ABSTRACT
The Austrian ultimatum to Serbia, where there is reasonable doubt known and the German Government approves is the first crime. The second crime is the German ultimatum to Russia and to France. The war arose from the rivalry of States in the pursuit of power and wealth. This universally admits the above fact. It arose, according to the popular view in England; solely and exclusively out of the ambition of Germany to seize territory and power. It arose, according to the popular German view, out of the ambition of England to attack and destroy the rising power and wealth of Germany. To each set of belligerents the war appears as one force upon them by sheer wickedness, and from neither point of view it has any kind of moral justification. Power is the fetish of kings and emperors from the beginning of political history, and it remains to seen whether it will not continue to inspire democracies.
