Evening star., 1920-01-02
FORMER KA|SER'S
LETTERS TO CAR
T0BEPUBL|SHED
Mr.. Levine Obtained 73
EpistIes Written to Late
Nicholas II, 1894-1914.
BY ISAAC DON LEVINE.
Conyripht. 1920.


BY ISAAC DON LEVINE.
Copyright, 1920.
Upon. the execution of Nlchoias
Romanoff, the ex-czar of Russia, In
Ekaterinburg in July, 1918, case
containing his private correspondence
was found among his personal e1-
fects. This case was transmitted py
the soviet authorities to MOSCOW.
Among it's contents was batch OF
letters written in English. addressed
to "Nicky" and signed willy There
were seventy-three letters IN the
| batch, covering a period OF twenty
years, 1s94-1914.
| I examined these original letters
during my stay in Moscow last Octo-
ber The somewhat faded blue OF the
stationery used by the German en-
peror, his heavy and firm handwrit-
| ing as well as his quaint English dis
tinguished this batch from NUMBER
of other papers kept in the same SAFE
1 caused to be made complete copy
of all the letters, and photographs
of some of them.
The collection that The Star will
publish Is complete-not a selec-
ton from the kaiser's letters to
the czar 1t includes all such letters
| in existence. None of these letters
has ever been published. although
more than year ago a NUMBER OF
| kilograms exchanged between the
kaiser and the czar in the years
19O4-7 appeared under the name OF
1.-The Willy-Nicky Correspondence"
| Authenticity Fully Established.
| Without questioning the genuine
ness of the kilograms referred to, it
should, nevertheless. be emphasized
that the so-called "Willy-Nicky Cor
respondence," being kilograms, can
h1y< hat q NJ
ticated. For it is scarcely possible
that no errors should have been COM
mitted in the transmission OF a large
number of kilograms. In the case OF
the letters here published we have
really set of irrefutable and un-
questionable documents.
The first of these communications
was written in 1894. on the occasion
Of the ascendancy to the throne OF
Nicholas Romanoff. The last was dis
patched in 1914. The twenty years en-
composed by these communications
ways remain a period of profound in
terest to the future historian. In
lthese twenty years the forces which
illuminated in the bloodiest and vast
est war in the life of mankind grew
and developed. After the countless
cotemporary histories of the causes
of the world war have turned into
dust and vanished from the memory
of man, these letters will hold their
own.
AS time goes on and passions and
prejudices give way to calm Judgment
and impartial analysis, people will Pc
| ruSe these pages more and emore ire
quently. What a boon to humanity
| 1t would be if the enormous volume
/ of truth lying buried in the private
Icourts, existing and extinct, were sud
denly to be revealed to the world! So
far nothing has come out OF the ar
4 chives of the fallen German and Aus
trian royal houses. The letters mere
published are the first collection of its
! kind from the archives of the deposed
Il Romanoffs to see the light.
Caused Russo-Japanese War.
The kaiser was the apostle of the
/ ..principe de la monaIchie" This ap-
tpears very early. in his communica-
tions to the Russian tautocrat. His
| big purpose. running like AIRED thread
Through all these Letters. was to di.
| to the east and ALLEVIATE her from
lFrance. In the first part Of his pro-
| gram the kaiser succeeded. He turned
1 the attention of the czar to the far
east, he aroused in Nicky the. belief
that Russias mission was to stave
on the yellow peril. Inasmuch as the
car followed the suggestions OF the
Ikaiser-and this correspondence shows
it-he was actually responsible for
! the Russo-Japanese war.
But Wilhelm failed in his second
aim, although by the narrowest mar
gin. He endeavored to create Rus
so-German-Austrian alliance, a mod
ern league of three emperors. He
| even drew up himself-a secret treaty
Of alliance between Russia and Ger
many! The czar, party because of his
being under the influence of Wilhelm
and partly because of his instructive
appreciation that safety for autocrats
| lay in union, consented to such an
| alliance. But French diplomacy avert
ed it's consummation at the last mo-
ment.
| Possibilities Shown.
! What would have happened to the
world had Europe's mightiest autoc-
racies joined hands in a military alli-
ance is a matter for interesting spec
ulation now. In all probability there
would have been no revolution in
Russia and Germany. and Willy and
Nicky would still be on their thrones.
| The whole world now probably would
| be respectively under the arrogant
rule of Prussian and Russian mill.
! tarists.
the characteristics Of the admiral OF
the Atlantic."-as- the kaiser called
| fimself-revealed in these letters
| Every letter contains a different fea-
ture, diSclOSeS q new TRAIT, OF the kali
ser's nature. But by far the most out
standing phase Of Wilhelm's mind
appears to be his intense hatred OF
Great Britain.
The kaiser's English is far from,
perfect His spelling leaves much tc
be desired. ALREADY ALWAYS" "
welfare" are some of his commonest
mistakes. He almost invariably EN-.
ploys "&" for >"and." He writes "bee-
ing" instead Of being" "wether" in.
sted Of whether" "unnoble" in place
of 'fgnoble,'; "courtesy,' Assistance" i"
"takle," 'existant." "openess," are some
Of his other errors. Instead Of '"Tur-
key" the kaiser write "Turky" and
4 instead of "Dardanelles" he spells
| "Dardanels." His letters are replete
with faulty constructions and contain
scores of misspellings in addition to
| those here mentioned.
| These mistakes have been corrected
in the text of the letters as they are
!! to be published in The Star. The pub
lication will continue until all the
letters in this important and extraor-
dinarily interesting series have been
presented.
| (To be continued)
|