THE " WAR COUNCIL."

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 15

THE " WAR COUNCIL."

SO3S4E GERMAN VIEWS. ,

. The' German papers are rather sarcastic at the expense of what they term the " War Council/ aod their comments make interesting reading. The Lokalanzeiger says that the proceedings at the Imperial "War Council" continue to be overshadowed by the indefinite fear of war and echoes they evoke in the London press correspond with this peculiar state of nund which the British people apparently, cannot shake off. The Berliner Neueste Nachrichten says that it would not be. difficult to respond to ' a Mr M'Kenna's assertions by recounting English history, but that one word will suffice to answer his question relative to an occasion upon which Great Britain misused her naval power — namely, " Copenhagen." The Reiehsbote says that Mr Balfoor aad Mr Haldane played the same tune as Lord Rosabery and Sir Edward Grey, and the whole British press has taken up the melody and sent it to the ends of the earth. Ger- 1 raaos, it adds, must not deceive themselves. The object of the Press Conference is to force peace-loving Germany to weaken her armaments while surrounded by a circle of warlike neighbours bristling with weapons. If this does not mean fear of Germany, then it means, incitement of the. British people against Germany through fiery j speeches, such as those of Lord Rosebery and Mr Balfour. The Deutsche Tages Zeitung- says: "All parties are now participating in the propaganda to accelerate construction or the fleet. Conservatives and Liberals, who have hitherto so violently opposed each -other, are marching hand in hand." The Kreuz Zeitung remarks: "Wo can generally agree with the remarks of the First Lord of the Admiralty, which differ from his recent speeches in the' House of Commons. If the British Government acts accordingly, all danger of war ia over for ever. Nobody — least of all Germany— thinks of threatening the sea routes, in keeping open which Garmany haa an extraordinary interest. The German fleet was also created in order not to allow communications with the German colonies to depend on the goodwill of any one sea Power, however inferior." The National Zeitung ridicules what it calls the British fears, and says that the Government and parties in the British Empire know how to value and to utilise the power of the press. " A conference of journalists was the most effective means of advancing the Imperial idea and the naval propaganda. The press is regarded, with justice, as the nervous system of the Empire. These nerves are now unhealthily excited, but we hope that the robust constitution of the British people will recover from the paroxysm which is displaying itself in- hysterical Germanophobia." The journal adds : "We are rather accustomed to these phenomena, and cool I v watch the course the malady takes. For the present we do not ' think that sharper

remedies than repose are necessary, repose being the surest and safest medicine." The Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten says: " Chauvinism is prostituting itself with such lack of ceremony and in such ways in Great Britain — that land of cool reason and clear business sense — that the short road between the sublime and the ridiculous has long since been trodden."