You will we hate with a lasting hate, Hate by water and hate by land, Hate of the head and hate of the hand, Hate of the hammer and hate of the crown, We love as one, we hate as one, We have one foe, and one alone— ENGLAND ! DEUTSCHLAND ÜBER ALLES A military man must be allowed to sum up the whole subject, and to close the symposium in an authoritative manner. The following article was, according to a despatch from Copenhagen dated November 13th, contributed to the Hamburger Nachbrichten of a few days earlier date. The author, MajorGeneral von Disfurth, is on the retired list of the German Army. No object whatever is served by taking any notice of the accusations of barbarity levelled against Germany by our foreign critics. Frankly, we are and must be barbarians, if by this we understand those who wage war relentlessly and to the uttermost degree. It is incompatible with the dignity of the German Empire and with the proud traditions of the Prussian Army to defend our courageous soldiers from the accusations hurled against them in foreign and neutral countries. We owe no explanations to any one. There is nothing for us to justify and nothing to explain away. Every act of whatever nature committed by our troops for the purpose of discouraging, defeating, and destroying our enemies is a brave act and a good deed, and is fully justified. There is no reason whatever why we should trouble ourselves about the notions concerning us in other countries. Certainly we should not worry about the opinions and feelings held in neutral countries. Germany stands as the supreme arbiter of her own methods, which in the time of war must be dictated to the world. It is of no consequence whatever if all the monuments ever created, all the pictures ever painted, and all the buildings ever erected by the great architects of the world be destroyed, if by their destruction we promote Germany's victory over her enemies, who vowed her complete annihilation. In times of peace we might perhaps regard the loss of such things, but at the present moment not a word of regret, not a thought should be squandered upon them. War is war, and must be waged with severity. The commonest, ugliest stone placed to mark the burial place of a German grenadier is a more glorious and venerable monument than all the cathedrals in Europe put together. They call us barbarians. What of it? We scorn them and their abuse. For my part, I hope that in this war we have merited the title of barbarians. Let neutral peoples and our enemies cease their empty chatter, which may well be compared to the twitter of birds. Let them cease their talk of the cathedral at Rheims and of all the churches and all the castles in France which have shared its fate. These things do not interest us. Our troops must achieve victory. What else matters? VIII THE LANDSTURM I Do not reprint in this volume the labours of the formal advocates of Germany, Count von Bernstorff, Doctor Dernburg, etc.; because the arguments of diplomats are seldom of much philosophic importance. These German lawyers have done their best; but their school of thought has perhaps not fitted them to be gladiators in the Intellectual Forum. Indeed many thoughtful Americans believe that the German cause would have appeared stronger if it had never been stated. There is another class of advocates, however, who deserve to be mentioned, namely the German Professors living in America, and the returned Exchange Professors. How many persons among us ever suspected that there was any connection between the military ambitions of Germany and the establishment a few years ago between Germany and America, of a system of Exchange Professors? Who ever suspected that the all-fore seeing German thoughtfulness was, through this machine of education, arranging for press-agencies in America, focal distributing points for Germanic ideals, concrete foundations, as it were, for the howitzers of Germanic culture. These emplacements were to be used in case of war, when the temporary super-structures of academic factorywork were to come down, and the good Teutonic missionary basis was to be revealed. This second line of the German Intellectuals, the Landsturm of Kultur, was called out early in the war. These fighters got their papers during the very earliest days of mobilization, and using the ammunition sent from Berlin, they blazed away with their blunderbusses. They are not all of them people of the first importance, these Professors in America. The brain-records of those that we have in mind, are by no means interesting. The curves do not reveal that sincere stress of a partial insanity which characterizes the native German records. Harnack, Eucken, and Hauptmann are suffering human beings; but the professorial advocates on this side are conscientious stage-servants. Their business is to run about and shift furniture, and they do it with hearty zeal. They are far removed from the hearthstones of the Fatherland; and the ap |