ould send to
their death any of our people who ventured to
approach the coasts of Europe. And many of our own
people were corrupted. Men began to look upon
their own neighbors with suspicion and to wonder
in their hot resentment and surprise whether there
was any community in which hostile intrigue did
not lurk. What great nation in such circumstances
would not have taken up arms? Much as we had
desired peace, it was denied us, and not of our
own choice. This flag under which we serve would
have been dishonored had we withheld our hand.

But that is only part of the story. We know now as
clearly as we knew before we were ourselves
engaged that we are not the enemies of the German
people and that they are not our enemies. They did
not originate or desire this hideous war or wish
that we should be drawn into it; and we are
vaguely conscious that we are fighting their
cause, as they will some day see it, as well as
our own. They are themselves in the grip of the
same sinister power that has now at last stretched
its ugly talons out and drawn blood from us. The
whole world is at war because the whole world is
in the grip of that power and is trying out the
great battle which shall determine whether it is
to be brought under its mastery or fling itself
free.

THE MASTERS OF GERMANY

The war was begun by the military masters of
Germany, who proved to be also the masters of
Austria-Hungary. These men have never regarded
nations as peoples, men, women, and children of
like blood and frame as themselves, for whom
Governments existed and in whom Governments had
their life. They have regarded them merely as
serviceable organizations which they could by
force or intrigue bend or corrupt to their own
purpose. They have regarded the smaller States, in
particular, and the peoples who could be
overwhelmed by force as their natural tools and
instruments of domination. Their purpose has long
been avowed. The statesmen of other nations, to
whom that purpose was incredible, paid little
attention;