How could an honest German whose mind was undebauched by a
controlled Press justify such an interference as that? He is or
should be aware that in annexing Bosnia, Austria was tearing up a
treaty without the consent of the other signatories, and that his
own country was supporting and probably inciting her ally to this
public breach of faith. Could he honestly think that this was right?
And, finally, he must know, for his own Chancellor has publicly
proclaimed it, that the Invasion of Belgium was a breach of
international right, and that Germany, or rather, Prussia, had
perjured herself upon the day that the first of her soldiers passed
over the frontier. How can he explain all this to himself save on a
theory that might is right, that no moral law applies to the
Superman, and that so long as one hews one's way through the rest
can matter little? To such a point of degradation have public morals
been brought by the infernal teachings of Prussian military
philosophy, dating back as far as Frederick the Second, but
intensified by the exhortations of Press and professors during our
own times. The mind of the average kindly German citizen has been
debauched and yet again debauched until it needed just such a world
crisis as this to startle him at last from his obsession and show
him his position and that of his country in its true relation with
humanity and progress.
Thus I say that for the German who stands outside the ruling classes
our victory would bring a lasting relief, and some hope that in the
future his destiny should be controlled by his own judgment and not
by the passions or interests of those against whom he has at present
no appeal. A system which has brought disaster to Germany and chaos
to all Europe can never, one would think, be resumed, and amid the
debris of his Empire the German may pick up that precious jewel of
personal freedom which is above the splendour of foreign conquest. A
Hapsburg or a Hohenzollern may find his true place as the servant
rather than the master of a nation. But apart from Germany, look at
the effects which our victory must have over the whole wide world.
Everywhere it will mean the triumph of reasoned democracy, of
public debate, of ordered freedom in which every man is an active
unit in the system of his own government; whilst our defeat would
stand for a victory to a privileged class, the thrusting down of the
civilian by the arrogance and intolerance of militarism, and the
subjection of all that is human and progressive to all that is
cruel, narrow, and reactionary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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