WHY HOLLAND WON'T FIGHT AGAINST THE ALLIES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 185, 23 June 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHY HOLLAND WON'T FIGHT AGAINST THE ALLIES.

WHAT THE DUTCH PEOPLE THINK 01-THE WAR. By JOHN C. VAN DER VEER. The attempts of German agents during the past week to inflame Dutch feeling against the Allies have happily failed. Mr Van der Veer, who is the London editor of the Amsterdam "Telegraaf,'; makes it clear that his countrymen are tinder no llusions as to the quarter from which danger really threatens them. "Will Holland join in the grea't war? The true meaning of the precautionary measures which the Dutch Government iias suddenly adopted its still unknown to all of us. Personally, however, I see in them but further proof that our Government is fully determined to maintain Dutch neutrality, and to prevent any violation of it. Do not forget that the war started, and will be won by the Allies, in Belgium, which borders on the southern Dutch frontier. There a large body of valiant Dutch troops were massed immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, and there they have been ever since, to prevent the invaders of Belgium stepping on to Dutch soil. And as the great Allied offensive to drive the Germans out of Northern Krance and Belgium may naturally tempt th'}/tt'reating invaders to escape over the Dutch frontier, what more natural than that timely measures shou'd be taken to hold them lack ? I cannot, of course, say if that is tho exact explanation of what happened in Holland last week. But this much I can safely state—if our Government and our people should think it necessary to join in tho war. it will not be against the Allies. For the Allies have never, either by word or

deed, threatened Dutch neutrality ait independence. THINGS DUTCHMEN* CANNOT FORGET. On the contrary, the overwhelming mass of our people are hilly convinced that the victory of the Allies would not onlv vindicate Right, Justice, and Humanity, which the Germans have violated, but that it would also saleguard the full independence of our country. And you know how stubbornly our people, in the eighty years' war against Spain, fought for that independence. We saw it stated ill German newspapers that the measures taken by our Government were directed against the Allies, and particularly against England. That is their usual game. German* act on the maxim. " If you have a bad case, blacken your opponents." And the 'whole world knows—none better than Dutchmen—how bad Germany' case is. Did not the hundreds of thousands of Belgian refugees, our neighbours, our brothers and sisters, stir the feelings of our people by narrowing tales of the brutal way they were treated by the German invaders? Those things we never can, nor shall, forget. WHERE THE DANGER LIES. Yet the "Cologne Gazette" dared to write about the Dutch measures: "Most of the reports are rumours. But the veil is not thick enough to prevent one from seeing some part of the truth, and what one see., is that it is not Germany that is the danger for Europe ami for the future lo the great and. sti'l more, of the small European Stales; but England—to whose piping all our other enemieti dance ill this war against Germany and her allies." Such ridiculous wo- cause but a smile on Dutch faces: for we know too we'd from what quarter danger really threatens the future of the small Should Germany win the war. Dutch independence would not be worth a dubbeltje (Dutch coin of 2d.) How (finLl any sympathy for Germany be manifested'now il) our country,' after German submarines have torpedo.."! two large outgoing Dutch steamers in the North Sea. the Ttiban,ia and the l , alenih:iiig' J I know what our people think of these crimes. "Murder!" limy tail it. Ami who can love a murderer!' Dutchmen certa.nly not. .1i,,! think of it. The Daman,- have sunk hv mine- or torpedo, ■ 22 Dutch ■ earner- ami two Dutch sailing vessels, will, ...me lo.* of Dutch lives. And how many Dutch ship- and lives lias England tb .iroyed.-' None! NO GKKMAN 0\ EBLOBDSHIP. Have English wr ti is ever opt illy -t-ucd thai their < oiintey should lake possession ul Holland for the -al-.e in her geographical position, her valuable harbours and her rs-h colonies? Not mi • in-tame o| it i an L- irai '. iS ul l |,o--e.s numerous siatem, -its l,\ oillnmiiial tinman auti...m that IDI Lad .||.,u!,| he'um i" Cermauy. In n only i'n in the mouth ol ihe Bhiue lo i,'',ld ■."p'iiol'ai'ilis l.c;«ri '"* l ' : ''^ lind! I, uT , ; , v, r cniiic in pas- be .lire of that. The Dutch mollo, inscribed i ~ Dm coal of are'-, is "Jt iiiaint . nd,ai" C I will maiulnin.") And the

Dutch will maintain the full independence of their country, at whatever cost.

You have heard, perhaps, of that famous Dutchman, Hugo Grotius. One of his doctrines was : " War has its laws as well as peace." Toll me, what have the Germans cared for the laws of war? The killing of passengers at sea. the slaughter of women and children by Zeppelins, the shooting of civilian-, the bombardment and destruction of defenceless towns—only the Germans have been guilty of these crimes against civilisation. Go to Amsterdam, where the sympathy for the cause of the Allies is so overwhelmingly strong that the Germans feel there as a cat in a strange warehouse, and you will hear what our people think of the devastators of Belgium. J3ut. really, you find the same feelmg al over Holland. Had the Germans behaved well and played the game in the war, they might have found some sympathy amongst the Dutch. Now they are. to say the least, shunned and despised. It is entirely their own fault. For numerous reasons, the Dutch sympathy goes out to the Allies, who light for right against might, for justice against injustice, for nation freedom against Prussian aggression. And the whole of our history and tradition brings us naturally on your side.

Yet there is more. The Dutch are a democratic people, like the French and the British. We abhor, as much as you do, Prussian haughtiness, swagger and overbearing. Indeed, the Germans were never liked in Holland. The Dutch have not changed since the 16th and 17th Centuries. Let their independence be threatened or attacked, and you will find the same spirit rekindled which made our an-ce-tors unconquerable. Do you remember the story of the siege of Leyden during the Spanish war? The whole population of that famous city was starving, forced to eat cats, dogs and mice, to carry on the defence. When despair brought the inhabitants near to surrender, in their midst appeared the noble burgomaster of the town, Adraan Van dor Werf. He drew his sword, offered it to the despairing people, and said: "Cut up my body to appease your hunger—but expect no surrender so long as I remain alive."

Immediately the famishing people forgot their hunger, and fought more bravely than ever. From the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy, to whom they shouted: "You call us rat-caters and dog-eat-ers, and it is true. So long, then, as ye hear a dog bark or a cat mew within the-e walls, ye may know that the city holds out. And when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we shall each devour our left arms, retaining our right to defend'our women, our liberty and religion against the foreign tyrant. Should God. in His wrath, doom us to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintain ourselves for ever against your entrance. When the last hour has come, with our bands we will set fire to tlie city, and perish, men, women and children together, in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to be polluted ami our 1 berties to be crushed.''

And they warn, the heroic people of Leyden, by their unconquerable spirit. Those words live, after three centuries, still fresh in the memory of the Dutch people. The Belgians were then with us in that long light for liberty and independence We separated afterwards, .but remained always friendly. And today the independence of Belgium is a vital necessity for the independence of Holla ltd. We naturally do not want to see our little country devastated by war, or to llood it by our own hands, to drown ourselves «itli the invaders. Dutch meadows are fair and sweet Dutch cheese and butter so tasty. But. dearly as we love tlie.se things, we love our liberty and independence far mere. J. C. VAN DER VEER.