NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 25 July 1917, Page 3

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

.. 1 - RUSSIA AND GERMANY. The extensive influence gained by. Germans is emphasised in “Russian Court Memoirs.” “In looking back over the last two centuries one notices the growing hatred inspired by the Germans,. which like a red thread can be traced through all these years. The German' is looked upon by the Russian as the foe who has usurped all that is best in their country. The most important positions at Court have been given to Germans; Germans take prominent part in every trade, every profession or industry is filled with Germans. For years the Russians have silently resented this. These long years of repression have at last given vent to an outburst of the most violent antagonism against the hatred Teutons. This explains the extreme popularity of the present war amongst the middle classes and the people, for the ‘Niemetz ’ (German), is not only the country’s enemy but the private foe of every Russian.” The writer, a Russian says that the Germanophil party “does not consist only of people bearing German names, but includes descendants of old Magyar races; members of the aristocracy who have lived abroad for a long time and boast of a personal acquaintance with the German potentate; former diplomatists who have spent many years in Berlin. The poltical programme of this party is that Russia must endeavour to renew the old terms of friendship with Germany. . . . The majority, led by the Press, is infuriated to hear such sentiments exprssed. In their eyes, the gulf which the Kaiser and his satellites have created between Russia and Germany can never be bridged.”