The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-03-07
sp|lOvES HunS FORCED
WAR UPON FRANCE
aHOw GERMANY RENDERED IN.
-EvIEABI1E CONFLICT
One Document Gives Reasons Which
Induced Germany to Take Al
sace-Lorralno

Paris, March 1.-Two historic doc
uments. one showing the German
Governments determination to force
war upon France and the other set
ting forth the reasons which induced
Germany to take Alsace-Lorraine.
were made public today by Stephen
Pichon, the French foreign minister.
The minister was speaking at the
the Sorbonne upon the anniversary
Of the national assembly Of Alsace-
Lorraine against annexation to Ger
many.
81 will establish by documents"
said d. Pichon, "that the day the
Germans deliberately rendered In
evitable the most frlghtful Of wars
they tried to dishonor US by the most
cewardly completely in the ambush
into which they drew Europe. I will
establish 1t in the revelation of q
document that the German chancellor
after having drawn up preserved care
fully, and you will see why, in the
most profound mystery of the most
secret achives.
eve have known only recently of
Its authenticity and it defies any sort
Of attempt to disprove it. 1t bears
the signature Of Bethmann-H -Hollweg
German imperial chancellor at the
outbreak OF the war;, and the date
July 81, 1914. One that day Won
Schoen German ambassador to
France). was charged by a telegram
from his chancellor to notify us of
state Of danger Of war with Russia
nd to ask us to remain neutral, Civ
us eighteen hours in which to
reply.
What was unknown until today
Was that the telegram of the German
, chancellor contained these instruc.
lions terminated with these words:
If the Fre.'ch Government de
DSlares II will remain neutral, your ex-
cellency will be good enough to de-
clare that We must, as q guarantee
Of its neutrality, require the hand
ing over Of the fortresses Of Toul
aud Verdun; that we will occupy
them and will restore them after the
end o. the war with Russia. A reply
TO t. question must reach
here N-fore Saturday afternoon at
four o'clock
THAT" said n. Pichon, lis how
Germany wanted peace at the mo-
nent when she declared war. That
in how sincere she was in pretending
thxt we obliged her to take up arms
Tor her defense. That Is the price
she intended to make US pay for our
baseness II We had had the infamy
to repudiate our signature as Prus-
sia repudiated hers by tearing up the
treaty that guaranteed the neutrali-
ty Of Belgium.
"Our mortal enemy in the war of
1871. Won Moltke, declared on the
morrow of the treaty OF Frankfort"
added NJ. Pichon on taking up the
question Of Alsace-Lorraine, that It
would require no less than fifty years
to wean the heart Of her lost provin-
ces from France"
NJ. Pichon contfasted the German
acceptance then that the provinces
we're in reality French, with the rel
= terated pretensions of German states
men since, especially the assertions
Of former Chancellor Bethmann Holl-
veg and the present chancellor,
Count Won Hertling, that most of the
provinces were always German.
The foreign minister made public
for the first time the full text of a
lett sr written by William I. the
grandfather of the present German
Emperor, to Empress Eugene. The
letter Is dated Versailles, October
Is. 1870.
after the immense sacrifices for
her defense" read NJ. Pichon, Ger
many desires to be assured that the
next war will find her better prepar-
cd to repel the aggression upon which
We can count as soon as France shall
have repaired her forces and gained
alIic ",'s is the melancholy alone
l. re to augment my coun-
'ritory Is sufficiently
oes me to insist upon
writory that has no
to throw back to
" The French armies,
will come to at