pressure by the demands of war, to turn its factories, mines and agricultural land into extensions of the battlefield. To make war effectively, organisation on the Prussian model is absolutely necessary, as every nation has discovered. How them, can it be argued that militarism is peculiar to the German mind?
Moreover, until recently, the British workman was remained that he could have the German discipline with advantage. Just as German methods in commerce and industry were applauded by English professors, so were the advantages of conscription, and the absence of "softness" among German workmen, said to be desirable for British workers also. We were to emulate the Germans and to copy them in their efficiency. The Germans, we were told, were more nearly allied to ourselves in race and blood, than any other of the peoples of Europe. Issuing from a common origin, the two nations preserved many points of agreement. In speech, the German and the Englishman used almost the same words to connote the simple things of life. In social life, in moral outlook, on the relations of the sexes, English and German shared common views. Twenty years ago every Englishman would have said we were more akin to the German people than to the French. The Frenchman remained the traditional enemy to all but a few Englishmen who periodically went to Paris—somewhat to the moral consternation of their friends and neighbours. A study of the writings of German militarists shows their pronounced affinity with Englishmen of the militarist school. The German Bernhardi, declares war to be desirable in itself. He describes it as "God's test of the nations." Neither Bernhardi nor any other German writer, penned a more thorough eulogy of war than John Ruskin, who said, "All great nations learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war; they were nourished in war and wasted by peace; taught by war and deceived by peace; trained by war and betrayed by peace." Lord Roberts did not labour under the delusion that the German militarist differed from, or was more wicked than our own. In his "Message to the Nation," Lord Roberts says:
"How was this Empire of Britain founded? War founded this Empire—war and conquest! When we, therefore, masters by war of one third of the habitable globe, when we propose to Germany to disarm, to curtail her navy diminish her army, Germany naturally refuses."
page eleven
