War News by Mail.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, 18 December 1914, Page 3

War News by Mail.

MORE GERMAN LIES, ty ,n MR. JOHN BURNS’ UNer SPOKEN SPEECH. . id England learns from the )d Times Constantinople Gorrasig pondent that Mr John Burns der; livefed a speech in the Albert ... Hall on August 14 on the d.nvnrs fall of the British Empire and ■ ; some minor matters. The news ■ ; had, ir seems, reached C'onstancl tinople on August 31. It had reached Germany on August 30. a We have now received a number ; t of German newspapers of that h date —the “ Vossiclie Zeitung,” the “ Deutsche Tageszeitung,” t. and the “Frankfurter Zeitung.” The “ Frankfurter Zeitung ” has the best account of this memorable oration': and we venture to ’ borrow it, , r Mr Burns, having left the Cabi- ) net, according to our Frankfort contemporary, felt it necessary , to give his electors and political friends an account of bis attitude , towards the policy of Sir Edward Grey and towards the abandoni inent of British neutrality “to the disadvantage of Germany.” j He felt compelled to leave a Government which, so far from , promoting “ culture,” had plunged into an adventure which was r bound to lead to the strengthening of England’s natural t enemies and to the fundamental disturbance of England's econo- ! mic and political conditions. The natural course for'England i would have been to pursue a strict neutrality, not because of , her relations with Germany but for her own sake. Mr Burns i proceeded: — England's greatness is mani- !, tested in peace. England’s weakness is exhibited in war.; l, We shall never be in a position to exert without foreign help any -, influence in European and extraEuropean politics. We have i, never been able to do so. We destroyed Napoleon’s fleet at , Trafalgar, but a few days later Napoleon won his most glorious victory at Austerlitz, and threw all Europe on her knees. What was Napoleon’s defeat at sea in comparison with his unparelleled victory on land '? Wo gave him a 'pin prick but not notwith- I standing our victory he defeated the whole of Europe. GERMAN MIGHTINESS. Mr Burns, according to the German reporters, continued in this strain at some length, deal- j ing with equal skill with the wars j against Napoleon and the war of j 1870. He went on to explain ] ■ that if England had remained • neutral she could have profited by both Germany and France, j ' who would “both” have been compelled to take her exports. [ 1 He proceeded: England staked everything on | 1 a Franco-Russian victory. But what if England’s troops are beaten, together with the French ? What if tho news of England’s defeat and England’s weakness leaks out to the Colonies, which have really nothing in common with the Mother Country, and perhaps are waiting for some opportunity to fall away from her? What if France does not win ? E.ior- I inous possessions are then hist, i and British loss of influence on the policy of the continent can- j not for centuries be recovered, because the influence of Germany, in association with her Austrian ally, would become so immense that Germany would let no power on earth interfere further with the construction of her Navy. Germany’s industries are strong, and they cannot ho weakened even by an unsuccessful war. A people so powerful and so conscious of its strength as tho German people can be bound in no fetters that can he forged. With unparalleled selfsacrifice —even il tho poorest labourer had to produce the last penny from Ills pocket —if we destroyed ;ho German Navy, Germany would create a Navy twice, nay, thrice as strong. Mr Burns then plunged again into Prussian History, in order to show how hopeless it is for any country to resist. He then skimmed lightly over the frivolous character of England’s [ friendship with France, and came to the more serious problem of Moslem opinion. This, no doubt, was why his speech reached Constantinople so soon. He tvmeinbered how the Emperor William, when he went tc Tangier, proclaimed himself the friend-of the Mahomedans. He : said that 250,000,000 of them her lieved in this friendship. True, this belief had been somewhat impaired by Italy’s war against Turkey, but the present situation compelled the Turks to join i Germany. Any influence that England might have had in the [ East was now destroyed, and with it English rule over many many millions of Mahomedans. Mr Burns then sketched the coming conflagration in India, ■ and after a few tolling phrases ! showing his intimate acquain- ’ tance with the East, concluded: England is gambling for her exist 1 ence. To look on at the game unmoved, and without giving warn--1 | ing of the possible result would i be treason to the English nation. We have dealt during the past 5 few days with soma of the obscurer methods of the German 1 Press and of German diplomacy, 1 and our readers can form their ' own inferences from the fact that ! German has uo.v cmm to direct ' for. 1 i'imyVllmrt H -li sp-ech . 1 ) w 1 ■ hi aum ' s! liili-