LAND AND WATER 
December iS^ 1915. 
THE LIE IN THE SOUL. 
By L. March PhilHpps. 
IN a fomicr article 1 pointed out how very largely 
Cierniajiy owes her ascendency over her allies to her 
philosophy of tyranny ; to the fact that is to say 
that she das thought out and established her im- 
perial system on a basis of ideas, and is able to support 
tyranny with ;irguments and re.isons. There can be no 
doubt at all. cciisiderinp the state of intellectual degrada- 
tion into which r!he part\' of reaction on the Continent had 
fallen at the mcment when German unity was effected, 
that German ide;is have had more to do with the revival 
and heartening o:'. the tyrannic spirit in Europe than any 
other cause. TU: .Vustrian treatticnt of the subject, 
incarnated in Mettcrnich. had drained t\ranny of every 
constructive idea the Prussian treatment, incarnated in 
Bismarck supphed a new framework for its support. 
This being so, it is evident that a correct estimate of 
the Prussian pohtiscal gospel becomes a matter of the first 
importance. Fo? not only does our enemy's cause rest 
upon that basis, but in the long run his strength and en- 
durance and capacity for victory will be determined by the 
merits of liis phiUnsoph}-. Heis lighting to bring a' new 
thought into the -worid. If the thought be sound, and in 
the best interests of mankind, he will succeed in intro- 
ducing it. If the thought be unsound and detrimental to 
man's interests he will fail to introduce it. Therefore, as 
I say, the justice or injustice of the Prussian theory, far 
from being an abilract and academic matter, is one which 
practically and irlimately concerns every one of us. 
Doctrine of Physical Force. 
Now. without allempting here an examination of th^ 
subject which would be beyond our limits, let us glance a*- 
the assumption whicl". lies at the very root of our enemy's 
doctrine, the assumption that a forward movement in civili- 
sation, a progressive intellectual and spiritual culture, can 
be, and in Germany's case must be, prepared for and carried 
through by physical force. Tliis idea of a culture propa- 
gated by force— nay, the sacred obligation which Germany 
is under to use her strength for this end— is the very key- 
note of the modern Gennan philosophy. It is adopted 
as a common standpoint by German thinkers of all grades, 
and the acceptance of it as a rule of conduct is what has 
determined Germany's action among the nations. 
We owe, I have always thought, a great debt to 
Professor Cramb for making this point really clear to us. 
He is perhaps the only man of commanding talent of recent 
times who has contrived to sympathise with the German 
view, and sympathising with it, to exhibit it with vigour 
and conviction. In his eloquent lectures no characteristic 
was more often recurred to and more steadily insisted on 
than the appeal, not only of all German soldiers and poets 
but of all philosophers and thinkers, to the arbitrament of 
the sword. German thought, he used to explain, loves to 
ligure Itself as sown by victorious armies. Sheridan's 
joke about " arguing by platoons, "was Germany's serious 
intention. She conceives her guns charged and her 
bayonets tipped with philosophic truth. No thought 
more thnlls her than that it has been given to her to 
redeem mankind, and that German steel is to make the 
incision whereby the world is to be inoculated with 
German ideas. I would ask the reader to consider, what 
in the light of past experience, is implied in such a conten- 
tion. 
Let me point out to begin with, what is a chief lesson 
of history, that every mode of culture, material, intellec- 
tual and spiritual that has appeared in the world, has been 
advanced and propagated only by means analogous to 
itself. Material culture has been advanced by material 
means, intellectual culture by intellectual means, spiritual 
culture by spiritual means. 
An example or two will make this clear. The Roman 
Empire is the biggest instance on record of the tirst kind of 
propaganda. It developed in an age of general barbarism 
when tlie chief needs were the merely material advantages 
of order and security. These it imposed. It drove roads 
through marshes and forests, it built drains and bridges 
and aqueducts of adamantine concrete, and its legions 
guarded the peace while its justice administered the law. 
Beyond that it did not aspire. Its intellectual ideas it 
borrowed from the Greeks ; its spiritual ideas it picked up 
wherever it could find them. What it prid'sd itself upon, 
what it was really good at, was the propagation of a strictly 
material cultureby strictly material means. 
Intellectual Light. 
Now, from the material, let us take a step up on to the 
intellectual plane. Athens and Florence have been the 
two main sources of intellectual light for mankind, the 
lirst for the old world, the second for the new ; and it will 
be seen that their mission, being loftier than that 
of Rome, being that is to say, not mtiterial but in- 
tellectual, their success depended on their entirely dis- 
carding material means of propagation and adopting 
intellectual means instead. They had not much choice 
perhaps, for. both were diminutive states and could not 
aspire to exert upon the world the least physical compulsion. 
Nevertheless, by v»ay of safeguard, such power as they 
possessed was carefully removed ere their career of in- 
tellectual conquest started. We know what followed. 
The bondage of Athens opened for her the intellectual 
dominion of the world, and her conquest of her con- 
querors was but the tirst step in a career of victory which 
is not ended yet. 
So, too, with Florence. Despots and tyrants crushed 
her national spirit, but the act only set frei; her thoughts, 
as the breaking of the pod sets free the seeds within. The 
tremendous intellectual stimulus which it was her part 
to apply to Europe, and which became known as ihe 
Renaissance of the intellectual faculty, operated quite 
independently of material strength. Indeed, it operates 
still, for even now men turn back, helped by its literature 
and incomparable art, to mingle in the lii'e of the great 
Florentine period and experience over agaiin the intellec- 
tual thrill still communicated by what was once the 
awakening inspiration of the European mind. 
Spiritual Culture. 
Just as physical culture, then, is propagated by 
physical means, so is intellectual culture propagated by 
intellectual means. And if we take another step up onto 
the spiritual plan we shall find that spiritual culture is 
propagated by spiritual means. Buddha and Christ are 
the great types of spiritual enlightenment, and a chief 
point of resemblance between them is the com.pleteness with 
which either cut himself off from the least contagion of 
material influence ere he entered upon his ministry. One 
indeed had from the first nothing to renounce. His career 
from the cradle to the Cross, was planned on purely 
spiritual hnes, unalloyed by the least intrusi.Dn of material 
considerations. The other, born a prince, re aounces every 
vestige of earthly authority and embarks upon his 
mission a beggar and a wanderer along the highways of 
India. But a moment ago we were pointing out how 
Athens and Florence divested themselves of physical 
power in order to execute the intellectual mission with 
which they were charged. Not till they were driven to 
rely on intellect solely did their intellectual empire 
develop. So it is precisely on the spiritual plane. Wliat 
the great spiritual teachers have always done— it is the 
keynote of their teaching— is to trust their cause utteriy 
and entirely to spiritual influence. " Make the trutli 
beautiful, said Joubert, " but do not try to arm it " 
Do not try, he means, to enforce spiritual truths by any 
other than spiritual means. ^ 
^r-J^V^^^^"" will readily perceive why I dwell on this 
point. To my mind, having in view the past history and 
n the^wlf r'r°^ ^'" 'l'^' '^'' ^""^t singlilar proposition 
Z in Y? ^Tf"" Pli''o^«Pliy is that on which it is 
based and foundec, namely, its intention to impose its 
f'o'JJe U;if tl"''"^"^'^!^^*^^^ "P«" -^"^'"^^ l^v main 
niv nhi. f ? '^.'^' themselves I have nothing to do, 
TJ^'^ > "!"''/'' ^",1'""^'^ «"t what is implied in Ger- 
many . method of t^^acluug and spreading them. And in 
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