Kandos and Rylstone History P.21

The Mudgee Guardian: Jan 7, 1915

Some Alleged Patriots

Of late numbers of somewhat fanatical and jingoistic British subjects have been rushing into print with varied and multitudinous suggestions about the rounding up and  interning of all Germans in the community. As a general rule these letters have been as pregnant with false logic and inverted ethics as was De Quincey’s essay upon ‘Murder as a Fine Art’. Students of history who are acquainted with the birth and progress of the German Empire are well aware that the Teutonic people, as a people, had no more to do with the present colossal murder campaign than the Martians or the Heroes or the Anthropophagi. They have been dragged into war because a militant autocracy has arrogated to itself or stolen the power of diplomatic decision. From the earliest times, when Prussia carried incendiariam and destruction amongst the peaceful states and cities of central and north-western Europe the principle, nay, the religion of appealing to the sword in the settlement of all quarrels—national or personal—has been ground into the people. This false and brutal idea met with success because its arch-priest, Bismarck was a man devoid of all honour, principle, or compassion. But it was bound to fail in the long run, because it was at war with every spiritual and moral law of man. Yet, because it succeeded temporarily, the German people have embraced it and surrounded it with the halo of Divine approbation. Taught by Nietzache, the imbecile, and Treitzsche, the white-haired professorial humbug, and General Bernhardi, the autocratic militarist, that the gospel of force—the duty to make war—win a natural law and a Divine mandate from the Heavens, persuaded by the sensational success of Bismarck’s ‘blood and iron’ policy, the German people allowed their reason to be swept aside by frantic patriotism and bellicose enthusiasm. So, when the military caste—with its army organised to ‘the last gaiter button’ - decided to precipitate this war of all the centuries, the populace acclaimed the decision. For this they must and will suffer.
 
But this does not warrant the Australian Government harshly dragging naturalised and unnaturalised Germans who for years have been peaceable and law-abiding citizens of the Commonwealth, from their homes and occupations, and interning them inside barbed-wire entanglements. Where treason or spying has been committed or attempted, where disloyalty or hatred to Britain are expressed, either in words or actions, where arms have been carried against Australian or British troops, the Government should have no tender regard for the ‘feelings of offenders’, they should be rigorously punished. But the persecution of peaceful residents who, perhaps, have but the faintest tincture of Teutonic blood, is opposed to all the fundamental principles of liberty and justice, upon which the British Empire is built.  This of course, does not mean that we should neglect to take precautions against any possible act of treason or fail to keep a watchful eye upon persons of alien birth or descent, but we must apply to them the good old principle of British justice, that ‘a man shall be considered innocent until proved guilty’.
 
Another point to be remembered is that the interning of every German man, woman, or child, and the destruction of all property owned by Germans would not help in the slightest degree to win fights in  Flanders of Poland. All the frothy ranting of alleged loyalists, all the hot air of alleged patriots will not bring the war one second closer to its termination. The valuable strength expended in voicing, or penning frantic diatribes against peaceable German descendants could be put to much better use by the misguided, bloody-minded flag wager, enlisting in the Australian expeditionary forces. He may do some good there, but, as a member of a community faced with the grim business of living in these disastrous times, he is only nuisance.

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