THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1918. THE ORIGIN OF THE WAR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17484, 28 November 1918, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1918. THE ORIGIN OF THE WAR.

Among German States Bavaria is ciedited with heading the list in sending princes and petty potentates into exile. This suggests that they are doing things fairly thoroughly in Bavaria in breaking up the old regime.' Between Prussia and Bavaria not much love is said to be lost. Possibly this is why the authorities at Munich, whoever they may now be, are responsible in giving official publication to_some highly interesting and important bearing on the origin of the war. These documents emanate from the Bavarian Embassy at Berlin, and embody reports from the Bavarian Minister there. Count von Berchenfeld, to his Government. Concerning the identity of the Power that caused the war they do not tell us more than wo know already. The Allies have never doubted that the war was deliberately planned and provoked by Germany. There has been no In of evidence on that point, but more is coming to light. These Bavarian revelations afford the strongest confirmation of Germany's guilt. When the hour struck for the active prosecution of her nefarious designs Germany made some efforts to save her face in the eyes of the world. She first endeavoured to fix the responsibility for the great war upon Russia. The carefully prepared White Paper issued by the German Government dealing with Germany's Reasons for war with Russia set forth to prove " How Russia and her ruler betrayed Germany's confidence and thereby made the European war." Among the documents included in it was a telegram sent by the ex-Kaiser to the late Czar Nicholas on July 31, 1,914, in the course of which he declared : " I now receive reliable news that serious preparations for war are going on upon my eastern frontier. The responsibility for the security of my country forces me to measures of defence. I have gone to the extreme limit possible in my efforts for the preservation of the peace of the , world. It is not I who bear the responsibility for the misfortune which now threatens the entire civilised world. It rests in your hand to avert it." The ex-Kaiser showed remarkable solicitude in sending messages of this sort once the train had been laid and lighted which which was to kindle the European conflagration. In another passage in this German White Paper we read: "Shoulder to shoulder with England we laboured incessantly and supported every proposal in Vienna from which we hoped to gain the possibility of a peaceable solution of the conflict." This admission that Great Britain laboured for peace was no douhfc regretted at Berlin afterwards, and classed among the things conveniently to be forgotten. For it was Germany's subsequent endeavour, and a most clumsy attempt at that, to transfer the responsibility for the war to Great Britain, the Power which abovo all others strove to avert the conflict, or, if that could not be done, to localise it. The way in which truth will out is finding striking demonstration in tho manner in which Germany's confession of her own responsibility is now being furnished to the world. Outwardly Germany made a show of endeavouring to keep the peace, the whiles she pulled the scarcely hidden strings in such a way as to render war inevitable. The Bavarian documents furnish a fitting corollary to the revelations of Prince Lichnowsky, exGerman Ambassador in London, whose testimony to the efforts of the British Foreign Office to avert the war, was in contrast to his indictment of the policy of his own Government. They exhibitin strong relief the cold-blooded determination of Germany to render abortive all attempts to preserve the peace. They reveal the methods adopted and the subterfuges to which resort was made in order to allay the suspicion of the Entente, cover up Germany's tracks, and involve the Entente Powers in a crisis under circumstances that left them the least possible time to concert counter measures. Concerning the Austrian Note to Serbia, the pre-arranged act of provocation which was to precipitate the war and effectually did so, the Bavarian Minister at Berlin has left on record the following statement: "It is obvious that Serbia cannot aecept such conl ditions, and there must be war. It is absolutely agreed that Austria will take advantage of this favourable moment, even at the risk of further complications. Any line of action Austria takes will be agreed to here, even at the risk of war with Russia." More explicit confirmation from an official German source of the extent to which Germany was involved in tho great war conspiracy, in which Serbia was used as a scapegoat, need not be desired. More striking still as rounding off the damning indictment of Germany's policy provided in these Bavarian documents is Count von Berchenfeld's telegram of August 4, despatched at a time when events had reached a stage that rendered the intervention of Great Britain inevitable. Reflecting faithfully the feeling of the Government in Berlin, Count von Berchenfeld wrote: "British neutrality would be too high a price to pay for Germany's respecting Belgian neutrality, because an attack on France is possible only through Belgium." The conviction that Germany miscalculated .the strength of France and . the prompt effect of Great Britain's decision, and expected a short and triumphant war, is borne out by this new evidence from her own archives.