Prussian militarism, it never has been their design, as has been alleged, to encompass the extermination of the German peoples and their political disappearance. That which they desire above all is to insure a peace upon the principles of liberty and justice, upon the inviolable fidelity to international obligation with which the Government of the United States has never ceased to be inspired.

"United in the pursuits of this supreme object the Allies are determined, individually and collectively, to act with all their power and to consent to all sacrifices to bring to a victorious close a conflict upon which they are convinced not only their own safety and prosperity depends but also the future of civilization itself."

THE PRESIDENT'S PEACE MESSAGE

Following this, on January 22, 1917, President Wilson addressed the United States Senate on the subject, not with a request for action but in explanation of his policy, and thus ended the discussion of peace, which was already obviously futile. In his address he reviewed the notes of the belligerents, insisted that when peace was finally made the United States must have a part in the work, and indicated what must be the general tenor of the peace terms to be satisfactory to this country; saying in conclusion:

"In holding out the expectation that the people and the Government of the United States will join the other civilized nations of the world in guaranteeing the permanence of peace upon such terms as I have named, I speak with the greater boldness and confidence because it is clear to every man who can think that there is in this promise no breach in either our traditions or our policy as a nation, but a fulfillment rather of all that we have professed or striven for.

A MONROE DOCTRINE FOR ALL NATIONS

"I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world: That no nation should seek to extend its policy over any other nation or people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful.

"I am proposing that all nations henceforth avoid entangling alliances which would draw them into competition of power, catch them in a net of intrigue and selfish rivalry, and disturb their own affairs with influences intruded from without. There is no entangling alliance in a concert of power. When all unite to act in the same sense and with the same purpose, all act in the common interest and are free to live their own lives under a common protection.

"I am proposing government by the consent of the governed; that freedom of the seas which in international conference after conference representatives of the United States have urged with the eloquence of those who are the convinced disciples of liberty; and that moderation of armaments which makes of armies and navies a power for order merely, not an instrument of aggression or of selfish violence.

"These are American principles, American policies. We can stand for no others. And they are also the principles and policies of forward-looking men and women everywhere, of every modern nation, of every enlightened community. They are the principles of mankind and must prevail."

CHAPTER XVIII

AMERICA AS A BELLIGERENT

Our Tardy Entrance Into the World War Our Declaration the Thirtysixth in Less than Thirty-three Months- How It Was Made and How Others Had Been Made Our Lack of Readiness - Neglect of the Policy of Washington

and Jefferson The Evil Results of Our Unpreparedness in Former Wars The Disgrace of the War of 1812-Lessons Which We Refused to Learn-State of Our Forces on Land and Sea When War with Germany Was Declared - Vigorous Endeavors of Government and People to Atone for Years of Neglect and Folly The Opposition of So-called Pacifists - Different Sentiments of Different Sections of the Country-Slowness in Realizing the Actual Situation and Its Needs Final Uprising of the Nation.

AMERICA'S entrance into the War of the Nations was tardy and deliberate. We have seen how numerous, persistent and extreme had been her provocations, during more than two and a half years. Yet she waited until nearly every great nation in the Eastern Hemisphere was involved, and indeed until some of her neighbors in this hemisphere were beginning to consider participation in it. Our declaration of war with Germany, made on April 6, 1917, was the thirty-sixth that had been made in this war since Austria's breach with Serbia on July 28, 1914-a period of less than thirty-three months.

It will be interesting, as a matter of reference and record, to recapitulate the various declarations which had been made; bearing in mind that in some cases nations against which war was declared did not respond with counter-declarations. For example, Germany declared war against France on August 3, 1914; but France has never yet made any declaration against Germany. Her

only answer to the German declaration was, to fight. The following is a list of the various declarations down to and including our own:

FORMS OF DECLARATIONS OF WAR

In finally making our declaration of war against Germany, we might well have adopted the words of Shakespeare and said, "Stand not upon the order of declaring, but declare." There was much discussion and there were many differences of opinion as to the order, or the form; whether we should "declare war" or should merely declare that "a state of war existed." There was thought to be much and important difference between the two, as though the former would impose far more responsibility upon

us than the latter. The former seemed to be looked upon as an announcement that we should begin war against Germany, while the latter was merely a recognition of the fact that Germany had begun to wage war against

us.

The fact is, however, that between the two there was and is scarcely as much as between tweedledum and tweedledee. The two phrases are practically synonymous. To declare does not mean to wage war or to announce an intention of doing so. It means nothing more than to state, to announce, to publish, to make clear, an already existing fact. Our phrase, as finally adopted by Congress, was that a state of war "is hereby declared." That did not mean at all that we purposed to create a state of war. It meant that we recognize the fact that one already existed, and the preceding context made it abundantly clear that it was Germany that created that state of war and thrust it upon us; which was, of course, precisely correct and the very thing that we ought to have said. The uncertainty and difference of opinion beforehand, and the misinterpretation which some have since put upon the act, simply show how much misapprehension of the meaning of the phrase there is among intelligent men. To have made it read "is hereby declared to exist," as some have been saying should have been done, would not have changed the meaning one iota. The added words would have been simply superfluous.

UNREADY FOR WAR

Seldom, if ever, has any nation made a declaration of war in a greater state of unreadiness for war than the United States was in when it finally joined issues with Germany. For more than a century the policy of Wash