he consequence of
an unalterable natural law, nor as a case of personal misfortune; it
will be set down to bad government, and the rising revolutionary
forces of the fifth, sixth and seventh classes will nourish the
prevailing discontent in favour of a new revolt. For the greater
uniformity of the average way of life and its general neediness will
not in itself abolish the division of classes. I have already often
enough pointed out that no mechanical arrangements can avail us here.

At first there will be three, or more probably four classes who, in
spite of poverty, will not dissolve in the masses, and who, through
their coherence and their intellectual heritage are by no means
without power. The Bolshevist plan of simply killing them out will not
be possible in Germany, they are relatively too numerous; persecution
will weld them closer together, and their traditional experiences,
habits of mind, and capacity, will make it necessary to have recourse
to them and employ them again and again.

The first of these classes is that of the feudal nobility. Their
ancient names cannot be rooted out of the history of Germany, and even
in their poverty the bearers of these names will be respected--all
the more if, as we may certainly assume, they maintain the effects of
their bodily discipline, and the visible tradition of certain forms of
life and thought. They will be strengthened by their mutual
association, their relationship with foreign nobility will give them
important functions in diplomacy; these are two elements which they
have in common with Catholicism and Judaism. They will retain their
inclination and aptitude for the calling of arms and for
administration; their reactionary sentiments will lead now to success,
now to failure, and by both the inner coherence of the class will be
fortified. Finally, the inevitable reversion to an appreciation of the
romantic values of life will make a connexion with names of ancient
lineage desirable to the leading classes, and especially to the
aristocracy of officialism.

This aristocracy of officialism forms the second of the new strata
which will come to light. The first office-bearers of the new era, be
their achievements great or small, are not to be forgotten. Their
descendants are respected as the bearers of well-known names; in their
families the practice of politics, the knowledge of persons and
connexions are perpetuated; fathers, in their lifetime, look after the
int