The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-01-19

AhoSC VINO Iounu y1s1 u LSN0 Ifnc
for probing and criticising our own
part could never JOIN the tremendous
sH-overflowlng host OF raving yeifers
who plunged cur poor fatherland into
blood and horror,
/. TX v - ----E-- - - -rT-s
lion OF blame for the war to search
for individual culprits, or are those
in the right who are offhand con-
demntng the whole people? ! believe
! moth courses are -correct.-One must
separate In this world holocaust gem
eral causes from particular ones One
must and can properly and Justly
speak of three castles of blame:
Universal guilt of the whole CIV
ilixed world.
National and particular guilt of
the German people
Especially grave guilt of indi-
viduals
The whole life OF the civilized peo-
pies had become a great lie. Out
wardly, thanks to the development OF
technique and the means of interna-
t1onaI intercourse, nations and tndi-
viduals had come closer and closer to-
gether. World commerce, world ship
ping. world postal service and all sorts
"a ASAtoAlouS fbAA AoE HlG1 inc
outer fringe Of a possible general
arnalgamation OF the peoples of the
world The remotest points OF the
globe had been brought into easy and
intimate touch.
But beneath this surface seetaed
and fermented the uglieSt and basest
forces and passions: under the de-
ceptive veneer of peaceful co-opera-
ton that had come to life vicious
maelstrom OF inner confusion.
In former times when there were
newspapers. the various peoples
were far more widely separated out
wardly than In the age OF technical
achievements and highly developed tn
tet-nattonaI intercourse. But this out
ward separation was vitiated by much
stronger spiritual ties and far great
er inward equality.
Our peace has always been m artt-
fcial state. Even our former pa<ifism.
preached by only n very few and ar
rogantiy rtdicnled by most OF us, was
disturbance of the quiet by wariike
roise, nothing but the longing for
peaceful, material enjoyment
Beneath the ven OF certain polite
forms there had arisen an insane jeai-
ousy, rivalry. envy and hatred among
all the civilized peoples Of the earth /:
an insane. maniacial race for the good
things OF the world.
And thus we stood actually ready
TO go the way of Niniveh and Babylon.
because in the innermost OF our souls
we were not fair, and just--husin esq
mad and malicious.
That Ia and that remains the guilt
Of the world In this war whose last
roots undoubtedly lie in the general
condition of the human mentality as it
had developed since the Napoleonic
wars in Europe.
Machlavellism, whose poison had
bean eating away everywhere since the
renaissance had remained victor
"along the entire 'front.'
Added to this came the specific
guilt of the German people. In the
| course OF our material evolution.
| crowned by success. affected deeply
| by the Bismarkian era and by the
/ Internal economic rise in tho eighties
1 and nincties we had not noticed that
the German spirit Of the times had
| begun to drift apart, to differentiAte
itself materially from the rest Of the
world.
Snugfy we summed ourselves IN our
mustached ser-assrance. Tneat-
| ricaIfy we fiourtshed the shining
| sword. The military trend OF thought
| had risen and II grew and grew. Our
educated civilians, teachers and pro-
| fessors,s Judges and ministers huggod
! and ycuddled and spread IT, y, Through
the medium Of tho resorve cancers
I casts. II bexnn 10 pervade tbs indus
trial circles as wen Throughout the
! German nation the-purely- military
| grew and spread.
And all the while the rest Of the
European hemisphere was slowly. but
| with visible consequence. moving
away from the viewpoint Of iron pre-
| parednesS"
The western peoples but aAsD p&rtly
the southern and eastern nations OF
Europe, were done with the absolute
domination of the ultima ratio
baypnets. They had learned grAdu-
| ally to know and value the advantages
Of prudent policy OF concilliafion-
| In Germany, under the pressure Of
the Napoleonic persecution IN the
/ course OF the decades the spirit OF
! potsdam had triumphed over the
spirit OF Wetmar (the Goethe city)
! which was comprehenAbIe and par
/ donable. though fatal from the very
realistic POLITICAL standpoint which
was so much talked about.
! For the German nation. bs1ng q
central nation, should BY virtue OF
their Very position have rejected the
idea OF an isolated military state. The
geographical situation OF Germany
forces upon her q mission Of Alliance
and friendship with her neighbors,
not that OF a threatening isolation
based upon bayonets.
1t is precisely the nation IN the
middle" as 1t wcr~. that should
foster the idea Of right and Justice.
not OF might. and that b why
Treitxschke and all tho other unholy
prophets OF national Isolation proved
the harbingers and inspiratore Of the
catastrophal misfortune THAT has be-
fallen US ~
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