The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1919-02-08
LANSING TO SIT IN JUDGMENT.

The appointment of Secretary Ian
sing to act as president of the commit
tee on responsibility for the war /,
one of those outcomes of the Peace
conference which will reassure every
body over here, delight our allies and
give small encouragement to the Ger
man statesmen who hoped to see
in America more than forgiving and
forgetful adversary. If the whole sit
uation were not grimly tragic, it would
be amusing to note the way in which
Germany is getting ready to be griev-
ed and injured over the fact thai
President Wilson has sidestepned the
role of the devils advocate" which
they had assigned to him, and, in full
possession of the facts, is more and
more assuming the role of the stern
judge. This was the reserved atti
tude of Secretary Lansing long be
fore we went to war, though it waf
th&t later allowed him to indulge in
that frankness of official utterance
that left no doubt in the minds of
any of his hearers what he thought
about the guilt of Germany or the
crimes of the Berlin government that
brought on the war.
And while in his new capacity Sec
rotary Lansing, with his associates
will have to weigh all the evidence
brought before them carefully, he and
they know that certain incidents have
been established beyond all controv-
ersy, and it goes without saying that
when they make a report as to those
for the war there will be
10 possibility of any one disputing
the conclusions from sheer partisan
motives. At this very juncture of the
Lansing election, ex-Premier Viviani
Of France, for instance, has again set
out tie incontrovertible facts about
tho admirable efforts Of France to
eNUid plunging Europe into a war
when that great and patient and long.
country actuallyswithdrew its
troops in July, 1914, ten kilometres
away from the German frontier in or
de- to avoid even the appearance of
he atility. This act of admirable alb,
ne cation, revealing SO high ., sense
of national honor. however, was in
vain, since, as all the world knows,
Germany finding no pretext in any
overt act on the part of France in
vented hostile acts" in order to JUST
fy its position that the war it was
then carrying on against France was
? war of defense, and not of offense.
This German invention took the form
Of the infamous letter from the Ger
man ambassador, Schoen, dated August
3. which, though an official document
falsified the situation and
cl lined that Germany was compelled
IL attack France because of the VIC
lation of German territory by French
aviators who had bombed Carisruhe
and Nuremberg" and had committed
Their violations of neutrality in Belgium
and Germany When it is recalled
that five dollars spent on Geographic
tolls by the German authorities would
have proved every fact set out in their
own ambassadors note sheer fiction
since at that time Carlsruhe and MI
remEerg were as much surprised as
the rest of the world to figure in what
has become of one of the most IA
nous, flimsy and lying documents Of
the war, it is easy to see on what
slender pretexts Germany started in to
build up it's case and justify it's greed
for conqest.
But all these things will fall as &
house of cards, and with Lansing in
o6o tho yrariC1rc JOpr11,, re,