The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1916-01-08
Chesterton
on the Dangers
Of the Wrong
Kind Of Peace
Before a Truce Is Declared
1t Is Esseptial to Remember
How the War Was Begun and
What Must Be Done to End
the Menace of Another War"
By @. K. Chesterton
The Noted English Publieis,.

TT HE chief danger OF the world TODAY "a
that Germany. which cannot now have
a military victory. should yet have n
diplomatic success. The great physical assault
has failed. Europe has not been conquered
by Germany and Austria: and is certainly no,
going to be conquered by Bulgaria and Turkey.
But these later complications do tend to make
possible something else. which is not a peril o,
war. but a peril of peace: and It Is just pos.
sible that such a calamity may still come about
by the combined pressure Of the three forces
which. whether or not they work from the
same motive. certainly produce the same re.
sult-the Paeinsts. the Pessimists and the
Prussians.
- IL is a good rule OF philosophy when regard.
ing an end 10 refer 10 the beginning. That
dangerous irreievance in the mind whereby
things seem more real which are only more
recent may to-day make men more bitter
against Bulgaria than against Prussia. and to.
morrow more bitter against Greece than against
either. But the perspective OF time Is no more
actual than that Of space. And this attitude
is every atom as impractical as it would be for
a soldier sighting his rife over a molehiI to
think it was larger than the mountain dotted
with the forts OF his foes.
What We have to treat with at the end OF
the war is what We had to fight with at the
beginning Of the war. And the very first thing
TO do is TO be quite certain that we realize
what the war is about. Il is a question that
can very easily be answered wrongly. or even
stated wrongly.
The Germans, for instance. are now hard at
work manufacturing a legend that Germany
fought with her back TO the wall against the
whole world, and that therefore even her par.
TALLY successful resistance must be regarded
as a moral victory. In mere history this. OF
CnnTEa is unite fnTnfnafV false Tho FWo
gigantic Central Empires took the field when
they had, ami because they had. an enormous
superiority not only in munitions, but in men.
over any forces that could be brought against
them from anywhere during the most probable
period OF the campaign.
Upon the Meuse. upon the Marine. and again
upon the Aisne. they were quite double thei-
enemy. So far from Il being the fact that a
Frenchman and an Englishman combined to
attack a German, IL was In cold arithmetic the
fact that two Germans attacked one English
man, and four Germans attacked two french
men. Any one maintaining that Germany fought
the world is committed 10 the remarkable
theory that In the late Summer Of 1914 Ger
many was twice as big as the world. This.
however. was not the case.
What went u war with France and Russia
vas 4 sufficiently large part Of Europe 20 he
for The greater part of the war the larger ana
stronger Power OF the two. But what was this
section Of Europe? How shall We define ii.
and how explain It's unity OF action? This
IS a really interesting question. In answering
~ we must also dismiss those priggish rener.
alizations about race which are themselves
the dregs OF the diuEy Prussian culture. They
were made by professors who lay down the law
about prehistoric man because they know 10
history.
This IS not a war OF Teutonism against the
Slavs. unless the French are Slays. nor a war
Of Teutonism against the Letius. unless the
Russians are French; nor a war Of TeutOuism
at all. unless the Turks are Teutons. The
Prussiaus Themselves have never taken any
notice OF these racial distinctions in practice,
except that they were always READY 10 grab
one kingdom because o. was TeItouic 81
another because IT. wasn't. The thing we have
20 fght IS a thing much better known 10
history.