The Appetite of Tyranny
()
About this ebook
Long satiric essay.According to Wikipedia: "Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 -1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox."[1] He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."[2] He is one of the few Christian thinkers who are equally admired and quoted by both liberal and conservative Christians, and indeed by many non-Christians. Chesterton's own theological and political views were far too nuanced to fit comfortably under the "liberal" or "conservative" banner."
G.K. Chesterton
G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English writer, philosopher and critic known for his creative wordplay. Born in London, Chesterton attended St. Paul’s School before enrolling in the Slade School of Fine Art at University College. His professional writing career began as a freelance critic where he focused on art and literature. He then ventured into fiction with his novels The Napoleon of Notting Hill and The Man Who Was Thursday as well as a series of stories featuring Father Brown.
Read more from G.K. Chesterton
The Everlasting Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Knew Too Much Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What I Saw in America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Floating Admiral Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eugenics and Other Evils: An Argument against the Scientifically Organized State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manalive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saint Thomas Aquinas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heretics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What's Wrong with the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Club of Queer Trades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Father Brown: The Complete Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tremendous Trifles: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Defendant: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alarms and Discursions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of the White Horse: An Epic Poem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saint Francis of Assisi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complete Works of G. K. Chesterton (Illustrated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Victorian Age in Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSt Francis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Orthodoxy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saint Francis of Assisi: The Life and Times of St. Francis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ABCs of the Christian Life: The Ultimate Anthology of the Prince of Paradox Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Father Brown (Complete Collection): 53 Murder Mysteries: The Scandal of Father Brown, The Donnington Affair & The Mask of Midas… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Appetite of Tyranny
Related ebooks
The Barbarism of Berlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Appetite of Tyranny: Including Letters to an Old Garibaldian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAppetite of Tyranny: Including Letters to an Old Garibaldian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Appetite of Tyranny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crimes of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Mission to London, 1912-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First World War: A Marxist Analysis of the Great Slaughter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crimes of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe War That Will End War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnglanders and Huns: The Culture-Clash which Led to the First World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Crisis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe German Chancellor and the Outbreak of War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe German War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thirty Years’ War 1618-1648 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe German War Some Sidelights and Reflections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crimes of England (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritain's Deadly Peril Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Problem of Foreign Policy: A Consideration of Present Dangers and the Best Methods for Meeting Them Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Germany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crimes of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crime Against Europe: A Possible Outcome of the War of 1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNelson's History of the War - Volume I (of XXIV): From the Beginning of the War to the Fall of Namur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Terror: A Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGerman Atrocities: An Official Investigation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for The Appetite of Tyranny
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Appetite of Tyranny - G.K. Chesterton
THE APPETITE OF TYRANNY, INCLUDING LETTERS TO AN OLD GARIBALDIAN BY G. K. CHESTERTON
Published by Seltzer Books
established in 1974 as B&R Samizdat Express, now offering over 14,000 books
feedback welcome: seltzer@seltzerbooks.com
Non-fiction by G. K. Chesterton available from Seltzer Books:
Alarms and Discursions
All Things Considered
The Appetite of Tyranny
The Crimes of England
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens
The Defendant
Eugenics and Other Evils
George Bernard Shaw
Heretics
Lord Kitchener
A Miscellany of Men
The New Jerusalem
Orthodoxy
Robert Browning
A Short History of England
Tremendous Trifles
Twelve Types
Utopia of Usurers and Other Essays
Varied Types
The Victorian Age in Literature
What's Wrong with the World
THE FACTS OF THE CASE
I THE WAR ON THE WORD
II THE REFUSAL OF RECIPROCITY
III THE APPETITE OF TYRANNY
IV THE ESCAPE OF FOLLY
LETTERS TO AN OLD GARIBALIAN
THE FACTS OF THE CASE
Unless we are all mad, there is at the back of the most bewildering business a story: and if we are all mad, there is no such thing as madness. If I set a house on fire, it is quite true that I may illuminate many other people's weaknesses as well as my own. It may be that the master of the house was burned because he was drunk; it may be that the mistress of the house was burned because she was stingy, and perished arguing about the expense of the fire-escape. It is, nevertheless, broadly true that they both were burned because I set fire to their house. That is the story of the thing. The mere facts of the story about the present European conflagration are quite as easy to tell.
Before we go on to the deeper things which make this war the most sincere war of human history, it is easy to answer the question of why England came to be in it at all, as one asks how a man fell down a coal-hole, or failed to keep an appointment. Facts are not the whole truth. But facts are facts, and in this case the facts are few and simple. Prussia, France, and England had all promised not to invade Belgium. Prussia proposed to invade Belgium, because it was the safest way of invading France. But Prussia promised that if she might break in, through her own broken promise and ours, she would break in and not steal. In other words, we were offered at the same instant a promise of faith in the future and a proposal of perjury in the present. Those interested in human origin may refer to an old Victorian writer of English, who, in the last and most restrained of his historical essays, wrote of Frederick the Great, the founder of this unchanging Prussian policy. After describing how Frederick broke the guarantee he had signed on behalf of Maria Theresa, he then describes how Frederick sought to put things straight by a promise that was an insult. If she would but let him have Silesia, he would, he said, stand by her against any power which should try to deprive her of her other dominions, as if he was not already bound to stand by her, or as if his new promise could be of more value than the old one.
That passage was written by Macaulay, but so far as the mere contemporary facts are concerned, it might have been written by me.
Upon the immediate logical and legal origin of the English interest there can be no rational debate. There are some things so simple that one can almost prove them with plans and diagrams, as in Euclid. One could make a kind of comic calendar of what would have happened to the English diplomatist if he had been silenced every time by Prussian diplomacy. Suppose we arrange it in the form of a kind of diary.
July 24. Germany invades Belgium.
July 25. England declares war.
July 26. Germany promises not to annex Belgium.
July 27. England withdraws from the war.
July 28. Germany annexes Belgium. England declares war.
July 29. Germany promises not to annex France. England withdraws from the war.
July 30. Germany annexes France. England declares war.
July 31. Germany promises not to annex England.
Aug. 1. England withdraws from the war. Germany invades England...
How long is anybody expected to go with that sort of game, or keep peace at that illimitable price? How long must we pursue a road in which promises are all fetishes in front of us and all fragments behind us? No: upon the cold facts of the final negotiations, as told by any of the diplomatists in any of the documents, there is no doubt about the story. And no doubt about the villain of the story.
These are the last facts--the facts which involved England. It is equally easy to state the first facts--the facts which involved Europe. The Prince who practically ruled Austria was shot by certain persons whom the Austrian Government believed to be conspirators from Servia. The Austrian Government piled up arms and armies, but said not a word either to Servia their suspect or Italy their ally. From the documents it would seem that Austria kept everybody in the dark, except Prussia. It is probably nearer the truth to say that Prussia kept everybody in the dark, including Austria. But all that is what is called opinion, belief, conviction or