AMERICA AND GERMANY.* THE name of Dr. J. William White,

an eminent medical man of Philadelphia, is already well known to English readers. He is an ardent supporter of the Allies' cause in the war; his writings have done much to influence opinion in the United States; and our readers will not have forgotten the remarkable letter, aflame with passion for the right and full of a generous desire that his country might fight on the side of the Allies, which he recently wrote to the Spectator. The book before us is the fourth edition, considerably enlarged and revised, of his Primer of the War for Americans. He tells us that, soon after the outbreak of war, he began to amuse himself by jotting down "the questions which seemed to me of fundamental importance, and the answers that most impressed and satisfied me." It soon became obvious, to those who saw the kind of book which Dr. White was making, that its publication would be of national service. "It is greatly to the credit of the intelligence and clear thinking of the nation," he observes, that American opinion—with the excep- tion of the German-Americans—has from the first "ranged itself spontaneously and with practical unanimity on the side of the Allies." But not every one could give a clear and cogent reason for the faith that was in him, and when Dr. White published his little Primer of the War—noticed in the Spectator of January 9th—it sold like hot cakes. The sale has continued, and we venture to predict that the present edition will be by no means the last. Dr. White adds to his valuable collation of all the vital facts about the out- break and conduct of the war an unequivocal conviction, so stated as absolutely to compel attention, of the necessity of smashing Germany's system of perverted morality. Some of his countrymen may disagree with him, but not one of them can disregard him, A man of such strong feeling, a man, too, industrious in acquiring information from all sources, is bound to be a leader, or at the very least a challenger, of opinion. We can say for ourselves that, although we do not by any means judge Americans by the intensity of their desire to help the Allies, we have felt the deepest gratitude for Dr. White's burning recognition of the fact that we are fighting for just those things which Americans hold most dear, and have been touched by his sense—almost too spon- taneous for explanation or exposition—that there is a natural * Ali/aria% and Germany : a Tort-Rook of tho War. By J. William White, DLD,, Ph.D., LL.D. London: T. Fisher Unwin. [.5s. utat.]

bond between the British and the American spirit. He reminds us of the answer of Captain Chichester in Manila Bay in 1898, when the German naval coin meander was impeding Admiral Dewey's operations and asked Captain Chichester what line the British would take if he still further impeded the Americans. Captain Chichester answered that he " would do whatever Dewey wanted him to do." Sailors who spend their lives in seeing men and countries are penetrating, if abrupt, diplomatists, and we may match Dr. White's anecdote about Captain Chichester by recalling the well-known incident in the China Seas when the American naval officer put off to succour the British seamen, bard pressed by the Chinese, with the ejaculation : " Blood is thicker than water 1" We cannot help feeling " in our bones" that this sense of kinship will work out to our good, and. the good of civilization, howsoever it may come about.

But of course Dr. White does not base his championship of the Allies' cause on anything so slight—for the purposes of argument—as sentiment. He has summarized the statements of others, on both sides, and has set forth the gist of the State papers on the subject of the war. He writes as though this were an easy and unambitious thing to do. On the Contrary, it is a high accomplishment to have the power of lucid selection. This Dr. White certainly has. We cannot follow his careful examination of the events leading up to the war, but we cannot do less than remark on the skill with Which he makes his narrative hold together by carefully dove- tailed quotation.

We have all beard of the infamous German Proclamations in Belgium, but we bad not quite measured the horror of them till we saw several of them arrayed together in Dr. White's book with their identical announcements that innocent host- ages would be shot for the misbehaviour of others, and so forth. A very curious point mentioned by Dr. White is that the German mind, with characteristic prevision, had before the war drawn up a form of denial wherewith to meet the charge that the German Army was guilty of atrocities 1 The discovery was made by Professor Raymond Weeks, from whom Dr. White quotes :—

"The German military authorities are said to have foreseen everything. They even foresaw the need of denying atrocities, as is evinced by a manual called The Military Interpreter, second edition, Berlin, 1906; publisher, A. Bath. The author is Captain von Scharfenort, an official of the Military Department. This manual, among many useful formulae, offers a model letter of protest against an accusation of atrocities. This suggestive

document is entitled, `Letter to the Commander-in-Chief of the Hostile Army,' and commences thus : 'In a circular letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs you have reproached the Gorman troops with numerous violations of inter- national custom. According to you, Gorman troops have been guilty of acts of hostility against ambulances ; they are said to have made prisoner, M. A., in the midst of an ambulance corps organized by him; they are accused of having made use of explosive bullets, of having compelled peasants in the vicinity of

B. to dig trenches under fire ; they are accused of having attempted to transport provision and munition trains and caissons by pro- tecting them with the conventional sign of Geneva; finally, a physician who was caring for a wounded Prussian soldier is said to have been killed by him. Although I was quite sure, a priori, that these accusations wore false, I was unwilling to rest content with simply assuring you that such things were impossible, and I

made an inquiry to discover whether something might have happened which could have been transformed, by reporters unworthy of credence or filled with malevolence, into the monstrosities which were laid at our door.'

After stating that the inquiry offered great difficulties because of the vagueness of the accusations, ho continues : 'It is exact that M. A. was arrested, and that he had been occupied in caring for the wounded, but his arrest did not take place in the midst of an ambulance corps. It was motivated by the suspicion that the above-mentioned person was in communi- cation with the garrison of S., and his arrest, as also his imprison-

ment which followed, took place with all of the consideration due to his situation and to his honorability. As to the duration of his

detention, the military investigation alone can decide. As for all the other affirmations, I must declare them to be fabrications. Out of regard for the Powers which adhered to the Convention of Geneva and the declaration of St. Petersburg of November 29 (11 December), 1868, I add here and I affirm that the said-mentioned convention has been observed by the German troops in the most scrupulous manner,' etc.

' Yes,' Professor 'Weeks adds, 'the German military authorities foresaw everything—except that some of their soldiers' diaries would be captured.'" • Surely this model letter is the direct descendant of Bismarck's fabricated letters from French noblemen, Hanoverian land- owners, and so on ; and thus we see how the evil example of the man who debased diplomacy has spread, till things are done from which even Bismarck would have revolted.

Dr. White shows in facsimile one of the matrixes, or pre- pared plates for printers, which were sent to American news- papers by the " German Information Service." The facsimile in question contains the German account of the discovery of documents in the Belgian archives proving that Britain had prepared a plan for herself invading Belgium. The whole world, except the misled German public, knows by this time that in 1906 the British Military Attaché simply discussed with the Belgian Government the best method of protecting Belgium if Germany should violate her neutrality. What is not so generally known is that the German authorities wore acquainted with the details of the British-Belgian discussions years before the so-called " discovery " of them in the Belgian archives. Dr. White says :—

" On March 23, 1915, appears in the American papers the following statement from King Albert of Belgium, made to a representative of the New York World' : `No one in Belgium ever gave the name of Anglo-Belgian convention to the letter of General Ducarmo to the Minister of War detailing the entirely informal conversations with the British military attaché, but I was so desirous of avoiding even tho semblance of anything that might be construed as unneutral that I had the matters of which it is now sought to make so much com- municated to the German military attache! in Brussels. When the Germans went through our archives they knew exactly what they would find, and all their present surprise and indignation are assumed.' I venture to say, that if there is a conflict of testimony as to this matter, America will accept the word of King Albert."

Dr. White, frequently scornful as he is, is nowhere more scornful than when be writes of the inhuman meanness with which the Germans, after ruining Belgium, have stooped to charge her with having brought her fate on herself. It is as

though a man, having ruined a woman, should pursue her with gibes about her lewdness.

Dr. White declares that his country should join the Allies, because if Britain was justified in going to war to avenge a great wrong and restore a broken treaty, so also would the United States be justified. But to what broken treaty is the United States a signatory ? To the whole series of Hague Conventions, practically every one of which has been broken by Germany. We have often pointed out that a paoificist nation, such as the American nation tends to be at present, is more deeply concerned with breaches of international law than is an ordinarily cynical and combative nation which frankly relies on armed strength to correct balances and wrongs. How men can watch the whole basis of civilized international society, as they see it, crumble beneath their feet and continue without a tremor to talk of peace and honour being preserved is more than we can comprehend. Dr. White cannot com- prehend it either. And having a right to advise his country- men, where we have no right whatever, he says in effect : " You had much better fight than watch the downfall of the Allies.

Make no mistake. Their cause is our 'cause. The very ships of Britain defend our Monroe Doctrine. There can be no right peace but the triumph of the Allies, for the triumph of Germany will mean the exaltation of wrong throughout the world. Would you bring about peace ? Then help the Allies." Wo do not pretend to say that his advice is the best. What we do know is that no Englishman could read this manly, indignant book without gratitude and admiration for its fine spirit.