heir thinking, not only a practical policy, but a philosophy
of human society and government.

This is not the place in which to analyse in detail the outlook upon life
(_Weltanschauung_) of the man in the street in modern Germany. It is a
confused and patchwork philosophy, drawn, consciously or unconsciously,
from many quarters--from the old cosmopolitan tradition of German culture,
dating from Goethe and Leasing; from the brave and arrogant claims
of Fichte and the prophets and poets of the Napoleonic era; from the
far-reaching influence of Hegel and his idealisation of the Prussian State;
from the reaction to "realism" in politics after 1848; from the prestige
of Bismarck and the deep impression made by the apparent success of his
methods and principles; from the gifted Prussian historians, Treitschke and
Sybel, who set their own interpretation upon Bismarck's work and imprinted
it, by speech and pen, upon the mind of the German nation; and from a
hasty interpretation of the theories of writers like Nietzsche and
Thomas Carlyle, with their exaltation of "heroes" and "supermen," their
encouragements to "live dangerously," their admiration for will-power
as against reason and feeling, and their tirades against legal shams,
"ballot-box democracy," and flabby humanitarianism.

The practical object of the policy of _Weltpolitik_ can be simply stated.
It is to extend to the other continents, and to the world as a whole,
the power and the prestige secured for Germany in Europe by the work of
Bismarck. "When Germany had won a mighty position on a level with the older
Great Powers," says Prince Buelow, "the path of international politics
lay open to her ... In the Emperor William II. the nation found a
clear-sighted, strong-willed guide who led them along the new road."

Some such expansion of German influence was inevitable from the facts of
her economic development since 1871. The population of the Empire, which
in 1871 was 41,000,000, has now risen to 65,000,000. The resources of the
country, the neglect of which during the days of disunion had forced
so many Germans to emigrate for a livelihood, have been rapidly and
scientifically developed. Already in the 'eighties "Made in Germany" had
become a familiar talisman, and, before the outbreak of the present war,
Germany ranked with the United States as the second greatest commercial
power in the world.

Simultaneously, of course, there has been a great change in the
dist