He will seem worthy of your love
[12] M. Dumont, writing of the Albanians (_Rev. des Deux Mondes_, vi.,
120, 1872), supplies a pertinent comment on German piety: "_Ce qui fait
qu'une tribu croit à son dieu, c'est la haine de la tribu voisine._"
[13] Chamberlain says that this letter was addressed to him in
November, 1914, by a correspondent whom he refuses to name, but of whom
he will say that "few men can form such well-informed judgment upon all
phases in the life of present-day Germany, and no one deserves to be
listened to with higher respect." These expressions, and the mention of
William I., may perhaps justify the conjecture that the writer is none
other than Chamberlain's warm admirer, William II.
[14] The same author explains that "of course the German people have
not in themselves deserved this calling: it proceeds from the sheer
grace of God, so we can maintain it without any Pharisaism whatever."
[15] This saying had already "burst its bonds" and been appropriated to
Germany by the Kaiser:--"We are the salt of the earth, but we must also
be worthy to be so." (Bremen, 22nd March, 1905.)
[16] It is odd that the "creator of children's literature" should have
taken the very name of his work from an English book which had been the
delight of children for half a century before he wrote.
[17] Compare with this the following:--"In our struggle with the Triple
Entente, we look for the most valuable aid from Pan-Islamism, from the
living sense of solidarity between all Muslims of the whole world,
dependent on their common religion.... If all accounts be true, the
whole Muslim world is flocking round the Sultan-Kalif, and regards this
war as a 'Holy War,' That would be the first and perhaps the greatest
triumph of the Pan-Islamic movement."--DR. E. HUBER, in _Das Grössere
Deutschland_, Christmas Eve, 1914.
[18] The particular injunction of the Evangel of Christ which inspired
the sinking of the _Lusitania_ was no doubt "Suffer little children to
come unto me."
[19] After making this proposal on p. 4, Professor v. Harnack, on p. 6,
gives the following account of the Battle of the Marne:--"We have,
without any defeat, partly withdrawn our troops to form an iron line of
battle from Arras and Noyon to Verdun."
[20] "The defenceless Alexandria" was defended by an elaborate system
of forts mounting hundreds of guns. It was these forts that the fleet
bombarded, in the face of considerable resistance. The conflagrations
in the city were the work of escaped or liberated convicts.
[21] If any French soldiers actually believed that Nürnberg had been
bombed, it can only have been because the German Government spread the
report, through the mouth of its Ambassador in Paris, as an excuse for
declaring war. (French Yellow Book, No. 159.) It is possible that some
Frenchmen may have incautiously believed the German Government. The
report has been shown by German investigation to be entirely
groundless.
II
GERMAN AMBITIONS
II
GERMAN AMBITIONS
=Expansion in Europe.=
(BEFORE THE WAR.)
192. Germany cannot be suspected of wishing for war.... She covets no
possession of her neighbours. Any one who says that she does, slanders
her.--_Manifesto of the German Defence League, March, 1913._ NIPPOLD,
D.C., p. 85.
192a. A developing, onward-striving people like ourselves requires new
land for its energies, and if peace will not secure it, then only war
remains. To arouse people to a realization of this fact was the
mission of the Defence League.--GENERAL v. WROCHEM, at meeting of
German Defence League, Danzig, March, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 84.
192b. It is precisely our _craving_ for expansion that drives us into
the paths of conquest, and in view of which all chatter about peace
and humanity can and must remain nothing but chatter.--J.L. REIMER,
E.P.D., p. 154.
193. A new period of progress towards unification is possible only by
means of a great and courageous policy, which should lead to
victorious wars, and if possible to the territorial expansion of the
Empire.--D.B.B., p. 202.
194. All the policy, internal and external, of the Empire ought to be
subordinated to this governing idea--the Germanization of all the
remains of foreign populations within the Empire, and the procuring
for the German people of new territories, proportionate to its
strength and its need of expansion.--PROF. E. HASSE, B.D.V., p. 126.
195. Our frontiers are too narrow. We must become land-hungry, must
acquire new regions for settlement, otherwise we will be a sinking
people, a stunted race. True love for our people and its children
commands us to think of their future, however much they may accuse us
of quarrelsomeness and lust of war. If the Germanic people shrank from
war it would be as good as dead.--BARON V. VIETINGHOFF-SCHEEL, at
meeting of Pan-German League, Erfurt, September, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C.,
p. 72.
196. Let us bravely organize great _forced migrations_ of the inferior
peoples. Posterity will be grateful to us. We must coerce them! This
is one of the tasks of war: the means must be superiority of armed
force. Superficially such forced migrations, and the penning up of
inconvenient peoples in narrow "reserves," may appear hard; but it is
the only solution of the race-question that is worthy of humanity....
Thus alone can the over-population of the earth be controlled: the
efficient peoples must secure themselves elbow-room by means of war,
and the inefficient must be hemmed in, and at last driven into
"reserves" where they have no room to grow ... and where, discouraged
and rendered indifferent to the future by the spectacle of the
superior energy of their conquerors, they may crawl slowly towards
the peaceful death of weary and hopeless senility.[22]--K. WAGNER, K.,
p. 170.
197. We desire, and must desire ... a world-empire of Teutonic
(_germanisch_) stock, under the hegemony of the German people. In
order to secure this we must--
(a) Gradually Germanize the Scandinavian and Dutch Teutonic
States, denationalizing them in the weaker signification of
the term;[23]
(b) Break up the predominantly un-Teutonic peoples into their
component parts, in order to take to ourselves the Teutonic
element and Germanize it, while we reject the un-Teutonic
element.
--J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 137.
197a. Such false ideas as to nationality, speech and race are now
prevalent ... that it is often maintained that no breaking-up of
nations would be necessary, but that a "Germanization" _in the mass_
of the nations in question [Germany's smaller neighbours] would be
sufficient.--J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 130.
198. We are indubitably the most martial nation in the world.... We
are the most gifted of nations in all the domains of science and art.
We are the best colonists, the best sailors, and even the best
traders! And yet we have not up to now secured our due share in the
heritage of the world.... That the German Empire is not the end but
the beginning of our national development is an obvious truth.--F.
BLEY, W.D., pp. 21-22.
199. We must create a Central Europe which will guarantee the peace of
the entire continent from the moment when it shall have driven the
Russians from the Black Sea and the Slavs from the south, and shall
have conquered large tracts to the east of our frontiers for German
colonization. We cannot let loose _ex abrupto_ the war which will
create this Central Europe. All we can do is to accustom our people to
the thought that this war must come.--P. DE LAGARDE, D.S., p. 83.
200. Before seeking to found a Greater Germany in other continents, we
must create a Greater Germany in Central Europe.... In seeking to
colonize the countries immediately contiguous to our present
patrimony, we are continuing the millenary work of our ancestors.
There is nothing in this contrary to nature.--PROF. E. HASSE, D.G., p.
168.
200a. _Every great people needs new territory_; it must _expand over
foreign soil_; it must expel the foreigners by the power of the
sword.--K. WAGNER, K., p. 80.
201. For this evil [the emigration of the surplus population] we see
only one remedy: _the extension of our frontiers in Europe_.... We
must make room for an Empire of Germanic race which shall number
100,000,000 inhabitants, in order that we may hold our own against
masses such as those of Russia and the United States.--D.B.B., p. 115.
202. [In the Great-German Confederation which will comprise most of
Europe] the Germans, being alone entitled to exercise political
rights, to serve in the Army and Navy, and to acquire landed property,
will recover the feeling they had in the Middle Ages of being a people
of masters. They will gladly tolerate the foreigners living among
them, to whom inferior manual services will be entrusted.--G.U.M., p.
47.
203. The principles which must guide the German people in the
establishment of the new Germanic world-empire are these:--
(1) The strengthening of its Germanic race-foundation.
(2) The securing of room for its surplus of births.
(3) The greatest possible expansion of this surplus over a
portion of the earth which shall be sufficiently large,
various and geographically well-situated to form an economic
unit.
--J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 135.
204. Our own social health, towards which, in the name of our moral
ideals, we are now striving, may one day compel us to force upon other
nations the benefits of the new economic forms.--F. LANGE, R.D., p.
160 (1893).
205. One thing alone can really profit the German people: the
acquisition of new territory. That is the only solid and durable gain
... that alone can really promote the diffusion, the growth and the
deepening of Germanism.--A. WIRTH, O.U.W., p. 56.
206. Excessive modesty and humility, rather than excessive arrogance
and ambition, is a feature of the German character. Therefore we shall
know how to set a limit to our desire for expansion, and shall escape
the dangers which have been fatal to all conquerors whose ambition was
unbridled.--PROF. E. HASSE, W.I.K., p. 63.
206a. The territory open to future German expansion ... must extend
from the North Sea and the Baltic, to the Persian Gulf, absorbing the
Netherlands and Luxembourg, Switzerland, the whole basin of the
Danube, the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor.--PROF. E. HASSE, W.I.K.,
p. 65.
206b. Nowhere in the world is there so much declamation about
Chauvinism as in Germany, and nowhere is so little of it to be found.
We hesitate to express even the most natural demands that a nation can
make for itself.--H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i.
207. When one wishes a thing, one must effectually will it. Our sense
of justice [!] may in future lead us not to desire what does not
belong to us, but _if_ we take we must also _hold fast_. In other
words, hitherto foreign territory is not incorporated into Germany
until German proprietorship is rooted in the soil.[24]--F. LANGE,
R.D., p. 206 (1893).
208. A people that has increased so much as the German people is
forced to carry on a constant policy of expansion. It must be candidly
confessed that since the retirement of Bismarck the Will to Power had
been lacking.--GENERAL v. LIEBERT, Member of the Reichstag, at meeting
of Pan-German League, Hamburg, January, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 76.
209. Since the Western Powers restrict our right to life, it is
necessary that we should attach one of them to us or that we should
sweep them out of our way by force.--M. HARDEN, _Zukunft_, 12th
August, 1911.
210. The Rhine ... is a priceless natural possession, although by our
own fault we have allowed its most material value to fall into alien
hands, and it must be the unceasing endeavour of German policy to win
back the mouths of the river.--H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 125.
211. The Jablunka must never hear any language but German, and the
[German] wave must spread thence towards the south until nothing
remains of all the lamentable nationalities of the Imperial State
[Austria].--P. DE LAGARDE, D.S., p. 112.
212. If our area of colonization[25] does not coincide with our
political boundaries, the healthy egoism of our race commands us to
place our frontier-posts in foreign territory, as we have done at
Metz.--PROF. E. HASSE, D.G., p. 166.
213. A sturdy German egoism must characterize all political action....
The first principle of our policy, both at home and abroad, must be
that, in everything that happens, the Germans [literally, the most
German] should come off best, and the others should have a bad time of
it (_sich unbehaglich fühlen_).--F. LANGE, R.D., p. 213 (1893).
213a. A Ministry of Colonization must make up for lost time. With all
prudence, but also with inflexible determination, a process of
expropriation should be inaugurated, by which the Poles and the
Alsatians and Lorrainers would be gradually transported to the
interior of the Empire, while Germans would replace them on the
frontier.--F. LANGE, R.D., p. 206.
=Expansion beyond Europe.=
214. We must ... see to it that the outcome of our next successful war
must be the acquisition of colonies by any possible means.--H.V.
TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 119.
215. A German policy of expansion is to-day generally accepted. The
Empire must acquire more colonies.--DR. POHL, of Berlin, at meeting of
Pan-German League, Augsburg, September, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 72.
216. In all lands under German influence a double power is more or
less strongly at work: the _creative power of the spirit_ ... and the
_creative power of the body_, that is to say, fecundity.... Whither
our spiritual and our bodily fecundity impel us, thither we must
go--_out over the world!_ (_hin über die Welt!_).--J.L. REIMER,
E.P.D., p. 66.
217. The longing for an eternal peace was Utopian and enervating....
Nor was there any lack of a great national aim. At the division of the
earth between the other Great Powers, Germany had gone almost empty
away. But Germany needed new regions for the planting-out of its
ever-growing, inexhaustible wealth of people.--GENERAL V. WROCHEM, at
meeting of the German Defence League, Hanover, February, 1913.
NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 83.
218. With all respect to the rights of foreign nations, it must be
said that Germany has not as yet the colonies which it must have....
Our development demands recognition. That is a natural right. There is
here no question of prestige-politics, of adventurer-politics.
Further, we are not an institute for lengthening the life of dying
States.... Those half-States which owe their existence only to the aid
of foreign weapons, money or knowledge, are hopelessly at the mercy of
the modern States.--_Leipziger Tageblatt_, 24th January, 1913.
NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 51.
219. The Ministry of Colonization must also arrange systematically for
emigration to foreign countries.... The Government alone can, by the
uncompromising (_rücksichtslos_) employment of its methods of power,
conclude treaties ... imposing on [the foreign countries] the
conditions which it regards as desirable.--F. LANGE, R.D., p. 207
(1893).
220. In this nineteenth century, when Germany has become the first
Power in the world, are we incapable of doing what our ancestors did?
Germany must lay her mighty grasp upon Asia Minor.--AMICUS PATRIÆ,
A.U.K., p. 15.
221. The hostile arrogance of the Western Powers releases us from all
our treaty obligations, throws open the doors of our verbal
prison-house, and forces the German Empire, resolutely defending her
vital rights, to revive the ancient Prussian policy of conquest. All
Morocco in the hands of Germany; German cannon on the routes to Egypt
and India; German troops on the Algerian frontier; this would be a
goal worthy of great sacrifices.--M. HARDEN, _Zukunft_, 29th July,
1911.
222. If we do not soon acquire new territory, a frightful catastrophe
is inevitable. It signifies little whether it be in Brazil, in
Siberia, in Anatolia or in South Africa.... To-day, as 2,000 years
ago, when the Cimbri and the Teutons beat at the gates of Rome, a cry
arises ... ever louder and louder, "Give us land, give us new
land!"--A. WIRTH, V.U.W., p. 227.
223. Thanks to our youthfulness and our capacity of development,
thanks also to our military power, many things are possible: we can
create a German nation which shall number 100,000,000 inhabitants, we
can become "Europe," and dominate the seas into the bargain.--D.B.B.,
p. 211.
223a. This Germany of ours was once the greatest of the Sea Powers,
and, God willing, so she will be again.--H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol.
i., p. 213.
224. "_Civis Germanicus sum--ich bin ein Deutscher!_" As the free
Roman, in his character of _Civis Romanus_, formerly ruled the world,
so must every continental German of to-day, and of the future, rule
the world in his character of _Civis Germanicus_.--J.L. REIMER,
E.P.D., p. 146.
=Weltmacht (World-Dominion).=
(AFTER JULY, 1914.)
225. _We want no world-dominion_.... It is unjust, and therefore
un-German.--PROF. W. v. BLUME, D.D.M., p. 23.
225a. Germany, as the preponderant Power in a Great-German League,
will with this war attain world-supremacy.--R. THEUDEN, W.M.K.B., p.
13.
226. We _want_ no hegemony, no world-dominion! Such ambitions mean
everlasting war; whereas Germany sincerely desires peace, and the
influence which shall enable her to establish it.--PROF. DR. R.
JANNASCH, W.D.U.S., p. 22.
226a. Formerly German thought was shut up in her corner, but now the
world shall have its coat cut according to German measure, and as far
as our swords flash and German blood flows, the circle of the earth
shall come under the tutelage of German activity.--"World-Germany," by
F. PHILIPPI, quoted in H.A.H., p. 43.
227. We were contented within our boundaries. Not a single foot did we
want of the countries adjoining our frontiers. PROF. U. V.
WILAMOWITZ-MÖLLENDORF, R., pt. i., p. II.
227a. Before everything, however, we must see to the provision of
agricultural land! _We require more soil for settlement_.... And we
require unsettled land for settlement. No alien fellow-citizens!--PROF.
M. v. GRUBER, D.R.S.Z., No. 30, p. 27.
228. With us shall right and morality, truth and faithfulness, win the
fight against wrong and baseness, malice and falsehood. Through our
supremacy (_Vorherrschaft_), which we hope will be the outward result
of this war, God will establish His dominion over the many-coloured
throng of the nations who stand against us.--"War Devotions," by
PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 128.
229. Not through a chaotic conflict of ideas, but only through unity
of conviction, can a world-ruling Germany arise; and if Germany does
not rule the world (I do not mean through her power alone, but through
her all-sided superiority and moral weight) then she will disappear
from the map; it is a case of "Either--or."--H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, P.I.,
p. 39.
230. Not one of our Pan-German leaders, whose plans are to-day being
realized on the battlefields, received honour or recognition at the
hands of the German monarchs, for whose honour and glory we had
suffered and fought.--K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 6.
231. If we set ourselves to multiply, as we did in the first five
years of this century, then the German people would in 1950 number 118
millions, and in the year 2000, 250 millions. Then we could face the
future with considerably more confidence.--PROF. M. V. GRUBER,
D.R.S.Z., No. 30, p. 25.
232. Germany--of this I am convinced--may in less than two centuries
succeed in dominating (_beherrschen_) the whole globe (_Erdkugel_), in
part directly and politically, in part indirectly, through language,
methods and Kultur, if only it can in time strike out a "new course,"
and definitely break with Anglo-American methods of government, and
with the State-destroying ideals of the Revolution.--H.S. CHAMBERLAIN,
P.I., p. 88.
233. If every representative, rising to the height of the great time
in which he lives, will put away from him all pettiness of spirit ...
we shall be an unconquerable people, capable of ruling the
world.--C.L. POEHLMANN, G.D.W., p. 11.
234. Where self-interest ends the real patriotism begins; and its
measure is not the loud chest-note of conviction, but self-sacrificing,
untiring work in the service of the community, in order gradually to
win for the German nature (_Wesen_) the first place in the
world.--PROF. G.E. PAZAUREK, P.K.U.K., p. 5.
235. Just such a systematic transformation of the world as Augustus
effected, Germany must now undertake--but on how much nobler a
plan!--H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 42.
235a. Germany will be the schoolmaster of all the world, as every
German has a bit of the schoolmaster in him.--PROF. W. V. BLUME,
D.D.M., p. 25.
_Compare No. 82._
236. The war must last until we have forced disarmament upon our
enemies. There is a nursery rhyme which runs thus:--
Knife and scissors, fork and candle,
Little children must not handle.
Since the enemy States behave so childishly as to misuse their arms,
they must be placed under tutelage. Moreover, our enemies have acted
so dishonourably that it is only just that rights of citizenship
should be denied them.... When they can no longer bear arms, they
cannot make any new disturbances.--O. SIEMENS, W.L.K.D., p. 47.
237. We must establish ourselves firmly at Antwerp on the North Sea
and at Riga on the Baltic.... At all events we must, at the conclusion
of peace, demand _substantial expansions of the German Empire_. In
this our motive will not be the greed and covetousness of world-ruling
England, nor the national vanity of _gloire_-seeking France, nor the
childish megalomania of Rome-mad Italy, nor the insatiable craving for
expansion of semi-barbarous Russia.--PROF. E. HAECKEL, E.W., p. 122.
238. We could not but say to ourselves, "If once it comes to war with
England, it will be difficult for us to get at her in her island. It
will be easier to strike at her in Egypt [which the writer elsewhere
describes as the keystone of the arch of the British Empire]. But to
that end we require an alliance with the Turks." ... Therefore Germany
sent officers to instruct the Turkish Army, therefore the Emperor went
in 1898 to Constantinople and Jerusalem and made his famous speech as
to the friendship between Germany and the Mohammedans. Therefore we
built the Bagdad Railway with German money.--P. ROHRBACH, W.W.R., p.
12.
239. _Noblesse oblige_.... The idea that we are the chosen people
imposes on us heavy duties, and duties only.... We are not out to
conquer the world. Have no fear, my dear neighbours, we will not
devour you.... Should it be necessary to increase our territory in
order that the greater body of the people may have room to develop,
then in that case we shall take as much land as may appear to be
necessary. We will also plant our foot where it appears important on
strategic grounds that we should do so, in order to maintain our
impregnable strength. Thus, if our position of strength in the world
will gain by it, we will establish stations for our fleet, for
example, in Dover, Malta and Suez. Beyond this we will do nothing. We
have not the least desire to expand, for we have something more
important to do.--PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H, p. 143.
239a. We trust that the German Eagle, when with one wing he has
scourged the barbarians back into Asia, and with the other has freed
himself from unworthy chains, will soar high over the oceans ... where
his wings can grow and he can stretch them according to his needs. And
we hope that this strong, united, purified Germany will be a fountain
of rejuvenescence to the ageing Kultur of Europe.--PROF. G. ROETHE,
D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 31.
_See also Nos. 7, 84._
FOOTNOTES:
[22] It is only right to state that the author urges this spirited
policy, not upon his countrymen alone, but upon the "Germanoid" races
at large. The "inefficient" peoples whom he has specially in view are
the non-German populations of South America, whom he proposes to deport
to "reserves" in Africa!