The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-11-08
'.gE0RGE BERNARD SHAW
APPEALS TO PRESIDENT
Wants Great Britain, France and
Germany to Withdraw From
Soil of Belgium.
FIGHT ON OWN TERRITORIES
Thinks Belgium Should Have APP
pealed to Whole World Instead of
to Triple NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Be-
tween Belligerents Open.

President OF the United States Of
America from George Bernard Shaw.
from which tho following are. extracts:
"Sir: petition you to invite the neu-
trail powers to confer with the United
States of America for the purpose OF
requesting Great Britain, France and
Germany to withdraw fro mthe soil of
Belgium and fight out their quarrel on
their own territories.
However, the sympathies of the neu-
trail States may be divided and what
ever points now at Issue between the
helligerent powers may bs doubtful,
there is one point on which there can
be neither division nor doubt, and that
is that the belligerent armies have no
right to DO in Belgium. much less to
fight in Belgium. and involve the inno-
cent inhabitants of that country in
their reciprocal slaughter.
You Will not question my right to
address this petition TO you. You are
the official head OF a nation that Is
beyond all.question or comparison chief
of the neutral powers, marked out from
all the rest by commanding magnitude,
by modern Democratic constitution.
and; by freedom ON the complication
of monarchy and Its traditions which
have led Europe into the quaint alb
surdity of n war waged formally be-
tween the German Kaiser, the German
Gear, the German King Of the Bel
CLANS. the German King OF England.
the German Emperor OF Austria, ana n
gentleman who shares with you the
distinction of not being related to any
of them, and is, therefore, describable
monarchically as one Poincare, French
man.
IT make this petition on its merits.
without claiming any representative
character except such as attaches to me
az a human being. Nobody here has
IN 4 n II
will say that a request to the belliger-
ents to evaouate\ Belgium forthwith
would be refused, could not be forced,
and would make the asker ridiculous.
We are, in short. not n prayerfui ma
ton; but to you 1t Will be clear that
even the strongest power or even an
allied group of powers can hnve It's
position completely changed by an en-
preston of the public opinion OF the
rest of the world
I'm YOUR clear Western atmosphere
and in your peculiarly Responsible po-
sttion as the head centre OF western
dcrnocracy YOU, when the European
situation became threatening three
months ago, must have been, acuteiS
aware OF n fact to which europe was
SO fatally blind, namely that 4 sum
ME solution OF the difficulty In which
the menace of the Franco Russo Brit
ish entente placed Germany was Tor
the German Emperor to leave ms
western frontier under the safeguard
of the nciEhborliness and good faith
OF the American, British and frencn
democracy and then await quite CAIN
~ any action that Russia might take
against his country on tho east.
Had he done so we could not have
attacked him from behind, and had
France made such an attack, and 1t
is in the EXTREMIST degree improbable
that French public opinion would have
permitted such hazardous and un-
justifiable adventure, he would. at the
worst, have confronted it with the
fullest sympathy of Great Britain and
the United States. and. at best with
their active assistance.
''Unhappily, German Kings do not
allow democracy to interfere in their
foreign policy. do not believe in neigh
borliness. and do believe in cannon and
cannon fodder The Kaiser never
dreamt of confiding his frontier to you
and to the humanity OF his ncighbors.
and the diplomatists of Europe never
thought of that easy and right policy,
and could not suggest any substitute
for It. with the hideous result which
is before you.
Now that this mischief has been
done and the two European thunder
clouds have met and are discharging
their lightning, 1t is not for me to
NEEDLE with the question whether the
United States should take sides in
their warfare as far as it concerns
themselves alone, but j may plead for
the perfectly innocent neutral state Of
Belgium. which Is being ravnged in a
horrible manner by the belligercnts.
II grant Belgium In her extreme
peril made only one mistake: she called
TO her MD the powers of the entente
alone, instead OF calling on the whole
world Of kindly men. She shoIld have
called on America, too, and 1T Is hard
TO sec how you could. in honor. have
III n1 hot onll IQ,,t l.l,
says nothing, but only turns her eyes
dumbly toward you whilst you look at
the red ruin in which her villages, her
heaps of slain. her monuments and
treasures are being hurled by friends
and enemies alike. are you any less
bound to speak out than If Belgium
had asked you to send n million SOL
diers?
mot for a moment do / suggest that
your Intervention should be interview
tion on behalf of either tho allies or
the entente. If you consider both sides
equally guilty we know you can find
reasons for that verdict. But Belgium
is innocent, and Il Is on behalf of Bel
GUM that SO much of the world as is
still at peace is waiting for the lead
from you.
"No other question need be preju-
diced X Germany maintains her claim
to q right of way through Belgium on
q matter which she believed, however
enormously, to be one OF life or death
to her as nation. Nobody, not even
China. now pretends that such rights
of way have not their place among
those common rights which are SUI
perior to the more artificial rights OF
nationality.
~ think. for example. that IL Russia
made Il descent on your continent un-
der circumstances which made 1t cs-
scntial TO the maintenance If your
national freedom that You should move
an army through Canada, you would
ask our leave to do so and take it by
force IL did not grant it. You
may reasonably suspect, even If all
our statesmen raise a Shrek OF denial
that we should take similar liberty
under similar circumstances in the
teeth OF all the scraps of paper in our
Foreign Office dustbn.
But the right OF way is not the
right of conquest, and even the right
of way was not. as the Imperial Chan
cellor imagined. n matter of life and