The _Informations Pax_, says M. van Langenhove, had only
an ecclesiastical bearing and "confined their attention almost
exclusively to the reprehensible acts attributed to the priests." And
yet one cannot help wondering a little about what was set in motion in
the minds of German Catholics by this revelation of what Bismarck's
empire meant in relation to them; and also whether there was any
obscure connection between that knowledge and the fact that the
prominent German politician who was willing in the armistice to sign
the death warrant of the empire was Erzberger, [Footnote: Since this
was written, Erzberger has been assassinated.] the leader of the
Catholic Centre Party.
CHAPTER VIII
BLIND SPOTS AND THEIR VALUE
1
I HAVE been speaking of stereotypes rather than ideals, because the
word ideal is usually reserved for what we consider the good, the true
and the beautiful. Thus it carries the hint that here is something to
be copied or attained. But our repertory of fixed impressions is wider
than that. It contains ideal swindlers, ideal Tammany politicians,
ideal jingoes, ideal agitators, ideal enemies. Our stereotyped world
is not necessarily the world we should like it to be. It is simply the
kind of world we expect it to be. If events correspond there is a
sense of familiarity, and we feel that we are moving with the movement
of events. Our slave must be a slave by nature, if we are Athenians
who wish to have no qualms.
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