The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-05-01


had tied himself down without invit-
ing the cooperation of his Govern
ment, and that, in the conversations |
with the Austrians, the Germans took |
care not to agree upon the text of |
the uHimatum. For I have already |
shown that the contents of the ulti- |
matum were pretty accurately known
in Germany. Herr Krupp Won Bob |
len, with whom I spoke about these
German declarations-whic at any |
rate in their effect were lies-was also
by no means edited. For as he said, |
Germany ought not, in such a ire |
mendous affair, to have given a blank
check to a state like Austria; and
that is was the duty of the leading
statesmen to demand, both of the
Kaiser and of our Allies that the |
Austrian claims and the ulttimatum to
erbia should be discussed in minute
detail and definitely decided upon, and
also that we should decide upon the
precise programe of our further pro-
ceedings. He said that, whatever
point of view one took, we ought not
to give ourselves into the hands of
the Austrians, and expose ourselves
to eventua1ities which had not been
reckoned out in advance. One ought
to have connected appropriate condi-
tons with our obligations In short,
Herr Won Bohlen regarded the Ger
man denial of previous knowledge, if
there was any trace of truth in it, as
an offence against the elementary
principles of diplomacy, and he told
me that he intended to speak in this
sense to Herr Won Jagow, then For
eign Secretary, who was a special
friend of his.
AS a result of this conversation
Herr Won Bohlen told me that Herr
Won Jagow stuck firmly to his asser-
ton that he had nothing to do with
the text of the Austro-Hungarian ul-
timatum, and that Germany had new
er made any such demands. In re-
ply to the objection that this was
| inconceivable, Herr Won Jagow re-
piled that he, as a diplomatiSt, had
naturally thought of making such a
demand. When, however, Herr Won
Jagow was occupying himself with
the matter and was called in, the
Kaiser had so committed himself
that it was too late for any proce-
dure according to diplomatic GUS
tom, and there was nothing more to
be done. The situation was such
that it would have been impossible to
intervene with drafting proposals. In
the end, he (Jagow) had thought
that non-interference would have it's
advantag es-namely, the good i'm
preston which could be made in
Petersburg and Paris with the Ger
man declaration that Germany had
not co-operated in the preparation
of the Vienna ultimatum.
More secrets from the Hunland.
DR.. Won Muhlon former Krupp di-
rector, now in Switzerland, further
indicts the rulers of Kulturdom in a
scathing letter addressed to Beth
mann Hollweg on May Z, 1917.
The correspondent in Switzerland
of the Paris Socialist journal LHu-
mantle paid visit last week to Dr.
Wilhelm Muhlon, the former Krupp
director, whose remarkable memoir
andum demonstrating the Kaiser's
responsibility for the was reproduce
ed above. So far from suffering
from neurasthenia, as the German
government is pleased to pretend,
Herr Muhlon is not ill at all. The
lLHumanite correspondent says that
he has seldom met anybody more
sane, and that Herr Muhlon is not
suffering from anything but an in
tense appreciation of the horrors of
the war, and of Germany's respon-
sibility for them.
(Herr Muhlon explained that, al
though he resigned his dictatorship
; of Krupps' Immediately after the out
break of war, he continued to serve
the German government, and he &C
tually negotiated the treaties concern
ing the delivery of corn which were
concluded with the Rumania govern
ment just before Rumania's inter-
Vention in 1916. Herr Muhlon au-
thorized the LHumanite to publish
the following remarkable letter which
he addressed from Berne on May 7,
! 1917, to Herr Won Bethmann Hol1-
veg. then Imperial ChanceIlor:-)
However great the number and
r weight of the mistakes accumulated
y on the German side since the begin
e ming of the war, I nevertheless. per-
), sisted for a long time in the belief
j that q belated foresight would at last
e dawn upon the minds of our direc-
j tors. 1t was with this hope that ]
e put myself to a certain extent at your
e disposal, in order to co1laborate with
: you in Rumania, and that 1 indicated
d to you that I was disposed to help in
!, Switzerland, where l am living al
:. present, if the object of our efforts
l. was to be rapprochement of the en-.
- envy parties. That 1 was and that
, remain, hostile to any activity other
than reconciliation and restoration
:, proved soon after the opening of hos
: tilities by the definite resignation o,
my dictatorship of Krupps' works
But since the first days of 1917
l. have abandoned all hope as regards
:. the present directors of Germany
II Our offer of peace without indication
is of our war aims, the accentuation o
% the submarine war, the deportation.
10 of Belgians, the systematic destruc
s. ition in France, and the torpedoing o.