NEUTRALS AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2717, 11 March 1916, Page 12

NEUTRALS AND THE WAR

PRESS OPINIONS

(From the latest European Symposiums) Tho actual scope aud intensity of public-sentiment in Rumania in favour ol : the luitonte Powers is vividly portrayed by the special correspondent of tl . lu . ."Russko.ve &U>vo," who is now visiting Bucharest. His exhaustive injustified but 0110 conclusion, viz., that tho Rumanian people, withliisignUicaut exceptions, are on the sido ol tno linteiite, and are resolved sooner or later to. participate in tho struggle against the Central Powers. In the words of a leading publicist, "the preservation of her neutrality till the cud of the war is excluded from the domain of possibility." It is noteworthy tnat even the siuall coterie of Germanophiles like M. Marghiloman and M. Carp do not venture to advocate active aid to Germany, hut meiely urge strict neutrality. Just as beforo Bulgaria's debut against the Kiucnto only those wilfully blind to facts could ignore the outspoken sympathy ol' tho Bulgars for (iermany, so now it would be ludicrous to ignore Rumanian love and sympathy for all things French. 'lhe question, .is to whether a partial demobilisation of the Netherlands army or the granting of leave 011 a big scale, is not possible, is being seriously raised in several quarters. Thus the "Yaderlaiider" (Liberal) urges that this is not only of economic and financial importance, but is in tho interests of tiro army itself, which must be demoralised by too long mobilisation, The paper therefore expresses tho hope that-the Minister of War will seriously consider partial demobilisation and suggests that lioyernment and Parliament might have private discussions on the subject. Discussing tlio 6aine subject, the \ oik (Socialist) says: "It appears from the utterances of papers of the most diverging tendencies that there is a feeling that, without a shadow of danger, a considerable part of our forces, might be sent liome, provided t'liey held themselves in readiness to retake their places at the first call. The enormous financial burden winch the. mobilisation entails 011 tho country necessitates a serious consideration of tho question." Tile "Maasbodo" (Roman Catholic) believes that the possibility of demobilisation follows logically from tho abolition oi- the "political truce." "When Uio Government gives the signal for the, resumption of political activity," the paper says, "it declares our neutrality out of danger . . . and it might bo supposed that a demobilisation on a large scale would at once follow." . the other hand; Dr. Kuyper. writing in the ''Standard" ' (Anti-Revolu-tionary], questions whether the, position has so materially changed that Holland could all at onco do with half the- men. In any case it is tho army authorities who must judge, and if 011 their advice the Cabinet declares "Not jet I tho Chamber will*be safest in ao quiesciiig. That is, the paper says, if the Cabinet does not abandon the partv truce; if it does; it loses its authority 011 this point also. A Government- regulation relating to | the coming sugar crop provides that the exports of beet roots grown in. the Noth- | erlands shall oe prohibited, with tho exception that exemptions may be granted tor beet roots grown in the irontier . region. The prohibition of the export ot sugar is maintained, save ti pc /T ts are obtained from the Minister ot. Agriculture on conditions that are specifiod in detail ouch sensational m-elations of German plans m Spaia are being made by ~ { of articles headed A Liberal Cannot be Germanophil," now appearing in "El Pais," tlmt it was expected that the nowspaper would bo conhscated, m view of tho attitude lutheito taken by the Government to* [yards attacks on any belligerent nation likely to react -on official neutrality-, t?• V oza, 'o has now published six ot his series without let or hindrance. lho popular Republican writer states that Liberals of every shade of opinion, from Republicans and Socialists to Liberal-Conservativ.es and Democratic Monarchists, and even the Dynasty it.self, are united together in theii heartfelt sympathy with the Allies, and, above all, with Franco, and' England, And twice over 111 successive articles he says that King Alfonso so fully appreciates that part played by France with her revolutionary ideals and by England with her: money and her blood (in the I oiunsula War) in paving tho way for his branch of the Bourbons to reiect Absolutism and accept the Constitutional Throne, that he wished to take Ills army into the field alongside the Allies, and to place himself at its head. But, says Sr. Lozano, and l ho brines an overwhelming array of historical tacts and figures in support of his assertion, the Spanish Reactionaries have never ceased to intrigue with Austria and Germany to restore the Absolutist branok or the Bourbons, known to* Europe, at--largo as that of Don Carlos; tho old Pretender, and now that it is the Kaiser who stands for Absolutism in the eyes of the world, the Reactiontry Spanish Clericals, notwithstanding that the Kaiser is "the Pope of Luth" eramsm and has swept Catholic Belgium with a sea of fire," have placed themselves on masse 011 the side of Germany, because Willielm II in his hatred of Spanish liberty—the gift to Spain of France and England—is ready to move Heaven and earth "to aid the Reactionaries to bring about civil war in Spain for the third time in their efforts to make tho Pretender Don Jaime King of Spain." These articles are creating an extraordinary sensation in tho country. Groups of working men may be secii tearing copies of "151 Pais" from tho vendors' hands in their eagernoss to road fresh chapters of Lozano's bitter indictment of the hatedi Jesuit-Germajio-phile policy, while men of leisure who quite recently proclaimed themselves "strictly neutral" are now procuring "El Pais" and' hotly condemning the Gorman intrigues exposed 1 witli such a mastery of evidence and diction by the Republican journalist. It is only fair to say that- Don Jaimo himself repudiates the campaign of his so-called supporters, his sympathies having all along been with France in the struggle, while there is a large and growing party among the Spanish clergy who are loyal to the existing regime. But there is no room for doubt "that the Reactionaries, lod and financed by' Germany, were organised for action lrnjr before the war began, although many grossly over-estimated tho strength of the Absolutist minority 111 Spain.