THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, 30th JANUARY, 1903. BRITAIN, GERMANY AND AMERICA.

Southland Times, Issue 18058, 30 January 1903, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, 30th JANUARY, 1903. BRITAIN, GERMANY AND AMERICA.

Recent cables point to the fact that there is, both in Britain and in America, a growing distrust of Germany's intentions in Venezuela. In view of tho fact that negotiations are at the present moment going on in Washington which, we are assured, are likely to result in the early settlement of the Venezuelan difficulty, the bombardment of Fort San Carlos appears to have been an act of needless severity. A.s to the method of attack too, President Castro, with what justification we of course cannot say, has protested to Washington against Germany's brutality in bombarding without notice, ruthlessly killing non-combat-ants, and wantonly destroying property. The German explanation of the affair, given in Berlin, is that the allied commanders decided upon the bombardment of San Carlos, leaving t^.v Germans to be the executive force because it was within the sphere of action assigned to them ; on the other band the commodore of the German fleet in Venezuela cables that as the Panther was passing Maracaibo, she was unexpectedly attacked by Fort San Carlos, and with a view of exacting immediate punishment for the attack, the Vineta attacked and destroyed the fort. The two .explanations do not tend to strengthen one another. In Britain the newspapers unanimously denounce the bombardment of San Carlos, and urge Britain to dissociate herself from Germany as soon as possible. Washington officials strongly suspect Germany of ulterior aims. f l he implication is that Germany, before the original grievance is finally settled, wishes to provoke Venezuela to such acts of retaliation as would justify her in seizing territory in compensation. This is borne out by such minor incidents as the flaunting of the captured Restaurador in the eyes of the Venezuelan populace. In the beginning of the Venezuelan dispute, the hope wa3 entertained in many quarters that the co-operation between Britain and Germany would lead to a better feeling between the two countries. From the first, however, many far-seeing critics believed this hope to be fallacious. German animosity towards Britain rests on very solid grounds, and while the cause remains, it is not likely to be affected by a matter so relatively unimportant as the Venezuelan. question. It is founded on national jealousy of our commercial prosperity, our naval supremacy, and our vast colonial empire. The last is the sorest point of all, for Germany, with a rapidly increasing population, has practically no colonies habitable for white men. The guiding aim of her policy just now is to secure such colonies by fair meana or foul. She has an enormous fleet in course of construction, but until that is ready she dare not meet any of her rivals in open conflict This is the explanation of German official protestations of friendship to Britain, while the press and the people are known to be hostile to us. Germany is simply biding her time till she shall be ready to m«3et us. Meantime she is trying to obtain by strategy what she cannot obtain otherwise. Her ambition is thought to be to play the part of the third dog who runs away with the bone which the other two are quarrelling over, Her supreme desire is to see a war between the Great Powers in which she would play the part of onlooker— preferably perhaps between Britain and America, or Russia and Britain. Hence, wherever disturbances are going on at the present time, Germany is there fomenting the trouble — in Macedonia, in China, on the Persian Gulf, in Morocco. Germany i* believed to have done her best to promote a quarrel over the passage of the Dardanelles, and to have instigated Colombia to hold out against the United States in the negotiations over the Panama canal, The official friendliness of

Germany fco Britain is therefore held not only to be thoroughly insincere, but also to be a source of danger ; for Germany is only too willing, by emphasising her friendship with Britain in the eyes of the tforld, to draw upon that country some of the odium that belongs to her own intrigues. It is a policy she has been known to pursue before, and signs are not wanting that she is ready to pursue it again. Those who believe that, in Bpite of popular hostility, the German Government is really well-disposed towards us, may remember the Kaiser's never-to-be-forgotten telegram to Kruger, which certainly did something to precipitate the Transvaal war, and Count Von Bulow's declaration that it was an insult to compare German troops with British soldiers. These are lapses which reveal the feelings of the Ger man Government far more truly than any studied explanation. It is for these reasons that many have all along regretted Britain's entanglement with Germany in Venezuela Next to Britain Germany has most reason to be jealous of the United States. Not only do the States absorb a steady stream of German emigration, which that country would be glad to see going to build up the strength of her own colonial empire, had she the territories to which to send them, but America also protects, . with the flaming sword of the Monroe doctrine, the feeble South American republics, which would otherwise lie so temptingly open for conquest and colonisation. It has long been known that Germany had designs on Brazil ; indeed there has been a semi-official scheme that German emigration should be concentrated as much as possible on Brazil, and that the German colonists should after a time band themselves together and declare themselves a republic under the protection of Germany. America has from the first looked with some suspicion on Germany's presence in Venezuela, but accepted Britain's cooperation as a guarantee that no infringement of the Monroe doctrine was intended. The blockade was preceded by a joint declaration made to the United States that no permanent occupation of territory was intended. German newspapers declared that there was no more intention of annexing any part of Venezuela than of annexing the mountains of the moon. If, however, Germany has now any intention of going back on that declaration, she will find that her chief reckoning will be, not with President Castro, but with President Roosevelt, and Britain will have little hesitation in supporting the United States against her quondam ally. A little firmness, however, is all that is necessary to induce her to be wise in time, for, as pointed out abo^e, she is not ready to meet either Britain or the United States separately, much less Britain and America in combination.