No More Learning

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? GERMANY AND THE ORIENTAL
QUESTION
BERLIN,
J 5th Dec, i8y6,
"HP HAT changed aspect" of Oriental complica-
1 tions, about which Prince Bismarck did not
wish to pronounce an opinion in the Imperial Diet,
seems to all appearances to be arising very rapidly.
The mobilization of the Army of the South is com-
pleted, the Turkish army is ready to hold the line of
the Danube, and perhaps to cross it. Optimists
still place reliance upon the incontestable per-
sonal love for peace of Czar Alexander, or upon
the arts of mediation of the European Conference ;
and, truly, in the chaos of the Oriental Question
the imexpected has often become possible. But
probability far rather presages the near outbreak
of war. Russia cannot abandon the demand for
serious reforms in favour of the Rayah people
without a humiliation which a healthy State
accepts only from the sword of the victor. The
Porte will not grant those reforms, as, after all the
horrors of the past summer, they can only be
carried through under the protection of Christian
75
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? 76 Germany and the East
weapons. It is impossible that the God-inspired
Bashi-bazoiik, after having ripped open the Bul-
garian mother and sold her children as slaves,
should now of his own accord live with the survivors
of his victims as a peaceful citizen on the footing
of equal rights. But an occupation of the rebel-
lious provinces, be it through the Moscow "Gia-
our" or through another Christian Power, appears
an unbearable disgrace to the dignity of valiant
Islam, the last moral power of the Ottoman
State. The differences have become irreconcilable,
and, however much the West of Europe wishes for
peace, the mediation proposals of the Conference
can, after all that has happened, only delay the
inevitable catastrophe for a short time, and render
intolerable the paralysing tension which oppresses
that part of the world.
The worst of all political sins -- the hesitation
between wishing and not wishing to do a thing --
has come out in an ugly manner in every one of
the periodical explosions of the Oriental Question,
but never in worse form than last year. All
Powers immediately concerned in the heritage
of the "Sick Man" stood helplessly between the
appreciation of the fact that the present state of
affairs was impossible and the fear of the incalcu-
lable consequences of a firm decision. Compared
with the hesitation of the neighbouring Powers the
simple barbarity of Ottoman politics seems almost
worthy of respect. By the atrocities in Bulgaria,
as well as by the dismal proceedings which accom-
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? Germany and the East 77
panied the two changes of dynasty, the Porte has
only proved afresh that, in spite of the Peace of
Paris, she can never become a European Power.
She has carried on a pitiful war with a superiority
of excellent regular troops, yet she had the
worst in the fight with the brave little nation of
Montenegro, and defeated the Servian militia only
after a resistance of many months. On the whole,
however, she succeeded in maintaining her posses-
sions, and with prouder feelings, and greater con-
fidence than for a long time past, the Turks look
to-day upon the undefeated standard of the Half-
Moon. But once again, and not without success,
the old Turkish adage Vv^as applied to the Prankish
Courts: *'To hurry is the work of the devil, to
delay is the work of God ; " the well-known cheerful
promises of coming constitutional splendour for
the happy grande famille ottomane sufficed to
once more keep the Cabinets in suspense for a
time. It was a hand-to-mouth life, without the
slightest vestige of a fruitful statesmanlike thought.
The Porte, however, always knew what she
wanted. Not the same boast applies to the
attitude of the most closely-interested European
Powers. When defending the rights of the Ra-
yah the Russian Court did only what its historic
position demanded. Its original proposals were
just and temperate, and its firm adhesion to the
Triple AlHance proved that in Petersburg a lesson
had been learned from the experiences of the
Crimean War. But with a disturbance of the
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? 78 Germany and the East
general policy of the Great Powers, through the with-
drawal of England and the complications caused
by the change of Turkish dynasty, Russian diplo-
macy for a time lost its firm grip. Those who
hear the grass grow may, of course, presume that
the restless little Piedmont of the South Slavs,
which always was a thorn in the eye of the Russian
Cabinet, has intentionally been forced into war
for its own destruction. Far nearer the truth
is the assumption that two parties fought an
indecisive battle at the Court of St. Petersburg.
The Government shrank from war, yet did not
dare oppose the mighty Pan-Slavist movement
which swept the country; it warned the Serbs of
the outbreak, yet did not morally support it --
nay, even permitted, contrary to international
law, the massing of Russian officers and soldiers.
The temptation was truly very great; in face of
a wild popular effervescence an absolute despot
is often less powerful than a constitutional king,
who can rely upon an intelligent parliamentary
majority. How angry we Germans once were with
the Crown of Prussia when peace had been con-
cluded with Denmark, and subsequently, in
accordance with treaties, her officers were recalled
from the Schleswig-Holstein Army! But what-
ever may be said as an excuse, Russia's policy was
unworthy of a Great Power ; it resembled more the
art of evasion forced upon Count Cavour by the
weakness of his country than the conscious straight-
forwardness of Prussian policy during our battles
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? Germany and the East 79
for unity. Even in the circles of unbiassed people,
the concealed war in Servia has severely shaken
their confidence in Russia's honest intentions,
and it was lucky for the Russians themselves
that the Servian enterprise ended in failure.
Since then the Court at Petersburg resorted to
simpler and therefore more effective measures.
By its ultimatum the Turks were forced to immedi-
ately arrest their triumphal march. Thousands
of beheaded Servians lay on the battle-field around
Alexinatz; the whole country vibrated in terror
of Turkish arms; the more wonderful appeared to
the people the power of the White Czar, who by
one word called "halt" to the terrible foe. The
prestige of Russia amongst the Rayahs is to-day
firmer established than ever. For a time, the
Russian Crown seemed to disappear behind the
revolutionary powers of Pan-Slavism; now it
apparently makes efforts to expiate the fault it has
committed and to keep in check those elementary
forces. The emphatic declaration of Czar Alex-
ander that he did not wish for conquests is more
deserving of credence than the assurances of his
ancestress Catherine. After a glorious reign he
may well expect that the world places confidence
in his word, especially as he did not indulge in
vague wishes for peace, but frankly declared that
the necessity for war to secure the rights of the
Rayah might possibly arise. For the moment,
the labours of St. Petersburg diplomacy are di-
rected towards securing the assent of all Powers,
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? 8o Germany and the East
including England, to the reform proposals, and to
secure for Russian policy in case of war incontest-
able legal rights, so that Russia either should
appear as executor of European will, or could
not be accused of arbitrary action; and to all
appearances the old faithful ally of the Russians
-- the infatuated conceit of the Porte -- will grant
them at least the latter advantage. For, how-
ever mildly the Conference may decide, and it
may even abandon the idea of occupation, the
actual removal of Ottoman suzerainty in Bosnia
and Bulgaria is inevitable if the whole reform work
is not again to be mere jugglery, and the conceit
of the Mohammedans will not admit such imputa-
tions. So Russia, after many waverings and mis-
takes, has returned to a clear and logical policy;
and to-day it still appears to us laymen that two
utterly different efforts of Russian diplomacy
worked side by side. Pan-Slavism is beaten pro
tern, by the moderate policy of the Czar, but he
reserves to himself to again come forward with its
covetous wishes as soon as fortune of war favours
the Russian flag. Of English politics, however,
not the cleverest brain can say what its object
has really been during the whole course of proceed-
ings. The Tory party was very minutely in-
formed as to the hopeless situation of the Rayahs.
If, therefore, according to national superstition,
we considered the existence of Turkey a European
? -- or, better, a British -- necessity, it should not
have left the representation of South Slav interests
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? Germany and the East 8i
to the Russian Court; it should have exerted its
great influence on the Bosphorus in order to
enforce at the right time the adoption of vigorous
reforms. Instead, it tumbled from one contra-
diction into the other. Reluctantly it consented to
Count Andrassy's memorial, only to break away,
four months later, from the Berlin Convention,
which, after all, was simply supposed to carry on
the plans of the memorial. It never occurred to
the Tory party to come forward with a counter-
proposal. England's attitude was the final cause
of the Servian War, because, without evident
discord between the Great Powers, the Petersburg
Court could undoubtedly have kept in check the
Pan-Slavist agitation.
To posterity alone it will become apparent what
part the British Ambassador has played at both
dynasty changes at the Golden Horn; but it is
certain that confidence in England's friendship has
encouraged the Turks to carry on their frivolous
game with the Powers. As a champion of Allah,
Admiral Drummond was greeted in the Mosque
of Stamboul by the enthusiastic softas] the men
of war in the Bay of Besika gave encouragement
to the Porte to direct all their might against the
South Slavs. Meanwhile, a peculiarly vague
movement started amongst the British pubHc.
Here and there the conviction gained ground that
the strictly conservative Oriental policy of Old
England was played out; it was noticed with deep
regret that the fanaticism of Islam, under the pro-
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? 82 Germany and the East
tection of bigoted England, tortured its Christian
victims; added to which were the party hatred
of the Whigs, the reHgious zeal of High-Church
theologians, the philanthropic talk of weak-minded
individuals, and the ardent desire for peace of
those Manchester men who, already in the time of
Richard Cobden, favoured the good-natured view
that Constantinople as a Russian provincial town
would enjoy a considerable cotton importation,
and consequently unmixed happiness. Alarmed by
this wave of public opinion, the Cabinet, after
four months, again gave way, and in September
expressed its adherence to the principles of the An-
drassy memorial, which previously had been aban-
doned in May. Then, however, Benjamin Disraeli,
boasting and threatening, extolled the inexhaust-
ible expedients of Great Britain, and, as we are
credibly assured. Lord SaHsbury to-day makes
the most emphatic appeals to the stubbornness
of the Porte, whilst he, at the same time, in equally
decided manner declares himself opposed to the
occupation of Bulgaria, and thereby renders void
all his admonitions. The Porte believes that it
can count upon England's friendship under all
circumstances, and that is why she does not desire
an agreement with Russia. The diplomacy of
the Tory party reveals a type of complete help-
lessness; hence also their reluctance to convene
Parliament. Should, however, war break out in
the East it would soon become apparent that the
majority of the British public does not endorse the
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? Germany and the East 83
demobilization meetings of the Whigs. The na-
tion has not yet got over the experiences in the
Crimean War; it beHeves that it defends the East
Indies on the Bosphorus, and we might easily find
that England is following the bad example given in
Servia, and, by secretly supporting the Turkish
forces, commencing a hidden war against Russia.
Who can say where this may lead to? The fertile
mind of Benjamin Disraeli, however, apparently
thinks of yet another possibility: the faithful
friend of the Turks is ever ready to stick the key of
the Suez Canal in his pouch should the house
of the "Sick Man" collapse, and in this way would
strengthen for all time British supremacy in the
Mediterranean. The only thing that is clear in
this peculiar policy is that it is incalculable.
Nor, unfortunately, has Austria's Oriental policy
so far had fruitful results. True, the two leading
nations of the monarchy -- Germans and Magyars
-- have a presentiment that the Triple Alliance
alone can save the country from the dangers of the
Pan-Slavist propaganda; but intelligent judgment
is always being upset either by greedy desire for
conquests or by passionate outbursts of blind Slav
hatred. A great number of Vienna newspapers
play the sad part of Imperial Turkish Court
journals. When the Cisleithanian Parliament
discussed the Oriental Question, political dilettant-
ism celebrated its Saturnalia. A whole pattern-
card of invertebrate plans was displayed, and Mr.
Giskra, Ofenheim's patron, gave proof of his dar-
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? S4 Germany and the East
ing genius by sweetly suggesting putting up the
yellow-black boundary posts on the coast of the
-^gean Sea. An outspoken popular opinion exists
only in one German race of the Monarchy, i. e. ,
among the Transylvania Saxons. These, the best
German Austrians, who at the same time are the
most faithful adherents to the country as a whole,
are at heart completely on the side of the Rayah
people, because they see in advance that the
creation of small South Slav States on Hungary's
boundaries would tame the coarse insolence of
the Magyar Chauvinists, and would compel the
Hungarian nobility to behave fairer than hitherto
towards their German and Slav citizens. Fanatics
of Magyardom, on the other hand, do the impos-
sible in the adoration of their Turkish cousins.
The Budapest youth hurl their rhetorical thunder-
bolts against the venomous pestilential breath of
the Muscovite Colossus, and the enlightened ad-
mirers of general public liberty pilgrimage to Ofen
to the grave of Guel-Baba, the holy father of the
Mohammedans. It is as if at any price they
wished to prove to us Europeans of the West that
the Magyars consider themselves Asiatics of the
North. In spite of blustering and threatening
from all directions, nobody has either the courage
or the real intention of overthrowing Count An-
drassy . That in the midst of all these complications
the Count has, at any rate, firmly maintained the
Triple Alliance is a fresh proof of his diplomatic
cleverness. But, owing to this confused pell-mell
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? Germany and the East 85
of opinions, the striking force of the Monarchy
is unmistakably being weakened; and should war
break out in the East, Austria cannot easily,
at least at the beginning, do more than main-
tain a useless neutraHty. If, amongst all the
Great Powers, Germany alone has unerringly
maintained a firm and dignified attitude, we owe
the advantage above all to our geographical situ-
ation. It is due to Prince Bismarck's fame that
he clearly recognizes the tasks devolving upon our
world-position, and that, uninfluenced by alluring
temptations, he makes no step beyond. Our new
Empire does not consider itself called upon to
constantly keep the world on the qui vive by rais-
ing new questions in the charlatanical fashion
of Napoleon. Germany aims at a real balance of
power, and does not even wish to play the part of
primus inter pares ^ but is ready to remain modestly
in the second line as long as her interests are not
immediately interfered with. The complaints of
the EngHsh and Turcophile Press regarding the
unbending stiffness of Herr von Werther only
prove that our Ambassador on the Bosphorus con-
scientiously fulfils his duty and quietly rejects the
lead which some people in some respects would so
much like to foist upon him.
The speech of the Imperial Chancellor said
nothing about the present state of affairs of
German politics which any impartial observer
might not have said himself; yet it freed the pre-
judiced and anxious masses from many a grievous
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? 86 Germany and the East
doubt, and even forced the outside world to
recognize the peaceful and moderate attitude of
the much-calumniated Empire. Its chief merit,
however, lay in the fact that it reminded shifty
public opinion of the great common duties of
Christianity. It is not -- as the Turcophiles
reproach us -- out of grateful devotion to Russia
that Germany aimed at the establishment of
orderly conditions in the Rayah land, but because
it is the duty of all Christian countries to espouse
the cause of their co-religionists. Another re-
proach on the part of Turk admirers the Chancellor
has not even thought it worth while referring to,
viz. , the assertion that fear of a Franco- Russian
Alliance should dictate the course of German
diplomacy. This alliance has now for two genera-
tions been the pet idea of all political visionaries
in France ; Lamartine named it le cri de la nature.
But the same thing happens with it as with the
famous race war between Slavs and Germans,
which has always been predicted by cocksure
prophets as an inevitable necessity and is yet never
realized. For the present all justification is lack-
ing for such radical shifting of power on the
Continent. It is extremely unlikely that Czar
Alexander would wantonly reject the hand of his
trusted German ally in order to combine with
Ultramontane and Republican France. The sober
heads of French diplomatists know very well that
all endeavours in this direction are but labour lost.
As long as the Court of St. Petersburg aspires
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?
Germany and the East 87
only to securing the rights of the Rayah it may
count on Germany's friendship, even if it should
become necessary to take up arms. This implies
that our Empire cannot tolerate Russian territorial
conquests in the Balkan Peninsula. Russian
patriots believe they are very modest in their
wish to bring the estuaries of the Danube into
Russia's hands, and thus aboHsh the last clause
still remaining from the hated Peace of Paris.
But this modest wish is utterly unacceptable to
Germany. Austria has unfortunately irrevocably
lost the opportunity of taking possession of the
estuaries of her river; it however remains a ques-
tion of life and death for the Empire of the Danube
that its most important line of commimication
should not be impaired by another State superior
in power, and Germany is immediately concerned
in the existence of Austria. Rumania, however
unfinished she appears to-day, can play a happy
part in the peace of the world, for she forms a
barrier between Russia and the South Slav world.
Neither Austria nor Russia must consent to the
destruction of this young State. When Russia,
in peace time, advanced from Adrianople to the
Sulina she went beyond her natural sphere of
power; the removal of this usurpation was one of
the few real merits of the Paris Conventions, and,
fortunately, Germany possesses to-day a con-
stitutional right to prohibit the return of that
unnatural condition. As everybody knows, the
lower part of the Danube is under the suzerainty
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? 88 Germany and the East
of a European Commission, to which Germany
likewise sends a delegate; Russia cannot enlarge
her territory there without permission of the six
Powers, and that permission will never be granted.
Now if this insignificant extension of Russian
frontiers is incompatible with German interests, it
is self-evident that the higher aspirations of Pan-
Slavists would meet with decided opposition on
the part of our Empire. The famous expression,
Constantinople c'est V empire du monde, appears to
us practical Germans of course as a Napoleonic
phrase, but all the same the Bosphorus remains
a highly important strategic position. To sub-
jugate that natural heritage of the Greeks to the
Russian Empire would be tantamount to sub-
stituting a new foreign domination for the Turkish ;
it would be tantamount to transferring the centre
of gravity of Muscovite power from territories
where it has healthy natural roots, thus creating
morbid conditions which would be no less perni-
cious to Russia than to us. A free passage through
the Dardanelles is a just claim on the part of the
Russians, and Germany will surely not oppose it
if Russia has the strength to defend it with the
sword. Neither does the formation of a Bosnian
or Bulgarian State run counter to our interests,
and as the aversion of the Magyars and German
Austrians to the neighbourhood of South Slav
minor Powers merely arises from an uncertain
frame of mind, it will, in view of accomplished facts,
also be difficult in time to come to resist Austria's
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? Germany and the East 89
opposition. But it is the fundamental idea of
the Triple Alliance that great changes in the East
are not to be accomplished without the consent of
the Allies. The weakened and wearied Prussia
of the 'twenties once spoke the decisive word
at the Peace of Adrianople. Germany, now
powerful, can still less think of permitting the
Russians the sole regulation of Turkish affairs.
If the Russian Crown, with the silent consent of
the two other Imperial Powers, should start the
war, it will find out that its allies claim for them-
selves, and for the other European Powers, the
right of co-decision at the conclusion of peace.
The intimate ties which unite the Petersburg
Court with that of Berlin are a guarantee that
on the Neva, the limits which Germany's friend-
ship cannot exceed have been known for ever so
long.
The securing of rights for Oriental Christians,
whether by serious administrative reforms or by
the establishment of South Slav States without
disturbance of the peace in the West of Europe,
and without aggrandizement of the Russian Em-
pire -- these are the aims of German diplomacy,
and up to now the preservation of peace, at
least, has succeeded beyond all expectation. It
may rely upon the consent of the huge majority
of the German nation. Since the repugnant
spectacle of the Servian War, an alarming con-
fusion of ideas seems to be spreading in our Press ;
only the Government-inspired papers and a few
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? 90 Germany and the East
respectable Liberal organs in Berlin, in Suabia,
and the towns of the Hansa still preserve impartial
judgment. This complete ignorance of the Euro-
pean balance of power, which from olden times
was a special peculiarity of German Radicalism,
is again revealed in the senseless phraseology
of Berlin democratic journals; the Press of the
Ultramontanes preaches wild hatred against
schismatic Russia, the tamer of Catholic Poland,
and unfortunately many Liberal papers also chime
in this party-biassed chorus, as, for instance, the
Koelnische and the Augsburger Allgemeine, the two
papers most read abroad. Not to wish to forget
anything is a bad habit of the German mind which
seems closely allied with the highest power of our
nature, namely, our fate. Even as we of the Pro-
gressive party number a few members who live
on old recollections and ancient resentment, so
there is amongst our publicists many a well-
meaning man who in a totally changed situation of
the world adheres to the fear of Russia of 1854.
Luckily, however, the Press is not public opinion.
The German nation does not love the Slavs. It
also knows how intensely we are hated by a con-
siderable part of our Eastern neighbours, and
nevertheless it thinks sufficiently Hberally and
justly not to grudge the Slavs their good right to
form national States. It has made sufficient ac-
quaintance in its own struggles for unity with the
narrow-minded reactionary tendency of present-
day England, and no more allows itself to be
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? Germany and the East 91
deceived by stale panegyrics about British liberty ;
it understands very well that we should to-day
have had to fight a world war had the Empire
listened to the foolish councils of the Anglomanes.
No doubt is entertained any more as to the true
spirit of the German people since the brilliant
success of the Chancellor's speech; the impression
of those simple words was so powerful that not
even the member for "Meppen" dared contradict,
and even some Radical papers showed half-
hearted approval. Thus, supported by the will of
the nation, the German Crown can look forward
with some calmness to the next acts of the Oriental
drama. The temperate assurances of the Peters-
burg Court would -- such is the way of the world
-- mean little if Russia could expect to carry its
standards in quick triumphal march right before
the walls of Stamboul. Such an easy victory
of Russian arms is, however, by no means pro-
bable. It is true that long ago the catchword of
the "colossus with feet of clay" became a quite
exploded idea; the Czar's Empire commands a
mighty power whose efficiency has also increased
considerably; the railway net has within fifteen
years extended from 500 to over 7000 versts; the
bitter lessons of the last Oriental war have been
taken to heart, and the fortresses of the Balkans
no longer seem impregnable to modern artillery.
But the enormous obstacles which this dreary,
unhealthy country, poor in roads, has at all times
placed in the way of advancing armies are still
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? 92 Germany and the East
the same to-day. Turkey commands to-day the
Pontus, which was closed to her in 1828, and a
brave, well- trained army, which will gladly fight
for the Holy Islam cause against her old sworn
enemy. The issue of the campaign seems very
uncertain, and the Courts at Vienna and Berlin
will hardly have the opportunity to speak a
momentous word at the right moment should the
enthusiasm of victory arouse the arrogance of
Pan- Slavism.
Every war baffles foresight. It is of course con-
ceivable that the moral anguish of "English com-
mercial policy" will, after all, delight the world
with a fresh " Opium War, " and that the Moham-
medan cavalry of the Empress of India, accom-
panied by the blessings of pious clergymen, will
fight for the Christian Half-Moon. For the time
being, however, it looks as if the fateful question
of Oriental politics, the future of Constantinople,
is not to be decided this time. The Turkish War is
for Russia an enormous risk. No European knows
what is going on in the minds of the 8,000,000
Mohammedan subjects of the White Czar, how
much the word of the Sheik Islam and the prestige
of the Caliph are still worth amongst those masses,
and what consequences an explosion of the fanatic-
ism of Allah's warriors may have for Russia
as well as for England's East Indian dominions.
Even as the Crimean War brought about a decisive
social upheaval in Russia, a long new Oriental
War may easily incite the highly dangerous powers
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? Germany and the East 93
of Radical Nihilism fermenting in the half-trained
Muscovite mind to a savage struggle -- not to men-
tion the uneducated Polish nobility. Many are
the sore spots of the Czar's Empire. The Em-
peror's as yet incomplete great work of reform
needs peace, and the balance in the State Budget
which is hardly re-established, would infallibly
be lost in a long war. As a matter of fact, the
moderate extent of Russian war preparations does
not point to the intention of dealing a blow at the
heart of Ottoman Power. Perhaps the country
is at present not able to use more than 200,000
men for warfare abroad, and, anyhow, it will have
to be admitted in St. Petersburg that such an
army has to-day little chance to reach the town
of the Comneni from the Pruth.
Unready and unripe conditions meet us every-
where in the lands of the Mediterranean. The
Mediterranean world is aiHng from two great
evils: the naval supremacy of England and the
irretrievable rottenness of the Ottoman Empire.
But the young Powers which can oust these
decrepit Powers are nevertheless in being. The
Greek people, who by origin and position seem
called upon to take the best part of the legacy of
the "Sick Man," have badly neglected their war
preparations. If the Rumanians may expect, with
some justification, to gain complete independence
through the Russian Alliance, Greece in the best of
cases may only expect to move her frontiers a
little farther towards the North. Still worse
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? 94 Germany and the East
conditions prevail in the West. But if the country
in the centre of the Mediterranean which possesses
the most magnificent harbours of the South, and
which still dominates with its language the trade
of the Levant -- if Italy, formerly mighty at
sea, again grows conscious of her tasks in the
world's history -- the strange conditions in the
Mediterranean will again develop in a free and
natural manner, and nobody can desire this great
change more sincerely than we Germans, as fate-
companions of the Italians. Napoleon said the
first condition of the existence of Italy as an empire
is for her to become a naval Power. But not even
the sad event of Lissa has decided the Italians to
reform their fleet on a big scale; the ambition of
Roman statesmen at the utmost rises to the
question as to whether with the collapse of the
Turkish Empire Tunis could perhaps be conquered.
In this way, the situation in the South seems in all
directions unprepared for a great decision. We
must expect that the present crisis will only break
a few more stones out of the rickety structure of
the Turkish Empire without actually destroying
the building.
Whichever way the die may be cast, we Ger-
mans do not swim against the stream of history.
The principle of intervention has become dis-
credited since the Holy Alliance wantonly misused
it; properly applied, however, it maintains its
value in a society which is conscious of its entirety.
Turkey has trampled on all the solemn promises
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? Germany and the East 95
which granted her the entrance into our State-
confederation. Christian Europe must not have
the right wrested from her to at least gag this
barbaric Power if as yet it cannot be destroyed, so
that it may no more endanger the human rights of
Christian subjects.
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? WHAT WE DEMAND FROM FRANCE
WHEREVER Germans live, as far as the re-
mote colonies beyond the seas, the flags
are flying from every window, and the clanging
of bells and the thunder of cannon are pro-
claiming victory after victory. All of us know
that after three more frightful struggles -- at
Metz, at Strassburg, at Paris -- the war will
be gloriously closed. To him who remembers
at this moment the bitter shame which we
have hidden in our hearts for so many years
since the day of Olmutz, it must often appear
as if all this were a dream. The nation cannot
rejoice in its victory with its whole heart. The
sacrifices which that victory demanded were too
frightful; but the stakes actually paid in the
bloody game, in which the flower of our German
youth was to perish in battle against Turcos
and mercenaries, are ludicrously unlike our
anticipations.
Out of our mourning for our fallen heroes rises
the fixed resolve that we Germans shall fight it out
to the very end. King William, who has so often
during these weeks spoken out the word that was in
all our hearts, has solemnly promised already that
96
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? What We Demand from France 97
the peace shall be worthy of our sacrifices. At
such a time the task of the political writer
is a very modest one. Only a dilettante can
take the trouble to draw out, in all their de-
tails, the heads of a peace the preliminary
conditions of which have not yet become visi-
ble to statesmen. We do not know in what
condition our troops, when they enter it, will
find the morally and politically wasted capital
of the enemy. We cannot calculate how long
it may be before the blind rage of the French
will soften into a temper which will enable us to
treat with them. We cannot even guess what
power will govern France after this monstrous
disloyalty of all parties, disgraceful alike to the
despot and the people. But one task remains
for our Press -- to bring out the unuttered and
half-formed hopes which move in every breast
into clear consciousness, so that, on the con-
clusion of peace, a firm and intelligent nation-
al pride may rise in enthusiasm behind our
statesmen. When Germany last dictated peace
in Paris, we had reason to lament bitterly
that the German diplomatists had no such
support.
The thought, however, which, after first knock-
ing timidly at our doors as a shamefaced wish,
has, in four swift weeks, grown to be the mighty
war-cry of the nation, is no other than this:
"Restore what you stole from us long ago; give
back Alsace and Lorraine. "
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? 98 What We Demand from France
I
WHAT WE DEMAND
Were I to marshal the reasons which make it our
duty to demand this, I should feel as if the task
had been set me to prove that the world is round.
What can be said on the subject was said after the
battle of Leipzig, in Ernst Moritz Amdt's glorious
tract, "The Rhine the German river, not the Ger-
man boundary"; said exhaustively, and beyond
contradiction, at the time of the Second Peace of
Paris, by all the considerable statesmen of non-
Austrian-Germany -- by Stein and Humboldt, by
Miinster and Gagem, by the two Crown Princes
of Wiirttemberg and Bavaria; and confirmed, since
that time, by the experience of two generations.
If a reckless, robber war like this is to cost that
frivolous people nothing more than a war indem-
nity, the cynical jesters, who worship chance
and fortune as the only governing powers among
the nations, and laugh at the rights of States as
a dream of kind-hearted ideologues, would be
proved to be in the right. The sense of justice
to Germany demands the lessening of France.
Every intelHgent man sees that that miHtary
nation cannot be forgiven, even for the economic
sacrifices of the war, on the payment of the heav-
iest indemnity in money. Why was it that, before
the declaration of the war, the anxious cry rang
through Alsace and Lorraine, "The dice are to
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? What We Demand from France 99
be thrown to settle the destiny of our provinces, **
before a single German newspaper had demanded
the restitution of the plunder? Because the
awakened conscience of the people felt what
penalty would have to be paid in the interests of
justice by the disturber of the peace of nations.
What is demanded by justice is, at the same
time, absolutely necessary for our security. Let
the reader glance at the map, and he will see in an
instant what a jest it was, what a bitter cynicism,
to fix such boundaries for Germany, after our
victorious arms had, twice over, given peace to the
world ! In the east, the triangle of strong fortresses
between Vistula and Narew cleaves like a dividing
wedge between Prussia and Silesia. In the west,
Strassburg is in the hands of France -- the beautiful
''pass into the Empire," as Henry II of France
enviously called it three hundred years ago. We
have seen, for some twenty years, how the whole
pontoon corps of the French lay in garrison in that
great gate opening on the Upper Rhine; and we
have watched them at their summer amusements,
throwing their bridges of boats over the Rhine as a
friendly preparation for the German war. The
railway bridge at Kehl, which is indispensable to
the commerce of the world, had to be blown up
at once after the declaration of war. The guns of
Fort Mortier look menacingly down on the open
town of Altbreisach, which fell a prey to them once
before. A little higher, at the Istein Rock, two
shots from a French outwork would break up the
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? loo What We Demand from France
railway between Freiburg and Upper Germany.
Such a boundary is intolerable to a proud nation;
it is a living memory of those days of German
impotence when the mournful inscription stood
over the Rhine gate at Altbreisach, "I was the
prison wall of the Frenchman; now I am his
gateway and his bridge. Alas, there will soon be
nothing to confine him left anywhere. "
At the time of the Second Peace of Paris the
Crown Prince of Wurttemberg warned us that if
Germany omitted to secure the German boundaries
on the Upper Rhine the instinct of self-preserva-
tion would, sooner or later, unite the Courts of
South Germany in a new Rhine Confederation.
Thanks to the growth of Prussia, and to the sound
patriotic sense of the Princes of Bavaria and
Baden, the prophecy has not literally come true;
but it was very far from an empty speech.