NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13450, 29 May 1907, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

AMERICAN SPREADEAGLEISM.

The New York American, Mr. Hearst's principal paper, indulges in the following outburst, of yellow journal spreadeagleism:." —"The time must come when the United States will order all foreign powers which hold, possession on - this side ;of the world to haul down their flags and. follow Spain, which Are had. to .fight in order-to expel. We tolerate ■, Canada as ,a. British colony, and English ownership of islands in our waters 'for the double reason that custom inures us to the anachronism, and that we suffer, no present danger or inconvenience from, it.. But we learned while the Civil War was being fought how perilous a matter it is, . tbify British , propinquity- The neutrality of England made the Bahama Islands in, reality hostile territory a. base of supnlies for the Confederacy. ; There the blockade-runners' found shelter and gave aid and comfort to the South. Had we not been very tired of fighting after Lee surrendered, the United States would surely have* taken the Bahamas. And it would have been good policy to do it, .too, along with the other islands under British rule. It will be done some day, of course, in obedience to the demand of national security. And it may become expedient to annex Canada also. At the least she will be required to cease being British and foreign, and made to sit up for herself in self-respecting American, fashion. It was an affecting sight, President Roosevelt and Mr. Bryce clasping hands across the sea, as it! were, and indulging in blood-is-thicker-than-water sentiment, but the sinister fact remains that every British gun mounted, on this continent has its muzzle turned upon the United ' States. The Monroe Doctrine as*a negative command has served us well ; ultimately it will be given an affirmative authority. . " You shall not come," will be changed into " You must go" to our monarchical friends, English and other. And' worse things could happen to England than to lose her distant possessions and become another peace-lov-ing, harmless Holland, which is to be her fate, unless she shall grow in democratic sanity, get rid of her medieval flummery in the way of throne and .nobility, and seek admission to the American Union as a State." r :] 'vy. '?.:>.- .:.

THE GERMAN NAVY AT HOME. The headquarters of the German navy are (says a writer in Chambers' Journal) nominally at Kiel. But Kiel is on the Baltic; and when the canal was cut, in order to join its excellent harbour to the North Sea, German Dreadnoughts had .not been thought of, and there is no doubt that the mouse-traps" of the Baltic will be as dangerous to them as to the war-vessels of other nations. There are plenty of accidents to the. existing ships a* it is; and the canal is only 70ft in width at the bottom, with a depth of 30ft. ' Besides, it takes nine hours to pass through its 60 miles of length. A moment's reflection will convince anyone that the North Sea will be the battleground of the German fleet;.and it is to the North Sea, therefore, that -we must look to see the German navy as: it really is, and also as it will become. The German North Sea coast is not much more than a hundred miles long as the crow flies, and anything more dreary and uninteresting it is impossible to conceive. Sandbanks and mud are everywhere, and decent sea-bathing is only obtainable at Heligoland, or the sandy islands off the shore. - There is none at Wilhelmshaven, the naval harbour, lying behind its 20ft high dykes; and its only visitors are the. German teachers and professors (a title given to the higher class of schoolmasters), who go there with parties of their boys in order to view the ships through which a "Greater Germany"; is to be brought into being. All round the bar hours great barracks have been and are still being built. Their size may be gauged by the fact that one, not the most modern, is called the Five thousand men" barrack. No foreigner is permitted to inspect the, dockyards without special permissionnot easily obtained. Cases of espionage are not infrequent, especially by French artillery officers. The offenders ore always sent to prison, and, of course, are disowned by their own Governments. Kief is under the supreme . command of Prince Henry,, and Wilhelmshaveni under. Admiral Bendemann. The shore batteries

(many of which are inland), and military, as well .is naval works, are all controlled by them; and when they are in residencean admiral's flag is flown from the Schloss. When the harbours at Wilhelmxhaven are complete Eoiden (the most westerly port) will be taken in hand, and the existing commercial (anal to the former place deepened and widened into one for battleships. There will thus be less danger of a successful blockade by a hostile fleet, for the two ports are 50 miles distant, and the coast in between is unapproachable. When Emden becomes a warharbour, then will come Holland's danger. Only those who have seen the German Emperor among his ships.and men can thoroughly appreciate how completely he is the very soul of his navy. He continually visits it, knows all his superior officers personally, and loses no opportunity of delivering one of those flamboyant speeches to his men which the world knows so well. When at a naval port the Emperor sleeps ok board a battleship, dining in the common room at the midday dinner of his dficers at their Kasino. When the meal is over he almost always delivers a speech, and is said to "let himself go" in the way of expressing his opinions a good deal more than he does in his other and move public speeches. As Emperor he is a very different person from what he is in private life. On hearing him speak in public it is impossible not to think of a drill-sergeant. The loud, harsh voice, the curt, peremptory sentences, ending abruptly, irresistibly remind one of the drill ground. But in private life he is all generosity, lavish even, to his officers, as his gifts of his yachts, pictures (his own drawings among them), books, and many other things show.