THE PIRATE STATE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 56, 22 October 1914, Page 4

THE PIRATE STATE.

In a recent issue of the Scotsman'the unspeakably shameful conduct of Germany is dealt with as follows:—The spirit that imbues German militarism, the spirit that is responsible for the widespread bloodshed, misery, and ruin that are being caused by the war stands revealed in the peremptory and brutal demand that has been made on Brussels. It sins almost as against justice and righteousness, if not against humanity, as if the city had been delivered up to sack. It is not intended as punishment, or as exaction of an indemuity—there has been no offence to punish, and no wrong to avenge, except that committed by those who have, in almost as many words, avowed themselves guilty of a gross and unprovoked breach' of their privileges and of international law. It is meant to crush, to intimidate, and to humiliate. It is the act, of a pirate State, and it is perhaps as well that it should have been perpetrated thus early in the war and in this conspicuous way; so that the nations who are engaged in the struggle, and also those who are looking on, should have a clear view of the nature of the work they have taken in hand, and of the antagonists they have to encounter.