New-York tribune., 1918-09-07

barbarism," still less implore the AL
mighty to avert such catastrophe.
And when words like these are spoken
by the German Chancellor the first i'm
hypocrite, who does the wrong and first
begins to brawl This tender concern
for European culture comes with i'll
grace from the destroyers Of Louvan
and Rheims. Who are the ravishers of
Belgium and Serbia, to prate of "the
misery Of barbarism" they themselves
barbarians, who have wrought misery
everywhere?
1t is easier, however, to believe in
Won Hertling's sincerity than to impute
to him hypocrisy. 1t would require
triple front of brass for man who
realized the depth of German infamy
to condone or defend it. If Won Hert-
ling really understands how and why his
country has won the loathng of the
world, he is moral monstrosity in ap-
pealing to God as a witness FOR the de-
fence. But he is not speaking merely
for himself; he is speaking for his coun-
trymen; and we cannot fathom the mo-
tives which sway .hem if we call him
and them moral monsters and let it go
at that. Memo repente fat tawpissimus
That is as true of peoples as of indi
viduals. Germany began her descent to
the lower world years ago and she is
continuing it now with increasing rapid
ity. The Germans confound European
culture with their own because they
really believe that their own sets the
pace. To be German is to be every
thing desirable. They apply Arnod's
definition, "The best that is known and
thought in the world" with naive
egosm to themselves. 1t is inconceiv-
able to them that the whole human race
should not adopt their point of view.
The 1nquisition, as Macaulay put it,
burned mems bodies to save their souls
In somewhat similar fashion Germany
would make others Germans at any cost
Hers is a gospel to be preached with
fire and sword. The paradox is not new
to history, though never before has it
been enforced with so remorseless a
logic. The theory that there is one
superefficient nation capable of univer-
sal rule implies the corollary that it's
rule must become universal. To wreck
cathedrals, to burn libraries, to devas-
tate fertile lands, to kill women and
children--these are but evil necessities
in the cause of the German good. The
Germans behave precisely like the saw
age tribes from which they are de-
scended, because in all these years they
have not sloughed off their savagery.
They have the savages contempt for
every custom but their own; they have
the savage's rage against all they do not
practise or understand. What Tacitus
said of them is as true as ever it was.
Their very sincerity is thus more dan
gerous than hypocrisy would be- If they
could be made to see what their Offend
ing was, the medicine Of defeat might
be salutary. But when Won Hertling
talks about european culture" and
"the misery Of barbarism' he shows
once more the impossibility of argument
with such a people We are likely to think
of the Germany that we know as the
product of the last fifty years But the
German disease goes much deeper than
that. We find symptoms of it from the
very beginning. 1t exists in the pages
of Schiller as we'll as in the pages of
Treitschke. TO deliver the world from
the contagion will require nothing less
than a surgical operation And even
then the recovery of the patient will be
doubtful