Its spirit would be
in the ascendant. Its doctrines would be in the ascendant; by the sheer
power of its will it would bend the minds of men in its own fashion.
Germanism in its later and worst form would be the inspiriting thought
and philosophy of the hour.
Do you remember what happened to France after 1870? The German armies
left France, but all the same for years after that, and while France was
building up her army, she stood in cowering terror of this monster. Even
after her great army was built France was oppressed with a constant
anxiety as to what might happen. Germany dismissed her Ministers. Had it
not been for the intervention of Queen Victoria in 1874 the French Army
would never have been allowed to be reconstructed, and France would
simply have been the humble slave of Germany to this hour. What a
condition for a country! And now France is fighting not so much to
recover her lost provinces, she is fighting to recover her self-respect
and her national independence; she is fighting to shake off this
nightmare that has been on her soul for over a generation, [cheers,] a
France with Germany constantly meddling, bullying, and interfering. And
that is what would happen if Russia were trampled upon, France broken,
Britain disarmed.
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