The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-22
|Ex-Kaiser Would Escape
Penalty for His Crimes
Lost Little Time After His 1g-
nominious Downfall to Plead
Ameiorating Circumstaces
ny RENE vIvIANI.

FWfmeR k,femH&f OF CEamCcs
Paris, May 2o.-Wilhelm Hohenzol-
lern lost little time after hts igno-
minious downfall and the collapse Of
his empire to plead amelioratfng cir
cumstances, manifestly foreseeing the
charges that would be raised against
him by the civilized world and on
which he Is to be tried by a tribunal
under the auspices of tho league Of ma
tions.
AS early as last December he as
sured the world that the war was
brought on without him and that at
the end Of July. 1914. he was sent"
to Norway on an innocent cruiser. ar
| ranged" by his ministers.
That Is a false assertion. my
self was in Scandinavia that month and
know whereof I speak. On July 5.
1914. I was in Stockholm, paying an
official visit to the King of Sweden.
The kaiser was at that time at Ber-
gen.
/ requested the French minister at
Christiania to watch the movements
of this dangerous traveller.
Now. at 10 o'clock in the evening of
July Is. I was informed. through a
telephone message. that the kaiser had
| left Bergen at 6 o'clock that evening.
! This, on the face of ii, means nothin &
know. But let us recall the history
| making events in connection with those
hours.
PLANS MADE BEFOREHAND.
July 25. 1914, was the day on which
Serbia replied to Austria's ultimatum.
| That same day at o'clock in the even
! ing, the Austrian minister at Belgrade.
| after having taken cognizance of the
Pacific and satisfying reply Of the Ser
| bian government. left his post. re-
turned to Vienna. His trunks had bee n
| packed. his plans had been made be-
orehand-whatever the nature of the
| Serbian answer
| Now 1t was on that same day, and
at the same hour. that the German
emperor left Bergen on his return to
Germany.
Can one escape the conclusion that
the whole program had been worked
out in advance. even before the Aus
trian ultimatum was issued
And the kaiser. who in Norway had
not the time to hear by telegraph Of
the Austrian minister's departure
from Belgrade. knew Of it nevertheless
knew of IT so well that he. himself.
| FASTENED back to Germany to take his
place in the carefully prepared war
made inevitable on the evening Of July
"a, 1914.
1t is hardly to be doubted that as re
CARDS the miserable pawns around the
emperor who had a hand in the hefne-
Gus crime that plunged the world into
the abyes Of blood and destruction will
seek immunity from the fact that In an
! absolute monarchy hy ministers and
who must obey the imperial will. They
will unuuestionahiy hide behind the
singularly miserable figure of their
emperor and king.
I do not believe that they wYfl--to
use popular American phrase-"get
away with such an alibi- Rethmann-
Hoilweg and Won Jagow, who delibe-
rately violated a neutrality treaty. VINO
tore up the SCRAP of paper: Tirpitz.
Ludendorm and Hindenberg n o
Systematically revelied in rapine.
thievry. piliage and murder--not to
mention the miserable Baron Won Lam
ken. hangman OF Belgium. assassin Of
Edith Cavell---I say l do not believe
that any of those wretches will escape
punishment.
VIII they say orders Is orders-'
That would be very convenient, hut
quite Insufficient. for a man cannot be-
come party to crime knowing that
II is crime, without assuming respon-
sibijity for his part In II.
The post of minister or general 10
not the humble Job of an executioner
who gets the order to kin and whose
sole function Is to Kill whomever his
masters assign to him Ministers and
generals have power OF their own. they
know the law. they have intelligence
and conscience. They must pay for
their deeds
The murder of an Austrian archduke
and his wife on July IS. 1914. served
as the rretext for war. 1t made little
Impression on Austria this double
murder. Who did the killing7 Who
was behind the scenes of that deeds?
We shall know. II some one gave the
order for that murder 80 as 10 procure
a pretext. who is that some ono?
We cannot leave in the vague shad-
odws OF history this drama. which is
an historic drama. IT would be we'll
to know whether that assassination
was NOT engineered by high places"
We shall seek the tnstigators and no
doubt we shall nnd them.