the other of them
before their total strength can come into action, and if she prepares
for war to that effect, and acts at the decisive moment in _that_
spirit which made the great Prussian king once seize the sword against
a world in arms."

THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR

Statements from the British, French, and German Ambassadors to the
United States

BRITISH EMBASSY

WASHINGTON

July 19, 1916.

DEAR SIR:

I beg to acknowledge with thanks your courteous invitation to my
government to make a statement concerning the war on the occasion of
the second anniversary of its outbreak.

My government fully appreciates your kindness and courtesy in placing
at its service the Review which has already contributed to such an
honourable extent to the world's knowledge of the great events which
are now passing before us. Had the policy of my government undergone
any change since the war's commencement I have no doubt that a
statement explaining such a change would have been issued. But the
policy of the British government is now what it was when the war first
began under circumstances with which your readers are entirely
familiar. To quote Sir Edward Grey's words: "Is there anyone who
thinks it possible that we could have sat still and looked on without
eternal disgrace?"

Yours faithfully,
CECIL SPRING RICE.

The Editor
_Collier's Weekly_,
NEW YORK.

AMBASSADE DE LA REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE AUX ETATS-UNIS

WASHINGTON, le July 10, 1916.

DEAR SIR:

I had not failed to forward to my Government your request for a
statement concerning the war on the occasion of its impending second
anniversary.

I am instructed to convey to you, in answer, the expression of the
Prime Minister's regret at his inability to comply with the wish of a
review so honorably known as _Collier's Weekly_. The case of France is
so plain that it is not felt there can be need for explanations, much
less for pleadings; and it is enough to refer to public documents.

They show how that war, which France had done her utmost to prevent,
was declared on her by the Germans on the 3rd of August, 1914, for
such frivolous motives as a shelling by her aeros of places as distant
as Nurenberg: an imaginary deed of which she never dreamt, which she
has never be