WAR GUILT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 290, 1 September 1920, Page 10

WAR GUILT

VIEWS OF TOE' GERMAN RELIGIOUS PRESS ARE THERE SIGNS OF REAL REPENTANCE? 'Professor James Stalker, D.D., says he has often been asked whether in tho reliclous Press ,o£ Germany there are any signs of real repentance. In an article on the question in the "British Weekly" the Professor says:— "Die Christliclie Welt" prints an open letter to the editor from Professor 1 orator on what he calls the Question of Guilt. Starting from tlio contention oi many Germans, that-the guilt ,is a worldwide one. as all the civilised nations have armed themselves and could all bo to<i easily convicted of selfish designs, he goes cn, nevertheless, to argue that, though the sin of militarism wasuniversal. it ivas most concentrated in Germany. The Germans have complained bittcrlv of the feeling shown towards themselves by neutral countries; but he goes on, the neutrals know well that while all the nations have practised the nolitics of violence, it was Germanj which,- at two Hague Conferences, frus trated the attempts of the rest to put ar end to their sins, and introduce an err of humanity. The neutrals know wel that, while all tho nations armed them selves, .it ■ was Germany which resiste'. disarmament with scorn thrice ivithii fifteen years, rendering the approaches o England in this direction abortive. Thi neutrals know well that militarism exist ed everywhere; hut they know also tha' that which the world callo Prussian mill tarism was a quite peculiar product against which the entire human race ha: with complete' justification risen up ii wrath, and will continue to rise. Mill tarism was the elevation of the military point of view above all other views .an< considerations whatever. Militarism wa< that heartless and shortsighted faith 11 the sword which converted, even the di plomats of Garni any into mere agents o the armed fist, mid rendered every cob structivo policy impossible. Jlililamn was that want of respect for the wortl of man which rendered the leadini classes so hated by their own people as well as incapable of compreheniuni the spirit and traditions of other peoples Nor-was this diseaw,: he goes on morc ly thut ol ft snuill ensto, wiiich 1111 posed its sentiments oil an' umvilliuj people. On the contrary, the glonhcn tion of war and the romance of conquea had infected all classes, and, it is. ex preijsly added, the German professors pastors and high school teachers were Jn tho large majority, and with out; exceptions not wwth mentioning, propagandist of this kind of politica vision. , , . , . ~ The writer docs not shrink from tli acknowledgment, that what has happen ed is tho natural result of this ovi spirt, and that the only hope lies u confessing ifie issue to be tho righteou judgment of God. Tuo reproache passed upon Germany by their encnne may be pnarisaical, one-sided and super ficial, but the accusations of German against themselves (must go much deep er A Germany, absolved '.by repent ance and purified through suffering may yet bo able to repay its debts t i\ie children and children's children o thoso whom the war luis wionged, l co'n more precious than that of mate rial indemnity. , .The author of this remarkable uttei anco is a man of fifty, widely kmw : as.« writer on pedagogy, and, till re cently, seiXrled fls a prolessor in Munich But the really significant thing is, no that a single German should have writ ten in sucit terms, but tnnt his letuc should have been publisher -n the page of a periodical of 6uch high standing a "Die Ghristliche Welt.' It is tru that the editor accompanies the coir munication witli sentences of his.owi: embodying certain cautions and modiii cat.ons, but ho w very far from indicat ijig opposition to its general tenor. I Bulwsiiuenft numbers there havo bee other replies, but rinse l also have bee moderate in tone and not expressive o hostility or condemnation. Olio onl) by Herr Tieelje, is thoroughly so. tli writer asserting with much sliarpneo and indignation, Mat he is not go.ng t ask Germany to t-it down on what li calls 'Wilson's stool of repentance. How far Professor Fo/stcr may b regarded as a representative spokesma: for nis fellow-co'untrjnien, it would b difficult to say. I must sorrowfully coi fess tliaft the result oi my reading 1 the German religious Press is to male mo judge, that (is he speaks for onl a small minority. Bur the number Ix r.ind him w.ll grow; as yet it is es tremoly difficult to speak as he has done but, if his is '-.fie true l'literpretation c tlie course of Providence, other guide of tho people will be constrained to giv similar utterance to the vuico of coi science.