by conceiving the possibility of his being blinded by
prejudice or perversity, and admits his capacity for criticising England
with a certain slight malicious taste for taking the conceit out of her.
Seemingly he belongs to that numerous class who think that to admit a
fault is to excuse it. As a highwayman might say before taking your
purse, "Now, I admit, I have a certain slight taste for thieving," and
expect you to smile forgiveness of his depredation, Shaw's bias is
evident wherever he discusses the action and qualities of Great Britain.
Thus he contrasts Bernhardi's brilliant with our own very dull
militarists' facts, the result being that the intense mediocrity of
Bernhardi leaps to the eye on every page, and that events have
thoroughly discredited all his political and many of his military ideas,
whereas we possess militarists of first-class quality.

Naturally, Shaw calls England muddle-headed. Yet of late nothing has
been less apparent than muddle-headednes. Of British policy, Shaw says
that since the Continent generally regards us as hypocritical, we must
be hypocritical. He omits to say that the Continent generally, and
Germany in particular, regards our policy and our diplomacy as extremely
able and clear-sighted. The unscrupulous cleverness of Britain is one of
Germany's main themes.

These are minor samples of Mr. Shaw's caprices. In discussing the origin
of the war Mr. Shaw's aim is to prove that all the great powers are
equally to blame. He goes far back and accuses Great Britain of
producing the first page of Bernhardian literature in the anonymous
pamphlet "The Battle of Dorking." He admits in another passage that the
note of this pamphlet was mainly defensive. He is constantly thus making
intrenchments for himself in case of forced retirement, and there is in
his article almost nothing unjust against Great Britain that is not
ingeniously contradicted or mitigated elsewhere.

*Great Britain's War Literature.*

Beginning with "The Battle of Dorking" and ending with H.G. Well's "War
in the Air," one of the most disturbing and effective warnings against
militarism ever written, he sees simply that Great Britain has produced
threatening and provocative militarist literature comparable to
Germany's. No grounds exist for such a contention. There are militarists
in all countries, but there are infinitely more in Germany than in any
other country. The fact is notorious. The fact is also notorious that