The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1918. HERTLING AT BAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1918. HERTLING AT BAY.

Count von Hertling has made several remarkable speeches, but he has never produced such an astonishing series of utterances as those which appear in this morning's cable news. It is the speech of a culprit at bay, who is recklessly endeavoring to exculpate himself from crimes committed in cold blood by throwing the blame on those who are suffering from his evil deeds. Above all, reading between the lines, it is a miserable exhibition of that cowardice which is inherent in the bully when faced with the day of reckoning. No one can read this speech without feeling a profound contempt for its author and those whose cause he so grossly misrepresents. From first to last there is only a single statement in von Eerffing's Heatings that is not outside the pale of truth, the exception being contained in the opening paragraph of the speech in which he referred to the deep and widespread dis-i content prevalent among the popu-

ation. Apparently lie has sufficient sense to note to what end that discontent is likely to lead. He knows all too well that there is a real and justifiable cause for this discontent, and he must realise that the military situation denotes certain defeat for the Central Powers. But lie is afraid to face the (ruth, afraid to let it take hold of the people, and, above all, afraid Of the retribution that is in store for those who instigated the war and perpetrated a ruthless policy of fiendish frightfulness as exemplified in the infamous crimes committed for the most part against defenceless men, women and children. Germany, he asserts, can calmly await the judgment of posterity. If that was all Germany had to fear, her rulers might possess their souls in patience. It will not, however, be left to posterity to pronounce sentence on the disturbers of the world's peatee, the ruthless despoilers of the weak nations, the authors of the doctrine of frightfulness and of the dictum that war pays. Germany and her co-conspirators have already been condemned by the civilised and humane people of this terrestrial sphere, and the end of the war will see, it is to be hoped,, due punishment meted out to the ' criminals. It is the shadow of! this coming retribution that is evidently upsetting von Hertling's mental balance, or he would not have uttered such a string of absurdities as those which are to be found in his speech to the Reichstag. There is no occasion to dwell upon von liertling's boasts, which, like the morning mist on a summer day, melt into thin air, leaving not a trace behind. Hertling would understand this expression "without a trace," for it is the foundation of the Hun submarine piracy. He admits that everything is now at stake, and that is equivalent to recognising that the sword over Germany is hanging by a very slender thread; it also explains his desperate eagerness to throw dust in the eyes of the German people. \ As an illustration of Germany's belief in the power of gold to bring about her ends, von liertling's reference to the invasion of Belgium is most convincing. "She offered! the Belgians money for the prom-! ise of neutrality when first overrun." In other words she sought to pay Belgium a price for treachery to Prance, just as she later purchased the treachery of Lenin and Trotsky. In Belgium's case the offer was scornfully rejected, and in -Russia's case it was accepted, and we know the result. When we come to the mendacious statement that it was not the Kaiser, but King Edward, who prepared for this world war, years ago, von Hertling reached the lowest depth of his infamous lying. It has often been blazoned forth by Gorman high authorities, including the Kaiser, that Germany was forced into the war, and that Britain pulled the strings, but to make such a dastardly charge against Edward the Peacemaker labels the slanderer as a clumsy, spiteful and gross perverter of the truth, and yet, with lies still warm on his lips, he complains that "an unparalleled campaign of lies has obscured the truth." Hertling stands convicted out of his own mouth. It can be justly said that the words used by Hertling in connection with M. Clemenceau's last speech exactly describe the speech now under review—"in fanatical hatred and coarseness of mind it surpassed everything hitherto achieved." His sneers at America and the Czecho-Slovaks are just what might have been expected. That Germany desperately wants the Avar ended is apparent, as is also her dread of what will happen when the end comes. The reception accorded to the speech is noteworthy, Hertling being hissed by members who did not expect to listen to generalities. "When the German press refuses to countenance such bare-faced bleatings, then Germany must be in a very bad way.