The war and humanity

Front matter

TH

IITY

Qass.

Introduction

The success of The Evidence in the Case must be the author's justification, if any, in putting into this permanent form some of his contributions to the controversial history of the war. In a sense the book may be regarded as a sequel to The Evidence in the Case.

The leading motif of that book was the moral obligation of nations to justify their acts in the forum of the general conscience of mankind, and as this volume deals with subsequent developments, which raise the same questions of moral responsibility in the Supreme Court of Civilization, the connection between the two books is obvious.

"The Distress of Nations" deals with the world-old problem of war and peace and discusses some of the many suggested remedies and their obvious limitations.

"The Submarine Controversy" discusses the limitations which the conscience of mankind has imposed upon belligerents in the exercise of force.

"The Case of Edith Cavell" seeks to illustrate vi Introduction

the rights of non-combatants by one of the most pitiful tragedies of the war.

"The Foreign PoHcy of George Washington" considers one of the suggested reasons for the failure of the United States to intervene in a more practical way in behalf of outraged humanity.

"Where There Is No Vision" analyses the historic causes and psychological reasons for the neutrality of America and their bearing upon its future influence as a Master State of the world.

"America and the Allies" seeks to acquit the American people of that complete indifference to the moral aspects of the war, which has been so erroneously attributed to them by foreign critics.

"The Vision of France" finally suggests the spirit in which France has met, and every nation should meet, the problems of the present crisis in civilization.

All of these essays in their original form were public addresses, which the author made as his contribution to the public opinion of the time. The first was delivered at Toronto. The second at Boston on the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania. The third at Montreal at a Cavell memorial meeting. The fourth at Philadelphia on the birthday of Washington in 191 5. The

Introduction vii

fifth in London at a luncheon given in the author's honour by the Pilgrims' Society of England. The last was delivered in New York at a banquet given by the France-America Society in honour of M. Jusserand, the Ambassador of France to the United States.

These addresses, with the exception of the last two, have been adapted by the author into the form of a literary essay and considerable material has been added. The last two addresses are printed as orally delivered because much of their force depended upon the spirit of the occasion, and while that spirit loses much in the printed page, yet it seemed desirable to keep the form of the spoken word rather than adapt it to the literary form of an essay.

As these addresses contain severe reflections upon the present Administration at Washington, the publication of this book has been purposely delayed until after the Presidential election, in order to exclude the possibility in the reader's mind that any opinion that the author has expressed is intended for mere political effect in the present Presidential campaign.

To those who may suggest that the criticisms of the President are too severe, the author would reply that Republican institutions live by criticism viii Introduction

and perish when thought is shackled. If the oil of anointing, which was once supposed to sanctify the head of the monarch and give him infalHbiUty, has also fallen upon the head of the President, then the author is much mistaken in the character of American institutions.

The freedom of speech and of the press was intended to give to the public that opportunity for open discussion in which a Republican form of Government lives and moves and has its very being. Germany is today in an abyss of disaster because a rigid censorship of that, which Bismarck called "the reptile press," has blinded a great people and driven them into an abyss of disaster.

Not only the future welfare of the Republic but the truth of history requires vigorous but fair criticism in such a sifting of the nations as is now in progress. If the President can at will chloroform the conscience of the American people with verbal anaesthetics and then claim to be immune from criticism, then there is little prospect that any sentiment can be developed which will enable the American Republic to be, as some of us reverently believe the God of Nations intended it to be, the foremost interpreter of the best ideals of humanity.

No more stirring and pathetic story has been

Introduction ix

told in this war than that which tells of the French ofRcer, whose trench had been almost wholly destroyed by a destructive fire and who, with all his men, was either dead or wounded unto death. Silence reigned in the trench where seemingly none was left to defend, and the enemy troops charged across the open ground to take possession of it. Suddenly this officer, in a spirit of feverish ecstasy, arose to his feet and cried "Debout, les morts!" and to that clarion cry his wounded companions-in-arms responded by rising to their feet and in one last supreme effort hurled the invader back.

The spirit of America is neither dead nor sleeping. But under our form of Government the people are powerless to move in their foreign relations, unless the Executive leads. That they lacked a true leader in this greatest moral crisis of civilization, was their infinite misfortune. Every one who loves America and who reaUzes the part which it could and should play in the great Tomorrow, should by spoken word and printed speech do what in him lies to arouse the American spirit, a power which has never failed us in the past and which today, although for the time being stifled by a narrow, incompetent, and cowardly leadership, is still instinct with immortal life.

X Introduction

This will explain the quotation from Milton's A reopagitica on the title-page. To America there remains a splendid destiny in this war-ridden world. All that the great Republic, whose instincts are still sound, needs is a leader with such vision as Washington and Lincoln had.

" Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam; purging and unsealing her long-abused eyesight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance.''

James M. Beck.

New York, November, 1916.

Contents

I. — The "Distress of Nations"

II. — The Submarine Controversy

III. — The Case of Edith Cavell .