The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-01-15
suNrE1EGRA1
newspaper. vowaerts.

0AOM AMI oON.1E1EI1kkA
German newspaper. vowaerts, de
clared:
The camariIla Of war lords is work
ing with absolute, interruptions
means to carry out their fearful de-
signs to precipitate q world war.
I'm October. 1914. three months at.
ter the outbreak Of the war. Maximil
lian Harden, one Of the ablest and
wrote:
Let us Tenounce those, miserable
efforts 70 excuse THE actions of Ger
many In declaring war. 1t is not
against our wifi that we have thrown
ourselves into this gigantic adven.
ture. The war has not been imposed
upon us by others and by surprise
We have willed the war. It was our
duty to will It. We declinee to appear
before the tribunal OF united Europe
We rejsct its jurisdiction. One prin.
ciple alone counts and no other-one
principle which contains and sums up
all the othcrs-might.'
Il could &C on for hours quoting
similar views and sentiments from
the. utterances of leading German
writers and educators before and at
ter the war. 1t is worth mentioning,
though, that since then Macmillan
Harden has seen a new light, and for
some time has been courageously
speaking and writing in very diher-
ent strain.
There are a number of influential
men in Germany, who like him, have
undergone change of mind and heart
and the strong and outspoken asssr-
ton of liberal sentiment and indepen'
dent aspirations In that country within
the past six months have not per.
haps, received here as yet tn full
recognition due to their significance
A Defensive War!
"a defensive war! Their are certain
kilograms from Sir Edward Gray, the
British minister for foreign affairs. to
the British AMBASSADOR in Germany,
sent during the week preceding the
outbreak of the war in Europe, which
even to this day are unknown in Ger.
many, rs they were never permitted
to be published.
"In these messages the British for.
eign minister went almost on his his
knees to beg Germany to consent to
a conference in order to avoid war.
He went o the utmost limits in prom.
Using benevolent consideration for
Germany's viewpoint and wishes, then
and in the future. and he stated that
if Germany would put forward an
reasonable proposition honestly calcu-
lated to maintain peace, England
would support it with all OF its in
fluence, anil if France and Russit
would not fall in line England would
promptly separate herself from these
two countries.
1.-The o!ertres and pleas met with
no response from the masters OF Ger
many They declared war. It Is prob
ably true t1at the Russian Pan-Slav-
lists had planned war sooner or later,
just as The pan-Germans did.
"War might perhaps have come
then or at some other time, even if
Prussian rulers had not precipitated
it. But Inc fact remains that 1t was
the imperial German government
which did declare war.
"For having anticipated that per-
haps' and resolved it according to
their own plans and wishes, for that,
tLiSll lnltl0l NlllAO, kIlo LII SAOoO
which followed. the rulers Of the Ger
man people will have to answer be-
fore the judgment stool OF God and
history. Upon them rests the blood.
guilt for this terrible catastrophe
which has befallen the world.
Greatness Not Dead
"A few days ago I read poem ad
dressed to Germany, of which these
lines have remained in my memory:
Oh, land of now, oh, land of then,
Dear God, the dreams, the dreams Of
men!
Enslaved, immersed in greed and hate
Where are the things which made
you great?
Gentlemen, the things which made
Germany great are not dead, and the
world cannot afford to allow them tc
die. They belong to the imperishable
assets Of the human race.
"They have passed, for the time be-
ing, alas, out of the keeping of the
mass of the German people, whost
immortal inheritance they were.
"They are now In the keeping of
that minority. not, perhaps, very great
as yet. but growing steadily, of men
in Germany itself from whose eyes
the scales have begun to fall.
"They are in the keeping of all the
nations who appreciate and cherish
and are determined to maintain those
great and high things which the civi'
lized world has attained through the
toll, sacrifice and suffering Of its best
in the course of many centuries. And.
above all. they are In the keeping Of
the fifteen or twenty millions Of Amer.
leans Of German descent.
GAS that great American Of German
birth. Carl Schurz. and many other
brave and high-minded Germans-my
own father, am proud to say. among
them-in 1848 stood in arms against
Prussian oppression for liberal ideas
and right and truth and freedom, SO
do we stand now.
t'In fighting for the cause Of Amer
lea as loyal Americans, we are fight
ing at the same time for the deliver.
ance of the country Of our birth from