[33] Der alte, gute Gott.
[TO THE STUDENTS AT BONN]
April 24, 1901
Emperor William had himself been a student at Bonn. On this day the Crown Prince was matriculated at that university and in the evening the students held a Festkommers, a kind of banquet of the student societies, at which the Emperor appeared with the Crown Prince and his brother-inlay, Prince Adolph von Schaumburg-Lippe. After singing two student songs, the student leader of the Kommers, “Studiosus” von Alvensleben, greeted the Emperor with a speech of welcome. In this friendly gathering the Emperor took occasion to discuss the history of the empire and especially the reasons for the failure of the older empire because of its cosmopolitan character. The new empire must be based upon a recognition of the characteristic German traits and will be possible only through the whole-hearted support of the constituent states of the realm.
I do not need to emphasize or even to mention to you, my dear young comrades, what emotions thrill my heart at finding myself again among students in beautiful Bonn. There unrolls before my mind’s eye the glimmering picture of sunshine and happy contentment with which the period of my own sojourn here was filled. It was the joy of living, joy in people old and young, and, above all things, joy in the development of the young German Empire!
It is therefore my wish at this moment, when I place my dear son among you, that he, too, may have as happy a time as a student as was once vouchsafed to me. And, indeed, how could it be otherwise? For Bonn, the lovely city, is so accustomed to the presence of young men full of life and seems by nature to have been designed to no other end. Here the Crown Prince will find memories of his glorious grandfather who could not forget Bonn—his kindly eyes brightened whenever the name of the city which had become so dear to him was mentioned—memories of his great-grandfather, the noble prince consort, the companion of that now sanctified royal lady,[34] who always strove to maintain a peaceful and friendly relationship between her people and ours, which are both of German stock—memories of many another noble German prince who here prepared himself for his later career.
[34] Queen Victoria.
But even more than that—Bonn is situated on the Rhine; it is here that our grapes are gathered; our legends cluster about it, and every castle, every city, speaks to us of our past. The magic of Father Rhine will certainly exercise its power upon the Crown Prince likewise. And when you joyfully pass the cup and sing a new song, then I hope that your spirits may rise and enjoy the beautiful moments as becomes happy German youths! But may the source from which you draw your joys be as clear and pure as the golden juice of the grape, may it be deep and constant as Father Rhine! If we look about us in the joyous Rhineland, our history rises up before us in very palpable form. You may well rejoice that you are young Germans, as you travel through the stretch from Aix to Mainz, that is, from Charlemagne to the time of Germany’s splendor under Barbarossa.
But why did all this glory come to naught? Why did the German Empire dwindle away? Because the old empire was not founded upon a strictly national basis. The universality idea of the old Roman Empire of the German Nation did not admit of any development in the spirit of German nationality. The life of a nation depends upon its frontiers, upon the personality of its people, and upon its racial traits. And so the glory of Barbarossa had to fail, and the old imperial structure had to fall, because through its idea of universality it hindered the process of crystallization which might have made it a rounded and completed nation; for the smaller units crystallized into the form of powerful principalities and laid the foundation for new states. But through this process their rulers unfortunately came into conflict with the empire and the Emperor, who dreamed of universal dominion, and internal peace was lost to the ever weakening empire. Unfortunately, at the head of this chapter in the development of our German people we must write the telling words of Tacitus, that great student of Germany: “Propter invidiam.” The princes were envious of the power of the Emperors, just as once they were envious of the power of Arminius in spite of his victory. The nobility was envious of the cities which had become wealthy, and the peasant was envious of the noble. What unhappy consequences and what grievous woes our dear and beautiful Germany had to suffer “propter invidiam”! The shores of Father Rhine can tell you long stories about this. But finally God allowed one to accomplish what before had been impossible. Aix and Mainz are for us historic memories; the longing to be brought together into a single nation remained in the German breast, and Emperor William the Great, in union with his faithful servants, achieved it. So cast your eyes from Coblentz to the German Eck and from Rüdesheim to the Niederwald! The pictures teach and prove to you that you are now Germans in a German land, citizens of a definitely bounded German nation. You are here to prepare yourselves to contribute to her future welfare and development. In its proud flower the empire stands before you. May you be filled with joy and grateful happiness, and may you be thrilled with the firm and manly resolve, as Germans, to give your service to Germany, to support, strengthen, and elevate her! The future waits for you and will need your strength; it does not expect that you will waste it in idle cosmopolitan dreams or enlist it in the service of selfish party tendencies, but that you will devote it to strengthening the national idea and our own ideals. Powerful, indeed, are the intellectual heroes which the Germanic stock, through the grace of God, has produced, from the time of Boniface and Walter von der Vogelweide to Goethe and Schiller; and they have become a light and blessing to all humanity. Their influence was exerted universally, and yet they were strictly Germans, set apart by themselves; that is, personalities, men. We need them to-day more than ever. May you strive to become such as they were!
But how is this to be possible, and who is to help you? Only one, our Lord and Saviour, whose name we all bear and who has borne our sins and redeemed us, has provided us with an example, and labored as we are to labor. He has implanted moral earnestness in you so that the springs of your activity may remain pure and that your aims may be lofty! The love of father and mother, of the ancestral home and Fatherland, is rooted in the love for Him. Then will you be provided with a charm against temptations of every sort, above all against pride and envy, and you can sing and say: “We Germans fear God, nothing else in this world.” Then will we stand firm and spread culture through the world, and I shall close my eyes in peace if I see such generations growing up and gathered about my son. Then “Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles!” With this prospect in mind I call out: Long live the University of Bonn!