The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-10-04
The Return of Caesar.

The difference between the Roman
Empire and all other empires is that
the Roman Empire was universal. Its
theory involved the gathering to-
gether of all of the world, or all of
the world that really mattered, into
one family, which should be ruled by
the city of Rome under the pre-
sidency of the Emperor. This ideal
was attained. we have lived so
many centuries in society in which
nations are independent of each 9TH
er that we come to regard that So
ciety as the only natural one; we
have forgotten the principle of un-
iversalism and come to accept the
principle of nationality as the only
possible order for the world. We
have forgotten that for long time
it was the principle Of nationality
that seemed strange and irregular,
and the principle of universalism as
the natural one. That state of mind
existed long after the fall of the
Roman Empire; men could not get
used to nationalism and kept looking
for the revival of the universal do
minion which had lasted so long and
had made so deep an impression on
the mind of mankind.
; That impression has never wholly
faded away. Its strength even in
death was shown in the semi-revivals
of universalism, such as the empire
of Charlemagne and the holy Roman
Empire, the latter being in theory as
universal as the Roman Empire itself
though the fact never corresponded
to the theory. 1t still fingers in the
mind of William II, whose heroes as
he tells US, are Theodore, Frederick
II and Charles V; Theodore, who
tried to continue the Roman Empire
under the German rulership; Fred
erick, who tried to make the holy
Roman Empire really Roman, and
not merely German, and Charles,
whose aim was universalism under
German hegemony. But, what is
more important. the impression is
only deep in the mind of William II,
but the idea of universalism is the
idea pervading the whole caste that
rules Germany today.
The reason is simple enough. The
theory, if not the fact, of universal
ism persisted in Germany long after
the rest of the world had forgotten
it. Nominally, at least Germany
was always ruled by the holy Roman
Empire, which in the theory was the
Roman Empire coming down in a
continuous line from Augustus to
Franz II. That empire was not de-
stroyed until 1906, and after that
Germany had never more than a
makeshift government until 1871,
when it was gathered again into an
empire. Only siXty-fve years had
intervened between the fall of the
old empire and the beginning of the
new. The old empire was universal
in theory; it was, too the only gov
ernment Germany had known since
Germany ceased to be populated by
barbarian tribes. Naturally the Ger
man conception of empire was uni
versal, and naturally the new en-
pire began Immediately to concen-
trate it's thoughts on world dominion.
Therefore, it is that idea of the
Roman empire, long thought dead,
| that has risen from the grave in the
twentieth century, and that the ma
tions of the world are combined in
life and death struggle to thrust it
back in it's coffin again. The Ger
man mind, trained for ten centuries.
can conceive OF 10 empire eXcep:
universal one. or. at any rate, will
| have no empire but universal one.
and what William Fl aims to do is to
| put on his head the crown of Au-
gustas and to dominate the world as
de did from Berlin, not from Rome.
| There can be no compromise be-
tween universalism and nationalism,
| for the idea of one excludes the
! other.-The New York Times.