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The appropriation of Germany’s colonies in order to swell the already gigantic bulk of England’s possessions, or for any other purpose, would not only constitute an unforgivable crime against the new German Republic, but a crime against the future peace of the world, against the lofty ideal of the League of Nations upon which betrayed humanity bases its hopes, against the common civilization of the white race and the problems it must solve in unity—or not at all.
“The White Man’s Burden.”
Africa is the ward of Europe and not the monopoly of a few nations. Germany, as an integral and important part of Europe, cannot and must not be excluded from participation in the common task and the common field. Her exclusion from Africa would do violence to every conception of justice, and remain a monument of wrong and outrage in the world’s eyes, crowning with folly and infamy a war of unparalleled hatred, wrong and misery.
It would signify that the new and hopeful German Democracy, born amidst such agony, and all the ideals for which it stands, would be largely ruined. Unforgettable, ineradicable bitterness would be lodged in the souls of 70 millions of people.
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