Germany’s Confession of 1
Responsibility for War
Being the Confession of Prince Lichnowsky,
German Ambassador to London
in 1914
' (Printed under .authority of the Committee on Public Information) j j
:
L —.vx u.'ii .
The famous memorandum of Princt
Lichnowsky, who was German ambas
sador to the court of St. James it
1914, at the time of the outbreak o
the world war, was made public if
this country some time ago, and ere
ated a profound sensation. The mem
orandum, written for private circula
tion among the friends and relatives
of the diplomatist, found its way intc
the columns of a Swedish newspaper
and extracts were published in So
cialist newspapers in Germany. The
document fixes beyond the shadow o!
doubt the responsibility of Germany
for the deliberate provocation of the
war, and substantiates in every detai
the contentions of the British officla
statement as to the negotiation!
which led to the opening of hostili
ties by Austria and Germany. The
following resume of the document has
been prepared for publication by the
federal committee on publication. II
is of interest to note that Prince Lich
nowsky, since the publication of the
startling document, has been a virtua
prisoner at his country estate, ano
has been charged with high treason
(Continued from yesterday)
Lichnowsky Made a Scapegoat
When, in spite of Llehnowsky's ef
forts to prevent it, England was in
' olved in war against Germany, hf
returned to Berlin and saw, as he says
that he was “to be made the scape
goat for ttie catastrophe which out
government had brought down on us
despite my advice and warning. It was
deliberately given out. from official
headquarters, thal I had let Sir Ed
ward Grey hoodwink me." He re
tired to Gratz, smarting with this in
justice, and there he prepared a me
moir, called "Mv Mission in London."
for the private information of his
kviernen and his intimate political
friends.
Of this memoir he had five or six
typewritten copies made. One he sent
1o Herr Bullin, the head of the Ham
burg American line; a second to Herr
('•winner, the head of the Deutsche
hank, and a third to Herr Theodor
W'idif. editor of the Radical-Demo
cratic newspaper, the Berliner Tage
Malt. A forth copy went to a
mend, an officer attached to the pol
itical department ot tite Herman (»en
eral staff This officer appear* to
ha\.- manifolded it on Itis own respon
sibility and sent copies to various
state officials and politicians. He did
that. Herr Theodor Wolff says, be
cause "lie felt tlte longing to serve
the dictates of peace with complete
devotion, and he surrendered himseif
to a pacifism which is absolutely in
compatible with a military uniform."
He conferred to Herr Wolff what he
had done "It was impossible." the
editor says, "to convince him by any
logic or on any grounds of reason that
Itis action was wrong, senseless or
harmful He was a Marquis Posa, or,
till more, a lloratius Codes, who,
out ot love for Rome or lor mankind,
prang into the abyss."
(tic- of his copies of tlte memoir
reached tin- Socialist newspaper Pol
itik'-n in Stockholm and was published
loci emeai. The Herman press took It
up The Iteidistag debated it Rich
now sky was deprived of Itis diplomatic
i i . forbidden to write tor pulillca
tioir and virtually imprisoned on itis
.stales, Tlte newspapers demanded
Dial lie lie "held lip to public coll
ide;,t ruthlessly.'' The writer argued
AVIiat will our thousands of war
• ripple-. uv when this attain is
brought tn their outraged notice?
Have these men joyfully sacrificed
th> ii health only to lie told at litis
stage of the war !>v a Prince Rich
now sky that it was not necessary?"
England's Guilt a Fiction
Von Jugow's reply to the Prince only
served to make matter worse. His ad
mission that England had not brought
on the war enraged the pan-Herman
press It was seized upon trium
phantly by the Socialists. The So
cialist organ, Vorwaorts, says:
-Ret us establish the facts. * * *
The war was not popular in England;
it also was not popular In Russia and
France But It haH become popular
The whole world—right away across
the Atlantic and the PaclMc—is united
in hatred against us. We, however,
have for almost four years laid all the
mines which caused tin1 war a view
which tile secretary of stale (\on Ju
gow i, in accordance with the evidence
of flic ambassador (Prince Girlinow
sky f iias now declared to be false
!l is. however, by Ibis false view that
tlie whole policy of the German em
pire lias been directed from fin- dec
| Inration of unrestricted submarine
I warfare, wlicii brought us war w ith
America, down to those chancellor
speeches which say that Belgium must
again become England's area of mili
tary concentration. If all the parties
concerned were convinced that the
belief in England's guilt is a fiction,
why did they feed tills belief, and why
did they pursue a policy which was
based upon it?" And the paper con
tinues: "The German people cannot
be satisfied with the methods of gov
erning exercised during the war. * * *
The German people can only endure
after the war as a peace-loving nation
that governs itself ”
Germany’s Place in the Sun
But to the American reader, the
most Important part of Prince Eich
nowsky's exposure is not his conclu
sion that Germany forced a declara
tion of war. We have long believed
that. Our German sympathizers have
largely admitted it. But they have
pleaded that the Kaiser declared war
only because war was Inevitable; that
Germany was denied her "place In the
sun"; that a conspiracy of France
Kussia. and Great Britain prevented
I her from obtaining colonies and ex
| tending her trade: and that, conse
quently, Germany had either to take
up arms or lie throttled to death by
Great Britain's trade enmity. Many of
us have been persuaded that these ex
cuses are true excuses; that the Bri
tish policy compelled Germany's ap
peal to the sword, and that Britain's
allies are merely "pulling Britain's
chestnuts out of the fire," as the Ger
man propagandists are continually
charging
It has been pleaded that the policy
! of France and England In Morroco
i was anti-German. Prince Lichtiowsky
writes: "Our obscure tiollcy in Mor
J oeco had repeatedly caused distrust
of our peaceful intention, or. at least,
had raised doubts as to whether we j
knew what we wanted or whether
our Intention was to keep Europe in
a state of suspense, and, on occasion,
to humiliate the French An Austrain
colleague, who was a long time in
Paris, said to me 'The French had
begun to forget “la revanche" (their
desire to avenge Alsace-Lorrainel. You j
have regularly reminded them of it by]
tramping on their toes.’ After we had I
declined pelenssc's (the French mini
ster's! offer to come to an agreement
regarding Morocco and then solemnly j
declared that we had no political in
terest there, we suddenly discovered]
in Abdul Aziz a second Kruger. To
him. also, as to the mighty Boers,
we promised the protection of the!
mighty German empire, and with the
same result. Both manifestations con
cluded, as they were bound to con
clude, with a reaction, if we were not
prepared to start a world war. * * *
Our attitude furthered the ltussian
Japanese and the Russian British al
liances In the face of the 'German
peril' all other considerations faded
into tile background The possibility:
of another war between France and
Germany had been evident, and such
a war could not leave out England or
Russia, as In 1K70 * * * Before Del- .
casse's fall, and before the Algcclras
conference, we could have obtained;
barbers and liases on l lie west coast
of Africa, but that was no longer
possible "
In other words, according to Ger
many's ambassador, It was Germany's
threat of war that united the Euro-:
jiean nations against her in Africa. It;
was not their union that led to the
German threat.
England’s Attempts at Friendship
Nevertheless, Llchnowsky goes on
lo say. London "(tutted down on the
! Moroccan affair." The Haldan mis
sion had gone to Berlin to come to an
understanding with Germany, and that
mission failed, Llchnowsky confesses,
"because we demanded a promise of
neutrality from Great Britain In the
event of a European war, “Instead
of being satisfied with a treaty which
secured us against British attack or
against any attack with British sup
port ." He continues: "However. Sir
Edward Urey had not given up the idea
of coming to an understanding with
us. and his first atempts in that di
rection were in collection with mat
ters relating to trade and colonies.
* * • * * After reaching a settlement
willi Frame and Russia on the old
ipieslions in dispute, the British states
man intended to come to similar agree
ments with a- What he aimed at
Was not to isolate ns. hut rather to
have it . as much as possible, lake
a -hare in existing partnerships
liming succeeded in bridging over
I he differences which existed between
England and Russia, he also wanted
to remove, as well as might I)*', the
differences between England and Oer
many, and to insure the peace of the
world by means of a network of treat
ies which should ultimately also in
clude a settlement of the miserable
naval question: whereas Ihe conse
quence of our own foreign policy up
in then had been the formation of
Ihe entente partnership in which these
nations pledged themselves to render
mutual supori in case of war. As he
himself expressed it. Urey's policy was
this: 'Without infringing on the exist
ing friendly relations with France and
Russia, which in themselves contained
no binding obligation for England, to
seek to achieve a more friendly rap
prochement with (iermany. ami to
bring the two groups nearer together."
(To Be Continued)
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