The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1918.

Evening Star, Issue 16824, 28 August 1918, Page 4

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1918.

The Germans are bad losers. This probably was to bo expected.

The Changed Note.

They are responsible for their own character, and what that character is

has been drawn by themselves. Brutally exultant in the hour of evanescent victory, shamelessly and flagrantly insolent when forecasting (aa they have since their first weeks of onslaught) the fate of their enemies, they are equally as repellent in-voice and demeanor when compelled to face the possibilities of defeat. Of tho two,' we are not certain that the dictatorial assumptions of the first are not more sufierable than are tho undignified winnings of tho later phase. With the German people in their hour of disillusionment it yi possible to fee! a measure of sympathy; but for those, of their leaders who deliberately and knowingly made Germany an outcast among the nations there can be none. How fur the German Press is or is not a free it is not possible definitely to say., and therefore to know whether its amazing outburst and conclusions represent the honest beliefs of their authors or are merely a repetition of something which has been supplied them. But it is known that, even irs Germany, there are thoso who within limits can and do express their adverse opinions with clearness and emphasis. That they are so fow must be accepted as an indication either that such restricted freedom is a dangerous business, or. which, is more reasonable, that the great majority of Press journals and Press writers are whole-heartedly on'the side of the War Lords, and hut utter sentiments in which they believe and in the form they I approve. The 'Cologne Gazette' I'Kolnische Zeitiuu?') has throughout the war occupied a unique niche in journalistic infamy. It is most frequently referred to as " semi-ofiicia! " in relation to its statements respecting the war, prior to which it was pro-British in tone. Britain's infamy iti not standing by acquiescently while Germany hacked her way through Belgium and slaughtered France was, bowover, more than the ' Gazette' could tolerate. For years this paper has been, per- j haps, the chief vehicle for the dissemina- • Hon of the most vulgarly rabid and fantastic falsehoods of England and her policy. No story was too gro*s and no attack too Ignoble for this orgau of German opinion, provided England were the object. And when the United States, after nearly three years of patience and the impartial j examination of all the evidence, reluctantly ; decided that there could be neither safety j nor peace for the world while an nnrepen- j tant military Germany remained at large, i and decided to take her stand with tho armies of civilisation, then the ' Cologne Gazette' turned and poured the contents of . its vials <-. i wrath and hatred upon President Wilson and. the American people. "We wished, to he friends with America—nothing better w-vuid have suited us—hutWilson's p->licy, iik* that of Sir Edward Grey, ha-: t'irned these amiable feeling? | into disg::st." The pries set by Germany upon her friendship was too high, being nothing k.-s- than the surrender of those faiths and principles for which An-glc-fc-axondom stands, whether in the Old World cr Uie New. Tt did not need Ger- ! many to tell us that if Britain had stood' out of the war Germany could then have [ worked her will in Europe; and still less | did it need German assistance to enlighten j America as to bar own ultimate fate if j she, too. continued inactively neutral. The \ vulgar abuse of journals of this stamp is 1 an honor. "This parvenu among the i peoples-," said the 'Gazette,' "is not only one o: the worst hypocrites, but- also a I boaster who would- like to crush us with >. figures, while all its bragging contrasts with very modest- achievements at the front. . . . fc'o it is only right and fair j that we also should make use of our war ' weapons ami give the friends of humanity j at home an exhibition, of what war looks i like and wliat war means. - ' Leas than j three months have passed since these words ! were written, and already to-day, and from the same source, the cry has gone forth : "It is no longer a question of Bel- j gram and Alsace-Lorraine. Wo are fight- j ing for Germany's life. Let us act- like i men." The cry is a revelation of character as I pitiless a-s it is r«d. No such cry as this j has risen from the dispossessed people of i Belgium and Serbia,' or from those of Bri- j tain and France, even in their darkest j hours;. These have rarely dwelt, and never ■ unduly, upon their -worst j»ssitnlities, but '' through all changes and anxieties have; ever kept their eyes and thoughts stead-' faatly fixed upon the eternal verities which ' lay beyond. "' Our enemies are very near defeat." said General Malterre, writing in \ the Paris ' Matin' in May last, right in j tho very heart of the time when Gorman ; Kaiser and Gorman Pres? were shouting 1 : their premature rejoicings over certain ' victory. The why and wherefore of the ', diaiige i? not hard fa seek. The Allies j have a causa ftir whWt to fight; Germany , has not. There, is something greater even : than Belgium ami; Alsace-Lorraine, to save which the nations have sent their youth to die. These were, in part, the primary, but with the parsing of the months and years they luwe ceased to be- the main, cause. Nov is Germany lighting for her life, save so far as that life b threatened by her continuance in that path which her own leadens have taken for her. The whole of the nation.-; whom Germany, of her own choice, has made tier enemies are fighting for the preservation of that which I'russianism is out- to destroy. Germany's life was never threatened, a.nd b not threatened even now. The only thing that is threatened, ;oid ih,'tt~\vill be destroyed, is the vile thing that threatens the life of Germany, in common with that of every other nation upon this war-cursed planet. It is what the Berlin ' Vorwarte' variously terms "the omnipotence of the mailed fiat" or " the jingoes of world domination," and what mankind has -long meant by " Pruseianism." It will be the fault of the Germans themselves if they do not help hasten the coming of that end.