New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
Perverted Idealism.

Writers. like Bernard Shaw, who are
always praising the candid realism of the
German mind in contrast with the so-cailed
sentimental idealism and alleged moral
hypocrisy Of the British will find little IN
the recent speech Of the Kaiser to back
up their arguments. When the perpe-
traitors of "frightfulness' in Belgium and
the submarine outrages answered the pro-
tests of a scandalized civilized world by
saving that such things were necessary,
their defence. however unconvincing, was
a challenge which the unromantic Shavlan
intellect might understand.
But when a ruler, engaged in the most
murderous war the world has ever known
claims for his act the sanction Of Christs
teaching. persists in this enlightened age
in regarding himself as the agent Of the
Almighty. and pauses to urge his soldiers
"to study thoroughly" the personality OF
Jesus and make Him the ideal OF their
practical life" Mr.. Shaw's caricature Of
Sir Edward Grey. the pOseur, fades into
insignifcance.
In striking contrast with the kaiser's
speech is the sentiment expressed IN the
current number Of "The Atlantic Monthly
by Arthur Christopher Benson, the Eng
Ish writer. himself Christian by birth
and training and the son Of former
archbishop. He says;
at will be deeply interesting 10 see
what effect the war will have on cur
rent conceptions Of Christianity
myself feel so clear on the point
that the only hope of civilization lies
in the crushing root and branch Of the
aggressive ideals Of Germany that l
am forced 10 consider whether ! am
entitled to call myself a Christian
honestly and sincerely. If non
resistance is a principle of Christian
ity. then certainly am not Chris
tian. ! feel that this war has
put Christian principles to the sever
est test ever applied to them
expect that thoughtful people will be
forced to ask themselves whether a
society that bases its life so largely
on the accumulation of wealth can
continue to believe that it is in any
real sense Christianized."
Mr.. Benson has at least the courage to
face the moral situation as 1t is. Most
people now who are honest with them
selves are asking this same question. But
no such self-analysis is evident at Berlin.
To many people the professed pietism OF
the Kaiser appears hypocritical. 1t is not
necessarily so. Bismarck In the midst
of his most ruthless campaigns never
could see anything inconsistent between
his policy of "Blood and Iron" and the
teachings of the Sermon on the Mount
Some of the most cruel tyrants in history,
like the Emperor Charles V, have been
able to keep the most child-like piety COM
pletely insulated from all contact with con-
crete reality or daily conduct.
Emperor Williams recent talk simply
reveals him as a well known type of senti-
mentalist. He is so obsessed by certain
abstract ideas Of the divine mission OF
the State" the supremacy of "kultur, the
absolute nature Of duty" "glory" and
'honor" that he can see nothing un-Chris-
tian in sacrificing to these idols everything
human and real. 1t is this same sort Of
mad ideal-worship, derived from abstrac-
tionists like Kant, Hegel and Fichte,
rather than (as many Americans imagine)
from Nietzsche, that has led the whole
Prussan war party astray and thrown
their conduct out of adjustment to the
human world around them. 1t was out Of
such upside-down idealists that lbsen
constructed the villains Of his plays, and
the surprising thing is that Bernard Shaw,
sharp-eyed thinker that he is, does not
see at once who is the colossal self-deluded
idealist in this conflict.
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