"plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of its
taking off." On that issue the Supreme Court could have no ground for
doubt or hesitation. Its judgment would be speedy and inexorable.

The remaining two issues, above referred to, are not so simple.
Primarily and perhaps exclusively, the ethical question turns upon the
issues raised by the communications which passed between the various
Chancelleries of Europe in the last week of July, for it is the amazing
feature of this greatest of all wars that it was precipitated by
diplomats and rulers, and, assuming that all these statesmen sincerely
desired a peaceful solution of the questions raised by the Austrian
ultimatum, (which is by no means clear,) it was the result of
ineffective diplomacy and clumsy diplomacy at that.

I quite appreciate the distinction between the immediate causes of a war
and the anterior and more fundamental causes; nevertheless, with the
world in a state of Summer peace on July 23, 1914, an issue, gravely
affecting the integrity of nations and the balance of power in Europe,
is suddenly precipitated by the Austrian ultimatum, and thereafter and
for the space of about a week a series of diplomatic communications
passed between the Chancelleries of Europe, designed on their face to
prevent a war and yet so ineffective that the war is precipitated and
the fearful Rubicon crossed before the world knew, except imperfectly,
the nature of the differences between the Governments involved. The
ethical aspects of this great conflict must largely depend upon the
record that has been made up by the official communications which can,
therefore, be treated as documentary evidence in a litigated case.

A substantial part of that record is already before the court of public
opinion in the British and German "White Papers," the Russian "Orange