mighty drama that will for a
long time and maybe forever free mankind from the scourge of war--the
one scourge among all that cannot be excused and that cannot be
explained, since alone among all scourges it issues entirely from the
hands of man.

But it is while this scourge is upon us--while we have our being in its
very centre--that we shall do well to weigh the guilt of those who
committed this inexpiable crime. It is now, when we are in the awful
horror, undergoing and feeling it, that we have the energy and
clearsightedness needed to judge it. From the depths of the most fearful
injustice justice is best perceived. When the hour shall have come for
settling accounts--it will not be long delayed--we shall have forgotten
much of what we have suffered and a censurable pity will creep over us
and cloud our eyes.

*Will Seek Sympathy.*

This is the moment, therefore, for us to frame our inexorable
resolution. After the final victory, when the enemy is crushed--as
crushed as he will be--efforts will be made to enlist our sympathy. We
shall be told that the unfortunate German people are merely the victims
of their monarch and their feudal caste; that no blame attaches to the
Germany we know that is so sympathetic and cordial--the Germany of
quaint old houses and open-hearted greetings; the Germany that sits
under its lime trees beneath the clear light of the moon--but only to
Prussia, hateful, arrogant Prussia; that homely, peace-loving Bavaria,
the genial, hospitable dwellers on the banks of the Rhine, the Silesian
and Saxon--I know not who besides--have merely obeyed and been compelled
to obey orders they detested, but were unable to resist.

We are in the face of reality now. Let us look at it well and pronounce
our sentence, for this is the moment when we hold the proofs in our
hands; when the elements of the crime are hot before us and should
out--the truth that will soon fade from our memory. Let us tell
ourselves now therefore that all we shall be told hereafter will be
false. Let us unflinchingly adhere to what we decide at this moment when
the glare of the horror is on us.

*No Degrees of Guilt.*

It is not true that in this gigantic crime there are innocent and guilty
or degrees of guilt. They stand on one level, all who have taken part.
The German from the north has no more especial craving for blood than
the German from the south has especial tenderness and pity. It is very
simple. It is the Germ