Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-10-30

set forth in a letter to the London
! Tor stated. in referring to the violation
Of the neutrality Of Belgium and Ink
emburg:
The wrong speak openly-th,
wrong we thereby commit we will trl
to make good as soon as our militar,
aims have been attained"
Deliberate Violation Of Neutrality.
The violation OF Belgian neutfalit,
was therefore deliberate, although
Germany had actually guaranteed thai
neutrality, and surely there has beer
nothing more despicably mean thar
the attempt to justify it ex post factc
I by bringing against the innocent and
inoffensive Belgian government and
people the totally false charge OF hay
ing plotted against Germany. The
German chancellor Goes not empha
size in his latest speech that charge
which has been spread broadcast
against Belgium. Is IL withdrawn!
And. IL so. will Germany make repar,
alton for the cruel wrong done to Bel.
GUM?
2. The negotiations for an Anglo
German agreement in 1912. referred
70 by the German chancellor, we're
brought to q point at which it was
clear that they could have no success
unless We In effect gave promise Of
absolute neutrality While Germany re.
mained free under her alliances TO
take part In European war. This can.
and shall, be explained by publishing
an account Of the negotiations, taken
from the records In the roreign Or.
fee.
8 The chancellor quotes an isolated
sentence from my speech of the 3rd
August, 1914. to prove that we were
ready for war. In the very next SEN
tence, which he might have quoted,
but does not quote, ] have said: I'VE
are going to suffer, / am afraid, ter.
ribly in this war, whether we are in
1t or whether we stand aside IleaYe
IL to anyone outside Germany in any
neutral country to settle for himself
whether those are the words Of q man
who had desired and planned Euro
pean war, or of one who had labored
TO avert it The extent of the German
chancellor's misapplication Of the iso-
lated sentence which he quotes will
be obvious to anyone who reads the
fun context of the speech.
AS to the other statement attributed
to me: not even when we were per-
fectly free, when Japan, who. was our
ally. had not entered the war, and
when we were not pledged to other
allies as we are now by the agreement
of the 5th September, 1914, did / say
anything so ridiculous or untrue as
that II was in the interest Of Germany
that We had gone to war and with the
object of restraining Russia.
Germany Declines Conference.
4. The war would have been avoid
ed II q conference had been agreed to.
Germany On the f1imsiest pretext shut
the door against it. ] would wreck
nothing on point of form, and ex-
pressed myself ready to acquiesce in
any method of mediation that Ger
many could suggest II mine was not
acceptable. Mediation. I said, was
ready to come into operation by any
methods that Germany thought pos
sible, if only Germany would press the
hutton in the interests Of peace.
The German chancellor, according
to his speech, encouraged nothing ex-
cept direct discussion between Vienna
and Petrograd But what chance had
that Of success when as we heard af-
terward the German ambassador at,
Vienna was expressing the opinion
that Russias would stand aside and
conveying to his colleagues the inn
preston that he desired war from the
first, and that his strong personal bias
probably colored his action there?
Some day, perhaps, the world will
know what really passed between Ger
many and Austria respecting the ulti-
matum to Serbia and its conse.
quences.
It has become only too apparent
that in the proposal of a conference
which we made, which Russia, France
and Italy agreed to, and which Ger
many vetoed, lay the only hope of
peace. And it was such good hope!
Serbia had accepted nearly all of the
Austrian ultimatum, severe and yio-
lent as it was. The points outstand-
ing could have been settled honorably
and fairly in a conference in week.
Germany ought to have known. and
must have known, that We should take
the same straight and honorable part
In 1t that she herself recognized we
had taken in the Balkan conference,
working not for diplomatic victory OF
a group, but for fair settlement and
ready to side against any attempt TO
exploit the conference unfairly to the
of Germany or Austria.
The refusal of a conference by Ger.
many, though it did not decide Brit !
Ish participation in the war. did in
TACT decide the question of peace or
war for Europe, and sign the death |
of the many hundreds of
thousands who have been killed in
his war
Nor must it be forgotten that the
emperor of Russia proposed to the |
German emperor that the Austro-Serb
dispute should be settled by The
Hague Tribunal. /
Regret Proposals Refused.
Is there one candid soul in Germany +
md AhSfro. Hungary who. looking