NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15874, 13 April 1917, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE EUROPEAN NEUTRALS

Germany appears to be very just now interesting herself in tho attitude of European neutrals towards the entry of America into the war. Yesterday we dealt in this column with the German intrigues in Spain. The purpose of the Spanish propaganda is clear. It is to so inUuencc Spanish feeling and Spanish opinion that if ever tho moment comes for decision tho "option" may not be exercised to Germany's disadvantage. Tho Germans in Spain, who number some 80,000, have worked indefatigably. They havo had the great bulk of ecclesiastical and of military influence on their side. They havo expended large sums in subsidising the Press and in flooding it with a constant stream of German and Austrian "news." They have traded upon the lack of knowledge amontr the general public of the causes of the war and of the prospects of tho Allies. But the intrigues which have'been carried on in lS<pain have had their counterpart in other neutral countries, with tho difference that in certain cases tEo German _ policy has been more one of intimidation than of cajolerv. This particularly applies to Holland and Switzerland, where tho concentration of German troops on the frontiers has been tantamount to a threat.

HOLLAND'S ATTITUDE. When Holland refused to follow the example of President Wilson and break off diplomatic relations with Germany as a protest against her unrestricted submarining, thero was no intention on the part of the Dutcli nation to countenance Germany's sea barbarity. Holland is in a very different position to America, and a severance on her part of diplomatic relations would have inevitably meant an immediate German invasion. There would have been #no chance of halting half-way with Germany's armies standing ready on the frontier. - But whilo Holland has swallowed innumerable insults and has been content merely to' protest when her ships liave been sent to the bottom of the sea, sho has not hesitated to show her detestation of the pirate's methods. If tho Press can be taken as the voice of the people, and in Holland's case it, broadly speaking, can, Holland is only held back from making war on Germany by fear of suffering the fate which has befallen other small nations which have dared to knap tlieir fingers at the mailed fist. Here are two comments from the most influential Dutch organs made at the time of America's break. The "Telegraf" says: —

The timo has come, now or never, when the Dutch nation must seriously ask itself on which side its interest lies safest, and the rdply to this, question is not doubtful. We have as regards both to-day and tomorrow everything to expect from the Allies. " They may have put difficulties in our way, but ihey have not torpedoed our ships, and do not threaten to murder our sailors and passengers. They arc also fighting for the freedom of our country. It is, therefore, best to remain on a good footing with tho Alließ, and if we wish to maintain good relations with tliem wc must protest more strongly and energetically than heretofore when one of our ships is sent to the bottom of the sea. Tho "Handelsbad" is no less, emphatic. It declares: — "There is no need to point out that Germany's new measures at sea are at variance with all international law. The one question always is whether we can save our lives,* independence, and honmir without war. If the rumours which have reached us during the last few weeks of German troop concentrations and fortifications on our eastern frontier contain any truth, then one asks ,whether there is not perhaps some connexion botween this and the new submarine -war, and whether Germany is not convinced that, this question ~will be answered affirmatively by

our Government." The journal hopes that the Dutch Government, after deliberation -with all other neutral States, will devieo measures to oppose as strongly as possible this far-reaching wnr measure of Geimanv.

[NORWAY'S FRIENDSHIP FOR THE ALLIES.

The position of the Scandinavian countries is very similar. Norway in particular has littlo love for tho Germans, and probably is more in sympathy with the Allies than any other European neutral. Tho German Emperor's cruises in the Norwegian fjords, in. which his yacht was frequently accompanied by warships, were not welcomed by the Norwegians before the war. The opportunity tor spying which these visits provided was not lost upon tho Norwegians, who made no attempt to hide their suspicions. "This," says a: writer in the Tx»ndon "Daily Chronicle/' "is instructive in view of recent happening*. The wild outbursts of Germany at the refusal to allow her submarines in territorial waters gives point to the Norwegian suspicions that the visits of the German warships were concerned with tho spying out of certain bases of operation for the future. There is this to add about the present situation in Norway, that, while the Norwegians continuo to emphasize their place as an independent neutral they manifest in a hundred incidental ways their kinship in thought and race and ideals with ourselves. Portraits of King George and of our naval and military commanders are frequent in the shop windows of Bergen and Christiania. Throughout those towns I saw but one picture of tho Kaiser. The word 'London' or 'English' was frequently attached to goods in .order to aemonstrato 'their superiority. Everywhere an Englishman is received -with an open cordiality there is no mistaking." BOXNINGTON'S IRISH MOSS. To break up a cold quickly, there is nothing so effective as this well-known temedy. It is thoroughly efficacious, and equally good for young and old."'