Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1920-04-17
der Nss craft.

Germany undertook the task of dc
stroying the vessels of the Allies OF
top Of the water and thus make i
Impossible for Great Britain to sc
cure food supplies for her population
in the British Isles. Without the aiC
of the United States, Germany ne
doubt would have succeeded.
+ But there were other forces at
work. The German Lcgions were prac
: t!cally mvinciblc. but the Allies play
Ell Tor long war and took punish
mcnt, assured Of the fact that the
resources or their invcteratc enemy
could not last much longer. Germany
was endeavorinE to fomcnt Il rebel.
lion within the domain Of Great Bri
tain both in Egypt, India, Ireland and
! South Africa. This forced from Great
Irltain concessions to these depend.
! cncics, which savOrcd closely Of alb.
solutc Independence, the allegiance to
the Britich crown, being more In
lame than in actual fact.
! These sclf-govcrning dominions.
teen took heart and renewed their eff
forts to save the British Empire
!he schcming plans Of the German
leaders had failed, but they still re-
! tanned that powerful grip upon the
| army and navy. In the meantime, the
Coz don Of war vessels had bclted the
watere surrounding partially the
Ge' man Empire and food supplies
were running low. a hungry popu-
lace becomes naturally revolutions
! lists aud the promises OF peace, fail
ing to matcrializc, the thrcatcucu
blow from behind was about to be
struck.
Kaiser Wilhelm had truly declared
That the German nation had never
! been whipped when ii stood united.
3dt now there were signs Of dissolu-
tlon. The Socialists with their fantus-
: lie schemes We're in touch with the
, Socialistic elements of other nations
and the Allies then put out the mis-
| leading statement that they had no
var with tho German people, but with
the military cabal that controlled
ITO German Government. In the
meantime, President Wilson sent out
his famous Fourteen Points Let.
/ ter emphasizing this view of the
situation and declaring that there
would he no indemnitics demanded
| ny the Allies.
This letter was approved nv the
other nations and the German peo
pie believed that the statements con
tanned In this celebrated document
would be observed. Vain hopcI
1t was n case of "Win you walk
into my parlor?" said the spider to
the fly. President Wilson evidently
relieved all that he wrote In This
remarkable epistle and he trusted
MS associates and allies He seemed
10 think that all deception and dou-.
hie dealing rested with the Ten.
q n'c allies and not with
inc Entente Allies. No sooner
had the German revolution begun
thnn the troops in the field, being
robbed of support at home found II
necessary to retire behind the Rhine
and to submit to humiliatine with
d'awals, while the victorious Alltoc
smiled.
Ihe German people had been de-
tciVed into believing that every
single provision In that Wilson 1ot.
ter would be observed The Allies di,
not consider that they were giving
Germany and her Allies any more
tran they deserved. They claimed
that the Teutonic Allies had deceiv-
cd them and they got even by deceiv-
ing the Teutonic Allies. In keeping
with the agreement, Kaiser Wilhelm
aud his supporters became exilcs In
, Holland and then the Versailles Con-
, ference took. place. The new German
Government. represented by ordinary
citizens, who had never had any di.
! plomatic experience was In guam
diary.
It's represcntntiN es were destined ID
meet the most sltilful diplomats III
the world and the only statesmen
qualified to meet them were associ-
ated with the eXiled Kaiser or if re.
naming in Berlin were secretly fav-
orablc to his cause. When the revo.
'utioniSts turned to this type Of
men for advice, it was given in Il
way, and finally the armistice terms
were closely scanned and these able
diplomats deliberately declared that
tie terms as submitted were not oni,
unacceptable to them, but would
never be accepted by the German PEG.
pie.
The Ebert Government found then
that the German diDI0mata uualifiod