383. Treaties under international law are no more than _the formulated expression of the existent relations of power between States_. If these relations of power have so far changed that the real or imaginary vital interests of one of the States demand and render possible the alteration of such treaties, it is the simple duty of the leader of that State to effect the alteration by all conceivable means, so long as the risk does not appear greater than the anticipated advantage.--EIN DEUTSCHER, W.K.B.M., p. 7. =Might is Right.= (BEFORE THE WAR.) 384. The law of the strong holds good everywhere.--GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 18. 385. What does right matter to me? I have no need of it. What I can acquire by force, that I possess and enjoy; what I cannot obtain, I renounce, and I set up no pretensions to indefeasible right.... I have the right to do what I have the power to do.--M. STIRNER, D.E.S.E., p. 275. 386. Might is the supreme right, and the dispute as to what is right is decided by the arbitrament of war. War gives a biologically just decision.--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 23. 387. Let it not be said that every people has a right to its existence (_Bestand_), its speech, &c. By making play with this principle, one may put on a cheap appearance of civilization, but only so long as the people in question ... does not stand in the way of any more powerful people.--J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 129. 388. It is a persistent struggle for possessions, power and sovereignty that primarily governs the relations of one nation to another, and right is respected so far only as it is compatible with advantage.--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 19. 389. The earth is constantly being divided anew among the strong and powerful. The smaller peoples disappear; they are necessarily absorbed by their larger neighbours.--PROF. E. HASSE, D.G., p. 169. (AFTER JULY, 1914.) 390. It is a base calumny to attribute to us the brutal principle that might is equivalent to right.--PROF. F. MEINECKE, D.R.S.Z., No. 29, p. 23. 391. In the age of the most tremendous mobilization of physical and spiritual forces the world has ever seen, we proclaim--no, we do not proclaim it, but it reveals itself--the Religion of Strength.--PROF. A. DEISSMANN, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 24. _See also Nos. 84, 499._ FOOTNOTES: [35] Frederick the Great's principle was: "When kings want war they begin it, and leave learned professors to come after and prove that it was just." [36] In other words, Bismarck always told the truth when it was absolutely convenient. [37] Reventlow's interpolation. VI ENGLAND, FRANCE & BELGIUM--ESPECIALLY ENGLAND VI ENGLAND, FRANCE & BELGIUM--ESPECIALLY ENGLAND =The False Islanders.= (BEFORE THE WAR.) 392. The climate, the want of wine, and lack of beautiful scenery, have all been obstacles in the way of English Kultur. H. V. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 222.