Mallory. “The neighbours of Germany, however great their courage and national pride, have always acknowledged a kind of divine right of German arms. The huge German race was dominant in Central Europe long before it achieved political unity; and this dominance found mystical expression in the theoretical Holy Roman Empire. The surrounding races were part of the German scheme of things, and if that scheme came to involve the establishment, by violence and cruelty, of an immense Mitteleuropa , they felt in their hearts that they must ultimately submit to it. But with ourselves, it is different. We are outside the German system, and we have imperial traditions of our own. Just as Germany is indestructible , so are we. The presence of German policemen on Britishsoil is an aberration of history so monstrous that the smallest effort of will could put an end to it—that is the first thing. But we also have our responsibilities on the Continent, counterbalancing those of Germany. After the war is resumed and won we must see to it that the vassalage of Germany’s neighbours becomes an honourable and creditable one again, working for the good of civilization as a whole.”
Mallory was no League of Nations man, or abstract political thinker. He divided the weak from the strong, and knew his Lebensräume . He was not poles apart from the Fascists, and had once contributed an article to Mosley’s Action . In the early days of the Hitler régime, had he had the direction of British foreign policy, he would have gone far to strike a bargain with Germany over respective spheres of influence on the Continent and overseas. He would almost certainly have been accused of belonging to the “Cliveden Set”; and he would not have admitted, until it was proved up to the hilt, that it was both useless and immoral to negotiate with the Nazis. But the time arrived when his conscience spoke, with the single voice of patriotism and Christian justice. Like many others, he came to realize the error of Nuremberg, but, unlike them, he did not despair. He still believed in the politics of power, but he thought the power was as much in British as in German hands. It was latent, but it was there; and it lay in the spirit of the race, co-existent with the race itself, which any resolute political engineer could transform into successful action.
Much of this seemed to us pretentious nonsense, like Hitler’s or Rosenberg’s; but it is impossible to fight a war without some suspension of disbelief in fallacies about race. Mallory’s best claim on our credulity was that none but he made any attempt to rally us in the defence of the things which in past times we had held dear. At the least, it was surely better to fight for a lost cause than to own no cause at all.
Mallory, then, set himself to fan back into a flame the damped-down embers of British patriotism; and he would have hit more than the headlines had his little bellows produced anything but the tiniest flicker. But, alas, he failed, or seemed in his lifetime to have failed; and the world, which he wished to save, has still largely not heard of him. He was not a conspirator, but a prophet; and as a prophet he was first unheard, and then, almost casually, silenced. But he never himself abandoned hope, or recoiled for long before his successive disappointments. He died believing that he had started a movement that would sweep on to victory. In therealm of political thought, and in the long run, perhaps he had.
The former War Coalition had by this time become sadly disorganized. Mallory went to see all the old leaders, whose voices, not long since, had been heard on the wireless exhorting the nation to fight on to the end. They received him, I believe, without enthusiasm, and when he had gone forgot about him, unless they wondered whether he was an agent provocateur . Most of them had already retired from political life. They were lost without their Parliamentary sounding-board , their privileges
Mallory was no League of Nations man, or abstract political thinker. He divided the weak from the strong, and knew his Lebensräume . He was not poles apart from the Fascists, and had once contributed an article to Mosley’s Action . In the early days of the Hitler régime, had he had the direction of British foreign policy, he would have gone far to strike a bargain with Germany over respective spheres of influence on the Continent and overseas. He would almost certainly have been accused of belonging to the “Cliveden Set”; and he would not have admitted, until it was proved up to the hilt, that it was both useless and immoral to negotiate with the Nazis. But the time arrived when his conscience spoke, with the single voice of patriotism and Christian justice. Like many others, he came to realize the error of Nuremberg, but, unlike them, he did not despair. He still believed in the politics of power, but he thought the power was as much in British as in German hands. It was latent, but it was there; and it lay in the spirit of the race, co-existent with the race itself, which any resolute political engineer could transform into successful action.
Much of this seemed to us pretentious nonsense, like Hitler’s or Rosenberg’s; but it is impossible to fight a war without some suspension of disbelief in fallacies about race. Mallory’s best claim on our credulity was that none but he made any attempt to rally us in the defence of the things which in past times we had held dear. At the least, it was surely better to fight for a lost cause than to own no cause at all.
Mallory, then, set himself to fan back into a flame the damped-down embers of British patriotism; and he would have hit more than the headlines had his little bellows produced anything but the tiniest flicker. But, alas, he failed, or seemed in his lifetime to have failed; and the world, which he wished to save, has still largely not heard of him. He was not a conspirator, but a prophet; and as a prophet he was first unheard, and then, almost casually, silenced. But he never himself abandoned hope, or recoiled for long before his successive disappointments. He died believing that he had started a movement that would sweep on to victory. In therealm of political thought, and in the long run, perhaps he had.
The former War Coalition had by this time become sadly disorganized. Mallory went to see all the old leaders, whose voices, not long since, had been heard on the wireless exhorting the nation to fight on to the end. They received him, I believe, without enthusiasm, and when he had gone forgot about him, unless they wondered whether he was an agent provocateur . Most of them had already retired from political life. They were lost without their Parliamentary sounding-board , their privileges
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