Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1915-12-16

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the while in condemnation Of war.
"At present" says Won Hindenburg.
"the enemy won't make peace. They
are not weakened enough. We must
therefore keep it up further"
The rat, Aesop's fable tells us. hav-
ing possessed himself for the moment
Of the cheese, made philosophic dis
course upon the virtues and the gtaces
of life. including his own magnaniwity.
Equally complacent Is the field marshal.
He was never q lover of strife. He
would emulate Cincinnatus aud ire
turn to. the plough" But, the war
"having been thrust upon Germany"
she cannot sheath her sword" not
withdrawing the fact that every Ger
man would rejoice If an end were put
to the terrible blood-letting.
We may read between the lines that
there has arrived at the front a pres
sure from the rear. For the first time
the German people must be considered.
In truth, small heed was paid to them
at The outset. They had been pre-
pared" by half century of "kultur. 1"
Kruppism sat in the saddle. Militar-
ism rode at will. All that was wanted
were pretext, and the signal. The
murders at Sarajevo furnished the one,
the War Lord of Berlin gave the other.
To catch England unready, IF not una
wares; to swoop across Belgium and on
to Paris; possessed Of France. to turn
upon Russia. Twas to the Kaiser
mind as easy as falling off log.
Now as ever, here or elsewhere
''The best laid schemes O. mice and
men gang aft agley."
There stood Belgium-little David
with his sling!!!
Who so believed it possible? And,
the French!!
| The Lord had not deserted France,
and the French people may heaven
continre to bless France and the
French people!!!
A little late and little lame, rich
old lubberly John Bull ambled up, but
"got there" the battles of the Marine
were fought. Slowly the encircling
lines widened-the over-confdent
hordes drew back and Paris was
saved,
Then and there the cause of the Ho-
henzollern and the Hapsburg to hell
with them !!i-was lost. 1t was lost
and they knew it. It was lost ano
they proclaimed it lost by the last
ditch campaigns of murder which fol
lowed on land and sea. Terror might
piece out the shortage of ''kultur"-
the deficiencies of Kruppism NIGH
i perchance be made good by frightful
ness. Fatal mistake!!!
God never meant that such a cause
should win. In all the world it nevel
has. In all the world it never will.
Now comes the winter Of the PEG
pies Observation-Disclosures signal fo
the undoing of Hapsburg and the Ho
henzollern-and the bold Won linden
burg, that erst cried havoc and let sill
the dogs of war, to put up poo
mouth and talk of peace; to talk o
peace like very drab; regardless o
Serbia lying dead at his feet; regard
less of Belgium slain in her sanctuar
les; yet betraying the spirit of hi
dream of blood and conquest when h
said, "If the French want Alaace- Lor
raine. let them come and get it.
Please God, they will, nor the war en-,
until they do,
Truly that visit of the Hohenzollerl
to the Hapsburg the other day It's
long way from Berlin to Vienna-wa
not without signifcancel
But what of America? Fifty tn
President gave the cue and spoke tn
word. Lat US rally about and stand b,
the terms Of his noble utterance.
The loyal, the true American hate
| no land and no people, but he love
only his own; and loving his own, HI
says to the rest. the United State
would stand friendly and just in thi
combat of nations, demanding tina
each shall respect the law of nations
! expecting each to obey the laws o
God, but requiring of all the homag
due alike to our dignity and prowess
due alike to our rights and our stand
ing; our rights on land and sea; ou
marine, commercial, industrial an,
territorial rights.
We may take nothing for granted
however; we muse prepare to defent
our rights. If Germany wins our turf
will come; nothing is surer than that
In that event the Kaiser would snal
his finger in our face and exclaim, "a
fig for your Monroe doctrine!!!
We have no quarrel could have n,
quarrel with France. Our quarre
with England is but skin deep. Put
ting the blathering Englishman ant
the spread-eagle American aside, Johl
and Jonathan can always reach SOM
kind of common ground. Touching thu
issues of this war. John is wholly RICH
he is indeed fighting the battle o
Liberty-and Jonathan asks only tina
he have care and not monkey to-
freely with the b1zz- saw of Yanke,
sensibilities. But, apart from our OBJ
vious interest in European balance
with the Hohenzollern and the Haps
b1rg-not the German people-we hav,
atscore to settle which will down at n,
mans bidding; the organized move
ment to involve US in civil war by pro
Teutonic propaganda which was non,