NEUTRALITY OF HOLLAND

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 16, 19 July 1915, Page 6

NEUTRALITY OF HOLLAND

" A free Netherlands cannot exist with a German Antwerp,'* said Mr. Winston Churchill at Rotterdam, and he gave other shrewd words to the Dutch. The forceful speaker's purpose was to impress on the Dutch the power and resource* of the Allies, who had respected treaties, and to remind Holland memorably that victory for the Mailed Fist would mean the Iron Heel for Prussia's small neighbours. " The interview gives satisfaction to Holland," is the comment of one important journal. This incident will draw the world's attention to the po«i' tion of Holland. The people of that country, and Denmark too, know well that one purpose of the scheme of " frightf ulness " in Belgium was to put awe into Germany's pther neighbours on the north. It is also a well-known truth that Germany's main aim during this summer ha* been to influence neutrals by a terrific onset against Russia and by other activities. During the early part of the war some reviewers feared that Holland night be drawn in on Germany's side — as a kind of revenge for Britain's conquest of the Boere— and it is possible that a pessimist here and there may see in Mr. Churchill's visit an effort to turn Dutch sympathy from Germany to the Allies who are fighting for a free Europe. However, a study of the evidence supports a belief that Holland distrusts any German professions of goodwill, and that the Netherlands will not swerve from their neutrality to help the nation whose chief article of faith is : "Might is right."