Page:Addresses to the German nation.djvu/184

 State—whether now that State appear as one or as several does not matter; in reality it is one—dropped from German into foreign hands, it is certain—for the opposite would be contrary to all nature and utterly impossible—it is certain, I say, that from that moment onwards no longer German, but foreign interests would decide. Whereas formerly the united national interest of the Germans had its place and was represented at the helm of the State, it would now be banished. Now, if it is not to be completely destroyed from off the earth, another place of refuge must be prepared for it, and that in what alone remains, with the governed, among the citizens. If it already existed in the majority of them, we should not have got into the plight which we are now considering; therefore, it does not exist in them, and must first of all be instilled in them. In other words, the majority of the citizens must be educated to this sense of fatherland, and, in order that one may be sure of the majority, this education must be tried on all. So with this it is now plainly and clearly proved, as was likewise formerly promised, that education is the only possible means of saving German independence. Undoubtedly it will not be our fault if anyone has not even yet been able to grasp the true content and the purpose of these addresses, and the sense in which all our statements are to be taken.

127. To put it more briefly. According to our supposition, those who need protection are deprived of the guardianship of their parents and relatives, whose place has been taken by masters. If they are not to become absolute slaves, they must be released from guardianship, and the first step in this direction is to educate them to manhood. German love of fatherland has lost its place; it shall get another, a wider and deeper one; there in