Evening star., 1916-06-04
BOOK REVIEWS.

-N Some Words to Professor Whirl-
wind" whose name in the original
German is too much" for Mr..
('hesterton. the writer makes a
sardoniC review of the recent
crimes of England. these look from
the place where the Prussian junker
stands As he moves forward in his
survey from this point of view, Mr..
Chesterton throws out airy comments
on the Prussian methods of ohserva-
ton, and offers hlithe suggestions for
bringing the junker brain up to the
adult stage of functioning. This re-
view of imaginary crimes completed,
the writer turns to a consideration of
what to him are the real crimes of
England. These mount to the sum of
EngIand's friendship for Germany. w e
were very wrong he says. when we
took part in preventing Europe from
putting a term to the impious piracies
of Frederick the Great" And. again,
I'VE were very wrong, indeed. when We
allowed the triumph over Napoleon to
he soiled with the mire and blood of
Plucher's sullen savageS. We were
very wrong. indeed. when we allowed
the peaceful King of Denmark TO be
robbed IN hrOdd 0d\I2nI BE a pTiSduu
named Bismarck: and when we allowed
the PruSsian SwashbucklerS to enS1ave
and silence the French provinces which
they could neither govern nor per-
suade' We We're very wrong. indeed.
when we flung to such hungry adven-
turers a position so important as
HeIiroIand'' We We're very wrong.
indeed. when praised the sou1less
Prussian education and copied the soul
less PrusSian laws" With these half
n.
Hfr. Chesterton produces series of his
torical essays. each bitterly con-
temptuous chastisement of England for
the sin of its easy-going friendship
with Germany, each the brilliant sum-
mary of critical point in this friend
shin. Then Mr. Chesterton passes from
the sleep of his country. as he calls it,
to the awakening of England. to Eng
land she is at the present moment
He closes with the English at the battle
of the Marne. with the English and
the French, "a league of all knights
for the remains of all knighthood. Of all
brotherhood in arms or in arts. against
that which is and has been radically
unknightly and radically unbrotherly
from the beginning. Much was to hap
pen after-murder and family folly and
madness in earth and sea and sky: but
all men knew in their hearts that the
third Prussian thrust had failed. that
Christendom was delivered once more.
The empire of blood and iron rolled
northern forests, and the great nations
of the west went forward. where, side
by side. after a long lovers quarrel.
went the ensigns of st. Denys and st.
George.
THE EUROPEAN ANARCHY. By G.
loves Dickinson. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
For the greater part, writers on the
war are. in a certain respect much like
the belligerents themselves. Engrossed
completely with one side of the conflict,
they fail to appreciate or even to sense,
the equal urgencies of the other side
With the writers. il is this single point
of view on the one hand, or the use of
two distinct standards of appraisal on
the other. that is responsible for the
mass of one-sided war studies that the
present is producing. The book in
hand stands in sharp contrast to these
half sketches By the simple and log
ical use of one standard of measure
ment for allies and central powers
alike, the writer puts one in possession
of a consistently co-ordinated summary
of the European situation. This he des-
ignates the European anarchy-a sit
uation of essential lawlessness, based
on the neck-and-neck race for sI-
premacy that the European nations are
making, and sustained by the Jealousy,
suspicion. selfshness and prolific get
ahead policies that, in varying degrees,
underlie all competition.
conceding that the immediate re-
sponsibi1ity for the war rests upon Ger
many. the writer devotes the larger
part of this admirably fair-minded
study to an exposition of the larger
and more general responsibility of all
the powers alike for the anarchy that
in complexity and virulence, has been
growing since the emergence of the
sovereign state at the end of the If
teenth century. II is in this long roll
of historical development that Mr.
Dickinson places the few days of di-
plomacy preceding the war, giving to
these few eventfui days, by this means
tnelr proper position and bearing and
significance, in an infinitely extended
and complex web of events. And this is
the prime value of this exceptional
study. The writer is no apologist for
the Germans He is, however. thor
ouchly familiar with the history Of
European diplomacy, a history which
70 the discerning sums, mainly, to
critical points of diplomatic sharp
practice wherein all the nations share
in culpability- Turning from this re-
view the author faces upon the future
TO the immediate future when the
world must choose between the forces
OF destruction and those of salvation
when the nations must submit TO law
ana. reserve the exercise Of force for
the coercion of the 1awhreaker r. n
however. with the analysis of the pres
ent situation that Mr.. Dickinson-htm-
SELF an Eng1ishnnan-stands at the
fronffor-the authority and fa5r-nin5 .
edness ofshfs-tffscussion.
BECfUsE Fam A GERMAN. Nv Her
mann Fernau- Edited with an In
troducftnn by T. w. Ruueeaon New
York: z. p. Iritton & Co.
A fs'Uanaorrensa ago 'Eaeouse.- writ
ten by asf7hEroan--as act OF patriotic
duty for the enlightenment of a de-
cefved and betrayed German people,
brought outsfronn the fssiesian author
fttes a storm of Denial and execration
Of the German scoundrei' who wrote
II. "J'Accuse'' makes formal cate
eorfcaI charge that the war ,s a crime.
accompanying rhfs with the demand
that the instIgators and perpetrators
Of this crime be brought to such legal
Judgment as the naelke of. thfs- crime
entails. because I Am German
takes its place beside "J'Accuse" re-
affirming its chsrges. coinciding with
its deliberations. Endorsing Ms judg-
Tnents and Joining with the earlier
writer IN whole-hearfed desire to let
the body OF the German people know
many Of the things that have so sedu-
!oUsly been hidden from them The
sustained and close thinking argume M
Of this thesis leads to the conclusion
that war is never logical conse-
uuence" nor necessary result" but
rather that war is wdl"-'.not the
will Of revengefuI God nor of any
other supernatural power, but the will