Germany's Aims and Ambitions

LORD ROSEBERY, on March 1, 1893, speaking at the Royal Colonial Institute, said: “We have to remember that it is part of our responsibility and heritage to take care that the world, so far as it can be moulded by us, should receive the Anglo-Saxon, and not another character.” If we inquire what is conspicuous in the Anglo-Saxon character, most people will agree, I think, that it is based on regard for our neighbours’ rights, a regard which has been the object of our laws and struggles for centuries. The Anglo-Saxon spirit is essentially one which makes for fair-dealing; the race has never been a race of oppressors. Equity, truth, and justice have been our watch-words; and on the whole the nation has acted up to its convictions. It is this national feeling which has led to our taking part in the present war; rather than see a treaty broken, rather than allow a small nation to be coerced into an immoral act by a large and powerful one, we have lent our aid to the French and the Russians, and we are all prepared to support to the death what we all believe to be a righteous cause.