Is my anthology as it stands open to a telling _tu quoque_ by means of
a selection of gems from British books and pamphlets of the type of
those from which I have made my gleanings? Is it a case of the mote
and the beam? I think we may be pretty confident that it is not. I
doubt whether the literature of the world can show a parallel to the
amazing outburst of tribal arrogance, unrestrained and unashamed, of
which these pages contain but a few scattered specimens. In the
extracts from literature "Before the War" (which have always been kept
apart from those which date from "After July, 1914"), the reader may
see this habit of mind growing and gathering strength: the declaration
of war opens the floodgates, and the torrent rushes forth, grandiose,
overwhelming, and, I believe, unique. I know of only one English book
in which the German taste and temper is emulated. It is certainly a
deplorable production; but it is the work of a wholly unknown man,
whereas many of the most incredible utterances in the following pages
proceed from men of world-wide reputation. Indeed, few contemporary
German names of much distinction are absent from my list.
Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, Harnack, Wundt, Oncken, Eucken, Haeckel,
Naumann, Rohrbach, Sombart, Liszt, all join with a will in the chorus
of arrogance, ambition, and hate. Many quotations come from a series
of pamphlets called _Deutsche Reden in schwerer Zeit_, to which all
the most eminent professors of Berlin University have contributed,
with some from other universities. I have also, no doubt, culled
passages from a good many nobodies and busybodies; but when the
nobodies and the somebodies are found to echo and re-echo each other,
the inference is that the general tone of the public mind is very
fairly represented. It will be noted that many of the wildest shrieks
of self-glorification and ferocity proceed from clerics and
theologians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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