The Feilding Star. Oroua and Kiwitea Counties Gazette Published Daily. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7, 1908. GERMANY AND ENGLAND.

Feilding Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 159, 7 January 1903, Page 2

The Feilding Star. Oroua and Kiwitea Counties Gazette Published Daily. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7, 1908. GERMANY AND ENGLAND.

Not unnaturally, the British people at Home and abroad express surprise that the German press gives expression so often of feelings of direct antagonism to the British nation, )ut the following extracts from the Secret Life and History of Bismarck, by Busch, will tend to throw some light on the matter, and explain the position to a very considerable extent. The period was in the early days of the Franco-Prussian war. "He (Bismarck) showed me an extract from the National Zeitung, and observed : ' They say that the English would not allow the French to attack . Belgium. Well and good, but how does that help the Belgians if the protection comes too late. If Germany were once defeated (which God ; forbid ! ) the English would not be able to assist the Belgians in the j least, but might, on the contrary, be thankful if they themselves re-^ mained safe in London.' " Later on the same day Busch in his diary wrote: "I am to secure the insertion of the following in the nonofficial German papers and the Belgian and English press : ' The English Government observe their neutrality in connection with the war that has just now broken out, in' a liberal and conscientious spirit. They impartially permit both sides to purchase horses and munitions of war in England. It is unfortunate, however, that France alone can avail herself of this liberality, as will appear from a glance at the geographical position of the two countries, and from the superiority of the French at sea. Then quote what Heffter has to say on this kind of neutrality, and observe that the English jurists describe it more tersely as ' fraudulent neutrality.' " On July 23rd, 1870, Bismarck said : " The complaints as to the manner in which England understands neutrality must be continally renewed. The English Government does not forbid the export of horses, though only France can avail herself of that facility. Colliers are allowed to load at Newcastle and to supply fuel for the French men-of-war cruising in the North Sea. English cartridge factories are working for the French army under the eyes of the Government. In Germany the painful feeling has become more and more wide spreadthat England, while nominally maintaining neutrality, favours France in the manner in which it is really observed." The reply of the English Minister when the manner in which neutrality was observed on the part of England was brought before him, was to the effect that if the export of contraband of war were forbidden, the French would regard it an act of one-sided hostility, while at the same time it would ruin English trade in the branches effected by such prohibition, and favour American manufacturers. It will be gathered from the foregoing that, even at the beginning of the war in 1870, Bismark —(and therefore Germany) was in a bad humour with the British, so we need not be surprised that the ill feeling then created has come down to the present day. It may also be concluded that when Germany favored the Boers in the South African war by supplying them with all kinds of artillery and munitions of war, she was only paying off an old score.