The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1916. HOLLAND’S UNREST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 2, 5 April 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1916. HOLLAND’S UNREST.

It is not wonderful to learn that there is unrest and uneasiness in Holland, and there may be some truth in the assertion that Germany is looking for an excuse to trample on another little state and hopes to arouse the phlegmatic Dutch to some action which might be sufficiently distorted to enable Germany to tnarch towards Rotterdam. Hitherto Holland has more than loyally acted the part of friendly neutral to | Germany, and Rotterdam is the port j that has received the largest cargoes shipped from the United States, “bookj ed through” to Germany, via the Rhine, which enables barges loaded at the Rotterdam wharves to deliver the ! goods at Cologne. In Germany, at any i rate, long before the war,it was understood that when the proper time arrived for further German expansion the movement would be north-west and south-east, and Holland and Belgium were to be absorbed. While there is every reason to believe that the Government and people of Holland as a whole, apart from the German element purposely planted in that land long ago to aid Germany and to stir up strife, cherish a most ardent desire to keep out of the Avar, it lias to be remembered that the Prince Consort is a Gorman and that it may be fairly assumed he is no more in sympathy with the Allies than is the Queen of Greece, lor example. The delaying of information regarding enemy movements when such would be of value to Britain and the speedy conveying of news useful to Germany has been sheeted home to certain officials, but the vigilance of the Dutch Government and the personal influence of the Queen has doubtless foiled some of tbe efforts of German diplomacy. It might very well happen that the military directors at Berlin considering all these things would possibly arrive at the conclusion that Dutch neutrality had served its purpose so far as they are concerned. Hence they might reason that it would he advantageous to their schemes to invade Holland and take possession ol the port of Rotterdam for use as a submarine base, because with the increase! stringency of the British blockade, fewer supply ships from overseas can hope to land cargo lor Germany at the Dutch port. Whatever may happen we are at least assured that Anglo-Dntch relations are satisfactory, and though military preparations are general and the Dutch Government has tak>n over the railways, we may hop' that this is but a hint to Germany flint Holland is prepared to the fullest oi her strength to resist Hun aggression. The history of the Netherlands shows that the

nation is not too easily overcome, and the means of inundating their country and drowning invading' forces are still in the hands of the Hollanders. With Belgium’s fate before her eyes Holland can never surely, rely on German 'promises, however specious, and if she is called upon to draw the sword it is not likely to be against the Allies.