AMERICAN VERDICT ON THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 185, 14 January 1915, Page 6

AMERICAN VERDICT ON THE WAR.

'A REPLY TO THE GERMAN PROFESSORS. 1 SIM KITED INDICTMENT. (Reprinted from the Times, November 30, 1014.)

Ninety-three of the most prominent men of Germany, distinguished in various branches of science, art, education, and literature, have recently circulated broadcast throughout America, a letter, entitled "An Appeal to the Civilised AA orld," in which tliey attempt to change public opinion in the United States on the subject of tins war. Mr. Church, president of the Carnegie Institute, at Pittsburgh, and author of "The Life of Oliver Cromwell," has made reply to the German appeal, which is addressed to Dr. Fritz Sehapcr, of Berlin. Jle

It gives nie a feeling of pity to note the. importunity with which the people of Germany arc seeking the good opinion of America in this strife. ]t is greatly to their credit that tliey wish to stand right in the judgment of this nation. But Germany need have no fear that American public opinion will be prcverted by the lies and calumnies of her enemies. We are all going deeper than the surface in the search for the truth. Your letter speaks of Gern.any as being in a struggle "which has been forced upon her." That is the whole question; all others are subsidiary. If this struggle was forced upon Germany, then, indeed, she stands in a position of n.igl.ty dignity and honor, and the whole world should acclaim her and succour her to tin! utter confusion and punishment of the foes who have attacked her. Hut if this outrageous war was not forced upon I;; v,-o:i;.l it. not follow in the course ot nrse,;; that her position is without digii ~h! honor, and that it is hci* foes who should be acclaimed and supported to the extreme limit of human sympathy? I believe, dear Dr. Schaper, that the judgment on this paramount question has been formed. That judgment is not based upon the lies and calumnies of the enemies of Germany, nor on the careless publications published in the newspapers, but upon a profound study of tlie official correspondence in the case. What do the official documents prove?" After reviewing the evidence, Mr Church continues:

'Who began it? Was it England? Scarcely so, for England, in so far as her army is concerned, had yielded for tile popular plea of arbitration; sin: was not ready for war, and will not he ready for another six months. Was it France? Was it Russia? Not one of the !M distinguished men. who have sent me this letter, if they win read the e\ idonce, will say so. Tt was Austria, u lio, by Iter unreasonable and inexorable attack on Serbia, bgan the war, supported at every step by Germany, who, in her turn, gave notice to the Powers of Europe that any interference with Austi ia would be resented by Germany to the full limit of war.

TUB t'RI.MK AfUIXST UELGII'M. Mr Church proceeds:— The next point ill your letter roads thus:—' It is not true that we trespassed in neutral Belgium." Have these 93 men studied well the letter thev have ■signed? ■Could intellects so superbly trained deliberately certify to such ail unwarranted declaration? ' Has any one of my tr.i honored correspondents' read the appeal to the American people by Imperial Chancellor von Bethman-lToli-weg. published in the American newspapers on August 1.)? r iear not, for in that statement the Chancellor said: 'We wore compelled to override the just protests of the Luxemburg and Belgian flovernments. The wrong—l speaV franklv—that we are committing wo will endeavour to make good as soon as our military goal has been reached.' M hat will the good conscience of the Gorman people sav when, in spite of its passion in tty rage for war, it grasps the awful significance of the conlessioi! of the Imperial Chancellor? 'I I '"' wrong that wo are committing.' Hie wreck and ruin of a country that has done you 110 injury, the slaughter of her sons, the expulsion of her King and Government, the blackmail of her substance, the destruction of her cities, with their happy homes, their beautiful monuments of historic times, and the priceless works of human genius! 'The wrong that we are committing.' Worst of all, when the desperate and maddened populace, seeing their sons slain and their homes in flames, lired from their windows in the. last instinct of nature, your troops, with barbaric ferocity, put. them to the svord without distinction of age 01- sex! The wrong! Oh, J)r. Hehapor, if these conditions should ever be reversed and these foreign soldiers should march through the streets of Berlin, would not you, would not all of my 1)3 correspondents, if they saw their homes battered in ruins ami their sous dead in the streets, would tliey, too, not fire from their windows upon the merciless invaders? T am sure T would do so!" GERMAN MILITARISM.

'A our reference to Herman militarism brings up in my mind the conviction that this war began potentially 25 years ago, when Emperor William IT. ascended I lie throne, set himself Supreme War. Lord, and proceeded to prepare his nation for war. TTis own children were raised from their babyhood to consider themselves soldiers, and to look forward to a destiny of slaughter: ami here in America we know even his daughter only bv her photograph in a colonel's uniform.' And lis with his own children, so all the youth of his Empire were brought up. fioing far away from your great philosopher. who. in bis Calegorical Imperative, has taught us all a new golden .rub', the national spirit, of Hernia nv has been fed oil tile sensual materialism of Xiet-tf-'che. on (he undisguised bloodthirst of Oemral von Iternliardi, on the wicked war dreams of Trietsclike, and on the weak morality of von Hulow: and we behold in every scrap ~f evidence that we can gather from your Emperor, his eliildren. his soldier-. his statesmen. and his prol'es-urs, that Cernmuy held herself a nation apar! from the vest »f the worM and superior lo It. and predestined to maintain that superioritv by war. Tu contrast, to tbi., narrow and desfructive spirit-of nationalism, we in Ann rim have learned the value of humanity above the race, s„ Hiat we cherish all mankind in the bosom of our country. Therefore, we can do nothing lmt execrate the conduct of your Emperor, who has driven his troops to slaughter their brethren, and be slaughtered by them in lliis bloody and unspeakable conllict, And so. at last', my dear Dr. Selmper. We find ourselves shocked, ashamed, and outraged that a Christian nation should be guilty of this c:■ i 111 inn 1 \,ar. There was no justification for it. Armed and defended as you were, the whole world could never have broken into your border-. And while Herman culture has si ill something to gain front her neighbors. yet the intellectual progress which f.'ormany was making seemed to he lifting her own people f 0 heller things for themselves and to an altruistic service to mankind. Your great nation floated its ships ill every ocean, sold its wares in the uttermost parts of the earth,

and enjoyed the good favor of humanity, because it was trusted as a humane State. But now all this achievement has vanished, all this good opinion has been destroyed. You cannot in half a century regain the spiritual and material benefits which you have lost. Oh, that we might again have a Germany that ive could respect, a Germany of true peace, of true progress, of true culture, modest and not boastful, for ever rid of her war lords and her armed hosts, and turning once more to the '.(uplifting influence of such leaders as Luther, Goethe, Beethoven, and Kant! But Germany, whether you win or loses in this war, has fallen, and the once glorious nation must continue to pursue its course in darkness and murder until conscience at last bids it withdraw its armies back to its own boundaries, there to hope for the world's pardon upon this inexpiable damnation,"