GERMAN SCARE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10644, 27 May 1912, Page 5

GERMAN SCARE

CABLE NEWS

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.)

NOTE OF WARNING

BY Mil A. J. BALFOUR

(Received Last Night, 5.5 oYioc-k.)

LONDON. May 2-". Mr A. J. Balfour, M.P., in nis symponium in the Nord unci Ind magazine, utter paying a tribute to the ,\ grid's indebtedness to Germany for her gen-

ins and learning, said that if rcveut years had produced a changed feeling between the tun nations, it, wsr. not due to national prejudice, bui to a series of facts which could .no: be lightly treated or calmly ignored. The first was the German Navy Bin. IT Englishmen were sure that the German fleet, would only be used lor defence purposes, they would not care how large it was. Britain was whollv dependent upon sea-borne supplies'. There were two ways in which a hostile nation could bo crushed. !t conid be conquered or starved. If Ge.-ni-inv were the masters of Homo water.-, she ootid apply both methods to Britain. | But were Britain tenfold masters of the North Sea, she,would be unable to apply either method to Germany. Without a. superior fleet Britain would not count as a Power, whereas, w.thout any. fleet, Germany would remain 'the greatest Power in' Europe. Therefore, tbp instinct of self-preservation compelled Englishmen not meroh to take account of the growth of ioiviirn navies, but to anxiously weigh the motives of those building them. Gen:any j was increasing both her army anci mavy, as well as her strategic rai;w;i;,s to the frontier. Mr Balfour '••t-.tes that it is inconceivable that Jib has heen done, to render tier impreg,vii>le against attack. Unfortunately, mi mero analysis of the Germ am preparations for war would show the purposes for which they were designed. Tin- : preparations were just as formidaole ; for aggression as for defence. The danger lies in the co-existence of a ! marvellous instrument of warfare with an assiduous advocacy of a policy of territorial expansion, which seemed impossible to reconcile with tho peace of the world or the rights of nations. Continuing, Mr Balfour said: "A!! countries .hindering, though in self- i defence, this ideal, s are regarded as hostile, and war, or threats of war. is deemed a, natural and fitting method of accomplishing the ideal. Let the German student assume that Germany should be endowed, at the cost of other nations, with overseas dominions proportionate to her greatness in. Europe ; but do not let them ask Englishmen to approve. We are too surely convinced of the perils that such a policy, were it successful, would bring upon ourselves as well as others. I am afraid the Germans widely hold the conviction that Britain stands in their country's light—that Englishmen desire to thwart her natural development, and are jealous of her legitimate growth. Of these crimes we are un- « conscious. I do not 'believe that Germany and Britain are predestined enemies. Germany ha.s taught Europe much, and can teach it yet that the organisation, of a military power may, be vw] in the interests of peace as effectively as those of war ; that the appetite for domination 'belongs to a worn out phase of natriotisTTV,;-thatthe furtherance of civilisation . for which she. .has laboured must, be the .jointWork of manv peoples. If she is prennr<v"i to lead on, these lines, she will find the world prepared to follow. But if the policy determined by national ambitions is of a different type, she must not be surprised if other countries watch the growth of her aggressive powers with undisguised alarm and consider means of meeting a common danger." The neivs'paper Kreuz Z».iturg expresses regret that Mr Balfour's opinion of Germany should he influenced by x h-o French Chauvinst views, springing from hatred of Germany, which it b.irdlv expected in' an Englishman of his standing. "Hence we must conclude," says the paper, "that Conservatives like Mr Balfour view German conditions and motives through French spectacles, and are unwilling to make any concessions from a German standpoint."