that I am idealizing them, or that my people, the Letts, have enjoyed
any special privileges under their government. On the contrary! I have
suffered more at their hands than at the hands of the Germans, and my
nation knows only too well how heavy is the hand of the Russian
Government, and how suffocating the atmosphere of Panslavism. In 1906 it
was the Lett peasant and intellectual classes who enjoyed most
frequently the privilege of being flogged; it was amongst these classes
that the greatest number of unfortunates were shot, hanged, or
imprisoned for life. And since that dreadful year there are to be found
in all the principal towns of Western Europe colonies of Letts, formed
of refugees who succeeded in escaping from the atrocities of the
punitive expedition sent by the Russian Government against my country.
But this fact is significant: _at the head of the majority of the
military bands commissioned to punish the country were German officers
who had asked for this employment, and showed so great a zeal in
shooting down men and setting fire to houses, that they went even beyond
the intentions of the Russian Government. In those days the places
might count themselves fortunate which were visited by dragoons
commanded by officers of Russian nationality; for where Russian officers
would have ordered the knout, German officers habitually inflicted a
sentence of death._
If my nation had ever to choose between a German and a Russian
government it would choose the latter as the lesser of two evils. I see
in the Lett newspapers that the reservists of my country left for the
war with enthusiasm. I do not imagine that this enthusiasm is due to the
thought that they are fighting for the glory of a nation which, by every
means in its power, seeks to hinder our national development, by
forbidding instruction in our native tongue in primary schools, by
attempting to colonize our land with Russian peasants, by compelling our
own people to emigrate to Siberia and America, by excluding all Letts
from any share in Government employment, etc. This enthusiasm
nevertheless exists, and it is because the war is being waged against
Germany, and because the Letts know that the Germans have long been
aiming at the possession of the Baltic provinces. To prevent this we are
prepared to make any sacrifice. We, who love our national civilization
and know well what Panslavism and Pangermanism mean, are of opinion
that, of the two, Panslavism is less fatal to the civilizations of small
nations. This is really due to the character of the two races.
_German oppression is always systematic, hence always efficacious. In
addition to this, their arrogant contempt for everything that is not
themselves, the calm and calculated method in which they carry out their
system of persecution wherever they dominate, all this makes them
intolerable._
_Russians are less logical by nature; their minds are not so regulated
and they are more inclined to obey the dictates of their hearts; for
this reason they are less to be feared as oppressors. The blows which
they strike are often extremely cruel and painful, but they can repent
from time to time. Their manners are rougher and more brutal_ (I speak
here more especially of civil and military officials), _but on the whole
they are more humane than the Germans, who often conceal feelings of
fierce savagery under the mask of perfect courtesy. In the year 1906,
when there were executions in Russia on a large scale, there were many
cases of suicide amongst Russian officers who could not reconcile their
profession of soldiers with that of a hangman. The officers of German
nationality, on the other hand, carried out their orders with
enjoyment._
Nevertheless Russian domination, though preferable to German, is still
very oppressive. I hear the news of Russian victories with mingled
feelings, rejoicing in so far as they are victories for the Allies, yet
dreading the triumph of Russia. After the defeats of the Russo-Japanese
War, when the Russian Government was weakened, it conceded certain
liberal measures and then revoked them almost entirely as its strength
returned. What have we to expect from a victory for Czarism, especially
we who are not Russians, but a savage revival of the crushing ideals of
Panslavism?
This is the agonized question which the nations subject to Russia are
asking now. I read in your article that the turn of Czarism will come
after that of Prussianism. In what sense is this to be understood? Is it
your opinion that another war will presently break out against Czarism,
or will it be struck down by the blows of an internal revolution? Is it
even possible that France and England obtained the promise of a reform
in the internal politics of Russia before allying themselves with her?
And is the proclamation to the Poles evidence of this? Will it have any
real effect after the war? And those other nations oppressed by
Russia--the Finns, the Letts, the Lithuanians, the Esthonians, the
Armenians, the Jews...--will they too have justice done them?
These questions are probably devoid of any political significance. Yet
without perceiving in what manner France and England can set us free, we
do direct our hopes towards them. We believe that in some way or other
they will take care in future that their Russian ally shall show herself
worthy of them and of the ideas for which they are fighting, lest the
blood of those who have died in the cause of freedom go to feed the
strength of the oppressors.
Thus, sir, I have ventured uninvited to set forth rather fully to you
the hopes and fears of a nation which has developed itself on a narrow
strip of land between the two abysses of Pangermanism and Panslavism.
Whilst ardently desiring the destruction of the former, we have
everything to fear from the latter. Yet we do not aspire to political
independence. We seek only the possibility of developing freely our
intellectual, artistic, and economic powers, without the perpetual
menace of being absorbed by Russia or Germany. We believe that, in
virtue of the civilization we have acquired in the face of obstacles, we
are worthy of the liberties and rights of man; we are convinced that as
a nation we have qualities which will fit us to play a valuable part in
the great symphony of civilized peoples.
_Journal de Genève_, October 10, 1914.
V. INTER ARMA CARITAS
Once more I address myself to our friends the enemy. But this time I
shall attempt no discussion, for discussion is impossible with those who
avow that they do not seek for but possess the truth. For the moment
there is no spiritual force that can pierce the thick wall of certitude
by which Germany is barricaded against the light of day--the terrible
certitude, the pharisaical satisfaction which pervades the monstrous
letter of a Court preacher who glorifies God for having made him
impeccable, irreproachable, and pure, himself, his emperor, his
ministers, his army, and his race; and who rejoices beforehand in his
"holy wrath" at the destruction of all who do not think as he
thinks.[17]
True, I am very far from thinking that this monument of anti-Christian
pride represents the spirit of the better part of Germany. I know how
many noble hearts, moderate, affectionate, incapable of doing evil and
almost of conceiving it, go to make up her moral strength; amongst them
are friends that I shall never cease to esteem. I know how many intrepid
minds work ceaselessly in German science for the conquest of the truth.
But I see on the one hand these good people so over-confident, so
tractable, with their eyes shut, ignorant of the facts and unwilling to
recognize anything but what it is the pleasure of their Government that
they shall know; and on the other, the clearest minds of Germany,
historians and savants, trained for the criticism of texts, basing their
conviction on documents which all emanate from one alone of the parties
concerned, and by way of peremptory proof referring us to the _ex-parte_
affirmations of their Emperor, and of their Chancellor, like
well-behaved scholars, whose only argument is _Magister dixit_. What
hope remains of convincing such people that there exists a truth beyond
that master, and that in addition to his White Book we have in our hands
books of every kind and of every color, whose testimony demands the
attention of an impartial judge? But do they so much as know of their
existence, and does the master allow his class to handle the manuals of
his enemies? Our disagreement is not only as regards the facts of the
case; it is due to difference in mind itself. Between the spirit of
Germany today and that of the rest of Europe there is no longer a point
of contact. We speak to them of _Humanity_; they reply with
_Uebermensch_, _Uebervolk_, and it goes without saying that they
themselves are the Uebervolk. Germany seems to be overcome by a morbid
exaltation, a collective madness, for which there is no remedy but time.
According to the view of medical experts in analogous cases such forms
of madness develop rapidly, and are suddenly followed by profound
depression. We can then but wait, and in the meantime defend ourselves
to the best of our ability from the madness of Ajax.
Certainly Ajax has given us plenty of work to do. Look at the ruins
around us! We may bring aid to the victims--yet how little can we
achieve? In the eternal struggle between good and evil the scales are
not evenly balanced. We need a century to re-create what one day can
destroy. The fury of madness, on the other hand, endures only for a day;
patient labor is our lot throughout the years. It knows no pause, even
in those hours when the world seems at an end. The vine-growers of
Champagne gather in their vintage though the bombs of the rival armies
explode around them--and we, too, can do our share! There is work for
all who find themselves outside the battle. Especially for those who
still can write, it seems to me that there should be something better to
do than to brandish a pen dipped in blood and seated at their tables to
cry "Kill! Kill!" I hate the war, but even more do I hate those who
glorify it without taking part. What would we say of officers who
marched behind their men? The noblest rôle of those who follow in the
rear is to pick up their friends who fall, and to bear in mind even
during the battle those fair words so often forgotten--_Inter arma
caritas_.
* * * * *
Amidst all the misery which every man of feeling can do his share to
relieve, let us recall the fate of the prisoner of war. But knowing that
Germany today blushes at her former sentimentality, I carefully refrain
from appealing to her pity by whinings, as they call them, about the
destruction of Louvain and Rheims. "War is war." Granted!--then it is
natural that it drags in its train thousands of prisoners, officers and
men.
For the moment I shall say only a word about these, in order to comfort
as far as possible the families who are searching for them, and are so
anxious about their fate. On both sides hateful rumors circulate only
too easily, rumors given currency by an unscrupulous press, rumors which
would have us believe that the most elementary laws of humanity are
trampled under foot by the enemy. Only the other day an Austrian friend
wrote to me, maddened by the lies of some paper or other, to beg me to
help the German wounded in France, who are left without any aid. And
have I not heard or read the same unworthy fears expressed by Frenchmen
as regards their wounded, who are said to be maltreated in Germany? But
it is all a lie--on both sides; and those of us whose task it is to
receive the true information from either camp must affirm the contrary.
Speaking generally (for in so many thousands of cases one cannot, of
course, be sure that there will not here and there be individual
exceptions) this war, whose actual conduct has provoked a degree of
harshness which our knowledge of previous wars in the West would not
have allowed us to expect, is by contrast less cruel to all
those--prisoners and wounded--who are put out of the battle line.
The letters that we receive and documents already published--especially
an interesting account which appeared in the _Neue Zürcher Zeitung_ of
October 18th, written by Dr. Schneeli, who had just been visiting the
hospitals and prisoners' camps in Germany--show that in that country
efforts are being made to reconcile the ideals of humanity with the
exigencies of war. They make it clear that there is no difference
between the care bestowed by the Germans on their own wounded and those
of the enemy, and that friendly relations exist between the prisoners
and their guards, who all share the same food.
I could wish that a similar inquiry might be made and published on the
camps where German prisoners are concentrated in France. In the meantime
accounts which reach me from individuals disclose a similar
situation,[18] and there is plenty of reliable evidence that in Germany
and France alike the wounded of both countries are living in terms of
friendship. There are even soldiers who refuse to have their wounds
dressed or receive their rations before their comrades the enemy have
received similar attention. And who knows if it is not perhaps in the
ranks of the contending armies that the feelings of national hatred are
least violent? For there one learns to appreciate the courage of one's
adversaries, since the same sufferings are common to all, and since
where all energy is directed towards action there is none left for
personal animosity. It is amongst those who are not actively engaged
that there is developed the harsh and implacable brand of hatred, of
which certain intellectuals provide terrible examples.
The moral situation of the military prisoner is therefore not so
overwhelming as might be imagined, and his lot, sad as it is, is less to
be pitied than that of another class of prisoners of whom I shall speak
later. The feeling of duty accomplished, the memory of the struggle,
glorifies his misfortune in his own eyes, and even in those of the
enemy. He is not totally abandoned to the foe; international conventions
protect him; the Red Cross watches over him, and it is possible to
discover where he is and to come to his assistance.
In this work the admirable _Agence internationale des prisonniers de
guerre_, most providentially established some two months after the
commencement of the war, has caused the name of Geneva to be known and
blessed in the most remote corners of France and Germany. It only needs,
like Providence itself, to gain the co-operation of those over whose
interests it watches, that is to say, of the States concerned which have
been somewhat slow in supplying the lists we need. Under the ægis of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, with M. Gustave Ador as
president and M. Max Dollfus as director, some 300 voluntary workers,
drawn from all classes of society, are assisting in its charitable work.
More than 15,000 letters a day pass through its hands. It daily
transmits about 7,000 letters between prisoners and their families, and
is responsible for the safe dispatch of some 4,000 francs on an average.
The precise information which it is able to communicate was very meager
at the start, but soon increased, until a thousand cases could be dealt
with in the course of a single day; and this number rapidly increased
with the arrival of more complete lists from the Governments concerned.
This renewal of intercourse between a prisoner and his family is not the
only beneficial result of our organization. Its peaceful work, its
impartial knowledge of the actual facts in the belligerent countries,
contribute to modify the hatred which wild stories have exasperated, and
to reveal what remains of humanity in the most envenomed enemy. It can
also draw the attention of the different Governments, or at least of the
general public, to cases where a speedy understanding would be in the
interest of both parties--as, for instance, in the exchange of men who
are so seriously wounded that they will be quite unable to take further
part in the war, and whom it is useless and inhuman to keep languishing
far from their friends. Finally, it can effectively direct public
generosity, which often hesitates for want of guidance. It can, for
instance, point out to neutral countries, who are so ungrudging in their
anxiety to aid the sufferings of the combatants, where help is most
urgently needed--for the wounded prisoners, convalescents leaving the
hospital without linen or boots, and with no claims on the enemy for
further support.[19]
Instead of showering gifts (which, no doubt, are never superfluous) on
the armies who can and should be supported by the peoples for whom they
are fighting, neutrals might well reserve the greater part of their
generosity for those who are most destitute, those whose need is the
greatest, for they are feeble, broken, and alone.
* * * * *
But there is another class of prisoners on whom I would like interest to
be specially concentrated, for their situation is far more precarious,
unprotected as they are by any international convention. These are the
civil prisoners. They are one of the innovations of this unbridled war,
which seems to have set itself to violate all the rights of humanity. In
former wars it was only a question of a few hostages arrested here and
there as a guarantee of good faith for the pledge of some conquered
town. Never until now had one heard of populations taken bodily into
captivity on the model of ancient conquests--a custom actively revived
since the beginning of this war. Such a contingency not having been
foreseen, no conventions existed to regulate the situation in the laws
of war, if the words have any meaning. And as it would have been awkward
to formulate fresh laws in the midst of the struggle, it seemed more
simple to overlook them. It has been as though these unfortunates did
not exist.
But they do exist, and in thousands. Their number seems about equal on
both sides. Which of the belligerents took the initiative in these
captures? At present certainty is impossible. It seems clear that in the
second half of July Germany ordered the arrest of a number of Alsatian
civilians. To this France replied the day after her mobilization by
declaring prisoners Germans and Austrians then to be found on her
territory. The casting of this vast net was followed by similar action
in Germany and Austria, though, perhaps, with less result. The conquest
of Belgium and the invasion of the North of France brought about a
redoubling of these measures aggravated by violence. The Germans, on
retiring after their defeat on the Marne, methodically made a clean
sweep in the towns and villages of Picardy and Flanders of all persons
capable of bearing arms--500 men at Douai, at Amiens 1,800 summoned
before the citadel on some apparently harmless pretext, and carried off
without even the possibility of returning for a change of clothes.
In many cases the captures had not even the excuse of military utility.
In the village of Sompuis (Marne) on September 10th, the Saxons seized a
helpless village priest of seventy-three, scarcely able to walk, and
five old men of ages from sixty to seventy, one of whom was lame, and
took them away on foot. Elsewhere women and children are taken, happy if
they can remain together. Here a husband, mad with grief, searches for
his wife and son aged three, who have disappeared since the Germans
passed through Quièvrechain (Nord). There it is a mother and her
children taken by the French near Guebwiller; the children were sent
back, but not the mother. A French captain, wounded by the bursting of a
shell, saw his wife also wounded by German bullets at Nomêny
(Meurthe-et-Moselle); since when she has disappeared, taken he does not
know where. An old peasant woman of sixty-three is taken away from her
husband near Villers-aux-Vents (Meuse) by a company of Germans. A child
of sixteen is seized at its mother's house at Mulhouse.
Such action shows an utter lack of human feeling, and is almost more
absurd than cruel. It really appears as though people had been
deliberately separated from all who were dearest to them; and of those
who have so disappeared no trace remains by which they can at present be
found. I am not speaking of Belgium; there the silence is as of the
grave. Of what is taking place there nothing has been heard in the
outer world for three months. Are the villages and towns still in
existence? I have before me letters from parents (in some cases
belonging to neutral nations) begging for news of their children of
twelve or eight years of age, detained in Belgium since hostilities
broke out. I have even found in the lists of these vanished
children--doubtless prisoners of war--youthful citizens of four or two
years of age. Are we to understand that they too could have been
mobilized?
We see the anguish of the survivors. Imagine the distress of those who
have disappeared, deprived of money or the means of obtaining any from
their families. What misery is revealed in the first letters received
from such families interned in France or Germany! A mother whose little
boy is ill, although rich, cannot procure any money. Another, with two
children, requests us to warn her family that if after the war, nothing
more is heard of her, it will mean that she has died of hunger. These
cries of misery seemed in the noise of battle to fall on deaf ears for
the first two months. The Red Cross itself, absorbed in its immense
task, reserved all its help for the military prisoners, and the
Governments seemed to show a superb disdain for their unfortunate
citizens. Of what use are such as cannot serve! Yet these are the most
innocent victims of this war. They have not taken part in it, and
nothing had prepared them for such calamities.
Fortunately a man of generous sympathies (he will not forgive me for
publishing his name), Dr. Ferrière, was touched by the misfortunes of
these outcasts of the war. With a tenacity as patient as it was
passionate, he set himself to construct in the swarming hive of Red
Cross workers a special department to deal with their distress. Refusing
to be discouraged by the innumerable difficulties and the remote chances
of success, he persevered, limiting himself at first to drawing up lists
of the missing, and trying to inspire confidence in their anxious
friends. He then attempted by every means in his power to discover the
place of internment, and to re-establish communications between
relations and friends. What joy when one can announce to a family that
the son or the father has been found! Every one of us at our table--for
I, too, had the honor of sharing in the work--rejoices as though he were
a member of that family. And as luck would have it the first letter of
this kind which I had to write was to comfort some good people in my own
little town in the Nivernais.
Great progress has already been made. The most pressing needs have
obtained a hearing. The Governments have agreed to liberate women,
children under seventeen, and men over sixty. Repatriation began on
October 23rd through the Bureau of Berne, created by the Federal
Council. It remains, if not to deliver the others (we cannot count on
this before the end of the war), at any rate to put them in
communication with their families. In such cases, as in many others,
more can be expected from the charitable efforts of private individuals
than from Governments. The friends with whom we communicated in Germany
or Austria as in France have replied with enthusiasm, all showing a
generous desire to take part in our work. It is such questions
transcending national pride which reveal the underlying fellowship of
the nations which are tearing each other to pieces, and the sacrilegious
folly of war. How friends and enemies are drawn together in the face of
common suffering which the efforts of all humanity would hardly suffice
to alleviate!