Gems (?) of German Thought Part 9

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 n.o.bler 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 citizens.h.i.+p 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 friends.h.i.+p between Germany and the Mohammedans. Therefore we built the Bagdad Railway with German money.--P. ROHRBACH, W.W.R., p.

12.

239. _n.o.blesse 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!

[23] The author has previously defined two grades of denationalization.

The second or weaker grade includes the subst.i.tution of German for the national language. For the diabolical means by which he proposes to secure the extinction of "undesired and enslaved races," see E.P.D., p.

159.

[24] That is, until the original landowners are forcibly expropriated.

[25] It is not quite clear what the Professor means by "colonization"--but it does not greatly matter.

III

WAR-WORs.h.i.+P

III

WAR-WORs.h.i.+P

=The l.u.s.t of Battle.=

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

240. How often, in such a charge [during manoeuvres] has my ear caught the yearning cry of a comrade tearing along beside me: "Donnerwetter, if this were only the real thing!" (_wenn das doch Ernst ware_).--KRONPRINZ WILHELM, D.I.W., Chapter II.

240a. When the Gordian knot is ready to be cut, G.o.d sends the Alexander! Does not the Crown Prince William's confession of his belief in courage as the highest flower of the human spirit, in his book "Deutschland in Waffen," sound like an answer to the longing that thrills through our whole people?--_Deutsche Tageszeitung_, 5th May, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 34.

241. In philosophic form, the idea of the beneficence of war may be traced back to the saying of Herac.l.i.tus, "_polemos pater panton_" [war is the father of everything].... War is held to be a divine inst.i.tution, a law of the universe, present in all nature; not for nothing do the Indians wors.h.i.+p Siva the Destroyer; the warrior is filled with the enthusiasm of destruction; wars purify the atmosphere like thunderstorms....[26] We may here refer to H. Leo's phrase as to the "fresh and joyous war that shall sweep away the scrofulous rabble"

[_vom "frischen und frohlichen Krieg, der das skrofulose Gesindel wegfegen soll."_].--J. BURCKHARDT, W.B., p. 163.

242. The Kaiser may have thought that war was not necessary ...

because every year of peace increased the power of the Empire, and because the German hegemony in Europe was safe enough without shedding a drop of blood. To this one may reply that the n.o.blest weapon rusts if its use is too long restricted to reviews and parades ... and that every ascent to a higher mental Kultur impairs the barbaric energy of warriors, and enc.u.mbers them with scruples which damp their joyous courage.--M. HARDEN, _Zukunft_, 19th August, 1911.

=War and Religion.=

243. It is no mere chance that the earliest piece of poetry, the oldest three distiches of the Old Testament, the Song of Lamech, is a song of triumph over the invention of the sword. (Genesis, iv., 23):--

Ada and Zillah hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

--E. v. LASAULX, P.G., p. 85.

244. Perpetual peace is a dream, and it is not even a beautiful dream: war forms part of the eternal order inst.i.tuted by G.o.d.... Without war humanity would sink into materialism.--COUNT V. MOLTKE, letter to Bluntschli, 11th December, 1880.

245. To appeal from this judgment to Christianity would be sheer perversity, for does not the Bible distinctly say that the ruler shall rule by the sword, and, again, that greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friend?--H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p.

67.

245a. But it is not worth while to speak further of these matters, for G.o.d above us will see to it that war shall always recur, as a drastic medicine for ailing humanity.--H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 69.

246. Christian morality is based, indeed, on the law of love. "Love G.o.d above all things, and thy neighbour as thyself." This law can claim no significance for the relations of one country to another, since its application to politics would lead to a conflict of duties.... Christ himself said: "I am not come to send peace on earth, but a sword." His teaching can never be adduced as an argument against the universal law of struggle. There never was a religion which was more combative than Christianity.--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 29.

247. When here on earth a battle is won by German arms and the faithful dead ascend to Heaven, a Potsdam lance-corporal will call the guard to the door, and "old Fritz," springing from his golden throne, will give the command to present arms. That is the Heaven of Young Germany.--_Weekly Paper for Young Germany_, January 25, 1913.

_Compare "G.o.d and the old Kaiser" No. 97._

=War and Ethics.=

248. Nothing is more immoral than to consider and talk of war as an immoral thing. "War is the mother of all good things" (Empedocles)....

And there is nothing more moral than the collective egoism, the self-conserving instinct, of nations.--PROF. E. Ha.s.sE, Z.D.V., p. 127.

248a. The idea of war is the child of _healthy egoism_, which is honest to the marrow of its bones, is ashamed of nothing in Nature.... but is the basis of all Kultur, of all morality.--K.

WAGNER, K.

249. We must therefore reckon with war as a necessary factor towards higher development.... A people really learns to know its full national strength only in war ... only then, indeed, does its full strength come into existence.--J. BURCKHARDT, W.B., p. 162.

249a. War makes room for the competent at the expense of the unsound.