[Loud applause.] I do not believe he meant all these speeches;
it was simply the martial straddle he had acquired. But there were men
around him who meant every word of them. This was their religion.
Treaties? They tangle the feet of Germany in her advance. Cut them with
the sword! Little nations? They hinder the advance of Germany. Trample
them in the mire under the German heel! The Russian Slav? He challenges
the supremacy of Germany and Europe. Hurl your legions at him and
massacre him! Britain? She is a constant menace to the predominancy of
Germany in the world. Wrest the trident out of her hand! Christianity?
Sickly sentimentalism about sacrifice for others! Poor pap for German
digestion! We will have a new diet. We will force it upon the world. It
will be made in Germany--[Laughter and applause]--a diet of blood and
iron. What remains? Treaties have gone. The honor of nations has gone.
Liberty has gone. What is left? Germany! Germany is left!--"Deutschland
ueber Alles!"
That is what we are fighting--["Hear, hear!"]--that claim to
predominancy of a material, hard civilization, a civilization which if
it once rules and sways the world, liberty goes, democracy vanishes. And
unless Britain and her sons come to the rescue it will be a dark day for
humanity.
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