Gems (?) of German Thought Part 8

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. Ha.s.sE, 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. Ha.s.sE, 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. Ha.s.sE, D.G., p. 166.

213. A st.u.r.dy 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 fuhlen_).--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 uber 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 inst.i.tute 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 (_rucksichtslos_) 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 PATRIae, 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, G.o.d 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 Roma.n.u.s_, 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-MoLLENDORF, 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, G.o.d 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.