NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 107, 21 November 1918, Page 4

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE resignation of Wilhelm II as Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia was not unexpected as many rumours have the way for the news. Neither is it a surprise that his son, the Crown Prince, should follow his example, for the lurid light of war has revealed him as being of neither use nor ornament to any self-respecting empire. Whether they were pushed from the throne by the pressure of internal forces, or ousted by the Military party in hopes thereby of securing easier peace terms, or whether they sought to escape the ordeal of answering for their crimes, remains to be seen. Whatever the cause may be the Allies will not be deluded into mistaking renunciation for reparation. The universal conscience demands that these royal criminals be brought to judgment. Even unregenerate Huns should know that guilt cannot be put off with the robes of office. The Kaiser’s habit of spelling God and religion backwards seems to have been acquired by Prince Maximilian, who stated iri his message to oversea Germans that because they at home have been forsaken irt, the fifth year by their allies, and the victory they hoped for has not been made possible, they have renounced their belief in the justice of might. This is claimed as a great moral victory, as if there were any merit in giving up criminal ambitions because they couldn’t be realised. The action is not without, at least, proverbial precedent, for when the devil was sick the devil a saint would be. It is gratifying to have it placed beyond doubt that the Dominions will be represented at / the conference which will finally settle the peace terms. By their magnificent sacrifices and splendid achievements they have each well won the right to a voice and a vote in deciding the destiny of the Central Powers. We may now rest assured that when the Allies have finished with the Powers that were, our sense of justice will be fully satisfied. The ending of the world war has been the biggest thing in the consciousness of men. The knowledge that after four years and two months of terrible war the Allies have succeeded in shattering the criminal war ambitions of Germany, has caused joy too deep and profound to be adequately expressed. The work of crushing the forces which knew nothing about honor, which recognised no right except that of might, and which menaced the things that supremely matter, has been done to the satisfaction of the most particular. The fact that one rejoicing has been silenced through sickness has made it no less real. The vindication of the principles for which our men counted not their lives dearj unto them and for which we all have had to endure hardness, is cause sufficient for full-hearted thanksgiving. With the rolling away of the war clouds a new day has been born—a day of rejoicing because of having achieved. Let us rejoice then on this first day of a future big with peace and good will toward all men.

The abdication of the Kaiser meant the breaking of the last prop which supported the Military party of Germany. With their downfall, the power of government passed into hands not used to controlling. During the whole of the Kaiser’s thirty years reign the Socialists have been his thorn in the flesh and now one of their members has become Regent. It is perhaps Inevitable that the evolution of a new regime should be attended by revolution. Pendulums usually rebound from one extreme to another before settling at the mean, and a like characteristic is seen in Empires which change their mode of government. By their victory the Allies are under moral obligation to help the German people to emerge into law and order; to help them toward The Day —the day of their salvation. The terms of the Armstice imposed upon Germany show how completely the Allies possess the upper hand. That the enemy who set out with such magnificent equipment, and with bombastic braggings should be forced to accept those terms reveals how utterly their hopes of world conquest have been shattered. Tantamount as they are to unconditional surrender, they are indicative of the terms which will form the basis of Peace. Germany is not only to quit the territory occupied during the war, but is to evacuate the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine fitched from the French in 1870. To add to his humiliation the enemy must see the strategic point on the Rhine garrisoned

with Allied troops, arid must also hand over the Baltic ports so that a clear passage to the Baltic Sea may be maintained. The navy that was to accomplish so much—and didn’t —must be surrended in its entirety, whilst the giving up of enormous numbers of guns, airships, and vast quantities of other material, take the last kick out of an already prostrate foe. The refunding of ail cash deposits extracted from the peoples of occupied territories will give the enemy a foretaste of paying the bill of damages his crimes have wrought. History is full of surprises ; but the Hun is now probably convinced that the supreme sacrifice was kept in store for him. The acceptance of such drastic terms delivers the enemy, bound hand and foot, into the hands of the victors. With utmost confidence we may leave him there until he is released by the acceptance of the Peace terms which will for ever render him harmless among the nations.