August- 14; 1915. 
LAND AND WATER. 
v^iractcr, in their tendency on all occasions to mere 
weiglit, and coarseness, and size, a real appreciation of, 
and real agreeriient with, the original motives of later 
Roman construction. The batlis, the palaces, the amphi- 
theatres of Imperial Rome are inspired by this very spirit. 
it is not so much a case, with Berlin architecture, of ex* 
ternal reproduction, of copying this feature or tlia't. It is 
more a case of identity of thinking and feeling culminat- 
ing in identity of expression. Prussian architecture, the 
Prussian classic style, is almost spontaneous. It is much 
more than a mere architect's architecture, as it is with us, 
which no one but the authors ever notice, and which 
expresses nothing tliat anyone else understands or cares 
about. It really does express something that is in the 
national mind, and which appeals to the national 
imagination. 
Prussian and Reman Ideas. 
It does so because of the real similarity between 
Prussian and Roman ideas. Two traits distinguish the 
■iRoman mind. First, its instinctive leaning to practical 
and materialistic conceptions, to the exclusion of all that 
IS spiritual ; and, secondly (which follows from the first). 
Its equally instinctive reliance upon a svstcm of mechani- 
cal control and organisation to the exclusion of any mere 
human impulses or aspirations. The ^\o\e Roman 
Fmpire, its success and growth, its limitations and more 
especially its final collapse, are manifestations of this bias 
of the Roman mind, but, as always happens, in Roman 
art It IS that this bias is most vividly apparent. The in- 
human quality in Roman architecture has nothing in 
common with that aloofness of the Greek style, which, 
though detached, yet in its nobility of thougiit sympa- 
thises with and beckons to the highest aspirations of 
classic thought. The aloofness of the Roman style is the 
:. aloofness of the autocrat and tyrant wiio oppresses, not 
raises. In tiie relics of Roman buildings wlieresoever 
they exist, whether by northern rivers or bv the borders 
of southern deserts, the same character prevails. They 
are strong, they are mighty, they are majestic and 
ostentatious and arrogant, \et thev are mere formulas 
reiterated with the same deadly precision and instinct 
with the same spirit of an iron, mechanical control. 
If the reader remembers Watts's picture of 
"Mammon," that gross, enthroned figure with mas- 
sive but coarse and brutal features, trampling under its 
heavy tread the forms of a youth and a girX he need look 
no further Jor a visible representation of the spirit of 
Prussian architecture. 
Exclusion of Spiritual Aspirations. 
And tlws is why, as it seems to me, tiie Prussian 
genius finds in the roman stvle something not only 
for architects to play with, but something in v.hich it 
can see Us own lineaments, something vvhicii it is really 
like, and therefore has a genuine liking for. The 
Roman style is able to feed on Prussian life. It redis- 
covers, indeed, just what it fed on in the old days— 
the same materialistic bias of mind„flie same reliance on 
strength and weight and an elaborate organisation, to the 
exclusion of all the inward spiritual aspirations of man- 
kind. One is tempted to believe that, if Prussian taste 
had never had Roman models to draw upon, it would 
have invented something similar to meet its own wants. 
In short, Prussia's inclination, so evident in the terrible 
Berlin architecture, not only towards Roman models, 
» but in favour especially of tiie elements of coarseness 
and brutality in those models, has all the appearance 
of being a genuine national inclination. Hence it has 
resulted in a kind of architecture having the consistency 
and coherence of a style; an architecture guided, in its 
selection of features and in the use of them, by a defi- 
nite object. As for tliat object, I can only explain it 
as a de^sire to concentrate upon and enhance and weave 
into the motives and tests of a style those very attri- 
biites of coarsefle^s and brutality in whidi Roman archi- 
tecture IS so rich. Prussia is proud of her modern style 
because she feels that it" expresses tier own soW, and. 
indeed, whoever opens a book by a German about 
Germany and examines 'the thought contained in the 
book, and then turns to this new architecture, will per- 
ceive that in this Prussia is right. The architecture does 
express her own soul. The coarseness of its ifttellectual 
quality and its satisfied materialism, no less than its 
entire elimination of every spiritual suggestion.* are 
corroborated by the general character of the thought of 
the nation. ^ 
Art and Life. 
Were this a matter which concerns Prussia alone 
we should look on and indulge in a little harmless art 
criticism, and the matter would end there. But the 
fact that we are dealing to-day, not with a theory o( 
art only, but with a theory of life, lends to the situa, 
lion a terrible practical reality. The spirit that lurka 
• in the ponderous facades of Berlin and in the Gargan- 
tuan statues of the Ilohenzollern dynasty is the spirit 
that IS in arms against us. When the German papers 
declared that Belgium should be recompensed for her 
k)ss of ancient buildings by a choice assortment of 
Uerman masterpieces, they were hinting at a process 
of substitution which Germany hopes to apply not in 
the domain of art only, but in the domain of' thought 
xiM ' . ■" ^'"^ '^ ^''^ essence of German " culture." 
When she says to Belgium: " Be happy; the spires 
and soaring vaults and inward burning colour which I 
have destroyed I will replace b>- some grandiose 
mechanical composition turned out by the Prussian 
machine "she is in effect explaining to the world the 
nature of the mission with which she has been entrusted, 
which IS to eliminate spiritual aspiration and spiritual 
en_deayour .n favour of the Prussian gospel of physical 
Doctrine of Physical Might. 
For this reason it is tiiat what I have called the' 
break of Germany with the past is a matter which so 
vitally concerns us all. I-or if she can have her way 
with us she will force us to the same breach. Of this 
famous culture of hers, this gospel whicli she has to 
preach, the very essence is that wlint entered into our 
lives during the median^il age-spiritual susceptibility 
and the Idea of inward spiritual vision— shall be re- 
placed by her own theory of a purely rational philosophy. 
That IS her thought; her contribution to the enlighten- 
ment of the world. On that thought the new German 
fcmpire is to be founded, and that thought, by the 
strong argument of physical might, the German 
t-mpire is to promulgate to the world. 
Therefore, I say, when we fight Prussia we are 
fighting not for visible Gothic shrines only and to save 
what we love and venerate in stone and marble from tlie 
hand of the spoiler. But we are fighting on behalf 
ot the very same emotions which onoe incarnated them- 
selves m these visible forms and to preserve the same 
spiritual hope within our own hearts. 
Lady Sniith-Dorrien much regrets that she is unable to 
acknowledge before next month tiio receipt of hospital bags 
arriving at 21, Eaton-terrace after the Isl; inst., as lier 
receiving dqjot closed on that date until Septemljcr 15, as 
previously announced. She has now despatched 300,000 bags 
to the Casualty Clearing Stations in France and in the 
Mediterranean. 
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