19133 Plans of Empire 



France, they contended, had four harbors better a too 

 than Boulogne, namely Havre, Cherbourg, Toulon, ^^'""''^ 

 and Marseilles, besides two others, Bordeaux and 

 Brest, better than any possible to Germany on the 

 North Sea. And notwithstanding its great potenti- 

 alities, France had made little use of Boulogne where 

 ocean liners merely touched, discharging both freight 

 and passengers by lighters, while two small steamers 

 only plied daily to and from Folkestone. German 

 enterprise, on the other hand, would transform it into 

 a vast world port. 



Moreover, after the speedy victory sure to result France as 

 from an attack on France, the Fatherland could Ti'"^ ■ 



. 1 • 1 1 ' r> "/ Prussia 



exact an mdemmty large enough to give German 

 business and industry a lasting stimulus. Thirty 

 thousand millions of francs was the figure frequently 

 mentioned; this generous sum France could and 

 would of course pay rather than have her capital 

 burned. Germany might then afford to be magnani- 

 mous and take France under her imperial wing even 

 as she had taken the "vassal state" of Austria, mean- 

 while relieving her new dependent of all necessity for 

 defense against its hereditary enemy across the Chan- 

 nel. Needing no army or navy, France would thus be 

 able to devote herself wholeheartedly to manufacture, 

 commerce, and (especially) to continued loans for 

 German enterprise. Her resentment and injured 

 pride would therefore soon pass, and her quick-witted 

 but "degenerate" people would realize the advantages 

 accruing through the German system of perfect order 

 and individual and industrial regimentation. For 

 just as the French never have been able to see why 

 any one should fail to love them, the Germans could 

 never understand why other nations or nationalities 



n 555 :] 



