The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1915. THE GERMANS CLAIM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 239, 18 March 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1915. THE GERMANS CLAIM.

Tile civilised world has been shocked, by the reiterated statement of Herman leading nun, who undoubtedly represent the conviction of the large majority of those Hi ramus capable of considering; Mich a matter at all, that the war now raging in Europe lias been deliberately planned and is being carried oil by tliem lor the arrogant purpose of establishing "Herman culture" and imposing it upon all the nations of the earth—for tlicir good. Tin' circular, issued since the war began by a number of I'ni\ ey-oty erotes--ors. sought to excuse the steady preparation bv Kaiser \\ ilhelin for the murder of his neighhi ill's —whilst professing friendship for tliem and devotion | t , peace- on the ground of the importance to mankind of what they called ''our cultural achievements." On the same ground the world was asked to condone the even \ilcr crime of attacking nad ravaging innocent Belgium. a eounlry which the Herman Covcrnnient wits formally bound by solemn contract ('a scrap ef paper") to proticl. These (!■';' man prol'i ssors actually propose that =!:■ • murderous greed and coniemptno itl'eacliel'y which have, during two ccitiirie-, marked the steady growth of 1■ llo!iei!};i>ller)i.«' power should be rgarih i as non-existent bceau-e tliev have b en

Ac ( ouipaniei! by aslolene-s and abilbv in. organising both the iitle'lecinitl an-! inililary resources of (he -übjugatcd <he'nisn peopl". They ;i]'.feee,r to think tlcir.. if you profess to be acting the serv'ce I of munilio-ji'iiibo culture, nilii'd r Incomes no crime and robbery an act of philanthropy. The murderous seizure of SehlcMvig-lloMein, of Alsace-Lorraine, of Hanover, Brunswick. and other territories in the past, and the contemplated murder of Frenchmen and Englishmen with a view to plundering and destroying their cities by fire and sword ce:iv. ;according to these preposterous professors, to be climes when eHVeted in I!ie name of Herman culture and become deeds of bcauly and virtue. Even ai the moment when the civili-cd world stood aghast ill the treachery of the iVrniiii attack on Belgium, the brutality of tlcir soldiery, and Ihe barbarity of their destruction of great cities and historic il monuments. the President of the I'i'.h.sian Diet declared, in an address to tliat laxly delivered on October -22, 1014. tliat the Herman armies were engaged in the fulfilment, of "the great Kultur-nnssio'.i of the Herman people among the natio is of the earth." Such unctuous professions can only be regarded as inflated nonsense, tin; utterance of minds disordered by conceit and debauched bv "Prussian tyranny. The Hermans' happy dream of brotherhood ;md a. united fatherland with which, as it existed years ago, we all sympathised, has been transformed by the malign influence of the Prussian military party into a hideous obsession of murder and brigandage. To Engli-h----speaking people the attempt to justify the infamy of Hermany by the proton V that through its operation Herman culture is being spread, appears to be either a shameless jest or else the result of a national illusion which is of the nature of "collective dementia,"—a mental disease not unknown to students of such matters. One is reminded by it of the brutal enforcement of Christianity—the religion of love, of peace, and good-will among men by the Spanish conquerors of South America, who used for thc.t purpose what we know to-dav as "f.'oruian methods," The great "Kultur-mis-sion" of the Herman people among tlic nations of the earth, of which Herman leaders tell us, is nothing more nor le-s than the attempt to realise the infamous purpose of the iroheiizollerns—name! ", that of seizing, by the use of murder, secret cunning, and bnroarous cruelty, the property and persons of the other nations of the earth for the gross nnttcriai profit of Hermans and their Prussian masters. Hence it is not really a misuse of terms when Hermans claim that "the higher interests of Herman Kultur justify and ennoble the burning of Louvain and Malines, the bombardment of the cathedral of lihoims, and the torture and slaughter of Belgian w.inien, children, and old men, Their claim i- not a mock nor a* excuse. These methods of "frightrulness" and barbarism are approved by the Kaiser, and are, in fact, an integral part of the culture with which the Herman people now are saturated. It should perhaps I," called "Hohonzollcrn Kultur" rather than '■Herman Kultur," for it has been created by the, Ilohenzollerns, and will cease when they are obliterated. Kaiserism, the Herman "culture" of to-day, is, of course, the sequel of the great vie torv over France in 1870-71. It is based on the conviction of invincibility, whi.-h was carefully nurtured in the Herman mind after the war, and has been fae. oreil by the demoralising effect of the enormous commercial prosperity which too rapidly followed. The enjoyment of the plunder brought into German hands bv the robbery of France led to the dishonest craving for more, which, it seemed, was ready, in Belgium, franco, and England to the hand of a well-armed and unscrupulous thief.