THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1914. AN AMERICAN VIEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15711, 11 September 1914, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1914. AN AMERICAN VIEW.

The view of German violation of the Hague Convention taken by Mr. Bayard Hale, and publicly advocated by him in New York, is that the United States should declare war, guaranteeing the commerce of neutrals and the allied nations and -leaving the British Fleet to do its separate work. There is no ground for supposing that this expresses the intention of the Washington Government, but Mr. Bayard Hale's attitude is important as indicating very strong feelings on the part of an influential section <of the Amerioan people. Mr. Wilson has called upon the citizens of the United States to pray for the peace of Europe, fixing October 4 as the day of intei cession ; and it is not to be thought that this is intended to encourage the burners of Louvain, against which monstrous crime, as against the use of floating mines, Mr. Bayard Hale is righteously indignant. The President has contented himself with a formal protest to Germany in the matter of that country's most flagrant offen,dings. Whatever may be the action of the United States during the future course of the present war, it is evident that a movement is rising j among the more far-sighted Amerij cans against passive acquiescence in any international outrage. It has been urged upon the American public that the triumph of Germany and the domination of Europe by such an ambitious and j unscrupulous Power would force I them to adopt conscription and mili- 1 tarism in self-defence. This is a j very practical reason why the United States should abandon its j traditional policy of non-interference j in foreign affairs and should throw I its great weight into the scale with I those progressive and non-aggressive countries whose mutual respect for i agreements and conventions is j direct proof of their desire for! peace. As the Herald has pointed out, unless international law is to be enforced by honourable nations against any reckless state which takes advantage of its neighbours by throwing off every restraint the moment it thinks it can gain by doing so, international law becomes a mere farce. We might far better have no international law at all, no Hague Conventions, no general agreements, than laws, conventions, and agreements which delude the trusting and serve only the treacherous. The alternative is a compact for the punishment of criminal nations, and this involves the intervention urged by Mr. Bayard Hale upon the United States.

The destruction of Louvain iB one of those international crimes which affect the popular mind to the last

degree. Any doubts as to the motives and methods of the German Government which might have lingered in the hearts of civilised men were burned out by the flames that made of that ancient and inoffensive city a heap of smouldering rains. Treaty-breaking may be subtly explained; violation of neutrality may be cunningly justified; but practices associated only with Asiatic hordes and African savages are self-condemned in the heart of every self-respecting European. The sowing of floating mines at sea is unhesitatingly classed by the average man in the same category, though, as a matter of fact, the difference between the two acts is great enough to show that militant Germany is absolutely without code, manners, or morals. No civilised nation can feel safe as long as great military and naval power lies in the hands of a Government whose methods are far lower than those of Mexican banditti, a Government which can neither be trusted to keep its agreements nor relied upon to act with ordinary humanity. Great as is the United States, vast as are the potentialities of the hundred million Americans, it might be no harder for Germany to stab America in tlio back than it has been for Germany to stab Belgium. Speaking at New \ ork after the Spanish-American war, tho ex-American Minister to London publicly asserted that had it not been for the steady friendship of Britain a. European coalition would have been launched against the United States by Germany dur-1 ing the time of strife. Such an attack upon a nation for which Ger- j many has always professed good j feeling would have been bad enough, but it would at least have been war. "What America has to fear and to face, should Germany emerge victorious, is that an attack j may be made during the most pro- j found peace, upon the heels of the most solemn assurances of goodwill, and without the slightest regard to accepted rules of belligerency. The burning of Louvain in violated Belgium has opened the eyes of the world to the character of Germany, I and nobody now doubts that unless the German power for evil is crushed it will be impossible for any state, however great, to feel safe. There must be some compact between nations who do not wish to see one another assassinated, some agreement as in the old drinking customs by which friends stand guard over one another. Mr Bayard Hale urges the Washington Government to assume at once tho existence of such a compact. The use of floating mines in international waters frequented by neutrals af fords a tangible and sufficientground.

The United States, guided by Mr. Wilson's policy of procrastination, may take no immediate action, but, in any case, it cannot afford to ignore the German menace. It has been very widely believed among Americans that Germany's naval activities were directed against America, and not against Britainso difficult has it been to realise that Germany actually planned to overthrow both the Anglo-Saxon Powers in detail. With Japan thy assumed enemy on the Pacific, and Germany becoming great on the Atlantic, the Americans became conscious that a dangerous combination against them was quite possible, and have suspected that Germany aimed at breaking down the Monroe Doctrine, bo dear to all Americans- The average American is not always enamoured of Britain; his historical ideas go back no further than George 111., and his outlook is confined to his own national affairs; but he is vaguely aware that the British states enjoy a liberty which holds them bound to the Empire, and he is quite convinced that Britain is not dangerous to his country. The feud in Ireland has done more than anything else to hamper a complete understanding between Americans and British, but this disturbing influence is now most happily no more. Both British and Americans have every reason to respect one another and to recognise that both desire honourable peace and progressive security. The Americans can have no such confidence in Germany, so that Mr. Bayard Hale's exhortation may not fall on wholly barren soil.