GERMAN CUNNING

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 85, 10 April 1917, Page 2

GERMAN CUNNING

AND GERMAN BLUNDERS

Not long ago Maximilian Harden made the belated disco very, that the Germans in psychology are sadly to seek. They refuse to understand the character of the enemies with whom they fight, said this caudid critic (says a writer in the Daily : Mail). . '

Nor do they make the smallest attempt to understand their own character. They have sketched a wholly fanciful picture of themselves as: light-bearers.-in a. dark place, as lovers of peace in a world at war, and, having gazed upon themselves, unto blindness,, they fondly believe that it makes men blind to behold them.

j When.. they came, forward' with' their infamous proposal of peace, they bruited it far and wide that they were, moved only by loving-kindness.^ The. Kaiser and his Chancellor shed tears publicly over the devastation of Europe. They deplored the inevitable decay of; the arts and sciences. x\nd they piously suppressed the truth that they fired the shot which set the world, on fire. They! did not propose terms *as conquerors. Oh, no ! They had no proud looks ; they wore not puffed up. They had no other wish, no hope than to do good, and "when their treacherous?overtures were rejected they feigned a clumsy surprise. Thus they showed a complete ignoranceof' other peoples' character, ai\d now, when they know that peace is impossible, they let the crude truth 'escape - them. They cannot help assuring iis,to-day that it was a conquering paace which they desired. "Wo all felt," Bays. Dr. Hallier, of Hamburg, "that the greatest hour in the history of ; the world had struck when the victor magnanimously made this proposal." So soon had Dr. Haljier forgotten the* crimes which, his countrymen had committed in, Belgium,, in" prance, wherever their hated legions had passed. And, confident that nobody would find out, he still sang the praises of his Kaiser, he hymned aloud,how great, how just lie was. "We all. understood,'" said he, "that distant ages," remote generations, and the tru.tli. 'of 'history would some clay celebrate this: as perhaps the greatest deed of all the centuries." But the world callously rejects the fair story of Dr. Hallier.' Vor "the world knows now that the Kaiser's attempt at peace was merely the burglar's hope that be might escape trial for his.misdeeds.

AMAZING IGNORANCE.

And the chief pastor of Hamburg, one' Professor Hunzinger, has easily' outstripped Dr. HaUier himself. The pastor, knowing as little of his own countrymen as of his .country's enemies, has discovered that England '"has always worked with whips and ■Whisky." That is as much .as his passage through.' the .world has' taught him. Poor starveling soul! We migßt almost have it. in our mind to pity him. Nor is that the only discovery; that he 'has made. ■"The German idea of humanity," ho. tells us, '' is pure. - How different it ia from the puny, anaemic, and dry-as-dusfc idea of humanity which now proposes to "come to us by way of England and America." Indeed, it.is, different. .We English are far too' puny to torture and enslave. And if only the ineffable pastor had taken taken'the trouble "to understand those, who live' outeid& the borders of Hamburg, he might have learned, that his big, - noisy, wenrds '■will; never disturb our serenity, that we care ik>t how soon fte kettle of his arrogance boils over. "You have already made, us hot," he cries, "but you have not yet matte iis boil. ■' When the boiling-poinit comets, God help you!". ,~ '•'.'..";" ■ . ;'...

' We cannot avoid l&ing, Paster ■ Hunzinger. His name and liis sentiments are. precisely what they'should be. 'The Gar--man, who aims at subtlety, is far more dangerous, though hebe no less ignorant! Some time shice, for instance, a pro- ■ lessor of art) employed by the Kaiser to make an inventory of the Imperial thefts* explained to a Swedish Journalist how and why Louvain parished by fire. That there might b« no mistake, he gave the ingenuous Swede a choice of three explanations. In the first place, said, he, the Germans did. not know that there was a library at Louvain. What, then, was the famous Teu'fcbhic scholarship .about? Secondly, the Belgians refused to give the keys of the fire-station to the-Germans, who were longing to save the treasures'of whose existence they knew nothing. And, /thirdly, the Belgians and, the English were always egging the Germans on to destroy whatever objects existed of "cultural valne" upon the line of march! Is there any adequate, answer that can be given to Buch a professor of art .as this? Are we not forced to acknowledge. that the Germans, expert in zoology as .they may be, are totally ' ignorant of the human race? . '. . ' '■■'■...'-.'■'

And now comes the crowning exhibition of the furor Teutonicus. ! The (Serman Chancellor,' baffled in. his hope of a "victorious peace," declares .war upon the whole world. Placidly/ignoring the grim_ history of the past; two years, shifting with -a. gesture of contompt the whole burden of responsibility for crime an,d outrage, Germany ,^ has-, announced the sole terms upon which neutrals may exist. She presumes to dictate not only to the belligerents but, to all the. habit■able globe. ....•■

MONSTROUS BOASTS.

Henceforth, she proclaims herself sole mistress of the seas. By a vast concession she will allow the United States to despatch one steamer a week in. each direction, arriving, at Falmouth on Sundays, leaving Falmouth on Wednesdays. Otherwise no ship is allowed to fly the American ■ flag upon the< Atlantic 'Ocean. And as for Holland, • she being greatly privileged, shall "receive free and unobstructed right of passage in each v direction between Flushing and Southwold" for one paddle-steamer on every week-' day! As you read»this monstrous boast.fulness you can only conclude that Germany has gono mad:: Even, if her: submarines were supreme on-every sea, her pretension would be absurd. But when she is bluffing tw<4 kings against a frill' hand, you remember that she lacks the only thing that could help her to win the game—a knowledge of her opponent's mind. ■„'..•

For more than two years Germany has held herself as the enemy, of the human race, and with -what cunning was left her has affected a general: benevolence. But now, in her extremity, she haa stripped the mask from her face, and stands confessed for the monster of lawlessness that she has always been. She need not have' made this final blunder, which shall surely be her undoing. She has within her borders somte thousands of psychologists, • who might have taught their pupils the poor rudiments of their science. And they have taught them nothing. They have asked, them to believe, in the name of' psychology, that a Berlin policeman is strong enough, burly enough, to run in a whole contingent. It remains for us to teach the supreme lessons that there is a psychology of which Berlin Jcnbws nothing, that all the professors in the world are of no avail, if they refuse to recognise the strength and meaning of other men's characters.