The Press Saturday, February 5, 1921. The Unrepentant Prussian.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17062, 5 February 1921, Page 8

The Press Saturday, February 5, 1921. The Unrepentant Prussian.

Pride, we atfe asstif«"d ift Holy Writ, goeth. Were* fall,, and a. hfttfgtty apirifc before co*rootion. Ift Germany y to all they also survive thesO painful optionee*. At least, there is net much indication: of repentance, Or even of that meek arid; chastened spirit, •frhici, tfo fiA-W fiot infrequently of late been invited! to resoac*,. in' the "Tag* blattfs" f«e«rit ororio«nceni«nt that 'S>thA m&ribers of th* Paris Oonfererwev f< are- inhabitant Of ft lunatic asyltirtt," ■ •• So dotlH It i# ifladVi«abl* to attach too much imr>Ortanoe« to words spoken or wrrltefl rh ffloifisnta of a<suto emotional stress, unless the utterance ie symptotitetleij Bxft is tins* aflsianc* there is good reason! to etfppose that it. is syiriptomatio, and that it gitfe* u# 6 passing glimpse into th« real feelings, if not bftfte majority,- at lea*t of a very far from negligible minority of Germans, for* the devil of Prussian militarism is still very fa* from dead, arid qtiite re- . eently he has made afi unabashed di*play of fcis closest hool with a curiously marked ifidifferOfiee to th« demands of ordinary deeenoy. Most people* probably remember the name of General ton Bernhardt the man who originated the agreeable prewar fotffftila, "World-power or down- *■ fall." As far hack as the year ISII he produced a very able book, "Modern War," into which, in addition to much thoughtful and suggestive military lore, he contrived to compress in almost tabloid form his lefieetions on education and religion, and on the evident desigra of a beneficent Creator to make the Germans leaders of tfoe world. Drawn 'from his retirement aftd put in a position • of high command an the late war, th(t General had frill opportunity of bringing at least,some of his military theories to the stern test of practice. And-the result of his experiences and observations he feas embodied in a supplementary volume, published in Germany last February, under the longwinded and rather ominous title, f: The "War of the Future in the Light of "the Lessons of the World War." Quite recently an English translation has appeared which deserves to be widely circulated. For "The War of the " Future" is a book worth reading, not perhaps so much for its technical value, *e for the interesting side-lights it. throws on its author's mind, and, inferentially, on the minds of thoso for whom l|e has written what with unconscious irony he styles, "the comforting words" tftte it contains. In the opening pages, no doubt, he pays lip-service to the decetioies. No Obstacles, he asserts, should be placed ih the way of the effort of "our present ' " Government" to eliminate war from international .intercourse. "It would " he a crime to hanker after war now, peace has jitet been concluded, ■k " ttd It is tho duty of us all to work for

" tho economic recovery of our people.'' | Thus the preface. The final chapter i strike* a note ouite singularly different, j a note ftarsh and dissonant, and not a I itttle sinister. "Of course I I " know i hnt f«r the moment j I" wo are utterly .it. th« mercy of j i "our enemies, and that we. are utterly i j "unable to create a reap army after | " onr present Government' ii;is handed i ''ns over, tied and bound, 'o the power! •' of onr enemies. . . . Rnt f know also ; "that a nation of seventy millions, a j " number which can be appreciably in- " creased when German-Austria joins " 11*, cannot }>e oppressed Tor ever or ■'reduced, to tho status of a race of "slave*. T know that there will lx» j "changes in the political sphere also,, "that there will a moment —and j "that, soon—when we shall ho needed j "on one side, or the other, and that j "this moment will he favourable for) "our resurrection. f cherish an un-1 "shakable confidence that our nation,! " rvhich at. the moment seem a to be | " sunk in self-seeking, will return to /'\U- manhood, and a "hastened and, ! "ennobled people will arise, who can " prove themselves worthy of their great " ancestors, and even, look on war as j " it. really is." This is in " 'Ercles' vein" once more. For Hernhardi has not changed with tho world, arid he is— *■ and the fact is, so far, to his creditmuch too single-minded to keep up his initial pretence, that ho has done so. Tndee;l, the more the world changes, the more lie remains a frank and unabashed prophet of force, which, rightly or wrongly, he holds will, as long as men remain men, determine the political and cultural importance of States, and continue to he in tho future, as, in his view, it has always been in the past, the foundation of all intellectual and moral progress. For the masses, for the civil population at large, he feels, as no doubt he has always felt, nothing but contempt. His ideal soldier in 1920, like his ideal soldier in 1914, is one who " must develop a proud feeling of pro- " fessional detachment towards the civil "population,"' one who "undoubtedly "has the right to regard himself as a "being apart, the sole real representa- " tive of the nation- and the Father- " land, and to look dowri with pride on "those at home, who live in safety "under his protection, arid will too " often grumble and groan and pay him "hack with words only, riot with "deeds." He has in 1920, as he had itt 1914, ari almost touching faith in the ideal goodwill of that pre-war Germany Which quietly pursued its pacific policy, in the midst of a naughty arid malignant world, in tho blind confidence that it would "succeed in coming to a ! "friendly arrangement' with JJnglaiid " and thus secure tho peace of Europe." He admits diplomatic failure, political incapacity to gauge situations, whether foreign or domestic, but, amazing as it ihust seem to ns, is wholly confident that, in the judgment of history, the German; nation "will have the glory of ,r having pursued an absolutely honour- " able policy, and carried out the ethi"cal te&chirtg. of Christianity.", After that wo can read without surprise that, in his view, "no one could possibly call " tho Action* of Pi-inwe JJistnarck im"ffiiWal," but wheii that Indomitable man, arid triumphant diplomatist;, wrote in his old *ge that preventible wars are unjustifiable, his regrettablo lapse ffoffl his fbrme? high, standards is ', to be- attributed to senile- decay. SefitiinViirfcs of the Idrid We have quoted are to be met with throughout the Ibook, which, under the rather thin disguise of a treatise on war, is little more than an incitement to- his fellow (Sotmtfymen to regain their old Outlook ugGft life, Arid fit themselves Oft<# ttiore, and this time once for all, to graspthe pfiae of mastery. "Comforting "words for the future,''* words which he is confident will* m days to come "turn out to fee seeds which have not '•'fallen among thorns," no doubt. But warning words for the present, and words which fnlly justify the clean sweep of Germany's means of offense determined on finally, and, as we must hope, irrevocably, by the Paris Conference.