THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1910. "THE GREATEST PERIL THE NATION HAS EVER FACED!"

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9716, 11 February 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1910. "THE GREATEST PERIL THE NATION HAS EVER FACED!"

The President of the Masterton Branch of the "Navy League (Mr H. G. Williams) has courteously handed to us a copy of Mr Blatchford's famous letters, "Germany and England." The heading to this article is a quotation from those letters, and it may, perhaps, be said that Mr Blatchford has succeeded in writing with the degree of forcefulness that the national peril demands. Recent cables told us that the letters had attracted a great deal of attention, and tnere is, we are pleased to say, some eround for believing that the impression created is one that will stick and bear good fruit. Mr Blatchford is, of course, one of the best known o± English Socialists. He has written very often for the public on past occasions, and on various subjects. His style, speaking generally, is lucid and convincing, while he does not mince his words, nor is he afraid to express bis opinions. We suppose that there is no writer of modern / times whose works, or at least some of them, have been more cordially approved of by some, and more genuinely detested by others. But this is by the way—the point we wish to emphasise is that Mr Blatchford's writings invariably carry weight. j His friends admire him—-his enemies j respect him. The "Daily Mail" dej clares that he is master of a style that for viuo'ur and ter*en?ss has I been surpassed bv no Eigliih writer ' sin"" the day* of C »bbett. J ****** j In considering the facts relating to J , *''i.o greatest peiil the nation has :e\ r faced," Mr Blatchfori's p«i----1 so. ality and wor s are certainly i not of any conseqt;°ii<*p. but it is important to a prop.r appreciation of the lettrrs thst some slitrht knowledge of the author fhoH be sc

quired. Throughout his life Mr j Blatchford has candidly expressed I a number of opinions that he has j formed on grave problems, and knowing the utter candour of the man one is not surprised to read j these lines:—"l write these articles because I believe that Germany is deliberately preparing to destroy the British Empire; and because I know that we are not able or ready to defend ourselves against a sudden and formidable attack. 1 write from a sense of duty, and from a conviction that the destruction of the British Empire would be a misfortune for Europe and a blow to civilisation throughout the world. 1 take this course against my own interests and against the feeling of most of my political and many o' my private friends. I write in the "Daily Mail" in the hope of arousing the public from the fatal apathy and complacent optimism which blind them to the greatest peril the nation has ever been called upon to face. At the present moment the whole country is in a ferment about the Budget, and the Peers and the Election. It seems sheer criminal lunacy to waste time and strength in chasing such political bubbles when the existence of the Empire is threatened by so brave and powerful and indefatigable a nation as Germany. The public do not realise the gravity of the German menace."

****** It 15, of course, quite impossible to make more than a few very brief extracts from the subject of these remarks. One hears the question asked sometimes: "What motive can Germany have for attacking Great Britain?" A portion of Mr Blatchford's answer is: "What motive had they for attacking Denmark in 1864? What motive Md they for attacking Austria in 1866? What motive had they for attacking France in 1870? Germany is preparing to attack us because we stand in the way of her ambiiiona. The ambition ot the Pan-Germans, who are the war party, who are.the masters of Germany, is no new thing in worldhistory; it i? a vtry old. thing, as old as it is evil. F'>r the Pan-Germanic ambition is n<e ambition for Empire; the ambition t . dominate and exploit the world. It is the old, old lust for power and glory, the old, old greed for trade and wealth. World-domina-tion, conquest! That was the dream of Babylon, of Persia, of Greece, of Rome, of Spain, and France and Russia. It is the dream of Germany to-day. What motive can Germany have for attacking Britain? Nearly every German could tell us, if he would. Every public man in America, France, Italy and Russia could answer the question. We have been told over and over again by speakers and writers in German why Germany should and will attack us. A motive? What has caused most of the great wars recorded in history? Ambition and greed; the lust for glory and wealth and power." * * * * * *

Here is an extract that members of the British Navy League should read with more than idle curiosity. "It (the German Navy League) grew in strength with marvellous rapidity till to-day it numbers over a million members, till the circulation of its journal, " Die Flotte," reaches nearly half a million, till its publications and maps are seen throughout Germany, in barbers' shops, in hotels, in railway stations. It maintains armies of lecturers; it gives cinematographic shows everywhere. While the British Navy League has a revenue of only about £3,500, the German Navy League has a revenue exceeedihg £50,000. For more than ten years it has carried out an I educational campaign throughout Germany in favour of an all-power-ful neet, until to-day its work is practically done." One further quotation: "Consider the magnitude of the German naval preparations. When her programme is completed Germany will have a fleet of at least thirty, and probably fifty, battleships of the Dreadnought and superDreadnought class. But German energy has not confined itself to the construction of a number of ship 3 as laid down in the various Naval Acts. Every effort has been made to increase the capacity and rapid construction of ships and guns. Two years ago we could outbuild and out- | gun Germany with ease. But to-day it is doubtful whether we can build as rapidiy or arm as rapidly as she." The sale of "Merrie England," by Mr Blatchford, reached one million and a half copies, and we should be pleased to hear that ten millions of "England and Germany" had been disposed of. It is a publication that arrests the attention; it deals with a real national danger, and it is most instructive. The Empire should be flooded with Mr Blatchford's letters British Navy League should try and do what its German cousin has done, and it should not hesitate to act or—it may be too late.