A giant ship of the British merchant fleet, a vessel of over 31,000
tons, one of the most famous of the fast steamers of the
British-American passenger service, a ship full of people, who had
little or nothing to do with the war, has been attacked and sunk by a
German torpedo. This is the announcement which in a few words indicates
a mighty catastrophe to a ship with 2,000 people aboard.
We always feel that it is tragic and all too hard when war inflicts
wounds on those who do not carry its weapons.
We lament similarly the fate of the unfortunate villages and towns where
war rages and the innocent victims of bombs who, far behind the
trenches, and often without our being able to estimate the meaning of
this murder, are snatched from the ranks of the unarmed.
Much more terrible is the fate of those who on the high sea, many
hundreds in number, suddenly see death before their eyes.
A German war vessel has sunk the ship. It has done its duty.
For the German Navy the sinking of the Lusitania means an extraordinary
success. Its destruction demolished the last fable with which the people
of England consoled themselves; on which hostile shipping relied when it
dared to defy the German warnings.
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