The Crimes of England (Classic Reprint), by Gilbert K. Chesterton
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Excerpt from The Crimes of EnglandYour name in the original German is too much for me; and this is the nearest I propose to get to it: but under the majestic image of pure wind marching in a movement wholly circular I seem to see, as in a vision, something of your mind. But the grand isolation of your thoughts leads you to express them in such words as are gratifying to yourself, and have an inconspicuous or even an unfortunate effect upon others. If anything were really to be made of your moral campaign against the English nation, it was clearly necessary that somebody, if it were only an Englishman, should show you how to leave off professing philosophy and begin to practise it.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
The Crimes of England (Classic Reprint), by Gilbert K. Chesterton- Published on: 2015-09-27
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.02" h x .39" w x 5.98" l, .55 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 182 pages
About the Author Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England, in 1874. He went on to study art at the Slade School, and literature at University College in London. Chesterton wrote a great deal of poetry, as well as works of social and literary criticism. Among his most notable books are "The Man Who Was Thursday", a metaphysical thriller, and "The Everlasting Man", a history of humankind's spiritual progress. After Chesterton converted to Catholicism in 1922, he wrote mainly on religious topics such as "Orthodoxy" and "Heretics". Chesterton is most known for creating the famous priest-detective character Father Brown, who first appeared in "The Innocence of Father Brown". Chesterton died in 1936 at the age of 62.
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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful. Exceptional analysis of England's role in developing World War I By Jesse Rouse This book was written by Chesterton during World War I to show that the war was, in part, England's fault for supporting Prussia and allowing her to get away with almost anything. His purpose is summed up very well in the first chapter, which is a letter to Professor Whirlwind, a German/Prussian supporter and writer. Chesterton says:"There is a very great deal that is really wrong with England, and it ought not to be forgotten even in the full blaze of your marvellous mistakes. I cannot have my countrymen tempted to those pleasures of intellectual pride which are the result of comparing themselves with you. The deep collapse and yawning chasm of your ineptitude leaves me upon a perilous spiritual elevation."This then, is what he attempts to do: to show that England should not be smug and think themselves simply the defenders of humanity (though they may be that), but England should realize that they helped Prussia come to power, and they dealt poorly with the French Revolution and Napoleon, which let to some serious problems in Chesterton's day. Also, Chesterton blasts England for their poor treatment of the Irish, which were at the time involved in the home rule movement.Why does Chesterton do all of this? He think it is patriotic. He said in an essay entitled A Defense of Patriotism (found in his first book of essays entitled The Defendant) that "love is not blind...love is vigilant." He thought, I think correctly, that if one really loves their country one will do what is best for it, not simply say it is the best. And sometimes what is best for it is to tell it that it has made mistakes, so that it will not make them again. Chesterton says near the end of the book that "I have passed the great part of my life in criticizing and condemning the existing rulers and institutions of my country: I think it is infinitely the most partiotic thing that a man can do."This book gives an excellent glimpse into the situation in England during World War I, as well as an excellent view of what Chesterton considered patriotism to be. Of course, it is filled with witty and deep remarks, as all of Chesterton's works are.Overall grade: A
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Not Chesteron's best - but still interesting By Earth that Was Chesterton's "The Crimes Of England" was written in 1916 and needs to be read , and perhaps forgiven, as a product of the Great War. The "crimes" in the title are essentially an ironic reference. Most of the "crimes" Chesterton relate to the preceding three hundred years to instances where English policy was too pro-German, or at least, too pro-Prussian by Chesterton's estimate. The list of crimes include too much support for Frederick the Great and too little support for the French Revolution. Even the crime of England's brutal response to the Irish rebellions of 1789 - something Chesterton lets loose against - was made worse by the Germanic element in the royal family and the Army's use of German mercenaries against the Irish. Chesterton is sometimes accused of "Teutonophobia", this book must be "Exhibit A" in favour of that charge.With these caveats in mind it is perhaps best to survey the book to see what usefully can be extracted. Chesterton's take on Napoleon and French Revolution, defending Charles Fox versus Edmund Burke, is interesting. In a sense this shows Chesterton as essentially a liberal at heart rather than a tory. Today intellectual conservatism is often painted as arising in reaction to the French Revolution, Chesterton in this test case is obviously in the opposite camp. No doubt Chesterton was fully aware of the excesses, including anti-Clericalism (something he called "a catholic mood"), of both the French Revolution and Napoleon, but he sees the worst of the Revolution as having been fostered by the European powers' counter-reaction. He notes that the continental absolutists were opposed to the pre-revolutionary reforms of Louis XVI as much as anything that happened later. England, a liberal aristocracy and inspiration for many French liberals, by joining the counter-revolutionary alliance may have helped propel the French revolution in a more radical path. The longer term consequences of this still shake the earth. That the American revolution (itself welcomed by England's rival powers) failed to develop Jacobin and Napoleonic excesses, and the 20th century revolutionary and counter-revolutionary experience gives at least some credibility to GKC's interpretation. Similarly Chesterton's defence of the Irish revolution of 1798 and his "no holds barred" language in this chapter (itself written just before the Easter uprising of 1916) shows some radical spirit despite his support of the Great War.Chesterton doesn't back pedal from his own radical critique - developed over the preceding decade- of British plutocracy with it's origin in (to use a "marxist" term) the "primitive accumulation" of the Tudors, the expropriation of Church property and the local commons in favour of a new "capitalist" ruling class of court favourites which he saw ruling all the way down to his own day. The Tudor revolution, in Chesterton's view biased the development of England away from agrarian smallholding and ultimately stifled local democracy and autonomy, something which always had medieval roots. This lack of local democracy and plutocratic rule came to underpin both Big Capital and the British Empire and saw English policy towards Ireland bent in a more exploitative direction than a more populist arrangement back home would have allowed.Still the failure to apply his own radical critique to the case of Britain's participation in the Great War strikes me as a blindingly obvious error. Chesterton's teutonophobia strikes me as shallow and somewhat ad hoc. It reminds me of criticisms of Russia made in the Cold War that painted communist aggression as rooted in previous centuries of Moscovy and Czarist expansionism. This is all a bit like blaming the secret bombing of Laos on Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, only drawing a longer historical bow. Most of his specifics, in isolation, are reasonable enough. Even the root of Chesterton's teutonophobia, implied but not made explicit, that Prussia, being outside the ancient borders of the Roman Empire was thus never truly latin and thus not truly European, making it easy prey to various heresies, including ruthless military autocracy, is not unreasonable. This shoe actually better fits the later Nazi period than the actual subject. It is however a bit much to put all of Europe's bad eggs in one Prussian basket, even if you don't particularly like Prussian baskets. Surely plutocracy, Empire, the corruption of "the Party System" (to steal a title from a book co-authored by Belloc and GKC's brother) and the mass press, the suppression of the Irish and "the Servile State" - all major Chesterbellocian themes - all came together in the war against the Hun. A critique of the British Empire's involvement here would seem to be logical next step for Chesterton's analysis. Postwar developments would only confirm the astuteness of such an analysis had it been made. In a sense there is a parallel here between Chesterton and the socialists. Just as under the pressure of war the radical socialists of the First International all, bar Lenin, ultimately rallied to their nation's colours, so too did Chesterton and Belloc, although the duo started from a quite different radical base. Perhaps his, and Belloc's, understandable love of France clouded their judgement. Perhaps Francophilia rather than Teutonophobia is the problem.Chesterton's writing style is, in my opinion, not as good as Belloc's. He can take a frustratingly long time to get to his point. Still the stoic reader is rewarded by the odd jewel. Here are a few.Describing genuine democracy. "Every Citizen is a revolution."Describing the British two party system of his day. "The wrestle of the two great parties had long slackened into an embrace.""The libel law was now used, not to crush lies about private life, but to crush truths about public life.""They meant a degree of detailed repetition and dehumanised division of labour, to which no man born would surrender his brief span in the sunshine.""The very powerful official who makes the choice of that great people for peace of war, might very well be called, not the President of the United States, but the President of the Americans."They all still seem relevant.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Not Chesterton's best -- but still worth reading. By Classics Lover This book is a political polemic against Germany in WWI. Nothing dates faster than political polemics, but, in this case, things are (somewhat) different for two reason. First, Chesterton doesn't think that the real reason for the war is, necessarily, bad 19th century politics, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, or anything similar. He thinks it is Germany being too impressed by England. It believed England to be on its side (as is unsurprising, consider their historical dual enmity to the French, the links between the ruling families, etc.) no matter what it did, which made the Kaiser and others to act recklessly.But the German misundestanding went deeper than thinking joint political enmity towards France or (tacit) support of Prussia in the French-Prussian war in the 1870s was the same as allowing the Germans to do as they wish with France or Belgium in the 1910s. Essentially, says Chesterton, the Germans thought English culture was "really" German, that the English are, roughly speaking, under-developed Teutons, who care nothing for morals but only for realpolitiks and power. Just look how their brother Teutons treat their racially inferior neighbors, the Irish! Why shouldn't they, the original Teutons, do the same to the French, if they so wish?While Chesterton's writing here is hardly timeless, it is interesting. As usual, he has a fresh take on a subject of which everybody at the time said, it seems, everything that there was to say. That said, it is hardly one of Chesterton's best books. If you are new to Chesterton's non-fiction, you would do much better with collected essays such as "Orthodoxy" or "What's Wrong with the World".
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