The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 28. PEACE AND DISCORD.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 28. PEACE AND DISCORD.

German machinations have provided many surprises and created numerous surmises as to AvJiether reality or Muff was the motive. The latest sensation certainly* takes pride of p.'ace for Its audacity and foolishness. If the cabled message concerning the action of the pan-Germans is a correct repescntation of their attitude towards the peace move, then we are afforded the debasing spectacle of the Crown Prince plotting against the Kaiser in a desperate effort to gain popularity with a view to stepping into his father's shoes after the war. That Cjount EeventloiW should be one of the moving spirits is quite in accord with that inveterate iirebrantl's previous actions. Apparently, the move has been astutely engineered in the hope that the time is ripe for stamping out the efforts of the Socialists to win over the army in the cause of peace. The Kaiser, it is evident, is becoming a back number. Hindenburg has dimmed hi? sovereign's lustre and mana, and the Crown Prince appears to be ready and willing to sacrifice his father in order to grasp the reins of government. The very fact that he is leaning on the support of the ultra-militarists, who are the prime supporters of despotism, would seem to indicate that ho has totally failed tt> realise the significance of the Russian revolution or the temper of the German people, who are accurately acquainted with his numerous defects and thorough unfitness for the roll of Over-Lord. The ruling classes of Germany may well fear that the elimination of the Russian danger would weaken the war spirit. So real is their apprehension on this point that they are prepared to go to any lengths in an endeavor to avert tie danger. Apparently, they still regard the men of the Fatherland as dogs and the women as cattle. By tho time they awaken to disillusionment the military casta of Germany will have more than -they can 'd« to save their skins. At

present (heir drspciate plight lias oversliadi.v .''l what little common-sense and pert| cri'i'e they possessed. They can evhleniiv only see. one avenue Nvhere'oy they . I) • to escape their doom—that repre.-i iKed J»y a victory over the Allies, and ii is tiiat illusory, but tempting, bait liny aro depending on to ensnare the (i.'inc'u people and to stimulate the iwur ' jiiiil. In other words, the panf!i'ri!i:!.i" are striving to bend the will of lb'- people into the opposite, direction to its pres; lit .trend. The lesson of tlie Russian revolution cannot be obliterated. Its effect is steadily and surely making an impression 011 the German nation, and b;i s -.r.ateri.'iHy strengthened the propazin':• of Socialism—a force that may lie ejected to predominate In not-distant future. The mass of the German people may have been moulded into automatons, but the war has conveyed to them many bitter lessons as the outcome of their sufferings. Tlicy might and would have 'been cowed into further submission by a triumphant Orniany, but r beaten Germany will find them struggling fur a. place in the snn. It is evident I lie pan-Germans, backed bv the Crown Prince, Count Reventlow, an.', other swashbucklers, still regard the people as fools to be gulled or coerced as circumstances require, tint if the stmien'i s of national politics arc able to read between the lines the real position of affairs becomes unmistakeable. The sowing of discord and the tilting against peaco will be a decided advantage to the Allies in bringing the war to a victorious conclusion. The pan-Germaulsts are gambling 011 a forlorn hope, and the gambler's doom awaits them with absolute certainty. The spectacle afforded to the world 'by the impotent action of these Hun conspirators is pitiful in the extreme. Germany is practically defeated already, and is in a state of bankruptcy. That the people will fight to defend the Fatherland is natural, but they are rapidly realising that victory is out of the question. Russia may not desire—may even be averse to—territorial annexation. 'but she is as ardently desirous of a peace that will bo durable, so that she can work out her great destiny untrammeied by an ever-present Hun menace. That desideratum will impel tho Russian peoplo to prosecute tho war until the doom of German militarism has become a reality. Moreover, they are pledged to enforce an adequate reparation for the crimes committed by the Germans on the peoplo of the weaker lmtions. It would be the irony of fate if tho Kaiser, who signalised his reign by dropping the grand old pilot who was the means of creating tho German Umpire, should close his sovereignty as the outcome of the stupendous and base ingratitude of a son who is repugnant to tho mass of the people, and whose only claims to notoriety consist of a capacity ior intrigues and an. inorfltnate sense of his own importance. By sowing discord ami fighting against tho growing desire for peace, tlie pan-Germans are courting disaster and hastening the day of reckoning. Germany has already more sevicus troubles than she can copo with, but that does not appear to deter those who should be helping their country from adding to the load that the nation is carrying. The conspirators are playing with edged tools that may lie expected to do more harm to the users than to those against whom they are directed. We can regard their efforts with equanimity, for they cannot avert the fate which must overtake the authors of the greatest and most horrible outrages that history has recorded.