ly free from a tinge of envy. Germany
was conquering the earth by peaceful penetration; _and no one stood in
its way_. It had free access to all the seas and all the lands.

But with that "new course" and from it there also came a new god, a
false and evil god. He exacted as sacrifices for his altars the
time-honoured ideals of the fathers, and other high and noble things.
And his commands were obeyed.

There came upon the German people a whole train of new and baneful
influences and impulses, formidably stimulating as a powerful drug.
There came, amongst other evils, materialism and covetousness and
irreligion; overweening arrogance, an impatient contempt for the
rights of the weak, a mania for world dominion, and a veritable lunacy
of power worship. There came also a fixed and irrational distrust of
the intentions of other nations, for the evil which had crept into
their own souls made them see evil in others, and that distrust was
nurtured carefully and deliberately by those in authority.

And, finally, there came "the day" in which the "new course," fatally
and inevitably, was bound to culminate. There came the old temptation,
as old as humanity itself. The Tempter took the Prussian and
Prussianized rulers up a high mountain and showed them all the riches
and power of the world. Showed them the great countries and capitals
of the earth teeming with peaceful labour--Brussels, Paris, London,
aye, and New York, and told them: "Look at these. Use your power
ruthlessly and they are yours." And those rulers did not say: "Get
thee behind me, Satan;" but they said: "Lead on, Satan, and we shall
follow thee." And follow him they did, and brought upon the green
earth the red ruin of hell.

And with rejoicing they greeted "the day." It was to bring them, as
one German in an important position here expressed it to me, in
August, 1914, "a merry war and victory before the year is out."

IV

Truly, history affords no parallel to the spiritual poisoning and the
resulting horrible transmutation of a whole people, such as
Prussianism wrought in the incredibly short period of one generation.
Nor would I believe that such a dreadful phenomenon could possibly
take place were it not for the evidence of my own eyes and my own
ears.

My observations led me to think, however, that Prussianism had reached
the crest of its influence some years before the war and that liberal
tendencies were beginning to make headway against it.