LAND A N D \\ A T E R . 
December 23, 1915. 
GERMANY VIEWED BY A SWEDE. 
G 
By the. Editor. 
F.RMAXISM has become a national or race 
term brought into being by the modern 
nationalist aspirations, so that the word has 
come to stand for interest in the racial unity 
of (lermanic peoples A feeling was 
created that Germany should assume the mastery of — 
not only an understanding with all nations related to 
the (iermans without regard to material and historical 
factors. That these theories have borne fruit is evident 
from the fate of Schleswig and Alsace Lorraine in our 
own time." 
It would be difficult to summarise more succinctly 
the inner meaning of the Cierman menace to the peace 
of the world, which tuially found expression in August 
1914, than in this citation from " Before During and 
After 1914," by Dr. Anton Nystrom. (Heinemann, 
7s. 6d.) Dr. Nystrom is one of the most distinguished 
sons of Sweden. Mr. Edmund (losse in his introduction 
de-cribes his intellectual activities. He has travelled 
widely in Europe ; he is familiar with the literature of 
European nations ; some twenty years ago he wrote a 
r.eneral History of Civilisation which is a standard work 
in Sweden ; and in 1902 he visited Alsace-Lorraine and 
recounted his impressions in a volume which was published 
simultaneously in Swedish, French and German, in which 
he proposed a return of the pro\inces to France in ex- 
change for a cession to Germany of some of the French 
colonies, a solution which he fancied might lead to a 
settled peace. To the writing of this volume Dr. Nystrom 
therefore brought intimate knowledge and sound scholar- 
ship : when the manuscript was being prepared the 
war had been in progress nine months, and as Mr. Gosse 
truly remarks, " the very fact that an admiration of 
German methods and an indulgence for German kiiltt(r 
ha\'e been more widely spread in Sweden than anywhere 
else outside the borders of the Central Empires, gives a 
special value to the opinion of those Swedes who have 
liad th? courage to oppose the stream of lying literature 
steadily flowing, from Berlin." 
An Appropriate Book. 
This book has appeared at an appropriate moment. 
In these overwhelming times, when new problems con- 
stantly arise all over the surface of the globe, when places 
we ha\e hardly heard of before suddenly assume 
immense importance, and tribes and races of whose 
\ery existence we were ignorant, exercise a preponderating 
significance in this or that part of the arena, it is 
little wonder that the busy man and woman who is 
neither scholar nor historian should overlook and well- 
' nigh forget the essential facts which led up to the war. 
In this mental confusion and forgetfulness the pacifist is 
apt to find an easy medium for pernicious propaganda. 
A textbook that elucidates the European situation in the 
summer of 1914, and summarises in a clear and simple 
<orm the complicated negotiations at the end of July 
with the contradictory statements that ensued on the 
declaration of war was badly wanted. We have it here, 
and it is the more valuable in that it is prepared not by a 
belligerent but by a Neutral, that is to say, by a writer 
who is in a position to consider these things from an 
entirely detached point of view. The translation by 
Mr. H. G. de Watterstorff seems to be well done. 
The doctrine which attempts are now being made to 
popularise that all nationality is wrong and that hence- 
forth we should regard ourselves as universal brothers is 
not by any means a new one. Curiously enough as Dr. 
Nystrom reminds us, its ablest expounder was a Prussian 
(not a modern Prussian). In 1795- in the middle of tlic 
French Revolution Kant published his Philosopiiic 
Argument for Perpetual Peace and showed " how peace 
might rest on a union of free States embracing the whole 
of Europe and represented by a permanent Congress. 
The first condition was however that all States should be 
republican, for whilst a king has little hesitation in declaring 
war, a democracy will go to great lengths to avoid it, 
knowing the burdens and the sufferings to which it will 
be exposed." Nowadays we know that there is no more 
saving grace in a mere Republic than there isinherent evil 
in the kingly office : it is constitutional government in iljt; 
best sense that is the first essential condition, and by con- 
stitutional government we imply the right of a free people 
to make their own laws, define their own sense of liberty 
and develop their national life in their own way without 
interference from their neighbours, liow can such an 
international condition exist in Europe so long as German- 
ism, which is only Prussianism writ large, survives. 
Prussian Ruthlessness. 
Writes Dr. N\strom out of personal knowledge : " The 
Prussian Government has ever since the annexation 
of Schleswig attempted a systematic and ruthless 
suppression of the Danish language amongst the 
Danish Schleswigers and has persecuted them for 
any tokens of affection for their old country Denmark." 
It 'has been the same in Poland, the same in Alsace- 
Lorraine, and so long as this spirit continues and with it 
the determination to bring into similar subjection sooner 
or later other peoples and provinces, how can one hope 
for a peace that shall endure ? Sixteen months ago Presi- 
dent Poincare declared, " France represents to-day 
before the world the cause of liberty of justice and of 
reason." That cause is the cause of the Allies, and until 
it triumphs and its enemies are trampled under foot there 
cannot be a lasting peace. But let it never be forgotten 
that nationality can stand for principles as well as for 
possessions, which in tmth is one secret of Britain's 
success as a coloniser. She bas c.n the whole been stead- 
fast to her principles, often under difficulties. 
We have only given a partial view of this admirable 
work, but we hope what we have said may induce many 
to read it. It is a book to be added to every man's private 
library, and having a good index it is an easy book of 
reference. Towards the end a chapter is devoted to the 
brutal manner in which the war has been waged. This 
one sentence is a sufficient illustration of the author's 
opinion : " No one says that the German is a barbarian, 
but it is the universal opinion of Europe that some (ier- 
mans have conducted themselves as barbarians, nay as Huns 
in this war, and that the Chief High Command has given 
voice to sentiments which coupled with the ever-demoral- 
ising war have brutalised many German soldiers." Peace 
only can endure, says Dr. Nystrom, if Germans banish 
military Germanism and pave the way for renewed sym- 
pathy for the good that lives in Germany. To Kant 
war was a blot on the human race ; to Bernhardi war 
is of God's making. Which is to be Germany's accepted 
opinion in the future ? 
Debrett's Peerage for 1916, under the editorship of Mr. 
Arthur Heselrig, strikes a new note in its preface, for it 
contains a Roll of Honour (the first of the kind to bs pub- 
lished) of all those in " Debrett," some 800 names in all {i.e., 
10 per cent, of the total officers' death-roll), who have been 
reported as killed in action or as having died of wounds sinca 
the beginning of the war. It is a historical document, which 
the editor has^ carefully analysed. It is unnecessary to add 
that "Debrett" is as complete and accurate as ever. 
■ A few weeks before the war began Mr. West F. de Wend- 
Fenton acquired Edmund Yates' old paper The Wor!i>, and 
smce .August, 1914, he has week by week been writing vigorous 
articles on the war in that journal. Many of these he has now 
collected and published in a shilling book entitled Realities. 
Mr. de Wend-Fenton has a vigorous pen, and is not afraid to 
say what he thinks. His article on " The Dardanelles," 
published last June, shows he was among the first publicists 
to realise the true position, out there. 
An extremely handy little pocket manual for officers in 
trammg is On Taking Bearings, bv H. P. WaUh ( John Murray, 
IS. net), which deals fairlv exhaustively with the use of the 
compass, the protractor, and the prismatic compass. The 
book IS intended to simplifv the difficulties attendant on this 
subject for those who ha\'c to compress a multitude of subjects 
into a very short timi. The appendix on scales of vards 
forms a useful addition to the main part of the work, which 
IS a handy little book for the junior officer both in training 
and- especially in the case of artillery officers in tlic field 
14 
