Norwich bulletin., 1917-06-13

| gain was still about $500, 1000, 900, 900. 1 Germany profted by this war indem- nifty to introduce uniform gold cur rency. She adopted tbe metric system of weights and measures. She strength ened and modernized her administra- | ton. She developed enormously, as we know, her manufactures, her for eign trade, her mercantile marine and her agricuIture~ all aided and rein forced by her. science. With this pros perity there came also the political philosophy of which I wish particu- larly to speak.
 Treitschke's Doctrines.
 The name of Treitschke has been
 frequently mentioned since the war began so much so that his works have
 actually been republished in English.
 l attended his lectures when a student in Berlin forty years ago. little
 thought then that I should be taking
 my shabby notebook from it's shelf to
 in the interest of a war between the | United States and Germany; but that
 is, what I have done. and here are
 some of his doctrines as I collected
 them from the fountain head
 The greatest sin that a statesman
 can commit is weakness. It is a sin against the Holy Ghost of the state.
 Magnanimity is occasionally to be
 used when it is a question of recon cling an opponent, but it is not mag
 unanimous to sacrifice the interest of the state to any romantic idea <.
 'The purpose of the state is power, and nothing can be more moral than this purpose. The statesman is often in a position to choose between two evils in order to maintain this high est good, but the diplomat lies eff he does so2 for the advantage of the state, while the merchant lies for his own advantage. The impulse of. youthful state to destroy an old, de- crepit state stands higher than all maXims of positive law. The states man is immoral who acts unwise- ly. When a. state has the choice between the moral and the i'm moral, it should choose the moral for good faith is in politics and real pow CT, but often the obtaining of a moral purpose sanctifes immoral means It depends upon the opinion of place and time.
 ConceaIment of Facts Justified.
 Since a state has it's own power as it's purpose, it is quite unthinkable that a state should sacrifice itself to should not be used in the internal af- fairs of state, but in relations with other states, it is sometimes neces- sary to resort to it. The concealment of facts is just as much justified and morally right, as for instance the con- cealment of facts by the chancellor before the war of 1870, because, in view of the cupidity of the French, he fOreSaW the war.
 We students looked upon Treitschke an an extremist and his views often called forth protests, even from the German students, but they have pro- duced their effect. and when we go back to these rnaXims which were set before generations of German stu dents, including not few army off, cers who attended his lectures even in my time, we have the key both to the logic and to the actions of Germany XTa I1T plana tion of this sentence in the fa- mour manifesto sent by 93 of the most scholars and scientists of Germany to the civilized world in the first year of the war which said: | Tt is not true that we trespassed in | neutral Belgium. It has been proved | that France and England had resolved i on such trespass, and it has likewise | been proved that Belgium had agreed | to their doing so. It would have been | suicide on our part not to have been | beforehand" This philosophy explains | the assassination of Belgium, the | sex and of the scores of other boats | with their passengers, including neu- | trals, non- combatants, women and | It explains the deportation of Belgians and Frenchmen. It ex- plains the destruction of the very i'm clements of husbandry in the occupied | regions of France. It explains the judicial murder of Edith Caven and | ;acre of the Armenians which Ger many did nothing to prevent, if she lid not instigate it.
 Now it does little good to call the Germans Huns or barbarians. We have Germans among us who have been rec 'gnized as among our most substan- ial and useful citizens. Many of us lave personal friends in Germany with whom our relations have been cordial md kindly, with whom we could con 'erse on matters of science or nor Us or liberation, or art with as much reedom and mutual understanding IS they were descendants Of the Puri- ans But these people who remain re obsessed with a philosophy of the