New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-08
Of the experience of those they knew and

OF lne cNptlltilNV va 'hV"N WY
trusted.
And it became universal. Probably
never have Englishmen of all classes so
completely hated and loathed foreign ma
ton as do the British now hate and loathe
the German. There was little OF TINS IN
the Napoeonic wars, and there were thou
sands of Britons of that time who made
no conceament of their admiration OF the
France of the Revolution and afterward,
Even Buonaparte had his champions.
But to-day the German is for the Eng
lishman the man who abuses women and
children on land and murders them on
water. He is the man who brutally NAL
treats British wounded and prisoners. lie
is the author of the Zeppelin raids and he
is the criminal who employs the submarine
for assassination, not for war. Above all,
and this is comprehensive. he is not
Clean" fighter, he doesn't play the game,
he recognizes no rules of humanity, of law,
of sport. Wherefore the Englishman hates
him, not as a nation primarily, there is
nothing of this. but as an individual; 1t Is
a personal matter between the individual
Briton and the German, and being such 1t
cannot be settled by government or dis
posed of by treaty of peace. A hundred
years from now there will still be some
Englishmen who hold to the notion as to
Germans that prevails in England now,
and knowing the English one would say
that there would be goodly number.
The most pathetic thing in the world
lust now is the German, who wants TO see
the war end and have everything forgiven
and forgotten. He naturally doesn't be-
leve what the Englishman knows to be
true about the German actions in Belgium
and France. He cannot be expected to
look upon things from the English point
of view, but what he does not realize Is
the existence of an English point of view.
He doesn't realize that years and years
will pass before the Englishman, because
this is his habit, will get over regarding
the German as he now regards him.
Here. then. are some forty millions Of
men and women and children who hold
with an Intensity that cannot be described
and for reasons that are n part of their
human experience, of their personal sor-
row and suffering, certain feelings toward
the German, have acquired a hatred which,
if it is not exactly vindictive, actually bars
the way to all possible friendly relation
for many years to come. And on the
other hand here is Professor Minister
berg preaching about an Anglo-German-
American alliance!
At all events let us hope that the United
States will not become the ally Of Germany
before Great Britain does. That will give
us all time to prepare for it. And the
British Ministry that first proposes that
alliance to the British people is going to
have an interesting experience. There are
several streets in Liverpool almost entirely
given over to the widows and fatherless
children of British sailors murdered by
submarines while on merchant ships. There
are some East Coast towns where Zeppe-
lin bombs have disposed of many women
and children, and there are thousand
English, Scotch and Welsh villages where
old men and old and young women have
known what Germans have done to those
they loved best, not according to the rules
of war, but in disregard Of them, and 1t
will be worth knowing what happens in
them when Professor Munsterberg's pro-
posal is actually accepted either by Mr..
Asouith or his successor.
All of which is another way of saying
that no nation can go forth to burn and to
murder, to dshonor and destroy the help
less, and escape the consequences. Least
of all can Germans do what they have
done to British men and women and chill
dren, and to other women and children
within the British vision. and escape the
consequences. These consequences will not
be abolished by treaty of peace, they will
not be liqudated by victory or settled by
Indemnity. The Englishman will never
shout his hate, much less will he sing It,
but those who know the EHglishman best
are at times a little awed by the revelation
of the effect upon him of two years OF
wartime relations with his German neigh
Dor.