The Stratford Evening Pest WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1915. ATROCITIES AND REPRISALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 12, 14 May 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Pest WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1915. ATROCITIES AND REPRISALS.

In the course of a letter to the Christchurch Press the Rev. C. VV. Carrington recalls a curious passage in the writings of Heine, the German poet (about 1834), in which he discusses the outburst of patriotism with which Germany united against Napo - eon. He writes: “We were ordered to bo patriotic, and patriotic we became; for we do all that our Princes order us to Jo- «>'*■" o>o contmws) “one must not understand tins patriotism to mono what the French would call patriotism. French patriotism consists in tins, that the Frenchman’s heart grows warm am expands until he no longer thinks ot his immediate belongings, but embraces all France, all the realm of civilisation, in his love. The patriotism of the German, on the other hand, consists in this, that his ho.ut gious narrower, shrinks up like leather m a frost; that he hates all that us not German, that he wills to be no longer a world-citizen, no more a European, but a narrow, narrow German. ■ • ■ Thence springs that (untranslatable adjectives) antagonism to the noblest and holiest ideal which Germany ever brought forth; f mean that humanity which our great spirits, Leasing, Herder Schiller, Goethe, Jean Paul, with al) the foremost minds of Germany, have ever consecrated.” Mr Carrington goes on to say: Heine said bitter and piercing tilings of friend and foe. He said that Ocean would long ago have swallowed England if he had not been afraid of indigestion. Hut his verdict on German patriotism is startling in the light of to-day. Still, I believe that the Germany of Lessing and the rest is the true Germany, and that to-day the Germans “doing what their Princes order them to do ’ have become asphyxiated with noisome fumes from the bottomless pit. “My object in writing is to advance two propositions, which seem to me to be vital. First, that we must dismiss all idea of this war being easily or soon terminable, and regard it as a world-struggle against a new gospel of darkness which, if it should prevail, would hurl us all hack into the beast, obliterating all that we have gained in the way ot liberty and uprightness during the past ages ol Christendom; and we must never cease to sacrifice ourselves and everything we possess until the superman of Leilin is utterly wiped out. I suppose that we all admit tin ; necessity now. The second point I want to advance is this; that no consideration of advantage to our side, however plausible it ;n«v seem, must induce us, by way of retaliation, to employ any of tin*

methods with which Germany is damning her cause. We read ot persons advocating the use of poisonous fumes on our side. To do so would be to throw away our whole cause. A message should be sent to the Kaiser saying: "You are at liberty to use all the weapons of the devil and enlist all the powers of darkness n vou choose. We will light an honoiable war, and beat you, using the weapons recognised hy men of honour.” That is the hast communication that should be sent to the Geiman military authorities; for when, the tirin' comes for treating of peace, j we ought to say, “We do not deal) with you. Terms will he arranged) with a proper representative body who stand for the democracy of. Germany.”

The sentiment expressed i* thoroughly British in its high ideals, and is. we believe, j one which the great majority will on-, dorse. Unfortunately Germany knows this, and is trading on the fact that reprisal in kind is unlikely on the paifc of the Allies. It is interesting to| note that Professor J. Macmillan Brown, writing to the Editor of the Press makes a feasible suggestion to | account for the murder-madness which has seised the Germans: “The Germans, even the Kaiser and TirpiU and Bernhardi, are furiously trying to get | the good opinion of the neutral world, and yet they adopt measures after six, or seven months, that they know will, make the whole world abhor them. I It means that they are driven to these by fierce necessity. Their fleet and its sailors have lost their ‘moral/ and need some fillip or protection. This they get by sneaking along the bottom of the ocean and torpedoing innocent merchantmen and their crews and passengers. Still more does the adoption of the asphyxiation policy show that their soldiers have.lost their nerve; they will not go out against the bayonets’of the British, Belgians and French unless forced; to persuade them to go out of their free will thenleaders have brought in tins shield for their cowardice'; they are assured that the enemy are laid on their backs in the trenches before they move out of their own. What especially confirms this is that they have not adopted the crime against the Russians, for they have had some successes in the Eastern frontier, and have therefore hot lost their nerve against the Russians.” The cowardice of consciencestricken wretches is made apparent in the message cabled yesterday, that Gorman officers and men begged for. mercy and pardon on their knees before the Allies in the West.