Voice from the Past It has been said that a Germany safe for the rest of Europe will never be secured until there is a complete change in the mental outlook gf the average German. Some people: appear to think that It might' be possible to, effect such a change within the space of 2 sucration, but history tends to show that a fry much longer time would be required. That view is supported by many a quotation, which can be drawn from German writers going back as far as even the sixteenth century. Thus Frederick von Spee, 1591-1035, a Rhineland Jesuit, a _man of noble family enjoying some fame as a poet, is also know for his biting comments on the Germany of his time. Thus in his "Cautlo Criminalis" amongst other of his obiter dicta is to be found the following:— my Germany, how T grieve for thee! Woe nat our fatherland should loys with the Aames arigr's stokes and not with the light of 'The mlchlet has gone deep in Germany, the roasting and. laying. waste' has" spree: mich inour dear fatherland that Wwe amaged German honour among our' torch enemies not a utile and made our name stink.
'Q'Germany what art thou doing? Ts it not amentable that mo one dare speak of what is being done by those who rule?
The occasion for that remonstrance was different from what is occurring nowadays, but the applicability of the quotation is even now quite apparent. The reckless disregard of international Taw, the criminal attacks on defenceless neutrols, the horrors which are being perpetrated in Poland, the bombing of open towns and the wilful slaughter of civilian men, women, and children, justify recalling Frederick von Spee's words. The German name stinks not only in the nostrils of their foreign enemies. but also those of the neutrals of the world, It is truly Jamentable that no one dares speak of what is being done by the Nazi rulers of Germany, but the time will come when the people of that country will receive a rude disillusionment, and they, in their turn, will realize the horrible behaviour of which their present rulers are ullly, Frederick von Spee knew the Germany of his time, and wrote for the Germany of} another epoch with equal truth.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.