Editorial Article of The London Times, Aug. 3.
The die is cast. The great European struggle which the nations have so
long struggled to avert has begun. Germany declared war upon Russia on
Saturday evening, and yesterday her troops entered Luxemburg and crossed
the French frontier in Lorraine without any declaration at all. It is
idle to dwell upon events such as these. They speak for themselves in a
fashion which all can understand. They mean that Europe is to be the
scene of the most terrible war that she has witnessed since the fall of
the Roman Empire. The losses in human life and in the accumulated wealth
of generations which such a contest must involve are frightful to think
on. That it should have come about despite the zealous efforts of
diplomacy, and against the wishes of almost all the nations whom it is
destined to afflict, is a grim satire upon the professions of peace yet
fresh upon the lips of those who have plunged the Continent into its
miseries and its calamities. The blame must fall mainly upon Germany.
She could have stayed the plague had she chosen to speak in Vienna as
she speaks when she is in earnest. She has not chosen to do so. She has
preferred to make demands in St. Petersburg and in Paris which no
Government could entertain, and to defeat by irrevocable acts the last
efforts of this country and of others for mediation. She has lived up to
the worst principles of the Frederician tradition--the tradition which
disregards all obligations of right and wrong at the bidding of
immediate self-interest. She believes that her admirable military
organization has enabled her to steal a march upon her rivals. She has
been mobilizing in all but name, while their mobilization has been
retarded by the "conversations" she continued until her moment had come.
Then she flung the mask aside. While her Ambassador was still in Paris,
while by the customs traditional with all civilized peoples she was
still at peace with France, she has sent her soldiers into Luxemburg,
and invaded the territory of the republic. It is hard to say which of
these acts is the grosser infringement of public right. With Luxemburg
she makes no pretense of quarrel. She is herself a party to the
guarantee of its neutrality contained in the Treaty of 1867. The other
guarantors are Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary,
Belgium, and the Netherlands. She solemnly pledged herself with some of
them, including France and ourselves, to respect this neutrality. The
world sees how Germany keeps her word. She has been weak enough, or
cynical enough, to issue an explanation of her breach of faith. Let
Englishmen, who have been disposed to trust her, judge it for
themselves. She has not, she says, committed a hostile act by crossing
the frontiers, by forcibly seizing the Government offices, and by
forcibly interrupting the telephonic communication. These are merely
measures to protect the railways from a possible attack by the French.
For the sudden invasion of France no excuse has yet been published. When
it comes it will doubtless be of about equal worth.
The whole situation has been revolutionized by the events of yesterday.
The doubts which many of us tried hard to cherish as to Germany's real
intentions have been dispelled by her high-handed contempt for public
law. The Government and the nation now realize that she has been bent on
a European war--a European war to be waged in the first instance against
France, and through at least one of those neutral States whose safety we
have bound ourselves to defend because it is indispensable to our own.
The Cabinet, which has been sitting almost uninterruptedly since
Saturday morning, reached a decision at an early hour yesterday, which
shows that they know what is before us. They have called up the Naval
Reserves. They would not have taken this step had they not felt that in
this quarrel our interests are now directly at stake. After the example
of what Germany has done in Luxemburg and on the French border we can no
longer rely upon the presence of her Ambassador as a security against
some sudden surprise. We have no controversy with her, it is true. We
have been willing and anxious to develop those better relations with her
which had of late sprung up. We were eager to work with her for
mediation and for peace. Now she has shown her hand. She is resolved to
crush France, and to trample upon the rights of those who happen to
stand in her way. Yesterday it was Luxemburg. Today it may be Belgium or
Holland, or she may treat us as she has treated our French friends, and
assail us without a declaration of war. She will find the empire ready.
Here at home and in the far-off dominions the sure instinct of our
peoples teaches them that the ruin of France or of the Low Countries
would be the prelude to our own. We can no more tolerate a German
hegemony in Europe than we can tolerate the hegemony of any other power.
As our fathers fought Spain and France in the days of their greatest
strength to defeat their pretense to Continental supremacy, and their
menace to the narrow seas, which are the bulwark of our independence, so
shall we be ready, with the same unanimity and the same stubborn
tenacity of purpose, to fight any other nation which shows by her acts
that she is advancing a like claim and confronting us with a like
threat. If any individual member of the Cabinet dissents from this view,
the sooner he quits the Government the better. Mr. Asquith may find it
no disadvantage to take fresh blood into his Administration, as M.
Viviani has undoubtedly strengthened the French Government by the
admission of M. Delcassé and M. Clemenceau. The controversy between
Austria-Hungary and Servia, and that between Austria-Hungary and Russia,
have passed away from the eyes of the nation. These are fixed on the
German attack upon the French Republic and upon Luxemburg. In that
conflict the nation know their duty. With the blessing of Heaven they
will do it to the uttermost.
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