The Dominion. MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1812. GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1379, 4 March 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1812. GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN

Loud Haldane's mission to Germany, followed by the information that he and Herr von Stumm aru Bhortly to commence negotiations, with the object of improving the relations between Germany and Great Britain, does not seem to have creased profound interest in England or throughout the Empire. These missions to Germany arc, however, not new; nor arc the attempts at bringing about something like harmony betwixt the two nations. Possibly Lord Haldane may convey afresn enlightenment to the Fatherland on the subject of England's real attitude towards Germany, and explain anew to the Kaiser's Ministers the basis of England's European policy. But when he has accomplished these tasks will he have won the confidence of the Kaiser and his advisers, and secured the goodwill o£ the German people towards England , ! And will the British people immediately blot from their minds the memories of even the recent past, and without hesitation accept the proffered friendship of the German people and of tho German Government? Frankly, we arc- doubtful if sudden trnn r >- forrnjitionjß Buch an these arc DO&siM«

at the present lime. Tin; great mass of the English pimple, we fear, distrust German policy. Nor has England forgotten the tactics pursued by the German press—largely controlled by Government though it be—during and after the South African War. There is a minute section of the English people which declares that German antagonism is due to want of knowledge concerning England and its inhabitants. The political and social reformers who comprise that section seem to think it almost criminal tliat mission after mission should not be dispatched across the North Sea to instruct and win over the somewhat mixed population of the German Empire. Nobody, we are sure, objects to any efforts that may extend the knowledge of the Germans concerning their oversea neighbours; but these efforts, it should bo understood, must ever conserve the selfrespect and the dignity of the British Empire. Nor is it Britain's duty to meddle with, under the pretence of instructing, a nation whose people consider themselves at least the equals of the English in intelligence, wealth, power, and learning.

Lord Haldane is saturated with German philosophy. He has translated Schopenhauer, and is an authority on Hegel and other German philosophers. While he is eminently adapted to play the part of Britain's representative in any negotiations with Germany, there must be always present the possibility of him sometimes failing to distinguish between the philosopher and the statesman. He seems to be at one with Dr. Harnack, who, a year ago in the Ilihbai Journal, advanced the plea that science was capable of improving the relations between England and Germany. "In the first place," wrote Dr. Haenack, "science ought to help us in our endeavour to promote better mutual knowledge and understanding. In the second place, science may do much to uproot the noxious weed which imperils the peaceful intercourse of nation with nation—Chauvinism." This academic opinion will seem slightly preposterous to many, and it is mentioned hero simply because it is held by Lord Haldane. Professor Delbruk, who occupies the.Chair of History in the Berlin University, is editor of the Preussisclie Jahrbuclicr, and is a personal , friend of Prince Buloav, the other day in the Daily Mail, and some months ago in the Contemporary Review, avoiding the placid theories of the study, summed up the situation as between England and Germany in a manner at once terse and practical. He begins to think that war between the two countries cannot be averted, that England deliberately planned to fall upon Germany last summer, and that the British Admiral's grim prophecy was then near realisation—"that the Germans would wake up some morning to find that they had once had a fleet." The Professor then proceeds to dilate upon the old familiar theme. Germany's diplomatic representatives all over the world, he alleges, giving no specific details, "are constantly meeting with the opposition to their British colleagues. They are so accustomed to it that they reckon on it in advance. They know intuitively that hostility to Germany is the keynote of British foreign policy." England, it would appear, after giving pledges never to obstruct German commerce, 3 "'must withdraw her "arbitrary opposition" to "legitimate German political aspirations": if not, the Armageddon which must some clay ensue will be due not to Germany, but to England. So says the friend of Prince Bulovy, and in doing so he doubtless expresses what may bo considered as the middle, or intelligent, opinion—as opposed to the idly academic, and the crudely ignorant—of the Germany people. The Bound Table for December, in a long and somewhat ponderous dissertation on Britain, France, and Germany, enumerates on behalf of Germany a long list of complaints— mostly hypothetical—which assist in explaining "the silent conllict between England and Germany." To our mind, a task of this kind is supererogatory. Germany's actions, say, since the date of the- Kruger telegram, have been sufficient in themselves to explain the present policy of England. Had the British Government failed to support France in Morocco, the Triple Entente, would have disappeared, and it would have been against Britain that Germany would, no doubt, have next exerted pressure. An understanding with Germany can scarcely be, and remain for all time, outside the bounds of the possible. But the full time for it appears to have not yet arrived. The indications' seem to point to even a simple understanding being preceded by a period of something like probation. Weight, too, must be attached to the opinions of the German people. Bismarck in his political testament, his Gcddanlen und Erinnerunr/eii, lays great stress on the approval of the people being necessary to the making (and the breaking) of a|l treaties and understandings between nations. And the world possesses ample proof that the sentiments of the German people are, in the main, unfriendly to, England. Probably the most illuminating of recent accounts of German feeling towards Great Britain was that given a year ago in the Fortnightly Itcview by Sir H. H. Johnston. After a lengthy visit to Germany, and after conversing with nearly everyone there whose opinion was worth hearing, he came to the conclusion that no understanding was then possible with Germany. It will be interesting to learn in what manner the real sentiments of the two peoples can bo changed by the- exertions of Lord Haldane,