Gems (?) of German Thought :: I "DEUTSCHLAND uBER ALLES"

I "DEUTSCHLAND uBER ALLES"

I

"DEUTSCHLAND ÜBER ALLES"ToC

German Humility.

(Before the War.)

1. No people ever attains to national consciousness without over-rating itself. The Germans are always in danger of enervating their nationality through possessing too little of this rugged pride.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 19.

For further testimonies to German humility see Nos. 17, 20, 23, 36, 51, 106, 122, 206, 206b, 394.

2. The German people must rise as a master-folk above the inferior peoples of Europe and the primitive peoples of the colonies.—G.U.M., p. 8.

2a. The German people is always right, because it is the German people, and numbers 87 million souls.—O.R. Tannenberg, G.D., p. 231.

3. The French, under Napoleon, wanted to sacrifice the whole world to their insatiable thirst for glory, and the English treat every barrier opposed to their hunger for exploitation as a challenge to their superiority. Great is the gulf that separates these cupidities from the hitherto unrivalled moral elevation of the sense of honour in the German people.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 220 (1901).

Compare Section V., "Machiavelism."

4. My soul is heavy when I see the many enemies surrounding Germany.... And my thoughts fly forward into the far future, and ask, "Will there ever be a time when there is no more Germany?" ... How poor and empty would the rich world then become! Then all men would ask themselves, "How comes it that the peoples no longer understand each other? Whither has that great, serene power departed, that brought near the souls of the peoples, each to each? Who has shattered the marvellous mirror from which the countenance of the world was thoughtfully reflected?" Then they would strike their heads and their breasts in despair, crying: "We have criminally robbed ourselves of our wealth! The world, the great, rich world, has grown waste, poor, and empty: the world has no longer a soul, she has no longer a Germany!"—E. v. Wildenbruch (1889), quoted in D.R.S.Z., No. 12.

5. The proud conviction forces itself upon us with irresistible power that a high, if not the highest, importance for the entire development of the human race is ascribable to this German people.—General v. Bernhardi, G.N.W., p. 72.

6. The German is a hero born, and believes that he can hack and hew his way through life.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 230.

7. We are still child-like in our inmost feelings, innocent in our pleasures, simple in our inclinations, in spite of individual aberrations; we are still prolific, and our race multiplies, so that our own soil has long been insufficient to support us all. It is therefore doubly imperative for us to remain heroes, for who knows whether the Germanic migrations are destined to remain isolated phenomena in history! The peoples around us are either overripe fruits which the next storm may bring to the ground, such as the Turks, Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, and a great part of the Slavs; or they are, indeed, proud of their race, but senile and artificial in their Kultur, slow in their increase and boundless in their ambition, like the French; or, confident in the unassailability of their country, like the English and the Americans, they have forgotten justice and made their selfishness the measure of all things. Who knows whether we Germans are not the rod predestined for the chastening of these degeneracies, who knows whether we may not again, like our fathers in dim antiquity, have to gird on our swords and go forth to seek dwelling-places for our increase?—F. Lange, R.D., p. 159 (1893).

8. We are distinguished from other nations by our honourable love for outspoken convictions, which would make a cut-and-dried party system distasteful to us.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 148.

9. The surest means of serving the ends of humanity is to work at the elaboration of our national personality, and to develop the full strength of its crystalline radiance.—F. Bley, W.D.D., p. 23.

10. We have forced ourselves, though the last-comers, the virtual upstarts, between the States which have earlier gained their place, and now claim our share in the dominion of the world, after we have for centuries been paramount only in the realm of the intellect.—General v. Bernhardi, G.N.W., p. 13.

11. Why must teachers and schoolboys, year out, year in, worry about the old Greeks and Romans? To foster idealism in the young, we are told! But for that there is no need to go to Rome and Athens. Our German history offers us ideals enough, and is richer in deeds of heroism than Rome and Athens put together.—General Keim, at meeting of the German Defence League, Cassel, Feb., 1913; Nippold, D.C., p. 82.

12. History teaches us that supreme treasure of humanity, German idealism, can be preserved only in the stout bark of national development.—F. Bley, W.D.D., p. 23.

On Idealism, see also Nos. 45, 276, 442, 464.

13. A war fought and lost would destroy our laboriously gained political importance ... would shake the influence of German thought in the civilized world, and thus check the general progress of mankind in its healthy development, for which a flourishing Germany is the essential condition. Our next war will be fought for the highest interests of our country and of mankind. This will invest it with importance in the world's history. "World-power or downfall!" will be our rallying-cry.—General v. Bernhardi, G.N.W., p. 154.

14. In our German people, peaceful dispositions and war-like prowess are so happily mixed that in this respect no other people on the earth can rival us, and none seems so clearly predestined to light humanity on the way to true progress.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 158 (1893).

15. The Latin has no feeling for the beauty of a forest; when he takes his repose in it he lies upon his stomach, while we rest upon our backs.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 206.

(After July, 1914.)

16. If we compare our time with the great eras of our fathers, we are perfectly capable of a sober self-criticism. We have no use for illusions and self-deceptions on the way to our indispensable victory.—Prof. F. Meinecke, D.D.E., p. 10.

17. Where in the whole world can a people be found who have such cause for manly pride as we? But we are equally far removed from presumption and from arrogance.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 117.

18. As the German bird, the eagle, hovers high over all the creatures of the earth, so also should the German feel that he is raised high above all other nations who surround him, and whom he sees in the limitless depth beneath him.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 143.

19. Germany is our existence, our faith, the meaning and depth of the world.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 84.

20. It is not only our enemies who, by their underground intrigues, have sought to divert from us the sympathies of other peoples. If we would speak frankly, we must admit that we ourselves are partly to blame in the matter. A great part of the blame is due to our insufficient self-esteem and self-valuation—an inveterate German failing.—Prof. Dr. R. Jannasch, W.D.U.S., p. 22.

21. Germany is the future of humanity.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 78.

21a God defend the noble cause of Deutschtum. There is no other hope for the future of humanity.—H.S. Chamberlain, in Hamburger Nachrichten, September, 1914.

21b. We must vanquish, because the downfall of Germanism would mean the downfall of humanity.—"Six War Sermons," by Pastor K. KÖnig, quoted in H.A.H., p. 99.

22. When the German stands leaning on his mighty sword, clad in steel from top to toe, whosoever will may, down below, dance round his feet—they may rail at him and throw mud at him, as the "intellectuals" ... of England, France, Russia and Italy are now doing—in his lofty repose he will not allow himself to be disturbed, and will only reflect as did his ancestors. Oderint dum metuant.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 131.

23. We will not conceal from ourselves that these victories for which our bells ring and our flags wave, and for which we thank our God, may become a danger to us, should they make us vain and arrogant, boastful and indolent! God forbid! We will hold fast to our old modesty, with which we have so often been reproached, and which has indeed often enough degenerated into the undervaluing of ourselves and overvaluing of that which is foreign and despicable.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 53.

24. We must develop, not into "Europeans,'" but into ever higher Germans.... What sort of a European would be formed by a mixture of the heroic German with the calculating Englishman? If the result was a man who thought half calculatingly and half heroically, it would be an exaltation for the Englishman, but a degradation for the German.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 125.

25. If we come victorious out of this war, we shall be the first people on the earth, a rich stream of gold will pour over our land, and this greatness, these riches, may be a blessing to us if we always remember that true greatness, true riches, lie only in the possession of moral advantages, and that to the fact of our possessing such advantages we owe our success.—W. Helm, W.W.S.M., p. 33.

26. Do you not see, Albion, that the German Michel,[8] on whom you looked down with such contempt, is now transformed into the Archangel Michael, and, encountering you with his flaming sword, triumphs over the race of the fallen angels and all the offspring of hell.—F. Delitzsch, D.R.S.Z., No. 13, p. 21.

27. We must win, because, if we were defeated, no one in the whole world could any longer cherish any remnant of belief in truth and right, in the Good, or, indeed, in any higher Power which wisely and justly guides the destinies of humanity.—W. Helm, W.W.S.M., p. 8.

28. Every great artistic achievement of France and Italy since the time of the Romans can be traced to families and classes with a strong mixture of German blood, and, especially in earlier times, to the descendants of Germanic stocks, who had kept their blood, or at any rate their nature (Art) pure.—H.A. Schmid, D.R.S.Z., No. 25, p. 21.

29. Germany is precisely—who would venture to deny it—the representative of the highest morality, of the purest humanity, of the most chastened Christianity. He, therefore, who fights for its maintenance, its victory, fights for the highest blessings of humanity itself, and for human progress. Its defeat, its decline, would mean a falling back to the worst barbarism.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 68.

30. No nation in the world can give us anything worth mentioning in the field of science or technology, art or literature, which we would have any trouble in doing without. Let us reflect on the inexhaustible wealth of the German character, which contains in itself everything of real value that the Kultur of man can produce.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 135.

31. We have in Germany the best Press in the world, and are in that respect superior to all other countries.—Prof. A.V. Harnack, W.W.S.G., p. 19.

32. Germany's fight against the whole world is in reality the battle of the spirit against the whole world's infamy, falsehood, and devilish cunning.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 81.

33. German patriotism strikes its deep roots into the fruitful soil of a heroic view of the world, and around its crown there gleam the rays of the highest spiritual and artistic culture.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 71.

34. This combination of clearness of purpose and heroic spirit of sacrifice was unknown in world-history before August, 1914. Not till then was the new German human being born.... Is this new creation to be the human being of the future?—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 103.

35. Verily it has long been an honour and a joy, a source of renown and of happiness, to be a German—the year 1914 has made it a title of nobility.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 133.

36. When Luther, in the domain of religion, characterized as unevangelical the conception of merit and reward, and energetically banished the huckster-spirit from religious feeling, he opened to the German thought the widest possibilities of victory.... A specially Germanic way of feeling, a Germanic modesty and distinction of thought, was here powerfully promoted by means of the Gospel. True distinction is always modest, in the sense of being unobtrusive and not bragging of deserts!—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 56.

37. Since the great German Renaissance of the new humanism, the Hellenic has become the truly German.... As the Peloponnesian War divided the States of Hellas into two camps, so this war has divided the States of Europe. But this time it will be Athens and her spiritual power that will conquer.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 40.

38. After the conclusive victories for which we may confidently hope ... the whole habitable earth will far more than hitherto bend its gaze upon us, to marvel at (anzustaunen) our standard-setting [artistic] achievements.—G.E. Pazaurek, P.K.U.K., p. 23.

39. A theory of the origin of species remained in England a series of isolated observations, which pointed to certain conjectures; in Germany it was transformed with resolute daring into an all-embracing whole. Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 33.

40. Never have ye seen a strong people and Empire in whiter garments of peace. We offered you palm branches, we offered you justice, ye offered us envy and hate.—J. Hort, quoted in H.A.H., p. 51.

41. Take heed that ye be counted among the blessed, who show declining England, depraved Belgium, licentious France, uncouth Russia, the unconquerable youthful power and manhood of the German people, in a manner never to be forgotten.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 131.

42. We may be sure that our French adversaries, when at Metz and St. Quentin our hosts hurled themselves upon them, saw above us in the clouds the Germans of 1870, and even the Prussians of 1813, once more swooping down upon them, and shuddered at the spectacle. And, in spite of all the boasting of Sir John [Bull], our cousins from beyond the sea must long ago have recognized that it is better to fight with Prussians against the French, than vice versa.—Prof. G. Roethe, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 29.

43. He who, in these days, sets forth to defend the German hearth, sets forth in a holy fight ... in which one stakes life itself, this single, sweet, beloved life, for the life of a whole nation, a nation which is God's seed-corn for the future.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 78.

44. Our enemies are fighting us in order to restore to the world the freedom, the Kultur, which we threaten. What monstrous mendacity! Reproduce if you can the German national school teacher, the German upper-master, the German university professor! You have lagged far behind us, you are hopelessly inferior! Hence your chagrin, your envy, your fear! Powerless to rival us, you foam with hate and rage, you make unblushing calumny your weapon, and would like to exterminate us, to wipe us off the face of the earth, in order to free yourselves from your burden of shame.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 38.

45. We take refuge in our quite peculiar idealism, and dream—alas, aloud!—of our ideal mission for the saving (Heil) of mankind. Foreign countries turn away enraged from such unheard-of self-glorification and are quite certain that, behind the high-sounding words, the arrogance of "Prussian militarism" is concealed.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 64.

46. The future must lead France once again to our side, we will heal it of its aberrations, and, in brotherly subordination to us, it may share with us the task of guiding the fate of the world.... As we feel ourselves free from hatred toward the kindred Kultur-people of France, we have taken up the gauntlet with Teutonic pride, and we will use our weapons so that the admiration of the world, and of our enemies themselves, shall be accorded to us.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 26.

47. When we were attacked, our German wrath awakened, and when we could not but recognize in the attack a long-plotted treason against our love of peace, our wrath became fierce and wild. Then, no doubt, some of us spoke, in our first excitement, of hatred; but this was a misinterpretation of our feeling. Seeing ourselves hated, we imagined that hate must be answered with hate; but our German spirit (GemÜt) was incapable of that passion. Lienhard rightly ... deplores the form of the popular Hymn of Hate against England, which, characteristically enough, proceeds from a poet of Jewish race.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 68.

48. Under the protection of the greatest of armies, we have laboured at scientific, social, and economic progress; our enemies trusted to the rule of force and to chatter.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 44.

49. Work as untiringly as we, think with as much energy, and we will welcome you as equals at our side.... Imitate us and we will honour you. Seek to constrain us by war, and we will thrash you to annihilation, and despise you as a robber pack.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 38.

The Gentle German.

(After July, 1914.)

50. The German Army (in which I of course include the Navy) is to-day the greatest institute for moral education in the world.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 78.51. It is true that the breast of every soldier swelled with a noble pride at the thought that he was privileged to wear the German uniform, which history has made a garb of honour above all others; but as for arrogance, not one of them, thank God, was capable of the stupidity which alone can engender it.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 32.

52. From all sides testimonies are flowing in as to the noble manner in which our troops conduct the war.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 124.

52a. We thank our German Army that it has kept spotless the shield of humanity and chivalry. It is true we believe that every bone of a German soldier, with his heroic heart and immortal soul, is worth more than a cathedral.—Prof. W. Kahl, D.R.S.Z., No. 6, p. 5.

52b. We see everywhere how our soldiers respect the sacred defencelessness of woman and child.—Prof. G. Roethe, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 23.52c. The German soldiers alone are thoroughly disciplined, and have never so much as hurt a hair of a single innocent human being.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 69.

53. The depth of the German spirit displays itself also in respect for morality and discipline.... How often, in these days, has the German soldier been subjected to the temptation to treat the inhabitants of foreign countries with violence and brutality. But everywhere he has obeyed the law, and shown that even in war he knows how to distinguish between the enemy to be crushed and defenceless women and children. The officials and clergy of conquered territory have frequently borne express testimony to this fact.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 57.

54. The losses we suffer are—even if the losses of the enemy were ten times more numerous—infinitely greater in value and infinitely more painful.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 8.54a. One single highly cultured German warrior, of those who are, alas! falling in thousands, represents a higher intellectual and moral life-value than hundreds of the raw children of nature (Naturmenschen) whom England and France, Russia and Italy, oppose to them.—Prof. E. Haeckel, E.W., p. 36.

54b. When one of our ships has to sink, its going-down is even more glorious than a victory.—Prof. U. v. Wilamowitz-MÖllendorf, R., pt. iii., p. 48.

55. Where German soldiers had to seize the incendiary torch, or even to proceed to the slaughter of citizens, it was only in pursuance of the rights of war, and for protection in real need. Had they obeyed the dictates of their hearts, they would rather have shared their soup and bread with the defenceless foe.... This spirit of humanity we will preserve and cherish to the end.—Prof. W. Kahl, D.R.S.Z., No. 6, p. 5.

56. Lastly, we must not forget the German humour.... It sometimes proceeds from a firm faith in God, sometimes from a cheerful optimism, always from a serenity of spirit which nothing can disturb. Thus German soldiers out in the field, the moment there is a pause in the fighting, set about trying to ride on the camel which they have taken from the Zouaves.... So, too, a non-commissioned officer, during a fight, admonishes a soldier: "Shoot quietly, Kowalski, shoot quietly! You'll frighten away the whole French Army of the North with your confounded banging!"—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 59.

57. Apart from the fighting quality of these troops, their peaceful work behind all the fronts bears witness to a thorough spiritual culture (Bildung) and a living organization such as the world has never seen, and this again indicates an average level of culture in all grades—of spiritual development and moral responsibility—to which no people in the world can show anything in the smallest degree comparable.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 19.

58. Even when, for once, a Latin writer is favourably disposed towards Germany ... he can see in what moves his admiration nothing but animal vitality. "This terrible Germany," he says, "like a wonderful beast of the jungle, springs upon all its foes and fixes its fangs in them." How sadly he here misinterprets the nature of German heroism!—G. Misch, V.G.D.K., p. 9.

59. It is characteristic that our cruiser Wilhelm der Grosse, in order to spare the women and children on board, let an English merchant ship pass unharmed,[9] which by International Law it has the right to sink ... and then come Messieurs the English and repay this act of magnanimity by sinking the same cruiser in a neutral harbour, contrary to all International Law.—Prof. G. Roethe, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 23.

60. The absence of any sort of animosity towards other people is a striking characteristic of the Germans—and of the Germans alone.[10]—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 12.

The Great Misunderstood.

(After July, 1914.)

61. It has been said that it is un-German to wish to be only German. That again is a consequence of our spiritual wealth. We understand all foreign nations; none of them understands us, and none of them can understand us.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 135.

62. The historian and economist Sombart has said: "We understand all foreign nations, no foreign nation understands or can understand us." In these words he rejects all community of Kultur with other peoples, and especially the so-called "Western European Ideas."—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 124.63. In the world of the spirit, the victory of German thought seemed already almost decided. For it was able to comprehend the others, but they could not comprehend it.—G. Misch, V.G.D.K., p. 19.

64. We are still the most wide-hearted and receptive of people, a people that cannot live if it does not make its own the spiritual values of the other peoples. We can already say that we know the outer world better than they know us.—Prof. F. Meinecke, D.D.E., p. 35.

65. Whole-hearted understanding for another people can be fully attained only by treason to one's own nature, to one's own national personality. That is what makes the renegade so hateful, and those unpatriotic half-men, the intellectuals and Æsthetes.—Prof. M. v. Gruber, D.R.S.Z., No. 30, p. 14.

66. The German is docile and eager to learn. His interest embraces everything, and most of all what is foreign. He is disposed to admire everything foreign and to underrate what is his own. With foreigners it is just the other way. We Germans know about them, but they know absolutely nothing about us.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 34.

67. Apart from what Professor Larsen has said in Denmark, and Dr. Gino Bertolini in Italy, about German militarism ... we may designate as nonsense everything that foreigners, in low or in high estate, have recently said on this subject. This is a new proof of the fact that foreigners cannot understand us, apart from a few outstanding personalities whom a kind fate has borne aloft to the heights of the German spirit.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 82.

Kultur.

(Before the War.)

68. The Kultur of the Germans [Germanen] is actually the stimulus to our present European Civilization with which we are conquering the world.—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 31.69. Germanism, when it rightly understands itself, and remains true to its nature, is childlike and manlike, at once tender and strong, full of genuinely human simplicity, and therefore of irreplaceable value to Kultur.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 27 (1890).

70. The champions of the so-called race-idea are clear as to the importance of the Germanic race for our civilization and Kultur.... Their meritorious work has converted the dim divinings of instinct into the certainty of knowledge; and yet a sense of oppression steals upon us when we think of what still remains to be done (as they all agree) against a hostile world in arms, both of the flesh and of the spirit—a world of treachery and hypocrisy, of error and of fanaticism, of stupidity and of craft.—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 50.

70a. Kultur is best promoted when the strongest individual Kultur, that of a given nation, enlarges its field of activity at the expense of the other national Kulturs. If we one day come into conflict with the Martians, then humanity—all the peoples of the earth—will have common interests: but not until then.—K. Wagner, K., p. 46.

71. I cannot accept the definition of Kultur which identifies it with "form," with the harmonious "rhythm" which, in the English, for example, permeates and unifies everything, from the highest spiritual life to clothes, footwear and table manners.... I am of opinion that we shall apply to this care for "form," for "rhythm," and whatever results from it, the name of "civilization," reserving the nobler word "Kultur" for higher values, and that we should look to our army and the corps of officers to endow us with, and educate us in, these higher values.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 217 (1901).

(After July, 1914.)

72. Our belief is that the salvation of the whole Kultur of Europe depends upon the victory which German "militarism" is about to achieve.—Manifesto signed by 3,500 "Hochschullehreren" (professors and lecturers), quoted by Prof. U. v. Wilamowitz-MÖllendorf, R., pt. ii, p. 33.

73. If Fate has selected us to assume the leadership in the Kultur-life of the peoples, we will not shrink from this great and lofty mission.—G.E. Pazaurek, P.K.U.K., p. 23.

74. At bottom we Germans are fighting for the same thing which the Greeks defended against the Persians, the Romans against the Carthaginians and Egyptians, the Franks against Islam: namely, the chivalrous European way of thinking, which is ever being threatened by brutal force and puling baseness. We stand once more at a watershed of Kultur.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 119.

75. If we are beaten—which God and our strong arm forbid—all the higher Kultur of our hemisphere, which it was our mission to guard, sinks with us into the grave.—Prof. A. v. Harnack, I.M., 1st October, 1914, p. 26.76. That it will be German Kultur that will send forth its rays from the centre of our continent, there can be no possible doubt.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 19.

77. We are indeed entrusted here on earth with a doubly sacred mission: not only to protect Kultur ... against the narrow-hearted huckster-spirit of a thoroughly corrupted and inwardly rotten commercialism (Jobbertum), but also to impart Kultur in its most august purity, nobility and glory to the whole of humanity, and thereby contribute not a little to its salvation.—Ein Deutscher, W.K.B.M., p. 40.

78. [Germany has neglected] the highest duty of every Kultur-State—to carry its Kultur into foreign parts, and to win the confidence and affection of other peoples.—F. v. Liszt, E.M.S., p. 12.

79. The idea of the exclusive justification of one's own Kultur which is innate in the French and English, is foreign to us. But we are conscious of the incomparable value of German Kultur, and will for the future guard it against being adulterated by less valuable imports. We do not force it upon any one, but we believe that its own inner greatness will everywhere procure it the recognition which is its due.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 25.

80. The more German Kultur remains faithful to itself, the better will it be able to enlighten the understanding of the foreign races absorbed, incorporated into the Empire, and to make them see that only from German Kultur can they derive those treasures which they need for the fertilizing of their own particular life.—Prof. O. v. Gierke, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 19.

81. We will not in the future let foreign idols be forced upon us, but will serve our own Gods.—Prof. Rudolf Eucken, I.M., 1st October, 1914, p. 74.

82. Germanism was for several decades, in spite of the mighty and over-towering height of its Kultur, hindered in the imparting of this Kultur to other nations. In the first years after the war [of 1870] this was not painfully felt, as a powerful exchange of Kultur was still in progress between different parts of the German Empire.... But when this exchange of Kultur between the German stocks had run its course, and the Germanization of the frontier districts [Poland, Alsace] had reached its limit, then the spiritual need of the German victor and conqueror began to make itself felt. He became a teacher without scholars, he had no longer an audience.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 11.

Der deutsche Gott.[12]

(After July, 1914.)

95. If God is for us, who can be against us? It is enough for us to be a part of God.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 77.

96. We have become a nation of wrath; we think only of the war.... We execute God's Almighty will, and the edicts of His justice we will fulfil, imbued with holy rage, in vengeance upon the ungodly. God calls us to murderous battles, even if worlds should thereby fall to ruins.... We are woven together like the chastening lash of war; we flame aloft like the lightning; like gardens of roses our wounds blossom at the gates of Heaven.—F. Philippi, quoted in H.A.H., p. 52.

97. The principle which the Kaiser impressed on his soldiers lives in his own soul: "Each must so do his duty that, when he shall one day answer the heavenly bugle-call, he may stand forth with a good conscience before his God and his old Kaiser."—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 21.

Compare No. 247.

98. Thou who dwellest high in Thy Heaven, above Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins, Thou who art enthroned as a God of thunder in the midst of lightning from the clouds, and lightning from sword and cannon, send thunder, lightning, hail and tempest hurtling upon our enemy ... and hurl him down to the dark burial-pits.—Battle Prayer, by Pastor D. Vorwerk, quoted in H.A.H., p. 40.

99. Is the living God, the God whom one can only have and understand in the spirit of Jesus Christ, is He the God of those others? No; they serve at best Satan, the father of lies!—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 72.

100. England is our worst enemy, and we will fight her till we have overthrown her! So may it please our Great Ally, who stands behind the German battalions, behind our ships and U-boats, and behind our blessÉd "militarism"!—E. v. Heyking, D.W.E., p. 23.

101. The German soul is the world's soul, God and Germany belong to one another.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 83.

102. On this planet, as a result of millenniums of development, has it come to this, that Germany—and in a wider sense Germanism, within and without the Empire—has become an instrument of God, an indispensable, irreplaceable instrument of God? This question I ask, and I answer it in the affirmative.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 15.

103. The French, of course, count on the possibility that Germany may be weakened in the further course of the war, and at last beaten by the Russian Army and the English Fleet. This we do not believe, because we know Germany and hold the alliance between Providence and our people to be a matter of necessity.—F. Naumann, Member of the Reichstag, D.U.F., p. 19.

104. The difficult Christian commandment, "Love your enemies," is nowhere more easily obeyed than in war! There is much talk about "hate" against England. But how do our warriors greet each other? "Gott strafe England!" They thus invoke God, but not the God of hatred, of vengeance, but the God of justice. It is the just God at whose hands we hope for the punishment of the unjust man or nation.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 19.105. It might come to pass that we succumbed in this fight of righteousness and purity against falsehood and deceit. That could only happen, I am sure, over the dead body of the last German—but should it happen, I assert that we should all die happy in the consciousness of having defended God against the world.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 79.

106. We are beginning slowly, humbly, and yet with a deep gladness, to divine God's intentions. It may sound proud, my friends, but we are conscious that it is also in all humbleness that we say it: the German soul is God's soul: it shall and will rule over mankind.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 83.

107. The German God is not only the theme of some of our poets and prophets, but also a historian like Max Lenz has, with fiery tongue and in deep thankfulness, borne witness to the revelation of the German God in our holy war. The German, the national, God!... Has war in this case impaired, or has it steeled religion? I say it has steeled it.... This is no relapse to a lower level, but a mounting up to God Himself.—Prof. A. Deissmann, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 16.

108. [Extract from a letter[13] to Chamberlain.] "It is my firm belief that the country to which God gave Luther, Goethe, Bach, Wagner, Moltke, Bismarck and William I., has still a great mission before it, to work for the welfare of humanity. God has put us to a hard probation ... that we may the better serve as His instrument for the saving of mankind; for we were on the point of becoming untrue to our old-established nature (Wesen). He who has imposed upon us this ordeal will also help us out of it."—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 13.109. What a difference is there between armies, one of which carries its God in its heart, whilst the others think they can conquer by the weight of their numbers, by cunning tricks of devilish cruelty, by shameless contempt for the provisions of International Law.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 121.

110. Even the Crusaders with their cry of "God wills it!" were not so penetrated by the Christian spirit as our warriors whose motto is, "As God will!"—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 19.

111.

Ortelsburg und Gilgenburg,
Dazu als Sieger Hindenburg,
Das sind der Burgen drei,
Die vierte, die ist auch dabei:
Die macht der Feinde Tun zu Spott,
Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott.

Translation: Ortelsburg and Gilgenburg [two places in East Prussia] with victory for Hindenburg—that makes three "Burgs" in all. Nor is a fourth "Burg" wanting: one that puts to shame the efforts of our enemies: for "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott."—Quoted by M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 82.

112. On us Germans the eye of God, we take it, must especially rest in this war: we must be His ultimate purpose.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 89.

113. For a just cause, the German is ready to sacrifice life, blood, gold and goods. Once more, as of old, David goes forth against Goliath. The German people says with David: "Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts," in the name of faith, right and truth. Great is his might who has these powers on his side; for the living God stands behind him.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 65.

114. The kingdom of God must now assert itself against the kingdom of all that is base, evil and vile: the kingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness. Against a world of superhuman evil ... the power of superhuman justice, truth and love goes out to battle.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 125.

115. One thing, I think, is clear, God must stand on our side. We fight for right and truth, for Kultur and civilization, and human progress, and true Christianity, against untruthfulness and hypocrisy and falseness, and un-Kultur and barbarism and brutality. All human blessings, aye, and humanity itself, stand under the protection of our bright weapons.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H. &. H., p. 65.

116. There lurks in our people something of the God-consciousness which inspired the Old Testament prophets. Very childlike indeed, but of far deeper meaning than he could guess, was the saying of a little boy to his playmate at the outbreak of war: "I am not in the least afraid! The good God will help us, for he is German!"—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 45.

The Chosen People and its Mission.

(After July, 1914.)

117. He who does not believe in the Divine mission of Germany had better hang himself, and rather to-day than to-morrow.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 17.

118. Now we understand why the other nations pursue us with their hatred: they do not understand us, but they are sensible of our enormous spiritual superiority. So the Jews were hated in antiquity, because they were the representatives of God on earth.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 142.

119. God has in Luther practically chosen the German people, and that can never be altered, for is it not written in Romans xi., 29, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."—Dr. Preuss,[14] quoted in H.A.H., p. 223.

120. I want first to make it clear in what sense we may say, without extravagance or the least trace of self-exaltation: Germany is chosen. Germany is chosen, for her own good and that of other nations, to undertake their guidance. Providence has placed the appointed people, at the appointed moment, ready for the appointed task.—H.S. Chamberlain, P.I., p. 25.

121. There is a gospel saying which bursts the bonds of its original historical meaning and takes new wings in the storm of the world-war, a saying which we may well take as the consecration of our German mission: "Ye are the salt of the earth! ye are the light of the world!"[15]—Prof. A. Deissmann, D.R.S.Z., p. 24.

122. It is no foolish over-valuation of ourselves, no aggressive arrogance, no want of humility, when we more and more let Bismarck's faith prevail within us, that God has taken the German nation under His special care, or in any case has some special purpose in view for it.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 86.

123. Then a newly purified and newly strengthened German folk-soul would arise out of the war, to new thoughts and new deeds, to a new sense of its world-mission—that of imparting to the other peoples, in a pure spirit, the achievements of its Kultur, so that all lands may be filled with the glory of God.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 63.

124. As heralds of God's will, messengers of His word, witnesses of His benefactions to the world, we shall take up our work after the war, and with German endurance and German industry, with German competence and German faithfulness, with German faith and German piety, we shall permeate, in the name of God, a world which has become poor and desolate.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 128.

125. When these storms have done their work, Germany's purest mission begins: to become a place of refuge, a holy grove for all the seekers of the earth, a central land, a land of wisdom, a land of morals.—F. Lienhardt, quoted in H.A.H., p. 51.

126. The divination or the assurance of this special calling [on the part of God] has long been present to the best among the German people; many quotations to this effect (for example, Geibel's lines) are to-day in everybody's mouth. Deeper thoughts are aroused by a less-known remark of Richard Wagner's: "A great mission, scarcely comprehensible to other nations, is unquestionably reserved for the whole German character (Anlage)"; this character he defines as "the spirit of pure humanity," and the mission of the Germans as "the ennoblement of the world...." Not to believe in this mission is folly, is treason.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 14.

127. God's people will come forth from this war strengthened and crowned with victory, because they stand on the side of God; but all God's adversaries will find out that God will not be mocked, and that He rules the history of the nations according to His will.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 134.

128. A good Providence watches over the fate of the German people, which is destined to the highest things on this earth.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 67.

129. Brethren and sisters! in a moment we ... have become the heirs of Israel, the people of the Old Testament covenant. We shall be the bearers of God's promises.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 116.

130. As was Israel among the heathen, so is Germany among the modern nations—the pious heart of Europe.—"My German Fatherland," by Pastor Tolzien, quoted in H.A.H., p. 136.

131. We hope that a great mission will be allotted to us Germans ... and this German mission is: to look after the world (zu sorgen fÜr die Welt). Is it arrogance to write such a phrase? Is it vanity in the disguise of a moral idea? No, no, and again no.—Pastor G. Traub, D.K.U.S., p. 23.132. Friedrich Nietzsche was but the last of the singers and seers who, coming down from the height of heaven, brought to us the tidings that there should be born from us the Son of God, whom in his language he called the Superman.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 53.

133. Verily the Bible is our book.... It was given and assigned to us, and we read in it the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind salvation or disaster—according as we will it!—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 134.

134. We want to become a world-people. Let us remind ourselves that the belief in our mission as a world-people has arisen from our originally purely spiritual impulse to absorb the world into ourselves.—Prof. F. Meinecke, D.D.E., p. 37.

135. Germany is the centre of God's plans for the world.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 78.

"Other Peoples."

(After July, 1914.)

136. We had greatly over-valued all other nations, even the French. The French are a people on the down grade.—The Kaiser, to Herr A. Fendrich, quoted in H.A.H., p. 55.

137. All the deep things: courage, patriotism, faithfulness, moral purity, conscience, the sense of duty, activity on a moral basis, inward riches, intellect, industry, and so forth [!]—no other nation possesses all these things in such high perfection as we do.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 76.

138. Fichte was right in calling us the people of the soul (GemÜt) ... [in the sense that] the depth of feeling common to us Germans has become a power controlling our activity and permeating our history, to a degree unknown to any other people. In this sense we have a right to say that we form the soul of humanity, and that the destruction of the German nature (Art) would rob world-history of its deepest meaning.—Prof. R. Eucken, W.B.D.G., p. 23.

139. Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven, these men signify for us a spiritual rebirth, such as never happens to other peoples, all of whom only grow old, and can never become young again.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 49.

139a. Other peoples are young, grow to maturity and then begin to age.... We Germans have often been old, but, thank God, we have as often been quite young.... How young do we not feel ourselves in contradistinction to these Englishmen and Frenchmen.—Prof. G. Roethe, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 25.

140. No other people, not even the Greeks, have so understood childhood as the Germans. It is we who, in the work of Campe ["The Swiss Family Robinson"] have created children's literature,[16] and still hold the lead in that department; it is we who provide the whole world with children's toys. That is possible only because we have the power of identifying ourselves with the child-soul, and this we could not do if we had not in our own innermost soul something childlike, simple, primitive.—Prof. R. Eucken, W.B.D.G., p. 13.

141. The identical ring that we put into the singing of "Ein'feste Burg ist unser Gott" and "Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles," is something that cannot be found among the other peoples, because they lack the freshness of national feeling, because they are degenerate.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 68.

142. I look upon it as absolutely the deepest feature of the German character, this passionate love of right, of justice, of morality. This is something which the other nations have not got.—"On the German God," by Pastor W. Lehmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 79.

143. The period of political chaos a hundred years ago was a blessing for the Germans, who at that time were able to grow deep, while other nations were growing superficial.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 129.

144. Our German peace is an essential factor in our Kultur. Such a love of peace is itself of moral value, but in the person of the Kaiser it finds a consciously religious expression ... and when the Kaiser has to summon his people to a war which he has not willed, there at once awakes in the whole people the religious spirit peculiar to itself, of which the other peoples—unless it be the Turks!—have no conception, it matters not whether they have already dethroned "Dieu" or have "the Lord" forever in their mouths!—H. v. Wolzogen, D.Z.K., p. 46.

145. But this same Demon of Baseness, who has subdued the other peoples, was busily at work in Germany as well: ten years more, and God would perhaps have found no one in the world to fight for him.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 11.

See also Nos. 7, 8, 14, 31, 44, 321.

Christ.

(After July, 1914.)

146. The soldier who spat in the face of the thorn-crowned Saviour did not act more shamelessly than does England now.—"The True Unity," by Pastor Tolzien, quoted in H.A.H., p. 146.

147. Is there anyone who does not know why England declared war? Why?... From jealousy. From shopkeeper-spite. Because she wanted to earn the thirty pieces of silver.—"The World-Politics of England," by Pastor G. Tolzien, quoted in H.A.H., p. 143.

148. We could draw many instructive parallels: we could say that as Jesus was treated so also have the German people been treated.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 63.

149. In this solemn hour, when we lament over our dead heroes, we experience, more deeply than ever before, the passion of our Lord.... Is not Germany itself transformed into a suffering Christ? We, too, have gone through our hour of trial on the Mount of Olives, when with our Kaiser we prayed that the cup of suffering might pass away from us; and we, too, obeying the unfathomable will of God, have begun to drain it.... We, too, were betrayed by those to whom we had shown nothing but justice and kindness; and around us, too, resounded, in accents of hatred and envy, the cry of "Crucify him!"—Pastor F.X. MÜnch, reported by Sven Hedin, "With the German Armies in the West," p. 336.

150. We assert the view that ... what once happened to Luther is now happening to our people: it is experiencing a repetition of the Passion of Christ.—Dr. Preuss, quoted in H.A.H., p. 206.

151. A hard and steep Via Crucis lies before the great benefactor and magnanimous liberator of the Kultur-world, the German people. Although it looks beyond the gloom of Good Friday to the dawn of Easter morn, beyond the dark days of war to the beacons of triumph—yet the cross still rests on its shoulders, and the Golgotha of the hardest decision still awaits it.—HofprÄdikant Stipberger, quoted in "False Witness" (Klokke Roland), p. 17.

152. It was the hidden meaning of God that He made Israel the forerunner (Vordeuter) of the Messiah, and in the same way He has by His hidden intent designated the German people to be His successor.—Dr. Preuss, quoted in H.A.H., p. 214.

153. German craving for truth and German strength of faith, working along Biblical paths, have attained to the true faith, the pure religiousness, whose first and greatest spokesman is Jesus Christ. Thus the Germans are the very nearest to the Lord, and may claim for themselves that they have "continued His word".... We fight, then, for Christianity[17] as against degeneration and barbarism.... God must be with us and victory ours. This is guaranteed us by the truth of our nature, which is as German as it is Christian.—"War Sermons," by Pastor H. Francke, quoted in H.A.H., p. 71.

154. A Jesusless horde, a crowd of the Godless, are in the field against us.... May God surround us with His protection ... since our defeat would also mean the defeat of His Son in humanity.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 119.

155. The German people, bearing forward in victory the Evangel of the Cross of Christ,[18] is the great Christophorus in the world of the nations.—"The Christianity of the Belligerent Nations," by Pastor F. Erdmann, quoted in H.A.H., p. 148.

156. Let us rejoice that Envy has risen up against us; it only shows that God has exalted and richly blessed us. Think of Him who was hanged on the Cross and seemed forsaken of God, and had to tread in such loneliness His path to victory. My German people, even if thy road be strewn with thorns and beset by enemies, press onward, full of defiance and confidence.... Thou and thy God, ye are the majority.—Pastor D. Vorwerk, quoted in H.A.H., p. 38.

157. Kant and Jesus go through our people, seeking their disciples.—Pastor G. Traub, D.K.U.S., p. 22.

158. We are fighting—thanks and praise be to God—for the cause of Jesus within mankind.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 126.

159. Christianity is possessed of potent spiritual energies, since it inspires our minds, not only with patience, but also with dignified pride. "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." I quite understand Friedrich Naumann's declaration that this text has meant much to him in these days.—Prof. A. Deissmann, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 24.

160. On the paths of commerce and intercourse, we shall go forth to all nations, and, after the fierce fight is over, carry Jesus to them in the quiet, peaceful work of a true Kultur. England, in these paths, has lowered herself to become a nation of hucksters, who have long abandoned the service of God for that of Mammon.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H.A.H., p. 130.

161. It is on account of its admirable qualities that Germany has so many enemies. Friedrich v. Schiller says: "The world loves to blacken whatever is radiant and shining, and to drag what is exalted in the dust.... Socrates had to drain the bowl of poison, Columbus was cast into fetters, Christ was nailed to the cross,"—Feldmarschalleutnant Franz Rieger, quoted by Kr. Nyrop, Er Krig Kultur? (Copenhagen).

162. The thief who expiated a sinful past by his repentance in the last hour, and was outwardly subjected to the same suffering as our Lord, is the type of the Turkish nation, which now puts Christianity (outside Germany) to shame.—Dr. Preuss, quoted in H.A.H., p. 211.

Die Deutsche Wahrheit (German Truth).

(After July, 1914.)

163. The International Lie-Press has risen up as a fourth Great Power against Germany, and deluges the world with lies against our magnificent and strictly moral (sittenstrenges) Army, and slanders everything that is German. I propose that in the treaty of peace we should claim a special milliard as indemnity for lies.[19]—Prof. A. v. Harnack, W.W.S.G., p. 4.

164. The Germans demand truth, even from orators. It would be quite impossible to entangle the Germans in a network of impudent lies, as the other nations have been entangled.—Prof. A. Lasson, D.R.S.Z., No. 4, p. 23.

165. There was no war party in Germany; that is a Times lie; but there doubtless were responsible statesmen and soldiers who rightly said: "If England and her gang want war at any price, then the sooner the better."—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 13.

166. [The sailors of the British Fleet are] a gang of adventurers and criminals who serve only for filthy lucre ... and among whom desertions and mutinies belong to the order of the day.—W. Helm, W.W.S.M., p. 20.

167. I have travelled at midsummer through the length and breadth of England, from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to Wales; but I have not seen a single cornfield.—K.L.A. Schmidt, D.E.E., p. 29.

168. Not only were the most monstrous untruths as to the violent proceedings of Germany disseminated by the Press, but care was taken to suppress all mention of the twice repeated generous offer of Germany to compensate Belgium in every respect, if she would permit the transit of German troops.—"Germanus," B.U.D.K., p. 31.

169. If, apart from one or two acts of rascality (ein paar Bubenstreichen), we have as yet seen nothing of the British Fleet, it is [among other reasons] because John Bull knows that the crews of his ships are simply not to be trusted.—W. Helm, W.W.S.M., p. 20.

170. We know, for example, that English prisoners and wounded passing through [Cologne] ... could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw that our noble cathedral was not a heap of ruins, as their papers had assured them!—Prof. A. SchrÖer, Z.C.E., p. 55.

171. The French soldiers thought they were only going to manoeuvres. Not until they were face to face with the enemy, had come under the fire of our rifles and seen our bayonets, did they find out that they had been deceived, that they had been lied into the war.—"War Devotions," by Pastor J. Rump, quoted in H. & H., p. 126.

172. What homage does not the stupid world pay to Carnegie; and now we learn that, through his endowments for professors and students, he has enslaved the universities, imposing upon them hard-and-fast doctrines, as, for example, the worship of England and hostility to Germany.—H.S. Chamberlain, P.I., p. 56.

173. When we [in 1870-71] bombarded the fortress of Paris, that was an outrage upon a sacred spot. But when the English battered to the ground the defenceless Alexandria[20]—that was of course quite in order.—Prof. U. v. Wilamowitz-MÖllendorf, R., pt. i., p. 27.

173a. When our Zeppelins drop bombs on the fortress of Antwerp, there are loud protests. But how have not French prisoners boasted of the burning by their bombs of the open city of NÜrnberg. The will was there; only the power was lacking.[21]—Prof. U. v. Wilamowitz-MÖllendorf, R., pt. i., p. 27.

German Insight and Foresight.

(Before the War.)

174. [Of the "militia" of the British self-governing Dominions.] They can be completely ignored so far as concerns any European theatre of war. [Of the British Territorial Army.] For a Continental European war it may be left out of account.—General v. Bernhardi, G.N.W., p. 135.

175. As soon as we have won our first victory, we may be sure that Italy will unconditionally accord us her armed cooperation.—K. v. Strantz, E.S.V., p. 21.

176. If, in case of war, England should join the Dual Alliance against us, our military position will be in no way prejudiced, if we, on our side, take care to kindle fires at the points where her world-power is threatened. In that case, too, oversea prizes beckon us on, which will be well worth the winning.—K. v. Strantz, E.S.V., p. 39.

177. I do not at all believe that Zeppelins have anything to fear from aeroplanes, as their critics assert.—A. Wirth, T.O.D., p. 52.

(After July, 1914.)

178. The far-seeing English politician expects the present war greatly to improve the position of England as against the United States. Any injury that England may conceivably inflict on its best customer, Germany ... will be as nothing in comparison with the direct and indirect losses the war must inflict on America.—Dr. A. Zimmermann, quoted by P. Heinsick, W.U.G., p. 21.

179. There can be no possible doubt that England, in secret, heartily rejoices in every Russian defeat.—P. Heinsick, W.U.G., p. 21.

German Freedom.

(After July, 1914.)

180. An un-German freedom is no freedom.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 21.

180a. Germany has been for centuries the true and only home of a freedom worthy of humanity and elevating to humanity.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 15.

181. German freedom is thus not a natural human right, but an elevation of humanity above the despotism of its own personal inclinations.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 46.

182. We should be in an evil case if we were to barter for these [English] "liberties," however praiseworthy in themselves, our individual many-sidedness, our temperament in constant touch with life, in short our Deutschtum.—Karl Heckel, E.B., p. 384.

183. Ah, Milton, wert thou living at this hour!... Thou would'st understand German championship of freedom, care for justice, and love of truth.—Prof. A. Brandl, D.R.S.Z., No. 20.

On English Freedom, see Nos. 401a, 467.

The German Language.

(After July, 1914.)

184. Fichte expresses in simple words a positively decisive truth ... of all the languages of Europe, German is the only living one.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 26.

185. The German ... must conquer; and when once he has conquered—to-day or in a hundred years...—no duty is more urgent than that of forcing the German language upon the world.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 33.

186. If German Kultur and the German spirit are to march victorious through the world, not to oppress other peoples, but to aid them in their own development, an essential preliminary will be the spread of the German language. For only he who knows the German language, and can read the works of our spiritual heroes in the original, can really penetrate into the German spirit, and feel himself at home there.—C.L. Poehlmann, G.D.W., p. 48.

187. Chance brings to my hands to-day a copy of Jugend for May 28, 1900, containing an article by me in which I read: "I have no firmer or more sacred conviction than this, that the higher Kultur of humanity depends upon the spreading of the German language." I go on to explain that this language is the indispensable interpreter of the German nature (Wesen), which is what I chiefly prize; and for the spreading of the language it is necessary that the German Empire should develop into the leading State of the world.—H.S. Chamberlain, D.Z., p. 9.

188. A defeat for Germany I could regard only as a deferred victory. I should say to myself: The time, then, is not yet ripe; the sacred treasure must yet awhile be guarded and cherished in the circle of the narrower Fatherland. For alone among all nations Germany possesses to-day a living, developing, sacred treasure.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 24.

189. Germanism (Was wir "deutsch" nennen) is the secret through which the inner man is illuminated; and the instrument of this illumination is the [German] language.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 25.

190. If Montaigne were living to-day, he would have to remain silent—or to learn German.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 29.

191. Men must come to realize that whoever cannot speak German is a pariah.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 35.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] A common expression for the ordinary, average German.

[9] This address was delivered, 9th September, 1914. The Lusitania was sunk 7th May, 1915.

[10] Though this was written in the second month of the war, we must in fairness assume that Herr Chamberlain is thinking of the German state of mind before the war. But as he has lived thirty years in Germany he must have been there during the South African War, when the German feeling towards England was too mildly described by the term "animosity."

[11] And you must love him ere to you
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.

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