THE TERRIBLE KAISER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 41, 28 May 1910, Page 10

THE TERRIBLE KAISER

FRENCH ADMIRAL'S TEUTOPHOBE STORIES. Tn a book which Admiral Fournier is to publish shortly, and from which the Paris Matin reproduces some startling extracts, the author makes what he believes to be a true exposure of the German Emperor's attitude during the Dogger Bank crisis and the Moroccan crisis which followed it. Accusations of tnis sort made by the ex-Admiral-in-Chief of the French Navy are pretty sure to cause some excitement in Germany.

He declares that the Emperor tried to get a German Admiral—Prince Henry of Prussia, by preference —selected as the fifth member of the Dogger Bank Commission, which assembled at the French Foreign Office. The Choice would be a distinction for the German Navy, and would ffive Germany her opportunity of doing Russia a friendly turn, as well as pave°the way for a reconciliation with France. "Prince Henry's sojourn in Paris," the Admiral goes on, "might lead to,a visit still more sensational to our capital." The Kaiser, it is alleged, was dominated "by the idea of detaching France from England, and the .defeat oi his plan Admiral Fournier attributes to M. Deleasse. Hence the Kaiser's implacable hostility to M. Deleasse, and the Kaiser's sensational trip to Tangier, and so on. The Admiral finishes with an exhortation to France, England and Russia to get their fleets and armies ready for a conflict, or to avoid a conflict, with the Triple Alliance, a conflict in which Turkey, Japan and the United States might be' involved. Armageddon with a vengeance! As a study ill merely theoretical warfare, there can be no harm in Admiral Founder's- higubrations. The generals and admirals of every nation are engaged in that sort of exercise. It is the Germanophobe tone of the French naval officer's criticism. wlitch may create mischief. Fortunately, while the professional are busy over problematical slaughter, the democratic movement all over the civilised world is rising against the folly and barbarism of war.