If  the  future  of  the  German  Em-
pire lies,  as  the  German  Emperor
maintained,  upon  the  water,  it  would
seem  to  be  at  least  as  certain  that
the  past  history  of  that  part  of  Cen-
tral Europe  now  included  in  the  Em-
pire has  been  largely  Influenced  and
in  part  perhaps  determined  by  water:
not  indeed  by  the  water  of  the  Baltic
or  the  North  Sea,  but  by  the  water
of  the  rivers,  which  now,  as  of  old,
are  the  natural  and  cheapest  means
of  transport,  and  at  times  have  also
formed  natural  divisions.  It  is  only
necessary  to  recall  such  catchwords
and  phrases  as  "there  must  be  no  line
of  the  Main"  (that  is  to  say,  the  par-
ticularist  or  separatist  tendencies  of
North  and  South  Germany  must  bi>
made  to  disappear),  or  "the  Junkers
East  of  Elbe"  (that  is,  the  land-own-
ing and  ultra-conservative  squires  of
Eastern  Prussia),  or  "the  line  of  the
Llppe"  (which  forms  an  almost  com-
plete division  between  the  seats  of
the  poorer  Evangelical  and  wealthy
Catholic  landlords  and  nobles  of
Westphalia),  to  see  that  even  today
rivers  play  a  great  part  not  only  in
the  unity  of  the  Empire  but  also  In
Its  internal  divisions  and  dissensions.
The  Germans,  their  ambitions,
achievements,  methods,  men  and
manners  are  so  continuously  the
topic  of  private  conversation  and
public  debate  in  English-speaking
countries,  that  sometimes  there  is  a
tendency  to  forget  the  outlines  of  the
map  of  the  Germany  of  today.  In
fact,  "you  forget  the  map"  is  apt  to
be  one  of  the  complaints  made  hy
German  newspaper-writers  and  even
German  statesmen  when  defending
German  military  budgets  against  the
charge  of  Jingoism.  So  it  is  well  to
begin  with  the  map.
