dds: "I am convinced that Germany and the world
would be liberated to-morrow, if only all the Germans were to say to-day
without reserve that which, at the bottom of their hearts, they wish and
ardently desire."

Herein lies the force of his protest. It is not the protest of one
individual, but that of an entire nation. Nicolai is merely the
spokesman.

Thus, having told his tale, he turns to the people, he turns to those
who inspired him to speak. By a sudden transformation, the "Unknown" to
whom he addresses his "Open Letter"--derjenige Unbekannte, der die Macht
hat--is no longer the military authority. Sovereign power seems already
to have passed into the hands of the real master, the German people. He
invites the German people to enter into a union with the other peoples.
In the tone of an inspired evangelist, he reminds the German people of
its true destiny, its spiritual mission, a thousandfold more important
than any empty victory. To all the peoples of Europe, he points out the
duty of the hour, the pressing task: to achieve the unity of Europe and
the organisation of the world.

"Come, then, kindred spirits!... I am a free man, freed from everything
in the world, free from the state [staatenlos], ein deutscher Weltbuerger
[a German citizen of the world].... I have peace! [Ich habe Frieden]....
Come! Cry aloud what you already know and feel!... We do not wish to
_make_ peace; we simply wish to realise that we _have_ peace...."

Reiterating his cry of October, 1914, the Call to Europeans[90] which
he, in conjunction with his friends Albert Einstein, Wilhelm Foerster,
and Otto Buek, issued as a counterblast to the insane utterances of the
93, he reaffirms his act of faith in the spirit of Europe, one and
brotherly; and he launches his appeal to all the free spirits, to those
whom Goethe long ago termed: "Good Europeans."

_October 20, 1918._

"Wissen und Leben," Zurich, November, 1918.

XXIV

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT WILSON

MONSIEUR LE PRESIDENT,

The peoples are breaking their chains. The hour foreseen by you and
desired by you is at hand. May it not come in vain! From one end of
Europe to the other, there is rising among the peoples the will to
resume control of their destinies, and to unite, that they may form a
regenerated Europe. Across the frontiers, they are holding out their
hands to one another for a friendly clasp. But between them there still
remain abysses of mistrust and misunder