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
the most powerful, not the most numerous, party in Germany wanted the
war. It would be as futile to try to prove that Ireland did not want
home rule as that Germany did not want war. As for a war literature,
bibliographical statistics show, I believe, that in the last ten years
Germany has published seven thousand books or pamphlets about war. No
one but a German or a Shaw, in a particularly mischievous mood, would
seek to show that Great Britain is responsible for the war fever. It
simply is not so.

Mr. Shaw urges that we all armed together. Of course we did. When one