GERMANS REALISE POWER OF BRITAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12082, 10 August 1917, Page 7

GERMANS REALISE POWER OF BRITAIN.

. * ' OPINION UNDERGOES CHANGE. The " Rheiniseh-West.faHsehe Zeituug,'' a iovtrniil owned and controlled by the leading armament, firms ol Westeru Germany, has always f' n uncompromi.-i.ing Chauvinist. newspaper (says a, London exchange)- We have, been hitherto accustomed io look tn this journal for articles of a. hiehlycoloured nature, representing the. di;Tirulties of the Entente countries, and especially of England, What, alarming things hare we not. read in its columns! Egypt in revolt, Afghan armies pouring into India, troubles m Central India., troubles m &out-h Africa, Troubles in every part ft tJie British Dominions. What, columns about departed British prestige, about! bungling Brnish diplomacy, abcut th~. Betting of the sun of Empire! And now comes this same, journal with a series of articles dealing with the British Empire, and paying us compliment after compliment. In ihese articles the. Imperial Chancellor i*> taken seriously to task for his advice, to look at, i he. map. The map may show some things favourable, to Germany, hut- it other thnms as weil! which make an exceedingly gloomy impression. The great, hsscn paper'continues: "'lingla-nd, winch at the beginning of the war was so foolishly aud dangerously under-estimated fbv'no one more under-estimated than by the ' Rheinisch-Wcstfalische fceit.i'mg') has, during ibis otruiielo, attained military and pnlitic.il strength which has almost reduced 1o silence, prattlers who ruled public opinion in tho summer of 1014. England? the. falling Carthage, the land without, con-script-ion. has shown herself as a. nation which still rules ih* world, and to drive hack winch in order thai we. may live, still requires all our strength." Bi:LOW MAKES MISTAKE. We are gra.tified at. this testimony to our abiding strength by w> pronounced an enemy as the Knipp org'in, and read on with growing pleasure: • ; In contemplation «i t-no terrible battles in Europe., and in the eager examination of our European war map, wo have forgotten the map of tho world, and it is high rime that. we. look at. that. . ~ "While England in our immediate neighbourhood remains on the. deiensive she is yet .strong enough m other parts of the world to develop a remarkable offensive, a simple result of the policy of the last, forty years. _ The article then goes* on to review British Imperial history, and in the course of the review Prince Billow is

severed handled for not having recognised at, the time of the Jameson nnd how serious the tall of Boer Republics would he for German colonial hopes. The writer says:—" He neither tried at the proper time to organise a combination to prevent trieii fall, nor did he interfere when England overthrew them by force. Prince Billow did not, reeognUe that this destruction of the Boer 'Republics would bring us hitter fruit. On* has only ro ask oneself the question. What trend would this world war hare, taken had there still been independent Boer States, which -with about £O,OOO men, could have helped our German troops in South-West and East Africa?"

AFRICAN UMPIRE

The writer then traces the. determined and sustained aciinn whereby England throughout the years has. marched towards the goal of African Empire and an All-lied route across the African continent, and then proceeds to point out the great import a nee to Germany of Soutih-W'ost Africa.. " We. must not only," he says, "demand South-West Afiica again, but. w f . must, push oui territory up to the once independent. Boer Slates. All the colonising strength of Germany in Africa comes from the South-Wcst Protectorate, and all plans in Central Africa cannot compensate us for lost SouthWest Africa, a loss which lias now in great part been suffered." The "writer condemns the idea, of a great central African colony for Germany because, it would Ho between two vast' sections of British possessions, and the British spirit of revenge would always work so that- eventually Britain would .'.wallow up that possession. The only hope of Germany lies in having a. hold in Southern Africa, for _'' South Africa must be Herman or nothing German will remam. It is only by freeing the Boer State-, and by military and geographical connection with them that we can create an independent source e-f strength in Africa from which might and kul'tir will flow." Another article of the series deals with the. fiivrmous Empire, which is ours round tho Indian Ocean, and :.liA writer, it-; realising how widely the English hncma'ie is spoken there, sees it rapidly becoming the- language ot the world "In short, we must admit that England in t-hi.v war is taking "reater leans forward than she has ever done, before—-if at, the. last, hour fin iron list, does not. intervene The. British plan me c,i MK ' n splendour, pursued -with such perseverance, and carried nut-with such keenness, that no Powm- in tho world has ever before produced anv effort like it. Indeed, we envy England those, statesmen who ara' capable of handling anything so great." No Power, the writer goes onto say, will be ablo to resist live. British with the exception of Germany, "ft is our task. On us the English weight specially presses, and it is for us ho see, that unbearable land power will not bo added to unbearable sea power. Beside England," he says, after predicting; further expansion; "there is no place, in. the sun or on earth. To Germans it is obvious that outside tin's vast. African-Indian-Australian Empire there is no land or future, for our race-. America is claimed, the rest of Asia is ruled by Chinese and Russians. England will give us no rights, as we were bora too late.''

Finaliy, the article ends on the pathetic note that victory for England will mean that she will nave such strength that eroai Germany will not be able to deal with her.

~\Ve wonder that th> Essen journal does not think these reflections a.-trifle too late. It wa* Germany who challenged Britain, and if shei finds the entire, British Jimp ire against her, and the prospect of a. German overseas empire rapidly recedjng, she has only herself to blame.