New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-15
GERMANIZE EUROPE!
NEVER, SAYS ENGLAND
C. K. Chesteron in Letter Italian, Declares That the
Spirit of Prussia Is Not Barbarism but
Second-Rate Civilization.
LETTERS TO AN OLD GARIBALDIAN

since We met; and / fear these letters
may never reach you. But in these
violent times / remember with Curl
Gus vividness how you brandished q
paint brush about your easel when
was a boy; and how il thrilled me 10
think that you had so brandished a
bayonet against the Teutons-l hope
with the same precision and happy re-
suits. Round about that period the
very pigments seemed TO have some
sort of picturesque connection with
your national story. There seemed to
be something gorgeous and terrible
about Venetian Red; and something
quite catastrophe about Burnt Sienna.
But somehow or other, when | saw in
the street yesterday the colors on your
flag, it reminded me of the colors on
your palette.
You need not fear that | shall try to
entangle you or your countrymen in
the matters which il is for Italians
alone to decide. You know the perils
Of either course much better than ! do.
Italy, most assuredly, has no need to
prove her courage. She has risked
everything in standing out that she
could risk by coming In. The proc
lamations and press Of Germany make
il plain that the Germans have risen to
a height of sensibility hardly 20 be dis
tinguished from madness. Surprising
the nightmare of Prussian victory,
they will revenge themselves on things
more remote than the Triple Alliance.
There was promise of peace between
them and Belgium; there was none be-
tween them and England. The promise
TO Belgium they broke. The promise
Of England they invented. 1t is called
81 a.. 6 ~.
heard of IL in this country, but II
seems well known in academic circles
in Germany. Il seems to be something
connected with the color of ones hair.
But / repeat that ! am not concerned
70 interfere with your decision, save in
so far as | may provide some materials
for il by describing our own.
For | think the first, perhaps the
only, fruitful work an Englishman can
do now for the formation Of foreign
opinion is 10 talk about what he really
understands, the condition Of British
opinion. II is as simple as il j. solid.
For the first time, perhaps. what we
call the United Kingdom entirely de-
serves its name. There has been moth
ing like such unanimity within an
Englishman's recollection. The Irish
and even the Welsh were largely pro-
Beers; so were some of the most Eng
lish of the English. No one could have
been more English than Fox. yet he de-
nounced the war with Napoleon. No
one could be more English t. n Cob
den. but he denounced The war in the
Crimea. 1t is really extraordinary to
find united England. Indeed. until
lately, II was extraordinary TO find a
united Englishman. Those of us who,
like the present writer. repudiated the
South African war from its beginnings,
had yet divided heart in the matter.
and felt certain aspects Of it as glori-
Gus as we'll as Infamous. The first fact
! can offer you is the unquestionable
fact that all these doubts and divisions
have ceased. Nor have they ceased by
any compromise, but by a universal
fash Of faith-or, if you will, of sus-
picion. Nor were our internal con-
flicts lightly abandoned, nor our recon-
citations an easy matter. ! am, as YOU
are. a democrat and citizen Of Eu-
rope: and my friends and ] had grown
10 loathe the plutocracy and privilege
which sat in the high places Of our
country with a loathing which we
thought no love could cast out. Of
these rich men | will not speak here;
with your permission, ! will not think
of them. War is a terrible business in
any case; and TO some intellectual tenn
peraments this is the most terrible
part of it, That war takes the young,
that war sunders the lovers, that all
over Europe brides and bridegrooms
are parting at the church door-all
that is only a commonplace TO COM
monplace people. To give up ones love
fer ones country is very great. But 10
give up ones hate for ones country.
this NAV also have in il something Of
pride and something of publication.
Pure Earbarism Short Lived.
What is il that has made the British
peoples thus defer not only their arti-
fetal parade Of party politics. but their
real social and moral complaints and
demands? What is II that has united
all Of US against the PrussiaD as
against a mad dog? 1t is the presence
of certain spirit, as unmi stakable as
a pungert smell, which we feel is ca
pable of whitening all the good things
in this world. The burglary of Bel
GUM, the bride 70 betray France, these
are not excuses; they are facts. But
they are only the facts by which we
came 70 know of the presence of the
spirit. They do not suffice I, define
the whole spirit itself. A good rough
summary is 10 say that it is the spirit
of barbarism; but indeed il is some
thing worse. II is the spirit Of second
rate civilization; and the distinction
involves the most important differ
ences. Granted that II could exist,
pure barbarism could not last long; as
pure babyhood cannot last long. OF
his own nature the baby is interested
in the ticking of watch; and the time
will come when you will have 70 tell
him, if you only tell him the wrong
time. And that is exactly what the
second-rate civilization does.
But the vital point is here. The alb
stract barbarian would copy. The cock
ney and incomplete civilization always
sets itself up TO be copied. And in the
case here considered the German
thinks that il is not only his business 20
spread education. but 10 spread com
pulsory education. Science combined
with organization" says Professor Ost-
valid, Of Berlin University, makes US
I terrible 10 our opponents and insures a
German future for Europe That is,
as shortly as il can be put. what we
are fighting about. We are fighting to
prevent a German future for Europe.
We think it would be narrower, nsstier,
I less sane, less capable of liberty and
Of laughter than any of the worst
parts Of the European past. And when
plain shortly why we think so,
thought Of you. For this is a matter
so large that ! know not how TO ex-
press il except in terms of artists like
you, in the service OF beauty and the
Z