GREAT CONSPIRACY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 15 October 1914, Page 4

GREAT CONSPIRACY.

GERMANY'S PLOT.

mmin^ewS °t those Wwere obstinate. JffltT?*? 6' I recorded, my convert , «fW T-*l^ man article entitled: • and the' Next in the Fortnightly of March, and reade fl r + that art'cle 1 fin^ a Jood deal, situation. Forecasts are dangerous,, but We is not much there,which £ would wish to withdraw. What brought about my change of view was reading Bernhardi's book on Germany and & next war. . INCREDIBLE AMBITIONS. Tip to then I had imagined that aIL tnis sabre-cutting was a sort of boyish, exuberance on the part of a robust ypunjr nation which had a fancy to. clank about the world in, iackboote* kome of it also came, as it seemed to* me, from a perfectly natural jealousy and some as the result of the preaching of these extraordinary professorswhose idiotic diatribes have done so. much to poison the minds of youne Germany. This was clear enough. But l could not believe that there was a. conspiracy hatching for a world-war,, in which the command of the sea would' be challenged as well as'that of the land. No motive seemed to me to exist tor so monstrous an upheaval, and no ' prize to await Germany, if she won, which could at all balance her' endr- - mous risks if she lost. Besides, one imagined that civilisation and Christianity did stand for something, and that it was inconceivable that a na~ • tion with pretensions to either the oneor the other could at this date of the* r world's history lend itself to a coldV blooded, barbarous conspiracy by wfeit& ; it built up its strength'for a-number* or years, with the intention of falling: at a fitting moment upon its' neighbors, without any cause of quarrel^ save a general desire for aggrandise- ' ment. . ,- BERNHARDFS WARNING. . AlU tb-is >, X **■** * °°uld not briher. ■ myself to believe. But I read Bernhardi s book, and then'l could not heh> J ' believing. I wrote an article in the- ■ nope that others who had been as blind" as myself might also oome to see thetruth. For who was Berntiardi?' Ho- ' was not an irresponsible journalist or-' Jwrti-headed Pan-German monomaniac He was'one of the most noted officers m the German army. He had written* * several of the standard;works .upon- • tactics. He moved in high circles, and? - might be expected to1 know exactly ' what were their ■ sentiments. And? here was a book addressed to his* owm tellow-countrymen, in which" these*' sentiments were set forth. .You coul* not set such- a document aside ant? treat is as of no 'account. , As I said1 at the time: "We should be mad if we- - did not take very serious notice of thewarning. ' - , - *> _ 'But the strange thing ,is 'that tfiere* * should haye been a warning. There" i* ' a quaint' simplicity- in the • German • mind, which has shown itself again and' again m the recent events. But this:" is surely the'supreme, example'of it. One would imagine that the idea that the book could be translated and' read1 hv its intended victims had never occurred to the author. As a famol» soldier, it is impossible to believe that he was not in touch' with the General"" fctatt, and he1 outlines a policy which? has some reason, Jtherefore, to be look- •, ed upon as an official one. It ie ;a&* bright a performance as if. someone' , ' on Lord Roberts' staff'had written'a ' i description of the N Paardebtirg flank j march and sent it to Cronje ' some ■ i weeks before it was carried but. , And? > jet it was not an isolated example, ' for Yon Edelsheim, who .actually \belongs to this amazing General 'S^afF* ]? u™shed ? shorter sketch; . setting;^ tortbihoff his country would deal with^L the United States—an essay. whicb*i6^ an extraordinary example of Bombastic ignorance. Such indiscretions canSrilyr/, ■ be explained as manifestations of ;an;ih^i flated national arrogance, •. which jfiaoT blown itself up 'into a' conyfetion thate * uermany was-so sure of winriihc that ' it mattered little; whether\ her- .6p~-' ponent were upon their guard^or not.- , THE PROGRAMME1 OF WAR. "♦ But Bernhardi's programme, as outlined in his book, is actually being- . carried through. The whole weight of ' ttie attack! was to be thrown uponFrance. Russia was to be held backr during her slow mobilisation, and then» l the victorious legions from Paris were- ' to thunder across in their countlesstroop trams from the western' to the- , eastern firing line. Britain was to "be- ' oaioled into keening aloof until her' y fate was ripe. Then her fleet was -to* be whittled down by submarines, mines and torpedo boats until the numbers^ were more equal, when the main. German fleet, coming from under the forts? of Wilhelmshaven, should strike forthe conquest of the sea. ' Such, were- h the plans, and, dire the fate of the conquered. They were in accordance withl: the German semi-official paper, whichcried on the day before the declaration* «, of war: "We shall win—and when wedo lVae vietis.'" With France it wae>i to be a final account. Our own fate* would be little better. It needs -a.

righteous anger to C.war>: to^ilie^:®M full, and we can'"feel it■.^hOT"?wi6^HMte^ft of;the long-drawn;plot :ag^ii^us^Ojan3?J:2&a of the fate whicJudefeat. w^ruld^brin^TMS