MR. BLATCHFORD ON GERMAN HATE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2351, 6 January 1915, Page 7

MR. BLATCHFORD ON GERMAN HATE

OPEN LETTER TO ANGRY BANKER Mr. Blatchfbrd, who has aotively assisted the recruiting movement in England, dealt recently with Britain's position in the war by means of a scathing'"open letter" addressed'to Privy Councillor Witting, president of the National Bank of Germany. : Herr Witting stated to an American newspaper correspondent that England brought on this war, and exolaimed, in an outburst,of malvolence, "God, how ffe hate England and the English L"What England Has Not Bone, Mr.-BlatehforiJ's reply is as follows': To.Herr Witting.—Sir,—Having read your angry, statement to the : correspondent of the "New York Sun,". I am tempted to point out to you, • for your own benefit, tbat your violent outbreak of hatred and rage, besides being extremely bad for your health.'.is based upon a misconception of the facts as between Germany and Britain. That you hate us we are well aware; your countrymen have made it plain to us in many ways. In this morning's "Times" I read the statement of a Belgian, lady, just escaped ■ from Bruges. This lady l had a little dog which had been.named Kitchener- ..Your, gallant soldiers seized the little'animal and cut it up,into pieces. Such a malignancy' of hatred and such expression - of that un-Chrißtian fury ought to satisfy, the .quietest business- man in Germany. Yes, you hate us, there is no room for doubt about that.

But when you give your reasons for tho murderous malevolence with which the bulk of your people seem at present to be seething almost to the point of insanity I find myself unable to agre'a with you. • . ; '

You say, Herr Witting, that "Brigland, and England alone, brought on this criminal war, out of greed and out of envy, to crush Germany." If you are not too excited to listen, I will beg leave to point out to you that it was not an Englishman who murdered the Austrian Archduke., It' was not the British who dictated tho Austrian Note to Servia. When Russia, Austria, and Servia seemed to be at a deadlock, and Sir Edward Grey proposed a' conference of the Powers, it was not Britain which held back; it was Germany which refused. Then, again, the British did not ask Germany to declare war with Russia nor with France. At the time when Austria had declared war upon Servia, and when Germany had declared war upon Russia and was mobilising to. attack France, the British Government was still urging peaceupon ell the Powers. These are facts, Herr (Witting, and although, to be frank, we would rather have your hatred than your friendship, preferring the genuine to the spurious artiole, still these facts do not justify the hatred which sou have expressed with so much rhetoric and so little dignity.-

People's Distaste for War. Again it was Germany.and Hot Britain which violated the neutrality of Belgium. ■ You do not explain, Herr Witting, why the Germans invaded Belgium, nor why, having forced a passage and secured their advance, they turned to destroy the Belgian villages and cities and to exterminate the Belgiaii'people. Britain did not wish, for this war; ah'd'tried-to prevent -it.'' I know my countrymen very well (I have reason), and I know that they did notwant war with Germany, and were '.very hard to convince that intentions- were i)ot equally pacific, -Neither'had our people any motives of greed or envy in tHe matter. The British people envied no nation and wished for nothing. . German possessed—hot even her culture. _ The British people were content to jog along in their own easy way. They were what you call "decadent.". . They had no love for the howitzer or for the gooses step, and no desire to domineer over anyone; just a deoadent people, hating swank and bloodshed and loving best their football and their music-halls and their races end their creature comforts. Envy? The country was full of Germans. . ' There were German merchants and German manufacturers and German clerks and managers, and artisans and waiters all over the place, and though most of these Germans were the meanest kind of spies, our people never -suspected and, in fact, would not believe it. Talk of greed! 'We allowed all your goods to come into Britain duty free, although you put up tariffs against ours.

We did not envy.you or covet your possessions. We have great colonies, great Dependencies, a great Empire. We only asked to be let alone. You had no colonies and no Empire worth mentioning. . Why should we lemvy you? Is it not more reasonable'to suppose that you envied us? You assured the world that you needed room for expansion. You said you must.have colonies, and that.the only means for obtaining colonies wa6 the sword. And then you thought it was mean of us to form alliances. You said we wanted to strangle you. And yet you had-a Triple Alliance before we formed our Triple Entente.- Do you hate us for defending ourselves, you who speak so passionately of your determination to defend your own country? ■■-

Pity For France. You told the Amerioan gentleman that • you. only feel pity for France. You inust have a low estimate of- American intelligence.. Do ; you think; the world - has forgotten your rush for Paris, your, desire to seize the French colonies, your, .often avowed intention to so crush France that she could never again oross your path" ? Do you suppose, the French have forgotten how you bullied and insulted them since 1870, how you shelled their cities and burned their villages, and, looted their houses, and outraged their women and murdered their priests? • You call the British mypocrites. You imply that we did not go to war in defence of Belgium, but in defence of our own interests.' Suppose that is tme, what right have you to complain. You say that colonies must be won by the sword and held by the sword. You are out to capture what you may, but when we defend what we have won you call us criminals and hypocrites, and say you hate us. You make a point of our going to the v help of the French. But did notGerv many go to the help of the A.ustrians? What is an allitince worth if one may not heTr> one's allies? On the whole I submit to you, Eerr Witting, that the reasons you give for .» hating us are inadequate, and I suggest that there i 3 another- reason. We have spoiled your game. We have spoiled your deep-laid plan for defeating Europe in detail. You meant to conquer and dismember France and then you meant to. punish us and : plunder our Empire. Like the gentleman in "The Mikado" we "objected," and I suggest that "we were right to so object," and' I understand, and so does all Europe, that the validity of our objection has to be proved by the sword. Your boastings, which, like your fulminations of hate, are somowhat theatrical, leave us cold. We know that in 'order to glut your rage you will shrink from no baseness or savagery in your rabid haste to do us harm. But we do not hate you as you hate us. It is not in our nature to nurse eo black and venomous a malice. We do not hate you, but we do not trust you, and we cannot respect-you. You have earned the scorn and condemnation of all decent •»>epple. Centnriea °f atonement rail

not wash clean the name of Germany. Still, I offer you sound advice. Do not talk so much; you will need your wind when it comes to the in-fighting. Curb your vile temper, consider your liver, Herr Witting; these emotional blizzards, besides being rather contemptible, are bound to ahorten your valuable life. What a loss would that be to loivilisation, to Christianity, to culture.