A
fruitful reciprocal interchange of English and German culture seemed to
us worth while, indeed necessary, for the spiritual advance of mankind,
which today confronts such great problems. Gratefully we recall in this
connection the friendly reception which our efforts received in England.
So great and noble were the traits of English character which revealed
themselves to us that we were permitted to hope that in their sure
growth they would come to be superior to the pitfalls and seamy sides of
this character. And now they have proved inferior, inferior to the old
evil of a brutal national egotism which recognizes no rights on the
part of others, which, unconcerned about morality or unmorality, pursues
only its own advantage.
History furnishes in abundance examples of such an unscrupulous egotism;
we need recall here only the destruction of the Danish fleet (1807) and
the theft of the Dutch colonies in the Napoleonic wars. But what is
taking place today is the worst of all; it will be forever pointed at in
the annals of world history as England's indelible shame. England fights
in behalf of a Slavic, half-Asiatic power against Germanism; she fights
on the side not only of barbarism but also of moral injustice, for it is
indeed not forgotten that Russia began the war because she would permit
no radical reparation for a shameful murder.
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