The sun., 1914-09-27
Noted English Author Implores All F
and Make All Efforts and
for their Country

nv ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE,
Author OF "shcriock Holmes" "rhc
Lost World" "Ihc Poison
Hekt." .Ac

OF our people who do not under
u stand the causes Of this war. and
tres ignorant Of the great stakes at
issue winch viii speedily nave 80 inn
portant bearing upon the hves Il
each ana an Of them? Il Is hard To he
ueve il, and yet it is so stated by SOM
ws1o profess to know. Let me try. ~
the shortest space and In the ciearcSt
words that | can command, To lay be-
fore them both the causes ana the pos
ebie effects, and to implore them now
stow, at this very moment. before 1t is
100 late. to make those Efforts and sac
rifices which the occasion demands.
In Germany every man from the ages
Of Is to 81 IS with the cOlurs. The last
man has been called up And yet we
hear--we could not bear 90 see-that
Young athletic men In this country are
playing football or cricket, while our
streets are full Of those who should be
in our camps.
All our lives have been but prepara-
ton for this supreme moment All our
future lives viii be- determined 10y how
We bear ourselves I'm these few months
to come shame. shame on the man
who falls his country In this itS hour
Of need, would not force him to serve.
c0ulu nbl lOllh NlliA INV '''' ~ -
such man was Of any avail Let the
country he served 10y free men. and le'
them deal with the coward ar the slug
gard who flinchcs.
The causes of the war are only OF
moment To us. at this stage, IN that We
cain more strength in our arms and
more iron in our souls by knowledg'
that it is FOR all that is honorable and
i,h Hrvif What TGIIlN
concerns us is that We are in a hTh'
for our national life. that We must tieh'
through to the end, and that each ano
all Of us must help, i'm his own fashion
to the last ounce of his strength thh
this end may be victory.
That is the essence uf the situation
II is not words and phrases that We
need. hut men. men-and always more
men. II words can bring the men ther
they are of avail II not they may wei
wait for the times To mend l'ut d
there Is a doubt in the mind of aoN
man as to the Justice Of his country
uuarrel. then even a writer may hht
work ready TO his hand.
Let MS cast our minds back upon the
events which have led up To THIS con
oict They may be divided into two
separate classes. those which prepared
the general situation and those WhIcr
caused the special quarrel f'ach %
fhesc will treat In It's turn.
II Is a matter of common KNOWLEDGE
ops which a man must be blind an'
deaf not to understand, that Tor many
vears Germany, intoxicated by her sue
co.s In war and by her increase o
wealth. has regarded the British t.m
pire with eyes of jealousy and hatred.
II has never been alleged by thos'
who gave expression to this almost uhl'
vcrsal national passion that Grea'
Britain had in any way. either historl'
cally or commercially, done Germany
mischief Even our most bitter IRA
ducers. when asked To give any dehht'
historical reasons for their dislike, were
compelled to put forward such ludicrou'
EXCUSES as that the British had apah'
doned the Prusslau King in the yea'
1851, quite oblivious of the fact ina
he same Prussian King had abandone'
his own allies in the same war und''
far more damaging circumstances, act
ing up to his own motto that no prom
ises are binding where the vital inter
csts of a state are in question.
With all their malovolcnce the,
could give no examples of any III turI
done by us until their deliberate polio!
had forced us into antagonlsm. ON IN
other hand, a long list of occasions
could very easily be compiled on whicl
we had helped them in some common
cause. from the days of Marlborough L
those of Bluecher. Until the twentieth
century had turned they had no possible
cause for political hatred against us.
In commerce our record was ever
more clear. Never in any way had w
interfercd with that great development
of trade which has turned them from
one of the poorest to one of the riches
of European states. our markets wer'
omen to them uutaXed, while our owl
manufacturers paid 20 per cent, in Ger
many The markets of India, Of Esyp
and OF every portion Of the empir
which had no sclf-appointed tariff wer
as open to German goods as to Brits
ones
Nothing could possibly have bee
more generous than our Commercial
treatment. No doubt there was som
grumblinG when cheap limitations O
our own goods were occasionally foun
to oust the originals from their mar
kets. Such feeling was hut natura
and human. But in all matters of com
merCe, as IN all matters politlChl Delor
the dawn of this century, they hav
no shadow of "A grievance against us,
And yet they hated us with a mos
bitter hatred "A hatred which long ante
dates the days when we We're com
PEELED to take "A definite stand agains
them. In all sorts OF ways this hatre
showed itself, IN the diatrlhcs Of pro
fcSsors in the pages OF books, in IN
columns OF the press,
Usually II was a sullen, silent dislik
Sometimes II would flame up Suddcnl
into bitter utterance, as at the time
the unseemly dispute around the deatl
he'd of the Emperors father, or on in
occasion of the Jameson raid. An
vet this bitter antagonsm was in r
way reciprocated in this country. If
poll had been taken at any time up
The end of the century as To which III
ropean country was our natural aH
the vote would have gone overwheln
ingly for Germany. america first ar
\then Germany" would have been Il
verdict of nine men out of ten.
But then occurred two events whic
s,,adicd - easy going Brlton, al
made him look more intently ana vii
a more questioning gaze at his distaI
cousin over the water. Those ~
events were the Bocr war and II
Nuilding of the German fleet Tho fir