SIR:--I desire to thank you for your article, "Above the Battle."... Although by my education I am more akin to the civilizations of Germany and Russia than to the civilization of France, yet I respect the French spirit more, for I am convinced, more than ever today, that it will furnish the greatly needed solution of the problems of national rights and liberty. In your article you quote the words of one of your friends, a soldier and a writer, who says that the French are fighting not only to defend their own country but to save the _liberty of the world_. You can hardly imagine how such words re-echo in the hearts of oppressed nations, what streams of sympathy are today converging from all corners of Europe upon France, what hopes depend upon your victory. And yet many doubts have been expressed with regard to these French and English assertions because both nations have allied themselves with Russia, whose policy is contrary to the ideas of right and liberty; and Germany herself maintains that it is precisely those ideas for which she is fighting against Russia. It would be interesting to discover what German writers and professors really mean when they speak of a Holy War against Russia. Do they wish to assist Russian revolutionaries to dethrone the Czar?--Every revolutionary party would refuse indignantly to accept assistance from Prussian militarism. Do they wish to set free the neighboring countries, such as Poland, which are oppressed by Russia, by incorporating them with the German Empire?--It is well known that the Poles who are German subjects have suffered much more ignoble treatment than the Russian Poles, though even they have every reason to complain. The Baltic provinces of Russia alone remain, and here the Germans have for centuries had their pioneers among the large landowners and the merchants in the bigger towns. These, no doubt, Russian subjects but of German nationality, would welcome the German armies with enthusiasm. But they form only a caste of nobles and of the wealthy middle-classes, numbering at most a few thousands, whereas the bulk of the population, the Lettish and Esthonian nations, would regard the absorption of these provinces into Germany as the worst of calamities. We know well what German domination means. I am a Lett and can speak with authority, for I know the deepest feelings and hopes of my own countrymen.