That all Germany is not given over to the doctrine of hate is shown by
the following extract from an article by Prof. Ernst von Troeltsch in
the Frankfürter Zeitung:
“We must not allow hatred to be magnified into theory or a system or
let it be the guiding maxim that controls our existence. Hatred may
inspire us with courage and driving power, but it is, politically
speaking, in the long run, an evil counsellor. It gives rise to a
bitter and fantastical idea of politics, which cannot be pursued, and
therefore brings dangerous disappointment in its train. And in its
influence on our moral and spiritual life hatred is most dangerous.
Everyone is agreed that we need a deepening of our moral and spiritual
sense, and hopes to see a new Germany rise out of the unparalleled
sacrifices which we have made. This new Germany is not to be a
compound of hate, but to spring from the creation of new sources of
national strength. All her past whether it be based on Christian and
Conservative ideas or on Liberal ideals, protests against race hatred,
and all these theories which base the conduct of real politics on
hate—theories which are not born in the field, but at the
writing-desk, whose standard-bearers are not soldiers, but the
self-important Philistine, and the bombastic writer at home.... We do
not need to cultivate hate, but to deepen our insight into the
terrible seriousness of the moment, and this all-important hour of our
fate.”
If Prof. Troeltsch represents any considerable body of German sentiment
the note he sounds is an encouraging one. Every country has its yellow
journals, its pot-house strategists, and its writing-desk statesmen, who
are fond of elaborating pompous theories and showing their bravery by
delivering hard words instead of hard knocks. Perhaps a good deal of the
quoted literature that comes out of Germany voicing hated and arrogant
purpose of world-domination originates with the bombastic Philistines
described by the Professor, and not from the real representative men of
the nation. If so, when peace comes to be seriously discussed it may be
possible to agree upon terms that will not be repugnant to our Christian
civilization.