Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1915-02-20
WHY ARE THE NATIONS AT
WAR?


Editorial from The Irish World
Why is England at War? Various
answers have been returned to this
question. We have been told over
and over again that the nation that
has built up the mightiest of empires
by plundering the weak has drawn
the sword in defence of smaller
nations"
That, by the way, is a statement
frequently made by Irish recruiting
sergeants who. by some inexplicable
mental process, have arrived at the
conclusion that ireland, as one of the
smaller nations, is in duty bound to
fight for England. The whilom bully
of the world, in addition to being
represented as the champion of
weaker countries, is depicted as bat
Ting for the cause of civilization, re-
ligion, humanity, etc. Now, the plain
matter of fact is that the least ideal
istic Of nations is fighting for pounds,
shillings and pence.
England had arrived at the settled
conviction that the worldwide spoils,
for the gathering of which she had
carried on incessant wars in all parts
of the globe, imperiously demanded
that she should have unquestiOned
control of the seven seas. That con-
troll must be established and retained
at any and every cost The nation
that threatened it, even in the re-
motest way, instantly became Eng
lands enemy. Such an enemy was
Germany from the hour that she
undertook to build a navy which in
the coming years, might dispute sea
supremacy with a country that never
brooked a rival on the element over
which it would rule with rod of
iron. Not a regard for the interests
Of civilization, humanity, religion,
etc" F." as her apologists assert, has in
duced England to unsheath the
sword. Filthy lucre, and filthy lucre
alone, has been the cause of the
greatest war recorded in history It
was begun and has been carried on
for the sole purpose of smashing the
German navy because that navy in
the near future. might put an end to
England's rule of the seas.
Had the keel of a German warship
never been laid down, a Mortified
world would not be witnessing today
the dreadful carnage that is piling
up heaps Of dead on the battlefelds
of France, Polanu and East Prussia.
Hilaire Belloc. the well known Eng
lish author, virtually confirms this
statement in a two-page article he
recently wrote for the New York
Sunday Times. In it he goes into
careful analysis of the causes of the
present war. First among them, he
asserts, is England's invincible de-
termination to be mistress of the
seas. To use his own words The
fixed cardinal point for English
policy upon which no English patriot
worthy of the name would hesitate
for a moment, and which no histor-
ian with any sense of justice would
condemn, to-wit, that no one, if Eng
land can help it, shall have naval
predominance over the British fleet,
particularly in the narrow seas"
Hilaire Belloc then proceeds to
tell what steps England took to carry
out her fixed policy. She. in the first
place, bent all her energies toward
outrivaling France on the seas. We
quote: And though the French in
the moments of theis greatest pros
perity were able, for all their con-
.stant military, effort, to. produce.
navies that rivalled those Of Great
Britain, yet Great Britain's effort
was the more constant. She never
engaged large bodies of men in war;
she could take advantage of every
French reverse during the two cen
turtles when the French were per-
petually engaged in huge continental
conflicts"
In this way the misfortunes of
France were utilized for the upbuild-
ing of the British navy time
came when French victories in Hol-
land and Belgium in the Napoleonlc
wars seriously endangered England's
naval superiority. Antwerp of which
Napoleon said that it was like a pistol
aimed at England's heart whenever
in the possession of the latter's enc
mics, was in the hands of the
French. 1t was the explanation of
the desperate efforts made by Eng
land during the Napoleonic wars
efforts which are thus described by
the English writer we are quoting:
For twenty-three years she eng
land) fought, with but two short
intervals of repose, upon dozen
nominal pleas, but with one plain
piece of statesmanship at the back Of
her mind--that no one should con-
troll the narrow seas against herself.
The false and hypocritical pleas
put forward by England during the
Napoleonic wars are at this very
moment paraded before the world for
the purpose of diverting attention
from the indisuptable fact that it is
not for the cause of civilization,
humanity, religion, etc, that Eng
land is now battling. A great part
of Europe is deluged in blood be-
cause Germany was looming up as a
possible rival of the Mistress of the
Sea-" That is a fact patent to all
unprejudiced minds. Hilaire Belloc
recognizes it and frankly states it in
these terms: "In the midst of such
secular determination (England's
determination to keep a tight grip
upon the mastery of the seas, Editor
l. W., Germany began to build her
new, great modern fleet. The Ger
man Emperor had a most unques
toned right thus to challenge the
Of. Drti In IN