The German enigma, being an inquiry among Germans as to what they think, what they want, what they can do

Introduction

By Charles Sarolea

The present investigation into Franco-German relations conducted on behalf of the Figaro, is the work of one of the ablest pubHcists of modern France. It is the work of a good European who wishes to put an end to the senseless competition in armaments, and to the international distrust and nervousness which are the main causes of such armaments. The book is also the work of a good Frenchman who realises that no settlement can be durable which does not safeguard the sacred rights of the conquered peoples of Alsace-Lorraine, who were the first victims of outraged justice. There lies the originality of the book. It reveals the new direction which public opinion and political thought are taking in contemporary France. The whole question of the relations between France and Germany is lifted to a higher plane. We hear no more of the humiliation of France, of her pride and dignity, of her rancour and revenge. We hear less of the balance of military force. The main question which is raised is a question of moral principle and of international right.

II

The work of Monsieur Bourdon is not only a good book, it is also a brave deed. Too long has it been the fashion

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for French publicists to entrench themselves behind Gambetta's phrase: " N'en parler jamais, y penser toujours! " Silence may have been the best policy on the morrow of the catastrophe of 1870, when one single indiscretion might have set Europe aflame. But after forty-four years, and under entirely altered conditions, an ostrich policy of reticence, a cowardly policy of mental reservation, cannot be the best means of bringing about a settlement.

Monsieur Bourdon has, therefore, chosen the bolder course, which happens also to be the wiser course. He has broken down the barrier of fear and distrust. He has taken the first step. He has gone to the Germans in a spirit of frankness and conciliation. He has tried to get at their thoughts and after-thoughts. He has cross-examined the German people, and he has cross-examined them with consummate tact and skill. An unofficial ambassador of peace, he has revealed all the qualities of a diplomat, and he has added quahties which the diplomat does not often possess, outspokenness and uprightness, a loyal regard for truth, and that moral preoccupation and that delicate sense of international honour which are generally alien to the official diplomatic mind.

HI

And the result of this searching inquiry is most satisfactory. Quite apart from the value of the opinions expressed, and of the author's own opinion, the inquiry in itself is an historical document of prime importance. Here we have before us at first hand the public opinion of Germany. Nor is it the irresponsible opinion of anonymous

INTRODUCTION vii

scribblers, or the opinion of party politicians, it is the deliberate, reasoned opinion of some of the most distinguished German leaders in thought and action. Statesmen and diplomats, captains of industry and army captains, editors and financiers, all the professions, except the Church (a significant omission!), are represented in this survey of German opinion. After reading Monsieur Bourdon's book, no politician will henceforth be allowed to plead as an excuse that he does not know what official and unofficial Germany thinks and what she feels on the vital question of foreign policy.

IV

And perhaps the readers may carry away the impression that Germany feels more than she thinks, that she is carried away by prejudice, by currents and crosscurrents of emotion, rather than led by general principles and clear and sober thinking. I had asked one of the most eminent British publicists living to write the present introduction. My friend answered that he would willingly have written such an introduction, if he could have agreed with the ideas of the French writer. Unfortunately he did not see his way to agree with Monsieur Bourdon. No purpose, he argued, could be served by cross-examining German opinion, for there was no German opinion. In vain did Monsieur Bourdon claim to tell us what Germany thinks, the Germans were not educated to think politically. And there was the rub. There was no organised public opinion, and even if there were, it could only express itself, it could not press its demands upon a despotic government.

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V

I do not here examine how much truth there may be in my friend's contention. But one fact must certainly strike the readers of Monsieur Bourdon's book. The present position is as ominous as it is bewildering and unintelligible.

Monsieur Bourdon has proved once more the tremendous power of German militarism. German militarism seems to be bred in the bone of the Prussian people, and the microbe of militarism has been inoculated into the German people. The army is the most popular service in the country. It provides an honoured career to tens of thousands of young men of the middle classes and of the aristocracy.

At the same time Monsieur Bourdon points out that from the German point of view it is one thing to be militarist, and another to be warlike and bellicose. The Germans hold that the most confirmed militarist may be a convinced pacifist. The father of Frederick the Great, the greatest militarist of the Hohenzollern dynasty, the Sergeant- King, was so attached to his army that he never employed it in active warfare, he never allowed it to fight a single battle for fear of losing or spoiling so perfect an instrument.

But even granting this paradoxical thesis of the pacifism of German militarists, the situation remains sufficiently contradictory and distracting to the ordinary mind. Every representative German consulted by Monsieur Bourdon proclaims that Germany is pacific, that she wishes for peace, and that she needs peace for her industry and commercial expansion. Yet we see her making gigantic preparations for a possible war: with restless endeavour and at tremendous cost we see her developing her warlike resources. Every representative German insists on making

INTRODUCTION ix

platonic professions. Yet we do not hear of a single statesman daring to take the necessary step or to make the necessary heroic sacrifices. No one seems to understand that peace demands sacrifices quite as heroic as war. No Bismarck of peace seems to be strong enough to-day to put an end to the insensate waste of national resources and misdirected energies.

VI

The German Enigma of Monsieur Bourdon is mainly an objective, impartial, and impersonal study, and the author has been careful not to obtrude his own private views. It is only in the last chapter that he attempts to draw the lessons and draw the conclusions of his own inquiry. And his main conclusion is an eloquent though restrained plea for a Franco-German rapprochement^ and in favour of the only policy which will bring about that reconciliation. France, he argues, does not want a revision of the Treaty of Frankfort. She does not want compensation or revenge. French history contains a sufficiently brilliant roll of military achievements that the French people may afford to forget the reverses and humiliations of 1870. A French statesman on the eve of the Treaty of Frankfort, made the rhetorical statement that France would never surrender one stone of her fortresses nor one inch of her territory. Modern French statesmen, animated by a very different spirit, would not claim back to-day one inch of lost territory. All that the French people demand is that the claims of justice shall be heard, that Alsace-Lorraine shall cease to groan under the heel of an arbitrary despot, that Alsace- Lorraine shall be governed according to her own laws, that their people shall be treated as a free people, and not as a conquered territory.

VII

And that one possible solution is also the only simple solution. That solution would involve no sacrifice of pride or dignity to either nation. France would not make any surrender to Germany, and Germany would not make any concession to France. Both would surrender to the demands of international justice.

And the solution of the autonomy of Alsace-Lorraine would be in the interests of all parties concerned, as well as of European civiHsation. France and Germany would be dehvered from a nightmare which for forty-four years has paralysed their higher activities. One hundred and ten millions of the two most progressive nations of the Continent would cease to oppose each other in every quarter of the

globe.

Alsace-Lorraine would cease to be the festering wound on the open frontier of the two countries, and would once more discharge her historical function as the connecting Hnk between Latin and Teutonic peoples.

And the whole of Europe would be dehvered from the crushing burden of military expenditure. Hundreds of millions at present wasted on armaments would be devoted to productive purposes. Commerce and industry would receive an impetus which in one generation would renew the face of Europe. Reaction would collapse with the disappearance of military predominance, and European governments could devote themselves whole-heartedly to the anxious problems clamouring for a solution, and to the momentous tasks of popular education and social reform which are VN^aiting to be accomplished.

Preface

Last Autumn when the Figaro pubhshed a part of this inquiry, the various readers who commented on it drew contradictory conclusions. Instead of being careful to seek for information, it seemed as if each had unconsciously read into it his own ideas, and exacted from it evidence in support of a judgment already formed. " Most men," Pascal has said, " are nearly always prevailed upon to believe from agreement rather than conviction."

I am not surprised at this, neither do I complain. To stimulate contrary arguments on questions so hotly discussed, testifies to their impartiality, and far from being annoyed I am near to experiencing satisfaction from it.

These questions touch on a subject of the gravest importance, a subject which embraces our immediate past, and without doubt, our future. It is the veil behind which is hidden peace or war; the great Enigma in the heart of which the destiny of Europe is at stake, and by Europe is understood the most briUiant portion of the human race. Delicacy and tact are essential in dealing with it, but above everything a purging of the mind of passion and prejudice is necessary, and an unerring devotion to the truth.

On my departure for Germany I made a great effort to shake off and cast from me all my preconceived opinions. I confess that my experiences afterwards showed me the error of some of these which I shared with many other Frenchmen. How wrong we have been in not trying to

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see things as they actually are. In spite of all our excellent and just estimates of her, we know nothing of Germany, neither does she know anything of us. I do not propose to relate what I have discovered there; I only hope to be able to shed, following in the footsteps of others, a ray of light amidst the dense shadows. However feeble the ray, it will at least be light.

I have had no other hope or ambition than to gather together here the fragments of a brief; I don't pretend that it is complete, but I know that it is genuine. It is not tho brief of an advocate, nor of an attorney. It is an instructive document, and as far as I have been able to make it so, a living one.

It has been drawn up with an ardent desire to ascertain and understand certain human sentiments, facts, and intentions. I can only trust that it will be consulted in the same spirit that inspired it. If it should only succeed in inflaming passions and reviving old prejudices then I shall have laboured in vain, worse than in vain.