Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1917-01-26
FALsIFYING HsToRIcAI FACTS.

How desperately the New York
World is !ghtiDg against the prevail-
ing idea thar President Wilson'S
speech in the Senate OF the United
States is aimed against the plan OF
the Entente Powers to partition
Europe is shown by the following
leading editorial in yesterdays issue
Of that out and out British news
paper;
The Tribune yesterday printed
dispatch from Washington stating
upon the highest authority" that
President Wilson's address to the
Senate is regarded in Entente circles
as a peace move in the interest Of
the Teutonic Powers.
The dispatch with its implica
tions, is OF course untrue. Nobody
with an ounce OF brains is capable OF
believing that the Presidents address
was made for the benefit Of Germany
On the contrary, it is in direct an
tagonism to everything that Ger
many has ever represented in ma
tional and international affairs.
'Gcrmany's Endorsement of the
Presidents address could mean moth
ing less than a revolution in the
policies which have governed the
empire since 1871 and which have
governed Prussia since the time of
Frederick the Great.
1T would mean German acQuies-
cence in the principles Of democracy
as applied to all international re,a-
tions. 1t would mean German ac-
ceptance Of tAt Declaration Of Inde-
pendence as rule Of international
law 1t wodld mean German APP
proval Of the Monroe Doctrine as a
code for the nations OF the world.
1T would mean admission on the
part OF the Germany that invaded
Belgium and destroyed Serbia that
the guarantees Of a permanent peace
must neither recognize nor imply a
difference DeJwccn big nations and
small, between those that are power
ful and those that are weak
IL would mean admission by the
greatest military power Of history
that right must be based upon COM
mon strength. not upon individual
strength, and that the limitation OF
armament Doth on land and sea is
the most Immediately and intensely
practical question connected with the
future fortunes of nations and OF
mankind
empire that seized Alsace-L Lorraine
as the spoil OF war and that has op-
pressed the Poles for years that mo
right anywhere exists to hand peo
pies about from sovereignty to SOW
ereignty us il they were property"
ut would mean admission by the
autocracy that has deified Weltmacht
that no nation should seek to extend
It's policy over any other nation, but
that every people should be left free
to determine its own policy, its own
way OF development, unhindered
unthreatened, unafraid the little
along with the great and powerful.
TT would mean admission by the
country of Tirpitz and Bernhard
that hereafter armies and nayies
should be "a power for order merely,
not an instrument Of aggression Dr
selfish violence.
1T would mean that the Kaiser
who has just proposed peace in the
name of a Germany conscious Of VIC
tory now assents to the dictum that
it must be q peace without victory
which comedies an equality of rights.
1T would mean that the ruler who
has exploited the diplomacy Of pres
tigo and sabre-rattling for twenty
five years is ready to admit that
only a tranquil Europe can be
stable Europe
ITO accept and indofse the Presi-
dents address, Germany must re-
yoluuonize all its previous theories
OF government. 1t must cmancipate
itself from the policies Of Prussian-
ism 1t must turn its back upon the
old gods Of force and frightfulness.
1t must set lis heel upon despotism
and become as completely new
Germany as the France Of the repub-
lie became II new France after the
downfall Of Napoleon III.
'The words Of the Presidents
address are words that no German
Government has ever understood,
and IL the German Government now
processes to understand them ii is
because Germany is beaten and
autocracy is forced to surrender II
is no German peace that President
Wilson has proposed to the world,
but " peace of democracy, and Ger
manys assent will be the Sedan 81
German autocracy."
Germany mas endorsed the Presi-
dents aims, and by doing so it is
endorsing nothing that il has not
practiccd long, long ago.
Germany is the most democratic
country in the world. nowhere else
is tie right Of the individual to hap
pincsg as much recognized as in Ger
many. which is shown by its laws
protecting the laborer and old age.
Germany always has recognized
the rights OF its weaker neighbors
Belgium had decided many years
ago to cast its lot with England and
France, and Serbia is the very ma
iion that started this great contlagra-
| tion: Serbia is the nation that aspired
the possession of ncighboring terri
tory
Germany has been driven to build
up powerful army by its neighbors.
For centuries German soil has beRn
the favorite battle-ground Of neigh
| boring nations.
Germany did not rob" France Of
Alsace-Lorraine; France had robed
! these German provinces two hum