THE PARIAH NATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16461, 10 February 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PARIAH NATION.

» GERMANY'S LATEST THREAT.

BY LIEUT. C0I„ A. A. GRACE, N.Z.f.A., RES.

The motives underlying Germany's determination in regard to the ruthless submarining of all shipping trading with Britain and her allies, are merely these which prompted the unwarrantable inva- ' sion of Belgiumtho desire to obtain by 1 unlawful means a military advantage ' which cannot be obtained otherwise, and ! tiie desire to paralyse the action of neui tral peoples by imbuing them with craven 1 fear. It is to be noted that there has been no cessation of Germany's submarin- , ing methods since first she adopted them, ! that belligerent and neutral shipping trad-, ing with Britain and her allies has been ' systematically and ruthlessly torpedoed, and that this new declaration of Germany s that after a fixed date she will really deal mercilessly with shipping found within the ; prohibited zone, in reality merely means that having increased the number of her under-wuter craft, she, with much trumpeting and parade, announces her intention [ of acting mora inhumanly than hereto- , fore; hoping that the small neutral countries, such as Holland, 'Denmark, Sweden and Norway, will refuse to trade with , Britain. For it must be borne in mind , that it is Britain principally whom Germany desires to affect by intensifying the abominable employment of her submarines. If by any means she can cripple Britain, she cares not a straw if she offends the small neutral nations, or even if she should cause the United States of America to take sides with her enemies. Germany thus makes herself the pariah nation. Removing the mask completely, she shows all the horrible features of her repulsive face to the world. But what cares she for the opinion of the world 1 If by losing the good opinion of the world she could gain a military advantage, she would account herself both wise and happy. But if by her evil action she does not gain a military advantage, but adds the great American nation to the number of her enemies, what then will she have gained by brazenly proclaiming her bloodthirstiness to the world? It is this aspect of the matter which I wish the more particularly to discuss. A Desperate Course. The course which Germany is adopting is born of desperation. She knows that the war must be lost or won within the next few months, that it cannot be won while Britain maintains her blockade and prevents the Teutons and their allies from importing food and war material. She will therefore use her largely aug. mented submarine fleet in - such a way as to prevent as far as possible the importation to Britain of food and war material, which she must have if she is to continue the war. In other words, Germany proposes by means of illegitimate methods to do to Britain what Britain is doing to her by means, , of. the ordinary methods of blockade made possible by' the supremacy of her fleet. No one outside the German Marine Armament knows how many submarines there are to-day at the Kaiser's command—there may'' be 200, perhaps more, but certainly not 'so many !as the Germans themselves claim. -To 4 combat them the British Admiralty has r called into being new, ships and methods whose work has been so successful as to account .for the whole of Germany's original submarine fleet, and probably 70 or 80 new U-boats.- built since : war began. Without doubt the Admiralty will be able to cope with } the ; new danger , so satisfactorily *as it has solved the major naval problems whifch have presented themselves since August, 1914. - Purpose of the Advertisement. It must be noticed that there is about this most brutal declaration of the Germans a'good deal of what may be called fe-fi-fo-fura. Every one in the world knows they will :do as-evilly as they can, and really there is no reason.for them to tell us ; they, are going to begin. Their only reasons fordoing so are to hearten up their own people and their friends, and to frighten small neutral nations like Holland. They probably would have done much better from a military point of view, if they had kept their infamous plans secret; therefore the advertising of the horrible nature of their intentions must be to them a matter of maximum importance. The great two-headed giant said, "I am going to eat up Belgium!" and straightway did so. > He said, "I will next swallow Servial" and he carried out that threat too. He next said "I will -now devour Roumania!" and who will deny he has accomplished -half his task. When he declares he will sink everything that floats round the'coasts of Britain and France, he imagines that all the seafaring nations tremble; but ho forgets that, "first, the sea is not his natural element, and, second, that the history of Britain clearly shows the fact that she has encountered in life-and-death struggle monsters quite a« ferocious as himself, and has been invariably successful in conquering them. When such a monster is the enemy not merely of Britain but of mankind, his chance of escaping from the fate which he .deserves grows very small indeed. t '■ What America May Do; America will continue to trade with Britain; doubtless her ships will suffer at the hands of. the submarine pirates of the Kaiser. The American people will* certainly, retaliate by demanding the destruction of German U-boats, and the great Republic will range herself on the side of Britain and France. That will be the principal effect of Germany's ruthless submarining. I am well aware 'hat the army of the United States is at present a negligible quantity; but it can become, '-if necessary, an army of enormous strength. Their navy is almost as great as Germany's, and would assist most materially in dealing with the submarine menace. If you ask why 1 am so confident as to the Americans' attitude over this question, I argue thus:— America's chief interest is in herjtrade: she finds her trade with Britain i|d her allies most profitable; she will persist in that trade; if Germany, instituting an illegal blockade of the coasts of Britain and France, sinks _ American ships, then the Americans will sink German submarines, and will go on with their trade. Germany and America will be at war, and so much tho worse for Germanv. Thirty-four battleships, including 12 Dreadnoughts, 15 armoured cruisers, 16 j light cruisers, 74 destroyers, 23 torpedoboats, 84 submarines. 15 gunboats, and , other minor craft, such is the composition i of tho American fleet. But if the United States declare war against the enemy of i mankind, then we may expect to seel Brazil and Argentina and all the princi- [ pal nations living on the margin of the I Atlantic join in a general effort to free the seas from the pestilent and piratical , Teuton. Looked at from every side, Germany's , latest warlike expedient appears to be en act of sheer madness. It can be best , explained perhaps by regarding it as tho measure of her desperation. If successful, it could only hamper Britain; it could not conquer her. If a failure, as wo may confidently hope it will he, it inevit- , ably sound* Germany's death-knell, the end. of all her greatness, of her military ■ strength, of her naval power, of her com- ! mercial greatness, of her existence as a ; nation. The world will not tolerate a i 1 Germany which would reduce it to a state of savagery; slavery, and terrorism.