The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1917. THE DEEP-DYED CRIMINALITY OF GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3154, 4 August 1917, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1917. THE DEEP-DYED CRIMINALITY OF GERMANY

Thkee years hare elapsed since our Empire, in loyalty to her pledged word, unsheathed the sword to fight for the preservation of small Powers, and for the maintenance of those ideals of justice and liberty, without which civilisation would be impossible. The. war of the last three years has meant to our Empire a sacrifice of precious lives and of. gold to an extent that was never :dreamt of when the war bega_n. The end of the war is not yet in sight, and there must be further great sacrifice in blood and treasure before Germany is beaten to her knees and a lasting peace based on justice brought about. There arc two sides to not a few questions, but with regard to our part and duty in this war there is no other side. No doubt need cross our minds with regard to our duty to carry on tho war until victory crowns our sacrifices. Wo knew something of the criminality of the Central Powers led by the Prussian military autocracy when the war broke out, and wo know that our entrance into the war was necessary and just. To-day we know a thousand times moro about the' criminality of Germany than when tho war began, and tho justice of our oauso has become apparent to the world at large, and nation after nation is ceasing neutrality and casting in its lot with Britain and her Allies. Nearly the whole civilised world has declared for the justico of our cause. Tho path of duty thus is plain, and that is with inflexible energy and dauntless courage to fight till our criminal enemy is crushed. The cry of innocent blood at last Is calling down 'Aiianswer in, the whirlwind-blast, The thunder and the shadow cast From Heaven's dark frown. The Empire is thrice armed that fights for a just cause, and wo as an Empire aro thus armed. Our warfare is against a Power that is essentially the enemy of (ho human race, -President Wilson, who ad.mitted on April 2 that ho had seen facts in the past, bearing on the war with a "veil of false pretonce about them," now saw clearly, and it was his perception of tho deepdyed criminality_ of Germany that ended his neutrality and caused him ■to ask his. Congress to declare war and stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain and her Allies. In that memorable second of April appeal to Congress—an appeal which in its hatred of despotism, its passion for freedom to the oppressed, and its enthusiasm for justice makes Wilson a worthy successor of Lincoln —the Prussian military autocracy is described in a condemnatory phrase which means much—"the natural foe of liberty." Such-is tho cnomy we are fighting against—the natural enemy of the world's freedom; and the only end to such a war is tho destruction of such a foe. For the last fifty years Prussia has been tho peace-breaker of Europe and the menace'of. tho world's freedom. It is now known that tho present Potsdam gang and its ancestors have schemed to bring about war after war, and strike down a deluded and unready foe by an a.rmy that had been ready for war years befcire. It was so with the wars under BisMAKGK, in which Denmark was forced to surrender Kiel harbour and adjoining provinces, in which Austria was crushed and made to recognise Prussia as supreme among the German kingdoms, and in which Franco was beaten to her knees and lost a large part of her territory. These three wars were planned by the Khser's predecessors, and. endless lying and deceit practised to -induce outside nations to look upon Prussia as tho victim, and not the criminal in the wars. Now we see the origin of these wars under no veil •of false pretence." The criminality of Prussia, is self-confessed. A book well worthy of ve-perusal in these days is the diary of Dr. MoVitz '-Busch. who for twenty: five years had official and private intercourse with BisMAiiOK. Buwm, in the second volume of bis 0i»-

march: Some Secret Pages of His History, writes that on' a Sunday in October. 1877, lie was with Bismarck, who complained that his past career had brought no happiness to himself, nor to his family, nor to others, and then the warmaker confessed his guilt in the following statement, which Buscn gives as the exact words used by Bismarck: —

. Tfiere is no doubt, lioweror, that I liavo caused unhappiness to great numbers. But for me three great wars would not haro taken place, eighty thousand men would not have been killed, and would not now be mourned by parents, brothers, sisters, aud widows, Tliis confession, which uncle r-esti-mates the number of slain, was not made in a passing mood of gloom, for Busch goes on to write:—"We kept silent, and I was greatly surprised. I afterwards lieard from HoLSTEiN and Bucher that during the last few years he frequently expressed himsolf in a similar strain." Germany under the hegemony of Prussia has prospered and has risen to world power, but it is a prosperity based on criminality, and for the criminal nation, as well as for the individual criminal, tho day of reckoning comes. Germany's day of doom for her past is not far off. ■ The mantle of Bismarck, which stands for lying and deceit in diplomacy, has been eagerly donned by the Kaiser an'd his "War Lords in tho present war made by Germany. The Kaiser has found in the Emns telegram fraud of Bismarck a model for his imitation. Bismarck was assured by Moltke that he had an army ready to smash France, whose Army then existed largely on paper, and so he flung into the Press a mangled telegram to "goad the Gallic bull," as he said, "to war," and then with sickening hypocrisy .he added, "Our old God will not desert us now!" The unready France of 1870, led by Napoleon, fell into the trap; she did as Bismarck planned she should and met the fate of Denmark and Austria. With like duplicity the Kaiser has engineered the present war. His armies were ready,. and he knew that France and Russia were unready," but with consummate hypocrisy he schemed to find in the action of an enemy an excuse for his declaring war. The story of his criminality is part by part coming to light: We now know that early in July, 1914, the Kaiser and his War Lords at Potsdam drew up the ultimatum to Serbia, with the deliberate intention of provoking Russia to war, and Austria was the tool of Germany in serving this ultimatum on Serbia eighteen days after. This deceit cheated the Social Democrats, who, ignorant of the Kaiser's criminality, and believing that Germany was forced into a war of defence, gave their whole-hearted support to the Kaiser, whose militarism they had fought against for years. We now know, on the authority of Dr. E. J. Dillon's Ourselves and Germany, of another piece of low deceit oil tho part of Germany's War Lords ere the war began. Dn. Dillon calls this "A Machiavellian trick, by which Russia's hand was forced." Germany's Army was ready for ail instant and general mobilisation in July, 1914. But no order went forth. The War Lords schemed that Russia would order mobilisation first, and then give Germany a reason for doing so. They successfully deceived the "Russian bear" in 1914, as they had tho "Gallic bull" in 1870. A newspaper controlled'by them, tho Lokal Anseiger, of Berlin, issued a supplement at 2.25 p.m. on July 30, with the statement "Grave News. Mobilisation Ordered Throughout the Empire." The supplement was circulated only in tho district where tho Russian Telegraph Agency was, and the news was sent at once to Russia, and Russia ordered mobilisation. Then Germany shut down on telegrams to Russia, and at 3 p.m. the Jjoluil Anzeigcr issued another supplement, which stated that the former supplcmont was in error in saying that Germany had ordered mobilisation. The wick by this time had. been successfully played on Russia. On tho following clay Germany mobilised, and a deceived German people were asked to believe that they wero tho victims of Russia's lust for war. Such is Germany led by military despotism. For fifty years she has been the waiMnaker of Europe, and today the menace of the world's freedom. There can be no true peace until this military autocracy, with its policy of expansion by "blood and iroD," is rooted out and destroyed. The day of victory is sure to come. Already, on the sable ground Of man's despair, Is Freedom's glorious picture found, With all its dusky hands unbound Upraised in prayer.