It would
not be fair to take one writer as conclusive; but as a _specimen_ of the
kind of thing we may quote the following extract (given by Mr. H.A.L.
Fisher, the Oxford historian, in his able brochure _The War: Its Causes
and Issues_) from the writings of Bronsart von Schellendorf: "Do not let
us forget the civilizing task which the decrees of Providence have
assigned to us. Just as Prussia was destined to be the nucleus of
Germany, so the regenerated Germany shall be the nucleus of a future
Empire of the West. And in order that no one shall be left in doubt, we
proclaim from henceforth that our continental nation has a right to the
sea, not only to the North Sea, but to the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
Hence we intend to absorb one after another all the provinces which
neighbour on Prussia. We will successively annex Denmark, Holland,
Belgium, Northern Switzerland, then Trieste and Venice, finally Northern
France from the Sambre to the Loire. This programme we fearlessly
pronounce. It is not the work of a madman. The Empire we intend to found
will be no Utopia. We have ready to our hands the means of founding it,
and no coalition in the world can stop us.
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