The Washington herald., 1919-05-08
ACCUSES ALLIES
OF KILLING MANY
Tells of Tens of Thousands
Perishing After Armistice
Was Signed as Result of
Blockade-Bows to the
Power of Hatred at
Versailles.

Versailles, May 7.-Germany re-
fuses to confess that she alone i,
responsible for the war. She ad-
mits that her former government
Contributed to the disaster" but
claims that the imperialism of
all European states" is equally to
blame Russia's mobilization, she
asserts, was the immediate cause.
Such, in substance, was the re-
ply of Count Won Brockdorff-
Rantzau, head of the German
peace delegation, to Premier Gle
menceau's statement in his "wel-
come" speech, that Germany
cruelty imposed the war upon the
world.
Tells of Hatred.
such a confession in my mouth
would be a lie." said Count Brock
dorff.
We know the power Of the German
army is broken. We know the power
of the hatred which We encounter
here"
He spoke in German.
The hundreds of thousands of non-
combatants who have perished since
the 11th of November by reason of
the blockade" he said. "'were killed
with cold deliberaticn after our ad-
versaries mad conquered and victory
had been assured TO them"
Bitter and Defiant.
His speech was bitter and defiant.
The text is as follows:
"Gettlemen-we are deeply i'm
pressed with the sublime task which
has brought us hither to give a dura-
BILE peace to the world.
I'VE are under no illusion as to the
extent of our defeat and the degree
of our want of power We know
that the power of the German army
is broken.
we know the power of the
hatred which we encounter here,
and we have heard the passionate
demand that the vanquishers may
make US pay as the vanquished and
shall punish those who are worthy
of being punished.
'would BE n Lie.-
1T is demanded from us that we
shall confess ourselves to be the
only ones guilty of the war. Such
a confession in my mouth would
be lie. We are far from declining
any responsibility that this great
war OF the world has come to pass
and that il was made in the way
in which it was made.
The attitude of the former Ger
man government at The Hague
Peace Conference, its actions and
omissions in the tragic twelve days
Of July. 1914. have certainly con-
tributed to the disaster.
But we theoretically deny that
Germany and its people, who were
convinced that they were making a
defense alone are guilty.
Nobody will want to contend
that the disaster took it's course
only in the disastrous moment when
the successor to Austria-Hungary's
throne fell the victim of murderous
bands
War n Crisis In Illness.
I'm the last fifty years the i'm
perialism of all European states
has chronically poisoned the inter-
national situation. The policy of
retaliation and the policy of ex-
pansion and the disregard of the
rights of the peoples to determine
their own destinies. has contribut-
ed to the illness of Europe which
saw its crisis in the world war.
Russian mobilization took from
the statesmen the possibility of
healing and gave the decision into
the hands of the military powers.
Public opinion in all the countries
of our adversaries is resounding
with the crimes which Germany
coNIIUED ON PAGE TWELVE
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