claim that the Allies forced the war. A considerable element of
independent thinkers in Germany have had the wisdom to realise the
perfectly obvious truth that no Government is willing to admit
responsibility for the war, and that therefore your Government's
assertion that it did not start the present conflagration can carry no
weight until the whole truth is revealed to the German people, and they
are thus given the opportunity to form an intelligent judgment, like
men, instead of being forced to believe mere assertions and partial
evidence, like children. To-day you believe in the innocence of the
Prussian military power; but few people in the rest of the world doubt
its guilt. Tomorrow, when the war is over, and you can get an outside
view of the whole question, you will have the chance to form an
intelligent judgment as to what nation History will for ever record as
the one guilty of this fearful crime against humanity.

The violation of Belgian neutrality shocked Americans as it did the rest
of the civilised world, and turned the tide of sentiment against Germany
more strongly than ever. Americans are practically unanimous in
regarding the belated excuses of your Government, to the effect that
Belgian neutrality was already violated by the Allies, as mere clumsy
subterfuges, trumped up to stem the terrible tide of universal
condemnation heaped upon Germany for this crime against an innocent
people. Nothing that any German can ever say or write will efface from
the memory of the world the uncontrovertible fact that your Chancellor
officially admitted your country's guilt in this matter. "The wrong--I
speak openly, gentlemen--the wrong we have done Belgium will be righted
when our military ends are accomplished." In these words your Chancellor
blundered out a truth which has for ever silenced all your apologists
for the crime. American opinion considers it discreditable and futile to
invent charges against French soldiers on Belgian soil and French