cause."

To this I have answered:

"First--Our universities do not and cannot sit like yours in high
seats, inspiring public opinion. I wish they did. Second--We are not
yet melted into one nationality; we are a mosaic of languages and
bloods; yet, even so, never in my life have I seen the American press
and people so united on any question. Third--Our charity is our very
way--the only way we have--of telling you we are with you. I am glad
you recognize the necessity of our political neutrality. Anything else
would have been, both historically and as an act of folly,
unprecedented. Fourth--Do not forget that George Washington advised us
to mind our own business."

But they reply: "Isn't this your own business?" And there they touch
the core of the matter.

Across the sea the deadliest assault ever made on Democracy has been
going on, month after month. We send bread and bandages to the
wounded; individually we denounce the assault. Columbia and Uncle Sam
stand looking on. Is this quite enough? War being out of the question,
was there nothing else? No protest to register? Did the wide ocean
wholly let Columbia out? Europe, weltering in her own failure, had
turned towards us a wistful look.

I cannot tell what George Washington would have thought; I only know
that my answer to my European friends leaves them unconvinced--and
therefore how can it quite satisfy me? Minds are exalted now, and
white-hot. When they cool, what will our historic likeness be as
revealed in the lightnings of this cosmic emergency? Will it be the
portrait of a people who sold its birthright for a mess of pottage?
Viewing how we have given, and the tone of our press, perhaps this
would hardly be just. Yet I can not but regret that we did not protest.
What we lost in not doing so I see clearly; I can not see clearly what
we gained. We may argue thus in our defense: If it is deemed that we
missed a great opportunity in not protesting as signatories of the
violated Hague conventions, are not our proofs of the violations more
authentic now than at the time? What we heard was incredible to American
minds. We had never made or known such war. By the time the truth was
established a protest might have seemed somewhat belated. Well, this is
all the explanation we can offer. Is it enough?

It is too early to answer; certain it is that not as we see ourselves
but as others see us, so shall we forever be. Certain it is also, and
eternally, that throug