There is, properly speaking, no great liberal party in the political
arena in Germany. As I have said, the Reichstag is divided roughly
into Conservatives, Roman Catholics, or Centrum, and Social
Democrats. The so-called National Liberal party has in this war
shown itself a branch of the Conservative party, and on some issues
as bitter, as conservative, as the Junkers themselves. Herr
Bassermann and Herr Stresemann have not shown themselves leaders of
liberal thought, nor has their leadership been such as to inspire
confidence in their political sagacity.
It was Stresemann who on May thirtieth, 1916, said in the Reichstag
referring to President Wilson as a peacemaker, "We thrust the
hand of Wilson aside." On the day following, the day on which
the President announced to Congress the breaking of diplomatic
relations, news of that break had not yet arrived in Berlin and
Herr Stresemann on that peaceful Sunday morning was engaged in
making a speech to the members of the National Liberal party
in which he told them that as a result of his careful study of
the American situation, of his careful researches into American
character and politics, he could assure them that America would
never break with Germany.
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