GERMAN PEACE THEORIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1544, 29 April 1916, Page 4

GERMAN PEACE THEORIES.

An interesting indication of the inability of Germans to understand the spirit ot the Allies is given by the New York Times in its monthly magazine, Current History. We are told that; —“ If one were to guess from the context of a hundred conversations with all kinds of Germans what programme could be constructed roughly from the material now available it wouM be something like this : Belgium to be restored to the Belgians and France to the French ; cultural autonomy for Poland, that country to become a buffer State ; cession of the Ger-man-speaking Baltic provinces by Russia to Germany, and German possession of a corridor through the Balkan Peninsula to Constantinople, That leaves open for consideration such vexing questions as the way of trade upon the sea, the fate of colonies, and the matter of indemnities. It is not possible in any case for a German to voice the minimum demands. He secretly reserves something which he would yield in a pinch. Professor Hans Delbruch, who is prominent in the counsels of the moderates and anti-annexationists, thinks Belguim and France are the main obstacles to peace, and that Germany would yield as to both of them. In tact, it is uncommon to find a German who thinks of holding any French or Belgian territory for Germany. If you mention Antwerp, the “ pistol aimed at England’s head,” one German says Germany should keep it to ten who say Germany ought not to bold it, for to hold it would mean perpetual war with England. One is surprised to find how many Germans see that England and Germany have a destiny in common if only they can find two keys to unlock it with ; and how many hope for an alliance ultimately between Germany and England against the Russian peril.” The idea of a Germany which deliberately attacked unoffending Belgium, intended to destroy France, and planned to wreck the British Empire and to seize British dominions, deluding us again with the pretence of a ‘‘Russian Peril,” is peculiarly “ Kultured,”