Robert Blatchford's Veiws.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17060, 13 August 1917, Page 3

Robert Blatchford's Veiws.

THE NEXT WAR.

WHY VICTORY MUST BE COMPLETE.

PRUSSIANISM MUST BE KILLED.

By ROBERT BLATCHFORD, in the "Sunday Chromicle."

The hostile reception of Mr. Wins-ton Churchill's prophecy that the war will not be over until 1918, has strengthened a doubt which has been growing in my mind of late as to whether our Government, our Press, and our People have, even at this late hour, begun to realise the seriousness of the German menace. When we express a hope that the war will be over this year, or that; the end of the coming summer will bring with it the defeat of Germany, what is it that we hope for or expect? Let us ask ourselves a plain question. Suppose the Germans' are compelled to sue for peace this year, do we believe or can we expect to enforce such terms as will ensure a solid and lasting peace? Do we expect that before the close of 1917 wo shall have defeated the Germans so decisively that we may l'egard" the Prussian military power as finally destroyed ? That we all of us desire such a victory, and the ensurance of such a peace, is certain. But . do we think we can win it: and win it this year, or next year ?

Mr. Churchill thinks the war will not be over until 1918. I wish I could believe that the war will be really over in 2018. Pessimism is seldom helpful; and no man would willingly adopt the role of a " dismal Jimmie" ; but a blind optimism costs, as we have learned, a terrible price ■ and it is not wise to allow the desire of the heart to hypnotise tUe understanding. Our safety lies in facing facts, and the Uglier the facts are, the more imperative is the need for facing them. I have here a Letter from a French gentleman resident in Lancashire. The writer thinks that when the German armies are defeated the German people will dethrone the Kaiser and set up a republic. He says that such a republic would be saddled with all the crimes and blunders of the present Imperial Government ; that the people will have so many difficulties and so many burdens to contend with that they will grow discontented.

AN INCIDENT IN PARIS

bitter hunger for revenge, we are no wise than We were in 1909, when Lord Roberts was denounced for his "indiscreet warning against a great friendly Power."

Is there anything in the past history of Germany: is there anything in the German conduct of this war; is there anything in the' staggering revelations of German plots and intrigues and e?r pionage, and preparation, to lead any sane Briton to suppose that Germany, •unless she be utterly defeated and crushed,, and rendered impotent for further harm, will forego her ambitions or her revenge? Germany has means of commercial, international and military organisation such as no other nation possesses. No other European people are so subservient to authority, so docile under discipline, so easily gulled by their leaders as are the Germans.

Directly peace is proclaimed, upon the best terms Germany can get. the entire German race not only in Germany, but in other countries, will unite in strenuous preparations for the next war.

He says : " The political and the natural law (forgetfulness^ will play a great part in bringing once again imperialism." He says: "In this way the root of imperialism will, never be sevei'ed."

There are Frenchmen then, as optimistic as are most of our own people.

WAITING FOR REVENGE

Are we to suppose that Turkey, if she is driven out of Europe and deprived of Constantinople and the Dardanelles, will not cherish any feelings of revenge? And what of Bulgaria and Greece?

Now, when I hear or read about the overthrow of Prussian militarism, the dethronement of the Kaiser, the establishment of peace "on a permanent basis," and the construction of international alliance to forbid war, I am reminded of a Httle incident in Paris in the autumn ,of 1914.

Just after the Battle of the Marne and the Aisne. I was in one of the Paris boulevards one morning when a convoy of British supply and transport cars drew up close to the nlace where I was walldng. The French people crowded round the cars and gazed. at them with interest. 1 went and spoke to a young driver of the A .S.C., and a French lady, who spoke a little English, asked me to question the soldier and tell her what he said.

The population of Germany and Aus-tria-Hungary is something like 120 millions. These two nations have the great advantage of a central position. They can :inise together, communicate divet i and easily with each other. They are lierce. resolute, unscrupulous and clever. Thej' mean to try again, and to try harder. They want another war; and they mean to have another war.

We can prevent them from accomplishing their purpose; but to do that we must recognise their purpose; we must not deceive ourselves with the kind of claptrap which was so popular before the war .about "our brotherman," and the "great friendly Power," and the "solidarity of nations."

One question she asked very eagerly was "Have they taken che quarries?" When I had satisfied the lady I went on talking to the boy of the A.S.C. He was just in from Soissons. and his car was chipped and battered with shrapnel and shell splintecs. He said the shellfire was terrific out there. And then he smiled pleasantly, and asked a question in return. He asked, "Do you think we shall get home for Christinas? "

That was in October of 1914. He thought the war would be over and that the army would be back in England for Christmas. I gave him the bestsmile I could accomplish, and a pipe and a pouch and some English tobacco, and said that no one could tell how long the war would last, but I was afraid h.e would not be home in time for t,ho Christmas pudding.

And I say now. in answer to my French correspondent that I am afraid that the Kaiser will not be dethroned this year, and that his solicitude for the German Republic is somewhat premature.

PLANNING FOR NEXT WAR

I read somewhere last -week the report of a speech made somewhere in Germany by some German general or statesman, on the subject of the next German war with Enjrland. The speaker said Gemany had begun this war a year too soon. He,said Germany was already laying plans for the next war with Eiisland. and that the next war must not be begun a year too soon.

Of course, one does not swallow German boasts' oi* threats or declarations without salt. But the German who made that speech seems to me to be nearer the heart of the matter than our French friend; he happens to be a German. Let us reckon the facts. The ohieet of the Germans is nothing less than world domination. But it is something more; for added to then- burning lust for power and conn nest, there is now o deep and deadly longing for revenge upon the British Empire. If we imno-ine that because Germany has failed in her lone-prpropditated nt. tock upon the Entente Powers she will abandon her dreams of empire and her

Britain does not want war; does nob love war. France does not love or want

war. There will be a very natural disposition on the part of the British and French peopie to rejoice in the terms of peace, and to trust in its permanence.

What is the nature of the common hope of the British people? What do our p,eople expect a peace to bring? they expect it to bring relief and happiness and prosperity. Everybody is to make money and have a good time. There is to be no Protection, no compulsory military training. Germans and German trade are not to be shut out of the Empire. We are to have universal adult suffrage, cheap commodities, high wages; and an era of peace, and blessedness, and pink humanitarian dreams!

And our people expect all this —with a hundred and twenty millions of implacable and insatiable enemies in Europe; with a savage and revengeful Turkish Empire; with tens of millions of German patriots in America and other foreign countries. We expect to go back to slippered ease and jest and jocund jollity, free from any danger from a ravenous, am. bitious group of empires which have been defeated and foiled : have lost their colonies and millions of lives. We expect all this'; or we seem to expect all this, if we are to judge by the general expression of faith in a permanent peace.

THE ONLY SAFE COURSE

So I put before our readers this proposition—that just as we shall only get peace by fighting for it and winning it, so we shall only keep peace by preparing; to fight for it and hold it. And to that end we must face the facts and use every legitimate means open

to us to prevent our enemies from re- ) covering their strength and reorganising, and consolidating their power. The danger that will confront us after this war will be the danger which

confronted us. and went near to destroy

us, before.the war: the danger of our own unreadiness, of our own blind placidity. It is not enough to parry an assassin's blov/; one must disai;m him. To give him back his dagger in the foolish trust that he will cease to be an assass-

in, is to court renewed attack. Germany m the future will have a greater lust and a greater hate; she will have less to lose and more to gam by war; she will still, and will for ever remain, a Hun. She has proved her&elf before this Avar and throughout this war faithLess, treacherous and cunning. No Briton who knows anything of Germany's commercial, military, financial and diplomatic methods in the past will fall into the fatal error of trusting or believing her again. Her impudent acts of incendiarism, rr.urder and espionage in America; her latest plot to bring Mexico into the war and to pesuade Japan to dishonour herself are proofs that the Hun is not capable of repentance or of honourable feeling. Those who trust Germany will be again betrayed. Our only safe course is to recognise that any peace, unless concluded upon terms so. stern and so inexorable as to paralyse Germany for a century, will be a mere armistice. We must believe, n.'uch as we hate the fact, that if we do not now. or cannot now disarm and render the Huns impotent, we shall have to fight them again, and may have to fight them single-handed.

HUNS DANGEROUS IN PEACE

The British Empire could fight Germany single-handed and'o&uld beat her, ii the British Empire were organised and prepared for war. But before the Empire can be organised for war the p.eople of the Empire must be convinced that such organisation is necessary. Therf is another fact to be kept m mind. Dangerous and formidable f>s Germany is in war. she is more dangerous and formidable in peace. When an entire nation'is organised for commercial, socjal. financial and diplomatic intrigue; when Government aaid people unite, as in Germany, to gain all manner of secret and illicit influence in every other country on the globe, they are more dangerous than when they tear up treaties and march their armed hordes into neutral lands.

Germany working insidiously to set other Powers by the ears; Germany aiding and fomenting mistrust, class hatred, rebellion or disaffection among other Powers; Germany scheming to gain monopolies of raw materials essential to the food supplies, the industries or the armaments of rival nations; Germany spying, undercutting, dumping, blackmailing, and picking other people's brains; Germany in ?my of her nefarious and stealthy activities, is a greater menace to any country that will consent to endure her odious contact than Germany with the mask off threat, ening fire and slaughter.

When, some years before the war, I was trying to draw public attention to the impending tragedy 1 found it impossible to get our people to look at the evidence. The people hated war and knew nothing of foreign politics, and less of German nistory; and their leaders assured them there was no danger. Why should they heed me when they would not heed Lord Roberts?

NO PEACE THIS YEAR

Are the people nnd their leaders much wiser to-day ? Have they begun to learn the lesson 9 This is not only the greatest and terrible war in history; it is the, first crash of a great racial war that must be and will be fought to a fin. ish.

Sooner or later Germany and the Germans will smash the British Empire, unless the British Empire smashes them. Overtly or covertly the struggle may continue for centuries; or it may be ended in one swift and overwhelming cataclysm. .

I repeat, I do not discern in the arts or words of the Government, the Press or the people any signs that this tremendous issue has been recognised, or is being prepared for. I s-ee nothing in the military situation which will justify the hope of such a crushing victory of the Entente Powers in 1917 or 1918 as will leave Germany impotent for harm. I see no indications that our people are alive to tne danger of the methods employed by Germany in times of peace.

I have to warn our country against the German menace to-day and to-mor. row as earnestly as I warned our country against the German menace of ■yesterdaj

Unless the victory we hope to win this year, or next year is an overwhelming; victory, the subsequent peace with Germany will be a mere truce, and while that truce lasts we shall be compelled to strain every nerve to prepare for the inevitable war.

Meanwhile the German octopus of peaceful penetration will its loathsome tentacles abroad. I try to believe that these tentacles will not be allowed to pollute our country or France or Russia, but I loot in vain for any encouragement from those who are responsible for the security and the welfare of the Empire.