The "Land & Water" edition of Raemaekers' cartoons, volume 1Raemaekers, Louis
History
The "Land & Water" edition of Raemaekers' cartoons, volume 1
Raemaekers, Louis
World War, 1914-1918 -- Caricatures and cartoons
The seaman of history is a chivalrous and romantic figure, a gallant
and relentless fighter, a generous and a tender conqueror. In
Codrington’s first letter to his wife after the battle of Trafalgar,
he tells her to send £100 to one of the French captains who goes to
England from the battle as a prisoner of war. The British and French
navies cherish a hundred memories of acts like these. If the German
navy survives the war what memories will it have? It must search the
gaols for the exemplars in peace of the acts that win them the Iron
Cross in war.
Note in this drawing that the types selected are not in themselves
base units of humanity. They have been made so by the beastly crimes
superior orders have forced them to commit. But even this has not
brought them so low but they wonder at the topsy-turvydom of war that
brings them honour where poor Black Mary only got her deserts in gaol.
The crimes of the higher command have passed in Germany uncondemned
and unbanned by cardinals and bishops. But the conscience of Germany
cannot be wholly dead. Nor will six years only be the term of Germany’s
humiliation and remorse. The spotless white of the naval uniform,
sullied and besmirched by those savage cruelties, cannot, any more than
the German soul, be brought back “whiter than snow” by any bestowal of
the Iron Cross. The effort to cleanse either would “the multitudinous
seas incarnadine.”
ARTHUR POLLEN
[Illustration: THE RAID
“Do you remember Black Mary of Hamburg?”
“Aye, well.”
“She got six years for killing a child, whilst we get the Iron Cross
for killing twenty at Hartlepool.”]
Better a Living Dog than a Dead Lion
Here is the grim choice of alternatives presented to other nations by
the creed of _Deutschland über Alles_--the cost of resistance and the
reward of submission. On one side lies the man who has fought a good
fight “for Freedom.” He has lost his life but won an immortal memory
inscribed upon the cross. The other has saved his life, and lo! it is
a “dog’s life.” He is not even a well-treated dog. Harnessed, muzzled,
chained, he crawls abjectly on hands and knees and drags painfully
along the road, not only the cart, but his heavy master too.
In the Netherlands and other parts of the Continent, where dogs are
used to pull little carts, the owner generally pulls too; it is a
partnership in which the dog is treated as a friend and visibly enjoys
doing his share. Partnership with Germany is another matter. The dog
does all the work, the German takes his ease with his great feet
planted on the submissive creature’s back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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