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THE FATHERLAND
Fair Play for Germany and Austria-Hungary
Edited by GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK
and FREDERICK F. SCHRADER
VOL. II, No. 12
APRIL 28, 1915
PRICE, 5 CENTS
GERMAN LOVE OF PEACE
By Houston Stewart Chamberlain
"Behold the true
warriors; they are not quick to shrink *), are not defiant, nor eager
for fight; but when they are forced to fight, then have a care, they
are in earnest." — LUTHER.
IN these grave and solemn days there is no
room for elaborate rhetoric, but for facts only — nothing but facts.
Beside the sacrifice of so many lives for the existence and safety of
their country, even the eloquence of a Demosthenes would sound empty.
"Facts," writes Carlyle, "surpass all reasoning;
beside them words are a mere stammering and stuttering." But how are we
to arrive at facts? Material facts, indeed, force themselves upon us;
but how can we arrive at intellectual and moral facts?
The appalling fact of a world at war we have before
us, night and day, but where is the fact that forms the inner reason of
this war? Who has brought this war about?
Germany's enemies claim that it was she who broke
the peace, and that Europe will not be at rest until Germany has been
annihilated. Where must we look for the origin of this wild idea? How
is it possible to hide the obvious truth, "the fact," from the eyes of
the millions? To state something to be a fact means that it is a truth.
An untrue fact is a thing of nought, "ens imaginarium," of Kant, "empty
form without substance." Just such a phantom, however, sometimes
exercises a great power over the imagination of men. The press, that
powerful instrument for spreading the truth, becomes, in the hands of a
few unscrupulous persons, a tool for the dissemination of false
statements which has no parallel. We realize this forcibly in the war
news of foreign papers. Despicable, however, as the use of the press
for spreading false reports may be, it is almost harmless compared with
the attempts to shape the public opinion of whole nations by lies
cunningly planned and systematically circulated.
Oscar Wilde once wrote an article on "The Art of
Lying"; his countrymen have made great progress in this art since his
time!
Far be it from me to pretend that the statesmen of
former times have always walked in the paths of strict honesty; but
then the crafty were met by the crafty, the cunning were outwitted by
the cunning; thus the intrigues of a Richelieu, for example, may be
called, in a certain sense, honorable intrigue. In our day, however, it
is the unsuspecting masses that are grossly misled.
It is an established fact that at the present time
no statesman can afford to disregard the importance of public opinion.
To carry on a war is impossible — west of the Russian frontier, at any
rate — unless wide sections of the nation are convinced of its
necessity. But since no civilized people would wantonly wish for war,
they must be imbued with the growing idea of its necessity— a thing
which Richelieu did not find necessary. Here a frightful abyss opens
before us, for lo! the clever lie acts as strongly as the truth since
it is believed! It is sufficient to obtain possession of a certain
number of widely read and therefore influential papers, and to place
them under a uniform management. Within a few years the desired end
will be attained. The misleading of a whole people has perhaps never
before in the world's history been schemed and carried through in such
a crafty, shameless and iniquitous way, as the misleading of England in
regard to Germany. It is this misleading information which is
responsible for the present war.
From the beginning England has been the driving
force. England desired and brought about the war. England caused the
estrangement between Russia and Germany; and it was England which
incessantly nursed in France the idea of revenge.
Such a policy could only be rendered possible by a
systematic and diligent deception of the English people.
It was a handful of men who, in cold blood, for the
furthering of material interests, decided upon this course a few years
ago. The impetus was given by a king; the intellectual capacity was
furnished by a soulless, astute statesman, acting on the old English
principle that in affairs of State, hypocrisy and lies are the best
weapons; the "management" of the misleading in England was entrusted to
a skilful man of the press who was ready to advocate any opinion as
long as he profited by it.
At the time of which I am speaking the latter
already owned papers of the most diverse directions. He went on buying
new ones until even the London Times,
the tendency of which had for a long time been influenced by him,
passed into his hands. To-day, parading under the title of Lord, which
conceals his real name **) as well as his non-English descent, he does
what he will with the English people. One example will suffice.
For years past the reports of the Berlin
correspondent of the Times
have been a perfect disgrace. What, with the invention of positive
and negative lies, has been achieved by this unscrupulous man, who must
be held guilty of much of the misery caused by this war, is well-nigh
impossible to believe. I have several times asked why the German people
did not whip this base vilifier across the frontiers of their country.
The reply given was always: "There is no law against lying."
This is a law that must now be made; liars who
endanger the peace of Europe should be hung!
And now, after the forged fact of a Germany eager
for war, the true facts: Germany is the sole country in Europe that
sincerely wished to preserve peace. In this respect the testimony of a
foreigner may be of some value:
For forty-five years I have associated principally
with Germans, for the last thirty years I have lived continually in
German countries. The love of the German way of living and thinking, of
German science and art, sharpened my eyes without impairing my vision;
my judgment remained strictly impartial; many things which I did not
like when I first set foot upon German soil, I have not yet been able
to become accustomed to. Connected with France from earliest childhood,
and related to England by ties of blood, I remained free from prejudice.
True, I have always led a quiet life and have not
sought to become acquainted with the country and the people by gaping
or putting myself in the foreground. At a certain distance objects are
seen more clearly than at close range; in quiet surroundings the ear
perceives more distinctly than in the midst of confusion.
And this is my testimony:
For the last forty-three years there has not been a
single man in the whole domain of Germany who wanted war, not one!
Anyone who asserts the contrary is — either consciously or
unconsciously — uttering an untruth.
It has been my good fortune to know, thoroughly,
Germans from all the various districts and of all classes, from His
Majesty, the Emperor, down to the worthy tradesman with whom I have
been in daily intercourse. I have known intimately statesmen, teachers,
men of science, merchants, bankers, officers, engineers, poets,
journalists, public functionaries, artists, physicians and lawyers, but
never have I met any one among them who was bellicose.
In England, on the contrary, I found, during my last
visits in 1907 and 1908, everywhere a frightful, blind hatred of
Germany and the impatient expectation of a war of annihilation.
The absence of any animosity against foreign nations
is a striking trait of the German character and of the Germans alone.
They err rather on the side of an exaggerated
appreciation of the merits of other nations.
Moreover, every German knows that, in view of the
geographical position of this country, he has much to fear and little
to hope in case of a war. How, then, could a people in whose country
industry, commerce and science have, during the last forty-three years,
reached an ever increasing degree of prosperity and development, be
expected to desire a war which might destroy all the fruits of this
labor?
I am going beyond the limits of the space allotted
me, and for that reason pass over much, confining myself to-day to but
one point more. I wish to say a few words about Kaiser Wilhelm.
According to the statements of Germany's enemies, he
was the only individual who had it in his power to turn the scale in
favor of peace. I have not met the Kaiser often, but whenever I did see
him, it was under especially favorable circumstances, outside of court
ceremonial, affording an opportunity of exchanging our opinions freely
without any fear of possible listeners. Never have I repeated one of
the monarch's words; not that he confided secrets to my keeping, but
because it is impossible for men in private life to foresee the
consequences which a single word might have for a man in such a
prominent position. Nor will I now depart from this principle. I feel
convinced that I am not committing any indiscretion if I say that two
traits in his character have always struck me as most notable because
they formed, so to speak, the two "dominants" of all his feelings,
thoughts and acts: the deep and ever present feeling of his
responsibility before God, and — in close connection with this feeling,
indeed, dependent upon it — the energetic, impetuous will to preserve
to Germany the blessing of peace.
The power of Germany which owes so much to his
personal care was not created to bring on war, but, on the contrary, to
force jealous, evil-disposed neighbors to keep the peace.
Does not every act of the Kaiser prove it? Whenever,
during the last ten years, the political situation became almost
unbearable for Germany's national honor — and England did all in her
power to bring about such conditions — he it was, the Kaiser, who, time
and again, insisted upon peace. Not that there was such a thing as a
war party in Germany; this is one of the Times' falsehoods. There were, it
is true, responsible statesmen and soldiers who said, and with reason:
if England and her allies want war at any price the sooner the better.
But the Kaiser, before his God, could not yield to this argument; the
sword was returned to its scabbard.
Wilhelm II had no dearer wish, of this I am fully
convinced, than that of being able to say on his death-bed, "I have
preserved to my country peace inviolable, history will call me the
'Emperor of Peace.' "
Should God grant the German and Austrian arms
victory, a complete, overwhelming victory — for which we all implore
Him, including those of us who are not Germans, but who esteem the
welfare and culture of civilized mankind more highly than national
vanity — then, but then only, will Europe enjoy a lasting peace. Then
will the wish of the great and good Emperor, so shamefully betrayed by
his equals in rank on foreign thrones, in the end be fulfilled, yes, be
fulfilled more gloriously than he could have anticipated, vindicating
Germany completely front the calumnies and untruths hurled against her.
There will be all the greater reason, then, for calling him the
"Emperor of Peace," for the peace thus obtained will be the original,
individual work of Wilhelm II and the army.
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*) Luther wrote: "die
zücken nicht bald", which doesn't mean
"they
are not quick to shrink", but: "they are not
quick to draw [a sword]".
**) Alfred
Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe. He also owned the Daily Mail.
***) The article in "The
Fatherland" was
accompanied by the map below; furthermore a note stated that
"It must
be understood that the natives of the colonies of the
Allies are enlisted in the armies, whereas the Germans do not call the
natives of their colonies to take arms against the whites."
Map nor comment was part of Chamberlain's original essay — it has
nothing to do with it. The note regarding natives reminds me of
Churchill's contempt for the Boers, because they didn't shrink back
from using Negro-militia against the British.
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Hereunder
follows the transcription of German
Love of Peace,
published in the American journal "The
Fatherland", April 28th, 1915, a translation of Houston Stewart
Chamberlain's war essay Deutsche
Friedensliebe.
Hieronder
volgt de transcriptie van German Love
of Peace, gepubliceerd in het amerikaanse tijdschrift
"The
Fatherland", 28 April 1915, een vertaling van Houston Stewart
Chamberlain's oorlogs-essay Deutsche
Friedensliebe.
