14

THE NEW GERMAN THEORY

Machiavelli. It is a doctrine of the omnipote nce of the
super-nation, which' to maintain its state', as Machiavelli
said, 'will go to work against faith and charity and
humanity and religion', and which will stride ruthlessly
to war when 'the day' comes. i\nd when it goes to
war, all the veneer of culture goes. ' Have a care ',
. Mommsen once said, 'lest in this state, which has been
at once a power in arms and a power in intellige nce, the
: intelligence should vanish, and nothing but the pure
. military state should remain.' Mommse n's warning has
come true in August, 1914. By their fruits y e shall
. know them. The fruits of Hclde11t11111 are Louvain
smoking in ashes to the sky.
It has seemed worth while to describe this philosophy
of life, because it is not only th e philosophy of a professor like Treitschke, but also that of a soldier like
Bernhardi; and not only so, but it is the philosophy of
the Prussian Government. Even the Imperial Chancellor himself used this doctrine (with some qualms, it i~
true) to justify Germany in 'hewing its way' through
Belgium. Let us only remember, in justice to a great
people, that it is not really the doctrine of Germany, but
rather the doctrine of Prussia (though Treitschke will
tell us that Germany is 'just merely an extended
Prussia '). And let us remember, in extenuation of
Prussia, that she has suffered from two things- geographical pressure springing from her mid-European
situation, and an evil tradition of ruthless conquest perpetuated by her Hohenzollern rulers since the days of
the Great Elector, and especially since Frederic the
Great. Geographical pressure on all sides has made
Prussia feel herself in a state of chronic strangulation ;
and a man who feels strangled will struggle ruthlessly
for breath. To get breathing space, to secure frontiers
which would ease an intolerable pressure, Frederic the
Great could seize Silesia in time of peace in spite of his
father's guara.ntee of the Pragmatic Sanction, and could