Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Quarter of a Century.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1902. THE IMPEACHMENT OF GERMANY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 7063, 22 January 1902, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Quarter of a Century.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1902. THE IMPEACHMENT OF GERMANY.

The favourite amusement of the New Zealand orator, at the present time, is the impeachment of Germany. It is a splendid theme for a man with a good voice, but it is almost a pity that men's passions should be aroused against a people, who, in the main, have been our allies for a hundred years. Home allowance should be made for the German, who, in his own land, is " cribbed, cabined, and confincl" by an army of soldiers, another army of policemen, and a third army of officials. A dog that is tied up, barks more than tho dog that is free ; and, if the German, pulling at its chain, barks at us much more than we like, it is not altogether necessary for us to bark back. In Germany, there are scores of things at which the patriot is not allowed to bark; he is suppressed too much, and it follows that when he is not forbidden by the military or civil power to bark at a neighbour, lie makes the most of his opportunity. Tho barking may bo nasty, but still there is some reason to believe that it is nothing more than this.

Tho German does not love England altogether ; but then, on the other hand, the Englishman does not love Germany. Still the two nationalities respect one another, and the German envies the Englishman for tho superior liberties which the latter enjoys, while the Englishman has a high opinion of German educational institutions. Germany, too, is a little medieval and old-fashioned; and income respects, is a century behind the progressive American. Still its inhabitants are, in the main, honest, wellineaning, God-fearing people, for whom we can entertain a great respect, and with whom we should bo sincerely sorry to fall out.

It was not so long ago that French journalists were saying nasty things about Enghnd, and about tho Great Queen who is now no more. This exposition of Anglophobia was very shortlived, and is now all but forgotten, for German Anglophobia has taken its place. The German Anglophobia may also last for a very short time if Great Britain refrains from rubbing it in and fixing it there. Mr Chamberlain's attitude towards the German Empire has been justly admired. Without impeaching it, be defends his own country from the unjustifiable aspersions which may have been cast \ipon it. But there are lesser men than Mr Chamberlain in the Empire who go beyond his limits, and consider it meritorious to threaten and blackguard Germany. If, as we arc naturally prone to believe, that of tho two xlogs the British is the bigger and nobler animal; then, because it is the bigger and nobler, it must not bark back. We have to show how a truly well-behaved dog should behave when it is snarled at, and we have also to bear in mind that the dog which is opposed to us is tied up. and that if it were as free as we are it would probably be better behaved. Of course when it comes to fighting the quiet dog may prove to be the better of the two ; but we need not bo particularly frightened because Germany barks at us, nor need we consider it necessary to terrify Germany with impeachments.