Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/19

 The Guilt of William Hohenzollern

CHAPTER I WHO ARE THE GUILTY?

the outbreak of the world-war one question has exercised every mind: Who brought upon us this frightful calamity? In what persons or what institutions are we to find its originating cause?

This is not merely a scientific question for the historian; it is eminently a practical one for the politician. Its answer is a death-sentence for the guilty—not in the physical sense but certainly in the political. Persons and institutions whose power has produced anything so fearful must be politically flung to the dead; they must be divested of all power.

But just for this reason, because the question of the origination of the war is not an academic but a highly practical one with far-reaching consequences for the organization of public life, the real authors of it have from the beginning sought to cover up their traces. In this attempt they have found eager helpers in all those who, though not themselves involved in any responsibility, have an interest in maintaining the power of the guilty persons and institutions.

This fact has long operated to render very difficult the discovery of the true authorship of the war. On Rh