CHAPTER VII
MORAL CONQUESTS
The foreign policy of a nation takes account of all efforts to further its national idea in the world. It has to do not only with military and economic, but also with moral conquests, for without the latter lasting success is impossible.
The existing conditions in Prussian Poland, in North- Schleswig and in Alsace-Lorraine prove that we are quite capable of making failures in this respect. Nor need we disguise the fact from ourselves that also in other parts of the world we are less liked than, for instance, the English or the French. People will say, how can this be possible, since both England and France have often been guilty of violence and insolence in their dealings with weaker nations? This is true, but the more important fact is also true that powerful cultural influences have emanated from either country, and have been gratefully felt in the whole world. Many people therefore, possess a vivid picture of what the English and the French people have done for the culture of the world, while few have any similar feelings toward Ger-
212