ning German troops have violated French territory at three different
points: in the direction of Longwy by Luneville, at Cirey and by
Belfort. War has thus been declared, and the endeavours for peace as
described in the President's proclamation have been in vain. For the
last eight days Herr von Schoen (German Ambassador in Paris) has lulled
us to sleep with endearing protestations of peace. Meanwhile Germany has
mobilized troops in a secret and malevolent manner.

"The war upon which we must enter is for civilization against barbarism.
All Frenchmen must be united not merely by the feeling of duty, but also
in hatred for an enemy who seeks no other goal than our
annihilation--the destruction of a nation which has always been a
pioneer of justice and liberty in the world.

"To-night our five covering-corps will take up their positions and face
the enemy till our plan of concentration is completed. Russia is with
us.

"MESSIMY,

"Minister for War."

From the moment that Germany declared war on France, new tactics were
adopted in the Press. A campaign of calumny began which is the exact
counterpart of that against Belgium and the Belgians. Uncorroborated
tales of Germans having been ill treated in all parts of France were
spread broadcast. According to one journal[163] sixty to eighty Germans
had been murdered on the platforms of the Gare de l'Est in Paris.

[Footnote 163: _Koelnische Volkszeitung_, August 5th.]

Still there is one accusation which even German newspapers have never
dared to make, viz., that Frenchmen murdered and ill-treated Frenchmen,
or that war delirium led them to destroy property on a wholesale scale.
On the other hand, the picture obtainable of Germany during August,
1914, proves that similar peaceful conditions did not prevail in the
great nation of "drill and discipline."

France was even "convicted" of having caused the war; instead of being
unprepared, she had laid the fuse and was the guilty power in causing
the European explosion. "The German Government has now obtained absolute
proof that France has been standing at arms, ready to fall upon Germany,
for many weeks past."[164]

[Footnote 164: _Hamburger Fremdenblatt_, August 13th.]

Above all, President Poincare has been marked down in Germany's
senseless, unnecessary hunt for a scapegoat upon whom to fix her own
guilt. Even in the year 1915 there is a section of the German
public[165] which believes that the French President--a na