to the Russians. Hence our army must be formed in Russia. America might provide a certain number of recruits, though her neutrality would be an obstacle. Unless we had a fighting force, our claim to freedom would hardly be heeded. In a world at war, mere tracts on “historical and natural rights” would be of little avail.
From Russia I often got scraps of news of what our people, and especially our “Družina,” were doing there. Russia was practically cut off from the West and her propaganda was feeble. Russian papers came late and irregularly. I eked out what I got with my own knowledge of men and things, and to cover emergencies I sent a special messenger to Russia. Other messengers went into Austria and even to Prague. They were, of course, mostly neutrals, men and women of education and intelligence who went for the sake of the cause. I gave them careful instructions not to approach my acquaintances but to get all possible information about conditions and persons. Visitors from Russia, Austria and Germany often gave me news; and I met in Switzerland some well-informed men from Vienna, among them officials who disagreed with the policy of the Government and told me frankly what they knew. One Parisian banker, a Hungarian citizen thoroughly versed in the affairs of Vienna and Budapest, gave me many an interesting detail in the course of a walk by the lake.
The Question of War Guilt.
From the humanitarian standpoint the question of war guilt was very weighty. Literature upon it grew mightily even during the war. To-day it forms a whole library. My own judgment was based upon long observation of Germany and of Austria, and especially upon the pan-German movement. In forming a right opinion, details alone are not decisive—whether this or that country mobilized a few hours or a few days sooner or later—but the question who did most to create the whole political atmosphere out of which, when opportunity offered, the war arose almost mechanically.
In the German Empire and in Austria-Hungary the guilt lies with Imperialism and Imperialistic militarism. German Imperialism, as defined and practised by the pan-Germans, was at the bottom prone to violence. In Germany and in Austria. Hungary violence was shamelessly done to non-German races, and violence characterized domestic policy as a whole; yet it must be admitted that Europe made no protest. A German
