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Otago Daily Times, Issue 16782, 25 August 1916, Page 4

A good deal of the second-hand information which comes through neutral sources concerning happenings in Germany is no doubt to be viewed with suspicion. There is nothing improbable, however, about the story related to a correspondent of an English paper in Switzerland by an "eminent neutral '' concerning the Kaiser's disclaimer of personal responsibility for the war. To disclaim responsibility for plunging Europe into the present great conflict has become a habit with the Kaiser and an obsession on the part of his Chancellor. But an "I am not the Man"' from the ruler of Germany will leave the world still unconvinced. It has not been in the past the disposition of the head of tho Hohonzollerns to underrate his soveieign authority. He has strutted the stage as the most autocratic monarch 111 Europe, and it is not to be wondered that tho nations upon which Germany fell in all the might derived from years of preparation view him as the arch-conspirator against tho peace of the world and refuse to believe that he has been the lictim of circumstanccs over which he had 110 control. Tho supreme bad faith of the Hohen/ollerns ha 3 become proverbial.

The Imperial German Chancellor has made valiant endeavours to throw 011 other slioulders the responsibility for the war, but he has never explained away an awkward featuie of the official data iegardmg the origin of the struggle, consisting in the clear disclosure of the keen dc«iie of the German Government'to veil its own part and its, attitude in the terrible tragedy brought upon Euiope. In 0110 of lus more recent disclaimers Herr 1011 Bcthmnnn Hollweg declared, inter alia, that Great Britain, France, and Russia had been closely bound by an alliance against Germany. A highly effective reply by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs made a prompt appearance in the Russkoye Sluvo, the important Moi-cow lournal "As a matter of fact," i-.ud M. Sazonoff, " the Imperi.il Chancellor knows as well as I, and as well as any European, however hadlv informed, that before the war 110 pact united Russia. Fiance, and England. As legards mvself I always had tlio conviction that if Germany should begin a war to ass-ei t her hegemony over Luiope she would inevitably have England against her " M. Saj'onoif, of course, read the spirit of Great Britain aright. It was Germany that, was blind if she imagined that she could assert her hegemony, brush aside treaties and overrun weaker nations, without a protest, carried even, if need be, to the arbitrament of war, 011 the part of Great Britain. It has suited tho German Chancellor to mainta'n that Franco and - Russia would never have risked a defiant reply to Germanv if they had not been sure of the assistance of Great Britain. But the only surety they had was such moral certainty as Germany should also have possessed, had she not been carried away by a sense of the ten or of her own threat-. In going to war Britain, to her iniinit" credit, lespotided to a moral obligation Honour commanded that she throw in her lot with France, Russia, and Belgium.

M. Sazonoff lias told the world again, in answer to the Herman Chancellor, how Franco and Russia, despite their desire to a\oid bloodshed, were firm iji their deter mination to resist the arrogance of Gtr nnn\, and how it was the result of (!cr many's own cru-de policy that the Triplo Entente, which for a long timo was without material and definite form, became a powerful political alliance having as its

object the protection of tlio rights and interests of its iriemlxirs and tho mam tenanee of European peace. P<'i haps tho must, interesting statement by tho Uiis Minister is tli.it which nads: "Despite his methods of defence 1 am ready to admit that llorrvun Botliiuann lIolhvc», as ho has dpel.vrod on ovciy oppoitune occasion, did not wish tho war, .uid was not tho direct promoter of it. But the moro one admits tins tho more it becomes evident, that minim 0111 persons in tho Chancellor's entourage ardently desired tho war. This is a lirm conviction which tho wholo' of Europe at pie-sent has. The ultimatum to Serbia w-as drawn np under the direct influcncc of an eminent German diplomat, and it was submitted to 1 hip approval of William 11, without the knowlodgo of the leader of (Jorraan foreign policy. This fact proves that ITerr von Bcthmann-Hollweg was not master in his own house, but on tho other hand it is difficult to admit that the Chancellor was not well aware of tho intrigues of tho cnomies of European peace and that 110 know nothing of them. Tho Chancellor frequently speaks with a scarcely sincere satisfaction of the success of Germany, but ho prudently avoids to mention tlio plans Germany had made which remain unlealisable dreams and the list of which is vastly longer than tho plans which have been accomplished."

Tins statement on the part of M. Sazonoff can only bo interpreted as pointing to others as more guilty than the Imperial German Chancellor, others too powerful to be under his control, in respect of the application of the fatal spark t< tho European powder magazine. While we know tho present war to be due to the cancer of Tan-Germanism which has preyod on Germany for years and has now reachcd her vital organs, we also know that PanGermanism would not have become so dangerous a force without tho active instrumentality of its high priests. And of these none more thorough going and therefore more responsible could bo named than the Kaiser himself. The Kaiser disclaims responsibility for the war, yet approved of the ultimatum to Serbia which started the conflagration. If he could have prevented the declaration of war and failed to do so, he is as culpable as if the war had been his heart's desirp. As a matter of fact, once under arms Germany revealed a strength and a degree of preparation only to be explained on the hypothesis of a long matured plan for conquest, worked out in all its details during peaco and carried out in accordance with an arranged programme. In disclaiminc; responsibility the Kaiser implies that Germany is not to blame. But the disclaimer now seems more hypocritical than ever, and the protestations of a Hohenzollern are treated to-day in the greater part of Europe with the contempt they deserve.