for other lands. They had settled in North America and South America and Australia. They had disappeared into the life of other nations, come under the control of other governments. Germany looked upon this as a loss over which she must mourn, a wrong which she must correct. The mission of Germany in the world will be limited, its full exercise prevented unless Germany can follow her sons overseas, and retain them under the imperial system to count as Germans still, expressions all around the world of her glory, nourishers of her life. To the logical German mind. again this seemed to suggest, nay even to impose, the duty of following her emigrants even by force, fighting all opposition, that the Fatherland might still retain the control of its far-wandering children.

These various lines of thought are not themselves wrong, except in the aggressive deductions. Other nations have sought to develop themselves to the utmost, other nations have colonies, other nations have expanded their civilization over neighboring peoples and into distant portions of the world. Spain in South America, Great Britain and her dominions and the Indian Empire, France and every region in the world that is counted to her credit, even that young nation, the United States of America, with its West Indies and its Philippine Islands-these have all given the blessings of their civilization to great portions of the world, and in

doing so they have all undoubtedly received the richer development of their own national life. But Germany, confronted with the situation, forming these ambitions and intensifying them to a degree of white heat, found herself without a world which she could conquer, without the opportunity in which she had been prevented by other nations. There remained only one possible way, it seemed to her, of achieving what other peoples had achieved, the way of war. But this dream of war under the circumstances meant the conquering of other strong empires. And the contemplation of that idea in the mind of the Kaiser, as his speeches abundantly show, and at last in the almost official declarations of von Bernhardi, grew into a conception of world domination. Germany could not win her way to the place occupied by the countries we have named except by conquering one or all of them; and conquering them meant raising herself above them to a height they had not reached, and exercising a world influence they had not exercised. The dream to us seems ghastly, to them it seemed heavenly in its inspiring force.

The development of German power might have gone along other lines which already it was pursuing. A more spiritually-minded race might have said: "In commerce we are catching up and will soon pass them all, in science, in art, in the ways of an orderly home government, we are leaders

of the world. This is glory, this is essential power, this is what we are really giving to humanity. Let us continue the gift even when it means the sending abroad large numbers of our people to live elsewhere." This is the very essence of power when it is interpreted in the supreme terms, which are moral and spiritual. And this is what the earlier German men of letters and philosophers meant when they spoke of the preeminence of Germany among the peoples of the world.

But in our day Prussia had gained control of Germany. Her extraordinary growth had been frankly created by her devotion to military power. In the latter part of the nineteenth century the aggrandizement of that warlike race proceeded with great strides. She conquered Denmark, absorbed Hanover, brought Austria to her feet. Then she tore away valuable portions of fair France. It seemed as if there were no limits to her power in the pursuance of military ideals and the continuance of the military spirit as cherished in Prussia for centuries.

6. These two great streams of history, character, and national interest in Germany coalesced. The passion for the development of a worthy national life was united with the forceful energy of a Prussian militarism. Hence there arose the modern conception of war which, while no doubt rejected by many intelligent and spiritually-minded Germans,

yet became the dominant influence in its life, directed its policy at home and abroad, created the empire of unparalleled military efficiency and energy, and drove it into the World War.

First, we must begin with a certain abstract principle which may be stated as follows: The essence of the State is power, the supreme manifestation of power is war. Therefore the State must ever make itself fit for war. Or in this Or in this way: War is the manifestation of power, the result of war is the determination of the right of a nation to dictate terms to the conquered. The conquered has no right except that of submission, the conqueror no duty except that of gathering the full fruits of victory.

Second, war being an essential of national life, it must be necessary to the health of the people. "The efforts directed towards the abolition of war must be termed not only foolish, but absolutely immoral, and must be stigmatized as unworthy of the human race." "War is an instrument of progress, a regulator in the life of humanity, an indispensable factor in civilization, a creative force." "Our people must learn to see that the maintenance of peace never can or may be the goal of a policy. . . . The inevitableness, the idealism, and the blessings of war, as an indispensable • Von Bernhardi, "How Germany Makes War," p. 34. 1 Ibid., p. 2.

and stimulating law of development, must be repeatedly emphasized." 8

Third, the conduct of a war is part of the struggle for existence, which is a law of nature, as Darwinism has revealed to the modern world. According to this doctrine, real evolution from the lower to the higher forms of life depends on the conquest of the weak by the strong. War, therefore, is the manifestation in human life of this deep, divine principle. "Might is at once the supreme right, and the dispute as to what is right is decided by the arbitrament of war. War gives a biologically just decision, since its decisions rest on the very nature of things." 9 "But it [war] is not only a biological law, but a moral obligation, and as such, an indispensable factor in civilization." 10

Fourth, German writers are quoted abundantly by Dr. Bang who have striven to bring this conception of war into relation with Christianity. This is not the place to make quotations, but it may be right to say that after a careful reading of these and of numerous similar passages to be found elsewhere in the literature of the war, the judgment must be recorded that seldom in the checkered history of Christian thought has a mass of opinion been expressed that can equal this in 8 Von Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next War," p. 37.

9 Ibid., p. 23.

10 Fbid., p. 24.