Part 22 (1/2)
With genuine German inquisitiveness Herr Presber hunted through the various cupboards and drawers in his room and found a map of France as it was before the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. ”The map is wrong and useless, and so I use it to line a drawer before placing my linen therein. This makes me think of the many changes which will be marked in the atlases which German children are now carrying to school in their satchels--after the cannon have ceased to roar. How the colouring of the maps has changed since I went to school, and yet once more a great 'unrest of colour' is about to change the map of Europe. And as far as I can see, large notes of interrogation must be placed not alone round the Poles and in Central Africa!”[179]
[Footnote 179: Ibid., p. 101.]
”I spoke of the good understanding between the natives and our soldiers.
Probably that is not so easy to attain everywhere. We drove long distances from the Prince's headquarters and once pa.s.sed through a famous town which sees the German conquerors for a second time. (No doubt Sedan is meant.--Author.)
”Most of the inhabitants know it is the Crown Prince by the signs of reverence shown him on all sides, by officers and men alike. But the citizens of the twice-conquered town bite their lips, turn their heads aside, and pretend indifference. The women too--many of them in deep mourning--turn away, or sometimes stand and stare as if with suddenly aroused interest. Here the ancient hate glowers in silence.
”It seems as if a parole of mute non-respect has been pa.s.sed round. This town, which has become world-famous on account of the _debacle_ of the Third Empire, lives to see with gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth the downfall of the Republic. But they do not believe it yet.”[180]
[Footnote 180: Ibid., p. 108.]
”French and Russian prisoners are working on the roads, wheeling barrows of stone and filling the holes made by sh.e.l.l fire. Some of them, without thinking, touch their caps when their guards stand stiffly at the salute. (And how few guards are necessary to watch this tame herd!) Others gaze at our car as it rushes past without giving any salute; their faces express astonishment, curiosity, but no excitement.”[181]
[Footnote 181: Ibid., pp. 107-110.]
Another illuminating page tells of the Crown Prince's anger on hearing that Italy had joined the Allies, and how they went for a motor-ride as an antidote to the royal rage.
German humour is generally unconscious and mostly unintentional. After a policy of bullying towards France for forty-four years, Germany has discovered during the course of the war that France is the cat's-paw of Russia and Great Britain--princ.i.p.ally the latter.
One writer,[182] in some fifty pages of venom, endeavours to show that England is France's executioner. Another[183] gives our ally the advice ”awake!” After Germany has played the _saigner-a-blanc_ game in Northern France for more than a year, the advice seems rather belated.
[Footnote 182: Walter Unus: ”England als Henker Frankreichs.”
Braunschweig, 1915.]
[Footnote 183: Ernst Heinemann: ”Frankreich, erwache!” Berlin, 1915.]
Herr Heinemann writes, p. 33: ”France is not fighting for herself, but for England and Russia.
”Poor deceived France! She has given fifteen milliards of francs to Russia so that she may at last draw the sword in defence of Russo-Serbian and British commercial interests. She has placed her money and her beautiful land at the disposal of her so-called friends--for the sake of a mad idea which these friends have cleverly exploited (_revanche idee_).
”England has declared that she will continue the war for twenty years, twenty years--on French soil. If under these circ.u.mstances the French broke with their allies--who have exploited France for the last twenty-five years, and who have plunged her into this war---in order to arrive at a reasonable understanding with Germany; then they would only show that they do not intend to accept the final consequences of the mistakes committed by the French Government.
”No one is compelled to eat the last drop of a soup prepared by false friends. In this sense, to seduce France to a direct breach of faith with her allies, would in truth, only mean the protection of France's best interests” (pp. 51-2).
One other writer deserves mention--a lecturer in history, Bonn University--because he presents an opinion the exact contrary to the one last quoted. According to Dr. Platzhoff, France herself is the guilty party, who has tricked Russia and Great Britain into the service of revenge for 1870.
”Therefore France found it necessary to extract herself from isolation, and acquire allies against her neighbour (Germany). In several decades of painful effort, French diplomacy has solved the problem in brilliant fas.h.i.+on. _Revanche_--and alliance policy are inseparable conceptions.”[184]
[Footnote 184: Dr. Walter Platzhoff; ”Deutschland und Frankreich,” p.
18.]
In contrast to most German authors, Platzhoff admits that the _Entente Cordiale_ was called into being by Germany herself. ”This development caused great anxiety in Germany. But it seems certain that Germany could have prevented it by one means alone--an open agreement with England.
And Berlin, after considering the matter carefully, had declined the latter.”[185]
[Footnote 185: Ibid., p. 22.]
”That France would enter the field on Russia's behalf is a logical consequence not only of the Dual Alliance treaty, but also of the policy pursued during recent decades. In vain French ministers have protested their love of peace and their innocence in causing this war. The policy of alliances and revenge was certain to end in a world conflagration.