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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Great War and How It Arose, by Anonymous
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Great War and How It Arose
+
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2011 [eBook #36100]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WAR AND HOW IT AROSE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Produced by Steven Gibbs, Richard J. Shiffer, and
+Distributed Proofreading volunteers (http://www.pgdp.net) for Project
+Gutenberg
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+ Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
+ as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
+ inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to correct an
+ obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook.
+
+ Many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotation marks
+ remain as they were in the original.
+
+ Text enclosed by equal signs was in bold face in the original
+ (=bold=).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT WAR AND HOW IT AROSE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+1915
+
+Parliamentary Recruiting Committee
+12, Downing Street, London, S.W.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ PAGE.
+
+ Serbia's Position 3
+
+ Russia's Position 6
+
+ Germany's Position 6
+
+ Italy's Position 8
+
+ Germany's Selected Moment 8
+
+ Peace Thwarted by Germany 10
+
+ I. Attempt to Extend Time-Limit of Austro-Hungarian
+ Ultimatum 11
+ II. Question of Delay of Hostilities between Austria-Hungary
+ and Serbia 11
+ III. Suggested Mediation by the Four Powers 12
+ IV. Germany Asked to State Form of Mediation between
+ Russia and Austria-Hungary 13
+ V. Russia Suggests Direct Negotiations with Austria-Hungary 14
+ VI. Russia's Final Attempt at Peace 15
+
+ German Militarism Wins 17
+
+ How France Came In 19
+
+ How Great Britain Came In 19
+
+ War with Austria 22
+
+ Japan's Ultimatum to Germany 22
+
+ Allies' Declaration of Common Policy 23
+
+ Turkey Joins Germany 24
+
+ More German Intrigues 26
+ The Near East 26
+ The Far East 27
+ West Africa 28
+ South Africa 28
+
+ How the Germans Make War 29
+
+ Germany's Attempted Bribery 36
+
+
+ APPENDIXES.
+
+ A. Germany's Knowledge of Contents of Austro-Hungarian
+ Ultimatum 40
+
+ B. How Germany Misled Austria-Hungary 46
+
+ C. Some German Atrocities in Belgium 48
+
+ D. Germany's Employment of Poisonous Gas 52
+
+ E. Efforts of German Ministers of State to lay Blame on
+ England 52
+
+ F. List of Parliamentary Publications respecting the War 55
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT WAR.
+
+
+
+
+SERBIA'S POSITION.
+
+
+On June 28, 1914, the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and the Archduchess
+were assassinated on Austrian territory at Serajevo by two Austrian
+subjects, both Bosniaks. On a former occasion one of these assassins had
+been in Serbia and the "Serbian authorities, considering him suspect and
+dangerous, had desired to expel him, but on applying to the Austrian
+authorities, found that the latter protected him, and said that he was
+an innocent and harmless individual."[1] After a "magisterial"
+investigation, the Austro-Hungarian Government formally fixed upon the
+Serbians the guilt both of assisting the assassins and of continually
+conspiring against the integrity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and on
+July 23, 1914, sent an ultimatum to Serbia of which the following were
+the chief terms[2]:--
+
+ "The Royal Serbian Government shall publish on the front page of
+ their 'Official Journal' of the 13-26 July the following
+ declaration:--
+
+ "'The Royal Government of Serbia condemn the propaganda directed
+ against Austria-Hungary--_i.e._, the general tendency of which the
+ final aim is to detach from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
+ territories belonging to it, and they sincerely deplore the fatal
+ consequences of these criminal proceedings.
+
+ "'The Royal Government regret that Serbian officers and
+ functionaries participated in the above-mentioned propaganda...."
+
+ "The Royal Serbian Government further undertake:
+
+ "To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt
+ of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the general tendency of which
+ is directed against its territorial integrity; ...
+
+ "To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbia, both
+ as regards the teaching body and also as regards the methods of
+ instruction, everything that serves, or might serve, to foment the
+ propaganda against Austria-Hungary;
+
+ "To remove from the military service, and from the administration
+ in general, all officers and functionaries guilty of propaganda
+ against the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy whose names and deeds the
+ Austro-Hungarian Government reserve to themselves the right of
+ communicating to the Royal Government;
+
+ "To accept the collaboration in Serbia of representatives of the
+ Austro-Hungarian Government for the suppression of the subversive
+ movement directed against the territorial integrity of the
+ Monarchy;
+
+ "To take judicial proceedings against accessories to the plot of
+ the 28th June who are on Serbian territory; delegates of the
+ Austro-Hungarian Government will take part in the investigation
+ relating thereto."
+
+In effect Austria wished to force Serbia (_a_) to admit a guilt which
+was not hers; (_b_) to condemn officers in her army without trial at
+Austria's direction[3]; (_c_) to allow Austrian delegates to dispense
+such justice in Serbian Courts as they might think fit. In other words,
+Serbia was to lose her independence as a Sovereign State. And to all
+these claims Austria demanded an acceptance within 48 hours--until 6
+p.m. on July 25, 1914. Yet, in spite of this, Serbia, within the
+specified time, sent her reply[4], which amounted to an acceptance of
+Austria's demands, subject, on certain points, to the delays necessary
+for passing new laws and amending her Constitution, and subject to an
+explanation by Austria-Hungary of her precise wishes with regard to the
+participation of Austro-Hungarian officials in Serbian judicial
+proceedings. The reply went far beyond anything which any Power--Germany
+not excepted--had ever thought probable. But the same day the British
+Ambassador at Vienna reported that the tone of the Austrian press left
+the impression that a settlement was not desired, and he later reported
+that the impression left on his mind was that the Austrian note was so
+drawn up as to make war inevitable. In spite of the conciliatory nature
+of Serbia's reply, the Austrian Minister withdrew from Belgrade the same
+evening, and Serbia was left with no option but to order a general
+mobilisation.
+
+An outline of the Serbian reply had been communicated to Sir E. Grey an
+hour or two before it was delivered. He immediately expressed to Germany
+the hope that she would urge Austria to accept it. Berlin contented
+itself with "passing on" the expression of Sir E. Grey's hope to Vienna
+through the German Ambassador there. The fate of the message so passed
+on may be guessed from the fact that the German Ambassador told the
+British Ambassador directly afterwards that Serbia had only made a
+pretence of giving way, and that her concessions were all a sham.
+
+As Sir Edward Grey told the German Ambassador on one occasion "the
+Serbian reply went farther than could have been expected to meet the
+Austrian demands. German Secretary of State has himself said that there
+were some things in the Austrian Note that Serbia could hardly be
+expected to accept."[5]
+
+During these forty-eight hours Great Britain made three attempts at
+peace. Before all things, the time-limit of the ultimatum had to be
+extended in order to give the requisite time to negotiate an amicable
+settlement. Great Britain and Russia urged this at Vienna. Great Britain
+asked Germany to join in pressing the Austrian Government. All that
+Berlin consented to do was to "pass on" the message to Vienna.
+
+Secondly, Sir E. Grey urged that Great Britain, France, Germany, and
+Italy should work together at Vienna and Petrograd in favour of
+conciliation. Italy assented, France assented, Russia declared herself
+ready, Germany said she had no objection, "if relations between Austria
+and Russia became threatening."
+
+Thirdly, the Russian, French, and British representatives at Belgrade
+were instructed to advise Serbia to go as far as possible to meet
+Austria.
+
+But it was too late. The time-limit, which Austria would not extend, had
+expired.
+
+The British Charge d'Affaires at Constantinople discovered the true
+object in view when he telegraphed on July 29:--
+
+ "I understand that the designs of Austria may extend considerably
+ beyond the Sanjak and a punitive occupation of Serbian territory. I
+ gathered this from a remark let fall by the Austrian Ambassador
+ here who spoke of the deplorable economic situation of Salonica
+ under Greek administration and of the assistance on which the
+ Austrian Army could count from Mussulman population discontented
+ with Serbian rule."[6]
+
+So Austria contemplated no less than the break-up of the whole Balkan
+settlement to which she and Germany had been parties so recently as
+1913. She was to take advantage of the weakened condition of the Balkan
+peoples (as a result of the Wars of 1912-13) to wage a war of conquest
+right down to the Aegean Sea.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 30.
+
+[2] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 4.
+
+[3] This demand was pointedly summed up by Mr. Lloyd George at the
+Queen's Hall, London, September 19, 1914, when he said:--
+
+ "Serbia ... must dismiss from her army the officers whom Austria
+ should subsequently name. Those officers had just emerged from a war
+ where they had added lustre to the Serbian arms; they were gallant,
+ brave and efficient. I wonder whether it was their guilt or their
+ efficiency that prompted Austria's action! But, mark you, the
+ officers were not named; Serbia was to undertake in advance to
+ dismiss them from the army, the names to be sent in subsequently.
+ Can you name a country in the world that would have stood that?
+ Supposing Austria or Germany had issued an ultimatum of that kind to
+ this country, saying 'You must dismiss from your Army--and from your
+ Navy--all those officers whom we shall subsequently name.' Well, I
+ think I could name them now. Lord Kitchener would go; Sir John
+ French would be sent away; General Smith-Dorrien would go, and I am
+ sure that Sir John Jellicoe would have to go. And there is another
+ gallant old warrior who would go--Lord Roberts. It was a difficult
+ situation for a small country. Here was a demand made upon her by a
+ great military power that could have put half-a-dozen men in the
+ field for every one of Serbia's men, and that Power was supported by
+ the greatest military Power (Germany) in the world."
+
+[4] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 39.
+
+[5] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 46.
+
+[6] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 82.
+
+
+
+
+RUSSIA'S POSITION.
+
+
+Russia's interest in the Balkans was well-known. As late as May 23,
+1914, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs had reaffirmed in the
+Duma the policy of the "Balkans for the Balkans" and it was known that
+any attack on a Balkan State by any great European power would be
+regarded as a menace to that policy. The Russians are a Slav people like
+the Serbians. Serbian independence was one of the results of the Great
+War which Russia waged against Turkey in 1877. If Serbia was, as the
+Austrian Ambassador said to Sir E. Grey on July 29, "regarded as being
+in the Austrian sphere of influence"; if Serbia was to be humiliated,
+then assuredly Russia could not remain indifferent. It was not a
+question of the policy of Russian statesmen at Petrograd, but of the
+deep hereditary feeling for the Balkan populations bred in the Russian
+people by more than two centuries of development. It was known to the
+Austrians and to every foreign secretary in Europe, that if the Tsar's
+Government allowed Serbia to be crushed by Austria, they would be in
+danger of a revolution in Russia. These things had been, as Sir E. Grey
+said to Parliament in March, 1913, in discussing the Balkan War, "a
+commonplace in European diplomacy in the past." They were the facts of
+the European situation, the products of years of development, tested and
+retested during the last decade.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANY'S POSITION.
+
+
+Since the outbreak of war Germany has issued an Official White Book
+which states concisely and with almost brutal frankness the German case
+prior to the outbreak of hostilities,[7] in the following terms:--
+
+ "=The Imperial and Royal Government (Austria-Hungary) ... asked for
+ our opinion. With all our heart we were able to ... assure him
+ (Austria) that any action considered necessary ... would meet with
+ our approval. We were perfectly aware that a possible warlike
+ attitude of Austria-Hungary against Serbia might bring Russia upon
+ the field, and that it might therefore involve us in a war, in
+ accordance with our duties as allies. We could not ... advise our
+ ally to take a yielding attitude not compatible with his dignity,
+ nor deny him our assistance in these trying days. We could do this
+ all the less as our own interests were menaced through the
+ continued Serb agitation. If the Serbs continued with the aid of
+ Russia and France to menace the existence of Austria-Hungary, the
+ gradual collapse of Austria and the subjection of all the Slavs
+ under one Russian sceptre would be the consequence, thus making
+ untenable the position of the Teutonic Race in Central Europe.=
+
+ "=A morally weakened Austria ... would be no longer an ally on whom
+ we could count and in whom we could have confidence, as we must be
+ able to have, in view of the ever more menacing attitude of our
+ Easterly and Westerly neighbours.=
+
+ "_=We, therefore, permitted Austria a completely free hand in her
+ action towards Serbia.=_"
+
+Farther on in the German Official White Book (page 7) it is stated that
+the German Government instructed its Ambassador at Petrograd to make the
+following declaration to the Russian Government, with reference to
+Russian military measures which concerned Austria alone[8]:--
+
+ "=Preparatory military measures by Russia will force us to
+ counter-measures which must consist in mobilising the army.=
+
+ "=But mobilisation means war.=
+
+ "=As we know the obligations of France towards Russia, this
+ mobilisation would be directed against both Russia and France....="
+
+Here, then, we have the plain admission:--
+
+ That the steps subsequently taken were directed against Russia and
+ France.
+
+ That from the first Austria was given a free hand even to the
+ calculated extent of starting a great European war.
+
+ That a morally weakened Austria was not an ally on whom Germany
+ "could count" or "have confidence" though no reference is made to
+ Italy in this Official document.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] The German White Book (only authorised translation). Druck und
+Verlag: Liebheit & Thiesen, Berlin, pages 4 and 5. (Price, 40 pf.)
+
+[8] Cd. 7717, No. 109. In a despatch from Berlin, July 30, 1914, Mons.
+Jules Cambon (French Ambassador) says:--
+
+ "Herr von Jagow then spoke to me of the Russian mobilisation on the
+ Austrian frontier; he told me that this mobilisation compromised the
+ success of all intervention with Austria, and that everything
+ depended on it. He added that he feared that Austria would mobilise
+ completely as a result of a partial Russian mobilisation, and this
+ might cause as a counter-measure complete Russian mobilisation and
+ consequently that of Germany.
+
+ "I pointed out to the Secretary of State that he had himself told me
+ that Germany would only consider herself obliged to mobilise if
+ Russia mobilised on her German frontiers, and that this was not
+ being done. He replied that this was true, but that the heads of the
+ army were insisting on it, for every delay is a loss of strength for
+ the German army, and 'that the words of which I reminded him did not
+ constitute a firm engagement on his part.'"
+
+
+
+
+ITALY'S POSITION.
+
+
+Italy's position on the eve of the Great War, and while the above
+machinations were in progress, is quite clear for the reason that she
+had been approached twelve months before to take part in a similar
+enterprise and had peremptorily refused. On August 9, 1913, the Italian
+Premier, Signor Giolitti, received a telegram from the Marquis di San
+Guiliano (Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs), acquainting him with
+the fact that Austria had just confided to Italy that, with the approval
+of Germany, she was about to deliver an ultimatum to Serbia, in essence
+identical with that actually sent on July 23, 1914, whereby the present
+Great War was kindled. Austria then asked Italy to consider this move to
+be a _casus foederis_ under the Triple Alliance--which is purely a
+treaty of defence--involving Italy's military assistance on the side of
+Austria and Germany.[9] To this the Italian Premier (Signor Giolitti)
+replied[10]:--
+
+ "If Austria intervenes against Serbia it is clear that a _casus
+ foederis_ cannot be established. It is a step which she is taking
+ on her own account, since there is no question of defence, inasmuch
+ as no one is thinking of attacking her. It is necessary that a
+ declaration to this effect should be hope for action on the part of
+ Germany to dissuade Austria from this most perilous adventure."
+
+Italy, having on this occasion made her position clear, maintained her
+neutrality last July (1914) when Germany and Austria decided to proceed
+with the plans arranged over twelve months before. Italy remained
+neutral because she held that Germany and Austria were the
+aggressors--not Russia and France.[11] By not consulting Italy on the
+subject of action against Serbia, Austria-Hungary violated one of the
+fundamental clauses of the Triple Alliance, and eventually this led
+Italy to denounce the Treaty on May 4th, 1915, and finally, on May 24th,
+1915, to declare war on Austria-Hungary.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] See Appendix "A." Italy denounced this treaty May 4th, 1915.
+
+[10] Cd. 7860.
+
+[11] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 152.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANY'S SELECTED MOMENT.
+
+
+The past history of Germany shows that she has always made her wars at
+her own "selected moment," when she thought her victim was isolated or
+unprepared. As General von Bernhardi says in his book, _Germany and the
+Next Great War_: "English attempts at a rapprochement must not blind us
+as to the real situation. We may at most use them to delay the necessary
+and inevitable war until we may fairly imagine we have some prospect of
+success." On July 23, 1914, when Austria launched her ultimatum to
+Serbia, the Chancelleries of Europe were taken by surprise. Germany and
+Austria chose their moment well.
+
+ (1) The British representatives were away from both Berlin and
+ Belgrade.
+
+ (2) M. Pashitch, the Serbian Prime Minister, and the other
+ Ministers were away electioneering.
+
+ (3) The Russian Ambassadors were absent from Vienna, Berlin and
+ Paris, and the Russian Minister was absent from Belgrade. Indeed
+ the Russian Ambassador at Vienna had left "for the country in
+ consequence of reassuring explanations made to him at the
+ (Austro-Hungarian) Ministry for Foreign Affairs."[12]
+
+ (4) The President of the French Republic and the Prime Minister
+ were out of France at Reval, on board the French Battleship "La
+ France."
+
+ (5) The Austro-Hungarian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had
+ left the Capital and his presence at Ischl was constantly used by
+ the Germans and Austrians as an excuse for not being able to get
+ things done in time.
+
+The known facts of the crisis out of which the Great War arose and the
+messages of our Ambassadors suggest that Germany chose this particular
+time:--
+
+ (1) Calculating that Russia, if she did not fight, would be
+ humiliated, whilst Austria--Germany's ally--would be strengthened
+ by the conquest of Serbia; and
+
+ (2) Believing that if Russia chose to fight, even if she fought
+ with France as her ally, still it was a favourable moment.
+
+The deepening of the Kiel Canal to permit German battleships to pass
+from the Baltic to the North Sea was just completed. Germany had at her
+disposal the larger part of a huge war tax of L50,000,000, and had added
+enormously to her land forces. The murder of the Archduke created a
+pretext which roused enthusiasm for war in Austria, and there can be
+little doubt that Germany was ready to use this wave of popular feeling
+for her own ends. Germany appears to have instilled into Austria-Hungary
+the belief that there was small danger in coercing Serbia.[13]
+
+On the other hand, Germany aimed at thoroughly humiliating Russia and
+France, and appears to have calculated that if the worst came to the
+worst, she and Austria-Hungary would be in a position to beat them
+both. The German view of the European situation may be briefly set forth
+as follows:--
+
+ =Russia.=--Russia was passing through serious industrial troubles,
+ which it was thought might end in revolution.
+
+ =France.=--France was passing through a period of political chaos,
+ no Government being able to hold together for more than a few
+ weeks. And on July 13 the French had appointed a Committee to
+ inquire and report immediately on alleged deficiencies in various
+ defensive preparations.
+
+ =Belgium.=--Belgium was beginning a re-organisation of her Army
+ which would have gradually increased it to almost double its
+ present strength.
+
+ =Britain.=--Germany thought the Irish and general political
+ position in Britain made it impossible for her to show a united
+ front in foreign affairs, and that therefore she would be unable to
+ fight. The Germans seem to have assumed that Britain would be glad
+ incidentally to seize the chance of making money through neutrality
+ and would repudiate her treaty obligations to Belgium and her
+ friendship for France, and be content to see Germany ruthlessly
+ crushing the smaller Powers of Europe. Sir Edward Grey, on July 27,
+ 1914, telegraphed to the British Ambassador at Petrograd:--"I have
+ been told by the Russian Ambassador that in German and Austrian
+ circles impression prevails that in any event we would stand
+ aside."[14]
+
+Our Ambassadors at Petrograd, (July 24, 1914), Rome, (July 29, 1914) and
+Paris (July 30, 1914), each stated that the Foreign Offices of Russia,
+Italy and France respectively thought that Germany was counting on our
+neutrality, while the German Foreign Minister, after war was actually
+declared, seemed totally unable to understand how we could go to war for
+what he called "a Scrap of Paper." The "Scrap of Paper" happened to be a
+treaty guaranteeing the neutrality of Belgium and signed by both Great
+Britain _and_ Germany![15] The whole case is put in a nutshell in the
+despatch from the British Ambassador at Vienna, dated August 1, 1914, in
+which he says:--
+
+ "=I agree ... that the German Ambassador at Vienna desired war from
+ the first, and that his strong personal bias probably coloured his
+ action here. The Russian Ambassador is convinced that the German
+ Government also desired war from the first.... Nothing can alter
+ the determination of Austro-Hungarian Government to proceed on
+ their present course, if they have made up their mind with the
+ approval of Germany.="[16]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Cd. 7717, No. 18.
+
+[13] See Appendix "B."
+
+[14] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 47.
+
+[15] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, Nos. 80, 99 and 160.
+
+[16] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 141.
+
+
+
+
+PEACE THWARTED BY GERMANY.
+
+
+The attitude taken up by Germany and Austria-Hungary throughout the
+whole crisis can only lead to one conclusion--that both countries were
+determined to force their point, even at the risk of a European war. As
+showing the endeavours to devise means of averting a general conflict,
+they should be considered seriatim, together with the persistency with
+which they were blocked in Berlin:--
+
+
+_(I.)--Attempt to Extend Time-Limit of Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to
+Serbia._
+
+On July 25, in reply to the Anglo-Russian efforts, to extend the
+forty-eight hour "time-limit" of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to
+Serbia, the Russian Charge d'Affaires at Vienna telegraphed that he had
+been officially informed that "the Austro-Hungarian Government refuse
+our proposal to extend the time-limit of the Note."[17] How
+Austria-Hungary was aided and abetted by Germany in this refusal is made
+plain in the despatch from the Russian Charge d'Affaires at Berlin on
+the same day:--
+
+ "The (German) Minister for Foreign Affairs ... tells me that the
+ British Government have likewise urged him to advise Vienna to
+ extend the time limit of the ultimatum, ... but he fears that in
+ the absence of Berchtold" (Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign
+ Affairs) "who has left for Ischl, and in view of the lack of time,
+ his telegrams may have no result. Moreover, he has doubts as to the
+ wisdom of Austria yielding at the last moment, and he is inclined
+ to think that such a step on her part might increase the assurance
+ of Serbia."[18]
+
+
+_(II.)--The Question of Delay of Hostilities between Austria-Hungary and
+Serbia._
+
+When the extension of the time-limit of the Ultimatum to Serbia was
+refused by Austria, Sir Edward Grey thought the question of preventing
+or delaying hostilities might serve as a basis for discussion. The
+Austrian Ambassador explained that:--
+
+ "the Austrian Note should not be regarded as an Ultimatum; it
+ should be regarded as a step which, in the event of no reply, or in
+ the event of an unsatisfactory reply within the time fixed, would
+ be followed by a rupture of diplomatic relations, and the immediate
+ departure of the Austro-Hungarian Minister from Belgrade, without,
+ however, entailing the immediate opening of hostilities."[19]
+
+As Sir Edward Grey said in his Despatch to the British Charge d'Affaires
+at Berlin, July 24, 1914:--
+
+ "The immediate danger was that in a few hours Austria might march
+ into Serbia and Russian Slav opinion demand that Russia should
+ march to help Serbia; it would be very desirable to get Austria
+ not to precipitate military action and so to gain more time. But
+ none of us could influence Austria in this direction unless Germany
+ would propose and participate in such action at Vienna. You should
+ inform Secretary of State."[20]
+
+The following day (July 25, 1914), Sir Edward Grey wrote to the British
+Charge d'Affaires in Berlin:--
+
+ "The Austrian Ambassador has been authorised to inform me that the
+ Austrian method of procedure on expiry of the time limit would be
+ to break off diplomatic relations and commence military
+ preparations, but not military operations. In informing the German
+ Ambassador of this, I said that it interposed a stage of
+ mobilisation before the frontier was actually crossed, which I had
+ urged yesterday should be delayed."[21]
+
+But here again Germany was lukewarm, to say the least of it, as will be
+seen in the Despatch from the British Charge d'Affaires at Berlin to Sir
+Edward Grey, dated July 26, 1914:--
+
+ "Under-Secretary of State has just telephoned to me to say that
+ German Ambassador at Vienna has been instructed to pass on to
+ Austro-Hungarian Government your hopes that they may take a
+ favourable view of Serbian reply if it corresponds to the forecast
+ contained in Belgrade telegram of 25th July.
+
+ "Under-Secretary of State considers very fact of their making this
+ communication to Austro-Hungarian Government implies that they
+ associate themselves to a certain extent with your hope. German
+ Government do not see their way to going beyond this."[22]
+
+
+_(III.)--Suggested Mediation by the Four Powers._
+
+On July 24, 1914, Sir Edward Grey suggested to the German Ambassador
+that the only chance he could see of a mediating or moderating influence
+being effective was:--
+
+ "that the four Powers, Germany, Italy, France and ourselves should
+ work together simultaneously at Vienna and St. Petersburg in favour
+ of moderation in the event of the relations between Austria and
+ Russia becoming threatening."[23]
+
+Finding that Russia consented to this idea, Sir Edward telegraphed to
+our representatives at Paris, Berlin and Rome on July 26, 1914, to the
+following effect:--
+
+ "Would Minister for Foreign Affairs be disposed to instruct
+ Ambassador here to join with representatives of France, Italy, and
+ Germany, and myself, to meet here in conference immediately for the
+ purpose of discovering an issue which would prevent complications?
+ You should ask Minister for Foreign Affairs whether he would do
+ this. If so, when bringing the above suggestion to the notice of
+ the Governments to which they are accredited, representatives at
+ Belgrade, Vienna and St. Petersburg should be authorised to request
+ that all active military operations should be suspended pending
+ results of conference."[24]
+
+The Powers, _with the exception of Germany_, consented. Germany again
+proclaimed herself the disturbing element, as is shown in the following
+Despatch from the British Ambassador at Berlin to Sir Edward Grey, dated
+July 27, 1914:--
+
+ "(German) Secretary of State says that conference you suggest would
+ practically amount to a court of arbitration, and could not, in his
+ opinion, be called together except at the request of Austria and
+ Russia. He could not therefore fall in with your suggestion,
+ desirous though he was to co-operate for the maintenance of peace.
+ I said I was sure that your idea had nothing to do with
+ arbitration, but meant that representatives of the four nations not
+ directly interested should discuss and suggest means for avoiding a
+ dangerous situation. He maintained, however, that such a conference
+ as you proposed was not practicable."[25]
+
+Again, on July 29, 1914, the British Ambassador at Berlin reported:--
+
+ "I was sent for again to-day by the Imperial Chancellor, who told
+ me that he regretted to state that the Austro-Hungarian Government,
+ to whom he had at once communicated your opinion, had answered that
+ events had marched too rapidly and that it was therefore too late
+ to act upon your suggestion that the Serbian reply might form the
+ basis of discussion."[26]
+
+
+_(IV.)--Germany asked to State any Form which Mediation between Russia
+and Austria-Hungary might take._
+
+How Germany endeavoured to shuffle out of the suggested mediation by the
+four Powers on the plea that the "form" was not one which
+Austria-Hungary could accept, is set forth in a Telegram from Sir Edward
+Grey to the British Ambassador in Berlin, dated July 29, 1914:--
+
+ "The German Government ... seemed to think the particular method of
+ conference, consultation or discussion, or even conversations a
+ quatre in London too formal a method. I urged that the German
+ Government should suggest _any method_ by which the influence of
+ the four Powers could be used together to prevent war between
+ Austria and Russia. France agreed, Italy agreed. The whole idea of
+ mediation or mediating influence was ready to be put into operation
+ by _any method that Germany could suggest_ if mine was not
+ acceptable. _In fact, mediation was ready to come into operation by
+ any method that Germany thought possible if only Germany would
+ 'press the button' in the interests of peace._"[27]
+
+Here again Germany evaded the point, as is shown in the Telegram from
+the British Ambassador in Berlin to Sir Edward Grey, dated July 30,
+1914:--
+
+ "The Chancellor told me last night that he was 'pressing the
+ button' as hard as he could, and that he was not sure whether he
+ had not gone so far in urging moderation at Vienna that matters had
+ been precipitated rather than otherwise."[28]
+
+Sir Edward Grey's telegram was sent off about 4 p.m. on July 29. His
+appeal was followed almost immediately by a strange response. About
+midnight a telegram arrived at the Foreign Office from His Majesty's
+Ambassador at Berlin.[29] The German Chancellor had sent for him late at
+night. He had asked if Great Britain would promise to remain neutral in
+a war, provided Germany did not touch Holland and took nothing from
+France but her colonies. He refused to give any undertaking that Germany
+would not invade Belgium, but he promised that, if Belgium remained
+passive, no territory would be taken from her.
+
+Sir E. Grey's answer was a peremptory refusal, but he added an
+exhortation and an offer. The business of Europe was to work for peace.
+That was the only question with which Great Britain was concerned. If
+Germany would prove by her actions now that she desired peace, Great
+Britain would warmly welcome a future agreement with her whereby the
+whole weight of the two nations would be thrown permanently into the
+scale of peace in years to come.
+
+
+_(V.)--Russia Suggests Direct Negotiations with Austria-Hungary._
+
+Another excuse given by Germany for refusing mediation by the four
+Powers was the possibility of direct negotiations between Russia and
+Austria-Hungary. The British Ambassador in Berlin on July 27, in
+recording Germany's excuses, said that the German Secretary of State--
+
+ "added that news he had just received from St. Petersburg showed
+ that there was an intention on the part of M. de Sazonof" (Russian
+ Minister for Foreign Affairs) "to exchange views with Count
+ Berchtold" (Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs). "He thought
+ that this method of procedure might lead to a satisfactory result,
+ and that it would be best before doing anything else to await
+ outcome of the exchange of views between the Austrian and Russian
+ Governments."[30]
+
+It is worth noting that, in reply to this Despatch from the British
+Ambassador in Berlin, Sir Edward Grey wrote on July 29:--
+
+ "I told the German Ambassador that an agreement arrived at direct
+ between Austria and Russia would be the best possible solution. I
+ would press no proposal as long as there was a prospect of that,
+ but my information this morning was that the Austrian Government
+ have declined the suggestion of the Russian Government that the
+ Austrian Ambassador at St. Petersburg should be authorised to
+ discuss directly with the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs the
+ means of settling the Austro-Serbian conflict."[31]
+
+Russia had done her best to open these negotiations, and endeavoured to
+get the German Government to advise Austria to continue negotiations
+thus opened. How the proposal was received by Germany is found in the
+following Despatch from the Russian Charge d'Affaires in Berlin, dated
+July 27, 1914:--
+
+ "I begged the Minister for Foreign Affairs to support your proposal
+ in Vienna that Szapary" (Austro-Hungarian Ambassador in Russia)
+ "should be authorised to draw up, by means of a private exchange of
+ views with you, a wording of the Austro-Hungarian demands which
+ would be acceptable to both parties. Jagow" (German Foreign
+ Secretary of State) "answered that he was aware of this proposal
+ and that he agreed with Pourtales" (German Ambassador in Russia)
+ "that as Szapary had begun this conversation, he might as well go
+ on with it. He will telegraph in this sense to the German
+ Ambassador at Vienna. I begged him to press Vienna with greater
+ insistence to adopt this conciliatory line; Jagow answered that _he
+ could not advise Austria to give way_."[32]
+
+The result of Germany's hostile attitude to the plan was at once made
+apparent the next day in Vienna, where the Russian Ambassador reported
+on July 28, 1914:--
+
+ "Count Berchtold" (Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs)
+ "replied that he was well aware of the gravity of the situation and
+ of the advantages of a frank explanation with the St. Petersburg
+ Cabinet. He told me that, on the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian
+ Government, who had only decided, much against their will, on the
+ energetic measures which they had taken against Serbia, could no
+ longer recede, nor enter into any discussion of the terms of the
+ Austro-Hungarian note."[33]
+
+
+_(VI.)--Russia's Final Attempt at Peace._
+
+Finally, on July 30, 1914, another attempt at peace by Russia is
+indicated in the Despatch from the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs
+to the Russian Ambassadors at Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, and Rome,
+in the following terms:--
+
+ "The German Ambassador, who has just left me, has asked whether
+ Russia would not be satisfied with the promise which Austria might
+ give--that she would not violate the integrity of the Kingdom of
+ Serbia--and whether we could not indicate upon what conditions we
+ would agree to suspend our military preparations. I dictated to him
+ the following declaration to be forwarded to Berlin for immediate
+ action: 'If Austria, recognising that the Austro-Serbian question
+ has become a question of European interest, declares herself ready
+ to eliminate from her ultimatum such points as violate the
+ sovereign rights of Serbia, Russia undertakes to stop her military
+ preparations.'
+
+ "Please inform me at once by telegraph what attitude the German
+ Government will adopt in face of this fresh proof of our desire to
+ do the utmost possible for a peaceful settlement of the question,
+ for we cannot allow such discussions to continue solely in order
+ that Germany and Austria may gain time for their military
+ preparations."[34]
+
+And subsequently this was amended according to the following Despatch
+from the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Russian Ambassadors
+abroad, dated July 31, 1914, Petrograd:--
+
+ "Please refer to my telegram of 17 (30) July. The British
+ Ambassador, on the instructions of his Government, has informed me
+ of the wish of the London Cabinet to make certain modifications in
+ the formula which I suggested yesterday to the German Ambassador. I
+ replied that I accepted the British suggestion. I accordingly send
+ you the text of the modified formula, which is as follows:--
+
+ "'If Austria will agree to check the advance of her troops on
+ Serbian territory; if, recognising that the dispute between
+ Austria and Serbia has become a question of European interest,
+ she will allow the Great Powers to look into the matter and
+ decide what satisfaction Serbia could afford to the
+ Austro-Hungarian Government without impairing her rights as a
+ sovereign State or her independence, Russia will undertake to
+ maintain her waiting attitude."[35]
+
+The possibility of peace was not thought hopeless by Sir Edward Grey,
+for, in a despatch to the British Ambassador at Berlin, dated August 1,
+he says:--
+
+ "I still believe that it might be possible to secure peace if only
+ a little respite in time can be gained before any Great Power
+ begins war.
+
+ "The Russian Government has communicated to me the readiness of
+ Austria to discuss with Russia and the readiness of Austria to
+ accept a basis of mediation which is not open to the objections
+ raised in regard to the formula which Russia originally suggested.
+
+ "Things ought not to be hopeless so long as Austria and Russia are
+ ready to converse, and I hope that German Government may be able
+ to make use of the Russian communications referred to above, in
+ order to avoid tension. His Majesty's Government are carefully
+ abstaining from any act which may precipitate matters."[36]
+
+That Austria was at last taking a more reasonable attitude is shown by
+the despatch from the Russian Ambassador in Paris, dated August 1,
+1914:--
+
+ "The Austrian Ambassador yesterday visited Viviani" (French
+ Minister for Foreign Affairs), "and declared to him that Austria,
+ far from harbouring any designs against the integrity of Serbia,
+ was in fact ready to discuss the grounds of her grievances against
+ Servia with the other powers. The French Government are much
+ exercised at Germany's extraordinary military activity on the
+ French frontier for they are convinced that under the guise of
+ 'Kriegszustand,' mobilisation is, in reality, being carried
+ out."[37]
+
+Unfortunately at this point, when the Austro-Hungarian Government
+appeared ready to debate amicably with Russia, Germany stopped all
+efforts at peace by issuing an Ultimatum to Russia. News of this is
+given in a telegram to the Russian representatives abroad on August 1,
+in the following terms:--
+
+ "At midnight the German Ambassador announced to me, on the
+ instruction of his Government, that if within 12 hours, that is by
+ midnight on Saturday, we had not begun to demobilise, not only
+ against Germany, but also against Austria, the German Government
+ would be compelled to give the order for mobilisation. To my
+ enquiry whether this meant war, the Ambassador replied in the
+ negative, but added that we were very near it."[38]
+
+As Sir Maurice de Bunsen, the British Ambassador in Vienna, tersely put
+it in his despatch, dated from London, September 1, 1914, to Sir Edward
+Grey:--
+
+ "Unfortunately these conversations at St. Petersburg and Vienna
+ were cut short by the transfer of the dispute to the more dangerous
+ ground of a direct conflict between Germany and Russia. Germany
+ intervened on the 31st July by means of her double ultimatums to
+ St. Petersburg and Paris. The ultimatums were of a kind to which
+ only one answer is possible, and Germany declared war on Russia on
+ the 1st August, and on France on the 3rd August. _A few days' delay
+ might in all probability have saved Europe from one of the greatest
+ calamities in history._"[39]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Cd. 7626, No. 12.
+
+[18] Cd. 7626, No. 14.
+
+[19] Cd. 7626, No. 16.
+
+[20] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 11.
+
+[21] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 25.
+
+[22] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 34.
+
+[23] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 11.
+
+[24] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 36.
+
+[25] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 43.
+
+[26] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 75.
+
+[27] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 84.
+
+[28] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 107.
+
+[29] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, Nos. 85 and 101.
+
+[30] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 43.
+
+[31] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 84.
+
+[32] Cd. 7626, No. 38.
+
+[33] Cd. 7626, No. 45.
+
+[34] Cd. 7626, No. 60.
+
+[35] Cd. 7626, No. 67.
+
+[36] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 131.
+
+[37] Cd. 7626, No. 73.
+
+[38] Cd. 7626, No. 70.
+
+[39] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 161.
+
+
+
+
+GERMAN MILITARISM WINS.
+
+
+Thus Germany rejected all suggestions, while Austria, supported by
+Germany, was determined on war. The Serbian episode was clearly an
+excuse. Germany's alliance with Austria was "defensive." She was bound
+to join with Austria only in case of the latter being _attacked_ by
+Russia. Austria claimed that because Russia would not stand idle while
+Serbia was crushed, therefore Russia was the aggressor. Germany was a
+party to the Austrian attack on Serbia. The British Ambassador at Vienna
+on July 30 says: "I have private information that the German Ambassador
+(at Vienna) knew the text of the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia _before it
+was despatched and telegraphed it to the German Emperor_. I know from
+the German Ambassador himself that he endorses every line of it."[40]
+
+Germany, therefore, chose this moment to send a challenge to Russia
+knowing that Russia must fight unless she were willing to be humiliated
+and disgraced in the eyes, not only of men of the Slav race in the
+Balkans, but in the eyes of the whole world.
+
+The French Foreign Minister, telegraphing on July 31 to the French
+Ambassador in London as to Germany's aggressive steps on the
+Franco-German frontier, said: "All my information goes to show that the
+German preparations began on Saturday (July 25)."[41] What has actually
+happened in the war goes to show that this must have been the case.
+
+The precise situation at this point is well shown in the British Foreign
+Office introduction to _Great Britain and the European Crisis_:--
+
+ "At this moment, on Friday, the 31st, Germany suddenly despatched
+ an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that she should countermand her
+ mobilisation within twelve hours. Every allowance must be made for
+ the natural nervousness which, as history has repeatedly shown,
+ overtakes nations when mobilisation is under way. All that can be
+ said is that, _according to the information in the possession of
+ His Majesty's Government, mobilisation had not at the time
+ proceeded as far in Russia as in Germany, although general
+ mobilisation was not publicly proclaimed in Germany till the next
+ day, the 1st August_. France also began to mobilise on that day.
+ The German Secretary of State refused to discuss a last proposal
+ from Sir E. Grey for joint action with Germany, France, and Italy
+ until Russia's reply should be received, and in the afternoon the
+ German Ambassador at St. Petersburg presented a declaration of war.
+ Yet on this same day, Saturday, the 1st, Russia assured Great
+ Britain that she would on no account commence hostilities if the
+ Germans did not cross the frontier, and France declared that her
+ troops would be kept 6 miles from her frontier so as to prevent a
+ collision. This was the situation when very early on Sunday
+ morning, the 2nd August, German troops invaded Luxemburg, a small
+ independent State whose neutrality had been guaranteed by all the
+ Powers with the same object as the similar guarantee of Belgium.
+ The die was cast. War between Germany, Russia, and France had
+ become inevitable."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[40] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 95.
+
+[41] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 105--Enclosure 3.
+
+
+
+
+HOW FRANCE CAME IN.
+
+
+France, by her alliance with Russia, was bound to stand by Russia if she
+was attacked by Germany and Austria. On July 31 the German Ambassador at
+Paris informed the French Government that Russia had ordered a complete
+mobilisation, and that Germany had given Russia twelve hours in which to
+order demobilisation and asking France to define her attitude. France
+was given no time, and war came, when German troops at once crossed the
+French frontier. Germany, by her attitude towards France, plainly
+admitted that she was the aggressor. She made no pretence of any cause
+of quarrel with France, but attacked her because of France's defensive
+alliance with Russia.
+
+
+
+
+HOW GREAT BRITAIN CAME IN.
+
+
+Great Britain was primarily drawn in to save Belgium. We were bound by a
+Treaty (1839) to which Germany and France were also parties,
+guaranteeing the neutrality of Belgium. When Germany attacked France in
+1870, Prince Bismarck gave Belgium a written declaration--which he said
+was superfluous in view of the Treaty in existence--that the German
+Confederation and its allies would respect the neutrality of Belgium,
+provided that neutrality were respected by the other belligerent Powers.
+
+France has been faithful to her Treaty. She even left her Belgian
+frontier unfortified. On August 3, 1914, on the verge of war, our
+position was made plain by Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons, when
+he said:--
+
+ "When mobilisation was beginning, I knew that this question must be
+ a most important element in our policy--a most important subject
+ for the House of Commons. I telegraphed at the same time in similar
+ terms to both Paris and Berlin to say that it was essential for us
+ to know whether the French and German Governments respectively were
+ prepared to undertake an engagement to respect the neutrality of
+ Belgium. These are the replies. I got from the French Government
+ this reply:--
+
+ "'The French Government are resolved to respect the neutrality
+ of Belgium, and it would only be in the event of some other
+ Power violating that neutrality that France might find herself
+ under the necessity, in order to assure the defence of her
+ security, to act otherwise. This assurance has been given
+ several times. The President of the Republic spoke of it to
+ the King of the Belgians, and the French Minister at Brussels
+ has spontaneously renewed the assurance to the Belgian
+ Minister of Foreign Affairs to-day.'
+
+ "From the German Government the reply was:--
+
+ "'The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs could not
+ possibly give an answer before consulting the Emperor and the
+ Imperial Chancellor.'
+
+ "Sir Edward Goschen, to whom I had said it was important to have an
+ answer soon, said he hoped the answer would not be too long
+ delayed. The German Minister for Foreign Affairs then gave Sir
+ Edward Goschen to understand that he rather doubted whether they
+ could answer at all, as any reply they might give could not fail,
+ in the event of war, to have the undesirable effect of disclosing,
+ to a certain extent, part of their plan of campaign."[42]
+
+This clearly indicated that Germany would not respect the neutrality of
+Belgium, and the day after Sir Edward Grey's speech, on August 4, the
+German Army had penetrated Belgium on its way to France after a
+peremptory notice to the Belgian Government to the effect that the
+Imperial Government "will, deeply to their regret, be compelled to carry
+out, if necessary, by force of arms, the measures considered
+indispensable." Thus began the nightmare of German "Kultur," to which
+unoffending Belgium was subjected, and against which she appealed to the
+British Government: "Belgium appeals to Great Britain and France and
+Russia to co-operate, as guarantors, in defence of her territory."[43]
+On August 4 Great Britain asked Germany for a definite assurance by
+midnight that she would not violate Belgian neutrality. Germany's
+attitude is unmistakable in the following report of an interview by our
+Ambassador in Berlin with the German Secretary of State:--
+
+ "Herr von Jagow at once replied that he was sorry to say that his
+ answer must be 'No,' as, in consequence of the German troops having
+ crossed the frontier that morning, Belgian neutrality had been
+ already violated. Herr von Jagow again went into the reasons why
+ the Imperial Government had been obliged to take this step, namely,
+ that they had to advance into France by the quickest and easiest
+ way, so as to be able to get well ahead with their operations and
+ endeavour to strike some decisive blow as early as possible.
+
+ "It was a matter of life and death for them, as if they had gone by
+ the more southern route they could not have hoped, in view of the
+ paucity of roads and the strength of the fortresses, to have got
+ through without formidable opposition entailing great loss of
+ time.
+
+ "This loss of time would have meant time gained by the Russians for
+ bringing up their troops to the German frontier. Rapidity of action
+ was the great German asset, while that of Russia was an
+ inexhaustible supply of troops....
+
+ "I then said that I should like to go and see the Chancellor, as it
+ might be, perhaps, the last time I should have an opportunity of
+ seeing him.... I found the Chancellor very agitated. His Excellency
+ at once began a harangue, which lasted for about twenty minutes. He
+ said that the step taken by His Majesty's Government was terrible
+ to a degree; just for a word--'neutrality,' a word which in war
+ time had so often been disregarded--just for a scrap of paper Great
+ Britain was going to make war on a kindred nation.... He held Great
+ Britain responsible for all the terrible events that might happen.
+ I protested strongly against that statement, and said that, in the
+ same way as he and Herr von Jagow wished me to understand that for
+ strategical reasons it was a matter of life and death to Germany to
+ advance through Belgium and violate the latter's neutrality, so I
+ would wish him to understand that it was, so to speak, a matter of
+ 'life and death' for the honour of Great Britain that she should
+ keep her solemn engagement to do her utmost to defend Belgium's
+ neutrality if attacked. That solemn compact simply had to be kept,
+ or what confidence could anyone have in engagements given by Great
+ Britain in the future? The Chancellor said: 'But at what price will
+ that compact have been kept. Has the British Government thought of
+ that?' I hinted to His Excellency as plainly as I could that fear
+ of consequences could hardly be regarded as an excuse for breaking
+ solemn engagements, but His Excellency was so excited, so evidently
+ overcome by the news of our action, and so little disposed to hear
+ reason that I refrained from adding fuel to the flame by further
+ argument."[44]
+
+Thus, when midnight struck on Tuesday, August 4, 1914, it found us at
+war with Germany for tearing up the "scrap of paper" which was Britain's
+bond.[45] And earlier in the same day the German Chancellor, Dr. von
+Bethmann Hollweg, in the course of a remarkable speech in the Reichstag,
+admitted the naked doctrine, that German "necessity" overrides every
+consideration of right and wrong, in the following words:--
+
+ "=Gentlemen, we are now in a state of necessity, and necessity
+ knows no law! Our troops have occupied Luxemburg and perhaps" (as a
+ matter of fact the speaker knew that Belgium had been invaded that
+ morning) "are already on Belgian soil. Gentlemen, that is contrary
+ to the dictates of international law.... The wrong--I speak
+ openly--that we are committing we will endeavour to make good as
+ soon as our military goal has been reached. Anybody who is
+ threatened, as we are threatened, and is fighting for his highest
+ possessions can have only one thought--how he is to hack his way
+ through (wie er sich durchhaut)!="[46]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[42] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, Part II.
+
+[43] Statements by Prime Minister, House of Commons, August 4 and 5,
+1914.
+
+[44] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 160.
+
+[45] See Appendix E.
+
+[46] The _Times_, August 11, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+WAR WITH AUSTRIA.
+
+
+From now onwards we were definitely allied with France in defence of
+Belgium's neutrality.
+
+At 6 p.m. on August 6, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia.
+
+On August 12 Sir Edward Grey was compelled to inform Count Mensdorff
+(Austro-Hungarian Ambassador in London) at the request of the French
+Government, that a complete rupture having occurred between France and
+Austria, a state of war between Great Britain and Austria would be
+declared from midnight of August 12.
+
+
+
+
+JAPAN'S ULTIMATUM TO GERMANY.
+
+
+On August 17 the text of an ultimatum by Japan to Germany was published
+in the following terms:--
+
+ "We consider it highly important and necessary in the present
+ situation to take measures to remove the causes of all disturbance
+ of the peace in the Far East and to safeguard general interests as
+ contemplated in the agreement of alliance between Japan and Great
+ Britain.
+
+ "In order to secure firm and enduring peace in Eastern Asia, the
+ establishment of which is the aim of the said agreement, the
+ Imperial Japanese Government sincerely believes it to be its duty
+ to give advice to the Imperial German Government, to carry out the
+ following two propositions:--
+
+ "(1) To withdraw immediately from Japanese and Chinese waters
+ the German men-of-war and armed vessels of all kinds, and to
+ disarm at once those which cannot be withdrawn.
+
+ "(2) To deliver on a date not later than September 15 to the
+ Imperial Japanese authorities without condition or
+ compensation the entire leased territory of Kiao-chau with a
+ view to the eventual restoration of the same to China.
+
+ "The Imperial Japanese Government announces at the same time that
+ in the event of its not receiving by noon of August 23 an answer
+ from the Imperial German Government signifying unconditional
+ acceptance of the above advice offered by the Imperial Japanese
+ Government, Japan will be compelled to take such action as it may
+ deem necessary to meet the situation."[47]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[47] Under Art. II of the Anglo-Japanese Agreement, signed on July 13,
+1911, it was agreed that if the two contracting parties should conduct a
+war in common, they should make peace in mutual agreement, etc.
+
+
+
+
+BRITISH APPROVAL.
+
+
+The Official Press Bureau issued the following on August 17:--
+
+ "The Governments of Great Britain and Japan, having been in
+ communication with each other, are of opinion that it is necessary
+ for each to take action to protect the general interest in the Far
+ East contemplated by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, keeping specially
+ in view the independence and integrity of China, and provided for
+ in that Agreement.
+
+ "It is understood that the action of Japan will not extend to the
+ Pacific Ocean beyond the China Seas, except in so far as it may be
+ necessary to protect Japanese shipping lines in the Pacific, nor
+ beyond Asiatic waters westward of the China Seas, nor to any
+ foreign territory except territory in German occupation on the
+ Continent of Eastern Asia."
+
+
+
+
+_DECLARATION OF COMMON POLICY._
+
+
+On September 5, 1914, the British Official Press Bureau issued the
+following statement from the Foreign Office:--
+
+
+ DECLARATION.
+
+ The undersigned duly authorised thereto by the respective
+ Governments hereby declare as follows:--
+
+ The British, French, and Russian Governments mutually engage not to
+ conclude peace separately during the present war. The three
+ Governments agree that when terms of peace come to be discussed no
+ one of the Allies will demand terms of peace without the previous
+ agreement of each of the other Allies. In faith whereof the
+ undersigned have signed this Declaration and have affixed thereto
+ their seals.
+
+ Done at London in triplicate, the 5th day of September, 1914.
+
+ E. Grey, His Britannic Majesty's Secretary of
+ State for Foreign Affairs.
+
+ Paul Cambon, Ambassador Extraordinary and
+ Plenipotentiary of the French Republic.
+
+ Benckendorff, Ambassador Extraordinary and
+ Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of
+ Russia.
+
+
+
+
+TURKEY JOINS GERMANY.
+
+
+Directly war broke out the Turkish Army was mobilised, under the supreme
+command of Enver Pasha, who was entirely in German hands.[48] Although
+the Turkish Government had declared their intention of preserving their
+neutrality, they took no steps to ensure its maintenance. They forfeited
+their ability to do so by the admission of the German warships, "Goeben"
+and "Breslau," which, fleeing from the Allied Fleets, had entered the
+Dardanelles on August 10.
+
+Instead of interning these war vessels with their crews, as they were
+repeatedly asked to do by the Allied Governments, the Turkish Government
+allowed the German Admiral and his men to remain on board, and while
+this was the case the German Government were in a position to force the
+hand of the Turkish Government whenever it suited them to do so.
+
+In pursuance of a long-prepared policy, the greatest pressure was
+exercised by Germany to force Turkey into hostilities. German success in
+the European War was said to be assured; the perpetual menace to Turkey
+from Russia might, it was suggested, be averted by an alliance with
+Germany and Austria; Egypt might be recovered for the Empire; India and
+other Moslem countries would rise against Christian rule, to the great
+advantage of the Caliphate of Constantinople; Turkey would emerge from
+the War the one great power of the East, even as Germany would be the
+one great power of the West. Such was the substance of German
+misrepresentations.
+
+Enver Pasha, dominated by a quasi-Napoleonic ideal, and by the
+conviction of the superiority of German arms, proved a most active agent
+on behalf of Germany.
+
+A strong German element was imported into the remainder of the Turkish
+Fleet, even before the British Naval Mission, which had been reduced to
+impotence by order of the Minister of Marine, was recalled by His
+Majesty's Government. Large numbers of Germans were imported from
+Germany to be employed in the forts of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus,
+and at other crucial points.
+
+Numerous German merchant vessels served as bases of communication, and
+as auxiliaries to what had become in effect the German Black Sea Fleet.
+Secret communications with the German General Staff were established by
+means of the "Corcovado," which was anchored opposite the German Embassy
+at Therapia. The German Military Mission in Turkey acted in closest
+touch with the Turkish Militarist Party. They were the main organisers
+of those military preparations in Syria which directly menaced Egypt.
+
+Emissaries of Enver Pasha bribed and organised the Bedouins on the
+frontier; the Syrian towns were full of German officers, who provided
+large sums of money for suborning the local chiefs. The Khedive of
+Egypt, who was in Constantinople, was himself a party to the conspiracy,
+and arrangements were actually made with the German Embassy for his
+presence with a military expedition across the frontier. All the Turkish
+newspapers in Constantinople and most of the provincial papers became
+German organs; they glorified every real or imaginary success of Germany
+or Austria, and minimised everything favourable to the Allies.
+
+Millions of money were consigned from Germany to the German Embassy in
+Constantinople, and delivered under military guard at the Deutsche Bank.
+At one time these sums amounted to L4,000,000. A definite arrangement
+was arrived at between the Germans and a group of Turkish Ministers,
+including Enver Pasha, Talaat Bey and Djemal Pasha, that Turkey should
+declare war as soon as the financial provision should have attained a
+stated figure.
+
+The final point was reached when Odessa and other Russian ports in the
+Black Sea were attacked by the Turkish Fleet on October 29, 1914. It is
+now certain that the actual orders for these attacks were given by the
+German Admiral on the evening of October 27.
+
+On October 30 the Russian Ambassador asked for his passports and there
+was nothing left but for the British and French Ambassadors to demand
+theirs on the same day. The Russian Ambassador left Constantinople on
+October 31, while the British and French Ambassadors left the following
+evening.[49]
+
+Thenceforward the Turks, at the instigation of the Germans,
+unsuccessfully endeavoured to raise Mahomedans in all countries against
+Great Britain and her Allies. The Sultan of Turkey, misusing his
+position as Padishah and Titular Head of the Moslems, gave a perverted
+history of the events and proclaimed a Holy War. The Sultan, in his
+speech from the Throne on December 14, 1914 (at which ceremony the
+ex-Khedive of Egypt was present), said:--
+
+ "We were just in the best way to give reforms in the interior a
+ fresh impetus when suddenly the great crisis broke out. While our
+ Government was firmly resolved to observe the strictest neutrality,
+ our Fleet was attacked in the Black Sea by the Russian Fleet.
+ England and France then began actual hostilities by sending troops
+ to our frontiers. Therefore I declared a state of war. These
+ Powers, as a necessity, compelled us to resist by armed force the
+ policy of destruction which at all times was pursued against the
+ Islamic world by England, Russia, and France, and assumed the
+ character of a religious persecution. In conformity with the Fetwas
+ I called all Moslems to a Holy War against these Powers and those
+ who would help them."[50]
+
+What the Moslems of India thought of the situation is succinctly shown
+by a speech delivered on October 1, 1914, by the Agha Khan, the
+spiritual head of the Khoja community of Mahomedans and President of the
+All-India Moslem League.[51] He said he had always been convinced that
+Germany was the most dangerous enemy of Turkey and other Moslem
+countries, for she was the Power most anxious to enter by "peaceful
+penetration" Asia Minor and Southern Persia. But she had been posing for
+years past as a sort of protector of Islam--_though Heaven forbid that
+they should have such an immoral protector_.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[48] Cd. 7716.
+
+[49] Cd. 7628 and Cd. 7716.
+
+[50] A Reuter's Amsterdam telegram of December 15, 1914.
+
+[51] _Times_, October 2, 1914,
+
+
+
+
+MORE GERMAN INTRIGUES.
+
+
+The vastness of German intrigues throughout the world in preparation for
+a great war have come out piece by piece.
+
+=The Near East.=--Taking the Near East first, we find that Germany,
+having suborned the ex-Khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi, proceeded weeks
+before the rupture with Turkey to give orders, through the Ottoman
+Empire, to Shukri, the acting Chief of the Turkish Special Mission, to
+prepare public opinion in Egypt for Turkish invasion and to await the
+coming of the German Mors, whose trial was attended by such startling
+disclosures.[52]
+
+Mors had been introduced to Enver Pasha by Dr. Pruefer (Secretary to
+Prince Hatzfeldt when he was German Agent in Egypt) and had held long
+conferences with Omar Fauzi Bey, of the Turkish General Staff, who on
+September 6, 1914, worked out a scheme for disturbances in Egypt by
+bands of criminals led by Turkish officers and for an attack on the Suez
+Canal.
+
+In 1908 Prince Hatzfeldt succeeded Count Bernstorff, as German Agent in
+Egypt, and he at once established close relations with the Egyptian
+disloyalists of the extreme faction. In this he appears to have been
+aided by Baron von Oppenheim, and by Dr. Pruefer, the Oriental Secretary
+of the Agency, who was a fine Arabic scholar, and who had travelled a
+great deal in Syria and the Near East. The leaders of the disloyal
+section in Egypt were kept in the closest touch, and visited Prince
+Hatzfeldt at the German Agency, and were in constant communication with
+Dr. Pruefer, who, in Oriental disguise, often visited them, and other
+Panislamic Agents.[53]
+
+=The Far East.=--In India the German merchants joined our Chambers of
+Commerce and were elected as representatives of commercial life, and as
+trustees of port trusts, which gave them a knowledge of our local
+defences. In some instances they appear to have become volunteers, and
+so to have gained knowledge of our forts and armouries. Small German
+merchants and traders in the Punjab and other districts constantly
+endeavoured to undermine the British Raj, and preached sedition wherever
+they went. Such were the agents and spies of the German Government.
+
+Since the Mutiny at Singapore it has been proved that the Germans were
+calling home their reserves from Singapore and the East in May, 1914,
+and even as early as April of last year.[54] The first thing the
+mutineers did was to go to the German Encampment, open the doors, and
+supply those inside with rifles. Sir Evelyn Ellis, member of the
+Singapore Legislative Council, who was President of the Commission
+appointed by the Governor to collect evidence with reference to the
+Mutiny, which took place on February 15, 1915, stated that:--
+
+ "They were not to think that they had been engaged in suppressing a
+ small local disturbance. On the contrary, there was evidence to
+ show that they had assisted in defeating one of the aims of the
+ destroyer of Europe. They had been dealing with work that had been
+ engineered by the agents of our common foes, and they had
+ contributed to the suppression of a most diabolical plot. What had
+ taken place in Singapore was only part of a scheme for the murder
+ of women and children such as they had had instances of on the East
+ Coast of England."[55]
+
+The head of a big German firm in Singapore, after being released on
+parole, was found with a wireless installation in his house, with which
+he was stated to have kept the "Emden" supplied with news.[56]
+
+In Persia and Arabia there is abundant proof of German intrigues, while
+in China few opportunities have been lost by German agents of impugning
+British good faith, and German money appears to have been used for years
+in keeping the Chinese press--in Peking more particularly--as
+anti-British as possible. Since the declaration of war an attempt has
+been made by Captain Pappenheim, Military Attache of the German Legation
+in Peking, to organise an expedition into Russian Siberia to damage the
+Trans-Siberian railway. His action was, of course, a gross abuse of his
+diplomatic position, and has been disclaimed by the Chinese
+Government.[57]
+
+=West Africa.=--In West Africa the report of Colonel F. C. Bryant on
+operation in Togoland shows how well the Germans were prepared for war
+in that region.[58]
+
+=South Africa.=--In South Africa[59] it has been proved that so far back
+as 1912 the Germans were in communication with Lieut.-Colonel Maritz
+with a view to a rebellion. The latter appears to have brooded over
+schemes for the establishment of a Republic in South Africa. As the Blue
+Book, published in Cape Town on April 28, 1915, states: "One witness,
+Captain Leipold, of the Government Intelligence Department, who was sent
+to find out how things stood with Maritz, describes how the rebel leader
+dramatically threw his cards on the table in the shape of a bundle of
+correspondence with the German Administration at Windhuk, dating as far
+back as August, 1912."[60]
+
+In a speech to his troops on August 9, 1914, Maritz declared that he had
+6,000 Germans ready to help him, and he further stated that Beyers and
+De Wet had been fully informed of his plans long before the war.[61]
+
+Evidence was also given during the trial of De Wet that the rebellion in
+South Africa "was planned a couple of years ago when General Hertzog
+left the Ministry."[62] The Germans, either directly or indirectly,
+suborned, amongst others, Maritz, De Wet, De La Rey, Beyers, Kemp, and
+Kock. But the magnificent services of General Botha and the loyalists
+of South Africa--both British and Dutch--rendered nugatory the
+machinations of the German Government.
+
+The history of German intrigues, both before and since the war, in
+British and French colonies, and in neutral countries throughout the
+world, which are now known and proved to the hilt, may be gauged from
+the examples given in the foregoing brief notes. The German newspaper
+_Der Tag_, which, during the first month of the war, declared: "Herr
+Gott, sind diese Tage schoen" (O Lord, how beautiful are these days),
+subsequently summarised the German outlook when it naively
+declared:--[63]
+
+ "So many of our calculations have deceived us. We expected that
+ British India would rise when the first shot was fired in Europe,
+ but in reality thousands of Indians came to fight with the British
+ against us. We anticipated that the whole British Empire would be
+ torn to pieces, but the Colonies appear to be closer than ever
+ united with the Mother Country. We expected a triumphant rebellion
+ in South Africa, yet it turned out nothing but a failure. We
+ expected trouble in Ireland, but instead, she sent her best
+ soldiers against us. We anticipated that the party of 'peace at any
+ price' would be dominant in England, but it melted away in the
+ ardour to fight against Germany. We reckoned that England was
+ degenerate and incapable of placing any weight in the scale, yet
+ she seems to be our principal enemy.
+
+ "The same has been the case with France and Russia. We thought that
+ France was depraved and divided and we find that they are
+ formidable opponents. We believed that the Russian people were far
+ too discontented to fight for their Government, and we made our
+ plans on the supposition of a rapid collapse of Russia, but,
+ instead, she mobilised her millions quickly and well, and her
+ people are full of enthusiasm and their power is crushing. Those
+ who led us into all those mistakes and miscalculations have laid
+ upon themselves a heavy responsibility."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] _Times_, April 28, 1915.
+
+[53] _Times_, January 6, 1915.
+
+[54] _Times_, April 24, 1915. (Speech by the Bishop of Singapore.)
+
+[55] _Daily News and Leader_, April 27, 1915.
+
+[56] _Morning Post_, March 27, 1915.
+
+[57] Letter from the Chinese Legation to the _Times_, March 13 and 20,
+1915.
+
+[58] _Daily News and Leader_, April 22, 1915.
+
+[59] Cd. 7874.
+
+[60] _Times_, April 30, 1915.
+
+[61] _Times_, March 17, 1915.
+
+[62] _Times_, February 19, 1915.
+
+[63] _Times_, April 26, 1915.
+
+
+
+
+HOW THE GERMANS MAKE WAR.
+
+
+It has often been asked what would happen if savages were armed with the
+products of modern science and with the intelligence to use them.
+Germany has answered the question. Every resource of science lies at the
+German command; the chemist, the physicist, the metallurgist, have all
+worked in this war to place the most effective tools of destruction in
+the Germans' hands, and to satisfy their ambitions they have shut the
+gates of mercy on mankind. The Official Handbook of Instructions issued
+to Officers of the German Army by the German General Staff urges the
+"exploitation of the crimes of third parties (assassination,
+incendiarism, robbery and the like) to the prejudice of the enemy."
+This Official Handbook says:--
+
+ "A war conducted with energy cannot be directed merely against the
+ combatants of the Enemy State and the positions they occupy, but it
+ will and must in like manner seek to destroy the total intellectual
+ and material resources of the latter."[64]
+
+The German Emperor, addressing the troops which he sent to take part in
+the International Expedition in China in 1900, said:--
+
+ "When you come into contact with the enemy strike him down.
+ _Quarter is not to be given. Prisoners are not to be made._ Whoever
+ falls into your hands is into your hands delivered. Just as a
+ thousand years ago the Huns, under their King Attila, made for
+ themselves a name which still appears imposing in tradition, so may
+ the name of German become known in China in such a way that never
+ again will a Chinaman dare to look askance at a German. The
+ blessing of the Lord be with you. Give proof of your courage and
+ the Divine blessing will be attached to your colours."
+
+At midnight on August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany for
+violating the neutrality of Belgium, and it will be remembered that
+earlier in the day the German Imperial Chancellor had stated that German
+troops "perhaps are already on Belgian soil," and that Germany could
+only have one thought--how she was to "hack her way through."
+Simultaneously with the thought, came action. What was actually taking
+place is described, by Lord Bryce's Committee of Inquiry, in the
+following words[65]:--
+
+ "On August 4th the roads converging upon Liege from north-east,
+ 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 made 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 fellows who were
+ standing about 30 yards away. The young men, being afraid, ran off,
+ and then the Germans 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 of other villages in the
+ neighbourhood, to the indiscriminate shooting of civilians of both
+ sexes, and to the organised military execution of batches of
+ selected males. Thus at Herve some 50 men escaping from the burning
+ houses were seized, taken outside the town and shot. At Melen, a
+ hamlet west of Herve, 40 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....
+
+ "The burning of the villages in this neighbourhood 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 exceptional
+ severities at the outset they could cow the spirit of the Belgian
+ nation, the German officers and men speedily accustomed themselves
+ to the slaughter of civilians."
+
+As a German soldier's diary, examined by Lord Bryce's Committee,
+says:--"The inhabitants without exception were brought out and 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."[66]
+
+During the invasion of Belgium and France, German procedure was almost
+the same in all cases. "They advance along a road, shooting inoffensive
+passers-by--particularly bicyclists--as well as peasants working in the
+fields. In the towns or villages where they stop, they begin by
+requisitioning food and drink, which they consume till intoxicated.
+Sometimes from the interior of deserted houses they let off their rifles
+at random, and declare that it was the inhabitants who fired. Then the
+scenes of fire, murder, and especially pillage, begin, accompanied by
+acts of deliberate cruelty, without respect to sex or age. Even where
+they pretend to know the actual person guilty of the acts they allege,
+they do not content themselves with executing him summarily, but they
+seize the opportunity to decimate the population, pillage the houses,
+and then set them on fire. After a preliminary attack and massacre they
+shut up the men in the church, and then order the women to return to
+their houses and to leave their doors open all night."[67]
+
+Innumerable German atrocities are on record and well authenticated. For
+example, Professor Jacobs, at a medical meeting in Edinburgh, stated
+that, as head of the Belgian Red Cross, he "had visited a chateau but
+found the Red Cross had not been respected. It had been completely
+destroyed, and the bodies of six girls, aged from ten to seventeen, were
+lying on the lawn. A convent containing sixty sisters had been entered
+by the German soldiers and every one had been violated. On the evidence
+of the doctor of the institution twenty-five were pregnant. Professor
+Jacobs had operated on the wife of a doctor living near Namur. Three
+weeks after the operation, when convalescing and still in bed, their
+house was entered by German soldiers; she was raped by seven of them and
+died two days after."[68]
+
+1. A few typical examples of the wholesale atrocities of German troops
+are given in Appendix C, but to show that in many cases such atrocities
+were not only countenanced, but ordered by officers in command, we quote
+the following:--
+
+ August 22, 1914.
+
+ The inhabitants of the town of Andenne, after having protested
+ their peaceful intentions, made a treacherous surprise attack on
+ our troops.
+
+ It was with my consent that the General had the whole place burnt
+ down, and about 100 people shot.
+
+ I bring this fact to the knowledge of the town of Liege, so that
+ its inhabitants may know the fate with which they are threatened if
+ they take up a similar attitude.
+
+ The General Commanding-in-Chief,
+ VON BULOW.[69]
+
+2. Here is an order of the day given on August 26 by General Stenger
+commanding the 58th German Brigade:--
+
+ After to-day no more prisoners will be taken. All prisoners are to
+ be killed. Wounded, with or without arms, are to be killed. Even
+ prisoners already grouped in convoys are to be killed. Let not a
+ single living enemy remain behind us.
+
+ Oberlieutenant und Kompagnie-Chef STOY;
+ Oberst und Regiments Kommandeur NEUBAUER;
+ General-Major und Brigade-Kommandeur STENGER.[70]
+
+With reference to the above Order, Professor Joseph Bedier says: "Some
+thirty soldiers of Stenger's Brigade (112th and 142nd Regt. of the Baden
+Infantry), were examined in our prisoners' camps. I have read their
+evidence, which they gave upon oath and signed. All confirm the
+statement that this order of the day was given them on August 26, in one
+unit by Major Mosebach, in another by Lieut. Curtius, &c.; the majority
+did not know whether the order was carried out, but three of them say
+they saw it done in the forest of Thiaville, where ten or twelve wounded
+French soldiers who had already been spared by a battalion were
+despatched. Two others saw the order carried out on the Thiaville road,
+where some wounded found in a ditch by a company were finished off."[71]
+
+3. The following are extracts from a Proclamation posted by the Germans
+at Namur on August 25, 1914:--
+
+ (3) Every street will be occupied by a German Guard, who will take
+ ten hostages from each street, whom they will keep under
+ surveillance. If there is any rising in the street the ten hostages
+ will be shot.
+
+ (4) Doors may not be locked, and at night after eight o'clock there
+ must be lights in three windows in every house.
+
+ (5) It is forbidden to be in the street after eight o'clock. The
+ inhabitants of Namur must understand that there is no greater and
+ more horrible crime than to compromise the existence of the town
+ and the life of its citizens by criminal acts against the German
+ Army.
+
+ The Commander of the Town,
+ VON BULOW.[72]
+
+4. On October 5 the following Proclamation was posted in Brussels "and
+probably in most of the Communes of the Kingdom."
+
+ During the evening of September 25, the railway line and the
+ telegraph wires were destroyed on the line Lovenjoul-Vertryck. In
+ consequence of this, these two localities have had to render an
+ account of this, and had to give hostages in the morning of
+ September 30.
+
+ In future, the localities nearest to the place where similar acts
+ take place will be punished without pity; _it matters little if
+ they are accomplices or not_. For this purpose _hostages have been
+ taken_ from all localities near the railway line thus menaced, and
+ at the first attempt to destroy the railway line, or the telephone
+ or telegraph wires, _they will be immediately shot_.
+
+ Further, all the troops charged with the duty of guarding the
+ railway have been ordered to shoot any person who, in a suspicious
+ manner, approaches the line, or the telegraph or telephone wires.
+
+ The Governor-General of Belgium,
+ (S.) BARON VON DER GOLTZ, Field-Marshal.[73]
+
+For purposes of record it should be noted that Lord Bryce's Committee
+mention by name three German Generals whose armies have disgraced
+civilisation; they are those of General Alexander von Kluck, General von
+Buelow and General von Hausen.[74]
+
+Some of the main heads of the barbarities of Germany and of the way she
+has violated the recognised rules of International Law, may be set out
+as follows:--[75]
+
+(_a_) The treatment of civilian inhabitants 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
+defenceless and non-combatant population in the territory that has been
+in German military occupation. Even the food of the population was
+confiscated, until, in Belgium, an International Commission, largely
+influenced by American generosity and conducted 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 continue to make levies in money upon the
+defenceless population for the support of the German Army.
+
+(_b_) We have from time to time received most terrible accounts of the
+barbarous treatment to which British officers and soldiers have been
+exposed after they have been taken prisoner, while being conveyed to
+German prison camps. Evidence has been received of the hardships to
+which British prisoners of war are subjected in the prison camps,
+contrasting most unfavourably with the treatment of German prisoners in
+this country. The Germans make no attempt to save sailors from British
+war vessels they sink, although we have saved a large number of German
+sailors in spite of great danger to our men.[76]For example, on May 1,
+1915, in the destroyer action in the North Sea, the Germans imprisoned
+two British sailors below and when their vessel was sinking, saved
+themselves, but left their prisoners to sink below because "time was
+short."
+
+As Lord Kitchener said, Germany "has stooped to acts which will surely
+stain indelibly her military history and which would vie with the
+barbarous savagery of the Dervishes of the Sudan."[77] On the same day,
+in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister declared: "When we come to
+the end of this war, which, please God, we may, we shall not forget--and
+ought not to forget--this horrible record of calculated cruelty and
+crime, and we shall hold it to be our duty to exact such reparation
+against those who are proved to have been guilty agents or actors in the
+matter, as it may be possible for us to exact. I do not think we should
+be doing our duty to these brave and unfortunate men or to the honour of
+our own country and the plain dictates of humanity if we were content
+with anything less than that."[78]
+
+(_c_) At the very outset of war a German mine-layer was discovered
+laying a mine-field on the high seas. Further mine-fields have been laid
+from time to time without warning, and are still being laid on the high
+seas, and many neutral, as well as British vessels, have been sunk by
+them.
+
+(_d_) At various times during the war German submarines have stopped and
+sunk British merchant vessels, thus making 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. The Germans have also sunk British
+merchant vessels by torpedo without notice, and without any provision
+for the safety of the crew. They have done this in the case of neutral
+as well as of British vessels, and a number of non-combatant and
+innocent lives, unarmed and defenceless, have been destroyed in this
+way. The Germans have sunk without warning emigrant vessels, have tried
+to sink an hospital ship, and have themselves used an hospital ship for
+patrol work and wireless. The torpedoeing of the "Lusitania" on May 7,
+1915, involving the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians--British
+and neutral--was acclaimed with great relish in Berlin.
+
+(_e_) Unfortified, open, and defenceless 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.
+
+(_f_) German aircraft have dropped bombs on the East Coast of England,
+in places where there were no military or strategic points to be
+attacked.
+
+(_g_) The Germans have used poisonous gases in killing Allied troops at
+the Front, although Germany was a signatory to the following article in
+the Hague Convention:--
+
+ "The Contracting Powers agree to abstain from the use of
+ projectiles, the object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating
+ or deleterious gases."[79]
+
+And finally the German troops in South Africa have poisoned drinking
+wells and infected them with disease.[80]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[64] _Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege._ Berlin, 1902, in the series
+"Kriegsgeschichtliche Einzelschriften," published in 1905. A translation
+of this monograph by Professor J. H. Morgan has recently been published.
+
+[65] Cd. 7894, page 7, 8.
+
+[66] Cd. 7894, page 9.
+
+[67] See Appendix C. Official Reports issued by the Belgian Legation
+(1914). The Commission chiefly responsible for these official Belgian
+reports was composed of M. Cooreman, Minister of State (President);
+Count Goblet d'Alviella, Minister of State and Vice-President of the
+Senate; M. Ryckmans, Senator; M. Strauss, Alderman of the City of
+Antwerp; M. van Cutsem, Hon. President of the Law Court of Antwerp; and,
+as Secretaries, Chevalier Ernst de Bunswyck, Chef du Cabinet of the
+Minister of Justice, and M. Orts, Councillor of Legation.
+
+[68] Meeting of Edinburgh Obstetrical Society, December 9, 1914.
+_Lancet_, December 19, 1914, page 1, 440.
+
+[69] Reports on the Violation of the Rights of Nations and of the Laws
+and Customs of War in Belgium.
+
+[70] _German Atrocities from German Evidence._ One of the series of
+"Studies and Documents on the War." Publishing Committee: Mm. Ernest
+Lavisse, of the Academie francaise, President; Charles Andler, professor
+of German literature and language in the University of Paris; Joseph
+Bedier, professor at the College de France; Henri Bergson, of the
+Academie francaise; Emile Boutroux, of the Academie francaise; Ernest
+Denis, professor of history in the University of Paris; Emile Durkheim,
+professor in the University of Paris; Jacques Hadamard, of the Academie
+des Sciences; Gustave Lanson, professor of French literature in the
+University of Paris; Charles Seignobos, professor of history in the
+University of Paris; Andre Weiss, of the Academie des Sciences morales
+et politiques.
+
+[71] _German Atrocities from German Evidence._ See footnote on page 32.
+
+[72] Reports on the Violation of the Rights of Nations and of the Laws
+and Customs of War in Belgium.
+
+[73] Reports on the Violation of the Rights of Nations and of the Laws
+and Customs of war in Belgium.
+
+[74] Cd. 7894, page 10.
+
+[75] Most of the points referred to in the following record are to be
+found in Sir Edward Grey's reply to the U.S. Note--dated March 15.
+
+[76] Cd. 7921, issued May 19, 1915, shows that although 1,282 men had
+been rescued by the British from German warships, not a single rescue
+had been effected by German men-of-war.
+
+[77] House of Lords, April 27, 1915.
+
+[78] House of Commons, April 27, 1915.
+
+[79] See Appendix D.
+
+[80] Report _re_ Swakopmund, issued by Secretary of State for Colonies.
+_Times_, May 6, 1915.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANY'S ATTEMPTED BRIBERY.
+
+We thus see with what an easy conscience Germany tears up her treaties
+and how she repudiates her most solemn pledges. In light of these facts
+let us examine the rush of promises Germany was prepared to give in
+order to ensure our neutrality in the War.
+
+On July 29, 1914, Germany, having decided on the War in conjunction with
+Austria against Russia and France, made what our Ambassador at Berlin
+called "a strong bid for British neutrality," to which reference has
+been made, on page 14. Provided that Britain remained neutral Germany
+stated that every assurance would be given to Great Britain that the
+German Government aimed at no territorial acquisitions at the expense of
+France in Europe, should they prove victorious. Germany categorically
+stated that she was unable to give a similar undertaking with reference
+to the French colonies. She made a statement with regard to the
+integrity of Holland, and said that it depended upon the action of
+France what operations Germany might be forced to enter upon in Belgium,
+but that when the War was over Belgian integrity would be respected if
+she had not sided against Germany. In other words, Great Britain was to
+stand by and
+
+ =See Belgium invaded and, if she resisted, annexed by Germany;=
+
+ =See all the French Colonies taken by Germany;=
+
+ =Acquiesce in France, our neighbour and friend, being crushed under
+ the iron heel of Germany, and, as Bismarck threatened, bled white
+ by a war indemnity when all was over.=
+
+As Sir Edward Grey replied on July 30: "From the material point of view
+such a proposal is unacceptable, for France, without further territory
+in Europe being taken from her, could be so crushed as to lose her
+position as a Great Power, and become subordinate to German policy.
+Altogether, apart from that it would be a disgrace for us to make this
+bargain with Germany at the expense of France, a disgrace from which the
+good name of this country would never recover."[81]
+
+That is the "infamous bargain" which Britain spurned and to which the
+Prime Minister referred on August 6 in the House of Commons, in the
+following words:--
+
+ ="What would have been the position of Great Britain to-day ... if
+ we had assented to this infamous proposal? Yes, and what are we to
+ get in return for the betrayal of our friends and the dishonour of
+ our obligations? What are we to get in return? A promise--nothing
+ more; a promise as to what Germany would do in certain
+ eventualities; a promise, be it observed--I am sorry to have to say
+ it, but it must be put upon record--given by a Power which was at
+ that very moment announcing its intention to violate its own treaty
+ and inviting us to do the same. I can only say, if we had dallied
+ or temporised, we, as a Government, should have covered ourselves
+ with dishonour, and we should have betrayed the interests of this
+ country, of which we are trustees."=[82]
+
+This suggestion of Germany is not the only infamous proposal she has
+made to Great Britain. She has made them with a persistence worthy of a
+better cause. In February, 1912, Lord Haldane went to Berlin on behalf
+of the Cabinet in order to obtain the basis of a friendly understanding
+between the two countries. What transpired is made clear in a speech
+delivered by Mr. Asquith, at Cardiff, on October 2, 1914, when the Prime
+Minister said:--
+
+ "We laid down in terms, carefully approved by the Cabinet, and
+ which I will textually quote, what our relations to Germany ought,
+ in our view, to be. We said, and we communicated this to the German
+ Government:--
+
+ 'Britain declares that she will neither make, nor join in, any
+ unprovoked attack upon Germany. Aggression upon Germany is not
+ the subject, and forms no part of any Treaty, understanding,
+ or combination to which Britain is now a party, nor will she
+ become a party to anything that has such an object.'
+
+ "There is nothing ambiguous or equivocal about that. But that was
+ not enough for German statesmanship. They wanted us to go further.
+ They asked us to pledge ourselves absolutely to neutrality, in the
+ event of Germany being engaged in war, and this, mind you, at a
+ time when Germany was enormously increasing both her aggressive and
+ defensive forces, and especially upon the sea. They asked us--to
+ put it quite plainly--for a free hand, so far as we were concerned,
+ if and when they selected the opportunity to overpower and dominate
+ the European world. To such a demand one answer was possible, and
+ that was the answer we gave."[83]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[81] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 101.
+
+[82] House of Commons, August 6, 1914.
+
+[83] _South Wales Daily News_, October 3, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+IF BRITAIN HAD REFUSED TO FIGHT.
+
+If, in view of all this evidence, Britain had refused to fight, what
+would have been her position? The Prime Minister, speaking at the
+Guildhall on September 4, 1914, said:--
+
+ "But let me ask you, and through you the world outside, what would
+ have been our condition as a nation to-day if, through timidity, or
+ through a perverted calculation of self-interest or through a
+ paralysis of the sense of honour and duty, we had been base enough
+ to be false to our word and faithless to our friends?
+
+ "Our eyes would have been turned at this moment with those of the
+ whole civilised world to Belgium--a small State which has lived for
+ more than 70 years under a several and collective guarantee, to
+ which we, in common with Prussia and Austria, were parties--and we
+ should have seen, at the instance, and by the action of two of
+ these guaranteeing Powers, her neutrality violated, her
+ independence strangled, her territory made use of as affording the
+ easiest and most convenient road to a war of unprovoked aggression
+ against France.
+
+ "We, the British people, should have at this moment been standing
+ by with folded arms and with such countenance as we could command,
+ while this small and unprotected State (Belgium), in defence of her
+ vital liberties, made a heroic stand against overweening and
+ overwhelming force.
+
+ "We should have been watching as detached spectators the siege of
+ Liege, the steady and manful resistance of a small Army, the
+ occupation of Brussels with its splendid traditions and memories,
+ the gradual forcing back of the patriotic defenders of their native
+ land to the ramparts of Antwerp, countless outrages suffered by
+ them, and buccaneering levies exacted from the unoffending civil
+ population, and finally the greatest crime committed against
+ civilisation and culture since the Thirty Years' War--the sack of
+ Louvain, with its buildings, its pictures, its unique library, its
+ unrivalled associations, a shameless holocaust of irreparable
+ treasures lit up by blind barbarian vengeance....
+
+ "For my part I say that sooner than be a silent witness--which
+ means in effect a willing accomplice--of this tragic triumph of
+ force over law and of brutality over freedom, I would see this
+ country of ours blotted out of the pages of history."
+
+Further, we need not imagine that the peace we should have gained would
+have been a lasting one. If we had dishonoured our name in the manner
+Mr. Asquith has described, we should have been left without a friend in
+the world. Who can doubt that we should have been Germany's next victim
+if she had succeeded in crushing Belgium and France and warding off the
+blows of Russia? As Mr. Bonar Law said, on the same occasion:--
+
+ "We are fighting for our national existence, for everything which
+ nations have always held most dear."
+
+The fate which has fallen upon Belgium would have been our fate in a few
+years' time, but with this difference, that we should have had no
+powerful friends to give back as far as humanly possible what we had
+lost, as Russia, France and Britain are determined to do for Belgium.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX A.
+
+GERMANY'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONTENTS OF THE ULTIMATUM DELIVERED BY
+AUSTRIA-HUNGARY TO SERBIA ON JULY 23, 1914.
+
+
+Germany did her utmost to make the Great Powers believe that she had no
+knowledge of the contents of the Ultimatum delivered by Austria-Hungary
+to Serbia at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1914.
+
+Two days before the delivery of the Ultimatum, the Russian Charge
+d'Affaires in Berlin, at the Diplomatic Audience, said to Herr von Jagow
+(German Secretary of State), that he supposed the German Government then
+had full knowledge of the Note prepared by Austria. Herr von Jagow
+protested that he was in complete ignorance of the contents of that
+Note, and expressed himself in the same way on that date (July 21) to
+the French Ambassador also. The very next day (July 22), however, M.
+Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador in London, in a despatch to the
+Acting French Minister for Foreign Affairs in Paris, stated:--
+
+ "Sir Edward Grey told me that he had seen the German Ambassador,
+ who stated to him that at Berlin a _demarche_ of the
+ Austro-Hungarian Government to the Serbian Government was expected.
+ Prince Lichnowsky assured him that the German Government were
+ endeavouring to hold back and moderate the Cabinet of Vienna, but
+ that up to the present time they had not been successful in this,
+ and that he was not without anxiety as to the results of a
+ _demarche_ of this kind.... The communications of Prince Lichnowsky
+ had left Sir Edward Grey with an impression of anxiety which he did
+ not conceal from me. The same impression was given me by the
+ Italian Ambassador, who also fears the possibility of fresh tension
+ in Austro-Serbian relations."[84]
+
+Here it will be noticed that Prince Lichnowsky, the German Ambassador in
+London, stated that the German Government were endeavouring to "hold
+back and moderate the Cabinet of Vienna." How could they have done this
+if they were not aware of the general terms of the Ultimatum which
+Austria-Hungary proposed sending to Serbia. Moreover, the impression
+given by the Italian Ambassador was probably derived from his knowledge
+of what had happened over a year before, when Austria appears to have
+been resolved on provoking war with Serbia on August 9, 1913.
+
+But unfortunately for Germany the statement was refuted by one of its
+own States, Bavaria. The Ultimatum to Serbia was not delivered until 6
+p.m. on the evening of July 23; yet earlier on that day M. Allize, the
+French Minister at Munich, in his Report to Paris, stated:--
+
+ =" ... Official circles have for some time been assuming with more
+ or less sincerity an air of real pessimism.=
+
+ ="In particular, the President of the Council said to me to-day
+ that the Austrian Note, the contents of which were known to him
+ (dont il avait connaissance) was in his opinion drawn up in terms
+ which could be accepted by Serbia, but that none the less the
+ existing situation appeared to him to be very serious."=[85]
+
+It is difficult to think that the President of the Bavarian Council knew
+the contents of the Austrian Note while the German Secretary of State at
+Berlin was kept in ignorance of its terms. Yet, the next day, Herr von
+Jagow again makes the denial which is forwarded to Paris in the French
+Ambassador's despatch, dated Berlin, July 24:--
+
+ "I asked the Secretary of State to-day in the interview which I had
+ with him if it was correct, as announced in the newspapers, that
+ Austria had presented a Note to the Powers on her dispute with
+ Serbia; if he had received it; and what view he took of it.
+
+ "Herr von Jagow answered me in the affirmative, adding that the
+ Note was forcible and that he approved it, the Serbian Government
+ having for a long time past wearied the patience of Austria....
+ _Thereupon I asked him if the Berlin Cabinet had really been
+ entirely ignorant of Austria's requirements before they were
+ communicated to Belgrade, and as he told me that that was so, I
+ showed him my surprise at seeing him thus undertake to support
+ claims, of whose limit and scope he was ignorant.... It is not less
+ striking to notice the pains with which Herr von Jagow and all the
+ officials placed under his orders, pretend to everyone that they
+ were ignorant of the scope of the Note sent by Austria to
+ Serbia._"[86]
+
+Confirmation of Germany's complicity is received in a despatch to his
+Government from the French Ambassador (M. Paul Cambon) in London, dated
+July 24, 1914:--
+
+ "I mentioned the matter to my Russian colleague, who is afraid of a
+ surprise from Germany, and who imagines that Austria would not have
+ despatched her Ultimatum without previous agreement with Berlin.
+
+ "Count Benckendorff told me that Prince Lichnowsky, when he
+ returned from leave about a month ago, had intimated that he held
+ pessimistic views regarding the relations between St. Petersburg
+ and Berlin. He had observed the uneasiness caused in this latter
+ Capital by the rumours of a naval _entente_ between Russia and
+ England, by the Tsar's visit to Bucharest, and by the strengthening
+ of the Russian Army. Count Benckendorff had concluded from this
+ that a war with Russia would be looked upon without disfavour in
+ Germany.
+
+ "The Under-Secretary of State has been struck, as all of us have
+ been, by the anxious looks of Prince Lichnowsky since his return
+ from Berlin, and he considers that if Germany had wished to do so,
+ she could have stopped the despatch of the Ultimatum."[87]
+
+Again on the same day (July 24, 1914) we have an interesting despatch
+from the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs in Paris to the French
+Ambassadors abroad, detailing what transpired at a visit received from
+Herr von Schoen (the German Ambassador in Paris), at which the latter
+twice read (but refused to leave copy of) a note which said:--
+
+ "Under these circumstances the course of procedure and demands of
+ the Austro-Hungarian Government can only be regarded as justified.
+ In spite of that, the attitude which public opinion as well as the
+ Government in Serbia have recently adopted does not exclude the
+ apprehension that the Serbian Government might refuse to comply
+ with those demands, and might even allow themselves to be carried
+ away into a provocative attitude towards Austria-Hungary. The
+ Austro-Hungarian Government, if they do not wish definitely to
+ abandon Austria's position as a Great Power, would then have no
+ choice but to obtain the fulfilment of their demands from the
+ Serbian Government by strong pressure, and, if necessary, by using
+ military measures, the choice of the means having to be left to
+ them.... The German Government consider that in the present case
+ there is only question of a matter to be settled exclusively
+ between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and that the Great Powers ought
+ seriously to endeavour to restrict it to those two immediately
+ concerned.
+
+ "The German Government desire urgently the localisation of the
+ dispute, because every interference of another Power would, owing
+ to the natural play of alliances, be followed by incalculable
+ consequences...."[88]
+
+A note of similar effect was left with Sir Edward Grey by the German
+Ambassador in London.[89]
+
+Now the details of the Ultimatum to Serbia were only communicated to the
+French and Russian Governments on July 24, 1914, after 10 o'clock in the
+morning (nearly 17 hours after they had been delivered to Serbia), and
+presumably they were communicated to all the other Governments at about
+the same time. Germany would have us believe that she received the
+contents at the same time and on the same day as the other Governments.
+Yet, a few hours later, the German Ambassador in Paris is able, on
+instructions from his Government, to present a detailed note and to
+argue the matter in all its bearings. That is to say, Germany would have
+us believe that the Kaiser and his Ministers received the contents of
+the Ultimatum in the morning, and, almost within a few minutes, gathered
+together and discussed a question which they knew, if not carefully
+handled, must mean a European war; pretend that it was a matter to be
+settled exclusively between Austria-Hungary and Serbia; and promptly
+instruct their Ambassador in Paris to the minutest details.
+
+As the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs remarked to the British
+Ambassador in Petrograd on this fateful morning, "Austria's conduct was
+both provocative and immoral; she would never have taken such action
+unless Germany had first been consulted."[90]
+
+It has since been proved that Germany and Austria were parties not only
+to this, but to an exactly similar conspiracy which took place twelve
+months before.
+
+On December 5, 1914, in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Signor Giolitti
+(ex-Premier of Italy) made the following momentous statement:--
+
+ "During the Balkan War, on the 9th August, 1913, about a year
+ before the present war broke out, during my absence from Rome, I
+ received from my hon. colleague, Signor di San Giuliano (late
+ Foreign Minister), the following telegram:--
+
+ "'Austria has communicated to us and to Germany her intention
+ of taking action against Serbia, and defines such action as
+ defensive, hoping to bring into operation the _casus foederis_
+ of the Triple Alliance, which, on the contrary, I believe to
+ be inapplicable. (_Sensation._)
+
+ "'I am endeavouring to arrange for a combined effort with
+ Germany to prevent such action on the part of Austria, but it
+ may become necessary to state clearly that we do not consider
+ such action, if it should be taken, as defensive, and that,
+ therefore, we do not consider that the _casus foederis_
+ arises.
+
+ "'Please telegraph to me at Rome if you approve.'
+
+ "I replied:--
+
+ "'If Austria intervenes against Serbia it is clear that a
+ _casus foederis_ cannot be established. It is a step which she
+ is taking on her own account, since there is no question of
+ defence, inasmuch as no one is thinking of attacking her. It
+ is necessary that a declaration to this effect should be made
+ to Austria in the most formal manner, and we must hope for
+ action on the part of Germany to dissuade Austria from this
+ most perilous adventure.' (_Hear, hear._)
+
+ "This course was taken, and our interpretation was upheld and
+ recognised as proper, since our action in no way disturbed our
+ relations with the two Allied Powers. The declaration of neutrality
+ made by the present Government conforms therefore in all respects
+ to the precedents of Italian policy, and conforms also to an
+ interpretation of the Treaty of Alliance which has been already
+ accepted by the Allies.
+
+ "I wish to recall this, because I think it right that in the eyes
+ of all Europe it should appear that Italy has remained completely
+ loyal to the observance of her pledges." (_Loud applause._)[91]
+
+As the _Times_ of December 11, 1914, said in a Leading Article:--
+
+ "In the face of these facts, what becomes of the pretence of the
+ German White Book that it was the murders which forced Austria to
+ take action; what of the contention that Russia, or that England,
+ is answerable for the war? Germany had known Austria's purpose for
+ a year when she granted that Power a free hand to deal with Serbia
+ at her discretion." ... These contemporary telegrams read by Signor
+ Giolitti "prove that the war is no result of Russian arrogance, of
+ French revenge, or of English envy, as the German Chancellor avers,
+ but that it is the consequence of schemes long harboured, carefully
+ thought out, and deliberately adopted by Austria and by Germany."
+
+On the occasion referred to above it was not the murder of the
+heir-apparent at Serajevo which was the pretext for aggression; the
+issue of the moment was the Treaty of Bucharest.
+
+Two days after the delivery of the Ultimatum to Serbia in July, 1914,
+Herr von Jagow issued another denial. In his Report to the Acting
+Minister for Foreign Affairs in Paris, the French Ambassador at Berlin
+on July 25 wrote:--
+
+ "The English Charge d'Affaires also enquired of Herr von Jagow, as
+ I had done yesterday, if Germany had had no knowledge of the
+ Austrian Note before it was despatched, and he received so clear a
+ reply in the negative that he was not able to carry the matter
+ further; but he could not refrain from expressing his surprise at
+ the blank cheque given by Germany to Austria."[92]
+
+On the same day (July 25) the Russian representative in Paris reports to
+his Government, that the German Ambassador (Herr von Schoen) said:--
+
+ "that Austria had presented her Note to Serbia without any definite
+ understanding with Berlin, but that Germany nevertheless approved
+ of the Austrian point of view, and that undoubtedly 'the bolt once
+ fired' (these were his own words), Germany could only be guided by
+ her duties as an ally."[93]
+
+The next day the Acting Director of the "Direction Politique" in Paris,
+in a note on the visit to that Office paid by Herr von Schoen, the
+German Ambassador, stated (Paris, Sunday, July 26):--
+
+ "Herr von Schoen, who listened smiling, once more affirmed that
+ Germany had been ignorant of the text of the Austrian Note, and had
+ only approved it after its delivery; she thought, however, that
+ Serbia had need of a lesson severe enough for her not to be able to
+ forget it, and that Austria owed it to herself to put an end to a
+ situation which was dangerous and intolerable for a great Power. He
+ declared besides that he did not know the text of the Serbian
+ reply, and showed his personal surprise that it had not satisfied
+ Austria, if indeed it was such as the papers, which are often
+ ill-informed, represented it to be."[94]
+
+A denial by the German Ambassador to England of his Government's
+cognisance of the Note is referred to in a despatch from the Russian
+Ambassador in London (Count Benckendorff) to M. Sazonof, dated July 25,
+1914:--
+
+ "Grey has told me that the German Ambassador has declared to him
+ that the German Government were not informed of the text of the
+ Austrian Note, but that they entirely supported Austria's
+ action."[95]
+
+On July 25, 1914, a Note was handed by the German Ambassador at
+Petrograd to the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs:--
+
+ "We learn from an authoritative source that the news spread by
+ certain newspapers, to the effect that the action of the
+ Austro-Hungarian Government at Belgrade was instigated by Germany
+ is absolutely false. The German Government had no knowledge of the
+ text of the Austrian Note before it was presented, and exercised no
+ influence upon its contents. A threatening attitude is wrongly
+ attributed to Germany.
+
+ "Germany, as the ally of Austria, naturally supports the claims
+ made by the Vienna Cabinet against Serbia, which she considers
+ justified."[96]
+
+That this assumed ignorance was received with scepticism, and in some
+cases frank disbelief in other quarters, is apparent. The French
+Ambassador in Berlin reported on July 25:--
+
+ "The Belgian Minister appears very anxious about the course of
+ events.... He does not believe in the pretended ignorance of the
+ Government of Berlin on the subject of Austria's demarche.
+
+ "He thinks that if the form of it has not been submitted to the
+ Cabinet at Berlin, the moment of its despatch has been cleverly
+ chosen in consultation with that Cabinet, in order to surprise the
+ Triple Entente at a moment of disorganisation."[97]
+
+From the French Ambassador in Vienna on July 28 came the following
+statement to the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs in Paris:--
+
+ "Among the suspicions aroused by the sudden and violent resolution
+ of Austria, the most disquieting is that Germany should have pushed
+ her on to aggressive action against Serbia in order to be able
+ herself to enter into war with Russia and France, in circumstances
+ which she supposes ought to be most favourable to herself and under
+ conditions which have been thoroughly considered."[98]
+
+Up to this date, as the Russian Berlin representative reported to his
+Government the Official German Wolff Bureau (News Agency) had not
+published the text of the conciliatory Serbian reply, although it had
+been communicated to them; nor had it appeared _in extenso_ in any of
+the local papers--because of the _calming_ effect it would have had on
+German readers![99]
+
+On the same day (July 28) the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs in
+Paris sent the following message to the French Ambassadors abroad:--
+
+ "I have had another visit from the German Ambassador this morning;
+ he told me that he had no communication or official proposal to
+ make to me, but that he came, as on the evening before, to talk
+ over the situation and the methods to be employed to avoid action
+ which would be irreparable. When I asked him about Austria's
+ intentions, he declared that he did not know them and was ignorant
+ of the nature of the means of coercion which she was
+ preparing."[100]
+
+But how does this compare with the following extract from a telegram
+sent the next day (July 29) by the Kaiser to the Tsar:--
+
+ "I cannot ... consider the action of Austria-Hungary as an
+ 'ignominious war.' Austria-Hungary knows from experience that the
+ promises of Serbia as long as they are merely on paper are entirely
+ unreliable."[101]
+
+On July 29 the French Minister at Brussels reported:--
+
+ "I report the following impressions of my interview with M.
+ Davignon and with several persons in a position to have exact
+ information. The attitude of Germany is enigmatical and justifies
+ every apprehension; it seems improbable that the Austro-Hungarian
+ Government would have taken an initiative which would lead,
+ according to a preconceived plan, to a declaration of war, without
+ previous arrangement with the Emperor William.
+
+ "The German Government stand 'with grounded arms' ready to take
+ peaceful or warlike action as circumstances may require, but there
+ is so much anxiety everywhere that a sudden intervention against us
+ would not surprise anybody here. My Russian and English colleagues
+ share this feeling."[102]
+
+Finally, on July 30, Sir Maurice de Bunsen, the British Ambassador in
+Vienna, stated to Sir Edward Grey:--
+
+ ="I have private information that the German Ambassador knew the
+ text of the Austrian Ultimatum to Serbia before it was despatched,
+ and telegraphed it to the German Emperor. I know from the German
+ Ambassador himself that he endorses every line of it."=[103]
+
+Confirmation of the whole evidence is found in the commercial world, for
+as Sir E. H. Holden, Chairman of the London City and Midland Bank,
+stated on January 29, 1915:--
+
+ "On the 18th of July last (1914) the Dresdner Bank caused a great
+ commotion by selling its securities and by advising its clients to
+ sell their securities. This was recognised as the first
+ semi-official intimation of a probable European conflagration...."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[84] Cd. 7717, No. 19.
+
+[85] Cd. 7717, No. 21.
+
+[86] Cd. 7717, No. 30.
+
+[87] Cd. 7717, No. 32.
+
+[88] Cd. 7717, No. 28.
+
+[89] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 9.
+
+[90] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 6.
+
+[91] Cd. 7860, page 401.
+
+[92] Cd. 7717, No. 41.
+
+[93] Cd. 7626, No. 19.
+
+[94] Cd. 7717, No. 57.
+
+[95] Cd. 7626, No. 20.
+
+[96] Cd. 7626, No. 18.
+
+[97] Cd. 7717, No. 35.
+
+[98] Cd. 7717, No. 83.
+
+[99] Cd. 7626, No. 46.
+
+[100] Cd. 7717, No. 78.
+
+[101] Cd. 7717, Appendix 5, No. 3.
+
+[102] Cd. 7717, No. 87.
+
+[103] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 95.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX B.
+
+HOW GERMANY MISLED AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
+
+
+Germany's view is very clearly indicated in a despatch from the British
+Ambassador at Vienna, dated July 26, 1914:--
+
+ "According to confident belief of German Ambassador, Russia will
+ keep quiet during chastisement of Serbia, which Austria-Hungary is
+ resolved to inflict, having received assurances that no Serbian
+ territory will be annexed by Austria-Hungary. In reply to my
+ question whether Russian Government might not be compelled by
+ public opinion to intervene on behalf of kindred nationality, he
+ said that everything depended on the personality of the Russian
+ Minister for Foreign Affairs, who could resist easily, if he chose,
+ the pressure of a few newspapers. He pointed out that the days of
+ Pan-Slav agitation in Russia were over, and that Moscow was
+ perfectly quiet. The Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs would
+ not, his Excellency thought, be so imprudent as to take a step
+ which would probably result in many frontier questions in which
+ Russia is interested, such as Swedish, Polish, Ruthene, Roumanian
+ and Persian questions, being brought into the melting-pot. France,
+ too, was not at all in a condition for facing a war.... He doubted
+ Russia, who had no right to assume a protectorate over Serbia,
+ acting as if she made any such claim. _As for Germany, she knew
+ very well what she was about in backing up Austria-Hungary in this
+ matter._"[104]
+
+Germany's view is further explained by the British representative at
+Berlin, on July 26, 1914:--
+
+ "Under-Secretary of State likewise told me that German Ambassador
+ at St. Petersburg had reported that, in conversation with Russian
+ Minister for Foreign Affairs, latter had said that if Austria
+ annexed bits of Serbian territory Russia would not remain
+ indifferent. Under-Secretary of State drew conclusion that Russia
+ would not act if Austria did _not_ annex territory."[105]
+
+The result of this German influence is shown on the Austrian Ambassador
+in Berlin by the following despatch from Sir Edward Goschen, the British
+Ambassador at Berlin, dated July 28, 1914:--
+
+ "Austrian colleague said to me to-day that a general war was most
+ unlikely, as Russia neither wanted nor was in a position to make
+ war. I think that that opinion is shared by many people here."[106]
+
+So successful were the Germans in impressing this false view upon the
+Austrians that the position is best described by the British Ambassador
+in Vienna in his despatch to Sir Edward Grey, dated July 27, 1914:--
+
+ "I have had conversations with all my colleagues representing the
+ Great Powers. The impression left on my mind is that the
+ Austro-Hungarian note was so drawn up as to make war (with Serbia)
+ inevitable; that the Austro-Hungarian Government are fully resolved
+ to have war with Serbia; that they consider their position as a
+ Great Power to be at stake; and that until punishment has been
+ administered to Serbia it is unlikely that they will listen to
+ proposals of mediation. This country has gone wild with joy at the
+ prospect of war with Serbia, and its postponement or prevention
+ would undoubtedly be a great disappointment."[107]
+
+Added to which we have further proof in a despatch from the British
+Ambassador at Rome, dated July 23, 1914:--
+
+ "Secretary-General, whom I saw this morning at the Italian Foreign
+ Office, took the view that the gravity of the situation lay in the
+ conviction of the Austro-Hungarian Government that it was
+ absolutely necessary for their prestige, after the many
+ disillusions which the turn of events in the Balkans has
+ occasioned, to score a definite success."[108]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[104] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 32.
+
+[105] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 33.
+
+[106] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 71.
+
+[107] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 41.
+
+[108] _Great Britain and the European Crisis_, No. 38.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX C.
+
+SOME GERMAN ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM.
+
+
+In December, 1914, a Committee was appointed by the British Government
+to inquire into the German outrages in Belgium and France. Under the
+Chairmanship of Lord Bryce, this Committee was composed of:--
+
+ THE RT. HON. VISCOUNT BRYCE, O.M. (Regius Professor of Civil Law at
+ Oxford, 1870; Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1886;
+ Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster (with seat in Cabinet), 1892;
+ President of Board of Trade, 1894; one of the British Members of
+ the International Tribunal at The Hague; Chief Secretary for
+ Ireland, 1905-6; His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and
+ Plenipotentiary at Washington, 1907-12).
+
+ THE RT. HON. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bt., K.C., LL.D., D.C.L. (Judge
+ of Admiralty Court of Cinque Ports since 1914; Editor of Law
+ Reports since 1895; Chairman, Royal Commission on Public Records,
+ 1910; Corpus Professor of Jurisprudence, Oxford, 1883-1903; Author
+ of The Law of Torts, 1887; History of English Law, 1895.)
+
+ THE RT. HON. SIR EDWARD CLARKE, K.C. (Solicitor-General, 1886-92).
+
+ SIR ALFRED HOPKINSON, K.C. (Professor of Law, Owen's College,
+ Manchester (Principal, 1898-1904); Adviser to the Bombay
+ University, 1913-14).
+
+ MR. H. A. L. FISHER (Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University;
+ Chichele Lecturer in Foreign History, 1911-12).
+
+ MR. HAROLD COX, M.A. (Editor, _Edinburgh Review_).
+
+ SIR KENELM E. DIGBY, K.C., G.C.B. (Permanent Under-Secretary of
+ State at Home Office, 1895-1903).
+
+This eminent and impartial Tribunal, after carefully weighing the
+evidence (Cd. 7894 and Cd. 7895) came to the following grave
+conclusions:--
+
+ "(i) That there were in many parts of Belgium deliberate and
+ systematically organised 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 murdered in large numbers, women violated,
+ and children murdered.
+
+ "(iii) That looting, house burning, and the wanton destruction of
+ property 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 necessity could be
+ alleged, being indeed part of a system of general terrorisation.
+
+ "(iv) That the rules and usages of war were frequently broken,
+ particularly by the using of civilians, including 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 conceive 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 unparalleled in any war between civilised nations during the
+ last three centuries."
+
+The Report makes it plain that apart from the first outbreak of outrages
+intended to cow the Belgians into submission, fresh bursts of plunder
+and rapine took place on specific occasions when the Germans suffered
+defeat. Cowardly vengeance was thus wreaked on the innocent Belgian
+civilians for the defeat of German arms. For example, on August 25,
+1914, the Belgian Army, sallying out from Antwerp, drove the enemy from
+Malines. The Germans promptly massacred and burnt at Louvain, "the
+signal for which was provided by shots exchanged between the German Army
+retreating after its repulse at Malines and some members of the German
+garrison of Louvain, who mistook their fellow-countrymen for
+Belgians."[109] Similarly when a successful sortie from Antwerp drove
+the Germans from Aerschot, they retaliated by a blood-vendetta upon the
+civil population.
+
+The Germans have endeavoured to justify their brutal excesses by
+bringing counter-charges against Belgian civilians. For instance, the
+Chancellor of the German Empire, in a communication made to the press on
+September 2, 1914, and printed in the _Nord Deutsche Allgemeine
+Zeitung_, of September 21, said: "Belgian girls gouged out the eyes of
+the German wounded. Officials of Belgian cities have invited our
+officers to dinner, 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 warfare with concealed weapons. Belgian
+women cut the throats of soldiers whom they had quartered in their homes
+while they were sleeping."
+
+Upon this Lord Bryce's Committee make the comment: "No evidence whatever
+seems to have been adduced to prove these tales."[110]
+
+Of both individual and concerted acts of barbarity, the report
+teems--for example:--[111]
+
+ "It is clearly shown that many offences 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 eye-witness and confirmed by another:--
+
+ "'One day when the Germans were not actually bombarding the town I
+ left my house to go to my mother's house in High Street. My husband
+ was with me. I saw eight German soldiers, and they were drunk. They
+ were singing and making 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 bayonet, but not afterwards.'"[112]
+
+The following brief extracts of German atrocities are taken from
+Official Reports issued by the Belgian Legation:--[113]
+
+ "On the evening of the 22nd" (August, at Tamines) "a group of
+ between 400 and 450 men was collected in front of the church, not
+ far from the bank of the Sambre. A German detachment opened fire on
+ them, but, as the shooting was a slow business, the officers
+ ordered up a machine gun, which soon swept off all the unhappy
+ peasants still left standing. Many of them were only wounded, and,
+ hoping to save their lives, got with difficulty on their feet
+ again. They were immediately shot down. Many wounded still lay
+ among the corpses," and some of these were bayoneted....
+
+ "Next day, Sunday, the 23rd, about 6 o'clock in the morning,
+ another party consisting of prisoners made in the village and the
+ neighbourhood were brought into the square, ... in the square was a
+ mass of bodies of civilians extending over at least 40 yards by 6
+ yards. They had evidently been drawn up and shot.... An officer
+ asked for volunteers to bury the corpses. Those who volunteered
+ were set to work and dug a trench 15 yards long, 10 broad and 2
+ deep. The corpses were carried to the trench on planks.... Actually
+ fathers buried the bodies of their sons, and sons the bodies of
+ their fathers.
+
+ "There were in the square both soldiers and officers. They were
+ drinking champagne. The more the afternoon drew on the more they
+ drank.... We buried from 350 to 400 bodies." ... A wounded man was
+ buried alive, a German doctor having apparently ordered his
+ interment....
+
+ "About 9 in the morning" (at Dinant, August 23) "the German
+ soldiery, driving before them by blows from the butt-end of rifles,
+ men, women, and children, pushed them all into the Parade Square,
+ where they were kept prisoners till 6 o'clock in the evening. The
+ guard took pleasure in repeating to them that they would soon be
+ shot. About 6 o'clock a captain separated the men from the women
+ and children. The women were placed in front of a rank of infantry
+ soldiers, the men were ranged along a wall. The front rank of them
+ were told to kneel, the others remaining standing behind them. A
+ platoon of soldiers drew up in face of these unhappy men. It was in
+ vain that the women cried out for mercy for their husbands, sons,
+ and brothers. The officer ordered his men to fire. There had been
+ no inquiry nor any pretence of a trial. About 20 of the inhabitants
+ were only wounded, but fell among the dead. The soldiers, to make
+ sure, fired a new volley into the heap of them. Several citizens
+ escaped this double discharge. They shammed dead for more than two
+ hours, remaining motionless among the corpses, and when night fell
+ succeeded in saving themselves in the hills. Eighty-four corpses
+ were left on the square and buried in a neighbouring garden."
+
+ "On Friday, August 21st, at 4 o'clock in the morning" (at Andenne,
+ between Namur and Huy) "the" (German) "soldiers spread themselves
+ through the town, driving all the population into the streets and
+ forcing men, women, and children to march before them with their
+ hands in the air. Those who did not obey with sufficient
+ promptitude, or did not understand the order given them in German,
+ were promptly knocked down. Those who tried to run away were shot.
+ It was at this moment that Dr. Camus" (the Burgomaster), "against
+ whom the Germans seemed to have some special spite, was wounded by
+ a rifle shot, and then finished off by a blow from an axe. His body
+ was dragged along by the feet for some distance....
+
+ "Subsequently the soldiers, on the order of their officers, picked
+ out of the mass some 40 or 50 men who were led off and all shot,
+ some along the bank of the Meuse, and others in front of the Police
+ Station.
+
+ "The rest of the men were kept for a long time in the Place. Among
+ them lay two persons, one of whom had received a ball in the chest,
+ and the other a bayonet wound. They lay face to the ground with
+ blood from their wounds trickling into the dust, occasionally
+ calling for water. The officers forbade their neighbours to give
+ them any help.... Both died in the course of the day.... In the
+ morning the officers told the women to withdraw, giving them the
+ order to gather together the dead bodies and to wash away the
+ stains of blood which defiled the street and the houses."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[109] Cd. 7894, p. 14.
+
+[110] Cd. 7894, p. 26.
+
+[111] Professor J. H. Morgan, Representative of the Home Office,
+attached to the Headquarters Staff of the British Expeditionary Force,
+states in a letter to the _Times_, dated May 20, 1915:--
+
+ " ... There has lately come into my hands--unfortunately too late
+ for use by the Committee--evidence which establishes beyond
+ reasonable doubt that the outrages upon combatants in the field are
+ committed by the orders of responsible officers, such as Brigade and
+ Company Commanders, and that British and Belgian soldiers are the
+ objects of peculiar malignancy.... _There is some evidence to show
+ that the East Prussian and Bavarian regiments are the worst
+ offenders. The French military authorities, who have been of great
+ assistance to me in my inquiries, informed me that they have now a
+ very considerable 'black list' of this character. When the time
+ comes to dictate terms of peace and to exact reparation that list
+ will be very useful...._ In the earlier stages of the war there was
+ a widespread disinclination on the part of our officers and men to
+ credit stories of 'atrocities.' Nothing has impressed me more than
+ the complete change of conviction on this point, especially among
+ our officers. As a Staff Officer of the highest eminence said to me
+ lately, 'The Germans have no sense of honour in the field.' Any
+ sense of the freemasonry of arms has practically disappeared among
+ them, and deliberate killing of the wounded is of frequent
+ occurrence."
+
+[112] Cd. 7894. p. 32.
+
+[113] The Commission chiefly responsible for these official Belgian
+reports was composed of M. Cooreman, Minister of State (President);
+Count Goblet d'Alviella, Minister of State and Vice-President of the
+Senate; M. Ryckmans, Senator; M. Strauss, Alderman of the City of
+Antwerp; M. Van Cutsem, Hon. President of the Law Court of Antwerp; and,
+as Secretaries, Chevalier Ernst de Bunswyck, Chef du Cabinet of the
+Minister of Justice, and M. Orts, Councillor of Legation.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX D.
+
+GERMANY'S EMPLOYMENT OF POISONOUS GAS.
+
+
+The following is a copy of a Report dated May 3, 1915, by Field-Marshal
+Sir John French on the employment by the Germans 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 especially
+ manufactured for the purpose. The German troops who attacked under
+ cover of these gases were provided with specially designed
+ respirators, which were issued in sealed pattern 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
+ astounding 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 Germans of a new and illegal weapon, and
+ shows that they recognised its illegality and were anxious to
+ forestall neutral, and possibly domestic, criticism.
+
+ "Since the enemy first made use of this method of covering his
+ advance with a cloud of poisoned air he has repeated it both in
+ offence and defence whenever the wind has been favourable.
+
+ "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 effects 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 decided to use these
+ gases as a normal procedure, and that protests will be useless."
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX E.
+
+EFFORTS OF GERMAN MINISTERS OF STATE TO LAY BLAME ON BRITAIN.
+
+
+Since the war, both the German Imperial Chancellor, Herr von
+Bethmann-Hollweg, and the German Foreign Secretary, Herr von Jagow, have
+endeavoured to explain away the former's phrase: "a scrap of paper,"
+which shocked the diplomatic conscience of the world. Both have
+endeavoured to lay the blame for the conflict at Great Britain's
+door.[114] The German Imperial Chancellor now declares that:--
+
+ "Documents on the Anglo-Belgian Military Agreement which ... we
+ have found in the archives of the Belgian Foreign Office ... showed
+ that England in 1911 was determined to throw troops into Belgium
+ without the consent of the Belgian Government."[115]
+
+The true facts of the case are to be seen in the following extract from
+the statement issued by the Belgian Minister in London, on March 17,
+1915:--
+
+ "A month after the declaration of war the German Chancery
+ discovered at Brussels the reports of certain conversations which
+ had taken place in 1906 and in 1912 between two British Military
+ Attaches and two Chiefs of the Staff of the Belgian Army. In order
+ to transform these reports into documents which would justify
+ Germany's conduct it was necessary to garble them and to lie. Such
+ was the only way in which the German action against Belgium could
+ be made to appear decent.... Thus it came to pass that, with a
+ shamelessness for which history shows few parallels, the German
+ Chancery gave out that a 'Convention' had existed, by which Belgium
+ had betrayed her most sacred pledges and violated her own
+ neutrality for the benefit of England. To produce an impression on
+ those ignorant of the facts, 'German honesty' suppressed, when the
+ precis of the above-named conversations was published, the clause
+ in which it was set forth that the exchange of opinion therein
+ recorded _did reference only to the situation that would be created
+ if Belgian neutrality had already been violated_. The Belgian
+ Government gives to the allegations of the German Chancery the only
+ answer that they deserve--they are a tissue of lies, all the more
+ shameless because they are set forth by persons who claim to have
+ studied the original documents.
+
+ "But what are the documents which Germany produces in order to
+ prove Belgium guilty? They are two in number:--
+
+ "(1) The narrative of certain interviews which took place between
+ Lieutenant-General Ducarne and Colonel Barnardiston in 1906. In the
+ course of these interviews the British officer set forth his views
+ as to the way in which England could help Belgium _in case the
+ latter were attacked by Germany_. One phrase in the document
+ clearly proves that Colonel Barnardiston is dealing with a
+ hypothetical case--viz., 'the entry of English troops into Belgium
+ would only take place after a violation of Belgian neutrality by
+ Germany.' The translation in the _Norddeutsche Zeitung_ of November
+ 25 _omits this clause_, the phrase which gives its exact scope and
+ significance to the document. Moreover, the photograph of General
+ Ducarne's report contains the words, 'The officer with whom I spoke
+ insists that our conversation has been absolutely confidential.'
+ For the word _conversation_ the _Norddeutsche Zeitung_ substitutes
+ the word 'convention.' Colonel Barnardiston is made to say that
+ 'our convention' has been absolutely confidential![116]
+
+ "Such proceedings need no commentary.
+
+ "(2) The second document is the report of a conversation on the
+ same subject in April, 1912, between Lieutenant-General Jungbluth
+ and Lieutenant-Colonel Bridges. In the course of the conversation
+ the former observed to the latter that 'any English intervention in
+ favour of Belgium, if she were the victim of German aggression,
+ could only take place with our consent.' The British Military
+ Attache raised the point that England might perhaps exercise her
+ rights and duties, as one of the Powers guaranteeing Belgium,
+ without waiting for the appeal to be made to her. This was Colonel
+ Bridges' personal opinion only. The British Government has always
+ held, as did the Belgian Government, that the consent of the latter
+ was a necessary preliminary.
+
+ "The Belgian Government declares on its honour that not only was no
+ 'Convention' ever made, but also that neither of the two
+ Governments ever made any advances or propositions concerning the
+ conclusion of any such convention. Moreover, the Minister of Great
+ Britain at Brussels, who alone could contract engagements in her
+ behalf, never intervened in these conversations. And the whole
+ Belgian Ministry are ready to pledge themselves on oath that no
+ conclusions arising from these conversations were ever brought
+ before the Cabinet, or even laid before one single member of it.
+ The documents which the Germans discovered give evidence of all
+ this. Their meaning is perfectly clear provided that no part of
+ them is either garbled or suppressed.
+
+ "In face of calumnies repeated again and again, our Government,
+ faithfully reflecting Belgian uprightness, considers that it is its
+ duty to inflict once more on the spoiler of Belgium the brand of
+ infamy--his only legitimate reward. It also takes the opportunity
+ of declaring, in answer to allegations whose malevolence is
+ obvious, that:--
+
+ "(1) Before the declaration of war no French force, even of the
+ smallest size, had entered Belgium.
+
+ "(2) Not only did Belgium never refuse an offer of military help
+ offered by one of the guaranteeing Powers, but after the
+ declaration of war she earnestly solicited the protection of her
+ guarantors.
+
+ "(3) When undertaking, as was her duty, the vigorous defence of her
+ fortresses, Belgium asked for, and received with gratitude, such
+ help as her guarantors were able to place at her disposition for
+ that defence.
+
+ "Belgium the victim of her own loyalty, will not bow her head
+ before any Power. Her honour defies the assaults of falsehood. She
+ has faith in the justice of the world. On the day of judgment the
+ triumph belongs to the people who have sacrificed everything to
+ serve conscientiously the cause of Truth, Right, and Honour."
+
+In the foregoing connection, the following extract from a statement
+authorised by Sir Edward Grey on January 26, 1915, is of interest:--
+
+ "As regards the conversation ... the Belgian officer said to the
+ British: 'You could only land in our country with our consent,' and
+ in 1913 Sir Edward Grey gave the Belgian Government a categorical
+ assurance that no British Government would violate the neutrality
+ of Belgium; and that 'so long as it was not violated by any other
+ Power we should certainly not send troops ourselves into their
+ territory.'
+
+ "The Chancellor's method of misusing documents may be illustrated
+ in this connection. He represents Sir Edward Grey as saying 'he did
+ not believe England would take such a step, because he did not
+ think English public opinion would justify such action.' What Sir
+ Edward Grey actually wrote was:--'I said that I was sure that this
+ Government would not be the first to violate the neutrality of
+ Belgium, and I did not believe that any British Government would be
+ the first to do so, nor would public opinion here ever approve of
+ it.'
+
+ "If the German Chancellor wishes to know why there were
+ conversations on military subjects between British and Belgian
+ officers, he may find one reason in a fact well known to him,
+ namely, that Germany was establishing an elaborate network of
+ strategical railways, leading from the Rhine to the Belgian
+ frontier, through a barren, thinly-populated tract--railways
+ deliberately constructed to permit of a sudden attack upon Belgium,
+ such as was carried out in August last. This fact alone was enough
+ to justify any communications between Belgium and other Powers on
+ the footing that there would be no violation of Belgian neutrality
+ unless it were previously violated by another Power...."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[114] Interview with Herr von Jagow, by the _New York World_, March 28,
+1915; interview with Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, by the Associated Press,
+in New York papers, January 25, 1915.
+
+[115] No such "conversations" took place in 1911. A passing reference
+only to the Morocco situation of 1911 was made in the 1912
+"conversations." This appears to be the German Chancellor's sole
+foundation for his assertion. Cd. 7860, p. 360.
+
+[116] In a letter to the _Morning Post_ of February 8, 1915, Mr. A.
+Hamon, Professor de l'Universite, Nouville de Bruxelles, writes:--
+
+ "In October and November last (13th and 24th) the _Norddeutsche
+ Allgemeine Zeitung_ published the documents seized by the Germans
+ in the Belgian archives. The German Government then published a
+ Dutch edition of these documents, accompanied by a photographic
+ reproduction of the said documents. The pamphlet bears the name of
+ R. W. E. Wijnmalen as publisher, in the town of Den Haag (The
+ Hague). On the photographic document we read in the margin: 'The
+ entry of the English into Belgium would only take place after the
+ violation of our neutrality by Germany.' Now, this extremely
+ important note is omitted in the Dutch translation. It was also
+ omitted in the German translation. This is a falsification through
+ omission, a very serious falsification, as it modified the meaning
+ of the document.
+
+ "But we have worse still. On the top of page 2 of General Ducarne's
+ letter to the Minister, he says: 'My interlocutor insisted on this
+ fact that "our conversation was quite confidential...."' In the
+ Dutch translation, instead of 'conversation,' there is 'convention'
+ (overeenkomst)! The mistake is great and cannot be but purposely
+ made. The German Government thus changes into a convention, that is
+ to say, an agreement, what is but a simple conversation."
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX F.
+
+LIST OF PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS RESPECTING THE WAR.
+
+
+Correspondence respecting the European Crisis. Misc. No. 6 (1914).
+
+Rupture of Diplomatic Relations with the German Government. Despatch
+from His Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin. Misc. No. 8 (1914).
+
+German Organisation for Influencing the Press of other Countries.
+Despatches from His Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin. Misc. No. 9 (1914).
+
+Rupture of Diplomatic Relations with the Austro-Hungarian Government.
+Despatch from His Majesty's Ambassador at Vienna. Misc. 10 (1914).
+
+Documents respecting Negotiations preceding the War published by the
+Russian Government. Misc. No. 11 (1914).
+
+Papers relating to the Support offered by the Princes and Peoples of
+India to His Majesty in connection with the War. (I.O. paper.)
+
+Diplomatic Correspondence respecting the War published by the Belgian
+Government. Misc. No. 12 (1914).
+
+Correspondence respecting Events leading to the Rupture of Relations
+with Turkey. Misc. No. 13 (1914).
+
+Despatch from His Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople summarising
+Events leading up to Rupture of Relations with Turkey and Reply. Misc.
+No. 14 (1914).
+
+Diplomatic Correspondence respecting the War published by the French
+Government. Misc. No. 15 (1914).
+
+Despatch to Sir H. Howard containing instruction respecting his Mission
+to the Vatican. Misc. No. 1 (1914).
+
+Temperance Measures adopted in Russia since the outbreak of the War.
+Despatch from Petrograd enclosing Memo. Misc. No. 2 (1915).
+
+Letter July 31/14 from President of French Republic to the King
+respecting the European Crisis, and His Majesty's Reply. Misc. No. 3
+(1915).
+
+Treatment of German Prisoners in United Kingdom. Correspondence with the
+U.S. Ambassador respecting. Misc. No. 5 (1915).
+
+Rights of Belligerents: Correspondence with U.S. Government. Misc. No. 6
+(1915).
+
+Treatment of Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians in the U.K. and
+Germany respectively: Correspondence between His Majesty's Government
+and U.S. Ambassador respecting. Misc. No. 7 (1915).
+
+Release of Interned Civilians and the Exchange of Diplomatic. &c.,
+Officers, and of certain classes of Naval and Military Officers,
+Prisoners of War in the United Kingdom and Germany respectively. Misc.
+No. 8 (1915).
+
+Sinking of German Cruiser "Dresden" in Chilean Territorial Waters: Notes
+exchanged with the Chilean Minister. Misc. No. 9 (1915).
+
+List of certain Commissions and Committees set up to deal with Public
+Questions arising out of the War.
+
+Bad Time kept in Shipbuilding, Munitions and Transport Areas: Report and
+Statistics.
+
+Alleged German Outrages: Report of Committee.
+
+Alleged German Outrages: Appendix to Report of Committee.
+
+Collected Diplomatic Documents relating to the Outbreak of the European
+War. Misc. No. 10 (1915).
+
+Treatment of British Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians at certain
+places of detention in Germany: Report by United States Officials. Misc.
+No. 11 (1915).
+
+Correspondence regarding the Naval and Military Assistance afforded to
+His Majesty's Government by His Majesty's Oversea Dominions. (Cd. 7607.)
+
+Correspondence relating to Gifts of Food-Stuffs and other Supplies to
+His Majesty's Government from the Oversea Dominions and Colonies. (Cd.
+7608.)
+
+Correspondence regarding Gifts from the Oversea Dominions and Colonies.
+(Cd. 7646.)
+
+Papers relating to Scales of Pensions and Allowances of Officers and Men
+of the Oversea Contingents and their Dependents. (Cd. 7793.)
+
+Correspondence on the subject of the proposed Naval and Military
+Expedition against German South-West Africa. (Cd. 7873.)
+
+Report on the Outbreak of the Rebellion and the Policy of the Government
+with regard to its suppression. (Cd. 7874.)
+
+Further Correspondence regarding Gifts from the Oversea Dominions and
+Colonies. (Cd. 7875.)
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+The transcriber made this change to the text to correct an obvious
+error:
+
+ 1. p. 34, "appproaches" --> "approaches"
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WAR AND HOW IT AROSE***
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