Page:Addresses to the German nation.djvu/284

 beyond all your conceptions, and the generation from whom posterity will reckon the year of their salvation. Reflect that you are the last in whose power this great alteration lies. You have, even in your day, heard the Germans spoken of as one; you have seen or have heard of a visible sign of their unity, an empire and an imperial federation; among you voices have made themselves heard from time to time which were inspired by the higher love of fatherland. Those who come after you will accustom themselves to other ideas, will adopt alien forms and another way of conducting life and affairs; and how long will it be then before there is no one living who has seen or heard of Germans?

220. What is demanded of you is not much. You are only bidden to undertake to pull yourselves together for a short time, and to think over that which lies immediately and openly before your eyes. On that alone you are to form a definite opinion, to remain true to it, and utter and express it in your own immediate surroundings. It is an assumption, it is our sure conviction, that the result of this thinking will prove to be the same with all of you, and that, if only you really think and do not go on in the old heedlessness, you will think alike; that, if only you put on the spirit and do not remain on the level of mere vegetable existence, unity and concord of spirit will come of itself. But, once that has come about, everything else that we need will be added to us without our seeking.

Now, this effort of thought is in fact demanded of each one of you, who is still capable of thinking for himself about a thing that lies plainly before his eyes. You have time for it; there is no question of the present moment bewildering you or taking you by surprise; the documents recording the negotiations conducted with you still lie