The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-03
THE BIRMINGHAM AGEHERALD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8 1919

ing our public and neutral countries
 repeat the catchword: Peace by under
 standing and reconciliation" but they
 always avoided committing themselves
 to 1t. Now, as ever. they pursued but
 one idea to destroy Germany.
 The pope's step could not succeed,
 It Is curious now to observe the way
 In which the people is excluded from the
 negotiations at Versailles The entente
 is not grateful to him.
 Suddenly, at the end of August or
 early in September. we heard there was
 an opportunity of opeuing discussion
 with the entente The imperial chan
 cellor and Herr von Kuhlmann, who
 had become secretary of state for for
 eign affairs when he was appointed. 1 told us it was a secret.
 HOPED TO PLACATE BRITAIN had heard from Colonel von Haeften i that reports had come through neutral countries, in connection with a speech by MT. Asquith. the former British premier, and later statements by Lloyd George, that England expected
 us to make a statement about Belgium. Now the chanscellor told me that
 England had suggested the possibility of some sort of discussion.
 was naturally pleased: if England
 had no wbecome ready for peace it's
 respects were brighter than before,
 when we alone made the approaches, I
 peace more favorably than I had done
 hitherto
 The talk of peace led to various dis
 cussions with the imperial chancellor
 on the question of Belgium
 We laid down as our goal the eco- homie attachment of Belgium to the German empire. Tn view of the close rationtionship that had existed before the war. The imperial government thought that this gave them some basis on which to enter into communication with England I expected that the secretary of state would make a pub lie declaration in this sense in the form of a speech in the Reichstag at the end of September.
 THE HORSE NOT FOR SAIE' On September 20, Colonel von Haeften had fairly long discussion with him about It But the secretary of state (Kuhlmann) did not agree, and re- ! marked:
 ~Whoever told you that | nm pre-
 pared to sell the horse 'Belgium'.
 It is for me to decide that. At pres
 ent the horse Is not for sale at nII.- In his speech on October he did not mention Belgium, but amid the bolster ous applause of the Reichstag alluded | to Alsace-Lorraine in the following l terms; "As long as German fist can | hold a rifle, the integrity of the Ger | man dominions which we have received | as glorious heritage from our fathers, can never become the object of any ne- 1 gotiations or concessions"
 That did not bring us a single step forward, as far as England was con cerned.
 | We heard no more of the prospects | of peace. inquiry the General Staff received no definate answer. front sec retary of state Kuhlmann. l was dis apointed, and regretted having momen- tarily believed in it. It was only for that reason that I had requested tn Imperial Chancellor to refrain from a great speach which he wished to de- l liver at the end of September, as it seemed conceivable that it might lessen
 the possibility of peace. It would have been better for him to have spoken STRANGER" TO REICHSTAG It seems doubtful however, whether he would have succeeded in uniting the whole Reichstag and people, in view of his relations with the various political parties. He opposed their de- sire for power, and his attitude toward the Reichstag itself was that of a stranger. (Michaelis, an old bureau crat had been put in power by the militarist after Bethmann was forced out and the Liberal majority in the Reichstag refused to support him.) also entertained some hopes of the efforts being made by the representa- tive of the foreign office in Brussels, | V 1T a pr urHa ch fp get into touch with French statesmen. He went into Switzerland, but the gentlemen from France stayed away. I also heard causally that Herr von Kuhlmann was in communication re- garding peace questions with the Span ish Ambassador in Brussels.
 Such were the possibilities of peace of which I received information during 1917. Of President Wilson's 30 called offer which Herr Jaffe brought to the Foreign Office from Munich. I only heard rom the papers after my resig nation.
 "vICE OF PARLIAMENTARISM" The internal conditions in Germany continued to develope unsatisfactorily In the Reichstag the struggle for power
 between the parties and the Government became more acute. This vice of Par liamentarism," carried on by profes- sionaI politicians and concealed un- der catchwords of every kind, grew daily more naked and unashamed Dr. Michaelis opposed it with deter imitation and thus very soon became the victim of his own actions. He wore out his strength in this strug- gle and had no time to work for the war.
 In the answer of the United States to the Papal Note, Wilson had again attempted to interfere in Germany S internal affairs and to divide Gov protest in the Reichstag. But even 1 thus we could not muster, the strength to repudiate his action with the righteous indignation it deserved The occurrences in the Navy in the summer of 1917 CtwO serious mu- tinies which had to be suppressed by troops) showed clearly how far the