governor is to be advised by a parliament, but the government is not
responsible to the parliament, which is composed of two houses. The
upper house has thirty-six members, eighteen of whom are nominees of
the Emperor and eighteen from the churches, universities, and
principal cities. The lower house is to be elected by popular
franchise. Three years' residence in the same place entitles a man to
a vote, but every voter over thirty-five years of age has two votes,
and every voter over forty-five has three votes.
This, as an American can appreciate, has not been received with
enthusiasm, and their conduct has been so provoking that the Emperor,
during a recent visit, scolded the people, in an interview with the
mayor of a certain town, and, what caused great amusement among the
enemies of Prussia, threatened to incorporate them into Prussia, as
had been done with Hanover, if they were not better behaved. This, of
course, was seized upon as an admission that to be taken into the
Prussian family was of all the hardships the most dreadful. The
socialist journal Vorwaerts spoke of Prussia as "that brutal country
which thus openly confesses its dishonor to all the world." Herr
Scheidemann asked in the Reichstag, if Prussia then acknowledged
herself to be a sort of house of correction, and "has Prussia, then,
become the German Siberia?" In 1911 the Reichstag gave the provinces
three votes in the Federal Council.
Metz, it is said, is more French than ever, and thousands troop across
the boundaries on the anniversary of the French national holiday, to
celebrate it on French soil. The conquered provinces are kept in
order, but the French language, French customs, French culture, are
still to the fore, and so far as loyalty, affection, or a change of
mind and heart is concerned the conversion is still incomplete. The
inhabitants have been baptized Germans, but very few of them have
taken voluntarily, their first communion of nationalization.
"On changerait plutot le coeur de place,
Que de changer la vieille Alsace."
The German, Karl Lamprecht, in his valuable history of contemporary
Germany, is more hopeful of the situation than are other writers and
observers. Professor Werner Wittich maintains that the best of the
intellectual side of life in Alsace is impregnated with French culture
and traditions; and even German officers long stationed in the two
conquered provinces admit the stubborn allegiance of the people to
French customs, habits, beliefs, and traditions. But however that may
be, and it is admittedly a question that different prejudices and
hopes will answer differently, there is no denial on the part of any
one, high or low, that the Prussian bureaucratic mandarins have made
no progress in winning the affection or the voluntary loyalty of the
people. The Prussian has had recourse to the advice given by Prince
Billow, "if you cannot be loved, then you must be feared." A friend
who is only a friend, an ally who is only an ally, a servant who only
serves you because he is afraid of you, is not only an uncomfortable
but a dangerous factor in any establishment, whether domestic or
national. Corporalism, begun by Frederick the Great and fastened upon
Germany by Bismarck, has had its successes. I recognized them, indeed,
on returning to Germany after twenty-five years, as astounding
successes, but they have their weak side too. A barracks can never be
the ideal of a home, nor a corporal the ideal of a guide, philosopher,
and friend. Their own philosopher Nietzsche writes: "the state is the
coldest of all cold monsters."
Joseph de Maistre, writing of the Slav temperament, says: "Si on
enterrait un desir Slave sous une forteresse, il la ferait sauter."
Germany has some reason to believe that this is true.
In the northeast of Germany live some 3,000,000 Poles under Prussian
supervision and laws, and ruled by a Prussian governor. There are some
7,000,000 or 8,000,000 Poles divided between Russia, Austria-Hungary,
and Prussia, and behind these are 165,000,000 Russians. The boundary
between this mass and Germany is one of sand; and the railway journey
from Posen to Berlin, is a matter of only four hours. If we were in
Germany's shoes, we should probably take some pains to be well guarded
in that quarter. We should, however, do it in quite another fashion.
We should, if possible, turn over the inhabitants to their own
governing, as England has done in South Africa, as we have tried to do
in Cuba, and as we would do gladly in the Philippines, if every
intelligent man who knows the situation there, were not assured that
robbery, murder, and license would follow on the heels of our
departure; and that instead of doing a magnanimous thing we should be
shirking our responsibilities in the most cowardly fashion. It is bad
enough to know, that we have such cynical political sophists in
Congress, that they would even suffer that catastrophe to innocent
people in the Philippines, if they thought it would make them votes at
home.
Prussia does not recognize such methods of ruling. Corporalism is
their only way, and, where the people are fit to govern themselves, a
very bad and humiliating way, for the Eden of the bureaucrat is the
hell of the governed. If the Germans approve it for themselves, it is
not our business to comment; but where these methods are applied to
foreign peoples, we both anticipate and applaud their failure.
The insurrections in Russian and Austrian Poland, had their echoes in
Posen, and since 1849 Prussia has tried in every way to substitute
Germans for Poles, in the country, and to make the German language
predominant in the churches, schools, and in the administration. The
Poles have resisted, emphasizing their resistance in 1867, when they
were included in the North German Federation, and again in 1871, when
they were included in the new German Empire.
The Emperor William I, in 1886, said: "The increasing predominance of
the Polish over the German element in certain provinces of the east
makes it a duty of the government to guarantee the existence and the
development of the German population." Since 1871 the Poles have
increased so much faster than the Germans that there is danger of
complete extermination of the German population. In 1902 the grandson
of William I, the present Emperor, said at Marienburg: "Polish
arrogance is unbearable, and I am obliged to appeal to my people to
defend themselves against it, for the preservation of their national
well-being. It is a question of the defence of the civilization and
the culture of Germany. To-day and to-morrow, as in the past, we must
fight against the common enemy." This speech of the Emperor was made
at Marienburg, a fine old town, once very prosperous, and in the days
of the Wars of the Roses playing a conspicuous part with the other
Hanseatic towns. This town was also the head and seat of the Teutonic
Order, and it was this Teutonic Order which, in 1230, began the work
of converting the then heathen Prussians, along lines not unlike those
of the Prussian Ansiedlungskommission of to-day.
Prussia has attempted to solve this question by establishing a
government in the province, pledged to the introduction of the German
language, and so far as possible of German manners and customs. This
has been met with fierce opposition, and never have I heard in the
colonies of other countries, except in Korea, under the present
Japanese administration, such fanatical hatred, expressed in words, as
I have heard in Posen. If you dislike Prussia, do not attempt to
revile her yourself; rather go to Posen and hear it done in a far more
satisfying way.
The religious question enters largely into the matter, and the
ignorant Poles are even taught that the Virgin Mary, or the "Polish
Queen," will not understand their intercessions if they are not made
in the Polish language. In 1870 there was one Polish newspaper in
Germany, to-day there are 138.
From 1886 to 1910 the Ansiedlungskommission or committee of
colonization, have spent $170,896,325, and have received $51,863,175,
leaving a net expenditure of $119,033,150. This large expenditure has
resulted in the settlement upon the land of 18,507 families, or about
111,000 persons. The total number settled is now 131,000 persons. Each
male adult German settler has cost the state something over $32,000!
This is probably the most extravagant colonization scheme ever
attempted in the world.
But even this expenditure has not brought success, and for a very
interesting reason. Again the Germans have been remarkably successful
in their dealings with the inanimate, but the Arcana imperii are still
hidden from them. They have redeemed the land, taught the Poles, as
well as the German settlers, how to farm successfully; largely
increased the output of grain, fruit, pigs, calves, chickens, geese,
and eggs, for which Germany spends several hundred millions a year
abroad; and seen to it that the breed of cows, pigs, horses, chickens,
and geese is kept at a high standard. But now the Poles will sell no
more land. They have profited, not been ruined, by what has come out
of the belly of the Trojan horse! The commission is at a standstill,
and it is now proposed to enforce the Prussian law of 1908 for the
expropriation of Polish estates. This law was overwhelmingly defeated
in the Reichstag in February, 1913, but the Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg
declared that it was an affair of Prussia, with which the
Reichstag has nothing to do, and the sand-paper of the Prussian
bureaucracy will probably be rubbed upon the Polish wound anew.
This attempt to build a line of moral and intellectual forts,
supplemented by German settlers, on the land between Russia and
Prussia, and to stop the inrush of the Slavic population, has ample
excuse behind it. It is undoubtedly in case of war a serious danger to
Germany to leave herself unguarded there. As to what will come of the
social and racial questions, prophecy alone can answer, and I have far
too much imagination to venture upon prophecy. The care and
thoroughness with which the work is done is beyond all praise, but it
is as difficult to make your brother love you by taking thought
thereon, as it is to add a cubit to one's stature by the same method.
Professor Ludwig Bernhard, while regretting that this attempt at
Germanization has not succeeded, admits that Prussian methods are
hopeless in such matters. They have, on the contrary, awakened
national feeling, encouraged the forming of agricultural societies,
and strengthened the Bank of Posen, which has become the financial
citadel of opposition. Professor Bernhard goes so far as to say that
he doubts if even the putting into force of the expropriation law of
1908 will bring about any better results. To an American this lack of
unity seems to be perhaps of exaggerated importance. Wir brauchen
nicht diese Nordlichter (We do not need these northern luminaries), is
a phrase of a certain Bavarian official, and in lower or louder tones
one hears the phrase all over Germany outside of Prussia, and loudest
of all in these conquered provinces.
To legislate men into mechanical relations with one another may keep
the peace temporarily, but it is not a final solution of the intricate
problem of living together in our huddled civilization. The day has
gone by when we could rule men without gaining at least their respect,
and if possible their affection. Prussia's stiffness and newness as a
governing power; her lack of a high moral or religious tone, for there
is a rapidly increasing tendency there to agree with the writer during
the French Revolution: la question de dieu man que d'actualite; her
hard and inflexible methods, make her a churlish neighbor and an
arrogant master. In forty years Prussia has accomplished great things
despite these disadvantages of temperament, of tradition, and despite
these external dangers and problems. She is learning now that there
are not only individuals but whole peoples who say, as William the
Conqueror said to the Pope: "Never have I taken an oath of fealty, nor
shall I ever do so."
X "FROM ENVY, HATRED, AND MALICE"
It has always been considered sound doctrine among Christians that
they should love one another. Vigorous exponents of the doctrine,
however, have ever been few in numbers. As the world gets more
crowded, and we find it more and more difficult to make room for
ourselves, and to get a living, we find antagonisms and defensive
tactics, occupying so much of our time and energy that loving one
another is almost lost sight of. It has been found necessary even
among those of the same nation to legislate for love. We call such
laws, with dull contempt for irony, social legislation. In Germany,
and now in England, the modern sacrament of loving one another
consists in licking stamps; these stamps are then stuck on cards,
which bind the brethren together in mutual and adhesive helpfulness.
With nations the problem is not so easily and superficially solved;
because no one body of legislators and police has jurisdiction over
all the parties concerned. As a result of this just now in Europe,
wisdom is not the arbiter; on the contrary, prejudices, passions,
indiscretions, and follies on the part of all the antagonists preserve
a certain dangerous equipoise.
After you have seen something and heard a great deal of these
antagonisms between nations; read their newspapers; talked with the
protagonists and with their rulers, and with the responsible servants
of the State; discussed with professors and legislators these
questions; and listened to the warriors on both sides, you are
somewhat bewildered. There are so many reasons why this one should
distrust that one, so many rather unnatural alliances for protection
against one another, so much friendship of the sort expressed by the
phrase, "on aime toujours quelqu'un contre quelqu'un," so much
suspicious watching the movements of one another, that one is reminded
of the jingle of one's youth:
"There's a cat in the garden laying for a rat,
There's a boy with a catapult a-laying for the cat,
The cat's name is Susan, the boy's name is Jim.
And his father round the corner is a-laying for him."
Even to the youngest of us, and to the most inexperienced, this
betokens a strained situation. The first and most natural result is
that each nation's "watchmen who sit above in an high tower," whether
they be the professionals selected by the people or merely amateur
patriots, are forever crying out for greater armaments.
At the time of the Boxer troubles in China, when Germany sent some
ships to demand reparation for the murder of her ambassador in Peking,
she had only two ships left at home to guard her own shores. When all
England was exasperated by the Boer telegram sent by the Kaiser, or,
if the truth is to be told, by his advisers, the late Baron Marshal
von Bieberstein and Prince Hohenlohe, to President Kruger, official
Germany lamented publicly that she lacked a powerful navy. Only a week
after the Boers declared war the Kaiser is reported to have said:
"Bitter is our need of a strong navy." Germany has noticed, too, not
without suspicion, that--
In 1904 England had 202,000 tons of warships in the Mediterranean and
none in the North Sea.
In 1907 England had 135,000 tons of warships in the Mediterranean and
166,000 tons in the North Sea.
In 1909 England had 123,000 tons of warships in the Mediterranean and
427,000 tons in the North Sea.
In 1912 England had 126,000 tons of warships in the Mediterranean and
481,000 tons in the North Sea.
At last accounts England had 50,000 tons of war-ships in the
Mediterranean and 500,000 tons in the North Sea.
There has been a steady increase of the navy in Germany. In 1900 the
tonnage of war-ships and large cruisers over 5,000 tons was 152,000;
in 1911 it was 823,000. The number of heavy guns in 1900 was 52; in
1911 it was 330. The horse-power of engines in 1900 was 160,000; in
1911 it was 1,051,000. The naval crews in 1900 numbered 28,326; in
1911, 57,353; and in 1913 the German naval personnel will consist of
3,394 officers and 69,495 men. Between 1900 and 1911 the tonnage of
the British fleet increased from 215,000 to 1,716,000; of the German
fleet from 152,000 to 829,000.
In ten years British naval expenditure has increased from $172,500,000
to $222,500,000; in Germany the expenditure has jumped from
$47,500,000 to $110,000,000; in America the increase is from
$80,000,000 to $132,500,000. Out of these total sums Great Britain
spends one third, America one fifth, and Germany one half on new
construction.
Germany has a navy league numbering over one million active and
honorary members; a periodical, Die Flotte, published by the league
with a circulation of over 400,000. This league not only educates but
excites the whole nation by a vigorous campaign which never ceases. It
takes its members on excursions to seaports to see the ships; it holds
exhibitions throughout the country with pictures and lecturers; it
supports seamen's homes, and helps to equip boys wishing to enter the
navy; it lends its encouragement to the two school-ships which are
partly supported from public funds; it sees to it that war-ships are
named after provinces and cities, creating a friendly rivalry among
them; and lately, out of its surplus funds, it has presented a gun-boat
to the nation.
The leading spirit of this organization is Admiral von Tirpitz, at
present the German secretary of the navy and probably the most
dangerous mischief-maker in Europe. In addition to this work a
campaign is waged in the press for the increase of the navy, in which
a number of experts are engaged. I have been told by Germans who ought
to know, but who deprecate this exciting campaigning, that the press
is so largely influenced by Admiral von Tirpitz and his corps of
press-agents and writers, that it is even difficult to procure the
publication of a protest or a reply. Indeed, were it my habit to go
into personal matters, I could offer ample proof of this contention,
that the opponents of naval expansion are cleverly shut out of the
press altogether.
Wilhelmshafen, the naval station on the North Sea, has been fortified
till it is said to be impregnable; the same has been done for
Heligoland, and the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser have also been
strongly fortified. At Kiel are the naval technical school, an
arsenal, and dry and floating docks, and the canal itself is being
widened and deepened to meet the needs of the largest ships of war.
When it is remembered that the beginnings of all this date back only
to 1898, when the first navy bill was passed through the Reichstag
with much difficulty, and only after the Emperor and his ministers had
brought every influence to bear upon the members, Germany is certainly
to be congratulated upon her success. Nor is she to be blamed for
remembering, and regretting, that the two most important harbors used
by her trade are Antwerp and Rotterdam, the one in Belgium, the other
in Holland.
The Kielerwoche, or Kiel Regatta, has grown from the sailing-matches
of a few small yachts into one of the best-managed, most picturesque,
and gayest yachting weeks in the world. Indeed, from the stand-point
of hospitality, orderliness, imposing array of shipping, and good
racing and friendliness to the stranger, I am not sure that it is
equalled at either Newport or Cowes. Were I writing merely from my
personal experience, I should declare unhesitatingly that it is the
most splendid and best-managed picnic on the water that one can
attend, and lovers of yachts and yachting should not fail to see it.
This Kielerwoche, too, has, and is intended to have, an influence in
teaching the Germans to aid and abet their Emperor and his ministers
in making Germany a great sea power.
When a nation for more than a hundred years has been quite comfortably
safe from any fear of attack because she has been easily first in
commerce, wealth, industry, and in sea power, it comes as a shock,
even to a phlegmatic people, to learn that they are being rapidly
overhauled commercially, financially, industrially, and as a fighting
force on the sea; and all this within a few years.
England with her money subsidies, with her troops, and with her navy
has heretofore provided against Continental aggression by the
diplomatic philosophy of a balance of power. She has arranged her
alliances with Continental powers so that no one of them could become
a menace to herself. She did so against the Spain of Charles V, the
France of Louis XIV, the France of Napoleon, the Russia of the late
Czar, and now against the Germany of William II. The France of the
great Napoleon, in attempting to complete the commercial isolation of
England by compelling Russia to close her ports to her, buried herself
in snow and ice on the way back from Moscow, and delivered herself up
completely a little later at Waterloo. That was the nearest to success
of any attempt to break through the doctrine of the balance of power.
In the year 800 A. D. the Catholic Church, which took over the Roman
supremacy to translate it into a spiritual empire, accepted a German
Emperor, Charlemagne, as her man-at-arms. One hundred and fifty years
later she accepted still another, Otto I. This partnership was called
the Holy Roman Empire. It has been noted, but is still misunderstood,
that the difference between the Catholic Church before and after the
Reformation was very marked. The Catholic Church claimed to be not
only a system of belief but a system of government. Infallibility was
to include secular as well as religious matters, and the church strove
to rule as a secular emperor and as a spiritual tyrant. To-day Roman
Catholicism is a sect, one among many; Roman Catholics themselves
would be the last to consent to any temporal universal power.
The Protestants, too, were at first inclined to the methods of Rome.
Luther teaches intolerance, and Calvin burns a heretic and writes in
favor of the doctrine: Jure gladii coercendos esse hereticos. The real
reformation only came when we had reformed the reformers, but it was
that spiritual and political legacy from Rome that the Teuton world,
including ourselves, fought to nullify.
There was no successful revolt against this curious spiritual
Caesarism until the son of a Saxon miner named Luther married out of
monkdom, burnt the Pope's commands on a bonfire, and plunged all
Europe first into a peasants' war, followed by a dividing of Europe
between a Protestant union and a Catholic league, and then a thirty
years' war, which destroyed two thirds of the population of what is
now Germany. After three hundred years of disunion and hatreds,
Prussia united their country by a cement of blood and iron, and in the
last forty years has made out of her the most powerful nation on the
continent of Europe.
It is only very lately that any of us have realized what has happened.
So little attention has been paid to the matter that there is no
sufficient and worthy history of Germany in English. More than we
realize, Germany is a new factor in politics, a new rival in commerce,
a new knight in the tournament lists. This accounts, in no small
degree, for the uneasiness Germany causes in the world.
Forty years ago Germany was known to a few students as having supplied
us with music, mythology, and a certain amount of enchanting
literature; scholarship along certain lines; and work in philosophy
that a few in America and in England were studying. As a knight in
shining armor, demanding a place at the council-board of nations, and
ready to resent any passing over of her claims to recognition in the
discussion and settlement of international politics, she is a
newcomer.
One of the chief causes for the restlessness, particularly in England,
the heart of the greatest empire in the world, is that this new-comer
must be made room for at the table, received with courtesy, and
consulted. Another individual has married into the family, and must
gradually find her place there. Of all nations in the world, England
is the slowest to make new friends and acquaintances, and easily the
most awkward in doing so. She is a good friend when you know her, but
with the most abominable manners to strangers.