THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12688, 5 November 1915, Page 8

THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

BRITONS WHO ARE AFRAID TO FIGHT. POTSDAM PUNISHMENT FOR PESSIMISTS. Most of the German novspapers rc«ard the changes in the British Cabinet as heralding compulsory service, and none of them appear to relish the prospect overmuch. In their heavy Teutonic way they

pour ponderous ridicule over the 'd^j l . of the "pleasure-loving Briton, wit Ik his tennis bat (!)" —the cricket racquet is not mention«d taking up the career of a soldier, and forsee that these "invertebrate devotees of feminine amusements'" would crumple up like eggs it' facii by a German legiment. A GREAT JOKE. The Roman Catholic organ of Cologne, the Voikszeitung. has some cu- ; rious comments on the change : "The consequences of the hara-kan committed by the Asquith Cabinet will affect not :he war but the peace negotiations. it had been anticipated in England ihat the warfare against German 'militarism" would have been: more pteasant and less disturbing to English economic life, and especially to EnglisA amusements. They are now wrSf'ing with the problem how to adapt themselves to the unaccustomed conditions brought about by a war the cotduct of which f hey are no longer to leave entirely to bribed and ■Sought foreign races, but which. < n the contrary, is fixing its grasp most unkindly on the English body politic. The strangely rehabilitated Cabinet will, it is said, provide the English people with the blessngs of universal military service. It would realy be the finest joke n the word's history if England, who issued forth to free the vrorld from German militarism should now take on herself a militarism a thousand times more oppressive.

"SLY OLD FOX, ASQUITH." Clearly the prospect is not one to the German taste, and the Voikszeitung hastens to reassure its readers that, after all. they have little to fear: 'We need, however, have few apprehensions. The sacrificing spirit of the English will never rise to such heights _ as these. The smug middle classes, which form the majority of the population. wiil all of them make the dis-" rovery that already in peace time they were engaged in indispensable war work, and that even while knocking the tennis balls about they are serving the British Empire. To proclaim universal military duty would lie tantamount to a public avowal that the war of liberation against German "militarism' was. either a punishable error or a formidable deception of the people. •Such a cftntession. therefore, would lie equivalent to declaring the English Government bankrupt. If, however, it should have to come to so hateful a solution as compulsory recruiting, fellow culprits would have j to be found among the Opposition. Here we have the key to the mysterious action of that sly old fox, Premier Asquith." TRAITORS AND LUNATICS. The rrrath of Potsdam is still being von ted on the German pessimists through the congenial medium of the Rerlin Lokalanzeiger:— 4 _'We . need but one weapon with I which to beat every prc.vent and future ' enemy who may yet arise against lis — tlirft is the continuance of that univer- | sal enthusiasm which makes for vie- I fry- He who, notwithstanding all j the incredibly grandiose .successes of J uur armies, still: looks ahead with fear • ind apprehension towards battles that ire yet to be fought, is either a traitor or a lunatic, and should lie treated accordingly. Hi- must not be alowed to jnfeet the .vanity o| the Jeople. \\«. want no pc--iniivt- in ■ii/riiianr. Th<- pessimists n\r!it!y !»•- ong to England, to the central faetnrv : lie industry of the world, die : lendqiiarteis of subterfuge ami per- • 1 idy, and to the capital of the corrupt 1 aland people these degenerate Grr- j •

mans should be shipped without delay. The Britisli are as welcome to them as they are to those other renegades who, to save their wretched skins and even more wretched lucre, have chosen to forfeit the privileges of German citizenship."

• THE GLORIOUS GERMAN' NATION. - ' _ But the anger which is visited on tile Germans who are crying out for the victories that never come is as nothing compared with that -which is reserved for Italy, into ' which the German Press contrives, as usual, to infuse a little blasphemy. The Neueste Nachrichten, of Leipzig, says:— "We Germans, who, unlike our enemies, do not wage war on the aged or women and' children, had long ago estimated the capacities of our adversaries in that respect. We should, however, never have believed it possible that they could have gone so far as to drag Italy in their train, for this Italian treachery is the most abominable crime that the world has seen since the days of Cain, the first assassin. This crime cries out for vengeance on the whole brood of them, Britons?, Muscovites, French Apaches, and Italian organ-grinders alike. That same God who made iron to appear from the bowels of the earth will cause to germinate in the sanguinarv seed so imprudently sown bv Salandra and Sonnino a magnificent harvest for the glorious German nation." DER KAISER TTND GOTT.

In the view of the Berlin Tageblatt the entry of Italy into the fray is calculated to "stagger humanity," because when her fateful decision"was arrived at all Germany's other enemies were practically beaten! "The Italian perfidy, which hitherto has worked only in the shadows of the night, deemed that the chosen moment had arrived for unmasking its game and taking us by surprise. In*" her calculations she had not foreseen that the Russian forces were on the point of destruction, and the English and the I* rench would in vain dash their gory heads against our invincible resistance, and- that the English Cabinet would be reduced to a state of decomposition. It is tins very hour, when catastrophe is hanging over our enemies, who have reached the limit of their resources, that has been chosen bv Italv for throwing l-erself into the "fray." Her treachery may perhaps tend to prolong the struggle, but Italy will fall like the'others, because the God of justice and truth lias taken into His hand-; the cause of Germany.

ON THE SQUARE. The Frankfurter Zeitung lavs the responsibility for Italy's action on the r reemasons:— file clique of Freemasons maintained by the gold of France and Ton<r. iand has succeeded in forcing on ItaTy a war which she did not desire. The regiments leave for the front sad find silent, the women weep, the capital hangs its head in abject misery before the declaration of war. and tl:e few citizens who display a flag do so for t tear of the police. However, the die is cast. Forward then, and let us place our trust in the truth of the proverb: 'Many enemies, much honor.' After the sad experience he has sufif r ~ the Russian friend and the Knglish cousin, our Kaiser mav now say to the Italian King: "Thou, too, then, betrayes-t !' Whatever happens, the love of ffs people will •iccompany him for the foreigners' trea-on-the Kaiser may rest his head with < onfidenoe on the bosom of evnrv of Ins seventy million Mibjeci.s."