There is nothing more pathetic in some ways to-day than the position
of the small neutral countries in Europe, and especially those which
directly adjoin Germany. And there is nothing more galling than the
inability of the Allies to give them any help. For the hour they are
absolutely at the mercy of Germany, or would be, if she had any,
and they know it. They are certainly liable and exposed to all her
flouts and cuffs and to any displays of bad temper or bullying or
terrorism it may please her to exercise. And none perhaps is worse
off in this respect than Holland. It suits Germany to be fairly civil
to Switzerland, who could give her a good deal of trouble by joining
France and Italy; and no doubt it suits her too to some extent to
consider Denmark, for Denmark commands the entrance to the Baltic;
and, further, Germany does not wish to bring all Scandinavia down
upon herself just at present. That can wait; but Holland is in the
worst plight of all. She has the terrible spectacle of Belgium, ruined
and ravaged just on the other side of the way. And she has a very
considerable and valuable mercantile marine.
The great and good Germany cannot be troubled to distinguish between
Dutch and other boats, and if occasionally a Dutch ship is captured or
sent to the bottom, it is a useful reminder of what she might do to her
“poor relation” if she really let herself go. Fighting for the freedom
of the seas! Holland has fought for them herself. Holland has a great
naval tradition. She knows quite well what England has been and is.
She knows too, and can see, how her sons and brothers in South Africa
were treated by the British in England’s last war, and how they regard
England and Germany now.
Raemaekers’ cartoon is very skilful. If we had not seen it done, we
should not have believed it possible to produce at once so clever a
likeness of von Tirpitz and so excellent an old fox. But the goose is
by no means a foolish bird, though its wisdom may sometimes be shown
in knowing its own weakness. It was they, and not the watch-dogs, that
saved the Capitol. In old days it was the custom to call the Germans
the “High Dutch” and the inhabitants of Holland the “Low Dutch.” It
was a geographical distinction. The contrast in moral elevation is the
other way.