SECRET MISSION OF BERNHARDI.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 16, 26 February 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

SECRET MISSION OF BERNHARDI.

HIS MYSTERIOUS VISIT TO

AMERICA

MEETING WITH PROMINENT GERMANS.

(An interesting revelation of how General von Bf-rnhardi paid a secret visit to tile United States in May last year and discussed the then coming war with prominent Germans. and disclosed t lio plan of campaign, is made in tlio ''Toronto Globe.')

In the early summer of last year Gett''ral Friedrich von Dernhardi, the famous German cavalry officer and military authority, crossed the l'n : ted State:!. Ho camu by way of (ho Pacific. His con*, ing was unheralded. His speeches were unreported. His was unchronid. ed. No American newspaper " play<\( up - ' the visit of oiic of the most ta]knclof Germans 'n the world to-day. Fiia new book, "Germany and the Next War," was published while he was on this world tour. A copy of it reached him by mail at Singapore. In the United States he was '.he guesS of thi? German Consuls. His addresses were in German, to Germans invited individually by the Consul. His mission, was to advise Germans in the varioiw German centres of the purpose, tho plans, and the l ightness of the then in»pending war that now " staggers tho world." He told its story, the essentials of its programme, the year before, it began. The'o th'ngs the " Globe" learned since tho war broke out, and on two aocasions they were referred to editorially. But no details were given. No names or places or dates were mentioned. Of the facts there could be no doubt. Sam Francisco was believed to be the place of arrival, and New York the port of departure. It is now possible to fill in important details. 300 PRESENT. On Monday. November 23, the editoir of the "Globe'' mot with I)r. David Starr Jordan, and as he is a distinguished Californian, the Chancellor of Lelamt Stanford University, and a great student of international problems, th? fact of Bernhardi's miss'on to America waa mentioned. I)r Jordon's answer was in substance as* followst "I met von Bernhardi in San Franscisco and heard him give an address on May 26, 1913. iust as I was leaviiifr for Europe, Germany, the Balkans, and Australia. The invitation was from tho German Consul in San Franscisco. ft was on the official paper of the Consul's office. The gathering was composed of. about throe hundred persons, all Germans except one other American ancK myself. Tho Consul presided, and the meeting waa sc-mi-official. but private. So far as 1 know there v. as no reporter present. and no report was published. T ' would not have kr.own that the Germancavalry General vw:.s in America except, lor that meeting. He went to Los Angelos for a sinn.ir gathering, then to St. Loui s and eastern centres of German population. 1 understood he cam©.from Japan. BERNHARDI'S MISSION.

Dr. Jordan -described Bernhnidi n» tall, spare, very troct, his beard streaked with grey. his -head straight in the back, a typical, heel-clicking Prussianofficer of 65 or 70*. very aggressiva in his manner, but as. a speaker rather prosy. He rtad bis address, which followed the arguments of his book —tho historical, psychological, and biological arguments for war. Asked as to B?rnhaidi'6 mission and purpose, Dr. Jordan said:— "Bernhardi's mission war, to Germans in America. H's very evident purpose was to neutralis. the policy of goodwill, among the nations litiees represented in our population, to counteract the work for international peace, to prepare tho Germans for the coming war. which ltd said was both inevitable and near, anil" to convince tlifm that Germany's ide."» of war is righteous, and that this particular war was thoroughly '.veil planned and would be carried out to the oreatand glory of the G'-rman Empire. " Very unmistakable were his references to tho planned march through Belgium and the taking of Paris. Ho d'd not mince matters. Questions of morals, of int.rnational treaties, of national rights, lie biushed aside. lie said, 'is a make-shift; the reality :ier force. Law is for weaklings; force ia for strong men and strong nations.' " Perhaps his chief purpose was to ad. viso Germans in the United States that Britain, not Franco, is in Germany's way. that Britain would soon be reach* 'td* and reached uy Germany's war. PLANS OF INVASION. ''Bernhardi's address was a lit tfomore unreserved, more brutally frank than his book. H\s work was part of the campaign to organise German opinion in tho United States and to separate it from Annrdcan opinion. That campaign was begun here 15 J ?ai's ago by Professor Karl Lamprecht. of Lcips'g. The same campaign has been carried on in Brazil, only much more openly. Its note was struck by Qenerat Koim in Germany, who preached the. doctrines of Faith. Hope, and Hate. "Belgium was to be invaded tor tho purpose of scouring Antwerp and other naval bases from which to strike liiitain. When 1 heard Bernhardi 1 thought his words those of another of the warmad militarist--'. When I was m Germanv last Aucn-t ;ind saw Irs plan o« campaign adopted by the German Army, I knew h 0 spoke for the General Manff, and that they a.e victims ot tho same madness. . . , When ask.■! bis opinion of tv justice of the Allies' cause. Or .lo nian answered: "When I read Get many and the Next War.' before im-.tinß its author. I said that at Germany really adontd Bernhardi's views huropo would have to crudi it out as a nest of snakes. Germanv is now tijmg to (fit rv out those views. a:;d there can be no peace or safety until the snakes and the whole system that has product.<l them are utterly ci u.-hed out. And that is the effect o Ben,bar It s leachmsT and of tlie whole system of Germany espionace on every ful American. Net Furope alone, but tho wboh civilis.d wmld, will vet u'ute ••to crush it out as a nest ox snakes .