OPENING OF ARCTIC SHIPPING ROUTES IS CONTINUING

Fox News on August 23, 2017, published an article on how the warming Arctic spurs hunt for riches. The opening of new shipping routes is important. Excerpts below:

From a distance, the northern shores of Baffin Island in the Arctic appear barren — a craggy world of snow-capped peaks and glaciers surrounded by a sea of floating ice even in the midst of summer.

Yet beneath the forbidding surface of the world’s fifth largest island lies a vast treasure in the shape of an exceptionally pure strain of iron ore. The Baffinland mine, part-owned by a local company and ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s biggest steel producers, is believed to hold enough ore to feed smelters for decades.

As climate change pushes the cold and ice a little farther north each year, it is spurring talk of a gold rush for the Arctic’s abundant natural resources, prized shipping routes and business opportunities in tourism and fishing. In April, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reverse Obama-era restrictions on oil drilling.

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The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that up to 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13 percent of oil waiting to be found are inside the Arctic Circle.

Coal, diamonds, uranium, phosphate, nickel, platinum and other precious minerals also slumber beneath the icy surface of the Arctic, according to Morten Smelror, director of the Geological Survey of Norway.

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“The Arctic is certainly among the last frontiers with respect to undiscovered mineral resources, along with the deep oceans,” said Smelror.

Apart from natural resources, the geography of the Arctic also opens up new opportunities. Sailing through the Northwest Passage could potentially cut the distance from East Asia to Western Europe by more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), compared with the traditional route through the Panama Canal, offering huge fuel savings for shipping companies.

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In general, the United States is taking a back seat for now. Washington has yet to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that would regulate territorial disputes, due to concerns among some senators that submitting to international treaties would impinge on U.S. sovereignty.

Despite competing claims and tough talk to home audiences, Arctic nations are cooperating well with each other, said Rachael Lorna Johnstone, a professor of law at the University of Akureyri in Iceland.

“Everyone is following the rulebook,” she said.

Some smaller firms are pressing ahead with business in the Arctic. The Alaska-based company Quintillion is laying a fiber optic cable through the Northwest Passage to provide high-speed Internet traffic to local communities. It would also establish an additional link between London and Tokyo — where two of the world’s main stock markets are located.

The growth in adventure tourism and the lengthening summer season have produced a surge of traffic over the past decade. Last year, the cruise ship Crystal Serenity with 500 crew and 1,100 passengers paying at least $22,000 each for a four-week journey sailed through the passage.

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Climate change is even opening new avenues in agriculture. Mette Bendixen, a climate researcher at the University of Copenhagen, projects that global warming will continue into the 21st century, extending the growing season by two months.

“Not many people know that potatoes, strawberries are grown in southern Greenland,” he said.

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Despite its promise, there are several challenges holding back the development of parts of the Arctic and the use of its resources.

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While Russia and Norway are pressing ahead with new oil and gas projects along their coastlines, the seas off Alaska and northern Canada are much less accessible and any major spill would be difficult and costly to contain.

Shell relinquished most of its federal offshore leases in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea last year, after pouring billions of dollars into exploration efforts over the past decade. Former Shell leases in the neighboring Beaufort Sea have been taken over by an Alaska Native-owned company.

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The rugged nature of the Arctic also slows development. Only 10 percent of the Northwest Passage is surveyed to the highest modern standards, meaning uncharted shallows could pose a serious risk to shipping.

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Cargo hauls to the Baffinland iron ore mine are already restricted to August to mid-October, so as not to disrupt the Inuit’s ability to cross the ice to hunt, fish or trade. Such rules recognize the growing assertiveness of the region’s original inhabitants for a share of its riches, including the protection of local hunting grounds for seals and walruses.

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Daria Gritsenko, a public policy researcher traveling on board the icebreaker Nordica, cautioned that any economic excitement about global warming opening up the Arctic needs to be tempered by an understanding of the risks.

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BBC on August 24, 2017, reported that the first tanker had passed through the Northeast passage without aid of an icebreaker. Excerpts below:

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The specially-built ship completed the crossing in just six-and-a-half days setting a new record, according to the tanker’s Russian owners.

The 300-metre-long Sovcomflot ship, the Christophe de Margerie, was carrying gas from Norway to South Korea.

Rising Arctic temperatures are boosting commercial shipping across this route.

The Christophe de Margerie is the world’s first and, at present, only ice-breaking LNG carrier.

The ship, which features a lightweight steel reinforced hull, is the largest commercial ship to receive Arc7 certification, which means it is capable of travelling through ice up to 2.1m thick.

On this trip it was able to keep up an average speed of 14 knots despite sailing through ice that was over one metre thick in places.

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In 2016, the northern sea route saw 19 full transits from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

High insurance and large fees for Russian ice-breakers are still discouraging some ship owners from the riskier northern route. But the economic benefits are attractive – the Christophe de Margerie took just 19 days for the entire voyage, around 30% faster than going by Suez.

There has been an overall decline in Arctic sea ice over the past 30 years, linked by scientists to rising global temperatures. This year, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), the annual maximum extent of Arctic sea ice hit a record low for the third year in a row.

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100 YEARS OF CRIMES OF COMMUNISM 1917 – 2017

The Post Eagle newspaper on August 24, 2017, reported that in the Estonian capital of Tallinn progress was reported on the progress of the CICROC initiative called for in the Tallinn Declaration of August 23, 2025. CICROC (Council for Investigation of Crimes of Communist regimes). Excerpts below:

Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have now confirmed their cooperation with Estonia toward the establishment of CICROC.

The occasion was the European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Totalitarianism commemorated on the EU level in Tallinn.

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience, Prague, Czech Republic lauded the confirmation of the eight countries.

Information on the Platform

The platform is a non-profit international non-governmental organisation. It was established on 14 October 2011 in Prague by 20 founding Members from 12 EU Member States. The Platform currently brings together 55 public and private institutions and organisations from 19 countries – 13 EU Member States (Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria), Ukraine, Moldova, Iceland, Albania, Canada and the United States of America, active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the totalitarian regimes which befell Europe in the 20th century.

The establishment of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience was endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Through its Members, the Platform of European Memory and Conscience represents at least 200,000 European citizens and over 1,100,000 North American citizens with European roots.

Identifying crimes and criminals

Since 2014, Platform researchers and lawyers have identified several types of crimes against humanity committed during Communism in Europe as well as over 200 potentially living responsible persons, including former members of the politburo of the Communist parties, from at least four countries, today’s Member States of the EU.

“The systematic work of the Platform – bringing to light unpunished international crimes committed during Communism, their surviving perpetrators and victims and asking the international community for prosecution, – is our best argument against those who try to deny today that Communism was a criminal totalitarian dictatorship,” says Platform Managing

Director Neela Winkelmann.

U.S REACTING TO CHINA ECONOMIC WARFARE

On August 24, 2017 The Diplomat published an article on the US Section 301 investigation into China’s intellectual properaty (IP). Excerpts below:

The typology of U.S. trade concerns regarding Chinese appropriation includes:

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China encourages/requires joint ventures between U.S. and Chinese firms that include technology transfer, in order to give U.S. firms access to the Chinese market, and the Chinese workforce.

China’s new cybersecurity procedures force U.S. tech companies to turn over proprietary data and code to the Chinese government in order to operate within China.

China’s failure to enforce extant IP law enables theft of trade secrets.

Chinese investment in technology firms around the world gives it access to cutting edge technology.

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Action against China is broadly popular in the United States [but]Washington has thus far hesitated out of a hope of gaining Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea…

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There are however more concerns in the West than China stealing trade secrets as described above by The Diplomat. The regime in Beijing is actively seeking to dominate manufacturing and processing industries. In Canada and Africa there is concern over attempts of growing Chinese influence operations that sometimes look more like colonization efforts. Finally China is already dominationg global pricing in lithium, rare earths, copper, steel, nickel and iron.

In Waskington Free Beacon Bill Gertz commented on China’s theft of intellectual property on August 15, 2017. Excerpts below:

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“We’re going to be fulfilling another campaign promise by taking firm steps to ensure that we protect the intellectual property of American companies and, very importantly, of American workers,” Trump said in signing a memorandum for U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer.

The directive will set the stage for an investigation into trade practices that require U.S. companies operating in China to provide intellectual property to the Chinese government.

If a formal investigation is launched, it could take several years and potentially result in the imposition of economic sanctions on China.

The president’s action on predatory Chinese trade practices follows the failure by Beijing to rein in its communist ally North Korea.

In July, Trump tweeted, “I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk.”

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The memorandum calls on the USTR office to probe China’s policies, practices, and action regarding forced transfers of American technology and the theft of American intellectual property.

The inquiry could result in a formal 301 investigation, so called after Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act.

The law gives the president broad power, including retaliation, to punish foreign governments that violate international trade agreements or used unreasonable and discriminatory practices that restrict U.S. commerce.

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Trump said Lighthizer was empowered to consider all available options in dealing with the problem.

“We will safeguard the copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property that is so vital to our security and to our prosperity,” the president said.

Trump then added: “And this is just the beginning. I want to tell you that. This is just the beginning.”

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American firms in China have long complained that China requires all U.S. companies operating in the country to provide valuable information that is often then provided to Chinese competitors.

According to business people working in China, many of the Chinese regulations are selectively enforced and used to coerce companies into cooperating with Chinese firms.

Chinese intelligence services also employ hackers who have exploited the Chinese telecommunications system to steal technology in cyber attacks.

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The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a science and technology think tank, praised the president’s action.

Robert D. Atkinson, the foundation’s president, said Chinese trade practices subvert global trade rules and harm the U.S. economy.

“Simply put, China is an innovation mercantilist,” he said. “It tries to gain advantage in strategically important industries by using dubious policies and practices such as coercing competitors into handing over proprietary technologies and intellectual property.”

Atkinson criticized the U.S. government for not doing more to help American businesses in China. “The U.S. response has been to engage in a seemingly endless cycle of ministerial dialogues that mostly have succeeded in eliciting empty promises that China will change its behavior,” he said.

American Enterprise Institute expert Derek Scissors said a 301 investigation would be an important first step in countering predatory Chinese economic policies.

“The coercive transfer and theft of intellectual property may be the single biggest economic harm China inflicts on the U.S.,” Scissors said. “Beijing’s policy has been clear and sustained: acquire others’ innovation by all means available.”

China conducts intellectual property theft through a combination of legal purchase, coerced transfer of intellectual property, and outright theft, he added.

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Former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander noted that five years ago he declared that the theft of American intellectual property was the greatest transfer of wealth in history.

“I believe that statement is even more true today,” Alexander said. “Protecting American innovators is essential to the United States’ economic and national security. This presidential action is an important step towards stopping the theft and forced transfers of American intellectual property, and I support the president in his actions today.”

Michael Pillsbury, director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at The Hudson Institute, also supported the action.

“China’s attack on U.S. intellectual property is a national security challenge of the first order, as well as a persistent check on our economic growth,” Pillsbury said.

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THE WEST NEEDS STRONGER ANTI-MISSILE DEFENSE

The ongoing threats of North Korea against the West makes it clear how the US Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) has been neglected since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In his book ”We Must Defend America – A New Strategy for National Survival” (1983) Lt. General Daniel O. Graham wanted a spaceborne defense for the United States called for the development of a range of weapons. At the center of these proposals was the Global Ballistic Missile Defense I (GBMD I) with 200 – 300 satellites. Each satellite needed a frame, a computer, a sensor, a communications package, a rocket motor and 40-50 small rockets to intercept enemy missiles. The satellites could detect missiles about 1,000 miles ahead.

A GBMD II would be capable of destroying missiles from the first seven minutes of the launch.

Today, almost 30 years later, all thay exists to defend against North Korean and other long range missiles of other challengers to the West is 4 interceptors in California and 32 in Alaska. More of these GMD interceptors are needed as a first step.

A more effective defense than GMD would be a system to shoot down missiles in the initial ”boost” phase, when they move more slowly.

There are today more dangerous challengers to the West than North Korea namely Russia, China and Iran. The need for interceptors in Europe is greater than ever before. From Estonia at the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria at the Black Sea a line of defense against missiles and later more advanced systems should be created. This could be within the framework of NATO.

For European NATO countries the defense line must consist of systems capable of shooting down shorter-range missiles. Also the sea-based Aegis system is of interest .

In the case of China its maritime interests have in the latest decades been i nlocal waters. Now China is expanding into the Pacific Ocean. China’s ally has recently started to threaten Guam, one of the most important American bases in the Pacific.

Varldsinbordeskriget has earlier focused on the strategic importance of American bases in the Pacific. American policy in the Pacific must continue to be based on Alfred Thayer Mahan’s precepts: forward operation bases, positioning assets around choke- points and main sealanes, deploying a navy presence on all seas, and maintaining the capability to intervene at key geostrategic points.

American strategic thinking is further influenced by geopolitician Homer Lea. In his books The Valor of Ignorance and The Day of the Saxon, Lea regarded frontiers as mobile lines. Among these lines would be:

• Japan-Guam-Philippines-Australia.

• Alaska/Aleutian Islands-Hawaii-Samoa.

Lea insisted on the need to rely on forward operation bases in the form of a triangle. “Strategic geometry” was the key principle on which much of his work was based, a strategy that translates quite well into what is currently taking place in the Asia-Pacific region. His argument is that there is a need to take into account:

• The number of triangles the bases will form.

• The frequency with which the main base is at the intersection of these triangles.

• The presence or not of enemy bases inside this network.

• The increase of maritime power leading to an increase in the number of bases.

By forming numerous triangles with Guam as the potential center or node, the United States has actually executing the argument presented by Lea.

Guam as perhaps the most important staging post, allowing rapid access to potential flashpoints in the Koreas and in the Taiwan Strait.

Andersen Air Force Base on Guam was used by B-52 bombers during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. Nuclear attack submarines are based on the island.

The historic background is that Guam was ceded to the US in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.

The North Korean threat to Guam in 2017 show that the dictators in Beijing and Pyongyang are probing ways of expansion into the Pacific.

Preussisk renässans?

Tyskland har efter murens fall upplevt en renässans för den 1945 upplösta staten Preussen, dess historia och kultur. Redan 1986 förde den dåvarande östtyska regimen vid firandet av 200-årsminnet av Fredrik den stores död tillbaka hans ryttarstaty till Unter den Linden i Berlin. Den finns givetvis kvar nu och ser mycket bättre ut efter en grundlig renovering.

Det har skrivits en rad böcker om Preussen under de senaste årtiondena: Sebastian Haffners ”Preussen ohne Legende” (1978), Marion Gräfin Dönhoffs ”Preussen – Mass und Masslosigkeit”. Nya tjocka biografier om Preussenkungarna har kommit ut. Haffner skrev i sin bok att han med den ville befria Preussen från två legender: den ”svarta” legenden, som de allierade skapade 1947 då de upplöste staten Preussen och den ”gyllene”, att Preussen alltid sett som sin uppgift att ena Tyskland.

Större delen av Preussen på Fredrik den stores tid ligger nu i Polen, Ryssland och Litauen. Kvar i Tyskland finns egentligen bara kärnlandet kring Berlin och den omgivande delstaten Brandenburg. Det finns få stater som satt känslorna så i svallning som Preussen. Samtidigt kan man inte jämföra Preussen med Bayern eller Sachsen. Det var i stället ett konglomerat av territorier.

Vilka var då de preussiska dygderna, det positiva: pliktuppfyllelse, lydnad, fromhet, tolerans, trofasthet, öppenhet mot flyktingar, enkelhet. Listan är lång och imponerande.

Fredrik den store var en liberal monark. Landet erkände som ett av de första Förenta Staterna. Ett år före sin död undertecknade Fredrik ett vänskapsfördrag med USA, som av George Washington betecknades som ”det mest liberala fördrag, som någonsin tecknats mellan två oavhängiga stater.” Brandenburg-Preussen tog 1685 emot tiotusentals franska hugenotter och gav dem fristad i Berlin, Stettin och Königsberg (nu ryska Kaliningrad). Från Schlesien, Österrike, Schweiz och Holland kom religionsförföljda till Brandenburg. I den preussiska landsrätten infördes tidigt en rättighetskatalog liknande den som finns i den amerikanska författningen. Likhet inför lagen var inte en tom fras i Preussen.

Preussen var inte heller krigshetsande. En genomgång av krig mellan 1680 och 1940 visar att Preussen-Tyskland förde mindre angreppskrig än England, Frankrike, Spanien och Ryssland. Landet var således inte någon barbarisk soldatstat utan centrum för kultur, litteratur och vetenskap.

Tysklands roll efter 1945 har varit att vårda det goda i det preussiska arvet. 2001 var det utställningen ”Preussen 2001 – en europeisk historia” (Charlottenburgs slott), ”Marksteine: Eine Entdeckungsreise durch Brandenburg-Preussen” (Kutschstall, Potsdam).

Sedan 2001 har det kommit en rad nya böcker om Preussen. En av de viktigaste var ”Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947” av Christopher Clark, ett massivt verk på 816 sidor, som utkom 2006. Den torde ha bidragit till att förändra den anglo-saxiska bilden av Preussen.

The English Protectorate and the Polish-Swedish War 1655-1660

The Polish-Swedish war was to a great extent a war on credit by Stockholm. The number of indigenous officers and soldiers was around 40,000. They would have been no match for the Poles. Thus the Swedish government at the time had to rely on enlisting foreign troops. Gustavus borrowed from noblemen and financiers, Swedish and foreign. Often payment was not forthcoming so the rate of desertion was high. When Sweden was attacked by Denmark during the Polish-Swedish war he attempted to seize the so called Sound Duties collected by Denmark at Elsinore with its Gibraltar of the North, Kronborg Castle. At one point the king even offered Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in exchange for 20 English frigates to serve in the Baltic Sea both the castle and the Sound duties after having taken it and city of Elsinore in 1658.

Below a few notes on some of the English-Scottish regiments fighting for Sweden in the Polish-Swedish war:

Lord William Cranstone’s Infantry Regiment

Lord Cranstone was related to Field Marshal Alexander Leslie.

In the beginning of 1655 the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell gave permission for recruiting of 6,000 to 8,000 men for the Swedish Army. First recruitment did only reach 5,000 – 6,000 and in July 1655 was down to 2,000. In April 1656 the first Scottish recruits arrived in Bremen-Verden, Germany, a territory northwest of Hamburg, Germany, controlled by Sweden.

The first troops arrived in Bremen in April 1656 with 8 companies of 988 men with staff officers Rudwin, Michell, Arnott including the unit’s Lieutenant Colonel and Major. Half the regiment marched in the fall to Prussia. It was later transferred to Pernau in Livonia under Lt. Colonel J. Ogiluy (John Ogelvie?). The second half remained in garrison in Bremen-Verden commanded by Major Jakob (James) Mercer. It remained there in succession commanded by Majors W. Arnott and Patrik Johnston.

In July-August 1656 Cranstones second regiment of Scots arrived in Bremen with 9 companies of in all 832 men and staff (officers Alexander Drummond, Jacob (James) Robertson, George Grantt, Jacob (James) Fraser, Arsken, Ramsay, A. Scrymsner, Ortserston (Orterston), Asmuth (Achmuth). This unit left Bremen in the beginning of September 1656 and it is likely that the regiment was captured at Danzig. They were on a ship with Swedish General H.C. von Koenigsmarck from Wismar to Danzig, when a storm and mutiny forced the ships to land near the city. The Scottish soldiers then volunteered to serve the City of Danzig.

Three companies of the second regiment had remained in Bremen-Verden and 50-60 of Cranstone’s Scots were with the main Swedish army in Denmark (Fredriksodde). Lt. Colonel Ogiluy resigned in November 1657 to return to recruit another regiment. Major Ludvig Lesle (Leslie) on November 30, 1657, received patent to recruit yet an additional regiment of 8 companies with 800 men in England and Scotland. The regiment was to be delivered in Jutland, Denmark. Colonel Cranstone resigned on January 3, 1658 and returned home.

Mentioned 3 times in the muster rolls in 1656-1657 (1656: Vol. 8 and 10, 1657: Vol. 6) in the National War Archive, Stockholm, as “William Cranstones infanteriregemente”.

James Sinclair’s Regiment

Sinclair had been in Sweden for six years and was in May 1655 given permission to recruit an infantry regiment in Scotland of five companies with 100 men each within three months. An English ship arrived in April 1656 with 250 men. In November 1657 they seem to have been in Pomerania and were ordered to march to Lauenburg. The regiment served in Prussia in 1657 and 1658 with what seems to have been 5 companies.

This regiment is not mentioned in the Swedish National War Archive.

David Sinclair’s Combined Cavalry Regiment

Mentioned 6 times in the muster rolls 1655-1661 in the National War Archive as “David Sinclairs sammansatta kavalleriregemente”. No further information on this regiment at this time.

Robert Douglas Cavalry Regiment

This regiment was not Scottish but had a Scottish commander.

Mentioned 4 times in the muster rolls 1659-1660 in the National War Archive as “Robert Douglas’ kavalleriregemente”.

William Vavas(s)ours Infantry Regiment

The Swedish representatives in London (Georg Fleetwood, P.J. Coyet, Krister Bonde and J.F. von Friesendorff) were ordered to recruit 4,000 men in England and Scotland. According to a royal assignment of February 8, 1655, no less that 6-8 regiments of Scots were to be recruited. Fleetwood came to London in June 1655 and the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in 1656 gave permission for recruitment of 2,000 men. The Swedish representatives also conferred with Alexander Leslie, who had been Swedish Field Marshal during the Thirty Years’ War. In October that year 6 companies with 425 men arrived in Bremen with staff Colonel Vavasour in command with Lieutenant Colonel Richard Bohhott (Bolholt), Major Edward Chester. Captains were Bethell, W. Chester and Cotton. The regiment never rose above 500 officers and men. The unit remained in the west (partly in Stade and partly in Buxtehude). Some of Vavasours Englishmen took part in the crossing of the Great Belt in 1658.

A second regiment during the spring of 1657 called for additionally 2,000 Scots and Englismen to be recruited. Vavasour was promoted to major general. In 1657 he travelled to England in March but the ship was captured by Spanish pirates and he was imprisoned in the Netherlands for a while. In November-December he retrurned to Bremen with 300 new recruits. Major was Lesle (Leslie?). This unit later marched to Kiel to strengthen other regiments. Additional 500-600 were to arrive in the beginning of 1658, if ships could be secured in Newcastle.

Mentioned twice in in the muster rolls 1656-1657 in the National War Archive as “William Vavassours infanteriregemente”.

John Lothrop Motley and the Prose Epic of the Reformation

Celebrating German founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, in 2017 is cause for reflection. There is reason to remember the book that is the epic of the Reformation by John Lothrop Motley (1814 – 1877), American diplomat and author.

Motley’s “The Rise of the Dutch Republic” (1900), the prose epic of the Reformation. Motley described the heroic resistance of the Gothic people. It was ethnically closely related to the Anglo-Saxons, against tyranny. The history of the later forming of the Republic of Holland was closely related to the Germanic early history. Although the Germanic system of government was nominally regal, it was in reality democratic. Sovereignty resided in the great assembly of the people. The early Germanics preferred gaining wealth by conquest: “Germanic”, Germann, Herr-mann, War-man. Conquest was the only useful occupation. Agriculture was despised as enervating and ignoble. The Germanics were more fitted for the roaming and conquering life which Providence was to assign to them for ages. The Germanics built his solitary hut where inclination prompted. Close neighborhood was not to his taste. These were the ancestors of Daniel Boone of the American West. Civilized by Christianity this independence was to become the virtue of the hero of liberty. It is part of the mystique of the frontiersman, who carried axe and the ark of religious-political liberty ever westward. He secured the American continent as the homeland of the chosen nation.

It is important to note that the early Germanic had a pure belief. He believed in a single, supreme, almighty God, All-Vater or All-father. This Divinity was too sublime to be incarnated or imaged, too infinite to be enclosed in temples. The Germanic is the embryonic Protestant. The Germanic was loyal. He contented himself with a single wife. The Germanic burial was simple. He was not ambitious at the grave. Only arms and the war-horse of the departed were burned and buried with him. Sometimes the war-horse equipment was buried. The turf was his only sepulcher. The memory of his valor is his only monument. It was a purely spiritual cast of mind and a brave humility. According to Motley the Germanic Batavians of Holland had disappeared but they lived a renovated existence as the free Frisians, whose name is synonymous with liberty and the nearest relation to the Anglo-Saxon. In the Batavian ashes the people developed together a fixed type of character. The great elements were love of freedom, indomitable valor, steadiness, sobriety, industry, receptivity of culture and sagacious intellectuality.

The mission of the Germanic peoples is obvious. Providence has chosen them to prepare the way for their redemptive work among the undeveloped peoples that surround them.

In 1868 Motley spoke on America’s future history (in Motley, Historic Progress and American Democracy, 1869). The determinant is destiny, a secularized term for Providence. The United States appears as the chosen nation:

“This nation stands on the point towards which other peoples are moving – the starting-point, not the goal. It has put itself – or rather destiny has put it – more immediately than other nations in subordination to the law governing all bodies political as inexorably as Kepler’s laws control the motions of the planets…The orbit of civilization seems preordained from East to West…China, India, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Rome, are successively lighted up as the majestic orb of day moves over them; and as he advances still further through his storied and mysterious Zodiac, we behold the shadows of evening as surely falling on the lands which he leaves behind him.”.

Liberation and Reformation could only go so far in the Old World. To a new and uncorrupted nation was to be given the complete emancipation of mankind. Geography, date of discovery, the origin of the settlers, all have been destined to accomplish the result. How is world liberation to be completed? England at the time was becoming a partner of its old colony in the liberation of humanity. After all their peoples were children of the ancient Germanic mother. American democracy, American inventiveness and initiative are the main influences. The steam engine, telegraph, the free school and the daily press had been waiting to appear until the new nation could show its value on an immense scale. Improvements of technology and institutions were effective means of destroying the superstition on which the mystical Babylon rested. “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge will be increased” (Daniel 12:4).