Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-03
KAISER'S SAYINGS
ASRUIN DREW NEAR
Bodstfulness of Early Days Replaced by Note of Des
perdtion: His "Greif" For France

n a court of law the internal evil
dence takes precedence over the
external. Now, when the Kaiser
is awaiting trial before the world
court, short preliminary survey of
his own utterances will give a line
on the character and motives of the
accused. For the present purposes
we need not go beyond August, 1914,
though his previous expressions are,
to say. the least, more picturesque.
1t was long before the war that he
said:
I'm Germany there is but one
maSser, and that is l." Whoever
opposes my will, him I will break"
I'VE Hohenzollezns derive our pow
er by the direct imposition of divine
authority" and others of the cele-
brated sword-rattling adjurations
now as obsolete as the crossbow and
the catapult.
Last June Cologne publishing
house announced two fat volumes
devoted exclusively to his messages
and speeches in the previous three
years and a half. Not all of these are
known here, but enough has come
out of Germany to furnish u basis
for this examination.
In the main, one discovers in
these utterances two dominant
thoughts: confidence in ultimate
victory under the protection of "our
old God" and grief over the de-
vastation caused by ruthless foe"
The first was usually accompanied
as recorded by the correspondent
in 1915, with "a martial gesture
which brought fierce smiles from the
soldiers who heard him." The sec
ond often had as an accompaniment
in the words of the Berlin Lokal-
Anzeiger, tears brimming from his
eloquent eyes"
Another characteristic is to be
noted in the progress of these ut
terances. AS the years advanced q
gradual lessening of martial splen-
dor appeared in the warlike appeal
which finally reached a diminuendo
At the same time 1.-The grief that lies
on my heart" swelled ever up an6
up until, in September, 1918, in hi:
letter to the Mayors of the Rhine
cities, he broke into a veritablt
| crescendo of crocodile tears as ht
lamented, the despoiling of the fail
| fields of France which she has wan
/ tonly forced us to visit upon her."
| That picture of France wantonl!
| forcing Germany to despoil her il
Z .Nf g -
! lection. 1t may be seriously doubted
if any French master of the ar
lronic and satiric-Anatole France
himself-could surpass that.
Two chief characteristics shin,
from these utterances-boastfu
and sentimentality.
On August 80, 1914, he addressed
the troops in Belgium. Take Pari
or die" was his ultimatum.
Early in 1915 he addressed hi
troops in Lorraine, saying: I'VE will
be grateful to God that we have thu
far the honor of being the instru
ments in the divine judgment whicl
has come upon our enemies. Let TIL
| decision fall as it will. The hewinl
will proceed further until our ad
versaries have had enough"
Later that same summer he spok
III AlSace, as reported IN the COlOBn
| Gazette, concluding with "the OLE
| God of Battles directed: We wer
his instruments and were proud o
| it,"
A year later he was even NOR
boastful. On October %. 1915, h
said to his soldiers on the Somme
The worlds history knows no par
allel to the greatness of your deeds
For centuries these battles of tn
Somme will stand as a blazing mode
for the conquering will of a unitet
people. In you the German will find
expression under whatever circum