GERMANY'S TERMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12538, 8 May 1915, Page 2

GERMANY'S TERMS.

I EXTENSIVE ANNEXATIONS. The terms of peace which victorious I Germany intends to force on Great Britain and her Allies have been outlined by Professor Alfred Lassou in a lecture delivered before a meeting held under the auspices of various learned* societies at Erfurt.- The following extracts explain tl'io trend of the plan which lie attributes to the Governments of Germany. Austria-Hungary, and Turkey:— What do -we Germans want with England,- and" trow shall we .ensure our future safety against attacks from this treacherous lw: The first essential i-i the destruction of England's mari- ' lime supremacy. Our terms of peace ' must include the readjustment of the s balance ot naval power by such an ex- • icnt that the preponderance now belonging to England shall pass to GerI many. If tin's has not- been previously I accomplished by our submarines, our j aerial Heel. 'and our navy combined, then the terms of peace must I include the surrender of a sufficientj proportion of the British navy to at- ! tain the desired end. That is'the firstrequirement so far as England is concerned . Then we need oversea naval stations; and we must have them. We might well take Gibraltar. Aden, and Singapore, which, together with the possession of British South Africa, which must- also fall to us, will give us command of the sea routes to the East. I do not think we need trouble ourselves about the bulk of Britain's overseas possessions, because we can exploit j them commercially without owning j them. But the terms of peace must i include a treaty that guarantees us for I all time complete free trade with all ! parts of the British Empire, exemption | of our ships from all harbor dues in | all British ports, whether in England. Canada, or Australia, and tlnis, in fa'ct, practically add the British Empire to the German Zolh'erein . (Customs Fnion). Finally we must extort from England an adequate indemnity, the amount of which we may well leave our Government to decide. Turning to the Continent, we shall retain possession of the whole of Belgium, as well as annex the north-east corner of France down to a .line running approximately where the Meu.se i enters Belgian territory to a. point j south of Boulogne, thus giving us the coast nearest to England, and such ! ports as Boulogne. Calais, and Dunkirk. An indemnity will complete our exactions from France, except that we may compel her to conclude with us an offensive and defensive alliance to save herself from more rigorous terms of i peace. fn the East, the whole of Russian Poland and a strip of the Baltic provinces, including Libau and Riga, must fall to Germany's share of the. spoils. Austria-Hungary should receive a big slice of Southern Russia, giving her access to the Black Sen and the port of Odessa. Germany would, share the commercial avdantages .arising out of this readjustment of territory. The remainder of the coastline of the Black Sea, together with, the Caucasion provinces, "will naturally fall to Turkey, who would also regain possession of Esrvpt. with the Sudan added thereto. "Both Turkey and Austria-Hungary will desire an alteration of. territorial boundaries in the Balkan Peninsula, and we shall assent to their wislies. The whole of the Balkan States" including Ronmania and Greece, will naturallv he included in the sphere- of influence acknowledging the supremacy of the new Triple Alliance of Germany. Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. Italy and the rest of the work! will soon accustom themselves to- the now order of things. It will -be a very different world and a better one. It appears from the report of the lecture that Professor Lasso.n's audience took it all seriously, and applauded many passages with vigorous entlin." : : iasm. _j___