The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1918. THE VOICE OF GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1918. THE VOICE OF GERMANY.

A very pertinent question awaits a convincing answer in connection with the German peace note. Who can bind Germany to carry out the terms which she professes to he ready to accept? The Germans have now to face the position which they created when they treated the pact for maintaining Belgium's neutrality as a scrap of paper. Similarly Dr. Solf justifies the devastation of France during the German retreat as "a military necessity as long as the struggle continues," adding- that even the most venerable shrines of civilisation must give place to the consideration of the lives of the defenders of the Fatherland. This from a German Minister, when the lives of German soldiers have been recklessly sacrificed again and again, at the mere caprice of the High Command. "Whose is the voice of Germany? That is the question which the Government will find difficult to answer. The Chancellor could only evade a direct reply and assert that the Government has the support of the majority of the Reichstag, but even the Chancellor himself is independent of that body, and subject only to the will of the Kaiser. To give a semblance of meeting President Wilson's democratic views the German Government has m'ade a parade of reforms that have been dressed up in a grotesque garb of freedom, but no one will be deceived by this showman's trick. The military caste rules Germany, and the Reichstag passes and rescinds resolntions at their order. Before Germany can be democratised the process-! must commence with the people, be continued by the people and completed by the people, and the Hohenzollerns and their supporters must be got rid of. It must be a purified and repentant Germany before any faith can be placed in her undertakings, and the only way to bring this about is for the Allies to dictate terms of peace at Berlin or Potsdam. The world knows only too well what peace by negotiation means where Germany is concerned. Take, for example, the treaty of Versailles in 1871. This is what happened: Bismarck was quartered just outside Paris—about as far from Paris as Potsdam is from Berlin. He dickered and dickered with M. Thiers, granted armistices during which the German armies improved their positions; made a peace by negotiation which resulted in France losing the, greater part of two of her richest provinces, also having to pay five milliards of francs, and to pay for the Prussian army of occupation in France until the money was handed over, while by additional haggling, Bismarck, after the agreement was made, insisted on SO,OOO German troops spending three day§fe in Paris. Frenchmen will remember this; it was humiliating and oppressive, but now they may feel thankful for the example, and look forward to proving to Germany that what was deemed by her proper treatment for conquered France is also fitting treatment when positions are reversed. There is not a leading military or political man in Germany, who has not openly gloried in flouting Germany's pledged word as "a military necessity."" The-.rulers of Germany have brought duplicity and cunining -to the plane <of fine art. So Long as-Germany was top dog she could—and did—shake the life •out of her victims, but now that her fighting power is broken there is nothing left but the whine of ,the cur. She has not the pluck to take the medicine she has forced ■on others, so she must be forced ■to take it, and a bitter draught it -should prove. There is no German voice that is authoritative and reliable.; no responsible person with whom it is possible to arrange peace terms. The Allies may well take to heart the advice of leading. Dutchmen to "beware now. mare than ever, or Germany,

will fool you yc-t." The closer the position is examined us to Germany taking part in negotiations for peace, the more apparent becomes the conclusion that madness lies that way. As at present constituted nothing can happen 'in Germany to justify any faith in her pledges, and it is mere waste of time to expect that anything will happen until the defeat of her amies is signalised by the dictation of terms by the Allies. That may provoke a revolution, but we cannot even count on such a gratifying result. Now that a rigorous censorship has been instituted, only such items as suit the Government will be allowed to go forth to the world. There can be no armistice granted, but Germany should be warned that when the day of reckoning comes—as it assuredly Avill —she will be made to suffer all the heavier if she continues her ruthless policy of devastation, and that any further taking of hostages from evacuated towns will at once meet with reprisals.