but could do little, except to fight, ifrnGermany goes wrong again.rnIt is scandalous that Chancellor Kohlrnshould go around warning about war.rnWar will return to Europe, he says, unlessrnwe embrace federal union. But who isrnthreatening whom? Russia is strugglingrnagainst little Chechnya, and in any case isrnthe one potential problem solved byrnNATO. Does Britain threaten Germany,rndoes France? If Kohl has knowledge of arnthreat, let him name it. If, as I suppose,rnhe means that Germany might gornwrong, then he is saying that he mustrnhave what he wants or Germam- will, inrnthe end, go to war again. Herr Kohl isrnpretty obtuse and, I dare say, does notrnquite mean to be so crude. But his talkrnof war and his personal crusade for arngrandiose, even Napoleonic, solution forrnthe European problem are not new. Everyrnexercise in Euro-megalomania hasrndeployed an excuse in these terms.rnThe variety and richness of the nationalsrnof Europe will only be safe, andrnher arrangements securely constitutional,rnwhen there is an end to the Garolingianrnvision of tidying up Europe. No erarnof constitutional good sense can dawnrnuntil Europeans recognize that the existingrnsetup is hopelessly flawed. It wouldrnbe helpful if the State Departmentrnstopped trying to lever Britain into anrnunsuitable union. The obsessive determinationrnin the American diplomaticrnservice to promote a deeply flawed projectrnin Europe shows little appreciationrnof the otherness of Europe, as a communityrnof nation-states, or the constitutionalrnexertion which accompanied the creationrnof the American Union.rn—Michael StentonrnCambridge, EnglandrnCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnHENRY REGNERY, R.I.P. HC diedrnon June 18, his devoted wife of sixrndecades, Eleanor, at his side.rnSoft-spoken, humble, ever polite andrngenerous, Henry was also a man of indomitablerncourage. In an era of acceleratingrncentralization in the book trade, hernlaunched the Henry Regnery Companyrnin 1947 as an independent publishingrnhouse. From the beginning, it featuredrntitles that challenged accepted opinion,rnbe it the foreign policy elite’s plan to dismemberrnand destroy postwar Germany,rnor that same elite’s passion for “UnclernJoe” Stalin.rnHenry’s father, born on a Wisconsinrnfarm of German Catholic forebears, wasrna successful textile manufacturer, whornbecame a leader of the America Firstrnmovement. Young Henry’s first job, afterrngraduate training in economics atrnHarvard, was as an administrator for thernAmerican Friends Service Committee’srn”Penn Craft” agricultural resettlementrncommunity, in Pennsylvania. In thesernways, Henry symbolized the oft-forgottenrncontinuity of the Agrarian cause andrnthe anti-interventionist Old Right of thern1930’s with the conservatism that wouldrntake form (largely through his publishingrnefforts) in the I950’s.rnCentral to Henry’s life was his deep attachmentrnto northeast Illinois. Born andrnraised in the village of Hinsdale, his natalrnplace served throughout his life as thernidealized American small town. “Therernwere woods, open fields, and farms justrnoutside the town,” he would write in hisrnmemoirs. “The stores were small and locallyrnowned. . . . Most people had vegetablerngardens, many kept chickens, andrna few still had horses.” Resident for mostrnof his adult life in Chicago, Henryrnlabored to make the “Hog Butcher of thernWorld” also known for its literary andrnartistic distinctions. He published Americanrneditions of Wyndham Lewis, T.S.rnEliot, and Ezra Pound, together with thernwork of Midwestern poets and novelists.rnHenry knew tragedy in his life, includingrnthe death of his son, Henry, Jr., in anrnair crash. He also knew disappointment,rnas the postwar Chicago cultural establishmentrnsquandered a promising interwarrnartistic revival, choosing to be littlernmore than an echo of Manhattan. Laternin his life, Henry watched as his belovedrnCliffdwellers Club—once the hub ofrnChicago’s literary and musical worlds—rnfell victim to the greed of the SymphonyrnBoard. He knew other forms of betrayalrnas well. Several of the writers hernlaunched into prominence fell under thernspell of the national security state, embracingrnwhat would eventually be calledrn”big government conservatism” and “therndemocratic empire.” Yet he bore thesernwounds stoically, without recriminationrnor complaint, and labored on, true to hisrnprinciples.rnTogether with other giants of the traditionalistrnphilosophical revival of thern1950’s—Russell Kirk, Robert Nisbet, andrnM.E. Bradford—Henry Regnery developedrna close affiliation with The RockfordrnInstitute and Chronicles in his laterrnyears. He served as an active member ofrnour Board of Directors from 1988 untilrnlate 1995, when physical ailments finallyrnprecluded his regular attendance atrnmeetings. The Board thereupon electedrnhim as an Honorary Director of the Institute.rnMany times and in concrete ways,rnhe expressed his deep gratitude for thisrnmagazine, and its congruity with his ownrnlabors.rnA devoted son of his region, the Midwest,rna patriotic American, and a Christianrngentleman, Henry Regnery embodiedrnthe virtues we treasure and celebrate.rnMay he rest in peace.rn—Allan CarlsonrnOFFICER LAURENCE POWELLrnis off the hook, at least for now. Dealingrna severe blow to the civil rights establishmentrnand federal police power, thernSupreme Court has overruled the NinthrnCircuit Court’s motion to stiffen thernsentence handed down in the federal trialrnof Powell and Stacey Koon, who werernfound guilty of violating the civil rightsrnof “motorist” Rodney King. Havingrnserved out his original two-year sentence,rnPowell is a free man.rnThe Legal Affairs Council, whichrnraised over $60,000 for Powell’s defense,rnhas called upon President Clinton tornsack his Attorney General, who led therncampaign to send Powell back to jail forrnanother four years. Janet Reno, in responsernto heavy pressures from the CongressionalrnBlack Caucus and to threatsrnfrom blacks (as Paul Parker III, a relativernof one of the thugs who assaulted ReginaldrnDenny, put it, “If there is no justicernfor blacks, there will be no peace!”),rnswore that the racist cops would pay forrntheir deeds. Accordingly, Reno complainedrnloudly that Powell’s sentence wasrntoo light, pressured Judge Davies to revokernthe bail he had granted Powell dur-rn6/CHRONICLESrnrnrn