Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - I. On the Way to the Front
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
ON THE WAY TO THE FRONT 9
to make the grief subservient to the proud consciousness that
the beloved one has fallen for his country, never to return !
Already in Berlin I was greatly impressed by the world-
wide influence of German thought. Here is a nation which for
long years back has known how to read the inexorable message
of time, which has not rested on the laurels gained in its last
war, which has needed no warnings, and whose watchmen
never closed their eyes and never dallied with an inevitable
fate. Here is a nation which during the decades of peace has
armed itself to the teeth and which now, when the hour has
struck, stands ready to meet four great powers in fierce combat
and to contend with one of them for the mastery of the seas.
It is true that the German people have been divided into
parties, as the democratic spirit of our age demands, but the
political factions have nevertheless realised the necessity of
a strong defence of their common country. And now that the
war is raging in all directions, the parties have disappeared
completely. Germany at the present time is inhabited by a
people which is at one with itself. Here we have but one party
—that of the soldiers. Here everyone has but one goal, and
there is no one who does not realise that this is a fight of life
and death for Germany ; all have the same thoughts, all hold
the same hopes and offer up the same prayers, from the
Emperor who stands first and foremost in war as in peace, to
the street urchin who flattens his nose against the shop-
window and studies the positions of the tiny flags.
But the rain keeps on falling and beats against the window-
panes. I hurry downstairs, jump into a taxi and in a few
minutes I am sitting in an elegant drawing-room at the dainty
new residence of the Swedish Minister, at the corner of Fried-
rich Wilhelmstrasse and Tiergartenstrasse, chatting with old
friends—needless to say, about the war. When I last met
Count Taube in Berlin, I had just returned from a long
journey in the Far East. Now I stood on the threshold of a
new journey, which might be infinitely longer than the last !
Later in the day I visited another nobleman. Prince von Wedel,
whom I had met in Vienna when he was ambassador there,
and in Strassburg when he was Governor. We had much to
talk about, but what is there to discuss in these days but the
great and bloody drama which occupies everyone’s thoughts
—the War !
My most important visit in Berlin was to the Foreign Office.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
