The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1918. PAN-GERMANISM GONE FOR EVER.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 November 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1918. PAN-GERMANISM GONE FOR EVER.

The unconditional surrender of Austria-lliiiiga r.v —for that is what the acceptance of the armislice'nieans —drives the last nail in the coffin of pan-Germanism. PanGermanism is really a, doctrine, of purely Prussian origin, which aimed at llic annexation of all the various regions, irrespective of race or language, of which possession was deemed useful to the power of •the Ilohenzollems. If was in the name of pan-Germanism—a theory bred of cupidity and wanton greed—that Prussia charged the Parliament of Frankfort to claim as German lands the eastern provinces, where in reality the Slavs predominate to such an extent that the provinces still contain a population of about four million Poles. It was in the name of panGermanism that in LSGf Prussia seized that part, of Sehlcswig which was entirely Danish. It was in the name of pan-Germanism that Prussia afterwards absorbed a part of Austria and .Alsace-Lor-raine. It was in the name of p;ruGermanism that Austria-Hungary had been for long the object of German covetousness, though the Germans in that country are in a very small minority. To sum up, pan-Germanism is a doclrine of international burglary. The formula, was German domination from Hamburg 1o the Persian Gulf. By clever scheming the Kaiser got the llapsburgs and the political leaders of Austria-Hun-gary within his toils, and close links were forged between Germany and Austria-Hungary. In order to consolidate his supremacy over the Balkan peoples the Kaiser reckoned on the co-opera-tion of such of their kings as were Germanic by origin, or others who were strongly influenced by Germany. Thus he arranged the marriage of his own sister Sophia in 1889 to the heir to the throne of Greece—the ex-Kiug Constantine. Finally, almost immediately after his accession, lie began to think of showering his Imperial favors on the Turks and Mussulmans. This was with the object of seizing the Ottoman Empire later on, and making use of the Mohammedans of the whole world as a mighty level- against all other powers. In 1898. at Damascus, William II pronounced the famous words, the full significance of which was only understood when he plunged the world into Avar: "May the Sultan, as well as the three • hundred Mussulmans who venerate him as their Khalifa, be assured that the German Emperor is their friend for ever." The adulation of the sanguinary and Wicked Sultan Abdul Ha mid proved of practical use to the Kaiser, who the following year obtained the first concession of the Bagdad railway. From that date German exploitation of Turkey began. In 1909 the Vienna Government, under cover of a veiled ultimatum which Berlin sent to Russia (prostrated bv tre war with Japan), carried out the annexation of Bosnia to Herzegovina—countries almost entirely peopled by Servians, who had actually amalgamated with Servia. The seizure of Slav territory was a great triumph for Germanism. The union of the three groupings —Central Europe, Balkan States and Turkey—would have placed under the inflnancc of Berlin two and a half million square miles and 204,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 127,000,000 were to be ruled directly or indirectly by 77,000.000 Germans. But this was not ailnot by any means. The pan-Ger-man plan provided for colonial conquests of great magnitudegreat parts of Africa and nearly the whole of South America, The Kaiser was well aware that such a project could only become an enduring reality if all other great powers disappeared from, the face of the earth. "Wilheim had therefore positively resolved, when hatching his pan-German plot, tj i.complish the destruction of the great powers in the way. France and Russia were to be leapt upon, and their armies destroyed, War was not to be made at once upon Britain—that was to be left for a future occasion. Italy was not considered capable of hindering in the least the pan-German ambitions, while the Kaiser apprehended no trouble from America, which was to be given the German view by her millions of propagandists there, and, in any case, the Germans felt that America was not able to disturb their plans. This, in brief, was the grandiose. pan-German plan, and it might have succeeded. By all known laws it had every element of success. The Germans themselves were positive that their plans would succeed. But the first thing that went wrong was the action of Britain. The Kaiser was convinced that Britain would take no share in the war; at least, not immediately. If Britain ha-

riecl, if only IV a few days. -,.:)■- man landiiv- in Normandy, Brittany and ]'-■'deaux would have been effected, and France, being shus xeudered quickly powerless

on nil sides, British intervention would have proved futile at a late stage, and the pan-German plan would then have been achieved. But Britain saw the issues clearly at the moment, and, in controlling the sea. Great Britain has, while savin £ herself, saved the world from a condition of servitude trnly appalling. Not only that; she and her allies have been the means of securing freedom for the oppressed peoples in Austria-Hungary, in the Balkans, and in Turkey. The" world, has escaped from a truly awful danger, which, however, will not he entirely removed until Hie fangs of .the Germans are drawn and the Ilohenzollems are removed from any position of authority.