PEACE TALK RUMOURS

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 146, 21 June 1915, Page 6

PEACE TALK RUMOURS

ATTRIBUTED TO KAISER. CARDINAL IN TROUBLE. LONDON, June 20. The Paris "Matin" publishes extracts from a letter written by the Kaiser to a Bavarian Court personage in which ho insists on the certainty of attaining the sole object for which Germany is fighting —namely, a peace fruitful for the German States. He concludes: "Such peace may come sooner than is expected. Even if it on 'y gives an incomplete result it will serve as a preparation. Further, it could bo signed to-morrow if I wished it.' .

An Amsterdam message says 't is reported in Berlin that the German Government is considering whether to prosecute the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne for treason in recently publishing a special prayer for peace, and delivering a 3peech containing the phrases "Instil into our rulers and nations the thought of peice" and "Let this conflict of nations cease." The Government's hesitancy is due to the fear of offending the Roman Catholics in the Rhine provinces of Western Germany, who venerate the cardinaL

THE " GOTT STRAFE " FEVER. PASSING OF FIRST FRENZY. GETTING A GLIMPSE OF THE GULF. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) (Received 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 20. A neutral observer writes: "Some Germans are beginning to wonder what is the matter with Germany—why she has no friends, why everyone is trying to stab her heart, and why she cannot keep the peace with nations hitherto ncut/al. Germany to-day has so many hatreds to cater for and bo many enemies to damn that she is not equal to the task. There arc signs indicating that a more sober spirit is replacing the 'Gott strafe' fever. Every day reveals more outspoken criticism of the foreign policy. The man in the street is beginning faintly to realise the wide gulf between the German right and the right of other peoples. A welldefined cleavage is apparent on the Italian question. The Prussians feel that the new war does not concern them. The Bavarians are enthusiastic at the Galician' successes, which have elevated Austria in German esteem and bore closely cemented the union. Henceforth German officers will act officially in all parts of Austro-Hungary."

"THE PRESENT ATTACKS." PEACE A CHIMERA. (Received 11.5 a.m.) AMSTERDAM, June 20. The President of the Uppsr House of the Prussian Dipt stated in the course of a speech: "It has been repeatedly said that we must obtain a peace which will safeguard us against a repetition of the present attacks. It is my belief that no such peace is possible. The greater we emerge from the war the greater will be the endeavour of our adversaries to snatch away by a new coalition what we gained."