The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1917. AMERICA'S JUDGMENT'ON THE HOHENZOLLERNS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3185, 8 September 1917, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1917. AMERICA'S JUDGMENT'ON THE HOHENZOLLERNS

President Wilson in all. his official statements makes a sharp distinction between the Kaiser's Government and the Gorman people in the matter of responsibility for this criminal.war now raging. He lays the.blame entirely, on the Kaiser and his Junkers, acquits the German people, and represents them in his answer to the Pope's peace proposals as under'a'"ruthless master." He goes further than this, and says, in effect, that the Kaiser and his Government have so denied themselves with crime and dishonour that they cannot be recognised as fit to negotiate peace terms with;; their.pledged word;would be no bond.in such.a, contract; the. people .must, endorse the peace terms. Wilson's solemn reiterated declarations on this point amount to a, call to . the. German people to rise in ■ revolution. This line' of condemnation must be a haunting horror to the Kaiser and his War Lords, and they, may well dream of disgrace, or banishment, or even of a felon's death. America, in effect, puts the- brand of Ishmael or Cain upon them and marks them as the. outlaws of our- civilisation. This condemnation of the Kaiser and his gang is silently endorsed bythe great mass of Germans in America, and unless the Kaiser is blind to the whole- situation he must see a-bar of judgment looming nefore him in. the- near future._ - TheAmerican nation, a jury in this case, has found him guilty of stopping "at no barrier cither of law or of mercy," and of having "swept a continent into a tido of blood. This judgment has been reached by ,v great nation that for three years was neutral, but who was forcsd from- her neutrality by the deepdyed criminality of the German War "Lords.. • ~.'"", ~ This method of looking at the situation so as to separate tho German nation as a whole from • the crimes of tho German Government has not commended itself to an number of British exponents of opinion. A number of influential writers join issue with President Wilson on this question. The judgment-of Black'wood's.Magazine, for example, is as follows:—

Tho Hohenzollorns n.nd the German people had prepared for tho war. with equal zeal. They were, and are, one .in cruelly, one in greed,,one m ambition. Socialists and Junkers ulike, they ha.vo prayed for the hour of world dominion for'many a year. It was no win secret arranged by diplomatists in IHo interests of tho dynasty. It was a war which Germany, whole and individual, willed for herself, -ind for which she must accept the wholo responsibility. • The judgracnt of President Wilson on tho war criminals is leavening thought in Britain to-day, and journalists and statesmen appear to be ectting nearer his viewpoint on this aspect of tho c:ise. In some respects The Spectator is one of Jingland s most influential weekly journals, and on June 9 it urged the 'importance of letting the Gorman people know that we would grant them more liberal terms than .wo would their military masters. Mr. Lloyd George, ■ shortly after this call cl The Spectator, made a response to it In a. speech given at Glasgow on June 30 ho made tho following pregnant statement: — "Wo should enter into negotiations with a freo Government in: Germany with a different attitude of mind, a different temper, with less suspicion, with moro confidence than we should with a. Government dominated by, Prussian militarism. Tho Allied Governments would, in my iudginont, be actinß wisely it they drew that distinction in their general attitude towards a discussion of tne terms of peace. ■■

Mk Lloyd Geoiigb docs not go as far as Pkksident Wilson in saying that wo cannot treat with the Kaiser's Government, but he goes a long way in that direction, lhe Spcdalor 'takes the British Premier's speed) as flying a signal to the German people, and in its issue of July 7 publishes an arresting article entitled "Tho Rescue of the German People." ' The article endorses very largely the American cry of "Down with the Hohenzollerns " and points out that in 1814,Uftor the crushing of Napoleon, the Allies gave more indulgent peace terms' to the Bourbon King, Louis XVIII, than they would have given to a Government' stamped with the

despotism of Naf-ouson. It snys that it would be a simple, matter for tho German people to elect a special assembly to arrange peace terms. These' discussions arc so many signals to tho German people to rise in revolt against Kaiserism. Merciful terms of peace would come to Germany through revolution, and in no other-way.

There arc formidable barriers in the way of revolution in Germany. There 1 is the ignorance of the German people of the call of a world in arms against Kakerism .to them to rise and, save themselves by revolt. Then the Kaiser ...and his War Lords have the gunpowder and the- guns in . their hands, and by sheer force they could crush revolution, and they would do this all the more readily,, knowing that they were fighting to save themselves from the just condemnation of a world they have outraged. But, :in aroused people in despair through loss, and mad with, suffering, will dare and do .anything. The Gorman people have put up with i.ho despotism of Kaiserism in the past because they have materially prospered under it, but to-day everything is changed, because Ivaiserism is their curse and ruin. Intelligent Germans know these things, and are saying these things, but the mass of the people arc in doubt. The Nineteenth' Century and Afirr for July has a very timely article on "German Warnings .to Germany." Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe, t-ho son of a late- Imperial Chancellor of Germany, is living at Zurich in Switzerland, and sees how Germany stands m this war, and is setting forth li's views in l the Swiss paper, published, in German, entitled 2?cue Mincli Zoilung. The Nineteenth Century quotes copiously irom this German ■Prince, and sums up his views thus: "He thinks the German peoplo will in tho end realise who is to blame for all this death and ruin, and that it will call tho culprit to account with the thoroughness which is a German characteristic." The American Outlook, of July* 4 attaches great importance to the articles of this German Prince, and quotes the following warning he addresses to his countrymen: —

y?e should stop hiding our heads in the'sand out of fenr of recognising the truth. Confidence in those who are directing the" affairs of the Empire is 1)6ginnin" to crumble among the German people. The people are beginning to wonder how it is that the whole world % in arms agaiust them and irho is-re-sponsible for the situation.

This Prince thus contemplates almost with favour a. revolution in Germany. For fiixly years the people of Prussia have been ruled by an oligarchy- that have refused them the franchise. For forty years the' people of the German Empire have' had, in name, a democratic franchise, but all these years elections have been "gerrymandered, and the people's votes have beeu robbed of their force; These evils that would have caused a revolution elsewhere have- been borne by the German people, but now when hopeless ruin stares them in the face they may revolt. The sentiments of a captured German soldier set forth in a letter to his wife may soon 'express the views of the German masses: "The German Government deceives tho people in a very shamefnl way: one sees it now very clearly in this wholesale murder. Wo'must turn our rifles round and destroy the whole Government. To what extent these views r are lied by the masses in Germany we do not know. Pbesidbnt Wilson, -n his impressive condemnation of the Hohenzollern dynasty, expresses tho hope that the German people will soon speak out. He says: We oannot take the word of the present rulers of Germany as a guarantee of anything-enduring unless explicitly supported by the conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of the German people. Without such guarantees treaties, agreements, covenants, and territorial adjustments,'if mado-by Germany, could not be depended upon. We must await new evidence of the purpose of tho peoples of the Central Empires. God grant it may bo given soon."