THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



DOO 



attained. In a word, to show what Prus- 

 sianism means when translated into ac- 

 tion. 



GOETHE'S ESTIMATE} OF THE PRUSSIANS 



But we ought not to be surprised at 

 these terrible manifestations of f rightful- 

 ness, in view of the past record of Prus- 

 sia. It was Goethe, I think, who said, 

 "The Prussians are naturally cruel; civ- 

 ilization will make them ferocious." It 

 has made them ferocious. Acquired sci- 

 ence merely gave them increased inge- 

 nuity in the indulgence of their passion 

 for cruelty. 



Let me read you an extract from an 

 article which appeared in the Fortnightly 

 Review of February, 1871 ; and, as I 

 read, remember this was written of the 

 German invasion of France nearly half 

 a century ago. It might have been writ- 

 ten in February, 191 5, so truly does it 

 portray Prussianism as we know it today : 



"For six months one-third of France 

 has been given up to fire and sword. 

 For 300 or 400 miles vast armies have 

 poured on. Every village they have 

 passed through has been the victim of 

 what is only an organized pillage. Every 

 city has been practically sacked, ran- 

 sacked on system; its citizens plundered, 

 its civil officials terrorized, imprisoned, 

 outraged, or killed. 



"The civil population has been, con- 

 trary to the usage of modern warfare, 

 forced to serve the invading armies, bru- 

 tally put to death, reduced to wholesale 

 starvation and desolation. Vast tracts 

 of the richest and most industrious dis- 

 tricts of Europe have been deliberately 

 stripped and plunged into famine, solely 

 in order that the invaders might make 

 war cheaply. 



"Irregular troops, contrary to all the 

 practices of war, have been systematically 

 murdered, and civil populations indis- 

 criminately massacred, solely to spread 

 terror. A regular system of ingenious 

 terrorism has been directed against civil- 

 ians, as horrible as anything in the his- 

 tory of civil or religious wars. 



"Large and populous cities have been, 

 not once, but twenty, thirty, forty times, 

 bombarded and burnt, and the women 

 and children in them wantonly slaugh- 

 tered, with the sole object of inflicting 



suffering. All this has been done, not in 

 license or passion, but by the calculating 

 ferocity of scientific soldiers." 



And yet the world, in spite of this 

 hideous picture of Prussianism, failed to 

 read the truth or to profit by it. Today 

 the beast is again at large, devouring the 

 helpless victims who fall into his power. 

 Has not the time come to end this fiend- 

 ishness? 



Much as enlightened mankind may re- 

 volt at the idea, the only way to stay this 

 onrush of blood and desolation, which is 

 the direct consequence of the mad im- 

 pulses which now hold sway over the 

 German mind, is to prove conclusively 

 that the Prussian masters of Germany, 

 though they are armed with the full 

 strength of the Empire and of its sub- 

 servient allies, do not possess the physical 

 might to impose their will on the human 

 race, that the ancient gods of the Teu- 

 tons are false gods, and that the philos- 

 ophy which has cast over the German 

 people a robe of superior attributes is 

 the product of a consuming vanity and 

 pride. 



This idea is distasteful, as it should be, 

 to a world which loves peace and craves 

 repose, because the only instrument 

 which can be employed is force of arms. 

 It means war, unceasing war, until the 

 arrogant and brutal Prussians are hum- 

 bled, until the Kaiser and his military 

 chieftains despair of their ambitions. 

 until the German people realize that their 

 insolent lords are not touched by divine 

 fire and do not have at their command 

 the powers of heaven. 



THE WORLD NEVER AGAIN TO BE VICTIM- 

 IZED BY PRUSSIAN PEREIDY 



The great free nations of the globe 

 have the task laid upon them to destroy 

 the spirit of Prussianism. This they 

 must accomplish if they would preserve 

 for the future those rights of man which 

 it has taken centuries of struggle to wrest 

 from the grasp of despotism. 



If the German Government as it is now 

 constituted should succeed to any extent 

 in its purposes, or even if it should not 

 be defeated in the present war, the doc- 

 trine and hopes which are now dominant 

 over the German people will not die. 

 Peace under such conditions could hardlv 



