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88 BRITONS V. GERMANS IN CHINA sub-tropical possessions. The alien ene- mies in England have in all conscience proved a tough enough problem to tackle, but there is this to be said about them. In the course of a few generations they merge into the general community and entirely lose their nationality. This is not the case in India and our other possessions where the white population is so small in pro- portion to the coloured inhabitants. They do not merge and change so miraculously into good or bad Britishers as the case may be, but remain essentially Germans in language, spirit, and character.
It has already been stated that many of the Germans who elected to pitch their stand in our midst were good fellows, and it might have been possible after the war to regard them as friends again, had they not shown their true colours since the war began by celebrating such events as the
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BRITONS V. GERMANS IN CHINA 89
sinking of the Lusitania. This was done in an ostentatious manner by Germans in various treaty ports in China. Furthermore, not a word of protest has ever been raised by any German residing in China at the disgraceful manner in which Germany has conducted the war from the very start. For these reasons alone it is difficult to see how we can ever again associate ourselves with them in any way.
Mr. Ainscough in a recent address at Manchester commented on the strong patriotic spirit animating German firms in China, but it cannot be said much evidence has been obtained in support of this theory. through the liquidations. Assuming this to be the case, however, it is one more argument substantiating the unwisdom of admitting them in future to our colonies without let or hindrance. We want our colonies peopled by men who in times of stress will prove a