, 1921-12-23
AND HIS TITLE WAS CAESAR.

"The publication of the letter Of ex-Emperor vii
liam to Marshal Hindenburgs seems likely to fail Of tho
effect intended" observes the Kansas City Star. at Is
the apparent purpose of this correspondence to show
that Williams flight from Germany was an act OF self
o~facement, a heroic sacrifice of himself in order that
the people of Germany might more successfully pla-
cate the allies.
But William takes no chances with a single de-
Tense, strong as he may affect to believe it. He pro-
vides a double defense in case Of accident eau
tiousness that cannot fail to remind Of the flight it.
self. His second defense is that his flight, whether it
be accepted as the act of a generous or a selfish ruler,
was advised by Hindenburg himself. There is no
doubt about Hindenburg's loyalty. He permits this
complexion to be put upon the act. He publishes on
his own responsibility, the ex-knisers letter in which
William pointedly calls attention to the fact that he
sought refuge in Holland only on the urgent repre-
sensations of you and my other responsible advisers
and thus accepts for himself whatever censure may
be involved.
But if that was the object of the correspondence
IL has not been achieved. There are certain response
bilities of which a ruler cannot divest himself. That
is a principle that William himself always had upheld
rather noisily and with much Observation-Disclosures
he was on the throne. The world rejected many of
his pretensions, but men everywhere, whether monar-
chists or republicans, have conceded the virtue Of lead
ership that consists in standing fast by the post of
duty. Good leader or bad leader, he is at least a
leader who sticks to his cause and wins or loses
with it.
William had spent twenty-five years proclaiming
to a somewhat bored world that he was the leader Of
the German tribes, that his will was law to them. and
that his crown was not bestowed by men or by par
liaments but by heaven itself. That would be all very
sranu Il u event. mao proved 1t TO De true, but VIII
liam himself furnished the proof that it was not true.
Heaven didn't advise him to run for it-Hindenburg
did. If heaven gave William his crown he made a
mighty poor return to the giver in permitting a mere
mortal to take it away. 1t leaves Williams boast
ings of twenty-five years even poorer stuff than the
world thought them at the time.
"of course, the truth is that William got his crown
because his grandfather-whom no sensible man ever
nistook for heaven-won it by war. William lost IL
by the same method. But he was a poor loser. There
was nothing kingty, nothing majestic, nothing Of tho
virtue of leadership in his downfall. He ran away
from his army, his crown and his people and made
himself safe. He did that for which the private SOL
der in his own army Is shot It is bad enough for
a private soldier to run away, but a general. a king,
an emperori "
There is an italian proverb that says there Is only
one thing that will pierce the shell Of the tortoise. It
Is neither fire, nor steel nor diamond-it is contempt.
II William is content to accept the plea put forth for
him in this correspondence, then there has been found
in the Hohenzollerns a substance harder than the shell
of the tortoise"