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THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE
THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE
A Discussion of the Moral Responsibility for the War of 1914, as Disclosed by the Diplomatic Records of England, Germany, Russia, France, Austria, Italy and Belgium. Late Assistant Attorney-General of the U. S. Author of “The War and Humanity.”...
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HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
Late U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain “ Did these bones cost no more the breeding but to play at loggats with ’em? Mine ache to think on ’t. ” Hamlet —Act V., Sc. 1. Revised Edition, with Additional Material NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Published by Arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons Copyright, 1914, by JAMES M. BECK Copyright, 1915, by JAMES M. BECK ( For Revised Edition ) Thirteenth Impression By James M. Beck The Evidence in the Case. The War and Humanity. This edition is i
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Publishers’ Note
Publishers’ Note
The volume The Evidence in the Case is based upon an article by the Hon. James M. Beck, which came into print in the “New York Times” of October 25th. The article in question made so deep an impression with thinking citizens on both sides of the Atlantic that it has been translated into a number of European languages, and some 400,000 copies have been sold in England alone. In making this acknowledgment, which is due for the courtesy of “The Times” in permitting an article prepared for its colum
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
For five months now all people who read at all have been reading about the horrible war that is devastating Europe and shedding the best blood of the people of five great nations. In fact, they have had no time to read anything else, and everything that is published about it is seized upon with great avidity. No wonder, then, that Mr. James M. Beck’s book, The Evidence in the Case , published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, which has grown out of the article by him contributed to the New York Times Sund
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FOREWORD
FOREWORD
On the eve of the Great War I sat one evening in the reading room of the Hotel Erbprinz in classic Weimar. I had spent ten happy days in Thuringia, and had visited with deep interest a little village near Erfurt, where one of my forbears was born. I had seen Jena, from whose historic university this paternal ancestor had gone as a missionary to North America in the middle of the eighteenth century. This simple-minded German pietist had cherished the apparent delusion that even the uncivilized In
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The Witnesses
The Witnesses
Existence of the Court—The conscience of mankind—The philosophy of Bernhardi—The recrudescence of Machiavelliism—Treitschke and Bernhardi’s doctrine—Recent utterances of the Kaiser, Crown Prince, and representative officials—George Bernard Shaw’s defense—Concrete illustration of Bernhardiism The issues stated—Proximate and underlying causes—A war of diplomats—The masses not parties to the war—The official defenses—The English White Paper —The German White Paper —The Russian Orange Paper —The Bel
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THE SUPREME COURT OF CIVILIZATION
THE SUPREME COURT OF CIVILIZATION
Let us suppose that in this year of dis-Grace, 1914, there had existed, as let us pray will one day exist, a Supreme Court of Civilization, before which the sovereign nations could litigate their differences without resort to the iniquitous arbitrament of arms and that each of the contending nations had a sufficient leaven of Christianity or shall we say commonplace, everyday morality, to have its grievances adjudged not by the ethics of the cannon, but by the eternal criterion of justice. What
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THE RECORD IN THE CASE
THE RECORD IN THE CASE
All morally sane men in this twentieth century are agreed that war abstractly is an evil thing,—perhaps the greatest of all indecencies,—and that while it may be one of the offenses which must come, “woe to that man (or nation) by whom the offense cometh!” They are of one mind in regarding this present war as a great crime—perhaps the greatest crime—against civilization, and the only questions which invite discussion are: Which of the two contending groups of Powers is morally responsible? Was A
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THE SUPPRESSED EVIDENCE
THE SUPPRESSED EVIDENCE
The official defenses of England, Russia, France, and Belgium do not apparently show any failure on the part of either to submit any essential diplomatic document in their possession. They have respectively made certain contentions as to the proposals that they made to maintain the peace of the world, and in every instance have supported these contentions by putting into evidence the letters and communications in which such proposals were expressed. When the German White Paper is examined it dis
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ADDENDUM
ADDENDUM
The Austrian Red Book , published more than six months after the declaration of war, simply emphasizes the policy of suppression of vital documents, which we have already discussed. Of its 69 documentary exhibits, there is not one which passed directly between the Cabinets of Berlin and Vienna . The text of the communications, in which Germany claims to have exercised a mediatory and conciliatory influence with its ally, is still withheld. Not a single document is produced which was sent between
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GERMANY’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE AUSTRIAN ULTIMATUM
GERMANY’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE AUSTRIAN ULTIMATUM
On June 28, 1914, the Austrian Crown Prince was murdered at Serajevo. For nearly a month thereafter there was no public statement by Austria of its intentions, with the exception of a few semi-inspired dispatches to the effect that it would act with the greatest moderation and self-restraint. A careful examination made of the files of two leading American newspapers, each having a separate news service, from June 28, 1914, to July 23, 1914, has failed to disclose a single dispatch from Vienna wh
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THE ULTIMATUM TO SERVIA
THE ULTIMATUM TO SERVIA
To convince any reasonable man that this Austrian ultimatum to Servia was brutal in its tone and unreasonable in its demands, and that the reply of Servia was as complete an acquiescence as Servia could make without a fatal compromise of its sovereignty and self-respect, it is only necessary to print in parallel columns the demands of Austria and the reply of Servia. “To achieve this end the Imperial and Royal Government sees itself compelled to demand from the Royal Servian Government a formal
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THE PEACE PARLEYS
THE PEACE PARLEYS
The issuance of the Austrian ultimatum precipitated a grave crisis. It did not, however, present any insoluble problem. Peace could and should have been preserved. Its preservation is always possible when nations, which may be involved in a controversy, are inspired by a reasonably pacific purpose. Only when the masses of the people are inflamed with a passionate desire for war, and in a time of popular hysteria responsible statesmen are helplessly borne along the turgid flow of events as bubble
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THE ATTITUDE OF FRANCE
THE ATTITUDE OF FRANCE
Before proceeding to record the second and final stage in the peace parleys, in which the German Kaiser became the protagonist, it is desirable to interpolate the additional data, which the French Yellow Book has given to the world since the preceding chapter was written and the first editions of this book were printed. This can be done with little sacrifice to the chronological sequence of this narrative. The evidence of the Yellow Book is fuller in scope and greater in detail than the other go
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THE INTERVENTION OF THE KAISER
THE INTERVENTION OF THE KAISER
The Kaiser now appears upon the scene with a fatal result to the peace of Europe. One fact in this controversy is too clear for dispute. When peace proposals were still under consideration and some slight progress had been made by the eleventh-hour consent of Austria on July 31 to discuss with Russia the merits of the Servian question, the Kaiser—like Brennus with his væ victis —threw his sword into the trembling scales and definitely turned the balance against the peace of the world. Was it a r
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ADDENDUM
ADDENDUM
It is a curious and suggestive fact that the German Foreign Office in publishing the correspondence between the Kaiser and the Czar omitted one of the most important telegrams. The Russian Government on January 31, 1915, therefore, made public the following telegram which the Czar sent to the Kaiser on July 29, 1914: “Thanks for your conciliatory and friendly telegram. Inasmuch as the official message presented to-day by your Ambassador to my Minister was conveyed in a very different tone, I beg
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THE CASE OF BELGIUM
THE CASE OF BELGIUM
The callous disregard by Germany of the rights of Belgium is one of the most shocking exhibitions of political iniquity in the history of the world. That it has had its parallel in other and less civilized ages may be freely admitted, but until German scientists, philosophers, educators, and even doctors of divinity attempted to justify this wanton outrage, it had been hoped that mankind had made some progress since the times of Wallenstein and Tilly. The verdict of Civilization in this respect
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CONVENTION V
CONVENTION V
Notwithstanding these assurances, it had been from time to time intimated by German military writers, and notably by Bernhardi, that Germany would, in the event of a future war, make a quick and possibly a fatal blow at the heart of France by invading Belgium upon the first declaration of hostilities, and it was probably these intimations that led the Belgian Government on July 24, 1914, to consider: Whether in the existing circumstances, it would not be proper to address to the Powers, who had
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THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD
THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD
The record has now been laid before the reader in all its essential details. The witnesses for the different countries have taken the stand and we have their respective contentions in their own words. Czar, Emperor, and King, as well as Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Ambassador, have testified as to the fateful events, which preceded the outbreak of the war, with a fullness of detail, to which history presents few parallels. The evidence which Germany and Austria have suppressed does not preven
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EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
On the evening of July 31, 1914, the author reached Basle. The rapid progress of events, narrated in this volume, suggested the wisdom of continuing the journey to Paris that night, but as I wanted to see the tomb of Erasmus in the Basle Cathedral I determined to break my long journey from St. Moritz. It seemed a fitting time to make a pilgrimage to the last resting-place of the great humanist philosopher of Rotterdam and Louvain, for in that prodigious upheaval of the sixteenth century, which h
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MYRTLE REED’S NOVELS
MYRTLE REED’S NOVELS
A SPINNER IN THE SUN. Miss Myrtle Reed may always be depended upon to write a story in which poetry, charm, tenderness and humor are combined into a clever and entertaining book. Her characters are delightful and she always displays a quaint humor of expression and a quiet feeling of pathos which give a touch of active realism to all her writings. In “A Spinner in the Sun” she tells an old-fashioned love story, of a veiled lady who lives in solitude and whose features her neighbors have never se
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ZANE GREY’S NOVELS
ZANE GREY’S NOVELS
Illustrated by Douglas Duer. Another fascinating story of the Mexican border. Two men, lost in the desert, discover gold when, overcome by weakness, they can go no farther. The rest of the story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends with the finding of the gold which the two prospectors had willed to the girl who is the story’s heroine. RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE. A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when Mormon authority ruled. In the persecution of Jane Withe
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STORIES OF THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS
STORIES OF THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS
Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. The “lonesome pine” from which the story takes its name was a tall tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. The fame of the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine but the foot-prints of a girl . And the girl proved to be lovely, piquant, and the trail of these girlish foot-prints led the young engineer a madder chase than “the trail of the lonesome pine.” THE
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