German Writer Says England Wants To Fight Germany.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 17, 1912:
Mariano Herggelet, for Fifteen Years a Resident of the British Isles, Declares That a War Between the Two Nations Is Highly Probable and Would Be Entirely England's Fault.    War between Great Britain and Germany has been for several years one of the dark possibilities that have worried both statesmen and the man in the Street. In England, at least, it has more than once aroused genuine fear. There the "German peril" is by no means an empty phrase. "German spies" have been discovered time and again within George V.'s dominions, and the chances for and against an invading army landing on British shores have been exhaustively discussed in books, magazines, and newspapers, set forth with vivid and terrifying detail on the stage in plays like "An Englishman's Home." Many people, taking heed of all this literature of alarm, have come to the conclusion that Germany is like a crouching tiger, waiting only for the most favorable moment to leap on its British prey.
    But now comes a German writer, Mariano Herggelet, with an entirely different view of the case. According to him, a British-German war — which, he admits, is highly probable — will, if it comes, be solely and entirely the fault of Great Britain. In a pamphlet just published, which has the formidable title "On the Probability of a War Between Germany and England and on the Future of These Two Countries, Together with a Description of the Englishman of the Present Day," Herr Herggelet paints a Germany concerned solely with her own development, building warships simply because she needs them, not as a menace to England, desirous only of being let alone; and, as a companion picture, he gives us an England consumed with jealousy, envy, and hatred, seeing in every move by Germany an anti-English menace, blown from friendliness to hostility with a suddenness bewildering to every German, brought time and again to the brink of war by anti-German statesmen, especially Sir Edward Grey, whom the German writer accuses in so many words of having almost caused such a war on no less than three occasions.
    Germany's patience, he adds, is rapidly becoming exhausted. "If there must be a war, then let it come," expresses, according to him, a steadily growing sentiment in Germany. And, if war does come, then — woe to England!
    The pamphlet begins in a deceiving way, with a catalogue of the Englishman's virtues calculated to make the latter pink with joy and patriotism. But, in a few pages, matters change utterly. As a prelude to his diatribe anent the Englishman's blind career toward a disastrous war, Herr Herggelet, after announcing that he has lived fifteen years in England, sums up the Englishman's doctrine as follows:
    1. Don't think, reflect, or bother your head about anything.
    2. Don't make any unnecessary exertion.
    3. Don't get excited about your mistakes, neglect, or failure to do things. They don't matter.
    4. Don't learn any foreign languages; there are always plenty of foreigners about to do what may be needed in this line.
    5. Don't change anything until it is too late.
    6. Don't learn anything from other nations.
    7. Don't take any preventive measures — just calmly let calamity approach.
    8. Don't have any exaggerated sense of duty; there are other people for that.
    9. Be sure to forget everything promptly; a long memory simply disturbs the peace of the soul.
    10. Keep no promises, except when they concern pleasure or sport.
    11. Never be thorough — do only what is absolutely necessary.
    12. Don't begin anything too soon. "Manana!" To-morrow is another day.
    13. Remember that unconcern and indifference will carry you gently and pleasantly through life.
    14. Remember that superficiality and comfort save trouble and beautify existence.
    15. Dream, idle happily, lull yourself with delicious thoughts of riches and sport, sleep long, eat much, work lightly and little, spend a quarter of an hour daily inveighing against your exasperating political opponents, pay your 'taxes, be satisfied, believe implicitly in the natural superiority of the British Nation, and act pleasantly toward everybody, so far as externals are concerned.
    Then, as if those fifteen articles of faith were not bad enough, the German hands out this parting rap for good measure:
    "The Englishman begins about every other sentence by saying "I think" — but he never makes good what he says!"
    So much for the prelude. Herr Herggelet then takes up that English hatred for Germany which, according to him, will probably bring about a war.
    "The Britisher" he says, "sees in us a youthful nation, which, since 1870 has risen rapidly, but which is still poor — a people of bad taste and evil habits, which tries in all things to emulate the English and embitter their lives. The English, the Englishman feels, are an extremely old race, which emigrated from somewhere on the continent somewhere around 450 A.D. and has ever since, for 1450 years, ruled gloriously over the British Isles. The fact that we, with a few intervals, have inhabited the same part of the earth for three thousand, perhaps four thousand years, and that since Charlemagne — a thousand years ago, almost — we were a nation, is unknown to him because he learns only his own history. Other Nations mean nothing to him. They do not interest him, because they do not live on islands. Even among the educated class of Englishmen knowledge of extra-English matters is very limited."
    No Hope of Future Friendship. This sudden rise of Germany, says the author of the pamphlet, has angered England. He cites, as instances of this, England's activities in the Samoan troubles and her treatment of some German vessels during the Boer war.
    "After that," he continues, "It is clear that friendly relations between the two countries are no longer to be hoped for — that they are, in fact, unimaginable almost, except as purely transitory. Since those days the feeling in England — absolutely without provocation from Germany — has grown more and more hostile, and every absurd pretext has served for a new campaign of animosity against us. Nor can anything else be expected from a nation which, except for a few short interruptions, Is daily spurred on by its press. In some ways our relations toward England have taken on an ominous similarity to the situation in 1870.
    "Decay becomes each year more apparent in England; Germany, on the other hand, flourishes with scarcely an interruption. Envy and jealousy of Germany's rise are growing in England from year to year. An actual pretext for war is being sought. Even in the House of Commons every step taken by Germany is suspected of being 'directed against England.'
    "England wishes to overthrow Germany before Germany becomes too strong for her. That sort of thing is stated openly in England. But it is not carried out because, before England could really get into motion, things would really have to be very bad, and, if they ever did get so, nothing would be ready, neither the army nor the navy.
    "All one has to do is to recall the Boer war. Although England wished to seize the Transvaal, she went into the struggle without being prepared, having allowed herself to be surprised by the Boers' declaration of war."
    Then the German writer comes to the building of warships in Germany, which, he says, arouses the most furious hostility among the English. England, he points out, builds ships in the proportion of 2 1/2 to 1 to Germany's naval increase. Yet when Germany undertakes to carry out a shipbuilding programme which merely keeps up this ratio, there is a storm in England. "The building of all these new German battleships is a menace against England!" is the cry that resounds throughout the British dominions. According to the pamphleteer, no such menace is intended. Germany has other fish to fry. "Why shouldn't she build ships to protect herself against France or Russia or both? — or simply, as a measure of safety? But England refuses to see that. "Envy, jealousy, and hatred" blind her eyes. Not only does she refuse Germany's proffered friendship but she sees nothing but enmity in all that Germany does.
    "Germany, that restless rival, must be overthrown. That goes without saying. The only question for England is, How can she be overthrown? In the meantime she professes friendship.
    "Between any two events, England is always friendly toward Germany; but when anything, even the most trivial matter, comes up, then we Germans again feel the full weight of England's secret hatred, enmity, and scorn.
    " 'But,' one may ask, 'are not those peaceful statements in the House of Commons to be taken as sincere?' Yes, certainly, for the day on which they were made. How often have we not heard them before? In fact, they may be taken as covering the twenty hours before they were prepared, nay, even the twenty-four hours after they were smirkingly uttered. * * * One can never trust England. She is like the month of April."

Five Great Modern Adventurers.
    After that, Herr Herggelet pays his respects to the man whom he considers the incarnation of English hatred of Germany — Sir Edward Grey.
    "The world has, in the last fifteen years, produced five great adventurers," he says. "By 'adventurer' is to be understood a man who, without consideration for the welfare of a nation and only for the satisfaction of his own ambition and without weighing the consequences, drags his country to the brink of, or even plunges it into, war. Of this kind of men, let us name, to begin with, four: Chamberlain, Alexeieff, Delcassé, and Iswolski. The first two reached their goal, the other two were hindered at the eleventh hour and forced to back down by their respective superiors.
    "When, seven years ago, the Conservative Government of England fell, owing to internal weakness, and Lord Lansdowne gave up the foreign portfolio, Germany breathed a sigh of relief. There was again hope of a quiet future, even of friendly relations. What a colossal mistake! For, with the coming of the Liberals into power, the direction of foreign affairs fell to Sir Edward Grey, the fifth in the list of the above-mentioned five great .adventurers. Filled through and through with envy, hostility, and hatred toward Germany, he made 'Down with Germany!' the basis of all his statecraft and avoided no sacrifice, however great, of British prestige, provided he felt that, he was drawing one step nearer to his goal."
    Herr Herggelet then recounts how Sir Edward tried three times to bring about a war between England and Germany only to be frustrated at the last moment, as were Delcassé and Iswolski.
    He tried to make the Bosnia-Herzegovina incident a pretext for it, we are told; he counted hopefully on the Morocco imbroglio, on the Congo affair. But all was useless.
    How long, though, will such hostile efforts be useless? asks the German writer. In the face of them German patience is bound to become exhausted. And then?
    He hastens to add, at this point that all Englishmen are not Sir Edward Greys — far from it:
    "There are in England thousands upon thousands of quiet, calm, right-thinking persons to whom the arousing of feeling against German is profoundly distasteful, who wish to see cordial and normal relations between the two greatest commercial nations of the world, who take no stock in tales of German plans of invasion, but laugh them to scorn, for the simple reason that they have visited our country and know our people. Dealings with such Englishmen are not only extremely pleasant, but even a great honor. Not in every country are right-thinking foreigners received with such lack of prejudice, such natural and cordial friendliness, as in free England.
    "Such Englishmen have, almost always traveled extensively. In their hearts there is a place for all nationalities. They are the finest ornament of England and carry the high repute of the English gentlemen throughout the world. They are at home in almost every class of society.
    "But they have no influence, because they do not raise up their voices against the clamorers on the other side. They are powerless to stem the evil tide of the press. They are simply swept away.
    It is sad to see them, silent, resigned to their fate, desirous of the best, and impotent to bring it about. The noble endeavors of men like Sir Frank Lascelles. Lord Avebury, Lord Courtney, Lord Brassey and many more, the fine speeches of the heads of municipalities, the sermons and addresses of high dignitaries of the Church, all of these are praiseworthy to the highest degree, but they are thoroughly hopeless and vain. For in comparison with that great mass of people which is led on by Sir Edward, his followers and the press, and which believes firmly in a German attack which has been held up before it during a number of years by means of miles of pictures, the thought of which is freshened over and over again from every stage and every concert hall, these men are only a small band—simply 300 Spartans against 3.000,000 Persians.
    "That other innumerable host feel strongly angered at the building of each new German ship, at each new step of German statecraft. They do not know exactly how Germany is to be overthrown, since it is 'a constant danger for England, for the whole world!' For so it stands in the newspapers; so preaches Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons.
    "England has an invincible fleet. But she has no army. For that reason foreign armies must be collected, at no matter what cost in money and prestige."

Germany Not Hostile Minded.
    After giving that picture of the state of mind of England, we get the following description of Germany's attitude:
    "And the German side? There is no sane German who wishes evil to England. The cousinship between us, to be sure, has gone up in smoke, and, since Morocco, we prefer not to be reminded of Waterloo.
    "But England is our best business friend and the only power (besides ourselves) which keeps up the open-door policy everywhere. Therefore, every German hopes that England will become larger and stronger.
    "Where in all the world has Germany ever harmed England? We are prepared to endure our great customer's fits of temper, but there are limits. Where unreasonableness begins patience stops.
    "Even the French, the most suspicious nation on earth, see nothing extraordinary in our shipbuilding and they are building ship's themselves, without arousing enmity in any one. There is, in fact, no commercial nation in the world, having possessions across the seas, which builds ships for attack — if it did, it would soon disappear from the face of the earth. The world to-day will endure no adventurer of the type of Napoleon, especially on the sea, since all nations would feel themselves threatened in the person of the one nation actually threatened.
    "The expression 'supremacy on the sea' is antiquated nowadays. England must learn how to get along in this world with seven powers having equal rights — if not, things will go hard with her in the long run. And all that is needed is a bit of goodwill. There is no nation on earth that wishes evil to England. Even Russia has no designs on India; it wishes simply to reach the Persian Gulf.
    "As for the question of envy, why should we Germans envy England? On account of her territory? Why, our pleases us so much better! On account of her wealth? We have become almost as rich within the last forty years — in another forty years we shall be richer than England. On account of her possessions across the sea? Why should we? Fine sand deserts, to be sure, were foisted upon us, and we began to settle them when we were in the 'innocent apprentice' stage, as colonizers. But we love the work, and, just as Frederick the Great made something like a miniature paradise in forty years out of the sand desert of Brandenburg, so we, too, expect, within forty years, to make a little Garden of Eden out of our desolate sandy possessions.
    "On account of her trade? Why, our trade has been second in importance for many years. In ten years, at most, it will be abreast of the English, provided Englishmen continue to observe those fifteen rules of conduct already mentioned. On account of her ships? We think ours much finer. On account of her scientific accomplishments? We freely acknowledge their importance — but ours also will bear inspection. On account of her glorious history? Ours began 1,500 years earlier, and is just as glorious — among other things, we pride ourselves on having given birth to the Anglo-Saxons.
    "On account of her Shakespeare, perhaps? Ah! that is the sore spot. He should have been a German. Had he been, then all the world would by this time know exactly where and how he lived and worked. Moreover, his plays are given ten times as often in Germany as in his native country. Hence, there is no use going to war about him alone."
    After that sarcastic fling, Herr Herggelet once more calls attention to the fact that Germany has absolutely no designs against England. "But," he adds, "when one of two nations pursues the other with envy, jealousy, and hatred, and, in addition, is double as strong on the sea, and will remain so, then the probability of a clash in the future is very probable, and will remain so.
    "All we Germans want is to be let alone — not to be browbeaten any longer by England — But if Messrs. Asquith, Lloyd-George, and Sir Edward Grey are bound to get what they want — let them come on!"