The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 14. IS GERMANY OUR FRIEND?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 14 October 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 14. IS GERMANY OUR FRIEND?

The London Times' outspoken arlicle jion the bona lull':* of Hie professions of 1 t Gernian I'rieiuUlii,; for Britain, the gist j t: ot which \v,i- cabled out a day or two I 1 ''ra 0 * gives e.\pre-si;iii to a belief com- j t monly onterta'iied bv !:■ big ma joi'il vl " of leading British |.nl.lic-i-,ts and thinkers H regarding the designs and intentions ci v (o-rmany. Coming events east their ' shadows before; and during [he past s few years shadows of tlie poiiey adopted ' and being pursued by the Teutons show ' pretty conclusively that the I'ullihneijt 1 of Germany's ambitions means trouble 1 for someone and that someone is in all 1 probability liritain. I'!ie Germans are " a successful people: tliev are frugal and industrious: their population is increas- ' ing in a ratio jnv.it.-r than the popul-i- 1 tion of any id her European country, with the exception of Russia; th-ir 1 oversea trade lias expanded and is expanding in a considerable degree. The Germans are conscious of their success, and, naturally enough, want to ensure its continuance. More than anything elae, they want room. Comparatively speaking, the German Empire is small in extent. The Germans must have more land for their surplus population, which at present is drifting into tiie British Empire and America, where in the natural course of events they in time lose their identity. It is true that the great bulk of the German people earnestly desire peace; but the serious fact to be faced is that the German people do not control Gorman poiiey. The Kaiser is supreme and dictates the nation's poiiey. The Kaiser bigan his reign with a "debonnaire" tolerance of the whole world; lie dropped his pilot. Bismarck, because he himself was more sensitive and mo.'e scrupulous. But thai phase lias passed. His "second m-inm-r'' has ended in the isolation of (ionnany iu Europe, The 1 Kaiser would like, of course, to break down the ring fence of opposition which his own policy has lmilt round him. But how? Suppose that all the countries which have already distributed their affections in various ''understandings" have left none for Germany? It is the growing dillieulty in which the Emperor finds himself that. is. paradoxically the danger. Here is an ambitious ruler who, obeying a perfectly natural instim-t, would like to move about the world uninterruptedly and find interests abroad for his enterprisiii'.' industrial population; and he is conscious of the antipathy which encompasses him. A misguided impulse from a man of impulses at a moment when he finds that his own wishes clash more vehemently than usual with the rights of others might conceivably end in catastrophe. _A student of modern political history of international standing is Dr. Emil Reich. His views oil Germany, her Kaiser and people, given in a volume recently published, entitled '■' Germany's Swelled Head." are interestinc. According to him. the most influential writers in the Fatherland tea'-li the Germans that even the Slavs—that is. the Russians I'oles, Bohemians. S"rvians, Croteins. etc.—are, originally,"all Germans. The error is profound. All the preit. nations are. wo now hear from hundreds oi i'niversity chairs, from thousands of journalistic pulpits, really German, and nueht therefore to be .-übtnor?ed in One Taiiversal Germany. This doctrine is taught, says Dr. Reich, more particularly by a man who, by the irony of fate, sops by the name of Chamlieriain; Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Now to take such n man seriously, on the merits of his writings, would be litter foolishness. He is neither an historian nor a thinker. His work is. in fact, the worst form of gushing dilettantism. TTe lias written a bi<r hook full of make-believe and =ham-knn\vlodgo. The tide is "The Foundations of tile Nineteenth Century." This very poor performance lets had a most marvellous success with the Germans. Tlw secret of his success is not far to seek. Willi an air of scientific argument he proves to his own and to German satisfaction that all history spells ''German." and that all future developments of the world will lie "made in Germany." When, therefore, the. Kaiser speaks of Greater Germany, of the Germans in general, he, in all sincerity, means twothirds of Europe, lie means that the German Empire of the near future will, and, by right of race, ought to, comprise two-thirds of Europe. Yet, continues Dr. Heidi, the most ignorant is aware of liie fact that Germany is an upstart; that her existence as a Great I'ower is, so to speak, of yesterday, and it is common knowledge I hat. of :dl kinds of inn-actable pride, Hie pride of iho np.-larl is the worst, the ]c;Nt amenable to hound limits, With the country in Hiieli a condition of nwelied-liended-ness can one wonder tlmt ihe, KaiV.-r *ome time sijro remarked, •Nothing must be settled in this world without the inteiTenlinn of Germany and of the Herman Emperor''? or that Professor Tivilschke, the mo 3 t jingoist of all taman and also one of their ablest. writer-, savs: "Then, when the German flag Hies >ver and protects this vast Kmpire. tu whom will belong the sceptre? What nation will impose its 1 \\i<he.s on the other enfeebled and (In- . eadent people? Will it not be Germany J that will have the mission to ensure 1 tin- peace of the world? Russia, that ' immense colossus still in process of formation. and with feet of clav, will he ' absorlx'd in its home and economic difli- 1 culties. England, stronger in appear- ' anee than in reality, will, without J doubt, see her colonies detaeii themselv-s in fruitless struggles. "ranee, given over to internal dissensions am] the strife of parties, will sink into hopeless decadence. As to Italy, she will have . her work cut out to ensure a crust of < bread to her children. . . . The future I | belongs to Gennanv, to which Austria u-i'l attach herself if she wishes to sur- t vivo." i Thi'ir reimlar system of expansion is . very considerable, aided by various so- i eieties whose only ;nm is the spread of < the German of (Jernian commcive, ;md fJerman ideas. Such nations i as the (Germans cannot reasonably hope 1 to absorb, (hey endeavor unremittingly to win over to their interests. Amonjrst there, (he Americans proper, the people of tlie United States, are Ihe foremost. One of their writers says: "The Teutonic race, tu which Americans belong, as well as ourselves, could aspire to the doniination of the globe ii the two nations .. walked together instead of remaining 11 isolated." And here is the keynote of 1 all it points to: "The English peril a ; haunts Germany," writes jr. Georges 11 Yilliers. "By the force of things, the I 1 twentieth century will see the German 11 and the Anglo-Saxon in a death-struggle 11 for maritime and commercial supremacy. 11 At any rate, there is hardly a German who is not persuaded to-day that such will be the case. Those even who deny In the possibility of such a conflict are not J those whom it pro-occupies least." Dr. ri Reich goes on to say that if the British li nation had attacked Germany a few n years ago, say at the time of'the Kai- \\ ser's telegram to Kruger, the ambition ti of the Germans with regard to maritime h expansion would have been nipped 4a the bud. At that time the disproportion ' between the British and the German n lleets was too much in favor of tin; lu former. In a few years' time, however, i certainly in lfil:!. if not long before that, tin's proportion will be very much loued down, i'nless one believes in the absobill' and utin>udif ion. ll invincilrlity of Hi- British 11-Tt us in a sort of law of n »«"<i •. <••<•• i' not entitled to assume in !||il Ihe l.'er'iian Meet cannot ever d«»- J]'«' l<*al if". If. ihen. we twine up all the ar t'K'-id- I'.nro'M-nt pol'tie- into mv« ar hi'j- r-ipe (if iiiferc • •(', it come* to (hi*: fwi h all Ki'"iip> there is a( pro-enl n i )8n I"11' a wniceri ,1(1' six prcat Powers je l bui only a don of t\u> Towers-H -r tai "i;<av and Cr-.-.ti 'liritjin. The rest „! J j( . tie' rn\vcf> -tw i: (J in km 1.-de W" e;'/! <•}•; il;e nii'iv I'llni" nti: the ehords and har- tei irnmh'-. The -vlKd" of (.'erman policy is ; [ (Mrcfi cil to (ill" >iii'ile obji-et: to keep the fonui-r p'lvat Powcis as blondle-s ' ■ p'v.dbliv, to :ma'-mi;iii' without un- r duly exa-p«'iauiH»' th-i-i. Thi; d..ne, ~ fherc remains for Mm- ('"rnieii-; <>nc -itt'd. l duel, that wit It (iivufc Urii.iin. Thi-. they hojie. lliey will man- Su ( ' ,M am '■ ■■■.ins did led build no 11.-"r I"-. '.'.'l' lin a of In n'"d lei - I'l'lf v." ; ! lollln' "I'i's: '-life is a 1- < n- "" :>nd d" 'nj!" - ' •ti i mviri' the world Tlr-v j' : " ' , «t th<- In'nrfH-r til")' d:i't'd hi'f.n-' ;ill' rieil ive of peri-dt-\<c -.■> nii -c nr f;.rrMif!-riMi' every!hid <•. s<,"- 1h" ni"'iii;in~ i.f onr days are bi ;■ Miiilar pn-ition. Tin- author we h-»v« :• i' cd slat<- ho h:u hoard ' n 'n'di'hmen (h it if a war i|Hh fier- ■ ()> i-:nv -honld b'eiV out it will h<» { 'not I'd I, miv lJfrlipie." but "in a hundred J '?'; eur« from now." To one who studies 'ati iennan preparations every day of his ban

; life; to one. who knows Merman, and tin i! their history and literatim: j to suck a person, remarks as the pre- ' ceding send a coid shiver through the heart. After the itu'ful e.\|>ericiia' of i the Boer war, to talk like that of a war juitii lif lu'^L-ti;iiiiod, iH'St-spiriu'ri, a'-'d ! most dangerous nation in the world! It s nothing short of appalling. The question really conies to this: What can .lie Germans do but expand? And since .hey cannot possibly expand on the Continent, tlicy must necessarily expand b.*, -■•a-powcr, which inevitably means conflict with The Sea-Power of the world--witJi (Ireat Britain. The one way out of the diliieulty would he the artificial restriction of the fast-growing population of Germany. This the Germans do not want to resort to; and smely no Briton can, in common decency, advise or force thorn to do so. What, then, can be Hiultimate upshot of all these circinnrtanecs? War—conflict; nothing else. What, then, is the only thing to bo dmi"asks Dr. Keit-h. Kvidently only one thing: prepare for the conllict. the us h;ive learnt this lesson thoroughly. They are, as a nation and as individual?, preparing themselves carefully. Their Xavv League numbers on a milli'in the British Xavy docs not exceed 20,000. In Germany every able-bodied person is a soldier jilled wiU) the great military spirit. The spirit that prompts every German for his country, what on earth is hejtv. in" for? The Germans, if victorious over the British lleet, can very well invade Kngland and hold it for some time. The British, with the present orgamsa- , tion of their army, eouhl never think oi ' invading one town of (Germany. Is such a situation not threatening enough? 1 ie British, in case of a naval disa»tei, ; would lose practically everything. Ihe indemnity which the wou.d, exact would he enormous, both m coloI nies and in money.