NEUTRAL CRITICS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 438, 6 July 1915, Page 12

NEUTRAL CRITICS.

SWISS COMMENTS ON THE WAR.

GERMAN BLUNDERS CLEARLY

UNDERSTOOD

"With France oh its western frontier, Germany and Austria on the north and west, and Italy attached to England by long-standing ties of friendship, and drawn in admiration irresistibly towards Belgium as a sister State, ready to perish rather than lose its independence, it would indeed be strange if Switzerland did not assume the role of international critic. And this it does most thoroughly, as the following extracts from its leading journals will show. Switzerland may well be said to lie in the shadow of the Mailed Fist, as its commerce and finance are very substantially controlled by Germans, but this does not deter the "Journal de Geneve" from tracing, in a series of very weighty leading articles, the events leading up to the declaration of war, and fastening the responsibility on Germany. It emphasises that during the ten years preceding the war, Germany carefully studied the eventuality of a conflict with England, and was satisfied that she had discovered two vulnerable points through which a fatal blow could be dealt at British supremacy: these were the disloyalty of Ireland and the colonies. Germany confidently predicted that, on the outbreak of war both Ireland and the colonies would "rise up and throw off the detestable British yoke and assert their independence." The friction in regard to Ulster, followed by the resignation of several officers quartered in Ireland, seemed to give colour to this theory, and when admissions were made in the French Chamber in July that there were serious defects in the military organisation of that country which could not be remedied before the end'of the year 1915, Germany evidently thought that the most opportune moment for action had arrived.

An excuse was ready to hand: the assassination of the Archduke of Austria and his Consort had already taken place, but the question was speedily revived and fastened upon. This was as good as any other excuse, says the "Journal," and Austria was the cat's-paw. How thoroughly the "disloyal" units of the Empire have given the lie to German diplomacy the "Journal" shows in an appreciative account in another column, in which the numbers of men contributed by various parts of the Empire are set forth. It concludes by predicting that in the long run it will be found that Germany has conferred an inestimable service on the British Empire.