Bay of Plenty Times THURSDAY, JAN. 20th, 1916

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 6591, 20 January 1916, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times THURSDAY, JAN. 20th, 1916

WITH the daily desire for news of the actual warfare the idea of tlhe scope and meaning of the Panjj errnanic movement which has resulted in the

Titanic war we are now witnessing dbes not often q£cur to v?, and when it does it is difficult to arrive at a clear understanding of the movement. Great light is thrown on the subject in the November issue of the British Review. Although to some has come a full recognition of the seriousness of the situation, yet with others there is a complete failure to realise that the formidable resources and astonishing achievements of the foe render it imperative to put forth extreme efforts with a view to his ultimate defeat. But even where the magnitude of the peril, says the writer, has been appreciated, there has been a reluctance, more or less, to clearly expound the leading facts of the situation. The original idea, not only of the Emperor William, but also of his German advisers and of the statesmen of the Dual monarchy who assisted him, lias only in part'materialised. Events faiave modified details of it, but details o«Jy. As idea it remains intact. This is it: —"One swift stroke to the right waa to bring France bleeding to the ground, a battery qf blows to the left would send Russia reeling in confusion, and then a short stride forward through the unresisting Balkans would set the proud majesty of Prussia secure in the'city of Constantine, not indeed as ruler, but as ally and counsellor imperial, with a pledge that thereafter for ages—so far as the future is forseeable—the Caliph and High Imam of Islam, a potentate free yet federate, would show all 'deferential comity in his dealings with the Ger'irian Eagle. Nor was this the sealing or the vision. Memories of the effort* of Napoleon, of the achievements of Alexander, came thronging from th# | more recent and frorp the more distant past to awaken in the Prussian consciousness a sense of the possibilities of the present and to fire the Teutonic Caesar with the am bition of a Julius or an Augustus. T'ne first stage of the further journey seemed short indeed, the stage from Sta mooul to Cairo. But, Egypt once won, v»hat long vistas of victoiy stretched o<ut in every direction into illimitable backgrounds! To the West the Mediterranean, a GermanoTurkish lake, bordered on the one side by the Pashaliks of Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, and dominated on the other by dockyards and arsenals stretching from Trieste to the Piraeus! To the South a federation of principaltieß inexhaustible in supplies of men and of material for the armies and for the commerce alike of the Kaiser and of the Sultan. To the East a way open to the Indies and to all that lies beyond. And at the centre, in Egypt itself, a wedge driven into the heart of the communications of the whole world, a wall bJilt up between the sundered halves of the British Empire ... It is no mere desire for the dismemberment of France, for the diminution of the I naval power of Britain, for the annexation of a handful of Russian provinces, that has prompted the Teu tonic power to exert itself to the j utmost, lavishing as on a holy cause all its blood and all its treasure. Nay, Gefmany has dreamed n dream, haa listened to the voice to which the

Argonauts listened or o},j:Xfi drunk deep from that m^ffS whereof the wine makes men,!^ things, compelling them, if'?^ worthy, to domination, or/ji^ unworthy, to destruction..' That dream we too have<W , that voice we too have listen^ , cup we too have arunk; but th has half faded form our accents rin^ but faintly in oUr * and the savour is deadened y Po^ palates. Yet the enthusiasm W* ours in the past, and rekindled k must be, or we perish. When i* "in us," I speak not of the &• but of the nation, of the nfoiJ of these British Islands. I do™ of the Empire, because in mmy Q fDominions the old spirit is ahViJ • its ancient vigour. Austulii 31 ' Zealand, and Canada have k down the traditionary torch: bui their united forces would iviji little if flung here in th» Old against the embattled legions ot > German naice. lam net forgt^ the soldiers and sailors frornth*fe land who have displayed ailtheq^ ties of heroes in their resistance the Teutonic terror. Their ic\j f ments and the achievements ohj kith and kin from oversea statj manifest proofs of what the Nati^ a Nation, could do were the ja touch of imagination to thrill H( more, were the quickening breill inspire it, wore it to awake to recognition of its better self. : That touch and that breath v\]\^ that recognition will not be wmt} Already I flee the signs of gap ing in the branches. Soon shii!| count the buds, and at last th« I will be glorious in perfect Uifigfl