A GERMAN PROPHECY

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9173, 13 October 1915, Page 8

A GERMAN PROPHECY

WORLD DOMINION YET CANDID LETTER FROM AN OFFICER. WHAT TWENTY YEARS WILL SEE DONE. From Orir Special Correspondent. LONDON, August 27.

The following letter was found on a German officer taken prisoner recently by tho French. It is dated from Berlin last May, is addressed to “My dear Otto,” and is specially interesting as a frank revelation of what is passing in the mind of a German of tho “cultured” classes. “1 understand your feelings; to a large extent I share them. This war is long, atrocious, inhunian ; your lassitude and that of vour men docs not surprise l me With us. at the rear, it is sometimes worse.. In spite of the daily destruction which, we make of the Russians there are times when the optimism qf the strongest trembles. When the. other day we learnt that the Italian treason'’had come to a head poor Bertha had a fit of despair. It is true that her Carl had left her for the first time in-his life the night before, dressed in' the military uniform. Yon know that in spite of his asthma and his forty-six years he has joined the active array and .will probably be fighting in six weeks. »• . “Our reserves of men begin, alas! to .be terribly broken into. ■ However, the morale of the nation continues firm. The communiques give them sufficient pasture daily on the side of Russia aud the exploits of the submarines'. One tightens one’s belt philosophically and one counts on victory for to-morrow.; With us educated men, confidence is perhaps less assured, but l am anxious to calm-yoUr anxiety and assure that, all said and, done, it subsists. Naturally one no longer believes in the crushing of the enemy in the .wav the National Liberals and other fanatics dream, but I firmly believe that with a little more_ courage and a little - more of that diplomatic skill which we have sometimes lacked, wo may expect that honourable peace, that white peace, which will leave Germany the formidable glory of having held the whole world in check, will consolidate her prestige in Europe, and will allow her in. twenty years, having repaired the breaches, to establish her hegemony there. . . r -'D'n what do I base this conviction? First, on our patriotism, on our sense of discipline, on our genius for organisation, and then, before all, on the incapacity for, organisation of our adversaries. Ah I certainly, if they _ united their resources - with our qualities of initiative - and method, we should be lost. At the thought of what we should do in the: place/of the English and the French, at the thought of what would threaten us if they” knew how to utilise the forces of the Allies, as We have succeeded in" maintaining those of the Austrians and. the Turks; I shudder. We ■ should be destroyed like Mr Winston Churchill’s rats. But the Governments of the Allies do not speak badly, sometimes better-than our own, but they act' less. ' “If you wish to know my prognostic, here it is: On the Russian side, wo shall continue to heap up . victories which will not lead us to St. Petersburg, but the Cossacks arc henceforth far enough from Berlin to bo persuaded in the end to give up their, intention of entering it. On the Italian side, ' when ,we have sufficiently pulled their ears, our ex-Allies' will he very glad to carry off a small piece of the Trentinq. King Austria, while grumbling, will end all rigqt by giving it up. to her. The real danger for us -has never been, and never will be,, any-' where except-in the West. - Let us hold on another few weeks, a few. months at- the, most, when the ■ menace of a winte)- campaign will be decided. France will hang- back. \At that; moment a bit of bread and a few kind wo.rds; and we shrill-be friends. “And: in twenty years, it will be she who, willingly or unwillingly, will help us to finally eliminate : Russia from Europe - and England', from the Empire of the seas. These are my prophecies; I am quite ready' to confess -besides that I am not infallible, and I recognise with a - good -grace that if John Bull and Jacques Bonhomme were capable of making an effort like the Gormans, we should he done for. . . . But they are, not> Then,' good courage. Hold firm , . . . till the end. ‘Deutschland über Alios.’ ”