and of the Revolution. She has made for herself a new soul, or rather
she has meekly accepted the soul Bismarck has given her. To him has
been attributed the famous maxim "Might is right." But in truth
Bismarck never pronounced it, for he had well guarded himself against
a distinction of right from might. Right was simply in his view what
is willed by the strongest, what is consigned by the conqueror in the
law he imposes on the conquered. In that is summed up his whole
morality. Germany to-day knows no other. She, too, worships brute
force. And because she believes herself the strongest, she is
altogether absorbed in self-adoration. Her energy comes from her
pride. Her moral force is only the confidence which her material force
inspires in her. And this means that in this respect she is living on
reserves without means of replenishment. Even before England had
commenced to blockade her coasts she had blockaded herself morally, in
isolating herself from every ideal capable of giving her new life.

So she will see her forces waste and her courage at the same time. But
the energy of our soldiers is drawn from something which does not
waste, from an ideal of justice and freedom. Time has no hold on us.
To the force which feeds only on its own brutality we are opposing
that which seeks outside and above itself a principle of life and
renovation. Whilst the one is gradually spending itself, the other is
continually remaking itself. The one is already wavering, the other
abides unshaken. Have no fear, our force will slay theirs.