TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE GERMAN COLONIES.
WE have never entertained any fears or anxieties in regard to an unwise policy being ultimately pursued in connexion with the German colonies. By an unwise policy we mean, of course, their return into German hands. What made us calm and satisfied in the matter was the reflection that the force of circumstances was working, and must work, against so disastrous a solution of the problem. We realized that no sane person, whether in Britain, America, or any of the Allied countries, could sit down and think the question out in all its bearings without coming to certain definite conclusions. By reinstatement we should not only be palliating and rewarding some of Germany's greatest crimes against humanity. We should be restoring to her hands an opportunity for once more disturbing the peace and happiness of the world and rendering a sound solution of African and other tropical problems impossible—i.e., a solution which shall be just to the native races of Africa, and yet allow of industrial development through the agency of the white races. In the same way we should once more entrust to Germany a giant lever for disturbing the peace of the Pacific. To put the matter more specifically, if Germany were to remain in Africa there would be the very gravest risk of German cruelty to the natives and of German revivals of slavery and forced labour throwing the whole negro popula- tion of the continent into an undiscriminating revolt against the whites. There are limits to the sufferings which the black races of Africa will endure.
Moreover, the handing back of her colonies to Germany must involve the maintenance of African armaments by ourselves, the French, Portuguese, Italians, and Belgians. No one can have studied the colonial literature of Germany without seeing that Germany regarded her colonies primarily, not as places for the overspill of her population, or for commercial development, or for the obtaining of raw materials, but as places in which huge black armies of semi-slave troops could be levied and trained, and also as bases for that system of submarine warfare in which the Germans must be admitted to have proved themselves extraordinarily efficient. To sum up, the proposal to hand back the German colonies to Germany is seen the moment it is studied to amount to nothing less than handing back to the international burglar the instruments of his trade—the dark lantern, the jemmy, the blow-pipe, and the dynamite cartridge.
But though we felt that the common-sense of civilized mankind—or shall we borrow Shakespeare's exquisite phrase and say " the prophetic soul of the wide world dreaming on things to come " ?—could never tolerate the reinstate- ment of German military Machiavellism and German Realpolitik in Africa and the Pacific, we are heartily glad that Mr. Balfour had the courage and good sense to say plainly and openly that in no circumstances could we tolerate the restoration of the German colonies to Germany. It is no small satisfaction, not only to the mass of home- keeping Englishmen, but to our fellow-citizens throughout the world, to get the assurance that, come what may, no false sentiment and no so-called desire to show kindness and for- giveness will be allowed to force upon our brethren overseas the neighbourhood of a Power whose word cannot be trusted—a Power whose policy is to trouble and divide nations, to bring the menace of danger and unrest, and to destroy all hopes of a peaceful development of the Tropics in the general interest of mankind. Remember that the feeling in the Dominions in regard to the reinstatement of the Germans as their neighbours would be very like what our feeling would be were Germany allowed to remain upon the Belgian coast. As we have said, there was never any real danger of reinstatement taking place, provided the matter was carefully considered and thought out. There was, however, a certain risk of something being said by our negotiators which might have made it difficult to prevent reinstatement without making ourselves liable to German charges of false- hood and bad faith.
Though we are well aware that the reinstatement of the Germans in New Guinea, in the Pacific islands, and in West Africa, if we can imagine such a thing being insisted upon by us against the will of the Dominions, would be enough to shatter the whole fabric of the British Empire, we do not desire to argue the matter on this ground. It might indeed seem to American, French, and Italian statesmen, judging on abstract grounds, a selfish argument. It is in any case quite unnecessary to have recourse to it, since the wider argument of injury to the world at large, and the imperilling of the reduction of armaments in the Pacific and in Africa, is fully sufficient, and more than sufficient, founda- tion for the final and irrevocable decision against the restoration of her colonies to Germany announced to the world by Mr. Balfour on Thursday, October 24th. Note also that what we might call a buttress to this decision—if buttress were needed, though in truth none is—is to be found in the general agreement in regard to the application of the principle of self-determination. The Germans, having appealed to the democratic principle of self-determination, must abide by it. But no one could venture to say that self-determination, if it could be applied to the natives inhabiting Germany's former South-West African possessions, or to East Africa, or, again, to the Pacific islands or to New Guinea, could have any other result than a refusal to return once more to the cruel and ruthless domination of the Hun. The only possible exception might be some portion of territory such as that once occupied by the Hereros, in which the Germans have created a local German atmosphere by the massacre of the whole of the original inhabitants. If self- determination were applied to what was once the tribal lands of the Hereros, the answer of a handful of German settlers spared and protected by British soldiers might be in favour of reinstatement. But surely no one is going to put such a premium upon the free use of the gallows, the machine-gun, or even the flames, and then to pretend that the land thus cultivated once more desired German rule. Against such a plea the dead Hereros would rise up in protest.—Think of the men, women, and children who, after being swept together by the German flying columns, were interned in a prison zareba of brushwood which, when it had been drenched with petroleum, was fired to form their pyre !—In view of what German colonization was, surely even our most pro-German Pacificists will not argue that Germany must be given some- where in which to expand and from which to draw her raw materials. We have no desire for " a revengeful Peace." We detest such a settlement beyond words. Nor would we consent deliberately to starve German women and children for the ill deeds of their men and of their Government. But the people of the Allies would have to be a great deal more callous than they are, if they were expected to agree to reinstate that " negation of God erected into a system " which constituted German colonization.
There remains one more problem to consider. If Germany is not to have her colonies restored to her, to whom are they to be entrusted, for they cannot be left derelict ? Let us say, to begin with, that we have per se no land hunger—no aggres- sive desire to lay hands upon them and to include them in the British Empire. We have plenty of territorial burdens already in Africa and in the Pacific, and we do not believe that even the most acquisitive of Imperial expansionists here would ever think of demanding fresh colonies as compensation, or as substitutes for an indemnity, or as ours by right of con- quest. They are possessions which are far more likely to draw money out of the pockets of the British taxpayer than to put money in. If then any other solution which is sound and reasonable, and which will not prove injurious to the native inhabitants, can be found, it will amply satisfy the British people, and, we believe, the people of the Dominions concerned —i.e., Australia, New Zealand, and the South African Union. Against one solution, however, a word of protest must be slid, and the sooner the better. We sincerely trust that no attempt will be made to place the} ex-German colonies under some sort of International Board or other mixed organization. Colonies are like children, and a child will never develop or be happily and successfully brought up by a committee instead of by a parent or an adopted parent. Internationalism was tried in the case of the Congo, with results which no one desires to see repeated. Tropical colonies placed like East Africa and New Guinea can never become independent, self-governing States. Colonies require sacrifices, and very considerable sacrifices, and these will never be made by an International Board.
If we rule out Internationalism, as clearly we must, who else could undertake the job ? We are confident that the French, even though they may, and indeed almost certainly will, find it necessary to take over Togoland and the Cameroon, would regard further African colonial possessions as a burden and an obligation rather than a benefit. The only other possible Power besides ourselves is, therefore, America. And here we may say with complete frankness and truth that the majority of the British people, and we believe of the people of the Dominions, would be delighted to see the Americans take over and protect and develop as large a part of the ex-colonies of Germany as they could. be induced to accept. They are good not bad neighbours, and neither Australia, nor New Zealand, nor South Africa, nor the Colonial Office as representing British East Africa, would do anything but welcome them as successors to Germany. We are not, however, going to pretend that we are unaware of the dislike of the people of the United States to extending their overseas possessions. In spite of great provocation, and not only disturbance but actual outrage on their borders, the American people, as we know, absolutely refused to accept any territorial responsibility in Mexico or in any other part of South America. We feel certain that they would tell us that the burdens which they have taken up in the Philippine Islands and in the Isthmus of Panama afford them not only as much external responsibility as they desire but a good deal more.
But if we are right in our surmise that the Americans will never plunge their hands into " the seething pot " of Africa, and would not even desire to extend their Philippine rule into New Guinea, though possibly they might take Samoa, the force of circumstances will render it necessary for us, who are already in possession, and whose long-established colonies surround the late German colonies, to incorporate the latter in the British Empire. No doubt the Germans will tell us, and still more we shall be told by superfine Pacificists and pro-German critics here, that the Spectator is playing the usual British game of hypocrisy, and that the British people are going to grab huge tracts of territory with their eyes streaming with tears like the walrus in Alice through the Looking-Glass." " With sighs and tears he sorted out those of the largest size." The better and larger public opinion, not only here, but among the Allies generally, will not trouble itself over such flouts and jeers. They will be too perverse, too futile, and often too obviously interested to leave any sting. We shall remain conscience-free.
And now for one plea that as a nation concerns us intimately. If we are right, and if we take over German South-West Africa and German East Africa, let us as a preliminary make it absolutely clear that in doing so we at once openly and unreservedly abolish that recognition of the status of slavery which has disgraced, and still disgraces, the late German possessions. It must be clearly understood that if we inherit the obligations of German territory, we are not going to inherit them subject to the curse of slavery, whether naked and unashamed, or under one of the numerous aliases by which the Germans chose to conceal it. Indeed, we desire to go further and to make a universal declaration against the recognition of the status of slavery one of the essential terms of the settlement by which all the Powers at the final Peace shall be bound. That status must be abolished by and for the whole world. No Court of Law and no Administration of any civilized Power must henceforth be allowed to recognize the possession by one man, or even by a State, of the body of another human being. That is already the law of the British Empire. Let it be the law of the world.
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