DEFYING FATHER TIME

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 48, 25 August 1904, Page 2

DEFYING FATHER TIME

Time seems untimely when he brings a woinun to the turn of Life. Life is, or should be, at its ripest and best for her, and she approaches this change with a dread of its etfect hoip of her knowledge of the sufferings of other women at this season. There is not the. idightcst oauso for fear or anxiety at thin period if Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills «re taken occasionally to keep Ihe system toned and the stomach in proper working order. 'Ihey aid in the digestion 1 and assimilation of food, strengthening every organ, making good red blood to pulsate through the entire body. They get at the cause of every complaint that has the Stomach, Liver, or Kianoya &s its origin, and aro a positive and permanent cure for Uilioußness, Indigostion, Constipation, Sick Headache, Sallow Complexion, Liver »nd Kidney Trouble*, Piles, Pimples, Boili and Blotches, and for Female Ailments.

end to any disunion or .suite ut laction.s among them. We (the German people) fthould not Jisk whnt* might happen ; we should do what (he hour demanded of iw. Were Germany to put her whole strength into the struggle for victory, victory would ho here*. And victory has its own justification." Commenting upon the work, on© prominent writer suy»: "The book is not without literary value; it shows knowledge and gru.sp in the region oT high politics; hut it is in its metssugo and its meaning, which unmistakably adumbrate the unchanging and ineradicable hostility of Germany to England, that its importance lies. It is tho spirit of rancour und hutrod toward this country which informs the book that m.ikes it distinctly noteworthy, und renders it something for all patriotic Englishmen to rend, irmrk, learn, nnd inwardly digest. Nor is ite author — August Niemnnn — some obscure nobody ; he is nn officer of high standing, well-known at me Court of Saxony. He knows his subject — so far as a bubjeel of this sort can be known — with characteristic German thoroughness; the possibilities of strategy in Tndia and elsewhere lie wide open to him ; his acquaintance with our navy and army in all their branches in vivid and intimate. In a word, he is a man well worth listening to, even though he puts his thoughts into tho form o-f v novel." At this stage I may well borrow a very good summary which I have come across of tho general tendency and scope of this book. It is ns folloNvs: — "Prefixed to the story is a prologue in which the author sets forth his views with no uncertain sound. He tells us that the map of the world unfolds itself brjore his eyes. He beholds every sea ploughed by the keels of British warships, and every coaststudded with our coaling stations, while our fortresses frown from every shore. For a hundred years, he says, England has m«ido her profit out of the wars between Continental nations. Is Germany, he asks, to be exploited for England's advantage? Are Qermun 'air and light jihi daily bread' to bo held ns boons for which England must be thanked? But how is England to be overcome! Tho Treaty of Shimonoseki points out the way. That treaty wus brought about by tun union of Germany, France, and nnssia against Japan — Japan, now the 'cntspaw of England !' Let them combine against England, the common enemy. Russia, aiulFranco are already allies. Let Germany join them. Nor is there anything impo»sible in that! The author recalls the Kaiser's telegram to Kruger at the time of the Jameson Raid — 'that telegram which echoes and re-echoes in the henrl« of the whole German nation' (jenes Telegrnmiri, das im Hertzcn der gnnzen deutschen Nation em so nnchhaltiges Echo gefunden hat). Let the Kaiser but speak the word, and all Germany sprin >s to anus I The story, considered inurely as a story, is interesting, and there is v certain amount of 'love interest' in it. Neglecting this side of the book, its in.i.n feutures are the alliance of tho three gioao Continental Powers against England, u-t> defeat ot tho English In India by liumfa, the overthrow of tho British Fleet by the Germun, and the invasion of Scotland by a Germany nrmy nnd pf, England by a French. Russia determines to tight England, and France, bound by her secret treaty to Russia supports her. War begins, without any formal declaration, by A Russian invasion of Afghanistan, nnd then of North-west India. A great battle is fought at Lahore, where the British army, composed of English und native soldiers, under Sir Bindon Blood, is hopelessly beaten owing to the desertion to the Russians of all the Mahommeiiui. troops. Tho remains of the British arm> fall back on Delhi in utter coufusion. The natives rise in open insurrection, and thb frightful scenes of the Mutiny are repeated. In England, however, these disasters are not' estimated at their proper value, because it is usual tor the British to 'begin with disaster, but wind up with victory. Other operations follow in India, which is soon lost to England, und too Into the country wakes to its peril. This is the psychological moment for Uermnny to intervene. Her fleet is ready | 'tt Kiel, and there she gathers nn enoirnous army and places it on a fleet ot transports. The navnl plan of campaign of the English falls into her hnnds, so thnt when the British fleet comus to Kiel to light the German fleet it is to rind the adversary gone. Meanwhile tho Uerm'nns have landed an immense foicb ut Leith. A liltle later a tremendous sea fight takes place off Flushing, the Geimiin fleet being led by Prince Honry. The English are overwhelmed, and tht brignt star o! England sets for ever. Tlu. Germans advance lroin Scotland upon London, whither a French army, which uas landed at Hastings, is also marching. Peac6 is made^ — the book ends by docluring that the Kaiser, at the head of the allies, will enter London and terms will be granted the vnn^uished. Russia gets India, Franco obtains Egypt, und Germany tuKe.i Antwerp nnd — it is'rathei indicated than stated — whutever else she pJenses. England besides had to pay an unormous indemnity. The last sentence breathes the pious hope that this will be the lost war to be waged for the welfare mid thu future of the German race." Not much of brotherly love in all this. But it does nol stand alone. Dr. Reich, a dispassionate and far-seeing foreign witness, says:— "There can be ao doubt that German ii arming herself with patient, calculating and laborious perseverance for the day when she shall ,it last feel ready to throw down tlio gauntlet of defiance in the face of En« land. Germany is of those that look, meditate, and prepnre before leaping, in vrder that they need have to leap onlj unce. In pursuance of this plan, openlj avowed in 1900, when it wns declared in the preamble of the German Nnvy Act of that year thnt the object of the Gei man Government was to create such a fleet 'that even for the strongest naval Power a s war with Germany would 'in- I volve such risks as to jeopardise thul Power's naval -supremacy, Germany hn& in the last six years laid down thirteen battleships, against ' Rii|(liind'» n.xi«*ij, and is even now preparing to extend her programme." It is, however, the opinion of German statesmen that Germany must not go too fast. The qunrrel is not to come just yet. In an address delivered at Munich In Moyi-before a host of Bavarian royul« ties, General yon Sduer let the catv out of the bag. In* words of naive indisoretion he declared : "England and Germany must always remain rivals. Germany must avoid war with England, or, at any i-ute, must sock to postpone it. Every year's postponement increases the strength of tha'Germnn marine, and improves the position between Germany and Franco. Should Germany be forced to decide on war, she must be armed. Her fleet must be developed to the utmost the country enn bear. She must, ut any rate, seek to possess a fleet strong enough to hold its own against the English home Mqundron"— "in fact, 'wait till we are quite ready' — n verj' sound militnry principle, and one which England would do well to keep in mind," remarks an English critic. It Is alleged that the present understanding between England and France is viewed with the extremost concern in Germnny. Count yon Bulow was taken sharply to tnsk in the Reichstag in April for not sowing the usual crop of troubles between the two great Liberal Powers. Tho Reinisch Westfnelische Zeitung proclaimed,: " Bismarck tnught that it was the great interest of Germany to set England and Italy by the ears with Franco. To-day the reverse is tho case. ... Is the Gennnn Michael to get nothing?" The reply of Count yon Bulow to these strictures was full of suggestiveness in view of the present nttitude of the German Press. It was : "If one is absolutely resolved; to cre&te point* of

'motion, it is a mistake to proclaim the intention from the housetops. Fiedenck the Great m»y now and then have inude ";i Machiavellian move in his policy, but he had previously taken the precaution to write hiH AiiU-Macluavel." This remarkabJe saying obviously means that Geiiuany is still full ol hope of creating '•points of friction," but must conceal Ikt puipobe. Tht-re is Count yon iiulow's own adnufession in the Reichstag at the clof-e of 1900, when reproached for not forming a coulition aguiust England duimg the South African War, that in 18a6 the German Government had sounded other Governments at the tune of the Kruger telegrams, with the object of joint action against England, und met with a rebuff. "It^is known on good authority," remuiks one writer, " thnt France was one of tho Governmonts thus sounded, so *hat Count yon Bulow was evidently not indulging in empty talk. Since this became known it hius hnd an immense effect in England in piepariug the wny for the uuderMantiiug with France. Hud it been diac.osed in 18y8 there would hnvo been no Fushoda affair, und the French undeibtunding might hnve come live years earlier, with the most far-reaching effects on the world's history." It is roundiy asserted by those best qualified to know, und is not denied in Germany, that in tho last twenty years hatred of England has become the dominant creed of the German nation. In a study of German Anglophophia only just published, Herr Simmern says : "In its essence Anglophobia, is a systematic attack upon the existence of British power." It is no parsing phase, he iixya, it is tho mainspring of German feeling and policy. Again, Professor Delbrueck, a former tutor in the Emperor's family, in the North American Review of January, 1900, declaxed that " Germany might well be friends with the world at Targe, but a nation as well as an individual must semingly either lovo or hate. If tho multitude had no enemy it could take no part in foreign politics at all. So tho nation which once celebrated with delight the memory of the Belle Alliance of Biucher and Wellington at Waterloo has now directed its hate against England. England must have no delusions on this point." Indeed, Treitscbke, who more than any German proiessor has mould* d Uurman policy, wrote so fai back at 1884 : "We have* reckoned with France and Austria. The reckoning with England has still to come ; it will be the longest and tho hardest." It was Trcitschko who taught " Delenda cst Britannia.' Count MoulinEukhart has bettered his master's instruction. "We are not England's friend," he says, in his lectures ; " may the genius of Bismarck preside over a second (naval) Koeniggratz." " How, then," asks the English writer whom I liavo already quoted, " are wo to reconcile the German overtures of the honeyed words of tho German press with tho ,din which arises from the German dockyards, as they feverishly push forward new battleships and destroyers, and build up tho great navy, with these utterances?" For, ns if by word of command, the attitude of the German prens to England has suddenly and mysteriously changed It is now constantly suggested in reputable German organs of opinion that the British Government is making overtures to Germany, that a close understanding with England is probable, and that even a military agreement is not DQyond the bounds of possibility. At the same time there is no slackening in German naval activity.

According to tho Ashburton Guardian a Dromorc furmer, who has hitherto placed very little fttith in poisoned grain ns efficacious in the destruction of small birds, has hnd the value of this year's preparation brought home to him in a most convincing manner. He procured a bag of the grain from the County Council, and, desiring to tender a luxury to his poultry, he scattered the grain 'promiscuously about his ynrd. Next morning he found practically the whole of his poultry dead. According to this story, he gave the dead poultry to the pigs, who also succumbed, as also did several cat* who hnd eaten the flesh of tlie poisoned hogs.