Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War Volume I Part 13

It seems inconceivable that we can refrain from taking action in this matter, for we owe it not only to humanity, but to our own national self-respect.

COL. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

_May 7, 1915._

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_VICTIMS OF GERMAN KULTUR_

Whatever be the other facts regarding the _Lusitania_, the princ.i.p.al fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for pa.s.sengers, and carrying more than a thousand souls having no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was torpedoed and sunk without so much as a challenge or a warning, that men, women and children were sent to their death in circ.u.mstances unparalleled in modern warfare.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT'S NOTE TO GERMANY.

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_THE VERDICT_

"_It is the Hour, come_"

We find that this appalling crime was contrary to International law and the conventions of all civilized nations, and we therefore charge the officers of the said submarine, and the Emperor of the Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with the crime of wilful and wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilized world. We desire to express our sincere condolence with the relatives of deceased; the Cunard Company; and the United States of America, so many of whose citizens perished in this murderous attack on an unarmed liner.

_The unanimous verdict of the Irish jury at the inquest of the "Lusitania" victims._

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"_THIS IS TOO BORING, DO SUGGEST SOMETHING NEW_"

_Some German achievements in the first months of the Great War_:

The violation of Belgium and Luxemburg.

Ma.s.sacre of civilian populations in Belgium and France.

Bombardment by warships of open towns.

Murder of civilians by air raids.

Murder of civilians on the high seas.

The introduction of liquid fire and poison gas.

Enslavement of conquered civilian communities.

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"_HAVE ANOTHER PIECE?_"

Without a drop of blood flowing, and without the life of a single Italian being endangered, Italy could have secured the long list of concessions which I recently read to the House--territory in Tyrol and on the Isonzo as far as the Italian speech is heard, satisfactions of the national aspirations in Trieste, a free hand in Albania, and the valuable port of Valona.

VON BETHMANN-HOLLWEG.

_Reichstag, May 28, 1915._

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_THE WOLF-TRAP_

_Italy: "You would make me believe that I shall have my cub given back to me, but I know I shall have to fight for it"_

The discussion continued for months from the first days of December to March, and it was not until the end of March that Barion Burian offered a zone of territory comprised within a line extending from the existing boundary to a point just north of the City of Trent.

In exchange for this proposed cession the Austro-Hungarian Government demanded a number of pledges, including among them an a.s.surance of entire liberty of action in the Balkans. _Note should be made of the fact that the cession of the territory around Trent was not intended to be immediately effective as we demanded, but was to be made only upon the termination of the European War._

SIGNOR SONNINO.

_Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs._ _May 25, 1915._

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_THE BROKEN ALLIANCE AND ITALY_

"_Twenty years and more you've forced me to wear this chain_"

For the guardianship, therefore, of these treaties the government of the kingdom of Italy found itself constrained to notify the Imperial Austrian Government on the fourth of this month, May, 1915, that it must withdraw all of its proposals of agreement, denounce the treaty of the alliance, and declare its own liberty of action. Nor, on the other hand, was it more possible to leave Italy in isolation without security and without prestige, just at the moment in which the history of the world was taking on a decisive phase.

Everything else we must forget from this moment, and remember only this: to be _Italians_, to love all Italy with the same faith and fervor. The forces of all must be cemented into one single heart; only one single will must guide all toward the wished for end; and force, and art, and will must find their expression one, alive, and heroic in the army and navy of Italy and in the august leader who conducts them toward the destiny of the new history.