The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1917. THE TEUTONIC PLOTTING MACHINE

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1917. THE TEUTONIC PLOTTING MACHINE

Germany's capacity for plotting and intrigue is as limitless as her ambition and ruthlessness. The revelations that have come to light during the war completely prove that morality in international affairs is completely dead so far as Germany ia concerned. The Kaiser, his diplomats, missionters and agents bavo become so steeped in infamy that straightforward, honest dealing is an unknown quantity. In the pursuit ot her ambitious policy of aggrandisement and world power no means can be too base for her to use, no instrument too defiled to wield. She has abandoned all codes of honor and set a terrible example of unprecedented lawlessness and unblushing effrontery, but, like all hardened criminals who try to cover up their tracks, the.German diplomats are having their guilt proved up to the hilt, and the depth of their baseness exposed to tin light of day. The latest and most ghastly output of the Hun plotting machine emanates from the Argentine where, unfortunately for Sweden, the Swedish Minister has been acting as Germany's "eoret agent for the purpose of sending ~;:d receiving German code messages relating to submarines and their prospective victims. The chief point in this plot was the fiendish proposal to sink vessels so that there should be no trace of their fate, meaning thereby the murder of all on board. It matters not one iota how the cypher messages oamo to be known. Wherever there is nefarious plotting treachery lurks and there are always those whoso love of greed leads them to dog the footsteps of intriguers so as to gain a reward for revealing schemes afoot. Evil breeds evil and spies flourish—for a time. Svraden has been playing a risky game throughout the war. but it would not be fair to punish either the Government or tho people of that country for the treachery of its Minister in the Argentine, though the act should be' fully disavowed. At the same time there is ample justification for tightening the blockade so as to prevent Germany receiving any more goods through this tainted source. When these cypher messages were re.caiea we nad hardly gjt over the first shock of the Kaiser-Czar telegrams, found In c'na Russian Imperial archives, concerning the attempt to form a European coalition against Britain at the time of the Russo-Japanese war, when the relations between Britain and Russia were strained almost to breaking point. The Kaiser thought lie saw a golden opportunity to reduce Britain to impotence, and that if lie could only bribe or cajole France to become an accomplice in Britain's downfall his scheme would be a success, for Britain would stand alone. It was something more than a coincidence that his J telegran. to the Czar should have been despatched just at the time when the difficulties relating to coal were at their height between Britain and Russia. The wily Teuton autocrat knew that the existence of the Triplo Entente was a barrier to his scheme of domination and that until Britain was crippled he had no hope of success. Ho saw the bonds of amity growing between France and Britain and set to work to use Russia as a pawn in his subtle game. Prussian diplomacy lias long been a byword among the nations for its unscrupulousness and unreliability, culminating in tlie avowal that treaties we're mere scraps of paper. It was Germany who was behind the seizure of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria, despite the treaty to which Austria was a signatory. More recently theye waa the brazen attempt to induce Japan and Mexico to join Ger-

| many in a campaign against the United States, in which Japan was to take a hoped for revenge for the treatment received at- American hands. '(Japan," said an inspired telegram to the Frankfurter Zeitung, "cannot look on 'with indifference if mighty and rich America militarises herself to support the Allies against Germany. Japan has good hope of defeating unmilitary America in the event of a conflict. But if America now puts her finance aiitl man-power and industry into the service of the war, Japan will lose all prospect of ever being able to assert herself victoriously against America." This species oi manoeuvre—the sowing of discord and infliiming one country against another—is Germany's sheet anchor in her corrupt diplomacy, and is probably a heritage fioni liei llun ancestors. Japan, however, was not to be caught by German wiles, 'while American feeling was stiffened against the plotter. Who will now tiust Germany's word, pledge, or engagement? Not one country in the whole world. Her plotting machine has overstepped the mark and her iniquity is laid bale. All that is left for her is to fight until conquered, and possibly out of the ashes of her former power there may arise a democratised Germany that will in the process of time be worthy of trust.