[This series of articles may be quoted in tubas or
in part by any newspaper desiring so to do, provided that the usual acknowledgments are made as to the original publication by the " Spwrivron."3 TT is far more difficult to form a correct estimate of the extent, if any, to which the private morality of the Germans has been affected by the shameless realism which has unques- tionably poisoned the public morals of the nation. Moreover, a thorough examination of this question would require a greater knowledge of the inner life of Germany than I possess. This branch of the general question has as yet scarcely received the attention which it deserves. The subject is one of the utmost importance, for it cannot be doubted that one consequence of the success of the German arms would be to give a great stimulus to the acceptation by the rest of the world of German methods of education, German practices, and German habits of thought. It is, therefore, very necessary to form some idea of what Dr. T. F. A. Smith calls " the soul of Germany."t Dr. Smith has resided for twelve years in Germany. He matricu- lated at Erlangen, and was subsequently appointed English lecturer at the Erlangen University. He can thus speak with some experience of the inner life of Germany; but he was shabbily treated by the Bavarian Government, and it is possible that this fact, coupled with a very natural resent- ment at the seething and rabid Anglophobia displayed by the circles in which he lived, may have created a certain un- conscious bias in his own mind. His work is in reality a scathing indictment against the whole German nation. It may be that in some cases his generalizations are too sweeping. Some of his figures also certainly require much sifting and examination before any conclusions based on them can be accepted with confidence. Nevertheless, he brings forward certain facts from which his readers may deduce their own inferences.
There are many tests which may be applied in judging of the standard of morality prevalent in any country. Of these
• Continued from to Spectator of July Mat.
t The Soul of Germany, By Thomas F. A. Smith, Ph.D. London : Hutchinson and Co. • [Cal one, and perhaps not the least indicative, is to inquire into the esteem in which women are held, and generally into the ideas current as regards the relations between the sexes. Dr. Smith clearly entertains a very strong opinion on this subject. He considers that the training given to girls in Germany, excellent though it is in many respects, is purely intellectual, and does not in any way tend to form the character ; that the aim of the Government schools is merely to turn out "docile housewives" who, in after life, will be dis- tinguished for " that submissiveness to mere man which is so characteristic of German women," and who as mothers are quite incapable of instilling into their children " that reverence for womanhood which inspires the noblest chivalry." Moreover, he holds that immorality of all kinds is rampant in Germany, and is not condemned by public opinion. He quotes from a work recently published in Berlin to show that the "old- fashioned estimate of chastity " is steadily yielding to the pernicious doctrine of free love, which has obtained " wide- spread acceptance." It may be that this judgment is too severe. Nevertheless, all the statistical and other evidence forthcoming, such as the steady increase in the number of illegitimate births, the prevalence of sexual crime of various aorta, and the singularly abhorrent nature of many of the crimes of this description which figure prominently in the statistics published by the German Government, all point to the conclusion that the growth of the much-vaunted Kuitur of Germany, which is at beat purely intellectual, appears to have been accompanied by a distinct degradation of the moral standard of the nation in so far as the relations of the sexes are concerned. We see the results of this degradation in the treatment recently accorded to the women of Belgium. The civilized world has shuddered at the revelations made by the studiously judicial and impartial Committee over which Lord Bryce presided.
There is thus sufficient evidence to establish a strongpri»ut- facie case that the success of the German arms, and the cou- sequent stimulus which would be given to German influence throughout the world, would encourage immorality, deteriorate the relations between the sexes, and generally tend to lessen the influence of women and to lower the esteem in which they are held. It may be that one of the reasons why the suffragists in this country have adopted so strong an anti- German attitude is that, with true feminine instinct, they have jumped at conclusions which do not differ widely from those stated above. If this conjecture be correct, one who is a stubborn and wholly unrepentant anti-suffragist may perhaps, without offence, be allowed to offer them his congratulations. The issue at stake far transcends in importance the mere question whether women are or are not to vote for Parlia- mentary candidates. It is one on which suffragists and anti- suffragists may cordially join hands, for not merely the position of women, but the exercise of that legitimate in- fluence which no one in this country is disposed to challenge, are alike involved in the issue.
Another test which may be applied in judging of the standard of national morality in any country is to inquire how far veracity is esteemed and mendacity condemned. Of all modern statesmen, Mr. Gladstone was probably the last who could have been justly accused of blindness towards the defects of his own countrymen. I once asked him, in the course of a conversation dealing with some of these defects, what he considered the most prominent of Anglo- Saxon virtues. He replied without the least hesitation "Truthfulness." The world has, in fact, been accustomed to credit the whole Teutonic race with a special regard for veracity. The popular idea of a typical German during the pre-Bismarck days was that he was an idealist whose sentimentalism at times provoked a smile, but who was universally honoured and respected for his thoroughness, his learning, and, above all, for his truthfulness. It cannot be doubted that individual Germans endowed with these admirable qualities still exist. It may be hoped that they will eventually reassert some portion of their influence when the fit of insanity with which the German nation is now afflicted has passed away. But they have for the time being altogether ceased to be typical of the German national character. The Germany of the days of Schiller ; the Germany which, after the disaster of Jena, awoke to life under the inspiring influence of Stein, Arndt, Kerner, and a host of other warrior.thinkers; the Germany which, whilst organizing its material resources, did not decry spiritual influence, has passed away. Its representatives have succumbed to the worship of force. As a national characteristic, mendacity has taken the place of veracity, and duplicity that of Straight- forwardness. Dr. Smith goes so far as to say "Lying has always been the foundation stone of German policy." The judgment is severe, but it is justified by the evidence. A vein of duplicity runs through the whole of Prussian statesman- ship from the days of the Great Frederic downwards such as is unparalleled in the history of any other country. Frederick William, the King of Prussia who, without any of the ability, was fully endowed with the predatory instincts of his great predecessor, did not hesitate, in 1792, to pocket the subsidy of £1,200,000 granted to him by the British Government, and then absolutely to refuse to fulfil the obligations which be had incurred in order to obtain the money. " A more dishonour- able transaction," Lord Everaley says, "it would not be easy to imagine." Prince Bismarck carried on the tradition of duplicity in various transactions, and notably by falsifying the famous Ems telegram. The flimsy apologies by which the present race of German statesmen, after hounding Austria on to light the torch, have sought to throw the responsibility of the present war on others, have elicited the scorn and reproba- tion of the civilized world. No Government, and especially no Government possessing such absolute control as the German over the thoughts and actions of its countrymen, can continue through several generations to act on principles so wholly out of harmony with the tendencies of the age, without in the end producing a profound effect on national character. As a matter of fact, the German nation has been demoralized to the extent of assimilating the duplicity of its rulers. The fruits are shown in the extraordinary development of a hateful system which can only be explained to English readers by the use of a foreign word—the system of espionnage. Every English schoolboy learns that the most opprobrious epithet which can be applied to him is to call him a "sneak." Even the criminal classes have established "Don't nark" as the first article of the code which inculcates " honour amongst thieves." German training has proceeded on wholly opposite lines. What is called Denunziation is encouraged in the German schools with a zeal worthy of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, and from the schools the system has extended to the whole population of the country. It is, Dr. Smith says, " a cancer- growth with infinite roots spread throughout the nation... . Everywhere spying and tale-telling form just as essential a part of the great system, as they do in her [Germany's] rela- tions with other lands." This verdict is confirmed by others who can speak with an authority equal to that of Dr. Smith.
The extent to which mendacity has increased in Germany is apparently not as yet recognized by such Germans as have in thought partially survived the moral cataclysm which has engulfed the rest of the nation. Professor Adolf Lesson is so far self-deluded as to have written recently to a friend in Scotland in. the following terms " We are truthful, our characteristics are humanity, gentleness, conscience, the virtues of Christ. In a world of wickedness, we represent love, and God is with us 1 " Such claims, which are charac- teristically accompanied by the arrogant assurance that the Germans are "morally and intellectually superior to all— without peers," and by the declaration that the reigning Emperor is, like Titus, the deliciae generis hionani, can only be received with derision. The evidence is conclusive. Truth, which according to the old Greek adage is the fellow-citizen of the gods, has been banished from Germany, and its banish- ment, if not the sole, is certainly one of the principal causes of the collapse of German morals.
Further evidence pointing to the same general conclusion is to be found in the extraordinary prevalence of crimes of violence in Germany, and in the growing spirit of brutality which pervades the whole nation. Even Treitschke, the great apologist for the worship of force, recognized that the " epidemic of crime " in Germany constituted " a very serious danger to the nation," and he specially alluded to the " terrible increase in crimes of shame (rapes, Sco.)" The schools and colleges of Germany, although affording education which is scholastically not merely equal but possibly superior to that given in any other country, do nothing to train the character beyond instilling into the minds of the students the idea that it is their duty to yield absolute and unhesitating obedience to the orders which they may receive from their superiors. They have become nurseries of brutality, seed- st, beds of force-worship. " The student," Dr. Smith says," finds himself in an atmosphere of intellectual materialism from which religious and moral forces have been banished. In this world be soon discovers that to be a hero he must belong to the fighting, swaggering, drinking, Don Juan class." The youth of Germany, thus trained and accustomed to bloodshed by the frequent duels which are a concomitant of the German University system, join the Army, and naturally become willing agents in the execution of that policy of " frightful- ness which, in the form of sinking unarmed merchant vessels with their living freight of men, women, and children, bombarding and dropping bombs on unfortified towns, and using novel and cruel methods of war in flagrant violation of recent and solemn international engagements, has shocked the moral sense of the civilized world. To those who, like myself, are old enough to remember the events of the Franco- Prussian War of 1870-71 there would certainly appear strong reasons for believing that, in the interval which has elapsed since that great contest, there has been a marked change for the worse in the behaviour of the officers and men of the German Army. Complaints of brutality were, indeed, then heard, but nothing occurred at all comparable to the acts of ferocity perpetrated against individuals during the present war, or the vandalism which has led to the wanton destruction of such buildings as the Cathedral at Reims and the Library at Louvain. Brutality has, in forty-five years, apparently become more brutish. CROMER. ( To be continued)
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