THE GERMAN HEART

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 1682, 2 June 1919, Page 8

THE GERMAN HEART

STILL UNREPENTANT. Germany at heart in 1919 is the same as Germany in 1914, declared Charles Pergler, first Cz'echo-Slovak Minister to the United States, who .spoke recently -to- the League . for Political Education in Carnegie Hal!. New York. _ Despite this the Republic of Czcelio-Slovakia expects no trouble irom the 2,000,000 Teutons included in ■lhe new nation's 1*2,000,000 of population, lie added.

"The measure of German defeat lies not so much in v.-hat happened oil the Western front, but in the liberation of subject nationalities of Austria-Hun-gary,''' said Mr Pergler. "and ii* the destruction of the German dream to dominate the East through German vassals, the Hapslvurgs and the clique of nobility and militarists which surrounded the dynasty. Anstfia-Hun-f?ai\v was Germany's "bridge to the East. Through her she honed +0 reach Asia, and to dominate Russia. A leading British publication at the outbreak of the war declared .that the international uosition of Bohemia, at the clo«f> of the struggle would be the J "=.t r-f vi tovy or defeat. The CzechnS!nv:'Ju are independent to-day nnd bv that token the associated civilised Goreyn 111 ruts; and people havo won a decisive victorv.

"Yet n. good deal still remains to Tio donp. and the Gorman has not given' mi I'onp c f saving much from the In fact. some of them are st-i'l talking of dinner engagements in. Paris.'' if Ave :nv. to t-pVo aA itp face ■ value the renort thab-T)r. Y"'i Xuhl"ini'ii -said flte Hermans •\r"nld lie inParis in Or.lv a whi 1 " ;itro tho press carried n. despatch . informing lis that tlie ii'MV German Foreign Secretiiry declared that Germany would not submit to any sort of peace conditions tlie Allies may seek to impose. A change of Government does not necessarily mean a change -of heart, or even a change of mental attitude. Of this we fail to see any real evidence. The German revolution, so-called, occurred not because the majority of Gernnans realise that the original German aims were iniquitous, immoral, if not utterly barbarous, but because the German Government was unsuccessful in achieving these aims. In other words, because it failed to conquer. Most of the men now in power in Berlin balo-nged to the group wbicli, in August 3914. supported the war lords of Berlin bv" voting for the war budpet. Tho Eberts.. the Sch.eidema.nns, the' Davids, the Cimows, were quite vociferous in claiming that the small nations had lost their right to exist,

and tliat this is an age of only largi nations. Tiicy have not retracted; we see 110 signs of repentance. On the contrary, proof is addueible that the leopard has not changed his spots. "The duplicity of German methods, even following the armistice, is 'oest illustrated by the fact that only a while ago the Vienna Government, through Dr... Otto Bauer, complained that the Czccho-Slovaks failed to supply Vienna with foodstuffs and coal." That Vienna had been plundering the, Czccho-Slovak lands for tlit> first four years of the war was not mentioned. Tt now-,«lso appears that the Czechoslovaks ' furnished Vienna, with the quantity of coal aslced for. At the same time that this coal was.'being delivered in Vienna, the German-Aus-trian Government was sending arms into Bohemia to the German minority there for the purpose of occupying the very mines from which this coal came, nnd to enable this German minority to create trouble and disturbance. "In other words, we are still dealing with a subtle enemy propaganda., one that is designed to sow distrust among the lilies, great and smallAnd we should bo on our guard, not to trust reports from sources which savour so much of the methods of von Bernstorff."