Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 22 July 1915, Page 21

Current Topics

Haeckel on: Terms 'of Peace | Professor Ernst Haeckel, the high priest 'of Rationalism and apostle of evolution, having settled Ito the satisfaction of his admirers ' The Riddle of the Universe,' is now engaged "upon the comparatively modest task of laying down the terms which Germany must demand when she has emerged victorious from the present struggle. Here they are: 'ln my personal opinion the most desirable fruits of victory, i both for the future of Germany and a federated Europe, -.are.: "(1) The crushing of the English tyranny. (2) The invasion of Great Britain, and the occupation of London. (3) The division of Belgium. The largestV portion, from Ostend to Antwerp in the west, to be a confederated German state the northern part to be given to Holland ; the south-eastern part to be given to Luxemburg, which, thus enlarged, becomes also a confederated German state. (4) A large number of the British colonies and the Congo Free State to go to Germany. (5) "Trance" to surrender to Germany some of her north-eastern frontier provinces. (6) Russia to be rendered impotent by the reconstruction, under Austrian auspices, of the Kingdom of Poland. (7) The German provinces of the Baltic to be returned to the German Empire. (8) Finland, united with Sweden, to become an independent kingdom." ' Amongst the 'large number of British colonies ' which are ' to go to Germany ' is presumably included New Zealand. To apply a homely colloquialism, the Professor is not greed}-, but he wants a lot. Army Bigotry in Belfast Truly, bigotry—especially the real, true-blue, Belfast bigotry—dies hard. We have already referred to the flagrant, bare-faced attempt of the Ulster Unionist Council to ■sectarianise the British Army, as illustrated in the case of Mr. P. J. Kelly, who was at first refused admission to the Ulster Division because he was a Catholic, but was afterwards told that he would be accepted on condition that he changed his religion and became a Protestant. A further sample of the apparently ineradicable persistence of bigotry on the part of Unionists in Ulster is furnished in the following advertisement which recently appeared in the Belfast Evening Teler/rajih , a leading Ulster Unionist newspaper. The date of insertion was April 15th — ' COOK WANTED. 'First-Class; Protestant (Man or Woman) for Officers' Mess, Holy wood ; required to cook for 20-30 ; cooking only all other work found ; must be well recommended. Apply, Mess President, sth Royal Irish Rifles, Victoria Barracks, Belfast.' This piece of silly intolerance has provoked indignant comment in many quarters; and the Ulster Guardian thus hoses the item with the ridicule it deserves: ' So that even Michael O'Leary, V.C., would not be eligible to boil the porridge or fry the rashers for these Holy wood warriors. We are thinking of communicating with the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Edmund Talbot, informing them that they are not qualified even for the position of mess-cook to the sth R.I.R.' German Confidence According to a cable in Saturday's cables, ' The German newspapers are displaying greater confidence and satisfaction than at any time since the outbreak of the war. They represent that the military situation at all fronts is extremely favorable, and the diplomatic outlook, especially as regards the United States, and the Balkans, is hopeful. They maintain that Britain, owing to military disappointments and lack of preparation, is involved in irremediable difficulties, destroying all hope of victory.' 4 * There are good grounds for believing that' this quite ; accurately represents the state of public feeling in Get?

mimf at th% present time. Public opinion in any country is necessarily '- based on the information which the - public' receives and in % a country* in which the Government, after eleven months? of hostilities, can "solemnly assure the people that the conquest of German South West Africa is ' the first British victory* in the war,' and. in which the people have been so kept in the dark as to make it possible that ' they should swallow such a statement, it is entirely; natural that general satisfaction should reign supreme. ;.'-. J Public; confidence in the Fatherland is being stimulated' and sustained by-other means than the publication of misleading and one-sided information. Leading:. generals and prominent public men are putting the most sanguine and unqualified "assurances as to ""'absolute' certainty of a German triumph. -Marshal von Hindenburg, for example;, has recently told the country that while the period" of campaign will be prolonged by Italy's intervention, nothing can change the final result—success for Germany.. .. , Count von Posadovsky, former Minister of the Interior, goes so far as publicly to discuss the nature of the indemnity Germany will demand, and declares" that "matter of the ' indemnity is of even greater importance for the future prosperity of the ..nation than the question of territory, since nothing but a substantial indemnity can saye the country from a crushing burden of taxation after the war. In order still further to increase the national confidence the German Government have published widely an official' announcement that 900,000 prisoners are now interned in 247 camps. The camps are widely scattered throughout the Empire, partly for safety's sake, but largely also for the purpose of giving as large y a number of people as possible ocular demonstration of the success of the German armies. On Sundays and holidays great numbers of people visit them. Altogether, it is clear that the Germans, or at least the bulk of the German people, count, just as confidently as we ourselves do, oil winning the war. And that feeling will remain with them until their armies are cleared out of Belgium and France, and hurled back to the Rhine. German confidence will be broken, and the end will at last be in sight; only when the Allies are finally established on German soil. The Disappointing Zeppelin The best-laid plans of mice and men, we have it on high poetic authority, gang aft agley ' ; and there is probably no aspect of the war in regard to which German calculations have been more widely astray than in "the anticipations which had been formed as to the part to be played by the Zeppelins in settling the enemy and. bringing victory to the Fatherland. Germany expected with the utmost confidence that these air monsters would prove an absolutely decisive factor in the struggle; and 'it is regarded as probable,' said a prominent pro-German American paper, writing in the very first month of the war, ' that it was this confidence as much as anything else that inspired her to enter into the wholesale struggle so boldly.' After twelve months" of war it can safely be said that nothing whatever has happened to justify such confidence. Alike by land and sea, the Zeppelins have proved a failure ; and the intimation conveyed in this week's cables that six new machines of the latest type have just been completed, and are ' ready for a descent on England as soon as Weather : conditions are propitious, is not likely to.excite the least decree of serious alarm amongst the great majority of the English people. The damage done by the Zeppelin raids which have been hitherto attempted has been quite negligible, and entirely devoid of military importance or significance. One or more Zeppelins visited London as recently as the night of - Monday, May 31, but caused no panic, and the papers were warned against publishing information. The vast majority of London's inhabitants knew no more of what was happening than if bombs had been dropped in Flanders,' says the' Westminster Gazette. This fact suggested to the Evening News a cartoon illustrating a talk between kthe,; Kaiser and > Count Zeppelin : ' War Lord : "Where 'have you been this time? London, Paris, Warsaw, or

Rome?" Count Zeppelin: "I don't know. It's not in der papers!"' An almost 1 completely effective counter-move to the attacks of these aerial visitors has been discovered in the shape of a strict adherence to the simple programme of 'Lights Out.' All the evidence goes to.show that if this precaution is thoroughly carried out, the mighty Zeppelins are, so far as land attack is concerned, almost absolutely harmless. * Even more notable has been the failure of the Zeppelin in respect to sea operations. It was in this domain that its greatest achievements were expected ; and Germany's aerial forces were confidently relied upon by the sanguine Teutons as* a sure and certain means of blowing hostile fleets into Davy Jones's locker, or at least, as being able to afford German ships powerful and invaluable aid in a naval battle. Here is the programme that was assigned to them in the roseate plans of the German authorities, as these were set forth in a friendly paper three weeks after the inception of hostilities: 'The Zeppelins will undoubtedly attack the English fleet, if there is a clash at sea, hovering over each ship and dropping tremendously explosive torpedoes. The torpedo they will use weighs 250 or 300 pounds and explodes on contact. It is discharged through a torpedo tube, starting with a velocity of about 600 feet per second and gaining in momentum as it falls. The striking end of the torpedo is like a cold chisel, and in tests has penetrated the super-structure of the deck of a warship. The effect of such an explosion under the decks of a battleship can be imagined. The Zeppelins will undoubtedly make their attack at night, when the airship can use its powerful searchlight to find the battleships. There is another use to which the Germans expect to put the dirigible in a naval battle. The admiral will ascend in a Zeppelin, which will be his flagship. He will be able to see the opposing fleet plainly, while his own is hidden behind the horizon. He can then, by wireless, direct an attack by his own fleet on any given portion of the opposing fleet, which, the Germans believe, can be destroyed in detail before the other warships crime to their rescue, the Zeppelin in the meanwhile raining bombs on the enemy.' Alas for the vanity of human hopes. Only once have the Zeppelins attempted this ambitious role, and the attempt ended in complete failure and fiasco. When seven British seaplanes delivered an attack on German warships off Cuxhavcn on Christmas Day, two Zeppelins came to the rescue, but were put to (light with the greatest of ease by the guns of the 'Undaunted' and ' Arethusa ' : and this first and only appearance of Zeppelins in actual war operations was lollowed by their immediate retreat. They may, of "course, do better in the future, but so far as past experience affords any means of judging, it seems tolerably clear that the boasted Zeppelin is very considerable of a white elephant. Germany and America We were thoroughly sincere in the admiration we expressed a couple of weeks ago for President Wilson's fino Note on the sinking of the Lusitania ; and we wrote as we did for the sheer pleasure of being able for once to say something in praise of one who appears to us to have been on the whole deplorably weak and ineffective iu an international situation which called above all things for strength and firmness and unflinching decision. As it stood, the Note was really an extremely able production. M cried, as we pointed out, on the side of over-politeness : and its courteous references to 'the high principles of equity with which the Imperial Government have in the past been actuated and guided ' obviously referred to a period of history anterior to the present war. For the rest, the Note was an extremely able presentment of the principles of international law and morality bearing on the Lusitania incident; and it contained for the first time a definite and straight-out condemnation ol German methods on the part of the American Government. That was matter for legitimate gratification. Had the Note been followed—failing redress on the part of Germany—by any sort of

definite action, by any kind of manly and self-respecting attempt to insist on observance of the principles so cogently set forth, President Wilson might have done something to redeem his very lamentable failures in the past. As has been pointed out in many quarters, such action might have been taken without involving his country in actual .war. Had President Wilson merely intimated that until full reparation were made for the loss of innocent American lives in the sinking of the Lusitania, and satisfactory guarantees given for the future, the-United States would cease to hold diplomatic intercourse with the German Government, America would have ranged herself in active and practical protest against a Power whose action had shocked and horrified the whole of the civilised world. But the ex-professor is incapable of even this much. He is apparently prepared to play the part of ' Cissy boy ' to the end, and to allow his country—in the person of American citizens—to be knocked about and humiliated up to the very last moment that Germany is able to continue the process. If only President Wilson and Secretary Bryan had themselves been on the Lusitania, had seen the sickening sights which others saw, and had themselves been buffeted for hours between life and death on the waves of the Atlantic, they would have realised the practical outcome of their extreme pacificism, and would have come out of the ordeal sadder and wiser, but also braver and stronger men. * Germany, recognising from past displays of presidential weakness that there was not the slightest occasion to take this really great Note in the least degree seriously, sent a reply which added insult to the injury already inflicted. We need not quote the terms of the document; it will be sufficient to indicate the view of representative American papers regarding it. ' Not one representative newspaper has anything but the hardest words for it. It is excoriated as a mass of quibbles and untruths, insulting to the United States and unworthy of a civilised Power,' says the Time* Washington correspondent. ' The Note is worse than evasive,' says the Xcw York World, ' it is insincere, and even pettifogging. The Lusitania was a "warship" in the same way as Belgium was the aggressor against Germany ; in the same way as Louvain University and Reims Cathedral were "fortifications." That the Lusitania was unarmed has been proved, and it is denied that she carried Canadian troops. Berlin does not answer the President's questions, ignores his appeal for redress, and takes no account of the immeasurable wrongs against which he complains. On the contrary, having set international law and solemn treaties aside, and taken refuge behind falsehood and subterfuge, it proposes delay and discussion on our part, while reserving the right to "blackhand" our people and goods. If Germany does not understand the gravity of the situation in this country, we are confronted with another painful demonstration of the utter failure of her diplomacy.' President Wilson has replied in a further ' earnest and solemn ' but strictly academic remonstrance. We had intended to quote from the deliverance, which is certainly well conceived and well written, but quotation would be to little purpose, for both writer and reader are sick and weary of this apparently interminable stream of ' words, words,' without the slightest touch of virile personality or vital reality behind them. Berlin has again replied, with a scarcely concealed yawn, and in a way that amounts to a request to Washington to •please stop being a b6rc. Under the circumstances, it is to the looker-on at a distance, really amusing to note the American papers solemnly discussing the state of the ' relations ' between the two countries. Last week they were 'grave'; yesterday they were more friendly'; to-day they are again ' strained,' etc. The Lusitania affair, for which there is neither redress nor promise of redress, has shown that so long as the present President is at the head of affairs there are no 'relations' between Germany and America except the relations between the bully and the weakling ; and Germany knows perfectly well that she can go as far as* ever she wishes in flouting

international principles and rights without the faintest risk of provoking any practical action' from President Wilson. President Wilson is, it may be admitted, keeping his country out of trouble, military and diplomatic ; he is also keeping it out of any sort of decent place in the history of the most momentous epoch of modern times, and an epoch in which almost every other nation of any size or standing is making an honest effort to play the man.