Park, J: Subject Peoples Under the Teutons (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Subject Peoples Under the Teutons

There are at least six races of considerable numerical importance which are living against their will under Teutonic domination. He who can answer the question of what is to become of them holds in his hand the key of world peace. Thus it becomes distinctly worth while to examine brie¿y into the question of how Germany or Austria succeeded in acquiring these large alien elements, how well they have been assimilated, and what problems they will present when the moment comes to make an equitable disposition of them around the conference table. Without a doubt the most important practical business of that conference will be the revision of the map of Europe along the lines of nationality.

The principle of nationality is one of those vague generalities with which the practice of diplomacy so formidably bristles. They are not mere phrases, however, these high-sounding mouthfuls like balance of power, extra - territoriality, and principle of nationality. Our con ception of their exact meanings may be vague, but that is not their fault; and the most important of all - because the most human - is this principle of nationality.' We know what nationality is, but do we fully realize all the factors which compose it? A common country is, of course, the first requisite. Others most commonly found are a common religion; a common language - especially if it has given birth to a literature; and, something most impalpable but none the less compelling, a common tradition or sense of memories shared from the past. Nationality is an instinct and cannot be exactly defined. It is the recognition as kinsmen of those who were deemed strangers. It is the apotheosis of family feeling and begets a resolve never again to separate. It leads to the founding of a polity on a natural basis independent of a monarch or a state, though not in any sense hostile to them. It is much more than a political contract - it is a union of hearts; once made, never unmade.

Now in the case of every one of these six major races it is evident that if the principle of nationality is to be respected reunion must take place between the ravished peoples and their fatherland. But why do we pick on the Germans as the chief offenders? Surely if this principle is correct, Ireland, Corsica and many colonies should be restored to their native peo ples. There is some abstract justice in this viewpoint, but native sentiment, even in Ireland, is by no means unanimous on the point, and it happens, of course, that feeling among the Germanized states is almost entirelyunanimous. After all, the criterion should be contentment. If Canada and Algiers and the Philippines are content to live under the three most gene rous and successful colonizers of the world, who will gainsay their right? But it happens that, since Germany and austria-hungary have governed their subjects in just such a way as we would expect of nations whose war methods we know all too well,* their alien populations restless discontented when not openly rebellious.

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