“It cannot be denied, I think, that her education, as well as her politics and militarism, directly pointed to this great conflict.  Indeed, the industrialism, the politics, the philosophy of Germany all find their logical expression in present events.

“Hegel was the first, in the beginning of the last century, to insist upon the ideas which, already being paramount in him, quickly became paramount in his followers, serving as the basis for the development of Prussia.  To him this represented all and everything; to him divinity on earth was incarcerated in the State, and, therefore, the development of the State, not justice, was, in his mind, the object of all law.

“Since this beginning that has been the consistent German viewpoint, and increasingly so.  The glorification of the State has included, of necessity, the sacrifice of the individual, and this has been conducted ruthlessly in Germany itself.

“Of course the State which considers it right to sacrifice the individuals of its own citizenship will be sure to consider it right to sacrifice the individuals of other nations’ citizenships.

“That explains why international law never has been considered binding by the German; it explains why international law was not considered binding when Belgium stood in the path of Germany’s march toward Paris.

“International law never has bound the German; it never will bind him until he changes his national psychology.

“Ihering, one of Germany’s greatest theoretical jurists and a scholar in the matter of Roman law, declared, ‘Right is the child of might.’  He did not say exactly that right is might, but he defined it as ’the child of might.’

“That may be taken as the German keynote, for this man is of such great influence in Germany that his utterances must have an enormous effect.

“Treitschke, the historian, in his teaching in Berlin, naturally drew some of his inspiration from these two men.  For him the State need consider no law save that which will promote its own expansion.

“Moral law, he holds, need not and must not stand in the way of the prosperity and growth of States, as it frequently must obstruct the prosperity and growth of individuals.

“Under this theory the State has two functions—­these are, inside the country, to make law; outside the country, to make war.  Germany denies the right of an extraneous law to decide upon the details of right and wrong within a country, and that is why Germany defies and even denies international law.

“If it happens that a treaty which the State has entered into later proves to be obstructive to some expansion which is thought to be a necessity of the State’s destiny, that treaty may be disregarded with the full approval of Germany’s national morality, although similar conduct on the part of an individual in Germany would be considered highly reprehensible.

“The State may bind itself to secure advantage, but, also, it may unbind itself to secure advantage, and this without consultation with, or the approval of, the other party or parties to the contract.