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By Joseph Reinach

French Historian and Publicist

Shortly after President Wilson sent his peace note of Dec. 20, 1916, to the belligerent powers, Joseph Reinach wrote for the Paris Figaro the reply here translated for CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE.

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POINTS OF FACT

I. PREMEDITATION OF THE WAR ONSIDERING that on April 13, 1905, the Reichstag passed a new military law extending over six years, and providing for initial, non-renewable credit of 87,000,000 francs and a supplementary credit of 39,000,000 annually for expenses in case of war;

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That on March 7, 1911, the Reichstag voted a five-year non-renewable expenditure for military purposes of 103,000,000, with a supplementary annual expenditure of 55,000,000;

That on June 14, 1912, the Reichstag voted another non-renewable credit of 180,000,000 and a new annual supplementary credit of 55,000,000;

That on July 3, 1913, the Reichstag voted a non-renewable credit of 1,105,000,000 francs, with a new annual supplementary credit of 228,000,000;

CONSIDERING that during the same period the French Chamber voted: On March 21, 1905, a supplementary annual credit of 21,000,000, and, on March 26, 1914, through the necessity of parrying in part the menace of the enormous sums appropriated by the Reichstag since 1905, and especially in 1913, a permanent supplement of 257,000,000 francs for the war budget, and a non-renewable credit of 720,000,000;

That these facts and dates establish the respective tendencies of the two countries at the beginning of 1914;

II. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WAR CONSIDERING that on July 25, 1914, in response to the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum of the 23d, the Serbian Government accepted in practical totality the conditions imposed by the Government at Vienna, and declared itself ready to submit any points of difference either to The Hague or the great powers;

That on the same day, without paying any attention to this reply, which had been made at the request of Russia and France, the Austro-Hungarian Minister broke off relations with Serbia and left Belgrade;

That on July 27, 1914, the British Government, in concert with France and Russia and with the support of Italy, proposed to Germany a conference in London with a view to preserving the peace of Europe;

That the German Government refused to consider this suggestion;

That on July 29, 1914, relying upon the declaration of Herr von Jagow, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, "that Austria must have special guarantees before Serbia's reply could offer a basis for negotiations," the French Government immediately suggested that an international commission should take charge of the execution of Serbia's promises:

That no response was made to that suggestion;

That on the same day a personal telegram from the Czar of Russia to the German Emperor offered to submit the Austro-Serbian difference to The Hague tribunal;

That again there was no reply to this telegram; and that, furthermore, this important matter of record was omitted intentionally from the German White Book of August, 1914;

That on July 31 the British Government asked France and Germany whether, in could not be averted, they would respect the neutrality of Belgium;

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That France, one of the parties to the Treaty of 1839, at once replied that the treaty would be scrupulously respected;

That Germany, also a party to that treaty, refused to give any guarantee,

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and on Aug. 2, upon a pretext-since proved absolutely false-that France was preparing to send troops through Belgium along the Meuse, destroyed the treaty, qualifying it in the words of the German Chancellor as a scrap of paper," addressed an ultimatum to Belgium, invaded Luxemburg, whose neutrality she had no less solemnly guaranteed, and crossed the Belgian frontier with her armies;

That on July 31, 1914, Germany began mobilization under the pretext that she was "in danger of war";

That on the next day France, while finding herself compelled to take a similar step, announced that in order to avoid any clash at the frontier she was withdrawing her border troops ten kilometers back of the line;

That on Aug. 2, early in the morning, the first German patrols set foot on French soil, while it was only in the evening of the following day, Aug. 3, 1914, that the German Government sent its declaration of war to the French Government;

That this declaration of war was accompanied by a statement that Belgian and German territory had been violated by French aviators, a statement since recognized by the German Government itself as without foundation of fact or truth;

POINTS OF RIGHT III.-CONDUCT OF THE WAR CONSIDERING that the whole world knows how the Central Powers and their allies have conducted the war, notably in violating the articles of the Geneva Convention relating to the Red Cross, those of The Hague Conference on the use of asphyxiating gas, the laws of maritime warfare, and Article 22 of the Convention of Nov. 29, 1909, forbidding a belligerent to force citizens of another belligerent to take part in war operations against their own country;

IV. THE LESSONS OF HISTORY CONSIDERING that the Imperial German Government has sought in vain to throw upon the Entente the responsibility for a catastrophe without precedent

and for the death of several millions of men;

That the statesmen, educators, and military officials of Germany, in their writings, teachings, and public addresses have long proclaimed the necessity of making right bow before might;

That whole German generations have been mentally formed upon a doctrine of contempt for the plighted word and the triumph of brute force;

That in connection with her increasing and unjustified military preparations, Germany, through an unscrupulous and immoral diplomacy, sought to impose upon free nations a habit of humiliation and fear;

That these nations, in the illusion of an imprudent confidence, had come to neglect for the works of civilization and peace the most legitimate precautions and preparations for self-defense;

That the men responsible for the disregard of plighted honor and the brutal aggression which the war has brought forth, could not, a few months before hostilities, longer keep their own evil counsel, as evidenced by the Emperor's conversation with the King of Belgium on Nov. 6, 1913, and the speech of the German Chancellor from the tribune of the Reichstag on Aug. 4, 1914;

That the rulers of Germany, therefore, by virtue of the very power they hold, have been the sole responsible and guilty parties, having for a long time previous to hostilities premeditated and prepared war, loosing it at the moment which they judged favorable and giving it its character of increasing ferocity, as manifested in the untold destruction of property and cruelty to humanity;

That in logical consequence these men, who have shown contempt for their sacred engagements, are disqualified to engage in peace negotiations, which they themselves, either through cynicism or through lack of conscience, characterize as "offensive diplomacy ";

That the Governments and peoples of the Entente cannot consider the question of peace as long as they have to treat with men who can no longer be trusted; CONSIDERING that no chance exists for a just, honorable, and lasting peace,

a peace restoring the principles of right and honor, in the presence of men who have deliberately violated engagements and treaties signed by themselves;

CONSIDERING that these men thus remain the sole yet insurmountable obstacle to the re-establishment of that peace of which they pretend to be sincere champions, and which is longed for by their own people, who are suffering cruel deprivations, and even hunger;

CONSIDERING that if the German Nation has been deceived by official falsehood and systematically kept in ignorance of the true facts, the German rulers have followed out exactly a coldly premeditated plan;

CONSIDERING that, having failed to crush France, as they had hoped, in a

few weeks, and to turn then upon Russia and terrorize or corrupt Belgium, England, Japan, Italy, Portugal, and Rumania, they do not conceal the fact that peace for them now would be only a truce to prepare for a new aggression;

CONSIDERING that there could be neither security nor justice in a world over which is suspended the sword of Prussian militarism:

THE ENTENTE POWERS, resolved not to lay down their arms before the liberation of the oppressed peoples, declare, in the name of the nations that are the victims of German aggression and in the face of the world, that they will not treat with William II., the man responsible before humanity and history. for this war, its mourning and its ruins.

America Through English Eyes

By William Archer

English Dramatist, Essayist, and Critic

[The severance of relations by the United States with Germany aroused widespread discussion of the attitude of Great Britain toward the United States. Among the many contributions on this subject, Mr. Archer's essay in The Westminster Gazette (London) is especially noteworthy for its truth, clarity, and keen analysis.-ED. CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE.]

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ANY people do not realize that hitherto all the active political relations between Great Britain and America have been hostile relations. Twice the two nations have been at war, and there are not a few Americans who are fond of boasting that in both of these conflicts they "whipped" us. Our normal level relations have no doubt been amicable enough; but whenever the level has been broken it has been by incidents which left a certain legacy of ill-feeling. The general attitude of Britain during the great civil war was anything but sympathetic. Once we were on the verge of a rupture over the case of Mason and Slidell. The affair of the Alabama was exceedingly disagreeable. The Venezuelan squabble led us, not perhaps to the brink of hostilities, but some way in that direction. The incident of Manila Bay is perhaps the only international episode of any note that has definitely tended to draw the two nations together.

Of course this does not mean that there has not been real friendship between them. There has never been a moment when thousands of Englishmen and thousands of Americans have not felt the warmest regard for each other. Perhaps it may even be said that the reciprocal feeling of the majority of both peoples has been a sort of vaguely critical and suspicious kindliness. But there have always been certain classes in America that cherished old and new rancors against England, and these were not a little encouraged by the general tone of common school education. No one can read the American newspapers of today without realizing that, except among a cultured minority in the Eastern States, pro-ally sympathies are centred rather upon France and Belgium than upon England, and that in the Middle West and West the feeling of the masses toward the Allies in general, and England in particular, is at best one of indiffer

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