GERMANS AS OTHERS SEE THEM

Evening Star, Issue 16626, 8 January 1918, Page 7

GERMANS AS OTHERS SEE THEM

OPEN LETTER TO HERR HARDEN. Sir Isidore Spielmann, a. noted British Torker in the interest of fine arts, has adtressed an- open letter to Herr Harden, ditor of the ‘ Zukunft,’ “ one of the few ■, ano men poiv in Germany,” in the hope that the points which he puts forward may help ■■ to wash from the eyes of his countrymen some of the dust which the Government has thrown into them,” After stating the well-known facts which •. disprove the fiction foisted upon the German people, that the Allies are responsible for the war, and forced it upon a peaceful Germany, he continues:— “It is far from my intention, Herr Harden, merely to abuse your people; but have they ever considered why they are so despised. They should try to see themselves as others see them. They are generally hated because of their unbounded conceit, their unbounded deceit, and their brutal nature. Their cruelties in this war have seldom been surpassed by the most savage tribes, and have revived for the German people the ancient name of Huns which the Kaiser once. claimed himself—a name that will stick to them for all time. “ They have invented fighting- with the assistance of poisoned .gases and ‘ tlametlir'iwing ’ —cruel and cowardly weapons. “They have poisoned wells, as did the savages of old. ■*“ “ They have dropped high explosives on civilians—men, women, and babes—in open towns. They have declared open towns ‘ fortresses, 1 and treated them accordingly, merely because anti-aircraft guns have been set up for tHeir protection. “They have deported men, women, and girls from Belgium and Franco and enslaved them, forcing them by starvation to work for their enemies. N “They have sunk non-combatant ships, and left their crews to drown. “They have even sunk hospital ships under a variety of the meanest pretexts, and: drowned defenceless wounded soldiers, Red Cross nurses, and doctors. “ They have fired on crows struggling in the water. % "They have needlessly ruined, lands in their retreats. “They have treated prisoners of war with cowardly 'brutality'. .’. . • “Your Kaiser and your Government now ■frequently refer to your having ‘a world of enemies’; but have your people ever asked themselves why this is so? Why, I J l ) a ddition to England, Franco, Russia, ' Boi 5 lu ” 1 ' ®nd Serbia—the first to face you —should you l now. have arrayed against you the United States of America, Italy,

Japan, Montenegro, Albania, Portugal, Rumania, Cuba, Panama, Greece, and Siam? And why have the further countries—China, Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honudras, Nicaragua, Liberia, Hayti, and Ban Domingo—severed diplomatic relations with you? . . . “And why does the whole world distrust you and suspect you? Why will no country trust your word again?' Because you do not respect your solemn engagements when it suits your purpose to break them, and because you have brought toui* diplomacy to the lowest level of °tric'keTy and deceit, as inculcated by Bismarck and his disciples, “Your endeavor to Prussianise the world Ims failed because your world-war has failed,, thanks to the all-wise and allmerciful God, and the world will not be set back. . . , “If your people think that all will bo forgotten and forgiven, as far as they are concerned, when the war'is over, tell them they are grievously mistaken. . . . Until the German people—especially the Prussians—show themselves to be a' chastened people, understanding the difference between right and wrong, and living up to it; until they understand that honor and truth, mercy and justice, are virtues to bo practised by Germans as well as by the other nations of the world, they will Kayo to live henceforth as the most despised people ,on God’s earth."