ntry and
the future of the human race for generations to come depend upon the
outcome of this war. What does it mean were Germany to win? It means
world power for the worst elements in Germany, not for Germany. The
Germans are an intelligent race; they are undoubtedly a cultivated race;
they are a race of men who have been responsible for great ideas in this
world. But this would mean the dominance of the worst elements among
them. If you think I am exaggerating just you read for the moment
extracts from the articles in the newspapers which are in the ascendency
now in Germany about the settlement which they expect after this war. I
am sorry to say I am stating nothing but the bare, brutal truth. I do
not say that the Kaiser will sit on the throne of England if he should
win. I do not say that he will impose his laws and his language on this
country as did William the Conqueror. I do not say that you will hear
the tramp, the noisy tramp of the goose step in the cities of the
Empire. [Laughter.] I do not say that Death's Head Hussars will be
patrolling our highways. I do not say that a visitor, let us say, to
Aberdaron, will have to ask a Pomeranian policeman the best way to
Hell's Mouth. [Loud laughter.] That is not what I mean. What I mean is
that if Germany were triumphant in this war it would practically be the
dictator of the international policy of the world. Its spirit would be
in the ascendant. Its doctrines would be in the ascendant; by the sheer
power of its will it would bend the minds of men in its own fashion.
Germanism in its later and worst form would be the inspiriting thought
and philosophy of the hour.

Do you remember what happened to France after 1870? The German armies
left France, but all the same for years after that, and while France was
building up her army, she stood in cowering terror of this monster. Even
after her great army was built France was oppressed with a constant
anxiety as to what might happen. Germany dismissed her Ministers. Had it
not been for the intervention of Queen Victoria in 1874 the French Army
would never have been allowed to be reconstructed, and France would
simply have been the humble slave of Germany to this hour. What a
condition for a country! And now France is fighting not so much to
recover her lost provinces, she is fighting to recover her self-respect
and her national independence; she is fighting to shake off this
nightmare that has been on her soul for over a g