The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915

New York Times Current
History of the European War,
Vol. 1, January 9, 1915, The

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Title: The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol.
1, January 9, 1915 What Americans Say to Europe
Author: Various

Release Date: September 16, 2005 [eBook #16702]
Language: en
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VOL. 1, JANUARY 9, 1915***

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The New York Times
CURRENT HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN WAR
JANUARY 9, 1915.
What Americans Say to Europe

[Illustration: CHARLES W. ELIOT
_(Photo (c) by Paul Thompson.)_
_See Page 473_]
[Illustration: JAMES M. BECK
_See Page 413_]

In the Supreme Court of Civilization
Argued by James M. Beck.
THE NEW YORK TIMES _submitted the evidence contained in the
official "White Paper" of Great Britain, the "Orange Paper" of Russia,
and the "Gray Paper" of Belgium to James M. Beck, late Assistant

Attorney General of the United States and a leader of the New York bar,
who has argued many of the most important cases before the Supreme
Court. On this evidence Mr. Beck has argued in the following article
the case of Dual Alliance vs. Triple Entente. It has been widely
circulated in France and Great Britain._
Let us suppose that in this year of dis-Grace, Nineteen Hundred and
Fourteen, there had existed, as let us pray will one day exist, a Supreme
Court of Civilization, before which the sovereign nations could litigate
their differences without resort to the iniquitous and less effective
appeal to the arbitrament of arms.
Let us further suppose that each of the contending nations had a
sufficient leaven of Christianity to have its grievances adjudged not by
the ethics of the cannon or the rifle, but by the eternal criterion of
justice.
What would be the judgment of that august tribunal?
Any discussion of the ethical merits of this great controversy must start
with the assumption that there is an international morality.
This fundamental axiom, upon which the entire basis of civilization
necessarily rests, is challenged by a small class of intellectual perverts.
Some hold that moral considerations must be subordinated either to
military necessity or so-called manifest destiny. This is the Bernhardi
doctrine.
Others teach that war is a beneficent fatality and that all nations
engaged in it are therefore equally justified. On this theory all of the
now contending nations are but victims of an irresistible current of
events, and the highest duty of the State is to prepare itself for the
systematic extermination, when necessary or expedient, of its
neighbors.
Notwithstanding the clever platitudes under which both these doctrines
are veiled, all morally sane minds are agreed that this war is a great

crime against civilization, and the only open question is, which of the
two contending groups of powers is morally responsible for that crime?
Was Austria justified in declaring war against Servia?
Was Germany justified in declaring war against Russia and France?
Was England justified in declaring war against Germany?
As the last of these questions is the most easily disposed of, it may be
considered first.
England's Justification.
England's justification rests upon the solemn Treaty of 1839, whereby
Prussia, France, England, Austria, and Russia "became the guarantors"
of the "perpetual neutrality" of Belgium, as reaffirmed by Count
Bismarck, then Chancellor of the North German Confederation, on July
22, 1870, and as even more recently reaffirmed in the striking fact
disclosed in the Belgian "Gray Book."
In the Spring of 1913 a debate was in progress in the Budget
Committee of the Reichstag with reference to the Military Budget. In
the course of the debate the German Secretary of State said:
"The neutrality of Belgium is determined by international conventions,
and Germany is resolved to respect these conventions."
To confirm this solemn assurance, the Minister of War added in the
same debate:
"Belgium does not play any part in the justification of the German
scheme of military reorganization. The scheme is justified by the
position of matters in the East. _Germany will not lose sight of the fact
that Belgian neutrality is guaranteed by international treaties._"
A year later, on July