The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1915. GERMAN INTRIGUE IN RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1915. GERMAN INTRIGUE IN RUSSIA.

In tiie 'past there 'have been many seemingly unaccountable acts committed liy tiie Russian authorities, and students of national affairs have been sorely puzzled to find satisfactory reasons therefor. . Considerable light has now been thrown on what Ims i tberto been hidden by an impenetrable cloud of mystery. For this the world has to thank M. .Wesselikky, who has published a most interesting brochure, entitled: '•Russia and Democracy." In reality, the object of the work is to show the baneful effect of German intrigue in Russia —an intrigue that appears to be as unscrupulous as the methods now being used l>y Germany in warfare. The object in view in this long-sustained campaign of treachery and duplicity upon which Germany has been engaged was the predominance of German inllueuce and the methods adopted were perfectly in keeping with that. " kulfcur" which the Germpn nation seems to have evolved as the. lever to its future supremacy. Just how fa.v German intrigue can go no one can say, for the ordinary ethics of civilised life do not apply. All we know is that tiie Germans act on the principle that they are a law unto themselves, and that, in working out their supposed destiny, they ignore all human and divine laws, all codes of honor and morals, all rights' of other nations. There is for them hut one faith, centred in one object—Germany and its glorification as the dictator of the universe. M, Wesselifcky shows how for centuries German influence has been making itself felt in Russia. Why? Because Germany feared the Russian people, so they labored with Teutonic assiduity to pcraieate Russian 'bureaucracy, the Russian Court, and every sphere of Russian life. According to the writer of the brochure: "Deeply laid plans were methodically pursued, for strengthening German influence in Russia. Systematic colonisation of the frontier provinces of Russia was 'hurriedly pushed forward. The gueatest progress was made in the Vistulian region (Poland), in the Baltic provinces, and in South-western Russia. Russian authorities in Poland have been persuaded that, in favoring the German immigrants, they were acquiring for Rus-iia quiet and obedient subjects, able and willing to defend her against 'Polish nationalism. Those immigrants have proved, and are, indeed, proving, their ability and willingness to serve the German armies in the present war. They furnish them with their best spies, and are appointed to administrative posts in the parts of Poland, occupied by the Germans.'' For, centuries Germany has fed upon the good nature, to'eranee and simple faith of the Russian rulers and people, and fed so well thereon that they became—as pampered people invariably do—insolent with success. The German Ambassadors exercised a censorship that deprived the Russians of freedom in their own country, and on more than one occasion was Russia plunged into war by German devices. German influence reached such a height in the time of Empress, Anna (1739-40) that the Russians rost. in revolt. The Emperors Paul and Alexandra I. wece completely dominated by that influence, and became blind to the intrigues worked by the Teutons. H the Crimean war was not one of the results, it certainly 'played into Germany's hands. It was Bismarck who pushed Russia into the war with Turkey while pretending to be her best friend, and then secured the friendship of Turkey by posing as that country's protestor, but the crowning act of treachery was tin- scries of intrigues whereby Russia was led on to declare war against Japan, when Germany reaped a rich harvest from the sale of munitions, and forced Russia into a commercial treaty which left Russia < Germany's economic vassal. In the light of these statements, many Russian puzzles become solved, especially when the recent labor troubles in Russia are traceable to the same malevolent, action, the German Embassy at Petrograd being the central propagating station of proclamations urging the people to rise against the Government to which the Ambassador was accredited. The eyes of the world are being opened to the enormities of German methods, but we may rest assured that the day of reckoning is not far off, and as Germany has sown so shall she reap, and become the pariah of the civilised nations.