THE TALK OF WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13096, 8 February 1906, Page 4

THE TALK OF WAR.

If one may judge from the inspired utterances of the Cologne Gazette, which we quoted in our columns yesterday. the Conference at Algeciras on the Moroccan question is likely to end without any definite agreement beine arrived at, Ike Ger-

man organ, however, while indicat-1 ing the probability of an abortive conclusion of the efforts of the Powers to settle the conflicting claims of France and Germany in Morocco, hastens to add that such a failure would not necessarily mean a, Franco-German war. Whate\er importance is to be attached to this semi-official statement, no one can fail to have been struck, in connection with the present dispute, with the remarkable freedom with which the prospect of such a war has been discussed in the French and German press, as well as in British journals of standing. For months past the Paris newspapers have been publishing the views of eminent and responsible officers of the army, exMinisters and other authorities, on the possibility of what General Langlois describes as a terrible war to the death which France may find forced suddenly upon her. Indeed, this frankness with which the eventuality of a German invasion of France is written and talked about by leading journals and public men is, to our mind, the most extraordinary feature of the whole situation. And not less striking, per haps, is the serious tone which pervades the discussion, particularly on the part of the French press, which throughout the whole of the controversy arising out of the Moroccan question has exhibited exemplary moderation and self-restraint. There is not the slightest trace of a Chauvinistic spirit. The French people do not desire war. They wish to live at peace with their neighbours. But they face the grim spectre which Germany has deliberately raised with calmness and confidence. This attitude, which one could hardly have expected, affords, next to the naval and military preparedness of France herself, the best hope for the preservation of peace. And in all likelihood it is due to the knowledge of that preparedness. A nation can look danger steadily in the face when it knows that it is ready for whatever may happen. We do not profess to know the mind of the Kaiser or the German Foreign Office, but no one can read the despatches of Prince Bulow without being impressed by their deliberately minatory tone, implying a direct threat of war. Whether this was mere bluff or was really seriously meant it is impossible to say, but in either- case it was fraught with the gravest danger to Germany herself. The France of today is not the France of 1870. She has recovered from the debacle of that time and retrieved her military

position. According to reliable authorities, her army is in no sense inferior to Germany's. She can place 4.000,000 of trained men in the field. Her north-eastern frontier is guarded by a line of forts, and is approached by a network of strategic railways, which would enable her to mobilise a; 5 rapidly as the Germans. In the event of war it is probable that France could concentrate more trained men on the frontier than Germany could, and in a shorter time. Where two armies are so nearly equal in numbers and training, and equipment as those . o.f France and Germany, everything depends on the individual spirit of the troops and the capacity of those in command. These are qualities which can only be proved by events, but there is no reason for believing that they would be found more conspicuous on the German side than on that of the French. It will be seen, therefore, that there are considerations which may well give German statesmen pause. In the words of an eminent military writer, it is easy for Germany to sow the wind. The trouble comes in reaping the whirlwind. Not only, he says, are the military consequences of another Franco-German war shrouded by the ' greatest uncertainty, not only is the adventure itself attended by almost unbalanced risks, but Germans i have to ask themselves whether they are not endangering their vital interests if they stake upon a doubt- ; ful hazard the splendid results , achieved by the great founders of i' German unity.