writes, “that there should be a union of all who are in any way attached to European civilisation, that is to say, who are what Goethe once almost prophetically called ‘good Europeans.’” And in a note he adds: “By European civilisation I mean every endeavour, in the broadest sense of the word, throughout the world, the origin of which can ultimately be traced back to Europe.”
Much might be said concerning this curtailment. For my own part, I consider it neither right nor useful that humanity should draw a line of demarcation between civilisation of European origin and the lofty civilisations of Asia. In my view, the harmonious realisation of humanity can be secured in no other way than by the union of these great complementary forces. Nay more; I believe that the European soul, unaided, impoverished and scorched by centuries of spendthrift existence, would be likely to flicker and even to go out, unless regenerated by an influx of the thought of other races.—But to each day its own task. Nicolai, at once thinker and man of action, turns to the most immediate duty. Concentrating all his energies upon a single aim, he accelerates the moment of attainment. “Just as certain of our forefathers, in advance of their time, enthusiastically advocated a united Germany, even so do we mean to fight for a united Europe. That is the hope inspiring this book.”[1]—Nor does he merely hope for the victory of this cause. He already enjoys the victory, by anticipation. Immured in Graudenz fortress, near the room where Fritz Reuter, the German patriot, spent years in captivity because he believed in Germany, Nicolai notes that the Reuter room has been converted into a sanctuary by his erstwhile gaolers, “which is a living instance of the fact that reaction cannot endure for ever.” His mind reverting to his own case, he declares: “We may be quite sure that the very same persons who to-day still continue to decry as high treason Goethe’s conception of the citizen of Europe, will in a few years’ time themselves subscribe to it.”
This confidence radiates from every page of the book.
- ↑ Introduction, p. 11 [English edition].
