[To THE EDITOR Or THY " SPECULTOR...]
Sia,—Mr. Evelyn Ansell (Spectator, July 15th) believes that it would be advantageous for other Powers to consent to gratify Germany's "desire for expansion," which he calls "legitimate." Will he be good enough to explain how this "legitimate" desire can be gratified except at the cost of somebody else? And will he tell us how the somebody else's consent is to be obtained ?
Germany has considerable overseas territories in West, South-west, and East Africa, in New Guinea, in the islands of the Pacific, and—though, perhaps, by bnly a temporary tenure—in China. Will Mr. Ansell count up the numbers of non-official Germans who have thought it desirable to settle in those territories ? Will he compare that number with the statistics of the Germans who within the same length of time have settled in the United States, in Brazil, in other American republics, and in the British overseas dominions ? Having done this, he will probably be able to indicate the direction which when left to itself Germany's desire for expansion has con- sistently taken. Germans are endowed with such high qualities that they always have been welcomed in every trans- oceanic country to which they have migrated, but the welcome has been conditional on complete abstinence on the part of the immigrants from any attempt to alter the political status of the country which they have chosen as a residence. Is there anything to prevent their continuing to " expand " on the same terms ?
If Mr. Ansell was really referring to Morocco as a proper theatre for Germany's expansion will he tell us if Germans are prohibited more than other people from residing there as peaceful citizens ? Or are we to believe that nothing will satisfy the dominant class in Germany but political occupa- tion, open or veiled, of some portion of the Empire of Morocco ? If this desire is to be gratified it must be at Morocco's expense. In which case, though we may consider it "legitimate "—and it is not easy to see how it could hurt us—it is just possible that the Moors may give it another
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