GERMANY AND BELGIUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16966, 27 September 1918, Page 4

GERMANY AND BELGIUM.

The latest speech by the German Chancellor has neither lightened the moral ignominy of his country nor obscured the peril of her military situation. The impulse which often leads a murderer to return to the scene of his crime impels German public men to refer clumsily' and unnecessarily to the great outrage upon Belgium. Baron Hertling breaks no new ground, and he hardly attempts to' veil the cynicism with which he repeats the worn excuses for a crime which all civilisation has condemned. There is no vestige of proof for the assertion that if Germany had not! invaded Belgium the Allies would have done so. It iB common knowledge that the French concentration contemplated an enemy advance from the FrancoGerman frontier, and that Germany gained a considerable military advantage' by her violation of Belgian neutrality in spite of the heroic resistance of Liege. It is common knowledge also that Britain entered the war only after she was certain that Germany was striking at Belgium. The facts are against the German Chancellor, but if they were with him they would not afford the defence he seeks. Suspicion that the Allies might make a treacherous attack upon a small nation does not excuse a German attack, except in the eyes of those who have absorbed Spinoza's teaching that the State is a supreme and irresponsible power which is bound to pursue its own advantage without regard to treaty or agreement. To such an audience Baron Hertling spoke and he exposed its moral depravity when he declared that Germany's conscience was clear because she offered Belgium money for neutrality even after the fall of Liege. Again the Chancellor has twisted facts. Germany sought to purchase the honour of Belgium, not her neutrality. Belgian neutrally required no price. It would have been maintained against all and in favour of none had Germany held her hand. What Germany sought to buy was the submission of Belgium. For thirty pieces of silver she hoped to seduce the noble soul that she could not overawe by her sword. Enslavement was the German object, for which she was willing to use both money and force. There is much in the German mind we neither understand nor care to contemplate,, but it is apparent that Germans find the allied psychology equally puzzling. To them treaties, honour, truth, and liberty are such unknown qualities that they try to find a measure in money. German gold sought to succeed where the German army had failed, and for the wonder of future generations is given the picture of the Prussian bully beating his unoffending neighbour, offering money for the outrage, and when it was refused proceeding to unnamed crimes without a qualm of the false I philosophy that serves Prussia as ' "in^ionce-