14 
LAND & WATER 
April 13, 191G 
sense. But suiely it is ubvious llia.t the three Powers 
cannot have combined to achieve these objects, for the 
simple reason that thej' arc incompatible. Whatever a 
French hej^emony may mean, it cannot possibly mean 
the balance of power. And if Russia is offering Kurope 
the fate of Poland and Finland, that is the fate of being 
ruled by Russia, she is offering something which cannot 
possibly be either the balance of power or a French 
hegemony. We must therefore suppose that the three 
conspirators agreed in a common plan, because each was 
seeking something which the other two must of necessity 
be the first people in the world to prevent. The alterna- 
tive to this incredible cross-purposes is, of course, the 
simple fact that the three Allies really had a common 
ground — and a good one. It was resistance to the one 
power that really did claim a hegemony, and really 
did threaten other people with the fate of Poland — for 
which she was primarily and originally responsible. 
Three Important Admissions 
All that the Chancellor has here really succeeded in 
doing is making by implication three rather important 
admissions, which he would probably rather not make. 
First, he admits that, in spite of all the talk about the 
earth-devouring British ogre, Britain really desired all 
powers to remain powerfid and on a sort of equality. 
Second, he admits that, in spite of the talk about the 
decadence and disappearance of France, that country 
has still a considerable chance of playing the first part in 
Europe. And third, in the case of Russia and l^oland, 
he admits that the one consistent and conspicuous piece 
of advice that Prussia ever gave to Russia was un- 
commonly bad advice ; which was indeed the case. 
Prussia first proposed and pressed the Partition of 
Poland. She afterwards prevented the emancipation of 
Poland. She has since incessantly bragged of the 
natural inferiority of Poland and the complete subjuga- 
tion of Poland. She now says, with an unsmiling visage, 
that she will not give poor Poland to shocking improper 
Russia ; though it was only by her own wish that Poland 
was ever given to anybody. Much might be said in a 
gay and pleasurable spirit about this attitude, or antic, 
but for practical purposes a simple and sober fact will 
sultice ; and that is the fact that nobody ever heard, or 
dreamed of hearing, a Prussian talk in such a tone until 
after the Battle of the Marne. 
Here I merely remark on the advantage of hearing the 
Imperial Chancellor publicly repudiate the chief work of 
Frederick the Great. It is not the only confession of 
somewhat the same kind. It is worth while to note one 
other implied admission, which may have been more 
intentional, the contrast made between Germany's 
present aims and her aims in 1870. " when Germany 
was dreaming of Alsace and Empire." No (ierman 
wx)uld deliberately dissociate himself from any imitation of 
Moltke and the example of Alsace, if he were not bidding 
cautiously for peace. Truly, Germany is not now 
thinking of Alsace — in that sense. She has become 
magnanimous. She is not troubled about getting her 
neighbour's goods, but only about keeping them. 
The hrst stamp of this sort of stuff is an illogical vanity : 
The second is an utterly dead and disembodied pedantry. 
The best summary of it is Rousseau's " nier ce qui 
est, cl cxpliqucr cc qui n'esl pas." The Prussian is an out- 
law and the enemy of everything in existence ; but he 
is v.ry careful in j)reserving the things which do not 
exist. Thus, there was and is a compact, unmistakable, 
indepentlent kingdom called Belgium ; which he and 
everyone else not only recognised but guaranteed. He 
has "suddenly and savagely overpowered it, and now 
says there must be a new Belgium, by which he means, of 
course, a German Belgium. That is, we are to declare to 
all future ages that any prince who chooses to invade a 
weaker country shall be rewarded with that country 
even if he is conquered. 
So far the thing, though a joke, might be held to be an 
old joke. This is not the first though it might well be 
tlic worst case of a kind of impudence which, bring also 
impenitence, may quite properly be called damin'd impu- 
dence. But what is unique and German, what would 
only be conceivable in a (ierman is the fact that the 
Chancellor covers up this moral tragedy with a sort of 
scientific fairv tale. He suddenly becomes very much 
excited on behalf of something which he calls " the long 
suppressed Flemish race," which must have something 
which he' calls " a sound evolution " based on its national 
character. The Flemish race would seem to ha\c been so 
long and so successfully suppressed that the Flemings 
have forgotten all about it ; and arc all fighting tooth 
and nail for a country which they call Belgium. No 
doubt if the Germans were still in a position to do so, 
they would invade England to provide a sound evolution 
for the Jutish race ; but I will not speculate, for even in 
answering such words one wanders out of the land of the 
living. It is as if a man who had just cut my mother 
into small pieces told me he had been very careful of 
her astral bod}'. 
The Chancellor remarks that Germany is the only 
state threatened with destruction. If we may take this 
as meaning that Prussia is the only country that the 
Allies, or any othei people in the civilised world, have any 
reason for putting under lock and key, it may be true. 
If it means that the Allies and the civilised world will 
probably be in a position at the end of the war to put 
Prussia under lock and kej', this also we may concede to 
the eager intelligence of the Imperial Chancellor. But it 
might be noted, as a preliminary point of fact, that what- 
ever nation may be threatened with destruction at the 
end of the war, at least two nations were threatened with 
destruction at the beginning of the war, and were actually 
visited with practical destruction in the course of the 
war. The indejjendencc of these two nations was 
threatened by Germans alone, and was destroyed by 
Germans alone. The sovereignty of Serbia and the 
neutrality of Belgium were abolished at a blow by the 
Teutonic Powers, not as part of a difficult settlement of 
Europe, but as part of a perfectly wanton unsettlement 
of it. Whether or no any sort of annexation would be 
Europe's last word to Germany, it was certainly Germany's 
first act against Europe. 
The Chancellor indicates, so far as I can follow him, 
that he is too refined to reply to Mr. Asquith because this 
would be replying to " personal calumny " ; as if Mr. 
Asquith had accused him of bigamy or stealing bicycle's. 
So far as I know, the very simple substance of Mr. 
Asquith's just indignation consisted in saying that it was 
wrong to invade Belgium ; and I cannot understand how 
Mr. Ascpiith can indulge in calumny by saying of tint 
Chancellor what the Chancellor said of himself. 
A Misapprehension 
Touching the whole of that matter there is only one 
thing which we particularly need to say. Upon one point 
the Chancellor seems to be under a misapprehension. 
He seems to suppose that because he has behaved like 
an anarchist, he has turned the world into an anarchy. 
He thinks that the mere fact, which we are ready to con- 
cede to him, that (icrmany has broken the civilisation of 
the world into pieces, means that we ha%'e entirely for- 
gotten how it was put together, and shall be content 
with any patchwork he may pick and choose for us. In 
short, he thinks that his bravoes have not only knocked 
us on the head, but knocked us silly ; so that we. has'c 
forgotten our father's name and our baptism and even 
tiic wrong that he has done us. He is mistaken. The 
story of the German adventure has been dreadful ; but 
we do not find it in the least dubious. It is the character 
of a crime to shock, but it need not of necessity bewilder : 
and in this we do not see any particular mystery cxcepl 
the mystery of iniquity. At the end of it the Prussian 
will not tind himself i)icking up whatever he can get in ;i 
scramble ; he will tind himself more and more separate<l 
from his dupes and tools, and punished impartially, aii<' 
])unished alone. It is only by a misleading nieta])lior thai 
we speak (jf a criminal as breaking the law. The law 
of Christendom is not broken. 
There is one word of truth in the whole of the German 
Chancellor's speech ; and it is a very vivid and exact 
word. He says that at this moment the Germans are 
" deep in Russia." They are. They are deep in a great 
many things which they do not understand. They are 
deep in a deep reaction against vulgar power, deep in an 
ancient disdain of pride, deep in a most divine hatred of 
cynicism and cold and unclean success. And to these 
both the name and the metaphor chosen are by no means 
inappropriate. Russia is really something of a human 
sea ; there is a thing known to the sea-bather as being out 
of one's depth. And to-dav the tide conies in. 
