ench's
contemptible little army." The rudeness of the remark an Englishman can
afford to pass over. What I am interested in is the mentality, the train
of thought that can manage to entangle itself even in so brief a space.
If French's little army is contemptible it would seem clear that all the
skill and valor of the German Army had better not be concentrated on it,
but on the larger and less contemptible allies. If all the skill and
valor of the German Army are concentrated on it it is not being treated
as contemptible. But the Prussian rhetorician had two incompatible
sentiments in his mind, and he insisted on saying them both at once. He
wanted to think of an English Army as a small thing; but he also wanted
to think of an English defeat as a big thing. He wanted to exult, at the
same moment, in the utter weakness of the British Nation in their attack
and the supreme skill and valor of the Germans in repelling such an
attack. Somehow it must be made a common and obvious collapse for
England and yet a daring and unexpected triumph for Germany. In trying
to express these contradictory conceptions simultaneously he got rather
mixed. Therefore he bade Germania fill all her vales and mountains with
the dying agonies of this almost invisible earwig, and let the impure
blood of this cockroach redden the Rhine down to the sea.

*Prof. Harnack's Reproach*.

But it would be unfair to base the criticism on the utterance of any
accidental and hereditary Prince; and it is quite equally clear in the
case of the philosophers who have been held up to us, even in England,
as the very prophets of progress. And in nothing is it shown more
sharply than in the curious, confused talk about race, and especially
about the Teutonic race. Prof. Harnack and similar people are
reproaching us, I understand, for having broken "the bond of
Teutonism"--a bond which the Prussians have strictly observed, both in
breach and observance. We note it in the open annexation of lands wholly
inhabited by negroes, such as Denmark. We note it equally in their
instant and joyful recognition of the flaxen hair and light blue eyes of
the Turks. But it is still the abstract principle of Prof. Harnack which
interests me most, and in following it I have the same complexity of
inquiry, but the same simplicity of result. Comparing the professor's
concern about "Teutonism" with his unconcern about Belgium, I can only
reach the following result: "A man need not keep