“If,” he wrote, “the fact that I have been privileged to spend a considerable part of my life in close contact with you, entitles me to add a few personal remarks, I should like to say that I have made up my mind to retire from my post after the end of the war altogether. I told you shortly after the outbreak of the war that my life’s work was wrecked. To-day I am convinced that it will soon come to life again, but my youth would have to be restored to me before I could ever dream of taking up again that position in international shipping which I held before the war. I cannot imagine that I would ever go to London again and take the chair at the conferences at which the great problems of international shipping would come up for discussion, and nobody, I think, can expect that I should be content to play second fiddle at my age. Indeed, I cannot see how I could ever re-enter upon intimate relations with the British, the French, the Italians, and especially with the Americans. Strangely enough, influential circles on our side, and even His Majesty himself, look upon me as ‘pro-English,’ and yet I am the only German who can say with truth that he has been fighting the English for supremacy in the shipping world during the last thirty years. During this long period I have, if I am allowed to make use of so bold a comparison, conquered one British trench after the other, and I have renewed my attacks whenever I could find the means for doing so.”
It is no secret that during the war many prominent politicians and economists—men of sound political training—viewed the question of the war aims which it was desirable to realize very much in the same light as did Ballin, but that the censorship made it impossible for anyone to give public expression to such opinions. Ballin’s appreciation of the probable gain which Germany would derive from a peace by compromise has now been amply confirmed by the undeniable fact that the rest of the world has been tremendously impressed by Germany’s achievements, an impression which has made foreigners regard her chances of recovery with much more confidence than she has felt herself, stunned as she was by the immensity of her débâcle.
The following notes, which are largely based on Ballin’s own diary, are intended to supplement the information given so far as to his political activities during the war.
The outbreak of war, as may be inferred from what has already been related, took him completely by surprise, and he did not think that the struggle would last very long. “The necessities of the world’s commerce will not stand a long war,” was his opinion during the early days. For the rest, he tried to find work for himself which would benefit his country. “What we need to-day,” he wrote to a friend, “is work. This will lift us up and keep us going, and will make those of us who are no longer fit to fight feel that we are still of some use after all.” But in connexion with this thought another one began to occupy his mind. He anxiously asked: “Which of the men now at headquarters will have the strength and the wisdom required to negotiate a successful peace when the time comes?” All his thoughts centred round the one idea of how to secure peace; what advantages his country would derive from it; and how it would be possible to bring about an international grouping of the Powers which would be of the greatest benefit to Germany. On October 1st, 1914, he wrote to Grand Admiral v. Tirpitz:
“ ... I quite agree with what you say in your welcome letter. Indeed, you could not view these matters[3] with graver anxiety than I do myself. I hope I shall soon have the opportunity I desire of discussing these things with you personally.
“To win the peace will be hardly less difficult than to win the war. My opinion is that the result of this world war, if it lasts 12 months, will be exactly the same as if it lasts six months. I mean to say that, if we do not succeed in acquiring the guarantees for our compensation demands within a few months, the further progress of events will not appreciably improve our chances in this direction.
“What we must aim at is a new grouping of the Powers round an alliance between Germany, Great Britain and France. This alliance will become possible as soon as we shall have vanquished France and Belgium, and as soon as you shall have made up your mind to bring about an understanding with Great Britain concerning the naval programme.
“I am aware that this idea will find but slight favour with you, but you will never secure a reasonable peace with Great Britain without a naval agreement.
“By a reasonable peace I mean one which will enable both Germany and Britain to sheathe their swords in honour, and which will not burden either nation with a hatred which would contain within it the germs of future war.
“We have had no difficulty in putting up with the French clamour for revanche for a period of 44 years, because in this case we had only to deal with a small group of nationalist firebrands, but a British clamour for revenge would produce an exceedingly adverse effect on the future of our national well-being and of our share in the world’s trade and commerce.