icans believe any part of
Germany is disloyal to the Government. On the contrary, they believe the
German people as a whole are supporting the Government and its acts with
devotion, and that, therefore, the German people as a whole are
responsible for whatever acts the Government commits. But Americans
recognise the reality of Prussian leadership in the policy of your
country. They do not believe the German people wanted the war; but they
do believe the military Government, under Prussian control, wanted the
war, planned for it with infinite skill and efficiency for many years,
and brought it about when they believed the time was ripe.

Americans have no doubt whatever that the insolent ultimatum to Servia
was delivered for the purpose of provoking war, and that Austria would
never have dared send it were it not for the fact that the German
Government "assured her a free hand" in advance, as has been officially
admitted by your Government. The fact that Austria refused to make
public the full evidence on which she based her accusations against the
Servian Government, added to the fact that she made these accusations
after a secret investigation in which the defendant had no
representation, has shocked not only America but the entire world; and
has convinced the world, as a whole, that Austria and Germany were more
guilty of wrongdoing than was Servia.

Americans have studied carefully the official documents issued by the
different Governments concerning the origin of the war, and have had the
advantage of seeing all the papers which each has published. The
official papers issued by England, Germany, France, Austria, and the
other Governments have been printed in full in pamphlet form, and have
been eagerly studied by the whole nation. Edition after edition has
been exhausted by a people eagerly seeking to learn the truth. In
Germany there has been no such eagerness to learn the truth by careful,
critical study of the official sources of information, and leading
Germans have regretfully admitted that too many of the German people
were content to accept their Government's statements as the truth,
without attempting to use their own intelligence in the matter. In the
opinion of Americans the official documents, and especially the
admissions made by your Government in its attempted defence, prove that
the German Government forced the war in order to satisfy the ambitions
of the military party which has long been in control