BRITAIN AND GERMANY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 283, 27 May 1912, Page 5

BRITAIN AND GERMANY

By, Cable—Press Association—Copyright. '■ Berlin, May 24. The magazine Nord-und-Sud contains a symposium in which Mr. Balfour gives the British standpoint. He writes that the uneasiness with which the nation contemplates possible developments throws a shadow across England, irrespective of party or creeds. He contends that if Germany was paramount in British home waters she could conquer or starve the British people, whereas if Britain was tenfold the master of the North Sea she would be unable to apply either method to Germany. Lord Haldane enlarges on the peace argument from the view of literary and philosophical traditions. Mr. Bonar Law declares that the best, perhaps the only, absolute security for peace, is for each, country to realise the strength of the other, and to appreciate that whatever their respective domestic differences, each is prepared to defend to the last her rights and her honor. MR. BALFOUR'S VIEWS. A STRIKING ARTICLE. Received 26, 5.5 p.m. London, May 25. Mr. Balfour, after paying a tribute to the world's debt to Germany's genius for learning, says that if recent years have produced a changed feeling, this is not due to national prejudice, but to a series of facts which cannot be lightly treated or calmly ignored. The first was the German Navy Bill. If Englishmen were sure that the German fleet would only be used for defence, they would riot care how large it was. Great Britain was wholly dependent on her seaborne supplies. There were two ways whereby a hostile nation could crush her. She could be conquered or starved. Without a superior fleet Great Britain could not count as a Power, whereas, without any fleet, Germany would remain the greatest Power in Europe. Therefore, the instinct of self-preserva-tion obliged Englishmen not to merely take account of the growth of foreign navies, but to anxiously weigh the motives of those building. Germany was increasing both her army and navy and building a strategic railway to the frontier. Mr. Balfour states that it is con-1 ceivable that this is being done to render her impregnable against attack. Unfortunately, no mere analysis of the German preparations for war will show for what purpose these preparations are designed. They would be just as formidable for aggression as for defence. The danger lies in the coexistence of a marvellous instrument of warfare with an assiduous advocacy of a policy of territorial expansion, which seems impossible to reconcile with the peace of the world or the rights of nations. All countries hindering this ideal are regarded as hostile, through lack of self-defence, and war or threats of war are deemed natural and fitting methods to accomplish this ideal. "Let German students," he said, "assume that Germany should be endowed at the cost of other nations with overseas Dominions proportionate to her greatness in Europe, but do let them ask if Englishmen approve. We are too surely convinced of the perils that such a policy, were it successful, would bring upon ourselves as well as others." He continued that he was afraid that the Germans widely held the conviction that Britain stands in their country's light, that Englishmen desire to thwart her natural development and are jealous of her legitimate growth. "Of these crimes we were not conscious." He did not believe that' Germany and Great Britain were predestined to, be enemies. Germany had taught Europe much, but she could yet teach that the organising of military power may be used in the interests of peace quite as effectively as in those of war, that the appetite' of domination belongs to an outworn phase of patriotism, and that the furtherance of the civilisation wherefor she has labored must be the joint work of many peoples. If she is prepared to lead the way on these lines she will find the world prepared to follow her, but if her policy is determined by national ambitions of a different type she must not be surprised if other countries watch the growth of her aggressive powers with undisguised alarm, and consider means of meeting 'a common danger. Der Kreuz-Zeitung regrets Mr. Balfour's opinion that Germany is influenced . by French Chauvinist views, springing from hatred of Germany, which it hardly expected from an Englishman of his standing. Hence it must conclude that Conservatives like Mr. Balfour view German conditions and motives through French spectacles, and are unwilling to make any concessions to the German standpoint.