influence and vogue of Shaw, not only in Germany, but in America, and
the pity is more tragic as Shaw has been most absurd about the very
matter which most Englishmen regard as most important, namely, Great
Britain's actual justification for going to war.


*Shaw's Admitted Prejudice.*

Mr. Shaw begins 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.