10 
LAND & WATER 
December 20, 1917 
Leaves from a German Note Book 
A House divided against; Itself 
APROPBK undcrsteinding <>t tlic present internal 
position in ticrmtaiy is impossible unless the funda- 
mental fiict is apiH-eciated that the Kaiser's Empire 
L.is a house divided against itself. A mighty struggle 
is seething within it. On tjie one hand, there arc the Pan- 
("lermans and their allies frcrni every political camp, who are 
war-mad still ; on the othtn-, the more reasonable folk who 
are slowly recovering from their intoxication and are slowly 
awakening to the reality of things. The fire-eaters clamour 
for annexations and indenonitics, demanding that " the 
(ierman peace must rest on might," and " if England sues 
for peace, wc must not listen tiut fight on five minutes longer." 
The people who are now sane- support the famous Reichstag 
resolution of last July 19th, and are ready for peace by 
agreement and understanding. They have been chastened ; 
thev appraise militarism at its true worth. But they are as 
vet in the minority : at any rate, they have no influence. 
The others are still in power. 
No sooner was the Resolution referred to announced to 
tlie world than all the forces of reaction in Gcrmany-—and 
their name is Legion — began to mobilise. The Annexationist 
\icw was organised into a party cry, and the Patriotic Party 
ranie into existence with the notorious Grand-Admiral 
Tirpitz at its head. The subscription was fixed at one mark 
annually (say, about a shilling) in order that all and sundry 
might join. A mighty propaganda was set on foot through- 
out Germany, though where the funds came from is not . 
stated. A flood of pamphlets was let loose among the civil 
population and the soldiers at the front ; meetings were 
held in every large centre of population ; and whole page 
advertisements were displayed in all the papers of the Right. 
It was sought, and with some measure of success, to win over 
the Universities, both the Professors and the students. 
Dream of Mad Hatters 
There was one cry, repeated ad nauseam — Britain is tlie 
enemy ; Britain must be destroyed. The demand recently 
formulated by the Bavarian branch of the Pan-German 
League is a good fllustration of the wild dreams of the 
Patriotic Party. According to these Pan-Germans their 
country at the end of hostilities was to demand (i) an in- 
demnity in gold of £10,000,000,000, besides foodstuffs, means 
of production and ships ; (2) the Briey and Longwy coal- 
fields ; (j) the Baltic Provinces of Russia ; (4) complete 
control of Belgium ; (5) the permanent occupation — " if 
possible " — of the northern section of the Straits of Dover, 
including Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne ; (6) a great African 
Colonial Empire, including the Congo ; (7) the restoration of 
Egvpt to Turkey ; and (8) the control of the Suez Canal. 
Moreover, Montenegro, Albania and one-third of Serbia were 
to be given to Austria ; the remainder of Serbia to go to 
Bulgaria. 
Let there be no mistake about it ; these demands are put 
forward by so-called educated, responsible people ; and the 
claims form the true measure of their political sagacity. 
And these are for the most part the type of persons who 
govern Germany. . They are urging Germans to go on fighting 
until these aims can be realised. Most of those who are 
loudest in their demand have spent the period of the war in 
the ease of their own homes. The most notorious of those 
who would kill Britain with their mouth, the well-known 
because well-advertised Count Reventlow, was twitted with 
not having gone into the firing-line, though he is of military 
age. This was his reply : " That at the outbreak of war he 
offered his services to the Navy, but the authorities had not 
seen fit to call upon him." Perhaps they acted wisely. 
.\ friend of Reventlow's, a certain Dr. Hans von Liebig, 
who beside being a Count is also a Professor, appeals to the 
(ierman people to hold out for but a few weeks longer. The 
war would last but two or three months more — " it is im- 
possible that it should continue longer " — and " is a nation 
that has achieved so much that is truly wonderful during 
thice and a half years of war to shrink from a few weeks more ? " 
Reventlow. TirjMtz and their fellows have friends at court, 
and they know it. They count supporters among Ministers, 
and the Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Sa.^ony is 
the latest prophet of their gospel. This gentleman told the 
Saxon Ujipcr House only a fortnight ago that Germany will 
have to demand an indemnity. True, the famous Reichstag 
resolution set its face against indemnities. What of that ? 
Much has happened since July 19th. That resolution is no 
longer valid. This indeed has become a favourite argument 
of the school of thinkers represented in tlip Patriotic Party. 
Another is that unless Germany obtains an indemnity she 
will not be able to meet her war liabilities. A third is that 
the Reichstag only jjassed the Resolution in July because 
every member of the majority is in the pay of England ! 
The Voice of Reason 
It is refreshing to turn to saner \iews, and they arc pro- 
pounded in Austria, who is Germany's ally. Die Zeit on 
November 24th, wrote as follows :— 
Whoever in Germany thinks that a peace dictated by military 
force is still possible is dreaming. Fortunately, there are few 
such dreamers in Au.stria. These ideas passed muster in the 
first year of the war ; now they are absurd. We had great 
liopes in tliose daj'S of impressing neutrals, more especially 
/Xmerica, and we sent tons of literature to convince them. 
To-day, all those neutrals are against us, and hate Germany. 
Worse still, America has declared war upon us. Another 
fallacy was that we were independent of the rest of the world. 
Learned professors tried to make us believe that world com- 
merce was no longer necessary for us, and that Turkey was 
the great, ine.xhaustible storehouse whence Central Europe 
could draw all her raw materials. Egypt was to send us 
cotton ; Anatolia and Mesopotamia grain. Now we see that 
Egypt has to be reconquered for Turkey ; Mesopotamia 
wrested from the fi^nglish ; and that it is we who have to 
supply Anatolia with railways. War has made us sober. 
Sober, indeed ! In an open letter to Tirpitz a " German 
mother " tells the Admiral roundly tliat she is not going to 
join his precious party, enough blood has been shed ; it is 
time to build up a new Germany. 
That is the feeling of tiie masses, and because the German 
classes arc aware of this, they are moving heaven and earth 
to make their Patriotic Party popular. The masses clamour 
for peace and bread. Last month big peace demonstra- 
tions were reported from Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Essen, 
SoHngen and other towns in both the Central Empires. At 
Vienna 30,000, at Budapest 40,000 people passed a resolution 
demanding immediate peace, without annexation and without 
indemnities. They expressly declared that they desired all 
the ravished countries to be completely restored to political 
independence in order to li\'e their own lives unmolested by 
their neighbours, that they desired the Central Empires to 
join a League of Nations, and they called on the Govern- 
ment to take heed to their cry lest evil consequences should 
follbw. " We have had enough of military glory ; we now 
want peace." Speaker after speaker urged these sentiments 
at the Vienna meeting. 
In Berlin the disabled soldiers called a special meeting to 
pass a resolution in favour of peace by agreement and under- 
standing. These broken men poured scorn on the stay-at- 
home leaders who were seeking conquests, yet had never 
once been within sound of tlie guns. 
Amid the growing discontent in Germany, Count Hcrtling 
has appeared on the stage as the new Imperial Chancellor, 
and the old man is faced with no light task. Incidentally, it 
is curious to note that Germany is governed by old men. The 
Kaiser is no longer young, he enters his sixtieth year next 
month ; Hertling is seventy-four ; Hindenburg seventy ; 
and Payer, the Chancellor's deputy, is also .seventy. The 
new Chancellor has made large promises, yet he satisfies no 
one. The Reichstag was not considted on his appointment ; 
the Prussian reactionaries see in him the Bavarian, the 
Protestants are uneasy because he is a Catholic. But a drown- 
ing man clutches at a straw, and the German people, despile 
their victories, are ready to make the best of the " old fox," 
as Hcrtling is familiarly known in Bavaria. The truth is, 
that the Chancellor has Httlc independent power ; he is but 
a tool of the MiUtarists, who are the real rulers of Germany. 
German Militarism 
The following message was made public by the authorities 
at the Vatican on November 15th : — 
The British Minister to the Vatican has been notified bv 
Papal Secretary of State, that after the Austi-o-Germau forces 
entered Italian territory, the papal representatives at Vienna 
and Munich were instructed to use their influence to induce 
the authorities of the Central Empires to give strict orders 
to their military commanders operating in Italy to respect, 
in accordance with international law, the civil population, 
especially women, children and the clergy, all hospitals, 
churches, and private property. The papal representatives 
were authorised, if necessary, to appeal in the name of the 
Pontiff, to the Austrian and German sovereigns personally. 
What an awful indictment ! If. there were no truth in the 
stories of German atrocities, if Germans had not habitually 
and officially set at nought international law, there would 
have been no need for the solemn appeal. It throws light on 
German miUtarism which cannot be explained awaw 
