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Chesterton + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11560 ***</div> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE BARBARISM OF BERLIN + </h1> + <h2> + BY + </h2> + <h2> + G.K. CHESTERTON + </h2> + <h3> + First Published 1914 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION: THE FACTS OF THE CASE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I. THE WAR ON THE WORD </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II. THE REFUSAL OF RECIPROCITY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III. THE APPETITE OF TYRANNY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IV. THE ESCAPE OF FOLLY </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION: THE FACTS OF THE CASE. + </h2> + <p> + Unless we are all mad, there is at the back of the most bewildering + business a story: and if we are all mad, there is no such thing as + madness. If I set a house on fire, it is quite true that I may illuminate + many other people's weaknesses as well as my own. It may be that the + master of the house was burned because he was drunk: it may be that the + mistress of the house was burned because she was stingy, and perished + arguing about the expense of a fire-escape. It is, nevertheless, broadly + true that they both were burned because I set fire to their house. That is + the story of the thing. The mere facts of the story about the present + European conflagration are quite as easy to tell. + </p> + <p> + Before we go on to the deeper things which make this war the most sincere + war of human history, it is as easy to answer the question of why England + came to be in it at all, as it is to ask how a man fell down a coal-hole, + or failed to keep an appointment. Facts are not the whole truth. But facts + are facts, and in this case the facts are few and simple. Prussia, France, + and England had all promised not to invade Belgium. Prussia proposed to + invade Belgium, because it was the safest way of invading France. But + Prussia promised that if she might break in, through her own broken + promise and ours, she would break in and not steal. In other words, we + were offered at the same instant a promise of faith in the future and a + proposal of perjury in the present. Those interested in human origins may + refer to an old Victorian writer of English, who, in the last and most + restrained of his historical essays, wrote of Frederick the Great, the + founder of this unchanging Prussian policy. After describing how Frederick + broke the guarantee he had signed on behalf of Maria Theresa, he then + describes how Frederick sought to put things straight by a promise that + was an insult. "If she would but let him have Silesia, he would, he said, + stand by her against any power which should try to deprive her of her + other dominions, as if he was not already bound to stand by her, or as if + his new promise could be of more value than the old one." That passage was + written by Macaulay, but so far as the mere contemporary facts are + concerned it might have been written by me. + </p> + <p> + Upon the immediate logical and legal origin of the English interest there + can be no rational debate. There are some things so simple that one can + almost prove them with plans and diagrams, as in Euclid. One could make a + kind of comic calendar of what would have happened to the English + diplomatist, if he had been silenced every time by Prussian diplomacy. + Suppose we arrange it in the form of a kind of diary: + </p> + <p> + July 24: Germany invades Belgium. + </p> + <p> + July 25: England declares war. + </p> + <p> + July 26: Germany promises not to annex Belgium. + </p> + <p> + July 27: England withdraws from the war. + </p> + <p> + July 28: Germany annexes Belgium, England declares war. + </p> + <p> + July 29: Germany promises not to annex France, England withdraws from the + war. + </p> + <p> + July 30: Germany annexes France, England declares war. + </p> + <p> + July 31: Germany promises not to annex England. + </p> + <p> + Aug. 1: England withdraws from the war. Germany invades England. + </p> + <p> + How long is anybody expected to go on with that sort of game; or keep + peace at that illimitable price? How long must we pursue a road in which + promises are all fetishes in front of us; and all fragments behind us? No; + upon the cold facts of the final negotiations, as told by any of the + diplomatists in any of the documents, there is no doubt about the story. + And no doubt about the villain of the story. + </p> + <p> + These are the last facts; the facts which involved England. It is equally + easy to state the first facts; the facts which involved Europe. The prince + who practically ruled Austria was shot by certain persons whom the + Austrian Government believed to be conspirators from Servia. The Austrian + Government piled up arms and armies, but said not a word either to Servia + their suspect, or Italy their ally. From the documents it would seem that + Austria kept everybody in the dark, except Prussia. It is probably nearer + the truth to say that Prussia kept everybody in the dark, including + Austria. But all that is what is called opinion, belief, conviction, or + common sense: and we are not dealing with it here. The objective fact is + that Austria told Servia to permit Servian officers to be suspended by the + authority of Austrian officers; and told Servia to submit to this within + forty-eight hours. In other words, the Sovereign of Servia was practically + told to take off not only the laurels of two great campaigns, but his own + lawful and national crown, and to do it in a time in which no respectable + citizen is expected to discharge an hotel bill. Servia asked for time for + arbitration—in short, for peace. But Russia had already begun to + mobilise; and Prussia, presuming that Servia might thus be rescued, + declared war. + </p> + <p> + Between these two ends of fact, the ultimatum to Servia, the ultimatum to + Belgium, anyone so inclined can of course talk as if everything were + relative. If anyone asks why the Czar should rush to the support of + Servia, it is easy to ask why the Kaiser should rush to the support of + Austria. If anyone says that the French would attack the Germans, it is + sufficient to answer that the Germans did attack the French. There remain, + however, two attitudes to consider, even perhaps two arguments to counter, + which can best be considered and countered under this general head of + facts. First of all, there is a curious, cloudy sort of argument, much + affected by the professional rhetoricians of Prussia, who are sent out to + instruct and correct the minds of Americans or Scandinavians. It consists + of going into convulsions of incredulity and scorn at the mention of + Russia's responsibility of Servia, or England's responsibility of Belgium; + and suggesting that, treaty or no treaty, frontier or no frontier, Russia + would be out to slay Teutons or England to steal Colonies. Here, as + elsewhere, I think the professors dotted all over the Baltic plain fail in + lucidity and in the power of distinguishing ideas. Of course it is quite + true that England has material interests to defend, and will probably use + the opportunity to defend them; or, in other words, of course England, + like everybody else, would be more comfortable if Prussia were less + predominant. + </p> + <p> + The fact remains that we did not do what the Germans did. We did not + invade Holland to seize a naval and commercial advantage; and whether they + say that we wished to do it in our greed, or feared to do it in our + cowardice, the fact remains that we did not do it. Unless this commonsense + principle be kept in view, I cannot conceive how any quarrel can possibly + be judged. A contract may be made between two persons solely for material + advantage on each side: but the moral advantage is still generally + supposed to lie with the person who keeps the contract. Surely it cannot + be dishonest to be honest—even if honesty is the best policy. + Imagine the most complex maze of indirect motive; and still the man who + keeps faith for money cannot possibly be worse than the man who breaks + faith for money. It will be noted that this ultimate test applies in the + same way to Servia as to Belgium and Britain. The Servians may not be a + very peaceful people, but on the occasion under discussion it was + certainly they who wanted peace. You may choose to think the Serb a sort + of born robber: but on this occasion it was certainly the Austrian who was + trying to rob. Similarly, you may call England perfidious as a sort of + historical summary; and declare your private belief that Mr. Asquith was + vowed from infancy to the ruin of the German Empire, a Hannibal and hater + of the eagles. But, when all is said, it is nonsense to call a man + perfidious because he keeps his promise. It is absurd to complain of the + sudden treachery of a business man in turning up punctually to his + appointment: or the unfair shock given to a creditor by the debtor paying + his debts. + </p> + <p> + Lastly, there is an attitude, not unknown in the crisis, against which I + should particularly like to protest. I should address my protest + especially to those lovers and pursuers of peace who, very shortsightedly, + have occasionally adopted it. I mean the attitude which is impatient of + these preliminary details about who did this or that, and whether it was + right or wrong. They are satisfied with saying that an enormous calamity, + called war, has been begun by some or all of us and should be ended by + some or all of us. To these people, this preliminary chapter about the + precise happenings must appear not only dry (and it must of necessity be + the driest part of the task) but essentially needless and barren. I wish + to tell these people that they are wrong; that they are wrong upon all + principles of human justice and historic continuity; but that they are + specially and supremely wrong upon their own principles of arbitration and + international peace. + </p> + <p> + These sincere and high-minded peace-lovers are always telling us that + citizens no longer settle their quarrels by private violence; and that + nations should no longer settle theirs by public violence. They are always + telling us that we no longer fight duels; and need not wage wars. In + short, they perpetually base their peace proposals on the fact that an + ordinary citizen no longer avenges himself with an axe. But how is he + prevented from revenging himself with an axe? If he hits his neighbour on + the head with the kitchen chopper, what do we do? Do we all join hands, + like children playing Mulberry Bush, and say, "We are all responsible for + this; but let us hope it will not spread. Let us hope for the happy day + when we shall leave off chopping at the man's head; and when nobody shall + ever chop anything for ever and ever." Do we say, "Let bygones be bygones; + why go back to all the dull details with which the business began; who can + tell with what sinister motives the man was standing there, within reach + of the hatchet?" We do not. We keep the peace in private life by asking + for the facts of provocation, and the proper object of punishment. We do + go into the dull details; we do enquire into the origins; we do + emphatically enquire who it was that hit first. In short, we do what I + have done very briefly in this place. + </p> + <p> + Given this, it is indeed true that behind these facts there are truths; + truths of a terrible, of a spiritual sort. In mere fact, the Germanic + power has been wrong about Servia, wrong about Russia, wrong about + Belgium, wrong about England, wrong about Italy. But there was a reason + for its being wrong everywhere; and of that root reason, which has moved + half the world against it, I shall speak later in this series. For that is + something too omnipresent to be proved, too indisputable to be helped by + detail. It is nothing less than the locating, after more than a hundred + years of recriminations and wrong explanations, of the modern European + evil; the finding of the fountain from which poison has flowed upon all + the nations of the earth. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. THE WAR ON THE WORD + </h2> + <p> + It will hardly be denied that there is one lingering doubt in many, who + recognise unavoidable self-defence in the instant parry of the English + sword, and who have no great love for the sweeping sabre of Sadowa and + Sedan. That doubt is the doubt whether Russia, as compared with Prussia, + is sufficiently decent and democratic to be the ally of liberal and + civilised powers. I take first, therefore, this matter of civilisation. + </p> + <p> + It is vital in a discussion like this that we should make sure we are + going by meanings and not by mere words. It is not necessary in any + argument to settle what a word means or ought to mean. But it is necessary + in every argument to settle what we propose to mean by the word. So long + as our opponent understands what is the <i>thing</i> of which we are + talking, it does not matter to the argument whether the word is or is not + the one he would have chosen. A soldier does not say "We were ordered to + go to Mechlin; but I would rather go to Malines." He may discuss the + etymology and archaeology of the difference on the march: but the point is + that he knows where to go. So long as we know what a given word is to mean + in a given discussion, it does not even matter if it means something else + in some other and quite distinct discussion. We have a perfect right to + say that the width of a window comes to four feet; even if we instantly + and cheerfully change the subject to the larger mammals, and say that an + elephant has four feet. The identity of the words does not matter, because + there is no doubt at all about the meanings; because nobody is likely to + think of an elephant as four feet long, or of a window as having tusks and + a curly trunk. + </p> + <p> + It is essential to emphasise this consciousness of the <i>thing</i> under + discussion in connection with two or three words that are, as it were, the + key-words of this war. One of them is the word "barbarian." The Prussians + apply it to the Russians: the Russians apply it to the Prussians. Both, I + think, really mean something that really exists, name or no name. Both + mean different things. And if we ask what these different things are, we + shall understand why England and France prefer Russia; and consider + Prussia the really dangerous barbarian of the two. To begin with, it goes + so much deeper even than atrocities; of which, in the past at least, all + the three Empires of Central Europe have partaken pretty equally, as they + partook of Poland. An English writer, seeking to avert the war by warnings + against Russian influence, said that the flogged backs of Polish women + stood between us and the Alliance. But not long before, the flogging of + women by an Austrian general led to that officer being thrashed in the + streets of London by Barclay and Perkins' draymen. And as for the third + power, the Prussians, it seems clear that they have treated Belgian women + in a style compared with which flogging might be called an official + formality. But, as I say, something much deeper than any such + recrimination lies behind the use of the word on either side. When the + German Emperor complains of our allying ourselves with a barbaric and + half-oriental power, he is not (I assure you) shedding tears over the + grave of Kosciusko. And when I say (as I do most heartily) that the German + Emperor is a barbarian, I am not merely expressing any prejudices I may + have against the profanation of churches or of children. My countrymen and + I mean a certain and intelligible thing when we call the Prussians + barbarians. It is quite different from the thing attributed to Russians; + and it could not possibly be attributed to Russians. It is very important + that the neutral world should understand what this thing is. + </p> + <p> + If the German calls the Russian barbarous, he presumably means imperfectly + civilised. There is a certain path along which Western nations have + proceeded in recent times, and it is tenable that Russia has not proceeded + so far as the others: that she has less of the special modern system in + science, commerce, machinery, travel, or political constitution. The Russ + ploughs with an old plough; he wears a wild beard; he adores relics; his + life is as rude and hard as that of a subject of Alfred the Great. + Therefore he is, in the German sense, a barbarian. Poor fellows like Gorky + and Dostoieffsky have to form their own reflections on the scenery without + the assistance of large quotations from Schiller on garden seats, or + inscriptions directing them to pause and thank the All-Father for the + finest view in Hesse-Pumpernickel. The Russians, having nothing but their + faith, their fields, their great courage, and their self-governing + communes, are quite cut off from what is called (in the fashionable street + in Frankfort) The True, The Beautiful and The Good. There is a real sense + in which one can call such backwardness barbaric, by comparison with the + Kaiserstrasse; and in that sense it is true of Russia. + </p> + <p> + Now we, the French and English, do not mean this when we call the + Prussians barbarians. If their cities soared higher than their flying + ships, if their trains travelled faster than their bullets, we should + still call them barbarians. We should know exactly what we meant by it; + and we should know that it is true. For we do not mean anything that is an + imperfect civilisation by accident. We mean something that is the enemy of + civilisation by design. We mean something that is wilfully at war with the + principles by which human society has been made possible hitherto. Of + course it must be partly civilised even to destroy civilisation. Such ruin + could not be wrought by the savages that are merely undeveloped or inert. + You could not have even Huns without horses; or horses without + horsemanship. You could not have even Danish pirates without ships, or + ships without seamanship. This person, whom I may call the Positive + Barbarian, must be rather more superficially up-to-date than what I may + call the Negative Barbarian. Alaric was an officer in the Roman legions: + but for all that he destroyed Rome. Nobody supposes that Eskimos could + have done it at all neatly. But (in our meaning) barbarism is not a matter + of methods, but of aims. We say that these veneered vandals have the + perfectly serious aim of destroying certain ideas, which, as they think, + the world has outgrown; without which, as we think, the world will die. + </p> + <p> + It is essential that this perilous peculiarity in the Pruss, or Positive + Barbarian, should be seized. He has what he fancies is a new idea; and he + is going to apply it to everybody. As a fact it is simply a false + generalisation; but he is really trying to make it general. This does not + apply to the Negative Barbarian: it does not apply to the Russian or the + Servian, even if they are barbarians. If a Russian peasant does beat his + wife, he does it because his fathers did it before him: he is likely to + beat less rather than more, as the past fades away. He does not think, as + the Prussian would, that he has made a new discovery in physiology in + finding that a woman is weaker than a man. If a Servian does knife his + rival without a word, he does it because other Servians have done it. He + may regard it even as piety, but certainly not as progress. He does not + think, as the Prussian does, that he founds a new school of horology by + starting before the word "Go." He does not think he is in advance of the + world in militarism merely because he is behind it in morals. No; the + danger of the Pruss is that he is prepared to fight for old errors as if + they were new truths. He has somehow heard of certain shallow + simplifications, and imagines that we have never heard of them. And, as I + have said, his limited, but very sincere lunacy concentrates chiefly in a + desire to destroy two ideas, the twin root ideas of rational society. The + first is the idea of record and promise: the second is the idea of + reciprocity. + </p> + <p> + It is plain that the promise, or extension of responsibility through time, + is what chiefly distinguishes us, I will not say from savages, but from + brutes and reptiles. This was noted by the shrewdness of the Old + Testament, when it summed up the dark irresponsible enormity of Leviathan + in the words, "Will he make a pact with thee?" The promise, like the + wheel, is unknown in Nature: and is the first mark of man. Referring only + to human civilisation, it may be said with seriousness that in the + beginning was the Word. The vow is to the man what the song is to the + bird, or the bark to the dog; his voice, whereby he is known. Just as a + man who cannot keep an appointment is not fit even to fight a duel, so the + man who cannot keep an appointment with himself is not sane enough even + for suicide. It is not easy to mention anything on which the enormous + apparatus of human life can be said to depend. But if it depends on + anything, it is on this frail cord, flung from the forgotten hills of + yesterday to the invisible mountains of to-morrow. On that solitary string + hangs everything from Armageddon to an almanac, from a successful + revolution to a return ticket. On that solitary string the Barbarian is + hacking heavily, with a sabre which is fortunately blunt. + </p> + <p> + Anyone can see this well enough, merely by reading the last negotiations + between London and Berlin. The Prussians had made a new discovery in + international politics: that it may often be convenient to make a promise; + and yet curiously inconvenient to keep it. They were charmed, in their + simple way, with this scientific discovery, and desired to communicate it + to the world. They therefore promised England a promise, on condition that + she broke a promise, and on the implied condition that the new promise + might be broken as easily as the old one. To the profound astonishment of + Prussia, this reasonable offer was refused! I believe that the + astonishment of Prussia was quite sincere. That is what I mean when I say + that the Barbarian is trying to cut away that cord of honesty and clear + record on which hangs all that men have made. + </p> + <p> + The friends of the German cause have complained that Asiatics and Africans + upon the very verge of savagery have been brought against them from India + and Algiers. And in ordinary circumstances, I should sympathise with such + a complaint made by a European people. But the circumstances are not + ordinary. Here, again, the quiet unique barbarism of Prussia goes deeper + than what we call barbarities. About mere barbarities, it is true, the + Turco and the Sikh would have a very good reply to the superior Teuton. + The general and just reason for not using non-European tribes against + Europeans is that given by Chatham against the use of the Red Indian: that + such allies might do very diabolical things. But the poor Turco might not + unreasonably ask, after a week-end in Belgium, what more diabolical things + he <i>could</i> do than the highly cultured Germans were doing themselves. + Nevertheless, as I say, the justification of any extra-European aid goes + deeper than any such details. It rests upon the fact that even other + civilisations, even much lower civilisations, even remote and repulsive + civilisations, depend as much as our own on this primary principle, on + which the super-morality of Potsdam declares open War. Even savages + promise things; and respect those who keep their promises. Even Orientals + write things down: and though they write them from right to left, they + know the importance of a scrap of paper. Many merchants will tell you that + the word of the sinister and almost unhuman Chinaman is often as good as + his bond: and it was amid palm trees and Syrian pavilions that the great + utterance opened the tabernacle to him that sweareth to his hurt and + changeth not. There is doubtless a dense labyrinth of duplicity in the + East, and perhaps more guile in the individual Asiatic than in the + individual German. But we are not talking of the violations of human + morality in various parts of the world. We are talking about a new and + inhuman morality, which denies altogether the day of obligation. The + Prussians have been told by their literary men that everything depends + upon Mood: and by their politicians that all arrangements dissolve before + "necessity." That is the importance of the German Chancellor's phrase. He + did not allege some special excuse in the case of Belgium, which might + make it seem an exception that proved the rule. He distinctly argued, as + on a principle applicable to other cases, that victory was a necessity and + honour was a scrap of paper. And it is evident that the half-educated + Prussian imagination really cannot get any farther than this. It cannot + see that if everybody's action were entirely incalculable from hour to + hour, it would not only be the end of all promises, but the end of all + projects. In not being able to see that, the Berlin philosopher is really + on a lower mental level than the Arab who respects the salt, or the + Brahmin who preserves the caste. And in this quarrel we have a right to + come with scimitars as well as sabres, with bows as well as rifles, with + assegai and tomahawk and boomerang, because there is in all these at least + a seed of civilisation that these intellectual anarchists would kill. And + if they should find us in our last stand girt with such strange swords and + following unfamiliar ensigns, and ask us for what we fight in so singular + a company, we shall know what to reply: "We fight for the trust and for + the tryst; for fixed memories and the possible meeting of men; for all + that makes life anything but an uncontrollable nightmare. We fight for the + long arm of honour and remembrance; for all that can lift a man above the + quicksands of his moods, and give him the mastery of time." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. THE REFUSAL OF RECIPROCITY + </h2> + <p> + In the last summary I suggested that Barbarism, as we mean it, is not mere + ignorance or even mere cruelty. It has a more precise sense, and means + militant hostility to certain necessary human ideas. I took the case of + the vow or the contract, which Prussian intellectualism would destroy. I + urged that the Prussian is a spiritual Barbarian, because he is not bound + by his own past, any more than a man in a dream. He avows that when he + promised to respect a frontier on Monday, he did not foresee what he calls + "the necessity" of not respecting it on Tuesday. In short, he is like a + child, who at the end of all reasonable explanations and reminders of + admitted arrangements has no answer except "But I <i>want</i> to." + </p> + <p> + There is another idea in human arrangements so fundamental as to be + forgotten; but now for the first time denied. It may be called the idea of + reciprocity; or, in better English, of give and take. The Prussian appears + to be quite intellectually incapable of this thought. He cannot, I think, + conceive the idea that is the foundation of all comedy; that, in the eyes + of the other man, he is only the other man. And if we carry this clue + through the institutions of Prussianised Germany, we shall find how + curiously his mind has been limited in the matter. The German differs from + other patriots in the inability to understand patriotism. Other European + peoples pity the Poles or the Welsh for their violated borders; but + Germans only pity themselves. They might take forcible possession of the + Severn or the Danube, of the Thames or the Tiber, of the Garry or the + Garonne—and they would still be singing sadly about how fast and + true stands the watch on Rhine; and what a shame it would be if anyone + took their own little river away from them. That is what I mean by not + being reciprocal: and you will find it in all that they do: as in all that + is done by savages. + </p> + <p> + Here, again, it is very necessary to avoid confusing this soul of the + savage with mere savagery in the sense of brutality or butchery; in which + the Greeks, the French and all the most civilised nations have indulged in + hours of abnormal panic or revenge. Accusations of cruelty are generally + mutual. But it is the point about the Prussian that with him nothing is + mutual. The definition of the true savage does not concern itself even + with how much more he hurts strangers or captives than do the other tribes + of men. The definition of the true savage is that he laughs when he hurts + you; and howls when you hurt him. This extraordinary inequality in the + mind is in every act and word that comes from Berlin. For instance, no man + of the world believes all he sees in the newspapers; and no journalist + believes a quarter of it. We should, therefore, be quite ready in the + ordinary way to take a great deal off the tales of German atrocities; to + doubt this story or deny that. But there is one thing that we cannot doubt + or deny: the seal and authority of the Emperor. In the Imperial + proclamation the fact that certain "frightful" things have been done is + admitted; and justified on the ground of their frightfulness. It was a + military necessity to terrify the peaceful populations with something that + was not civilised, something that was hardly human. Very well. That is an + intelligible policy: and in that sense an intelligible argument. An army + endangered by foreigners may do the most frightful things. But then we + turn the next page of the Kaiser's public diary, and we find him writing + to the President of the United States, to complain that the English are + using dum-dum bullets and violating various regulations of the Hague + Conference. I pass for the present the question of whether there is a word + of truth in these charges. I am content to gaze rapturously at the + blinking eyes of the True, or Positive, Barbarian. I suppose he would be + quite puzzled if we said that violating the Hague Conference was "a + military necessity" to us; or that the rules of the Conference were only a + scrap of paper. He would be quite pained if we said that dum-dum bullets, + "by their very frightfulness," would be very useful to keep conquered + Germans in order. Do what he will, he cannot get outside the idea that he, + because he is he and not you, is free to break the law; and also to appeal + to the law. It is said that the Prussian officers play at a game called + Kriegsspiel, or the War Game. But in truth they could not play at any + game; for the essence of every game is that the rules are the same on both + sides. + </p> + <p> + But taking every German institution in turn, the case is the same; and it + is not a case of mere bloodshed or military bravado. The duel, for + example, can legitimately be called a barbaric thing; but the word is here + used in another sense. There are duels in Germany; but so there are in + France, Italy, Belgium and Spain; indeed, there are duels wherever there + are dentists, newspapers, Turkish baths, time-tables, and all the curses + of civilisation; except in England and a corner of America. You may happen + to regard the duel as an historic relic of the more barbaric States on + which these modern States were built. It might equally well be maintained + that the duel is everywhere the sign of high civilisation; being the sign + of its more delicate sense of honour, its more vulnerable vanity, or its + greater dread of social disrepute. But whichever of the two views you + take, you must concede that the essence of the duel is an armed equality. + I should not, therefore, apply the word barbaric, as I am using it, to the + duels of German officers or even to the broadsword combats that are + conventional among the German students. I do not see why a young Prussian + should not have scars all over his face if he likes them; nay, they are + often the redeeming points of interest on an otherwise somewhat + unenlightening countenance. The duel may be defended; the sham duel may be + defended. + </p> + <p> + What cannot be defended is something really peculiar to Prussia, of which + we hear numberless stories, some of them certainly true. It might be + called the one-sided duel. I mean the idea that there is some sort of + dignity in drawing the sword upon a man who has not got a sword; a waiter, + or a shop assistant, or even a schoolboy. One of the officers of the + Kaiser in the affair at Saberne was found industriously hacking at a + cripple. In all these matters I would avoid sentiment. We must not lose + our tempers at the mere cruelty of the thing; but pursue the strict + psychological distinction. Others besides German soldiers have slain the + defenceless, for loot or lust or private malice, like any other murderer. + The point is that nowhere else but in Prussian Germany is any theory of + honour mixed up with such things; any more than with poisoning or picking + pockets. No French, English, Italian or American gentleman would think he + had in some way cleared his own character by sticking his sabre through + some ridiculous greengrocer who had nothing in his hand but a cucumber. It + would seem as if the word which is translated from the German as "honour," + must really mean something quite different in German. It seems to mean + something more like what we should call "prestige." + </p> + <p> + The fundamental fact, however, is the absence of the reciprocal idea. The + Prussian is not sufficiently civilised for the duel. Even when he crosses + swords with us his thoughts are not as our thoughts; when we both glorify + war, we are glorifying different things. Our medals are wrought like his, + but they do not mean the same thing; our regiments are cheered as his are, + but the thought in the heart is not the same; the Iron Cross is on the + bosom of his king, but it is not the sign of our God. For we, alas, follow + our God with many relapses and self-contradictions, but he follows his + very consistently. Through all the things that we have examined, the view + of national boundaries, the view of military methods, the view of personal + honour and self-defence, there runs in their case something of an + atrocious simplicity; something too simple for us to understand: the idea + that glory consists in holding the steel, and not in facing it. + </p> + <p> + If further examples were necessary, it would be easy to give hundreds of + them. Let us leave, for the moment, the relation between man and man in + the thing called the duel. Let us take the relation between man and woman, + in that immortal duel which we call a marriage. Here again we shall find + that other Christian civilisations aim at some kind of equality; even if + the balance be irrational or dangerous. Thus, the two extremes of the + treatment of women might be represented by what are called the respectable + classes in America and in France. In America they choose the risk of + comradeship; in France the compensation of courtesy. In America it is + practically possible for any young gentleman to take any young lady for + what he calls (I deeply regret to say) a joyride; but at least the man + goes with the woman as much as the woman with the man. In France the young + woman is protected like a nun while she is unmarried; but when she is a + mother she is really a holy woman; and when she is a grandmother she is a + holy terror. By both extremes the woman gets something back out of life. + There is only one place where she gets little or nothing back; and that is + the north of Germany. France and America aim alike at equality—America + by similarity; France by dissimilarity. But North Germany does definitely + aim at inequality. The woman stands up, with no more irritation than a + butler; the man sits down, with no more embarrassment than a guest. This + is the cool affirmation of inferiority, as in the case of the sabre and + the tradesman. "Thou goest with women; forget not thy whip," said + Nietzsche. It will be observed that he does not say "poker"; which might + come more naturally to the mind of a more common or Christian wife-beater. + But then a poker is a part of domesticity; and might be used by the wife + as well as the husband. In fact, it often, is. The sword and the whip are + the weapons of a privileged caste. + </p> + <p> + Pass from the closest of all differences, that between husband and wife, + to the most distant of all differences, that of the remote and unrelated + races who have seldom seen each other's faces, and never been tinged with + each other's blood. Here we still find the same unvarying Prussian + principle. Any European might feel a genuine fear of the Yellow Peril; and + many Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Russians have felt and expressed it. Many + might say, and have said, that the Heathen Chinee is very heathen indeed; + that if he ever advances against us he will trample and torture and + utterly destroy, in a way that Eastern people do, but Western people do + not. Nor do I doubt the German Emperor's sincerity when he sought to point + out to us how abnormal and abominable such a nightmare campaign would be, + supposing that it could ever come. But now comes the comic irony; which + never fails to follow on the attempt of the Prussian to be philosophic. + For the Kaiser, after explaining to his troops how important it was to + avoid Eastern Barbarism, instantly commanded them to become Eastern + Barbarians. He told them, in so many words, to be Huns: and leave nothing + living or standing behind them. In fact, he frankly offered a new army + corps of aboriginal Tartars to the Far East, within such time as it may + take a bewildered Hanoverian to turn into a Tartar. Anyone who has the + painful habit of personal thought will perceive here at once the + non-reciprocal principle again. Boiled down to its bones of logic, it + means simply this: "I am a German and you are a Chinaman. Therefore I, + being a German, have a right to be a Chinaman. But you have no right to be + a Chinaman; because you are only a Chinaman." This is probably the highest + point to which German culture has risen. + </p> + <p> + The principle here neglected, which may be called Mutuality by those who + misunderstand and dislike the word Equality, does not offer so clear a + distinction between the Prussian and the other peoples as did the first + Prussian principle of an infinite and destructive opportunism; or, in + other words, the principle of being unprincipled. Nor upon this second can + one take up so obvious a position touching the other civilisations or + semi-civilisations of the world. Some idea of oath and bond there is in + the rudest tribes, in the darkest continents. But it might be maintained, + of the more delicate and imaginative element of reciprocity, that a + cannibal in Borneo understands it almost as little as a professor in + Berlin. A narrow and one-sided seriousness is the fault of barbarians all + over the world. This may have been the meaning, for aught I know, of the + one eye of the Cyclops: that the Barbarian cannot see round things or look + at them from two points of view; and thus becomes a blind beast and an + eater of men. Certainly there can be no better summary of the savage than + this, which, as we have seen, unfits him for the duel. He is the man who + cannot love—no, nor even hate—his neighbour as himself. + </p> + <p> + But this quality in Prussia does have one effect which has reference to + the same quest of the lower civilisations. It disposes once and for all at + least of the civilising mission of Germany. Evidently the Germans are the + last people in the world to be trusted with the task. They are as + shortsighted morally as physically. What is their sophism of "necessity" + but an inability to imagine to-morrow morning? What is their + non-reciprocity but an inability to imagine, not a god or devil, but + merely another man? Are these to judge mankind? Men of two tribes in + Africa not only know that they are all men, but can understand that they + are all black men. In this they are quite seriously in advance of the + intellectual Prussian; who cannot be got to see that we are all white men. + The ordinary eye is unable to perceive in the North-East Teuton, anything + that marks him out especially from the more colourless classes of the rest + of Aryan mankind. He is simply a white man, with a tendency to the grey or + the drab. Yet he will explain, in serious official documents, that the + difference between him and us is a difference between "the master-race and + the inferior-race." The collapse of German philosophy always occurs at the + beginning, rather than the end of an argument; and the difficulty here is + that there is no way of testing which is a master-race except by asking + which is your own race. If you cannot find out (as is usually the case) + you fall back on the absurd occupation of writing history about + prehistoric times. But I suggest quite seriously that if the Germans can + give their philosophy to the Hottentots, there is no reason why they + should not give their sense of superiority to the Hottentots. If they can + see such fine shades between the Goth and the Gaul, there is no reason why + similar shades should not lift the savage above other savages; why any + Ojibway should not discover that he is one tint redder than the Dacotahs; + or any nigger in the Cameroons say he is not so black as he is painted. + For this principle of a quite unproved racial supremacy is the last and + worst of the refusals of reciprocity. The Prussian calls all men to admire + the beauty of his large blue eyes. If they do, it is because they have + inferior eyes: if they don't, it is because they have no eyes. + </p> + <p> + Wherever the most miserable remnant of our race, astray and dried up in + deserts, or buried for ever under the fall of bad civilisations, has some + feeble memory that men are men, that bargains are bargains, that there are + two sides to a question, or even that it takes two to make a quarrel—that + remnant has the right to resist the New Culture, to the knife and club and + the splintered stone. For the Prussian begins all his culture by that act + which is the destruction of all creative thought and constructive action. + He breaks that mirror in the mind, in which a man can see the face of his + friend and foe. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. THE APPETITE OF TYRANNY + </h2> + <p> + The German Emperor has reproached this country with allying itself with + "barbaric and semi-oriental power." We have already considered in what + sense we use the word barbaric: it is in the sense of one who is hostile + to civilisation, not one who is insufficient in it. But when we pass from + the idea of the barbaric to the idea of the oriental, the case is even + more curious. There is nothing particularly Tartar in Russian affairs, + except the fact that Russia expelled the Tartars. The eastern invader + occupied and crushed the country for many years; but that is equally true + of Greece, of Spain, and even of Austria. If Russia has suffered from the + East she has suffered in order to resist it: and it is rather hard that + the very miracle of her escape should make a mystery about her origin. + Jonah may or may not have been three days inside a fish, but that does not + make him a merman. And in all the other cases of European nations who + escaped the monstrous captivity, we do admit the purity and continuity of + the European type. We consider the old Eastern rule as a wound, but not as + a stain. Copper-coloured men out of Africa overruled for centuries the + religion and patriotism of Spaniards. Yet I have never heard that Don + Quixote was an African fable on the lines of Uncle Remus. I have never + heard that the heavy black in the pictures of Velasquez was due to a negro + ancestry. In the case of Spain, which is close to us, we can recognise the + resurrection of a Christian and cultured nation after its age of bondage. + But Russia is rather remote; and those to whom nations are but names in + newspapers can really fancy, like Mr. Baring's friend, that all Russian + churches are "mosques." Yet the land of Turgeniev is not a wilderness of + fakirs; and even the fanatical Russian is as proud of being different from + the Mongol, as the fanatical Spaniard was proud of being different from + the Moor. + </p> + <p> + The town of Reading, as it exists, offers few opportunities for piracy on + the high seas: yet it was the camp of the pirates in Alfred's day. I + should think it hard to call the people of Berkshire half-Danish, merely + because they drove out the Danes. In short, some temporary submergence + under the savage flood was the fate of many of the most civilised states + of Christendom; and it is quite ridiculous to argue that Russia, which + wrestled hardest, must have recovered least. Everywhere, doubtless, the + East spread a sort of enamel over the conquered countries, but everywhere + the enamel cracked. Actual history, in fact, is exactly opposite to the + cheap proverb invented against the Muscovite. It is not true to say + "Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar." In the darkest hour of the + barbaric dominion it was truer to say, "Scratch a Tartar and you find a + Russian." It was the civilisation that survived under all the barbarism. + This vital romance of Russia, this revolution against Asia, can be proved + in pure fact; not only from the almost superhuman activity of Russia + during the struggle, but also (which is much rarer as human history goes) + by her quite consistent conduct since. She is the only great nation which + has really expelled the Mongol from her country, and continued to protest + against the presence of the Mongol in her continent. Knowing what he had + been in Russia, she knew what he would be in Europe. In this she pursued a + logical line of thought, which was, if anything, too unsympathetic with + the energies and religions of the East. Every other country, one may say, + has been an ally of the Turk; that is, of the Mongol and the Moslem. The + French played them as pieces against Austria; the English warmly supported + them under the Palmerston regime; even the young Italians sent troops to + the Crimea; and of Prussia and her Austrian vassal it is nowadays needless + to speak. For good or evil, it is the fact of history that Russia is the + only Power in Europe that has never supported the Crescent against the + Cross. + </p> + <p> + That, doubtless, will appear an unimportant matter; but it may become + important under certain peculiar conditions. Suppose, for the sake of + argument, that there were a powerful prince in Europe who had gone + ostentatiously out of his way to pay reverence to the remains of the + Tartar, Mongol and Moslem, which are left as outposts in Europe. Suppose + there were a Christian Emperor who could not even go to the tomb of the + Crucified, without pausing to congratulate the last and living crucifier. + If there were an Emperor who gave guns and guides and maps and drill + instructors to defend the remains of the Mongol in Christendom, what + should we say to him? I think at least we might ask him what he meant by + his impudence, when he talked about supporting a semi-oriental power. That + we support a semi-oriental power we deny. That he has supported an + entirely oriental power cannot be denied—no, not even by the man who + did it. + </p> + <p> + But here is to be noted the essential difference between Russia and + Prussia; especially by those who use the ordinary Liberal arguments + against the latter. Russia has a policy which she pursues, if you will, + through evil and good; but at least so as to produce good as well as evil. + Let it be granted that the policy has made her oppressive to the Finns and + the Poles—though the Russian Poles feel far less oppressed than do + the Prussian Poles. But it is a mere historic fact, that if Russia has + been a despot to some small nations, she has been a deliverer to others. + She did, so far as in her lay, emancipate the Servians and the + Montenegrins. But whom did Prussia ever emancipate—even by accident? + It is indeed somewhat extraordinary that in the perpetual permutations of + international politics, the Hohenzollerns have never gone astray into the + path of enlightenment. They have been in alliance with almost everybody + off and on: with France, with England, with Austria, with Russia. Can + anyone candidly say that they have left on any one of these people the + faintest impress of progress or liberation? Prussia was the enemy of the + French Monarchy; but a worse enemy of the French Revolution. Prussia had + been an enemy of the Czar; but she was a worse enemy of the Duma. Prussia + totally disregarded Austrian rights: but she is to-day quite ready to + inflict Austrian wrongs. This is the strong particular difference between + the one empire and the other. Russia is pursuing certain intelligible and + sincere ends, which to her at least are ideals, and for which, therefore, + she will make sacrifices and will protect the weak. But the North German + soldier is a sort of abstract tyrant, everywhere and always on the side of + materialistic tyranny. This Teuton in uniform has been found in strange + places; shooting farmers before Saratoga and flogging soldiers in Surrey, + hanging niggers in Africa and raping girls in Wicklow; but never, by some + mysterious fatality, lending a hand to the freeing of a single city or the + independence of one solitary flag. Wherever scorn and prosperous + oppression are, there is the Prussian; unconsciously consistent, + instinctively restrictive, innocently evil; "following darkness like a + dream." + </p> + <p> + Suppose we heard of a person (gifted with some longevity) who had helped + Alva to persecute Dutch Protestants, then helped Cromwell to persecute + Irish Catholics, and then helped Claverhouse to persecute Scotch Puritans, + we should find it rather easier to call him a persecutor than to call him + a Protestant or a Catholic. Curiously enough this is actually the position + in which the Prussian stands in Europe. No argument can alter the fact + that in three converging and conclusive cases, he has been on the side of + three distinct rulers of different religions, who had nothing whatever in + common except that they were ruling oppressively. In these three + Governments, taken separately, one can see something excusable or at least + human. When the Kaiser encouraged the Russian rulers to crush the + Revolution, the Russian rulers undoubtedly believed they were wrestling + with an inferno of atheism and anarchy. A Socialist of the ordinary + English kind cried out upon me when I spoke of Stolypin, and said he was + chiefly known by the halter called "Stolypin's Necktie." As a fact, there + were many other things interesting about Stolypin besides his necktie: his + policy of peasant proprietorship, his extraordinary personal courage, and + certainly none more interesting than that movement in his death agony, + when he made the sign of the cross towards the Czar, as the crown and + captain of his Christianity. But the Kaiser does not regard the Czar as + the captain of Christianity. Far from it. What he supported in Stolypin + was the necktie and nothing but the necktie: the gallows and not the + cross. The Russian ruler did believe that the Orthodox Church was + orthodox. The Austrian Archduke did really desire to make the Catholic + Church catholic. He did really believe that he was being Pro-Catholic in + being Pro-Austrian. But the Kaiser cannot be Pro-Catholic, and therefore + cannot have been really Pro-Austrian, he was simply and solely + Anti-Servian. Nay, even in the cruel and sterile strength of Turkey, + anyone with imagination can see something of the tragedy and therefore of + the tenderness of true belief. The worst that can be said of the Moslems + is, as the poet put it, they offered to man the choice of the Koran or the + sword. The best that can be said for the German is that he does not care + about the Koran, but is satisfied if he can have the sword. And for me, I + confess, even the sins of these three other striving empires take on, in + comparison, something that is sorrowful and dignified: and I feel they do + not deserve that this little Lutheran lounger should patronise all that is + evil in them, while ignoring all that is good. He is not Catholic, he is + not Orthodox, he is not Mahomedan. He is merely an old gentleman who + wishes to share the crime though he cannot share the creed. He desires to + be a persecutor by the pang without the palm. So strongly do all the + instincts of the Prussian drive against liberty, that he would rather + oppress other people's subjects than think of anybody going without the + benefits of oppression. He is a sort of disinterested despot. He is as + disinterested as the devil who is ready to do anyone's dirty work. + </p> + <p> + This would seem obviously fantastic were it not supported by solid facts + which cannot be explained otherwise. Indeed it would be inconceivable if + we were thinking of a whole people, consisting of free and varied + individuals. But in Prussia the governing class is really a governing + class: and a very few people are needed to think along these lines to make + all the other people act along them. And the paradox of Prussia is this: + that while its princes and nobles have no other aim on this earth but to + destroy democracy wherever it shows itself, they have contrived to get + themselves trusted, not as wardens of the past but as forerunners of the + future. Even they cannot believe that their theory is popular, but they do + believe that it is progressive. Here again we find the spiritual chasm + between the two monarchies in question. The Russian institutions are, in + many cases, really left in the rear of the Russian people, and many of the + Russian people know it. But the Prussian institutions are supposed to be + in advance of the Prussian people, and most of the Prussian people believe + it. It is thus much easier for the war-lords to go everywhere and impose a + hopeless slavery upon everyone, for they have already imposed a sort of + hopeful slavery on their own simple race. + </p> + <p> + And when men shall speak to us of the hoary iniquities of Russia and of + how antiquated is the Russian system, we shall answer "Yes; that is the + superiority of Russia." Their institutions are part of their history, + whether as relics or fossils. Their abuses have really been uses: that is + to say, they have been used up. If they have old engines of terror or + torment, they may fall to pieces from mere rust, like an old coat of + armour. But in the case of the Prussian tyranny, if it be tyranny at all, + it is the whole point of its claim that it is not antiquated, but just + going to begin, like the showman. Prussia has a whole thriving factory of + thumbscrews, a whole humming workshop of wheels and racks, of the newest + and neatest pattern, with which to win back Europe to the Reaction ... <i>infandum + renovare dolorem</i> And if we wish to test the truth of this, it can be + done by the same method which showed us that Russia, if her race or + religion could sometimes make her an invader and an oppressor, could also + be made an emancipator and a knight errant. In the same way, if the + Russian institutions are old-fashioned, they honestly exhibit the good as + well as the bad that can be found in old-fashioned things. + </p> + <p> + In their police system they have an inequality which is against our ideas + of law. But in their commune system they have an equality that is older + than law itself. Even when they flogged each other like barbarians, they + called upon each other by their Christian names like children. At their + worst they retained all the best of a rude society. At their best, they + are simply good, like good children or good nuns. But in Prussia, all that + is best in the civilised machinery is put at the service of all that is + worst in the barbaric mind. Here again the Prussian has no accidental + merits, none of those lucky survivals, none of those late repentances, + which make the patchwork glory of Russia. Here all is sharpened to a point + and pointed to a purpose, and that purpose, if words and acts have any + meaning at all, is the destruction of liberty throughout the world. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. THE ESCAPE OF FOLLY + </h2> + <p> + In considering the Prussian point of view, we have been considering what + seems to be mainly a mental limitation: a kind of knot in the brain. + Towards the problem of Slav population, of English colonisation, of French + armies and reinforcements, it shows the same strange philosophic sulks. So + far as I can follow it, it seems to amount to saying "It is very wrong + that you should be superior to me, because I am superior to you." The + spokesmen of this system seem to have a curious capacity for concentrating + this entanglement or contradiction, sometimes into a single paragraph, or + even a single sentence. I have already referred to the German Emperor's + celebrated suggestion that in order to avert the peril of Hunnishness we + should all become Huns. A much stronger instance is his more recent order + to his troops touching the war in Northern France. As most people know, + his words ran "It is my Royal and Imperial command that you concentrate + your energies, for the immediate present, upon one single purpose, and + that is that you address all your skill and all the valour of my soldiers + to exterminate first the treacherous English and to walk over General + French's contemptible little army." The rudeness of the remark an + Englishman can afford to pass over; what I am interested in is the + mentality, the train of thought that can manage to entangle itself even in + so brief a space. If French's little Army is contemptible, it would seem + clear that all the skill and valour of the German Army had better not be + concentrated on it, but on the larger and less contemptible allies. If all + the skill and valour of the German Army are concentrated on it, it is not + being treated as contemptible. But the Prussian rhetorician had two + incompatible sentiments in his mind; and he insisted on saying them both + at once. He wanted to think of an English Army as a small thing; but he + also wanted to think of an English defeat as a big thing. He wanted to + exult, at the same moment, in the utter weakness of the British in their + attack; and the supreme skill and valour of the Germans in repelling such + an attack. Somehow it must be made a common and obvious collapse for + England; and yet a daring and unexpected triumph for Germany. In trying to + express these contradictory conceptions simultaneously, he got rather + mixed. Therefore he bade Germania fill all her vales and mountains with + the dying agonies of this almost invisible earwig; and let the impure + blood of this cockroach redden the Rhine down to the sea. + </p> + <p> + But it would be unfair to base the criticism on the utterance of any + accidental and hereditary prince: and it is quite equally clear in the + case of the philosophers who have been held up to us, even in England, as + the very prophets of progress. And in nothing is it shown more sharply + than in the curious confused talk about Race and especially about the + Teutonic Race. Professor Harnack and similar people are reproaching us, I + understand, for having broken "the bond of Teutonism": a bond which the + Prussians have strictly observed both in breach and observance. We note it + in their open annexation of lands wholly inhabited by negroes, such as + Denmark. We note it equally in their instant and joyful recognition of the + flaxen hair and light blue eyes of the Turks. But it is still the abstract + principle of Professor Harnack which interests me most; and in following + it I have the same complexity of inquiry, but the same simplicity of + result. Comparing the Professor's concern about "Teutonism" with his + unconcern about Belgium, I can only reach the following result: "A man + need not keep a promise he has made. But a man must keep a promise he has + not made." There certainly was a treaty binding Britain to Belgium; if it + was only a scrap of paper. If there was any treaty binding Britain to + Teutonism it is, to say the least of it, a lost scrap of paper; almost + what one would call a scrap of waste-paper. Here again the pedants under + consideration exhibit the illogical perversity that makes the brain reel. + There is obligation and there is no obligation: sometimes it appears that + Germany and England must keep faith with each other; sometimes that + Germany need not keep faith with anybody and anything; sometimes that we + alone among European peoples are almost entitled to be Germans; sometimes + that besides us, Russians and Frenchmen almost rise to a Germanic + loveliness of character. But through all there is, hazy but not + hypocritical, this sense of some common Teutonism. + </p> + <p> + Professor Haeckel, another of the witnesses raised up against us, attained + to some celebrity at one time through proving the remarkable resemblance + between two different things by printing duplicate pictures of the same + thing. Professor Haeckel's contribution to biology, in this case, was + exactly like Professor Harnack's contribution to ethnology. Professor + Harnack knows what a German is like. When he wants to imagine what an + Englishman is like, he simply photographs the same German over again. In + both cases there is probably sincerity as well as simplicity. Haeckel was + so certain that the species illustrated in embryo really are closely + related and linked up, that it seemed to him a small thing to simplify it + by mere repetition. Harnack is so certain that the German and Englishman + are almost alike, that he really risks the generalisation that they are + exactly alike. He photographs, so to speak, the same fair and foolish face + twice over; and calls it a remarkable resemblance between cousins. Thus, + he can prove the existence of Teutonism just about as conclusively as + Haeckel has proved the more tenable proposition of the non-existence of + God. + </p> + <p> + Now the German and the Englishman are not in the least alike—except + in the sense that neither of them are negroes. They are, in everything + good and evil, more unlike than any other two men we can take at random + from the great European family. They are opposite from the roots of their + history, nay of their geography. It is an understatement to call Britain + insular. Britain is not only an island, but an island slashed by the sea + till it nearly splits into three islands; and even the Midlands can almost + smell the salt. Germany is a powerful, beautiful and fertile inland + country, which can only find the sea by one or two twisted and narrow + paths, as people find a subterranean lake. Thus the British Navy is really + national because it is natural; it has cohered out of hundreds of + accidental adventures of ships and shipmen before Chaucer's time and after + it. But the German Navy is an artificial thing; as artificial as a + constructed Alp would be in England. William II. has simply copied the + British Navy as Frederick II. copied the French Army: and this Japanese or + ant-like assiduity in imitation is one of the hundred qualities which the + Germans have and the English markedly have not. There are other German + superiorities which are very much superior. + </p> + <p> + The one or two really jolly things that the Germans have got are precisely + the things which the English haven't got: notably a real habit of popular + music and of the ancient songs of the people, not merely spreading from + the towns or caught from the professionals. In this the Germans rather + resemble the Welsh; though heaven knows what becomes of Teutonism if they + do. But the difference between the Germans and the English goes deeper + than all these signs of it; they differ more than any other two Europeans + in the normal posture of the mind. Above all, they differ in what is the + most English of all English traits; that shame which the French may be + right in calling "the bad shame"; for it is certainly mixed up with pride + and suspicion, the upshot of which we called shyness. Even an Englishman's + rudeness is often rooted in his being embarrassed. But a German's rudeness + is rooted in his never being embarrassed. He eats and makes love noisily. + He never feels a speech or a song or a sermon or a large meal to be what + the English call "out of place" in particular circumstances. When Germans + are patriotic and religious, they have no reaction against patriotism and + religion as have the English and the French. + </p> + <p> + Nay, the mistake of Germany in the modern disaster largely arose from the + facts that she thought England was simple, when England is very subtle. + She thought that because our politics have become largely financial that + they had become wholly financial; that because our aristocrats had become + pretty cynical that they had become entirely corrupt. They could not seize + the subtlety by which a rather used-up English gentleman might sell a + coronet when he would not sell a fortress; might lower the public + standards and yet refuse to lower the flag. + </p> + <p> + In short, the Germans are quite sure that they understand us entirely, + because they do not understand us at all. Possibly if they began to + understand us they might hate us even more: but I would rather be hated + for some small but real reason, than pursued with love on account of all + kinds of qualities which I do not possess and which I do not desire. And + when the Germans get their first genuine glimpse of what modern England is + like, they will discover that England has a very broken, belated and + inadequate sense of having an obligation to Europe, but no sort of sense + whatever of having any obligation to Teutonism. + </p> + <p> + This is the last and strongest of the Prussian qualities we have here + considered. There is in stupidity of this sort a strange slippery + strength: because it can be not only outside rules but outside reason. The + man who really cannot see that he is contradicting himself has a great + advantage in controversy; though the advantage breaks down when he tries + to reduce it to simple addition, to chess, or to the game called war. It + is the same about the stupidity of the one-sided kinship. The drunkard who + is quite certain that a total stranger is his long-lost brother, has a + greater advantage until it comes to matters of detail. "We must have chaos + within," said Nietzsche, "that we may give birth to a dancing star." + </p> + <p> + In these slight notes I have suggested the principal strong points of the + Prussian character. A failure in honour which almost amounts to a failure + in memory: an egomania that is honestly blind to the fact that the other + party is an ego; and, above all, an actual itch for tyranny and + interference, the devil which everywhere torments the idle and the proud. + To these must be added a certain mental shapelessness which can expand or + contract without reference to reason or record; a potential infinity of + excuses. If the English had been on the German side, the German professors + would have noted what irresistible energies had evolved the Teutons. As + the English are on the other side, the German professors will say that + these Teutons were not sufficiently evolved. Or they will say that they + were just sufficiently evolved to show that they were not Teutons. + Probably they will say both. But the truth is that all that they call + evolution should rather be called evasion. They tell us they are opening + windows of enlightenment and doors of progress. The truth is that they are + breaking up the whole house of the human intellect, that they may abscond + in any direction. There is an ominous and almost monstrous parallel + between the position of their over-rated philosophers and of their + comparatively under-rated soldiers. For what their professors call roads + of progress are really routes of escape. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11560 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |