They were not content with success by superior achievement; they
wanted success by authority. I suppose very few of you have thought
much about the Berlin to Bagdad railway. The Berlin to Bagdad railway
was constructed in order to run the threat of force down the flank of
the industrial undertakings of half a dozen other countries, so that
when German competition came in it would not be resisted too
far--because there was always the possibility of getting German
armies into the heart of that country quicker than any other armies
could be got there.
Look at the map of Europe now. Germany, in thrusting upon us again
and again the discussion of peace, talks about what? Talks about
Belgium, talks about northern France, talks about Alsace-Lorraine.
She has kept all that her dreams contemplated when the war began. If
she can keep that, her power can disturb the world as long as she
keeps it; always provided--for I feel bound to put this provision
in--always provided the present influences that control the German
Government continue to control it.
I believe that the spirit of freedom can get into the hearts of
Germans and find as fine a welcome there as it can find in any other
hearts. But the spirit of freedom does not suit the plans of the
Pan-Germans. Power cannot be used with concentrated force against
free peoples if it is used by free people. You know how many
intimations come to us from one of the Central Powers that it is more
anxious for peace than the chief Central Power, and you know that it
means that the people in that Central Power know that if the war ends
as it stands, they will in effect themselves be vassals of Germany,
notwithstanding that their populations are compounded with all the
people of that part of the world, and notwithstanding the fact that
they do not wish, in their pride and proper spirit of nationality, to
be so absorbed and dominated.