BULLETIN NO. 5 
 
 MARCH 15, 1916 
 
 National Opportunity 
 and Responsibility 
 
 A Sermon delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 By the Rector 
 
 The Rev. Randolph H. McKim, D.D.. LL.D. 
 
 Thanksgiving Day 
 November 25, 1915 
 
 Copies of this and other Bulletins may be had on application to the 
 American Rights Committee, 45 Cedar Street, New York City 
 
Washington, D. C., November 28, 1915. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Randolph H. McKim. 
 
 Rector Church of the Epiphany 
 
 Dear Doctor McKim : 
 
 So many persons who were fortunate enough to hear your 
 eloquent and inspiring sermon on Thanksgiving Day have ex- 
 pressed a strong desire to see it in print, that the undersigned 
 members of the vestry, and others, are moved to request per- 
 mission to have it published in pamphlet form. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Geo. Truesdell, 
 
 Henry D. Fry, 
 
 Mark F. Finley, 
 
 A. R. Shands, 
 
 C. N. Osgood, 
 
 Byron S. Adams, 
 Nath’l Wilson. 
 
National Opportunity and Responsibility. 
 
 “ Let us search and try our ways.” — Lam. Ill, 40. 
 
 In obedience to a long-honored custom, the people of the 
 United States are invited to assemble in their places of worship 
 today to render thanks and praise to the Almighty Father, the 
 giver of all good, for the fruits of the earth, and all the other 
 blessings of his bountiful providence. 
 
 We respond to the invitation with grateful hearts. The 
 earth has yielded her increase with prodigality unexampled, 
 perhaps, since we became a nation. The sun of prosperity has 
 again risen upon our land. Peace reigns throughout our bor- 
 ders, and, as the President has reminded us, “ our ample finan- 
 cial resources have enabled us to steady the markets of the 
 world.” For these and other blessings it is meet and right that 
 this great nation with its hundred million people should lift its 
 heart and voice in devout thanksgiving to Almighty God. 
 
 But our chief executive bids us consider today “ our duty to 
 ourselves and to mankind,” and “ to ponder the many respon- 
 sibilities thrust upon us by the great war now being waged.” 
 In the same document he speaks of our people “ realizing the 
 part they have been called upon to play.” 
 
 My brethren, let us give heed to this exhortation. Let us 
 ask this morning, very solemnly, as we review the history of 
 the last fifteen months, Have we done our duty to ourselves? 
 Have we done our duty to mankind? Have we bravely met 
 the many responsibilities thrust upon us by this tremendous 
 conflict? Have we nobly played the part we have been called 
 upon to play in this time of unparalleled distresses and disas- 
 ters? 
 
 There are undoubtedly some things upon which we, as 
 American citizens, may dwell with real satisfaction. 
 
 (1) The hearts of our people have nobly responded to the 
 cry of distress from Belgium and Servia — vast sums of money 
 have been poured out without stint for the relief of those suf- 
 fering millions. 
 
 (2) We may also contemplate with satisfaction the splen- 
 did work done by our American Red Cross on the fields of 
 
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battle, in the hospitals, and in the devastated homes of the 
 people. 
 
 (3) We are justly proud also of the services bravely and 
 impartially rendered by our Ambassadors in London, in Berlin, 
 in Brussels, in Paris, in Constantinople. The names of Whit- 
 lock and Herrick and Sharp and Girard and Morgenthau and 
 Page are worthy of all honor. They have shed lustre on the 
 American name. 
 
 (4) With even greater satisfaction we contemplate the 
 heroic labors of our medical experts, bravely rendered, often at 
 the cost of life itself, fighting the battle against disease in 
 stricken Servia. For all these things we are proud and thank- 
 ful. 
 
 But “ our duty to ourselves and to mankind ” demanded 
 much more than this. The responsibilities thrust upon us by 
 the time were too serious, were of too great proportions, to be 
 met by gifts of money, or by brave diplomatic services, or even 
 by the heroic labors of philanthropy. The Thanksgiving proc- 
 lamation bids us “ be thankful that we have been able to assert 
 our rights and the rights of mankind,” and it must be acknowl- 
 edged that in more than one state paper they have been asserted 
 with great dignity and force and in very trenchant English. 
 But our duty called for something more than the assertion of 
 the rights of mankind, and our own. Have we performed that 
 duty? 
 
 Consider. We allowed the neutrality of Belgium to be vio- 
 lated without a word of protest. We saw the country of the 
 Belgians ruined and devastated, its ancient hospitable soil sown 
 with thousands of tombs; its cities burned ; its peaceful citizens 
 shot to death by hundreds and thousands, and still we raised no 
 voice of protest. We were powerless indeed to stay the hand 
 of violence and cruelty when it seized the throat of poor little 
 Belgium. But it was in our power to lift up our voice before 
 the civilized world against this brutal and unspeakable crime. 
 This at least we could have done, but this we failed to do, and 
 so failed of our high duty before God and humanity. And 
 when the Belgian commissioners presented the wrongs of their 
 crucified nation in our capitol we turned them away with icy 
 phrases, and bid them present their case to the Hague tribunal ! 
 
 4 
 
Passing over many minor matters, I ask did we do our duty 
 to ourselves and to mankind when the Lusitania was barbar- 
 ously attacked on the high seas, and a thousand human beings, 
 men, women, and little children, sent to their deaths? We did, 
 indeed, protest against this deed of horror and inhumanity in a 
 state paper which has seldom been equaled in diplomatic his- 
 tory. It was a brave and splendid assertion, not only of the 
 rights of American citizens, but of the rights of humanity. 
 When we read it our hearts leaped up in thankfulness. 
 
 It was not long, however, before other vessels bearing Ameri- 
 can citizens were torpedoed, and again American lives were 
 lost. Once more, in ringing tones, our chief magistrate as- 
 serted the purpose to hold to “ strict accountability ” the nation 
 that had thus outraged the dignity of the United States, and 
 destroyed the lives of our citizens. But the outrages did not 
 cease. 
 
 Again, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, a peaceful 
 merchant ship was destroyed and American lives destroyed 
 with it. Then there came a brave, stern demand that these in- 
 famous acts should cease, and the purpose was affirmed in 
 words of adamantine force, to hold the guilty nation to account 
 for its crimes. 
 
 Again we rejoiced that our chief magistrate had so nobly ex- 
 pressed the mind and purpose of the nation. Again we be- 
 lieved that those brave words would be followed by deeds as 
 brave. But more than seven long months have passed since 
 the Lusitania horror burst upon the world, and still nothing has 
 been done to avenge the deaths of those American citizens, men, 
 women, and children, ruthlessly murdered on the high seas! 
 Nothing has been done to vindicate the insulted majesty of our 
 Republic ! Our words have been of adamant — our deeds have 
 not crystallized, — they are still in the fluid state ! 
 
 But what could we have done, it may be asked. Should we 
 have declared war on Germany? No. But we should have 
 broken off diplomatic relations with a nation that had thus 
 wantonly outraged every principle of humanity, and insulted 
 the majesty of the Republic. This action would have been sup- 
 ported by a vast majority of our people. Our citizenship had 
 been outraged ; our national dignity defiantly trampled upon ; 
 
 5 
 
and our whole people were aroused to such a pitch of indigna- 
 tion that the government would have been sustained by an 
 overwhelming majority in vigorous and uncompromising action. 
 
 But what, it may be asked, would have been accomplished by 
 breaking off diplomatic relations in response to the loud de- 
 mand of our citizens? I answer, several things of great mo- 
 ment might have been expected to result. 
 
 In the first place we should have consolidated public opinion. 
 We should have taken a great step to unify our nation. We 
 are a composite people; many races mingle their tides on our 
 shores. It should, therefore, have been one of the supreme 
 tasks of statesmanship to weld these peoples into one, to fuse 
 together these diverse elements. 
 
 Again, in doing so we should have banished from our midst 
 those numerous representatives of foreign powers who are 
 hostile to our country, and we should have broken up many 
 nests of conspiracy, where representatives of alien nations have 
 been plotting against the peace and prosperity of our land. We 
 should have driven into their holes thousands of disloyal citi- 
 zens who have been obeying the behests of foreign powers 
 while still clutching the privileges of American citizenship. 
 
 But more important than this, we should have vindicated the 
 honor and majesty of our country. We should have given ex- 
 pression to the real sentiments of nine-tenths of our people. 
 We should have taken our stand by the side of the great Dem- 
 ocracies who are fighting our battles today against the encroach- 
 ments and usurpations of autocratic tyranny. And we should 
 have thrown into the scale the immense weight of our influence, 
 as the mightiest neutral power, on the side of humanity and law 
 and liberty. 
 
 But it will be said, such a course might have led to war. I 
 answer, not necessarily so. Not unless Germany saw fit to de- 
 clare war against us, — which it is not likely she would have 
 done. 
 
 But suppose it might have led to war? Is a great and pow- 
 erful nation to submit to insults and outrage rather than run the 
 risk of war? The central European powers have, in fact, been 
 levying war against the United States for seven months past. 
 They have been attacking our industries, thev have been inter- 
 
 6 
 
fering with our domestic affairs, they have been fomenting 
 strikes, they have plotted to blow up our public buildings, to 
 burn our factories, to blow up our ships. Read the Declaration 
 of Independence and see how small were England’s acts of op- 
 pression against the colonies in comparison with what we have 
 endured at the hands of the central Empires. What an indict- 
 ment Thomas Jefferson could have drawn up, were he with us 
 today, against Germany and Austria ! And I ask, should we 
 fail of our duty in a great world crisis when the blood of our 
 citizens cries to Heaven for vengeance because we are afraid of 
 the consequences? Where is the spirit of ’?6, when thirteen 
 feeble colonies did not hesitate to challenge the power of the 
 mighty English empire rather than submit to unjust taxation 
 — a tax on tea ? 
 
 Men say, “ What could America, in its defenseless condition, 
 without an army, and with so small a navy, what could America 
 do against the mighty armaments of Germany and Austria?” 
 I answer, what could Germany and Austria do against America 
 so long as the British fleet commands the seas? They could 
 not land a soldier on our shores! The most they could do 
 would be to smuggle a submarine across the Atlantic and attack 
 our commerce. 
 
 And now another outrage has been committed. Another 
 ship (The Ancona), has been sunk, and as American citizens 
 were assassinated on the Lusitania, and on the Arabic, and on 
 the Hesperian, American citizens have now again been assas- 
 sinated with brutal cruelty on board the Ancona. 
 
 This new outrage offers a fresh opportunity to our Govern- 
 ment, — not to speak, or to write dispatches, — but to act in de- 
 fense of the insulted majesty of the Republic. We trusted our 
 President. We were ready to give him whole-hearted support. 
 We expected that his virile assertion of the rights of American 
 citizens and of the rights of humanity (which so stirred our 
 blood), would have been followed by action, vigorous action: 
 but after watchfully waiting in vain for seven months, we 
 frankly say we are disappointed. Will we be disappointed 
 now ? 
 
 In my opinion. American citizens should no longer keep si- 
 
 7 
 
lence. We have patiently waited to be led in the path of duty, 
 but we have waited in vain. “ Hope deferred maketh the heart 
 sick.” We ask now, not for strong and resolute words, but for 
 strong and resolute action. 
 
 Let it not be said that the words I have uttered this morning 
 are not fitting in the Christian pulpit. I hold, on the contrary, 
 that it is the duty of the Christian pulpit to denounce the sordid 
 and selfish ideals that have regard only to trade and comfort 
 and peace. The Christian pulpit should call trumpet-tongued 
 to the people to be true to our American ideals ; true to the prin- 
 ciples of liberty and justice enshrined in our history ; true to the 
 great principles of Democracy embodied in our Constitution. 
 
 I remember that it was Mattathias, the priest, who fired the 
 hearts of the Jews to resist the tyranny of Antiochus: “My 
 sons, be valiant and show yourselves men,” he cried. It was 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, who headed the barons at 
 Runnymede when they wrung the Magna Charta from the 
 tyrant John . It was the prophet Ezekiel who was charged to 
 watch and warn the people of the approach of the enemy. 
 
 The leaders of the Christian Church have often, in great na- 
 tional crises, stood forth to utter the people’s voice against 
 tyrant John. It was the prophet Ezekiel who was charged to 
 duty, to give utterance to the sentiments which I believe throb 
 in many hearts in our country today. I make my own, the 
 words recently uttered by one of our ablest legal lights — “I 
 venture to say, in all reverence, that the God of nations will be 
 better pleased on the coming Thanksgiving Day, — which 
 should also be one of penitence and humility — if we do a little 
 more in fact, as well as in words, to safeguard the rights of 
 humanity.” 
 
 We confront today, my fellow citizens and my fellow Chris- 
 tians, the most serious crisis that has arisen in the United States 
 for half a century. It is a solemn hour in which we live. The 
 honor of our country is at stake. The security of our citizens 
 on the high seas is in constant jeopardy. Our domestic peace 
 is invaded by the agents of foreign nations. Arson and mur- 
 der are plotted in the very midst of our peaceful communities. 
 Our supine policy of inaction has grieved and humiliated the 
 hearts of our citizens. A disloyal press, doing the bidding of 
 
 8 
 
foreign nations, boldly flaunts itself before our eyes. The fires 
 of patriotism are burning low among thousands of our people. 
 Meanwhile our country has suffered serious loss of prestige. 
 The name of American citizen no longer commands the respect 
 it once did. In such a crisis our citizens have a duty to per- 
 form. They should frankly express their sentiments, and I be- 
 lieve that the great majority of our citizens, practically all true 
 Americans, are of opinion that our policy should be governed 
 in this great crisis, not by councils of timidity or international 
 opportunism, but by a steadfast regard to the aspirations and 
 ideals handed down to us by our Revolutionary ancestors ; by 
 fidelity to the principles of liberty and Democracy enshrined in 
 our Constitution ; by a brave determination to vindicate the 
 honor and majesty of the Republic; by a stern resolution, at 
 whatever cost, to repel the open or secret assaults of foreign 
 powers on our domestic peace and harmony; above all, by loy- 
 alty to justice, that justice which should dominate all the moral 
 forces; that justice which “ as ancient as humanity itself, eter- 
 nal as the need of man and nations,” is the basis of all civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 Our President speaks of the principles of “ peace and free- 
 dom ” by which we have always sought to be guided ; but I trust 
 we have also always sought to be guided by the principles of 
 justice and humanity, and that we should always be prepared to 
 assert these principles, and to suffer for them if need be. 
 
 As it is true of the individual, that “ no man liveth to him- 
 self,” so it is true of a nation — no nation can afford to live to 
 itself. It must consider the rights and happiness of other na- 
 tions. There are crises in the history of a nation when the 
 words of Christ, “ he that saveth his life shall lose it ” find their 
 national application. Better even the losses and the sufferings 
 of war, terrible as they are, than the loss of honor — the failure 
 to respond to our national ideals, the humiliation of our national 
 name. Listen to the brave words of the leader of the bar of 
 Brussels in an address which led to his being cast into a Prus- 
 sian prison: " Why these sacrifices, why this sorrow? Bel- 
 
 gium could have avoided these disasters, saved her existence, 
 her treasures, and the lives of her people, but she preferred her 
 honor.” 
 
 9 
 
In conclusion let me guard myself against misunderstanding. 
 God forbid that I should utter a word that could add a feather’s 
 weight to the heavy burden that rests on the President’s shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 All true Americans should wish to support their chief mag- 
 istrate and to labor sympathetically with him in his efforts to 
 grapple with the difficult tasks that confront him at this crisis. 
 
 But it is for that very reason that we appeal to him to adhere 
 bravely to the principles he has so clearly enunciated in his 
 diplomatic correspondence with Germany. We are confident 
 that a courageous course of action, just in line with his strong 
 and patriotic utterances last spring and summer, would lighten 
 his burden and clear out of his pathway many of the difficulties 
 and dangers that now beset it. It is our friendliness to him — 
 our sincere loyalty — our earnest wish that he should overcome 
 the difficulties that face him, and triumph over the people who 
 are at once his enemies and the enemies of our country, that 
 moves us to urge upon him a different course from that which 
 he is now pursuing — to seize the opportunity that again pre- 
 sents itself to take bold and decisive action in vindication of the 
 honor of our country. Is it too much to ask him to banish 
 from our shores the plotters and conspirators who, wearing the 
 livery of foreign nations, and accepted as representatives of 
 friendly powers, have been using their diplomatic positions as 
 bases whence to wage war against the peace of our country? 
 
 The President no doubt desires to know the sentiments of 
 the people, and as many public men hesitate to speak out, and 
 as the officers of the Army and Navy do not enjoy the right of 
 free speech, it may well be that the voice of the pulpit — which 
 has no political or racial bias — will have unique value as an 
 expression of public sentiment. We who minister in the things 
 of God occupy a position of detachment — unaffected by the 
 currents of politics or of commercial interests. 
 
 The people, we are confident, are heartily with the President 
 in his patriotic purpose to put the country in a state of prepara- 
 tion against any attack that may be made upon it by a foreign 
 power; and we also believe that the people would be just as 
 heartily with him, if he should justify the stern purpose ex- 
 pressed in his last Note to Germany by appropriate action now. 
 
 10 
 
Are You an American? 
 
 Is the sale of a bale of cotton of more Importance to you than 
 protection of American lives? 
 
 Are you content with cash Indemnities as a full equivalent for the 
 lives of American citizens? 
 
 Are you willing to have agitators within our borders mock at the 
 sovereignty of the United States? 
 
 Are you willing to surrender your country’s right to purchase arms 
 In its hour of need by placing now an embargo on the export 
 of munitions? 
 
 On the battlefields of Europe they are fighting out the Issue between 
 world-domination by Prussia and the independent existence 
 of the nations of the world — between the subjugation of the 
 people by bureaucratic power and the freedom of the individual. 
 In this struggle all the ideals and rights for which our forefathers 
 fought in 1776 are at stake. 
 
 If Prussia wins ! 
 
 It is time for the American people to see and understand ihe dangers 
 lurking in the policy of indifference and aloofness which is urged 
 upon them. 
 
 If you believe that our country should rouse itself to action, and If 
 you desire to contribute to the expenses of a movement to that 
 end, communicate with the 
 
 AMERICAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE, 
 
 45 Cedar Street, New York City. 
 
 GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM, L 
 
 President. 
 
 WILLIAM EMERSON, 
 Treasurer. 
 
 L. L. FORMAN 
 Secretary'. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: 
 
 Everett V. Abbot, Chairman, 
 
 Lawrence Godkin, 
 Charles P. Howland, 
 Richard M. Hurd, 
 
 D. W. Johnson, 
 
 H. de Raasloff, 
 
 Lawrence F. Abbott, 
 W. K. Brice, 
 
 Frederic R. Coudert, 
 Franklin H. Giddings, 
 
 igs, H 
 
 James B. Townsend. 
 
The American Rights Committee 
 
 45 CEDAR STREET NEW YORK CITY 
 
 What it Advocates 
 
 1.— That the United States Government termi- 
 nate its futile and humiliating negotiations 
 as to submarine outrages and break off all 
 diplomatic relations with Germany and its 
 Allies. 
 
 2— That the United States sternly suppress all 
 attacks on the lives and property of Amer- 
 ican citizens in aid of foreign belligerents. 
 
 3 — That the United States make its Naval and 
 Military establishments commensurate with 
 its obligations to itself and others. 
 
 4, — That Congress, in accordance with the Amer- 
 ican Note to Austria, decline to pass any 
 Act placing an embargo on the export of 
 Munitions of War. 
 
 GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM. L. L. FORMAN. 
 
 WILLIAM EMERSON. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: 
 
 Everett V. Abbot, Chairman. 
 
 i if Charles P. Howland. 
 
 Lawrence Godkin.