The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1909 THE ROYAL VISIT TO GERMANY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 8 February 1909, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1909 THE ROYAL VISIT TO GERMANY.

PEACE AND EPOCH MAKING. A BRIEF allusion was made in the cables last week to the approaching official vi.it by his Majesty the King to the Kaiser at Berlin. The importance of the occasion deserves more than merely passing notice, for the outcome may be epoch-making, and of thc greatest help in the cause of international peace. The visit is timed for the present week, and the citizens of Berli.i have avranged a great oivic we'eome to the British King and Queen. Wh?rcver his Majesty has been as thr Koyal Envoy" peace and a better n::---d.-rstanding have followed in his foot--:eps. Although occurrences have recently produced some suspicion and distrust between Britain and Cermany — occurrences that cannot be forgotten or ignored— there is good ground for hoping and believing that King Edward's tact and thorough understandins of the causes of distrust on both sides will operate beneficially in impr.ning the relations between the two countries Strange as it may seem to people •of British blood, there are high-mind-ed and patriotic Germans who honestly believe that Great Britain secretly medHatf-s an unprovoked attack upon Germany with the object of destroying lho fleet which is steadily growing in the Baltic dockyards. The apprehension that such an attack was impending has created at least one great scare in Germany within, recent yxars. Every British subject who has even the most elementary knowledge of the situation is aware that this apprehension on the part of patriotic Germans is merely a grisly nightmare, having no connection with the world of facts. But, however unwarranted the German apprehension may be, the circumstance that it is honestly entertained makes for suspicion and distrust. It will be for King Edward, during bis coming visit, to show the German people that their fears in this mat ter are unfounded, and thntigh iutn national distru.-t is notoriouflv uithcull to remove, still King Edward's clear comprehension of the truth must lend thc very accent of convict, un to his utterances on this subject, and the accent of whole-heart-ed and sincere conviction is very apt to convince even the sceptical. ■ Another cm ious and sr.mewhat quaint. m;.-( onception prevailing even amojic fairly educated and widely travelled elapses in Germany is that :"h? British Sovereign — "Onkel Edouard" — L« a sinister old gentleman win-so on ■ mission in life is to spin a web of international intrigue to omburra.~_ and hem in Ge.-many, and isolate her from the goodwill of her Continental neighbours. I".-! Get man newspapers have lent Ihcmsolv-s to foster this idea, and ctinsequeiii'ly tho impressUm i.s .cry widespread. But the Kinn should have no difficulty in dispelling the notion, for his magnetic personality and genial presence may do much towards setting aside the persistent misrepresentations that havo tieen made. Commenting on the isolation of Germany, which is so often and wrcns-'ly attributed in Germany itself to the machinations of Briti.h diplomacy, a recent writer says that if there had been times when Germany's friends seemed to be growing lukewarm, the cause of this state of things i.s coi ta inly not to be looked for iu Km;,' Edward. Candid friends may joint out- r. thev have already point ed out iu tht Kticlu-tag and' in tlio German press— that thc weakening of international su[port lor German'""projects is not due to the machinations of a foreign potentate, but to the lack of stability and continuity in German |clicy ' . The importance of the Royal visit to Gc-inuny lies largely in the circumstance that th.n-o should be a removal of th-_ misconceptions that have grown .around Britain and Germany and giadually estranged the two peoples, lf the mass of home-staying Germans could be convinced that Britain has no design of delivering a surprise attack on the Kiel Canal, and that King Edward is not a modern Louis the Eleventh personally conspiring with other rulers to destroy Germany and reduce her to a second-rate Power, peace might be secured for many years to come. The menace to that pcac9 is not in Germany's colonial expansion — not even in the extension of naval bases to British spheies, which is an effect, and uo> a cause The root, of the matter is in German public opinion, manufactured at homo under conditions partly of misconception and partly of irresponsibility and spread abroad, aided thereto by a section of the British press and by lecturers and tho "man in the street" who mistake effects for causes. It is quite possible that German military and naval preparations may be actuated as much, if not more than, by a feverish desire for affective defence against a possible attack as by an intention to assume the aggressive without due cause. F.ven es uming a measure of aggresisivenesl-, it fc not unreasonab'fc *o suppose that an intelligent peopro, deliberately trained in a misconceived rational dread, should adopt the policy of self-defence inspired by the instinct of self-preservation, expressed in the aolloquialism that "if you think a man is going to hit you, it is a good lino to get in the first Wow." • • • • • For the rest, the King's visit to Berlin may make for mutual understanding on many matters quite apart from the domestic issues that are keeping Germany and Britain asunder and unnecessarily widening the family breach. The King and his nephew, the Kaiser, should have much to say to each other on burning internafional questions — such, fcr instance, as the trouble ill the Balkans Peninsula, where Sir Edward Grey admits thati new clouds aie lowering, even after the conclusion of the Austrian-Turkish bargain. The personal interviews between the King and the Emperor should enable ea--h to understand quite franEly the point of view of the other, with regard to this great problem, and perhaps to arrive at some idea of the probaiile policv of each Government in the event of a rerta^i contingency | arising. Thu-, his Majesty's visit to j Germany may give hi:ii the greatest : opportunitv that ha." vet* occtii-rrr-"i ; during his mission to the nations as I "the- Eoyal Envy'' cf achieving hi. j racst -epoch-snaking victory ss the , peacemaker oi Europe. t