By Albert Sauveur.
Professor of Metallurgy at Harvard University.
_To the Editor of The New York Times:_
German professors and editors and other German sympathizers in the
present struggle of nations have attempted the difficult task of
convincing the American public, first, that Germany was not the
aggressor, and, second, that she is conducting a war of civilization
directed primarily against Russia, that Europe may not fall under
Muscovite domination. The German Chancellor has made similar claims,
while in the German "White Paper," published in full in THE NEW YORK
TIMES of Aug. 24, it is likewise attempted to fasten the responsibility
for this war on Germany's opponents.
A close and impartial study of both the English and German "White
Papers" must suffice to convince the reader that Germany clearly was the
aggressor and that England made every possible effort first to prevent a
war between Austria and Servia and later to localize the conflict.
Germany, on the contrary, by insisting from the start that there should
be no intervention in the settlement of the dispute between Servia and
her ally, Austria, made a European war inevitable. The sophistry,
inaccuracies, and unwarranted conclusions of the German professors and
editors have not helped their cause. The irrefutable facts remain,
first, that Austria with the knowledge and approval of Germany presented
to Servia an ultimatum so worded that she knew that the conditions
imposed could not be complied with by any nation retaining a spark of
self-respect; second, that after Servia had accepted Austria's ultimatum
with the single exception of the most offensive clause, which she
proposed to submit to arbitration, Austria, with Germany's consent,
proclaimed herself unsatisfied and immediately declared war on Servia;
third, that Germany and Austria knew that a war with Servia meant a war
with Russia, and that a war with Russia meant a general European
conflagration; fourth, that Germany declared war on Russia, started the
invasion of France before declaring war, and, by refusing to respect the
neutrality of Belgium, to which she was solemnly pledged, forced both
Belgium and England into the war. In the face of so flagrant a violation
of all sentiments making for peace no sophistry will avail in attempting
to protect Germany from the odium of being responsible for the greatest
calamity the civilized world has ever seen.
We are told that Germany is conducting this war in the interest of
civilization, that her chief purpose is to protect Europe from the
domination of the Slav. And to ward off this Muscovite danger Germany is
at present making desperate efforts to crush England and France, the
standard bearers of democracy in Europe! In her war for civilization she
is employing the methods of barbarian tribes, methods condemned by
civilized nations and which have already horrified the world. It is
hardly conceivable that Russia, which the German Chancellor describes as
a semi-Asiatic, slightly cultured barbaric nation, could have committed
in Belgium the atrocities imputed to the Germans had she conquered that
country in similar circumstances.
It is manifest that Germany's supreme desire is to fasten Teutonic rule
on Europe, to crush Russia, to be sure, but also to crush France and
French civilization and to reduce England to the rank of a second-class
nation. It is obvious that this is a struggle between militarism and its
evils as represented by the Hohenzollern dynasty and democracy as
represented by England and France.