Authors' Declaration of September 1914

An declaration in support of World War 1 by 53 leading British authors. One of the earliest efforts of the nascent War Propaganda Bureau to craft a coherent intellectual message in support of the war effort.

 manifesto  by British War Propaganda Bureau, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, J.M. Barrie, Hilaire Belloc, Arnold Bennett, G.K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Galsworthy, H.R. Haggard, Jerome K. Jerome, Rudyard Kipling dated September 1914

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Subjects: WW1
Example of: war propaganda
Source: Slate.com (Link)

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On 2nd September, 1914, Charles Masterman, leader of the War Propaganda Bureau invited twenty-five leading British authors to Wellington House, the headquarters of the Bureau, to discuss ways of best promoting Britain's interests during the war. All the writers present at the conference agreed to the utmost secrecy, and it was not until 1935 that the activities of the War Propaganda Bureau became known to the general public. Several of the men who attending the meeting agreed to write pamphlets and books that would promote the government's view of the situation.

The same month, fifty-three of the leading authors in Britain appended their names to an "Authors’ Declaration." The Declaration was one of the earliest efforts of the nascent Bureau to craft a coherent intellectual message in support of the war effort. This manifesto declared that the German invasion of Belgium had been a brutal crime, and that Britain "could not without dishonour have refused to take part in the present war." While many of the authors now are forgotten, the signatures included Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, J.M. Barrie, Arnold Bennett,, G.K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle,, John Galsworthy, H.R. Haggard, Jerome K. Jerome and Rudyard Kipling.

The Declaration

The undersigned writers, comprising among them men of the most divergent political and social views, some of them having been for years ardent champions of good-will toward Germany, and many of them extreme advocates of peace, are nevertheless agreed that Great Britain could not without dishonor have refused to take part in the present war. No one can read the full diplomatic correspondence published in the "White Paper" without seeing that the British representatives were throughout laboring whole-heartedly to preserve the peace of Europe, and that their conciliatory efforts were cordially received by both France and Russia.

When these efforts failed Great Britain had still no direct quarrel with any power. She was eventually compelled to take up arms because, together with France, Germany, and Austria, she had solemnly pledged herself to maintain the neutrality of Belgium. As soon as danger to that neutrality arose she questioned both France and Germany as to their intentions. France immediately renewed her pledge not to violate Belgian neutrality; Germany refused to answer, and soon made all answer needless by her actions. Without even the pretense of a grievance against Belgium she made war on the weak and unoffending country she had undertaken to protect, and has since carried out her invasion with a calculated and ingenious ferocity which has raised questions other and no less grave than that of the willful disregard of treaties.

When Belgium in her dire need appealed to Great Britain to carry out her pledge, that country’s course was clear. She had either to break faith, letting the sanctity of treaties and the rights of small nations count for nothing before the threat of naked force, or she had to fight. She did not hesitate, and we trust she will not lay down arms till Belgium’s integrity is restored and her wrongs redressed.

The treaty with Belgium made our duty clear, but many of us feel that, even if Belgium had not been involved, it would have been impossible for Great Britain to stand aside while France was dragged into war and destroyed. To permit the ruin of France would be a crime against liberty and civilization. Even those of us who question the wisdom of a policy of Continental ententes or alliances refuse to see France struck down by a foul blow dealt in violation of a treaty.

We observe that various German apologists, official and semi-official, admit that their country had been false to its pledged word, and dwell almost with pride on the "frightfulness" of the examples by which it has sought to spread terror in Belgium, but they excuse all these proceedings by a strange and novel plea. German culture and civilization are so superior to those of other nations that all steps taken to assert them are more than justified, and the destiny of Germany to be the dominating force in Europe and the world is so manifest that ordinary rules of morality do not hold in her case, but actions are good or bad simply as they help or hinder the accomplishment of that destiny.

These views, inculcated upon the present generation of Germans by many celebrated historians and teachers, seem to us both dangerous and insane. Many of us have dear friends in Germany, many of us regard German culture with the highest respect and gratitude; but we cannot admit that any nation has the right by brute force to impose its culture upon other nations, nor that the iron military bureaucracy of Prussia represents a higher form of human society than the free Constitutions of Western Europe.

Whatever the world destiny of Germany may be, we in Great Britain are ourselves conscious of a destiny and a duty. That destiny and duty, alike for us and for all the English-speaking race, call upon us to uphold the rule of common justice between civilized peoples, to defend the rights of small nations, and to maintain the free and law-abiding ideals of Western Europe against the rule of "Blood and Iron" and the domination of the whole Continent by a military caste.

For these reasons and others the undersigned feel bound to support the cause of the Allies with all their strength, with a full conviction of its righteousness, and with a deep sense of its vital import to the future of the world.

Signatures

William Archer,H. Granville Barker,James Matthew Barrie,Hilaire Belloc,Arnold Bennett, Arthur Christopher Benson,Edward Frederic Benson,Robert Hugh Benson,Lawrence Binyon, Andrew Cecil Bradley,Robert Bridges,Hall Caine,R.C. Carton,Charles Haddon Chambers,Gilbert K. Chesterton, Hubert Henry Davies, Arthur Conan Doyle,Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher, John Galsworthy,Anstey Guthrie,Henry Rider Haggard,Thomas Hardy,Jane Ellen Harrison,Anthony Hope Hawkins, Maurice Hewlett, Robert Hichens, Jerome K. Jerome,Henry Arthur Jones, Rudyard Kipling,William J. Locke,Edward Verral Lucas,John William Mackail,John Masefield,Alfred Edward Woodley Mason, Gilbert Murray,Henry Newbolt,Barry Pain,Gilbert Parker,Eden Phillpotts,Arthur Wing Pinero,Arthur Quiller-Couch,Owen Seaman, George R. Sims, May Sinclair, Flora Annie Steel, Alfred Sutro, George Macaulay Trevelyan,George Otto Trevelyan,Humphry Ward,Mary A. Ward,H.G. Wells,Margaret L. Woods,Israel Zangwill

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