The Wanganui Chronicle AND RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28. 1901. PRO-BOER GERMANS.

Wanganui Chronicle, 28 November 1901, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle AND RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28. 1901. PRO-BOER GERMANS.

THk outbreak f>£ anti-British feeling in Gsrmuny, of which our cnbjes have been recently informing us, is, it i« to be hoped, to ba attributed more to the effects, of -wilful and malicious, misrepresentation than .inbred hostility. It is of course true that throughout the Boer war a section of the German press, probably inspired and iubsidiyed by the notorious Leyds and his agents, have been bittsrly hostile to Kngfond, find ifc is a'RO unpleastntly apparent that tUeus publications have found a section of the imt)JiP ready and willing to believe, or to assume-to believe, their pernicious invention. Unfortunately, however, the spark kindled by the gutter press has been fanned .^y some of the more respectable of the German papers, who have xued a; rectjifc speech of Mr Chamberlain's as a peg upon which to hang a good deal of abuse of Britain and British methods of warfare. It is possible, of course, that these attacks were :o some extent due to a misconception of the import of Mr Chamberlain's words: it has beei» sttid that the .speech was mangled by ignorant .op vrjlfj}} mistranslation. If such is the case—although i t fe is difficult to bslteve it to bo so—then to attitude of tho German presu may perhaps be 'explained in the light of a patriotic defence of the honour of German arms. It need not be said-that such a defence was not necessitated by anything said by Mr Chamberlain in the speech to which so jiuch exception has been taken. All that Mr Chamberlain did ivuh, on behalf of the Government and the nation, to Indignantly repudiate the accusations of cruelty levelled against our army in South Africa, and 'ii doing that he, as "The Times" put it, "simply enumerated the measures taken in the previous wars of different countries which were severer than those adopted by Great B.ijtain," In this connection it i.« very interesting tft #.ote that "The Times" not long ago published ii <sommunication from a German field officer.' Uii the active list, which forms an effective antidote to i.he "overflow of hatred and hysterical iniignation" upon which he comments. He points out that it in exceedingly unwise for the German Press to challenge, for instance, a comparison between Lord Roberts and General Waldersee, as one paper undoubtedly did when it asked: "Have <2erj))aji commanders ever arranged to be brought Uatag anJ loured with decorations before tho end oi iJie irar?" As for the concentration camps established in South Africa,, ever which Great Britain has enduigg} W niueh abuse, iiis defence of British methods u> yery convincing. It is true that Germany e»teblj«](ftd no concentration camps foi1 French women and children in the war of 1870-71, but the reason simpfy was that such measures were not necessary. 'flj« German officer referred to. writing with a, ■'•'y.iy.id recollection" of that period, declares that if the guerilla warfare organised by the Francs Tireurs had assumed larger dimensions, "then assuredly the German headquarters vouJd have shrunk, from no methods of warfare j jvould have destroyed houses, farms, and evety kind of property; would Ir.ive forbidden all freedpjn; of intercourse; would not have hesitated ty inflict the severest forms of punishment, even the j \mnishmeni of deiith," in order to ensure ■ the safety of the 4iet-tiian Army, and end ! tho war more rapidly. But nkhtfugh the ! French did not adopt the tactics by which tho Boers have prolonged the present war, ihty were given to understand very plainly that Germany would brook no disturb- : nee of any kind in conquered territory. ;.>ur German otti cr ccpies from his notehook into his letter to "Th-- Tisn-s" a pro(laniiition, one of" many similar docunienta issued during the Franco-German war, which reads:—"Notice is hereby

■iiven to the inhabitants that martial law is proclaimed, and that, therefore, any inhabitant found with v weapon in his hands will be shot.—Headquarters, of the 3rd German Army." This i« in itself suftic'.ent to indicate that had Germany been similarly circumstanced to England in the Transvaal she would have been no more merciful, an 4 probably much more "fero-

tcious" in her. methods of dealing with the tnemy. It -is to. be hoped that Misef wijl:preyail, and that the unwar-: •^rant-able Antt-Bntiish demonstration will jiave « speedy ending. That there is * a T?a>:unable prospect of such a happy termination is indicated the cabled statement. I published yesterday morning, that "most Jof the German papers publish strong contradictions of the alleged British atrocities in South Africa." This at least suggests on the part of the press a return to r. more reasonable frame of mind, and implies that the outspoken warning of the British press lias not been in vain.