[[2]] Mr. Chamberlain at Leicester on November 30, 1899.
[[3]] March 1878. Treaty of Berlin, July 1878.
[[4]] 1890.
[[5]] Cf. The Anglo-German Problem, by C. Sarolea, p. 247, and following.
CHAPTER III
THE GERMAN PROJECT OF EMPIRE
The German project of empire is a gorgeous fabric. The weft of it is thread of gold, but the warp of it has been dipped in the centaur's blood. It is the pride of its possessor; but it is likely to be his undoing. It ravishes his fancy with the symmetry and vastness of the pattern; yet these very two qualities, which so much excite his admiration, have shown themselves in the past singularly unpropitious to high imperial adventures.
No man of action worthy of the name will ever take history for his guide. He would rightly refuse to do so, even were it possible, which it is not, to write history truthfully. But with all their deficiencies, history books have certain sibylline qualities which make them worth consulting upon occasions; and as to symmetry and vastness this oracle, if consulted, would speak clearly enough. Of all false enticements which have lured great princes to their ruin, these two have the biggest tale of victims to their score.
SYMMETRY AND VASTNESS