beyond the Rhine were not receptive of any rule but their own. The
Gallic races became Romanized. Gaul was a part of the Roman Empire and
reasoning from the facts, we should have expected the Gaulish nations
to develop into the imperial form.

For like reason we should expect the Teutonic races to develop into
the greatest democracy of the modern world. Contrary to this double
expectation, we have a French Republic and a German Empire. In 1870
the Gallic race became suddenly democratic, and at the same time the
Germans became the greatest imperialists among civilized mankind! The
German Empire has arisen where we should have expected a democracy;
and the French Republic has arisen where we should have expected an
Empire.

The illogical Empire lies alongside of the illogical Republic. They
have a line of demarkation which, though drawn on the map, is not
drawn on the ground. The great antagonistic facts touch each other
through a long line of territorial extent, but the ethnic diversity
does not permit political union. The Teuton and the Gaul continue to
touch, but they are not one, and cannot be. Two neighbors living
between Verdun and Metz are only a quarter of a mile apart. They
cultivate their grounds in the same manner, raise the same fruits,
have vines growing on the two sides of the same trellis. They speak
the same language, exchange gossip and poultry; but their children do
not go to the same school! One of them is a French democrat; the
other, a German imperialist!

The reason for this reversal of expectation, by which the anticipated
institutions of France are found in Germany and those of Germany in
France, is this: It seems to be a law of human progress that mankind