The Times of last Saturday reproduces some outspoken comments by
Herr Harden in the Zukunft on the elections. He defends Mr. Balfour from the charge of violating international decency. " I think that if I were an Englishman, I should think and talk in much the same way. Mr. Balfour showed respect for the German Empire. He would like to avoid war. but he wants also to know that his country is not depender. upon the goodwill or the bad temper of any other Power, an„ thereforedesires in good time to open the eyes of the carele:s. masses to the danger which is coming upon them if they do not pay higher rates of insurance for the security of what they have. That an Anglo-German War is regarded as probable in almost every Chancery is true. It is also true that there are people in Germany who hold that a Customs tariff which closed the whole British Empire to German goods would have to be pierced by the German sword. Why do we deny these facts P " That Mr. Balfour desires to defend England against Germany with ' Dreadnoughts ' and prohibitive duties is not a pleasing prospect. " But Germany ought not to consider an honourable reconciliation impossible. What is fatal is constant procrastination and missing of opportunities." It is only right to remember that Herr Harden is a free-lance whose candour is strongly resented by normal patriotic Germans.
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