PEACE TALK.
GERMANY'S REPLY, I HAZY GENERALITIES. j Amsterdam, Oct.. 23. j In the Reichstag the Chancellor, in i his speech, said: The whole German people was anxious to hear the GovernI men; views on the prospects of the ! peace effort. j President Wiison's first answer to I the German Government's peace move j brought the question oi a. peace of justtce or a peace of violeace to the foru- ! front in all countries. J It was hoped that President Wilson's I answer would set the doubts at rest. | Until then the German people must : prepare for both eventualities, either | that the enemy Governments were anxi- | ous for war, in which case the Germans would fight defensively with all the I force of a people driven to the last extremity, or for going to the confer- • enca tables. Jr. the latter case the German people were entitled to ask what a peace based on President Wilson's conditions meant lor Germany's future. That was I a question of stupendous import, lor / not Germany's strength would decide i what was right, but the decision would j result from what was thought right j in a free discussion with her opponents. ; That was a great effort for a proud ! people accustomed to victory. I It had been represented to him that the acceptance of President Wilson's i conditions would mean the .submission | of questions of legality to an antiGerruan court of justice.' If that wa3 --", why, asked the Chancellor, did the extreme apostles of force in the Entente i'car the Council Chamber as tho guilty seared the court of justice? The essence of President Wilson's programme was the League of Nations which meant the abandonment of un- ' qualified national independence and I sovereignty both by Germany and ot'h- ; ers. If the Germans maintained- as fundamental that national egoism | I which till recently had been dominant ] ' the bitterness thereby engendered would cripple them for generations, they must comprehend that its significance was a victory for the idea of justice, and if they submitted to this idea tiiey would find therein a cure for their present wounds and a reservoir of future strength. When he advocated the League of Nations as a source of consolation and new force, he did not deny that heavy opposition must be overcome before the idea was realised. Whatever the next j few days and weeks brought, ■whether ' war or peace, the German people would ; be best prepared for either by carrying i out the Government's programme, and definitely breaking away from the old system. The Chancellor then outlined reforms in the Prussian franchise and the Imperial Government, whereby the Reichstag would share the responsibility with the Chancellor for the Imperial policy, also a measure of autonomy for AlsaceLorraine. He said the reform measure would include a Bill altering t'iie Imperial Constitution iii order to embody the fundamental idea of the new form of Government. This bill would give the Reichstag as the House of the People's Representatives joint responsibility in deciding on peace and war, but not till the League of Nations took practical sliape and abolished secret treaties. The Chancellor dealt at length with the modifications of military rule and J amnesties for political prisoners already '■ decreed, emphasising that they were , proposed by the Kaiser and thus the { Chancellor's new form of Government J harmonised with constitutional pre- | cedents. He anticipated criticisms of the poliI tical changes, but welcomed them beI cause opposition was the breath of ParI liamentary life. He asserted that he and his colleagues were unanimous in the purpose of giving German people political .authority. The Chancellor concluded by extolling the army confronted by superior forces and appealed to the people to defend the soldiers against unjust charges and give the army the men, material and food needed.
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Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1918, Page 7
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633PEACE TALK. Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1918, Page 7
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