New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-31
Chesterton, Comparing Them with Russians
Saws Germans Are Intellectual Vandals Gut
to Wreak Ruin lnconCeivable by Hun
MAKING WAR AGAINST CIVILIZATION
Prussan Philosophers, Says English Author Are on
Lower Mental Level Than Arab Who Re
spects Salt or Brahmn His Caste
pu Gil BERT K CHESTERTON.
Bv GILBERT X. CHESTERTON.
IN The War on the Word

N) The War on the Wore
II will hardly be denied that there IL
one lingering doubt in many who rec
ognize unavoidable self-defence IN the
instant parry Of the English sword
and who have no great love Tor the
sweeping sabre of Sadowa and SEDAN
That doubt is the doubt of whether
Russia as compared with Prussia Is
sufficiently decent and democratic TO
be the ally Of liberia! and cNlllzed
powers. ! take first, therefore, TINS
matter Of civilization
Ii is vital in a discussion Ike inns
that we should make sure we are gong
by meanings and not by mere WORDS
IL is not necessary IN any argument 10
settle what a word means or ought 10
mean. But IL is necessary in every ar
oument 10 settle what we propose 70
mean by the word. So long as our op-
moment understands what is the thing
of which We are talking, II does not
matter TO the argument whether the
word is or is not the one he would
have chosen. soldier does not say
1--WE were ordered TO go 10 Mechlln,
but would rather 90 TO NallneS. lie
NAV discuss the etymology and archie
ology of the difference on the march,
but the point is that he knows where
10 20. SO long as we know what q
given word is TO mean in q given dis
cussiop Il does not even matter II II
means something else IN some other
and quite distinct discussion We have
a perfect right 10 say that the width OF
a window comes TO four feet, even II
we instantly and cheerfully change the
subject TO the larger mammals. snd
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 hav-
ing tusks and a curly trunk.
Meaning of the Word.
It is essential to emphasize this con-
sciousness of the thing under discus
sion 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
il TO the Russians; the Russians apply
il TO the PruSsianS. Both, / think,
really mean something that really eX-
lists, name or no name. Both mean diff
ferent things. And If We ask what
these different things are we shall I'M
derstand why England and France pre-
fer Russia; and consider Prussia the
really dangerous barbarian of the two.
To begin with, il 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 IN
fuence, said that the logged backs OF
Polish women stood between US ana
the Alliance. But not long before the ,
Aogging Of women by an Austrian gen
eral led 70 that officer being thrashed
in the streets of London by Barclay
G. 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
fogging might be called an Official for
mality. But, as | say. something much
deeper than any such recrlmlnaton
lies behind the use Of the word on
either side. When the German EN-
peror complains of our allying our
selves with a barbaric and half Orlen-
tai power, he is not Il assure yOu)
shedding tears over the grave of Kos
ciuszko. And when ! say (as | do most
heartily that the German Emperor Is
a barbarian, | am not merely express
ing any prejudices ] may have against
the proclamation of churches or of chill
dren. My countrymen and ] mean
certain and intelligibfe thing when we
call the Prussisns barbarians. 1t Is
quite different from the thing attribu-
ted TO Russians. and IT could not pos
sibly be attributed to Russians. 1t ~
very important that the neutral world
should understand what this thing is.
Russia Is Only Backward.
If the German calls the Russian bar
barous, he presumably means imper-
fectly civilized There is certain path
along which Western nations have pro-
ceeded in recent times; and 1t is ten
able 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 politi-
cal 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 subject of
Alfred the Great. Therefore, he Is, IN
the German sense, a barbarian. Poor
fellows, like Gorky and Dostoiefsky
have TO form their own reflections on
the scenery. without the assistance Of
large quotations from Schiller on gar
den seats; OF inscriptions directing
them to pause and thank the ll-FatheI
for the finest view IN Hcsse-Pumper-
nickel. The Russ ans. having nothing
but their faith, t\ir fields their great
courage and their seif-goyernIng com
munes, are quite cut off from what is
called Gin the fashionable street in
FrankforO the -rue, the beautiful and
the good There is real sense I'm
which one can call such backwardness
barbaric, by comparison with the