The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-10-07

.OF GERMAN DEFEAT
Continued From Previous Issue.)
One Of the marvellous contradictions
o. the kaiser's course In the war was
his fatuous belief that by creating dis
cord among his chiefs he could spare
himself the criticisms and the obliquy
ot failure. ! have stated that many Of
MS advisers. prior to the war had their
moral backbones broken to serve then
Imperial master. This was true even to
greater extent during the war. as
| many Incidents, some Of which are not
known y the general public, attest.
On April %, 1915, | was visitor at
| Charleville. the kaiser's headquarters,
when an instance Of this situation oc-
CURED, At that time we were still
hopeful Of gaining some sort OF
approachment with England Our alb
lest diplomats were working to this end
and It really seemed to those Of the
inner circle that something might come
| from II. But whatever hope reposed in
| such coup was DESTROYED by the kali
ser himself almost overnight.
IN spite OF the presence of great
| headquarters at Charleville, the French
| civilian population came and went with
| IN bounds, At this time the French
ar activities were first coming to be
| reared, and like bolt from a clear sky
twas an unlooked-for raid on the kaiser's
Headquarters itself By daring French
| bombers, THE French airinen have
| dropped five bombs here" said the kali
ser to me in great agitation "and un-
fortunately no Frenchmen were killed
/ only Germans. Now the Charlevlliers
are reipipinnr ithaca nth hax ta
played us this dirty trick, and we are
actually good-natured enough to repair
| the damage they have done"
This was at the advice of the political
section OF the great general staff which
was pursuing a fixed policy toward the
hrench civilian population against the
charge of frightfulness The repairing
OF damage from air raids was in pur-
suance Of this idea and was only o part
OF the whole. In fact England was to
be spared from "schreckIicheit' If Il
were possible, and the advisers of the
kaiser had their way. They were la
BORING with him to this end at that time
both because of the political adyan-
tages which some understanding like
this would bring, and because the notes
OF President Wilson were suggesting
some understanding with England to-
ward blockade notifications.
Kaiser Declares Buckingham
Palace I'm Bounds"
But the fury OF the kaiser over these
air raids at Charlevlle, comparatively
trivial In the whole scheme of war,
knew no bounds. To his regret that
only Germans, and no French civilians,
had been killed. as he wished, was
added desire for revenge, not on the
French, who were perpetrating the air
raids, but on the English. So the word
was quietly passed around from the
kaiser's encourage that Buckingham
palace was to be in bounds.'" If Ger
many's ruler was to be bombed on the
battlefield, ergo, England's ruler. must
be bombed in his palace.
Running so contrary to the political
experiences of the hour, was IL any
wonder that new dissension in the kali
ser's staff was engendered by his de-
termination for this sort OF revenge ?
Thus the kaiser's curious logic was ex-
erting itself, tearing down alike the
political sections desires, and destroy
ing harmony in our war plans
Just a week before the kaiser's de.
termination to drop bombs on Bucking-
ham palace, cabal among his closest
advisers had arisen by the terms of
which the kaiser, under some pretext
or other, was to be induced to with
draw his presence from great head
quarters, So the situation at this time
can be we'll imagined One of his most
trusted advisers came to me on April
10 and said:
Probably before the end Of the month
the kaiser will be moving somewhere
else. think that In such circumstances
as these the kaiser is best out of the
way" | thought so. too.
l. advocated the replacement of the |
kaiser by Field Marshal Won Hinden-
berg Immediately, because this would |
strike terror abroad. 1t was really pa
thetic at this tintA that talk OF the |
aims OF the war was forbidden at great |
headquarters, and only of the war it, |
sell, Thus the kaiser's attitude bred |
rather. than dlssipated suspicion, II
seemed TO me them as my diary shows
That pack of peace hounds was being
let loose to foster weakness and milk
sopism, Just at the moment When every |
thing depended on all Of US stiffening
our backs.
Only few weeks previous to this
time the new American note from Presi- |
dent Wilson had been received. It said |
slowly and emphaticay that the first |
impression II gave was that 1t was hap
pily couched in very courteous language,
put when ITS actual contents were test |
ed and analysed they presented them
selves in an unfair demand
tEditor Notes: Germany at this time
had Just given the full text of the IA
nous unrestricted war zone" subma-
rine order to Ambassador Gerard. and
the state department In reply had asked |
Germany what guarantees IL would take
TO Identity neutral vessels in the barred
zone, This note caused great alarm
among German ruthless warfare advo-
Gates, as indicating a disposition by
America to stand sponsor for the I'M
holding OF the rules of civilized war
rare The sinking of the American
steamer Evelyn by mine outside the
barred zone' on Feb. % added to the
tension) ''
Here my harshness came in for un-
sparing criticism. The American prop
osltion looked to me like a scheme to
force us to relinquish our UNRESTRICTED
u-boat warfare and the use of mines
and get practically nothing in return
from England, except at the most a
rev solitary compromised conveys.
tEdltors Note: Feb 16 the German
government replied to President Wilson,
offering to spare shipping IL England
would permit food to 20 through the
blockade to the German civilian popu-
lation. 1t also suggested that the
United states send its warships to con-
voy merchantmen)
Won Tirpitz Says Made Him
Goat.
The splendid spirit that prevailed at
| the outset or the war In Germany had
eVaporated In my estimate, our fleet
az that Time could have struck at the
Enghsh fleet with brilliant success, for
| hoth ships and personnel were superior
I 10 Int L.. 4,