Whenever there was an advance in political power in Germany, business also began to look up ; whereas, whenever business monopolized the life of our people and smothered the virtues of the mind, the State broke down again and dragged business along with it.
And yet if we ask ourselves what the forces are which make and maintain States, we find that they come under one single denomination : ability and readiness to sacrifice the individual for the sake of the community. That these virtues have no relation to economics is obvious from the simple realization that man never sacrifices himself for purposes of business— i.e., men do not die for business, but for ideals. Nothing displayed the Englishman’s psychological superiority in readiness of a national ideal better than the reasons he put forward for fighting. Whilst we fought for daily bread, England fought for “freedom”—not her own, but that of the little nations. In Germany they mocked at this effrontery and got angry, proving thereby how thoughtless