Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 92, Number 308, 27 December 1922 — Page 7

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM, RICHMOND, IND.; WEDNESDAY, DEC. 27, 1922

PAGE SEVEN

The Mistakes of the Kaiser By RENE VIVIANI Premier of France When the War Broke Out Copyright, 1922, by The McClure Newspaper Synd'cate.

THE ALGECIRAS CONFERENCE As for Russia, that nation, having Just emerged from her arduous war in the Far East, was desirous of nothing but rest. Czar Nicholas, who toward the end of the nineteenth centnry, took the initiative in proposing a peace conference at The Hague, ateo sought, by means of a second conference summoned in 1907, to find a. solution for the very delicate problem cf the limitation of armaments and' of

obligatory arbitration. Opposition to these, by the way, came from. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. Given three governments Inspired by such sentiments, the Entente could have none but a peaceful goal in view; a goal, in fact, more distinctly peaceful than that of the .Triple Alliance. In 1904, William and his- Chincellor, Bulow, saw in the Entente Cordiale nothing more than a liquidation of the past. But the formation in Europe of new groupings of Powers with. Russia upset the plans of William. At Berlin, no doubt, it was well known ttiat the Triple Entente was directed against nobody, and Bulow saw in it no more than a new form of the traditional English policy of equilibrium, but, in the eyes of the Emperor, it was exactly in this that the (Hanger to German hegemony in Europe lay. It would become increasingly difficult, he foresaw, to bring to bear the wnole weight of German armaments, by means of negotiations, upon these three powers, which, though peaceful, were allied with each other. Therefore, William and Bulow denounced to the utmost the efforts of Edward VII, branding them as a policy of encirclement aimed at the isolation cf Germany. As early as November 15, 1906, "when the idea of an Anglo-Russian

agreement was in the air, Bulow de

clared in the Reichstag that a "policy having as its purpose the encirclement of Germany would be dangerous to the peace of Europe, and that the making of such a circle aroused apprehensions of an explosion." And William, who, snice 1905, had, on several occasions spoken of "dry powder" and "the sharp sword," became threatening in 1907. "Germany Is ready," he said on February 3 of that year, "to trample underfoot those who get in her way." William still thought that he was living in the days of Bismarck, when all Europe bowed at a sign from Berlin. William A Good Actor From 1904 to 1914, William sought to break the imaginary circle drawn about him. In order to accomplish his ends, he found every means good courteous advances, violent acts, intimate confidences, dramatic coups, trusting avowals, lies, official negotiations, steps by adventurers. In this he was what he has always been a great actor. "The Emperor," said Holsteln, who had been concerned for thirty years In the shaping of German policy, "has the theatrical instinct, not the political." Working nw upon Russia for the purpose of hurting France, now with France to alienate her from England, seeking now to break the Franco-Russian alliance, now to worm his way into it as a third party, his sole di

rect object remained that of breaking the entente of other powers with England, which he wished to isolate.

From 1904 he turned' toward Czar Nicholas, being well aware of his influence uoon the weak character of

that monarch. Moreover, the Czar was at that time face to face with the serious problems arising from the Russo-Japanese war, for which William was in part to blame, for had he not constantly encouraged the Czar in the latter's Asiatic policy? Telegrams exchanged between the two rulers, discovered later in the Russian archives and made public, cast a 6trong light upon the manoeuvers of the Kaiser, which were filled with perfidy and duplicity. Kaiser and Czar Work In Secret At the very moment when France was exerting herself to prevent a rupture between Russia and England as a consequence of the Dogger Bank incidents, William, while congratulating himself in public on the fortunate results from the peaceful conclusion of the matter, at the same time hinted on the sly to the Czar that France was fulfilling her duties as an ally pretty badly, and that a good Entente among the three continental powers would be the best way to checkmate England. At first Nicholas yielded. The text of an agreement was drawn up between the two sovereigns on October 30, 1904. Later, though, scruples arose in the mind of the Czar, who was faithful to his alliance with France. He wished to communicate the text to France before signing. William opposed this violently, fearing that England might get wind of it. This first attempt failed. But, in

July, 1905, at the time when the disasters of the Russian fleet had pain-, fully impressed Nicholas and when the mutterings of revolution were audible in St. Petersburg, William, cruising in the Baltic, brought about the interview at Bjorko. There, amid the calm of the sea, "with no witness but God" Whose name William took so often in vain he caused the Czar to sign a treaty, made known since the war, through a letter of Lamsdorff. The pretence was made that this treaty was destined to assure the peace of Europe. Russia and Germany bound themselves to reciprocal aid in case bf attack. William, moreover, bound himself to obtain the adhesion of France. In the following month of August the Czar notified William that he would not ratify the treaty, since he

considered it impossible to obtain the adhesion of France. William insisted, but, despite the efforts of Count Witte, who had become the executive instrument of the Kaiser's wishes, the Czar held out in his objections and proposed a supplementary clause stip

ulating that the treaty should not be valdi in case of a war between France and Germany. The trick had failed. William had been unable to get himself into the Franco-Russian alliance in order to dominate it, and, by this means, to destroy the Entente Cordiale. Efforts to Destroy Entente

As to France, William, who up to 1904 had given evidence of apparently

more friendly sentiments and who had

not ceased to preach to all French

men passing through Germany the ad

vantages of an agreement, or even al

liance, between France and Germany,

suddenly changed his attitude after

the formation of the Entente Cordiale,

and by rude spectacular plays with re

gard to Morocco, sought to destroy the

Entente.

Germany had no special interests in

Morocco: at that time Germans had

but little part in Moroccan affairs.

Spanish agreement of October 3, 1904,

a pretext for a complaint that he had been excluded from the Morocco settlement. In February, 1905, he declared, through his ambassodir to Paris, that he, ignoring all the agreements reached, did not consider himself bound in any way. Then it was that he ctecided to stop at Tangier, in the course of a cruise in the Mediterranean; and a few days before his departure, on March 22, he said, in a threatening speech: "I shall allow bayonets and cannon to rest' as long as I can, but the bayonets must be kept sharp and the cannon in good condition." Nine days later, on March 31, he landed at Tangier, despite the wise counsels given him by Queen Amelia, while he was stopping at Lisbon. Received by an envoy of Abdul-Aziz, he declared publicly that he would deal only with "the Sultan of Morocco, an absolutely free and independent sovereign, in order to safeguard German interests in Morocco efficaciously against all kinds of monopoly and schemes of annexation.

William Causes Fall of Delcasse

This brutal blow at France was soon followed, on April 12, by a de

mand from Bulow for an international conference. Abdul-Aziz, at the instigation of Germany, addressed a com

munication on May 30 to the powers, but Delcasse, minister of foreign af

fairs of France, replied to it with a

formal refusal. Thereupon William wished to be rid at any price of that "Anglophile," Delcasse, so he dispatched an official gobetween, Count Henckel-Donners-marck, husband of "La Paiva," an adventuress of the Second Empire, to Paris. Henckel prevailed upon the French premier, Maurice Rouvier, to

leave his minister of foreign affairs in the lurch, and on June 12, 1907, the resignation of M. Delcasse was accepted. Notwithstanding, M. Rouvier continued to uphold the French government's point of view, and, although he finally accepted in principle the proposal of a conference, he likewise obtained from Germany the formal recognition of the preferential position of France in Morocco. The Algeciras conference was trot a success for Germany. But France, on the other hand, thanks to her honest policy, had the satisfaction of seeing other nations draw closer to her. The Entente Cordiale, which, as Count Witte said, was the target at which William was aiming when he paid his visit to Tangier, emerged unscathed. . The regime of uncertainty created by the Algeciras agreement soon gave

opportunity for further German meddling. Though France had preponderant privileges in Morocco, Morocco had been internationalized and its sultan left without any real power,

and now, whenever troubles arose

there, fomented by German agents, France was blamed because she did not put an end to them, yet, whenever she took a hand, she was blamed for her police measures. Foreign Legion Deserters

One of the most serious of the incidents that srose was that of the Cas

ablanca deserters. On September 23. 1906, pome members of the Foreign Legion tried to desert They received

assistance from the1 chancellor of thGerman Consulate, e'nee thre of them

were of German origin, but French of

ficers succeeded in recapturing them.

These acts, carried out by subordinates were made much of by the Berlin For

eign Office, which agreed to their by

ing arbitrated only fter considerable show of reluctance. But, when the facts came out, there was nothing to do but declare Germany in th3

wrong. GERMANY AGITATES WAR

After that it looked as if there was

to be an era of quiet in Franco-Ger

man relations with regard to Morocco.

In fact, at the beginning of 1909 on

February 8 an agreement was signed

setting forth Germany's lack of spe

cial political interests in Morocco and favoring the association of Frenchmen with Germans in commercial undertakings there. Germany had SDeculated uoon the

broad opportunities opened up by this

agreement, but, in her eyes, collabora tion amounted to domination. She complained of not having received her share, which simply meant that she had not received the whole. A rupture appeared to be imminent. On July l, 1911, the "Panther" dropped anchor before Agadir. Germany was particularly displeased on account of France's recent expedition to Fez, which had been made necessary by the intrigues of Mulai-Hafid "Germany cannot allow Morocco to become French." ' "If Germany but gets her share of

Morocco," said the German crown prince to M. Cambon, "there will be an end of all trouble." France Makes Concessions. The French government of that period, desirous of peace, granted compensations to Germany, after long and difficult negotiations, but granted them not in Morocco, but in the Congo region. The Agadir coup, that new threat whereby William wished to put the solidity of the Entente Cor. diale to the test, had been no more

successful than its predecessors. From the very first day, England let it be known clearly that, in the whole Morocco matter, she would be on the side of France. The "fist on the table" policy had failed. But William tried once more, in the early part of 1912, to break up

the Entente between the powers, by means of official negotiations with England, and later, with France. First came the Haldane mission to Berlin in February, requested in January by the emperor himself, which was wrecked by the impossible demand of Germany that England guarantee to remain neutral in case of war. And in March came attempts at Paris and Berlin toward bringing about a rapproachment between France and Germany, as a result of the granting of broader autonomy to Alsace-Lorraine. Kaiser Blames England. . It is extremely probable that William sought to start a war by his Agadir coup. But, confronted with the energetic action of England, the "valiant poltroon" to borrow the description of him made by Maximillian Hardin, backed down again his navy was not yet ready. So he had to content himself with the agreement of Nov. R. Seeking always to make a boast 'oi his peaceful intentions, he congratu

lated himself in the presence of a Frenchman, on having overcome the crisis, adding: "The English, however, did everything in their power to bring about a good war."

The agreement, nevertheless, was far from enough for the Pan-German appointees of the German people. Had not the German chancellor promised the leaders of the "Pan-German Union" that there would be a partition of northern Africa whereby Germany would obtain a large part of Morocco: Hence, when the text of the agree

ment became known, it aroused bitter

criticism in the German press. The agreement was dubbed everywhere

The Moroccan slap." Once more all the Pan-German argu

ments were trotted out concerning the inequality between the colonial possessions of Germany, on the one hand,

and those of France and England on the other. The press again drew up the balance sheet of the Agadir opera

tion, proclaimed, with much display

of statistics, that Germany ranked

first among all the countries of tho world, and poured vituperation upon

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the government which had thus allowed Germany to be treated as if she were a second-rate power. Peace by "The Good German Sword." "The government," wrote Bern hardi, 'has sacrificed too much to its desire to maintain peace." Even in the Reichstag members declared amid applause from the crown, prince, that "it is not by making concessions of this sort that peace is to be assured, but by the good German sword." This manifestation of public opinion, which was accompanied by scandalous court trials, was the tardy climax of the Pan-German movement, tirelessly engineerd for almost a century. Th passionate aspirations of the German historians had now become mere useless literature; the violent theories of men like Lasson and Triet-

schke now seemed actually moderate! In 1912 it was a case of demand, from all Germans, for a war that had become necessary not a defensive

war, but a war of conquest, a war of extermination. "Deutschland uber

alles" must be made into a reality.

The German people had told itself so loudly of its merits, it was so firmly

convinced that might made right, and

that the struggle for "conquering its place in the sun" had been imposed

upon it by fate, that it was now thirst

ing for a war which, it had been as

sured, would result in easy victory, because of the anarchy and decay reigning in other nations. It included

France. England and Russia in one and the same contemptuous hatred, detested Japan, felt jealousy for tho

United States, and resolved that the little nations of the world must be

obliged to conform to the needs of

German hegemony over the universe.

Such were the ideals to be found

over the signature of German literary

men and historians, officers and diplo

mats, even of princes of the imperial

blood, scattered . through that mulu

tude of articles, pamphlets and books

which saw the light in 1912 and 1913 Daniel Grymann's "Were I the Ein

peror!" ran through 30 editions in a few months. "France," said he, "must decide between England and Germany. In the first case, war will become necessary. The empire of the world must belong to Germany; she must display an active policy, a policy I say it without compunction of an agressive character." Then there was the German Bernhardi, - with his "Germany and the Next War," a more scientific work, without preachments of excessively violent measures, but which nevertheless, cooly advocated war; a confessedly arduous War, since Germany

would be obliged to vanquish France, England and Russia, but a war that was necessary, notwithstanding, since Germany was confronted with the choice between "world power or down fall." Then came Colonel Frobenius "Germany's Fateful Hour," which, bearing the recommendation of men occupying the highest posts, reached its fourteenth edition within a few weeks of its appearance. In this work the author demonstrated the necessity of attacking, and consequently, of being prepared Then there was also the crown prince himself, with his "Germany in Arms," published in 1913. "This present day," he wrote, "when people are chattering about cosmopolitanism and dreaming enthusiastic dreams of eternal peace, is not at all to the liking of the German. He needs" war." These theories found cordial approval from' the German public, especially from the members of the innumerable leagues which had developed and multiplied in Germany. The old "Pan-German Union" haa teen con

tinuing its mission of knitting to

gether the Germans scattered over

the world, greatly aided by that mon

strous law of July 22, 1913, which per

mitted Germans naturalized in an

other country to preserve, notwithstanding, their German nationality.

When mobilization came it behooved

these foreigners to take their places as

iiKuiers ior uermany.

Efforts to Destroy British Naval

Power J The "Naval League," which main

tained close relations "with the press bureau of the Admiralty,- sought to demonstrate more earnestly than ever

the necessity of destroying the military power of England. And besides these .-old associations, others had sprung up, composed of military veterans, which masqueraded as benevolent

associations, such as the "Union of German Fighters," which had, in 1912, 2,700,000 members all of which were under the thumb of the "Pan-German Union."

Finally, qn December 25, 1911, the "Defense Union" (Wehrverein) was founded at Berlin, under the presidency of General Keim, which, according to its statutes, had for its object "to make the armed forces of Germany internally and numerically strong enough to be unquestionably capable of assuring the protection of the empire and its power in the

world," From the very beginning of its existence in 1913, it had a membership of over 300,000. This fever of warlike propaganda, manifested in the most variegated ways, bore fruit A sort of collective madness, of persecution mania, seized upon the German people. On all sides there arose a demand for the "statesman who, paying no heed to the clam

or of parties and press, should be

capable of satisfying the desire of

the nation to play a part in the

world." "We need a man of energy," exclaimed Einhart, in his "German History." What, we need is a physician." Germany Clamors for War, This movement, desired and prepared by the government and the emperor, had now risen to such heights as to sweep them along with it. The? Pan-German bellicose party clamored still more loudly for increase of armaments and direct preparations for war. V In 1911 the five-year military period was renewed; on April 22, 1912. still another project providing for "more prompt preparations for 'war" was brought forward, calling particularly for an increase in the total number of officers and noncommissioned officers When put into effect ,this would give a total effective force of 700,000 men,

and create a heavy artillery of 633 batteries, each of six guns. The bill was passed on May 10, and was almost entirely in effect by the ensuing October. The navy, also, developed along parallel lines. Tirpitz, who had seen chancellors and ministers of state come and go since 1898, pressed actively forward with naval construction for which he had obtained con

stantly augmenting appropriations 285,000,000 marks in 1905, 310,000,000 in 1906, 350,000,000 in 1907, and 428.000,000 in 1908. In 1912, four das after the passage of the military law, the Reichstag adopted a naval program increasing the total number of men in the navy from 63,500 to 80,000 . Also, a third squadron was created, with reserve ships, and, in addition, three battleships and two cruisers were ordered built. According to thij program, there were to be, in 1920, 61 big armored ships in the German navy. , -' (To Be Continued)

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