The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-10
WITH ALL HOPE SHATTERED KAISER
 RELINGUISHES REIGN
Continued from Page one)

KELINGUISHES KElGN ] tCOutinued from Page one)
 1 tirely clear whether suck outgivings
 were the product of a discrdered brain
 or were due to unbounded egotism and an effort to impress his subjects with 1 the idea of reVerent and unquestionlnN l submission. His speeches to his armies
 in which he asserted he and they were I "instrum ments of divine judgment upon Germany's enemies" were regarded by
 many outside of Germany as pieces of
 rhetariE, intended only to deceive his | own people.
 Williams claim to clcse affinity with | God was the burden of dozens of his speeches long before a. we'll as after T
 the beginning of the war. Of these,
 perhaps none more clearly defined his claim than his notorious divine right l speech delivered at Brandenburg in i1S9c. in which he said he regarded the
 German people as "a responsibility conferred upon him by God and that it ! was my duty to increase this heritage 1 fer which one day I shah be called upon to give account Those who try 1 to interfere with my task l shall ! crush " | In all this the world saw before the war not menace but comedy. It | laughed with the then Capt Joseph E. Coghlan of the United States navy when | returning from the war with Spain and 1 telling of the clash with the commander 1 of the German squadron at Manila bay, l the captain recited the famous poem, "Hoch Der Kaiser" In this the con- I cluding refrain was in the suppositions words of the Emperor
 "Gott pulls init ne-and l init him Menself-Und Gott."
 Few statesmen realized then that the
 deluded Emperor in his shining armor,' maneuvering his armies and his fleets, building up the German military sys- tenn, cementing the central empires and Turkey, and fostering the preaching of the supremacy of autocracy was erect ing a machine that one day would make war upon all civilization.
 WARNED IN ADVANCE Yet the world was warned by some far-sighted men that the Emperor would one day bring catastrophe upon the na- tions. These men saw in him then and see him now as a mad inventor given in his youth the most dangerous of all toys-his army and navy.
 They were his playthings. He developed them throughout the years to the point SNSs' Like a crazed inventor, he feared the end of his reign would find his inVen- tions untried; so grasped the first op- portunity to wage a world war.
 Meantime the German war party grew with William as it's head and the scheme of world dominion awaited the hour te begin it's attainment. It came With the
 assassination of the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand. and his wife at Sara jevo.
 Recalled from a yachting trip, Nil- liam presidAd at a conference at Pots- dam of representatives of the German and Austrian armies, navies and com- mercial interests There, according to the best information obtainable, the de cision was reached to make the assas- sination of the archduke pretense for the world war for which Germany had long prepared. In the diplomatic exchanges between Germany and Austria on one side and Great Britain, France and Russia on the other, William posed as one wishing foi peace, but driven to war. He signed l the order for the mobilization Of the German army and from that moment wal was inevitable. Thereafter he drove or his armies relentlessly in the mad cam | paigns for victory, encouraging them with every device and sometimes ap- bearing on the front to be proclaimed as personal commander in a great offen- sive.
 Publication of the 'Willy-Nicky' cor respondence in 1917, placed the German Emperor in the light of an interruptions plotter. The telegrams disclosed that
 Emperor William had induced Emperor Nicholas of Russia to sign secret agreement to which he was to force the adherence of France in the perfection o1 an offensive and defensive alliance against England. The treaty was dis
 covered and repudiated by Russian minister.
 Failing in his attempt, the German Elm
 peror set upon himself the task of draw
 Ing England to his side against France
 and Russia. How well he thought he had succeeded in this may be gathered
 from a letter he wrote to President Will
 son in 1914 in which he said King George
 had promised Prince Henry of Pruss<a.
 on July 29, 1914, that England would re-
 main neutral in war involving the cen
 tra, powers with France and Russia. LICHNOWSKY'S STATEMENT Perhaps the most direct and authori- tative of the accusations against the Ger man Emperor and the pan-Germans are contained in the published secret memo randum of Prince Charles Max Lich-
 nowshy, who was German ambassador at London at the outbreak of hostilities.
 The prince unequivocally placed the blame for the war on Germany, and for his frankness was imprisoned in Silesian chateau, permanently expelled from the Prussian house of lords, which action was sanctioned by the Emperor, and, finally, was exiled to Switzerland. Emperor Williams domination ~oveI German statesmen, diplomats and the high command of the German army was emphasized by Dr. Wilhelm Muehlon, a former director of the Krupp works. the gass{ German munitions factory. in his peQ3 on '"The Devastation of Europe fr ths he not only laid blame upon Ger
 maIs for bad faith and criticized tht Gee my army for it's brutality, but as-
 @eiteG that in the German foreign of
 fc@ only he who dia .tr -lsp peror's bic lg was allowed They coaa not do better" siscigHs s be
 fala# of the character ka~ neE ss the s@c ation of and contiasc& lnter renee " Kaiser" It was hiuaNsaa who asss ted the authenticia pf task tate. l;nesH that Emperor We ss3 sta al
 q ni eting of German aE ie6 thai
 " . A -~I- -0 -.r r-.- H