' ( THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 509.4-3 OAK ST. HDSF 1 Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. * I GERMANY AND ITS EVOLUTION IN MODERN TIMES GERMANY AND ITS EVOLUTION IN MODERN TIMES B\ HENRI LIGHTENBERGER Maitre de Conferences d la Sorbonne TRANSLATED FEOM THE FEENCH BY A. M. LUDOVICI NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND GOMPANY 1913 PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND TINET, LD. LONDON AND AYLESBURY, ENGLAira. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION — Religious and scientific mental outlook The development of rationalism—Modern antagonism between religion and science —Repugnance of Germany to radical solutions . xiii-xxv BOOK I ECONOMIC EVOLUTION CHAPTER I THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM OF CAPITALISTIC ENTERPRISE Beginnings of the capitahstic system in Germany—The ideal of sustenance—Development of free enterprise—Economic emanci- pation of Prussia after Jena .... pp. 3-7 Stages in the development of capitalism—Germany at the be- ginning of the century—Period between 1800 and 1848— Economic stride after 1848—Speculative madness after 1870 —The triumphs of German industry at the end of the century ........ pp. 7-17 CHAPTER II THE EFFECTS OF THE SYSTEM OF ENTERPRISE UPON THE OLD FORMS OF INDUSTRY — I. Domestic industry Disappearance of domestic work among the peasantry—The domestic industry of the country districts —The great domestic industries of the towns . pp. 18-22 II. The trades—Their ancient organisation—Gradual dissolution of V •' • » ' ^ i ( ") I vi CONTENTS the guild system—The craftsman's work menaced by the com- — of petition of great industries Economic and social decadence the artisan class . • PP- 22-27 CHAPTER III THE EFFECT OF CAPITALISTIC ENTERPRISE UPON AGRICULTURE — tlie — Agrarian evolution Increase of production during century The law of the concentration of capital not applicable to for collec- agriculture—Substitution of private exploitation — —Its results tive exploitation Liquidation of feudal property — for the large landowners and for the peasantry Evolution of customs in the rural class .... pp. 28-36 — : of The Agrarian crisis Its causes competition new countries, the debt on landed property—Its effects on the nobility and the peasantry—Diminution of the importance of agriculture in the life of the nation ..... pp. 36-47 CHAPTER IV SOCIAL EVOLUTION Social effects of the system of enterprise—The old classes : the the —The modern classes : nobility, the middle class, people — the aristocracy of enterprise and the army of labour Forma- tion and evolution of the proletariat in Germany pp. 48-57 General results of the economic evolution—The good and evil of — tho the system of enterprise Signs of a reaction against system of um-estricted competition . pp. 57-61 BOOK II POLITICAL EVOLUTION CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM OF GERMAN LIBERTY AND UNITY at the of the —Absence 1 . Weakness of Germany beginning century of unity and hberal institutions . pp. 65-72 II. Austria—Metternich's policy of stability—Austria hostile to the movement toward unity and Liberalism . pp. 72-76 CONTENTS vii III. Pnissia—Prussian power—Sympathy of Prussia with the desire for — unity The Prussian monarchy and Liberal aspirations : its — evolution towards— a constitutional system Reforms of Stein and Hardenberg The divided state of Germany . pp. 7G-85 CHAPTER II THE IDEALISTIC STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY AND UNITY I. The beginnings of Liberalism—Its original idealistic character— " " The organic evolution of political institutions in Prussia— " " The inorganic character of the political evolution of the southern states of Germany .... pp. 86-101 II. The evolution of Liberalism—Nationalistic tendencies—Radical tendencies ...... pp. 101-104 III. — — The Revolution of 1848-49— Its explosion in Germany The Parliament— of Frankfort Its impotence against the German princes The futility of its efforts to realise German unity— The reasons for this failure . pp. 105-113 CHAPTER III THE FOUNDATION OF GERMAN UNITY I. The new turn of mind—The development of the realistic and positive spirit—Bismarck the typical representative of the realistic era : his will to his intellectual power ; lucidity ; his nervous sensitiveness ..... pp. 114-120 II. The realisation of German unity—The conquest of Germany by Prussia—The Zollverein—Failure of the Union—The reaction in — Germany— and in Prussia The restoration of Prussian—power The struggle for supremacy with Austria : Sadowa The war of 1870: its causes; responsibility for it of France and Germany respectively—The restoration of the German Empire ..... pp. 120-137 CHAPTER IV THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND HER FOREIGN POLICY I. European policy of Germany—Its pacific tendencies—The necessity for developing the power of Germany—France and viii CONTENTS Germany after 1870—The German army—Germany's alliances —Armed peace ...... pp. 138-148 " " II. Universal policy— Greater Germany —Germans outside Ger- many—German interests abroad—Constitution of a colonial empire PP- 149-157 III. German imperialism—Nationalism and imperialism—The con- in — flicting interests of agriculture and industry Germany The Government as arbitrator . pp. 157-165 CHAPTER V THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND HER HOME POLICY I. The internal hfe of Germany—Increasingly realistic conception of the idea of party : conflict of principles changed to conflict of classes and interests .... pp. 166-169 II. The Sociahst Party—Utopian Socialism—Evolution towards an increasingly' practical activity—Revolutionaries and re- formers—Syndicalism .... pp. 169-175 III. The Liberal Party—Its idealistic beginnings—It becomes the middle-class party—Evolution of the National Liberal Party : it becomes the poUtical organ of the great industries pp. 175-179 IV. The Conservative Party—Its behef in authority and its par- ticularism—Positive ambitions of the Conservatives—Their reconciliation with Bismarck—They constitute themselves the defenders of agricultural interests : the Bund der Land- wirte ....... pp. 179-184 V. The Cathohc Centre Party. ... pp. 184-185 VI. General results of the evolution of parties—Decadence of parliamentary hfe—Disappearance of all political idealism— The parties and the Emperor . pp. 186-190 CHAPTER VI MODERN POLITICAL IDEALISM I. Education poUcy—Gradual secularisation of public instruction— Nevertheless, the Church keeps some influence over teaching— Increasingly realistic and democratic character of modern teaching ....... pp. 191-199 II. Social poHcy— Social associations and protection of workmen —Intervention of the German State in the social question— Social pohcy of Bismarck : the social insurance laws—Acces- sion of William II : era of reforms and subsequently of reaction—Renewal of social idealism in the Germany of . to-day pp. 199-210 CONTENTS ix BOOK III THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT CHAPTER I THE RENAISSANCE OF CATHOLICISM IN GERMANY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY " I. The development of scientific rationalism transforms the re- " ligion of the modern man . pp. 213-2M II. The decline and revival of Roman Catholicism at the beginning of the nineteenth century—Reformed Catholicism—Apparent decUne of Roman Catholicism—Reaction towards positive forms in religion—The alliance between the Throne and the Altar " " against the Revolution—The struggle for Catholic liberty —The decline of reformed Catholicism—The romanticist move- ment favoiu-s the progress of Catholicism among the elite— in of the nation Progress of CathoHcism the lowest layers ; the Catholic associations .... pp. 2I4-23G CHAPTER II THE PROGRESS OF CATHOLICISM DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I. The triumph of Roman Catholicism over reformed Catholicism " " —Hermesianism—The German Catholic movement—The " " Old CathoHcs pp. 237-240 II. Conflicts between the Church and the State—The gradual emancipation of Catholicism during the first sixty-five years of the nineteenth century—The conflict between the power of the Pope and the new German Empire—The Kulturkampf —The reconciliation between the Centre and the Government— The Centre as a government party—William TI. and Catho- " " " licism—" PoUtical and ideahstic Catholicism pp. 240-250 X CONTENTS CHAPTER III THE PROTESTANT SPIRIT " I. Fundamental tendencies of Protestantism—Catholic semi- " " " rationalism and Protestant irrationalism —Protestantism proclaims the independence of reason and faith—It tends to conciUate science and rehgion—Definition of the domains of rehgion, metaphysics, and morality . pp. 251-258 II. Protestant mysticism—The mystic element in the religion of Luther—Pietism : its fundamental characteristics—Its evolu- tion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—The awakening—Modern and contemporary pietism pp. 259-268 III. Protestant —Gradual of subjectivism crumbling away dogma ; radical subjectivism of Schleiermacher—Gradual elimination of the historical elements from Christianity ; the rationalism of the eighteenth century—the mythical interpretation of the Bible stories—Religion stripped of its absolute character pp. 268-279 IV. Attempts to reconcile science and rehgion—The rationahsm of the eighteenth century—The idealism of the nineteenth —Kantianism modern evolution of idealis tic century— ; philo- sophy- Contemporary Protestant idealism . pp. 279-290 CHAPTER IV THE PROTESTANT CHURCH I. Protestant orthodoxy—Restoration of the idea of orthodoxy— Orthodoxy and pietism in the nineteenth century—Conflict between the "positive" tendency and the "negative" ten- dency pp. 291-297 II. The Protestant Church—The idea of a Church in the Middle Ages—Protestantism replaces the institution of an ecclesi- astical