of conceiving and realizing
this unity. The thesis of Treitschke was, _Freiheit durch Einheit_,
"liberty through unity," that is to say, unity first, unity before all;
liberty later, when circumstances should permit. And to realize at once
this unity, which really was the only thing that mattered, the
enrollment of all Germany under the command of Prussia for a war against
France.

Now the formula of Treitschke was opposed by that of Bluntschli,
_Einheit durch Freiheit_--"Unity through liberty." This doctrine, which
counted at that time some eminent advocates, aimed first to safeguard
the independence and unity of the German States and then to establish
between them on that basis a federated union. And as it contemplated in
the heart of Germany a union without hegemony, so it conceived of German
unity as something to be realized without harm to other nations, and
especially without harm to France. It was to be a free Germany in a free
world.

Germany at that epoch was at the parting of the ways. Should she follow
a tendency still living in many and noble minds or should she abandon it
entirely, to march head down in the ways in which Prussia had entangled
her? That was the question. The party of war, the party of unity as a
means of attacking and despoiling France, the Prussian party, gained the
day. And its success rendered its preponderance definitive. Since then
those who have undertaken to remain faithful to an ideal of liberty and
humanity have been annihilated.

Is it still possible that Germany may some day regain the parting of the
ways where she was before 1870 and this time take the other road, the
road of the Leibnitzes, the Kants, the Bluntschlis, which leads first to
the liberty of individuals and of peoples and afterward--- and only
afterward--a form of harmony where the rights of all are equally
respected? A word of the Scotch professor, William Knight, comes back to
my memory at this moment: "The best things have to die and be reborn."
The Germany which the world respected and admired, the Germany of
Leibnitz, appears indeed dead. Can it be reborn?

Accept, I beg, my dear Director, the assurance of my cordial devotion.

EMILE BOUTROUX.

*The German Religion of Duty*

*By Gabriele Reuter.*[B]

On various occasions in the past I have been reproached by my friends
for not showing the proper spirit of patriotism.

I have merely smiled at their criticism, for it was my opinion that true
p