WARNING TO FRANCE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 71, 1 November 1940, Page 5

WARNING TO FRANCE

The following passage from Heine’s " Religion and Philosophy in Germany," appeared recently in the "New Statesman and Nation." The book was published in 1835, but this passage was deleted from the German edition by the Prussian censor, and appeared only in the French translation. To-day all the works of Heine are banned in Germany. "Te German Revolution will not prove any milder or gentler because it was preceded by the " Critique " of Kant, by the "Transcendental Idealism" of Fichte, or even by the Philosophy of Nature. These doctrines served to develop revolutioriary forces that onl? await their time to break forth and to fill the world with terror and with awe. Then will appear Kantians as little tolerant of piety in the world of deeds as in the world of ideas, who will mercilessly upturn with sword and axe the soil of our European life in order to extirpate the last remnants of the past. There will come upon the scene armed Fichteans whose fanaticism of will is to be restrained neither by fear nor by selfinterest; for they live in the spirit; they defy matter like those early Christians who could be subdued neither by bodily torments nor by bodily delights. Yes, in a time of social revolution these transcendental idealists will prove even more pertinacious than the early Christians; for the latter endured earthly martyrdom in the hope of attaining celestial blessedness, whilst the transcendental idealist looks on martyrdom itself as a vain show, and is invulnerable within the entrenchment of his own thought. Eagerness for Battle But most of all to be feared would be the philosophers of naiure were they actively to mingle in a German revolution, and to identify themselves with the work of destruction. For if the hand of the Kantian strikes with strong unerring blow, his heart being stirred by no feeling of traditional awe; if the Fichtean courageously defies every danger, since for him danger has in reality no existence, the Philosopher of Nature will be terrible in this, that he has allied himself with the primitive powers of nature, that he can conjure up the demoniac forces of old German pantheism; and having ‘done so, there is aroused in him that ancient German eagerness for battle which combats not for the sake of destroying, not even for the sake of victory, but merely for the sake of combat itself. Christianity — and this is its fairest merit-subdued to a certain extent the brutal warrior ardour of the Germans, but it could not entirely quench it; and when the cross, that restraining talisman, falls to pieces, then will break forth again the ferocity of the old combatants, the frantic Bersetker rage whereof Northern poets have said and sung-the talisman has become rotten, and the day will come when it will pitifully crumble to dust.

The old stone gods will then arise from the forgotten ruins and wipe from their eyes the dust of centuries, and Thor with his giant hammer will arise again, and he will shatter the Gothic cathedrals. "Be on Your Guard" When you hear the trampling of feet and the clashing of arms, ye neighbour’s children, ye French, be on your guard. + Smile not at my counsel, at the counsel of. a dreamer, who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, Philosophers of Nature. Smile not at thé phantasy of one who foresees in the region of reality the same outburst of revolution that has taken place in the region of intellect. The thought precedes the deed as the lightning the "thunder. German thunder is of true German character. It is not very nimble, it rumbles along somewhat slowly. But come it will, and when you hear a crashing as never before has been heard in the world’s history, then know at last the German thunderbolt has fallen. At this commotion the eagles will drop dead from the skies and the lions in the farthest wastes of Africa will bite their tails and creep into the royal lairs. There will be played in Germany a drama compared to which the French revolution will seem but an innocent idyll. At present it is true that everything is tolerably quiet; and though here and there few men can create a little stir, don’t imagine these are the real actors in the piece. They are only little curs chasing one another round the empty arena, barking and snapping at one another, till the appointed hour when the troop of gladiators appears to fight for life and death. "The Bitter Truth" And the hour will come. As on the steps of an amphitheatre, the nations will group themselves around Germany to witness the terrible combat. I counsel you, ye French, keep very quiet, and, above all, don’t applaud. We might readily misunderstand such applause, and, in our rude fashion, somewhat roughly put you to silence. For, if formerly in our servile listless mood we could oftentimes overpower you, much easier were it for us to do so in the arrogance of our newborn enthusiasm. You yourselves know what, in such a case, men can do; and you are no longer in such a case. Take heed, then! I mean it well with you. Therefore it is I tell you the bitter truth. You have more ‘to fear from a free Germany than from the entire Holy Alliance with all its Croats and Cossacks. For, in the first place, . they don’t love you in Germany, which is almost incomprehensible, since you are so amiable, and during your stay amongst us took such pains to please at least the better and fairer half of the German people. But even though this half still loved you, it is precisely the half that does not bear arms, and whose friendship, therefore, would be of little help to you. What you are really accused of I could never un-|

Gerstand. Once in a beer-cellar at Goettingen I heard a young Old-German assert that it was necessary to be revenged om France for Conradin of Hohenstaufen, whom you beheaded at Naples. Doubtless you have long since forgotten that: we, however, forget nothing. You see, then, that whenever we have a mind to quarrel with you there will be no lacking of valid grounds; in any case, I advise you to be on your guard. Happen what may in Germany, be you ever armed, remain quietly at your post, your weapons in your hands,

I mean it well with you, and I was seized with dismay when I heard it said lately that your Ministry proposed to disarm France. As you are, despite your present romantic tendency, a born classical people, you know Olympus. Amongst the joyous gods and goddesses quaffing and feasting of nectar and ambrosia, you may behold one goddess, who, amidst such gaiety and pastime, wears ever a coat of mail, the helm on her head and the spear in the hand. She is the goddess of Wisdom.