The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1919. BETHMANN-HOLLWEG'S TIRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 August 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1919. BETHMANN-HOLLWEG'S TIRADE.

To German wails and whines there seems no end. The latent emanates from ex-Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, who, in the course of a recent interview with the New York Sun's Berlin correspondent, gave vent to some eminently characteristic remarks on the surrender of the Kaiser, and the "brutal" compulsion imposed on Germany in connection with the signing of the peace treaty, concluding with a veiled threat as to what Germany will do when she rises again. Long ere this we h&ve learned to treat these tirades with tolerance, for we know that they are part of the stock in trade of the strafing Hun, who "laughs when he hurts you, and howls when you hurt him." The ex-Chan-cellor, without doubt, had an object in view in sending forth to the world statements calculated by him to arouse pity for the present condition of his country j and to arouse the hostility of J neutrals to the Allies by alleging that if Holland surrenders the ex-Kaiser it will violate the treaty stipulations between .Germany and Holland, although he well knows that the'peaee treaty •rhich Germany signed made provision for the trial of the exKaiser (and all other criminals) and so over-rode the treaty in question, which, under no circumstances, could negative the right of extradition. His appeal to the League of Nations on this subject is too absurd for notice. Herr Hollweg cannot get away from the fact that the peace treaty has been duly signed by Germany, and all he can do is claim that the signatures "merely mean that the German Government has submitted to the most brutal compulsion 'of might," adding that "history has no parallel where cruelty has been continued with such cold calculation as after the end of the war," all of which is but another way of saying that Germany was decisively defeated and was compelled to accept the victor's terms. It would be interesting to know the ex-Chancel-lor's tree opinion on the kind of peaee that Germany intended to force the Allies to make, as admitted by Herr Ball in—a peace dictated from Buckingham Palace imposing an indemnity on Britain alone of ten thousand millions; the permanent occupation of Northern France and Belgium; the confiscation of the British colonies, and world domination by Germany. Did Herr Hollweg protest against such terms as "the most brutal compulsion?" Certainly not. On the contrary there is every reason to believe he and all the other Pan-Germans regarded the ruining of Britain, the dismemberment of France and. world domination as the legitimate right of the Teutons and as a good German peace. Yet now he raises his blood-guilty hands aloft and shrieks with horror at ''brutal compulsion" and cold calculated cruelty. Further he rants, of the principles of justice being outraged by Germany's enemies, who are obsessed by hatred, and whines over the industrial slavery imposed on Germany. Why this mention of hatred? The peaee terms are remarkable for erring on the side of leniency. If Herr Hollweg had protested against Germany being despised for her barbaric, ruthless and wanton cruelty it would have been far nearer the truth. Germany has the monopoly of lint-. l'ed; it was expressed in the Hymn of Hate, and was fostered in schools and by occupants of the pulpit, and had she been victorious it would have loomed large in her peace terms. It is somewhat remarkable that this ex-Chancellor, who asserts that he and not the Kaiser "is responsible for the nation's acts and

policies," should not have resurrected the well worn claim that the peace terms were not in accord with President Wilson's Fourteen Points. This may be regarded as a hopeful sign that the claim is absolutely insupport- ' able for two reasons that cannot be controverted. In the first place.the armistice had nothing to do with the Fourteen Points, which were propounded twelve months before the last desperate gamble of Hindenburg and Ludendorff failed and Foch had the fate of the German armies in the hollow of his hand. Much had happened in the intervening twelve months, for America, instead of seeking to'bring the war to an end by negotiation, had joined in the fray and helped to brinst about the German surrender by force of arms. In the second place the peace terms were approved by President Wilson, who took a prominent part in their settlement. Germany had the opportunity to negotiate on the basis of the Fourteen Points, but gambled on victory —and lost. She must now pay the penalty, and instead of her leading men distorting and misrepresenting facts, by force of habit, they should bend to the task of discharging the country's liabilities and be thankful that the Allies were just instead of revengeful. Nothing but the furnace of affliction will make the Germans repentant, and though they are squirming at the sight of the flames, only by emerging purified from militarism can they hope to "rjee again." Arrogant men cannot fail to feel keenly the degradation of defeat and the necessity for obeying where they have been used to dictate. The Germans are in the toils, hence their senseless tirades and threats. Herr Hollweg is but one of many who winces at the bitterness of the cup of humiliation.