Behind the Scenes in Warring GermanyFox, Edward Lyell
History
Behind the Scenes in Warring Germany
Fox, Edward Lyell
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
"I shall be glad to do so," replied Professor Stein. "Mr. Carnegie looks
at the peace movement from a puritanical viewpoint. He has interpreted
the biblical text of turning the sword into a plow-share literally as
applying to the present day. I believe that swords will be turned into
plow shares, but not in our generation. That will come to pass, not
because it is in the Bible, but because the imminent logic of history
will bring it about. Eventually the imminent logic of history will
create international peace. The puritanical workers for peace believe
that because it is written in the Bible that all men are born equal,
they should try to equalize mankind to-day. It will take about a hundred
years to educate and solidify the white race alone. It will take about
ten thousand years, let us say, to educate all the races of the world
and achieve a world brotherhood. The great mistake that is made is in
thinking that the ideals of the Bible are possible to-day. They are
utterly impossible."
I then asked Professor Stein to summarize his opinions for me. "I have
read your paper," I said, "written before the war, on Cosmopolitism,
National, State and International Compromise. There is one point I want
to ask you about. You wrote--these are not your exact words,
Professor--'What poets and philosophers have dreamed of, and what the
Catholic Church has in some respects already realized: One shepherd and
one herd! that will be the state of Europe in times coming'--What did
you mean, Professor, by that phrase 'One shepherd and one herd'? Did you
mean to convey that one state powerfully armed would be a sort of
international policeman, strong enough to keep the peace among other
nations? Did you have in mind a Germany whose mission would be to
shepherd the people of the world?"
"Absolutely not," replied Professor Stein; "by one shepherd I meant the
imperialism of the white race. White imperialism will divide the world
between the white states. The Western European and American cultural
systems will rule. My idea is not the United States of Europe, but the
united cultural system of the white race."
"And when will that be possible, Professor?"
"As soon as nationalism has been thoroughly saturated, and conscious
internationalism has been achieved, and that will probably be within a
hundred years."
"And meanwhile?" I asked.
"ALAS! THE WORLD OF TO-DAY CANNOT BE RULED WITH OIL OF ROSES, BUT ONLY
WITH BLOOD."
THE END
Transcriber's Notes
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Errors in German phrases and the diacritic of "Liége" were not
corrected.
The following words appear both with and without hyphens and have not
been changed: "candle[-]light", "co[-]operation", "make[-]shift",
"semi[-]circle", "sign[-]board", "track[-]side".
P. 48: "couse" changed to "course" (Of course, I suggested going with
him).
P. 107: "soshes" changed to "sloshes" (the liquid ground sloshes).
P. 140: "have" changed to "leave" (the soldiers leave pits here).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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