NATURALISATION—PUERILE HUMBUC.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2649, 21 December 1915, Page 8

NATURALISATION—PUERILE HUMBUC.

Sir,—The childish credulity of the average Britisher makes him a laughingstock to the world in general, and no-, thing oauses more merriment to foreigners than his unbounded faith in the efficacy of naturalisation, which Englishmen regard as capable of converting the lieart, religion, and sympathies of the alien to that of their own country. When an alien comes to, say, New Zealand, he does so with the idea of benefiting his financial position, and for the same reason later on he applies and obtains letters of naturalisation. The foundation of every country , in the world is'religion, and history proves that the most irreligious people, if once their religion is attacked, will fight to the death, in defence of same. Tho Teutons, from their point of new, are ap essentially religious nation. Their Trinity is represented by their "Kaiser," "Country," and "God" in the order named. What we would regard as diabolical cruelty and unpardonable breach of honour, if not carlied out by a German when he knows that his Kaisor requires him so to do, would bo regarded by the Teuton as an unpardonablo crime. Blood is thicker than water, and religion has even greater power than blood: therefore, our . Prussian enemies should not be judged from our standard of mortality and ethics. Such being the case, in a war ' li'ce tho present, tlio naturalised Ger--1 man —"for tho time being"—should ho ; regarded as a non-naturalised Teuton. . In an ordinary war the laws and conilij tions attached to naturalisation can be . carried out as Uio law contemplated,i hut when two nations are iiglitinc to n ■ finish,' absolute financial ruin and de- • gradation hoing the certain termlnaUion to the vanauished is abauri

to assume that any subjects of those 1 vitally-interostcd nations can look on J and remain neutral.

An American who was in Berlin--when | tho war iirst Broke out tells how an | elderly Englishman who was married to a Gorman woman, aud who had lived in Germany since lie was ten years of age, was treated. When, brought up along with other aliens before the officer in charge, ho pleaded not- to be interned, stating tho above reasons. The oificcr, however (who was a connection of this American's), did not reply, and tho Britisher, along with the others, wob marched away under a file of soldiers. _ Turning to thoAmcricaii, tho Teuton said, "If that Englishman had tho chance to assist his country and did not do so, he would be a traitor to., the land of his birth, and should bo bh— down by his own people: If, the Germans thought that he wus assisting their enemies, they would shoot him at once, therefore interning him is the only way to save his life." To the American's, question, ro naturalised Germans in England, the officer replied with a laugh: "These are the very best secret service men we have. The wealthier and more influential the man, the greater the service he can render. We hear everything that takes place in the London War Office, directly the Ministers themselves know of it. Without these men it is hard to say what we could do> We don't put Englishmenin these places of trust; we understand human nature too well for that." How true are the views expressed by this German is evidenced by the following facts: —There is at the present moment, and has been for several years past, living in one of our leading centres, a German, drawing a substan- | tial salary, who is married to a German wife. Neither this man nor his wife has ever been known to utter anything other than loyal sentiments towards Great Britain. When the war broke out they were most sympathetic with the unfortunate Belgians, and lauded .England for having come to their assistance. When the news arrived that the Luoitania had been torpedoed in the Channel, they were both 'horrified at the unprovoked and diabolical cruelty of the Teutons, and expressed great thankfulness that they were British subjects. They also have been most generous in their gifts for the benefit of our soldiers, Tho younger branches of: this familv, however, are not possessed of the same discretion as their parents, and when playing with their schoolmates tchen the war first broke out, made it clear thai "they all hoped the German ships would soon come and take possession of New Zealand," s while another of the same family, later on, said: "We are all very sorry for the Americans who went down in the Lnsitania, but it served the English people quite right; as they were nothing but, murderers, and had started the war with a view to taking possession of Belgium." The parents of these children are naturalised, arid are regarded as loyal British subjects, otherwise they would have been interned long since. Better an open enemy than a disguised foe.—l am, etc., BRITISH BORN'.