MARGINAL COMM E NT Ey HAROLD NICOLSON
N the May number of The Nineteenth Century there is an article by Lord Vansittart upon the important and most topical ubject of " vansittartisrn." In this article the author of Black ecord tries to cleanse his original doctrine from the many falsificaons which have since accrued to it. The scholiasts, the journalists d the appeasers have each of them accused Lord Vansittart of ving things and meaning things which in fact he neither said nor cant at all. They have represented him as saying that all Germans steeped in sin and as implying that the only solution of the rman question is to sterilise the young and to massacre the old.
d Vansittart has never either entertained or published such ideas. has merely pointed out that the past record and present character the German race suggests that modern Germany is more pugrims, and therefore more dangerous, than any other European untry ; that if we assume that this pugnacity is confined only to a ority of convinced National Socialists we are making • an umption which is not only incorrect but dangerous ; and that en we have gained our victory we should be wise to take preutions to secure that Germany is not again able to build up a uge armament industry and thereby to face the world with another r. I have known Lord Vansittart for more than thirty years, and attitude towards him may be coloured by the respect and affection hat I feel. But even if I did not have full reason to trust Lord ansittart's judgement, experience and humanity, I should not egard his doctrine as disordered, embittered or unsound. I admit, course, that it is most unpleasant to discover that what one hoped ght be a sheep-dog is actually a wolf ; I admit that there will be any sheep who, in the face of so disturbing a discovery, will seek reassure themselves -by repeating incantations such as " appearces are deceptive" or "I met a wolf in Cracow once who was a rfect pet." But what I cannot understand is why, when a gentlean who has been a keeper at the Zoo for nearly forty years warns s that a given animal is apt to become violent, the public should ctuse that benevolent zoologist of being wicked, alarmist and ind.
Lord Vansittart, it must be admitted, has presented his facts and is opinions in an un-English way. He has arranged his material d his arguments with natty precision as if he were setting out yes and forks and plates and spoons upon a deal table ; one can ear them rattle as he lays them down. The English do not like Is sort of thing. They do not like their information or their eas to have the sharp shine of cutlery ; they like them to possess
e soft dimness of bluebells in a wood. The logic Of Lord 'ansittart's doctrine is irresistible, and when an Englishman becomes ical he is at once regarded by his countrymen as eccentric and Sound; the implications of his doctrine suggest that this country
either have to shirk its duty or else maintain a tense level of rgy and unselfishness over many years. Such a continuance of on is horrible to contemplate, and the ordinary English mind es away from it, away from the hard high road and into the pices where the bluebells scent the air with the cool breath of
hyacinths. It is very comforting to suppose that the present at is due entirely to Hitler, Himmler and the rest, and that when ce these have been disposed of we shall get back again to the dear e Germanies of 1848. It is most discomforting to face the hard ct that unless we can defeat the German armies and discredit the German military tradition we shall not have won the war. It is epressing to realise that when this most trying war is over we shall till have in front of us a further long period of strain and duty. LS much more comfortable to imagine that so soon as the swastika It torn down the Hitler Jugend will in a single night besome as docile r Jehovah's Witnesses. Lord Vansittart tells us most unpalatable things ; and we therefore seek to discredit his arguments, either by tIcIsting them into false shapes to that we can call them fantastic, or 'Ise by attributing his attitude of mind to prejudices and passions 'hich he does not in fact possess.
One of the favourite dodges for discrediting vansittartism is to repeat such phrases as "one cannot generalise about a nation of eighty millions" or " human nature is the same at bottom." I see no sense in such evasions. It may be true that some dogs behave like cats, even as it may be true that some bull-dogs behave like greyhounds. Yet in practice it is wiser to assume that it is in fact possible to generalise about the character of a cat as about the character of a dog, and that most bull-dogs are liable to behave like bull-dogs and not in the very least like greyhounds. Nor do I really believe that human nature is the same at bottom. The British and the German natures are, for instance, very similar on top ; but when one gets below the surface differences appear which are fundamental to the understanding either of history or of the problems of our own future security. It is unreasonable, moreover, to assume that a man like Lord Vansittart, who all his life has been brought into constant intimacy with foreign individuals and countries, should allow his matured political judgements to be affected by incidental personal feelings or experiences. The man who has lived much abroad, who has been on terms of intimacy with many men and women of different nationalities, and who has studied and absorbed the art and literature of different peoples, is not much affected by momentary impressions. He comes to learn that every country can contribute something specific to his own interest or pleasure, and that the art of profitable foreign intercourse or travel is the art of discovering what is the best that any city can provide.
I, for one, like all foreigners, but I do not pretend to like them all equally. I like the Americans best, and then the French, and then the Germans, and then the Italians, and then the Greeks, and so on through a long list. I do not dislike the Americans because they are boastful ; I like them because they are warm-hearted. I do not dislike the French because they. are bad-tempered ; I like them because they are very intelligent. I do not dislike the Germans because they are suspicious and jealous ; I like them because they are interesting companions. I do not dislike the Italians because they are theatrical ; I like them • because they sing when they sell vegetables. It is as silly to seek for our peculiarly English qualities among foreigners as it would be to order eggs and bacon at La Perouse. All this like and dislike business is beside the point ; if I knew the Japanese (wlfich I am glad to say I do not), I would certainly find among them some virtues to appreciate and admire ; and the fact that I like German virtues even as I like Italian virtues does not mean that I would not sacrifice my property and my life rather than let the Nazi or the Fascist doctrine triumph over the earth.
I do not therefoie say, even as Lord Vansittart does not say, that all Germans are wicked. Such a statement would be ignorant and absurd. But I do say that a very large number of Germans are cursed with a ductless gland which generates envy, suspicion, rancour and pugnacity. Hitler's revivalism has inflamed this gland to an extent which envenoms all the world. By careful and considerate treatment after the war we may do much to ease the inflammation. It will be a difficult task, since we shall have to re-educate a whole generation. But until we are quite certain that the Germans have passed beyond that stage of pugnacity which so distinguished our own Elizabethans, we must take precautions to prevent the poison becoming active again. We must see to it, even at the cost of pro longed effort, that Germany has no further opportunity to rearm. The mistake we made in 1919 was to impose upon Germany a number of humiliating restrictions and thereafter to close our eyes tightly to the fact that these conditions were not being observed. We caused the maximum of irritation while maintaining the minimum
of control. Foci', in the most realistic manner, pointed this out at the time, but his warnings were disregarded. We must not make the same mistake again. In other words, Germany should be denied no opportunity, other than the opportunity of starting a Third German War.
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