TEUTONIC ANGLOPHOBIA.
ITO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.
SIR,—It is not to be wondered at that Germany wishes to minimise the effects of the infamous "campaign of lies" which has been carried on against us by all classes in Germany, from the lowest to the highest, which has never been checked or discouraged by the Emperor himself, and in which Professor Mommsen has distinguished himself. It is this apostle of virulence who now poses as the dove with an olive-branch of peace, and who is good enough to append his signature to the precious appeal which is being circulated in the German Press for a better understanding between the two countries. It is possible that a Professor of a German University who believes, or used to believe, that English soldiers fired from behind a shield of Boer women, and that an English Administration openly murdered and ill-treated thousands of Boer women and children, can also believe that an appeal bearing his name will bear weight with his own countrymen,—but hardly so with us. It is instructive to note that this new friendliness follows directly on the utterances of the German Guild of Merchants, which bewailed the fact that the loss to German trade of " hundreds of millions of marks " had resulted from this very "campaign of lies " ; while from all quarters of the Empire arises the wail of the German merchant, who is beginning to perceive that the monstrous and disgusting lies, which not a section merely, but the whole of the German Press, have been publishing about us, helped by men of Pro- fessor Mommsen's standing in the country, are not exactly conducive to the furtherance of German trade in the British Empire,—men who see now, only too well, that having sown the wind, they are going to reap the whirlwind. We may be a stupid race, but we can hardly persuade our- selves that such a marvellous change in the sentiments of ah entire nation can thus take place so suddenly, or can be genuine, in spite of the organised attempts to make us believe the contrary; and there is something about this appeal which will strike most of us as rather nauseating and sordid, arising as it does, not from friendliness to us, but from monetary loss to themselves. Such "friendship" we would respectfully decline. In any case, it is to be devoutly hoped that there will be no manifestation of any response on our part until an organised national apology has been made to us. There is not the slightest need for us to seek friends, and we can, as we have done during the last three years, continue to find in our Colonies, and in the Greater Britain which comprises nearly one-fourth of the population of the world, all the friendship we need. Our own strong right arm—and none realise how strong it is better than our German critics—is sufficient for us, and we can despise both the yelping rabble of our European foes and the contemptible mercenary friendship of our European " friends."—I am, Sir, &c., CHAS. E. LAST.
[Our correspondent writes with somewhat unnecessary, though no doubt perfectly excusable, warmth, but his advice is sound. Let us treat German offers of friendship and German yells of defiance with equal indifference,—especially when they proceed from the same individuals. The Germans probably did not six months ago regard us as quite the fiends and savages that they represented us ; but it is equally probable that their feelings now are not quite so fraternal as they pretend.—ED. Spectator.]
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