ANTI-ENGLISH FEELING IN GERMANY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4345, 1 May 1901, Page 7

ANTI-ENGLISH FEELING IN GERMANY.

"AN EPIDEMIC OP HATRED.’' )

Under ibn heading "An Epidemic of llFirc<s, : ' tho “Kencj WiesßPr Ta£hl*tr publishes a letter from z German subject in Berlin, who endeavours, first r.o Gcfino, and then to explain, Anglophobia in Germany. lie says:— ( “It is a melancholy fact, but there exists a hatred of England amongst the German people, wh.ich, in extent And intensity, surpasses everything felt hero towards any other nation. Franco included. It is so contrary to the iqnate tolerance and cosmopolitan spirit of the German ; it is so ranch an instinctive antipathy not only against England as a Power, but against the English national character; it is s,o little restricted tc any party or any class —Agrarians and Conservatives being as much inspired by it as Liberals and Social Democrats; it is so violent, passionate, and so ready to find expression, with or without an opportunity; it is so elementary and sc much like an epidemic, that wo here who believe we know-the Ger.mtjn mind, aro puzzled by it as by a most remark.■:Vic psychological enigma. It is not f.-Vaiast tho Anglo-Saxon race, because even our Agrarians, who arc always quarrelling with the Americans, make a difference between them and tho English. It was not caused by the South African war, which* only aggravated it, because it existed long before, and tlio ugh pent up, broke out on more than one occasion before the war. It has assumed dimensions which bordered on tho romantic ; and it is decidedly overdone and contrary to German interests. It is not oven an expression of the independence o fthe German mind, as it runs counter to tho policy both of the Emperor and Government. Only a fool would want Germany to actively interfere for the Boers. What, then, can be the reason of this outspoken enmity to England? There is no answer to the question. Only time can bring about an abatement of the passion. Meanwhile, the responsible loaders of German policy must quietly suffar thair actions in the interests of Germany to bo repaid by offensive suspicions.’'

‘ A day or two ago (says the Vienna correspondent of the “Standard”) an Austrian in high position showed mo a cart-con in the new comic paper, “isimplicissimus,” representing Lord Roberts on the gallows, the ravens hovering round his body, and tho legend beneath saying, “Tho German people would also like Lord Roberts to receive an eleva-tion”s-eine Erhohung—the allusion being to his elevation to the rank in a Knight cf the Black Eagle. Showing mo this, the Austrian gentleman remarked, “Is it not disgusting? And tho paper calls itself comic.” We discussed the outbreak of Anglophobia in Germany, my friend saying: “It is the Bismarckian spirit, which had such a long time to take root that it cannot _ bo eradicated from the present generation. Bismarck always fumed against ‘die Englanderin,’ meaning tho present Empress Frederick; and the press, paid out of the Guelf Fund, repeated day by day that, without the, English Princess, the great man would be happy, and Germany prosperous beyond description. What was written about ‘die Englanderin’ when Dr Moreil Mackenzie was treating tho late Emperor would have sufficed to make every English man and woman loathed by the _ German reader, who lias an almost naive belief in his favourite paper. Tho Goman, if he is anything, is a hero worshipper, and his hero is, and will bo as long as those live who saw him. Prince Bismarck. Kruger and Do Wet and tho other’ Boers are only heroes of .the fourth or fifth order -to the average German: but as ho is told that Bismarck took an interest in the Boers, he likes them and hates the, English. This mental attitude will undergo a change, paradoxical as it sounds, when tho relationship between tho two Courts becomes more distant; and: were there now no relationship at all, tha Mermans would most likely think only of their national interests and entertain quite a friendly feeling for England and the English.” It is noteworthy that the tone of tha anti-English prosa in Germany, especially that of Berlin, is now commencing to ho less hostile towards England. The “Krenz Zietnng” has shown a marked tendency to veer round, and other journals which only a few days ago wore extremely, hostile._ speak now of their hope that an amelioration of the present state of affairs may take placi, i