ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1917.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 86, 13 April 1917, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1917.

Periodically that stupid old cry. is heard," "What are the Allies lighting for?" It is <a cry which well deserves the adjective "stupid," for by tins time it should surely have become evident to the meanest of intelligences that the Allies -are fighting for the > liberties of the nations of the world; not only the Allied nations but"all others'. ::Tlje vAllies' cause is the catfse of Righteousness against fe'vit, of" truth vel'sus falsehood, of justice versus injustice, of a nennanent and honorable peace for the world instead of a permanent state of either open war or, what is almost as bad, an ever-present fear-of war. These considerations form the moral basis of the Allies' persistence in the great struggle. It is no part'of the Allies' policy to insist upon annexation, saye where the handing back of territory, acquired by them as conquerors" to, the Germans and their Allies would mean grievous injustice to free races, or carry with it the certainty of some future recurrence of Germany's policy -of world-wide aggression. But what is the enemy, what in particular are the Germans, fighting for, or what, perhaps, it would be better to say, were the ambitions and hopes of the enemy before it became evident to.him, as it must .low be ' evident, that all chances of peace terms being dictated from Berlin are irretrievably lost ? In this connection it is decidedly instructive to,, examine Germany's "minimum terms of peace" as recently set forth in the Kreuz Zeiiiung, one of the most influential of. the enemy's newspapers -and a journal wtoch is popularly credited with being the favorite and inspired organ of the Prussian General Staff and the Court , and, military - party "generally. .The first; condition is to be the relinquishment by France of the occupied French territory. This territory is, we may here remark, slowly .but surely decreasing in area as the new British offensive continues, and will in time reach vanish-ing-point; But in January, when the Kreuz Zeitung article appeared, the German mind was still obsessed by the delusion that what tlie enemy had gained in France it would hold. Not-satisfied with churning a big slice of /eastern France,' with, of 'course,; the ports of Dunkirk: and:. Calais', Germany will claim, We are told, that Belgium1 "must be" : •p6Tfti^anently, attached' to her;" This; may be construed either as complete annexation, or,: what would amount to very much the same thing, the existence of Belgium as a. German torate," deprived of all due national rights of free negotiation with other States and contributing largely in men and' money to the upkeep of a 'German military despotism. Not only is France to be hied of inland territory, but she is to provide a triumphant Hunland with "a naval base on the English Channel west of the Straits of Dover.:/ This base, no doußt, has already been selected in the highly imaginative Hun mind as being Havre, as the mouth of the Seine. If France is tc come out very badly in the German-dictated peace terms, Russia is to be even worse treated. For Germany, we are told "by the Kreuz Zeitung, must "annex the Baltic provinces of Russia, the whole of "Lithuania, all Russian Poland, and the greater part of the Ukraine—that is, all Russian territory west of a line drawn from Kief to the' Crimea, the great gram port of Odessa and part of the Black Sea." , . „_ The Hun appetite for territory will not', however, be sated by European annexations. Germany aims at creating a huge oversea empire in** Africa, and will, we are calmly informed, "annex the Belgian Congo, which will be united to her African colonies" (those colonies whioh, owing to the patriotism and gallantry" of Botha and Smuts, are now ,;n the hands of the British). No mention is, it is true, made 6i the various British Oversea Dominions, but other German newspapers, more particularly those of Hamburg and Bremen, where, the influence of the German shipping magnates is ali-powerful, have been less reserved, and have openly advocated the annexation^ or Fiastern Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Even the lvrcluz . Zeitung admits that "Germany must establish naval bases in all such parts of the j ■world-as. may be judged necessary by' '■ competent persons}",.which ; .may;i.be regarded - as; ivjvery -plain -hint that. /Halifax, Montreal; v\ancbUver, jSyd- v iiey, and Wellington would 'fly the Hohenzollern standard should the Huns gain -the Jhial victory of the war. t - It is interesting to notice the subdivision of the .spoil (to the imaginary -victors) which Germany would be generous enough to allot to her allies. | Austria and Bulgaria, it seems, are ! to "divide between them Roumama, • Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania." ;

8 exactly >how he thinks - such a > "division" may ever be made, we cannot say; but we should imagine he is not specially enthusiastic on the subject. Also, it may; be doubted whether the Porte will be deliriously excited over his chances of fulfilling his share in the Berlin peace programme, namely, that "*he "must annex Egypt, the Soudan, and Tripoli, so that the Turkish Empire in northern Africa will extend southward to the frontier of the Central African Empire." All this counting of chickens before .th^y are hatched has been a favorite pastime with German statesmen ana journalists, and few Britoiis possessed of any sense of humor will grudge the Hun such satisfaction and consolation as he may be able to derive from such harmless self-entertainment. Ridiculous, however, as may be these annexation programmes; their exposition in the German . press serves a good purpose in the way of enlightenin the British and Oversea British public as to what Germany hopes— or. once hoped—to gain by the war. It .is good to know what the enemy is fighting foF^even though it be that we are steadfastly confident that there is no chance of his programme jey.er. materialising.