Germany's Case.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16416, 9 January 1919, Page 6

Germany's Case.

The latest news from Germany contains nothing upon which one can fasten as evidence tnat afi early attainment of political stability is likely. There are good brains in Germany t and men fully competent to work out a good constitution from the examples and experiences of democratic countries like France, Britain, and America, but for the present the problem is to suppress the Bolshevists, and they appear to be dangerously strong. It is to the interests of the Allies that there should be a stable Government in each enemy country with which to conclude peace, but, of course, it is not essential. The character and course of the war, together with the final situation created by the armistice, leave the Allies with a free hand to settle the problems of peace just as they choose. German cooperation and German acquiescence are not actually essential, and there is no obligation of any kind upon the Allies to rescue Germany from the ruin that 'threatens her. It was in great measure due to Germany's tactics that Bolshevism triumphed in Russia, but for the disorders in Germany the Germans themselves are wholly responsible. When the armistice terms were I arranged some Germans foresaw tho i coming revolution and chaos, and I sought to fix the blame on tho Allies beforehand. Thus Prince Lichnowsky denounced the armistice terms as being inspired by a spirit of revenge. "Their strict execution," he said, " would unfailingly lead to misery, " starvation, anarchy, and chaos. No "Government authority," he went on to urge, '-'would be able to ward off "the results of such a situation and " protect all Europe and the entire "civilised world from the infectious "danger of tendencies hostile to order, " and avert the spread of Russian ter- " rorism, which is the greatest and "most dangerous enemy of democracy "and freedom to all other members "of the community of nations." It is possible that Prince Lichnowsky was sincere in his alarmed appeal to Britain, but it is at the same time obvious that the present situation in Germany is in no sense whatever the result of the terms of the armistice. Those terms amounted to nothing more than the removal of the German

Government's power to renew the war, and they did not affect Germany's domestic concerns in' any hurtful way. It causes nobody any satisfaction that the conditions in Germany are what they are, yet it is difficult to feel | much sympathy for a nation which,! while the war went well for it. was | exultantly looking forward to the infliction of extreme misery upon the nations arrayed against it. Nothing has caused greater surprise and disgust than the inability of the Germans to realise that they have incurred heavy liabilities and earned the reprobation and contempt of all civilised peoples. How completely they failed to- understand that the world could not accept Germany as an honourable combatant defeated in a quite normal enterprise was made apparent some time before the cessation of hostilities. On October 20th, for instance, the "Frank"furter Zeitung" was appealing to "the soul of the French people" in language like the following: "On " countless occasions before the war it " was said, and izj many cases proved, "that the German spirit and the " French spirit have much to give one " another, if they are ready to work " together at the progress of man- " kind. This inestimable possession, "to whose blessings the world has a " natural claim, is to-day brought " once more into the sphere of possi- " bilities by tho idea of a League of "Nations. Germany is ready . . .

"Is this the moment to dream of " booty, when the healing of mankind, " now wounded to the death, is in "question?" Of any understanding that Germany is guilty of the fearlul wounds inflicted upon mankind, there is in those Germans for whom the Frankfort papor speaks nob a trace. The world will never be truly healed of its wounds until Germany satisfies the demands of the world, as General Pau insisted in a spoech in Auckland, for contrition, confession, and satisfaction. "We may feel assured that the Germans are quite honestly persuaded of the undesirableness of allowing the rtiined Prussian despotism to rise again, but they have still almost the whole way to travel towards understanding that the world's case against them is far greater than their own case against the Prussian gang.