Britain so essentially grotesque and distorted.

* * * * *

*Bernard Shaw on the End of the War.*

_From The New York Sun, Nov_. 15, 1914.

In the midst of a good deal of untimely gibing, George Bernard Shaw, as
reported in a London dispatch to The Sun of yesterday, says one or two
very wise and appropriate things about the end of the war and the times
to come after it. His warnings are a useful check to the current loose
talk of the fire-eaters and preachers of the gospel of vengeance.

"We and France have to live with Germany after the war," Mr. Shaw points
out. Even to embarrass her financially would be a blow to England
herself, Germany being one of England's best customers and one of her
most frequently visited neighbors. The truth of this is unanswerable.
The great object must be to effect a peace with as little rancor as
possible.

Mr. Shaw does not say it, but there are going to be overwhelming
political reasons why the pride of Germany and Austria and still more
why their military power shall not be too much impaired in case of their
defeat.

Perhaps in the final settlement the Western Allies may be found to have
more in common with Berlin than with St. Petersburg. Germany has pointed
this out with much force.

Mr. Shaw's position is not admirable when he chooses their days of
tribulation for sticking pins into his own people, even though some of
the things he says may be unpleasantly true. But it cannot be denied
that he has some sane views on the situation. The pity is that he must
always impair the force of the useful things he has to say by
flippancies, impertinences, and out-of-place girdings at those whose
courage he should help to maintain. He reminds one of a man who insists
on wrangling over the mistaken construction of a chimney while the house
is burning down.

* * * * *

*Bernard Shaw as a Patriot.*

_From The New York World, Nov. 17, 1914._

Bernard Shaw has written for our neighbor THE TIMES an elaborate
three-page thesis to maintain:

1. That Great Britain was abundantly justified in making war with
Germany.

2. That the explanation given by the British Government for making war
against Germany was stupid, hypocritical, mendacious, and disgraceful.

3. That he alone is capable of interpreting the moral purpose of the
British people in undertaking this necessary work of civilization.

4. That the reason