WHAT GERMANY MEANS TO DO.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1887, 8 October 1918, Page 1

WHAT GERMANY MEANS TO DO.

Lovat Fraser, writing in the lam-

don Daily Mail on 151 h July, said

Stripped of all the over-subtle explanations which are prevalent, the political elVacement of Herr von Kuhhnann appears to indicate that Germany means to “light it out.” The peace talk was all moonshine, and has been so always. The organisation which really holds Germany in its grip still dreams of a “peace” imposed upon (he Allies after defeat in battle. The destinies of Germany and of the German nation are in the hands of that vast, inhuman, but highly competent institution known as the Great General Staff. The Staff is a machine, a kind of Frankenstein

monster which pursues its soulless course unceasingly. Individuals vanish, but the Great General Staff survives all vicissitudes. It is in effect the real ruler of Germany tnda v.

The .Junkers are its willing instruments, Ihe Pan-Germans are its fuglemen, even the Kaiser does not had it, but is rather guided hy it. Me may now and then remove a drivei 1 from the machine, but the machine itself drags both Kaiser and nation where it wishes. If doe- not matter very much who happens to he in supreme control of tl,ie machine. There an* reportthat ITindenburg is seriously ill. The German newspapers certainly write a great deal more about Ludendorff than about Hindenburg just now. If both were to disappear tomorrow the machine would continue to work efficiently, as it did Indore the war, when both tsese soldiers were obscure and unknown. Other leaders would appear, for ;!ie Great General Staff is like our old regiments in this single respect: that it never dies.

Hindenburg or Ludendorff or the other brains in the background decide the fate of German statesmen. Sometimes they encourage talk of peace, but when the talk gels a little too delinile the offending politician is obliterated, because Germany's military leaders still believe in the possibility of a military viclorv.

The precise cause of von Kuhlmau's dismissal are obscure, hut it is clear that he had incurred the

bitter hostility of the Higher Command. Xo one who knows his record will regard him as a dove bearing an olive branch. He wanted Germany to dominate the world as much as any Pan-German, but he seems to have sought to attain the desired end by devious paths. His central idea wa.- to bargain with the Allies a limit the future of Western Europe, on condition that Germany received a free hand in Russia and Rumania, the Black Sea and the Middle East. It was this idea which lay at the back of the infamous treaty of Brest-Litovsky and it is deplorable to think that the same,idea gained some currency in mischievous quarters in this country. Tin* Brest-Lilovsk treaty lias practically collapsed, and even the Frankfurter Zeitung admits that “the events of the last few months have made holes in it everywhere.” The failure of his work at BrestLilovsk was von Kuhlmann’s initial offence in the eyes of the military leaders. A PERTIN:EXT QUESTION". Then he incurred the wrath of the General Staff because in his speech in the Reichstag on 24th •lime he asked the following pertinent ((lies! ion;— “Will the war, according to human calculation, last beyond the autumn and winter, or beyond next year?”

-11l (in 1 s;imi’ speech lie declared 1 hni: “An absolute end e;in hardly he expeeled through military decisions alone." The men who manned I he military maehino were instantly enraged. They had been gulling' the German nation with stories of the coming capture of Paris, of the abject submission of the French, and of the-prospect of the remnants of the British Army floating home on rafts. The people of Berlin, whose rations have again been reduced, and who have been invited to wall: barefoot, received Von Kuhlmann’s intimation with positive dismay. -Ludendorff and his associates evidently insisted on his instant dismissal. Von Kuhlmann therefore vanishes to the Alps or to Bavaria for a time, and Admiral von Hint?., an eager tool of the General Staff and the Pan-Germans, is to preside over the Foreign Office in his stead. . The Chancellor, Count Herlling, has contrived to remain in office, and on Friday he .-aid things about Belgium which set many foolish people in .this country twittering with excitement. It cannot be too clearly understood that nothing said by Count Hcrtling has any real importance. He is a mere figurehead, and poor and unconvincing at that. He says > what he is told to say. Nobody ip

Germany takes him seriously. When he has served the purpose of the wire-pullers the General Staff will kick" him over as it kicked Von Kuhhnann over. The Socialist newspaper Vorwarts says quite correctly that “the Pan-Germans are convinced tint) the old gentleman can do no harm, and that one can do anything one likes with him.” I commend these contemptuous and perfectly (rue words to anyone who may he misled hy the floods of ineffable bosh which will assuredly pour forth from our pacifist press during the next few days in response to Ilertling’s references to Belgium. We need not analyse further these internal political (flanges in Germany. It is a mailer of very'little moment to us whether Von Kuhl-

maun or Von 11 in Ixe directs German foreign policy, for both seek the same end, which is (he triumph and the aggrandisement of Prussianism. one thing (hat matters to us is that the Great General Staff is still on lop and will never let go. It: wants a decisive and linal victory over the Allies to justify the sacri-Ib-cs of the lasi four years, and it. thinks it can get it. It will light and it will force Germany to light, until it wins or until it is l borough -

ly beaten. No one has seen this more clearly than President Wilson, as was shown by his declaration a! Vomit Vernon that our first aim must be “(he destruction of ('very arbitrary power” which can “of its single choice disturb (he peace of the world.” “OFT OF STEP."

Mr Lloyd George, in his speech at 'he dinner to the Canadian journalists, was still not on the right lines. Me is not quite keeping' step with President Wilson. His words are still too vague and indefinite. He said something about the need for breaking “the god of brute force,” but in his direct reference to Germany he said that the enemy must; not be allowed to add to her territory of her strength. Even that statement is welcome, and we must

pin the Government down to it. It, means, it can only mean, Russia and Rumania and Ihe Middle East as well as the West; and I here’has been far to much wobbling in high places about Germany’s vast acquisitions in Eastern Europe. But it is not enough. The future security of the world demands far more than an assurance that Germany shall not be allowed to add to her strength, ft requires, in the words of President Wilson, the destruction of Germany’s “arbitrary power.” Why cannot our Ministers spe.uk with the clearness of the memorable Mount Vernon speech ? Even in regard to the question of enemy aliens they are still halting and uncertain. Signs are gathering that tin 1 country is not salislied with Sir George Cave's speech last Thursday, with its nine “ifs,” nineteen “huts,” and live allhou&Ts.” In the mailer of enemy aliens, as in the matter of the German banks, (ho Government and Sir George Cave will he judged not by their words, but by their acts. I do not think they discern even now the smouldering wrath of (he nation on this subject. Unless prompt action i- taken, especially regarding the manning of Government offices, the national anger will burst forth into (lames.

Meanwhile, (ho one thing (ho Goveminent nml ilio nation alike must realise is (hoi (ho Mormon Mvool. Monoro! Slaff continues to boliovo in i!s military power, oml will never let go nn(il Germany has been decisively and (molly defeated in (ho field. The iosk will lake a long' lime yet, but we inn.-d win or perish. ’The answer to von Knldmann's fpiestion in the Reichstag is that the wav cannot possibly end this year, and may not end next year either. Yet for the Allies the immediate omens ore favourable. The America ns are pouring over, os M. Gambon said on Saturday, in a stream as mighty and as irresistable as the Mississippi. The Allied Armies in the West are confident of their ability to resist the next German blow, whether it falls in France or in Italy. Events are moving rapidly in Russia and Siberia, and the murderous and treacherous tyranny of the Bolsheviks is waning'. The ultimate outcome of the war is not in doubt, and the only cloud in these inlands is that by its own follies and its irresolution and its instability of purpose, the Government is slowly sacrificing the confidence which the country has reposed in it.