A GERMAN WAR OF REVENGE.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—It .may be of interest if I give some small indirect evidence in support of the view held by your correspondent "X. Y. Z." in his letter published in your issue of the 9th inst. I spent June, July and August of last year in and about the Gothard massif. During this time I frequently discussed the probability of a War of Revenge, with quite a number of Swiss professional and business men, all coming from the industrial parts of German-speaking Switzerland.
In the minds of these men the comparatively early recovery of Germany, followed by a War of Revenge, was regarded as a foregone conclusion, about which there was no room for any reasonable doubt. Considering the geographical position of the part of their country from which these men came, and also the intimate business relations which exist between them and their German neighbours; they should be in as good a position to judge as most others.
But these conversations brought out another aspect of the consequences of a recovered Germany. The large majority of my informants seemed convinced that had Germany won in the Great War political Switzerland, as we know it, would have disappeared ; not by open violence, but by peaceful penetration, with an intimation that force would be available if gentler means should fail. What might have happened then may happen hereafter.
It must be remembered that these men were all German-
speaking Swiss from the North-West, and therefore likely to be biased, if at all, in favour of Germany.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Cross Lane House, Ticehurst. A. SLADE BAKER.
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