Its logic is
unanswerable in the Euclid of Hell. ... It is war, and when millions of
men set out to kill each other, to strangle the enemy's industries, to
ruin, starve, and annihilate him, so that the women may not breed
more children, and so that the children shall perish of wide-spread
epidemics, then a few laws of chivalry, a little pity here and there, the
recognition of a Hague Treaty, are but foolishness, and the weak
jugglings of men who try to soothe their conscience with a few
drugged tabloids. That at least is the philosophy of the German war
lords, and granted the premises that war may be waged by one
people against another it seems to me sound and flawless in its
abomination.
Germany thrust this thing upon Europe deliberately and after careful
preparation. Upon the heads of her diplomats and princes are the
blood and the guilt of it, and they stand before the world as murderers
with red hands and bloodshot eyes, and souls as black as hell. In this
war of self-defence we are justified and need no special pleading to
proclaim our cause. We did not want this war, and we went to the
extreme limit of patience to avoid it. But if there is to be any hope for
humanity we must go deeper into the truth than the mere analysis of
White Papers and Yellow Papers with diplomatic correspondence.
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