GERMANY, THE OUTLAW

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 253, 13 July 1918, Page 2

GERMANY, THE OUTLAW

ANTI-HUMAN POLICY ENEMY OF TRUE CIVILISATION (By Header..) Gei'many. deems herself tho superior and chosen nation, nnd accordingly hns no desiro to bo in communion with tho other nations. Sim belongs, in liuiuti and appearance only, to that civilisation which sho thinks slio has surpassed; sha' utill retains tho benefits and advantages of it, but only on condition that she rids herself of whatever she considers to Im an obstacle, or difficulty in her way of universal domination. Consider closely how blio prepared the war, how she declared it, how sho conducts it, and you will perceive that sho recognises no common law or measure between her and the other nations; that sho feels heraolf no longer bound by the moral and international code of humanity, and that all acquisitions made, all progress accomplished for the honour of tho hum in race, aro in hei eyes null and void, and that sho prides herself as being vciil , /. "über alles," above all, not only superhuman but supernational. A Fore-War, Thus, to curry out her designs more surely, uhe, in time of peace, waged a fore-war, by universal espionage, by the invasion of markets, manufactures, and banks, by tho occupation of commercial, industrial, and financial situations, by tho propaganda and imposition of whatever was German, by intervention in tho interior domain, in public and social lite, in literature, science, art, and tho Press of the different countries.' Thus, again, regardleKß of tho treaties sho had signed, of tho solemn guarantees she had given, elm olaimod from Belgium the light of passage through her territory, as through a jointly-owned property, where, rcfusil to one, so mighty was out of the oueslion. V Farther, in her declarations of war, sKft sought—but in vain—to throw the blamo on others, when the responsibility was entirely her own. Finally, to hastenthe oonclusion and to insure a prompt victory, which she deemed absolutely certain, she gave to the war (by the barbarity of the engines employee!, by the cruelty of hor dealings with non-combatarts, by arson, pillago and systematic destruction of the works of art and of sacred edifices) a character utterly opposed to the rights cf iiattons and all the conventions of mankind, so nobly consscraied by tho acts of Tho Hague Conferences, Downright Monstrosity. Thcro was, by tho will of Germany, an ostentation not only of •nhunanity, but of downright monstrosity, by renewing the, practice, of ancient slavery, under the Dame of civil prisoners and hostages, by iraids aid Zeppelins, by tho absolutely disloyal and barbarous enterprises of submarine varfaro. Germany, having transformed herself, by the snell. and magic of wliat ehe calk»d "organisation," into a sort of monster of culture, made ih hor point of honoujr and glory to produce and inaugurate in this war the worst refinements of slaughter and destruction, tho Zeppelins, the submari ines, tho asphyxiating gasee, tho guns of enormous calibre, and to use them against unfortified towni, ''suing boats and trawlers. It is hero I hat one seea more clearly her determination to break with all liuman laws and iißnws, her pretension of belo.Wii;; to another species, titanic or devilish, with which humanity has nothing in common. The Spirit of Evil. That, under thsse condition, she should show astonishment at having brought upon .herself tho ratrcd -if tho whole world, and should, liko von der Goltz, consider thin unanimity of hatred to bo an enigma, is anoth.ir most iignificant proof of the abyss she has opeued between herself and the rest of the world. In the doctrine and system she has adopted she has doomed and devoted hc*.eelf to evil doings. She like the Faust of Goethe, tho' sulnit' of evil, the spirit which denies, end of course the spirit that lies. At thi> vovy time when sh,o'proclaims heisel- superior and victorious she never relies on the truth. If sho hns organised throughout the imi- ■ verse a universal propaganda its purpose has beei not tlw truth, but lies. And as the Ha/ keeps continually contradicting himself, so iloos «hc. At tho beginning of the war sl.e bluuicd Russia for provoking it. A few weeks later she laid the blame on England and declared that she ought, to be punished by God for it, as tjx> German formula has it, "Gott strafe England." Similar variations as regards Belgium and tho violation of neutrality. , On the first day, Bethmann-HollwcK and von Jagow admitted—tho one before the Reichstag and tho English Ambassador; the other before the Belgian Minister—that Germany had, indeed, infringed the right of nations aud violated her treaty, but she hud been forced thereto by necessity, and necessity knows no law. Then they altered their minds and discovered, _ in socalled archive documents, that it was Belgium herself that bad violated hor neutrality by appealing to England. Not only did the Chancellor unblushingly contradict himself, but ho actually returned to the subject, like a malefactor that prowls' about the place of his crime. ■ Especially Lies, When he tries to call up history, to recaill the negotiations engaged with England for the limitation of armaments, for an agreement preventive of neutrality, ho alters texts, interyerts roles, and calumniates the co-negotiator whom ho could not. dupe. His speeches iu tho Reichstag, from August j<, l!)li, to the prtsent date, aro a prodigious collection of admissions, denials, apologies, contradictions, repetitions, and especially lies. All German intellectuality, personified in tho 93 signatories olj the famous manifesto of culture, combined to uffiriu that those lies were the truth, and to claim solidarity with these crimes in the name of "culture." At .the seat of war, the same invariable recourse to lies provailed. ' Not only did tue communiques of the General Staff and of tho Agencr, Wolff constantly pervert the facts, but even the German officers disguised themselves, borrowing the ejiemy's uniform, faked tho banner and flags, used fraudulently the Geneva Cross,, pretended to vaiefc thoir arms and surrender, and killed the prisoners and finished tho wounded. Cut Herself Off. In a world where respect for truth, where a strict correspondence between speech and action is the solo warrant and gauge of social relations, Germany has systematically undermined and .ruined this fundamental requisite fo'r man's life in ■moiety. And thus, while she exploits the civilised world, sho hns cut herself otf from it. Her motto—the very opposito of tho fine maxim of Terentius: Homo sum, humani nihil a me aliomim puto: "I am a man, and whatever is human is not foreign to me" -is, as JMlimnnn-Hollweg crudely translates it, this: "Wo have done with sentimentality." Happily Immunity thinks difi ferently: it continues to side with those who defend ils ideal and rights. It recognises itself in the Allies, wherefore, n ! (his war, while hatred has been' felt by the liuman race for Germany, the Al'ies havo met with' sympathy and gratitude, nay, have conce.ntrated in themselves Ihe admiration and hope of the world. Each of the Allies, while il, fighls for its eounI Iry, for its liberty, and its life, feels its cause to bo strengthened and ennobled not only by the help it gives to ils comrndei in ths si niggle, but also by Hie service rendered even to such as arc. not combntants, and yd by the Allies escapo the yoke and the absorption which tlir-y arc threatened with by German pride and greed. „. I Aims of the Allies. What we Allies offer lo the world is not unity by (lorninn organisation in ser- ; yitnde, but the freedom of nations, the I independence of .States great and small, l:hn respect for national civilisation, the union in the thoughts, sentiments, and aspirations which aro common to all mankind. While Germany that brougnt on ihe war is pursuing her plan of nnii versa 1 ctinn,iics(, Franco, claims, with tho 1 vindication of right, tlift restoration of tho Iwo provinces wrested from her. Russia defended, for a time, until chaos intervened, the independonco of Serbia and

the rights of threatened Slavism. England drew the- sword for the independent ot Belgium and the liberty of the world Italy, ridding herself of an alliance in which 6ho wus sacrificed, liberates tlio lands which had been torn from her rectifies her frontiers, and helps tha common work of enfranchisement. Japan, after clearing the continent and the sens ot Asia of German establishments, soldiers, and ships, loyally fulfils her Ailiaiico duties. Belgium, Serbia, and Montenegro maintain energetically, along with the fjreat liberating Powers 'Jio , struggle against the oppressive Empires. Prussian Militarism. < AD the Allies are combating the real ! cause and formidable instrument of this ■ war—Prussian militarism, which, after ; uniting and fashioning (o its own wave ! and designs, all Germany has absorbed : it in a wild dream of universal ilomina- ■ : lion, and severed it from humanity and i flung it as a scourge on Europe. Tho i mult of -this gigantic struggle will be, together .with the victory of the Allies, ] the triumph of humanity m i civili&i- , . lion, such as humanity desires, not that of 'i'hor and Odin and the old god invoked by William 11, but that which, from , : the dawn of ages, the conscience of man- ; kind has longed for and striven to obtain. \ Tho Psychology of Nations. J If tho Baltlo of the Marne was, in the | rironch campaign, tho i.trategicnl re- ( establishment which broke the German ] offensive, the vialory of the Allies will I 1 be tho re-wtablishment, (in i(« rights on , minds, souls, and peoples) of the old and j 1 everlasting civilisation which tho Gcr- 1 ■ mau, like another Xerxes or a despot of i Assur, hae impudently defied and threat- i oned. HumuJiity has never accepted those i ' who ignore, or despise, or defy it. "Knotr i 1 thyeelf," paid ancient wisdom, which i taught the true method of psychology, i 1 Similarly, in the psychology of nations i 1 the first ni>lo for knowing tho'ji is not ; the pretence to soar above iliem, outsido i ; of them, but to iiud cno's self in them, nntl them in one's solf. It is sympathy, ' in the original i-ense of Iho word, which enables us both to know end to love i ', them. The Allies hare lovnd huraanily and the nations, wherefore they have : known them better and have won their love. Germany did quite Uie couhrary, 1 wherefore she has earned tho hatred and 1 tho execration of mankind.