The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1914. THE DYNAMIC CAUSE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 164, 17 December 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1914. THE DYNAMIC CAUSE.

It is stated by competent and impartial authorities that the murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife supplied the pretext for the declaration of war on Servia which caused the present European upheaval. Good reasons exist for believing that the murder was plotted, not by Servia, but by those who threatened Servia with war under the pretext of avenging it. It is an open secret that no precautions were taken for the protection of the Archduke and his wife, and there are obstinate rumors that the two murderers were Austrian "agents provocateurs," or they were deliberately let fre'e to ply the trade of assassin. This is borne out by tlid well'atitlmntistttcd fuMark ntade by the Ai'tiiKlHke to Ms suite after the explosion of the bomb —"The fellow will get the Golden Cross of merit for this." There was much horror at the murder in Belgrade, while there was much thinly veiled relief in many official circles in Vienna and Budapest. According to Dr. Fitchett, in his book, "First Three Months of the War," the key of the story lies in the fact that just as Germany has its Prussianise! and military caste, which has obtained control of the national policy, and stamped its own evil signature upon it, so Afastria/ or rather Hungary—has its arrogant and narrow clique bent on enforcing a racial supremacy over its non-Magyar races. That explains the political and economical bondage in. which the southern Slavs are kept. • That ring is suspected of having arranged the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, or at least of assisting to make it possible, because the murdered Archduke was known to he contemplating a wiser policy, the polity of racial equality for all the populations of the Austrian empire. Germany and Austria-Hungary, in other words, have each an arrogant military ring, a minority of the nation, it is true, with ambitions and ethics of its own, and strong enougli to mould the national policy. In each nation it is a caste, limited in numbers, but eacli with its own dark ambitions. The Magyar ring aims at dominating the Slavs within its bounds; but to do this effectively, it ln.ii.si crush a little, independent, energetic SlavState like Servia, just beyond its frontiers. The efforts of Austria-Hungary to suppress the Slavs can clearly be traced. The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 had that as its inspiration. The, Balkan war was a victory for the little Slav States outside Austria; the creation of Albania j into an independent State was planned to cancel the effect of that victory. It was done on the demand of Austria to prevent Servia reaching the Adriatic, and Austria mobilised to sccur.j mat victory over her little Slav neighbor. The employment of the murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand as a pretext for chastening, or extinguishing, iittlc Servia was inspired by an exactly similar purpose; the suppression of Servia was desired for the sake of its reflex influence on the Slavs under the Austrian flag. The Slav question thus meant for Austria something quite different from what it meant for Germany. It was racial, but it was also local. The Slavs outside the empire were to be crushed lest their existence should awaken • inconvenient ambitions amongst the Slavs inside the Empire. For the dominating military caste in Germany the suppression of Servia was, according to Dr. Fitchett, planned to serve another and a larger purpose!. It would shatter the influence of Russia and of France in the greater politics of Europe. Russia, Germany believed, was not prepared for war; France was equally unprepared. Austria, Germany insisted, must be left alone, to do what she wished to do with Servia. This position is expressly affirmed by the Geri man Government in the German White , Paper. "We emphatically took the position," it says, "that no civilised country possessed the right to stay the arm of Austria in this struggle with barbarism and political crime and to shield the Servians against their just punishment." All this was for the purpose of showing that the word of Germany was supreme in European politics; that neither Russia nor France could meet its challenge. It was a step towards the world supremacy which is the deliberate and avowed objective of Prussianised Germany. General von Bernhardi devotes an entire chapter to ihe explanation of the claims of Germany to -world supremacy," and the very latest of the Kaiser's utterances, cabled all over the world, is a sentence spoken by him a few days ago, at a review of some troops: "They wish," he «aid, "'to kill Germany. If wo gain—and we must gain—a new empire shall arise more splendid than the world ever saw. It shall be a new Roman-Ger-man Empire, which shall rule the world, making it happy." The nations, of course, are fighting, not to "kill Germany," but to prevent German) —the "Germany" of the Ilohenzollerns-kill-ing them. For this very sentence shows the sweep of the Kaiser's ambition. It is to see a "new empire" arise—a Ger-man-speaking empire, of course—"more splendid than the world ever saw." A "new Roman-German empire >vliicii shall rule the world, making it happy." But a ''Roman-German empire" of the temper and the ethics which find expression in the crimes which have wrecked unhappy Belgium—what sort of "happiness" would it confer on the world! This exact ambition, however, as far as Germany is concerned, was the dynamic cause of the present war.

THE POLITICAL CRISIS. It will be seen from our telegraphic columns that in the final count Dr. MoNab has defeated Mr. Campbell for the Hawice's I3ay seat by nine votes. This will come as a great surprise, after what has been published in connection with the voting for this seat, and, incidentally, cause a lack of confidence in the methods of the Electoral Department. There has been some careless counting somewhere. In the first returns 'Mr. Campbell was given a lead of 20G votes. When tho expeditionary and absent votes were counted this lead was reduced to 100. .Now we are told Dr. McNab has a majority of nine. The other day it came out that fifty votes had been credited to Mr. (Payne that should have gone to Mr_ McLean in tho Grey Lynn contest. All of which tends to sap one's confidence in tho Electoral Department. It is stated by the 'Wellington 'Times that Heiiare, the successful candidate in the Northern Maori constituency, is not a supporter of the Government, but will vote with the Opposition. If this is so, then the Government stands defeated, and must resign. But, giving the Government Lie benefit of the doubt in the case of the Maori seat, it must still be defeated on a non-confidence motion, for whilst the parties will be equal numeric, ally, the Government will be in a minority of one in the voting, as, of course, the Government must elect a Speaker ] from its own side. The Government's position is clear. It must resign, or call Parliament together immediately. Sir Joseph Ward is in no position to carry on the government of the country any more than Mr. Massey, that is providing Jlenaro votes with the Kuform party. Should, however, he support the Liberals, Sir Joseph' Ward Alight carry on, but his position would be precarious, and unless he secured support from the other side, similarly to that gained by Mr. Massey two and a half years ago, he would be obliged to tender his resignation. With the parties so evenly divided, government on the orthodox lines is almost an impossibility, and the only escape from the impasse seems another appeal to the electors, who, however, are not anxious to take part in a second election fight, with its attendant unsettlenient and dislocation. A coalition Government, to hold office until the end of the war, would he an ed'ective solution of the difficulty, but the party spirit obsessing so many of our political satellites would be a bar to its consummation, however desirable and profitable it would prove to the country.