atriotism does not consist of flowery speeches and assertions, but in
the effort dutifully to accomplish that for which one is best qualified.

It seemed to me that I was truly showing my love for the Fatherland by
writing my books to the best of my ability.

But the source of this reproach was very evident to me. The cause could
be traced to a quality which I share with many of my compatriots. It
must, in truth, be called a particularly characteristic trait. This is a
very earnest desire for and love of justice, which is not satisfied
simply to "recognize," but endeavors thoroughly to understand the
material and spiritual points of view of the other nations in order to
show them the proper appreciation.

It is natural to develop affection for that which one earnestly desires
to understand.

Many Germans have had the experience that they have rather overzealously
commenced by weighing the good of a foreign people in the balance with
the good of their own, and with well-nigh fanatic honesty they have
ended by acknowledging their own shortcomings compared to the merits and
advantages of the foreign nation. There have been instances when some
foreigner has drawn our attention to this or that particular weakness
and immediately innumerable of my countrymen assented, saying,
"Certainly it is true, the criticism is just, matters are probably even
worse than they have been represented."

Many of us, and I acknowledge I am one of the many, have developed a
form of ascetic mania for self-abasement, a desire for truth which knows
no limits in the dissection of its own condition and the disclosure of
social and personal shortcomings and disadvantages. This tendency may be
easily discerned in much of the German literature of the past twenty
years; also, in my books.

The individual is really always the symbol of the whole, and the
thoughts and feelings of one person are but the expression of strong
forces in national life and culture. It was not want of patriotism, but
an unbounded love for the universality of European culture which drove
us, drove many thousand people with German souls, to reach out over the
boundaries of our own Fatherland for intellectual conquests, for
permeation and coalescence with all the world's riches, goodness, and
beauty.

We loved the others; and believing ourselves among friends we were
candid and disclosed our weaknesses.

*Germans Trusted Too Well.*

We permitted criticism and criticised