DROPPING THE MASK.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 739, 23 January 1915, Page 6

DROPPING THE MASK.

WHY GERMANY MADE WAR. Herr Harden is probably the most influential jouralist in Germany. It was he, in his daring little sheet, Die Zulcunft, who denounced the unspeakable conditions that prevailed in the Kaiser's entourage, and, after several vicissitudes, emerged triumphant from the libel suits that ensued. He now shows scarcely less daring in urging Germany to throw ofll the hypocritical mask, and confess that she deliberately engineered the war. The Daily Chronicle publishes Borne extracts from his article.

London, Novebmer 27. "Let us drop," says Herr Harden to bia countrymen, "our miserable attempts to excuse Germany's action. Let us have done with paltry abuse of the enemy. Not against our will, and as a nation taken by surprise, did we hurl ourselves into this gigantic venture. We willed it; we had to will it. We do not Btand before the judgment seat of Europe; we acknowledge no such jurisdiction. "Our might shall create a new law in Europe. It is Germany that strikes. When she hag conquered new domains for her genius then the priesthoods of all the gods will praise the good war. We stand at the beginning of a struggle whose development and duration no one can foretell, and in which as yet rjo combatant has been overwhelmed. "It is the statesman's duty to point out the goal for the sword, and to prepare strongly for the conclusion of peace; and that duty can be fulfilled only by one who has not, by shortsighted errors, lost the confidence of his countrymen. MORE ELBOWROOM.

"Germany is not making this.war to punish siDners, or to free oppressed peoples, and then to trust in the consciousness of disinterested magnanimity. She sets out fcom the immovable conviction that her achievements entitle her to demand more elbowroom on earth, and wider outlets for activity. "The Powers still live from whom she wrested her advancement, and some of them have recovered from their debilitation. Spain and the Netherlands, France and England, nave seized, possessed, and colonised great stretches of the most fertile Boil in the world. Now Germany's hour has struck, and she must take her place as the leading Power. "Any peace which did not secure her the first position would be no reward for her efforts. However many shining milliards it brought into her treasury, the fate of Europe woald still depend on the will of the United States. She is fighting for herself alone, and yet she is sure that all men who desire the good of the world will rejoice in the result.- For there must be an end of the policy, whicb has frightened freeborn people from fellowship with the strongest of Continental Powers. What Germany needs is free access to the ocean, and unquestioned validity for her spirit and speech, for her goods and her bills of exchange." FUTUKE OF POLAND.

Herr Harden then goes on to discuss the question of Poland. "Some people," he says, "favours the idea of making of Poland a buffer State between Germany and Russia, But that is a delusion. Modern armaments render buffer States of no avail. Prussia could never accept the idea of an independent Poland, unlesß she were prepared to give up Posen, West Prussia, and Upper Silesia. Only over the ashes of Prussia can the White Eagle lift its wingß anew. "But when Prussia and Austria have worked their will with Poland, Heir Harden holds out some hope of a liberal treatment of the Poles. Their language, for example, is to be left to them.

"As to Belgium, Herr Harden ia of opinion that never was there a more righteous war than that which has crushed her, and never one which conferred a greater benefit on the conquered.

GERMAN FLAG ON THE CHANNEL. "Now comes what is for us in England, the most interesting part of Herr Harden'a manifesto. "What territory," he asks, "could Germany take from France or Russia that Would be of any particular ÜBe to the German people? No; what Germany is fighting for is not French, Polish, Rutbenian, Esthonian, Lithuanian, provinces—nor is it milliards of indemnities. The object is to hoist the storm flag of the Empire on the narrow Channel that opens and closes the way to the Atlantic. "Herr Harden can picture to himself Germany's generalß, when Calais ha3j been conquered, calling their armies homewards from the east and

from the west, and saying calmly to the 'You now see what Germany's power and genius can do, and will in future think twice before you attack us. Germany demands nothing more of you—not even the repayment of he* war expenses. WHEN WE WILL CLOSE THE WAR. "For these she will find her recompense in the wholesome terror her pictures have inspired. If you Want anything more from us, you may be sure that we will never refuse a challenge to fight. We will remain in the Belgian Netherlands, to which we will add the narrow strip of coast as far as Calais. This done, we will voluntarily close the war, from which we have nothing more to gain after having vindicated our honour. "We will return to the joyß of work, and only take up the sword again if you try to force from our grasp what our blood has won for us. We demand no formal conclusion of peace, no parchment and seals. You can keep your fortresses if you think them of any value and hold it worth while to rebuild them. To-morrow life reßumes its ordinary course." "WE MUST BE BARBARIANS."

An equally outspokan defender of the German ethin is is Major-General Vcn Disfurtb, who, writing in the Hamburgher Nachrichten, says: — "No object whatever is served by taking any notice of the accusations of barbarity levelled against Germany by their foreign critics. Frankly, we are, and must be, barbarianj, if by this word we understand those who wage war relentlessly to the uttermost degree. There is nothing for us to justify, and nothing foT us to explain away. Every act, of whatever nature, committed by our troopa for the purpose of discouraging, defeating and destroying our enemies, is a brave act, a good deed," and is fully justified. There is no reason why wa should trouble ourselves about the notions concerning us in other countries. Certainly we should not worry about the opinions and feelings hold in neutral countries. Germany stands supreme the arbiter of her own methods, which must in time of war be dictated to the world. "It ia of no consequence whatever if all the monuments ever created, all the pictures ever painted, all the buildings ever created by the great architects uf the world be destroyed, if, by their destruction,. We promote Germany's victory the enemies who have owed her complete annihilation.

"War ia war, and must be waged With severity. The commonest, ugliest stone placed to mark the place of burial of a German Grenadier is a more glorious and venerable monument than all the cathedrals of Europe put together. The call us barbarians. What of it? We scorn them and their abuse. Let them cease to talk of the; cathedral of Rheims and of all the churdies and all the castles in Franca which have shared its fate.

"These things do not interest us Our troops must achieve victory What else matters?"