M 
LAND c'v: W A T E R 
April 6, if)i6 
tliis country, iwon it it wore otherwise, we would not 
believe for one moment that England would liarbour 
dangerous thoughts against our country. \\V an- tirmly 
convinced that England and her Allies arc lighting for the 
maintenance of all independent nati<jns. But self-interest 
is for many people a more convincing motive. Now, on, 
that ground, Hollanci has absolutely nothing to fear 
from the .Allies. .And if she had, she wcnild as in old times, 
put up a good tight to repel any attack. It is sometimes 
also said, that England may desire Holland's rich colonies. 
That notion can also be dismissed as without foundation. 
ICngland cannot desire more colonies. Besides, the 
Dutch Indies are a source of strength for Holland. .\nd a 
strong Holland is in accordance with England's own 
interests. We have often, but in vain, challenged our few 
pro-Germans to point out one instance when leading 
linglishmcn or Frenchman have threatened Dutch inde- 
pendence. But the German literature, written previous 
to and during the war, abounds with instances of such 
threats from Germany. 
Some time ago the famous Dutch jurist. Professor Van 
Ifamel, quoted in the Dutch weekly, De Amskrdammcr, 
numiMous German utti-rances, which were afterwards re- 
]iublislu'd in a book. In all those utterances appear the 
eager desire that Germans' should possess the mouth of 
the Rhine, which is only possible by annexation of 
Holland. The Germans know, however, that the Dutch 
character could not easily, if ever, bow down under the 
German Custom I'nion, whereby Germany could by 
" peaceful penetration " obtain the control over the 
mouth of the Rhine. 
So far back as 1841 the learned German economist 
Freidrich I-ist, wrote : " Holland is by her geographical 
position, as well as by her commercial and industrial 
interest, by her origin and language, an original German 
province, without whose reincorporation Germany is a 
house of which the door belongs to a stranger. Holland 
belongs to Germany as much as Brittany and Normandy 
to France, and so long as Holland remains independent, 
Germany can never develop to her full strength any more 
than France could when those two pro\'inces belonged to 
England." 
The Prussian historian. Treitschke, wrote in 1870 : 
!' There is no escape from the duty of the German policy. 
to regain the mouths of the king of rivers, the inexhaustible 
resource for (iermany, the Rhine. A pure political connec- 
tion with Holland is perhaps unnecessary, but an economic 
union is not. And we are much too modest if we fear to 
say, that Holland's entrance into the (ierman Custom 
Union is for us as necessary as our daily bread." 
That " modesty " later German writers shook fear- 
lessly off. Herr Fritz Bley wrote, in 1897, '" the AU- 
dcutschc Beii'egunn und die Xicderlande : " We do not 
think of making Holland German, for since the memory of 
man it is already (ierman. . . . ^\'e shall give Holland 
again the life of a realm. She needs our emigrants and 
our power for the development of her colonial possessions. 
We need those dominions, drenched with German blood 
(sic) for our economic expansion. We must have the 
Rhine to the mouth, where Holland's silent resistance 
obstructs us." 
Bernhardi said the same in Germany and the next 
War. Her Groh wrote four years ago, in his book, 
Holland Deutschcr Bundestaat (Holland a German League- 
state) " Alliance \vith Germany ? No, only uncon- 
ditional connection can secure Holland quietly her 
colonial possessions If Germany is once established in 
Holland, then has she the head of the greedy English 
polyp in her hand." 
Such ideas were uttered not infrequently during this 
war. Herr Alfred Ruhemann wrote, after the fall of 
Antwerp : " Even if we keep Antwerp we have not vet 
secured an outlet to the sea. We need that certainty 
which we can only get if Holland becomes more closelv 
connected with us." Even the King of Bavaria lent his 
authority by saying, that (iermany "could at last get a' 
straight outlet "of the Rhine to' the sea." Germans 
forgot, when talking about the annexation of Belgium, 
the statement made by Herr jagow, the German Secre- 
tary of State for Foreign .Affairs, just before the outbreak 
of hostilities, that (iermany " could not prolitably annex 
Belgian territory without making at the same time terri- 
torial acquisitions at the expense of Holland." Those 
signilicant words are not, and cannot be, forgotten in our 
country. 
All this makes the position of Holland quite clear. 
We can dismiss as chimerical any idea of Holland ever 
siding with the Central Powers against the Allies. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer 
By James Douglas 
LATE in the seventies a lad was lifted out of the 
water at the Lambeth Swimming Baths, after 
having won a hotly contested race. He had 
taken the last ounce out of himself, and as he 
lay at full length it was apparent that he was utterly 
exhausted. Nevertheless, in a few minutes he was on 
his legs again, ready for the next race. The boy was 
Reggie McKenna. None of those \yho applauded his 
pluck could have foreseen that he was destined to become 
Chancellor of the Exchequer during the greatest war 
in our history. The boy was father of the man. Ever 
since he won that race he has been winning other races 
by sheer courage and greatness of heart. In 1887 he 
was bow in the winning Cambridge University Eight, and 
he rowed in the Trinity Hall boat which won the Grand 
and the Stewards' cups at Henley. These athletic 
triumphs provide a clue to his success in the Parliamen- 
tary area. That success is due to character as well as 
brains, to courage as well as intellectual power. 
Throughout liis political career he has been remarkable 
for his iron fearlessness. He has never hesitated to 
face a storm of unpopularity after he had made up his * 
mind. It is a rare quality in a statesman and a very 
valuable one. The British people like a man with a 
backbone, and whatever fault may be found with Mr. 
McKenna, his severest critic cannot sa}' that he is 
invertebrate. There is no living politician who is more 
impervious to the biting blasts of unpopularity. He 
seems to thrive on criticism and to draw fresh strength 
from contumely. It is d-flfi-rult to imagine a situation in 
which his consummate n-rvc would be rattled. The 
Germans assert that this war will be won by the nation 
with the strongest nerve. It is with satisfaction that 
the British public notes the strong nerve of the Chan- 
cellor of the E.xchequcr, for he is the nerve centre of our 
financial system. As the business world looks to the 
banking world for light and leading, so the banking 
world looks to the Treasury, and so the Treasury looks 
to the Chancellor. There is a profound difference between 
peace linance and war finance. In peace blunders 
and aberrations are not irretrievable. There is a margin 
great enough to cover a multitude of financial sins. But 
in war — and especially in a war utterly unparalleled in 
scale — one false step may bo irreparable. 
It is not too nivich to say that upon Mr. McKenna 
depends the solvency of the Allied Powers. " Compared 
with Reginald McKenna," said a picturesque American 
writer, " John D. Rockefeller is a piper." No multi- 
millionaire ever handled operations so colossal as those 
he has carried out with an easj' mastery which astonishes 
the astutest financiers in the world. In finance nothing 
succeeds like success, and the ignorant are too apt to 
take success for granted. The sense of difficulty over- 
come is curiously absent from the Chancellor's exploits, 
'lo the average man he appears to be a magician who 
waves his fiscal wand and produces thousands of millions 
out of nowhere. But the experts know that he is a 
supreme master of his art, with a mind capable of seeing 
the whole curve of finance as well as grasping its minutest 
details. 
It is not easy to persuade the general public that his 
great War Loan was equivalent to a great victory for 
the Allies, a victory as vital as the Marne or Ypres or 
Verdun. Yet such is the truth. It is not indiscreet now 
