132 OX THE INFLUENCE OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY, ETC. 



respects, yet agree in this, that there is a common trend, or perhaps 

 rather a common spirit, pervading their teachings. If there were 

 one or two only, they could be explained away as a kind of philo- 

 sophical sport, or lusus /"'/"roe ; but this is not the case. Are we not 

 compelled to the conclusion that the philosophers of Germany are a 

 product of the spirit of Germany, and not its cause : a natural out- 

 growth from among the people themselves, but reacting in greater 

 or less degree, both directly and indirectly, upon the mass of which 

 they form a part I 



What, then, is the precise measure of this reaction ? A young 

 German once informed me that the influence of Xietzsche. Treitsehke, 

 and Bernhardi was quite misconceived and exaggerated in England. 

 Bernhardi was, until quite recently, unknown in his own country. 

 Xietzsche appealed only to a small intellectual class. Treitsehke 

 was a "mere Prussian," the mouthpiece of a political party. Perhaps 

 this statement errs in the other direction. Is it not true that at all 

 times the philosophers of the world appeal directly to a limited class, 

 and that to the mass of the people they are unintelligible ? But it 

 is those who pass their teachings on in a digested form, and popu- 

 larize them, who succeed in giving them publicity, and the teachings 

 are thus imbibed indirectly by a very large number who would 

 never think of reading the originals. Especially is this the case 

 when — as there seems to be some evidence has happened in Germany 

 — systematic means are taken, through the schools and universities 

 especially, to produce precisely this effect. 



If these conclusions are sound, the real influence of German 

 philosophers would seem to be in the direction, not of the creation of 

 a German spirit, but of giving expression to a spirit which was 

 already in existence, and of furnishing the powers in authority with a 

 ready tool for furthering their own ends. And this is, I think, the 

 conclusion to which Professor Margoliouth has tried to bring us. 



