Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-19
Views of the Vigilantes
WHY WE ARE AT WAR
By Henry Dwight Sedgwick of I'm

By Henry Dwight Sedgwick of The Vigilantes.
 i We are a peacable people. After l the Civil War there was a universal hope that that we should never go to war again: but Cuba lay at our doors exploited. il-treated. making her pa thetic appeal to American chivalry and American justice. and we regard war as a lesser evil than a heart hardened to the suffering of others. Against that war neither PacifiStS nor German Americans made objec tion; they had no Spanish sympathies. The spanish war was soon ended, and once more we hoped that Ameri. ca would never go to war again. But our hopes were too Sanguine. A great country in the centre of Flu
 rope had waxed wonderfully strong
 Germany and France were equal in
 population and riches. In 1914. the
 German population was 70 millions,
 the French 3S millions: German com
 merce amounted to five billions of
 dollars, French commerce to three;
 the German merchant marine was
 double that of France: German agri-
 cultural produce. wheat rye, potatoes,
 in spite of inferior soil, was 25 per
 cent. to 30 per cent. greater than the
 French. By peaceful means Germany
 was rapidly acquiring a very great,
 even guiding influence in the worlds
 affairs. The German government,
 however, remained a government of a
 warrior caste, bred upon the Prus-
 sian tradition that might makes right;
 At it's head was an Emperor. who de-
 clared that he ruled by divineright,
 and that his army was the rock on
 which his empire was built. This
 great nation, and especially it's in
 tellectual leaders, become drunk with
 success and self-love: boastful and
 truculent. it pressed upon its neigh
 bors, until the peace of Europe gave
 way at it's weakest point Germany
 thought she say her way clear to dominate Europe. and dragging Aus
 tria with her, da shed over Belgium, in order to deal knockout blows first to France and then to Russia.
 We were astounded. We admired Germany, 'her music, her science, her
 scholarship. her universities and
 schools. her municipalities, her in dustry. skill and success. We. could not believe that Germany was so ut terly in the wrong as her enemies forced to believe it. First the A.ses published the story of their diplo- mat1c efforts to prevent the war, but Germany never published her core spondence with Austria: then came l report after report of murders devas- tation and pillage in Belgium and France: then followed, one after the l other. lawless sinkings of American | vessels, the torpedoing of the Lusi- | women and children. the intrigues | and plots in this country, the insult | ing order that American flags should ! keep off a great part of the high seas. | and finally the plan to involve us in | war with Japan and Mexico.
 Even these insults and injuries did | not push us directly into the war, but | they opened our eyes. and we learned a lesson. That lesson was that a | Prussian feudal military government, with Kaiser by divine right at its head. will act in accordance with it's nature; that in order to fulfill it's am bition, it will burn and pillage cities devaState fields and orchards. that it will order priests s1ot women raped, laborers deported. that it will tear up treaties. sink innocent travellers by sea, and seek to cow nations into by terror. With such an