The Dominion. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1918. A FUTILE INVITATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 275, 9 August 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1918. A FUTILE INVITATION

It is strange but true that some British scholars still cling to the beJiefj that if Gorman intellectuals were made acquainted with the actual facts regarding the origin, of the war they would acknowledge that Germany had. committed a great crime agaicst humanity, and would express contrition for their attempts to throw the blame upon the Allies. The Lichnowsky revelations made /it clear beyond all possibility or reasonable doubt that Germany was absolutely determined to start a war; that British statesmen did their utmost to maintain peace-; that the Kaiser and his advisers deliberately blocked every endeavour to settle the trouble between Austria and Serbia by diplomatic methods. In view of these facta. Dr. Sanday, the Lady Margaret iProfessor of Divinity at Oxford.'felt that if there remained any vestige of honesty and sincerity in German intellectual circles the publication of the Lichnowskv revelations must have caused a drastic revision of previously-expressed opinions regarding the causes of the war.-: At a, recent meeting of the British AcademV Dr. Sanday said the- time was opportune for bringing home the truth to leading German scholars, and through them to .the German people. Ho specially invited Professor Ernst Tboeltsch, of Heidelberc. to take up the task of bringing about a change in German public opinion. It is difficult '■" imagine how anyone could expect good to result from such an appeal. The war manifestos of German scholars have contained so many false statements—del ifferatcly false statements—that it is futile to expect from them any reverence for truth. What do they care about truthl They have shown over'and over again an eager willingness to conceal plain facts or distort them, and even to tell positive lies, to suit tho purposes of the Prussian junkers. They have invented all sorts of arguments to give the appearance of truth to the grossest untruth. It is quite probable that Lichnowsky revealed very little that they did not already know. They have known all along 1 that tho war was "made in Germany," but no appeal from British scholars or any one else is likely to extract from them an admission of their country's guilt: . It is hardly necessary to say that many British scholars, probably the majority of them, did not regard Professor Sanday's suggestions with much favour. The whole thing seemed utterly futile. It could do no good, and might do a considerable amount of harm. Professor J. A. Stewart, in a letter to the Times, stated that the German Government would welcome Professor Sanday's invitation as showing that one of the objects which entered into their calculations when they permitted tho full publication' of the Lichnowsky revelations in their newspapers was about to be attained. They would say: "Inj lluential people in England are beginning to believe that the Germat, public, enlightened by the Lichnowsky revelations, _ is becoming more, friendly; these influential people in England are evidently beginning to think that they ought to reciprocate; they are even now anxious to talk with influential people in Germany 'about peace after tho war'; out of this academic talk an 'atmoaphcro' will be created in England favourable to the conclusion of 'a good German peuce' by negotiation ,in the event of our not being able to dictate terms of peace at the point of the sword." This is not an exaggerated view of tho mischievous effect which the invitation might have in Germany., The possibility 1 of misunderstanding evidently suggested itself to Sir F. G. Kenyon, President of the British Academy, for he thought it necessary to assure the public that the discussion of tho subject was not to be taken as a sign .ol.any weakening on. tho part of British scholars 'with regard to the war. He also stated that it .would he impossible to resume intercourse with German scholars until thc,y had renounced the crimes against civilisation which Germany had committed. Professor Sanday said ho would like to know what attitude men like Harnack and Loops and Tkoeltsou would assumo "in tho strong new light which had now been thrown upon the events which led up to the war." He really seemed to think that these German scholars would make a solemn declaration retracting the deliberate misrepresentation and falsehood of which they have been guilty in their attempts to justify the war policy and war methods of the German Government. Ono can imagine thederision with which the mere thought of such a recantation would be received by the intellectual leaders of Germany. But if protestations of conversion and crocodile tears could help them to win the war Or to secure a German peace they would bo forthcoming in abundance.

Professor Sanday did not have to wait long for an answor to his invitation. Two clays after the dolivery of his address at the British Academy meeting the Times quoted some remarkable statements made in newspaper articles by Professor Troeltsch about a fortnight after tho publication of the Lichnowsky Memorandum. TitoEi/rscu was certainly not in a repentant mood. In fact, he gloried in his country's shame. He gloated over tho German exploitation of tho Russian Revolution. Ho made no pretence of recognising tho "right of eoljc-dotor-

mination" for tho border States. Such a right, he said, "must by .alliances mrd conventions- be brought into accord with the vital interests of the Central Powers." Here Germany has "no choice;" "everything has now become fate and necessity.'' He referred bitterly to the stubbo'rn•ncss of the Allies, and in regard to the Western offensive he asserted that "the iron foreheads of ClemenCE.U) and Lloyd George had to be smashed in." Instead of repenting in sackcloth and ashes, this bellicose professor took delight in the thought of France being overrun and forced into a peace like that imposed on llussia, and hoped that England would be driven from the Continent. In a second article he urged that Germany should screw up her demands for indemnities, as she had acquired a new "moral right" to them through the enemy's refusal of peace, which had compelled Germany, to undertake another offensive. He paid not the slightest heed to Lichnowsky's damaging admissions. He declared that "whatever may have been the particular events—they arc still unknown—at the outbreak of war, the fact itself, is indisputable that tho w<U' arose from a new uprising of the European Centre against' the border States, and that the border States attempted to force back the Centre into the old state of impotence, although the Centre, with its increasing mass of population and its 'corresponding world-economic expansion, raised additional claims to participation in the final distribution of the planet." This gives us a good idea of the attitude of Processor Tkoeltsch in reference to the "strong new light" which has been thrown by Lichnowsky upon the events which led up to the,wwatr t and Troeltsch was the man who, in tho opinion of Professor Sanday. was most capable of converting his countrymen and working out the problem of bringing Germany back into line with the moral conscience of tho world,