the industrialists, the schools, and the whole of the German world of learning have utterly failed in the work of 'explaining the war' (Aufklärung) to our people. While the war was still on, a leading German publishing house demanded that the editor of a series of editions for schools of French authors should cut out all 'anti-German' passages. Thus even in the children a false picture of the feeling existing against us in France was sedulously implanted. . . . We waited for the man of note who was to take charge of the work of propaganda amongst our people. We found him in Lord Northcliffe." V. THE APATHY OF DESPAIR. The zones occupied by the Allies in Germany are shut off from the Empire outside. Therefore I am prepared to believe that impressions gathered on the Rhine may not be representative of the situation elsewhere in Germany. But the Berlin papers still come to Cologne, and I have searched them in vain for indieations of such a revolutionary spirit, say, as vibrates through the gazettes and broadsides of the French Revolution. Rather the longing for the restoration of order, the yearning for reconstruction, are revealed in the tone of the Berlin press. As for the occupied territory, I find it impossible to imagine anything less like a land in the throes of revolution than this fair province of the Rhine. Far from there being any outward signs of Bolshevism, Bolshevism is the universal bogey. The inhabitants in town and country have got over their terrors of "reprisals" by the Allied troops, and appear to be actually en joying the peace and quiet which the presence of the Allied forces procures them. As far as I am qualified to judge from a long acquaintance with Germany and the German people, the German revolution is not a living force. If revolt had been in the blood of this, the most dooile, the most characterless of peoples, it would have risen up ere this against kings and tyrants. The Emperor's throne was toppled over, and the thrones of his brother monarchs in Federal Germany followed suit, because this was the only means by which the mass of the German population hoped that they might end the war. Matters had reached such an unbearable pitch that the offer of a crust of bread, coupled with specions promises about the imminence of revolution in the Allied countries, sufficed to sway the mob to any violent act calculated to procure them alleviation. The seeds of revolt were planted by the sheer inepti tude of the German Government. The tidal wave which made such a clean sweep of the German princes carried up to their thrones the agitators who had used the blunders of the Emperor and his advisers to compass their own ends. But the prevailing spirit in Germany is not revolution. It is weariness. It takes the form of dull apathy in some, black despair in others. un The character of the German people has not changed. The Lord High Panjandrum has gone; but his mandarins, the Beamtentum, remain. Save for occasional acts of violence, principally due to the imaginable folly of the revolutionary zealots in opening the jails in the first rush of Germany's new-born liberty, life proceeds con the old lines. Taxes are paid regularly, policemen continue to bully the crowd, long queues of people, ox-like in their uncomplaining patience, form up in all docility, whether it is to buy a stamp at the postoffice or book a seat for the opera. The German was wont to fawn and grovel before the military. In the occupied territory he does so still, with the difference that the soldier now wears khaki instead of field-grey. When in a rural distriot an officer reported to the Bürgermeister that a man had ignored the British order that German civilian males should take their hats off to British officers, that worthy promptly told the complainant that he ought to have knooked VOL. CCV.-NO. MCCXLII. the offender's hat off (den Hut herunterboxen) (sio)! That attitude, so wholly representative of the relations between officialdom and people in monarchical Germany, does not encourage the belief that any great change has taken place in the national mind. Take this advertisement, culled from a recent number of the 'Vossische Zeitung,' published in "revolutionary" Berlin: "For Princes, Counts, the highest officials, large landed proprietors, high officers (including those disabled in the war), also for other gentlemen belonging to the most exclusive circles of society, of every age and religion. Distinguished Spouses Can That advertisement, with its truly Prussian mixture of vulgarity and snobbishness, smacks far too much of the old Germany for me to believe that the German revolution is a real thing. No, the German people is waiting for a lead, no matter in what direction, so long as it restores to them that peace and prosperity they so recklessly squandered. People may try to make our flesh creep with stories of the secret organisation of the German Army, but while no measure of precaution should be neglected by the Allies, I firmly believe there is not an ounce of fight left in the German people. The note of many of the press comments is one of undisguised despair. 2 L "We are wholly in the hands of our foes," writes Professor Cossmann, in his article 'Collapse.' "If they do not furnish us with raw materials, hundreds of thousands of textile workers will be thrown out of employment as soon as the military stocks are used up. Hundreds of thousands in the iron industry will be out of work if the Lorraine ore is taken away from us, and the import of Swedish ore stopped. Hundreds of thousands in the chemical industry will lose their employment, because in Japan, America, and England chemical industries have arisen and captured a part of the world trade. Provided that it is permitted and we are not called upon to perform menial services as slaves in the war zones, we therefore anticipate emigration en masse in a volume, and under conditions unfavourable for Germanism (Deutschtum) such as have never experienced." we The Professor sums up the views of "many Germans" by saying that they regard the German people as not only incapable of existence, but also unworthy of existence. "They declare that a race which behaved as non-combatant Germany behind the Front behaved deserves to go under. Everything for which our people was renowned, stability, loyalty, it lacks. Its enthusiasm is only a flash in the pan. They point to the French in the territory occupied by the Germans, on whose lips never a word of repining was heard; to the Italians, who, after the greatest defeat in their history in the previous year, did not dream for an instant of peace or the renunciation of their war aims; to the Belgians, the Serbians, the Montenegrins, who, even after the whole of their territory had been conquered, were not willing to make a separate peace. Never before has a nation cast its weapons from it, never before had a nation thrown over its leaders and begged for mercy as the Germans did." The writer admits that the above sentiments probably correctly sum up the impression produced abroad by the German collapse. During the war," he continues, "the hate which surrounded us at the outbreak gave place to admiration for our military achievements, mingled with contempt for our political actions, but at the Revolution these sentiments were replaced by a feeling of undisguised disgust. In the eyes of the English, any one who at such a moment levels accusations against his fellow-countrymen is no gentleman. Such things as the fawning on prisoners or the threat that Bolshevism will spread to England produces only the silence of unmixed contempt." In conclusion, let me quote the Foreword to Professor Cossmann's article: "Our first greeting after the collapse is to those who fought for us, who on sea and land and in the air stood firm against the superiority of the whole world, and to those who languish in enemy captivity. "It was all in vain. "But the lowest form of gratitude is that measured by success. Let us measure ours by their superhuman and unparalleled sufferings and achievements. "Let the first duty of us who live to-day and of our children be to do all we can for those who took part in the war and those they have left behind them. "Because all is lost, everything must be built up afresh, German honour as well. Let honour's first duty be to give thanks to German heroes!" VALENTINE WILLIAMS. โล FROM the aerodrome at and coats, or drank coffee in Dunkerque five Short night- preparation for another raid bombing machines were oper- the same night. ating. These were large single-engined machines with a very long stretch of wings, and, apart from the HandleyPages, were the biggest machines in use on the Western Front, and carried the heaviest weight of bombs. "Bruges is getting a bit hot. Good many flaming onions to-night. Seem to be more searchlights!" was the kind of comment made. These airmen continued their raids, a little disdainful of the fuss and excitement about the Handley-Pages. They realised that they were doing the job, and that four bombs dropped are better than fourteen about to be dropped. When the larger machines were ready to go, it was decided that they should operate from another aerodrome near the coast in order that our own aerodrome might be left clear for the Shorts. We would crowd round I was not allowed to go on curiously, eager to learn what the first raid, as my pilot's Was to face us when we machine was not in action, so started raiding on the bigger I drove down to the aeromachines. drome at dusk to act as an The airmen said little as assistant ground officer. The they removed their helmets machines were ready in corner, and were to proceed to Ostend. little higher than the ground Night fell, The engines roared. One after the other the machines swept up and blotted out the stars in their passage. The noise of the engines died away, and the uneasy night was left undisturbed. However, no more explosions shook the ground, and the noise of the French anti-airoraft batteries broke the tufts of dry grass. In the I climbed over the sanddunes on to the beach, and stood looking north-east towards the lines. Far away I could see many a sign of the restless activity of the war-time night. Flash succeeded flash on the horizon, some dull and red, some brilliant and white. Here and there I could see the faint, almost invisible, arm of a searchlight waving evilly across the sky. Then I would see very slowly, very deliberately, a row of "green balls," like a string of luminous jade beads, rise up from the ground and climb up, up, up, into the darkness, begin to bend over like a tall overburdened flower, and vanish one by one. Another string would follow them, apparently on an irregular ourve. Though fully twentyfive miles away, they had all the hard glitter of jewels, and were very luminous and beautiful. I When I reached a deep I saw a French marine, I As I stood watching this strange alluring sight, there were two deafening unexpeoted reports behind me the most vicious urgent noises I have ever heard. flung myself flat on the sand, face downwards, arms thrown He was evidently delighted out. Report after report fol- to see somebody. He wanted lowed, each one drawing the moral support of nearer to me. I began to companion-another terrified dig, in my desire to be as human being. I felt the ent nigh men th ad to find ing it hemo of g what to |