a certain want of tact, unperceptiveness--a kind of overbearing
simplicity of mind. Whether it be in the train or the hotel or the
private house, the German does not always seem to see the personal
situation. Whether you prefer to talk or remain silent, whether you wish
the window open or shut, whether you desire to partake of such and such
a dish or whether you don't--of such little matters he (or she) seems
unaware. Perhaps it is that the Teutonic mind is so vigorous that it
overrides you without being conscious of doing so, or that it is so
convinced of its own Tightness; or perhaps it is that the scientific
type of mind, depending always on formulae and statistics, necessarily
loses a certain finer quality. Anyhow, the fact remains that sociable,
kindly, _gemüthlich_ and so forth as the Germans are, there is a lack of
delicate touch and perception about them, of gentle manners, and a
certain insensitiveness to the opinion of those with whom they have to
deal. The strain may not be without its useful bearings in the
direction of strength and veracity, but it runs curiously through the
national life, and colours deeply, not only the domestic and social
relations of the people but their foreign politics also, and even their
war tactics and strategy.

I have spoken before of the political ignorance of the German
mass-people, which, dating from years back, caused them to be easily led
by their empire-building philosophers to a certain very dangerous
pinnacle of ambition, and there tempted. The same want of perception of
how their actions would be viewed by the world in general caused the
Government to act in the most egregiously high-handed manner in the
matter of the precipitation and declaration of the war itself, and
subsequently likewise in the ruthless invasion of Belgium and treatment
of her people and her cities. The want of discernment of what was going
on outside the sphere of her own psychology led her into fatal delusions