20 
LAND & WATER 
September 27, 1917 
Recent \ olumes of Note 
MV dauj^litt-i Christine, who wrote me these 
letters, died in a hospital in Stuttgart on 
the niorninc; of August 8th 1914 . . •" 
So Mrs. Cholmondeley begins the intro- 
duction which she has wiitten to ( hristinc (Macrnillan 6s. net), 
a book, or rather a collection of letters, of little more than 
250 pages, but at the same time one of the most \ita] and 
intense condemnations of Germany that has been or will be 
pioduced. One can hardly doubt tlie genuineness of these 
letters ; Christine arri\ed in Germany in May of the year of 
fate ; she wrote to the beinx she lo\'ed best, wrote her im- 
pressions i5f the life she had to live while perfecting her great 
f;ift of violin playing, and into her descriptions of her own life 
come comments on Germany and German ways, unstudied 
comments, made before the war showed to the world what 
Germany really is, and doubly valuable in that, being the 
impressions of' a girl, recorded in normal, peaceful times, 
they form convincing evidence of German blood-guiltineso. 
Here are extracts : 
They've been working for years for tlie moment when they can 
safely attack It has been the Kaiser's one idea. 
Russia and France will not interfere with so just a punish- 
ment. Said by a German Professor with reference to the 
Austrian demands on Serbia in July of 1914. 
The talk of tlie war has been going on (in Germany) growing m 
clamour . . . ever since the present Kaiser succeeded to 
the tlirone. 
To-day they were saying at breakfast that, if a crime is big 
enough, it leaves off being a crims, for then it is a success, 
and success is alway a virtue — that is, 1 gather, if it is a 
German success ; if it is a French one, it is an outrage. 
We (a German professor speaking) arc palite only by the 
force of fear. Ojnsequently — for all men must have their 
rela.xations — whenever -vve meet the weak, the beneath us, the 
momentarilv helpless, we are brutal. It is an immense relief 
to be for a moment natural. Every German welcomes even 
the smallest opportunity. 
I always, you see, think of Germany as the grabber, the 
attacker. 
Dne is tempted to quote and to go on quoting these damning 
parentheses in the letters of a daughter to her mother. Better 
propaganda work than the publication of the book could not 
be done, and Mrs Cholmondeley deserves thanks for having 
given her daughter's letters to be read, let us hope, wherever 
the English toogue is spoken. 
The Great War in 1916 is the title of the new edition 
de luxe of Raemaekers' cartoons, which has just been 
issued by the Fine Art -Society, 148, New Bond 
Street (£6 6s.). It contains 60 cartoons which con- 
stitute a vivid record of the progress of the war during" 
1916. Raemaekers' genius seems to strengthen with time ; 
it is remarkable how seldom he repeats himself. No living 
cartooni^ is more active minded than he, more quick to 
respond to a new impression. Mr. Perry Robinson in the 
Appreciation which he contributes as a preface to this sump- 
tuous volume writes : " The greatness of Raemaekers rests 
on the fact that he combines all qualities, fervour for the 
right and a burning indignation against wrong, imagination 
and artistic power, and, not least, an insight and critical 
instinct which would have made him a brilliant writer if he 
had not been an artist." This last quality has never been 
more notable than in his most recent work dealing with the 
war from the American point of view. 
could never have survived Raemaekers' deadly pencil. As 
it is, he will go down to history in liis true colours, thanks 
to the Dutch cartoonist's unerring draughtmanship. 
***** 
The Kaiser is a favourite figure, but Raemaekers always 
allows him a certain dignity, even in that most amusing 
picture,\Villiam Robert Macaire's answer to President W ilson : 
" Well, Sir, if you insist we will try and behave like gentle- 
men." (Cartoon 13) Another cartoon in which Wilhelm 
urges " Tino " to stab General Sarrail in the back, is said to 
have caused intense indignation at Potsdam ; we can well 
believe it. If, as everyone ho])es and believes, as a result 
of the war, the Hohenzollcrn breed will be cleared out of 
all positions and places where they can work harm, it will 
be in no small measure due to the presentation of this pestilen- 
tial family, as they really are in life, by Raemaekers' pencil. 
This volume is of course, an historical record ; already, 
even now, looking back we begin to see the war in perspective. 
The Zeppelin practically disappears after 1916, whil^ the 
Tank makes its first appearance tliat year (Cartoon 23). 
Then there are four terrible drawings depicting German 
Slavery. This volume also contains some beautiful work. 
LeVieux Po;/;* is a-wonderful character study of an old French 
soldier. There is the picture which the artist specially 
drew for St. Dunstan's, which, by the way, is one of the 
rare instances when Raemaekers lias failed to catch quite the 
right spirit. But he was never better than in the noble 
tribute paid to " An American who gave his life for Humanity." 
The more we study this collection of cartoons, the more 
obvious it becomes that Raemaekers will be regarded by 
posterity as the greatest figure in the worl4 of art which this 
terrible upheaval produced during its progress. 
* * * - * * 
For constancy and determination to fight a war to a finish 
there is no closer parallel to the present struggle in modern 
times than the American Civil War. It is particularly 
appropriate that this oft-told tale should be told again j ust at 
this moment, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Rossitcr,. 
the author, and Messrs. Putman, the publishers, for The 
Fight for the Republic (12s. 6d. net.) This book is described as 
" a narrative of the more noteworthy events in the War of 
Secession, presenting the great contest in its dramatic aspects." 
There is no living writer better fitted to handle the subject 
than Dr. Johnson, who is not only an acknowledged 
authority but has a charming style. The story is told simply 
and to the point ; the battles are explained by frequent maps 
and the reader is made to see quite clearly the underlying 
principles. The light in truth was for the corporate life of 
the States rather than for the limitation of slavery, which 
happened to be the issue on which the greater question 
turned at first. But with the Proclamation of Emancipation 
it ceased to be a- war for temporary peace, but a war for en- 
during peace and at the end of it we are told no American 
could henceforth say : " The United States are a confedera- 
tion, but the United States is a Nation." This truth is being 
realised to-day. ]3ut for that terrible Civil War of over fifty 
years ago when the daily loss of life for a period of four years 
was 400, America would never have been able to have 
championed humanity as she is now doing. This fight for the 
Republic is a story as full of vital episodes and thrilling 
incidents as when it was in progress. It is a help to look back 
and see how a war must be sternly fought to an absolute 
finish if the principles that are in the balance are to survive. 
This volume, although it represents only a part of Rae- 
maekers' work during 1916, contains some of his most famous 
cartoons, notably, the Kaiser and the Crown Prince standing 
on the pile of German dead looking towards Verdun, with 
the legend, " Father, we must have a higher pile to see Verdun" ; 
the scene of Christ cleansing the Temple, and the famous 
double cartoon of Berlin, August, 1914 (on the declaration 
of war), and Berlin, December, 1916 (on the first suggestion 
of peace). This double cartoon is remarkable in that Death 
appears in each scene — in 1914 as a mocking clown egging 
on ' Ihe drunken crowd, and in 1916 as a prosperous 
lur-coated figure, smoking a big cigar, the only contented 
being in the miserable group. Not since the Dance of Death has 
any cartoonist made such great play w ith the grisly skeleton ; 
twice he is introduced in the company of the Crown Prince ; 
once the latter is throwing dice with him. the Kaiser looking on, 
ami in the ;,econd after the Verdun defeat. Death decorates 
the grinning degenerate with the " Order of Butchery, with 
the Knives " — a necklet of skulls. Had the heir of the 
HohenzoUerns been three times the man he is, his reputation 
From Mr. HEINEMANN'S LIST. 
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poems have been \vi<*elv recogni.'^ed. and public interest will be enhanced 
by the recollection of his deatli for his counlrv."— Tim.'s Li'.. Supp. 
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