The men of the crowd rise
in revolt, not when they are addressed as "Citizens!" but when they are
addressed as "Slaves!"
If this be true even of men daily disturbed by material discomfort and
discontent, it is much truer of those cases, not uncommon in history, in
which the slave has been soothed with all the external pomp and luxury
of a lord. So prophets have denounced the wanton in a palace or the
puppet on a throne; and so the Dutch caricaturist denounces the gilded
captivity of the Austrian Monarchy, of which the golden trappings are
golden chains.
But for such a purpose a caricaturist is better than a prophet, and
comic pictures better than poetical phrases. It is very vital and
wholesome, even for his own sake, to insult the Austrian. He ought to be
insulted because he is so much more respectable than the Prussian, who
ought not to be insulted, but only kicked. If Austria feels no shame in
letting the Holy Roman Empire become the petty province of an Unholy
Barbarian Empire, if such high historic symbols no longer affect her, we
can only tell her, in as ugly a picture as possible, that she is a
lackey carrying luggage.
G. K. CHESTERTON.
[Illustration: THE BEGINNING OF THE EXPIATION]
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THE SHIRKERS
Current experience is proving that war is a grim condition of life, and
that none can escape its effects. No religious or philosophic precept is
potent enough in practical application to prevent its outbreak or to
stay its course.
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