Evening star., 1923-03-18
World to Join the Dutch in Celebrating
Silver Jubilee of Wilhelmine's Reign

accrue to Holland in an economic and
| political sense IL the Netherlands
were embraced in the zollvereiu or
customs union of Germany, insisting.
the reich Holland would be safe from
any possible absorption of her West
! Indian colonies by the United states.
| or with regard to Dutch Guiana from
! seizure by Venezuela. or from the
conquest Of Java, Sumatra and the
! other Dutch possessions in the far
orient by the japanese, who were ali
along credited With keeping an am
! bilious eye upon the enormous
wealth, developed and undeveloped. Of
! Queen Wilhelmine's East Indies.
! Ii cannot be denied that before the
great war there was certain element
| in Holland which lent ear to the urs-
| ings of Emperor William and of his
agents and who really believed that
their possessions would be safer if
covered by the German flag. But the
bulk of the people, their leading
statesmen. and. above all, their queen.
were more level-headed and showed
greater degree of that sober conf
mon sense and caution for which the
Hollanders have at all times been
celebrated at home and abroad. and
which are SO largely responsible for
their almost invariable prosperity.
They were perfectly aware that there
was some foundation for the kaiser
| warnings as to the dangers by which
the Netherlands were threatened. They
appreciated. however, the fact that
while these perils were problematical
and might be long deferred, and ulti-
| mately averted, their entire independ-
ence, political and economic-that inde-
, pendence which they had won by such
heavy and protracted fighting at the
cost Of so much patriotic life and treas
ure-would be irreparably lost If they
accepted Germany's protection by JOIN
ing the confederation OF her empire.
1t was the loss Of their economic in
dependence that they apprehended
above everything, since they could not
see how 1t was possible to reconcile
their principles Of free trade with the
protection and high tariff policies to
| which Germany stood committed. And,
! so they held back and rejected the pro-
! posals from Berlin, no matter how
tempting and insidious the form in
| which they were couched-and rejected
| them still more stubbornly when they,
on the eve of the great war, began to
assume the shape of positive threats.
Had they then yielded Holland would
have been involved as an integral part
of the German empire in the great war,
would have shared her disasters ana
the loss of her colonies, which as far as
those in the Orient are concerned would
inevitably have been taken over by ia
pan, then employed as one of the powers
of the entente in keeping the east Pa
cific and the Indian ocean free from
German activities.
= X ). Z
Throughout the varying fortunes of
the great war Holland, when confronted
with direct threats Of Teuton invasion
and with the fate Of Belgium, unless
she espoused the German cause, contin-
ued to resist the kaisers demands, and
not only modified her entire army for
the defense of her frontiers against any
German aggression, but also took steps
for placing almost the whole country
under water by opening the sluicA gates
and cutting the dams with which the
kingdom is criss-crossed in every direc-
ton.
With the ar1nistice of November.
1918, the danger of German invasion and
of any attempt by the kaiser to trans
fer the scene of his military and naval
operations against Great Britain to the
Netherlands was ended by his own de-
thronement and by the complete mill
tary and naval collapse Of the central
powers.
But, there remained in the eyes of
many Hollanaer. that other peril