AFTER THE VICTORY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11215, 22 October 1914, Page 7

AFTER THE VICTORY.

(By MAURICE MAETERLINCK, in the (i Daily Mail.") At these moments of tragedy none should be allowed to speak who cannot shoulder a rifle—for tho written word seems so monstrously useless, «o overwhelmingly trivial, in front of this Mighty drama that shall for a long time, it may be for over, free mankind from - the scourge of war: the one scourge among all that cannot be excused, that cannot bo explained, since alone among all it issues eutiro from the hands of men.

But it is while this scourge is upon us, while we have our being m its very centre, that we shall do well to balance the guilt of those who have committed this inexpiable crime. It is now that we are in the thick of the horror, undergoing it, feeling it, -that wo have the energy, the oloar-sightedness, needed to judge it; from the depths of the most fearful injustice justice is best perceived. When the hour shall have come for settling accounts—and it will not long delay—we shall have forgotten much of what wo have suffered, and a blameworthy pity will creep over us and cloud our eyes- This is the moment, therefore, for us to frame our inexorable resolution. After the final victory, when tho enemy is crushed—as crushed he will be—efforts will bo made to enlist our sympathy, to move us to pity. We shall be told that tho unfortunate German people were merely the victims of their monarch and their feudal caste; that no blame attaches to the Germany we know, that is so sympathetic and cordial, the Germany of the quaint old houses and openhearted greeting, the Germany that sits under its lime trees beneath the clear light of the. moon—but only to Prussia, hateful, .arrogant Prussia; that the homely, peace-loving Bavarian, the genial and 'hospitable dwellers on'the banks of the Rhine, the Silesian and Saxon, and I know not who besides, for all these will suddenly have become, whiter than snow, and moro inoffensive than the sheep in an English fold—that they all have merely obeyed, been compelled to Obey, orders that Miey detested but unable to resist. We are face to face with reality now; let us look at it well,- and pronounce our sentence; for this is the moment when we hold the proofs in our hands, when the elements -of crime are hot before us, and shout out the truth that soon, will fade from our memory. Let us toll ourselves now, therefore, now, that all we shall be told hereafter will be false; and let us uniflnchingly adhere to what we decide at, this moment, when the glare of the horror is on us. « • * » »

It is not - true-that in this gigantic crime there are innocent and gumy, or degrees .of guilt. They stand oil ono level, all those who have taken part in it. The German from tho North has no more especial-craving-for. blood, and outrage' than ho from tho South has especial tenderness or pity. It is, very simply, the German, from one end of his country to the other, who stands revealed'''as o 'a beast of prey, that the firm will :: of : bur planet finally repudiates. We have There no wretched slaves dragged along by a tyrant King, who alone .is responsible. Nations have the government they deserve, or rather, tho government they have' is truly no more than the magnified and public. projection of the private ■ morality, and mentality of the 1 nation. If /eighty million innocent people select an<F support a monstrous king, those eighty million iuno6ent people merely. exposo the inherent falseness and superficiality of their innocenco; and it is tho monster they maintain at their head who stands for all that is true in their nature, because it is ho who represents the eternal aspirations of. their race, which lie far deeper than their apparent and transient virtues. Let there be no suggestion of error, of having been led astray, of an intelligent people having been tricked or misled. No nation can be deceived that does not to be deceived! and it is not intelligence that Germany lacks. In tho sphere of intellect such things are not possible.; nor in the region of enlightened, reflecting will. No nation permits herself to he coerced to the ono crime man cannot pardon. It is of her own accord "that she hastens towards it j her chief has no need to persuade, it is she who urges him on.

We havo forces here quite different from thoso on the surface, 'forces that are. secret, irresistible and profound. It .ia these we must judge, these we must crush under our heel once and for all; for they aro the only ones that will i>ot bo improved, or softened, or brought into line by experience, orjnrogvess, or even tho binerest lesson. They are unalterable'and'immovable, their fori tigs lie far beneath hone or influence; and they must be destined, as ffn destroy.' a nest of wasps. s ; "co w.e know that theso nev?r can change into a nest of bees. And even though indi-

vidually and singly the Germans were all innocent and merely led astray, they are none the less guilty in the inass. This is the guilt that counts, that alone is actual and real t because it lays hare, underneath their superficial inneoense, the subconscious criminality of nil.

No influence can prevail on the unconscious or the subconscious. It never evolves. Lot there come a thousand years of civilisation, a thousand years of peace, with all possible refinements of art of education, tile subconscious element of the German spirit, which is its u«viirving element, w'l'l reimin absolutely tho same as it Is to-day: and would declare itself, when the opportunity came, tinder the same aspect, with the same infamy. TVouyh the whole course of history two d'stirict willP'iwers hiiro Veil thm- W'Mt'' 31 seem to be the onposed. elemental nvn'festations of _t!m snt'n't of our plohe: tho one RcekitKic onlv evil. bn'us'ice. t.vrinnv. and tiiifiVrinqr. w'> ! >e the &mvy for the rfo-ln, rndlpnoe jov. two powers stand one" afrnitt face u< f«ce: our or>n"rf llT i;t v iu «OW *o nnnilri'i'n lhr> one that COm«s hnlftxr. Let us know how to h* iiii,)f>^ ; (| lr , f , re T)mv h<i ro for Tv'tv. TV it .1 „p r-vtrnvio .1.1l V, |W"\ Tt- ?» P s;o«f,|i; t | #],„,. t| lo rOod" 1 ''! tPTi'-ni as it tvenM ntnmi) ont a nn' e " l "- mis fnnrms f"v h'llf n {•""fury *"d rl, - MMvVd flVtd tSOMIt tn f ] ffc, dot's. TV b«nlth of ntjiMft*- ;<s }» ci»"*<-i*n. I>. morrow tV united State" of Fnron'o wi'l hove to >.« V w.«~i, ros f dr tlio convalescence of the earth.