e sword already drawn against a country which had not
attacked it, not even threatened it, or was it Germany's, with the sword
in the sheath?

In his "conclusion," Mr. Beck speaks of Germany as "beset on every hand
by powerful antagonists." Does he really mean to deprive the German
Emperor of the right to demand as a condition precedent to mediation on
his part the discontinuance of mobilization by Russia?

Mr. Beck in his "judgment" under Paragraph 4 says "that Austria, having
mobilized its army, Russia was reasonably justified in mobilizing its
forces." The use of the qualifying word "reasonably" seems to indicate
that even Mr. Beck is not quite certain that Russia was in fact
justified in mobilizing its forces.

Is it reasonable, just, and fair of Mr. Beck to expect Germany, "beset
on every hand by powerful antagonists," to permit Russia to continue
mobilizing its 18,000,000 soldiers and have Germany believe that Russia
was sincere in its "peaceful intentions" in the face of actual
mobilization? At this moment the German Kaiser made a very reasonable
demand upon Russia to cease mobilization, and I ask every fair-minded
American, whether lawyer or layman, "whose duty it was to yield" at this
moment. The answer to this question will settle the much-disputed point
as to the actual cause of the war.

In conclusion, I beg to ask Mr. Beck: Why expect so much of Germany and
nothing of Russia, when Germany had not merely professed her peaceful
intentions, but actually maintained peace for over forty years, during
which period not a foot of territory had been acquired by her through
conquest? This is a fact.

Coming into a court of law supported by such a reputation, does Mr. Beck
really believe that the decision of the court would have been in favor
of Russia? Does Mr. Beck really believe that the decision would have
been against Germany, whose war lord was begging the Czar almost on his
knees to avoid the awful calamity by the discontinuance of mobilization?

Picture the United States about to invade Mexico to redress an insult to
the American flag. Picture England as the ally of the United States, and
Japan supporting Mexico, without any alliance existing between the two
latter countries. To make this example conform to the actual facts under
discussion, we must, of course, assume that both Japan and England are
situated in the North American Continent, and across the border from the
United States and England. Japan,