GERMAN COLONIES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sra,—In the Spectator of October 6th you observe, quoting from the National Review, that "eight millions of Germans depend on sea-borne imports for bread, and nt the present rate of increase in her population the question of finding a home under her flag for her surplus swarms will soon become a matter of life and death." This implies that emigrants follow the flag, which is as much a fallacy as that trade follows the flag. For two or three generations our surplus swarms have betaken themselves to the United States, and though emigration from these islands to Canada, Australia, and South Africa is relatively much larger than it used to be, there is still a vast outflow to America. Moreover, there are special reasons why German wanderers should prefer a foreign flag to their own. Once on a time I lived in Germany, and there met many German-Americans who were revisiting the old country, either for their education or their pleasure. I made it a rule to ask these gentlemen a question: "Which country do you prefer, Germany or America?" The answer was always the same, given without a moment's hesitation: "America, of course; there is no military servitude there." They would probably add, if the question werc repeated now, "and no such offence known as Majestatsbeleidigung.7 Prosecutions for "insulting Majesty" may cease, or become less frequent, but it is inconceivable that German youths should be allowed to evade military servitude by going to a German colony. That were to put a premium on desertion, the greatest offence which, from a German military. point of view,.a German subject can commit. Hence, the emigrant to an Imperial colony could only be excused from serving at home by serving abroad. In this connection it is significant that after the war of 1870-71 emigration from Germany to America and elsewhere became so extensive as to cause serious alarm in Government circles. The fact is that free colonies in the. English sense of the term and involuntary military servitude are incompatible institutions. Men emigrate, not out of any sentimental feeling for the flag, but to better themselves, and naturally prefer self-governing countries where they have friends, where the Press is free, and where order prevails and conscription does not, advantages which no German colony, actual or potential, can offer intending Worthing.
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