CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 63, 5 September 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

WHAT DOES GERMANY WANT? What, then, are the demands made by Germany \vhich have aroused all this strong feeling and straight ta.lk? "It is now definitely known by semi-official indiscretions," says the Nation, "that what Germany demands as the price of her withdrawal from Agadir is nothing less than the cession of the greater part of the French Congo and the surrender of France's option on the Belgian Congo. The coveted province is the wealthy and populous Gabun country, which lies between the German Cameroons and the Congo river, and includes the thriving port of Libreville. The hinterland, thus left to France, would become isolated and almost worthless. The claim is so extravagant that one can with difficulty believe that it is seriously made.'' The Westminster Gazette took this view:—"We are not disposed to treat as foolishly improbable the. statement that Germany is asking for compensation in the Congo for what she might be willing to concede over Morocco. If France gets from Germany a free hand in Morocco comparable to the free hand we have in Egypt, we may be sure that Germany will want substantial compensation elsewhere. That being so. Germany is very likely, in the first instance, to ask for a great deal, and the most likely place for her to seek it is in Africa. The situation is a serious one, no doubt; but we are not in the least inclined to be pessimistic, and we do not in the least despair of an arrangement between France and Germany which will lie entirely compatible with British interests." Before Mr. Lloyd George made his speech in the city the Spectator had gone to press with an article in which the very gravest view was taken of the situation caused by Germany's action. After referring to the enthusiasm and good will with which the Kaiser and the German Crown Prince had been received lately in London, the Spectator said:-—"Unfortunately, the men who have the conduct of foreign a flairs in Germany appear to have been unwise enough to draw the sinister conclusion that our fickle population is tired of the entente with France, and quite willing to abandon it for a flirtation with Germany. The next step for the controllers of German policy seems to have been to argue that now was the. time to drive a wedge between France and Britain and break down that entente which has done so much for the peace of the world. It is hardly necessary to say that if our interpretation of German action is correct, the conductors of German foreign iiolicy will have a rude awakening. If we stand by France loyally and firmly there will be no war. If we do not stand by her the risk of war is multiplied by ten. Germany must be warned, however, that if she presses France undulv, and makes her action at Agadir a. ground for what is in fact diplomatic blackmail, Russia and Britain will come to her assistance, and not merely with diplomatic Notes. We shall be loyal to France whatever happens. That, is the way of honor, of self-in-terest, and of peace.''

BRITAIN SHOWS HER HAND. Fuller particular* of the speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in regard to the. British attitude in connection with the Moroccan embroglio and the comments made theron are. to hand by the last English mail. The, passage was read with great deliberation from manuscript—an unusual proceeding for Mr. Lloyd-George, an extempore speaker—and it was taken as embodying the considered judgment of the Cabinet, which had met during the day. Here is the passage: "It is essential in the highest interests, not merely of our own country, but of the world, that Britain should at. all hazards maintain her place and her prestige amongst the Great Powers of Europe. Her potent, influence has many a. time in the past been and may yet be in tin' future invaluable to the cause of human liberty. It has more than once redeemed Continental nations, who are now apt to forget these services, from overwhelming disaster and even from national extinction. 1 would make sacrifices to preserve peace. T. conceive that nothing would justify a disturbance of international goodwill except ques- . tions of the gravest national moment. ; but if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and beneficent position Britain has won by centuries of heroism and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated where her interests were vitally affected as if she were of no account in the Cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically peace at that price would he a humiliation intolerable for a great country like ours to endure."

This speech was hailed by the Press next dav with varying feelings. The Liberal journals were doubtloss voiced by the Westminster Gazette, which said: —"We heartily agree with these sentiments. Nothing is to be gained by pretending that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had not in his mind the situation which centres round Morocco. Mr. Lloyd George was studiously conciliatory, and nothing that be said indicates anv objection to the fair deal, which we' hope will take, place. His speech is. an intimation (hat we are faithful to the entente, and that there are interests of our own which we claim to have considered in any Moroccan settlement. So far as we know, the German demands look large, but Germany may very well say that she is certain not to gel. more than she asked for. and that in these matters a maximum demand is the customary way of beginning." The Daily Chronicle took the view that "the unfavorable impression which was created at the outset by Germany's 'conversational opening' at Agadir has been deepened by what has leaked out about the nature of the conversations. If there is an idea in any German quarter that by diplomatic manoeuvring a wedge may be driven into a friendship already existing, it i= high lime that, so dangerous an error was corrected.'' Even the Daily News, ever cautious in such matters, admitted "there is some, danger of Germany's forcing l-'rance into a corner, whence her only ways out would be eilher by war or by a complete and disastrous loss of her international standing. No one has striven more consistently and heartily

than wo have to promote Anglo-Gorman friendship. But it would be folly to mislead German opinion at such a juncture, or to obscure the fact that when Mr. Lloyd George spoke on Friday he spoke for the nation. There is no pos- . sihility of national disunion over matters vital to us all." Such being the attitude of the Liberal Proas, it is not surprising that Mr. Lloyd George's remarks should have been hailed with delight by the Unionist Press. The Times said:—"Mr. Lloyd George's clear, decisive, and states- ] manlike reference to the European situa- | tion treated by the German demands in West Africa will he endorsed without ; distinction of party by all his countrymen. The purport of such demands as were outlined in Berlin last week is nothing less than a claim for absolute European predominance. Neither France nor Great Britain could have entertained them for a moment without confessing themselves overborne by German power. That is not the intention of our French neighbors, nor is it our own. Mr. Lloyd George made that perfectly clear. But we have every confidence that, with the better understanding of British temper which Mr. Lloyd Goorge's speech is calculated to produce, those demands will assume a more reasonable form." And, reverting to the subject later, when it was known how the speech of tho Chancellor had been received on the Continent, the Times remarked:—The way in which Mr. Lloyd George's speech has been received abroad is the best proof of its timeliness and value. France is now completely satisfied that, however a<Mite may be the differences that divide ns at home, wo are absolutely of one mind in the defence of our honor and our interests, and that this Liberal and Radical Government are as vigilant and as resolute guardians of both as any Administration formed by their political opponents. Germany, we' feel reasonably sure, has also grasped these somewhat elementary truths, though her newspapers may exhibit an unaccountable coyness in acknowledging that she apprehends them." "We should be heartily glad," the Times continues, "to see a final understanding of an amicable kind reached by France and Germany in Morocco. If for the purpose of reaching it France deemed it in her interest to agree to certain rectifications of frontier between her possessions in Africa and those of Germany, we assuredly should not attempt to dissuade, her from taking the course which she thought best. But that is a very different thing from silently acquiescing in such a wholesale transfer of territory, important to us both strategically and economically, as Germany has proposed."