New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-05
| JTERARY CRITICISM
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Treitschke-A Group of Illustrated Holiday
Books-Lilh Lehmanns Autobiog-
raphy-Children' Books.

i
saw England as the obstacle in the way
Her he hated, for he was not an i'm
partial historian. And he was often
unjust to her.
He was frank with Prussian sort of
frankness. He believed in war, and in
a morality for statesmen far more
flexible than that of the conduct of
private life. The state and its inter
ests were supreme. For their further
ance and insurance the end justified
the means. These two volumes are
packed with his opinions. forcefully
expressed; the best way to give the
reader an idea Of their quality is by
quotation. History wears thoroughly
masculine features: it is not for senti-
mental natures or for women. Only
brave nations have a secure existence.
future, a development; weak and
cowardly nations go to the wall, and
rightly so. In this everlasting for and
against lies the beauty of history; to
wish to abolish this rivalry is simply
unreasCn." He believed in war and
glorifed It:
The second essential function of
the state is TO make war. That we
have so long failed to appreciate
this, is a proof of how effeminate
the science of the state as treated
by the hands OF civilians has be-
come. Only after the expert
ences of our last wars did
healthy view of the state and its
warlike power gradually emerge
again. Without war there would
be no state at all. The protection
of its citizens by arms remains the
first and essential task of the state.
And so war will last till the end of
history, so long as there is a plural
number of states. The great
advances of mankind can only be
entirely realized, in face of the re-
sistance of barbarism and unrea-
son, by the sword.
To clinch his argument Treitschke
quoted the empires own case: "How
often did we seek to convince the small
states theoretically that only Prussia
could assume the leadership in Ger
many; the really convincing proof we
were obliged to furnish on the battle
fields in Bohemia and on the Main"
Still more: at is precisely political ,
idealsm that demands wars, while
materalism condemns them. What a
perversion of morality to wish to
eliminate heroism from humanity"
AS for treaties, the state as sover-
eign power cannot recognize an arbiter
above itself, and consequently legal
obligations must in the last resort be
subject TO its own judgment. Every
state reserves to itself the right to
decide upon its treaty obligations, and
here the historian cannot make mere
ly formal standard suffice. He must
ask the deeper question, whether the
unconditional duty of self-preserva-
tion does not justify the state? ut is
clear that the state must set only
moral aims before it,; but "the mere
preservation of its power is an incom-
parably high moral task"
As for neutrality: at goes without
saying that every state has not only /
the right to wage war, but also to de-
clare itself neutral in the wars of
others as far as material conditions /
permit If state is not in a condition /
to maintain its neutrality, all talk
about the same Is mere claptrap. Neu- /
traity needs as much defending as the /
partisanship of belligerent states. II
is the duty Of a neutral state 20 dis
arm every soldier who crosses its /
borders. Ii it is unable TO do so, the |
circumstances justify the belligerent |.
states in ceasing to observe its neu- /
trality." As for the rules of law at sea, !
Treitschke maintains that no distinction I,
will be made there between the prop !
erty Of the state and that OF private !
persons so long as Englsnd's navy is 7
pre-eminent and unapproached in pow
er. But he adds, mot that the English /
are worse people than we are; If we I
were in their position we might per- /
haps initiate their example.
The Sea. and dominions beyond the /
seas. That was Treitschke's ultimate .
vision Of Germany's greatness. and /
there, he knew, England would block /
her path if she could, because self-in-
terest. self-preservation would force |
her-that English state policy which |
"since the days of William III has
never been anything else than a re-
markedly shrewd and remarkably con-
scienceless commercial policy"
Both these books have been COM
piled with excellent judgment. Neither
contains much that has no direct bear
ing upon the present struggle and its /
remoter, deeper causes.