SIR ROBERT PEEL ON GERMANS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 263, 6 August 1915, Page 2

SIR ROBERT PEEL ON GERMANS.

The; Iccpard does not change his spots, ncr ihe E'thiopean his skin.and, according to a recently-discover|3d letter cf tha great Sir Robert Peel, the German war methods of to-day are morjely an accentuated form of the Hunnism ccmraon to the troops that fought under Blucher. Mr Charles J. Phillips, who is compiling a certain family history, found among the documents submitted to him an unpublished le.tter of Sir Robert Pepl, when Secr-c-tEC-y of th e Irish Office, to Lord Whitwcrth, at that tilm e Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Some thi'ee w r eeks after the' battle of Waterloo, Sir Robert Peel, with two. other members of Pr.<rliamerrit ,W3nt over to Paris to see the Allies 'march in, and the following is from a letter dated Paris, :,>' 15, 1015:

Lord Whitwcrth, —As I owe my trip to Paris in great measure to th e kindness and readiness with which you dispensed with my services In Irejland. it is but just that I should give v ou some account of my proceedings. Oroka*. .."and ''.'myself .:I,3ft. :,""V , ' : > Bth inst. Paris is surrounded by thq troops of the Allies, and nothing could be more interesting than the present situation of it. The streets axe. crowded with officers and soldiers of all nations. The English are great favourites, the Prussians held in the greatest detestation; if they had entered Paris alone, or if th e crowned heads had delayed their entry they (th e Prussians) would probably have pillaged Paris; they, have; taken some pictures from th e Louvre. . . . They have de-

manded the payment of 100,000,000 of francs from the city, and at this moment there are Prussian Guards in the; house of Pengaur and some of the othjer principal bankers, who are held

as a sort of hostage for the payment of the contribution.

"W e , drove to-day. to the Depot d' Artillerie. W e were told by th e sjentry that -we were welcome to see the Salon but that the Prussians had Removed everything that it ix>rV:a.ined —'the sword of Joan of Arc, the knife of Ravaillac, Tvrenne's sword. I am sorry for this, not on account of the mortification which it will inflict on French vanity, but because, I fear the return of the King will be less popular than it would have been, if he could have preserved entire, at least these national monuments and relics, which are exclusively French "We raid a visit to Denon the other day. Ho. had som'.3 Prussians quartered upon him, and was very loud in his exclamations a.gainst ce betp feroce. as In" called Blucher . . —And believe mo to remain, dear Lord, Whitworth, yours most truly.—Robert Peel."