WE WANTED IT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 218, 22 February 1915, Page 8

WE WANTED IT.

HERE HAI! DEN'S FRANK ADMISSION OF GUILT. HIS ULTIMATUM TO THE WORLD MORE "WARM BLAZES" TO BELGIUM AND TERMS TO ENGLAND. I Uerr Maxmilian Harden, the editor oi Die Zukiuii't, is one of the most able journalists in Germany—an out-:c:i critic, as tile Emperor knows. Here is his latest outburst tilicnt the war, ami again.-,: England. The article appears in a, German paper published in New Y;>r;:. and i.s translated by the liVw V Times.

. "Tins FOLLY, THIS BOASTI'ULNESS." "T-icri- Harden," says tii;■ Westminster, criticising liis jiriiclc. ''throws away "-ll the apologies by which other of iiis countrymen ;uv tryin;; to beinus" neutral nations, and boldly e.yows that Germany made this war ami intended this war as a war of conquest, Germany is both working out her own destiny and bringing a milleimiun. to iin- world in insisting on presenting it with the g.'ft of German culture. "When Germany is in nnssi'fiiinn o f Belgium and the North Vre'ifh [ Mid has hoisted her storm flag in the narrow channel, she is to giye Great Britain the choice of shoring Uie UinI pire of the world with her on friendly i terms, or accepting destruction at her ! hands. And this is the communication I \'hich a famous German writer makes to a great newspaper in a neutral country with the idea of conciliating opinion. • To-narrow he will be wondering that American opinion remain.! *'> olwliirat*' Mid so unappreciative of the belayed figure of the German Michael. "We do not think that any bu', e Or-

man writer could be guil'v of just this kind of folly—this boastful, tips comolaccncy, this colossal lacV of Vu-or' and scruple,," adds «""• Westni v c,tcr Gazette. "Ilerr Harden is, of course, Un extreme example, bnt the same characteristics, more or less veiled, are to be found in the manifestoes of the Kaiser, the statesmen, the professors, and eve'.i the theologians. Implicitly they claim that the rest of the world has no rights and shall have no choice where German necessity decrees. ' "So far as Herr Harden addresser, us. we reply as before that whe n Germany stepped into Belgium, she stepped out | of her possessions beyond the sea, and that we, will hold every one of them in forfeit and pursue v ':e war in Europe without flinching, until she has made the fullest reparation." WHAT HERE HARDEN SAYS. "Not as weak-willed bhmdercrs have we undertake n the fearful risk of this war "Become we had to wish it and "ould wish it. May the Teuton Devi! throttle those! whinors whose nleas for | excuses make us ludicrous in hours |of lofty experience. We do not stand,, | and shall not place ourselves, hefny I the court of Europe. Our power shall j create new law in Europe. Germane ! strikes. If it conquers new realms for I its genius, the priesthood of all t'v I gods will sing songs of praise to l!>" 5 good war. . . . We will wage it | from tli- lofty point of view, and with J the convictio n that Germany, as a result of her achievements and in proportion to them, is justified in asking, and must obtain, wider room for earth development and for workiijg out the possibilities that are in her. .... The terms of a peace treaty that does not insure this would leave the great effort unrewarded. E>en if it brought' dozens of shining billions in'to the National Treasury,- tho fate of Kii-op" would be dependent upon the United , States of America.

• WHAT THEY WAXTF.D. "Wo arc waging war for ourselves alone; and still v.'e are convinced that all who desire the good would soon bo able to rejoice in the result. For with this war there must also end the poll tics that have frightened away all tlifl upright from entering into intimate relations with the moat powerful Continental empire. We need land, free roads into the ocean, and for the spirit and language and wares and trade of Germany. we need the same values that are accorded such goods anywhere else. "Not for Belgian territory," says Harden, "did the German army set out and v.-liat stretch of land necessary fni the German people, or useful in the real sense of the word, could France 01 even. Russia vacate for us in Eurone 1 . . . Not for French, Polish, liutheninn, Esthonian, Lettish territories, nor for billions of money."

Xo! Apparently, according to this writer, the Germans waited the Freneli sid" of the Straits of Dover! "To hoist the storm flags of the Empire on the narrow channel that opens and locks the road into the ocean." HOW THE KATSER MIGHT SPEAK, "I could imagine Germany's lord, if after Ostend, 'Calais too, is captured, sending the armies and fleets back home from the east and from the west, ar.d quietly saying to our enemies:

"You now have felt what Germany's strength and determination ea n do, ami hereafter you will probably weigh the matter well before you venture to attack us. Of you Germany demands nothing further. Not even reiinbursement for its expenses in this~\var—for those it is reimbursed by the wholesome terror which it evoked all round in the autumn battles. Do you want anything of us ? We shall never refuse a challenge t,o a quarrel. We shall remain in the Belgian netherland, to which we shall add the thin strip of coast up the rear of Calais (von Frenchmen have enough better harbors, anvway); we terminate, of our own accord, this war which, now that we have saleguarded our honor, can bring us no other gains; we now return to the ioy of fruitful work-, and will grasp the sword again only if you attempt to crowd us out of that which We have won with our blood. Of a solemn peace conference, with haggling over terms, parchment. and seal, we Jun.t no need. 'Hie in honors tr 1-e fivd. You car: keep your fortresses if they do not s"em to you to be worthless, if the rebuilding of them still seems worth while to you. To-morrow is again a common day.

WARM TihAZT, ADVAXTAfiKS OFFERED TO TiKrxamr.

"To the. Helpian? pre (b P Are'iimr mill the T-nant of the Pnol of Hell!" | ITtrr TTarih'i' adds. "\Y V would remain so. even if ev«vy «tone in Louvnin nn«l in AFnlines were r"T>laeed by its e.-]uiva-lent in £old. That raj. l "? can he oV)--come only after the race, praised hv Schiller's fiery breath, sees 'its ti'>i«!>bors Rinse at h'nid. and draws advantage from inlimat.. relations v.-itli tlneo. Antwerp, not pitted against us. but working with lis. Hamburg and 'firemen; T.iefre. side by side -vitli Kks!"»V, l!"r----?in's and Swabia's gun lactones- -Cockerill in combination with Krupn: iron, coal, woven stuff from old Germany and Belgium, introdneeil into the markets of the world by one and the .same commercial spirit; our Kameni n and their Congo—such a warm blaze of advn tage liag burned away manv a hatred. "Only, never again a witiiered 17i,.i, 5 -. land! (Imperial territory). From COais to Antwerp. Flanders, Limburg. Brabant, to behind the line of the Mouse forts, Prussian! (German Princes no longer haggle, German tribes no longer

envy one another); the Southern triangle with Alsace and Lorraine—and Luxemburg, too, if it desires —is to bo an independent federated Htate, entrusted to a Catholic noble house. Then Germany would know for what it shed its blood. "We need land for our industries, a road into the ocean, an undivided colony, the assurance of a supply of war materials and the most fertile wellspring of prosperity—a people indus- \ Lrious ami edicicnt in its work. ! "Here they are: Ore and eoppfcr, glass and sugar, flax and wool. But here, too, there once lived Jan and Hubert <an Eyek. Rubens. the waller Ruysbvock, anil Jordeans of the avid eyes. Here there also lived —to be sure, in Twilight—Germania's little soul, fluttering imagination. A VICTORY OVER ENGLAND.

•'And is there not here, too, that •vliich—all too storinily, and as a rule, I in all too harsh a tone of abuse—every I German heart years for, a victory over England?" aslt.s Herr Harden. "On the | sens such victory cannot be quickly won, indeed; can, indeed, never be won without great sacrifice. But with the German Empire, whose mortars loom throating from one coast of the Channel, whose Hugs float over the two greatest harbors of Europe, and over the Congo basin— I England would have to eoiue into a I friendly agreement as a Power of equal strength, with equal rights."