industry and commerce, and Prussian militarism. This is endorsed on this side by men of dispassionate judg- ment whose opinions are worth listening to.
No doubt, these Prussian hotheads could have pre- vented the war had they wished to, as Austria would have been powerless without their active or passive assistance and would, in that case, not have asked Servia for an un- conditional assent to a complicated demand which could not possibly be answered within the stipulated time of only two days.
That, in our opinion, is the whole point at issue. Of course, history will hereafter--not during the war-make all this yet clearer. As, &c..................
Shanghai, 5. November, 1914.
"Ihren Brief vom 11. September empfinden wir als eine grobe Beleidigung. Ihre vollkommen unprovo- zierten und ungehörigen Angriffe gegen unser Vaterland weisen wir hiermit auf das schärfste zurück.
Ihr Direktor Sanders, der den Brief persönlich gezeichnet hat, war ein Deutscher. Ihre Firma ursprüng- lich ebenfalls Deutsch. Wie Sie unter diesen Umständen dazu kommen konnten, uns ohne jeden Grund in die- ser Weise zu schreiben, ist vollkommen unverständlich.
Ihr Verhalten und die in Ihrem Briefe unter Be- antwortung ausgedrückte Gesinnung macht es uns auf jeden Fall unmöglich, irgend welche weitere geschäftliche Beziehungen mit Ihnen zu pflegen.
Die bisher avisierten Tratten haben wir leider bereits bezahlt, alle weiteren Verschiffungen stellen wir Ihnen jedoch hiermit zur Verfügung.
Ihrem Brief haben wir hier die weitgrösste Öffentlichkeit verschafft, indem wir denselben der hiesigen Deutschen Vereinigung zur Verfügung gestellt haben, die Ihr Schreiben sämtlichen Mitgliedern zur Kenntnis gebracht hat, ebenso dem hiesigen Deutschen
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Generalkonsulat. Herr....
Ihr früherer Teilhaber,
hat ebenfalls durch die Deutsche Vereinigung eine Kopie Ihres Briefes erhalten.”
London, E.C., 14th December, 1914.
"Your letter of the 5th ulto. has surprised us, will- ing as we are to make full allowance for German patriotism which we respect, and for your being in- censed at what has taken place in Hongkong.
It appears to us that you have eagerly seized the opportunity, which you thought your answer to our letter and its publication would give you, to impress the Deutsche Vereinigung" and others with the exuberance of your ultra-patriotic ardour.
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In that mental state, you entirely misjudge what you call our and the writer's "Gesinnung," because as business men towards business men we expressed our regret that more common sense had not prevailed to prevent the war, knowing moreover that Germany had not wanted nor expected war with us, nor had England with you.
Furthermore, we were obliged as the let- ter shows to refer to the war and did so in four short paragraphs of a business letter of five pages (marked private).
Far from wishing to hurt anybody's feelings, as is so obvious, one of these paragraphs runs:
"We here are differentiating between the German, in peaceful pursuit bent upon the development of industry and commerce, and Prussian militarism. This is endorsed on this side by men of dispassionate judgment whose opinions are worth listening to."
That is what we felt and feel above everything, and surely you cannot object to our expressing to old business friends of ours--the writer has known your firm for nearly 40 years-our keen regret that the Prussian Junker-Militarists (to whom trade is of little consideration) did succeed at last in winning over to
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