Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1910. A YEAR OF WAR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8208, 4 August 1915, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1910. A YEAR OF WAR.

■" The vilest enemy we evei fought," was the phrase recently used by the military correspondent of the London "Times," and it will most probably be expressed in other, and even more emphatic terms by every writer who reviews the year's war. The Kaiser boasts that his conscience is clear so far as the instigation of the )var is concerned, but every step ,iri the pre-war negotiations gives the lie to his amazingly impudent claim. His 'implication that the Allies ha,ve violated,- international l law, and th.at -■•'■' the Germans have not, will absolutely discount, in the minds of neutrals who know that the statement is a deliberate falsehood, any value he may have expected them to attach to the manifesto. His extravagant claims are well matched by Count Reventlow's illogical and .untruthful survey of the naval position, Mr Balfour's trenchant reply to which strips him of any claim to future consideration as a reliable historian. In fact, there is nothing that stands out clearer in the Germans' methods of conducting war than their absolute indifference to any recognised laws of honour and humanity. If orthodox rules do not suit them, then they employ the most potent and brutal of unorthodox methods. If the

recital of facts does not help their cause, then it is a very simple matter -to manufacture other " facts" that quite adequately meet the case from the point of view of a nation that is morally atrophied. When the Allies had recovered from their temporary se.t-back after the retreat from Minis, they clearly demonstrated that in, honourable warfare they were more than a. match for the Germans: In the battle of the Marne they again showed their superiority, .and the Germans, quickly recognising the hopelessness of attempting to meet such gallant foes on even terms, adopted tactics that will, as long as: the world lasts, stand to the discredit , anid disgrace of the, nation. It is well that a faithful record has been kept of the trail of (murders, sacrilege, incendiarisr4, outrages on women, and mutilation of young children that marked the path of the Germans through Belgium. It was a duty that civilisation owed to posterity, so that the coming generations should never allow the world to be menaced by the descendants, of a-people .so ruthless and inhuman as the Germans have proved, to be. With them, cruelty is regarded as legitimate when it promises victory, but there was not even this terrible excuse for the atrocities that were committed on the civil population of Belgium. " The., killing of non-combatants/ says Viscount Bryee's committee, . "was done under orders in each place. It began at a certain fixed date and stopped at another fixed date. Murder, lust,, and pillage prevailed over many parts of Belgium on a scale unparalleled in any war between civilised nations during the last three centuries." What would be the prospects, then, for the British people if the Germans emerged victorious in the present war? Imagination quails at the suggestion; and it is quite certain that the thought of the consequences of such domination will prove an added spur to the gallant troops of the.. Allies. Those who find reason for apprehension in the fact that the summer is passing and the Allies are still occupying some of the trenches they held in March last, should take :courage from the fact that spite-of the Germans' preparations and of the Allies' unpreparedness, .the eneihy cannot make a foot of headway. And if this is the position at the end of 12 months, it is inevitable that iri another year -of iguch a war of attrition Germany \will be in. such' an Exhausted condition, so far as men are concerned, that she will simply be unable to continue further lighting. Mr Hilaire Belloc estimates that -the absolute limit of Germany's resources in men, at the beginning of the war, was 10,000,000, and at the end of May her known losses in killed were 4,000,000. The Allies' forces (excluding Italy) he estimated at a minimum of 21,000,000. For the rest, as the "Times" military correspondent states: "it is simply a question of wearing down —plus an adequate supply of munitions." ■,: