THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1917. GERMANY'S NEW TRICK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16589, 12 July 1917, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1917. GERMANY'S NEW TRICK.

The i-o-called "unrest" in Germany is due wholly and entirely to disappointment at the failure of the German Government to secure after three years fighting either a decisive victory or a peace which would be so much like a victory that the German people would fatten on its fruits. There is not visible in the varied manifestations of German public opinion the slightest evidence that " Kultur'' is discredited or that this criminal people has any sense of repentance. It was noted after the Arras and Messines offensives that German prisoners had no conception of the feeling with which their nation is regarded by all decently - minded persons. They seemed to think themselves respected for their military qualities and to be unable to grasp the horror aroused by their outrageous methods. Unless we realise the manner of man the German is we must necessarily be misled by the tricks and devices intended to deceive us and to persuade us to yield to German duplicity what we have steadily declined to surrender to German force. There is no less democratic individual in the world than the modern German, who is only the " Kultured"' descendant and inheritor of a nation which has long proved itself utterly impotent to curb its own autocrats or to evolve within itself anything approaching democratic self-govern-ment. He has no individualism worthy the name. His patient and laborious persistence and doggedness make him an excellent tool for political, military and commercial schemers, who know that he will I never trouble them with ideals and that he can be relied upon to carry out, unblusbingly and ruthlessly, any plan -which promises to be successful and profitable. Germans have to be cajoled and intrigued oy their rulers lest they lose the confidence and assurance without which they never yet fought well. Thus they are being cajoled and intrigued to-day, while the Allied nations, particularly America, are tacitly invited to think that the German " democracy," -with which the Washington Government declares itself sympathetic, is now demanding and obtaining control of the German national policy. This is Germany's latest trick—to encourage her discouraged multitudes and to weaken the determination of the Allies. The position of Germany has grown desperate and the German authorities obviously must do something to renew and revive, if possible, the failing hopes of their disappointed population. A carefully engineered " movement" forthwith attracts public attention and is actually regarded in many Allied quarters" as a genuine popular movement. We may well judge of its character from its renewal of the "no annexation and no indemnity" cry in slightly different language and from the record of the acknowledged leader and of the chancellor suggested as a successor to von Bethmann-Holl-weg in the unlikely event of that faithful servant of the Kaiser being sacrificed in his master's interests. I _ One of the most monstrous and inhuman acts of the war was the deliberate and wicked ravaging and pollution of the French territory from which the Germans were driven by the Somme and Champagne offensives. There is no language which can describe the vileness of this German retirement what France thought none may say, but the Americans became convinced that they had chosen the righteous side against a foe to all mankind. The person directly responsible for this villainy was von Hindenburg. The same German commander-in-chief is responsible for many of the worst ; "deportations," while his treatment of Russian prisoners taken during his famous "drive" brands him as beyond the pale of humanity. Yet Hindenburg is suggested as the suc- | cessor to Bethmann-Hollweg at the j German Chancellery, if the latter i should be "forced to retire" by the block which the notorious Erzberger has formed in the Reichstag. This Erzberger is himself thoroughly typical of the popular German politician, who expected to share in the plunder for which Germany declared war in 1914. who rejoiced at the sinking of the Lusitania, who applauded hymns of hate, who urged submarine piracy against all i nations and who never uttered a kindly or generous thought while German victory seemed to him assured. It may be said that this is exactly the sort of man who would change with the times—but not in Germany. There is nothing in Germany but a mechanical and automatic adherence and submission to authority, and a desperate eagerness to bend the plastic mind of the j populace in the direction thought i advisable in the national interest. j This national interest is understood |by _ all Germans excepting a very insignificant minority to lie in such a degree of victory as will at least leave Germany's neighbours in abject terror of her militarism, and will leave Germany in a position to renew her aggression at some mote ] convenient season. As Germany ' obviously cannot extort indemnity I from France or penalty from the I British Empire she is reconstructing j her ideas of victory under the I tutelage of authority. But she still ' anticipates and fights for what would ' practically be victory, though she craftily covers it by the trick of preI tending to be against "spoliation" lor humiliation" either for herself or for her enemies. Concerning which Belgium. Northern France, Poland and Servia teach us that there can be no security in the world until Herman militarism is unable : to spoil or to humble.