Fortunately, the course of history does not depend on the frantic
exaggerations of partisans. The world is not a classroom in which docile
nations are distributed according to the arbitrary standards of German
pedagogues. Europe has admired the patriotic resistance of the Spanish,
Tyrolese, and Russian peasants to the enlightened tyranny of Napoleon.
There are other standards of culture besides proficiency in research and
aptitude for systematic work. The massacre of Louvain, the hideous
brutality of the Germans--as regards non-combatants--to mention only one
or two of the appalling occurrences of these last weeks--have thrown a
lurid light on the real character of twentieth-century German culture.
"By their fruits ye shall know them," said our Lord, and the saying
which He aimed at the Scribes and Pharisees of His time is indeed
applicable to the proud votaries of German civilization today. Nobody
wishes to underestimate the services rendered by the German people to
the cause of European progress, but those who have known Germany during
the years following on the achievements of 1870 have watched with dismay
the growth of that arrogant conceit which the Greeks called ubris. The
cold-blooded barbarity advocated by Bernhardi, the cynical view taken of
international treaties and of the obligations of honor by the German
Chancellor--these things reveal a spirit which it would be difficult
indeed to describe as a sign of progress.
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