The Assault: Germany Before the Outbreak and England in War-TimeWile, Frederic William
History
The Assault: Germany Before the Outbreak and England in War-Time
Wile, Frederic William
World War, 1914-1918
Germany now proclaimed her new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
Mr. Gerard was recalled from Berlin and Count Bernstorff received his
passports in Washington. Yet Allied faith in America, momentarily
revived by these events, took wings once more when it became known that
Mr. Wilson’s next "step" would be armed neutrality. The editor of _The
Times_, who had been exceptionally tolerant of the pestiferous Bell,
imagined now, I fancy, that events had at length put a timely end to the
letter-writing energies of the Chicago scribe; for Englishmen, with
notably few exceptions, had by this time pretty well "eliminated"
America from their calculations. But on February 22, inspired perhaps
by the rugged traditions clinging to that date, Bell cleared for action
for the fifth time and next day _The Times_ printed him for the fifth
time. He wrote: "I will risk the view that we are on the edge of great
things in America--things worthy of the country of Washington and
Lincoln. America, I feel, is about to fructify internationally--about to
make her real contribution to humanity and history." _The Times_ now
went so far as to suggest, with characteristic prudence, that Bell’s
"sagacious and racy letter deserves careful consideration by all who are
trying to understand the situation in Washington." Unhappily, there was
little evidence in the continued British mistrust of America that _The
Times’_ counsel was being taken widely to heart.
On February 27 Bell craved the indulgence of _The Times_ for his sixth,
and final, epistle to the skeptics. With what was destined to turn out
to be rare prescience and penetration, he now said that Mr. Wilson’s
delay in coming to grips with Hohenzollernism meant only that "the
president wants the public temper so hot throughout America that it will
instantly burn to ash any revolutionary unrest or any opposition by the
pacifist diehards." Five weeks later the United States and Germany were
at war, with the American nation united in fervent support of the
president’s pronunciamento that the task which demanded the renunciation
of our neutrality was one to which "we can dedicate our lives, our
fortunes, everything we are and everything we have." The hour of
Europe’s awakening from its scornful dreams had come.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account