Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-04-03
THE EX-KAISER'S OPINIONS

I'LL EA.N<1lOEN - vi lVlVV0
In a very interesting article written in the little
Dutch village of Anerongen, Harold Begbie, an exper-
fenced newspaper correspondent. gives to the readers
of his paper a highly interesting view of the former En-
,peror of Germany, in the temporary home in Holland
which is for it's most conspicuous occupant really a
prison. The article occupies several columns of news
paper space and presents a view Of William Hohenzol-
lern under the circumstances in which the war has left
him. In some cases the former kaiser is quoted directly,
in other cases the opinions attributed to him are given
without quotation marks, but with the assurance that
they are truthful presentations of Williams opinions as
stated by himself.
In the first place Mr.. Begbie assures US that physi-
cally the former kaiser is not the broken and enfeebled
man that he is sometimes described to be. His hair has
whitened and the pointed beard which he has cult
waited adds to his appearance of age but otherwise he
gives the impression of physical strength and vigor. AS
to the mental attitude of the man the reader is permit
ted to judge for himself, and no one can read Mr.. Beg
bie's story without reaching the profound conviction
that the man who but a short time ago seemed to hold
the world in the hollow Of his hand is a mental and spir-
itual wreck. Instead of the bombast which ordinarily
accompanied his expressions, the former kaiser now
makes whining, pitiful apologies for himself and the fail
ue that he has made OF everything that he has under
taken. He is distinctly described as unrepentant. He
expresses no sorrow for anything that he has done or for
WHICH ne mas Deen responsible, out ne does dlSaVOw re-
sponsibility for the war and for all the crimes which
have been laid at his door.
He repeats the worn out lies that he and his min
listers have formerly told, which tend to place the re-
sponsibility for the war upon others. For some reason
or other he has shifted the weight of his accusations from
England to Russia, an attitude which of course he took
some time ago. Instead Of the hatred which at one time
he frequently expressed for England he now processes
a love. for that country and for the peaceful. quiet life
which he enjoyed when he was an honored guest in that
country:
~. Perhaps the most interesting feature Of the whole
article is the former emperors effort to show that in
stead ofhhaving been the proud and autocratic leader
of a great nation he was merely an insignificant figure
head. He tells of having been showed here and there
by his ministers, of having been unable to obtain infor-
nation as to what was going on, of having been required
to pose before the people, and of having been treated
with actual rudeness when on occasion he was at mill
tary headquarters. He says that on such visits if the
telephone rang while he was present he was hurredly
rushed from the room, sometimes being pushed out by
the shoulders so that he might hear nothing Of what the
Conversation was about.
1t is a long jump from the status of a great en-
speror defiantly brandishing his sword, ambitious to rule
the world, declaring his divine right to rulership and
causing the world as he imagined to tremble at his every
footstep, to the position Of this pitiful craven seeking
now to evade every responsibility and declare himself to
have been a stuffed scarcecrow. A reading Of current
literature on the subject tends to confirm a part Of this
declaration, but just as this man at one time exag.
gerated his own power and importance, 80 he now ex-
aggerates facts in the other direction for it has been DEM
frustrated that While he was in a sense a figure head
William was by no means the simple and spineless limo.
cent whom he now describes. When he posed before
the people as the Amounted of God he did it sincerely
and however little he may have had. to do with the &C
a.tual- shaping of the events Of the war, that war wa.
largely of his making and he entered into it with gooc
will: and set purpose.
Nothing that has been written about the forme,
kaiser has been more Illuminating than this article anc
nothing has tended SO strongly to confirm the impression
that the man has always been a ranting bully, and, like
every bully. at heart a contemplate coward.