
in  Ostroro.  The  troops  holding  the 
town  surrendered,  leaving  hundreds  of 
guns  and  great  quantities  of  ammuni- 
tion in  the  hands  of  the  victors. 

Along  the  whole  line  the  German  in- 
fantry was  now  advancing  upon  Ra- 
dymno  and  the  villages  connecting  with 
this  place,  Skolowszo  and  Zamojsce. 
With  every  step  forward  the  number 
of  prisoners  was  increased.  Soon  one 
division  reported  to  headquarters  that 
it  did  not  have  enough  men  to  attend 
to  the  removal  of  the  great  masses  of 
prisoners  without  prejudice  to  the  con- 
duct of  the  action.  Cavalry  was  there- 
fore assigned  to  this  task. 

At  Radymno  the  enemy's  troops  had 
become  jammed  in  crowds.  A  wooden 
wagon  bridge  over  the  San  had  been 
burned  down  too  soon.  T^'rom  the  posi- 
tion of  the  staff  directing  the  battle  one 
could  see  the  leaping  flames  and  the 
clouds  of  heavy  black  smoke  caused  by 
the  pouring  on  of  naphtha.  One-  could 
also  see  long  columns  fleeing  eastward 
covering  the  street  toward  Dunkowice 
with  their  disordered  crowds.  As  the 
Russian  recruits  which  had  been  gath- 
ered in  Radymno  made  only  a  brief  re- 
sistance, this  place  together  with  all  the 
artillery  which  was  attempting  to  escape 
through  the  town  to  the  San,  was  also 
lost.  Only  at  the  bridge-head  of  Za- 
grody  did  the  Russian  leaders,  by  has- 
tily bringing  up  fresh  reserves,  finally 
check  the  attack  of  the  Germans.  On 
this  day  70  officers,  9,000  men,  42  ma- 
chine guns,  52  cannon  of  which  10 
were  heavy,  14  ammunition  wagons,  and 
extensive  other  booty  was  reported. 
But  also  on  the  north  bank  of  the  San 
a  great  battle  had  developed. 


PRZEMYSL 

A  semi-official  dispatch  hy  the  Wolff 
Telegraphic  Bureau  dated  Berlin,  June 
6,  said: 

From  the  Great  Headquarters  we 
have  received  the  following  telegram 
concerning  the  fall  of  the  fortress 
Przemysl : 

When  on  the  2d  of  May  the  offensive 
of  the  allies  in  West  Galicia  began,  few 
probably  could  have  imagined  that  four 
weeks  later  the  heavy  guns  of  the  Cen- 
tral Powers  would  open  their  fire  on 
Przemysl.  The  Russian  staff  was  not 
likely  to  have  been  prepared  for  this 
possibility.  Its  decision  swayed  this 
way  and  that,  whether,  as  originally 
planned,  to  hold  the  fortress,  for  "po- 
litical reasons"  or  "voluntarily  to  with-^ 
draw"  from  it.  Constantly  our  air- 
men reported  the  marching  of  troops 
in  and  out  of  the  fortress.  On  the  21st 
of  May  the  decision  seemed  to  have 
been  reached  to  abandon  it.  In  spite 
of  this,  eight  days  later  the  place  was 
stubbornly  defended. 


Eight  German  military  positions  about 
Przemsyl   and  Lemberg. 

General  von  Kneussl  pushed  the  line 
of  his  Bavarian  regiments  from  the 
north  closer  to  the  fortress  to  shut  in 
the  foe.  About  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon  the  heavy  batteries  began   to 


THE   DRIVE   AT    WARSAW 


875 


engage  the  forts  on  the  north  front. 
In  the  night  from  the  30th  to  the  31st 
of  May  the  infantry  pushed  forward 
closer  to  the  wire  entanglements.  It 
awaited  the  effect  of  the  heavy  artillery. 
This  confined  the  defenders  to  their 
bomb-proof  shelters,  so  that  our  infan- 
try could  step  out  of  its  trenches  and 
from  the  top  of  the  breastworks  watch 
the  tremendous  drama  of  destruction. 
The  lighter  guns  of  the  assailants  found 
ideal  positions  in  the  battery  emplace- 
ments formerly  built  by  the  Russians 
as  part  of  their  siege  works  when  oper- 
ating against  the  Austrians  in  Prze- 
mysl.  So,  too.  General  von  Kneussl  with 
his  staff  found  shelter  near,  and  the 
chief  of  artillery  in  the  observation 
station  constructed  by  the  Russians 
near  Batycze.  From  this  point,  distant 
from  the  line  of  forts  only  a  little  more 
than  two  kilometers,  one  could  observe 
the  whole  front  of  Forts  10  and  11.  On 
the  31st  of  May,  at  four  in  the  after- 
noon, the  heavy  guns  ceased  firing. 
Simultaneously  the  infantry.  Bavarian 
regiments,  a  Prussian  regiment  and  a 
detachment  of  Austrian  sharp-shooters, 
moved  to  the  attack.  The  destruction 
of  the  works  and  advanced  points  of 
support  of  the  fortress  by  the  heavy 
artillery  had  such  a  shattering  and  de- 
pressing effect  on  its  garrison  that  it 
was  not  capable  of  offering  any  effec- 
tive resistance  to  the  attacking  in- 
fantry. 

The  troops  manning  Forts  10a,  11a, 
and  11,  such  of  them  as  did  not  lie 
buried  in  the  shattered  casemates,  fled, 
leaving  behind  their  entire  war  mate- 
rial, including  a  great  number  of  the 
newest  light  and  heavy  Russian  guns. 
The  enemy  replied  to  the  assailants 
who  pushed  forward  to  the  circular 
connecting  road,  only  with  artillery  fire, 
and  in  the  night  made  no  counter  at- 
tack of  any  kind.  On  the  1st  of  June 
the  enemy  threw  several  single  bat- 
talions into  a  counter  attack.  These 
attacks  were  repulsed  without  difficulty. 

The  heavy  artillery  now  fought  down 
Forts  10  and  11.  The  Prussian  infantry 
regiment  No.  45,  jointly  with  Bava- 
rian troops,  stormed  two  earthworks 
lying  to  the  east  of  Fort  11  which  the 


enemj'^  had  stubbornly  defended.  On 
the  2d  of  June,  at  noon,  the  22d  regi- 
ment of  Bavarian  infantry  stormed 
Fort  10,  in  which  all  "bombproofs" 
except  one  had  been  made  heaps  of  de- 
bris by  the  action  of  the  heavy  artil- 
lery. A  battalion  of  fusiliers  of  the 
Queen  Augusta  Guard  regiment  of 
grenadiers  in  the  evening  took  Fort  12. 
Works  10b,   9a  and  9b  capitulated. 

In  the  evening  the  troops  of  General 
von  Kneussl  began  the  attack  in  the 
direction  of  the  city.  The  village 
Zurawica  and  the  fortified  positions  of 
the  enemy  situated  there  were  captured. 
The  enemy  now  desisted  from  all  fur- 
ther resistance.  Thus  the  German 
troops,  followed  later  by  the  4th  Aus- 
tro-Hungarian  cavalry  division  were 
able  to  occupy  the  strongly  built  inner 
line  of  forts,  and  at  3  o'clock  in  the 
morning  after  making  numerous  pris- 
oners, to  march  into  the  relieved  city  of 
Przemysl. 

Here,  where  a  battalion  of  the  third 
infantry  regiment  of  the  Guard  was  the 
first  troop  to  enter,  there  was  still  a  last 
halt  before  the  burned  bridges  over  the 
San.  But  these  were  soon  replaced 
with  military  bridges.  After  a  siege 
of  only  four  days  the  fortress  of  Prze- 
mysl was  again  in  the  hands  of  the  al- 
lies. The  Russians  had  in  vain  attacked 
this  fortress  for  months.  Although  they 
brought  hecatombs  of  bloody  sacrifices 
they  had  not  succeeded  in  taking  the 
fortress  by  storm.  Only  by  starvation 
did  they  bring  it  to  fall,  and  they  were 
enabled  to  enjoy  their  possession  only 
nine  weeks.  Energetic  and  daring 
leadership,  supported  by  heroically 
fighting  troops  and  excellent  heavy  ar- 
tillery, had  in  the  briefest  possible  space 
of  time  reduced  the  great  fortress. 

BATTLE    OF   GRODEK 

A  semi-official  dispatch  hy  the  Wolff 
Telegraphic  Bureau,  dated  Berlin,  June 
27,  reported  as  follows: 

From  the  Great  Headquarters  we  have 
received  the  following  telegram  about 
the  battle  for  Grodek  and  the  Wereszyca 
position : 

In  the  night  from  the  15th  to  the  16tli 


876 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


of  June  the  enemy  began  his  retreat  in 
front  of  the  allied  troops  in  an  easterly 
and  northeasterly  direction.  He  was 
now  unquestionably  withdrawing  to  his 
defenses  on  the  Wereszyca  and  the  so- 
called  Grodek  position.  The  Wereszyca 
is  a  little  stream  that  rises  in  the  hilly 
lands  of  Magierow  and  flows  in  a  south- 
erly course  to  the  Dniester.  Insignifi- 
cant as  the  streamlet  is  in  itself,  it  yet 
forms,  because  of  the  width  of  its  valley 
and  the  ten  rather  large  lakes  in  it,  a 
locality  peculiarly  well  fitted  for  defense. 

Whatever  was  lacking  to  the  situation 
in  natural  strength  had  been  supplied  by 
art.  This  the  Russians  displayed  above 
all  in  the  Grodek  position  which,  join- 
ing the  Wereszyca  on  "the  north,  at 
Janow,  stretches  for  a  distance  of  more 
than  70  kilometres  in  a  northwestern 
direction  as  far  as  the  region  of  Narol 
Miasto.  Thousands  of  laborers  had  here 
worked  for  months  to  construct  a  forti- 
fied position  which  does  honor  to  the 
Russian  engineers.  Here  extensive  clear- 
ings have  been  made  in  the  forests. 
Dozens  of  works  for  infantry  defense, 
hundreds  of  kilometres  of  rifle  trenches, 
covering  and  connecting  trenches,  had 
been  dug,  the  hilly  forest  land  quite 
transformed,  and  finally  vast  wire  en- 
tanglements stretched  along  the  entire 
Wereszyca  and  Grodek  front.  Taken  as 
a  whole  this  position  formed  the  last 
great  bulwark  with  which  the  Russians 
hoped  to  check  their  victorious  oppo- 
nents and  to  bring  their  advance  upon 
Lemberg  to  a  permanent  halt. 

The  Russian  army  found  itself  in- 
capable of  acting  up  to  these  expecta- 
tions of  its  leaders.  A  cavalry  regiment 
of  the  Guard,  with  the  cannon  and  ma- 
chine guns  assigned  to  it,  succeeded  on 
the  16th  of  June,  on  the  road  Jaworow- 
Niemirow,  in  making  a  surprise  attack 
on  a  Russian  infantry  brigade  marching 
northward  to  the  Grodek  position  and 
in  scattering  it  in  the  forests.  In  the 
evening  the  city  of  Niemirow  was 
stormed.  On  the  18th  of  June  the 
armies  of  General  von  Mackensen  de- 
ployed into  line  of  battle  before  the 
Russian  positions.  On  the  following 
day  they  moved  to  the  attack.  Early  in 
the  morning  the  decisive  onslaught  was 


made  on  the  Grodek  position  and  in  the 
evening  on  the  Wereszyca  line.  Very 
soon  the  hostile  positions  on  both  sides 
of  the  Sosnina  forest  were  taken.  Four 
of  the  enemy's  guns  were  captured,  and 
the  Russian  positions  on  Mt.  Horoszyko, 
which  had  been  built  up  into  a  veritable 
fortress,  were  stormed. 

The  main  attack  was  made  by  regi- 
ments of  the  Prussian  Guard.  Before 
them  lay,  to  the  west  of  Magierow,  Hill 
350.  Even  from  a  distance  it  can  be 
seen  that  this  elevation,  rising  to  a 
height  of  fifty  metres  above  the  slope,  is 
the  key  to  the  whole  position.  The  de- 
fenses consisted  of  two  rows  of  trenches, 
lying  one  over  the  other,  with  strong 
cover,  and  with  wire  entanglements  and 
abattis  in  front  of  them.  At  daybreak 
began  the  artillery  battle.  This  already 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  resulted 
in  the  complete  subduing  of  the  Russian 
artillery,  which,  as  always  in  the  re- 
cently preceding  days,  held  back  and 
only  very  cautiously  and  with  sparing 
use  of  ammunition  took  part  in  the  bat- 
tle. At  seven  the  hostile  position  was 
considered  ripe  for  storming  and  the 
infantry  attack  ordered.  Although  the 
forces  manning  the  heights  still  took  up 
the  fire  against  the  attackers,  it  was 
without,  however,  inflicting  on  them 
losses  worth  mentioning.  The  German 
heayy  artillery  had  done  its  duty.  The 
enemy  was  so  demoralized  that,  although 
in  the  beginning  he  kept  up  his  fire,  he 
preferred  to  absent  himself  before  the 
entry  of  the  Germans  into  his  trenches. 

More  than  700  prisoners  and  about  a 
dozen  machine  guns  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  attackers.  In  the  ditches  that 
were  taken  alone  there  lay  200  dead 
Russians.  In  the  meantime  the  attack 
was  directed  against  the  neighboring 
sections.  Soon  the  Russians  found 
themselves  compelled  also  to  vacate 
without  giving  battle  the  very  strong 
position  running  north  of  the  street  that 
leads  to  Magierow,  with  its  front  toward 
the  south.  Since  the  German  troops 
were  able  to  penetrate  with  the  fleeing 
enemy  into  Magierow  and  to  advance 
north  of  the  city  toward  the  east,  the 
position  at  Bialo-Piaskowa  also  became 
untenable.     The  Russians  flowed  back- 


THE   DRIVE   AT    WARSAW 


877 


ward  and  only  at  Lawryko  again  tried  to 
get  a  firm  footing.  Late  in  the  evening 
a  Guard  regiment  took  the  railroad  sta- 
tion of  Dabrocin,  where  but  a  short 
time  before  the  Russians  had  been  trans- 
shipping troops,  and  thus  won  the  Lem- 
berg-Rawa-Ruska  road.  The  adjoining 
corps  in  the  evening  stood  about  on  a 
level  with  the  regiments  of  the  Guard. 
Again  penetration  of  the  Russian 
front  had  succeeded  to  a  width  of  25 
kilometres,  and  the  fate  of  Lemberg  had 
been  decided  here  and  on  the  Wereszyca. 
This  line  was  stormed  late  in  the  even- 
ing and  partly  in  the  early  morning 
hours  of  the  20th  of  June.  The  German 
corps,  which  on  this  day  had  been  joined 
by  the  German  Emperor,  stormed  the 
hostile  positions  of  Stawki  as  far  as  the 
Bulawa  outwork.  Since  the  morning 
hours  of  the  20th  of  June  the  enemy, 
who  in  places  had  already  withdrawn  in 
the  night,  was  in  full  retreat  toward  the 
east  along  the  whole  front.  The  pursuit 
was  at  once  undertaken.  On  the  even- 
ing of  the  same  day  Royal  and  Imperial 
troops  stood  close  before  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Lemberg. 

THE   FALL   OF   LEMBERG 

A  semi-official  report  dispatch  hy  the 
Wolff  Telegraphic  Bureau  from  Berlin, 
June  28,  reads: 

From  the  Great  Headquarters  we  have 
received  the  following  telegram  about 
the  taking  of  Lemberg: 

The  Russians  entered  Lemberg,  the 
capital  of  Galicia,  a  city  of  250,000  in- 
habitants, in  the  beginning  of  Septem- 
ber, 1914.  They  at  once  restored  to  the 
city  its  Polish  name,  Lwow,  and  during 
their  reign  in  the  beautiful  town  made 
themselves  exceedingly  well  at  home. 
They  began  promptly  to  develop  Lem- 
berg into  a  great  fortress  and  for  the 
further  protection  of  their  new  possession 
to  construct  the  fortified  lines  of  Grodek 
and  Wereszyca.  The  protective  works 
of  Lemberg  built  by  the  Austrians  were 
strengthened  and  extended  by  the  Rus- 
sians, especially  along  the  south  and 
southwest  fronts.  The  existing  depot 
facilities  were  enlarged  and  a  number 
of  railways,  both  field  and  permanent. 


extended  throughout  the  domain  of  the 
fortress.  To  guarantee  the  maintenance 
of  the  fortress  of  Lemberg,  even  in  case 
the  Grodek  position  should  be  penetrated 
and  have  to  be  given  up,  a  strongly  for- 
tified supporting  work  had  been  built. 
This  ran  along  the  heights  to  the  west 
of  the  Lemberg-Rawa-Ruska  railway  to 
the  vicinity  of  Dobrocin. 

After  the  armies  of  General  von  Mac- 
kensen  had  broken  through  the  Grodek 
and  Wereszyca  position,  German  divi- 
sions and  allied  troops  struck  these 
supporting  works.  The  centre  of  the 
Army  Boehm-Ermolli  simultaneously 
approached  the  west  from  Lemberg.  The 
main  body  of  this  army  attacked  sec- 
tions of  the  hostile  army  which  had  pre- 
pared for  renewed  resistance  behind  the 
Szczerzek  and  Stavczonka  streams  and 
in  contact  with  the  fortress  on  the  south. 
This  position  on  the  evening  of  the  21st 
of  June  was  successfully  penetrated  at 
several  points  and  the  attacking  troops 
were  pushed  closer  to  the  defenses  on 
the  west  front  of  Lemberg.  German 
connecting  troops  under  the  leadership 
of  General  von  der  Marwitz  on  the  same 
day  stormed  the  most  important  points 
of  the  stubbornly  defended  supporting 
position.  They  thus  compelled  the  ene- 
my to  evacuate  this  position  in  the  whole 
of  its  extent  and  opened  for  the  adjacent 
Austrian  troops  the  road  to  the  defenses 
on  the  northwest  front  of  the  fortress. 
In  consequence  the  Austro-Hungarian 
troops  were  able  on  the  22d  of  June  to 
take  the  works  on  the  northwest  and 
west  fronts. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  fell  the 
fortification  Rzesna,  soon  thereafter 
Sknilow,  and  toward  eleven  Lysa  Gora. 
This  work  was  conquered  by  infantry 
regiment  No.  34,  "  William  I,  German 
Emperor  and  King  of  Prussia."  In  the 
Rzesna  fortification  alone,  besides  gun 
limbers  and  machine  guns,  400  prisoners 
were  taken  who  belonged  to  no  less  than 
eighteen  diiferent  Russian  divisions.  In 
the  work  there  was  found,  besides  masses 
of  weapons  and  ammunition,  a  large 
number  of  unopened  wooden  boxes  con- 
taining steel  blinders  (Stahlblenden). 

At  noon  of  that  day  the  victorious 
troops  set  foot  in  the  Galician  capital 


878 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


in  which  the  Russians  had  ruled  for 
nearly  ten  months.  About  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  the  Austrian  com- 
mander made  his  entry  into  the  city, 
which  was  quite  undamaged  and  decked 
with  flags.  In  the  streets,  in  the  win- 
,dows  and  on  balconies  stood  thousands 
and  thousands  of  the  inhabitants,  who 
enthusiastically  greeted  their  deliverers 
and  showered  the  automobiles  with  a 
rain  of  flowers.  The  next  day  the  com- 
mander-in-chief. General  von  Macken- 
sen,  congratulated  in  Lemberg  the  con- 
queror of  the  fortress,  the  Austrian  Gen- 
eral of  Cavalry  von  Boehm-Ermolli. 
The  German  Emperor,  on  receiving  the 
announcement  of  the  fall  of  Lemberg, 
sent  the  following  telegram  to  General 
von  Mackensen: 

"  Accept  on  the  crowning  event  of 
your  brilliantly  led  Galician  campaign, 
the  fall  of  Lemberg,  my  warmest  con- 
gratulations. It  completes  an  operation 
which,  systematically  prepared  and  exe- 
cuted with  energy  and  skill,  has  led  in 
only  six  weeks  to  successes  in  battles 
and  amount  of  booty,  and  that,  too,  in 
the  open  field,  seldom  recorded  in  the 
history  of  wars.  To  God's  gracious  sup- 
port we,  in  the  first  instance,  owe  this 
shining  victory,  and  then  to  your  battle- 
tried  leadership  and  the  bravery  of  the 
allied  troops  under  you,  both  fighting 
in  true  comradeship.  As  an  expression 
of  my  thankful  recognition  I  appoint 
you  field  marshal. 

(Signed)     "WilhelmLR." 

At  the  same  time  the  commander  of 
the  Austrian  army,  Grand  Duke  Fred- 
erick, was  appointed  a  Prussian  general 
field  marshal.  The  faithful  working  to- 
gether of  the  allied  armies  had  borne 
rich  fruits. 

THE    CZAR'S   RESCRIPT 

The  following  Imperial  Rescript  ad- 
dressed to  the  Premier,  M.  Goremykin, 
was  anounced  at  Petrograd  on  June  30: 

From  all  parts  of  the  country  I  have 
received  appeals  testifying  to  the  firm 
determination  of  the  Russian  peoples  to 
devote  their  strength  to  the  work  of 
equipping  the  Army.  I  derive  from 
this  national  unanimity  the  unshakable 


assurance  of  a  brilliant  future.  A  pro- 
longed war  calls  for  ever-fresh  efforts. 
But,  surmounting  growing  diflliculties 
and  parrying  the  vicissitudes  which  are 
inevitable  in  war,  let  us  strengthen  in 
our  hearts  the  resolution  to  cafry  on 
the  struggle,  with  the  help  of  God,  to 
the  complete  triumph  of  the  Russian 
arms.  The  enemy  must  be  crushed, 
for  without  that  peace  is  impossible. 

With  firm  faith  in  the  inexhaustible 
strength  of  Russia,  I  anticipate  that  the 
governmental  and  public  institutions  of 
Russian  industry  and  all  faithful  sons 
of  the  Fatherland,  without  distincfion 
of  ideas  and  classes,  will  work  together 
in  harmony  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  our 
valiant  Army.  This  is  the  only  and, 
henceforth,  the  national  problem  to 
which  must  be  directed  all  the  thoughts 
of  united  Russia,  invincible  in  her 
unity. 

Having  formed,  for  the  discussion  of 
questions  of  supplying  the  Army,  a 
special  commission,  in  which  members 
of  the  Legislative  Chambers  and  repre- 
sentatives of  industry  participate,  I 
recognize  the  necessity,  in  consequence, 
of  advancing  the  date  of  the  reopening 
of  these  Legislative  bodies  in  order  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  country. 

Having  decided  that  the  sessions  of 
the  Duma  and  the  Council  of  the  Em- 
pire shall  be  resumed  in  the  month  of 
August  at  the  latest,  I  rely  on  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ministers  to  draw  up,  according 
to  my  indications,  the  Bills  necessitated 
by   a   time   of   war. — Beuter. 

RUSSIA'S    DEFENSIVE   PLAN 

A  dispatch  to  the  London  Daily 
Chronicle  from  Petrograd  on  July  6 
said: 

The  Russian  defense  is  now  a  two- 
fold and  rather  complex  process.  Along 
the  frontiers  the  army  is  parrying  blows 
of  the  enemy  and  wearing  him  down, 
avoiding  big  battles,  losing  territory 
indeed,  little  by  little,  but  gaining  time 
and  husbanding  resources. 

The  other  side  of  the  process  is  the 
rally  of  the  nation  to  the  support  of  the 
army.  It  would  be  wholly  wrong  to 
regard  the  gradual  advance  of  the  Ger- 


THE   DRIVE   AT    WARSAW 


879 


mans  and  Austrians  in  Russian  territory 
as  evidence  that  Russian  resistance  is 
breaking  down.  On  the  contrary  the 
nation  has  never  been  so  thoroughly 
aroused   as  now. 

The  broad  back  of  the  Rvissian  soldier 
has  done  marvels  in  sustaining  the 
heavy  burden  of  war,  but  when  retreat 
in  Galicia  began  it  suddenly  flashed  on 
the  nation  that  this  was  not  enough — 
valor  must  be  reinforced  by  technique. 
The  attitude  of  the  nation  to  the  war 
immediately  changed.  Formerly  it  was 
a  spectator  watching  with  eager  hope 
mingled  with  anxiety  the  deeds  of  the 
army  that  was  part  of  its  very  self. 
Now  it  has  become  an  active  reserve  of 
the  army  and  in  securing  liberty  to  act 
it  has  gained  in  moral  force. 

The  Cabinet  is  being  strengthened, 
more  effective  contact  is  being  estab- 
lished between  the  Government  and  the 
nation,  and  the  War  Office  is  now  the 
centre   of  popular   interest. 

Russia  has  not  yet  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  her  allies  in  appointing  a 
Minister  of  Munitions,  but  th-^  course  of 
events  is  tending  in  this  direction  and 
the  new  War  Minister,  General  Polivan- 
off,  commands  the  confidence  of  the 
Duma  and  nation  generally.  The  War 
Office  has  become  the  focus  of  the  new 
national  organizing  movement  of  which 
all  existing  public  bodies  are  being  made 
the  nucleus. 

FIGHTING  ON  TWO  RIVERS 

The  statement  issued  hy  the  German 
Army  Headquarters  Staif  in  Berlin  on 
June  30  reported: 

Between  the  Bug  and  the  Vistula 
Rivers  the  German  and  Austro-Hungar- 
ian  troops  have  reached  the  districts 
of  Belz,  Komanow  and  Zamosc  and  the 
northern  border  of  the  forest-plantations 
in  the  Tanew  section.  Also  on  a  line 
formed  by  the  banks  of  the  Vistula 
and  in  the  'district  of  Zawichost,  to  the 
east  of  Zarow,  the  enemy  has  commenced 
a  retreat. 

An  enemy  aeroplane  was  forced  to 
descend  behind  our  lines.  The  occu- 
pants of  the  machine  were  made  pris- 
oners. .     . 


On  July  1  the  situation  on  the  Bus- 
sian  front  was  thus  officially  reported 
from   Berlin: 

Eastern  theatre  of  war:  Our  posi- 
tions here  are  unchanged.  The  booty 
taken  during  June  amounts  to  two  flags 
and  25,695  prisoners,  of  whom  120  were 
officers ;  seven  cannon,  six  mine  throwers, 
fifty-two  machine  guns,  and  one  aero- 
plane, besides  much  material  of  war. 

Southeastern  theatre  of  war:  After 
bitter  fighting  the  troops  under  Gen- 
eral von  Linsingen  yesterday  stormed 
the  Russian  positions  east  of  the  Gnila 
Lipa  River  near  Kunioze  and  Luozynoe 
and  to  the  north  of  Rohatyn.  Three 
officers  and  2,328  men  were  made  pris- 
oners and  five  machine  guns  were  cap- 
tured. 

East  of  I^mberg  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  troops  have  pressed  forward  into 
the  enemy  positions.  The  army  under 
Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen  is  con- 
tinuing to  press  forward  between  the 
Bug  and  Vistula  Rivers.  West  of  the 
Vistula,  after  stubborn  fighting  by  the 
Russians,  the  Teutonic  allies  are  ad- 
vancing on  both  sides  of  the  Kamenna 
in   pursuit. 

The  total  amount  of  captures  during 
June  made  by  the  Teutonic  allied 
troops  under  General  von  Linsingen, 
Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen,  and 
General  von  Woyrich  amounts  to  409 
officers  and  140,650  men  and  80  cannon 
and  268  machine  guns. 

From  Vienna — The  following  official 
communication  was  issued  on  July  1  by 
the   War  Office: 

Battles  in  Eastern  Galicia  continued 
on  July  1  on  the  Gnila  Lipa  and  in 
the  region  east  of  Lemberg.  Our  troops 
advanced  in  several  places  on  the  heights 
east  of  the  Gnila  Lipa  and  broke 
through  hostile  positions.  The  allied 
troops  also  succeeded,  after  stubborn 
fighting,  in  reaching  the  eastern  bank 
of   the  Rohatyn. 

On  the  Dniester  complete  calm  pre- 
vails. In  the  region  of  the  source  of 
the  Wieprz  we  occupied  Zamoso,  north 
of  the  Tanew  all  lower  lands  are  occu- 
pied.    West  of  the   Vistula   our   troops 


880 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


pursued  the  flying  enemy  up  to  Tarlow. 
The  total  booty  taken  during  June 
by  the  allied  troops  during  the  fighting 
in  the  northeast  comprises  521  officers 
and  194,000  men,  93  guns,  lfi4  machine 
guns,  78  caisson,  and  100  military  rail- 
road carriages. 

KEASNIK   KEACHED 

The  statement  issued  hy  German 
Army  Headquarters  on  July  2  says: 

In  the  Eastern  Theatre :  Southwest  of 
Kalwarya,  after  stubborn  fighting  we 
took  a  mine  position  from  the  enemy  and 
made  600  Russians  prisoners. 

In  the  Southeastern  Theatre:  After 
storming  the  heights  southeast  of  Bu- 
Kaszowice,  north  of  Halicz,  the  Russians 
along  the  whole  front  from  the  district 
of  Maryampol  to  just  north  of  Firjilow 
have  been  obliged  to  retreat.  Troops 
under  General  von  Linsingen  are  pur- 
suing  the   defeated   enemy. 

Up  to  yesterday  we  had  taken  7,765 
prisoners,  of  whom  11  are  officers.  We 
also    captured    eighteen    machine    guns. 

The  German  official  report  of  July  3 
reads : 

In  the  Southeastern.  Theatre:  North 
of  the  Dniester  River  our  troops  are 
advancing  under  continuous  fighting  in 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  and  penetrating 
by  way  of  the  line  of  Mariampol,  Nara- 
joa  and  Miasto  toward  the  Zlota  Lipa 
section.  They  have  reached  the  Bug 
at  several  places  between  Kamionka  and 
Strzumilowa  and  below  Krylow  and  are 
quickly  advancing  in  a  northerly  direc- 
tion between  the  Bug  and  the  Vistula. 

The  lowlands  of  the  Labunka  now  are 
in  our  possession,  after  our  opponents 
had  offered  stubborn  resistance  at  cer- 
tain places. 

German  troops  also  obtained  a  firm 
foothold  on  the  northern  bank  of  the 
river  in  the  Wysnica  section,  between 
Krasnik  and  the  mouth  of  the  Labunka. 

Between  the  left  bank  of  the  Vistula 
and  the  Pilica  River  the  situation  re- 
mains generally  unchanged. 

A  Russian  counter-attack  southeast 
of  Radom  was  repulsed. 


The  following  Austrian  official  war 
statement  was  given  out  in  Vienna  on 
July  3: 

In  East  Galicia  the  Teutonic  allied 
troops  are  advancing,  pursuing  the 
enemy  east  of  Halicz  and  across  the 
Narajowska,  and  to  the  north  attacking 
successfully  on  the  heights  east  o:^ 
Janozyn.  On  the  Bug  River  the  situ- 
ation is  unchanged. 

Between  the  Vistula  and  the  Bug 
Rivers  the  Teutonic  allied  troops  are 
steadily  advancing,  with  fierce  fighting. 
Zamosc  has  been  stormed.  West  of  therQ 
the  Russians  everywhere  have  been  re- 
pulsed beyond  the  Por  Plain,  which  is 
in  our  possession.  At  several  places  we 
forced  a  passage  of  the  brook. 

East  of  Krasnik,  for  which  fighting 
is  still  proceeding.  Studzianki  has  been 
captured.  The  village  of  Wysnica,  west 
of  Krasnik,  also  was  stormed.  Here  and 
elsewhere  in  this  sector  the  enemy  was 
repulsed. 

Friday  on  the  Por  and  near  Krasnik, 
4,800  prisoners  were  captured,  and  three 
machine   guns   were   taken. 

West  of  the  Vistula  there  were  artil- 
lery duels. 

Following  is  the  official  report  of  the 
operations  on  the  front  in  Galicia  and 
Southern  Poland,  wirelessed  July  4  from 
Berlin  to  Sayville,  N.  Y. : 

General  von  Linsingen's  army,  in  full 
pursuit  of  the  enemy,  is  advancing  toward 
the  Zlota  Lipa.  Three  thousand  Rus- 
sians were  taken  prisoners  yesterday. 
Under  pressure  of  the  Germans  the 
enemy  is  evacuating  his  positions  from 
Narajow  to  Miasto,  and  to  the  north  of 
Przemyslany  from  Kamionka  to  Kry- 
low. 

ON   ZLOTA  LIPA   RIVER 

Following  is  the  Austrian  official  war 
statement  given  out  from  Vienna  on 
July  6; 

In  Eastern  Galicia  the  Teutonic  al- 
lied troops  under  General  von  Linsingen, 
after  two  weeks  of  successful  battles, 
have  reached  the  Zlota  Lipa  River,  the 
western  bank  of  which  has  been  cleared 
of  the  enemy.    In  the  sectors  of  Kami- 


\ 


\  \ 


H.      R.     H.     PRINCE     GEORGE 

Duke    of    Sparta    and    Crown    Prince    of    Greece 

iPhoto  from   P.    S.    Royera.) 


ADMIRAL     SIR     HENRY     B.     JACKSON 
Who  Succeeded  Lord  Fisher  as  First  Sea  Lord  of  the  British  Admiralty 

i  Photo     bv     Elliott     d     Fry.) 


THE    DRIVE    AT    WARSAW 


881 


onka  Strumilowa  and  Ivrasno  battles 
against  the  Russian  rearguards  are  con- 
tinuing. 

Near  Krylow  (on  the  Bug  River),  in 
Southern  Russian  Poland,  near  the  Ga- 
lician  border,  the  enemy  has  evacuated 
the  western  bank  of  the  Bug  and  burned 
the  village  of  Krylow. 

Fighting  is  proceeding  on  both  banks 
of  the  Upper  Wieprz. 

The  Teutonic  allied  troops  drove  the 
enemy  from  positions  north  of  the  small 
River  Por  and  advanced  to  Faras  and 
Plonka. 

The  western  army,  commanded  by 
Archduke  Joseph  Ferdinand,  after  sev- 
eral days'  battle,  broke  through  the  Rus- 
sian front  on  both  sides  of  Krasnik  and 
drove  the  Russians  back  with  heavy 
losses  in  a  northerly  direction.  We  cap- 
tured twenty-nine  officers  and  8,000  men 
and  took  six  caissons  and  six  machine 
guns. 

West  of  the  Vistula  River  the  situa- 
tion is  unchanged. 

The  Petrograd  correspondent  of  The 
London  Times  telegraphed  on  July  6: 

No  apprehension  is  entertained  as  to 
the  fate  of  Warsaw,  for  the  city  bids  fair 
to  be  protected.  Even  if  the  Germans 
should  reach  Ivangorod,  this  would  not 
necessarily  involve  the  surrender  of 
Warsaw. 

The  Russian  waiting  game  in  fact 
has  been  justified.  The  critic  of  the 
Novoe  Vremya  correctly  explains  the 
withdrawal  as  a  manoeuvre  deliberately 
undertaken  with  the  object  of  accepting 
battle  under  the  best  conditions  for  the 
Russians.  He  adds  that  on  the  Vistula 
front  the  ground  which  offers  the  Rus- 
sians the  greatest  advantage  is  that  with 
Brest  Litovsk  as  a  base,  Ivangorod  on 
the  right  flank  and  a  strong  army  occu- 
pying the  flank  and  rear  positions  in  re- 
lation to  the  right  flank  of  General  von 
Boehm-ErmoUi's  Army. 

The  War  Department  at  Vienna  on 
July  6  gave  out  the  following  official 
statement : 

The  Russians,  who,  in  the  second  bat- 
tle of  Krasnik,  were  defeated  by  the 
army   of   Archduke   Joseph   Ferdinand, 


are  retreating  in  a  northern  and  north- 
eastern direction,  pursued  by  the  Austri- 
ans  who  are  pressing  to  attack. 

The  Austrians  on  Monday  captured 
the  district  of  Cieszanow  and  the  heights 
north  of  Wysnica.  Under  pressure  of 
our  advance  the  enemy  is  retreating  on 
the  Wieprz  beyond  Tarnogora.  Our 
booty  in  this  fighting  has  increased  to 
41  officers  and  11,500  men  and  17  ma- 
chine guns. 

On  the  Bug  River  and  in  East  Galicia 
the  situation  is  unchanged. 

On  the  Zlota  Lipa  and  Dniester  Riv- 
ers quiet  prevails. 

German  Army  Headquarters  wir^ 
lessed  the  following  report  from  Berlin 
to  Sayville,  N.  Y.,  on  July  7: 

During  pursuit  of  the  Russians  to 
the  Zlota  Lipa  River  from  July  3  to 
July  5  the  Germans  captured  3,850  men. 
The  number  of  prisoners  made  south  of 
Biale  River  has  been  increased  to  seven 
officers  and  about  800  men. 

In  Poland,  south  of  the  Vistula,  the 
Germans  stormed  Height  95,  to  the  east 
of  Dolowatka  and  south  of  Borzymow. 
The  Russian  losses  were  very  consider- 
able. Ten  machine  guns,  one  revolver 
gun  and  a  quantity  of  rifles  were  taken. 

More  to  the  northward,  near  the  Vis- 
tula, a  Russian  charge  was  repulsed. 

The  Czernowitz,  Bukowina,  corre- 
spondent of  the  Zeitung  am  Mittag, 
says : 

"The  scarcity  of  rifles  with  the  Rus- 
sians is  growing  greater  daily.  The  re- 
serves are  unarmed  until  they  begin  the 
attack,,  and  then  they  take  rifles  from 
their  fallen  comrades.  The  Russian  ar- 
tillery fire,  however,  has  grown  more 
active."  • 

DEFEAT   AT   KRASNIK 

From  Austrian  Army  Headquarters  in 
Galicia,  Jidy  11,  came  the  following: 

The  relative  subsidence  of  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  Teutonic  allies  during 
the  last  week  may  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  the  goal  set  for  the  Lemberg 
campaign  already  has  been  attained. 
This  was  the  recapture  of  the  city  and 
the   securing   of  strong  defensive  posi- 


882 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


tions  to  the  eastward  and  northward. 
These  positions  have  now  been  secured 
along  the  line  of  the  Zlota  Lipa  and  Bug 
Rivers  and  the  ridge  to  the  northward 
of  Krasnik. 

The  Russians  attempted  a  counter- 
offensive  from  Lubin  against  the  Austro- 
German  positions  north  of  Krasnik, 
bringing  up  heavy  reinforcements  for 
this  purpose.  Owing  to  this  movement 
the  Austrian  troops,  which  had  rushed 
beyond  the  positions  originally  selected, 
withdrew  to  the  ridge,  where  they  have 
been  successfully  resisting  all  Russian 
attacks.  They  feel  secure  in  their  pres- 
ent positions,  and  it  is  believed  here  that 
tney  can  be  easily  held  against  what- 
ever forces  Russia  can  throw  against 
them. 

Indications  now  point  to  a  period  of 
quiet  along  the  Russo-Galician  front, 
while  the  Teutonic  allies  are  preparing 
for  operations  in  other  quarters. 

This  statement  from  Russian  General 
Headquarters  ivas  published  in  Petro- 
grad  on  July  14; 

In  the  direction  of  Lomza  (Russian 
Poland)  on  the  evening  of  July  12  and 
also  on  the  13th,  the  enemy  developed 
an  intensive  artillery  fire.  On  the  right 
bank  of  the  Pissa,  on  July  13,  the  Ger- 
mans succeeded  in  capturing  Russian 
trenches  on  a  front  of  two  versts  (about 
one  and  one-third  miles).  They,  how- 
ever, were  driven  back  by  a  counter-at- 
tack and  the  trenches  were  recaptured. 

On  both  banks  of  the  Shikva  stub- 
born fighting  has  taken  place.  Con- 
siderable enemy  forces  between  the 
Orjetz  (Orzyc?)  and  the  Lydymia 
adopted  the  offensive  and  the  Rus- 
sians, declining  a  oecisive  engagement, 
retreated  during  the  night  of  the  13th 
to  their  second  line  of  positions.  On 
the  left  bank  of  the  Vistula  the  sit- 
uation is  unchanged. 

In  the  battle  near  Wilkolaz,  south 
of  Lublin,  during  the  week  ending  July 
11  the  Russians  captured  97  oflSicers  and 
22,464  men. 

In  the  Cholm  region  engagements  have 
taken  place  along  the  Volitza  River,  and 
on  the  night  of  July  13  we  captured 
over  150  prisoners. 


On  the  rest  of  the  front  there  have 
been  the  usual  artillery  engagements. 
On  the  evening  of  July  12  the  enemy 
assumed  the  offensive  on  the  Narew 
front. 

PRZASNYSZ   OCCUPIED 

In  the  eastern  theater:  In  the  course 
of  minor  fights  on  the  Windau  below 
Koltany  425  Russians  were  taken  pris- 
oners. 

South  of  the  Niemen  River,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Kalwarya,  our  troops 
captured  several  outer  positions  at 
Franziskowa  and  Osowa  and  main- 
tained them  against  fierce  counter- 
attacks. 

To  the  northeast  of  Suwalki  the 
Heights  of  Olszauka  were  taken  by 
storm. 

South  of  Kolno  we  captured  the  vil- 
lage of  Konsya,  and  the  enemy  posi- 
tions east  of  this  village  and  south  of 
the  Tartak  line.  Two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred prisoners  and  eight  machine  guns 
fell  into  our  hands. 

Battles  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Przasnysz  are  being  continued.  Several 
enemy  lines  were  captured  by  our 
troops,  and  the  City  of  Przasnysz,  for 
which  we  were  fighting  hotly  in  the  last 
days  of  February,  and  which  was  strong- 
ly fortified  by  the  Russians,  we  have  oc- 
cupied by  our  troops. 

In  the  southeastern  theater  the  situ- 
ation generally  is  the  same. 

GERMAN   "NUT-CRACKER" 

A  Petrograd  dispatch  to  the  London 
Morning  Post  said  on  July  15: 

The  Germans  have  opened  a  new  cam- 
paign tor  the  conquest  of  Russia.  Their 
plan  is  to  catch  the  Russian  armies  like 
a  nut  between  nutcrackers. 

The  German  line  of  advance  from  the 
northwest  lies  between  the  Mlawa- War- 
saw Railway  line  and  the  River  Pissa 
and  from  the  south  from  the  Galician 
line.  On  paper  the  German  scheme  is 
that  these  two  fronts  shall  move  to 
meet  one  another  and  everything  be- 
tween them  must  be  ground  to  powder. 
But  the  nut  to  be  cracked  is  rather  a 
formidable  area  of  space  and  well  forti- 
fied,   the    kernel    sound    and    healthy, 


THE   DRIVE   AT    WARSAW 


883 


C  R  ACOWT^^^^NO 


PRJEMYSU^^ii^g^'^^^ 


1 ^ 


The  German  battle  line  on  July  24,  in  Russian  Poland. 


being  formed  of  the  Russian  armies  in- 
spired not  merely  with  the  righteous- 
ness of  their  cause,  but  the  fullest  con- 
fidence in  themselves  and  absolute  de- 
votion to  the  proved  genius  of  their 
Commander  in  Chief.  The  area  re- 
ferred to  cannot  be  less  than  eighty 
miles  in  extent,  north  to  south,  by  120 
miles  west  to  east.  That  is  the  mere 
nucleus  and  minimum  area,  as  contained 
between   the  Novo    Georgievsk   fortress 


in  the  north  to  the  Ivangorod  fortress 
in  the  south  and  the  Russian  lines  on 
the  Bzura  in  the  west  to  Brest-Litovsk 
on  the  east. 

The  Germans  have  an  incalculable 
amount  of  fighting  to  face  before  they 
win  to  that  area,  the  nut  to  be  cracked, 
and  then  the  cracking  is  still  to  be 
done.  It  is  all  sheer  frontal  fighting. 
The  Germans  have  been  twelve  months 
trying  frontal  attacks  against  Warsaw 


884 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


on  a  comparatively  narrow  front,  and 
in  vain.  What  chance  have  they  of 
success  by  dividing  their  forces  against 
the  united  strength  of  Russia  ? 

BREAKING    RUSSIA'S    LINES 

An  official  German  bulletin  dated 
Berlin,  July  17,  reported: 

The  offensive  movement  begun  a 
few  days  ago  in  the  eastern  theatre  of 
war,  under  command  of  Field  Marshal 
von  Hindenburg,  has  led  to  great  re- 
sults. The  army  of  General  von  Bil- 
low, which  on  July  14  crossed  the  Win- 
dau  River  near  and  north  of  Kurshany, 
continued  its  victorious  advance. 
Eleven  officers  and  2,450  men  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  three  cannon  and 
five  machine  guns  were  captured. 

The  army  of  General  von  Gallwitz 
proceeded  against  the  Russian  positions 
in  the  district  south  and  southeast  of 
Olawa.  After  a  brilliant  attack  three 
Russian  lines,  situated  behind  each 
other  northwest  and  northeast  of  Przas- 
nysz,  were  pierced.  Dzielin  was  cap- 
tured and  Lipa  was  reached  and  at- 
tacked by  pressure  exerted  from  both 
these  directions.  The  Russians  retreat- 
ed, after  the  evacuation  of  Przasnysz 
on  the  14th,  to  their  line  of  defense 
from  Ciechanow  to  Krasnosielo,  lying 
behind  them.  On  the  15th  German 
troops  also  took  these  enemy  positions 
by  storm,  and  pierced  the  position  south 
of  Zielona,  over  a  front  of  seven  kilo- 
meters, forcing  their  opponents  to  re- 
treat. They  were  supported  by  troops 
under  General  von  Scholtz,  which  are 
occupied  with  a  pursuit  from  the  direc- 
tion of  Kolno.  Since  yesterday  the 
Russians  have  been  retreating  on  the 
center  front,  between  the  Pissa  and  Vis- 
tula Rivers,  in  the  direction  of  Narew. 

Southeastern  Theatre  of  War. — After 
the  Teutonic  allies  had  taken  during 
the  last  few  days  a  series  of  Russian 
positions  on  the  River  Bug  and  between 
the  Bug  and  the  Vistula,  important  bat- 
tles developed  yesterday  on  this  entire 
front  under  the  leadership  of  Field 
Marshal  von  Mackensen.  West  of  the 
Vierpz,  in  the  district  southwest  of 
Krasnostav,  German  troops  broke 
through   the  enemy's  line.      So  far  28 


officers  and  0,380  men  have  fallen  into 
our  hands,  and  9  machine  guns  have 
been  captured. 

West  of  the  Upper  Vistula  the  offen- 
sive has  again  been  begun  by  the  army 
of  General  von  Woyrich. 

An  official  statement  issued  hy  gen- 
eral headquarters  in  Vienna  on  July  18 
says  : 

On  the  Bug  River,  in  the  region  of 
Sokol,  our  troops  drove  the  enemy  from 
a  series  of  stubbornly  defended  places. 
To  the  northeast  of  Sienvno  we  broke 
through  the  Russian  front. 

The  enemy  is  evacuating  his  posi- 
tions between  the  Vistula  and  the 
Kielce-Radom  Railway. 

An  earlier  hulletin,  dated  July  17, 
read  as  follows: 

Between  the  Vistula  and  the  Bug 
Rivers  important  battles  have  devel- 
oped favorably  for  the  allied  troops. 
Some  Austro  -  Hungarians,  operating 
closely  with  the  Germans  west  of  Gra- 
bovetz,  took  an  important  enemy  point 
of  support  after  storming  it  several 
times,  and  pressed  forward  into  the  ene- 
my's main  position. 

Southwest  of  Krasnostav  the  Ger- 
mans broke  through  the  enemy's  lines. 

On  the  Upper  Bystrcz  and  north  of 
Krasnik  our  troops  took  advanced  po- 
sitions of  the  enemy.  The  offensive  also 
was  resumed  successfully  west  of  the 
Vistula. 

BERLIN'S    REJOICING 
An    Associated    Press    dispatch   from 
Berlin  via  London  on  July  18  said: 

The  news  of  Field  Marshal  von  Hin- 
denburg's  newest  surprise  for  the  Rus- 
sians, which  the  War  Office  announces 
has  resulted  in  important  victories,  was 
made  known  late  yesterday,  causing 
general  rejoicing  and  the  appearance  of 
flags  all  over  the  city. 

Military  critics  attach  great  signifi- 
cance to  the  breaking  of  the  Russian 
lines  and  the  consequent  Russian  re- 
treat toward  the  Narew  River,  particu- 
larly as  the  German  advance  between 
the  Pissa  and  Vistula  rivers  threatens 
to  crumple  the  right  flank  positions  of 
the  Russians. 


THE   DRIVE   AT    WARSAW 


885 


With  Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen 
proceeding  against  the  other  flank,  the 
maintenance  of  communications  offers 
a  serious  problem  for  the  Russians. 
The  breaking  of  the  Russian  line  near 
Krasnostav,  thirty-four  miles  south  of 
Lublin,  brings  the  Germans  dangerously 
near  Cholm  and  Lublin,  both  of  which 
points  are  of  the  highest  importance  for 
the  Russians  in  maintaining  their  posi- 
tion in  the  vistula  region. 

The  following  official  bulletin  con- 
cerning the  operations  was  issued  to- 
night by  the  War  Office: 

Portions  of  the  army  of  General 
von  Buelow  have  defeated  the  Rus- 
sian forces  near  Autz,  where  3,620 
men  and  six  guns  and  three  machine 
guns  were  captured.  They  are  pur- 
suing the  enemy  in  an  easterly  direc- 
tion. 

Other  portions  of  this  army  are 
fighting  to  the  northeast  of  Kursh- 
any.  East  of  that  town  an  enemy  ad- 
vance position  has  been  stormed. 

On  the  southeastern  front  the  of- 
fensive was  taken  by  the  army  under 
General  von  Woyrich,  which  made 
successful  progress  under  the  heavy 
fire  of  the  enemy. 

Our  troops  on  Saturday  morning 
took  a  narrow  point  in  the  wire  en- 
tanglements of  a  strongly  fortified 
enemy  main  position,  and  through 
this  opening  stormed  an  enemy 
trench  on  a  front  of  2,000  meters 
(about  a  mile  and  a  third).  In  the 
course  of  the  day  the  wedge  was 
widened  and  pushed  forward,  with 
tenacious  hand-to-hand  fighting,  far 
into  the  enemy's  position. 

In  the  evening  the  enemy's  Moscow 
Grenadier  Corps  was  defeated  by  our 
landwehr  and  reserve  troops.  The 
enemy  retreated  during  the  night  be- 
hind the  Iljanka  River  to  the  dis- 
trict south  of  Zwolen,  suffering  heavy 
losses  in  their  retirement. 

Between  the  Pissa  and  Vistula 
Rivers  the  Russian  troops  are  re- 
treating and  the  troops  of  General 
von  Schaltz  and  von  Gallwitz  are 
close  behind  them. 

The  enemy  is  attacked  and  driven 
back  where  he  offers  resistance  in  pre- 
pared positions. 

Reserve  troops  and  a  levy  of  troops 
of  General  von  Schaltz  have  stormed 
the  towns  of  Poremky  and  Wykplock, 


and  regiments  of  General  von  Gall- 
witz have  broken  through  the  extend- 
ed positions  of  Mlodzi,  Nome  and 
Kaniewo.  The  number  of  prisoners 
was  considerably  increased  and  four 
guns  were  captured. 

From  the  north  of  the  Vistula  to 
the  Pilica  the  Russians  also  have  be- 
gun to  retreat.  Our  troops  in  a  short 
engagement  during  the  pursuit  made 
620  prisoners. 

Between  the  Upper  Vistula  and  the 
Bug  fighting  continues  under  the 
command  of  Field  Marshal  von  Mack- 
ensen. The  Russians  have  been 
driven  by  the  German  troops  from 
the  hills  of  Biclaczkowice,  south  of 
Piaski,  as  far  as  Krosnoskow,  and 
both  these  places  have  been  taken  by 
storm.  The  fire  of  the  Siberiaji  army 
corps  could  not  ward  off  defeat.  We 
made  more  than  1000  prisoners. 

WARSAW'S   EVACUATION 

An    Associated   Press    dispatch   from 
London    dated    July    20    recorded    the 
.  doubt  in   the   English   capital  of    War- 
saw's holding   out,   as  follows: 

The  Morning  Post's  Budapest  corre- 
spondent reports  that  the  gradual  evac- 
uation of  Warsaw  has  been  ordered  by 
the  Russians. 

Continued  successes  of  the  great  Teu- 
tonic movement  against  the  Polish  cap- 
ital were  indicated  in  the  German  offi- 
cial bulletin  received  from  Berlin  this 
morning.  This  stated  that  the  Russians 
were  retreating  along  the  whole  front 
between  the  Vistula  and  the  Bug.  The 
bulletin  reads: 

The  Germans  have  occupied  Tu- 
kum  and  Windau  (Province  of  Cour- 
land). 

Between  the  Vistula  and  the  Bug 
the  battle  continues  with  unabated 
violence. 

The  Austro  -  Hungarians  have 
forced  a  crossing  of  the  Wolicza 
River  in  the  neighborhood  of  Grabo- 
vetz  and  advanced  across  the  Bug  to 
the  north  of  Sokal,  the  Russians  hav- 
ing during  the  night  retreated  along 
the  whole  front  between  the  Vistula 
and  the  Bug. 

The   Germans  captured  from   July 

16  to   July   18   16,000   prisoners   and 

twenty-three   machine   guns. 

That  German  columns  have  occupied 

Tukum,  thirty-eight  miles  west  of  Riga, 


886 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Scene  of  German  operations  in  Courland 

and  Doblen  eighteen  miles  "west  of  Mi- 
tau,  is  admitted  by  an  official  state- 
ment issued  at  the  headquarters  of  the 
Russian  general  staff.  The  same  report 
admits  that  the  Austrians  have  gained 
the  right  bank  of  the  Volitza  and  have 
crossed  the  Bug  River  on  a  front  reach- 
ing to  Sokal.     The  bulletin  says: 

On  the  Xarew  front  the  night  of 
the  18th  the  enemy  took  the  offensive, 
capturing  the  village  of  Poredy,  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Pissa  River. 
On  the  left  bank  of  the  Skwa  enemy 
attacks  against  the  villages  of  Vyk 
and  Pchetchniak  were  repulsed  with 
success.  West  of  the  Omulew  our 
troops,  retiring  progressively  toward 
a  bridgehead  on  the  Narew,  delivered 
on  the  evening  of  the  17th  a  rear- 
guard action  of  a  stubborn  character 
near  the  town  of  Mahoff.  Near  the 
village  of  Karnevo  we  made  a  bril- 
liant counter-attack. 

"In  the  direction  of  Lublin  enemy 
attacks  during  the  18th  on  the  front 
Wilkolaz-Vychawa  (east  and  north  of 
Krasnik)   were  successfully  repulsed. 

At  dawn  of  the  18th  the  enemy 
captured  Krasnostav,  thirty-four 
miles  south  of  Lublin  on  the  Vieprz, 
and  crossed  upstream.  During  the 
course  of  the  19th  enemy  attacks  be- 
tween the  stream  flowing  from 
Rybtchevbitze  toward  the  village  of 
Piaski  and  the  Vieprz  remained  with- 
out result.  On  the  right  bank  of  the 
Vieprz   we  repulsed  near  Krasnostav 


and  the  River  Volitza  many  extreme- 
ly stubborn  enemy  attacks. 

Nevertheless,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Volitza  and  the  village  of  Gaevniki 
the  enemy  succeeded  in  establishing 
himself  on  the  right  bank  of  this 
river,  after  which  we  judged  it  advis- 
able to  retire  to  our  second-line  posi- 
tions. 

In  the  region  of  the  village  of 
Grabovetz  on  the  18th  we  repulsed 
four  furious  enemy  attacks  on  a  wide 
front,  supported  by  a  curtain  of  fire 
from  his  artillery. 

Between  Geneichva  and  the  Bug 
on  the  evening  of  the  17th,  after  a 
desperate  fight  we  drove  the  enemy 
from  all  the  trenches  previously  oc- 
cupied by  him. 

On  the  Bug  energetic  fighting  con- 
tinued against  the  enemy,  who  crossed 
on  the  18th  on  the  front  Skomorskhy- 
Sokal. 

"Can  Warsaw  be  held?"  is  the  ques- 
tion now  being  asked  here. 

With  the  German  Field  Marshals, 
von  Hindenburg  on  the  north  and  von 
Mackensen  on  the  south,  whipping  for- 
ward the  two  ends  of  a  great  arc  around 
the  city,  it  is  realized  in  England  that 
Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  Commander  in 
Chief  of  the  Russian  armies,  has  the 
most  severe  task  imposed  on  him  since 
the  outbreak  of  the  European  war,  and 
the  military  writers  of  some  of  the  Lon- 
don papers  seem  to  think  that  the  task 
is  well-nigh  impossible. 

There  was  sustained  confidence  that 
Germany's  previous  violent  attacks 
along  the  Bzura-Rawka  front  would 
never  pierce  the  Russian  line,  but  the 
present  colossal  co-ordinate  movement 
Was  developed  with  such  suddenness, 
and  has  been  carried  so  far  without 
meeting  serious  Russian  resistance,  that 
more  and  more  the  British  press  is  dis- 
counting the  fall  of  the  Polish  capital, 
and,  while  not  giving  up  all  hope  of  its 
retention,  is  pointing  out  the  enormous 
difficulty  the  Russian  armies  have  la- 
bored under  from  the  start  by  the  ex- 
istence of  such  a  salient. 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
London  on  July  21  said: 

From  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Riga 
in  the  north  to  that  part  of  Southern 


THE    DRIVE    AT    WARSAW 


887 


Poland  into  which  they  drove  the  Kiis- 
sians  back  from  Galicia,  the  Austro- 
German  armies  are  still  surging  forward, 
and  if  Warsaw  can  be  denied  them  it 
will  be  almost  a  miracle. 

This  seems  to  be  the  opinion  even 
among  those  in  England  who  heretofore 
have  been  hopeful  that  the  Russians 
would  turn  and  deliver  a  counter-blow, 
and  news  of  the  evacuation  of  the  Polish 
capital,  followed  by  the  triumphant  en- 
try of  the  Germans  amid  such  scenes  as 
were  enacted  at  Przemysl  and  Lemberg, 
would  come  as  no  surprise. 

The  German  official  statement,  begin- 
ning at  the  northern  tip  of  the  eastern 
battle  line,  records  the  progress  of  the 
German  troops  to  within  about  fifty 
miles  of  Riga.  Then,  following  the  great 
battle  arc  southward,  chronicles  further 
successes  in  the  sector  northeast  of 
Warsaw,  culminating  in  the  capture  of 
Ostrolenka,  one  of  the  fortresses  de- 
signed to  shield  the  capital. 

The  acute  peril  to  Warsaw  is  accentu- 
ated by  the  Russian  official  communi- 
cation which  says  that  German  columns 
are  within  artillery  range  of  the  fortress 
of  Novo  Georgievsk,  the  key  to  the  cap- 
ital from  the  northwest,  and  only  about 
twenty  miles  from  it. 

Immediately  southwest  of  the  city, 
seventeen  miles  from  it,  Blonie  has 
fallen,  and  further  south  Grojec,  twenty- 
six  miles  distant,  while  German  cavalry 
have  captured  Radom,  capital  of  the 
province  of  that  name,  on  the  railroad 
to  the  great  fortress  of  Ivangorod.  The 
Lublin-Chelm  Railway  is  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  Russians,  so  far  as  is 
known,  but  the  Russian  Commander-in- 
Chief  has  issued,  through  the  Civil  Gov- 
ernor, an  order  that  in  case  of  a  retreat 
from  the  town  of  Lublin,  the  male  popu- 
lation is  to  attach  itself  to  the  retiring 
troops. 

The  belief  is  expressed  in  Danish  mili- 
tary circles,  according  to  a  Copenhagen 
dispatch  to  the  Exchange  Telegraph 
Company,  that  the  Germans  intend  to 
use  Windau  and  Tukum  as  bases  for 
operations  designed  to  result  in  the  cap- 
ture of  Riga,  which  would  be  used  as  a 
new  naval  base  after  the  Gulf  of  Riga 
had  been  cleared  of  mines. 


OSTROLENKA    FORT    TAKEN 

From  Berlin  on  July  20  came  this 
report  from  the  German  War  Office: 

Eastern  theatre  of  war:  In  Courland 
the  Russians  were  repulsed  near  Grossch- 
marden,  east  of  Tukum,  and  near  Gruen- 
dorf  and  Usingen.  East  of  Kurshany 
the  enemy  also  is  retreating  before  our 
attack. 

North  of  Novgorod,  on  the  Narew, 
German  troops  captured  enemy  positions 
north  of  the  confluence  of  the  Skroda 
and  Pissa  rivers.  Fresh  Landsturm 
troops  who  were  under  fire  for  the  first 
time  especially  distinguished  themselves. 
North  of  the  mouth  of  the  Skwa  we 
reached  the  Narew.  The  permanent  for- 
tifications of  Ostrolenka,  on  the  north- 
west bank  of  the  river,  were  captured. 

South  of  the  Vistula  our  troops  ad- 
vanced into  hostile  positions  to  Blonie 
and  Grojec.  (Blonie  is  seventeen  miles 
west  of  Warsaw,  and  Grojec  twenty-six 
miles  south  of  the  city.)  In  rearguard 
fighting  the  Russians  lost  560  prisoners 
and  two  machine  guns. 

Southeastern  theatre  of  war:  German 
Landwehr  and  reserve  troops  of  the 
army  of  General  von  Woyrich  repulsed 
superior  forces  of  the  enemy  from  their 
position  at  Ilzanka.  All  counter  attacks 
made  by  Russian  reserves,  which  were 
brought  up  quickly,  were  repulsed.  We 
captured  more  than  5,000  prisoners.  Our 
troops  are  closely  pursuing  the  enemy. 
Our  cavalry  already  has  reached  the 
railway  line  from  Radom  to  Ivangorod. 

Between  the  upper  Vistula  and  the 
Bug  we  are  following  the  retreating 
enemy. 

A  hulletin,  issued  early  on  July  20, 
had  announced  the  capture  of  the  Bal- 
tic port  of  Windau,  thus  hringing  the 
Germans  within  a  few  miles  of  Riga, 
seat  of  the  Governor  General  of  the 
Baltic  Provinces.    It  read: 

German  troops  occupied  Tukum  and 
captured  Windau.  (Windau  is  a  seaport 
in  Courland  on  the  Baltic  Sea  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Windau  River,  100  miles 
northwest  of  Mitau.)  Pursuing  the 
enemy,  who  was  defeated  on  the  Aa 
River  at  Alt  Autz,  our  troops  yesterday 


888 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


reached  the  district  of  Hofzumberge  and 
northwest  of  Mitau,  where  the  enemy- 
occupied  previously  prepared  positions. 

East  of  Popeliany  and  Kurszany  the 
fighting  continues. 

Between  the  Pissa  and  the  Skwa  the 
Russians  evacuated  a  position  which  had 
been  penetrated  at  several  points  by  our 
troops,  and  are  retreating  toward  the 
Narew.  The  German  reserve  Landwehr, 
fighting  in  this  district  of  woody  and 
marshy  ground,  which  is  extremely  fa- 
vorable to  the  resistance  of  the  enemy, 
accomplished  notable  deeds. 

The  army  of  General  von  Gallwitz, 
advancing  further,  is  now  standing  with 
all  its  troops  on  the  Narcw  line  south- 
west of  Ostrolenka  and  Novo  Georgievsk 
(about  ten  miles  northwest  of  Warsaw). 
The  Russians  who  did  not  find  protec- 
tion in  their  fortifications  and  bridge- 
head positions  already  have  retreated 
across  the  Narew.  (The  Narew  joins 
the  Bug  at  Sierock,  eighteen  miles  north 
of  Warsaw.)  The  number  of  prisoners 
taken  by  us  has  been  increased  to  101 
officers  and  28,760  men. 

In  Poland,  between  the  Vistula  and 
the  Pilica,  the  Russians  are  retreating 
eastward. 

In  the  southeastern  theatre:  The  ene- 
my, defeated  on  the  17th  by  the  army 
under  General  von  Woyrisch  northwest 
of  Sienno,  attempted  to  arrest  our  pur- 
suit in  his  previously  prepared  positions 
behind  the  Ilzanka  sector.  Yesterday 
afternoon  the  Silesian  Landwehr  stormed 
the  enemy  advanced  positions  near  Cie- 
pilow.  The  same  troops  during  the 
night  entered  the  line  near  Krasanow 
and  Baranow,  which  also  is  wavering 
with  a  decision  imminent. 

Between  the  upper  Vistula  and  the 
Bug  the  battle  of  the  allied  troops  under 
Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen  is  pro- 
ceeding with  unabated  violence.  At  the 
eruption  point  near  Pilaskovice  and 
Krasnostaw  the  Russians  made  despe- 
rate efforts  to  avert  a  defeat.  Fresh 
troops  sent  against  ours  were  defeated, 
however. 

Further  east,  in  the  Grabovetz  district, 
allied  troops  forced  a  crossing  of  the 
Volitza.  Austro-Hungarian  troops  ad- 
vanced across  the  Bug  to  a  point  north 


of  Sokol.  Under  pressure  of  our  pursuit 
the  enemy  retreated  during  the  night  on 
the  entire  front,  stopping  only  at  the 
eruption  point  near  Krasnostaw,  where 
he  attempted  some  resistance,  but  suf- 
fered a  severe  defeat, 

German  troops  and  the  corps  under 
the  command  of  Field  Marshal  von  Arz 
captured,  from  the  16th  to  the  18th, 
16,250  prisoners  and  twenty-three  ma- 
chine guns. 

According  to  written  orders  which 
have  come  into  our  possession  the  com- 
manders of  the  enemy  were  resolved  to 
maintain,  without  regard  to  losses,  the 
positions  which  we  now  have  captured. 

RUSSIAN  NATION  IN  PRAYER 

A  Petrograd  dispatch  to  The  London 
Times  reported  on  July  21: 

Novo  Georgievsk,  one  of  the  greatest 
Russian  fortresses,  is  effectively  senti- 
nelling Warsaw  from  the  northwest. 
The  range  of  its  great  guns  attains  the 
Bzura  line  and  the  German  advance 
column  on  the  Narew.  The  fight  for  the 
possession  of  the  right  bank  of  this  river 
is  expected  to  take  some  time. 

Meanwhile  the  advance  of  the  Teutons 
on  the  southern  flank  of  the  Warsaw 
salient  is  being  warmly  contested  south 
of  the  Lublin  and  Cholm  Railway.  But 
here  the  assailants  are  believed  to  have 
reformed  the  phalanx  which  pierced  the 
Russian  line  on  the  Dunajec  and  hope 
to  repeat  their  exploit.  It  is  difficult, 
however,  to  move  huge  forces  and  heavy 
guns  without  a  railway,  and  here  also 
the  Russians  are  expected  to  check  the 
foe. 

Evidently  the  last  word  has  not  yet 
been  said  before  the  Russians  withdraw 
from  the  positions  guarding  the  Polish 
capital,  but  the  public  are  prepared  for 
the  worst,  and  today  throughout  the  em- 
pire millions  of  worshippers  are  joining 
their  prayers  in  intercession  for  victory. 

The  London  Daily  Mail's  Petrograd 
correspondent,  telegraphing  on  July  21, 
said: 

Yesterday  evening  the  bells  in  all  the 
churches  throughout  Russia   clanged   a 


THE    DRIVE    AT    WARSAW 


call  to  prayer  for  a  twenty-four  hours' 
continual  service  of  intercession  for 
victory. 

Today,  in  spite  of  the  heat,  the 
churche3  were  packed.  Hour  after  hour 
the  peoplo  stand  wedged  together  while 
the  priests  and  choirs  chant  interminable 
litanies.  Outside  the  Kamian  Cathedral 
here  an  open  air  mass  is  being  cele- 
brated in  the  presence  of  an  enormous 
crowd. 

MOKE    TEUTONIC    VICTORIES 

The  War  Office  at  Berlin  on  July  21 
gave  out  the  following  account  of  oper- 
ations on  the  Russian  front: 

In  the  Eastern  Theatre:  To  the  east 
of  Popeljany-Ivurtschany  the  enemy  is 
withdrawing  before  our  advancing 
troops.  To  the  west  of  Shavli  the  last 
hostile  intrenchment  has  been  stormed 
and  occupied,  and  the  pursuit  continues 
eastward. 

On  the  Dubyssa,  east  of  Rossieny,  a 
German  attack  broke  through  the  Rus- 
sian line.  Here,  too,  the  enemy  is  fall- 
ing back. 

South  of  the  road  of  Mariampol- 
Kovno  we  attacked  and  captured  the 
villages  of  Kiekieryszki  and  Janowka. 
Three  Russian  positions  lying  one  be- 
hind  the   other   were   captured. 

Likewise  attacks  by  our  Landwehr 
against  positions  held  by  the  enemy 
north  of  Nocogorod  (on  the  Narew) 
were  completely  successful.  The  Rus- 
sians retreated,  leaving  2,000  prisoners 
and  two  machine  guns  in  our  hands. 

Further  south  on  the  Narew  River  a 
strong  outwork  at  Rozan  was  stormed. 
We  took  560  prisoners  and  captured 
three  machine  guns. 

The  enemy  endeavored  to  offer  ob- 
stinate resistance  on  the  Narew.  His 
desperate  counter  attacks  with  hastily 
gathered  troops  on  the  bridgehead  po- 
sition of  Rozan,  Pultusk,  and  Novo 
Georgievsk  failed.  The  Russian  losses 
were  heavy.     We  took  1,000  prisoners. 

The  Blonie-Grojec  position  offered  the 
enemy  only  brief  respite.  Under  the 
compulsion  of  our  troops,  who  had  been 
reinforced  from  all  sides,  the  Russians 
began  to  give  up   their  forfeited   posi- 


tions to  the  west  of  Grojec  and  to  retire 
to  the  eastward. 

In  the  Southeastern  War  Theatre: 
German  Ijroops  under  General  von 
Wyrsch  yesterday  reached  the  advanced 
bridgehead  positions  South  of  Ivan- 
gorod.  An  immediate  attack  brought 
them  into  possession  of  a  hostile  line 
near  Wladislavow.  Fighting  continues 
for  the  adjoining  positions. 

Between  the  Vistula  and  Bug  Rivers 
the  enemy  has  again  opposed  Field 
Marshal  von   Mackensen's   army. 

Despite  stubborn  resistance  Austro- 
Hungarian  troops  near  Skrzyniec,  Nie- 
drzwiea  and  Mala,  southwest  of  Lub- 
lin, and  German  detachments  south- 
east and  north  of  Krasnostava,  have 
entered  hostile  positions.  The  attack 
is  progressing. 

The  War  Office  at  Berlin  on  July  23 
issued  the  following: 

Eastern  theatre  of  war:  In  Courland 
there  is  continual  fighting.  We  are  pur- 
suing eastward  the  retreating  Russians. 
Yesterday  we  capture'd  three  machine 
guns  and  many  ammunition  cars  and 
field  kitchens. 

Our  troops  advanced  closer  to  the 
Narew  bridgehead  position.  Before 
Rozan  we  stormed  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  the  village  of  Miluny  and  the 
fortification  at  Izygi.  At  the  latter 
place  we  captured  290  prisoners.  Night 
sorties  from  Novo  Georgievsk  failed. 

Southeastern  theatre  of  war:  The 
west  bank  of  the  Vistula  was  cleared 
of  the  enemy  from  Janowiec,  west  of 
Kazmierz,  to  Granica.  In  the  wooded 
ground  southeast  of  Kozienca  fighting 
is  proceeding  with  Russian  rear  guards. 

Between  the  Vistula  and  the  Bug 
the  Teutonic  allies  succeeded  in  break- 
ing the  obstinate  resistance  of  the 
enemy  at  several  points  and  forced 
the  Russians  to  retreat. 

Granica  is  ten  kilometers  south  of 
Ivangorod. 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
London,  dated  July  24,  reported: 

The  Austrians  and  Germans  are  push- 
ing their  three  great  attacks  against  the 
Russian  armies  defending  Warsaw  with 


890 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


undiminished  energy,  and  at  some 
IQoints  report  that  progress  has  been 
made. 

They  are  operating,  however,  through 
country  which  the  retiring  troops  have 
laid  waste  and  in  which  what  roads 
there  are,  are  little  suited  for  the  move- 
ment of  the  heavy  artillery  which  is 
necessary  for  the  bombardment  of  the 
great  fortresses  that  bar  their  way. 

It  is  not  expected,  therefore,  that  de- 
cisive actions  on  any  of  the  fronts  will 


be  fought  for  a  few  days  yet,  although 
the  battle  between  the  Vistula  and  the 
Bug  Elvers,  where  the  German  Field 
Marshal  von  Mackensen's  army  is  ad- 
vancing toward  the  Lublin-Chelm  Rail- 
road, has  about  reached  a  climax.  Here, 
according  to  the  German  official  com- 
munication issued  this  afternoon,  the 
Germans  have  succeeded  in  breaking  the 
obstinate  resistance  of  the  Russians  at 
several  points  and  forced  them  to  re- 
treat. 


Naval  Losses  During  the  War 

The  following  diagram,  compiled  mainly  from  information  given  in  a  June 
number  of  the  Naval  and  Military  Record  and  appearing  in  the  London  Morning 
Post  of  July  8,  1915,  shows  the  different  causes  of  loss  to  each  side  in  tonnage  of 
capital  ships,  gunboats,  destroyers,  submarines,  torpedo-boats,  and  armed  merchant- 
men to  the  end  of  May.  The  diagram  being  drawn  to  scale  the  true  proportion  of 
each  loss  from  each  cause  can  be  accurately  gauged  at  a  glance.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  Triple  Entente  and  Japan  have  had  no  loss  from  capture  or  internment, 
that  the  Entente's  characteristic  of  fighting  has  been  "  above  board,"  i.e.,  by  gun- 
fire, while  that  of  the  enemy  has  been  by  submarines  and  mines. 


2S7X?00 


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CA.U5E5 


M»NC- 


TONS 
a.of.000  Lpss  B/ 

^VARIOUS 
CAUSES 


TORPEDO-J 


t-lt^RNMENT 


6UNFlRt- 


1ENTENTE,JAPAN,«, 
ITALY 


fr-CAPTURE 

t-MlNE 

t-TORPEDO 


H^UNFIRE 


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DUAL  ALUANCE  ti 
TURKEY 


Battles  in  the  West 

Sir  John  French's  Own  Story 

France's   "  Eyewitness "    Reports    and    Germany's    Offensive 

in  the  Argonne 

Since  June  15,  1915,  f  h?  British  army,  reinforced  by  divisions  of  the  "  new  "  army  now 
in  France,  has  held  practically  the  same  position  on  the  front  to  the  north  and  south  of  Ypres. 
The  subjoined  report  by  Sir  John  French,  Commanding-in-Chief  the  British  forces  in  France, 
published  July  12,  covers  the  operations  from  April  5  down  to  June  15,  and  deals  particularly 
with  the  great  poison-gas  attacks  by  the  enemy,  the  capture  and  loss  of  Hill  60,  the  second 
battle  of  Ypres,  and  the  battle  of  Festubert.  It  embodies  the  story  by  Sir  Herbert  Plumer  of 
the  terrible  fighting  that  began  May  5.  France's  official  reports,  following,  tell  of  the  battle  of 
Hilgenflrst  in  the  Vosges,  the  week's  battle  in  the  Fecht  valley,  the  120  days'  struggle  between 
Betliune  and  Arras,  and  the  battle  of  Fontenelle.  The  Crown  Prince's  "  drive  "  in  the  Argonne 
resulting   in   German   advantages   is   also   dealt   with. 

FROM    THE     FIELD-MARSHAL     COMMANDING-IN-CHIEF 
THE  BRITISH  ARMY  IN  FRANCE 


To  the  Secretary  of  State  for  War,  War 
Office,  London,  S.  W. 

My  Lord, 

I  HAVE  the  honor  to  report  that  since 
the  date  of  my  last  dispatch  (April  5, 
1915)  the  Army  in  France  under  my 
command  has  been  heavily  engaged 
opposite  both  flanks  of  the  line  held  by 
the  British  Forces. 

1.  In  the  North  the  town  and  district 
of  Ypres  has  once  more  in  this  cam- 
paign been  successfully  defended  against 
vigorous  and  sustained  attacks  made  by 
large  forces  of  the  enemy  and  supported 
by  a  mass  of  heavy  and  field  artillery, 
which,  not  only  in  number,  but  also  in 
weight  and  caliber,  is  superior  to  any 
concentration  of  guns  which  has  pre- 
viously assailed  that  part  of  the  line. 

In  the  South  a  vigorous  offensive  has 
again  been  taken  by  troops  of  the  First 
Army,  in  the  course  of  which  a  large 
area  of  entrenched  and  fortified  ground 
has  been  captured  from  the  enemy, 
whilst  valuable  support  has  been  afforded 
to  the  attack  which  our  Allies  have  car- 
ried on  with  such  marked  success  against 
the  enemy's  positions  to  the  east  of  Ar- 
ras and  Lens. 


GENERAL  HEADQUARTERS, 
June  15,  1915. 

2.  I  much  regret  that  during  the  peri- 
od under  report  the  fighting  has  been 
characterized  on  the  enemy's  side  by  a 
cynical  and  barbarous  disregard  of  the 
well-known  usages  of  civilized  war  and  a 
flagrant  defiance  of  The  Hague  Conven- 
tion.* 

*  In  a  long  statement  seeking  to  justify  the 
use  of  asphyxiating  gases  in  warfare  the  semi- 
official Wolfif  Telegraph  Bureau  asserted  in  Ger- 
man newspapers  of  June  25  that  the  Allies 
first  used  such  gases  against  the  Germans, 
and  it  cites  French  documents  as  proof  that 
France  in  February,  months  before  the  Ger- 
man advance  at  Ypres,  made  extensive  prepa- 
rations for  the  application  of  gases  and  for 
counteracting  their  effects  on  the  attacking 
troops. 

After  quoting  the  official  German  war  re- 
port of  April  10  that  the  French  were  making 
increased  use  of  asphyxiating  bombs,  the 
statement   says  : 

"  For  every  one  who  has  kept  an  unbiased 
judgment,  these  official  assertions  of  the  strict- 
ly accurate  and  truthful  German  military  ad- 
ministration will  be  sufficient  to  prove  the 
prior  use  of  asphyxiating  gases  by  our  oppo- 
nents. But  let  whoever  still  doubts  consider 
the  following  instructions  for  the  systematic 
preparation  of  this  means  of  warfare  by  the 
French,  issued  by  the  French  War  Ministry, 
under  date  of  Feb.  21,  1915: 


892 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Minister  of  War,   Feb.  21,   1915. 
Remarks   concerning   shells   with   stupefy- 
ing gases : 

The  so-called  shells  with  stupefying 
gases  that  are  being  manufactured  by 
our  central  factories  contain  a  fluid 
which  streams  forth  after  the  explosion, 
In  the  form  of  vapors  that  irritate  the 
eyes,  nose,  and  throat.  There  are  two 
kinds :    hand   grenades   and   cartridges. 

Hand  Grenades. — The  grenades  have  the 
foriii  of  an  egg ;  their  diameter  in  the 
middle  is  six  centimeters,  their  height 
twelve  centimeters,  their  weight  400 
grams.  They  are  intended  for  short  dis- 
tances, and  have  an  appliance  for  throw- 
ing by  hand.  They  are  equipped  with  an 
Inscription  giving  directions  for  use.  They 
arc  lighted  with  a  small  bit  of  material 
for  friction  pasted  on  the  directions,  after 
which  they  must  be  thrown  away.  The 
explosion  follows  seven  seconds  after 
lighting.  A  small  cover  of  brass  and  a 
top  screwed  on  protect  the  lighted  mat- 
ter. Their  purpose  is  to  make  untenable 
the  surroundings  of  the  place  where  they 
burst.  Their  effect  is  often  considerably 
impaired  by  a  strong  rising  wind. 

Cartridges. — The  cartridges  have  a  cylin- 
drical form.  Their  diameter  is  twenty- 
eight  millimeters,  their  height  ten  centi- 
meters, their  weight  200  grams.  They  are 
intended  for  use  at  longer  distances  than 
can  be  negotiated  with  the  hand  grenades. 
With  an  angle  of  twenty-five  degrees  at 
departure  they  will  carry  230  meters. 
They  have  central  lighting  facilities  and 
are  fired  with  ignition  bullet  guns.  The 
powder  lights  a  little  Internal  ignition 
mass  by  means  of  which  the  carti-idges 
are  caused  to  explode  five  seconds  after 
leaving  the  rifle.  The  cartridges  have  the 
same  purpose  as  the  hand  grenades  but 
because  of  their  very  small  amount  of 
fluid  they  must  be  fired  in  great  numbers 
at  the  same  time. 

Precautionary  measures  to  be  observed 
in  attacks  on  trenches  into  which  shells 
with  asphyxiating  gases  have  been  thrown. 
— The  vapors  spread  by  means  of  the 
shells  with  asphyxiating  gases  are  not 
deadly,  at  least  when  small  quantities  are 
used  and  their  effect  is  only  momentary. 
The  duration  of  the  effect  depends  upon 
the  atmospheric  conditions. 

It  is  advisable  therefore  to  attack  the 
trenches  into  which  such  hand  grenades 
have  been  thrown  and  which  the  enemy 
has  nevertheless  not  evacuated  before  the 
vapors  are  completely  dissipated.  The 
attacking  troops,  moreover,  must  wear 
protective  goggles  and  in  addition  be  in- 
structed that  the  unpleasant  sensations  in 
nose  and  throat  are  not  dangerous  and  in- 
volve no  lasting  disturbance. 

"Here  we  have  a  conclusive  proo^  that  the 
French  In  their  State  workshops  manufactured 


shells  with  asphyxiating  gases  fully  half  a  year 
ago  at  least,"  says  the  semi-official  Telegi-aph 
Bureau.  "  The  number  must  have  been  so 
large  that  the  French  War  Ministry  at  last 
found  itself  obliged  to  issue  written  instruc- 
tions concerning  the  use  of  this  means  of  war- 
fare. What  hypocrisy  when  the  same  people 
grow  '  indignant  '  because  the  Germans  much 
later  followed  them  on  the  path  they  had 
pointed  out  I  Very  characteristic  is  the  twist 
of  the  French  official  direction  :  '  The  vapors 
spread  by  the  shells  with  asphyxiating  gases 
are  not  deadly,  at  least  not  when  used  in 
small  quantities.'  It  is  precisely  this  limita- 
tion that  contains  the  unequivocal  confession 
that  the  French  asphyxiating  gases  work  with 
deadly  effect  when  used  in  large  quantities." 

All  the  scientific  resources  of  Ger- 
many have  apparently  been  brought  into 
play  to  produce  a  gas  of  so  virulent 
and  poisonous  a  nature  that  any  human 
being  brought  into  contact  with  it  is 
first  paralyzed  and  then  meets  with  a 
lingering   and   agonizing   death. 

The  enemy  has  invariably  preceded, 
prepared  and  supported  his  attacks  by 
a  discharge  in  stupendous  volume  of 
these  poisonous  gas  fumes  whenever  the 
wind  was  favorable. 

Such  weather  conditions  have  only 
prevailed  to  any  extent  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Ypres,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  eifect  of  these  poisonous 
fumes  materially  influenced  the  opera- 
tions in  that  theater,  until  experience 
suggested  effective  counter-measures, 
which  have  since  been  so  perfected  as 
to  render  them  innocuous. 

The  brain  power  and  thought  which 
has  evidently  been  at  work  before  this 
unworthy  method  of  making  war  reached 
the  pitch  of  efficiency  which  has  been 
demonstrated  in  its  practice  shows  that 
the  Germans  must  have  harbored  these 
designs  for  a  long  time. 

As  a  soldier  I  cannot  help  expressing 
the  deepest  regret  and  some  surprise 
that  an  Army  which  hitherto  has  claimed 
to  be  the  chief  exponent  of  the  chivalry 
of  war  should  have  stooped  to  employ 
such  devices  against  brave  and  gallant 
foes. 

BATTLE  OF  HILL  60 

3.  On  the  night  of  Saturday,  April  17, 
a  commanding  hill  which  afforded  the 
enemy    excellent    artillery    observation 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


89S 


toward  the  west  and  north-west  was  suc- 
cessfully mined  and  captured. 

This  hill,  known  as  Hill  60,  lies  oppo- 
site the  northern  extremity  of  the  line 
held  by  the  2d  Corps. 

The  operation  was  planned  and  the 
mining  commenced  by  Major-General 
Bulfin  before  the  ground  was  handed 
over  to  the  troops  under  Lieutenant- 
General  Sir  Charles  Fergusson,  under 
whose  supervision  the  operation  was  car- 
ried out. 

The  mines  were  successfully  fired  at 
7  P.  M.  on  the  17th  inst.,  and  immediate- 
ly afterwards  the  hill  was  attacked  and 
gained,  without  difficulty,  by  the  1st  Bat- 
talion Koyal  West  Kent  Regiment  and 
the  2d  Battalion  King's  Own  Scottish 
Borderers.  The  attack  was  well  sup- 
ported by  the  Divisional  Artillery,  as- 
sisted by  French  and  Belgian  batteries. 

During  the  night  several  of  the 
enemy's  counter-attacks  were  repulsed 
with  heavy  loss,  and  fierce  hand-to-hand 
fighting  took  place;  but  on  the  early 
morning  of  the  18th  the  enemy  suc- 
ceeded in  forcing  back  the  troops  hold- 
ing the  right  of  the  hill  to  the  reverse 
slope,  where,  however,  they  hung  on 
throughout  the  day. 

On  the  evening  of  the  18th  these  two 
battalions  were  relieved  by  the  2d  Bat- 
talion West  Riding  Regiment  and  the 
2d  Battalion  King's  Own  Yorkshire 
Light  Infantry,  who  again  stormed  the 
hill  under  cover  of  heavy  artillery  fire, 
and  the  enemy  was  driven  off  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet. 

In  this  operation  fifty-three  prisoners 
were  captured,  including  four  officers. 

On  the  20th  and  following  days  many 
unsuccessful  attacks  by  the  enemy  were 
made  on  Hill  60,  which  was  continually 
shelled  by  heavy  artillery. 

On  May  1  another  attempt  to  recap- 
ture Hill  60  was  supported  by  great 
volumes  of  asphyxiating  gas,  which 
caused  nearly  all  the  men  along  a  front 
of  about  400  yards  to  be  immediately 
struck  down  by  its  fumes. 

The  splendid  courage  with  which  the 
leaders  rallied  their  men  and  subdued 
the  natural  tendency  to  panic  (which  is 
inevitable  on  such  occasions),  combined 
with   the  prompt  intervention   of   sup- 


ports, once  more  drove  the  enemy  back. 

A  second  and  more  severe  "  gas  "  at- 
tack, under  much  more  favorable  weath- 
er conditions,  enabled  the  enemy  to  re- 
capture this  position  on  May  5. 

The  enemy  owes  his  success  in  this 
last  attack  entirely  to  the  use  of  asphyx- 
iating gas.  It  was  only  a  few  days  later 
that  the  means,  which  have  since  proved 
so  effective,  of  counteracting  this  method 
of  making  war  were  put  into  practice. 
Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  enemy's  at- 
tack on  May  5  would  most  certainly  have 
shared  the  fate  of  all  the  many  previ- 
ous attempts  he  had  made. 

SECOND  BATTLE  OF  YPRES 

4.  It  was  at  the  commencement  of  the 
second  battle  of  Ypres  on  the  evening  of 
April  22,  referred  to  in  paragraph  1  of 
his  report,  that  the  enemy  first  made 
•use  of  asphyxiating  gas. 

Some  days  previously  I  had  complied 
with  General  Joffre's  request  to  take 
over    the     trenches     occupied    by     the 


The  British  battle  line  in  Flanders, 
Belgium. 

French,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  22d 
the  troops  holding  the  lines  east  of  Ypres 
were  posted  as  follows : 

From  Steenstraate  to  the  east  of 
Langemarck,  as  far  as  the  Poelcap- 
pelle  Road,  a  French  Division. 

Thence,  in  a  south-easterly  direction 


8d4 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


toward  the  Passchendaele-Becelaere 
Road,  the  Canadian  Division. 

Thence  a  Division  took  up  the  line 
in  a  southerly  direction  east  of  Zonne- 
beke  to  a  point  west  of  Becelaere,  whence 
another  Division  continued  the  line 
south-east  to  the  northern  limit  of  the 
Corps  on  its  right. 

Of  the  5th  Corps  there  were  four  bat- 
talions in  Divisional  Reserve  about 
Ypres;  the  Canadian  Division  had  one 
battalion  of  Divisional  Reserve  and  the 
1st  Canadian  Brigade  in  Army  Reserve. 
An  Infantry  Brigade,  which  had  just 
been  withdrawn  after  suffering  heavy 
losses  on  Hill  60,  was  resting  about 
Vlamernighe. 

Following  a  heavy  bombardment,  the 
enemy  attacked  the  French  Division  at 
about  5  P.  M.,  using  asphyxiating  gases 


The  Arras  region,  showing  battle  line 
and  scene  of  fiercest  battle  in  recent 
months. 

for  the  first  time.  Aircraft  reported  that 
at  about  5  P.  M.  thick  yellow  smoke  had 
been  seen  issuing  from  the  German 
trenches  between  Langemarck  and 
Bixschoote.  The  French  reported  that 
two  simulaneous  attacks  had  been  made 
east  of  the  Ypres-Staden  Railway,  in 
which  these  asphyxiating  gases  had  been 
employed. 


What  follows  almost  defies  description. 
The  effect  of  these  poisonous  gases  was 
so  virulent  as  to  render  the  whole  of 
the  line  held  by  the  French  Division 
mentioned  above  practically  incapable  of 
any  action  at  all.  It  was  at  first  impos- 
sible for  any  one  to  realize  what  had. 
actually  happened.  The  smoke  and 
fumes  hid  everything  from  sight,  and 
hundreds  of  men  were  thrown  into  a 
comatose  or  dying  condition,  and  within 
an  hour  the  whole  position  had  to  be 
abandoned,  together  with  about  fifty 
guns. 

I  wish  particularly  to  repudiate  any 
idea  of  attaching  the  least  blame  to  the 
French  Division  for  this  unfortunate  in- 
cident. 

After  all  the  examples  our  gallant 
Allies  have  shown  of  dogged  and  tena- 
cious courage  in  the  many  trying  situa- 
tions in  which  they  have  been  placed 
throughout  the  course  of  this  campaign 
it  is  quite  superfluous  for  me  to  dwell 
on  this  aspect  of  the  incident,  and  I 
would  only  express  my  firm  conviction 
that,  if  any  troops  in  the  world  had  been 
able  to  hold  their  trenches  in  the  face 
of  such  a  treacherous  and  altogether  un- 
expected onslaught,  the  French  Division 
would  have  stood  firm. 

THE  CANADIANS'  PART 

The  left  flank  of  the  Canadian  Divi- 
sion was  thus  left  dangerously  exposed 
to  serious  attack  in  flank,  and  there  ap- 
peared to  be  a  prospect  of  their  being 
overwhelmed  and  of  a  successful  attempt 
by  the  Germans  to  cut  off  the  British 
troops  occupying  the  salient  to  the  East. 

In  spite  pf  the  danger  to  which  they 
were  exposed  the  Canadians  held  their 
ground  with  a  magnificent  display  of 
tenacity  and  courage;  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  bearing  and  con- 
duct of  these  splendid  troops  averted  a 
disaster  which  might  have  been  attended 
with  the  most  serious  consequences. 

They  were  supported  with  great 
promptitude  by  the  reserves  of  the  divi- 
sions holding  the  salient  and  by  a  bri- 
gade which  had  been  resting  in  billets. 

Throughout  the  night  the  enemy's  at- 
tacks   were   repulsed,   effective   counter- 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


895 


attacks  were  delivered,  and  at  length 
touch  was  gained  with  the  French  right, 
and  a  new  line  was  formed. 

The  2d  London  Heavy  Battery,  which 
had  been  attached  to  the  Canadian  Divi- 
sion, was  posted  behind  the  right  of  the 
French  Division,  and,  being  involved  in 
their  retreat,  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands. 
It  was  recaptured  by  the  Canadians  in 
their  counter-attack,  but  the  guns  could 
not  be  withdrawn  before  the  Canadians 
were  again  driven  back. 

During  the  night  I  directed  the  Cav- 
alry Corps  and  the  Northumbrian  Divi- 
sion, which  was  then  in  general  reserve, 
to  move  to  the  west  of  Ypres,  and  placed 
these  troops  at  the  disposal  of  the  Gen- 
eral Officer  Commanding  the  Second 
Army.  I  also  directed  other  reserve 
troops  from  the  3d  Corps  and  the  First 
Army  to  be  held  in  readiness  to  meet 
eventualities. 

In  the  confusion  of  the  gas  and  smoke 
the  Germans  succeeded  in  capturing  the 
bridge  at  Steenstraate  and  some  works 
south  of  Lizerne,  all  of  which  were  in 
occupation  by  the  French. 

The  enemy  having  thus  established 
himself  to  the  west  of  the  Ypres  Canal, 
I  was  somewhat  apprehensive  of  his  suc- 
ceeding in  driving  a  wedge  between  the 
French  and  Belgian  troops  at  this  point. 
I  directed,  therefore,  that  some  of  the 
reinforcements  sent  north  should  be  used 
to  support  and  assist  General  Putz, 
should  he  find  difficulty  in  preventing 
any  further  advance  of  the  Germans 
west  of  the  canal. 

At  about  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  23d  connection  was  finally  en- 
sured between  the  left  of  the  Canadian 
Division  and  the  French  right,  about 
800  yards  east  of  the  canal;  but  as  this 
entailed  the  maintenance  by  the  British 
troops  of  a  much  longer  line  than  that 
which  they  had  held  before  the  attack 
commenced  on  the  previous  night,  there 
were  no  reserves  available  for  counter- 
attack until  reinforcements,  which  were 
ordered  up  from  the  Second  Army,  were 
able  to  deploy  to  the  east  of  Ypres. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  I 
went  to  see  General  Foch,  and  from  him 
I  received  a  detailed  account  of  what 
had  happened,   as   reported  by  General 


Putz.  General  Foch  informed  me  that 
it  was  his  intention  to  make  good  the 
original  line  and  regain  the  trenches 
which  the  French  Division  had  lost.  He 
expressed  the  desire  that  I  should  main- 
tain my  present  line,  assuring  me  that 
the  original  position  would  be  re-estab- 
lished in  a  few  days.  General  Foch  fur- 
ther informed  me  that  he  had  ordered 
up  large  French  reinforcements,  which 
were  now  on  their  way,  and  that  troops 
from  the  North  had  already  arrived  to 
reinforce  General  Putz. 

I  fully  concurred  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
General's  wish  to  re-establish  our  old 
line,  and  agreed  to  co-operate  in  the  way 
he  desired,  stipulating,  however,  that  if 
the  position  was  not  re-established  with- 
in a  limited  time  I  could  not  allow  the 
British  troops  to  remain  in  so  exposed 
a  situation  as  that  which  the  action  of 
the  previous  twenty-four  hours  had  com- 
pelled them  to  occupy. 

During  the  whole  of  the  23d  the  ene- 
my's artillery  was  very  active,  and  his 
attacks  all  along  the  front  were  sup- 
ported by  some  heavy  guns  which  had 
been  brought  down  from  the  coast  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Ostend. 

The  loss  of  the  guns  on  the  night  of 
the  22d  prevented  this  fire  from  being 
kept  down,  and  much  aggravated  the 
situation.  Our  positions,  however,  were 
well  maintained  by  the  vigorous  counter- 
attacks made  by  the  5th  Corps. 

During  the  day  I  directed  two  bri- 
gades of  the  3d  Corps,  and  the  Lahore 
Division  of  the  Indian  Corps,  to  be 
moved  up  to  the  Ypres  area  and  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Second  Army. 

In  the  course  of  these  two  or  three 
days  many  circumstances  combined  to 
render  the  situation  east  of  the  Ypres 
Canal  very  critical  and  most  difficult  to 
deal  with. 

The  confusion  caused  by  the  sudden 
retirement  of  the  French  Division,  and 
the  necessity  for  closing  up  the  gap  and 
checking  the  enemy's  advance  at  all 
costs,  led  to  a  mixing  up  of  units  and 
a  sudden  shifting  of  the  areas  of  com- 
mand, which  was  quite  unavoidable. 
Fresh  units,  as  they  came  up  from  the 
South,  had  to  be  pushed  into  the  firing 
line  in  an  area  swept  by  artillery  fire. 


896 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


■which,  owing  to  the  capture  of  the 
French  guns,  we  were  unable  to  keep 
down. 

HEAVY  CASUALTIES 

All  this  led  to  very  heavy  casualties, 
and  I  wish  to  place  on  record  the  deep 
admiration  which"!  feel  for  the  resource 
and  presence  of  mind  evinced  by  the 
leaders  actually  on  the  spot. 

The  parts  taken  by  Major-General 
Snow  and  Brigadier-General  Hull  w^ere 
reported  to  me  as  being  particularly 
marked  in  this  respect. 

An  instance  of  this  occurred  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  24th,  when  the  enemy 
succeeded  in  breaking  through  the  line 
at  St.  .Tulien. 

Brigadier-General  Hull,  acting  under 
the  orders  of  Lieutenant-General  Alder- 
son,  organized  a  powerful  counter-attack 
with  his  own  brigade  and  some  of  the 
nearest  available  units.  He  was  called 
upon  to  control,  with  only  his  brigade 
staff,  parts  of  battalions  from  six  sepa- 
rate divisions  which  were  quite  new  to 
the  ground.  Although  the  attack  did 
not  succeed  in  retaking  St.  Julien,  it 
effectually  checked  the  enemy's  further 
advance. 

It  was  only  on  the  morning  of  the  25th 
that  the  enemy  were  able  to  force  back 
the  left  of  the  Canadian  Division  from 
the  point  where  it  had  originally  joined 
the  French  line. 

During  the  night,  and  the  early  morn- 
ing of  the  25th,  the  enemy  directed  a 
heavy  attack  against  the  Division  at 
Broodseinde  cross-roads,  which  was  sup- 
ported by  a  powerful  shell  fire,  but  he 
failed  to  make  any  progress. 

During  the  whole  of  this  time  the 
town  of  Ypres  and  all  the  roads  to  the 
East  and  West  were  uninterruptedly 
subjected  to  a  violent  artillery  fire,  but 
in  spite  of  this  the  supply  of  both 
food  and  ammunition  was  maintained 
throughout  with  order  and  efficiency. 

During  the  afternoon  of  the  25tli 
many  German  prisoners  were  taken,  in- 
cluding some  officers.  The  hand-to-hand 
fighting  was  very  severe,  and  the  enemy 
suffered  heavy  loss. 

During  the  26th  the  Lahore  Division 
and  a  Cavalry  Division  were  pushed  up 


into  the  fighting  line,  the  former  on  the 
right  of  the  French,  the  latter  in  sup- 
port of  the  5th  Corps. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Lahore  Division, 
in  conjunction  with  the  French  right, 
succeeded  in  pushing  the  enemy  back 
some  little  distance  toward  the  north, 
but  their  further  advance  was  stopped 
owing  to  the  continual  employment  by 
the  enemy  of  asphyxiating  gas. 

On  the  right  of  the  Lahore  Division 
the  Xorthumberland  Infantry  Brigade 
advanced  against  St.  Julien  and  actually 
succeeded  in  entering,  and  for  a  time 
occupying,  the  southern  portion  of  that 
village.  They  were,  however,  eventually 
driven  back,  largely  owing  to  gas,  and 
finally  occupied  a  line  a  short  way  to 
the  south.  This  attack  was  most  suc- 
cessfully and  gallantly  led  by  Brigadier- 
General  Riddell,  who,  I  regret  to  say, 
was  killed  during  the  progress  of  the 
operation. 

Although  no  attack  was  made  on  the 
south-eastern  side  of  the  salient,  the 
troops  operating  to  the  east  of  Ypres 
were  subjected  to  heavy  artillery  fire 
from  this  direction,  which  took  some  of 
the  battalions,  which  were  advancing 
north  to  the  attack,  in  reverse. 

Some  gallant  attempts  made  by  the 
Lahore  Division  on  the  27th,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  French,  pushed  the  enemy 
further  north;  but  they  were  partially 
frustrated  by  the  constant  fumes  of  gas 
to  which  they  were  exposed.  In  spite  of 
this,  however,  a  certain  amount  of 
ground  was  gained. 

The  French  had  succeeded  in  retaking 
Lizerne,  and  had  made  some  progress  at 
Steenstraate  and  Het  Sas ;  but  up  to  the 
evening  of  the  28th  no  further  progress 
had  been  made  toward  the  recapture  of 
the  original  line. 

I  sent  instructions,  therefore,  to  Sir 
Herbert  Plumer,  who  was  now  in  charge 
of  the  operation,  to  take  preliminary 
measures  for  the  retirement  to  the  new 
line  which  had  been  fixed  upon. 

STRONG  REINFORCEMENTS 

On  the  morning  of  the  29th  I  had 
another  interview  with  General  Foch, 
who  informed  me  that  strong  reinforce- 


COUNT     ZEPPELIN 

Inventor  of  the  Air-ship  that  has  Still  to   Demonstrate  its   Efficiency 

as  an   Engine  of   War 


GENERAL     ERICH     VON     FALKENHAYN 

Chief  of  the  General  Staff  of  the  German  Army 

(Photo    from    Ruaohin.) 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


897 


nients  were  hourly  arriving  to  support 
General  Putz,  and  urged  me  to  postpone 
issuing  orders  for  any  retirement  until 
the  result  of  his  attack,  which  was  timed 
to  commence  at  daybreak  on  the  30th, 
should  be  known.  To  this  I  agreed,  and 
instructed  Sir  Herbert  Plumer  accord- 
ingly. 

No  substantial  advance  having  been 
made  by  the  French,  I  issued  orders  to 
Sir  Herbert  Plumer  at  one  o'clock  on 
May  1  to  commence  his  withdrawal  to 
the  new  line. 

The  retirement  was  commenced  the 
following  night,  and  the  new  line  was 
occupied  on  the  morning  of  May  4, 

I  am  of  opinion  that  this  retirement, 
carried  out  deliberately  with  scarcely 
any  loss,  and  in  the  face  of  an  enemy 
in  position,  reflects  the  greatest  possible 
credit  on  Sir  Herbert  Plumer  and  those 
who  so  efficiently  carried  out  his  orders. 

The  successful  conduct  of  this  opera- 
tion was  the  more  remarkable  from  the 
fact  that  on  the  evening  of  May  2,  when 
it  was  only  half  completed,  the  enemy 
made  a  heavy  attack,  with  the  usual  gas 
accompaniment,  on  St.  Julien  and  the 
line  to  the  west  of  it. 

An  attack  on  a  line  to  the  east  of 
Fortuin  was  made  at  the  same  time  un- 
der similar  conditions. 

In  both  cases  our  troops  were  at  first 
driven  from  their  trenches  by  gas  fumes, 
but  on  the  arrival  of  the  supporting  bat- 
talions and  two  brigades  of  a  cavalry 
division,  which  were  sent  up  in  support 
from  about  Potijze,  all  the  lost  trenches 
were  regained  at  night. 

On  May  3,  while  the  retirement  was 
still  going  on,  another  violent  attack  was 
directed  on  the  northern  face  of  the 
salient.  This  was  also  driven  back  with 
heavy  loss  to  the  enemy. 

Further  attempts  of  the  enemy  during 
the  night  of  the  3d  to  advance  from 
the  woods  west  of  St.  Julien  were  frus- 
trated entirely  by  the  fire  of  our  artil- 
lery. 

During  the  whole  of  the  4th  the  enemy 
heavily  shelled  the  trenches  we  had 
evacuated,  quite  unaware  that  they  were 
no  longer  occupied.  So  soon  as  the  re- 
tirement was  discovered  the  Germans 
commenced  to  entrench  opposite  our  new 


line  and  to  advance  their  guns  to  new 
positions.  Our  artillery,  assisted  by 
aeroplanes,  caused  him  considerable  loss 
in  carrying  out  these  operations. 

Up  to  the  morning  of  the  8th  the 
enemy  made  attacks  at  short  intervals, 
covered  by  gas,  on  all  parts  of  the  line 
to  the  east  of  Ypres,  but  was  everywhere 
driven  back  with  heavy  loss. 

Throughout  the  whole  period  since  the 
first  break  of  the  line  on  the  night  of 
April  22  all  the  troops  in  this  area  had 
been  constantly  subjected  to  violent  ar- 
tillery bombardment  from  a  large  mass 
of  guns  with  an  unlimited  supply  of  am- 
munition. It  proved  impossible  whilst 
under  so  vastly  superior  fire  of  artillery 
to  dig  efficient  trenches,  or  to  properly 
reorganize  the  line,  after  the  confusion 
and  demoralization  called  by  the  first 
great  gas  surprise  and  the  subsequent 
almost  daily  gas  attacks.  Nor  was  it 
until  after  this  date  (May  8)  that  effec- 
tive preventatives  had  been  devised  and 
provided.  In  these  circumstances  a  vio- 
lent bombardment  of  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  5th  Corps  front  broke  out  at 
7  A.  M.  on  the  morning  of  the  8th, 
which  gradually  concentrated  on  the 
front  of  the  Division  between  north  and 
south  of  Frezenberg.  This  fire  com- 
pletely obliterated  the  trenches  and 
caused  enormous  losses. 

The  artillery  bombardment  was  short- 
ly followed  by  a  heavy  infantry  attack, 
before  which  our  line  had  to  give  way. 

SIR   H.   PLUMER'S    STORY* 

I  relate  what  happened  in  Sir  Herbert 
Plumer's  own  words: 

"  The  right  of  one  brigade  was  broken 
about  10.15  A.  M. ;  then  its  centre,  and 
then  part  of  the  left  of  the  brigade  in 
the  next  section  to  the  sovith.  The 
Princess  Patricia's  Canadian  Light  In- 
fantry, however,  although  suffering  very 
heavily,   stuck  to   their  fire  or  support 

*  General  Sir  Herbert  Charles  Onslow 
Plumer,  K.C.B.,  was  born  In  1857.  He  en- 
tered the  York  and  Lancaster  Regiment  in 
1876,  and  served  with  distinction  in  the  Sudan 
and  South  Africa.  He  was  Q.M.G.  and  third 
military  member  of  the  Army  Council,  1904-5, 
and  commanded  the  5th  Division  Irish  Com- 
mand, 1906-9.     He  was  knighted  in  1906. 


GENERAL     ERICH     VON     FALKENHAYN 

Chief  of  the  General  Staff  of  the  German  Army 

(.Photo    from    Ritachin.) 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


897 


ments  were  hourly  arriving  to  support 
General  Putz,  and  urged  me  to  postpone 
issuing  orders  for  any  retirement  until 
the  result  of  his  attack,  which  was  timed 
to  commence  at  daybreak  on  the  30th, 
should  be  known.  To  this  I  agreed,  and 
instructed  Sir  Herbert  Plumer  accord- 
ingly. 

No  substantial  advance  having  been 
made  by  the  French,  I  issued  orders  to 
Sir  Herbert  Plumer  at  one  o'clock  on 
May  1  to  commence  his  withdrawal  to 
the  new  line. 

The  retirement  was  commenced  the 
following  night,  and  the  new  line  was 
occupied  on  the  morning  of  May  4. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  this  retirement, 
carried  out  deliberately  with  scarcely 
any  loss,  and  in  the  face  of  an  enemy 
in  position,  reflects  the  greatest  possible 
credit  on  Sir  Herbert  Plumer  and  those 
who  so  efficiently  carried  out  his  orders. 

The  successful  conduct  of  this  opera- 
tion was  the  more  remarkable  from  the 
fact  that  on  the  evening  of  May  2,  when 
it  was  only  half  completed,  the  enemy 
made  a  heavy  attack,  with  the  usual  gas 
accompaniment,  on  St.  Julien  and  the 
line  to  the  west  of  it. 

An  attack  on  a  line  to  the  east  of 
Portuin  was  made  at  the  same  time  un- 
der similar  conditions. 

In  both  cases  our  troops  were  at  first 
driven  from  their  trenches  by  gas  fumes, 
but  on  the  arrival  of  the  supporting  bat- 
talions and  two  brigades  of  a  cavalry 
division,  which  were  sent  up  in  support 
from  about  Potijze,  all  the  lost  trenches 
were  regained  at  night. 

On  May  3,  while  the  retirement  was 
still  going  on,  another  violent  attack  was 
directed  on  the  northern  face  of  the 
salient.  This  was  also  driven  back  with 
heavy  loss  to  the  enemy. 

Further  attempts  of  the  enemy  during 
the  night  of  the  3d  to  advance  from 
the  woods  west  of  St.  Julien  were  frus- 
trated entirely  by  the  fire  of  our  artil- 
lery. 

During  the  whole  of  the  4th  the  enemy 
heavily  shelled  the  trenches  we  had 
evacuated,  quite  unaware  that  they  were 
no  longer  occupied.  So  soon  as  the  re- 
tirement was  discovered  the  Germans 
commenced  to  entrench  opposite  our  new 


line  and  to  advance  their  guns  to  new 
positions.  Our  artillery,  assisted  by 
aeroplanes,  caused  him  considerable  loss 
in  carrying  out  these  operations. 

Up  to  the  morning  of  the  8th  the 
enemy  made  attacks  at  short  intervals, 
covered  by  gas,  on  all  parts  of  the  line 
to  the  east  of  Ypres,  but  was  everywhere 
driven  back  with  heavy  loss. 

Throughout  the  whole  period  since  the 
first  break  of  the  line  on  the  night  of 
April  22  all  the  troops  in  this  area  had 
been  constantly  subjected  to  violent  ar- 
tillery bombardment  from  a  large  mass 
of  guns  with  an  unlimited  supply  of  am- 
munition. It  proved  impossible  whilst 
under  so  vastly  superior  fire  of  artillery 
to  dig  efficient  trenches,  or  to  properly 
reorganize  the  line,  after  the  confusion 
and  demoralization  called  by  the  first 
great  gas  surprise  and  the  subsequent 
almost  daily  gas  attacks.  Nor  was  it 
until  after  this  date  (May  8)  that  eifec- 
tive  preventatives  had  been  devised  and 
provided.  In  these  circumstances  a  vio- 
lent bombardment  of  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  5th  Corps  front  broke  out  at 
7  A.  M.  on  the  morning  of  the  8th, 
which  gradually  concentrated  on  the 
front  of  the  Division  between  north  and 
south  of  Frezenberg.  This  fire  com- 
pletely obliterated  the  trenches  and 
caused  enormous  losses. 

The  artillery  bombardment  was  short- 
ly followed  by  a  heavy  infantry  attack, 
before  which  our  line  had  to  give  way. 

SIR   H.   PLFMEE'S    STORY* 

I  relate  what  happened  in  Sir  Herbert 
Plumer's  own  words : 

"  The  right  of  one  brigade  was  broken 
about  10.15  A.  M. ;  then  its  centre,  and 
then  part  of  the  left  of  the  brigade  in 
the  next  section  to  the  south.  The 
Princess  Patricia's  Canadian  Light  In- 
fantry, however,  although  suffering  very 
heavily,   stuck  to   their  fire  or  support 

*  General  Sir  Herbert  Charles  Onslow 
Plumer,  K.C.B.,  was  born  in  1857.  He  en- 
tered the  York  and  Lancaster  Regiment  in 
1876.  and  served  with  distinction  In  the  Sudan 
and  South  Africa.  He  was  Q.M.G.  and  third 
military  member  of  the  Army  Council,  1904-5, 
and  commanded  the  5th  Division  Irish  Com- 
mand, 1906-9.     He  was  knighted  in  1906. 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


trenches  throughout  the  day.  At  this 
time  two  battalions  were  moved  to  Gen- 
eral Headquarters  second  line  astride 
the  Menin  road  to  support  and  cover  the 
left  of  their  division. 

"  At  12.25  P.  M.  the  center  of  a  bri- 
gade further  to  the  left  also  broke;  its 
right  battalion,  however,  the  1st  Suf- 
folks,  which  had  been  refused  to  cover 
a  gap,  still  held  on,  and  were  apparent- 
ly surrounded  and  overwhelmed.  Mean- 
while, three  more  battalions  had  been 
moved  up  to  reinforce,  two  other  battal- 
ions were  moved  up  in  support  to  Gen- 
eral Headquarters  line  and  an  infantry 
brigade  came  up  to  the  grounds  of  Vla- 
mertinghe  Chateau  in  corps  reserve. 

"  At  11.30  A.  M.  a  small  party  of  Ger- 
mans attempted  to  advance  against  the 
left  of  the  British  line,  but  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  2d  Essex  Regiment. 

"  A  counter-attack  was  launched  at 
3.30  P.  M.  by  the  1st  York  and  Lancas- 
ter Regiment,  3d  Middlesex  Regiment, 
2d  East  Surrey  Regiment,  2d  Royal 
Dublin  Fusiliers,  and  the  1st  Royal 
Warwickshire  Regiment.  The  counter- 
attack reached  Erezenberg,  but  was  even- 
tually driven  back  and  held  up  on  a 
line  running  about  north  and  south 
through  Verlorenhoek,  despite  repeated 
efforts  to  advance.  The  12th  London 
Regiment  on  the  left  succeeded  at  great 
cost  in  reaching  the  original  trench  line, 
and  did  considerable  execution  with 
their  machine  gun. 

"The  7th  Argyll  and  Sutherland 
Highlanders  and  the  1st  East  Lanca- 
shire Regiment  attacked  in  a  northeast- 
erlj'  direction  toward  Wieltje,  and  con- 
nected the  old  trench  line  with  the 
ground  gained  by  the  counter-attack,  the 
line  being  consolidated  during  the  night. 

"  During  the  night  orders  were  re- 
ceived that  two  Cavalry  Divisions  would 
be  moved  up  and  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  5th  Corps,  and  a  Territorial  Divi- 
sion would  be  moved  up  to  be  used  if  re- 
quired. 

"  On  the  9th  the  Germans  again  re- 
peated their  bombardment.  Very  heavy 
shell  fire  was  concentrated  for  two  hours 
on  the  trenches  of  the  2d  Gloucester- 
shire Regiment  and  2d  Cameron  High- 
landers, followed  by  an  infantry  attack 


which  was  successfully  repulsed.  The 
Germans  again  bombarded  the  salient, 
and  a  further  attack  in  the  afternoon 
succeeded  in  occupying  150  yards  of 
trench.  The  Gloueesters  counter-at- 
tacked, but  suffered  heavily,  and  the 
attack  failed.  The  salient  being  very 
exposed  to  shell  fire  from  both  flanks,  as 
well  as  in  front,  it  was  deemed  advisable 
not  to  attempt  to  retake  the  trench  at 
night,  and  a  retrenchment  was  therefore 
dug  across  it. 

"  At  3  P.  M.  the  enemy  started  to  shell 
the  whole  front  of  the  center  Division, 
and  it  was  reported  that  the  right  Bri- 
gade of  this  Division  was  being  heavily 
punished,  but  continued  to  maintain  its 
line. 

"  The  trenches  of  the  Brigades  on  the 
left  center  were  also  heavily  shelled  dur- 
ing the  day  and  attacked  by  infantry. 
Both  attacks  were  repulsed. 

"  On  the  10th  instant  the  trenches  on 
either  side  of  the  Menin- Ypres  road 
were  shelled  very  severely  all  the  morn- 
ing. The  2d  Cameron  Highlanders,  9th 
Royal  Scots,  and  the  3d  and  4th  King's 
Royal  Rifles,  however,  repulsed  an  at- 
tack made,  under  cover  of  gas,  with 
heavy  loss.  Finally,  when  the  trenches 
had  been  practically  destroyed  and  a 
large  number  of  the  garrison  buried, 
the  3d  King's  Royal  Rifles  and  4th  Rifle 
Brigade  fell  back  to  the  trenches  imme- 
diately west  of  Bellewaarde  Wood.  So 
heavy  had  been  the  shell  fire  that  the 
proposal  to  join  up  the  line  with  a  switch 
through  the  wood  had  to  be  abandoned, 
the  trees  broken  by  the  shells  forming 
an  impassable  entanglement. 

"  After  a  comparatively  quiet  night 
and  morning  (lOth-llth)  the  hostile  ar- 
tillery fire  was  concentrated  on  the 
trenches  of  the  2d  Cameron  Highlanders 
and  1st  Argyll  and  Sutherland  High- 
landers at  a  slightly  more  northern  point 
than  on  the  previous  day.  The  Ger- 
mans attacked  in  force  and  gained  a 
footing  in  part  of  the  trenches,  but  were 
promptly  ejected  by  a  supporting  com- 
pany of  the  9th  Royal  Scots.  After  a 
second  short  artillery  bombardment  the 
Germans  again  attacked  about  5.15  P.M., 
but  were  again  repulsed  by  rifle  and 
machine-gun  fire.    A  third  bombardment 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


S'M 


followed,  and  this  time  the  Germans 
succeeded  in  gaining  a  trench — or  rather 
what  was  left  of  it — a  local  counter- 
attack failing.  However,  during  the 
night  the  enemy  were  again  driven  out. 
The  trench  by  this  time  being  practically 
non-existent,  the  garrison  found  it  un- 
tenable under  the  very  heavy  shell  fire 
the  enemy  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  and 
the  trench  was  evacuated.  .  Twice  more 
did  the  German  snipers  creep  back  into 
it,  and  twice  more  they  were  ejected. 
Finally,  a  retrenchment  was  made,  cut- 
ting off  the  salient  which  had  been 
contested  throughout  the  day.  It  was 
won  owing  solely  to  the  superior  weight 
and  number  of  the  enemy's  guns,  but 
both  our  infantry  and  our  artillery  took 
a  very  heavy  toll  of  the  enemy,  and  the 
ground  lost  has  proved  of  little  use  to 
the  enemy. 

"  On  the  remainder  of  the  front  the 
day  passed  comparatively  quietly, 
though  most  parts  of  the  line  underwent 
intermittent  shelling  by  guns  of  various 
calibers. 

"  With  the  assistance  of  the  Royal 
Flying  Corps  the  31st  Heavy  Battery 
scored  a  direct  hit  on  a  German  gun,  and 
the  North  Midland  Heavy  Battery  got 
on  to  some  German  howitzers  with  great 
success. 

"  With  the  exception  of  another  very 
heavy  burst  of  shell  fire  against  the  right 
Division  early  in  the  morning  the  12th 
passed  uneventfully. 

"On  the  night  of  the  12th-13th  the 
line  was  reorganized,  the  center  Division 
retiring  into  Army  Reserve  to  rest,  and 
their  places  being  taken  in  the  trenches 
by  the  two  Cavalry  Divisions;  the  Artil- 
lery and  Engineers  of  the  center  Divi- 
sion forming  with  them  what  was  known 
as  the  '  Cavalry  Force,'  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  De  Lisle. 

"  On  the  13th,  the  various  reliefs  hav- 
ing been  completed  without  incident,  the 
heaviest  bombardment  yet  experienced 
broke  out  at  4.30  A.  M.,  and  continued 
with  little  intermission  throughout  the 
day.  At  about  7.45  A.  M.  the  Cavalry 
Brigade  astride  the  railway,  having  suf- 
fered very  severely,  and  their  trenches 
having  been  obliterated,  fell  back  about 
800  yards.     The   North   Somerset  Yeo- 


manry, on  the  right  of  the  Brigade,  al- 
though also  suffering  severely,  hung  ou 
to  their  trenches  throughout  the  day, 
and  actually  advanced  and  attacked  the 
enemy  with  the  bayonet.  The  Brigade 
on  its  right  also  maintained  its  position ; 
as  did  also  the  Cavalry  Division,  except 
the  left  squadron,  which,  when  reduced 
to  sixteen  men,  fell  back.  The  2d  Essex 
Regiment,  realizing  the  situation, 
promptly  charged  and  retook  the  trench, 
holding  it  till  relieved  by  the  cavalry. 
Meanwhile  a  counter-attack  by  two  cav- 
alry brigades  was  launched  at  2.30  P.  M., 
and  succeeded,  in  spite  of  very  heavy 
shrapnel  and  rifle  fire,  in  regaining  the 
original  line  of  trenches,  turning  out 
the  Germans  who  had  entered  it,  and 
in  some  cases  pursuing  them  for  some 
distance.  But  a  very  heavy  shell  fire 
was  again  opened  on  them,  and  they 
were  again  compelled  to  retire  to  an 
irregular  line  in  rear,  principally  the 
craters  of  shell  holes.  The  enemy  in 
their  counter-attack  suffered  very  severe 
losses. 

"  The  fighting  in  other  parts  of  the 
line  was  little  less  severe.  The  1st  East 
Lancashire  Regiment  were  shelled  out  of 
their  trenches,  but  their  support  com- 
pany and  the  2d  Essex  Regiment,  again 
acting  on  their  own  initiative,  won  them 
back.  The  enemy  penetrated  into  the 
farm  at  the  north-east  corner  of  the  line, 
but  the  1st  Rifle  Brigade,  after  a  severe 
struggle,  expelled  them.  The  1st  Hamp- 
shire Regiment  also  repelled  an  attack, 
and  killed  every  German  who  got  within 
fifty  yards  of  their  trenches.  The  5th 
London  Regiment,  despite  very  heavy 
casualties,  maintained  their  position  im- 
falteringly.  At  the  southern  end  of  the 
line  the  left  brigade  was  once  again 
heavily  shelled,  as  indeed  was  the  whole 
front.  At  the  end  of  a  very  hard  day's 
fighting,  our  line  remained  in  its  former 
position,  with  the  exception  of  the  short 
distance  lost  by  one  cavalry  division. 
Later,  the  line  was  pushed  forward,  and 
a  new  line  was  dug  in  a  less  exposed  po- 
sition, slightly  in  rear  of  that  originally 
held.     The  night  passed  quietly. 

"  Working  parties  of  from  1,200  to 
1,800  men  have  been  found  every  night 
by  a  Territorial  Division  and  other  units 


900 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


for  work  on  rear  lines  of  defence,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  work  performed  by  the 
garrisons  in  reconstructing  the  front  line 
trenches  which  were  daily  destroyed  by 
shell  fire. 

"  The  work  performed  by  the  Royal 
Flying  Corps  has  been  invaluable.  Apart 
from  the  hostile  aeroplanes  actually  de- 
stroyed, our  airmen  have  prevented  a 
great  deal  of  aerial  reconnaissance  by 
the  enemy,  and  have  registered  a  large 
number  of  targets  with  our  artillery. 

"  There  have  been  many  cases  of  in- 
dividual gallantry.  As  instances,  may 
be  given  the  following: 

"  During  one  of  the  heavy  attacks 
made  against  our  infantry  gas  was  seen 
rolling  forward  from  the  enemy's 
trenches.  Private  Lynn,  of  the  2d  Lan- 
cashire Fusiliers,  at  once  rushed  to  the 
machine-gun  without  waiting  to  adjust 
his  respirator.  Single-handed  he  kept 
his  gun  in  action  the  whole  time  the  gas 
was  rolling  over,  actually  hoisting  it  on 
the  parapet  to  get  a  better  field  of  fire. 
Although  nearly  suffocated  by  the  gas, 
he  poured  a  stream  of  lead  into  the  ad- 
vancing enemy  and  checked  their  attack. 
He  was  carried  to  his  dug-out,  but,  hear- 
ing another  attack  was  imminent,  he 
tried  to  get  back  to  his  gun.  Twenty- 
four  hours  later  he  died  in  great  agony 
from  the  effects  of  the  gas. 

"  A  young  subaltern  in  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment went  forward  alone  one  afternoon 
to  reconnoiter.  He  got  into  a  wood 
1,200  yards  in  front  of  our  lines,  which 
he  found  occupied  by  Germans,  and 
came  back  with  the  information  that  the 
enemy  had  evacuated  a  trench  and  were 
digging  another  —  information  which 
proved  most  valuable  to  the  artillery  as 
well  as  to  his  own  unit. 

"  A  patrol  of  two  officers  and  a  non- 
commissioned officer  of  the  1st  Cam- 
bridgeshires  went  out  one  night  to  re- 
connoiter a  German  trench  350  yards 
away.  Creeping  along  the  parapet  of  the 
trench  they  heard  sounds  indicating  the 
presence  of  six  or  seven  of  the  enemy. 
Further  on  they  heard  deep  snores  ap- 
parently proceeding  from  a  dug-out  im- 
mediately beneath  them.  Although  they 
knew  that  the  garrison  of  the  trench 
outnumbered  them  they  decided  to  pro- 


cure an  identification.  Unfortunately  in 
pulling  out  a  clasp  knife  with  which  to 
cut  off  the  sleeper's  identity  disc,  one  of 
the  officer's  revolvers  went  off.  A  con- 
versation in  agitated  whispers  broke  out 
in  the  German  trench,  but  the  patrol 
crept  safely  away,  the  garrison  being  too 
startled  to  fire. 

"  Despite  the  very  severe  shelling  to 
which  the  troops  had  been  subjected, 
which  obliterated  trenches  and  caused 
very  many  casualties,  the  spirit  of  all 
ranks  remains  excellent.  The  enemy's 
losses,  particularly  on  May  10  and  13, 
have  unquestionably  been  serious.  On 
the  latter  day  they  evacuated  trenches 
(in  face  of  the  cavalry  counter-attack) 
in  which  were  afterwards  found  quanti- 
ties of  equipment  and  some  of  their  own 
wounded.  The  enemy  have  been  seen 
stripping  our  dead,  and  on  three  occa- 
sions men  in  khaki  have  been  seen  ad- 
vancing." 

JOINT  BRITISH  AKD  FRENCH 
ATTACKS 

The  fight  went  on  by  the  exchange  of 
desultory  shell  and  rifle  fire,  but  without 
any  remarkable  incident  until  the  morji- 
ing  of  May  24.  During  this  period,  how- 
ever, the  French  on  our  left  had  attained 
considerable  success.  On  May  15  they 
captured  Steenstraate  and  the  trenches 
in  Het  Sas,  and  on  May  16  they  drove 
the  enemy  headlong  over  the  canal,  find- 
ing 2,000  German  dead.  On  May  17 
they  made  a  substantial  advance  on  the 
east  side  of  the  canal,  and  on  May  20 
they  repelled  a  German  counter-attack, 
making  a  further  advance  in  the  same 
direction,  and  taking  100  prisoners. 

On  the  early  morning  of  May  24  a 
violent  outburst  of  gas  against  nearly  the 
whole  front  was  followed  by  heavy  shell 
fire,  and  the  most  determined  attack  was 
delivered  against  our  position  east  of 
YpreSf 

The  hour  the  attack  commenced  was 
2.45  A.  M.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
men  were  asleep,  and  the  attack  was  too 
sudden  to  give  them  time  to  put  on  their 
respirators. 

The  2d  Royal  Irish  and  the  9th  Argyll 
and  Sutherland  Highlanders,  overcome 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


901 


by  gas  fumes,  were  driven  out  of  a  farm 
held  in  front  of  the  left  Division,  and 
this  the  enemy  proceeded  to  hold  and 
fortify. 

All  attempts  to  retake  this  farm  dur- 
ing the  day  failed,  and  during  the  night 
of  May  24-25  the  General  Officer  Com- 
manding the  left  Division  decided  to 
take  up  a  new  line  which,  although 
slightly  in  rear  of  the  old  one,  he  con- 
sidered to  be  a  much  better  position. 
This  operation  was  successfully  carried 
out. 

Throughout  the  day  the  whole  line  was 
subjected  to  one  of  the  most  violent  ar- 
tillery attacks  which  it  had  ever  under- 
gone ;  and  the  5th  Corps  and  the  Cavalry 
Divisions  engaged  had  to  fight  hard  to 
maintain  their  positions.  On  the  follow- 
ing day,  however,  the  line  was  consoli- 
dated, joining  the  right  of  the  French 
at  the  same  place  as  before,  and  passing 
through  Wieltje  (which  was  strongly 
fortified)  in  a  southerly  direction  on  to 
Hooge,  where  the  cavalry  have  since 
strongly  occupied  the  chateau,  and 
pushed  our  line  further  east. 

In  pursuance  of  a  promise  which  I 
made  to  the  French  Commander-in-Chief 
to  support  an  attack  which  his  troops 
were  making  on  May  9  between  the  right 
of  my  line  and  Arras,  I  directed  Sir 
Douglas  Haig  to  carry  out  on  that  date 
an  attack  on  the  German  trenches  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Rougebanc  (north-west 
of  Fromelles)  by  the  4th  Corps,  and  be- 
tween Neuve  Chapelle  and  Givenchy  by 
the  1st  and  Indian  Corps. 

The  bombardment  of  the  enemy's  posi- 
tions commenced  at  5  A.  M. 

Half  an  hour  later  the  8th  Division  of 
the  4th  Corps  captured  the  first  line  of 
German  trenches  about  Rougebanc,  and 
some  detachments  seized  a  few  localities 
beyond  this  line.  It  was  soon  found, 
however;  that  the  position  was  much 
stronger  than  had  been  anticipated  and 
that  a  more  extensive  artillery  prepara- 
tion was  necessary  to  crush  the  resist- 
ance offered  by  his  numerous  fortified 
posts. 

Throughout  May  9  and  10  repeated 
efforts  were  made  to  make  further  prog- 
ress. Not  only  was  this  found  to  be  im- 
possible, but  the  violence  of  the  enemy's 


machine-gun  fire  from  his  posts  on  the 
flanks  rendered  the  captured  trenches  so 
difficult  to  hold  that  all  the  units  of  the 
4th  Corps  had  to  retire  to  their  original 
position  by  the  morning  of  May  10. 

GENERAL  PLAN  OF  ATTACK 

The  1st  and  Indian  Divisions  south  of 
Neuve  Chapelle  met  with  no  greater  suc- 
cess, and  on  the  evening  of  May  10  I 
sanctioned  Sir  Douglas  Haig's  proposal 
to  concentrate  all  our  available  resources 
on  the  southern  point  of  attack. 

The  7th  Division  was  moved  round 
from  the  4th  Corps  area  to  support  this 
attack,  and  I  directed  the  General  Officer 
Commanding  the  First  Army  to  delay  it 
long  enough  to  insure  a  powerful  and 
deliberate  artillery  preparation. 

The  operations  of  May  9  and  10 
formed  part  of  a  general  plan  of  attack 
which  the  Allies  were  conjointly  con- 
ducting on  a  line  extending  from  the 
north  of  Arras  to  the  south  of  Armen- 
tieres;  and,  although  imimediate  progress 
was  not  made  during  this  time  by  the 
British  forces,  their  attack  assisted  in 
securing  the  brilliant  successes  attained 
by  the  French  forces  on  their  right,  not 
only  by  holding  the  enemy  in  their  front, 
but  by  drawing  off  a  part  of  the  German 
reinforcements  which  were  coming  up  to 
support  their  forces  east  of  Arras. 

On  May  15  I  moved  the  Canadian  Di- 
vision into  the  1st  Corps  area  and  placed 
them  at  the  disposal  of  Sir  Douglas 
Haig. 

The  infantry  of  the  Indian  Corps  and 
the  2d  Division  of  the  1st  Corps  ad- 
vanced to  the  attack  of  the  enemy's 
trenches  which  extended  from  Riche- 
bourg  L'Avoue  in  a  south-westerly  direc- 
tion. 

Before  daybreak  the  2d  Division  had 
succeeded  in  capturing  two  lines  of  the 
enemy's  trenches,  but  the  Indian  Corps 
were  unable  to  make  any  progress  owing 
to  the  strength  of  the  enemy's  defenses 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Richebourg 
L'Avoue. 

BATTLE  OF  FESTUBERT 

At  daybreak  the  7th  Division,  on  the 
night  of  the  2d,  advanced  to  the  attack, 
and  by  7  A.  M.   had  entrenched  them- 


902 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


selves  on  a  line  running  nearly  north 
and  south,  halfway  between  their  origi- 
nal trenches  and  La  Quinque  Rue,  hav- 
ing cleared  and  captured  several  lines  of 
the  enemy's  trenches,  including  a  num- 
ber of  fortified  posts. 

As  it  was  found  impossible  for  the 
Indian  Corps  to  make  any  progress  in 
face  of  the  enemy's  defenses,  Sir  Doug- 
las Haig  directed  the  attack  to  be  sus- 
pended at  this  point  and  ordered  the 
Indian  Corps  to  form  a  defensive  flank. 

The  remainder  of  the  day  was  spent 
in  securing  and  consolidating  positions 
which  had  been  won,  and  endeavoring 
to  unite  the  inner  flanks  of  the  7th  and 
2d  Divisions,  which  were  separated  by 
trenches  and  posts  strongly  held  by  the 
enemy. 

Various  attempts  which  were  made 
throughout  the  day  to  secure  this  object 
had  not  succeeded  at  nightfall  in  driv- 
ing the  enemy  back. 

The  German  communications  leading 
to  the  rear  of  their  positions  were  sys- 
tematically shelled  throughout  the  night. 

About  200  prisoners  were  captured  on 
May  16. 

Fighting  was  resumed  at  daybreak; 
and  by  eleven  o'clock  the  7th  Division 
had  made  a  considerable  advance,  cap- 
turing several  more  of  the  enemy's 
trenches.  The  task  allotted  to  this  Di- 
vision was  to  push  on  in  the  direction 
of  Rue  D'Ouvert,  Chateau  St.  Roch  and 
Canteleux. 

The  2d  Division  was  directed  to  push 
on  when  the  situation  permitted  toward 
the  Rue  de  Marais  and  Violaines. 

The  Indian  Division  was  ordered  to 
extend  its  front  far  enough  to  enable  it 
to  keep  touch  with  the  left  of  the  2d 
Division  when  they  advanced. 

On  this  day  I  gave  orders  for  the  51st 
(Highland)  Division  to  move  into  the 
neighborhood  of  Estaires  to  be  ready  to 
support  the  operations  of  the  First 
Army. 

At  about  noon  the  enemy  was  driven 
out  of  the  trenches  and  posts  which  he 
occupied  between  the  two  Divisions,  the 
inner  flanks  of  which  were  thus  enabled 
to  join  hands. 

By  nightfall  the  2d  and  7th  Divisions 
had   made  good   progress,    the   area   of 


captured  ground  being  considerably  ex- 
tended to  the  right  by  the  successful  op- 
erations  of   the   latter. 

The  state  of  the  weather  on  the  morn- 
ing of  May  18  much  hindered  an  effect- 
ive artillery  bombardment,  and  further 
attacks  had,  consequently,  to  be  post- 
poned. 

Infantry  attacks  were  made  through- 
out the  line  in  the  course  of  the  after- 
noon and  evening,  but,  although  not 
very  much  progress  was  made,  the  line 
was  advanced  to  the  La  Quinque  Rue- 
Bethune  Road  before  nightfall. 

On  May  19  the  7th  and  2d  Divisions 
were  drawn  out  of  the  line  to  rest.  The 
7th  Division  was  relieved  by  the  Ca- 
nadian Division  and  the  2d  Division  by 
the  51st  (Highland)  Division. 

Sir  Douglas  Haig  placed  the  Canadian 
and  51st  Divisions,  together  with  the  ar- 
tillery of  the  2d  and  7th  Divisions,  un- 
der the  command  of  Lieutenant-General 
Alderson,  whom  he  directed  to  conduct 
the  operations  which  had  hitherto  been 
carried  on  by  the  General  Officer  Com- 
manding First  Corps;  and  he  directed 
the  7th  Division  to  remain  in  Army  Re- 
serve. 

During  the  night  of  May  19-20  a  small 
post  of  the  enemy  in  front  of  La  Quin- 
que Rue  was  captured. 

During  the  night  of  May  20-21  the  Ca- 
nadian Division  brilliantly  carried  on 
the  excellent  progress  made  by  the  7th 
Division  by  seizing  several  of  the  ene- 
my's trenches  and  pushing  forward  their 
whole  line  several  hundred  yards.  A 
number  of  prisoners  and  some  machine 
guns  were  captured. 

On  May  22  the  51st  (Highland)  Divi- 
sion was  attached  to  the  Indian  Corps, 
and  the  General  Officer  Commanding  the 
Indian  Corps  took  charge  of  the  opera- 
tions at  La  Quinque  Rue,  Lieutenant- 
General  Alderson  with  the  Canadians 
conducting  the  operations  to  the  north 
of  that  place. 

On  this  day  the  Canadian  Division 
extended  their  line  slightly  to  the  right 
and  repulsed  three  very  severe  hostile 
counter-attacks. 

On  May  24  and  25  the  47th  Division 
(2d  London  Territorial)  succeeded  in 
taking     some     more     of     the     enemy's 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


903 


trenches  and  making  good  the  ground 
gained  to  the  east  and  north. 

I  had  now  reason  to  consider  that  the 
battle,  which  was  commenced  by  the 
First  Army  on  May  9  and  renewed  on 
May  16,  having  attained  for  the  moment 
the  immediate  object  I  had  in  view, 
should  not  be  further  actively  proceeded 
with;  and  I  gave  orders  to  Sir  Douglas 
Haig  to  curtail  his  artillery  attack  and 
to  strengthen  and  consolidate  the  ground 
he  had  won. 

In  the  battle  of  Festubert  above  de- 
scribed the  enemy  was  driven  from  a 
position  which  was  strongly  entrenched 
and  fortified,  and  ground  was  won  on  a 
front  of  four  miles  to  an  average  depth 
of  600  yards. 

The  enemy  is  known  to  have  suffered 
very  heavy  losses,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  battle  785  prisoners  and  ten  machine 
guns  were  captured.  A  number  of  ma- 
chine guns  were  also  destroyed  by  our 
fire. 

During  the  period  under  report  the 
Army  under  my  command  has  taken 
over  trenches  occupied  by  some  other 
French  divisions. 

I  am  much  indebted  to  General  D'Ur- 
bal,  commanding  the  10th  French  Army, 
for  the  valuable  and  efficient  support  re- 
ceived throughout  the  battle  of  Festu- 
bert from  three  groups  of  French  75 
centimetre  guns. 

In  spite  of  very  unfavorable  weather 
conditions,  rendering  observation  most 
difficult,  our  x)wn  artillery  did  excellent 
work  throughout  the  battle. 

As  an  instance  of  the  successful  at- 
tempts to  deceive  the  enemy  in  this  re- 
spect it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  the 
afternoon  of  May  24  a  bombardment  of 
about  an  hour  was  carried  out  by  the 
6th  Division  with  the  object  of  distract- 
ing attention  from  the  Ypres  salient. 

Considerable  damage  was  done  to  the 
enemy's  parapets  and  wire;  and  that 
the  desired  impression  was  produced  on 
the  enemy  is  evident  from  the  German 
wireless  news  on  that  day,  which  stated, 
"  West  of  Lille  the  English  attempts  to 
attack  were  nipped  in  the  bud." 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  again  ex- 
pressing my  warm  appreciation  of  the 
admirable  manner  in  which  all  branches 


of  the  Medical  Services  now  in  the 
field,  under  the  direction  of  Surgeon- 
General  Sir  Arthur  Sloggett,  have  met 
and  dealt  with  the  many  difficult  situa- 
tions resulting  from  the  operations  dur- 
ing the  last  two  months. 

The  medical  units  at  the  front  were 
frequently  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire, 
and  many  casualties  occurred  amongst 
the  officers  of  the  regimental  Medical 
Service.  At  all  times  the  officers,  non- 
commissioned officers  and  men,  and 
nurses  carried  out  their  duties  with  fear- 
less bravery  and  great  devotion  to  the 
welfare  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 

The  whole  organization  of  the  Medical 
Services  reflects  the  highest  credit  on  all 
concerned. 

I  have  once  more  to  call  your  Lord- 
ship's attention  to  the  part  taken  by  the 
Royal  Flying  Corps  in  the  general  prog- 
ress of  the  campaign,  and  I  wish  par- 
ticularly to  mention  the  invaluable  as- 
sistance they  rendered  in  the  operations 
described  in  this  report,  under  the  able 
direction  of  Major-General  Sir  David 
Henderson. 

The  Royal  Flying  Corps  is  becoming 
more  and  more  an  indispensable  factor 
in  combined  operations.  In  co-operation 
with  the  artillery,  in  particular,  there 
has  been  continuous  improvement  both 
in  the  methods  and  in  the  technical  ma- 
terial employed.  The  ingenuity  and 
technical  skill  displayed  by  the  officers 
of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  in  effect- 
ing this  improvement  have  been  most 
marked. 

Since  my  last  dispatch  there  has  been 
a  considerable  increase  both  in  the  num- 
ber and  in  the  activity  of  German  aero- 
planes in  our  front.  During  this  period 
there  have  been  more  than  sixty  combats 
in  the  air,  in  which  not  one  British 
aeroplane  has  been  lost.  As  these  flights 
take  place  almost  invariably  over  or  be- 
hind the  German  lines,  only  one  hostile 
aeroplane  has  been  brought  down  in  our 
territory.  Five  more,  however,  have 
been  definitely  wrecked  behind  their  own 
lines,  and  many  have  been  chased  down 
and  forced  to  land  in  most  unsuitable 
ground. 

In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  hostile 
aircraft,  and  the  great  number  of  anti- 


904 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


aircraft  guns  employed  by  the  enemy, 
air  reconnaissance  has  been  carried  out 
with  regularity  and  accuracy. 

I  desire  to  bring  to  your  Lordship's 
notice  the  assistance  given  by  the  French 
military  authorities,  and  in  particular 
by  General  Hirschauer,  Director  of  the 
French  Aviation  Service,  and  his  assist- 
ants, Colonel  Bottieaux  and  Colonel 
Stammler,  in  the  supply  of  aeronautical 
material,  without  which  the  efficiency  of 
the  Royal  Flying  Corps  would  have 
been  seriously  impaired. 

In  this  dispatch  I  wish  again  to  re- 
mark upon  the  exceptionally  good  work 
done  throughout  this  campaign  by  the 
Army  Service  Corps  and  by  the  Army 
Ordnance  Department,  not  only  in  the 
field,  but  also  on  the  lines  of  communi- 
cation and  at  the  base  ports. 

To  foresee  and  meet  the  requirements 
in  the  matter  of  ammunition,  stores, 
equipment,  supplies,  and  transport  has 
entailed  on  the  part  of  the  officers,  non- 
commissioned officers  and  men  of  these 
services  a  sustained  effort  which  has 
never  been  relaxed  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  and  which  has  been  rewarded 
by  the  most  conspicuous  success. 

The  close  co-operation  of  the  Railway 
Transport  Department,  whose  excellent 
work,  in  combination  with  the  French 
Railway  Staff,  has  ensured  the  regu- 
larity of  the  maintenance  services,  has 
greatly  contributed  to  this  success. 

The  degree  of  efficiency  to  which  these 
services  have  been  brought  was  well 
demonstrated  in  the  course  of  the  second 
battle  of  Ypres. 

The  roads  between  Poperinghe  and 
Ypres,  over  which  transport,  supply  and 
ammunition  columns  had  to  pass,  were 
continually  searched  by  hostile  heavy  ar- 
tillery during  the  day  and  night;  whilst 
the  passage  of  the  canal  through  the 
town  of  Ypres,  and  along  the  roads  east 
of  that  town,  could  only  be  effected  un- 
der most  difficult  and  dangerous  condi- 
tions as  regards  hostile  shell  fire.  Yet, 
throughout  the  whole  five  or  six  weeks 
during  which  these  conditions  prevailed 
the  work  was  carried  on  with  perfect 
order  and  efficiency. 


THE  "NEW"  BRITISH  ARMY 

Since  the  date  of  my  last  report  some 
divisions  of  the  "  New  "  Army  have  ar- 
rived in  this  country. 

I  made  a  close  inspection  of  one  divi- 
sion, formed  up  on  parade,  and  have  at 
various  times  seen  several  units  belong- 
ing to  others. 

These  divisions  have  as  yet  had  very 
little  experience  in  actual  fighting;  but, 
judging  from  all  I  have  seen,  I  am  of 
opinion  that  they  ought  to  prove  a  valu- 
able addition  to  any  fighting  force. 

As  regards  the  infantry,  their  physique 
is  excellent,  whilst  their  bearing  and  ap- 
pearance on  parade  reflects  great  credit 
on  the  officers  and  staffs  responsible  for 
their  training.  The  units  appear  to  be 
thoroughly  well  officered  and  command- 
ed. The  equipment  is  in  good  order  and 
efficient. 

Several  units  of  artillery  have  been 
tested  in  the  firing  line  behind  the 
trenches,  and  I  hear  very  good  reports 
of  them.  Their  shooting  has  been  ex- 
tremely good,  and  they  are  quite  fit  to 
take  their  places  in  the  line. 

The  Pioneer  Battalions  have  created  a 
very  favorable  impression,  the  officers 
being  keen  and  ingenious,  and  the  men 
of  good  physique  and  good  diggers.  The 
equipment  is  suitable.  The  training  in 
field  works  has  been  good,  but,  generally 
speaking,  they  require  the  assistance  of 
Regular  Royal  Engineers  as  regards  lay- 
ing out  of  important  works.  Man  for 
man  in  digging  the  battalions  should  do 
practically  the  same  amount  of  work  as 
an  equivalent  number  of  sappers,  and  in 
riveting,  entanglements,  etc.,  a  great  deal 
niore  than  the  ordinary  infantry  bat- 
talions. 

During  the  months  of  April  and  May 
several  divisions  of  the  Territorial  Force 
joined  the  Army  under  my  command. 

Experience  has  shown  that  these 
troops  have  now  reached  a  standard  of 
efficiency  which  enables  them  to  be  use- 
fully employed  in  complete  divisional 
units. 

Several  divisions  have  been  so  em- 
ployed; some  in  the  trenches,  others  in 
the  various  offensive  and  defensive 
operations  reported  in  this  dispatch. 


BATTLES   IN    THE    WEST 


905 


In  whatever  kind  of  work  these  units 
have  been  engaged,  they  have  all  borne 
an  active  and  distinguished  part,  and 
have  proved  themselves  thoroughly  re- 
liable and  efficient. 

The  opinion  I  have  expressed  in  for- 
mer dispatches  as  to  the  use  and  value 
of  the  Territorial  Force  has  been  fully 
justified  by  recent  events. 

The  Prime  Minister  was  kind  enough 
to  accept  an  invitation  from  me  to  visit 
the  Army  in  France,  and  arrived  at  my 
Headquarters  on  May  30. 

Mr.  Asquith  made  an  exhaustive  tour 
of  the  front,  the  hospitals  and  all  the 
administrative  arrangements  made  by 
Corps  Commanders  for  the  health  and 
comfort  of  men  behind  the  trenches. 

It  was  a  great  encouragement  to  all 
ranks  to  see  the  Prime  Minister  amongst 
them;  and  the  eloquent  words  which  on 
several  occasions  he  addressed  to  the 
troops  had  a  most  powerful  and  bene- 
ficial effect. 

As  I  was  desirous  that  the  French 
Commander-in-Chief  should  see  some- 
thing of  the  British  troops,  I  asked  Gen- 
eral Joffre  to  be  kind  enough  to  inspect 
a  division  on  parade. 

The  General  accepted  my  invitation, 
and  on  May  27  he  inspected  the  7tK  Di- 
vision, under  the  command  of  Major- 
General  H.  de  la  P.  Gough,  C.B.,  which 
was  resting  behind  the  trenches. 

General  Joffre  subsequently  expressed 
to  me  in  a  letter  the  pleasure  it  gave 
him  to  see  the  British  troops,  and  his 
appreciation  of  their  appearance  on  pa- 
rade. He  requested  me  to  make  this 
known  to  all  ranks. 


The  Moderator  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Wallace  Will- 
iamson, Dean  of  the  Order  of  the 
Thistle,  visited  the  Army  in  France  be- 
tween May  7  and  17,  and  made  a  tour  of 
the  Scottish  regiments  with  excellent 
results. 

In  spite  of  the  constant  strain  put 
upon  them  by  the  arduous  nature  of  the 
fighting  which  they  are  called  upon  to 
carry  out  daily  and  almost  hourly,  the 
spirit  which  animates  all  ranks  of  the 
Army  in  France  remains  high  and  con- 
fident. 

They  meet  every  demand  made  upon 
them  with  the  utmost  cheerfulness. 

This  splendid  spirit  is  particularly 
manifested  by  the  men  in  hospital, 
even  amongst  those  who  are  mortally 
wounded. 

The  invariable  question  which  comes 
from  lips  hardly  able  to  utter  a  sound  is, 
"  How  are  things  going  on  at  the  front  ? " 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  bring  to 
your  Lordship's  special  notice  the  valu- 
able services  rendered  by  General  Sir 
Douglas  Haig  in  his  successful  handling 
of  the  troops  of  the  First  Army  through- 
out the  Battle  of  Festubert,  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General  Sir  Herbert  Plumer  for 
his  fine  defence  of  Ypres  throughout  the 
arduous  and  difficult  operations  during 
the  latter  part  of  April  and  the  month 
of  May.  • 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  Lordship's 
most  obedient  servant, 

J.  D.  P.  FRENCH, 
Field-Marshal,  Commanding-in- 

Chief,  the  British  Army  in  France. 


France's  "Eyewitness"  Reports 


HILGENFIRST 

The  following  details  published  in 
Paris  on  July  11  hy  an  official  "  Eye- 
witness "  with  the  French  army  of  the 
desperate  fighting  which  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  the  summit  of  Hilgenfirst, 
more  than  3,000  feet  high,  in  the  Lang- 
enfeldJcopf  region,  in  the  Vosges  Moun- 


tains, are  given  in  an  account  of  the 
struggle  written  hy  an  official  eyewitness 
with  the  French  army. 

In  the  fight  for  the  capture  of  the 
eminence  of  Hilgenfirst,  one  company 
of  our  advance  guard  which  forced  a 
breach  in  the  German  lines  was  cut  off 
from   its   battalion   as  the  result  of   a 


906 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


German  counter-attack.  This  com- 
pany, nevertheless,  succeeded  in  main- 
taining the  conquered  position  four 
days  until  finally  relieved. 

On  June  14  the  Sixth  Company  of 
the  Seventh  Battalion  crawled  from  its 
trenches  and  deployed  toward  a  clear- 
ing in  the  woods  opposite.  It  then 
charged,  taking  the  German  trenches. 
The  Germans  fled  to  the  woods,  leaving 
a  quick-firer.  Our  men  immediately 
began  fortifying  the  position,  but  our 
sentries  reported  that  German  patrols 
had  been  seen  encircling  the  French. 
Other  companies  were  ordered  forward 
immediately  to  support  the  one  in  the 
trench. 

Meanwhile  large  German  reinforce- 
ments had  been  brought  up,  making  it 
impossible  to  reach  our  men.  The  cap- 
tain in  the  trench,  realizing  that  he  was 
surrounded,  ordered  some  of  his  men  to 
form  a  hollow  square  and  defend  the 
position  while  others  dug  trenches  on 
four  sides.  The  Germans  attacked  in 
great  force  with  quick  firers  and  rifles, 
but  withdrew  at  nightfall  after  a  battle 
lasting  two  hours.  Our  men  defending 
the  position  numbered  137,  including 
five  officers.  One  officer  and  twenty- 
seven  men  were  wounded. 

The  following  day,  despite  a  well- 
directed  fire  from  our  main  positions, 
the  Germans  again  attacked  "in  large 
numbers,  advancing  in  columns  of  four. 
The  situation  now  began  to  look  criti- 
cal, but  at  the  crucial  moment  a  hail 
of  shrapnel  from  our  75.8  completely 
decimated  one  advancing  column. 
The  edge  of  the  wood  out  of  which  the 
column  advanced  was  piled  high  with 
German  bodies  and  the  remainder  of 
the  force  scattered  in  flight. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Germans  again 
prepared  for  an  attack,  but  the  attempt 
was  frustrated  by  our  infantry  fire. 
During  the  night  the  captain  told  off 
men  to  rest  in  squads,  the  others  being 
constantly  on  the  alert.  At  dawn  a 
second  lieutenant  and  a  few  men  sur- 
prised a  small  German  scouting  de- 
tachment of  twenty  men  commanded 
by  a  non-commissioned  officer.  Our 
men    threw   themselves    upon   the    Ger- 


mans, killing  the  officer  and  two  men, 
the  others  taking  to  their  heels  at  top 
speed. 

At  10  o'clock  the  main  body  of  our 
troops  succeeded  in  establishing  com- 
munications with  the  isolated  company 
which  called  for  help  in  the  provincial 
dialect.  We  answered  that  we  would 
attack  at  nightfall,  but  that  the  attack 
would  be  preceded  by  a  heavy  bombard- 
ment. 

Accordingly,  they  constructed  heavy 
bomb-proof  shelters  on  the  four  sides 
of  the  square  and  anxiously  waited. 
At  9  o'clock  the  attack  was  begun  with 
artillery,  quick  firers  and  rifles,  but  it 
was  insufficient  to  drive  out  the  Ger- 
mans, who  had  in  the  meanwhile  estab- 
lished well-protected  trenches  and,  with 
an  excellent  telephone  system,  made  any 
surprise   movement   impossible. 

The  company's  rations  were  now  be- 
coming very  low.  Delirious  cries  of 
the  wounded  added  to  the  discomfiture 
of  the  men.  The  following  morning  a 
German  patrol  tried  to  take  the  posi- 
tion by  storm,  and  some  of  the  men 
succeeded  even  in  mounting  the  para- 
pet. These  were  driven  off  by  a  quick 
firer  which  had  been  captured  from  the 
Geriihans.  On  other  advancing  troops 
of  the  enemy  huge  boulders,  dug  from 
the  hillside,  were  rolled  down  and  we 
succeeded  in  dispersing  the  attack. 

Another  attack  was  prepared  by  us 
for  that  night,  but  the  danger  was 
great  on  account  of  the  narrowness  of 
the  position  occupied  by  the  company. 
The  captain  of  the  company  was  or- 
dered to  light  fires  at  the  opposite  ends 
of  his  position,  so  that  our  artillery 
could  better  regulate  its  fire,  as  there 
was  great  danger  of  killing  our  own 
men. 

The  artillery  opened  a  crushing  fire, 
and  the  Germans  began  to  retreat.  As 
they  passed  the  company's  position 
their  men  were  mowed  down  by  the  ex- 
actness of  the  fire  of  our  troops,  and 
finally  the  brave  company  was  deflivered. 

The  general  in  command  of  the  army 
in  the  Vosges  said,  in  complimenting 
the  men  for  their  bravery,  the  company 
henceforth  should  be  called  "Company 
Sid  Ibrahim." 


BATTLES    IN    THE    WEST 


907 


SCALE  IN  MILE5 


Battle  line  in  the  Vosges,  July  20 


BATTLE   OF   FONTENELLE 

The  official  French  "  Eyewitness  "  at 
the  front  reported  on  July  18  giving 
details  of  the  French  success  in  the 
battle  of  Fontenelle,  in  the  Vosges. 
The  scene  of  the  conflict  is  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  village  of  Senones 
and  the  forest  of  Ormont,  and  the 
ground  is  described  as  undulating  and 
cut  by  deep  ravines. 


It  was  in  this  region,  says  the  ob' 
server,  that  the  Germans,  after  the  battle 
of  the  Marne,  tooh  up  a  position  on  a 
summit  commanding  the  surrounding 
countryside.  This  hill  was  Height  627, 
which  is  Icnown  as  Fontenelle. 

On  June  22,  after  severe  losses,  the 
enemy  succeeded  in  occupying  Fonte- 
nelle, says  the  observer.  Although 
we   counter-attacked   vigorously,   taking 


908 


THE    NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


142  prisoners,  the  enemy  held  the  sum- 
mit. General  Van  Kuderzen,  in  a  re- 
port dated  July  3,  said  that  after  a 
careful  inspection  of  the  German  works 
and  trenches  he  finally  believed  that  the 
hill  had  been  transformed  into  an  im- 
pregnable fortress,  and  that  its  capture 
would  necessitate  tremendous  losses. 

On  July  8  all  necessary  preparations 
for  the  attack  had  been  completed.  The 
same  day,  at  nightfall,  three  columns, 
aided  by  a  remarkably  accurate  artillery 
fire,  took  a  portion  of  the  enemy's 
trenches.  In  the  center  we  also  attacked, 
forcing  the  enemy  to  the  west  of  Lau- 
nois  in  ten  minutes.  The  attack  on  the 
left  proceeded  more  slowly,  but,  aided 
by  gathering  darkness,  we  took  possession 
of  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  hill. 

At  daybreak  not  only  the  whole  of  the 
summit  had  been  retaken,  but  a  major- 
ity of  the  German  defenses  as  far  as 
the  road  from  Launois  to  Moyen-Mou- 
tier.  Thanks  to  our  artillery,  all 
preparations  for  countor-attacks  were 
immediately  stopped. 

During  the  battles  of  July  8  and  9 
we  took  881  prisoners,  including  21  of- 
ficers. When  questioned  the  prisoners 
gave  great  praise  to  our  excellent  artil- 
lery marksmanship,  saying :  "  We  did 
not  believe  there  could  be  such  a  hell 
of  fire." 

BETWEEN  BETHUNE  AND  AKKAS 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  dated 
■  on  the  heights,  of  Notre  Dame  de  Lor- 
ette,  near  Arras,  July  10,  gave  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  the  120  days'  fight 
ended  successfully  hy  the  use  of  high 
explosives : 

After  fighting  120  days  for  the  hill 
country  between  Bethune  and  Arras, 
the  French  forces  are  in  possession  of 
all  the  eminences  looking  out  upon  the 
plain  of  Flanders.  Lille,  Douai,  and 
Chambrai  all  are  visible  from  here. 

Every  position  along  the  broad  na- 
tional road  between  Arras  and  Bethune 
has  been  won  except  Souchez,  and  last 
night  another  quarter  mile  of  trenches 
in  the  Souchez  web  was  torn  away. 
The  attack  was  made  under  parachute 


rocket  lights,  the  French  burning  blu- 
ish white  and  the  Germans  greenish 
white,  covering  the  scene  of  the  des- 
perate conflict  with  a  ghastly  glow. 

The  most  desperate  fighting  has  been 
along  the  short  ten-mile  front  from  Ar- 
ras to  Aix-Noulette,  which  began 
March  9  with  the  taking  of  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  of  trenches  on  the  watershed 
of  Notre  Dame  de  Lorette,  where  there 
are  the  ruins  of  an  old  Merovingian 
military  road.  Every  day  since  then 
some  section  of  the  German  trenches 
has  been  taken,  lost,  or  retaken. 

Each  side  has  been  employing  formid- 
able artillery  both  of  small  and  heavy 
calibre,  the  French  guns  being  some- 
what more  numerous  and  served  with 
imlimited  quantities  of  high  explosive 
shells. 

A  correspondent  of  The  Associated 
Press  today  went  through  five  or  six 
miles  of  the  trenches  formerly  held  by 
the  Germans  and  reconstructed  by  the 
French,  who  now  have  abandoned  them 
to  move  forward.  Upward  of  100,000 
Germans  have  fallen  or  been  captured 
in  these  trenches,  according  to  the 
French  ofiicial  count,  since  the  second 
week  of  March.  The  French  losses,  the 
correspondent  was  confidentially  in- 
formed, while  serious,  have  been  much 
smaller  than  those  of  the  Germans. 
There  are  thickets  of  little  crosses  made 
of  twigs  tied  together,  marking  the 
graves  between  the  trenches.  Some  of 
these  graves  have  been  torn  up  by  the 
shell  fire. 

Almost  every  square  yard  of  this  re- 
gion is  marked  by  miniature  craters 
caused  by  exploding  shells.  Spots 
where  shells  penetrated  the  earth  with- 
out exploding  are  indicated  by  signs 
bearing  the  words  "Live  Shell." 

One  line  of  the  German  works  was 
just  below  the  summit  of  a  steep  slope 
which,  from  the  nature  of  the  ground, 
could  not  be  shelled  without  danger  to 
the  French  position  a  little  higher  up. 
The  Germans  were  sheltered  in  dugouts 
under  the  hillside,  and  their  French 
assailants,  sliding  or  jumping  down 
into  the  trenches,  were  shot  or  bayon- 
eted from  caves.  The  line  was  finally 
taken  by  tossing  grenades  by  the  has- 


BATTLES    IN    THE    WEST 


909 


ketful  into  the  trenches  until  most  of 
the  defenders  in  the  concaved  shelters 
were  killed  or  wounded.  Every  curve 
or  angle  in  the  miles  of  labyrinthine 
cuttings  has  its  story  of  tragedy  and 
heroism. 

In  the  party  which  went  over  this 
ground  and  into  the  firing  trenches 
within  calling  distance  of  the  German 
lines  with  The  Associated  Press  cor- 
respondent were  Owen  Johnson,  Arnold 
Bennett,  Walter  Hale  and  George  H. 
Mair,  the  last  representing  the  British 
Foreign  Office.  As  they  approached  the 
lines  one  shell  from  a  four-inch  gun 
burst  within  twenty-five  yards  of  them, 
while  others  exploded  only  thirty  or 
forty  yards  away.  This  incident  seemed 
greatly  to  amuse  the  soldiers  in  the 
trenches,  who  laughed  heartily  at  the 
embarrassment  of  the  civilians. 

The  visitors  were  invited  by  the  sol- 
diers into  their  shelters,  which  are  dry 
caves  with  narrow  entrances  and  with 
clay  floors  covered  with  matting  or 
sacking  and  faintly  illuminated  by  the 
light  which  filters  in  from  the  entrance 
or  by  bits  of  candle  on  the  inside.  Men 
who  had  been  on  duty  throughout  the 
night  were  sleeping  in  these  caves. 

The  men  on  the  firing  line  express  the 
utmost  confidence  that  what  was  done 
yesterday  and  this  morning  they  can 
keep  on  doing  until  the  war  has  been 
won.  They  never  hear  the  vague,  un- 
verified reports  circulated  in  Paris, 
sometimes  of  tremendous  and  impossi- 
ble victories,  sometimes  sinister  hints 
of  disaster.  They  know  what  they  have 
done  since  March  9,  when  they  were 
ordered  to  act  on  this  part  of  the  Aisne. 
They  talk  as  a  matter  of  course  of  an- 
other winter  campaign,  because,  they 
say,  it  will  take  another  year  to  break 
the  German  power. 

AKKAS'  GRASS-GEOWN  STREETS 

All  Associated  Press  dispatch  of  July 
9  from  Arras  via  Paris  reads: 

Shells  have  been  dropping  into  Arras 
at  intervals  today,  as  they  have  been 
for  250  days.  Each  twenty-four  hours 
a  few  more  buildings  crumple  or  burn, 
although  the  Fire  Department  still  is 
efficient  in  extinguishing  flames. 


One  thousand  civilians  out  of  a  for- 
mer population  of  35,000  are  still  here. 
There  were  4,000  in  December  when 
The  Associated  Press  correspondent 
first  visited  the  town.  A  few  scores  of 
the  inhabitants  have  been  killed  or 
wounded,  while  the  others  have  been 
persuaded  by  the  military  authorities 
to  go  away.  None  of  those  remaining 
thinks  of  sleeping  anywhere  except  in 
a  cellar.  The  rest  of  their  time  they 
spend  out  of  doors,  when  no  shells  are 
falling. 

The  streets,  which  formerly  were 
filled  with  traffic,  are  now  grassgrown. 
Two  postmen  deliver  the  mail,  which 
comes  regularly  once  a  day  by  military 
post.  Several  shops  located  under- 
ground are  open  for  business.  Dis- 
played on  cellar  doors  are  baskets  of 
fresh  vegetables,  which  can  be  bought 
at  about  the  same  prices  as  in  Paris. 
Inside  the  principal  grocery  are  many 
standard  brands  of  American,  French, 
and  British  canned  goods. 

About  half  the  outer  walls  of  the 
beautiful  City  Hall  are  still  standing, 
but  there  remains  only  one  .jagged  cor- 
ner of  the  imposing  belfry  which  once 
adorned  the  great  square  of  Arras.  A 
citizen  occupying  a  cellar  on  the  other 
side  of  the  square  counted  the  shells 
which  struck  the  belfry,  and  says  it 
took  360  to  shatter  the  beautiful  bit  of 
architecture. 

ARRAS  CATHEDRAL 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
Paris   dated  July  13   reports: 

Since  June  27  the  Germans  have  sys- 
tematically bombarded  various  parts  of 
Arras  with  projectiles  of  all  calibres, 
says  an  official  communication  given 
out  today  by  the  French  War  Depart- 
ment. 

On  June  27  the  bombardment  was 
extremely  violent  and  was  executed  by 
six-inch,  eight-inch  and  seventeen-inch 
guns,  between  the  hours  of  8  A.  M.  and 
2  P.  M.,  and  between  6  P.  M.  and  7 :30 
P.  M.  The  fire  was  directed  particu- 
larly at  the  citadel  and  neighboring 
streets. 

On  July  3,  toward  6:30  o'clock  in  the 


910 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


evening,  a  further  bombardment  took 
place  in  which  incendiary  shells  were 
used,  and  they  started  a  most  violent 
fire. 

On  July  5  at  4:30  P.M.,  the  state- 
ment continues,  the  enemy  recom- 
menced its  bombardment  of  the  city, 
concentrating  its  fire  upon  the  environs 
of  the  cathedral,  more  especially  upon 
St.  Vaast,  the  ancient  Bishop's  palace, 
which  had  been  transformed  into  a  mu- 
seum. Incendiary  shells  set  the  build- 
ing on  fire,  and  the  use  of  fuse  shells 
from  three-inch  and  four-inch  guns 
prevented  our  organizing  to  combat  the 
fire,  which  soon  assumed  great  propor- 
tions and  completely  destroyed  the  pal- 
ace. During  the  night  there  was  an 
intermittent   bombardment. 

On  July  6,  about  7  A.  M.,  shells  fell 
on  the  Cathedral,  the  roof  of  which 
took  fire,  and,  despite  the  efforts  of  our 
troops,  was  entirely  consumed,  as  were 
the  Cathedral  organs. 

The  departmental  archives,  which 
had  been  deposited  in  the  Palace  of  St. 
Vaast,  had  been  placed  in  the  cellar  of 
the  palace  before  the  bombardment  and 
were  saved.  The  sacred  ornaments  and 
part  of  the  furnishings  in  the  Cathedral 
were  removed. 

IN  THE  FECHT  VALLEY 

The  French  official  "  Eyewitness  "  re- 
ported on  July  15  the  French  victory  in 
the  hattle  of  Metzeral  in  upper  Alsace,  as 
follows: 

The  operations  by  which  our  troops 
captured  the  towns  of  Metzeral  and  Son- 
dernach,  which  are  situated  in  the  Fecht 
Valley,  have  been  remarkable  because 
of  the  means  employed  and  the  results 
obtained,  and  as  the  Alpine  troops  have 
been  forced  to  surmount  all  possible 
difficulties. 

Metzeral,  the  eyewitness  explains,  is 
situated  in  a  valley  surrounded  hy  high 
hills,  the  sides  of  which  dropped  pre- 
cipitously down  to  the  Fecht  region. 
On  these  hills  was  stationed  artillery, 
to  the  rear  of  which,  within  easy  ac- 
cess, large  reinforcements  could  he 
massed  and  brought  to  the  front  when 
needed.     He  continued: 


From  prisoners  we  learned  that  the 
Germans  considered  their  position  im- 
pregnable. It  was  surrounded  by  sev- 
eral lines  of  trenches  and  barbed  wire 
entanglements.  We  made  long  prepa- 
rations for  the  attack,  concentrating 
troops  and  bringing  supplies  up  the 
Vosges  through  winding,  narrow,  and 
hastily  constructed  roads,  twenty  miles 
in  length.  New  trenches  were  dug, 
mines  laid,  and  various  other  details 
attended  to. 

On  June  15,  after  prolonged  and 
heavy  artillery  fire  on  both  sides  of  the 
valley,  the  attack  was  begun  against 
Hill  830,  on  which  we  captured  trenches 
situated  on  the  slopes,  taking  two  com- 
panies prisoners.  A  portion  of  the 
trenches  on  Braunkopf  also  fell  into 
our  hands. 

At  Eichwald  we  gained  less,  as  here 
the  German  fortifications  were  strong- 
est. At  Anlass,  also,  although  many 
grenades  were  thrown,  the  fortifications 
were  of  such  a  character  as  to  make  it 
impossible  to  break  through. 

On  the  day  following  the  attack  was 
resumed,  with  the  purpose  of  gaining 
us  all  the  positions  on  Braunkopf  and 
Hill  830.  We  began  at  this  point  to 
encircle  Eichwald,  as  the  road  to 
Metzeral  *now  lay  open.  The  Germans 
remained  at  Anlass,  where  our  attack 
always  stopped,  and  with  their  fire 
across  the  valley  on  Braunkopf  made  it 
impossible    for    us    to    proceed. 

All  our  efforts  were  now  concentrated 
on  Anlass.  We  attacked  on  June  18 
and  19,  and  on  the  20th  the  Germnn 
positions  fell  into  our  hands.  Our 
troops  continued  on  down  the  valley, 
capturing  6  officers,  11  non-commissioned 
officers,  and  140  men. 

An  attack  directed  at  the  same  time 
against  Winterhagel,  situated  to  the 
south  of  Anlass,  was  marked  by  a  sad 
incident.  A  small  group  of  chasseurs 
who  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the 
barbed-wire  entanglements  found  them- 
selves under  a  crossfire  of  quick-firers. 
The  men  tried  to  construct  a  shelter 
with  the  tools  they  carried.  The  Ger- 
mans cried  "Surrender !  "  Not  one  man 
answered.  The  quick-fierers  accom- 
plished their  work,   and   the  men   were 


BATTLES    IN    THE    WEST 


911 


found  lying  with  faces  to  the  ground, 
as  if  they  had  dropped  when  drawn  up 
in  line  for  parade. 

Our  attacks  were  now  centred  on  Met- 
zeral.  The  factory  at  Steinbruck  was 
taken  on  the  night  of  June  17,  and  a 
hattalion  entered  Altenkof  the  day  fol- 
lowing. On  June  21  our  men  came 
down  from  Braunkopf,  surrounded  the 
village  on  the  north,  and  took  the  rail- 
way station.  The  Germans  in  Metzeral, 
threatened  with  capture,  placed  quick- 
firers  in  several  houses  to  protect  their 
retreat  and  prepared  to  set  the  place 
on    fire.     Our    artillery   quickly    demol- 


ished the  houses  in  which  German  artil- 
lery had  been  placed,  and  our  troops 
entered  the  flaming  streets  from  the 
north  and  west.  The  village  was 
burned. 

On  the  two  following  nights,  while 
our  troops  harassed  the  retreating 
enemy,  Winterhagel  and  Sondernach 
fell  into  our  hands  and  our  line  was 
established  along  the  length  of  the 
valley  of  the  Fecht  as  far  as  Sondernach. 

The  action  resulted  in  the  capture  of 
20  officers,  53  non-commissioned  officers, 
and  638  men. 


The  Crown  Prince  in  the  Argonne 


An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
Paris  stated  on  June  30  that  the  Ger- 
man attempt  to  divert  the  attention  of 
the  French  from  the  latter's  offensive 
in  the  region  north  of  Arras  has  been 
productive  of  gains  in  the  Argonne, 
where  a  three-days'  bombardment  of  the 
French  trenches  was  followed  by  the 
capture  of  French  positions  near  Baga- 
telle. Elsewhere,  particularly  on  the 
Yser,  to  the  north  of  Arras,  north  of 
Verdun  and  near  Metzeral  in  Alsace, 
there  have  been  artillery  exchanges 
without  notable  results. 

The  dispatch  recorded  the  following 
French  official  communication,  issued 
June  30: 

In  the  Argonne,  after  a  bombard- 
ment lasting  three  days,  the  Germans 
attacked  our  positions  on  the  road  be- 
tween Binarville  and  Le  Four  de  Paris, 
but  were  twice  repulsed.  They  suc- 
ceeded only  in  their  third  attack  in 
gaining  a  foothold  in  some  parts  of  our 
lines  near  Bagatelle,  and  they  were 
everywhere  else  thrown  back  after  a 
violent  engagement. 

There  has  been  a  bombardment  on 
the  front  north  of  Verdun,  in  the  Bois 
d'Ailly,  as  well  as  in  the  region  of 
Metzeral. 

On  July  4  Berlin's  official  report  said: 

In    the    Argonne    the    Germans    con- 


tinue their  offensive.  Our  booty  has 
increased  considerably,  and  amounted 
on  July  1  and  2  to  2,556  prisoners — 
among  them  37  officers — 25  machine 
guns,  72  mine  throwers,  and  one  re- 
volver gun. 

It  was  reported  from  London  on  July 
14  that  the  attach  of  the  German  Crown 
Prince's  army  in  the  Argonne,  h-aving 
for  its  objective  the  investment  of  the 
French  forts  of  the  Verdun  area,  had 
resulted  in  an  advance  of  two-thirds  of 
a  mile  and  the  capture  of  2,581  pris- 
oners and  several  pieces  of  artillery, 
according  to  German  official  reports. 
A  communique  issued  in  Paris,  while 
admitting  the  German  success,  asserts 
that  noivhere  did  the  assailants  gain 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  an- 
nounces that  the  Crown  Prince's  offen- 
sive had  been  definitely  checked. 

Following  is  the  text  of  the  German 
official  statement  of  July  14: 

In  the  Argonne  a  German  attack 
resulted  in  complete  success  northeast 
of  Vienne-le-Chateau.  Our  troops  took 
by  storm  the  enemy  positions  in  the 
hills  extending  over  a  width  of  three 
kilometers  (about  a  mile  and  three- 
quarters)  and  a  depth  of  one  kilometer. 
Hill  No.  285,  La  Fille  Morte,  is  in  our 
possession.  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
and  eighty-one  uninjured  prisoners,  in- 
cluding fifty-one  officers,   fell   into   our 


912 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


hands.  In  addition,  300  wounded  were 
taken  under  our  care.  Two  field  can- 
non, two  revolver  cannon,  six  machine 
guns,  and  a  large  quantity  of  tools 
were  captured.  Our  troops  advanced  as 
far  as  the  positions  of  the  French  artil- 
lery and  rendered  eight  cannon  useless. 
These  are  now  standing  between  the 
French  and  German  lines. 


Scene  of  the  German  Crown  Prince's 
.drive  in  the  Argonne. 

The  official  statement  issued  at  Ber- 
lin on  July  15  says: 

The  French  made  repeated  attempts 
yesterday,  which  lasted  into  the  night, 
to  recapture  the  positions  we  took  from 
them  in  the  Forest  of  Argonne.  Not- 
withstanding the  employment  of  large 
quantities  of  ammunition  and  of  strong 
forces  recently  brought  up,  all  their 
attacks  broke  down.  In  many  places 
there  was  bitter  fighting  with  hand 
grenades  and  encounters  at  close  quar- 
ters. 

The  enemy  paid  for  his  unsuccessful 
efforts  with  extraordinarily  heavy  losses. 
The  number  of  French  prisoners  has 
been  increased  to  68  officers  and  3,688 
men. 

The  success  of  our  troops  was  all  the 
more  remarkable  as,  according  to  cor- 
responding   statements    made    by    pris- 


oners, the  French  had  prepared  for  a 
great  attack  against  our  positions  on  the 
Argonne  front  on  July  14,  their  national 
festival  day. 

The  text  of  the  German  official  state- 
ment published  July  16  is  as  follows: 

French  attacks  delivered  yesterday 
and  the  day  before  to  the  west  of  the 
Argonne  Forest  failed  in  the  face  of 
the  North  German  Landwehr,  who 
inflicted  large  and  sanguinary  losses 
on  the  enemy  in  bitter  hand-to-hand 
fighting.     We  captured  462  prisoners. 

Since  June  20  our  troops  have  fought 
continually  in  the  Argonne  and  to  the 
west  of  that  forest,  with  the  exception 
of  short  interruptions.  In  addition  to 
the  gain  in  territory  and  booty  in  ma- 
terials a  total  of  116  officers  and  7,009 
French  prisoners  has  been  reached  up 
to  the  present. 

On  our  front  which  joins  the  Ar- 
gonne to  the  east,  lively  artillery  battles 
are  in  progress.  Attacks  made  by  the 
enemy  in  this  region  were  repulsed 
without  difficulty. 

In  a  dispatch  from  Berlin,  dated  July 
16,  hy  Wireless  to  Sayville,  N.  Y.,  it  is 
reported  that  in  the  news  items  given 
out  hy  the  Overseas  News  Agency  was 
the  following : 

German  military  tacticians  point  out 
that  the  German  victory  in  the  Forest 
of  Argonne,  in  France,  is  of  special  im- 
portance, as  it  shows  that  the  connec- 
tions toward  Western  France  are  grad- 
ually being  cut. 

The  large  amount  of  war  materials 
captured  by  the  Germans  in  the  last 
battle  illustrates  the  importance  attrib- 
uted to  the  positions  by  the  French 
commanders.  The  French,  however,  were 
unable  to  resist  the  terrific  offensive  of 
the   Crown  Prince's  army. 


Gallipolf  s   Shambles 

Allied  Operations  Around  the  Turks'  Fortress  of 

Achi  Baba 

The  subjoined  narratives,  official  and  semi-official,  show  clearly  the  formidable  nature  of 
the  Allies'  land  undertaking  in  the  attempt  to  force  the  passage  of  the  Dardanelles.  It  will 
be  noted  that  Compton  Mackenzie,  the  novelist,  has  temporarily  replaced  E.  Ashmead-Bartlett 
as  the  British  press  "eyewitness"  on  the  peninsula,  and  that  General  Sir  Ian  Hamilton's 
reports  have  for  the  first  time  begun  to  appear.  A  notable  sketch  of  his  career  appears  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  for  July  by  the  pen  of  Alfred  G.  Gardiner.  A  poet  and  a  man  of  romantic 
ancestry  and  taste,  experienced  in  commands  in  India,  in  Egypt,  and  in  South  Africa,  General 
Hamilton  was  called  by  the  late  Lord  Roberts  the  ablest  commander  in  the  field.  For  his 
qualities  of  daring  and  inspiration,  as  well  as  for  ills  coolness  in  directing  the  complex  move- 
ments of  the  battlefield,  he  was  chosen  for  this  most  dangerous  and  bloody  of  enterprises  against 
the   German-officered   Turks.* 

Mr.  Mackenzie  estimates  the  losses  of  the  Turks  up  to  June  30  at  not  less  than  70,000. 
Prime  Minister  Asqulth  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  July  1,  announced  that  the  British  naval 
and  military  losses  up  to  May  31  aggregated  38,035  officers  and  men.  Yet  the  great  fortress 
of  Achi  Baba,  by  that  time  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  the  world,  was  untaken  up  to  July  20,  and 
the  French  and  British  Allies  held  but  a  small  corner  of  the  area  to  be  conquered. 

BATTLE  OF  THE  LONGEST  DAY 

By  Compton  Mackenzie 

Authorized    Press   Representative   at   the   Dardanelles. 


Dardanelles,  via  Alexandria, 
June  30,  1915. 

THE  battle  of  the  Fourth  of  June 
ended  with  substantial  progress 
on  our  centre,  although  on  our 
left  and  on  our  right,  nothwith- 
standing  the  most  violent  charges  and 
counter-charges,  we  were  unable  to  con- 
solidate some  of  our  initial  gains.  The 
reason  of  this  may  be  found  in  the 
natural  strongholds  of  the  Turkish 
flanks,  natural  strongholds  that  are 
helped  by  the  most  elaborate  forti- 
fications. 

The  British  and  French  line  from  the 
Aegean  to  the  Dardanelles  is  confronted 
by  rising  ground  that  culminates  in  the 
centre  with  the  flat  summit  of  Achi 
Baba,  800  ft.  high.  On  either  side  the 
ground  falls  away  to  the  sea  in  ravines 
and  dry  watercourses  (deres),  which  the 
Turks  have  had  time  to  make  impreg- 
nable to  any  except  those  superb  troops 
that  are  now  fighting  to  pass  over  them. 

*  His  first  report,  covering  the  actions  from 
March  13,  when  he  left  London,  to  May  20, 
is  here  Emitted  because  other  official  reports 
covering  the  same  period  were  printed  in  the 
June  and  July  numbers  of  Current  History. 


There  is  no  room  upon  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula  to  find  weak  points,  and  we 
are  now  in  the  position  of  having  to 
storm  an  immensely  strong  fortress,  the 
advanced  works  of  which,  by  an  amaz- 
ing feat  of  arms,  we  already  hold,  and 
the  glacis  of  which  has  to  be  crossed 
before  we  move  forward  to  the  assault 
upon  the  bastion  of  Achi  Baba  and  be- 
yond to  the  final  assault  upon  the  very 
walls  of  that  fortress,  the  Kilid  Bahr 
Plateau. 

Farther  up  the  coast  the  Australians 
and  New  Zealanders  have  made  a  lodg- 
ment upon  one  of  the  strongest  ad- 
vanced works  of  the  Kilid  Bahr  Plateau. 
As  seen  from  the  northwest  here  they 
threaten  the  communications  of  the 
"  fortress "  and  are  drawing  against 
them  a  large  part  of  the  garrison.  This 
is  composed  of  the  flower  of  the  Turkish 
Army,  and,  notwithstanding  casualties 
that  must  already  amount  to  70,000,  the 
troops  are  fighting  with  gallantry — with 
desperation,  indeed,  because  they  realize 
that  when  the  bastion  of  Achi  Baba  falls 
the  occupation  of  the  Kilid  Bahr  Pla- 
teau becomes  a  mere  question  of  time. 


914 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


SCALE  OF  MILES 


CRENKEUI 


Map  of  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  showing  the  mountainous  jiature  of  the  terrain,  and 

Achi  Baba. 


and  that  when  Kilid  Bahr  falls  the 
doom  of  Constantinople  is  at  hand.  In 
view  of  the  difficulties — were  it  not  for 
the  landing  one  would  be  tempted  to  say 
the  impossibilities — which  confront  our 
men,  the  gain  of  a  score  of  yards  in  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  may  fairly  represent 
for  the  purposes  of  comparison  a  gain 
of  500  yards  in  the  Western  theatre  of 
war.  Therefore,  to  find  its  importance 
the  gain  of  500  yards  on  June  4  must 
be  measured  with  affairs  like  Neuve 
Chapelle;  and  the  few  quiet  days  that 
succeeded  may  be  accepted  as  repose. 
After  a  violent  effort  on  the  night  of 


June  11  to  12  there  was  a  brilliant 
little  action  by  the  Border  Regiment  and 
the  South  Wales  Borderers  which  re- 
sulted in  the  gain  of  two  trenches.  On 
the  16th  the  enemy,  led  by  a  Turkish 
and  a  German  officer,  made  an  assault 
on  the  trenches  of  the  88th  Brigade, 
but  were  driven  off  with  loss.  However, 
that  night  the  trenches  gained  by  the 
two  regiments  on  the  11th  were  heavily 
bombed,  so  heavily  that  our  men  were 
forced  to  retire  about  30  yards  and  dig 
themselves  in.  At  dawn  we  were  able 
to  enfilade  with  machine-guns  the  va- 
cated trenches. 


GALLIPOLVS   SHAMBLES 


915 


Then  the  Dublin  Fusiliers  charged 
with  the  bayonet,  and  once  more  gave 
us  possession  of  our  gains  at  heavy  cost 
to  the  Turks,  whose  dead  filled  one 
trench. 

On  the  evening  of  the  18th  the  enemy 
bombarded  very  heavily  another  portion 
of  our  trenches  on  this  side  of  the  line. 
They  were  evidently  attempting  in 
miniature  our  own  methods  of  Neuve 
Chapelle  and  June  4,  as  immediately 
after  the  bombardment  they  were  seen 
to  be  massing  for  an  attack.  However, 
the  imitation  ended  rather  abruptly  at 
this  point,  and  the  affair  petered  out. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th  the  Turks 
by  a  fierce  attack,  managed  to  get  into 
an  awkward  salient  which  had  remained 
in  our  hands  after  June  4.  For  some 
time  there  was  great  difficulty  in  re- 
covering this,  but  the  5th  Royal  Scots 
and  a  company  of  the  Worcesters,  led 
by  Lieut.-Colonel  Wilson  of  the  former 
regiment,  made  a  glorious  attack,  and 
drove  out  the  Turks. 

Of  the  Royal  Scots,  one  can  add 
nothing  but  that  they  are  Edinburgh 
Territorials  brought  in  by  the  fortune 
of  war  to  make  the  twelfth  regiment  of 
the  immortal  29th  Division  whose  deeds 
since  April  25  might  have  stirred  the 
ghost  of  Homer  to  sing  their  valour. 

Mention  has  been  made  already  of  the 
difficulties  that  oppose  our  advance  upon 
the  two  flanks.  On  June  21  it  was  de- 
termined to  straighten  the  line  upon 
the  extreme  right,  and  at  1.30  A.M. 
the  preliminary  bombardment  began. 
The  dawn  had  been  clear,  but  soon  a 
curtain  of  silver,  through  which  gleamed 
the  ghost  of  the  rising  sun,  hung  over 
the  Kereves  Dere.  This  was  the  smoke 
of  bursting  shells.  Slowly  as  the  sun 
climbed  up  the  curtain  became  more  sub- 
stantial. Then  it  seemed  to  droop  and 
sweep  along  the  hollows  like  a  vanishing 
mist  of  dawn,  and  during  a  respite  the 
thin  blue  smoke  of  the  bivouac  fires 
came  tranquilly  up  into  the  still  air. 
The  respite  was  very  brief,  and  the  bom- 
bardment began  again  with  greater 
fierceness  than  before.  The  75's 
drummed  unceasingly.  The  reverbera- 
tion of  the  125's  and  of  the  howitzers 
shook   the   observation  post.     Over   the 


Kereves  Dere,  and  beyond,  upon  the 
sloping  shoulders  of  Achi  Baba,  the  cur- 
tain became  a  pall.  The  sun  climbed 
higher  and  higher.  All  that  first  mirage 
of  beauty  had  disappeared,  and  there 
was  nothing  but  the  monstrous  shapes 
of  bursting  shells,  giants  of  smoke  that 
appeared  one  after  another  along  the 
Turkish  lines.  All  through  the  morn- 
ing the  cannonade  went  on. 

By  noon  the  Second  Division  of  the 
French  had  on  the  left  stormed  and 
captured  all  the  Turkish  trenches  of  the 
first  two  lines.  Even  the  Haricot  Re- 
doubt, with  its  damnable  entanglements 
and  its  maze  of  communicating  trenches, 
was  in  French  hands.  On  the  right, 
however,  the  First  Division,  after  reach- 
ing their  objective,  had  been  counter- 
attacked so  effectively  that  they  had 
fallen  back.  Again  they  advanced; 
again  they  took  the  trenches ;  again  they 
were  driven  out.  It  began  to  look  as  if 
the  victory  upon  the  left  would  be  fruit- 
less, that  the  position  would  become  an 
untenable  salient  and  the  Haricot  Re- 
doubt revert  to  the  enemy. 

At  this  moment  a  message  was  sent 
to  say  that  the  trenches  must  be  recap- 
tured, and,  when  recaptured,  held. 
There  were  still  five  hours  of  daylight 
for  this  battle  of  the  longest  day.  Brit- 
ish guns  and  howitzers  were  asked  for 
and  were  lent  at  once.  The  bombard- 
ment was  resumed  throughout  that 
afternoon,  and  at  half-past  five  it 
seemed  as  if  every  gun  on  earth  were 
pouring  shells  on  the  Turkish  lines. 

At  six  o'clock  the  third  assault  was 
delivered.  In  one  trench  there  was  a 
temporary  shortage  of  ammunition,  but 
the  enemy  fought  even  with  stones  and 
sticks  and  fists.  A  battalion  came 
hurrying  up  from  the  Turkish  right  to 
reinforce  it,  was  caught  on  open  ground 
by  the  drummng  75's,  and  it  melted 
away.  Six  hundred  yards  of  Turkish 
trenches  were  taken,  and  still  the  bom- 
bardment was  continued  in  order  to 
ward  oif  the  counter-attack  that  was 
anticipated. 

The  smoke  of  the  shells,  which  at 
dawn  had  been  ethereal,  almost  trans- 
lucent, was  now,  in  the  sunset,  turbid 
and   sinister,    yet   the   suneet   was   very 


916 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


splendid,  flaming  in  crimson  streamers 
over  Imbros,  tinting  the  east  with  rosy 
reflections  and  turning  the  peaks  of 
Asia  to  sapphires.  It  had  a  peculiar 
significance  on  this  longest  day  of  the 
year,  crowning  as  it  did  those  precious 
five  hours  of  daylight  that,  for  the 
French,  had  been  fraught  with  such 
achievement.  Slowly  the  colour  faded 
out,  and  now,  minute  by  minute,  the 
flashes  of  the  guns  became  more  distinct; 
the  smoke  was  merged  in  the  gathering 
dusk,  and  away  over  the  more  distant 
Turkish  lines  the  bursts  of  shrapnel 
came  out  like  stars  against  the  brief 
twilight.  One  knew  the  anxiety  there 
would  be  in  the  darkness  that  now  was 
falling  upon  this  21st  of  June,  but  in 
the  morning  we  heard  gladly  that  the 
enemy's  counter-attacks  had  failed,  and 
that  our  Allies  were  indeed  firmly  estab- 
lished. 

The  Turkish  casualties  were  at  least 
7,000.  One  trench,  200  yards  long  and 
10  feet  deep,  was  brimming  over  with 
the  dead.  They  were  valiant  those  dead 
men.  French  officers  who  have  fought 
in  the  West  say  that,  as  a  fighting  unit, 
one  Turk  is  worth  two  Germans ;  in  fact, 
with  his  back  to  the  wall,  the  Turk  is 
magnificent.  The  French  casualties 
were  marvellously  few  considering  what 
a  day  it  had  been,  what  an  enemy  was 
being  attacked,  and  how  much  had  been 
gained. 

The  right  of  the  line  now  commands 
Kereves  Dere,  and  the  profile  of  Achi 
Baba  seems  to  write  itself  less  solidly 
against  the  sky. 

ATTACK  BY  LAND  AND  SEA 

The  British  Press  Bureau  on  June  30, 
1915,  issued  the  following: 

General  Sir  Ian  Hamilton  reports 
that  the  plan  of  operations  on  the  28th 
was  to  throw  forward  the  left  of  his  line 
south-east  of  Krithia,  pivoting  on  a 
point  about  one  mile  from  the  sea,  and 
after  advancing  on  the  extreme  left  for 
about  half  a  mile  to  establish  a  new  line 
facing  east  on  ground  thus  gained. 
This  plan  entailed  the  capture  in  suc- 
cession of  two  lines  of  the  Turkish 
trenches  east*  of  the  Saghir  Dere,  and 


five  lines  of  trenches  west  of  it.  The 
Australian  Corps  was  ordered  to  co-op- 
erate by  making  a  vigorous  demonstra- 
tion. 

The  action  opened  at  nine  o'clock  with 
a  bombardment  by  heavy  artillery.  The 
assistance  rendered  by  the  French  in 
this  bombardment  was  most  valuable. 

At  10.20  the  Field  Artillery  opened 
fire  to  cut  wire  in  front  of  Turkish 
trenches,  and  this  was  effectively  done. 
The  effect  on  the  enemy's  trench  near 
the  sea  was  great.  The  very  accurate 
fire  of  his  Majesty's  ships  Talbot,  Scor- 
pion and  Wolverine  succeeded  in  keep- 
ing down  his  artillery  fire  from  that 
quarter. 

At  10.45  a  small  Turkish  advanced 
work  in  the  Saghir  Dere  known  as  the 
Boomerang  Redoubt  was  assaulted. 
This  little  fort,  which  was  very  strongly 
sited  and  protected  by  extra  strong  wire 
entanglements,  has  long  been  a  source  of 
trouble.  After  special  bombardment  by 
trench  mortar,  and  while  bombardment 
of  surrounding  trenches  was  at  its 
height,  part  of  the  Border  Regiment  at 
the  exact  moment  prescribed  leapt  from 
their  trenches  as  one  man  like  a  pack  of 
hounds,  and  pouring  out  of  cover  raced 
acrdss,  and  took  the  work  most  bril- 
liantly. 

The  artillery  bombardment  increased 
in  intensity  till  11  A.  M.,  when  the  range 
was  lengthened,  and  infantry  advanced. 
The  infantry  attack  was  carried  out 
with  great  dash  along  the  whole  line. 

West  of  Saghir  Dere  three  lines  of 
trenches  were  captured  with  little  oppo- 
sition. The  trenches  were  full  of  dead 
Turks,  many  buried  by  the  bombard- 
ment, and  one  hundred  prisoners  were 
taken  in  them. 

East  of  the  Ravine  the  Royal  Scots 
made  a  fine  attack,  capturing  the  two 
lines  of  trenches  assigned  to  their  objec- 
tive, but  the  remainder  of  the  Brigade 
on  their  right  met  with  severe  opposi- 
tion and  were  unable  to  get  forward. 

At  11.30  the  Royal  Fusiliers  led  its 
Brigade  in  the  second  phase  of  the  at- 
tack west  of  the  Ravine.  The  Brigade 
advanced  with  great  steadiness  and 
resolution  through  the  trenches  already 
captured,  and  on  across  the  open,  and 


GALLIPOLPS   SHAMBLES 


917 


taking  two  more  lines  of  trenches 
reached  the  objective  allotted  to  them, 
the  Lancashire  Fusiliers  inclining  half- 
right  and  forming  line  to  connect  with 
our  new  position  east  of  the  Ravine. 

The  northernmost  objective  had  now 
been  attained,  but  the  Gurkhas  pressing 
on  under  the  cliffs  captured  an  impor- 
tant knoll  still  further  forward,  actu- 
ally due  west  of  Krithia.  This  they 
fortified  and  held  during  the  night, 
making  our  total  gain  on  the  left  pre- 
cisely one  thousand  yards. 

During  the  afternoon  the  trenches,  a 
small  portion  of  which  remained  uncap- 
tured  on  the  right,  were  attacked,  but  the 
the  enemy  held  on  stubbornly  supported 
by  machine-guns  and  artillery,  and  the 
attacks  did  not  succeed. 

During  the  night  the  enemy  counter- 
attacked the  furthest  trenches  gained, 
but  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  A 
party  of  Turks,  who  penetrated  from 
the  flank  between  two  lines  of  captured 
trenches,  was  subjected  to  machine-gun 
fire  at  daybreak,  suffered  very  heavily, 
and  the  survivors  surrendered. 

Except  for  a  small  portion  of  trench 
already  mentioned,  which  is  still  held  by 
the  enemy,  all  and  more  than  was  hoped 
for  from  operations  has  been  gained. 
On  the  extreme  left  the  line  has  been 
pushed  forward  to  a  specially  strong 
point  well  beyond  the  limit  of  the  ad- 
vance originally  contemplated. 

All  engaged  did  well,  but  certainly 
the  chief  factor  in  the  success  was  the 
splendid  attack  carried  out  by  the  29th 
Division,  whose  conduct  on  this,  as  on 
previous   occasions,   was  beyond  praise. 

AUSTRALIANS  IN  ACTION 

The  British  Press  Bureau  states  on 
July  1  that,  in  continuation  of  his  last 
message  respecting  the  British  advance 
in  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  Sir  Ian 
Hamilton  had  reported  as  follows: 

Further  details  have  now  been  re- 
ceived with  regard  to  the  part  played  by 
the  Australian  and  New  Zealand  Army 
Corps  in  the  operations  of  the  29th.  As 
previously  stated,  the  General  Officer 
Commanding  the  Australian  and  New 
Zealand  Army  Corps  was  instructed  to 


undertake  operations  with  a  view  to  pre- 
venting the  enemy  in  his  front  from 
detaching  troops  to  the  southern  area. 

Between  11.30  A.  M.  and  12  noon  the 
action  was  opened.  His  Majesty's  ships 
Humber,  Pincher,  and  Chelmer  engag- 
ing enemy's  heavy  guns.  At  1  P.  M. 
part  of  the  Second  Light  Horse  Bri- 
gade and  the  Third  Infantry  Brigade 
moved  out  on  the  right  of  the  position, 
advancing  some  700  yards,  when  the 
enemy  was  encountered  in  strength. 
Meanwhile  the  artillery  engaged  the 
enemy's  reserves,  which  were  collecting 
in  the  ravine  opposite  right  centre,  by 
shelling  them  effectively  with  guns  and 
howitzers. 

About  2.30  P.  M.  the  enemy  appeared 
to  be  preparing  a  counter-attack  against 
the  left  of  our  advanced  troops,  but  on 
howitzer  and  machine-gun  fire  being 
turned  on  the  enemy's  attacks  were  eas- 
ily repulsed.  The  retirement  of  the  ad- 
vanced troops  was  begun  at  3  P.  M.,  well 
covered  by  rifle,  machine-gun,  and  artil- 
lery fire,  and  the  troops  were  all  back 
in  the  trenches  between  4.30  and  5.30 
P.M. 

Our  machine-guns  and  artillery  did 
considerable  execution.  Naval  gun  fire 
also  gave  valuable  assistance.  Demon- 
strations made  after  dark  at  8.45  and 
11.30  P.  M.  with  flares,  star  shell,  and 
destroyer  bombardment  were  successful- 
ly carried   out. 

The  Eighth  Corps  report  180  prison- 
ers taken  since  the  morning  of  the  28th, 
namely,  38  of  the  Sixteenth  Regiment, 
139  of  the  Thirty-third  Regiment,  and 
three  of  the  Thirteenth  Regiment.  A 
Circassian  prisoner  carried  a  wounded 
private  of  Royal  Scots  into  our  lines 
under  fire. 

ATTACKED  BY  THE  TURKS 

Sir  Ian  Hamilton  reported,  as  pub- 
lished hy  the  British  Press  Bureau  on 
July  6,  the  following  details  of  the  at- 
tacJc  made  hy  the  Turks  on  the  night 
of  2dth-S0th  June: 

About  2  A.  M.  searchlights  of  His 
Majesty's  ship  Scorpion  discovered  half 
a  Turkish  battalion  advancing  near  the 
sea    north-west    of    Krithia.     Scorpion 


918 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


opened  fire,  and  few  of  the  enemy  got 
away.  Simultaneously  the  enemy  at- 
tacked the  knoll  we  captured  due  west 
of  Krithia,  advancing  from  a  nullah  in 
close  formation  in  several  lines.  The 
attack  came  under  artillery  and  enfilade 
rifle  fire,  and  the  enemy  lost  heavily. 
The  foremost  Turks  got  within  forty 
yards  of  the  parapet,  but  only  a  few 
returned. 

The  Turks  made  several  heavy  bomb 
attacks  during  the  night,  our  troops  be- 
ing twice  driven  back  a  short  distance. 
Early  in  the  morning  we  regained  these 
trenches  by  bayonet  attack,  and  they 
have  since  been  strengthened. 

At  5.30  A.  M.  2,000  Turks,  moving 
from  Krithia  into  the  ravine,  were  scat- 
tered by  machine-gun  fire.  The  opera- 
tions reflect  great  credit  on  the  vigilance 
and  accurate  shooting  of  His  Majesty's 
ship  Scorpion.  The  Turkish  losses  in 
the  nullah  and  ravine  are  estimated  at 
1,500  to  2,000  dead. 

About  10  P.  M.  on  the  30th  of  June- 
the  Turks  again  attacked  with  bombs  a 
portion  of  the  most  northerly  trench 
captured  by  us  on  28th.  An  officer  of 
the  Gurkhas  being  wounded,  not  dan- 
gerously as  it  turned  out,  the  men  be- 
came infuriated,  flung  all  their  bombs 
at  the  enemy,  and  then  charging  down 
out  of  the  trench  used  their  kukris 
for  the  first  time  and  with  excellent 
effect.  About  dawn  the  Turks  once 
more  attempted  an  attack  over  the  open, 
but  nearly  the  whole  of  these  attacking 
forces,  about  half  a  battalion,  were  shot 
down,  and  a  final  bomb  attack,  though 
commenced,  failed  utterly. 

Further  reports  from  Australia  and 
New  Zealand  Corps,  as  to  the  enemy's 
attack  on  29th-30th  on  our  right  flank, 
state  that  the  action  commenced  by 
very  heavy  fire  from  midnight  till  1.30 
A.  M.,  to  which  our  men  only  replied  by 
a  series  of  cheers.  The  Turks  then 
launched  their  attack,  and  came  right  on 
with  bayonet  and  bombs.  Tliose  who 
succeeded  in  getting  into  our  saps  were 
instantly  killed;  the  remainder  were 
dealt  with  by  bomb  and  rifle  fire  from 
the  7th  and  8th  Light  Horse.  By  2 
A.  M.  the  enemy  broke,  and  many  were 
killed  while  withdrawing.     The  enemy's 


attack  was  strongest  on  his  right.  They 
were  completely  taken  aback  by  a  con- 
cealed sap  constructed  well  ahead  of  our 
main  line,  and'  the  dead  are  lying  thick- 
ly in  front  of  this.  Some  got  into  the 
sap  and  several  across  it;  all  these  werb 
wiped  out  by  fire  from  the  main  para- 
pet farther  back. 

Following  the  defeat  of  this  attack, 
the  enemy  attacked  at  3  A.  M.  on  our 
left,  and  30  men  came  over  the  parapets 
in  front  of  the  right  of  Quinn's  Post. 
These  were  duly  polished  off.  Prisoners 
brought  in  state  that  three  fresh  battal- 
ions were  employed  in  the  main  attack, 
which  was  made  by  the  personal  order 
of  Enver  Pasha,  who,  as  they  definitely 
assert,  was  present  in  the  trenches  on 
June  29.  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
statement  of  an  intelligent  Armenian 
prisoner  captured  on  that  date.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  stringent  orders  were 
recently  issued  that  no  further  attacks 
were  to  be  made,  because  if  the  Turks 
remained  on  the  defensive  the  British 
would  be  forced  to  attack,  and  would 
suffer  as  severely  as  the  Turks  had  hith- 
erto suffered.  But  Enver  Pasha,  when 
he  arrived  in  the  northern  section,  over- 
rode this  instruction,  and  orders  were 
received  by  the  prisoner's  regiment  that 
the  Australians  were  to  be  driven  into 
the  sea. 

On  July  2,  after  a  heavy  bombard- 
ment of  our  advanced  positions  by  high 
explosives  and  shrapnel,  lasting  half  an 
hour,  the  enemy  infantry  advanced,  but 
were  driven  back  to  the  main  nullah 
about  a  mile  to  our  front  by  the  accu- 
rate shooting  of  His  Majesty's  ship 
Scorpion  and  by  our  rifle  and  machine- 
gun  fire.  About  7  P.  M.  the  Turkish 
artillery  recommenced  their  bombard- 
ment, under  cover  of  which  two  battal- 
ions emerged  from  the  nullah  to  the 
north-east  of  our  most  advanced  trench 
and  commenced  an  attack  across  the 
open,  advancing  in  two  regular  lines. 
At  the  outset  very  effective  shrapnel  fire 
from  the  10th  Battery  Koyal  Field  Ar- 
tillery caused  great  execution  among 
the  attackers.  Gurkha  supports  then 
advanced,  and  there  being  insufficient 
room  in  trenches  took  up  a  position 
on  some  excavated  earth  in  rear,  whence 


GALLIPOLVS    SHAMBLES 


919 


deadly  rifle  fire  was  poured  into  the 
advancing  lines.  Turkish  officers  could 
be  seen  endeavouring  to  get  their  men 
forward,  but  they  would  not  face  the 
fire  and  retreated  in  disorder  after  suf- 
fering heavy  casualties. 

The  ground  in  front  of  our  trenches 
in  every  direction  can  be  seen  covered 
with  Turkish  dead,  and  patrols  sent  out 
at  night  report  that  the  valleys  and 
ravine  are  also  full  of  them.  There 
can  be  no  possible  doubt  that  the  ene- 
my's losses  have  been  very  heavy.  After 
checking  and  counter-checking  reports 
from  all  sources,  I  put  down  their  total 
casualties  between  June  28  and  July  2 
at  5,150  killed  and  15,000  wounded.  The 
number  of  killed  is,  therefore,  approxi- 
mately correct,  while  the  wounded  is 
an  estimate  based  partly  on  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  number  already  reported 
arrived  at  Constantinople,  and  on  expe- 
rience of  proportion  of  wounded  to 
killed  in  previous  engagements.  Since 
June  29  the  total  amount  of  Turkish 
arms  and  ammunition  collected  is  516 
rifles,  51  bayonets,  200  sets  of  equipment, 
126,400  rounds  of  ammunition,  100 
bombs. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  cap- 
tured divisional  orders  "  There  is 
nothing  that  causes  us  more  sorrow,  in- 
creases the  courage  of  the  enemy,  and 
encourages  him  to  attack  more  freely, 
causing  us  great  losses,  than  the  losing 
of  these  trenches.  Henceforth  command- 
ers who  surrender  these  trenches,  from 
whatever  side  the  attack  may  come,  be- 
fore the  last  man  is  killed  will  be  pun- 
ished in  the  same  way  as  if  they  had 
run  away.  Especially  will  the  command- 
ers of  units  told  off  to  guard  a  certain 
front  be  punished  if,  instead  of  think- 
ing about  their  work,  supporting  their 
units  and  giving  information  to  the 
higher  command,  they  only  take  action 
after  a  regrettable  incident  has  taken 
place. 

"I  hope  that  this  will  not  occur  again. 
I  give  notice  that  if  it  does  I  shall 
carry  out  the  punishment.  I .  do  not 
desire  to  see  a  blot  made  on  the  cour- 
age of  our  men  by  those  who  escape 
from  the  trenches  to  avoid  the  rifle  and 
machine-gun  fire  of  the  enemy.     Hence- 


forth I  shall  hold  responsible  all  officers 
who  do  not  shoot  with  their  revolvers 
all  the  privates  who  try  to  escape  from 
the  trenches  on  any  pretext.  Command- 
er of  the  11th  Div.,  Colonel  Kifaat." 

To  the  copy  from  which  this  extract 
was  taken  the  following  note  is  append- 
ed :  "  To  Commander  of  the  1st  Bat- 
talion. The  contents  will  be  communi- 
cated to  the  officers,  and  I  promise  to 
carry  out  the  orders  till  the  last  drop 
of  our  blood  has  been  shed.  Sign  and 
return.  Signed.  Hassan,  Commander, 
127th  Kegiment,  Then  follow  signatures 
company  commanders." 

HEAVY  TUKKISH  LOSSES 

The  British  Press  Bureau  on  July 
7  issued  this  report  by  General  Ian 
Hamilton: 

The  night  of  July  3-4  was  quiet  in 
the  northern  section,  but  at  4  A.  M.  the 
enemy  started  a  heavy  bombardment  of 
the  trenches.  All  the  guns  previously 
used  against  us,  and  some  new  ones, 
were  in  action,  but  the  bombardment 
died  away  about  6  A.  M.  without  doing 
much  damage.  During  the  bombard- 
ment about  twenty  11.2-inch  shells  were 
dropped  from  a  Turkish  battleship  in 
the   strait. 

In  the  southern  section  the  Turks 
kept  up  a  heavy  musketry  fire  along 
the  whole  line  during  the  night  and 
did  not  leave  their  trenches.  At  4 
A.  M.  their  batteries  started  the  most 
violent  bombardment  that  has  yet  been 
experienced.  At  least  5,000  rounds  of 
artillery  aitimunition  were  expended  by 
them. 

Meanwhile  this  shelling  of  our  lines 
on  the  peninsula  proved  the  prelimi- 
nary to  a  general  attack  on  our  front 
with  special  efforts  at  certain  points. 
The  principal  effort  was  made  at  the 
junction  of  the  Royal  Naval  Division 
section  with  that  of  the  French. 

Here,  at  7.30  A.  M.,  the  Turks  drove 
back  our  advanced  troops  and  assaulted 
a  portion  of  the  line  held  by  the  Royal 
Naval  Division.  Some  fifty  Turks 
gained  a  footing  in  our  trench,  where, 
nevertheless,  some  men  of  the  Royal 
Naval  Division  held  on  to  our  supports. 


920 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


and  the  men  who  had  retired  counter- 
attacked immediately  and  hurled  the 
Turks  out  of  the  trench  again. 

Another  attack  on  the  right  of  the 
Twenty-ninth  Division  section  was  prac- 
tically wiped  out  by  rifle  and  machine- 
gun  fire.  On  our  left  the  Turks  massed 
in  a  nullah,  to  the  northeast  of  our 
newly-captured  trenches,  and  attempted 
several  attacks.  None  of  these  was 
able  to  get  home  owing  to  the  steadi- 
ness of  our  troops  and  our  effective 
artillery  support.  The  bombardment 
died  down  toward  11  A.  M.,  though  it 
was  resumed  at  intervals. 

Not  only  was  the  result  a  complete 
failure,  but  while  our  losses  were  neg- 
ligible and  no  impression  was  made  on 
our  line,  the  enemy  added  a  large  num- 
ber to  his  recent  very  heavy  casualties. 
It  seems  plain  from  the  disjointed  na- 
ture of  his  attack  that  he  is  finding  it 
difficult  to  drive  his  infantry  forward 
to  face  our  fire. 

SLAUGHTER  BY  CANNON  LIGHT 

In  a  dispatch  hy  George  Renwich  to 
The  London  Daily  Chronicle,  dated  at 
Lemnos,  July  11,  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  fighting,  followed  hy  heavy 
Turco-German  casualties,  appeared: 

The  heaviest  fighting  which  has  taken 
place  on  Gallipoli  Peninsula  since  the 
allied  forces  landed  there  began  late  on 
Tuesday  and  lasted  well  into  Wednes- 
day. It  resulted  in  a  swing  forward  of 
the  southern  line  of  the  allied  armies 
for  five  furlongs  and  in  the  infliction 
of  staggering  losses  on  the  enemy. 
Those  who  were  in'  the  battle  place  the 
Turco-German  casualties  at  7,000  killed 
and  from  14,000  to  15,000  wounded. 
Many  prisoners  were  taken. 

The  whole  army  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  peninsula  was  engaged,  and  the 
Australians  and  New  Zealanders  fur- 
ther north  also  played  a  part.  The 
victory  marks  a  definite  stage  in  the 
initial  work  of  throwing  forces  around 
Achi    Baba,    which    may    now    be    de- 


scribed as  one  of  the  strongest  fortresses 
in  the  world. 

The  Allies  had  been  resting  in  com- 
parative tranquillity  and  the  Turks  had 
evidently  become  persuaded  the  enemy 
was  experiencing  a  shortage  of  ammu- 
nition. This  belief  convinced  them  of 
the  excellent  opportunity  of  driving  the 
invaders  into  the  sea.  Late  Tuesday 
night  the  first  signs  of  the  enemy's 
movement  were  detected.  No  time  was 
lost  in  flashing  a  warning  message  to 
headquarters.  The  French  were  soon 
alert  and  the  artillery  at  that  portion 
of  the  line  against  which  the  attack  was 
being  prepared  was  quickly  and  strongly 
reinforced. 

French  and  British  machine  guns 
were  rushed  to  the  front  until  a  perfect 
wall  of  heavy  and  light  guns  was  in 
position.  Then  there  came  a  short  in- 
terval of  silence  and  waiting,  almost 
oppressive.  Suddenly  the  stillness  was 
broken  by  a  tremendous  burst  of  shells 
from  the  Turkish  guns,  and  for  a  time 
shrapnel  poured  down  on  the  French 
front.  But  the  men  were  safely  posi- 
tioned in  dugouts  and  little  loss  re- 
sulted. From  the  strait  loud  booming 
began.  The  battered  Goeben  was  at 
work  again,  and  during  the  bombard- 
ment she  pounded  our  right  with  some 
forty  11-inch  shells.  Many  did  not 
burst — they  were  apparently  of  Turkish 
manufacture. 

This  hail  of  shells  lasted  just  an  hour 
and  a  half  and  was  the  severest  bom- 
bardment to  which  our  lines  have  been 
subjected  during  the  weeks  of  struggle 
on  the  peninsula.  No  sooner  had  the 
heavy  fire  ceased  than  great  solid  masses 
of  Turks  leaped  forward  to  the  attack. 
On  they  came,  the  silence  unbroken 
save  for  their  shouts,  until  they  reached 
a  point  within  sixty  or  seventy  yards 
of  the  French  position.  Then  from  200 
well  placed  machine  guns  a  devastating 
answering  fire  burst  from  our  Allies' 
trenches,  and  the  rifles  joined  in,  20,000 
of  them.  The  big  guns  flared  and  cast 
a  lurid  light  over  the  scene. 


Italy's  War  on  Austria 

Second   Month  Closes  with  Offensive    Operations   in   Swing 

Against  Gorizia 

On  July  23,  after  two  months  of  her  war  against  Austria,  an  appraisement  may  bo  taken  of 
Italy's  extensive  and  business-Iilve  preparation  for  the  conflict.  Rapidly  the  passes  leading, 
to  the  Trentino,  Carinthia,  Friuli,  and  the  valley  of  the  Isonzo  were  secuced,  almost  over 
night ;  and  then,  with  the  regularity  of  a  railway  time-table,  the  Italians  began  their  hard, 
patient  work,  in  hitherto  impas.sable  regions,  of  neutralizing  the  Trentino,  so  as  to  make  im- 
possible an  invasion  from  that  territory,  and  of  linking  up  their  columns  along  the  Isonzo.  s» 
that  now,  at  the  beginning  of  August,  a  battle-front  of  seventy-flve  miles  extending  from  Tarvis 
to  the  Adriatic,  is  ready  to  move  eastward  in  the  direction  of  Klagenfurt.  beyond  which  there 
are  no  Austrian  fortifications  until  Vienna  is  reached.  170  miles  away — about  as  far  as  Cape 
Cod  is  from  New  York  City.  The  right  flank  of  this  battle-front  has  been  developed  along 
the  Carso  plateau  so  as  to  neutralize,  as  the  Trentino  was  neutralized,  the  Peninsula  of  Istria 
with  the  great  commercial  port  of  Trieste,  the  naval  base  of  Tola,  and  the  Hungarian  Free 
City  of  Flume. 


THE  Italian  field  of  activity  saw 
during  the  week  ended  July  24 
the  blazing  out  of  the  Italian 
offensive.  Italy  apparently  was 
then  satisfied  that  all  the  passages  by 
means  of  which  Austria  could  pour  troops 
to  attack  her  rear  are  effectively  stopped 
and  has  therefore  begun  a  determined 
advance  along  the  Isonzo  front  from 
Tarvis  to  the  Adriatic,  with  the  object 
of  breaking  down  completely  Austria's 
first  defensive  screen.  The  battle  is,  as 
is  natural,  centring  around  Gorizia. 

Once  Gorizia  falls,  the  Italian  prob- 
lem in  so  far  as  Trieste  is  concerned, 
will  be  near'  solution.  The  Italians 
have  made  notable  advances  in  Cadore 
and  along  the  Isonzo,  on  the  plateau 
of  Carso.  But  Gorizia  must  be  taken 
before  a  decided  local  victory  can  be 
recorded.  The  fighting  has  not  pro- 
gressed as  yet  to  the  point  where  definite 
information  is  available,  but  in  late 
July  it  seemed  to  have  reached  the  cul- 
minating stage.  The  surroundings  of 
Gorizia,  which  is  the  key  to  the  Isonzo 
district  and  the  junction  of  five  main 
roads  and  four  main  railway  lines,  are 
protected  with  all  manner  of  fortifica- 
tions. The  official  report  from  Rome 
on  June  25  recorded  the  Italian  occu- 
pation of  Globna,  north  of  Plava,  and 
of  the  edge  of  the  plateau  between 
Sagrado  and  Monfalcone.  From  that 
date  reports  from  Vienna  recorded  con- 
tinuous and  heavy  Italian  attacks  from 
the    bridgehead    at    Goritz    to    the    sea. 


The  correspondent  of  the  Berliner 
Tageblatt  at  the  Isonzo  front  reported 
on  July  7  that  the  second  great  Italian 
offensive  had  forced  its  way  into  the 
Austrian  line  at  Podzora — a  height  cov- 
ering the  bridgehead  at  Goritz — and  at 
Vermegliano,  between  Doberdo  and 
Monfalcone.  A  Geneva  dispatch,  dated 
July  14,  reported  the  capture  by  the 
Italians  of  two  miles  of  trenches  in  the 
Carnic  Alps,  the  Alpine  troops  drag- 
ging their  artillery  to  an  altitude  of  6,600 
feet  near  Eoskopel,  and  capturing  to  the 
south  of  Gorizia  two  important  forts. 
On  July  16  a  dispatch  from  Rome  told 
of  a  war  council  at  the  front  held  by 
King  Victor  Emmanuel  and  Premier 
Salandra,  with  Count  Cadorna,  Chief  of 
the  General  Staff,  and  General  Porro, 
his  chief  assistant.  A  Vienna  official 
dispatch  of  that  date  reported  increased 
artillery  activity  in  the  coast  district 
and  in  Carinthia.  Two  passes  at  a 
height  of  over  10,000  feet  were  taken 
by  the  Italians  at  Venerodolol  and 
Brizio,  as  reported  July  17,  and  on 
July  18  they  began  an  advance  in  Cadore, 
attacking  a  ring  of  powerful  forts  at  a 
great  height  at  Paneveggio,  San  Pcle- 
grino,  Monet,  Livinallongo,  and  Tresassi, 
while  Goritz  was  shelled  from  land  and 
air. 

Then  began,  on  July  20,  a  great  gen- 
eral Italian  assault  on  a  75-mile  line 
from  Tarvis  to  the  Adriatic  shore.  A 
dispatch  from  Turin  from  the  corre- 
spondent of  The  London  Daily  Chronicle 


,-^^.    Hermagoij 


*j^<^  Vovderbei 


The  Austro-Italian  frontier,  the  scene  of  the  fighting. 


ITALY'S    WAR    ON    AUSTRIA 


923 


announced  a  victorious  advance  by  the 
Italians  on  the  Carso  plateau,  east  of 
Sagrado,  with  the  capture  of  2,000 
Austrian  prisoners.  The  War  Office  in 
Rome  reported  on  July  21  that  while  the 
Italian  defense  continued  to  develop 
energetically  in  Cadore,  and  the  artil- 
lery was  effectively  working  in  Carnia, 
the  struggle  in  the  Isonzo  zone  continued 
with  increasing  intensity.  Toward  Gur- 
itz  the  Italians  gained  part  of  the  line 
of  the  heights  which  form  the  right 
bank  of  the  river  commanding  the  town 
and  the  Isonzo  bridges.  On  the  Carso 
Plateau  the  Austrians  were  reported 
driven  from  some  trenches,  and  3,500 
prisoners  and  much  material  captured. 
On  July  22  the  fall  of  Goritz  and  Tol- 
mino  was  reported  to  be  near,  the  War 
Office  in  Rome  announcing  a  develop- 
ment of  the  offensive  "  along  the  whole 


front  from  Monte  Nero  to  the  Car?o 
Plateau.  Vienna  reported  that  the 
heavy  attacks  were  being  repulsed.  But 
on  July  23  the  official  report  from  Rome 
for  the  first  time  declared  that  the  Ital- 
ian armies  in  the  battle  along  the  whole 
Isonzo  front  were  achieving  success," 
which  was  "  constantly  becoming  more 
clearly  apparent."  On  July  24  a  dis- 
patch from  Udine  said  that  General 
Cadorna  was  personally  directing  the 
battle  in  the  presence  of  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  and  the  Duke  of  Aosta.  A 
Milan  dispatch  to  The  London  Daily 
News  on  July  25  reported  the  evacua- 
tion of  Goritz  by  the  Austrian  General 
Staff  in  view  of  the  imminence  of  its 
fall.  Below  appears  a  prospective  ac- 
count of  Italy's  formidable  task,  written 
on  July  1  by  an  Italian  correspondent 
of   The   London   Morning  Post. 


The  Task  of  Italy 

[By  ^  Special  Correspondent  of  The  London  Morning  Post] 


Cormons,  July  1. 

The  Italian  battle  for  the  conquest  of 
the  fortified  lines  on  the  Isonzo  and 
the  entrenched  camps  of  Gorizia  is  one 
of  the  most  important  in  the  European 
conflict.  The  battle  of  the  Isonzo  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  episode, 
but  a  prolonged  siege  over  a  front  of 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  of  a  natural 
fortress,  consisting  of  a  chain  of  precipi- 
tous mountains.  Perhaps  never  before 
in  a  European  war  has  the  value  of 
individual  qualities  been  shown  so  con- 
clusively as  by  the  Italian  troops  in  this 
war.  The  very  steep  cliffs,  which  are 
almost  perpendicular,  along  the  course 
of  the  river  are  almost  impossible  to 
scale.  ,The  mountain  passes  which  open 
along  the  river  are  very  few  and  also 
narrow.  In  addition  the  geological 
nature  of  that  district,  composed  of 
strong  walls  of  granite  towers,  which 
dominate  the  River  Isonzo,  is  favorable 
to  its  defence. 

To  this  natural  defense  have  been 
added  strong  fortifications  built  by  the 
Austrians  during  past  years  in  antici- 
pation of  being  used  for  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Italians  at  some  time  or  other. 
Finally,    during    the    last    nine   months 


of  Italy's  neutrality  the  Austrians  have 
employed  the  latest  technical  improve- 
ments in  defensive  warfare,  and  I  have 
never  seen  their  equal  during  my  ex- 
cursions to  the  front  in  France  and 
Belgium,  not  even  at  Antwerp.  This 
remark  applies  especially  to  Carso  and 
Gorizia. 

The  artillery  officers  of  the  Italian 
Military  Staff  whom  I  met  at  the  front 
have  explained  to  mo  the  nature  of  the 
Austrian  defensive  works.  Upon  the 
Carso  and  around  Gorizia  the  Austrians 
have  placed  innumerable  batteries  of 
powerful  guns  mounted  on  rails  and 
protected  by  armor  plates.  Numerous 
other  artillery  advantages  are  possessed 
by  the  Austrians  in  the  form  of  medium 
and  smaller  guns,  though  the  efficiency 
of  their  action  is  modified  by  the  long 
distances  separating  the  armies. 

In  view  of  these  advantages  possessed 
by -the  Austrians,  the  Italians  have  ac- 
complished marvels  and  are  worthy  of 
great  admiration.  The  infantry  is  much 
exposed  while  crossing  large  and  deep 
rivers.  With  the  exception  of  the  two 
positions  of  Podgora  and  Sabotino,  all 
the  Austrian  line  on  the  Isonzo  has  been 
taken  by  the  Italians. 


924  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

To  the  conquest  of  Gorizia  are  directed  at  Tolurino,  at  Plava,  and  at  Sagrado. 

the  efforts  of  the  Eastern  Italian  Army.  These  four  places,  situated  in  the  strong 

The  Italian  infantry  which  crossed  the  line  of  Austrian  defense,  are  about  twen- 

Isonzo    ran    against    a    net    of   trenches  ty  miles  distant  from  one  another.     The 

which  the  Austrians  had  excavated  and  chain  of  fortifications  of  which  Gorizia 

constructed  in  cement  all  along  the  edge  is  a  center  was  broken  in  these  four  es- 

of  the  hills  which  dominate  the  course  sential  points.    The  immediate  effect  has 

of    the    river.     Those    trenches,    already  been  the  disorganization  of  the  defensive 

occupying  a  position  nearly  impregnable  plans  of  the  enemy.    The  crossing  of  the 

because   so   mountainous,   are   defended  river    was    accomplished    generally    at 

by  every  modern  protective  device.    They  night,  and  was  conducted  with  a  rapidity 

are  armed  with  numerous  machine-guns  which  took  the  enemy  by  surprise.    Com- 

surrounded      by      wire      entanglements,  plete  regiments  crossed  in  the  night  upon 

through    which    runs    a    strong    electric  light    bridges    constructed    in    a    short 

current.     These    lines    of    trenches    fol-  time  by  the  engineers,   whose  technical 

low  without  interruption  from  the  banks  skill  was  equal  to  their  audacity.     These 

of  the  Isonzo  to  the  summit  of  the  moun-  "  bridge-heads,"  which  were  constructed 

tains   which    dominate    it.      They   form  with   incredible   courage,   made   possible 

a    kind   of   formidable   staircase,   which  an  attack  by  the  reinforcements  which 

must    be    conquered    step   by    step    with  followed    them.     When    these    came    in 

enormous  sacrifice.     The  Italian  troops  contact    with    the    lower    lines    of    the 

have  accomplished  this  marvel.  Austrian  trenches  they  attacked  the  de- 

The  crossing  of  the  Isonzo  and  the  fenders  in  such  a  way  that  the  latter 
conquest  of  the  first  mountainous  posi-  were  unable  to  impede  seriously  the 
tions  were  accomplished  by  the  Italians  more  important  work  of  the  construe- 
in  four  strategic  places:     At  Caporetto,  tion  of  strong  bridges. 

Two  Devoted  Nations 

By   MAURICE   MAETERLINCK 

The  subjoined  letter,  dedicated  by  the  Belgian  writer  to  stricken  Poland, 
was  received  on  July  12.  1915,  by  the  Polish  Relief  Committee  of  New  York, 
of  which  Mme.  Marcella  Sombrich  is  President. 

In  the  Name  of  Belgium  I  Bring  the  Homage  of  a  Martyred 
Nation  to  the  Nation  Crucified : 

Of  all  the  people  engaged  in  this  frightful  war,  Poland  and  Bel- 
gium will  have  suffered  most,  and  we  must  add  (though  all  the  horrors 
of  war  are  most  revolting)  they  will  have  suffered  most  innocently. 
They  are  two  victims  of  their  innocence  and  grandeur  of  soul. 

In  misfortune  and  in  glory  their  fates  are  the  same.  One,  in 
sacrificing  herself  wholly  to  a  cult,  to  an  unparalleled  passion  for 
honor,  has  by  breaking  the  first  blow  of  barbarous  invasion  probably 
saved  Europe,  just  as  the  other,  the  older  sister,  in  grief  and  heroism 
several  c^nturies  ago  saved  Europe  many  times. 

They  are  now  joined  forever  in  the  memory  of  men.  Across  the 
combats  and  the  sorrows  which  they  are  now  enduring  their  hands  meet 
in  the  same  sacrifice,  in  the  same  invincible  hope.  To-day  these  coun- 
tries are  but  ruins.  Nothing  remains  of  them.  They  appear  to  be 
dead.  But  we,  who  are  their  sons  and  who  know  them  as  we  know  our 
mother,  we  know,  we  feel  in  our  hearts,  that  they  were  never  more 
alive,  never  purer,  never  more'  beautiful. 

After  having  offered  to  the  world  a  great  example  of  pride,  of 
abnegation,  of  heroism,  they  are  again  giving  to  it  a  deeper  lesson, 
a  more  valuable,  a  more  efficacious  one.  They  are  proving  that  no 
misfortune  counts,  that  nothing  is  lost  while  the  soul  does  not  abdicate. 
The  powers  of  darkness  will  never  prevail  against  the  forces  of  light 
and  love  that  are  leading  humanity  towards  the  heights  which  victory 
is  already  making  clear  to  us  on  the  horizon. 


Rumania,  Serbia,  Bulgaria,  Greece 

Conunent  About  Continued  Neutrality  from  the  Balkan  and 

Russian   Capitals 


AN  elaborate  argument  that  Italy 
is  about  to  co-operate  with 
the  Allies  at  the  Dardanelles  in 
order  to  influence  Greece  and 
the  Balkan  States  generally  to  inter- 
vene against  the  Germanic  Powers  ap- 
peared in  The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  near 
the  close  of  June.  A  dispatch  from 
Bucharest  on  July  12  announced  that 
Austria  had  made  concessions  to  Ru- 
mania in  the  hope  of  averting  interven- 
tion by  that  Power,  accompanying  the 
offer  with  an  ultimatum  setting  a  month 
for  Rumania's  reply.  The  German  So- 
cial-Democratic paper  Vorwaerts  pub- 
lished on  July  17  a  statement  that  Ru- 
mania had  definitely  refused  to  permit 
German  arms  and  ammunition  to  tra- 
verse her  territory  to  Turkey.  This 
shows  a  distinct  turning  away  from  the 
German  propaganda  in  that  kingdom, 
which  on  May  26  spoke  through  the  edi- 
torial columns  of  Moldova,  a  daily  of 
Bucharest,  as  follows : 

We  must  tread  In  the  path  opened  to 
us  by  the  late  King  Carol  and  the  great 
Rumanian  statesmen.  We  must  always 
be  attached  to  the  Central  European 
Powers,  from  which  we  shall  secure  the 
fulfillment  of  our  aspirations,  on  that  day 
w^hen   we    shall    move   against   Russia. 

From  Lupte,  a  Nationalist  daily  of 
Bucharest,  a  definite  declaration  of  the 
kingdom's  policy  was  demanded  on 
June  4: 

The  smaller  a  nation  is  the  more  dan- 
gerous to  her  existence  are  diplomatic 
intrigues.  Mr.  Bratiano's  Government 
has  for  the  past  eight  months  been  co- 
quetting with  Petrograd  as  well  as  with 
Berlin  and  Vienna.  With  which  side  are 
we  in  this  war?  The  two  belligerent 
groups  are  asking  this  and  the  same  ques- 
tion Is  asked  of  Bulgaria  and  Greece.  We 
must  have  a  sound  national  policy,  for 
In  this  most  modern  war  there  is  no  prof- 
It  in  the  old  Machiavellian  tactics. 

That  a  crisis  is  approaching  in 
Balkan  affairs  is  clearly  indicated  in  an 


editorial  warning  headed  "  Beware,  ye 
Balkan  Peoples !  "  appearing  on  May  29 
in  Dnevnik,  an  independent  Bulgarian 
daily  of  Sofia.     It  says: 

The  lust  of  Europe  for  territorial  ag- 
grandizement becomes  every  day  more 
pronounced.  From  a  struggle  for  self- 
defense  this  has  become  a  war  of  con- 
quest. Germany  has  appropriated  Bel- 
gium, Russia  fights  for  the  Bosporus  and 
Constantinople,  Italy  has  almost  taken 
Albania — with  the  approval  of  Austria, 
as  we  have  discovered.  The  westernmost 
edge  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  has  fallen  ; 
tomorrow  the  easternmost  extremity  will 
fall,  together  with  Constantinople.  Will 
the  European  Powers  then  spare  us?  .  .  . 
What  the  United  States  of  America  did 
for  the  preservation  of  their  independence 
against  foreign  conquest  we  Balkan  peo- 
ples must  do  unless  we  would  see  our 
doom  sealed. 

"  The  Dangers  of  a  Neutral  Policy " 
is  the  theme  of  Mir,  the  organ  of  the 
Bulgarian  Nationalist  Party  of  Sofia, 
which  on  May  29  said :  "  If  Bulgaria  re- 
mains neutral  to  the  end  of  the  war, 
she  runs  the  risk  of  being  condemned 
to  live  forever  within  the  narrow  limits 
she  has  today,  hemmed  in  on  every  side. 
The  duty  of  the  Balkan  States  is  to 
act  in  a  war  which  will  solve  all  pend- 
ing political  and  national  problems." 

Serbia's  jealousy  of  Italy,  despite  that 
nation's  late  adhesion  to  the  Allies,  was 
voiced  on  May  25  by  Politika,  a  Nation- 
alist daily  of  Belgrade,  which  accuses 
Italy  of  trying  to  profit  at  Serbia's  ex- 
pense. The  Entente  Powers  must  pay 
for  Italian  aid,  this  paper  says;  and 
Italy  may  be  "  satisfied  with  Savoy, 
Corsica,  Malta,  Tunis,  Algiers,  Asia 
Minor,   or  Egypt." 

The  Ottoman  Empire  being  under 
martial  law,  comment  by  the  Turkish 
papers  regarding  military  and  political 
events  is  restricted  by  the  Government. 
But  Enver  Pasha,  the  all-powerful 
young  Turk  leader,  and  his  colleague  for 
the  Interior,  Talaat  Bey,  early  in  May 


Balkan  Newspapers 


RUMANIA,  SERBIA,  BULGARIA,  GREECE 


927 


gave  an  interview  printed  in  tlie  Vienna 
Neue  Freie  Presse.  Enver  Pasha  pre- 
dicts the  collapse  of  the  Allied  campaign 
on  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  where  the 
French  and  British  hold  a  small  corner 
against  overwhelming  odds.  "  The 
bringing  thither  of  provisions  is  ex- 
tremely difficult,"  he  says,  and  "  even 
the  drinking  water  for  the  troops  must 
be  brought  from  the  ships."  Both  he 
and  Talaat  Bey  report  the  morale  of 
the  Turkish  troops  to  be  excellent,  "  as 
many  of  the  older  officers  have  been  re- 
placed by  energetic  young  men." 

Greece  is  in  suspense.  The  Kairoi, 
an  independent  daily  of  Athens,  said  on 
June  22  that,  while  Greece  does  not  for- 
get her  debt  to  the  three  protective 
powers,  France,  England,  and  Russia, 
she  must  nevertheless  weigh  the  prom- 
ise of  Germany  to  give  full  protection 
to  Greek  interests  in  the  event  of  her 
continued  neutrality.  "Just  how  Ger- 
many keeps  her  promises,"  this  paper 
says,  is  "  shown  by  Cavalla,  the  Mace- 
donian city  allotted  to  Greece  after  the 
second  Balkan  war  at  the  express  in- 
stance of  the  Kaiser;"  and  it  notes  that 
the  Entente  Powers  are  now  eager  to 
cede  this  territory  to  Bulgaria.  The 
Embros,  an  independent  daily  of  Athens, 
prophesied  on  June  22 : 

We  can  afiford  to  follow  events  with 
growing  solicitude  and  remain  neutral  as 
long  as  we  may.  Whether  or  not  we 
maintain  this  neutrality  to  the  end  our 
action  can  change  neither  the  fortunes  of 
Greece  nor  the  position  of  other  Powers. 
It  Is  to  be  presumed  that  the  power  driv- 
ing this  giant  conflict  to  the  conclusion 
has  more  remote  motives  and  that  to  all 
appearance,  the  war  will  end  without  any 
of  the  participants  suffering  a  crushing  de- 
feat. 

While  Russian  aspirations  are  gen- 
erally considered  to  be  in  harmony  with 
those  of  the  Balkan  kingdoms,  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  Russian  papers 
representing  varying  shades  of  Musco- 
vite opinion  show  now  an  unfavorable 
or  critical  attitude.  Thus  the  foremost 
organ  of  the  Panslavist  Party,  the  Rus- 
sian weekly  Slaviahski  Izvestija,  April 
No.  8,  disapproved  the  Bulgarian  plea 
to  give  Thrace  and  Adrianople  through 


Russian  influence.     Of  the  Macedonian 
question  this  paper  said: 

Bulgarians  expect  that  Russia  will  get 
for  them  Macedonia  Thrace,  and  Do- 
brudja,  to  reward  their  honest  labors. 
Alas,  they  must  learn  that  not  every  day, 
but  every  hour,  Macedonia  is  receding 
from  their  grasp.  For  Russia  the  Ma- 
cedonian question  hardly  exists.  If  Mace- 
donia finds  it  hard  to  be  under  heroic 
and  benevolent  Serbia,  what  would  be- 
come of  her  on  the  day  when  she  should 
fall  into  the  hands  of  Bulgaria?  And 
should  we  Russians,  in  order  to  assure 
Macedonia  such  a  future,  grieve  now  our 
dear  ally  Serbia? 

The  semi-official  Novoye  Vremya  of 
Petrograd  commental  on  May  27,  on  the 
statement  of  the  Bulgarian  Premier- 
Radoslavoff  published  in  Vienna,  that 
Bulgaria  cannot  engage  to  intervene 
without  a  formal  treaty,  a  policy,  it  be- 
lieves, that  says  but  one  thing,  namely: 
"  You  Russians  tricked  us  Bulgarians 
once;  you  shall  not  trick  us  again." 
This  attitude  of  Bulgaria  shows,  the 
Novoye  Vremya  thinks,  "  how  thick- 
headed and  insensate  its  people  are." 
The  Birjevaja  Viedomosti,  a  standpat 
Russian  daily  of  Petrograd,  on  May  23 
warned  Serbia  that,  whereas  the  war 
began  in  her  behalf  and  on  her  account 
rivers  of  blood  are  flowing,  her  com- 
plaints of  the  allotment  of  Dalmatia 
to  Italy  should  not  "  assert  principles 
which  have  nothing  to  do  with  actual- 
ities." The  same  newspaper  says  of  the 
whole  Balkan  situation: 

The  German  policy  of  von  Buelow, 
having  failed  in  Rome,  is  courting  failure 
in  Bucharest.  In  fact,  all  the  German 
promises  to  Rumania  seem  to  go  no  fur- 
ther than  sharpening  the  Rumanian  ap- 
petite for  Russian  Bessarabia,  while  hold- 
ing out  as  a  last  bait  the  cession  of  a 
small  parcel  of  Bulsowina — supposing  the 
Hungarians  never  consent  to  yielding 
Transylvania  to  Rumania. 

On  the  other  hand,  Germany  promises 
Bulgaria  the  Turkish  province  of  Thrace 
and  Serbian  and  Greek  Macedonia ;  but 
these  compensations  have  as  much  value 
as  the  cessions  of  Corsica  and  Nice  and 
Tunis  in  the  early  days  of  the  war. 

But  Germany  cannot  give  to  Bulgaria 
Serbian  Macedonia  so  long  as  the  Aus- 
trian armies  are  not  masters  of  the 
whole  of  Serbia;  she  cannot  give  her 
Thrace  because  Turkey  objects  to  such 


928  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

cession,   and   Turkey  is  her   ally;   and,  ent,    but    as    it    is    now    Bulgars    and 

finally,    she    cannot    urge    Greece    too  Rumanians,  and  the  Balkan  peoples  in 

closely  to  cede  Cavalla  to  Bulgaria,  be-  general,  have   to   fight   with   us,   unless 

cause  such  a  pressure  may  bring  a  con-  they  want  the  diplomacy  of  the  Entente 

trary  result,  i.e.  make  Greece  to  declare  to    disappoint    utterly    the    evergrowing 

herself  openly  an  ally  of  the  Entente.  appetite  of  these  small  nationalities.  .  .  . 
Therefore  both   Bulgaria   and  Rumania  It  will  be  noted  that  all  the  opinions 

must     perforce     side     with     the     great  quoted    concerning    the    Balkans    relate 

European     Alliance.     Had     Italy      re-  to  the  division  of  territory  as  the  price 

mained  neutral  matters  would  be  differ-  of  neutrality  or   intervention. 


Dr.  Conybeare's  Recantation 

By   SIR  WALTER  RALEIGH 

To  the  Editor  of  the  [London]  Times: 

Sir, — During  a  recent  visit  to  America  I  saw  Dr.  Conybeare's 
letter  in  a  paper  called  the  Vital  Issue.  All  who  know  Dr.  Cony- 
beare  know  him  to  be  honest  and  frank,  and  to  be  very  deeply  dis- 
tressed by  the  sufferings  and  cruelties  of  the  war.  After  my  return, 
I  wrote  to  him,  pointing  out  that  his  letter  is  being  widely  circulated 
in  America,  and  that  the  material  points  in  his  accusation  of  Sir 
Edward  Grey  and  Mr.  Asquith  have  been  answered.  I  enclose  Dr. 
Conybeare's  reply,  for  which  he  desires  the  fullest  publicity. 

•  Yours  faithfully, 

WALTER  RALEIGH. 

The  Hangings,  Ferry  Hinksey,  near  Oxford,  July  1,  1915. 


Banbury-road,  Oxford,  June  30. 

Dear  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, — During  the  past  week  I  have  been 
studying  afresh  the  published  records  of  the  diplomatic  transactions  of 
last  July,  and  on  my  return  to  Oxford  I  find  your  kind  letter,  and 
therefore  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  this  to  yourself.  My  new  study 
has  forced  upon  me  the  conviction  that  in  my  letter  to  a  friend  re- 
siding in  America,  which,  against  my  wishes  and  injunctions,  was 
published  there,  apart  from  the  deplorable  tone  of  my  allusions  -to 
Sir  E.  Grey  and  Mr.  Asquith,  I  was  quite  wrong  in  imputing  the 
motives  which  I  did,  especially  to  the  former.  It  does  appear  to 
me,  as  I  read  these  dispatches  over  again,  that  Sir  Edward  through- 
out had  in  view  the  peace  of  Europe,  and  that  I  ought  to  have  set 
down  to  the  awful  contingencies  with  which  he  was  faced  many 
passages  which  I  was  guilty  of  grossly  misinterpreting.  I  was  too 
ready  to  forget  that  in  the  years  of  the  Balkan  wars  it  was  after  all 
he  alone  who,  by  his  patient  and  conciliatory  treatment  of  the  situ- 
ation, held  in  cheek  the  antagonistic  forces  which  last  July  he  was 
ultimately  unable  to  control.  I  was  too  ready  to  ascribe  to  want  of 
good  will  on  his  part  results  which  harsh  necessity  entailed  on  him; 
and  I  deeply  regret  that  I  mistook  his  aims  and,  in  my  endeavour 
to  be  fair  to  the  enemy,  was  grossly  unjust  to  him.  I  am  only  anx- 
ious to  undo,  if  it  be  still  possible,  some  of  the  harm  which  my  hasty 
judgment  and  intemperate  language  has  caused. 

If  you  think  it  would  do  any  good  to  print  this,  I  beg  you  to  send 
it  to  The  Times  and  Morning  Post,  whose  remarks  led  me  to  go  back 
once  more  to  the  documentary  sources.  Second  thoughts  are  best, 
and  if  I  had  only  kept  my  American  letter  till  the  morning  for  revi- 
sion, I  should  first  have  struck  out  all  the  vituperation  and  all  the 
imputation  of  motives,  and  have  ended  by  never  sending  it  at  all. 

I  remain  yours  very  sincerely, 

FRED.  C.  CONYBEARE. 


The  Case  of  Muenter 

Attack  on  Mr.  Morgan's  Life  and  the  Setting  of 
Fire-Bombs  on  Ships 


THAT  a  group  of  bankers  in  New 
York  City,  headed  by  J.  P.  Mor- 
gan &  Company,  was  negotiat- 
ing with  the  British  Treasury 
authorities  for  the  'flotation  in  the 
United  States  of  $100,000,000  of  the 
new  British  war  loan  was  announced  in 
the  newspapers  on  July  3,  1915.  Mr. 
Morgan's  firm  had  handled  contracts  to 
furnish  war  munitions  to  the  Allies, 
amounting  to  $500,000,000,  and  this  had 
been  widely  published.  On  the  morning 
of  July  3  J.  P.  Morgan  was  attacked 
and  wounded  with  a  revolver  at  his 
country  estate  on  East  Island,  near  Glen 
Cove,  Long  Island,  by  Erich  Muenter, 
alias  Frank  Holt.  Holt  was  an  Instruc- 
tor in  German  at  Cornell  University; 
Muenter  was  a  Harvard  instructor  for 
whom  the  police  had  been  seeking  since 
the  spring  of  1906  on  a  charge  of  mur- 
dering his  wife.  After  his  suicide  in 
jail  on  July  6,  Professor  C.  N,  Gould,  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  Professor 
Hugo  Muensterberg,  of  Harvard,  among 
others,  identified  Holt  and  Muenter  as 
the  same  person. 

Muenter's  insane  attack  on  Mr.  Mor- 
gan, because  he  had  failed  to  "  use  his 
influence  to  prevent  the  exportation  of 
arms  and  ammunition,"  followed  the 
wrecking  of  the  United  States  Senate 
reception  room  in  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington on  July  2  by  the  explosion  of 
an  infernal  machine  set  by  Muenter. 
On  July  6  a  trunk  owned  by  Muenter 
containing  twenty  pounds  of  explosives 
was  found  in  New  York.  During  his 
stay  in  jail  Muenter  wrote  to  his  wife 
that  two  ships  were  to  sink  at  sea  on 
July  7,  if  his  calculations  went  right, 
naming  the  Philadelphia  and  the  Sax- 
onia.  The  ships  were  duly  warned  by 
wireless,  but  no  bombs  were  found 
aboard  them,  nor  were  any  confederates 
of  Muenter  discovered.     On  July  7  the 


steamship  Minnehaha  reported  by  wire- 
less a  "  fire  caused  by  explosion  "  under 
control. 

Incendiary  bombs  had  been  discovered 
aboard  four  freight  steamships  sailing 
from  New  York  for  Havre  in  April  and 
May.  On  July  12  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  Daniels,  acting  on  advices  received 
from  The  New  Orleans  Picayune,  direct- 
ed the  naval  radio  station  at  Arlington, 
Virginia,  to  flash  a  warning  to  all  ships 
at  sea  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  bombs 
supposed  to  have  been  placed  on  board 
certain  vessels,  and  warning  particularly 
the  steamers  Howth  Head  and  Baron 
Napier  that  information  had  come  to  the 
Navy  Department  that  explosive  bombs 
might  have  been  placed  on  those  two 
vessels.  All  ships  were  requested  to 
try  to  communicate  with  the  Howth 
Head  and  the  Baron  Napier.  On  July 
11  a  written  threat  to  assassinate  J.  P. 
Morgan,  Sir  Cecil  Spring-Rice,  the  Brit- 
ish Ambassador,  and  destroy  by  bombs 
British  ships  clearing  from  American 
ports,  thus  carrying  out  some  of  the 
plans  of  Erich  Muenter,  was  reported  in 
a  letter  signed  "  Pearce,"  who  styled 
himself  a  partner  and  intimate  associate 
of  Muenter.  This  letter  was  received  by 
The  New  Orleans  Times-Picayune. 

Two  more  "  Pearce  "  letters  were  re- 
ceived on  July  13  by  an  afternoon  news- 
paper of  New  Orleans  and  by  its  Chief 
of  Police,  saying  that  Erich  Muenter 
had  taught  the  writer  the  use  of  explo- 
sives. On  the  same  day  the  Samland  of 
the  Atlantic  Transport  Line  and  the 
Strathlay,  chartered  by  the  Fabre  Line, 
survived  attempts  to  destroy  them  by 
fire  bombs,  and  on  July  15  "  Pearce " 
threatened  in  another  letter  to  destroy 
the  Rochambeau.  A  bomb  thought  to 
be  intended  for  the  Orduna  in  a  car 
loaded  with  coal  consigned  to  the 
Cunard   Line   was   discovered    at   Mor- 


930 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


risville,  N.  J.,  on  July  18.  The  Wash- 
ington Times,  the  Philadelphia  Pub- 
lic-Ledger and  the  Brooklyn  Eagle 
received  on  July  16,  19  and  20,  respect- 
ively, letters  from  "  Pearce  "  declaring 
that  henceforth  persons  leaving  America 
on  British  ships  would  do  so  at  their 
peril,  and  harking  back  to  the  German 
Embassy's  warning  before  the  Lusitania 
was  torpedoed.  On  July  26  an  S  O  S 
call  was  received  at  the  Fire  Island  sta- 
tion, at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  and 
by  the  coast  guard  ship  Mohawk,  but  the 
distressed  ship's  appeal  for  help  was 
broken  off  before  her  name  or  position 
could  be  given.  "  Pearce's  "  letter  to 
The  Brooklyn  Eagle  reads  as  follows: 

"  Sir :  You  people  of  Brooklyn  have 
already  had  one  experience  with  the 
work  of  our  men,  and  so,  perhaps,  it 
will  be  unnecessary  to  say  more  than 
a  few  words  of  warning.  The  Kirk- 
oswald  affair  is  still  fresh  in  your  mem- 
ory; therefore,  we  will  not  waste  words 
discussing  this  matter.  The  purpose  of 
this  communication  is  to  warn  the  Amer- 
ican citizens  living  in  your  vicinity  to 
keep  clear  of  British  vessels  sailing  from 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  New  Orleans,  Sa- 
vannah, Newport  News,  and  Montreal. 
Our  men  are  now  operating  from  each 
of  these  ports,  and  Americans  will  do 
well  to  heed  this  warning  ere  it  is  too 
late. 


"  The  Imperial  German  Government 
derives  no  satisfaction  or  profit  from 
the  killing  of  neutral  Americans,  and 
we  are  instructed  to  go  to  great 
lengths  in  order  to  give  timely  warn- 
ings to  all  Americans  who  contem- 
plate voyages  to  Europe  within  the  next 
two  months.  The  explosive  operations 
will  supplement  the  submarine  opera- 
tions, which  have  proved  inadequate  to 
prevent  the  enemy  from  importing  muni- 
tions from  America. 

"  We  earnestly  'advise  Americans  who 
find  it  imperative  to  travel  to  Europe 
to  sail  only  on  vessels  flying  the 
American  flag.  Such  steamers  as 
those  of  the  American  Line,  for  in- 
stance, will  be  perfectly  immune  from 
either  submarine  or  explosive  opera- 
tion. The  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment will,  if  requested,  offer  no  ob- 
jection to  the  American  Government 
pressing  into  service  the  interned  Ger- 
man vessels  if  the  American  vessels  are 
found  to  be  unable  to  accommodate  the 
traffic  to  Europe.  By  publishing  this 
warning  American  lives  may  be  spared. 

"  The  circumstances  under  which  this 
communication  is  written  make  it  im- 
possible for  us  to  affix  our  proper  signa- 
tures; therefore,  we  trust  that  you  will 
accept  for  a  signature  our  pen  name. 
"  PE  AECE." 


Devotion  to  the  Kaiser 


The  annual  general  conference  of  the  clergy  of  the  North  German 
Lutheran  Churches  met  in  Berlin  during  the  week  of  June  24,  1915, 
and  sent  the  following  "telegram  of  devotion"  to  the  Kaiser: 

"Your  Imperial  and  Royal  Majesty  will  most  graciously  deign  to 
accept  this  most  humble  blessing  and  the  assurance  of  true  German 
devotion  from  the  preachers  of  the  North  German  Evangelical  Con- 
ference assembled  in  conference.  We  raise  our  eyes  with  respect  and 
love  to  your  Majesty,  the  powerful  and  purposeful  leader  of  the  Ger- 
man nation.  We  are  filled  with  the  consciousness  that  the  sources  of 
German  power  are  unconquerable,  not  only  because  of  the  complete 
union  of  the  German  princes  and  peoples,  but  because  of  the  unexam- 
pled spirit  of  sacrifice  which  animates  rich  and  poor  alike,  and,  before 
all  else,  because  we  are  a  praying  nation. 

"However  great  the  pressure  of  our  enemies  may  be  on  our  victori- 
ous armies,  the  army  of  those  who  are  praying  at  home  will  wrestle 
all  the  more  earnestly  in  prayer,  praying  before  God's  throne  for  vic- 
tory." 


Scientists  and  the  Military 

Movement  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  to  Consult 

Civilian  Experts 


EAELY  in  June,  H.  G.  Wells,  the 
"novelist  of  science,"  wrote  to 
the  London  Times  a  letter  urging 
the  necessity  of  mobilizing  Great 
Britain's  scientific  and  inventive  forces 
for  the  war.  On  June  22  The  Lon- 
don Times  printed  a  second  letter 
from  Mr.  Wells  proposing  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  bureau  for  inventors 
— "  a  small  department  collateral  rather 
than  subordinate  to  the  War  Office 
and  Admirality."  At  the  annual  meet- 
ing in  London  of  the  British  Science 
Guild  on  July  1,  eminent  scientists 
and  chemists,  Sir  William  Mather, 
Sir  William  Ramsay,  Sir  Boverton  Red- 
wood, Sir  Philip  Magnus,  Professor 
Petry,  Sir  Ronald  Ross,  Sir  Archibald 
Geikie  and  Sir  Alexander  Pedler,  con- 
demned the  attitude  adopted  by  the 
British  Government  toward  science  in 
connection  with  the  war,  and  demanded 
that  in  future  greater  use  should  be 
made  of  the  opportunities  afforded  by 
scientific  knowledge  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  struggle.  A  letter  conveying  this 
opinion  was  sent  by  these  scientists  to 
Prime  Minister  Asquith.  On  July  18  it 
was  announced  in  London  that  a  num- 
ber of  eminent  scientists  and  inventors 
had  been  appointed  to  assist  Admiral 
Lord  Fisher,  as  Chairman  of  the  Inven- 
tion Board,  to  coordinate  and  encourage 
scientific  work  in  relation  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  British  navy.  Lord  Bryce 
was  said  to  be  instrumental  in  this  un- 
dertaking. 

In  the  United  States  a  similar  move- 
ment was  in  progress.  The  New  York 
Times  published  on  May  30  an  inter- 
view with  Thomas  A.  Edison  declaring 
that  in  its  preparations  for  war  the 
American  Government  should  "maintain 


a  great  rese&rch  laboratory,  jointly  un- 
der military  and  naval  and  civilian  con- 
trol." In  this  could  be  developed  the 
"continually  increasing  possibilities  of 
great  guns,  the  minutiae  of  new  ex- 
plosives, all  the  technique  of  military 
and  naval  progression,  without  any  vast 
expense."  If  any  foreign  power  should 
seriously  consider  an  attack  upon  this 
country  "a  hundred  men  of  special 
training  quickly  would  be  at  work  here 
upon  new  means  of  repelling  the  in- 
vaders," Mr.  Edison  said ;  "  I  would  be  at 
it,  myself." 

Secretary  of  the  Navy  Daniels  there- 
upon wrote  to  Mr.  Edison  a  congratula- 
tory letter,  saying:  "I  think  your  ideas 
and  mine  coincide  if  an  interview  with 
you  recently  published  in  The  New 
York  Times  was  correct."     He  added: 

One  of  the  imperative  needs  of  the  navy, 
in  my  judgment,  is  machinery  and  fa- 
cilities for  utilizing  the  natural  inventive 
genius  of  Americans  to  meet  the  new  con- 
ditions of  warfare  as  shown  abroad,  and 
it  is  my  intention  if  a  practical  way  can 
be  worked  out,  as  I  thinlc  it  can  be,  to 
establish  at  the  earliest  moment  a  depart- 
ment of  Invention  and  development,  to 
which  all  ideas  and  suggestions,  cither 
from  the  service  or  from  civilian  Inven- 
tors, can  be  referred  for  determination  as 
to  whether  they  contain  practical  sugges- 
tions  for  us   to   take  up   and   perfect.   .   .   . 

What  I  want  to  ask  is  if  you  would  be 
willing,  as  a  service  to  yout  country,  to 
act  as  an  adviser  to  this  board,  to  take 
such  things  as  seem  to  yon  to  be  of  value, 
but  which  we  are  not.  at  present,  equipped 
to  investigate,  and  to  use  your  own  mag- 
nificent facilities  in  such  investigation  if 
you  feel  it  worth  while. 

The  consequence  was  Mr.  Edison's  ap- 
pointment to  head  an  advisory  board  of 
civilian  inventors  and  engineers  for  a 
Bureau  of  Invention  and  Development 
created  in  the  Navy  Department.  After 
a  conference  with  Mr.  Edison  Secretary 
Daniels  on  July  19  wrote  to  eight  lead- 
ing scientific  societies  asking  each  of 
them  to  select  two  members  to  serve  on 


932 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  Naval  Advisory  Committee,  and  as  a 
first  fruit  of  the  movement  it  was  an- 
nounced on  July  23  that  at  the  request 
of  Mr.  Edison,  the  American  Society  of 
Aeronautic  Engineers  had  been  formed 


with  Henry  A.  Wise  Wood  as  President 
and  Orville  Wright,  Glenn  H.  Curtiss, 
W.  Starling  Burgess,  Peter  Cooper 
Jlewitt,  Elmer  A.  Sperry  and  John 
Hays  Hammond,  Jr.,  as  Vice-presidents. 


Hudson  Maxim  on  Explosives 


The  New  York  Times  on  July  11 
printed  an  interview  with  Hudson  Max- 
im, the  inventor  of  explosives,  in  which 
Mr.  Maxim  said: 

Modern  war  is  a  warfare  of  explosives. 
The  highly  developed  methods  of  de- 
fense, designed  especially  against  ex- 
plosives, are  practically  proof  against 
everything  but  them. 

Attacking  forces  must  disemburrow 
the  defending  forces;  they  must  be 
blasted  out  of  the  ground.  This  warfare 
amounts,  literally,  to  that.  It  is  as  if 
boys  hunted  woodchucks  with  dynamite. 

Each  of  the  hard- won  successes  of  the 
war  has  been  a  victory  for  well-placed 
high  explosives.  In  the  last  fight  around 
Przemysl  the  Germans  fired  in  one  hour, 
from  field  guns,  200,000  shells  carrying 
high  explosives. 

Keports  indicate  that  the  result  of 
this  was  literally  unprecedented.  It  ac- 
tually changed  the  topography  of  the 
country.  Valleys  were  dug  and  hills 
razed. 

Recently  Lloyd  George  used  an  ex- 
pressive phrase.  "  The  trenches,"  he 
said,  "  were  sprayed  with  exploding 
shells." 

Such  "  spraying "  only  could  be  pos- 
sible through  the  use  of  an  incredible 
number  of  explosive  projectiles. 

America's  plants  for  the  production 
of  explosives,  cartridges,  shrapnel,  and 
rifles  have  so  increased  their  capacity 
that  we  have  today  ten  times  the  ca- 
pacity which  we  had  at  the  time  of  the 
war's  outbreak,  and,  for  certain  things, 
the  increase  has  been  even  greater.  By 
the  middle  of  next  winter  our  capacity 
will  be  thirtjrfold  what  it  was  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war. 

Thus  the  fighting  among  other  na- 
tions has  done  much  toward  preparing 


us  for  war,  and,  therefore,  much  to- 
ward insuring  international  peace  for 
us,  but  even  our  tremendous  contribu- 
tion to  the  supplies  of  the  Allies 
amounts  to  only  about  2  per  cent,  of 
what  they  are  consuming,  and  the  war 
has  not  been  running  a  year. 

This  indicates  that  if  we  should  sud- 
denly be  involved  in  warfare  with  a 
great  power  we  should  be  whipped  un- 
less we  devised  means  for  the  increase 
of  our  productivity  of  war  supplies,  es- 
pecially explosives  and  all  ammunition 
materials,  by  a  hundredfold. 

The  consumption  of  war  material  has 
been  unprecedented,  and  this  indicates 
what  may  be  expected  in  future  wars. 
In  trench  fighting,  for  example,  it  is  es- 
timated that  four  times  as  many  rifles 
as  men  are  required.  The  fighting  man 
must  have  two  because  one  quickly  gets 
hot  and  becomes  unusable ,'  he  must  have 
a  third  so  that  he  may  still  have  two  if 
one  is  hit  by  the  return  fire  or  other- 
wise rendered  inefficient;  he  must  have 
the  fourth  so  that  at  least  one  of  his 
weapons  may  be  in  the  arms  hospital 
undergoing  repairs  if  necessary,  and  be 
ready  for  him  in  case  one  of  his  others 
is  demolished.  This  development  of 
modem  warfare  means  that  a  million 
modem  soldiers  need  four  million  mod- 
ern rifles. 

This  indicates  the  enormous  necessi- 
ties which  would  devolve  upon  this 
country  in  case  we  were  forced  into  a 
war.  During  the  past  week  I  have  re- 
ceived a  cable  from  an  old  friend  in 
England  who  has  been  selling  war  muni- 
tions to  the  Allies.  He  asked  me  how 
quickly  I  could  get  a  million  rifles  made 
in  the  United  States.  The  best  bids  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain  have  guaran- 
teed a  first  delivery  at  the  end  of  one 


SCIENTISTS   AND    THE   MILITARY 


933 


year  and  final  deliveries  at  the  end  of 
three  years. 

One  of  the  chief  developments  in  the 
matter  of  explosives  has  been  the  fact 
that  the  United  States  has  found  it  pos- 
sible to  teach  Europe  much  during  this 
war  in  regard  to  smokeless  powder. 
Several  years  ago  the  du  Pont  Powder 
Company  developed  a  smokeless  rifle 
powder  which  permits  the  firing  of  more 
than  20,000  rounds  from  an  ordinary 
army  rifle  without  destroying  its  accu- 
racy. 

When  the  du  Ponts  developed  their 
new  rifle  powder  the  best  European 
powder  destroyed  the  rifling  and  accu- 
racy of  the  gun  at  about  3,000  rounds. 
This  American  invention,  therefore,  has 
increased  the  life  of  military  rifles  by 
sevenfold.  Say  that  an  equipment  of 
military  rifles  cost  at  the  rate  of,  say, 
$20  each,  and  we  will  find  that  this 
means  a  saving  of,  roughly,  $100,000,000 
in  the  equipment  of  a  million  men  with 
one  rifle  each,  and,  as  they  need  four 
rifles  each,  it  means  a  saving  of  $400,- 
000,000. 

American  smokeless  powder  for  can- 
non also  has  its  advantages.     It  erodes 


the  guns  much  less  than  any  European 
powder  except,  possibly,  that  of  the  Ger- 
mans. They  have  a  pure  nitro-cellulose 
powder  somewhat  similar  in  quality  to 
that  of  the  United  States,  but  ours  has 
an  advantage  in  being  multi-perforated, 
whereby  a  higher  velocity  is  insured  at  a 
lower  pressure  with,  in  consequence,  a 
lessened  erosive  effect  upon  the  guns. 

In  the  early  nineties  I  made  the  dis- 
covery that  tri-nitro-cellulose,  when 
combined  with  pyro-nitro-cellulose,  could 
be  much  more  readily  gelatinated  and 
made  an  excellent  smokeless  powder, 
while  powder  made  from  pure  nitro-cell- 
ulose would  warp  and  crack  all  to  pieces 
in  drying.  The  present  German  powder 
is  made  from  such  a  compound  of  tri- 
nitro-cellulose  and  soluble  nitro-cellu- 
lose. 

Nevertheless,  this  compound  is  a 
makeshift  as  compared  with  the  nitro- 
cellulose used  by  this  Government.  Ours 
is  a  far  better  explosive,  and  is  less  ero- 
sive on  the  guns,  because  the  gases 
which  it  generates  are  not  so  hot.  We 
have  the  best  smokeless  powder  in  the 
world,  and,  after  this  war  is  over,  our 
powder  will  be  universally  used. 


Thor! 


By  BEATRICE  BARRY 


I   am   the    God   of  War — yea,    God    of 

Battle  am  I, 
And  the  evil  men  speak  about  me  has 
moved  me  to  fierce  reply. 
Does  not  the  surgeon's  knife 
Tortvire — to  save  a  life? 
So,  for  the  life  of  nations,  men  learn 
to  fight  and  die — 

Even  die! 

Craven    through   love    or    fear    do    the 

weak  of  the  earth  await  me 
Tensely,  with  bated  breath — yea,  teach- 
ing their  sons  to  hate  me. 
Lured  by  my  rolling  drum, 
Nevertheless  they  come 
Proudly,  their  youth  and  manhood  offer- 
ing up  to  sate  me! 

You  who  would  grudge  me  aught  but 
harvest  of  woe  and  shame — 

Answer  me,  you  who  hate  me,  cursing 
my  very  name — 


When  was  a  serf  made  free. 
Save   and  alone   through  me? 
When    was    a    tyrant    vanquished,    save 
through  my  purging  flame? 

After  an  age  of  peace  do  your  sons  wax 

soft,  their  weakness 
Shown  in  a  love  of  ease,  of  sensuous- 
ness,  and  sleekness; 
Then,  lest  a  nation  die, 
Loud  rings  my  battle-cry! 
Lo,  they  forsake  snug  warmth  for  deso- 
late cold  and  bleakness! 

I  am  the  God  of  War — yea,  God  of  Bat- 
tle am  I, 
And  the  bolts  of  my  savage  anger  I  hurl 
from  a  threatening  sky. 
Speak  of  me  as  you  will. 
Swift  though  I  be  to  kill, 
I  have  made  men  of  weaklings — I  teach 
men  how  to  die — 
Even  I! 


"^I  am  the  Gravest  Danger'' 

By  George  Bernard  Shaw 

In  a  cablegram  to  The  New  York  Times,  dated  July  17,  1915,  it 
is  reported  that  an  article  hy  George  Bernard  Shaw  in  The  New 
Statesman  hegins  with  a  review  of  Professor  Gilbert  Murray's  booh, 
"The  Foreign  Policy  of  Sir  Edward  Grey,"  and  ends  with  the  follow- 
ing characteristic  reference  to  himself: 

'TLike  other  Socialists,  I  have  been  too  much  preoccupied  with  the 
atrocities  of  peace  and  the  problems  they  raise  to  pay  due  attention 
to  the  atrocities  of  war,  but  I  have  not  been  unconscious  of  the  Euro- 
pean question  and  I  have  made  a  few  shots  at  solutions  from  time  to 
time.  None  of  these  have  been  received  with  the  smallest  approval, 
but  at  least  I  may  be  permitted  to  point  out  that  they  have  all  come 
out  right, 

"I  steadily  ridiculed  anti-armament  agitation,  and  urged  that  our 
armaments  should  be  doubled,  trebled,  quadrupled,  as  they  might  have 
been  without  costing  the  country  one  farthing  that  we  were  not  wast- 
ing in  the  most  mischievous  manner. 

"I  said  that  the  only  i)olicy  which  would  secure  the  peace  of 
Europe  was  a  policy  of  using  powerful  armament  to  guarantee  France 
against  Germany  and  Germany  against  Russia,  aiming  finally  at  a 
great  peace  insurance  league  of  the  whole  northwest  of  Europe  with 
the  United  States  of  America  in  defense  of  Western  democratic  civili- 
zation against  the  menace  of  the  East  and  possible  crusades  from 
primitive  black  Christians  in  Africa. 

"When  the  war  broke  out  I  said  some  more  things  which  were 
frantically  contradicted  and  which  have  all  turned  out  to  be  precisely 
true.  I  set  the  example  of  sharp  criticism  of  the  Government  and  the 
War  Office,  which  was  denounced  as  treasonable  and  which  now  proves 
to  be  the  only  way  of  saving  our  army  from  annihilation,  the  Govern- 
ment having  meanwhile  collapsed  and  vanished,  as  every  ordinarily 
self-possessed  person  foresaw  that  it  must. 

"One  fact  seems  established  by  this  beyond  doubt;  to  wit,  that  I 
am  the  gravest  public  danger  that  confronts  England,  because  I  have 
the  strange  power  of  turning  the  nation  passionately  away  from  the 
truth  by  the  simple  act  of  uttering  it.  The  necessity  for  contradict- 
ing me,  for  charging  heroically  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that 
pointed  out  by  me,  is  part  of  the  delirium  of  war  fever. 

"Sir  Edward  Grey,  on  the  other  hand,  is  spoken  well  of  by  all 
men,  but  he,  too,  is  the  victim  of  a  mysterious  fate.  lie  is,  as  Pro- 
fessor Murray  has  repeatedly  testified,  the  most  truthful  of  men,  yet 
be  never  opens  his  mouth  without  deceiving  ns.  He  is  the  most 
loyal  of  simple,  manly  souls,  yet  he  is  accused  of  betraying  every 
country  and  every  diplomatist  who  trusted  him.  He  is  the  kindest  of 
men,  and  yet  he  has  implicated  us  in  the  tortures  of  Denshawai  and 
brought  upon  us  the  slaughters  of  Armageddon. 

"Clearly,  there  are  two  men  in  England  who  must  be  sent  into 
permanent  retirement.  Depend  on  it,  there  is  something  fundamen- 
tally wrong  with  them.  It  is  a  pity,  for  they  are  stuffed  with  the 
rarest  of  virtues — though  I  say  it,  who  should  not.  One  of  them  is  Sir 
Edward  Grey  and  the  other  is  G.  B.  S." 


THE    EUROPEAN  WAR   AS 
SEEN    BY    CARTOONISTS 


[American  Cartoon] 

The  Postscript 


— From  The  Tribuiie,  New  York. 


935 


[German  Cartoon] 


The  Paper  Blockade 


— From  Lutii 


"  Look  out  there,  mate ;  don't  puff  so  hard,  or  you'll  smash  up 
Churchill's  blockade!" 


936 


[American  Cartoon] 


Donnerwetter! 


-From  The  World,  Xew  York. 


Germany  Dishonored:  None  Drowned. 


937 


[German  Cartoon] 


The  Powder  Chest 


-From  Lustiye  Blacttcr,   Berlin 


John  Bull :    "  Don't  be  afraid,  Mister  Moneymaker.    There's  no 
safer  way  to  travel  to  Europe  than  on  my  peaceful  vessel ! " 


9S3 


[English  Cartoon] 


In  the  Eastern  Arena 


— From   Punch,  London. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  retiarius  to  retreat  in  order  to  gather  his 
net  together  for  a  fresh  cast. 

939 


[French  Cartoon] 


Circumstances  Alter  Cases 


^y 


— From  ha  Revue  Hebdominaire,  Paris. 


When  Wilson's  daughter  is  aboard  one  of  these  days  it  won't  be  a 
laughing  matter. 


940 


[Grerman  Cartoon] 


A  Risky  Road 


-From  Juijend,  Munich, 


Destruction  awaits  them  even  though  the  wheels  are  made  of  dollars. 


941 


[American  Cartoon] 


Sherman  Was  Right! 


-From  The  Sun,  New  York. 


I 


"  Close  up  these  factories !     Be  neutral !  " 


942 


[Italian  Cartoon] 

On  the  Bosporus 


— From   Numero,   Turin, 


The  last  serenade. 

943 


The  Belligerents^  Munitions 

Growing  Problems  of  Germany  and  Her  Opponents  in  Supplying 

Arms 

The  threatened  strike  in  the  Krupp  worlds  at  Kssen,  Germany,  simultaneously  with  the 
strike  of  the  Welsh  coal  miners  and  the  walk-out  in  the  Remington  Arms  Factory  in  th«  United 
States,  would  tend  to  show  that  labor  in  the  belligerent  and  neutral  countries  is  seeking  advan- 
tages under  the  strain  of  the  enormous  output  of  munitions  to  feed  the  war.  Only  in  France, 
whose  people  are  making  supreme  sacrifices,  and  in  Russia,  whose  factories  are  not  yet  organ- 
ized for  the  nation,  does  industrial  peace  prevail.  In  England  the  Munitions  bill,  with  its  pro- 
posals for  compulsory  arbitration  and  for  limiting  profits  unweakened,  was  passed  on  July  1st. 
The  bill  retained,  also,  the  power  for  the  Government  to  proclaim  the  extension  of  its  strike- 
stopping  authority  to  other  trades  than   the  munitions  trades. 

An  account  of  the  conditions  relating  to  labor  in  the  various  countries,  beginning  with  the 
speech,  in  part,  of  Lloyd  George,  introducing  the  Munitions  bill  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
June  20,  appears  below. 


A  Volunteer  Army  of  Workers 

By  Lloyd  George,  British  Minister  of  Munitions 


Addressing  the  House  of  Commons  on 
June  20,  1915,  Mr.  Lloyd  George  said, 
in  part: 

WHAT  I  want  to  impress  not 
merely  upon  the  House  but  on 
the  country  is  that  the  dura- 
tion of  the  war,  the  toll  of  life 
and  limb  levied  by  the  war,  the  amount 
of  exhaustion  caused  by  the  war,  the 
economic  and  financial  effect — and  in  or- 
der to  understand  the  whole  depth  and 
meaning  of  the  problem  with  which  we 
are  confronted  I  would  state  the  ulti- 
mate victory  or  defeat  in  this  war — 
depend  on  the  supply  of  munitions  which 
the  rival  countries  can  produce  to  equip 
their  armies  in  the  field.  That  is  the 
cardinal  fact  of  the  military  situation 
in  this  war.     (Cheers.) 

I  heard  the  other  day  on  very  good 
authority — and  this  will  give  the  House 
an  idea  of  the  tremendous  preparations 
made  by  the  enemy  for  this  war  and  of 
the  expansion  which  has  taken  place 
even  since  the  war — that  the  Central  Eu- 
ropean Powers  are  turning  out  250,000 


shells  per  day.  That  is  very  nearly  eight 
million  shells  per  month.  The  problem 
of  victory  for  us  is  how  to  equal,  how  to 
surpass,  that  tremendous  production. 
(Hear,  hear.) 

The  Central  European  Powers  have 
probably  attained  something  like  the  lira- 
its  of  their  possible  output.  We  have 
only  just  crossed  the  threshold  of  our 
possibilities.  In  France  I  had  the  priA'i- 
lege  of  meeting  M.  Thomas,  the  Under 
Secretary  for  War,  a  man  to  whose  great 
organizing  capacity  a  good  deal  of  the 
success  of  the  French  provisions  of  war 
is  attributable,  and  I  am  very  reassured 
not  merely  as  to  what  France  is  doing 
and  what  France  can  do  but  as  to  what 
we  can  do  when  I  take  into  account 
what  France  has  already  accomplished. 

Let  us  see  the  position  France  is  in. 
Her  most  important  industrial  provinces 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Seventy 
per  cent,  of  her  steel  production  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  She  had  mo- 
bilized an  enormous  army  and  therefore 
had  withdrawn  a  very  considerable  pro- 
portion of  her  population  from  industry. 


THE   BELLIGERENTS'    MUNITIONS 


945 


She  is  not  at  best  as  great  an  industrial 
country  as  we  are.  She  is  much  of  an 
agricultural  and  pastoral  country.  It 
is  true  that  we  have  certain  disadvan- 
tages compared  with  France,  and  they 
are  important.  She  has  not  the  same 
gigantic  Navy  to  draw  upon  the  engi- 
neering establishments  of  the  country. 
That  makes  a  very  great  difference.  She 
has  more  complete  command  over  her 
labor.  That  makes  an  enormous  differ- 
ence, not  merely  in  the  mobility  of  labor 
and  the  readiness  with  which  she  can 
transfer  that  labor  from  one  center  to 
another,  but  in  the  discipline  which 
obtains  in  the  workshops.  She  has  an- 
other advantage  with  her  arsenals, 
which  at  the  outbreak  of  war  corre- 
sponded to  the  magnitude  of  her  Army 
— a  huge  Army.  We  had  a  small  Army 
to  provide  for.  She,  in  addition  to  that, 
had  undoubtedly  a  very  great  trade  with 
other  countries  in  the  production  of  mu- 
nitions of  war.  These  are  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages.  Still,  know- 
ing these  things  and  taking  them  all 
into  account,  the  surplus  of  our  engi- 
neering resources  available  for  the  ma- 
terials of  war  is  undoubtedly  greater 
than  that  of  France,  and  if  we  pro- 
duce these  things  within  the  next  few 
months  as  much  as  they  are  likely  to 
produce  the  Allies  would  not  merely 
equal  the  production  of  the  Central  Pow- 
ers, but  they  would  have  an  overwhelm- 
ing superiority  over  the  enemy  in  the 
material  essential  to  victory.  That  is 
the  first  great  fact  I  would  like  to  get 
into  the  minds  of  all  those  who  can  ren- 
der assistance  to  the  country. 

Germany  has  achieved  a  temporary 
preponderance  of  material.  She  has  done 
it  in  two  ways.  She  accumulated  great 
stores  before  the  war.  She  has  mobilized 
the  whole  of  her  industries  after  the  war, 
having  no  doubt  taken  steps  before  the 
war  to  be  ready  for  the  mobilization  of 
the  workshops  immediately  after  war 
was  declared.  Her  preponderance  in  two 
or  three  directions  is  very  notable.  I 
mention  this  because  it  is  essential  they 
should  be  understood  in  inviting  the 
assistance  of  the  community  to  enable 
us  to  compete  with  this  formidable  enemy. 
The  superiority  of  the  Germans  in  ma- 


terial was  most  marked  in  their  heavy 
guns,  their  high  explosive  shells,  their 
rifles,  and  perhaps  most  of  all  their  ma- 
chine-guns. These  have  turned  out  to  be 
about  the  most  formidable  weapons  in 
the  war.  They  have  almost  superseded 
the  rifle  and   rendered   it  unnecessary. 

The  machinery  for  rifles  and  machine- 
guns  takes  eight  and  nine  months  to 
construct  before  you  begin  to  turn  a 
single  rifle  or  machine-gun.  The  Ger- 
mans have  undoubtedly  anticipated  the 
character  of  the  war  in  the  way  no  other 
Power  has  done.  They  realized  it  was 
going  to  be  a  great  trench  war.  They 
had  procured  an  adequate  supply  of  ma- 
chinery applicable  to  those  conditions. 
The  professional  man  was  essentially  a 
very  conservative  one — (hear,  hear) — 
and  there  are  competent  soldiers  who 
even  today  assume  that  his  phase  is  pure- 
ly a  temporary  one,  that  it  would  not 
last  long,  and  we  shall  be  back  on  the  old 
lines. 

I  have  no  doubt  much  time  was  lost 
owing  to  that  opposition.  The  Germans 
never  harbored  that  delusion,  and  were 
fully  prepared  to  batter  down  the  deep- 
est trenches  of  the  enemy  with  the  heavy 
guns  and  high  explosives,  and  to  de- 
fend their  own  trenches  with  machine- 
guns.  That  is  the  story  of  the  war  for 
ten  months.  We  assumed  that  victory 
was  rather  due  as  a  tribute  from  fate, 
and  our  problem  now  is  to  organize 
victory,  and  not  take  it  for  granted. 
(Cheers.)  To  do  that  the  whole  engi- 
neering and  chemical  resources  of  this 
country — of  the  whole  Empire — ^^must  be 
mobilized.  When  that  is  done  France 
and  ourselves  alone,  without  Italy  or 
Russia,  can  overtop  the  whole  Teutonic 
output. 

The  plan  on  which  we  have  proceeded 
until  recently  I  explained  to  the  House 
in  April.  We  recognized  that  the  arse- 
nals then  in  existence  were  quite  inade- 
quate to  supply  the  new  Army  or  even 
the  old  Army,  giving  the  necessary  ma- 
terial and  taking  into  account  the  rate 
at  which  ammvmition  was  being  ex- 
pended. We  had,  therefore,  to  organize 
new  sources  of  supply,  and  the  War 
Office  was  of  opinion  that  the  best  meth- 
od of  attaining  that  object  was  to  work 


946 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


through  existing  firms,  so  as  to  have 
expert  control  and  direction  over  com- 
panies and  workshops,  which  up  to  that 
time  had  no  experience  in  turning  out 
shells  and  guns  and  ammunition  of  all 
sorts.  There  was  a  great  deal  to  be 
said  for  that.  There  was,  first  of  all, 
a  difficulty  unless  something  of  that  kind 
was  done  of  mobilizing  all  the  resources 
at  the  disposal  of  the  State.  The  total 
Army  Estimates  were  £28,000,000  in 
the  year  of  peace.  They  suddenly  be- 
came £700,000,000.  All  that  represents 
not  merely  twenty  or  twenty-five  times  as 
much  money ;  it  means  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  times  as  much  work.  It  means  more 
than  that,  because  it  has  to  be  done 
under  pressure.  The  sort  of  business 
which  takes  years  to  build  up,  develop, 
strengthen,  and  improve  has  suddenly 
to  be  done  in  about  five,  six,  seven,  or 
eight  months.  The  War  Office  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  way  of 
doing  that  was  to  utilize  the  skill  of  ex- 
isting firms  which  were  capable  of  doing 
this  work.  The  War  Office  staff  are  hard- 
working, capable  men,  but  there  are  not 
enough.  There  is  one  consideration 
which  cannot  be  left  out  of  account,  and 
that  is  that  men  who  are  quite  equal 
to  running  long-established  businesses 
run  on  old-established  lines,  may  not  al- 
ways be  adequate  to  the  task  of  organ- 
izing and  administering  a  business 
■thirty  times  its  size  on  novel  and  origi- 
nal lines. 

To  be  quite  candid,  the  organizing 
firms — the  armament  firms — were  also  in- 
adequate to  the  gigantic  task  cast  upon 
them  of  not  merely  organizing  their  own 
work  but  of  developing  the  resources  of 
the  country  outside.  They  could  not 
command  the  stock,  and  sub-contracting 
has  undoubtedly  been  a  failure.  Sub- 
contracting has  produced  something  like 
10,000  shells  a  month.  We  have  only 
been  at  it  a  few  days,  and  we  have  al- 
ready placed  with  responsible  firms  or- 
ders for  150,000  shells  a  month.  In  a 
very  short  time  I  am  confident  it  will 
be  a  quarter  of  a  million  or  300,000. 
(Cheers.)  It  is  a  process  of  inviting 
business  men  to  organize  themselves  and 
to  assist  us  to  develop  the  resources  of 
their  district. 


We  have  secured  a  very  large  number 
of  business  men;  many  business  men 
are  engaged  in  organizing  and  directing 
their  own  business,  business  which  is 
just  as  essential  to  the  State  in  a  period 
of  war  as  even  the  organization  of  this 
office;  but  still  there  are  the  services 
of  many  able  business  men  which  are 
available,  and  we  propose  to  utilize  Ihem 
to  the  full,  first,  in  the  Central  Office 
to  organize  it;  secondly,  in  the  localities 
to  organize  the  resources  there;  and, 
thirdly,  we  propose  to  have  a  great  Cen- 
tral Advisory  Committee  of  business  men 
to  aid  us  to  come  to  the  right  conclu- 
sions in  dealing  with  the  business  com- 
munity. 

I  should  like  just  to  point  out  two 
or  three  of  the  difficulties,  in  order  to 
show  the  steps  which  are  taken  to  over- 
come them.  The  first  difficulty,  of 
course,  is  that  of  materials.  There  is, 
as  I  pointed  out,  material  of  which 
you  have  abundance  in  this  country,  but 
there  are  others  which  you  have  got  to 
husband  very  carefully,  and  there  is 
other  material  on  which  you  have  got 
to  spend  a  considerable  sum  of  money 
in  order  to  be  able  to  develop  it  at  a 
later  stage.  With  regard  to  this  ques- 
tion, I  think  that  it  might  be  necessary 
ultimately  for  us  to  take  complete  con- 
trol of  the  Metal  Market,  so  that  avail- 
able material  should  not  be  wasted  on 
non-essential  work.  (Hear,  hear.)  To 
a  certain  extent  we  have  done  that. 

I  should  like  to  say  a  word  with  re- 
gard to  raw  material  for  explosives.  We 
are  building  new  factories  so  that  the 
expansion  of  explosives  shall  keep  pace 
with  that  of  shells,  and  in  this  respect, 
again,  I  should  like  to  dwell  upon  the 
importance  of  keeping  up  our  coal  sup- 
plies in  this  country.  It  is  the  basis 
of  all  our  high-explosives,  and  if  there 
were  a  shortage  for  any  reason  the  con- 
sequences would  be  very  calamitous. 

Sometimes  we  do  not  get  the  best  in 
these  yards  through  the  slackness  of  a 
minority  and  sometimes  through  regula- 
tions, useful,  perhaps  essential,  in  times 
of  peace  for  the  protection  of  men 
against  undue  pressure  and  strain,  but 
which  in  times  of  war  have  the  effect 
of  restricting  output.    If  these  are  with- 


THE   BELLIGERENTS'    MUNITIONS 


947 


drawn  no  doubt  it  increases  the  strain 
on  the  men,  and  in  a  long  course  of 
years  they  could  not  stand  it.  But  in 
times  of  war  everybody  is  working  at 
full  strain,  and  therefore  it  is  difficult 
to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  suspend- 
ing restrictions  which  have  the  effect 
of  diminishing  the  output  of  war  mate- 
rial. 

The  fourth  point  is  that  the  danger 
of  having  stoppages  of  work  by  means 
of  strikes  and  lock-outs  ought  to  be 
removed  during  the  time  of  the  war. 
(Hear,  hear.)  I  should  have  liked  to 
have  seen  strikes  and  lock-outs  during 
the  war  made  impossible  in  any  trade, 
and  I  do  not  despair  of  getting  the  as- 
sent of  those  who  object  to  compulsory 
arbitration  under  normal  conditions  to 
a  temporary  application  of  that  princi- 
ple during  the  period  of  the  war. 

The  next  step  is  one  in  which  the 
Trade  Unions  are  concerned.  There  was 
a  very  frank  discussion  between  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Trade  Unions  and  myself,  and 
I  was  bound  to  point  out  that  if  there 
were  an  inadequate  supply  of  labor  for 
the  purpose  of  turning  out  munitions 
of  war  which  are  necessary  for  the  safety 
of  the  country  compulsion  would  be  in- 
evitable. 

They  put  forward  as  an  alternative 
that  the  Government  should  give  them 
the  chance  of  supplying  that  number  of 
men.  They  said,  "  Give  us  seven  days, 
and  if  in  seven  days  we  caiiot  get  the 
men  we  will  admit  that  our  case  is  con- 
siderably weakened."  They  asked  us 
to  place  the  whole  machinery  of  Govern- 
ment at  their  disposal,  because  they  had 
not  the  organization  to  enlist  the  num- 
ber. We  have  arranged  terms  upon 
which  the  men  are  to  be  enlisted,  and 
tomorrow  morning  the  seven  days  begin. 
Advertisements  will  appear  in  all  the 
papers,  an  office  has  been  organized,  and 
the  Trade  Union  representatives  are  sit- 
ting there  in  council  directing  the  re- 
cruiting operations.  I  am  not  sure,  but 
I  believe  my  honorable  friend  Mr,  Brace 
is  the  Adjutant-General.  Tomorrow  we 
hope  to  be  able  to  make  a  start.  We 
have  180  town  halls  in  different  parts 
of  the  country  placed  entirely  at  our 
disposal  as  recruiting  offices.    We  invite 


the  assistance  of  everybody  to  try  to 
secure  as  many  volunteers  as  they  pos- 
sibly can — men  who  are  not  engaged 
upon  Government  work  now,  skilled  men 
— to  enroll  themselves  in  the  Trade 
Union  army  for  the  purpose  of  going 
anywhere  where  the  Government  invited 
them  to  go  to  assist  in  turning  out  dif- 
ferent munitions  of  war.  If  there  ar;3 
any  honorable  friends  of  mine  who  are 
opposed  to  compulsion,  the  most  effective 
service  they  can  render  to  voluntarism 
is  to  make  this  army  a  success.  (Cheers.) 
If  we  succeed  by  these  means — and  the 
Board  of  Trade,  the  Munitions  Depart- 
ment, and  the  War  Office  are  placing 
all  their  services  at  the  disposal  of  this 
new  recruiting  office — if  within  seven 
days  we  secure  the  labor,  then  the  need 
for  industrial  compulsion  will  to  that  ex- 
tent have  been  taken  away. 

CALL   TO   BRITISH   WORKERS 

In  a  special  cable  dispatch  to  The 
New  York  Times,  dated  June  24,  ap- 
peared the  following: 

"  England  expects  every  workman  to 
do  his  duty,"  is  the  new  rendering  of 
Nelson's  Trafalgar  signal  which  is  being 
flagged  throughout  the  country  today. 
Lloyd  George  has  issued  an  appeal  to 
organized  labor  to  come  forward  within 
the  next  seven  days  in  a  last  supreme 
effort  on  behalf  of  the  voluntary  system, 
and  if  it  fails  nothing  remains  but  com- 
pulsion. 

The  appeal  is  being  put  before  them 
by  advertisements  in  newspapers,  by 
speeches  from  labor  leaders,  and  by 
meetings  throughout  the  country.  A 
new  workmen's  army  is  being  recruited 
just  as  Kitchener's  army  was,  and  only 
seven  days  are  given  to  gather  together 
what  may  be  termed  a  mobile  army  of 
industry.  It  is  estimated  that  a  quarter 
of  a  million  men  well  equipped  for  the 
purposes  required  are  available  outside 
the  ranks  of  those  already  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  munitions.  Nearly 
two  hundred  industrial  recruiting  offices 
throughout  the  country  opened  at  six 
o'clock  last  night,  and,  judging  by  re- 
ports   already    to    hand,    the    voluntary 


948 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


system  seems  again  likely  to  justify 
itself. 

"  To  British  Workmen :  Your  skill  is 
needed,"  runs  one  advertisement.  "  There 
are  thousands  of  skilled  men  who  are 
burning  to  do  something  for  King  and 
country.  By  becoming  a  war  munitions 
volunteer  each  of  them  can  do  his  bit 
for  his  homeland.  Get  into  a  factory 
and  supply  the  firing  line." 

Posters  and  small  bills  with  both  an 
artistic  and  literary  "punch"  are  being 
prepared  and  sent  out  for  distribution. 
Newspapers  with  special  working  class 
clientele  are  making  direct  appeals  to 
their  readers. 

TEX   THOUSAND   MEN   A  DAY 

Mr.  H.  E.  Morgan,  of  the  War  Muni- 
tions Ministry,  said  in  an  interview 
printed  hy  The  London  Daily  Chronicle 
on  July  1 : 

The  War  Munition  Volunteers  have 
amply  justified  their  formation.  Dur- 
ing the  last  two  days  the  enrolments 
throughout  the  country  have  averaged 
ten  thousand  skilled  and  fully  qualified 
mechanics,  who  are  exactly  the  type  of 
worker  we  want.  So  far  as  the  men 
are  concerned,  the  voluntary  principle 
in  industrial  labor  has  triumphed. 

We  have  already  transferred  a  large 
number  of  skilled  mechanics  from  non- 
war  work  to  munition  making,  and  daily 
the  number  grows.  London  compares 
excellently  with  other  places  as  regards 
the  number  of  volunteers,  but  naturally 
most  of  the  men  are  coming  from  the 
great  engineering  centres  in  the  North 
and  Midlands. 

A  KEGISTER   OF   90,000 

In  a  London  dispatch  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Press,  dated  July  16,  this  report 
appeared: 

After  upward  of  a  fortnight's  work  in 
the  six  hundred  bureaus  which  were 
opened  when  the  Minister  of  Munitions, 
David  Lloyd  George,  gave  labor  the  op- 
portunity voluntarily  to  enroll  as  muni- 
tions operatives,  closed  today  with  a 
total    registration    of    ninety    thousand 


men.  Registration  hereafter  will  be  car- 
ried out  through  the  labor  exchanges. 

More  men  are  needed,  but  the  chief 
difficulty  now  is  to  place  them  on  war 
work  with  a  minimum  of  red  tape.  H. 
G.  Morgan,  assistant  director  of  the 
Munitions  Department,  said  today  that 
this  problem  was  causing  some  unrest 
among  the  workers,  but  that  the  trans- 
fers would  take  time,  for  the  Govern- 
ment was  anxious  not  to  disturb  indus- 
try more  than  necessary. 

"  The  problem  almost  amounts  to  a 
rearrangement  of  the  whole  skilled  labor 
of  the  country,"  said  Mr.  Morgan. 
"  This,  of  course,  will  take  considerable 
time." 

THE    CAMPAIGN    CONTINUED 

A  cable  dispatch  from  London  to  The 
New  York  Times  said  on  July  15: 

The  Daily  Chronicle  says  that  a 
campaign  to  urge  munition  workers  to 
even  greater  efforts  is  to  open  today  with 
a  meeting  at  Grantham,  and  next  week 
meetings  will  be  held  at  Luton,  Glouces- 
ter, Stafford,  Preston,  and  other  centres. 
In  the  course  of  the  next  few  weeks 
hundreds  of  meetings  will  take  place  in 
all  parts  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  campaign  has  been  organized  by 
the  Munitions  Parliamentary  Commit- 
tee, the  secretaries  of  which  have  re- 
ceived the  following  letter  from  Muni- 
tions Minister  Lloyd  George: 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  thiat  members 
of  the  House  are  responding  so  enthu- 
siastically to  my  pressing  appeal  to  them 
to  undertake  a  campaign  in  the  country 
to  impress  upon  employers  and  workers 
in  munitions  shops  the  urgent  and  even 
vital  necessity  for  a  grand  and  imme- 
diate increase  in  the  output  of  munitions 
of  war." 

Professor  Mantoux  has  been  asked  by 
the  French  Munitions  Minister  to  keep 
in  touch  with  the  campaign  and  to  re- 
port from  time  to  time  as  to  the  results 
achieved.  It  is  felt  that  what  affects 
England  affects  France,  and  later  a 
similar  campaign  may  be  inaugurated 
in  that  country. 

Sixty  members  of  Parliament  have 
promised  to  speak  at  the  meetings. 


THE   BELLIGERENTS'    MUNITIONS 


949 


COAL    STEIKE    IN   WALES 

Most  of  the  coal  for  Great  Britain's 
navy  comes  from  South  Wales,  and  the 
supply  was  reduced  by  the  enlistment  of 
sixty  thousand  \Yelsh  miners  in  the 
arm,y.  The  labor  ci'isis  was  first  threat- 
ened three  months  ago,  when  the  miners 
gave  notice  that  they  would  terminate 
the  existing  agreements  on  July  1,  and, 
in  lieu  of  these,  they  proposed  a  national 
program,  giving  an  all-around  increase 
in  wages.  The  owners  objected  to  the 
consideration  of  the  new  terms  during 
the  war  and  ashed  the  miners  to  accept 
the  existing  agreements  plus  a  war 
bonus.  After  a  series  of  conferences  the 
union  officials  agreed  to  recommend  a 
compromise,  which  was  arranged  through 
the  Board  of  Trade.  The  miners,  how- 
ever, voted  yesterday  against  this,  and 
the  Government  was  obliged  to  take 
action. 

On  July  16  the  Associated  Press 
cabled  from  London: 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the 
South  Wales  Miners'  Federation,  most 
of  the  members  of  which  are  opposed  to 
the  strike,  came  to  London  today  and 
conferred  with  Walter  Runciman,  Pres- 
ident of  the  Board  of  Trade,  who,  it  is 
understood,  made  new  proposals  for  a 
settlement  of  the  trouble,  which  will  be 
considered  at  a  meeting  in  the  morning. 

There  is  no  indication  of  any  weaken- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  men.  Even  the 
men  in  one  district  who  last  night  de- 
cided to  resume  work  reversed  their 
decision,  and  not  a  pick  was  moving 
today. 

However,  the  impression  still  prevails 
that  a  few  days  will  see  an  end  of  the 
walkout.  It  is  not  believed  that  the 
introduction  of  the  Munitions  of  War 
act  can  force  the  men  to  return  to  work, 
for  it  is  impossible  to  bring  150,000 
men  before  the  courts  to  impose  fines 
for  contravening  the  act. 

In  fact,  the  resort  to  this  measure  is 
believed  rather  to  have  made  the  situa- 
tion worse,  and  the  men's  demands  now 
include  its  withdrawal  so  far  as  coal 
mining  is  concerned. 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
Cardiff,  Wales,  on  July  20  reported: 


Subject  to  ratification  by  the  miners 
themselves  through  delegates  who  will 
assemble  tomorrow,  representatives  of 
the  Government  and  of  the  coal  mine 
owners  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  South  Wales 
Miners'  Federation  on  the  other,  agreed 
today  to  terms  that,  it  is  thought,  will 
end  the  coal  miners'  strike,  which,  since 
last  Thursday,  has  tied  up  the  South 
Wales  coal  fields  and  menaced  the  fuel 
supply  of  the  navy. 

The  terms  arrived  at  grant  a  sub- 
stantial increase  in  wages  and  involve 
concessions  to  the  strikers  which  are 
considered  by  their  Executive  Commit- 
tee as  tantamount  to  an  admission  of 
the  miners'  claims  on  nearly  all  the  out- 
standing points.  Tonight  the  delegates 
were  visiting  their  districts,  canvassing 
the  sentiment  there  preparatory  to  to- 
morrow's vote. 

If  tomorrow's  meeting  should  bring  a 
settlement  of  the  strike  the  thanks  of 
the  country  will  go  chiefly  to  David 
Lloyd  George,  the  Munitions  Minister, 
for  it  was  his  arrival  here  last  night 
that  paved  the  way  for  breaking  the 
deadlock  between  the  miners  and  the 
mine  owners. 

If  the  vote  tomorrow  is  favorable  to 
ending  the  strike,  two  hundred  thousand 
men  will  return  to  work  immediately 
and  agree  to  abide  by  the  terms  of  the 
settlement  until  six  months  after  the 
termination  of  the  war. 

AMMUNITION    IN    FRANCE 

M.  Millerand,  French  Minister  of 
War,  after  the  Senate  had  approved,  on 
June  29,  the  bill  appropriating  $1,200,- 
000,000  for  war  expenses  of  the  third 
quarter  of  the  year,  reported  as  quoted 
by  the  Associated  Press: 

From  August  1  to  April  1  France  has 
increased  her  military  production  six- 
fold. The  curve  for  munitions  has 
never  ceased  to  mount,  nor  that  repre- 
senting the  manufacture  of  our  75s.  I 
can  give  satisfying  assurances  also  re- 
garding the  heavy  artillery  and  small 
arms.  From  the  1st  of  January  to  the 
15th  of  May  the  other  essentials  of  the 
war  have  been  equally  encouraging.   We 


950 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


are  determined  to  pursue  our  enemies, 
whatever  arms  they  may  employ. 

Yves  Guyot,  the  economist  and  late 
Minister  of  Public  WorTcs  in  France, 
said  to  the  New  York  Times  correspond- 
ent on  July  3 : 

France  can  hold  her  own  against  Ger- 
many. She  herself  makes  all  the  shells 
that  play  such  havoc  in  the  enemy's 
ranks,  and  she  will  keep  on  making  all 
she  needs. 

The  munitions  problem  in  France  is 
not  so  acute  as  in  England.  In  France 
as  soon  as  the  war  started  we  began 
turning  out  the  shells  as  fast  as  our  fac- 
tories could  work.  So,  in  a  short  time, 
they  were  going  full  blast.  We  have 
been  able  to  supply  our  army  with  ample 
ammunition  and  to  have  shells  enough 
to  shake  up  the  enemy  whenever  we  put 
on  spurts. 

It  is  vitally  important  that  England 
has  come  to  the  realization  of  the  need 
of  equipping  her  own  army  with  ade- 
quate ammunition.  Up  to  now  the  Eng- 
lish Army  has  been  sadly  handicapped, 
but  with  the  energetic  Lloyd  George  in 
command  the  munitions  output  in  the 
near  future  is  certain  to  bring  a  sudden 
change  m  the  status  of  England  in  the 
war. 

We  in  France  being  in  such  imme- 
diate contact  with  the  horrors  of  war 
had  a  stern  sense  of  the  necessity  of 
fully  equipping  our  army  forced  upon 
us  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  conflict. 
The  only  thing  we  have  lacked  has  been 
steel,  and  we  have  been  getting  some 
of  that  from  our  old  friend,  the  United 
States.  France  has  steel  plants,  and 
they  do  a  tremendous  amount  of  work, 
but  altogether  they  do  not  turn  out 
enough  for  our  ammunition  works.  So 
we  had  to  turn  elsewhere  for  some  of 
this  product,  and  it  was  America  that 
came  to  our  aid. 

We  have  got  the  steel  with  which  to 
make  shells.  Our  workmen  are  well 
organized  and  the  whole  spirit  prevail- 
ing among  them  is  to  help  France  to  win 
the  bloodiest  war  of  her  history. 

The  London  Daily  Chronicle  in  an  in- 
terview with  Albert  Thomas,  French 
Minister  of  Munitions,  quoted  him  as 
follows  on  July  8: 


It  is  our  duty  to  organize  victory. 
To  this  we  are  bending  all  our  energies. 
The  war  may  be  long;  difficulties  may 
reach  us  of  which  we  had  no  prevision 
at  the  start;  but  we  shall  keep  on  until 
the  end. 

We  know  how  great  are  the  resources 
of  Britain.  We  know  what  immense 
efforts  she  has  put  forth,  which  have 
been  a  surprise  not  only  to  us  but  to  the 
enemy  as  well,  and  we  have  every  reason 
for  believing  and  knowing  that  these 
immense  resources  will  continue  to  be 
used  in  the  service  of  the  Allies. 

Understand  me,  I  do  not  say  that  our 
common  task  is  an  easy  one,  nor  do  I 
say  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  speedy 
victory;  but  what  I  do  say  is  that  be 
the  struggle  long  or  short,  we  are  both 
ready  to  double,  to  treble,  to  quadruple, 
and,  if  necessary,  to  increase  tenfold  the 
output  of  munitions  of  war. 

We  have  pooled  our  resources,  and  I, 
for  one,  have  no  doubt,  that  these  re- 
sources are  great  enough  to  stand  any 
strain  whch  we  may  be  called  upon  to 
put  upon  them;  nor  have  I  any  fear  of 
an  ultimate  triumph.  All  the  great 
moral  forces  of  the  world  are  on  our 
side.  The  Allies  are  fighting  for  the 
freeing  of  Europe  from  the  domination 
of  militarism ;  and  that  is  fighting  into 
which  every  democrat  can  throw  himself 
heart  and  soul.  Defeat  in  such  a  cause 
is  unthinkable. 

KUSSIAN  INDUSTRIALISTS 
RALLY 

The  Petrograd  correspondent  of  the 
London  Morning  Post  reported  on  June 
11th  the  annual  assembly  of  leading 
members  of  the  world  of  commerce  and 
industry,  as  follows: 

Speakers  urged  a  general  rally  round 
the  Rulers  of  the  States,  and  proposals 
were  made  that  they  should  should  ex- 
press collectively  to  the  Ministers  the 
readiness  of  the  whole  industrial  and 
mercantile  class  represented  at  that  con- 
gress to  place  themselves  at  the  disposal 
of  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  making 
better  provision  for  the  war.  The  ex- 
ample of  England  in  instituting  a  Min- 
istry of   Munitions   should   serve   as   a 


THE   BELLIGERENTS'    MUNITIONS 


951 


guide  to  Russia.  A  deputation,  it  was 
urged,  should  be  appointed  to  lay  at  the 
feet  of  the  Emperor  the  heartfelt  desire 
of  all  to  devote  themselves  to  the  sole 
purpose  of  obtaining  victory  over  Ger- 
manism and  to  expound  the  ideas  of 
their  class  for  the  best  means  of  employ- 
ing their  resources.  England  had 
turned  all  its  manufacturing  resources 
into  factories  of  munitions  of  war,  and 
Russia  must  do  the  same. 

Some  speakers  referred  to  the  lack  of 
capital  for  the  proper  exploitation  of  the 
resources  of  the  country,  saying  that 
this  would  be  especially  felt  after  the 
war  was  over.  The  Congress,  however, 
declined  to  look  beyond  the  all-impor- 
tant need  of  the  moment,  namely,  to 
direct  the  entire  resources  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  achievement  of  victory  over 
Germanism. 

The  final  sitting  was  attended  by  the 
President  of  the  Duma,  M.  Rodzjanko, 
whose  speech  was  listened  to  with  pro- 
found feeling.  The  Congress  passed 
with  acclamation  various  patriotic  reso- 
lutions, its  main  decision  being  to  es- 
tablish immediately  a  Central  Com- 
mittee for  the  provision  of  munitions 
of  war.  It  is  expected  that  by  this 
means  Russia  will  be  able  to  accomplish 
what  England  is  believed  to  be  achiev- 
ing in  the  same  direction.  Every  fac- 
tory and  workshop  throughout  the  coun- 
try is  to  be  organized  for  the  supply  of 
everything  needed  by  the  armies  in  the 
field. 


SPEEDING  GERMAN  WORKMEN 

A  "Neutral"  correspondent  of  The 
London  Daily  Chronicle,  just  returned 
from  Germany,  was  thus  quoted  in  a 
cable  dispatch  to  The  New  York  Times 
on  June  28 : 

It  is  in  towns,  particularly  industrial 
towns,  where  one  sees  how  entirely  the 
German  nation  is  organized  for  war. 
Into  these  towns  an  enormous  number 
of  men  have  been  drafted  from  the  coun- 
try to  work  in  factories,  which  are  hum- 
ming day  and  night  with  activity  to 
keep  up  the  supply  of  all  things  neces- 
sary for  the  fighting  line. 

In  general,  the  relations  between  cap- 


ital and  labor  there  have  experienced 
notable  amelioration.  Indeed,  the  im- 
pression one  gains  in  traveling  about 
Germany  is  one  of  absolute  settled  in- 
dustrial peace,  but  I  know  this  has  only 
been  secured  because  all  parties  know 
that  the  first  signs  of  dissatisfaction 
would  be  treated  "  with  the  utmost  rigor 
of  the  law." 

At  some  of  the  largest  factories  men 
are  often  at  work  fifteen,  twenty,  and 
even  thirty  hours  on  a  stretch,  with  only 
short  intervals  for  rest.  Though  it  is 
said  that  there  are  ample  stocks  of  all 
kinds  of  ammunition,  there  is  noted 
daily  and  nightly  a  feverish  haste  in 
the  factories  where  it  is  made. 

The  Government  has  not  officially 
taken  over  the  factories,  but  it  is  well 
known  that  all  factory  owners  who  want 
Government  work  can  get  it,  and,  as 
this  is  almost  the  only  profitable  use  to 
which  factories  can  just  now  be  put, 
there  is  no  lack  of  candidates  for  recog- 
nition as  army  contractors. 

Whenever  a  Government  contract  is 
given  out  there  is  a  clause  in  the  con- 
tract which  fixes  rates  of  wages  for  every 
grade  of  workmen  so  that  any  questions 
of  increases  that  the  men  might  raise 
are  out  of  the  hands  of  the  employer, 
and  he  points  to  the  fact  that  both  he 
and  the  workmen  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  State.  Strikes  are  therefore  un- 
known, a  further  deterrent  being  the 
knowledge  that  any  man  who  does  not 
do  his  utmost  without  murmuring  will 
quickly  be  embodied  in  some  regiment 
destined  for  one  of  the  hottest  places  at 
the  front. 

In  factories  where  Government  work 
is  being  done  wages  are  high,  and  even 
in  the  few  cases  where  wages  of  certain 
unskilled  workers  have  fallen,  the  men 
are  allowed  to  work  practically  until 
they  drop  and  so  make  up  by  more 
hours  what  they  have  lost  by  the  lowered 
rates. 

There  is  keen  competition  to  obtain 
work  in  the  factories  working  for  the 
State,  as  the  men  engaged  in  these  know 
almost  certainly  that  for  some  time  at 
least  they  will  not  be  sent  to  the  front, 


952 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


■which  seems  to  be  the  chief  dread  under- 
lying fcll  other  thoughts  and  feelings. 

For  work  done  on  Sunday  wages  are 
50  per  cent,  higher  than  the  usual  rate. 
The  men  are  encouraged  to  work  on 
Sundays  and  overtime  on  weekdays  and 
the  prices  of  food  are  so  high  they  need 
little  encouragement.  Where  women 
have  taken  the  places  of  men  their  wages 
are  in  most  cases  lower. 

KRUPPS'  IMPENDING  STRIKE 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
Geneva  on  July  15  said: 

A  report  has  reached  Basle  that  a  big 
strike  is  threatened  at  the  Krupp  Works 
at  Essen,  Germany,  the  movement  being 
headed  by  the  Union  of  Metallurgical 
Workmen  and  the  Association  of  Me- 
chanics. They  demand  higher  wage?, 
the  report  says,  because  of  the  increased 
cost  of  living  and  shorter  hours  because 
of  the  great  strain  under  which  they 
work. 

The  workmen,  according  to  these  ad- 
vices, are  in  an  angry  mood  and  threat- 
en the  destruction  of  machinery  unless 
their  demands  are  granted  immediately, 
as  they  have  been  put  off  for  three 
months  with  promises.  Several  high  of- 
ficials have  arrived  at  the  Krupp  Works 
in  an  effort  to  straighten  out  matters 
and  calm  the  workmen,  the  advices  add, 
and  Bertha  Krupp  is  expected  to  visit 
the  plant  and  use  her  great  influence 
with  the  workers. 

The  Frankfort  Gazette,  according  to 
the  news  reaching  Basle,  has  warned 
the  administration  of  the  Krupp  plant 
of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation,  and 
has  advised  that  the  men's  demands  be 
granted.  Meanwhile,  the  reports  state, 
several  regiments  have  been  moved  to 
the  vicinity  of  the  works  to  be  available 
should  the  trouble  result  in  a  strike. 

A  dispatch  to  The  London  Daily 
Chronicle,  dated  Chiasso,  July  16,  re- 
ported: 

According  to  a  telegram  from  Munich 
to  Swiss  papers,  the  German  military 
authorities  have  informed  the  manage- 
ment and  union  officials  of  the  Krupps. 
where   disputes   occasioned   by   the    in- 


creased cost  of  living  have  arisen  in 
several  departments,  that  in  no  circum- 
stances will  a  strike  be  tolerated. 

On  July  19  an  Associated  Press  dis- 
patch from  Geneva  reads: 

An  important  meeting  was  held  at 
Essen  yesterday,  according  to  advices 
received  at  Basle,  between  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Krupp  gun  works  and 
representatives  of  the  workmen,  in  order 
to  settle  the  dispute  which  has  arisen 
over  the  demands  of  the  men  for  an 
increase  in  wages. 

Directly  and  indirectly,  about  one 
hundred  thousand  men  are  involved. 
Minor  cases  in  which  machinery  has 
been  destroyed  have  been  reported. 

The  military  authorities  before  the 
meeting,  the  Basle  advices  say,  warned 
both  sides  that  unless  an  immediate  ar- 
rangement was  reached  severe  measures 
would  be  employed. 

The  Krupp  officials  are  understood  to 
have  granted  a  portion  of  the  demands 
of  the  employees,  which  has  brought 
about  a  temporary  peace,  but  the  work- 
men still  appear  to  be  dissatisfied,  and 
many  have  left  the  works. 

A  strike  would  greatlj-  affect  the  sup- 
ply of  munitions,  and  for  this  reason 
the  military  have  adopted  rigorous  pre- 
cautions. 

On  the  same  date  the  following  brief 
cable  was  sent  to  The  New  York  Times 
from  London: 

A  telegram  to  The  Daily  Express 
from  Geneva  says  many  men  have  al- 
ready left  the  Krupp  works  because  they 
are  unable  to  bear  the  strain  of  inces- 
sant labor,  and  would  rather  take  their 
chances  in  the  trenches  than  continue 
work  at  Essen  under  the  present  con- 
ditions. 

Some  minor  cases  of  sabotage  have 
already  been  reported. 

REMINGTON   ARMS    STRIKE 

In  a  special  dispatch  to  The  New 
York  Times,  dated  Bridgeport,  Conn., 
July  14,  appeared  the  following  news 
of  labor  trouble  in  the  American  muni- 
tions factory: 


THE   BELLIGERENTS'    MUNITIONS 


953 


One  hundred  workmen,  twenty  guards, 
and  the  Bridgeport  police  reserves  took 
a  hand  in  a  riot  tonight  at  the  new 
plant  of  the  Remington  Arms  Company, 
where  it  is  planned  to  make  small  arms 
for  the  Allies.  The  riot  brings  to  fever 
heat  the  labor  excitement  of  the  last 
week,  which  yesterday  caused  the  walk- 
out of  the  structural  ironworkers  at  the 
plant  and  today  a  walkout  of  the  mill- 
wrights and  the  ironworkers  on  the  new 
plant  of  the  sister  company,  the  Rem- 
ington Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Com- 
pany. 

The  three  thousand  workmen  have 
been  stirred  into  a  great  unrest,  in  the 
last  week  by  some  unseen  influence. 
Major  Walter  W.  Penfield,  U.  S.  A.,  re- 
tired, head  of  the  arms  plant,  says  pro- 
Germans  are  back  of  the  strike.  This 
the  labor  leaders  deny. 

On  July  15  the  spread  of  the  strike 
was  reported  in  a  special  dispatch  from 
Bridgeport  to  The  New  York  Times: 

The  strike  at  the  giant  new  plant  of 
the  Remington  Arms  Company  under 
construction  to  make  arms  for  the  Allies, 
as  well  as,  it  is  supposed,  for  the  United 
States  Government,  spread  to-day  from 
the  proportions  of  a  picayune  family 
labor  quarrel  to  an  imminent  industrial 
war  which  would  paralyze  Bridgeport, 
curtailing  the  shipment  of  arms  and 
ammunition  from  this  centre,  and  which 
threatens  to  spread  to  other  cities  in 
the  United  States,  especially  to  those 
where  munitions  of  war  are  being  manu- 
factured. 

On  July  20  The  New  York  Times 
published  the  demands  of  the  workmen 
at  the  Remington  Arms  plant,  as  out- 
lined hy  J.  J.  Keppler,  vice-president  of 
the  Machinists'  Union: 

Mr.  Keppler  was  asked  to  tell  con- 
cisely just  what  the  unions  wanted. 

"  There  are  at  present,"  he  replied, 
"  just  three  demands.  If  the  strike  goes 
further  the  demands  will  increase.  The 
demands  are: 

"  1.  Recognition  of  the  millwrights  as 
members  of  the  metal  trade  unions  and 
not  of  the  carpenters',  and  fixing  of  the 


responsibility  for  the  order  some  one 
gave  for  the  millwrights  to  join  the  car- 
penters' union,  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Remington  or  the  Stewart  people 
to  dictate  the  international  management 
of  the  tinions. 

"  2.  A  guarantee  of  a  permanent  eight- 
hour  day  in  all  plants  in  Bridgeport 
making  war  munitions.  This  carries 
with  it  a  demand  for  a  guarantee  of  a 
minimum  wage  and  double  pay  for  over- 
time. 

"  3.  That  all  men  who  go  on  strike 
will  be  taken  back  to  work." 

In  addition,  of  course,  Mr.  Johnston 
demands  that  Major  Penfield  retract  his 
charge  of  German  influence  being  back 
of  the  strike. 

A  check,  if  not  a  defeat,  administered 
to  the  fomenters  of  the  strike  was  re- 
ported to  The  New  York  Times  in  a 
Bridgeport  dispatch  dated  July  20,  as 
follows : 

John  A.  Johnston,  International  vice- 
president  of  the  Iron  Workers'  Union, 
and  J.  J.  Keppler,  vice-president  of  the 
Machinists',  were  on  hand  to  inaugurate 
the  big  strike.  All  of  Bridgeport's  avail- 
able policemen  were  on  duty  at  the 
plant. 

As  the  whistle  blew  the  crowd  surged 
about  the  gates,  where  barbed  wire  and 
guards  held  them  back.  Five  minutes 
passed,  ten,  twenty,  and  12.30  saw  Kep- 
pler and  Johnston  pacing  up  and  down 
before  the  plant  awaiting  their  men.  At 
1  o'clock  not  a  machinist  had  issued 
from  the  portals.  The  hoarse  whistle 
blew,  calling  back  the  two  thousand 
workers  to  their  task,  and  Keppler  and 
Johnston  and  the  rest  were  left  in  won- 
der. 

A  cog  had  slipped  in  this  way: 

Before  the  noon  whistle  blew.  Major 
Walter  G.  Penfield,  works  manager  of 
the  plant,  placed  guards  at  all  the  exits 
to  ask  the  machinists  to  wait  a  few  min- 
utes. They  did.  The  foreman  told 
them  that,  on  behalf  of  the  Remington 
Company,  Major  Penfield  desired  to  as- 
sure them  a  permanent  eight-hour  day, 
beginning  August  1,  and  to  guarantee  a 
dollar  a  day  increase  in  pay. 


The  Power  of  the  Purse 

How  "Silver  Bullets"  Are  Made  in  Britain 

By  Prime  Minister  Asquith 

For  the  first  time  in  the  financial  history  of  Groat  Britain,  Prime  Minister  Asquith  declared 
in  his  Guildhall  speech  of  June  29,  an  unlimited  and  democratic  war  loan  was  popularized, 
appealing  to  all  classes,  including  the  poorest,  and  advertising  the  sale  through  the  Post  Office 
of  vouchers  for  as  low  as  5  shillings  to  be  turned  into  stock.  His  speech  was  intended  also  to 
initiate  a  movement  for  saving  and  thrift  among  the  people  as  the  only  secure  means  against 
national   impoverishment  by  the  war. 

A  statement  by  Reginald  McKcnna,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in  the  House  of 
Commons  on  July  13,  showed  that  approximately  £600,000,000,  or  $3,000,000,000,  had  been 
subscribed,  making  this  the  greatest  war  loan  raised  in  the  history  of  any  nation.  The  total 
number  of  subscribers  through  the  Bank  of  England  was  550,000,  aggregating  £570,000,000,  or 
$2,850,000,000,  while  547,000  persons  had  subscribed  $75,000,000  through  the  Post  Office. 
Besides  this  no  estimate  of  the  small  vouchers  taken  out  had  been  made,  and  the  Post  Office 
subscriptions  had  not  been  closed.  The  gigantic  total,  Mr.  McKenna  said,  represented  only  new 
money,  and  not  any  stock  which  will  be  issued  for  purposes  of  conversion.  Prime  Minister 
Asquith's  speech  appears  in   full  below. 


In  his  speech  in  the  Guildhall,  Lon- 
don, on  June  29,  1915,  Mr.  Asquith  said: 

THIS  is,  I  think,  the  third  time 
since  the  war  began  that  I  have 
had  the  privilege  of  addressing 
you  in  this  hall.  On  the  first 
occasion,  as  far  back  as  September  last, 
I  came  here  to  appeal  to  you  to  supply 
men  to  be  trained  to  fight  our  battles  at 
the  front.  Today  I  have  come  to  ask 
you  here  in  the  City  of  London  for 
what  is  equally  necessary  for  the  suc- 
cess of  our  cause — for  the  ways  and 
means  which  no  community  in  the  Em- 
pire is  better  qualified  to  provide,'  to 
organise,  and  to  replenish. 

This  is  the  costliest  war  that  has  ever 
been  waged.  A  hundred  years  ago  our 
ancestors  spent  eight  hundred  millions 
to  vindicate,  as  we  are  vindicating  to- 
day, the  freedom  of  Europe,  in  a  war 
which  lasted  the  best  part  of  20  years, 
which  brings  out  a  rough  average  of 
considerably  less  than  a  million  pounds 
a  week.  Our  total  expenditure  today 
approaches  for  one  year  a  thousand  mil- 
lions, and  we  are  spending  now,  and  are 
likely  to  spend  for  weeks  and  months  to 
come,  something  like  three  million 
pounds  a  day.     Our  daily  revenue  from 


taxation,  I  suppose,  works  out  less  than 
three-quarters  of  a  million  per  day. 

Those  are  facts  which  speak  for  them- 
selves, and  they  show  the  urgent  neces- 
sity, not  only  for  a  loan,  but  for  a 
national  loan — a  loan  far  larger  in  its 
scale,  far  broader  in  its  basis,  and  far 
more  imperious  in  its  demand  upon 
every  class  and  every  section  of  the  com- 
munity than  any  in  our  history. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  financial  ex- 
perience no  limit  has  been  placed  on 
the  amount  to  be  raised ;  and  that  means 
that  every  citizen  in  the  country  is  in- 
vited to  subscribe  as  much  as  he  can  to 
help  us  to  a  complete  and  speedy  vic- 
tory. I  need  not  dwell  on  its  attractive- 
ness from  the  mere  investor's  point  of 
view.  Indeed,  the  only  criticism  which 
I  have  heard  in  or  outside  the  House 
of  Commons  is  that  it  is  perhaps  a  lit- 
tle too  generous  in  its  terms.  That  is 
a  fault,  if  it  be  a  fault,  upon  the  right 
side. 

For  £100  in  cash  you  get  £100  in 
stock,  with  interest  at  4J  per  cent,  on 
the  credit  of  the  British  Exchequer. 
The  loan  is  redeemable  in  thirty  years, 
when  every  subscriber,  or  those  who 
succeed  him,  must  get  his  money  back 


THE   POWER   OF    THE   PURSE 


955 


in  full,  and  the  Government  retain  an 
option  to  repay  at  the  end  of  ten  years. 
That  is  the  earliest  date  on  which  any 
question  of  re-investment  can  arise.  Fur- 
ther, the  stock  or  bonds  will  be  accepted 
at  par,  with  an  allowance  for  accrued 
interest  as  the  equivalent  of  cash,  for 
subscription  to  any  loan  that  the  Gov- 
ernment may  issue  in  this  country 
throughout  the  war. 

I  want  especially  to  emphasise  that 
this  is  for  the  first  time  in  our  financial 
history  a  great  democratic  loan.  The 
State  is  appealing  to  all  classes,  includ- 
ing those  whose  resources  are  most  lim- 
ited, to  step  in  and  contribute  their 
share  to  meet  a  supreme  national  need. 
The  Post  Ofiice  will  receive  subscrip- 
tions for  £5,  or  any  multiple  of  £5,  and 
will  sell  vouchers  for  5s.  and  upwards 
which  can  be  gradually  accumulated, 
and  by  December  1st  next  turned  into 
stock  of  the  new  loan. 

Every  advantage  which  is  given  to 
the  big  capitalist  is  granted  also  in  the 
same  degree  to  the  smallest  supporter 
of  the  country's  credit  and  finance. 
And,  under  such  conditions,  T  am  con- 
fident that  the  success  of  the  loan  as  a 
financial  instrument  ought  to  be,  and 
indeed  is  now,  absolutely  secured. 
(Cheers.) 

This  meeting  was  called  not  only  to 
advertise  the  advantages  of  the  War 
Loan,  but  to  initiate  a  concerted  na- 
tional movement  for  what  may  be  called 
Tfar  economy.  My  text  is  a  very  simple 
one.  It  is  this :  "  Waste  on  the  part 
either  of  individuals  or  of  classes,  which 
is  always  foolish  and  shortsighted,  is,  in 
these  times,  nothing  short  of  a  national 
danger."  According  to  statisticians,  the 
annual  income  of  this  country — T  speak 
of  the  country  and  not  of  the  Govern- 
ment— the  annual  income  of  this  coun- 
try is  from  two  thousand  two  hundred 
and  fifty  to  two  thousand  four  hundred 
millions,  and  the  annual  expenditure  of 
all  classes  is  estimated  at  something 
like  two  thousand  millions.  It  follows 
that  the  balance  annually  saved  and  in- 
vested, either  at  home  or  abroad,  is  nor- 
mally between  three  hundred  and  four 
hundred  millions. 


Upon  a  nation  so  circumstanced,  and 
with  such  habits,  there  has  suddenly 
descended — for  we  did  not  anticipate  it, 
nor  prepared  the  way  for  it — the  thun- 
dercloud of  war — war  which,  as  we  now 
know  well,  if  we  add  to  our  own  direct 
expenditure  the  financing  of  other  coun- 
tries, will  cost  us  in  round  figures  about 
a  thousand  millions  in  the  year.  Now 
how  are  we,  who  normally  have  only 
three  hundred  or  four  hundred  millions 
to  spare  in  a  year,  to  meet  this  huge 
and  unexpected  extraordinary  draft 
upon  our  resources? 

The  courses  open  are  four.  The  first 
is  the  sale  of  investments  or  property. 
We  have,  it  is  said,  invested  abroad 
something  like  four  thousand  millions 
sterling.  Can  we  draw  upon  that  to 
finance  the  war?  Well,  there  are  two 
things  to  be  said  about  any  such  sug- 
gestion. The  first  is  that  our  power  of 
sale  is  limited  by  the  power  of  other 
countries  to  buy,  and  that  power,  under 
existing   conditions,   is   strictly  limited. 

The  second  thing  to  be  said  is  this: 
That,  if  we  were  to  try,  assuming  it  to 
be  practicable,  to  pay  for  the  war  in 
this  way,  we  should  end  it  so  much 
poorer.  The  war  must,  in  any  case,  im- 
poverish us  to  some  extent,  but  we 
should  end  it  so  much  poorer,  because 
the  income  we  now  receive,  mainly  from 
goods  and  services  from  abroad,  would 
be  proportionately,  and  permanently,  re- 
duced. I  dismiss  that,  therefore,  as  out 
of  the  question. 

Similar  considerations  seem  to  show 
the  impracticability,  on  any  considerable 
scale  of  a  second  possible  expedient, 
namely,  borrowing  abroad.  The  amount 
that  could  be  raised  in  any  foreign  mar- 
ket at  this  moment,  in  comparison  with 
the  sum  required,  is  practically  in- 
finitesimal, and.  if  it  were  possible  on 
any  considerable  scale,  we  should  again 
have  to  face  the  prospects  of  ending  the 
war  a  debtor  country,  with  a  huge  an- 
nual drain  on  our  goods  and  our  serv- 
ices, ^hich  would  flow  abroad  in  the 
payment  of  interest  and  the  redemption 
of  principal.  That  again,  therefore,  for 
all  practical  purposes,  may  be  brushed 
aside. 


956 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


There  is  a  third  course — payment  out 
of  our  gold  reserve,  but  that  need  only 
be  stated  to  be  discarded.  We  cannot 
impair  the  basis  of  the  great  system  of 
credit  which  has  made  this  City  of  Lon- 
don the  financial  centre  and  capital  of 
the  world. 

There  remains  only  one  course,  the 
one  we  have  come  here  today  to  advo- 
cate, and  to  press  upon  our  fellow-coun- 
trymen— to  diminish  our  expenditure 
and  to  increase  our  savings. 

If  you  save  more  you  can  lend  the 
State  more,  and  the  nation  will  be  pro- 
portionately enabled  to  pay  for  the  war 
out  of  its  own  pocket.  A  second  propo- 
sition, equally  simple,  and  equally  true, 
is  this.  If  you  spend  less,  you  either 
reduce  the  cost  and  volume  of  our  im- 
ports, or  you  leave  a  larger  volume  of 
commodities  available  for  export. 

The  state  of  the  trade  balance  between 
ourselves  and  other  countries  at  this 
moment  affords  grounds — I  do  not  say 
for  anxiety,  but  for  serious  thought.  If 
you  look  at  the  Board  of  Trade  returns 
for  the  first  five  months — that  is,  to  the 
end  of  the  month  of  May — of  the  pres- 
ent year — you  will  find,  as  compared 
with  the  corresponding  period  of  last 
year,  that  our  imports  have  increased 
by  thirty-five  and  a  half  millions;  while 
our  exports  and  re-exports  have  de- 
creased by  seventy-three  and  three- 
quarter  millions.  What  does  that  mean  ? 
It  means  a  total  addition  in  five  months 
of  our  indebtedness  to  other  countries 
of  nearly  a  hundred  and  ten  millions, 
and  if  that  rate  were  to  continue  till 
we  reached  the  end  of  a  completed  year, 
the  figure  of  indebtedness  would  rise  to 
over  two  hundred  and  sixty  njillions. 

That  is  a  serious  prospect,  and  I  want 
to  ask  you,  and  those  outside,  how  can 
that  tendency  be  counteracted?  The 
answer  is  a  very  simple  one — by  reduc- 
ing all  unnecessaryiexpenditure,  first,  of 
imported  goods  —  familiar  illustrations 
are  tea,  tobacco,  wine,  sugar,  petrol ;  I 
could  easily  add  to  the  list — and  that 
would  mean  that  we  should  have  to  buy 
less  from  abroad ;  and  next,  as  regards 
goods  which  are  made  at  home — you  can 
take  as  an  illustration  beer — setting  a 


larger  quantity  free  for  export,  which 
means  that  we  have  more  to  sell  abroad, 
and  enable  capital  and  labour  here  at 
home  to  be  more  usefully  and  appro- 
priately applied.  That  may  seem  a 
rather  dry  and  technical  argument — 
(laughter) — but  it  goes  to  the  root  of 
the  whole  matter. 

If  you  ask  me  to  state  the  result  in  a 
sentence,  it  is  this:  All  money  that  is 
spent  in  these  days  on  superfluous  com- 
forts or  luxuries,  whether  in  the  shape 
of  goods  or  in  the  shape  of  services, 
means  the  diversion  of  energy  which  can 
be  better  employed  in  the  national  in- 
terests, either  in  supplying  the  needs  of 
our  fighting  forces  in  the  field  or  in 
making  commodities  for  export  which 
will  go  to  reduce  our  indebtedness 
abroad. 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  every  saving 
we  make  by  the  curtailment  and  limita- 
tion of  our  productive  expenditure  in- 
creases the  resources  which  can  be  put 
by  our  people  at  the  disposal  of  the 
State  for  the  triumphant  vindication  of 
our  cause. 

I  said  our  cause.  That,  after  all,  is 
the  summary  and  conclusion  of  the 
whole  matter.  We  are  making  here  and 
throughout  the  Empire  a  great  national 
and  Imperial  effort,  unique,  supreme. 
The  recruiting  of  soldiers  and  sailors, 
the  provision  of  munitions,  the  organ- 
isation of  our  industries,  the  practice 
of  economy,  the  avoidance  of  waste,  the 
accumulation  of  adequate  war  funds, 
the  mobilisation  of  all  our  forces,  moral, 
material,  personal — all  these  are  con- 
tributory and  convergent  streams  which 
are  directed  to  and  concentrated  upon 
one  unifying  end,  one  absorbing  and 
governing  purpose. 

It  is  not  merely  with  us  a  question 
of  self-preservation,  of  safeguarding 
against  hostile  design  and  attack  the 
fabric  which  has  withstood  so  many 
storms  of  our  corporate  and  national 
life.  That  in  itself  would  justify  all 
our  endeavours.  But  there  is  some- 
thing even  larger  and  worthier  at  stake 
in  this  great  testing  trial  of  our  people. 

There  is  not  a  man  or  a  woman 
among  us  but  he  or  she  is  touched  even 


I 


THE   POWER   OF    THE   PURSE  957 

in  the  faintest  degree  with  a  sense  of  not  without  the  embellishments  and  con- 
the  higher  issues  which  now  hang  in  centrations  of  art  and  literature,  and 
the  balance,  who  has  not,  during  this  perhaps  some  conventional  type  of  re- 
last  year,  become  growingly  conscious  ligion — all  these  we  can  purchase  at  a 
that,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  we  price,  but  at  what  a  price!  At  the 
here  have  been  entrusted  with  the  sacrifice  of  what  makes  life,  national  or 
guardianship  of  interests  and  ideals  personal,  alone  worth  living.  My  Lord 
which  stretch  far  beyond  the  shores  of  Mayor  and  citizens  of  London,  we  are 
these  islands,  beyond  even  the  confines  not  going  to  make  that  sacrifice  (loud 
of  our  world-spread  Empire,  which  con-  and  prolonged  cheers,  the  audience  ris- 
cem  the  whole  future  of  humanity.  ing  and  waving  their  hats).  Rather 
(Cheers.)  than  make  it,  we  shall  fight  to  the  end. 
Is  right  or  is  force  to  dominate  man-  to  the  last  farthing  of  our  money,  to 
kind?  Comfort,  prosperity,  luxury,  a  the  last  ounce  of  our  strength,  to  the 
well-fed  and  securely  sheltered  existence,  last  drop  of  our  blood.     (Loud  cheers.) 


Cases  Reserved 

By   SIR   OWEN   SEAMAN 

[From  runch.l 

"  The  Government  are  of  opinion  that  the  general  question  of  personal  respon- 
sibility shall  be  reserved  until  the  end  of  the  War." — Mr.  Balfour  in  the  House. 

Let  sentence  wait.     The  apportionment  of  blame 
To  those  who  compassed  each  inhuman  wrong 
Can  bide  till  Justice  bares  her  sword  of  flame; 
But  let  your  memories  be  longi 

And,  lest  they  fail  you,  wearied  into  sleep. 

Bring  out  your  tablets  wrought  of  molten  steel; 
There  let  the  record  be  charactered  deep 
In  biting  acid,  past  repeal. 

And  not  their  names  alone,  of  high  estate, 

Drunk  with  desire  of  power,  at  whose  mere  nod 
The  slaves  that  execute  their  lust  of  hate 

Laugh  at  the  laws  of  man  and  God; 

But  also  theirs  who  shame  their  English  breed,  ■ 
Who  go  their  ways  and  eat  and  drink  and  play. 
Or  find  in  England's  bitter  hour  of  need 

Their  chance  of  pouching  heavier  pay; 

And  theirs,  the  little  talkers,  who  delight 

To  beard  their  betters,  on  great  tasks  intent, 
Cheapening  our  statecraft  in  the  alien's  sight 
For  joy  of  self-advertisement. 

To-day,  with  hands  to  weightier  business  set. 

Silent  contempt  is  all  you  can  afford; 
But  put  them  on  your  list  and  they  shall  get, 
When  you  are  free,  their  full  reward. 


New  Recruiting  in  Britain 

By  Field  Marshal  Earl  Kitchener,  Secretary  of  State  for  War 

state  registration  of  all  persons,  male  and  female,  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  sixty-five, 
the  particulars  to  include  each  person's  age,  work,  and  employers,  and  his  registering  to  be 
accompanied  by  an  invitation  that  he  volunteer  for  work  for  which  he  may  have  special  fitness, 
was  the  provision  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  June  29,  1915,  and  passed  by  that 
body  on  July  8.  In  explaining  the  bill's  intent  its  introducer,  Mr.  Walter  Long,  who  is  President 
of  the  Local  Government  Board,  replied  on  July  9  to  the  objection  of  critics  who  saw  in  it  the 
first  steps  to  compulsory  service.  He  said  that  the  National  Register  stood  or  fell  by  itself.  So 
far  as  the  use  of  it  went,  so  far  as  the  adoption  of  compulsion  went,  he  declared  frankly  that 
the  I'rime  Minister  would  be  the  last  man  in  England  to  say,  in  the  face  of  the  situation  in  which 
Britons  found  themselves,  anything  which  would  prevent  the  Government  adopting  compulsory 
service  tomorrow  if  they  believed  it  to  be  right  and  necessary  in  order  to  bring  this  war  to  an 
end.  Their  hands  were  absolutely  free.  On  the  same  day  Karl  Kitchener  opened  a  recruiting 
campaign  with  a  speech  in  the  London  Guildhall,  which  appears  in  part  below. 


The  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  in  call- 
ing upon  Lord  Kitchener,  said  the  Em- 
pire had  indeed  been  highly  fortunate 
in  having  him.  at  the  head  of  the  War 
Office  in  this  great  national  crisis.  Earl 
Kitchener  was  received  with  cheers  as 
he  said: 

HITHERTO  the  remarks  that  I 
have  found  it  necessary  to  make 
on  the  subject  of  recruiting  have 
been  mainly  addressed  to  the 
House  of  Lords;  but  I  have  felt  that 
the  time  had  now  come  when  T  may 
with  advantage  avail  myself  of  the  cour- 
teous invitation  of  the  Lord  Mayor  to 
appear  among  you,  and  in  this  historic 
Guildhall  make  another  and  a  larger 
demand  on  the  resources  of  British 
manhood.  Enjoying  as  I  do  the  privi- 
lege of  a  Freeman  of  this  great  City — 
(hear,  hear!) — I  can  be  sure  that  words 
uttered  in  the  heart  of  London  will  be 
spread  broadcast  throughout  the  Em- 
pire. (Cheers.)  Our  thoughts  naturally 
turn  to  the  splendid  efforts  of  the  Over- 
sea Dominions  and  India,  who,  from  the 
earliest  days  of  the  war,  have  ranged 
themselves  side  by  side  with  the  Mother 
Country.  The  prepared  armed  forces  of 
India  were  the  first  to  take  the  field, 
closely  followed  by  the  gallant  Cana- 
dians— (cheers) — who  are  now  fightirtg 
alongside  their  British  and  French  com- 
rades in  Flanders,  and  are  there  pre- 
senting a  solid  and  impenetrable  front 


against  the  enemy.  In  the  Dardanelles 
the  Australians  and  New  Zealanders — 
(cheers) — combined  with  the  same  ele- 
ments, have  already  accomplished  a  feat 
of  arms  of  almost  unexampled  brilliancy, 
and  are  pushing  the  campaign  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion.  In  each  of  these 
great  Dominions  new  and  large  con- 
tingents are  being  prepared,  while  South 
Africa,  not  content  with  the  successful 
conclusion  of  the  arduous  campaign  in 
South-West  Africa,  is  now  offering  large 
forces  to  engage  the  enemy  in  the  main 
theatre  of  war.  (Cheers.)  Strength- 
ened by  the  unflinching  support  of  our 
fellow-citizens  across  the  seas,  we  seek 
to  develop  our  own  military  resources  to 
their  utmost  limits,  and  this  is  the  pur- 
pose which  brings  us  together  today. 

Napoleon,  when  asked  what  were  the 
three  things  necessary  for  a  suc- 
cessful war,  replied :  "  Money,  money, 
money."  Today  we  vary  that  phrase, 
and  say:  "Men,  material,  and  money." 
As  regards  the  supply  of  money  for  the 
war,  the  Government  are  negotiating  a 
new  loan,  the  marked  success  of  which 
is  greatly  due  to  the  very  favorable  re- 
sponse made  by  the  City.  To  meet  the 
need  for  material,  the  energetic  manner 
in  which  the  new  Ministry  of  Munitions 
is  coping  with  the  many  difficulties 
which  confront  the  production  of  our 
great  requirements  affords  abundant 
proof  that  this  very  important  work  is 
being  dealt  with  in  a  highly  satisfactory 


NEW   RECRUITING   IN   BRITAIN 


959 


manner.  (Cheers.)  There  still  remains 
the  vital  need  for  men  to  fill  the  ranks 
of  our  Armies,  and  it  is  to  emphasize 
this  point  and  bring  it  home  to  the 
people  of  this  country  that  I  have  come 
here  this  afternoon.  When  I  took  up 
the  office  that  I  hold,  I  did  so  as  a  sol- 
dier, not  as  a  politician — (loud  cheers) 
— and  I  warned  my  fellow  countrymen 
that  the  war  would  be  not  only  arduous, 
but  long.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  one  of  my 
earliest  statements  made  after  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  I  said  that  I  should 
require  "  More  men,  and  still  more,  un- 
til the  enemy  is  crushed."  I  repeat  that 
statement  today  with  even  greater  in- 
sistence. All  the  reasons  which  led  me 
to  think  in  August,  1914,  that  this  war 
would  be  a  prolonged  one  hold  good  at 
the  present  time.  It  is  true  we  are  in 
an  immeasurably  better  situation  now 
than  ten  months  ago — (hear,  hear) — but 
the  position  today  is  at  least  as  serious 
as  it  was  then.  The  thorough  prepared- 
ness, of  Germany,  due  to  her  strenuous 
efforts,  sustained  at  high  pressure  for 
some  forty  years,  have  issued  in  a  mili- 
tary organization  as  complex  in  char- 
acter as  it  is  perfect  in  machinery. 
Never  before  has  any  nation  been  so 
elaborately  organized  for  imposing  her 
will  upon  the  other  nations  of  the  world ; 
and  her  vast  resources  of  military 
strength  are  wielded  by  an  autocracy 
which  is  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  con- 
duct of  war.  It  is  true  that  Germany's 
long  preparation  has  enabled  her  to 
utilize  her  whole  resources  from  the  very 
commencement  of  the  war,  while  our 
policy  is  one  of  gradually  increasing  our 
effective  forces.  It  might  be  said  with 
truth  that  she  must  decrease,  whilst  we 
must  increase. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the 
value  of  the  response  that  has  been  made 
to  my  previous  appeals,  but  I  am  here 
today  to  make  another  demand  on  the 
manhood  of  the  country  to  come  forward 
to  its  defence.  I  was  from  the  first 
unwilling  to  ask  for  a  supply  of  men  in 
excess  of  the  equipment  available  for 
them.  I  hold  it  to  be  most  undesirable 
that  soldiers,  keen  to  take  their  place  in 
the  field,  should  be  thus  checked  and 
possibly  discouraged,  or  that  the  com- 


pletion of  this  training  should  be  ham- 
pered owing  to  lack  of  arms.  We  have 
now  happily  reached  a  period  when  it 
can  be  said  that  this  drawback  has  been 
surmounted,  and  that  the  troops  in 
training  can  be  supplied  with  sufficient 
arms  and  material  to  turn  them  out  as 
efficient  soldiers. 

When  the  great  rush  of  recruiting 
occurred  in  August  and  September  of 
last  year,  there  was  a  natural  difficulty 
in  finding  accommodation  for  the  many 
thousands  who  answered  to  the  call  for 
men  to  complete  the  existing  armed 
forces  and  the  New  Armies.  Now,  how- 
ever, I  am  glad  to  say  we  have  through- 
out the  country  provided  accommodation 
calculated  to  be  sufficient  and  suitable 
for  our  requirements.  Further,  there 
was  in  the  early  autumn  a  very  natural 
difficulty  in  clothing  and  equipping  the 
newly  raised  units.  Now  we  are  able 
to  clothe  and  equip  all  recruits  as  they 
come  in,  and  thus  the  call  for  men  is  no 
longer  restricted  by  any  limitations, 
such  as  the  lack  of  material  for  training. 

It  is  an  axiom  that  the  larger  an  army 
is,  the  greater  is  its  need  of  an  ever- 
swelling  number  of  men  of  recruitable 
age  to  maintain  it  at  its  full  strength; 
yet,  at  the  very  same  time  the  supply 
of  those  very  men  is  automatically  de- 
creasing. Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that 
the  great  demand  which  has  arisen  for 
the  supply  of  munitions,  equipment,  etc., 
for  the  armed  forces  of  this  country  and 
of  our  Allies  also,  as  well  as  the  eco- 
nomic and  financial  necessity  of  keep- 
ing up  the  production  of  manufactured 
goods,  involves  the  retention  of  a  large 
number  of  men  in  various  trades  and 
manufactures,  many  of  whom  would 
otherwise  be  available  for  the  Colors. 
In  respect  of  our  great  and  increasing 
military  requirements  for  men,  I  am 
glad  to  state  how  much  we  are  indebted 
to  the  help  given  to  the  Recruiting  Staff 
of  the  Regular  Army  and  to  the  Terri- 
torial Associations  throughout  the  coun- 
try by  the  many  Voluntary  Recruiting 
Committees  formed  in  all  the  counties 
and  cities,  and  in  many  important  bor- 
oughs for  this  purpose. 

The  public  has  watched  with  eager 
interest  the  growth  and  the  rapidly  ac- 


960 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


quired  efficiency  of  the  New  Armies, 
whose  dimensions  have  already  reached 
a  figure  which  only  a  short  while  ago 
would  have  been  considered  utterly  un- 
thinkable. (Cheers.)  But  there  is  a 
tendency,  perhaps,  to  overlook  the  fact 
that  these  larger  armies  require  still 
larger  reserves,  to  make  good  the  wast- 
age at  the  front.  And  one  cannot  ignore 
the  certainty  that  our  requirements  in 
this  respect  will  be  large,  continuous, 
and  persistent;  for  one  feels  that  our 
gallant  soldiers  in  the  fighting  line  are 
beckoning,  with  an  urgency  at  once  im- 
perious and  pathetic,  to  those  who  re- 
main at  home  to  come  out  and  play  their 
part  too.  Recruiting  meetings,  recruit- 
ing marches,  and  the  unwearied  labors 
of  the  recruiting  officers,  committees, 
and  individuals  have  borne  good  fruit, 
and  I  look  forward  with  confidence  to 
such  labors  being  continued  as  energet- 
ically as  hitherto.  » 

But  we  must  go  a  step  further,  so  as 
to  attract  and  attach  individuals  who 
from  shyness  —  (laughter)  —  or  other 
causes — (renewed  laughter) — have  not 
yet  yielded  to  their  own  patriotic  im- 
pulses. The  Government  have  asked 
Parliament  to  pass  a  Registration  Bill, 
with  the  object  of  ascertaining  how 
many  men  and  women  there  are  in  the 
country  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and 
sixty-five  eligible  for  the  national  serv- 
ice, whether  in  the  navy  or  army,  or 
for  the  manufacture  of  munitions,  or  to 
fulfil  other  necessary  services.  When 
this  registration  is  completed  we  shall 
anyhow  be  able  to  note  the  men  between 
the  ages  of  nineteen  and  forty  not  re- 
quired for  munition  or  otKer  necessary 
industrial  work  and  therefore  available, 
if  physically  fit,  for  the  fighting  line. 
Steps  will  be  taken  to  approach,  with  a 
view  to  enlistment,  all  possible  candi- 
dates for  the  Army — unmarried  men  to 
be  preferred  before  married  men,  as  far 
as  may  be.  (Loud  cheers.)  Of  course, 
the  work  of  completing  the  registration 
will  extend  over  some  weeks,  and  mean- 
while it  is  of  vital  and  paramount  im- 
portance that  as  large  a  number  of  men 
as  possible  should  press  forward  to  en- 
list, so  that  the  men's  training  may  be 
complete  when  they  are  required  for  the 


field.  I  would  urge  all  employers  to 
help  in  this  matter,  by  releasing  all  men 
qualified  for  service  with  the  Colors  and 
replacing  them  by  men  of  unrecruitable 
age,  or  by  women,  as  has  already  been 
found  feasible  in  so  many  cases. 

When  the  registration  becomes  opera- 
tive I  feel  sure  that  the  Corporation  of 
the  City  of  London  will  not  be  content 
with  its  earlier  efforts,  intensely  valu- 
able as  they  have  been,  but  will  use  its 
great  facilities  to  set  an  example  of 
canvassing  for  the  cause.  This  canvass 
should  be  addressed  with  stern  emphasis 
to  such  unpatriotic  employers  as,  ac- 
cording to  returns,  have  restrained  their 
men  from  enlisting. 

What  the  numbers  required  are  likely 
to  be  it  is  clearly  inexpedient  to  shout 
abroad.  (Hear,  hear.)  Our  constant 
refusal  to  publish  either  these  or  any 
other  figures  likely  to  prove  useful  to 
the  enemy  needs  neither  explanation  nor 
apology.  It  is  often  urged  that  if  more 
information  were  given  as  to  the  work 
and  whereabouts  of  various  units,  re- 
cruiting would  be  strongly  stimulated. 
But  this  is  the  precise  information 
which  would  be  of  the  greatest  value  to 
the  enemy,  and  it  is  agreeable  to  note 
that  a  German  Prince  in  high  command 
ruefully  recorded  the  other  day  his  com- 
plete ignorance  as  to  our  New  Armies. 
(Laughter  and  cheers.) 

But  one  set  of  figures,  available  for 
everybody,  and  indicating  with  sufficient 
particularity  the  needs  of  our  forces  in 
the  field,  is  supplied  by  the  casualty 
lists.  With  regard  to  these  lists,  how- 
ever— serious  and  sad  as  they  neces- 
sarily are — let  two  points  be  borne  in 
mind,  first,  that  a  very  large  percentage 
of  the  casualties  represents  compara- 
tively slight  hurts,  the  sufferers  from 
which  in  time  return  to  the  front;  and, 
secondly,  that,  if  the  figures  seem  to 
run  very  high,  the  magnitude  of  the 
operations  is  thereby  suggested.  In- 
deed, these  casualty  lists,  whose  great 
length  may  now  and  again  induce  un- 
due depression  of  spirits,  are  an  in- 
structive indication  of  the  huge  extent 
of  the  operations  undertaken  now 
reached  by  the  British  forces  in  the 
field. 


American  War  Supplies 


By  George  Wellington  Porter 


The  subjoined  article  appraising  the  stimulation  given  to  the  war  industries  of  the  United 
States  by  the  European  conflict  appeared  originally  In  The  New  York  Times  of  July  18. 


WITHIN  the  last  ten  months  con- 
tracts for  war  supplies  esti- 
mated to  exceed  $1,000,000,- 
000  have  been  placed  in  the 
United  States. 

When  war  was  declared  last  August 
this  country  was  suffering  from  acute 
industrial  depression;  many  factories 
shut  down,  others  operating  on  short 
time,  and  labor  without  employment. 
After  the  paralyzing  effect  of  the  news 
that  war  was  declared  had  worn  away, 
business  men  here  realized  the  great 
opportunity  about  to  be  afforded  them 
of  furnishing  war  supplies  which  must 
soon  be  in  demand.  Their  expectations 
were  soon  fulfilled,  as  almost  immediate- 
ly most  of  the  Governments  sent  com- 
missions to  the  United  States.  Some  had 
orders  to  buy,  while  others  were  author- 
ized to  get  prices  and  submit  samples. 

It  was  not  long  until  mills  and  facto- 
ries were  being  operated  to  capacity, 
turning  out  boots  and  shoes,  blankets, 
sweaters,  socks,  underwear,  &c.  The 
manufacturers  of  these  articles  were 
merely  required  to  secure  additional  help 
in  order  to  increase  their  plants'  pro- 
duction. 

The  situation  was  different  in  relation 
to  filling  orders  for  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion. At  first,  as  was  natural,  this  busi- 
ness was  placed  with  concerns  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  these  commodities. 
Shortly  they  were  swamped  with  orders, 
and  to  be  able  to  fill  them  plants  were 
enlarged,  new  equipment  added,  and  ad- 
ditional help  employed. 

More  and  more  orders  came  pouring  in, 
and,  as  the  arms  and  munition  houses 
were  by  this  time  up  to  and  some  over 
capacity,  acceptance  by  them  of  further 
business  was  impossible.  Here,  then,  was 
the  opportunity  for  the  manufacturers  of 
rails,   rivets,  electrical   and  agricultural 


machinery,  locomotives,  &c.,  to  secure 
their  share  of  this  enormous  busi- 
ness being  offered.  The  manner  in  which 
they  arose  to  the  occasion  is  striking 
testimony  of  the  great  resourcefulness, 
efficiency,  ingenuity,  and  adaptability  of 
the  American  manufacturer. 

The  question  of  labor  was  of  minor 
importance,  due  primarily  to  the  fact  that 
many  thousands  of  men  were  without 
employment  and  anxious  to  secure  work, 
and  secondarily  for  the  reason  that 
skilled  labor  was  not  an  essential  factor. 
Most  of  the  work  is  done  by  machinery 
and  in  a  short  period  of  time  a  mechanic 
of  ordinary  intelligence  will  become  pro- 
ficient in  running  a  machine.  The  nec- 
essary trained  labor  could  be  secured 
without  difficulty.  Numbers  of  highly 
trained  employes  at  Government  arsenals 
are  now  with  private  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion concerns.  The  labor  problem  there- 
fore was  negligible.  However,  three  seri- 
ous difficulties  had  yet  to  be  overcome 
by  the  manufacturers  wishing  to  engage 
in  this  new  line  of  business — the  securing 
of  new  machinery,  raw  materials,  and 
capital. 

The  larger  concerns  had  machinery  and 
apparatus  on  hand  suitable  to  most  of 
the  work,  but  much  new  machinery  was 
needed,  especially  for  the  manufacture 
of  rifles,  and  needed  in  a  hurry.  Time 
is  the  essence  of  these  war  supplies  con- 
tracts, and,  as  many  manufacturers 
agreed  to  make  early  deliveries,  it  was 
up  to  them  to  secure  this  new  machinery 
and  have  it  installed  without  delay;  oth- 
erwise they  could  not  manufacture  and 
make  deliveries  as  agreed  to. 

In  this  event  they  would  suffer  the 
penalty  for  non-fulfillment,  as  stipulated 
in  the  bond  given  by  them  to  the  pur- 
chaser at  the  time  of  signing  the  con- 
tract.    These  bonds  are  known  as  "  ful- 


962 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


fillment  bonds  "  and  are  issued  by  re- 
sponsible surety  companies,  usually  to 
the  amount  of  5  per  cent,  of  the  total 
contract  price,  on  behalf  of  the  vendors, 
guaranteeing  their  deliveries  and  fulfill- 
ment of  the  contract. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  this  war  supply 
business  the  question  of  his  ability  to 
secure  raw  materials  with  which  to  man- 
ufacture arms  and  ammunition  or  picric 
acid — this  latter  being  used  to  manufac- 
ture higher  explosives — was  of  no  great 
concern  to  the  manufacturer  taking  an 
order;  but  as  orders  came  pouring  in 
from  abroad  for  ever  larger  amounts  of 
supplies  it  was  clearly  evident  that  the 
demand  for  raw  materials  would  shortly 
equal,  if  not  exceed,  the  supply  thereof. 
This  condition  was  soon  brought  about, 
and  today  is  one  to  be  most  seriously 
reckoned  with  by  the  manufacturer  be- 
fore accepting  a  contract. 

Some  of  the  materials  needed  with 
which  to  manufacture  the  supplies  are 
mild  carbon  steel  for  the  barrels,  bayo- 
nets, bolt,  and  locks;  well-seasoned  ash 
or  maple,  straight-grained,  for  the 
stocks;  brass,  iron,  powder,  antimony, 
benzol  or  phenol,  sulphuric  acid,  nitric 
acid,  and  caustic  soda,  &c.  Of  these 
various  materials  the  most  difficult  to 
secure  are  those  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  picric  acid. 

Today  it  is  almost  impossible  to  secure 
phenol,  certainly  in  any  considerable 
quantities,  and  it  is  almost  as  difficult 
to  secure  sulphuric  acid  and  nitric  acid. 
Germany  has  been  the  source  of  supply 
in  the  past  for  picric  acid.  Before  the 
war  it  sold  around  35  cents  to  40  cents 
per  pound,  dry  basis;  recently  it  has  sold 
at  over  $2  per  pound  for  spot,  that  is 
immediate  delivery,  and  is  quoted  at 
from  $1.25  to  $1.60  per  pound  for  early 
future  deliveries. 

Antimony  is  becoming  so  scarce,  never 
having  been  produced  in  any  great  quan- 
tity in  this  country,  that  in  the  new 
contracts  being  submitted  for  shrapnel 
shell  it  is  stipulated  that  some  other 
hardening  ingredients  may  be  substituted 
in  the  bullets,  either  totally  or  partly 
replacing  the  antimony. 

Brass  is  essential  to  the  manufacture 
of  cartridges.    The  term  "brass"  is  com- 


monly understood  to  mean  an  alloy  of 
copper  and  zinc. 

Up  to  a  short  time  ago  electrolytic  cop- 
per was  selling  at  20  V^  cents  a  pound, 
lead  at  7  cents  a  pound,  commercial  zinc 
at  29  V^  cents  a  pound.  Zinc  ore,  from 
which  spelter  is  obtained,  reached  the 
price  of  $112  a  ton.  American  spelter 
was  nearly  $500  a  ton,  compared  with 
$110  a  ton  before  the  war.  Spelter  was 
almost  unobtainable.  In  England  the  sit- 
uation was  acute,  the  metal  there  being 
quoted  only  nominally  at  around  $550  a 
ton  for  immediate  delivery. 

Within  the  last  few  days  prices  have 
dropped  materially,  but  how  long  they 
will  remain  at  these  lower  levels  it  is 
impossible  to  predict.  If  the  war  con- 
tinues for  any  length  of  time  the  demand 
for  all  these  metals  is  certainly  bound 
to  increase,  and  this  will  automatically 
again  send  up  prices. 

The  world's  production  of  spelter  in 
1913  (the  latest  authentic  figures  ob- 
tainable) was  1,093,635  short  tons.  Of 
this  the  United  States  produced  346,676 
tons,  or  31.7  per  cent.;  Germany,  312,075 
tons,  or  28.6  per  cent.;  Belgium,  217,928 
tons,  or  19.9  per  cent.;  France  and  Spain, 
78,289  tons;  and  Great  Britain,  65,197 
tons.  The  world's  production  of  spelter 
in  1913  exceeded  that  of  1912  by  25,590 
tons,  or  2.2  per  cent.  The  greatest  in- 
crease was  contributed  by  Germany, 
which  exceeded  its  production  of  1912  by 
4.4  per  cent.  The  United  States  made  a 
gain  of  2.3  per  cent.  The  excess  of  the 
world's  production  over  consumption  in 
1913  was  only  27,316  tons. 

As  can  be  seen  from  the  above  figures, 
Germany  has  control  of  practically  one- 
half,  possibly  now  over  one-half,  of  the 
world's  production  of  spelter.  Her  posi- 
tion with  respect  to  iron  and  coal  is 
equally  strong,  the  United  States  not 
included.  In  1913  Germany's  production 
of  pig  iron  was  19,000  tons;  Great  Brit- 
ain, 10,500  tons;  France,  5,225  tons;  Rus- 
sia, 4,475  tons;  Austria  and  Belgium, 
over  2,000  tons  each;  Italy,  negligible. 
She  has  captured  a  large  proportion  of 
the  coal  resources  of  France  as  well.  Her 
strength  is  her  own  plus  that  of  con- 
quered territory. 


AMERICAN    WAR   SUPPLIES 


963 


Before  a  contract  for  war  supplies  is 
let,  more  particularly  with  reference  to 
contracts  for  arms  and  ammunition,  the 
manufacturer  is  requested  to  "  qualify." 
This  means  he  must  show  his  ability  to 
"  make  good  "  on  the  contract  he  wishes 
to  secure.  If  he  is  now  or  has  been  in 
the  past  successfully  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  the  particular  article  in 
question,  this  is  usually  sufficient;  if  it 
is  out  of  his  regular  line,  then  he  must 
prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  War 
Department  or  the  purchasing  agent,  as 
the  case  may  be,  that  he  has  the  techni- 
cal knowledge  necessary  for  its  produc- 
tion. In  either  event  he  must  have  an 
efficient  organization,  suitable  plants, 
with  proper  equipment  and  men  to  oper- 
ate same;  also  the  necessary  raw  mate- 
rials in  hand  or  under  option  to  purchase. 

In  most  instances  the  manufacturer 
taking  these  war  orders  has  been  obliged 
to  enlarge  his  plants,  add  new  machinery 
and  purchase  raw  materials  so  as  to  be 
able  to  handle  the  business.  This  meant 
the  expenditure  of  large  amounts  of 
money  on  his  part. 

He  did  not  have  to  depend,  however, 
upon  his  own  normal  financial  resources, 
as  the  contracts  carry  a  substantial  cash 
payment  in  advance,  usually  25  per  cent. 
of  the  total  contract  price.  This  advance 
payment  is  deposited  in  some  New  York 
bank  simultaneously  with  the  manufac- 
turer's depositing  a  surety  bond  guaran- 
teeing his  deliveries,  and  upon  the  man- 
ufacturer executing  an  additional  surety 
bond  guaranteeing  his  responsibility  he 
could  draw  down  all  or  any  part  of  the 
cash  advance  he  might  wish  to  use  for 
his  immediate  needs. 

Before  issuing  these  bonds  the  surety 
companies  make  rigid  examination  as  to 
the  ability  of  the  manufacturer  to  fulfill 
his  contract.  The  commission  charged 
for  issuing  these  bonds  is  from  2^  to  5 
per  cent,  on  the  amount  involved.  The 
demand  for  bonds  has  been  so  great 
during  the  last  six  months  that  it  has 
taxed  to  the  limit  the  combined  resources 
of  all  the  surety  companies  in  the  coun- 
try. 

The  remaining  part  of  the  contract 
price  is  usually  guaranteed  by  bankers' 
irrevocable  letters  of  credit  or  deposits 


made  with  New  York  banks,  to  be  drawn 
against  as  the  goods  are  delivered,  f.  o. 
b.  the  factory — that  is,  free  on  board  the 
cars — or  f,  a.  s.  the  seaboard — that  is, 
free  alongside  ship — as  the  terms  may 
provide. 

Banks  here  are  beginning  to  purchase 
bank  acceptances  or  bank-accepted  bills 
of  exchange,  and  in  this  manner  payment 
is  also  being  made  to  American  manu- 
facturers for  goods  sold  to  the  Allies. 
For  example,  when  a  purchasing  agent 
in  Paris  places  an  order  for  ammunition 
here  he  makes  arrangements  whereby 
the  manufacturer  will  be  authorized  to 
draw  on  a  New  York  banking  institution 
at  a  stipulated  maturity,  and  after  ac- 
ceptance of  his  drafts  by  such  banking 
institution  he  could  then  negotiate  these 
time  drafts  with  his  own  banker — thus 
making  them,  less  the  discount,  equiva- 
lent to  cash — through  whom  they  could 
be  rediscounted  by  the  Federal  Reserve 
banks.  These  bank-accepted  bills  are 
discounted  at  a  nominal  rate  of  interest. 

Before  the  war  we  were  a  debtor  na- 
tion; today  we  are  rapidly  becoming,  if 
we  have  not  already  become,  a  creditor 
nation.  A  year  ago  we  were  selling 
abroad  only  about  as  much  goods  as  we 
were  buying;  now  the  balance  of  trade 
is  greatly  in  our  favor,  due  to  the  enor- 
mous export  of  foodstuffs  and  war  sup- 
plies of  all  kinds.  Monthly  our  exports 
are  exceeding  our  imports  by  many  mill- 
ions of  dollars.  This  indicates  that  for- 
eign nations  are  going  into  debt  to  us. 

At  the  time  of  writing  this  article 
foreign  exchange  was  quoted  as  follows: 
London  exchange,  sterling,  4.76%;  Paris 
exchange,  franc,  5.45%.  By  paying 
down  $4.76%  in  New  York  you  can  get 
£1  in  London,  which  on  a  par  gold  basis 
is  equivalent  to  $4.86  in  London.  By 
paying  down  94%  cents  in  New  York 
you  can  get  the  equivalent  to  100  cents 
in  Paris. 

We  now  come  to  another  interesting 
phase  of  this  war  supply  business, 
namely,  how  some  persons  thought  these 
war  orders  could  be  secured  and  how 
they  are  actually  being  placed.  Almost 
immediately  after  the  declaration  of  war, 
most  of  the  belligerent  Governments  dis- 
patched  "  commissions  "   to   the    United 


964 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


States.  Some  had  orders  to  buy,  and 
others  were  authorized  to  get  prices  and 
submit  samples.  In  an  incredibly  short 
period  of  time  it  became  generally 
known  that  foreign  Governments  were 
shopping  and  buying  in  our  markets. 
The  knowledge  of  this  fact  brought  about 
a  condition  unique  in  our  business  life. 

Men  in  all  walks  of  life,  from  porters, 
barbers,  clerks  in  offices,  to  doctors, 
lawyers,  real  estate  agents,  merchants. 
Wall  Street  brokers  and  bankers,  seemed 
suddenly  imbued  with  the  idea  of  secur- 
ing or  bringing  about  the  placing  of  a 
war  order.  Self-appointed  agents,  mid- 
dlemen and  brokers  sprang  up  over 
night  like  mushrooms,  each  and  every 
one  claiming  he  had  an  order  or  could 
get  an  order  for  war  supplies;  or,  as 
the  case  might  be,  he  personally  knew 
some  manufacturer,  or  he  knew  a  friend 
who  had  a  friend  who  knew  a  manufac- 
turer, who  in  turn  wished  to  secure  a 
contract.  An  official  in  one  of  our  large 
steel  companies  told  me  some  weeks  ago 
that  among  others  who  had  called  at  his 
company's  offices,  asking  prices  on 
shrapnel,  was  an  undertaker. 

In  most  instances  the  lack  of  sales- 
manship experience,  to  say  nothing  of 
any  knowledge  of  the  business  and  how 
the  particular  articles  are  manufactured, 
was  of  no  consequence  to  the  self-ap- 
pointed agent  in  his  mad  desire  for 
business. 

The  lobbies  of  our  New  York  hotels 
were  filled  with  horsemen  and  would-be 
horsemen,  some  months  ago,  almost 
every  State  being  represented  as  far 
west  as  California;  also  with  manufac- 
turers and  manufacturers'  agents,  all 
eager  to  secure  a  "  war  contract,"  be  it 
for  horses,  shrapnel,  rifles,  picric  acid, 
guncotton,  toluol,  cartridges,  boots, 
shoes,  sweaters,  blankets,  machinery  and 


materials,  &c.  The  very  atmosphere 
of  Manhattan  Island  seems  impregnated 
with  "  war  contractitis."  We  breathe 
it,  we  think  it,  we  see  it,  we  talk  it,  on 
our  way  downtown,  at  our  offices  and 
places  of  business,  at  our  clubs,  on  our 
way  home  at  night,  in  our  homes,  and  I 
have  been  told  that  some  have  even  slept 
it,  the  disease  taking  the  shape  of  a 
nightmare. 

The  day  of  the  broker,  if  indeed  he 
ever  had  one  in  this  business,  is  passed. 
The  original  commissioners  have  been 
withdrawn,  or  those  who  have  been  kept 
here  are  now  acting  as  inspectors  and 
have  been  replaced  by  purchasing  agents. 
The  firm  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.  has  been 
acting  as  purchasing  agent  for  the 
English  Government  for  some  months 
past,  is  now  acting  in  like  capacity  for 
the  French  Government,  and  has  also 
done  considerable  buying  for  the  Russian 
Government. 

In  order  properly  to  handle  this  vast 
volume  of  business,  a  separate  depart- 
ment was  created,  known  as  the  Export 
Department.  Connected  with  this  de- 
partment are  experts  in  all  lines — men 
who  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
various  Governments'  requirements,  who 
know  what  prices  should  be  paid,  who 
are  in  close  touch  with  each  market,  and 
who  understand  fully  the  materials  they 
are  buying. 

There  are  a  few  more  concerns,  among 
which  are  one  or  two  banks,  trust  com- 
panies, and  Wall  Street  houses,  which 
also  have  formed  separate  organizations 
for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  war  sup- 
plies for  the  Allies.  As  all  these  con- 
cerns are  in  close  touch  with  the  manu- 
facturers and  will  only  deal  directly 
with  them,  the  brokers  and  middlemen 
have  very  little,  if  any,  chance  of  doing 
business. 


Magazinists  of  the  World  on  the  War 

Condensed  from  the  Leading  Reviews 

While  the  armies  and  generals  of  the  belligerents  are  trying  to  execute  by  force  the  policies 
of  their  respective  Governments^  their  publicists  are  not  less  busy  in  the  work  of  voicing  the 
national  aspirations.  Moreover,  such  a  critical  examination  of  the  status  of  each  armed  Power, 
from  its  own  standpoint  and  in  comparisons  and  contrasts  with  its  opponents,  has  never  been 
conducted  before  the  peoples  of  the  world.  It  is  a  time  of  national  heart-searchings,  both  among 
the  warring  nations  and  of  neutrals  whose  destinies  are  only  less  affected.  R6sum6s  of  this  great 
process  as  reflected  in  the  world's  leading  reviews  appear  below,  beginning  with  the  British 
publications. 

Germany's  Long-Nourished  Powers 


THAT  Germany  has  been  prepar- 
ing forty  years  for  this   war  is 
flatly    contradicted    by    J.    Ellis 
Barker    in    his    article    entitled 
"The    Secret   of   Germany's    Strength," 
appearing    in   the   Nineteenth    Century 
and  After  for  July. 

Not  forty  years,  but  for  260  years, 
since  Frederick  William,  the  Great 
Elector,  came  to  the  Prussian  throne, 
the  slow-growing  plants  of  German  effi- 
ciency and  thoroughness  have  steadily 
unfolded,  Mr.  Barker  says,  in  the  ad- 
ministrative, military,  financial,  and 
economic  policy  that  make  modern  Ger- 
many. It  was  the  Great  Elector  who 
"  ruthlessly  and  tyrannously  suppressed 
existing  self-government  in  his  posses- 
sions, and  gave  to  his  scattered  and  pa- 
rochially minded  subjects  a  strong  sense 
of  unity,"  thus  clearing  the  way  for  his 
successors.  Frederick  William  I.  found- 
ed in  the  Prussia  prepared  by  his  grand- 
father "  a  perfectly  organized  modern 
State,  a  model  administration,  and  cre- 
ated a  perfectly  equipped  and  ever  ready 
army."    Of  him  Mr.  Barker  says: 

The  German  people  are  often  praised 
for  their  thoroughness,  Industry,  frugality, 
and  thrift.  These  qualities  are  not  natu- 
ral to  them.  They  received  them  from 
their  rulers,  and  especially  from  Frederick 
William  the  First.  He  was  an  example  to 
his  people,  and  his  son  carried  on  the 
paternal  tradition.  Both  Kings  acted  not 
only  with  thoroughness,  industry,  frugal- 
ity, and  economy,  but  they  enforced  these 
qualities  upon  their  subjects.  Both  pun- 
ished idlers  of  every  rank  of  society,  even 
of  the  most  exalted.     The  regime  of  Thor- 


ough prevailed  under  these  Kings  who 
ruled  during  seventy-three  years.  These 
seventy-three  years  of  hard  training  gave 
to  the  Prussian  people  thqse  sterling 
qualities  which  are  particularly  their  own, 
and  by  which  they  can  easily  be  distin- 
guished from  the  easy-going  South  Ger- 
mans and  Austrians  who  have  not  simi- 
larly been  disciplined. 

While  the  Great  Elector  prepared  the 
ground,  and  King  Frederick  William  I. 
firmly  laid  the  foundations,  "  Frederick 
the  Great  erected  thereon  the  edifice  of 
modern   Germany."     Mr.   Barker   adds: 

Among  the  many  pupils  of  Frederick  the 
Great  was  Bismarck.  It  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  the  writings  which  Fred- 
erick the  Great  addressed  to  posterity  are 
the  arcana  imperii  of  modern  Germany. 
Those  who  desire  to  learn  the  secret  of 
Germany's  strength,  wealth,  and  efficiency, 
should  therefore  most  carefully  study  the 
teachings   of   Frederick   the  Great. 

Frederick's  "  Political  Testament "  of 
1752  addressed  to  his  successors  begius 
with  the  significant  words  : 

"  The  first  duty  of  a  citizen  consists  in 
serving  his  country.  I  have  tried  to  ful- 
fil that  duty  in  all  the  different  phases  of 
my   life." 

Frederick  William  I.  looked  out  for 
the  education  of  his  successors  in  his 
own  militarist  ideals.  Instructing  Major 
Borcke  in  1751  on  the  tutoring  of  his 
grand-nephew,  the  Heir-Presumptive  of 
Prussia,  he  wrote: 

It  Is  very  important  that  he  should  love 
the  Army.  Therefore  he  must  be  told  at 
all  occasions  and  by  all  whom  he  meets 
that  men  of  birth  who  are  not  soldiers 
are  pitiful  wretches.  He  must  be  taken 
to  see  the  troops  drilling  as  often  as   he 


966 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


likes.  He  ought  to  be  shown  the  Cadets, 
and  be  given  five  or  six  of  them  to  drill. 
That  should  be  an  amusement  for  him, 
not  a  duty.  The  great  point  is  that  he 
should  become  fond  of  military  affairs, 
and  the  worst  that  could  happen  would  be 
if  he  should  become  bored  with  them.  He 
should  be  allowed  to  tallt  to  all,  to  cadets, 
soldiers,  citizens  and  officers,  to  increase 
his  self-reliance. 

A  thorough  monarchist,  who  noted 
that  "  when  Sweden  was  turned  into  a 
republic  it  became  weak,"  Frederick  the 
Great  preached  a  doctrine  not  different 
from  that  which  inspires  the  speeches  of 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  when  he  said  in  his 
"Political   Testament"   of   1752: 

As  Prussia  is  surrounded  by  powerful 
states  my  successors  must  be  prepared  for 
frequent  wars.  The  soldiers  must  be  given 
the  highest  positions  in  Prussia  for  the 
same  reason  for  which  they  received  them 
in  ancient*  Rome  when  that  State  con- 
quered the  world.  Honors  and  rewards 
stimulate  and  encourage  talent  and  praise 
arouses  men  to  a  generous  emulation.  It 
encourages  men  to  enter  the  army.  It  is 
paradoxical  to  treat  officers  contemptuous- 
ly and  call  theirs  an  honored  profession. 
The  men  who  are  the  principal  supports 
of  the  State  must  be  encouraged  and  be 
preferred  to  the  soft  and  Insipid  society 
men  who  can  only  grace  an  ante-chamber. 

Mr.  Barker  comments  on  the  fact  that 
in  1776,  thirteen  years  after  the  ruinous 
Seven  Years'  War,  Frederick  the  Great 
had  accumulated  financial  resources  suf- 
ficient to  pay  for  another  war  lasting 
four  years,  and  that  he  pursued  the  food 
policy  of  his  fathers  "  which  is  still  pur- 
sued by  the  Prusso-German  Govern- 
ment." Moreover,  he  first  exalted  the 
German  professor: 

A  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  Prussia 
was  a  land  peopled  by  boors.  Now  it  is 
a  land  peopled  by  professors,  scientists, 
and  artists.  Frederick  the  Great  was  the 
first  Prussian  monarch  to  realize  that  sci- 


ence and  art  increase  the  strength  and 
prestige  of  nations.  Hence,  he  began  cul- 
tivating the  sciences  and  arts,  and  his 
successors  followed  his  example.  As  sci- 
ence and  art  were  found  to  be  sources  of 
national  power,  they  were  as  thoroughly 
promoted  as  was  the  army  itself,  while  in 
this  country  [Kngland]  education  remained 
amateurish.  Men  toyed  with  science  and 
the  universities  rather  taught  manners 
than  efflci^cy. 

The  lesson  of  this  centuries-old  effi- 
cient governmental  machine  is  a  su- 
preme one  to  democratic  England,  Mr. 
Barker  thinks.  Not  that  it  is  hopeless 
for  a  democracy  to  compete  with  a  high- 
ly organized  monarchy,  for  has  not 
Switzerland  shown  that  "  a  democracy 
may  be  efficient,  businesslike,  provident> 
and  ready  for  war?"  England,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  been  a  lover  of  luxury 
and  ease.  She  must  gird  up  her  loins 
and  fight  or  die.  The  Anglo-Saxon  race 
is  fighting  for  its  existence,  and  delay 
is  dangerous: 

War  is  a  one-man  business.  Every 
other  consideration  must  be  subordinated 
to  that  of  achieving  victory.  When  the 
United  States  fought  for  their  life,  they 
made  President  Lincoln  virtually  a  Dic- 
tator. The  freest  and  most  unruly  democ- 
racy allowed  Habeas  Corpus  to  be  sus- 
pended and  conscription  to  be  introduced, 
to  save  itself.  Great  emergencies  call  for 
great  measures.  The  War  demands  great 
sacrifices  in  every  direction.  However,  if 
it  leads  to  England's  modernization,  to  the 
elimination  of  the  weaknesses  and  vices 
of  Anglo-Saxon  democracy,  if  it  leads  to 
the  unification  and  organization  of  the 
Empire,  the  purification  of  its  institutions, 
and  the  recreation  of  the  race,  the  gain 
may  be  greater  than  the  loss,  the  coloesal 
cost  of  the  War  notwithstanding.  The 
British  Empire  and  the  United  States,  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  in  both  hemispheres, 
have  arrived  at  the  turning  point  in  their 
history.  The  next  few  months  will  con- 
firm their  greatness  or  mark  the  beginning 
of  their  fatal  decline. 


"To  Avenge" 


Stern  is  the  denunciation  of  W.  S. 
Lilly,  in  the  same  issue  of  The  Nine- 
teenth Century  and  After,  upon  the 
atrocities  recounted  in  an  article  on 
German   atrocities   in   France   by  Pro- 


fessor Morgan,  appearing  in  the  next 
preceding  number.  Mr.  Lilly  quotes 
Thomas  Carlyle's  sarcastic  words  about 
the  "  blind  loquacious  prurience  of  in- 
discriminate Philanthropism  "  that  com- 


J 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE    WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


967 


mands  no   revenge  for  great  injustice. 
He  says: 

Apart  from  the  "  fierce  and  monstrous 
gladness,"  with  which  the  German  people 
have  welcomed  the  hellish  cruelty  of  their 
soldiery,  they  must  be  held  responsible  for 
its  crimes.  General  von  Bernhardi,  in- 
deed, assures  them  that  '.'  political  moral- 
ity differs  from  individual  morality  be- 
cause there  is  no  power  above  the  State." 
And  they  have  been  given  over  to  a  strong 
delusion  to  believe  this  lie.  Above  the 
State  is  the  Eternal  Rule  of  Right  and 
Wrong :  above  the  State  is  the  Supreme 
Moral  Governor  of  the  Universe ;  yes, 
above  the  State  is  God.  Let  us  proclaim 
this  august  verity  though  in  France  Athe- 
ism has  been  triumphant ;  in  England 
Agnosticism  is  fashionable ;  in  Lutheran 
Germany — worst  of  all — evil  has  been  en- 
throned in  the  place  of  good,  and  "  devils 
to  adore  for  deities  "   is  the   proper   cult. 

The  resolution  of  the  old  Roman  pa- 
triot that  "  Carthage  must  be  de- 
stroyed "  is  quoted  by  this  writer.  He 
adds: 

As  stern  a  resolution  Is  in  the  minds 
and  on  the  lips  of  all  true  lovers  of  their 
country  and  of  mankind,  be  they  English 
or  French,  Russian,  Italian,  Japanese,  and 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  add  American.  Ger- 
man militarism  must  be  utterly  destroyed 
and  the  monstrous   creation  of  blood  and 


iron  overthrown.  Such  is  the  plainest 
dictate  of  the  instinct  of  self-preservation. 
It  is  also  the  plainest  dictate  of  justice. 
Germany  must  be  paid  that  she  has  de- 
served. When  the  triumphant  Allies  shall 
have  made  good  their  footing  on  her  soil, 
they  will  not  Indeed  rival  her  exploits  or 
violating  women  and  butchering  children, 
of  murdering  prisoners  and  wounded,  of 
slaying  unoffending  and  peaceful  peasants, 
of  destroying  shrines  of  religion  and  learn- 
ing. But  they  will  assuredly  shoot  or 
hang  such  of  the  chief  perpetrators  of 
these  and  the  like  atrocities  as  may  fall 
into  their  hands.  They  will  strip  ^er  of 
ill-gained  territory.  They  will  empty  her 
arsenals  and  burn  her  war  workshops. 
They  will  impose  a  colossal  indemnity 
which  will  condemn  her  for  long  years  to 
grinding  poverty.  They  will  confiscate  her 
fleet.  They  will  remove  the  treasures  of 
her  galleries  and  museums,  and  take  toll 
of  her  libraries,  to  make  compensation  for 
her  pillage  and  incendiarism  in  Belgium. 
The  measure  of  punishment  is  always  a 
matter  of  difliculty.  But  surely  anything 
less  than  this  would  be  wholly  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  rank  offences  of  Germany. 
The  reckoning,  the  restrlbution,  the  re- 
taliation to  be  just  must  be  most  stern. 
The  victorious  Allies,  who  will  be  her 
judges,  will  not  be  moved  by  "  mealy- 
mouthed  philanthropies."  "  Justice  shall 
strike  and  Mercy  shall  not  hold  her  hands  : 
she  shall  strike  sore  strokes,  and  Pity  shall 
not  break  the  blow." 


The  Pope,  the  Vatican,  and  Italy 


In  The  Fortnightly  Review  for  July 
E.  J.  Dillon  is  sweeping  in  his  arraign- 
ment of  the  new  Pope  Benedict  XV.  and 
the  Vatican,  of  the  Pope  because  "of  his 
"  neutrality  in  matters  of  public  moral- 
ity," and  of  the  Vatican  because  of  its 
hostility  to  the  cause  of  Allies.  Toward 
martyred  Belgium  and  suffering  France 
the  Pope  "  has  been  generous  in  lip  sym- 
pathy and  promises  of  rewards  in  the 
life  to  come,"  Mr.  Dillon  says;  but  he 
has  "  found  no  word  of  blame  for  their 
executioners."  Mr.  Dillon  personally 
offered  Benedict  XV.  "  some  important 
information  on  the  subject  which  seemed 
adequate  to  change  his  views  or  modify 
his  action,"  but  he  "  turned  the  conver- 
sation to  other  topics."  In  fairness  he 
adds  that  "  personally  Benedict  XV.  had 
been  careful  to  keep  aloof  from  Buelow 


and  his  band,"  and  has  neither  said  nor 
done  anything  blameworthy  with  the 
sole  exception  of  the  interview  and  mes- 
sage which  he  was  reported  to  have 
given  "  to  an  American-German  cham- 
pion of  militarism  at  the  instigation  of 
his  intimate  counsellor,  Monsignor  Ger- 
lach  " — an  interview,  by  the  way,  which 
the  Pope  has  since  expressly  repudiated. 
Monsignor  Gerlach,  Mr.  Dillon  says, 
is  "  one  of  the  most  compromising  as- 
sociates and  dangerous  mentors  that  any 
sovereign  ever  admitted  to  his  privacy," 
and  continues: 

Years  ago,  the  story  runs,  Gerlach  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  worldly  minded 
papal  Nuntius  In  the  fashionable  salons 
of  gay  Vienna,  and,  being  men  of  similar 
tastes  and  proclivfties.  the  two  enjoyed 
life  together,  eking  out  the  wherewithal 
for    their   costly    amusements   in    specula- 


968 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


tions  on  the  Exchange.  When  the  Nuntius 
returned  to  Rome,  donned  the  Cardinal's 
hat,  and  was  appointed  to  the  See  of 
Albano  as  Cardinal  Agliardi,  he  bestowed 
a  canonry  on  the  boon  companion  who  had 
followed  him  to  the  eternal  city.  The 
friendship  continued  unabated,  and  was 
further  cemented  by  the  identity  of  their 
political  opinions,  which  favored  the  Triple 
Alliance.  Gerlach  became  Agliardi's  tout 
and  electioneering  agent  when  that  Car- 
dinal set  up  as  candidate  for  the  papacy 
on  the  death  of  Leo  XIII.  But  as  his 
chances  of  election  were  slender,  the  pair 
work^  together  to  defeat  Rampolla,  who 
was  hated  and  feared  by  Germany  and 
Austria.  Their  bitter  opponent  was  Car- 
dinal Richard,  a  witty  French  prelate  who 
labored  might  and  main  for  Rampolla,  and 
told  me  some  amusing  stories  about  Agli- 
ardi. Some  years  ago  Gerlach's  name 
emerged  above  the  surface  of  private  life 
in  Rome  in  connection  with  what  the 
French  term  un  drame  passionel,  which 
led  to  violent  scenes  in  public  and  to  a 
number  of  duels  later  on.  That  this  man 
of  violent  Pan-German  sentiments  should 
be  the  Pope's  mentor  and  guide  through 
the  labyrinth  of  international  politics 
seems  a  curious  anachi-onism. 

Although  Cardinal  della  Chiesa, 
shortly  before  he  became  Benedict  XV., 
was  spoken  of  as  the  inheritor  of  Ram- 
polla's  Francophile  leanings,  it  is  "  now 
conjectured  that  at  the  Conclave  this 
legend  secured  from  his  not  only  the 
votes  of  the  Teutonic  Cardinals,  who 
knew  what  his  sentiments  really  were, 
but  also  those  of  the  French  and  Bel- 
gians, who  erroneously  fancied  that  they 
knew,"  Dr.  Dillon  says.  He  does  not 
hesitate  to  believe  that  the  Pope  is  "  at 
heart  a  staunch  friend  of  Austria  and  a 
warm  admirer  of  Germany,  whom  he 
looks  upon  as  the  embodiment  of  the 
principle  of  authority  and  conservatism." 
For  the  Vatican  his  words  are  more  un- 
sparing : 

The  Vatican,  as  distinguished  from  the 
Pope,  was  and  is  systematically  hostile  to 
the  Allies.  Its  press  organs,  inspired  by 
an  astute  and  influential  Italian  ecclesiastic 
named  Tedeschini,  by  Koeppenberg,  a  rabid 
German  convert,  and  by  the  Calabrian 
Dafiina,  organized  a  formidable  campaign 
against  the  King's  Government  and  their 
supposed  interventionist  leanings.  Its 
agents.  Including  the  priest  Boncampagnt 
and  the  German  Catholics  Erzberger,  Koep- 
penberg, and  others,  were  wont  to  meet  in 
the  Hotel  de  Russle  to  arrange  their  daily 
plan  of  campaign,  and  when  at  last  the  peo- 


ple rose  up  against  Giollttl  and  his  enor- 
mities, the  Vatican  had  its  mob  in  readi- 
ness to  malce  counter-demonstrations,  and 
was  prevented  from  letting  it  loose  only 
by  the  superhuman  efforts  of  decent  Catho- 
lics and  orderly  citizens.  It  is  a  fair 
thing  to  add  that  the  attitude  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy  throughout  Italy 
has  with  some  few  exceptions  been  con- 
sistently patriotic.  Even  the  bishops  and 
archbishops  of  the  provinces  have  deserved 
well  of  their  King  and  country,  while 
their  flocks  have  left  nothing  to  be  desired 
on  the  score  of  loyalty  and  patriotism. 

Buelow's  mission  to  Italy  and  his  re- 
lations with  Giolitti,  the  defeated  abettor 
of  Austria  in  the  business  preceding 
Italy's  declaration  of  war,  when  they  en- 
countered the  statecraft  of  Sonnino  and 
Salandra,  are  given  in  this  version  of 
Buelow's  playing  of  his  "  trump  card  " ; 

Although  the  die  was  cast  and  Italy's 
decision  taken,  he  had  the  Austrian  con- 
cessions greatly  amplified,  and  he  offered 
them,  not  to  the  King's  Government,  but 
to  Giolitti,  his  secret  ally,  who  was  not 
in  oflico,  but  was  known  to  be  the  Dictator 
of  Italy.  And  Giolitti  accepted  them  on 
the  condition,  to  be  fulfilled  after  the  Cab- 
inet's fall,  that  the  territory  would  be 
further  enlarged  and  consigned  to  Italy 
before  the  end  of  the  war.  The  increase 
of  prestige  which  this  concession  would 
bestow  on  the  tribune  was  to  be  his  re- 
ward for  co-operation  with  the  German 
Ambassador.  Giolitti  having  thus  ap- 
proved the  offer,  undertook  to  have  it 
ratified  by  Parliament,  in  spite  of  the  en- 
gayements  which  the  Cabinet  had  already 
entered  into  nith  the  Allied  Poirers.  In 
this  sense  he  spoke  to  the  King,  wrote  a 
letter  designed  for  the  nation,  and  obtained 
the  public  adhesion  of  a  majority  of  the 
Chamber  which  was  not  then  sitting. 
Thereupon  the  Cabinet  resigned  and  left 
the  destinies  of  Italy  in  the  hands  of  the 
King  and  the  nation.  On  the  part  of  the 
Cabinet  this  was  a  brilliant  tactical  move 
and  a  further  proof  of  the  praiseworthy 
moral  courage  which  it  had  displayed 
throughout  the  crisis.  Indeed,  the  firm- 
ness, perseverance,  and  dignified  disregard 
of  mild  invective  and  more  deliberate 
criticism  manifested  by  Sonnino  and  Sa- 
landra, entitle  these  Ministers  to  the  last- 
ing gratitude  of  their  country.  For  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  had 
against  them  not  only  the  Senate,  the 
Chamber,  a  section  of  the  Press,  the 
"  cream  "  of  the  aristocracy,  the  puny  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  leaders  of  the  Risor- 
gimento,  but  also,  strange  to  say,  the 
majority  of  Italian  diplomatists  in  the 
capitals  of  the  Great  Powers,  one  of  whom 
actually  fell  ill  at  the  thought  that  Italy 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE    WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


969 


was  about  to  fight  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  the  State  to  which  he  was  accredited. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  psychologists  to 
learn  how  this  diplomatist  and  one  or  two 


of  his  colleagues  felt  when  a  few  days 
later  they  were  serenaded  by  enthusiastic 
crowds  whom  they  were  constrained  to 
address. 


Are  the  Allies  Winning? 


In  a  Doubting  Thomas  article  headed 
"Are  We  Winning?"  the  anonymous 
"Outis"  in  The  Fortnightly  Review 
concludes  that  "  the  Allies  are  winning, 
but  very  slowly.  If  their  conquest  is 
to  be  assured,  Great  Britain's  task  is  to 
mobilize  every  soldier  and  every  work- 
man, in  order  to  prove  that  whoever 
may  fail,  she  at  least  does  not  intend  to 
desist  until  the  final  triumph  is  won." 
Moreover,  the  conquest  must  be  in  the 
West "  if  anywhere,"  and  he  looks  some- 
what askance  at  the  Dardanelles  adven- 
ture: 

A  good  many  competent  authorities  have 
disliked  the  idea  of  the  Dardanelles  expe- 
dition, on  the  strength  of  a  general  prin- 


ciple applicable  to  all  military  operations. 
It  is  said  that  in  every  war  there  is  one 
distinct  objective,  and  that  that  should 
never  be  neglected  for  any  subsidiary 
operations.  Thus,  in  the  present  instance, 
our  main  effort  is  to  drive  the  Germans 
out  of  France  and  Belgium,  and  then  to 
attack  them  in  their  own  territory.  Any- 
thing which  interferes  with  this  or  throws 
it,  however  temporarily,  into  the  back- 
ground, is  held  to  be  unwise,  because  it 
leads  to  the  most  dangerous  of  results  in 
warfare — the  dissipation  of  forces,  which, 
if  united,  would  win  the  desired  success, 
but  If  disunited  will  probably  fall.  Thus 
we  are  told  that  we  must  not  fritter  away 
our  energies  in  enterprises  which,  however 
important  in  themselves,  are  not  compar- 
able with  the  one  unique  preoccupation  of 
our  minds — the  conquest  of  Germany  ia 
Europe. 


Selling  Arms  to  the  Allies 


Horace  White  has  no  two  opinions  in 
his  article  in  The  North  American  Re- 
view for  July  as  to  the  wisdom  and  jus- 
tice of  the  practice  of  American  manu- 
facturers in  selling  munitions  which  the 
Allies  are  using  to  kill  their  Germanic 
enemies.  Mr.  White  expresses  it  as  the 
belief  of  the  great  majority  of  people 
in  the  United  States  that  Germany's 
war  is  without  sufficient  cause,  and  that 
when  she  invaded  Belgium  she  "  made 
herself  the  outlaw  of  the  nations — a 
country  whom  no  agreements  can  bind." 
Therefore  he  can  see  why  no  limit  should 
ever  be  put  to  the  world's  expenditure 
for  armaments  "  while  one  incorrigible 
outlaw  is  at  large."    He  adds : 

It  is  the  opinion  of  most  Americans  that 
the  most  incorrigible  and  dangerous  out- 
law and  armed  maniac  now  existing  is 
Germany,  and  that  the  first  and  indis- 
pensable step  toward  a  restriction  of 
armaments  and  a  quiet  world  is  to  throttle 
and  disarm  her,  and  that  no  price  is  too 
great    to    pay    for    such    a   consummation. 


Any  result  of  the  present  war  which  falls 
sliort  of  this  will  be  the  preliminary  to  a 
new  armament  and  another  war  on  a 
wider  scale  than  the  present  one,  since 
the  United  States  will  make  preparations 
for  the  next  one  and  most  probably  take 
part  in  it. 

Hence  proceeds  Mr.  White's  justifica- 
tion for  this  neutral  nation's  supplying 
the  Allies  with  arms: 

Germany,  by  bursting  her  way  through 
Belgium,  was  enabled  to  seize  eighty  to 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  coal  and  iron  re- 
sources of  France  and  the  greater  part 
of  her  apparatus  for  the  production  of 
arms.  She  holds  also  the  entire  resources 
of  Belgium,  both  of  raw  material  and  fin- 
ished product.  The  foul  blow  by  which 
she  possessed  herself  of  these  indispensable 
treasures  had  two  consequences  which  she 
did  not  look  for — the  active  hostility  of 
England  and  the  moral  indignation  of  all 
other  nations.  In  helping  France  to  make 
good  the  loss  which  she  sustained  through 
such  perfidy  the  American  people  think 
that  they  are  doing  God's  service,  and  their 
only  regret  is  that  they  cannot  do  more 
of   it.      If   they   had   foreseen    the   present 


970 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


oonditions  they  would  have  enlarged  their 
gun  factories  and  powder  mills  to  meet  the 
the  emergency  more  promptly. 

A  German  writer  In  the  New  York 
Times  of  May  30,  Mr.  Vom  Bruek,  says : 
"  If  the  German  nation  is  wiped  out  with 
the  help  of  American  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion no  man  of  the  white  race  in  the 
United  States  would  be  able  to  think  of 
such    a    catastrophe    without    hon-or    and 


remorse."  All  of  the  contending  nations 
say  that  they  are  fighting  for  existence, 
which  means  that  if  they  do  not  win  in 
the  end  they  will  b«  wiped  out.  With  such 
an  alternative  staring  us  in  the  face  very 
few  tears  would  be  shed  by  Americans, 
of  any  color,  if  both  the  Hohenzollerns 
and  the  Hapsburgs,  with  all  their  belong- 
ings, should  be  wiped  ofiE  the  face  of  the 
earth. 


War  and  Non-Resistance 


The  pacifist  "  mollycoddle,"  as  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  dubbed  him  in  his  San 
Francisco  Exposition  speech,  finds  ex- 
pression in  these  words  of  Bertrand  Rus- 
sell in  the  August  number  of  the  Atlan- 
tic Monthly: 

All  these  three  motives  for  armaments 
— cowardice,  love  of  dominion,  and  lust 
for  blood — are  no  longer  ineradicable  in 
civilized  human  nature.  All  are  diminish- 
ing under  the  influence  of  modern  social 
organization.  All  might  be  reduced  to  a 
degree  which  would  make  them  almost 
innocuous,  if  early  education  and  current 
moral  standards  were  directed  to  that 
end.  Passive  resistance,  if  it  were  adopted 
deliberately  by  the  will  of  a  whole  nation, 
with  the  same  measure  of  courage  and 
discipline  which  is  now  displayed  in  war, 
might  achieve  a  far  more  perfect  protec- 
tion for  what  is  good  in  national  life  than 
armies  and  navies  can  ever  achieve,  with- 
out demanding  the  carnage  and  waste  and 
welter  of  brutality  involved  in  modern 
war. 

But  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected,  Mr. 
Russell  reluctantly  concludes,  that  prog- 
ress will  come  in  this  way,  because  "  the 


imaginative  effort  required  is  to  great." 
He  adds: 

It  is  much  more  likely  that  it  will  come, 
like  the  reign  of  law  within  the  state,  by 
the  establishment  of  a  central  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  able  and  willing  to  se- 
cure obedience  by  force,  because  the  great 
majority  of  men  will  recognize  that  obe- 
dience is  better  than  the  present  inter- 
national anarchy. 

A  central  government  of  this  kind  would 
command  assent  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as 
the  representative  of  the  interests  of  the 
whole.  Very  soon  resistance  to  it  would 
be  seen  to  be  hopeless  and  wars  would 
cease.  Force  directed  by  a  neutral  au- 
thority is  not  open  to  the  same  abuse  or 
likely  to  cause  the  same  long-drawn  con- 
flicts as  force  exercised  by  quarreling 
nations,  each  of  which  is  the  judge  in  its 
own  causo.  Although  I  firmly  believe  that 
the  adoption  of  passive  instead  of  active 
resistance  would  be  good  if  a  nation  could 
be  convinced  of  its  goodness,  yet  it  is 
rather  to  the  ultimate  creation  of  a 
strong  central  authority  that  I  should  look 
for  the  ending  of  war.  But  war  will  end 
only  after  a  great  labor  has  been  pei^ 
formed  in  altering  men's  moral  ideals,  di- 
recting them  to  the  good  of  all  mankind, 
and  not  only  of  the  separate  nations  into 
which  men  happen  to  have  been  born. 


"Good  Natured  Germany" 


The  leading  article  in  the  June  issue 
of  the  Siiddeutsche  Monatshefte  (Mu- 
nich) is  by  Dr.  George  Grupp,  one  of 
Germany's  most  able  scholars,  and  is 
entitled,  "Never  Can  Germany  be  Over- 
come if  She  be  United."  Dr.  Grupp 
finds  evidences  for  this  assertion  all 
through  history,  and  quotes  some  of  the 


earliest  commentators  and  historians  to 
this  effect: 

As  early  as  1487  Felix  Fabri,  a  Domin- 
ican of  Ulm  wrote  :  "  Si  Germani  essent 
ubique  Concordes,  totum  orbem  domar- 
ent."  (If  the  Germans  were  united  they 
would  conquer  the   whole   world.) 

The  sentence  is  an  echo  of  the  flery 
address   which   one   Aeneas    Silvius,    later 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE    WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


971 


to  become  pope,  delivered  to  the  German 
princes  after  ttie  fall  of  Constantinople, 
and  from  whicli  Felix  Febri  himself  gives 
a    quotation.  .  .  . 

To  Germany  alone  the  Greeks  looked 
for  any  considerable  help.  An  evidence 
of  this  is  the  beautiful  and  often  quoted 
remark  of  the  Athenian  Laonikos  Chalko- 
kondylas :  "If  the  Germans  were  united 
and  the  princes  would  obey,  they  would 
be  unconquerable  and  the  strongest  of 
all   mortals." 

We  encounter  similar  statements  very 
frequently,  both  earlier  and  later,  from 
the  Roman  courtier  Dietrich  von  Nieheim 
and  from  the  humanists,  from  the  Alsa- 
tian Wimpheling  and  Sebastian  Brant, 
from  the  Swabian  Nauclerus.  and  the 
Frank  Pirckheimer.  "What  could  Ger- 
many be,"  they  cry,  "  if  she  would  only 
make  use  of  her  own  strength,  exploit 
her  own  resources  for  herself!  No  people 
on    earth    could    offer    her    resistance!  " 

Dr.  Grupp  claims  that  Germany's 
lack  of  unity  has  resulted  only  from  her 
rule  of  good-will  toward  all,  within  her 
borders  as  well  as  without. 

It  never  occurred  to  the  Germans  as 
to  other  peoples  to  disturb  the  peaceful 
development  of  their  neighbors.  They 
allowed  mighty  powers  to  build  them- 
selves up  unmolested  and  to  rise  above 
Germany's  head.  In  their  internal  af- 
fairs they  observed  the  same  principle  of 
justice ;  no  line,  no  class,  no  province,  no 
grant  succeeded  in  obtaining  so  oppres- 
sive an  ascendancy,  that  other  lines  and 
classes,  other  provinces  and  grants  were 
simply  annihilated.  The  unfortunate 
consequence  was  lack  of  unity. 

Nowhere    were   or   are   there    so   many 


cultural  centres,  so  many  different  move- 
ments, tendencies,  parties.  This  great 
multifariousness  of  the  German  life  was 
recognized  and  admired  by  others.  But 
this  very  multifariousness  had  its  darker 
side,  the  fatal,  much  deplored  lack  of 
unity. 

Through  the  centuries.  Dr.  Grupp 
claims,  Germany  has  been  altogether 
too  good-natured,  allowing  other  nations 
to  all  but  bleed  her  to  death. 

In  her  peaceable  disharmony  Germany 
has  dreamed  along  carelessly  and  good- 
naturedly  for  centuries  until  the  abrupt 
awakening  when  she  saw  a  yawning 
abyss  opened  up  at  her  feet.  Good-na- 
turedly she  has  allowed  herself  to  be 
plundered  and  faithfully  she  has  fought 
other  nations'  battles.  As  early  as  the 
15th  century  the  humanists  remarked  the 
fact  that  alien  states  gladly  took  German 
soldiers  into  their  service,  and  later  on 
It  was  worse  than  that.  Foreign  coun- 
tries gladly  waged  their  wars  on  German 
territory.  Here  was  decided  for  the  most 
part  the  fate  of  the  Spanish  world-empire, 
here  France  and  England  battled  for 
supremacy.  The  Seven  Years'  War  was 
not  only  a  question  of  Schleswig  ;  it  was 
a  question  of  whether  North  America  and 
even  far-away  India  should  be  French  or 
English. 

Now  the  condition  is  suddenly  re- 
versed; the  Germans  are  fighting  for 
themselves,  and  the  fact  arouses  the 
limitless  rage  of  their  opponents.  Let  us 
console  ourselves  with  the  fact  that  even 
in  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  said :  "  Teu- 
tonic! nullius  amici,"  in  spite  of  their 
peaceableness. 


Italy's  Defection 


Dr.  Eduard  Meyer  has  contributed  an 
article  to  the  Siiddeutsche  Monatshefte 
(Munich)  on  "  Ancient  Italy  and  the 
Rise  of  the  Italian  Nation."  Dr.  Meyer 
is  professor  of  history  in  the  University 
of  Berlin,  and  is  a  brother  of  Dr.  Kuno 
Meyer  who  recently  attracted  much  at- 
tention in  this  country  by  severing  his 
connection  with  Harvard  University  be- 
cause of  a  prize  "  war  poem  "  written 
by  one  of  the  undergraduates.  A  post- 
script reflects  Dr.  Meyer's  present  feeling 
toward  Italy's  defection: 


The  views  which  I  have  presented  In 
this  article  are  the  fruit  of  long  years 
of  study  and  research  ;  and  I  feel  myself 
constrained  to  state  explicitly  that  they 
are  in  no  wise  influenced  by  the  events 
which  we  have  experienced  during  the  last 
few  weeks.  But  it  may  be  that  a  short 
postscript  is  necessary. 

Italy  has  not  won  her  present  national 
unity  by  reason  of  her  own  strength  ;  she 
owes  It  to  the  combinations  of  the  chang- 
ing world-sttuatlon  and  the  victories  of 
foreign  powers,  which  hot  statesmen  have 
known  how  to  use  to  the  best  advantage. 

According  to  Dr.  Meyer,  Italy's  claim 
to  be  one  of  the  great  powers  is  not 


972 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


based  on  any  actual  ability  to  uphold 
that  claim;  it  merely  happens  that  her 
assertion  has  not  been  challenged. 

She  has  claimed  for  herself  the  status 
of  a  great  power  on  a  par  with  the  other 
large  nations  of  the  world  ;  but  she  has 
not  possessed  the  Inner  strength  of  her- 
self to  support  such  a  claim' without  the 
help   of  stronger   powers. 

In  August,  1914.  Italy  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  decide  her  fate.  If  she  could 
have  made  the  choice  then,  if  she  could 
have  gone  into  the  world-war  with  all  the 
might  that  she  possessed  and,  staking  her 
■whole  existence,  have  fought  toward  the 
highest  goal,  she  might  have  won  for  her- 
self a  powerful  and  self-suflBcient  place 
in   the   world. 

On  account  of  his  many  utterances 
since  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Ludwig 
Thoma's  Miirz  (Munich),  a  weekly 
founded  by  him,  has  attracted  much  at- 
tention. An  article  entitled  "  Italy's 
Defection,"  in  a  recent  issue,  is  most 
bitter  in  tone,  accusing  Italy  of  long- 
standing intrigue  and  treachery. 

We  know  that  Italy  went  still  further 
from  the  fact  that  at  the  renewal  of  the 
alliance  in  1912  in  Paris  she  expressly 
announced  that  she  would  not  march 
against  France.  It  will  be  remembered 
how  quick  the  French  army  command 
was  to  take  stock  of  relations  on  the 
southeastern  border,  with  the  result  that 
in  the  very  first  days  of  mobilization 
their  troops  were  called  from  the  Savoy 
Alps  and  by  the  eighth  of  August  were 
giving   battle   on    the   Alsatian   border. 

But  Italy  still  guarded  the  neutrality 
■which  she  had  proclaimed  and  with  ap- 
parent reasonableness  she  was  able  to 
hold  that  the  letter  of  the  Triple  Alli- 
ance did  not  compel  her  to  enter  the  con- 


flict. Laughing  in  her  sleeve  she  could 
even  give  it  out  that  her  sympathetic 
neutrality  would  suflSelently  guarantee  to 
her  allies  certain  suspended  contracts  of 
an  economic  nature.  Neutral  Italy  fur- 
nished Germany  to  a  considerable  extent 
with  products  of  its  own  land  and  others 
which  were  not  unwelcome. 

That  the  mobilization  of  an  Italian 
army  on  France's  borders  might  have 
been  able  to  decide  the  war  as  far  back 
as  September,  is  a  consideration  which, 
in  the  face  of  this  hypocritical  neutral- 
ity, one  cannot  face  without  driving  one's 
nails   into   one's   flesh! 

It  was  through  the  connivance  of 
England  that  Italy  weakly  found  her- 
self forced  to  enter  the  war  against  her 
former  allies. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  found  the  way  to  do 
it.  Italy  learned  that  England  was  no 
longer  in  a  situation  to  hold  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar  and  the  Suez  Canal  open  and 
was  obliged  to  take  over  the  control  of 
Italian  imports.  Even  before  this  Brit- 
ish agents  had  control  of  the  port  of 
Genoa  and  there  was  no  donbt  that 
through  most  Irritating  measures  on 
England's  part  which  skillfully  con- 
cealed the  motive  behind  them,  a  blow 
would  be  struck  at  the  very  roots  of 
Italy's  existence  and  famine  would  set  in. 
Presently  the  Italian  politicians  and  the 
crown  were  confronted  with  a  dilemma 
which  left  them  the  choice  only  between 
war  and  revolution.  .  .  . 

Not  every  people  has  the  political  gov- 
ernment which  it  deserves ;  the  Italian 
people  are  the  victims  of  a  government, 
essentially  undeserved  but  traditionally 
faithless. 

But  Mars  is  now  shaking  the  dice  and 
behind  the  curtain  of  the  future  Revolu- 
tion   stands    waiting. 


Apologies  for  English  Words 


An  indication  of  the  height  to  which 
the  "  Oott  Strafe  England  "  feeling  has 
climbed  in  Germany  is  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing announcement  by  the  manage- 
ment of  Die  Woehe  (Berlin)  : 

TO  OUR   READERS! 

Many  readers  of  Die  Woche  have  taken 
offense  at  the  words  "  Copyright  by  .  .  . 
(in    English)    and   demand   that    this   En- 


glish formula  be  rendered  hereafter  In 
German.  This  desire,  springing  from 
patriotic  motives,  is  easily  understood, 
but  unfortunately  cannot  be  carried  out 
for  the  form  "  Copyright  by  ..."  is  de- 
manded by  the  American  copyright  law 
in  this  form.  If  we  did  not  print  these 
words  in  English,  which  is  the  official 
language  of  the  United  States,  our  copy- 
right in  America  would  be  void  and  the 
protection  both  of  ourselves  and  our 
writers    would   be   forfeited. 


Germanic  Peace  Terms 

[From  the  Budapest  Correspondent  of  The  London  Morning  Post.] 


To  the  Revue  de  Hongrie,  the  only 
French  paper  in  Budapest,  Count  An- 
drassy  contributes  an  article  for  July 
entitled  "  Les  garanties  d'une  paix  dur- 
able," and  discusses  the  peace  terms  the 
Central  Empires  are  to  put  forward  in 
the  event  of  final  victory.  He  objects 
to  the  idea  of  annexation  or  anything 
more  than  "  boundary  corrections,"  and 
says: 

Our  war  is  a  defensive  war,  which 
will  achieve  its  aim  when  our  enemies 
have  been  expelled  from  our  territory  aud 
their  ring  has  been  broken.  This  aim 
could  be  best  served  by  making  peace 
with  one  or  other  of  our  enemies  and 
winning  him  over  to  our  cause.  This 
would  be  of  immense  advantage  to  the 
future  of  civilization  and  ensure  us 
against  the  horrors  of  a  prolonged  war. 
A  separate  peace  would  be  the  best  chance 
for  certain  Powers  to  change  their  inter- 
national policy.  To  my  mind  the  issues 
of  this  war  will  greatly  change  the  atti- 
tude of  some  hostile  States  toward  us, 
and  will  bring  about  more  intimate  rela- 
tions between  them  and  ourselves,  be- 
sides widening  the  foundations  of  the 
alliance  between  Hungary  and  her  allies. 
And  this  is  to  be  the  rock  upon  which 
the  European  balance  of  power  is  to  rest 
in  the  future.  Our  war  is  not  a  war  of 
conquest,  and  the  boundary  changes  of  . 
which  some  people  speak  are  not  the  sine 
qua  non  of  a  good  peace.  Therefore  I  do 
not  even  wish  to  speak  about  certain 
territorial  alterations,  which,  neverthe- 
less, might  be  necessary. 

Regarding  the  question  of  England 
and  nationality.  Count  Andrassy   says: 

Victory  no  doubt  affords  us  the  right 
to  demand  the  alteration  of  the  map  of 
Europe,  yet,  this  not  being  our  aim  and 
not  to  our  interest,  we  can  be  satisfied 
with  certain  compensations,  as  no  doubt 
our  enemies  would  not  spare  us  if  they 
were  victorious.  Lloyd  George  said  that 
the  States  are  to  be  shaped  in  the  future 
according  to  nationalities,  which  means 
that  the  Monarchy  is  to  be  disrupted.     An 


English  scholar  not  long  ago  expres.sed 
the  same  view,  and,  in  fact,  in  England 
this  idea  is  being  impressed  upon  the 
people.  This  policy  is  sounded  in  a 
country  which  dominates  so  many  mil- 
lions of  alien  nationalities.  If  England 
speaks  in  this  way,  though  she  is  not 
in  direct  conflict  with  us,  what  can  we 
expect  from  Russia  or  Italy?  Every- 
one knows  that  Russia  wants  Galicia,  the 
Bukovina,  Maramaros ;  Serbia  wants  Bos- 
nia, Herzegovina,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  and 
the  Banat ;  Italy  they  won  to  their  side 
by  promising  her  our  territory ;  Transyl- 
vania is  promised  to  the  one  who  cares 
to  take  it ;  henceforth,  if  we  wi  h  to 
defend  it,  we  shall  have  to  prepare  for 
a  new  attack  from  another  quarter.  Yet 
nothing  would  be  more  alien  to  our 
thoughts  than  that  if  victorious  we  should 
am  ex  foreign  territory,  for  we  would 
have  seriously  to  consider  if  such  con- 
quest would  be  to  our  advantage  or  not. 
The  same  policy  ought  to  be  applied  in 
German.v.  Though  her  enemies  would 
not  spare  her  either,  she  must  be  cautious 
not  to  go  too  far  in  her  appetites,  and 
should  seek  for  monetary  compensations. 
Most  of  all  she  has  to  be  careful  not  to 
claim  territory,  which  would  mean  ever- 
lasting unrest  and  a  new  irredentism.  It 
would  be  a  bad  policy  even  to  touch  the 
Balkans,  for  such  interference  would 
sooner  or  later  bring  Russia  back  to  the 
Balkans,  and  the  peoples  there,  menaced 
in  their  independence  b.v  us,  would  turn 
to  Russia.  We  would  thus  place  nations 
used  to  independence  under  alien  rule, 
and  such  an  act  would  neither  be  a  wise 
nor  a  paying  policy. 

As  regards  Italy,  Count  Andrassy  has 
also  a  solution  which  is  quite  generous. 
He  says: 

We  would  not  do  well  if  we  were  in- 
fluenced by  just  revenge  and  turned  our 
eyes  on  Italian  territory.  To  force  terri- 
tory from  a  country  whose  people  are  so 
patriotic  would  be  a  source  of  weakness 
on  our  part.  In  the  worst  case,  only 
boundary  corrections  can  be  thought  of, 
and  no  conquest.  Italy  must  recompense 
us  by  money  and  not  territory,  for  not 
the  Italian  people,  but  its  Government, 
committed   a   breach  of  faith  against  us. 


France's  Bill  of  Damages 


The  agricultural  problem  in  France  is 
the  subject  of  an  article  by  Professor 
Daniel  ZoUa  in  La  Revue  Hebdomadaire 


(Paris).  Professor  Zolla  is  a  leader  in 
the  agricultural  school  at  Grignon,  and 
the  main  part  of  his  article  is  a  discus- 


974 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


sion  of  France's  agricultural  losses  and 
how  to  repair  them.  He  sums  the  pres- 
ent situation  as  follows: 

At  the  end  of  May  the  enemy  were 
occupying  territory  amounting  to  al)Out 
two  million  hectares.  In  this  zone  as  in 
the  regions  invaded  though  immediately 
evacuated,  the  agricultural  losses  have 
been  admittedly  severe;  harvests,  live- 
stock, implements,  fodder,  have  been 
stolen  or  destroyed  ;  the  buildings,  burned 
or  ruined,  will  have  to  be  entirely  rebuilt. 
The  soil  itself,  ploughed  with  trenches, 
dug  up  by  shells,  infested  with  weeds, 
has   lost    much   of   its   fertility.  .  .  . 

In  the  invaded  region  which  is  one  of 
the  richest  and  most  fertile  in  all  France, 
the  farming  capital  amounts  at  the  least 
to  Ave  hundred  francs  per  hectare,  not 
counting  the  value  of  the  buildings  and 
of  the  land  itself.  For  a  total  of  two 
million  hectares,  the  sum  thus  repre- 
sented in  the  personal  advances  of 
farmers  reach  or  surpass  a  billion,  for 
in  French  Flanders  and  in  Artois  this 
minimum  estimate  of  five  hundred  francs 
is   greatly   exceeded. 

Concerning  future  indemnification  for 
these  losses,  Professor  Zolla  writes : 

It  is  the  entire  country  at  which  the 
enemy  wished  to  strilce  by  ruining  a  cer- 
tain number  of  the  people;  it  is  the 
country  which  should  repair  the  ruin  and 
indemnify  the  losses.  Never  will  the 
principle  of  national  solidarity  apply  with 
more  justice  and  reason.  The  interest  of 
the  state  can  demand,  it  is  true,  that  the 
victim  who  has  become  a  creditor  of  the 
country  shall  not  exact  immediate  pay- 
ment of  the  sums  due  him.  This  is  a 
question  of  the  time  needed  to  enable 
the  country  to  pay  and  the  representatives 
of  the  nation  must  be  the  judges  of  that. 

But  admitting  the  principle,  it  will 
suffice  if  it  be  Ivuown  that  the  Treasury 
accepts  the  lial)ility  ;  it  will  be  sufficient 
If  certain  annuities  are  promised  and  man- 
aged so  that  the  parties  can  procure 
through  the  ordinary  avenues  of  credit, 
the   necessary    indemnities. 

This  is  the  method  which  the  National 
Assembly  adopted  in  187.^.  A  sum  of 
one  hundred  and  eleven  millions  voted 
as  relief,  was  represented  by  twenty-six 
annuities  including  interest  at  five  per 
cent  and   redemption. 


Professor  Zolla  admits  that  France  is 
going  to  encounter  a  seriovis  difficulty 
in  the  scarcity  of  labor  which  is  sure  to 
follow  the  close  of  the  war.  It  is  not 
too  early,  he  advises,  to  begin  working 
on  the  solution  of  this  problem  so  that 
France  will  be  ready  to  meet  it  when 
it  arises: 

There  are  in  the  main,  two  methods  by 
which  the  scarcity  of  farm  labor  can  be 
offset : 

1.  By  multiplying  the  machines  which 
replace  manual  labor, 

2.  By       modifying       our       agricultural 
methods    so    that    preference    is    given    to  - 
those  which  demand  the  least  proportion 
of   manual   labor.  .  .  . 

All  the  associations  which  arc  fortu- 
nately so  numerous  in  our  country,  all 
the  agricultural  societies,  all  the  co-op- 
erative societies  which  are  already 
formed,  should  double  their  efforts  to  put 
at  the  disposition  of  their  members  those 
implements  which  on  account  of  their 
high  price  are  not  available  for  the  In- 
dividual  farmer. 

Prices  will  rise  after  the  war,  but  this, 
argues  Professor  Zolla,  will  be  beneficial 
rather  than  otherwise. 

High  prices  will  be  offset  by  large 
production  ;  this  excess  of  production  will, 
however,  follow  on  the  activity  of  the 
rural  producer,  and  that  activity  will  be 
maintained  and  increased  by  high  prices 
which    always    insure    large    profits. 

lu  short,  the  rise  in  price  will  be  most 
favorable  to  the  agricultural  interests  just 
at  a  time  when  the  difficulties  of  obtain- 
ing labor  will  come  to  swell  the  necessary 
expenses  of  production.  The  crisis  which 
might  be  In  store  Is  thus  dissipated  and 
the  agricultural  situation  remains  mucii 
as  it  was  before  the  war — that  is  to  say, 
very  satisfactory. 

The  losses  undergone  will  be  consider- 
able in  the  invaded  regions,  the  obstacles 
which  the  farmer  must  overcome  will  be 
great  but  not  insurmountable,  but  suc- 
cess will  recompense  the  valor  and  the 
hard  labor  of  our  countrymen.  And  to 
be  just  we  must  not  forget  that  this  will 
be  made  possible  by  the  work  of  the 
French   women  in  the  fields. 


A  French  Rejoinder 


In  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes 
(Paris),  of  which  he  is  managing  edi- 
tor, M.  Francis  Charmes,  of  the  Acade- 


mic Frangaise,  replies  to  a  speech  made 
by  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  before  the 
Reichstag,  in  which  the  German  Chan- 


MAGAZINISTS   OF   THE    WORLD   ON   THE    WAR 


975 


cellor  expressed  sympathy  for  the  de- 
luded French  soldiers,  who  had  not  an 
inkling  of  the  true  course  which  the 
war  was  taking.  M.  Charmes  ironically 
remarks : 

We  do  not  publish,  he  [von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg]  claims,  any  of  the  German  dis- 
patches, so  that  opinion  is  quite  unen- 
lightened as  to  what  is  actually  happen- 
ing on   the  field  of  battle. 

One  would  think,  according  to  M.  de 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  that  the  German  dis- 


patches are  a  source  on  which  one  can 
rely  with  full  confidence,  and  one  would 
imagine,  too,  since  he  had  thus  reproached 
us,  that  the  German  newspapers  pub- 
lished  the   French  dispatches. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  do  not  and 
if  it  is  necessary  to  hear  both  sides  to 
know  the  truth  then  the  Germans  are 
quite  ignorant  of  it.  They  are  indeed 
very  far  removed  from  knowing  it,  and 
it  is  a  constant  surprise  to  our  officers 
and  our  soldiers  to  discover  when  they 
question  their  prisoners,  the  profound  il- 
lusions under  which  they  labor. 


Dr.  von  Bode's  Polemic 


Some  time  ago  Dr.  Wilhelm  von  Bode, 
the  well-known  director  of  the  Berlin 
Art  Museums  and  Germany's  authority 
in  matters  of  art,  issued  a  justification 
of  German  conduct  in  Rheims  and  Lou- 
vain,  which  he  supported  by  a  review  of 
Germany's  world-contribution  to  art. 
"The  German  Science  of  Art  and  the 
War,"  was  the  title  of  the  article. 
Jacques  Mesnil,  writing  in  the  Mercure 
de  France,  presents  a  reply  to  Dr.  von 
Bode's  polemic. 

He  brands  as  infantile  the  reasoning 
by  which  Dr.  Bode  proves  the  German 
soldier  incapable  of  destroying -a  work 
of  art.  The  German  professor  stated 
that  civilization,  and  with  it  art,  could 
not  have  survived  were  it  not  for  the 
protection  of  German  militarism.  M. 
Mesnil  replies: 

M.  Bode  should  have  been  able  to  sepa- 
rate a  little  better  two  things  which  have 
nothing  to  do  with  each  other :  strategy 
and  the  history  of  art.  He  should  have 
explained  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers  by 
the  service  which  is  required  of  them ; 
he  should  have  pointed  out  precisely  the 
point  of  view  of  the  archeologlst  as  In- 
compatible with  that  of  the  warrior  and 
he  should  have  freed  of  responsibility 
those    who,    loving    the    picturesque    old 


cities  and  the  pure  creations  of  artists, 
could  not  sympathize  with  those  who  de- 
stroy them. 

Far  from  this,  he  has  invoked  the  mer- 
its of  German  science  to  justify  the  out- 
rages of  the  soldiery  and  in  his  eyes  the 
fact  that  German  savants  have  added  to 
the  progress  of  archeology  suffices  to 
prove  that  the  German  army  is  incapable 
of   destroying   works   of   art. 

Examination  of  Professor  von  Bode's 
claim  that  Germany  leads  the  world  in 
the  "science  of  art,"  would  seem  to  M. 
Mesnil  to  show  that  the  German  art- 
scientist  is  little  more  than  a  painstaking 
classifier,  a  mere  cataloguer. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  art  historians  in 
Germany  are  a  lot  of  excellent  laborers, 
energetic  and  conscientious,  who  could 
render  valuable  service  were  they  well 
directed.  But  it  is  precisely  their  direc- 
tion which  is  at  fault.  Those  among  them 
who  play  the  rdle  of  leader  do  not  know 
how  to  distinguish  the  relative  importance 
of  the  problems  which  come  to  their  con- 
sideration ;  in  confused  multitude  of 
facts,  they  follow  a  purely  exterior  and 
quite  military  order  in  their  classifica- 
tions ;  in  the  same  way  that  a  man  in 
the  army  is  a  man  only  and  that  all  the 
human  units  are  in  rigid  divisions,  so  for 
the  apostles  of  "  the  science  of  art "  a 
fact  is  a  fact  and  automatically  falls  un- 
der the  head  destined  for  it. 


"Carnegie  and  German  Peace" 


An  article  in  La  Revue  (Paris),  "  Car- 
negie and  the  German  Peace,"  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  France  is  not  yet 
looking  toward  peace.    The  article  is  by 


Jean  Finot  himself,  the  well-known  edi- 
tor and  publisher  of  La  Revue,  and  it 
gives  the  pacifists  short  shrift  indeed. 
The    American    peace    propaganda,    M. 


976 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Finot  characterizes  as  "  the  attempt  at 
corruption,"  and  he  holds  Mr.  Carnegie 
responsible : 

Unfortunately  Mr.  CarneRie  endeavors 
to  keep  thorn  [his  opinions  regarding 
peace]  alive  by  supporting  thein  with 
considerable  sums  of  money  for  their  dif- 
fusion abroad.  A  movement  for  "  a  Ger- 
man peace  "  has  thus  sprung  up  in  Amer- 
ica and  it  is  talcing  on  more  and  more 
disquieting  proportions.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Carnegie  has  been  accused  and  not 
perhaps  without  reason,  of  subsidizing 
many  Geruuinophile  pyblications  and 
thus  of  aiding  in  the  worlj  of  corruption 
which  Germany  and  her  agents  are  car- 
rying on  throughout  the  whole  world. 

The  recent  peace  congress  of  women 
at  The  Hague  comes  in  for  some  strong 
language : 

The  International  congress  of  women 
pacifists  seems  to  be  due  to  Mr.  Car- 
negie's generosity. .  This  poisoning  of 
public  opinion,  carried  out  systematically 
by  his  agents  and  his  money,  has  become 
particularly  odious.  We  do  not  suspect 
the  honesty  of  his  intentions,  but  we  de- 
plore his  profound  laclf  of  comprehension 
of  the  events  which  have  been  taliing 
place  before  liis  eyes. 


Among  the  American  women  noted  for 
their  talent  and  character,  Miss  Jane  Ad- 
dams  occupies  a  prominent  place.  But  it 
seems  that  her  sturdy  honesty  was  not 
sufficient  to  resist  the  temptation  of  put- 
ting herself  at  the  heels  of  Mr.  Carnegie. 
We  are  convinced  the  charges  of  other 
than  purely  disinterested  motives  against 
Miss  Addams  are  wholly  unjustified.  But 
she  has  participated  in  the  women's  con- 
gress at  The  Hague  under  truly  regret- 
table conditions. 


M.  Finot's  references  to  Chautauqua 
and  the  part  it  plays  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  American  opinion  are  veiled  but 
none  the  less  suggestive: 

The  important  r51c  which  the  Chautau- 
qua conferences  play  In  the  United  States 
is  well  known.  These  conferences  of 
teachers  which  have  so  profound  an  in- 
fluence on  American  opinion  have  been 
supported  by  Mr.  Carnegie  in  the  inter- 
ests of  realizing  this  idea  of  a  precipi- 
tate peace,  of  a  German  peace.  All  man- 
ner of  adventurers  and  seekers  of  easy 
fortunes  have  gathered  around  this 
strange  deviation  of  the  pacifist  ideal 
represented  by  the  multi-millionaire  and 
the  men  of  his  stripe. 


Russia's  Supply  of  .Warriors 


In  an  article  headed  "  Ought  the  War 
to  Last  Long — and  Can  It  Last  Long  ?  " 
V.  Kuzmin-KaravaeflF  says  in  the  Rus- 
sian European  Messenger  for  June : 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  how 
long  the  war  will  last.  But  the  case  is 
altered  if  the  question  be  put  in  another 
form :  Ouf/ht  the  war  to  last  long,  and 
can  it  last  long?  The  ten  months  which 
have  elapsed  make  it  entirely  possible  to 
answer  it,  for,  in  answering  it,  there  Is  no 
need  to  guess  at  the  thoughts,  wishes, 
and  hopes  of  the  Germans  which  are 
bound    up   with    the   war. 

In  the  eyes  of  Russia  and  her  Allies 
the  present  war  has  as  Its  object  the 
crushing  and  dispersing  of  "  the  nest  of 
militarism,"  constructed  in  the  centre 
of  Europe  by  the  hand  of  Bismarck  and 
the  vainglory  of  Wilhelm  II.  That  was 
clearly  defined  last  autumn  by  our  diplo- 
matic department.  That  is  precisely  the 
way  in  which  It  was  and  is  defined  by  ail 
classes  of  the  Russian  people,  not  exclud- 
ing those  who  are  represented  by  Kropot- 
kln  and  Plekhanoff.  The  present  war 
became  far  more  for  Germany  than  a  war 


for  the  integrity  of  her  territory,  for  her 
colonial  interests,  or  for  her  commercial 
supremacy,  from  the  moment  when  three 
— now  four — -great  powers  rose  *t  her 
arrogant  challenge.  Germany  Is  every- 
where attacking,  but,  in  reality,  she  is 
conducting  a  desperate  war  of  defence  for 
the  organization  of  her  existence,  which, 
for  the  space  of  forty  years,  has  rested 
on  a  nervous  anticipation  of  war  with  her 
neighbors.  Germany's  offensive  Is  a  stra- 
tegical maneuvre.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
she  is  fighting  like  a  wild  animal  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides.  And,  of  course,  she 
will  carry  on  the  war  until  the  last  de- 
gree of  exhaustion  is  reached.  She  has 
accumulated  within  her  many  forces — 
technical  forces.  Mere  technical  forces 
cannot  stand  their  ground  in  the  end.  But 
no  little  time  must  still  elapse.  And  the 
war  must  continue  for  a  long  time  still, 
if  the  "  nest  of  militarism  "  is  to  be  an- 
nihilated. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  can  it  continue 
a  long  time"?  We  Russians  have  a  com- 
plete right  to  say,  with  conviction :  Yes. 
Ten  months  of  war  have  plainly  demon- 
strated that  we  still  possess  a  land  which 


TAKE     JONESCO 
A  Former  Cabinet   Minister,  and  Leader  of  Pro-Ally  Party  in   Rumania 

(Photo    from    Central    News.) 


DEMETRIOS     GOUNARIS 

Leader  of  the   Neutralist    Party,    who   Succeeded    Venizelos  as 

Premier  of  Greece 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE    WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


977 


is  still   intact,  and  personal  and  economic 
forces. 

To  the  east  of  the  Dnieper  and  Moscow 
the  war  is  hardly  felt  at  all.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  the  principal  foun- 
dations of  our  life — the  peasant  country 
parts  numbering  their  hundred  millions. 
The  villages  have  sent  to  the  war  millions 
of  young  men,  and  even  fathers  of  fam- 
ilies, heads  of  households.  Many  tears 
have  already  been  shed  in  the  country, 
and  there  are  many  orphans,  many  crip- 
ples. But  the  peasant  countryside  has  not 
suffered  economically.  On  the  contraiy, 
after  ten  months  of  war  and  closed 
liquor-shops,  it  has  reconstructed  itself 
and  smartened  itself  up  to  a  noteworthy 
degree.  The  fields  have  been  sown.  From 
among  the  huge  mass  only  those  laboring 
hands  have  been  withdrawn  for  the  war 
which  would  not  have  remained  at  home 
in  any  case,  but  would  have  been  lured 
away  to  earn  money  elsewhere. 

The  same  thing  is  observable  also  in 
the  towns.  The  masses  in  the  towns  have 
Increased    their    deposits    in    the    savings 


banks  tenfold,  while  consuming  more  meat 
than  before  the  war,  and  resorting  less 
frequently  to  the  loan  banks.  Informa- 
tion made  its  way  out  of  Germany  long 
ago  to  the  effect  that  all  the  males  there, 
with  the  exception  of  decrepit  old  men 
and  small  children,  have  been  called  to 
the  army.  The  peculiar  "  crisis  in  men  " 
in  Berlin  has  frequently  served  as  a  sub- 
ject of  jest  In  the   humorous  press. 

In  Russia,  every  railway  station  swarms 
with  young,  healthy,  powerful  porters 
who  offer  their  services  ;  every  large  res- 
taurant has  a  host  of  waiters  ;  the  wharves 
on  the  Volga  and,  in  conclusion,  the  mere 
throngs  on  the  streets  bear  witness  to- 
the  fact  that  nothing  resembling  the 
"  crisis  in  men  "  e-xists  with  us.  Numer- 
ous as  have  been  the  soldiers  who  have 
gone  to  the  war,  the  supply  of  men  who 
are  capable  of  bearing  arms  is  still  co- 
lossally  great  with  us.  Consequently,  we 
have  the  material  to  fill  up  losses  in  the 
army.  And  that  being  the  case,  we  can 
go  on  with  the  war  for  a  long  time  to 
come — for  as  long  a  time  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  bring  it  to  a  proper  ending. 


Austria  and  the  Balkans 


Germanic  influences  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula  are  discussed  by  A.  Pogodin 
in  the  magazine  Russian  Thought.  Mr. 
Pogodin  says: 

Without  having  In  view  any  acquisitions 
whatsoever  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
Peninsula,  Russia  is  deeply  interested  in 
seeing  to  it  that  Germanic  influence  does 
not  acquire  preponderance  there,  because 
that  influence.  In  its  turn,  has  no  aims 
save  territorial  acquisition.  The  Balkan 
Peninsula  is  admitted  to  be  the  most  in- 
fluential camp  of  Pan-Germanism  for  the 
colony  desired  l>y  the  Germanic  world, 
from  which  it  is  but  a  step  to  Central 
Asia.  And  it  was  this  plan  that  Russia 
was  compelled  to  combat.  T'nfortunately, 
she  resisted  too  feebly,  and  our  diplomacy 
betrayed  an  extremely  poor  comprehension 
of  Russian  problems.  Austria's  snatching 
appetite  was  fully  revealed  in  the  formula 
of  partition  of  the  Peninsula  into  two 
spheres  of  influence  :  Austria  was  to  have 
Serbia  and  Bosnia,  Russia  the  Bulgarian 
provinces  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  We  all 
know  how  that  ended  :  Serl)ia  was  aban- 
doned by  Russia  at  the  Berlin  Congress, 
and  had  no  choice  but  to  throw  herself 
into  the  arms  of  Austria,  which  wrought 
fearful  demoralizatioti  in  the  land.  Tens 
of  years  were  required  before  little,  tor- 
mented  Serbia — which   had   not,   neverthe- 


less, lost  her  freshness  of  spiritual  power 
— "  found  herself,"  that  is  to  say,  turned 
again  to  Russia,  and  did  not  reject  her 
even  during  the  period  of  the  persecutions 
of  1908  which  followed.  This  constituted 
the  great  service  rendered  to  his  people 
by  the  King  of  Serbia,  Peter.  Serbia  has 
not  perished,  has  not  fallen  into  ruin, 
and  has  shown  herself  able  to  endure  a 
war  with  Turkey,  as  she  is  now  bearing 
the  incredible  blows  of  Austria-Hungary. 
But  Bulgaria,  which  rejected  Russia,  has 
been  seized  in  the  grip  of  internal  dis- 
turbances ;  she  stands  distracted  before 
her  Slavonic  duty,  and  knows  not  whither 
she  must  go  or  why.  If,  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, she  has  sufl^cient  sense  to  find  her 
only  way  of  salvation,  which  is  in  friend- 
ship with  Slavdom,  that,  again,  will  be  to 
the   credit   of   Russia. 

That  is  why,  at  the  present  moment, 
when  the  last  act  of  the  Balkan  tragedy, 
begun  long  ago,  is  being  played,  we  can 
look  history  in  the  face  with  calm  eyes. 
Whatever  may  be  formed  after  the  end 
of  this  war,  whether  a  Slavonic  Federa- 
tion, in  which  Russia  could  hardly  take 
much  interest,  since  she  requires,  first  of 
all,  the  concentration  of  her  own  forces, 
or  a  series  of  independent,  separate  Sla- 
vonic kingdoms,  we  may  say  that,  in  hav- 
ing summoned  the  Slavs  to  unity.  Russia 
has  not  deceived  them,  has  not  led  them 
along  a  false  road  to  destruction. 


Italy's  Publications  in  War-Time 


Absolutely  nothing  is  published  in  the 
Italian  papers  or  reviews  concerning  mil- 
itary or  naval  operations  until  the  re- 
sult of  a  given  movement  is  known. 
Meanwhile,  what  are  Italians  reading 
and  what  is  the  intellectual  food  given 
them  to  sustain  the  wonderful  sentimen- 
tal enthusiasm  with  which  they  welcomed 
the  war? 

Previous  to  Italy's  declaration  of 
war  against  Austria-Hungary,  on  May 
24,  the  press  in  general  dealt  with  the 
negotiations  between  the  two  Govern- 
ments from  the  point  of  view  of  domes- 
tic politics,  which  gave  foreigners  the 
impression  that  Italy  was  only  waiting  to 
receive  her  price  to  remain  neutral  until 
the  end  of  the  war.  Austrian  intrigue 
and  dilatoriness  were  alike  criticized. 
Little  was  said  about  Germany  in  regard 
to  Italy,  although  her  military  methods 
in  Belgium  and  northern  France,  her 
raids  on  the  defenseless  coast  towns  of 
England,  and  her  submarine  activities 
in  the  War  Zone  were  severely  con- 
demned. This  censure,  however,  was  en- 
tirely academic  and  objective.  The  re- 
views republished  a  quantity  of  English, 
French,  Russian,  and  even  American 
articles  as  to  the  causes  of  the  war.  and 
the  illustrations  which  accompanied 
them  could  hardly  be  considered  pro- 
Teutonic.  Only  the  comic  press — and 
this  in  spite  of  its  augmenting  circula- 
tion which  should  have  indicated  to  ob- 
servers the  sentiment  that  was  elsewhere 
suppressed — gave  full  vent  to  popular 
emotion. 

The  moment  war  was  declared  there 
was  a  complete  change.  To  be  sure 
the  "  Green  Book "  was  published  in 
numerous  20-cent  editions  and  sold  by 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  and  the  clos- 
ing speeches  of  Italian  and  Austrian 
diplomats  were  given  in  full  with  com- 
ments, yet  little  time  was  wasted  with 
explanations  of  the  failure  of  the  Italo- 
Austrian  negotiations  and  the  meaning 
of  the  Seventh  Article  of  the  Triple  Al- 
liance. The  daily  press,  the  weekly  peri- 
odicals, and  the  monthly  reviews  sud- 
denly changed  their  objective  expositions 


of  Germany's  conduct  in  regard  to  others 
and  began  to  expound,  explain,  and  eluci- 
date, in  an  intimate  subjective  manner, 
how  that  conduct  affected  Italy. 

Austria  was  almost  ignored.  The  anti- 
German  riots  at  Milan  and  other  cities, 
where  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  prop- 
erty was  systematically  destroyed  before 
the  authorities  could  interfere,  showed 
the  volcano  that  had  been  lying  dormant 
beneath  the  surface.  Articles  which  must 
have  been  prepared  months  before  sud- 
denly appeared  in  the  press  and  re- 
views showing  how  Germany  had  come 
to  control  the  banks  and  steamship  lines 
of  the  Peninsula  and  how  German  capi- 
tal, under  the  guise  of  promoting  Italian 
enterprises,  had  laid  hold  of  vast  indus- 
tries whose  profits  went  to  fill  the  pockets 
of  the  Germans;  and,  worst  of  all,  how 
the  savings  of  Italian  immigrants  in 
America  had  gone,  through  the  German- 
conducted  banks,  to  enrich  the  same  per- 
sons without  any  contingent  benefit  to 
Italians. 

Indeed,  it  almost  seemed  as  though  the 
press  and  reviews  alike  had  been  organ- 
ized as  completely  as  had  the  army  and 
navy  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  with 
the  sole  object  in  view  of  preventing 
Germany  ever  again  from  using  the  Pe- 
ninsula as  a  territory  for  exploitation. 
The  propaganda  for  Italia  Irredenta  sud- 
denly sank  into  insignificance  beside  the 
determination  to  throw  off,  once  and  for 
all,  the  German  commercial,  industrial, 
and  financial  yoke,  revealing  the  abiding 
faith  of  the  Italian  people  that  their 
army  would  attend  to  the  former  as 
completely  as  desirable  and  without  the 
advice  and  criticism  of  civilians.  Faith 
in  their  King  and  their  army  and  in 
their  ultimate  success  is  not  a  matter 
for  argument  among  Italians. 

Meanwhile,  the  staffs  of  all  publica- 
tions, from  editors  to  compositors,  have 
felt  the  weight  of  conscription — sacri- 
fices they  enthusiastically  make  for  the 
common  cause.  Their  pages  may  be 
fewer  and  some  favorite  contributors 
may  be  heard  of  no  more,  but  they  are 
sure  that  the  public  will  bear  with  them. 


MAGAZINISTS   OF    THE    WORLD   ON    THE   WAR 


979 


On  the  other  hand,  a  new  periodical  has 
sprung  into  existence  called  La  Guerra 
d'ltalian  nel  1915— The  Italian  War  of 
1915 — the  first  number  of  which  has  just 
come  to  hand.  Its  introduction  accom- 
panied with  several  well-made  portraits 
constructs  the  basis  of  Italy's  action — 
how  Italy  having  been  tricked  through 
a  fancied  fear  of  France  and  the  appar- 
ent unresponsiveness  of  England  into  en- 
tering the  Triple  Alliance  in  1882,  had 
been  forced  to  remain  there,  possibly  pro- 
tected thereby  from  actual  Austrian  ag- 
gression, but  ever  a  prey  to  German  ex- 
ploitation. Then  comes  an  analysis  of 
the  Italo-Austrian  negotiations,  conduct- 
ed directly  and  through  Prince  von  Bil- 
low, the  Special  German  Ambassador  in 
Rome,  showing  why  these  negotiations 
could  not  possibly  have  succeeded.  Like 
the  Government  itself  the  new  periodical 
is  in  no  haste  to  describe  military  oper- 
ations. 

The  first  review  to  devote  almost  its 
entire  space  to  the  war  was  La  Vita  In- 
ternazionale  of  Milan.  The  opening  arti- 
cle is  by  the  well-known  publicist  E.  T. 
Moneta.    He  begins : 

Without  boast  but  with  self-esteem  se- 
cure, Italy  has.  taken  her  place  in  the 
combat  among  the  nations  which  for  ten 
months  have  been  fighting  for  the  liberty 
of  the  people  and  the  cause  of  civilization. 
The  enthusiasm  with  which  this  an- 
nouncement has  been  received  in  France, 
Russia,  and  England,  and  especially  in 
martyred  Belgium,  is  enormous.  For 
they  have  all  understood  what  decisive  ef- 
fect our  army  would  produce  on  the  des- 
tiny of  the  Great  War. 

The  fighters  for  liberty  and  civiliza- 
tion who  have  always  hoped  for  an  ulti- 
mate victory,  today  feel  the  certainty  of 
that  hope,  and  that  the  duration  of  the 
war  with  the  loss  of  millions  of  other 
lives  will  be  shortened.  For  this  reason, 
from  those  governments  and  people,  from 
their  parliaments  and  from  their  press, 
from  worklngmen's  societies  and  from  in- 
stitutions of  learning  there  have  come  to 
our  country  warm  words  of  admiration 
and  of  social  unity.  All  these  things 
form  an  added  inspiration  for  us  to  do 
our  best  to  hasten  the  end  of  this  slaugh- 
ter of  men. 

Signor  Moneta  goes  on  to  compliment 
the  diplomacy  of  Premier  Salandra  for 
resigning  from  office  and  thus  giving  the 
people  the  opportunity  to  show  through 


their  demonstrations  that  they  desired 
war  and  to  silence  once  and  forever  the 
propaganda  of  Giolitti  who  had  de- 
claimed in  vain  that  the  people  did  not 
want  war,  as  they  could  secure  by  ne- 
gotiations unredeemed  Italy — as  though 
that  were  all. 

Another  article  is  by  D.  Giuseppe  An- 
tonini  and  is  entitled  "  The  German 
Madness."  Its  subject,  full  of  quota- 
tions from  Treitschke,  Nietzsche,  and 
Bernhardi,  is  not  new  to  Americans. 
For  Italians  it  may  come  as  a  revela- 
tion. It  demonstrates  the  formative  in- 
fluences which  have  found  expression  in 
what  is  called  "  Prussian  Militarism,"  as 
an  attitude  of  mind  which  believes  in 
the  supremacy  of  force  over  all  things — 
over  goodness,  virtue,  kindness,  and 
all  else  that  make  life  worth  living.  It 
declares  that  Prussian  Militarism  has  so 
possessed  all  Germans  that  not  only  their 
moral  but  their  logical  point  of  view  has 
become  distorted,  so  that  they  behold 
nought  but  virtue  in  applying  science  to 
bring  about  Mediaeval  results.  The  con- 
flict, he  declares,  is  between  absolutism 
which  pretends  to  be  sufficient  unto  it- 
self and  democracy  which  receives  its 
power  from  the  people,  and  that  the  lat- 
ter must  win  unless  centuries  of  the  pow- 
er, by  revolutions  without  number,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  masses  are  to  end  in 
failure. 

Paolo  Baccari  deals  with  "  The  Su- 
preme Duty."  He  says  that  the  inter- 
vention of  Italy  was  not  merely  to  com- 
plete ^Unification  by  uniting  all  Italians 
of  the  Peninsula  and  the  Adriatic  litto- 
ral under  one  flag  and  government,  but 
to  register  herself  as  standing  for  justice, 
law,  and  humanity  against  organized 
barbarity,  injustice,  illegality,  and  in- 
humanity, which,  if  victorious,  would  not 
rest  until  it  had  conquered  the  world. 
He  calls  the  peace  propaganda  at  this 
time  a  "  vile  lie  of  conventionality  "  be- 
cause its  success  could  only  mean  the 
victory  of  those  forces  which  all  hon- 
est nationalities   and  persons  condemn. 

As  to  the  other  serious  reviews,  such 
as  the  Nuova  Antologia  and  the  Rivista 
d'ltalia,  their  June  numbers,  aside 
from  expounding  Italy's  relations  to  Ger- 
many, have  not  gone  beyond  academic 


980 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


discussion  of  the  causes  of  the  war  and 
the  economic  phases  as  revealed  by  the 
budgets  of  France,  England,  and  Russia, 
and  the  sacrifices  that  Italy  must  endure 
in  order  to  make  her  a  worthy  ally  of 
these  countries,  all  putting  forth  their 
greatest  efforts  in  the  battle  for  the 
world's  salvation. 

There  are  in  Italy  a  large  number  of 
popular,  well  illustrated,  monthly  maga- 
zines, which,  taking  it  for  granted  that 
their  readers  have  already  been  thor- 
oughly instructed  as  to  the  diplomatic 
phases  of  the  war,  have  started  a  cam- 
paign of  education  in  regard  to  the  war 
itself.  There  are  articles  contrasting  the 
armies  of  the  days  of  Garibaldi  and  the 
great  King  Victor  Emmanuel  with  those 
of  the  present.  There  are  also  articles, 
historical  and  descriptive,  sociological 
and  economic,  on  Trieste,  Trent,  and 
other  cities  of  Unredeemed  Italy,  and 
historical  monographs  showing  the  bonds 
that  formerly  bound  Italy  to  England 


and  to  France  which  have  now  been  ce- 
mented anew,  free  from  all  Teutonic  in- 
fluence. 

Among  the  magazines  of  this  class  are 
the  Secolo  XX,  the  Noi  e  il  Mondo,  and 
La  Lettura ;  all,  whenever  the  occasion 
offers,  deal  generously  and  enthusiastic- 
ally with  Italy's  allies.- 

In  all  this  published  matter  one  thing 
has  been  revealed  since  Italy  entered  the 
war.  Previously  all  the  Italian  writers 
placed  in  the  same  category  of  contempt 
the  alleged  attempts  that  were  being 
made  to  influence  Italy  by  the  Central 
Empires  as  well  as  by  the  Entente  Pow- 
ers and  unblushingly  declared  that  if 
Italy  ever  entered  the  war  it  would  not 
be  for  the  benefit  of  one  party  or  the 
other  but  for  the  benefit  of  herself  alone. 
Now  they  frankly  confess  that  the  En- 
tente Powers  made  no  attempt  to  influ- 
ence Italy,  knowing  all  the  time  that 
when  she  was  ready  she  would  line  up 
on  their  side. 


Sweden  and  the  Lusitania 

By  SWEDISH   ARTISTS   AND   PROFESSORS 

Stockholm,  May  10,  1915. 
English  people  know  that  the  Swedish  nation  is  practically  unani- 
mous in  supporting  the  Government  in  its  policy  of  strict  neutrality. 
Yet  a  large  section  of  the  people,  whether  the  majority  or  not  we 
cannot  say,  is  anything  but  neutral  in  their  feelings  at  the  methods 
of  warfare  which  have  been  adopted  in  this  terrible  war,  and  have 
culminated  in  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania. 

The  misconception  that  war  suspends  all  laws  of  humanity  must 
prove  fatal  to  the  future  of  civilization  and  disastrous  for  that  human 
solidarity  that  is  of  such  vital  interest  to  the  smaller  nations  espe- 
cially. 

(Signed) 
SvANTE  Arrhenius,  Profcssor. 
Bahon  Adelsward. 
Victor  Almquist,  Chief  Director 

for  State  Prisons. 
W.   Lecs,  Professor. 
Knut  Kjellberg,  Professor. 
Jules  Akerman,  Professor. 
ToRGNY   Segerstedt,  Profcssor. 
Israel  Holmgren,  Professor. 
G.  Kobe,  Professor. 
Ottor   Rosenberg,   Professor. 
Gunnar  Anoersson,  Professor. 
Gerhard  de  Geer,  Professor. 
Olof  Kinberg,  M.D. 
Alfred  Petren,  M.D. 
John    Tjerneld,   barrister. 


Tor  Hedberg,  author. 
Hjalmar  Soderberg,  author. 
G.  Stjernstedt,  barrister. 
Ivan    Hedquist,    actor    at    Royal 

Theatre. 
Ivan  Bratt,  M.D. 
T.  Fogelquist,  Rector. 
Mrs.  Emilia  Broome. 
Miss  Signe  Hebba. 
Christian  Eriksen,  sculptor. 
LuDviG  Moberg,  M.D. 
Karl  Nordstrom,  artist. 
Nils  Kreuger,  artist. 
Arnold  Josefson,  M.S. 
Carl  Eldh,  sculptor. 
Miss  Alma  Sundquist,  M.D. 


A  Threatened  Despotism  of  Spirit 


By  Gertrude  Atherton 


The  subjoined  article,  appearing  as  a  letter  to  The  New  York  Times,  was  provoked  by  the 
appearance  on  hundreds  of  billboards  in  New  York  of  flaring  appeals  to  American  women  that 
they  use  their  influence  to  prevent  the  further  exportation  of  arms  and  munitions  to  the  enemies 
of  Germany. 


New  York,  July  5,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

As  I  do  not  belong  to  any  of  the  suf- 
frage or  other  woman's  organizations  in 
New  York,  may  1  say  in  your  columns 
that  for  the  honor  of  my  sex,  if  for  no 
other  reason,  I  hope  the  Mayor  will  con- 
sent to  the  obliteration  of  those  disin- 
genuous posters  addressing  "American 
citizens,"  and  so  cunningly  worded  and 
signed  as  to  produce  an  impression  of 
representing  the  women  of  the  United 
States  ?  If  the  people  that  are  spending 
their  thousands  so  freely  had  come  out 
frankly  and  stated  that  they  were  pro- 
German,  and  that  the  success  of  their 
propaganda  would  mean  defeat  for  the 
Allies,  short  of  ammunition,  and  vic- 
tory for  a  nation  that  has  nine-tenths 
of  all  the  ammunition  in  Europe,  then  at 
least  we  should  have  the  sheep  separat- 
ed from  the  goats ;  we  could  put  it  down 
to  masculine  influence  over  the  weaker 
female  vessel,  which  at  least  was  trying 
to  be  honest,  and  let  it  go  at  that. 

But  I  hold  that  such  a  poster,  flaring 
from  every  billboard,  is  a  defamation  of 
patriotic  American  women,  and  a  dis- 
tinct blow  to  the  cause  of  suffrage.  It 
will  not  only  antagonize  men,  who  alone 
have  the  power  to  grant  the  franchise 
in  those  States  still  obdurate,  but  dis- 
gust thousands  of  women  not  yet  won 
over  to  the  cause,  and  far  too  intelli- 
gent not  to  know  the  precise  meaning 
behind  those  lying  and  hypocritical 
words.  For  if  that  poster  were  really 
representative  of  American  women  it 
would  mean  that  American  women  were 
traitors  to  their  country,  just  as  all  pro- 
German  American  men,  whatever  their 
descent,  are  traitors,  whether  they  real- 
ize it  or  not.     What  was  the  cause  of 


the  roar  of  indignation  that  went  up  all 
over  the  United  States  on  Aug.  1  ?  Anti- 
Germanism  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  If  Russia 
had  made  the  declaration  of  war  the 
roar  would  have  been  as  immediate  and 
as  loud.  It  was  the  spontaneous  pro- 
test of  the  spirit  of  democracy  against 
an  arrogant  autocracy  that  dared  to 
plunge  Europe  into  war  and  the  world 
into  panic,  without  the  consent  of  the 
people;  the  manifest  of  a  mediaeval 
power  by  an  ambitious  and  unscrupu- 
lous group  over  millions  of  industrious, 
peace-loving  men  who  had  nothing  to 
gain  and  all  to  lose. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  over  and  over 
again  how  diametrically  opposed  are  the 
German  and  American  ideals;  therefore, 
it  seems  incredible  that  every  American 
who  champions  the  cause  of  a  powerful 
and  sublimely  egotistic  nation  does  not 
realize  that  what  he  hopes  to  see  is  not 
only  the  victory  of  the  German  arms  in 
Europe,  but  the  eventual  destruction  of 
democracy,  the  annihilation  of  the  spirit 
of  America  as  epitomized  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  I  have  not  the 
least  apprehension  of  immediate  war 
with  Germany,  any  more  than  of  phys- 
ical defeat  at  her  hands  did  she,  with 
the  rest  of  Europe  prostrate,  make  a 
raid  on  our  shores;  but  it  seems  hardly 
open  to  question  that  with  Europe  Prus- 
sianized, we,  the  one  heterogeneous  race, 
and  always  ready  to  absorb  and  imbibe 
from  the  parent  countries,  should  lose, 
in  the  course  of  half  a  century,  our  tre- 
mendous individual  hustle,  and  grate- 
fully permit  a  benevolent  (and  cast  iron) 
despotism  (not  unnecessarily  of  our  own 
make)  to  do  our  thinking,  perhaps  to 
select  our  jobs  and  apportion  our  daily 
tasks. 


982 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


For  that  is  what  it  almost  amounts  to 
now  in  Germany,  and  it  is  for  this  rea- 
son, no  less  than  to  escape  military  serv- 
ice, that  so  many  millions  of  Germans 
have  immigrated  to  this  country.  Unlike 
the  vast  majority  of  the  bourgeois  and 
lower  classes,  a  kindly  but  stupid  people, 
they  were  born  with  an  alertness  of 
mind  and  an  energy  of  character  which 
gave  them  the  impetus  to  transfer  them- 
selves to  a  land  where  life  might  be 
harder  but  where  soul  and  body  could 
attain  to  a  complete  independence. 
Their  present  attitude  is,  however  un- 
consciously, hypocritical,  but  it  is  not 
altogether  as  traitorous  as  that  of  the 
American  born,  who  has  not  the  excuse 
of  that  peculiar  form  of  sentiment:ility 
which  has  fermented  in  Germans  at  home 
and  abroad  during  this  period  of  their 
Fatherland's  peril.  It  is  this  curious 
and  wholly  German  brand  of  sentimen- 
tality which  is  the  cohering  force  in  the 
various  and  extraordinarily  clever  de- 
vices by  which  modern  Germany  has 
been  solidified.  It  is  a  sentimentality 
capable  of  rising  to  real  exaltation 
that  no  other  nation  is  capable  of,  and 
that  alone  should  make  the  American 
pro-German  pause  and  meditate  upon  a 
future  United  States  where  native  indi- 
vidualism was  less  and  less  reluctantly 
heading  for  the  iron  jaws  of  the  Prus- 
sianized American  machine;  and,  fur- 
thermore, upon  the  weird  spectacle  of 
the  real  gladiatorial  contest — German 
sentimentality  wrestling  in  a  death  grap- 
ple with  American  downright  unpictur- 
esque   common   sense. 

During  the  seven  years  that  I  lived 
in  Munich  I  learned  to  like  Germany  bet- 
ter than  any  state  in  Europe.  I  liked 
and  admired  the  German  people;  I  never 
suffered  from  an  act  of  rudeness,  and  I 
never  was  cheated  out  of  a  penny.  I 
was  not  even  taxed  until  the  year  be- 
fore I  left,  because  I  made  no  money 
out  of  the  country  and  turned  in  a 
considerable  amount  in  the  course  of  a 
year.  When  my  maid  went  to  the 
Rathaus  to  pay  my  taxes,  (moderate 
enough,)  the  oflScial  apologized,  saying 
that  he  had  disliked  to  send  me  a  bill, 
but  the  increased  cost  of  the  army  com- 
pelled  the    country   to    raise   money   in 


every  way  possible.  This  was  in  1908. 
The  only  disagreeable  German  I  met 
during  all  those  years  was  my  landlord, 
and  as  we  always  dodged  each  other  in 
the  house  or  turned  an  abrupt  corner 
to  avoid  encounter  on  the  street,  wo 
steered  clear  of  friction.  And  he  was 
the  only  landlord  I  had. 

I  left  Munich  with  the  greatest  regret, 
and  up  to  the  moment  of  the  declaration 
of  war  I  continued  to  like  Germany  bet- 
ter than  any  country  in  the  world  ex- 
cept my  own. 

The  reason  I  left  was  significant.  I 
spent,  as  a  rule,  seven  or  eight  months 
in  Munich,  then  a  similar  period  in  the 
United  States,  unless  I  traveled.  I  al- 
ways returned  to  my  apartment  with 
such  joy  that  if  I  arrived  at  night  I  did 
not  go  to  bed  lest  I  forget  in  sleep  how 
overjoyed  I  was  to  get  back  to  that 
stately  and  picturesque  city,  so  prodigal 
with  every  form  of  artistic  and  aesthetic 
gratification.  But  that  was  just  the 
trouble.  For  as  long  a  time  after  my 
return  as  it  took  to  write  the  book  I 
had  in  mind  I  worked  with  the  stored 
American  energy  I  had  within  me;  then 
for  months  and  in  spite  of  good  reso- 
lutions and  some  self-anathema  I  did 
nothing.  What  was  the  use  ?  The  beau- 
tiful German  city  so  full  of  artistic  de- 
light was  made  to  live  in,  not  to  work 
in.  The  entire  absence  of  poverty  in 
that  city  of  half  a  million  inhabitants 
alone  gave  it  an  air  of  illusion,  gave  one 
the  sense  of  being  the  guest  of  a  hos- 
pitable monarch  who  only  asked  to 
provide  a  banquet  for  all  that  could  ap- 
preciate. I  look  back  upon  Munich  as 
the  romance  of  my  life,  the  only  place 
on  this  globe  that  came  near  to  satis- 
fying every  want  of  my  nature.  And 
that  is  the  reason  why,  in  a  sort  of 
panic,  I  abruptly  pulled  up  stakes  and 
left  it  for  good  and  all.  It  is  not  in 
the  true  American  idea  to  be  too  con- 
tent; it  means  running  to  seed,  a  weak- 
ening of  the  will  and  the  vital  force. 
If  I  remained  too  long  in  that  lovely 
land — so  admirably  governed  that  I 
could  not  have  lost  myself,  or  my  cat, 
had  I  possessed  one — I  should  in  no 
long  course  yield  utterly  to  a  certain 
resentfully  admitted  tendency  to  dream 


A    THREATENED    DESPOTISM    OF    SPIRIT 


983 


and  drift  and  live  for  pure  beauty; 
finally  desert  my  own  country  with 
the  comfortable  reflection:  Why  all 
this  bustle,  this  desire  to  excel,  to  keep 
in  the  front  rank,  to  find  pleasure  in  in- 
dividual work,  when  so  many  artistic 
achievements  are  ready-made  for  all 
to  enjoy  without  effort?  For — here  is 
the  point — an  American,  the  American 
of  today — accustomed  to  high  speed, 
constant  energy,  nervous  tenseness,  the 
uncertainty,  and  the  fight,  cannot  cul- 
tivate the  leisurely  German  method,  the 
almost  scientific  and  impersonal  spirit 
that  informs  every  profession  and 
branch  of  art.  It  is  our  own.  way  or 
none  for  us  Americans. 

Therefore,  if  loving  Germany  as  I  did, 
and  with  only  the  most  enchanting 
memories  of  her,  I  had  not  immediately 
permitted  the  American  spirit  to  assert 
itself  last  August  and  taken  a  hostile 
and  definite  stand  against  the  German 
idea  (which  includes,  by  the  way,  the 
permanent     subjection     of     woman)     1 


should  have  been  a  traitor,  for  I  knew 
out  of  the  menace  I  had  felt  to  my  own 
future,  as  bound  up  with  an  assured 
development  under  insidious  influences, 
what  the  future  of  my  country^  which 
stands  for  the  only  true  progress  in  the 
world  today,  and  a  far  higher  ideal  of 
mortal  happiness  than  the  most  benevo- 
lent paternalism  can  bestow,  had  in 
store  for  it,  with  Germany  victoriovis, 
and  America  (always  profovmdly  moved 
by  success  owing  to  her  very  practical- 
ity) disturbed,  but  compelled  to  ad- 
mire. 

The  Germans  living  here,  destitute  as 
their  race  seems  to  be  of  psychology 
when  it  comes  to  judging  other  races, 
must  know  all  this;  so  I  say  that  they 
are  traitors  if  they  have  taken  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  If 
they  have  not,  and  dream  of  retvirning 
one  day  to  the  fatherland,  then  I  have 
nothing  to  say,  for  there  is  no  better 
motto  for  any  man  than:  "My  country, 
right  or  wrong." 


"Gott  Mit  Uns 


if 


By   C.    HUNTINGTON   JACOBS 
r Harvard   Prize  Poem] 

Professor  Kuno  Meyer,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  resigned  his  incumbency 
as  Visiting  Professor  at  Harvard  T'nlversity  during  the  next  season  because 
of  this  poem,  which  was  printed  in  The  Harvard  Advocate  of  April  9th,  last,  and 
won  the  prize  in  a  competition  for  poems  on  the  war  conducted  by  that  publica- 
tion. This  announcement  of  it  appeared  editorially  :  "Dean  Briggs  and  I'ro- 
fessor  Bliss  Perry,  the  judges  of  the  Advocate  war  poem  prize  competition, 
have  awarded   the  prize  to  C.   Huntington  Jacobs,   1916." 


No  doubt  ye  are  the  people:  Wisdom's  flame 

Springs  from  your  cannon — yea  from  yours  alone. 
God  needs  your  dripping  lance  to  prop  His  throne; 

Yoiir  gleeful  torch  His  glory  to  proclaim. 

No   doubt   ye   are   the   people:    far   from   shame 
Your  Captains  who  deface  the  sculptured  stone 
Which  by  the  labor  and  the  blood  and  bone 

Of  pious  millions  calls  upon  His  name. 

No  doubt  ye  are  the  folk;  and  'tis  to  prove 
Your  wardenship  of  Virtue  and  of  Lore 
Ye  sacrifice  the  Truth  in  reeking  gore 

Upon  your  altar  to  the  Prince  of  Love. 

Yet  still  cry  we  who  still  in  darkness  plod: 
" 'Tis  Antichrist  ye  serve  and  not  our  God!" 


On  the  Psychology  of  Neutrals 

By  Friedrich  Curtius 


•a  or'i«.*r   U 


Friedrich  Curtius,  of  Slrassbnrg,  liad  attained  suoli  distinction  at  tlie  beginning  of  the 
century  that  Prince  Chlodwig  of  Hohcnlohc-Schillingfiirst,  who  succeeded  Count  Caprivi  as 
Chancellor  of  the  German  I'mpire,  on  his  retirement  in  1900,  aslted  Curtius  to  co-operate  with 
him  in  the  preparation  of  the  Memoirs  (New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co..  1900)  which  have  since 
become  famous.  But  the  joint  worlc  was  brought  to  a  sudden  end  by  Prince  Hohcnlohe's  death, 
and  Friedrich  Curtius  devoted  himself,  for  the  next  six  or  seven  years,  to  the  completion  of  the 
unfinished  task.  When  the  Memoirs  were  finally  published,  first  in  America  and  then  in  Ger- 
many, they  were  so  outspoken  as  to  bring  down  on  I'rince  Alexander  Hohenlohe  and  Friedrich 
Curtius  the  disfavour  of  the  ICaiser.  This  article  by  Curtius  appeared  originally  in  the  Deutsche 
Revue,  May,  1915. 


"All  the  world  must  hate  or  love;  tio 
choice   remains.      The  Devil   is   neutral." 


SO  sang  Clemens  Brentano  in  the 
year  1813.  To-day,  we  once  more 
realize  that  the  attempt  to  remain 
neutral  through  a  conflict  which  is 
deciding  the  history  of  the  world  not 
only  brings  great  spiritual  difficulties, 
but  is  even  felt  to  be  a  downright  moral 
impossibility,  just  as  the  poet  saw  it  a 
hundred  years  ago.  Legal  neutrality  is, 
of  course,  a  simple  thing.  Every  state 
can  itself  practice  it,  and  impose  it  as  a 
duty  on  its  citizens.  One  may  even 
think  that  modern  states  should  go  fur- 
ther in  this  direction  than  they  do.  The 
indifference  of  the  Government  toward 
the  business  transactions  of  its  citizens 
with  foreign  states  is  a  political 
anomaly,  comprehensible  in  an  age  when 
foreign  policy  in  war  and  peace  was 
viewed  as  something  that  concerned  the 
ruler  only,  but  contradictory  in  a  demo- 
cratic age,  when  wars  are  jieoples'  wars. 
To-day,  in  all  civilized  states,  the  Gov- 
ernment is  morally  answerable  for  those 
activities  of  its  subjects  which  have  in- 
ternational results.  The  American 
policy  which  permits  the  supply  of 
weapons  to  England  but  allows  England 
to  prevent  the  export  of  grain  to  Ger- 
many, is  a  bad  neutrality,  morally  un- 
tenable, a  mere  passivity,  which  lacks 
the  will  to  do  right.  Such  a  standpoint 
might  exist  in  a  despotically  governed 
state,  but  in  a  democratic  Republic  it 
it  incomprehensible.  For,  from  a  genu- 
inely democratic  point  of  view,  it  does 


not  signify  whether  the  government  or 
the  citizens  intervene  to  help  or  to  hin- 
der in  an  armed  conflict.  If  we  venture 
to  speak  at  the  right  time  of  the  develop- 
ment of  international  law,  this,  before 
all,  must  be  demanded:  that  neutral 
states  shall  forbid  the  export  of  weapons, 
and  that  belligerents  shall  not  hinder 
the  import  of  foodstuffs  for  civilian 
populations. 

Meanwhile  the  insecurity  of  the  in- 
ternational attitude  of  neutrals  is  only 
a  symptom  of  the  difficulties  to  which 
neutrality  of  view  is  subject.  These  be- 
gin with  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Each 
belligerent  government  believes  itself  to 
be  in  the  right,  and  publishes  a  col- 
lection of  documents  which  seem  to  it 
fitted  to  prove  this  right.  This  litera- 
ture appearing  in  all  the  colours  of  the 
spectrum  is  really  aimed  at  neutrals. 
For  the  belligerent  nations  themselves 
have  weightier  matters  in  hand  than  to 
sit  in  judgment  upon  their  own  govern- 
ments. But  the  neutrals  find  themselves 
to  decide  which  side  is  right.  Yet  this 
whole  idea  of  a  "  just  war  "  (coming  to 
us  from  the  moral  philosophy  of  the 
Schoolmen)  which  shall  expiate  an  in- 
justice, as  the  judge  punishes  crimes,  is 
antiquatea.  When,  in  the  middle  ages, 
the  citizens  of  a  town  were  maltreated 
or  robbed  by  the  authorities  or  citizens 
of  another  town,  and  the  guilty  party 
refused  satisfaction,  then  the  consequent 
feud  might  be  viewed  as  a  modified  crim- 


ON    THE    PSYCHOLOGY    OF    NEUTRALS 


985 


inal  case,  and  the  right  of  the  wronged 
town  to  help  itself  must  be  recognized. 
In  exactly  the  same  way,  differences 
over  questions  of  inheritance  between 
independent  states  could  only  be  decided 
by  force,  where,  as  in  a  civil  suit,  each 
party  was  convinced  of  its  own  justice. 
But  the  great  wars  of  our  time  arise 
from  causes  which  are  different  from 
their  immediate  occasions,  from  opposed 
interests  which  can  only  be  decided  by 
discovering  which  side  has  the  power 
to  enforce  its  will.  If  one  wishes  to 
ascribe  the  blame  for  a  war  to  one  of 
the  parties,  one  need  only  ask  which  of 
them  pursued  an  aim  which  could  not 
be  reached  through  a  peaceful  under- 
standing. In  the  present  war,  we  Ger- 
mans have  clear  consciences,  for  we 
know,  concerning  ourselves  and  our 
government,  that  we  strove  for  nothing 
but  the  maintenance  of  our  position  as 
a  world-power,  bought  with  heavy  sacri- 
fices, and  the  free,  peaceful  expansion 
of  our  sphere  of  action  in  the  world. 
On  the  other  hand,  Russia  desired  to 
get  to  Constantinople  ahead  of  Berlin 
and  Vienna,  France  desired  to  win  back 
Metz  and  Strassburg,  England  desired 
to  destroy  our  sea-power  and  commerce 
— goals  which  could  only  be  reached 
over  prostrate  Germany.  On  this  vm- 
derstanding,  it  would  not  be  difficult  for 
neutrals  to  arrive  at  a  clear  and  just 
judgment.  But  as  the  belligerents  them- 
selves did  not  announce  their  purposes, 
but  much  rather  took  pains  to  turn  pub- 
lic attention  from  the  causes  to  the  occa- 
sion of  the  conflict,  the  judgment  of 
neutrals  is  affected  by  this,  and  if  they 
are  really  impartial  in  their  view,  they 
suffer  morally  under  the  burden  of  an 
insoluble  problem.  But  if  outspoken 
sympathy  draws  them  toward  one  of  the 
belligerent  powers,  then  their  judgment 
is  as  little  objective  as  that  of  the  bel- 
ligerents themselves.  Their  pretended 
neutrality  gives  to  their  expressions  a 
loathsome  Pharisaical  aspect,  because 
they  come  to  a  decision  according  to 
their  opinions  as  if  they  stood  on  a 
height  above  the  contestants  and,  from 
this  lofty  standpoint,  were  holding  an 
anticipated  Last  Judgment  on  kings  and 
statesmen. 


The  same  phenomena  show  themselves 
with  regard  to  judgments  concerning 
methods  of  warfare.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  each  belligerent  party  re- 
ports all  the  atrocities  which  are  com- 
mitted by  its  opponents  and  is  silent 
as  to  its  own  shortcomings.  Once  more, 
neutrals  feel  compelled  to  form  a  judg- 
ment,^ and  therefore,  if  they  are  con- 
scientious, read  the  reports  of  both  sides', 
and,  as  a  result,  find  themselves  in  a 
desperate  situation,  because  it  is  impos- 
sible, from  the  assertions  and  counter- 
assertions  of  the  belligerents,  to  ascer- 
tain the  actual  facts  of  the  case.  In 
practice,  mere  chance  decides  which  set 
of  reports  one  comes  across.  And  the 
exact  proof  of  details  is  impossible  to 
the  most  zealous  newspaper-reader. 
Therefore  one's  judgment  remains  vacil- 
lating, and  one  is  likely  to  come  to  this 
conclusion :  to  believe  nothing  at  all. 
Naturally,  the  case  is  different  here  also, 
if  one  is  previously  in  sympathy  with 
one  party.  Then  one  believes  the  re- 
ports coming  from  that  side,  and  leaves 
out  of  consideration  those  that  stand 
against  them.  In  this  case,  again,  neu- 
trals become  as  one-sided  as  belligerents, 
without  having  the  indubitable  right  to 
be  one-sided  which  the  belligerents  have. 

And  finally,  in  the  decisive  question, 
neutrality  is  excluded.  Whatever  judg- 
ments one  may  form  as  to  the  cause  of 
the  war,  and  as  to  methods  of  waging  it, 
the  final  outcome  is  always  the  decisive 
factor.  Only  a  completely  demoralized 
and  stupid  man  can  boast,  in  cynical  in- 
difference, that  the  result  of  the  war 
leaves  him  cold.  Where  spiritual  life 
functions,  wishes  and  prayers,  hopes  and 
fears,  are  passionately  involved  in  the 
course  of  the  mighty  conflict.  For  it 
is  not  a  question  whether  this  or  that 
nation  shall  experience  more  pleasure 
or  pain,  but  the  form  of  all  Europe  and 
of  the  world,  for  long  periods  to  come, 
will  be  fixed  by  the  decision  of  this  war. 
That  cannot  be  a  matter  of  indifference 
for  any  thinking  human  being.  An 
equilibrium  of  view,  a  real  neutrality  is 
as  little  possible  here  as  it  would  have 
been  in  the  Persian  or  Punic  wars,  or, 
a  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  revolt  of 
Europe,     against     the     domination     of 


986 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Napoleon.  He  who,  invoking  the  neu- 
trality of  his  state,  does  not  takes  sides 
in  this  decisive  question,  debases  him- 
self and  his  people  with  him.  For  to 
stand  indifferent,  taking  no  part  in  the 
mightiest  events  of  history,  is  a  degra- 
dation of  humanity. 

The  neutrals  in  this  world-war  are, 
therefore,  to  be  pitied  rather  than  es- 
teemed happy.  Either  they  are  only 
legally  uncommitted,  but  have,  in  feel- 
ing and  thought,  taken  the  side  of  one 
of  the  belligerent  parties:  in  which  case 
it  must  weigh  heavily  on  their  hearts 
not  to  be  able  to  come  out  openly  for 
that  side  and  to  aid  it  with  all  their 
power;  or  they  hold  to  neutrality  as  a 
positive  political  ideal:  then  the  ethical 
solution  of  the  dark  questions  of  the 
right  and  wrong  of  the  war,  and  the 
methods  of  warfare  become  a  torturing 
and  hopeless  problem,  and,  in  consid- 
ering the  future,  the  weakness  and  im- 
practicability of  what  one  has  accepted 
as  a  legal  precept  becomes  evident. 

If  the  world-war  should  last  much 
longer,  then  neutrality,  as  such,  will 
probably  go  bankrupt.  The  economic 
injuries  of  the  war  weigh  on  neutrals 
as  heavily  as  on  belligerents.     But  they 


are  far  harder  to  bear  when  one  has 
nothing  to  hope  from  the  outcome  of 
the  war,  when  one  must  make  continued 
sacrifices  in  sheer  passivity,  without 
knowing  why.  One  would  finally  fall 
into  despair,  and  accept  anything  that 
would  bring  this  intolerable  condition 
to  an  end.  We  hope  that  this  extremity 
will  not  be  reached,  but  rather  that  the 
decision  of  the  war  will  come  early 
enough  to  permit  neutrals  to  preserve 
their  attitude.  That  this  should  hap- 
pen, is  the  common  interest  of  mankind. 
For,  in  the  collective  life  of  civilized 
nations,  neutrals  have  their  own  mis- 
sion. Just  because  they  share  only  the 
sufferings  of  the  war,  but  do  not  partake 
of  its  inspiring  and  exalting  forces,  they 
are,  of  necessity,  opponents  of  war,  the 
providential  mediators  of  the  idea  of 
peace,  of  international  understanding, 
of  the  development  and  strengthening  of 
international  law.  They  can,  during 
and  after  the  conclusion  of  peace — if 
they  vmite  and  go  forward  with  clearly 
formed  ideals — have  a  notable  effect.  It 
will,  in  part,  depend  on  their  wisdom 
and  firmness,  whether  it  will  be  possible, 
within  a  conceivable  time,  to  heal  the 
deep  wounds  of  humanity  and  interna- 
tional comity. 


Chlorine  Warfare 


A  Renter  dispatch,  dated  Amsterdam,  June  26,  1915,  reports  that 
the  "Kolnische  Zeiiung,"  in  a  semi-official  defence  of  the  German  em- 
ployment of  gases,  says: 

"The  basic  idea  of  the  Hague  agreements  was  to  prevent  unneces- 
sary cruelty  and  unnecessary  killing  when  milder  methods  of  putting 
the  enemy  out  of  action  suffice  and  are  po«:sible.  From  this  stand- 
point the  letting  loose  of  smoke-clouds  which,  in  a  gentle  wind,  move 
quite  slowly  towards  the  enemy  is  not  only  permissible  by  international 
law,  but  is  an  extraordinarily  mild  method  of  war.  It  has  always  been 
permissible  to  compel  the  enemy  to  evacuate  positions  by  artificially 
caused  flooding. 

"Those  who  were  not  indignant,  or  even  surprised,  when  our 
enemies  in  Flanders  summoned  water  as  a  weapon  against  us,  have 
no  cause  to  be  indignant  when  we  make  air  our  ally  and  employ  it 
to  carry  stupefying  (hetatihetide)  gases  against  the  enemy.  What 
the  Hague  Convention  desired  to  prevent  was  the  destruction  without 
chance  of  escape  of  human  lives  en  masse,  which  would  have  been 
the  case  if  shells  with  poisonous  gas  were  rained  down  on  a  defence- 
less enemy  who  did  not  see  them  coming  and  was  exposed  to  them 
irremediably.  The  changing  forms  of  warfare  make  new  methods  of 
war  continually   necessary." 


Rheims  Cathedral 


By  Pierre  Loti 


This  article  by  Pierre  Lotl  (Captain  Viaud)  originally  appeared  in  L'lllustration  as  the 
last  of  a  scries  of  three  entitled  "  Visions  of  the  Battle  Front,"  and  is  translated  for  The 
New   York  Times  Cuerent  History  by  Charles  Johnston. 


TO  see  it,  our  legendary  and  mar- 
vellous French  basilica,  to  bid  it 
farewell,   before   its   fall   and   ir- 
remediable crumbling  to  dust,  I 
had    made    my    military    auto    make    a 
detour  of  two  hours  on  my  return  from 
completing  a  service  mission. 

The  October  morning  was  foggy  and 
cold.  The  hillsides  of  Champagne  were 
on  that  day  deserted;  with  their  vines 
with  leaves  of  blackened  brown,  damp 
with  rain,  they  seemed  all  clad  in  a  sort 
of  shining  leather.  We  had  also  passed 
through  a  forest,  keeping  our  eyes  alert, 
our  weapons  ready,  for  the  possibility 
of  marauding  Uhlans.  And  at  last  we 
had  perceived  the  immense  form  of  a 
church,  far  off  in  the  mist,  rising  in 
all  its  great  height  above  the  plots  of 
reddish  squares,  which  must  be  the 
roofs  of  houses;  evidently  that  was  it. 
The  entrance  to  Rheims :  defences  of 
every  kind,  barriers  of  stone,  trenches, 
spiked  fences,  sentinels  with  crossed 
bayonets.  To  pass,  the  uniform  and 
accoutrements  of  a  soldier  are  not 
enough.  We  must  answer  questions, 
give  the  pass-words.  .  .  . 

In  the  great  city,  which  I  had  not 
visited  before,  I  ask  the  way  to  the 
cathedral,  for  it  is  no  longer  visible;  its 
silhouette  which,  seen  from  a  distance, 
so  completely  dominates  everything,  as 
a  giant's  castle  might  dominate  the 
dwellings  of  dwarfs,  its  high  gray  sil- 
houette seems  to  have  bent  down  to  hide 
itself.  "  The  cathedral,"  the  people  re- 
ply, "  at  first  straight  on ;  then  you 
must  turn  to  the  left,  then  to  the  right, 
and  so  on."  And  my  auto  plunges  into 
the  crowded  streets.  Many  soldiers, 
regiments  on  the  march,  files  of  ambu- 
lance wagons;  but  also  many  chance 
passers-by,  no  more  concerned  than  if 


nothing  was  happening;  even  many 
well-dressed  women  with  prayer-books 
in  their  hands,  for  it  is  Sunday. 

Where  two  streets  cross,  there  is  a 
crowd  before  a  house,  the  walls  of  which 
have  been  freshly  scratched;  a  shell  fell 
there,  just  now,  without  any  useful  re- 
sult, as  without  any  excuse.  A  mere 
brutal  jest,  to  say:  "You  know,  we  are 
here!  "  A  mere  game,  a  question  of 
killing  a  few  people,  choosing  Sunday 
morning  because  there  are  more  people 
in  the  streets.  But,  in  truth,  one  would 
say  that  this  city  has  completely  made 
up  its  mind  to  being  under  the  savage 
field-glasses  ambushed  on  the  neighbor- 
ing hillsides ;  these  passers-by  stop  a 
minute  to  look  at  the  wall,  the  marks 
of  the  bits  of  iron,  and  then  quietly  con- 
tinue their  Sunday  walk.  This  time  it 
was  some  women,  they  tell  us,  and  Ijttle 
girls  that  this  neat  jest  laid  low  in  pools 
of  blood;  they  tell  us  that;  and  they 
think  no  more  of  it,  as  if  it  were  a  very 
small  thing  in  days  like  these.  .  .  . 
Now  the  district  becomes  deserted; 
closed  houses,  a  silence,  as  of  mourning. 
And  at  the  end  of  a  street,  the  great 
gray  doors  appear,  the  high  pointed 
arches  marvellously  chiseled,  the  high 
towers.  Not  a  sound,  and  not  a  living 
soul  on  the  square  where  the  phantom 
basilica  still  sits  enthroned,  and  an  icy 
wind  blows  there,  under  an  opaque  sky. 

It  still  keeps  its  place  as  by  a  miracle, 
the  basilica  of  Rheims,  but  so  riddled 
and  torn  that  one  divines  that  it  is 
ready  to  founder  at  the  slightest  shock; 
it  gives  the  impression  of  a  great  mum- 
my, still  upright  and  majestic,  but 
which  a  mere  nothing  will  turn  to 
ashes.  The  ground  is  strewn  with  pre- 
cious relics  of  it.  It  has  been  hurriedly 
surrounded  with  a  solid  barrier  of  white 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


boards,  within  which  its  holy  dust  has 
formed  heaps:  fragments  of  rose-win- 
dows, broken  piles  of  stained  glass, 
heads  of  angels,  the  joined  hands  of 
saints.  From  the  top  of  the  tower  to 
the  base,  the  charred  stone  has  taken 
on  a  strange  color  of  cooked  flesh,  and 
the  holy  personages,  still  upright  in 
rows  on  the  cornices,  have  been  peeled, 
as  it  were,  by  the  fire;  they  no  longer 
have  faces  or  fingers,  and,  with  their 
human  forms,  which  still  persist,  they 
look  like  the  dead  drawn  up  in  files,  their 
contours  vaguely  indicated  under  a  sort 
of  reddish  grave-clothes. 

We  make  the  circuit  of  the  square 
without  meeting  anyone,  and  the  bar- 
rier which  isolates  the  fragile  and  still 
admirable  phantom  is  everywhere  sol- 
idly closed.  As  for  the  old  palace  ad- 
joining the  basilica,  the  episcopal  palace 
where  the  kings  of  France  came  to  rest 
on  the  day  of  their  consecration,  it  is 
no  longer  anything  more  than  a  ruin, 
without  wind£)ws  or  roof,  everywhere 
licked  and  blackened  by  the  flame. 

What  a  peerless  jewel  it  was,  this  ca- 
thedral, still  more  beautiful  than  Notre 
Dame  in  Paris.  More  open  and  lighter, 
more  slender  also,  with  its  columns  like 
long  reeds,  wonderful  to  be  so  fragile, 
and  yet  to  hold  firm ;  a  wonder  of  our 
French  religious  art,  a  masterpiece 
which  the  faith  of  ovir  ancestors  had 
caused  to  blossom  there  in  its  mystic 
purity,  before  they  came  to  us  from 
Italy,  to  materialize  and  spoil  every- 
thing, the  sensual  heaviness  of  what 
we  have  agreed  to  call  the  Renais- 
sance. .  .  . 

Oh!  the  coarse  and  cowardly  and  im- 
becile brutality  of  those  bundles  of  iron, 
launched  in  full  flight  against  the  lace- 
work,  so  delicate,  that  had  risen  confi- 
dently in  the  air  for  centuries,  and  which 
so  many  battles,  invasions,  scourges  have 
never  dared  to  touch!  .  .  . 

That  great  closed  house,  there,  on  the 
square,  must  be  the  Archbishop's  resi- 
dence. I  try  ringing  the  bell  at  the  en- 
trance to  ask  the  favor  of  admission  to 
the  cathedral.  "  His  Eminence,"  I  am 
told,  "  is  at  mass,  but  will  soon  return." 
If  I  am  willing  to  wait  .  .  .  And,  while 
I  wait,  the  priest  who  receives  me  re- 


lates to  me  the  burning  of  the  episcopal 
palace :  "  Beforehand,  they  had  sprinkled 
the  roofs  with  I  know  not  what  diabol- 
ical substance;  when  they  then  threw 
their  incendiary  bombs,  the  timbers 
burned  like  straw,  and  you  saw  every- 
where jets  of  green  flame,  which  spread 
with  the  noise  of  fireworks." 

In  fact,  the  barbarians  had  premedi- 
tated this  sacrilege,  and  prepared  it 
long  ago;  in  spite  of  their  foolishly  ab- 
surd pretexts,  in  spite  of  their  shameless 
denials,  what  they  wished  to  destroy 
here  was  the  very  heart  of  old  France; 
some  superstitious  fancy  drove  them  to 
it,  as  much  as  their  instinct  of  savages, 
and  this  is  the  task  they  plunged  into 
desperately,  when  nothing  else  in  the 
city,  or  almost  nothing,  suffered. 

"  Could  not  an  effort  be  made,"  I 
said.  "  to  replace  the  burned  roof  of  the 
cathedral? — to  cover  the  vaulted  roofs 
again  as  quickly  as  possible?  For  with- 
out this  they  cannot  resist  the  coming 
winter." 

"Evidently,"  he  said,  "at  the  first 
snows,  at  the  first  rains,  there  is  a  risk 
that  everything  will  fall,  the  more  so, 
as  those  charred  stones  have  lost  their 
power  of  resistance.  But  we  cannot 
even  try  that,  to  preserve  them  a  little, 
for  the  Germans  never  take  their  eyes 
off  us;  at  the  end  of  their  field-glasses, 
it  is  the  cathedral,  always  the  cathedral; 
and  as  soon  as  a  man  ventures  to  ap- 
pear on  a  turret,  in  a  tower,  the  rain 
of  shells  immediately  begins  again.  No, 
there  is  nothing  to  be  done.  It  is  in 
the  hands  of  God." 

Returning,  the  prelate  graciously 
gives  me  a  guide,  who  has  the  keys  of 
the  barrier,  and  at  last  I  penetrate  into 
the  ruins  of  the  cathedral,  into  the  de- 
nuded nave,  which  thus  appears  still 
higher  and  more  immense.  It  is  cold 
there;  it  is  sad  enough  to  make  one 
weep.  This  unexpected  cold,  this  cold 
much  keener  than  outside,  is,  perhaps, 
what  from  the  first  takes  hold  of  you, 
disconcerts  you ;  instead  of  the  slightly 
heavy  odor  which  generally  fills  ancient 
churches — the  vapor  of  so  much  incense 
that  has  been  burned  there,  the  emana- 
tions of  so  many  coffins  that  have  been 
blessed  t^iere,  of  so  many  generations  of 


RHEIMS    CATHEDRAL 


989) 


men  that  have  crowded  there,  for  agony 
and  prayer — instead  of  this,  a  damp  and 
icy  wind,  which  enters  rustling  through 
all  the  crevices  of  the  walls,  through  the 
breaches  in  the  stained  glass  windows 
and  the  holes  in  the  vaulted  ceilings. 
Those  vaulted  roofs,  up  there,  here  and 
there  smashed  by  grapeshot — one's  eyes 
are  immediately  lifted  up  by  instinct  to 
look  at  them,  one's  eyes  are,  as  it  were, 
drawn  to  them  by  the  up-springing  of 
all  these  columns,  as  slender  as  reeds, 
which  rise  in  sheaves  to  sustain  them; 
they  have  retreating  curves  of  exquisite 
grace,  which  seem  to  have  been  imag- 
ined, so  as  not  to  allow  the  glances  sent 
heavenward  to  fall  back  again.  One 
never  grows  weary  of  bending  one's  head 
back  in  order  to  see  them,  to  see  the 
sacred  roofs  which  are  about  to  fall  into 
nothingness ;  and  they  are  up  there  also, 
far  up,  the  long  series  of  almost  aerial 
pointed  arches,  on  which  they  are  sup- 
ported, pointed  arches  indefinitely  alike 
from  one  end  of  the  nave  to  the  other, 
and  which,  in  spite  of  their  complicated 
carvings,  are  restful  to  follow  in  their 
retreating  perspective,  so  harmonious 
are  they. 

And  it  is  better  to  go  forward  be- 
neath them  with  raised  head,  not  too 
carefully  looking  where  one  walks,  for 
this  pavement,  rather  sadly  sonorous, 
has  recently  been  soiled  and  blackened 
by  the  charring  of  human  flesh.  It  is 
known  that,  on  the  day  of  the  fire,  the 
cathedral  was  full  of  German  wounded, 
stretched  on  straw  beds  which  caught 
fire,  and  it  became  a  scene  of  horror 
worthy  of  a  dream  of  Dante;  all  these 
creatures,  whose  raw  wounds  were  baked 
in  the  flames,  dragging  themselves, 
screaming,  on  their  red  stumps,  to  try 
to  reach  the  narrow  doors.  One  knows 
also  the  heroism  of  the  ambulance  bear- 
ers, priests  and  nuns,  risking  their  lives 
in  the  midst  of  the  bombs,  to  try  to 
save  these  hapless  brutes,  whom  their 
own  brother  Germans  had  not  even 
thought  of  sparing ;  however,  they  did 
not  succeed  in  saving  them  all ;  some 
remained,  and  were  burned  to  death  in 
the  nave,  leaving  foul  clots  on  the 
sacred  flagstones,  where  of  old  proces- 
sions of  kings  and  queens  slowly  dragged 


their  ermine  mantles,  to  the  music  of 
the  great  organ  and  the  Gregorian 
chants.  .  .  . 

"  Look !  "  says  my  guide  to  me,  show- 
ing me  a  large  hole  in  one  of  the  aisles, 
"  that  is  the  work  of  a  shell  which  they 
fired  at  us  yesterday  evening;  then  come 
and  see  a  miracle."  And  he  leads  me 
into  the  choir,  where  the  statue  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  preserved,  one  would  say, 
by  some  special  grace,  is  still  there,  in- 
tact, with  eyes  of  gentle  ecstasy. 

The  most  irreparable  loss  is  that  of 
the  great  stained  glass  windows,  which 
the  mysterious  artists  of  the  thirteenth 
century  so  religiously  composed,  in 
meditation  and  dream,  gathering  the 
saints  by  hundreds,  with  their  translu- 
cent draperies,  their  luminous  halos. 
There  also  German  scrap-iron  rushed 
in  great  stupid  bundles,  crushing  every- 
thing. The  masterpieces,  which  no  one 
will  ever  reproduce,  have  scattered  their 
fragments  on  the  flagstones,  forever  im- 
possible to  separate,  the  golds,  the  reds, 
the  blues,  whose  secret  is  lost.  Ended, 
the  rainbow  transparencies,  ended,  the 
graceful,  naive  attitudes  of  all  these 
holy  people,  with  their  pale  little  ecstatic 
faces;  the  thousands  of  precious  frag- 
ments of  these  stained  glass  windows 
which,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  had 
little  by  little  become  iris-tinted  like 
opals,  are  lying  on  the  ground — where 
they  still  shine  like  jewels.  .  .  . 

A  whole  splendid  cycle  of  our  history, 
which  seemed  to  go  on  living  in  this 
sanctuary,  with  a  life  almost  terres- 
trial, though  immaterial,  has  just  been 
plunged  suddenly  into  the  abyss  of 
things  that  are  ended,  whose  very  mem- 
ory will  soon  perish.  The  Great  Bar- 
barity has  passed  by,  the  modern  bar- 
barism from  beyond  the  Rhine,  a  thou- 
sand times  worse  than  the  ancient, 
because  it  is  stupidly  and  outrageously 
self-satisfied,  and,  in  consequence,  fun- 
damental, incurable,  final — destined,  if 
it  be  not  crushed,  to  throw  a  sinister 
night  of  eclipse  over  the  world.  .  .  . 

Verily,  this  Jeanne  d'Arc  in  the  choir 
has  very  strangely  remained,  untouched, 
immaculate,  in  the  midst  of  the  dis- 
order, with  not  even  the  slightest  scratch 
on  her  dress.  .  .  . 


The  English  Falsehood 


By  Sven  Hedin 


Early  in  the  war  Sven  Hedln,  the  Swedish  explorer  and  writer,  visited  the  German  front 
to  see  the  world-war  at  first  hand.  "  A  People  in  Arms,"  published  in  Leipzig  and  dedicated 
to  the  German  soldiers,  is  the  result.  A  preface  proclaims  the  author's  neutrality  as  a  Swede 
and  announces  that  he  "  swears  before  God  that  I  have  written  not  a  line  which  is  not  the 
truth  and  have  depicted  nothing  which  I  have  not  witnessed  with  my  own  eyes."  Thi^  article 
Is  one  of  his  concluding  sketches. 


I  SHOULD  like  to  have  seen  how 
the  troops  of  India  stood  the  raw 
autumn  in  Artois  and  Flanders. 
But  the  Indian  prisoners  at  Lille 
were  transferred  to  the  East  in  order  to 
make  room  for  fresh  contingents.  I, 
myself,  have  experienced  the  difficulty 
of  transplanting  Indians  to  a  colder 
climate.  On  my  last  journey  to  Tibet  I 
had  two  Radschputs  from  Cashmere 
with  me.  When  we  got  into  the  moun- 
tains they  nearly  froze  to  death,  and  my 
caravan  leader,  Muhamed  Isa,  declared 
they  would  be  about  as  useful  as  puppies. 
I  had  to  send  them  back.  The  same 
thing  happened  to  me  with  my  Indian 
cook ;  outside  India  he  was  absolutely 
useless.  In  Tibet  they  live  on  meat,  in 
India  on  vegetables.  How  could  he 
stand  so  sudden  a  change  of  both  cli- 
mate and  diet! 

Now  the  press  has  been  claiming  that 
the  English  have  ordered  a  full  con- 
tingent from  India  to  Europe.  I  found 
it  hard  to  believe  but  at  the  front  I 
learned  that  it  was  true.  "  How  do  you 
treat  the  Indian  soldiers  ? "  I  once  asked 
a  couple  of  officers.  "  We  just  arrest 
them,"  answered  one,  and  the  other 
added :  "  We  don't  need  to  do  even  that ; 
they  will  soon  die  in  the  trenches." 

When  I  admit  that  I  myself  made  a 
stupid  blunder  in  thinking  that  Indians 
could  do  service  in  Tibet,  I  am  justified 
in  claiming  that  Lord  Charles  Beresford 
made  ten  times  as  stupid  a  blunder 
when  he  expressed  the  hope  of  seeing 
"  Indian  lances  roaming  the  streets  of 
Berlin  and  the  little  brown  Gurkas 
making  themselves  comfortable  in  the 
park  of  Sans  Souci." 


But  the  import  of  Indian  troops  is 
more  than  a  stupid  blunder — it  is  a 
crime ! 

For  almost  a  century  and  a  half  Great 
Britain  has  performed  the  shining  mis- 
sion of  acting  as  India's  guardian;  no 
other  people  probably  could  successfully 
carry  through  so  gigantic  a  task.  Indian 
troops  have  fought  with  honor  against 
ther  neighbors,  and,  moreover  have  as- 
sisted in  maintaining  order  among  the 
300  millions  of  their  people. 

But  never  has  it  occurred  to  an  Eng- 
lish government  as  now  to  the  Liberal 
government,  to  oppose  black  infidels  to 
Christian  Europeans!  That  is  a  crime 
against  culture,  against  civilization  and 
against  Christianity.  And  if  the  Eng- 
lish missionaries  approve  it,  then  are 
they  hypocrites  and  false  bearers  of  the 
Gospel. 

India's  English  rulers  despise — and 
rightfully — all  marital  relations  between 
whites  and  Hindoos;  the  children  of 
such  marriages  are  regarded  as  mules, 
and  are  often  called  such;  they  are 
neither  horse  nor  ass,  they  are  half  caste. 
In  Calcutta  they  have  their  own  quar- 
ter and  are  allowed  to  live  in  no  other 
part  of  the  city.  But — when  it  comes 
to  the  question  of  overthrowing  the 
"  German  barbarians,"  then  an  alliance 
with  the  bronze-skinned  people  is  good 
enough  for  England ! 

Is  it  one  of  the  twentieth  century's 
worthy  advances  in  culture  and  civiliza- 
tion that  the  unsuspecting  Indian  is 
brought  hundreds  of  miles  over  land 
and  sea  that  he  may  on  the  battlefields 
of  Europe  drive  to  destruction  the  first 
soldiers  of  the  world,  the  German 
army?     Even  though  some  may  answer 


THE    ENGLISH    FALSEHOOD 


991 


this  question  in  the  affirmative,  I  hold 
unshaken  to  my  assertion  that  such  a 
course  of  action  is  the  very  height  of 
f  rightfulness !  Not  frightful  to  the 
German  soldiers,  for  I  know  what  sort 
of  feeling  the  Indian  fighters  have  for 
them — respect  and  sympathy! 

And  we  aren't  much  nearer  that 
"  roaming  about  in  the  streets  of  Ber- 
lin," and  the  lindens  of  Sans  Souci  are 
not  yet  waving  above  the  warriors  from 
the  slopes  of  the  Himalayas. 

What  must  these  Indian  troops  think 
of  their  white  masters !  That  the  future 
will  show.  Whoever  has  seen  some- 
thing of  the  land  of  a  thousand  legends, 
who  has  ridden  over  the  crests  of  the 
Himalayas,  who  has  dreamed  in  the 
moonlight  before  the  Taj  Mahal,  who 
has  seen  the  holy  Ganges  slip  gray  and 
soft  past  the  wharves  of  Benares,  who 
has  been  entranced  by  the  train  of  ele- 
phants under  the  mango  trees  of  Dek- 
kan — in  short,  whoever  has  loved  India 
and  admired  the  order  and  security 
which  prevails  there  under  the  English 
rule,  he  will  need  no  very  powerful 
imagination  to  understand  with  what 
thoughts  the  Indian  soldiers  will  go 
back,  and  with  what  feelings  their 
families  and  their  fellow  countrymen 
in  the  little  narrow  huts  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Himalayas  will  listen  to  their  ac- 
counts. Only  with  a  shudder  can  we 
think  of  this,  for  it  must  be  said  that 
here  a  crime  against  civilization  and 
Christianity  has  been  done  in  the  name 
of  civilization. 

The  question  cannot  be  suppressed: 
Will  the  Indian  contingent  really  be 
used?  Will  not  the  white  millions  of 
Great  Britain,  Canada  and  Australia 
suffice,  to  say  nothing  of  the  French, 
Belgians,  Kussians,  Serbians,  Monte- 
negrins and  Japanese?  Apparently  not. 
In  The  Times  of  September  5th  appears 
in  large  letters :  The  need  for  more  men. 
Already  they  are  in  need  of  more  peo- 
ple to  overthrow  the  Kultur  of  the  "  Ger- 
man barbarians  "  !  The  English  people 
must  be  educated  by  a  special  method 
in  order  to  understand  both  the  cause 
and  the  aim  of  this  war.  Otherwise  the 
Englishman  will  stay  at  home  and  play 
football  and  cricket. 


And  what  is  this  education  of  the 
people?  In  regard  to  this  the  English 
press  informs  us  daily.  It  is  a  systematic 
lie!  The  fatal  reality,  that  England  is 
slowly  sliding  to  catastrophe,  must  be 
hidden  by  a  strict  censorship.  The 
English  people  has  no  suspicion  of  Hin- 
denburg's  victories.  The  development 
of  the  German  operations  in  Poland  is 
translated  into  a  victorious  move  of  the 
Russians  on  Berlin!  The  most  shame- 
ful slander  concerning  the  Kaiser  is 
spread  abroad!  The  Germans  are  bar- 
barians who  must  be  annihilated,  and 
the  civilized  peoples  of  Servia,  Sene- 
gambia  and  Portugal  must  take  part  in 
this  praiseworthy  undertaking ! 

England  carries  on  this  war  with  a 
perversion  of  the  truth,  and  truth  is  as 
rare  in  the  English  press  as  lies  in  the 
German, 

But  do  the  people  really  believe  what 
they  read  in  the  English  newspapers  ? 
Yes,  blindly !  I  have  been  convinced  of 
this  by  letters  received  from  England. 
An  appeal  signed  by  many  scholars — 
among  them  several  Nobel  prize  win- 
ners— and  sent  to  me,  closes  with  the 
words : 

We  regret  deeply  that  under  the  un- 
wholesome influence  of  a  military  system 
and  its  unrestrained  dreams  of  domina- 
tion, the  country  which  we  have  once 
honored  now  has  become  Europe's  com- 
mon enemy  and  the  enemy  of  all  people 
who  respect  the  rights  of  nations.  We 
must  carry  to  an  end  this  war  which 
we  have  entered.  For  us  as  for  the  Bel- 
gians it  is  a  war  of  defense,  which  will 
be  fought  through  for  peace  and   freedom. 

The  old  story  of  the  splinter  and  the 
beam!  Is  England's  rule  of  the  sea  no 
military  system  then?  Can  there  be 
conceived  a  more  far-reaching  militarism 
than  that  which  stretches  out  its  con- 
quests over  five  continents?  Which 
even  clutches  at  the  straw  which  repub- 
lican Portugal  holds  out  and  announces 
"  the  need  for  more  men  "  in  the  news- 
papers ? 

What  was  the  Boer  War  then?  An 
expression  perhaps  of  this  same  humane 
solicitude  for  the  small  states  which  now 
causes  England  to  break  the  lance  for 
Belgium's  independence? 


992  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 

It  would  be  useless  at  this  late  day  to  most  tragic  catastrophe  which  the 
attempt  to  determine  what  would  have  human  race  has  ever  suffered.  No 
been  the  course  of  the  great  war  had  nation  has  ever  incurred  a  greater,  a 
England  stayed  out  of  it.  But  this  more  comprehensive  responsibility  than 
much  is  certain,  that  Belgium's  loss  of  England!  And  one  can  only  regret 
independence  would  have  lasted  only  most  deeply  that  these  men  will  have  to 
until  the  conclusion  of  peace.  The  war  bear  now  and  in  the  world  to  come  the 
would  then  not  have  grown  as  now  to  full  and  oppressive  burden  of  that  re- 
be  a  world-war — to  be  the  greatest  and  sponsibility. 


Calais  or  Suez? 

Which  Should  be  Germany's  Objective? 

By  special  cable  to  The  New  York  Times  from  London  on  July 
1,  1915,  came  the  following  information: 

Count  von  Eeventlow,  in  last  Sunday's  Deutsche  Tageszeitu ng, 
explains  the  importance  and  meaning  of  Calais  as  a  German  objective 
in  the  west  and  as  a  key  to  the  destruction  of  the  British  Empire.  Dr. 
Ernst  Jaeckh,  in  an  article  called  "Calais  or  Suez,"  maintained  that 
if  an  English  statesman  had  to  make  a  choice  he  would  undoubtedly 
give  up  Calais  and  cling  to  Suez  rather  than  give  up  Suez  and  control 
Calais.  Reventlow  maintains  there  is  no  reality  about  this  alterna- 
tive. 

About  the  importance  of  Suez,  Jaeckh  and  Reventlow  are  agreed. 
Reventlow  for  his  part  declares  England's  main  interest  in  the  Darda- 
nelles operations  is  the  desire  to  protect  Egypt  and  that  this  is  the 
exjilanation  of  all  her  efforts  to  range  the  Balkan  countries  against 
Austria-Hungary,  Germany,  and  Turkey.  As  translated  in  The 
Times  he  proceeds: 

"These  efforts  are  not  yet  at  an  end,  and  they  will  be  continued 
with  a  desperate  expenditure  of  strength  and  all  possible  means.  It 
was  believed  that  the  Russian  armies  and  influence  exercised  upon  the 
Balkan  peoples  would  make  Egypt  safe.  These  hopes  are  now  totter- 
ing or  vanishing.  All  the  greater  must  be  the  energy  of  our  triple 
alliance  in  order  completely  to  clear  the  way  and  then  at  the  proper 
moment  to  take  it  with  firm  determination  to  see  the  thing  through. 
Here  also  we  see  the  correctness  of  our  old  argument,  that  for  Ger- 
many and  her  allies  success  lies  in  a  long  war  and  that  time  works 
for  them  if  they  employ  the  time  in  working.  Our  forces  are  in- 
creasing with  time  and,  as  has  been  said,  Germany  has  the  assured 
possibility  of  gaining  time.  To  strike  our  chief  enemy  at  a  vital 
point  is  worth  the  greatest  efforts  and  sacrifice  of  time,  quite  apart 
from  the  fact  that  we  owe  it  to  the  Turkish  Empire  to  assist  with  all 
our  strength  in  restoring  Egypt,  which  was  stolen  by  England." 

Reventlow  then  says  that  a  comparison  of  "the  Calais  idea"  with 
Suez  is  as  idle  as  the  comparison  of  a  chair  with  a  table.  He  says 
Jaeckh  is  mistaken  in  supposing  Calais  does  not  concern  more  than 
the  south  coast  of  England  or  that  it  merely  threatens  one  of  many 
ways  to  and  from  England.     Reventlow  says: 

"This  by  no  means  completes  the  Calais  idea.  From  a  military  or 
political  or  economic  point  of  view  one  should  look  at  the  matter  with 
the  eyes  of  Great  Britain  and  define  the  Calais  idea  as  a  possibility  for 
a  seafaring  continental  power  to  conduct  a  war  against  Great  Britain 
from  the  continental  coast  channel  and  with  all  military  resources 
while  holding  open  communication  between  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and 
the  North  Sea." 


GENERAL     LOUIS     BOTHA 

The  Boer  Commander  Who  Added  German  Southwest  Africa  to  the 

British  Crown 

(Photo     from     Medem     Photo     Service.) 


DR.     ANTON      MEYER-GERHARD 

Sent  by   Count   Bernstorff  to  inform   the   Kaiser  upon  the  state  of 

American  Opinion 

[Photo  from  American  Press  Aasociation.) 


Note  on  the  Principle  of  Nationality 

By  John  Galsworthy 

This  article,  dealing  with  the  consequencef?  of  the  war,  originally  appeared  in  La  Revue  of 
Paris,  and  is  here  reproduced  by  permission  of  Mr.   Galsworthy. 


IN  these  times  one  dread  lies  heavy  on 
heart  and  brain — the  thought  that 
after  all  the  unimaginable   suffer- 
ing,   waste,    and    sacrifice    of    this 
war,  nothing  may  come  of  it,  no  real  re- 
lief, no  permanent  benefit  to  Europe,  no 
improvement  to  the  future  of  mankind. 

The  pronouncements  of  publicists — 
"  This  must  never  happen  again,"  "  Con- 
ditions for  abiding  peace  must  be 
secured,"  "  The  United  States  of  Europe 
must  be  founded,"  "  Militarism  must 
cease  " — all  such  are  the  natural  outcome 
of  this  dread.  They  are  proclamations 
admirable  in  sentiment  and  intention.  But 
human  nature  being  what  it  has  been 
and  is  likely  to  remain,  we  must  face  the 
possibility  that  nothing  will  come  of  the 
war,  save  the  restoration  of  Belgium, 
(that,  at  least,  is  certain;)  some  altera- 
tions of  boundaries;  a  long  period  of 
economic  and  social  trouble  more  bitter 
than  before;  a  sweeping  moral  reaction 
after  too  great  effort.  Cosmically  re- 
garded, this  war  is  a  debauch  rather 
than  a  purge,  and  debauches  have  always 
to  be  paid  for. 

Confronting  the  situation  in  this  spirit, 
we  shall  be  the  more  rejoiced  if  any  of 
our  wider  hopes  should  by  good  fortune 
be  attained. 

Leaving  aside  the  restoration  of  Bel- 
gium— for  what  do  we  continue  to  fight? 
We  go  on,  as  we  began,  because  we  all 
believe  in  our  own  countries  and  what 
they  stand  for.  And  in  considering  how 
far  the  principle  of  nationality  should  be 
exalted,  one  must  well  remember  that  it 
is  in  the  main  responsible  for  the  pres- 
ent state  of  things.  In  truth,  the  princi- 
ple of  nationality  of  itself  and  by  itself 
is  a  quite  insufficient  ideal.  It  is  a  mere 
glorification  of  self  in  a  world  full  of 
other  selves;  and  only  of  value  in  so  far 
as  it  forms  part  of  that  larger  ideal,  an 


international  ethic,  which  admits  the 
claims  and  respects  the  aspirations  of  all 
nations.  Without  that  ethic  little  nations 
are  (as  at  the  present  moment)  the  prey 
— and,  according  to  the  mere  principle  of 
nationality,  the  legitimate  prey — of  big- 
ger nations.  Qermany  absorbed  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  Schleswig,  and  now  Belgium, 
by  virtue  of  nationalism,  of  an  over- 
weening belief  in  the  perfection  of  its 
national  self.  Austria  would  subdue  Ser- 
bia from  much  the  same  feeling.  France 
does  not  wish  to  absorb  or  subdue  any 
European  people  of  another  race,  because 
Fran'ce,  as  ever,  a  little  in  advance  of  her 
age,  is  already  grounded  in  this  interna- 
tional ethic,  of  unshakable  respect  for 
the  rights  of  all  nations  which  belong, 
roughly  speaking,  to  the  same  stage  of 
development.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  other  western  democratic  powers, 
Britain  and  America.  "  To  live  and  let 
live,"  "  to  dwell  together  in  unity,"  are 
the  guiding  maxims  of  the  international 
ethic,  by  virtue  of  which  alone  have  the 
smaller  communities  of  men — the  Bel- 
giums,  Bohemias,  Polands,  Serbias,  Den- 
marks,  Switzerlands  of  Europe — any 
chance  of  security  in  the  maintenance  of 
their  national  existences.  In  short  the 
principle  of  nationality,  unless  it  is  pre- 
pared to  serve  this  international  ethic,  is 
but  a  frank  abettor  of  the  devilish  max- 
im, "  Might  is  right."  All  this  is  truism; 
but  truisms  are  often  the  first  things  we 
forget. 

The  whole  question  of  nationality  in 
Europe  bristles  with  difficulties.  It  can- 
not be  solved  by  theory  and  rule  of 
thumb.  What  is  a  nation?  Shall  it  be 
determined  by  speech,  by  blood,  by  geo- 
graphical boundary,  by  historic  tradi- 
tion ?  The  freedom  and  independence  of 
a  country  can  and  ever  should  be  assured 
when  with  one  voice  it  demands  the  same. 


994 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


It  is  seldom  as  easy  as  all  that.  Belgium, 
no  doubt,  is  as  one  man.  Poland  is  as 
one  man  in  so  far  as  the  Poles  are  con- 
cerned; but  what  of  the  Austrians,  Rus- 
sians, Germans  settled  among  them? 
What  of  Ireland  split  into  two  camps  ? 
What  of  the  Germans  in  Bohemia,  in 
Alsace,  in  Schleswig-Holstein  ?  Compro- 
mise alone  is  possible  in  many  cases,  go- 
ing by  favor  of  majority.  And  there  will 
always  remain  the  poignant  question  of 
the  rights  and  aspirations  of  minorities. 
Let  us  by  all  means  clear  the  air  by 
righting  glaring  wrongs,  removing  palpa- 
ble anomalies,  redressing  obvious  injus- 
tices, securing  so  far  as  possible  the  in- 
dependent national  life  of  homogeneous 
groups;  but  let  us  not,  dazzled  by  the 
glamour  of  a  word,  dream  that  by  re- 
storing a  few  landmarks,  altering  a 
few  boundaries,  and  raising  a  paean 
to  the  word  Nationality,  we  can  banish  all 
clouds  from  the  sky  of  Europe,  and  muz- 
zle the  ambitions  of  the  stronger  nations. 

In  my  convinced  belief  the  one  solid 
hope  for  future  peace,  the  one  promise 
of  security  for  the  rights  and  freedom  of 
little  countries,  the  one  reasonable  guar- 
antee of  international  justice  and  gen- 
eral humanity,  lies  in  the  gradual  growth 
of  democracy,  of  rule  by  consent  of  the 
governed.  When  this  has  spread  till  the 
civilization  of  the  Western  world  is  on 
one  plane — instead  of  as  now  on  two — 
then  and  then  only  we  shall  begin  to 
draw  the  breath  of  assurance.  Then 
only  will  the  little  countries  sleep  quiet- 
ly in  their  beds.  It  is  conceivable,  nay 
probable,  that  the  despotic  will  of  a  per- 
fect man  could  achieve  more  good  for 
his  country  and  for  the  world  at  large  in 
a  given  time  than  the  rule  of  the  most 
enlightened  democracy.  It  is  certain 
that  such  men  occupy  the  thrones  of  this 
earth  but  once  in  a  blue  moon. 

If  proof  be  needed  that  the  prevalence 
of  democracy  alone  can  end  aggression 
among  nations,  secure  the  rights  of  small 
peoples,  foster  justice  and  humaneness  in 
man — let  the  history  of  this  last  century 
and  a  half  be  well  examined,  and  let  the 
human  probabilities  be  weighed.  Which 
is  the  more  likely  to  advocate  wars  of 
aggression  ?  They,  who  by  age,  position, 
wealth,    are    secure    against    the    daily 


pressure  of  life  and  the  sacrifice  that  war 
entails,  they  who  have  passed  their  time 
out  of  touch  with  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, in  an  atmosphere  of  dreams,  ambi- 
tions, and  power  over  other  men?  Or 
they,  who  every  hour  are  reminded  how 
hard  life  is,  even  at  its  most  prosperous 
moments,  who  have  nothing  to  gain  by 
war,  and  all,  even  life,  to  lose;  who  by 
virtue  of  their  own  struggles  have  a 
deep  knowledge  of,  a  certain  dumb  sym- 
pathy with,  the  struggles  of  their  fellow- 
creatures;  an  instinctive  repugnance  to 
making  those  struggles  harder;  who 
have  heard  little  and  dreamed  less  of 
those  so-called  "  national  interests,"  that 
are  so  often  mere  chimeras;  who  love,  no 
doubt,  in  their  inarticulate  way  the 
country  where  they  were  born,  and  the 
modes  of  life  and  thought  to  which  they 
are  accustomed,  but  know  of  no  tradition- 
al and  artificial  reasons  why  the  men 
of  other  countries  should  not  be  allowed 
to  love  their  own  land  and  modes  of 
thought  and  life  in  equal  peace  and 
security  ? 

Assuredly,  the  latter  of  these  two  kinds 
of  men  are  the  less  likely  to  favor  ambi- 
tious projects  and  aggressive  wars.  Ac- 
cording as  " the  people  "  have  or  have 
not  the  final  decision  in  such  matters, 
the  future  of  Europe  will  be  made  of  war 
or  peace;  of  respect  or  of  disregard  for 
the  rights  of  little  nations.  It  is  ad- 
vanced against  democracies  that  the 
workers  of  a  country,  ignorant  and  pro- 
vincial in  outlook,  have  no  grasp  of  inter- 
national polities.  This  is  true  in  Eu- 
rope where  national  ambitions  and 
dreams  are  still  for  the  most  part  hatched 
and  nurtured  in  nests  perched  high  above 
the  real  needs  and  sentiments  of  the 
simple  working  folk  who  form  nine- 
tenths  of  the  population  of  each  country. 
But  once  those  nests  of  aggressive  na- 
tionalism have  fallen  from  their  high 
trees,  so  soon  as  all  Europe  conforms 
to  the  principle  of  rule  by  consent  of  the 
governed,  it  will  be  found — as  it  has  been 
already  found  in  France — that  the  gen- 
eral sense  of  the  community  informed  by 
an  ever-growing  publicity  (through 
means  of  communication  ever  speeding- 
up)  is  quite  sufficient  trustee  of  national 
safety;  quite  able,  even  enthusiastically 


NOTE    ON    THE   PRINCIPLE    OF   NATIONALITY  995 


able,  to  defend  its  country  from  attack.  chance  for  the  defeat  of  militarism,  of 

The  problem  before  the  world  at  the  that    raw    nationalism,    which,    even    if 

end  of  this  war  is  how  to  eliminate  the  beaten  down  at  first,  will  ever  be  lying 

virus  of  an  aggressive  nationalism  that  in   wait,    preparing    secret   revenge    and 

will  lead  to  fresh  outbursts  of  death.     It  fresh  attacks. 

is  a  problem  that  I,  for  one,  frankly  be-  How   this   democratization   of   Central 

lieve  will  beat  the  powers  and  goodwill  Europe   can   be   brought  about  I   cannot 

of  all,  unless  there  should  come  a  radical  tell.    It  is  far  off  as  yet.     But  if  this  be 

change  of  Governments  in   Central   Eu-  not  at  last  the  outcome  of  the  war,  we 

rope;  unless  the.  real  power  in  Germany  may  still  talk  in  vain  of  the  rights  of 

and    Austria-Hungary    passes    into    the  little  nations,  of  peace,  disarmament,  of 

hands  of  the  people  of  those   countries,  chivalry,  justice,  and  humanity.    We  may 

as  already  it  has  passed  in  France  and  whistle  for  a  changed  world. 
Britain.     This  is  in  my  belief  the  only  JOHN  GALSWORTHY. 


Singer  of  "La  Marseillaise" 

By   H.   T.   SUDDUTII 

[The  body  of  Claude  Joseph   Rougct  de  Lisle,   who  composed   "  The  Mar- 
seillaise," was  placed,  oa  July  15,  1915,  in  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  Paris.] 

tip  from  the  land  of  fair  Provence, 

Land   of  the  vineyard  and  olive  green. 

Flushed  with  a   new  hope's  radiance 
Glow  of  glorious  visions  seen, 

Joyous  Marseilles'  Battalion  came, 

Singing  a  song  since  known  to  fame. 

List  as  the  drums  the  quickstep  beat! 

List  to  the  Chant  of  Liberty! 
Ringing  through  dawn  or  noonday  heat — 

"Allons  enfants  de  la  Patrie!" 
List  to  the  chant  on  the  dusty  way, 
"Death  to  the  tyrant!     Vive  le  Marseillais!" 

Orchards  and  vineyards  caught  up  the  song, 
Prance  seemed  but  waiting  that  martial  lay. 

Born  of  poet's  heart-beats  strong! 

Sung  by  the  sons  of  the  South  that  day. 

Voicing  the  hero-soul  of  strife, 

Marching  song  of  a  nation's  life! 

Days  of  Terror  that  chant  ushered   in. 

Falling  of  thrones  and  baubles  and  crowns — 

Bastille  walls  and  guillotine, 
Sack  of  Tuileries,  Temple  frowns. 

Heard  that  Chant  of  the  Marseillais, 

"Le  jour  de  gloire  est  arrive." 

Reds  of  the  Midi !     The  song  you  sung 
Thrilled  the  hearts  of  all  who  heard ! 

Song  of  a  people  with  hearts  tense-strung. 
Rhythm  that  every  pulse  quick  stirred! 

Echoes  that  song  as  France  now  pays 

Honor  to  singer  of  "La  Marseillaise !" 


Depression — Common  -  Sense  and 
the  Situation 


By  Arnold  Bennett 

Copyright,    1915,   bj/  Arnold   Bennett 

The  pessimistic  attitude  toward  the  military  situation  assumed  by  a  large  part  of  Brltlsli 
society,  after  the  arrival  of  warm  weather,  without  the  heralded  concerted  advance  of  the 
Allies  in  France  and  Belgium,  is  dealt  with  by  Mr.  Bennett  in  the  subjoined  article,  which 
appeared  in  the  London  Daily  News  of  June  16,  1915.  It  is  here  reproduced  by  Mr.  Bennett's 
express  permission. 


IN  a  recent  article  I  said  that  for 
reasons  discoverable  and  undiscov- 
erable  the  military  situation  had 
been  of  late  considerably  falsified 
in  the  greater  part  of  the  Press.  This 
saying  (which  by  the  way  was  later 
confirmed  by  the  best  military  experts 
writing  in  the  Press)  aroused  criticism 
both  public  and  private.  That  it  should 
have  been  criticised  in  certain  organs 
was  natural,  for  these  organs  had  cer- 
tainly been  colouring  or  manipulating 
their  war  news,  including  casualties, 
chiefly  by  headlines  and  type,  and  even 
influencing  their  expert  analysis  of  war- 
news,  to  suit  what  happened  to  be  at 
the  moment  their  political  aims. 

Even  the  invasion  scare  was  last  week 
revived  by  the  "  Daily  Mail  "as  an  aid  to 
compulsion.  The  "  Daily  Mail  "  assert- 
ed that,  whatever  we  might  say,  inva- 
sion was  possible.  True.  It  is.  Most 
things  are.  But  invasion  is  responsibly 
held  to  be  so  wildly  improbable  that  our 
military,  as  distinguished  from  our  na- 
val, plans  are  permitted  practically  to 
ignore  the  possibility.  Compulsion  or 
no  compulsion,  those  plans  will  be  the 
same.  They  will  be  unaffectad  by  any 
amount  of  invasion-scaring,  and  there- 
fore to  try  to  foster  pessimism  in  the 
public  by  alarums  about  invasion  is  both 
silly  and  naughty. 

Newspapers  quite  apart,  howe\  er,  there 
has  been  in  the  country  a  considerable 
amount  of  pessimism  which  I  have  not 
been  able  to  understand,  much  less  sym- 
pathise with ;  pessimism  of  the  kind  that 


refuses  to  envisage  the  future  at  all.  It 
has  not  said :  "  We  shall  be  beaten."  But 
it  has  groaned  and  looked  gloomy,  and 
asked  mute  questions  with  its  eyes.  It 
has  resented  confident  faith  and  demand- 
ed with  sardonic  superiority  the  rea- 
sons   for    such    faith. 

Of  the  tribe  of  pessimists  I  count 
some  superlative  specimens  among  my 
immediate  acquaintances.  The  expla- 
nation of  their  cases  is,  I  contend,  three- 
fold. First,  they  lack  faith,  not  merely 
in  the  Allied  arms,  but  in  anything. 
They  have  not  the  faculty  of  faith. 
Secondly,  they  unconsciously  enjoy  de- 
pression, and  this  instinct  distorts  all 
phenomena  for  them.  Thus  they  ex- 
hibited no  satisfaction  whatever  at  the 
capture  of  Przemysl  full  of  men  and 
munitions  by  the  Russians,  whereas  the 
recapture  of  Przemysl  empty  of  men 
and  munitions  by  the  Germans  filled 
them  with  delicfous  woe.  Thirdly,  they 
lack  patience,  and  therefore  a  long-sus- 
tained effort  gets  on  their  nerves.  Oth- 
ers I  can  inoculate  with  my  optimism, 
but  the  effect  passes  quickly,  and  each 
succeeding  reinoculation  has  been  less 
and  less  effective,  with  the  monotonous 
questioning,  ever  more  sardonic  in  tone : 
"  How  can  you  be  deluded  by  the  offi- 
cial bulletins  ?  "  or :  "  What  do  you  know 
about  war,  to  make  you  so  cocksure  ?  " 

The  truth  is  that  I  am  not  deluded  by 
the  official  bulletins.  I  don't  know  how 
long  it  is  since  I  learnt  to  appreciate 
official  bulletins  at  their  true  value,  but 
it  is  a  long  while  ago.    A  full  perception 


DEPRESSION— COMMON-SENSE   AND    THE   SITUATION 


997 


of  the  delusiveness  of  official  bulletins 
can  only  be  obtained  by  reading  his- 
tories of  the  war.  The  latest  I  have 
read  are  those  of  Mr.  John  Buchan  and 
Mr.  Hillaire  Belloc.  (Mr.  Buchan's  is 
good.  Mr.  Belloc's  is  more  than  good: 
it  is — apart  from  a  few  failures  in 
style,  due  either  to  fatigue  or  to  the 
machinery  of  dictation — absolutely  bril- 
liant, both  militarily  and  politically.  I 
am  inclined  to  rate  the  last  dozen  pages 
of  Mr.  Belloc's  book  as  the  finest  piece 
of  writing  yet  produced  by  the  war.) 
And  when  one  compares,  in  these  works, 
the  coherent,  impartial,  and  convincing 
accounts  of,  say,  the  first  month  of  the 
war,  with  the  official  bulletins  of  the 
Allies  during  that  month,  one  marvels 
that  even  officialism  could  go  so  far  in 
evasion  and  dviplicity,  and  the  reputa- 
tion of  official  bulletins  is  ruined  for 
the  whole  duration  of  the  conflict.  No 
wonder  the  contents  of  the  Allied  news- 
papers in  that  period  inspired  the  Ger- 
mans with  a  scornful  incredulity,  which 
nothing  that  has  since  happened  can 
shake. 

It  is  not  that  official  bulletins  are  in- 
correct ;  they  are  incomplete,  and,  there- 
fore, misleading.  The  policy  which 
frames  them  seems  now  to  be  utterly 
established,  but  my  motion  that  it  is  a 
mistaken  policy  remains  unaltered. 
When  the  policy  is  pushed  as  far  as 
the  suppression  of  isolated  misfortunes 
which  flame  in  the  headlines  of  the 
enemy  Press  from  Cologne  to  Constan- 
tinople, then  I  begin  to  wonder  whether 
I  am  living  in  three  dimensions  or  in 
four. 

If,  then,  he  does  not  rely  on  the  official 
bulletins,  and  he  has  no  military  ex- 
pertise, how  is  the  civilian  justified  in 
being  optimistic?  The  reply  is  that  the 
use  of  his  common-sense  may  justify  his 
optimism.  The  realm  of  common-sense 
being  universal,  even  war  comes  within 
it.  And  the  fact  is  that  the  major  as- 
pects of  the  war  are  no  more  military 
than  they  are  political,  social,  and  psy- 
chological. Take  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant aspects — the  character  of  gener- 
als. It  cannot  be  denied  that  after  ten 
months,    confidence    in    Joffre    has    in- 


creased. At  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
when  the  German  plan  was  being  ex- 
actly followed  and  was  succeeding,  when 
the  Germans  had  an  immense  advan- 
tage of  numbers,  when  their  reserves 
of  men  and  munitions  were  untouched, 
when  everything  was  against  us,  and 
evei-ything  in  favour  of  the  Germans, 
Joffre,  aided  by  the  British,  defeated 
the  Germans.  He  defeated  them  by  su- 
perior generalship.  Common-sense  says 
that  now,  when  the  boot  is  on  the  other 
leg,  Joffre  will  assuredly  defeat  the  Ger- 
mans— and  decisively,  and  common- 
sense  is  quite  prepared  to  wait  until 
Joffre  is  ready.  Again,  take  the  case 
of  the  Grand  Duke.  The  Grand  Duke 
has  shown  over  and  over  again  that  he 
is  an  extremely  brilliant  general  of  the 
first  order.  In  the  very  worst  days, 
when  everything  was  against  him  and 
everything  in  favour  of  the  Germans, 
as  in  the  West,  he  held  his  own  and 
he  has  continually  produced  many  more 
casualties  in  the  German  ranks  than 
the  Germans  have  produced  in  his  ranks. 
He  still  has  many  things  against  him, 
but  it  is  not  possible  reasonably  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Grand  Duke  will  let  him- 
self in  for  a  disaster.  That  he  should 
avoid  a  disaster  is  all  that  the  West 
front  demands  of  him  at  present. 

On  the  other  side.  General  von  Moltke, 
head  of  the  German  Great  General  Staff, 
has  been  superseded.  What  German 
General  has  advanced  in  reputation  ? 
Tliere  is  only  one  answer — von  Hinden- 
berg.  Von  Ilindenberg  won  the  largest 
(not  the  most  important)  victory  of  the 
war  in  the  Battle  of  Tannenberg.  Ho 
won  it  because  the  ground  was  exceed- 
ingly difficult,  and  because  hv3  knew  the 
ground  far  better  than  any  other  man 
on  earth.  He  was  entitled  to  very  high 
credit.  He  got  it.  He  became  the  idol 
of  the  German  populace,  and  the  bug- 
bear of  the  Allied  coimtries.  But  he 
has  done  nothing  since.  Soon  after  Tan- 
nenberg he  made  a  fool  of  himself  on 
the  Russian  frontier,  and  showed  that 
success  had  got  into  his  head.  He 
subsequently  initiated  several  terrific  at- 
tempts, all  of  which  were  excessively 
costly  and  none  of  which  was  carried 
through.     If  he  has  not   ceased  to   be 


998 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


an  idol,  he  lias  at  any  rate  ceased  to  be 
a  bugbear. 

As  for  the  average  intelligence  of  the 
opposing  forces,  it  may  be  said  that 
Prussian  prestige,  though  it  dies  very 
slowly,  is  dying,  even  in  the  minds  of 
our  pessimists.  Their  zest  for  elaborate 
organization  of  plan  gave  the  Germans 
an  immense  advantage  at  the  start,  but  it 
is  proved  that,  once  the  plan  has  gone 
wrong,  they  are  at  the  best  not  better 
in  warfare  than  ourselves.  Their  zest 
for  discipline,  and  their  reserves,  have 
enabled  them  to  stave  off  a  catastrophe 
longer  than  perhaps  any  other  nation 
could  have  staved  it  off.  But  time  is 
now  showing  that  excessive  discipline 
and  organization  produce  defects  which 
ultimately  outweigh  the  qualities  they 
spring  from.  The  tenacity  of  the  Ger- 
mans is  remarkable,  but  does  it  sur- 
pass ours?  Man  for  man,  a  eoldier  of 
the  Allies  is  better  than  a  soldier  of 
the  Central  Powers — or  ten  thousand  ob- 
servers have  been  deceived.  As  for  the 
intelligence  of  the  publics  upon  whose 
moral  the  opposing  forces  ultimately  de- 
pend, it  is  undeniable  that  the  German 
public  is  extremely  hysterical,  and  far 
more  gullible  even  than  ourselves  at  our 
very  worst.  The  legends  believed  by 
the  German  public  today  are  ridiculous 
enough  to  stamp  Germany  for  a  century 
as  an  arch-simpleton  among  nations.  Its 
vanity  is  stupendous,  eclipsing  all  pre- 
viously known  vanities.  The  Great  Gen- 
eral Staff  must  know  fairly  well  how 
matters  stand,  and  yet  not  the  mere 
ignorant  public,  but  the  King  of  Ba- 
varia himself,  had  the  fatuity  as  late 
as  last  week  to  talk  about  the  new  ter- 
ritory that  Germany  would  annex  as  a 
result   of  the   war! 

In  numbers  we  in  the  West  had  got 
the  better  of  them,  and  were  slowly  in- 
creasing our  lead,  before  Italy,  by  join- 
ing us,  increased  the  Allies'  advantage 
at  a  stroke  by  over  three-quarters  of  a 
million  fully  mobilised  men,  and  much 
more  than  as  many  reserves. 

In  financial  resources  theje  is  simply 
no  comparison  between  the  enemy  and 
ourselves.  We  are  right  out  of  sight  of 
the  enemy  in  this  fundamental  affair. 


We  lack  nothing — neither  leading,  nor 
brains,  nor  numbers,  nor  money — save 
ammunition.  Does  any  pessimist  intend 
to  argue  that  we  shall  not  get  all  the 
ammunition  we  need?  It  is  inconceiv- 
able that  we  should  not  get  it.  When 
we  have  got  it  the  end  can  be  foretold 
like  the  answer  to  a  mathematical  prob- 
lem. 

Lastly,  while  the  Germans  have  noth- 
ing to  hope  for  in  the  way  of  further 
help,  we  have  much  to  hope  for.  We 
have,  for  example,  Rumania  to  hope  for; 
and  other  things  needless  to  mention. 
And  we  have  in  hand  enterprises  whose 
sudden  development  might  completely 
change  the  face  of  the  war  in  a  few 
hours;  but  whose  failure  would  not 
prejudice  our  main  business,  because 
our  main  business  is  planned  and  nour- 
ished independently  of  them.  One  of 
these  enterprises  is  known  to  all  men. 
The  other  is  not.  The  Germans  have 
no  such  enterprises  in  hand. 

For  all  the  foregoing  argument  no 
military  expertise  is  necessary.  It  lies 
on  a  plane  above  military  expertise. 
It  appeals  to  common-sense  and  it  can- 
not be  gainsaid.  I  have  not  yet  met 
anybody  of  real  authority  who  has  at- 
tempted to  gainsay  it,  or  who  has  not 
endorsed  it.  The  sole  question  is,  not 
whether  we  shall  win  or  lose,  but  when 
we  shall  win. 

For  this  reason  I  strongly  object  to 
statesmen,  no  matter  who  they  be,  going 
about  and  asserting  to  listening  multi- 
tudes that  we  are  fighting  for  our  very 
existence  as  a  nation.  We  most  em- 
phatically are  not.  It  is  just  conceiv- 
able that  certain  iinscrupulous  marplots 
might  by  chicane  produce  such  domestic 
discord  in  this  country  as  would  under- 
mine the  very  basis  of  victory.  I  re- 
gard the  thing  as  in  the  very  highest 
degree  improbable,  but  it  can  be  con- 
ceived. The  result  might  be  an  incon- 
clusive peace,  and  another  war,  say,  in 
twenty  years,  when  we  probably  should 
be  fighting  for  our  very  existence  as  a 
nation.  But  we  are  not  now,  and  at 
the  worst  shall  not  be  for  a  long  time, 
fighting  for  our  very  existence  as  a  na- 
tion.    Nobody  believes   such   an   asser- 


DEPRESSION— COMMON-SENSE  AND   THE   SITUATION  999 

tion;  pessimists  themselves  <lc  not  be-  and  in  full  concord;  and  that  if  we 
lieve  it.  And  when  statesmen  give  ut-  fail  to  do  this  the  job  will  be  botched, 
terance  to  it  in  the  hope  of  startling  the  with  a  risk  of  sinister  consequences  to 
working-class  into  a  desired  course  of  the  next  generation.  The  notion  that  to 
conduct,  they  under-rate  the  intelligence  impress  the  public  it  is  necessary  to  pile 
of  the  working-class  and  the  result  of  on  the  agony  with  statements  that  no 
such  oratory  is  far  from  what  they  could  moderately  enlightened  person  can  cred- 
wish.  it,  is  a  wrong  notion,  and,  like  all  wrong 
Our  national  existence  is  as  safe  as  it  notions,  can  only  do  harm.  The  gen- 
has  been  any  time  this  century ;  indeed,  eral  public  is  all  right,  quite  as  all 
it  is  safer,  for  its  chief  menace  has  re-  right  as  the  present  Government  or  any 
ceived  a  terrible  blow,  and  the  Prussian  other.  Had  it  not  been  so  we  should 
superstition  is  exploded.  All  that  can  not  be  where  we  are  to-day,  but  in  a 
be  urged  is  that  we  have  an  interna-  far  less  satisfactory  position.  Not  Gov- 
tional  job  to  finish;  that  in  order  to  ernments,  not  generals,  but  the  masses 
finish  it  properly  and  within  a  reason-  make  success  in  these  mighty  alterca- 
able  period  we  must  work  with  a  will  tions.    Read  Tolstoi's  "  War  and  Peace." 


The  War  and  Racial  Progress 

[From  the  Morning  Post  of  London,  July  2,  1915] 

irajor  Leonard  Darwin,  in  his  presidential  address  on  "Eugenics 
During  and  After  the  War"  to  the  Eugenics  Education  Society  at  the 
Grafton  Galleries  yesterday,  said  that  our  military  system  seemed  to 
be  devised  with  the  object  of  insuring  that  all  who  were  defective 
should  he  exempt  from  risks,  whilst  the  strong,  courageous,  and  patri- 
otic should  be  endangered.  Men  with  noble  qualities  were  being  de- 
stroyed, whilst  the  unfit  remained  at  home  to  become  fathers  of  fam- 
ilies, and  this  must  deteriorate  the  natural  qualities  of  the  coming 
generations.  The  chances  of  stopping  war  were  small,  and  we  must 
consider  how  to  minimize  its  evils.  If  conscription  were  adopted  future 
wars  would  produce  less  injury  to  the  race,  because  the  casualty  lists 
would  more  nearly  represent  a  chance  selection  of  the  population; 
though  whether  a  conscript  army  would  ever  fight  as  well  as  our  men 
were  doing  in  France  was  very  doubtful.  The  injurious  effects  of 
the  war  on  all  useful  sections  of  the  community  should  be  mitigated. 
Military  training  was  eugenic  if  the  men  were  kept  with  the  colours 
only  for  short  periods.  Oificers  nnist,  of  course,  be  engaged  for  long 
periods,  and  amongst  them  the  birth  rate  was  very  low.  An  increase 
of  pay  would  be  beneficial  in  this  respect,  but  only  if  given  in  the 
form  of  an  additional  allowance  for  each  living  child.  In  the  hope 
of  increasing  the  birth  rate  attempts  were  likely  to  be  made  to  exalt  the 
"unmarried  wife,"  a  detestable  term  against  which  all  true  wives 
should  protest.  If  a  change  in  moral  standards  was  demanded  in  the 
hope  that  an  increase  in  the  habit  of  forming  irregular  unions  would 
result  in  an  increase  in  the  population,  that  plea  entirely  failed  because 
the  desired  effect  would  not  thus  be  produced.  A  special  effort  ought 
now  to  be  made  on  eugenic  as  well  as  on  other  grounds  to  maintain  the 
high  standards  of  home  life  which  had  ever  existed  in  our  race,  and 
which  had  been  in  large  measure  the  basis  of  our  social  and  racial  prog- 
ress in  the  past.  If  we  did  not  now  take  some  steps  to  insure  our  own 
racial  progress  being  at  least  as  rapid  as  that  of  our  neighbours,  and  if 
our  nation  should  in  consequence  cease  in  future  to  play  a  great  part  in 
the  noble  and  eternal  struggle  for  human  advancement,  then  the  fault 
■VTOuld  be  ours. 


The  English  Word,  Thought,  and  Life 


By  Russian  Men  of  Letters 


A  group  of  sixty-seven  Russian  writers  and  publicists,  comprising  tiie  best  men  of  ietters 
of  the  nation,  with  the  exception  of  Vladimir  Korolenico,  who  is  at  present  In  Franco,  have 
signed  a  reply  to  the  tribute  to  the  writers  of  Russia  by  English  men  of  letters,  a  translation 
of  which  was  printed  in  Cuurent  Histohy  for  February,  1915.  The  text  of  the  reply,  given 
below,  is  taken  from  the  Moscow  daily  newspaper,  Outro  Rossii ;  its  translation  into  English  by 
Leo  Pasvolsky  appeared  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  of  June  20th. 


WE  have  known  you  for  a  long 
time.      We    have    known    you 
since  we  Russians   came  to   a 
communion  with  Western  Eu- 
rope and  began  to  draw  from  the  great 
spiritual  treasury  created  by  our  breth- 
ren  of  Western   Europe. 

From  generation  to  generation  we  have 
watched  intently  the  life  of  England, 
and  have  stored  away  in  our  minds  and 
our  hearts  everything  brilliant,  peculiar, 
and  individual,  that  has  impressed  it- 
self upon  the  English  word,  the  En- 
glish thought,  and  the  English  life. 

We  have  always  wondered  at  the 
breadth  and  the  manifoldness  of  the 
English  soul,  in  whose  literature  one 
finds,  side  by  side,  Milton  and  Swift, 
Scott  and  Shelley,  Shakespeare  and  By- 
ron. We  have  always  been  amazed  by 
the  incessant  and  constantl.y  growing 
power  of  civic  life  in  England ;  we  have 
always  known  that  the  English  people 
was  the  first  among  the  peoples  of  the 
world  to  enter  upon  a  struggle  for  civic 
rights,  and  that  nowhere  does  the  word 
freedom  ring  so  proud  and  so  trium- 
phant as  it  does  in  England. 

With  wonder  and  veneration,  have  we 
watched  the  English  people,  that  com- 
bines the  greatest  idealism  with  the  most 
marvellous  creative  genius,  that  con- 
stantly transforms  words  into  deeds,  as- 
pirations into  actions,  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings into  institutions,  go  onward,  from 
step  to  step,  reaching  out  into  the  heav- 
ens, yet  never  relinquishing  the  earth, 
higher  and  higher  along  its  triumphant 
road,  still  onward  in  its  work  of  cre- 
ating the  life   of   England. 

Kingdoms  and  peoples,  cultures  and 
institutions,  pass  away  like  dreams.  But 
thoughts  and  words  remain,  whether 
they  be  of  white  men,  or  black,  or  yel- 
low, whether  they  be  of  Jews  or  of 
Hellenes,  whether  they  be  inscribed  on 
slabs  of  stone,  or  on  boards  of  clay,  or 
on     strips     of     papyrus.       Words     and 


thoughts  live  to  the  present  day;  they 
still  move  us  and  uplift  us,  even  though 
we  have  already  forgotten  the  names  of 
those  who  spoke  them.  And  we  know 
that  only  the  winged  words  live  on,  the 
words  that  are  intelligible  to  the  whole 
of  mankind,  that  appeal  to  the  whole 
of  humanity,  to  the  common  human 
mind,  the  common  heart. 

We  know  the  vast  power  of  the  En- 
glish word.  We  know  what  a  marvellous 
contribution  the  English  writers  have 
made  to  the  life  not  of  England  alone, 
but  to  that  of  the  whole  world,  the  whole 
humanity.  It  is  with  a  feeling  of  long- 
standing affection  and  veneration  that 
we  turn  to  the  ancient  book,  called  "En- 
gland," whose  pages  never  grow  yellow, 
whose  letters  are  never  effaced,  whose 
thoivghts  never  become  dim,  whose  new 
chapters  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that 
the  book  is  still  being  written,  that  new 
pages  are  still  being  added,  and  that 
these  new  pages  are  permeated  with 
that  same  bright  and  powerful  spirit  of 
humanity  that  illumines  and  enlivens 
the  pages  of  the  past. 

We  feel  proud  because  you  have  rec- 
ognized the  great  individual  worth  of 
the  Russian  literature,  and  we  are  moved 
by  your  ardent  expressions  of  sympathy 
and  friendship.  You  scarcely  know 
what  Lord  Byron  was  to  us  at  the  dawn 
of  our  literature,  how  our  greatest  poets, 
Poushkin  and  Lermontov,  were  swayed 
by  him.  You  scarcely  know  to  what  an 
extent  the  Shakespearean  Hamlet,  the 
Prince  of  Denmark,  has  become  a  part 
of  our  literature,  how  near  to  us  is 
Hamlet's  tragedy. 

We,  too,  pronounce  the  names  of  Cop- 
perfield  and  Snodgrass  with  a  little 
difficulty,  but  the  name  of  Dickens  is 
as  familiar  to  us  and  as  near  to  our 
hearts  as  the  names  of  some  of  our  own 
writers. 

We  trust,  and  we  even  permit  our- 
selves to  hope,  that  our  friendship  will 


THE    ENGLISH    WORD,    THOUGHT,    AND    LIFE 


1001 


not  end  on  the  fields  of  battle,  but  that 
our  mutual  understanding  will  continue 
to  grow,  as  it  lives  on  together  with 
those  sincere  and  heartfelt  words,  with 
which  you  have  addressed  us.  We  trust 
that  it  will  be  transformed  into  a  spirit- 
ual unity  between  us,  a  unity  based  on 
the  universal  achievements  of  the  spirit 
of  humanity. 

We  trust  even  further.  We  trust  that 
evil  will  finally  become  extinguished  in 
the  hearts  of  men,  that  mutual  ill-feel- 
ing will  be  bitter  and  poignant  no  long- 
er, and  that,  when  ears  of  corn  will  be 

(Signed) 
L.  Andreev,  ' 

K.   Arseniev, 

I,     BUNIN, 
U.     BuNIN, 

I.  Belousov, 

M.  Gorky, 

V.  Veresaev, 

A.  Grusinsky, 

N.  Davydov, 

S.   Elpatievsky, 

I.  Ignatov, 

S.  Melgunov, 

A.  Serafimovich, 

N.  Teleshov, 

I.  Shmelev, 

N.  MoRozov, 

Count  A.  N.  Tolstoy, 

N.    KUSANOV, 

F.  Kriukov, 

A.   GORNFELD, 

A.    PlESHECHONOV, 

N.  Kareyev, 
F.  Batushkov, 
L.  Panteleyev, 
N.  Kotliarevsky, 

V.   MlAKOTIN, 
V.   VODOVOSOV, 

p.  Sakulin, 
Olnem-Tsekhovskaya, 

A.  KoNi, 

W.  Kranikhfeld, 

B.  Lazarevsky, 
p.  Potapenko, 


again  fluttering  upon  the  fields,  muti- 
lated by  trenches  and  ramparts,  and 
drenched  in  human  blood,  when  wild 
flowers  will  begin  to  grow  over  the  count- 
less unknown  graves,  time  will  come, 
when  the  nations  that  are  separated  by 
such  a  tremendous  gulf  to-day,  will 
come  together  again  upon  the  one  great 
road  of  humanity  and  will  turn  back 
once  more  to  the  great,  universal  words, 
that  are  common  to  all  men. 

We  trust,  and  we  hope. 

Greetings  to  you. 


Th.  Sologub, 

T.  Schepkina-Kupernik, 

W.  BOGUCHARSKY, 

K.  Barantsevich, 
S.  Vengerov, 

p.   MiLIUKOV, 

A.  Prugavin, 

M.    KOVALEVSKY, 
A.  POSNIKOV, 

E.  Letkova-Sultanova, 

D.    OVSIANNIKO-KULIKOVSKY, 

A.  Eemezov, 

D.  Merezhkovsky, 
Z.  Hippius, 

p.  Zelinsky, 
N.  Tchaikovsky, 
A.  Blok, 

E.  TCIIIRIKOV, 

A.  Petrischev, 

I.    BlELOKONSKY, 

Prince  A.  Sumbatov, 

W.  Fritche, 

A.  Veselovsky, 

W.  Nemerovich-Danchenko, 

Prince  E.  Troubetskoy, 

I.  Shpazhinsky, 

Th.  Kokoshkin, 

Count  E.  L.  Tolstoy, 

N.  Temkocsky, 

M.  Artisibashev, 

U.  Baltrushaitis, 

TJ.  Aichenwald, 

Prince  D.  Shakhovsky, 

W.  Brusov. 


Ewiva  L'ltalia 

By  William  Archer 


Mr.  Archer's  article  praising  the   Italian   decision   and   purpose  appeared  originally   in   The 
London  Daily  Xcws. 


ONE  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
memorable  of  human  experiences 
is  to  start,  one  fine  morning, 
from  some  point  in  German 
Switzerland  or  Tyrol  and,  in  two  or 
three  days — or  it  may  be  in  one  swing- 
ing stretch — to  tramp  over  an  Alpine 
pass  and  down  into  the  Promised  Land 
below.  It  is  of  no  use  to  rush  it  in  a 
motor;  you  might  as  well  hop  over  by 
aeroplane.  In  order  to  savor  the  ex- 
perience to  the  full,  you  must  take  staff 
and  scrip,  like  the  Ritter  Tannhauser, 
and  go  the  pilgrim's  way.  It  is  a  joy  even 
to  pass  from  the  guttural  and  explosive 
place  names  of  Teutonia  to  the  liquid 
music  of  the  southern  vocables — from 
Brieg  to  Domo  d'Ossola,  from  Goschenen 
to  Bellinzona,  from  St.  Moritz  to  Chia- 
venna,  from  Botzen  and  Brixen  to  Ala 
and  Verona.  It  is  a  still  greater  joy  to 
exchange  the  harsh,  staring  colors  of  the 
north  for  the  soft  luminosity  of  the 
south,  as  you  zigzag  down  from  the  bare 
snows  to  the  pines,  from  the  pines  to  the 
chestnuts,  from  the  chestnuts  to  the  trel- 
lised  vineyards.  And  just  about  where 
the  vineyards  begin,  you  come  upon  two 
wayside  posts,  one  of  them  inscribed 
"  Schweiz  "  or  "  Oesterreich,"  the  other 
bearing  the  magic  word  "  Italia."  If 
your  heart  does  not  leap  at  the  sight  of 
it  you  may  as  well  about-turn  and  get 
you  home  again;  for  you  have  no  sense 
of  history,  no  love  of  art,  no  hunger  for 
divine,  inexhaustible  beauty.  For  all 
these  things  are  implicit  in  the  one  word, 
"  Italy." 

Alas!  the  charm  of  this  excursion  has 
from  of  old  made  irresistible  appeal  to 
the  northern  barbarian.  That  has  been 
Italy's  historic  misfortune.  For  certain 
centuries,  under  the  dominance  of  Rome, 
she  kept  the  Goths  and  Huns  and  Vandals 
aloof  by  what  is  called  in  India  a  "  for- 
ward policy  " — by  throwing  the  outworks 


of  civilization  far  beyond  the  Alpine  bar- 
rier. But  Rome  fell  to  decay,  and,  wave 
upon  wave,  the  barbarian — generally  the 
Teuton,  under  one  alias  or  another — 
surged  over  her  glorious  highlands,  her 
bounteous  lowlands,  and  her  marvelous 
cities.  It  is  barely  half  a  century  since 
the  hated  Tedeschi  were  expelled  from 
the  greater  part  of  their  Cisalpine  pos- 
sessions; and  now,  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
Italy  has  resolved  to  redeem  the  last  of 
her  ravished  provinces  and  to  make  her 
boundaries  practically  conterminous  with 
Italian  speech  and  race. 

The  political  and  military  aspects  of 
the  situation  have  been  fully  dealt  with 
elsewhere;  but  a  lifelong  lover  of  Italy 
may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  state  his 
personal  view  of  her  action.  While  the 
negotiations  lasted,  her  position  was 
scarcely  a  dignified  one.  It  seemed  that 
she  was  willing,  not,  indeed,  to  sell  her 
birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage,  but  to 
buy  her  birthright  at  the  cost  of  com- 
plicity in  monstrous  crime.  Neither  Italy 
nor  Europe  would  have  profited  in  the 
long  run  by  the  substitution  of  "  Belgia 
Irredenta  "  for  "  Italia  Irredenta."  But 
now  that  she  has  repudiated  the  sops 
offered  to  her  honor  and  conscience,  her 
position  is  clear  and  fine.  She  has  re- 
jected larger  concessions,  probably,  than 
any  great  power  has  ever  before  been 
prepared  to  make  without  stroke  of 
sword;  and  she  has  thrown  in  her  lot 
with  the  Allies  in  no  time-serving  spirit, 
but  at  a  point  when  their  fortunes  were 
by  no  means  at  their  highest.  This  is  a 
gesture  entirely  worthy  of  a  great  and 
high-spirited  people. 

It  is  true  that  she  had  no  guarantee 
for  the  promised  concessions  except  the 
"  Teutonica  fides,"  which  has  become  a 
byword  and  a  reproach.  But  I  am  much 
mistaken  if  that  was  the  sole  or  main 


EVVIVA    U  IT  ALIA 


1003 


motive  that  determined  her  resort  to 
arms.  She  took  a  larger  view.  She  felt 
that  even  if  Germany,  by  miracle,  kept 
her  faith,  the  world,  after  a  German  vic- 
tory, would  be  no  place  for  free  men  to 
live  in.  She  was  not  moved  by  the  care 
for  a  few  square  miles  of  territory,  more 
or  less,  but  by  a  strong  sense  of  demo- 
cratic solidarity  and  of  human  dignity. 
After  the  events  of  the  past  ten  months, 
she  felt  that,  to  a  self-respecting  man  or 
nation,  German  hate  was  infinitely  pref- 
erable to  German'love.  It  was,  in  fact,  a 
patent  of  nobility. 

And  now  that  Italy  is  ranked  with  us 
against  the  powers  of  evil,  it  becomes 
more  than  ever  our  duty  to  strain  every 
nerve  for  their  defeat.  We  are  now 
taking  our  share  in  the  guardianship  of 
the  world's  great  treasure  house  of  his- 
toric memories  and  of  the  creations  of 
genius.  We  have  become,  as  it  were,  co- 
trustees of  an  incomparable,  irreplace- 
able heritage  of  beauty.  Italy  has  been 
the  scene  of  many  and  terrible  wars; 
but  since  she  emerged  from  the  Dark 
Ages  I  do  not  know  that  war  has  great- 
ly damaged  the  glory  of  her  cities.  She 
has  not,  of  recent  centuries,  had  to  mourn 
a  Louvain  or  a  Rheims.  But  if  the 
Teuton,   in   his    present   temper,    should 


gain  any  considerable  footing  within  her 
bounds,  the  Dark  Ages  would  be  upon 
her  once  more.  What  effort  can  be  too 
great  to  avert  such  a  calamity! 

I  am  not  by  way  of  being  versed  in  the 
secrets  of  Courts;  but  I  recall  today,  with 
encouragement,  a  conversation  I  had 
some  years  ago  with  an  ex-Ambassador 
to  Italy  (not  a  British  Ambassador)  who 
had  been  on  intimate  terms  with  the 
King,  and  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  his 
Majesty's  character.  He  told  me  of  his 
bravery,  his  devotion  to  duty,  his  simple 
manners,  his  high  intelligence.  One  lit- 
tle anecdote  I  may  repeat  without  indis- 
cretion. A  Minister  of  Education  said  to 
my  friend  that  when  he  had  an  interview 
with  the  King  he  felt  like  a  schoolboy 
bringing  up  to  an  exacting  though  kindly 
master  a  half -prepared  lesson;  and  when 
this  was  repeated  to  his  Majesty,  he 
smiled  and  said:  "Ministers  come  and 
go,  but  I,  you  see,  am  always  here."  He 
merited  far  better  than  his  grandfather 
(said  my  informant)  the  title  of  "  il  Re 
Galantuomo."  Under  such  a  Chief  of 
State  Italy  may,  with  high  hope  and 
courage,  set  about  her  task  of  tearing 
away  her  unredeemed  fringes  from  that 
patchwork  of  tyrannies  known  as  the 
Austrian  Empire. 


Who  Died  Content! 


[From    the   Westmiastoi-   Gazette] 

Rex  and  Wilfred  Winslow  were  the  first  men  who  died  on  the  field  of 
German  South  West  Africa.    The  epitaph  on  the  cross  on  the  grave  ran  thus : 
"  Tell   England  ye  that  pass  this  monument, 
That  we  who  rest  here  died  content." 

— Daily  Newspapeh. 

Far  the  horizon  of  our  best  desires 

Stretches  into  the  sunset  of  our  lives : 
The  wavering  taper  of  the  achieved  expires. 

And  only  the  irrevocable  will  survives. 
Content  to  die  for  England!     How  the  words 

Thrill  those  who  live  for  England,  knowing  not 
The  stern,  heroic  passion  that  upgirds 

The  loins  of  such  as,  ardent,  for  her  fought. 
Content!     It  is  a  word  that  brooks  no  bounds. 

If  from  the  heights  and  depths  it  takes  its  name: 
Upon  the  proud  lips  of  great  men  it  sounds 

As  if  the  clear  note  from  the  Heavens  came; 

A  word  that,  sea-like,  shrinks  and  grows  again; 
A  little  word  on  lips  of  little  men! 

John  Hogbek. 


''The  Germans,  Destroyers  of 
Cathedrals" 

By  Artists,  Writers,  Musicians,  and  Philosophers  of  France 

The  subjoined  extracts  of  official  documents  are  translated  from  a  book  published  in  Paris 
by  Hachette  et  Cie.,  the  full  title  of  which  is  "  The  Germans,  Destroyers  of  Cathedrals  and  of 
Treasures  of  the  Past :  Being  a  Compilation  of  Documents  Belonging  to  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction  and  Fine  Arts."  The  official  documents  are  offered  to  "  the  literary  and  artistic 
associations  of  foreign  countries."  The  editorial  notes  and  comment  are  reproduced  from  the 
original  text. 


To  the  Artistic  and  Literary  Associations 
of  Foreign  Countries  and  to  all  Friends 
of  the  Beautiful,  in  order  that  the 
System  of  Destruction  of  the  German 
Armies  be  brought  to  their  knowledge, 
the  present  Memorial  is  offered  by: 

Mme.  JULIETTE  ADAM. 

PAUL  ADAM. 

M.  ANQUETIN. 

ANDRE  ANTOINE,  Founder  of  the  The- 
atre Libre. 

PAUL  APPELL,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of 
Sciences,  member  of  the  Institute. 

MAURICE  BARRES,  Deputy,  member 
of  the  Academie  Frangaise. 

ALBERT  BARTHOLOME. 

JEAN  BERAUD. 

TRISTAN  BERNARD. 

ALBERT  BESNARD,  Director  of  the 
Academie  de  France  at  Rome,  mem- 
ber of  the  Institute. 

PIERRE  BONNARD. 

LEON  BONNAT,  member  of  the  Insti- 
tute, Director  of  the  Ecole  des 
Beaux-Arts. 

EMILE-ANTOINE    BOURDELLE. 

ELEMIR  BOURGES,  member  of  the 
Academie  Goncourt. 

EMILE  BOUTROUX,  member  of  the  In- 
stitute. 

ADOLPHE  BRISSON,  President  of  the 
Association  de  la  Critique. 

ALFRED  BRUNEAU. 

Dr.  CAPITAN,  Professor  at  the  College 
de  France,  member  of  the  Academie 
de  Medecine. 

ALFRED  CAPUS,  member  of  the  Aca- 
demic Frangaise. 


M.  CAROLUS-DURAN,  member  of  the 
Institute. 

GUSTAVE  CHARPENTIER,  member  of 
the  Institute. 

CAMILLE  CHEVILLARD,  Director  of 
the   Concerts-Lamoureux. 

PAUL  CLAUDEL. 

GEORGES  CLEMENCEAU,  Senator, 
former  President  of  the  Council. 

ROMAIN  COOLUS. 

ALFRED  CORTOT. 

GEORGES  COURTELINE. 

P.  A.  J.  DAGNAN-BOUVERET,  mem- 
ber of  the  Institute. 

CLAUDE  DEBUSSY. 

Mme.  VIRGINIE  DEMONT-BRETON. 

JULES  DESBOIS. 

LUCIEN  DESCAVES,  member  of  the 
Academie  Goncourt. 

MAXIME  DETHOMAS. 

AUGUSTE  DORCHAIN. 

PAUL  DUKAS. 

J.  ERNEST-CHARLES,  President  of  the 
Societe  des  Conferences  Etrangeres. 

EMILE  FABRE. 

EMILE  FAGUET,  member  of  the  Aca- 
demie Frangaise. 

GABRIEL  FAURE  member  of  the  In- 
stitute, Director  of  the  Conservatory 
of  Music. 

CAMILLE  FLAMMARION,  President 
of  the  Societe  Astronomique  de 
France. 

ROBERT  DE  FLERS. 

ANDRE  FONTAINAS. 

PAUL  FORT. 

ANATOLE  FRANCE,  member  of  the 
Academie  Fran^aise. 

A.  DE  LA  GANDARA. 


THE    GERMANS,    DESTROYERS    OF    CATHEDRALS" 


1005 


FIRMIN  GEMIER,  Director  of  the  The- 
atre-Antoine. 

ANDRE  GIDE. 

CHARLES  GIRAULT,  member  of  the 
Institute. 

EDMOND  GUIRAUD. 

LUCIEN  GUITRY. 

EDMOND  HARAUCOURT. 

LOUIS  HAVET,  member  of  the  Insti- 
tute. 

MAURICE  HENNEQUIN,  President  of 
the  Societe  des  Auteurs  et  Composi- 
teurs Dramatiques. 

JACQUES  HERMANT,  President  of  the 
Societe  des  Architectes  Diplomes 
par  le  Gouvernement. 

A.  F.  HEROLD. 

PAUL  HERVIEU,  member  of  the  Aca- 
demic Franeaise. 

VINCENT  D'INDY,  Director  of  the 
Schola  Cantorum. 

M.  INGHELBREGHT. 

FRANCIS  JAMMES. 

FRANTZ  JOURDAIN,  President  of  the 
Syndicat  de  la  Presse  Artistique, 
President  of  the  Autumn  Salon. 

GUSTAVE  KAHN. 

VICTOR  LALOUX,  member  of  the  In- 
stitute. 

HENRI  LAVEDAN,  member  of  the 
^cademie  Frangaise. 

GEORGES  LECOMTE,  President  of  the 
Societe  des  Gens  de  Lettres. 

Mile.  MARIE  LENERU. 

PIERRE  LOTI,  member  of  the  Academie 
Franeaise. 

MAURICE  MAGRE. 

ARISTIDE  MAILLOL. 

PAUL  MARGUERITTE,  member  of  the 
Academie  Goncourt. 

HENRI  MARTIN. 

M.  MATISSE. 

MAX  MAUREY. 

Mme.  CATULLE  MENDES. 

ANTONIN  MERCIE,  member  of  the  In- 
stitute, President  of  the  Societe  des 
Artistes  Frangais. 

STUART  MERRILL. 

ANDRE  MESSAGER. 

OCTAVE  MIRBEAU,  member  of  the 
Academie  Goncourt. 

CLAUDE  MONET. 

Mme.  DE  NOAILLES. 

J.  L.  PASCAL,  member  of  the  Institute. 


EDMOND  PERRIER,  President  of  the 
Institute,  Director  of  the  Museum. 

GABRIEL  PIERNE,  Director  of  the 
Concerts-Colonne. 

M.  PIOCH. 

CHARLES  PLUMET. 

Mme.  RACHILDE. 

J.  F.  RAFFAELLL 

ODILON  REDON. 

GEORGES  RENARD,  Professor  at  the 
College  de  France. 

JEAN  RICHEPIN,  member  of  the  Aca- 
demie Franqaise. 

AUGUSTE  RODIN. 

ALFRED  ROLL,  President  of  the  So- 
ciete Nationale  des  Beaux-Arts. 

J.  H.  ROSNY,  aine,  member  of  the  Aca- 
demie Goncourt. 

EDMOND  ROSTAND,  member  of  the 
Academie  Franeaise. 

SAINT-GEORGES  DE  BOUHELIER. 

CAMILLE  SAINT-SAENS,  member  of 
the  Institute. 

GABRIEL  SEAILLES. 

PAUL  SIGNAC,  President  of  the  So- 
ciete des  Artistes  Independants. 

M.  STEINLEN. 

FRANCIS  VIELE-GRIFFIN. 

ADOLPHE  WILLETTE. 


To  the  Literary  and  Artistic  Associa- 
tions of  Foreign  Countries  and  to  all 
Friends  of  the  Beautiful: 
"  *  *  *  7i  is  not  true  that  our  troops 
brutally   destroyed  Louvain.     It   is   not 
true  that  we  make  war  in  contempt  of 
the    rights    of    mankind.      Our    soldiers 
commit  neither   undisciplined  nor   cruel 
acts.  *  *  *  " 

MANIFESTO  OF  THE  GERMAN  IN- 
TELLECTUALS. 
"  //  the  savants  make  science  what  it 
is,  science  does  not  make  the  character 
of  the  savants  what  it  is." 

EDMOND  PERRIER. 
"  *  *  *  Scientific  barbarism." 

EMILE  BOUTROUX. 


If  we  were  able — at  this  hour,  when, 
through  the  act  of  the  Teutonic  Em- 
pire, the  world  may  witness  unnamable 
deeds — if  we  were  able  to  cite  the  most 
odious  of  them,  we  should  say  that, 
after   the   massacre   of   innocent   people 


1006 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


and  all  the  assaults  on  the  rights  of 
mankind  committed  by  the  German 
armies,  the  worst  has  seemed  to  us 
the  shameless  manner  in  which  the  su- 
perior intellects  beyond  the  Rhine  have 
dared  to  cover  up  these  crimes.  It  is  not 
that  we  ever  believed  that  from  any  cor- 
ner of  Germany  there  could  come  to  us 
an  appearance  of  fellow-feeling,  in  these 
circumstances  wherein  no  one  has  any 
other  right  than  that  of  giving  himself 
body  and  soul  to  his  native  land.  We 
know  that,  before  speaking  for  the  uni- 
verse, men  threatened  by  the  enemy 
should  be  faithful  to  their  flag,  in  the 
face  of  everything  and  against  every- 
thing— and  with  resolution.  At  no  hour, 
therefore,  have  we  thought  that  German 
savants  and  artists  could  raise  their  voice 
to  repudiate  their  armies,  when  the  lat- 
ter were  going  to  war  with  the  object  of 
further  extending-  their  empire.  But,  at 
least,  they  should  keep  silence,  and  be- 
fore the  horror  of  crimes  to  be  judged 
especially  by  the  tribunal  of  the  elite 
they  should  not  have  shown  their  mis- 
erable enthusiasm.  "  You  see,"  as  a 
clear-sighted  Dutch  professor*  has  well 
written  on  this  point,  "  if  these  intellect- 
uals were  not  blinded  they  would  rather 
have  asked  themselves  if,  in  this  war  that 
stains  Europe  with  blood,  the  Prussian 
military  authorities  were  not  losing  for 
centuries  the  reputation  of  the  great 
name  of  Germany."  And  suppose  it  were 
even  a  small  matter  if  they  had  lost  only 
the  great  name  of  Germany,  that  the 
epoch  of  Goethe,  Kant,  and  Beethoven 
had  covered  with  glory.  But  with  it  they 
have  vilified  as  well  the  noble  role  of  the 
philosopher,  of  the  historian,  of  the  sa- 
vant, and  of  the  artist.  In  truth  they 
have  betrayed  their  own  gods,  and  the 
professions  to  which  they  belong  can  no 
longer  be  honored  by  them — so  far  as  the 
question  of  conscience  goes,  at  least.  And 
as  for  the  sacred  thing  called  civiliza- 
tion, which  is  above  our  interests  and 
our  vanities  of  an  hour,  they  may  have 
served  it  usefully  by  their  personal  work 
in  the  past,  but  they  were  unequal  to  the 
task  of  remaining  its  protectors  when 
their   mere   silence  would   perhaps   have 


♦Professor  Dake. 


helped  to  save  it.f  They  have  thus 
shown  that,  with  their  more  or  less 
sparkling  black  eagles  and  under  the  be- 
dizenment  of  their  Court  costumes,  they 
are  for  the  most  part  narrow  fanatics  or 
paid  scribes  whose  pen  is  only  a  tool  in 
the  hands  of  their  master  of  a  day.  It  is 
not  even  sure  whether  through  their  cult 
of  this  "  militarism,"  to  which  they  have 
given  the  most  shameful  blind-signature, 
they  have  not  hopelessly  condemned  it, 
by  testifying  that  under  the  rule  of  the 
German  sabre  human  thought  has  no 
other  course  than  to  humiliate  itself !  *  *  * 
But  on  the  score  of  what  they  are  worth 
in  professional  morality  and  courage, 
agreement  is  certain  today,  everywhere. 

Their  great  affair — and  that  of  every 
thinking  German — is  to  object,  when 
spoken  to  of  their  crimes,  either  that 
they  were  born  of  necessity  or  that 
they  did  not  take  place.  As  against  these 
allegations,  unsupported  by  any  proof, 
the  most  formal  denials  have  officially 
been  given.  But  to  the  latter  we  shall 
now  add  the  true  description  of  the 
facts.  And  we  think  that,  in  spite  of 
the  power  and  the  dogmatic  authority  of 
its  elite,  the  activity  of  its  emissaries  in 
all  parts  of  the  world,  and,  finally,  all 
its  vast  apparatus  of  conquest — military 
and  civil — Germany  cannot  long  make 
its  stand  against  the  humble  little  truth, 
which  advances,  noiselessly  but  also  fear- 
lessly, with  the  tenacious  light  in  its 
hand  that  it  received  from  Reality — from 
unquenchable  and  ardent  Reality. 

We  come  to  you  armed  with  the  facts. 

tOn  the  score  of  certain  names  important 
in  Germany— names  not  found  under  the  man- 
ifesto of  the  Intellectuals— a  question  arises : 
Were  they  not  solicited  as  well  to  cover  up 
these  crimes,  or  did  they  refuse?  If  the 
question  were  one  of  a  simple  memorial,  car- 
rying with  it  no  abdication  of  conscience, 
this  point  would  be  without  importance,  for 
it  would  simply  mean  that  a  list,  however 
long,  could  not  bring  together  all  the  men  of 
renown  of  a  country,  and  omissions  would 
often  have  to  be  laid  to  chance.  But  here 
a  venomous  manifesto  was  to  be  signed, 
made  up  of  violent  lies  and  of  arbitrary 
theories ;  and  with  this  in  mind  one  may  see 
a  meaning  in  certain  abstentions.  AVithout 
any  possible  doubt  they  are  the  act  of  cour- 
ageous men,  who,  feeling  deeply  where  the 
truth  is,  will  not  ally  themselves  against  it; 
and  by  their  resistance  they  do  it  honor. 


"THE   GERMANS,   DESTROYERS    OF    CATHEDRALS 


1007 


It  is  only  these  unanswerable  witnesses 
that  we  have  wished  to  oppose  to  the 
gratuitous  affirmations  of  our  colleagues 
beyond  the  Rhine.  We  might  have  taken 
you  into  the  mazes  of  twenty  frightful 
dramas,  for  at  every  place  where  the 
German  troops  have  advanced  they  have 
trodden  under  foot  the  rights  of  man- 
kind and  counted  as  nothing  the  civ- 
ilization and  the  patrimony  of  nations. 
We  have  thought  it  wiser  to  limit  our- 
selves to  the  relation  of  certain  events 
bearing  the  seal  of  certainty. 

Not  all  the  cities  which  may  have  suf- 
fered have  as  yet  opened  their  gates  to 
our  brothers.  Not  being  able  to  collect 
authentic  testimony  there  we  prefer, 
then,  not  to  speak  of  them — for  the  mo- 
ment. But  in  all  those  evacuated  by  the 
enemy,  commissions*  have  hurried  to  as- 
certain the  losses  on  the  spot.  It  is  from 
these  legal  examinations  that  we  have 
written  this  report,  which,  in  impartial 
fashion,  makes  you  the  judges. 

Unhappy  cities  have  been  tortured  in 
body  and  soul,  that  is  to  say,  in  their 
population  and  in  the  works  built  by 
their  hands,  the  immortal  relics  of  the 
dead.  Of  the  miseries  the  people  have 
suffered  it  is  not  pex*mitted  us  to  speak. 
But  as  to  those  noble  houses  built  with 
art  which  have  been  destroyed,  as  to 
those  constructions  erected  by  our  an- 
cestors for  the  edification  of  men  of  all 
classes,  of  all  times,  and  all  countries, 
which  are  today  but  ruins;  as  to  those 
masterpieces  in  which  all  the  elegant 
poetry  of  our  race  was  realized  and  that 
belonged  to  the  civilized  world,  of  which 
they  were  a  glory  and  an  ornament,  and 
which  subsist  as  nothing  but  a  mournful 
heap  of  debris — of  these  we  are  not 
bound  to  keep  silent.  But  not  one  ex- 
aggerated word  shall  be  uttered  by  us. 
The  account  we  shall  give  is  established 
by  high  testimony  and  by  irrefutable 
documents. 

But  let  us  cease  all  this  preparation 
and  come  to  the  events  of  Rheims. 

•Throughout  this  work  we  shall  often  have 
recourse  to  the  reports  of  these  commissions. 
At  the  end  of  the  present  volume  will  be  found 
certain  of  these  documents,  unpublished  till 
now. 


(Page  59  of  the  book.) 

DOCUMENTARY  EVIDENCE. 

Appendix  I. 

No.  1. 

AT  RHEIMS. 

M.  Henry  Jadart,  Librarian  of  the 
City  of  Rheims  and  Curator  of  the  Mu- 
seum of  that  city,  was  present  at  the 
bombardments  of  the  Ath  and  the  19t/i 
of  September.  He  was  well  placed  to 
enlighten  us  on  the  destruction  accom- 
plished at  the  time. 

He  was  kind  enough  to  send  us  the 
communication  which  we  publish  below. 
From  the  testimony  of  M.  Jadart,  it  will 
appear  how  many  monumental  construc- 
tions at  Rheims  were  mutilated  or  de- 
stroyed, and  how  these  attest,  not  less 
than  the  ruins  of  the  cathedral,  the  van- 
dalism of  the  German  armies: 

Friday,  Sept.  4. — The  bombardment, 
which  took  place  suddenly  from  half -past 
9  till  quarter-past  10  in  the  morning, 
caused  some  accidents  to  the  cathedral, 
more  or  less  notable  from  the  point  of 
view  of  art,  (some  stained  glass  more 
or  less  ancient,  some  slight  scratches  to 
the  statues;)  at  the  Church  of  Saint- 
Remi  (ancient  stained  glass,  tapestry 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  pictures  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
altar  screen,  statues,  south  portal,  and 
vault  of  transept)  and  at  the  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts,  Rue  Chanzy,  8,  (salle 
Henry  Vasnier  broken  in  by  a  shell, 
about  twenty  modern  pictures  damaged.) 
Besides,  among  the  houses  struck,  the 
Gothic  house,  57  Rue  de  Vesle,  suffered 
mutilation  in  the  sculpture  of  a  fire- 
place— it  was  entirely  demolished  by  the 
bombardment  and  fire  of  Sept.  19. 

Saturday,  Sept.  19. — This  was  the  day 
of  the  great  destruction  by  the  bombs 
and  the  fires  caused  in  the  cathedral,  the 
ancient  residence  of  the  Archbishop,  in 
the  houses  of  the  Place  Royale,  and  the 
Ceres  quarter.  On  the  afternoon  of  this 
day  and  during  the  night  from  Saturday 
to  Sunday,  flames  consumed  the  most 
precious  collections  of  the  city,  at  the 
Archbishop's  palace  and  in  private 
houses,  an  inventory  of  which  it  will 
never  be  possible  to  prepare. 

The  top  of  the  cathedral  burned  after 


1008 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  scaffolding  of  the  northern  tower  of 
the  great  portal  had  taken  fire,  toward 
?,  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  statues 
and  sculptures  of  this  side  of  the  same 
portal  were  licked  by  the  flames  and 
scorched  through  and  through.  The 
eight  bells  in  this  tower  also  were  caught 
bj-  the  flames,  and  the  whole  thing  fell 
down  near  the  cross  aisle  of  the  tran- 
sept. The  spire  of  the  Belfry  of  the 
Angel,  at  the  apse,  fell,  and  with  it  dis- 
appeared the  leaden  heads  which  dec- 
orated its  base.  In  the  interior  the 
sculptures  and  the  walls  of  the  edifice 
were  damaged  by  fire  in  the  straw  which 
had  been  strewn  about  for  the  German 
wounded;  the  great  eighteenth  century 
tympanums  of  the  lateral  doors,  west 
side,  were  damaged  likewise.  The  thir- 
teenth century  stained  glass  suffered 
shocks  from  the  air  and  were  perforated, 
in  the  rose  windows  as  also  in  the  high 
windows  of  the  nave.  The  pictures  in 
the  transept  were  spared,  but  the  choir 
stalls  (eighteenth  century  work)  were 
consumed — at  the  left  on  entering. 

Of  the  adjacent  palace  all  the  build- 
ings were  attacked  by  the  flames  and 
are  now  nothing  but  ruined  walls,  save 
the  chapel  of  the  thirteenth  century,  of 
which  the  main  part  subsists  intact,  and 
the  lower  hall  of  the  King's  Lodge,  un- 
der the  Hall  of  Anointment,  (of  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth  century.)  The  anoint- 
ment rooms  on  the  ground  floor,  recon- 
structed in  the  seventeenth  century,  con- 
tained a  great  number  of  historical  por- 
traits and  furniture  of  various  periods, 
which  were  all  a  prey  to  the  flames.  It 
was  the  same  in  the  apartments  of  the 
Archbishops,  which  also  contained  nu- 
merous pictures  and  different  views  of 
the  city,  transported  from  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  and  intended  for  the  formation  of 
a  historical  museum  of  Rheims.  Precious 
furniture,  bronzes  of  great  value — like 
the  foot  of  the  candelabra  of  Saint  Remi 
and  the  candelabra  of  the  Abbaye 
d'Igny — were  also  in  these  apartments, 
of  which  nothing  is  left  but  the  walls. 
The  archaeological  collections  of  the  city 
were  consumed  in  the  upper  apartments, 
as  also  a  whole  museum,  organized  and 
classified  to  represent  the  ethnography 
of  la  Champagne  by  a  thousand  objects 


tracing  back  the  ancient  industries,  the 
trades,  the  arts,  and  usages  of  this  prov- 
ince. Finally,  the  rich  library  founded 
by  Cardinal  Gousset,  offering  supero 
editions  and  assembled  in  a  vast  pan- 
eled hall,  was  totally  burned  up  in  the 
modern  building  constructed  for  it  at  the 
expense  of  the  State. 

After  the  disasters  to  the  arts  at  the 
cathedral  and  the  palace,  we  must  note 
also  the  mansions  and  private  houses, 
remarkable  through  their  architecture 
and  their  decoration,  that  were  demol- 
ished, burned,  and  annihilated.-  No,  1 
Rue  du  Marc,  Renaissance  mansion — 
damage  to  the  sculptured  ceiling  and  the 
sculptures  of  the  court.  Two  pavilions 
of  the  Place  Royale,  creations  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  are  now  only  cal- 
cined walls.  The  same  fate  overtook  the 
Gothic  house,  57  Rue  de  Vesle,  (of  which 
mention  was  made  above;)  the  house, 
40  Rue  de  I'Universite,  built  in  the  eight- 
eenth century;  the  house  next  to  the 
Ecu  de  Rheims,  of  the  same  period;  the 
mansion  at  12  Rue  la  Grue,  which  was 
decorated  with  carved  lintels  and  forged 
iron  banisters;  the  mansion  at  19  Rue 
Eugene-Destenque,  in  the  style  of  the 
Henri  IV.  period,  having  a  great  stor.e 
fireplace  and  decorative  paintings  in  one 
gallery.  Finally,  in  the  Rue  des  Trois- 
Raisinets,  the  remains  of  the  monastery 
of  the  Franciscans,  with  a  cloister,  and 
the  framework  of  a  granary  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages. 

These  notes  are  really  only  observa- 
tions to  be  completed  later  with  the  aid 
of  descriptions  of  ancient  date,  but  they 
offer  sure  information  of  the  lamentable 
losses  suffered  by  our  unfortunate  city 
during  the  first  month  of  its  bombard- 
ment. 

Paris,  Jan.  20,  1915. 

No.  2. 
THE   FIXED   IDEA. 
From  M.  Auguste  Dor  chain  we  receive 
this  striking  observation: 

The  idea  of  destroying  the  cathedral 

haunted  them  for  a  hundred  years,  at 

least.      Three   dates,   three   texts,   three 

proofs : 

April,  1814,  Jean-Joseph  Goerres,  an 


THE   GERMANS,   DESTROYERS    OF    CATHEDRALS 


1009 


illustrious  professor,  the  pious  author 
of  a  "  Christian  Mysticism,"  in  four 
volumes,  wrote,  in  the  Rheinische  Mer- 
kur: 

"  Reduce  to  ashes  that  basilica  of 
Rheims  where  Klodovig  was  anointed, 
where  that  Empire  of  the  Franks  was 
born — the  false  brothers  of  the  noble 
Teutons;  burn  that  cathedral!   *   *   *" 

Sept.  5,  1914,  we  read  in  the  Berliner 
Blatt: 

"  The  western  group  of  our  armies  in 
France  has  already  passed  the  second 
line  of  defensive  forts,  except  Rheims, 
whose  royal  splendor,  which  dates  back 
to  the  time  of  the  white  lilies,  will  not 
fail  to  crumble  to  dust,  soon,  under  the 
fire  of  our  mortars." 

Jan.  1,  1915.  In  the  artistic  and  lit- 
erary supplement  of  the  Berlin  Lokal- 
Anzeiger  M.  Rudolf  Herzog  sings  an  ode 
"  in  honor  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Rheims  ": 

"  The  bells  sound  no  more  in  the  cathe- 
dral with  two  towers.  Finished  is  the 
benediction!  *     *     *      with    lead,    O 

Rheims,  we  have  shut  your  house  of 
idolatry!" 

A  lyric  cry  of  the  heart,  when  the 
national  wish,  a  century  old,  is  at  last 
accomplished. 

No  comment  on  these  three  texts — it 
suffices  to  bring  them  together. 

AUGUSTE  DORCHAIN. 

Feb.  20,  1915. 

No.  4. 
LETTER  OF  M.  L'ABBE  DOURLENT. 

M.  I'Abbe  Dourlent,  Curate  Archpres- 
byter  of  the  Cathedral  of  Senlis,  was  one 
of  the  principal  witnesses  of  the  drama. 
So  he  has  had  to  speak  of  it  several 
times.  But  up  to  now  we  had  no  writ- 
ten deposition  from  him  over  his  signa- 
ture. Here  is  the  document  which  comes 
from  this  priest.  It  attests  his  courage 
and  sincerity  at  the  same  time. 
Diocese  of  Beauvais,  Archpresbytery  and 
Parish   of    Senlis,    (Oise.) 

SENLIS,  Jan.  8,  1915. 

Monsieur:  You  do  me  the  honor  to  ask 
for  my  testimony  as  to  the  actions  of 
the  enemy  at  Senlis  at  the  time  of  the 
occupation,  on  the  2d  of  September. 

I  beg  to  send  you  my  attestation,  and 


express  my  confusion  and  regret  at  not 
having  been  able  to  do  so  sooner. 

On  the  2d  of  September  an  engage- 
ment took  place  between  the  French  and 
German  troops  on  the  plain  of  Senlis 
from  10  o'clock  till  about  half-past  2,  and 
it  was  ended  by  the  bombardment  of  our 
beautiful  cathedral  and  a  part  of  the 
city.  The  enemy  entered  the  city  about 
half-past  3  and  were  received  at  the 
end  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Martin  by  a 
fusillade  directed  against  them  by  delayed 
soldiers  and  a  company  armed  with  ma- 
chine guns,  charged  with  arresting  the 
pursuit  of  the  French  Army,  which  was 
bending  back  toward  Paris. 

Immediately  the  superior  officer,  who 
was  conversing  with  M.  Odent,  the  Mayor 
of  Senlis,  accused  the  civilians  of  having 
fired  on  the  German  Army,  and  rendered 
him  responsible  for  it.  Then  began  the 
burning  of  the  whole  Rue  de  la  Repub- 
lique.  This  untruth  was  immediately 
spread  about,  and  two  hours  after  the 
affray  a  General  said  at  Villers-Saint- 
Frambourg  what  another  General  said 
next  morning  at  Nanteuil-le-Haudouin : 
That  Senlis  was  burned  because  the  ci- 
vilians had  fired  on  the  German  Army. 
The  thirty-seven  hostages  brought  to 
Chamant  heard  the  same  statement. 

To  this  testimony  I  will  add  my  own, 
which  will  only  confirm  what  is  said 
above:  As  soon  as  the  enemy  arrived 
soldiers  of  the  cyclist  corps  obliged  me 
to  conduct  them  to  the  top  of  the  belfry 
of  our  cathedral,  from  which  they  pre- 
tended that  they  had  been  shot  at.  Their 
inspection  revealed  nothing  of  what  they 
thought  to  find,  for  I  alone  had  the  key 
and  I  had  confided  it  to  no  one.  Some 
moments  later  I  was  consigned  to  the 
Hotel  du  Grand-Cerf  as  a  hostage.  The 
German  General  Staff  had  gone  to  Cha- 
mant. Some  hours  later  I  accosted  a 
superior  officer  and  asked  him  what  I 
should  do,  seeing  no  one  of  whom  I  could 
inquire  the  reason  for  my  arrest.  "  Re- 
main here,  where  you  will  at  least  be 
in  safety.  Poor  curate !  Poor  Senlis !  But, 
then,  why  did  you  receive  us  as  you  did? 
The  civilians  shot  at  us,  and  we  were 
fired  at  from  the  tower  of  your  church. 
So  Senlis  is  condemned.  You  see  that 
street  in  flames?  (and,  in  fact,  the  Rue 


1010 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


de  la  Republique  was  burning  every- 
where, 114  houses  in  ruins)  well,  this 
night  the  city  itself  will  be  entirely 
burned  down.  We  have  the  order  to 
make  of  Senlis  a  French  Louvain.  At 
Louvain  the  Belgians  shot  at  us  from 
their  houses,  from  their  belfries — Lou- 
vain no  longer  exists.  Tomorrow  it  will 
be  the  same  with  your  place.  We  admit 
fighting  among  soldiers,  that  is  war; 
but  we  are  pitiless  with  civilians.  Paris 
and  the  whole  of  France  need  a  terrible 
example  which  shall  remind  them  that 
warfare  by  civilians  is  a  crime  that  can- 
not be  too  severely  punished." 

My  energetic  protest  against  the  ac- 
cusation concerning  the  cathedral  and 
my  other  doubts  formulated  against  the 
intervention  of  civilians  (I  did  not  know 
what  was  the  nature  of  the  engagement 
in  the  Faubourg)  seemed  to  interest  the 
officer,  who  promised  to  make  a  report 
to  the  General  and  to  plead  our  cause. 
Thanks  to  God,  the  sentence  was  re- 
pealed ;  our  poor  Mayor  and  ten  hostages 
were  shot,  but  the  city  was  spared. 

Such  are  the  facts,  which  I  thought 
might  be  of  interest  in  your  researches. 
I  am  at  your  orders  to  complete  them 
if  you  need  more. 

I  beg  you.  Sir,  to  accept  the  expression 
of  my  most  respectful  sentiments. 

(Signed.)     DOURLENT. 
Curate  Archpresbyter  of  Senlis. 

No.  5. 
THE  LIBRARY  OF  LOUVAIN. 

To  close  the  series  of  depositions  col- 
lected by  us,  here  is  that  of  M.  Paul  De- 
lannoy,  Librarian  of  the  University  of 
Louvain.  The  few  lines  he  was  kind 
enough  to  address  to  us  will  suffice  to 
shoiv  the  extent  of  the  treasure  formerly 
at  Louvain  and  also  of  the  disaster  ac- 
complished, which  seems  irreparable: 

The  library  of  the  University  of  Lou- 
vain possessed  500  manuscripts,  about 
800  incunabulae,  and  250,000  to  300,000 
volumes.  One  noted  especially  the  orig- 
inal of  the  bull  of  foundation  of  the  uni- 
versity in  1425,  an  example  on  vellum  of 
the  famous  work  of  Andre  Vesale,  De 
Humani  Corporis  Fabrica,  an  example 
given  to  the  university  by  Charles  V.,  a 


precious  manuscript  by  Thomas  a 
Kempis.  The  bibliographical  curiosities 
were  numerous;  the  collection  of  old 
Flemish  bindings  of  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  contained  some 
curious  specimens.  The  souvenirs  of  the 
ancient  university,  seals,  diplomas,  med- 
als, &c.,  were  preciously  guarded  in  cases. 
The  old  printed  matters  of  the  sixteenth 
century  formed  an  extremely  rare  treas- 
ury; all  the  pieces,  pamphlets,  and  plac- 
ards on  the  reform  of  the  Low  Countries 
were  kept  together  in  a  "  varia  "  volume, 
thus  constituting  a  unique  ensemble.  It 
was  the  same  with  a  host  of  pieces  re- 
lating to  Jansenism. 

The  great  halls  of  the  books,  with  ar- 
tistic woodwork,  were  jewels  of  eight- 
eenth century  architecture;  the  Salle 
des  Pas-Perdus  of  the  Halles  Universi- 
taires,  with  its  vaults  and  capitals,  has 
been  reproduced  in  manuals  of  art  and 
archaeology. 

The  reading  room  of  the  library  con- 
tained a  whole  gallery  of  portraits  of 
professors  of  the  ancient  university;  this 
museum  was  a  very  precious  source  for 
the  literary  history  of  the  Low  Countries. 
PAUL  DELANNOY. 

No.  6. 

THE    TESTIMONY    OF    M.    PIERRE 
LOTL 

Finally,  covering  these  various  testi- 
monies, and  deriving  from  his  illustrious 
signattire  a  character  of  high  distinction, 
here  is  what  M.  Pierre  Loti  writes  us: 

More  or  less,  everywhere  in  the  north 
and  east  of  our  dear  France,  I  have  seen 
with  my  eyes  the  German  abominations, 
in  which,  without  this  experience,  I 
could  not  have  believed. 

In  indignation  and  horror  I  associate 
myself  with  the  protestations  above,  as 
well  as  with  all  those,  not  yet  formulated, 
which  will  come  out  later  on  and  which 
will  always  be  below  the  monstrous 
reality.  PIERRE  LOTI. 

So  we  may  say  that  the  present  me- 
morial, tempered  many  a  time,  is  less  an 
excessive  than  a  perfectly  moderate 
picture. 


"THE    GERMANS,   DESTROYERS    OF    CATHEDRALS" 


1011 


Appendix  II. 

No.  1. 

NOTRE    DAME    DE    PARIS. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  on  the  llt/i-* 
of  October  a  Taube,  having  managed  to 
penetrate  the  zone  of  Paris,  flew  over  the 
city,  hovered  just  above  Notre  Dame,  and 
dropped  several  bombs  on  the  cathedral. 
Note  that  this  was  on  Sunday  and  that 
at  the  hour  when  this  Taube  accom- 
plished its  disastrous  mission  there  tvas 
in  Notre  Dame  a  very  great  crowd  of 
worshippers.  None  of  them  was  hurt, 
but  the  distinction  was  undeniably  that  of 
killing  unarmed  people  and  mutilating  a 
marvel  of  French  art. 

Let  us  now  read  the  first  report,  signed 
by  M.  Harancourt,  who  was  able  to  pro- 
ceed   to    interesting    discoveries    on    the 
very  day  of  the  attempt: 
Musee  des  Thermes  et  de  I'Hotel  de  Cluny. 

Sunday,  Oct.  11,  1914. 
To  the  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Fine  Arts,  Service  of  Historic  Mon- 
uments. 

As  I  reside  in  the  arrondissement  of 
Notre  Dame,  I  got  to  the  cathedral  some 
moments  after  the  explosion  of  the 
bombs.  In  the  company  of  a  Commis- 
sary of  Police,  of  an  architect  of  the  city, 
of  a  Canon,  and  of  two  Sergeants  of  the 
Fire  Department,  I  examined  the  dam- 
age caused  in  order  to  be  able  to  advise 
the  Service  of  Historical  Monuments  im- 
mediately if  the  case  should  be  urgent. 

The  bomb  exploded  on  the  west  slope 
of  the  roof  of  the  north  transept,  a  lit- 
tle above  the  gutter,  near  the  clock.  Aft- 
er having  pierced  the  lead  covering  it 
seems  to  have  exploded  only  after  having 
struck  the  transverse  beam,  whose  end 
is  splintered.  The  explosion,  having  thus 
taken  place  under  the  covering,  pushed 
the  edges  of  the  tear  outward,  making  a 
hole  in  this  covering  through  which  a 
young  person  could  pass ;  six  small  beams 
were  split  round  about.  The  bomb  was 
loaded  like  shrapnel,  apparently  with 
leaden  bullets  of  different  calibres,  for  the 
roof  is  riddled  with  circular  holes  to  a 
distance  of  twenty  meters  from  there. 
The  holes  are  of  various  diameters,  but 
none  of  the  bullets  could  be  found.  The 
nearest    turret    was    damaged — several 


ornaments  were  broken  from  it — ^the  mod- 
ern clockstand  that  incases  the  big  clock 
was  riddled  by  pieces  of  shell.  The  bomb 
thrown  at  the  apse  and  which  fell  in 
the  garden  was  not  this  time  a  shrapnel 
bomb,  but  an  incendiary  bomb,  which 
only  threw  out  a  sheet  of  flame.  The 
third  having  fallen  into  the  Seine,  to- 
ward the  south  side  of  the  porch,  it  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  it  was  a  shrap- 
nel bomb  or  an  incendiary. 

To  sum  up,  the  damage  from  the  ar- 
tistic point  of  view  is  almost  nil;  it 
simply  calls  for  some  work  by  carpenters 
and  roofers. 

But  the  intention  to  harm  the  build- 
ing is  evident,  and  I  have  thought  that 
perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  take  cer- 
tain precautions  to  protect,  if  possible, 
the  fine  fourteenth  century  statue  of 
th  Virgin  that  stands  near  the  pillar, 
and  that  it  is  not  impossible  perhaps  to 
transfer  it  to  a  safer  place. 

E.   HARANCOURT, 
Member  of  the  Commission  on  Historical 
Monuments. 

A  report  from  M.  Paul  Boeswillwald, 
Inspector   General    of   Historical   Monu- 
ments, confirms  the  first  statements: 
Historical    Monuments,    Cathedral    of 
Paris. 

PARIS,  Oct.  12,  1914. 
The  Inspector  General  of  Historical  Mon- 
uments to  the   Under   Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Fine  Arts. 

I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  I  went 
this  morning  to  Notre  Dame  to  examine 
the  damage  caused  by  the  bomb  thrown 
yesterday  afternoon  on  to  the  cathedral 
by  a  German  aviator.  The  bomb  struck 
the  lower  part  of  the  west  slope  of  the 
top  of  the  north  transept,  tearing  the 
lead,  breaking  a  piece  of  the  wooden 
frame,  and  smashing  by  its  explosion  the 
crown  of  the  pinnacle  which  cuts  the 
balustrade  at  the  right  of  the  flying 
buttress  intermediary  in  the  sexpartite 
vault  of  the  transept.  Other  effects  of 
the  explosion  were  the  striking  of  some 
stones  and  the  leads  of  the  dormer  win- 
dow which  carries  the  frame  of  a  clock, 
as  also  some  small  windows.  The  frag- 
ments of  the  pinnacle  fell  on  the  roof  of 
the  lower  slope^  where  they  made  a  deep 


1012 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


imprint  on  the  lead  cover  without  break- 
ing it  through. 

The  projectile  was  not  an  incendiary 
bomb,  since  the  wood  splintered  by  it 
bears  no  trace  of  fire. 

To  resume,  the  damage  is,  fortunately, 
quite  unimportant. 

The  order  has  been  given  to  set  aside 
all  the  fragments  of  stone  belonging  to 
the  decoration  of  the  pinnacle,  remains 
of  crockets,  ornaments,  &c. 
(Signed)     PAUL  BOESWILLWALD. 

With  all  the  friends  of  civilization  and 
of  art,  we  think  that  the  question  of  the 
slightness  of  the  damage  caused  by  this 
Taube  is  not  to  be  considered  at  all.  But 
the  fact  of  this  Taube  having  accom- 
plished such  a  raid  with  the  sole  design  of 
bombarding  a  cathedral  in  a  peaceful 
city,  100  kilometres  off  from  the  military 
operations — is  it  not  the  most  patent  and 
evident  demonstration  of  the  kind  of  Ne- 
ronian  dilettantism  which,  along  with  cal- 
culation, inspires  the  crimes  of  the  bar- 
barians? 

Appendix  III. 

No.  1. 

WHAT    OUR    PROVINCIAL    CITIES 

ARE. 

Here  is  a  page  published  by  Anatole 
France  apropos  of  the  bombardment  of 
Soissons  : 

I  had  just  read  in  a  newspaper  that 
the  German^',  who  have  been  bombarding 
Soissons  theso  four  months,  have  dropped 
eighty  shells  on  the  cathedral.  A  mo- 
ment later  chance  brought  before  me  a 
book  of  M.  Andre  Hallays,  where  I  find 
these  lines,  which  I  take  pleasure  in 
transcribing: 

"  Soissons  is  a  white  city,  peaceful  and 
smiling,  that  raises  its  tower  and  pointed 
spires  at  the  edge  of  a  lazy  river,  at  the 
centre  of  a  circle  of  green  hills.  The 
city  and  the  landscape  make  one  think 
of  the  little  pictures  that  the  illuminators 
of  our  old  manuscripts  lovingly  painted. 
*  *  *  Precious  monuments  show  the 
whole  history  of  the  French  Monarchy, 
from  the  Merovingian  crypts  of  the  Ab- 
baye  de  Saint-Medard  to  the  fine  man- 
sion erected  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolu- 
tion for  the  Governors  of  the  province. 
Amid  narrow  streets  and  little  gardens 


a  magnificent  cathedral  extends  the  two 
arms  of  its  great  transept;  at  the  north 
is  a  straight  wall,  and  an  immense 
stained-glass  window;  at  the  south,  that 
marvelous  apse  where  the  ogive  and  the 
full  centre  combine  in  so  delicate  a 
fashion."     ("Around  Paris,"  Page  207.) 

That  charming  page  from  a  writer  who 
dearly  loves  the  cities  and  monuments 
of  France  brought  tears  to  my  eyes.  It 
charmed  my  sadness.  I  want  to  thank  my 
colleague  for  it  publicly. 

The  brutal  and  stupid  destruction  of 
monuments  consecrated  by  art  and  the 
years  is  a  crime  that  war  does  not  ex- 
cuse. May  it  be  an  eternal  opprobrium 
for  the  Germans! 

No.  2. 
MARTYRDOM  THAT  ENNOBLES. 

To  illustrate  this  memorial,  which  is 
first  addressed  to  the  Friends  of  the 
Beautiful,  and  whose  object  is  to  touch 
the  heart,  we  give  a  sonnet  of  M.  Ed- 
mond  Rostand.  It  is  entitled,  "  The 
Cathedral,"  and  will  show  that  pride  may 
be  taken  by  the  victim  of  violence,  and 
that  a  crime  against  the  beautiful  dimin- 
ishes only  the  brute  who  commits  it: 

Nought  have  they  done  but  render  it 
more  immortal!  The  work  does  not  per- 
ish that  a  scoundrel  has  struck.  Ask 
Phidias,  then,  or  ask  of  Rodin  if  before 
bits  of  his  work  men  no  longer  say,  "  It 
is  his!"  The  fortress  dies  when  once 
dismantled,  but  the  temple  shattered 
lives  but  the  more  nobly;  and  our  eyes, 
of  a  sudden,  remember  the  roof  with 
disdain  and  prefer  to  see  the  sky  in  the 
lace  work  of  the  stone.  Let  us  give 
thanks,  since  till  now  we  lacked  what  the 
Greeks  possess  on  the  hill  of  gold — the 
symbol  of  beauty  consecrated  by  insult! 
Let  us  give  thanks  to  the  layers  of  the 
stupid  cannon,  since  from  their  German 
skill  there  results  for  them — shame;  for 
us — a  Parthenon! 

No.  3. 
A  SOLEMN  PROTEST. 

We  mean  the  one  issued  on  the  2^th 
of  October  by  the  Academic  Franqaise 
at  one  if  its  sessions,  meeting  under  the 
Presidency  of  M.  Marcel  Prevost,  M. 
Etienne   Lamy    being    Perpetual   Secre- 


"THE    GERMANS,   DESTROYERS    OF    CATHEDRALS 


1013 


tary.  The  President  of  the  Republic,  M. 
Raymond  Poincare,  made  it  a  point  to 
he  present  at  this  session,  and  here  is 
the  document  that,  after  long  deliberation, 
was  approved  hy  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  members  present: 

The  Academie  Frangaise  protests 
against  all  the  affirmations  by  which 
Germany  lyingly  imputes  to  France  or 
to  its  allies  the  responsibility  for  the  war. 

It  protests  against  all  the  negations 
opposed  to  the  evident  authenticity  of 
the  abominable  acts  committed  by  the 
German  armies. 

In  the  name  of  French  civilization  and 
human  civilization,  it  stigmatizes  the  vio- 
lators of  Belgian  neutrality,  the  killers 
of  women  and  children,  the  savage  de- 
stroyers of  noble  monuments  of  the  past, 
the  incendiaries  of  the  University  of 
Louvain,  of  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims,  and 
those  who  wanted  also  to  burn  Notre 
Dame. 

It  expresses  its  enthusiasm  for  the 
armies  that  struggle  against  the  coali- 
tion of  Germany  and  Austria. 

With  profound  emotion  it  salutes  our 
soldiers  who,  animated  by  the  virtues  of 
our  ancestors,  are  thus  demonstrating 
the  immortality  of  France. 

When  these  words  were  published  they 
may  have  appeared  excessive  to  certain 
minds  outside  of  the  best-informed  cir- 
cles. *  *  *  Since  then  diplomatic  docu- 
ments have  appeared,  followed  by  various 
official  reports  on  German  atrocities,  and 
today  the  truth  is  known  to  all. 

No.  4. 
THE    FRENCH    POINT    OF    VIEW. 
On  the  2th  of  November  the  President 


of  the  Council,  M.  Rene  Viviani,  traveled 
to  Rheims  in  order  to  deliver  to  the 
Mayor,  M.  Langlet,  the  Cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  that  his  courage  had 
gained  for  him.  On  this  occasion  the 
President  of  the  Council  pronounced  the 
discourse  from  which  the  following  is 
cited  as  exhibiting  French  thought  on 
the  present  war: 

As  if  it  were  really  necessary  to  ac- 
centuate the  role  of  France,  German  mili- 
tarism has  raised  its  voice.  It  proclaims, 
through  the  organ  of  those  whose  mis- 
sion it  is  to  think  for  it,  the  cult  of 
force  and  that  history  asks  no  accounts 
from  the  victor.  We  are  not  a  chi- 
merical people,  nor  dreamers,  we  do  not 
despise  force;  only  we  put  it  in  its  place, 
which  is  at  the  service  of  the  right. 
It  is  for  the  right  that  we  are  contending, 
for  that  Belgium  is  struggling  by  our 
side,  she  who  sacrificed  herself  for 
honor;  and  for  that,  also,  our  English  and 
Russian  allies  whose  armies,  while  wait- 
ing till  they  can  tread  this  unchained 
force  under  foot,  oppose  it  with  an  in- 
vincible rampart.  France  is  not  a  prey- 
ing country;  it  does  not  stretch  out 
rapacious  hands  to  enslave  the  world. 
Since  war  has  been  forced  upon  her,  she 
makes  war.  Soon  the  legitimate  repa- 
rations will  come  which  shall  restore  to 
the  French  hearth  the  souls  that  the 
brutality  of  arms  separated  from  it. 
Associated  in  a  work  of  human  liberation 
we  shall  go  on,  allies  and  Frenchmen 
united  in  war  and  for  peace,  as  long  as 
we  have  not  broken  Prussian  militarism 
and  the  sword  of  murder  with  the  sword 
of  freedom. 


Chronology  of  the  War 

Showing  Progress  of  Campaigns  on  All  Fronts  and  Collateral 

Events  from  June  15,  1915,  Up  to  and 

Including  July  15,  1915. 

CAMPAIGN   IN   EASTERN  EUROPE 


June  16 — Austro-German  drive  toward  Lem- 
berg  continues,  although  Russians  are 
moving  reinforcements  to  their  retreating 
line ;  only  section  where  Russians  are 
checking  the  Teutonic  allies  is  that  between 
the  Dniester  marshes  and  Zurawna ;  Aus- 
trian official  statement  says  that  108  Rus- 
sian officers,  122,800  men,  53  cannon,  and 
187  machine  guns  were  captured  during 
the  first  fifteen  days  of  June ;  Russians 
estimate  that  2,800,000  men  are  operating 
against  them. 

June  17 — Austro-German  drive  at  Lemberg 
continues  from  the  west  and  northwest ; 
at  one  point  Russians  are  retreating  over 
their  own  frontier  toward  Tarnogrod,  four 
miles  from  the  Galician  border ;  Austro- 
Germans  have  battered  their  way  through 
Niemerow,  thirty  miles  northwest  of  Lem- 
berg, and  are  advancing  toward  Jaworow, 
twenty-five  miles   from   Lemborg. 

June  18 — Austro-Gernians  are  nearer  Lem- 
berg ;  the  battle  for  the  Galician  capital 
is  raging  along  a  fortified  line  at  Grodek, 
sixteen  miles  west  of  Lemberg :  Austro- 
Germans  drive  Russians  across  the  frontier 
of  Poland  near  Tarnogrod,  which  falls  into 
the  hands  of  the  Teutonic  allies  :  Austrians 
penetrate  ten  miles  into  Bessarabia. 

June  19 — Austro-Germans  make  important 
gains  in  their  drive  on  Lemberg :  they  take 
the  strongly  fortified  town  of  Grodek,  and 
cross  the  River  Tanew  ;  they  take  Komar- 
no,   twenty   miles   southwest  of  Lemberg. 

June  20 — Russians  are  in  general  retreat  along 
their  entire  front  west  of  Lemberg ;  Mack- 
ensen's  men  take  Russian  trenches  along  a 
front  of  nearly  twenty-four  miles  northwest 
of    Lemberg. 

June  21 — Austro-Germans  take  Rawa  Ruska. 
and  are  now  fighting  east  of  that  town,  the 
investment  of  liCmberg  being  almost  com- 
plete ;  advance  forces  of  the  Teutonic  al- 
lies are  within  nine  miles  of  the  limits  of 
Lemberg ;  north  and  south  of  I^emberg  the 
Russians  are  falling  back  toward  the  city  ; 
on  the  Upper  Dniester  the  Russians  are  be- 
ginning to  evacuate  their  positions. 

June  22 — Austro-German  forces  take  Lemberg, 
capital  of  (Jalicia,  which  has  been  held  by 
the  Russians  since  Sept.  3,  and  which  they 
have  called  Lvov,  the  Second  Austrian 
Army,  under  General  von  Boehm-Krmolli, 
entering  first ;  Russians  withdraw  system- 
atically and  in  good  order,   leaving  behind 


few  prisoners  and  removing  the  Russian 
documents  from  the  city ;  Russians  along 
practically  the  whole  line  in  Gallcia  are 
abandoning  as  much  territory  as  they  can 
cover  in  the  twenty-four  hours  each  day, 
retreating  in  fairly  good  order. 

June  23 — Russians  are  retreating  near  Rawa 
Ruska  and  Zolkiew  ;  Russians  are  ahso  re- 
treating between  the  San  and  Vistula  Riv- 
ers and  in  the  hill  district  of  Kielce,  Rus- 
sian Poland ;  Montenegrins  are  marching 
against  Scutari,  Albania,   in   three  columns. 

June  24 — Russians  are  still  retreating  In  Ga- 
licla. 

June  25 — Russians  throw  part  of  Genera! 
Linsingen's  army  back  across  the  Dniester 
to  the  south  bank  ;  Petrograd  reports  that  the 
Russian  armies,  despite  their  weeks  of  re- 
treat In  Gallcia,  are  practically  intact,  and 
that  they  have  Inflicted  viast  losses  on  the 
Austro-Germans,  having  captured  130,000 
men,  00  cannon,  and  nearly  300  machine 
guns;  severe  fighting  In  Bessarabia. 

June  27 — Russians  retreat  in  Gallcia,  both 
north  and  south  of  Lemberg ;  Serbians  cap- 
ture Micharskaada,  Austria,  near  Shabatz, 
taking  much  war  material 

June  28 — Austro-Germans  take  the  Galician 
town  of  Ualicz  and  cross  the  Dniester ; 
Russians  are  falling  back  to  the  Gnlla  Llpa 
River ;  northeast  of  Lemberg  the  Austro- 
Germans  are  forcing  back  the  Russians, 
who  are  forming  along  the  Bug  River ; 
Montenegrins  occupy  the  Albanian  harbor 
of  Giovanni  Medua  and  are  now  marching 
on    Alessio. 

June  29 — Austro-Germans  drive  Russians 
across  the  Russian  frontier  north  of  Lem- 
berg, taking  the  town  of  Tomaszow,  Poland  ; 
Austro-Germans  reach  the  Gnila  Lipa  River 
and  the  Bug  River,  near  Kamionka  ;  Rome 
reports  that  the  Montenegrins  have  entered 
Scutari,  Albania. 

June  30 — To  the  north  and  northwest  of  Lem- 
berg the  Russians  continue  to  retreat :  the 
Austro-Germans  take  another  Polish  town, 
Zawlchost,  Just  over  the  frontier. 

July  1 — Austro-Germans  continue  their  drive 
into  Poland  from  Gallcia,  and  take  the  for- 
tress of  Zamost,  twenty-five  miles  north  of 
the  Galician  frontier  ;  east  of  Lemberg  the 
Austrian  troops  are  pressing  forward  ;  von 
Mackensen's  troops  advance  between  the 
Vistula  and  Bug  Rivers ;  Austrian  official 
statement  says  that  during  June  the  Teu- 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   WAR 


1015 


tonic  allies  in  Galicia  captured  521  officers, 
194,000  men,  93  guns,  1G4  machine  guns, 
78  caisson,  and  100  miiitary  railway  car- 
riages. 

July  2 — Austro-Germans  continue  to  advance 
in  Galicia  and   Poland. 

July  3 — Austro-Germans  continue  to  advance 
as  the  Russians  fall  back  In  good  order ; 
west  of  Zamosc  the  Russians  are  repulsed 
beyond  the  Por  River ;  east  of  Krasnik, 
the  Austro-Germans  capture  Studzianki ;  it 
is  unofficially  estimated  by  Berlin  experts 
that  from  May  2  until  June  27  the  Rus- 
sians left  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans 
1,630  officers  and  520,000  men  as  prison- 
ers, 300  field  guns,  770  machine  guns,  and 
vast   quantities   of   war   material. 

July  4 — Linsingen's  army  is  advancing  toward 
the  Zlota  Lipa  River,  the  Russians  falling 
back :  along  the  Bug  River  Mackensen's 
armies  are  attacking ;  Teutonic  allies  take 
the  heights  north  of  Krasnik ;  there  is 
fierce  fighting  in  the  Russian  Baltic  prov- 
inces. 

July  5 — Russians  are  making  a  desperate  stand 
between  the  Pruth  and  Dniester  Rivers. 

July  6 — With  the  exception  of  certain  sectors 
between  the  Vistula  and  the  Bug  Rivers, 
the  Austro-German  drive  seems  to  be  los- 
ing its  momentum  ;  the  Russians  are  hold- 
ing at  most  points  along  their  line. 

July  7 — Russians,  who  have  been  strongly  re- 
inforced, check  the  Austro-German  advance 
toward  the  Lublin  Railway,  which  threat- 
ens   to    imperil    Warsaw. 

July  8 — Russians  hold  up  Austro-German  at- 
tempt to  outflank  Warsaw  from  the  south- 
west ;  Austrians  are  compelled  to  retire 
north  of  Krasnik ;  Austro-Germans  are 
checked   on   the   lower   Zlota   Lipa   River. 

July  10 — Russians  are  delivering  smashing 
blows  against  the  Austrians,  commanded  by 
Archduke    Ferdinand,    in    Southern    Poland. 

July  12 — On  the  East  Prussian  front,  near 
Suwalkl,  the  Germans  take  2i  miles  of 
Russian  trenches ;  in  the  Lublin  region, 
Southern  Poland,  the  Russian  troops,  hav- 
ing completed  their  counter-offensive  move- 
ment, occupy  the  positions  assigned  to  them 
on  the  heights  of  the  right  bank  of 
the  River  Urzendooka ;  Austrians  repulse 
strong  and  repeated  Montenegrin  attacks 
on  the  Herzegovina  frontier. 

July  13 — The  Austrians  in  the  Lublin  region 
are  retreating  toward  the  Galiclan  fron- 
tier and  some  of  them  have  crossed  the 
border  into  their  own   territory. 

July  15 — Germans  renew  their  drive  on 
Warsaw  from  the  north,  and  take  Przas- 
nysz,  a  fortified  town  fifty  miles  north  of 
Warsaw. 

CAI^fPAIGN  IN  WESTEEN 
EUROPE 

June  16 — British  resume  oflfenslve  near  Ypres, 
north  of  Hooge,  capturing  trenches  along 
a  front  of  1.000  yards  :  French  make  gains 
north  ftf  Ari-as,  in  the  labyrinth,  and  near 


Souchez  and  Lorette ;  French  make  prog- 
ress in  the  Vosges,  on  both  banks  of  the 
Fecht    River. 

June  17 — After  severe  fighting  for  two  days, 
during  which  the  Germans  bring  220,000 
men  into  action  and  the  French  fire  300,- 
000  shells,  French  make  important  gains 
near  Souchez  and  at  other  points  in  the 
sector  north  of  Arras ;  French  retain  nearly 
all  their  gains,  despite  furious  counter-at- 
tacks. 

June  18-— A  strong  and  concerted  attack  is 
being  made  by  the  British  and  French  upon 
the  German  front  from  east  of  Ypres  to 
south  of  Arras ;  British  retain  a  first  line 
of  German  trenches  won  east  of  Ypres. 

June  19 — French  carry  by  assault  the  posi- 
tion of  Fond  de  Buval,  a  ravine  west  of  the 
road  between  Souchez  and  Aix-Noulette, 
where  fighting  has  been  in  progress  since 
May  9  ;  French  advance  northwest  of  the 
labyrinth ;  French  advance  farther  on  the 
Fecht  River  in  Alsace,  Germans  evacuat- 
ing  Metzeral,    after   setting   it   on   fire. 

June  20 — Germans  make  a  strong  attack  on 
the  French  lines  in  the  Western  Argonne, 
the  French  stating  that  it  was  preceded  by 
a  bombardment  with  asphyxiating  projec- 
tiles. 

June  21 — French  take  trenches  on  the  heights 
of  the  Meuse  ;  in  Lorraine  the  French  ad- 
vance and  take  the  works  to  the  west  of 
Gondrexon ;  in  Alsace  the  French  are  ad- 
vancing beyond  Metzeral  in  the  direction 
of  Meyerhof. 

June  22 — It  is  ofiicially  announced  that  the 
French  are  in  possession  of  the  labyrinth, 
for  which  furious  fighting  has  been  in  prog- 
ress day  and  night  since  May  30 ;  the  laby- 
rinth consists  of  a  vast  network  of  forti- 
fications built  by  the  Germans  between  J^eu- 
vllle-St.  Vaast  and  Ecurie,  north  of  Arras, 
forming  a   salient  of  the   German  line. 

June  25 — On  the  heights  of  the  Meuse,  at  the 
Calonne  trench,  Germans  make  a  violent 
night  attack,  with  the  aid  of  asphyxiating 
bombs  and  flaming  liquids,  and  penetrate 
that  portion  of  the  former  German  second 
line  of  defense  recently  taken  by  the 
French,  but  the  French  retake  the  ground 
by  a   counter-attack. 

June  26 — Germans  retake  some  of  their 
trenches  north   of   Souchez. 

June  27 — Violent  artillery  fighting  occurs  In 
Belgium  and  north  of  Arras. 

June  28 — Severe  artillery  duels  are  fought 
along  the  front  from  the  Aisne  to  Flanders. 

June  29 — Heavy  cannonading  is  in  progress 
north   of  Arras,   particularly   near   Souchez. 

June  30 — -Artillery  actions  are  fought  north 
of  Arras  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Yser ; 
in  the  Argonne  the  Germans  gain  a  foot- 
hold at  some  points  of  the  French  line 
near  Bagatelle. 

July  1 — North  of  Arras  and  along  the  Alsne 
heavy  artillery  engagements  are  being 
fought. 

July  2 — In  the  western  part  of  the  Argonne 
a   German   army   under   the   Crown    Prince 


1016 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


takes  the  offensive,  and  northwest  of  Le 
Four-de-Paris  German  troops  advance  from 
one-eighth  to  one-fifth  of  a  mile  on  a  three- 
mile  front,  taking  war  material  and  pris- 
oners. 

July  3 — German  artillery  carries  on  severe 
bombardments  along  practically  the  whole 
front ;  French  repulse  two  German  attacks 
in  the  region  of  Metzeral. 

July    4 — Spirited    artillery   actions    are    fought 
in     the    region    of    N'icuport    and    on    the . 
Steenstraete-Het   Sase   front. 

July  5 — Germans  take  trenches  from  the 
French  at  the  Forest  of  Le  Prfitre ;  French 
repulse  attacks  north  of  Arras. 

July  6 — British  gain  near  Ypres,  expelling 
Germans  from  trenches  near  Pilkem  won 
during  the  gas  assaults  in  April. 

July  8 — French  take  800  yards  of  trenches 
north  of  the  Souchez  railway  station,  Ger- 
mans recapturing  100  yards ;  German 
counter-attacks  on  the  trenches  southwest 
of  Pilkem,  recently  taken  by  the  British, 
are  repulsed  by  British  and  French  artil- 
lery. 

July  9 — British  press  on  north  of  Ypres,  the 
Germans  falling  back  after  a  two-days' 
bombardment ;  in  the  Vosges,  near  Fonte- 
nelle,   the   French   advance. 

July  10 — French  check  the  Germans  north  of 
Arras  and  the  Belgians  check  them  on  the 
Yser. 

July  11 — Artillery  actions  are  in  progress  at 
Nieuport,  in  the  region  of  the  Aisne,  in 
Champagne,  in  the  territory  between  the 
Upper  Meuse  and  Moselle,  and  in  the  Vos- 
ges ;  Arras  and  Rheims  are  again  shelled. 

July  1.3 — German  Crown  Prince's  army,  at- 
tacking in  force,  is  thrown  back  by  the 
French  in  the  Argonne,  the  move  being  re- 
garded by  military  observers  as  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  offensive  against  Ver- 
dun. 

July  14 — The  German  Crown  Prince's  army 
in  the  Argonne  advances  two-thirds  of  a 
mile,  the  French  then  halting  it. 

July  15 — Germans  hold  gains  made  in  the  Ar- 
gonne. 

ITALIAN  CAMPAIGN 

June  16 — Along  the  Isonzo  River,  on  the  line 
from  Podgora  to  Montforton  and  to  the 
intersection  of  the  Monfalcone  Canal,  Aus- 
trians  are  holding  Italians  in  check  by 
elaborate  defenses,  which  include  intrcnch- 
ments  sometimes  in  several  lines  and  often 
In  masonry  or  concrete,  reinforced  by  me- 
tallic sheeting  and  protected  by  a  net- 
work of  mines  or  batteries  often  placed 
below  ground ;  Italians  are  attacking  Aus- 
trian   positions   at   Goritz. 

June  17 — After  a  two-days'  fight,  Italians 
take  the  heights  near  Plava,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Isonzo  River ;  Italians  oper- 
ating in  the  Trent ino  occupy  Mori,  five 
miles  from  Rovereto. 

June  18 — Austrians  are  taking  the  offensive 
from  Mori  and  Rovereto  against  the  Ital- 


ians   at    Brentonico,    at    Serravale,    and    in 
the    Arsa    Valley ;    Austrians    repulse    Ital- 
ians near  Plava  ;   Italians  are  shelling  Gra- 
disca. 
June     19 — It     is     unofficially     reported     from 
Rome    tnat  the   Italian    army   now   occupies 
10,000   square   kilometers    of   "unredeemed" 
territory,    or   more   than   twice   as  much   as 
Austria  offered  to  Italy  for  remaining  neu- 
tral. 
June   20 — In   the   Monte  Nero   region,    Italians 
take  further  positions  ;  Italians  repulse  two 
counter-attacks  on  the  Isonzo. 
June    21 — Italians    are    making    a    general    at- 
tack   on    Austrian    positions ;   Austrians    re- 
pulse   Italians    east    of    the    Fassa    Valley; 
Austrians   repulse   two   attacks  near   Preva. 
June  22 — Italians  have  had  heavy   losses  dur- 
ing   the    last    four    days    in    attempting   to 
take    by    assault    Austrian    positions    along 
the   Isonzo   River. 
June    23 — Italians   gain    possession    of    all    the 
positions    defending    Malborgeth    in    Carnia, 
after    hard    fighting,    and    are    bombarding 
the  city. 
June   24 — Austrians    take    a    general    offensive, 
made  possible   by   extensive    reinforcements, 
but    fail    to    make    gains ;    heavy    artillery 
fighting    is    in    progress    along    the    Isonzo. 
June     25 — Italians    are    advancing    gradually 
along    the    Isonzo    River    and    have    taken 
Globna,   north   of   Plava,   and   on   the  lower 
Isonzo  have  taken  the  edge  of  the  plateau 
between   Sagrado  and   Monfalcone. 
June   27 — West  of  the   Monte   Croce    Pass   the 
Italians    occupy    the    summit    of    Zeillenko- 
fel,   2,500  feet  high  ;   ofllcial    Italian   report 
states  that  at  various  points  on  the  Isonzo 
River   the   Austrians   are   using   shells    con- 
taining asphyxiating  gases. 
June   28 — -Italians   have   entered   Austrian   ter- 
ritory  south   of  Riva,   on   the   western   side 
of     Lake     Garda.     through     the     Nota     Vil 
passes  about  5,000  feet  high,  and  have  de- 
scended   the    precipitous    cliffs    of    Carone 
Mountain,   over  8,000  feet  high,   and   have 
entered     the     Ledro    Valley,     reaching     the 
Ponale   River. 
June    29 — Austrian    artillery    is    active    in    the 

Tyrol  and  Trentino  regions. 
June  30 — Italians  on  the  Carnic  front  capture 
three  passes  in  the  Alps  ;  Austrians  repulse 
attacks  in  the  Monfalcone  and  Sagrado  dis- 
trict, and  near  I'lava. 
July    1 — Austrians    repulse    Italians    northeast 

of   Monfalcone. 
July  2 — Italians  take  the  village  of  Tolmlno, 
on    the    Isonzo,    north    of    Gorizia,    but    the 
Austrians    hold    the    neighboring    fortifica- 
tions   and    are    bombardmg    the    village. 
July   3 — Italians   make   slight  gains  along   the 
Isonzo ;    Austrians   repulse  repeated    Italian 
attacks  near  Folazzo  and  Sagrado. 
July    4 — A    battle    is    raging    on    the    Isonzo 
River,     between    Caporctto    and    Gradisca  : 
Italians    are    advancing    on    the    east    bank 
between  Plava  and   Tolmlno. 
July  5 — Italians  are  shelling  the  Austrian  de- 
fensive works  at  Malborgeth  and  Predll. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    WAR 


1017 


July  6 — Austrian  attacks  in  the  Tyrol  and 
Trentino  region  are  repulsed  ;  Italians  gain 
ground  on  the  Carso  plateau  beyond  the 
Isonzo. 

July  7 — Austrians  repulse  repeated  and  strong 
Italian  attacks  against  the  Doberdo  Pla- 
teau ;  Austrians  hold  the  bridgehead 
at  Goritz,  despite  terrific  bombardment  by 
massed   guns. 

July  8 — Italians  repulse  attacks  in  Carnia ; 
Italians  are  slowly  advancing  on  the  Car- 
nic   Plateau. 

July  9 — In  the  upper  Ansici  Valley  the  Ital- 
ian artillery  bombards  Platzwlsce  Fort ; 
Italian  artillery  continues  to  bombard  the 
defenses  of  Malborgeth  and   Predil  Pass. 

July  12 — Austrians  are  making  desperate  at- 
tempts to  penetrate  Italy  through  the  Car- 
nlc  Alps,  relying  chiefly  upon  night  at- 
tacks, but  all  attacks  have  thus  far  been 
repulsed. 

July  13 — Attempt  to  invade  Italian  territory 
at  Kreusbcrg  is  repulsed  with  heavy  loss. 

July  14— Italians  take  two  miles  of  Austrian 
trenches  in  the  Carnic  Alps ;  Italians  take 
two   forts  south  of  Goritz. 

TUKKISH  CAMPAIGN 

June  16 — Turkish  artillery  damages  Allies'  po- 
sitions at  Avi  Burnu. 

June  17 — British  repulse  Turks  who  attempt 
to  retake  trenches  lost  by  them  a  few  days 
ago  ;  a  German  ofBcer  leads  the  Turks. 

June  20 — Turks  are  undertaking  offensive  op- 
erations in  the  Caucasus ;  Turks  defeat 
Russians  near  OIti,  Transcaucasia,  flfty-flve 
miles  west  of  Kars,  capturing  war  mate- 
rial. 

June  21 — Turkish  Asiatic  batteries  bombard 
allied  columns  on  way  to  new  positions. 

June  22 — French  attack  Turkish  lines  along 
two-thirds  of  the  entire  front  on  the  Gallip- 
oli  Peninsula,  Infantry  charges  following 
a  heavy  bombardment ;  on  the  left  the 
French  carry  two  lines  of  the  Turkish 
trenches  and  hold  them  against  counter- 
attacks ;  to  the  right,  after  an  all-day  bat- 
tle, the  French  also  take  Turkish  works, 
most  of  which  are  wrecked  by  the  French 
artillery ;  the  French  now  hold  the  ground 
commanding  the  head  of  the  ravine  of  Ke- 
reves  Dere,  which  had  been  defended  by 
the  Turks  for  several  months. 

June  27 — In  the  Caucasus  region  the  Russians 
recently  occupied  the  town  of  Gob,  twenty- 
five  miles  north  of  Lake  Van,  and  Russian 
forces  are  moving  toward  Biltis,  Armenia, 
where  Turkish  forces  are  concentrated. 

June  30 — Allies  take  several  lines  of  Turkish 
trenches  near  Krithia. 

July  2 — Recent  gains  made  by  the  Allies  on 
the  Gallipoli  Peninsula  are  held  despite 
furious  counter-attacks. 

July  4 — Turks  deliver  a  general  attack,  pre- 
ceded by  a  heavy  bombardment,  against  the 
Allies'  line  on  the  southern  part  of  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula,  but  are  repulsed  with 
severe  losses. 


July  7 — In  a  furious  fight  on  the  southern  part 
of  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  British  and 
French  advance  their  lines  five-eighths  of 
a  mile,  inflicting  Turkish  losses  which  they 
estimate  at  21,000 ;  the  advance  is  part  of 
the  work  of  throwing  forces  around  Atchl 
Baba,  described  as  now  being  one  of  the 
strongest  fortresses  in  the  world. 

July  9- — Turkish  forces,  supported  by  Arabs, 
are  threatening  Aden. 

July  13 — Lively  fighting  between  the  Russians 
and  Turks  has  occurred  recently  north  and 
south  of  Van  Lake,  Turkish  Armenia,  and 
south  of  Olti,  Transcaucasia,  the  Russians 
having  the  advantage. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  AFRICA 

June  19 — French  Minister  of  Colonies  an- 
nounces that  on  May  24,  after  heavy  fight- 
ing, French  colonial  troops  forced  the  Ger- 
mans to  capitulate  at  Monso,  Kamerun,  af- 
ter taking  position  after  position ;  the 
French  captured  many  prisoners,  including 
considerable  numbers  of  white  troops,  and 
large  amounts  of  stores ;  French  troops  con- 
tinue an  offensive  movement  toward  Besam, 
southeast  of  Lomis. 

June  25 — By  land  and  water  the  British  attack 
the  German  fortified  port  of  Bukoba,  Ger- 
man East  Africa,  on  Lake  Victoria  Nyan- 
za,  destroying  the  fort,  putting  the  wireless 
station  out  of  action,  sinking  many  boats, 
and  capturing  and  destroying  guns. 

July  8 — All  the  German  military  forces  in  Ger- 
man Southwest  Africa  surrender  uncondi- 
tionally to  General  Botha,  commander  of 
the  forces  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa. 

NAVAL  RECORD— GENERAL 

June  18 — Austrian  squadron  bombards  Italian 
coast  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tagliamento  Riv- 
er, but  withdraws  on  being  attacked  by 
Italian  destroyers ;  Austrian  destroyer 
shells  Monopoli ;  Austrian  torpedo  boat 
sinks  Italian  merchantman  Maria  Grecia ; 
Italian  squadron,  supported  by  an  Anglo- 
French  contingent,  bombards  several  isl- 
ands of  the  Dalmatian  Archipelago,  doing 
considerable   damage. 

June  21 — Allied  ships  bombard  Turkish  batter- 
ies on  Asiatic  side  of  the  Dardanelles. 

June  22 — German  warships  in  the  Baltic  Sea 
capture  five  Swedish  steamers,  lumber 
laden,  bound  for  England ;  French  battle- 
ship St.  Louis  bombards  Turkish  batteries 
on  Asiatic  side  of  the  Dardanelles. 

June  24 — British  torpedo  gunboat  Hussar 
bombards  the  ports  of  Chesmeh,  Lidia,  and 
Aglelia,  opposite  Chios,  destroying  small 
Turkish  vessels  and  doing  other  damage. 

June  26 — Netherlands  steamer  Ceres  is  sunk 
by  a  mine  In  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia,  crew  be- 
ing saved. 

June  30 — British  torpedo  boat  destroyer  Light- 
ning is  damaged  off  the  east  coast  of  En- 
gland by  a  mine  or  torpedo  explosion,  but 
makes  harbor ;  fourteen  of  the  crew  miss- 
ing. 


1018 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


July  2 — A  battle  occurs  between  Russian  and 
German  squadrons  in  the  Baltic,  between  the 
Island  of  Oeland  and  the  Couiiand  coast ; 
after  a  brief  engagement  the  German  squad- 
ron, outnumbered  and  outmatched  in 
strength,  flees  ;  the  German  mine  layer  Al- 
batross is  wrecked  by  Russian  gunfire  and 
is  beached  by  her  crew  ;  the  Russian  squad- 
ron then  sails  northward,  sighting  another 
German  squadron,  which  is  also  outmatched 
in  strength ;  the  German  ships  flee  after  a 
thirty-minute  fight,  a  German  torpedo  boat 
being  damaged  :  Dutch  lugger  Katwyk  147 
is  sunk  by  a  mine  in  the  North  Sea,  ten  of 
crew  being  lost. 

July  0 — Italy  closes  the  Adriatic  Sea  to  navi- 
gation by  merchant  vessels  of  all  coun- 
tries. 

NAVAL  RECORD— SUBMARINES 

June  IG — German  submarine  sinks  British 
steamer  Strathnairn  oft  Scilly  Isles,  twenty- 
two  of  the  crew  being  drowned ;  German 
submarines  sink  British  trawlers  Petrel,  Ex- 
plorer, and  Japonica. 

June  17 — Austrian  submarine  torpedoes  and 
sinks  Italian  submarine  Medusa,  this  being 
the  first  instance  on  record  of  the  sinking 
of  one  under-sea  boat  by  another ;  Ger- 
man Admiralty  announces  the  loss  of  the 
submarine  U-14,  her  crew  being  captured  by 
the  British  ;  Athens  reports  that  a  British 
submarine  has  torpedoed  and  sunk  three 
Turkish  transports,  loaded  with  troops,  in 
the  Dardanelles  above  Nagara  ;  German  sub- 
marine sinks  British  steamer  Trafford,  crew 
b.'ing  saved. 

June  18— German  submarine  sinks  British 
steamer  Ailsa  off  Scotland,  crew  being  saved. 

June  19 — German  Admiralty  states  that  the 
submarine  U-29,  commanded  by  Captain 
Weddigen,  which  was  destroyed  weeks  ago, 
was  rammed  and  sunk  by  a  British  tank 
steamer  flying  the  Swedish  flag,  after  the 
tanker  had  been  ordered  to  stop ;  British 
Government  makes  an  official  statement  that 
the  U-29  was  sunk  by  "one  of  His  Majesty's 
ships" ;  German  submarine  sinks  British 
steamer  Dulcie,  one  of  the  crew  being  lost. 

June  20 — German  submarine  torpedoes  British 
cruiser  Roxburgh  in  the  North  Sea ;  the 
damage  is  not  serious  and  the  cruiser  pro- 
ceeds  to  port  under  her  own   steam. 

June  21 — German  submarine  sinks  by  gunfire 
the  British  steamer  Carisbrook,  crew  being 
saved. 

June  22 — It  is  oflScially  announced  at  Petro- 
grad  that  Russian  submarines  have  sunk  a 
large  Turkish  steamer  and  two  sailing  ves- 
sels in  the  Black  Sea. 

June  2.3 — German  submarine  torpedoes  and  then 
burns  Norwegian  steamer  Truma,  near  the 
Shetland  Islands,   crew  being  saved. 

June  26— Austrian  submarine  torpedoes  and 
sinks  an  Italian  torpedo  boat  in  the  North- 
ern   Adriatic. 

June  27 — German  submarine  sinks  British 
schooner  Edith,  crew  being  saved. 


June  28 — German  submarine  Il-.'iS  sinks  the 
British  steamer  Armenian,  of  the  Leyland 
Line,  off  the  Cornwall  coast,  twenty-nine 
men  being  lost  and  ten  injured  ;  among  the 
dead  are  twenty  Americans,  employed  as 
attendants  for  the  horses  and  mules  com- 
posing the  chief  portion  of  the  Armenian's 
cargo ;  recital  of  one  of  the  crew  of  the 
British  submarine  E-11 — the  vessel  which 
entered  the  Sea  of  Marmora  and  the  har- 
bor of  Constantinople,  her  commander  being 
given  the  Victoria  Cross  and  each  of  the 
crew  the  Distinguished  Service  Medal — 
shows  that  the  E-11  sank  one  Turkish  gun- 
boat, one  Turkish  supply  ship,  one  German 
transport,  three  Turkish  steamers,  and  six 
Turkish  transports. 

June  29 — German  submarine  sinks  British 
steamer  Scottish  Monarch,  fifteen  of  crew 
being  lost ;  German  submarines  sink  Nor- 
wegian steamers  Cambuskenneth  and  Gjeso, 
and  Norwegian  sailing  vessel  Marna ;  the 
crews  are  saved. 

June  30 — British  steamer  Lomas  is  sunk  by  a 
German  submarine,  one  man  being  killed ; 
British  bark  Thistlebank  Is  sunk  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  ;  some  of  crew  missing. 

July  1 — German  submarines  sink  British  steam- 
ers Caucasian  and  Inglemoor,  crews  being 
saved ;  German  submarine  sinks  Italian 
ship  Sardomene  off  Irish  coast,  two  of  crew 
being  killed  and  several  wounded. 

July  2 — German  submarines  sink  steamer  Wel- 
bury,  bark  Sardozne,  and  schooner  L.  C. 
Tower,  all  British,  the  crews  being  saved  ; 
captain  of  the  Tower  says  that  the  subma- 
rine which  sank  his  ship  was  disguised  with 
rigging,  two  dummy  canvas  funnels,  two 
masts,  and  a  false  bow  and  stern,  having 
the  appearance  of  a  deeply  laden  steamer ; 
at  the  entrance  of  Danzig  Bay  a  Russian 
submarine  blows  up  by  two  torpedoes  a  Ger- 
man battleship  of  the  Deutschland  class, 
which  is  steaming  at  the  head  of  a  German 
squadron,  while  a  Russian  destroyer  rams  a 
German    submarine. 

July  3 — German  submarines  sink  the  steam- 
ships Larchmore,  Renfrew,  Gadsby,  Rich- 
mond, and  Craigard,  all  British,  and  the 
Belgian  steamship  Boduognat.  the  crews  be- 
ing saved  ;  Russian  submarine  in  the  Black 
Sea  sinks  two  Turkish  steamers  and  one 
sailing  ship. 

July  4 — German  submarine  sinks  French  steam- 
er Carthage. 

July  5— German  submarines  sink  Norwegian 
bark  Fiery  Cross  and  British  schooner  Sun- 
beam. 

July  7 — -Nearly  20.000  vessels  have  entered  or 
left  the  Port  of  Liverpool  since  the  Ger- 
man submarine  blockade  began,  yet  only  29 
ships  have  been  captured  or  destroyed ; 
Austrian  submarine  sinks  Italian  armored 
cruiser  Amalfi  in  Tipper  Adriatic,  most  of 
the  officers  and  crew  being  saved. 

July  10 — British  steamer  Ellesmere,  Norwegian 
steamer  Nordaas,  and  Italian  steamer  Clio 
are  sunk  by  German  submarines ;  one  of  the 
crew  of  the  Nordaas  is  killed. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE    WAR 


1019 


AERIAL  RECORD 

June  16 — Ofiicial  British  statement  shows  that 
sixteen  persons  were  killed  and  forty  in- 
jured by  a  Zeppelin  raid  on  the  northeast 
coast  of  England  on  June  15,  and  that  twen- 
ty-four persons  were  killed  and  forty  in- 
jured by  a  Zeppelin  raid  on  the  same  coast 
on  June  G  ;  German  aeroplanes  drop  bombs 
on  Nancy,  St.  Die,  and  Belfort. 

June  17 — Sub-Lieutenant  Warneford,  who  won 
the  Victoria  Cross  for  blowing  a  Zeppelin  to 
pieces,  is  killed  by  the  fall  of  his  aeroplane 
at  Buc,  France  ;  French  air  squadrons  bom- 
bard German  reserve  forces  at  Givenchy  and 
in  the  Forest  of  La  Folic,  dispersing  troops 
about  to  attack  the  French  ;  squadron  of 
Italian  dirigibles  bombards  Austrian  posi- 
tions at  Monte  Santo  and  intrenchments 
facing  Gradisca,  doing  considerable  dam- 
age ;  the  squadron  also  damages  the  Ovola- 
deaga  station  on  the  railroad  from  Gorizia 
to   Dornberg. 

June  18 — Italian  dirigible  bombards  an  ammu- 
nition factory  near  Trieste. 

June  19 — In  a  duel  between  a  French  and  a 
German  aeroplane  near  Thann,  in  Upper 
Alsace,  fought  at  a  height  of  10,500  feet, 
the  French  aviator  kills  the  German. 

June  20 — Germans  shoot  down  one  allied  aero- 
plane near  Iseghem,  Flanders,  and  another 
near  Vouziers,  in  Champagne. 

June  21 — Austrian  naval  planes  bombard  the 
railway  stations  at  Bari  and  Brindisi,  do- 
ing considerable  damage :  allied  aeroplanes 
bombard  Turkish  batteries  on  Asiatic  side  of 
the    Dardanelles. 

June  22 — British  aeroplane  drops  three  bombs 
on  Smyrna,  causing  seventy  casualties  in 
the  garrison. 

June  25 — French  aviators  drop  twenty  bombs 
on  the  station  of  Douai,  fifteen  miles  north- 
east of  Arras. 

June  26 — British  aviators  drop  bombs  near 
Roulers,  Belgium,  causing  the  explosion  of 
a  large  ammunition  depot  and  the  killing  of 
fifty  German  soldiers. 

June  27 — French  aeroplane  drops  eight  shells 
on  the  Zeppelin  hangars  at  Fried richshafen. 

July  1 — French  aeroplanes  drop  bombs  on  Zee- 
brugge  and  Bruges,  but  slight  damage  is 
done. 

July  2 — Austrian  aeroplane  bombards  the  town 
of  Cornions,  Austria,  now  in  Italian  hands, 
killing  a  woman  and  boy,  and  wounding  five 
other  civilians. 

July  3 — German  aeroplanes  bombard  a  fort 
near  Harwich,  Kngland,  and  bombard  a  Brit- 
ish torpedo  boat  destroyer  flotilla  :  German 
aeroplanes  also  bombard  Nancy  and  the  rail- 
road station  at  Dombasle.  southeast  of  Nan- 
cy, severing  railroad  communication  with 
the  fort  at  Remiremont ;  a  German  aero- 
plane forces  a  French  aeroplane  to  alight 
near  Schlucht ;  German  air  squadron  drops 
bombs  on  Bruges,  doing  slight  damage ; 
French  airmen  bombard  the  railroad  sta- 
tions at  Challerange.  Zarren,  and  Lange- 
marck,  in  Belgium,  and  German  batteries  at 


Vimy  and  Beauraing,  doing  considerable 
damage. 
July  13 — A  French  squadron  of  thirty-five 
aviators  drops  171  bombs  at  and  near  the 
railroad  station  strategically  established  by 
the  Germans  at  Vigneulles-les-IIattonchatel, 
where  ammunition  and  other  stores  are  con- 
centrated ;  the  bombs  start  several  fires ;  all 
the  aeroplanes  return,  though  violently  can- 
nonaded ;  French  squadron  of  twenty  aero- 
planes bombards  with  forty  shells  the  sta- 
tion at  Libercourt,  between  Douai  and 
Lille ;  aeroplanes  furnished  with  cannon, 
part  of  the  squadron,  bombard  a  train. 

AUS  TRI A-HUNG  ARY 

July  15 — A  Red  Book  issued  by  the  Ministry  of 
Foreign  Affairs  charges  cruelty  and  breaches 
of  international  law  against  the  Allies. 

BELGIUM 

July  2 — General  von  Bissing,  German  Governor- 
General,  issues  an  order  forbidding,  under 
penalty  of  fine  or  imprisonment,  the  wear- 
ing or  exhibiting  of  Belgian  insignia  In  a 
provocative  manner,  and  forbidding  abso- 
lutely the  wearing  or  exhibiting  of  the  in- 
signia of  the  nations  warring  against  Ger- 
many and  her  allies. 

CANADA 

June  23 — The  Victoria  Cross  is  conferred  on 
three  Canadians  for  bravery  near  Ypres, 
while  seventy  other  Canadians  get  the 
C.  B.,  the  C.  M.  G.,  or  the  D.  S.  O. 

July  10 — The  Canadian  casualties  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  total  9,982,  of  which  the 
killed   numl)er  1,709. 

July  14 — Sir  Robert  Borden,  Premier  of  Can- 
ada, now  in  London,  on  invitation  of  Pre- 
mier Asquith  attends  a  meeting  of  the  Brit- 
ish Cabinet,  this  being  the  first  time  a 
colonial  minister  has  joined  British  Cabi- 
net deliberations. 

FRANCE 

June  21 — Announcement  is  made  in  Paris  that 
the  French  Postal  Service  is  handling  mail 
in  ninety  towns  and  villages  of  Alsace,  all 
of  which  bear  the  names  they  had  in  1870; 
the  total  amount  of  credits  voted  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war  exceeds  $.3,123,000,- 
000  :  at  present  France's  war  expenses  are 
about  .$400,000,000  a  month. 

July  1 — Ministry  of  War  oflicially  states  that 
at  no  time  during  the  war  has  the  French 
artillery  used  any  shells  whatever  manu- 
factuied  in  the  United  States,  this  state- 
ment being  called  forth  by  German  decla- 
rations that  much  American  ammunition  is 
being  used  by  France. 

GERMANY 

June  18 — Unofficial  statement  from  Berlin 
shows  that  the  prisoners  thus  far  taken  by 
the  German  and  Austro-Hungarian  armies 
total  1,610,000,  of  whom  1.240,000  are  Rus- 
sians,  and   255,000   French. 

July  1- — The  Prussian  losses  alone  to  the  end 
of  June  total  1,504,523. 


1020 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


GREAT  BRITAIN 

June  22 — House  of  Commons  unanimously 
gives  a  first  reading  to  a  bill  authorizing 
the  raising  by  loan  of  $5,000,000,000,  if 
that  much  be  necessary. 

June  23 — Minister  of  Munitions  Lloyd  George 
announces  in  the  House  of  Commons  that 
he  has  given  British  labor  seven  days,  be- 
ginning to-morrow,  in  which  to  make  good 
the  promise  of  its  leaders  that  men  will 
rally  to  the  factories  in  sufficient  numbers 
to  produce  a  maximum  supply  of  munitions 
of  war ;  failure  will  mean  compulsion,  he 
states. 

July  1 — John  E.  Redmond,  leader  of  the  Irish 
Nationalist  Party,  iu  a  speech  at  Dublin, 
states  that  up  to  June  16,  120,741  Irish- 
men from   Ireland  had  joined  the  army. 

July  2 — The  Munitions  Bill  is  passed  in  all  its 
stages  by  the  House  of  Lords. 

July  12 — After  more  than  a  fortnight's  work, 
the  600  labor  bureaus  opened  when  Minis- 
ter of  Munitions  Lloyd  George  gave  labor 
a  chance  voluntarily  to  enroll  as  munitions 
workers,  closes  with  a  total  registration 
of  90,000. 

July  13 — The  total  subscription  to  the  war 
loan  is  close  to  $3,000,000,000,  subscribed 
by  1,097,000  persons,  stated  by  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  McKenna  to  be  by  far  the 
largest  amount  subscribed  in  the  history  of 
the  world ;  Lord  Lansdowne  tells  the  House 
of  Lords  that  there  are  now  about  460,- 
000  British  soldiers  at  the  front. 

July  15 — Two  hundred  thousand  Welsh  coal 
miners  strike,  defying  the  Ministry. 

INDIA 

July  4 — There  are  repeated  and  insistent  re- 
ports in  Europe,  chiefly  from  German 
sources,  that  riots  are  occurring  at  various 
points  in  India  ;  it  is  stated  that  recently 
the  Indian  cavalry  at  Lahore  mutinied, 
killed  their  oflScers  and  British  civilians, 
and  pillaged  and  destroyed  hotels  and 
houses ;  two  battalions  of  troops  ready  to 
be  transported  to  Europe  are  also  said  to 
have  mutinied  and  to  have  dispersed,  after 
shooting  their  ofl[icers ;  there  are  declared 
to  have  been  serious  battles  between  police 
and  mutinous  troops  in  Madras. 

RUMANIA 

July  7 — The  Austro-Hungarlan  Minister  to  Ru- 
mania presents  to  the  Rumanian  Prime  Min- 
ister proposals  offering  Rumania  certain 
concessions  in  exchange  for  definite  neu- 
trality and  facilities  for  supplying  Turkey 
with  munitions  of  war ;  one  month  Is  given 
Rumania    for    decision. 

SOUTH  AFRICA 

June  21 — General  Christian  de  Wet,  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  South  African  rebellion 
against  the  British  Government,  is  found 
guilty  of  treason  on  eight  counts  at  Bloem- 
fontein,  Union  of  South  Africa ;  be  is  sen- 


tenced   to    six   years'    imprisonment   and    is 
fined  $10,000. 


UNITED  STATES 

June  16 — A  report  is  received  by  the  State 
Department  from  Ambassador  Page  on  the 
injury  to  the  Nebraskan  on  May  25,  when 
she  was  struck  by  either  a  torpedo  or  a 
mine  ;  the  report  contains  evidence  tending 
to  show  that  she  was  torpedoed  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine. 

June  28 — Text  of  the  American  note  to  the 
German  Government  on  the  William  P. 
Frye  case,  in  reply  to  the  last  German 
note  on  this  subject,  which  note  has  just 
been  delivered  by  Ambassador  Gerard,  is 
made   public  in   Washington. 

June  29 — Austro-Hungarian  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs  sends  a  note  to  the  American 
Ambassador  at  Vienna  protesting  against 
the  exports  of  arms  from  the  United 
States. 

July  2 — A  bomb  wrecks  the  east  reception 
room  on  the  main  floor  of  the  Senate  wing 
of  the  Capitol  Building  at  Washington  just 
before    midnight,    no   one   being   Injured. 

July  3 — J.  P.  Morgan  is  shot  twice  at  his 
country  estate  on  East  Island,  near  Glen 
Cove,  L.  I.,  by  Frank  Holt,  a  former  in- 
structor in  German  at  Cornell  University, 
who,  under  arrest,  states  that  he  went  to 
the  Morgan  home  to  induce  the  banker  to 
use  his  influence  to  stop  the  exporting  of 
munitions  of  war,  the  firm  of  J.  P.  Morgan 
&  Co.  being  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  Allies 
in  the  United  States ;  both  revolver  bul- 
lets strike  Mr.  Morgan  in  the  groin,  the 
attending  doctors  stating  that  no  vital  or- 
gan is  affected ;  by  his  own  confession, 
Holt  is  the  one  who  set  the  bomb  that 
wrecked  the  Senate  reception  room  in  the 
Capitol  at  Washington  last  night,  saying 
that  he  wanted  to  call  the  nation's  atten- 
tion to  the  export  of  munitions  of  war ; 
extra  precautions  are  being  taken  by  Se- 
cret Service  men  to  guard  President  Wil- 
son, who  is  at  Cornish,   N.  H. 

July  6 — Frank  Holt  kills  himself  in  the  Nas- 
sau County  Jail  at  Mlneola ;  identifications 
show  that  Holt  was  Erich  Muenter,  a  for- 
mer Harvard  instructor,  who  murdered  his 
wife  by  poison   in   Cambridge  in   1906. 

July  7 — Government  decides  to  take  over  the 
Sayville  wireless  plant  at  once,  in  the  in- 
terests of  neutrality. 

July  10 — The  text  is  made  public  of  the  Ger- 
man reply  to  the  last  American  note  on 
submarine  warfare  and  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania :  the  reply  evades  the  cardinal 
points  of  the  American  note ;  makes  new 
proposals,  and  shows  that  the  submarine 
war  is  to  be  continued ;  the  American 
press  generally  regards  the  reply  as  un- 
satisfactory. 

July  15 — Germany  expresses  formal  regrets 
for  the  torpedoing  of  the  American  steam- 
ship Nebraskan.  stating  It  was  due  to  a 
mistake,  and  offers  to  pay  damages. 


GENERAL     VON     BUELOW 

Whose    Advance   Threatened   the    Retirement   of   the    Russian    Armies   from 

Warsaw 


GENERAL     VON     WOYRSCH 

Commander  of  the  German  Army  That  Took  Ivangorod  After  Warsaw  Fell 

{Photo  from  Bain  News  Service) 


ottj^  N^m  fork  ©tm^fi 

CURRENT     HISTORY 

A    MONTHLY     MAGAZINE 

THE    EUROPEAN    WAR 

SEPTEMBER,     1915 


Facing  the  Second  Year 

Outgivings  by  Heads  and  Leading  Men  of  the 

Warring  Nations 

So  rich  and  authoritative  an  assemblage  of  appraisals  of  the  war's  progress  as  appears 
below  from  leaders  of  the  nations  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  anniversary  of  the  conflict, 
has  not  been  gathered  together  during  any  of  its  previous  stages.  It  is  alike  a  retrospect  and 
a  prospect  as  the  powers  stand  facing  the  second  year  of  the  mightiest  struggle  of  history. 
Whether  the  war  can  go  on  for  another  year,  with  its  tremendous  wastage  of  life  and  wealth, 
is  a  question  that  is  grappled  with  from  the  standpoints  of  the  nations  involved,  as  incidental 
to  the  question  of  ultimate  victory. 

"God  Is  With  Us" 

By  the  German   Emperor 

Emperor  William  II.  issued  the  follow-  cru.sh  it  in  an  overwhelming  circle.     No 

ing  manifesto  from  German  Army  Head-  lu.st  for  conquest,  as  I  already  announced 

quarters  on  Sunday,  Aug.  1,  1915:  a  year  ago,  has  driven  us  into  the  war. 

ONE  year  has  elapsed  since  I  was  When  in  the  days  of  August  all  able- 
obliged  to  call  to  arms  the  Ger-  bodied  men  were  rushed  to  the  colors  and 
man  people.     An  unprecedented  troops   were    marched    into   a    defensive 
time   of   bloodshed  has   befallen  war,  every  German  on  earth  felt,  in  ac- 
Europe  and  the  world.  cordance  with  the  unanimous  example  of 
Before  God  and  history  my  conscience  the  Reichstag,  that  it  was  a  fight  for  the 
is  clear,    I  did  not  will  the  war.  highest  good  of  the  nation,  its  life,  its 
After  preparations  for  a  whole  decade  freedom.    What  awaited  us  if  the  enemy 
the  coalition  powers,  to  whom  Germany  force  succeeded  in  determining  the  fate 
had  become  too  great,  believed  that  the  of  our  people  and   of  Europe  has  been 
moment  had  come  to  humiliate  the  em-  shown  in  the  hardship   endured  by  my 
pire,  which  loyally  stood  by  her  Austro-  dear  province.  East  Prussia, 
Hungarian   ally  in   a  just  cause,  or  to  The  consciousness  that  the  fight  was 


1022 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


forced  upon  us  accomplished  miracles. 
Political  conflict  of  opinion  became  silent; 
old  opponents  began  to  understand  and 
esteem  each  other;  the  spirit  of  true  com- 
radeship governed  the  entire  people. 

Full  of  gratitude,  we  can  say  today 
that  God  was  with  us.  The  enemy 
armies  who  boasted  that  they  would  en- 
ter Berlin  in  a  few  months  are  with 
heavy  blows  driven  back  far  east  and 
west.  Numberless  battlefields  in  various 
parts  of  Europe,  and  naval  battles  off 
near  and  distant  coasts,  testify  what 
German  anger  in  self-defense  and  Ger- 
man strategy  can  do.  No  violation  of  in- 
ternational law  by  our  enemies  will  be 
able  to  shake  the  economic  foundation  of 
our  conduct  of  the  war. 

The  communities  of  agriculture,  indus- 
try, commerce,  science,  and  technical  art 
have  endeavored  to  soften  the  stress  of 
war.  Appreciating  the  necessity  of  meas- 
ures for  the  free  intercourse  of  goods, 
and  wholly  devoted  to  the  care  of  their 
brethren  in  the  field,  the  population  at 
home  has  strained  all  its  energies  to  par- 
rying the  common  danger. 

With  deep  gratitude  the  Fatherland  to- 
day and  always  will  remember  its  war- 
riors— those  who,  defying  death,  show  a 
bold  front  to  the  enemy;  those  who, 
wounded  or  ill,  return;  those,  above  all, 
who  rest  from  battle  on  foreign  soil  or 


at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  With  mothers, 
widows,  and  orphans  I  feel  grief  for 
the  beloved  who  have  died  for  their 
Fatherland. 

Internal  strength  and  a  unanimous  na- 
tional will  in  the  spirit  of  the  founders  of 
the  empire  guarantee  victory.  The  dikes 
they  erected  in  anticipation  that  we  once 
more  should  have  to  defend  that  which 
we  gained  in  1870  have  defied  the  highest 
tide  in  the  world's  history. 

After  unexampled  proofs  of  personal 
ability  and  national  energy,  I  cherish  the 
bright  confidence  that  the  German  peo- 
ple, faithfully  preserving  the  purification 
acquired  through  war,  will  vigorously 
proceed  on  the  tried  old  ways  and  confi- 
dently enter  the  new. 

Great  trials  make  the  nation  reverent 
and  firm  of  heart.  In  heroic  action  we 
suffer  and  work  without  wavering  until 
peace  comes;  peace  which  offers  us  the 
necessary  military  and  political  econo- 
mies and  guarantees  for  a  future  which 
fulfills  the  conditions  for  the  unhindered- 
development  of  our  producing  energy  at 
home  and  on  the  free  seas. 

Thus  we  shall  emerge  with  honor  from 
a  war  for  Germany's  right  and  freedom, 
however  long  the  war  may  last,  and  be 
worthy  of  victory  before  God,  who,  we 
pray,  may  bless  henceforth  our  arms. 

WILHELM. 


Pope  Benedict's  Anniversary  Plea  for  Peace 


The  text  of  the  peace  appeal  issued  on 
the  first  anniversary  of  the  war  by  Pope 
Benedict  appears  below: 

WHEN  we  were  called  to  succeed 
to  the  apostolic  throne  of  Pope 
Pius  X.,  whose  upright  and 
exemplary  life  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  the  fratricidal  struggle  which 
broke  out  in  Europe,  we,  too,  felt — after 
gazing  fearfully  upon  the  bloody  battle- 
field— the  despair  of  a  father  who  wit- 
nesses his  home  torn  asunder  and  rav- 
aged by  a  furious  tempest. 

We  thought  with  inexpressible  sorrow 
of  our  young  sons  cut  down  by  death; 


we  felt  in  our  heart,  enlarged  by  Chris- 
tian charitableness,  the  great  unspeak- 
able sadness  of  mothers  and  of  wives 
made  widows  before  their  time,  and  the 
tears  of  children  deprived  too  soon  of 
parental  guidance. 

Participating  in  our  soul  in  the  fear 
and  anguish  of  innumerable  families,  and 
well  knowing  the  imperial  duties  imposed 
upon  us  by  the  mission  of  peace  and 
love  with  which  we  have  been  confided 
during  these  sad  days,  we  adopted  a  firm 
resolve  to  concentrate  our  whole  activity 
and  all  our  power  to  the  reconciliation 
of  the  peoples  at  war.  We  made  a  sol- 
emn promise  to  our  Divine  Father,  who 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


loaa 


wished  with  the  price  of  His  blood  to 
make  all  men  brothers. 

Words  of  peace  and  love  were  the 
first  we  addressed  to  the  nations  and 
their  chiefs  as  the  supreme  guardian  of 
their  souls.  Our  affectionate  and  insist- 
ent counsels  as  father  and  friend  were 
not  heard.  This  increased  our  sadness, 
but  did  not  shake  our  resolution.  We 
continue  with  confidence  to  appeal  to  the 
All-powerful,  who  holds  in  His  hands  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  subjects  as  well  as 
Kings,  imploring  Him  to  end  the  great 
scourge. 

In  our  humble  but  ardent  prayer  we 
want  to  include  all  the  faithful,  and,  to 
make  it  more  effective,  we  have  taken 
care  that  it  be  accompanied  by  works  of 
Christian  penitence. 

Today,  on  the  sad  anniversary  of  the 
terrible  conflict,  our  heart  gives  forth 
the  wish  that  the  war  will  soon  end.  We 
raise  again  our  voice  to  utter  a  fatherly 
cry  for  peace.  May  this  cry,  dominating 
the  frightful  noise  of  arms,  reach  the 
warring  peoples  and  their  chiefs  and  in- 
duce kindly  and  more  serene  intentions. 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord  God,  in  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  Lord  in  heaven, 
in  the  name  of  the  blessed  blood  of  Jesus 
— the  price  of  the  redemption  of  human- 
ity— we  implore  the  belligerent  nations, 
before  Divine  Providence,  henceforth  to 
end  the  horrible  carnage  which  for  a  year 
has  been  dishonoring  Europe. 

This  is  the  blood  of  brothers  that  is  be- 
ing shed  on  land  and  sea.  The  most 
beautiful  regions  of  Europe — this  garden 
of  the  world — are  sown  with  bodies  and 
ruins.  There,  where  recently  fields  and 
factories  thrived,  cannon  now  roar  in  a 
frightful  manner,  in  a  frenzy  of  demoli- 
tions, sparing  neither  cities  nor  villages, 
and  spreading  the  ravages  of  death. 

You  who  before  God  and  men  are 
charged  with  the  grave  responsibility  of 
peace  and  war,  listen  to  our  prayer,  listen 
to  the  fatherly  voice  of  the  vicar  of  the 
eternal  and  supreme  Judge  to  whom  you 
should  give  account  of  your  public  works 
as  well  as  private  actions. 

The  abundant  riches  which  the  creating 
God  has  given  to  your  lands  permit  you 
to  continue  the  contest.  But  at  what  a 
price!     Is   the   answer   of   thousands   of 


young  whose  lives  are  lost  each  day  on 
the  battlefields,  and  of  the  ruins  of  so 
many  cities  and  villages,  so  many  monu- 
ments, due  to  the  piety  and  genius  of  our 
forefathers? 

The  bitter  tears  which  flow  in  the  sanc- 
tity of  homes  and  at  the  foot  of  altars, 
do  they  not  also  repeat  that  the  price  of 
the  continuation  of  the  contest  is  great, 
too  great? 

And  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  immense 
conflict  cannot  be  ended  without  violence 
of  arms.  May  this  craze  for  destruction 
be  abandoned;  nations  do  not  perish. 
Humiliated  and  oppressed,  they  trem- 
blingly carry  the  yoke  imposed  on  them 
and  prepare  their  revenge,  transmitting 
from  generation  to  generation  a  sorrow- 
ful heritage  of  hate  and  vengeance. 

Why  not  now  weigh  with  serene  con- 
science the  rights  and  just  aspiration  of 
the  peoples?  Why  not  start  with  good 
will  a  direct  or  indirect  exchange  of 
views  with  the  object  of  considering  as 
far  as  possible  these  rights  and  aspira- 
tions, and  thus  put  to  an  end  the  terrible 
combat,  as  has  been  the  case  previously 
under  similar  circumstances? 

Blessed  be  he  who  first  extends  the 
olive  branch  and  tenders  his  hand  to  the 
enemy  in  offering  his  reasonable  condi- 
tion of  peace. 

The  equilibrium  of  world  progress  and 
the  security  and  tranquillity  of  nations  re- 
pose on  mutual  well-being  and  respect  of 
the  right  and  dignity  of  others  more  than 
on  the  number  of  armies  and  a  formidable 
zone  of  fortresses. 

It  is  the  cry  of  peace  which  issues  from 
our  supreme  soul  this  sad  day  and  which 
invites  the  true  friends  of  peace  in  the 
world  to  extend  their  hands  to  hasten  the 
end  of  a  war  which  for  a  year  has  trans- 
formed Europe  into  an  enormous  battle- 
field. 

May  Jesus  in  His  pity,  by  the  inter- 
mediary of  the  Mother  of  Sorrows,  end 
the  terrible  tempest  and  cause  to  arise  a 
radiant  dawn  and  the  quietude  of  peace 
formed  in  His  own  Divine  image.  May 
hymns  of  thanks  to  the  Most  High  Author 
of  all  good  things  soon  resound. 

Let  us  hope  for  the  reconciliation  of  the 
States;  may  the  people  once  again  be- 
come brothers  and  return  to  their  peace- 


1024 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


ful  labor  in  arts,  learning,  and  industry; 
may  once  again  the  empire  of  justice  be 
established;  may  the  people  decide  hence- 
forth to  confine  the  solution  of  their  dif- 
ferences no  longer  to  the  sword,  but  to 
courts  of  justice  and  equity,  where  the 
questions  may  be  studied  with  necessary 
calm  and  thought. 

This  will  be  the  most  beautiful   and 
glorious  victory.     In  confidence  that  the 


tree  of  peace  will  soon  allow  the  world 
to  enjoy  again  its  fruits  which  are  so 
much  to  be  desired,  we  bestow  our  apos- 
tolic benediction  upon  all  those  who  are 
part  of  the  mystic  flock  which  is  confided 
to  our  keeping,  even  also  upon  those  who 
do  not  yet  belong  to  the  Roman  Church. 
We  pray  the  Holy  Father  to  unite  Him- 
self to  us  by  bonds  of  perfect  charity. 
BENEDICT  XV. 


The  German   Army's    Achievements 

By  Major  Ernest   Moraht 


Major  Ernest  Moraht,  the  military 
correspondent  of  the  Berliner  Tageblatt, 
reviewing  the  twelve  months  of  the  war 
for  The  Associated  Press,  said  on  July 
31: 

A  YEAR  ago  a  coalition  with  a 
powerful  numerical  superiority 
declared  war  on  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  Germany.  The  hos- 
tile countries  have  a  far  larger  popula- 
tion than  have  the  two  central  powers, 
and  their  combined  armies  originally  out- 
numbered those  of  the  latter.  The  Cen- 
tral States,  however,  have  known  how  to 
improve  this  difficult  situation  by  alter- 
nately taking  the  offensive  and  defensive 
on  the  western  and  eastern  fronts. 

In  the  west  the  German  armies,  in  a 
rapid,  triumphant  advance,  carried  their 
standards  to  within  fifty  miles  of  Paris 
and  have  kept  them  flying  there  since 
mid-September.  Even  though  the  right 
and  left  wings  of  our  wide-flung  battle 
front  in  France  and  Belgium  have  been 
bent  back  since  then,  (because  there  was 
no  other  method  for  the  time  being  of 
counteracting  the  numerical  superiority 
of  the  British,  French,  and  Belgians,) 
still  we  hold  the  positions,  fortified  dur- 
ing the  nine  months,  firmly  in  our  hands, 
so  that  almost  all  of  Belgium  and  the 
northeastern  departments  of  France  have 
been  occupied  by  the  troops  of  Germany. 

In  the  east  the  Austro-German  armies 
first  held  up  the  Russian  millions  on  the 
Galician  frontiers  and  then  were  forced 


to  retire  before  a  manifold  numerical 
superiority,  to  intrench  themselves  on 
the  crest  of  the  Carpathians  and  to  beat 
back  until  May  1  the  Russian  assaults 
with  heavy  losses.  Meanwhile  Field  Mar- 
shal von  Hindenburg,  in  East  Prussia, 
was  able  to  destroy  several  large  Russian 
armies  and  free  East  Prussia;  to  occupy, 
conjointly  with  Austrian  troops,  Poland 
almost  to  the  Vistula  River,  and  in  the 
northeast  to  carry  the  war  into  the  Rus- 
sian provinces. 

While  the  positions  in  the  war  in  the 
west  continue  to  surge  to  and  fro,  and 
three  great  attempts  made  to  break 
through  our  lines,  in  the  Winter,  Spring, 
and  Summer,  were  repulsed  with  awful 
losses  to  our  enemies,  the  German  and 
Austro-Hungarian  armies  on  May  1 
launched  a  great  offensive  against  the 
Russian  main  armies  in  Galicia. 

In  the  series  of  battles  and  under  con- 
stant pursuit  the  Russians  were  hunted 
out  of  43,470  square  miles  of  Galicia,  their 
principal  force  was  severed  at  several 
places,  and  they  were  driven  eastward 
and  northward. 

The  west  bank  of  the  Vistula  in  Poland 
has  been  cleared  of  Russian  armies.  The 
siege  of  Warsaw  is  about  to  begin  and 
Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg,  in  the 
northward,  has  pressed  forward  against 
Riga  and  now  has  reached  the  vicinity  of 
the  city  after  numerous  victories.  The 
successes  of  the  Germans  have  cost  the 
Russian  army  millions  in  dead,  wounded. 


FACING  THE  SECOND  YEAR 


1025 


and  prisoners.  The  Russian  Empire  pos- 
sesses only  fragments  of  its  mighty 
armies  and  no  longer  can  supply  these 
adequately  with  arms  and  munitions. 
Their  fate  will  be  decided  very  shortly. 
The  Russian  forces  will  be  destroyed  or 
forced  to  flee  deep  into  the  interior  to  the 
eastward. 

The  battles  in  the  west  have  cut  so 
deeply  into  the  French  strength  that  now 
18-year-old  lads  must  bear  arms.  Great 
Britain's  original  army  has  been  de- 
stroyed and  only  enough  substitutes  can 
be  raised  to  hold  a  forty-four  mile  front 
in  Belgium.  The  British  losses,  particu- 
larly those  of  officers,  have  been  very 
heavy.  The  army  of  3,000,000  men  which 
Lord  Kitchener  promised  six  months  ago 
has  not  yet  appeared,  and  our  opponents 
in  the  west  never  again  will  be  able  to 
raise  superior  forces  to  expel  the  Ger- 
mans from  the  country. 

The  action  in  the  Dardanelles,  which 
has  been  in  progress  for  months  against 
the  Turks,  shows  results  for  the  British 
and  French  only  in  great  losses  of  men, 
ships,  and  war  supplies  of  all  kinds.  The 
Turkish  Army  steadily  is  improving  in 
numbers  and  quality.  The  Turkish  for- 
tifications are  quite  as  strong  as  they 
wei-e  at  the  outset.  The  prospects  of  the 
attackers  reaching  Constantinople,  there- 
fore, have  vanished,  and  since  none  of  the 
Balkan  States  are  willing  to  enter  the 
Anglo-French  service,  and  since  the  Rus- 
sian army  which  should  have  participated 
from  Odessa  has  been  destroyed  in  Ga- 
licia,  it  is  difficult  to  see  any  chances 
for  France  and  Great  Britain. 

Should  Italy  send  an  army  to  the  Dar- 
danelles it  will  find  a  superior  Turkish 
Army  ready  to  receive  her.  Italy,  after 
conducting  mobilization  secretly  for  nine 
months,  entered  the  field  against  Austria- 
Hungary  at  the  end  of  May.  An  Italian 
Army  1,000,000  men  strong  has  been  at- 
tempting for  two  months  to  sweep  over 
the  fortified  Austrian  passes  and  to 
cross  the  Isonzo  River,  behind  which  the 
Austro-Hungarian  defensive  army  occu- 
pies strong  positions.     All  the  attempts 


of  the  Italians  up  to  the  present  have 
been  unsuccessful.  The  cost  to  the  at- 
tackers has  been  hundreds  of  thousands 
in  dead  and  wounded.  Austria-Hungary 
grows  stronger  day  by  day,  and  although 
its  valiant  struggle  is  a  difficult  one 
against  Italian  superiority  in  numbers 
it  will  be  able  to  bar  the  way  to  the  coast- 
land  and  to  Trieste  and  Tyrol.  Mean- 
while Italy  has  lost  her  entire  colony  at 
Tripoli  to  the  Arabs,  and  apparently  is 
about  to  declare  war  on  Turkey. 

The  Serbian  Army,  after  great  losses 
in  the  Winter,  has  undertaken  no  mili- 
tary operations,  being  content  to  guard 
the  frontiers  of  its  country,  on  which 
there  no  longer  is  an  Austro-Hungarian 
army. 

The  other  Balkan  States  are  about  to 
decide  which  side  they  will  take  in  the 
war.  Since  Russia's  forces  have  been 
driven  back  and  badly  beaten  and  a  Ger- 
man and  Austro-Hungarian  Army  has 
been  arrayed  near  the  frontier  of  Ru- 
mania, Bulgaria  has  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  Turkey,  and  Greece  re- 
mains the  opponent  of  Italy,  and  an  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  our  enemies 
under  control  of  the  Entente  Allies  no 
longer  is  to  be  anticipated  by  Austria- 
Hungary. 

The  Germans  have  every  reason,  there- 
fore, at  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  the 
war  to  consider  their  sacrifices  in  blood 
and  treasure  have  been  rewarded.  We 
are  well  prepared  for  a  continuance  of 
the  war.  Our  nation  still  possesses  de- 
termination to  conquer  and  to  make  the 
necessary  sacrifices.  Our  supplies  of 
war  material  are  assured  by  efficient 
organization.  Our  finances  are  far  fron». 
exhausted,  and  there  is  no  lack  of  pro- 
visions. Our  fleet,  despite  a  few  losses 
among  the  cruisers,  is  ready  to  be  thrown 
into  the  struggle  at  the  proper  moment 
and  in  full  strength,  and  our  submarines 
in  all  the  seas  are  the  dread  of  our 
enemies.  Thus  their  offensive  has  changed 
to  a  defensive,  and  the  prospects  of 
eventual  victory  for  the  central  powers 
is  materially  increased. 


The  German  Navy  in  the  War 

By  Captain  I.  Persius 


Although  the  main  German  and  British 
fleets  have  not  been  matched  in  battle, 
the  ending  of  the  first  year  of  the  war 
finds  that  Germany  has  distinguished 
herself  at  sea,  says  Captain  I.  Per- 
sius in  a  review  prepared  for  The  As- 
sociated Press.  Captain  Persius,  for- 
merly an  officer  of  the  German  Navy,  is 
a  recognized  authority  on  German  naval 
affairs,  and  is  naval  expert  of  the  Ber- 
liner Tageblatt.  He  says  Germany's  pol- 
icy has  been  to  attempt  to  weaken  her 
chief  opponent  at  sea  by  using  subma- 
rines and  mines  to  a  point  where  there 
will  be  some  prospect  of  success  of  an 
attack  on  the  main  British  fleet.  His 
review,  published  Aug.  1,  1915,  follows : 

THE  German  fleet  may  boast  that 
the  offensive  spirit  it  has  dis- 
played has  constituted  the  most 
prominent  and  decisive  feature 
of  all  the  naval  war  theatres.  War 
was  declared  against  Russia  on  Aug.  1, 
and  on  Aug.  2  the  cruiser  Augsburg 
bombarded  the  Russian  war  port  of 
Libau.  The  declaration  of  war  against 
France  was  issued  Aug.  3,  and  on  the 
following  day  the  cruisers  Goeben  and 
Breslau  shelled  the  troop  embarkation 
points  of  Philippeville  and  Bona,  on  the 
North  African  Coast.  Finally,  England 
declared  war  on  Aug.  4,  and  on  the  8th 
the  minelayer  Koenigin  Luise  planted 
mines  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  one 
of  which  destroyed  the  cruiser  Amphion. 

We  thus  see  that  from  the  very  be- 
ginning German  warships  displayed  a 
spirit  of  daring  offensive.  Not  only  in 
European  waters  but  in  distant  seas  we 
heard  of  victorious  combats  wherein  our 
cruisers  were  engaged.  In  a  majority  of 
cases  the  foreign  cruisers,  like  the  home 
units,  fought  against  much  superior 
forces. 

In  Germany  the  gigantic  task  of  our 
sea  forces  is  in  no  wise  underestimated. 
We  know  that  the  British  fleet  alone, 
so  far  as  material  strength  is  concerned, 


is  considerably  more  than  twice  our  su- 
perior, but  we  are  certain  that  the  same 
heroic  spirit  of  determination  to  win 
exists  in  the  fleet  as  in  the  army,  and 
that  we  can  depend  upon  the  efficiency 
of  our  material  which,  even  though  in- 
ferior in  quantity,  can  brave  compari- 
son with  that  of  any  other  power  for 
excellence  in  construction  of  artillery 
and  machinery. 

We  do  not  forget  that  the  British 
fleet,  first  in  the  world  and  of  glorious 
history,  is  an  opponent  worthy  of  all 
respect.  Nevertheless,  at  the  close  of 
the  first  year  of  the  war,  it  may  be 
said  without  exaggeration,  that  its 
achievements  do  not  measure  up  to  our 
expectations.  It  has  lacked,  it  seems, 
the  iron  determination  and  ability  to 
conquer. 

The  British  Admiralty  has  held 
strictly  to  "  the  strategy  of  caution." 
The  German  submarine  danger  is,  we 
realize,  partly  responsible,  but  it  can- 
not be  questioned  that,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  undeniably  evident  lack  of 
initiative,  the  prestige  of  the  British  sea 
power  no  longer  stands  so  unshaken 
throughout  the  world  as  formerly.  Brit- 
ish forces  have  been  victorious  only 
in  engagements  where  they  were  over- 
whelmingly superior,  as  at  the  Falkland 
Islands,  and  even  this  is  not  claimed  by 
the  British  press  to  be  an  unconditional 
success,  because  the  battle  was  too  costly 
in  time  and  sacrifice. 

Our  naval  authorities  followed  gen- 
erally the  principle  of  keeping  battle- 
ships in  harbor  while  attempting  to 
weaken  the  enemy  through  minor  war- 
fare, particularly  with  submarine  and 
mines,  to  a  point  where  the  attack  on 
the  main  fleet  will  offer  some  prospect 
of  success.  How  correct  this  strategy 
was  is  proved  by  the  past  twelve  months. 
Thanks  to  the  effectiveness  of  our  sub- 
marines, which  excited  the  justified  ad- 
miration of  the  whole  world,  it  has  been 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


1027 


possible  sorely  to  wound  the  British  fleet. 
In  addition,  our  submarine  arm  has 
busied  itself  since  the  beginning  of  the 
year  in  an  entirely  unexpected  way,  as  a 
destroyer  of  commerce.  Views  may  dif- 
fer as  to  the  final  outcome  in  this  field, 
but  it  is  undeniable  that  a  nation  like 
Germany,  whose  commerce  has  been 
driven  from  the  seas,  but  which  can 
subsist  without  imports,  has  an  extraor- 
dinary advantage  over  a  country  de- 
pendent almost  entirely,  like  Britain, 
upon  importations  of  food  and  raw  ma- 
terials across  the  water.  The  submarine 
danger  unquestionably  weighs  like  a 
nightmare  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the 
sea-washed  land.  The  future  results  of 
the  wide  extension,  as  we  hope,  of  the 
fruitful  activity  of  our  submarines  can- 
not be  predicted,  but  the  expectation  is 
generally  cherished  in  Germany  that  the 
submarine  campaign  will  help  to 
accelerate  the  demand  for  peace  in 
England. 

Every  type  of  warship  has  fallen  vic- 
tim to  German  submarines — the  battle- 
ships Formidable,  Triumph,  and  Majes- 
tic, the  armored  cruisers  Hogue,  Cressy, 
and  Aboukir,  the  Russian  armored  cruiser 
Pallaba,  the  cruisers  Hawke  and  Path- 
finder, and  the  British  destroyer  Recruit, 
for  example — and  neither  the  express 
steamer  nor  the  slow  fishing  boat  is  safe 
from  our  deadly  torpedoes. 

In  addition,  the  aerial  arm  of  the 
service  has  won  many  laurels.  Zeppelins 
crossed  the  North  Sea  safely,  even  to 
London  and  back,  and  German  aeroplanes 
participated  in  the  destruction  of  the 
enemies'  war  and  merchant  ships.  The 
question  whether  airships  and  aeroplanes 
could  be  used  offensively  at  sea  must, 
in  the  light  of  the  achievements  of  our 
aircraft,  be  answered  affirmatively. 

German  aircraft  have  been  fought  suc- 
cessfully against  the  dreaded  submarines. 
A  Russian  submarine  was  destroyed  in 
the  Baltic  by  bombs  from  an  aeroplane, 
and  at  least  one  British  submarine  met 
the  same  fate  in  the  North  Sea. 

The  general  fear  of  submarines  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  remarkable  spectacle 
of  the  heavily  armed  and  strongly  ar- 


mored battleships  rarely  venturing  to 
leave  sheltering  harbors — ships  which 
before  the  war  were  counted  as  decisive 
factors  in  sea  power,  but  finding  them- 
selves condemned  to  inactive  roles. 
Clashes  of  heavy  battleships,  like  those 
in  distant  waters,  have  borne  out  the 
old  rule  that  superiority  in  numbers, 
artillery,  and  speed  make  up  the  de- 
cisive factor  for  victory. 

The  British  were  defeated  off  Coronel, 
Chile,  because  the  Monmouth  and  Good 
Hope  depended  for  the  most  part  on 
6-inch  guns,  while  the  German  cruisers 
Gneisenau  and  Scharnhorst  carried  many 
8.3-inch  guns.  The  victory  at  the  Falk- 
land Islands  was  easy  for  the  British 
battle  cruisers  Invincible  and  Inflexible 
and  their  consorts  because  they  mounted 
12-inch  guns  and  also  were  much  faster 
than  the  German  ships. 

In  warship  duels  also  weight  and 
armament  were  decisive.  The  Sydney, 
armed  with  6-inch  guns,  was  thus  able 
to  destroy  the  Emden,  with  only  4.2-inch 
cannon. 

The  lessons  which  may  be  drawn  from 
past  events  may  be  summed  up  briefly 
as  follows: 

Superiority  of  technical  material  plays, 
as  in  earlier  naval  battles,  an  important 
role,  perhaps  to  a  greater  extent  now 
than  before.  Given  crews  practically 
equal  in  skill,  the  side  which  is  inferior 
in  artillery  and  speed  is  at  so  heavy  a 
disadvantage  that  victory  is  possible 
only  under  exceptionally  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. 

The  submarine  has  proved  itself  a 
thoroughly  dangerous  weapon  to  which 
unsuspected  possibilities  must  be  con- 
ceded. All  methods  of  defense  hitherto 
employed  have  failed  to  fulfill  their  pur- 
pose in  requisite  manner. 

Dirigibles  and  aeroplanes  have  not 
only  demonstrated  their  value  in  scout- 
ing, but  also  have  been  engaged  effect- 
ively upon  the  offensive. 

Thp  lessons  learned  even  thus  far  will 
have  a  marked  influence  upon  the  con- 
struction of  fleets,  and  I  can  understand 
why  in  the  United  States  efforts  are  be- 
ing made  to  take  advantage  of  them. 


Britain's  Courage  Undaunted 

By  Sir  Edward  Carson 

British    Attorney    General 

Sir  Edward  Carson,  the  British  Attorney  General,  prepared  for  The  Associated  Press  a 
signed  statement  to  be  published  on  Aug.  1,  giving  a  broad  outline  of  the  first  year  of  the  war 
from  the  British  standpoint,  together  with  an  expression  of  what  he  declared  to  be  the 
unalterable  purpose  of  the  British  Government  and  people  to  carry  on  the  war  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion.     The  statement  appears  below. 


HOW  long  will  the  war  last,  and 
what  will  be  the  result?  To 
such  questions  as  these  any 
British  subject  can  give  but  one 
answer,  and  that  is  that  the  war  will  last 
until  the  cause  of  the  Allies  has  been 
brought  to  a  successful  issue  and  Europe 
and  the  world  have  been  relieved  from 
the  ideals  involved  in  the  aggression,  of 
Prussian  domination.  The  world  peace 
does  not  enter  into  our  vocabulary  at  the 
present  time.  It  is  banished  from  our 
conversation  as  something  immoral  and 
impossible  under  existing  circumstances. 
And  yet  we  are  the  most  peace-loving 
people  in  the  world;  a  nation  which 
throughout  the  globe,  within  its  many 
dominions,  has  inculcated  good  govern- 
ment and  social  and  industrial  progress 
and  the  free  exercise,  in  its  widest  sense, 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Rightly  or  wrongly,  we  have  in  the 
past  devoted  our  energies  and  our  intelli- 
gence, not  to  preparations  for  war,  but  to 
that  social  progress  which  makes  for  the 
happiness  and  the  contentment  of  the 
mass  of  our  people.  And  this,  no  doubt, 
is  the  reason  why  other  nations  imagine 
that  we,  as  a  nation  of  shopkeepers,  are 
too  indolent  and  apathetic  to  fight  for 
and  maintain  these  priceless  liberties  won 
by  the  men  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
our  vast  empire. 

But  they  are  entirely  mistaken  in 
forming  any  such  estimate  of  the  tem- 
perament or  determination  of  our  peo- 
ple. Great  Britain  hates  war,  and  no 
nation  enters  more  reluctantly  upon  its 
horrible  and  devastating  operations; 
but  at  the  same  time  no  nation,  when 
it  is  driven  to  war  by  the  machinations 
of  its  foes  who  desire  to  filch  from  it 
or  from  its  co-champions  of  liberty  any 


portion  of  their  inherited  freedom,  is 
more  resolved  to  see  the  matter 
through,  at  whatever  cost,  to  a  success- 
ful issue. 

A  year  of  war  has  transformed  Great 
Britain.  Of  our  navy  I  need  hardly 
speak.  It  has  upheld  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent the  great  traditions  which  fill  the 
pages  of  history  in  the  past,  it  has 
driven  its  enemies  off  the  seas,  it  holds 
vast  oceans  free  for  almost  the  unin- 
terrupted commerce  of  neutral  powers, 
and  it  has  preserved  these  highways 
for  its  own  supplies  of  material  and 
food  almost  without  interruption.  I 
do  not  minimize  the  peril  of  the  sub- 
marines, which  is  in  process  of  being 
dealt  with  through  the  careful  and 
zealous  watchfulness  of  our  Admiralty, 
but,  while  the  submarine  has  enabled 
the  Germans  to  commit  savage  and  in- 
human atrocities  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  civilization  and  against  the  settled 
rules  of  international  law,  it  has  done 
nothing  to  affect  the  vast  commerce  of 
our  empire. 

The  German  submarine  attack  has  sig- 
nally failed  to  hamper  our  military  oper- 
ations. Under  the  protection  of  our  navy 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  have  been 
brought  to  the  fighting  area  from  the 
most  distant  parts  of  the  empire.  Troop 
ships  are  crossing  daily  to  France,  and 
not  a  single  ship  or  a  single  soldier  has 
been  lost  in  the  passage.  The  manner  in 
which  our  troops  have  received  their  sup- 
plies is  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  us  and 
admiration  to  our  enemies. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  war  we 
were  not,  and  never  did  pretend  to  be, 
a  military  nation.  An  expeditionary 
force  of  170,000  men  and  a  small  terri- 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


1029 


torial  army  of  260,000  men  for  defense 
against  invasion  was  all  we  could  boast 
of,  but  today  Great  Britain  teems  with 
military  camps  in  which  millions  of  men 
of  the  finest  material  are  being  trained 
and  equipped  to  cope  with  every  emer- 
gency. 

No  other  nation  in  the  world  ever  pro- 
duced, or  hoped  to  produce,  a  volunteer 
army  of  such  proportions.  Each  day 
brings  to  the  colors  thousands  of  men 
who  had  never  thought  of  military  serv- 
ice before,  and  each  day,  as  our  enemy 
grows  weaker,  the  infancy  of  our 
strength  is  growing  into  manhood,  and 
with  increasing  virility  and  prowess.  No 
doubt  some  people  are  foolish  enough  to 
be  influenced  by  the  misrepresentations 
which  are  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  our 
German  enemies,  who  represent  us  as  a 
decadent  race.  But  they  know  little  of 
the  spirit  of  our  people. 

As  the  problem  unfolds  from  day  to 
day  and  the  task  before  us  expands  in 
its  herculean  form,  our  spirit  becomes 
more  determined  and  our  efforts  and  or- 
ganization quietly  shape  themselves  to 
meet  the  emergencies  that  are  before  us. 
That  all  this  is  being  accomplished  with- 
out dramatic  demonstration  and  foolish 
boasting  is  not  a  sign  of  weakness,  but 
of  strength. 

The  splendid  heroism  of  our  Russian 
and  French  allies  is  not  only  an  example 
which  stimulates  us,  but  it  is  an  addi- 
tional incentive  to  our  national  honor  to 
carry  on  to  an  end  the  obligations  we 
have  undertaken.  And  if  for  the  moment 
we  are  confronted  with  the  impossibility 
of  offensive  action  by  our  brave  Russian 
allies,  and  are  compelled  to  wage  a  costly 
and  difficult  war  against  the  Turks  in 
the  Dardanelles,  as  well  as  against  our 
enemies  in  Flanders,  we  cheerfully  re- 
solve to  fit  ourselves  for  the  situation 
which   confronts   us. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  our  country 
has  not  been  accustomed  to  organization 
and  discipline,  which  leads  unthinking 
men  from  time  to  time  to  imagine  that 
there  could  be  a  different  discipline  in 
the  coal  fields  or  the  workshops  from 
that  which  prevails  in  the  trenches;  but 


all  that  is  a  mere  temporary  difficulty, 
and  it  cannot  impede  the  country,  which 
has  made  up  its  mind  to  win  if  it  has  to 
spend  the  last  man  and  its  last  dollar  in 
the  process. 

The  success  of  the  recent  war  loan 
shows  how  anxious  our  people  are  to  in- 
vest their  money  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  war.  Not  only  is  it  the  largest  loan 
that  ever  has  been  floated,  but  it  repre- 
sents not  merely  the  accumulation  of 
capital  of  a  few  large  banks,  but  the 
hard-earned  savings  of  small  investors 
in  every  part  of  the  country.  Although 
our  shores  are  not  invaded  and  we  have 
not  experienced  the  impelling  necessities 
of  a  war  waged  in  our  own  country,  yet 
there  is  hardly  a  family  in  any  village 
in  the  land  that  has  not  willingly  sent  its 
sons  to  fight  our  battles  in  foreign  lands. 
While  I  see  day  by  day  more  and  more 
anxiety  from  every  man  to  do  his  share, 
I  can  see  no  sign  nor  trace  of  wavering 
in  any  section  of  the  community. 

We  have  the  right  to  say  to  neutrals 
that  our  cause  is  just;  that  the  war  has 
been  forced  upon  us,  and  that  we  are 
making  and  are  going  to  make  every  sac- 
rifice that  makes  a  nation  great  to  bring 
our  cause  to  a  successful  conclusion.  We 
have  a  right,  I  think,  to  ask  neutrals  to 
examine  their  own  consciences  as  to 
whether  they  have  done  everything  that 
neutrals  ought  to  do  or  can  do  in  insist- 
ing that  the  laws  of  humanity  and  the 
doctrines  of  international  law,  which  have 
been  so  carefully  fostered  in  times  of 
peace,  are  carried  out.  Neutrals  are  the 
executive  power  to  compel  observance  of 
the  principles  of  international  law,  and, 
if  they  fail  to  do  so,  the  result  must  be 
disastrous  to  the  world  at  large,  in  the 
present  and  in  the  future,  and  give  free 
play  to  a  savagery  and  barbarism  which 
is  none  the  less  revolting  because  it  car- 
ries out  its  methods  by  the  aid  of  the  dis- 
coveries of  scientific  research  and  prog- 
ress. 

But,  however  that  may  be,  our  cour- 
age is  undaunted.  It  grows  into  exalta- 
tion by  reason  of  the  difficulties  that 
surround  us,  and  we  will  go  on  to  the  end 
without  fear  or  trembling  and  in  the  cer- 
tain inspiration  of  a  victory  which  will 
restore  to  the  world  that  peace  which  can 


1030 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


alone  bring  happiness  and   contentment 
to  the  mass  of  its  citizens. 

EDWARD  CARSON. 

By  PRIME  MINISTER  ASQUITH. 

The  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain, 
the  Right  Hon.  Herbert  H.  Asquith, 
has  made  the  following  authorized  state- 
ment : 

I  have  been  asked  to  send  a  message 
to  the  United  States  of  America  at  the 
end  of  the  first  year  of  the  war.  The 
reasons  why  we  are  fighting  are  known  in 
America.  The  world  has  judged,  and  will 
judge,  not  our  words,  but  our  actions. 
The  question  today  is  not  of  our  hopes 
or  our  calculations,  but  our  duties. 

Our  duty,  which  we  shall  fulfill,  is  to 
continue  to  the  end  in  the  course  which 
we  have  chosen  and  "  to  do  all  which  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting 
peace." 


By  SIR  EDWARD  GREY. 

Sir  Edward  Grey,  the  British  Secre- 
tary for  Foreign  Affairs,  made  this 
authorized  statement: 

I  have  been  asked  to  send  a  mes- 
sage to  the  United  States  of  America  at 
the  end  of  the  first  year  of  the  war. 

The  reasons  which  led  Great  Britain 
to  declare  war  and  the  ideals  for  which 
she  is  fighting  have  been  frequently  set 
forth.  They  are  fully  understood  in 
America.  I  do  not  feel,  therefore,  there  is 
any  need  to  repeat  them  now.  I  am  quite 
contented  to  leave  the  rights  and  wrongs 
of  the  causes  and  conduct  of  the  war  to 
the  judgment  of  the  American  people. 

The  United  Kingdom,  and  the  entire 
empire,  together  with  their  gallant  allies, 
have  never  been  more  determined  than 
they  are  today  to  prosecute  this  war  to  a 
successful  conclusion,  which  will  result 
in  honorable  and  enduring  peace  based  on 
liberty  and  not  burdensome  militarism. 


August  4,  1915 

[From  the  Westminster  Gazette.] 
By  EILT  ESMONDE. 

Twelve  months  ago! — 

O   God!— What  tongue 

Could  have  foretold 

The  horror  and  the  agony  of  woe 

That  those  twelve  months   should  hold 

For  hearts  as  yet  unwrung. 
And  now — 

Pray  we — for  strength 

Our  honor  still 

To  keep  through  all  the  anguished  hours 

Of  unknown  length,  , 

That   yet   may   bring — we   know   not — good    or    ill — 

That  Hope  be  ours 

Though   pain-filled   day,   and   sorrow-stricken   night 

Threaten  beyond — 

That  Resolution  may  fulfill 

In  valiant  strife,  what  Peace  did  will — 

That  Right  be  Right, 

Our  Word   our   Bond, 

Whate'er  the  pain. 

The   loss.     The    gain — 

God!   witness  Thou. 


The  War  to  Date,  From  a  British  Standpoint 

By  Sir  Gilbert  Parker 

The  article  printed  below  was  sent  from  England  by  Sir  Gilbert  Parker  in  response  to  a 
series  of  questions  cabled  to  him  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  anniversary  of  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  in  Europe.  Readers  of  The  New  Yoek  Times  Current  History  will  find  the  article 
one  of  the  most  striking  and  illuminating  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  great  conflict. 


YOU  ask  me  to  look  back  over  the 
first  year  of  the  great  war  and 
tell  you  what  I  think  about  it 
in  relation  to  several  vital  fac- 
tors of  England's  life. 

In  one  sense,  Americans  can  judge  as 
well  as  I  what  has  been  done;  but  it  is 
worth  saying  that,  when  the  unprepar- 
edness  of  Great  Britain  and  her  over- 
seas dominions  for  a  great  land  war  is 
remembered,  the  accomplishment  is  im- 
mense. 

The  British  Army  was  not  more  than 
250,000,  excluding  the  reserves.  There 
are  now  in  training  or  in  the  field  350,- 
000  troops  of  the  overseas  dominions 
alone,  while  this  country,  on  estimate,  has 
at  least  2,775,000  men  in  the  field  or  in 
training. 

We  are  producing  probably  350  times 
as  much  ammunition  per  month  as  we 
produced  in  September  last,  and  we  have 
supplied  our  allies  also  with  munitions 
of  war. 

The  achievement  of  our  armies  and  of 
the  Allies,  as  a  whole,  has  been  enormous. 

Germany  had  prepared  for  forty  years 
for  a  great  European  war,  in  which  she 
would  make  herself  the  supreme  power 
of  the  world,  dispossessing  Great  Britain 
on  land  and  sea  and  making  it  impossi- 
ble for  any  other  nation,  however  pow- 
erful, to  challenge  or  to  revolt  against 
her  supremacy. 

She  had  laid  up  great  stores  of  muni- 
tions, she  had  organized  for  a  vast  pro- 
duction when  war  should  begin;  she  had, 
with  mathematical  precision,  meticulous- 
ly, and  with  devoted  industry  made  her 
whole  industrial,  commercial,  and  educa- 
tional life  conform  to  a  military  organ- 
ization for  national  and  imperial  pur- 
poses. 

Her  object  was  ftot  the  object  of  na- 
tions with  civil,  humanitarian,  and  social 


ideals.  Power,  not  the  amelioration  of 
human  life  or  the  development  of  indi- 
vidual independence  and  character,  was 
her  object  and  her  goal. 

Therefore,  when  the  war  broke  out,  she 
had  such  a  military  machine  as  the 
world  had  never  seen.  And  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  Austria,  which  is  so 
constantly  left  out  of  the  calculations  of 
the  world  in  thinking  about  this  war,  had 
also  made  huge  military  preparations,  as 
was  shown  by  the  great  guns  she  brought 
into  the  field  in  the  very  early  stages  of 

the  war. 

To  talk  of  Germany  fighting  the  world 
is  nonsense.  Germany  and  Austria,  two 
great  central  empires  of  Europe,  with 
117,000,000  of  people,  are  fighting  the 
Allies.  In  the  field  of  war  they  were 
able  at  the  start  to  put  nearly  twice  as 
many  equipped  men  into  the  field  as  the 
Allies. 

That  they  did  not  defeat  the  Allies  is 
a  marvel. 

It  is  also  splendid  evidence  of  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  Allies  and  of  Great  Brit- 
ain's power;  for,  though  Great  Britain's 
sector  of  the  field  of  battle  has  been 
small,  her  contributions  in  other  direc- 
tions have  been  prodigious,  all  things 
considered. 

She  has  had  troops  fighting  in  France, 
Belgium,  the  Dardanelles,  Egypt,  British 
East  Africa,  Southwest  Africa,  the  Cam- 
eroons,  and  the  Persian  Gulf. 

Her  navy  has  done  what  was  expected 
of  it.  It  has  cleared  the  seas  of  German 
commerce  and  German  ships  of  war.  It 
has  taken  some  of  Germany's  island  pos- 
sessions in  the  South  Seas.  It  has  bottled 
up  the  German  fleet  behind  its  mine 
fields,  rendering  it  powerless,  and  it. is 
now  waiting  patiently  for  that  navy  to 
come  out  and  give  battle. 

In  money  and  in  munitions,  and  by  her 


1032 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


sea  power  enabling  the  Allies  to  trade 
freely,  she  has  played  a  great  part  in 
this  conflict,  and  presently  the  part  will 
be  gigantic,  for  she  will  have  an  army  of 
3,000,000  equipped,  backed  by  a  pre- 
ponderating navy. 

By  next  Winter  her  output  of  shells 
will  give  her  superiority  in  that  field, 
and  she  will  be  able  to  supply  Russia 
with  much  that  she  needs.  It  has  not 
been  German  bravery  which  has  kept 
Russia  back,  which  has  dispossessed  Rus- 
sia of  ground  which  she  won  by  valor, 
but  shells  and  guns,  which  the  Germans 
had  in  abundance. 

Great  Britain  asleep!  The  American 
Nation  may  be  assured,  in  spite  of  all 
carping  and  pessimistic  statements,  that 
Great  Britain  and  her  people  are  awake, 
and  no  democracy  ever  produced  a  volun- 
tary army  approximating  three  millions 
in  the  world's  history,  not  even  your 
United  States. 

You  resorted  to  compulsory  service  for 
your  great  civil  war.  It  may  be  that  we 
shall  not  get  through  this  war  without 
compulsory  service,  but  the  response  to 
the  call  of  the  Government  for  men  has 
vastly  exceeded  what  was  thought  pos- 
sible. 

In  spite  of  her  critics,  whose  object  no 
doubt  was  so  to  alarm  the  nation  that  we 
should  secure  the  utmost  contribution  of 
her  strength,  it  is  certain  that  there  is 
not  a  street  in  the  most  secluded  town  or 
village  of  this  kingdom  which  has  not 
felt  the  call  and  contributed,  if  not  to 
its  utmost,  then  sufficient  to  show  that 
the  utmost  will  be  forthcoming. 

We  are  a  slow  people,  but  without 
boasting  it  may  be  said  that  we  are  sure; 
and  that  the  citizens  of  this  empire  do 
not  love  their  land  and  are  concerned  for 
its  future  less  than  the  Germans  are  for 
Germany  is  a  statement  which  time  and 
fact  are  belying. 

You  ask  me  how,  in  this  limited  mon- 
archy, the  war  has  affected  the  democ- 
racy. 

First  let  me  say  that  the  democracy 
governs  itself;  though  it  has  a  King  as 
the  permanent  and  stable  element  in  the 
Constitution,  representing  the  nrinciples 
and  traditions  of  that  Constitution 
through  their  long  course  of  development, 


by  being  also  the  head  of  his  people;  the 
chief  of  his  clan,  as  it  were. 

Well,  wealth  and  peace  are  potent  fac- 
tors in  every  country  toward  separating 
people  into  classes.  Even  the  United 
States  has  not  escaped  that.  Social  dis- 
tinctions quite  as  imperious  as  in  this 
country  exist  there,  though  they  are  not 
so  extensive,  not  so  carefully  graded. 

A  great  war  like  this  shakes  people  of 
all  classes  and  sections  together  to  do  the 
work  demanded  by  the  vital  emergency. 

So  it  is  that  a  labor  leader  like  Will 
Crooks,  whose  opinions  have  been  re- 
peated by  many  of  his  colleagues,  says 
that  the  officer-peer  and  the  artisan- 
private  have  shown  the  same  valor, 
the  same  sense  of  duty;  that  the  man 
higher  up,  as  he  is  called  in  America, 
has,  with  an  unmatched  gallantry,  risked 
and  lost  his  life,  hand  in  hand  with  the 
man  on  the  lower  levels. 

You  ask  me  if  I  think  that  Kitchener's 
army  is  democratic  in  a  wide  sense. 

Let  me  say  this:  that  what  is  called 
"  Kitchener's  army  "  is  the  most  demo- 
cratic, and  it  is  probably  the  best,  army 
that  ever  took  the  field  since  the  armies 
of  the  civil  war  of  the  United  States  won 
their  reputation. 

In  it  are  a  very  high  proportion  of 
elementary  school  teachers  as  non-com- 
missioned officers,  who  are  trained  to 
organize  and  direct,  who  are  typical  of 
the  bridging  of  the  gulf  between  classes 
by  the  bond  of  education. 

But  not  only  Kitchener's  new  battalions 
are  democratized.  The  professional 
army  was  always  a  mere  handful,  and 
to  bring  up  the  required  battalions  to 
war  streng^th,  to  fill  the  gaps,  a  stream 
of  reserve  officers  and  men  was  called 
up — "city  "  men,  lawyers,  university  lec- 
turers, industrial  workers,  policemen, 
street  car  drivers,  &c.  These  took  their 
place  in  the  framework  at  once. 

Hence,  the  whole  of  the  British  armies 
in  this  conflict  are  like  the  American 
armies  in  the  civil  war. 

They  possess  the  intelligence,  method, 
perseverance,  the  devoted  courage  of 
the  Northerners,  and  the  natural  apti- 
tude, adaptability,  and  improvising  pow- 
er of  the  Southerners. 

In    this    war    officers    and    men    are 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


1033 


brought  into  much  closer  association 
than  in  any  previous  wars,  since  it  has 
been  a  trench  war,  and,  figuratively 
speaking,  they  sleep  under  the  same 
blanket  and  eat  out  of  the  same  dish. 

In  the  close  and  confined  area  of  the 
trenches  officer  and  man  are  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  with  practically  no  distinc- 
tion in  dress,  while  all  are  practically 
doing  the  same  thing.  The  companion- 
ship of  danger  and  purpose  and  endur- 
ance was  never  better  manifested. 

How  many  hundreds  of  stories  have  we 
heard  and  letters  have  we  read  from 
privates,  telling  how  splendid,  self-sacri- 
ficing, tirelessly  considerate  for  their 
comfort,  and  utterly  regardless  of  dan- 
ger, their  officers  were;  and  how  many 
hundreds  of  letters  and  how  many 
speeches  of  officers  have  we  read  in 
which  they  tell  of  the  magnificent  cour- 
age, selflessness,  cheerfulness  and  friend- 
ship of  the  private. 

Their  acts  of  heroism  for  each  other 
have  produced  a  great  camaraderie. 
What  began  in  duty  has  ended  in  affec- 
tion. 

"  He  was  terrible  bad  hurt,"  said  a 
private  of  his  officer  in  a  letter  which 
I  saw  a  day  or  two  ago — "  he  was  hurt 
so  bad  he  had  to  groan,  and  he  kept 
apologizing  to  us,  saying  he  wished  he 
could  help  it. 

"  He  was  true  blue  he  was,  and  the 
hurt  he  had  would  ha'  made  any  man 
squeal. 

"  Well,  we  just  held  'is  hands  and  done 
what  we  could,  and  one  of  my  pals  what 
was  hurt  too,  he  crawled  over  and  he 
kissed  the  officer  on  the  cheek,  and  they 
was  both  dead  in  half  an  hour.  They 
was  both  good  pals." 

Innumerable  stories  like  that  have 
C'jme  to  me,  and  I  have  in  my  posses- 
sion letters  now,  of  men  no  longer  living, 
telling  always  of  the  great  deeds  done 
by  others,  and  as  time  has  gone  on  one 
has  learned  from  others  what  they 
themselves  had  done. 

I  am  not  cracking  up  the  bravery  of 
the  British  officer  or  soldier,  I  am  only 
saying  that  there  never  was  a  war  in 
which  officer  and  man,  Duke  and  ditcher. 
Privy  Councilor  and  miner  have  so  pre- 
served discipline,  and  yet  their  personal 


sympathy,  together  with  the  men-to-men 
attitude. 

This  is  easily  understood  in  a  country 
like  the  United  States,  and  in  all  the 
overseas  dominions,  for  the  armies  of 
these  new  lands  must  have  these  char- 
acteristics; but  it  was  not  generally  sup- 
posed that,  in  a  nation  with  a  hereditary 
aristocracy,  and  apparently  dependent 
classes  far  below,  there  would  be  this 
democratic  feeling  and  action. 

I  frankly  say  that  I  think  this  war  has 
democratized  the  British  Army  enor- 
mously, for  in  the  face  of  vast  issues 
and  prolonged  fighting,  which  tests  men 
to  the  utmost,  the  private  has  lifted  him- 
self far  above  his  rank  in  life  by  the 
ennobling  feeling  of  doing  a  great  duty, 
which  yet  he  calls  "  his  little  bit." 

I  have  seen  this  in  my  own  household. 
A  footman  of  mine,  with  not  much  ap- 
parent personality  or  sensibility — as 
how  can  a  footman  have  much  personality 
in  the  somewhat  rigid  work  of  a  house- 
hold, with  its  set  and  specific  duties, 
with  even  its  below-stairs  class  distinc- 
tion?— left  me  to  enlist. 

He  was  gone  several  months  in  train- 
ing. I  saw  him  just  before  he  started 
for  the  front.  He  was  not  the  same 
man  that  had  been  in  my  service.  There 
was  modest  self-possession;  there  was 
determination;  there  was  the  dignity  of 
purpose  in  his  bearing  when  he  said  to 
me: 

"  I'm  keen  to  get  out.  Sir,  I  think  I'm 
fit  for  it  now,  and  I'll  try  and  got  one 
back  at  them  Germans  that  aren't  con- 
tent to  fight,  but  have  to  murder,  too." 

I  had  a  feeling  that  he  would  give  a 
good  account  of  himself.  I  have  had 
several  letters  from  him;  but  one,  re- 
ceived after  he  had  had  his  baptism  of 
fire,  contains  a  few  sentences  which  de- 
scribe a  revolution  taking  place,  a  de- 
velopment increasing  with  lightning  ra- 
pidity in  the  men  on  the  lower  levels  in 
this  country;  while  the  man  on  the  higher 
levels  of  birth,  position,  and  money  has 
stepped  down  to  the  level  road,  where 
he  and  Tommy  Atkins  are  one  in  temper 
and  in  character  for  the  national  welfare. 

Here  are  the  sentences  from  my  foot- 
man-friend's letter: 
We  got  as  far  as  where  the  communication 


1034 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


trench  began  when  the  Germans  caught  us, 
and  ihe  shrapnel  they  put  into  us  was  some- 
thing terrible. 

I'm  not  afraid  to  say  that  the  first  half 
hour  of  it  I  was  nearly  frightened  to  death. 
Still,  I  never  lost  my  head,  and  my  chums 
were  getting  knocked  over  all  around  me. 

We  rushed  to  a  hedge  and  stayed  under  it 
for  nearly  three  hours  with  the  shells  ripping 
up  the  earth  and  tearing  down  trees  whole- 
sale. It  was  not  a  bang,  bang  affair;  it  was 
one  continuous  roar  of  splintering. 

Our  next  move  was  up  the  trench  leading 
to  the  firing  line.  It  took  us  just  upon  two 
hours,  and  the  sight  I  saw  there  I  shall  never 
forget  as  long  as  I  live.  The  trench  was 
nearly  filled  with  water,  and  the  wounded 
men,  or  rather  what  had  been  men,  now 
wrecks  of  flesh  and  bone,  were  crawling 
through  this  stuff. 

Not  till  I  saw  them  did  I  realize  how  much 
I  wanted  to  get  my  bayonet  into  the  body  of 
•a  German.  Perhaps  that  will  come  soon. 
Then  I  hope  the  good  God  will  give  me  cour- 
age and  strength  enough  to  take  a  good  re- 
venge. 

We  left  the  trench  soon  after  midnight.  As 
we  were  coming  along  the  road  I  stayed  a 
few  seconds  with  a  few  more  of  the  Sixtieth 
at  a  house  where  the  trees  had  been  blown 
across  the  road,  and  just  as  we  got  to  the 
house  a  German  flare  went  up,  and  before 
we  had  time  to  take  two  more  steps  three 
Jack  Johnsons  were  tearing  the  place  down 
about  our  ears. 

I  forgot  to  say  that  the  Germans  shelled  us 
with  gas  shells,  so  we  had  to  fight  with  res- 
pirators and  smoke  helmets  on.  I  think  you 
will  agree  with  me  when  I  say  that  we  had  a 
good  baptism. 

Well,  I  think  it  will  be  agreed  that 
this  is  the  letter  of  a  young  man  who 
has  found  himself. 

The  other  day  I  watched  a  regiment 
of  Kitchener's  army  at  work  in  Nor- 
folk. The  physique  of  the  men  was  re- 
markable, they  were  stalwart,  bronzed, 
healthy,  hearty,  happy.  Willingness, 
esprit,  were  everywhere;  but  the  thing 
that  got  deep  into  my  mind  was  the 
quiet  confidence  and  understanding  be- 
tween the  officers  and  the  men. 

You  would  see  an  officer  speaking  to 
a  lance  corporal  as  though  to  a  friend, 
confidentially,  as  he  stood  with  his  com- 
pany; and  the  lance  corporal  replied  with 
easy  naturalness.  There  was  no  gap  of 
formality  between  them.  When  their 
talk  was  finished — a  talk  upon  work  to 
be  done  or  work  done,  something  con- 
nected with  the  company — there  was  no 
lack  of  respect.    Just  as  the  soldier  of 


old  days  would  have  done  under  the  older 
system,  the  lance  corporal  touched  his 
cap. 

Discipline  was  there,  but  something 
which  made  discipline  a  thing  to  have 
joy  in,  for  it  was  a  happiness  in  common 
effort  for  the  honor  of  the  regiment. 
All  were  playing  the  game  of  the  Eleven. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  aspects 
of  this  war  in  the  field  and  in  training 
for  the  field  is  the  wonderful  happiness 
of  the  men.  They  may  be  fatigued  and 
worn,  but  they  are  never  downcast. 
Nothing  has  been  too  good  for  them  as  to 
food  and  necessaries,  and  even  luxuries. 

The  love  of  the  nation  has  been  spent 
on  them,  but  it  has  not  been  squandered. 
In  the  rough  earthquake  of  war  we  have 
been  shaken  together.  Horrible  as  it  all 
is — the  bloodshed,  the  treasure  poured 
out,  the  loss  in  life  and  material — still  we 
can  truthfully  say  that  the  nation  has 
profited  by  its  sacrifice,  its  effort,  and 
its  bereavement.  National  character  has 
been  made;  inherent  goodness  has  become 
magnificent  merit. 

In  Parliament  some  one  once  said  con- 
temptuously of  socialism,  "  When  that 
time  comes  we  shall  all  be  feeding  out  of 
the  same  municipal  trough."  Well,  we 
are  not  doing  that,  but  we  are  all  work- 
ing in  the  same  national  field. 

There  are  some  slackers — that  has  al- 
ways been  the  case.  There  are  some  cow- 
ards, but  they  will  not  be  able  to  escape 
the  passion  of  loyalty  which  is  spreading 
and  forever  spreading;  which  is  tenfold 
greater  than  it  was  on  the  4th  of  August, 
1914. 

Yes,  your  question  as  to  whether  drink 
has  prevented  Great  Britain  from  rising 
to  the  height  of  her  necessity  during  the 
year  of  war  should  be  answered  at  this 
point. 

I  have  seen  in  some  American  papers 
most  cruel  libels  upon  the  British  work- 
ingman.  I  have  seen  London  likened  to 
Babylon  or  Byzantium.  I  have  seen  it 
stated  in  a  Philadelphia  paper  that  90 
per  cent,  of  the  people  in  this  country 
are  apathetic,  and  that  this  is  all  due  to 
degeneracy,  self-indulgence,  and  drink. 

This  is  a  charge  of  a  ghastly  nature; 
and  if  it  were  true,  then  the  fate  of 
Sodom    and    Gomorrah    would    be    too 


FACING   THE  SECOND  YEAR 


1035 


good  for  Great  Britain  and  this  empire. 
England  has  had  great  opportunities 
and  vast  responsibilities,  and  her  people 
have  done  masterly  and  prodigious 
things,  as  her  history  shows. 

She  has  peopled  overseas  dominions; 
she  has  preserved,  with  a  handful  of  men, 
the  loyalty  of  the  vast  Indian  empire; 
she  has  a  commerce  throughout  the 
world  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
nation;  her  shipping  represents  more 
than  half  of  the  world's  shipping;  and  if 
her  people  were  so  degenerate  as  to  fail 
the  State  in  its  hour  of  need  and  peril, 
then  indeed  should  all  the  world  turn 
their  backs  upon  her. 

I  make  this  challenge,  however:  If 
half  a  dozen  American  journalists  of  re- 
pute and  capacity  will  come  to  this  coun- 
try and  will  go  into  any  city,  town,  or 
village  in  England,  or  come  to  this  vast 
metropolis,  and  will  take  any  street  in 
any  one  of  these  villages,  towns,  or  in 
any  borough  of  London,  I  declare  that 
he  will  find,  not  90  per  cent,  apathetic, 
but  90  per  cent,  representing  homes 
from  which  some  person  is  gone  to  fight, 
to  be  trained  to  fight,  is  employed  in  the 
manufacture  of  munitions  of  war,  or  has 
relatives  fighting,  preparing  to  fight,  or 
occupied  in  the  manufacture  of  muni- 
tions of  war,  or  some  other  work  which 
is  essentially  war  work. 

I  know  of  what  I  speak.  It  has  been 
tried.  An  American  journalist  has  gone 
from  house  to  house  in  one  of  the  worst 
quarters  of  London,  and  the  truth  of 
my  statement  has  been  sustained.  I 
make  this  challenge;  I  hope  it  will  be 
accepted;  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  result. 

Drink  there  is  and  has  always  been 
in  this  country,  and  too  much  drink. 
Congestion,  with  poverty  and  crowded 
homes,  of  great  cities  such  as  New  York, 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  Boston, 
or  London,  Paris,  or  Rome,  and  many 
others  one  knows,  is  the  cause  of  excess. 

There  was  a  sudden,  passionate  out- 
burst on  the  part  of  an  English  Minister 
to  the  effect  that  it  was  drink  which 
prevented  us  from  winning  the  war, 
through  irregular  work  in  the  factories 
where  munitions  were  made. 

That  was  taken  with  great  seriousness 
in  this  country;  it  was  taken  with  infi- 


nitely greater  seriousness  in  countries 
like  the  United  States. 

The  same  Minister  who  made  that 
statement  now  declares  that  the  lack  of 
munitions  was  due  to  lack  of  organiza- 
tion months  ago.  Both  things  are  in 
part  true,  but  only  in  part. 

Undoubtedly  in  the  rush  and  excite- 
ment, in  the  demand  for  extra  output,  a 
percentage  of  the  workmen  who  drink  and 
who  ordinarily  drink  too  much  plunged 
into  greater  self-indulgence,  and  to  some 
extent  helped  to  disorganize  the  mass. 

But  again,  if  any  one  who  knows  this 
country  will  come  here  now  and  go  from 
town  to  town,  village  to  village,  and  city 
to  city,  will  make  inquiry  at  public 
houses,  will  go  to  the  usual  saloon  re- 
sorts, he  will  find  that,  though  wages 
are  higher,  though  there  is  more  em- 
ployment than  there  has  been  for  many 
years,  there  is  less  drink,  not  more. 

We  have  no  right  to  expect  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  United  States  and  of  other 
neutral  countries  if  England  is  more 
drunken  now  than  she  was;  and  we  have 
a  right  to  ask  that,  when  these  charges 
are  made  against  her,  investigation 
should  also  be  made. 

The  responsibility  of  the  people  of  this 
country  is  great,  and  American  journal- 
istic enterprise  would  only  be  doing  its 
duty  if  it  made  the  investigation  which 
I  suggest,  since  this  great  war  is  an  in- 
ternational question,  and  the  judgment 
of  neutral  nations  must  affect  the  end  of 
it  directly  and  indirectly. 

The  real  result  of  the  war  has  been, 
not  to  increase  general  depravity,  but, 
through  the  greater  inflow  of  money,  to 
increase  the  depravity  of  those  already 
depraved.  There  has  been  a  great  drain 
from  industry  into  the  army;  certain  in- 
dustries have  enormously  increased  their 
demand  for  labor;  therefore  the  premium 
on  the  labor  of  the  disreputable  10  per 
cent  of  the  drinking  laboring  classes 
has  been  vastly  increased. 

The  misdoings  of  the  10  per  cent,  set 
up  a  certain  amount  of  sympathetic  de- 
moralization and  interfere  materially 
with  sober  workmen  in  jobs  that  require 
co-operation,  as,  for  instance,  the  rivet- 
ers in  shipbuilding. 

This  unsatisfactory  minority  will  now 


1036 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


be  dealt  with  under  powers  granted  by 
the  Government,  to  the  great  satisfaction 
of  labor  as  a  whole,  which  repudiates  the 
acts  of  the  inevitable  minority  of  de- 
graded workers. 

You  ask  me,  "  How  has  the  war  af- 
fected the  suffrage  movement  and  the 
suffrage  disorders  which  were  so  wide- 
spread in  this  country  over  a  year  ago?" 

Well,  in  the  first  place,  immediately 
after  the  declaration  of  war,  the  Wom- 
en's Social  and  Political  Union  called  a 
meeting  and  suspended  the  publication 
of  their  organ.  The  Suffragette,  and 
mobilized  all  their  members  for  national 
work:  that  is,  nursing,  production  of 
clothing,  relief  work,  &c. 

The  leaders  of  the  suffragette  move- 
ment soon  saw  that  the  individual  de- 
votion of  its  members  was  not  enough, 
so  they  resolved  to  devote  their  vast 
organization,  as  an  organization,  to  na- 
tional purposes.  Officially  they  organ- 
ized recruiting  meetings;  they  made  a 
reissue  of  The  Suffragette  as  a  war 
paper,  which  is  doing  good  work  in  com- 
bating the  stupid  criticism  of  a  small 
minority  with  cosmopolitan  sympathies, 
who  are  full  of  the  love  of  God  and  all 
their  fellow  creatures,  and  who  would 
throw  bouquets  to  murderers,  because 
human  sympathy  is  such  a  divine  thing! 

It  is  notable  that  the  leaders  of  the 
suffragette  movement  desire  a  thorough 
settlement,  that  they  want,  not  alone 
peace  with  honor,  but  peace  of  such  a 
nature  as  shall  see  the  world  secured 
against  a  barbarous  and  aggressive  mil- 
itarism. 

Miss  Annie  Kenney  was  asked  by  me 
whether  the  Social  and  Political  Union 
approved  of  The  Hague  Peace  Confer- 
ence of  Women. 

The  reply  was:  "  No.  We  think  the 
evolution  of  the  woman  movement  in  the 
last  generation  has  produced  two  types — 
the  success  and  the  failure. 

"  The  personnel  of  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence represented  the  failure.  We  sent  to 
The  Hague  one  of  our  members  to  pro- 
test, and  we  saw  that  the  conference 
was  merely  playing  into  Germany's 
hands.  Every  woman  who  attended  that 
conference  will  one  day  bitterly  re- 
pent it." 


Miss  Kenney  was  asked  whether  suf- 
fragette activity  in  the  national  cause 
would  ultimately  affect  the  question  of 
the  vote. 

The  reply  was  that  the  vote  question 
was  not  in  their  minds,  that  the  vote  will 
come  of  itself;  that  if  they  knew  for  cer- 
tain that  it  would  be  denied  for  an  in- 
definite period  they  should  still  work 
every  bit  as  strenuously  as  they  were 
working  now;  that  the  greater  cause 
comes  before  the  less  for  all  Britishers — 
the  cause  of  liberty  and  democracy. 

She  said  that  if  the  Allies  win  the 
woman's  cause  will  be  at  most  retarded, 
but  that  if  Prussianism  wins  the  whole 
cause  of  freedom  would  be  immeasurably 
weakened  and  set  back,  that  women's 
suffrage  would  not  merely  be  retarded, 
but  removed  from  the  sphere  of  possibil- 
ity altogether.    And  Miss  Kenney  added: 

"  No.  Our  union  is  too  sensible  of  the 
danger  to  tolerate  any  compromise  with 
Prussianism.  We  have  never  been  be- 
lievers in  compromise  with  injustice." 

She  was  finally  asked  how  she  would 
sum  up  the  present  attitude  of  the  suf- 
fragettes. The  answer  was  very  fine; 
and  I,  who  have  been  opposed  to  the 
granting  of  the  vote  to  women,  frankly 
say  that  it  is  an  utterance  deserving  of 
perpetual  remembrance.  This  is  what  she 
said: 

"  Duties  come  before  rights.  We  have 
dared  to  demand;  we  have  also  the  cour- 
age to  give  to  the  uttermost." 

That  is  what  this  war  has  done.  It  has 
made  men  and  women  who  differ  funda- 
mentally in  many  things,  who  have  op- 
posed each  other  politically,  meet  with  a 
common  patriotism  on  the  ground  of 
deeper  fundamentals  still,  on  the  ground 
of  issues  that  affect  the  whole  of  civil- 
ization, and  not  alone  the  social  and 
political    history    of    one    country. 

You  have  not  asked  me  the  question  to 
which  I  am  now  going  to  reply,  but  I  am 
going  to  ask  it  of  myself.   It  is  this: 

"  What  has  been  the  part  played  by 
the  United  States  in  this  year  of  war? 
From  the  British  standpoint,  has  she 
helped  or  retarded  us  ?  " 

The  account  which  we  render  of  our- 
selves brings  no  blush  to  our  cheeks, 
though  we  differ  and  criticise  and  gibe 


PRINCE  LEOPOLD  OF  BAVARIA 

Who  Led   His   Victorious   Army  Into   Warsaw.      He  is   Brother  of  King 

Ludwig     III.     of     Bavaria 
(Photo   copyright    by    Underwood   d    Underwood) 


GRAND     DUCHESS     OLGA 

Eldest    Daughter    of    the    Czar    of    Russia.     She    is    Nearly    21    Years    Old 


FACING   THE  SECOND  YEAR 


1037 


and  challenge  each  other,  as  Britishers 
have  always  done,  as  Americans  did  in 
the  time  of  their  civil  war,  when  Lincoln's 
heart  was  almost  broken  by  opposition 
from  his  political  foes,  and  by  savage 
criticism  of  his  friends.  At  this  time  we 
are  all  in  a  state  not  perfectly  normal. 

We  are  living,  as  it  were,  at  the  top  of 
our  being,  and  we  are  inclined  to  exag- 
gerate, to  be  extravagant  in  denunciation 
or  in  criticism  when  things  do  not  go  as 
we  think  they  ought  to  do,  but  go  as  they 
always  do  in  war,  with  staggering  ups 
and  downs. 

There  are  those  among  us  who  have 
thought  that  the  United  States,  as  a  vast 
democracy  inspired  by  high  national 
ideals,  and  as  the  enemy  of  all  reaction- 
ary and  tyrannical  elements,  might  have 
done  more  to  help  us  in  our  fight  for  civ- 
ilization, might  indeed  have  entered  the 
war  with  us. 

But  let  me  say — and  in  this  I  believe  I 
speak  for  the  great  majority  of  British 
people — that  we  have  not  had  the  least 
desire  to  invoke  the  armed  assistance  of 
the  United  States,  or  to  influence  her  in 
the  slightest  in  this  matter. 

The  United  States  has  performed  im- 
mense service  to  the  Allies  by  resisting 
all  attempts  to  wean  or  force  her  from 
her  neutrality  by  prohibiting  the  ex- 
port of  munitions  of  war.  Her  perfect 
propriety  and  adherence  to  the  spirit 
of  true  neutrality  have  resisted  German 
pressure. 

Secondly,  the  services  she  has  per- 
formed to  civilization  by  organizing  re- 
lief for  Belgium  have  been  a  service  to 
humanity,  and  therefore  a  service  to 
the  Allies,  who  are  fighting  to  restore 
to  Belgium  her  ursurped  dominion. 


Thirdly,  the  United  States  has  ren- 
dered immense  services  to  this  country 
by  caring  for  the  interests  of  British 
subjects  abroad,  and,  above  all,  by  mak- 
ing the  lot  of  British  prisoners  of  war 
easier.  Some  of  the  worst  cruelties  and 
inhuman  oppressions  have  been  removed 
by  her  intervention. 

Lastly,  her  sympathy,  expressed  in  a 
thousand  ways,  and  not  the  least  by 
fair  consideration  of  the  action  taken  by 
Great  Britain  in  the  blockade  and  other 
matters,  has  eased  the  minds  of  millions 
of  King  George's  subjects.  Lack  of  sym- 
pathy might  easily  have  misinterpreted 
the  acts  of  our  Government. 

I  wish  Americans  would  believe  that 
in  this  country  there  has  been  since  this 
war  began  a  larger  and  truer  under- 
standing of  the  American  people.  For 
my  own  part  I  have  known  the  United 
States  intimately  for  many  years,  have 
had  faith  in  her  national  purposes  and 
confidence  in  her  diplomatic  integrity, 
and,  from  reading  her  history,  a  realiza- 
tion of  her  sense  of  justice. 

And  in  this  war  of  ideals,  fundamental- 
ly different,  I  believe  the  people  of  both 
nations  have  come  to  a  sense  of  kinship 
and  of  mutual  admiration,  not  dimin- 
ished by  the  possible  mistakes  which  may 
have  been  made  by  Great  Britain  largely 
due  to  improvised  organization,  or  in  the 
United  States  by  her  rigid  neutrality, 
which  may  not  have  seemed  to  chime 
with  her  sympathy. 

Her  diplomacy  has  been  unimpeach- 
able, and  we  in  Great  Britain  are  grate- 
ful for  an  understanding  which  is  as  ma- 
terial a  support  as  an  army  in  the  field. 

(Copyrighted,  1915,   by  Edward   MarshaU.) 


United  France 

By  Raymond  Poincare,  President  of  the  French  Republic 

The  first  meeting  of  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies  after  the  anniversary  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  and  following  the  establishment  of  the  union  of  all  political  parties  in 
fiance,  to  endure  so  long  as  the  war  shall  last,  was  held  on  Aug.  5,  1915.  A  message  from 
President  Poincar6  was  read  in  the  Chamber  by  Premier  Viviani,  and  in  the  Senate  by 
Aristide  Briand,  Minister  of  Justice.  It  was  addressed  to  the  French  Parliament  and  re- 
viewed the  first  year  of  the  war.     The  text  of  the  message  follows : 


YOU  will  find  it  natural  that  after 
a  year  of  war  the  President  of 
the  Republic  has  the  honor  to 
associate  himself  with  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  two  houses  of  the  Leg- 
islature to  render  homage,  admiration, 
and  gratitude  to  the  nation  and  the  army. 

When  a  year  ago  I  recommended  to 
the  country  this  sacred  union,  which  was 
then  and  still  remains  one  of  the  con- 
ditions of  victory,  I  had  no  doubt  but 
that  my  appeal  would  be  immediately 
heard.  Our  enemies,  who  always  have 
misunderstood  France,  alone  believed 
that  we  would  offer  an  evidence  of  our 
dissensions  to  their  brutal  aggression. 

At  the  precise  hour  when  they  au- 
daciously asserted  that  Paris  was  a  prey 
to  upheaval  the  capital  of  the  republic 
assumed  that  grave  and  serene  physiog- 
nomy in  which  could  be  read  its  cold 
resolution.  From  the  largest  cities  to 
the  smallest  villages  there  passed  a  great 
current  of  national  fraternity  which, 
among  the  people  as  well  as  in  Par- 
liament, wiped  out  even  the  memory  of 
civil  quarrels.  The  whole  people  turned 
a  united  face  to  the  enemy. 

For  a  year  this  unity  of  will  has  not 
belied  my  belief  that  nothing  will  weaken 
it.  If  Germany  is  counting  on  the  pos- 
sibility of  dividing  France  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  she  is  deceived  today  as  she 
was  a  year  ago.  Time  will  not  weaken 
the  ties  binding  the  great  French  fam- 
ily. United  France  is  great  and  strong, 
and  because  she  is  united  she  is  confi- 
dent and  calm.  Every  day  in  the  small- 
est communities  there  is  spontaneous 
collaboration  between  the  old  people,  the 
women  and  the  children,  which  makes 
sure  the  continuance  of  the  normal  life 
of  these  villages  in  its  regular  course. 
Fields  are  sowed  and  cultivated  and  crops 


harvested,  and  this  organization  of  la- 
bor is  a  material  factor  to  the  keeping 
alive  of  patience  and  firmness  in  the 
soul  of  the  people. 

Every  day  Frenchmen  of  all  parties 
and  all  religions  bring  their  offerings 
to  the  Treasury,  and  hands  which  bear 
noble  marks  of  daily  labor  push  over  the 
counters  of  the  banks  gold  pieces  which 
they  have  painfully  saved  up. 

Everywhere  the  country  gives  a  sub- 
lime example  of  common  thought  and 
resolution. 

A  generous  emulation  inspired  all  lines 
of  French  activity  to  come  to  the  aid 
of  the  national  defense,  and  this  aid  is 
given  utterly  without  selfishness.  The 
country  should  encourage  not  only  har- 
mony among  political  parties,  but  also 
private  co-operation  and  good-will. 

Individual  energies,  recognizing  how  to 
submit  themselves  to  discipline,  consti- 
tute a  great  force  in  the  nation.  In  war 
time  such  energies  never  are  too  numer- 
ous or  too  powerful,  nor  is  there  ever  a 
greater  need  to  co-ordinate  national  ac- 
tion to  produce  a  single  effect. 

The  merits  of  a  people  are  luminously 
reflected  in  the  army.  The  army,  com- 
posed of  the  substance  of  the  nation,  im- 
mediately understood  the  grandeur  of  its 
role.  It  knows  it  is  fighting  for  the 
safety  of  the  race  and  the  traditions  and 
liberties  of  the  country.  It  knows  that  on 
the  victory  of  France  and  the  Allies  rests 
the  future  of  civilization  and  humanity. 

Into  the  hearts  of  the  most  modest  of 
our  soldiers  and  marines  has  come  a  high 
appreciation  of  this  great  historical  duty. 
Each  man  is  completely  devoted  to  his 
mother  country,  and  those  who  fall  die 
without  fear,  since  by  their  death  France 
lives  and  will  live  forever. 

In  the  error  of  its  arrogance,  Germany 


FACING   THE  SECOND  YEAR 


1039 


has  represented  France  as  light,  im- 
pressionable, unstable  and  incapable  of 
perseverance  and  tenacity.  The  people 
and  the  army  of  France  will  continue  to 
controvert  this  calumnious  judgment  by 
their  calm  course.  They  will  not  let 
themselves  be  troubled  by  that  false 
news,  which  has  its  effect  only  on  im- 
pressionable souls;  by  noisy  manifestos 
for  peace  by  our  enemies,  or  by  the  per- 
fidious and  suspicious  insinuations  whis- 
pered by  the  agents  of  the  enemy  in  the 
ears  of  neutrals — cowardly  counsels 
aimed  at  future  efforts  at  demoralization. 
No  one  in  France  is  disturbed. 

The  only  peace  which  the  republic  can 
accept  is  that  which  guarantees  the  se- 
curity of  Europe  and  which  will  permit 
us  to  breathe  and  to  live  and  to  work  to 
reconstruct  our  dismembered  country  and 
repair  our  ruins,  a  peace  which  will  ef- 
fectively protect  us  against  any  offensive 
return  of  the  Germanic  ambitions. 

The  present  generations  are  account- 
able for  France  to  posterity.  They  will 
not  permit  the  profanation  of  the  trust 
which  their  ancestors  confided  to  their 
charge.  France  is  determined  to  con- 
quer; she  will  conquer. 


M.    DESCHANEL'S    SPEECH. 

Paul  Deschanel,  President  of  the 
Chamber,  opened  the  session  with  a 
speech,  which  was  apparently  intended 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  address  of 
M.  Rodzianko,  President  of  the  Russian 
Duma,  at  the  recent  opening  of  that 
legislative  body,  and  as  a  replj  to  the 
anniversary  manifesto  of  the  German 
Emperor.  To  this  Premier  Viviani  gave 
response  in  the  name  of  the  Govern- 
ment. M.  Deschanel  said  a  year  had 
passed  since  the  enemy  of  France,  even 
before  declaring  war,  had  violated  French 
territory.    He  added: 

This  year  has  been  so  full  of  a  glory 
so  pure  that  it  will  forever  illumine  the 
human  race.  It  has  been  a  year  in  which 
France,  the  France  of  Joan  of  Arc  and 
Valmy,  has  risen,  if  possible,  to  even 
greater  heights. 

Be  the  war  of  short  or  long  duration, 
France  accepts  it.  The  country  is  sum- 
moning its  genius  and  changing  its  meth- 
ods. Each  French  soldier  before  the 
enemy  repeats  the  words  of  Joan  of  Arc, 
"  You  can  enchain  me,  but  you  cannot 
enchain  the  fortunes  of  France." 


f? 


France   Is   Fit 


59 


By  Count  Adrien  L.  de  Montebello 


A  year  of  war  finds  "  France  fit  to 
continue  the  struggle  to  the  end  and  con- 
fident of  the  outcome,"  says  Count 
Adrien  Lannes  de  Montebello  in  a  review 
of  the  first  twelve  months  of  hostilities 
given  to  The  Associated  Press  on  July  31. 
Count  de  Montebello,  a  recognized  au- 
thority on  military  affairs,  was  one  of 
the  strongest  advocates  of  the  three-year 
military  service  law  and  its  co-author 
with  the  ex-Premier,  Louis  Barthou.  He 
was  formerly  Deputy  from  Rheims  and 
Vice  President  of  the  Com,mittee  on  Mili- 
tary Affairs  of  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties. His  grandfather  was  Marshal 
Lannes,  at  whose  death  on  the  battle- 
field of  Essling  Napoleon  is  said  to  have 


wept.    Count  de  Montebello's  review  fol- 
lows : 

FRANCE  was  not  expecting  war, 
and  her  preparations  therefore 
were  less  complete  than  those 
of  her  adversaries,  who,  know- 
ing their  intentions,  had  accumulated 
an  immense  supply  of  fighting  mate- 
rial and  disposed  of  their  troops  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  strike  the  most  powerful 
blow  of  which  they  were  capable. 

Germany  threw  against  Belgium  and 
France  fifty-two  army  corps,  or  almost 
her  entire  military  force  as  mobilized  in 
August.  Under  the  impact  of  the  Ger- 
man advance  the  French  armies,  with 
their  British  allies,  suffered  initial  re- 


1040 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


verses  and  great  losses,  especially  in  the 
battle  of  Charleroi.  While  the  French 
armies  were  in  retreat  a  national  Min- 
istry was  formed,  and  the  civil  popula- 
tion of  France  organized  for  war.  The 
French  and  British  armies  stood  on  the 
line  of  the  Marne  from  a  point  near  Paris 
to  the  eastern  frontier  of  France.  They 
received  the  shock  of  more  than  1,200,- 
000  German  troops,  and  defeated  them 
with  somewhat  inferior  forces.  The  Ger- 
mans were  outled  and  outfought  in  a  vast 
general  action  over  a  line  of  more  than 
120  miles. 

The  French  troops  were  too  exhausted 
by  their  fifteen  days  of  marching  and 
fighting  to  make  their  victory  decisive. 
The  Germans  checked  their  retreat  upon 
the  line  of  the  Aisne,  and  had  sufficient 
time  to  dig  in.  The  battle  of  the  Aisne 
developed  by  the  Germans  endeavoring 
to  turn  our  left  and  by  the  simultaneous 
French  effort  to  turn  the  German  right. 
This  contest  resulted  in  a  race  for  the 
sea  in  the  obstinate  two  months'  battle 
along  the  Yser  in  October  and  November. 
The  Germans  again  failed,  and  finally 
gave  up  that  part  of  their  offensive,  on 
account  of  their  terrific  losses. 

Simultaneous  with  the  battle  of  the 
Marne,  though  forming  no  part  of  the 
battle  front  of  what  has  been  called  the 
battle  of  the  Marne,  were  the  operations 
in  the  Argonne,  the  Woevre,  and  the 
Grand  Couronne  de  Nancy.  The  army 
of  the  German  Crown  Prince,  marching 
on  Verdun,  and  the  army  of  Crown  Prince 
Rupprecht  of  Bavaria,  marching  on 
Nancy,  both  were  defeated  in  some  of  the 
bloodiest  engagements  of  the  entire  war. 

The  ultimate  result  of  these  defeats 
was  the  liberation  of  that  part  of.  the  an- 
cient Province  of  Lorraine  left  to  France 
after  1870  from  the  occupation  of  the 
German  Army.  The  German  forces  had 
penetrated  fifteen  or  eighteen  miles. 
They  were  not  only  driven  out  before  the 
1st  of  November,  but  since  then  the 
French  have  invaded  Upper  Alsace,  of 
which  they  now  hold  a  considerable  part. 
This  country,  taken  from  France  in  the 


war  of  1870-71,  has  been  reorganized  and 
is  under  control  of  a  civil  government 
which  restored  the  school  and  judicial 
systems  of  France. 

From  the  battle  of  Charleroi  to  the 
end  of  the  first  year  of  the  war  the  Ger- 
mans achieved  no  successes  on  the  west- 
ern battle  front  save  the  slight  advance 
at  Soissons  during  the  floods  of  the 
River  Aisne  and  the  advance  at  Ypres, 
partially  lost  afterward,  at  the  time  of 
the  first  attack  with  the  assistance  of 
asphyxiating  gas. 

The  successes  of  the  Allies  since  the 
battle  of  the  Marne  are  in  the  recapture 
of  Thann,  Steinbach,  Hartsmans-Weiler- 
kopf,  Metzeral,  La  Fontenelle,  together 
with  considerable  territory  in  the  Alsa- 
tian Vosges;  the  capture  of  an  entire  Ger- 
man position  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Pretre, 
along  the  wedge  the  Germans  are  still 
holding  in  the  French  lines  at  St.  Mihiel ; 
an  advance  of  a  mile  along  a  front  of 
ten  miles  at  Beausejour,  in  the  Cham- 
pagne country;  the  capture  of  Neuve 
Chapelle  by  the  British,  the  capture  of 
Notre  Dame  de  Lorette,  Carency,  and 
Neuville  St.  Vaast,  and  an  advance  of 
two  or  three  miles  along  a  front  about 
seven  miles  north  from  Arras  by  the 
French,  and  the  clearing  of  the  left  bank 
of  the  Yser  of  the  enemy  by  the  Belgian 
Army. 

Never  since  the  war  began  has  the 
French  Army  been  so  fit  to  continue  it 
to  a  triumphant  conclusion  as  today.  We 
have  not  only  carried  on  the  war  with 
success  during  the  year,  but  we  have  ac- 
cumulated immense  reserves  of  every  ne- 
cessity for  continuing  the  war  until  it 
has  been  won.  Our  reserve  troops  in 
depots  and  under  training  are  relatively 
greater  than  those  of  the  Germans.  The 
army  is  absolutely  confident.  The  peo- 
ple behind  the  army,  to  a  man,  are 
equally  so. 

The  French  people,  through  no  fault 
of  theirs,  have  suffered  and  are  suffer- 
ing today,  but  they  are  equal  to  every 
hardship,  every  effort  necessary  to  drive 
the  war  to  a  final  victorious  conclusion. 


Prospect  of  Russia's  Second  Year  of  War 

By  a  Russian  Military  Expert 


"  I  hereby  solemnly  declare  that  we 
will  not  conclude  peace  until  the  last 
enemy  soldier  has  left  our  land." 

These  words  of  Emperor  Nicholas  of 
Russia,  uttered  at  the  Winter  Palace  on 
Aug.  1,  WH,  were  reproduced  in  the 
press  of  Petrograd  on  the  anniversary  of 
the  war.  A  message  in  the  Bourse  Ga- 
zette on  July  31,  1915,  printed  in  all  the 
languages  of  Russia's  allies,  says : 

FOR  a  year  past  the  enemy  has  been 
threatening  the  freedom  of  the 
world.  We  deeply  appreciate  the 
self-sacrificing  aid  of  the  Allies 
in  exerting  a  combined  pressure  on  him 
on  all  sides. 

A  firm  confidence  in  victory  in  a  com- 
munity of  worldwide  interests  and  in 
the  final  triumph  of  right  fires  the  spirit 
of  the  nation.  It  has  been  our  guiding 
star  throughout  this  year  of  bloodshed. 
It  will  serve  us  in  the  coming  months, 
maybe  years,  of  this  terrible  struggle. 

Russia  greets  her  allies — France, 
Great  Britain,  Belgium,  Serbia,  Monte- 
neg:ro,  Japan,  and  Italy.  All  hail  to 
their  heroic  loyalty  and  firm  determina- 
tion to  stand  by  her  to  the  end;  till  light 
dispels  the  gloom. 

From  a  person  who,  although  not  con- 
nected officially  with  the  War  Depart- 
ment, is  in  close  touch  with  the  Govern- 
ment officials  and  is  well  acquainted  with 
the  m,ilitary  situation  and  the  Russian 
state  of  feeling.  The  Associated  Press 
has  obtained  the  following  review  of  the 
first  year  of  the  war: 

The  end  of  the  first  year  of  the  war 
finds  Russia's  potential  fighting  ability 
undiminished-  Her  armies  are  intact, 
her  resources  virtually  untouched;  and 
the  determination  of  her  people,  the 
morale  of  her  troops  have  only  been 
deepened  with  the  growing  realization 
of  the  enemy's  strength. 

This  determination  is  expressed  most 
forcibly  in  the  mobilization  of  vast  in- 
dustrial resources  for  the  production  of 
war  munitions.     These  efforts  are  rap- 


idly lessening  the  disparity  of  the  com- 
batants in  guns  and  ammunition.  Rus- 
sia does  not  look  for  a  speedy  termina- 
tion of  the  struggle,  but  feels  confident 
of  her  power  to  exhaust  the  enemy. 

The  campaign  on  the  eastern  front  must 
be  viewed  in  relation  to  the  enormous 
extent  of  territory  over  which  battles 
have  been  waged,  from  the  Baltic  to  Buko- 
wina.  The  far-flung  advances  and  retreats 
here  have  had  no  more  significance 
relatively  than  gains  and  losses  of  a 
thousand  yards  on  the  western  front. 
To  interpret  Russia's  temporary  loss  of 
territory  as  German  success  is  to  ignore 
Russia's  role  to  engage  as  great  a  part 
of  the  enemy's  forces  as  possible,  to  re- 
lieve pressure  on  her  allies.  Russia's  re- 
fusal to  accept  battle  in  disadvantageous 
conditions,  even  though  she  must  tem- 
porarily abandon  territory,  has  kept  her 
armies  and  defensive  lines  unbroken. 

It  is  the  assertion  of  Russian  authori- 
ties that  every  German  advance  has  cost 
Germany  more  men,  both  relatively  and 
actually,  than  it  cost  Russia.  They  re- 
gard Germany  as  now  committed  defi- 
nitely to  a  campaign  which  is  carrying 
the  German  armies  further  and  further 
from  their  bases;  and  to  abandon  this 
campaign  would  be  disastrous  defeat  for 
her.  Moreover,  it  is  maintained  that  not 
even  the  territorial  ambitions  of  Ger- 
many, have  been  realized,  since  the  Ger- 
man objectives  on  this  front  have  not 
been  fully  attained. 

The  advance  of  the  Austrians  into 
Southern  Russia  in  the  early  stage  of 
the  war  met  with  full  defeat.  It  was 
followed  by  Austria's  loss  of  Galicia. 
General  Ivanoff,  at  the  head  of  the 
southern  Russian  armies,  carried  on  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  offensive  campaigns 
of  the  war.  The  present  stage  may  pos- 
sibly be  regarded  as  an  uncompleted  rep- 
etition of  this  earlier  movement. 

Furthermore,  the  repeated  German 
drives  at  Warsaw  from  the  west  have 
cost   the   enemy   tremendous   losses.     It 


1042 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


was  only  after  six  weeks  of  the  most 
intense  fighting  in  the  Bzura  region  due 
west  of  Warsaw  last  Winter  that  the 
Germans  recognized  the  futility  of  at- 
tempting to  break  the  Russian  front  by 
direct  frontal  movements.  On  the  other 
hand,  by  exacting  a  heavy  toll  of  lives 
in  rearguard  actions  during  the  care- 
fully ordered  retreats  and  by  keeping 
her  own  army  intact,  Russia  successfully 
performed  her  appointed  task. 

The  East  Prussian  aggressive,  which 
manifested  itself  periodically,  and  lat- 
terly the  Baltic  campaign,  never  have 
been  regarded  otherwise  than  as  diver- 
sions. A  parallel  to  these  movements 
is  found  in  the  Bukowina  operations,  in 
their  relation  to  the  general  Galician 
campaign.  Their  chief  importance  has 
been  to  draw  men  from  other  fronts, 
where  more  serious  fighting  has  been  in 
progress. 

While  it  is  understood  the  fate  of  the 
Turkish  provinces  on  the  Caucasian  front 
will  be  determined  by  the  general  course 
of  the  war,  this  should  not  minimize  the 


genuine  military  successes  Russia  has 
achieved  in  that  distant  field.  Russia 
did  not  desire  to  expend  her  strength 
in  Asiatic  Turkey,  but  when  opposed  by 
the  threatening  Turkish  advance  in  De- 
cember she  exerted  her  power,  flung 
back  the  Turkish  army  at  Sari  Kamysh, 
and  began  a  series  of  movements  which 
carried  the  Russian  arms  to  Van  and  the 
approaches  to  Bitlis  and  Mush,  in  Turk- 
ish Armenia. 

BY    THE    RUSSIAN    MINISTER    OF 
WAR. 

This  statement  was  prepared  by  M. 
Folivanoff,  the  Russian  Minister  of  War: 

My  opinion,  in  a  few  words,  after  one 
year's  duration  of  this  war,  unprec- 
edented in  the  world's  annals,  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

The  enemy  is  strong  and  cruel,  and 
that  is  the  very  reason  why  Russia  and 
her  heroic  allies  must  continue  the  war 
— should  it  last  for  several  years — until 
the  enemy  is  completely  crushed. 
ALEXEI  ANDREIEVITCH  FOLIVA- 
NOFF, Minister  of  War. 


First  Year's  Slain  and  Wounded 

German  and  British  Estimates  of  Aggregate  Casualties 


In  a  London  Cable  Dispatch  to  The 
New  York  Times,  dated  July  31,  the  fol- 
lotving  estimates  appeared: 

OVER  two  and  a  half  million  of 
lives  cut  short  and  some  five 
million  men  wounded,  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  latter  maimed 
and  partially  incapacitated  for  useful 
purposes — this  is  one  result  of  one  year 
of  the  world  war,  according  to  a  statisti- 
cian who  has  gone  to  the  sources  avail- 
able for  information. 

Great  Britain's  casualties,  announced 
by  Premier  Asquith  in  Parliament, 
amount  to  a  third  of  a  million,  including 
killed,  wounded,  and  missing. 

Neither  Germany,  France,  nor  Russia 
makes  any  comprehensive  statement  of 
the  kind,  but  it  is  obvious  that  the  losses 
of  all  three  are  proportionately  much 
heavier  than  England's. 


Estimates  published  in  the  English  pa- 
pers derived  from  indications  given  in 
the  Prussian  official  lists  of  casualties 
carry  the  German  losses  to  a  total  of 
3,500,000.  This  figure  largely  exceeds 
the  computations  made  by  the  German 
authorities,  but  even  the  latter,  who  may 
be  assumed  to  desire  to  put  the  best  as- 
pect possible  on  the  war's  cost  in  the 
matter  of  life  and  limb,  admit  that  Ger- 
many up  to  the  end  of  June  had  482,000 
men  killed  and  852,000  wounded. 

In  regard  to  prisoners,  the  Germans 
admitted  a  loss  of  233,000  up  to  the  end 
of  last  month,  altogether  a  grand  total 
of  1,567,000  killed,  wounded,  and  miss- 
ing. 

The  German  claims  as  to  the  number 
of  the  enemy  disposed  of  are  surpris- 
ingly high.  Mr.  Asquith's  figures  of 
330,000  up  to  a  late  date  in  July  were 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


1043 


exceeded,  according  to  German  calcu- 
lations, before  the  end  of  June,  at  which 
period,  according  to  Teutonic  computa- 
tions. Great  Britain  had  lost  116,000 
killed,  229,000  wounded,  and  83,000  pris- 
oners, a  total  of  428,000. 

When  there  is  such  a  discrepancy  be- 
tween the  German  claims  and  the  Brit- 
ish Governmental  statements  as  to  Brit- 
ish losses  the  possibly  natural  inference 
is  that  the  German  claims  in  respect  to 
other  hostile  nations,  such  as  France 
and  Russia,  which  publish  no  figures 
to  serve  as  a  corrective,  are  likely  to  be 
greatly  exaggerated.  Consequently  the 
following  figures  are  given  for  what  they 
are  worth,  stress  being  laid  on  the  fact 
that  they  are  derived  from  a  usually 
well-informed  source: 

Prisoners  & 
Killed.  Wounded.  Missing.  Total 

France     400,000      700,000  300,000  1.400,000 

Russia     733,000  1,982,000  770,000  3,485,000 

Austria    341,000      771,000  183,000  1,295,000 

Belgium    47,000      160,000    40,000      247,000 

Serbia    64,000      112,600    50,000      226,600 

Turkey     45,000        90,000    46,000      181,000 

Japan     300  910    1,210 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  these 
figures,  which  are  based  on  German  cal- 
culations, with  figures  collected  by  Beach 
Thomas,  a  correspondent  of  The  Daily 
Mail  in  Northern  France.  Mr.  Thomas 
says  his  lists  have  been  compiled  on  the 
Continent  from  the  best  available  figures 
and  checked  and  counterchecked  in  every 
way  from  both  public  and  private  infor- 
mation. 

Extreme  as  the  figures  sound,  the  evi- 


dence given  for  the  Turkish  losses,  which 
are  the  most  surprising,  is  at  least  plaus- 
ible. If  the  total  population  of,  say. 
Canada  and  Australia  or  London  and 
Manchester  were  wiped  out,  the  loss 
would  have  been  smaller  than  the  sum  of 
the  men  recorded  as  casualties  in  this 
war. 

Following  are  the  figures,  quoted  for 
what  they  are  worth: 

Killed. Wounded.Prisoners.  Total. 
Germans...  490,000  ]i,63U,000  1,880,000  4,00(!,0<W 
Austrians . .  810,000  1 ,710,000  l,a55,000  4,37.">,<XK) 
Turks 95,000     110,000     140,000     345,000 


■Total.  ..I,395j000  3,456,000  3,875,000  8,720,000 
"  It  is  alleged  and  strongly  maintained 
by  the  authorities,"  says  Mr.  Thomas, 
*'  that  the  proportion  of  killed  to  wounded 
is  as  2  to  3,  not  as  1  to  4,  or  even  5, 
which  was  once  supposed  to  be  the  ratio. 
The  French  and  British  have  the  highest 
proportion  of  wounded  to  killed,  but  it 
never  rises  as  high  as  2  to  1  when  the 
record  of  the  hospitals  is  complete,  and 
of  course  prisoners  are  excluded." 

In  regard  to  the  German  computation 
of  the  French  losses,  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  it  tallies  with  the  unofficial  esti- 
mate of  the  French  losses  given  by  the 
committee  of  the  French  Relief  Fund, 
which  computed  the  German  losses  as 
something  more  than  double.  The  rate 
of  loss  was  calculated  to  be  127,000  men 
per  month  for  the  French.  At  this  rate 
of  wastage  France  can  go  on  fighting  for 
another  twelve  months  without  any 
weakening  of  her  units  in  the  field. 


Harbored  Ships 

By    LOUISE    DE    "WETTER. 


Still,  as  great  birds  with  folded  wings. 
Their  masts  black  spears  against  the 
moon. 
They  ride  at  anchor  on  a  silvered  sea. 
Wrapped   in   the   lapping   waves'   low 
croon. 


Beyond,  the  hills  lie — fold  on  fold 

Against  the  Night's  dark  star-pierced 
sic  V  * 
Long  since,  the  two-score  village  lights 
have  died. 
And    hushed    at    last    the    sea-gull  s 
wailing  cry. 


The   Dawn   will   shine   upon   a   flock  of 
wind-curved  sails. 
On  clustered,  pale-faced  women,  filled 
with  dread.     *     *     * 
Far  out  beyond  the  harbor's  circling  hills 
The    ocean    thunders    deep — above   its 
dead! 
Kirkwall,  Orkney  Islands,  May  29, 1915. 


War's  Toll  Upon  Famous  Families 

By  Charles    Stolberg 

This  article  appeared  in  The  New  Yorl<  Evening  Post  of  Aug.  7,  1915,  and  is  here  reproduced 

by  permission. 


WHEN  on  June  28  of  last  year  at 
Serajevo,  Bosnia,  the  bullets 
of  assassin  Gavrio  Princep 
felled  Archduke  Francis  Ferdi- 
nand of  Austria-Hungary  and  his  wife, 
the  Duchess  of  Hohenberg,  there  result- 
ed a  single  tragedy  whose  indirect  conse- 
quences have  since  caused  countless  other 
tragedies  in  the  lives  of  millions  of  peo- 
ple, not  only  in  Europe,  but  in  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  world. 

The  great  world  conflict  which  broke 
out  soon  after  this  murderous  attack  has 
placed  the  pall  of  mourning  over  every 
third  home  in  the  belligerent  countries 
of  Europe,  and  has  even  made  its  grim 
presence  felt  among  people  of  unaffected 
neutral  nations  by  the  untimely  deaths 
of  those  who  may  have  ventured  too  near 
the  zones  of  destruction. 

The  dreadful  slaughter  has  fallen  with 
especial  heaviness  on  the  upper  and 
wealthy  classes,  and  the  names  of  hun- 
dreds of  people  prominent  in  all  walks 
of  life  are  being  continually  added  to 
the  growing  casualty  lists.  Death  knows 
no  distinctions,  and  in  taking  victims  has 
leveled  all  classes,  from  Prince  to  pau- 
per. The  bluest  blood  of  Germany,  Eng- 
land, and  France  has  been  poured  out  in 
battle.  So  great  has  been  the  loss  in 
British  officers  in  particular,  that  quite 
a  number  of  heirs  of  great  wealth  among 
them  have  passed  their  entailed  fortunes 
on  to  babies.  Germany  has  had  to  give 
of  her  foremost  families  of  the  ancient 
nobility,  of  high  Government  officials  who 
were  serving  as  volunteers  or  reserves, 
of  college  professors,  authors,  scientists, 
newspaper  men,  artists,  actors,  musical 
virtuosi,  sportsmen,  and  other  prominent 
men  of  business  or  public  life.  A  similar 
loss  has  been  borne  by  France,  Austria- 
Hungary,  England,  Russia,  and  all  the 
belligerent  countries. 

Death's  harvest  among  champions   in 
the  athletic  and  sporting  world  has  been 


sweeping.  It  includes  names  known  to 
followers  of  tennis,  golf,  polo,  horse 
racing,  pugilism,  rowing,  running,  and 
track  events.  Some  of  these  victims  had 
won  fame  as  heroes  in  Olympic  contests. 
And  in  their  untimely  deaths  on  the  bat- 
tlefields these  athletes  and  sportsmen 
have  covered  themselves  with  glory. 

The  biggest  loss  in  lives  sustained  by 
neutrals  occurred,  of  course,  in  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Lusitania  off  Kinsale  Head, 
Ireland.  A  score  or  more  Americans  of 
national  prominence  had  to  sacrifice  their 
lives  in  this  terrible  disaster.  Although 
deaths  of  neutrals  have  occurred  to  some 
extent  in  the  fields  of  military  operations, 
by  far  the  greatest  number  of  neutral 
lives  have  been  lost,  like  those  on  the 
Lusitania,  in  the  German  naval  war  zone 
about  the  British  Isles. 

No  less  than  ten  Princes  of  German 
royal  houses  have  already  fallen  on  the 
battlefield.  The  very  first  of  these  to 
lose  his  life  was  William,  the  reigning 
Prince  of  Lippe,  shot  before  Liege  last 
August  by  a  Flemish  carabineer,  who 
had  stumbled  on  the  royal  reconnoitring 
party,  killing,  at  the  same  time,  another 
Lippe,  the  nephew  of  Prince  William, 
who  was  accompanying  his  uncle  on  a 
tour  of  inspection.  Still  another  Lippe, 
Prince  Ernest,  met  his  death  on  the  field 
of  battle  a  month  later.  In  the  death  of 
Prince  Frederick  of  Saxe-Meinigen,  who 
served  as  a  Lieutenant  General  and  was 
killed  at  Namur  in  August,  1914,  by  a 
shell,  the  Kaiser's  eldest  sister  lost  her 
brother-in-law  and  heir  to  the  Saxe- 
Meinigens.  The  Prince  was  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  men  of  the  empire, 
having  rare  gifts  in  music  and  art.  The 
second  son  of  Prince  Frederick  of  Saxe- 
Meinigen,  Prince  Ernest,  only  19  years 
old,  was  wounded  at  Maubeuge,  the  last 
of  August,  dying  a  few  days  later  in  the 
hospital.  The  youngest  sister  of  the 
Kaiser,   Princess   Margaret,  the  wife  of 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


1045 


Prince  Frederick  Charles  of  Hesse,  gave 
her  second  son,  Prince  Maximilian,  to  the 
Fatherland.  He  was  but  20  when  slain, 
on  Oct.  12,  in  France,  in  the  engagement 
near  Mount  Descats. 

The  Kaiserin  and  the  Queen  Mother 
of  the  Netherlands  have  lost  a  relative 
in  Prince  Wolrad  Frederick  of  Waldeck- 
Pyrmont,  who  was  felled  by  a  bullet 
while  on  patrol  duty  in  France.  Others 
of  the  German  royalty  kilUed  in  action 
are  Prince  Otto  Victor  of  Schoenburg- 
Waldenburg,  Premier  Lieutenant  of  the 
Life  Guards  Hussar  Regiment;  Prince 
Henry  of  Reuss,  son  and  heir  to  Prince 
Henry  XXVII.  of  Reuss,  and  Prince 
Adelbert  of  Schleswig-Holstein  and  Son- 
deburg,  whose  niece  married  the  Kaiser's 
fourth  son,  and  who  was  a  General  of 
cavalry. 

In  England  the  only  royal  Prince  who 
has  fallen  is  Prince  Maurice  of  Batten- 
berg,  the  son  of  Queen  Victoria's  daugh- 
ter. Princess  Beatrice,  and  her  German 
husband.  Prince  Henry  of  Battenberg. 
Prince  Maurice,  who  was  23  and  a  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant  in  the  King's  Royal  Rifle 
Corps,  met  his  death  at  Ypres  the  last 
week  in  October. 

Of  the  Romanoffs  in  Russia  two  have 
died  in  the  present  war.  Grand  Duke 
Alexander  Michaelovitch,  brother-in-law 
and  cousin  of  the  Czar,  and  Prince  Oleg, 
a  son  of  Grand  Duke  Constantine.  Grand 
Duke  Alexander  was  killled  in  the  fight- 
ing at  Miandoab,  Persia,  last  January. 
In  the  Fall  of  1913  he  had  visited  Amer- 
ica and  was  a  guest  of  Mrs.  John  Astor 
at  Beachwood,  Newport.  The  affair 
which  cost  the  life  of  Prince  Oleg  was 
a  dashing  cavalry  charge  on  the  Niemen 
last  October,  gallantly  led  by  the  Prince, 
who  was  carrying  a  standard  at  the  time 
he  received  his  mortal  injury. 

Strangely  enough,  no  members  of  the 
royal  house  of  Hapsburg  have  lost  their 
lives  since  the  death  of  Archduke  Fran- 
cis Ferdinand  just  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  The  toll  among  Austrian 
titled  families,  however,  has  been  just  as 
heavy  as  in  other  countries.  In  Belgium, 
Prince  George  de  Ligne,  who  had  joined 
the  Belgian  colors  as  a  volunteer,  was 
killed  during  the  fighting  early  last  Au- 
gust. 

The  list  of  peers  and  titled  English 


who  have  laid  down  their  lives  is  a  long 
one.  To  this  unexpected  development 
of  the  war  in  England,  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  prestige  of  the  aristoc- 
racy— berated  for  a  decade  by  Lloyd 
George,  and  bereft  of  political  power  by 
Prime  Minister  Asquith — ^has  been  due. 
The  gallant  conduct  of  the  British  offi- 
cers in  France  and  Flanders  has  been 
carefully  used  as  a  reminder  to  the  mid- 
dle-class Britisher  that  the  aristocracy 
may  have  its  good  points.  Most  of  the 
names  of  British  nobles  who  have  lost 
their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  coun- 
try are  more  or  less  familiar  to  the 
American  public.  Lord  de  Freyne,  the 
fifth  Baron  and  Captain  in  the  Third 
Battalion  of  the  South  Wales  Borderers, 
and  his  brother,  the  Hon.  George  Philip, 
Lieutenant  in  the  same  regiment,  were 
killed  in  battle  last  May.  Lord  de  Freyne 
served  as  an  enlisted  man  in  the  United 
States  Army  in  the  Philippines,  and 
succeeded  to  the  title  in  1913.  Killed 
in  action  in  Flanders  on  Oct.  30  was  Lord 
Worsley,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Yarborough  and  a  Lieutenant  in  the 
Royal  Horse  Guards. 

A  great  fighting  name  is  recalled  by 
the  death  last  Fall  in  Belgium  of  Cap- 
tain Lord  Richard  Wellesley,  great- 
grandson  of  the  "  Iron  Duke  "  of  Well- 
ington. Captain  the  Hon.  Henry  Lynd- 
hurst  Bruse,  husband  of  Camille  Clifford, 
the  so-called  original  "  Gibson  Girl,"  was 
killed  at  Ypres  in  December,  while  sev- 
ing  with  the  Royal  Scots.  Lord  Gren- 
fell's  twin  sons.  Captain  Riversdale  Gren- 
fell,  V.  C,  a  great  polo  player,  and  Cap- 
tain Francis  Grenfell,  were  both  killed  in 
France  within  a  few  months  of  each 
other.  Sir  Richard  Levinge,  a  great 
Irish  landowner  and  prominent  sports- 
man, was  killed  while  serving  as  a  cav- 
alry officer.  Sir  Robin  Duff,  a  Lieu- 
tenant in  the  Second  Life  Guards,  lost 
his  life  in  France  about  three  weeks  after 
succeeding  to  the  title  and  estate  of  his 
father.  Sir  Charles  Asheton -Smith, 
classed  among  the  richest  men  in  Eng- 
land. 

One  of  the  very  first  distinguished 
Britons  to  fall  was  the  young  Lord 
Charles  Nairn,  who  had  been  a  personal 
member  of  King  George's  household,  and 


1046 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


the  possessor  of  many  orders  and  decora- 
tions. He  had  served  in  the  Boer  cam- 
paigns with  distinction.  King  George 
has  lost  a  godson  in  Lieutenant  George 
Naylor-Leyland,  who  died  early  in  Octo- 
ber from  wounds  received  in  France.  lie 
was  but  22  and  the  heir  to  the  title  and 
fortune  of  his  brother,  Sir  Albert  Edward 
Naylor-Leyland.  Lord  Cowdray's  young- 
est son,  the  Hon.  Geoffrey  Pearson, 
was  killed  by  the  Uhlans  in  France  while 
carrying  dispatches  on  his  motor  cycle. 
Captain  William  Cecil  of  the  Grenadier 
Guards,  eldest  son  of  Lord  William  Cecil, 
leaves  by  his  death  a  widow  and  a  little 
son  of  two  years  to  assume  finally  Llie 
honors  of  the  Barony  of  Amherst  and 
Hackney. 

The  Marquis  of  Crewe's  son-in-law, 
Captain  E.  B.  O'Neill,  the  heir  of  Baron 
O'Neill,  was  the  first  member  of  Parlia- 
ment on  the  list  of  dead  soldiers.  Will- 
iam G.  C.  Gladstone,  a  Liberal  member  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  great-grandson 
of  the  Liberal  statesman,  was  killed  in  ac- 
tion last  April.  Colonel  William  Wynd- 
ham,  a  bachelor  of  38,  Lord  Rosebery's 
nephew  and  heir  to  the  Earl  of  Lecon- 
field,  fell  on  the  battlefield  in  Flanders 
last  November.  Death  in  battle  has  also 
taken  young  Percy  Wyndham,  son  of  the 
Countess  Grosvenor  and  half  brother  to 
the  Duke  of  Westminster.  A  famous 
Irish  peerage,  the  Earldom  of  Dartry,  is 
likely  to  become  extinct  through  the 
death  in  action  last  November  of  Captain 
E.  S.  Dawson  of  the  Coldstream  Guards. 
He  was  the  only  male  member  of  the 
family.  Colonel  George  Lumley,  brother 
and  heir  of  the  Earl  of  Scarborough,  has 
fallen.  Kaid  Sir  Harry  Maclean,  the  hero 
of  British  operations  in  Morocco,  has  lost 
his  son  and  heir,  Captain  Andrew 
Maclean  of  the  East  Surrey  Regiment. 

Other  Britons  of  rank  who  have  given 
their  lives  during  the  first  year  of  the 
war  are  the  following:  Robert  Cornwal- 
lis  Maude,  sixth  Viscount  Hawarden,  a 
Lieutenant  in  the  Coldstream  Guards; 
Lord  Bernard  Gordon-Lennox,  a  Major 
in  the  Grenadier  Guards;  Lord  John 
Spencer  Cavendish,  younger  brother  of 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire;  Lieutenant  Ar- 
cher Windsor-Clive  of  the  Coldstream 
Guards,  second  son  of  the  Earl  of  Plym- 


outh; Captain  Beauchamp  Oswald  Duff, 
the  son  of  Sir  Beauchamp  Duff,  com- 
mander of  the  army  in  India;  Lord  John 
Hamilton,  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Aber- 
corn;  the  sons  of  Viscount  Hardinge  and 
Lord  St.  David;  Lieutenant  the  Hon. 
Vere  Boscawen,  third  son  of  Viscount 
Falmouth;  Captain  the  Hon.  A.  E.  S. 
Mulholland  of  the  Irish  Guards,  eldest 
son  of  Baron  Dunleath ;  Captain  the  Hon. 
Christian  M.  Hore-Ruthven,  third  son 
of  Lord  Ruthven;  Captain  Sir  Frederick 
Villiers  Laud  Robinson ;  Captain  the  Hon. 
Charles  Henry  Stanley  Monck,  the  heir 
of  the  Viscount  Monck;  Captain  Sir 
Francis  Ernest  Waller;  Lieutenant  W. 
F.  Rodney,  brother  of  Lord  Rodney; 
Lord  Spencer  Douglas  Compton,  brother 
and  heir  of  the  Marquis  of  Northampton; 
Captain  the  Hon.  Douglas  Arthur  Kin- 
naird  of  the  Scots  Guards,  eldest  son  of 
Lord  Kinnaird;  Major  the  Hon.  Hugh 
Dawnay,  second  son  of  Viscount  Downe; 
Major  the  Hon.  A.  C.  Weld-Forester, 
third  son  of  Baron  Forester;  Lieutenant 
Keith  Anthony  Stewart,  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Galloway;  Captain  Eric  Upton  of 
the  Royal  Rifles,  son-in-law  of  Viscount 
Templeton,  and  Major  the  Hon.  C.  B. 
Freeman-Metford,  eldest  son  of  Lord 
Ridesdale. 

Of  the  old  French  aristocracy,  there 
are  but  few  houses  that  have  not  been 
placed  in  mourning.  Lieutenant  Count 
Jean  de  Rochambeau,  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  Marshal  de  Rochambeau,  the 
French  commander  at  Yorktown  in  the 
Revolutionary  War,  was  killed  on  the 
battlefield  in  upper  Alsace,  June  14; 
Prince  Ernest  d'Arenberg,  of  the  French 
branch  of  the  Arenberg  family  and  a 
Lieutenant  in  the  Thirty-second  Regi- 
ment of  Infantry,  was  slain  in  the 
trenches  last  March.  Count  de  Pierre- 
feu,  who  was  employed  in  an  office  of 
the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  in 
Chicago,  went  to  France  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war  and  joined  his  regi- 
ment. Injured  in  the  trenches  last  Win- 
ter, he  joined  an  ambulance  corps  after 
his  recovery.  Later  he  met  his  death 
while  engaged  in  Red  Cross  work.  The 
Count's  widow  was  a  daughter  of  Mrs. 
William  Tudor  of  Boston.  In  the  death 
of  the  aged   Baron  Jean  de   Klopstein, 


FACING   THE  SECOND   YEAR 


1047 


who  was  prominent  in  social  and  finan- 
cial circles  of  Paris,  the  life  of  an  inno- 
cent noncombatant  was  taken.  The  un- 
fortunate Baron  was  shot  dead  while 
seated  at  a  window  of  his  chateau  near 
the  fighting  front.  It  seems  he  had 
been  unaware  of  the  fact  that  an  en- 
gagement was  raging  quite  close  by. 
Guy,  Due  de  Lovge,  fell  fighting  against 
the  Germans  as  a  twenty-five-year-old 
Lieutenant  of  a  French  Dragoon  regi- 
ment. 

The  Austrian  Count  George  Festetics 
is  reported  to  have  been  killed  in  battle 
in  Galicia.  Count  Festetics  was  well 
known  in  London  society,  having  been 
attached  to  the  Austrian  Embassy  there. 
Count  and  Countess  Szechenyi  lost  a 
cousin  during  the  fighting  in  Galicia 
recently. 

Of  prominent  German  families  the  von 
Billows  have,  perhaps,  suffered  a  greater 
loss  than  any  other.  The  Berlin  Kreuz 
Zeitung  last  March  contained  a  notice  an- 
nouncing the  deaths  of  ten  members  of 
that  family  at  the  front,  all  officers. 
Lieutenant  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  son 
of  the  German  Chancellor,  was  killed  in 
Poland  early  this  year  while  daring  the 
fire  from  the  Russian  trenches  with  a 
skirmishing  party.  Captain  von  Falken- 
hayn,  son  of  the  German  Chief  of  General 
Staff,  was  shot  dead  2,000  feet  in  the  air 
near  Amiens  in  January.  Edwin  Beit  von 
Speyer,  nephew  of  James  Speyer  of  the 
New  York  banking  firm,  fell  on  Sept.  24 
in  a  skirmish  near  Arras. 

Germany  and  France  have  each  had  to 
sacrifice  one  of  their  leading  statesmen. 
Jean  Leon  Jaures,  who  for  a  decade  had 
been  the  most  prominent  French  Socialist 
leader,  besides  being  a  brilliant  orator, 
debater,  and  journalist,  was  assassinated 
on  the  eve  of  war  by  a  crank  who  had 
singled  out  Jaures  because  of  the  latter's 
determined  agitation  for  peace.  Germany 
likewise  lost  a  leading  figure  of  her 
Reichstag  in  Dr.  Ludwig  Frank,  the  pop- 
ular Socialist  Democratic  leader,  also  one 
of  the  foremost  orators  in  Germany.  Dr. 
Frank  had  volunteered  at  the  outbreak  of 
war  and  was  killed  in  action  before  Lune- 
ville,  in  the  very  first  engagement  in 
which  he  took  part.  Three  Judges  of 
the  Paris  bench  lost  their  lives  in  battle 


last  October.  Justice  Blondell  fell  on  the 
Meuse,  and  Justices  Matillon  and  Per- 
lange  in  the  battles  at  the  Aisne.  Henri 
CoUingnon,  French  Counselor  of  State, 
was  killed  March  19  in  Eastern  France 
during  a  trench  attack.  He  had  volun- 
teered as  a  private  soldier,  although  58 
years  old. 

Jean,  the  youngest  son  of  Premier  Vivi- 
ani,  fell  on  Aug.  22  in  a  charge  against 
the  German  trenches.  Mme.  Simone  le 
Bargy,  one  of  the  most  talented  actresses 
in  France,  has  lost  her  husband,  Casimir 
Perrier,  who  was  killed  near  Soissons 
early  this  year.  Young  Perrier  was  a 
son  of  ex-President  Casimir  Perrier  of 
France  and  a  member  of  a  wealthy 
family.  Dr.  Godfrey  Scheff,  a  surgeon 
in  the  Austrian  Army  and  father  of 
Fritzi  Scheff,  the  actress,  was  killed  in 
the  fighting  around  Serajevo.  While 
leading  his  company  in  a  bayonet  charge 
near  Ypres  in  December,  Dr.  Karl  Wil- 
helm  Gross  met  his  death.  Dr.  Gross 
had  been  exchange  professor  at  Cornell 
University. 

In  the  world  of  art  and  letters  Eng- 
land has  lost  Colonel  Guy  Louis  Busson 
du  Maurier,  whose  play,  "  An  English- 
man's Home,"  based  on  the  idea  of  a 
German  invasion  of  England,  attracted 
widespread  attention  some  years  ago. 
No  other  noted  British  author  has  been 
killed  so  far,  though  death  has  overtaken 
the  sons  of  three  well-known  writers. 
Sir  James  M.  Barrie's  adopted  son.  Lieu- 
tenant George  Davis,  was  slain  in  France. 
The  young  officer  was  the  inspiration 
for  Barrie's  popular  play,  "  Peter  Pan." 
The  death  in  action  of  Second  Lieutenant 
Oscar  Hornung,  only  son  of  E.  W.  Hor- 
nung,  the  novelist,  and  a  nephew  of  Sir 
Arthur  Conan  Doyle,  was  reported  re- 
cently. Lieutenant  Harold  Marion 
Crawford,  eldest  son  of  the  late  F. 
Marion  Crawford,  was  accidentally  killed 
by  a  bomb  explosion  at  Givenchy  on 
April  18. 

The  well-known  German  novelist,  Her- 
man Loens,  author  of  "  Der  Wehrwolf," 
fell  in  the  attack  on  Rheims.  He  was 
serving  as  a  private  in  a  regiment  of 
volunteers,  although  more  than  50 
years  old.  Alberie  Magnard,  composer 
of  the  opera  "  Berenice,"  was  killed  by 


1048 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Uhlans  while  attempting  to  defend  his 
villa  near  Nanteuil.  Of  the  Parisian 
artists  connected  with  the  National 
Beaux  Arts  School  who  have  gone  to 
the  front  several  have  fallen.  One  of 
the  first  was  Morris  Berthon,  chief  of 
Jaussely's  atelier.  Another,  Jean  Hill- 
macher,  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of 
Vitry-le-Frangois.  Noel  Hall,  Pierre 
Sylvian  Petit,  Henry  Caroly,  Georges 
Aussenard,  Maurice  Vidal,  Pierre  Sibien, 
Louis  Ringuet,  and  Jean  Petit  have  all 
been  killed  in  battle.  Gustave  Boisson, 
the  guardian,  has  also  fallen  as  a  color- 
bearer  in  his  regiment. 

The  effect  of  the  stupendous  struggle 
on  athletics  and  sports  will  make  itself 
felt  for  years  to  come.  There  is  hardly 
a  branch  of  spyort  that  has  escaped  with- 
out losing  one  or  more  of  its  noted  exjM)- 
nents.  The  havoc  wrought  by  death 
among  famous  runners  has  unquestion- 
ably been  the  most  startling.  The  names 
of  some  of  these,  known  the  world  over 
for  their  prowess,  follow:  Lieutenant 
W.  W.  Halswelle,  the  Olympic  champion 
in  several  events  held  in  1908;  Anderson 
of  Oxford,  who  competed  in  the  Ol3mipics 
at  Stockholm;  James  Duffy,  the  Cana- 
dian distance  runner,  winner  of  the  Yon- 
kers  and  Boston  marathons;  Jean  Bouin, 
the  great  French  runner,  whom  experts 
considered  the  greatest  distancer  in  the 
world;  R.  Rau,  the  champion  Teuton 
sprinter  and  record  holder;  Hans  Braun, 
the  wonderful  middle-distance  runner; 
Max  Hoffmann,  who  might  have  been 
the  former's  successor;  Heinz  Hegemann 
and  Herman  Lerow,  German  relay  run- 
ners, and  Karl  Schoenberg,  cross-country 
runner. 

In  the  death  of  Anthony  F.  Wilding, 
killed  in  action  at  the  Dardanelles,  the 
tennis  world  loses  a  player  who  had  been 
universally  considered  as  the  most  skilled 
wielder  of  the  racquet  in  the  history  of 
the  sport.  Kenneth  Powell  is  another 
famous  English  tennis  player  to  meet 
Wilding's  fate.  Germany's  leading  lawn 
tennis  promoter.  Dr.  Otto  Nirnheim,  died 
in  the  hospital  in  Louvain,  having  been 
wounded  by  a  bursting  sheJl.  Edward 
Kraeusel  of  Breslau,  winner  of  German 
tennis  tournaments,  was  killed  in  East 
Prussia.  Chelli,  a  player  of  exceptional 


ability,  and  du  Bousquet  are  the  French 
tennis  players  of  note  who  have  fallen. 

Of  noted  golfers,  one  of  the  world's 
greatest  amateurs,  Captain  John 
Graham,  lost  his  life  during  a  charge  at 
Ypres.  Lord  Annesley,  formerly  ama- 
teur champion  of  Ireland,  was  killed  in 
attempting  a  flight  across  the  Channel 
on  an  air  raid.  Captain  C.  F.  Barber 
of  Chester  went  down  in  the  Dardanelles 
on  the  battleship  Goliath.  Norman 
Hunter  is  reported  among  the  "  wounded 
and  missing."  Captain  W.  A.  Hender- 
son, who  defeated  Jerome  Travers  some 
years  ago,  was  killed  last  Fall.  Lieu- 
tenant H.  N.  Atkinson,  erstwhile  Welsh 
title  holder,  is  another  to  lose  his  life. 
Julian  Martin-Smith  died  of  wounds  re- 
ceived in  battle.  Miss  Neill  Eraser,  a 
noted  Scotch  woman  player,  died  with 
fever  after  serving  as  a  field  nurse. 

The  followers  of  polo  mourn  the  loss 
of  the  great  stars,  Captain  Francis  Gren- 
fell,  V.  C,  and  his  brother,  Riversdale, 
both  killed  in  action,  and  of  Captain  Noel 
Edwards.  Captain  Riversdale  Grenfell 
had  been  largely  responsible  for  the  re- 
vival and  development  of  modem  polo. 
Fletcher  and  McCraggin  of  the  crews  of 
Cambridge  and  Oxford  are  two  noted 
oarsmen  who  have  been  killed.  Captain 
Ludwig  Peters  of  Mainz  is  another 
famous  sculler  who  has  fallen.  The  box- 
ing world  has  lost  Young  Snowball,  the 
Manchester  paperweight;  Battling  Pye  of 
Preston  and  Marcel  Moreau,  the  French 
boxer.  The  list  of  dead  among  famous 
international  football  players  includes  the 
names  of  R.  W.  Poulton  of  the  Oxford 
Blues;  F.  H.  Turner,  the  Scottish  inter- 
national; R.  O.  Lagden,  and  Mijou  Ver- 
naud,  Andre  Nernaud,  and  Elie  Carpen- 
tier,  well-known  French  soccer  players. 
Popular  German  swimmers,  Eugen  Uhl 
and  Adolf  Rees  of  Stuttgart,  Count  Ferdi- 
nand Fischler  von  Treuberg  of  Munich 
and  Captain  Wimsen  of  Magdeburg  also 
have  fallen  on  the  battlefield.  Thoubaus, 
the  champion  javelin  thrower  of  France, 
and  Fritz  Buchholtz,  Germany's  most  ex- 
pert spear  thrower,  were  both  slain  in 
Flanders.  Germany  also  lost  her  best 
high  jumper  in  Erich  Lehmann.  One  of 
the  most  prominent  steeplechase  riders  of 
the  German  turf,  Count  von  Wedel,  bosom 


FACING   THE  SECOND  YEAR 


1049 


friend  of  the  Cown  Prince,  lost  his  life  in 
action,  as  did  also  the  popular  English 
huntsman,  Theodore  Edward  ("  Teddy  ") 
Brooks.  Brooks  received  a  mortal  wound 
while  fighting  with  a  relief  brigade  on 
the  Ypres  road. 

Undoubtedly  the  most  famous  name 
among  those  of  military  leaders  whose 
lives  have  gone  to  pay  grim  toll  in  the 
war  is  that  of  Field  Marshal  Earl  Rob- 
erts, Great  Britain's  most  distinguished 
soldier.  Earl  Roberts  was  so  generally 
well  known  that  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  dwell  here  on  his  notable  career,  which 
came  to  an  end  last  November  after  he 
had  contracted  pneumonia  during  an  in- 
spection tour  of  the  trenches  in  France. 
Other  British  Generals  and  commanderu 
whose  names  are  to  be  found  among  the 
dead  are  the  following:  Brig.  Gen. 
Charles  Fitzclarence  of  the  Irish  Guards, 
Brig.  Gen.  Norman  Reginald  McMahon 
of  the  Royal  Fusileers,  Brig.  Gen.  Neil 
Douglas  Findlay  of  the  Royal  Artillery, 
Major  Gen.  Hubert  I.  W.  Hamilton, 
Lieut.  Gen.  Sir  William  Edmund  Frank- 
lyn.  Brig.  Gen.  John  E.  Gough,  Colonel 
Francis  Douglas  Farquhar,  commander 
of  Princess  Patricia's  Canadian  Light  In- 
fantry, and  Lieut.  Gen.  Sir  J.  M.  Grier- 
son.  Lieutenant  Reginald  A.  J.  Warne- 
ford,  the  young  Indian  aviator,  was 
killed  while  testing  his  aeroplane.  Only 
shortly  before  this  he  had  won  fame 
and  distinction  for  having  destroyed  a 
Zeppelin  in  midair  single-handed. 

German  Generals  killed  in  action  are 
Lieut.  Gen.  George  Hildebrandt,  Major 
Gen.  Nieland,  Lieut.  Gen.  Steinmetz, 
General  von  Wroohem,  Major  Gen.  von 
Throtha,  General  von  Arbou,  and  General 
von  Trip.  Five  noted  French  command- 
ers have  met  their  deaths  on  the  battle- 
field— Generals  Rene  Joseph  Delarue, 
Marcot,  Rondony,  Sarrade,  and  de  Mon- 
tangon.  General  Welitchko,  the  Russian 
officer  of  Port  Arthur  fame,  was  killed 
in  the  fighting  near  Lodz.  The  famous 
Garibaldi  family  of  Italy  has  lost  two 
of  its  members,  Colonel  Peppino  Gari- 
baldi and  Lieutenant  Bruno  Garibaldi, 
both  slain  in  a  victorious  charge  on  the 
German  trenches  in  the  Argonne. 

In  celebrated  naval  commanders,  Ger- 
many has  suffered  the  principal  loss. 
Although  his  fame  was  not  established 


before  the  present  war  the  name  of  Cap- 
tain Otto  Weddigen,  the  submarine 
commander,  stands  out  am.ong  these. 
His  exploits  in  sinking  four  British 
cruisers  will  be  long  remembered.  Cap- 
tain Weddigen's  heroic  career  was  sud- 
denly ended  when  his  submersible,  the 
U-29,  was  sunK,  perhaps  by  a  British 
merchantman.  Admiral  Count  von  Spee, 
the  commander  of  the  German  squadron 
which  won  a  signal  victory  early  in  th6 
war  against  the  English  off  the  Chile 
coast,  went  down  with  his  flagship  in 
a  later  engagement  off  the  Falkland 
Islands.  In  the  naval  action  off  the 
Chile  coast,  the  British  Rear  Admiral, 
Sir  Christopher  Cradock,  lost  his  life 
when  his  flagship,  the  Good  Hope,  foun- 
dered and  sank  with  all  on  board.  The 
naval  battle  in  the  North  Sea  last  Jan- 
uary cost  the  life  of  the  commander  of 
the  German  cruiser  Bliicher,  Captain 
Erdmann.  The  Bliicher  was  sunk,  and 
Captain  Erdmann,  though  rescued,  died 
some  days  later  from  pneumonia  due  to 
exposure. 

The  lives  of  hundreds  of  other  naval 
men,  ranking  from  Captain  and  Com- 
mander down  to  petty  officer,  have  been 
lost  with  the  large  number  of  fighting 
ships  sunk  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  To  enumerate  them  all  would 
take  up  more  space  than  can  be  spared 
in  the  present  article. 

A  striking  feature  of  this  unprecedent- 
ed war  has  been  the  large  loss  in  neutral 
lives  it  has  cost.  America  has  borne  a 
heavy  toll.  In  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  last  May  by  a  German  submarine 
public  sentiment  was  aroused,  not  only 
by  the  deaths  of  helpless  women  and 
children,  but  by  the  loss  of  several  ac- 
complished and  popularly  known  people. 
The  following  were  the  best-known 
among  the  many  victims:  Alfred  G. 
Vanderbilt,  Elbert  Hubbard,  author; 
Charles  Frohman,  theatrical  manager; 
Herbert  S.  Stone,  publisher;  Lindon  W. 
Bates,  Jr.,  of  the  Belgian  Relief  Com- 
mission; Justus  Miles  Forman,  author 
and  playwright;  Dr.  Fred  Stark  Pearson, 
a  consulting  engineer ;  Albert  Lloyd  Hop- 
kins, shipbuilder,  and  Charles  Klein, 
playwright.  Commander  J.  Foster  Stack- 
house,  R.  N.,  and  Sir  Hugh  Lane,  both 


1050  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

English   subjects,  also  went  down  with  in  London;  Paul  Nelson,  architect,  mor- 

the  ill-fated  ship.  tally   wounded   while   fighting   with   the 

Following   are   the   names    of   several  French   Army;    Heinrich   von   Heinrichs- 

other  Americans  whose  deaths  have  been  hofen  of  St.  Louis,  an  American  citizen, 

directly  due  to  the  war:   Dr.  Ernest  P.  killed   fighting   as   a    Lieutenant   in   the 

Magruder,   New   York   surgeon,   died   of  German    Army;    Robert    L.    Cuthbert,   a 

typhoid  fever  while  fighting  the  epidemic  New  York  accountant,  died  in  action  with 

in  Serbia;  Henry  Beech  Needham,  writer  the  British  army  in  Flanders;  Andre  C. 

and  war  correspondent,  killed  during  a  Champollion,  a  grandson  of  Austin  Cor- 

trial  flight  with  Lieutenant  Warneford;  bin,  killed  in  battle  serving  in  the  French 

William  Lawrence  Breese,  killed  in  battle.  Army,  and   Maurice   Davis  of  Brooklyn, 

was    son-in-law   of   Hamilton    Fish,   and  also  slain  in  France  as  a  Lieutenant  un- 

formerly  secretary  to  Ambassador  Page  der  the  tricolor  of  the  French  Republic. 


The  Nation  Speaks 

By  BEATRICE  BARRY 


Children  of  Liberty,  awake! 

In  ordered  ranks  your  places  take! 

Where  Freedom's  sons  have  blazed  the  trail, 

Shall  you,  their  leal  descendants,  fail 

To  hold  in  trust  the  ideal  pure 

That  is  their  heritage  secure? 

Against  the  hour  you  would  know  how, 

Learn  ye  to  serve  me — learn  it  now ! 

You,  who  from  forms  of  bondage  drear. 
Have  sought  and  found  a  refuge  here — 
Who  reap  the  fruit  of  bitter  tears 
And  patriot  blood  of  former  years. 
Taking  the  most  that  I  can  give. 
Learning  how  God  meant  men  to  live — 
You  promised  fealty.     Your  vow 
Was  pledged  to  me.    I  need  you  now! 

I  need  you  now,  my  sons!    Why  wait 
Till  an  invader  storms  the  gate? 
Your  desperate  resistance  then 
Might  not  avail.     A  host  of  men 
Untrained,  undisciplined,  are  less, 
In  time  of  peril  and  distress. 
Than  half  that  multitude  would  be, 
Versed  in  the  arts  of  soldiery. 

Oh,  these,  my  children!    So  secure. 

So  confident,  so  oversure. 

While  Europe  dies,  with  warning  writ 

In  blood  across  the  face  of  it ! 

Valor,  I  doubt  not,  warms  your  heart — 

Discretion  is  the  better  part! 

Lest  to  the  scourge  your  neck  must  bow. 

Be  ye  prepared!     I  need  you  now! 


Where,  When,  and  by  Whom  Was 
the  War  Decided  Upon? 

By    Guglielmo    Ferrero 

Translated  from  the  Italian  by  Thomas  Okey 

The  responsibility  for  the  origin  of  this  war  is  a  matter  that  will  occupy  men's  minds 
during  its  entire  progress ;  it  will  be  one  of  the  first  concerns  of  the  great  peace  conference 
at  its  close,  and  historians  of  the  future  will  examine  again  the  evidences  of  the  war's 
inception.  What  the  Italian  historian  Ferrero  thinks  about  the  men  who  decided  upon  the 
conflict  and  how  he  identifies  them  are  subjects  of  common  concern,  treated  by  him  with 
the  power  of  analysis  that  has  placed  him  in  the  forefront  of  modern  historical  writers.  The 
subjoined  article  forms  the  introduction  to  "  Documents  Relating  to  the  Great  War,"  pub- 
lished in  London  by  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  Ltd.,  and  selected  and  arranged  by  Giuseppe  A. 
AndriuUi. 


I. 


EVERY  apologist  who  in  these  days 
undertakes  the  defense  of  Ger- 
many asserts,  on  the  authority  of 
the  White  Book,  that  Germany  is 
an  innocent  little  lamb,  the  prey  of  three 
hungry  wolves.  I,  too,  have  read  this 
famous  White  Book  in  the  English  trans- 
lation authorized  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment, a  translation  which  has  therefore 
an  official  value  equal  to  the  original. 
But  I  have  not  only  read  the  White  Book; 
I  have  also  read  the  Orange  Book,  pub- 
lished by  the  Russian  Government,  and 
the  Blue  Book,  which  the  English  Gov- 
ernment has  reprinted  and  circulated  in 
pamphlet  form,  entitled,  "  Great  Britain 
and  the  European  Crisis."  Let  us  see  if, 
from  a  comparative  study  of  these  three 
books,  some  gleam  of  the  truth  may  be 
found. 

The  White  Book,  like  the  English 
pamphlet,  is  divided  into  two  parts.  The 
first  and  shorter  portion  contains  a  suc- 
cinct narration  of  the  events  of  the  fate- 
ful last  week  of  July;  the  second  part  is 
a  collection  of  documents  which  are  relied 
on  to  support  and  prove  the  statements 
made  in  the  narration.  The  assertion 
made  in  the  White  Book  is,  according  to 
the  sub-title  printed  on  the  cover,  that 
Russia  and  her  sovereign  "  betrayed  Ger- 
many's confidence  " ;  that  they  forced  her 
to  take  up  arms  by  the  premature  mobil- 
ization of  the  Russian  Army  while  the 


German  Government  was  seeking  to  make 
peace  between  Russia  and  Austria.  The 
cause,  therefore,  of  all  the  evil  was  the 
Russian  mobilization.  This  being  the 
argument  of  the  White  Paper,  it  is  es- 
sential that  we  should  know  precisely 
how  and  when  the  mobilization  was  de- 
creed and  carried  into  effect. 

Now,  it  would  seem  that  among  all 
the  causes  which  may  give  rise  to  a  war 
the  mobilization  of  an  army  is  a  cause 
precise  and  concrete  enough.  It  is  not 
an  intention  which  may  be  dissimulated 
or  imagined;  it  is  a  great  and  impressive 
fact  visible  to  all.  It  would  appear  at 
least  clear,  then,  whether  the  German 
contention  is  true  or  not,  that  the  Rus- 
sian Government  did  give  orders  on  a 
certain  day  that  its  army  should  be  placed 
on  a  war  footing.  But  no!  The  reader 
of  the  White  Book  is  constrained  to  ask 
himself  over  and  over  again — but,  after 
all,  did  or  did  not  Russia  mobilize  her 
army?  Let  us  see.  In  the  narrative 
part  of  the  White  Book  we  are  told  that 
the  first  news  of  the  Russian  mobiliza- 
tion reached  Berlin  on  the  evening  of 
July  26,  as  the  documents  numbered  6, 
7,  and  8  prove.  The  first  of  these,  that 
bearing  the  number  6,  is  a  telegram,  dis- 
patched on  the  25th  by  the  German  Am- 
bassador at  St.  Petersburg — as  yet  not 
rebaptized  Petrograd — to  the  German 
Chancellor.     It  runs  thus :  "  Message  to 


1052 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


H.  M.  from  General  von  Chelius,  (Ger- 
man honorary  aide  de  camp  to  the  Czar.) 

"  The  manoeuvres  of  the  troops  in  the 
Krasnoe  camp  were  suddenly  interrupted, 
and  the  regiments  returned  to  their  gar- 
risons at  once.  The  manoeuvres  have 
been  canceled.  The  military  pupils  were 
raised  today  to  the  rank  of  officers  in- 
stead of  next  Fall.  *  *  *  I  have  the 
impression  that  complete  preparations 
for  mobilization  against  Austria  are  be- 
ing made." 

Document  No.  7  is  another  dispatch 
from  the  same  Ambassador  sent  on  the 
26th.  The  Military  Attache  requests 
the  following  message  to  be  sent  to  the 
General  Staff:  "  I  deem  it  certain  that 
mobilization  has  been  ordered  for  Kiev 
and  Odessa.  It  is  doubtful  at  Warsaw 
and  Moscow,  and  improbable  elsewhere." 

Document  No.  8  is  a  laconic  telegram 
from  the  German  Consul  at  Kovno  dis- 
patched on  the  27th. 

"  Kovno  has  been  declared  to  be  in  a 
state  of  war." 

Setting  aside  the  last  telegram,  which 
relates  to  an  event  that  happened  in  a 
remote  corner  of  the  vast  Russian  Em- 
pire, the  first  two  witnesses,  who  are  the 
important  ones,  only  transmit  supposi- 
tions and  conjectures.  "  I  have  the  im- 
pression," says  the  first.  "  I  deem  it  cer- 
tain," "  It  is  doubtful,  improbable,"  says 
the  second.  It  will  seem  strange,  at 
least,  that  in  order  to  know  whether  a 
decree  for  mobilization  was  issued  or  not, 
reliance  should  be  placed  on  conjectures 
— a  decree  which  must  have  been  followed 
by  public  proclamations  and  brought  to 
the  knowledge  of  millions  of  men.  Any- 
how, it  will  not  appear  convincing  to  the 
alert  reader  that  the  spark  which  caused 
so  great  a  conflagration  could  have  orig- 
inated from  these  dispatches.  And  such, 
too,  was  the  opinion  of  a  person  who, 
by  reason  of  his  official  position,  must 
have  been  even  more  experienced  in  these 
matters  than  the  most  alert  of  readers — 
the  Imperial  Chancellor  of  Germany — 
who  telegraphed  on  July  26  to  the  Ger- 
man Ambassador  in  London  as  follows 
(Document  No.  10)  : 

"  *  *  *  According  to  news  received 
here,  the  call  for  several  classes  of  the 
reserves  is  expected  immediately,  which 
is   equivalent  to  mobilization.       If  this 


news  proves  correct,  we  shall  be  forced 
to  countermeasures  very  much  against 
our  own  wishes.  Our  desire  to  localize 
the  conflict  and  to  preserve  the  peace  of 
Europe  remains  unchanged." 

On  July  26,  therefore,  the  Chancellor 
was  not  yet  certain  that  Russia  had  com- 
menced mobilization  on  the  Austrian 
frontier,  and,  at  any  rate,  thought  that 
even  if  it  had,  Germany  would  only  have 
been  compelled  to  take  some  measures 
dictated  by  prudence.  To  reassure  him 
still  further,  there  arrived  from  the  Ger- 
man Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg  on 
the  27th  the  following  telegram.  No.  11 
in  the  list  of  documents: 

"  Military  Attache  reports  a  conversa- 
tion with  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"  Sazanoff  has  requested  the  latter  to 
enlighten  me  on  the  situation.  The  Sec- 
retary of  War  has  given  me  his  word  of 
honor  that  no  order  to  mobilize  has  as 
yet  been  issued.  Though  general  prep- 
arations are  being  made,  no  reserves  were 
called  and  no  horses  mustered.  If  Aus- 
tria crossed  the  Serbian  frontier,  such 
military  districts  as  are  directed  towanl 
Austria,  viz.,  Kiev,  Odessa,  Moscow, 
Kazan,  are  to  be  mobilized.  Under  no 
circumstances  those  on  the  Germnn 
frontier,  Warsaw,  Vilna,  and  St.  Peters- 
burg. Peace  with  Germany  was  desired 
very  much.  Upon  my  inquiry  into  the 
object  of  mobilization  against  Austria, 
he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  referred 
to  the  diplomats.  I  told  the  Secretary 
that  we  appreciated  his  friendly  inten- 
tions, but  considered  mobilization,  even 
against  Austria,  as  very  menacing." 

The  Russian  Government,  in  fact,  in- 
forms the  German  Government,  by  the 
mouth  of  its  Minister  of  War,  that  it 
has  made  the  necessary  arrangements 
for  mobilizing  the  army  against  Austria, 
but  that  the  actual  mobilization  will  take 
effect  only  if  Austria  declares  war  on 
Serbia.  Must  we  take  the  Russian  Min- 
ister's word?  I  think  so.  Because  only 
by  admitting  he  spoke  the  truth  can  we 
account  for  the  rumors  and  conjectures 
current  at  St.  Petersburg  concerning  the 
mobilization  which  were  transmitted  to 
Berlin  on  the  26th — rumors  and  conjec- 
tures followed  by  no  actual,  visible  con- 
sequences which  would  afford  any  defi- 
nite confirmation  of  the  supposed  mobil- 


GENERAL     SARRAIL 

Who  replaces  General  Goraud  as  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  French  Army 

of  the  Orient  at  the   Dardanelles 

(Photo  from  Modem  Photo   Service) 


President    of 


PAUL     DESCHANEL 

France's    Chamber   of    Deputies,    Who    Replied 
versary      Manifesto     of     the     German      Kaiser 


to    the    Anni- 


HOW  WAS  THE  WAR  DECIDED   UPON? 


1053 


ization.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Russian 
Minister  speaks  clearly  and  sensibly 
enough.  Russia  never  concealed  the  fact 
that  she  would  arm  if  Austria  attacked 
Serbia,  and  her  Minister  Sazanoff  had, 
indeed,  informed  Austria  of  this  fact 
during  the  Balkan  crisis. 

The  reply  of  the  attache  that  mobiliza- 
tion, even  against  Austria,  would  be 
considered  "  as  very  menacing "  seems 
strange,  because  this  reply  accords 
neither  with  the  Chancellor's  opinion 
manifested  in  the  telegram  of  July  26, 
nor  with  the  opinion  which  the  German 
Emperor  was  to  give  expression  to  on  the 
day  following.  In  fact,  the  Emperor 
arrived  at  Berlin  from  the  North  Sea  on 
July  28,  and  on  that  evening,  at  10:45, 
sent  a  friendly  and  confident  dispatch  to 
the  Czar  (Document  No.  20)  which  in 
every  word  breathes  forth  the  steadfast 
purpose  and  certain  hope  of  an  amicable 
settlement.  "  In  view  of  the  cordial 
friendship,"  the  Emperor  writes,  "  which 
has  joined  us  both  for  a  long  time  with 
firm  ties,  I  shall  use  my  entire  influence 
to  induce  Austria-Hungary  to  obtain  a 
frank  and  satisfactory  understanding 
with  Russia."  On  the  evening  of  the 
28th,  therefore,  the  Emperor  appears  to 
see  everything  in  a  rosy  light,  and  does 
not  judge  that  peace  is  endangered.  Nor 
was  he  wrong  in  so  doing,  as  it  seems  to 
us,  if  matters  stood  as  the  Russian  Min- 
ister of  War  had  said  they  did. 

But,  unhappily,  on  that  very  day  Aus- 
tria had  declared  war  on  Serbia,  and  the 
day  after,  the  29th,  as  we  are  informed 
in  the  narrative  part  of  the  White  Book, 
the  Russian  Government  dispatched  an 
official  communication  to  the  German 
Government  to  the  effect  that  a  mobiliza- 
tion in  the  four  districts  on  the  confines 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  had 
been  ordered.  The  statement  will  appear 
credible  to  the  alert  reader  because  it 
accords  with  what  the  Russian  Minister 
of  War  had  told  the  German  Military 
Attache  on  the  27th;  and  the  action  of 
the  Russian  Government  will  not  appear 
to  him  a  provocative  one,  but  merely  the 
avowed  reply  of  Russia  to  the  declaration 
of  war  by  Austria  on  Serbia.  Both  Aus- 
tria and  Germany  had  been  loyally  fore- 
warned and — uomo  avvisato  e  mezzo  sal- 


vato.*  But,  but — turning  back  some 
pages  of  the  White  Book,  we  happen  on 
a  telegram  from  the  German  Military 
Attache,  at  St.  Petersburg,  dispatched 
on  the  29th,  which  runs  thus: 

"  The  Chief  of  the  General  Staff  has 
asked  me  to  call  on  him,  and  he  has  told 
me  that  he  has  just  come  from  his 
Majesty.  He  has  been  requested  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  to  reiterate  once  more 
that  everything  has  remained  as  the  Sec- 
retary had  informed  me  two  days  ago. 
He  offered  confirmation  in  writing,  and 
gave  me  his  word  of  honor  in  the  most 
solemn  manner  that  nowhere  had  thex'e 
been  a  mobilization,  viz.,  calling  in  of  a 
single  man  or  horse,  up  to  the  present 
time,  i.  e.,  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
He  could  not  assume  a  guarantee  for  the 
future,  but  he  could  emphasize  the  fact 
that  in  the  fronts  directed  toward  our 
frontiers  his  Majesty  desired  no  mobili- 
zation. 

"  As,  however,  I  had  received  here 
many  pieces  of  news  concerning  the  call- 
ing in  of  the  reserves  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  and  also  in  Warsaw  and 
Vilna,  I  told  the  General  that  his  state- 
ments placed  me  before  a  riddle.  On  his 
officer's  word  of  honor,  he  replied  that 
such  news  was  wrong,  but  that  possibly 
here  and  there  a  false  alarm  may  have 
been  given. 

"  I  must  consider  this  conversation  as 
an  attempt  to  mislead  us  as  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  measures  hitherto  taken,  in 
view  of  the  abundant  and  positive  in- 
formation about  the  calling  in  of  re- 
serves." 

So  it  would  appear  that  while  the 
Russian  Government  was  officially  warn- 
ing Berlin  of  its  intention  to  mobilize 
against  Austria,  the  Chief  of  the  General 
Staff  at  St.  Petersburg  was  saying  pre- 
cisely the  opposite  to  the  German  Mili- 
tary Attache.  What  does  all  this  mean? 
the  reader  will  ask.  Are  we  to  conclude 
with  the  worthy  attache  that  perfidious 
Russia  was  seeking  to  "  betray  Germany's 
confidence  "  ?  Nor  is  this  all.  Another 
surprise  awaits  us.  At  6:30,  on  the 
evening  of  the  29th,  the  Emperor  Will- 
iam sends  a  further  dispatc"h,  (Docu- 
ment No.  22,)  still  cordial,  but  no  longer 

*A    man    forewarned    is    half    saved. 


1054 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


so  confident  as  that  of  the  day  before. 
And  in  this  he  professes  to  suspect,  but 
not  indeed  to  know  from  certain  knowl- 
edge, that  the  Russian  mobilization  may 
have  been  decreed.  Among  other  things 
we  read :  "  I  believe  that  a  direct  under- 
standing is  possible  and  desirable  between 
your  Government  and  Vienna,  an  under- 
standing which,  as  I  have  already  tele- 
graphed you,  my  Government  endeavors 
to  aid  with  all  possible  effort.  Natural- 
ly, military  measures  by  Russia,  which 
might  be  construed  as  a  menace  by  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, would  accelerate  a  calam- 
ity. *  *  * "  The  Emperor  seems  no 
longer  easy  in  his  role  of  peacemaker; 
he  begins  to  fear  that  the  military  prep- 
arations made  by  Russia  may  endanger 
his  efforts  at  mediation,  all  the  while 
speaking  of  them  not  as  if  they  had 
been,  but  as  if  they  might  have  been, 
made.  But  whatever  does  this  mean,  if 
the  Rtissian  Government  had  officially 
announced  at  Berlin  that  it  was  mobiliz- 
ing? 

But  even  this  is  not  all.  Seven  hours 
later — one  hour  after  midnight — the  Em- 
peror William  dispatches  another  tele- 
gram, (Document  23,)  whose  tone  is 
wholly  changed  and  which  is  couched  in 
a  dry,  curt,  almost  menacing  style.  The 
German  Emperor  now  almost  refuses  to 
act  the  peacemaker.     Here  is  the  text: 

"  My  Ambassador  has  instructions  to 
direct  the  attention  of  your  Government 
to  the  dangers  and  serious  consequences 
of  a  mobilization;  I  have  told  you  the 
same  in  my  last  telegram.  Austria- 
Hungary  has  mobilized  only  against 
Serbia,  and  only  a  part  of  her  army.  If 
Russia,  as  seems  to  be  the  case,  according 
to  your  advice  and  that  of  your  Govern- 
ment, mobilizes  against  Austria-Hungary 
*  *  *  my  position  as  mediator  *  *  * 
becomes  impossible.  The  entire  weight  of 
decision  now  rests  on  your  shoulders. 
You  have  to  bear  the  responsibility  for 
war  or  peace." 

So,  then,  in  those  seven  hours  the  Em- 
peror had  at  length  persuaded  himself 
that  Russia's  mobilization  against  Aus- 
tria would  imperil  the  maintenance  of 
peace,  although  even  then  he  was  not 
certain  that  the  mobilization  had  actual- 
ly been  commenced,  since  he  speaks  of  it 


as  an  event  which  seems  to  be  verified. 
Two  questions,  therefore,  force  themselves 
upon  us.  After  all  said  and  done,  had 
Russia,  or  had  she  not,  mobilized  her 
army  on  that  day?  And,  for  what  reason 
was  the  German  Emperor,  who  had  still 
been  so  confident  on  the  28th,  so  uneasy 
during  the  night  of  the  29th,  because 
Russia  seemed  to  be  mobilizing  against 
Austria;  while  on  the  31st,  when  it  was 
known  that  Russia  was  mobilizing.  Count 
Forzach,  Under-Secretary  of  State  for 
Austria-Hungary,  informed  the  British 
Ambassador  at  Vienna  that  mobilization 
was  not  regarded  as  a  necessary  hostile 
act  either  by  Russia  or  by  Austria  (Blue 
Book,  Document  118)      *     *     *   ? 

IL 

The  truth  concerning  Russian  mobiliza- 
tion appears  to  be  contained  in  the  dis- 
patch which  the  Czar  sent  to  the  German 
Emperor  on  July  30  at  1:20  P.  M.,  in 
reply  to  a  telegram  from  the  Emperor. 
The  Czar's  dispatch  is  as  follows: 

"  I  thank  you  cordially  for  your  quick 
reply.  *  *  *  The  military  measures 
now  taking  form  were  decided  upon  five 
days  ago,  and  for  reasons  of  defense 
against  the  preparations  of  Austria.  I 
hope,  with  all  my  heart,  that  these  meas- 
ures will  not  influence,  in  any  manner, 
your  position  as  mediator."  (Document 
23A.) 

On  July  25,  therefore,  Russia  had  de- 
cided to  mobilize  the  districts  of  Kiev, 
Moscow,  Odessa,  and  Kazan,  if  Austria 
were  to  make  war  on  Serbia.  But  as 
late  as  3  P.  M.  on  the  29th,  when  the 
Chief  of  the  General  Staff  spoke  with 
the  German  Military  Attache,  Russia 
had  not  begun  to  give  effect  to  her  de- 
cision, and  she  did  begin,  as  it  would 
appear,  only  on  the  30th.  Austria  hav- 
ing declared  war  on  Serbia  on  the  28th, 
Russia  then  allowed  two  more  days  to 
pass,  still  hesitating,  before  putting  her 
threat  into  execution.  A  new  proof  it 
would  seem  of  her  long-suffering  patience 
and  pacific  intentions.  Nor  was  the 
German  Government  ignorant  that  this 
was  the  position  of  things,  for  otherwise 
the  Emperor  would  not,  in  his  last  dis- 
patch, have  spoken  of  the  Russian  mobil- 
ization   as    of   a    measure   which    might 


HOW  WAS  THE  WAR  DECIDED   UPON? 


loss 


still  be  carried  into  execution  or  not.  The 
German  Government,  therefore,  on  the 
evening  of  July  29,  was  convinced  that  the 
Russian  Chief  of  the  General  Staff  was 
speaking  the  truth  on  the  day  of  his  in- 
terview with  the  German  Military  At- 
tache, and  that  the  latter's  suspicions 
were  unfounded.  Evidently  the  Czar 
had  good  grounds  for  his  astonishment 
that  the  German  Emperor  felt  himself, 
on  the  29th,  embarrassed  as  a  peace- 
maker by  measures  taken  on  the  25th, 
since  on  the  28th,  while  fully  cognizant 
of  them,  he  had  made  no  allusion  to 
them,  nor  believed  that  they  would  im- 
pede his  efforts.  And  we,  too,  are 
justified  in  our  astonishment  and  have 
the  right  to  ask  what  happened  on  that 
29th  day  of  July  to  make  the  German 
Emperor  so  suddenly  change  his  ideas 
and  his  tone  in  his  dispatches  to  the 
Czar.  What  happened  to  make  him 
fear,  as  a  grave  and  imminent  danger, 
that  mobilization  against  Austria  which 
had  only  been  deliberated  upon,  while 
knowing  all  the  time  that  Russia,  after 
having  threatened  mobilization,  still  hesi- 
tated before  passing  from  words  to  deeds ; 
while  Austria,  too,  was  not  in  the  least 
alarmed  even  two  days  later  when  the 
mobilization  was  not  only  threatened  but 
had  already  begun? 

In  vain  do  we  seek  the  cause  of  this 
mysterious  change  in  the  White  Book, 
where  immediately  after  this  imperial 
dispatch  the  thunderbolt  of  an  ultimatum 
is  launched  under  the  date  of  July  31. 
On  that  date  the  Chancellor  charges  the 
German  Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg 
to  intimate  to  Russia  that  she  must  stop 
every  measure  of  war  within  twelve 
hours,  and  he  begins  his  telegram  with 
these  words :  "  In  spite  of  negotiations 
still  pending  *  *  *  Russia  has  mobil- 
ized her  entire  army,  hence  also  against 
us.     Wherefore,  &c." 

General  mobilization!  But  this  is  an- 
other surprise.  All  the  documents  and 
information  we  have  read  up  to  the 
present  in  the  White  Book  speak  of  a 
partial  Russian  mobilization  against 
Austria.  In  a  moment,  without  telling 
us  when  or  how,  nor  by  what  channel 
the  information  reached  the  German 
Government,  the  Russian  general  mobil- 


ization and  the  consequent  German  ulti- 
matum are  announced  to  us,  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  as  if  between  one  and 
the  other  no  greater  lapse  of  time  had 
passed  than  that  which  separates  the 
lightning-flash  from  the  thunder-clap. 
And  thus,  in  fact,  it  was.  In  the  narra- 
tive part  of  the  White  Book  we  are  told 
that  the  Russian  Government  ordered  a 
'  general  mobilization  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  31,  and  that  the  ultimatum  was  de- 
livered by  the  Gennan  Ambassador  at  St. 
Petersburg  on  July  31  at  midnight — less 
than  twelve  hours  afterward!  If  one 
bears  in  mind  the  time  needed  for  the 
news  of  the  mobilization  to  reach  the  Ger- 
man Embassy  at  St.  Petersburg  and  from 
thence  to  be  transmitted  by  dispatch  to 
Berlin;  if  one  also  reflects  on  the  time 
necessary  to  telegraph  the  ultimatum  from 
Berlin  to  St.  Petersburg  and  to  deliver  it 
to  M.  Sazanoff  at  the  Russian  Foreign 
Office,  one  is  forced  to  conclude  that  the 
German  Government,  by  its  ultimatum, 
decided  on  war  while  one  might  light  and 
smoke  a  cigar.  So  much  haste,  and  why  ? 
Was  the  atmosphere  so  threatening  that 
no  delay  was  possible?  No.  Not  only 
did  the  negotiations  between  Austria  and 
Russia  continue  on  July  30  and  31,  but 
actually  on  the  31st  they  were  much  more 
promising  than  they  had  been  during  the 
previous  days.  And  precisely  on  the  31st 
Austria  made  the  greatest  stride  toward 
a  compromise  that  she  had  hitherto  made; 
for  she  consented  to  discuss  her  note  to 
Serbia  with  Russia  and  the  European 
powers,  and  the  Czar  telegraphed  to  the 
Emperor  of  Germany  promising  on  his 
word  of  honor  that  so  long  as  diplomatic 
discussions  continued  his  troops  should 
not  be  moved. 

What,  then,  had  happened? 

Few  are  they  that  know,  and  they 
will  defer  speaking  as  long  as  possible — 
until  the  nations,  decimated  and  im- 
poverished by  the  war,  shall  demand  of 
their  sovereigns  and  of  their  Ministers 
an  account  of  their  every  act,  word,  and 
intention.  For  the  present  we  can  only 
make  surmises.  But  it  appears  to  me 
that  the  key  to  the  mystery  may  be 
found  in  two  documents  of  capital  im- 
portance in  the  Orange  Book  and  the 
Blue  Book.       The  first  is  the  document 


1056 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


which,  in  the  Orange  Book,  bears  the 
number  58,  and  consists  of  a  telegram 
dispatched  by  Sazanoff  to  the  Russian 
Ambassador  at  Paris  on  July  29;  the 
second  is  the  document  numbered  85  in 
the  Blue  Book — a  telegram  dispatched  by 
the  British  Ambassador  at  Berlin  on  the 
evening  of  the  29th.  Two  dispatches 
sent  forth  on  that  day  on  which  so  many 
strange  events  happened — on  that  day 
when  the  German  Emperor,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  sent  two  such  different  dis- 
patches to  the  Czar  at  an  interval  of 
seven  hours;  one  at  6  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, the  other  at  one  hour  after  midnight. 

The  telegram  which  the  Russian  Min- 
ister for  Foreign  Affairs  dispatched  to 
his  Ambassador  in  Paris — it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  the  hour  of  its  dispatch  is 
not  given — runs  thus: 

"  The  German  Ambassador  today  in- 
formed me  of  the  decision  of  his  Govern- 
ment to  mobilize  if  Russia  did  not  stop 
her  military  preparations.  Now,  in 
point  of  fact,  we  only  began  these  prep- 
arations in  consequence  of  the  mobiliza- 
tion already  undertaken  by  Austria,  and 
owing  to  her  evident  unwillingness  to 
accept  any  means  of  arriving  at  a  peace- 
ful settlement  of  her  dispute  with  Serbia. 
As  we  cannot  comply  with  the  wishes  of 
Germany,  we  have  no  alternative  but  to 
hasten  our  own  military  preparations 
and  to  assume  that  war  is  probably  in- 
evitable.    *     *     * " 

Now  do  you  understand,  0  alert  reader, 
what  a  strange  kind  of  peacemaker  the 
German  Emperor  was  ?  On  July  29,  when 
it  was  known  at  Berlin  that  Russia,  at 
the  supreme  moment  of  passing  from 
words  to  deeds  by  mobilizing  against 
Austria,  hesitated;  when  Austria,  who 
must  have  been  somewhat  more  inter- 
ested in  the  matter  than  Germany,  had 
not  been  consulted  and  showed  no  anxiety 
on  account  of  the  menaced  Russian 
mobilization,  Germany  intimates  to  Rus- 
sia that  she  must  disarm  in  the  face  of 
Austria,  and  threatens  to  mobilize  and 
hence  to  make  war  if  she  does  not.  How 
can  so  singular  a  step  be  explained,  con- 
cerning which  the  White  Book  is  silent, 
except  by  attributing  to  the  German  Gov- 
ernment the  firm  intention  of  diplomatic- 
ally browbeating  Russia  and,  if  threats 


proved  vain,  to  make  war  and  constrain 
Austria  to  follow  her?  Does  it  or  does 
it  not  appear  to  you  that  in  this  telegram 
Germany  is  surprised  in  a  flagrant  ag- 
gression? Moreover,  let  us  now  read 
Document  85  in  the  Blue  Book,  and  we 
shall  discover  matters  of  far  graver  im- 
port. This  document,  as  we  have  said, 
is  a  dispatch  sent  to  the  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs  by  the  British  Ambassa- 
dor at  Berlin  on  the  evening  of  July  29. 
And  what  does  the  British  Ambassador 
telegraph  to  his  Foreign  Minister?  He 
telegraphs  that  he  was  asked  to  call  upon 
the  Chancellor  on  that  night,  who  had 
just  returned  from  Potsdam.  In  the  in- 
troductory narrative  of  events  the  in- 
formation is  given  that  the  Ambassador 
was  sent  for  late  at  night.  Grave  and 
urgent,  therefore,  were  the  matters  which 
the  Chancellor  had  to  communicate  to  the 
Ambassador,  and  matters  appertaining  to 
the  discussion  that  had  taken  place  in 
the  Conciliabule  or  Council  with  the 
Emperor  at  Potsdam,  since  the  Chancel- 
lor had  scarcely  returned  to  Berlin  from 
Potsdam  before  he  sent  for  the  Ambassa- 
dor, and  sent  for  him  late  at  night,  at 
so  unusual  and  inconvenient  an  hour! 
He  had,  in  fact,  to  ask  him,  neither  more 
nor  less,  if  Great  Britain  would  promise 
to  remain  neutral  in  a  European  war, 
on  the  understanding  that  Germany  re- 
spected the  integrity  and  neutrality  of 
the  Netherlands,  and  took  from  France 
only  her  colonies. 

This  document  speaks  clearly  enough. 
It  tells  us  that  war  was  virtually  decided 
upon  on  the  evening  of  July  29  at  that 
colloquy  or  Council  between  Chancellor 
and  Emperor  which  was  held  at  Potsdam, 
and  which  certainly  took  place  between 
the  first  and  the  second  telegram  sent  to 
the  Czar  by  the  Emperor.  Thus  alone  can 
the  haste  be  explained  with  which  the 
Chancellor  on  his  return  to  Berlin  sent 
for  the  British  Ambassador  and  had  that 
conversation  with  him  which,  as  the  in- 
troductory narrative  to  the  Blue  Book 
tells  us,  seemed  so  strange  to  the  British 
Government  when  it  was  known  in 
London. 

Now,  by  the  light  of  these  two  docu- 
ments many  things  are  clear.  There  was 
a  party  in  Germany  powerful  at  Court 


HOW  WAS  THE  WAR  DECIDED   UPON? 


1057 


and  in  the  Government  which,  for  ten 
years,  had  been  urging  Germany  to  take 
up  arms.  This  party,  probably  between 
the  28th  and  the  29th,  had  surrounded 
the  Emperor  who,  on  the  28th,  still  ap- 
peared animated  by  reasonable  intentions. 
Austria,  by  declaring  war  on  Serbia,  had 
only  too  effectively  furnished  the  war 
party  at  Berlin  with  a  terrible  argument 
— the  argument  that  war  was  inevitable. 
And  if  war  could  not  be  prevented  was 
it  not  better  for  Germany  to  precipitate 
it?  So  Emperor  and  Government 
allowed  themselves  to  be  persuaded  to 
intimate  to  Russia  that  she  must  disarm, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  Emperor 
changes  his  tone  in  his  correspondence 
with  the  Czar.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
on  July  29  the  Emperor  and  the  German 
Government  still  deluded  themselves  that 
Russia  would  yield  to  threats  as  she  did 
in  1908  and  during  the  Bosnia-Herze-  • 
govina  crisis,  and  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment's hesitation  to  mobilize  may  have 
encouraged  this  delusion. 

But,  during  the  afternoon,  a  telegram 
arrives  at  Berlin  from  the  German  Am- 
bassador at  St.  Petersburg  which  we  may 
search  in  vain  for  in  the  White  Book — 
the  telegram  which  we  have  cognizance 
of  from  Document  58  published  in  the 
Orange  Book.  In  this  telegram  the  con- 
versation between  the  German  Ambassa- 
dor and  the  Russian  Minister  is  reported, 
and  it  is  therefore  now  known  at  Berlin 
that  Russia  refuses  to  suspend  her  mili- 
tary preparations:  the  German  Govern- 
ment, in  fact,  understands  that  this  time 
Russia  will  not  yield  to  threats.  The 
Chancellor  hastens  with  the  telegram  to 
Potsdam,  and  at  Potsdam  the  decision  is 
taken  to  dispatch  a  last  and  more  menac- 
ing ultimatum  to  Russia  and,  if  that 
failed  of  its  effect,  to  go  to  war.  The 
Chancellor  returns  to  Berlin  that  same 
night  to  ask  of  the  English  Ambassador 
the  price  of  British  neutrality;  the  Em- 
peror dispatches  his  telegram  to  the  Czar, 
one  hour  after  midnight,  which  partially 
reflects  the  answer  given  to  the  German 
Ambassador  by  Sazanoff ;  and  at  two  in 
the  morning  of  the  30th  the  German 
Ambassador  calls  on  Sazanoff  for  one  last 
fateful  colloquy.  Of  this  we  have  in- 
formation in  the  document  published  in 


the  Blue  Book  which  relates  how  the 
German  Ambassador  burst  into  tears 
when  he  perceived  that  Russia  would  not 
give  way.  He  understood  that  war  was 
now  decided  upon. 

Any  one  who  reads  the  White  Book 
attentively  and  compares  it  with  the 
Blue  Book  and  the  Orange  Book  will  in- 
evitably be  led  to  believe  that  the  war 
was  decided  upon  at  Berlin,  not,  indeed, 
after  Russia  had  begun  her  general 
mobilization,  but  on  the  evening  of  the 
29th,  and  before  even  she  had  begun  her 
partial  mobilization  against  Austria. 
This  being  admitted,  it  is  easy  to  explain 
why  the  ultimatum  was  decided  upon 
with  such  haste  when  the  news  that 
Russia  was  proceeding  to  mobilize  the 
whole  of  her  army  had  scarcely  reached 
Berlin.  To  declare  war  a  pretext  was 
necessary,  for  it  would  have  been  strange 
indeed  that  Germany,  in  a  dispute  that 
had  arisen  between  Russia  and  Austria — ■ 
Germany  who,  as  an  ally,  was  only  a 
secondary  party  to  the  quarrel — should 
have  declared  war  on  Russia  because  she 
was  mobilizing  her  army  against  Austria 
at  a  time  when  Austria  declared  that  she 
did  not  interpret  this  message  as  a  threat. 
Even  the  German  professors  who  signed 
the  famous  manifesto  would  then  have 
perceived  that  Germany  alone  was  the 
aggressor.  Hence  the  news  that  arrived 
on  the  31st  of  the  precautionary  measures 
taken  by  Russia,  for  a  general  moboliza- 
tion,  came  pat,  (and  that  nothing  more 
as  yet  was  intended  on  the  part  of  Russia 
is  proved  by  Document  113  in  the  Blue 
Book,)  and  the  pretext  was  immediately 
seized  upon,  since  war  had  already  been 
decided.  The  precipitation  with  which 
the  German  Government  dispatched  the 
ultimatum  on  July  31  can  be  explained 
only  in  two  ways:  either  we  must  admit 
that  the  German  Government  had  sud- 
denly gone  mad;  or  that  war  had  already 
been  decided  upon  before,  namely,  on 
that  fateful  evening  of  July  29. 

Unfortunately  for  Germany,  precisely 
on  that  very  day  Austria-Hungary  ap- 
pears to  have  become  terrified  and  hesi- 
tated. She,  too,  had  contrived  her  Bal- 
kan adventure,  hoping  that  Russia  would 
let  things  drift.  When  she  perceived 
that  a  European  war  was  imminent  she 


1058 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


grew  afraid,  and  she  sought  for  time  and 
means  to  provide  an  escape.  The  precipi- 
tation with  which,  on  July  31,  the  Ger- 
man Government  seized  the  first  pretext 
to  hand  in  order  to  bring  about  a  war 
in  a  conflict  in  which  she  was  not  directly 
interested  rendered  these  good  intentions 
of  the  eleventh  hour  vain.     If  Austria 


is  perhaps  more  responsible  than  Germany 
for  the  decision  taken  at  Potsdam,  the 
responsibility  for  the  ultimatum  of  July  31 
seems  to  lie  wholly  on  Germany.  Germany 
and  Austria,  therefore, must  share  equally 
between  them  the  responsibility  for  this 
unparalleled  catastrophe  before  the  world 
and  before  the  Tribunal  of  History. 


Viva    Italia! 


By  J.   CORSON  MILLER. 

"  They  marched  forth   gayly,   with  flowers 
stuck  in  their  rifles."  • 

On  Paestum's  plain  the  roses  stir, 
Dawn's  gold  is  on  the  olive  trees; 

Fair  Florence  dreams  of  days  that  were. 
Yet  now  are  dusty  memories. 

But,  see!  Italia's  sons  are  ever  brave, 

Though  War's  stern  duty  lead  but  to  the 
grave. 

For  this  is  Dante's  Land  of  Song, 
Which  Verdi's  mighty  music  thrills; 

Look!  Garibaldi's  legions  throng, 
In  ghostly  lines,  the  Tuscan  hills! 

Bravo!  Italia's  Sons  shall  never  fail. 

What  time  her  enemies  the  gates  assail! 

See,  where  Anconia  keeps  her  sleep, 
Or  where  Salerno  meets  the  sea. 

The  glad-eyed  armies  onward  sweep, 
Dreaming  high  dreams  of  destiny. 

Like  supple  steel  Italia's  Sons  are  made. 

Yea,  they  shall  battle  well,  and  unafraid! 

The  moon  hangs  low  o'er  Naples  Bay, 
The  stars  her  ancient  glories  tell; 

The  almond  blossoms  softly  sway. 

While  chimes  the  midnight  chapel  belL 

Italia's  Sons  shall  fight  like  warriors  all. 

From  out  her  splendid  past  her  heroes 
call. 


Britain's  Blockade 


Official  Correspondence  with  the  American  Government 
PubHshed  by  Sir  Edward    Grey 

Semi-official  press  utterances  in  Germany  indicate  that  tiie  character  of  the  German 
Government's  reply  to  the  last  protest  of  the  United  States  regarding  the  Lusitania — that 
dated  July  21,  1915 — will  be  determined  largely  by  the  reply  to  be  made  by  this  country  to 
Great  Britain  following  the  publication,  on  Aug.  3,  of  five  diplomatic  communications  re- 
lating to  the  detention  of  American  ships  and  cargoes  by  the  British  Government.  An 
account  of  this  correspondence  appears  below. 


FIVE  diplomatic  communications  re- 
lating to  the  detention  of  Ameri- 
can ships  and  cargoes  by  the  Brit- 
ish Government,  exchanged  by- 
cable  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  were  made  public  textually 
and  in  paraphrase  by  the  State  Depart- 
ment at  Washington  on  Aug.  3,  1915. 
Generally  considered,  the  British  re- 
sponses to  the  American  representations 
in  opposition  to  the  course  of  the  British 
Government  are  a  denial  of  the  American 
contentions,  but  a  disposition  is  shown  by 
Great  Britain  to  "  make  reasonable  con- 
cessions to  American  interests,"  to  quote 
a  phrase  of  one  of  the  notes. 

In  connection  with  the  American  pro- 
test against  British  prize-court  pro- 
cedure, the  British  Government  sug- 
gests that  appeals  in  behalf  of  American 
interests  claiming  to  have  been  injured 
be  taken  to  the  proper  British  tribunals 
and,  if  these  appeals  are  denied,  that  re- 
course be  had  to  an  international  tribunal. 
But  Great  Britain  hopes  that  her  disposi- 
tion to  make  reasonable  concessions  "  will 
prevent  the  necessity  for  such  action  aris- 
ing." 

The  British  communications  are  signed 
by  Sir  Edward  Grey,  Secretary  for  For- 
eign Affairs.  They  comprise  an  answer 
to  the  American  protest  of  March  30 
against  the  application  of  the  British  Or- 
d?r  in  Council  fot'  preventing  supplies 
from  going  into  Germany — an  answer  to 
a  brief  telegram  from  this  Government 
serving  notice  of  an  intention  to  insist 
upon  the  rights  of  American  citizens 
without  limitation  by  Orders  in  Council, 
and  of  a  refusal  to  recognize  the  validity 


of  prize-court  proceedings  in  derogation 
of  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  and 
an  answer  to  a  note  sent  by  Secretary 
Lansing  on  July  15  objecting  to  com- 
pulsory unloading  at  a  British  port  of 
goods  from  Belgium  brought  in  the 
American  steamer  Neches,  the  compul- 
sion being  applied  on  the  ground  that 
the  goods  originated  in  territory  held  by 
an  enemy  of  Great  Britain.  The  Ameri- 
can communications  furnished  to  the 
press  for  publication  consisted  of  para- 
phrases of  the  brief  telegram,  serving 
notice  with  respect  to  the  Orders  in 
Council  and  prize-court  proceedings  and 
the  note  sent  in  connection  with  the 
seizure  of  the  cargo  of  the  Neches. 

The  response  of  Sir  Edward  Grey  with 
respect  to  the  Neches  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  in  the  series.  German  and 
British  methods  of  warfare  at  sea  are 
cited  to  show  justification  for  the  strict 
measures  taken  by  Great  Britain  to  re- 
strain trade  with  Germany. 

In  another  British  communication,  that 
of  July  23,  in  answer  to  the  American 
note  of  March  30,  on  the  subject  of  the 
restrictions  imposed  on  American  com- 
merce by  the  British  Orders  in  Council, 
Sir  Edward  Grey  defends  the  Order  in 
Council  measures  on  the  ground  that  it 
is  incumbent  on  Great  Britain  and  her 
allies  "  to  take  every  step  in  their  power 
to  overcome  their  common  enemy  in  view 
of  the  shocking  violation  of  the  recog- 
nized rules  and  principles  of  civilized 
warfare  of  which  he  has  been  guilty  dur- 
ing the  present  struggle."  Sir  Edward 
Grey  recalls  that  the  attention  of  the 
American  Ambassador  in  London  already 


1060 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


had  been  drawn  to  some  of  the  German 

irregularities  of  warfare  in  a  memoran- 
dum of  Feb.  19,  and  adds: 

Since  that  time  Lord  Bryce's  report, 
based  on  evidence  carefully  sifted  by 
legal  experts,  describing  the  atrocities 
committed  in  Belgium,  the  poisoning  of 
wells  in  Southwest  Africa,  the  use  of 
poisonous  gases  against  the  troops  in 
Flanders,  and  finally  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  without  an  opportunity  to  pas- 
sengers and  noncombatants  to  save  their 
lives  have  shown  how  indispensable  it  is 
that  we  should  leave  unused  no  justifiable 
method    of   defending   ourselves. 

In  the  note  in  which  this  argument  is 
used  the  British  Foreign  Secretary  con- 
tends, in  answer  to  the  American  objec- 
tion to  the  Orders  in  Council,  that  his 
Government  is  unable  to  admit  that  a 
belligerent  violates  any  fundamental 
principle  of  international  law  by  applying 
a  blockade  in  such  a  way  as  to  cut  off  the 
enemy's  commerce  with  foreign  countries 
through  neutral  ports,  "  if  the  circum- 
stances render  such  an  application  of  the 
principles  of  blockade  the  only  means  of 
making  it  effective."  It  is  asserted  by 
Sir  Edward  Grey  that  the  only  question 
that  can  arise  in  regard  to  the  new 
character  of  blockade  instituted  by  the 
British  Government,  the  so-called  long- 
distance blockade,  is  whether  the  meas- 
ures taken  conform  to  "  the  spirit  and 
principles  of  the  essence  of  the  rules  of 
war,"  these  being  the  words  used  in  the 
American  note  of  March  30. 

Arguing  from  that  basis,  Sir  Edward 
Grey  cites  the  Union  blockade  of  Con- 
federate ports  in  the  American  civil  war 
and  points  out  that,  in  order  to  meet  a 
new  difficulty  produced  by  the  fact  that 
neighboring  neutral  territory  afforded 
convenient  centres  from  which  contra- 
band could  be  introduced  into  the  South- 
ern States  and  from  which  blockade  run- 
ning could  be  facilitated,  the  United 
States  applied  and  enforced  the  doctrine 
of  continuous  voyage.  Under  this  appli- 
cation, Sir  Edward  Grey  points  out, 
"  goods  destined  for  enemy  territory  were 
intercepted  before  they  reached  the  neu- 
tral ports  from  which  they  were  to  be  re- 
exported."   The  argument  follows: 

It  may  be  noted  in  this  connection  that 

at  the  time  of  the   civil   war   the  United 

States  found  themselves  under  the  neces- 


sity of  declaring  a  blockade  of  some  3,000 
miles  of  coast  line,  a  military  operation 
for  which  the  number  of  vessels  available 
was  at  first  very  small.  It  was  vital  to 
the  cause  of  the  United  States  in  that 
great  struggle  that  they  should  be  able 
to  cut  off  the  trade  of  the  Southern  States. 
The  Confederate  armies  were  dependent 
on  supplies  from  overseas,  and  those  sup- 
plies could  not  be  obtained  without  ex- 
porting the  cotton  wherewith  to  pay  for 
them. 

To  cut  off  this  trade  the  United  States 
could  only  rely  upon  a  blockade.  The 
difficulties  confronting  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment were  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that 
neighboring  neutral  territory  afforded 
convenient  centres  from  which  contra- 
band could  be  introduced  into  the  terri- 
tory of  their  enemies  and  from  which 
blockade  running  could  be  facilitated. 
Tour  Excellency  will  no  doubt  remember 
how,  in  order  to  meet  this  new  difficulty, 
the  old  principles  relating  to  contraband 
and  blockade  were  developed,  and  the 
doctrine  of  continuous  voyage  was  applied 
and  enforced,  under  which  goods  destined 
for  the  enemy  territory  were  intercepted 
before  they  reached  the  neutral  ports  from 
which  they  were  to  be  re-exported. 

The  difficulties  which  imposed  upon 
the  United  States  the  necessity  of  reshap- 
ing some  of  the  old  rules  are  somewhat 
akin  to  those  with  which  the  Allies  are 
now  faced  in  dealing  with  the  trade  of 
their  enemy.  Adjacent  to  Germany  are 
various  neutral  countries  which  afford 
her  convenient  opportunities  for  carrying 
on  her  trade  with  foreign  countries.  Her 
own  territories  are  covered  by  a  network 
of  railways  and  waterways,  which  enable 
her  commerce  to  pass  as  conveniently 
through  ports  in  such  neutral  countries 
as  through  her  own.  A  blockade  limited 
to  enemy  ports  would  leave  open  routes 
by  which  every  kind  of  German  commerce 
could  pass  almost  as  easily  as  through 
the  ports  in  her  own  territory.  Rotterdam 
is  indeed  the  nearest  outlet  for  some  of  the 
industrial    districts    of    Germany. 

As  a  counterpoise  to  the  freedom  with 
which  one  belligerent  may  send  his  com- 
merce across  a  neutral  country  without 
compromising  its  neutrality,  the  other 
belligerent  may  fairly  claim  to  intercept 
such  commerce  before  it  has  reached,  or 
after  it  has  left,  the  neutral  State,  pro- 
vided, of  course,  that  he  can  establish 
that  the  commerce  with  which  he  inter- 
feres is  the  commerce  of  his  enemy  and 
not  commerce  which  is  bona  fide  destined 
for  or  proceeding  from  the  neutral  State. 
It  seems,  accordingly,  that  if  it  be  recog- 
nized that  a  blockade  is  in  certain  cases 
the  appropriate  method  of  intercepting 
the  trade  of  an  enemy  country,  and  if  the 
blockade  can  only  become  effective  by 
extending  it  to  enemy  commerce  passing 


BRITAIN'S  BLOCKADE 


1061 


through  neutral  ports,  such  an  extension 
is  defensible  and  in  accordance  with  prin- 
ciples which  have  met  with  general  ac- 
ceptance. 

To  the  contention  that  such  action  is 
not  directly  supported  by  written  author- 
ity, it  may  be  replied  that  it  is  the 
business  of  writers  on  international  law 
to  formulate  existing  rules  rather  than  to 
offer  suggestions  for  their  adaptation  to 
altered  circumstances,  and  your  Excellency 
will  remember  the  unmeasured  terms  in 
which  a  group  of  prominent  international 
lawyers  of  all  nations  condemned  the  doc- 
trine which  had  been  laid  down  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the 
case  of  the  Springbok,  a  doctrine  upheld 
by  the  Claims  Commission  at  Washington 
in  1873.  But  the  United  States  and  the 
British  Government  took  a  broader  view 
and  looked  below  the  surface  at  the  under- 
lying purpose,  and  the  Government  of  this 
country,  whose  nationals  were  the  suffer- 
ers by  the  extension  and  development  of 
the  old  methods  of  blockade  made  by  the 
United  States  during  the  civil  war,  ab- 
stained from  all  protest  against  the  de- 
cisions by  which  the  ships  and  their  car- 
goes were  condemned. 

What  is  really  important  in  the  general 
interest  is  that  adaptations  of  the  old 
rules  should  not  be  made  unless  they  are 
consistent  with  the  general  principles  upon 
which  an  admitted  belligerent  right  is 
based. 

Thus  it  is  contended  that  Germany  is  in 
a  position  of  peculiar  advantage  in  the 
shipment  of  goods  to  neutral  ports.  In 
supporting  the  British  restrictions  on 
trade  with  neutral  ports  near  German 
territory,  it  is  asserted  that  a  blockade 
limited  to  enemy  ports  would  have  open 
routes  by  which  German  commerce  could 
pass  almost  as  easily  as  through  the 
ports  in  her  own  territory.  By  this  argu- 
ment Great  Britain  seeks  to  show  that 
she  found  precedent  for  her  "  long- 
distance blockade  "  in  steps  taken  by  the 
United  States  in  attempting  to  prevent 
supplies  from  reaching  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  The  position  of  the  British 
Government  is  that  if  a  blockade  is  the 
appropriate  method  of  intercepting  the 
trade  of  an  enemy  country  and  can  be 
made  effective  only  by  extending  it  to 
enemy  commerce  through  neutral  ports, 
the  extension  is  in  accordance  with  prin- 
ciples generally  accepted. 

Assurances  are  contained  in  the  British 
response  to  the  American  communication 
of  March  30  that  Great  Britain  is  not  in- 
terfering   with    goods    with    which    she 


would  not  be  entitled  to  interfere  by 
blockade  if  the  geographical  position  and 
conditions  of  Germany  at  this  time  were 
such  that  her  commerce  passed  through 
her  own  ports.  The  utmost  possible  care 
is  being  taken,  it  is  declared,  not  to  inter- 
fere with  commerce  "  genuinely  destined 
for  or  proceeding  from  neutral  coun- 
tries." The  only  commerce  with  which 
Great  Britain  proposes  to  interfere  is 
that  of  the  enemy. 

The  main  argument  of  Great  Britain 
is  that  when  the  established  underlying 
principles  governing  blockade  and  con- 
traband are  not  violated  it  is  permis- 
sible to  adopt  new  measures  of  enforce- 
ment. In  view  of  this  and  the  conten- 
tion that  there  has  been  no  violation  of 
the  underlying  principles,  Great  Britain 
holds  that  it  is  impossible  to  maintain 
that  the  right  of  a  belligerent  to  inter- 
cept the  commerce  of  an  enemy  is  lim- 
ited in  the  way  suggested  by  the  United 
States. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  says  the  British  Gov- 
ernment has  been  gratified  to  observe 
that  the  measures  Great  Britain  is  en- 
forcing have  had  no  detrimental  effect 
on  the  commerce  of  the  United  States. 
Figures  of  recent  months,  he  points  out, 
show  that  "  the  increased  opportunities 
afforded  by  the  war  for  American  com- 
merce have  more  than  compensated  for 
the  loss  of  the  German  and  Austrian 
markets." 

The  note  of  the  British  Government, 
dated  July  31,  supplementary  to  the  an- 
swer to  the  American  note  of  March  30, 
is  primarily  a  response  to  the  so-called 
caveat  telegram  of  Secretary  Lansing 
sent  on  July  14,  in  which  notice  was 
given  of  the  intention  of  this  Govern- 
ment to  insist  on  the  rights  of  American 
citizens  under  the  principles  of  interna- 
tional law  hitherto  established  without 
limitation  or  impairment  by  Orders  in 
Council  or  other  municipal  legislation, 
and  to  refuse  to  recognize  the  validity 
of  prize  court  proceedings  taken  under 
British  municipal  law  in  derogation  of 
the  international  law  rights  of  American 
citizens. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  says  he  is  not  aware 
of  any  differences  between  the  two  Gov- 
ernments as  to  the  principles  of  law  ap- 


1062 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


plica^le  to  cases  before  the  prize  courts, 
and  then  discusses  prize  court  procedure 
at  lengfth,  quoting  Lord  Stowell  in  the 
case  of  the  Fox  to  show  that  a  prize  court 
must  care  for  the  interests  of  subjects  of 
other  countries  as  well  as  for  the  inter- 
ests of  its  own  Government,  but  that  the 
court  must  assume  that  there  is  no  viola- 
tion of  the  rights  of  the  subjects  of  other 
countries  in  the  orders  which  it  receives 
from  its  own  Government. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  then  makes  the  sug- 
gestion that  if  appeals  open  to  dissatis- 
fied American  litigants  in  the  prize  court 
are  denied  by  British  appellate  courts, 
an  international  tribunal  shall  be  called 
on  to  decide.  The  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  he  says,  have  both  con- 
ceded that  the  decisions  of  national  prize 
courts  may  properly  be  subjected  to  in- 
ternational review — by  the  Jay  Treaty 


of  1793  and  the  Treaty  of  Washington  of 
1871.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  he  says,  that 
both  Governments  have  adopted  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  decisions  of  a  national  prize 
court  may  be  open  to  review  in  certain 
circumstances;  but  if  the  United  States 
should  take  a  contrary  view  Great 
Britain  would  be  prepared  to  negotiate 
with  the  United  States  as  to  the  best 
means  of  procedure  to  apply  the  principle 
mentioned.  But  Sir  Edward  Grey  hopes 
that  the  British  willingness  to  make  con- 
cessions will  obviate  necessity  for  this 
procedure. 

The  compulsory  discharge  of  the  Ne- 
ches  cargo  because  it  came  from  bellig- 
erent territory  held  by  Germany  made 
cause  for  complaint  in  the  American 
note  of  July  15,  and  the  British  reply 
thereto  appears  in  the  subjoined  cor- 
respondence. 


American  Protest  on  Seizure  of  Neches  Cargo 


The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador 
W.  H.  Page: 

Telegram-Paraphrase.     No.  1852. 

Department  of   State,  Washington, 
July  15,  1915. 

Ambassador  Page  is  informed  that  it 
has  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
department  that  the  steamship  Neches, 
of  American  register,  sailing  from  Rot- 
terdam for  the  United  States,  carrying 
a  general  cargo,  after  being  detained  at 
the  Downs,  was  brought  to  London,  where 
it  was  required  by  the  British  authorities 
to  discharge  cargo,  the  property  of  Amer- 
ican citizens. 

It  appears  that  the  ground  advanced 
to  sustain  this  action  is  that  the  goods 
originated,  in  part  at  least,  in  Belgium, 
and  fall,  therefore,  within  the  provisions 
of  Paragraph  4  of  the  Order  in  Council 
of  March  11,  which  stipulates  that  every 
merchant  vessel  sailing  from  a  port  other 
than  a  German  port,  carrying  goods  of 
enemy  origin,  may  be  required  to  dis- 
charge such  goods  in  a  British  or  allied 
port. 

Ambassador  Page  is  instructed  in  this 
case  to  reiterate  the  position  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  as  set  forth 


in  the  department's  instruction  of  March 
30,  1915,  with  respect  to  the  Order  in 
Council  mentioned,  the  international  in- 
validity of  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  regards  as  plainly  illus- 
trated by  the  present  instance  of  the 
seizure  of  American-owned  goods  pass- 
ing from  the  neutral  port  of  Rotterdam 
to  a  neutral  port  of  the  United  States, 
merely  because  the  goods  came  originally 
from  territory  in  the  possession  of  an 
enemy  of  Great  Britain. 

Mr.  Page  is  also  instructed  to  inform 
the  Foreign  Office  that  the  legality  of 
this  seizure  cannot  be  admitted  and  that, 
in  the  view  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  it  violates  the  right  of 
the  citizens  of  one  neutral  to  trade  with 
those  of  another,  as  well  as  with  those 
of  belligerents,  except  in  contraband  or 
in  violation  of  a  legal  blockade  of  an 
enemy  seaport;  and  that  the  right  of 
American  owners  of  goods  to  bring  them 
out  of  Holland,  in  due  course,  in  neutral 
ships  must  be  insisted  upon  by  the  Uni- 
ted States,  even  though  such  goods  may 
have  come  originally  from  the  territories 
of  enemies  of  Great  Britain,  He  is 
directed  further  to  insist  upon  the  desire 


BRITAIN'S   BLOCKADE 


1063 


of  this  Government  that  goods  taken 
from  the  Neches,  which  are  the  proper- 
ty of  American  citizens,  should  be  expe- 


destination,  and  to  request  that  he  be  ad- 
vised of  the  British  Government's  intend- 
ed course  in  this  matter  at  the  earliest 


ditiously  released  to  be  forwarded  to  their     moment  convenient  to  that  Government. 


British  Answer  on  Seizure  of  Neches  Cargo 


Ambassador  W.  H.  Page  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  State: 

(Telegram.) 

American   Embassy, 
London,  July  31,  1915. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  has  today  sent  me  the 
following  note: 

The  note  which  your  Excellency  ad- 
dressed to  me  on  the  17th  inst.  respect- 
ing the  detention  of  the  cargo  of  the 
steamship  Neches  has,  I  need  hardly 
say,  received  the  careful  attention  of  his 
Majesty's  Government. 

The  note  which  I  had  the  honor  to 
send  to  your  Excellency  on  the  23d 
inst.  has  already  explained  the  view 
of  his  Majesty's  Government  on  the 
legal  aspect  of  the  question,  though  it 
was  prepared  before  your  Excellency's 
communication  of  the  17th  had  been  re- 
ceived, and,  pending  consideration  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  Slates  of  the 
views  and  arguments  set  forth  in  the 
British  note  of  the  23d,  it  is  unnecessary 
for  me  to  say  more  on  the  question  of 
right  or  of  law. 

There  is,  however,  one  general  obser- 
vation that  seems  relevant  to  the  note 
from  your  Excellency  respecting  the 
cargo  of  the  Neches. 

It  is  the  practice  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment, in  the  waters  through  which 
the  Neches  was  passing,  to  sink  neutral 
as  well  as  British  merchant  vessels,  ir- 
respective of  the  destination  of  the  ves- 
sel or  origin  of  the  cargo,  and  without 
proper  regard  or  provision  for  the  safety 
of  passengers  or  crews,  many  of  whom 
have  lost  their  lives  in  consequence. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  this  action 


is  contrary  to  the  recognized  and  settled 
rules  of  international  law,  as  well  as  to 
the  principles  of  humanity. 

His  Majesty's  Government,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  adhered  to  the  rule  of  visit 
and  search,  and  have  observed  the  obli- 
gation to  bring  into  port  and  submit  to 
a  prize  court  any  ships  or  cargoes  with 
regard  to  which  they  think  they  have  a 
good  case  for  detention  or  for  condemna- 
tion as  contraband. 

His  Majesty's  Government  are  not 
aware,  except  from  the  published  cor- 
respondence between  the  United  States 
and  Germany,  to  what  extent  reparation 
has  been  claimed  from  Germany  by 
neutrals  for  loss  of  ships,  lives,  and 
cargoes,  nor  how  far  these  acts  have 
been  the  subject  even  of  protest  by  the 
neutral   Governments  concerned. 

While  those  acts  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment continue,  it  seems  neither  rea- 
sonable nor  just  that  his  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment should  be  pressed  to  abandon 
the  rights  claimed  in  the  British  note  of 
the  23d  and  to  allow  goods  from  Germany 
to  pass  freely  through  waters  effectively 
patrolled  by  British  ships  of  war. 

If,  however,  it  be  alleged  that,  in  par- 
ticular cases  and  special  circumstances, 
hardships  may  be  inflicted  on  citizens  of 
neutral  countries,  his  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment are  ready  in  such  cases  to  examine 
the  facts  in  a  spirit  of  consideration  for 
the  interest  of  neutrals,  and  in  this  spirit 
they  are  prepared  to  deal  with  the  cargo 
of  the  Neches,  to  which  your  Excellency 
has  called  attention,  if  it  is  held  that 
the  particular  circumstances  of  this  case 
fall  within  this  category.  PAGE. 


Austria's  Note  and  the  American  Reply 

Respecting  American  Shipments  of  Arms    and   Ammunition 

The  Embassy  of  Austria-Hungary  on  Aug.  1,  1915,  gave  out  at  Washington  the  first 
official  translation  of  the  text  of  the  note  addressed  by  that  Government  to  the  United 
States  with  respect  to  the  shipment  of  arms  and  ammunition  from  this  country  to  the  Allies. 
The  embassy  stated  that  the  translation  was  "  the  first  uncensored  text  to  be  made  public 
In  the  United  States."     The  note  appears  below. 


THE  far-reaching  effects  resulting 
from  the  fact  that  a  very  extensive 
trade  in  war  supplies  has  been 
going  on  for  some  time  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  and 
her  allies,  while  Austria-Hungary  and 
Germany  have  been  entirely  shut  off 
from  the  American  market,  have  from 
the  first  attracted  the  most  earnest  at- 
tention of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Gov- 
ernment. If  the  undersigned  permits 
himself  to  take  part  in  the  discussion 
of  a  question  which  hitherto  has  been 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Wash- 
ington Cabinet  by  the  Imperial  German 
Government  only,  he  merely  follows 
the  dictates  of  unavoidable  duty  of  pro- 
tecting the  interests  intrusted  to  him 
from  further  grave  injury  growing  out  of 
the  situation  affecting  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary  equally. 

The  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  is 
convinced  that  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States  Government  in  this  matter  origi- 
nates from  no  other  intention  than  the 
maintenance  of  the  stric^.est  neutrality 
and  the  observance  to  the  letter  of  all 
the  stipulations  of  the  international 
agreements  involved,  but  the  question 
arises  as  to  whether  the  conditions,  as 
they  have  developed  in  the  course  of  the 
war,  certainly  quite  independently  of  the 
will  of  the  United  States  Government,  are 
not  such  that  the  very  intention  of  the 
Washington  Cabinet  is  defeated — indeed, 
that  exactly  the  opposite  effect  is  pro- 
duced. If  this  question  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative — and,  according  to  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment this  cannot  be  doubted — then  an- 
other question  automatically  follows, 
namely,  whether  it  is  not  possible,  indeed 
advisable,  to  take  measures  to  provide 
full  effectiveness  to  the  wish  of  the  Gov- 


ernment of  the  United  States  to  assume 
an  attitude  of  strict  faimesss  toward 
both  belligerent  parties.  The  Imperial 
and  Royal  Government  does  not  hesitate 
to  answer  this  question  also  in  the  af- 
firmative without  qualification. 

It  certainly  has  not  escaped  the  atten- 
tion of  the  American  Government,  which 
has  co-operated  in  the  work  of  The 
Hague  in  such  a  prominent  manner,  that 
the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  the  fragmen- 
tary stipulations  of  the  treaties  in  ques- 
tion are  not  entirely  coextensive. 

If  one  takes  into  consideration  the 
genesis  of  Article  7  of  the  Fifth  and 
Thirteenth  Conventions,  respectively, 
upon  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  apparently  rests  the  present  case, 
and  the  wording  of  whicTi,  as  will  not  be 
denied,  offers  a  formal  basis  for  the  tol- 
eration of  the  trade  in  war  materials  as 
carried  on  at  present  by  the  United 
States,  it  is  not  necessary  to  point  out — 
in  order  to  realize  the  true  spirit  and 
range  of  this  stipulation,  which  incident- 
ally seems  to  have  been  modified  already 
by  prohibiting  the  delivery  of  warships 
and  certain  supplies  for  warships  of  bel- 
ligerent countries — that  the  various 
rights  as  conceded  to  neutral  countries, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  preamble  of  the  last- 
named  convention,  are  limited  by  the  re- 
quirements of  neutrality  in  correspond- 
ence with  the  accepted  principles  of  in- 
ternational law.  According  to  all  the  au- 
thorities on  international  law,  who  have 
especially  dealt  with  the  questions  which 
here  arise,  the  neutral  Government  is  not 
permitted  to  allow  unhindered  trade  in 
contraband  of  war  if  this  trade  assumes 
such  character  and  proportions  that  the 
country's  neutrality  is  thereby  impaired. 

In  judging  the  admissibility  of  the 
trade    in    contraband    of    war,    one    can 


AUSTRIA'S  NOTE  AND   THE  AMERICAN  REPLY 


1065 


use  as  a  basis  any  one  of  the  various 
criteria  established  by  law,  and  arrive, 
according  to  each,  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  export  of  war  materials  from 
the  United  States  as  it  is  carried  on 
cannot  be  made  to  accord  with  the  re- 
quirements of  neutrality.  It  is  not  a 
question  as  to  whether  the  branch  of 
American  industry  occupied  with  the  pro- 
duction of  war  material  shall  be  protect- 
ed in  order  that  its  export,  as  it  has  been 
carried  on  in  peace  times,  may  suffer 
no  impairment. 

Furthermore,  this  industry  has  expe- 
rienced an  unexpected  increase  because 
of  the  war.  In  order  to  manufacture 
the  immense  amount  of  weapons,  muni- 
tions, and  other  war  material  of  all  kinds 
which  Great  Britain  and  her  allies  have 
ordered  in  the  United  States  of  America 
in  the  course  of  the  last  month,  it  re- 
quired not  only  the  full  utilization  and 
adaptations  of  existing  plants,  but  the 
creation  of  new  factories,  as  well  as  the 
diversion  of  large  numbers  of  workmen 
from  all  branches  of  trade — in  short,  a 
widespread  change  in  the  economic  life  of 
the  country — the  right  of  the  American 
Government  can  from  no  quarter  be  dis- 
puted to  decree  an  embargo  on  this  obvi- 
ously enormous  export  of  war  material 
which  is  notoriously  for  the  exclusive 
benefit  of  one  of  the  belligerent  parties. 

The  United  States  Government  could 
meet  with  no  objection  if  it  were  to 
avail  itself  of  its  competency,  even  if 
it  took  recourse  to  the  passage  of  a  law 
in  accordance  with  its  Constitution. 
Even  if  it  proved  correct  in  principle 
that  a  neutral  State  may  not  change  the 
law  in  force  within  its  jurisdiction  con- 
cerning its  attitude  toward  belligerents 
during  the  war,  there  is,  however,  an 
exception  to  the  principle,  as  is  clearly 
shown  in  the  preamble  of  the  Thirteenth 
Hague  Convention :  "  *  *  *  where  ex- 
perience has  shown  the  necessity  for 
such  change  for  the  protection  of  the 
rights  of  that  power." 

This  case  arises  for  the  United  States 
Government  by  the  mere  fact  that  Aus- 
tria-Hungary as  well  as  Germany  are 
cut  off  from  any  commercial  intercourse 


with  the  United  States  without  the  ex- 
istence of  a  legal  ground — a  legally  ef- 
fective blockade. 

To  the  possible  objection  that  although 
American  industry  is  perfectly  willing  to 
supply  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany 
as  well  as  Great  Britain  and  her  allies, 
the  United  States  are  not  able  to  carry 
on  trade  in  consequence  of  the  war  sit- 
uation. It  may  well  be  mentioned  that 
the  United  States  Government  is  with- 
out doubt  in  a  position  to  remedy  the 
above-described  condition.  It  would  be 
entirely  sufficient  to  hold  out  to  the  ad- 
versaries of  Austria-Hungary  and  Ger- 
many the  inhibition  of  the  export  of  food- 
stuffs and  raw  materials  if  the  legitimate 
trade  in  these  articles  between  the  Union 
and  the  two  central  powers  is  not  per- 
mitted. 

If  the  Washington  Cabinet  could  find 
itself  prepared  to  act  in  this  direction,  it 
would  not  only  follow  the  tradition  al- 
ways upheld  in  the  United  States  to  safe- 
guard the  freedom  of  the  seas,  but  it 
would  also  offer  the  great  service  of  de- 
feating the  criminal  endeavor  of  the  en- 
emies of  Austria-Hungary  and  Germany 
to  enlist  starvation  as  an  ally. 

The  Imperial  and  Royal  Government, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  excellent  relations 
which  have  never  ceased  to  exist  between 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy  and  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  in  the 
name  of  sincere  friendship,  permits  itself 
to  make  an  appeal  to  the  Government  of 
the  Union  to  submit  to  careful  examina- 
tion the  point  of  view  hereinbefore  taken 
in  this  most  important  question  and  con- 
sider the  statements  given  herewith.  The 
revision  of  the  present  attitude  of  the 
Government  of  the  Union  to  agree  with 
the  views  proffered  by  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Government  would  not  only  be — 
according  to  the  conviction  of  the  Impe- 
rial and  Royal  Government — within  the 
scope  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  a  neu- 
tral Government,  but  also  in  the  direc- 
tion of  those  principles  prompted  by  hu- 
manity and  the  love  of  peace  which  the 
United  States  of  America  has  ever  writ- 
ten  upon  her  banner. 

The  undersigned  has  the  honor,  &c. 

BURrAN. 


The  American  Reply 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador   Penfield 


Department  of  State, 
Washington,  D.  C,  Aug.  12,  1915. 

Please  present  a  note  to  the  Royal  For- 
eign Office  in  reply  to  its  note  of  June 
29  in  the  following  sense: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  given  careful  consideration  to  the 
statement  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Gov- 
ernment in  regard  to  the  exportation  of 
arms  and  ammunition  from  the  United 
States  to  the  countries  at  war  with  Aus- 
tria-Hungary and  Germany.  The  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  notes  with 
satisfaction  the  recognition  by  the  Im- 
perial and  Royal  Govemmert  of  the  un- 
doubted fact  that  its  attitude  with  re- 
gard to  the  exportation  of  arms  and  am- 
munition from  the  United  States  is 
prompted  by  its  intention  to  "  maintain 
the  strictest  neutrality  and  to  conform  to 
the  letter  of  the  provisions  of  interna- 
tional treaties,"  but  is  surprised  to  find 
the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  im- 
plying that  the  observance  of  the  strict 
principles  of  the  law  under  the  condi- 
tions which  have  developed  in  the  pres- 
ent war  is  insufficient,  and  asserting  that 
this  Government  should  go  beyond  the 
long-recognized  rules  governing  such 
traffic  by  neutrals  and  adopt  measures 
to  "  maintain  an  attitude  of  strict  parity 
with  respect  to  both  belligerent  parties." 

To  this  assertion  of  an  obligation  to 
change  or  modify  the  rules  of  interna- 
tional usage  on  account  of  special  con- 
ditions, the  Government  of  the  United 
States  cannot  accede.  The  recognition 
of  an  obligation  of  this  sort,  unknown 
to  the  international  practice  of  the  past, 
would  impose  upon  every  neutral  nation 
a  duty  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  prog- 
ress of  a  war  and  to  restrict  its  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  a  belligerent 
whose  naval  successes  prevented  the 
neutral  from  trade  with  the  enemy.  The 
contention  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  appears  to  be  that  the  ad- 
vantages gained  to  a  belligerent  by  its 
superiority  on  the  sea  should  be  equal- 
ized by  the  neutral  powers  by  the  estab- 


lishment of  a  system  of  non-intercourse 
with  the  victor.  The  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  confines  its  comments  to 
arms  and  ammunition,  but,  if  the  prin- 
ciple for  which  it  contends  is  sound,  it 
should  apply  with  equal  force  to  all 
articles  of  contraband.  A  belligerent 
controlling  the  high  seas  might  possess 
an  ample  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition, 
but  be  in  want  of  food  and  clothing.  On 
the  novel  principle  that  equalization  is 
a  neutral  duty,  neutral  nations  would  be 
obligated  to  place  an  embargo  on  such 
articles  because  one  of  the  belligerentb 
could  not  obtain  them  through  commer- 
cial intercourse. 

But  if  this  principle,  so  strongly  urged 
by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government, 
should  be  admitted  to  obtain  by  reason 
of  the  superiority  of  a  belligerent  at 
sea,  ought  it  not  to  operate  equally  as 
to  a  belligerent  superior  on  land?  Ap- 
plying this  theory  of  equalization,  a 
belligerent  who  lacks  the  necessary  mu- 
nitions to  contend  successfully  on  land 
ought  to  be  permitted  to  purchase  them 
from  neutrals,  while  a  belligerent  with 
an  abundance  of  war  stores  or  with  the 
power  to  produce  them  should  be  de- 
barred from  such  traffic. 

Manifestly  the  idea  of  strict  neutrality 
now  advanced  by  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  would  involve  a  neutral  na- 
tion in  a  mass  of  perplexities  which 
would  obscure  the  whole  field  of  inter- 
national obligation,  produce  economic  con- 
fusion and  deprive  all  commerce  and  in- 
dustry of  legitimate  fields  of  enterprise, 
already  heavily  burdened  by  the  unavoid- 
able restriction  of  war. 

In  this  connection  it  is  pertinent  to 
direct  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Government  to  the  fact  that  Aus- 
tria-Hungary and  Germany,  particularly 
the  latter,  have  during  the  years  preced- 
ing the  present  European  war  produced 
a  great  surplus  of  arms  and  ammunition 
which  they  sold  throughout  the  world, 
and  especially  to  belligerents.  Never 
during  that   period   did  either   of   them 


AUSTRIA'S  NOTE  AND   THE  AMERICAN  REPLY 


1067 


suggest  or  apply  the  principle  now  advo- 
cated by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment. 

During  the  Boer  War  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  South  African  repub- 
lics the  patrol  of  the  coasts  of  neigh- 
boring neutral  colonies  by  British  naval 
vessels  prevented  arms  and  ammunition 
reaching  the  Transvaal  or  the  Orange 
Free  State.  The  allied  republics  were 
in  a  situation  almost  identical  in  that 
respect  with  that  in  which  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  Germany  find  themselves  at 
the  present  time.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the 
commercial  isolation  of  one  belligerent, 
Germany  sold  to  Great  Britain,  the  other 
belligerent,  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
kilos  of  explosives,  gunpowder,  cart- 
ridges, shot,  and  weapons;  and  it  is 
known  that  Austria-Hungary  also  sold 
similar  munitions  to  the  same  purchaser, 
though  in  smaller  quantities.  While,  as 
compared  with  the  present  war,  the  quan- 
tities sold  were  small  (a  table  of  the 
sales  is  appended)  the  principle  of  neu- 
trality involved  was  the  same.  If  at  that 
time  Austria-Hungary  and  her  present 
ally  had  refused  to  sell  arms  and  am- 
munition to  Great  Britain  on  the  ground 
that  to  do  so  would  violate  the  spirit  of 
strict  neutrality,  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  might  with  greater  consis- 
tency and  greater  force  urge  its  present 
contention. 

It  might  be  further  so  pointed  out  that 
during  the  Crimean  war  large  quantities 
of  arms  and  military  stores  were  fur- 
nished to  Russia  by  Prussian  manufac- 
turers; that  during  the  recent  war  be- 
tween Turkey  and  Italy,  as  this  Govern- 
ment is  advised,  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion were  furnished  to  the  Ottoman  Gov- 
ernment by  Germany;  and  that  during 
the  Balkan  wars  the  belligerents  were 
supplied  with  munitions  by  both  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Germany.  While  these  lat- 
ter cases  are  not  analogous,  as  is  the 
case  of  the  South  African  war,  to  the 
situation  of  Austria-Hungary  and  Ger- 
many in  the  present  war,  they  neverthe- 
less clearly  indicate  the  long-established 
practice  of  the  two  empires  in  the  mat- 
ter of  trade  in  war  supplies. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  statements, 
this  Government  is  reluctant  to  believe 
that    the    Imperial    and    Royal    Govern- 


ment will  ascribe  to  the  United  States 
a  lack  of  impartial  neutrality  in  con- 
tinuing its  legitimate  trade  in  all  kinds 
of  supplies  used  to  render  the  armed 
forces  of  a  belligerent  efficient,  even 
though  the  circumstances  of  the  present 
war  prevent  Austria-Hungary  from  ob- 
taining such  supplies  from  the  markets 
of  the  United  States,  which  have  been 
and  remain,  so  far  as  the  action  and 
policy  of  this  Government  are  concerned, 
open  to  all  belligerents  alike. 

But,  in  addition  to  the  question  of 
principle,  there  is  a  practical  and  sub- 
stantial reason  why  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  has  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Republic  to  the  present 
time  advocated  and  practiced  unre- 
stricted trade  in  arms  and  military 
supplies.  It  has  never  been  the  policy 
of  this  country  to  maintain  in  time  of 
peace  a  large  military  establishment  or 
stores  of  arms  and  ammunition  suffi- 
cient to  repel  invasion  by  a  well  equip- 
ped and  powerful  enemy.  It  has  de- 
sired to  remain  at  peace  with  all  nations 
and  to  avoid  any  appearance  of  menac- 
ing such  peace  by  the  threat  of  its  armies 
and  navies.  In  consequence  of  this 
standing  policy  the  United  States  would, 
in  the  event  of  attack  by  a  foreign  power, 
be  at  the  outset  of  the  war  seriously,  if 
not  fatally,  embarrassed  by  the  lack  of 
arms  and  ammunition  and  by  the  means 
to  produce  them  in  sufficient  quantities 
to  supply  the  requirements  of  national 
defense.  The  United  States  has  always 
depended  upon  the  right  and  power  to 
purchase  arms  and  ammunition  from  neu- 
tral nations  in  case  of  foreign  attack. 
This  right,  which  it  claims  for  itself,  it 
cannot  deny  to  others. 

A  nation  whose  principle  and  policy  it 
is  to  rely  upon  international  obligations 
and  international  justice  to  preserve  its 
political  and  territorial  integrity  might 
become  the  prey  of  an  aggressive  nation 
whose  policy  and  practice  it  is  to  increase 
its  military  strength  during  times  of 
peace  with  the  design  of  conquest,  unless 
the  nation  attacked  can,  after  war  had 
been  declared,  go  into  the  markets  of  the 
world  and  purchase  the  means  to  defend 
itself  against  the  aggressor. 

The  general  adoption  by  the  nations  of 
the    world   of    the    theory   that    neutral 


1088 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


powers  ought  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  arms 
and  ammonition  to  belligerents  would 
compel  every  nation  to  have  in  readiness 
at  all  times  sufficient  munitions  of  war 
to  meet  any  emergency  which  might 
arise,  and  to  erect  and  maintain  estab- 
lishments for  the  manufacture  of  arms 
and  ammunition  sufficient  to  supply  the 
needs  of  its  military  and  naval  forces 
throughout  the  progress  of  a  war.  Mani- 
festly the  application  of  this  theory  would 
result  in  every  nation  becoming  an  armed 
camp,  ready  to  resist  aggression  and 
tempted  to  employ  force  in  asserting  its 
rights  rather  than  appeal  to  reason  and 
justice  for  the  settlement  of  international 
disputes. 

Perceiving,  as  it  does,  that  the  adoption 
of  the  principle  that  it  is  the  duty  of  a 
neutral  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  arms  and 
ammunition  to  a  belligerent  during  the 
progress  of  a  war  would  inevitably  give 
the  advantage  to  the  belligerent  which 
had  encouraged  the  manufacture  of  muni- 
tions in  time  of  peace,  and  which  had 
laid  in  vast  stores  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion in  anticipation  of  war,  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  convinced 
that  the  adoption  of  the  theory  would 
force  militarism  on  the  world  and  work 
against  the  universal  peace  which  is  the 
desire  and  purpose  of  all  nations  with  one 
another. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the  prac- 
tical reason  why  it  has  advocated  and 
practiced  trade  in  munitions  of  war, 
wishes  to  be  understood  as  speaking  with 
no  thought  of  expressing  or  implying 
any  judgment  with  regard  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  present  war,  but  as  merely 
putting  very  frankly  the  argument  in 
this  matter  which  has  been  conclusive  in 
determining  the  policy  of  the  United 
States. 

While  the  practice  of  nations,  so  well 
illustrated  by  the  practice  of  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Germany  during  the  South 
African  war,  and  the  manifest  evil  which 
would  result  from  a  change  of  the  prac- 
tice, render  compliance  with  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment out  of  the  question,  certain  asser- 
tions appearing  in  the  Austro-Hungarian 
statement  as  grounds  for  its  contentions 


cannot  be  passed  over  without  comment. 
These  assertions  are  substantially  as  fol- 
lows: 

(1)  That  the  exportation  of  arms  and 
ammunition  from  the  United  States  to 
belligerents  contravenes  the  preamble  of 
The  Hague  Convention,  No.  13,  of  1907; 

(2)  That  it  is  consistent  with  the  re- 
fusal of  this  Government  to  allow  deliv- 
ery of  supplies  to  vessels  of  war  on  the 
high   seas; 

(3)  That  "according  to  all  authorities 
on  international  law,  who  concern  them- 
selves more  properly  with  the  question," 
exportation  should  be  prevented  "  when 
this  traffic  asstimes  such  a  form  of  such 
dimensions  that  the  neutrality  of  a  na- 
tion becomes  involved  thereby." 

As  to  the  assertion  that  the  exporta- 
tion of  arms  and  ammunition  contravenes 
the  preamble  of  The  Hague  Convention, 
No.  13,  of  1907,  this  Government  pre- 
sumes that  reference  is  made  to  the  last 
paragraph  of  the  preamble,  which  is  as 
follows: 

"  Seeing  that  in  this  category  of  ideas 
these  rules  should  not  in  principle  be 
altered  in  the  course  of  the  war  by  a 
neutral  power  except  in  a  case  where  ex- 
perience has  shown  the  necessity  for 
such  change  for  the  protection  of  the 
rights  of  that  power." 

Manifestly,  the  only  ground  to  change 
the  rules  laid  down  by  the  convention, 
one  of  which,  it  should  be  noted,  explicit- 
ly declares  that  a  neutral  is  not  bound 
to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  contraband 
of  war,  is  the  necessity  of  a  neutral 
power  to  do  so  in  order  to  protect  its  own 
rights.  The  right  and  duty  to  deter- 
mine when  this  necessity  exists  rests 
with  the  neutral,  not  with  a  belligerent. 
It  is  discretionary,  not  mandatory.  If  a 
neutral  power  does  not  avail  itself  of  the 
right,  a  belligerent  is  not  privileged  to 
complain,  for  in  doing  so  it  would  be  in 
the  position  of  declaring  to  the  neutral 
power  what  is  necessary  to  protect  that 
power's  own  rights.  The  Imperial  and 
Royal  Government  cannot  but  perceive 
that  1.  complaint  of  this  nature  would  in- 
vite just  rebuke. 

With  reference  to  the  asserted  incon- 
sistency of  the  course  adopted  by  this 
Government  in  relation  to  the  exporta- 


GRAND     DUKE     ALEXIS 

Son   of   the    Czar    and    Heir    Apparent   of    Russia.      His    Eleventh    Birthday 

Was     Celebrated     on     August     12 

iPhoto  from  Bain  News  Service) 


QUEEN     MARGHERITA     OF     ITALY 

She  is  the  Widow  of  King  Humbert  and  Mother  of  King  Victor  Emmanuel 


AUSTRIA'S  NOTE  AND  THE  AMERICAN  REPLY 


10G9 


tion  of  arms  and  ammunition  and  that 
followed  in  not  allowing  supplies  to  be 
taken  from  its  ports  to  ships  of  war  on 
the  high  seas,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
point  out  that  the  prohibition  of  supplies 
to  ships  of  war  rests  upon  the  principle 
that  a  neutral  power  must  not  permit  its 
territory  to  become  a  naval  base  for 
either  belligerent.  A  warship  may,  un- 
der certain  restrictions,  obtain  fuel  and 
supplies  in  a  neutral  port  once  in  three 
months.  To  permit  merchant  vessels  act- 
ing as  tenders  to  carry  supplies  more 
often  than  three  months  and  in  unlim- 
ited amount  would  defeat  the  purpose  of 
the  rule  and  might  constitute  the  neutral 
territory  a  naval  base.  Furthermore, 
this  Government  is  unaware  that  any 
Austro-Hungarian  ship  of  war  has  sought 
to  obtain  supplies  from  a  port  in  the 
United  States,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly. The  subject  has,  however,  al- 
ready been  discussed  with  the  Imperial 
German  Government,  to  which  the  posi- 
tion of  this  Government  was  fully  set 
forth  Dec.  24,  1914. 

In  view  of  the  positive  assertion  in 
the  statement  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal 
Government  as  to  the  unanimity  of  the 
opinions  of  text  writers  as  to  the  ex- 
portation of  contraband  being  unneutral, 
this  Government  has  caused  a  careful 
examination  of  the  principal  authorities 
on  international  law  to  be  made.  As  a 
result  of  this  examination  it  has  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Government  has  been  misled  and 
has    inadvertently    made    an    erroneous 


assertion.  Less  than  one-fifth  of  the 
authorities  consulted  advocate  unreserv- 
edly the  prohibition  of  the  export  of  con- 
traband. Several  of  those  who  consti- 
tute this  minority  admit  that  the  prac- 
tice of  nations  has  been  otherwise.  It 
may  not  be  inopportune  to  direct  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  declaration  of  the 
German  authority,  Paul  Einicke,  who 
states  that,  at  the  beginning  of  a  war, 
belligerents  have  never  remonstrated 
against  the  enactment  of  prohibitions  on 
trade  in  contraband,  but  adds  "  that  such 
prohibitions  may  be  considered  as  vio- 
lation of  neutrality,  or  at  least  as  un- 
friendly acts,  if  they  are  enacted  during 
a  war  with  the  purpose  to  close  un- 
expectedly the  sources  of  supply  to  a 
party  which  heretofore  had  relied  on 
them." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States 
deems  it  unnecessary  to  extend  further 
at  the  present  time  a  consideration  of 
the  statement  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Government.  The  principles  of  inter- 
national law,  the  practice  of  nations, 
the  national  safety  of  the  United  States 
and  other  nations  without  great  mili- 
tary and  naval  establishments,  the  pre- 
vention of  increased  armies  and  navies, 
the  adoption  of  peaceful  methods  for  the 
adjustment  of  international  differences, 
and,  finally,  neutrality  itself  are  op- 
posed to  the  prohibition  by  a  neutral 
nation  of  the  exportation  of  arms,  am- 
munition or  other  munitions  of  war  to 
belligerent  powers  during  the  progress 
of  the  war.  LANSING. 


Alleged  German  Attempt  to  Get 
American  Munitions 

Story  of  a  Contract  Made  by  German  Agents 
in  the  United    States 

In  its  issues  beginning  Aug.  15,  The  New  Torlt  World  published  alleged  letters  and  re- 
ports of  German  agents  and  officials  in  this  country  and  Germany,  to  show  that  the  Ger- 
man propaganda  in  the  United  States  was  influenced  by  cash  from  Germany  to  turn  Ameri- 
can public  opinion  in  Germany's  favor ;  that  this  cash  had  been  supplied  freely,  though 
secretly,  by  the  German  Government ;  that  its  expenditure  had  been  directly  supervised  by 
Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  the  German  Chancellor ;  Count  Johan  von  Bernstorff ,  the  German 
Ambassador  at  Washington,  and  other  German  officials  in  high  places,  and  that  German 
agents  had  fomented  strikes  in  the  munition  factories  of  New  England,  attempting  at  the 
same  time  to  corner  all  the  liquid  chlorine  manufactured  in  this  country,  in  order  to  shut 
off  from  the  Allies  the  supply  of  poison  gas  of  the  nature  of  that  already  used  by  the  Ger- 
man armies.  The  most  striking  chapter  of  the  correspondence  purported  to  show  that  Ger- 
many itself  had  been  secretly  planning  to  secure  munitions  from  the  United  States,  although 
protesting,  with  Austria,  against  the  shipment  of  munitions  to  enemy  countries  since  the 
beginning   of   the   war. 

In  this  correspondence  is  published  the  alleged  contract,  reproduced  below,  which  relates 
to  the  financing  of  the  Bridgeport  Projectile  Company,  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  by  Hugo 
Schmidt,  the  Washington  agent  of  the  Deutsche  Bank  of  Berlin,  assigned,  as  alleged,  to  assist 
General  Financial  Agent  Albert  at  New  York  in  the  handling  of  sums  of  money  turned  over 
to  Mr.  Albert  by  the  Imperial  German  Government. 

MEMORANDUM  OF  AMERICAN  ARMS  CONTRACT  ALLEGED 
TO  HAVE  BEEN  MADE  BY  GERMANY 

[From  The  New  York  World,  Aug.   17,   1915.] 

THE       BRIDGEPORT       PROJECTILE  firm  order  from  the  United  States  Gov- 

COMPANY,  ernment  can  be  secured  by  the  time  that 

As  of  June  30    1915.  ^^®  manufacturing  is  to  commence — the 

STATUS    OF    CONTRACT    BETWEEN  ^^^^^  cases  shall  be  manufactured  under 

.     D   T>  the  inspection  of  United  States  Govern- 
ment   officials    and    shall    be    tested    by 

Article      I.       (a)       Specifications— A.  them,  so  that,  upon  subsequently  secur- 

[Bridgeport     Projectile     Company]     ad-  j^g  any  orders  from  the  United   States 

vised  B.,  [Hugo  Schmidt  for  the  German  Government,  immediate  deUvery  may  be 

Government,]  under  date  of  June  7,  that,  made 

not  having  heard  from  him  with  regard  This  has  the  advantage  of  bringing  the 
to  any  change  in  specifications,  he  has  ^  p^  q^^  prominently  before  the  United 
ordered  tools  and  machinery  to  suit  the  states  Government  officials,  and  over- 
manufacture  of  shrapnel  cases  in  accord-  tures  in  that  direction,  made  by  A.  per- 
ance  with  the  specifications,  attached  to  gonally  at  Washington,  were  received 
the  contract,  this  being  necessary  in  or-  ^^^  great  satisfaction, 
der  to  enable  him  to  comply  with  the  (g)  Factory— The  construction  of  the 
terms  of  delivery.  factory  is  proceeding  most  satisfactorily. 

Thus  the  first  cases  will  be  manufac-  of  which  I  convinced  myself  personally 

tured   under   United   States   Government  on  a  recent  visit  to  Bridgeport, 

specifications,  and  A.  proposes  to  make  The   most  important  buildings,  forge, 

an  arrangement  with  the  Army  and  Navy  and    machine    shops    are    almost    under 

Departments  at  Washington  that — if  no  roof;     the     other    buildings     are    fairly 


ALLEGED  GERMAN  ATTEMPT  TO  GET  AMERICAN  MUNITIONS  1071 


under  way;  presses,  machinery,  and  all 
other  material  are  being  promptly  as- 
sembled, and  there  is  every  indication 
that  deliveries  will  commence  as  pro- 
vided in  the  contract,  i.  e.,  on  Sept.  1, 
1915. 

Hereto  attached  is  a  plan  of  the  B.  P. 
Co.'s  grounds,  giving  floor  outlines  of 
the  various  buildings  and  indicating  the 
railway  tracks  leading  into  the  factory 
for  the  delivery  of  raw  materials  and 
fuel  and  for  the  loading  of  the  product 
directly  from  and  to  railway  cars. 

Article  II.  (a)  Powder — Attached  to 
my  report  of  May  31  was  A.'s  letter  to 
B.'s  assignee  (Exhibit  K)  of  May  17,  ad- 
vising his  compliance  with  provisions  of 
this  section  of  Article  II.  by  contracting 
for  the  output  of  Aetna's  smokeless  pow- 
der to  Dec,  31,  1915,  and  asking  for  B.'s 
letter  of  release,  which  until  date  has  not 
been  forthcoming.  I  recommend  that  it 
be  sent. 

The  contract  of  sale  of  1,000,000 
pounds  of  powder  to  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment is  not  yet  formally  signed.  The 
delay  is  caused  by  the  fact  that  the  Offi- 
cial Spanish  War  Commission  had  to 
await  the  arrival  of  an  expert  from 
Spain,  who  was  to  pass  on  the  specifica- 
tions of  the  powder.  He  has  arrived 
and  all  his  objections  to  our  own  specifi- 
cations have  now  been  overcome  and  his 
recommendations  have  been  accepted  by 
Aetna,  who  have  agreed  to  manufacture 
a  powder  to  meet  the  Spanish  require- 
ments. 

Now  the  legal  adviser  of  the  Official 
Spanish  War  Commission,  Mr.  Louis 
Hess  of  42  Broadway,  after  the  commis- 
sion advised  him  that  the  contract  was 
now  in  order  and  could  be  drawn  up, 
writes  at  length  and  raises  innumerable 
insignificant  legally  technical  objections 
to  the  form  of  contract,  submitted  to  him 
by  me,  and  he  fills  an  eight-page  letter 
with  reforms  to  the  same.  I  have  ad- 
vised him  in  reply  that  his  objections 
and  suggested  reforms  cannot  be  con- 
sidered, since  my  offer  to  the  commis- 
sion was  based  on  our  own  contracts  with 
Aetna  and  that  my  offer  was  accepted 
by  the  commission  on  such  basis,  and 
that  we  must  insist  on  the  contract  being 
carried  out  accordingly.     I  hope  he  will 


now  withdraw  his  objections  and  that 
final  contract  will  be  signed  soon. 

(b)  Antimony — A.  secured  offers  of 
antimony  during  May  as  per  Exhibit  L, 
attached  to  report  of  May  31,  varying  in 
prices  from  30  to  25  cents  per  pound. 

One  further  offer  has  been  secured 
since,  the  price  being  36%  cents,  which 
indicates  an  upward  tendency  in  the 
price  of  this  metal. 

According  to  this  section  of  the  con- 
tract, A.  is  to  wait  instructions  from  B. 
in  case  that  he  is  to  purchase  antimony. 

Article  III.  Presses — A.  advised  B. 
under  date  of  May  17  (see  Exhibit  M  of 
report  May  31)  that  534  hydraulic 
presses,  suitable  or  necessary  for  the 
manufacture  of  shells  of  calibre  2.95 
inches  to  4.8  inches,  had  been  contracted 
for,  mostly  with  privilege  of  cancellation 
of  part  of  the  orders  against  payment  of 
an  indemnity. 

There  are  actually  being  manufac- 
tured, and  there  will  be  delivered  to  A., 
132  presses,  the  price  of  which  aggre- 
gates  $417,550. 

There  have  been  canceled  until  date 
392  presses  at  an  aggregate  cost  of  in- 
demnity of  $238,945.64. 

As  provided  for  in  the  agreement, 
"  all  contracts  of  purchase  between  A. 
and  the  builders "  have  been  "  ap- 
proved "  by  me  in  representation  of  B., 
but,  as  was  anticipated  during  the  dis- 
cussions between  A.  and  B.  prior  to  the 
final  drawing  up  of  the  agreement,  it 
has  been  impossible  to  contractually 
"  bind  "  such  builders  to  exclusive  manu- 
facture for  A.,  since  that  would  be  con- 
trary to  prevailing  laws,  implicating  both 
contracting  parties;  furthermore,  that 
question  proved  very  delicate  and  re- 
quired a  good  deal  of  diplomacy  in  deal- 
ing with  the  manufacturers,  so  as  to 
avoid  suspicion. 

A  fact  is  that  A.  succeeded  in  having 
all  the  builders  bound  to  him,  most  of 
same  by  some  legally  non-committal 
phrase  in  the  contracts,  and  one,  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  A.,  by  simple  word. 

By  the  above-mentioned  payments  of 
indemnity  for  the  cancellation  of  orders 
the  builders  are  not  yet  all  bound  to  us 
until  Jan.  1,  1916,  as  the  contract  be- 
tween   A.    and    B.    requires,    because   it 


1072 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


was  found  in  many  cases  impolitic  for 
fear  of  arousing  the  builders'  suspicions, 
and,  furthermore,  it  would  become  a  use- 
less expenditure  should  the  cause  for 
the  action  cease  to  exist  prior  to  Jan. 
1,  1916. 

There  are  three  important  builders  in 
this  category;  they  are  bound  to  us  at 
present  until  Sept.  20,  Oct.  15,  and  Dec. 
1,  respectively,  and,  should  it  later  be 
found  expedient  to  commit  them  to  us 
until  Jan.  1,  1916,  it  would  cause  an  addi- 
tional expenditure  for  indemnity  of 
$60,730,  provided  we  shall  be  able  to 
settle  on  the  same  basis  as  heretofore. 
The  total  expenditure  for  account  of 
presses  would  therefore  be: 

For  presses  manufactured $417,550.00 

For  indemnity  paid  till  date 238,945.64 

For  indemnity  still  payable 60,730.00 

Or $717,225.64 

I.  e.,  very  nearly  the  amount  of  $720,000 
provided  for  in  the  agreement. 

Occasionally  A.  receives  offers  of 
presses  from  hitherto  unknown  manu- 
facturers, who  have  their  attention 
called  to  that  branch  of  machine  build- 
ing by  the  newspapers.  Every  one  of 
such  offers  is  thoroughly  investigated 
by  A.,  usually  by  a  personal  visit  to  the 
factory  of  the  prospective  builder,  to 
ascertain  his  ability  to  construct  presses. 
Until  date  no  such  concern  has  demon- 
strated such  ability  to  satisfaction;  but 
further  offers  will  be  likewise  inves- 
tigated and  acted  upon  when  considered 
necessary. 

From  all  the  above  details  is  seen  that 
A.  is  in  spirit  fully  complying  vdth  the 
provisions  of  Article  III.  and,  in  order  to 


avoid  any  possibility  of  later  legal  com- 
plications, in  case  that  B.  should  ever 
reassign  the  agreement  (which  is  his 
privilege  as  per  Article  VIII.)  to  some 
party  not  acquainted  with  the  creation 
and  development  of  the  B.  P.  Co.,  he 
is  most  anxious  to  receive  from  B.  a 
written  acknowledgment  thereof,  and  I 
consistently  recommend  that  such  be 
done. 

FINANCES. 

The  statement,  or  finance  program, 
submitted  with  my  report  of  May  31 
(Exhibit  N)  has  not  suffered  any  changes 
since  that  date. 

GENERAL. 

There  exists  no  doubt  as  to  the  ef- 
ficiency and  splendid  results  as  regards 
the  purposes  for  which  the  B.  P.  Co. 
was  created. 

By  the  purchases  of  all  the  powder 
available  in  the  United  States  up  to 
Jan.  1,  1916,  all  the  prospective  con- 
tractors for  complete  shrapnel  rounds 
who  applied  to  Aetna  for  powder  and 
were  advised  by  them  that  the  B.  P. 
Co.  was  the  only  concern  that  had  powder 
to  furnish  (the  only  other  manufacturers 
— the  du  Pont  Company — having  all 
their  output  contracted  for  into  1916) 
have  applied  to  the  B.  P.  Co.  for  bids 
on  complete  shrapnel  rounds,  and  such 
requests  have  come  from  representa- 
tives of  all  the  allied  nations.  *  *  * 
Respectfully  submitted, 

CARL  HEYNAN. 
Submitted  to  Dr.  H.  F.  Albert,  Captain 

F.  von  Papen,  N.  R.  Lindheim,  Esq. 


American  Military  Preparedness 

The  Few  Who  Are  Trained  of  Seventeen  Millions 

of  Able  Men 

The  article  presented  below  appeared  in  The  New  York  Times  of  Aug.  1,  1915. 


A  REPRESENTATIVE  of  The  New 
York  Times  was  permitted  re- 
cently to  read  some  of  the  Gov- 
ernment reports  on  the  condi- 
tion of  the  militia.  The  result  was 
startling.  In  more  than  a  score  of  States 
thete  is  no  field  artillery  of  any  sort  and 
in  the  whole  country  there  are  fewer  than 
forty  officers  of  ordnance.  In  thirty- 
five  States  there  are  no  organizations 
trained  for  coast  artillery,  twenty-four 
have  no  cavalry,  a  large  majority  are 
without  signal  troops,  while  the  whole 
force  of  organized  engineers,  officers, 
and  men  totals  less  than  1,500  for  the 
entire  country.  One  State,  Nevada,  is 
without  militia  organizations  of  any  kind. 
In  the  table  that  follows,  which  gives 
the  number  of  officers  and  enlisted  men 
of  all  arms  in  the  National  Guard,  the 
figures  are  from  regular  army  Inspec- 
tors, and  appear  in  the  most  recent  re- 
port of  the  Division  of  Militia  Affairs: 

State.   Of  c'rs.  Men.  State.   Of  c'rs.  Men. 

Alabama    ..163  2,000  Montana    ..  40  630 

Alabama    ..163  2,000  Nebraska  ..  132  1,384 

Arkansas  ..109  1,402  Nevada 

California  ..252  3,604  New  Hamp.  90  1.280 

Colorado  . .  .122  1,933  New  Jersey.304  4.014 

Connecticut.  177  2,51.1  New  Mexico  57  910 

Delaware  . .  41  465  New    York.. 974  15,591 

Dist.  of  Col.124  1,721  N.  Carolina.209  2,367 

Florida   ....  73  1,075  N.Dakota..  60  679 

Georgia 225  2,490       Ohio  490  5,637 

Hawaii 56  858  Oklahoma..  77  1,330 

Idaho    58  839       Oregon 100  1,401 

Illinois    508  5,447       Penn 745  10,190 

Indiana  ....169  2,109  Rhode  Isl. ..  96  1,303 

Iowa   217  3,014  So.  Car.   ...156  1,794 

Kansas 132  1,720  So.  Dakota.  68  873 

Kentucky  .  .164  2,210  Tennessee   .117  1,798 

Louisiana  ..  65  1,009       Texas    192  2,7.31 

Maine   108  1,404       Utah   29  419 

Maryland  ..157  1,986  Vermont    ..  75  817 

Mass 424  5,369  Virginia  ..  .206  2,606 

Michigan   ..189  2,478  Washington.  88  1,312 

Minnesota  ..220  3,243  West    Va...l04  1,517 

Mississippi..^  990  Wisconsin.  .193  2,931 

Missouri  . .  .244  3,840  Wyoming  . .  54  760 


Total    8,792,119,251 


In  the  above  total  is  included  thirty- 
one  Generals  of  the  line,  ninety-eight  of- 
ficers assigned  to  duty  as  Adjutant  Gen- 
erals of  brigades  and  divisions,  forty- 
seven  Inspector  Generals,  and  forty-eight 
Judge  Advocates. 

The  apportionment  among  the  various 
arms  of  the  service  is  as  follows : 

Arms.                                            Officers.  Men. 

Infantry 6,328  95,109 

Cavalry 298  4,642 

Field  artillery   314  5,914 

Coast  artillery    450  7,150 

Medical  Corps  783  3,550 

Engineers    78  1,246 

Quartermaster 157  108 

Subsistence  19  17 

Pay 10 

Ordnance  59  39 

Signal    72  1,470 

Total 8,792         119.251 

All  the  States,  save  Nevada,  have  in- 
fantry troops  as  a  matter  of  course.  In 
field  artillery  there  are  twenty-three 
that  have  none.  Those  States  are  Ari- 
zona, Arkansas,  Delaware,  Florida,  Idaho, 
Iowa,  Kentucky,  Maine,  Maryland,  Mis- 
sissippi, Montana,  Nebraska,  Nevada, 
North  Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Okla- 
homa, South  Carolina,  South  Dakota, 
Tennessee,  Vermont,  Washington,  West 
Virginia,  and  Wyoming. 

Only  thirteen  States  maintain  coast 
artillery  organizations,  and  of  the  total 
of  coast  artillerymen  more  than  half  is 
in  New  York.  In  Maine  the  total  of 
coast  artillerymen  is  thirty.  The  coast 
States  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Florida, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Texas  are 
without  coast  artillery  organizations. 

Nearly  half  of  all  the  National  Guard 
cavalry  in  the  country  is  in  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania.  The  States  without 
cavalry  are  Alabama,  Arizona,  Arkansas, 
Delaware,  Florida,  Idaho,  Indiana,  Iowa, 
Kansas,  Kentucky,  Maine,  Minnesota, 
Mississippi,  Montana,  Nebraska,  Nevada, 


1074 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


New  Mexico,  North  Dakota,  South  Caro- 
lina, South  Dakota,  Utah,  Virginia,  West 
Virginia,  and  Wyoming.  It  will  be  noted 
that  among  the  States  without  cavalry 
are  a  majority  of  those  in  which  horse- 
manship is  supposed  to  be  most  common, 
such  as  Wyoming,  Kentucky,  Montana, 
Kansas,  and  New  Mexico. 

Of  engineering  troops  more  than  1,100 
of  the  1,324  are  in  four  States — New 
York  with  754,  Ohio  with  190,  Pennsyl- 
vania with  123,  and  Michigan  with  100. 
Of  the  remaining  225  officers  and  men 
Illinois  claims  four  of  the  officers  and 

60  men  and  Oklahoma  three  officers  and 

61  enlisted  men.  Virginia  has  an  engi- 
neering strength  of  three  officers,  Massa- 
chusetts and  California  two  officers  each, 
Rhode  Island,  South  Dakota,  Minnesota, 
Maryland,  Iowa,  and  the  District  of 
Columbia  one  officer  each. 

The  number  of  men  between  18  and 
44  fit  for  military  service  is  approxi- 
mately 16,500,000,  divided  among  the 
States  as  follows: 


State. 

Men. 

State. 

Men. 

Alabama    . . 

.    803,144 

Montana  . . . 

.      48,076 

Arizona 

.      40,776 

Nebraska  . . 

.    132,.380 

Arkansas  . . 
California    . 
Colorado  . . . 
Connecticut. 

.    327,387 
.    393,784 
.    134,225 
.     156,497 

Nevada  .... 
N.  Hamp. . . 
New  Jersey. 
New  Mexico 
New  York. . 

.      20,000 
.      41.235 
.    675.805 
.      60,673 
.1,616,481 

Delaware. . . 

.      32.489 

N.  Carolina. 

.    302,745 

Dist.  of  Col. 

.      80.278 

N.  Dakota. . 

.      70,771 

Florida 

.    197,183 

Ohio 

.    946,856 

Georgia    . . . 

.     577,678 

Oklahoma  . . 

.    321,271 

Hawaii     . . . 

.       14,863 

Oregon    

.    136,521 

Idaho  

.      33,824 

Penn 

.1,139,526 

Illinois 

.1,000,000 

Rhode  Island    138,402 

Indiana 

.    652,351 

S.  Carolina. 

.    217,375 

Iowa 

.    288,838 

S.  Dakota. . 

.      70,862 

Kansas  

.    386,570 

Tennessee    . 

,    376,763 

Kentucky  . . 

.    342,326 

Texas    

.    502,870 

Louisiana  . . 

.    339.443 

Utah 

.      40,453 

Maine    

.     104,819 

Vermont  . . . 

.      50.878 

Maryland  . . 

.    126.975 

Virginia   . . . 

.    327,817 

Mass 

.     577,618 

Washington. 

.    286,189 

Michigan    . . 

.    521,792 

West  Va.  . . . 

2(>1,334 

Minnesota   . 

.    237.923 

Wisconsin    . 

.    441,396 

Mississippi  . 

.    401,220 

Wyoming  . . 

.       41,730 

Missouri  . . . 

.    604,034 

Total     . . 

16,647,347 

The  above  figfures  reveal  many  strange 
situations.  For  instance,  Alabama  is 
surpassed  by  only  four  States  in  the 
number  of  males  between  18  and  44  fit 
for  military  service,  those  States  being 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Illi- 
nois. The  1910  census  gave  California 
200,000  more  population  than  Alabama, 
yet  Alabama  reports  that  she  can  fur- 
nish 400,000  more  men  than  can  Califor- 
nia. Texas,  with  1,700,000  more  popula- 
tion than  Alabama,  reports  only  500,000 
men  fit  for  service,  while  Massachu- 
setts, with  500,000  less  population  than 
Texas,  offers  75,000  more  men. 

Minnesota,  with  2,100,000  population, 
reports  only  237,923  possible  soldiers, 
while  South  Carolina,  with  only  1,500,- 
000  population,  comes  within  20,000  of 
that  number.  Ohio,  whose  population  is 
a  round  million  greater  than  that  of 
Texas,  is  credited  with  450,000  more  able 
men  than  Texas,  but  only  150,000  more 
than  Alabama,  which  has  2,500,000  fewer 
people, 

Mississippi,  1,800,000  population,  offers 
more  than  400,000  men,  whereas  Tennes- 
see, with  2,200,000  population,  returns 
only  376,000.  Indiana,  with  1,000,000 
less  population  than  Texas,  reports  160,- 
000  more  fit  men  and  75,000  more  than 
Massachusetts,  which  has  650,000  more 
citizens  than  has  Indiana. 

Much  criticism  has  been  leveled  at 
the  War  Department  because  of  apparent 
lack  of  interest  in  the  militia.  It  is  a 
fact,  however,  that  never,  except  when 
the  country  was  at  war,  has  the  Govern- 
ment done  more  for  the  National  Guard 
than  now.  There  is  no  press  agent  to 
keep  the  country  informed,  but  the  War 
Department  is  in  intimate  touch  with  the 
militia  of  every  State,  and  now  has  on 
detail  133  of  its  ablest  officers,  who 
give  all  their  time  to  inspection  and  in- 
struction. Nineteen  picked  army  officers 
are  now  on  duty  in  New  York. 


War  and  Money 


How  Will  Europe's  Policy  of  Unlimited  Liability  End? 


EUROPE  has  adopted  a  financial 
policy  of  unlimited  liability  on 
account  of  the  war.  The  war 
loans  of  the  principal  belligerents 
in  one  year  have  amounted  to  fifteen 
billion  dollars.  The  cost  is  tending  to 
rise.  It  is  now  estimated  to  be  altogeth- 
er not  less  than  fifty  million  dollars  a 
day,  of  which  the  share  of  Great  Britain 
alone  is  fifteen  millions  a  day.  England 
is  the  banker,  purveyor,  and  purse  bearer 
of  the  anti-German  allies.  She  may  have 
muddled  nearly  everything  else  at  the 
beginning,  but  nobody  has  been  heard  to 
criticise  her  financial  skill  so  far,  nor 
to  underestimate  the  banking  aid  she 
has  extended  to  her  allies.  However, 
there  is  a  limit  even  to  British  credit, 
and  reflecting  persons  are  beginning  to 
wonder  how  long  it  can  stand  so  great  a 
strain.  If  the  war  continues  to  the  end 
of  March,  1916,  the  national  debt  of  Eng- 
land will  have  trebled,  and  the  rate  of 
interest  upon  it  will  have  advanced  from 
an  average  of  less  than  3l^  per  cent,  to 
4%  per  cent.,  with  no  choice  but  to  rise 
higher  still  if  the  war  goes  on. 

What  is  beyond? 

Will  there  be  any  capital  left  in  the 
world,  and,  if  any,  what  will  it  be  worth  ? 

Those  are  questions  to  which  the  clair- 
voyant answer  would  be  of  immeasurable 
importance — only,  perhaps,  nobody  would 
believe  it. 

As  England  must  finance  the  Allies' 
side  of  the  war,  the  opinions  of  English 
economists  are  of  special  interest,  and, 
as  one  might  suppose,  they  are  incon- 
clusive. So  far  the  cost  of  the  war  has 
been  meet  principally  by  war  loans.  That 
puts  the  settlement  off  upon  posterity. 
But  posterity,  loaded  too  heavily  with 
the  principal  and  interest  of  a  war  debt 
incurred  without  its  consent,  might  re- 
fuse to  pay.  That  would  play  havoc  with 
capital  in  the  world.  The  moods  of  pos- 
terity are  very  uncertain.  Partly  for 
this  reason  and  partly  because  war  loans 
create  a  flood  of  fixed  securities  which 


will  incumber  the  exchanges  for  years 
to  come,  English  commentators,  in  the 
main,  agree  that  it  would  be  better  for 
the  adult  living  to  pay  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  war's  cost  out  of  pocket  in  the 
form  of  taxation. 

Edgar  Crommond,  in  an  article  on  the 
"  Economic  Position  of  the  Allies,"  Quar- 
terly Review,  (July,)  tells  why  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  made  the  last  iVz  per  cent,  loan  a 
popular  financial  operation: 

Ample  provision  has  been  made  to  en- 
able the  small  investor  to  subscribe ;  and 
even  the  weekly  wage  earner  is  enabled 
to  participate  in  the  loan.  Strong  criti- 
cism has  been  directed  against  the  high 
rate  of  interest  offered  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  expensive  conversion  privi- 
leges offered  to  holders  of  existing  Gov- 
ernment securities;  but  the  bulk  of  this 
criticism  may  be  attributed  to  the  fact 
that  the  public  are  only  beginning  to  ap- 
preciate the  immense  wastage  of  capital 
and  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  the  process 
of  readjustment  to  the  new  economic  con- 
ditions which  have  been  created  by  the 
war  has  begun  in  earnest. 

If  people  will  not  save  their  money 
and  buy  war  loans  they  will  have  to  be 
taxed: 

In  order  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  war  it 
is  necessary  that  our  savings  should  be 
doubled ;  and  this  will  mean  the  exercise 
of  economy  to  an  extent  which  is  not 
yet  fully  appreciated  by  the  bulk  of  the 
people.  The  alternative  to  drastic  econo- 
my is  drastic  taxation ;  and  economy  is, 
from  all  points  of  view,  by  far  the  most 
satisfactory  policy.  The  people  of  Great 
Britain  must  strain  every  nerve  to  save 
money,  in  view  of  the  further  taxation, 
or  possibly  loans,  that  m,ay  still  be 
necessary. 

Besides  what  can  be  produced  in  Eng- 
land for  war  consumption,  quantities  of 
food  and  munitions   have  to   be   bought 
abroad,  and  there  arises  another  problem. 
England  is  running  into  debt  with  the 
outside  world  at  the  rate  of  two  billion 
dollars  a  year.     Mr.  Crommond  asks: 
How  is  this  deficiency  to  be  provided? 
It  can   be   met   to  some   extent  by   reduc- 
ing our   imports   and    increasing   our   ex- 
ports.    It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  lat- 
ter  course    can    be    adopted    if   we    enlist 


1076 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


many  more  workers  or  transfer  a  much 
larger  portion  of  the  workers  from  com- 
mercial production  to  the  production  of 
war  munitions.  Another  possible  course 
is  the  export  of  gold ;  but  our  stock  of 
the  precious  metal  is  not  sufficiently  great 
to  admit  of  our  adopting  this  course  with- 
out grave  disadvantages.  A  third  method 
is  to  sell  British  securities  abroad.  As 
already  stated,  our  investments  in  the 
overseas  dominions  and  in  foreign  coun- 
tries have  an  approximate  capital  value 
of  £3,904,000,000;  and  if  we  could  realize 
only  10  per  cent,  of  these  holdings,  we 
should  be  able  to  obtain  the  amount  re- 
quired. Unfortunately,  there  is  only  one 
country  where  sales  can  be  effected, 
namely,  the  United  States;  and  it  is  not 
yet  clear  that  the  New  York  money  mar- 
ket is  in  a  position  to  absorb  securities 
on  a  sufficiently  large  scale.  The  final 
method  is  the  raising  of  a  loan  in  New 
York.  The  great  objection  to  this  is  its 
extreme  costliness.  Money  is  still  as  cheap 
in  London  as  it  is  in  New  York ;  and  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  we  can  raise  a  great 
loan  there  upon  terms  which  will  not  react 
unfavorably  upon  British  credit  at  home. 
It  should  be  reconnized  as  a  patriotic  duty 
by  all  classes  to  limit  consumption,  and 
particularly  the  consumption  of  foreUjn 
manufactures  and  produce,  to  the  utmost 
extent  possible. 

And  beyond,  after  the  war,  Mr,  Crom- 
mond  sees  the  basis  of  taxation  broad- 
ened in  England,  a  revenue  tariff,  and 
years  of  rigorous  economy. 

A  writer  in  The  Edinburgh  Review 
(July)  on  "The  Outlook  for  Capital" 
covers  a  lot  of  ground  in  agreement  with 
Mr.  Crommond,  and  is  likewise  persuad- 
ed that  taxation  ought  to  be  heavily  in- 
creased currently;  but  when  he  comes  to 
discuss  the  future  he  is  not  so  sure  of 
anything,  and  on  the  whole  inclined  to 
doubt  the  pessimistic  view: 

At  first  sight  there  does  not  seem  to  be 
any  doubt  about  it.  With  eight  to  ten 
millions  [£J  of  capital  spent  every  day 
by  the  belligerent  powers,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  purely  wasteful  outlay  to  which 
many  neutrals  are  forced  by  the  war,  it 
seems  to  be  as  obvious  a  platitude  as 
ever  has  been  put  forward  when  one  says 
that  capital  will  be,  must  be,  and  cannot 
help  being  dear  for  a  long  time  to  come. 
"When  a  huge  amount  of  a  thing  that  is 
very  much  wanted  is  destroyed  its  price 
must  go  up.  Economic  theory,  common 
sense,  and  even  the  laws  of  mechanics 
seem  to  confirm  such  a  proposition,  which 
is  so  self-evident  that  one  is  almost  in- 
clined to  show  the  thing  happening  in  a 
diagram.     No  one  can  deny  that  capital. 


even    before    the    war,    was    very    much 
wanted. 

This  writer  proceeds  to  be  aghast  at 
the  rate  at  which  war  loans  are  piling  up: 
If,  then,  at  the  end  of  the  war  the 
world  finds  itself  swamped  with  a  flood 
of  securities  that  have  been  created  to 
pay  for  war,  while  during  the  war  the 
productive  power  of  the  goods  on  which 
all  securities  must  finally  be  based  has 
been,  if  anything,  lessened,  owing  to  the 
insufficient  outlay  on  upkeep  and  the 
slaying  of  many  of  the  best  of  the  world's 
workers,  is  it  possible  to  doubt  that  the 
price  of  securities  will  be  low,  and  that 
consequently  what  is  called  the  price  of 
capital — the  rate  of  interest  paid  by  the 
borrower — will  be  high? 

But  people  are  contrary  minded,  and 
were  perhaps  not  made  to  demonstrate 
the  infallibility  of  economic  theory.  The 
writer  admits  some  uneconomic  factors: 

Some  people  do  ♦  *  •  in  fact  affirm 
that  the  price  of  capital  will  be  low,  be- 
cause, they  say,  mankind  will  be  so  ex- 
hausted by  the  war  that  there  will  be  a 
long  pause  in  development,  no  new  coun- 
tries will  be  opened  up,  and  no  one  will 
have  the  courage  to  think  of  using  new 
capital,  much  less  of  asking  for  it  from 
the  money  markets  of  the  world.  Here  is 
the  psychological  problem  that  lurks,  as  it 
so  often  does,  behind  an  economic  ques- 
tion. And  any  one  who  dogmatizes  be- 
forehand about  the  feelings  of  mankind 
must  have  robur  et  aes  triplex  about  his 
breast.  AH  that  can  be  said  with  any 
approach  to  certainty  is  that  it  v/ill  take 
a  very  long  pause  to  allow  all  the  present 
flood  of  securities  to  be  absorbed  so  far 
that  scarcity  reigns  in  the  stock  markets 
and  fancy  prices  begin  to  be  paid  for  good 
investments.  And  it  must  be  remembered 
that  plenty  of  countries  are  outside  the 
war  zone,  and  making  huge  profits  out  of 
the  needs  of  the  belligerents.  Our  Amer- 
ican cousins  will  not  be  tired  at  the  end 
of  the  war.  They  will  be  straining  every 
nerve  and  using  every  dollar  of  capital 
that  is  offered  to  improve  the  great  eco- 
nomic advantage  that  the  war  is  giving 
them. 

And  there  are  other  psychological  ques- 
tions that  affect  the  outlook  for  capital. 
Will  the  war  end  in  such  a  way  that  all 
the  nations  want  to  spend  more  than  ever 
on  armaments,  or  will  the  lion  lie  down 
with  the  lamb?  Shall  we  all  go  back  as 
far  as  we  can  to  the  old  habits  of  self- 
indulgence  and  ostentation?  Or  shall  we 
recognize  that  no  nation  can  be  really 
great  while  the  mass  of  its  citizens  lead 
lives  of  unremitting  toil  and  poverty,  and 
that  therefore  it  is  our  first  business  to 
turn  the  stream  of  production  into  fields 


WAR  AND  MONEY  1077 


in  which  it  brings  forth  things  that  are  present  rate  of  destruction.  There  is 
really  wanted?  really  no  measure  of  how  much  modern 
Nobody  can  be  very  sure  of  anything.  people,  under  the  spur  of  great  necessity, 
There  are  hardly  any  clues  in  all  eco-  can  both  produce  and  do  without.  That 
nomic  experience  to  what  will  happen  in  is  what  makes  the  future  of  capital  so 
the  future.  In  degree,  in  ratio,  and  in  uncertain.  If  habits  of  industry  and  self- 
magnitude  the  economic  phenomena  now  denial  learned  in  war  continued  after- 
taking  place  are  incomparable.  More-  ward  among  several  hundred  millions  of 
over,  they  are  unfinished.  Nobody  can  people,  the  world  might  have  to  revise 
say  how  long  the  war  will  last,  nor,  for  all  previous  calculations  as  to  the  rate 
that  matter,  how  long  it  can  last  at  the  at  which  wealth  can  be  increased. 


The  Hymn  of  the  Lusitania 

Translated  from  the  German  by  Mrs.  Wharton. 

In  an  article  on  "  Peace  Insurance  by  Preparedness  Against  War,"  appearing  in  the 
Metropolitan  Magazine  for  August,  Theodore  Roosevelt  says :  "  Mrs.  "Wharton  has  sent  me 
the  following  German  poem  on  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  with  her  translation  "  : 

The  swift  sea  sucks  her  death-shriek  under 
As  the  great  ship  reels  and  leaps  asunder. 
Crammed   taffrail-high   with   her   murderous   freight. 
Like  a  straw  on  the  tide  she  whirls  to  her  fate. 

A  warship  she,  though  she  lacked  its  coat, 
And  lustful  for  lives  as  none  afloat, 
A  warship,  and  one  of  the  foe's  best  workers. 
Not  penned  with  her  rusting  harbor-shirkers. 

Now  the  Flanders  guns  lack  their  daily  bread, 
And  shipper  and  buyer  are  sick  with  dread. 
For  neutral  as  Uncle  Sam  may  be 
Your  surest  neutral's  the  deep  green  sea. 

Just  one  ship  sunk,  with  lives  and  shell, 
And  thousands  of  German  gray-coats  well! 
And  for  each  of  her  gray-coats,  German  hate 
Would  have  sunk  ten  ships  with  all  their  freight. 

Yea,  ten  such  ships  are  a  paltry  fine 
For  one  good  life  in  our  fighting  line. 
Let  England  ponder  the  crimson  text: 
TORPEDO,   STRIKE!   AND   HURRAH  FOR  THE  NEXT! 


A  Resume  of  the  Military  Operations 

in  Europe 

From    July  15  to  Aug.   15,  1915* 
By  a  Military  Expert 


A  REVIEW  of  the  latest  military 
operations  in  Europe  finds  the 
world's  interest  more  than  ever 
centred  in  the  gigantic  cam- 
paign in  Russia,  before  which  all  ac- 
tions in  the  various  other  seats  of  war 
have,  temporarily  at  least,  dwindled  into 
insignificance. 

The  middle  of  July  brought  the  first 
aim  of  the  Germanic  General  Staff's 
strategy  in  the  east — the  conquest  of 
Poland — within  sight  of  its  realization. 
The  final  stage  of  the  campaign  for  this 
important  Russian  province  was  ushered 
in  by  the  breaking  of  the  Russian  right 
v/ing  protecting  Warsaw  and  the  Vistula 
line  from  the  north  of  Przasnysz  on 
July  15,  The  force  of  the  attack  threw 
the  entire  Russian  front  between  Zjecha- 
now  and  the  Omulev  River  back  on  the 
Narew  line,  and  its  suddenness  took  the 
garrisons  of  Pultusk  and  Ostrolenka  by 
surprise  and  frustrated  their  attempt  to 
resist.  With  the  capture  of  these  two 
strongholds  the  main  breadline  of  the 
Russian  front  along  and  west  of  the  Vis- 
tula, the  Warsaw-Bialystok-Petrograd 
railroad,  was  exposed  to  the  German  at- 
tack and  the  fall  of  the  Polish  capital 
sealed. 

Thus  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg's 
victory  on  the  Narew  front  necessitated 
the  gradual  withdrawal  of  the  Russian 
Josef ow-  (about  forty  miles  south  of 
Ivangorod)  Jastrshomb-  (fifteen  miles 
southwest  of  Radom)  Tomaschew-Rawka 
and  Bzura  line  behind  the  Vistula  be- 
tween Ivangorod  and  Novo  Georgievsk. 
On  the  front  from  Novo  Georgievsk  to 
Goworowa  and  Lomza  the  German  drive, 
after  having  forced  all  the  Narew  cross- 
ings   between    Pultusk   and    Ostrolenka, 

•For  the  chronologry  covering  this  period, 
see  Page  1221  of  this  issue. 


was  temporarily  checked,  the  Russians, 
by  means  of  their  direct  Lubin-Siedlce- 
Ostrolenka  railroad,  shifting  strong  re- 
serves from  their  southern  front  (be- 
tween Josefow  on  the  Vistula  and  the 
Bug,  east  of  Grubeschow)  to  the  points 
of  immediate  danger  in  the  north.  The 
consequence  was  that  Archduke  Joseph 
Ferdinand's  and  Field  Marshal  von  Mack- 
ensen's  armies,  which  had  been  held  back 
and  at  times  even  forced  to  yield  ground 
in  the  first  half  of  July,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  month  were  able  to  resume  their 
northward  advance.  Thus  the  weakening 
of  the  Russian  southern  wing  meant  the 
sacrifice  of  the  important  Ivangorod- 
Lublin-Chelm  railroad.  Great  as  it  was. 
it  had  to  be  made  in  order  to  save  the 
northern  army  from  being  trapped.  The 
purpose,  the  protection  of  the  Warsaw- 
Bialystok  road  until  the  greater  part  of 
the  army  of  Warsaw  could  be  moved 
over  it  to  the  Grodno-Bialystok-Brest- 
Litovsk  front,  is  now  sure  to  have  been 
accomplished,  at  least  as  far  northeast 
as  Malkin.  Only  a  small  part  of  this 
army,  that  which  clung  to  Novo  Geor- 
gievsk and  the  westernmost  part  of  the 
Narew,  as  far  as  its  conflux  with  the  Bug, 
even  after  the  Bavarians  had  crossed 
over  the  Vistula  to  Praga  and  after  the 
German  army  from  Pultusk  had  reached 
Serozk,  was  trapped  in  the  region  be- 
tween the  Vistula  (from  Novo  Georgievsk 
to  Warsaw)  and  the  Narew,  (from  Novo 
Georgievsk  to  Serozk.) 

The  Russian  line  east  of  Serozk,  be- 
tween that  town  and  the  region  south  of 
Goworowa,  succeeded  in  tearing  itself 
from  the  Teutonic  grip,  gradually  chang- 
ing from  a  northwesterly  front  to  one 
facing  almost  direct  west,  joining  hands 
in  the  region  southwest  of  Wyschkow 
with   the   troops   retreating   from   War- 


A  RESUME  OF  THE  MILITARY  OPERATIONS  IN  EUROPE     1079 


saw.  Thus  the  second  week  of  August 
saw  the  Russians  continuing  their  east- 
ward retirement  on  a  line  running  ap- 
proximately from  Novo  Minsk  over 
Wyschkow  to  Wonsewo,  (about  ten  miles 
northwest  of  Ostrow,)  and  from  there  to 
Lomza.  The  pivoting  point  of  the  re- 
treating line  was  the  fortress  of  Osso- 
wetz,  northeast  of  Lomza. 

By  the  11th  of  August  it  seemed  rea- 
sonably certain  that  the  Russian  Army 
would  reach  its  second  line  of  defense, 
the  Kovno-Ossowetz-Bialystok-Brest-Li- 
tovsk  line,  and  later  the  Kovno-Grodno- 
Bialystok-Brest-Litovsk  line,  compara- 
tively unimpaired,  except  for  the  troops 
cornered  around  Novo  Georgievsk,  when, 
on  Aug.  12,  Field  Marshal  von  Hin- 
denburg's  left-wing  armies  under  Gen- 
erals von  Scholz  and  von  Gallwitz 
stormed  Lomza  and  the  bridgehead 
at  Wizna,  east  of  the  fortress,  thereby 
breaking  the  Russian  line  of  retreat  and 
endangering  the  Warsaw-Bialystok  road, 
northeast  of  Malkin. 

As  yet  up  to  Aug.  14,  no  news  of  an 
envelopment  of  any  part  of  the  Russian 
army  southeast  of  Lomza  has  been  re- 
ceived, and  it  is  still  possible  that  the 
Muscovites  will  reach  their  second  line 
of  defense  in  spite  of  the  debacle  at 
Lomza,  but  their  position  nevertheless 
seems  precarious,  and  much,  if  not  all, 
depends  on  how  near  the  shelter  of  the 
Ossowetz  -  Bialystok  -  Brest  -  Litovsk  line 
was  the  retiring  Russian  Army  at  the 
time  the  Teutons  broke  through  Lomza. 
If  it  was  still  in  the  region  of  Ostrow 
and  the  Bug,  from  Malkin  southeastward, 
its  escape  might  yet  prove  not  to  have 
been  quite  as  successful  as  is  generally 
assumed. 

While  thus  the  original  Russian  Narew 
and  Bzura-Rawka  armies  were  fighting 
their  way  back  over  the  Warsaw-Bialy- 
stok and  the  Novo  Minsk-Siedlce  rail- 
roads to  reach  their  second  line  of  de- 
fense, the  armies  withdrawn  from  the  re- 
gion south  of  the  Pilica  were  struggling 
to  make  good  their  escape  to  this  same 
line  along  the  only  remaining  road  from 
Ivangorod  to  Lukow  and  Brest-Litovsk, 
and  have  apparently  succeeded.  The  Rus- 
sian strategy  here  was  identically  the 
same  as  in  the  north.     The  retreat  over 


the  Ivangorod-Lukow-Brest-Litovsk  road 
was  effected  under  the  protection  of  the 
flanking  Russian  left  wing.  The  latter 
had  meanwhile  gradually  given  way  be- 
fore Austro-German  attacks,  and  by  Aug. 
6  had  established  itself  along  the  lower 
Wieprz,  as  far  as  Lubartow,  stretching 
from  there  through  the  region  north  and 
northeast  of  Lentschna  to  the  Bug,  north- 
east of  Chelm.  Assuming  the  selfsame 
manoeuvre  as  the  flanking  army  on  the 
Narew  the  Russian  flanking  army  at  the 
Wieprz  gradually  changed  its  front,  in 
this  instance  from  a  southwesterly  direc- 
tion to  an  almost  westerly  one.  From 
Aug.  9  on  it  gradually  began  withdraw- 
ing its  right  wing  northeastward  in  con- 
junction with  the  retirement  of  the  army 
retreating  from  Ivangorod  and  north  of 
the  fortress.  The  front  further  east  fol- 
lowed gradually. 

By  Aug.  14  the  entire  southern  wing  of 
the  Russian  Army  had  retreated  to  a  line 
extending  from  Wlodowa  over  Radin  and 
Lukow  toward  Siedlce,  but  not  until  the 
army  of  Ivangorod  and  that  north  of  the 
fortress,  with  the  exception  of  some  10,- 
000  men,  8  cannon,  and  20  machine  guns 
taken  when  the  fortress  was  stormed,  had 
made  good  its  escape.  This  is  plainly  in- 
dicated by  the  report  that  it  was  the 
army  of  General  von  Woyrisch,  advancing 
from  Ivangorod,  which  took  Lukow,  and 
that  of  Prince  Leopold  of  Bavaria,  ad- 
vancing from  Warsaw  and  south  of  that 
city,  which  took  Siedlce,  but  not  the 
army  of  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand, 
advancing  from  the  south. 

The  second  part  of  August  thus  finds 
the  Teutonic  battle  front  closing  in  on  the 
Kovno-Ossowetz  -  Balystok-Brest-Litovsk 
line  advancing  on  a  front  forming  a  semi- 
circle from  Wladow  over  Radin-Siedlce- 
Malkin-Wiznita  to  Ossowetz.  Whether  or 
not  greater  parts  of  the  Russian  Narew 
army  (outside  of  the  troops  cut  off  at 
Novo  Georgievsk)  will  be  captured  in 
consequence  of  the  taking  of  Lomza  on 
Aug.  12,  the  next  few  days  will  reveal. 
So  far  the  total  of  the  German  booty 
since  the  fall  of  Warsaw  has  been  taken 
in  groups  mostly  from  enemy  rear  guards 
and  amounts  today,  as  reported,  to  ap- 
proximately 35,000  men,  12  guns,  and  40 
machine    guns.      Irrespective   though   of 


1080 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


the  yet  possible  capture  of  greater  Rus- 
sian units  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
retreat  of  Grand  Duke  Nicholas's  army 
was  carried  out  in  a  manner  that  deserves 
admiration  from  friend  and  foe  alike. 

Simultaneously  with  the  struggle 
around  the  Ossowetz-Brest-Litovsk  line, 
two  important  campaigns  are  being 
waged  on  the  extreme  southern  and 
northern  wings  flanking  the  second  Rus- 
sian defensive  line.  In  the  south  the  Rus- 
sian flanking  protection  is  established 
through  the  fortified  line  extending  from 
the  lake  region  (about  forty-five  miles 
south  of  Brest-Litovsk)  over  Luboml 
(thirty  miles  west  of  Kovel)  to  the  fort- 
resses of  Luzk  and  Rowno.  The  advance 
of  General  von  Mackensen's  extreme 
right  wing  on  Vladimir-Wolynski  and 
the  fighting  for  the  Bug  crossing  at 
Dorogusk  (about  ten  miles  west  of 
Luboml)  strongly  indicate  the  coming  of 
extended  operations  against  the  southern 
Russian  flanking  position.  Their  first 
object  will  be  Kovel  and  the  road  from 
there  to  Brest-Litovsk. 

Aside  from  Kovel's  importance  for 
operations  against  Brest-Litovsk  from 
the  southeast  the  possession  of  that  town 
by  the  Teutons  would  also  mean  the  sev- 
erance of  all  direct  communications  be- 
tween the  Russian  Galician  armies,  estab- 
lished along  the  banks  of  the  Dniester, 
Zlota  Lipa,  and  upper  Bug  Rivers,  and 
those  operating  in  Wolhynia  and  north  of 
that  province.  Threatening  Luzk  and 
Rovno  from  the  flank  and  the  rear,  the 
advance  on  Kovel  would  thus,  simul- 
taneously with  exposing  Brest-Litovsk 
to  attack  from  the  rear,  force  the  evacu- 
ation of  Eastern  Galicia  by  the  Russians, 
to  avoid  their  being  cut  off  from  Kiev, 
the  base  of  operations  of  all  Russian 
armies  south  of  the  Kiev-Kovel  line. 

While  consequently  the  operations 
against  the  Southern  Russian  flanking 
position  are  threatening  two  entirely  dif- 
ferent groups  of  armies  alike,  all  move- 
ments against  the  Russian  northern 
flank,  extending  from  Ossowetz,  or  in 
case  of  the  abandonment  of  that  fortress, 
from  Grodno,  along  the  Niemen  to  Kovno, 
and  from  there  through  the  region  south- 
east of  Ponevyezh  to  that  west  of  Jacob- 
stadt    toward    the    Dwina,    are    simply 


directed  against  the  one  main  breadline 
supplying  the  new  Russian  defensive  line 
— the  Wilna-Dunaburg-Petrograd  rail- 
road. If  the  Teutons  here  can  break 
the  wall  protecting  it,  the  Grodno-Brest- 
Litovsk  line  will  become  untenable. 

It  is  in  realization  of  this  fact  that  the 
Russians  have  lately  made  the  most  des- 
perate efforts  to  resume  the  offensive  in 
this  northeastern  seat  of  war  in  order  to 
drive  back  the  menacing  projection  of 
the  northern  Germanic  flank.  The  latter 
on  its  part  is  protected  in  its  extreme  left 
by  a  flanking  army  advancing  on  Riga 
parallel  to  the  Aa  River  front  as  far 
south  as  the  region  southwest  of  Fried- 
richstadt.  It  is  against  this  army  that 
the  Russians  have  launched  their  main 
attack.  On  the  11th  of  August  they  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  it  back  over  the  Aa 
River,  southwest  of  Mitau.  A  further 
advance  would  have  brought  the  attack- 
ing forces  into  the  rear  of  the  German 
Kovno-Dunaburg  front,  and  would  have 
placed  it  in  a  precarious  position.  Simul- 
taneously with  their  attack  south  of  Riga 
the  Russians  began  to  press  back  the 
German  front  in  the  section  west  of 
Jacobstadt  and  southwest  of  Pone- 
vyezh. But  already  on  the  14th  the 
Russian  advance  was  everywhere  checked, 
and  on  the  15th  Berlin  reported  the 
"  developments  of  new  battles,"  (the  Ger- 
man term  indicating  the  coming  of  a 
vigorous  offensive  movement)  on  the  en- 
tire Dunaburg-Kovno  front,  and  progress 
at  the  latter  fortress,  commanding  the 
most  direct  and  easiest  approach  to  the 
Bialystok-Petrograd  railroad  at  Vilna. 

At  the  same  time  come  reports  of  the 
evacuation  of  Bialystok  and  Vilna  by 
their  civil  population  and  of  Riga  by  the 
British  authorities  there.  They  are 
boding  ill  for  the  Czar's  cause. 

While  this  gigantic  struggle  has  been 
going  on,  little,  if  any,  fighting  of  im- 
portance has  taken  place  in  France  and 
West  Flanders  during  the  last  four  weeks. 
Worthy  of  note  are  only  the  following 
three  actions:  The  third  week  of  July 
found  the  French  launching  an  energetic 
offensive  in  the  Vosges,  where  they  suc- 
ceeded in  pushing  their  lines  about  half 
a  mile  further  west  and  northwest  along 
the  valley  of  the  Fecht.     In  the  region 


A  RESUME  OF  THE  MILITARY  OPERATIONS  IN  EUROPE     1081 


of  Miinster,  however,  by  the  end  of  July 
they  were  definitely  checked  in  their  at- 
tempt to  extend  their  foothold  in  Alsace. 

The  second  action,  taking  place  in  the 
Argonne,  was  begun  early  in  August  on 
German  initiative,  the  Crown  Prince  forc- 
ing his  front  between  Four  de  Paris  and 
Varennes  forward  a  little  less  than  a 
mile,  and  in  co-operation  with  this  offen- 
sive pressing  the  French  by  a  sharp  at- 
tack southeast  of  Verdun  from  the  region 
of  Les  Eparges,  the  object  of  both  move- 
ments being  to  draw  tighter  the  semi- 
circle around  Verdun,  closing  in  on  the 
fortress  from  the  northwest  and  the 
southeast.  The  movement  in  this  seat  of 
war  may  possibly  be  regarded  as  pre- 
paring for  a  more  vigorous  campaign 
here  after  that  in  Russia  has  been 
brought  to  a  close,  and  it  may  also  be  of 
moral  influence,  giving  evidence  of  the 
great  German  strength,  making  possible 
the  carrying  on  of  an  offensive  on  two 
fronts  simultaneously,  but  the  actual  re- 
sults attained  around  Verdun  in  the  last 
four  weeks  are  negligible. 

The  third  scene  of  hard  fighting  was 
in  West  Flanders  in  the  region  of  Hooge, 
(due  west  of  Ypres,)  where  the  Germans 
in  the  first  days  of  August  delivered  a 
vigorous  surprise  attack,  driving  the  Brit- 
ish from  the  village  and  taking  several  of 
their  trenches.  But  already  on  Aug.  10 
the  British  launched  their  counterattack, 
which  regained  Hooge  and  their  trenches 
with  the  exception  of  those  south  of  the 
village. 

Since  Aug.  10  the  situation  here,  too, 
has  again  been  deadlocked,  as  all  along 
the  rest  of  the  western  front. 

On  the  Austro-Italian  front  the  first 
general  Italian  offensive  on  the  Austrian 
positions  during  June  had  had  for  its  ob- 
ject Garizia,  the  key  to  Trieste.  The 
principal  attacks  had  been  directed 
against  the  Austrian  position  at  Plava 
dominating  the  approach  to  the  city  from 
the  north,  and  that  at  Doberdo,  flanking 
Gorizia  to  the  south.  Simultaneously  vig- 
orous frontal  attacks  also  had  been 
launched  against  the  bridgehead  at  Go- 
rizia. By  the  end  of  June  all  these  assaults 


had  seemed  insufficient.  A  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  Italian  attacking  forces  took 
place  and  July  15  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  second  big  offensive.  This  time 
the  main  onslaught  to  break  the  Austrian 
Isonzo  front  was  apparently  directed  fur- 
ther north  toward  the  region  of  Marl- 
borghetto  and  Tolmino,  its  object  being 
the  valleys  of  the  Drave  and  Save,  east 
and  southeast  of  Tarvis,  the  possession  of 
which  would  cut  the  entire  Austrian 
Isonzo  front  off  from  all  direct  communi- 
cation with  Vienna  and  the  northeast 
generally.  The  attacks  on  the  Plateau  of 
Doberdo  and  the  position  near  Canale 
during  the  first  week  of  August  are 
therefore  more  in  the  nature  of  feint  of- 
fensives. 

On  Aug.  14  came  the  report  from  the 
Italian  General  Staff  that  "  pending  con- 
solidation of  positions  taken  "  no  new  at- 
tacks would  be  made.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  Austrian  front  was  then  nowhere 
broken,  this  report  can  but  mean  an  ad- 
mission that  the  second  big  Italian  offen- 
sive on  the  Isonzo  front  has  suffered  the 
fate  of  the  first. 

The  Italian  operations  on  the  Tyrolese 
frontier,  where  the  early  part  of  August 
has  witnessed  fighting  principally  in  the 
region  of  Condino,  to  the  southeast  of 
Roverto,  and  in  the  Cadore  Mountains, 
are  merely  of  a  defensive  character,  aim- 
ing purely  at  frustrating  Austrian  count- 
erattacks from  the  north,  menacing  the 
rear  of  the  Italian  operations  on  the 
Isonzo. 

Thus,  as  in  France,  the  middle  of 
August  finds  the  situation  on  the  Aus- 
tro-Italian front  temporarily  deadlocked. 

In  the  Dardanelles  and  on  the  Serbian 
frontier  the  situation  is  likewise  un- 
changed since  July  15.  In  the  former 
field  of  operations  the  Allies  have  land- 
ed additional  troops,  and  have  again 
assumed  a  vigorous  offensive,  but  the 
results  have  yet  to  be  reported.  It  would 
appear,  of  course,  that  the  recent  allied 
activity  on  Gallipoli  is  a  political  move — 
a  bid  for  support  from  the  Balkan  States, 
on  whose  possible  help  the  allied  powers 
seem  to  have  high  hopes. 


A  Crisis  in  the  Balkans 


Allied  Powers'  Attempt  to  Reorganize  the  Balkan  League 


In  an  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
London  dated  Aug.  14, 1915,  appeared  the 
following  suvfimary  account  of  the  efforts 
made  by  the  Quadruple  Entente  to  bring 
to  its  side  in  the  war  the  united  force 
of  the  Balkan  peoples: 

A  FFAIRS  in  the  Balkans  are  ap- 
/\  preaching  a  crisis.  While  diplo- 
A  \  matic  negotiations  are  proceed- 
ing in  an  effort  to  induce  States 
still  neutral  to  cast  their  lot  with  one 
side  or  the  other,  the  troops  of  the  cen- 
tral powers  massed  on  the  Balkan  fron- 
tiers are  planning,  it  is  believed,  to  force 
a  way  through  to  relieve  Turkey,  who  is 
believed  to  be  badly  in  need  of  shells. 

The  concentration  of  these  troops, 
which  has  been  followed  by  an  artillery 
attack  on  Serbian  positions,  is  equally 
a  menace  to  Rumania,  which  again  has 
refused  to  permit  shells  to  pass  through 
her  territory  to  Turkey.  The  Rumanian 
Army  is  already  partly  mobilized,  and 
four  new  divisions  of  reserves  have  been 
called  out. 

Bulgaria  has  as  yet  made  no  move 
while  awaiting  the  reply  of  the  Quad- 
ruple Entente  to  her  demand  that  Serbia 
and  Greece  concede  Macedonia  to  her  in 
return   for   her   military   support.     This 


answer  probably  will  be  forthcoming 
after  the  meeting  of  the  Greek  and  Ser- 
bian Parliaments  next  week. 

While  the  Serbians  point  out  what 
they  consider  the  unfairness  of  the  Bul- 
garian demand,  they  show  an  inclina- 
tion to  make  some  concessions  to  obtain 
the  support  of  their  former  ally. 

Greece  is  more  firm  in  her  refusal, 
but  it  is  believed  here  that  there  may  be 
a  change  in  her  policy  when  former 
Premier  Venizelos  returns  to  power,  al- 
though he  has  a  strong  pro-German 
party  opposed  to  him,  and,  according 
to  a  telegram  from  Berlin  tonight.  King 
Constantine  will  offer  him  the  Premier- 
ship only  on  the  understanding  that 
strict  neutrality  shall  be  maintained. 
This  was  the  point  upon  which  the 
King  and  M.  Venizelos  disagreed  when 
a  new  Cabinet  was  appointed  and  Par- 
liament was  dissolved. 

Inasmuch  as  M.  Venizelos  was  sup- 
ported by  the  people  at  a  general  elec- 
tion, it  was  thought  the  King  might  fall 
into  line,  but  the  dispatch  from  Berlin 
indicates  that  he  has  not  changed  his 
views.  Should  Bulgaria  attack  Serbia, 
however,  Greece  is  bound  by  treaty  ob- 
ligations to  support  Serbia  as  her  ally. 


Will  the  Attempt   Succeed? 

By  Adamantios  Th.  Polyzoides 

Editor  of  The  New  York  Daily  Greek  Atlantis. 


Europe,  and  especially  the  powers  con- 
stituting today  the  Quadruple  Entente, 
committed  the  most  unpardonable  blun- 
der when  at  the  close  of  the  first  Bal- 
kan war,  in  May,  1913,  they  tore  asun- 
der the  Balkan  League,  which  such  men 
as  Eleutherios  Venizelos  for  Greece, 
Nicholas  Pashitch  for  Serbia,  and  Ivan 
Gueshoff  for  Bulgaria  took  the  pains  of 
forming,  with  the  aim  of  doing  away 
with  the  Turk  in  Europe. 


Today  Germany,  looking  over  the  later 
failures  of  her  diplomacy,  cannot  but 
give  due  credit  to  the  men  who  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  the  Balkan  League, 
thus  making  it  possible  for  Turkey  to 
take  once  more  the  field  at  a  time  when, 
had  things  gone  otherwise,  she  would 
already  be  dead  and  buried. 

For  Germany  to  keep  the  Balkan 
States  neutral  when  the  partition  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire  is  well  nigh  at  hand 


A  CRISIS  IN  THE  BALKANS 


1083 


Map  of  the  Balkan  States  and  Austria-Hungary. 


means  something  more  than  a  diplomatic 
success.  It  means  her  victory  against 
Russia,  and  may  mean  more  if  the 
strait  remains  closed  and  Serbia  open  to 
a  new  invasion.  And  for  this  reason 
those  who  place  the  key  to  the  solution 
of  the  European  war  in  the  Balkans  are 
only  too  well  on  the  right  side. 

This  in  large  part  explains  the  recent 
activity  on  the  part  of  the  Allies  of  the 
Entente  in  their  efforts  to  reconstruct 
the  Balkan  League,  and  to  throw  its 
weight  in  the  balance  against  the 
coalition  of  the  three  empires.  But  to 
form  a  Balkan  alliance  is  more  difficult 
than  to  destroy  it,  and  the  Entente  pow- 
ers have  felt  this  difficulty  since  they 
first  approached  the  Balkan  statesmen 
with  the  object  of  reconciling  the  differ- 
ences which  arose  after  the  disruption 
of  the  league  in  1913.  The  obstacles  to 
such  an  effort  were,  and  are,  still  great; 
yet  greater  has  been  the  activity  of  the 
German  Foreign  Office  in  the  Balkan 
capitals,  where  every  means  was  used 
m  order  to  render  any  rapprochement 
between  the  Balkan  peoples  impossible. 


Mutual  distrust  has  always  been  char- 
acteristic of  these  nationalities,  and 
racial  hatred  is  easily  awakened  when 
adroitly  manipulated  by  ingenious  out- 
siders. It  must  be  said  that  the  Balkan 
peoples  have  been  too  long  under  the 
influences  of  outsiders  if  they  do  not 
see  their  position  in  the  light  of  their 
common  interests.  Germany,  therefore, 
has  a  very  fertile  ground  to  work  on 
when  it  comes  to  set  up  Bulgar  against 
Greek  and  Rumanian  against  Serbian, 
and  all  three  against  Bulgar;  while  Ger- 
many may  cite  any  time  to  the  Balkan 
States  the  different  cases  in  which  the 
Entente  powers  have  not  been  so  pro- 
Balkan  as  to  sacrifice  an  iota  of  their 
particular  interests  in  favor  of  their  so- 
called   proteges. 

To  counterpoise  the  work  of  the  Ger- 
mans the  Allies  must  act  in  such  a  way 
as  to  convince  the  Balkans  that  only 
by  fighting  in  unison  at  the  side  of  the 
Entente  will  they  eventually  get  what 
they  have  been  striving  for  during  a 
long  period  of  years.  At  the  same  time 
the  Allies  must  live  up  to  the  standards 


1084 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


of  liberty  and  righteousness  as  exempli- 
fied in  their  gallant  defense  of  heroic 
Belgium.  The  principle  of  nationality 
once  raised,  the  Allies  are  bound  to  up- 
hold it  and  to  apply  it  wherever  possible. 
A  war  that  is  giving  Poland  a  new  birth 
of  freedom  should  not  subjugate  other 
small  peoples  to  objectionable  masters. 
If  this  is  a  war  for  liberation,  then  let 
it  be  a  sincere  effort  for  that  purpose. 
The  Balkan  peoples  are  not  afraid  to 
join  in  this  struggle  on  the  side  of  the 
champions  of  the  liberties  of  the  small 
peoples.  But  of  one  thing  they  want  to 
be  sure  beforehand,  and  this  is  that  in 
case  of  victory  their  aspirations  will  be 
materialized.  Let  us  see  now  what  the 
Balkans  want  in  order  to  throw  in  their 
i  lot  with  the  Allies. 

In  the  first  place,  they  do  not  want 
to  see  Russia  in  Constantinople.  On  this 
score  Greeks  and  Bulgars  and  Rumani- 
ans, and  even  Serbs,  agree.  With  Russia 
oi:ce  established  on  the  Bosporus,  the 
Balkan  peoples  fear  a  dominion  that  will 
overwhelm  one  day  their  national  exist- 
ence. This  fear  is  openly  expressed  all 
over  the  Balkans,  and  finds  the  most 
eloquent  echo  in  the  utterances  of  the 
powerful  nationalist  parties  of  Rumania, 
Bulgaria,  and  Greece,  and  in  the  majority 
cf  the  press  of  these  countries.  With 
the  strait  in  the  hands  of  Russia,  Ru- 
mania would  feel  as  if  bottled  up  in 
the  Black  Sea,  with  her  huge  grain  ex- 
ports at  the  mercy  of  such  a  formidable 
concurrent  as  the  Russian  Empire.  Bul- 
garia fears  Russian  occupation  of  Con- 
stantinople more  than  any  one  of  her 
neighbors.  It  seems  that  there  is  not 
enough  room  for  two  Czars  in  the  Bal- 
kans, and  it  is  most  likely  that  with 
the  advent  of  the  one  the  other  must  go. 
As  for  Greece,  her  claims  on  Byzantium 
are  too  well  known  to  allow  any  doubt 
as  to  her  sentiments  with  regard  to  an 
eventual  occupation  of  Constantinople  by 
the  Russians.  Serbia  at  the  same  time 
devoted  as  she  is  to  Russia,  would  see 
with  some  uneasiness  the  master  of  all 
the  Slavs  established  on  the  Balkan  pe- 
ninsula. 

In  order  to  allay  these  apprehensions 
of  the   Balkan   States,   the  Allies  must 


find  a  way,  or  rather  a  formula,  by 
which  to  convince  them  that  their  fears 
are  groundless,  and  that  the  giving  of 
Constantinople  to  Russia  will  not  in  the 
least  endanger  their  national  individual- 
ity, and  their  various  interests.  This 
the  Entente  Powers  can  do.  By  taking 
the  sting  off  the  Russian  occupation  of 
Constantinople,  a  way  for  further  nego- 
tiations with  the  Balkan  States  is  opened. 
Let  us  examine  now  the  other  points  of 
the  question  covering  the  possibilities  of 
Balkan  co-operation  with  the  Entente 
powers. 

As  I  previously  said,  the  Allies  want 
all  the  Balkan  States  with  them.  What 
they  are  looking  for  is  not  the  separate 
assistance  that  each  of  these  States  can 
offer  to  the  Allies  in  the  case  of  entering 
the  war.  The  co-operation  of  all  the 
Balkans  with  the  Entente  is  wanted,  and 
to  that  end  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Balkan  League  is  imperative.  It  is  to 
this  purpose  that  the  Allies  have  been 
sounding  lately  the  Balkan  Governments 
in  the  effort  to  find  a  common  ground 
where  their  views  and  aspirations  could 
meet.  They  began  with  Athens,  where 
they  found,  in  the  person  of  E.  K. 
Venizelos,  a  statesman  who  was  willing  to 
compromise  the  Greco-Bulgarian  differ- 
ences in  view  of  the  brilliant  future  that 
opened  for  Greece  in  Asia  Minor  in  case 
of  her  co-operation  with  the  Entente. 
The  promises  of  the  Allies,  however,  not 
being  well  defined.  King  Constantine 
thought  it  better  to  dismiss  his  Premier 
and  to  ask  the  opinion  of  the  country  on 
the  matter.  The  question  of  going  to 
war  or  not  going  to  war  with  the  Allies 
was  not  put  to  the  electorate;  neverthe- 
less Mr.  Venizelos  came  out  victorious  at 
the  election,  simply  because  the  Hellenic 
people  wants  him  and  no  other  at  the 
head  of  the  Government.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  there  is  a  strong  movement  in 
Greece  against  the  idea  of  any  territorial 
concession  to  Bulgaria,  no  matter  what 
compensations  are  offered  elsewhere  by 
the  Allies.  The  Greek  non-concession- 
ists  are  strengthened  in  their  stand  by 
the  attitude  of  the  Allies  themselves, 
which  persist  in  making  vague  promises 
wholly  unsuitable  to  the  Greek  mind. 

With   Bulgaria  the  case  is   different. 


GENERAL     ZUPELLI 

Italy's     Minister     of     War 
iPhoto  from  Medem  Photo  Service) 


RIGHT     HON.     VISCOUNT     BUXTON 

Governor-General     of    the     Union     of    South     Africa,      Which     Has     Added 

by     Conquest      German     South     Africa     to     the     British     Crown 

(Photo  from  Bain  News   Service) 


A  CRISIS  IN  THE  BALKANS 


1085 


She  wants  Andrianople  and  the  Enos- 
Midia  of  Eastern  Thrace,  which  terri- 
tory was  won  by  her  in  the  Balkan  war 
and  allotted  to  her  both  by  her  allies 
and  the  Peace  Congress  of  London.  She 
wants  the  Bulgarian  territory  of 
Dobrudja,  which  was  taken  from  her  by 
Rumania  at  the  close  of  the  second 
Balkan  war'.  Then  she  wants  Serbian 
Macedonia,  and  finally  a  portion  of  Greek 
Macedonia.  Giving  Bulgaria  what  she 
wants,  she  becomes  the  predominant 
Balkan  power  unless  her  neighbors  in- 
crease their  territories  correspondingly. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  principle 
of  nationality  claimed  by  Bulgaria  in 
support  of  her  aspirations  is  not  strictly 
applied  either  in  Thrace  or  in  the  whole 
of  Serbian  Macedonia,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  Greek  Macedonia.  Bulgaria  wants 
too  much,  but  may  be  induced  to  accept 
less.  But  even  supposing  that  the  Al- 
lies are  bent  on  satisfying  all  of  her 
demands,  let  us  examine  how  this  will 
be   done. 

It  has  been  said  that  Russia,  once 
master  of  Constantinople,  will  not  agree 
to  the  giving  up  to  Bulgaria  of  the 
Enos-Midia  line  because  she  may  want 
that  territorj'  as  an  additional  hinter- 
land to  Byzantium.  How  much  of  this 
is  true  we  do  not  know,  but  the  story 
has  appeared  in  the  foremost  Slav  re- 
view of  Petrograd,  duly  passed  by  the 
censor.      Rumania,    in    order    to    return 


Dobrudja  to  Bulgaria,  wants  all  of  the 
seven  Rumanian  Provinces  of  Austria, 
but,  then,  Russia  wants  Transylvania 
for  herself,  therefore  Rumania  gives 
nothing  to  Bulgaria. 

Serbia  is  not  willing  to  cede  her  Mace- 
donia unless  she  gets  a  part  of  the  Al- 
banian littoral  on  the  Adriatic,  or,  if  not 
that,  at  least  Dalmatia.  Italy  wants 
both  places  for  herself.  Greece  wants 
those  territories  of  Asia  Minor  where 
the  overwhelming  majority  is  Greek; 
this  territory  ought  to  be  substantial, 
inasmuch  as  Greece  loses  valuable 
ground  in  Macedonia.  It  seems  that  the 
Entente  powers  want  the  best  part  of 
Asia  Minor  for  themselves,  while  Italy 
and  England  keep  the  islands  of  the 
Archipelago,  which  never  ceased  to  be 
Greek  in  population,  in  spirit,  and  in  his- 
tory. 

In  view  of  the  eventual  reconstruction 
of  the  Balkan  Alliance,  the  above-men- 
tioned factors  must  not  be  under- 
estimated. Of  course,  a  Balkan  league 
with  two  million  splendid  soldiers  can 
do  away  with  the  Turk,  can  open  the 
strait,  and  permit  Russia  to  get  all  the 
ammunition  she  needs;  can  strike  at 
Austria,  and  end  the  war  in  a  magnifi- 
cent victory  for  the  allied  cause,  which 
is  the  cause  of  humanity.  But  in  order 
to  have  the  Balkans  fight  for  justice  and 
liberty  justice  must  be  done  to  them  and 
liberty  given  them. 


Hellas 


By  WALTER  SICHEL. 


[From  The  Westminster  Gazette.] 


She  looks  from  out  the  centuries 

Across  her  own  Aegean  main. 
As  deep,  as  violet,  throb  her  eyes 

Lit  up  for  Freedom  once  again: — 
The  Muse  for  whom  her  poets  bled. 

Whom  passionate  Byron  crowned  anew. 
On  whose  loved  shores  the  undying  dead 

Received  him — ere  the  sword  he  drew. 


Ah!  Can  she  stay  on  such  a  day 

When  classic  echoes,  like  a  bell. 
Peal  o'er  the  mountains,  past  the  bay, 

Up  to  the  field  where  Hector  fell? 
Pallas  Athene  leads  unseen. 

Olive  and  laurel  bind  her  brow — 
The  favorite  child  of  Wisdom's  queen. 

Will  scarcely  prove  a  laggard  now. 


After  Warsaw's  Fall 

Prosecution  of  the  Teutonic  Campaign  in  Russia 

Reported  Overtures  by  the  Germans  Seeking  a  Separate 
Peace  with  Russia  and  Other    Powers 


k  LMOST  simultaneously  from  Petro- 
/\  grad  and  from  Milan  announce- 
^  A.  ments  that,  after  the  capture  of 
Warsaw,  Germany  was  seriously 
engaged  in  preliminary  negotiations  for 
the  establishment  of  a  peace  were  pub- 
lished. That  the  Dardanelles  and  Ga- 
licia  had  been  offered  by  Berlin  to  Petro- 
grad;  that  Egypt  was  asked  for  Tur- 
key, and  that  the  mediation  of  the 
Pope  was  desired  on  the  basis  of  the 
restitution  of  Belgium,  were  some  of 
the  reports  which  gained  currency  be- 
tween Aug.  5,  the  date  of  the  fall  of  War- 
saw, and  Aug.  12,  when  the  Novoe 
Vremya  of  Petrograd  confirmed  the 
rumors  of  German  overtures  for  a  sepa- 
rate peace  with  Russia. 

Besides  Galicia  and  the  Dardanelles,  the 
Novoe  Vremya  said,  Germany  would 
guarantee  the  integrity  of  the  Russian 
frontiers,  at  the  same  time  stipulating 
for  Egypt  on  the  pretext  of  ceding  that 
country  to  Turkey,  and  for  a  free  hand 
to  deal  with  Russia's  allies.  The  report 
declared  that  these  offers  were  rejected 
by  the  Czar's  Government. 

These  reports  followed  the  announce- 
ment of  Germany's  greatest  victory  in  the 
war — the  occupation  of  Warsaw  on  Aug. 
5.  The  campaign  had  been  fought  along 
a  front  of  1,000  miles,  extending  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  frontier  of  Rumania. 
According  to  the  most  authoritative 
figures,  there  have  been  between  6,000,- 
OCO  and  7,000,000  men  engaged  in  almost 
daily  conflict.  Since  the  last  week  in 
May  the  attacks  upon  the  sides  of  the 
inclosing  lines — 600  miles — of  Warsaw 
have  been  the  most  furious  in  modern 
warfare,  and  only  equaled  by  the  vain 
counterattacks  which  have  been  more  or 
less  successfully  launched  by  the  Russians. 


Up  to  July  29  hope  was  entertained 
in  military  quarters  in  London  and  Paris 
that  the  Russians  had  some  tremendous 
coup  in  reserve,  that  they  would  stand  a 
siege  in  their  principal  fortresses  along 
the  Warsaw  salient,  and  then,  with  a  free 
army  still  in  the  field,  would  attempt  to 
turn  the  Teutonic  flanks,,  either  m  the 
north  between  Libau  and  Riga  or  in  the 
south  on  the  Bukowinian-Rumanian 
frontier,  or  suddenly  issue  from  the  lines 
northeast  and  southeast  of  Warsaw  and 
attempt  to  envelop  the  armies  in  the  west. 

But  on  July  29  came  advices  from 
Petrograd  that  in  order  to  save  the 
Russian  armies  a  retreat — the  greatest 
in  history,  even  greater  than  the  retreat 
of  the  Russians  through  Galicia  from 
April  28  to  May  25 — must  be  made  and 
the  fortresses  of  the  Warsaw  salient 
abandoned.  It  was  the  same  story  of 
the  Galician  retreat — lack  of  ammunition. 
The  armies  would  retire  to  prepared  and 
selected  ground  forming  a  similar  angle, 
130  miles  east  of  the  Warsaw  salient, 
and  there  await  on  the  defensive  the 
munitions  necessary  for  a  new  and  for- 
midable offensive. 

Notwithstanding  the  feints  in  the 
north,  in  the  direction  of  Riga,  the  aim 
of  the  German  General  Staff  has  been 
obvious  since  the  beginning  of  June.  It 
was  to  reach  the  railways  on  which  the 
Russian  armies  of  the  salient  depended 
for  their  supplies  and  by  which  they 
might  make  their  retreat. 

To  do  this,  seven  huge  armies  were 
employed.  The  German  northern  army 
operating  against  the  double-track  line 
which  runs  from  Warsaw  to  Petrograd, 
1,000  miles  in  the  northeast,  via  Bielo- 
stok  and  Grodno;  the  army  operating  in 
the  Suwalki  district,  threatening  the 
same  line  further  west;  the  army  fight- 


AFTER  WARSAW'S  FALL 


1087 


«::<<$ 


.If---,.- 


FORT] 
PARVSO 


sen/ 
wvkalisz 

BRESLAU    S\  pioTRKow/ 


RAILROADS 


A  German  Aviator's  Chart  of  Warsaw. 


ing  as  a  support  of  the  latter  on  the 
Narew;  the  army  directly  aimed  at  War- 
saw, north  of  the  Vistula;  the  army  di- 
rectly aimed  at  Warsaw,  south  of  the 
Vistula;  ten  or  twelve  Austrian  army 
corps,  attempting  to  reach  the  single  and 
double-track  railway  from  Ivangorod  to 
Brest-Litowsk  and  Moscow,  and  the  line 
from  Warsaw  to  Kiev  via  Lublin  and 
Chelm,  which  is  for  the  most  part  a  single 


track,  and,  finally,  the  army  of  von  Lin- 
singen,  made  up  of  Austria's  "  new " 
army  of  700,000  or  800,000  men,  operat- 
ing on  the  Lipa  east  of  Lemberg. 

On  July  29,  in  a  special  cable  to  The 
New  York  Times,  it  was  announced  that 
the  fate  of  Europe  hung  on  the  decision 
that  Russia  might  make,  the  question 
being:  Shall  Russia  settle  down  to  a  war 
of    position    in    her    vast    fortifications 


1088 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


around  Warsaw,  or  shall  she  "  continue 
to  barter  space  against  time,  withdraw- 
ing from  the  line  of  the  Vistula  and 
points  on  it  of  both  strategic  and  politi- 
cal importance  in  order  to  gain  the  time 
which  Germany  has  already  stored  in  the 
form  of  inexhaustible  gun  munitions?  " 

The  reply  to  this  question  was  the 
evacuation  of  Warsaw,  and  a  retreat  like 
that  of  General  Kuropatkin  from  Liao- 
Yang,  with  the  attempt  to  inflict  on  the 
pursuers  losses  grreater  than  those  suf- 
fered by  the  retreating  army. 

Encircling  movements  from  the  north 
and  pressure  from  the  west  by  the 
Austro-Germans,  together  with  attacks  on 
the  fortresses  of  Warsaw,  Lomza,  and 
Ostrolenka  to  the  northeast,  and  Ivan- 
gorod  to  the  southeast,  enabled  the  four 
Teuton  armies  to  press  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas's  forces  beyond  the  gates  of 
Warsaw.  The  Russians  abandoned  Lublin 
on  July  31;  the  Austro-Germans  on 
Aug.  3  had  occupied  Mitau  on  the  north 
and  progressed  beyond  Chelm  in  South- 
east Poland,  and  the  Russians  on  Aug.  5 
retired  to  the  outer  works  of  Lomza  and 
Ostrolenka,  while  an  Austrian  wedge  in 
the  south  was  endeavoring  to  separate 
the  Czar's  armies  in  Poland  and  lower 
Russia.  The  Russian  reargfuard  action 
was  successful  in  delaying  the  capture  of 
Warsaw  at  midnight  of  that  day,  the 
army   of   the   Bavarian   Prince   Leopold 


leading,  until  the  evacuation  of  the  Polish 
capital  was  completed. 

But  on  Aug.  7,  with  the  exception  of 
the  great  intrenched  camp  of  Novo 
Georgievsk,  the  Russians  had  evacuated 
the  whole  line  of  the  Vistula  River,  Ivan- 
gorod,  the  southern  fortress,  having 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Austro- 
German  Army.  Reports  that  Kovno  was 
being  evacuated  reached  London  on  that 
day;  on  Aug.  12  the  German  official  re- 
port announced  that  the  Warsaw-Petro- 
grad  Railroad  had  been  reached  at  the 
junction  southeast  of  Ostrov,  and  the  in- 
vaders were  in  the  Benjaminov  forts,  east 
of  Novo  Georgievsk. 

Further  north,  between  Poniowitz  and 
Dvinsk,  where  General  von  Biilow  was 
advancing  rapidly,  the  Germans  were  re- 
ported on  Aug.  14  to  be  severely  checked, 
and  to  have  fallen  into  a  trap  set  by  the 
Grand  Duke  Nicholas.  On  Aug.  16  the 
German  drive  at  Dvinsk  was  renewed. 
General  von  Biilow  again  taking  the  of- 
fensive with  Field  Marshal  von  Hinden- 
burg.  General  von  Hindenburg  on  Aug. 
17  reported  that  his  army  had  been  suc- 
cessful in  cutting  the  Russian  line  be- 
tween the  Narew  and  Bug  Rivers,  and 
the  outer  works  of  Kovno  were  taken. 
Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen  was  also 
reported  to  be  pushing  back  the  Russians 
along  the  Bug. 


Taking  of  Kovno. 


Kovno,  one  of  the  crucial  points  in  the 
Russian  defensive  in  the  north,  was  cap- 
tured by  the  Germans  on  the  night  of 
Aug.  19,  and  the  road  to  the  Vilna,  War- 
saw, and  Petrograd  railway,  as  reported 
by  the  German  War  Office,  was  laid  open 
to  the  troops  of  Emperor  William, 

A  dispatch  to  Renter's  Telegram  Com- 
pany from  Amsterdam  reported  a  dis- 
patch received  there  from  Berlin  an- 
nouncing that  Emperor  William  sent  tele- 
grams of  congratulations  to  Field  Mar- 
shal von  Hindenburg  and  Generals  von 
Eichhorn  and  Litsmann.  That  to  von 
Hindenburg  said: 

"  With  Kovno  the  first  and  strongest 


bulwark  of  the  inner  line  of  the  Russian 
defenses  has  fallen  into  German  hands. 
For  this  brilliant  feat  of  arms  the 
Fatherland  is  indebted,  as  well  as  for  the 
incomparable  bravery  of  its  sons  and 
your  conspicuous  initiative.  I  express  to 
your  Excellency  my  warmest  apprecia- 
tion. 

"  Upon  Col.  Gen.  von  Eichhorn,  who 
guided  the  movements  of  the  army 
with  such  prudence,  I  confer  the  Order 
Pour  le  Merite,  and  upon  General  Lits- 
mann, whose  arrangement  along  the  at- 
tacking front  secured  a  victory,  the  Oak 
Leaves  of  Merit." 


ZAMOScWrV 


RAWA  RUSKA!? 
SOKOJ 
RiES20W  JAROSLAU 


JASLO 


^%i^^H/f%'/^   STANISLAU 
lUPKO'w  PAS5j;3-ii^'.„E.       / 
EPERIES  f^  ^^■ftrT'^  V^^>%A,      7 


2  MISKOLC Z, 


BUDAPEST 


SCALE.  OF    MILES 


lO    20  JO  40  SO  75  100 

■  ■■^a  PHONTIER  LINES 

M.i^ MAIN    RA\LHOADS 

■A-  FORTS 


Germanic    War    Area 


in    the    East,    Showing 
August  15,  1915. 


Battle    Line    on 


The  Invasion  of  Courland 

Operations    of   Field    Marshal    von    Hindenburg 
Ofl&cially  Reported 

The  first  detailed  official  German  account  of  the  operations  of  Field  Marshal  von  Hin- 
denburg in  Courland,  which  played  their  part  in  the  taking  of  Warsaw,  appears  below  as 
translated  from  the  German  newspapers  that  published  the  official  dispatches. 


OPPOSITE  KOVNO. 
The  following  was  reported  from  the 
German  Great  Headquarters,  and  print- 
ed in  the  Nord-Deutsche  Allgemeine  Zei- 
tung  of  June  20 : 

WHILE  the  German  and  Austro- 
Hungarian  troops  under  the 
command  of  General  von 
Mackensen  prepared  and  suc- 
cessfully carried  through  the  great  drive 
in  Galicia  the  armies  of  Field  Marshal 
von  Hindenburg  had  the  task  to  maintain 
and  enlarge  the  great  successes  won  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  mighty  battle- 
field. By  the  direct  threat  toward  War- 
saw his  troops  have  prevented  any  great 
offensive  by  the  Russians,  and  in  the 
Winter  battles  of  the  Masurian  Lakes 
have  with  the  utmost  exertion  of  their 
forces  swept  German  lands  clean  of  the 
enemy.  One  must  have  driven  in  the 
beautiful  days  of  early  Summer  through 
the  East  Prussian  border  counties,  must 
have  seen  the  waving  fields  of  grain 
round  about  the  sad  mementos  of  the 
Russians'  mania  for  destruction,  fully  to 
appreciate  the  significance  of  those  great 
liberating  actions. 

But  the  troops  of  the  Field  Marshal 
could  not  and  did  not  wish  to  rest  upon 
their  laurels.  Not  easily  would  the 
tough  Russians  give  up  their  hunger 
for  East  Prussia,  although  they  at- 
tempted no  general  offensive  with  the 
utilization  of  their  wealth  of  human 
material,  but  continually  made  new 
single  thrusts  from  their  defensive  posi- 
tions. They  held  the  fortress  line  on  the 
Narew,  the  Bobr,  and  the  Niemen,  and 
sent  attacking  columns  forward,  espe- 
cially from  Grodno  and  Kovno.  For  this 
they  have  now  lost  their  enthusiasm. 
Not  only  have  German  troops  bloodily 
repelled   all   their   advances    and   taken 


firm  footing  on  the  lines  northward, 
Prasznyz,  Augustowo,  Suwalki,  Kal- 
warja,  Mariampol,  to  Sapiezyszki,  up 
along  the  Niemen,  but  north  of  the 
Niemen  they  have  penetrated  with  a 
surprising  offensive  far  into  the  en- 
emy's lines.  The  brief  Russian  raid 
to  Memel  was  followed  by  the  in- 
vasion of  Courland  by  our  troops.  It 
was  as  though  Field  Marshal  von  Hin- 
denburg desired  to  show  to  the  world 
by  examples  of  both  sorts  how  the  Rus- 
sians and  how  the  Germans  undertake 
and  carry  out  such  ventures.  Concern- 
ing the  final  aim  of  these  far-sweeping 
operations  to  the  north  of  the  Niemen 
as  well  as  other  movements  of  larger 
scope  still  under  way,  naturally  nothing 
specific  can  be  said  before  their  con- 
clusion. However,  attention  may  be 
directed  to  the  peculiar  sort  of  warfare 
which  occupied  the  leaders  and  their 
troops  in  the  northeast,  even  in  times 
of  comparative  quiet.  The  great  dis- 
tances, the  comparatively  broad  exten- 
sions of  the  fronts  of  all  units  of  both 
friend  and  enemy,  and,  not  least,  also 
the  peculiar  characteristics  of  our  Rus- 
sian opponents,  make  possible  up  there 
independent  operations  of  small  bodies 
of  troops  which  would  be  quite  unthink- 
able in  other  areas  of  the  war. 

On  the  Narew,  the  Bobr,  and  Niemen 
front  such  individual  operations  have 
occurred  during  the  last  months  in  large 
numbers.  Naturally,  as  compared  with 
the  great  battles  in  other  places,  they  fell 
into  the  background;  they  are,  however, 
when  closely  observed,  of  high  military 
interest.  They  demand  in  a  high  degree 
independence  and  readiness  of  resolve  on 
the  part  of  the  leaders  and  make  very 
great  demands  on  the  troops.  The 
superior  training  of  German  officers  and 


AFTER  WARSAW'S  FALL 


1091 


soldiers,  which  has  shown  itself  in  the 
long-drawn  war  of  positions  on  the  west 
front,  shows  itself  also  effectively  on 
the  east  front  in  a  war  of  movements 
of  smaller  scale.  Most  of  these  indi- 
vidual undertakings  would  have  been 
possible  only  to  German  leaders  and 
troops,  many  of  them  only  when  carried 
on  against  an  enemy  such  as  the 
Russians. 

Especially  successful  examples  of  the 
way  in  which  P'ield  Marshal  von  Hin- 
denburg's  Russian  strategy  may  be 
transferred  to  a  smaller  scale  have  re- 
cently been  furnished  by  General  of  In- 
fantry Litzmann  with  the  troops  under 
him.  In  accordance  with  the  immediate 
orders  of  General  von  Eichhorn,  he  holds 
the  watch  south  of  the  Niemen,  opposite 
the  great  Russian  fortress  Kovno  and 
the  fortified  place  Olita.  The  Russians 
believed  they  could  break  through  the 
line  of  his  troops.  From  the  great  forest 
west  of  Kovno  they  sent  attacking  col- 
umns against  the  German  left  wing. 
General  Litzmann,  however,  quickly 
gathered  all  the  men  whom  he  could 
spare  from  other  points,  and  with  these 
troops  just  as  they  came — forming  many 
of  the  units  upon  the  very  battlefield 
itself — struck  the  Russians  at  Szaki  so 
powerfully  that  they  flowed  back  into 
the  forest.  But  the  German  General  did 
not  wish  to  have  them  before  his  front  in 
this  territory  so  difficult  of  observation. 
He  decided  to  clear  this  whole  forest  to 
its  eastern  edge,  which  is  reached  by  the 
guns  of  the  fortress  Kovno  of  the  enemy. 
To  do  this  he  brought  up  as  many  troops 
as  possible  on  his  left  wing  and  started 
an  encircling  attack  of  wide  scope.  A 
strong  column  from  Mariampol  and  from 
the  Szeczupa  line  broke  through  the 
built-up  defensive  position  of  the  Rus- 
sians and  advanced  toward  the  southern 
corner  of  the  great  forest,  where  at 
Dembowa  Buda  it  came  upon  strong 
resistance. 

At  the  same  time  a  strong  body  of 
troops  entered  the  northern  part  of  the 
forest  and,  swinging  to  the  right, 
marched  on  several  parallel  roads  in  a 
southern  direction.  To  carry  out  a 
frontal  attack  the  cavalry  went  forward 
from  west  toward  the  east  and  then  to 


the  southeast,  here  accomplishing  a 
genuine  infantry  task,  while  a  second 
body  of  cavalry  did  not  find  it  neces- 
sary to  leave  its  horses,  and  received 
orders  to  ride  forward  on  the  outer- 
most left  flank,  along  the  Niemen,  and 
if  possible  to  bar  the  roads  for  the 
enemy's  retreat  toward  Kovno.  These 
were  the  glowing  hot  days  of  the  second 
week  in  June,  and  in  the  pine  forests 
stretching  for  miles  there  reigned  an 
intense  heat  with  complete  absence  of 
any  breeze.  But  the  German  will  to 
victory  knew  no  weakening.  Three 
Russian  positions  which  had  been  estab- 
lished in  the  river  valleys  of  the  forest 
were  one  after  another  encircled  from 
the  north,  and  had  to  be  given  up.  The 
Russians  recognized  the  danger  of  the 
great  concentric  attack,  and  defended 
themselves  bravely.  Most  of  all,  they 
were  concerned  to  keep  open  as  long  as 
possible  the  road  for  the  retreat  to 
Kovno.  Both  to  our  southern  column 
at  Dembowa  Buda,  which  was  now  push- 
ing forward  further  on  the  Kovno  road, 
and  to  our  encircling  cavalry  from  the 
Niemen  they  opposed  obstinate  resist- 
ance, and  in  the  meantime  hastened  the 
retreat  tow-ard  Kovno  of  all  such  forces 
as  could  still  escape.  However,  the  ring 
of  the  German  troops  closed  too  swiftly. 

When  our  tireless  warriors  in  the 
night  pushed  forward  to  the  railroad 
station  at  Koslowa  Buda,  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  forest,  they  found  there  a 
sleeping  army.  Something  like  3,000 
Russians  had  lain  down  there  exhausted 
in  order  the  next  day  to  seek  an  open- 
ing to  escape.  Now  they  were  saved 
the  trouble:  they  were  carried  away  into 
captivity.  The  great  forest  was  free  of 
the  enemy. 

This  was  a  well-deserved  triumph,  for 
undertakings  of  this  sort  are  by  no 
means  easy.  The  moving  backward  and 
forward  of  troop  units  demands  the  great- 
est amount  of  attention  and  adaptability 
of  the  leaders.  The  maintenance  of  con- 
nections to  the  rear  is  made  extremely 
difficult,  and,  above  all,  the  troops  must 
accomplish  extraordinary  things  in 
marching,  enduring,  and  fighting  against 
an  enemy  full  of  wiles,  skilled  in  digging 
himself  in   and   in  th'fe  fighting   of  re- 


1092 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


treat.  It  is  a  joy  to  seewith  what  inexhaust- 
ible freshness  and  enthusiasm  officers 
and  men — ^frequently  reserve  and  Land- 
wehr  formations — carry  on  this  change- 
able but  very  exhausting  sort  of  war- 
fare and  in  what  good  condition  they  as 
well  as  their  horses  still  are  at  the  end 
of  ten  months  of  war.  Rest  here  there 
is  seldom.  Hardly  is  there  sufficient 
time  given  for  the  rearrangement  of 
organizations  when  a  new  operation  has 
to  begin.  But  the  men  remain  fresh 
when  they  see  results.  For  several  suc- 
cessful individual  operations,  when  they 
have  a  common  final  aim,  may  have  a 
common  result  which  equals  in  value  a 
great  victory. 

The  battles  north  of  the  Niemen,  which 
likewise  were  highly  interesting,  but  dif- 
fered in  their  characteristics  from  those 
here  described,  are  sketched  in  a  second 
description. 

NORTH    OF    THE    NIEMEN. 

The  following  is  reported  to  the  Ham- 
burger Fremdenblatt  of  July  9,  1915, 
from   the  German  Great  Headquarters: 

North  of  the  Niemen  the  troops  fall- 
ing within  the  district  under  the  com- 
mand of  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg 
hold  firmly  in  their  possession  a  large 
piece  of  beautiful  Courland.  One  can 
ride  more  than  100  kilometers  from  the 
East  Prussian  border  before  striking  the 
German  infantry  positions,  which  stretch 
for  a  distance  of  roughly  250  kilometers 
down  to  the  Niemen  River  and  up  to  the 
shore  of  the  Baltic  beyond  Libau.  As 
yet  the  operations  there  are  not  con- 
cluded, and  the  Russians  may  frequently 
puzzle  their  heads  as  to  what  may  still 
be  meted  out  to  them  there. 

In  the  beginning  the  enemy,  as  we 
know  from  captured  officers,  was  com- 
pletely mistaken  as  to  the  significance 
of  the  German  invasion  of  Courland. 
He  belieevd  that  he  had  to  do  only  with 
He  believed  that  he  had  to  do  only  with 
might  possibly  be  supported  by  small 
infantry  detachments  brought  along  on 
automobiles.  Only  the  powerful  resist- 
ance of  our  troops  to  the  continually 
increasing  Russian  reinforcements  and 
our  successful  counterthrusts  showed  the 
true  condition  of  affairs. 


But  the  error  of  the  Russians  was 
excusable.  For  the  rapidity  of  this  ad- 
vance was  indeed  astonishing — a  brill- 
iant achievement  for  the  German  troops 
and  their  leaders.  Within  a  few  days 
General  von  Lauenstein,  who  had  been 
intrusted  with  the  leadership  of  the 
enterprise,  had  made  his  preparations, 
in  which  was  included  an  understanding 
with  sections  of  the  navy  operating  in 
the  Baltic. 

Early  on  the  27th  of  April  the  march 
of  invasion  began  from  the  outermost 
flanking  positions.  One  column  crossed 
the  Niemen  at  Schmalleningken,  and  to 
the  north  another,  from  100  to  125  kilo- 
meters distant,  moved  forward  from  the 
northernmost  tip  of  East  Prussia  in  an 
easterly  direction.  The  former  on  the 
first  day  penetrated  Courland  nearly 
fifty  kilometers  with  its  infantry  and 
with  its  cavalry  to  Rossienie  and  beyond 
the  Dubissa.  The  other  encountered  re- 
sistance at  Koreiany  and  had  to  force 
the  crossing  over  the  Minna  sector  under 
the  fire  of  the  Russian  heavy  artillery, 
but  also  went  forward  a  considerable 
distance.  A  third  column  moved  for- 
ward more  slowly  in  the  middle.  The 
boldness  of  this  undertaking,  so  far  ex- 
tended, is  the  more  apparent  when  it 
is  considered  that  reports  concerning  the 
numbers  and  arms  of  the  enemy  had  a 
very  uncertain  sound  and  that  toward 
the  end  of  April  the  country  was  still, 
on  the  whole,  in  a  condition  that  per- 
mitted of  forward  movement  practically 
only  on  the  highways. 

On  the  morning  of  the  second  day 
it  was  learned  that  the  enemy  who  had 
stood  on  the  main  road  from  Tilsit  to 
Mitau,  near  Staudwile,  had  hurriedly 
withdrawn  to  avoid  the  threatened  en- 
circling of  his  left  flank,  and  had 
marched  off  toward  Kielmy  and  Szawle, 
(Shavli.)  Immediately  the  right  column 
was  sent  after  him.  This,  still  on  the 
same  evening,  took  Kielmy,  thus  having 
moved  forward  in  two  days  seventy-five 
kilometers.  The  left  column  was  called 
upon  to  make  especially  heavy  exertions 
in  the  very  difficult,  mostly  marshy 
country.  It  was  therefore  supported  by 
the  middle  column  by  a  march  half  to 
the    left,    but    yet    its    cavalry    reached 


AFTER  WARSAW'S  FALL 


1093 


Worny,  on  the  line  of  lakes  to  the  west 
of  Kielmy. 

The  third  day  carried  the  right  column 
across  the  Windawski  Canal,  which  was 
defended  by  the  enemy;  the  left  to 
Worny  and  Telsze,  and  its  cavalry  to 
Trischki,  northwest  of  Szawle.  Nearly 
100  kilometers  still  further  forward  have 
been  won.  The  Russians,  who  had  prob- 
ably had  in  Courland  only  cavalry  and 
home-defense  troops,  now  quickly  bring 
up  reinforcements  by  railroad  and  un- 
load them  between  Szawle  and  Szadow. 
But  the  leaders  of  the  German  troops 
are  not  to  be  confused  by  this;  the 
cavalry  receives  orders  to  encircle 
Szawle,  and  the  march  goes  on. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  30th  of  April, 
the  fourth  day,  the  right  column  enters 
Szawle,  which  the  Russians  have  set 
afire,  and  continues  the  pursuit  some 
distance  beyond.  The  cavalry  on  the 
road  to  Janischki  and  Mitau  captures 
machine  guns,  ammunition  wagons,  and 
baggage.  It  destroys  the  railroad  tracks 
southwest  and  northwest  of  Szawle.  The 
next  day  brings  reports  according  to 
which  the  enemy  is  sending  troops  from 
Kovno  to  threaten  our  right  flank.  The 
infantry  therefore  is  halted  and  pushed 
off  to  the  right  with  instructions  to  hold 
the  Dubissa  line;  the  cavalry,  however, 
continually  reaches  out  further  and  fur- 
ther forward.  After  skirmishes  it  occu- 
pies Janischki  and  Shagory,  which  are 
only  six  miles  distant  from  Mitau,  and 
takes  prisoners,  machine  guns,  and  bag- 
gage from  the  enemy's  troops,  which  are 
fleeing  in  complete  disruption  to  Mitau. 
On  the  2d  of  May  it  encircles  those 
Russians  that  have  remained  standing 
in  the  intervening  territory  at  Skaisgiry 
and  takes  1,000  prisoners.  Extensive 
destruction  of  railway  tracks  on  all  lines 
chat  can  be  reached  succeeds  according 
to  our  desires. 

Thereupon  the  cavalry  of  the  right 
column  is  taken  back  to  support  the 
counterthrust  on  the  Dubissa,  but  that 
of  the  left,  although  the  arrival  in  Mitau 
of  Russian  reinforcements  is  already  re- 
ported, pushes  forward  by  way  of 
Griinhof,  takes  prisoner  an  additional 
2,000  Russians,  and  on  the  3d  of  May 
stands  two  kilometers  in  front  of  Mitau. 


The  extraordinary  achievements  in 
marching  of  both  our  infantry  and  our 
cavalry  are  the  more  to  be  highly  rated 
as  the  roads  were  in  the  worst  imagi- 
nable condition  and  the  bridges  mostly 
destroyed.  Now  the  fending  off  of  the 
Russian  thrust  against  our  left  flank 
made  new  heavy  demands  on  the  endur- 
ance of  our  troops.  An  encircling 
counteroffensive  on  the  Dubissa  proved 
to  the  enemy  how  greatly  he  had  under- 
estimated the  strength  of  the  German 
troops.  He  recovered  but  slowly  from 
his  surprise  and  brought  up  fresh  masses 
of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery.  At 
the  same  time  the  Russians  suffered  still 
another  surprise,  a  move  which  they 
apparently  had  not  at  all  considered — 
the  advance  on  Libau.  While  our  main 
columns  were  striving  by  forced  marches 
to  reach  the  upper  Dubissa,  a  supple- 
mentary column  went  forward  some- 
what more  slowly  from  Memel  north- 
ward. One  section  marched  by  way  of 
Schkndy,  another  close  to  the  seashore 
from  the  south  toward  Libau. 

Of  the  enemy  little  was  to  be  seen. 
The  navy  had  already,  on  the  29th  of 
April,  shaken  his  nerve  by  the  bombard- 
ment of  Libau.  On  the  6th  of  May  he 
himself  blew  up  the  east  forts,  and  then 
our  warships  silenced  the  shore  batteries. 
Our  land  troops,  which  found  it  difficult 
to  believe  in  such  a  weak  defense  of  the 
great  port,  and  were  always  holding 
themselves  in  readiness  for  an  ambush, 
took  the  south  forts  after  a  short  fight 
and  attacked  from  the  land  side.  But 
the  Russians  literally  had  not  been  pre- 
pared for  this  stroke.  All  they  could  do 
was  still  to  unload  increased  numbers 
of  troops  in  Mitau  and  send  them  for- 
ward in  a  southwesterly  direction.  But 
they  were  unable  to  break  our  slowly 
retiring  line.  On  the  8th  of  May,  at 
6  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  German 
soldiers  marched  into  Libau.  Some  1,500 
prisoners,  twelve  guns,  and  a  number 
of  machine  guns  constituted  the  booty. 
Daring  enterprise  had  won  its  reward. 
Detachments  were  quickly  sent  forward 
some  fifty  kilometers  through  Prekuln 
and  Hasenpot  and  along  the  shore  to 
safeguard  the  place.  They  have  thus 
far  repulsed  all  attacks  of  the  enemy, 


1094 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


who  is  slowly  gathering  his  forces,  and 
will  continue  to  do  so. 

The  significance  of  this  whole  invasion 
of  Courland  and  the  development  of  the 
further  battles  in  the  Dubissa  sector  are 
dealt  with  separately. 
LIBAU— THE  BATTLES  ON  THE 
DUBISSA. 

The  following  is  supplied  to  the  Wolff 
Telegraphic  Bureau  by  the  German  Great 
Headquarters  and  published  in  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung  of  July  10: 

The  immediate  aim  of  the  invasion  of 
Courland  was  to  occupy  the  Dubissa  line 
and  to  seize  Libau.  This  success  has 
been  achieved  and  can  doubtless  be  main- 
tained. We  have  built  up  very  strong 
positions  there.  Our  further  intentions 
must  for  the  present  remain  unrevealed. 
We  can  be  well  content  with  the  results 
thus  far  attained.  Not  only  have  the 
German  troops  distinguished  themselves 
in  marching  and  in  battle  against  an 
enemy  who  at  times  was  far  superior 
in  numbers,  but  they  have  also  occupied 
a  beautiful  and  valuable  portion  of 
Russian  soil. 

Southern  Courland  presents  a  land- 
scape of  much  charm.  Much  as  the 
well-marked  chains  of  hills,  the  tall 
forests,  abundantly  scattered  clumps  of 
shrubbery,  and  innumerable  waters, 
lakes,  and  swamps  render  difficult  the 
life  of  the  soldier,  they  are  a  delight  to 
the  peaceful  observer.  Yet  withal  they 
do  not  rob  the  country  of  the  magic  of 
vast  distances.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
ascend  a  moderate  hill  to  enjoy  a  view 
for  miles  round  about.  One  can  readily 
understand  that  once  Germans  settled 
here.  Unfortunately,  our  troops  find 
little  or  no  sign  of  this  here  now.  The 
thin  German  surface  layer  mostly  dis- 
appeared when  the  war  came  into  the 
neighborhood,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country  by  no  means  show  themselves 
friendly  to  the  Germans.  Our  men  com- 
plain especially  of  the  hostility  and  spy- 
ing of  the  Letts,  who  in  times  past  were 
worked  up  against  the  Germans  by  the 
Russians.  Further  south,  among  the 
Lithuanians,  however,  it  is  not  much  bet- 
ter. Life  for  the  troops  of  the  army  of  oc- 
cupation in  these  districts,  which,  aside 
from   the   few   large   estates,   can    show 


hardly  a  decent  house,  according  to  Ger- 
man standards,  and  even  in  the  large 
villages  no  proper  inn,  is  anything  but 
pleasant.  The  Russian  Govei-nment  has 
played  the  part  of  but  a  niggardly  step- 
mother toward  this  originally  rich  region 
and  has  but  very  sparingly  supplied  it 
with  roads  and  railways.  Yet  the  coun- 
try had  not  been  so  impoverished  that 
considerable  stores  could  not  be  utilized 
for  us  of  subsistence  for  man  and  beast, 
of  cattle,  leather,  and  alcohol. 

Of  particular  value,  of  course,  was  the 
seizure  of  the  big  commercial  port  of 
Libau.  In  the  warehouses  there  we 
found  considerable  quantities  of  export 
goods  which  proved  very  valuable  to  us 
and  which  in  spite  of  attempts  at  inter- 
ruption on  the  part  of  minor  Russian 
naval  forces,  are  steadily  being  trans- 
ported to  Germany.  Of  intrenching  and 
other  military  tools  there  was  a  suf- 
ficient supply  for  a  whole  army.  The 
factory  in  which  they  are  made  is  now 
being  carried  on  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment. In  Libau  are  now  also  being 
manufactured  for  our  army  chains, 
barbed  wire,  and  other  ironwork.  A 
saddlery  and  a  tannery  are  also  at  work. 
Finally,  there  is  a  big  dairy  for  supply- 
ing the  poorer  part  of  the  population 
with  milk.  Thus  the  Germans  are  accom- 
plishing here  a  valuable  task  of  organi- 
zation, which  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  extend  even  to  the  financial 
system,  which,  on  account  of  a  lack  of 
care  on  the  part  of  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment, was  approaching  a  complete 
breakdown.  The  City  of  Libau  has 
issued  assignats  which  serve  as  cur- 
rency; the  Bank  of  Libau  honors  the 
requisition  certificates  at  a  discount  of 
10  per  cent.  No  levy  has  been  laid 
upon  the  city;  it  is  required  only  to 
assist  in  the  maintenance  of  the  troops 
quartered  there.  Libau  is  a  city  of 
attractive  appearance  and  a  bathing 
resort  with  streets  of  fashiorlable  villas, 
pretty  lawns,  and  a  splendid  beach.  The 
Russians,  especially  the  officials,  for  the 
most  part  have  fled. 

However,  the  invasion  of  Courland  has 
not  only  brought  us  economic  advan- 
tages and  a  valuable  piece  of  Russia, 
but  has  achieved  important  results  from 


AFTER  WARSAW'S  FALL 


1095 


a  military  standpoint  in  that  it  has 
caused  the  enemy  to  throw  strong  forces 
into  this  quarter  and  thereby  to  weaken 
his  line  at  other  points. 

The  encounters  on  the  Dubissa  line 
have  been  marked  by  many  bloody 
fights.  In  their  course  our  troops  have 
gradually  gone  from  the  defensive,  which 
was  carried  on  with  powerful  counter- 
thrusts,  to  the  offensive. 

From  the  first  period  an  engagement 
may  be  selected  here  which  is  typical 
of  the  battles  of  that  time  on  the  Dubissa 
and  which  affords  a  model  picture  of  the 
co-operation  of  the  three  principal  arms. 
The  Russians  put  great  value  on  the 
possession  of  the  Dubissa  line,  and  espe- 
cially of  Rossieny,  which  dominates  it 
as  the  point  of  junction  of  the  highways. 
On  the  22d  of  May  they  brought  up  a 
fresh  body  of  elite  troops,  the  First 
Caucasian  Rifle  Brigade,  consisting  of 
four  infantry  regiments  and  the  artillery 
belonging  thereto.  This,  supported  by 
the  Fifteenth  Cavalry  Division,  began  to 
move  toward  Rossieny,  but  was  held  for 
a  whole  day  by  the  outposts  of  our 
cavalry  oh  the  other  side  of  the  Dubissa. 
The  time  was  sufficient  to  permit  of  the 
bringing  up  of  enough  German  reinforce- 
ments and  to  prepare  a  counterattack. 
On  the  23d  of  May  we  let  the  enemy 
come  over  the  river  and  approach 
Rossieny  from  the  north.  During  the 
night,  however,  the  greater  part  of  our 
troops  was  led  around  the  western  wing 
of  the  enemy  and  placed  in  readiness  to 
attack. 

When  it  grew  light  their  "fate  was  let 
loose  upon  the  Russians.  Strong  artil- 
lery fire  from  our  position  to  the  north 
of  Rossieny  was  poured  upon  the  Russian 
trenches.  At  the  same  time  our  infantry 
therw  itself  upon  the  flank  pf  the  Rus- 
sian position  and  rolled  it  up.  Without 
offering  any  serious  resistance,  the  Rus- 
sians fled  across  the  Dubissa  to  escape 
the  effect  of  our  artillery.  Not  until 
they  had  reached  the  forest  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  river  did  they  again  settle 
down  to  make  a  stand.  But  now  the 
pressure  of  our  troops  approaching  from 
the  south  made  itself  felt.  At  the  same 
time  portions  of  our  cavalry  entered  into 
the    fight    from    the    north,    taking    the 


Russians  in  the  rear.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances the  Russians  did  not  further 
continue  the  battle.  Neither  were  they 
able  to  hold  their  position,  strongly  con- 
structed as  a  bridgehead  on  the  west 
bank.  With  a  bold  dash  our  troops 
rushed  the  wire  entanglements,  and  now 
the  Russian  masses  flooded  backward 
through  the  valley  of  the  Dubissa  under 
a  most  effective  fire,  suffering  most 
serious  losses.  But  even  on  the  heights 
opposite  they  found  no  shelter.  Here 
they  had  to  continue  their  retreat  under 
the  flanking  fire  of  our  cavalry,  which 
in  the  meantime  had  crossed  the  river 
and  was  advancing  against  the  road  of 
the  retreat.     Again  the  losses  piled  up. 

It  will  be  readily  comprehended  that 
under  these  circumstances  only  frag- 
ments of  the  Caucasian  infantry  were 
able  to  save  themselves.  Twenty-five 
hundred  prisoners  and  fifteen  machine 
guns  remained  in  our  hands.  Counting 
their  sanguinary  sacrifices,  the  Cau- 
casians lost  fully  one-half  of  their 
strength.  The  brigade  for  a  long  time 
was  incapable  of  giving  battle,  and  even 
later,  when  filled  up  with  new  comple- 
ments of  men,  no  longer  showed  any 
real  fighting  spirit.  Our  troops,  on  the 
other  hand,  which  had  suffered  com- 
paratively small  losses,  marched  gayly 
singing  into  their  positions. 

Similar  successful  thrusts  were  made 
by  our  troops  repeatedly  on  the  Wenta 
against  the  enemy,  who  ever  again  kept 
pressing  forward.  Then,  on  the  5th  of 
June,  a  general  offensive,  ordered  by 
the  superior  command  of  the  army  along 
the  whole  line,  set  in,  which  brought  our 
lines  a  considerable  distance  forward. 
We  crossed  beyond  the  Dubissa,  in  obsti- 
nate, hard-fought  battles  won  the  cross- 
ing of  the  Windawski  Canal;  occupied 
Height  145,  near  Bubie,  which  had  been 
drenched  with  the  blood  of  many  con- 
flicts; pushed  so  close  to  Szawle  that 
our  heavy  guns  could  reach  the  city, 
and  took  Kane,  twelve  kilometers  north- 
west of  Szawle.  On  the  14th  of  June 
this  operation  came  to  a  temporary  stop. 

The  Russians  in  all  these  battles  suf- 
fered enormous  losses  in  dead,  wounded, 
and  prisoners.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
had  become  very  careful  in  the  use  of 


1096 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


their  heavy  artillery  and  very  short  of 
officers.  It  is  significant  that  among 
1,400  prisoners  there  were  only  a  few 
officers  and  that  no  guns  were   taken 


with  these.  There  seemed  to  be  signs 
of  the  disintegration  of  the  Russian  Army 
in  this  region  also.  They  are  to  be 
observed  and  utilized. 


Warsaw 

By  Charles  Johnston 


COMING  from  Petrograd,  you  arrive 
at  your  terminus  in  the  Praga 
suburb,  which  covers  the  low 
plain  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Vistula.  There  you  take  a  carriage,  or,  in 
these  more  modern  days,  a  motor,  and 
wend  your  way  through  streets  indescrib- 
ably dirty,  as  dirty  and  strong  smelling 
as  the  streets  of  Naples,  and  as  pictur- 
esque; yet  with  a  totally  different  cast  of 
countenance,  for  here  the  color  is  of  the 
Jews,  with  its  intensity,  its  poignancy, 
its  tremendous  possibilities  of  suffering 
and  romance.  For  Warsaw,  with  its 
suburb,  is  one  of  the  great  Jewish  cities 
of  the  world,  having  within  its  boundaries 
not  less  than  five  times  as  many  Jews  as 
inhabit  Jerusalem. 

From  Praga,  through  these  dingy,  tor- 
tuous streets,  unrelieved  by  any  conspic- 
uous monument  or  building,  save  one 
Russian  church,  you  drive,  or,  as  before, 
you  motor,  to  the  eastern  end  of  the 
great  Vistula  bridge  of  Alexander  II., 
which  takes  off  from  a  very  dainty  little 
park,  the  only  beautiful  thing  in  the 
whole  suburb.  As  scon  as  you  are  on 
the  bridge,  you  are  certain  to  be  struck, 
first,  by  the  width  of  the  silver-white, 
swift-flowing  river,  and  then  by  the  ex- 
ceedingly picturesque  sky-line  of  the  city 
on  its  western  bank,  very  conspicuous, 
because  it  rises  on  a  terrace  some  120 
feet  high  above  the  river.  And,  on  your 
right  hand,  as  you  reach  the  western 
bank,  rises  the  building  that  is  the  very 
heart  of  old  Warsaw's  history,  the  ancient 
royal  palace,  founded  by  the  old  Dukes  of 
Mazovia,  before  the  wild  Hapsburgs  had 
descended  from  their  Hawk's  Rock  in 
Switzerland,  for  that  is  the  meaning  of 
the  name,  which  is,  in  full,  Habichts- 
burg,  "  the  fort  of  the  hawk." 

If  your  eyes  have  been  distorted  by  the 


skyscrapers  of  New  York,  you  will  find 
the  old  royal  palace  of  Poland  rather  low, 
stunted,  unimposing;  and  you  will  quick- 
ly realize  that  nothing  at  all  of  the 
twelfth  century  building  remains,  unless 
it  be  the  big  vaults;  yet  there  is  dignity 
and  charm  and  pathos  in  the  not  very 
lofty  walls  with  their  columns  and  oblong 
windows,  with  the  spire-topped  tower  in 
the  centre  of  the  front.  Within,  though 
there  are  fine  halls,  rich  in  many-colored 
marbles,  yet  they  have  been  long 
stripped  and  desolate,  and  one's  foot- 
steps ring  mournfully  on  the  uncovered 
flags.  The  palace  opens  on  the  Square 
of  King  Sigismund,  and  from  it  one  gets 
a  good  general  view  of  the  city,  with  its 
fourscore  church  towers,  where,  so  re- 
cently, the  bells  rang  melodiously  for 
matins  and  vespers. 

The  practical  thing  to  do,  then,  if  you 
wish  to  see  the  city,  is  to  follow  one 
after  another  of  the  big  avenues  that 
radiate  southward,  westward,  northward 
from  Sigismund  Square,  beginning,  let 
us  say,  with  the  south,  which  will  take 
you  along  the  direction  of  the  old  road  to 
Cracow.  This  is  the  elegant  quarter  of 
the  city,  and  there  is  a  genuine  Parisian 
charm  in  the  finely  built  streets,  with 
their  very  tastefully  adorned  shops,  their 
gardens,  their  palaces.  When  you  come 
to  the  Saxon  Garden,  named  for  one  of 
the  Kings  of  the  Saxon  dynasty  who  once 
ruled  over  Poland,  stop,  look,  and  listen; 
try  to  catch  something  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Polish  people,  who  here  show  themselves 
to  the  very  best  advantage;  for  the  Saxon 
Garden  is  to  Warsaw  what  the  Garden  of 
the  Tuileries  is  to  Paris.  And,  as  you 
watch,  as  you  notice  the  distinction  of  the 
men,  so  many  of  whom  are  admirably 
dressed,  as  you  become  conscious  of  the 
personal  note,  the  charm  of  the  women, 


AFTER  WARSAW'S  FALL 


1097 


for  whom,  perhaps,  distinguished  is  a 
more  fitting  word  than  beautiful,  though 
they  are  that  also,  and,  if  you  are  a  lover 
of  children,  as  the  fineness  and  grace  of 
the  children  impresses  itself  on  your 
grateful  soul,  you  will  become  profoundly 
convinced  that,  for  all  their  tremendous 
errors,  the  Polish  people  have  a  genius, 
a  message,  so  distinctive,  so  individual, 
that,  for  the  sake  of  mankind  as  well  as 
for  themselves,  their  national  spirit 
should  have  free  and  unimpeded  scope. 
Without  question,  Poland  should  be  once 
more  a  nation;  if  not  the  enormously  ex- 
tended empire  it  was  in  its  greatest  days, 
much  larger  than  either  France  or  Ger- 
many today,  yet  a  nation  large  enough 
and  strong  enough  ta  establish  and  hold 
its  own  type,  its  own  genius,  its  own 
civilization  absolutely  unimpaired.  Such 
a  restored  Poland  will  be  doubly  valuable: 
not  only  will  it  bear  sound  and  excellent 
fruit  of  itself,  but  it  will  mediate  and  in- 
terpret between  the  vast  Slav  empire  on 
the  east  and  the  diverse  nations  on  the 
west;  just  as,  in  greater  degree,  semi- 
Oriental  Russia  will  interpret  and  medi- 
ate between  Europe  and  revived  and  vig- 
orous Asia.  Without  doubt,  it  seems, 
such  national  restoration  lies  before  Po- 
land. And  one  is  confident  that,  once  it 
is  achieved,  the  national  note  of  Poland 
will  declare  itself  to  be,  not  pathetic  and 
melancholy,  but  gay,  blithe,  joyous,  full 
of  rejoicing. 

Then,  if  you  think  a  little,  brooding 
over  the  names,  the  Saxon  Garden,  the 
Saxon  Palace  overlooking  it,  you  will 
ask  yourself.  Why  these  foreign  Kings, 
these  foreign  dynasties,  even  while  Po- 
land was  still  a  nation,  unpartitioned  ? 
And  the  answer  is,  the  fatal  folly  of  the 
Polish  nobles,  who,  more  arrogant  than 
the  old  noblesse  of  France,  tore  the  king- 
dom to  pieces  in  their  haughty  efforts  to 
crush  and  outdo  each  other;  who  enrolled 
armies  larger  than  the  national  armies, 
to  make  war  upon  each  other,  and  who 
lost  sight  altogether  of  national  aims,  of 
national  existence  even,  in  their  own  in- 
sensate and  vaulting  ambitions.  This 
perpetual  discord,  with  the  elective  king- 
ship which  was  the  expression  of  it,  was 
the  ruin  of  a  nation  that  deserves  a  bet- 
ter fate.     Without  that  fatal  weakening, 


Poland  would  never  have  been  "  divided 
and  given  to  the  Medes  and  Persians." 
Along  the  Ujazdowska  Avenue,  one 
comes  to  the  most  charming  building  in 
all  Warsaw,  the  Lazienki  Palace,  in  its 
altogether  delicious  gardens,  mirrored  in 
a  lovely  little  lake,  as  essential  to  its 
beauty  as  are  the  marble  reservoirs  of 
the  Taj  Mahal,  in  which  the  loveliest  of 
all  buildings  mirrors  itself.  But  even 
here  you  do  not  get  a  single  note  of  na- 
tional Polish  architecture.  As  a  basis  of 
comparison,  think  of  Moscow  with  its 
Kremlin,  its  Scarlet  Square,  its  startling- 
ly  vivid  Church  of  Basil  the  Blessed. 
Moscow  is  the  most  individual  city  in  the 
world.  Warsaw,  in  its  architecture,  and 
especially  in  the  forms  of  its  many  pal- 
aces, is  not  national,  not  Polish  at  all,  but 
Italian,  of  the  Renaissance,  with  just  the 
same  pillars  and  pilasters  that  one  sees 
in  every  recent  building  in  Western  Eu- 
rope, or,  even  more  out  of  place,  among 
the  icicles  of  Petrograd,  whose  cathedrals 
and  palaces,  St.  Isaac's,  the  Hermitage, 
the  Winter  Palace,  even  the  very  national 
Kazan  Cathedral,  are  every  one  in  the 
Italian  style. 

The  Lazienki  Palace  was  built  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  King 
Stanislas  Poniatowski,  one  of  Poland's 
fatal  rulers,  and,  in  later  years,  it  was 
the  scene  of  one  of  the  many  tragic 
passages  of  Polish  history,  but  this  time 
not  a  tragedy  of  the  Poles.  For  it  was  in 
the  lovely  little  park  of  the  Lazienki 
Palace  that  the  Grand  Duke  Constantino 
bade  a  heavy-hearted  farewell  to  Poland, 
and,  after  trying,  in  all  sincerity,  year 
after  year,  to  win  the  affections,  the 
trust,  the  confidence  of  the  Poles,  and 
trying  altogether  in  vain.  He  was  a  son 
of  the  Emperor  Nicholas  I.,  and  there- 
fore a  brother  of  Alexander  II.,  liberator 
of  the  serfs  and  of  the  Balkan  nations; 
a  brother  also  of  the  Grand  Duke  Nicho- 
las the  elder,  father  of  the  present  Com- 
mander in  Chief,  and  himself  Chief  Com- 
mander of  the  Russian  armies  in  the 
Turkish  wars  of  1877-78,  which  gave  an 
assured  national  existence  to  Serbia,  Bul- 
garia, and  Rumania.  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine,  whose  son,  the  royal  poet,  died 
only  a  few  weeks  ago,  made  the  sincerest, 
the   most   loyal    effort   to   make   friends 


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THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


with  Poland;  but  all  to  no  purpose. 
So  this  historic  picture,  too,  comes  to 
memory,  as  we  turn  back  from  the 
southern  limit  of  the  city,  and  return  to 
our  starting  point,  in  the  Sigismund 
Square. 

Drive  now  to  the  north,  along  the  nar- 
rowing avenue  that  takes  you  ultimately 
to  the  fort  called  the  Citadel,  on  the 
outer  fringe  of  the  town.  Nowhere  will 
you  get  a  more  complete,  more  drastic 
contrast,  for  a  few  minutes  takes  you 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  old  Jewish 
settlement,  with  its  dark,  gloomy,  for- 
bidding yet  romantic,  and  romantically 
dirty  streets.  Here,  in  every  face,  keen, 
sallow,  tragical,  you  will  see  the  intensi- 
ty, the  fiery  energy,  that  made  St.  Paul 
— and  that,  in  so  many  cities,  stoned  St. 
Paul,  on  the  accusation  of  treachery  to 
the  ancient  ideals  of  the  nation.  The 
long,  dark,  seedy  overcoat,  which  one 
imagines  to  be  the  Jewish  gabardine  of 
Shylock,  the  black,  peaked  cap,  the  high, 
rusty  boots  are  universal,  even  on  boys 
of  3  or  4,  who  are,  but  for  the  lack  of 
straggling  beards,  adults  in  miniature; 
the  keen,  dark  eyes  of  the  younger  girls, 
as  intent  as  the  eyes  of  Rebekah  or 
Rachel;  the  shrewd,  often  shrewish  faces 
of  the  elder  women,  all  make  a  memora- 
ble, striking,  poignant  picture.  It  was  a 
Jew,  and  one  of  the  greatest  of  them,  that 
said,  "  the  glory  of  a  woman  is  her  hair  "; 
yet,  in  obedience  to  some  Talmudic  in- 
junction, these  keen-eyed  Jewish  girls, 
as  soon  as  they  are  married,  have  their 
heads  shaved,  and  thereafter  wear  a  wig, 
made  of  hair,  or  a  mere  skullcap  of  black 
silk;  and  this,  too,  adds  its  note,  not  an 
attractive  one,  to  the  vivid  picture.  Curi- 
ously enough,  in  the  very  heart  of  this 
northern  part  of  the  city  is  the  Roman 
Catholic  Cathedral  of  St.  John,  in  which 
is  kept  a  banner  taken  by  John  Sobieski 
in  1683,  when  he  save  Vienna  from  the 
all-conquering  Turks.  But  even  when 
one  comes  to  study  the  Warsaw  churches, 
and  there  are  four  score  of  them,  of  the 
Western  rite,  one  finds  them  as  little  na- 
tional as  the  palaces  of  the  old  nobles 
and  Kings. 

Coming  back  once  more  to  the  centre 
of  the  city,  and  going  to  the  northwest, 
one  finds  two  more  beautiful  buildings: 


the  charming  Krasniwski  Palace,  built, 
of  course  by  an  Italian  architect,  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  re- 
stored after  the  great  fire  of  1783;  and 
the  Russian  Cathedral,  rebuilt  in  1857 — 
in  the  style,  not  of  the  genuinely  Russian 
Kremlin  and  its  churches,  but  of  the  Ital- 
ian Renaissance. 

Finally,  to  the  southwest,  a  wide  ave- 
nue, called,  first.  Senatorial  Street  and 
then  Electoral  Street,  leads  to  the  Wola 
Gate,  beyond  which  is  the  fatal  field  on 
which  were  held  the  internecine  elections 
of  the  Polish  Kings — the  cause,  above  all 
things,  of  the  national  downfall.  On 
the  way  thither,  one  passes  the  Town 
Hall,  a  quite  modern  building,  the  Bank 
of  Poland,  the  Zamoyski  Palace,  and  the 
Church  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo. 

And  now  Warsaw  has  once  more  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  an  invader;  once  again, 
after  many  like  calamities.  In  spite  of 
its  fortifications,  built  in  1339,  it  was 
captured,  in  1596,  from  the  Mazovians  by 
the  Poles,  who  had  hitherto  reigned  at 
Cracow — a  city  that  has  all  the  Polish 
nationalism  that  Warsaw  lacks;  in  1655 
was  conquered  by  Charles  Gustavus,  to 
be  won  back  again  within  the  year  by 
John  Casimir,  who  once  more  lost  it  a 
month  later.  Throughout  the  second  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  Saxon  Kings 
reigned  there;  from  1735  to  1738  it  was 
the  scene  of  fierce  fighting  between 
Augustus  II.  and  Stanislas  Leszczynski; 
and  1764  to  1774,  and  again  in  1793,  it 
was  occupied  by  the  Russians,  who  never 
forgot  the  griefs  that  Moscow  had  suf- 
fered from  the  Poles,  in  the  days  when 
Poland  was  the  stronger  nation.  In  1809 
Warsaw  was  occupied  by  the  armies  of 
Austria,  it  being  then,  through  Napo- 
leon's ruling,  the  capital  of  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Warsaw;  in  1813,  it  was  once 
again  occupied  by  Russia,  which  has  dom- 
inated it  now  for  over  a  century. 

Let  us  hope  that  now,  amid  the  clash  of 
armies.  Destiny  may  have  in  store  for 
Poland  a  renewal  of  national  life,  in 
which  the  ancient  dangers  and  evils  will 
be  conquered,  the  ancient  genius  once 
more  shine  out  resplendent.  The  novels, 
the  music,  the  singers,  the  actors  of 
Poland  are  but  a  pledge  of  far  greater 
riches  in  the  days  to  come. 


The  Brave  and  Cheerful  Briton 

By  Maximilian  Harden 

"  An  enforced  holiday  of  indefinite  duration  "  iias  been  imposed  upon  Mr.  Harden,  the 
editor  of  Die  Zukunft,  and  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  newspaper  men  in  Europe,  accord- 
ing to  a  cable  dispatch  from  Copenhagen  on  Aug.  1,  the  dispatch  stating  that  his  recent 
articles  had  displeased  the  Berlin  authorities.  While  his  exile  from  Germany  has  not  been 
confirmed,  and  while  Die  Zukunft  still  bears  Mr.  Harden's  name  as  its  editor,  the  issue  of 
July  17  omits  his  leading  article.  The  following  article,  yielding  trbute  to  the  British  char- 
acter and  genius,  was  published  by  the  German  editor  in  the  issue  of  May  22. 


WHY  berate  the  Britons?  They 
are  but  doing  what  they  must 
do.  Why  tell  them,  day  in 
and  day  out,  that  we  are  the 
better,  the  superior  ones,  the  only  per- 
fectly unselfish  human  beings  on  earth? 
It  makes  them  only  smile. 

Nor  should  we  ever  have  talked  idiot- 
ically about  blood  relationship  and  Chris- 
tian duty  that  commands  pious  brother- 
hood. We  should  have  always  borne  in 
mind  what  Palmerston  said  in  the  House 
of  Commons  after  the  February  revolu- 
tion in  Paris:  "  Only  dreamers  can  labor 
under  the  romantic  delusion  that  relations 
between  nations,  between  Governments, 
are  essentially,  or  even  permanently, 
governed  by  friendship  or  similar  emo- 
tions." 

Germany  had  no  reason  to  be  thankful 
to  Britain,  but  she  had  a  hundred  reasons 
to  fear  her — fear  that  is  based  upon  re- 
spect. Great  Britain  is  wonderfully 
strong,  the  biggest  world  empire  that 
history  has  known;  in  three-fourths  of 
the  inhabited  earth  today  the  English 
language  is  spoken. 

Germans  who  on  the  Rigi  have  once 
sat  beside  a  Liverpool  tailor  disguised 
as  a  lord,  Germans  who  gather  their 
wisdom  from  the  comic  sheets,  think 
they  know  Britain  and  the  British.  And 
this  is  their  idea  of  Englishmen:  Sneak- 
ing and  cowardly;  stiff,  grouchy  or 
spleenish;  without  a  longing  for  Kultur; 
only  a  craze  for  sports  and  greed  in  their 
heads — that,  roughly,  is  the  popular  pic- 
ture. 

That  the  most  convincing  new  theories 
which  taught  us  to  learn  nature  and  the 
mind;  that  Shakespeare's  country  had, 
even  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  most 


productive  literature  (not  poetry) — these 
things  are  overlooked.  Because  the 
Briton  loves  sport  and  spends  almost  as 
much  time  playing  golf  or  football  as 
the  German  does  in  drinking  beer,  he  is 
ridiculed.  Is  the  Englishman  silly  be- 
cause he  is  anxious  that  his  county 
should  win  in  the  cricket  match?  Does 
not  his  play,  which  steels  the  body,  serve 
his  fatherland? 

Did  you  ever  go  into  Hyde  Park  and 
there  see  the  hundreds  of  sturdy,  white- 
haired  old  men  riding  briskly  on  horse- 
back? And  the  young  girls  and  old 
ladies  in  the  West  End;  the  workmen 
with  their  children  on  the  playgrounds? 
Look  at  them  and  compare  them  with 
the  thin-blooded,  prematurely  withered, 
overfattened  and  wabbling  figures  you 
meet  at  every  step  in  the  Continental 
cities ! 

The  Briton,  cheerful,  healthy,  and 
brave,  was  quick  to  realize  that  only  the 
strong  can  conquer  the  world,  and  he 
procured  for  himself  the  hygiene  which 
is  necessary  to  a  nation  confined  most 
of  the  time  to  factories  and  offices,  lest  it 
die  away.  The  Briton's  mode  of  living 
and  his  actions  are  sensible;  he  can  obey 
without  humiliation  and  force  and  give 
obedience   without   arbitrary   tyranny. 

In  India  a  Commissioner  with  only  a 
handful  of  whites  at  his  disposal  com- 
mands millions  of  the  brown  race  who 
do  not  dare  wrinkle  their  brows  before 
his  glance.  In  London,  if  an  uprising  is 
feared,  Dukes  join  hands  with  cellar  ten- 
ants to  do  constable  duty.  Everybody, 
whether  he  possess  fortune  or  have  only 
a  few  pounds  to  lose,  takes  the  oath,  joins 
the  ranks,  and  marches  against  the  foes 
of  society.    And  it  is  because  this  real- 


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THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


ization  of  an  ever-ready,  defensive 
strength  governs  all  minds  that  full  free- 
dom is  given  to  speech,  to  criticism,  to 
satire;  that  the  most  brazen  things  may 
be  said  with  impunity  about  the  King 
and  his  Ministers,  about  the  institutions, 
officials,  and  about  the  national  charac- 
ter. Not  before  the  highest  officer  of 
the  empire  would  the  Briton  bow  the 
knee. 

Young  men  and  women  associate  in  the 
closest  friendship,  pass  whole  days  to- 
gether on  the  river,  without  their  aunts 
as  chaperons,  and  not  one  rough  or  im- 
modest word  disturbs  the  harmless  hilar- 
ity; any  one  who  would  dare  offend  the 
ears  of  decent  women  by  indecent  re- 
marks would  thereupon  become  impos- 
sible in  that  company. 

We  are  only  praising  what  deserves 
praise.  Have  the  Britons  peddler  souls? 
They  didn't  think  of  their  wares,  but 
exposed  them  to  the  gravest  possible 
danger  and  sacrificed  billions  in  order 
to  destroy  Bonaparte,  to  whose  hypnotic 
will  and  power  they  alone — in  all  Eu- 
rope, they  alone — did  not  succumb! 

There  are  some  in  Germany  who  used 
to  praise  all  these  good  qualities  of  the 
English.  They  knew  that  England  has 
hardy  human  material,  a  moral  sturdi- 
ncss  which  of  all  nobilities  is  the  most 
useful  for  battle,  and  that  she  has  able 
women;  that  England  was  wise  enough 
to  guard  against  the  endemic  evils  of  all 
democracies  and  has  remained  in  the 
twentieth  century,  as  in  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  an  oiligarchy.  Those  Germans 
went  mad  when  they  read  in  the  news- 
papers vilification  of  England,  Germans 
who  early  and  late  had  admired  the 
noblesse  in  the  lion's  eye. 

Those  were  the  Germans  who  could  not 
comprehend  how  a  poor  word  could  be 
said  in  behalf  of  the  British  Empire  and 
its  people,  for  to  them  the  paramount, 
natural  issue  was:  Germany  must  go 
hand  and  hand  with  Britain,  must  be 
Britain's  friend — always  only  Britain's. 
They  were  not  so  dangerous  as  the  Briton 
haters,  who,  during  the  Boer  war,  saw 
already  the  empire  of  the  Angles  crushed 
and  crumbled,  and  who  glowed  with  love 
for  the  Boers. 

Never    would    England    have    become 


what  she  is  today  if  all  classes  had  not 
felt,  as  Palmerston  said,  that  emotions 
do  not  determine  the  relations  between 
nations. 

The  individual  Briton  would  be  filled 
with  disgust  at  seeing  one  of  the  yellow 
race  at  his  table.  The  British  Nation 
jubilated  and  cheered  the  Japanese  be- 
cause Japan  rendered  such  good  services 
as  an  instrument  against  Russia.  And 
the  British  Nation  cajoles  the  disgusting 
Hottentots  when  the  Hottentots  can  be 
used  to  frustrate  German  plans  of  coloni- 
zation. 

Shall  we  Germans  never  learn  the  prin- 
ciples of  practical  politics  ?  Shall  we 
always  despise  the  English  because  they 
let  others  fight  their  battles  for  them  as 
long  as  it  is  possible;  and  because  they 
pay  for  their  wars  only  with  gold,  not 
with  blood,  the  noblest  treasure  of  all 
nations?  Shall  we  always  fumble  along 
with  abstract  legal  conceptions  and  emo- 
tions instead  of  considering  only  the  ad- 
vantage of  our  nation  ? 

Whether  we  love  the  Russian  or  despise 
the  Czar  along  with  his  whole  miserable 
tribe,  we  do  desire  Russia  to  be  our  cus- 
tomer and  ally.  And  whether  we  admire 
the  free  and  sturdy  Briton  or  sneer  at  him 
at  times  as  a  Quaker,  hypocrite,  and  cant 
worshipper,  we  had  to  arm  ourselves 
against  England's  aggressive  power. 

Germany  long  looked  to  England  like 
a  blown  frog  that  soon  must  lose  his 
breath.  The  German  immigrant  offered 
cheaper  work  than  the  British  engineer, 
agent,  clerk,  or  waiter.  The  German  im- 
migrant endured  worse  treatment  than 
the  Briton;  he  hastened  on  the  market 
to  divest  himself  of  his  national  garb 
and  to  adapt  himself  to  Anglo-Saxon 
ways;  wore  woolen  shirts  and  could  live 
v/ithout  a  bathtub;  reason  enough  to  de- 
spise him. 

With  these  creatures,  who  do  not  train 
their  bodies,  who  can't  be  happy  without 
beer  and  who  as  thirty-year-olds  sport 
an  embonpoint — with  them,  so  it  was 
thought,  Germany  will  not  conquer  the 
world.  "  A  nice  country — very  nice. 
Dresden,  Nuremberg,  Freiburg,  Heidel- 
berg, Rothenburg;  old  churches  and  an- 
cient ruins;  and  everywhere  music,  sau- 
sage and  Munich  beer;  a  nice  country  in- 


^^^^^^^^^^^^Epi'f''-'' '  ^m 

^^^^^^H 

^^^^BHB^-y  jt»^!J^^^^^B     ,^^^^^^^^^^. 

^^^^H 

^1 

M.     MILLERAND 

Minister     of     War     of     France 
(Photo  from  Bain  News  Service) 


TALAT     BEY 

Turkey's     Acting      Minister     of     Marine 
(Photo  from  Paul   Thompson) 


THE  BRAVE  AND  CHEERFUL  BRITON 


1101 


deed,  quite  appropriate  for  a  Spring 
journey!  Also  a  very  nice  and  striving 
industry  which  we  may  well  help  along 
with  good  profit,  because  they  can't  com- 
pete with  us."    So  thought  the  Britons. 

Long  ago  the  German  was  not  welcome 
in  England,  but  he  came  to  be  respected. 
And  no  Englishman  thinks  of  underes- 
timating or  even  looking  down  upon  Ger- 
many. Our  industrials  and  merchants 
have  become  dangerous  to  the  British 
captains  of  industry.  England  some- 
times had  the  stronger  personalities; 
Germany  always  had  the  stronger  organ- 
ization. 

The  Prussian  lieutenant,  the  Deutsche 
Bank,  the  Allgemeine  Elektrizitaets- 
Gesellschaft,  the  Badische  Anilinfabrik 
and  the  German  Socialists;  these  most 
visible  fruits  of  German  culture  do  not 
grow  in  Albion's  sea  climate.  The  com- 
petition soon  became  worse  in  that  the 
German  worker  was  content  with  lower 
pay,  the  technician  more  thoroughly 
trained,  the  German  salesman  more  far- 
sighted. 

With  the  desire  of  the  statesmen  to 
keep  this  young  Continental  power  in 
check  came  the  fury  of  those  menaces 
commercially.  The  zone  of  friction  had 
become  greater;  political  intercourse 
more  difficult. 

Yet  the  possibility  of  a  serious  conflict 
seemed  far  distant.  Bismarck,  with  his 
dead  sure  calculation  and  his  majestic 
common  sense,  always  knew  just  what  he 
had  to  hope  and  what  he  had  to  fear 
from  England.  If  he  had  had  his  way 
England  and  Germany  would  have  long 
continued  courteously  to  tolerate  one  an- 
other. The  German  Empire,  he  figured, 
needed  a  half  century  to  strengthen  itself 
domestically,  to  secure  the  new  borders 
in  the  east  and  west,  and  meanwhile  it 
might  well  play  the  part  of  the  satiated 
State;  the  rest  remained  to  be  seen. 

The  situation  was  tolerable  because 
the  eyesight  of  Bismarck,  who  knew  the 
traditions  of  English  policy,  was  not 
blinded  by  illusions  and  because  across 
the  Channel  the  Whigs  and  the  Tories 
knew  that  this  Minister  would  never 
serve  British  desires,  would  never  become 
their  pawn. 

Britannia  quickly  learned  to  hope  again 


when  Bismarck  had  been  sent  away.  Vic- 
toria's son,  the  son  of  the  Coburger 
Albert,  when  a  young  Prince  had  scolded 
his  sister,  who  called  herself  "  half  Eng- 
lish," and  when  he  had  cut  his  finger  in 
a  garrison  yard,  loudly  declared  that  he 
hoped  upon  that  occasion  to  get  rid  of  his 
last  drop  of  English  blood. 

But  a  young  gentleman  changes  his 
mind  sometimes.  Also  he  can  be  hum- 
bugged. After  the  uncomfortable  days 
of  Narwa  the  Emperor  went  to  London, 
and  the  consequence  of  this  trip  was  the 
Zanzibar  treaty  which  procured  us  Heligo- 
land, but  threw  the  chief  key  to  East 
Africa  into  England's  lap. 

Blood  is  thicker  than  water.  Much  was 
talked  of  the  German-British  brotherhood 
in  arms.  The  aged  Empress  was  caress- 
ingly cajoled,  and  the  young  Emperor 
was  decorated  daily  with  new  wooden 
wreaths  by  the  English  press.  For  had 
he  not  celebrated  the  British  national 
heroes,  Wellington  and  Kipling  ?  Had  not 
the  friendship  with  Russia  already  be- 
come chilly?  On  many  a  holiday  the 
Kaiser  put  on  the  English  uniform.  Never 
had  the  union  jack  waved  in  a  brighter 
sun. 

Nothing  to  fear  in  Asia,  nothing  in 
Africa.  Zanzibar,  Witu,  Sudau,  the 
Transvaal  and  Orangeland  had  been  con- 
quered. Blood  is  thicker  than  water. 
Hope  shown  brightly.  "  This  German 
Emperor  does  not  forget  that  he  was 
born  of  an  English  woman." 

If  he  only  wouldn't  talk  so  much  of 
the  value  of  sea  power!  "Our  future 
lies  upon  the  water."  "  Imperial  power 
is  sea  power."  "  We  need  sorely  a  pow- 
erful fleet." 

For  what  is  all  that  necessary?  To 
protect  the  export  trade  ?  No  Briton  be- 
lieved that.  Only  for  a  war  again.s-t 
England  does  the  German  Empire  need 
a  great  war  fleet.  Is  that  war  being 
planned?  Is  that  why  the  Islam  world 
is  being  so  tenderly  wooed?  Is  that  why 
a  German  Prince  is  sent  to  Holland  as 
coast  guard?  Is  that  why  every  imag- 
inable courtesy  is  being  paid  to  America 
and   to   France? 

"  Without  the  sanction  of  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  no  great  decision  must  be 
made  in  the  future." 


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THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


None?  Not  in  Asia,  either?  That, 
then,  was  the  intention  of  the  treaty? 

From  the  Thames  to  the  Tweed  sus- 
picion gnawed  along  its  way.  When  the 
Kaiser  came  to  London  or  to  Cowes  and 
donned  the  tennis  coat  or  the  Admiral's 
gala  dress  and  associated  with  English 
naval  officers  like  a  good  fellow,  every- 
thing again  seemed  in  good  order.  But 
the  joy  never  lasted  long.  Softly  at  first, 
then  more  audibly,  the  question  was 
asked  whether  the  British  could  afford 
to  wait  until  Germany  would  be  strong 
enough  to  pierce  their  vitals. 

That  would  be  the  height  of  stupidity, 
answered  experts  like  Lee  and  Fitzger- 
ald. And  thus  answered  with  them  the 
entire  nation,  whose  political  instinct  is 
imperturable. 

And  then?    Listen! 

The  Franco-British  treaty  was  made 
contrary  to  all  traditions;  prestige  was 
created  in  Morocco  for  a  foreign  power; 
the  heavyweight  point  for  the  develop- 
ment of  maritime  power  in  the  North  Sea 
was  transferred;  a  first  installment  of 
$30,000,000  was  asked  for  new  naval 
bases;  the  French  fleet  was  invited  to  a 
coast  visit,  and  the  reinforced  canal 
squadron  was  assigned  to  the  Baltic  for 
manoeuvres. 

With  all  these  measures,  England  re- 
mained fully  within  the  purview  of  her 
sovereign  rights. 

But  even  in  the  year  1905  the  cajolers 
and  bootlickers  were  told  by  wise  and 
sensible  admonishers: 

"  Between  Germany  and  England  there 
was    never    friendship,     will     never    be 


friendship,  until  Germany  has  taught 
England  fear  or  until  she  has  proved  un- 
mistakably to  Great  Britain  that  she  does 
not  propose  to  conquer  the  territory, 
which  her  expansion  necessitates,  from 
British  ground. 

"  Pacifist  chatter  has  no  effect  upon  the 
Britons.  Nor  has  it  the  slightest  effect 
upon  them  when  we  swear  that  our  ships 
truly  and  honestly  have  not  been  built  in 
order  to  contend  with  the  island  empire 
for  the  domination  of  the  seas." 

England  has  no  Pitt,  or  Palmerston,  or 
Disraeli  today.  England  is  not  governed 
by  the  will  of  the  masses,  and,  as  fleets 
cannot  be  stamped  out  of  the  ground,  she 
can  calmly  wait  until  she  is  still  better 
prepared  and  has  completely  recovered 
from  the  consequences  of  the  Boer  war. 

The  idea  that  the  English  would  be  de- 
terred by  the  fear  of  a  Russian  army, 
bravely  marching  toward  India,  or  let 
themselves  be  overrun  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Thames,  while  her  Channel  ships  are 
manoeuvring  in  the  Baltic,  could  find 
room  only  in  the  minds  of  ignoramuses. 

Any  power  that  would  quickly  weak- 
en the  British  world  power  would  have 
had  to  dare  the  attempt  before  South 
Africa  was  conquered. 

Then  England  was  isolated  and  hated 
and  confused  by  the  difficulty  of  an  un- 
dertaking which  had  been  underestimated 
even  by  Chamberlain's  commercial 
genius.  Since  then  she  has  allied  herself 
in  Asia  with  Japan,  in  Europe  with 
France,  and  had  to  expect  from  Belgium 
and  from  the  Scandinavian  countries  at 
least  a  favorable  neutrality. 


The  Western  Front 

Battles   at  Hooge,   in  the    Argonne    and    Vosges — French, 
British,  and  German  Reports  of  Fighting  on  Wavering  Lines 


RAILROADS 
-Hie?HWAY5 


Map  Showing  the  Region  Around  Ypres  and  Recent  English  Operations,  Recording 

Advance  to  Aug.  15,  1915. 


ACCOUNTS  of  ground  lost  and  re- 
TV  won  along  lines  that  vary  little 
A^  jL.  in  a  war  of  attrition  constitute 
the  record  of  the  past  month  at 
Hooge,  the  village  east  of  Ypres,  which 
has  been  the  storm  centre  of  the  British- 
German  engagements;  in  the  Argonne 
region,  where  the  German  Crown  Prince 
has  been  steadily  winning  and  losing  in 
his  efforts  to  pierce  the  French  line,  and 
in  the  Vosges. 

HOOGE. 
The   ground   in   the   village  of   Hooge 
was  won  from  the  British  troops  by  the 


Germans  on  July  30,  the  victors,  as  re- 
ported from  the  British  front,  using  a 
new  device  for  pouring  "  liquid  fire " 
upon  their  enemy.  Heavy  fighting  was 
again  in  progress  on  Aug.  3  on  the 
British  front  near  Hooge,  and  from  that 
date  until  Aug.  9  the  attacks  for  recap- 
turing the  trenches  were  continuous, 
when  Field  Marshal  Sir  John  French 
issued  this  report: 

Since  my  communication  of  Aug-.  1  the 
artillery  on  both  sides  has.  been  active 
north  and  east  of  Ypres.  In  these  ex- 
changes the  advantage  has  been  with  us. 

This  morning-,  after  a  successful  artillery 


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THE   WESTERN  FRONT 


1105 


The  British-French  Battle  Line,  Showing  Positions  on  Aug.  15,  1915. 


bombardment,  in  which  the  French  on  our 
left  co-operated  effectively,  we  attacked 
the  trenches  at  Hooge  captured  by  the 
enemy  on  July  30.  These  were  all  retaken, 
and  following  up  this  success  we  made 
further  progress  north  and  west  of  Hooge, 
extiending  the  front  of  the  trenches  cap- 
tured   1,200   yards. 

During  this  fighting  our  artillery  shelled 
a  German  train  at  Langemarck,  (five 
miles  northeast  of  Ypres,)  derailing  and 
setting  fire  to  five  trucks. 

The  captures  reported  amounted  to  three 
officers  and  124  men  of  other  ranks  and 
two  machine  guns. 

On  Aug.  10  Sir  John  French  reported : 

Northwest  of  Hooge  and  in  the  ruins  of 
the  village  itself  we  have  consolidated 
the  ground  gained  yiesterday,  repulsing  one 
weak  infantry  attack  during  the  night. 
Yesterday  afternoon  there  was  no  infantry 


fighting,  but  there  was  a  violent  artillery 
engagement,  as  a  result  of  which  all  the 
trenches  in  the  open  ground  south  of 
Hooge  became  untenable  by  either  side, 
and  we  have  now  slightly  withdrawn  the 
position  of  our  line  which  lay  south  of  the 
village. 

This  makes  no  material  difference  to  our 
position. 

The  total  number  of  prisoners  captured 
by  us  yesterday  was  1150. 
Nothing   further   of   consequence   was 
reported  in  this  area  up  to  Aug.  17. 

THE  ARGONNE. 
The  official  statement  issued  in  Paris 
on  Aug.  4  said: 

In  the  Argonne  the  night  was  full  of 
action.  The  Germans  delivered  two  at- 
tacks, one  between  Hill  No.  213  and  the 
ravine  at  La  Fontaine-aux-Charmes  and 


1106 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


7S 

RUCKEN 


SCALE   IN  MILES 


Military  Operations  in  the  Alsace  Region,  Showing  Battle  Line  on  Aug.  15,  1915. 


the  oth€r  in  the  region  of  Marie  Th^rSse. 
Our  assailants  were  everywhere  thrown 
back  in  their  trenches  by  the  fire  of  our 
infantry  and  artillery.  At  Four  de  Paris 
and  in  the  direction  of  Haute  Chevauch^e 
there  was  last  night  incessant  rifle  firing 
between  the  trenches. 

On  Aug.  6  the  attempts  of  the  Ger- 
mans to  dash  from  their  trenches  were 
reported  to  be  of  a  particularly  violent 
character;  on  Aug.  7  the  Crown  Prince 
achieved  slight  successes,  and  on  Aug.  11 


the  French  night  report  admitted  the 
piercing  of  the  first  line  of  French 
trenches  in  these  words: 

In  Artois  artillery  fighting  is  reported  to 
have  talten  place  in  the  sector  north  of 
Arras. 

In  the  Argonne  the  bombardment  report- 
ed in  the  previous  statement  has  increased 
in  intensity.  A  great  many  asphyxiating 
shells  were  used.  At  daybrealt  the  bom- 
bardment was  followed  by  a  violent  Ger- 
man attaclc,  made  by  at  least  three  regi- 


THE   WESTERN  FRONT 


1107 


merits,  against  our  positions  between  the 
road  of  Binarville-Vienne-le-Chateau  and 
the  Houyette  Ravine. 

In  the  centre  of  this  sector  the  Germans 
succeeded  in  penetrating  our  positions, 
from  which,  however,  they  were  driven  out 
by  our  counterattack  during  the  day.  Only 
a  portion  of  our  first-line  trenches  re- 
mained in  their  hands.  The  prisoners 
captured  by  us  belong  to  the  Wiirttemberg 
Corps. 

The  reports  given  out  in  Paris  and 
Berlin  on  Aug.  12  said  that  trenches  in 
the  Argonne  had  been  won  and  lost  by 
the  Germans  in  heavy  fighting.  The 
Paris  report  claimed  the  recapture  of 
only  a  part  of  the  ground  lost,  while 
Berlin  contended  that  the  French  suf- 
fered heavily  trying  to  hold  the  po- 
sitions. 

IN  THE  VOSGES. 
The   Paris   official  report   of   Aug.   7 
said: 

In  the  Vosges  the  enemy  several  times 
shelled  our  positions  at  Linge  and  Schratz- 
mannele.     Toward  2  P.  M.   they  made  an 


attack  on  the  Pass  of  Schratzmannele,  on 
the  road  from  Honneck,  which  was  stopped 
by  our  sweeping  fire.  At  the  end  of  the 
afternoon  a  new  German  attack  was  re- 
pulsed by  means  of  a  bayonet  charge  and 
grenades. 

On  Aug.  8  the  following  account  of 
operations  in  the  Vosges  was  published 
in  Paris: 

In  the  Vosges  an  attack  delivered  by  the 
Germans  at  the  end  of  the  afternoon  at- 
tained a  character  of  extreme  violence.  It 
was  directed  against  our  positions  at 
Lingekopf  and  Schratzmannele  and  the 
neck  of  land  which  separates  these  two 
heights.  Our  assailants  were  repulsed 
completely  and  suffered  heavy  losses.  Be- 
fore the  portion  of  the  front  held  by  only 
one  of  our  companies  the  corpses  of  more 
than  one  hundred  Germans  remained  in 
the  network  of  our  entanglements. 

In  this  district,  as  in  the  others,  the 
engagements  have  been  far  from  de- 
cisive, and  apparently  intended  to  pre- 
vent the  defensive  forces  on  both  sides 
from  being  diverted  to  other  fields  of 
action  rather  than  to  assume  an  offen- 
sive in  formidable  degree. 


German  Reports  From  the   West 

Storming  of  Ban-de-Sapt.,   and    Battles  of   Les    Eparges 

Reports  from  German  Great  Headquarters,  describing  in  detail  the  campaign  on  the 
western  front,  are  not  so  frequent  as  the  official  French  and  English  reports.  Therefoie,  the 
following  official  German  accounts  of  military  actions,  which  are  deemed  of  first  importance, 
possess  unusual  value. 


BAN-DE-SAPT. 

The  following  German  Great  Head- 
quarters reports  concerning  the  storming 
of  the  heights  of  Ban-de-Sapt  in  the 
Vosges  appeared  in  the  Hamburger 
Fremdenblatt  of  July  1,  1915: 

BREAKING  out  from  the  line 
Chatas-Saales,  our  troops  in  the 
middle  of  September,  last  year, 
had  stopped  the  advance  of  the 
French  at  Senones,  Menil,  and  Ban-de- 
Sapt.  On  this  line  our  brave  Bavarians, 
together  with  their  Prussian  and  Baden- 
sian  comrades,  have  since  then  prevented 
any  gains  by  the  enemy.  Yet  in  Sep- 
tember our  strength  had  not  been  suf- 
ficient to  take  from  the  French  also  the 


height  dominating  Ban-de-Sapt.  It  has 
been  the  centre  of  the  fighting  since  then 
on  this  front. 

The  French  continually  strengthened 
their  works  on  the  top  of  the  mountain 
and  made  a  regular  fortress  of  it.  From 
it  they  were  enabled  to  keep  the  country 
to  a  distance  far  behind  our  lines  con- 
tinually under  infantry  and  machine  gun 
fire,  so  that  we  could  reach  our  for- 
ward lines  only  through  approach 
trenches  or  at  night.  We  lay  half  way 
up  the  slope  of  the  mountain  determined 
not  to  go  back  one  step,  but  rather  as 
soon  as  our  forces  were  sufficient  to 
seize  the  top.  Thus  there  was  begun  an 
obstinate  struggle  which,  since  the  end 


1108 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


'""',^Sas> 


ANTWERP  cP' 

^  t,OUVAm 

BRUSSELS 


OUNKIR 


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Uti£-    ^, 


...     ^     COMPIEGNE.         .:^H' 

o 


Perspective  Map  of  the  Western  Area  of  Fighting  from  the  North  Sea  Coast 
Eastward,  Showing  the  Flanders  District. 


of  the  year  1914,  brought  one  piece  after 
another  of  the  French  position  into  our 
possession. 

Every  means  of  fighting  at  close  range 
was  utilized.  Day  and  night  the  strug- 
gle went  on  above  and  below  the  earth. 
Frequently  the  trenches  ran  within 
twenty  meters  and  less  of  each  other. 


Uncommonly  strong  wire  obstacles,  to 
the  height  of  one  and  a  half  meters,  sur- 
rounded the  bulwarks  of  the  French  and 
thus  divided  friend  from  foe.  Only 
through  a  maze  of  ditches  formed  by  the 
slowly  advancing  infantry  positions  could 
one  get  to  our  forward  lines.  In  accord- 
ance with  their  characteristic  custom,  the 


THE   WESTERN  FRONT 


1109 


Perspective    Map    of   the    Western    Area   of    Fighting    from    the    Meuse    to 

Miilhausen. 


tireless  Bavarians  had  here  given  to 
practically  every  trench  and  every  little 
piece  of  woods  the  name  of  one  of  their 
leaders  of  whom  they  had  grown  fond. 
A  French  point  of  support,  in  which, 
well  built  in  and  concealed  behind  sand- 
bags, French  sharpshooters  lay  in  wait 
to  bag  any  one  who  might  carelessly  ex- 


pose himself,  they  had  dubbed  "  Sepp." 
Opposite  to  it  stood  the  Bavarian  "  Anti- 
Sepp  "  with  its  well-aimed  rifles  lying 
also  in  wait. 

Finally,  the  preparations  for  the  at- 
tack had  advanced  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  height  could  definitely  be  snatched 
from   the  enemy.     Long   and   thorough 


1110 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT    HISTORY 


preparations  had  been  required  for  this 
result.  Co-operation  of  artillery  and  in- 
fantry were  prerequisite  for  a  successful 
consummation  of  the  plan.  It  was  a 
brilliant  success.  On  June  22,  at  3  P.  M. 
sharp,  in  accordance  with  watches  ex- 
actly set  right  beforehand,  the  height  of 
Ban-de-Sapt  and  the  village  of  Fon- 
tenelle,  lying  behind  it,  in  which  French 
reserves  were  suspected  to  be  stationed, 
were  systematically  taken  under  fire. 
In  unison  the  "  ultima  ratio  regis,"  from 
light  field  piece  to  heavy  mortar,  raised 
their  iron  voices,  sending  into  the  posi- 
tions of  the  enemy  their  destruction- 
bringing  missiles. 

Prussian,  Bavarian,  Saxon,  and  Baden- 
sian  artillery  worked  side  by  side.  A 
terribly  beautiful  scene  was  here  re- 
vealed to  the  observer.  At  times  one 
could  see  a  black  column  of  smoke 
ascending  house  high;  then  again  the 
shells  as  they  struck  sent  up  whirling 
through  the  air  brown  clouds  of  earth, 
mixed  with  boards  and  timbers;  at  other 
times  the  whole  mountain  was  wrapped 
in  smoke  and  dust.  Not  a  living  being 
was  to  be  recognized. 

To  the  French  the  attack  had  come 
so  much  as  a  surprise  that  it  had  been 
under  way  for  more  than  half  an  hour 
before  their  artillery  opened  fire.  Ac- 
cording to  reports  made  later  by  prison- 
ers, everybody  had  fled  to  the  dugouts 
at  the  beginning  of  the  fire.  All  giving 
and  transmission  of  orders  had  ceased. 
The  surprise  of  the  enemy  artillery  was 
such  that  it  scattered  its  fire  without 
plan  over  the  country  and  in  vain  felt 
about  for  our  fire-spouting  guns,  thun- 
dering from  all  directions.  Thus  a  vio- 
lent artillery  fire  was  maintained  for 
three  and  one-half  hours.  Sharply  for 
6:30  P.  M,  the  storm  was  ordered.  In  an 
irresistible  "  forward  "  the  brave  Bava- 
rian reserve  troops,  supported  by  Prus- 
sian infantry  and  chasseurs,  stormed 
ahead.  Prussian  and  Bavarian  engineer 
troops  and  a  few  guns  brought  up  to  the 
immediate  vicinity  cleared  the  way  for 
them  where  necessary.  As  soon  as  the 
enemy  had  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
our  artillery  fire  he  offered  stubborn  re- 
sistance with  hand  grenades,  rifle  and 
machine-gun  fire.    It  availed  him  nothing. 


The  foremost  storming  sections  over- 
ran four  rows  of  the  enemy's  trenches, 
one  after  the  other,  and  to  hold  the 
ground,  which  was  drenched  with  the 
blood  of  their  comrades,  established 
themselves  on  the  conquered  space  with 
rapid  spade  work.  The  sections  which 
followed  pulled  out  of  the  dugouts  what- 
ever was  still  alive.  Most  of  the  prison- 
ers had  been  stunned  and  deafened  by 
the  bombardment.  Many  Frenchmen  lay 
buried  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  wrecked 
dugouts.  By  8  o'clock  in  the  evening  the 
dominating  height  of  Ban-de-Sapt  was 
in  our  possession.  Soon  thereafter  the 
enemy  took  our  new  positions  under  a 
lively  "artillery  fire  which  continued 
throughout  the  entire  night  and  toward 
morning  rose  to  the  greatest  intensity. 
In  fact,  the  French  succeeded  in  surpris- 
ing those  of  our  brave  riflemen  who  had 
penetrated  into  a  section  of  trench  cov- 
ered by  their  overwhelming  artillery  fire, 
but  the  dominant  height  itself  in  its  full 
extent  remained  in  our  hands. 

We  had  to  count  upon  a  counterattack. 
It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  enemy 
would  leave  to  us  without  a  considerable 
exertion  of  his  strength  a  height  which 
he  had  held  for  months  at  the  cost  of 
heavy  sacrifices.  On  the  23d  of  June  to- 
ward 9  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  an  extraor- 
dinarily heavy  fire  from  numerous 
heavy  guns  set  in  against  the  newly  won 
position.  The  bringing  up  of  hostile  re- 
inforcements was  reported.  The  intended 
counterattack  was  imminent.  Whence  it 
was  to  come  was  plain — the  guns  stood 
ready  to  receive  the  hostile  lines.  At  10 
o'clock  dense  swarms  of  infantry  at- 
tempted to  rush  forward  from  the  village 
of  Fontenelle  and  from  the  woods  west- 
ward of  the  height  toward  our  position, 
but  were  so  showered  with  artillery  fire 
even  at  the  very  start  that  the  attack 
suffered  a  sanguinary  collapse.  Those 
that  did  not  fall  dead  or  wounded  fled 
back  into  the  woods  or  into  the  village 
of  Fontenelle.  The  reserves  visible  there 
were  scattered  by  our  shells  falling  in 
their  midst. 

After  this  attempt,  checked  with  heavy 
losses,  the  enemy  ceased  from  further  at- 
tacks. The  capture  of  four  machine  guns 
alleged  in  the  French  official  report  is 


THE    WESTERN   FRONT 


1111 


a  flat  invention.    Not  a  single  one  of  our 
machine  guns  was  lost. 

BATTLES  AT  LES  EPARGES. 

The  following  report  is  made  from  the 
German  Great  Headquarters  concerning 
the  battles  at  Les  Eparges,  as  printed  in 
the  Hamburger  Nachrichten  of  June  30: 

When  at  the  end  of  April  and  in  the 
early  days  of  May  we  had  succeeded  in 
pushing  forward  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance our  positions  on  the  Meuse  heights 
between  the  village  Les  Eparges  and  the 
Grande  Tranchee  de  Calonne  leading 
from  the  ancient  Summer  residence  of 
the  Bishops  of  Verdun,  Hattonchatel,  to 
Verdun,  we  had  to  count  on  the  fact  that 
the  French  would  endeavor  to  the  best  of 
their  abilities  to  gain  back  the  ground 
taken  from  them  at  this  important  point. 
However,  at  first  things  remained  fairly 
quiet  there.  When,  though,  the  Second 
French  Army  Corps,  which  some  weeks 
before  in  its  vain  attacks  on  our  brave 
troops  between  the  Orne  and  Combres, 
especially  at  Maizeray  and  Marcheville, 
had  suffered  sanguinary  reverses  was 
again  capable  of  giving  battle,  this  army 
corps  was  placed  in  readiness  for  the  re- 
capture of  our  new  positions  on  the 
Grande  Tranchee.  Since  the  middle  of 
June  the  increasingly  heavy  French  fire 
from  guns  of  all  calibres  indicated  an 
intended  enterprise  at  this  point.  We 
had  not  deceived  ourselves.  When  the 
enemy  considered  the  effect  of  his  ar- 
tillery sufficient,  on  Sunday,  June  20th, 
he  set  his  fresh,  well-rested  troops  in  mo- 
tion for  the  attack  on  our  positions  on 
both  sides  of  the  Tranchee. 

The  French  here  followed  the  method, 
which  as  a  rule  they  prefer,  of  sending 
strong  forces  in  succession  against  sin- 
gle selected  points,  often  from  several 
different  directions.  They  succeeded 
finally  in  forcing  their  way  into  a  sec- 
tion of  our  foremost  trench,  into  some 
connecting  trenches  leading  toward  the 
rear,  and  even  into  a  small  part  of  our 
second  line.  During  the  same  night, 
from  Sunday  to  Monday,  the  regiment 
which  had  been  struck  by  this  forward 
thrust  undertook  a  counterattack  in 
which  every  one  down  to  the  last  man 
took  part.     We  succeeded,  too,  in  taking 


back  from  the  French  the  portion  of  the 
second  line  they  had  seized  and  the  con- 
necting trenches,  and  in  doing  so  cap- 
tured a  number  of  prisoners.  But  the 
enemy  did  not  let  up.  About  noon  of  the 
21st  day  of  June  he  renewed  his  attack 
with  fresh  forces  along  the  whole  line. 
To  the  west  of  Tranchee  he  was  contin- 
ually, on  the  following  days  also,  thrown 
back  with  heavy  losses.  To  the  east  of 
the  Tranchee,  on  the  other  hand,  where 
the  breach  he  had  made  still  remained  in 
his  possession,  he  succeeded,  pushing 
forward  through  this,  in  again  winning 
ground  inside  our  lines.  Here,  therefore, 
he  had  to  be  thrown  out  again. 

For  this  task  dawn  of  the  22d  of  June 
was  fixed  upon.  The  enemy,  seemingly, 
was  surprised.  He  vacated  the  trenches, 
leaving  behind  a  considerable  number  of 
prisoners.  Now,  the  French  took  our  en- 
tire positions  under  heavy  fire,  lasting 
for  whole  days.  For  this  purpose  they 
had  strengthened  the  numerous  heavy 
artillery  which  they  already  had  at  this 
point  by  other  batteries  of  heaviest  calibre 
taken  from  other  parts  of  the  front.  They 
used  also  in  great  quantities  shells  which, 
upon  exploding,  developed  asphyxiating 
gases.  The  effect  of  such  missiles  is  a 
double  one.  They  act  not  only  by  means 
of  the  exploded  fragments  but  also,  by 
means  of  their  gases,  render  men  within 
a  larger  radius  unfit  for  battle,  at  least 
for  some  time.  To  protect  themselves 
against  this  action  where  shells  of  this 
sort  have  stiuck  near  their  own  infantry 
the  French  in  the  battles  here  described 
all  wore  smoke  masks,  [respirators.] 
*  *  *  With  such  an  enemy  we  had  to 
contend  in  embittered  hand-to-hand  com- 
bats during  the  following  days  and 
nights. 

The  new  means  of  close  fighting  with 
their  terrible  moral  side-effects,  here,  too, 
again  played  an  important  role.  Here 
belong  especially  the  mine-throwers  and 
hand  grenades  of  varied  construction, 
these,  too,  like  the  artillery  shells,  in  the 
case  of  the  French  developing  asphyxiat- 
ing gases.  Yet  already  on  the  22d  of  June 
was  shown  the  indisputable  superiority 
of  our  infantry  over  the  French.  When- 
ever we  undertook  to  attack  we  could 
overthrow    even    much    stronger    enemy 


1112 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


forces  and  especially  in  individual  combat 
drive  them  out  of  their  positions,  how- 
ever strongly  built.  Only  against  over- 
whelming artillery  fire  our  brave  troops 
had  a  most  difficult  task  to  stand.  As 
soon  as  they  had  retaken  a  piece  of  trench 
the  enemy's  artillery  directed  against  it 
a  murderous  fire  which  it  is  a  physical 
impossibility  to  withstand. 

In  these  embittered  battles  raging  back 
and  forth  we  could  not  deny  our  appre- 
ciation to  the  French  infantry.  Again 
and  again  they  let  themselves  be  sent  for- 
ward to  the  attack,  regardless  of  our 
very  effective  artillery  and  infantry  fire, 
and  regardless  of  the  fire  of  their  own 
artillery,  which  was  laid  without  any  con- 
sideration to  where  the  French  infantry- 
men had  to  carry  out  their  attack.  Incon- 
siderate, too,  were  the  attacking  troops, 
whose  ranks  were  filled  again  and  again 
from  the  rear,  toward  themselves.  Again 
and  again  they  stormed  over  the  bodies 
of  their  comrades  who  had  but  just  fall- 
en, or  had  fallen  in  recent  days  of  the 
battle,  and  lay  in  the  blood-drenched 
thickets  of  the  forest.  Again  and  again 
they  used  heaps  of  these  corpses  as 
cover  against  the  fire;  indeed,  even  util- 
ized the  bodies  of  the  brave  fallen  as 
regular  breastworks  where  they  were 
compelled  quickly  to  establish  themselves 
and  dig  themselves  in.  Many  hundred 
corpses  covered  the  narrow  space  be- 
tween our  and  the  enemy  trenches. 
When,  late  in  the  evening  of  the  24th  of 
June,  we  definitely  secured  possession  of 
all  the  communicating  trenches  leading 
to  our  lost  forward  line  these  ditches 
were  filled  to  the  top  with  French  bodies. 

For  days  the  French  had  held  out  here 
beside  and  on  the  bodies  of  their  fallen 
comrades.  Let  it  remain  unsettled 
whether  self-control  or  lack  of  feeling 
here  played  the  greater  part.  For  us, 
at  any  rate,  this  chamber  of  the  dead 
was  no  fighting  position.  We  filled  in 
these  trenches  and  made  a  common  grave 
of  them  for  the  brave  ones  fallen  there. 

Nor  shall  mention  be  omitted  in  this 
connection  of  the  fact  that,  according  to 
the  unvarying  reports  of  all  prisoners, 
the  French  infantry  in  the  days  from 
the  20th  to  the  25th  of  June  received  no 
warm  food.     Though  this,  like  other  tes- 


timony of  prisoners,  may  not  be  abso- 
lutely accurate  and  be  calculated  to 
awaken  pity,  yet  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  experience  shows  that  in  the 
reports  of  prisoners  there  is  usually 
some  truth.  The  miserable  condition  of 
the  prisoners  confirmed  this. 

Our  attack  of  the  25th  of  June  came 
to  a  stop  before  that  foremost  part  of 
our  trenches  which,  to  an  extent  of  barely 
300  meters,  still  remained  in  the  enemy's 
possession.  On  the  26th  of  June  we  went 
forward  to  attack  to  the  east  of  the  obsti- 
nate battles  just  described,  in  the  direc- 
tion toward  les  Eparges.  Not  this  vil- 
lage, lying  in  the  valley,  however,  was 
the  object  aimed  at  in  this  undertaking, 
but  the  wooded  mountain  ridge  sloping 
down  toward  it,  on  which  the  French  had 
for  a  long  time  constructed  strong  de- 
fenses. These  were  to  be  taken.  About 
noon,  after  careful  preparation,  our 
movement  for  the  attack  began.  The 
enemy  seemed  not  to  have  expected  any- 
thing of  this  sort  at  this  place.  With- 
out any  extraordinary  losses  and  in  a 
comparatively  short  time,  we  succeeded  in 
taking  the  first  hostile  positions  by  storm 
and  in  an  uninterrupted  further  advance 
in  conquering  also  the  enemy's  main  po- 
sition lying  behind  these.  Such  of  the 
enemy  as  did  not  fall  victims  to  our  fire 
and  our  bayonets  fled  down  the  steep 
slopes  toward  Les  Eparges,  to  reorganize 
themselves  there. 

Our  attentive  artillery  did  not  neglect 
this  opportunity  to  take  this  village  un- 
der fire,  as  well  as  to  block  with  well- 
directed  shots,  the  roads  leading  to  it, 
on  which  the  enemy  was  bringing  up  his 
reinforcements.  Shortly  thereafter  Les 
Eparges,  with  the  war  materials  accumu- 
lated there,  went  up  in  flames.  For  us 
the  task  was  now  to  hold  the  newly  won 
advantageous  position  on  the  point  of  the 
projecting  mountain  southwest  of  Les 
Eparges,  for  we  had  to  reckon  with  ob- 
stinate attempts  of  our  enemy  to  retake 
what  he  had  lost.  On  this  very  evening 
of  the  26th  of  June  the  French  counter- 
attacks began.  They  continued  all  night 
long  to  the  27th  without  any  success. 
Here,  too,  as  at  both  sides  of  the  Tran- 
chee,  the  French  have  suffered  extraor- 
dinarily heavy  losses. 


THE   WESTERN  FRONT 


1113 


However  the  situation  may  shape  it- 
self here  further,  the  Second  French 
Army  Corps  and  the  other  French  forces 
brought  into  action  here  have  neither 
been  able  to  force  the  intended  break  in 
one  line  at  the  Tranchee  nor  to  main- 
tain the  dominating  height  to  the  south- 
west of  Les  Eparges  against  the  surprise 
storming  attack  carried  on  with  unpar- 
alleled courage  by  our  battle-tried  troops. 

REPORT   CONTINUED. 

From  the  German  Great  Headquarters 
by  the  Wolff  Telegraphic  Bureau,  the 
following  appeared  in  the  Frankfurter 
Zeitung  of  July  20 : 

Our  last  report  of  events  on  the  heights 
of  the  Meuse  closed  with  the  comment 
that  further  undertakings  of  the  French 
for  the  recapture  of  the  important  posi- 
tions near  Les  Eparges,  which  had  been 
taken  from  them  were  to  be  expected. 
The  next  day  brought  the  confirmation. 
Since  then  the  embittered  battles  there 
have  continued.  The  terrible  effect  of 
the  heavy  artillery  of  both  sides  and  of 
aerial  and  subterranean  mines  has  con- 
verted the  battleground  at  Les  Eparges 
and  Grande  Tranchee  de  Calonne,  as  at 
Combres,  into  a  chaos  of  stone  heaps, 
rocks,  tree  stumps  and  scrub,  inter- 
woven with  tangles  of  barbed  wire, 
which  had  been  shot  through,  and  with 
destroyed  fighting  material  of  all  sorts. 
In  between  were  pits  of  explosions  which 
had  torn  up  the  ground  into  veritable 
ravines.  Here  the  task  is  a  heavy  one 
for  the  defender  to  find  positions  in 
trenches  capable  of  defense,  and  for  the 
attacker  to  work  his  way  through  this 
field  of  wreckage. 

However  monotonous  the  following  de- 
scription of  the  battles  at  Les  Eparges 
may  sound,  yet  for  him  who  had  to  live 
through  them  they  were  fearfully  ex- 
citing and  a  terribly  wearing  experience. 
These  battles  bear  eloquent  testimony  to 
the  mental  and  moral  worth  of  our 
troops,  who  for  days  had  to  endure  the 
hostile  fire  in  their  trenches  and  still 
hold  themselves  ready  in  positions  filled 
in  with  earth  and  wreckage  to  make 
front  against  the  enemy  wherever  he 
might  dare  to  attempt  to  advance. 

After  a  heavy  artillery  fire  directed 


at  our  position  from  Les  Eparges  to  be- 
yond the  Tranchee,  two  attacks  occurred 
simultaneously  on  the  27th  of  June,  at 
noon,  one  of  them  against  our  newly 
won  positions  southwest  of  Les  Eparges, 
the  other  to  the  east  of  the  Tranchee. 
Both  were  repulsed.  In  the  evening  the 
enemy  again  attacked,  this  time  against 
the  whole  extent  of  our  north  front. 
This  attack  also  was  repulsed. 

During  the  night  preceding  the  28th 
the  French  reinforced  their  artillery 
with  additional  guns  of  heavy  calibre. 
These  were  emplaced  for  concentrated 
fire  on  our  new  position  at  Les  Eparges, 
and  the  position  at  the  Tranchee.  Then 
on  the  28th  in  the  earliest  dawn  they 
opened  a  murderous  fire  against  our  en- 
tire forward  and  supporting  lines.  Short- 
ly after  8  A.  M.  they  undertook  an  at- 
tack fi-om  the  Sonvaux  ravine  against 
our  lines  on  the  ridge  at  Les  Eparges 
which  we  were  able  to  repulse  without 
difficulty.  Four  other  attacks  made  in 
the  course  of  the  day  against  the  same 
point  met  with  similar  lack  of  success. 
The  day  again  had  brought  the  enemy 
very  heavy  losses,  but  not  the  slightest 
gains.  At  the  Tranchee  no  attacks  were 
undertaken  by  either  side  on  this  day. 

In  the  night  preceding  the  29th  took 
place  an  extraordinarily  heavy  artillery 
surprise  attack  on  our  positions  from 
Combres  to  beyond  the  Tranchee.  A 
French  storming  operation  seemed  to  be 
planned.  Our  fire,  however,  prevented 
its  execution.  Only  to  the  east  of  the 
Tranchee  the  French  in  the  night  pushed 
forward  on  a  narrow  front.  The  attack 
broke  down  in  our  fire.  All  day  long 
then  our  positions  lay  under  heavy  bom- 
bardment. At  12  o'clock  noon  the  enemy 
then  renewed  his  attacks  at  Les  Eparges. 
For  this  he  employed  especially  strong 
forces,  apparently  withdrawn  from  other 
places.  But  not  even  with  their  help  did 
he  succeed  in  breaking  into  our  positions. 
This  attack,  as  were  three  others  made 
in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  was  again 
repulsed  with  heavy  losses  to  the  French. 
During  the  rest  of  the  day  and  through 
the  whole  night  the  enemy  covered  our 
entire  positions  with  an  extraordinarily 
heavy  fire.  Also  all  roads  leading  into 
the  Cotes  Loraines,  as  well  as  the  vil- 


1114 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


lages  on  these  heights  and  those  at  their 
foot  on  the  edge  of  the  plain  of  Woevre, 
which,  however,  for  a  long  time  had  not 
been  inhabited  by  us,  were  again  plen- 
tifully showered  with  fire. 

Again  on  the  30th  of  J  une  an  attempt 
was  made  at  an  attack  under  continued 
strong  bombardment.  Then  the  enemy 
apparently  saw  the  hopelessness  of  his 
ever  repeated  attacks.  Perhaps,  too,  his 
heavy  losses  or  want  of  ammunition  was 
responsible  for  the  fact  that,  from  the 
evening  of  the  last  day  of  June  onward, 
his  efforts  to  retake  the  lost  heights  de- 
creased. The  first  of  July  passed  in 
comparative  quiet.  Any  one,  however, 
who  should  have  approached  our  posi- 
tions on  the  heights  of  the  Meuse  as  a 
stranger  to  the  conditions  of  this  sort 
of  fighting  might  well  have  believed  that 
new  battles  were  in  progress  for  this 
much-fought-for  point.  For  even  when 
the  fire  here  slackens  down  any  one  who 
is  not  accustomed  to  these  uninterrupted 
battles  at  close  range  and  to  the  echoing 
of  the  fire  of  all  calibres  in  these  ravines 
gets  the  impression  of  a  regular  large 
battle.  Neither  day  nor  night  can  there 
said  to  be  quiet  there.  Even  as  the 
French  in  their  desperate  efforts  make 
every  sacrifice  to  secure  gains,  though 
ever  so  small,  that  shall  in  some  meas- 
ure make  up  for  the  failures  they  have 
suffered  there,  so  we  also  do  not  cease 
to  take  under  effective  fire  their  ever 
repeated  offensive  efforts  by  timely  bom- 
bardments of  the  villages  in  which  they 
gather  their  troops  for  the  attack,  of 
their  columns  preparing  to  storm,  and 
of  their  trenches  of  the  front  and  the 
supporting  lines,  from  which  the  forces 
for  the  attack  are  rushed  forward. 

Here  the  fliers  have  an  especially  val- 
uable task.  In  these  wooded  hills,  which 
make  direct  observation  extremely  diffi- 
cult and  in  great  part  excludes  it  entire- 
ly, leaders  and  troops  must  depend  on  the 
reports  which  our  brave  airmen  supply. 
For  hours  they  circle  over  the  sections 
assigned  to  them  to  be  cleared  up  and 
report  with  signs  agreed  upon  in  ad- 
vance every  movement  of  the  hostile 
batteries  or  of  single  guns.  The  enemy, 
for  his  part,  knows  the  danger  which 
the  hostile  fliers  brings.   He  knows  quite 


well  that  shortly  he  will  be  the  object  of 
attentions  from  the  foe's  artillery.  The 
repulse  of  the  airmen,  therefore,  is  a 
task  undertaken  with  zeal  by  both  sides. 
In  addition  to  the  batteries  specially  as- 
signed for  this  purpose  and  to  the  in- 
fantry and  machine  gun  detachments, 
this  task  recently  has  fallen  to  special 
fighting  aeroplanes. 

We  have  already  on  another  occasion 
pointed  out  that  the  German  fliers,  un- 
doubtedly, have  gained  the  ascendency 
over  the  enemy's  air  machines  in  aerial 
battles.  Here,  too,  between  the  Meuse 
and  the  Moselle  we  can  record  similar 
success.  Recently  one  of  our  fighting 
fliers  succeeded  in  shooting  down  a 
French  aeroplane  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Essey.  Wherever  German  fighting  aero- 
planes appear  the  French  fliers,  since 
this  and  other  successes,  now  without 
hesitation  yield  the  air  and  in  this  admit 
their  inferiority. 

On  the  2d  of  July  we  had  opportunity 
to  observe  at  length  the  activity  of  our 
own  and  French  fliers.  As  the  events 
of  the  next  following  day  showed,  the 
enemy  had  strengthened  his  artillery  for 
combatting  our  positions  on  the  Meuse 
heights,  and  employed  the  next  day  es- 
pecially in  obtaining  the  range  for  his 
new  batteries,  by  firing  test  shots  at  our 
positions  and  roads  of  approach  with 
the  help  of  the  fliers,  in  so  far  as  our 
watchful  battle  aeroplanes  permitted 
him.  We  therefore  had  to  count  on  the 
continuation  of  the  fighting  in  this  sec- 
tion. During  that  night,  in  fact,  the 
enemy  increased  his  fire  not  only  against 
the  points  which  hitherto  had  been  the 
main  objects  of  attack,  but  also  against 
the  neighboring  positions  on  the  Combres 
Heights,  and  further  to  the  northeast  in 
the  plain,  as  far  as  Marcheville  and 
Maizeray. 

The  3d  of  July  brought  renewed  in- 
fantry attacks,  introduced  each  time  by 
heavy  artillery  fire,  especially  with 
bombs  carrying  asphyxiating  gases,  and 
accompanied  by  a  hail  of  hand  grenades, 
for  the  employment  of  which  the  French- 
men latterly  show  a  special  fondness. 
Four  times  on  this  day  the  enemy  violently 
attacked  Les  Eparges,  and  as  many  times 
was  driven  with  bloody  heads  into  flight. 


THE   WESTERN  FRONT 


1115 


It  then  seemed  as  if  the  impossibility 
of  penetrating  here  had  finally  been  real- 
ized and  all  further  attempts  given  up, 
for  the  4th  and  5th  of  July  brought  only 
artillery  fighting.  But  again  on  the 
evening  of  the  5th  the  increasing  vio- 
lence  of   the   enemy's   fire   gave   reason 


to    expect    the    repetition    of    infantry 
attacks. 

After  two  attempts  late  in  the  evening 
of  the  5th  to  break  into  our  positions  had 
failed  because  of  the  watchfulness  of  our 
grenadiers,  the  6th  of  July  brought  heavy 
fighting  throughout  the  entire  day.         ^ 


Activity  at  the  Dardanelles 

British  Reinforcements  Made  to  Capture  Gallipoli 


IN  THE  ANZAC  ZONE. 

An  Associated  Press  dispatch  from 
London  dated  Aug.  11,  1915,  made  this 
statement: 

WHILE  the  Russians  are  fighting 
desperately  to  extricate  them- 
selves from  the  cordon  of  Aus- 
tro-German  troops  which  is 
steadily  pressing  them  more  closely  in 
Poland,  their  allies  are  working  fever- 
ishly and  with  considerable  success  to 
open  the  Dardanelles,  through  which 
they  hope  to  pour  into  Russia  the  much- 
needed  munitions  of  war. 

Since  Saturday  night,  [Aug.  7,]  when 
fresh  British  forces  were  landed  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula,  there  has  been  al- 
most continuous  fighting  on  the  Krithia 
Road.  In  these  operations  Australians 
and  New  Zealanders  in  the  "  Anzac  "  re- 
gion (a  name  taken  from  the  initial  let- 
ters of  the  words  "  Australia-New  Zea- 
land Army  Corps ")  have  co-operated 
with  new  forces  to  the  north.  Following 
up  the  successes  of  the  troops  on  the 
Krithia  Road  and  those  to  the  north  of 
the  "  Anzac  "  zone,  the  Australians  and 
New  Zealanders  took  the  offensive  yes- 
terday and  succeeded  in  trebling  the  area 
formerly  held  by  them.  Their  comrades 
to  the  north,  who  assisted  them,  made 
no  further  progress,  however. 

These  actions  are  believed  here  to  be 
preliminary  to  a  much  more  ambitious 
attempt  which  has  been  planned  by  the 
Anglo-French  commanders  to  sweep  the 
Turks  before  them.  Very  heavy  losses, 
which  already  have  been  inflicted  on  the 


Turks,  have  had  a  discouraging  effect 
upon  the  Ottoman  troops,  according  to 
reports  from  Greece. 

An  official  British  statement  given  out 
on  Aug.  11  said: 

The  latest  report  from  Sir  Ian  Hamil- 
ton states  that  severe  fighting  continued 
yesterday  in  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula, 
mainly  in  the  Anzac  zone  (on  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  peninsula)  and  in  that  to 
the  north.  The  positions  occupied  were 
slightly  varied  in  places,  but  the  general 
result  is  that  the  area  held  at  Anzac  has 
been  nearly  trebled,  owing  chiefly  to  the 
gallantry  and  dash  of  the  Australian  and 
New  Zealand  Army  Corps. 

While  to  the  north  no  further  progress 
has  yet  been  made,  the  troops  have  in- 
flicted heavy  losses  on  the  enemy,  and 
the  French  battleship  St.  Louis  is  report- 
ed to  have  put  out  of  action  five  out  of 
six  guns  in  the  Asiatic  batteries. 

A  GERMAN  REPORT. 

In  a  Constantinople  dispatch  of  Aug. 
9  by  way  of  Berlin,  transmitted  by  wire- 
less to  Sayville,  L.  I.,  on  Aug.  11,  ap- 
peared the  following: 

Enver  Pasha,  the  Turkish  Minister  of 
War,  said  today  that,  according  to  his 
information,  the  Entente  Allies  in  their 
latest  operations  at  the  Dardanelles  had 
landed  three  divisions  of  troops,  com- 
prising about  50,000  men.  The  losses 
among  them,  however,  he  asserted,  had 
already  been  very  heavy. 

Enver  Pasha's  statement  was  made  in 
an    interview   with   a    correspondent   of 


1116 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


c 


J^GEAN 


BRITISH  ENTRENCHED 
LINE'  AND  DIRECTION  or 
ADVANCE      I 


CAPE 
HELLES 


w     5HOW5   WHERE    ALLIES 
^^     LANDED     FORCE5 
^     FORTS  Send  BATTERIES 


Perspective  Map,  Showing  the  Situation  at  the  Dardanelles. 


The  Associated  Press.    The  Turkish  War 
Minister  said: 

"  I  am  fully  confident  that  we  will  be 
able  to  keep  the  Allies  in  check  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula,  even  if  other  large 
reinforcements    are   coming.      We   knew 


that  the  Allies'  action  of  two  days  ago 
was  due,  and  we  prepared  for  it,  with  the 
result  that  we  were  not  caught  napping. 
"  According  to  my  information,  the 
Allies  landed  three  divisions,  about  50,000 
men.     No  doubt  part  of  them  no  longer 


ACTIVITY  AT   THE  DARDANELLES 


1117 


count,  considering  the  heavy  losses  they 
sustained  in  attacks  incident  to  the  new 
offensive.  The  allied  losses  have  been 
very  heavy  so  far  in  this  new  attempt 
to  force  the  Dardanelles." 

Enver  Pasha  had  just  had  a  conference 
with  his  Chief  of  Staff  at  which  the 
final  report  from  the  Gallipoli  Penin- 
sula operations  was  discussed.  The  War 
Minister  seemed  in  the  best  of  spirits,  as 
he  had  just  received  news  that  a  Turk- 
ish aeroplane  had  destroyed  a  submarine 
of  the  Entente  Allies  near  Bulair.  Re- 
viewing the  events  at  Sedd-el-Bahr  dur- 
ing the  last  two  days,  he  said: 

"  The  Allies  experienced  dogged  resist- 
ance in  their  attempts  to  force  the  Turk- 
ish positions  at  Sedd-el-Bahr.  Two  regi- 
ments attacking  our  centre  there  were 
annihilated  with  the  exception  of  about 
sixty  men,  who  were  captured. 

ALLIED  FORCES  JOINED. 

A  special  cable  from  London  to  The 
New  York  Times  reported  on  Aug.  17: 

Evidence  of  the  improvement  of  the 
allied  positions  at  the  Dardanelles,  both 
on  land  and  sea,  is  found  in  a  dispatch 
from  Athens  published  in  The  Daily 
Chronicle  this  morning.  The  announce- 
ment that  the  fleet  has  been  actively  co- 
operating with  the  landing  parties,  par- 
ticularly the  latest,  that  at  Suvla  Bay, 
which  has  joined  hands  with  the  forces 
already  in  position  on  the  heights  of 
Sari  Bair,  gives  ground  for  the  belief 
that  the  allied  naval  commanders  can 
now  afford  to  disregard  the  menace  of 


German  submarines  which  sent  them  to 
cover  for  a  considerable  period. 

The  Chronicle's  correspondent  tele- 
graphs : 

"  The  new  successful  landing  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  at  Suvla  Bay  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  effected  cannot 
fail  to  exercise  a  moral  effect  on  the 
enemy.  The  landing  took  place  on  the 
foreshore  in  front  of  Salt  Lake.  Only 
a  small  observation  force  of  Turks  was 
on  the  spot,  the  Turks  having  been  led 
by  recent  activities  and  reports  to  con- 
centrate their  forces  on  the  Asiatic  side 
of  the  Dardanelles  and  at  Smyrna,  where 
they  thought  attacks  probable. 

"  Our  whole  landing  force,  with  its  am- 
munition, baggage,  and  artillery,  reached 
shore  practically  without  opposition  and 
with  only  very  few  casualties.  The  force 
immediately  advanced  and  quickly  seized 
the  positions  which  it  was  planned  should 
be  taken.  There  strong  intrenched  posi- 
tions were  organized.  The  right  wing 
was  thrown  out  and  a  junction  effected 
with  the  left  wing  of  our  forces  estab- 
lished before  Sari  Bair.  Our  new  posi- 
tions threaten  the  Turks'  communica- 
tions by  land  with  the  extremity  of  the 
peninsula. 

"  The  enemy  eventually  brought  up 
forces  to  attack  the  newly  landed  troops, 
but  these  were  easily  repulsed  with 
serious  loss.  This  defeat  of  the  enemy 
enabled  our  forces  still  further  to  con- 
solidate their  positions. 

"  The  fleet  during  the  last  few  days 
has  been  very  active." 


Stone  Coffins  Unearthed 


[From  The  Sphere  of  London.] 


A  French  officer,  in  a  letter  to  his 
wife,  mentions  a  diversion  from  shells,  that 
of  digging  for  Greek  antiquities  in  the 
soil  of  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula.  The  fol- 
lowing note  will  prove  full  of  interest  for 
students  of  Greek  archaeology.  "We  are 
on  a  Greek  necropolis  of  the  highest  an- 
tiquity," he  writes,  "  some  five  or  six 
centuries    before    our    era.     In    digging 


trenches  we  come  on  enormous  stones 
which  resound.  They  are  the  lids  of 
tombs.  With  great  care  (but  not  al- 
ways) we  remove  the  covering  stone. 
Underneath  is  the  interior  of  a  stone 
coffin,  which  we  empty  little  by  little. 
Grain  by  grain  for  centuries  the  soil  has 
gently  intruded.  Inside  there  is  a  skele- 
ton more  or  less  preserved. 


Italy's  Attack  on  Gorizia 

Positions  Consolidated  Preceding  a  Final  Attempt 
on   Austria's    Fortress 


WHILE  the  movements  on  the 
Italian  fronts,  as  reported  from 
official  sources,  have  tended 
to  confirm  the  objects  of  the 
campaign — the  neutralization  of  the 
Trentino,  the  holding  of  the  passes 
through  the  Carnic  Alps,  and  a  strong 
offensive  along  the  Isonzo  from  Tarvis 
and  Tolmino  to  the  sea,  including  the 
capture  of  the  heights  around  Gorizia 
in  the  centre  and  the  investment  of 
Trieste  over  the  Carse  Plateau  in  the 
south —  little  beyond  incidentals  has  been 
achieved.  These  incidentals,  however, 
are  claimed  to  be  of  great  potential 
value  to  the  invaders. 

In  the  Trentino,  although  the  main 
artery  which  supplies  the  territory  from 
Vienna  has  not  been  cut,  it  is  announced 
that  the  railway  from  the  north  to  Bol- 
zano and  Trent  has  been  bombarded  and 
on  one  occasion  a  troop  train  and  its 
soldier  passengers  destroyed.  Tn  the 
south  the  lines  around  Rovereto  and  Riva, 
at  the  head  of  the  Lago  di  Garda,  have 
been  contracted.  The  most  prominent 
elevations  captured  in  the  vicinity  of  Go- 


rizia have  been  Monte  San  Michele,  from 
which  the  Austrians  could  bombard  not 
only  the  approaches  to  the  Carso  but 
also  the  Italian  positions  at  Gradisca  and 
Monfalcone,  and  Monte  dei  Sei  Busi  on 
the  southern  ridge.  On  the  Dalmatian 
coast  a  naval  force  has  also  captured 
the  islands  of  Pelagosa  (Grande  and  Pic- 
cola)  and  destroyed  the  wireless  stations 
there  and  on  the  Island  of  Lagosta. 

On  Aug.  14  General  Cadorna  allowed 
the  information  to  transpire  at  Udine 
that  a  general  attack  would  shortly  be 
made  along  the  Isonzo  front  which  would 
lead  to  the  early  fall  of  Gorizia  and  open 
the  road  over  the  Carzo  Plateau  to  Tri- 
este. It  was  added  that  the  General 
Staff  was  hopeful  that  this  campaign 
would  be  completed  early  in  September. 

This  may  be  interpreted  to  mean  that 
the  commanding  heights  in  the  region 
were  then  in  the  possession  of  the  Ital- 
ians, but  that  a  few  days  must  elapse 
before  placing  the  proper  guns  on  the 
crests  so  that  their  occupation  may  be 
rendered  effective  for  a  general  advance 
of  the  field  armies  below. 


The  Glory  Hole 


[From  The  London  Daily  Chronicle.] 
The  scene  of  Lieutenant  Smyth's  miraculous  relief  expedition   with   ten    Sikh   volunteers, 
across  2.50  yards  of  bullet-swept  plain   and   through  a  river   with   a  heavy   box   of   bombs, 
which  might  have  exploded  at  any  moment. 

"  Praise  to  our  Indian  brother,  and  let  the  dark  face  have  his  due," 

Thanks  for  the  loyal  red  blood  that  is  flowing  like  water  in  France! 

Life  for  a  life  they  demanded,  till  all  their  munition  was  through. 

Then — there  was  more  in  reserve.     So  was  death,  and  they  leaped  at  the  chance! 

British  Lieutenant  for  leader,  and  ten  swarthy  Sikhs  at  his  back. 

Dragged  the  huge  boxes  of  fireballs — was  ever  a  deadlier  freight? 

Facing  a  fountain  of  bullets  and  under  a  sky  shrapnel-black, 

Threading  a  trenchful  of  corpses  and  crossing  a  river  in  spate. 

Two  of  that  noble  Eleven  won  through  with  their  perilous  load. 
One  in  the  moment  of  triumph  to  fall  in  defending  the  Hole; 

Only  the  British  Lieutenant  unscathed  on  the  gun-riddled  road! 

Yet,  has  their  angel  recorded,  "  Eleven  arrived  at  the  goal."  A.  W. 


The  Guarantees  of  a  Lasting  Peace 


By  Count  Julius  Andrassy 


This  article  should  be  read  In  connection  with  the  report  that  Germany  has  made  over- 
tures for  peace  with  Russia,  after  her  victorious  Polish  campaign. 

Count  Julius  Andr&ssy,  one  of  the  foremost  statesmen  of  the  Dual  Monarchy,  is  the  son 
of  a  still  more  famous  sire — that  Count  Julius  Andr&ssy  who,  with  Bismarck  and  Beaconsfield, 
engineered  the  Berlin  Treaty  of  1878,  which  contains  all  the  seeds  of  the  present  war,  begin- 
ning with  the  assignment  of  Bosnia-Herzegovina  to  the  Austrian  Empire,  and  the  constriction 
of  Bulgaria.  The  present  Count  Julius  AndrAssy  has  been  Minister  of  the  Interior  for 
Hungary,  and  is  a  hereditary  member  of  the  Hungarian  House  of  Lords.  He  was  born  on 
June  30,  1860.    This  article  by  him  is  taken  from  the  Revue  de  Hongrie,  of  Budapest. 


A  PEACE  is  "good"  when  it  gives 
to  the  belligerent  State  what  it 
desires.  It  is  easier  to  establish 
the  goals  of  the  aggressors 
than  those  of  the  attacked.  Thus,  it  is 
clear  that  for  France  an  advantageous 
peace  would  be  one  which  gave  her  back 
at  least  Alsace-Lorraine,  and  for  Serbia 
a  peace  that  should  give  her  at  least 
Bosnia-Herzegovina  and  Dalmatia. 

As  for  ourselves,  it  is  harder  to  indi- 
cate the  guarantees  of  a  lasting  peace. 
Before  seeking  them,  we  must  make 
clear  why  we  are  at  war. 

It  is  not  because  we  aim  at  universal 
domination;  we  can  as  boldly  say  that  of 
ourselves  as  of  Germany. 

The  exclusive  domination  of  one  na- 
tion, or  of  a  group  of  nations,  would 
mark  a  step  backward  for  civilization  as 
much  as  for  the  whole  of  humanity,  and, 
besides,  could  not  last,  because,  soon  or 
late,  everything  is  condemned  to  disap- 
pear which  does  not  conform  to  the  in- 
terests of  progress,  or  which  tends  to 
make  permanent  the  results  of  a  mo- 
mentary success. 

In  the  war  literature  of  today  it  is 
frequently  maintained  that  it  is  to  the  in- 
terest of  humanity  and  civilization  that 
England  and  France  should  come  out  of 
the  war  victorious  and  mark  with  the 
seal  of  their  genius  the  evolution  of  hu- 
manity; or  that,  on  the  contrary,  the 
domination  of  Germany  is  rather  to  be 
desired,  since  Germany  is  the  country  of 
the  highest  civilization. 

These  are  exaggerations  which  will 
not  bear  examination.  It  is  impossible 
to  say  to  which  people  humanity  owes  its 


finest  progress  in  the  past  or  which  na- 
tion is  called  to  render  the  greatest  serv- 
ice in  the  future. 

It  is  impossible  to  settle  whether 
Shakespeare  or  Goethe,  Helmholz  or 
Pasteur,  was  greatest  and  has  rendered 
the  greatest  services  to  humanity. 

There  is  no  "  first  nation,"  and  even  if 
there  were  one  it  would  not  be  desirable 
that  it  should  set  the  imprint  of  its 
particular  genius  on  civilization.  The 
qualities  of  any  given  people  cannot  take 
the  place  of  those  of  others.  The  general 
interest  demands  that  progress  should  be 
as  varied  as  possible,  that  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  races  should  co- 
operate in  the  work  of  civilization,  in 
freely  unfolding  their  genius  and  their 
inborn  qualities.  Humanity  needs  not 
great  nations  only,  but  little  nations  also. 

We  must  not  forget  that  Homer  and 
Phidias  were  the  sons  of  a  nation  weak 
in  numbers  but  independent,  that  the 
Michael  Angelos  and  Raphaels  were  born 
and  grew  up  on  the  soil  of  cities  which 
had  their  separate  life,  that  a  Rembrandt 
and  a  Petofi  belonged  to  little  nations.  It 
is  especially  for  us  Magyars  not  to  lose 
sight  of  this  great  truth,  since  we  are 
members  of  a  nation  which  is  not  willing 
to  lose  its  identity  in  another,  however 
great  that  other  may  be,  and  which  is 
convinced  that  humanity  has  a  stake  in 
its  preservation.     *     *     * 

I  do  not  wish  to  enter  into  questions  of 
detail;  I  have  not  in  view  to  establish 
conditions  which  would  be  absolutely  nec- 
essary for  the  conclusion  of  peace;  I 
am  not  at  all  weighing  the  chances  of 
the  possible  and  the  practicable.    It  even 


THE  GUARANTEES  OF  A  LASTING  PEACE 


1121 


seems  to  me  that  in  the  present  war  the 
changes  and  chances  of  which  cannot 
be  foreseen,  public  opinion  would  be 
wrong  to  express  categorical  desiderata 
and  to  wish  to  impose  on  the  Govern- 
ments stipulations  fixed  in  advance.  I 
shall  therefore  limit  myself  to  looking 
at  the  question  from  a  purely  theoretical 
point  of  view,  and  to  defining  the  condi- 
tions which,  while  safeguarding  the  in- 
terests of  the  Central  European  powers, 
would  offer  the  guarantees  of  a  lasting 
peace,  but  at  the  same  time  I  wish  to 
insist  on  the  fact  that  in  politics  it  is 
before  all  with  possibility  that  one 
should  count;  it  is  in  basing  one's  self  on 
the  calculation  of  real  forces  that  one 
may  see  whether  what  one  has  proposed 
to  one's  self  is  practicable  and  bears  a 
due  proportion  to  the  sacrifices  imposed 
upon  the  country. 

The  present  war  has  arisen  from  three 
powerful  antagonisms — the  Franco-Ger- 
man antagonism,  the  Anglo-German  an- 
tagonism, and  the  antagonism  between 
Muscovitism  and  its  western  neighbors. 

To  find  the  conditions  of  a  "  good " 
peace,  we  must  therefore  consider  these 
antagonisms  one  by  one  and  seek  the 
solution  which  fits  each  of  the  problems 
which  have  provoked  the  conflict.    *    *    * 

The  Franco-German  antagonism  goes 
back  to  a  time  when  the  French  and  Ger- 
man national  consciousness,  properly  so 
called,  was  not  yet  in  existence.  *  *  * 
One  of  the  goals  of  this  war  is  to  dissi- 
pate this  ancient  antagonism,  which  is  a 
permanent  danger  to  universal  peace. 
This  goal  can  be  attained  in  two  ways — 
either  by  an  accord  between  the  two 
countries  or  by  the  crushing  of  France. 

The  first  solution  is  preferable.  *  *  * 
If  Germany  does  not  profit  by  her  victory 
to  annex  new  territories,  it  will  be  diffi- 
cult to  make  the  French  believe,  as  they 
have  done  in  the  past,  that  Germany  has 
dreams  of  aggrandizing  herself  at  the 
expense  of  France. 

But  if  this  hope  should  not  be  realized 
and  the  victories  of  Germany  should  only 
excite  anew  the  hatred  of  the  French  for 
Germany,  if  they  remain  in  the  convic- 
tion that  Germany  is  pursuing  a  policy 
of  aggression  toward  their  country,  then 
Germany  will  see  herself  forced  to  put 


an  end  to  this  struggle  of  the  two  peoples 
by  the  final  weakening  of  France. 

Bismarck  said,  as  early  as  1887,  that 
if  Germany  was  forced  once  more  to 
draw  the  sword  against  France,  and  came 
forth  once  more  victorious  from  the  con- 
flict, she  would  have  to  knock  France 
out  for  thirty  years,  and  so  act  that  at 
least  one  generation  could  not  bear  arms 
against  Germany.  "  The  war  of  1870," 
he  said,  "  would  be  child's  play  in  com- 
parison with  the  next  war,  when  they 
would  try  to  bleed  each  other  white." 

Today  it  is  still  possible  for  the  French 
to  avoid  this  fate  for  their  country.  The 
Germans  have  no  hatred  for  them,  and 
would  be  altogether  rejoiced  to  remove, 
by  an  amicable  arrangement,  the  sword  of 
Damocles  which  the  enmity  of  France 
suspends  over  Germany's  head. 

They  will  only  swerve  from  this  path, 
they  will  only  put  Bismarck's  threat  into 
execution,  if  France  does  not  give  guar- 
antees of  a  radical  change  of  policy: 
such  would  be  the  conclusion  of  a  sepa- 
rate peace.  May  God  grant  that  Ger- 
many may  not  be  forced  to  have  recourse 
to  extreme  measures!  The  general  in- 
terest demands  that  France  should  sub- 
mit to  the  decree  of  fate,  in  case  her 
adversaries  are  victorious,  in  order  to 
conserve  her  vital  forces,  so  precious  for 
humanity. 

The  Anglo-German  antagonism  has  a 
quite  different  character.  It  is  of  quite 
recent  origin  and  has  no  historic  causes. 
*  *  *  There  is  only  one  new  fact:  the 
economic  rise  of  Germany  and  the  growth 
of  her  fleet.  These  are  the  only  griev- 
ances which  England  has  against  Ger- 
many. The  growing  prosperity  of  the 
commerce  of  Germany,  the  rapid  growth 
of  her  population,  and  in  the  same  pro- 
portion of  her  naval  power — this  is  what 
provoked  the  anger  of  England,  made 
her  conclude  the  entente,  and  drove  her 
to  take  part  in  this  war. 

But  it  is  precisely  for  this  reason  that 
the  pretentions  of  England  are  a  peril 
for  the  whole  world.  It  is  for  this  rea- 
son that  the  cause  of  Germany  has  be- 
come that  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 
If  England  considers  as  a  menace  the 
economic  prosperity  of  one  of  her  neigh- 
bo"s,  its  export  trade,  and  the  creation 


1122 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


of  the  fleet  necessary  to  assure  its  pro- 
tection, this  means  that  she  wishes  to 
dominate  maritime  conditions  and  bar  the 
way  to  every  nation  which  is  developing. 

Therefore,  Germany  is  struggling  to 
break  England's  guardianship,  to  force 
the  recognition  of  her  right  to  become  a 
world  power,  to  possess  a  war  fleet,  to 
spread  abroad  her  colonial  commerce.  It 
is  hoped  that  the  English  in  their  turn 
will  recognize  the  legitimate  character  of 
these  aspirations,  and  will  realize  that 
Germany  is  much  too  strong  to  subject 
the  necessities  of  her  economic  growth 
to  the  good  pleasure  of  England. 

It  would  be  desirable  that,  in  delineat- 
ing their  spheres  of  influence,  the  nego- 
tiating powers  should  agree  on  condi- 
tions that  would  permit  Germany  to  de- 
velop in  perfect  liberty.  We  hope  that 
England  will  end  by  resigning  herself  to 
this,  when  she  sees  that  Germany  can- 
not be  conquered,  that  the  Continental 
Allies  will  run  the  ris-k  of  being  ground 
to  pieces,  as  in  the  epoch  of  Napoleon  I., 
and  that  a  prolongation  of  the  struggle 
would  impose  so  many  sacrifices  on  her 
that  they  would  make  the  war  "  bad 
business."  But  it  is  possible  that  Eng- 
land— which  for  centuries  has  not  been 
decisively  conquered — may  persist  in 
wishing  to  go  to  the  end,  "  to  conquer 
or  die."  In  this  case  a  durable  peace  can 
only  be  realized  by  crushing  England 
completely.  Europe  and  all  humanity 
would  suffer  equally  from  such  an 
eventuality,  for  it  would  be  making  per- 
manent a  sanguinary  struggle  which 
could  profit  none  of  the  belligerents  and 
would  find  its  inspiration  in  hatred, 
thirst  for  revenge,  rather  than  an  in- 
evitable conflict  of  really  vital  interests. 

The  third  element  of  the  general  war 
is  the  antagonism  which  exists  between 
the  aspirations  of  the  Russian  Empire 
for  universal  domination  and  the  vital  in- 
terests of  her  western  neighbors.  The 
Franco-German  and  Anglo-German  an- 
tagonisms did  not  at  first  concern  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, and  we  only  became  the 
enemies  of  France  and  England  because 
they  are  the  enemies  of  our  friends,  but 
the  struggle  with  Russia  is  also  our 
struggle;  we  are,  indeed,  most  nearly 
touched  by  it.    Therefore,  while  Germany 


will  have  a  decisive  role  in  the  settle- 
ment of  accounts  with  her  neighbors  to 
the  west,  it  is  we  who  must  have  the 
last  word  to  say  in  the  questions  which 
touch  Muscovitism.     *     *     * 

It  is  clear  that  if  we  wish  for  a  durable 
peace  we  must  block  the  expansion  of 
Russia  toward  the  west  and  force  Serbia 
to  resign  herself  to  the  fact  that  the 
provinces  inhabited  by  Serbians  which 
form  a  part  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 
should  so  remain  to  the  end  of  time,  and 
to  recognize  that  to  seek  to  make  con- 
quests from  a  power  stronger  than  her- 
self is  to  commit  suicide.     *     *     * 

We  are  the  more  authorized  to  believe 
that,  after  a  complete  defeat,  Russia  will 
renounce,  at  least  for  a  long  time  to 
come,  her  policy  of  expansion  toward  the 
west,  for  a  disaster  would  probably 
create  for  her  internal  difficulties  which 
would  make  all  action  in  the  domain  of 
external  politics  impossible  for  her. 

We  must  create  in  the  Balkans  a  con- 
dition of  things  which  will  deprive  Rus- 
sian policy  of  the  means  of  action  which 
she  has  hitherto  used  in  these  countries. 
*  *  *  At  the  conclusion  of  the  peace, 
as  well  as  by  our  future  Eastern  policy, 
every  one  must  be  made  to  perceive  that 
he  who  is  against  Austria-Hungary  loses 
thereby,  while  he  who  is  for  us  will  find 
this  profitable  to  him. 

If  we  pursue  this  course  systematically 
and  if  we  fortify  our  frontiers  from  the 
strategic  point  of  view,  if  we  succeed  in 
coming  into  direct  contact  with  the 
Balkan  States  which  do  not  touch  our 
frontiers,  we  shall  be  able  finally  to  ruin 
Russia's  dominant  and  aggressive  influ- 
ence in  the  Balkans,  which  will  be  an 
added  reason  for  the  Czars  not  to  squan- 
der their  forces  in  the  execution  of  am- 
bitious projects  which  are  ever  less  and 
less  realizable.     *     *     * 

Even  with  regard  to  Italy  we  should 
be  wrong  to  allow  ourselves  to  be  fasci- 
nated by  the  beauties  of  nature  or  to 
respond  to  the  memories  of  the  past  and 
the  suggestions  of  our  just  anger.  To 
wish  to  dismember  or  subjugate  a  coun- 
try whose  population  burns  with  a  pat- 
riotism as  ardent  as  that  of  the  Italian 
people  would  be  for  us  a  source  of  weak- 
ness.    In  reason,  it  can  only  be  a  ques- 


THE  GUARANTEES  OF  A  LASTING  PEACE  1123 

tion  of  certain  rectifications  of  frontier,  ing  Turkish  domination  at  Constantino- 

and   not  of  conquests.     Italy  will   have  pie  and  across  the  sea,  we  are  working 

to   indemnify   us   in   cash,  not   in   terri-  for  the  grandeur  of  Magyarism  and  en- 

tory.   *    *   *  riching  it.     *     *     *     In  case  of  victory, 

In  creating  in  the  Balkans  an  equilib-  the  situation  of  the   Hungarian   Nation 

rium     of    forces     favorable  to     Austria-  will  be  more  advantageous  than  it  has 

Hungary,  in  maintaining  and  strengthen-  ever  been  in  the  past.     *     *     * 


The   Quiet   Harbor 


By  CAROLINE  RUSSELL  BISPHAM. 

"  No   harbor   is   so   sheltered   but   that   the   ship   of   death   may   sail   in. 
—Old    Scotch    Proverb. 

Far,  far  away  I  just  can  see 
A  little  boat  sail  toward  the  quay. 
What  does  it  bring — whose  can  it  be? 
It  looks  so  small  across  the  sea. 
The  cold  north-sea  that  runs,  ah,  me, 
Between  my  soldier-love  and  me! 

I  see  it  now  beyond  the  lea, 
Now  near,  now  far,  it  seems  to  be — 
Perhaps  it  brings  my  destiny; 
Perchance  it  bears  the  mystic  key 
That  unlocks  pain  or  joy  for  me. 
Oh,  bring  me  joy,  not  pain — woe's  me. 
Nor  man,  nor  maid  e'er  loved  as  we! 
I  could  not  bear  his  death — but,  see. 
They  hail  us — Jamie,  where  are  ye? 
And  Jock,  run  quick,  here's  twice  yer  fee 
If  ye  bring  back  good  news  to  me — 

Look,  look!  they  wave — they  call  for  me! 

They  stand  with  bared  heads  by  the  sea! 

They've  heard  bad   news — what  can   it  be? 

Oh,  for  winged  feet  that  I  might  flee 

As  swift  as  sight  across  the  lea 

To  see  what  they  have  brought  to  me! 

They  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  me 

Upon  the  gray  sands  of  the  lea, 

The  long  black  box  that  came  by  sea. 

And  I  cried  in  my  agony — 

"  God,  God,  explain  the  mystery 

Of    Death!  "     ^     *     *     gut    silence    answered    me, 

When  they  brought  back  my  love  to  me — 

Brought  my  dead  soldier  home  to  me! 


Magazinists  of  the  World  on  the  War 

Condensed  from  the  Leading  Reviews 

The  antagonisms  between  Germany  and  Russia  are  brought  into  sharp  relief  by  the 
subjoined  extracts  from  the  review  articles  written  by  the  exponents  of  the  respective  na- 
tions' causes,  while  the  personal  sketch  of  Russia's  new  War  Minister,  a  translation  of 
which  leads  the  series  of  extracts  from  the  reviews  of  the  chief  nations  in  the  war,  is  one 
of  the  first  presented  to  English-spealiing  readeis. 

General  Polivanoff,  the  New  Russian  War  Minister 

[From  the  Petrograd  Niva.] 


THE  Petrograd  Niva  ("The  Field") 
gives    one    of    the    first    Russian 
sketches  of  General  A.  A.  Poliva- 
noff,  the  new  Russian  Minister  of 
War,    who   takes   the   place   of   General 
Sukhomlinof  f : 

The  new  War  Minister,  Infantry  Gen- 
eral A.  A.  Polivanoff,  was  born  in  1855, 
He  is  full  of  life  and  energy.  His  bi- 
ography shows  him  to  be  a  profoundly 
instructed,  hard-working  man  of  action. 
Completing  his  studies  in  the  Classical 
Gymnasium  (High  School)  and  in  the 
Nicholas  College  of  Engineering,  after  a 
brief  service  as  construction  officer  in  the 
Second  Battalion  of  Sappers,  and  in  the 
Grenadier  Regiment  of  the  Life  Guards, 
A.  A.  Polivanoff  in  1876  entered  the  Nich- 
olas Academy  of  Engineering.  But  the 
Russo-Turliish  war,  (which  broke  out  in 
the  following  year,)  led  him  to  return 
voluntarily  to  his  regiment,  with  which 
he  fought  gallantly  in  the  valleys  of  Bul- 
garia and  in  the  Balkans ;  he  was  grave- 
ly wounded  under  Gorny  Dubnyak — a 
bullet  through  the  chest — and  for  mili- 
tary excellence  he  received  two  decora- 
tions, the  Cross  of  Saint  Anne  of  the 
fourth  degree,  with  the  badge  "  for  valor," 
and  Saint  Stanislav  of  the  third  degree, 
decorated  with  swords  and  with  the  rib- 
bon. In  the  year  1878,  A.  A.  Polivanoff 
returned  to  the  Nicholas  Academy  of  En- 
gineering, and  there  completed  his  studies, 
in  the  first  rank.  Returning  once  more  to 
the  Grenadier  Regiment  of  the  Life 
Guards,  he  entered  another  military  acad- 
emy in  1885— the  Nicholas  General  Staff- 
where  he  finished  brilliantly  in  the  year 
1888,  with  the  rank  of  Lieutenant  Colonel 
on  the  General  Staff. 

Colonel  Polivanoff  was  then  33.  For 
the  next  eleven  years  he  worked  hard 
in  inconspicuous  posts,  first  as  senior 
adjutant  of  the  Kieff  military  circle, 
then  as  director  of  the  Military  Sci- 
ence  Committee,    and   finally   as   head   of 


a  department  of  the  General  Staff.  To 
this  period  of  his  activities  belongs  his 
important  work  of  military  research,  "A 
Sketch  of  the  Commissariat  of  the  Rus- 
sian Army  in  the  Danubian  Theatre  of 
War  in  the  Campaign  of  1853-4  and  in 
1877,"  (Petrograd,  1894,)  marked  by  the 
distinction  and  solidity  of  its  method  and 
the  soundness  of  its  deductions.  In  April, 
1899,  Colonel  Polivanoff  was  appointed 
assistant  editor,  and  in  August  of  the 
same  year  editor  in  chief,  of  the  official 
military  organs,  the  journal,  "  The  Rus- 
sian Invalid,"  and  the  review,  "  The  War 
Magazine  " — and  showed  himself  to  be  a 
gifted  journalist. 

He  soon  waked  up  the  Russian  war 
periodicals,  and  his  editorial  sway  of  the 
Russian  Invalid  and  the  War  Magazine 
forms  the  most  brilliant  period  of  their 
history. 

Completely  changing  the  former  char- 
acter of  these  publications,  notably  broad- 
ening their  scope,  and  attracting  to  their 
columns  the  younger  literary  talent  of 
the  army,  Polivanoff  gave  his  collabora- 
tors ample  elbow  room  for  the  many- 
sided  ventilation  of  scientific,  depart- 
mental, and  statistical  military  questions, 
and  he  succeeded  in  making  the  specialist 
military  official  gazette  and  magazine  in- 
teresting to  a  wide  circle  of  Russian  so- 
ciety. 

For  five  years  he  served  the  Russian 
Army  and  Russian  society  In  the  char- 
acter of  a  man  of  letters ;  in  the  year  1904 
he  became  a  permanent  member  and  di- 
rector of  works  of  the  Grand  Committee 
on  Fortifications,  in  1905  he  was  for  a 
short  time  the  Second  Quartermaster  Gen- 
eral of  the  General  Staff,  and  in  the  same 
year  General  Polivanoff  was  appointed 
Chief  of  the  General  Staff.  In  the  year 
1906  he  was  appointed  to  the  recently 
created  post  of  Assistant  Minister  of  War, 
and  at  the  same  time  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  the  Empire. 

It  would  be  of  high  interest  and  ad- 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE   WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


1125 


vantage  to  the  whole  civilized  world 
s'lould  it  fall  to  the  lot  of  General  Poli- 
vanoff  to  write  the  Russian  history  of  tbi? 
present  war,  as  General  Kuropatkin,  one 


of  his  predecessors  at  the  War  Ministry, 
wrote  the  Russian  history  of  the  Cam- 
paigns of  Plevna,  Lovcha,  and  Shipka,  in 
tho  Turkish  war  of  1877. 


Does  Russia  Menace  Sweden 

By  Nicholas  Emilianoff 


SVEN  HEDIN'S  attack  on  Russia 
has  brought  a  forceful  Russian 
reply.  Sven  Hedin  bases  his  at- 
tack on  the  assertion  that  Russia, 
lo  get  an  open  ice-free  port,  needs  to 
expand  toward  the  Atlantic.  He  did  not 
look  forward  to  the  opening  of  the  Dar- 
danelles; he  saw  Russia's  outlets  toward 
the  sea  blocked  in  the  direction  of  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  the  Pacific.  The  Baltic 
is  also  closed.  For  this  immense  suffo- 
cating empire,  he  exclaimed,  the  only 
possible  issue  to  the  sea-  is  across  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula.  "  If  I  were  a 
Russian,"  he  adds,  "  I  should  myself 
recognize  in  this  policy  a  vital  necessity 
for  my  country."  Sven  Hedin  was  so 
possessed  by  this  idea  that  one  might 
think  he  wished  to  "  suggest "  it  to  Rus- 
sia, so  eager  was  he  to  put  Sweden  on  her 
guard  against  this  "  inevitable  danger." 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  effect  that 
this  passionate  propaganda  had  on  Swed- 
ish opinion,  creating  not  so  much  an  ag- 
gressive hatred  of  Russia  as  a  profound 
apprehension  of  her  aims. 

Nicholas  Emilianoff,  who  has  given  the 
answer  to  Sven  Hedin  in  a  Swedish  pam- 
phlet, is  the  constructor  of  the  new  rail- 
road which  Russia  is  now  building  be- 
tween Petrograd  and  the  Murman  coast, 
situated  on  the  Kola  Peninsula,  north  of 
Finland,  on  the  Arctic  Ocean,  to  the 
northwest  of  the  White  Sea  and  Archan- 
gelsk,  at  the  northwestern  corner  of  Rus- 
sia. Thus  Emilianoff  speaks  of  this 
region  with  authority. 

He  demonstrates  that  the  Murman 
coast,  thanks  to  the  passage  of  the  Gulf 


Stream,  remains  free  from  ice  all  Winter, 
and  thus  allows  unbroken  communica- 
tion by  sea  with  the  rest  of  the  world  to 
be  maintained  all  the  year  round.  The 
natural  harbors  are  excellent  and  easy 
to  equip.  The  waters  are  full  of  fish, 
among  the  best  in  the  world.  These  re- 
gions, hitherto  wholly  waste,  only  need  a 
railroad  to  open  them  up  to  civilization 
and  prosperity. 

While  the  White  Sea  and  the  harbor  of 
Archangelsk,  ?lthough  situated  further 
south,  are  blocked  by  ice  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year,  the  Murman 
coast  enjoys  a  relatively  mild  climate, 
for  the  warm  waters  of  the  Gulf  Stream 
permit  no  icebergs  to  approach.  If  Rus- 
sia had  built  this  railroad  sooner,  she 
would  not  now  be  short  of  munitions. 
The  Murman  coast,  linked  by  the  new 
railroad  with  Petrograd,  will,  therefore, 
have  a  high  importance  for  Russia, 
strategically,  in  time  of  war;  economi- 
cally, in  time  of  peace. 

Emilianoff  concludes  that,  given  these 
circumstances,  the  fears  of  Russian  ag- 
gression against  Norway  and  Sweden  are 
unjustified.  The  Murman  coast  once  util- 
ized, Russia  needs  no  port  on  the  coast  of 
Norway.  Then  why  should  she  menace 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  and  challenge 
a  conflict  with  England,  which  might  not 
look  favorably  on  the  creation  of  a  Rus- 
sian naval  base  opposite  her  coasts? 

The  construction  of  the  new  line  was 
decided  in  part  in  the  month  of  October, 
1914,  and  in  part  in  January  of  the  pres- 
ent year.  Before  this  date,  therefore,  there 
was  justification  for  Sweden's  uneasiness. 


German  War  Literature 

By  a  Russian  Critic,  "Eusis,"  in  Sovremenny  Mir 
(The  Contemporary   World) 


DURING  the  first  five  months  of 
the  war  there  were  published  in 
Germany  1,460  books,  pamphlets, 
and  reviews  (counting  their 
titles,  but  not  separate  issues)  dedicated 
to  the  war.  During  the  same  period,  ac- 
cording to  the  reckoning  of  a  Munich 
professor,  more  than  3,000,000  patriotic 
poems  were  written.  If  to  this  we  add 
the  fact  that  the  majority  of  general 
periodicals  which  existed  before  the  war 
have  now  been  transformed  into  special 
war  journals  we  must  admit  that  the 
Germans  hold  the  record  for  the  rapidity 
and  extent  of  their  mobilization  of  lit- 
erature for  war  needs.  The  Germans 
themselves  are  proud  of  this  record, 
especially  in  comparison  with  France, 
where  the  presses  have  not  been  able  to 
print  a  tenth  part  of  what  is  produced  in 
Germany.  To  study  this  whole  literary 
output  is  impossible;  at  best,  one  could 
only  measure  it  by  statistics,  as  so  many 
hundredweight  of  spoiled  paper  and 
printer's  ink,  or  express  in  square  miles 
the  extent  of  the  pages  consumed  by  this 
war  literature.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
in  time  German  lovers  of  statistics  will 
carry  out  this  task,  and  we  need  only 
await  that  happy  day,  conscious  that, 
taken  as  a  whole,  the  German  "  Kriegs 
literature "  deserves  no  more  delicate 
characterization.  This  literature  is,  for 
the  most  part,  apologetic  and  polemical. 
The  subject  of  the  apologetics  is:  Ger- 
many and  her  rulers;  the  method  of 
apology  is  every  distortion  of  thought 
and  fact  within  the  power  of  a  man  who 
is  ready  for  anything  and  despairs  of 
everything.  The  polemics  are  of  the 
same  kind:  without  measure  or  bounds, 
without  the  sense  of  responsibility,  with- 
out sparing  even  their  own  honor.  They 
say  that  Danton,  in  controversy  with  the 
Girondists,  exclaimed:  "I  spit  upon  my 
honor,  if  only  France  may  be  saved!  " 
Almost  all  Germany  is  now  in  the  same 


mood.  And  to  this  mood  one  cannot 
apply  ordinary  human  standards.  The 
critic's  problem  may  be,  neither  an  esti- 
mate of  this  literature  nor  a  controversy 
with  it,  but  only  the  selection  from  it  of 
that  part  which  continues  the  normal 
work  of  thought,  not  yet  quite  distorted 
by  delirious  ideas,  but  which  is  trying 
to  understand  the  situation  created  by 
the  war,  to  show  the  nation  its  problems, 
to  remove  the  difficulties  of  the  war,  to 
explain  its  causes,  to  try  to  divine  its 
issue,  and  so  forth.  It  stands  to  reason 
that,  in  its  service  to  society,  the  war 
literature  of  Germany,  as  of  every  other 
country,  is  in  many  ways  different  from 
the  literature  of  a  time  of  peace.  Even 
in.  the  most  tranquil  people,  the  tem- 
perature and  pulse  do  not  remain  normal 
at  such  a  time.  But  precisely  these  per- 
turbations in  the  normal  development  of 
thought  have  a  special  interest,  making 
clearer  the  meaning  of  the  more  im- 
portant complexes  of  the  nation's  life — 
of  course  up  to  the  point  where  the  writer 
goes  completely  crazy,  when  criticism 
must  give  place  to  psychiatric  diagnosis. 

The  war  literature  consists  chiefly  of 
pamphlets.  A  book  is  a  rarity.  Only 
military  statistics  run  to  fat  books.  And 
this  is  natural.  The  time  for  scientific 
analysis  has  not  yet  come.  And  a  nation 
which  is  carrying  on  a  contest,  not  for 
life,  but  for  death,  does  not  need,  and 
does  not  recognize,  scientific  analysis. 
It  demands  that  thoughts  should  be 
pelted  at  it,  like  bombs,  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, in  sufficient  quantity,  and  suffi- 
ciently concentrated.  What  is  now  de- 
manded of  an  idea  is  not  its  scientific 
soundness,  but  its  ballistic  quality,  and 
the  effectiveness  of  its  impact.  It  is  all 
one  whether  that  idea  is  conservative  or 
ultra-democratic;  it  must  possess  such 
qualities  as  will  be  significant  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  bursting  bombs.  Defense 
and  attack  are  carried  out  by  the  same 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE   WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


1127 


means,  and  raise  equal  quantities  of  dust. 
In  their  war  literature  the  Germans  have 
been  true  to  their  great  benefactor 
organization.  In  Germany  there  are  now 
fewer  people  who  stand  alone,  or  who 
walk  alone,  than  in  time  of  peace.  There 
are  hardly  any  critics,  and  this,  if  you 
wish,  is  the  most  characteristic  trait  of 
human  thought  in  time  of  war;  extraor- 
dinary credulity,  a  proneness  to  accept 
without  criticsm  any  and  every  thought, 
if  only  it  tends  in  the  desired  direction. 
War  creates  a  mass  of  Utopias.  The 
future  will  criticise  them. 

Another  characteristic  trait  is  the  ex- 
traordinary contagiousness  of  ideas. 
People,  crowding  together  more  than 
usual,  feel  that  they  belong  to  the  mass, 
and  need  each  other's  support.  They 
crowd  together,  and,  where  the  way  is 
opener,  where  the  road  is  wider,  where 
there  is  more  '  fight,  whether  natural 
or  artificial,  there  the  crowd  takes  its 
way. 

War  literature  must  be  popular  in 
form.  War  literature  is  a  word  of  com- 
mand. And  in  a  word  of  command,  the 
most  desirable  qualities  are  lucidity, 
brevity,  and  definiteness  of  direction. 
You  cannot  command  like  this:  if  such 
and  such  facts  are  so  and  so,  then,  if 


the  remaining  conditions  are  unchanged, 
and  so  on.  A  command  of  that  sort  is 
useless.  For  this  reason,  even  the  most 
moderate  and  undecided  minds  have  now 
become  firm  and  decided.  For  this 
reason,  many  who  were  leaders  in  time 
of  peace  have  left  the  stage.  They  have 
yielded  their  places  to  others,  perhaps 
less  thoughtful,  less  talented,  less  con- 
scientious, but  at  the  same  time  more  def- 
inite and  decided — sometimes  even  impu- 
dent and  shameless.  This  is  seen  in  every 
region.  Among  the  conservatives,  the 
talented  Delbriick  has  become  almost 
silent,  and  the  almost  talented  Schiemann 
has  become  altogether  silent,  but,  in  com- 
pensation. Baron  von  Zedlitz  and  the  up- 
start Hetsch  have  suddenly  become  the 
leading  minds  of  conservative  politics. 
Among  the  liberal  professors,  most  con- 
spicuous are  Franz  Liszt  and  Sombart; 
on  the  other  hand,  Brentano  and  Schmol- 
ler  have  grown  too  old  for  such  a  stormy 
time,  and  in  the  strenuous  activities  of 
national  economic  science  and  practice 
their  names  are  hardly  heard.  Among 
the  Social  Democrats,  Kautzky  has  al- 
most retired  into  the  shade,  while  Heine, 
Schiemann  and  even  a  certain  Lentsch 
have  suddenly  become  the  enlighteners 
of  the  multitude. 


^^ Russia  oil  the  Way  to  Revolution" 

By  Dr.  Theodor  Schiemann, 

Professor  in  Berlin  University. 


THIS  very  interesting  and  un- 
usually well  written  pamphlet 
by  Dr.  Schiemann  is  an  excel- 
lent example  of  the  kind  of 
literature  Germany  produces  in  such 
abundance,  to  mold  German  public  opin- 
ion concerning  the  war.  Dr.  Schiemann, 
who  is  a  personal  friend  of  the  Kaiser, 
holds  that  the  work  of  revolutionary 
propaganda  has  been  carried  on  in  Rus- 
sia by  wounded  men  sent  back  from  the 
front : 

AH  the  thousands   and  other  thousands 
who    returned    home,    discharged    as    no 


longer  fit  for  service,  everywhere  related 
the  same  thing  in  town  and  village,  that 
they  were  badly  treated  and  badly  led, 
that  the  officers  reveled  and  caroused, 
and  refused  to  go  into  battle.  The  poor 
soldiers  were  knouted  by  the  Cossacks, 
when  they  did  not  wish  to  go  forward, 
and  forced  into  action  by  machine  guns 
and  artillery.  They  described  how  they 
had  to  wait  in  the  trenches  without 
weapons,  until  rifles  were  available  for 
them,  because  their  comrades  had  been 
killed,  and  what  a  contrast  there  was  in 
the  camp  of  the  Germans.  How  superbly 
they  were  treated,  how  well  they  were  all 
taken  care  of,  how  the  officers  were  at 
once  brothers   and   fathers   to    their  men, 


1128 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


and  how  fearful  they  were  in  battle.  "  To 
fight  victoriously  against  the  Germans  is 
impossible!"    That  was   the   refrain. 

Therefore  they  set  themselves  to  fo- 
ment a  revolution.  And  the  same  thing 
was  going  on  at  the  front,  so  that,  by 
last  Christmas,  from  a  fifth  to  a  quar- 
ter of  the  army  was  ready  for  the  "  up- 
rising." 

Since  then  this  movement  has  made  even 
more  rapid  progress — for  the  levolution- 
ary  propaganda  has  been  pressed  uninter- 
ruptedly— particularly  since  the  best  ele- 
ments of  the  army,  the  German  peasant 
sons  of  the  colonists,  perhaps  200,000  in 
number,  aroused  by  learning  that,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Czar's  law  of  Febru- 
ary, 1915,  their  families  had  all  been  given 
over  to  annihilation,  have  been  waiting 
in  unspeakable  bitterness,  with  eager 
malice  expecting  the  dissolution,  and  de- 
termined to  surrender  at  the  first  oppor- 
tunity. 


Dr.  Schiemann  thinks  that,  under  these 
circumstances,  Russia  will  be  eager  for 
peace,  and  that,  should  she  succeed  in 
obtaining  peace  from  Germany 

the  whole  blame  for  the  miscarriage  of 
the  war  will  be  laid  at  the  door  of  France 
and  England,  and  on  the  non-Russian 
races,  the  Jews,  Germans,  Esthonians, 
Letts,  Lithuanians,  and  Poles;  these  will 
be  expropriated,  expelled,  annihilated,  and 
the  Germans  in  Russia  will  suffer  ter- 
ribly. 

For  these  reasons,  Dr.  Schiemann 
thinks  an  early  peace  with  Russia  is  in- 
expedient, from  the  standpoint  of  Ger- 
many. Dr.  Schiemann  is  also  author  of 
"  How  England  Prevented  an  Under- 
standing With  Germany,"  and  to  the 
same  series  of  pamphlets  Dr.  Richard 
G-as?hoff  has  contributed  "  The  Guilt  of 
Belgium." 


The  Fight  for    Constantinople 


A   German   View 
By  G.  Ast 


'TX'T'RITING  in  the  Socialistic  Neue 
\/\l     Zeit,    (The   New   Time,)    Herr 
y  Y       Ast  naturally  tends  to  find  eco- 
nomic explanations  for  events 
which    appear    to    be    purely    political. 
In    spite    of    this    bias    his    views    are 
both  original  and  interesting,  and  at  any 
rate  suggest  additional  factors  in  what 
is,   without  doubt,   a   complex   and   very 
important  question.     Herr  Ast  begins  by 
searching  for  the  motives  which  led  Italy, 
after  many  months'  hesitation,  finally  to 
enter  the  war.     The  time  did  not  seem 
propitious : 

On  both  the  western  and  the  eastern 
front  the  state  of  affairs  was  such  that 
there  was  no  immediate  inducement  for 
Italy  to  depart  from  her  previous  policy  of 
waiting.  It  was  rather  the  contrary. 
So  far  as  the  inducements  and  motives 
which  have  brought  about  the  interven- 
tion of  Italy  lie  outside  that  country  they 
should  only  be  sought  in  the  Turkish  thea- 
tre of  war  and  in  the  development  of  af- 
fairs in  the  Turkish  Orient.  The  Darda- 
nelles adventure  of  the  Triple  Entente 
powers,  which  involved  the  question  of  the 
paitition  of  Turkey,  thereby  so  raised  the 


war  fever  of  Italy  that  the  elements  which 
wished  to  spare  Italy  the  horrors  of  war 
were  defeated.  On  the  other  hand,  from 
the  Dardanelles  adventure  there  has  arisen 
in  the  Near  East  a  decisive  contest  for 
power,  which  has  compelled  England  and 
France  to  strain  every  nerve  to  win  over 
Italy  and  the  Balkan  States,  and  in  this 
way  to  save  the  situation  for  themselves. 
Therefore  it  was  the  inducements,  terms, 
and  threats  of  the  Triple  Entente  that 
finally  compelled  Italy  to  go  to  war.  The 
urging  of  the  policy  of  expediency  of 
the  Italian  commercial  class  and  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Triple  Entente  powers  set 
before  Italy  the  question :    Now  or  never. 

How  high  was  the  price  for  which  the 
ambitious  Italian  commercial  class  sold 
the  peace  of  Italy  and  the  lives  and  treas- 
ure of  the  Italian  masses  to  the  insatia- 
ble Moloch  of  war  we  do  not  know.  That 
the  promises  and  threats  of  the  Triple 
Entente  were  not  significant  we  may 
conclude  from  the  fact  that  the  great 
offer  of  Austria  was  not  able  to  outweigh 
them.  The  case  of  Italy  and  the  pressure 
on  the  Balkans  are  examples  of  the  hag- 
gling, the  tortuousness,  the  corruption,  of 
the  secret  diplomacy  of  existent  States. 

So  far  as  the  Balkan  States  are  con- 
cerned the  chief  obstacle  which  has  pre- 
vented tl'eir  intervention  has  been  in  gen- 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE   WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


1129 


eral  the  circumstance  that  no  one  of  them 
could,  or  can,  take  the  momentous  step 
alone.  For  any  of  the  Balkan  States  a 
separate  entry  into  the  war  would  be  in 
the  highest  degree  dangerous ;  for  these 
States  are  so  hostile  to  each  other,  because 
of  the  last  Balkan  war,  that  all  attempts 
to  bring  them  to  a  common  understanding 
have,  up  to  the  present,  failed.  But  here 
we  must  not  overlook  the  main  factor — as 
so  often  happens.  The  circumstances 
mentioned  have  kept  the  Balkan  States 
from    making   a   separate   entry    into    the 


war  and  have  made  a  previous  mutual 
understanding  among  them  an  indispensa- 
ble condition  precedent,  but  the  antago- 
nisms between  the  Balkan  States  and  the 
political  developments  in  the  Near  East 
by  no  means  preclude  such  an  understand- 
ing in  the  future.  Precisely  the  mutually 
outbidding  offers  of  the  warring  powers, 
which  have  up  to  the  present  entered  the 
Balkan  region  and  Turkey,  as  if  they  were 
the  authentic  lords  of  these  lands,  may 
presently  lead  the  Balkan  States  to  a 
mutual  understanding. 


The  Health  of  the  Armies 


[From  The  Lancet  of  London.] 


A  review  entitled  "A  Year  at  War: 
The  Health  of  the  Armies,"  declares  that 
in  no  previous  war  has  such  recognition 
been  immediately  extended  to  the  value  of 
medical  assistance,  and  this  "has  been  the 
attitude  both  with  our  enemies  and  with 
all  the  allied  nations."  Of  the  Germans 
it  says: 

We  have  learned  enough  from  various 
sources  of  the  organization  of  the  German 
Army  to  appreciate  that  the  German  treat- 
ment of  their  sick  and  wounded  has  been 
very  thorough,  even  though  on  many  occa- 
sions their  prisoners  have  had  a  right  to 
complain  of  the  harshness  of  their  captors. 
The  German  military  medical  service  has 
been  from  the  first  helped  by  elaborate 
preparations,  made,  we  presume,  in  expec- 
tation of  the  war  which  has  eventuated. 
The  possible  wastage  of  men  from  un- 
treated wounds  and  sickness  or  unprevent- 
ed  epidemics  was  carefully  guarded 
against. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  soldiers  were 
not  so  well  guarded  against  infection: 

Medical  service  in  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Army  has  apparently  been  much  less  sat- 
isfactory, and  at  various  points  here  epi- 
demic diseases — typhus,  typhoid,  and  chol- 
era— have  made  their  appearance.  The 
outbreaks,  however,  seem  to  have  been 
niet  and  cut  short  with  promptitude,  and 
considerable  powers  of  strong  and  prudent 
administration  have  been  displayed  by  the 
authorities  at  Vienna  and  Budapest.  The 
comparative  freedom  of  the  Turks  from 
epidemic  illness  has  been  remarkable,  and 
we  are  inclined  to  think  that  with  regard 
to  Constantinople  we  do  not  know  the  true 
story. 

Among  the  Allies,"  the  condition  of  the 
Russian  troops,  at  first  a  matter  of  great 


concern  and  menaced  by  the  peculiar 
problems  of  living  and  transportation 
over  vast  distances,  showed  after  all  "  a 
good  bill  of  health  throughout  a  terrible 
year."    On  this  subject  The  Lancet  says: 

The  recruiting  of  the  army,  the  transport 
of  stores,  the  collection  and  dissemination 
of  material  for  war,  and  so  on,  have  all 
suffered  in  Russia  from  the  immense  dis- 
tances which  have  to  be  traversed  either 
by  mobilized  troops  or  dispatched  goods, 
and  for  the  time  being  Russia  is  suffering 
severely  for  what  is  not  unpreparedness, 
and  is  certainly  not  inefficiency,  but 
rather  is  an  unmanageable  geography. 
The  medical  men  and  the  hospitals  which 
they  were  destined  to  serve  when  not  with 
the  troops  at  the  various  fronts,  being  in 
those  centres  which  possess  a  railway 
service,  the  medical  side  of  the  Russian 
military  administration  has  been  compara- 
tively good,  while  from  various  corre- 
spondents we  have  heard  of  the  unstinted 
attention  paid  to  the  wounded  by  the  vol- 
untary nurses  and  civilian  medical  men 
who  have  had  charge  of  numerous  cases. 

The  story  of  Serbia  is  a  triumph  of 
preventive  medicine,  and  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  between  them 
may  lay  claim  to  the  credit: 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Serbians, 
who  had  valiantly  beaten  off  huge  crowds 
of  invaders,  looked  likely  to  perish  en 
masse  from  disease,  and  the  stories  of  the 
epidemics  of  typhus  at  the  beginning  of 
last  Winter,  terrible  as  they  were,  are  now 
known  to  have  by  no  means  exaggerated 
the  real  plight.  Serbia  was  largely  with- 
out hospitals  or  doctors  when  epidemic 
disea:se  became  added  in  the  horrors  of 
war.  American  generosity,  the  British 
Red  Cross  Society,  and  the  Order  of  St. 
John    of    Jerusalem,    and    private    charity. 


IISO 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


alike  came  to  the  rescue;  hospitals  were 
run  up,  the  sick  were  segregated  and 
treated,  crusades  of  cleanliness  were  in- 
augurated, and  with  something  of  the 
same  rapidity  with  which  disease  got  a 
grip  upon  the  country  that  grip  was  made 
to  relax. 

The  allied  troops  in  France  and  Bel- 
gium have  not  been  so  free  of  epidemics 
that  prompt  and  vigorous  treatment  could 
be  dispensed  with.  On  this  subject  The 
Lancet  remarks: 

On  the  western  front  there  have  been 
several  rather  smart  epidemics  of  typhoid 
fever,  but  neither  in  the  French,  British, 


nor  Belgian  lines  was  the  disease  ever 
allowed  to  make  grave  headway,  the  policy 
of  preventive  medicine  and  the  expert  ad- 
vice of  sanitarians  combining  to  keep  the 
outbreaks  under.  The  French  Army  has 
throughout  been  practically  free  from  this 
scourge.  In  common  with  the  German 
Army  there  was  much  suffering  in  the 
lines  of  the  Allies  from  exposure  in  the 
trenches  during  the  Winter.  The  cold  and 
wet  did  not,  however,  produce  the  amount 
of  pneumonia  or  rheumatism  that  was  an- 
ticipated, and  among  the  British  soldiers 
the  principal  cause  of  disability  was 
"  trench-foot,"  affecting  those  who  had  to 
spend  long  days  and  nights  in  trenches 
permanently  filled  with  semi-freezing  mud. 


General  Botha  and  the  Kaiser 


General  Louis  Botha,  speaking  in  Cape 
Town  at  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor  by 
the  citizens,  said  that  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting discoveries  in  German  South- 
west Africa  was  a  map  showing  the  re- 
distribution of  the  world  "  after  the  Peace 
of  Rome,  1916."  It  placed  the  whole  of 
Africa  south  of  the  equator  as  a  Greater 
German  Empire.  There  was  a  small  por- 
tion segregated  as  a  Boer  preserve. 

This  and  other  indications  of  the  same 
character,  said  Botha,  showed  the  Ger- 
man designs  upon  the  Union  of  South 
Africa,  and  how  much  faith  could  be 
placed  in  their  word.  It  was  established 
that  the  Boer  rebel,  Maritz,  had  sent  a 
delegate  to  German  Southwest  Africa  as 
long  ago  as  1913,  and  had  received  an 
encouraging  reply.  Before  the  European 
war  broke  out  the  Boer  rebellion  was 
brewing,  and,  in  the  circumstances,  Ma- 


ritz sent  a  delegate  to  inquire  how  far 
the  rebels  would  be  able  to  obtain  assist- 
ance in  artillery,  arms,  and  ammunition, 
and  how  far  the  independence  of  South 
Africa  would  be  guaranteed. 

Then  correspondence  took  place  be- 
tween the  Government  of  German  South- 
west Africa  and  the  Kaiser.  The  Kaiser's 
answer  was  as  follows : 

"  I  will  not  only  acknowledge  the  inde- 
pendence of  South  Africa,  but  I  will  even 
guarantee  it,  provided  that  the  rebellion 
is  started  immediately."  "  When  one 
hears  such  guarantees,"  said  General 
Botha,  "  one  feels  inclined  to  say,  *  Poor 
Belgium!  '  Thank  God  their  designs 
have  been  frustrated,  thanks  to  the  people 
of  this  country.  So  long  as  the  people  of 
South  Africa  maintain  their  honor  we 
need  not  fear  the  future." 


The  French  Magazines 


A  LITERARY  REVIVAL. 

French  critics  believe  that  their  coun- 
try is  on  the  threshold  of  a  great  literary 
revival  that  shall  have  a  universal  ap- 
peal, like  that  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Surely  they  must  be  right  about  the  re- 
vival: the  New  France  which  has  revealed 
herself  on  the  battlefield,  as  well  as  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  Cabinets  of 


the  Ministers,  and  the  sentiment  and 
work  of  the  people  must  find  expression. 
But  will  the  appeal  be  universal? 

One  of  the  first  signs  of  an  attempt 
to  make  it  so  is  the  appearance  of  a  new 
monthly  magazine  published  simulta- 
neously in  The  Hague  and  Paris.  It  is 
called  La  Revue  de  Hollande,  and  is  to  be 
devoted    to    matters    literary,     artistic. 


MAGAZINISTS   OF   THE   WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


1131 


and  documentary.  The  first  number 
is  a  superb  octavo  of  150  pages, 
printed  in  large,  clear  type  on  linen 
paper,  inclosed  in  a  parchment  pa- 
per jacket.  The  illustrations  are  fine 
woodcuts  and  a  few  portraits  in  half- 
tone— just  as  half-tones  should  be  when 
a  very  fine  screen  is  used.  In  explaining, 
but  not  attempting  to  excuse,  the  fact 
that  the  review  is  printed  in  the  French 
language,  the  editors  mention  the  Dutch 
contributors  to  the  Great  Encyclopaedia 
and  show  the  bonds  that  have  always  con- 
nected the  artistic  and  poetical  life  of 
the  Low  Countries  with  French  letters. 
Besides,  all  Dutchmen  know  French  and 
have  preserved  many  of  its  eighteenth 
century  traditions  better  than  they  have 
been  preserved  in  France  herself. 

The  opening  article  is  by  Dirk  Coster. 
It  is  a  magnificent  review  of  Dutch  lit- 
erature, various  phases  of  which  will  be 
treated  of  in  subsequent  papers.  Henri 
Malo  writes  on  the  famous  battles  of  the 
Yser  in  the  past,  and  Edzaed  Falck  on 
"  The  Princes  of  Orange."  Emile  Ver- 
haeren  has  an  essay  on  "  The  Past  of 
Flanders."  Naturally,  Belgium  is  not 
forgotten.  Louis  Pierard  writes  on 
"  From  One  Belgium  to  the  Other,"  in- 
troduced with  a  clear  and  dispassionate 
exposition  of  the  real  causes  underlying 
the  defense  of  the  country  against  Ger- 
many's invasion  and  how  a  new  Belgium 
must  be  inevitable,  merely  as  a  matter 
of  evolution,  when  the  German  scourge 
shall  have  passed.  Meanwhile  the  Bel- 
gians are  working  in  silence  and  by  the 
grace  of  God: 

In  spite  of  the  most  careful  guarding  of 
the  frontiers,  many  young  men,  at  the 
peril  of  their  lives,  left  the  country — only 
to  come  back  with  the  army  from  France 
and  England.  And  those  who  remain 
are  a  source  of  encouragement  and  help 
to  each  other.  These  Belgians,  who  write 
from  time  to  time  to  their  kinsmen  in  the 
land  of  exile,  convey,  in  spite  of  the 
censor,  more  than  the  fact  that  they 
have  the  best  of  news  from  Aunt  Victoire 
and  Cousin  Franyois. 

A  review  of  the  most  important  liter- 
ary, artistic,  and  biographical  events  of 
the  world  occupies  several  pages  at  the 
end  of  La  Revue  de  Hollande. 

The  Mercure  de  France,  now  changed 
from  a  fortnightly  to  a  monthly  publica- 


tion— "  but  only  during  the  war  " — in 
"  Montparnasse  et  la  Guerre,"  by  Claud- 
ien,  presents  in  the  August  number  an 
exposition  of  the  formative  influences  of 
the  French  literary  revival  noted  above. 
"  It  is  even  in  the  humanity  and  spiritual- 
ity of  this  revival  that  the  advocates  of 
the  impossible  Kultur  may  find  the  in- 
spiration for  new  life  and  hope." 

GERMAN  "KULTUR." 

We  find  this  Kultur  treated  of  from 
several  points  of  view  in  other  articles: 
"The  Pan-German  Paradox,"  by  G, 
Vacher  de  Lapouge;  "  Carlyle  and  the 
German  Empire,"  translated  by  E.  Mas- 
son  from  the  English  of  David  A.  Wil- 
son; "The  Errors  of  Force,"  by  Aurel, 
and  "  A  Revision  of  German  Philosophic 
Values,"  by  Peladan.  M.  de  Vacher 
writes: 

Like  Sparta  and  Japan,  Prussia  has 
ever  lived  under  a  r6gime  of  artificial 
survival  of  the  fittest,  which  has  subordi- 
nated to  the  interests  of  the  State  and 
King  those  of  the  individual.  Her  Con- 
stitution has  come  from  decrees.  From 
that  have  been  evolved  her  rigid  char- 
acter tainted  with  socialism,  and  this 
paradox  of  an  individualistic  race  in 
which  individuals  abdicate  all  rights  be- 
fore the  State. 

And  the  cause  of  it  all?  Down  to 
the  twelfth  century  "  Prussia  was  still 
inhabited  by  the  savage  tribes  of  the 
Lithuanian  race,  living  by  hunting  and 
fishing,  idolaters  and  man-eaters."  Two 
forces  combined  to  change  their  habits, 
but  not  their  spirit — Christianity  and  the 
Brandenburgers.  The  first  taught  them 
fear  of  superiors;  the  second  that  these 
superiors  were  material.  Then  came  the 
mobilization  of  the  forces  thus  disci- 
plined under  Frederick  the  Great,  which 
paved  the  way  to  Jena,  to  Sadowa,  Sedan, 
and  to  Versailles. 

With  this  foundation  there  has  been 
formed  a  mental  attitude  which  we  can 
hardly  understand,  imbedded  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  race  by  an  inflexible  educa- 
tion. This  mental  attitude  has  inspired 
books  which  for  generations  have  made 
Germans  think  in  the  Prussian  way,  and 
so  little  by  little  has  made  the  German 
nation,  and  then  the  State. 

The  author  quotes  from  German  writ- 
ers to  show  how  every  phase  of  private 
and  public  life,  every  expression  in  the 
arts,  finally  conformed  to  the  Prussian 


IISS 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


rules  of  thought  and  conduct,  until  it  be- 
came inevitable  that  those  whose  very 
existence  depended  upon  these  rules  must 
try,  in  sheer  egotistical  desperation,  to 
apply  them  elsewhere: 

The  Pan-German  paradox  is  therefore 
from  the  point  of  view  of  anthrosociology, 
a  unique  phenomenon  which  is  entirely 
German.  It  has  only  an  incomplete 
knowledge  of  this  science,  but  this  very 
incompleteness  produces  most  terrible  re- 
sults, as  are  revealed  by  the  7,000,000 
dead  or  wounded,  the  billions  of  wealth 
destroyed,  and  civilized  countries  shaken 
to  their  foundations. 

It  is  a  question  whether  Carlyle,  in  in- 
troducing certain  German  thinkers  and 
writers  of  verse  and  fiction  to  English 
readers,  wished  to  exploit  a  curious  dis- 
covery, or  whether  he  really  thought  he 
was  adding  something  to  the  heritage  of 
Bacon  and  Shakespeare.  "  Carlyle  and 
the  German  Empire,"  while  not  solving 
the  problem,  gives  us  data  from  which 
deductions  may  be  made  and  a  working 
hypothesis  established  thereon. 

On  "The  Errors  of  Force"  Aurel 
v;rites : 

If  war  is  the  "  judgment  of  God  and  of 
force,"  as  Proudhon  says,  we  must  con- 
clude that  a  war  without  results  which 
are  sufficient  for  Germany  must  have 
been,  for  the  originators,  a  mere  "  brain 
storm,"  and  not  a  matter  of  vital  neces- 
sity—the satisfying  of  a  "  holy  appetite  " 
of  a  people  who  must  slay  and  despoil  in 
order  to  live — as  they  have  been  made  to 
believe  by  Treitschke,  Mommsen,  Giese- 
brecht,  &c. 

The  author  shows  that  the  German 
creed  of  force  cannot  possibly  prevail, 
simply  because  it  is  contrary  to  all  hu- 
man life,  and  human  life  will  not  per- 
mit itself  to  be  controlled  by  force  alone. 
Force  in  human  life  is  merely  one  ele- 
ment in  the  complex  fabric  of  progress, 
and  history  has  shown  that  where  it 
was  regarded  as  an  end  in  itself  it  has 
been  annihilated  by  itself.  Force  of  itself 
never  proved  anything  but  its  power  to 
destroy;  least  of  all  has  it  proved  the 
right.  And  so  the  author  adds  that  the 
Romans  who  conquered  the  barbarians 
by  force  only  proved  their  right  in  so 
far  as  they  planted  justice  where  injus- 
tice had  hitherto  prevailed.  They,  in 
turn,  were  conquered  by  the  barbarians 
of  Central  Europe,  and  then  both  were 
conquered  by  Christianity. 


The  war,  among  other  great  things, 
writes  Peladan,  has  given  one  the  op- 
portunity tranquilly  to  examine  the 
claims  of  German  art  and  philosophy 
and  see  if  they  be  worthy  of  the  posi- 
tion the  world  has  hitherto  assigned 
them.  Have  Kant  and  his  disciples, 
Wagner  and  his,  made  the  world  better 
and  a  happier,  a  more  joyful,  place  in 
which  to  live  ?  To  be  sure,  he  says,  Kant 
freed  knowledge,  just  as  the  religious 
reform  had  the  conscience.  But  what 
then? 

Doubtless  Kant  did  not  aim  the  cannon 
which  destroyed  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims, 
any  more  than  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau 
manipulated  the  lever  of  the  guillotine; 
but  they  fabricated  the  brains  of  the 
artillerists  and  the  Terrorists.  A  philoso- 
pher owes  his  fame  less  to  what  he  says 
than  to  what  he  implants  in  the  mind.  He 
sows,  and  people  judge  him  by  the  harvest. 
What    will    be    the    harvest    of    Kant, 

Schelling,  Hegel,  Schopenhauer,  Herder, 

and  the  rest? 

THE  WAR'S  DURATION. 
In  La  Revue  Hebdomadaire,  Gabriel 
Ilanotaux  has  an  article  on  the  duration 
of  the  war.  It  is  not  enough,  he  says, 
that  military  forces  should  be  mobilized. 
That  has  been  done.  The  civil  forces 
must  also  be  mobilized,  for  the  victory 
will  not  be  the  result  of  a  glorious  com- 
bat, but  will  belong  to  the  last  battalion, 
the  last  platoon,  the  last  breath  of  will, 
the  last  effort  of  courage;  and  he  quotes 
Lord  Kitchener,  who  said:  "Our  forces 
must  go  on  ceaselessly  increasing,  just 
as  those  of  the  enemy  ceaselessly  dimin- 
ish." 

This,  says  M.  Hanotaux,  applies  not 
only  to  the  military,  but  to  all  material, 
physical,  and  moral  strength  which  has 
been  mobilized  for  the  war.  The  war  has 
taught  many  things  to  the  Allies  which 
Germany  knew  and  had  prepared  herself 
for — transit,  ammunition,  and  other  ma- 
terial necessities  for  a  gigantic  cam- 
paign— and  which  are  now  being  put 
into  perfect  practice  by  the  Allies.  Ger- 
many's failure  to  get  to  Paris  in  October 
was  a  salutary  lesson.  Others  have  been 
learned. 

But  how  will  it  all  end?    I  am  not  in  a 

position    to    answer.      But    first   of    all    I 

would     ask     that    you    pay    attention    to 

actualities,    and   not   to  words. 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE   WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


1133 


In  principle,  he  says,  this  war  is  a 
usurious  war.  It  will  last  a  long  time, 
possibly  a  very  long  time.  Engines  wear 
out  and  must  be  replaced,  like  men.  The 
taking  of  Constantinople  will  have  an  im- 
mense material  and  moral  effect;  but  this 
must  not  be  exaggerated.  Two  or  three 
millions  of  Teutons  have  already  been 
slain.  But  that  fact  must  not  be  ex- 
aggerated, either.  Nor  must  the  ap- 
pearance of  Greece,  Rumania,  and  Bul- 
garia on  the  side  of  the  Allies,  any 
more  than  the  entry  of  Italy  gave  a  sure 
promise,  as  many  believed,  of  shortening 
the  war.  All  these  elements  are  con- 
tributive  and  cumulative,  but  the  forces 
against  which   they  are  contending   are 


still  infinite.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to 
say,  however,  that  their  limit  will  soon 
be  observed. 

As  for  us  Frenchmen,  writes  Raphael 
George  Levy  in  an  appeal  on  behalf  of 
the  nation  for  gold: 

At  present  no  Frenchman  should  keep  a 
goldpiece  in  his  house.  He  can  employ  it 
in  two  ways.  He  can  buy  State  bonds  or 
the  stock  of  the  National  Defense ;  or  he 
can  exchange  it  for  national  bank  notes. 
In  both  cases  he  will  act  like  a  good  citi- 
zen. *  *  *  All  our  funds  must  be  mobil- 
ized under  one  form  or  another,  just  as 
General  Joffre  concentrates  our  armies 
on  the  frontier.  Let  us  not  hesitate  to 
fulfill  a  duty  which  costs  nothing,  which 
can,  on  the  contrary,  bring  in  an  ample 
return,  and  at  the  same  time  render  easy 
the  most  happy  result  for  the  country. 


Italian  Magazinists 


AN  ECONOMIC  LEAGUE. 

The  Nuovo  Antologia,  the  most  serious 
and  important  of  Italian  reviews,  pub- 
lished in  the  middle  of  every  month  at 
Rome,  opens  its  July  16  number  with 
an  article  by  a  certain  famous  political 
economist,  now  a  member  of  the  present 
Government,  who  for  years  has  written 
under  the  pseudonym  of  "  Victor."  The 
current  article  is  entitled  "  The  Eco- 
nomic Lea-gue  of  Victory  and  Peace." 
The  writer  says  that  the  time  has 
arrived  for  the  nations  allied  against 
the  Teutonic  empires  and  Turkey  to 
form  a  league  which  '  shall  not  only 
shorten  the  war  but  which  shall  re- 
establish peace  with  justice  for  all  and 
upon  a  permanent  basis.  The  program 
of  the  original  Entente  powers  to  which 
Italy  has  given  adhesion  is  defined  as 
follows: 

1.  The  independence  of  little  States, 
particularly  Belgium. 

2.  The  affirmation  of  the  principle  of 
nationality  to  the  future  demarkation  of 
Europe. 

3.  The  assignment  to  each  State  of 
exact  geographic  and  military  boundaries 
on  land  and  sea,  to  the  end  that  it  may 
live  in  security  and  tranquillity. 

4.  The  demobilization  of  the  German 
military,  which  would  otherwise  continue 
to  threaten  the  peace  of  the  world,  ruin 


nations  with  war  expenditures,  and  re- 
strict every  economic  and  social  progress. 
To  these  conditions,  says  the  author, 
there  should  now  be  added  an  indemnity 
which  Germany  must  pay  for  what  she 
has  destroyed  on  land  and  sea.  But  all 
this  is  not  sufficient;  the  economic 
future  of  Germany  and  Austria  must  be 
considered  as  well  as  the  rights  and  obli- 
gations of  neutral  nations,  for  it  is  nec- 
essary that  when  the  war  ends  that  the 
business  of  the  world  should  be  resumed 
not  only  within  the  shortest  possible 
period  but  that  such  resumption  should 
be  brought  about  with  the  least  possible 
confusion  and  waste.  For  that  reason 
three  economic  aspects  must  be  viewed: 

1.  Economic  conditions  of  the  States  al- 
ready belligerent,  the  Entente  powers  on 
one  side  and  the  Teutonic  empires  on  the 
other. 

2.  Conditions  of  the  allied  States  among 
themselves. 

3.  Conditions  of  the  allied  States  with 
neutral  countries. 

No  country  more  than  Italy,  says 
"  Victor,"  has  sought  to  attain  an  eco- 
nomic ideal  which  should  promote  social 
solidarity  and  at  the  same  time  assure 
the  freedom  of  exchange.  But  the  war 
brought  to  the  attention,  as  nothing  else 
could  possibly  have  done,  the  lengths  to 
which  Gei'many  and  Austria  had  gone  to 


1IS4 


THE  NEW   YORK   TIMES   CURRENT   HISTORY 


rupture  not  only  international  good  fel- 
lowship but  also  international  economics. 
When  information  of  the  three  fore- 
going groups  of  conditions  shall  have 
been  ascertained  the  author  suggests  the 
following  international  economic  pro- 
gram: 

1.  A  central  international  office  for  the 
public  debt  of  the  allied  States. 

2.  A  federation  of  all  loan  banks. 

3.  An  association  formed  among  all  the 
great  banlis  of  deposit  and  savings. 

4.  The  establishment  of  an  international 
standard  of  discount  and  exchange. 

5.  Commercial  treaties,  with  reciprocal 
tariffs. 

6.  Navigation   treaties,   with   reciprocal 
privileges. 

7.  Improvement   in   fiscal,    postal,    tele- 
graphic, and  telephonic  communication. 

8.  A  confederation  of  railways,  &c. 
After  such  an  economic  system  shall 

have  been  examined  in  the  light  of  Euro- 
pean conditions  the  author  would  then 
apply  it  abroad.  Here  he  takes  for  an 
illustration  the  example  evolved  by  the 
growth  of  the  British  Empire,  which, 
with  a  few  alterations,  would  be  the  ideal 
sought.  In  this  way  he  deals  with  the 
European  colonies  in  Africa,  America, 
Asia,  and  the  Pacific,  and  then  with  the 
independent  countries  in  these  regions, 
showing  the  enormous  waste  among  the 
colonies,  the  obstacles  to  their  develop- 
ment, and  their  lack  of  enterprise — all 
due  to  the  fact  that  an  understanding 
was  lacking  among  the  mother  countries 
in  Europe.  He  shows  by  statistics  and 
deductions  made  from  tables  of  exports 
and  imports  how  both  the  producer  and 
the  consumer  could  have  been  measur- 
ably benefited  if  even  a  knowledge  of 
needs  and  productive  ability  had  been 
exchanged  between  the  European  col- 
onizing nations  in  the  past. 

His  treatment  of  the  emigration  ques- 
tion is  entirely  new,  although  based  upon 
long-recognized  political  and  economical 
principles.  Too  much  in  the  past  has 
been  left  to  chance.  Emigration  has 
brought  forward  questions  which  have 
been  dealt  with  as  they  came  up,  where- 
as they  should  have  all  been  settled  be- 
fore emigration  began.  Formerly  emi- 
grants fleeing  from  religious  or  political 
persecution  sought  new  lands  where 
freedom   of   conscience   and   action   had 


been  guaranteed  or  where  they  thought 
they  could  establish  it  for  themselves. 
These  were  followed  by  emigrants  moved 
by  economic  reasons.  The  latter  did 
not  go  where  they  were  most  needed, 
but  where  conditione  were  most  easy 
and  the  monetary  rewards  the  largest, 
so  that  very  often  their  appearance 
changed  the  conditions  which  had  ob- 
tained before  their  arrival.  Much  capital 
has  been  wasted  in  attempting  to  apply 
it  to  these  new  conditions  when  it  should 
have  been  applied  elsewhere  in  order  to 
invite  emigration.  Emigration  is  not  a 
matter  in  which  only  two  countries  are 
concerned — the  country  of  departure  and 
the  country  of  arrival — it  concerns  all 
countries  which  have  financial  or  com- 
mercial dealings  with  the  two  directly 
interested.  Emigration,  if  unguided,  will 
continue  to  flow  along  the  lines  of  least 
resistance  to  where  life  is  easiest  and 
labor  lightest  and  the  rewards  theoreti- 
cally higher.    In  the  meantime: 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  States 
of  South  America— Argentina,  Brazil, 
Chile,  or  Peru— can  prosper  as  they  have 
in  the  past  without  the  aid  of  regulated 
capital,  navigation,  trade,  and  emigration 
from  England,  France,  Italy,  &c.  An  eco- 
nomic crisis  would  injure  them  severely. 

Hitherto  each  European  country  has 
exploited  South  America  according  to 
its  own  immediate  benefit,  real  or 
imagined.  Many  things  have. been  with- 
drawn because  it  was  believed  they  were 
useless;  others  have  been  put  forward 
only  to  find  that  they  were  useless.  A 
better  understanding  among  the  sup- 
pliers of  capital,  commodities,  and  emi- 
grants would  have  obviated  all  that. 

The  author  then  declares  that  the 
United  States  will  play  a  still  more 
important  role  than  she  has  hitherto 
played.  He  outlines  the  past  history  of 
this  country  and  shows  how  in  enter- 
prise, morality,  and  restraint  it  has 
given  lessons  to  the  world.  All  these 
things  contribute  to  make  the  United 
States  an  example  for  all. 

What  a  spectacle,  says  the  author,  has 
been  offered  by  Germany's  violations  of 
all  international  precedent  and  law, 
which  finally  found  expression  in  the 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  and  the  mod- 
erate, restrained  method  pursued  by  the 


MAGAZINISTS  OF   THE   WORLD   ON   THE   WAR 


1135 


United  States  in  dealing  with  this  catas- 
trophe, while  at  the  same  time  emphasiz- 
•ing  the  fact  that  international  obliga- 
tions, at  least  in  so  far  as  they  con- 
cerned humanity  and  the  lives  and  prop- 
erty of  neutrals,  must  be  made  to 
prevail ! 

The  author  does  not  look  for  the 
armed  intervention  of  the  United  States, 
but  he  believes  already  its  moral  inter- 
vention on  the  grounds  of  humanity  has 
had  a  salutary  effect. 

The  Economic  League  of  the  Allies 
would  offer  to  the  United  States  an  easy 
but  most  powerful  means  to  develop  a 
decisive  and  rapid  action  in  the  vast 
European  conflict  and  toward  its  happy 
conclusion.  The  spontaneous  participa- 
tion of  the  United  States  in  the  league  on 
the  side  of  the  Allies  would  gather  into 
the  league  itself  such  a  colossal  complex 
of  economical  forces  which  would  crush 
any  and  all  resistance.  Thus  the  United 
States  could,  without  armed  intervention, 
vindicate  and  consecrate  in  Europe  and  in 
the  world  those  principles  of  liberty,  hu- 
manity, and  justice  which  form  the  origin 
of  the  United  States  themselves,  and 
which  no  brutal  or  barbaric  force,  no 
militarism,  no  matter  how  well  organized, 
could  ever  obliterate  from  the  history  of 
nations. 

GERMAN   AND    ITALIAN 
CULTURE. 

With  a  full  consciousness  of  how  Ger- 
many and  Austria  have  tried  financially, 
commercially,  and  politically  to  exploit 
Italy  for  their  own  benefit,  while  injur- 
ing not  only  Italian  industry  but  taste 
and  feelings,  Guido  Manacorda  contrib- 
utes an  article  on  "  German  and  Italian 
Culture."  On  this  theme  the  readers  of 
Current  History  are  already  pretty  well 
informed.  Many  side  lights  are  thrown 
on  the  long  struggle  between  Latin  and 
Teutonic  culture  which  began  in  Caesar's 
time  and  has  now  been  resumed  with  the 
same  ideals  in  conflict. 

PROVISIONS   FOR  WAR. 

Ezio  Bottini  writes  on  "  The  Methods 
of  Communication  Employed  by  the 
Various  Armies  in  the  Present  Conflict," 
dealing  with  everything  from  the  aero- 
plane to  the  automobile.  An  important 
article  on  "The  Problem  of  Meat  During 
the  War"  is  presented  by  Massimo 
Torelli.     At  the  begining  of  the  war,  he 


tells  us,  only  two  nations  were  using 
preserved  meats — Germany  and  Eng- 
land. After  the  battle  of  the  Marne, 
when  the  French  found  that  they  would 
not  immediately  need  the  immense  herds 
of  cattle  that  had  been  collected  in  case 
of  a  possible  siege  of  Paris,  cold  storage 
was  first  cautiously  introduced  and  has 
been  gradually  developed.  This  is  most 
curious,  as  it  was  a  Frenchman  who 
invented  cold  storage. 

As  to  Italy,  although  it  had  been  again 
and  again  affirmed  that  Italians  did  not 
use  preserved  meats,  either  of  the  chilled 
or  the  frozen  variety,  yet  when  the  war 
came  it  was  found  that  the  Government 
had  built  no  fewer  than  1,400  cold- 
storage  warehouses,  principally  in  the 
north  of  Italy,  and  that  great  orders 
for  preserved  meats  had  been  placed  in 
Argentina,  Australia,  and  the  United 
States.  For  the  first  time  in  its  history 
the  Italian  Army  is  now  being  fed  on 
preserved  meat. 

ITALY   "REDEEMED." 

The  popular  magazines  continue  to 
keep  their  readers  informed  of  what 
their  army  is  doing.  Taking  the  most 
recent  War  Office  reports  as  a  theme, 
but  never  anticipating  them,  they  pre- 
sent well-illustrated  articles  on  the  Italy 
that  has  already  been  "  redeemed,"  with 
historical  articles  giving  narratives  of 
former  attempts  for  redemption.  For 
example,  we  have  in  II  Secolo  XX. 
"  Views  from  the  Front,"  by  Vittorio 
Podrecca,  and  "  Grado  Redeemed,"  by 
Giovanni  Franceschini,  to  contrast  with 
"  A  Century  of  Conspiracy  at  Trieste," 
by  Angelo  Scocchi,  and  "  Garibaldi  in 
the  Trentino,"  by  Isa  Pini.  The  pictures 
which  accompany  the  articles  on  current 
subjects  give  a  splendid  idea  of  the 
beauties  of  the  territory  invaded  by  the 
Italians,  its  natural  as  well  as  its  his- 
toric elements,  and  also  of  the  gigantic 
obstructions  to  the  advance. 

THE   ALPINE   SOLDIERS. 

La  Lettura  opens  with  an  article 
on  "  Our  Alpine  Soldiers,"  by  G.  Per- 
rucchetti,  describing  in  pictures  and  text 
the  history  of  the  remarkable  corps  and 
its   achievements    in    the   wars    against 


1136 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Austria  of  1859  and  1866.  There  is  also 
an  article,  of  historical  as  well  as  cur- 
rent interest,  on  the  "  Gulf  of  Trieste," 
by  Paolo  Revelli.  The  Foreign  Minister, 
Baron  Sidney  Sonnino,  who  conducted 
the  protracted  negotiations  with  Austria- 
Hungary  before  Italy  entered  the  war, 
forms  the  subject  of  a  picturesque  and 
informing  paper  by  Guido  Biagi.  While 
not  dealing  with  the  Baron's  most 
famous  exploit  in  diplomacy,  the  author 


presents  a  careful  survey  of  those 
political  influences  and  that  natural 
ability  which  caused  Sonnino  first  to 
rival  Giolitti  and  then  to  defy  him  with 
a  new  and  regenerated  Italy  eager  for 
war  at  his  back.  What  the  Banca  Roma 
scandal  could  not  achieve  in  regard  to 
the  man  who  for  thirteen  years  had  held 
Italian  internal  politics  in  the  hollow  of 
his  hand  was  performed  over  night  by 
Sonnino  with  a  popular  foreigfn  program. 


Robin  Williams,  K.  O.  Y.  L.  I. 

(Eton,  King's  College,  Cambridge,  and  the  Roll  of  Honor,  April  18,  1915.) 

[From    The    Westminster    Gazette.] 


"  Who  dies  if  England  lives  ?  "     0  Eng- 
land's son, 
Not  thou,  who  thus  too  punctually  hast 

paid 
Thy    double    debt    to    Henry's    Holy 
'  Shade 
With    precious    blood    and    duty    nobly 

done*- 
And,    equaling    England's    gift    to    thee, 

has  won 
The   death   of   the   undying,   and   the 

grade 
Of    thine    illustrious    hero-peers    who 
made 
Our    England's    freedom    safe    upon    its 

throne. 
With  a  great  sum,  God  knows,  did  She 
obtain 
This   freedom,   and   with    greater    yet 
must  hold; 
Coin'd  is  the  cost  from  ore  of  English 
vein — 
Metal   of   Martyrs — the  celestial   gold 
Of  hearts  like  thine,  that  must  light  up 
a  fane 
For    Reverence,   howsoe'er   the    Earth 
grow  cold.  G.  C.  C. 


A  German  War  Bread    Card 


Berlin  xmb  Dta^baxottz 


nfttxagfmt. 


(SiXt  nut  fur  biel0.tSod)et)ont2G.3(ptiI6i$2.fDlfai  1915 


XXVIII  99079 


The  authentic  bread  card,  partly  used,  of  which  an  illustration  is  here  repro- 
duced,  was  inclosed  in  a  letter  jrom  a  young  business  man  of  Berlin  not  yet  drafted 
for  the  front,  but  at  the  disposal  of  the  military  authorities  for  service  in  the  Land- 
wehr  Artillery.    The  letter  is  dated  May  23,  1915,  and  reads,  in  part,  as  follows: 


WHAT  remains  of  my  bread 
card  of  a  few  weeks  ago 
will  show  you  how  liberal  an 
allowance  of  bread  the  Gov- 
ernment grants  to  each  individual. 
These  cards,  issued  every  Monday 
morning,  have  small  coupons  calling  for 
25,  50,  and  100  grams  of  bread,  making 
a  total  of  1,950  grams,  or  nearly  two 
kilos — about  4V^  pounds  of  English 
weight — per  week  per  individual. 

Now,  I  have  the  normal  appetite  of 
a  fuU-grown  man,  and,  as  you  will  see 
from  the  inclosed  card,  I  used  only  550 
grams  of  my  allowance  without  stinting 
myself  in  the  least.  Even  the  most 
hard-working  laborer  could  not  consume 
more  bread  than  the  Government  per- 
mits him  to  obtain. 


At  first,  when  the  new  regulation  for 
the  distribution  of  bread  and  flour  came 
into  effect,  on  Feb.  15,  there  was  a 
general  grumbling  of  dissatisfaction  in 
Berlin.  The  war  has  not  quelled  in  us 
Berliners  the  atavistic  inclination  to 
kick  about  anything  at  any  time.  It  is 
a  condition  of  our  mental  and  physical 
comfort.  But  the  kicking  did  not  last 
long.  We  soon  realized  the  superior 
wisdom  of  the  Government  in  regulating 
Germany's  bread  supply  and  preventing 
a  number  of  scare-headed  women  from 
hoarding  up  enormous  stores,  to  the  det- 
riment of  the  rest  of  the  community.  We 
also  found  that  the  new  system  runs 
smoothly  and  is  not  at  all  vexatious  to 
the  individual. 

If  you  keep  house,  each  member  of  the 


1138 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


household  has  his  or  her  bread  card,  and 
upon  supplying  bread,  rolls,  and  flour 
the  baker  clips  corresponding  coupons 
from  these  cards. 

If  you  arc  a  bachelor,  like  myself,  and 
take  your  meals  at  restaurants,  you  tell 
the  waiter  what  sort  and  how  much 
bread  you  wish,  and  he  does  the  clipping. 
The  cards  are  not  transferable.  Thus, 
when  you  are  a  guest  at  the  table  of 
some  friend,  either  you  bring  your  bread 
with  you,  or,  if  you  arrive  early  enough, 
you  deliver  your  card  into  the  hands  of 
your  friend's  servant,  who  takes  it  to 
the  baker  and  returns  with  the  bread.  It 
is  all  very  simple,  and  no  one  thinks  any 
more  about  it,  now  that  thirteen  weeks 
of  quiet  working  have  accustomed  us  to 
the  little  formality. 

When  you  call  for  your  new  card,  the 
eld  one  has  to  be  returned,  with  the  un- 
used coupons,  to  the  authorities.  I  am 
really  risking  six  months'  imprisonment, 
or  1,500  marks'  fine,  by  sending  you  this 


one,  for  all  infringements  of  the  regu- 
lations of  Jan,  25,  1915,  are  punishable  to 
that  extent,  as  the  letterpress  on  the 
back  of  the  card  will  tell  you. 

What  would  you  pay  in  New  York  at  a 
decent  restaurant  for  a  meal  consisting 
of  soup,  fish,  or  entree,  roast  with  vege- 
tables and  potatoes,  and  dessert?  Now, 
as  before  the  war,  I  pay  80  pfennigs  (or 
20  cents)  for  such  a  meal  at  my  usual 
restaurant!  Nor  have  the  portions  beea 
reduced  in  size.  With  10  pfennigs'  worth 
of  beer  in  addition,  and  a  10-pfennig  tip 
for  my  old  waiter,  I  consider  myself 
most  comfortably  cared  for. 

England  may  try  her  best  to  starve 
us  out;  she  is  failing  completely.  In 
fact,  it  will  soon  become  known  officially 
that  the  Government's  husbanding  of 
foodstuffs  has  been  so  efficient  that  Ger- 
many has  now  a  surplus  of  supplies  and 
will  not  need  to  begin  using  the  new  har- 
vest until  the  end  of  September. 


Peace  Rumors 


By  HENRY  ALTIMUS. 


Hark!    I  hear  the  beat  of  a  wing, 

The  caged  bird  is  free. 
The  sun  goes  up  in  a  wreath  of  hope 

In  waking  Germany. 

Now  all  the  world  lays  by  its  work 

And  listens  breathlessly 
For  the  word  that  will  make  men 
again 

With  the  men  of  Germany. 

The  ear  made  blunt  by  cannon-roar 

Vibrates  with  prophecy. 
For  rebel  tongues  have  raised  a  cry 

That  rings  through  Germany. 


A  voice  is  raised;  it  will  not  still; 

It  thunders  o'er  the  sea. 
And  men  are  calling  loud  to  men 

From  distant  Germany. 

For  they  are  wakened  now  and  miss 
The  broad  fraternity 
kin      Of  borderless,  hand-clasping  men 
That  call  to  Germany. 

Their  sword  will  soon  be  scabbarded 
And  love  will  set  them  free. 

Beware,  Red  Kaiser  and  your  band, 
The  wrath  of  Germany! 


India's  Loyalty 


By  Rabindranath  Tagore 

Translated  from  the  Original  Bengali  by  Basanta  Koomar  Roy 
The  following  article,  as  translated,  appeared  originally  in  The  International  for  August,  1915. 


LOYALTY  is  one  of  our  inherent 
characteristics.  There  is  some- 
J  thing  special  in  the  loyalty  of 
India.  To  the  Hindu  the  King  is 
divine,  and  loyalty  is  a  religious  cult. 
The  people  of  the  West  cannot  under- 
stand the  true  significance  of  this.  They 
think  that  this  bowing  down  before 
power  is  a  sign  of  our  national  weak- 
ness. 

The  Hindu  cannot  but  take  almost  all 
the  relations  of  life  as  ordained.  To  him 
there  is  almost  no  chance  relation.  For 
he  knows  that  however  wonderful  and 
varied  the  revelation  may  be,  the  original 
source  is  one.  In  India  this  it  not  only 
a  philosophy,  but  it  is  the  religion  of 
the  people  as  well.  It  is  not  only  written 
in  books  or  taught  in  academies,  but  it 
is  also  realized  in  the  heart,  and  reflected 
upon  every-day  duties  of  life.  We  look 
upon  our  parents  as  gods,  our  husbands 
as  gods,  and  chaste  women  as  goddesses. 
By  showing  respect  to  our  superiors  we 
satisfy  our  religious  sense.  The  reason 
is  not  far  to  seek.  From  whatever  source 
we  derive  benefit  we  see  this  primal 
source  of  all  beneficence.  To  be  sep- 
arated from  all  the  varied  expressions 
of  divinity  around  us,  and  then  to  pray 
to  a  benevolent  Father  in  a  distant 
heaven  is  not  the  religion  of  India. 
When  we  call  our  parents  gods  we  never 
think  of  such  an  absurdity  as  that  they 
are  omnipotent.  We  fully  know  their 
weaknesses  and  their  good  qualities.  We 
are  also  certain  that  the  benefits  they 
are  showering  upon  us  as  father  and 
mother  are  an  expression  of  the  father- 
hood and  the  motherhood  of  the  Uni- 
versal One.  That  is  why  Indra,  (the  god 
of  the  clouds,)  moon,  fire,  and  wind 
have  been  spoken  of  as  gods  in  the 
Vedas.  India  was  never  satisfied  until 
she  could  feel  the  presence  of  the  all- 
powerful  One  in  the  varied  expressions 


of  nature.     To  us  the  universe  is  alive 
with  a  divine  life. 

It  is  not  true  to  say  that  we  worship 
power  owing  to  our  weakness.  J^very 
one  knows  that  India  worships  even  the 
cow.  She  knows  that  it  is  an  animal. 
Man  is  powerful  and  the  cow  is  weak. 
But  the  Indian  society  derives  various 
benefits  from  the  cow.  Similarly  the 
workman  bows  in  reverence  to  his  tools, 
the  warrior  to  his  sword,  and  the  min- 
strel to  his  harp.  It  is  not  that  they 
do  not  know  that  tools  are  mere  tools, 
but  that  they  know  as  well  that  a  tool  is 
only  a  symbol.  The  joy  and  benefit 
derived  from  it  is  not  the  gift  of  the 
wood  or  the  iron,  for  nothing  which  is 
not  kindred  can  touch  the  soul.  It  is 
for  this  that  his  gratitude  and  worship 
is  offered  through  the  tools  to  Him  who 
is  instrumental  to  all  expressions. 

Nothing  can  pain  India  more  than  to 
feel  that  this  governmental  affair  is  only 
a  machine.  She,  who  is  satisfied  by  feel- 
ing a  kinship  of  the  soul  even  with  the 
inanimate,  how  can  she  live  unless  she 
can  find  a  real  personification  of  the 
heart  in  such  a  vast  human  institution  as 
the  State  ?  One  can  bend  wherever  there 
is  a  relationship  of  the  soul  with  its 
kindred.  Where  there  is  no  such  re- 
lationship, and  if  one  is  constantly  forcsd 
to  bend  low,  there  he  feels  insulted  and 
grieved.  Therefore,  if  we  can  realize  the 
life  of  the  supreme  power  and  benef- 
icence as  the  ruler,  we  can  bear  the 
heavy  yoke  of  government.  Otherwise 
the  heart  breaks  down  at  every  step. 
We  want  to  worship  the  State  after  in- 
fusing it  with  life;  we  wish  to  feel  the 
kinship  of  our  hearts  with  it.  We  can- 
not bear  force  as  mere  force. 

It  is  true  that  loyalty  is  the  very  heart 
of  India.  In  her  the  King  is  not  merely 
to  please  her  whims.  She  does  not  like 
to  see  the  King  as  an  unnecessary  ap- 


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THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


pendage.  She  wants  to  feel  the  King  as 
a  reality.  For  a  long  time  past  she  has 
not  yet  found  her  King,  and  she  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  grieved.  How 
this  vast  country  is  being  afflicted  in 
her  heart  of  hearts  by  the  burdensome 
yoke  of  her  many  Kings  from  beyond 
tjie  seas,  and  how  she  is  sighing  help- 
lessly all  the  time  is  known  only  to  the 
omniscient.  India  only  knows  how  pain- 
ful it  is  to  bear  with  the  heartlessness 
of  those  who  are  merely  sojourners,  who 
are  ajways  longing  for  the  holiday,  who 
live  a  life  of  exile  in  this  "  land  of  re- 
grets," as  they  call  it,  only  for  their 
livelihood;  and  with  those  who  are  work- 
ing the  administrative  machinery  by 
being  paid  for  it,  and  with  whom  we 
have  no  connection  whatever,  India,  with 
her  innate  feeling  of  loyalty,  is  thus 
humbly  praying:  "  O  Lord,  no  more  can 
I  bear  with  these  little  Kings,  temporary 
Kings,  and  many  Kings,  Give  me  the 
one  King  who  will  be  able  to  proclaim 
that  India  is  his  kingdom — a  kingdom, 
not  of  the  merchant,  not  of  the  so- 
journer, not  of  the  paid  servant,  not  of 
Lancashire.  O  Lord  of  the  universe,  give 
us  one  whom  we  can  accept  as  our  King 
whole-heartedly." 

To  rule  man  with  a  machine  and  ignore 
the  connections  of  the  heart  or  of  so- 
ciety is  not  possible.  Justice  cannot 
bear  the  arrogance  for  any  length  of 
time.  It  is  not  natural.  It  hurts  the 
universal  law.  No  talk  of  "  good  govern- 
ment "  or  "  peace  "  can  satisfy  this  in- 
tense heart  famine.  The  British  officials 
may  get  angry  and  the  police  serpents 
may  raise  their  heads  at  such  statement, 
but  the  famished  truth  that  is  wailing 
within  the  hearts  of  300,000,000  of  the 
people  of  India  cannot  be  rooted  out  by 
any  man  or  superman. 

We  cry  for  bread  but  we  are  given 
only  stones.  No  wonder  that  our  hearts 
regret  and  refuse  everything.  It  is  then 
that  in  our  heart  of  hearts  the  spiritual 
India  is  awakened:  "  Be  not  deceived 
by  outward  appearances — all  this  is 
mere  play."  In  this  play,  even  he  who 
is  dancing  does  not  know  that  he  is 
merely  an  actor  in  disguise.  He  thinks 
he  is  a  King,  he  is  a  magistrate,  he  is  a 
Viceroy.    The  more  he  is  being  enveloped 


with  this  veil  of  falsehood  the  more  he 
is  forgetting  the  real  truth.  If  you  re- 
move his  actor's  dresses  today,  then  in 
the  eternal  truth  what  is  left?  There  is 
no  difference  between  him  and  me.  In 
this  universe  I  am  as  big  a  King  as  any 
King  on  earth.     *     *     * 

Where  there  is  only  show  of  authority, 
excess  of  force,  and  where  there  is  only 
whip  and  cane,  prison  and  fine,  punitive 
police  and  armed  soldiers,  there  can  be 
no  greater  insult  of  self,  no  greater  in- 
sult to  the  all-knowing  God  within  us, 
than  to  be  afraid  and  bend.  0  mother- 
land, with  the  help  of  your  eternal,  noble, 
and  inspiring  knowledge  of  Godhood, 
keep  the  head  unmoved  and  untainted 
high  above  those  insults;  refuse  with  all 
thy  heart  these  high-sounding  false- 
hoods, see  that  wearing  an  awe-inspiring 
mask  they  may  not  influence  thy  inner 
soul  in  any  way.  Before  the  purity,  the 
sacredness  and  the  all-powerfulness  of 
the  soul  these  loud  declamations  and 
punishments,  this  pride  of  position, 
these  huge  preparations  for  the  economic 
drain  are  merely  child's  play.  If  they 
pain  you,  see  that  they  do  not  make  you 
mean.  Where  there  is  a  bond  of  love,  to 
bend  there  is  glorious;  but  where  there 
is  no  such  bond,  one  si  ould  keep  his  heart 
free  and  head  erect.  Never  bend.  Give 
up  mendicancy.  Do  organize  yourself 
in  silence  and  in  secret.  Do  not  slight 
small  beginnings.  Keep  an  invincible 
faith  in  yourself.  For,  surely,  you  have 
a  mission  in  this  world.  That  is  why 
with  all  your  sufferings  and  tribulations 
you  were  not  destroyed.  Mother  India, 
your  throne  lies  stretched  at  the  feet 
of  the  sacred  Himalayas,  and  it  is  being 
washed  on  three  sides  by  the  great 
oceans.  Before  your  throne  the  Hindus 
and  the  Mohammedans,  the  Christians, 
Buddhists  and  the  Parsees  have  been  at- 
tracted at  the  call  of  the  Father.  When 
you  will  again  occupy  your  own  seat, 
then,  I  am  sure,  the  differences  of  knowl- 
edge, work,  and  religion  will  be  solved, 
and  the  all-envious,  poisonous  pride  of 
the  modern,  cruel,  political  system  will 
be  softened  at  thy  feet.  Do  not  be  hasty, 
do  not  be  deceived,  do  not  be  afraid. 
Know  thyself  and  awake,  arise  and  stop 
not  till  the  goal  is  reached. 


American  Opinion  of  Germany 


By  Herman    Oncken 


Dr.  Oncken,  one  of  the  foremost  German  historians,  and  Professor  of  Modern  History  in 
the  University  of  Heidelberg,  is  well  known  as  the  author  of  "  America  and  the  Gieat 
Powers."  This  article  is  taken  from  a  long  discussion  of  Germany's  struggle  with  public 
opinion  in  this  country. 


THE  difficulties  are  greater  than  we 
thought,  and  the  entrance  to  the 
portals  of  the  mentality  of  an- 
other nation,  which  we  sought  to 
attain,  can  hardly  be  essayed  in  view  of 
the  broad  stream  in  which  conceptions 
coined  in  England  swamp  public  opinion 
in  America.  For  here  it  is  not  the  ques- 
tion of  an  influence,  the  exertion  of 
which  is  only  beginning  now,  but  the 
food  which  emerges  from  the  kitchen  of 
the  organization  for  the  manufacture  of 
British  public  opinion  has  been  served 
Americans  regularly  for  decades  past, 
seasoned  and  prepared  in  such  a  way 
that  the  American  stomach  has  become 
unreceptive  for  anything  else.  The  war, 
however,  has  given  the  English  the  possi- 
bility to  bring  their  system  to  a  height 
never  before  attained.  They  have  worked 
in  two  directions  in  order  to  secure  the 
monopoly  of  the  market;  on  the  one  hand 
through  a  cutting  off  of  German  infor- 
mation, so  long  as  it  could  be  done,  and 
on  the  other  through  a  systematic  and 
clever  furnishing  of  its  own  product. 

Even  those  who  reckoned  with  the 
inner  relationship  between  English  and 
American  thinkers  as  an  indestructible 
fact,  this  time  were  surprised  by  the  un- 
usual exhibition  of  inward  dependence 
which  over  there  became  manifest  almost 
everywhere  in  treating  of  the  immediate 
reasons  of  the  war,  and  fully  whenever 
the  deeper  underlying  causes  were  to  be 
considered.  Almost  everywhere  one  met 
the  same  chains  of  thought,  the  same 
prejudices,  the  same  sources  of  errors 
and  the  same  conjuror  as  in  the  public 
opinion  of  England.  The  conception  of 
German  "  militarism  "  at  present  held  by 
the  masses  in  America  in  its  most  minute 
details,  even  in  its  very  mental  composi- 
tion, is  "  made  in  England."  And  the 
most  surprising  thing  is  how  this  Eng- 


lish argument,  known  to  be  framed  for 
the  war,  a  weapon  more  diabolical  in  cal- 
culation than  the  weapons  of  the  battle- 
field, is  now  being  accepted  in  America, 
without  condition,  as  if  it  contained  un- 
biased truth.  It  thus  becomes  the  men- 
tal property  of  a  nation  that  does  not 
want  to  be  a  partisan,  but  instead  wants 
to  be  neutral. 

With  complete  disregard  of  their  men- 
tal rooting,  the  phrases  coined  in  Eng- 
land have  been  greedily  grasped,  and 
not  only  in  the  spheres  where  the  com- 
fort of  not  thinking  is  pairing  with 
sanctimonious  pathos,  but  even  in  the 
leading  upper  strata  the  accusation  re- 
sounds, that  the  German  spirit  in  its 
depths  carries  the  responsibility  for  the 
world  war;  that  Nietzsche  and 
Treitschke,  the  pan-Germans,  and  Gen- 
eral von  Bernhardi,  are  its  exponents. 

The  irony  of  world  history  has  bur- 
dened the  much-tried  Nietzsche  with  the 
fate  of  being  proclaimed  as  the  mental 
originator  of  the  modern  Germany 
which  he  detested  so  deeply.  All  his  daz- 
zling brilliancy  has  not  spared  him,  the 
aristocrat,  from  being  recoined  by  pure 
ignorance  of  the  masses  like  the  shal- 
lowest of  every-day  talk.  There  was 
nothing  he  was  so  proud  of  as  his  Slavic 
blood,  and  nothing  at  which  he  cast 
such  amorous  glances  as  his  Romanic 
mentality.  No  other  German  of  later 
days  had  announced  his  sympathy  with 
French  education,  his  hatred  of  the  part 
cf  German  culture  in  the  world  and  of 
the  German  Empire,  in  the  past  as  well 
as  in  the  present,  to  the  extent  this 
unhappy  human,  who  did  not  want  to 
be  a  German  but  a  European,  did  these 
things. 

With  the  name  of  Treitschke  it  is  an- 
other matter.  He  belongs  to  the  new 
Germany  in   the   making,   for  which   he 


1142 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


struggled,  and  to  the  completed  Ger- 
many, whose  face  he  helped  to  mold: 
a  glowing  and  powerful  expression  of 
the  spirit  that  has  created  our  State. 
Englishmen  and  Americans  should  be 
the  first  to  understand  him,  for  if  any- 
thing distinguished  him,  it  was  this — 
that  he,  stepping  forth  from  the  political 
champions  of  the  new  empire,  imbued 
historical  writing  with  a  fiery  national 
pride  and  a  conscious  political  determi- 
nation, such  as  it  is  a  matter  of  course 
for  the  Englishman,  as  is  manifested  by 
Macaulay  or,  perhaps,  by  George  Ban- 
croft in  his  naive  self-confidence  in  his 
gi'eat  and  glorious  American  fatherland. 
Every  thorough  student  knows  that 
Treitschke  formed  the  climax  and  also 
the  finishing  point  of  a  period  in  Ger- 
man history  writing,  and  I  need  not  dis- 
cuss why  Ranke  was  bound  to  be  to  the 
present  generation  of  historians  some- 
thing higher  than  that.  G.  P.  Gooch,  one 
of  the  few  Englishmen  who  even  felt  a 
breath  of  the  wealth  of  this  mind,  re- 
cently very  correctly  wrote,  in  a  charac- 
terization teeming  with  vigor:  "  It  had 
grown  out  of  a  national  need  and  its 
raison  d'etre  ceased  when  the  need  was 
satisfied."  In  that  mental  isolation  of 
England,  of  which  the  finer  minds  of 
the  island  again  and  again  complained 
sorrowfully,  for  a  long  time  no  attention 
whatever  was  paid  to  Treitschke,  and 
even  in  the  lectures  by  Professor  J.  A. 
Cramb  on  "  Germany  and  England," 
which  have  recently  appeared  in  print, 
the  late  new  historian  of  Queens  College 
in  London,  in  shame  addresses  to  his 
countrymen  the  reproach:  "  Not  a  page 
of  Treitschke's  greatest  work  has  been 
translated." 

Certainly  Treitschke  has  never  been  a 
friend  of  England,  (just  as  little  as 
Macaulay  was  a  friend  of  the  Germans,) 
for  in  his  knightly  soul  he  felt  no  rela- 
tionship with  the  insular  methods  of  poli- 
tics; but  it  is  absolutely  inhistorical  to 
seek  the  sowing  of  an  alleged  hatred 
against  England,  as  the  root  of  all  evil, 
in  a  man  who  died  almost  twenty  years 
ago  and  never  lived  to  experience  that 
rising  wave  of  envy  and  malice  that  since 
was  to  come  over  here.  Just  a  single 
example  to  show  how  precipitately  the 


effort  is  now  suddenly  being  made  to 
burden  the  memory  of  Treitschke.  Even 
a  man  of  the  education  of  Cramb  adds  to 
the  characterization  of  the  English  as  "  a 
nation  of  shopkeepers "  the  quotation 
"Treitschke.  Politics  2,  358  "—although 
every  German  student  of  national  eco- 
nomics could  have  taught  him  that  the 
designation  in  question  was  originally 
coined  by  an  English'  classic,  by  none 
other  than  Adam  Smith  ("  Wealth  of  Na- 
tions," 114,  Chapter  7,  Part  3).  They 
have  forgotten  their  own  people! 

The  book  on  "  Pan-Germanism  "  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Roland  G.  Usher, 
Associate  Professor  of  History,  Wash- 
ington University,  St.  Louis,  emerges 
from  these  depths  of  English  journalism. 
But,  then,  I  am  very  well  aware  of  the 
fact  that  the  academic  titles  of  Mr. 
Usher  form  only  a  modest  step  in  the 
unwritten  but  recognized  order  of  rank  of 
the  learned  life  of  America,  and  I  would 
not  mention  his  poor  piece  of  work  here 
if  it  were  not  being  sold  over  there  in 
many  thousands  of  copies,  and  if  it  were 
not  a  significant  expression  of  that  men- 
tal dependence  of  subordinate  circles.  The 
elevation  of  this  book  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  sentences  taken  from 
it  at  random  in  which  this  historic  thinker 
seeks  to  inform  his  countrymen  concern- 
ing the  political  situation  in  Southern 
Germany.     (Page  258)  : 

Moreover,  Prussia  and  Austria  are  thor- 
oughly well  hated  in  Southern  Germany. 
The  comic  papers  of  Munich  are  fond  of 
printing  scandalous  cartoons  and  squibs 
about  the  Emperors ;  it  is  popularly  sup- 
posed that  neither  Emperor  would  dare 
venture  into  Southern  Germany  without  a 
large  bodyguard.  It  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  the  German  -Constitution  gives 
the  Southern  States  important  military 
privileges,  which,  could  not  fail  to  be  of 
consequence  in  time  of  war.  Further- 
more, Southern  Germany  controls  impor- 
tant approaches  to  Alsace,  the  passes 
through  Switzerland,  and  the  whole  upper 
half  of  the  Rhine  and  Danube  Valleys. 

The  entire  mental  equipment  of  the 
book  is  upon  the  level  of  this  strategy. 
Every  page  discloses  abysses  of  lack 
of  general  education.  Evidently  the 
much-read  book  owes  its  origin  to  the 
utilization  of  journalistic  "  chance,"  but 
not  to  an  interest  even  half-way  scien- 
tific.     Its    familiarity   with    the    funda- 


AMERICAN  OPINION  OF   GERMANY 


1143 


mental  principles  is  of  a  sort  that  a 
historic  political  discussion  of  it  is  not 
at  all  worth  while.  Therefore,  let  us 
leave  the  phantom  of  this  Pan-German- 
ism, against  which  Mr.  Usher,  in  the 
name  of  the  culture  of  the  world,  calls 
all  nations  to  assistance,  to  all  those 
who  have  learned  nothing  from  history. 
One  is  only  obliged  to  think  the  one 
thing:  It  is  conceivable  if  something  of 
this  sort  is  being  produced  by  our 
enemies  as  a  means  to  antagonize,  but 
it  is  more  difficult  to  understand  it 
when  public  opinion  assumes  ownership 
on  these  second-hand  arguments  without 
suspecting  the  "  Made   in   England." 

But,  then,  England  and  America  are 
able  to  serve  up  an  additional  crown 
witness,  who  is  alleged  to  combine  in 
the  strongest  warlike  formula  our  true 
political  desire,  and  therewith  to  expose 
it  involuntarily  to  the  world:  This  is 
General  von  Bernhardi  and  the  book  he 
wrote  a  few  years  ago  on  "  Germany 
and  the  Next  War."  This  book  of  a 
cavalry  General,  retired  five  years  ago, 
in  Germany  has  attracted  attention  only 
in  small  circles.  It  soon  was  played 
against  us  in  England  so  much  the 
more  actively  in  that  its  author  was  an 
official  personality  of  political  influ- 
ence; and  after  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  the  English  factory  of  public  opin- 
ion has  not  taken  hold  of  any  export 
article  in  a  more  loving  manner.  In 
America  the  book  in  the  English  trans- 
lation has  reached  a  circulation  of  a 
million  copies,  more  than  a  hundred 
times  the  number  of  its  circle  of  Ger- 
man readers.  And  if,  of  late,  the  book 
can  be  sold  for  the  cheap  price  of 
twenty-five  cents,  this  fact  proves  that 
those  who  are  behind  this  distribution 
are  promising  much  to  themselves  of 
this  effective  number  for  a  circle  of 
readers  without  judgment.  Why,  even 
a  man  like  Roosevelt,  who,  taken  alto- 
gether, might  well  be  called  an  Ameri- 
can mental  congener  of  Bernhardi, 
thought  to  attack  the  German  original 
sin  itself  with  a  phrase  of  Bernhardism, 
coined  by  himself. 

Therefore  this  book  has  undoubtedly 
exercised  an  influence  very  unfavorable 
to  us.     It  is  being  swallowed  over  there 


like  an  unintentional  self-criticism  of 
German  militarism.  I  do  not  wish  to 
enter  here  into  a  discussion  with  its 
author,  who,  like  almost  all  former  offi- 
cers, has  re-entered  the  service  before 
the  enemy,  but  one  may  be  permitted  here 
to  state  that  the  son  of  intelligent  Theo- 
dor  von  Bernhardi  has  not  inherited 
much  of  the  latter's  diplomatic  prudence. 
Of  course,  cavalry  Generals  hardly  ever 
are  to  be  found  among  the  most  astute 
politicians,  and  Americans  will  remember 
that  we  are  even  able  to  show  the  type 
of  sabre-rattling  Admirals  with  strong 
words.  But,  then,  Bernhardi  is  not  a 
Clausewitz,  and  his  book  never  leads  us 
to  the  high  elevations  of  the  other's  dis- 
course "About  War."  It  rather  belongs 
to  a  class  of  literature  which  is  not 
strange  to  any  of  the  great  nations — one 
could  place  the  writings  of  Lord  Roberts 
as  a  parallel  alongside  of  it — which, 
whether  in  the  form  of  a  novel  or  in  the 
presentation  of  political  military  argu- 
ment, seeks  to  educate  up  to  a  warlike 
feeling  and  a  forceful  foreign  policy. 

I  also  admit  that  in  this  book  sentences 
are  found  which  very  few  people  among 
us  would  sign,  considering  them  as  im- 
politic and  indiscreet,  but  I  do  not  admit 
the  correctness  of  the  final  deduction 
which  is  being  drawn  from  this  book. 
For  one  thing,  Americans  overlook  that 
Bernhardi  is  so  little  in  accord  with  the 
responsible  authorities  of  the  Imperial 
Government  that  he  openly  affirms  that 
they  have  lost  public  confidence  in  con- 
sequence of  the  peaceful  solution  of  the 
Moroccan  question,  and  if  a  dissatisfied 
General  out  of  service  desires  to  have 
German  policy  of  the  last  years  replaced 
by  another,  then  one  can  hold  the  ruling 
German  spirit  of  the  German  State  just 
as  little  responsible  for  his  opinion  as 
the  Administration  of  President  Wilson 
can  be  held  responsible  for  all  declara- 
tions of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  But  to  at- 
tempt to  contradict  the  peace  policy  of 
our  empire  for  forty-four  years  past  with 
a  book  of  a  private  individual  without 
influence — the  peace  policy  in  particular 
which  according  to  admission  of  the  en- 
tire world  has  been  maintained  by  our 
Emperor  for  a  quarter  of  a  century — 
that  is  no  longer  honest  fair  play.    And 


1144 


THE    NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


if  the  point  is  raised  that  Bernhardi  is  a 
characteristic  exponent  of  our  public 
opinion — as  indicated  before,  he  is  no 
such  thing — then  one  should  piy  a  little 
closer  attention  to  the  part  that  has  been 
played  by  the  Matin  in  France  and  the 
newspaper  concern  of  Lord  Northcliffe 
in  England.  This  is  disturbing  peace 
and  poisoning  the  wells  in  a  circle  of 
millions  of  readers. 

Is  the  cause  of  the  slogan  "  German 
militarism "  to  be  found  in  the  inborn 
insular  aversion  to  general  obligatory 
military  service,  which  is  in  vogue  in 
France  and  Russia  just  as  it  is  in  Ger- 
many? 

A  nation  having  obligatory  military 
service  takes  an  absolutely  reversed  view 
of  things.  It  looks  at  war  as  something 
tragic  for  the  reason  that  it  concerns  all 
without  exception,  the  Prince  and  the 
laborer,  the  academician  and  the  peasant, 
in  the  same  manner  and  carries  the  same 
worries  into  castle  and  hut.  General 
Hamilton  may  say  with  a  vanity  of  the 
aristocratic  professional  soldier:  "Yes, 
conscription  is  a  tremendous  leveler.  The 
proud  are  humbled;  the  poor-spirited  are 
strengthened;  the  national  idea  is  fos- 
tered; the  interplay  of  varying  ideals  is 
sacrificed."  We  Germans  know  that 
this  dreadful  equalizer  produces  the  true 
democracy  of  duties,  which  is  not  based 


upon  the  supermankind  of  Nietzsche,  but 
upon  the  categorical  imperative  of  Kant. 
But,  above  all,  such  a  democratic  army 
of  general  obligatory  service  is  not  an 
instrument  to  be  used  according  to  whim 
for  the  conquest  of  the  world,  but  a  means 
of  defense  of  the  home  country,  of  the 
defense  of  all  by  all,  only  to  be  employed 
in  case  of  need.  In  the  English  army  of 
professionals  the  world-conquering  poor 
devils  may  sing  in  the  verses  of  Rudyard 
Kipling: 
"  Walk  wide  o'  the  Widow  at  Windsor, 

For  'alf  o'  Creation  she  owns:  • 
We  'ave  bought   'er  the   same  with  the 
sword  an'  the  flame. 

An'    we've    salted    it    down    with    our 
bones." 

In  the  German  peoples'  army,  however, 
there  resounds  the  old  song  of  the  com- 
rade with  the  refrain  composed  and 
added  to  it  by  the  people  themselves: 
"  In  der  Heimat,  in  der  Heimat,  da  gibt's 
ein  Wiedersehen  "  ("At  home,  at  home, 
a  reunion  there  will  be  ") — for  they  are 
standing  in  the  field  to  protect  their 
home  and  all  it  stands  for. 

The  German  peoples'  army  therefore 
is  peaceful  by  nature — and  so  has  been 
our  policy  since  1871.  The  English  pro- 
fessional army  is  by  nature  on  conquest 
bent — and  so  has  England's  policy  been 
from  time  immemorial. 


A  Legend  of  the  Rhine 


[From   Punch.] 
(German  bakers  are  now  producing  cakes  with  "  Gott  strafe  England"  on  them.) 


Young  Heinrich  at  the  age  of  ten, 

An  offspring  of  the  Huns, 
Joined  manly  hate  of  Englishmen 

With  childish  love  of  buns; 
And  so  it  filled  him  with  delight 

When  bakeries  divulged 
A  plan  whereby  these  passions  might 

Be  both  at  once  indulged. 


In  fervent  love  of  fatherland 

Young  Heinrich   swiftly  brake 
The  patriotic  doughnut  and 

The  loyal  currant  cake; 
To  guard  his  hate  from  growing  less 

Through  joy  at  this  repast 
He     saved— nrecocious     thoroughness  !- 

The  "  strafe  "  bits  till  last. 


Alack!   his  well-intentioned  cram 

Cost  little   Heinrich  dear; 
Disorder  in  the  diaphragm 

Concluded  his   career; 
To  find  out  why  he  passed  away 

They  bade  the  doctor  come. 
And  "  strpfe  Enplard,"  so  they  say, 

Was  printed  on  his  tum. 


The  Moral  Right  to  Thrive  on  War 


By  Dr.  Kuno  Francke 


Dr.   Francke  Is  Professor  of  the  History  of  German  Culture  and  Curator  of  the  Germanic 

Museum  in  Harvard  University. 


Cambridge,  Aug.  9,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Times: 

I  HAVE  worked,  during  the  last 
months,  on  the  side  of  those  who 
seek  to  avert  the  danger  of  this 
country  being  involved  in  civil  dis- 
sensions arising  from  racial  sympathies 
or  antipathies  concerning  the  European 
conflict.  In  particular,  I  have  repeatedly 
expressed  my  conviction  that  sympathy 
with  one  or  the  other  of  the  warring  na- 
tions should  not  induce  American  citizens 
to  attempt  to  coerce  our  Government  into 
deviating  from  the  strict  observance  of 
the  accepted  rules  of  neutrality. 

I  have  therefore  advocated  non-inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  our  Government 
with  the  internationally  legalized  traffic 
in  arms  and  munitions  of  war,  even 
though,  through  circumstances  over 
which  the  United  States  has  no  control, 
this  traffic  turns  out  to  be  of  decided 
advantage  to  one  of  the  belligerents  and 
of  very  serious  disadvantage  to  the  other. 
For  the  inhibition  of  this  traffic  would 
be  equally  to  the  advantage  of  one  of 
the  belligerents  and  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  other,  and  as  a  positive  Govern- 
mental measure  it  would  make  the 
United  States  in  a  much  stricter  sense 
legally  a  partisan  of  one  of  the  warring 
powers  than  mere  non-interference  with 
this  traffic  does. 

But  the  time  has  come,  I  believe, 
when  this  question  should  also  be  looked 
at  from  another  point  of  view.  Through 
the  course  of  events  it  has  ceased  to  be 
a  question  of  international  legality  only, 
and  has  come  to  be  a  vital  question  of 
national   and  international   morality. 

Is  it  moral,  from  the  national  point 
of  view,  that  the  United  States,  a  na- 
tion which  officially  stands  for  the 
policy    of    peace   and    against    excessive 


armament,  should  now  permit  within  its 
own  borders  the  manufacture  of  arms 
on  so  large  a  scale  that  this  industry 
bids  fair  to  become  one  of  the  leading 
industries  of  the  country? 

Is  it  moral,  from  the  national  point 
of  view,  that  our  Government  should 
permit  the  rise  in  this  country  of  a  set 
of  capitalists  whose  interests  are  ex- 
clusively or  predominantly  identified 
with  war,  and  which,  therefore,  by  its 
own  self-interest,  is  bound  to  abet  and 
to  foster  the  war  spirit  among  masses 
of  people? 

Is  it  moral,  from  the  international 
point  of  view,  that  this  country,  while 
officially  holding  aloof  from  the  gigan- 
tic carnage  which  is  now  devastating 
Europe,  should,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
through  its  continued  shipment  of  arms 
make  itself  a  participant  in  this  de- 
struction, and  indeed  thrive  upon  it? 

And  if — as  is  by  no  means  impossible 
— the  continued  sale  of  arms  to  one  of 
the  belligerents  from  an  officially  neu- 
tral country  should  finally  come  to  be 
one  of  the  decisive  factors  in  the  issue 
of  this  war,  would  that  be  an  issue  to 
which  the  United  States  would  have 
reason  to  point  with  pride  as  a  victory 
of  international  morality?  Would  not 
that  be  the  result  of  a  positive  assistance 
from  this  country  to  one  of  the  warring 
groups  which  could  not  any  longer  be 
reconciled  with  moral  neutrality? 

These  are  questions  so  momentous,  so 
far-reaching,  and  so  pressing  that  Con- 
gress should,  the  sooner  the  better,  have 
an  opportunity  to  discuss  them.  They 
are  questions  which  should  be  decided 
without  the  bias  of  racial  sympathies  or 
antipathies,  solely  upon  the  ground  of 
American  national  welfare. 


Italy  in  War  Time 

By   G.  M.  Trevelyan 

This  article,  by  the  author  of  "  Garibaldi  and  the  Making  of  Italy,"  appeared  originally  in 
T)ie  London  Daily  News.  Written  while  the  Germans  were  making  their  victorious  thrust 
at  Warsaw,  it  constitutes  an  appeal  to  Italy's  and  Europe's  historic  past. 


ITALIAN  fortitude  has  been  quite 
undisturbed  by  the  fall  of  Lemberg. 
The  Italians  of  their  own  choice 
entered  the  war  at  the  time  when 
the  Russian  retreat  had  begun  and 
they  were  prepared  for  the  events 
that  have  since  occurred.  If  the 
Italians  had  failed  to  take  the  Alpine 
passes  of  Trentino  and  Carnia,  and  to 
establish  themselves  on  the  line  of  the 
Isonzo,  they  would  no  doubt  be  more 
alarmed  about  the  possibility  of  the  Ger- 
mans coming  down  in  force  upon  the 
Lombard  plain.  But  that  is  felt  to  be 
an  impossibility  since  the  passes  have 
been  seized,  and  the  fact  that  Germany, 
though  it  sends  volunteers  to  the  Tren- 
tino, will  not  actually  declare  war  against 
Italy,  is  held  to  indicate  that  Germany 
seeks  to  minimize  the  Italian  war  and  its 
effects,  rather  than  to  attempt  any  big 
coup  on  this  side  of  the  Alps.  I  do  not 
think  it  will  be  possible  to  minimize  the 
effects  of  the  Italian  war  in  the  long  run. 
The  spirit  of  the  people  and  of  the  army 
is  so  strong,  so  quiet,  so  patient,  so  de- 
termined. There  has  been  no  grumbling 
at  the  comparative  want  of  progress  of 
the  last  fortnight;  for  people  here  have 
watched  the  great  war  long  enough  be- 
fore thej'^  entered  it  to  understand  that 
quick  results  on  a  big  scale  are  not  to 
be  looked  for  till  the  Allies  as  a  whole 
are  on  the  advance  again.  The  Italians 
are  doing  their  duty  of  the  hour  in  draw- 
ing off  more  and  more  Austrians  from 
Galicia.  They  are  acting  as  a  much- 
needed  "  magnet "  to  the  forces  of  the 
common  enemy.  And  meanwhile  they 
are  making  real  progress  on  the  Carso, 
the  bare  plateau  of  limestone  uplands 
above  Monfalcoux,  Gorizia,  and  Trieste. 

Two  things  have  tended  to  maintain 
public  confidence  here  in  the  last  few 
days.  The  news  from  England  and  the 
news  from   Russia.     The   Lloyd  George 


munitions  campaign  and  the  rising  up 
of  the  English  people  to  face  the  ad- 
verse hour  is  as  much  commented  on  as 
the  Czar's  spirited  manifesto  and  the 
similar  uprising  of  the  Russian  people 
of  all  classes  and  parties  to  continue  the 
war  till  final  victory.  It  is  believed  liere 
that  something  of  the  spirit  of  1812  has 
been  aroused  in  Russia  by  the  recent 
defeats.  The  spirit  of  England  and  of 
Russia  respectively  has  been  watched, 
and  is  at  this  moment  approved.  The 
spirit  of  France  is  not  even  watched, 
for  the  Italians  know  that  the  tragic 
determination  of  every  Frenchman  is  to 
die  rather  than  to  fail  of  victory.  Eng- 
land is  well  beloved  here,  but  she  is 
distant  and  relatively  a  stranger.  With 
France  there  have  been  more  quarrels 
in  the  past,  but  she  is  more  kith  and 
kin  to  Italy.  Her  ways,  whether  in 
war  or  peace,  are  simpler  and  more  un- 
derstandable to  the  Italian.  There  is 
also  a  deep  feeling  for  the  enormous 
sacrifices  of  men  that  France  is  making. 
The  wrongs  of  Belgium  are  also  very 
deeply  felt  by  the  people  of  Italy.  That 
feeling  meets  one  here  at  every  turn. 

I  was  present  at  a  pro-English  demon- 
stration last  night  at  one  of  the  theatres. 
It  was  a  patriotic  revue  of  the  war  and 
the  Italian  politics  that  led  up  to  it.  There 
was  Aristophanic  political  license,  Giolitti 
and  Billow  being  as  important  dramatis 
personae  as  Cleon  before  them.  Such  un- 
censored  freedom  would,  one  fears,  have 
been  sadly  abused  and  vulgarized  on  the 
English  stage,  but  here  it  was  used  most 
delightfully.  The  civilization  "  of  twenty- 
five  centuries  "  knows  how  to  do  these 
things.  There  was  a  true  delicacy  of  wit 
in  the  scene  where  Btilow,  who  looked  his 
very  self  without  any  cariacaturing  of 
his  Ambassadorial  dignity,  unrolls  to  Gio- 
litti and  his  "Parliamentary  Majority"  an 


ITALY  IN  WAR  TIME 


1147 


enormous  scroll,  containing  in  one  corner 
of  it  a  list  of  the  infinitesimal  "  conces- 
sions "  that  he  will  make  on  Austria's 
behalf.  Some  one  suggests  they  might 
ask  the  Italian  Government  about  it. 
"  There  is  no  Government,"  says  Giolitti. 
Then  the  mob  breaks  in  on  the  conspira- 
tors, and  the  "  Parliamentary  Majority  " 
vanishes.  The  scene  ends  with  Giolitti 
looking  around  the  room  behind  all  the 
chairs  with  a  match,  to  find  his  "  Ma- 
jority"; but  it  has  disappeared. 

As  the  British  Ambassador  was  known 
to  be  present — it  was  a  benefit  night  for 
the  Blue  Cross — a  tableau  had  been  spe- 
cially put  in  about  the  British  Navy.  A 
British  naval  officer,  looking,  I  fear, 
more  like  a  representative,  say,  of  the 
Chilian  Navy,  read  a  spirited  speech 
about  how  England  had  drawn  sword 
for  honor  and  Belgium;  and  then  we  all 
got  up  and  clapped  for  the  British  Am- 
bassador to  the  strains  of  "  God  Save 
the  King."  A  little  later,  when  an  "  old 
Garibaldino  "  was  singing  his  song,  the 
presence  of  Ricciotti  Garibaldi  was  de- 
tected in  one  of  the  boxes,  and  we  all  got 
up  and  clapped  for  him  to  the  strains  of 
Garibaldi's  hymn;  thereupon  Ricciotti 
Garibaldi  made  us  a  speech  about  how 
his  horse  was  wounded  in  the  1866  cam- 
paign, and  gave  a  shriek  of  pain  that  he 
has  never  forgotten,  and  how  we  should 
all  subscribe  to  the  Blue  Cross  in  aid  of 
the  wounded  horses.  Outside  these  dem- 
onstrations in  the  theatres  no  one  now 
demonstrates  or  shouts  in  the  streets,  as 
they  were  constantly  doing  during  the 
ten  months  of  Italy's  "  neutrality."  This 
i«;  quite  as  it  should  be.  The  municipality 
has  just  put  up  a  notice  to  tell  us  what 
we  are  to  do  if  an  air  raid  is  made  upon 
Rome.  We  are  already  very  considerably 
darkened  at  night. 

To  return  to  the  patriotic  "  revue." 
The  song  that  was  most  often  encored 
was  a  trio  by  a  Socialist  and  anarchist 
and  a  priest,  all  united  to  go  to  the  front. 
The  song  was  witty  and  at  the  same  time 
stirring,  and  when  the  actor  representing 
the  priest  waved  a  tricolor  handkerchief 
rnd  cried  "  Avanti  Savoia  "  he  brought 
down  the  house.  There  was  certainly  no 
contempt  or  malice  implied  against  the 
priest,  quit6  the  opposite.     That  reminds 


me  that  this  Sunday  there  were  again 
held  patriotic  services  in  several  of  the 
principal  churches  of  Rome  and  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Milan,  with  a  war  sermon 
there  by  Cardinal  Ferrari  on  patriotism. 
It  is  not  merely  on  the  stage  that  priests 
are  patriotic  today. 

Another  of  these  patriotic  revues  was 
about  the  old  dying  wolf,  Austria,  and  the 
bellicose  mastiff,  Germany.  It  repro- 
duced in  the  most  forcible  manner  both 
the  character  of  modern  Germany  and 
the  hatred  of  Italians  for  the  historic 
idea  of  Austria.  The  black  and  yellow 
wolf,  hobbling  on  a  crutch  shaped  like  a 
gallows,  was  in  himself  an  artistic  crea- 
tion. We  had  Cavour,  Rossini,  and  I  know 
not  whom  beside.  The  appeal  was  to  his- 
toric memories — what  "  our  fathers  have 
told  us  " — and  it  moved  a  vast  audience 
far  more  than  anything  that  happened 
fifty  years  ago  could  touch  a  correspond- 
ing English  audience.  Me  it  moved,  be- 
cause it  is  part  of  my  profession  to  un- 
derstand the  multitude  and  delicacy  of 
the  historical  allusions.  Certainly  Aus- 
tria is  paying  now  for  what  she  did  in 
Italy  between  1815  and  1866.  And  her 
retention  of  Trento  and  Trieste  have  kept 
the  memory  of  the  old  yellow  and  black 
hangman  alive  in  Italian  hearts,  in  spite 
of  all  the  delusive  appearance  of  the 
Triple  Alliance.  Trentino  and  Trieste 
are  everywhere  the  magic  words.  To  the 
Italian  populace  those  are  the  two  ob- 
jectives of  the  war. 

But  Germany  had  her  due  share  in  the 
piece.  One  of  the  best  songs  was  a  trio 
by  a  German  commercial  traveler,  a  spy, 
and  a  professor.  The  part  of  the  Ger- 
man professor  in  the  present  European 
tragedy  is  as  well  appreciated  here  as 
with  us.  These  revues  no  doubt  are 
trifles,  but  they  serve  to  illustrate  the 
various  phases  of  public  opinion  at  the 
moment. 

It  is  with  very  different  feelings  from 
those  of  the  detached  and  light-hearted 
tourist  that  one  walks  the  streets  of 
Rome  today.  Formerly  an  Englishman 
in  Rome  has  felt  as  though  this  won- 
derful mise  en  scene  of  the  agonies  and 
tragedies  and  achievements  of  three 
thousand  years  of  Italian  history,  which 
are  bounded   in  the   little  circle  of  this 


1148 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


city,  were  a  glorified  and  joyous  play- 
thing for  the  visiting  scholar  or  poet 
from  the  isle  of  safety.  "  Dulce  marl 
magno."  Ever  since,  in  the  Winter  that 
followed  Waterloo,  the  flocks  of  "  Mi- 
lords Inglesi "  came  in  their  private 
chariots  to  possess  the  Piazzi  di  Spagna, 
after  their  twenty  years  of  war-exile 
from  Italian  joys — ever  since  that  date, 
now  a  century  old,  we  English  have 
moved  about  in  Italy  and  Rome  in 
a  privileged  position.  For  we  alone 
have  been  citizens  of  a  State  in  no  fear 
of  being  conquered  by  an  insolent  foe, 
persons  free  from  the  heavy  burden  of 
the  race-feuds  and  military  despotisms 
of  the  Continent,  safe  in  our  inviolate 
isle.  We  watched  with  too  little  under- 
standing the  convulsions  of  all  Europe 
in  1848;  we  pitied  the  agony  of  France 
in  1870,  but  never  feared  her  fate  for 
oui'selves;  even  the  long  struggle  for 
Italian  freedom  with  all  its  sufferings 
and  postponements,  though  it  moved  our 
sympathy,  was  a  thing  remote  from  our 
own  experience.  And  so  we  have  al- 
ways trodden  the  historic  streets  of 
Rome,  where  liberties  and  empires  so 
often  rose  and  fell,  as  persons  detached 
from  the  cruelties,  sacrifices,  and 
catastrophes  of  its  history  ancient  and 
modern,  observing  all  with  the  snug 
pleasure  of  an  art-critic  before  a  mas- 
terpiece. 

And  now,  behold,  these  ancient  trage- 
dies and  agonies  are  become  flesh  and 
blood  to  us.    We,  too,  strive  for  our  lives 


and  our  liberty  against  the  Tedeschi, 
sworn  to  enslave  us.  Our  far-flung  em- 
pire is  in  danger  as  was  once  that  of 
Rome.  Divisions  or  want  of  forethought 
now  would  ruin  us,  as  Italy  was  ruined 
when  Landsknecht  and  Spaniard  sacked 
this  city  near  400  years  ago.  And  so, 
as  we  move  about  among  the  present  in- 
habitants of  Rome,  amid  a  people  that 
has  risen  to  its  dangerous  duty  at  this 
crisis  of  European  freedom  in  a  mood  so 
sober  and  with  preparations  sq  well 
made,  we  English  feel  heart-brothers 
with  them,  sharers  at  last  in  the  agonies 
and  sacrifices  and  dangers  which  their 
fathers  knew  so  well  as  their  daily  por- 
tion. We  are  blood-brothers  with  Europe 
now.  "  Sink  or  swim,  survive  or  perish," 
we  are  in  for  it  together  now.  That  this 
change  will  profoundly  alter  our  char- 
acter I  cannot  doubt.  Whether  mostly 
for  good  or  mostly  for  bad,  it  is  far  too 
early  even  to  guess. 

Meanwhile  the  Italians  are  watching, 
with  friendly  but  penetrating  eyes,  to  see 
how  we  drag  ourselves  out  of  the  dangers 
among  which  we  have  fallen.  They  have 
heard  that  the  Englishman  is  best  when 
he  has  his  back  to  the  wall.  They  are 
watching,  and  they  think  the  munitions 
campaign  and  the  loan  a  good  beginning. 
They  are  waiting  to  see  if  England  also 
is  capable  of  a  Risorgimento  on  a 
mightier  scale  of  organized  effort  than 
that  which  sufficed  to  free  Italy  two  gen- 
erations ago. 


The  Land  of  the  Brave  and  the  Free 

By    ONE    OP    THE    LATTER. 
[From  The  Spectator.] 


Old     England     glories     in     her     Volun- 
teers;— 
'Tis  splendid!  Let  the  other  fellow  go. 
While    /    remain — a    prey    to    poignant 
fears 
Lest    he    should    suffer    harm.       He's 
dead?     Ah,  woe! 
Resignedly  I  check  the  rising  sob. 
Then  hurry  out  to  try  and  get  his  job. 


"  National  Service?  "     Would  you  have 

us  slaves? 
Free  I  was  born  and  free  my  friend 

shall  die. 
It  is  because  he  likes  it  that  he  braves 
Thirst,     hunger,     cold,     fatigue,     and 

agony. 
And  if  he  die,  what  matter?     I  foresee 
Another    England   bred   from    men    like 

ME.  H.  W.  B. 


VICE     ADMIRAL     GRIGOROVICH 

Russian     Minister     of     the     Navy 
(Photo  from  Paul   Thompson) 


M.     THEOPHILE     DELCASSE 

Minister   of   Foreign    Affairs  of   France.      He    Resigned    This   Place  in    1905 

at  Germany's  Behest 
(Photo  from  Bain  News  Service) 


Britain's  New  African  Colony 

By  Charles  Friedlander,  F.  R.  G.  S. 

Mr.   Friedlander,   whose  article  appeared  in  The  London  Daily  Chronicle  of  July  15,   was 
for  eight  years  legal  adviser  to  the  German  Gtovernment  in  West  Africa. 


THE  great  news  of  General  Botha's 
superbly  successful  and  glorious 
campaign  has  been  in  all  men's 
mouths  this  week.  The  King,  the 
Commons,  and  the  War  Office,  and  the 
self-governing  dominions  have  ex- 
pressed to  him  the  congratulations  of 
the  empire,  to  which  he  has  added  a 
large  and  valuable  colony.  The  writer 
has  had  several  opportunities  of  visit- 
ing what  was  then  German  Southwest 
Africa,  and  a  few  details  as  to  its  past, 
present,  and  future  will  suffice  to  show 
the  extreme  importance  of  the  conquest 
effected. 

The  history  of  the  territory  in  ques- 
tion, which  extends  roughly  from  the 
Orange  River  mouth  to  Portuguese 
West  Africa,  along  the  west  coast  of 
the  African  Continent,  and  about  250 
miles  inland,  dates  further  back  than 
that  of  most  Southern  African  terri- 
tories. 

To  this  day,  on  the  hill  southwest  of 
Luederitzbucht,  there  is  uplifted  a  cross, 
presently  composed  of  steel,  and  a 
replica  of  the  cross  erected  by  Bar- 
tholomew Diaz  in  1486,  when  he  first 
circumnavigated  the  Cape  of  Storms. 

The  original  was  removed  by  the  order 
of  the  German  Emperor,  and  is  now  be- 
lieved to  be  in  the  Museum  of  Historical 
Research  in  Berlin.  The  hill  in  question 
was  known  until  1908  as  Diaz  Point, 
but  since  the  discovery  of  diamonds  in 
this  part  of  the  territory,  the  point  and 
the  hill  behind  it  have  been  renamed 
Diamond  Hill. 

From  the  time  of  its  first  sighting  by 
Diaz  the  bay  behind  the  point,  called  un- 
til the  time  of  the  German  occupation, 
Angra  Pequena,  (the  Narrow  Harbor,) 
remained  a  port  of  call  for  stray  vessels 
traveling  to  and  from  the  Dutch  East 
Indies,  and  especially  so  after  the  settle- 


ment of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company 
had  been  established  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

From  time  to  time,  and  more  particu- 
larly during  the  early  and  middle  nine- 
teenth century,  whalers  also  made  use 
of  this  part  of  the  coast,  but  the  inhos- 
pitable nature  of  the  country  discouraged 
all  and  sundry  from  even  attempting  to 
penetrate  into  the  interior,  as  well  as 
from  settling  near  the  harbor  itself.  In 
order  to  complete  the  historical  survey,  it 
is  only  necessary  to  add  that  the  country 
was  taken  possession  of  by  the  British 
Government,  and  the  Government  of  the 
Cape  Colony  carried  on  the  immediate 
administration.  Toward  the  latter  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  by  agreement 
between  the  Imperial  and  Colonial  Gov- 
ernments, the  territory  was  abandoned, 
and  it  was  immediately  seized  by  Ger- 
many, which  country  had  previously 
claimed  it,  as  having  been  acquired  for 
Germany  by  one  Anton  Luederitz,  a  Ger- 
man trader  and  hunter.  From  that 
date  until  its  surrender  to  General 
Botha's  victorious  army  it  has  been  a 
German  colony,  and  for  the  last  few 
years  the  largest,  most  prosperous,  and 
best  administered,  and  the  one  with  the 
greatest  prospects  of  becoming  not  only 
a  self-supporting,  but  a  remunerative 
part  of  the  German  colonial  empire. 

The  country  was  originally  abandoned 
by  the  British  chiefly  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  it  seemed  wholly  unproductive, 
utterly  barren,  and  without  any  promise 
for  the  future.  And,  indeed,  the  aspect 
to  the  visitor  from  either  East  or  West 
is  appalling  enough.  Coming  from  the 
east,  the  only  means  of  entry  is  across 
the  Kalahari  Desert,  through  trackless, 
waterless  country,  swept  by  sand  storms, 
and  repellent  from  every  point  of  view. 
From  the  west  the  approach  is  by  sea. 


1150 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Coming  from  Cape  Town,  you  find  a  belt 
of  barren,  shifting  sand  dunes  stretch- 
ing inland  for  miles  and  miles.  There 
is  not  a  sign  of  life,  human,  animal  or 
vegetable.  Dense  fogs  and  storms 
abound,  and  the  Benguela  current  in- 
creases the  dangers  of  navigation.  The 
only  safe  port  in  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  Walfish  Bay,  then, 
and  since,  a  British  possession,  but  now 
rapidly  silting  up.  The  port  of  Angra 
Pequena  is  a  small,  almost  entirely  land- 
locked harbor,  into  which  ships  of  great 
draught  cannot  enter.  For  ships  of  a 
somewhat  shallower  draught  it  has  been 
made  available  by  the  work  done  since 
the  German  occupation.  The  only  other 
port  is  Swakopmund,  immediately  north 
of  Walfish  Bay,  an  open  roadstead  ex- 
posed to  the  full  fury  of  the  gales  and 
seas  coming  across  the  Atlantic  from 
South  America.  Since  the  abandonment 
of  the  territory  and  the  German  occupa- 
tion it  has,  however,  been  found  that, 
once  the  forbidding  outer  defences  have 
been  passed  the  country  itself  is  found 
to  be  most  suitable  to  many  forms  of 
activity,  and  is  likely,  owing  to  its  mag- 
nificent climate,  to  be  able  to  support  a 
large  white  population. 

In  the  south  the  revolution  has  come 
in  the  discovery  of  diamonds  in  1908  in 
a  form  never  known  before  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world's  precious  stones.  Cer- 
tain natives  working  on  the  railway  line 
then  being  constructed  from  Luederitz- 
bucht  inland  found  among  the  gravel  and 
sea-sand  stones  which  they  knew,  from 
previous  experience  in  the  diamond  mines 
of  Kimberley,  and  in  the  river-diggings 
of  the  Western  Orange  River  Colony,  to  be 
diamonds  of  an  exceptionally  fine  quality. 

In  1906,  after  the  temporary  prosperity 
due  to  the  money  expended  by  the  Ger- 
man Government  during  the  Herero  cam- 
paigns in  1904,  Luederitzbucht  was  bank- 


rupt. In  1910  it  was  a  large  and  flourish- 
ing town  to  which  settlers  had  flocked 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  and  north 
and  south  of  which  for  scores  of  miles 
there  extended  an  unbroken  chain  of  dia- 
mond fields,  practically  from  the  Orange 
to  Walfish  Bay.  The  export  from  these 
fields,  all  alluvial  sand,  in  1913  exceeded 
the  value  of  £1,250,000.  From  August, 
1908,  to  about  February,  1910,  life  in 
Luederitzbucht  was  almost  a  replica  of 
the  days  of  the  American  goldfields  in 
the  '40s,  and  many  stirring  and  quaint 
stories  can  be  related  in  connection  there- 
with. 

The  first  large  company  was  formed  in 
Cape  Town  and  is  a  British  company.  It 
was  this  company  which  paid  £100,000  for 
its  claims,  and  put  active  work  as  well  as 
capital  into  the  mines  that  made  the 
fields.  When  it  was  successful,  the  Ger- 
man Government  immediately  stepped  in, 
and  the  German  Emperor  decreed  that.no 
further  foreign  company  should  be  al- 
lowed to  own  diamond  claims  in  German 
Southwest  Africa.  After  the  war,  under 
British  rule,  there  should  be  great  oppor- 
tunities for  the  development  of  this  im- 
portant industry,  as  a  very  large  section 
of  the  ground  has  been  worked  by  or  for 
the  German  Government  and  another 
large  section  has  been  entirely  closed  to 
private  enterprise. 

In  the  north  very  valuable  copper  de- 
posits have  been  found  at  Otavi,  the  ter- 
minus of  one  of  the  two  branch  arms  of 
the  railway  running  northeast  from 
Swakopmund  toward  the  Caprivi  en- 
clave. They  are  being  worked  under  the 
auspices  of  a  Johannesburg  mining  firm. 
Other  valuable  mineral  deposits  have 
been  reported  from  time  to  time,  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  great 
mineral  possibilities  lie  hidden  in  the  in- 
terior, which  is  very  largely,  from  the 
prospector's  point  of  view,  a  terra  incog- 
nita. 


No  Militarism  in  Germany 

By  Dr.   Rudolf  Leonhard 

Professor  of  Law  in  the   University  of  Breslau. 


Breslau,  Germany,  July  11,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Times: 

A  MONG  many  things  read  today  with 

/\  astonishment  the  most  astonish- 
I  \  ing  for  the  German  public  is  the 
often  declared  purpose  of  our 
adversaries  to  continue  the  war  until  Ger- 
man militarism  should  be  destroyed.  The 
acquaintances  of  mine  regard  these  utter- 
ances as  a  very  riddle.  They  do  not  un- 
derstand what  such  words  mean,  because 
we  have  no  other  militarism  than  the 
Continental  States  of  Europe,  which 
struggle  against  our  country. 

Such  a  weapon  is  absolutely  unavoid- 
able for  every  commonwealth,  which 
must  protect  the  people  against  the 
hostile  desires  of  the  neighbors.  The 
care  for  such  a  weapon  would  naturally 
not  be  diminished,  but  increased  in  the 
case  of  a  defeat.  But  there  are  also 
other  opinions  about  the  sense  of  the 
mysterious  opposition  against  Germany's 
so-called  militarism.  Many  foreign 
people  believe  that  there  exists  a  German 
military  caste,  to  whom  the  Emperor  him- 
self belongs,  having  the  tendency  to  be- 
gin as  many  wars  as  possible  in  order  to 
enlarge  the  German  territory  and  to 
bring  other  nations  into  a  dependence 
upon  Germany.  But  we  know  our  Em- 
peror's love  for  peace  from  daily  expe- 
riences and  cannot  be  mistaken  about  it. 

However,  it  seems  that  the  opposite 
feeling  abroad  is  the  result  of  a  wrong 
interpretation  concerning  some  former 
utterances  of  the  Emperor  made  in  order 
to  deter  those  who  would  disturb  the 
peace.  The  form  of  them  seemed  some- 
times to  be  a  little  rough.  But  this  was 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  good  con- 
science of  the  speaker  and  of  his  peace- 
loving  heart.  People  who  did  not  under- 
stand that  were  very  bad  psychologists. 

Nowadays  the  "  militarism "  is  more 
and  more  regarded  as  a  dangerous  qual- 
ity of  the  whole  German  people,  to  begin 
bloody   quarrels   in   order  to   conquer   a 


dominion  over  the  world.  We  all  know 
here  that  nothing  is  further  from  the 
German  mind  than  such  desires.  There- 
fore, it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  such 
a  misrepresentation  about  our  tendencies 
could  arise. 

Asking  for  the  reasons,  we  must  con- 
fess that,  indeed,  there  have  been  among 
us  some  enthusiastic  persons,  the  so- 
called  Pan-Germanists,  a  little  party 
without  any  influence,  who  uttered  from 
time  to  time  rather  fantastic  ideas  about 
the  splendid  future  of  our  country.  Their 
opinions  were  usually  not  even  mentioned 
in  the  most  widely  spread  German  news- 
papers. The  less  they  were  respected 
in  Germany  the  more  they  have  been 
quoted  abroad  by  the  political  enemies  of 
our  country  in  order  to  spread  the  illusion 
that  such  incautious  aspirations  were  the 
very  expression  of  the  German  desires. 
If  that  be  true,  we  would  observe  now 
after  the  victories  a  development  of  such 
tendencies  in  Germany.  But  they  can- 
not be  discovered  here.  I  cannot  deny 
that  there  are  some  patriots  who  dream 
of  leading  German  thought  toward  the 
education  of  the  world,  but  such  hopes 
do  no  harm  and  have  no  political  conse- 
quence. 

If  our  foes  really  have  made  up  their 
mind  to  destroy  German  desires  of  con- 
quest under  the  name  of  militarism  they 
cannot  have  any  success.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  destroy  a  thing  which  does  not 
exist.  Therefore,  if  the  war  really  will 
last  until  such  a  goal  is  reached,  it  will 
never  end. 

I  do  not  say  it  in  the  interest  of  my 
people.  I  say  it  in  the  interest  of  the 
foreigners  who  are  deceived  by  their 
rulers. in  order  to  sacrifice  them  for  an 
impossible  thing.  Certainly  the  very 
goals  of  the  deceivers  are  other  ones, 
which  they  carefully  hide,  because  their 
poor  victims  would  not  like  to  give  their 
blood  for  the  real  wishes  of  their  rulers. 
So   I   regret  less   my   brethren  than   the 


1152  THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 

brave    soldiers    of    our    enemies,    among  Although  I  do  not  overrate  the  influ- 

whom    I    had    many   very    good    friends  ence  of  my  words,  I  think  it  is  my  duty 

before  the  war.    It  is  worth  while  to  die  to  say  my  opinion  openly.    I  cannot  help 

for  his  people,  but  it  is  not  worth  while  them    who    do    not    wish    to    learn    the 

to  die  for  the  destruction  of  a  phantom,  truth. 


Night  in  the  Trench 

By  H.  VARLEY. 

It  eynt  quite  as   'omelike  as  old  'Amp- 
stead  'Eath. 
To  crawl  on  yer  belly  like  worms, 
Wiv    water    an'    mud    arf-an-arf    under- 
neath. 
An*  live  things  as  bites  till  yer  squirms. 
Yer  down't  care  a  'ang  fer  the  Germans 
as  lives. 
In  'oles  just  a  few  yards  aw'y, 
Fer  alw'ys  yer  gives  'em  as  good  as  they 
gives 
Wotever  they  do  or  they  s'y. 

Yer  down't  even  mind  w'en  a  blarsted 
shell  drops 
So  long  as  yer  eynt  'it  yersel'; 
It's  part  o'  the  gyme — an'  yer  grin  till 
yer  flops 
An'  dies  wiv  a  smile  where  yer  fell. 
If  the  'Un  fellers  charge  yer  it  eynt  arf 
as  bad — 
Yer  gives  'em  a  'ellstorm  o'  lead; 
They  runs  on  yer  baynit  like  men  as  is 
mad — 
An'  yer  twists  it  aht  reekin'  an'  red. 

Yer  down't  even  care  if  the  rations  runs 

aht 

An'  yer  drink  o'  the  filth  as  is  near. 

It's  "  Are  we  down'earted  ?  "  yer  yell  an* 

yer  shaht — 

But  yer'd  give  up  yer  soul  fer  a  beer. 

An'  'unger  evnt  notin'  so  long  as  it's  d'y 

An'  yer  rifle  is  'ot  wiv  the  fight; 
But  arfter  the  sunset,  w'en  black  is  the 
sky; 
0  Gawd!     That's  what  gets  yer — ^the 
night. 

No  'ell  can  be  worse  than  to  'ear  the 
wild  screams 
Of  soljers  who  fights  in  the'r  sleep; 
An'  dreadin'  the  orful  things  'auntin'  yer 
dreams; 
The   red   flood   as   drowns   yer   down 
deep.    * 
Yer  fear  fer  yer  senses,  the  thread  as 
m'y  bryke; 
Yer  bryne  nearly  bursts  wiv  the  stryne. 
Until  in  the  gray  o'  the  dawn  yer  awyke. 
An'  a  day-full  o'  fight  comes  agyne. 


France's  Fight  Against  ^^Kultur'^ 

By  Paul  Sabatier 

M.  Paul  Sabatier,  author  of  the  "  Life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,"  has  addressed  the 
following  eloquent  letter  to  Professor  Falcinelli,  the  President  of  the  International  Society 
for  Franciscan  Studies  at  Assisi,  of  which  M.  Paul  Sabatier  is  Honorary  President.  It  was 
written  and  published  in  The  London  Times,  in  reply  to  a  letter  in  which  Professor  Falcinelli 
inclosed  a  resolution  in  favor  of  peace  which  the  council  of  the  society  had  passed  shortly 
before  Christmas.  M.  Paul  Sabatier,  one  of  whose  brothers  fell  at  Gravelotte  in  1870,  and 
whose  only  son  is  fighting  in  the  Argonne,  was  for  many  years  pastor  at  Strassburg  after 
the  German  occupation.  The  great  influence  which  he  acquired  in  Strassburg  rendered  him 
obnoxious  to  the  German  authorities,  who,  after  having  failed  to  silence  him,  expelled  him 
from  Alsace.  One  of  his  books,  "  L'Orientation  Religieuse  de  la  France  Actuelle,"  first 
revealed,  some  years  ago,  the  moral  strength  of  France.  In  his  present  letter  he  defines, 
for  the  benefit  of  his  Italian  friends  and  fellow-students  of  St.  Francis,  the  spirit  in  which 
France   regards   the  war. 


MY    Dear    President:    My    hearty 
thanks  for  your  cordial  letter. 
I  hasten  to   reply;   excuse  me 
if  I  do  so  more  briefly  than  I 
should   wish. 

First  let  me  express  my  delight  that 
your  friend  and  mine,  Luzzatti,  should 
have  accepted  the  Presidency  of  the  com- 
mittee Pro  Belgio.  The  noble  Belgian 
Nation  is  doubtless  to  be  pitied,  but  it  is 
still  more  to  be  admired.  Its  tribulations 
will  pass,  but  its  laurels  will  not  fade. 

The  Belgians  went  to  certain  destruc- 
tion, with  a  firmness  unexampled  in  his- 
tory, in  honor  of  a  principle,  whereas  they 
might  easily  have  secured  handsome  pay- 
ment for  granting  a  right  of  way  through 
their  country,  and  might  also  have  made 
millions  out  of  the  German  troops.  With- 
out a  moment's  hesitation,  without  giv- 
ing a  thought  to  these  profits,  they  re- 
plied with  a  non  possumus  of  which  other 
nations  have  not,  perhaps,  understood 
the  lofty  heroism. 

Dec.  29. — I  was  interrupted  the  other 
day  and  have  not  been  able  to  continue 
before.  I  took  advantage  of  the  Christ- 
mas holidays  to  go  and  speak  in  the 
neighboring  villages  and  to  admire  the 
quiet  courage  of  our  countryside.  It  is 
as  thoug^h  the  words  "  In  your  patience 
possess  ye  your  souls  "  had  been  spoken 
for  our  people. 

As  to  my  feeling  about  your  mareifesta- 
tion  in  favor  of  peace,  you  understand, 
do  you  not,  that,  as  a  belligerent,  and  a 
belligerent  the  more  determined  in  that  I 


was  before  firmly  pacific,  I  look  upon 
it  all  with  an  eye  very  different  from 
yours?  A  Frenchman  cannot  now  utter 
the  word  "peace."  To  use  it  would  be 
akin  to  treason.  When  a  quarrel  is  for 
money,  or  for  a  strip  of  territory,  one  can 
make  peace  without  moral  loss.  To  make 
peace  when  an  ideal  is  at  stake  is  an  ab- 
dication; even  to  think  of  it  is  to  be  false 
to  the  voice  which  tells  us  that  man  is 
born  for  other  things  than  to  enjoy  the 
moral  and  material  heritage  of  his  fath- 
ers. 

It  is  the  honor  of  Belgium,  France, 
and  their  allies  to  have  seen  at  once  the 
spiritual  nature  of  this  war.  No  doubt 
we  are  fighting  for  ourselves,  but  we  are 
fighting,  too,  for  all  peoples.  The  idea 
of  stopping  before  the  goal  is  reached 
cannot  occur  to  us — and  we  find  some 
difficulty  in  understanding  how  it  can  oc- 
cur to  lookers-on.  We  are  grateful  to 
them  for  the  excellence  of  their  inten- 
tions, but  we  are  somewhat  embarrassed 
by  the  thought  that  they  are  more  care- 
ful of  our  physical  than  of  our  moral 
life.  Our  soldiers  are  martyrs;  they  bear 
witness  to  a  new  truth.  Their  defeat 
would  mean  the  triumph  in  Europe  of 
brute  force,  supported  by  the  two  spir- 
itual forces  which  it  has  mobilized — sci- 
ence and  religion.  Before  permitting 
that  it  is  our  duty  to  fight,  without  even 
thinking  of  what  may  befall.  And  if  our 
soldiers  go  down  to  the  last  man  every- 
body who  had  not  yet  taken  up  arms  will 
fight  to  the  last  cartridge,  to  the  last 


1154 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


stone  of  our  mountains  that  we  can  hurl 
against  a  "  Kultur  "  which  is  nought  save 
worship  of  the  sword  and  of  the  golden 
calf. 

The  France  of  today  is  fighting  relig- 
iously. Catholics,  Protestants,  men  of 
Free  Thought,  we  all  feel  that  our  sor- 
rows renew,  continue,  and  fulfill  those  of 
the  Innocent  Victim  of  Calvary.  But  they 
are  birth  pangs;  we  may  die  of  them,  but 
we  have  not  the  right  not  to  bless  the 
present  hour  and  to  take  up  with  rejoic- 
ing the  task  before  us. 

The  peace  which  St.  Francis  preached 
was  not  peace  at  any  price,  peace  as  an 
end  in  itself.  Like  many  others  before 
him,  he  repeated  "  Righteousness  and 
Peace  have  kissed  each  other " — right- 
eousness first  and  then  peace.  There  is 
no  true  or  lasting  peace  that  is  not  based 
on  justice.  He  did  not  beg  the  people  of 
Perugia  no  longer  to  make  war  on  As- 
sisi.  He  began  by  fighting  them;  and 
later  on,  at  the  end  of  his  life,  he  did 
not  preach  peace  to  these  same  people, 
but  told  them  that  the  wrongs  they  had 
committed  would  be  avenged. 

Besides,  unless  I  am  mistaken,  you  will 
soon  feel  what  I  am  saying.  It  seems  to 
me  that  Italy  is  preparing  soon  to  enter 
the  lists.  She  will  come  in  at  her  own 
time  for  practical  reasons,  and  also,  I 
am  sure,  for  reasons  of  ideal.  And  in 
the  thrill  of  enthusiasm  that  will  run 
through  you  all,  from  furthest  Sicily  to 
the  Alpine  peaks,  you  will  feel  the 
mysterious  workings  of  spiritual  cre- 
ation, as  yet  incomplete,  but  which 
strives  to  realize  itself  in  and  by  us. 
You  will  then  see  how  necessary  it  is  for 
a  nation,  as  for  a  man,  to  take  the  rare 
chances  that  are  offered  him  to  fulfill 
his  destiny  and  realize  his  ideal. 

This  is  what  our  soldiers — I  see  it  by 


their  letters — and  what  our  peasants — I 
hear  it  in  their  talk — feel  and  understand 
better  than  I  can  express  it.  What  France 
of  the  Crusades  stammered,  what  France 
of  the  Revolution  saw  dimly,  France  to- 
day desires  to  accomplish.  She  believes 
with  all  her  strength  in  victory  because 
she  has  indomitable  faith  in  the  ideal  of 
justice  and  truth  that  is  in  her  heart. 
But  she  does  not  need  to  believe  in  vic- 
tory in  order  to  fight,  for  to  give  up 
fighting  would  be  to  betray  her  past,  her 
ideal,  her  vocation.  What  matter  that  she 
die  at  her  task  if  she  has  done  her  work? 

The  other  day  I  read  in  a  Swiss  news- 
paper that  one  must  go  to  France  to  see 
a  people  whom  the  war  has  not  per- 
turbed. It  seems  that  in  neutral  Switzer- 
land there  is  greater  moral  distress  than 
in  France.  This  is  quite  natural.  In  the 
ideal  work  we  are  now  doing  we  have 
again  found  the  secret  of  the  life  of  na- 
tions—to labor  together  at  a  hard  task 
and  to  be  faithful  to  the  Spirit  of  Life 
that  is  embodied  in  the  Creation.  Th's 
is  why  I  have  found  no  trace  of  hatred 
of  the  enemy  or  wish  for  reprisals  in 
the  letters  of  our  soldiers,  who  are  en- 
during what  they  endure. 

My  son  Jacques  is  grateful  for  your 
thought  of  him.  He  is  still  in  the  first 
line  in  the  Argonne.  His  last  letter 
is  dated  Dec.  23. 

Au  revoir,  my  dear  President.  In  these 
last  days  of  1914  I  embrace  you  and  wish 
I  could  embrace  all  the  people  of  Assisi, 
the  "black,"  the  "red,"  and  the  "white"; 
for  I  shall  never  be  able  to  tell  you  how 
fond  I  am  of  you  all.  Long  live  Italy! 
and  may  1915  bring  to  the  eldest  of  the 
Latin  nations  those  victories,  material 
and  spiritual,  that  will  reform  Europe 
and  place  civilization  itself  on  new 
foundations. 


The  War  and  the  Jews 


By  Israel  Zangwill 


Mr.  Zangwill's  article  on  "  The  War  and  the  Jews  "  appeared  in  the  Metropolitan  Maga- 
zine for  August,  and  the  major  part  of  it  is  here  reproduced  by  permission. 

Copyright,  The  Metropolitan  Magazine. 


THE  WANDERING  JEW. 

THERE  is  no  luck  for  Israel," 
says  the  Talmud.  Individual 
Jews  are  frequently  shrewd 
and  fortunate,  but  as  a  people 
Israel  is,  in  his  own  expressive  idiom,  a 
Schlemihl,  a  hapless,  ne'er-do-well.  Twen- 
ty centuries  of  wandering  find  him  con- 
centrated precisely  in  the  valley  of  Arma- 
geddon. And  here  in  a  hundred  places 
he  must  again  grasp  the  Wanderer's 
staff.  Symbolic  is  the  figure  of  the  Chief 
Rabbi  of  Serbia  wandering  across  Europe 
to  beg  for  his  pitiful  flock.  A  workhouse 
and  a  hostel  at  London  are  congested 
with  Belgian  Jews.  Forty  ravaged  towns 
have  poured  their  Ghettos  into  Warsaw. 
Prague,  Vienna,  Budapest,  seethe  sul- 
lenly with  refugees.  A  census  taken  of 
4,653  Jews,  who  fled  into  Alexandria 
showed  subjects  of  England,  France, 
Russia,  Spain,  America,  Turkey,  Persia, 
Rumania,  Italy,  Greece  and  Serbia, 
while  another  thousand  had  already  wan- 
dered further — to  other  Egyptian  cities, 
to  America,  Australia,  South  Africa, 
Russia.  The  only  important  section  of 
Jewry  that  has  escaped  the  war  is  that 
which  has  poured  itself  into  the  Amer- 
ican Melting  Pot.  And  not  only  are  ten 
of  the  thirteen  millions  of  Jewry  in  the 
European  cockpit;  nearly  three  millions 
are  at  the  fiercest  centre  of  fighting — 
in  Poland. 

Poland — be  it  German,  Russian  or 
Austrian  Poland — is  pre-eminently  the 
home  of  Jewry,  and  Poland  even  more 
than  Belgium  has  been  the  heart  of  hell. 
For  two  of  the  Powers  that  combined  to 
dismember  it  are  now  fighting  the  third 
across  its  fragments,  and  Jewish  popu- 
lations are  at  their  thickest  along  those 
600  miles  of  border  country  through 
which     Russia     invades      East-Prussian 


Poland  or  Galician  Poland,  Germany 
hacks  her  way  toward  Warsaw,  or  Aus- 
tria hurls  her  counter-attacks. 

The  accident  of  a  series  of  peculiarly 
wise  and  tolerant  monarchs  opened 
Poland  to  a  large  volume  of  Jewish  im- 
migration and  even  gave  its  Jews  a 
measure  of  autonomy  and  dignity.  They 
were  the  recognized  providers  of  an 
urban  and  industrial  population  to  a 
mainly  agricultural  people.  Thus  were 
they  collected  for  the  holocaust  of  to- 
day. For,  of  course,  the  partition  of 
Poland  left  them  still  pullulating, 
whether  in  Prussian  Danzig,  Russian 
Warsaw  or  Austrian  Lemberg.  And  not 
only  have  they  duplicated  the  tragedy 
of  the  Poles  in  having  to  fight  what  is 
practically  a  civil  war;  not  only  have 
they  suffered  almost  equally  in  the  ruin 
of  Poland  so  poignantly  described  by 
Paderewski,  in  the  burnings,  bombard- 
ings,  pillagings,  tramplings;  not  only 
have  they  shared  in  the  miseries  of 
towns  taken  and  retaken  by  the  rival 
armies,  but  they  have  been  accused  hys- 
terically or  craftily  before  both  bellig- 
erents of  espionage  or  treachery,  and 
even  of  poisoning  the  wells,  and  crucified 
by  both.  Hundreds  have  been  shot, 
knouted,  hanged,  imprisoned  as  hostages; 
women  have  been  outraged,  whole  popu- 
lations have  fled,  some  before  the  enemy, 
many  hounded  out  by  their  own  mili- 
tary authorities,  wandering — but  not  into 
the  wide  world.  Into  the  towns  outside 
the  Pale  they  might  not  escape — these 
were  not  open  even  to  the  wounded  sol- 
dier. In  the  long  history  of  the  martyr- 
people  there  is  no  ghastlier  chapter. 
Yet  it  is  lost — and  necessarily  lost — in 
the  fathomless  ocean  of  Christian  suf- 
fering, in  the  great  world-tragedy.  But 
while  Poland  and  Belgium  are  crowned 


1156 


THE   NEW   YORK    TIMES   CURRENT  HISTORY 


by  their  sorrows  and  cheered  by  the 
hope  of  rebirth,  while  the  agony  of  Bel- 
gium has  become  an  immortal  heroic 
memory,  the  agony  of  Israel  is  obscure 
and  unknown,  unlightened  by  sympathy, 
unredeemed  by  any  national  prospect, 
happy  if  it  only  escape  mockery.  It 
is  related  that  when  one  of  these  ejected 
foot-sore  populations,  wandering  at  mid- 
night on  the  wintry  roads,  with  their 
weeping  children,  met  marching  regi- 
ments of  their  own  army,  the  women 
stretched  out  their  hands  in  frantic  be- 
seechment  to  the  Jews  in  the  ranks. 
But  the  Jewish  soldiers  could  only  weep 
like   the   children — and   march   on. 

TO  THEIR  TENTS,  0  ISRAEL. 
"  You  are  the  only  people,"  said 
Agrippa,  trying  to  hold  back  the  Jews 
of  Palestine  from  rising  against  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  "  who  think  it  a  disgrace 
to  be  servants  of  those  to  whom  all  the 
world  hath  submitted."  Today,  servants 
of  all  who  have  harbored  them,  the  Jews 
are  spending  themselves  passionately  in 
the  service  of  all.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  an  excited  Englishwoman,  hear- 
ing that  the  Cologne  Gazette,  said  to  be 
run  by  jews,  was  abusing  England, 
wrote  to  me,  foaming  at  the  quill,  de- 
manding that  the  Jews  should  stop  the 
paper.  That  the  Jews  do  not  exist,  or 
that  an  English  Jew  could  not  possibly 
interfere  with  the  patriotic  journalism 
of  a  German  subject,  nay,  that  the  abuse 
in  the  Cologne  Gazette  was  actually  a 
proof  of  Jewish  loyalty,  did  not  occur 
to  the  worthy  lady.  Yet  the  briefest 
examination  of  the  facts  wtould  have 
shown  her  that  the  Jews  merely  reflect 
their  environment,  if  with  a  stronger 
tinge  of  color  due  to  their  more  vivid 
temperament,  their  gratitude  and  attach- 
ment to  their  havens  and  fatherlands, 
and  their  anxiety  to  prove  themselves 
more  patriotic  than  the  patriots.  It  is 
but  rarely  that  a  Jew  makes  the  faintest 
criticism  of  his  country  in  war-fever, 
and  when  he  does  so,  he  is  disavowed 
by  his  community  and  its  press.  For 
the  Jew  his  country  can  do  no  wrong. 
Wherever  we  turn,  therefore,  we  find 
the  Jew  prominently  patriotic.  In  Eng- 
land  the   late   Lord   Rothschild  presided 


over  the  Red  Cross  Fund,  and  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice  is  understood  to  have  saved 
the  financial  situation  not  only  for  Eng- 
land, but  for  all  her  allies.  In  Germany, 
Herr  Ballin,  the  Jew  who  refused  the 
baptismal  path  to  preferment,  the  crea- 
tor of  the  mercantile  marine,  and  now 
the  organizer  of  the  national  food  sup- 
ply, stands  as  the  Kaiser's  friend,  in- 
terpreter and  henchman,  while  Maxi- 
milian Harden  brazenly  voices  the  gos- 
pel of  Prussianism,  and  Ernst  Lissauer — 
a  Jew  converted  to  the  religion  of  Love 
— sings  "  The  Song  of  Hate."  In  France, 
Dreyfus — a  more  Christian  Jew  albeit 
unbaptized — has  charge  of  a  battery  to 
the  north  of  Paris,  while  General  Hey- 
mann,  Grand  Officer  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  commands  an  army  corps.  In 
Turkey,  the  racially  Jewish  Enver  Bey 
is.  the  ruling  spirit,  having  defeated  the 
Jewish  Djavid  Bey,  who  was  for  alliance 
with  France,  while  Italy,  on  the  contrary, 
has  joined  the  Allies,  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Baron  Sonnino,  the  son  of  a 
Jew.  The  miltiary  hospitals  of  Turkey 
are  all  under  the  direction  of  the  Aus- 
trian Jew,  Hecker.  In  Hungary  it  is 
the  Jews  who,  with  the  Magyars,  are 
the  brains  of  the  nation.  Belgium  has 
sent  several  thousand  Jews  to  the  colors 
and  at  a  moment  when  Belgium's  fate 
hangs  upon  England,  has  intrusted  her 
interests  at  the  Court  of  St.  James's  to  a 
Jewish  Minister,  Mr.  Hymans.  Twenty 
thousand  Jews  are  fighting  for  the  Brit- 
ish Empire,  fifty  thousand  for  the  Ger- 
man, a  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 
for  the  Austro-Hungarian,  and  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  for  the  Rus- 
sian. Two  thousand  five  hundred  Jews 
fight  for  Serbia.  Even  from  Morocco 
and  Tripoli  come  Jewish  troops — they 
number  20  per  cent,  of  the  Zouaves. 
Nor  are  the  British  Colonies  behind  the 
French.  From  Australia,  New  Zealand, 
from  Canada,  South  Africa,  from  every 
possession  and  dependency,  stream  Jew- 
ish soldiers  or  sailors.  Even  the  little 
contingent  from  Rhodesia  had  Jews,  and 
the  first  British  soldier  to  fall  in  Ger- 
man Southwest  Africa  was  Ben  Rabin- 
son,  a  famous  athlete.  In  Buluwayo  half  a 
company  of  reserves  is  composed  of  Jews. 
When  Joseph  Chamberlain  offered  the 


THE  WAR  AND   THE  JEWS 


1157 


Zionists  a  plateau  in  East  Africa  the 
half-dozen  local  Britons  held  a  "  mass- 
meeting  "  of  protest.  Yet  today,  though 
the  offer  was  rejected  by  the  Zionists, 
fifty  Jewish  volunteers — among  them 
Captain  Blumenthal  of  the  Artillery  and 
Lieutenant  Eckstein  of  the  Mounted 
Rifles — are  serving  in  the  Defense  Force 
enlisted  at  Nairobi.  Letters  from  British 
Jews  published  in  a  single  number  of 
the  Jewish  World,  taken  at  random,  re- 
veal the  writers  as  with  the  Australian 
fighting  force  in  Egypt,  with  the  Jap- 
anese at  the  taking  of  Tsing-Tao,  with 
the  Grand  Fleet  in  the  North  Sea,  while 
the  killed  and  wounded  in  the  same  issue 
range  over  almost  every  British  regi- 
ment, from  the  historic  Black  Watch, 
Grenadier  Guards,  or  King's  Own  Scotch 
Borderers  down  to  the  latest  Middlesex 
and  Manchester  creations.  The  Old  World 
and  the  New  are  indeed  at  clash  when 
a  Jewish  sailor  on  Passover  eve,  in  lieu 
of  sitting  pillowed  at  the  immemorial 
ritual  meal,  is  at  his  big  gun,  "  my  eye 
fixed  to  the  telescopic  lights  and  an  ear 
in  very  close  proximity  to  an  adjacent 
navyphone,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
time  with  my  head  on  a  projectile  for 
a  pillow."  Anglo-Jewry,  once  the  home 
of  timorous  mothers  and  Philistine 
fathers,  has  become  a  Maccabean  strong- 
hold. One  distinguished  family  alone — 
the  Spielmanns — boasts  thirty-five  mem- 
bers with  the  forces.  A  letter  of  thanks 
from  the  King  has  published  the  fact 
that  an  obscure  Jew  in  a  London  suburb 
has  five  sons  at  the  front. 

And  in  all  these  armies  the  old  Macca- 
bean valor  which  had  not  feared  to  chal- 
lenge the  Roman  Empire  at  its  might- 
iest, and  to  subdue  which  a  favorite  Gen- 
eral had  to  be  detached  from  the  less 
formidable  Britain,  has  been  proved 
afresh.  "  The  Jewish  bravery  astonished 
us  all,"  said  the  Vice  Governor  of  Kovno, 
and,  indeed,  the  heroism  of  the  Russian 
Jew  has  become  a  household  word.  More 
than  300  privates — they  cannot  be  offi- 
cers— have  been  accorded  the  Order  of 
St.  George.  One  Jew,  who  brought  down 
a  German  aeroplane,  was  awarded  all 
four  degrees  of  the  order  at  once.  In 
England  Lieutenant  de  Pass  won  the  Vic- 
toria Cross  for  carrying  a  wounded  man 


out  of  heavy  fire,  and  perished  a  few 
hours  later  in  trying  to  capture  a  Ger- 
man sap.  In  Austria  up  to  the  end  of 
the  year  the  Jews  had  won  651  medals, 
crosses,  &c.  "  I  give  my  life  for  the 
victory  of  France  and  the  peace  of  the 
world,"  wrote  a  young  immigrant  Jew 
who  died  on  the  battlefield.  A  collec- 
tion of  letters  from  German  soldiers, 
published  by  the  Jewish  Book-shop  of 
Berlin,  reveals  equal  devotion  to  Ger- 
many. And  to  the  question,  "  What 
shall  it  profit  the  Jew  to  fight  for  the 
whole  world?  "  a  Yiddish  journalist, 
Morris  Myer,  has  found  a  noble  answer. 
There  is  a  unity  behind  all  this  seeming 
self-contradiction,  he  points  out.  "  All 
these  Jews  are  dying  for  the  same  thing 
— for  the  honor  of  the  Jewish  name." 

THE  RIDDLE  OF  RUSSO-JEWRY. 

The  devotion  of  the  Jew  to  the  British 
flag  needs  no  explanation.  Both  socially 
and  by  legislation  England  has  given 
the  world  a  lesson  in  civilization.  And 
if  France  only  just  escaped  the  pollu- 
tion of  the  Dreyfus  affair,  if  Germany 
and  Austria  are  anti-Semitic  in  temper, 
all  these  countries  have  yet  given  the 
Jew  his  constitutional  rights,  and  the 
Kaiser  in  particular  has  had  the  sense 
and  the  spirit  to  turn  his  ablest  Jews 
into  friends  and  henchmen.  The  appoint- 
ment of  several  hundred  officers  during 
the  war  has  probably  removed  the  last 
tangible  grievance  of  German  Jewry. 
As  for  Turkey,  she  has  been  since  1492 
a  refuge  of  Jewry  from  Christian  per- 
secution, while  Italy,  which  has  had  a 
Jewish  Prime  Minister  as  well  as  a 
Jewish  War  Minister  (General  Otto- 
lenghi),  stands  equal  with  England  in 
justice  to  the  Jew.  But  that  the  Russian 
Jews,  yet  reeking  from  the  blood  of  a 
hundred  pogroms,  should  have  thrown 
themselves  into  Russia's  struggle  with 
almost  frenzied  fervor,  this  is,  indeed, 
a  phenomenon  that  invites  investigation, 
and  invites  it  all  the  more  because  the 
Jews  in  America,  remote  from  the  new 
realities,  continue  their  barren  curses 
against  Russia,  and  include  in  their 
malisons  those  who,  like  myself,  pro- 
claim the  cause  of  the  Allies  the  cause 
of  civilization. 


1158 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


It  would  be  easy  to  dismiss  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  Russian  Jews  as  more 
politic  than  patriotic,  or  to  say  that 
they  have  made  a  virtue  of  necessity. 
But  it  bears  all  the  marks  of  a  sin- 
cere upwelling,  a  spiritual  outreaching 
to  their  fellow-Russians,  Such  scenes 
as  marked  the  proclamation  of  war  have 
never  been  known  in  Russian  Jewry. 
The  Jewish  Deputy  in  the  Duma  and 
the  Jewish  press  were  at  one  in  prof- 
fering heart  and  soul  to  the  country. 
From  the  Great  Synagogue  of  Petro- 
grad  five  thousand  Jews,  headed  by  the 
Crown  Rabbi,  marched  to  the  Czar's 
Palace  and,  kneeling  before  it,  sang 
Hebrew  hymns  and  the  Russian  anthem. 
Their  flags  bore  the  motto,  "  There  are 
no  Jews  or  Gentiles  now."  At  Kieff 
ten  thousand  Jews,  carrying  Russian 
banners  and  the  Scrolls  of  the  Law, 
paraded  the  town,  and  similar  demon- 
strations occurred  wherever  Jews  dwelt. 
A  Warsaw  writer  records  that  the  Jews 
wept  with  emotion  in  the  synagogues 
as  the  prayed  for  Russia's  victory. 
Thousands  of  youths  who  had  escaped 
conscription  offered  themselves  as  vol- 
unteers; in  Rostoff  even  a  girl  smug- 
gled herself  among  them  and  went 
through  several  battles  before  she  was 
detected.  The  older  generation  poured 
out  its  money  in  donatives.  The 
Dowager  Empress  accepted  and  named  a 
Red  Cross  Hospital.  One  wealthy  Jew 
in  the  province  of  Kherson  undertook 
to  look  after  all  the  families  of  reserv- 
ists in  six  villages,  or  1,380  souls. 

Something  must,  perhaps,  be  dis- 
counted for  the  hysteria  and  hypnosis 
of  war  time.  And  other  factors  than 
patriotism  proper  may  have  entered 
into  the  enthusiasm.  The  young  gen- 
eration had  reached  the  breaking  point. 
Baffled  of  every  avenue  of  distinction, 
the  most  brilliant  blocked  from  the 
schools  and  universities  by  the  diabolical 
device  of  admitting  even  the  small  per- 
centage by  ballot  and  not  by  merit, 
grown  hopeless  of  either  Palestine  with- 
out or  the  social  revolution  within,  the 
young  Jews  hovered  gloomily  between 
suicide  and  baptism,  between  depravity 
and  drink.  Some  with  a  last  glimmer 
of  conscience  and  faith  had  thought  to 


avoid  the  stigma  of  Christianity  by  be- 
coming m.erely  Mohammedans;  others  to 
dodge  at  least  the  Greek  Church  had 
exploited  an  Episcopalian  missionary. 
But  even  for  t?iese  Russia  refused  to 
open  up  a  career.  To  this  desperate 
generation  the  war  came  as  an  outlet 
from  a  blind  alley,  a  glad  adventure. 
Hence  the  reckless  bravery  on  the  bat- 
tlefield. But  there  was  reason,  too,  in 
the  ecstasy.  England,  ever  the  Jew's 
star  of  hope,  was  at  last  to  fight  side 
by  side  with  Russia.  For  the  Russian 
the  alliance  was  a  pride,  for  the  Jew 
an  augury  of  liberty.  The  great  democ- 
racies of  the  West  would  surely  drag 
Russia  in  their  train.  And  for  the  elders 
the  fear  of  Germany  was  the  beginning 
of  wisdom.  The  very  first  day  of  the 
war  she  had  taken  possession  of  the  un- 
defended town  of  Kalicz  on  the  Russian 
border,  and  in  this  town,  more  than  a 
third  Jewish,  had  initiated  her  policy  of 
"  frightfulness."  And  mingling  with 
this  sinister  first  impression  came  the 
stories  of  wealthy  Jews  returning  from 
Karlsbad,  Wiesbaden,  and  other  Summer 
resorts  from  which  they  had  been 
ejected  as  "  alien  enemies."  Te  Jew 
began  to  cling  to  the  devil  he  knew,  to 
realize  that,  after  all,  Russia  was  his 
home. 

But  when  every  allowance  is  made  for 
lower  factors,  there  remains  a  larger 
and  deeper  truth  underlying  the  en- 
thusiasm, the  truth  which  it  takes  a 
poet  to  feel  and  which  found  its  best 
expression  in  the  words  of  the  Russo- 
Yiddish  writer,  Shalom  Asch,  whose 
dramas  have  been  played  in  Berlin  and 
whose  books  were  published  in  English. 
Germany's  aeroplanes  had  rained  down 
on  the  Pale  not  bombs,  but  leaflets,  an- 
nouncing herself  as  the  deliverer  of  the 
oppressed  peoples  under  the  Russian 
yoke  and  promising  to  grant  the  Jews 
equal  rights.  To  these  seductive  at- 
tempts to  exploit  the  Jewish  resentment 
against  Russia,  Shalom  Asch  answered 
sternly:  "  '  The  oppressed  peoples  under 
the  Russian  yoke '  have  risen  as  one 
man  against  the  German  bird  of  prey. 
*  *  *  The  Jews  are  marching  in  the 
Russian  ranks  for  the  defense  of  their 
fatherland.    Nor  is  it  the  youth   alone 


THE  WAR  AND   THE  JEWS 


1159 


that  has  done  its  duty.  In  every  town 
of  Russia  Jews  have  established  com- 
mittees; our  sisters  are  joining  the  Red 
Cross,  our  fathers  are  collecting  funds. 

*  *  *  Thousands  of  Russo-Jewish 
volunteers  have  enlisted  in  France  *  *  * 
even  from  America,  where  Germany  has 
tried  to  exploit  our  sufferings,  they  are 
beginning  to  come.  For  this  is  not  a 
war  to  defend  the  Russian  bureaucracy 
which  is  responsible  for  the  pogroms, 
but  to  defend  the  integrity  of  our  fath- 
erland. *  *  *  j^or  do  we  do  our 
duty    in    order    to    '  earn '    equal    rights 

*  *  *  but  because,  deeply  hidden  in 
our  hearts,  there  is  a  burning  feeling  for 
Russia.  *  *  *  Look  at  America, 
where  hundreds  of  societies  and  streets 
bear  the  names  of  our  Russian  towns. 

*  *      *     No    Pale,   no   restrictions,   no 


pogroms,  can  eradicate  from  our  hearts 
this  natural  feeling  of  love  for  our 
country,  and  God  be  thanked  for  it! 
*  *  *  Nobody  gives  a  fatherland  and 
nobody  can  take  it  away.  We  have  been 
in  Russia  as  long  as  the  Slav  peoples. 
The  history  of  the  Jews  in  Poland  be- 
gins with  the  very  first  page  of  Polish 
history.  Equal  rights  must  be  ours,  be- 
cause for  a  thousand  years  and  more 
we  have  absorbed  into  our  blood  the  sap 
of  the  Slav  soil,  the  Slav  landscape  is 
reflected  in  our  thought  and  imagination. 
We  shall  fight  against  the  system  of 
government  which  refuses  to  recognize 
our  equality,  as  we  fought  against  it  in 
1905.  But  the  Russian  soil  is  sacred,  it 
belongs  to  the  peoples  of  Russia,  and 
whoever  dares  to  touch  it  will  find  in 
the  Jew  his  first  foe!  " 


Poland,   1683—1915 


By  H.  T.  SUDDUTH. 


Thy  valor,  Poland,  stemmed  the  tide  of  fate 
Onrushing  from  the  Elast  in  olden  days, 
When  proud  Vienna  saw,  with  dread  amaze. 

Vast  Turkish  hosts  before  her  walls,  elate 

In  victor  pride,  inflamed  with  zealot  hate! 
Then  Sobieski  did  thy  banner  raise 
Triumphant,  bore  it  through  the  battle  blaze, 

And  saved  from  Crescent  rule  the  Christian  State! 

And  what  was  thy  reward,  O  Land  of  Woe  ? 

*Twas  thine  to  see  thy  kingdom  torn  and  rent, 
And  all  a  proud  and  vanquished  people  know 

Whose  necks  beneath  a  conqueror's  yoke  are  Bent! 
Yet  thou  hast  kept  through  all  thy  centuried  night 
An  altar  flaming  clear  with  Freedom's  light! 

And  now  again  the  tide  of  war  has  swept 
In  mightiest  wave  the  world  has  ever  known 
Across  thy  plains  by  battle  scarred,  and  prone 

A  nation  lies!     War's  fury  that  long  slept. 

To  greater  madness  waked!     The  bounds  it  kept 
In  older  times  are  swept  away,  and  strown 
Thy  fields  are  with  thy  dead,  while  moan 

Of  dying  men  shows  where  War's  cohorts  stept! 

And  Warsaw  fair,  where  slow  the  Vistula  flows, 
Where  Kosciusko  fell  in  Freedom's  cause. 

Now  once  again  a  conqueror's  presence  knows 
While  issue  vast  that  all  the  world  now  awes 

Hangs  trembling  in  the  balance  stem  of  Fate 

Whose  dread  decree  all  nations  now  await! 


The  Collective  Force  of  Germany 

By  Gerhard  von  Schulze-Gaevernitz 

Dr.  von  Schulze-Gaevernitz  is  Pro-Rector  and  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the 
University  of  Freiburg  and  a  member  of  the  Reichstag.  This  article  is  part  of  an  essay  pub- 
lished by  The  New  York  Evening  Mail,  which  Dr.  Gaevernitz  handed  to  The  Mail's  Berlin 
correspondent  as  an  answer  to  his  question:  "  What  do  the  educated  Germans  really  believe 
about  England?  "  The  part  selected  contrasts  the  German  ideal  of  collective  efficiency  with 
the  British  ideal  of  individual  freedom. 


ALTHOUGH    the    machinery    creaks 

/\  a  bit,  and  for  the  time  being 
X  A_  friction  is  more  apparent  than 
the  actual  benefits,  there  has 
never  been  a  more  .perfect  organiza- 
tion of  a  free  people  than  is  evidenced 
in  warring  Germany  of  today.  One  of  the 
most  singular  chapters  of  economic  his- 
tory is  being  written  for  the  benefit  of 
posterity.  The  socialization  of  the  Ger- 
man State  has  been  so  rapid  and  com- 
plete that  it  will  take  science  years  to 
record  what  has  been  achieved.  We  can 
state  also  that  Germany  has  never  been 
economically  so  strong  and  so  firmly  knit 
together  as  now,  after  nearly  a  year  of 
war. 

Similar  advancement  is  apparent  in  the 
technical  field.  Germany,  like  the  sleep- 
ing beauty,  has  been  aroused  out  of  her 
century-long  sleep  by  the  electric  spark 
which  touches  the  blackness  of  anthracite 
to  bring  forth  the  magic  colors  of  aniline 
dyes.  War  stimulated  progress.  Salt- 
petre was  literally  extracted  from  the  air. 

The  great  revolution  in  means  of 
transportation  since  the  days  of  Napo- 
leon has  benefited  Germany  more  than 
any  other  nation,  as  Frederich  List  pre- 
dicted. The  Prussian  railway  system  is 
not  only  the  largest  single  enterprise  in 
the  world,  but  it  is  the  most  efficient 
mechanism  ever  created,  typifying  Ger- 
man unity  and  striking  power.  The  rail- 
way has  welded  together  nations  which 
otherwise  could  hardly  come  into  touch, 
such,  for  example,  as  Germany  and 
Turkey. 

With  the  help  of  her  Allies  and  of 
such  neutrals  as  are  contiguous  by  land, 
and  with  her  control  of  the  Baltic  Sea, 
and,  through  Turkey,  of  the  Black  Sea, 
Germany  commands  an  economic  terri- 


tory which  could  support  itself  for  years 
in  case  of  necessity.  And  these  changes 
have  been  effected  during  a  period  when 
the  British  industrial  has  been  losing  its 
mobility! 

In  a  moral  and  intellectual  sense,  also, 
England  has  been  living  the  life  of  a 
retired  capitalist,  the  richest  capitalist 
of  the  world.  England's  tremendous 
heritage  still  towers  over  her  head  as  a 
globe  encompassing  dome,  but  the 
foundation  arches  of  this  heaven-storm- 
ing structure  are  cracking.  The  re- 
ligious life  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  aged 
into  formalism,  and,  having  lost  the 
power  of  adapting  itself  to  scientific 
progress,  is  degenerating  into  little 
more  than  hypocrisy. 

"  No  Englishman,"  said  Carlyle,  "  any 
longer  dares  to  pursue  Truth.  For  200 
years  he  has  been  swathed  in  lies  of 
every  sort."  And  even  that  phenomenon 
of  disintegration  called  "  Enlighten- 
ment," which  England  never  succeeded 
in  outgrowing,  offers  no  substitute  for 
the  truths  that  slipped  from  her  as  her 
religion  withered  into  formalism;  no  me- 
chanical formula  will  solve  the  riddle  of 
the  universe;  no  utilitarian  calculation 
of  happiness  will  satisfy  the  anxious 
longings  of  the  heart. 

Herein  lies  England's  internal  danger; 
here  gapes  the  abyss  which  Carlyle  and 
Emerson  sought  to  bridge  with  building 
stones  of  German  philosophy. 

And,  in  fact,  it  was  upon  German  soil 
that  the  basic  lines  of  that  universal 
temple  were  thought  out  which  was  to 
furnish  a  new  home  for  the  searching 
human  spirit.  German  idealism  out- 
stripped the  British  mind  since  it  fused 
Puritanism  and  enlighenment  to  a  higher 
unity.     The  rigid  greatness  of  puritan- 


THE  COLLECTIVE  FORCE  OF  GERMANY 


llGl 


ism  lived  on  in  old  Prussia,  to  which  it 
had  always  been  bound  by  threads  of 
spiritual  history.  But  Kant  placed  this 
same  old  Prussia  upon  the  judgment  seat 
of  reason  when  he  vanquished  the  great- 
est skeptic  of  all  times,  David  Hume, 
the  final  product  of  British  thought. 

Amid  the  doubts  of  the  intellect  and 
the  perplexities  of  the  soul  the  "  mandate 
of  duty  "  becomes  the  granite  block  upon 
which  man  can  rise  to  "  freedom  "  and 
bring  "  order  "  into  his  affairs — "  order  " 
into  conflict  between  knowledge  and  de- 
sire of  the  man  who  understands  and 
acts.  Looking  up  from  that  rock  man 
inevitably  attains  to  faith  in  God  and  to 
confidence  in  an  all-embracing  plan  of 
salvation,  even  when  in  places  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  ordained  purpose  remains 
veiled  in  darkness. 

But  the  sjmthesis  achieved  by  Ger- 
man thought  was  even  richer  than  this. 
When  old  Prussia  allied  itself  with  West- 
em  Germany,  with  its  warmer  blood 
and  its  quicker  perceptions  of  art,  duty 
and  individual  liberty  were  merged  in 
the  "  idea  of  the  whole  " — ^from  Kant 
to  Hegel! 

The  discipline  of  the  individual  as  a 
part  of  the  social  whole  is,  for  the  Ger- 
man, no  servitude,  as  the  Briton  is  wont 
to  imagine,  but  a  higher  step  toward 
freedom.  For  the  individual  in  that  way 
confers  the  place  of  transcendent  value 
upon  society. 

"  Law  seems  to  bind  with  rigid  fetters 
Only  the  mind  of  the  slave  who  spurns  it." 

The  collective  force  of  Germany,  which 
interlocks  the  free  individual  with  the 
social  whole,  is  stronger  than  the  force- 
ful individuals  whom  old  England  pro- 
duced. This  tendency  is  observable  in 
the  German  Army,  in  German  state  en- 
terprises, and  in  the  kartel  organization 
of  German  capital.  At  his  best  the 
Briton  succeeded  in  subjecting  the  world 
to  British  dominion  through  strong  per- 
sonalities for  the  glory  of  a  world- 
strange  God. 

The  German,  on  the  other  hand,  does 
his  best  in  creating  a  highly  organized 
community  for  the  purpose  of  further- 
ing in  society  the  historic  development 
of  eternal  values.  Thus  the  idea  of  the 
Kingdom  of   God    (Civitas   Dei)    and   its 


visible  manifestation  in  the  Christian 
Church,  continue  to  produce  beneficent 
results.  Corresponding  to  this  differ- 
ence in  philo.sophic  outlook  between  the 
two  races,  there  is  a  difference  in  politi- 
cal aims.  The  formal  freedom  of  the 
Briton  the  German  regards  only  as  the 
first  step  beyond  which  he  must  go  by 
bringing  about  a  rational  organization  of 
the  State  for  material  justice,  and  in  this 
respect  the  Prussian  State  Socialist  and 
the  Social  Democrat  are  at  one. 

The  German  strives  for  rational  or- 
der, where  the  British  ideal  of  com- 
petition places  the  blind  forces  of  finance 
upon  an  arbitrary  throne.  No  one  knew 
this  better  than  an  Englishman  himself 
— Carlyle — who  thought  that  Germany 
when  she  took  the  lead  in  Europe  had 
secured  several  hundred  years  more  for 
the  attempt  to  build  out  of  the  germs 
then  in  existence  a  new  social  order. 

Beyond  these  national  aims  the  Ger- 
man does  not  strive  for  world  dominion, 
but  for  a  rational  organization  of  the 
world  on  the  basis  of  voluntary  co-opera- 
tion. Kant's  "  Eternal  Peace  "  is  to  him 
an  ideal  always  to  be  striven  for,  even 
though  unattainable.  But  between  this 
indefinite  remote  aim — "  One  flock  and 
one  shepherd!  " — and  the  today,  full  of 
national  antagonisms,  the  German  be- 
lieves that  he  can  realize  certain  inter- 
mediate steps  through  a  welding  for  a 
federal  union  of  nations  akin  in  interests 
and  civilization. 

That  such  a  political  organization  can 
be  expected  Germany  has  proved  by  its 
kartels,  wherein  stronger  and  weaker 
units  exist  with  advantage  to  all.  Switz- 
erland, essentially  German  in  character, 
constitutes  such  a  federation,  comprising 
three  of  the  principal  European  na- 
tionalities. Similarly,  Austria-Hungary 
should  be  such  a  federation,  assuring 
equal  rights  to  Germans,  Magyars,  Ru- 
manians, west  and  southern  Slavs. 

A  commercial  and  political  union  of 
the  two  Central  European  powers  lay  in 
the  direction  of  Bismarck's  thoughts,  and 
is  today  more  than  ever  felt  as  a  need 
consequent  upon  the  present  brotherhood 
in  arms.  By  leaning  upon  such  a  Central 
European  nucleus  the  Germanic  States  of 
the  north  and  Slavic  States  of  the  south- 


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THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


east  would  obtain  the  advantages  of 
State  organization  on  a  large  scale  with- 
out losing  their  independence. 

But  the  German  idea  of  a  federation  of 
nations  goes  still  further.  It  is  no 
Utopia;  no  idler's  day  dreams  to  safe- 
guard the  peace  of  the  Western  Euro- 
pean Continent  by  a  league  of  its  princi- 
pal powers.  Such  a  peaceful  confederacy 
among  Germany,  Austria-Hungary, 
France,  and  Italy  would  consolidate  and 
unite  nations  that  have  vital  interests  in 
common.  This  would  furnish  a  balance 
to  England's  sea  monopoly  and  world- 
power  which  for  centuries  has  been  the 
source  of  Europe's  strife.  Demands  for 
such  a  federation  will  make  themselves 
felt  after  the  madness  of  the  present  war. 

The  war  with  France  was  entirely 
avoidable,  for  Germany  demanded  from 
France  nothing  but  her  neutrality.  And 
why  did  France  go  to  war?  The  French 
themselves,  in  the  territory  now  occupied 
by  us,  have  answered  again  and  again: 
"  Nobody  knows  why!  "  The  war  with 
England  was  not  quite  so  groundless,  but 
it,  too,  could  have  been  avoided  because 
it  was  in  England's  ultimate  interest  to 


accept  the  position  of  "  first  among 
equals,"  ("  Primus  inter  pares.")  But 
war  with  Russia  was  inevitable  at  some 
time  or  other. 

Germany  might  have  waged  it,  with 
Western  Europe  neutral,  for  the  libera- 
tion of  the  Russian  people  itself,  for  the 
independence  of  the  subjugated  nationali- 
ties, and  for  the  security  of  neighboring 
people  menaced  by  "  Holy  Russia."  There 
may  have  been  a  time  when  tyranny  and 
serfdom  were  essential  to  the  education 
of  mankind.  But  today  the  time  has 
come  for  the  organization,  instead,  of 
free  units,  each  protected  by  the  whole — 
a  German  conception  of  civilization. 

The  ideal  of  organization,  the  thought 
of  a  tremendously  valuable  whole,  unit- 
ing its  free  members  for  effective  work, 
labors  in  the  sub-consciousness  of  mill- 
ions of  Germans;  labors  even  where  it 
does  not  come  to  the  light  of  philosophic 
discussion.  The  very  fact  that  our  op- 
ponents call  us  "  barbarians "  proves 
that  these  ultimate  sources  of  strength 
are  closed  to  them  and  that  they  cannot 
gauge  our  power  and  invincibility,  but 
only  imitate  externals. 


The  Flow  of  Tears 

By  the  Bishop   of   Lund 


[From  King  Albert's  Book.] 


AMID  the  press  of  incalculable  sorrows,  of  which  this  terrible  wax- 
is  the  cause,  there  is  yet  one  element  which  uplifts  the  spirit  as 
we  contemplate  it.  From  every  country  which  is  involved  in  the 
war  there  is  evidence  that  that  nation  Is  united,  that  no  schism  of  class 
or  party  exists,  but  that  all  citizens  are  one  in  accepting  every  sacrifice 
which  may  be  required  for  the  safety  and  honor  of  the  fatherland. 

Little  can  he  who  stands  afar  off  from  the  scene  of  fighting  realize 
how  much  suffering  has  already  been  caused  and  must  continue  to  be 
caused  by  this  struggle.  To  comprehend  the  agony  one  must  live,  day 
by  recurrent  day,  under  the  very  experience  of  anxiety  and  loss.  But 
sympathy  we  give  from  the  depths  of  our  hearts,  sympathy  to  all  the 
nations  who  are  taking  their  part  in  this  war ;  most  of  all  to  Belgium, 
which,  so  far  as  we  can  understand,  has  suffered  most. 

And  inwardly  we  yearn  to  see  advance  every  effort  made  to  stanch 
the  flow  of  tears. 


A  Cheerful  German  Emperor 

By  Dr.  Ludwig  Ganghofer 

An  interview  with  "  a  changed  Kaiser,  a  joyous,  triumphant  Kaiser,"  is  described  in  the 
Miinchener  Neueste  Nachrichten  by  Dr.  Ludwig  Ganghofer,  the  German  novelist,  who  at  an 
earlier  stage  of  the  war  described  a  meeting  with  the  Kaiser  on  the  west  front,  and  again  in 
the  east  just  before  Italy's  entry  into  the  war,  when  the  weight  of  adverse  events  was  pressing 
iieavily  upon  the  German  ruler.  In  the  latest  article,  however,  Ganghofer  describes  the  War 
Lord  triumphant  as  the  German  forces  swept  through  Lemberg  and  onward  into  Russian 
Poland.    His  account  appears  below  . 


1ET  me  narrate,  without  omission, 
wandering  back  to  the  Lake  of 
^  Janow  and  feeling  again  the 
glowing  evening  hour  in  which  I 
saw  that  the  German  Kaiser  had  arrived. 
I  did  not  want  to  stay,  did  not  wish  to  in- 
trude; wanted  to  go  away  after  I  had 
seen  with  joy  how  happy  and  lively  the 
Kaiser  was,  how  healthy  and  fresh  and 
full  of  strength  he  looked — no  longer  so 
serious  and  severe  as  on  the  8th  of  May, 
when  I  was  permitted  to  see  him  at  the 
depot  at  Brzeskow,  that  time  when  the 
impression  of  the  victorious  Spring  days 
on  the  Dunajec  was  embittered  and  over- 
shadowed for  him  by  worry  about  the  de- 
cision of  Italy,  Worry?  No!  What 
then  spoke  so  seriously  and  severely  out 
of  the  eyes  of  the  Kaiser  was  neither  care 
nor  wrath — it  was  the  painful  sorrow  for 
an  event  which  he  saw  coming  and  in 
which,  in  spite  of  all,  he  could  not  be- 
lieve, because  it  seemed  incomprehensible 
and  impossible  to  him  in  the  loyalty  of 
his  own  nature. 

In  those  days  that  followed,  from 
the  20th  to  the  24th  of  May,  the  question 
intruded  itself  a  hundred  times  upon  me, 
"  How  will  this  heavy  disappointment  af- 
fect the  Kaiser?"  And  now,  when  I  saw 
the  Kaiser  in  the  wood  of  Janow,  stand- 
ing over  there  in  the  clearing,  under  the 
thunder  song  of  the  cannon,  so  erect,  so 
joyous  in  the  fateful  hour,  and  so  full  of 
life — now  I  had  my  answer,  the  answer 
that  made  me  happy!  As  the  Kaiser  was, 
so  he  is  still!  Those  who  are  strong  within 
do  not  change.  Let  happen  what  may, 
they  do  not  bow,  they  do  not  stoop  under 
their  burdens.  Therefore  they  are  victors. 
One  foe  more  or  less  does  not  count. 
I  wanted  to  depart. 


"  Herr  Doctor,"  inquired  an  officer, 
stepping  up  to  me,  "  will  you  not  wait  ?  " 

I  shook  my  head.  My  clothes  were 
soiled  and  dusty,  my  hands  gray,  my  face 
covered  with  perspiration. 

"I  beg  of  you,  stay!  The  Kaiser  has 
already  seen  you.    Here  he  comes." 

With  a  cordial  smile  the  Kaiser  extend- 
ed his  hand  to  me: 

"Ganghofer!     Are  you  everywhere?" 

I  reported  where  I  had  come  from, 
and  the  Kaiser  made  me  happy  by  say- 
ing: 

"  The  news  has  just  come  in  that  the 
Russians  have  been  driven  out  of  the  ad- 
vanced point  of  support  by  the  next 
corps." 

"  Indeed!  "  It  came  as  a  cry  of  joy 
from  my  heart.  One  always  hears  joyful 
news  from  the  Kaiser!  I  had  to  tell  him 
about  myself,  and  the  Kaiser  asked  how 
long  I  would  remain  with  the  army.  I 
told  him  at  least  until  Lemberg. 

"  You  are  good,"  laughed  the  Kaiser 
gayly;  and  then  he  grew  serious:  "You 
are  right;  energetically  to  wish  for  some- 
thing which  is  necessary  helps  to  at- 
tain it." 

And  when  he  heard  that  since  early 
morning  I  had  been  on  my  legs,  he  asked 
immediately:  "  Have  you  eaten  your  mid- 
day meal  anywhere  ?  "    I  shook  my  head. 

"  For  heaven's  sake !  Then  you  must 
have  something  at  once!  " 

He  ordered  a  cup  of  tea  brought  to  me 
and  two  big  slices  of  cake;  thrust  one 
hand  into  a  tin  box  that  was  on  the  table, 
and  stuffed  my  coat  pocket  with  zwie- 
back. And  while  he  was  speaking  with 
me  I  had  to  nibble  all  the  time,  for  he 
kept  urging  me:  "Eat,  please  eat!  " 

In  reporting  to  him  about  my  travels 


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THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


on  the  front  in  the  last  few  weeks  I  told 
him  also  that  I  had  met  Sven  Hedin  in 
Przemysl.  The  Kaiser's  eyes  lighted  at 
the  mention  of  the  name,  and  he  said 
quickly:  "  I  am  very  glad  that  you  made 
his  acquaintance.  This  Swede  is  a  splen- 
did man.  If  you  see  him  again,  pray 
greet  him  cordially  for  me." 

Then  followed  a  few  moments  in  which 
an  embarrassing  fear  seemed  to  choke 
me.  High  above  us  a  whirring  sound 
made  itself  heard  in  the  air,  ever  louder 
and  louder.  A  Russian  aviator!  He  came 
from  the  east,  glowed  in  the  red  evening 
sun  like  a  lightning  bug,  and  flew  over 
the  clearing  almost  perpendicularly  above 
us.  Surely  he  must  see  the  many  persons 
down  here!  And  if  he — no,  I  could  not 
think  out  this  harrowing  thought!  And 
now  the  fear  has  already  passed.  Behind 
the  rapidly  vanishing  gadfly  of  war  a 
little  cloud  of  shrapnel  puffed  up.  The 
Kaiser  stood  there  calmly  looking  up  and 
said: 

"  Too  low." 

The  next  shots  also  fell  short  of  the 
flier.     The  Kaiser  nodded  meditatively. 

"  Ay,  to  have  wings — for  the  others 
that  always  means  to  come  too  late." 

He  turned  suddenly  toward  me,  looked 
at  me,  and  again  in  his  eyes  there  was 
that  sorrowing  earnestness  like  that  at 
the  depot  of  Brzeskow  on  May  8.  And 
when  he  spoke  his  voice  had  a  subdued 
ring,  although  he  emphasized  each  sylla- 
ble severely  and  slowly: 

"  Ganghofer,  what  do  you  think  about 
Italy?  " 

Could  I  but  portray  the  tone  of  those 
words!  That  was  no  query  that  demand- 
ed an  answer  from  me;  it  was  a  painful 
recollection  of  the  Kaiser,  a  confession  of 
his  inmost  thought,  a  renewed  amaze- 
ment at   the   impossible   that   could   not 


happen,  but  had  nevertheless  happened. 
In  Brzeskow  the  Kaiser  had  the  firm 
belief :  "  Even  if  a  part  of  the  Italian 
people  may  be  led  astray  by  the  war 
jingoes,  we  can  depend  upon  the  King!  " 
And  now  the  glance  of  the  Kaiser,  in  this 
half  murmured  query,  so  shook  me  that 
my  eyes  almost  grew  moist,  and  that 
silently  I  gritted  my  teeth.  Only  after  a 
pause  could  I  say: 

"  Your  Majesty,  it  is  better  as  it  has 
come  to  pass.  Better  for  Austria  and  for 
us.  The  clean  table  is  always  the  most 
valuable  piece  of  furniture  in  the  honest 
house." 

The  Kaiser  nodded.  He  breathed  deep, 
straightening  up;  and  again  joyous  calm 
shone  in  his  eyes. 

And  then,  in  farewell,  the  Kaiser  told 
me  something  that  fell  like  a  brilliant 
prophecy  into  my  joyous,  startled  soul. 
Today  I  must  still  keep  silent  about  this 
something,  although  I  know  that  it  would 
be  a  refreshing  draught  for  millions  in 
the  homeland,  a  deep  well-spring  of  faith, 
a  new  steel  band  for  holding  them  to- 
gether. But  for  important  reasons  I  may 
tell  about  this  word  of  the  Kaiser  only 
on  the  day  when  it  shall  have  become 
truth.     That  day  will  come  soon. 

The  evening  began  to  draw  on.  Under 
the  restless  grumbling  and  rolling  echoes 
the  Kaiser  went  from  battery  to  battery. 
The  trip  home  became  for  me  a  dreaming 
joy,  a  foreshadowing  fraught  with  rich 
pictures. 

On  the  following  night,  at  Jaroslav, 
about  the  first  hour  of  morning,  the  Com- 
manding General  von  Mackensen  sent 
word  to  me: 

"  Depart  as  early  as  possible!  The 
Russian  position  at  the  Lake  of  Janow 
has  been  captured.  Tomorrow  Lemberg 
will  fall." 


The  War  of  Notes 


[From  Truth.] 


Opposed  the  two  musicians  sat; 

Each  twanged  his  rival  harp; 
Fritz  thought  at  first  that  Sam  was  flat. 

But  found  him  soon  grow  sharp. 


Yet  up  each  straining  tone  still  floats. 
Grows  strident  more  and  more. 

I  wonder  if  this  war  of  notes 
Shall  end  on  notes  of  war! 


ACTUAL     STATE     COUNCILOR     BARK 

Minister     of     Finance     of     Russia 
(Photo  from   Bain  News   Service) 


DR.     J.     LOUDON 

Minister     of     Foreign     Affairs     for     Holland 
(Photo  (c)   by  Horria  d  Ewing,  from  Paul  Thompson) 


Self-Sustaining  Germany 

By  the  War  Committee  of  German  Industries 

The  following'  article  is  reproduced  from  Pamphlet  13  of  the  Authoritative  Propaganda 
of  Reassurance  Conducted  by  the  War  Committee  of  German  Industries  in  Berlin. 


IN  the  present  war  Germany's  enemies 
are  endeavoring  to  bring  about  the 
economic  as  well  as  physical  col- 
lapse of  the  German  people  by  cut- 
ting off  the  overseas  imports  of  food  and 
rawstuffs.  The  imports  in  these  impor- 
tant articles  were  before  the  war  very 
large,  and  the  enemies  of  Germany  have 
succeeded  in  diminishing  them  to  a  great 
degree.  On  the  other  hand,  they  have 
not  by  the  action  attained  the  goal  they 
had  hoped  to. 

Even  now  every  thinking  person  out- 
side of  Germany  must  be  fully  aware 
that,  in  spite  of  the  diminution  of  the 
imports  in  provisions,  the  German  civil 
population  and  the  army  are  not  threat- 
ened with  starvation.  Above  all,  how- 
ever, German  science  has  found  ways 
and  means  of  replacing  the  raw  mate- 
rials now  lacking  by  materials  of  like 
value  at  present  being  reproduced  in  Ger- 
many. For  example,  an  economically 
successful  method  of  extracting  nitrogen 
from  the  air,  whereby  the  German  pow- 
der industry  and  German  agriculture  are 
supplied  with  this  otherwise  missing  raw- 
stuff,  has  been  discovered.  The  impor- 
tation of  petroleum  having  more  or  less 
completely  ceased,  this  supply  has  also 
given  out.  Gas  and  electricity,  for  whose 
manufacture  only  coal,  of  which  Ger- 
many has  large  quantities,  is  necessary, 
have  taken  its  place  as  illuminants.  The 
lack  of  fodder  has  been  in  part  compen- 
sated for  by  an  invention  whereby  the 
food  values  in  straw  are  made  accessible 
for  feeding  stock.  And  now  another  dis- 
covery is  to  be  recorded  which  is  not  only 
of  great  importance  as  assuring  the  nour- 
ishment of  our  cattle,  but  arouses  the 
greatest  astonishment  as  an  act  of  scien- 
tific boldness.  The  Institut  fur  Ga- 
rungsgewerbe  (Institute  for  Yeast  Indus- 
tries) in  Berlin  has  discovered  a  process 
for  making  food  yeast  with  over  50  per 


cent,  albumen  in  the  simplest  manner 
from  sugar  and  ammonium  sulphate. 
These  quantities  of  albumen  will  easily 
replace  the  supplies  of  fodder  barley  that 
were  formerly  imported.  Since  ammonia 
is  not  only  a  by-product  in  the  manu- 
facture of  coke,  but  can  also  be  obtained 
directly  from  the  air,  this  method  has 
been  correctly  described  as  the  extrac- 
tion of  albumen  from  the  air. 

These  inventions,  which  will  doubtless 
be  followed  by  others  in  the  course  of  the 
war,  will  have,  above  all,  an  effect  on  the 
financial  world.  Germany's  enemies  are 
compelled  to  draw  a  large  part  of  their 
supplies  of  ammunition  and  arms,  as  well 
as  provisions,  from  abroad.  Since  at  the 
same  time  the  purchasing  power  and 
prosperity  of  large  transmaritime  terri- 
tories have  been  seriously  damaged  by 
the  European  war,  the  enemies  of  Ger- 
many are  drawing  smaller  incomes  from 
their  foreign  investments,  while  the  ex- 
ports of  these  countries  have  diminished 
during  the  same  period.  The  excess  of 
imports  over  exports  in  the  foreign  trade 
of  Germany's  enemies  has,  therefore,  in 
the  course  of  this  war  been  enormously 
increased. 

The  result  of  this  is  that  the  payment 
of  the  very  considerable  sum  to  foreign 
countries  which  they  have  to  make  for 
these  increased  imports  is  made  on  the 
basis  of  an  exchange  very  unfavorable 
for  Germany's  enemies.  The  argument 
that  the  exchange  rate  is  unfavorable  to 
Germany  bears  little  weight  here,  for,  in 
consequence  of  the  interruption  of  Ger- 
man foreign  trade,  Germany  has,  in  com- 
parison with  times  of  peace,  small  pay- 
ments to  make  to  foreign  countries.  The 
enemies  of  Germany,  however,  are  com- 
pelled to  pay  in  cash  not  only  the  con- 
tract sums,  but  also  the  deficit  caused 
by  the  unfavorable  rate  of  exchange. 

The    enemies    of    Germany   have    now 


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THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


tried  every  means,  or,  rather,  have  been 
compelled  to  do  so,  in  order  to  influence 
the  rate  of  exchange.  England  has 
shipped  some  of  the  gold  at  her  disposal 
in  Canada  to  the  United  States.  Russia 
and  France  have  taken  up  foreign  loans, 
not  to  get  new  cash  but  to  make  pay- 
ments to  their  foreign  creditors  from  the 
balances  thus  created,  and  thereby  avoid 
the  exchange.  According  to  recent  re- 
ports, England  intends  doing  the  same 
thing,  in  order  thus  to  relieve  the  em- 
barrassment caused  her  by  the  turn  the 
exchange  rate  has  taken. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
taking  up  of  such  foreign  loans  does  not 
do  away  with  the  burdens  imposed  by  the 
unfavorable  rate  of  exchange,  but  simply 
postpones  its  effect  until  after  the  treaty 
of  peace.  These  countries  have,  as  it 
were,  capitalized  the  losses  growing  out 
of  the  exchange  rate  and  had  their  pay- 
ment postponed  by  taking  up  foreign 
loans.  But  after  the  war  the  interest 
on  these  loans,  as  well  as  the  sums  for 
the  liquidation  of  the  debts,  will  all  flow 
into  the  coffers  of  the  foreign  nations, 
and  thus  continue  to  influence  the  inter- 
national monetary  basis. 

Matters  will  have  quite  a  different 
aspect  for  Germany  after  the  treaty  of 
peace.  Germany  will  then  not  be  in- 
debted abroad,  as  the  costs  of  the  war 
are  all  being  covered  at  home.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  consequence  of  the  new 
discoveries  made  during  the  war  and  the 
newly  built  factories,  she  will  be  in  a  po- 
sition to  reduce  the  necessary  payments 
to  foreign  countries  and  improve  her  ex- 
change rate. 

If  the  Germans,  indirectly  forced  to  it 
by  the  war,  continue  to  use  gas  and  elec- 
tricity instead  of  petroleum,  artificial 
nitrates  instead  of  saltpeter,  strawmeal 
and  artificial  fodder  yeasts  instead  of 
fodder  barley,  in  large  quantities,  the 
war  will  have  brought  about  a  strength- 
ening of  Germany's  international  finan- 
cial position.  Germany's  enemies  will 
then  in  this  respect  have  shown  them- 
selves to  be  a  power  which,  like  Mephisto 
in  Goethe's  "  Faust,"  always  strives  to 
evil  and  accomplishes  only  what  is 
good. 

Contrary  to  the  deprecating  assertions 


of  her  enemies,  the  economic  life  of 
Germany  is  in  the  course  of  the  war  de- 
veloping in  a  manner  which,  in  considera- 
tion of  the  extraordinary  conditions,  may 
be  said  to  be  more  than  satisfactory.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  deposits  of  the 
German  savings  banks  are  constantly  in- 
creasing. This  in  part  explains  the  huge 
success  of  the  war  loan.  Meanwhile,  the 
German  postal  check  service  has  reached 
a  figure  never  touched  before  the  war. 
During  March,  1915,  the  number  of  per- 
sons having  postal  bank  accounts  in  the 
imperial  postal  territory  was  105,473 — 
818  more  than  in  the  previous  month.  In 
March  the  credits  on  these  postal  check 
accounts  amounted  to  2,142,000,000  marks, 
as  against  1,779,000,000  in  February  and 
1,875,000,000  in  January  of  the  same 
year;  and  the  debits  amounted  to  2,124,- 
000,000  marks,  as  against  1,764,000,000 
in  February  and  1,877,000,000  in  January. 
The  payments  made  through  this  medium 
amounted,  accordingly,  to  2,352,000,000 
marks  in  March,  as  against  1,982,000,000 
and  2,020,000,000  in  February  and  Janu- 
ary, respectively. 

These  figures  are  seen  in  their  true 
light  when  we  remember,  for  example, 
that  in  the  period  Jan.  1-April  10,  1915, 
the  withdrawals  from  the  French  sav- 
ings banks  amounted  to  44,065,088  francs 
more  than  the  deposits.  The  commer- 
cial war  started  by  Germany's  enemies 
seems  to  agree  with  them  much  worse 
than  with  the  country  they  attacked. 

The  nations  *  *  *  being  courted 
by  the  Allies  have  so  far  been  able  to 
keep  their  heads  cool.  They  consider,  and 
rightly,  too,  how  much  of  all  that  which 
is  promised  in  time  of  need  the  Allies 
will  do  or  be  able  to  do,  and  whether  or 
not  some  reasonable  national  ideal  may 
be  realized  at  less  cost  than  participa- 
tion in  this  bloody  struggle.  But  even 
should  the  future  have  surprises  in  store 
for  us,  the  quiet  confidence  of  the  cen- 
tral powers  that  they  will  attain  their 
goal  is  not  to  be  shaken.  For  this  goal 
is  not  the  subjugation  of  the  world,  as 
their  envious  enemies  would  have  it  ap- 
pear, but  simply  the  desire  to  be  freed 
from  the  strangle  hold  which  hindered 
them  in  their  normal  development.  It  is 
Eot  that  Germany  has  a  lust  for  world 


SELF-SUSTAINING    GERMANY  1167 

empire,   but   that   England   has   hitherto  the    course    of    the    war   has    shown;    it 

haughtily   assumed   the    role     of    world  should  also  have  shown  in  what  manner 

ruler.    That  she  no  longer  has  the  power  she  would  use  this  power  were  she  ever 

to  force  her  will  upon  the  whole  world  again  in  a  position  to  possess  it. 


The  Wealth  of  William  H. 

By  R.  Franklin  Tate 

The  following  estimate  of  the  personal  fortune  of  the  German  Emperor  ap- 
peared in  The  London  Daily  News  of  July  29  as  special  Paris  correspondence: 

IT  was  stated  recently  that  the  Kaiser  had  already  lost  by  the  war  a  sum  of 
four  millions  sterling.  The  Temps,  while  recognizing  that  he  must  have 
suffered  heavy  losses,  shows  that  this  statement  is  not  borne  out  by  what  we 

know  of  the  Kaiser's  private  affairs. 

At  the  time  of  the  financial  census  for  the  assessing  of  the  tax  which  was  to 
provide  the  sum  of  40  millions  sterling  as  a  war  contribution  the  Kaiser  stood 
first  among  his  subjects  with  an  income  of  £900,000,  whereas  he  only  stood  third 
in  the  general  classification  of  fortunes.  Frau  Bertha  Krupp  von  Bohlen  headed 
the  list  with  83  millions  sterling  and  an  income  of  £640,000  per  annum;  Prince 
Henckel  von  Donnersmarck  was  second  with  10  millions  and  an  income  of 
£520,000  per  annum.  The  Kaiser's  visible  annuities,  according  to  the  same  sta- 
tistics, were:  Civil  list,  £875,000;  rents,  &c.,  £175,000;  interest  on  Crown  Treas- 
ury, £225,000. 

According  to  the  same  statistics,  his  visible  estate  consisted  of:  Real  estate, 
Crown  forests,  &c.,  £3,500,000;  developed  estate,  £2,000,000;  property  in  Berlin, 
£900,000;  total,  £6,400,000.  In  transferable  securities:  1,  Crown  treasure,  estab- 
lished by  Frederick  William  III.  after  the  battle  of  Jena,  together  with  the 
addition  of  £250,000  made  by  William  I.  out  of  the  French  indemnity  of  200 
millions  sterling — making  a  total  of  one  million  sterling;  2,  the  Kaiser's  share 
of  the  fortune  of  four  millions  sterling  left  by  William  I. ;  3,  the  Kaiser's  invest- 
ments since  he  came  to  the  throne. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  these  investments,  but  the  Kaiser  is  known  to 
have  a  big  holding  in  the  Hamburg-Amerika,  the  Reichsbank,  and  especially 
Krupp.  For  this  purpose  he  figures  under  the  name  of  Privy  Councilors  Miiller 
and  Grimm.    His  share  in  William  I.'s  fortune  is  estimated  at  £125,000. 

Admitting  that  William  II.  inherited  something  under  the  will  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria, that  he  has  saved  money,  and  that  his  investments  have  proved  lucrative, 
his  fortune  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  may  have  been  about  two  and  a  half 
to  three  millions  sterling.  But  with  the  exception  of  Krupp  his  investments  have 
all  depreciated  enormously. 


English  and  German  Ideals  of  God 


By  Eden  Phillpotts 


The  following  article,   which   originally  appeared   in  The  London   Daily   Chronicle,    is 
here  reproduced  by  special  permission  of  the  author. 

"Our  Good  Old  God."— The  Kaiser. 


A  GREAT  religious  idea  is  declared 
to  be  under  the  watchword  of 
.  "Teuton  above  All."  Their 
Kaiser  to  the  Germans  repre- 
sents more  than  a  King;  he  is  the  right 
hand  of  the  King  of  Kings,  and  his  sub- 
jects' eyes  assume  a  reverential  expres- 
sion, their  speech  drops  a  note,  when  they 
say  "  Our  Kaiser."  The  nation  is,  more- 
over, Christian:  it  subscribes  to  one  faith 
and  professes  the  Christian  ideal. 

We  may  assume  that,  even  in  the  face 
of  their  present  opposition,  all  the  con- 
tending powers  would  agree  that  there  is 
but  one  God.  There  is  but  one  God  of  the 
Germans  and  of  the  English,  of  the 
Austrians  and  the  French,  of  the  Belgians 
and  the  Turks.  We  are  not  concerned 
with  His  prophets,  but  Himself.,  It  suits 
Germany  to  predicate  a  Jaweh,  who  re- 
gards with  approval  their  doctrines  of 
"  Frightfulness  "  and  a  "  necessity  "  that 
may  be  greater  than  any  human  oath;  it 
better  serves  our  purpose  to  protest  at 
this  conception  and  declare  for  a  God  of 
mercy  and  forgiveness  and  truth.  Their 
God  inspires  them  to  strike  for  them- 
selves and  seek  to  impose  the  ideal  of 
their  reigning  classes  upon  the  rest  of 
the  world;  our  God  inclines  us  to  recognize 
the  sovereign  rights  of  all  mankind,  be 
they  weak  or  strong,  able  or  impotent. 
We  argue  that  the  accident  of  Belgium's 
salvation  embracing  our  own  has  nothing 
to  do  with  our  action:  that  had  Belgium 
been  Serbia  and  our  word  given,  we 
should  have  similarly  set  forth  on  her 
behalf. 

Now,  the  English  and  German  ideals 
cannot  both  be  of  God,  because  they  con- 
tradict each  other.  We  may  argue  that 
the  virus  of  hate  which  has  for  the  mo- 
ment poisoned  German  thinking  cannot 
be  an  inspiration  of  Heaven,  since  it  leads 


to  no  culture,  breeds  bad  air,  and  results 
in  a  mental  and  physical  condition  of  ab- 
solute exhaustion  from  which  no  tem- 
poral or  spiritual  advantage  can  possibly 
spring  to  man  or  race ;  they,  on  the  other 
hand,  characterize  their  ebullition  as 
righteous  wrath  and  the  just  outcome  of 
what  they  conceive  to  be  our  present  atti- 
tude to  them.  We  speak  of  "  envy, 
hatred,  and  malice";  they  describe  the 
same  emotion  as  the  natural  outpouring 
of  a  nation's  spirit,  which  finds  itself 
frustrated,  foiled,  outraged  by  a  sister 
nation  with  a  giant's  power  and  the  evil 
will  to  use  it  like  a  g^iant. 

There  would  seem  no  common  ground 
of  reconciliation.  A  kingdom  spoon  fed 
by  its  rulers  and  trained  to  the  platter 
of  a  fettered  press  has  slowly  absorbed 
ideals  which  we  view  with  distrust  and 
dislike;  while  their  wisest  and  best  are 
honestly  of  opinion  that  things  have  come 
to  such  a  pass  with  Germany  that  only 
her  cannon  can  make  civilization  listen 
to  her.  Her  philosophers  have  subscribed 
to  that  opinion  and  hold  that  the  con- 
spiracy of  Europe  to  deny  their  country 
the  right  to  impose  her  culture  (or 
Kultur,  i.  e.,  Civilization)  upon  it,  can 
only  be  put  down  with  fire  and  sword. 
But  a  nation  that  cringes  to  a  Junker 
Lieutenant  has  ostracized  its  well-wish- 
ers, and  for  Herr  Lamprecht  to  declare 
that  Germany  is  the  freest  country  in  the 
world  simply  means  that  he  and  his  fel- 
low-kinsmen have  forgotten  what  free- 
dom is.  A  Goethe  or  Schiller,  could  they 
return,  would  find  Germany  chained  and 
manacled. 

On  our  part,  with  an  immense  and,  for 
the  most  part,  successful  experience  of 
colonization,  we  hold  that  any  imposi- 
tion is  fatal,  and  that  to  speak  of  "  Eng- 
land over  all "  would  be  to  destroy  our 


ENGLISH    AND    GERMAN    IDEALS    OF    GOD 


1169 


empire  with  a  phrase.  We  have  seldom 
attempted  this  political  folly,  but  rather 
allowed  existing  nations  influenced  by 
us  to  preserve  their  individuality  and  en- 
couraged new  nations  sprung  of  our  loins 
to  develop  their  own  genius  in  their  own 
way.  When  we  fell  from  this  ideal,  as 
we  have  done,  swift  and  terrible  punish- 
ment followed.  The  Indian  Mutiny  was 
born  of  our  errors;  the  United  States  ex- 
ist as  an  everlasting  monument  to  our 
fatuity.  We  placed  a  mighty  and  proud 
people  in  an  impossible  position,  and  they 
shook  off  our  dust  from  their  feet  forever. 

But  our  ideals  have  stood  the  test  of 
time;  those  of  Germany,  tested  by  our 
achievements,  have  only  to  be  stated  to  be 
condemned.  We  decline  to  believe  that 
any  State  has  Divine  authority  to  im- 
pose itself  upon  the  world;  we  see  noth- 
ing, and  the  world  sees  nothing,  in  Ger- 
many's present  principles,  practices,  or 
purposes  to  justify  the  belief  that  their 
acceptance  would  make  of  earth  a  hap- 
pier, freer,  and  more  contented  abiding 
place.  We  deplore  only  an  unexampled 
arrogance,  an  extraordinary  lack  of  the 
perspective  sense,  an  ideal  absolutely  un- 
justified by  any  appeal  to  history  or  re- 
ligion. 

The  fact,  however,  remains  that  re- 
ligious, political,  industrial,  and  racial 
Germany  is  at  one  in  this  adventure. 
Monist  Haeckel,  Christian  Harnack, 
mystic  Eucken,  agree  that  their  coun- 
try must  and  shall  be  first;  and  if  the 
world,  declining  the  super-position  of 
Germany,  takes  measures  to  oppose  it, 
then  they  hold  all  means  are  justified  to 
overcome  the  world.  Every  teaching  of 
Christianity,  every  precept  of  justice, 
every  bright  maxim  of  humanity  polished 
through  the  centuries  may  be  discarded 
before  this  ambition.  Infinite  evil  may 
be  done  that  the  infinite  good  they  fore- 
see shall  at  last  be  attained,  and  it  mat- 
ters not  whether  the  "  good  old  God  "  of 
the  Kaiser  be  floated  to  his  throne  on  the 
blood  of  a  widowed  world,  so  long  as  he 
arrives,  to  be  acclaimed  and  worshipped 
by  the  remainder  of  mankind. 

We  have  now  an  impartial  account  of 
the  atrocities  in  Belgium,  and,  allowing 
for  the  inevitable,  "  atrocities  "  is  not  too 
strong  a  word.     Drunken  men  inflamed 


with  the  passion  of  fighting  and  in  the 
shadow  of  their  own  deaths  will  do  evil 
things,  though  it  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  British  culture  has  so  far  per- 
meated our  trained  troops  that  they  anon 
deny  themselves  similar  excesses;  but 
the  real  atrocity  was  a  part  of  the  cam- 
paign, premeditated,  plotted.  Germany 
took  with  her  machines  which  would 
make  the  task  of  burning  Belgium  swift 
and  easy;  her  "  fearfulness "  was  long 
ago  worked  out  in  cold  blood  at  the  head- 
quarters of  her  high  command.  She  will 
bring  these  tools  here  if  she  can.  The 
machinery  by  which  she  set  out  to  do 
the  will  of  her  Kaiser  and  her  God  is 
before  the  world,  and  if  it  be  possible  to 
say  that  her  reigning  class  was  alone  re- 
sponsible for  it,  we  have  also  to  admit 
that  every  other  class  applauded  it,  sanc- 
tioned it,  and  hoped  that  it  would  pre- 
vail. The  nation  must,  therefore,  be  con- 
fident that  God  also  approves  these  meth- 
ods, and  that,  in  His  name,  the  Father- 
land will  fight  and  conquer  with  them. 

One  may  note  in  passing  that  neutral 
States  have  uttered  no  public  word  before 
her  horrific  achievements.  No  King,  no 
President  has  allowed  enthusiasm  for 
humanity  to  open  his  mouth  and  record 
a  whisper  of  protest  from  any  nation 
in  the  enjoyment  of  peace.  They  know 
that  moral  influence  is  as  powerful  as 
the  sword,  but  abstain  from  exerting  it, 
since  at  present  to  state  their  opinion  of 
Louvain,  or  Rheims,  or  the  massacre  at 
Andenne,  would  be  an  unfriendly  act. 
The  neutral  ruler  sells  his  soul  for  his 
country's  peace  and  in  the  name  of  poli- 
tics. As  politics  are  constituted  that  is 
cften  the  sudden  sacrifice  they  demand, 
and  few  be  they  who  will  make  it. 

There  is  but  one  God,  and  all  who  be- 
lieve in  Him,  from  the  primate  to  an  in- 
fant schoolchild,  agree  that  His  will  is 
presently  to  be  done,  and  that  the  issue 
of  this  catastrophe  lies  in  His  keeping. 
Neither  the  nations  that  are  fighting  nor 
any  others  doubt  this  fact  for  an  instant. 
The  minority  in  all  States  who  deny  a 
supreme  intelligence  and  believe  that 
blind  Forces  rather  than  one  all-seeing 
and  self-conscious  Will  are  responsible 
for  the  war,  need  not  be  considered  at  this 
time. 


1170 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


And  here  lies  the  tremendous  plea  for 
reason  when  the  end  comes,  the  forceful 
appeal  to  the  losers  to  accept  the  will  of 
the  only  God,  and  recognize  that  once 
again,  through  the  destruction  of  civiliza- 
tion. His  eternal  purpose  is  made  mani- 
fest. At  present  each  side  is  conscious  of 
its  own  rectitude;  but,  when  the  issue 
has  been  determined,  it  behooves  the  na- 
tions crowned  with  the  diadem  of  victory, 
and  those  who  sit  in  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
alike  to  acknowledge  that  God  in  which 
they  believe  has  conquered  and  His  ways' 
have  been  justified  to  man. 

There  is  no  other  course  open  to  a  God- 
fearing and  God-trusting  kingdom.  If 
peace  finds  us  a  protectorate  of  Ger- 
many, or  Germany  deprived  forever  of 
her  Prussian  Poland,  her  French  acquisi- 
tions of  1870  and  her  Hohenzollerns,  we, 
or  she,  must  be  equally  prepared  to  say 
"  The  Lord's  will  be  done."  We  must  in 
the  event  of  defeat  confess  that  a  demo- 
cratic ideal  has  not  at  present  the  sanc- 
tion of  Devine  widsom ;  while  Germany,  if 
the  fortunes  of  war  leave  her  naked  and 
stricken,  should  be  prepared  to  grant  that 
her  determination  to  conquer  the  world  for 
the  good  of  the  world  was  based  on  a  fear- 
ful misreading  of  the  Almighty's  purpose. 


Such  a  confession  should  abate  bitter- 
ness and  banish  after-hatreds.  It  would 
be  no  more  than  logical  from  God-gruided 
and  God-fearing  nations;  and  if  those  in 
authority  publicly  declared  to  their  beat- 
en land  that  all  must  accept  without 
murmuring  the  just  payment  of  their  un- 
fortunate errors,  then  such  a  doctrine 
should  speedily  leaven  the  lump  of  the 
defeated  and  help  to  reconcile  them  to 
their  Master's  will. 

The  truth  about  the  world's  belief  in 
God  mu?t  emerge  from  this  peace.  To 
argue  that  the  war  itself  proves  very 
sufficiently  that  nothing  but  an  academic 
adherence  is  accorded  to  the  theory  of  a 
Supreme  Being,  is  vain,  since  both  sides 
(in  different  senses)  argue  this  a  Holy 
War  and  cry  to  one  God  to  bless  their 
opposing  banners;  but  the  outcome  can- 
not fail  to  determine  whether  civilization 
still  veritably  believes;  and  not  only  the 
attitude  of  the  beaten  nations  to  their 
faiths,  but  also  the  power  of  their  faiths 
to  control  their  conduct  in  defeat  and 
direct  their  subsequent  destinies  will 
challenge  deep  scrutiny  in  this  generation 
and  provide  a  fruitful  field  for  such 
philosophic  writers  as  examine  the  ques- 
tion in  years  to  come. 


Savings 


[From  the  London  Daily  Chronicle] 


Here  a  little  and  there  a  little. 

Paring  away  the  waste; 
Courses  shortened  and   waistbelts  taut- 
ened. 

Drilling  the  spendthrift  taste; 
Freaks  of  fashion  and  pleasure's  passion 

Disciplined,  checked  and  chaste. 

Here  a  little  and  there  a  little, 

Tighten  the  leaking  cork. 
Taste  the  phial  of  self-denial. 

Saving  is  storing  work; 
Purse-strings     tighter     will     help     the 
tighter. 

War  to  the  knife and  fork! 

A.  W. 


Touring  Europe  in  War  Time 

By  Mme.  L.  de  Hegermann-Lindencrone 

Writer  of  "  The  Sunny  Side  of  Diplomatic  Life,"  published  a  few  months  ago,  and  of 
"  In  the  Courts  of  Memory,"  which  appeared  last  year,  Mme.  L.  de  Hegermann-Lindencrone 
has  won  a  unique  place  in  the  hearts  of  American  readers  with  her  vigorous  sketches  of  an 
American  woman's  life  in  the  capitals  and  Courts  of  Europe.  The  following  article  reassur- 
ing tavelers  recounts  her  recent  experiences,  starting  from  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  where  she 
has  lived  for  several  years  since  her  husband  retired  from  the  Danish  Diplomatic  Service,  and 
crossing  Germany  through  the  Alps  into  Italy.  As  a  story  of  tranquil  Germany  and  of  trav- 
eling in  war  time  it  is  in  marked  contrast  to  many  of  the  stories  we  read. 


YOU  have  certainly  read  the  many 
harrowing  accounts,  written,  of 
course,  by  eyewitnesses,  of  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  which 
beset  those  wishing  to  travel  through  Eu- 
rope in  these   (w) awful  days. 

Although  all  newspapers  abroad  and 
at  home  were  full  of  direful  stories,  and 
although  they  warned  people  from  vent- 
uring abroad  and  advising  them  strongly 
to  remain  at  home,  we  determined  to 
start  for  Italy. 

I  was  particularly  anxious  to  get  away 
from  the  cloudy  north  and  longed  for 
sunshine  and  flowers. 

The  obstacles  that  we  would  encounter 
were  put  forward  in  a  lurid  light,  but  we 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  everything,  and,  as 
the  saying  goes,  "  Ce  que  femme  veut, 
Dieu  le  veut,"  the  wish  of  the  "  femme  " 
seemed  about  to  be  fulfilled — my  husband 
being  the  "  Dieu "  and  I  being  the 
"  femme." 

I  will  jot  down  some  of  the  things 
which,  according  to  all  probability,  were 
to  happen  to  us. 

In  the  first  place — the  mines.  The 
Baltic  Sea,  which  we  had  to  cross,  would 
be  full  of  mines.  The  only  way  to  avoid 
them  would  be  to  sail  to  Norway,  from 
there  to  Edinburgh,  then  a  boat  could 
carry  us  to  Genoa.  This  seemed  a  rather 
roundabout  way,  and  would  take  almost 
a  month  to  get  to  our  destination,  where- 
as by  the  regular  route  through  Germany 
and  Switzerland  the  journey  would  only 
take  two  days.  We  decided  to  risk  the 
mines.  We  thought  being  blown  up 
rather  a  novel  sensation.  The  large 
ferryboats  that  ply  between  Denmark 
and   Germany,  as  a  general   rule,   take 


two  or  three  passengar  cars,  and  as  many 
others  to  carry  the  post  and  baggage. 
Now  there  are  none  but  cattle  wagons, 
filled  with  poor  cows  on  their  way  to  be 
slaughtered  in  Rostock  and  destined  to 
feed  the  German  Army.  No  boats  cross 
at  night. 

Secondly,  it  would  be  dangerous  to 
speak  any  other  language  than  German. 
We  pooh-pooed  at  this.  Why  should  we 
not  talk  German?  This  obstacle  was 
therefore  barred  out.  None  but  German 
books  should  be  found  among  our  things. 
If  we  wished  to  write  letters,  they  would 
have  to  be  written  in  German.  Letters 
in  other  languages  would  be  examined 
and  perhaps  destroyed  by  the  police. 
We  said  we  did  not  object  to  write  let- 
ters and  postal  cards  in  German. 

At  the  Custom  Houses  on  the  different 
frontiers  we  were  admonished  that  we 
would  be  submitted  to  the  severest  search- 
ing. The  men,  from  the  very  linings  of 
their  hats  to  the  soles  of  their  boots,  and 
all  their  possessions  would  be  dragged 
out  of  their  pockets  and  all  their  papers 
searched.  Women  would  be  forced  to  let 
down  their  hair.  Even  their  hatpins  and 
shoelacings  would  be  under  suspicion! 
There  would  be  no  end  of  annoyances 
and  delays  at  every  moment. 

We  said  that  we  did  not  care.  We 
were  sure  that,  armed  to  the  hilt  as  we 
were  with  passports  and  documents,  we 
would  not  be  troubled. 

Among  minor  obstacles  it  was  men- 
tioned that  the  trains  would  not  be  heat- 
ed and  that  we  would  freeze  to  death. 
We  answered  that  we  did  not  like  over* 
heated  compartments. 

All  the  trains  would  be  belated.    There 


1172 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


would  be  no  restaurant  cars,  no  sleeping 
cars,  no  porters.  We  should  be  obliged 
to  carry  our  traps  ourselves.  There 
would  be  no  vehicles  of  any  kind  to  meet 
the  trains.  We  should  have  to  walk  to 
the  hotels. 

We  risked  being  shut  up  with  closed 
windows  in  stifling  compartments,  sur- 
rounded by  insolent  soldiers,  probably 
smoking  vile  pipes,  and  also  we  risked 
that  our  wagon  would  be  left  on  a  side 
track  for  hours  in  order  to  let  the  trains 
with  soldiers  pass. 

It  certainly  was  not  a  pleasant  outlook. 
Our  friends  and  family  saw  us,  in  their 
minds'  eye,  starved,  frozen,  arrested, 
maltreated,  and  I  don't  know  what  more. 
Had  we  listened  to  and  believed  all  that 
was  predicted  we  never  would  have  dared 
to  sally  forth,  making  straight,  as  we 
were  doing,  for  the  lion's  den.  However, 
our  gigantic  foolhardiness  made  us  blind 
to  arguments  and  forecastings.  We 
fixed  the  day,  and  off  we  started. 

Our  family,  convinced  that  they  were 
seeing  the  last  of  us,  came  in  a  body  to 
the  station  to  "  speed  the  parting  "  souls 
— not  to  say  fools — some  with  flowers,  as 
a  sort  of  "  last  tribute."  They  would 
have  thought  it  quite  in  keeping  had  our 
farewell  words  been  "  morituri  saluta- 
mus,"  followed  by  a  flood  of  tears.  Even 
up  to  the  final  whistle  they  said:  "You 
can  still  change  your  minds — it  is  not  too 
late  now  to  stay." 

Before  we  started  we  four  (my  hus- 
band, my  son,  myself,  and  my  maid) 
were  obliged  to  have  our  photographs 
taken  and  glued  on  to  the  corners  of  our 
different  passports. 

The  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  was 
up  to  its  ears  preparing  these  documents, 
and  the  Legations  of  Germany,  Italy,  and 
Switzerland  had  been  busy  writing  spe- 
cial letters  to  their  Custom  House  offi- 
cers in  order  to  facilitate  our  passage 
through  those  dreadful  places  of  torture. 
The  German  Minister  sent  a  particularly 
helpful  telegram  to  the  commanding  of- 
ficer at  Wamemiinde,  the  landing  place 
in  Germany. 

Behold  us,  then,  on  our  way  comforta- 
bly ensconced  in  our  compartment  with 
one  other  occupant — a  Swiss  gentleman, 
as  we  found  out  later  by  prudent  diplo- 


matic proddings.  He  had  just  come  from 
Norway;  he  had  his  head  on  his  shoulders, 
that  is  to  say,  he  had  not  been  mined 
nor  blown  up!  Thus  far  we  were  en- 
couraged, for  if  a  person  can  travel  from 
Norway  to  Denmark  why  not  from  Den- 
mark to  Germany?  We  feared  that  the 
blinding  blizzard  which  accompanied  us 
through  Denmark  would  prevent  the  boat 
from  leaving  its  shores,  but  when  we 
reached  Gjedser  (Denmark)  the  sky  was 
clear  and  the  sea  as  calm  as  on  a  Sum- 
mer day. 

A  little  after  we  had  passed  the  Dan- 
ish light  boat  we  saw  an  aeroplane  flying 
over  our  heads,  (a  German  one,  of 
course.)  The  people  on  board  (those  who 
think  they  know  everything)  were  sure 
that  it  was  sent  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment to  guard  against  the  mines. 
Whether  this  was  true  I  can't  tell,  but  the 
protecting  angel  hovered  over  us  all  the 
way  and  guided  us  safely  to  land  under 
its  buzzing  wings. 

On  the  boat  the  only  German  we  spoke 
was  to  ask  for  our  coffee.  This  being  a 
German  boat,  we  should  in  any  case  have 
talked  its  language.  Thus  far  we  had 
escaped  mines,  bombs,  and  language.  .  .  . 

The  next  ordeal  was  the  Custom  House. 

The  passengers  filed  out  on  the  plat- 
form and  were  shown  into  the  shed 
which  serves  as  the  Custom  House. 

The  soldiers  who  were  walking  about 
with  guns  on  their  shoulders  were  polite 
and  not  at  all  warlike  or  aggressive. 

We  were  about  to  follow  the  others 
when  out  stepped  from  the  crowd  a  tall, 
handsome  officer,  spick  and  span  in  his 
light  gray  uniform,  his  helmet  shining 
like  silver.  He  came  toward  us  with 
a  pleasant  smile,  clicked  his  heels  in  true 
military  fashion,  touched  his  helmet  in 
salute,  and  asked  my  husband  if  he  was 
"  his  Excellency."  On  his  reply  that  he 
was,  the  officer  then  asked  if  I  was  "  her 
Excellency."  When  he  learned  that  we 
were  both  ourselves  he  led  the  way, 
pushing  people  aside  to  make  a  passage 
for  us,  and  we  went  into  the  room  where 
the  passports  were  examined.  He  said 
that  "this  had  to  be  done!  It  could  not 
be  avoided."  The  looking  at  our  passports 
and  the  comparing  of  them  with  the  origi- 
nals  took   only  a   moment.      My   vanity 


TOURING  EUROPE  IN   WAR   TIME 


1173 


suffered  a  pang  when  the  official,  after 
contemplating  the  hideous  portrayal  of 
me,  evidently  said  to  himself,  "  This  is 
enough,"  for  he  did  not  give  me  a  second 
glance.  We  were  not  obliged  to  open  any 
of  our  numerous  bags  and  belongings. 
Even  the  enormous  bouquet  I  carried, 
every  flower  of  which  might,  for  all  they 
knew,  have  contained  some  secret  missive, 
passed  unexamined.  Everything  was 
quickly  checked  off.  The  polite  officer 
whose  appearance  and  manner  belonged 
more  to  the  Imperial  Schloss  in  Berlin 
than  in  the  Custom  House  in  quiet  little 
Warnemiinde,  put  us  himself  in  the  train 
and,  bowing,  smiling,  and  saluting,  went 
home  to  his  5  o'clock  coffee,  followed  by 
our  warmest  thanks. 

H.,  (my  son,)  who  is  of  a  friendly 
nature,  hobnobbed  with  the  Mecklenburg 
warrior  who  was  on  duty  on  the  quay. 
He  offered  him  a  cigar,  which  the  soldier 
pocketed  quickly  with  a  whispered  "  Danke 
schon."  The  footing  on  which  they  stood 
must  have  been  very  friendly,  for  the 
sentinel  waved  his  gun  as  a  parting 
salute  when  the  train  steamed  away. 

The  Swiss  gentleman  with  whom  we 
had  traveled,  and  with  whom  we  had  con- 
versed in  French  and  English  at  our 
sweet  will,  said  that  in  the  Custom  House 
he  had  had  been  asked  to  show  all  his 
papers  and  that  he  had  been  felt  over 
and  "  patted  "  from  his  shoulders  down; 
that  his  pockets  had  all  been  "  gone 
through,"  but  everything  had  been  done 
in  the  most  courteous  way,  and  the 
searchers  had  seemed  rather  to  beg  his 
pardon  for  putting  him  to  so  much  incon- 
venience. 

The  other  passengers,  however,  did 
not  fare  even  as  well  as  he  did,  and  one 
(a  Russian)  did  not  fare  at  all.  He  was 
retained  at  Warnemiinde,  and  was  to  be 
sent  back  by  the  next  steamer.  I  must 
say  that  I  never  saw  a  more  spyish-look- 
ing  person  in  my  life;  I  would  not  have 
trusted  him  across  the  street  even  in 
times  of  peace. 

One  man  had  a  gold  piece  in  his  pocket. 
It  was  taken  from  him,  but  replaced  by 
paper  money  of  the  same  value.  He  had 
also  a  note  book  in  his  valise,  in  which  he 
had  written  his  impressions.  One  was 
that  a  "  smukke  pige  "  ( Danish  for  pretty 


girl)  did  not  mean  a  smoked  pig.  These 
he  was  obliged  to  explain  in  detail.  H. 
helped  him,  as  he  did  not  speak  German, 
being  from  Argentina. 

Our  route  passed  through  Mecklenburg- 
Strelitz.  This  part  of  Germany  is  very 
familiar  to  us,  as  we  once  spent  a  delight- 
ful Summer  there. 

We  had  a  most  excellent  dinner  in  the 
dining  car,  even  better  than  formerly, 
consisting  of  a  good  soup,  a  very  good 
filet  de  boeuf,  hot  potatoes,  cheese,  and 
fruit.  We  were,  as  you  see,  far  from  be- 
ing starved.  We  had  fared  well — better 
than  was  dreamed  of  by  those  who  bade 
us  farewell.  The  only  thing  out  of  the 
usual  that  I  noticed  was  that  there  were 
fewer  men  in  the  stations,  almost  none 
in  the  fields,  and  not  many  in  the  towns 
as  we  passed  through  them.  But  the 
railroad  service  was  just  as  always. 

We  arrived  on  the  stroke  of  time  in 
Berlin,  and  found  our  former  servant 
(Otto)  at  the  door  of  our  compartment. 
He  had  been  sent  by  Count  M.  to  invite 
us  to  luncheon  the  next  day.  All  the 
automobiles  had  been  taken,  and  Otto 
was  some  time  finding  two  droschkes  to 
convey  us  and  our  baggage  to  the  hotel. 
There  were  plenty  of  porters  about,  and 
we  were  not  obliged  to  burden  ourselves 
with  our  bags,  as  predicted. 

We  went  to  the  Hotel  Bristol,  Unter 
den  Linden.  How  dimly  the  lighted  and 
dull  streets  looked!  How  deserted  they 
were!  How  quiet  this  usually  so  brill- 
iantly lit  centre  seemed!  Hardly  a  pe- 
destrian and  no  carriages.  I  would  never 
have  known  our  old  Berlin.  The  hotel, 
the  rendezvous  of  all  that  was  chic  and 
fashionable,  was  filled  only  with  serious 
elderly  men,  eagerly  reading  the  news- 
papers. The  head  waiter  rushed  up  to 
us,  as  if  welcoming  his  dearest  friends, 
(evidently  thinking  we  were  American 
millionaires.)  He  rubbed  his  hands  and 
asked  us  if  we  would  "  sup,"  (speaking  in 
English,)  beaming  with  happy  anticipa- 
tion of  a  princely  bourboire,  and  chanced 
an  "  I  remember  you  when  you  were  here 
before."  He  received  a  short  and  to-the- 
point  reply  in  German  to  the  effect  that 
he  was  not  remembered  and  that,  as  some 
one  once  said,  "  his  face  was  not  as  famil- 
iar as  his  manner."    A  Brodkarte  (bread 


1174 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


card)  was  given  to  us.  There  were  ten 
coupons  on  each,  and  each  coupon  was 
good  for  25  grams  of  bread,  sufficient 
for  one  day — supposed  to  be  all  you  need. 
You  cannot  get  more. 

When  you  go  to  a  restaurant  you  must 
take  your  Brodkarte  with  you,  otherwise 
you  go  without  if  you  can't  borrow  one. 
The  bakers  provide  their  clients  with  just 
that  amount,  and  no  more.  Of  course,  in 
the  hotels  it  is  put  on  your  bill. 

Many  signs  were  hung  on  the  walls 
of  the  hotel  begging  people  to  be 
economical,  not  to  waste  anything.  A 
particular  stress  was  put  upon  potatoes. 
They  should  be  boiled  with  their  skins 
on,  and  if  they  were  pared  the  parings 
must  not  be  thrown  away.  Why  ?  I  won- 
dered. 

I  went  to  see  my  jeweler  the  next 
morning.  There  was  hardly  any  one  in 
the  street,  (Friedrichstrasse.)  It  was  gen- 
erally so  full  of  traffic,  but  now  noticeably 
empty.  Occasionally  an  officer  would 
limp  by,  leaning  on  his  cane,  and  an- 
other with  a  loose-hanging  sleeve.  What 
a  sad  tale  this  told! 

Although  there  were  so  few  people  to 
be  seen,  all  the  theatres  are  open,  and, 
it  is  said,  very  well  attended.  Certainly 
the  restaurants  showed  no  sign  of  lack 
of  customers.  Both  hotels  and  restau- 
rants are  filled  to  overflowing. 

I  met  the  Princess  Wied  in  the  cor- 
ridor of  the  hotel — not  the  ex-Queen  of 
Albania,  but  her  sister-in-law,  (the 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Wiirttemberg.) 
She  presented  her  son  to  me.  He  is  very 
young,  at  least  he  looked  so.  He  goes 
to  the  front  tomorrow.  She  seemed  very 
sad,  and  looked  with  loving  eyes  at  the 
handsome  young  fellow. 

We  lunched  with  Count  and  Countess 
M.,  and  met  some  of  the  American  Em- 
bassy, and  after  lunch  Countess  M.  took 
me  out  for  a  drive  in  her  motor.  She 
has  my  former  chauffeur.  It  seemed 
natural  to  be  driving  about  the  old  famil- 
iar road  to  Griinewald  and  by  Kaiserdam. 
My  favorite  promenade!  When  we 
passed  the  new  building  devoted  to  exhi- 
bitions and  sport,  the  chauffeur  said  it 
was  the  largest  edifice  in  the  world.  (I 
wonder.)  The  hall  alone  is  1,200  meters 
long  and  18  meters  high.    It  covers  19,000 


meters  of  ground,  and  is  lighted  by  15,000 
electric  lamps  at  night;  it  is  lighted  "  al 
giorno "  from  the  ceiling  and  behind 
glass. 

It  must  be  splendid!  Colossal  is  the 
only  word  to  apply  to  it.  My  jeweler  said 
that  he  would  be  called  to  do  his  military 
service  next  year. 

"  Next  year!  "  I  cried.  "  Surely  you 
don't  think  that  the  war  will  go  on  till 
then  ?  " 

"  Why,  of  course,"  he  answered;  "  there 
is  no  doubt  of  it." 

I  hope  that  he  is  wrong.  It  is  a  dread- 
ful thought  that  this  state  of  things 
should  continue! 

Now  our  real  journey,  fraught  with 
dangers  and  surprises,  was  to  commence. 
We  started  from  Anhalt  Bahnhof  the 
next  day.  The  station  was  crammed  with 
soldiers.  Every  train  that  came  in 
brought  them,  and  every  train  that  went 
out  took  them  away.  The  poor  young 
fellows  looked  hardly  over  twenty.  They 
carried  their  bundles  on  their  backs  and 
paper  cartons  tied  with  strings.  They 
were  going  to  receive  their  knapsacks 
at  the  end  of  their  journey.  .  .  .  And 
what  more!     Poor  creatures! 

They  appeared  quiet  and  serious;  there 
was  no  shouting  nor  running  about,  after 
the  manner  of  soldiers.  The  Captain 
marshaled  them  about  with  low-spoken 
words  of  command.  Their  uniforms,  as 
those  of  the  officers,  were  of  dark  cloth. 
Their  helmets  were  covered  with  the 
same  cloth  to  hide  (I  suppose)  the  shiny- 
ness  of  them.  Our  first-class  compart- 
ment was  almost  filled  with  officers,  but 
when  we  came  they  politely  left  us  to 
ourselves  and  stood  in  the  corridor. 

The  luncheon  and  dinner  on  the 
restaurant  cars  were  well  served,  and 
there  was  enough  of  everything  for  the 
many  passengers.  Our  bread  was  given 
to  us  in  small  packages,  but  we  had 
plenty.  The  train  was  crammed  with 
soldiers;  they  stood  in  all  the  corridors. 
H.  gave  them  some  cigarettes  and  I 
handed  out  what  chocolate  I  had  taken 
with  me.  It  was  not  much,  yet  they 
seemed  very  grateful. 

All  the  factories  we  passed  seemed  to 
be  closed;  there  was  no  smoke  to  be  seen 
anywhere.    In  the  fields,  which  appeared 


TOURING  EUROPE  IN   WAR   TIME 


1176 


to  be  full  of  Spring  promise,  one  saw 
none  but  women.  They  were  sowing 
grain,  and  plowing  the  fields  behind  the 
slow  and  ponderous  oxen.  We  saw  them 
sawing  wood  and  cleaning  out  stables. 
Man's  work!  They  replaced  their  hus- 
bands just  as  the  oxen  and  dogs  replaced 
the  horses.  Of  them  only  the  weak- 
kneed  and  blind  were  left. 

In  some  towns  we  went  through  the 
women  were  acting  as  conductors  on  the 
tramways. 

We  passed  many  camps  for  prisoners. 
They  were  a  little  way  from  the  railroad, 
but  one  saw  them  very  well.  One  regi- 
ment (I  think  it  must  have  been  a  regi- 
ment) was  in  French  uniforms.  They 
were  walking  along  the  high  road  ac- 
companied by  some  German  soldiers. 
They  seemed  to  step  along  briskly  as  if 
their  lot  was  not  an  "  unhappy  one." 

When  one  thinks  that  Germany  has  to 
provide  not  only  for  its  own  people  but 
for  more  than  800,000  prisoners,  one  can 
truly  admire  the  organization  and  the  re- 
sources of  the  country.  I,  who  was  crav- 
ing an  adventure,  an  emotion,  or  a  thrill 
of  some  kind,  was  disappointed.  No 
plainer  sailing  or  anything  more  hum- 
drum and  emotionless  and  normal  than 
our    journey    so    far    can    be    imagined! 

The  only  difference  I  noticed  was  that 
women  were  selling  beer  and  newspapers 
in  the  station,  which,  as  a  rule,  except 
for  the  moving  of  soldiers,  was  very  de- 
void of  excitement.  The  trains  started 
on  the  minute  and  arrived  on  the  minute. 

At  Stuttgart  we  walked  to  the  Hotel 
Marquand,  as  it  is  next  to  the  station. 
This  hotel,  whose  prices  are  equal  to  its 
pretensions,  was  full;  however,  we  found 
very  good  rooms.  I  think  that  we  were 
the  only  strangers,  and  we  seemed  to 
convey  the  impression  that  we  were  the 
nabobs  the  waiter  in  Berlin  took  us  for. 
The  expectant  maid,  who  stayed  in  the 
vicinity  of  my  room,  certainly  was  one  of 
those  "  made  in  Germany  " — she  never 
spoke  to  me  without  saying  "  Gnddige" 
The  other  guests,  evidently  as  "  heart- 
less "  as  we,  did  not  mind  showing  that 
they  had  money  to  spend.  I  was  glad 
to  find  other  "  cruel  "  people  willing  to 
throw  away  a  little  of  theirs  in  a  coun- 
try that  needed  it.    The  country  seemed 


very  pleased  to  get  the  little  we  threw. 
The  next  morning  we  took  the  train  en 
route  for  Switzerland,  and  found  on  it  our 
Swiss  friend  Mrs.  M.  and  a  German 
diplomat  on  his  way  to  Rome.  They  had 
traveled  all  night  very  comfortably  in 
the  sleeping  cars  from  Berlin.  The  fourth 
person  in  their  compartment  was  an 
elderly  lady,  who  dozed  peacefully  and 
who  only  waked  up  occasionally  to  ask 
whether  we  had  reached  the  frontier. 
On  hearing  that  we  had  not,  she  moved 
closer  to  her  comer,  to  make  room  for 
me,  and  dozed  off  again.  Happily,  they 
were  amiable  enough  to  allow  us  to  be 
there,  (we  sat  sqeezed  three  on  a  seat,) 
otherwise  we  should  have  been  obliged 
to  stay  in  the  corridor  and  stand  on  a 
Landwehr's  toes. 

No  one,  apparently,  had  had  any  diffi- 
culty anywhere.  They  seemed  very  com- 
fortable; they  had  neither  frozen  nor 
starved  nor  waited  on  side  tracks. 

The  German  diplomat  must  have  re- 
ceived special  orders  from  his  Govern- 
ment to  avoid  conversation  with  the 
humbler  sex,  for  none  of  us  three  ladies 
could  worm  a  glance  from  him,  even  the 
elderly  lady's  questions  about  the 
frontiere  were  snubbed. 

But  as  soon  as  one  of  my  gentlemen 
attacked  him,  he  was  all  smiles  and 
blinkings  behind  his  spectacles,  evidently 
proud  of  himself  that  he  had  repelled  the 
advances  and  withstood  the  wiles  of 
women!  He  had  in  his  eyes  a  sort  of 
"  retro  Satanical  "  look. 

We  had  no  delay  at  the  Swiss-German 
Custom  House.  The  Swiss  officer  opened 
his  eyes  when  the  avalanche  of  passports 
was  unbosomed  and  thrust  at  him,  every 
one  of  them  in  a  different  language  and 
garnished  with  portraits.  We  had  been 
told  that  our  photographs  must  be  taken 
in  the  identical  clothes  we  would  wear 
on  the  journey,  but,  womanlike,  we  had 
changed  our  minds  as  we  had  our  dresses 
and  hats.  Therefore,  it  was  very  hard 
for  the  man  to  see  where  the  difference 
was,  and,  as  we  had  not  the  time  for 
puzzling  over  the  mystery,  he  handed 
the  passports  back,  with  a  tired  but  po- 
lite sigh. 

This  was  my  last  hope  of  an  adventure. 
Nothing  had  happened,  and  certainly  now 


1176 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


nothing  would  happen.  I  looked  out  of 
the  window  at  the  Schafhausen  Cascade, 
(the  place  where  the  beautiful  Rhine 
commences  its  career  before  it  begins  to 
make  wine  and  grow  hops,)  and  felt 
somehow  as  if  I  had  been  defrauded  un- 
duly of  emotions.     I  had  one,  nevertheless. 

The  elderly  lady  who  had  shown  such 
anxiety  about  the  frontiere  whom  we 
thought  was  Russian,  caught  sight  of  my 
flowers  and  remarked  that  they  were 
beautiful,  and  added :  "  If  you  want  to 
keep  them  you  must  cut  their  stems  a 
little  every  day  " ;  I  said  I  would  remem- 
ber to  do  so. 

The  ice  being  broken,  I  said :  "  These 
carnations  are  already  three  days  old.  I 
can't  expect  to  keep  them  forever." 

"  From  what  country  did  you  say  they 
came?  "  I  had  not  mentioned  any  coun- 
try! Nevertheless  I  told  her.  "  I  am 
from  Sweden,"  she  said.  The  ice  by  this 
time  had  become  thin  enough  to  walk  on. 
She  talked  rapidly  and  in  Swedish.    "  Do 

you   know   Mrs.   ?  "   and   spoke   my 

name.     I  nodded  my  head.     "  Have  you 

read  ?  "  and  mentioned  my  book.    I 

murmured  something,  trembling  to  hear 
a  verdict.  "  Oh !  how  I  should  like  to 
know  her!  "  she  said. 

"  You  have  not  far  to  go,  Madame,"  I 
said ;  "  you  are  talking  to  her  now,"  and 
pointed  to  the  third  button  of  my  blouse. 


"  Nae,"  she  cried,  "  Nae,  I  cannot  be- 
lieve it,"  and  gasped  for  breath.  I  think, 
also,  that  it  must  have  been  hard  for  her 
to  believe  that  the  lady  she  wanted  so 
much  to  know  was  the  tired  and  travel- 
stained  lady  before  her. 

"  I  have  not  your  book  with  me.  It  is 
too  precious,  [perhaps  it  was  too  heavy.] 
I  own  two.  I  keep  one  in  my  salon  and 
the  other  on  my  nightstand;  I  read  a 
chapter  every  night." 

Like  the  Bible,  thought  I,  or  could  she 
mean  that  it  was  to  invite  slumber  ?  In 
any  case  I  was  overwhelmed.     .     .     . 

What  pleased  this  enthusiastic  lady  the 
most  was  that  she  had  praised  the  book 
before  she  knew  who  I  was.  I  took  some 
flowers  from  my  bouquet  and  gave  them 
to  her;  I  could  not  do  less,  could  I?  She 
pressed  them  to  her  lips,  and  begged  me 
for  my  autograph,  I  never  was  so  flat- 
tered in  all  my  life. 

We  stayed  that  night  in  Zurich.  It 
was  very  cold,  and  we  decided  to  push  on 
to  Locarno.  Before  we  left  the  hotel  the 
next  morning  I  received  a  twenty-five- 
word-long  telegram  from  the  Swedish 
lady  repeating  in  a  condensed  form  her 
effusions  of  the  day  before. 

It  was  a  dark  and  cold  day,  but  when 
we  came  out  of  the  long  tunnel  of  St. 
Gothard  the  sun  burst  forth  in  a  blaze  of 
glory. 


Reindeer  for  Berlin 


Ten  thousand  living  reindeer  are  to 
be  imported  from  Norway  in  order  to 
be  slaughtered  for  consumption  in  Ber- 
lin. The  Allgemeine  Fleischer  Zeitung, 
the  leading  organ  of  the  German  meat 
trade,  which  makes  this  announcement 
in  a  late  June  number,  states  that  one 
reindeer  has  already  been  imported  and 
slaughtered.  It  had,  however,  suffered 
somewhat  during  the  long  railway  jour- 
ney, and  it  is  believed  that  better  pro- 
vision can  be  made  for  the  transport 
of  large  consignments  than  was  possible 
in  the  case  of  a  single  animal 


Russia's  German  Bureaucrats 


By  Jean  Finot 


FROM  the  outset  of  the  war  Russian 
"  barbarism  "  and  "  savagery  " 
have  been  much  harped  upon  by 
the  Germans.  In  this  way  they 
wished  to  influence  the  neutrals,  even  the 
Allies  themselves.  The  "  Cossacks  "  be- 
came the  incarnation  of  the  cruelties  and 
inhumanity  of  earlier  wars;  they  repre- 
sented pillage,  robbery,  violation,  incen- 
diarism, destruction  of  property,  murder 
of  non-combatants. 

Intellectuals  in  various  countries  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  caught  in  this 
clumsy  trap  set  by  German  diplomacy 
with  the  aid  of  German  savants,  news- 
papers, agents,  and  spies. 

Reality  soon  tore  the  mask  from  these 
lies.  Compared  with  the  semi-civilized 
Germans,  the  Cossacks  have  proved  to 
be  angels  of  sweetness  and  mercy.  The 
illusion  of  Russian  savagery  has  been 
swept  aw^ay.  The  Germans  themselves, 
for  the  purposes  of  their  cause,  now  find 
more  interest  in  turning  about  and  de- 
noimcing  the  criminal  egoism  of  the  Eng- 
lish. 

But  it  is  not  without  interest  to  take 
up  again  the  psychology  of  the  Russian 
people  as  it  is  understood  in  the  Old  and 
New  Worlds.  The  Europe  of  tomorrow 
must  become  better  acquainted  with  the 
elements  that  must  work  together  in 
creating  it. 

First,  one  must  draw  a  distinction 
between  the  Russian  people  and  its 
rulers.  The  formation  of  the  Russian 
Nation  makes  it  impossible  to  identify 
these  with  each  other.  The  Romanoff 
dynasty  has  tried  for  many  years  to  be- 
come identified  with  the  needs  and  as- 
pirations of  the  people;  now,  at  last, 
everything  leads  to  the  belief  that  it  has 
succeeded. 

The  nobility  of  the  three  Baltic  prov- 
inces, entirely  Germans,  in  whom  are  root- 
ed the  worst  instincts  of  the  Prussian 
Junkers,  had  until  the  war  a  dominant 
influence  on  the  evolution  of  Russian  des- 
tinies.    Military  leaders,  statesmen,  the 


highest  office  holders,  were  recruited 
principally  from  the  Junkers  of  Cour- 
land,  Livonia,  and  Esthonia.  Always  in- 
triguing with  Prussia,  toward  whom  they 
were  attracted  by  similarity  of  tastes 
and  aspirations,  they  can  be  considered 
only  superficially  Russians.  Were  it  not 
for  the  immense  extent  of  the  empire 
and  the  resistance  of  the  real  Russians, 
this  little  selected  body,  working  without 
restraint,  would  have  drowned  the  Rus- 
sian soul  in  the  German  ocean. 

The  Franco-Russian  alliance  was  con- 
fronted for  years  with  insurmountable 
obstacles.  The  iron  will  of  an  Alexander 
II.,  of  a  Nicholas  II.,  was  needed  to 
make  headway  against  the  petty  in- 
trigues of  the  Baltic  nobility,  backed  by 
the  Hohenzollerns.  But  what  contribut- 
ed most  efficaciously  to  awakening  the 
Russian  Court  and  to  exasperating  the 
national  sentiment  was  the  unskillful  con- 
duct of  the  Kaiser  and  of  his  diplomats, 
who  looked  upon  Russia  as  a  conquered 
province. 

Pan-Slavism,  and  the  orthodox  reli- 
gion, so  radically  opposed  to  Germanic 
tendencies,  also  helped  to  save  the  em- 
pire of  the  Czars.  The  present  war  will 
be,  for  Russia,  a  war  of  permanent  de- 
liverance. The  mountain  of  crimes  erect- 
ed between  the  two  nations  will  make 
the  resurrection  of  the  past  impossible. 

Nevertheless,  German  influence  has 
not  had  its  last  word.  While  Russia  is 
fighting  her  "  holy  war,"  numerous  Ger- 
man emissaries  paralyze  her  life  and 
seriously  compromise  her  repute.  The 
far-reaching  words  of  the  Czar  offer 
peace  and  kindly  tolerance  to  his  sub- 
jects, but  at  the  same  time  agents  from 
Berlin  are  doing  their  best  to  foment 
trouble  which  threatens  to  discredit  the 
decrees  and  promises  of  Nicholas  II. 

Scattered  through  the  Russian  Empire, 
the  Germans  have  always  sought  to  make 
trouble  among  its  constituent  elements. 
High  German  officials  are  almost  always 
responsible   for   Russian   blunders;   they 


1178 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ktep  up  their  policy  of  fomenting  dis- 
sension in  order  to  weaken  the  empire. 
Disguised  as  true  Russians,  nay,  as 
ultra-Russians,  they  support  the  newspa- 
pers of  the  "  Black  Band,"  in  which 
France  and  England  are  slandered  and 
Germany  praised.  Even  while  the  heroic 
Russian  Army  is  shedding  its  blood  in 
the  cause  of  the  future  of  humanity, 
newspapers  in  the  pay  of  Germany  are 
plunged  in  grief  because  the  land  of 
Czars  is  arrayed  against  the  Kaiser,  who 
is  represented  as  the  good  genius  of  the 
dynasty,  of  reaction  and  of  orthodoxy. 

Foreigners  ignorant  of  this  complexity 
in  Russian  life  tend  to  confuse  the  two 
sides  of  the  medal.  It  is  necessary  to 
turn  away  from  the  hideous  and  criminal 
"  Black  Band,"  which  continually  imper- 
ils the  noble  Slavic  soul,  and  look  only 
upon  the  real  Russian  Nation,  its  writers, 
savants,  and  philosophers,  who  alone  re- 
flect its  worth. 

It  is  in  the  words  of  Tolstoy,  Dostoev- 
sky,  Turgenieff,  Gorky,  Tchekoff,  Koro- 
lenko,  and  so  many  other  poets  or  novel- 
ists; in  Solovieff,  the  great  psychologist 
of  Russian  religious  feeling;  in  Borodine, 
Pavloff ,  Mendeleyeff,  Metchnikoff,  in  the 
brilliant  galaxy  of  sociologists,  publicists, 
and  historians,  that  one  finds  the  ability 
and  worth  of  the  Muscovite  nation.  Its 
intellectual  forces,  compared  with  those 
of  present-day  Germany,  would  bear 
away  the  palm  both  as  to  number  and 
intrinsic  value.  In  studying  the  Russian 
people  as  depicted  by  a  Tolstoy  one  per- 
ceives their  profound  morality.  I  have 
had  occasion  to  bear  witness  to  this  in 
a  series  of  studies  of  modern  saints  and 
inspired  writers.  All  that  impresses  us 
in  the  superhuman  morality  of  a  Tolstoy, 
whose  nobility  of  soul  is  sometimes  in- 
conceivable to  other  European  countries, 
is  in  reality  nothing  more  than  the  re- 
flection of  the  life  of  the  ordinary  Rus- 
sian mujik.  Among  people  divided 
against  each  other  in  hundreds  of  sects 
we  find  the  greatest  of  evangelical  truths 
formulated  with  touching  simplicity. 
Centuries  of  misery  and  sadness  have 
purified  and  ennobled  the  popular  con- 
science to  a  remarkable  degree. 

Meditating  upon  the  sorrows  of  this 
world,  a  poor  Russian  peasant  often  ex- 


presses thoughts  worthy  of  a  Seneca  or 
a  Spinoza.  But  alcoholism,  that  formida- 
ble enemy,  and  the  far  too  great  misery 
caused  by  exploitation  at  the  hands  of 
the  State  through  centuries  have  at  last 
robbed  true  Russian  genius  of  its  char- 
acter. 

The  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  alcohol 
just  promulgated  by  the  Czar  will  save 
and  radically  transform  the  lower 
classes,  who  exceed  150,000,000  in  num- 
ber. Under  the  regime  of  enforced  tem- 
perance Russia  will  present  an  unex- 
pected spectacle  to  the  human  race  of 
tomorrow.  Within  twenty  years  people 
will  understand  of  what  prodigies  a  na- 
tion will  be  capable  which  has  not  suc- 
cumbed under  the  ravages  to  which  from 
time  immemorial  its  moral  and  material 
life  was  exposed. 

II.— GERMAN  DIPLOMACY  AND  THE 
RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR. 

Above  all,  one  must  visualize  the  de- 
velopments of  tomorrow.  My  sincerity 
as  to  moral  and  political  Russia,  as  to  its 
Government  and  people,  has  become 
strengthened  on  a  number  of  occasions. 
For  a  long  time  I  stood  almost  alone  in 
protesting  against  various  aberrations  of 
those  at  the  helm  in  Russia,  which  were 
followed  by  acts  harmful  to  the  nation. 

We  know  now  that  the  unfortunate 
Japanese  war  turned  Russian  evolution 
from  its  natural  course.  The  historian 
of  the  future  will  discover  among  the 
principal  reasons  for  this  the  hidden  in- 
fluence of  Germany.  In  order  to  weaken 
Russia  in  Europe,  Germany  drove  her  to 
dangerous  ventures  in  the  Far  East. 
This  seemed  to  me  so  clear  that  I  have 
continually  called  attention  to  it  in  these 
very  pages. 

The  Russo-Japanese  war  nearly  ruined 
the  Russian  Empire  and  nearly  prevent- 
ed it  from  fulfilling  its  obligations  to- 
ward France.  It  was  evident  that  if  war 
could  be  stopped,  an  alliance  of  the  two 
belligerents,  which  had  become  necessary, 
would  quickly  make  good  the  damage 
done. 

In  this  opinion  I  stood  almost  alone; 
by  some,  in  fact,  it  was  declared  paradox- 
ical and  harmful.  And  when  high  fi- 
nance, anxious  first  of  all  for  its  profits, 


RUSSIA'S  GERMAN  BUREAUCRATS 


1179 


decided  to  negotiate  a  loan  of  1,000,000,- 
000  francs  for  Russia,  I  braved  the  im- 
possible to  halt  this  financial  move,  as 
disastrous  to  the  Franco-Russian  Alli- 
ance as  to  the  whole  human  race.  The 
loan  was  already  signed  at  St.  Peters- 
burg; nevertheless,  the  impossible  suc- 
ceeded. 

An  article  of  mine  entitled  "  How  to 
Save  Our  Milliards "  signed  "  a  friend 
of  the  alliance  " — ^f  or  I  had  never  given 
up  believing  in  its  necessity  and  advan- 
tages— produced  a  tempest  in  legislative 
circles. 

In  that  article  I  tried  to  demonstrate 
that,  if  the  war  continued,  Russia  would 
find  it  impossible  to  pay  the  interest  on 
her  loans,  and  that  a  catastrophe  of  this 
nature  would  bring  about  the  ruin  of 
French  investors  and  the  final  fall  of  the 
third  republic. 

M.  Rouvier,  Minister  of  Finance  at 
that  time,  asked  me  to  stop  my  cam- 
paign, which  he  considered  unpatriotic. 
Nevertheless,  being  a  man  of  high  intel- 
ligence, he  became  convinced,  after  a 
long  conversation  to  which  he  summoned 
me,  that  the  real  interests  of  France  re- 
quired, before  all  else,  the  immediate  ter- 
mination of  the  war. 

Besides,  Japan  rightly  thought  that 
this  impending  loan  was  an  act  of  hostile 
intervention  harmful  to  her  interests. 
Baron  Motono,  the  eminent  Japanese 
Ambassador,  said  to  me :  "  As  France  is 
such  a  tried  friend  of  our  country  and 
of  Russia,  and  as  she  is  not  aLle  to 
send  her  armies  to  the  Far  East,  she 
should  not  send  her  money  there.  After 
the  war,  Indo-China  might  sooner  or 
later  pay  the  cost  of  this  intervention, 
even  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  friends 
of  France." 

Furthermore,  the  Franco  -  Japanese 
rapprochement,  foreshadowed  in  La  Re- 
vue during  the  war  (in  1905)  by  my 
eminent  friend,  Viscount  Suyematsu,  son- 
in-law  of  Marquis  Ito,  came  true  as  soon 
as  the  war  was  over,  and  it  is  the  reason 
why  France,  Russia,  and  Japan  stand  to- 
gether today  on  the  same  side  of  the 
barricade. 

Thus  our  perspicacity  was  justified. 
It  sufficed  to  look  at  reality  without 
prejudices  to  see  that  the  Russo-Japanese 


war  was  one  of  the  most  illogical  in  his- 
tory. The  perfect  good  faith  with  which 
both  nations  have  since  accepted  peace 
proves  the  sincerity  of  their  humanita- 
rian aspirations. 

One  thing  must  never  be  lost  sight  of — 
left  to  itself,  the  Russian  people  is  es- 
sentially peaceful.  The  idea  of  conquest 
is  foreign  to  it;  schemes  of  territorial 
aggrandizement  have  always  been  in- 
culcated into  it  by  those  in  high  position 
or  by  foreign  influences.  The  only  wars 
that  are  popular  in  Russia  are  those 
whose  object  is  the  deliverance  of  Slavic 
peoples.  In  1879,  when  it  was  a  case  of 
freeing  the  Balkan  peoples,  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  Russians  knew  no  bounds. 
But  in  1905  they  were  opposed  to  a  cam- 
paign which  they  considered  monstrous 
and  inconceivable.  And  now  they  are 
filled  again  with  enthusiasm  for  the 
great  crusade  of  civilized  peoples  whose 
goal  is  to  free  Russia  from  German  in- 
fluence and  to  preserve  not  only  the 
Slavic  principle  but  the  political  rights 
and  moral  acquisitions  of  Europe. 

So  this  nation,  looked  upon  as  bar- 
barous and  savage,  has  waged  several 
wars  for  an  ideal !  It  will  suffice  to  com- 
pare it  to  the  German  Nation,  which  has 
never  helped  any  people  and  never  fought 
for  a  lofty  principle,  in  order  to  under- 
stand on  which  side  moral  supremacy 
lies. 

III.— THE  PARADOX  OF  A  MONGOL 
PEOPLE. 

Russia  is  taxed  with  being  a  Mongol 
or  Tartar  nation,  A  victim  of  the  bar- 
barians, she  has  needed  centuries  to 
emancipate  herself  from  their  influence 
and  become  Christian  and  moral.  Ger- 
many, in  her  past,  has  had  no  such 
tragic  event  to  deplore.  Therefore  she 
is  today  committing  a  crime  that  is  all 
the  more  monstrous  because  she  is  sep- 
arating herself  from  the  civilized  and 
falling  voluntarily  into  sheer  savagery. 

It  will  suffice  to  study  the  main  cur- 
rents of  Russian  thought  during  the  last 
half  century  to  realize  how  much  her 
"  idealists  "  remain  superior  to  the  Ger- 
man "  intellectuals."  Ever  since  the 
Russians  of  1840,  whom  Herzen  describes 
with   so   much   talent   in    his    "  Byloie   i 


1180 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Doumy,"  ever  since  Granovsky,  Pisem- 
sky,  Stankevitch,  since  Slavophiles  like 
Kirevsky,  Khomiakoff,  Aksakoff,  a 
breath  of  great  humanitarian  principles 
has  animated  Muscovite  literature  and 
life.  How  many  reforms  have  been  in- 
troduced since  1860 — the  emancipation  of 
the  serfs,  judiciary  reform,  the  organiza- 
tion of  municipal  and  provincial  auton- 
omy! The  germ  of  a  free  Parliament 
like  the  present  one  gives  promise  of  a 
brilliant  future  for  the  Russian  Empire. 
Russia  will  become  a  great  free  and  civ- 
ilized nation  on  the  day  that  she  suc- 
ceeds in  ridding  herself  once  and  for 
all  of  the  harmful  influence  of  the  Ger- 
mans, who  have  ceaselessly  paralyzed 
her  life  and  aspiration. 
IV.— REAL   RUSSIAN  ASPIRATIONS. 

Russian  psychologists  boast  rightly  of 
Russia's  innate  aspirations  toward  liberty 
and  justice.  Alexander  Herzen  calls  the 
autocratic  power  of  the  Czar  essentially 
German.  "  Perfect  concord  reigned  for- 
merly between  non-believers  and  Catholic 
Slavs  in  Russia,"  declares  the  great  pub- 
licist, Gradovsky.  "  Jews,  Moslems,  and 
Christians  lived  together  in  perfect  har- 
mony there." 

The  subjugation  of  the  people,  who 
become  in  the  course  of  centuries  verita- 
ble slaves,  originated  in  the  invasion  of 
the  Tartars.  Peter  the  Great,  instead 
of  Europeanizing  Russia,  simply  Ger- 
manized it.  He  tried  to  graft  upon  it 
the  formal  and  external  sides  of  German 
civilization.  Thanks  to  his  successors, 
the  only  thing  Russian  about  whom  was 
their  title,  the  Germans  settled  in  Russia 
as   if  it  were  a   conquered   land. 

Nevertheless,  for  the  last  fifty  years 
one  may  note  intermittent  tendencies  on 
the  part  of  the  Czars  to  free  themselves 
from  German  influence.  Often  they  en- 
countered insurmountable  difficulties.  In 
the  wake  of  German  Princes  and  Prin- 
cesses, a  train  of  favorites  and  courtiers 
always  flowed  into  Russia,  creating  rich 
and  influential  families,  always  opposed 
to  the  principles  dear  to  genuine  Rus- 
sians. When  one  adds  to  these  the  Ger- 
man families  of  the  Baltic  Provinces  it 
is  easy  to  understand  that  this  interne- 
cine struggle  had  necessarily  to  last  for 
some  decades  more. 


The  German  families  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  throwing  off  the  Prussian  in- 
fluence are  very  few.  So  unfortunate  an 
imprint  has  Prussia  left  on  the  life  of 
the  empire  that  all  farseeing  patriots 
never  tire  of  deploring  it.  On  this  sub- 
ject great  Generals  and  statesmen  edu- 
cated away  from  German  influence  are 
unanimous.  Here  Tolstoy  clasps  hands 
with  General  Skobeleff,  the  revolutionary 
writer  Herzen  agrees  with  Aksakov  or 
Soloviev,  both  so  closely  bound  to  tradi- 
tion. Let  us  recall  the  words  uttered  by 
Skobeleff  in  1882:  "We  Russians,  when 
we  are  at  home,  are  not  in  Russia." 

v.— RUSSIANS  DO  NOT  TRUST  THE 
GERMANS. 

Recent  happenings  simply  throw  a 
tragic  light  on  the  statements  of  Russian 
patriots.  The  generous  intentions  of 
Czar  Nicholas  II.  seem  very  sincere. 

But  the  bureaucrats  find  the  way  to 
reduce  his  projects  to  nothing;  they  con- 
tinue to  persecute  the  Poles  and  their 
language.  They  have  even  gone  so  far 
as  to  send  Russian  prelates  into  Galicia! 
They  are  organizing  Jewish  pogroms  and 
deporting  to  Siberia  the  most  beloved 
of  Finnish  representatives.  These  are 
crimes  of  lese-majeste  committed  by 
the  very  men  who  should  be  the  most 
faithful  servants  of  the  Czar. 

What  is  the  purpose  of  these  vexatious 
measures  if  not  to  compromise  Russia 
in  the  eyes  of  her  allies  and  alienate 
from  her  the  sympathies  of  neutral  coun- 
tries? Sweden  having  shown  hostility 
toward  Russia  on  account  of  Finland, 
the  result  of  such  measures  has  been 
to  alarm  her  once  again. 

In  Russia  there  are  at  present  more 
than  250,000  Jewish  soldiers  whose  cour- 
age and  devotion  to  their  country  are 
proved  by  the  official  communiques.  But 
the  bureaucrats  have  been  able  to  drive 
the  Jewish  wounded  from  certain  places 
on  the  pretext  that  "  they  have  not  the 
right  to  live  there!  "  Moreover,  by  or- 
ganizing pogroms  at  the  moment  when 
the  sacred  union  of  the  nation  is  at  its 
zenith,  they  seek  to  destroy  the  harmony 
between  Russian  citizens  and  foment  civil 
war. 

Russia  will  need  many  millions  for  her 
economic    and    financial   reconstruction; 


RUSSIA'S  GERMAN  BUREAUCRATS 


1181 


no  matter  what  happens,  she  cannot 
dispense  with  the  aid  of  international 
finance.  Already  the  enmity  of  the  great 
Jewish  bankers  is  being  aroused  against 
her;  those  in  the  United  States  have 
shown  their  violent  hostility  to  "  Russian 
barbarism  "  as  a  result  of  the  pogroms. 

The  Poles  are  giving  proof  of  super- 
human courage  and  devotion.  Despite 
the  devastation  of  their  provinces  and 
the  destitution  which  is  ravaging  their 
lands,  they  are  sacrificing  everything, 
their  life  and  their  last  belongings,  for 
the  profit  of  Russia  and  her  allies.  And 
the  Russian  bureaucrats  choose  this  op- 
portunity for  exasperating  Polish  suscep- 
tibility and  robbing  the  Poles  of  all  faith 
in  the  Czar's  promises! 

The  Bourtseff  case  is  most  significant. 
This  veteran  revolutionist,  who  won  so 
much  sympathy  while  staying  in  Paris 
and  London,  relinquished  his  aims  at  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities  and  returned  to 
Russia  to  preach  national  union  even 
under  the  banner  of  autocracy.  Before 
departing  he  proclaimed  the  necessity  for 
all  advanced  parties  to  rally  around  the 
Czar  and  his  Government  in  order  to 
fight  the  common  enemy.  Trusting  to 
the  generosity  of  his  sovereign  and  to 
the  sacred  union  of  the  Russian  people, 
he  crossed  the  frontier.  He  was  arrest- 
ed. Then  the  Court  of  Assizes,  which 
sentences  without  a  jury,  found  a  way 
to  condemn  him  to  deportation  for  life. 

The  French  and  English  Governments, 
which  have  succeeded  in  arousing  the  same 
patriotic  enthusiasm  in  Socialists,  paci- 
fists, and  revolutionists,  are  now  inun- 
dated by  the  claims  and  protests  of 
friends  of  liberty.  It  would  be  hard  to 
admit  that  we  have  to  do  here  only  with 
conscienceless  or  stupid  officials.  How 
so?  Can  one  believe  that  they  do  not 
understand  the  importance  of  the  events 
developing  about  them  nor  the  moral 
value  and  humanitarian  tendencies  of  the 
nations  taking  part  therein?  Rather 
should  we  see  in  such  acts  a  continuation 
of  that  German  influence  which  is  ex- 
erted in  Russia  against  the  interests  of 
the  people  and  the  Tormal  will  of  the 
sovereign. 

It  would  be  unbelievable  that  the  Czar 
should  instigate  a  world  war  in  order  to 


deliver  little  Serbia  and  refuse  to  save 
his  own  people!  It  is  useless,  says  Epic- 
tetus,  to  desire  to  kill  tigers  and  lions 
in  distant  lands  if  we  cannot  rid  our- 
selves of  the  wild  beasts  in  ourselves. 

But  our  limited  enthusiasm  for  the 
Muscovite  Goverament  does  not  keep  us 
from  professing  unlimited  faith  in  the 
Russian  people.  In  the  gigantic  battle 
against  barbarism  Russia  will  win  her 
own  salvation — liberty  for  herself  and 
deliverance  for  all  time  from  Prussia 
and  the  Prussians. 

VI.— RUSSIAN      REACTION      AS      A 

COUNTER-BLOW  TO  GERMAN 

MILITARISM. 

We  must  not  forget  that  after  the 
great  convulsion  produced  by  the  war 
with  Japan  Russia  clearly  wished  to  rest 
her  political  organization  on  new  foun- 
dations. The  creation  of  the  Duma  was 
followed  by  the  law  of  April  17,  1907, 
which  gave  religious  liberty  to  the  coun- 
try. Had  she  continued  on  this  road, 
Russia  might  have  changed  her  auto- 
cratic regime  into  a  liberal  monarchy 
which  would  have  brought  her  boundless 
prosperity  and  constitutional  liberties  to 
her  inhabitants. 

It  is  well  known  how  greatly  the  in- 
terview of  Czar  Nicholas  with  the  Kaiser 
at  Cronstadt  in  1907  transformed  the 
Russian  policy.  Under  the  baleful  in- 
fluences of  the  Berlin  crank,  the  Duma 
miscarried  and  the  famous  "  law  of  toler- 
ance "  of  1907  became  a  dead  letter. 

The  peaceful  evolution  of  Russian  lib- 
erty came  to  an  abrupt  stop.  Popular 
discontent,  apparently  stamped  out,  was 
bound  to  burst  forth  sooner  or  later  in 
the  form  of  a  revolution  which  the  Rus- 
sian liberals  awaited  as  a  deliverance 
and  which  the  conservatives  feared  as 
the  last  judgment. 

The  war  put  an  end  to  this  painful 
agony  of  a  prostrated  ideal. 

Victory  by  the  Allies  will  bring  to 
the  vast  empire  of  the  Czars  that  na- 
tional reconciliation  so  ardently  desired, 
which  will  develop  into  a  perfect  accord 
between  the  ruler  and  his  people. 

The  Czar  and  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas 
doubtless  do  not  know  just  now  what 
has  become  of  their  magnanimous  prom- 


1182 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ises.  But  let  us  not  be  deceived;  the 
day  is  near  when  those  who  have  com- 
mitted crimes  against  the  security  of 
Russia  will  be  severely  punished.  The 
Germans,  who  wish  above  all  else  to 
make  Russia  distrusted  and  hateful  to 
the  Allies,  to  neutrals,  and  to  interna- 
tional finance,  are  now  in  their  death- 
agony.  They  feel  sure  that  they  can 
easily  destroy  Russian  credit  during  the 
war  and  prevent  its  restoration  in  fu- 
ture. 

The  Chancelleries  of  Paris  and  Lon- 
don should  draw  the  attention  of  the 
Russian  Government  to  the  crimes  com- 
mitted in  its  name.  They  seem  to  be 
escaping  llie  notice  of  the  immediate  en- 
tourage of  the  Czar  and  the  great  and 
honorable  man  who  now  directs  Russian 
foreign  policy.  The  unfortunate  victims 
of  these  harmful  measures  and  of  the 
misdeeds  already  committed  know  doubt- 
less whence  they  come. 

Poles,  Jews,  Finns,  and  Armenians 
should  feel  convinced  that  their  martyr- 
dom will  cease  when  normal  life  is  re- 
sumed and  Germany  decisively  defeated. 
Official  Russia  will  be  unable  to  elude 
the  fulfillment  of  her  obligations  without 
incurring  the  risk  of  taking  Germany's 
place  in  the  estimation  of  other  nations. 

The  Czar's  energetic  attitude  precludes 
all  doubt  as  to  the  worth  of  his  promises, 
and  the  victims  of  the  Russian  bureau- 
crats and  of  German  machinations  should 
spurn  the  seditious  advice  given  them  by 
those  who  have  always  been  their  ene- 
mies. 

Russia's  basic  interests  vdll  oblige  her 
to  develop  more  and  more  along  liberal 
lines.  Her  empire,  which  has  become  one 
of  the  greatest  ever  known  in  history, 
will  require  for  its  existence  the  "  Roman 
Peace  "  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  phrase, 


and  the  only  way  to  build  up  this  peace 
will  be  by  winning  the  respect  of  the 
peoples  forming  the  empire.  Only  at  that 
price  can  Russia  maintain  the  unity  of 
her  provinces  and  assure  peace  at  home. 

Joined  once  more  with  France,  Eng- 
land, and  all  other  civilized  countries, 
Russia  will  guarantee  a  worthy  and 
happy  existence  to  the  two  hundred  mill- 
ions of  inhabitants  whom  she  will  possess 
before  long.  Ennobled  and  purified  by 
this  tremendous  war,  which  she  has  un- 
dertaken for  an  ideal,  Russia  will  work 
with  other  civilized  countries  for  an  evo- 
lution of  the  Europe  of  tomorrow,  which 
will  be  based  more  than  ever  before  on 
justice. 

The  discord  which  seemed  to  alienate 
the  Czar  and  his  people,  a  discord  zeal- 
ously fomented  by  the  Hohenzollerns,  will 
likewise  vanish  in  time,  and  the  union  be- 
tween Czardom  and  the  Russians,  con- 
solidated and  sealed  by  the  sacrifices 
suffered  with  so  much  heroism  by  the 
entire  nation,  will  forge  indissoluble 
bonds  between  them. 

Never  have  the  Hohenzollerns  ceased 
to  work  against  Russian  liberty;  a  con- 
stitutional Russia  was  to  them  a  per- 
petual menace  to  Prussian  autocracy. 
The  Kaiser,  moreover,  could  not  continue 
with  impunity  his  assaults  on  the  German 
Constitution  except  by  keeping  at  fever 
heat  the  German  hatred  for  a  despotic 
and  barbarous  Russia.  Being  unable  to 
arm  against  France  with  any  show  of 
decency,  he  armed  against  a  Russia 
branded  as  "  Cossack  "  and  savage. 

Ties  of  friendship  and  family  having 
been  broken  once  for  all  between  Roman- 
offs and  Hohenzollerns,  Russia  will  be 
able  to  follow  her  national  aspirations  un- 
trammeled  and  win  the  brilliant  future 
to  which  she  is  destined. 


To  the  French  Soldiers  at  the  Front 


By  Anatole  France 


The  subjoined  article  by  M.  Anatole  France  celebrating  the  festival  of  the  14th  of  July 
appeared  originally  in  the  Petit  Parisien,  and  is  translated  by  Winifred  Stevens,  editor  of 
"  The  Book  of  France." 


DEAR  soldiers,  heroic  children  of 
the  Fatherland,  today  is  your 
festival,  for  it  is  the  festival 
of  France.  The  14th  of  July 
breaks  in  a  dawn  of  blood  and  glory. 
We  celebrate  and  we  honor  your  brethren 
fallen  in  immortal  battles,  and  you,  to 
whom  we  send  our  good  wishes,  with  this 
heartfelt  cry:  Live!    Triumph! 

One  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  ago 
today  the  people  of  Paris,  armed  with 
pikes  and  guns,  to  the  beating  of  drums 
and  the  ringing  of  the  tocsin,  pressed  in 
a  long  line  down  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine,  attacked  the  Bastile,  and,  after 
five  hours'  conflict  beneath  deadly  fire, 
took  possession  of  the  hated  fortress.  A 
symbolical  victory  won  over  tyranny  and 
despotism,  a  victory  by  which  the  French 
people  inaugurated  a  new  regime. 

The  soveignty  of  law!  Therein  lies  the 
significance  of  the  Bastile  taken  by  the 
people  and  razed  to  its  foundations.  The 
coming  of  justice!  For  that  reason  pa- 
triots wearing  the  tricolor  cockade  in 
their  hats,  and  citizenesses  in  frocks 
striped  with  the  nation's  colors,  danced 
all  night  long  to  the  accompaniment  of 
violins,  in  the  gay  brilliance  of  the  illu- 
minations, on  the  leveled  site  of  the  Bas- 
tile. 

Hour  of  confidence  in  human  goodness, 
of  faith  in  a  future  of  concord  and  of 
peace!  Then  did  France  reveal  her  true 
place  among  men;  then  did  she  show  with 
what  hopes  the  Revolution  swelled  the 
hearts  of  Europe.  The  fall  of  the  Bas- 
tile resounded  throughout  the  whole 
world. 

To  Russia  the  good  tidings  came  like 
the  bright  flame  of  a  bonfire  on  some 
day  of  public  rejoicing.  In  the  proud 
city  of  Peter  and  of  Catherine  nobles 
and  serfs,  with  tears  and  cries  of  glad- 
ness, embraced  one  another  on  the  public 
squares.    The  French  Ambassador  at  the 


Court  of  the  Empress  bears  witness  to 
this  rapture.  "  It  is  impossible,"  he 
writes,  "  to  describe  the  enthusiasm  ex- 
cited among  tradesmen,  merchants,  citi- 
zens, and  the  young  men  of  the  upper 
classes  by  this  fall  of  a  State  prison,  and 
this  first  triumph  of  tempestuous  liberty 
— French,  Russians,  Danes,  Germans, 
Dutchmen  were  all  congratulating  and 
embracing  one  another  in  the  streets  as 
if  they  had  been  liberated  from  some 
onerous  bondage." 

In  England  workingmen,  the  middle 
classes,  and  the  generous  minded  among 
the  aristocracy  all  rejoiced  over  the  vic- 
tory of  right  won  by  the  people  of  Paris. 
Neither  did  their  enthusiasm  flag,  despite 
all  the  efforts  of  a  Government  strenu- 
ously hostile  to  the  new  principles  of 
France.  In  1790,  the  anniversary  of  the 
taking  of  the  Bastile  was  celebrated  in 
London  by  an  immense  banquet,  presided 
over  by  Lord  Stanhope,  one  of  the  wisest 
statesmen  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

These  are  the  memories  we  recall  and 
the  events  we  celebrate  today. 

Dear  soldiers,  dear  fellow-citizens,  I 
address  you  on  this  grave  festival  be- 
cause I  love  you  and  honor  you  and  think 
of  you  unceasingly. 

I  am  entitled  to  speak  to  you  heart  to 
heart  because  I  have  a  right  to  speak  for 
France,  being  one  of  those  who  have  ever 
sought,  in  freedom  of  judgment  and  up- 
rightness of  conscience,  the  best  means 
of  making  their  country  strong.  I  am 
entitled  to  speak  to  you  because,  not 
having  desired  war,  but  being  compelled 
to  suffer  it,  I,  like  you,  like  all  French- 
men, am  resolved  to  wage  it  till  the  end, 
until  justice  shall  have  conquered  in- 
iquity, civilization  barbarism,  and  the 
nations  are  delivered  from  the  monstrous 
menace  of  an  oppressive  militarism.  I 
have  a  right  to  speak  to  you  because  I 
am  one  of  the  few  who  have  never  de- 


1184 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


ceived  you,  and  who  have  never  believed 
that  you  needed  lies  for  the  maintenance 
of  your  courage;  one  of  the  few  who,  re- 
jecting as  unworthy  of  you  deceptive 
fictions  and  misleading  silence,  have  told 
you  the  truth. 

I  told  you  in  December  last  year: 
"  This  war  will  be  cruel  and  long."  I  tell 
you  now:  "  You  have  done  much,  but  all 
is  not  over.  The  end  of  your  labors  ap- 
proaches, but  is  not  yet.  You  are  fight- 
ing against  an  enemy  fortified  by  long 
preparation  and  immense  material.  Your 
foe  is  unscrupulous.  He  has  learned  from 
his  leaders  that  inhumanity  is  the  sol- 
dier's first  virtue.  Arming  himself  in  a 
manner  undreamed  of  hitherto  by  the 
most  formidable  of  conquerors,  he  causes 
rivers  of  blood  to  flow  and  breathes  forth 
vapors  charged  with  torpor  and  with 
death.  Endure,  persevere,  dare.  Remain 
what  you  are,  and  none  shall  prevail 
against  you. 

You  are  fighting  for  your  native 
land,  that  laughing,  fertile  land,  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  world;  for  your  fields 
and  your  meadows.  For  the  august 
mother,  who,  crowned  with  vine  leaves 
and  with  ears  of  corn,  waits  to  welcome 
you  and  to  feed  you  with  all  the  inex- 
haustible treasures  of  her  breast.  You 
are  fighting  for  your  village  belfry,  your 
roofs  of  •  slate  or  tile,  with  wreaths  of 
smoke  curling  up  into  the  serene  sky. 
For  your  fathers'  graves,  your  children's 
cradles. 

You  are  fighting  for  our  august  cities, 
on  the  banks  of  whose  rivers  rise  the 
monuments  of  generations — romanesque 
churches,  cathedrals,  minsters,  abbeys, 
palaces,  triumphal  arches,  columns  of 
bronze,   theatres,   museums,   town   halls. 


hospitals,  statues  of  sages  and  of  heroes 
— whose  walls,  whether  modest  or  mag- 
nificent, shelter  alike  commerce,  indus- 
try, science,  and  the  arts,  all  that  con- 
stitutes the  beauty  of  life. 

You  are  fighting  for  our  moral  heri- 
tage, our  manners,  our  uses,  our  laws, 
our  customs,  our  beliefs,  our  traditions. 
For  the  works  of  our  sculptors,  our  archi- 
tects, our  painters,  our  engravers,  our 
goldsmiths,  our  enamelers,  our  glass  cut- 
ters, our  weavers.  For  the  songs  of  our 
musicians.  For  our  mother  tongue  which, 
with  ineffable  sweetness,  for  eight  cent- 
uries has  flowed  from  the  lips  of  our 
poets,  our  orators,  our  historians,  our 
philosophers.  For  the  knowledge  of  man 
and  of  nature.  For  that  encyclopedic 
learning  which  attained  among  us  the 
high-water  mark  of  precision  and  lucid- 
ity. You  are  fighting  for  the  genius  of 
France,  which  enlightened  the  world  and 
gave  freedom  to  the  nations.  By  this 
noble  sprit  bastiles  are  overthrown. 
And,  lastly,  you  are  fighting  for  the 
homes  of  Belgians,  English,  Russians, 
Italians,  Serbians,  not  for  France  mere- 
ly, but  for  Europe,  ceaselessly  disturbed 
and  furiously  threatened  by  Germany's 
devouring  ambition. 

******* 

The  Fatherland!  Liberty!  Beloved 
children  of  France,  these  are  the  sacred 
treasures  committed  to  your  keeping;  for 
their  sakes  you  endure  without  com- 
plaint prolonged  fatigue  and  constant 
danger;  for  their  sakes  you  will  conquer. 

And  you,  women,  children,  old  men, 
strew  with  flowers  and  foliage  all  the 
roads  of  France;  our  soldiers  will  return 
triumphant.         ANATOLE   FRANCE. 


A    Farewell 

[From    The    Washington    Gazette.] 


Though  we  laugh  at  little  things. 
As  in  days  by  laughter  blest. 

The  great  actual  phantom  flings 
Now  a  shadow  on  the  jest. 


Then  it  was  mirth's  overflow 
Seeking  from  itself  relief. 

Now  we  laugh  because  we  know 
We  are  all  besieged  by  grief. 


Welcome   nonsense,    rendering   sane 
We  who  go  and  we  who  wait; 

For  the  loosing  of  the  strain 
Sense  is  too  inadequate. 

D.  S. 


The  Spirit  of  France 

By  Emile  Boutroux 


The  subjoined  article  by  M.  Boutroux,  who  is  a  member  of  the  French  Academy,  ap- 
peared originally  in  The  London  Daily  News  as  an  authorized  translation  by  Fred  Rothwell. 


I  HAVE  been  asked  to  say  what  I 
think  as  to  the  spirit  in  which 
my  country  is  passing  through 
this  terrible  war.  Clearly,  in  such 
times  as  these  words  are  of  little  impor- 
tance; it  is  deeds  that  are  the  real  argu- 
ments. And  it  is  advisable  that  we 
judge  France  by  her  conduct  in  the  im- 
mediate past  and  in  the  present.  If  we 
would  be  faithful  disciples  of  Descartes, 
we  must  make  no  attempt  whatsoever 
to  court  the  good  opinion  of  the  world  by 
skillful  evasion,  for  we  recognize  that  all 
men  have  the  right — which  we  claim  for 
ourselves — to  bend  the  knee  to  truth 
alone. 

There  is  one  principle  which  it  is  im- 
portant to  follow:  We  must  not  allow 
trifling  facts,  or  presumptions,  or  rea- 
sonings of  any  kind,  however  subtle,  to 
take  the  place  of  important  facts  which 
are  manifestly  self-evident.  The  text 
must  not  be  buried  beneath  a  mass  of 
commentaries. 

For  instance,  consider  the  attitude  of 
France  previous  to  the  war.  When  did 
this  one  of  the  great  powers  depart  from 
her  pacific  and  conciliatory  attitude? 
What  did  she  do  of  a  nature  to  render 
her  responsible,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
for  the  war  forced  upon  her? 

We  have  often  read  that  France  want- 
ed war  because  she  wanted  her  "  re- 
venge." The  accusation  comes  strangely, 
indeed,  from  the  mouths  of  those  who, 
even  in  these  days,  are  crying  for  vengc 
ance  on  Quintilius  Varus  and  on  Melac; 
and  who,  from  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
Leipsic,  have  never  ceased  singing,  "  Wir 
wollen  Rache  haben."  Besides,  it  is  de- 
void of  foundation.  As  regards  Alsace 
and  Lorraine,  it  is  anything  but  "  re- 
venge "  that  the  French  claim ;  the  af- 
fected use  of  the  word  in  this  connection 
is  pure  sophistry,  intended  to  delude  peo- 
ple.     The   facts    are    very     simple     and 


speak  for  themselves.  In  1871  the  rep- 
resentatives of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  said 
to  France :  "  Your  brothers  in  these  two 
provinces,  who  for  the  time  being  are 
separated  from  the  one  common  family, 
will  ever  retain  a  filial  affection  for  ab- 
sent France,  until  she  comes  to  win  back 
her  former  place."  The  Alsatians  and 
the  Lorrainers,  before  being  French,  had 
indeed  a  home,  "  Heimat,"  as  they  say 
in  German,  but  they  had  never  had  a 
country  of  their  own,  a  "  Vaterland." 
France  is  the  first  and  only  fatherland 
they  have  ever  known.  They  have  re- 
mained faithful  to  France,  and  she  has 
proved  herself  faithful  to  them. 

Since  1789,  moreover,  the  very  func- 
tion or  the  signification  of  France 
throughout  the  world  has  been  the  affir- 
mation of  the  right,  which  belongs  to 
nations,  great  or  small,  to  dispose  of 
themselves  as  they  please.  "  Damals," 
said  Goethe,  when  declaring  the  good 
news  which  the  Frenchmen  of  1792  had 
brought,  "  damals  hoffte  jeder  such  selbst 
zu  leben,"  (at  that  time  every  man  hoped 
to  live  his  own  life.)  He  added  that  this 
thought  was  the  loftiest  that  man  could 
conceive:  "das  hochste  was  der  Mensch 
sich  denkt." 

It  is  such  a  motive  that  an  attempt  is 
being  made  to  ridicule  by  calling  it  a 
"  desire  for  revenge." 

But  then,  some  people  say,  to  uphold 
the  principle  of  nationalities  was  to  wish 
for  war,  since  the  conquerors,  in  the 
name  of  the  right  of  conquest,  the  only 
one  they  acknowledge,  as  also  by  reason 
of  their  might,  which  they  had  rendered 
formidable,  stated  that  they  were  deter- 
mined to  keep  their  prey. 

France  did  not  look  upon  the  right  of 
force  as  the  only  one  to  be  recognized  by 
modern  nations.  She  relied  on  the  Alsace- 
Lorraine  question,  along  with  other  simi- 
lar  questions,  being  brought,   sooner   or 


1186 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


later,  before  an  international  tribunal, 
and  on  the  differences  between  men  be- 
ing settled  by  justice,  some  day,  in  a  soci- 
ety which  claimed  to  attach  value  to 
Greek  culture  and  the  Christian  religion. 
And  she  set  to  work  to  develop  ideas  of 
justice  and  humanity,  both  in  France  her- 
self and  in  other  nations. 

It  is  the  same  principle  which  they 
took  upon  themselves  to  defend  by  pacific 
measures,  that  the  French  are  now  up- 
holding and  defending,  arms  in  hand. 

They  did  not  consider  the  question 
whether  it  would  have  been  better  for 
them  to  put  up  with  the  tutelage  of  their 
powerful  neighbors,  for,  by  adopting  such 
an  attitude,  they  would  have  lost  their 
honor.  Given  the  way  in  which  their  ad- 
versaries stirred  up  and  waged  this  war, 
the  French  are  conscious  that  they  have 
undertaken  the  defense,  not  only  of  the 
rights  of  man  in  general,  but  also  of  the 
right  of  nations  to  independence,  dignity, 
and  the  untrammeled  development  of 
their  own  distinctive  genius.  And  this 
consciousness  is  awakening  within  them 
the  zeal  and  ardor  they  showed  in  1792, 
while  a  calm  appreciation  of  the  condi- 
tions of  the  present  struggle  inspires  in 
them  such  a  degree  of  constancy  and 
patience  as  no  difficulties,  however  great, 
will  be  able  to  crush. 


We  are  not  now  dealing  with  soms- 
thing  akin  to  the  generous,  though  rash 
and  unsteady,  outbursts  of  passion  often 
attributed  to  the  French  of  former  days. 
Our  determination  now  is  that  we  will  be 
resolute  and  immovable,  just  as  right  and 
truth  are  immovable  and  invincible.  In 
this  connection,  may  I  mention  the  letters 
daily  sent  to  me  from  the  front  by  the 
young  men,  intrusted  to  my  charge,  in 
normal  times?  They  show  that  the 
writers  are  brimming  over  with  enthusi- 
asm, determination,  and  good  humor. 
With  shells  bursting  all  around,  they  tell 
me  what  they  are  doing  and  relate  their 
impressions  with  the  same  lucidity  and 
mental  calm  they  showed  when  studying 
with  me.  One  feels  that  it  is  real  happi- 
ness for  them  to  fight  in  a  cause  indis- 
putably noble  and  just,  and  that  they  are 
sure  this  same  feeling,  dominant  in  all 
hearts,  both  in  civil  life  and  in  the  army, 
will  give  France  the  perseverance  and  en- 
ergy needed  to  carry  on  the  war  to  the  end. 

Yes,  indeed,  France  is  still  a  youthful 
and  enthusiastic  nation  fighting  for  an 
ideal.  Henceforth,  however,  she  will  be 
as  deliberate  and  thoughtful  as  she  has 
always  been  full  of  zeal  and  ardor.  As 
one  of  her  proverbs  says,  by  helping  her- 
self, indefatigably  and  with  all  her  might, 
she  calls  down  the  help  of  heaven. 


Current  Small  Talk 


By  ELLA  A.  FANNING. 


When  I  am  out  in  company, 

I'm  careful  what  I  say, 
If  venturing  to  make  remarks 

On  topics  of  the  day. 

My  friends  excite  my  wonder,  awe. 

As  glibly  they  converse. 
And  brashly  mention  Langenfeldkopf, 

Travenanzes — or  worse! 


I  sit  in  silence,  must  seem  dull, 

When  "Ammerertzyviller  "  they  say. 

Quote  General  Yanovskevitch, 
In  their  familiar  way. 

The  war  they  settle  out  of  hand; 

Of  Krasnostav  they  talk, 
And  Sedd-el-Bahr,  and  Ossowi.ec, 

As  though  they  said  "  New  York." 


They  praise  Duke  Nicolaivitch, 

And  never  fail  to  lug 
Into  their  chat  some  references  to 

That  place  they  call  "  The  Bug!" 


Britain's  Tribute  to  Italy 

By  British  Men  of  Distinction 

Anthony  Hope  Hawkins  has  published  in  the  British  press  the  letter  which  appears 
below,  addressed  to  the  Italian  Nation  and  signed,  on  the  invitation  of  Lord  Bryce,  Lord  Bal- 
four of  Burleigh,  Lord  Reay,  Sir  George  Trevelyan,  and  Robert  Henry  Benson,  by  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  people  of  distinction  and  authority  in  Great  Britain. 


THE  LETTER. 

WE,  whose  signatures  are  here  ap- 
pended, desire  to  place  on  rec- 
ord our  admiration  and  respect 
for  the  conduct  of  Italy  at  this 
supreme  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Italy  and  Great  Britain  are  now  com- 
panions in  arms,  fighting  side  by  side  for 
the  triumph  of  the  same  cause.  Circum- 
stances drew  our  own  country  into  the 
conflict  from  the  beginning,  while  the 
ghastliness  and  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
before  us  were  still  only  dimly  manifest. 
Yet  none  of  us  will  forget  the  crisis  of 
decision  through  which  we  passed  in  the 
first  days  of  August,  1914. 

Italy  has  had  a  still  harder  path  to 
tread.  Immediate  action  was  not  her 
part,  and  she  had  to  bear  the  strain  of 
nine  months'  suspense  before  her  hour  of 
decision  arrived.  During  these  nine 
months  she  saw  all  the  established  regu- 
lations and  mitigations  of  warfare  swept 
away  by  the  enemy's  systematic  and  cold- 
blooded resort  to  methods  of  a  cruelty 
to  noncombatants  unprecedented  in  mod- 
ern history. 

Yet,  in  spite,  or  rather  because,  of  all 
which  she  knew  she  would  have  to  face 
in  a  conflict  with  the  Germanic  powers, 
Italy  nerved  herself  to  the  ordeal,  re- 
solved to  do  her  utmost  toward  securing 
that  such  horrors  as  Belgium  saw,  and  as 
the  ocean  has  seen,  should  never  again 
threaten  the  civilized  world. 

She  made  her  decision  at  a  moment 
when  the  prospects  of  early  victory 
seemed  remote,  and  only  the  arduousness 
and  the  imperative  necessity  of  the  task 
were  apparent,  and  she  had  to  reach  this 
decision  through  a  series  of  the  most 
complex  diplomatic  negotiations,  which 
demanded  the  coolest  judgment  and  most 
perfect  mutual  confidence  from  both  Gov- 
ernment and  people. 


At  last  the  suspense  is  over.  Since 
May  20,  1915,  Italy  stands  in  arms  at  our 
side;  and  we  feel  that  an  expression  of 
this  comradeship  on  the  part  of  a  few 
among  her  British  friends — we  say  a  few, 
because  every  one  in  these  islands  is 
Italy's  friend — would  be  both  welcome  to 
her  and  congenial  to  ourselves. 

The  Italian  people  is  at  war  to  liberate 
its  own  brethren  from  an  old  oppression, 
and  to  avert  from  the  whole  of  Europe 
the  threat  of  a  new  military  domination. 
Italy  has  staked  all  that  she  has  for  the 
same  principles  of  nationality,  humanity, 
and  public  right  that  inspire  our  own  en- 
deavors in  this  war.  We  hope  with  all 
the  earnestness  in  our  hearts  that  her 
national  aspirations  will  now  be  consum- 
mated, and  we  wish  the  heroic  Italy  of 
1915  to  know  from  our  own  lips  that  we 
feel  toward  her  as  our  fathers  felt  toward 
the  heroic  Italy  of  the  Risorgimento. 

THE   SIGNATORIES. 


The  letter  is  signed  by: 


Archbishop    of 

Canterbury 

Sir  T.  Clifford  All- 
butt,  Cambridge 
University. 

William  Archer, 

Lord  Balfour  of  Bur- 
leigh, St.  Andrews 
University. 

Sir  C.  B.  Hall,  Bart., 
Dublin  University. 

H.  Granville  Barker. 

Sir  Thomas  Barlow. 

Sir  J.  M.  Barrie. 

J.  B.  Bedford,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Leeds. 

A.  C.   Benson. 

B.  F.  Benson. 
R.  H.  Benson. 
Laurence    Binyon. 
Bernard      Bosanquet, 

St.     Andrews    Uni- 
versity. 
Helen  Bosanquet. 


W.  H.  Bowater,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Birming- 
ham. 

A.  C.  Bradley,  Glas- 
gow University. 

Robert  Bridges,  Poet 
Laureate. 

Viscount   Bryce. 

John  Burnet,  St.  An- 
drews  University. 

J.  B.  Bury,  Cam- 
bridge University. 

Hall   Caine. 

R.  C.  Carton. 

C.  Haddon  Chambers. 

Rev.  R.  H.  Charles, 
Canon  of  West- 
minster. 

G.  K.  Chesterton. 

Sir  W.  Watson 

Cheyne. 

Albert  C.  Clark,  Ox- 
ford University. 

A.  Clutton-Brock. 


1188 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


Sir  Sidney  Colvin. 

Sir  E.  T.  Cook. 

William  Leonard 

Courtney. 

Sir  James 

Crichton-Browne. 

The  Earl  of  Cromer. 

Lord  d'Abernon. 

Sir  Samuel  Dill, 
Queen's  University, 
Belfast. 

Sir  Arthur  Conan 

Doyle. 

Thomas  Dunlop,  Lord 
Provost  of  Glasgow. 

Sir  Frank  "W.  Dyson, 
Astronomer-Royal. 

Sir  Edward  Elgar. 

Earl  of  Elgin. 

C.  H.  Firth,  Oxford 
University. 

H.  A.  L.  Fisher,  Shef- 
field University. 

John  Fitzgerald,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Newcastle. 

Sir  George  Frampton. 

Sir  J.  G.  Frazer, 
Liverpool  Univer- 
sity. 

Douglas  W. 

Freshfield. 

John  Galsworthy. 

Percy  Gardner,  Ox- 
ford   University. 

Sir  Archibald  Geikie. 

W.  M.  Geldart,  Ox- 
ford   University. 

J.  G.  Gordon-Munn, 
Lord  Mayor  of  Nor- 
wich. 

B.  P.  Grenfell,  Ox- 
ford University. 

Anstey   Guthrie, 

(F.  Anstey.) 

Sir  H.   Rider 

Haggard. 

Viscount   Haldane. 

J.  S.  Haldane,  Ox- 
ford University. 

Earl  of  Halsbury. 

Tliomas   Hardy. 

J.  H.  Hargreaves, 
Lord  Mayor  of  Hull. 

Frederic  Harrison. 

F.  J.  Haverfield,  Ox- 
ford University. 

Anthony  H.  Hawkins, 
(Anthony  Hope.) 


Sir  W.  P.  Herring- 
ham,  London  Uni- 
versity. 

J.  P.  Heseltine. 

Maurice   Hewlett. 

Robert  Hichens. 

E.  W.  Hobson,  Cam- 
bridge University. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Scott 
Holland,  Oxford 

University. 

Sir   Charles   Holroyd. 

Sir  Henry  Howorth. 

A.  S.  Hunt,  Oxford 
University. 

Sir  Courtenay  Ilbert. 

Henry  Jackson,  Cam- 
bridge University. 

Jerome   K.    Jerome. 

F.  B.  Jevons,  Dur- 
ham University. 

Sir  Charles  Johnston, 
Lord  Mayor  of  Lon- 
don. 

Sir  Frederic  G. 

Kenyon. 

W.  P.  Ker,  London 
University. 

Rudyard  Kipling. 

Walter  Leaf. 

Sir  Sidney  Lee. 

Sir  John  Dillwyn 

Llewelyn. 

W.  J.  Locke. 

The   Bishop   of 

London. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge. 

E.   V.   Lucas. 

Daniel  McCabe,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Manches- 
ter. 

Rev.  Alex.  R. 

MacEwen. 

J.  W.  Mackail,  Ox- 
ford University. 

Rev.  John  Pentland 
Mahaffy,  Trinity 
College,  Dublin. 

D.  S.  Margoliouth, 
Oxford  University. 

John   Masefield. 

Claude  G.  Monteflore. 

Lord  Moulton. 

Gilbert  Murray,  Ox- 
ford University. 

John  L.  Myres,  Ox- 
ford University. 

Sir   Henry   Newboldt. 

C.  W.  C.  Oman,  Ox- 
ford University. 


H.    O'Shea,   Lord 

Mayor  of  Cork. 

Sir  William  Osier, 
Oxford  University. 

Barry   Pain. 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker. 

Sir  Walter  Parratt, 
Oxford  University. 

Sir  Hubert  Parry, 
Royal  College  of 
Music. 

Rev.  David  Paul, 
Moderator,  Church 
of   Scotland. 

William  Hy.  Perkin, 
Oxford  University. 

W.  M.  Flinders 
Petrie,  London  Uni- 
versity. 

Eden  Phillpotts. 

Sir  Arthur  Pinero. 

Earl  of  Plymouth. 

A.  F.  Pollard,  Lon- 
don University. 

Sir  Frederick  Pol- 
lock, Oxford  Uni- 
versity. 

Edward  B.  Poulton, 
Oxford  University. 

Sir  Edward  J.  Poyn- 
ter.  Royal  Academy 
of  Arts,  London. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
Oxford  University. 

Sir  William  Ramsay. 

Sir  W.  M.  Ramsay. 

Lord  Rayleigh. 

J.  E.  Rayner,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Liverpool. 

Lord  Reay. 

Lord  Redesdale. 

Rev.  George  Reith, 
ex-Moderator  U.  F. 
Church  of  Scotland. 

Sir  John  Rhys,  Ox- 
ford University. 

J.  T.  Richards.  Lord 
Mayor  of  Cardiff. 

Sir  W.  B.   Richmond. 

William  Ridgeway, 
Cambridge  Univer- 
sity. 

Rev.  W.  J.  F.  Rob- 
berds,  Bishop  of 
Brechin. 

G.  H.  Robinson,  Lord 
Mayor  of  Bradford. 

J.  Holland  Rose, Cam- 
bridge University. 


Earl   of   Rosebery. 

Sir  Ronald  Ross. 

Michael  E.  Sadler, 
Leeds  University. 

Sir  J.  E.  Sandys, 
Cambridge  Univer- 
sity. 

John   S.    Sargent. 

Rev.  A.  H.  Sayce, 
Oxford  University. 

Arthur  Schuster, Man- 
chester   University. 

Charles  Scott,  Lord 
Provost  of  Perth. 

Sir  Owen  Seaman. 

Sir  E.  H.   Seymour. 

George  R.   Sims. 

May  Sinclair^ 

George  Adam  Smith, 
Aberdeen  Univer- 
sity. 

W.  R.  Sorley,  Cam- 
bridge University. 

Flora  Annie  Steel. 

Rev.  Thomas  B. 
Strong,  Oxford  Uni- 
versity. 

Alfred  Sutro. 

Rev.  Canon  H.  B. 
Swete,  Cambridge 
University. 

James  Taggart,  Lord 
Provost  of  Aber- 
deen. 

J.  Arthur  Thomson, 
At)erdeen  Univer- 
sity. 

Sir  Joseph  J. 

Thomson. 

George  Macaulay 

Trevelyan. 

Sir    George    Otto 

Trevelyan. 

Sir  A.  W.  Ward, 
Cambridge  Univer- 
sity. 

Humphry  Ward. 

Mary  A.  Ward  (Mrs. 
Humphry  Ward.) 

Oliver  C.  Wilson, 
Lord  Mayor  of  Shef- 
field. 

The  Bishop  of 

Winchester, 

Margaret  L.  Woods. 

Sir    Almroth    Wright. 

C.  Hagberg  Wright, 
London  Library. 

Joseph  Wright,  Ox- 
ford University. 


Germany  Fed 

By  Dr.  Max  Sering 

Senior  Professor  of  Economics  in  the   University  of  Berlin. 


Richmond,  Va.,  July  17,  1915. 
To  the  Editor  of  The  New   York   Times: 

Herewith  I  beg  to  hand  you  a  transla- 
tion of  a  letter  recently  received  by  me 
from  Professor  Max  Sering,  the  senior 
professor  in  the  Department  of  Eco- 
nomics at  the  University  of  Berlin.  Dur- 
ing the  eighties  he  twice  visited  this 
country  and  wrote  a  book  entitled  "Agri- 
cultural Competition  of  North  America." 
Since  that  tim,e  he  has  written  a  great 
deal,  particularly  on  agricultural  sub- 
jects. He  was  actively  engaged  in  the 
great  work,  undertaken  many  years  ago, 
whereby  the  State  bought  up  great  tracts 
of  small  land  parcels  and  redivided  the 
whole  into  compact  tracts,  giving  to  each 
former  owner  the  equivalent  of  his  pre- 
vious possessions  and  at  the  same  time 
effecting  great  economic  gains  and  estab- 
lishing a  helpful  settlement  of  farmers  in 
large  portions  of  the  eastern  part  of 
the  empire. 

As  may  be  seen  from  the  letter,  Dr. 
Sering  has  been,  since  August  of  last 
year,  busily  engaged  in  working  out  the 
food  problems  arising  out  of  Germany's 
isolation  from  transoceanic  grain-pro- 
ducing countries.  The  information  he 
gives  is  therefore  authentic. 

w.  s.  McNeill. 

THE    LETTER. 

MY  Dear  Mr.  McNeill : 
Your  letter  of  Dec.  3,  1914, 
gave  me  a  great  deal  of  pleas- 
ure. It  was  like  a  ray  of  sun- 
light breaking  through  the  clouds  of 
hatred  and  distrust  which  the  English 
writers  and  press  have  drawn,  like  a  cur- 
tain, between  your  and  our  country. 
From  your  letter  and  from  your  essay, 
"  America's  Attitude  Toward  the  War," 
I  saw  how  bravely  and  intelligently  you 
have  stood  up  for  Germany  and  her  moral 
rights  in  this  war. 

If,  in  spite  of  this,  I  have  not  an- 
swered any  sooner,  it  was  because  you 


asked  for  information  with  regard  to 
the  question  whether  we  would  be  able 
to  get  along  with  our  food  and  war  ma- 
terial supply.  At  that  time,  however, 
I  was  somewhat  in  doubt  with  regard 
to  the  matter,  and  did  not  want  to  con- 
fide my  fears  to  a  letter.  It  is  evident 
that,  in  consequence  of  the  attitude  of 
America  and  other  neutrals,  we  had  to 
solve  some  very  serious  problems,  for 
heretofore  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
importing  from  one-fifth  to  one-fourth 
of  all  our  raw  materials  and  foodstuffs. 
Since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  very  little 
is  being  imported.  In  consequence  of 
this,  very  difficult  organizations  became 
necessary,  the  finding  of  substitutes,  and 
a  governmental  regulation  of  the  de- 
mand, which  were  to  safeguard  every- 
thing that  was  absolutely  necessary  for 
the  conduct  of  the  war  and  for  the  feed- 
ing of  the  population,  even  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  production  and  the  con- 
sumption of  things  not  so  necessary  or 
more  easily  spared.  I,  myself,  have  par- 
ticipated in  the  work  of  solving  these 
problems. 

Since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  I  have 
worked  on  only  this  from  morning  until 
night,  but  now  I  can  say  that  the  prob- 
lems have  been  solved  completely  and 
in  every  direction.  We  can  now  con- 
tinue the  war  indefinitely.  I  have  re- 
ported about  all  this  in  an  address  be- 
fore the  Academy  of  Sciences.  As  soon 
as  this  address  has  been  printed  I  shall 
send  you  a  copy.  I  shall  mention  only 
the  most  important  part  here. 

The  complete  cutting  off  of  the  sup- 
ply of  Chile  saltpeter  during  the  war 
has  been  made  good  by  our  now  taking 
nitrogen  directly  out  of  the  air  in  large 
factories  built  during  and  before  the 
war.  With  extraordinary  rapidity  the 
question  has  been  solved  how  the  enor- 
mous quantities  of  the  needed  ammuni- 
tion were  to  be  produced,  a  question 
which  in  England  still  meets  with  diffi- 


1190 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


culties  in  spite  of  the  help  from  America. 
It  is,  however,  not  only  for  the  needed 
explosives  that  we  take  nitrogen  from 
the  air,  but  also  for  the  nitrogen-contain- 
ing fertilizers  which  we  formerly  im- 
ported in  the  form  of  Chile  saltpetre. 

As  to  our  foodstuffs,  you  will  know 
that  the  Government  on  Feb.  1,  1915, 
took  over  all  the  grain,  and  prescribed 
to  each  one  a  certain  portion  of  bread 
and  flour.  In  the  beginning  this  por- 
tion was  somewhat  scant  because  we 
wanted  to  be  sure  that  our  supply  would 
last  until  the  new  crop.  Now,  however, 
it  has  been  found  that  the  thrashing  re- 
sults of  the  last  crop  were  more  favor- 
able than  we  had  estimated.  We  are 
entering  the  new  crop  year  with  such 
large  stocks  that  some  weeks  ago  the 
prices  for  flour  and  bread  could  be  re- 
duced considerably  and  the  bread  por- 
tion of  the  working  population  could  be 
enlarged. 

Potatoes  also,  which  for  a  while  were 
very  expensive,  have  lately  become  quite 
cheap,  because,  unexpectedly,  large  sup- 
plies were  found  when  the  potato  pits 
were  opened.  The  prices  for  bread  and 
potatoes,  and  even  for  beef,  are  now 
much  lower  than  in  England,  where 
things  were  allowed  to  regulate  them- 
selves. 

As  our  industry  fitted  itself  with  the 
greatest  elasticity  to  the  problems 
brought  about  by  the  war,  unemploy- 
ment is  less  than  before  the  war,  the 
workmen  receive  higher  wages,  and  the 
masses  with  us  are  well  nourished.  You 
would  find  in  Berlin  and  in  every  other 
place  in  Germany  a  people  enjoying 
good  health,  and  who  on  every  nice  Sun- 
day and  holiday  have  plenty  of  relaxa- 
tion and  pleasure. 

In  the  final  analysis  this  success  is 
due  to  the  high  degree  of  education  in 
our  population  Many  little  discomforts, 
which  we  were  obliged  to  put  on  them, 
were  borne  cheerfully;  people  hardly 
talked  about  them.  The  first  year  of  the 
war  being  happily  behind  us,  we  do  not 
worry  about  the  second  year,  as  now  we 
have  accustomed  ourselves  to  the  new 
conditions,  all  organizations  are  work- 
ing well,  and  the  crops  in  Germany  are 


sufficient  to  supply  all  the  wants  of  the 
population  generously.  The  supply  of 
meat  will  become  somewhat  scant  by 
and  by,  but  that  does  not  matter,  as  we 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  eating  too 
much  meat.  The  hygienically  necessary 
quantity  of  albumen  and  calorie  is  at 
the  disposition  of  every  one. 

We  are,  of  course,  very  curious  to 
learn  how  President  Wilson  will  handle 
the  Lusitania  case,  and  are  satisfied  that 
a  peaceful  solution  can  be  found  if  he 
does  not  insist  entirely,  as  heretofore, 
on  the  English  viewpoint.      *     *     * 

Should  Germany  be  overcome  in  this 
v/ar,  something  I  consider  out  of  the 
question,  the  strongest  of  the  European 
national  States  would  thereby  be  con- 
demned to  inertia;  then  there  would  be 
from  Norway  to  the  Persian  Gulf  only 
Russian  or  English  vassal  states.  Euro- 
pean culture,  however,  is  based  on  a 
general  mixture  of  different  nationali- 
ties, of  which  each  can  unfold  itself  in  a 
separate  State.  A  defeat  of  our  coun- 
try would  therefore  be  equivalent  to  the 
destruction  of  European  culture.  If  you 
lived  in  our  country  it  would  give  you 
pleasure  to  see  with  what  calmness  and 
absolute  assurance  of  final  victory  our 
youths  and  our  men  march  to  the  front, 
how  proud  and  full  of  assurance  their 
letters  sound,  and  what  an  astonishing 
physical  and  moral  strength  an  organ- 
ized people  of  nearly  70,000,000  can  put 
forward.  Here  everything  is  full  of 
young  soldiers,  only  now  the  recruits  for 
the  year  1915  have  been  called  to  the  col- 
ors, (those  20  years  old,)  while  the 
French  are  sending  already  to  the  battle- 
fields 17-year-old  boys,  and  even  the 
Russians  have  called  in  already  the  re- 
cruits of  the  year  1916. 

The  attempt  to  destroy  a  great  people, 
only  because  by  diligence  and  thorough- 
ness it  has  become  uncomfortable  for  the 
idle  and  the  rich  in  other  countries,  and 
because  it  insisted  on  being  treated  as 
an  equal  by  States  which  surpass  it 
in  territory  and  in  number  of  inhabitants, 
this  dastardly  plan  of  the  British  states- 
men from  Edward  VII.  to .  Sir  Edward 
Grey  will  surely  fail. 

M.    SERING. 


Spain  and  the  War 

By  Leaders  of  Spanish  Thought 

Some  Spanish  intellectuals  have  published  the  following  manifesto,  which  appeared  in 
the  British  press  late  in  July.  It  will  be  observed  that  among  the  signatories  are  members 
of  all  Spanisii  political  parties.  Side  by  side  with  Radicals,  Reformiscs,  and  Republicans  ap- 
pear the  names  of  Conservatives,  and  even  Traditionalists  or  Carlists.  Along  with  the  name 
of  the  great  Republican  and  Professor  of  Comparative  Jurisprudence,  Seiior  AzcArato,  appears 
that  of  Az6rln,  tlie  famous  author  of  "  Voluntad,"  who  is  counted  among  the  Conservative 
followers  of  Senor  Maura.  The  name  of  the  author  of  "  Episodios  Nacionales,"  Senor  Perez 
Gald6s,  whose  anti-clerical  campaign  is  well  known  to  all,  runs  together  with  that  of  the 
priest  Don  Julio  Cejador,  famous  for  his  philological  studies.  It  is  also  noteworthy  how  many 
of  the  signatories  have  had  ties  with  Germany.  Sefiores  Maeztu,  Araquistain,  both  journal- 
ists of  European  reputation,  and  Perez  de  Ayala,  the  novelist,  have  lived  in  Germany ;  Senorea 
Zuloaga,  Anglado-Camarassa,  Acosta,  and  Romero  de  Torres  have  obtained  the  hightst 
awards  in  German  exhibitions,  while  others  have  been  open  admirers  of  German  literature 
and  science.  Among  the  names  appear  those  of  Senor  Simarro,  Professor  of  Experimental 
Psychology ;  Seiior  Cossio,  Professor  of  Education ;  Seiior  Orteaga  y  Gasset,  Professor  of 
Metaphysics;  Senor  Unamuno,  Professor  of  Greek  in  the  University  of  Salamanca;  the 
dramatist  Senor  Martinez  Sierra,  the  novelists  Seiiores  Vall6-Incl&n  and  Palacio  Vald§s,  the 
poets  Seiiores  Machado  and  Mesa,  and  Senor  Acebal,  the  editor  of  the  review  La  Lectura. 


M 


THE  MANIFESTO. 
ODESTLY  and  soberly  we  raise 
our  voice  to  utter  these  words 
as  Spaniards  and  as  men.  It 
is  not  fitting  that  in  this,  the 
greatest  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
the  historian  of  Spain  should  say  that 
she  was  inarticulate  and  indifferent  to 
the  course  of  events;  that  she  stood  on 
one  side,  a  barren  and  insensate  rock, 
or  turned  her  back  to  the  future,  to  rea- 
son and  to  morality.  It  is  not  fitting  that 
at  this  moment  of  profound  gravity  and 
intense  emotion,  when  the  human  race  is 
racked  with  intolerable  suffering  in  giv- 
ing birth  to  a  closer  and  firmer  fraternity 
of  mankind,  Spain,  in  her  blindness, 
should  remain  unmoved  by  the  pangs 
with  which  the  world  is  torn.  Worse 
still  would  it  be  that  her  part  should  be 
to  stir  up  the  bitterness  of  voices  in- 
flamed by  unreasoning  passion  and  the 
insults  of  mercenary  writers  and  news- 
papers. 

We  have  no  time  to  speak,  except  that 
given  by  quiet  lives  devoted  to  the  pure 
activities  of  the  mind,  but  we  feel  that 
in  order  to  serve  our  country  by  being 
honest  and  useful  citizens  of  the  world, 
and  so  we  are  confident  that  we  are  do- 
ing our  duty  as  Spaniards  and  as  men  by 
declaring  that  we  share  with  all  our 
heart  and  soul  in  the   conflict  which  is 


shaking  the  world  to  its  foundations.  We 
stand  firm  on  the  side  of  the  Allies,  inas- 
much as  they  represent  the  ideals  of  lib- 
erty and  justice,  and  therefore  their  cause 
coincides  with  the  highest  political  inter- 
ests of  the  nation.  Our  conscience  repro- 
bates all  actions  which  detract  from  the 
dignity  of  mankind  and  the  respect  which 
men  owe  to  one  another,  even  in  the 
fiercest  moment  of  the  struggle. 

Most  ardently  do  we  hope  that  when 
peace  comes  the  lesson  may  be  turned  to 
the  honor  and  profit  of  all  nations,  and 
we  trust  that  the  triumph  of  the  cause 
that  we  hold  to  be  just  will  lead  to  the 
recognition  of  the  essential  part  which 
the  life  of  each  nation,  great  or  small, 
weak  or  strong,  has  played  in  the  prog- 
ress of  mankind,  will  destroy  the  riot  of 
egoism,  domination,  and  devilish  brutality 
which  led  to  the  catastrophe,  and  will  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  new  international 
fraternity  in  which  force  will  be  directed 
toward  its  true  object,  namely,  the  pres- 
ervation of  reason  and  justice. 

The  letter  is  signed  by: 

PROFESSORS. 


Gumerslndo  de 

AzcArate. 
NicolAs  AchOcarro. 
Domingo   Barn§s. 
Odon  de  Buen. 
Adolfo  Builla. 


Enrique  Diez  Canedo. 
Am^rico  Castro. 
Julio  Cejador. 
Manuel  B.  Cossio. 
Jos6  Goyanes. 
Luis  de  Hoyos. 


1192 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


G.  R.  Lafora. 
Eduardo  Lopez 

Navarro. 
Juan  Madinaveitia. 
Gregorio  Maran6n. 
Ramon  Menendez 

Pidal. 
Manuel  G.  Morente. 
Jos4  Ortega  y  Gasset. 
Gustavo  Pittaluga. 


Adolfo   Posada. 
Fernando  de  los  Rios. 
J.  Eugenio  Rivera. 
Luis  Simarro. 
Ramon  Turr6. 
Miguel   de   Unamuno. 
Rafael  Urena. 
Luis  Urrutta. 
Luis  de  Zulueta. 


COMPOSERS. 


Manuel  Falla. 
Jos6  Turina. 


Rogelio  del  Villar. 
Amadeo  Vives. 


PAINTERS  {con  primera  medalla.) 


Herme  Anglada 

Camarasa. 
Ramon  Casas. 
Anselmo  Miguel  Nieto 
Jose  Rodriguez  Acosta 


Julio  Romero  de 

Torres. 
Santiago  Rusinol. 
Jos6  Villegas. 
Ignacio  Zuloaga. 


SCULPTORS  AND  CRAFTSMEN. 

Julio  Antonio. 

Miguel   Blay. 

Juan  Borrell  Nicolau 


Jos6  Clara. 
Enrique  Casanovas. 
Manuel  Castanos. 
Mateo  Inurria. 


Jos6  Puig  Ferrater. 
Mateo  Fernandez  de 

Soto. 
Joaquin  Sunyer. 
Jer6nimo  Villalba. 
Jos6  Villalba. 


AUTHORS. 


Franciso  Acebal. 

Mario  Aguilar. 

Gabriel  Alomar. 

Luis  Araquistain. 

Manual  Azafia. 

Azorin. 

Eduardo  G.de  Baquero 

Jos6  Garner. 

E.  Gomez  de  Baquero 

Francisco 

Grandmontagne. 
Amadeo  Hurtado. 
Ignacio  Inglesias. 


Antonio  Machado. 
Manuel  Machado. 
Ramiro  de  Maetzu. 
Gregorio  Martinez 

Sierra. 
Enrique  de  Mesa. 
Armando   Palacio 

Vald6s. 
Benito  Perez  Gald6s. 
Ramfin  Perez  de 

Ayala. 
Ram6n  del 

Valle-Inclan. 


"Much   Distressed" 

By    WALTER    SICIIEL 

[From  the  London  Daily  Mall] 

The   Kaiser    (afer    the   Allies'    air    raid    on 
Karlsruhe)    is   "  much   distressed." 

When  Herod  of  Jewry 

Had  sated  his  fury 

By  massacres — east  and  west — 

Of  the  child  unoffending, 

'Mid  anguish  heartrending, 

And  the  babe  at  its  mother's  breast — 
It  is  said  he  was  "  much  distressed." 

When  the  musical  Caesar — 

By  Tiber,  not  Yser — 

Had  burned  with  an  epicure's  zest, 

Sans  reason  or  pity. 

To  light  up  the  city. 

Noble  martyrs  who  Christ  confessed — 
'Tis    believed     he    was    "  much     dis- 
tressed." 


So  when  Attila,  Kaiser 

And  torture-deviser, 

Finds  hellishness  put  to  the  test, 

How  he  whimpers,  yet,  Hunnish, 

Calls  Heaven  to  punish 

The  requiters  of  murder  and  pest — 
Yes,  the  biter  when  bit  is  "  distressed." 


England's  Saving  Qualities 

By  J.  H.  Rosny 

Translated  from  the  French  by  Thomas  Hardy. 

The  article  which  follows  is  quoted  from  "  The  Book  of  France,"  just  edited  by  Miss 
Winifred  Stephens,  and  published  by  Macmillan,  for  the  twofold  reason  that  it  well  repre- 
sents the  excellent  literary  material  in  the  work  and  that  it  is  an  able  analysis  of  the  inherent 
British  qualities  which  help  that  nation  through  its  ordeal. 


FOR  centuries  England  has  been 
the  most  fortunate  nation  in  Eu- 
rope. Her  very  mistakes — and 
some  of  them  have  been  grave — 
seem  to  have  turned  to  her  advantage. 
Her  errors  have  done  her  no  harm.  In 
war  time  she  has  shown  herself  capable  of 
repairing  the  faults  of  an  organization 
often  defective  and  sometimes  deplorable. 

For  example,  she  was  totally  unpre- 
pared for  her  struggle  with  Napoleon. 
Nevertheless,  she  was  by  far  the  most 
formidable  adversary  of  imperial  France. 
At  the  opening  of  the  Crimean  war  her 
army  was  quite  out  of  date.  In  the 
Boer  war  she  had  foreseen  neither  the 
difficulties  nor  the  new  methods  of  war- 
fare which  were  to  prevail  in  that  strug- 
gle, although  she  ought  to  have  learned 
them  from  the  events  of  1881. 

England's  success,  therefore,  has  not 
always  been  the  result  of  her  foresight 
or  of  her  prudence.  It  even  involved  a 
certain  risk  for  which  a  less  gifted  na- 
tion might  have  had  to  pay  dearly.  It 
is  "  character  "  which,  with  the  English 
throughout  all  ages,  has  repaired  the 
errors  and  faults  that  have  arisen  from 
an  overweening  confidence  in  the  re- 
sources of  the  three  kingdoms. 

Into  this  national  character  enters,  in 
addition  to  a  relish  for  adventure  and 
risk,  a  certain  reasonableness  which  im- 
poses limits,  and,  among  the  best,  a  cer- 
tain dogged  tenacity  and  indomitable 
will  served  by  admirably  clear  vision. 
Hitherto  no  one  in  the  world  has  known 
so  well  as  the  Englishman  how  to  blend 
those  qualities  which  inspire  grand  en- 
terprises with  the  prudence  which  sees 
how  to  avoid  haste,  excess,  and  infatu- 
ation. And  this  it  is  which,  combined 
with    her    insular    position,   has    enabled 


Great  Britain  to  organize  a  dominion 
more  vast  than  that  of  ancient  Rome. 

Yet  another  cause — at  least  in  mod- 
ern times — has  contributed  to  her  suc- 
cess. I  refer  to  England's  tolerant  atti- 
tude toward  other  European  nations, 
great  and  small.  It  is  long  now — indeed 
ever  since  the  opening  of  the  industrial 
era — since  England  first  learned  to  re- 
spect the  rights  of  other  peoples.  Take 
her  own  Dominions,  for  example:  she 
has  put  French-Canadians  into  such  an 
advantageous  position  that,  quite  natur- 
ally, they  include  themselves  among  the 
empire's  most  loyal  subjects.  After  the 
Boer  War  the  Boer  General  in  Chief  be- 
came the  political  leader  in  South  Africa. 
In  India  the  natives  have  been  gener- 
ously governed,  and  Great  Britain  has 
done  her  best  to  improve  the  lot  of  the 
poor  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  scourge 
of  famine. 

Toward  foreigners  England  has  be- 
haved with  equal  justice.  Holland  has 
not  been  disturbed  in  her  possession  of 
vast  colonies;  Portugal  peaceably  holds 
her  African  possessions;  and  France, 
since  1871,  has  been  able  to  build  up  a 
great  colonial  empire.  Besides  favoring 
the  liberation  of  Greece  and  Italy,  Eng- 
land has  always  been  kind  to  little  neu- 
tral countries.  All  Europe  never  for  an 
instant  doubts  that  England  grows  more 
and  more  inclined  to  act  justly  toward 
all  civilized  nations;  that,  from  the  Bal- 
kans to  the  Atlantic,  she  aims  at  no 
territorial  conquest,  and  that  she  is  not 
moved  by  any  tyrannical  motives. 

How  can  she  avoid  exercising  a  mag- 
nificent moral  influence,  at  a  time  espe- 
cially when  another  nation,  formidable 
alike  through  its  military  and  industrial 
power,  is  threatening  all  liberty,  despis- 


1194  THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 

ing    all    rights,    tearing   up    all    treaties  Germany      victorious,      "  lasciate      ogni 

which  have  become  inconvenient,  recog-  speranza!  "  (give  up  all  hope.)     It  would 

nizing  no  rule  save  her  own  will,  no  laws  mean  the  end  of  a  glorious  epoch.  *    *    * 

save  those  dictated  by  her  appetites,  her  But   the    Allies    will    not    be    conquered, 

pride,  her  scorn,  or  her  ferocity?  Heroic   France   has   returned.      England, 

Today     Englands    fate    is    intimately  the  undaunted,  out  of  her  soil  has  mirac- 

linked   with    that    of    Europe,   far   more  ulously  caused  armies  to  spring.     Russia 

intimately  than  in  the  beginning  of  the  stands  ready  for  gigantic  battle, 

nineteenth  century,  for  the  French  spirit  Once    again    England    shall    be   happy 

did   not   then   menace   the   very   essence  England.     From  this  terrific  ordeal  she 

of    the    movement    toward     civilization,  will  come  forth  greater,  fairer,  more  be- 

which  began  at  the  Renaissance.     With  loved. 


Sons    of    the    Prairie 


fFrom   Truth.] 

"  They  are  lost,  our  guns,  to  the  conquering  Huns." 

" '  Lost?  '  will  you  tell  us  so? 
In  the  lingo's  test  of  the  grim  Far  West, 

'Tis  a  word  we  do  not  know." 
And  they  gritted  their  teeth  their  lips  beneath, 

Those  Prairie's  hard-bit  sons. 
As  from  man  to  man  the  catchword  ran, 

"  We'll  have  back  the  captured  guns." 

On  that  quest  all  bent  at  the  foe  they  went, 

The  lads  of  the  great  Far  West, 
Their  blood  on  fire  with  a  righteous  ire, 

And  they  fought  like  men  possessed. 
One  brief  hot  spell  of  loosened  hell; 

Hell  for  the  baffled  Huns, 
But  a  time  was  this  of  wild  mad  bliss 

To  the  Prairie's  dashing  sons. 

They  slew,  were  slain,  yet  knew  no  pain 

In  the  thrill  of  the  breathless  hour 
When  the  big  guns  flash  and  the  bayonets  clash 

And  you're  gripped  in  the  war-lust's  power. 
And  the  Teutons  fought  as  they  should  and  ought. 

All  martial  Deutschland's  sons, 
But  the  Prairie  breed  were  the  men  at  need, 

And  they  had  back  the  captured  guns. 

Their  fame  resounds  to  the  empire's  bounds, 

Lads  of  the  grim  Far  West, 
Who  saved  the  day  in  that  breathless  fray 

And  bettered  the  foeman's  best. 
And  methinks  that  foe  will  now  be  slow 

To  boast  of  his  captured  guns, 
While  accounts  are  there  and  still  to  square 

With  the  pick  of  the  Prairie's  sons. 


The  French  Fighting  As  One 


By  Owen  Johnson 


Owen  Johnson,  the  novelist,  who  returned  at  the  close  of  July  from  a  month  in  France, 
where  he  had  been  gathering  material  for  magazine  articles,  declared  that  the  thing  that 
struck  his  attention  most  when  he  landed  in  New  York  was  the  green  and  red  parasols  of 
the  women  on  the  pier.  "  There  are  no  colors  in  Paris,"  he  said.  "  Every  one  is  in  black 
or  some  other  dark  stuff.  Those  who  feel  like  rejoicing  themselves  refrain  out  of  delicacy,  for 
fear  they  may  offend  the  feelings  of  some  one  else  who  has  reason  to  mourn."  One  of  the 
purposes  of  Mr.  Johnson's  visit  was  to  present  to  the  French  authorities,  as  an  American  who 
had  lived  in  France  and  was  strongly  sympathetic  with  the  French  cause,  the  advisability 
of  allowing  a  little  more  publicity  for  the  French  side  of  the  war  in  this  country.  His  state- 
ment appears  below  . 


THE  French  have  seen  the  results 
of  the  great  German  campaign 
for  American  public  opinion,  and 
naturally  they  are  reluctant,  for 
this  reason  as  well  as  for  others,  to  set 
their  side  of  the  case  out  more  fully.  The 
French  peoplfe  are  proud.  Their  atti- 
tude in  this  war  has  been,  "  We  are 
doing  as  we  should,  but  we  will  let  other 
nations  find  this  fact  out  for  them- 
selves." They  are  inclined  to  think  that 
a  sister  republic  would  naturally  give 
them  her  sympathy.  They  fail  to  re- 
alize the  American  psychology,  and  are 
apt  to  think  that  when  a  true  presenta- 
tion of  the  case  is  given  once  that  is 
sufficient. 

The  result  is  that  the  idea  has  tended 
to  grow  up  in  some  circles  in  this  coun- 
try that  the  war  is  a  German-English 
conflict  primarily.  Many  French  lead- 
ers are  now  beginning  to  realize  this, 
and  many  American  friends  of  France 
are  urging  that  something  be  done  to 
correct  it — to  allow  the  freer  passage  of 
news,  to  permit  American  observers  to 
see  more  of  the  French  side  of  the  war, 
and  to  send  representative  Frenchmen 
to  tell  stories  of  the  heroism  of  French 
troops. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  some  such 
measures  will  be  taken — perhaps  next 
Winter.  I  had  interviews  of  an  hour's 
duration  with  President  Poincare  and 
Foreign  Minister  Delcasse;  I  also  talked 
with  Premier  Viviani,  Paul  Deschanel, 
President  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
and  former  Premier  Briand.     I  had  an 


hour's  talk  with  General  Galliemi,  Gov- 
ernor of  Paris,  and  an  hour  with  Gen- 
eral Joffre,  in  the  course  of  the  period 
of  sevci'al  days  which  I  was  allowed  to 
spend  at  the  front. 

The  unanimity  of  the  French  is  of 
course  amazing;  they  are  absolutely  de- 
termined to  end  the  possibility  of  the 
recurrence  of  a  similar  war.  From  the 
President  down  to  the  factory  workers, 
they  all  said  the  same  thing:  "We  realize 
that  it  will  take  a  long,  hard  fight  to 
beat  the  Germans,  but  we  want  to  finish 
things  up  so  that  our  children  will  never 
have  to  go  through  this  sort  of  thing." 

Mr.  Johnson  not  only  saw  the  officials 
and  officers — he  went  into  factories,  into 
hospitals,  into  trenches — into  the  200 
great  ouvroirs  in  Paris  which  furnish 
employment  to  about  350,000  women 
whom  the  war  would  otherwise  have 
made  destitute — women,  many  of  them 
of  good  family,  now  working  for  from 
1  franc  25  to  1  franc  75  a  day,  making 
clothing  and  other  supplies  for  the  army. 
He  thinks  that  the  spirit  of  all  France 
as  he  saw  it  ought  to  be  put  before  the 
Americans  by  representative  French- 
men— "  such  men  as  the  philosopher 
Bergson  or  Pastor  Wagner,"  he  sug- 
gested. "  Men  like  James  Hazen  Hyde 
and  Whitney  Warren  are  doing  a  great 
work  in  Paris,  but  there  ought  to  be 
more  chance  for  Americans  to  find  out 
what  France  is  really  thinking." 

One  thing  that  Mr.  Johnson  says  has 
injured  the  reputation  of  the  United 
States  in  France  is  the  poor  quality  of 


1196 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


some  of  the  goods  shipped  over  on  the 
first  war  contracts.    He  continued: 

All  Americans  who  are  interested  in 
the  French  cause  feel  very  keenly  the 
fact  that  of  the  first  lots  of  supplies,  such 
as  shoes,  socks,  kitchens  on  wheels,  and 
so  on,  that  were  shipped  to  the  French 
Army  many  were  very  bad,  indeed.  I 
know  for  a  fact  that  some  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  best  American  shoe 
manufacturers  happened  to  be  nego- 
tiating for  orders  in  Paris  when  some 
of  the  early  shipments  of  shoes  made  by 
inexperienced,  and  in  some  cases  irre- 
sponsible, firms  arrived,  and  the  poor 
quality  of  these  kept  the  real  American 
shoe  manufacturers  from  getting  the 
orders.  It  was  very  probable  that  some 
of  the  first  commissions  sent  over  from 
France  were  not  as  well  qualified  to 
judge  on  the  quality  of  the  goods  pre- 
sented as  were  their  successors,  but  it 
was  a  serious  blow  to  the  reputation  of 
American  commercial  integrity.  Any 
European  nation  in  our  position  would 
have  its  war  shipments  inspected  by  a 
commission  of  its  own,  sitting  in  the  cap- 
ital; and  certainly  there  ought  to  be 
some  way  to  handle  the  situation  in  this 
country.  I  should  think  that  the  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce  might  very  well  take 
some  steps  to  safeguard  the  quality  of 
shipments  in  such  a  situation  as  this, 
v^here  our  nation's  commercial  reputa- 
tion may  be  determined  for  years  in  the 
minds  of  foreigners  by  these  products. 
I  think  that  we  should  even  come  to 
the  point  of  publishing  the  names  of 
the  firms  guilty  of  shipping  over  sup- 
plies that  are  of  insufficient  quality,  as 
a  guarantee  to  future  purchasers  and  a 
sign  of  the  national  disapprobation. 

Mr.  Johnson  had  unusual  opportunities 
of  getting  over  the  French  lines  at  the 
trar  front.  He  was  in  a  party  contain- 
ing Walter  Hale,  the  artist;  Arnold  Ben- 
nett, the  English  novelist;  a  representa- 
tive of  the  British  Foreign  Office,  and 
one  or  two  American  newspaper  men. 
They  got  near  enough  to  the  front  to  be 


under  fire  three  times;  and  in  one  case 
Mr.  Johnson  went  so  far  forward  in  a 
French  mining  gallery  that  he  was  act- 
ually under  a  German  trench.  On  this 
subject  he  said: 

I  happened  to  see  the  Germans  bom- 
barding the  Cathedral  of  Rheims  about 
June  20,  and  the  Cathedral  of  Arras 
some  ten  days  later.  There  was  abso- 
lutely no  excuse  for  it  in  either  case. 
Later  I  lunched  with  M.  Dalimier,  Min- 
ister of  Public  Instruction,  under  whose 
department  comes  the  care  of  historic 
monuments,  and  he  told  me  that  he  was 
afraid  the  Germans  would  in  time  de- 
stroy even  what  was  left  at  Rheims. 
Every  time  the  French  won  a  success 
anywhere,  he  said,  the  Germans  evened 
up  by  another  bombardment  of  cathe- 
drals; he  said  that  at  SoiSsons  was 
also  suffering.  "  There  is  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Rheims,"  he  told  me, 
"  some  of  the  priceless  old  stained  glass, 
several  centuries  old,  which  has  sur- 
vived all  the  bombardments  so  far.  We 
do  not  dare  to  put  up  scaffolding  to  take 
it  down  and  take  it  away  to  a  place  of 
safety  lest  the  Germans  will  use  that  as 
a  pretext — calling  it  an  observation 
tower,  or  something  of  the  sort — for  the 
complete  destruction  of  the  building." 

More  than  once  we  got  out  into  the 
open  rather  carelessly  and  were  made 
the  target  of  German  shells.  Fortunate- 
ly you  can  hear  the  shells  coming  about 
a  second  before  they  get  to  you,  and 
that  second  gives  you  time  to  throw 
yourself  on  the  ground  and  roll  into  one 
of  the  fifteen-foot-deep  connecting 
trenches  which  run  all  about  through 
the  country  in  the  rear  of  the  firing  line. 

One  thing  that  shows  how  the  nation 
is  united  is  the  fact  that  on  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  Secours  National, 
which  arranges  for  all  the  war  relief 
among  soldiers'  families,  you  find  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris,  the  chief  rabbi,  the 
chief  Protestant  minister,  Royalists, 
Bonapartists,  and  Radicals.  That  never 
happened  before  in  France. 


British  Excuses  for  Not  Enlisting 

(Report  of  the  London  County  Council) 


The  correspondence  of  The  West- 
minster Gazette  of  July  27,  1915,  gives 
suggestions  as  to  why  eligible  young 
men  do  not  enlist.  A  report  of  the  L.  C, 
C.  brought  before  the  Council  on  that 
date  presents  actual  reasons,  given  of- 
ficially, as  to  ivhy  young  men  who  are 
seeking  scholarships  or  extensions  are 
not  anxious  to  join  the  army.  Subjoined 
are  excuses,  selected  from  the  circular, 
the  figures  in  parentheses  being  the  ages 
of  the  candidates: 

IS  supporting  a  widowed  mother  and 
three  ycung  children,  and  is  a  bound 
apprentice  with  one  or  more  years  to 
serve,  (20  years,  8  months.) 

Has  to  support  a  widowed  mother  and 
assist  in  supporting  a  younger  brother. 
His  elder  brother  and  several  relatives 
in  the  army,  (19  years,  8  months.) 

Is  apprenticed,  with  two  more  years 
to  serve.  Two  brothers  in  the  army,  and, 
being  the  only  one  left  at  home,  has  been 
asked  by  his  parents  not  to  enlist,  (18 
jears,  10  months.) 

Has  endeavored  to  enlist,  but  is  half 
nn  inch  too  short,  (19  years.) 

Has  two  brothers  in  the  army,  one 
training  for  tho  navy,  and  another  en- 
gaged on  munitions.  He  is  only  son  left 
at  home,  and  parents  do  not  wish  him  to 
enlist.  Has  now  undertaken  munitions 
work,  (18  years,  5  months.) 

Is  apprenticed  to  an  architect  and  sur- 
veyor and  hopes  to  "  assist  in  rebuild- 
ing the  war  area,"  which,  if  his  studies 
are  interrupted  by  enlistment,  he  would 
not  be  qualified  to  do,  (19  years,  8 
months.) 

States  that  his  father  is  out  of  work 
and  he  has  to  help  to  support  his 
mother;  further,  that  two  of  his  brothers 
have  enlisted,  (19  years,  8  months.) 

States  that  when  he  was  18  he  en- 
listed in  the  Nineteenth  Hussars,  but 
bought  himself  out  after  six  months,  and 
does  not  intend  to  join  again  unless  it  is 


absolutely  necessary,  (26  years,  3 
months.) 

Is  married  and  serving  as  a  Special 
Constable.  In  addition,  has  -been  en- 
gaged on  work  for  the  Government,  (31 
years,  2  months.) 

States  that  he  is  apprenticed  to  a  firm 
which  is  engaged  on  Government  con- 
tracts and  which  has  been  asked  by  the 
War  Office  not  to  allow  the  employes  to 
enlist,   (20  years,  11  months.) 

States  that  he  is  employed  by  a  firm 
of  Government  printers  who  have  been 
notified  by  the  War  Office  that  no  men 
are  expected  to  enlist  from  the  firm,  (23 
years,  31  months.) 

Is  conducting  a  building  business  in 
the  City,  and  states  that  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  enlist  at  present,   (25  years.) 

Is  not  of  military  age,  and  thinks  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  join  the  army  in 
the  middle  ol  his  studies,  which  would 
ruin  the  prospects  of  his  future  career. 
Is  engaged  in  the  alizarine  dye  industry, 
and  has  offered  to  make  war  munitions 
in  his  spare  time,   (18  years,  1  month.) 

States  that  he  has  no  intention  of  en- 
listing except  as  a  munition  worker,  and 
that  his  present  firm  is  partially  engaged 
in  such  work,   (20  years,  4  months.) 

States  that  he  intends  to  join  the 
army  if  possible  in  two  or  three  weeks' 
time,  but  that  if  unsuccessful  will  do  so 
when  he  is  19,  (17  years,  11  months.) 

States  that  he  is  engaged  as  a  chem- 
ist at  Woolwich  Arsenal  and  holds  a 
badge  and  certificate  that  he  is  so  em- 
ployed. Is  quite  willing  to  enlist,  but  the 
authorities  at  the  arsenal  do  not  wish 
it,  (22  years,  9  months.) 

States  that  he  has  objections  to  mili- 
tary service,  (19  years,  6  months.) 

Wishes  to  progress  with  his  studies  in 
order  to  earn  his  living  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, and  so  give  financial  help  at  home, 
v'hich  his  father's  failing  health  renders 
necessary,  (21  years,  5  months.) 

States  that  his  father  is  dead,  and  as 


1198 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


he  is  an  only  child  it  is  his  mother's  wish 
that  he  should  not  enlist,  but  that  he  is 
applying  for  a  position  in  a  small  arms 
factory,  (22  years,  3  months.) 

States  that,  owing  to  the  collapse  of 
his  father's  business,  the  upkeep  of  the 
home  depends  entirely  on  his  brother  and 
himself,  otherwise  he  would  have  en- 
listed, (22  years.  9  months.) 

States,  that  he  is  unable  to  enlist 
owing  to  his  having  had  rheumatic  fever, 
but  has  registered  himself  as  a  municipal 
volunteer,  (21  years,  5  months.) 

States  that  he  is  an  only  son ;  that  his 
father  is  in  his  seventy-ninth  year  and 
mother  an  invalid,  and  that  they  look 
to  him  for  support,  but  that  he  will  en- 
roll himself  as  a  munition  worker,  (20 
years,  1  month.) 

Describes  the  hard  struggle  he  has  had 
since  he  was  twelve  years  of  age  to  bet- 
ter his  prospects,  his  mother  being  a 
widow;  that  he  has  seriously  considered 
the  question  of  enlistment,  but  feels  that 
a  long  interruption  of  his  study  would 
be  seriously  detrimental  to  his  future 
prospects,  (23  years,  6  months.) 

States  that  he  is  a  member  of  the  re- 
ligious body  known  as  the  "  Christade!- 
phians,"  (20  years,  5  months.) 

Letter  from  parent  stating  that  two 
of  the  candidate's  brothers  have  been 
killed,  and  that  the  candidate  is  not 
physically  strong  enough  to  enlist,  (19 
years.) 

States  he  could  not  pass  medical  ex- 


amination, and  adds  that  home  circum- 
stances prevent  him  enlisting,  (20  years 
8    months.) 

Is  not  yet  of  military  age,  and  states 
that  he  in  an  indentured  servant;  that 
his  employers  expect  Government  con- 
tracts, and  do  not  see  their  way  clear  to 
relinquish  the  services  of  any  more  em- 
ployes, and  that  he  does  not  feel  physic- 
ally fit  for  military  service,  (18  years,  2 
months.) 

States  that  he  endeavored  to  enlist  in 
the  Territorials  in  August  last  when  age 
limit  was  18  to  35,  but  was  rejected  on 
account  of  his  size,  (18  years,  3  months.) 

Is  an  only  son,  and  has  to  keep  a  small 
private  business  going  to  help  his  mother, 
and  that  he  is  under  the  required  height 
and  chest  measurement,  (20  years,  5 
months.) 

States  that  his  parents  object  on  the 
ground  of  his  health  not  being  good,  (18 
years,  11  months.) 

Has  no  wish  to  join  the  army,  "  being 
in  the  mechanical  line,"  but  is  quite  will- 
ing to  do  munition  work,  (18  years,  7 
months.) 

States  that  his  mother  is  a  widow  re- 
lying for  support  on  her  family,  of  which 
he  is  the  eldest  son ;  that  if  he  joined  the 
army  he  would  have  to  defer  the  com- 
pletion of  his  apprenticeship ;  that  in  the 
event  of  being  disabled  or  killed  his 
mother  would  receive  no  allowance.  He 
is  particularly  anxious  to  compete  for  a 
post  in  the  stationery  stores,  (18  years, 
4  months.) 


Through  the  Mouths  of  Our  Guns 

By  ANATOLE  FRANCE 

We  will  carry  on  this  war,  which  we  did  not  want,  to  the  bitter 
end.  We  will  continue  our  terrible  and  beneficent  task  until  the  Ger- 
man military  power  is  completely  destroyed.  We  love  peace  too  dearly 
to  allow  it  to  be  unstable.  It  is  criminal  to  cry  for  peace  and  criminal 
to  desire  it  until  we  have  reduced  to  nothingness  the  forces  of  oppres- 
sion which  have  weighed  so  much  upon  Europe  for  the.  last  half-cen- 
tury. Until  this  is  done  we  must  only  talk  through  the  mouths  of  our 
guns.     So  many  heroes  must  not  have  died  in  vain. 

If  I  were  to  learn  that  any  Frenchman  allowed  himself  to  be 
seduced  by  masked  phantoms  of  a  hideous  peace  I  would  ask  Parlia- 
ment to  declare  a  traitor  to  his  country  anyone  who  would  propose 
to  treat  with  the  enemy  whilst  he  occupies  the  smallest  part  of  French 
or  Belgian  territory. 


A  Vision  of  the  Battle  Front 

By  Pierre  Loti 

This  article,  by  Pierre  Loti,  (Captain  Viaud.)  recording  his  observations  on  the  French 
war  front,  appeared  originally  in  L'lllustration,  and  is  translated  for  The  New  York  Tiues 
Current  History  by  Charles  Johnston. 


WALKING  on  that  bullet-riddled 
ground,  where  the  storm  of 
grapeshot  has  left  hardly  a 
tuft  of  grass  here  and  there,  a 
little  moss,  a  poor  flower,  I  come  first 
to  a  line  of  defenses  being  prepared  as 
the  second  line,  in  the  unlikely  event  that 
the  first,  a  little  further  forward,  should 
yield.  Our  soldiers,  transformed  into 
navvies,  are  working  in  the  trench,  shovel 
antJ  pick  in  hand,  all  full  of  determina- 
tion and  joyous,  hurrying  to  complete  it; 
and  it  will  be  terrible,  surrounded  by  the 
most  dangerous  snares.  It  is  the  Ger- 
mans, I  admit  it  willingly,  who,  with 
their  careful,  evil  minds,  have  invented 
this  whole  system  of  tunnels  and  am- 
buscades; but,  as  we  are  keener  than 
they,  and  quicker  in  mind,  we  have  in  a 
few  days  equaled,  if  not  surpassed,  them. 
A  thousand  paces  further  forward  I 
reach  the  first  line.  It  is  full  of  men, 
this  trench  which  is  to  stop  the  rush  of 
the  barbarians;  day  and  night  it  is  ready 
to  bristle -with  guns.  And  the  men  who 
are  living  in  it,  just  concealed  in  the 
earth,  know  that  from  one  minute  to  the 
next  may  begin  the  daily  sprinkling  of 
shells,  carrying  away  heads  that  venture 
outside,  crushing  in  breasts,  mangling  en- 
trails. They  know  also  that  at  no  mat- 
ter what  unforeseen  hour,  beneath  the 
pale  sun  or  in  the  gloom  of  midnight, 
the  rushes  of  the  barbarians,  of  whom 
the  forest  over  there  is  still  full,  may 
come  down  upon  them;  they  know  how 
they  will  come,  running,  with  cries  to 
arouse  fear,  all  holding  each  other  by 
the  arms  in  a  single  maddened  mass, 
and  how,  before  fatally  entangling  them- 
selves in  our  barbed-wire  nets,  they  will 
find  means,  as  always,  to  do  much  harm. 
They  know  this,  for  they  have  already 
seen  it  all,  but  all  the  same  they  smile 
with    serious    dignity.      It   will   soon    be 


eight  days  that  they  have  been  in  this 
trencli,  waiting  to  be  relieved,  and  yet 
they  complain  of  nothing.  "  We  are  well 
fed,"  they  say.  "  We  have  as  much  as 
we  wish  to  eat.  So  long  as  it  does  not 
rain,  we  are  warm  at  night  in  our  foxes' 
earths,  under  a  good  blanket.  But  we 
have  not  yet  got  woolen  underclothing  for 
the  Winter,  for  all  of  us,  and  we  shall 
soon  need  it.  When  you  go  back  to  Paris, 
mon  Colonel,  perhaps  you  could  remind 
the  Government  of  that,  and  all  those 
ladies  who  are  working  for  us." 

(Mon  Colonel  is  the  only  title  the  sol- 
dier knows  for  officers  with  five  stripes. 
During  the  last  expedition  to  China  I 
had  already  been  mon  Colonel,  but  I  did 
not  expect  to  become  so  again,  alas!  for 
a  war  on  French  soil.) 

The  men  who  are  chatting  with  me,  at 
the  edge,  or  from  the  bottom  of  that 
trench,  belong  to  the  most  widely  sepa- 
rated classes  of  society;  some  of  them 
have  been  men  of  fashion  and  leisure, 
others  workmen,  farmers;  there  are  even 
some,  with  their  military  caps  tilted  a 
little  too  much  on  one  side,  and  with  the 
accent  of  the  slums,  whose  past  it  would 
doubtless  be  better  not  to  inquire  into, 
and  who  have  none  the  less  become  here 
not  only  brave  fellows,  but  fine  fellows. 
This  war,  at  the  same  time  that  it  has 
bridged  over  our  distances,  will  have 
purified  us  all  and  made  us  greater; 
without  wishing  it,  the  Germans  have 
done  us  this  good,  which  is  surely  worth 
while!  And  then  our  soldiers  all  know 
what  they  are  fighting  for,  and  this  is 
their  geratest  power;  indignation  will 
inspire  them  to  their  last  breath. 

"  When  you  have  seen,"  two  young 
Breton  peasants  say  to  me,  "  when  you 
have  seen  with  your  own  eyes  what 
those  brutes  do  in  the  villages  they  pass 
through,  it  is  quite  natural,  is  it  not,  to 


1200 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES  CURRENT  HISTORY 


give  your  life  to  try  to  keep  them  from 
coming  to  do  the  same  thing  in  our 
homes?  "  And  the  roar  of  cannon  accom- 
panies this  naive  declaration  with  a 
deep,  incessant  bass.  .  .  .  And  it  is 
the  same  thing  from  end  to  end  of  this 
limitless  line;  everywhere  the  same  de- 
termination, the  same  courage.  At  one 
place  or  another,  to  chat  with  them  is 
equally  comforting,  and  inspires  equal 
admiration. 

But  it  is  strange  to  tell  ourselves  that, 
in  our  twentieth  century,  to  guard  our- 
selves from  savagery  and  horror,  we 
have  had  to  construct  trenches  like  these 
from  the  east  to  the  west  of  our  dear 
country,  double  and  triple,  running  un- 
broken for  hundreds  of  miles,  like  a  kind 
of  Chinese  wall  a  hundred  times  more  to 
be  feared  than  the  wall  which  guarded 
China  against  the  Mongols,  a  wall  twist- 
ing like  a  serpent,  almost  beneath  the 
earth,  stealthily,  and  which  is  filled  with 
the  heroic  youth  of  France,  ceaselessly 
on  the  watch,  ceaselessly  dabbled  with 
blood.     ... 

This  evening,  the  twilight  drags  on 
sadly  under  the  heavy  sky  and  seems 
never  to  end;  two  hours  ago,  it  seemed 
already  beginning,  yet  you  can  still  see. 
In  front  of  us  we  can  still  distinguish 
or  divine,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach, 
the  unrolling  of  two  masses  of  forest, 
the  more  distant  of  which  has  almost 
no  outline  now  in  the  darkness.  And 
my  heart  is  constricted  by  the  still  more 
poignant  feeling  of  a  plunge  back  into 
the  depths  of  primeval  barbarism,  with- 
out escape  and  without  remedy. 

"  Mon  Colonel,  this  is  the  time  when, 
for  the  last  week,  we  have  our  little 
sprinkling  of  shells  every  evening;  if  you 


can  wait  a  little,  you  will  see  how  rapidly 
they  fire  and  almost  at  random. 

Time  to  wait,  no,  I  hardly  have  it; 
and  besides  I  have  already  had  the  oppor- 
tunity elsewhere  to  see  how  rapidly  they 
fire,  almost  at  random.  At  times  you 
would  say  parade  fireworks,  and  it  leads 
you  to  believe  they  have  so  much  ammu- 
nition they  do  not  know  what  to  do  with 
it.  Yet  I  shall  very  willingly  remain  a 
moment  more,  to  see  it  again  in  their 
company. 

Ah!  .  .  .  Here  comes  through  the 
air  a  kind  of  whirring  like  a  flight  of 
partridges  —  partridges  passing  very 
quickly,  with  metallic  wings — a  change 
from  the  muffled  cannonade  of  just  now, 
and  it  is  in  our  direction  it  begins  to 
come.  But  much  too  high,  and  especially 
far  too  far  to  the  left,  so  much  too  far 
that  it  is  certainly  not  at  us  they  are  aim- 
ing this  time;  they  would  have  to  be  very 
stupid  for  that.  .  .  .  Yet  we  cease 
chatting,  our  ears  are  strained.  .  .  . 
A  dozen  shells,  and  it  is  over. 

"It  is  finished!"  they  tell  me  then. 
"  Now  their  time  is  past.  And  it  was 
for  our  comrades  along  there.  You  are 
not  in  luck,  mon  Colonel,  this  is  the  very 
first  time  that  it  is  not  we  that  caught 
it.  .  .  .  And  it  looks  as  if  the  Huns 
are  tired,  this  evening!  " 

Night  has  come,  and  I  ought  to  be 
far  away  by  this  time.  Besides,  they 
Eire  all  going  to  sleep  now;  they  cannot 
kindle  any  lights,  of  course;  cigarettes, 
at  the  most.  I  grasp  many  hands,  one 
after  the  other,  and  I  leave  these  poor 
children  of  France  in  their  dormitory 
which,  in  the  silence  and  the  darkness, 
has  suddenly  become  as  funereal  as  a 
long  common  ditch  in  a  graveyard. 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AS 
SEEN    BY    CARTOONISTS 


[English  Cartoon] 

A  Friend  in  Need 


—From  Punch,  London. 

Germany:     "WHO  SAID  'GOD  PUNISH  ENGLAND!'?      GOD  BLESS 
ENGLAND,  WHO  LETS  US  HAVE  THE  SINEWS  OF  WAR." 

1201 


[German  Cartoon] 


The  Latest  from  the  Russian  Steam-roller 


-From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 


"  It's  no  use —  We'll  have  to  oil  it  again !" 


1202 


[American  Cartoon] 


A  World  Which  Cannot  Be  Held  Back 


^^ 


Yf.^:-'y^. 


—From  The  New  York  Evening  Sun. 

The  Kaiser's  Task  After  One  Year  of  War. 

1203 


[German  Cartoon] 

The  Timid  Question 


— From    Jugend,    Munich. 

"When,  Mars,  will  you  let  me  regulate  the  clock?" 
"  Patience,  my  boy ;   I'll  be  through  by   Fall.     Then  the  whole 
winter  will  be  Maytime." 

1204 


[English  Cartoon] 

A  New  Train  of  Thought 


—From    The    Sketch,    London. 

The  Exalted  Personage:  Tirp,  old  man — you  remember  we  sent 
some  submarines  overland  to  Zeebrugge? 

Tirp:    Yes,  Sire. 

The  Exalted  Personage:  Then  what's  the  matter  with  sending 
the  fleet  by  train  to  the  Dardanelles? 

1205 


[American  Cartoon] 


The  International  Chautauqua 


r-n- 


—From    The    World,    New    York. 


His   Enthusiastic   Audience. 


1203 


[Spanish  Cartoon] 

The  Blockade  of  the  Seas 


— From   Blanco   y  Negro,   Madrid. 

"  Brother  Shark,  we  are  assured  of  subsistence  for  ourselves  and 
our  children  while  the  war  lasts — and  may  it  last  a  hundred  years !" 

1207 


[German  Cartoon] 


Grave  Times  at  Windsor 


— From    Si)ni)licissi}nus,    Munich. 

With  the  loud  approval  of  the  Salvation  Army,  King  George  drives 
out  the  Demon  Rum. 

1208 


[English  Cartoon] 

Wilful  Murder 


The  Kaiser  :  "  To  the  Day- 


— From    Punch,    London. 

Death:" of  Reckoning!'* 


1209 


[Australian  Cartoon] 

The  Iron  Cross 


— Frovi   The  Bulletin,  Sydncj/,  X.   S.    W. 


1210 


[German  Cartoon] 


England's  Suffragette  Troops 


— From  Lustige  Blaetter,  Berlin. 

"We  are  lost,  girls — there's  a  mouse!" 


1211 


[Spanish  Cartoon] 

The  Knight,  Death  and  the  Devil 


i 

^^ 

^^^^^ 

1 

^          '^^^^^^i^i^^^^^^^^^i 

— From   Espanu,  Madrid. 


With  due  apologies  to  Albrecht  Duerer. 

1212 


1213 


0 

OS 


O 

o 


OS 


1214 


[Swedish  Cartoon] 

War  Crowns 


— Fronjt  Sondags-Nisse,  Sweden. 


This  cartoon,  published  by  the  Sdndags-Nisse,  refers  to  the  crown 
offered  by  the. German  Regiment  of  the  Fusiliers  of  Stettin,  No.  34, 
to  their  colonel,  Queen  Victoria  of  Sweden. 


1215 


[German  Cartoon] 


Servians  Assistance 


— From  Jugend,  Munich. 

"  Your  most  gracious  Lordship  has  sent  for  me !  How  can  I  serve 
you,  Sir  Grey?" 

"  Your  army,  King  Peter,  can  be  of  no  use  to  us ;  but  you  might 
recommend  me  a  couple  of  assassins !" 

[The  paper  on  "  Sir  Grey's  "  table  is  marked  "  Casement,  Findlay,"  an  allusion  to  the 
story,  firmly  believed  in  Germany,  that  Cardonnel  Findlay,  British  Minister  to  Norway, 
conspired  to  kill  Sir  Roger  Casement.  The  small  portrait  is  labelled  "  Princip,"  the  assassin 
of  the  Archduke  Ferdinand.] 


1216 


[English  Cartoon] 

The  Haunted  Ship 


Ghost  op  the  Old  Pilot:  "  I  wonder  if  he  would  drop  me  now?" 

1217 


[Australian   Cartoon] 

Woodrow  Wilson,  Taxidermist 


— From  The  Bullet i7i,  Sydney,  N.  S.   W. 

"  I've  got  to  turn  this  durned  bird  into  a  dove  somehow !" 


1218 


[German  Cartoon] 


?f 


Only  A  Baby  Was  Killed 


99 


— From  Simpliciaaimua,  Munich, 


"  A  Zeppelin !    Quick !  Out  with  the  babies ! " 
ijei9 


[English  Cartoon] 


Hommage  A  La  France! 


—  From  Punch,  London. 

[July  7th  m-«^W dedicated  bjr  Oreat  Dritiiu  to  her  gall.int  French  Allies.  Contrihutions  mado  in  honour  of  "Frinco*«  D»t* 
yrill  tn  devoted  tAho  French  Red  Cross,  nnd  should  bo  Addressed  to  the  Right  Hon.  the  LoBn  Mavob,  Mansion  House,  E.O.. 
Ond  marked  "London  Committee  ol  the  French  Rad  Croks."  It  is  hoped  that  a  very  largo  sum  may  bo  raised  as  an  oxprcnion 
of  our  profound  admiration  and  affection  for  our  brave  comrades.] 


1220 


Chronology  of  the  War 

Showing  Progress  of  Campaigns  on  All  Fronts  and  Collateral  Events 
From  July  15,  1915,  Up  to  and  Including  August  12,  1915. 


CAMPAIGN   IN   EASTERN   EUROPE 


July  16— A  drive  toward  Warsaw  is  in  prog- 
ress by  the  Austro-German  armies,  Hin- 
denburg  advancing  from  the  north  while 
Mackensen  moves  from  the  south ;  Aus- 
trian forces  cross  the  Dniester  and  co- 
operate with  the  armies  in  Poland  by  ad- 
vancing on    Bessarabia. 

July  17— Russians  repulse  Austrians  on  the 
Vistula. 

July  18— Germans  and  Austrians  are  develop- 
ing a  vast  offensive  along  the  whole 
Russian  front,  from  the  Baltic  to  Bessara- 
bia, nearly  1,000  miles ;  at  some  points  the 
Russian  line  is  pierced ;  Mackensen  is 
pushing  north ;  Hindenburg's  drive  at 
Warsaw  is  rolling  the  Russians  back  to- 
ward the  Narew  River. 

July  19— The  whole  Russian  line  between  the 
Vistula  and  the  Bug  is  falling  back,  fight- 
ing hard,  the  losses  on  both  sides  being 
heavy :  Austrians  push  over  the  Wolicza 
River  and  also  advance  north  of  Sokal. 

July  20 — Austro  German  armies  advance  along 
the  whole  line  from  the  Gulf  of  Riga  to 
Southern  Poland ;  Teutons  take  Ostrol- 
enka,  Blonie,  Grojec,  and  Radom ;  the 
German  outposts  are  seventeen  miles  from 
Warsaw. 

July  21— Russians  make  a  stand  north,  south, 
and  west  of  Warsaw,  battling  desperately 
to  save  the  city;  to  the  north,  on  the 
Narew  River,  Russians  are  delivering 
counterattacks  from  the  fortresses  of 
Rozan,  Pultusk,  and  Novo  Georgievsk; 
south  of  Ivangorod  a  great  battle  is  being 
fought  for  the  possession  of  the  Lublin- 
Chelm   railway. 

July  22— Russian  forces  southeast  of  War- 
saw withdraw  into  Ivangorod,  which  is 
bf>ing  attacked  by  the  Austro-Germans;  in 
the  north,  the  Russians  have  evacuated 
Windau,  setting  it  on  fire  before  leaving; 
the  Russians  are  retreating  in  the  Baltic 
provinces,  laying  the  country  waste  as 
they  go ;  a  German  army  is  heading  for 
Riga. 

July  2.^$— Russian  forts  are  checking  the  Aus- 
tro-German drive  on  Warsaw,  the  Teutons 
being  halted  both  along  the  Vistula  and 
the  Narew. 

July  24— Germans  tighten  their  grip  on  War- 
saw from  the  north,  strong  forces  crossing 
the  Narew  River  after  storming  two  of 
the  fortresses ;  Russians  hold  fast  imme- 
diately west  of  Warsaw  and  along  the  line 


of  the  Lublin-Chelm  railroad;  Russians 
are  driven  across  the  Vistula  at  Ivango- 
rod ;  in  Courland  an  open  battle  has  been 
fought,  the  Germans  claiming  victory. 

July  25— Russians  are  threatening  Mackensen's 
flank  along  the  Bug  River  from  east  of 
Chelm  to  ea.st  of  Lemberg;  to  the  north, 
the  German  forces  which  crossed  the 
Narew  are  advancing  toward  the  Bug. 

July  2P>— German  cavalry  to  the  number  of 
30,000  are  operating  southeast  of  Shavli ; 
the  cavalry  is  attempting  to  seize  the 
Vilna-Dvinsk  railway  preparatory  to  cut- 
ting the  more  important  Kovno-Vilna  line ; 
Mackensen  is  being  held  in  his  attempt 
to  throw  his  troops  astride  the  Lublin- 
Chelm  railway ;  Hindenburg's  troops  are 
making  progress  near  Novo  Georgievsl<. 

July  27— Russians  check  the  attempted  Ger- 
man enveloping  movement  both  north  and 
south  of  Warsaw;  by  counterattacks  the 
Russians  force  the  Germans  back  across 
the  Narew  River  at  several  points ;  Ger- 
mans advance  toward  the  Vilna-Petrograd 
railway ;  Mackensen  fails  to  make  further 
advance  toward  the  Lublin-Chelm  rail- 
way. 

July  28— The  Russians  are  holding  the  Austro- 
German  forces  everywhere. 

July  29— Russians  resist  successfully  at  Chelm 
and  Lublin ;  the  Russian  newspapers  are 
preparing  the  public  for  the  evacuation  of 
Warsaw  and  the  whole  line  of  Vistula 
forts. 

July  30— Mackensen  takes  part  of  the  Lublin- 
Chelm  railway;  Germans  break  Russian 
lines  near  Warsaw  at  many  points ;  War- 
saw is  now  practically  emptied  of  its  civil 
population,  and  Russian  troops  are  de- 
molishing portions  of  the  city. 

July  31— Austrians  occupy  Lublin ;  Russians 
hold  at  some  points  north  of  Warsaw,  but 
are  being  thrown  back  along  the  whole 
line  elsewhere ;  Russian  troops  are  evacua- 
ting Warsaw. 

Aug.  1— Mackensen  takes  Chelm  and  sweeps 
on ;  Hindenburg  is  checked  in  the  north. 

Aug.  2— Mackensen  continues  to  advance ;  In 
the  far  north  the  Germans  take  Mitau; 
Germans  are  moving  42-centimeter  guns  to 
batter  Warsaw. 

Aug.  4.— Austro-German  forces  are  attacking 
the  fortresses  of  Warsaw,  the  Russians 
having  fallen  back  to  the  outer  lines  of 
the  city. 


1222 


THE   NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


Aug.  5— Germans  occupy  Warsaw,  capital  of 
Poland  and  the  third  largest  city  in  the 
Russian  Empire,  the  Bavarians,  com- 
manded by  Prince  Leopold,  talking  over 
the  city  in  the  name  of  the  German  Em- 
peror and  his  consort;  the  Russian  armies 
are  falling  back  to  a  new  line ;  the  Ger- 
mans capture  few  prisoners  and  little  ar- 
tillery in  Warsaw,  the  place  having  been 
stripped ;  in  the  north  the  Germans  are 
ten  miles  from  Riga,  which  has  been 
evacuated  by  civilians. 

Aug.  6— Austro-German  forces  take  Ivan- 
gorod ;  with  the  exception  of  the  great 
intrenched  camp  of  Novo  Georgievsk,  now 
invested,  the  Russians  have  evacuated  the 
whole  line  of  the  Vistula  River. 

Aug.  7— Germans  attack  Kovno  and  Osso- 
wetz. 

Aug.  8— German  army  threatening  Riga  is 
checked ;  Germans  cross  the  Vistula  near 
Warsaw ;  Germans  take  one  of  the  outly- 
ing forts  of  Novo  Georgievsk ;  Russians 
are  retiring  slowly,  and  along  the  Narew 
are  offering  stubborn  resistance;  Macken- 
sen's  attempt  to  flank  the  new  Russian 
line  from  the  south  is  checked. 

Aug.  9— Germans  are  heavily  bombarding 
Kovno  and  Lomza ;  Russians  force  back 
Germans  in  the  Riga  region. 

Aug.  10— Austro-German  forces  capture 
Lomza. 

Aug.  11— Germans  reach  the  Warsaw-Petro- 
grad  Railroad  at  the  Junction  southeast  of 
Ostrov. 

Aug.  12— Russians  repulse  Germans  near 
Riga  and   near  Kovno. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  WESTERN  EUROPE. 

July  16 — French  recapture  most  of  the  ground 
in  the  Argonne  recently  occupied  by  the 
German  Crown  Prince's  army. 

July  18 — Germans  check  French  at  Souchez ; 
French  check  Germans  on  the  heights  of 
the  Meuse. 

July  19 — French  repulse  repeated  German  at- 
tacks on  the  heights  of  the  Meuse,  near 
Senvaux  artillery ;  engagements  in  pro- 
gress near  Souchez. 

July  20 — British  capture  150  yards  of  German 
trenches  east  of  Ypres ;  Rheims  is  again 
bombarded. 

July  21 — French  start  a  new  offensive  in  the 
Vosges ;  they  capture  heights  dominating 
the  valley  of  the  Fecht  River  from  the 
east;  Germans  gain  on  the  eastern  edge 
of   the   Argonne. 

July  22 — French  win  heights  both  west  and 
north  of  the  town  of  Miinster,  ten  miles 
southwest  of  Colmar,    In   Alsace. 

July  2.*? — There  is  severe  fighting  around 
Miinster,  in  Alsace,  both  French  and  Ger- 
mans claiming  successes;  Germans  are 
massing  on  the  Meuse. 

July  24 — Lively  artillery  actions  near  Souchez 
and  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Pr§tre. 

July  25 — French  capture  advanced  German 
trenches  in  the  Ban-de-Sapt  region  of 
the  Vosges ;   Germans  bombard  Dunkirk ; 


British  gain  ground  by  mine  operations 
near  Zlllebeke. 

July  30 — Germans,  by  the  aid  of  flame  pro- 
jectors, take  British  trenches  near  Hooge, 
east  of  Ypres. 

Aug.  1 — British  regain  part  of  their  lost 
trenches  at  Hooge. 

Aug.  4 — French  repulse  lively  German  at- 
tacks in  the  Argonne. 

Aug.  6 — Furious  artillery  fighting  In  Artols, 
the  western  Argonne,  and  the  Forest  of 
Apremont. 

Aug.  7 — French  repulse  Germans  in  the  Ar- 
gonne and  the  Vosges. 

Aug..  8 — Violent  attacks  on  the  French  posi- 
tions at  Linge,  in  the  Woevre,  are  thrown 
back  with  great  loss. 

Aug.  9 — British  capture  1,200  yards  of  Ger- 
man trenches  near  Hooge,  including  all 
the  ground  lost  on  July  30. 

Aug.  11 — German  Crown  Prince's  army  at- 
tacks strongly  in  the  Argonne,  winning 
some  trenches. 

ITALIAN  CAMPAIGN. 

July  16.— The  Italians  are  strongly  fortifying 
all  positions  captured  from  the  Austrians; 
trenches  are  being  excavated  and  plat- 
forms constructed  on  which  to  mount 
heavy  guns;  heavy  artillery  fighting  is  in 
progress  in  Carinthia. 

July  18 — Italians  begin  offensive  in  Cadore 
from  encampments  on  Mounts  Averau, 
Busella,  and  Pore. 

July  20 — Italians  attack  on  a  seventy-five- 
mile  front,  making  a  general  assault  from 
Tarvis  to  the  Adriatic  shore;  Italians 
advance  five  miles  in  Cadore. 

July  21 — Italians,  making  a  general  attack 
along  the  Isonzo,  gain  ground,  at  some 
points  piercing  the  Austrian  lines;  Ital- 
ians capture  the  approaches  to  Goritz. 

July  22 — Gorizia  and  Tolmino  are  practical- 
ly surrounded  by  Italians;  furious  Aus- 
trian attacks  fail  to  break  the  investing 
lines. 

July  2.3— Italian  offensive  continues  along  the 
whole  of  the  Isonzo  front ;  Italians  are 
making  slow  progress  near  Plava  and  Go- 
rizia. 

July  24 — Italians  are  pushing  operations 
against  Gorizia,  General  Cardona  being 
in  personal  command,  under  the  eyes  of 
the  King. 

July  25 — Austrian  General  Staff  evacuates 
Gorizia,  which  is  undergoing  the  heaviest 
bombardment  it  has  yet  received  ;  Italians 
destroy  the  strongest  fort  at  Plava ;  at 
Ternova  the  Italians  force  back  the  Aus- 
trians two  miles ;  Italians  are  practically 
the  masters  of  the  north  shore  of  Lake 
Garda. 

July  27 — The  fighting  which  has  been  going 
on  for  days  along  the  Isonzo  is  declared 
by  military  observers  to  be  one  of  the 
fiercest  and  most  sanguinary  struggles  of 
the  war,  there  being  enormous  losses  on 
both  sides. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  WAR 


1228 


July    28 — Italians    repulse    170,000    Auatrians 

at  Gorizia. 
Aug.  1 — Italians  take  a  general  offensive  on 

the  Tyrol,  Trentino,  and  Carnla  fronts. 
Aug.     4 — Italian    pressure    is    increasing    on 

Rovereto. 
Aug.  6 — Italians  capture  the  summit  of  Monte 

San  Michele,  which  dominates  Gorizia. 
Aug.     12— Austrians     repulse     strong     Italian 

attacks  near  Zagora. 

TURKISH  CAMPAIGN. 

July  19 — British  gain  ground  on  the  Gallipoli 
Peninsula ;  official  report  issued  in  Lon- 
don states  that  the  British  have  occupied 
Sukesh-Sheyukh,  on  the  Euphrates  River, 
in  Arabia,  and  are  now  attacking  the 
Turks  below  Nasiriyeh. 

July  24 — British  official  statement  says  there 
has  been  further  fighting  in  Southern 
Arabia,  in  which  the  British  won ;  British 
now  hold  Sheikh  Othman  firmly ;  a  Turk- 
ish attack  on  the  Allies'  positions  on  the 
Gallipoli  Peninsula  is  repulsed. 

Aug.  2 — Australians  and  New  Zealanders 
take  the  crest  of  an  important  ridge  on 
the  Gallipoli  Peninsula,  improving  the 
British  position. 

Aug.  6 — General  Sarrail  takes  command  of 
the  French  troops  at  the  Dardanelles. 

Aug.  7 — Heavy  fighting  at  Ari  Burnu  and 
Sedd-el-Bahr. 

Aug.  9 — Allies  gain  ground  near  Krithia. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  AFRICA. 

July  16 — It  is  officially  announced  in  London 
that  on  June  29  the  Entente  allied  forces 
occupied  Ngaundere,  an  important  town 
in  Central  Kamerun. 

Aug.  9 — It  is  officially  announced  In  Paris 
that  the  French  have  taken  several  Ger- 
man posts  in  Kamerun  ;  the  French  have 
captured  that  part  of  the  Congo  ceded  to 
Germany  in  1911. 

NAVAL  RECORD— GENERAL. 

July  20— A  fleet  of  fifty-nine  Turkish  sailing 
vessels,  laden  with  war  supplies  for  the 
Turkish  Army  in  the  Caucasus  region, 
was  destroyed  during  the  last  few  days 
in  the  Black  Sea,  near  Trebizond,  by 
Russian   torpedo  boat  destroyers. 

July  2.3— Austrian  cruisers  bombard  the  Ital- 
ian east  coast,  damaging  the  Adriatic 
railway  stations  at  Chienti,  Campo  Ma- 
rino, Fossacesia,  Termoli,  San  Benedet- 
to, Grottamare,  and  Ortona. 

July  25— British  trawler  Grimsby  is  sunk  by 
a  mine,  the  crew  of  ten  being  killed. 

July  26— For  the  past  three  days  a  bombard- 
ment of  the  Turkish  positions  inside  the 
Dardanelles  has  been  in  progress,  the 
Allies  seeking  to  destroy  the  Turkish 
positions  on  the  Asiatic  shore. 

Aug.  3— It  is  reported  from  Petrograd  that 
nearly  900  Turkish  vessels  have  been 
burned  or  sunk  in  the  Black  Sea  by  Rus- 


sian destroyers  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war. 

Aug.  4 — A  French  prize  court  confirms  the 
seizure  of  the  American  cotton  steamer 
Dacia,  formerly  a  German  ship,  the  de- 
cision meaning  that  France  does  not 
recognize  the  transfer  of  belligerent  ves- 
sels. 

Aug.  8— A  German  fleet  of  nine  battleships, 
twelve  cruisers,  and  many  torpedo  boat 
destroyers  attacks  the  entrance  to  the 
Gulf  of  Riga,  but  is  repulsed,  three 
ships  being  damaged  by  Russian  mines ; 
British  patrol  steamer  Ramsey  is  sunk  by 
German  auxiliary  steamer  Meteor  in  the 
North  Sea ;  subsequently  the  crew  of  the 
Meteor  blow  her  up,  the  ship  being  sur- 
rounded by   British  cruisers. 

Aug.  9— British  torpedo  boat  destroyer  Lynx 
is  sunk  in  the  North  Sea  by  a  mine, 
many  of  crew  being  lost ;  British  auxil- 
iary cruiser  India  is  torpedoed  and  sunk 
off  the   Norwegian  coast. 

NAVAL  RECORD— SUBMARINES. 

July  16 — The  German  submarine  U-."}!  has 
been  sunk  in  the  Black  Sea  by  Russian 
warships,  according  to  information  re- 
ceived from  "Varna,  a  Bulgarian  port  on 
the  Black  Sea. 

July  17 — Cunarder  Orduna  arrives  in  New 
York  after  having  escaped  by  ten  feet  a 
torpedo  fired  without  warning  by  a  uer- 
man  submarine  off  Queenstown  on  July  9 ; 
the  submarine  then  shelled  the  Orduna, 
but  missed   her. 

July  18 — An  Austrian  submarine  torpedoes 
and  sinks  the  Italian  cruiser  Giuseppe 
Garibaldi  in  the  Adriatic,  off  Ragusa; 
most  of  the  crew  are  saved. 

July  21 — According  to  British  statements,  the 
battleship  recently  sunk  in  the  Baltic  by  a 
British  submarine  was  the  Pommern ; 
semi-official  German  statement  denies 
that  any  German  battleship  has  been  sunk 
in  the  Baltic  by  a  submarine. 

July  23 — British  submarines  are  operating  in 
the  Sea  of  Marmora  and  have  sunk  Turk- 
ish ships. 

July  24 — German  submarines  sink  Russian 
steamer  Rubonia  and  British  trawler  Star 
of  Peace,  the  crews  being  saved. 

July  25 — American  steamer  Leelanaw,  with  a 
cargo  of  flax,  which  has  been  declared 
by  Germany  to  be  contraband,  is  sunk  by 
a  German  submarine  off  the  Orkney 
Islands ;  the  ship  is  given  full  warning, 
and  the  crew  safely  makes  port;  German 
submarines  sink  French  steamship  Danae, 
British  steamer  Firth,  and  trawlers  Henry 
Charles,  Kathleen,  Activity,  Prosper,  and 
Briton,  all  British;  the  Firth  loses  four 
men  and  the  Briton  six. 

July  26 — British  submarine  sinks  German  tor- 
pedo boat  destroyer  near  the  German 
coast. 

July  27 — German  submarines  sink  British 
trawlers   Rosslyn,    Celtic,    Cydorna,    Gad- 


1224 


THE    NEW    YORK    TIMES    CURRENT   HISTORY 


well,  Strathmore,  Honoria,  Casslo,  Hermi- 
one,  Sutton,  and  Emblem,  the  crews  escap- 
ing; German  submarines  sink  Norwegian 
sailing  ships  Harboe  and  G.  P.  Harbitz, 
and  Danish  steamer  Nogill. 

July  28 — German  submarines  sink  British 
steamer  Mangara,  British  trawlers  Iceni 
and  Salacia,  British  smack  Westward  Ho, 
Swedish  steamer  Emma,  Swedish  bark 
Sagnadalen,  and  Danish  schooners  Maria, 
Neptunis,  and  Lena. 

July  29 — German  submarines  sink  Belgian 
steamship  Princesse  Marie  Jose  and  Swed- 
ish bark  Fortune,  the  crews  being  saved. 

July  30 — German  submarine  sinks  Norwegian 
steamship  Trondhjemsfjord. 

July  31 — German  submarine  sinks  the  British 
steamer  Iberian  of  the  Leyland  Line ;  Ger- 
man submarines  sink  eight  British  trawl- 
ers, crews  being  saved. 

Aug.  7 — German  submarines  sink  British 
steamer  Glenravel,  British  trawler  Ocean 
Queen,  and  Swedish  steamer  Malmland. 

Aug.  8. — British  submarine  in  the  Dardanelles 
sink  a  battleship,  a  gunboat,  and  a  trans- 
port, all  Turkish. 

Aug.  9 — A  submarine  of  the  Entente  powers 
sinks  Turkish  battleship  Kheyr-ed-Din 
Barbarossa,  formerly  the  Kurfiirst  Fried- 
rich  Wilhelm  of  the  German  Navy. 

Aug.  10 — German  submarine  burns  Danish 
schooner  Jason, 

Aug.  11 — Italian  submarine  torpedoes  and 
sinks  the  Austrian  submarine  U-12  in  the 
Adriatic  Sea ;  German  submarines  sink 
British  steamer  Oakwood,  Norwegian  bark 
Morna,  French  bark  Francois,  Russian 
bark  Baltzer,  and  seven  British  trawlers ; 
British  submarines  torpedo  the  Turkish 
cruiser  Breslau  (formerly  German)  in  the 
Black  Sea. 

AERIAL  RECORD. 

July  16— French  squadron  of  ten  aeroplanes 
bombards  the  military  station  at  Chauny, 

July  19— French  dirigible  drops  twenty-three 
bombs  on  the  military  railroad  station 
and  ammunition  depot  at  Vigneulles-les- 
Hattonchfl-tel. 

July  20— Thirty-eight  French  aviators  bom- 
bard the  station  at  Conflans-en-Janisy ; 
six  French  aeroplanes  bombard  Colmar 
station,  dropping  sixteen  shells  on  build- 
ings and  trains ;  four  French  aeroplanes 
drop  forty-eight  shells  at  the  junction 
station  at  Challerange,  south  of  Vouziers. 

July  22 — French  aviators  bombard  the  sta- 
tion of  Autry,  northwest  of  Binarville. 

July  23— German  aeroplanes  drop  bombs  on 
the  railway  triangle  at  St.  Hilaire,  in 
Champagne. 

July  27— Austrian  aeroplane  drops  twelve 
bombs  on  "Verona. 

Aug.  6— Italian  dirigibles  bombard  Austrian 
encampments    and    railroad    stations. 

Aug.  9— Twenty-eight  French  aeroplanes 
bombard  the  station  and  factories  of  Saar- 
briicken,    northeast    of   Metz, 


Aug.  10— A  squadron  of  Zeppelins  bombards 
the  English  east  coast. 

GERMANY. 

July  17 — The  Foreign  Office  has  issued  a  re- 
port on  conditions  in  Belgium  during  the 
early  days  of  the  war,  which  is  a  reply  to 
the  findings  of  Lord  Bryce's  Belgian 
Atrocity  Commission. 

Aug.  1— The  Teutonic  allies,  after  a  year  of 
war,  occupy  78,378  square  miles  of  hostile 
territory, 

GREAT  BRITAIN. 

July  20— Largely  through  the  work  and  influ- 
ence of  Lloyd  George,  the  Welsh  coal 
miners'    strike   is   ended. 

July  27— The  casualties  in  the  British  Army 
and  Navy  have  reached  a  total  of  330,995; 
the  total  military  casualties  up  to  July  18 
were  .321,889,  and  the  total  naval  casualties 
up  to  July  20  were  9,106. 

July  31— British  estimates  show  that  the  first 
year  of  the  war  has  given  a  total  loss  in 
men  killed  of  2,500,000  and  a  total  loss  in 
men    wounded    of    5,000,000. 

RUSSIA. 

Aug.  9— Petrograd  newspapers  announce  that 
the  Czar  has  rejected  an  offer  of  peace 
made  to  him  by  the  Kaiser  through  the 
King  of  Denmark. 

UNITED  STATES. 

July  16 — Formal  notice  is  given  to  Great 
Britain  through  Ambassador  Page  that 
the  United  States  holds  that  the  rights 
of  Americans,  who  have  cases  before 
British  prize  courts,  rest  upon  interna- 
tional law,  and  not  upon  various  Orders 
in  Council  or  municipal  law. 

July  24 — The  text  is  made  public  of  the  third 
note  from  the  United  States  to  Germany 
on  the  Lusitania  and  on  submarine  war- 
fare generally;  President  Wilson  has 
called  for  reports  on  the  subject  of  na- 
tional defense. 

July  25 — Telegrams  from  people  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  approving  the  last 
note  to  Germany,  are  received  by  Presi- 
dent Wilson ;  the  Berlin  press  assails  the 
note,  declaring  it  is  unneutral  and  threat- 
ening. 

July  26 — British  Government  replies  to  the 
American  note  of  March  30,  protesting 
against  the  British  Orders  in  Council  aim- 
ing to  cut  off  overseas  trade  with  Ger- 
many. 

Aug.  2 — Two  supplemental  notes  are  received 
from  Great  Britain  defending  her  block- 
ade ;  a  note  is  received  from  Germany 
upholding  her  contentions  in  the  Frye 
case. 

RELIEF. 

July  25— Official  Red  Cross  statement  made 
public  at  Washington  says  that  Amer- 
ican Red  Cross  doctors  and  nurses  will 
be  withdrawn  from  the  European  battle 
front  on  Oct.  1,  because  of  lack  of  funds 
to  maintain  them  longer  at  their  stations. 


INDEX 

Volume  II.     April,   1915 — September,  1915 

[Titles    of    articles    appear    in    italics.'^ 


Activity  at  the  Dardanelles,  1115. 

ADDAMS.    Jane,    872.        ^  „  ,    .  ^  ,„ 

Address  to  King  Albert  of  Belqmm,  147. 

AERONAUTICS,  Zeppelin  raids  on  London, 
4(;  •  1  adius  of  action  of  a  modern  Zeppelin, 
47.' 

AFRICA,  see  SOUTH  Africa. 

After  Warsaw's  Fall,  108(5. 

Aim  of  Submarine  Warfare,  436.  K-T^rr- 

ALBERT,  King  of  the  Belgians,  see  KINU 
Albert's  Book. 

ALEXYEEFF,   (Dr.)  P.   S.,  344. 

Aliened  German  Atrocities,  Sol. 

Alleged  German  Attempt  to  get  American 
Munitions,  1070. 

Allies'  Conditions  of  Peace,  282. 

Alpine  Frontier,  7.39.  ^  ,, 

ALTIMUS,  Henry,   poem,    "  Peace  Rumors, 
1138 

A  mericii  and  a  New  World  State,  (i^. 

America  and  Prohibition  Russia,  34o. 

"  America  First,"  438. 

America  for  Humanity,  443. 

American  Aid   of   France,   38.5. 

AMERICAN  Ambulance  Hospital  at  Neuilly, 
385,    388.  _^^^ 

American  Military  Preparedness,  10(3. 

American  Munition  Supplies,  (i73. 

American  Opinion  of  Germany,  1141. 

Ame^-ican  Preparedness.  840. 

American  Reply  to  Britain's  Blockade  Order, 
275. 

Atnerican  Shipments  of  Arms,  448. 

AMERICAN  Society  of  Aeronautic  Engineers, 
!>32. 

American  Unfriendliness,  303. 

AMERICAN  Volunteer  Motor  Ambulance 
Corps,  .S.'iS. 

American  War  Supplies,  961. 

America's  Neutrality,  3.30. 

AMMUNITION,  see  MUNITIONS. 

ANDRASSY,  (Count)  Julius,  discussion  of 
German  peace  terms,  073 ;  "  Tlie  Guaran- 
tees of  a  Lasting  Peace,"  1120. 

ANDREYEV,  Leonid,   "  Belgium,"  0)99. 

ANGELL,  Norman,  "  America  and  a  New 
World  State,"  «i3. 

ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN,   833. 

Annunciation,  503. 

Another  View,  447. 

Appeals  for  American  Defense,  455. 

APPONYI,  (Count)  Albert,  "  America's  Neu- 
trality,"' 3.30. 

ARCHER,  William,    "  Evviva  I'ltalia,"   1002. 

Armed  Strength  of  Italy,  73(>. 

ARMENIA,   95. 

Armenian,  Orduna,  and  Others,  832. 

ARMS  Shipments,  see  MUNITIONS. 

ARTISTS,  see  AUTHORS,  Artists,  &c. 

ASPHYXIATING  Gas,  4.'58,  471. 

ASQUITH,  (Premier)  Herbert  Henry,  state- 
ment in  House  of  Commons  on  Allies'  re- 
prisals against  Germany's  war  zone  de- 
cree, 8;  "Britain's  Unsheathed  Sword," 
153;  "The  Power  of  the  Pur.se."  speech 
in  Guildhall,  London,  954 ;  message  to 
United  States,  1030. 

AST.  G.,  "  Fight  for  Constantinople."  1128. 
ATHERTON,      Gertrude.       "  A      Threatened 

Despotism  of  Spirit,"  981. 
ATROCITIES,  charges  made  against  Ger- 
many in  note  to  U.  S.,  12;  incidents 
selected  from  German  "  War  Diaries," 
2.'>9;  discussed  by  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle, 
547;  report  of  British  Commis.sion,  rCA  ; 
denunciation  of  Germans  by  W.  S.  Lilly, 
9(56. 


August  4,   1915,   poem,    10.30. 
Austria  and  the  Balkans,  977. 
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY,    protest   to   U.    S.    on 

export    of    munitions,    828;    Amer.    reply, 

10(54. 
All  stria- Hungary  vs.  Italy,  735. 
Austro-German  Success,  484. 
AUTHORS,  Artists,   &c.,   Swedish  expression 

on    Lusitania    disaster,    980;    Russian,    on 

Enslisli     word,     thought    and    life,     1000; 

French  on  destruction  of  cathedrals,  1004; 

manifesto    from    Spanish    intellectuals    on 

war,  1191. 

B 

Balkan  Neutrality — As  Seen  by  the  Balkans, 

754. 
BALKAN  States,  754,  925,  977,  1082. 
BANKS   and   Banking,   see  FINANCE. 
BARKER,   J.   Ellis,    "  The  Chances  of  Peace 

and  the  Problem  of  Poland,"  123;  survey 

of  Germany's  military  rise,  9<)5. 
BARRY,    Beatrice,    poems,    "  To    a    German 

Apologist,"    .329;    "An    Easter   Message," 

.3.57;     "Another    View,"    447;    "Germany 

Free,"   793;    "  Thor  !  "  9.33;   "The  Nation 

Spaaks,"  10.50. 
Battle  of  the  Dardanelles,  219. 
Battle  of  the  Labyrinth,  701. 
Battle  of  the  Sues  Canal,  8.5. 
BATTLES,    see   CAMPAIGNS;   SEA   Fights; 

and  names  of  battles 
Battles  in  the   West,  891. 
BAUiMER,   Gertrude,    "  German  Women   Not 

Yet   for  Peace,"   .540. 
BAZIN,    Rene,    poem,    "  Saviors   of  Europe," 

extract  from  King  Albert's  Book,  292. 
BEATTIE,    (Vice-Admiial   Sir)    David,   223. 
BEDIER,   Joseph.   "  What  the  Germans  Say 

About  Their  Own   Methods   of   Warfare," 

2.59. 
BELGIAN  Bread-check,  Facsimile  of,  329. 
Behiiinn.  (L.  Andreyev,)  ii'M. 
BELGIUM,   talk  with  Governor,  363;   Sir  A. 

C.  Doyle  on  treatment  of,  546. 
Behjiuia,  (L.  Andreyev,)  699. 
Belgium,  poem,  192. 
Behjinm's  King  and  Queen,  100. 
BELGRADE,    179. 
Belligerents'  Mini  if  ions,  5t44. 
Bells  of  Berlin,  2S9. 
Beloved  Hindenbura,  1(>5. 

BENEDICT    XV.,    Pope,    arraignment  of   by 
E.  J.  Dillon,  967;  "  Anniversary  Plea  for 

Peace,"  1022. 
BE.XXETT,    .Arnold,    "The  Great  End."  5"": 

"  Depression— Common      Sense      and      the 

Situation,"  996. 
BERNARD,  Oliver  O.,  on  Lusitania  disaster, 

423. 
Bernard  Shaio's  Terms  of  Peace,  545. 
BERXSTORFF,    (Count)    Heiniich    von,    ac- 
credited view  on  Gei'man  peace  terms.  194; 

"  American  Shipments  of  Arms."  448. 
BETHLEHEM    Steel    Company,    673. 
BETHMANN-HOLLWEG,      (Dr.)      Theob.^Ul 

von,  "  Italy's  Violation  of  Faith,"  speech 

in  Reichstag,  741. 
Betveen  Midnioht  and  Mominn,  231. 
BISIM.ARCK,     (Prince)     Otto    von.    on    food- 
stuffs as  contraband.  14 ;  «n  English-Ger- 

n^nn  Alliance,  7S.5. 
BISPHAM.    Caroline    Russell,    poem.     "  The 

Quiet   Harbor."    1123. 
BTSSIXG.    (Gen.)  von,   interview,  363. 
BODE.   (Dr.)  Wilhelm  von.  97.5. 
BOESWILLWALD.  Paul,  lOlL 
bombardment  of  the  Dardanelles,  170. 


1226 


INDEX 


BORDEN,   (Sir)  Robert,  380. 

BOTHA,    (Gen.)   Louis,  8G1,   ll.SO. 

BOUTROUX,  E.  E.  M.,  "  The  Spirit  of 
France."  1185. 

Bread,  poem,  503. 

British    Volunteers,  195. 

BRIEUX,  Eugene,  "American  Aid  of 
France,"  384. 

Britain's  Blockade,  1059. 

Britain's  Cabinet  and  Munitions,  748. 

Britain's  Courage  Undaunted,  1028. 

Britain's  New  African  Colony,  1149. 

Britain's  New  and  Original  Blockade,  9. 

Britain's  Peril  of  Strikes  and  Drink,  293. 

Britain's  Tribute  to  Italy,  1187. 

Britain's  Unsheathed  Sword,  153. 

British  Army  in  France,  711. 

British  Call  for  Recruits,  710. 

British  Excuses  for  Not  Enlisting,  1197. 

British  Order  in  Council  Declaring  a  Block- 
ade of  German  Ports,  18. 

BRYAN,  W.  J.,  "  Amer.  Reply  to  Britain's 
Blockade  Order,"  275;  reply  to  Bern- 
storff  s  note  on  "  Amer.  Shipment  of 
Arms,"  449;  resigmation,  617;  press  com- 
ments on  resignation,  040;  "statements 
defending  stand,  045 ;  estimate  of,  by  C. 
W.  Thompson,  602. 

Bryan,  Idealist  and  Averaqe  Man,  662. 

BRYCB,  (Right  Hon.  Viscount)  James,  re- 
poi-t  of  Atrocities  Commission,  551. 

BURGHEIM,   Max,  4.S2. 

By  the  North  Sea,  186. 


CAESAR,   Caius  Julius,  48. 

Calais  or  Suez?  992. 

CAMPAIGN  in  Africa,  858,  1149. 

CAMPAIGN  in  Egypt,  85,  847. 

CAMPAIGN  in  Europe,  Austro-Italian  bor- 
der, 735,  739,  921,  1081,   1119. 

CAMPAIGN  in  Europe,  Eastern,  210,  481, 
484,  683,  844,  851,  872,  1078,  1086,   1(»90. 

CAMPAIGN  in  Europe,  Western.  50,  171,  182, 
205,  232,  239.  458,  479,  701,  711,  842,  848, 
890,  905,  1080,  1103. 

Camyaign  in  the  Carpathians,  486. 

CAMPAIGN  in  the  Caucasus,  870. 

CAMPAIGN  in  Turkey,  866. 

Can  Germany  Be  Starved  Outf  25. 

Canada  and  Britain's  War  Union,  378. 

Canadians  at  Ypres,  4(53. 

CAPRIVI,   (Count,)  14. 

GARDEN,    (Vice   Admiral   Sir)    Lionel,   221. 

CARNEGIE,   Andrew,  975. 

CARSON,  (Sir)  Edward,  "  Britain's  Courage 
Undaunted,"  1028. 

Case   of  Muenter,   929. 

Cases  Reserved,  957. 

CASTLEREAGH,    (Lord,)   125. 

CASUALTIES,  British,  205;  in  war  zone, 
837 ;  naval,  890 ;  Westei'n  campaign,  896 ; 
estimate  of  first  year,  1042 ;  in  famous 
families,  1044. 

Cathedral  of  Rheims,  60. 

CAUSES  of  the  War,  views  of  Sir  W.  Ram- 
say, 189;  Salandra's  speech,  743;  views 
of  G.  Ferrero,  1051 ;  views  of  Count 
Andrassy,  1121. 

CAVAN.  (Lord),  56. 

CHAMPAGNE,   Campaign  in.  2.52. 

Chances  of  Peace  and  the  Problem  of  Poland, 
123 

Chant  of  Loyalty,  672. 

CHARMES,   Francis,  974. 

Cheerful  German  Emperor,  11(53. 

CHENAL,   Marthe,   187. 

CHILD,  O.  C.  A.,  poems,  "  A  Charge  in  the 
Dark,"  .3(55;  "A  Trooper"s  Soliloquy," 
392;  "  Retreat  in  the  Rain,"  770. 

CHAPPELL,  Henry,  poem,  "  The  Day,"  408. 

Charge  in  the  Dark,"  365. 

CHINA,   96. 

Chlorine  Warfare,  986. 

CHRONOLOGY  of  the  War,  196,  396,  592,  796, 
1015,  1221. 

CHURCHILL,  W.  S.,  on  Dardanelles  opera- 
tions, 716. 

Civilization  at  the  Breaking  Point,  772. 

Collective  Force  of  Germany,  1100. 


COMMISRCE,  effects  of  war  discussed  by  N. 
Angell,  63 ;  commercial  union  of  Europe 
discussed  by  G.  Sioesteen,  146;  Swedish 
commerce,  1(50;  Sir  Wm.  Ramsay  on  com- 
petition between  England  and  Germany, 
189 ;  U.  S.  and  Latin  America,  351. 

Conduct  of  the  German  Troops  in  Belgium, 

CONTRABAND,     views     of     Bismarck     and 

Caprivi    on    foodstuffs,    14 ;    mentioned    in 

Amer.  reply  to  British  blockade  order,  274 ; 

sent   through   Switzerland,   336. 
CONYBEARE,    (Dr.)    Fred   C,   928. 
COURLAND,  von  Hindenburg's  operations  in, 

1090. 
COURTNEY,  W.   L.,   poem,    "By   the   North 

Sea,"    extract   from   King   Albert's    Book. 

186. 
COWPER,     Ernest,    on    Lusitania    disaster, 

420. 
Crisis  in  the  Balkans,  1082. 
Crown  Prince  in  the  Argonne,  911. 
CULTURE,   1131,   li;54,   1153. 
Current  Small  Talk,  1186. 
CURTIUS,    Friedrich,    "  On    the    Psychology 

of  Neutrals,"  984. 
GUSHING,  434,  614. 

D 

DARDANELLES    Campaign,    156,     170,    219, 

505,  716,  847,  912,  1081,  1115. 
-DAVIES,  George,  poem,  "  Hoch  der  Kaiser," 

28. 
DAVIS,   Richard  Harding,    "  An    '  Insult  '    to 

War,"  872. 
Day,  poem,  408. 
DELANNOY,   Paul,   1010. 

Depression,    Common    Sense    and    the    Situa- 
tion, 996. 
DERNBURG,     (Dr.)     Bernhard,     forecast    of 

peace  terms,  194;   "Germany's  Conditions 

of  Peace,"  279. 
DESCHANEL,  Paul.  1039. 
Desired  Peace  Terms  for  Europe,  193. 
Devotion  to  the  Kaiser,  930. 
Diagnosis  of  the  Englishm,an,  541. 
DILLON,  E.  J.,  arraignment  of  Vatican,  967. 
Dr.  Conybeare's  Recantation,  928. 
Dodging  Shells,  176. 
Does  Russia  Menace  Sweden  t    1125. 
DARWIN,     (Maj.)     Leonard,     extract     from 

"  Eugenics   During  and   After   the  War," 

999. 
DOLSON,  John  E.,  poems,   "  Sir  Christopher 

Cradock,"    84;    "England,"    384. 
DORCH.\IN,    Auguste,    1009. 
DOURLENT,    (Abbe),    1009. 
DOYLE,    (Sir)   Arthur  Conan,   "  A  Policy  of 

Murder,"   546. 
Dragon's    Teeth,    181. 
Drive  at   Warsaw,  873. 
Droivned    Sailor,  457. 
DUER,     Caroline,     poem,     "  The     Dragon's 

Teeth,"    181. 

E 

Easter    Message,    3."t7. 
ECONOMIC  League  of  Peace,  1133. 
EDISON,    Thomas   A.,    931. 
EDWARD    VII.,    King   of    England,    789. 
EGYPT,    see    CAMPAIGN    in    Egypt. 
ELIOT,   Chas.   W.,   "  Lessons  of  the  War  to 
March    Ninth,"    97;    "Germany    and    the 
Lusitania,"   4.52;    "  Inferences  from  Eleven 
Months  of  the  European  Conflict,"  854. 
EMDEN,  759. 
EMILIANOFF,      Nicholas,      "  Does      Russia 

Menace   Sweden?  "    112.5. 
Endowed  with  a  Noble  Fire  of  Blood,  395. 
England,    poem.,   384. 
ENGLAND  :— 

Army,  losses  at  Neuve  Chapelle,  205; 
call  for  reciuits,  218,  710;  Sir  Ian 
Hamilton's  report  on  Australian  corps, 
917 ;  Earl  Kitchener's  speech  on  re- 
cruiting, 958;  estimate  by  Sir.  G.  Par- 
ker, 10.32 ;  reasons  for  not  enlisting, 
1197. 

See  also  FRENCH,    (Sir)   J. 
Cabinet,   748. 
Coal  strike,  949. 


INDEX 


1227 


Colonies,  378,  1149. 

Finances,  Lloyd  George  on  financing  the 
Allies.  148 ;  Asqulth's  speech  on  war 
credit,  153 ;  Asquith's  speech  on  demo- 
cratic war  loan,  954;  effect  of  present 
policy  after  close  of  war,  1075. 
General  conditions,  1028,  1030. 
Germany,       Relations      with,       historical 

sketch  by  Dr.  Schiemann,  784. 
Labor,    relation    to    supply    of    munitions, 
speech  by   Earl   Kitchener,   290;   Lloyd 
George's  speech  on  influences  of  strikes 
and   drink,  293;   Lloyd   George's   "Ap- 
peal to  Labor,"  750;  munitions  problem 
and   labor,    address    by    Lloyd    George, 
944 ;  call  for  war  munition  volunteers, 
947. 
Munitions  Bureau,  748. 
Order  in  Council,   see  WAR  Zone. 
Suffragettes,      position     stated     by     Mrs. 
Pankhurst,    533;    discussed    by    Sir    G. 
Parker,  1036. 
United   States,   Relations  with,   see  WAR 
Zone. 
England's  Saving  Qualities,  1193. 
English  and  German  Ideals  of  God,  1169. 
English  Falsehood,  990. 
English  Word,  Thought,  and  Life,  1000. 
ESMONDE,    Eily,    poem,    "  August  4,    1915," 

1030. 
EUGENICS,    999. 
EUROPEAN  Federation,  see  UNITED  States 

of  Europe. 
Evvivn  L'ltalia,  1002. 
"  EYEWITNESS  "  report,  459,  471,  711,  905. 


Facing  the  Second  Year,  1022. 

FALABA,  4:«,  434. 

FALKLAND  Islands,  Battle  of,  226. 

FANNING,  Ella  A.,  "  The  Unremembered 
Dead,"  377;  poem,  "  Current  Small  Talk," 
1186. 

Farewell,  poem,   387. 

Farewell,  poem,    1184. 

Feeling  of  the  German  People,  167. 

FERRERO,  Guglielmo,  "  Where,  When,  and 
by  Whom  Was  the  War  Decided  Upon?" 
1051. 

FINANCE,  crisis  in  Germany  discussed  by 
J.  L.  Laughlin,  89 ;  Lloyd  George's  speech 
on  financing  the  Allies,  148;  Asquith's 
speech  on  democratic  war  loan,  954 ; 
Europe's  policy,   1074. 

FINOT,  Jean,  views  on  Carnegie  and  Ger- 
man peace,  975;  "Russia's  German 
Bureaucrats,"    1177. 

First   Year  of   the  War,   842. 

First   Year's  Slain  and   Wounded,  104.3. 

FLAMM,  (Dr.),  "  Aim  of  Submarine  War- 
fare,"  436. 

FLANDERS,    Operations   in,    237. 

FLAGS,   see  NEUTRAL   Flags. 

FLEXNER,  Hortense,  poem,  "  The  Recruit," 
274. 

Flow    of    Tears.    1162. 

FOCH,    (Gen.)    Ferdinand,    37.3. 

FOODSTUFFS,  see  GERMANY — Food  Sup- 
ply;   WAR    Zone. 

Foreshadowing  a  New  Phase  of  War,  148. 

FOSTER,  J.  Robert,  poem,  "  The  Great  Sea 
Fight,"  204. 

FOWKE,    (Brig.   Gen.)   G.   H.,   59. 

FOX,  Edward  Lyall,  "  A  Talk  with  Bel- 
gium's Governor,"  3(53. 

FRANCE,  Anatole,  on  bombardment  of  Sois- 
sons,  1012;  "To  the  French  Soldiers  at 
the  Front,"  11&3 ;  "Through  the  Mouths 
of  Our   Guns,"   1198. 

"  France  is  Fit,"  10.39. 

France"s  Fight  Against  "  Kultur,"  1153. 

FRANCIS  JOSEPH,  Emperor  of  Austria, 
manifesto  to  troops  on  Italy's  declaration 
of  war,  490. 

FRANCE,  army,  impressions  of,  171 ;  ex- 
periences in,  176;  condition  of,  242;  equip- 
ment, 247;  estimate  by  Count  de  Monte- 
bello,  10.39. 

FRANCKE,  (Dr.)  Kuno.  "The  Moral  Right 
to  Thrive  on  War."  1145. 

FREDERICK,  Archduke,  of  Austria,  699. 


FRENCH,    (Sir)   John,   reports.   49,   2(K>,   290, 

471.   713-715,   891,   1105. 
French  Battle  Front,  171. 
French  "  Curtain  of  Iron,"  702. 
French  Fighting  as  One,  1195. 
FRIEDLANDER,    Charles,    "  Britain's    New 

African  Colony,"  1149. 
PROHMAN,  Charles,  422. 
From  England,  164. 
Full-Fledged  Socialist  State,  89. 
FYFE,    Hamilton,    dispatch   on   surrender  of 

Przemysl,  213. 

G 

GAILOR,    F.    H.,    "  The    German's   Concrete 

Trenches,"  256. 
Gallipoli's  Shambles,  913. 
GALSWORTHY,       John,       "  Reveille,"       24 

.'.'  Diagnosis     of    the     Englishman,"     541 
Note  on   the  Principle  of  Nationality.' 

^^^.?i^O^^^'      (D"")      Ludwig.      interview, 
1163. 

GARDENER,  A.  G.,  comment  on  Pres.  Wil- 

son's  note  to  Germany,  637. 
Garibaldi's  Promise,  776. 
GAS  Bombs,  458,  471,  §91,  986. 
General  Foch,  the  Man  of  Ypres.  373. 
GERBEVILLER,   368.       •'''•''• 
German- American  Dissent,  671. 
GERMAN-Americans,  648. 
German  Army's  Achievements,  1024. 
German  Hatred  of  Italy,  497 
German  Navy  in  the  War,  1026. 
GERMAN  People,  attitude  toward  war.   167- 

estimate  of,  by  E.  Verhaeren,  779. 
German  People  Not  Blinded,  22. 
German  War  Bread  Card,  1137 
German  Reports  from  the  West,  1107. 
German  War  Literature,  1126. 
German  Women  Not   Yet  for  Peace,  540 
"  Germans,  Destroyers  of  Cathedrals,"  1004. 
German's  Concrete  Trenches,  256. 
GERMANY : — 

Aims,    stated    by    M.    Harden,    129;    dis- 
cussed by  G.   Sioesteen,  144. 
Colonial  possessions.  858,  869. 
Efficiency,   G.   von   Schulze-Gaevernitz  on 
'The   Collective   Force   of   Germany," 
IKK). 
England,  relations  with,  historical  sketch 

by  Dr.   Schiemann,  784. 
Financial    emergency    discussed    by   J.    L. 

Laughlin,  88. 
Food  Supply,  discussed  by  German  spec- 
ialists, 25 ;  war  bread  card  and  method 
of  distribution,  11.37;  abilitv  to  pro- 
vide, 1165;  reindeer  imported,  1176: 
Government  control,  1190. 
Labor,    munitions.   951 ;   strike  at   Krupp's 

threatened,  952. 
Navy,  estimate  by  I.  Persius,  1026. 
Responsibility    for    war    discussed    by    Sir 

Edward    Grey,    282. 
Social  and  economic   forces  discussed   by 

M.  Millioud,  337. 
United   States,    Relations  with,   see  WAR 
Zone,        MUNITIONS ;        LUSITANIA 
Case. 
War  literature,   1126. 
World    politics,    140. 
Germany  and   the  Lusitania,  452. 
Germany    Fed,    1189. 
Germany    Free !    795. 
Germany  Will  End  the  War,  129. 
Germany's   Conditions   of   Peace,   279. 
Germany's  Long -Nourished  Powers,  964. 
Germany's    Press    Opinion,   6ii3. 
Germany's  Submarine   War,  20. 
Germany's   War  Zone  and  Neutral  Flags,   1. 
"  The  Glory  Hole,"  1119. 
"  God  Is  With   Us,"  1021. 
"  God  Pitnish   England,   Brother,"   31. 
GOLD    Reserves.    151. 
"  Good  Natured  Germany,"  970. 
"  Gott    Mit    Uns,"    983. 
Great    End,   537. 
Great  Hoxtr.   .32. 
Great    Sea    Fight,    204. 
Greatest  of  Campaigns,  182,  232. 
GREECE,    754,    927. 


1228 


INDEX 


GREY,  (Sir)  Edward,  "  The  Allies'  Condi- 
tions of  Peace,"  282;  "Munitions  from 
Neutrals,"  colloquy  with  Mr.  MacNeill 
in  House  of  Commons,  451 ;  message  to 
U.  S.,  1030;  defense  of  seizures  of  Amer. 
ships,  1059. 

GRUPP,  (Dr.)  George,  "Good  Natured  Ger- 
many," 970. 

Guarantees  of  a  Lasting  Peace,  1120. 

GULFLIGHT,  435,  614. 

H 

HAECKEL.  (Prof.)  Ernst,  summary  of  Ger- 
man peace  terms,  194. 

HAIG,  (Sir)  Douglas,  53,  205. 

HAKING,   (Maj.  Gen.,)  56. 

HALDANE,  (Dr.)  J.  S.,  F.  R.  S.,  "War 
with  Poisonous  Gases,"  458. 

HALLAYS,   Andre,   1012. 

HAMILTON,    (Sir)   Ian,   reports,  916. 

HANOTAUX,  Gabriel,  views  on  duration  of 
war,   1132. 

HAPGOOD,^  Isabel  P.,  "  America  and  Pro- 
hibition  Russia,"   345. 

HARANCOURT,   E.,    1011. 

Harbored  Shins,  1043. 

HARDEN,  Maximilian,  "  Germany  Will  End 
the  War,"  statement  of  Germany's  aims, 
129;  "American  Unfriendliness,"  393; 
"  The  Brave  and   Cheerful  Briton,"   1099. 

HARDY,  Thomas,  poem,  "  Sonnet  on  the 
Belgian  Expatriation,"  extract  from  King 
Albert's  Book,  250. 

HARVARD  Prize  Poem,  see  "  Gott  Mit 
Uns." 

Health  of  the  Armies,  1129. 

HEDIN,  Sven,  "  The  English  Falsehood," 
990. 

HEGERMANN  -  LTNDENCRONE,  (Mme.) 
Louise  de,  "  Touring  Europe  in  War 
Time,"  1171. 

Hellas,   10.«5. 

HERVE.  Gustave,  "  A  New  Poland."  ,366. 

HERVIEU,  Paul,  "  Belgium's  King  and 
Queen,"  extract  from  King  Albert's 
Book,    100. 

HEWLETT,  Maurice,  "  From  England,"  ex- 
tract from  King  Albert's  Book,  164 ; 
poems,  "The  Drowned  Sailor,"  457; 
"  The   Soldier's   Pass,"    536. 

HINDENBURG,  (Field  Marshal)  P.,  inter- 
view with,  165;  estimate,  168;  operations 
in    Courland,    1090. 

Hoch  der  Kaiser,   28. 

HOGBEN,  John,  poem,  "  Who  Died  Con- 
tent."   1003. 

HOLLAND,    134. 

HOLT,    Frank,    see   MUENTBR,    Erich. 

How  England  Prevented  an  Understanding 
with    Germany ,    784. 

How    to    End    the    War,    6.58. 

Hudson  Maxim  on  Explosives,  932. 

"  Human  Beings  and  Germans,"  775. 

"■  Humanity    First,"   4il. 

Hungary  After  the   War,   137. 

Hymn  of  Hate,  31. 

Hymn    of    the    Lusitania>    1077. 


armed  strength,  7.36;  Salandra's  speech  in 

Roman    capital,     743;     publications.     978; 

tribute   by  W.    Archer,    1002;    motives   for 

war,  stated  by  G.  Ast,  1128. 
Italy  in  the  War,  490. 
Italy  in  War  Time,  1147. 
Italy  vs.  Austria-Hungary,  735. 
Italy's  Attack  on  Gorizia,  1119. 
Italy's  Evolution  as  Reflected  in  Her  Press. 

301. 
Italy's  Neutrality — The  Last  Phase,  499. 
Italy's  Publications  in  War  Time,  978. 
"  Italy's  Violation  of  Faith,"  741. 
Italy's  War  on  Austria,  921. 
IVANOFF,   (Gen.,)  212. 
IVES,     (Lieut.)     Walter     E.,     "One    Year's 

War,"  843. 


JACKDBS,  C.  Huntington,  poem,  "  Gott  Mit 
Uns,"   (Harvard  Prize  Poem,)  983. 

JADART,  Henry,  evidence  of  destruction  of 
Rheims  Cathedral,   1007. 

JAGOW,   Gottlieb  von,  617. 

JAMES,  Henry,  interview  on  war,  358. 

JAPAN    96 

JEBB,   (Sir)  Richard,  381. 

JEROME,  Jerome  K.,  "  War  a  Game  for 
Love  and  Honor,"  780. 

tfcstcvs     2  IT 

JEWS,' discussed  by  I.  Zangwill,  1155. 

JOHNSON,  Owen,  "  The  French  Fighting  as 
One,"  1195. 

JOHNSTON,  Charles,  "  A  Year  of  the  War 
in  Africa  and  Asia,"  859;  "Warsaw," 
1096. 

JUBALAND,  petition  from  Somali  Chiefs  ask- 
ing to  be  allowed  to  fight  for  England, 
178. 

Julius  Caesar  on  the  Aisne,  48. 

JUNKERISM,  338. 

K 

KESSLER,  George  A.,  on  Lusitania  disaster, 
420. 

KING  ALBERT'S  Book,  extracts  from,  24, 
45,  96,  100,  128,  143,  147,  164,  186,  192,  231, 
2.50,  292,  336,  344,  395,  709,  1162. 

KIPLING,  Rudyard,  "  Music  of  War,"  ap- 
peal for  recruits,  61 ;  "  Human  Beins's 
and  Germans,"  address  at  recruiting  rally 
in  Southport.  775. 

KIRCHHOFF,  (Vice  Admiral),  "  A  Month  of 
German  Submarine  War,"  251. 

KITCHENER,  (Earl)  H.  H.,  "  Warfare  and 
British  Labor,"  290;  "  New  Recruiting  in 
Britain,"  speech  in  London  Guildhall,  9.58. 

KLEIN,  (Abb4)  Felix,  records  of  French 
courage,  388. 

KOOPMAN,  Harrv  Lvman,  poem,  "  The 
Watchers  of  the  Troad,"  139. 

KOUPRINE,  A..  "  Endowed  with  a  Noble 
Fire  of  Blood."  extract  from  King  Al- 
bert's Book,  395. 

KOVNO,   1088. 

KRUPP  Works,  952. 

KUZMIN-KARAVAEFF,  V.,  976. 


"  I  Am  the   Gravest   Danger,"  934. 

In   Memoriam,   Reginald    Warneford,  839. 

In   the  Name  of  Peace,  666. 

In   the   Submarine    War  Zone,   447. 

INDIA,  troops  commended  by  Sir  J.  French, 
290;  loyalty  of,  869;  discussed  by  Sven 
Hedin,    991. 

India's  Loyalty,   (R.   Tagore.)   1139. 

Inferences  from  Eleven  Months  of  the  Euro- 
pean Conflict,  854. 

INTERNATIONAL    Police,    75. 

Interview  on  the  War  with  Henry  James,  358. 

Invasion  of  Courland,  1090. 

ITALY,  press  views  on  policy,  301 ;  declara- 
tion of  war,  manifesto  of  Francis  Joseph 
in  answer,  492 ;  Chamber  of  Deputies  au- 
thorizes war  expenditures,  491 ;  official 
statement  Justifying  declaration  of  war, 
494;    Germany's    view    of,    499;    views    of 

f»ress,  .'tOO;  Serbia  and  the  Adriatic  prob- 
em,   501 ;   reasons  for   desiring  war,   502 ; 


LABYRINTH,  701. 

LAMPRECHT,  Karl,  "  German  People  Not 
Blinded,"  22. 

Land  of  Maeterlinck,  344. 

Land  of  the  Brave  and  the  Free,  1148. 

Landing  at  Gallipoli,  506. 

LANSING,   (Hon.)  Robert,  618,  619. 

LATIN  America,   1351. 

LAUGHLIN,  J.  Laurence,  "  A  FuU-Fledged 
Socialist  State,"   89. 

LAURIER,   (Sir)  Wilfrid,  .382. 

League  for  Preparedness.  679. 

LEAGUE  to  Enforce  Peace,  669,  670. 

Legend  of  the  Rhine,  1144. 

LEONHARD,  (Dr.)  Rudolf,  "  No  Militarism 
in  Germany,"  liol. 

Lessons  of  the  War  to  March  Ninth,  97. 

Letters  from  Wives,  92. 

LIEBERMAN,  Elias,  poem,  "  Chant  of  Loy- 
alty," 672. 

LIETCH,   A.,   623. 


INDEX 


1229 


LISSAUER,  Ernst,  poem,  "  Annunciation," 
503. 

Literary  Revival,  1130. 

LIZT,  Franz  von,  "  The  Union  of  Central 
Europe,"    140. 

Lloyd  George's  Appeal  to  Labor,  750. 

LLOYD  GEORGE,  David,  "  Foreshadowing  a 
New  Phase  of  War,"  148;  "Britain's 
Peril  of  Striltes  and  Drinlc,"  293;  "  Appeal 
to  Labor,"  speech  in  Lancashire,  750;  "  A 
Volunteer  Army  of  Worlters,"  address  in 
House  of  Commons,  944. 

LOANS,  see  FINANCE. 

LOCKWOOD.  Preston.  "  An  Interview  on 
the  War  with  Henry  James,"  358. 

LOON,  Hendrik  Willem  van,  "  The  State  of 
Holland,"  answer  to  H.  G.  Wells,  134. 

LOSANICH,  Helen,  179. 

LOTI,  Pierre,  "  Two  Poor  Little  Belgian 
Fledglings,"  extract  from  King  Albert's 
Booli,  143;  "  Rheims  Cathedral,"  987; 
"  A  Vision  of  the  Battle  Front,"  1199. 

J'Ouvain's  New  Streets,  13.3. 

LOW,  Sidney,  poem,  "  Roberts  of  Kanda- 
har," 210. 

LUDWIG.  Emil,  "  Wanderers  of  the  Em- 
den,"  759. 

LUND,  Bishop  of,  "  The  Flow  of  Tears," 
extract  from   King  Albert's   Book,    1162. 

LUSITANIA  Case,  notes  exchanged  between 
U.  S.,  England,  and  Germany  concern- 
ing use  of  Amer.  flag,  2-15 ;  Pres.  Wil- 
son's note  to  Germany  concerning  sink- 
ing, 409 ;  warning  sent  out  by  German 
Embassy,  German  official  report,  413 ; 
verdict  of  British  coroner,  414 ;  German , 
note  placing  responsibility  on  England 
and  charging  presence  of  arms,  English 
reply,  415  ;  testimony  of  Capt.  Turner,  417  ; 
first  cabin  list,  419;  survivors'  accounts, 
420;  German  official  report  charging 
presence  of  arms ;  denial  by  Great 
Britain ;  denial  of  Dudley  Field  Malone, 
424;  official  declaration  of  Germany's 
policy  with  respect  to  neutral  ships,  425 ; 
Dr.  Dernburg's  defense  of  sinliing,  427; 
German  press  opinions,  429 ;  discussed  by 
C.  W.  Eliot,  452 ;  German  reply  to  Amer. 
note,  G13;  evidence  submitted  to  show 
Lusitania  was  armed,  623;  press  com- 
ments on  Pres.  Wilson's  note,  633 ;  out- 
line of  case,  817;  German  reply  to  Amer. 
note,  81!) ;  Amer.  reply,  823 ;  press  opin- 
ions, 825;  comment  by  Swedish  artists 
and  professors,   980. 

M 

:\LVCKENZIE,  Compton,  "  Battle  of  the 
Longest    Day,"    913. 

MAETERLINCK,  Maurice,  "  Two  Devoted 
Nations,"    924. 

Magazinists  of  the  World  on  the  War,  965, 
1124. 

MAGYARS,    137. 

MALONE,  Dudley  Field,  denial  of  state- 
ment that  Lusitania  was  armed,   424. 

MARINCOVICH.   (Mme.),   179. 

"  MARSEILLAISE,"  rendition  of  by  Marthe 
Chenal,    187. 

MAUD'HUY,     (Gen.),    172. 

MAXIM,  Hudson,  on  explosives,  9"'2. 

MEAD,   Edna,   poem,   "  A  Farewell,"   .387. 

MEXICO,  situation  discussed  by  N.  Angell, 
82. 

MEYER,   (Dr.)   Edward,  on  Italy,  971. 

MEYER,  George  von  L.,  speech  on  prepared- 
ness,  681. 

MEYER-GERHARD,     (Dr.)    Anton,    632. 

MILITARISM,    76,    147,    772,    11.^1. 

MILLER,  J.  Corson,  poem,  "  Viva  Italia !  " 
10.58. 

MILLOUD,  Maurice,  "  A  Swiss  View  of 
Germany,"    337. 

MINES,  laid  in  high  seas  by  Germany, 
charge  made  by  England  in  note  to  U.  S., 
13. 

Modern  Plataea,  709. 

MONGOLIA,   96. 

MONROE  Doctrine,  68. 

MONTEBELLO,  (Count)  Adrien  L.  de, 
"  France  Is  Fit,"  1039. 


Month  of  German  Submarine  War,  251. 

MORAHT,  (Maj.)  E.,  "  Austro-German  Suc- 
cess," 484;  "The  German  Army's 
Achievements,"  1024. 

Moral  Right  to  Thrive  on  War,  1145. 

MORGAN,  H.  E.,  interview  on  war  munition 
volunteers,  948. 

MORGAN,  J.  P.,  attacked  by  Muenter,  929. 

Mother's  Song,  351. 

MOTTA,  (Pres.)  M.,  interview.  335. 

"  Much  Distressed,"  1192. 

MUECKE,  (Capt.)  von,  account  of  Emden, 
759 

MUENSTERBERG,  Hugo,  "  German-Amer- 
ican Dissent,"  671. 

MUENTER,   Erich,  929. 

MUNITIONS — Labor  in  its  relation  to  war, 
speech  by  Earl  Kitchener,  2iK);  Lloyd 
George's  speech  on  effect  of  strikes  and 
drink  on  output  in  England,  293;  British 
Munitions  Committee,  300;  letter  from 
Count  Apponyi  on  Amer.  shipment  of 
arms,  .330;  protest  by  Count  von  Bern- 
storff  against  Amer.  shipment  of  arms, 
448;  Amer.  reply  by  Pres.  Wilson,  449; 
colloquy  in  House  of  Commons  between 
Sir  Edward  Grey  and  Sir  A.  Markham  on 
American  export  of  munitions,  451 ;  Lloyd 
George's  appeal  for  increased  production, 
750;  alleged  German  plot  to  control 
Amer.  munitions  plants,  673 ;  shortage  of 
munitions  cause  of  change  of  Cabinet  in 
England,  748 ;  Austria-Hungary's  protest 
against  Amer.  shipments,  828;  opinion  of 
T.  S.  Woolsey  on  Amer.  trade,  830;  H. 
Maxim  on  explosives,  932;  Lloyd  George 
on  labor  problem  in  relation  to  output, 
944 ;  problem  in  France,  Russia,  and  (irer- 
many,  949;  Remington  Arms  strike  in 
U.  S.,  9.52;  contracts  for  in  U.  S.,  961; 
justification  of  sale  by  U.  S.,  by  H. 
White,  969:  Austrian  note  on  Amer.  ex- 
portation, 1064;  Amer.  reply,  1(X}6 ;  opinion 
of  Kuno  Francke  on  Amer.  exportation, 
1145. 

Munitions  from  Neutrals,  451. 

MURRAY,  (Col.)  A.  M.,  "The  Armed 
Strength  of  Italy,"  736. 

Music  of  War.  61. 

N 

Nation  Speaks,  1050. 

NATIONALISM,  993. 

N-ATIONAL  Security  League,  455,  679. 

NAVAL  Engagements,  see  SEA  Fights. 

Naval  Losses  During  the   War,  890. 

NAVAL  War  Zone,  see,  WAR  Zone. 

NAVY  League  of  United  States,  456. 

NEBRASKAN,  628,  836. 

NECHES,  1058. 

NEUMEYER,  Charles,  comment  on  U.  S. 
note  to  Germany  on  Lusitania,  432. 

NEUTRAL  Flag,  referred  to  in  Amer.  note 
to  Germany  concerning  war  zone,  2; 
Amer.  note  to  England  as  result  of  Lusi- 
tania's  use,  3;  England's  reply  7;  Identic 
note  sent  by  U.  S.  to  England  and  Ger- 
many concerning  neutral  flass,  war  zone, 
and  foodstuffs,  10;  replies,  11-15. 

Neutral  Spirit  of  the  Swiss,  3:55. 

NEUTRALITY,  opinion  of  F.  Curtius,  984. 
See  also  UNITED  STATES— Neutrality. 

Neuve  Chapelle,  205. 

New  Poland,  36<J. 

New  Recruiting  in  Britain,  958. 

NICHOLAIOVITCH,  (Grand  Duke)  Nicholas, 
212. 

Night  in  the  Trench,  1152. 

No  Militarism  in  Germany,  1151. 

No  Premature  Peace  for  Russia.  93. 

NORMANDY.  834. 

NORTH  German  Lutheran  Churches,  telegram 
to  Kaiser,  iV.W.  ^„ 

Note  on  the  Principle  of  Nationality,  993. 

NOYES,  Alfred,  poem,  "  The  Redemption  of 
Europe,"  extract  from  King  Albert's 
Book,  128. 

o 

O'DONNELL,    (Surgeon    Gen.)    T.    J..    59. 
Official  Story   of  Two   Sea  Fights,  223. 


1230 


INDEX 


On  the  Psychology  of  Neutrals,  984. 
ONCKEX,    Herman,    "  American   Opinion  of 

Germany,"    1141. 
ORDUNA.    835. 


Pan-American  Relations  as  Affected  hy  the 
War,  351. 

PAN-GERMANISM,  337. 

PANKHURST,  (Mrs.)  Emmeline,  "  Small 
but  Great-Souled,"  extract  from  King 
Albert's  Book,  45;  "  What  Is  Our  Duty?  " 
533. 

PARKER,  (Sir)  Gilbert,  "  The  War  to  Date, 
from  a  British  Standpoint,"  1031. 

PEACE,  N.  Angell  on  council  of  concilia- 
tion, 83;  Russia, 's  attitude  discussed  at 
opening  of  Duma,  93;  J.  E.  Barker  on 
effect  on  Poland,  123;  Gustaf  Sioesteen 
on  probable  terms,  144 ;  Asquith's  views, 
159;  forecast  of  Allies'  terms,  193;  Ger- 
man terms  outlined  by  Haeckel,  194;  Ger- 
man terms  indicated  by  Dr.  Dernburg, 
279;  Allies'  terms  suggested  by  Sir  Ed- 
ward Grey,  282;  A  Bennett  on,  538;  pro- 
test of  German  women  against  Women's 
Peace  Conference,  540;  G.  B.  Shaw's 
terms,  545 ;  views  of  W.  J.  Bryan,  (545 ; 
W.  H.  Taft's  views  on  League  to  Enforce 
Peace,  667 ;  resolutions  of  league  to  en- 
force peace,  069 ;  H.  Muensterberg's  views 
on  League  of  Peace,  671 ;  Germanic  terms 
discussed  by  Count  Andrassy,  973 ;  Pope 
Benedict's  plea  for,  1022 ;  reported  over- 
tures of  Germany  to  Russia,  1086 ;  Count 
Andrassy's  views,  1120;  "Economic 
League  of  Victory  and  Peace,"  1133. 

Peace  Rumors,  1138. 

Peace   of  the    World,  33. 

PERRIS,  G.  H.,  "  The  Alpine  Frontier," 
739. 

PERSIA,  position  stated  bv  Sazonoff,  95. 

PERSIUS,  (Capt.)  I.,  •'  The  German  Navy 
in   the  War,"    1026. 

PETER  I.,  King  of  Serbia,  re-entry  into 
Belgrade,   179. 

PHILLPOTTS.  Eden,  "  The  Will  to  Power," 
549;  "English  and  German  Ideals  of 
God,"   1168. 

PINARD,   (Prof.),  on  "  War  Children,"  92. 

PLUMMER,   (Sir)  Herbert  C.   O.,  897. 

POEMS : — 

A.  W.,   "  Savings  ",  1170. 
Altimus,   Henry,    "  Peace  Rumors  ",   1138. 
Barry,    Beatrice,    "  To    a    German    Apolo- 
gist ",    329;     "An    Easter    Message", 
357;  "  Another  "View  ",  447;  "  Germanv 
Free !  "  795 ;  "  Thor !  "  933 ;  "  The  Na- 
tion Speaks  ",   1050. 
Bazin,   Ren#,    "  Saviors  of  Europe  ",  292. 
"  Bells  of  London  ",   289. 
Bispham,    Caroline    Russell,    "  The    Quiet 

Harbor  ".   1123. 
Chappell,  Henry,   "  The  Day  ".  408. 
Child,  O.  C.  A.,  "  A  Charge  in  the  Dark  ", 

.365:   "Trooper's  Soliloquy",  .392. 
Courtney,   W.    L.,    "  By  the  North  Sea  ", 

186. 
D.    S.,    "  A   Farewell  ",   1184. 
Davies,  George,   "  Hoch  der  Kaiser  ",  28. 
Dolson,    J.    E.,     "  Sir    Christopher    Crad- 

ock",  84:  "England",  .384. 
Duer,    Caroline,    "  The  Dragon's   Teeth  ", 

ISl. 
Esmonde,   Eily.    "  August  4,    1915  ",    10.30. 
Fanning,  Ella  A.,  "  Current  Small  Talk  ", 

1186. 
Flexner,  Hortense,   "  The  Recruit  ",  274. 
Foster,     J.     Robert,      "  The     Great     Sea 

Fight  ".  204. 
G.  C.  C.  "  Robin  Williams  ".  1136. 
"  The  Glory  Hole  ",  1119. 
Hardy,   Thomas,   "  Sonnet  on  the  Belgian 

Expatriation  ",  250. 
Hewlett,  Maurice,  "  The  Drowned  Sailor  ", 

4.^7;  "  The  Soldier's  Pass  ",  5:^6. 
Hogben,    John,     "Who    Died    Content!" 

lOo:;. 
In  Memoriam :  Reginald  Warneford.  839. 
Jacobs,  C.  H.,   "  Gott  Mlt  Uns  ",  983. 


Koopman,  H.   L.,   "  The  Watchers  of  the 

Troad  ",  139. 
"  The  Land  of  the  Brave  and  the  Free  ", 

1148. 
"  Legend  of  the  Rhine  ",  1144. 
Lieberman,    Elias,    "  Chant  of  Loyalty  ", 

672. 
Lissauer,  Ernst,  "  Annunciation  ",  503. 
Low.    Sidney.    "  Roberts    of    Kandahar  ", 

210. 
Mead,  Edna,  "  A  Farewell  ",  387. 
Miller,  J.  Corson,  "  Viva  Italia !  "  1058. 
Noyes,   Alfred,    "  The  Redemption  of  Eu- 
rope ",   128. 
Porter,     Charlotte,     "  The    Belgian    War 

Mothers  ",  783. 
"  Portsmouth    Bells  "    from    Punch,   757. 
Robertson,        Cecilia       Reynolds,        "  The 

Mother's    Song  ",    350. 
Ryley,  M.  L..  "To  the  Victors  Belong  the 

Spoils!  "  96. 
Seaman,  (Sir)  Owen,  "  Between  Midnight 
and     Morning",     231;     "  Caseo     Re- 
served "  957. 
Sichel,    Walter,    "  To   King  and    People  ". 
336;     "Hellas".     1085;     "Much     Dis- 
tressed ",  1192. 
Simons,   K.   D.    M.,   Jr.,    "  The  Torpedo  ", 
30;    "The    British    Volunteers",    195; 
"  Garibaldi's  Promise  ",  776. 
Smith,   M.   C,    "  The  Jesters  ",  217. 
"  The  Soldier's  Epitaph  ",  548. 
"  Sons  of  the  Prairie  ",  1194. 
Sudduth,  H.  T.,   "  Singer  of  '  La  Marseil- 
laise '  ",     995;     "Poland,     1683-1915", 
1159. 
Sudermann,       Hermann,       "  The       Great 

Hour  ",  32. 
Varley,    Harry.    "  To    the    Captain    of    the 

U ",  816;  "  Night  in  the  Trench  ", 

1152. 
Verhaeren,     Emile,     "  The     Cathedral    of 

Rheims  ",  60. 
Wakeman,     A.     M.,     "  Some     Ruses     de 

Guerre  ",  304. 
"War  of  Notes",   1164. 
Wetter,   Louise  von,    "  Harbored   Ships  ", 

1043. 
Wharton,  Edith,    "  Belgium  ",  192. 
Whitney,    Lavinia  V.,    "  In   the   Name   of 
Peace  ",  666. 
POGODIN,    A.,    on    Germanic    influence    in 

Balkans,  977. 
POINCARB,      (Pres.)      Raymond,      "  United 
France,"    message    read    to    Chamber    of 
Deputies,  1038. 
POISONOUS  Gases,  see  GAS  Bombs. 
POLAND,   123,  366. 
Poland,  1683-1915,  1159. 
Policy  of  Murder,  546. 
POLIVANOFF.      A.      A.,      statement,      1042; 

sketch  of,  1124. 
POLLOCK,        Frederick,        "  The        Modern 
Plataea,"     extract    from    King    Albert's 
Book,   709. 
POLYZOIDES,    A.    Th.,    "  Will    the    Attempt 

Succeed?  "    1083. 
Pope  Benedict's  Anniversary  Plea  for  Peace, 

1022. 
PORTER.    Charlotte,    poem,     "  The    Belgian 

War  Mothers,"  783. 
PORTER,  G.  W.,  "  American  War  Supplies," 

961. 
Portsmouth   Bells,   757. 
Power    of    the    Purse,    9.54. 
"  Preparedness  "    and    War,    656. 
PREPAREDNESS     for    war,     see    UNITED 

STATES — Defenses. 
President    Wilson's    Note,   447. 
PRISONERS  of  War,  13. 

PROHIBITION,   Liquor  problem  in   England, 

298,  300;  growth  of  prohibition  in  Russia, 

345;    problem    in    England,    discussed    by 

Sir   G.    Parker,    1035. 

Prospect   of  Russia's   Second   Year  of   War, 

PRZEMYSL,    211,    683.    874. 
Przemysl   and   Lemberg,   683. 

Q 

Quiet    Harbor,    1123. 


INDEX 


1231 


R 

Radius  of  Action  of  a  Modern  Zeppelin,  47. 

RALEIGH,  Sir  Walter,  "  Dr.  Conybeare's 
Recantation,"    928. 

RAMSAY,  (Sir)  William,  "  A  War  of  Com- 
merce  to   Follow,"   189. 

Recruit,    274. 

RED  Cross  Soc,  gift  by  J.  D,  Rockefeller, 
4S9. 

Redemption    of    Europe,     128. 

Reindeer    for    Berlin,    1176. 

RELIEF  work,   .SSr),   38S. 

RELIGION,  German  and  English  compared 
by    E.    Phillpotts,    1168. 

REMINGTON   Arms   Co.    Strike,   952. 

RENSBURG.  Niklaas  van.  2S4. 

Results  of  Submarine  Warfare,  8.^7. 

Resume  of  the  Military  Operations  in  Eu- 
rope, 1078. 

Retreat  in  the  Rain,  779. 

Reveille,  24. 

"  Revenge  for  Elisabeth  !  "  858. 

REVENTLOW,  (Count)  von,  discussion  on 
"  Calais  or  Suess,"  992. 

RHEIMS  Catiiedral,  987,   1007. 

RIDDER,  Herman,  comment  on  U.  S.  note 
to  Germany  on  Lusitania,  4.'!0. 

ROBECK,  (Rear  Admiral)  John  Michael  de, 
221. 

Roberts  of  Kandahar,  210. 

ROBERTSON,  Cecilia  Reynolds,  poem,  "  The 
Mother's  Song,"  .S50. 

Robin  Williams,  K.  O.  Y.  I..  I.,  1136. 

ROCKEFELLER,  John  D.,  489. 

ROOSEVELT,  Theodore,  statement  on  sink- 
ing of  Lusitania,  444;  "League  for  Pre- 
paredness," ()79 ;  "American  Prepared- 
ness," address  at  Panama-Pacific  Expo- 
sition, 840. 

ROSNY,  J.  H.,  "  England's  Saving  Quali- 
ties," 1193. 

ROSTAND,  Edmond,  sonnet,  "  The  Cathe- 
dral," 1012. 

RUMANIA,  relations  with  Russia  discussed 
by  Sazonoff,  95. 

Rum.ania,  Serbia,  Bulgaria,  Greece,  925. 

RUSSELL,  Bertrand,  on  war  and  non-re- 
sistance, 970. 

RUSSIA,  Duma,  proceedings  at  opening.  93; 
finance,  148 :  calendar  reform,  influence 
of  America  on.  .S49;  railroads.  1125. 

"  Russia  on  the  Way  to  Revolution,"  1127. 

Russia's    German    Bureaucrats,    1177. 

Russia's  Supply  of  Warriors,  974. 

RYLEY,  Madeleine  Lucette,  poem,  "  To  the 
Victors  Belong  the  Spoils  !  "  extract  from 
King  Albert's  Book,  96. 

S 

SABATTER,  Paul.  "  France's  Fight  Against 
*  Kultur,'  "   1153. 

SALANDRA,  (Premier)  Antonio,  speech  in 
Chamber  of  Deputies  on  Italy's  position, 
492;    "Why  Italy  Went  to  War,"  743. 

SaiHngs,    1170. 

Saviors   of   Europe,  292. 

SAZONOFF,  (Count)  Sergius,  speech  at  open- 
ing of  Duma,   94. 

SCHIEMANN,  (Dr.)  Th.,  "  How  England 
Prevented  an  Understanding  with  Ger- 
many," 784;  "Russia  on  the  Way  to 
Revolution."   1128. 

SCHILLER,  (Dr.)  Julius,  on  German  hatred 
of  Eneland.   31. 

SCHULZE-GAEVERNTTZ.  Gerhard  von. 
"  The  Collective  Force  of  Germany," 
1160. 

Scientists  and  the  Military  Movement  in 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  to 
Consult    Civilian    Experts,   931. 

SEA   Fights,    Sir    David    Beatty's    report    on 
action    in   North    Sea,    223;    Sir   Doveton- 
Sturdee  on  Battle  of  the  Falkland  Islands, 
226;   Emden.   7.59. 
See   also    DARDANELLES    Campaign. 

SEAMAN.  (Sir)  Owen,  poem,  "  Between 
Midnight  and  Mornine."  extract  from 
King    Albert's    Book,    231. 

SE.AMAN,  (Sir)  Owen,  poem,  "  Cases  Re- 
served,"  057. 


Self-Sustaining    Germany,    1165. 

Serbia's  Last   Words,  591. 

SERING,   (Dr.)  Max,   "Germany  Fed,"  1189. 

Seven  Days  of  War  East  and  West,  479. 

SHAW,   G.   B.,  on  terms  of  peace,  545;   "  '  I 

Am  the  Gravest  Danger  ',"  934. 
SHUMAN,    Edwin    L.,    "  Stories    of    French 

Courage,"    388. 
SICHEL,     Walter,     poems,     "  To    King    and 

People,"  extract  from  King  Albert's  Book, 

:?:«»;  "Hellas,"  1085;  "Much  Distressed," 

1192. 
SIMONS,    Katherlne   Drayton    Mayrant,    Jr., 

poems,     "The     Torpedo,"     :W;     "British 

Volunteers,"  195;  "Garibaldi's  Promise," 

776. 
Singer  of  "  La  Marseillaise,"  995. 
SIOESTEEN.    Gustaf,    "  What    the    Germans 

Desire,"  144. 
Sir  Christopher  Cradock,  84. 
SLIDELL,    Thomas,    on    Lusitania    disaster, 

423. 
Small  but  Great-Souled,  45. 
SMITH,  M.  C,  poem,   "  The  Jesters,"  217. 
SOCIALISM,    German   State   control   of  capi- 
tal, &c.,  discussed  by  J.  L.  Laughlin,  89. 
Soldier's  Epitaph,  548. 
Soldiers  Pass,  5.3(5. 
Somali  Volunteers ,  178. 
Some  Ruses  de  Guerre,  .304. 
Sonnet  on  the  Belgian  Expatriation,  2.50. 
Sons  of  the  Prairie,  1194. 
South  Africa's  Romantic  Blue  Paper,  284. 
SOUTH  America,    see  LATIN-America. 
Spain  and  the  War,  1191. 
Spirit  of  France,  1185. 
Spirits  of  Mankind,  2.58. 
STAHL.    Gustave,   623. 
State  of  Holland,  134. 
STOLBERG.     Charles,     "War's     Toll     Upon 

Famous   Families,"   1044. 
Stone  Coffins  Unearthed,  1117. 
Stories  of  French  Courage,  .388. 
STURDEE,    (Vice  Admiral  Sir)   F.   C.   Dove- 
ton,  report  on  Battle  of  Falkland  Islands, 

226. 
Submarine  of  1.578,  29. 
SUBMARINE  Warfare,  see  WAR  Zone. 
SUDDUTH,    H.    T.,    poem,    "  Singer    of    '  La 

Marseillaise,'"  995;   "Poland,   16a3-191.5," 

11.5.0. 
SUDERMANN,       Hermann,       poem,       "  The 

Great  Hour,"  .32. 
SUEZ  Canal.   Battle  of.  85. 
Surrender  of  Przemysl,  211. 
SUTRO,  Alfred,  "  The  Land  of  Maeterlinck," 

extract  from  King  Albert's  Book,  344. 
SWEDEN,   Russia's  menace.   1125. 
Stveden  and  the  Lusitania,  980. 
Sweden's  Scandinavian  Leadership,  1(50. 
Swiss  View  of  Germany ,  .'{.37. 
SWITZERLAND.    Preservation  of  neutrality, 

interview  with  Pres.  Motta,  3.'{5. 


TAFT,  W.  H.,  on  sinking  of  Lusitania.  446; 
comment  on  Pres.  Wilson's  note,  447;  "  A 
World  League  to  Enforce  Peace,"  (><!7. 

TAGORE,  Rabindranath,  "  India's  Loyalty," 
11.39. 

Taking  of  Kovno,  lORS. 

Talk  with  Belgium's  Governor,  3(>3. 

Task  of  Italy,  923. 

TATE.  R.  F.,  "  The  Wealth  of  William  II.," 
1167. 

TAYLOR,  T.  M.,  official  statement  concern- 
ing attack  on  Orduna.  S.35. 

TEMPERANCE,   see  PROHIBITION. 

THOMPSON,  C.  W.,  "  Bryan,  Idealist  and 
Average   Man."   (562. 

THOMSON,  E.  W..  "Canada  and  Britain's 
War  Union,"  378. 

Thor!   9.^3. 

Threatened  Despotism  of  Spirit.  981. 

Three   Speeches   by   President    Wilson,   438. 

Three  Weeks  of  the  War  in  Champagne,  2.52. 

Through   the   Mouths   of   Our   Guns,    1198. 

To   a  Gcrtnan   Apologist,   329. 

To  Certain  German  Professors  of  Chemica, 
478. 

To    King   and   People,   3.36. 


1232 


INDEX 


To  the  Captain  of  the  U — ,  816. 

To  the  French  Soldiers  at  the  Front,  1183. 

To  the   Victors  Belong  the  Spoils!  96.  \ 

Torpedo,    30.  L^ 

Toitring   Europe  in   War  Time,  llTi. 

TRADE,  see  COMMERCE. 

TRENCHES,    Concrete.    257. 

TREVELTAN,  G.  M.,  "  Italy  in  War  Time," 

1147. 
TRIPLE   Alliance,   494. 
Trooper's   Soliloquy,   392. 
TURKEY,   German  domination  discussed  by 

Sazonof,    94. 
TURNER,   (Capt.)  W.  T.,  testimony  in  Lusi- 

tania  case,  417.  017. 
Two    Devoted    Nations,   024. 
Two  Poor  Little  Belgian  Fledglings,  143. 

u 

Uncivilisable    Nation,    111. 
Union   of   Central    Europe,   140. 
United  France,  1038. 
UNITED  States  : — 

Austria-Hungary,    relations    with,    protest 

on  shipment  of  munitions,  828,  1004. 
Commerce  with  L^tin  America  as  affected 

by  war,  351. 
Defenses  declared  inadequate  by  National 
Security  League.  455 ;  resolutions  by 
Navy  League,  456;  discussed  by  Roose- 
velt* at  Panama-Pacific  Exposition, 
840;  survey  of  military  situation.  1073. 
England,    relations    with,    see    NEUTRAL 

Flags  ;  NECHES  ;  WAR  Zone. 
Germany,  relations  with,  see  LUSITANIA 

case;  WAR  Zone. 
Naval  Advisory  Board,  931. 
Neutrality   affected    by    sale    of    ammuni- 
tion,   opinion    of    Count    Apponyi.    .330; 
principles    set    forth    by    Pres.    Wilson, 
438 ;  shipment  of  arms  charged  by  von 
Bernstorff   as   non-neutral,    448;    reply 
bv  Pres.  Wilson,  449;  charges  by  Aus- 
tria-Hungary. 828. 
War  industries.   961. 
See  also  ANGELL.  N. 
UNITED  States  of  Europe  as  safeguard  for 
Germany's    economic    freedom.     142,     145; 
discussed   by   Count   Albert   Apponyi,   333 ; 
views  of  C.  W.  Eliot,  856. 
Unremenibered  Dead,  377. 

USHER,      Roland      G.,      "  Pan-Germanism  " 
criticised  by  H.  Oncken,  1142. 


VAN  DREBBEL,  Cornelius,  29. 

VANDERBILT,  A.  G.,  account  of  death  by 
Thomas  Slidell,  423. 

Vaoor  Warfare  Resumed,  4.58,  471. 

VARLEY,  Harry,  poems,  "  To  the  Captain 
of  the  U— ,"  816;  "Night  in  the  Trench," 
1152. 

VERHAEREN,  Emile.  poem,  "The  Cathe- 
dral of  Rheims."  60;  "Address  to  King 
Albert  of  Belgium."  extract  from  King 
Albert's  Book,  147 ;  "  The  Uncivilized 
Nation,"  777. 

Vision  of  the  Battle  Front,  1199. 

Viva    Italia!    1058. 

VIVIANI.    Rene,    1013. 

Volunteer  Army  of  Workers,  944. 

w 

WAKEMAN,    A.    M.,    poem,    "  Some    Ruses 

de    Guerre,"    304. 
WALES,    Prince   of^  49. 
Wanderers  of  the  Emden,  750. 
War  a  Game  for  Love  and  Honor,  780. 
War   and   Racial   Progress,   999. 
War    and    Mone^i,    1075. 
War    and    the    Jews,    1155. 
"  War    BnhiPS,"   516. 
"  War    Children,"    02. 
WAR     Committee     of     German     Industries, 

"  Self-Sustaining    Germany,"    1165. 
WAR  Loans,   see  Finance. 
War  of  Commerce  to  Follow,  189. 
War  of  Notes,  1164. 


War  to  Date,  from  a  British  Standpoint, 
1031. 

War  with  Poisonous   Gases,  458. 

WAR  Zone,  Germany's  decree;  Amer.  note 
to  Germany,  1;  German  reply,  4;  Allies' 
declaration  of  reprisals,  8 ;  identic  note 
sent  by  U.  S.  to  England  and  Germany 
concerning  neutral  flags,  war  zone,  and 
foodstuffs,  10;  replies,  11-15;  U.  S.  notes 
to  England  and  France  concerning  re- 
prisals, 15 ;  replies,  16-18 ;  text  of  British 
Order  in  Council,  18 ;  British  losses  sum- 
marized, 20;  statement  of  reprisal  read 
and  commented  on  by  Premier  Asquith  in 
House  of  Commons,  157 ;  summaiy  of  first 
month  of  submarine  war  by  Vice  Admiral 
Kirchoff,  251;  Amer.  reply  to  British 
blockade  order,  275 ;  extracts  from  article 
by  Dr.  Flamm  on  Submarine  Warfare, 
4.36;  S.  S.  Philadelphia's  passage  through, 
447;  Losses  in,  837;  correspondence,  Eng- 
land and  United  States  on  detention  of 
Amer.  ships.  10.50. 
See  also  LUSITANIA  Case. 

Warfare  and  British   Labor,   290. 

WARNEFORD,  Reginald,  poem  on,  839. 

War's  Toll  upon  Famous  Families,  1044. 

WARSAW.  873,  885,  1080,  1096. 

WASHBURN.  Stanley,  dispatch  on  surrender 
of  Przemysl,  215. 

Watchers  of  the  Troad,  139. 

Wealth  of  William  II.,  1167. 

WEIR.  Josephine,  623. 

WELLS,  H.  G.,  "  The  Peace  of  the  World," 
33;  "Civilization  at  the  Breaking  Point," 
772. 

Western   Front,   1103. 

WETTER,  Louise  von,  poem,  "  Harbored 
Ships  ",  1(>43. 

WHARTON.  Edith,  poem,  "  Belgium,"  ex- 
tract from  King  Albert's  Book,  192. 

What  Is  Our  Duty?  533. 

What  the  Germans  Desire,  144. 

"■  What  the  Germans  Say  About  Their  Own 
Methods  of  Warfare,"  259. 

When  King  Peter  Re-entered  Belgrade.  170. 

Wlien  Marthe  Chenel  Sang  the  "  Marseil- 
laise." 187. 

When,  Where,  and  bv  Whom  Was  the  War 
Decided  Upon*  1051. 

WHITE,  Horace,  on  selling  arms  to  the 
Allies,  069. 

WHITNEY,  Lavinla  V.,  poem,  "  In  the  Name 
of  Peace,"  666. 

Who  Died  Content!  1003. 

Why  Italy  Went  to  War,  743. 

WICKERSHAM,  G.  W.,  letter  on  protection 
of  neutral  citizens,  455. 

Will  the  Attempt  Succeed*  1082. 

Will  to  Poioer,  549. 

WILLIAM  II.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  "  God 
Is  with  Us,"  1021;  interview  by  Dr.  L. 
Ganghofer,    1163;    personal    fortune,    1167. 

WILLIAMS,  Wvthe,  "  When  Marthe  Chenal 
Sang  the  '  Marseillaise,'  "  187 ;  "  '  With 
the  Honors  of  War,'  "  368;  "The  French 
'  Curtain  of  Iron,'  "  702. 

WILSON,  Huntington,  "  Pan-American  Re- 
lations as  Affected  by  the  War,"  351. 

WILSON,  Woodrow,  "  The  Spirits  of  Man- 
kind," address  before  Md.  Methodist  Con- 
ference, 258 ;  note  to  Germany  on  Lusi- 
tania,  409;  address  "America  First"  at 
Associated  Press  luncheon,  438 :  speech, 
"  Humanity  First,"  to  newly  naturalized 
citizens  in  Philadelphia,  441 ;  address, 
"  America  for  Humanity,"  given  at  naval 
review,  443 ;  comment  by  W.  H.  Taft  on 
note  to  Germany.  447;  acceptance  of  W. 
J.  Brvan's  resignation ;  appointment  of 
R.  Lansing,  618;  reply  to  Berlin,  610; 
press  comment  on  note,   6.33. 

"  With  the  Honors  of  War,"  368. 

WOOLSEY.  Theodore  S.,  extract  from  "  Case 
for  the  Munitions  Trade,"   8.30. 

World  Ijcanve  to   Enforce  Peace,  667. 

World    Politics,    140. 

WORLD  State,  "  America  and  a  New  World 
State,"  bv  N.  Angell,  67;  mentioned  by 
H.  G.  Weils,  772 ;  discussed  by  B.  Russell, 
970. 


INDEX 


1233 


Year  of  the  War  in  Africa  and  Asia,  85S. 

YPRES,  Battle  of,  ZV.);  use  of  chlorine  vapor 
bombs  by  Germans,  458;  Canadians  at, 
463;  Sir  J.  French's  report  of,  893. 


ZANGWILL,     Israel,     "The    War    and    the 

Jews,"    1155. 
Zeppelin  Raids  on  London,  46. 
ZEPPELINS,  see  AERONAUTIC.^;. 
ZOLLA.      (Prof.)     Daniel,     on     agricultural 

problem   in   France,    973. 


List  of  Portraits 


ABRUZZI,  Duke  of,  the.  236. 

ASQUITH,   (Premier)  H.   H.,  457,  62S. 

BALFOUR,  Arthur  J.,  628. 

BARK,   P.,   1164. 

BEATTY,   (Vice  Admiral  Sir)  David,  176. 

BENEDICT  XV.,   Pope,   817. 

BERNSTORFF.  (Count)  Johann  von.  773. 

BIRRELL,  Augustine,  629. 

BORDEN,   (Sir)  Robert,  424. 

BOTHA,  (Gen.)  Louis,  1(>1,  992. 

BRITISH  Coalition  Cabinet,  (528. 

BRYAN,  (Hon.)  William  J..  789. 

BUCKMASTER,   Baron,   628. 

BUELOW,   (Prince)  von,  :^S1. 

BUELOW,  (Gen.)  von,  1021. 

BUXTON,    (Right  Hon.   Viscount),  1085, 

CADORNA,   (Lieut.   Gen.   Count),  613. 

CANEVA,   (Gen.)  Carlo,  832. 

CARSON,   (Sir)  Edward,  629. 

CHAMBERLAIN,   Austen,   (i29. 

CHRISTIAN  X.,  King  of  Denmark,  48. 

CHURCHILL.  Winston  S.,  628. 

CONNAUGHT,     (Field    Marshal),     Duke    of, 

425 
CONSTANTINE  I.,  King  of  Greece,  284. 
CREWE,  Marquess  of,  629. 
CURZON,    Earl,   629. 
DELCASSE,   Theophile,   1149. 
DESCHANEL,  Paul,  1053. 
EDISON,  Thomas  A.,  S4S. 
ELIZABETH,   Queen  of  the  Belgians,  409. 
ENVER  PASHA,  692. 
EUGENE,    (Archduke  of  Austria),   771. 
FALKENHAYN,   (Gen.)   Erich  von,  S!)7. 
FERDINAND   I.,    King  of   Rumania,    585. 
FERDINAND  I..  Czar  of  Bulbars,  237. 
FERDINAND,    (Archduke),    440. 
FOCH,  (Gen.)  Ferdinand,  5(i9. 
FRANCIS  JOSEPH  I.,   Emperor  of  Austria, 

833 
GEORGE  v..  King  of  England,  645. 
GEORGE,   Crown    Prince   of   Greece,    880. 
GEORGE,    (Right    Hon.)    David    Lloyd,    221, 

628. 
GERARD,  James  W.,  81. 
GOLTZ,     (Field    Marshall    Baron)    von    der, 

489. 
GOUNARIS,  Demetrios,  977. 
GOURAND,    Gen.,    677. 
GREY.  (Sir)  Edward,  ()28. 
GRIGOROVICH,    (Vice   Admiral).   1148. 
GUSTAV  v..   King  of   Sweden,    32. 
HAAKON   VII.,    King   of    Norway,    33. 
HAMILTON,  (Gen.  Sir)  Ian,  472. 
HARCOURT,  Lewis,  629. 
HARDEN,   Maximilian,   17. 
HARDINGE,  Lord,  253. 
HENDERSON,  Arthur,  629. 
HOETZENDORFF,    (Gen.)   Konrad   von,  676. 
HOLT,  Frank,  see  MUENTER,  Erich. 
HUSSIEN,  Kemal,  Sultan  of  Esrypt,  1. 
JACKSON,  (Admiral  Sir)  Henry  B.,  881. 
JAGOW,  (Herr)  von,  16. 


JONESCO,  Take.  976. 

JULIANA,  Princess  of  Orange,  49. 

KITCHENER,   (Earl)  H.   H.,  628. 

KUSMANEK,    (Gen.)  von,  2(>8. 

LANSDOWNE,  Marquess  of,  628. 

LANSING,   (Hon.)  Robert  J.,  613. 

LAW,  Andrew  Bonar,  473,  628. 

LEOPOLD,  Prince  of  Bavaria,  1036. 

LONG,  Walter  Hume.  628. 

LOUDON,   (Dr.)  J.,  1165. 

LUXEMBURG,  Grand  Duchess  of,  205. 

McKENNA,  Reginald,  629. 

MACKENSEN,   (Field  Marshal)  von,  (i61. 

MARGHERITA,  Queen  of  Italy,  1069. 

MARY,  Queen  of  England,  220. 

MAXIM,  Hudson,  849. 

MEYER-GERHARD.  (Dr.)  Anton,  994. 

MILLERAND,  Alexandre,  IKtO. 

MOHAMMED  V.,  Sultan  of  Turkey,  .304. 

MORGAN,  J.  P.,  865. 

MUENTER.  Erich,  ,S65. 

NICHOLAIEVITCH,  (Grand  Duke)  Alexi.s, 
788,  1068. 

NICHOLAS  II.,  Czar  of  Russia,  788. 

NICHOLAS  I.,  King  of  Montenegro,  441. 

OLGA,  Grand  Duchess,  1037. 

PAGE.   Walter  H..  OTt. 

PETER  I..  Kins  of  Serbia,  64. 

POINC.\RE,  Raymond,  President  of  France. 
456. 

PRESENT  and  Future  Gueens  of  the  Nether- 
lands,   49. 

RAJECZ,    (Baron)   Stephan   Burian  von.  5^4. 

REDMOND,  John.  2S5. 

REVENTLOW,   (Count)  von,  177. 

ROBECK,   (Vice  Admiral)  John  M.  de,  4S8. 

ROBERTSON,   (Gen.  Sir)  William,  568. 

RUNCIMAN.  Walter,  «!29. 

RUSSIAN  Royal  Familv,  1. 

SAID  Halim,  Prince,  693. 

SALANDRA.  Antonio,  80. 

SARRAIL,  (Gen.),  1052. 

SCOTT,    (Sir)    Percy,   KJO. 

SELBORNE,  Earl  of,  629. 

SIMON.  (Sir)  John,  629. 

SONNINO,  (Baron)  Sydney,  660. 

SOPHIA,  Queen  of  Greece.  817. 

SPRINC^RICE,  (Sir)  Cecil  Arthur,  864. 

TALAT    BEY,    1101. 

THIERICHENS,    (Commander),    206. 

TURNER,  (Capt.)  William  T.,  )i44. 

VENIZELOS.  Eleutherios  K..  2.")2. 

VICTOR  EMMANUEL  III.,  King  of  Italy,  .'!6.-. 

WEDDIGEN,  (Capt. -Lieut.)  Otto.  269. 

WILHELM,  Crown  Prince  and  his  family, 
409. 

WILHELMINA,  Queen  of  the  Netherlands, 
49. 

WOOD.  Thomas  McK..  629. 

WOYRSCH,    (Gen.)  von,   1021. 

YUAN  Shih-kal,  President.  3h». 

ZEPPELIN,  (Count)  F'erdinand,  SJKi. 

ZUPELLI,   (Gen.),  1084. 


Cartoons 


CARTOONS— 101-122,     305-328.     517-5:{2.     721-7.-.3,  9.35-943,   1201-1220. 


Maps 


AFRICA,  866. 

AUSTRO-Italian  Frontier,  493,  498,  922,  1118. 

BALKAN  States,   755,  1083. 

BELGIUM,   556. 

CARPATHIANS  Campaign,  487. 

COURLAND,  694,  886. 

DARDANELLES,  222,  5(M.  717,  914,  1116. 

EASTERN  Campaign,  213,  217,  483,  685,  688, 

697,  874,  883,  1088. 
EMDEN  Survivors,  Route  of,  758. 
FALKLAND  Islands,  Battle  of,  227. 
FLANDERS,  Battle  of,  241,  893. 
GERMAN    Colonial    Possessions    in    Pacific, 

GERMAN  Bast  Africa,  860,  865. 
HUNGARY,  Distribution  of  Nationalities  in, 

138. 
ITALY,  738. 
LABYRINTH.    702, 


MARNE,  Battle  of,  234. 

NEUVE  Chapelle,  Battle  of,  207. 

POLES,    subject    to    Germany,    Russia,    and 

Austria,  126. 
PRZEMYSL,   688. 
SOUTH  AFRICA,  287. 
SUEZ  Canal,  Turkish  Routes  to.  87. 
SWEDEN'S   Scandinavian  Leadership,   IC."!. 
TOGO,  859. 
TURKEY  in  Asia,  87. 
TURKISH    Campaign,    867,    871. 
WAR  Zone,  21,  414,  629,  834. 
WARSAW,  1087. 
WESTERN  Campaign,  54,  183,  238,  254,   700, 

712,  894,  907,  912,  1103,  1106,  1108.  1109. 
YPRES,  Battle  of,  241,  404. 
YSER-Ypres  Canal,  4<>7. 
ZEPPELIN,  Radius  of  Action,  47. 


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