The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1915-10-09
g. K. Chesterton Analy-
zes the Destructive Eff
feet of the World Strug-
gle Upon His Country's
Offensive "Insularity,"
and Explains Why So
Many People Dislikethe
Prussians.
.s&;@sesX
BY G. X. Chesterton,
the Noted English Essayist

VHE central fact OF the present situation
Is that the North German has not yet
discovered that the greater part OF hui
manity disiikes him. What II dislikes Is not
militarism. nor zolvereins. nor naval rivalry:
It is not submarines. nor Zeppelins. IL is not
even massacres- Il is a certain state Of the
soul. which can be. and is. expressed by GER
tain movements of the arms. legs. shoulders
and head.
Again and again the Prussian says In his
simplicity. when reflect how good wise and
strong am. cannot imagine why people dis.
like me-" And the answer never flashes even
me because ] reflect how good wise and strong
] am" He is quite honestly bewildered by
what seem to him the hostile antics OF people
utterly different from each other-Boers, Irish.
men. Poles. Yankees and Jews. He cannot see
why they rage together. for to see that he
would have TO look. not outside. but inside.
He cannot find the KEY of the mystery, because
he has swallowed the key.
IL we are wise we shall constantly consider
this fact, and remember that owe much of
our support to this fault In our enemy and not
to our own faultlessness. The Beers and Irish
do not support England because England is a
model, but because Germany is a DOGGY; not
because the British Constitution is holy
thing, but because the Prussian system u .
holy terror.
A Suggestive Comparison
of Briton and Prussian.
We must greatly purify ourselves even to be
worthy OF this war This hell. as they call Il.
Is so very much nearer heaven than England
has yet been in her hundred years of prosper.
ity and peace that We must be ready for alb
negations more trying than any physical ones
for the refusal OF all that mental comfort upon
which We have lived so long.
We must be content to answer TO the Prus
sian, Yes. also am evil: perhaps am as evil
sell the world to you" We are not above our sT
task; we have only. in the noble words OF "a
Cammaerts's poem
La herte de roster honnete
Quand la lachete nous serait ST bonnie
And wherever there remains a trace OF the old
vulgar and insular condescension. we must
stamp on IL as II 1t were literal and legal
treason.
1t is not wholly stamped out. capable ana
very sane lady said to me recently that she
was little nervous about the French. ] said
j did not see what there was to be nervous Of
unless ii were OF the French skinning all the
Germans alive. She admitted that what had
distressed her was the fact that French sol
diers did not play football between the actions
but sat and thought about their homes In
short, what had distressed and apparently
surprised her was that the French soldiers
were not English soldiers. She really could
not see that practical courage and endurance
no more involve playing football than playing
dominoes-a game the French have often
found agreeable in the intervals Of defying
artillery and dying on barricades
But. indeed. the unfortunate expression
stirred even deeper things. Every nation has
England also will suffer by whatever can
weaken her in her worship Of compromise and
wealth. We had begun only barely in time
some fruitful repentance about Ireland. ana
even so have left small and embittered group
which cannot believe our word But Indeed.
the treatment OF the Irish by the English is not
very much worse than the treatment OF the
English by the English. The great curse OF
this country curse which does not lie thus
upon France or Russia, or even, in the sauna
universal sense. upon Germany-is the had
distribution M
vagrant or dependent. without status, wtthou,
rights. without even definite duties.
The Faults of
English Civilization.
We must not be too proud to learn from the
peasantries OF France and Russia and Belgium.
we must not let the cant OF the clubs cover the
very real nakedness Of the land. The Russ
ploughing with HIS ancient plough IN his an.
Gent commune really has something which we
have not given 10 the broken clerk or crafts
man in Hoxton. drifting from lodging TO Iodg.
Ing like stray cat. We must. In short endure
20 face the fact tsat. II the poor Frenchmen
eft and think Of their homes. Il Is often BE-.
cause they have homes 20 think Of
The war has come on Europe like a thief In
the night-and naturally. since the men OF
Prussia who planned Il were thieves from the
beginning. II has caught every country in some
unready and homogeneous posture II has found
US not only with our reforms unfinished but
tby weakness almost special TO ourselves1
with positive pride IN leaving them unnn-
ished. u II. as ! have said before that crazv
compromise which will have half loaf even
vhen u could easily get whole loaf DIckens
discovered long ago that the question for the
politician was How Not TO 10 10 II is vel
more complex when the question Is how moi
quite 90 DO g.
u We can keep close 10 clean and cbr,s,,,,
modesty. Ensland az the end OF the war viii
not only be victorious but what IL not aIvavs
the same thinEl she will be strong Nobody
expects that underlined ana overschooled vy',tsS
enipe who Il the governing type OF Prussia "a
understand such humility. he can make maj
ne hkes OF II. 70 Is question Of a spirit and
a spirit IN which al powerful work has been
done Deal not with Us after our sins nei,ho,
reW~rd US after on. iniquities." Thus endured
lhls catastrophe may really and without csnt
moan some clearance % the fors Of corruntIon
ana scepticism. and the very earth ana az -
cur country amer the conflict may smell IN