FROM THE INSIDE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 734, 6 January 1915, Page 7

FROM THE INSIDE.

THE NATION OP SELF-WORSHIP.

PRINCE VON BULOW AS,PRIEST AND PROPHET. One of the remarkable booka which tha student of German aims and policy. has earmarked for back reference in the present crisis ,is Prince Bernhard von Bulow'a "Imperial Germany," of which a special cheap edition hss now been published by Cassel, London.- Viewed in the light of recent eventß, it ia of the same family as Bernhardi's book, a sort-of polite diplomatic compliment to the"avowed championship of Force. Already both are ranking as ominoua landmarks in the story of Germany's downfall. The arroganca of tha German outlook stares us in the face on the ex-Imperial Chancellor's very -.first page. "Germany," he says, "is the youngest of the Great Powers of Europ?, the homo novus who, having sprung up very recently, faa3 forced his way by hia superior.capacity into, the circle of tbe older nations."

Of' course, Prince von bulow's touch is N infinitely subtler than that of the war-worshipping general. He assures us that there is absolutely no ground _ for the fear which the ouilding of £ihe German navy has aroused—ihß fear, namely." that with the" rise o't German power at sea the German love cf-battle will be awakened; he asserts of all the "nations of tha worU the Germans are the people that- have most rarely sat out to attack and conqutr; he declares that never in the course of history has any Power possessing Euch superior military etre.igth as the Germans served. the causa of peace in an equal measure; he asks us to believe that, the has always been peace-loving; and 'he adds, with characteristic ,German appropriation of credit, that peace has primarily been preserved because other nations feared a repulse in the event of their attacking Germany.

GERMANY'S NAVY AND GREAT

BRITAIN

It is true that there were many in England who inclined to take a similar view of Germany, but events ha?e proved their confidence t<3 have been totally misplaced. To day il is plain to-the world that "the strength of German armaments" has been accumulating to ths point when Germany believed she was able to fight France and Russia and then to ,take Britain on. Her vision concentrated on--the worship of her own strength, Germany was vain enough to believe that the' moment had arrived when the world lay at -her feet. strikes when Germany's hour has struck. She- has proved those to be right who regarded that as her ..time-honoured policy. Reading between the lines of the following passage where Prince von Bulow discusses relations with England, tbe preparation for Germany's hour can be.noted:—"We desire amicable and even friendly relations with England, but we are not afraid of hostile ones. ... We confront England

to-day .supported as we are by a which demands respect, in a very different manner from fifteen yeara ago, when it was a question of avoiding any conflict with England as long as possible, till we had built our fleet. At that time our foreign policy was to a certain extent regulated by the question of armaments; it had to be carried on under abnormal condition's. To-day the normal state of affairs is restored; our armaments are at the service of our policy. The change in favour of Germany of the proportionate strength ot the two countries has "relieved our foreign policy with regard to England of a great burden. -We need no longer take such care to prevent England trom - injuring our safety and wounding our dignity; with our own unaided strength we are able, as is meet for Germans, to defend our dignity and our interests against England at sea, as we have for centuries defend them against the Continental Powers on iand.

"NATIONAL NECESSITY."

And the attitude of France is thus set forth after an acknowledgment that resentment against Germany might well be called the soul of French policy:—"We must always endeavour to preserve polite, calm, and peaceful relatione with Franpe. But beyond that we should not pursue any will-o'-the-wisp delusions, otherwise we may meet with the fate of the astronomer in La Fontaine, who, while gazing at the stars, fell into the pit which lay at hi 3 feet, but which he had not seen. In this caße the pit is called 'Le trou des Vasges " Prince von Bulow adds with reference to the war of 1870-71 . that "in France there ia no comprehension of the fact that what seems tu them the brutal severity of a conqueror was really a matter of personal necessity to us Germans."

The note of utter selfishness about German policy is odious. This remark of Prince von Bulow is precisely the light in which Germany desires Belgium at the present moment to see her fate. The Prince von Bulows of the hour are doubtless deploring the fact that what aeema to the Belgians "the brutal severity of the conqueror" is really "a matter of national necessity to us Germans',' .There is hardly a thought of anything beyond taking care of themselves, furthering their own interests. ITALY AND GERMANY. The same trait is found in Prince von Bvlow's reference to Turkey. "We have carefully cultivated good relations with Turkey and Islam, especially since the journey to the East undertaken by our Emperor and Empress..'''.These relations are not of a sentimental for the continued existence of Turkey serves our interest from the industrial, military, and'political points of view." On the other hand Germany's relations with Italy., we are. grayely^Mii

"are regarded by us from the sentimental and by the Italiana from the common-sense point of view." This ia tod ingenious, especially in view of the following venture into prophecy:—"ltaly and Germany are so obviously inter-dependent that they are always bound to unite. Their interdependence is due in many and weighty considerations; the absence of all rivalry between the nations, and —since the memory of the struggle in the Tutoburger Wald and the Battle of Legnamo haa grown faint with time —the absence of any disturbing reminiscence, the similarity of their historical, development, and the common dangers which might threaten them in like manner." At the end of this war German diplomatists will have; compiled a long list of "things that went wrong" in their ca'culations. "The problem of modern German international politics," say Prince von Bulow, "to secure a foundation for our position as a Great Power* on the whole may be considered to be Bolved." Alas, what a foundation!