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The Kaiser’s Personal
ResponsibilitylntheWar
Professor Ferrero Analyses the Con
duct of the German Emperor Just
Preceding the War From the Dis
tance of More Than a Year of Strife.
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The Kaiser 1n War Dress.
By Guglielmo Ferrero.
éé NE year has passed since I was com
pelled to call the people to arms; a
bloody and unheard-of epoch has
come for Europe and the world. Before God
and history I swear that my consclence is clear
and that I did not want war.”
These are the words with which the message
of the Emperor of Germany to his people on
the first anniversary of the war began. These
words have been and will continue for some
time to be ardently discussed in Europe, be
cause this {s the first answer to the accusa
tions that, openly or secretly, are repeated
during the last year in all the countries at war
with the Germanic empires, and in many neu
tral countries, against the Emperor of Germany.
The most broadly.spread opinion to-day attrib
utes the greatest responsibility to him for the
European conflagration, and accuses him of
having deceived Europe for twenty-five years,
making believe he wanted peace while he pre
pared the most monstrous of wars.
These accusations up to the present had not
been taken up and answered by the Germans.
The Emperor of Germany in the many speeches
he made since the war has not even hinted at
them. He breaks silence now after a year
with a solemn oath sworn before God and
history.
Is thig royal oath enough to impose silence
on his accusers? What foundation have these
accusations in trustworthy, sure documents and
ascertained facts? To this question-—one of
the gravest that the terrible history of this
year presents, because on the answer to it
depends, perhaps, the destiny of the Hohenzol
lerns—l shall try to reply sine ira et studio
(without anger and after serious study), with
the equity that is the duty of a historfan, using
the documents that made possible my article
of last December 6n the origin of the war.
Everybody knows that July 23, when Austria
sent the note to Serbia, of which the war was
the outcome, the Emperor of Germany was
crulsing in the North Sea. 1 shall not discuss
whether he was there because he didn’'t know
anything about what was being prepared; or
if it was a move to reassure the governments
of the Triple Entente so as to take them by sur
prise.
It is impossible to solve the doubt at present,
However it may be, the Emperor returned. to
Berlin the 28th, the day when Austria declared
war on Serbia;: and ag soon ag he got to Berlin
he manifested clear pacific tendencles. The
evening of the 28th the Chancellor of the
Empire asked the English Ambassador to come
to him, and he told him that Germany couldn’t
accept the conference of the four great Powers
proposed by England because he didn't esteem
it practical; but that he was willing to do
what he could to prevent war; he added that he
would do everything possible to get Austria
and Russia to come to a direct understanding
between themselves; he concluded by saying
explicitly that “a war between the great Powers
of Europe had to be prevented.”
Some hours after the Emperor of Germany
sent the Czar a friendly, trusting dispatch; on
that night instructions conforming to those
words went out from Berlin. In fact, the
morning of the 26th the German Ambassadors
at Paris and Petrograd assured the French
send Russian Governments that Germany
uourished the most concillatory intentions.
Things seemed to be going well the evening
of the 28th, and from the night of the 28th to
the 20th, when, all of a sudden, the wind
changed the afternoon of the 28th. The after.
noon of the 20th the German Ambassador went
to Sazanoff and Instead of repeating the
friendly speeches of that mornl'ng, he declared
to him that Germany had decided to mobilize,
If Russia did not interrupt her military prepara
tions. In other words, on the afternoon of the
£9th Germany suddenly threatened war if Rus
sia did not renounce the military preparations
against Austria, that she had announced she
would make in case Austria declared war on
Serbla.
From that moment and after that threat the
events, up to that time in the balance, rushed
on toward war, and this is easy to understand,
80 grave was the provocation contained in that
threat.
Sazanoff immediately replied to the Ambassa
dor that Russia would not consent under any
condition to suspend her military preparations.
As soon as that reply was made known at
Berlin the Emperor convoked, the same evening
of the 29th, at Potsdam, a reunion of high
functionaries, In which the heads of the army
took part, to discuss the situation created by
Russia's answer. And in this reunion it was
decided to have the Ambassador repeat the
threat to Russia, and if Russia resisted, to
declare war; so what they really deliberated
was the European war. So at 2 o'clock iu the
morning the German Ambassador returned to
Sazanoff and repeated the intimation. Russia
again refused, and the next day, the 31st, the
ultimatum left Berlin.
The step taken by the German Ambassador
at Petrograd the afternoon of the 29th was
then the irreparable act that let loose the war
on Europe. If the immediate responsibility of
the war apertains to the stated act, the men
that commit the irreparable and decisive act,
we must now ask ourselves why and wherefore
the German Government decided on that step
the morning of the 29th. After the publication
of the Russian Red Book there remains no
doubt that the impetus came from Austria. The
evening of the 28th Count Berchtold tele
graphed to Berlin that Russia was arming on
the Austrian frontier, and w easked the Ger
man Government to prevail upon Russia, in a
friendly way, to desist.
So the German Government by that act only
wanted to fulfill the prayer of its ally. But
who are the men among those who composed
the German Government who believed it was
necessary to satisfy Austria’'s desirs, denying
the tranquillizing assurances made to the
European powers a few hours after they were
glven? There was no great quickness of appre
hension necessary to understand that from the
point where things were, after Russia had
many times declared that she would mobilize
it Austria declared war on Serbia, that such a
step was more than dangerous.
Passing over whatever political plans the
German Emperor may have nourished in his
mind and what we do not yet know, in this
point is the great problem of his responsibility
—at least that immediate responsibility that in
the eyes of the world is the gravest. Did he
push the Government on to satisfy the demands
of Austria, as some people claim: or was he
reluctantly drawn into it by the military party,
as is also said? According to which of these
two hypotheses is true, the responsibility of
the German Emperor appears, great or small,
because when that fatal ultimatum was once
sent; the rest was all the fatal rushing on of
the deluge that ultimatum let loose. Is it not
possible to-day to decide between these two
opnosite judgments?
In a definite manner—no. The proofs are
still too uncertain, scarce and confused.’ There
are nothing but indications: however the indi
cations as to what we may attribute the brusk
turn the German policy took and from which
the war sprung, are several, and very grave.
There is, first of all, the testimony of a serious
and authoritative man, who was in a position to
know many things: Baron Beyens, who was
the last Minister to Belgium. Beyens is pub
lishing a series of most important articles on
the European war in the Revue des Deux
Mondes. . In the article published June Ist
Beyens explicitly asserted that the step taken
July 29 at Petrograd was willed and ordered
by the Emperor.
When the Kaiser
Arrived at Berlin.
What do we make out, then? We make out
that the only new fact that could justify this
unlooked-for and violent oscillation of the Ger
man policy was the arrival at Berlin of the
German Emperor, which happened on the
28th. While the Emperor was absent the Chan
cellor. the Minister of Forelgn Affairs, the Sec
retary of State do not assume any decided po
sition and do not carry out any decisive act,
for peace or war, They talk, they refuse to
talk, seeking to gain time. The 28th the Em
peror arrives; and a few hours afterward the
two first resolute and decisive acts of the Ger.
man Government follow each other at brief
intervals—the first for peace, the second for
war. How can we not be tempted to see some.
thing between these two acts and th arrival of
th Emperor?
It may be added that the contradiction
between these two actions and the rapidity
with which they follow each other induce us to
suspect the impetuous, impulsive will attributed
to Willlam 11. One would say that when he
first got back to Berlin the Emperor immed)-
ately deliberated to make acts of coneciliation
and peace, but that after (when Count Berch
told’s dispatch arrived) he changed his opinfon.
The Emperor of Germany in fact, even if
the circumstantial evidence of his responsibility
Is true, may have been sincere when he de
clared he didn't want the war. The German
Government may be sincere when it says It
didn’t want war. Unhappily it followed a pol
-Iwy that fatally one day or another had to
lead to war despite the best intentions It
wus a policy that treated two great Powers like
France and Russia almost as If they were pro
tectorates. One day or another the cord,
stretched too far, had to break, as It broke,
alas, In an all too tragic way, August 1, 1914,
The World’s Greatest Interpreter of Nietzsche
~« Defines Our Lack of True Greatness
“As the American Women Are More Nearly Super-Women
Than Your Men Are Super-Men, Why Not Take the Vote
Away from the Men and Give It to the Women?” Says Dr.
Oscar Levy, the Foremost Exponent of the “Superman” Idea.
By Franz Hugo Krebs.
London, Sept. 1.
HAD an interview yvesterday which took up
I part of the morning, most of the after
noon and extended into the evening, with
Dr. Oscar Levy, of London, the greatest author
ity on Nietzsche, and one of the world’s great
est psychologists. Dr. Levy was born on March
28, 1867, in the town of Stargard in Pommer
anla. His father was a banker. Dr. Levy grad
uated from the Gymnasium in Stargard, then
from the University of Freiburg, in Baden,
where he was a member of the Albingia Corps,
one of thf fighting corps, which in accordance
with German custom meets all challengers.
Afterward Dr. Levy took post graduate courses
in medicine and psychology in the Universities
of Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Paris. For the
lagt twenty years Dr. Levy's home has been
in London, where he is a member of the Royal
Societies Club, of the Royal College of Sur
geons and Licentiate of the Royal College of
Physicians.
Dr. Levy fs that most wonderful being, from
an intellectual standpoint, a Jew who is ab
solutely free from any trace of commercialism
and whose sole interest iz in literary pursuit
and research, regardless of material gain. On
his mother's side, in the seventeenth and eigh
teenth centuries, there were gix generations of
Rabbis, and it is to them and to her that Dr.
Levy attributes his mentality.
Dr. Levy told me of a most strange and in
teresting custom; he said that for centuties it
was the custom for rich Jewish families living
in Poland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and
France, to seek Talmudic scholars as husbands
for some of their daughters. The wealth of
the family was placed at their disposal, so that
they could continue their studies, and in that
way the love of learning and the longing for
knowledge were kept alive in the race. Dr.
Levy further said that, had it not been for this,
the Jewish race would have ceased to exist as
“no race purely commercial can live.”
Dr. Levy spent a few weeks in the United
States in 1892, but in spite of the travels that
have taken him to all quarters of the globe he
says, “A psychologist does not need to travel
in order to know the people of the earth. A
study of their literature reveals not merely
their mental but racial characteristics as well.”
“But, Doctor.” T asked, “do you mean that a
psychologist can get to-know as much about
‘the people of the earth’ from ‘a study of their
literature,” as those who travel in the countries
and meet the people thenselves?”
A Nation’s Literature
Its True Revealer.
“Not only as much, but far more, for the
psychologist is mentally detached and views
the subject of his inquiry from a distance:
there s nothing between the subject he dis
sects and the scalpel of truth. For instance,
Americans by hundreds of thousands have
travelled through Great Britain and over the
Continent; they have seen the outside of the
buildings and probably the inside of some; also
they have seen the outside of the people. How
much do they know of their thoughts and as
pirations?”
“Americans are the most optimistic of all
the nations; properly directed, this spirit will
accomplish wonders, but when the American
comes to Europe he induiges himself mentally
much as he does at home, and siurs over the
rough places unless his personal comfort is
disturbed. The American readily forgets
White Chapel; it is so much pleasanter to re
member the West End; he forgets the awful
slims of the large cities in Great Hritain, the
unspeakable degredation of the drunken, sod.
den, submerged tenth; it is so much pleasanter
to remember the beautiful lawns, where the
tender care of generationg has produced a vel
vety sward that cannot be equalled for years
to come in the New World,
“It is sweeter to remember the charming and
cultivated people that one meets, whose culti
vation Is not that of to-day or yesterday, but
the outgrowth of generations of well-to-do and
cultivated ancestors. It Is Interesting at this
time, when a deputation from the leading ship
bullding firms has waited on the Chancellor
of the British Exchequer and the Secretary for
Scotland to urge that ‘there should be a total
prohibition during the period of the war of
the sale of excisable liquors,’ and when Lloyd
George in his reply sald, ‘That nothing but root
and branch methods would be of the slightest
avall in dealing with this evil, and further said,
‘We are fighting Germany, Austria and Drink;
and as far as | can see, the greatest of these
three deadly foes is Drink to realize that
Disraell, the greatest British statesman of all
times, described in ‘Sybil,’ the preface to which
1s signed by him as of May-Day, 1545, the con
ditfon of the masses of the British people. A
perusal of this book, at this time, would do
much to enlighten Americans whose mentality
is ruggzed enough to consider painful subjects,
As Disraell sald: ‘There is not a trait in this
work for which he has not the authority of his
own observation, or the authentle evidence
which has been recelved by Royal Commis.
slons and Parllamentary Committees. But,
while he hopes he has alleged nothing which Is
not true, he bas found the absolute necessity
of suppressing much that is genuins’
“How can any rvo‘ ordinarily kean observer
be blind to the fact that the soul of the Hritish
lower classes livinz In the clties and large
towng is rotted away by drink, and that as
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NLY
Ur, Oscar wevy, the isunguished Scholar
{
o By DR. OSCAR LEVY.
HE only things that live forever are great thoughts. ;
T Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are remembered, although the kings
of their time are one and all forgotten,
Nietzsche will be read when no one but a student of ancient history will
remember the name of one of the rulers now at the head of the countries waging
this greatest of all wars. ’
America has produced a high average man, as far as strength, quickness
of thought and general well-being are concerned ; but mentally the United States
has contributed little to the world along the lines of really great thought.
As a matter of fact, the American woman is far higher intellectually, in
proportion to the female sex in other parts of the world, than is the American
man, in proportion to the male sex,
This does not seem to me desirable, and indicates that for generations to
come American thought is likely to be lacking in virility.
In the world’s history, no woman philosopher or psychologist has added
to its knowledge. Another unfortunate feature in connection with the unequal
development of American men and women is that so many of your women find
out too late that their husbands are not their mental mates.
This is doubtless largely responsible for the great increase of divoree in
America.
I am opposed on principle to a democratie form of government ; 1 do not
believe in the rule of the fit by the unfit.
As to woman suffrage, if one is forced to accept a demoeratic form of gov
ernment, why not be logical and have a pure demoeraey, regardless of sex?
De Toequeville said, in his great book on the United States: *‘ The only cure
for democracy is more democracy.”’
It is a sad situation to contemplate, but as the American women are more
nearly superwomen than your men are supermen, why not take the vote away
from the men and give it to the women? They probably would not do worse
than the men, and your form of government is only a happy-go-lucky experi
ment,
far as they are concerned ‘Christian England’
is non-existent.”
I then asked Dr. Levy, “What does Nietzsche
mean to you?” .
“Nletzsche Is the great teacher, not of the
masses, but of the individual. He teaches that
the first duty of the individual iz to himself,
By ralsing himself, he will then be in a better
position to help others, He points the way to
self-culture and self-development, not to the un
thinking many, but to those who have the ca
pacity for Intellectual improvement. He
preaches egotism, but it is the egotism of self
renunciation, Hig egotism is not a brutal, but
rather an ascetic egotism. Nietzsche did not
belleve in a superman without tenderness, and
that tenderness means due consideration based
upon knowledge of others.”
“No captains of industry who walk over the
corpses of their fe/lowmen and then found li
braries and hospitals in order to ease their con
science would be considered supermen by
Nietzsche. They might be considered super.
men by the business world, but not in that
higher culture that Nietzsche had in view.”
In answer to my question as to whetl er he
believed that it was desirable that Nietzsche
should be generally read, Dr. Levy replied:
“Nietzsche ought NOT to be generally read.
No one but a person with more than the aver
age education, or with much more than the
average mentality can, as a rule, profit by
Nietzsche, There are many mentalities to
whom he would only do harm; they would lose
the smaller virtues they now possess, and they
would gain nothing to replace them.
“In Japan the Samural, who are still very
powerful and whose traditfons are most arls
tocratic, will probably profit by Nietzsche's
feachings.” (It is of Interest to know that
Nietzsche is being studied at the Japanese
Military College).
“I believe in an aristocracy, but in an aris
tocracy of the mind, not of the skin. The time
s coming when the white and the brown and
the yellow men will meet in combat for the
mastery of the world; the Samurai, with their
code of ‘Bushido’ will pyove worthy antagonists
for any branch of the white race.”
“Was Nietzsche liked in Germany during his
ife?" 1 asked.
“Nietzsche was absolutely hated in Germany,
while he was alive, and the hatred did not
diminish after his death, He advised the
Prussian aristocracy to marry Jewesses {n or.
der to quicken thelr mental processes. He
might well have added Itallan, French, Russian,
Polish, Irish and American women. You see,
their, that is, the Prussian aristocracies,
muscles and hearts are in good condition, but
the working of the cerebrum needs &nlckanlu."
“What Is your opinion of Ralph Waldo Emer.
son?"
“He was not extraordinary, but interesting
and pleasing.”
“Who are the greatest German psycholo-
Ists?"
y “There are no German psychologists, that s,
of pure German blood. Schopenhauer had
Duteh blood from his father. Helne was of
Jewish blood, and Nietzsche's Polish blood
gave him to the world.”
In answer to the question, what do you mean
when you say that “In International and po-
Htleal psychology Great Britain is supreme?”
br. Levy sald: “When war was decided on,
the Britlsh immediately secured control of all
cables going to America and by their clem‘
dispatches and their knowledge of mob psycho«
logy lashed the American people into a perfect
frenzy, so that the most absurd stories, that
would not even pass muster among intelligent
English people, were readily believed.
“For instance, when the report was sent out
that the Kaiser had forbidden mourning to be
worn by women in Germany, that was not a
haphazard invention, but was evidently written
by one who not only understood that wearing
mourning was the normal outward expression
of grief on the part of American women, but
also realized fully that America is a woman's
country. In a thousand and one ways the
British showed that they could piay the master
touch on American foibles and prejudices. It
is nothing new; it has for many years been
well understood that when Great Britain at
tacks, it is not only by her navy and her land
forces, but by the news agencies and the press
as well. Yes, as political psychologists they
are wonderful.
“Although my sympathy has always been with
the Tory party, as the party of the aristocracy,
I realize that Lloyd George is an idealist, and
that he and the masses of the Liberal party
would not have supported the war had it not
been for the violation of the neutrality of
Belgium, '
“Recent admissions by Liberals regarding the
neutrality of Belgium not being an absolute
controlling factor in the war clearly indicate
that they wish to counteract the growing feel
ing, ‘Well, if we only went to war on account
of Belgium we are about ready to quit.”
“l can see nothing ahead of the Liberal party
but a smashing defeat at the next general elec
tion. My sympathy has alwaye been with the
Tory party in Great Britain, not merely be
cause it is the aristocratic party, but because
it is really a Nietzschean party, although the
masses and even many of its leaders are not
intelligent enough to know it.”
To the question, are there any men, whe
have been prominent in American history
whom you would consider supermen? Dr. Levy
replied:
“Most decidedly yes. There are two, Georgs
Washington and Abraham Lincoln. George
Washington was an aristocrat to his finger
tips; he never craved the applause of the
vulgar or the numerous. No personal ambition
prompted him to bring about the freedom of
his countrymen from British misrule. Not a
man of mental warmth, he yet had the tender
ness that springs from due consideration based
upon knowledge of others.
Waashington and
Lincoln Supermen.
“Abraham Lincoln, in spite of his humble
birth and his lack of advantages of ordinary
education, was one of the world's greatest
aristocrats, because he belonged to the highest
aristocracy of all—the aristocracy of the mind,
One of the masses, he had a mind that towered
above theirs—as the ever snow-covered peaks
of the Himalayas tower above the plains that
lle around their base. Abraham Lincoln had,
to the greatest extent, the tenderness which
leads to due consideration based upon an
absolute knowledge of others. Lincoln was
not merely a superman in America, he was a
king in the mental aristocracy of the world.”
“How about Theodore Roosevelt? Roose
velt could not be called a superman, unless it
were of the obvious. Up to the time that his
desire for political office became so strong as
to partly obscure his mental vision, he was
very skilful in finding out the average
American thought and then announcing it as
his opinion. In America such a policy would
Inevitably lead to success, but it carries with it
a silent valuation of the adoption of such &
standard.”
“How about President Wilson? That is &
question that | am not prepared as yet to
definitely answer. There are questions that
President Wilson has yet to deal with that will
have great bearing on how it should be
answered. President Wilson is not only & man
of high intellectual attainments, but he is &
man of remarkable mental power and force,
He 1s a bit of a philosopher and has great will
power,
“The United States has been very fortunate
fn having had in all crises of its history the
very man at the helm who was mentally best
fitted to deal with that particular situation. The
time will come when there will be need of
creating a mental aristocracy in Amerioa,
whose alms and ideals will be far above those
of the masses. There is and always should be
a great amount of mental mediocrity in the
world; this is necessary for civilization, but
why extend its area beyond reason?”
| asked Dr. Levy why he lived in Londen,
and he said: “Because, while the world over,
thought is free and unshackled, in Great Britain
the spoken or written expression of thought is
freer than in any other country.”
“Than In the United States?”
“Infinitely. Were the United States at war
there would be no room for a Bernhard Shaw
within its boundaries,
“At present America has evolved the greatest
area of middieclass mentality that the world
has ever known, with all the virtues and all the
smallness that are characteristic of a middle
class mentality.”